The off topic thread 4.0

[undefined]

Why not vote early?

I felt the same way two weeks ago when the early voting opened. Should've applied for postal - oh well, there's talk of a last-minute postponement.

 

[SM]

No-one should be fined for not voting given the circumstances.

There would be a good case for declaring any election result null and void.

Government should get to stay in for another two years just to be safe.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Why not vote early?

 

[SM]

They should have made postal voting more widely available then, pretty shit if they didn't.

 

[undefined]

They should have made postal voting more widely available then, pretty shit if they didn't.

Only downside to living up here is that we're a state of impractical hillbillies.

 

[undefined]

Spoiler: AFR: the six charts showing an economy going into hibernation

Daily metrics on energy use, traffic congestion, consumer spending and unemployment are showing a dramatic contraction of economic activity in Australia as social distancing restrictions take effect.Daily consumption of energy tapered off on Thursday, traffic congestion in Sydney and Melbourne this week is down more than 30 per cent on last year's average, and site traffic to Centrelink has surged 500 per cent in five days, with the key search phrase being "Jobseeker payment".

"All this real-time data is becoming much more valuable to policymakers and investors because things are moving so quickly that the usual data from the ABS and – even weekly data – is now looking dated," ANZ head of economics David Plank said. WattClarity energy analyst Paul McArdle said that just over Thursday, Australia's aggregate energy usage had dipped below 500,000 megawatt hours and "might" be indicative of the movement restrictions starting to work.

"Energy use has been tightly coupled with growth in the economy so a reduction, particularly in these circumstances, shows a slowdown is coming," Mr McArdle said, "It also provides real-time feedback on the way in which the latest round of restrictions will change life as we know it."Over the past five days, life and business have changed significantly, and welfare and traffic congestion figures have deviated from their norms.

Traffic congestion in Sydney has dropped 30.9 per cent over the past five days while Melbourne is down 31.25 per cent, Brisbane 19 per cent, Perth 15 per cent and Adelaide 22.5 per cent, according to ANZ, which collated data using a feed from satellite navigation company TomTom. ANZ expects a significant drop this weekend as well. "Congestion does give us a very good sense as to how deep the fall-off in economic activity is going to be," Mr Plank said.

Shipping Data

Credit and debit card spending on transport dropped 7.1 per cent in the week to March 20. Shipping data has been difficult to obtain but the last numbers from JP Morgan showed the volume of shipping leaving Australia dropped by more than half in the first week of February. One of the key areas policymakers are trying to get live data on is the unemployment rate. While counts can be made based on daily company announcements, one of the best proxies for the increase in demand for welfare, and to an extent, the level of unemployment, is site traffic to Centrelink.

Over the past five days, there has been a 500 per cent increase in website traffic to Centrelink, according to data analytics agency SimilarWeb.
"Over the past few days, we are seeing an unprecedented increase in website traffic to many government agencies, in particular, the Centrelink website," SimilarWeb country manager Matt Hodgson said.

"Looking at the search keywords which drive the traffic provides greater perspective on what the public may need support for. Some of the main search words driving traffic are: 'Youth allowance', 'Medicare', 'Newstart' and 'Jobseeker payment'." Weekly job ads on SEEK have also collapsed over the past five days. The volume of jobs posted on SEEK has dropped 41.3 per cent compared with the previous corresponding period last year.

With higher levels of unemployment and workers who have been stood down, coupled with tighter restrictions on restaurants and small business, it's no surprise that credit and debit card expenditure on services has fallen too. CBA and ANZ daily credit and debit card data, released only on a weekly basis, shows that spending on services has plummeted. In contrast, spending on goods has jumped, mainly reflecting the panic buying.

"The recent decline in dining out spending, based on ANZ-observed data, suggests that social distancing was starting to have an effect on dining out demand," Mr Plank said.

"Based on ANZ observed data, it seems the share of dining spending diverted to takeaway services was rising. We expect spending on dining out and takeaway services to fall sharply after the national lockdown announced on 22 March."

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

Boris Johnson tests positive.

 

[WealstoneRaider]

So our leader has gone down with it. There is no doubt in my mind that if everyone got tested this week they’d be millions with it in the U.K., it’s so widespread. I know so many people who have gone down with symptoms thankfully minor ones, although a friend of mines dad is in hospital and I have a feeling he may have passed on. Testing times to say the least

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Disgusting.

 

[Zidane98]

So our leader has gone down with it. There is no doubt in my mind that if everyone got tested this week they’d be millions with it in the U.K., it’s so widespread. I know so many people who have gone down with symptoms thankfully minor ones, although a friend of mines dad is in hospital and I have a feeling he may have passed on. Testing times to say the least

How many tests are coming up negative? If millions really do have it lockdown measures are going to have little effect. Herd immunity & quarantine the elderly / vulnerable would be the only realistic option if the virus has spread to millions of the population.

 

[WealstoneRaider]

How many tests are coming up negative? If millions really do have it lockdown measures are going to have little effect. Herd immunity & quarantine the elderly / vulnerable would be the only realistic option if the virus has spread to millions of the population.

That’s a good question, but I have no idea how many are coming up negative. Might look for some stats on that

 

[RPCB]

Have our UK residents seen this? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...home-testing-to-be-made-available-within-days

 

[undefined]

Have our UK residents seen this? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...home-testing-to-be-made-available-within-days

Looking forward to SloMo pushing for similar action in approx 1 month.

 

[RPCB]

Looking forward to SloMo pushing for similar action in approx 1 month.

.... with a smirk on his face whilst saying that the UK did it one month ago.

And then Donald Trump will get on it and say he’s single handedly responsible for saving tens of millions of American lives.

 

[Bojan KantKick]

Have our UK residents seen this? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...home-testing-to-be-made-available-within-days

Yeah, saw Chris Whitty talk about it. Wont be available for a couple of weeks imo.

 

[RPCB]

Yeah, saw Chris Whitty talk about it. Wont be available for a couple of weeks imo.

It sounds like something if it does happen, though. 2 weeks does sound like a long time to wait considering you need it now with the rate of infections in the UK only going to increase daily.

 

[Bojan KantKick]

It sounds like something if it does happen, though. 2 weeks does sound like a long time to wait considering you need it now with the rate of infections in the UK only going to increase daily.

No point having tests if they arent reliable and you can't collect the data.

 

[SM]

Looking forward to SloMo pushing for similar action in approx 1 month.

You mean the head of the government with one of the highest global testing per million?

 

[undefined]

You mean the head of the government with one of the highest global testing per million?

Qualitative, not quantitative. There are literally two specialised respiratory testing clinics in the country as we speak. There should be far more; he has known for three months the extent to which COVID could cripple us.

Yet, he has been reactive at best, following the lead of overseas Governments.

And as for the Government he heads, they’re gradually cutting billions from hospitals, and have been decimating Medicare since 2013 for the purpose of corporate tax-cut reallocation.

The added damage will highly likely speak for itself throughout the next year or so. And that’s just to the health sector.

 

[RPCB]

Woman who coughed on $35K worth of grocery store food faces felony charges

The store's co-owner said he was "sick to my stomach" about the food loss. "When so many people are worried about the security of our food supply, it is even more disturbing."

www.nbcnews.com

It looks like not only do we need to deal with the Coronavirus but also the crazies who seem to come out of hiding. That is gross and disturbing.

 

[Cruyff14]

UnitedWarrior93 loving Hitman again!

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

UnitedWarrior93 loving Hitman again!

How good is it. A couple of weeks ago I started up the first Hitman game from like 2001, still very enjoyable. Still reckon Blood Money is the best one, but the two rebooted ones are fantastic.

If you love the Hitman games, you’ll love Splinter Cell as well although I’m betting you’ve played them?

 

[Kompany]

How many tests are coming up negative? If millions really do have it lockdown measures are going to have little effect. Herd immunity & quarantine the elderly / vulnerable would be the only realistic option if the virus has spread to millions of the population.

In the UK, more than 100,000 people have been tested and around 14,,600 were positive. In Norway, 95% of tests are negative. It all depends on who is getting tested of course.

 

[Kompany]

Disgusting.

27 million Americans don't have health insurance, but of those who do have it, many get it through their employer. There are estimates that up to 30% of workers may lose their job in the next few weeks. During the GFC, 60% of those who lost their job became uninsured.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

27 million Americans don't have health insurance, but of those who do have it, many get it through their employer. There are estimates that up to 30% of workers may lose their job in the next few weeks. During the GFC, 60% of those who lost their job became uninsured.

They are a nation to be pitied.

Guns.
Healthcare.

Both cost the lives of many Americans because they’ve both been corrupted by money and greed