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Post by questa on Sept 11, 2020 15:13:27 GMT
Ah, that's always a problem in the racialised countries.. Please, Sir What does racialised mean? How do you use the word in conversation?
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 11, 2020 15:17:28 GMT
No, it is not a conversational word, but it does describe societies which need to fit every person into a specific racial category for whatever reason (not all bad, but not all good either).
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Post by lagatta on Sept 11, 2020 15:54:02 GMT
It isn't just the one-drop rule in the southern US. There are very complex systems of racialisation in the Caribbean countries and in Brazil, for example. I have relatives from a Caribbean country who are about Obama-coloured, but unlike him, they have been that hue for generations (and relatively privileged). And in many cases in America (the continent) there are also Indigenous populations involved, as well as European and African people.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 11, 2020 16:09:23 GMT
What gets me is how normal it seems for Americans to call Obama African-American when his father was 100% African (non American) and his mother was of European stock. And to call Kamala Harris African-American when her mother was 100% Indian and her Jamaican father was only about 25% of African descent. If one must put an ethnic label on Harris, the only decent thing to do would be to call her Indian-American but that doesn't seem to be bankable (votable?) in the current situation.
What are they getting out of this?
Okay back to covid -- it's getting really "bad" in France in terms of contamination if not in terms of hospitalisation and death. But we are now up to a million tests a week, so they are obviously going to find more cases but the current rate of 5.4% is far above the 1% that has been targeted.
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Post by mossie on Sept 11, 2020 18:33:48 GMT
It is quite worrying that it is increasing rapidly here too, it mainly seems to be affecting younger age groups now whereas the first wave concentrated on the oldies.
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Post by mickthecactus on Sept 11, 2020 18:37:38 GMT
There's a suggestion that oldies are beginning to pick it up again too.
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Post by lugg on Sept 11, 2020 18:45:15 GMT
It is quite worrying that it is increasing rapidly here too, it mainly seems to be affecting younger age groups now whereas the first wave concentrated on the oldies Yes its all going to pot now. New restrictions re no more than 6 meeting , absolutely meaningless when the Bo Jo government is encouraging people back to their offices. Fortunately the NHS ( in the main) is generally ignoring this as are many LA's and continue to encourage those who can work from home to stay home for the time being. Meanwhile the cases of positive tests of children in schools also increases. But it is all ok as we have Hancock's Moonshot www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2020/sep/10/matt-hancock-presents-operation-moonshot-to-open-laughter-in-commons-video
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Post by tod2 on Sept 15, 2020 16:04:40 GMT
Our local news has just announced that Britain has donated R50 million (2.4mi sterling) to South Africa to fight our Corona Virus. But, but, but……this morning I watched ministers in UK being hauled over the coals because the testing of Covid is shot to pieces and the whole Covid debacle is in shreds. Here, we can have a test within two days, and get the result. BUT, it costs a bomb , R600 , but if your employer pays….who cares. The next thing is: The Covid money is being filched by scams in government even though….yes, even though there is a huge Commission on State Capture being held by Judge Zondo since 2019,who is absolutely disgusted that although South Africa is tracking down government officials and Presidents, the people still carry on robbing the country regardless. Banana Republic is the only description.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 15, 2020 16:10:26 GMT
Does South Africa produce bananas? It seems like the climate would be conducive in certain areas.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Sept 16, 2020 12:08:36 GMT
After the euphoria of meeting up with my son and DiL on Sunday I'm afraid I've sunk back into the coronavirus torpor again. Infection rates are rising in and around the city, and altho west Leicester numbers are still very low atm now that the children are back at school and folk are back at work then I expect it will kick off here too.
We are pretty fed up really. It is what it is. With BoJo angling for a no deal Brexit riding roughshod over the Good Friday Agreement, announcing that they're going to tear up the human rights bill, closing down public health England and privatising everything by stealth, awarding billion pound contracts to their cronies with no debate, it's awful. Only one thing would make it worse...trump being re elected in the USA...
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Post by whatagain on Sept 16, 2020 13:17:57 GMT
Congrats to Trump and his administration.
The 200 k dead has been reached on the site i follow. Somebody could remind him that hexsaid yhey would do a great job if ghey were under 100 k ? Albeit i have never understood how ine vould say so. For him it is just numbers. I guess the ones who die are suckers and losers.
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Post by tod2 on Sept 16, 2020 13:37:44 GMT
Does South Africa produce bananas? Is the Pope Catholic? Yes indeed we do. By the ton. Don't know if a lot is exported or we eat the whole lot. The area around Kruger Park is huge in banana farming together with Avo's, oranges, litchis and papayas. There is also massive plantations along the Natal coastline in conjunction with sugar cane fields, and orchard upon orchard of Macadamia nuts.
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Post by casimira on Sept 16, 2020 16:56:56 GMT
New Orleans is often referred to as a Banana Republic of sorts. Not because we produce bananas (although they do grow here) but, the city government and infrastructure are so poor. Much like a third world country.
Louisiana moved into Phase 3 at the end of last week with the exception of New Orleans where we remain in Phase 2. The mayor has been very aggressive and restrictive much to many peoples dismay. Naturally the bars and music clubs are being hit the hardest. So, the young college students rather than hanging out at bars with social distancing measures are hooping and hollering it up in backyards and in many instances some of the parks. There aren't enough security measures (university and park security personnel) available to enforce the rules. If this continues we will remain stuck in Phase 2 for a long time. It was a huge mistake to re-open the schools.
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Post by tod2 on Sept 17, 2020 7:50:26 GMT
Last night our president Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on TV and announced the country is going to Phase 1 shortly. In about a week think. Mask restriction will stay in place but numbers for gatherings has doubled. I am anxious to see if we spike upwards with Covid . As for us in this house, we are not ready to go to a restaurant for a meal or socialise with friends. I count myself extremely lucky to have a large space to move around in.
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Post by tod2 on Sept 17, 2020 15:51:12 GMT
I've just had an alert from one of the biggest Chemist/Drugstore distributors in South Africa, offering me a "Drive Through Covid test". Do you know how tempted I am….?
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 17, 2020 17:39:18 GMT
Oh, yes, Tod ~ I can see why you are tempted! Also, isn't it the case that the more people who get tested, the more data scientists have to work with? we are not ready to go to a restaurant for a meal Apologies if I already posted about this but ...... Sunday I went out to eat with a friend because she was dying to get out of the house. I was reluctant, but we picked a restaurant with outdoor dining. We arrived at 2 & left at @3:15, at which time they closed the place because we had been the only customers they'd had that day. The experience was totally not worth it. We chose the place for the location, not the food, which is merely okay. We wound up sitting as far from the table as we could and still be able to reach our plates. When we were chatting, we angled ourselves so that we weren't completely facing each other. Since we talk on the phone all the time anyway, the eating out under those circumstances was pointless and unsatisfying.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 17, 2020 17:53:12 GMT
Since the weather has been very nice, the outdoor terraces of the restaurants and cafés in Paris are absolutely overflowing. This is probably not a good thing, but since I have not joined them, I might survive.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Sept 18, 2020 14:23:19 GMT
BJ is threatening another 2 week lockdown across England as numbers of positive tests are picking up again. I think that unless hospital admissions start to rise as well many people think that it's a lot of fuss over nothing. I'm not going anywhere tho...not with winter around the corner.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 18, 2020 14:54:33 GMT
All of the indicators in France have become bright red, but so far there have been only local restrictions, mostly concerning café hours in various cities. This might change, because the death rate doubled yesterday even if it remains much lower than in March or April.
Schools are still operating quite normally for the most part, and they have even lifted certain restrictions since the children are not contaminating each other and are not (mostly) bringing the virus home.
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 18, 2020 16:48:39 GMT
We've started driving back through France from Spain. The first night was still in Spain and it was business as normal with everyone wearing a mask no matter where you were when leaving the house. We were in Aranjuez, a very interesting town due to it's royal connections (45 mins south of Madrid) though it seemed somewhat neglected. Definitely worth a visit for its gardens if nothing else. But - as we expected, going for a nice long walk with a mask on, no matter how many people weren't near you, is a bit of a pain.
Today we drove to Mimizan Plage, not far over the border into France on the west side an hour or more south of Bordeaux. I came here when I was about twenty three or four for a beach holiday. You can generally walk round without a mask but in the main tourist/shopping street it is compulsory (as is the normal going into shops). The freedom to not do so is a nice change from the weeks/months we've been in Spain and having to wear one no matter the location. It'll be two more nights in France and then across into Germany.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 18, 2020 16:57:55 GMT
I have always liked Mimizan precisely because there is nothing "special" about it. It is off the tourist map, which is an advantage right now.
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Post by bjd on Sept 18, 2020 18:27:39 GMT
Mimizan is "off the tourist map"??! This summer all the west coast resorts did booming business. Mimizan is one of them but, of course, only during the summer. Most of those towns on the coast are completely dead the rest of the year.
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 18, 2020 18:34:28 GMT
I can't say it's busy, probably due to the time of year anyway, but there are quite a few tourists about.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 18, 2020 20:12:05 GMT
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Post by htmb on Sept 18, 2020 20:31:49 GMT
That is a very interesting article, Bixa.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 18, 2020 23:11:44 GMT
I thought so, Htmb, and very surprising as well. Be that as it may, my paranoia level may still be cranked up too high to lightly board public transportation.
Really, the highs and the lows of what people will do are confusing. I have a friend who has stopped water delivery because she doesn't want anyone walking through her house right now. But she has also taken a plane voyage and uses taxis fairly regularly. I don't worry about invisible stuff on the floor & don't take off my shoes when I come in from the street, but have not used taxis in months and really don't want to be in an airport or airplane.
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Post by htmb on Sept 18, 2020 23:31:15 GMT
It seems public transportation numbers are down. I wonder if there’d be a spike in cases if more people were to return to riding the subways so there was more crowding.
If I really had to take a short taxi ride for some reason, I don’t think I’d be too worried as long as i could open windows and get good air circulation, but I haven’t been inside stores/office buildings more than ten times since early March.
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Post by whatagain on Sept 19, 2020 10:32:41 GMT
Last week i took the train than the RER and ate 3 times at a restaurant. I must cool down. Ah and i slept in a hotel. But i saw masks everywhere. Correctly put in transportation systems, and a lot under the chin in the 93, much less in the 10th. Most people who dont wear masks in Paris were youngsters or tramps or close to.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 20, 2020 13:51:57 GMT
I’m HOPING to have a reunion with my (remaining) sister later this week. But that may get cancelled as her companion’s brother died unexpectedly and they had to travel to Boston for his shiva. So they may cancel for fear of bringing us germs.
And we, also, travelled by air this week. We wore glasses and double-masked, though. (Our best-fitting masks have valves, so we covered them with the blue surgical masks.) We hand sanitize religiously and wipe down the arm-rests, tray tables, air vent knobs and video monitors on the plane and the rental car’s door handles, steering wheel, shift knob, etc...
I hope we can get together, even for a short visit, but we’re all in the age group at higher risk.
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Post by tod2 on Sept 20, 2020 15:28:52 GMT
Kimby I give you a huge pat on the back for doing your absolute best to ward off any virus that maybe lurking and ready to attack. We often think we are overdoing it. I can't tell you how much sanitiser I had inhaled during this Covid thing. Even if the garden man comes to my kitchen door to collect his lunch which I have made, I spray the door handle and surrounds and his used eating dishes.
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