2210 replies to this topic

[Juthro]

I used to live not far from a regional logistic hub for Fred Meyers, and sometimes for extra coin I would help a friend of mine lump trucks there.  Some drivers most certainly do unload their own trucks.  That way they can keep the lumper fee that they were allotted.  The fact that this is done primarily for refer trucks hauling fresh food makes the whole cough, cough argument quite valid, IMO.

 

Even if the drivers that choose to use third party lumpers, or if the warehouse staff does the unloading, they still interact directly with the people doing the work.   There is no hermetically sealed bubble that the wheel monkeys just sit in while someone else does the work, and to suggest so is just not true.

 

Y'all are big boys, and  you are entitled to your opinions.  I'm not going to argue with you about it, but I'm not going to agree with you either.  IMHO, the 'freedom rally' is all about a bunch of whiney truckers that need a time out.  I support truckers on the whole, but I do not support them shutting down Ottawa, or any place else over their refusal to be vaccinated.

 

If you want to work in the public sector, especially if your handling my food at any point, then you should have taken at least a double tap to the shoulder, cut and dry.

 

[Myc]

I am completely unaware of the delivery style to which you refer. It just doesn't happen that way in my particular industry - but we are not receiving consumable products like food.

I always respect your input and opinions. It seems to counterbalance my own psychoses.

As for "two in the arm" - so to speak -- It looks like they're coming closer to a viable vaccine which actually works. I'm intrigued and will be awaiting further data. Until then, I'm not anti-anything. Will be monitoring closely and waiting for my friends in the medical community (who work in emergency departments and critical care wards) to recommend to me something that is effective. I trust them and they support my personal, unique strategy of isolation

 

I've shot-up a lot of times in my life. Stuff sold to me  that I put in a spoon, dissolved, and blasted. Don't get me wrong in that respect . I'm not a maniac that thinks the government is planting chips in us or other crazy nonsense.........

I just quit volunteering to shoot-up unless it really, really counts. And I hear your rebuttal - and we read the same news everyday - until they have an effective, safe, traditionally based, one and done vaccine......there will be no end to the contention.

I know you're frustrated along with many others on this website. I too, am frustrated. The site of rebels that I signed-up and made an account for has become ------ not so rebelious. Just know that I'll always care what you think. Your opinion matters even if it seems counter to my own. I stand somewhere in this weird middle ground - neither opposed, nor supporting.

 

But back on track I'd like to meet those haulers who unload their own cargo. It would be a blessing - being that they always manage to arrive at exactly the worst possible time - and our delivery may be at the front of a 45-foot trailer. ;)

[Juthro]

I'll start with I have great respect for you Myc, even when I don't agree with you.

 

Look up trucking lumper, it's quite common for large grocery chains to use them at their main distribution warehouses.   It's not a new thing.  They are also sometimes referred to as freight handlers.  They are independent workers, and not affiliated directly with the grocery chain, or the truckers.

 

Back in the 90's when I did it, guys would line up along the highway, and the truckers would call on the CB when they got close to the warehouse. Then a bidding war would start for who would be willing to do the job cheapest.  Kind of like a reverse auction.

 

Some owner operators, who would often bring some extra help in their tractor, would do the work themselves to keep the money that was set aside for getting the load lumped.  This money was generally set aside by the shipper, kind of like a peridium.  Then the hauler was responsible for getting the truck unloaded.   It was all a work around to keep the unionized grocery chains from having to pay living wages to more warehouse workers.

 

As far waiting for a vaccine that works... The fact that such large percentage of folks the required hospitalization or died from covid are folks that haven't gotten the jab is some pretty hard evidence to ignore IMO.   The vaccine isn't perfect, but a lot of the reason it hasn't been as successful as it could have been is because so many people have refused to follow any kind of protocols, and wont get vaccinated. 

Edited by Juthro, 08 February 2022 - 09:45 PM.

[TVCasualty]

Whether the vaccine works or not depends on how we define "works."

 

To me it clearly works very well: 

Protection vs Omicron severe or fatal disease by mRNA vaccines, with or without booster, in Qatar Vaccine effectiveness Without booster, ≥ 7 months 81% Pfizer; 64% Moderna With booster, ≥ 7 weeks 90% Pfizer; 100% Moderna (small N for latter)

 

https://twitter.com/...207251981631491

 

Dr. Topol also posts a lot about the ongoing work towards a universal, variant-proof coronavirus vaccine. They're getting pretty close, apparently.

 

What concerns me more than the risk of death from COVID is my risk of getting long-COVID.  I'm much more likely to deal with that if I get infected, statistically-speaking. Long-COVID is also wreaking havoc on the economy and exacerbating labor shortages, preventing us from getting things back on track.

 

From the UK:
 

A survey of 804 organisations, representing more than 4.3mn employees, found that one in four put it among the top three reasons for long-term absence, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said on Tuesday, while half had staff who had suffered from long Covid in the past 12 months.

 

Meanwhile, a fifth of employers said they did not know whether any of their staff had experienced continuing symptoms from the virus, suggesting the problem was underestimated as a workplace issue.

 

Rachel Suff, senior policy adviser for employment relations at the CIPD, the professional body for human resources, said alarm bells would be “starting to ring” for employers who were already struggling to fill vacancies and risked a significant loss of talent if those affected were unable to stay in work.

 

The survey adds to growing evidence that long-term health issues are adding to existing strains on a depleted UK workforce. Official data show the number of people who are not working or looking for a job due to long-term ill health has increased by 230,000 from pre-pandemic levels.

 

 

https://www.ft.com/c...b5-c0b1f68d9653

 

 

If we want to open everything back up to business-as-usual (which was an unsustainable and doomed paradigm before the pandemic, but that's another topic) then we'll need jobs filled by people who can reliably show up. The negative effects of long-COVID are going to reverberate through the economy for many, many years after the pandemic is considered unambiguously over, just like happened (or is still happening, rather) with polio.

Edited by TVCasualty, 09 February 2022 - 10:59 AM.

[TVCasualty]

We are in the middle of an on-going chain reaction, chemical, biological, processes are all connected in a 13.8 billion year long process... And that's only as far back as we can look... We are not separate from it.

 

I think you would really like Dr. Walker's thoughts on the subject of life (which are absolutely brilliant IMO):

 

[Direct Link]

 

 

She's changed the way I think about life and it's origins, aliens, and existence more than once.

 

 

A good clip from the discussion:

 

[Direct Link]

[shiftingshadows]

... IMO covid is just a distraction from what's to come, but a very effective distraction; for the majority of folks...

 

and covid and the emotions it generates in folks continues, to operate in this way, as do tensions in Russia/Ukraine ... but the bigger issues will be much more drastic and merciless when they ripen and hit home, IMO.

[shiftingshadows]

and if shit goes down in The Ukraine, they (the Ukrainans) will just be pawns in a proxy war (like Syria) for the USA and Russia to test new weapons.

 

These 4 Untested Weapons Could Be Crucial If Russia Pushes Beyond Ukraine"

https://finance.yaho...-202400884.html

 

of course the comments on yahoo news question the facts, but still "pawns in a proxy war " sounds like,

the likely reality, if it all goes down...compared to:

 

.... The real fun begins when we get sea level rise, ocean acidification, over fishing, mass human migrations, ecological collapse (death of bees (our food pollinators), rain forests, and keystone species), desertification of soil, food & water shortages simultaneously, while world governments continue to play at war & cyber war & more surveillance & militarization of police, & the wealth gap widens even more. If infrastructure starts to go down due to this chaos...

Edited by shiftingshadows, 09 February 2022 - 06:00 PM.

[FLASHINGROOSTER]

May you live in interesting times

 

FWIW they lifted the passport restrictions for our province at midnight last night. All restrictions within the next month or so, with some caveats. Like out of control hospital numbers. Maybe its all placation to the protestors, bumping up the timeline a month or so before it was likely set to relax anyway. Guess I can mostly shut my pie hole now.  Balance is returning to the force.. I can see that next wave on the horizon, no clue what it will look yet its too far away. I feel stronger facing it, we have vaccines, fancy approved antivirals, and now for some what oddly feels like hope. I wish we could all enjoy the crack of light at the end of the tunnel together.  Maybe just maybe we will

Edited by FLASHINGROOSTER, 09 February 2022 - 07:20 PM.

[FLASHINGROOSTER]

 

We are in the middle of an on-going chain reaction, chemical, biological, processes are all connected in a 13.8 billion year long process... And that's only as far back as we can look... We are not separate from it.

 

I think you would really like Dr. Walker's thoughts on the subject of life (which are absolutely brilliant IMO):

 

[Direct Link]

 

 

She's changed the way I think about life and it's origins, aliens, and existence more than once.

 

 

A good clip from the discussion:

 

[Direct Link]

 

 

She seems to be on another level, I started that one at work one day but the subject matter was fairly dense and I never returned

[TVCasualty]

She seems to be on another level, I started that one at work one day but the subject matter was fairly dense and I never returned

 

 

Definitely. It's one of those podcasts that you have to just sit there and focus on to the exclusion of all else. If you try to do something else while listening you'll not get done what you were working on AND not get all the details of what she's suggesting about life.

 

 

 

 

I guess Russia really, really wants a warm-water port, and too bad Ukraine fell for the bullshit about everyone else promising to play nice with or help defend them if they gave up their once-formidable nuclear weapon stockpile. I mean, duh. 

 

It looks like this might be the looming large-scale, old-school conventional war that I've mentioned here in the past the US military has been preparing for in recent years (according to an active-duty Officer who is a friend of mine).

[Juthro]

Balance is returning to the force.. I can see that next wave on the horizon, no clue what it will look yet its too far away. I feel stronger facing it, we have vaccines, fancy approved antivirals, and now for some what oddly feels like hope. I wish we could all enjoy the crack of light at the end of the tunnel together.  Maybe just maybe we will

 

 

(sorry, I just couldn't help myself :)

[Arathu]

"Due to budget constraints, the light at the end of the tunnel has been shut off.....

 

You’re on your own for now; better grab a candle, and a small piece of hope if you can find any....."

 

 

Bring it.....I have the light and darkness....

 

A

[shiftingshadows]

you might  really like this:

 

 “Inevitable Life ?”

D. Eric Smith, Professor, Santa Fe Institute

 

“Many researchers have supposed that the emergence of life hinged on a sequence of improbable events, at the same time as they have taken for granted the ability of life on earth to persist indefinitely and to "freeze in" the consequences of early accidents. Smith argues that there is ample evidence for a different interpretation: the emergence of life was an inevitable outcome of geochemistry on the early earth, and the same forces responsible for emergence have continued to support the persistence of life ever since.”

 

[Direct Link]

[TVCasualty]

Since it was originally about vaccine mandates (not sure what it's about at this point besides spreading bad-chaos), I put this local take on the bouncy-castle trucker convoy here:

 

[Direct Link]

 

It's kind of long, but does cover a lot of info and incidents. At around 12 minutes in he talks about an incident where some protesters tried to set a residential building on fire and taped the main exterior doors shut, which sounds like an attempt at mass murder to me.

 

 

I wonder if this guy understands that there won't be saunas and bouncy castles in jail (or prison, rather):

 

 

[Juthro]

'I'll go to jail forever if it means freedom',  LMAO!!! 

 

Part of me wonders what his definition of freedom is, and another part of doesn't care.   What a dumb ass mother trucker :)

[Myc]

I'll admit that I'm starting to lose sympathy for those folks as well.

A protest is a protest - a demonstration is a demonstration................but a siege is just a siege.

 

I'm beginning to suspect that there is much much more going on than meets the eye. It has been suggested that a number of those truckers are being paid by some outside party to create havoc.

When is enough - enough?

[Juthro]

Even though I didn't agree with their mission when they started, I could have accepted them if they did their protest, got their news time, and went back home.   I don't think that those people that are left have much of anything to do with those original goals.   They are much more like the morons, and professional trouble makers that Portland OR had/has so much trouble with.   

 

Time to take off the kiddy gloves, and start treating them like the criminals that they are, IMHO.

[shiftingshadows]

Main thing is to get rid of the stupid media giving them the attention they want.

But the public and media love to argue about this stuff.

So folly of one sort another, always continues.

[shiftingshadows]

and indeed the same follies in New Zealand

https://news.yahoo.c...-065924319.html

[FLASHINGROOSTER]

That fire thing is being blamed on protestors by twitter at the moment but they have no clue who it actually was. Pro twitter is making counter claims saying it had nothing to do with protestors.  The truth will come to light but considering it never made the national news I have my doubts. A man did a hit in run on protestors in Manitoba. Are they both connected? Stay tuned for actual evidence

 

Fire incident

 

https://globalnews.c...rson-apartment/

 

Hit and Run

 

https://globalnews.c...a-legisltature/

 

Regardless of where they stand they are fucked up people that deserve to be in prison. I would agree with the attempt at mass murder accusation

 

They rolled in the special forces in at the border this morning, seems like the bridge is opened. Ottawa is going to present far greater challenges considering families are living in campers and shacks ect. As well the monumental task of clearing literal tons of trucks out of there is going to be a gong show. We have a trucking company two doors down from our shop and one of the guys was talking to the owner. Said Ottawa has been phoning trying to find people to tow them. They said on the fourth phone call the person on the other end finally said you can charge us whatever you want please come. The guy said he had his doubts about those big money claims and they were half way across the country with plenty of work to do so he said no. You need another big rig with a winch on it  to get anywhere in that game, city tow trucks would be pretty much useless.

 

 

edit: update the day after the attempted fire

 

Feb. 8 statement made on video by the Ottawa Deputy Chief on the alleged arson, confirming “We don’t have any direct linkage between the occupation — the demonstrators — and that act”.

Edited by FLASHINGROOSTER, 12 February 2022 - 07:20 PM.