The upside to coronovirus!

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Will those that have "Chinese genetically engineered super soldiers' on your What's next 2020?" cards please come to the red window and collect your winnings.


 
'Christmas star' will form when Jupiter, Saturn align for first time in 800 years

Alignment of the planets will appear to show a bright star right around the holidays.
Later this month, a celestial phenomenon will occur when Jupiter and Saturn align, lighting the sky in a way that has not been seen since 1226.

Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer together in Earth’s night sky for the first time since the Middle Ages, according to researchers at Rice University. Alignments between the two planets are rare, occurring about every 20 years. However, this particular order, which could happen between Dec. 16 and 25, was last witnessed more than 800 years ago, according to Rice University astronomer Patrick Hartigan.

“You’d have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky.”

“On the evening of closest approach on Dec. 21 they will look like a double planet, separated by only 1/5th the diameter of the full moon,” said Hartigan, a professor of physics and astronomy. “For most telescope viewers, each planet and several of their largest moons will be visible in the same field of view that evening.” Weather permitting, the best viewing conditions will be near the equator. Hartigan said the planetary duo will appear low in the western sky for about an hour after sunset each evening.

 
Maybe that will get people to comply...

They'll just disbelieve it like they do Covid. I bet sales of little blue pills go up after this is over. Pfizer wins on two fronts then :tongue:
 
Solo's regional government have jumped the shark good and proper. They've set up a regional quarantine that consists of parking people in large dormitory tents in a converted old colonial-era fort. Anyone going into Solo has to quarantine in this for two weeks. If COVID gets into one of the tents (people aren't actually being screened for COVID, it seems) then it will just spread to everybody in the tents.

Apparently this is something to do with local elections. I guess the powers-that-be think this will somehow skew the vote in their favour.

So much for going to visit the fam in Solo. Just paid for the ticket and finished making all the arrangements a day or two ago.

It gets better. If we cancel the trip, we can't re-apply for the visa for another 6 months.
 
Christmans tree ornaments for 2020

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So we ordered gag ornaments for family and friends. True to 2020 they still haven't arrived (ordered Nov 9th). Had to dispute the charges with the Credit card company and last night they sent me a tracking number showing had been delivered on November 30th but neither me nor my wife can recall ever getting the package.
 
Solo's regional government have jumped the shark good and proper. They've set up a regional quarantine that consists of parking people in large dormitory tents in a converted old colonial-era fort. Anyone going into Solo has to quarantine in this for two weeks. If COVID gets into one of the tents (people aren't actually being screened for COVID, it seems) then it will just spread to everybody in the tents.

Apparently this is something to do with local elections. I guess the powers-that-be think this will somehow skew the vote in their favour.

So much for going to visit the fam in Solo. Just paid for the ticket and finished making all the arrangements a day or two ago.

It gets better. If we cancel the trip, we can't re-apply for the visa for another 6 months.
That sucks man. My condolences. When you're choices are get COVID in a shitty tent or wait 6 months to see your family the universe has snapped on its rubber gloves and politely told you it's out of lube.
 
So we ordered gag ornaments for family and friends. True to 2020 they still haven't arrived (ordered Nov 9th). Had to dispute the charges with the Credit card company and last night they sent me a tracking number showing had been delivered on November 30th but neither me nor my wife can recall ever getting the package.

Yup, that sounds about right by 2020 standards.
 
Covid 2! Virulent Boogilo!

Washington State is now requiring all traveler from the UK to quarantine for two weeks upon return. It's no longer just a suggestion for those traveler's it's the law!

Nobby-W Nobby-W and any others of you in the UK I'm sorry for the situation you guys are in. I'm hoping it stays just more virulent and not more lethal.
 
So we ordered gag ornaments for family and friends. True to 2020 they still haven't arrived (ordered Nov 9th). Had to dispute the charges with the Credit card company and last night they sent me a tracking number showing had been delivered on November 30th but neither me nor my wife can recall ever getting the package.
Could be porch bandits. They are a big problem in Southern California during holiday season; I happen to use a mailing service for security and privacy.
 
Could be porch bandits. They are a big problem in Southern California during holiday season; I happen to use a mailing service for security and privacy.
Nope. We are so hard to find and down such a steep hill it's hard for people we give detailed directions to find. It's wierd though because it's USPS saying they delivered it and they are usually awesome.
 
On the bright side both my parents and my wife's parents are scheduled to get round one if the vaccine in the first week of February. That will be nice.
I just got a text from my GP to the effect of 'Don't call us, we'll call you.'
 
Considering how horribly the pandemic has affected many people, I have little to complain about, but I'm going to vent a bit anyway. As some people have noted upthread, COVID and some other issues have really slowed down the US Postal Service. This has led me to no end of trouble with my credit card.

My bill usually arrives late in the month (say 25th-28th) and is due the 16th of the following month. In December, I mailed my payment on the 8th. It has still not arrived, 5+ weeks after I mailed it, even though it is going to a P.O. box less than 450 miles away. The bill for December did not arrive until January 6, ten days before it is due. I paid it the next day (1/7), spending $7.75 to send it priority mail. According to U.S.P.S. tracking it has still not been delivered. It reached its destination city on 1/12, sat for a day or two, and since 1:48 a.m. on 1/14 it's been 'out for delivery.'

So, my credit card company has frozen my card until they get the payments, which it seems the post office cannot get to them in any timely fashion. I guess I should have sent the payment from 1/7 overnight mail, but that costs about $26, and I'm not willing to spend that just to pay a bill. Beyond that, it seems like my credit card is now worthless, because I can't count on getting the bill in time to pay it and for the company to receive my payment before the due date. I suppose that the logjam at the U.S.P.S. will clear eventually, but we're three weeks past the holiday rush at this point, so when?

I know I could solve the problem by giving the credit card company my bank information, but I don't want them to have that, since they have been hacked on at least one occasion and I like having that additional layer of insulation.
 
Considering how horribly the pandemic has affected many people, I have little to complain about, but I'm going to vent a bit anyway. As some people have noted upthread, COVID and some other issues have really slowed down the US Postal Service. This has led me to no end of trouble with my credit card.

My bill usually arrives late in the month (say 25th-28th) and is due the 16th of the following month. In December, I mailed my payment on the 8th. It has still not arrived, 5+ weeks after I mailed it, even though it is going to a P.O. box less than 450 miles away. The bill for December did not arrive until January 6, ten days before it is due. I paid it the next day (1/7), spending $7.75 to send it priority mail. According to U.S.P.S. tracking it has still not been delivered. It reached its destination city on 1/12, sat for a day or two, and since 1:48 a.m. on 1/14 it's been 'out for delivery.'

So, my credit card company has frozen my card until they get the payments, which it seems the post office cannot get to them in any timely fashion. I guess I should have sent the payment from 1/7 overnight mail, but that costs about $26, and I'm not willing to spend that just to pay a bill. Beyond that, it seems like my credit card is now worthless, because I can't count on getting the bill in time to pay it and for the company to receive my payment before the due date. I suppose that the logjam at the U.S.P.S. will clear eventually, but we're three weeks past the holiday rush at this point, so when?

I know I could solve the problem by giving the credit card company my bank information, but I don't want them to have that, since they have been hacked on at least one occasion and I like having that additional layer of insulation.
Can you do an online bill pay initiated from the bank? It would be like a check but paid electronically
 
Can you do an online bill pay initiated from the bank? It would be like a check but paid electronically
I was going to say - my wife does this. It makes it nightmarish for me to track via mint, but it is quite literally an electronic check.
 
I was going to say - my wife does this. It makes it nightmarish for me to track via mint, but it is quite literally an electronic check.
Yeah I hate it too but it works in a pinch.

I had a yard guy I used for years and that was the only way to automatically pay him. Over the years that bank account attracted hacking attempts so I shut it off to all but in person access. As his rates went up my payment stayed the same resulting in me sending him an annual catch up/prepayment check.
 
Can you do an online bill pay initiated from the bank? It would be like a check but paid electronically

I should look into that. Right now I'm willing to give the post office a little more time to deliver my latest payment, since it seems it's in the right city, at least. If I initiated an electronic payment from my bank, I'd have to cancel the earlier checks (more fees) or greatly overpay the credit card company.

Ultimately, I think I'll end up closing my current credit card account, and getting a card through my bank. That way, if this situation comes up again, I can go down and pay the bill in person rather than through the mail.
 
One of my co-workers tested positive yesterday. This led to the rest of us getting rapid-result tests. Most of us, myself included, tested negative, but a few others tested positive. They've closed the store early today as a result to do a deep-cleaning. I get to go in tomorrow on my day off to cover for one of the people who will be out, so I've had to cancel the afternoon game for the teens, although I should hopefully still be able to make the evening session with the adult group.
 
I just heard a local news ad teaser warning that New York City might run out of vaccine as early as next week. Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but isn't the point to get it injected into people as quickly as possible. I realize not having enough is a problem, but if you are going to run out, doing it sooner is better than later.
 
I just heard a local news ad teaser warning that New York City might run out of vaccine as early as next week. Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but isn't the point to get it injected into people as quickly as possible. I realize not having enough is a problem, but if you are going to run out, doing it sooner is better than later.
It could have been due to a faulty assumption. As I understand it the Feds said they would be dumping a bunch more doses into the pool soon when in actuality they had already done it and not informed people. So the who supply assumptions got messed up for the states. Who knows though how accurate that is.
 
It could have been due to a faulty assumption. As I understand it the Feds said they would be dumping a bunch more doses into the pool soon when in actuality they had already done it and not informed people. So the who supply assumptions got messed up for the states. Who knows though how accurate that is.
Oh, I am assuming it was a faulty assumption somewhere along the line. Given it's a local news teaser, there is probably some spin to make it sound more dramatic. The actual press release was probably something like, "We expect to have all in-stock doses delivered by next week."
 
I just heard a local news ad teaser warning that New York City might run out of vaccine as early as next week. Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but isn't the point to get it injected into people as quickly as possible. I realize not having enough is a problem, but if you are going to run out, doing it sooner is better than later.
At the risk of veering close to politics, I've just read a headline that says Trump ordered states to expand the vaccination programme because another shipment of vaccine would be available shortly - but that shipment never existed.
 
So, a brief update on my woes connected to slow mails caused by the COVID crisis.

I finally gave in on 1/16 and paid the credit card bill electronically, since there seemed to be no chance of my mailed payment getting there on time--although I'd sent it Priority Mail (normally 2-3 days) on 1/7. The final straw was a newspaper article I read saying that in the destination city some mail might not be delivered for another 6-9 weeks.

Using tracking, I found that my check was finally delivered yesterday, 19 days after I mailed it. I just received my next bill today, and it is due in about 20 days. So again, I don't think I can use the mails.
 
So, a brief update on my woes connected to slow mails caused by the COVID crisis.

I finally gave in on 1/16 and paid the credit card bill electronically, since there seemed to be no chance of my mailed payment getting there on time--although I'd sent it Priority Mail (normally 2-3 days) on 1/7. The final straw was a newspaper article I read saying that in the destination city some mail might not be delivered for another 6-9 weeks.

Using tracking, I found that my check was finally delivered yesterday, 19 days after I mailed it. I just received my next bill today, and it is due in about 20 days. So again, I don't think I can use the mails.
Carrier Pigeon?
 
Carrier Pigeon?

There's a famous, and probably apocryphal, letter to the Times of London that goes something like this:

Sir,

I posted a letter in May. In November, it was returned to me in battered condition, with a note: 'Found adhering to a snail.'

Comment would be superfluous.

Sincerely, etc.
 
So, a brief update on my woes connected to slow mails caused by the COVID crisis.
I think I begrudgingly send 2-3 snail mail letters a year at most. I am curious, why do you prefer to pay bills by snail mail? I use bill pay thru my credit union.
 
I think I begrudgingly send 2-3 snail mail letters a year at most. I am curious, why do you prefer to pay bills by snail mail? I use bill pay thru my credit union.

It's a fair question. Probably the main reason is that I am an old stick-in-the mud, and I've been writing checks forever. A slightly better reason is that I don't like doing any more financial stuff online than I can get away with, because I'm worried about identity theft--and ultimately money theft, too. I've know a couple of people who went through it and their experience scared the bejesus out of me.

Probably it's an illusion, since when I send a check the recipient converts it into an electronic transaction in any case, but I prefer not giving my banking account number to any online database, for fear it will be hacked. I also don't want statements coming to me electronically for fear they will fall into the wrong hands.
 
A slightly better reason is that I don't like doing any more financial stuff online than I can get away with, because I'm worried about identity theft--and ultimately money theft, too. I've know a couple of people who went through it and their experience scared the bejesus out of me.
Fair enough, thanks for weighing in. To be honest if I used a traditional bank instead of a credit union I'd be wary as well (I have had many poor experiences with banks).
 
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