Covid-19 - The silver lining (Positives!)

[Nearholmer]

That Iranian device may not be science fiction, given that the military are at the forefront of portable, rapid-acting bio-detector/identifier technologies, in order to detect/identify bio-attacks.

 

The technology of the much-talked-about "pregnancy test" antibody tests seem to have originated in military applications, for instance. 

 

If you google around, there is a lot of scientific literature on the topic, discussing multiple different techniques, and, as with anything primarily military, there are doubtless developments that haven't been made public yet.

 

Trouble is, there are also doubtless scams, official and unofficial.

 

(It doesn't help the credibility of the Iranian national Guard that their Maj Gen has a name that sounds made-up, does it?)

 

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Neil]

On a lighter note we get to see what people get up when they've time on their hands at home.

[Hroth]

27 minutes ago, Neil said:

On a lighter note we get to see what people get up when they've time on their hands at home.

 

It was bad enough having him show us his monkey puzzle tree...

 

 

 

[Gilbert]

32 minutes ago, delticfan said:

Maybe I am but you don’t see many McDonalds in this country putting posters up saying no blacks allowed. The sooner we reduce what we buy from China the better most of its crap anyway.

I quite like my various Rapido model trains...

[Reorte]

I am enjoying the quiet when I go for an evening stroll, much less traffic noise (particularly the dual carriageway, although it's still busy-ish during the day with lorries).

 

[APOLLO]

The west coast mainline nearby is very very quiet, an odd pendolino and EMU every so often, one or two container trains noticeably the "Tesco Express" Daventry to Glasgow, always on time / early these days but still goes like stink up Boars Head bank !!.

 

Skys noticeably clearer with very little air traffic. 

 

Eerily quiet on our street.

 

I'm looking forward to normality, lots of trains thundering past & a sky full of transatlantics criss crossing over Wigan. If those don't return there will be no silver linings.

 

Brit15

[chris p bacon]

1 hour ago, delticfan said:

Maybe I am but you don’t see many McDonalds in this country putting posters up saying no blacks allowed. The sooner we reduce what we buy from China the better most of its crap anyway.

 

Oh the irony.....you quote a huge American company that tries to fill the world with its restaurants so that an American is never far from home where ever he is in the world.

If you want a comparison with China then McDonalds is a good one to choose, My BiL is a McDonalds franchisee with 17 restaurants and the handbook they have to work to is more strict and controlling than the Chinese Communist party.  The Chinese diet may be strange to us, but McD's have given us obesity and litter. 

 

Back on topic.

 

For me it's the quiet during the day as well as evening, we are near the A1 and there isn't the usual droning noise. 

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, delticfan said:

Maybe I am but you don’t see many McDonalds in this country putting posters up saying no blacks allowed. The sooner we reduce what we buy from China the better most of its crap anyway.

You really do get the wrong end of sticks, don't you? I wonder which redtop you read? Africans, who are numerous on short visas in Guangzhou, have been regarded among Chinese, rightly or wrongly, as bringing Covid-19 into their country. Do you think that might worry some people? Would it worry locals where you live? Anyway, an overzealous manager put out a sign to keep his local clients 'safe'. McDonalds have rightly reacted with contrition. Meanwhile in the UK, primitives are setting fire to 5G antennae because they believe they are transmitting and propagating  Covid-19. Even more extreme ignorance in your own backyard. 

[russ p]

Over the weekend I worked some of the diverted supermarket trains on the east coast,  no traffic on the roads when driving the hire car to the Midlands and once on the trains not seeing and red lights from the Midlands to the NE and vice a versa 

Was good but very eerie 

[Ian Hargrave]

3 hours ago, delticfan said:

Maybe I am but you don’t see many McDonalds in this country putting posters up saying no blacks allowed. The sooner we reduce what we buy from China the better most of its crap anyway.

 
You have a chip the size of a rock on your shoulder.Best for all of us you got rid of your prejudice from this forum.When we need a positive message,yours is the kind none of us need.

[big jim]

4 hours ago, russ p said:

Over the weekend I worked some of the diverted supermarket trains on the east coast,  no traffic on the roads when driving the hire car to the Midlands and once on the trains not seeing and red lights from the Midlands to the NE and vice a versa 

Was good but very eerie 

I had a last minute job Easter Sunday, an absolutely clear drive to and from rugby in the hire car, the M6 toll was so quiet that there were 4 deer including a huge stag on the hard shoulder near chase water, glad they didn’t run out onto the main carriageway though!

 

the Trafford park job I’m on has been arriving a good 30 mins early into the terminal as there are no passenger services to delay us between Crewe and Manchester, it’s normally running on yellows from Wilmslow but now we’re greens all the way including the notorious castlefield corridor 

[Ozexpatriate]

Animals in shuttered US national parks are enjoying not having any tourists.

 

Black bears are strolling down the road at Yosemite.

[big jim]

Happening closer to (our) home too 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-52109712/coronavirus-goats-take-over-deserted-llandudno

[big jim]

Oh and while I’m here......

 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tomswalkforthenhs

 

a true inspiration to us all 

[LBRJ]

21 minutes ago, big jim said:

Oh and while I’m here......

 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tomswalkforthenhs

 

a true inspiration to us all 

 

Thats the kind of good news I hoped to see on here when I looked in for the first time in ages

I been following his doings on Breakfast TV and it made me cry

 

It is far better than "some liberals" and "some others" beating each other with sticks about thier perfectly valid personal thoughts

 

I thought one good thing about all this is that people were more "together" (well they are round me) but obviously not all over.....

[great central]

6 hours ago, big jim said:

I had a last minute job Easter Sunday, an absolutely clear drive to and from rugby in the hire car, the M6 toll was so quiet that there were 4 deer including a huge stag on the hard shoulder near chase water, glad they didn’t run out onto the main carriageway though!

 

the Trafford park job I’m on has been arriving a good 30 mins early into the terminal as there are no passenger services to delay us between Crewe and Manchester, it’s normally running on yellows from Wilmslow but now we’re greens all the way including the notorious castlefield corridor 

 

Yep, now we're only going as far as Sheffield instead of through to Liverpool most of our services are running on time. Almost empty it must be said but still carrying some key workers.

[Re6/6]

https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-captain-tom-moore-fundraiser-nhs-064610688.html

 

He's done it! He's a national treasure.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Re6/6

[russ p]

2 hours ago, great central said:

 

Yep, now we're only going as far as Sheffield instead of through to Liverpool most of our services are running on time. Almost empty it must be said but still carrying some key workers.

 

I saw that last weekend,  how come still a four car between Sheffield and Nottingham or are four cars coming all the way to Norwich? 

[Jol Wilkinson]

7 hours ago, LBRJ said:

 

Thats the kind of good news I hoped to see on here when I looked in for the first time in ages

I been following his doings on Breakfast TV and it made me cry

 

It is far better than "some liberals" and "some others" beating each other with sticks about thier perfectly valid personal thoughts

 

I thought one good thing about all this is that people were more "together" (well they are round me) but obviously not all over.....

I made the mistake of switching over to Good Morning Britain on ITV today, only to hear Piers Morgan speaking. That made me cry.

 

Who knows what silver lining we can expect. I believe that most of our society will wish to return to pre-pandemic "normal" very quickly, wanting to enjoy those things that they previously enjoyed such as air travel, overseas holidays, cruises, car travel, etc. and of which the side effects have been pleasantly missing for a few weeks.

[Nearholmer]

Very pleasant silver-lining bit of deja-vu when I was out in the garden earlier.

 

I grew-up on the edge of a small country town, and now live in the middle of a large, if very low-density, city, so the absence of low-level traffic hum, and the birds being the loudest things, keeps reminding me of childhood.

 

This morning the wood pigeons were pretty voluble, and as I stepped into a patch of bright sunshine, I had a "time travel" moment ........ I realised that the only sound missing from childhood was the background burbling of the chickens that we used to keep.

[great central]

1 hour ago, russ p said:

 

I saw that last weekend,  how come still a four car between Sheffield and Nottingham or are four cars coming all the way to Norwich? 

 

Yes four car between Nottingham and Sheffield still, suppose nobody's thought of reducing it. I've not had passenger numbers in double figures for the last couple of weeks so lots of fresh air being moved.

One four car is going to Norwich today I think, cos the universal toilet is faulty on the unit that should work through.

We keep sending in passenger counts so maybe it'll get reduced. Rumours persisting of a further service reduction soon, may depend on what's announced later today. If the thought is that lockdown can be eased in, hopefully, 3 weeks I doubt they'd go to the trouble of rejigging everything to then change it again when people are allowed to travel a bit more.

[Neil]

Not all silver linings will come from the UK. Compared to much of Europe Portugal seems to be managing Coronavirus far better. While not a happy by-product in itself it does demonstrate how it should and could have been done.

[Reorte]

On 16/04/2020 at 08:11, great central said:

 

Yep, now we're only going as far as Sheffield instead of through to Liverpool most of our services are running on time. Almost empty it must be said but still carrying some key workers.

East Midlands? I was starting to think it was a bit odd that I'd only seen Northern and Transpennine trains in the Chinley area.

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, Neil said:

Not all silver linings will come from the UK. Compared to much of Europe Portugal seems to be managing Coronavirus far better. While not a happy by-product in itself it does demonstrate how it should and could have been done.

Similar in Poland - they went for an early, fairly hard lockdown, and are now able to start easing it as they've only got <10k cases.

[BoD]

TRAFFIC is gone, PETROL is affordable,
BILLS extended.
KIDS are at home with their FAMILIES.
PARENTS are home taking care of their CHILDREN.
FAST FOOD replaced by HOME COOKED MEALS.
Hectic SCHEDULES replaced by NAPS, REST, and RELAXATION.
The AIR seems CLEANER.
The WORLD quieter.
PEOPLE are conscious about HYGIENE and HEALTH.
MONEY doesn't seem to make the WORLD GO ROUND anymore.
DOCTORS AND NURSES are being praised and recognised instead of athletes and celebrities
And WE now have TIME, finally,
to STOP and SMELL the ROSES.