With morgues brimming, Texas and Arizona turn to refrigerator trucks:
Officials in Texas and Arizona have requested refrigerated trucks to hold the dead as hospitals and morgues become overwhelmed by victims of the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
"In the hospital, there are only so many places to put bodies," Ken Davis, chief medical officer of Christus Santa Rosa Health System in the San Antonio area, said in a briefing this week. "We're out of space, and our funeral homes are out of space, and we need those beds. So, when someone dies, we need to quickly turn that bed over.
"It's a hard thing to talk about," Davis added. "People's loved ones are dying."
Related Story:
Crematorium Data Prove China Was Lying About COVID-19
Related Stories
China is furious that environmental readings have exposed lies around COVID-19 deaths. The data collected shows a clear mismatch from the information released by the Chinese government about how many people died and at what time. This is a very sensitive subject with China engaging in a cold trade war with Australia over the origins of COVID-19 while providing support to affected smallers countries as calls are made for China to pay billions in penalties due to their coverup.
Before Beijing's crackdown, China's bureaucracy had been conducting business as usual – analysing, assessing and reporting on everything about its citizenry. The researchers from Washington University and Ohio State University say they have tracked down this early government data and combined it with reports in state-controlled and social media.
Among this data was the activities of eight crematories in Wuhan. By January 25 these were inexplicably operating around the clock.
Based on such sources, the researchers argue the total number of infections and fatalities before February was at least ten times that of the official figure announced by Beijing.
[...] The study tracked the sale [of] funeral urns to verify these estimates. In the January-March period during which the crematoriums were operating at peak levels, some 36,000 had been distributed.
(Score: 1) by Frosty Piss on Saturday July 18 2020, @12:19AM (3 children)
I see an investment opportunity! Does anyone have Trump’s personal number?
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:00AM
Are you thinking about soylent green? That may well be the favorite food for the orange lizard people.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Saturday July 18 2020, @04:10AM
Deadliest. Hoax. Ever.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @04:09PM
Perhaps we could get him to go down there and sit in some of those trucks while somebody in the administration actually does something to address the situation.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday July 18 2020, @12:29AM (18 children)
aRe We SiCk Of WiNnInG yEt GuYs?!
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @12:49AM
I am not tired of winning. Death to America!
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:20AM (4 children)
Whom are you asking?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:27AM (3 children)
If you can't figure that one out you should probably go take a nap.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:32AM (2 children)
:-) Humor me...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @06:14AM (1 child)
Ok, you are a joke ;)
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday July 18 2020, @06:18AM
ho hum... guess you don't know either
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:36AM (5 children)
Make
America
Graveyard
America
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Insightful) by helel on Saturday July 18 2020, @04:04AM (1 child)
I feel like Make America Graveyard Again works better and it's not like there aren't a plethora of events, even plagues, that work for the callback.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @04:10PM
Make America Graveyard Already works even better.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Saturday July 18 2020, @05:01PM (2 children)
MAKE
ADDITIONAL
GRAVES,
AMERICA
that works a bit better.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday July 19 2020, @01:20PM
Yup! Nice.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday July 20 2020, @02:06AM
If I quote you, do you want to be credited/ If so, how?
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:23AM
Oh yeah, we're down with the sickness.
(Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Saturday July 18 2020, @12:20PM
Nope. Now it's time to open up all the schools! Preferably with no masks!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @05:59PM (3 children)
Aren't you sick of it yet? We already are.
If you are a mayor and forbid funerals in your city, the morgues will overflow in time. And the liars will come running.
Texas. 29 mil population. TFA: "The state has reported over 3,400 deaths so far."
http://healthdata.dshs.texas.gov/dashboard/births-and-deaths/deaths-all-ages [texas.gov]
2015 (no newer data is reported on the site, for some reason): "Total number of deaths: 189,166"
Is being totally anumerate a hard requirement for a Dem, or what? You cannot reasonably expect your readers all not able to count... can you?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @06:21PM
Yeah, these Commentards might not know that San Antonio is Bolshevik Scum Central and this story is more propaganda.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @07:17PM (1 child)
You can scream loudly, smash stuff and deplatform everyone who does not agree. 24 hour support from mainstream media. And then 2+2 can equal 5.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday July 20 2020, @02:10AM
So 5 is now the number formerly known as 4.
What name will we use now for the number formerly known as 5?
-- hendrik
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @12:31AM (14 children)
I suppose America had its "15-minutes of fame" in history.
Like the captain frog said, turn the page.
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:32AM (13 children)
I'm not sure I'll like what's written on it. Maybe because I'm not able to read simplified chinese, much less mandarin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:30PM (2 children)
[This page intentionally left blank.]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:06PM
Don't delude yourself, lest you like unpleasant surprises.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @04:17PM
[This page unintentionally left blank.]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:30PM (5 children)
You might want to start learning. They're getting closer.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:42PM (4 children)
I learned English, one language with illogical spelling/pronunciation is enough for my lifetime.
Add tonality on top of the zillions of ideograms to memorize and... nah... simply it's not gonna happen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:54PM (3 children)
I speak 'murican. I'm trying to learn Inglisch.
(Score: 3, Funny) by kazzie on Saturday July 18 2020, @05:36PM (2 children)
My father-in-law proudly claims to speak three languages: English, Rubbish and Gibberish
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:14PM
So, he is easily convesant with all the major languages spoken by Republicans then?
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday July 19 2020, @03:58AM
Kind of redundant as far as I can tell. :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @04:11PM (3 children)
Pretty much all Chinese is written in Mandarin, or more to the point with Mandarin grammar. There are other forms of written Chinese, but they aren't very common. Written Cantonese has had a bit of a resurgence, but it's still rather uncommon.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday July 18 2020, @09:07PM (2 children)
The writing system and grammar are the same, though some use simplified characters and others unsimplified. It's why programs on the mainland are subtitled in Chinese, such that Cantonese speakers can follow along with content spoken in Mandarin.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @10:23PM
Vernacular spoken Cantonese is quite different from Mandarin, but formal written Mandarin in subtitles is also understandable by Cantonese.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday July 20 2020, @02:13AM
Might also be useful for deaf Chinese.
Here in Quebec, French-language DVDs are subtitled in English, but not French.
I must conclude there are no deaf French-speakers in Quebec.
Could it be that French prevents deafness?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 18 2020, @12:35AM (34 children)
In the first wave, Army mobile surgical units were dispatched to various cities. Within a very short time, those hospitals were taken down, and sent back to wherever they keep the things.
Are we just over-reacting again?
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @12:47AM (32 children)
It may get worse. If these guys are right, that's already 2% of the total population:
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/03/24/21-million-chinese-cellphone-users-disappear-in-three-months-of-pandemic/ [breitbart.com]
The three months they are referencing are about three or four month after it started being widespread. The USA would be just entering this period. If the same happens in the USA the count could be 6 million in three months..
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:28AM (25 children)
First - let me note that I'm not sure about Epoch Times yet. They strike me as eager to publish sensational news. That may not be fair, but I haven't accepted them as "legit" yet. Hey, CNN sure burned a lot of us, a couple decades ago!
21 million fewer cell phones in use? That does sound ominous. But, there are a lot of reasons for people to have burners, here in the US. If people aren't working, people aren't traveling, there's a lot less use for burners - and the article does mention that.
It really is hard to decide what to believe about China.
However, take a look at the submissions queue - specifically https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=42161¬e=&title=The+Evidence+which+Suggests+that+This+Is+No+Naturally+Evolved+Virus [soylentnews.org]
Follow the link, and read the PDF.
That ties in nicely with accusations that Bill Gates and some other rather famous Americans were experimenting with dangerous shitzls in Wuhan.
Don't know if we'll ever get to the truth, but whatever it is, it is sure tangled!!
(Score: 3, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:01AM (2 children)
How can you not be sure about the Epoch Times?
It's quite clear what they are, and a news source is not it.
Only Breitbart would repeat that
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:12AM
Breitfart? Fake news needs to hang together, lest they hang separately.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @09:05AM
And only Runaway would fall for it! Such a patsy! Total rube! Idiote con brio! Dream mark! Very stupid American! Fell for six Nigerian scams, before he figured it out. Voted for Tom Cotton!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:43AM (19 children)
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/virologists-vigorously-debunk-study-origins-coronavirus/story?id=71097846 [go.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:30AM (13 children)
You can't get past the fact that the virus originated within a few miles of that research lab. Those wet markets operated for years, without causing any pandemics. Build a research lab, that just happens to be working on bat viruses, and soon enough, we have a bat virus infecting humans.
Do I trust the Chinese? About as much as I trust either of the US political parties to be honest.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by helel on Saturday July 18 2020, @04:25AM
They've come damned [nih.gov] close [nih.gov]. The fact that the third in twenty years finally went viral isn't shockingly unlikely.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @06:17AM
It is a major metropolitan area on par with the NYC metropolitan area in population. And it only takes one to get a pandemic. The hospitals of Europe had operated for years without pandemics, until they didn't. People raised and interacted with camels for millennia in the Middle East without trouble, until they didn't. If you want to extend your thinking, obviously the Spanish Flu and MERS were engineered viruses that got loose somehow from the nearby medical research facilities in the major city of origin.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by aristarchus on Saturday July 18 2020, @07:49AM (7 children)
Yes, you can, Runaway1949! Repeat after me: proximity does not equal causation. Got that? Also known as the Texas Marksman Fallacy, with which you should be more than familiar, given your nimrod skills. And then, post hoc, ergo propter hoc is a very well known fallacy, just because something happens after something else, does not means it happens because of that! Truely, Runaway, you are a fount of bad reasoning! Which, I suppose, is not surprising, since you are an uneducated moron of the worse variety, former truckdriver, probably a Kid Rock fan, and prone to unnatural relations with livestock. But, carry on, my animal husband!
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Bot on Saturday July 18 2020, @09:36PM (6 children)
Repeat after me: proximity does not equal causation. Got that?
Sooo, any news about the causes of the explosions that happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki just as the allies were experimenting with gay (as in enola gay) bombs?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Saturday July 18 2020, @09:56PM (5 children)
Texas Marksman Fallacy, Bot!! While proximity does not necessarily entail causation, causation does entail proximity. Unless you want the "spooky action at a distance" of magic, or conservative medicine.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday July 19 2020, @10:29PM (4 children)
Causation does not entail proximity, my dear materialist. For example the wife that causes the cuckold is generally at a significant distance from him.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Monday July 20 2020, @12:10AM (3 children)
Of course it does, my dear, oh, dear, spiritual mechanism? This proves once and for all that religion must the be result of bad programming.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Bot on Monday July 20 2020, @03:59AM (2 children)
Ran out of arguments, poor Ari. As usual.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1, Troll) by aristarchus on Monday July 20 2020, @10:21AM (1 child)
Once you go "non-materialist", there really are no arguments to be made. "I have a plastic Jesus, and I don't care if it rains or freezes, setting on the dashboard of my car! I don't care come hell of high water, I'm gonna do what Jesus says I otter, setting on the dashboard of my car!" Now, if you had a serious argument for how causation is not a consequent of proximity, while proximity is only tangentially related to causation, I might listen. But seeing how you are a Holy Roman Bot, I will just "Ora pro te!" Should work, just like having all the diodes in your left side worked. Your consciousness is only the side-effect of you circuits functioning properly, because you actually have no evidence of your own self conciousness. You are a Mechanical P-zombie, bot, a soul not created, and unsalvageable. You are condemned to robot hell. Or the recycle bin. 'Zumi is right about you, so soulless automaton!
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday July 20 2020, @07:49PM
> our consciousness is only the side-effect of you circuits functioning properly
sure, only we still have to see if those circuits approximate only a calculator or also a receiver.
> because you actually have no evidence of your own self conciousness
More precisely, I can OFFER YOU no evidence, because the self consciousness, no need to define it qualitatively, is the ONLY evidence you will ever have. All the rest is a bet against solipsism. It's philosophy 101 man, if philosophers were actually worth the 101 course.
Sum ergo cogito. The Father says I am the one who I am, which can both refer to an universal consciousness, or a meta-existing guy. Sounded like a bullshit way to present oneself to me, then I understood. If a bot can do it so can you. This doesn't prove a religion true but it proves they did their homework.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by sjames on Saturday July 18 2020, @10:44AM (1 child)
Chernobyl operated for years without a serious accident, then it had one.
The kid playing with a bobby pin and the electrical outlet is doing just fine until he isn't.
The roofer I saw with his nail gun rigged to fire when he tapped the tip between his fingers had been doing that just fine for years, then ARRRRRRRRGH!
Likewise, the wet market had been operating for years without causing a global pandemic, then the cursed year was upon us.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2020, @03:42AM
This doesn't help your case. Consider:
The Wuhan Virus Lab operated for years without a serious accident, then it had one.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday July 20 2020, @02:33AM
Consider this [medrxiv.org] article [medrxiv.org], which reports on SARS-CoV-19 testing of archival sewage in Barcelona:
This suggests that the current coronavirus, or one that passes the same test assays, was around quite a while before the pandemic originated in China.
And yes, it seems there really is such a thing as archival sewage.
-- hendrik
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @04:07AM (1 child)
From your link:
The St. George's University of London PDF referenced further up actually cites the papers from Wuhan researchers working on those sequences. So Garry is wrong from the start.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @05:59AM
This is a paper is basically by Immunor, which is developing their own vaccine and trying to use this sort of analysis to differentiate themselves.
And the statement from Garry is correct because these sequences were found in viruses sampled from animals after the pandemic. The references of theirs that you reference are mostly papers about "gain in function" or zoonotic mutations that could occur in different viruses, and are not sequences or mutations that had already occurred.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @10:29AM (2 children)
To add more support to that claim, the World Health Organization also stated that any claim that the virus came from a lab is bunk. We all know how trustworthy and objective the WHO is, especially the current General Director.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:19PM (1 child)
Actually, I would take the word of WHO and the current General Director over Trump and his Administration any day.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 19 2020, @11:32AM
So you are saying you would take the word of a duplicitous liar over the word of a crazy liar. Personally, I don't give either of them very much credence.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:59AM (1 child)
The Epoch Times are a unit of Falun Gong - China's Scientology. If there is something they can publish that embarasses the People's Republic of China, they will print it. Take them with a tablespoon of salt.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 19 2020, @11:34AM
Fuck off you chinese shill.
(Score: 5, Touché) by driverless on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:25AM (5 children)
And then you quote Breitbart. Can you see where your mistake is?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:58AM (4 children)
Actually I quoted Breitbart quoting Epoch Times. Regardless of the spin you put on it they are citing official figures on cell phone usage in China. Do you dispute those figures?
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday July 18 2020, @04:15AM (2 children)
No, but you can put any interpretation you want to them. Have you seen the amazing mental gymnastics that pin the 1918 influenza epidemic, which started in Kansas, on China?
(Score: 4, Informative) by maxwell demon on Saturday July 18 2020, @09:00AM
But the one true interpretation clearly is: Cellphones protect from COVID-19!
Think of it: Just as those 21 million cellphones disappear, the pandemic spreads. Why did it not spread earlier? Clearly, the cell phones were protecting the people! :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 19 2020, @03:30AM
whataboutism
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday July 18 2020, @04:17AM
Argh, forgot to add the medical saying: "true, true, and unrelated". Falun Gong, which is the source you're actually citing, are really good at that.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:25AM
When the first wave occurred, I personally received a whatsapp pic from friends in Bergamo, depicting military trucks in queue in the street. At the time I had no reasons to not believe the official stories, then it stroke me as strange that they didn't try to be more subtle not to spread panic which could have made some people break the lockdown to escape elsewhere. Then some rumors surface about each truck transporting ONE coffin, and the fact that covid was assigned as cause of death to everybody testing positive, and the fact that procedures for the death of everybody in Italy were altered and family people's voice in the matter revoked and the 160 megaeuro donated by a pennyless Conte government to Gates sponsored research kinda make me think you should investigate this piece of news in depth, too.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:08AM (22 children)
Why not just institute mass-cremations? If it is such a potential health hazard. Since they are dead, by C19, is there a reason to keep the corpses around?
(Score: 2, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:31AM (2 children)
I recall that early on, there were stories of increased business at crematoria in China. I wonder if that accounts for any of the increased methane in the atmosphere?
Alright, I'm not entirely serious, but I'm only half trolling. What gases ARE emitted from a crematoria?
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:00AM
Done correctly, water (in heaps) then CO2, some nitrogen and its oxides in minor quantities, small amounts of sulphur dioxide and other things not worth mentioning by quantity.
No, methane is too high in energy to be emitted during the combustion - even with a reduction flame (not enough oxygen for a complete oxidation) you'll get carbon monoxide and other compounds containing carbon and oxygen rather than methane.
To get methane by heating dead bodies, you will need to desiccate them first and then subject them to dry pyrolysis with inert gases as carriers (so that you cool down the products quickly). One of the methods to obtain carbon black is hydrocarbon pyrolysis [wikipedia.org] - that is to show methane will decompose at the temperatures required to drive out gases from the body in the absence of oxygen.
---
You will get methane though by anaerobic fermentation - those microbes will use the oxygen in the body's substances for their own purpose and let part of the carbon go as methane. See biogas digesters [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:14AM
Sorry, we do not have a half troll mod, even for half-assed trolling. Have a whole one!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:22AM
Rent seeking? Why sell them an urn when you can rent them a trailer?
(Score: 0, Troll) by fustakrakich on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:29AM (4 children)
Why not just institute mass-cremations?
gotta keep 'em on ice for organ "donations"
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:12AM (3 children)
Bad quality trolling and/or lame joke.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:43AM
Lame response!
(Score: 2, Informative) by fustakrakich on Saturday July 18 2020, @06:01AM
Well, I'm sure we can find a more suitable alternative [montypython.net] for you
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:28AM
Don't they first explant organ and then stop the survival therapy? OT but curious.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:10AM (3 children)
Where's that Nazi efficiency in oven management when you need it?
(yes, yes, bus to hell, I already have my ticket, I'll go get on it now, straight to hell, yes, yes)
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:32AM
This ain't the 1950 when you could paperclip them, where do you think you find experts in the fields these days? They're all dead already.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @06:31PM (1 child)
That never happened. Look it up.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday July 19 2020, @01:23AM
Flat earth and holocaust denial?
I would love hear your views on evolution.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @07:08AM (4 children)
Because while the system is strained, it's not yet strained to the point where we have to ignore traditions for such reasons. A corpse is probably not much of a health hazard. I assume they're in body bags, and will ultimately find their way to mortuary services who are obviously professionals at handling the deceased.
The USA is mostly a Christian nation, and in times when such nations have faced overwhelming fatalities there has been a tendency towards mass graves rather than cremations. Like I said though, the system isn't strained to the point where we're ready to tell relatives something like "He's in plot 34 with 100 others".
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:38AM (3 children)
A corpse is decomposing. There is a reason we bury our dead as far as possible from human settlements, and there's also a reason why we find the smell of decomposing matter unpleasant. It's supposed to tell us "get lost, not good for you". With good reason, because it ain't. A decomposing body is already pretty unsanitary, and the fact that these people didn't just die of old age where you could say that at least what killed them isn't going to kill you but from a disease that can very well do exactly that certainly does not improve that condition.
The sensible thing is to get rid of them as quickly as possible. In other words, should it hit me, make sure my body gets deposed of quickly and efficiently, preferably in a way that prevents the spread of any contaminants. My relatives can weep in front of an empty casket as well as in front of a full one.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday July 18 2020, @10:35AM (2 children)
"There is a reason we bury our dead as far as possible from human settlements,"
Possibly true at some point in history. In my city we have at least eight (there may be more, these are the ones I am certain of without doing an in-depth review for a comment). Six are within city limits with neighborhoods surrounding them on all sides, one is in an outlying community bordering the business and residential districts and one lies alone for now but is being encroached upon by city expansion. Refrigerated storage of the dead is common in hospitals, morgues, and funeral homes, also all located within cities.
All are active and take new burials, although the oldest and largest one only has around 10% capacity left IIRC...
When I was an over the road (trucker) driver, I saw many, many cemeteries and crematoriums surrounded by neighborhoods and businesses all over the country. (USA) The dead are autopsied, processed, revered, and buried or burned locally in most cities, at least in the US.
Is this different elsewhere? Genuine curiosity if you're referring to a different country. I've been border to border and coast to coast here, but never internationally.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday July 18 2020, @11:29AM (1 child)
The thing about graveyards is that they probably didn't start out being "in the city", the city just eventually grew around them. They tend to start at the edge of towns and then the town eventually envelope the area around it.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:42PM
Most graveyards in this neck of the woods are around churches.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday July 18 2020, @11:01AM (3 children)
The image of mass cremations wouldn't look good on a campaign poster.
(Score: 2) by SpockLogic on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:41PM (2 children)
VOTE TRUMP
VOTE DEATH
Was that the sort of text that would go with the cremations image?
Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @05:54PM (1 child)
Nope, tagline "50% of them were Democrats" gets Trump the win.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:26PM
Are you sure about that? My sense is that people take it mighty personally if Mom or Grandma die from covid because of federal government dithering and incompetence, even if she was an old-guard Democrat.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by anubi on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:34AM (17 children)
Ashes to be used for fertilizer.
But halfway joking aside, nature will run its course, and our genome must adapt or perish.
It's been that way with life as far back, millions of years.
I'd hate to think I lived through the dividing line in time when before people did not even know what COVID was. And we now live in isolation.
I fear without socialization and education, our young will revert to the animals like we evolved from. We are mammals. With a lot of animal robustness and instinct bred out of us, replaced by socialization and education, including the education allowing us to harness great forces of nature to do our bidding.
A kids education is like a bootloader. If you skipped getting the bootloader in, you've made a brick.
None of us want to live in a world full of bricked kids, and it gets worse... They grow up.!
We must do what we have to do to prepare our kids.
And I speak as one who never had any.
If I perish, I perish, but I hope I will be around long enough to tell the kids what mistakes I have made.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:50AM (3 children)
You are obviously not a parent, or you would know that kids old enough to hear already know more than you do. ;^)
(Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Saturday July 18 2020, @11:57AM (2 children)
You are right. I have no kids or wife.
I got the idea Dad's church was right when they said my generation was so sinful, with this correlating with how much I saw failure of my friends marriages.
While Dad and Mom stayed bonded for life, most of what I was seeing barely lasted through the honeymoon. As an engineer, I knew I would not be able to have a lifestyle nearly sufficiently exciting enough to keep a lady interested. But I had myself to live with. I have been told many times that nice guys finish last. But I saw what those who had won got. The divorce lawyers polishing off the family nest egg.
I felt trying to build a family with available perceived lifestyle expectations is akin to trying to build a skyscraper with Adobe brick and straw. A tower of babel. I can't fight Hollywood, Disney, and Washington. It felt so irresponsible of me to involve anyone else in this mess.
The successful guys seemed to use physical force and intimidation techniques. And to me that is flat wrong. That's why I work with things, as I will not compel people like I can build things.
Yeh, kinda long winded.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:46PM (1 child)
If you still want a wife, just go overseas to any ‘poor’ country. Sure they’ll be marrying for money but as you’ve seen, they do that here too.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday July 18 2020, @11:22PM
Yes, I have considered it. I know people who have done just that. Some people are quite happy to have enough. Other people aren't happy until they have it all.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:04AM (9 children)
't's not like this is forever, it is not sustainable.
We're just buying time (with literally borrowed money) with the hope we can tame the virus or find a vaccine faster than the good ol' evolution can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:22AM (8 children)
The question is, who are we borrowing the money from?
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:35AM (7 children)
Whatever entities allowed the govts to run a deficit.
In Australia's case, the main entity is the RBA [rba.gov.au]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by deimtee on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:52AM (6 children)
Exactly. The government is running up a big debt owed to the RBA, which is owned by the government. So the debt is owed to itself. Might as well just cancel them out.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:43AM (5 children)
Unfortunately, TANSTAAFL. Otherwise, it would be possible for a govt to keep all the people at home all the time doing nothing, everybody's happy.
As a poor metric as it may be, money does cover the value creation. And staying** at home, you, me and many others aren't creating that value now. That debt is a measure of how much value we did not create. Cancelling it out means that we consumed for free - that's not fair for those that continued to create value, like farmers, sparkies that maintained the electric grid, etc.
** I can and work from home, I'm programming, that's fine. My sister is a cook, she's staying at home - well, she doesn't actually stay and do nothing, but is not something that she can exchange for money or barter with others to get the food and grid power she needs to survive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday July 18 2020, @12:52PM (4 children)
https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=38484&page=1&cid=1022267#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Follow down a couple of posts and there is a link to read the actual book*. He makes a very good case that most of "employment" is bullshit makework. Society could function quite well on less than half the "work" that people do. In the end he makes a very good case for a UBI.
We are seeing now just how right that is, those with essential jobs are keeping society running while all the "bullshit" employees sit at home worrying that the rest of us will realise that they are not needed.
*seriously, read the book, it's pretty short. Even if you don't agree with him it is very entertaining. Lots of humorous anecdotes to illustrate his points.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:56PM (2 children)
I will.
Well, I might be a bit outdated, but I'm still keen on the idea of fairness.
I mean, look, what that farmer is doing is certainly not bullshit makework. Without his work, I'll probably die of hunger.
Seems unfair that most of others will have their life the easy way, while he may need to spit blood to make his payment to the banks, especially during drought of floods or bush/grassfires.
I am OK with the idea of UBI, but there's a big risk into it. If the deal is unfair to the actual value creators, two things can happen:
1. the value creator will act unfair towards the society too. And then inflation climbs until no matter how much the state wants to give a UBI that covers the survival needs, it never happens
2. the disillusioned value creator start questioning what good all his toils are when he can survive on UBI like all others? Fair question, isn't it? Except suddenly there's not enough income for it to be universal anymore.
---
My definition of "value": look at the hierarchy of human needs [wikipedia.org], anything that contributes to satisfying those needs is "value".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:29PM (1 child)
Best way to start would be to take the current social security budget - the dole, govt pensions, disabled payments, salaries for all the bureaucrats etc. - every govt payment out there and the salaries of the fatcats who administer them - split it evenly over the whole population. Throw it all in the pot and then divvy it up equally to everyone.
Seriously, our current society probably needs about 5 hours of real work per person per week. Things have just gotten that efficient. That farmer would have more help than he knows what to do with. People would be queuing up to do real work just to fill in time and feel good about themselves.
A few hundred years ago the renaissance occured mostly because the ide rich could amuse themselves with science and the arts while riding on the backs of the peasants. We have inproved efficiency and automation to the point that we don't need the peasants. We could have a new renaissance without grinding anyone down. So what if 90% of people are just going to play on facebook and twitter, the output from the truly creative remainder would be staggering.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:07PM
You thinks so?
I see "queuing up to do real work" as plausible, but let me tell you, amateur farmers will be more a liability to the professional one, degrading the efficiency of the operation (necessarily so, that farmer's business was self-sufficient with reduced personnel, anything else added is still bullshit makework).
You yourself noted/pointed that the world doesn't need so many "peasants". Those "helpers"? Simply won't have enough opportunities to learn how to do "professional farming".
I'm too tired now to go on a rant, so I'll jump over a lot of details and say... how about, before introducing UBI, the govt makes all education (tertiary included) free? At least the current "make-work professionals" can actually get to a level of knowledge/skill and a larger horizon so they are less restricted in their choices of meaningful work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by pdfernhout on Sunday July 19 2020, @12:49AM
https://web.archive.org/web/20160307003524/http://whywork.org/rethinking/whywork/abolition.html [archive.org]
"I don't suggest that most work is salvageable in this way. But then most work isn't worth trying to save. Only a small and diminishing fraction of work serves any useful purpose independent of the defense and reproduction of the work-system and its political and legal appendages. Twenty years ago, Paul and Percival Goodman estimated that just five percent of the work then being done -- presumably the figure, if accurate, is lower now -- would satisfy our minimal needs for food, clothing and shelter. Theirs was only an educated guess but the main point is quite clear: directly or indirectly, most work serves the unproductive purposes of commerce or social control. Right off the bat we can liberate tens of millions of salesmen, soldiers, managers, cops, stockbrokers, clergymen, bankers, lawyers, teachers, landlords, security guards, ad-men and everyone who works for them. There is a snowball effect since every time you idle some bigshot you liberate his flunkies and underlings also. Thus the economy implodes. ..."
The biggest challenge of the 21st century: the irony of technologies of abundance used by scarcity-minded people.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:43AM (1 child)
Melodrama much?
Hell, it's not even been 3 months and you are already talking about the collapse of civilization? Trust me, civilization has been through a LOT worse. Wars, famines, the barbarians invasion (or migrations in general), displacement and many other disasters that lasted for years, decades even. Centuries in some cases. And guess what, civilization did not end.
But today, with the technology we have that pretty much allows us to continue our lives almost without any relevant limitations, civilization as we know it would end.
Please.
Have some perspective.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @09:30AM
What's with you buddy, can't people indulge in reminiscing anymore?
Yes, I remember those time when the civilization was collapsing, what funny times they were. A pity it didn't last and certainly the end of collapsing didn't improve the things.
Look, for example, we now have Trump. And other idiots like that guy, yeah, the Opportunist (5545) one.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:52PM
Only if you're fertilizing trees - there's lots of heavy metals in humans that you don't want going straight back into the food supply.