Specchums and the coronavirus.
Specchums and the coronavirus.
Howbe?
These are strange old times aren't they? We just wanted to hang this thread here in case people wanted a little support, banter or whatever. Are you in self-isolation? Once we might have dreamt of being forced to stay indoors and play games, or do some coding—but the reality might feel different. Let's get our thinking caps on and try and raise the mood, whether it's quizzes, a gamesclub, or just general banter.
Let us know how you're doing. Doesn't have to be retro-related
Pip-pip!
These are strange old times aren't they? We just wanted to hang this thread here in case people wanted a little support, banter or whatever. Are you in self-isolation? Once we might have dreamt of being forced to stay indoors and play games, or do some coding—but the reality might feel different. Let's get our thinking caps on and try and raise the mood, whether it's quizzes, a gamesclub, or just general banter.
Let us know how you're doing. Doesn't have to be retro-related
Pip-pip!
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
My office is closed and everyone working remotely. As head of IT I've had a few perilous days discovering things don't work at all when under load. All good fun though? Maybe.
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
Most of my work requires me to be in, but we're being encouraged to work at home where possible. I wonder if we'll see a spike in Speccy development over the next few months?!
The good news is that I might finally have a use for the thermal printer paper that came with a speccy job-lot a few years back.
The good news is that I might finally have a use for the thermal printer paper that came with a speccy job-lot a few years back.
That's the spiwit!
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
Most employees from our company are working from tomorrow till end of corona from home.
I'll moved my pc and other needed stuff into sauna's building, now it is like small office.
It is quiet here, and I'm enjoying silence and peace from my family.
I'll moved my pc and other needed stuff into sauna's building, now it is like small office.
It is quiet here, and I'm enjoying silence and peace from my family.
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
I work in Colleges in the UK. At the moment the government hasn't decided to close schools and Colleges, but we are prepared for that to happen. Most of my work is desk based so I can work remotely if needed, but I prefer to be in the office. I'm not good at home working.. I'm easily distracted.
I did recently also return from Vietnam and Cambodia with a cough (which I still have) so had to self isolate and get tested. The results luckily were negative.
I did recently also return from Vietnam and Cambodia with a cough (which I still have) so had to self isolate and get tested. The results luckily were negative.
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
You have a personal sauna in your garden? I'm very jealous!
- PeteProdge
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Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
A lot of us tend to work in IT! One of my employers is a specialist in reviving and supporting old servers that have fallen out of OEM support, which is a form of retro-technology I guess, even though it's nowt to do with gaming.
Could possibly be VPN'ing from home if the situation merits it. There's a LOT of distractions in my home, but when it's something like this, I'll get onto work, and then switch to retrogaming as soon as I can, without sitting through a long commute!
Oh and I can sort out all those pending videos for my YouTube channel...
Could possibly be VPN'ing from home if the situation merits it. There's a LOT of distractions in my home, but when it's something like this, I'll get onto work, and then switch to retrogaming as soon as I can, without sitting through a long commute!
Oh and I can sort out all those pending videos for my YouTube channel...
Reheated Pixels - a combination of retrogaming, comedy and factual musing, is here!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
I thought this was the thread for a new AGD game.
As an agency worker, I'm pretty much stuffed if they close the schools... Will be looking around for any work I can get.
As an agency worker, I'm pretty much stuffed if they close the schools... Will be looking around for any work I can get.
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
I teach a small group of international students one day a week at an MA course in my hometown of The Hague. Last week all universities and colleges suspended all lessons until at least end of this month. This means that we are trying to guide the students as best as we can remotely by using Slack and video conferencing. Am curious how that will work out.
The rest of the week I am working from a small office and collaborate on a regular basis with people in different places and timezones. Therefore it is not so hard to self-isolate at present. But the rush on supermarkets these last few days is not very comforting.
The rest of the week I am working from a small office and collaborate on a regular basis with people in different places and timezones. Therefore it is not so hard to self-isolate at present. But the rush on supermarkets these last few days is not very comforting.
- Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
I won't never understand the obsession of modern man for toilet paper. Really!
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
In Poland everybody is buying toilet paper in large quantities as wellI won't never understand the obsession of modern man for toilet paper. Really!
In our case it may be partially understood, especially among older people. During communism time a lot of products were missing. Toilet paper was
one of them and when it from time to time appeared somewhere people made long queues. When you finally got it, you had an adrenaline and satisafaction of a hunter getting his pray, I guess
But I'm surprised that people in other countries are obsessed with toilet paper too.
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
And speaking about the virus, everybody is treating it serious here in Poland. We have closed schools, cinemas, restaurants and churches. Everybody is asked to stay at home if possible.
I don't know yet if I have to commute to work tomorrow or not.
It may seem a bit weird as there are only a few people diagnosed. But I guess nobody wants to repeat the Italian scenario where it went out of control. Then you would have to close everything anyway but you would have a crowd of sick people and hospitals not able to deal with them all. And we are supposed to have an election soon so I guess it's another reason why they are so serious about it and don't want to screw it.
I don't know yet if I have to commute to work tomorrow or not.
It may seem a bit weird as there are only a few people diagnosed. But I guess nobody wants to repeat the Italian scenario where it went out of control. Then you would have to close everything anyway but you would have a crowd of sick people and hospitals not able to deal with them all. And we are supposed to have an election soon so I guess it's another reason why they are so serious about it and don't want to screw it.
- Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
The question is we can't think in middle term. What is sure now can't be useless tomorrow. I have to go to work tomorrow (I can imagine myself being Will Smith in 'I am Legend' in the road to work! ) but probably I'll have to stay at home working in a few days, as my boss just told me.
It's been a loooong weekend, confined at home. Apart from Speccy stuff and Netflix, I'm playing some Fifa 20 matches with my 11 year old son. Obviously he always win, as I'll never understand a game with so many controls. For me, o, p, q, a, fire are enough, you know what I mean! I prefer Match Day!
By the way, speaking of Netflix, I'm watching the season 2 of 'Kingdom', a korean series that takes place in the 17th or 18th century, about a strange virus that convert people in zombies. Recommended.
It's been a loooong weekend, confined at home. Apart from Speccy stuff and Netflix, I'm playing some Fifa 20 matches with my 11 year old son. Obviously he always win, as I'll never understand a game with so many controls. For me, o, p, q, a, fire are enough, you know what I mean! I prefer Match Day!
By the way, speaking of Netflix, I'm watching the season 2 of 'Kingdom', a korean series that takes place in the 17th or 18th century, about a strange virus that convert people in zombies. Recommended.
- Alessandro
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Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
Today is the end of the first week of confinement here. Streets are deserted, and the only people you can see around are usually those waiting to enter supermarkets, pharmacies, bakeries or other kinds of commercial premise which has not been temporarily shut down by the government. Although all over the country there are hundreds of reports of violations, almost everyone is following the directives. You are allowed to exit from home only for shopping, medical exams, and working if you cannot do it from home, and must carry a paper where you state who you are and the motivation of your absence from your place.
Schools are kept running with e-learning tool, with many difficulties because the majority of them, especially here in the South, were unprepared to such a sudden and widespread necessity. There are no precise indications, every school is pretty much doing things by itself. I am using Edmodo, sending links to videos on YouTube and recording audio lessons about the topics assigned to study in the textbooks. This week I will try to organize some video chats in Skype myself to check the situation with the pupils. Janitors and administrative personnel are still there although they resorted to shifting in order to avoid excessive concentrations of people.
The mostly struck area is still the North with Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna in particular accounting for about 70% of total cases, however we in the South are concerned about thousands of people working and/or studying in the North which in the last few days have been assaulting long-distance trains in order to return to their places of origins. Yesterday at the train station here everybody was controlled with thermal scanners and five people with suspicious symptoms have been transferred to a hospital waiting to be examined for a possible infection.
Finally, nobody here is stockpiling loo rolls. [mention]Juan F. Ramirez[/mention], I can understand that you are puzzled about that... the fact, you see, is that both of our countries are provided with this fundamental tool of hygiene and civilization (in Italy, it's compulsory by law since 1975 that every household should have at least one), which prevents us from such behavior:
Schools are kept running with e-learning tool, with many difficulties because the majority of them, especially here in the South, were unprepared to such a sudden and widespread necessity. There are no precise indications, every school is pretty much doing things by itself. I am using Edmodo, sending links to videos on YouTube and recording audio lessons about the topics assigned to study in the textbooks. This week I will try to organize some video chats in Skype myself to check the situation with the pupils. Janitors and administrative personnel are still there although they resorted to shifting in order to avoid excessive concentrations of people.
The mostly struck area is still the North with Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna in particular accounting for about 70% of total cases, however we in the South are concerned about thousands of people working and/or studying in the North which in the last few days have been assaulting long-distance trains in order to return to their places of origins. Yesterday at the train station here everybody was controlled with thermal scanners and five people with suspicious symptoms have been transferred to a hospital waiting to be examined for a possible infection.
Finally, nobody here is stockpiling loo rolls. [mention]Juan F. Ramirez[/mention], I can understand that you are puzzled about that... the fact, you see, is that both of our countries are provided with this fundamental tool of hygiene and civilization (in Italy, it's compulsory by law since 1975 that every household should have at least one), which prevents us from such behavior:
Completely and utterly false: although the situation is still serious, the infection is still being contained with every possible means. We are not experiencing anything like that here. The country is holding on, thanks to the efforts of doctors, nurses, assistants etc. I don't know what the media are reporting in Poland, but saying our situation is "out of control" is simply not true.
Last edited by Alessandro on Sun Mar 15, 2020 3:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
The Bidet never caught on in the UK [mention]Alessandro[/mention]. I'm not sure why, but you would not find one in 99% of British homes. That probably explains why the supermarket shelves here are completely clear of loo rolls.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... brilliance
Its very sad what is happening in Italy, especially the number of deaths. We wish you all the very best.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... brilliance
Its very sad what is happening in Italy, especially the number of deaths. We wish you all the very best.
- Alessandro
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Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
Thanks Peter. However we are holding on, and also under those drastic measures life goes on. I am afraid that the media outside of here report scenarios more similar to Terry Nation's classic Survivors series (known here as I sopravvissuti) than to effective reality; that's absolutely nothing like that, although the situation is serious. But neither desperate nor out of control.
- 1024MAK
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Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
A large number of homes do now have showers, so if you are desperate...
Unless you are renovating the building and having a bigger "bathroom", often there is no space in a typical "bathroom" to include a bidet. And as most of the population of the U.K. are used to using toilet paper, there is very little demand for anything to change, especially if it costs money...
I think it is just a case of people previously only buying what they need week to week, and then seeing/hearing stories of others buying a months supply and then copying... Soon the shops will restock and it will become a non-issue.
Mark
Standby alert
“There are four lights!”
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb
Looking forward to summer later in the year.
“There are four lights!”
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb
Looking forward to summer later in the year.
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
Absolutely Mark. There is no need at all for panic buying. Madness.
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Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
I know Juan, my wife and I have been saying "What IS it with the loo rolls?" and only this morning did it dawn on me as I shouted to her "I've just realized, its not bottoms its noses! They're stocking up anticipating major coughs and sneezes."Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Sun Mar 15, 2020 2:53 pm I won't never understand the obsession of modern man for toilet paper. Really!
That makes more sense.
- Alessandro
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Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
[mention]llewelyn[/mention] Should that be the case, loo rolls should be out of stock here like hand gel and protective masks, which isn't the case.
If all those people stockpiling rolls there think it's for the nose, I am afraid they suffer from a particular facial conformation...
If all those people stockpiling rolls there think it's for the nose, I am afraid they suffer from a particular facial conformation...
Last edited by Alessandro on Sun Mar 15, 2020 4:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- 1024MAK
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Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
The official advice here is to use disposable tissues (no mention of toilet roll)...
Mark
Mark
Standby alert
“There are four lights!”
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb
Looking forward to summer later in the year.
“There are four lights!”
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb
Looking forward to summer later in the year.
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Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
I don't know Alessandro, I still think that's more likely to be the answer than everyone suddenly thinking they are going to need toilet paper in abundance for the normal purpose. After all, in your country its mandatory to have at least one roll per household so the chances are that people carry a decent supply anyway, whereas a lot of people like my wife, use loo rolls rather than Kleenex because its cheaper and more convenient to grab a hunk off the roll, she does this all the time and keeps one by her computer. Me being English I always have a handkerchief!
You know this could be an interesting insight into behaviour, to discover who does what and why.
I live in rural Virginia where life is currently going on at its usual bucolic rate, the stores aren't being emptied of anything (even toilet paper) but from the news and newspapers it seems that the cities are where the major panic buying is occurring. Makes some sort of sense because of the high population density. Tammy just came back from NY city three days ago and she said people were acting a bit crazy, Trader Joe's looked like the locusts had hit it, lots of their regular lines including my favourite coffee blend are sold out. Cafes are almost empty on the lower East Side compared to the normal crowds.
Thanks Pete and R-Tape for doing this, I think its a good idea to have one place for us to talk about this situation and enquire after each others health and well being.
You know this could be an interesting insight into behaviour, to discover who does what and why.
I live in rural Virginia where life is currently going on at its usual bucolic rate, the stores aren't being emptied of anything (even toilet paper) but from the news and newspapers it seems that the cities are where the major panic buying is occurring. Makes some sort of sense because of the high population density. Tammy just came back from NY city three days ago and she said people were acting a bit crazy, Trader Joe's looked like the locusts had hit it, lots of their regular lines including my favourite coffee blend are sold out. Cafes are almost empty on the lower East Side compared to the normal crowds.
Thanks Pete and R-Tape for doing this, I think its a good idea to have one place for us to talk about this situation and enquire after each others health and well being.
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
Let me use more precise words then, Alessandro.Completely and utterly false: although the situation is still serious, the infection is still being contained with every possible means. We are not experiencing anything like that here. The country is holding on, thanks to the efforts of doctors, nurses, assistants etc.
What I hear from news is that Italy is currently taking it all very seriously and putting a lot of coordinated effort to stop it. So I agree with you here.
What I meant by "went out of control" is that it was a bit neglected in the inital phase, 3-4 weeks ago. That first patients were kept in hospitals in common rooms with everyone else. That they were allowed to have visitors. And the disease spreaded.
I've also read a comment that it was "good" that it started in northern Italy not the southern one because it would be much worse. You know there is a stereotype or northern Italians being something close to Germans much more pedantic and better organized.
Of course 4 weeks ago if someone introduced empty streets and doctors dressed like astronauts then everyone would consider him crazy. But that's what everybody is doing now so maybe after all it's not that crazy.
I'm a bit lost myself with it. If it's yet another flu then why everyone is so serious about it??? Maybe they aren't telling us everything (ed: oh man please don't start with any conspiracy theories )
Re: Specchums and the coronavirus.
You are most welcome. These are unusual times for everyone.