[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Malankazooie, on 06 May 2020 - 05:46 PM, said:

Relief check came in the mail yesterday.... yeah yeah, I know you can have it wired electronically, but I support mail carriers, especially in light of Trump shitting on the postal service. And my Aunt is a mail carrier in rural Pennsylvania, and whooboy does she have some stories, forget about vicious dogs, she has stories that will make your jaw hit the floor. So yay! postal carriers. Anyway, I digress.

Informal poll, how many of my American brethren have received your check? The relief package was passed like over a month ago, yeah? I suspect if they have your bank transfer # you got it quicker?

Also, some observational things: the check does have in the memo: "Economic Impact Payment. President Donald Trump." I wonder how much that delayed the checks, putting that on there? Also, I tried their website when it was announced to get info. Don't even try it, it is garbage. The govt. can't do technology it seems.

The website was giving me an error message: 'Payment Status Not Available'. The official explanations for that message (there were about five different possibilities) did not apply to me at all. After about a week they admitted it was a generic error message. A Reddit support thread was created; some people claimed that entering their address in a slightly different format worked. We could only enter our information a few times a day before being locked out for 24 hours. Kept trying different combinations, nothing worked. Several weeks later they finally fixed it, and I entered my direct deposit information. Then I checked it again and it said they were going to mail a check anyway. This happened to many other people too---there was no apparent issue with the direct deposit information (I've used it many times and was sure I entered everything correctly; other people said the same, and it seems likely that Trump wanted to send out more checks with his name). When it arrived on Monday, I tried to open the letter without taking off my gloves, and tore the check. Also says on the check that it needs to be held up to a light to verify it has a watermark, which I would have assumed rules out mobile deposit, but several banks were claiming on their websites that mobile deposit was okay for this. Didn't want to have to go to the bank in person. Tried mobile deposit (which I think uses machine learning OCR, not sure if it factors in tears or how physically destroyed a check can be while still being valid), thankfully it still went through.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 06 May 2020 - 06:19 PM

[Slow Ben]

I got mine about a week ago. I tried the website you mentioned and got the same response you did multiple times. Then one day it just said pending in my account.


The wife and i are both deemed essential, so were extremely lucky that we're not desperate for it like others are. So it'll sit in my account in case we do end up needing

I also got the Paycheck Protection Program loan around the same time. I got the paperwork in during the first round, but they ran out of money. I received mine almost immediately after they approved the second round of funding. I'm using it sparingly and only for the things outlined in whats forgiven so it will convert to a grant.

[Cause]

Apparently I should qualify even with just a Greencard but need to finalize my 2019 tax return first. Hope there is money left by the time I’m ready.

This post has been edited by Cause: 06 May 2020 - 07:37 PM

[Malankazooie]

Cause, on 06 May 2020 - 07:36 PM, said:

Apparently I should qualify even with just a Greencard but need to finalize my 2019 tax return first. Hope there is money left by the time I'm ready.

2018 tax return will meet requirements too... oh wait.

[Macros]

Self employed relief packages are starting here too.
Checking eligibility tonight

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of robotaxis in China, as people are reluctant to take public transit or have human drivers:

'RoboTaxi services are heating up in China, led by the tech giants

Starting from April 27, commuters in Shanghai were able to request for a self-driving RoboTaxi from AutoNavi’s Amap app. AutoNavi was acquired by Alibaba Group in 2014 for $1.5 billion and was the first Chinese map service to achieve 100 million daily users back in 2018. In March this year, Amap boasted 478 million monthly active users.

The RoboTaxi business is attractive due to the potentially rapid adoption in the coming years. According to a study by Proficient Market, the global autonomous vehicle market is forecasted to reach $556.67 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 39.47 percent from 2019 to 2026.

For now, the industry is taking off steadily. In March, Baidu (BIDU) sealed a $7.5 million deal to build public road infrastructure for self-driving cars in southwestern Chongqing municipality. [more details]'

https://seekingalpha...s-just-business

Not clear from the article whether or how the robotaxis clean themselves (or are cleaned) between passengers.

[Cause]

https://edition.cnn....ot-lead-vpx.cnn

Incredible

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Meanwhile, in the US:



'we thought that consumers would hoard cash due to the high degree of uncertainty surrounding the high levels of unemployment and the concerns regarding the length and depth of federal programs to provide income replacement to the unemployed.

[...] the personal savings rate has soared.

There are now over 30 million individuals that have filed for unemployment benefits.

All this while consumer confidence is crashing to lows never seen before.

Automobile sales have fallen sharply.'




[It will be interesting to see if that continues after lockdown restrictions are eased and cases go down, but before there are very effective vaccines or treatments. Wouldn't expect a shift from public transport to be as significant in the US as in many other places though. Most people either already have access to a car, live in walkable cities, or are too poor to afford a car. People who have licenses but haven't driven in a long time will probably be reluctant to start in the near future. But if legal and technical hurdles can be overcome there could be some huge markets for robotaxis, or at least automated individual or small group vehicles along existing public transit lines---maybe mini-robotrolleys?]

'While home sales are in a serious decline.'

[Far too much of my portfolio is currently in homebuilder DHI. I've been trying to figure out what the likely effects of the pandemic on homebuilding will be. Mortgate rates are extremely low, but people may not want to spend. Then again, between the pandemic and the long-term transition towards virtual work, there will probably be a shift from cities to suburban or even rural areas. And people might be more reluctant to do tours of preowned houses, preferring new construction---sure there would be human construction workers in there, but it might be easier to sanitize. Or, just as early 20th century pandemics influenced the development of Modernist architecture, there will likely be demand for new houses that are perceived to be pandemic-resistant.

Too bad everything I want to buy is doing much better than everything I'd like to sell. There was a brief window when one of my office-heavy REITs was doing better, relative to pre-crash highs, than one of the robotics ETFs I wanted to buy, though the expense ratio is a bit high at 0.65% so I only exchanged a little. Otherwise it would be great for minimizing capital gains tax.]

https://seekingalpha...-button-instead

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 06 May 2020 - 09:59 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Cause, on 06 May 2020 - 09:40 PM, said:

https://edition.cnn....ot-lead-vpx.cnn

Incredible

Wow. And he tries to blame Obama: 'you know initially we had nothing, we had empty cupboards, we had empty shelves, we had nothing, because it wasn't put there by the last administration'.

Petulantly crossing his arms, looking away, curling his lip in contempt as she speaks....

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 06 May 2020 - 11:48 PM

[Slow Ben]

American "patriots"- "I would do anything for my country. I would die for my country. I love this country and i would do anything to protect it"


Healthcare professionals- "Wear a mask when you go out in public to help slow the spread of Covid 19"


Patriots - "Tyranny! Opression! How dare you infringe on my rights!!!!"



This country is like a spoiled petulant child and i'm exhuasted by it.

[Tsundoku]

Slow Ben, on 07 May 2020 - 02:27 AM, said:

This country is like a spoiled petulant child and i'm exhuasted by it.

You're welcome to emigrate over here.

[Cause]

https://edition.cnn....d-19/index.html

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'McDonald's Staff Shot by Diners Infuriated by Coronavirus Restrictions, Say Cops

Three workers at an Oklahoma City McDonald's were injured Wednesday after diners became incensed by the restaurant chain's national social-distancing rules and opened fire on the staff'

https://www.thedaily...y-cops?ref=home

'A Broadband Engineer Was Spat on by a 5G Conspiracy Theorist. Then He Got Coronavirus.
The attacks on network workers are getting more frequent, brazen, and violent.

He had already endured two attacks from conspiracy theorists who believed 5G was connected to the spread of coronavirus. First, a woman walked out in front of his van, swearing and gesturing at him, and claiming he was spreading 5G from the top of the vehicle.

[...] While Demetroudi was working outside, he was approached by an angry man who quickly became aggressive, shouting "All you engineers are just trying to import the 5G in every single box." The man then spat in Demetroudi's face.

As a result, Demetroudi, who was worried about having come in contact with a vulnerable family member, was forced to self-isolate at home. Then he fell ill with what he suspects is coronavirus.

Demetroudi's experience is not an isolated incident: his employer, Openreach, the company that maintains much of the U.K.'s broadband network, says that it has recorded 68 incidents related to 5G and/or COVID 19 since the beginning of April.'

https://www.vice.com...has-coronavirus

'A woman who police say spit in the faces of two people at Di Bruno Bros. market in Center City over the weekend has been arrested.

Jacqueline McBride, 27, was charged with simple assault, terroristic threats, and harassment, police said Thursday evening. Authorities said she spit at a store employee on Saturday and at a customer on Sunday.'

https://www.inquirer...a-20200422.html

'The Woman Who Spat On Two People at Di Bruno Bros. Speaks Out
"People don't know what's going on in my personal life," says Jacqueline McBride. "And they just jump to conclusions, making me out to be like I'm some kind of monster."

According to McBride, a Di Bruno Bros. employee gave her "attitude" after she asked if she could use PayPal. So, McBride admits, she spat on him.

In the second spitting incident, McBride says that the woman she spat on really didn't do anything wrong.

"I was just really pissed off that day," McBride tells us. "She probably did nothing wrong. I can be a little bitch sometimes, and I was acting like a little bitch that day."

"But remember," says McBride. "I've been in scary situations with no phone and nothing to eat. But I'm not trying to act like some huge victim here. [...]

People are treating me as if I am some kind of crumb," she says. "Like I'm some kind of lunatic scumbag. But I'm not. I've been depressed lately, like a lot of people are. And I've been in a kind of desperate situation. Normally, people love me."

One place where critics had been targeting McBride was on one of her social media pages. There, she posted lots of Kardashian-style glamour selfies and shots of herself in bed wearing very little.'



'Holly police say they arrested a man Monday who was caught on security cameras wiping his nose on the shirt of a Dollar Tree employee who told him he must wear a mask. Macomb County prosecutors have charged a St. Clair Shores woman on allegations she assaulted a store employee who asked her to wear a mask, and spat at police officers who responded to the scene.'

https://www.bridgemi...mid-coronavirus

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 07 May 2020 - 06:50 PM

[QuickTidal]

That McBride woman is white privilege incarnate. Fucking hell. And on a day when we are all discovering that another unarmed black man (Ahmaud Abery) was gunned down in cold blood by a couple of racist assholes (in FEBRUARY FFS!) in Georgia for the crime of...jogging in their neighbourhood, and escaped justice so far because the system is entirely weighted in their favour. It's fucking disgusting.

The juxtaposition between these two things could not be more stark.

[Cause]

Covid 19 or not if someone tried to wipe there nose on my shirt I would respond violently. Its a shame if store policy is so strict that is impossible although in the video she almost looks like she doesn't care.

[Aptorian]

Statsministeren announced today that Denmark will be lifting many if not most of the lockdown orders by next week.

On Monday we begin phase 0 at the library where we will spend the week figuring out how to plan our routines around new health and safety requirements, setting up plexiglass, making space, etc.

Next Monday phase 1 starts and we reopen partially. People will be permitted to return books and pick up reserved books. Nothing else. Rest of the library is closed until we know how to adapt.

We've been closed for almost two months. Going to be weird going back. I grew fond of my couch.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 07 May 2020 - 08:00 PM

[QuickTidal]

Aptorian, on 07 May 2020 - 07:59 PM, said:

Statsministeren announced today that Denmark will be lifting many if not most of the lockdown orders by next week.

On Monday we begin phase 0 at the library where we will spend the week figuring out how to plan our routines around new health and safety requirements, setting up plexiglass, making space, etc.

Next Monday phase 1 starts and we reopen partially. People will be permitted to return books and pick up reserved books. Nothing else. Rest of the library is closed until we know how to adapt.

We've been closed for almost two months. Going to be weird going back. I grew fond of my couch.

Good luck. We are curious here what our libraries will do with all the books returned after quarantine....do they get disinfected to protect staff/patrons against possible covid lingering in/on them?

[Aptorian]

We've gotten some mixed messages. On the one hand we heard early on that the materials can be contaminated for 2-3 days. On the other, we've been told that books do not need to be quarantined when they're returned... Which I'm pretty sure is because our Central Sorting Facility doesn't have the space needed to house tens of thousands of books.

As it stands, people will be asked to place the materials in a big cage for milk crates and those cages will be picked up in the mornings. So we will have less contact with the materials but those same materials are being put in cases and sent back to us the next day so...

[QuickTidal]

Aptorian, on 07 May 2020 - 08:29 PM, said:

We've gotten some mixed messages. On the one hand we heard early on that the materials can be contaminated for 2-3 days. On the other, we've been told that books do not need to be quarantined when they're returned... Which I'm pretty sure is because our Central Sorting Facility doesn't have the space needed to house tens of thousands of books.

As it stands, people will be asked to place the materials in a big cage for milk crates and those cages will be picked up in the mornings. So we will have less contact with the materials but those same materials are being put in cases and sent back to us the next day so...

Very interesting to know! Thanks!

[Aptorian]

I'm sitting and reading the numbers for outgoing and incoming materials when we reopen the Library.

There's currently 267,000 checked out materials in Copenhagen. Meaning, if we assume that these numbers were evenly split out across the 20 libraries in Copenhagen, and everyone are ready to return their materials, we can expect people to return more than 10,000 books, cd's, games, etc. in the opening weeks. That's a crazy number and it's going to do a number on our bookshelves. Those materials are normally in circulation so we don't have to house them as they're always in transport between libraries our checked out. As a reference, we're one of the libraries with the biggest collections and have around 26,000 materials home in any given day. There's room for around 30-40 materials in the transport boxes we use. That would mean that if we were packing say 70-80% of these materials for redistrubition as normal, we'd need at least 200 transport boxes. Normally on average we receive and send out around 15-30 boxes per day.

We're going to need a bigger library.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 08 May 2020 - 10:54 AM