Is everyone doing alright?

Vertigo Fox · Post by **Vertigo Fox** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 8:24 am

D-Rock wrote:...they fail to see that being stupid has the very high potential to spread a disease to everyone else, not just them.

I wonder if that's it though... wasn't there a "give me freedom or give me death" mindset in some groups of people 'bout treating your own freedom as more valuable than your own life? Seems to me it would be very very easy to generalize that to your own freedom being more valuable than the lives of other people especially if those lives aren't people you know and don't really affect you. Since, to any given individual, the lives of people they don't know are less valuable than their own.

This is just an alternate theory, mind you. But psychology is interesting, and I've got nothing better to do!

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 1:26 pm

Actually, Vertigo, there's an element of that "aggressive thoughtlessness" in the dialogues here. To a degree, theories of freedom have always been rivetingly individualistic ("I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"). In counterbalance, though, there's also the argument that individual freedom cannot be absolute ("Your right to swing your fist ends at my nose"). Where you're seeing these debates go from the abstract egotistical to real world is in the question of "When do we get the economy going again?"

The unspoken question behind the question is, "How many lives are we willing to risk/lose in order to get the PC economy back again?" (PC = "Pre-Coronavirus") and, for that matter, "Who will we put at hazard to return to the way things were?"

I'm just going to point to the rabbit hole - I'm neither going to enter it or invite others to go philosophically spelunking down it. But, being in the high-risk demographic, I'm not putting myself at anymore risk than I have to...or put others at risk, for that matter.

Here's to better days, chums.

JageshemashFTW · Post by **JageshemashFTW** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:39 pm

Well, on a lighter note, I am taking advantage of my new free time to burn through some of my gaming backlog. I’m further in Persona 3 than I’ve ever been in the 5 years I’ve owned it.

I’ve also got my health back under control, so I should probably get back to writing the next chapter for WoF...

Vertigo Fox · Post by **Vertigo Fox** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 10:38 pm

NHWestoN wrote: Here's to better days, chums.

Hear hear!

Yeah as video games go Just Cause 4 was free on the Epic Store the other day and I'm rediscovering what made that series so fun... soooooooo many ways to just be silly and mess around, especially with the enemies. Not many games fully commit to letting you toy with the AI like that.
...Though sometimes I wish those enemies would take just a little longer to die...

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Sat Apr 18, 2020 3:48 pm

Reading that sort of makes you sound like a sadist.

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Thu May 07, 2020 9:28 pm

I'm sorry you're sad........

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Thu May 07, 2020 11:02 pm

I'm always sad. What else is new? That has been my default emotion for a while. XP

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Fri May 08, 2020 6:12 pm

It's kind of a melancholy time right now.........

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Fri May 08, 2020 11:41 pm

I'm hoping it passes but then I realized that we haven't had the second wave of deaths yet and now the murder hornet has made its way to the US.

Post by **Dissension** » Sat May 09, 2020 12:39 am

For the record, it's called the murder hornet because it kills bees. It's not everywhere in North America, either. It's not really anywhere close to you. Let's hope, for the bees' sake, the threat can be contained.

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Sat May 09, 2020 1:56 pm

I never said that they were called murder hornets because they end up killing people. Just that they are here and that it is a bad thing. Plus even if they aren't close to me, people in Rhode Island are still worried. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Probably one of the reasons I'm not well-liked.

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Sat May 09, 2020 4:40 pm

I don't think there are any reports of them attacking people yet, but they massacre whole bee colonies. Given the importance of bees in the pollination process, they could be another threat to our agriculture system.

Post by **D-Rock** » Sat May 09, 2020 5:45 pm

Last I checked, bees haven't been doing all that ideally recently. Let's hope the hornets don't get much opportunity to spread.

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Sat May 09, 2020 7:28 pm

D-Rock wrote: ↑Sat May 09, 2020 5:45 pm Last I checked, bees haven't been doing all that ideally recently. Let's hope the hornets don't get much opportunity to spread.

That's true, Rock, they haven't. And now there's another invasive species to contend with!

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Sat May 09, 2020 10:31 pm

Most people over here are worried even though the hornet may not make it over here but people tend to worry about anything that sounds like a threat. I am sure they will find a way to deal with this pest.

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Mon May 11, 2020 1:11 pm

Somewhere I picked up that Praying Mantis's aren't intimidated by them - but then not much scares a mantis.

Post by **D-Rock** » Mon May 11, 2020 1:40 pm

Saw a video of a mantis eating one of those hornets.

Never realized before that how brutal mantises are.

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Tue May 12, 2020 12:01 am

If that is the case wherever the heck these hornets are needs to get lots and lots of mantises. I mean LOTS.

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Tue May 12, 2020 12:51 pm

Amazee Dayzee wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 12:01 am If that is the case wherever the heck these hornets are needs to get lots and lots of mantises. I mean LOTS.

I detect an incipient horror movie plot here.......

Post by **D-Rock** » Tue May 12, 2020 2:24 pm

Yeah, they’ll start killing the resident bugs en masse. Humanity has a history of over correcting things. Australia was hit hard because of that.

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Tue May 12, 2020 3:46 pm

I really didn't even think of that. Forget I said anything.

Vertigo Fox · Post by **Vertigo Fox** » Thu May 14, 2020 11:58 am

D-Rock wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 2:24 pm Yeah, they’ll start killing the resident bugs en masse. Humanity has a history of over correcting things. Australia was hit hard because of that.

Y'know I always thought that was just because the spoiled upper classes couldn't bear not having foxes to hunt.

Or is this what they did afterward?

Regardless, "swallow a spider to catch the fly" doesn't seem much better an idea in reality than it was in the nursery rhyme. But saying it's a bad idea doesn't necessarily imply that there are any good ones.

Post by **D-Rock** » Thu May 14, 2020 12:06 pm

From my understanding, they wanted to hunt rabbit, so they introduced them, then it got out of hand with how quickly they multiplied and started eating all of their crops, then they tried introducing foxes both to hunt and to take care of the rabbits, but then the foxes started over hunting the native animals. It was a mess.

Vertigo Fox · Post by **Vertigo Fox** » Thu May 14, 2020 2:02 pm

Yeah that does sound like humans

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Thu May 14, 2020 4:55 pm

You think we would have learned from something like this.

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Thu May 14, 2020 6:46 pm

Amazee Dayzee wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 4:55 pm You think we would have learned from something like this.

The Law of Unintended Consequences. You have to learn to ask the question "What could possibly go wrong. No. Really. What actually could possibly go wrong!" But .... we don't.

JayBarker · Post by **JayBarker** » Wed May 27, 2020 3:22 pm

I'm doing fairly alright.

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Wed May 27, 2020 6:47 pm

My mental health is starting to take massive hits because of everything we have to do first of all in order to prepare to move and because I can't see my therapist in person to get help. Online sessions do not help.

JayBarker · Post by **JayBarker** » Wed May 27, 2020 6:52 pm

Oh? Are you the type that needs to vent and stuff in person tovmkae a better connection? And is there anything we can do here to help?

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Wed May 27, 2020 9:04 pm

We'd be willing to listen, Amazz. You'll plow through it in the end.

JayBarker · Post by **JayBarker** » Wed May 27, 2020 10:19 pm

Yes right, you have friends willing to help if we can. Or at the very least willing to hear you vent.

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Thu May 28, 2020 1:10 am

Thanks guys. I appreciate it. What works for me is just trying to keep my mind off of it doing other stuff.

JayBarker · Post by **JayBarker** » Thu May 28, 2020 6:44 am

No one knows you like you. If that's what you have to do then go for for it. Just don't let it fester in the back of your mind and such.

Liam · Post by **Liam** » Sun May 31, 2020 1:55 am

i just wanted to say
stay safe, everyone. remain indoors if you're able to and don't feel forced to participate in anything you think you're not prepared for

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Sun May 31, 2020 11:46 am

`ppreciate it, Liam. Glad to know yer about.

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Sun May 31, 2020 4:48 pm

Hope that we can see you on the forum a bit more Liam!

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Sun Oct 18, 2020 6:01 pm

Being in our seventies, the missus and I are still sheltering pretty much - we venture beyond the neighborhood very rarely. The recent spike has us all the more concerned. Stay safe all!

Post by **SeanWolf** » Sun Oct 18, 2020 6:22 pm

I had a few issues the past few months, just some thoughts I didn't want, but I'm doing much better now!

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Sun Oct 18, 2020 10:24 pm

I continue to struggle with these thoughts that I have but while they aren't really bad they end up wreaking havoc on my OCD and just mess me up.

Therolyn · Post by **Therolyn** » Mon Oct 19, 2020 9:00 pm

Its been a hard couple of months. Not one for serious change in the end and I have have moments where I've really been down.

I'm pretty much now in two minds about the last six months. On the plus side, I feel quite grateful that despite all of the setbacks, my family and I have been in decent health and that I have been spared much much hardship than I could of exposed to. I consider myself quite lucky when it comes to this year.

On the other hand, I've basically lost near all of my confidence that things will truly get better anytime soon. To my view, there's too much wrong at these times for any real improvement will occur. To me, this year is just going to be the tip of the iceberg that people have to live through for the next decade. And I really do not like what seems to be on the horizon.

But basically, yes, I'm doing alright, all things considered. Sure, I had to near revert to hermitic living again, but I survived back then and there's no reason I can't do it again.