Summer 2020 Banter and random observations

[kdxken]

10 minutes ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

I had been thinking about getting into a new line of work but the beer/ brewing world still has some job security so I guess I should count my blessings.

https://www.boston.com/food/beer/2020/08/03/somerville-brewing-co-closed

[MaineJayhawk]

1 hour ago, dryslot said:

On a better note, What a beaut at Portland Headlight this morning

 

Looks like yesterday morning.   It was cloud-free today

[Baroclinic Zone]

3 minutes ago, kdxken said:

https://www.boston.com/food/beer/2020/08/03/somerville-brewing-co-closed

Used to see there brews around pretty readily.  Hadn't seen much of there stuff though over the last couple years,  Too focused on the Taproom as opposed to can sales, which are where brewers have migrated?

[ORH_wxman]

Amazing day on the lake 

 

[ORH_wxman]

1 hour ago, CoastalWx said:

That has been stressful for us parents. My wife is a bag of nerves. 

Megan has been in the teacher’s union meetings the past couple weeks....and they are getting a lot of pressure from the outside to just return to school with very little safety precautions in place. I was saying that the union should demand hazard pay if they are gonna be forced to teach in front of a couple hundred teens per day. 

[Baroclinic Zone]

6 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Amazing day on the lake 

 

Nice, you get around at all?  We did takeout a few nights.  Venezia on Rt 302 in Bridgton is phenomenal.  Campfire Grill is good.  The Chef/Owner used to work at Barrett's group locally and The Charlie Horse in Kingston. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Italian-Restaurant/Venezia-Ristorante-136601843045568/

https://thecampfiregrille.com/

[ORH_wxman]

Just now, Baroclinic Zone said:

Nice, you get around at all?  We did takeout a few nights.  Venezia on Rt 302 in Bridgton is phenomenal.  Campfire Grill is good.  The Chef/Owner used to work at Barrett's group locally and The Charlie Horse in Kingston. 

We’ve mostly been staying put. We did pick up a few items at hannfords and before the rain came in yesterday we got ice cream at the Gazebo.

We’ll grab some take out steamed lobsters tomorrow night from Mack’s probably. 

I actually haven’t done campfire grill yet. We’ve almost went a couple times in our past trips...we’ll def make the trip over there next time now that I know it’s good. 

[Lava Rock]

15 minutes ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Nice, you get around at all?  We did takeout a few nights.  Venezia on Rt 302 in Bridgton is phenomenal.  Campfire Grill is good.  The Chef/Owner used to work at Barrett's group locally and The Charlie Horse in Kingston. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Italian-Restaurant/Venezia-Ristorante-136601843045568/

https://thecampfiregrille.com/

my wife's fav italian place

[CoastalWx]

24 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Megan has been in the teacher’s union meetings the past couple weeks....and they are getting a lot of pressure from the outside to just return to school with very little safety precautions in place. I was saying that the union should demand hazard pay if they are gonna be forced to teach in front of a couple hundred teens per day. 

We had a meeting yesterday and actually most of the reactions from parents were to not have kids go to school. Weymouth is a pretty big school system and I think many feel safer to not have their kids go in. And yeah...agree with the hazard pay. That's ridiculous.

[NW_of_GYX]

29 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Amazing day on the lake 

 

Can confirm it is a fantastic day here in Bridgton. 

[weatherwiz]

We can all just hope and pray that the phase 3 trials by Moderna/Oxford will yield great success and hopefully in the meantime additional treatments will have been found. Was reading something about some treatments in the works to help with antibody response. There is just no way the world can continue to operate the way we are. But the problem is as soon as you open up...boom. Something is going to have to give. Somehow...CT continues to just have this under control. It's gotta be pushing 4-5...maybe 6 weeks now where the daily percent of positive tests has been under one. There have only been a handful of days where it was just over 1. but bars/clubs can't open b/c the fear numbers will rise. Hospitalizations have been up/down...they did get as low as 53 I think but are just above 60 now. 

I know a few teachers...some have kids and they are petrified about going back to school. One of my friends who is around 30 is a teacher (no kids) but she has underlying health issues and lives with her grandfather and takes care of him who also has issues. I can't even imagine what parents/teachers are going through. There are huge arguments for both sides of the spectrum and the worst part is how the hell do you know which side is correct? 

[Ginx snewx]

Hazard pay, millions of essentials should have gotten it since March. They supported us when we were locked down. Interesting that some are able to demand it while most have no say.

[PhineasC]

9 minutes ago, weatherwiz said:

We can all just hope and pray that the phase 3 trials by Moderna/Oxford will yield great success and hopefully in the meantime additional treatments will have been found. Was reading something about some treatments in the works to help with antibody response. There is just no way the world can continue to operate the way we are. But the problem is as soon as you open up...boom. Something is going to have to give. Somehow...CT continues to just have this under control. It's gotta be pushing 4-5...maybe 6 weeks now where the daily percent of positive tests has been under one. There have only been a handful of days where it was just over 1. but bars/clubs can't open b/c the fear numbers will rise. Hospitalizations have been up/down...they did get as low as 53 I think but are just above 60 now. 

I know a few teachers...some have kids and they are petrified about going back to school. One of my friends who is around 30 is a teacher (no kids) but she has underlying health issues and lives with her grandfather and takes care of him who also has issues. I can't even imagine what parents/teachers are going through. There are huge arguments for both sides of the spectrum and the worst part is how the hell do you know which side is correct? 

The silliest part is that very few people saw this coming, even though it was clear we'd end up here.

I was saying in March that all we were doing was kicking the can down the road with the schools. The risk factors will be the same in September as they were in March.

It's like a slow-motion train wreck.

[PhineasC]

1 minute ago, Ginx snewx said:

Hazard pay, millions of essentials should have gotten it since March. They supported us when we were locked down. Interesting that some are able to demand it while most have no say.

Imagine being someone who had to stock the shelves at Target every day since March so housewives could browse for bathing suits and blenders having to listen to teachers demand extra special treatment just for them?

[powderfreak]

17 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

(Not saying you), but I find it weird that teachers seem to be the only group not being asked to assume some risk returning to work. Everyone is assuming some sort of risk leaving their home and going to work, why should they be any different? As long as reasonable precautions are taken, what more can you ask?

Not being asked to assume some risk?  You are packing a lot of bodies into extremely poorly ventilated, old school buildings for hours and hours at a time.  I don't blame teachers for looking for something other than the same ol' same ol' school day. 

[PhineasC]

2 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Not being asked to assume some risk?  You are packing a lot of bodies into extremely poorly ventilated, old school buildings for hours and hours at a time.  I don't blame teachers for looking for something other than the same ol' same ol' school day. 

Plenty of folks packing themselves into poorly ventilated factories and warehouses so we can keep ordering crap online, however.

[powderfreak]

1 minute ago, PhineasC said:

Imagine being someone who had to stock the shelves at Target every day since March so housewives could browse for bathing suits and blenders having to listen to teachers demand extra special treatment just for them?

Sounds like a normal day in a non-union job vs. a job with a union, ha.

Every Target employee since the dawn of time has been saying "Can you imagine being able to negotiate for more paid time off or better health coverage instead of them just telling us to shove it?!"

[Baroclinic Zone]

Teachers have a very powerful voice in their Unions.

[powderfreak]

Just now, PhineasC said:

Plenty of folks packing themselves into poorly ventilated factories and warehouses so we can keep ordering crap online, however.

For sure.  I just think if I had a union I would use it to negotiate those terms. 

But yes this whole thing hasn't been "fair" and honestly life hasn't been "fair" for many people long before COVID. 

[tunafish]

I think school systems should plan for full-time remote learning, if they're not already.

The moment a teacher or student tests positive, they'll close down the school.  Maybe for only 2 weeks at a time, but that'll get tiresome by winter after a few bouts of having to shut down.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

Just now, powderfreak said:

For sure.  I just think if I had a union I would use it to negotiate those terms. 

But yes this whole thing hasn't been "fair" and honestly life hasn't been "fair" for many people long before COVID. 

Yup. Covid has simply exposed it. However, the ruling class and majority of our politicians don’t care. What is good for them and only them....everyone else, shut up and produce. 

[PhineasC]

1 minute ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Yup. Covid has simply exposed it. However, the ruling class and majority of our politicians don’t care. What is good for them and only them....everyone else, shut up and produce. 

I haven't seen many of those loudly calling for schools to remain closed having much to say about those workers at Target or in the warehouses, however. Funny how that is happening...

[ORH_wxman]

5 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

Plenty of folks packing themselves into poorly ventilated factories and warehouses so we can keep ordering crap online, however.

Those other groups should have demanded hazard pay. Some got it actually because some of those workers were unionized and other companies voluntarily started offering hazard pay. But many people did not get it.

Schools are one of the worst though for environment. My wife’s classroom is poorly ventilated and has no windows. Packing a bunch of teenagers in there who will be lazy about keeping their masks on correctly is definitely a breeding ground for super spreader events. 

[CoastalWx]

If you told me that goods or whatever will go up 5% in order to help all those workers increase pay...I would have zero issues with it. I have to think a majority of the population would not mind either.  

[PhineasC]

1 minute ago, CoastalWx said:

If you told me that goods or whatever will go up 5% in order to help all those workers increase pay...I would have zero issues with it. I have to think a majority of the population would not mind either.  

Well, since fair is fair, if we close the schools and parents have to take on a much larger share of educating their kids (not a bad thing), then let's lower taxes 5% to offset that increase in prices for goods. 

[powderfreak]

2 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

I haven't seen many of those loudly calling for schools to remain closed having much to say about those workers at Target or in the warehouses, however. Funny how that is happening...

Personally I'd rather take my chances at an Amazon fulfillment center though than the High School classrooms I grew up in (maybe fire code now makes it so the windows can open?)... I still don't think any of those get the contact time person to person that you get in a school classroom with 30 people packed into a space smaller than your Randolph living room lol. 

But yes, everyone should be getting hazard pay.  I thought what we considered "essential businesses" was ludicrous from the start... essential business means access to all the luxuries Americans are used to...essential to living or not.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

Just now, ORH_wxman said:

Those other groups should have demanded hazard pay. Some got it actually because some of those workers were unionized and other companies voluntarily started offering hazard pay. But many people did not get it.

Schools are one of the worst though for environment. My wife’s classroom is poorly ventilated and has no windows. Packing a bunch of teenagers in there who will be lazy about keeping their masks on correctly is definitely a breeding ground for super spreader events. 

Especially when you have teenagers goofing off or making bets about who gets it first. Our kids aren’t raised in communism where they are soldiers, and all fall in line. Freedom to act anyway is great but certainly has its downfalls when that act is a detriment to others and the greater good. There is no perfect solution...someone will take issue with whatever is presented. 

My 4yr old son was supposed to go full time OT at his elementary school, to prep him for kindergarten next year, but we may decide to keep him at daycare instead. Only 10 kids in his daycare with 1 or 2 of the same teachers compared to the exposure of a bigger elementary school. Still undecided but why take the risk when we don’t have to. To those who have school age kids, though, not an easy decision. 

It’s tough all the way around. 

[CoastalWx]

1 minute ago, PhineasC said:

Well, since fair is fair, if we close the schools and parents have to take on a much larger share of educating their kids (not a bad thing), then let's lower taxes 5% to offset that increase in prices for goods. 

Well we know that won't happen...lol. I'm just thinking about the low wage jobs. If I paid a few more bucks on groceries and goods..it wouldn't bother me.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

9 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

If you told me that goods or whatever will go up 5% in order to help all those workers increase pay...I would have zero issues with it. I have to think a majority of the population would not mind either.  

Most would sign off on that. The problem is the higher prices wouldn’t trickle down to increasing low paid jobs...it’s straight to the corps bottom line greasing the pockets of shareholders. Maybe they’d throw a quarter down to the minions like Uncle Scrooge. 

[CoastalWx]

1 minute ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Most would sign off on that. The problem is the higher prices wouldn’t trickle down to increasing low paid jobs...it’s straight to the corps bottom line greasing the pockets of shareholders. Maybe they’d throw a quarter down to the minions like Uncle Scrooge. 

Yeah that's another story. Anyways, just me in my naive own little world.