Off Topic Thread 4.0

mfceiling

molloyjh wrote: »

We dont unfortunately. And I'm not sure she'd be able to sit still that long. She's very......independent. Also head strong and stubborn. We've tried to vary things as much as we can. We've cooked and baked with her. Arts & crafts. My OH even had her doing yoga for a few days. We had obstacle courses out the back, hop-scotch, got her on scooters and her first (no peddle) bike. But nothing beats the freedom to go for a wander or a run for her. And our garden is just too small & awkward for that.

I had a little one like that as well!! The bike thing was actually grand...the kids chair bit had a harness she couldn't open. To get fair once she was strapped in and was on the move she really enjoyed it.

She's 14 now and a royal pain in the arse.

sydthebeat

mfceiling wrote: »

She's 14 now and a royal pain in the arse.

I've a 25yo

They don't get any better!

mfceiling

sydthebeat wrote: »

I've a 25yo

They don't get any better!

That's great to know!! Unbelievable how much they "know" at that age. I'm fairly sure I wasn't allowed to have an opinion on anything at that age.

sydthebeat

mfceiling wrote: »

That's great to know!! Unbelievable how much they "know" at that age. I'm fairly sure I wasn't allowed to have an opinion on anything at that age.

And absolutely everything that goes wrong in the world is your fault!!

Zzippy

My eldest was 3 today. We had to keep it low key and manage expectations, we'll have a party for him when this all passes, but it was sad he couldn't share it with his cousins, or a hug from nanny. We couldn't even get him a decent present with everywhere closed. Lucky we've a big garden and live on a quiet country road so can get out for walks, but his tantrums are definitely getting worse with the lack of social interaction and regular activities.

Was there meant to be a fireworks display in Dublin tonight does anyone know?

mfceiling

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Was there meant to be a fireworks display in Dublin tonight does anyone know?

Few going off around here and the kids were out with torches.

Clegg

mfceiling wrote: »

Few going off around here and the kids were out with torches.

Same around.my area. Candles and fireworks.

Neil3030

pickarooney wrote: »

The danger with France,.and Spain prior, showing no signs of improvement after 4 weeks of lockdown is that other countries will point to it say such measures are useless and rush back to work. They can also point to Sweden and conclude that no-lockdown seems to be going OK.

On what measurement are you basing the statement "showing no signs of improvement", in the case of both France and Spain?

Neil3030

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Belgium is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. There’s no real value comparing the number of cases per capita

Belgium is indeed fairly densely populated but the story is a little more nuanced there. Worst hit regions by far (per capita) are in the eastern parts of Flanders where the population density is quite low, but you'd have large pockets of Italian immigrants, by now 2nd or 3rd generation to those who came in the 50s and 60s to work in the coal mines. You could imagine the combination of winter vacationing back in Italy, and large families meeting regularly for meals etc., were likely catalysts for the spread. The more densely populated regions like Antwerp, Brussels, etc., are actually not that badly hit (per capita). However, the virus has badly affected nursing homes, some reporting up to 75% infection amongst the service users.

(Source: Belgian wife).

Bazzo

Have just discovered that the UK isn't even counting deaths in nursing homes in their official Covid-19 numbers... Bonkers when it looks like at least half the deaths in Ireland so far are from nursing home clusters.

pickarooney

Neil3030 wrote: »

On what measurement are you basing the statement "showing no signs of improvement", in the case of both France and Spain?

Deaths and confirmed cases have been around the 1000 mark for a week, there have been occasional slight drops then rises. Most nursing homes are now affected. Healthy medical staff are becoming rare.
Four weeks in, anyone that was confined with the virus should either be dead or recovered.

Bazzo

Bazzo wrote: »

Have just discovered that the UK isn't even counting deaths in nursing homes in their official Covid-19 numbers... Bonkers when it looks like at least half the deaths in Ireland so far are from nursing home clusters.

Prior to the brexit vote and the most recent election I felt there was a noticeable surge of bullshlt on social media often in lock step with the narrative being set by the right wing rags and government. I don't engage on social media at all and read it sparingly but even with that small level of exposure it's clear at times that a message is being pushed artificially.

The Tories have an astounding PR machine. Hancock and Patel would be eviscerated for their recent missteps and utterances if they were Labour or Lib dem reps. Patel had a bit of nightmare reading a statement yesterday but saw no negative coverage as a result, imagine how it would be reported if that was Diane Abbot...

That PR machine is once again putting in the hard yards - even BBC journalists have been instructed to softball according to John Humphrys. There is no opposition at all to the government, Labour are being allowed to regroup but you can't help but feel that Starmer is about to have his reputation gradually destroyed.

I've no doubt the UK government will work far far harder to gaslight the voting public into thinking their management of the covid crisis was on point, rather than putting that effort into actually fighting the damn thing.

Podge_irl

pickarooney wrote: »

Deaths and confirmed cases have been around the 1000 mark for a week, there have been occasional slight drops then rises. Most nursing homes are now affected. Healthy medical staff are becoming rare.
Four weeks in, anyone that was confined with the virus should either be dead or recovered.

The number of deaths and new cases not rising is an improvement though.

Zzippy

Bazzo wrote: »

Have just discovered that the UK isn't even counting deaths in nursing homes in their official Covid-19 numbers... Bonkers when it looks like at least half the deaths in Ireland so far are from nursing home clusters.

They are also not counting deaths in hospital where the person hasn't tested positive before dying, so if a test result isn't back before then that death is not counted. UK media was in overdrive when Italy was experiencing their worst daily death tolls but nothing now. But hey, Boris was well enough to watch Lord of the Rings - hold the front page!

Neil3030

pickarooney wrote: »

Deaths and confirmed cases have been around the 1000 mark for a week, there have been occasional slight drops then rises. Most nursing homes are now affected. Healthy medical staff are becoming rare.
Four weeks in, anyone that was confined with the virus should either be dead or recovered.

Every day the raw figures remain constant, the proportional increase is reducing. With an infectious disease, which would otherwise spread exponentially, it's the measure of successful containment.

thomond2006

Anyone playing the FF7 Remake? I'm really enjoying it so far.

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

Anyone playing the FF7 Remake? I'm really enjoying it so far.

PS4 exclusive right now

Clegg

thomond2006 wrote: »

Anyone playing the FF7 Remake? I'm really enjoying it so far.

It's great. Such a treat to see Midgar in high resolution.

I've read some criticism about the amount of 'padding' this game has. But it also.leads to more time spent with your party and greater characterization. Which is a.good thing.

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

Anyone playing the FF7 Remake? I'm really enjoying it so far.

Never really got into the Final Fantasy games.

Enjoying Mount and Blade 2 at the moment.

Neil3030

Any suggestions for a bluetooth keyboard to work with a macbook pro? (The new Macbook with the ****ty keyboard)

awec

thomond2006 wrote: »

Anyone playing the FF7 Remake? I'm really enjoying it so far.

I never played any final fantasy games but enjoyed the demo of this. Didn’t realise that progress doesn’t carry over though or I wouldn’t have bothered putting much effort in!

Neil3030

Neil3030 wrote: »

Any suggestions for a bluetooth keyboard to work with a macbook pro? (The new Macbook with the ****ty keyboard)

Not sure if it will work for you but this is my main keyboard and I love it: https://www.logitech.com/en-roeu/product/living-room-keyboard-k830?crid=27

It has some limitations from a gaming perspective but it's very compact and easy to use. Battery lasts forever and it feels nice to type on, very easy for one handed typing also.

I have a pretty decent mechanical gaming keyboard but I really only take that out for a limited selection of games - I generally gravitate to the k830. This is the most user friendly keyboard I've ever had and particularly handy if you use your PC to stream movies or games to your TV.

Former Former

Neil3030 wrote: »

Any suggestions for a bluetooth keyboard to work with a macbook pro? (The new Macbook with the ****ty keyboard)

Odd that boards' systems would censor 'qwerty'

Former Former

Former Former wrote: »

Odd that boards' systems would censor 'qwerty'

People who use homophobic language overlap substantially with people who can't spell for ****e.

Neil3030

Deleted User wrote: »

Not sure if it will work for you but this is my main keyboard and I love it: https://www.logitech.com/en-roeu/product/living-room-keyboard-k830?crid=27

It has some limitations from a gaming perspective but it's very compact and easy to use. Battery lasts forever and it feels nice to type on, very easy for one handed typing also.

I have a pretty decent mechanical gaming keyboard but I really only take that out for a limited selection of games - I generally gravitate to the k830. This is the most user friendly keyboard I've ever had and particularly handy if you use your PC to stream movies or games to your TV.

Nah, not gaming, sadly; have a work laptop home with me, and I've already broken the 'F' key.

Neil3030

Neil3030 wrote: »

Nah, not gaming, sadly; have a work laptop home with me, and I've already broken the 'F' key.

My condolences

Stheno

Neil3030 wrote: »

Any suggestions for a bluetooth keyboard to work with a macbook pro? (The new Macbook with the ****ty keyboard)

Do macbooks not have USB ports?

Neil3030

Stheno wrote: »

Do macbooks not have USB ports?

Yeah they have USB-C, so with a little converter thingy you can plug in USB.

Stheno

Neil3030 wrote: »

Yeah they have USB-C, so with a little converter thingy you can plug in USB.

Apologies for the stupid question

I've been working from home for weeks and couldn't go into the office to collect any kit (had laptop and headset) so I bought a wireless logitech keyboard and mouse online from Currys

Youd need the adapter thought as its USB not usbc

Matt Damon whilst trapped or 'locked down' on Mars in the Martian, had to survive purely on potatoes.

Now he is stuck in Ireland during Covid19.

Coincidence? I think not.

connemara man

If you need a laugh today

https://twitter.com/J_CartwrightN0T/status/1249281846065668096?s=09

CatFromHue

he'll lose marks for that dismount

CatFromHue

CatFromHue wrote: »

he'll lose marks for that dismount

At least it will be a distraction from no longer being able to walk.

Neil3030

That video reminded me to check in on the lastest dancing coffin meme compilation, and it was the first clip :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL8_I7S9siU

CatFromHue

https://twitter.com/Ciara_Knight/status/1242872475391754240

Buer

I was speaking with family in Australia earlier. I've been following their numbers which are impressively low and asked how they're achieving these. The Aussies don't mess about when it comes to these things. They went very hard after contact tracing and testing from the off which pinpointed the spreaders and locked them down as quickly and aggressively as possible. All borders are now closed not just internationally but interstate. Most highways have checkpoints set up throughout the day turning back anyone who does not reside in the location. Only returning citizens are now allowed enter the country. After they do, they're brought from their flight on a bus to a hotel where they're locked down with the army patrolling the hotel to ensure no exceptions.

The hospitals have all necessary PPE which makes Europe look completely ill prepared. Every doctor and nuse has gown, face mask, face shield, gloves etc. without exception and very few cases have occurred relative to European countries. In Ireland, 2,312 healthcare workers have been infected. In Victoria (which has a larger population than Ireland), there have been 162.

I believe Australia has performed several simulations and training excercises in recent years and had an entire documented plan ready to be enacted. The plan was reviewed and updated as recently as late last year.

Apparently they're not planning on opening their borders any time soon with government officials advising they expect it to be late 2020 or even 2021 when they do so. They're already on top of this but it appears they have little faith in the approaches of some other nations which have huge visitor numbers to Australia and will surely reintroduce another wave of infection if they did so.

Interesting to hear it and read up on it thereafter. Obviously exisiting relatively removed from most countries geographically hasn't hurt them but it's incredible to see a nation of 25 million people have only 61 deaths at this point.

swiwi_

Buer wrote: »

I was speaking with family in Australia earlier. I've been following their numbers which are impressively low and asked how they're achieving these. The Aussies don't mess about when it comes to these things. They went very hard after contact tracing and testing from the off which pinpointed the spreaders and locked them down as quickly and aggressively as possible. All borders are now closed not just internationally but interstate. Most highways have checkpoints set up throughout the day turning back anyone who does not reside in the location. Only returning citizens are now allowed enter the country. After they do, they're brought from their flight on a bus to a hotel where they're locked down with the army patrolling the hotel to ensure no exceptions.

The hospitals have all necessary PPE which makes Europe look completely ill prepared. Every doctor and nuse has gown, face mask, face shield, gloves etc. without exception and very few cases have occurred relative to European countries. In Ireland, 2,312 healthcare workers have been infected. In Victoria (which has a larger population than Ireland), there have been 162.

I believe Australia has performed several simulations and training excercises in recent years and had an entire documented plan ready to be enacted. The plan was reviewed and updated as recently as late last year.

Apparently they're not planning on opening their borders any time soon with government officials advising they expect it to be late 2020 or even 2021 when they do so. They're already on top of this but it appears they have little faith in the approaches of some other nations which have huge visitor numbers to Australia and will surely reintroduce another wave of infection if they did so.

Interesting to hear it and read up on it thereafter. Obviously exisiting relatively removed from most countries geographically hasn't hurt them but it's incredible to see a nation of 25 million people have only 61 deaths at this point.

They are likely to open the borders with nz imo. Both countries should be coronavirus free in a not too distant future. Population density is low in both countries, I don’t think you can compare to Europe really.

Increase in reporting on the possibility of re-infection.

Very concerning if true: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/13/who-officials-say-its-unclear-whether-recovered-coronavirus-patients-are-immune-to-second-infection.html

Neil3030

Not relevant yet. It would be much more irresponsible of them to instead say - "yup, looks good, no risk of re-infection" and risk pissing recovered patients that are still in lockdown.

Buer

swiwi_ wrote: »

They are likely to open the borders with nz imo. Both countries should be coronavirus free in a not too distant future. Population density is low in both countries, I don’t think you can compare to Europe really.

Yup, the Aussie government advised that they could potentially open borders with NZ but that would be it.

Obviously, there are a number of aspects which means it's hard to compare the antipodeans with this part of the world but they really do seem to have come down hard and implemented the basic things very effectively i.e. enforced isolation for those entering the country, excellent PPE for health workers etc.

Locking down borders is much harder to do in Europe and will never happen. But I see this as being a much more prolonged situation with peaks and troughs for us. I was surprised to see that Spain are opening elements of their economy again with construction and manufacturing being allowed to return to work.

Squidgy Black

Anyone see the absolute shíte McGregor's been tweeting? He had a go at Stenaline as if it was their fault the borders weren't closed, and that we should only be allowing deliveries of medical supplies and nothing else, that we can survive off Irish grown produce and other supplies.

It's mad how some people's coke fuelled rants have such a reach and gain support of so many.

sydthebeat

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Anyone see the absolute shíte McGregor's been tweeting? He had a go at Stenaline as if it was their fault the borders weren't closed, and that we should only be allowing deliveries of medical supplies and nothing else, that we can survive off Irish grown produce and other supplies.

It's mad how some people's coke fuelled rants have such a reach and gain support of so many.

Listening to some rants on FB would make you think that there are plane loads of rabid tourists coming into the country every single day.....

Squidgy Black

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Anyone see the absolute shíte McGregor's been tweeting? He had a go at Stenaline as if it was their fault the borders weren't closed, and that we should only be allowing deliveries of medical supplies and nothing else, that we can survive off Irish grown produce and other supplies.

It's mad how some people's coke fuelled rants have such a reach and gain support of so many.

Well apparently we're one of the most food secure nations on earth so I reckon we probably could feed ourselves, but the whole electricity situation wouldn't be great.

Squidgy Black

Sloane Nutritious Ham wrote: »

Well apparently we're one of the most food secure nations on earth so I reckon we probably could feed ourselves, but the whole electricity situation wouldn't be great.

Being food secure doesn't mean you produce enough food, it means you have ample supplies of food, that's quality and safe, as well as affordable.

We still rely on fairly large amounts of imports, particularly for fruit and veg. There was a report done a few years ago that over half the consumer spend on food products was imported goods, to the tune of €8 billion.

Podge_irl

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Being food secure doesn't mean you produce enough food, it means you have ample supplies of food, that's quality and safe, as well as affordable.

We still rely on fairly large amounts of imports, particularly for fruit and veg. There was a report done a few years ago that over half the consumer spend on food products was imported goods, to the tune of €8 billion.

I think, to be more precise, we produce enough food, its just not the food we are necessarily used to subsisting on.

Mind you, I may have to survive on gruyere cheese for the foreseeable.

Bazzo

If I have to subsist on steak and cheese for a few months for the good of mankind then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Former Former

Podge_irl wrote: »

I think, to be more precise, we produce enough food, its just not the food we are necessarily used to subsisting on.

Mind you, I may have to survive on gruyere cheese for the foreseeable.

Yeah, we produce enough food to feed the entire country twice over.

The problem is that we produce way too much of certain foods (eg beef and dairy) and none of many others. As long as import and export holds up, this is fine, but if international trade seizes up, we could be looking at a lot more beef and potatoes and a lot less avocado toast and mango smoothies.

irishbucsfan

Former Former wrote: »

Yeah, we produce enough food to feed the entire country twice over.

The problem is that we produce way too much of certain foods (eg beef and dairy) and none of many others. As long as import and export holds up, this is fine, but if international trade seizes up, we could be looking at a lot more beef and potatoes and a lot less avocado toast and mango smoothies.

I think a lot of our potatoes are grown in the UK now... at least my family married into a family of potato farmers in the North of England who would grow enough potatoes between them to keep Buer in coddle for decades, and that's all for Tesco in Ireland

OldRio

Talking of food production. If any of you have space to grow some vegetables it's a great time of the year to sow your seeds. If you're short of space try window boxes or containers. You can get great results.

We are fortunate. We grow about 70% of our food on the farm. Freezing and preserving helps during the winter alongside the winter veg that can be left in the ground.