WC 1M Post Challenge - You Ready?!

[MSFTisMIA]

In the age of shortened attention spans, once COVID-19 gets under control, most people will forget about it and try to return to "business as usual".

That will be a serious mistake.

 

[worldspy99]

Raining here since Tuesday. Flood warnings most of The day today. Will be warmer tomorrow so maybe some sun coming.

It's supposed to rain pretty much every day till March 21. Oh well.

 

[N_LaRUE]

In the age of shortened attention spans, once COVID-19 gets under control, most people will forget about it and try to return to "business as usual".

That will be a serious mistake.

In a world where we have anti-vaxers...

Anti-science thinking has only gotten worse in the last few decades. Critical thinking is all but gone.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

In a world where we have anti-vaxers...Critical thinking is all but gone.

Now that's a (sad) scientific fact.

 

[fatclue_98]

In a world where we have anti-vaxers...

Anti-science thinking has only gotten worse in the last few decades. Critical thinking is all but gone.

Why are you surprised? The plan was executed to perfection. Like Carlin said decades ago, “smart enough to operate the machines but dumb enough to not know they’re getting f****d by The Man”. Did you really think standardized testing was the answer? No no no my friend, we must keep the bright ones from getting too far ahead of the coal miner talent.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

Why are you surprised? The plan was executed to perfection. Like Carlin said decades ago, “smart enough to operate the machines but dumb enough to not know they’re getting f****d by The Man”. Did you really think standardized testing was the answer? No no no my friend, we must keep the bright ones from getting too far ahead of the coal miner talent.

It is for this reason why I said above...the desire to return to "normal" will be a big mistake.

 

[fatclue_98]

It is for this reason why I said above...the desire to return to "normal" will be a big mistake.

The obligatory question is obviously “What do you define as normal?”. It certainly wasn’t the 80s when that windbag St. Ronnie totally screwed the pooch with his handling of the AIDS epidemic. Talk about a complete disregard of science! God bless Elizabeth Taylor and Sir Elton for their efforts or we would have compulsory Conversion Therapy as a Constitutional Amendment.

 

[libra89]

Just learned that Apple is being considerate with paying hourly employees during this time, while they are closed until March 27th:

https://www.phonearena.com/news/apple-closes-all-retail-stores-outside-of-china_id122981

 

[MSFTisMIA]

The obligatory question is obviously “What do you define as normal?”. It certainly wasn’t the 80s when that windbag St. Ronnie totally screwed the pooch with his handling of the AIDS epidemic. Talk about a complete disregard of science! God bless Elizabeth Taylor and Sir Elton for their efforts or we would have compulsory Conversion Therapy as a Constitutional Amendment.

It isn't about what I consider to be "normal" in this case. People want to go back to what they were doing before the outbreak.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Knowing the differences is a good idea.

Both SARS and Covid-19 are coronaviuses.

SARS is more deadly, 9% but not as contagious. Also there were lock downs during the outbreak.

Covid-19 is way more contagious and has killed a lot more people in the same period of time than SARS did.

Coronaviuses basically gives you a pneumonia. A flu doesn't. This is why it's deadlier than flu.

The flu death rate is about 1 in 1000. Covid-19 is about 1 in 100. We also have a flu vaccine which is continuously updated.

Bird flu and avian flu do not have large transmissions rates and typically are contained locally. However, these are very scary if they ever do get out. Avian flu has a death rate of 50%.

For some other context. Measles has a 15% death rate.

A key component to the lethality of any novel virus is its ability to quickly adapt from animal to human to human to human transmission quickly. That's the main reason why many forms of avian flu are not that lethal, since most transmission has been only between birds to humans, not humans to humans.

It appears that the 1918 flu had all the right genetic material to be a "perfect" lethal virus. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/reconstruction-1918-virus.html

I think much complacency here in the USA is due to the fact that we haven't had a major problem from a pandemic since 1968-1969.

 

[N_LaRUE]

It isn't about what I consider to be "normal" in this case. People want to go back to what they were doing before the outbreak.

People want to go back to the 50-60's....

To some that's normal...

 

[N_LaRUE]

A key component to the lethality of any novel virus is its ability to quickly adapt from animal to human to human to human transmission quickly. That's the main reason why many forms of avian flu are not that lethal, since most transmission has been only between birds to humans, not humans to humans.

It appears that the 1918 flu had all the right genetic material to be a "perfect" lethal virus. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/reconstruction-1918-virus.html

I think much complacency here in the USA is due to the fact that we haven't had a major problem from a pandemic since 1968-1969.

Somewhere along the lines we have shortened our memories and thanks to those in power a high distrust of science (science sometimes didn't help itself either) so we now have a highly ignorant self important, school of life populace running around.

Happily ignorant and proud of it.

Most people have absolutely no clue about history, and much about what is told is glossed over nonsense. This is definitely an issue in the USA.

This isn't confined to the USA either though it's definitely larger there.

Viruses are doing what other 'living' organisms do. Though I think viruses sit in a weird place in the idea of 'living'. They reproduce, mutate over time and want to keep living.

The fact they can potentially kill us or any other host is irrelevant.

The live markets in Asian countries will continue to be an issue. Not because they have live animals and live slaughter there but also because they have animals from all over the world in one place. All with different diseases.

This has to be stopped. Not only because of the potential for other outbreaks (though good reason) but also because it's creating a crazy demand for endangered species.

Humans are by far the biggest virus on this planet.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

People want to go back to the 50-60's....

To some that's normal...

And to some of us, those days were never good.

 

[raycpl]

And to some of us, those days were never good.

ya, I heard my dad once said the quality of toilet paper wasn't great.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

Somewhere along the lines we have shortened our memories and thanks to those in power a high distrust of science (science sometimes didn't help itself either) so we now have a highly ignorant self important, school of life populace running around.

Happily ignorant and proud of it.

Most people have absolutely no clue about history, and much about what is told is glossed over nonsense. This is definitely an issue in the USA.

This isn't confined to the USA either though it's definitely larger there.

Viruses are doing what other 'living' organisms do. Though I think viruses sit in a weird place in the idea of 'living'. They reproduce, mutate over time and want to keep living.

The fact they can potentially kill us or any other host is irrelevant.

The live markets in Asian countries will continue to be an issue. Not because they have live animals and live slaughter there but also because they have animals from all over the world in one place. All with different diseases.

This has to be stopped. Not only because of the potential for other outbreaks (though good reason) but also because it's creating a crazy demand for endangered species.

Humans are by far the biggest virus on this planet.

"Those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it."

I also like this one:

"Know where you're going...and where you come from."

I agree 100% that we've got the most dangerous mix of arrogance, entitlement and ignorance in people in a long time. It's gonna keep us royally ****ed for sure.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

"The OG Pixel and the Pixel 3A were the worst moves Google has made in terms of hardware in the past few years."

Yeah, clickbait title. Hear me out for a second.

The reason why I say this is a known fact - Google's known for killing off very good projects. So their decision to enter hardware, and their subsequent hardware approach being all haphazard, isn't that surprising. The reason why I feel that both of those phones were mistakes are because Google has mismanaged the opportunity they had in terms of shaping their vision of melding hardware and software.

As a former Nexus line user (I owned all but the 5X/6P), I loved the focus of that brand - a phone for developers first (value for buck hunters who could live with the extreme compromises second). Financially, they were always a loss...but getting units in the hands of developers and enthusiasts helped to really push the boundaries of the software experience forward. There's a lot in the current Android builds as standard features you used to have to root to get in the old days.

I think it was in taking that next step forward where Google missed the boat. Once they decided that they weren't going to use bleeding edge hardware at the cheapest price, it feels like they undervalued the importance of the hardware in how they've approached the Pixel line.

I'm not unopposed to the Pixel line. Building on the gains from the Nexus 5/5X/6P, Google has made great strides in auto mode computational style photography. Outside of the computational photography and the shift to security patches, there isn't a compelling reason to truly own a Pixel. "Stock Android" isn't a feature itself, especially when you cannot really strip out those components Google has baked in for those who don't want Google services as easily but prefer that "stock Android look".

 

[MSFTisMIA]

"The OG Pixel and the Pixel 3A were the worst moves Google has made in terms of hardware in the past few years."

Yeah, clickbait title. Hear me out for a second.

The reason why I say this is a known fact - Google's known for killing off very good projects. So their decision to enter hardware, and their subsequent hardware approach being all haphazard, isn't that surprising. The reason why I feel that both of those phones were mistakes are because Google has mismanaged the opportunity they had in terms of shaping their vision of melding hardware and software.

As a former Nexus line user (I owned all but the 5X/6P), I loved the focus of that brand - a phone for developers first (value for buck hunters who could live with the extreme compromises second). Financially, they were always a loss...but getting units in the hands of developers and enthusiasts helped to really push the boundaries of the software experience forward. There's a lot in the current Android builds as standard features you used to have to root to get in the old days.

I think it was in taking that next step forward where Google missed the boat. Once they decided that they weren't going to use bleeding edge hardware at the cheapest price, it feels like they undervalued the importance of the hardware in how they've approached the Pixel line.

I'm not unopposed to the Pixel line. Building on the gains from the Nexus 5/5X/6P, Google has made great strides in auto mode computational style photography. Outside of the computational photography and the shift to security patches, there isn't a compelling reason to truly own a Pixel. "Stock Android" isn't a feature itself, especially when you cannot really strip out those components Google has baked in for those who don't want Google services as easily but prefer that "stock Android look".

So the OG Pixel for me was a mistake because it wasn't the move to go premium that was the issue, it was Google's approach to doing it.

Say what you want about MSFT (and I agree that ultrabook are a different market than cellphones), they did a nice job with the Surface line, and evolving it in such a way that it's a nice alternative to what other OEMs are doing in the space...but it is targeted to a specific audience.

I understand that Google was doing what everyone else was doing - going after Apple products and Apple type mindshare. I think they really underestimated how they market has moved and how other OEMs are trying to fill all the different price points.

So while they improved on the camera experience, they didn't offer another significant USP to justify staying in the premium segment.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

So the OG Pixel for me was a mistake because it wasn't the move to go premium that was the issue, it was Google's approach to doing it.

Say what you want about MSFT (and I agree that ultrabook are a different market than cellphones), they did a nice job with the Surface line, and evolving it in such a way that it's a nice alternative to what other OEMs are doing in the space...but it is targeted to a specific audience.

I understand that Google was doing what everyone else was doing - going after Apple products and Apple type mindshare. I think they really underestimated how they market has moved and how other OEMs are trying to fill all the different price points.

So while they improved on the camera experience, they didn't offer another significant USP to justify staying in the premium segment.

The Pixel 3A was a mistake because Google decided to do a course correction based on how much the Pixel line has flagged. So something cheaper to get more units in the hands of people that Google wants to buy into their vision makes more sense.

Why it was a mistake was two fold. It reinforced how much of a misstep the premium approach was, and it now creates this unenviable additional pressure on the premium line to either develop a new USP or to be killed off.

It also creates a new line where Google now needs to release annually where keeping the same price point. That takes a certain degree of focus and commitment - see what OEMs like Redmi and Moto have done (and Realme are trying to do to build marketshare).

 

[MSFTisMIA]

The Pixel 3A was a mistake because Google decided to do a course correction based on how much the Pixel line has flagged. So something cheaper to get more units in the hands of people that Google wants to buy into their vision makes more sense.

Why it was a mistake was two fold. It reinforced how much of a misstep the premium approach was, and it now creates this unenviable additional pressure on the premium line to either develop a new USP or to be killed off.

It also creates a new line where Google now needs to release annually where keeping the same price point. That takes a certain degree of focus and commitment - see what OEMs like Redmi and Moto have done (and Realme are trying to do to build marketshare).

I mean, the 3A didn't bring much new, other than showing what devs always knew. Google can take advantage of good hardware and good software at a simple price point - like a Moto G line but with better camera.

Now, not hating here. The Pixel has brought some nice stuff to the market. It's just that Google with using limited foresight from a hardware perspective has painted themselves into a corner.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

I mean, the 3A didn't bring much new, other than showing what devs always knew. Google can take advantage of good hardware and good software at a simple price point - like a Moto G line but with better camera.

Now, not hating here. The Pixel has brought some nice stuff to the market. It's just that Google with using limited foresight from a hardware perspective has painted themselves into a corner.

Now we are hearing that Google may course correct and offer the Pixel 5 as a non premium device. We knew this had to happen because if Google isn't interested in putting more money into developing another USP outside of stock Android and a great automatic camera.

Personally, I wished they had either kept it to one upper mid range phone priced annually or one budget phone each year and a premium handset every two years with some of the experimental USPs as a showcase. That would be interesting. But it goes to show how saturated the market has become and how much work OEMs have now backed themselves in a corner to do in order to lure in consumers.