The Vent and Rant Thread

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

But since we're venting and ranting, I'll toss in a rant about the folks firmly convinced that 5G cellular causes Coronavirus infection. Yes. They exist.

There are also people who insist the earth is flat, and all pictures from space that show them to be mistaken are fabricated and falsified.

I'm at an utter loss to understand this, beyond assuming utter ignorance and near terminal stupidity on the part of those making the claims.

Did you ever hear this quote?

"Have you ever noticed how _stupid_ the average person is? No think about it... half of the people are even worse."

edit: I see wodin mentioned that quote in a somewhat different form already. Now I feel dumb for missing that

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Airlines are dramatically hard hit. Travel is in the toilet. So are places that do lodging.

Would American taxpayers be happy give tens of miliions to an airline that's 90% owned by a consortia of Arab, Chinese, Singaporean and UK companies - some of which are foreign government owned?

Every time there's a crisis (SARS, H1N1, GFC etc) the local airlines have their hands out for taxpayer's money. I guess the idea that airlines are some sort of 'national icon' harks back to 17th century institutions like the Louisiana Company, East India Company etc. I'd rather allow foreign flagged airlines that complied to our safety standards to fly our domestic trunk routes and for us to subsidise local regional airlines. Many of the recent 'rescue' flights from Wuhan, Yokohama, Florida, Montevideo, Delhi… weren't Australian (Qantas or Virgin) flights, they were chartered planes with 'funny' livery, or in one case an RAAF Hercules.

We use empty hotels to quarantine returning residents for 14 days. And to house mildly infected persons who can't stay at home because of elderly parents etc. And hospital staff can stay in a hotel if they want to isolate themselves from family etc.

I never knew there were so many cruise ships, they are floating disaster incubators. I've lost count of how many have had to dock to offload sick passengers in Australian ports. At an educated guess 40% of Australia's cv19 deaths can be traced to cruise ships. It has also emerged that staff hop from ship to ship - as in gig jobs - I think I knew that, but never thought about it. This may have facilitated the rapid spread of the virus between these ships scattered across every ocean.

BR

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

edit: I see wodin mentioned that quote in a somewhat different form already. Now I feel dumb for missing that

It's OK. I stole it from someone else.

[Rumpelteazer]

On Saturday, with less than an hour before closing it was quiet. Not just because of the Corona measures, but it was also raining. I'm standing at the counter, staring outside and I see three people walking by, one of which was very familiar. And she entered the store.

It was one of my uncle's (yes, that uncle) twin daughters, not sure which. She came in for a short chat.

She was visiting a friend for the day and they were on the way to get some ice cream.

I don't trust her. She claimed she didn't know anything about our other cousin's get together last summer. I don't believe it. The organizing cousin contacted her and her siblings directly through WhatApp and you can't tell me they had all changed their numbers (all four are very close, if one knows something they all do).

She then informed how the store's doing with the crisis. If we had closed, if it was busy, etc.

Incidentally the solicitor of my grandmother's estate is setting up the sale of the house to us and last week my uncle set some ridiculous demands before he wants to sign off on the sale. Some are in violation with the rulings of the various court cases. My father has already told the solicitor he's willing to go to court (if it isn't too expensive) to fight my uncle.

I doubt my cousin came to our town just to "spy" on us, although it wouldn't surprise me. But I doubt she came in because she just wanted to see how we're doing.

I still wish I could be a fly on the wall when the solicitor lets my uncle know he has to pay back the money he fraudulently took from my grandmother. Not just the €5000 he had agreed to and promised he would pay soon, but never did. But that we now want the full €25000 back. We know we'll never get it, we know that. But knowing he owes us is great. Even the solicitor is thoroughly fed up with my uncle. In the past we suspected it, because of little things. But now they don't mind showing it clearly.

[Rumpelteazer]

For years I've had a sort of subscription for the biggest train company that gives me a 40% discount during off peak hours. It's €50 a year. Not a lot, since I don't travel a huge amount by train I think I might just about get my €50 worth of discount out of it. But it doesn't look like I'll be traveling by train much, at least for the next couple of months and probably longer.

My subscription is up for renewal in a couple of weeks. And I've decided to cancel it. I logged on into my account but couldn't find where I can cancel. After much digging throughout the websites I found out that you can't cancel online. You have to call them. I know why they do it, making it harder to discourage people. But it's annoying to have to spend time on the phone instead of dealing with it in a couple of clicks.

I keep forgetting to call them. I just written it in my planner for tomorrow.

[HLS]

I am angry I have not received the Stimulus money yet. IRS always had my bank info from the payment plan I had paid off in January but when that IRS tool opened up April 17th I gave them my bank info. Check status just tells me I qualify and there is no date yet so check back later. I am sure I am not the only one but I really do need the money.

[HLS]

Originally Posted by trichobezoar

I "bought" a pack of 5 masks for $18.99 on eBay last week. This morning I checked to see if they had been delivered; the auction has been removed for some reason. Bogus sale? Scam?

The same thing happened to me. I purchased a cloth mask. as soon as I paid they canceled the listing. eBay sent me a tracking number but it never shipped. tracking just says awaiting acceptance since April 3rd. Luckily my friend in Florida got some respirator masks and sent me a pair.

[Hemmi]

Originally Posted by HLS

I am angry I have not received the Stimulus money yet.

I got my stimulus money a week and a half ago. My income has not been affected by COVID-19 at all. In fact, I probably work a little more than I did before. I don't need the money but I know plenty of people that do and they haven't gotten theirs yet. Makes no sense at all.

[BetterRed]

It's not stimulus money, it's disaster relief.

[Katsunami]

Because yoga schools are closed, my GF is doing yoga lessons online.

If I hear ONE MORE 20/30-something female yoga teacher stating she was...
- A lawyer/doctor/dentist/pilot/manager in $huge_company...
- And then met a yoga master from India/China/Japan/$faraway_eastern_country...
- Who changed her life, just by one lesson...
- After which she pleaded with him for a year for personal training...
- And he finally relented so she moved to $country to train for 5 years with $master...
- And she is now SO COMPLETELY HAPPY posting yoga video's online for betterment of the world...

I'm going to SCREAM MY HEAD OFF.

Yes. Of course. Every 20/30-something highly educated woman with a well-paying job immediately GRABS the EPIC chance to do a career switch from lawyer/doctor/dentist/pilot/$high_flying_profession to be an online yoga teacher, because it betters the world. (Does it also pay your bills better?) If I have to believe the video's, those chances are many, because eventually, every yoga master accepts any $random_woman into his house to train her for 5 years.

(Maybe so, going by the stories, the yoga masters apparently are all old men, and the women they teach are all young or at least clearly south of 40... but this thought process is going the wrong way.)

Just to say, I don't believe ZILCH.

[HLS]

Originally Posted by HLS

The same thing happened to me. I purchased a cloth mask. as soon as I paid they canceled the listing. eBay sent me a tracking number but it never shipped. tracking just says awaiting acceptance since April 3rd. Luckily my friend in Florida got some respirator masks and sent me a pair.

I finally got my mask. it sat at the local post office for 20 days then it shipped. Finally getting my Stimilous check on April 30 according to the IRS website. Not sure if I should save it or spend it. I may buy some of the ebooks sitting on my wish list

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by HLS

I finally got my mask. it sat at the local post office for 20 days then it shipped. Finally getting my Stimilous check on April 30 according to the IRS website. Not sure if I should save it or spend it. I may buy some of the ebooks sitting on my wish list

I put most of my stimulus payment in my savings account, but I'm definitely using a bit of it to stimulate my wish list.

And now a small related rant: people who get irate with me because I got mine already, as though I'm somehow responsible for them not getting theirs. Now, I understand the frustration of waiting, but still, I've had the following conversation at least 5 times in the past week:

Person: Did you get your stimulus payment yet?
Me: Yes, on the 15th.
Person: RAWR RAWR RAWR!

The rawring varies, but most of them came with a thinly veiled insinuation that I somehow don't need or deserve it. I'm not taking it personally because I know everyone is on edge right now, but still, I'm just not going to answer the stimulus payment question anymore. "Stimulus what? What's that?"

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I put most of my stimulus payment in my savings account, but I'm definitely using a bit of it to stimulate my wish list.

And now a small related rant: people who get irate with me because I got mine already, as though I'm somehow responsible for them not getting theirs. Now, I understand the frustration of waiting, but still, I've had the following conversation at least 5 times in the past week:

Person: Did you get your stimulus payment yet?
Me: Yes, on the 15th.
Person: RAWR RAWR RAWR!

The rawring varies, but most of them came with a thinly veiled insinuation that I somehow don't need or deserve it. I'm not taking it personally because I know everyone is on edge right now, but still, I'm just not going to answer the stimulus payment question anymore. "Stimulus what? What's that?"

I'm in no hurry to get it - it will go straight back to IRS when I file my 2019 taxes...

[Hemmi]

Mine's going right back out with property taxes. Had to add to it too.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

I'm in no hurry to get it - it will go straight back to IRS when I file my 2019 taxes...

Originally Posted by Hemmi

Mine's going right back out with property taxes. Had to add to it too.

Boomerang money.

Curious: is the $1,200 a one off payment, or salary replacement. I ask because we have both, a $500 one off to seniors etc, and a $500/week wage subsidy per employee to employers who are negatively impacted by covid19.

The latter, known as Jobkeeper, is riddled with loopholes. Furloughed part-time casuals who previously earned $200 a week, now get $500 a week for watching Netflix, political parties can claim it for their employees. Yet I know a young woman who can't get it because she hasn't lived here for more than 10 years, and she hasn't worked for her current employer (audiologist clinic) for 12 months or more.

BR