I think many of these companies are doing it to get better leases.

People are mentally ill at this point. Period.

A performance of Moulin Rouge in Chicago was canceled 2 weeks ago because ONE FUCKING GUY tested positive for Covid.

My neighbor's kids, who found babysitters, were having a date night to go to it. Their whole night got screwed over a glorified common cold.

When I found out I was like

BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!! what a bunch of knuckleheads. I would NEVER buy tickets to a show in dipshitterly land. I used to do shows in Chicago all the time. My money stays in my wallet now, until the mental fuckery ends. Let them cancel shows, piss people off, and just go bankrupt.

I will not support any private institution that won't wake up from this nonsense. I love having money in my bank account--maybe I will buy another sports car :tup:

^^^^

I agree with that last point. GT3 it is! :cheers:

Anyways, car fantasies aside... yeah at this point, its a mental illness. At least for anybody vaccinated or not so out of wack that the wind can kill them.

Nobody has gotten sick at my work. Ever since the masks when away. The plague has done its sweep and this new variant doing work by silently getting folks more antibody's. Could be seasonal allergies or some sniffles that go away in a day because one is vaccinated. Either way, enjoy the sunshine and your sweet ride.

Its hard to gauge how serious ppl are going to react about actual infections going forward. Its pretty much reliant on cdc and osha standards at this point. I actually just spent a week at home because I tested positive. I dodged covid for two years and then my gf went to NY and got sick when she came back. She works at a hospital so they have to test for it. I ended up getting roped into it to and tested positive. I basically had allergies all week and sat on my couch.

I will completely ignore CDC travel advisories going forward, of course. I’ll look at reports and empirical data to decide whether there’s a significant risk of catching whatever it is, and enough risk if I do catch it to care.

I remember saying to a friend (early on) “it’s not like this is malaria”, and she just said “oh I’ve had malaria twice, it’s not actually that bad” (she’s a wildlife photographer who also does conservation work in Africa).

The biggest scandal of this whole thing is that they duped people with working immune systems into thinking that Covid was dangerous, and the next biggest is that the rules in place (whatever they were at whenever time) treated everyone equally rather than reflecting risk profile.

^ Covid IS dangerous to unvaccinated, unhealthy, and elderly people—relatively speaking.

But details and nuance are not something that humans take to well. As evidenced by all of the stupidity that persists today

The paradigm shift continues.

https://apnews.com/article/technolog...fcdff6ef4ed06e

larp and blithe nonsense. :rolleyes:

This truly is the biggest silver lining from the whole pandemic. I'm currently shopping around for a new job, and the majority of all of them are remote. I'm not even mildly worried about having to move anywhere for a job anymore.

Well, unvaccinated and very unhealthy and/or elderly. It’s still not dangerous to unvaccinated people with no health issues (old age is a health issue), especially not the latest variants. And vaccinated old people are as safe as they’ll ever be.

Since vaccination is a choice available to everyone, this simply isn’t a thing anymore. People who want to make things like masks on public transportation permanent need to be resisted strongly.

I'm not sure I agree based on the once healthy friends and co-workers I have who are suffering effects of long covid long after they had the virus. Something like 10-40% suffer at least one lingering symptom (breathing and heart issues, brain fog). I'm getting my second booster tomorrow (just turned 51) because I have a wedding, a commencement, and some vacation traveling to do this summer and, as a runner, I value my lungs too much to take a chance on long covid.

By the numbers, Portland which is basically all of Multnomah Co is in a bad way. We've only recovered 58 percent of all pre pandemic employment. The other two counties that make up the metro area are basically back to pre pandemic numbers, with 85 and 93 percent of their jobs. Its been a bumpy ride for the central city and we're far into the woods still. Im torn. If I stick it out, I might go insane here. If I leave that means doomsayers win. I don't think all the wfh ppl have considered the civic domino effect their choice is going to have. I guess the next time they go downtown to see the sights, and all the sights are out of business they'll know. Oh yeah and the downtown Apple store still has a 20 ft riot fence. The fight for the heart of Oregon voters is on too. The governor's race is insane. There's like 40 candidates. Its turned into a progressive vs moderate showdown. Get yer popcorn. I suppose if there is a saving grace, our reputation as a city of neighborhoods seems more cogent than ever. People are really coming out droves to patronize their local businesses. Most of the popular neighborhood strips have fared pretty good.

I’m actually going to Portland for the first time in August. We’re staying downtown at the Porter. I’ve never been to the PNW so I’m really excited.

How is NW 23rd street doing? I thinks that's the street. Years ago I stayed at a hotel near Portland State Univ and walked somewhere and caught a train to NW 23rd. Stunning was the whole experience.

^^^23rd and 21st are both looking pretty good. The pearl is fine too. I was just up there a week or two ago. Lots of foot traffic which makes me hopeful. Barely any vacancies at all. Downtown south of Burnside and east of Broadway to PSU is spotty. Lots and lots of vacancies but hopefully that changes as offices start bringing ppl back. Even city employees haven't returned which seems ludicrous to me. Most of the protest scars have been cleaned up and there aren't alot of boarded up windows. Smashed windows was last years favorite tiktok fad. Old Town is scary as fuck for the uninitiated. Keep your hands and legs inside the vehicle at all times! They estimated there were 700 tents in old town during their last point in time survey. Not 70. Seven hundreddd. That so bad.

Are they introverts if they still come to the city on the weekends? People aren't filling up office towers so restaurants who lived off that business are struggling. But if you can survive without that and live for the weekends, many of these cities are packed more than they were pre-pandemic. Folks just don't want to go into the office but they still want to hang out. This is what San Francisco is like right now and DTLA from what I've noticed. I'm willing to bet most cities are this way, even ones open during the pandemic like Atlanta. Gotta find a way to repurpose many of these office towers. Perhaps new permanent residents in these office conversions will help the businesses that relied on office workers from those same buildings.

Finally got back to the States after contacting covid on vacation in Australia. Our new reality flying overseas is that you may not be able to go on your vacation or you might not be able to return.

I am 52 but physically fit and healthy along with being vaccinated and boosted and still got pretty sick. I was actually a little concerned that things were going to continue to get progressively worse and paxlovid was not available in Sydney.

Fortunately I finally tested negative and was able to come home but still have a cough and shortness of breath more than two weeks later. I certainly do not want to get sick with this shit again. I am not sure what variant I had but it better offer me protection from this new one affecting NY right now. For me this was worse than a bad cold.

^ Meh, doesn't sound that bad to me. I've been that sick before a few times.

Certainly nothing worth imposing criminal lockdowns and unnecessarily harsh metrics over.

I agree. I am not advocating lockdowns or mask wearing or anything. That would all suck.

I am just saying that I got sicker than I expected and it is a real drag with overseas travel. I am glad I didn't tell the airline I tested positive because then they won't let you fly for 11 days even if you test negative. I just extended my stay 7 days and fortunately tested negative in time for the new flight. Nevertheless it was an extra 2K in hotel and $700 for dog sitting so it was an extra expensive trip.

^ I hear ya.

Yeah, that's why I don't fly overseas. Until the world gets past the mental illness that is COVID, I'm not going to bother.