• Misinterprestation

    From Anton Shepelev@2:221/360 to All on Mon Mar 16 21:28:04 2020
    Hello, all

    How do you find the grammar in the following de-
    scription of an incident from my workplace?

    A colleaque leans into the doorway of my office and
    asks me rather amiably:

    -- Anton, will you go to lunch with us?
    -- Yeah, directly, -- answer I,

    upon which he leans out, makes a step down the pas-
    sage, and exlaims "Oh, fuck" in gunuine anguish.

    I grew surprised and embarrased because other people
    had seen and heard this unexpected reaction to my
    harmless answer, and went to investigate. My col-
    league had sworn when he badly struck his shoulder
    or elbow upon the door jamb or some such 0structural
    element while clearing the doorway :-)

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://fidonews.mine.nu - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/360.0)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Anton Shepelev on Tue Mar 17 19:36:02 2020
    Hi, Anton! Recently you wrote in a message to All:

    How do you find the grammar in the following de-
    scription of an incident from my workplace?

    A colleaque leans into the doorway of my office
    and asks me rather amiably:

    -- Anton, will you go to lunch with us?
    -- Yeah, directly, -- answer I,

    upon which he leans out, makes a step down the pas-
    sage, and exlaims "Oh, fuck" in gunuine anguish.

    I grew surprised and embarrased because other people
    had seen and heard this unexpected reaction to my
    harmless answer, and went to investigate. My col-
    league had sworn when he badly struck his shoulder
    or elbow upon the door jamb or some such 0structural
    element while clearing the doorway :-)


    You switched verb tenses there, as I've heard sports commentators do when they tell a radio or TV audience "He shoots -- oh, he missed!"

    Some folks consider it acceptable to introduce a tense change at the beginning of a new paragraph, but AFAIC it's distracting & unpleasant. I would suggest you pick one or the other & avoid changing horses in midstream.... :-Q




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:221/360 to Anton Shepelev on Wed Mar 18 13:12:28 2020
    Hi, Anton Shepelev : All!
    I read your message from 16.03.2020 22:30

    How do you find the grammar in the following de-
    scription of an incident from my workplace?


    -----Beginning of the citation-----
    A colleaque leans into the doorway of my office and
    asks me rather amiably:

    -- Anton, will you go to lunch with us?
    -- Yeah, directly, -- answer I,

    upon which he leans out, makes a step down the passage, and
    exlaims "Oh, fuck" in gunuine anguish.

    I grew surprised and embarrased because other people had seen and
    heard this unexpected reaction to my harmless answer, and went to
    investigate. My colleague had sworn when he badly struck his
    shoulder or elbow upon the door jamb or some such structural
    element while clearing the doorway
    ----- The end of the citation -----

    Directly???
    Taking aside "directly" I think that the question "will you" demands the answer like "Yeah, I will".
    IMHO it is very unusual how you switched times from present to past. I believe you should use the past tense in every sentence. "A colleague leaned... and asked me..."

    Do you think that "Yeah, directly" means the same as "Yeah, surely"?

    PS: also note that your direct speech punctuation is like in the Russian language, not in English.
    +
    colleague
    genuine
    embarrassed
    exclaim

    Bye, Anton!
    Alexander Koryagin
    english_tutor 2020

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://fidonews.mine.nu - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/360.0)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Alexander Koryagin on Thu Mar 19 20:26:54 2020
    Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to Anton Shepelev:

    -- Anton, will you go to lunch with us?
    -- Yeah, directly, -- answer I,

    Directly???


    I don't know many people who would say that, but according to both of my Canadian dictionaries the word is used to mean "soon" or "immediately". :-)



    Taking aside "directly" I think that the question "will
    you" demands the answer like "Yeah, I will".


    I don't know many people nowadays who would say "anon", as Juliet did more than four centuries ago. Either way I understand the intent. But since I have no idea who Anton's colleagues are I'd hesitate to suggest he use the word "yeah" or add "hang on a sec", as I might do with family & friends. I wouldn't want him to miss an opportunity to become a tenured professor of linguistics if other such people disapprove of my free & easy North American ways. One of the important lessons I learned in my youth was that, although Miss Stickler turned a deaf ear when I didn't speak formal English, many of the people I worked with in the restaurant business seemed genuinely baffled when I did... [wry grin].



    IMHO it is very unusual how you switched times from present
    to past. I believe you should use the past tense in every
    sentence.


    That would be my preference here. When Anton shares an anecdote with us about something which happened to him, I take it more seriously than a made- up story about a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead stranded on a lifeboat. :-Q



    PS: also note that your direct speech punctuation is like in
    the Russian language, not in English.


    Okay. Thanks for the clarification.... :-)




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:5075/128.130 to Ardith Hinton on Fri Mar 20 09:33:02 2020
    <MSGID_1=3A153=[email protected]>
    Hi, Ardith Hinton!
    I read your message from 19.03.2020 20:26

    AK>> -- Anton, will you go to lunch with us?
    AK>> -- Yeah, directly, -- answer I,

    AK>> Directly???

    AH> I don't know many people who would say that, but according to both
    AH> of my Canadian dictionaries the word is used to mean "soon"
    AH> or "immediately". :-)

    IMHO, the answer on that question should contain not a time adverb (soon/immediately) but the sign of consent or refusal ("yeah I will" and such).

    AK>> Taking aside "directly" I think that the question "will
    Ak>> you" demands the answer like "Yeah, I will".

    AH> I don't know many people nowadays who would say "anon", as Juliet
    AH> did more than four centuries ago. Either way I understand the
    AH> intent. But since I have no idea who Anton's colleagues are I'd
    AH> hesitate to suggest he use the word "yeah" or add "hang on a sec",
    AH> as I might do with family & friends.

    Well, if you have good relations with your office colleges -- why not?
    The only thing, I think, you should not confuse them with very clever or tricky words. I believe the trauma the Anton's college had got was
    connected exactly with such a confusion. He thought so hard on the word "directly" that he struck the door jamb with his forehead. ;-)

    AH> I wouldn't want him to miss an opportunity to become a tenured
    AH> professor of linguistics if other such people disapprove of my free
    AH> & easy North American ways. One of the important lessons I learned
    AH> in my youth was that, although Miss Stickler turned a deaf ear when
    AH> I didn't speak formal English, many of the people I worked with in
    AH> the restaurant business seemed genuinely baffled when I did... [wry
    AH> grin].

    Again it depends on the collective you work in. Once I lived in some
    hotel in Grenoble, France -- all the personal was always gloomy and they
    never smiled. And they didn't speak English. ;-)

    Bye, Ardith!
    Alexander Koryagin
    fido.english_tutor 2020

    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.7.0
    * Origin: Dewy News (2:5075/128.130)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Alexander Koryagin on Mon Mar 30 22:30:06 2020
    Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

    Taking aside "directly" I think that the question
    "will you" demands the answer like "Yeah, I will".


    In many cases "yes" would probably be enough. IMHO it's a courtesy to add a time estimate, however, in situations like this one.... :-)



    I don't know many people nowadays who would say "anon",
    as Juliet did more than four centuries ago. Either way
    I understand the intent. But since I have no idea who
    Anton's colleagues are I'd hesitate to suggest he use
    the word "yeah" or add "hang on a sec", as I might do
    with family & friends.

    Well, if you have good relations with your office
    colleges


    Usage note: "college" and "colleague" are two different words, but if Anton is a college instructor his colleagues are other instructors.... :-)



    -- why not?


    My family & friends know I'm quite capable of using formal language if the situation requires it... so I don't have to prove anything to them, and I'm more inclined to speak colloquially. In academic or business circles such an invitation may be a test of one's knowledge of the rules of etiquette. ;-)



    The only thing, I think, you should not confuse them
    with very clever or tricky words.


    Agreed. But without knowing who Anton's colleagues are, or whether they often use English in communication with one another, it's difficult to be sure what *they* might regard as unnecessarily clever or tricky words.... :-)



    I believe the trauma the Anton's college had got was
    connected exactly with such a confusion. He thought so
    hard on the word "directly" that he struck the door
    jamb with his forehead. ;-)


    I believe one of the attractions of stories like this is that we're simply told what happened & can't resist wondering about the reason(s). Maybe Anton's colleague lost his bearings because his mind was busy figuring out how to interpret "directly" in this context... or maybe he had done the same thing so often he turned a bit too abruptly. I have experienced both at home. What comes to my mind first, however, is an incident where I happened to be present when of my instructors received a very similar offer from a fellow instructor. In the halls of academia you generally won't hear people swearing although the curriculum may include novels your parents wouldn't allow you to read when you were in high school. For a person who overheard but didn't see what was going on, it might be tempting to think the offer made to Anton wasn't genuine. :-Q




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:5075/128.130 to Ardith Hinton on Tue Mar 31 14:32:36 2020
    <MSGID_1=3A153=[email protected]>
    Thunderbird/31.7.0
    Hi, Ardith Hinton!
    I read your message from 30.03.2020 22:30

    AH>> hesitate to suggest he use the word "yeah" or add "hang on a sec",
    AH>> as I might do with family & friends.

    ak>> Well, if you have good relations with your office colleges
    AH> Usage note: "college" and "colleague" are two different words, but
    AH> if Anton is a college instructor his colleagues are other
    AH> instructors....

    Ouch! :)

    <skipped>
    ak>> I believe the trauma the Anton's college had got was connected
    ak>> exactly with such a confusion. He thought so hard on the
    ak>> word "directly" that he struck the door jamb with his forehead.

    AH> I believe one of the attractions of stories like this is that we're
    AH> simply told what happened & can't resist wondering about the reason
    AH> (s). Maybe Anton's colleague lost his bearings because his mind was
    AH> busy figuring out how to interpret "directly" in this context... or
    AH> maybe he had done the same thing so often he turned a bit too
    AH> abruptly. I have experienced both at home. What comes to my mind
    AH> first, however, is an incident where I happened to be present when
    AH> of my instructors received a very similar offer from a fellow
    AH> instructor. In the halls of academia you generally won't hear
    AH> people swearing although the curriculum may include novels your
    AH> parents wouldn't allow you to read when you were in high school.
    AH> For a person who overheard but didn't see what was going on, it
    AH> might be tempting to think the offer made to Anton wasn't
    AH> genuine.: - Q

    Yes, the final of this story is out of our sights.

    BTW, what about you? Do you have in Canada COVID19 quarantine for old
    people? Is it strict of something?

    Bye, Ardith!
    Alexander Koryagin
    fido.english_tutor 2020
    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.7.0
    * Origin: Dewy News (2:5075/128.130)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Alexander Koryagin on Thu Apr 2 01:06:48 2020
    Alexander Koraygin:

    Well, if you have good relations with your office colleges -- why
    not? The only thing, I think, you should not confuse them with
    very clever or tricky words. I believe the trauma the Anton's
    college had got was connected exactly with such a confusion. He
    thought so hard on the word "directly" that he struck the door
    jamb with his forehead. ;-)

    Why, "directly" is a word of which the temporal meaning is obviously straight-forward (the pun intended). I am certain it was used in
    everyday conversation because Leo Tolstoy makes Nekhlyudov employ
    it in his excellent late novel "Resurrection", of which the early
    translations into English omit some very interesing parts, notably
    Tolstoy's observations on the hypocrisy of sweraring in court upon
    the Bible -- *the* book that forbits any swearing whatsoever.

    The 1960 Soviet adaptation of the book is as good as can be.

    P.S.: Pray pardon the lack of proper Fidonet quoting. I am posing
    from my new Raspberry Pi, to which I have hot had time to
    migrate my text-formatting facilities. Alexander, have you a
    version of your Protestant... no Reformator program in the
    form a Vim module?

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Denis Mosko@2:5064/54.1315 to Anton Shepelev on Thu Apr 2 01:14:42 2020
    Question in Subject, Anton!

    Skip it easy, bro.
    I write from my new Corel Draw &-)

    P.S.: Pray pardon the lack of proper Fidonet quoting. I am posing
    from my new Raspberry Pi, to which I have hot had time to
    migrate my text-formatting facilities. Alexander, have you a
    version of your Protestant... no Reformator program in the
    form a Vim module?

    --- GoldED+/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-b20120519 (Kubik 3.0)
    * Origin: 15ki (2:5064/54.1315)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Denis Mosko on Thu Apr 2 02:01:10 2020
    Denis:

    Question in Subject, Anton!

    Bad netiquette, Denis! I belive the best and most readable
    presentaiton of an article does not make the body incomprehensible
    without the subject. Is this style of making the subject part of
    the message common is Fidonet?

    As to your question:

    Re: Which model of Your Raspberry Pi?

    The latest and greatest -- Raspberry Pi 4 B, for I intend it as
    main (and only) desktop. To make things worse -- I am innocently
    new to Linux and simply hate the Bash language. Now if that don't
    prove me crazy, nothing will -- to paraphrase The Five Keys.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Dallas Hinton@1:153/7715 to Anton Shepelev on Wed Apr 1 17:08:04 2020
    Hi Anton -- on Apr 02 2020 at 01:09, you wrote:

    Why, "directly" is a word of which the temporal meaning is obviously straight-forward (the pun intended). I am certain it was used in

    Using "directly" as a time response is very old-fashioned, and I don't
    think I've ever heard it actually used in speech in my lifetime. The
    occasional play, perhaps, and some older books, but never in speech. The closest we come to it now would "at once", or "immediately".



    Cheers... Dallas

    --- timEd/NT 1.30+
    * Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)
  • From Denis Mosko@2:5064/54.1315 to Dallas Hinton on Thu Apr 2 03:34:58 2020
    Hi from Russi, Dallas!

    Dallas Hinton>AntonShe.exe

    :-)

    Why, "directly" is a word of which the temporal meaning is
    obviously straight-forward (the pun intended). I am certain it was
    used in

    Using "directly" as a time response is very old-fashioned, and I don't think I've ever heard it actually used in speech in my lifetime. The occasional play, perhaps, and some older books, but never in speech.
    The closest we come to it now would "at once", or "immediately".


    Yes, but, Dallas, how to historically represent "direct mail"?


    --- GoldED+/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-b20120519 (Kubik 3.0)
    * Origin: . (2:5064/54.1315)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Alexander Koryagin on Wed Apr 1 18:20:12 2020
    Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

    BTW, what about you?


    And you? I hear Moscow is affected as well... (sigh).



    Do you have in Canada COVID19 quarantine for old people?
    Is it strict of something?


    The current rules are subject to change... and various provinces may be doing things a bit differently. But from what I see, quarantine is required only if a person actually has this disease or is returning from SomePlace Else. Others are advised to self-isolate, particularly if they are at risk because of their age or because of a medical condition which leaves the immune system in a depressed state. The distinction is often overlooked in news reports.... :-))




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Dallas Hinton@1:153/7715 to Denis Mosko on Thu Apr 2 13:26:38 2020
    Hi Denis -- on Apr 02 2020 at 03:38, you wrote:


    Yes, but, Dallas, how to historically represent "direct mail"?

    That's a completely different issue from saying "I'll be with you
    directly", imo. Direct mail, as I understand it, is a FidoNet term
    implying that I've set the crash tag on a netmail message so that it is
    sent directly (<g>) from my node to your node, rather than routed via
    other systems (thus avoiding potential toll charges and ensuring some
    degree of privacy.



    Cheers... Dallas

    --- timEd/NT 1.30+
    * Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:5075/128.130 to Anton Shepelev on Fri Apr 3 15:48:16 2020
    <MSGID_2=3A221=[email protected]>
    Thunderbird/31.7.0
    Hi, Anton Shepelev!
    I read your message from 02.04.2020 01:09

    Well, if you have good relations with your office colleges -- why
    not? The only thing, I think, you should not confuse them with
    very clever or tricky words. I believe the trauma the Anton's
    college had got was connected exactly with such a confusion. He
    thought so hard on the word "directly" that he struck the door
    jamb with his forehead.

    Why, "directly" is a word of which the temporal meaning is
    obviously straight-forward (the pun intended). I am certain it was
    used in everyday conversation because Leo Tolstoy makes Nekhlyudov
    employ it in his excellent late novel "Resurrection", of which the
    early translations into English omit some very interesing parts,
    notably Tolstoy's observations on the hypocrisy of sweraring in
    court upon the Bible -- *the* book that forbits any swearing
    whatsoever.

    I was joking. :) In any case, it was IMHO.

    The 1960 Soviet adaptation of the book is as good as can be.

    P.S.: Pray pardon the lack of proper Fidonet quoting. I am
    posing from my new Raspberry Pi, to which I have hot
    had time to migrate my text-formatting facilities.
    Alexander, have you a version of your Protestant... no
    Reformator program in the form a Vim module?

    Sorry, I have no deal with Vim.

    Bye, Anton!
    Alexander Koryagin
    fido.english_tutor 2020
    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.7.0
    * Origin: Dewy News (2:5075/128.130)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:5075/128.130 to Ardith Hinton on Fri Apr 3 16:21:40 2020
    <MSGID_1=3A153=[email protected]>
    Thunderbird/31.7.0
    Hi, Ardith Hinton!
    I read your message from 01.04.2020 18:20

    BTW, what about you?

    And you? I hear Moscow is affected as well... (sigh).

    For a while I am well. Although, I think that deaths from a long
    quarantine can be more numerable than from the virus. Working was the
    thing that kept relatives apart. (black humour :).

    Do you have in Canada COVID19 quarantine for old people? Is it
    strict of something?

    The most crazy thing in it is that Putin has imposed the same measures
    across all Russia. I even heard a story about a man who stroll alone
    along the sea, and he was caught by the police, for violating self
    isolation. ;-) IMHO, most of the local authority in Russia are foolish
    and coward people, and they do exactly as they do in Moscow. They can
    arrest all Russia without batting an eyelid. Thank God, for a while it
    is a house arrest. But the measures are crazy and excessive. As Putin
    says "we react in advance". Although we have now quite many infected
    people and a very low death rate among them. But nobody pays attention
    at the statistics.

    The current rules are subject to change... and various provinces
    may be doing things a bit differently. But from what I see,
    quarantine is required only if a person actually has this disease
    or is returning from SomePlace Else. Others are advised to self-
    isolate, particularly if they are at risk because of their age or
    because of a medical condition which leaves the immune system in a depressed state. The distinction is often overlooked in news
    reports.... :-))

    The difference is probably in the way how Canadians and Russians
    understand the verb "advise". ;-)

    Bye, Ardith!
    Alexander Koryagin
    fido.english_tutor 2020
    --- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.7.0
    * Origin: Dewy News (2:5075/128.130)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Denis Mosko on Mon Apr 6 20:40:04 2020
    Hi, Denis! Recently you wrote in a message to Anton Shepelev:

    I write from my new Corel Draw &-)


    And I see you've posted a reply addressed to Anton *in the echo*. :-)




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Denis Mosko on Tue Apr 7 12:14:04 2020
    Denis Mosko - Anton Shepelev:

    I write from my new Corel Draw &-)

    Glad to know the vector editor is still alive. I used to use it
    fifteen or so years go. Does it have a Fidonet plugin? I don't
    belive it.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Alexander Koryagin on Tue Apr 7 20:54:34 2020
    Hi again, Alexander! This is a continuation of my previous message to you:

    although Miss Stickler turned a deaf ear when I didn't
    speak formal English, many of the people I worked with
    in the restaurant business seemed genuinely baffled when
    I did... [wry grin].

    Again it depends on the collective you work in.


    Uh-huh. Years ago teachers were expected to model formal English & kids generally got the drift by the time they were in senior high school. The middle-aged & older adults I knew, though, had in many cases relatively little schooling. Considering the number whose sons & daughters went to university I don't doubt their intelligence... but I found I had to make a conscious effort to change mental gears just as I did when I was in Miss Stickler's class. :-Q



    Once I lived in some hotel in Grenoble, France
    -- all the personal


    I think you mean "personnel"... again, a different word. :-)



    was always gloomy and they never smiled. And they
    didn't speak English. ;-)


    Hmm. Wikipedia tells me "The region has the second largest English speaking community in France, after Paris." While it expands on the statement by mentioning students, scientists, and those who work for large manufacturing corporations I found nothing about hotel or restaurant employees... [chuckle].




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to alexander koryagin on Mon Apr 20 21:24:06 2020
    Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

    And you? I hear Moscow is affected as well... (sigh).

    For a while I am well.


    Glad to hear it. Thus far... touch wood... so are we.

    Ex-Brits may say "knock on wood", but the meaning is the same. The objective is to frighten off evil spirits who enjoy messing with success. :-)



    Although, I think that deaths from a long quarantine
    can be more numerable than from the virus. Working was
    the thing that kept relatives apart. (black humour :).


    Yes, we've heard other comments to much the same effect. :-))



    The most crazy thing in it is that Putin has imposed
    the same measures across all Russia.


    That may not be such a bad idea. We heard about a guy who returned to the Northwest Territories after a trip through BC & Alberta... and infected others in his home town. Population density is not the only risk factor. ;-)



    I even heard a story about a man who stroll alone along
    the sea, and he was caught by the police, for violating
    self isolation. ;-)


    Hmm. The difference between quarantine & self-isolation, AFAIC, is that if you're quarantined you may not leave your home for any reason. If you are voluntarily self-isolating the degree of strictness is more flexible. You can shop for groceries or take a walk as long as you remain at a safe distance (currently defined as 6 feet or 2 metres) from anybody who doesn't live in the same household. Or you can eagerly accept a friend's offer to add a few items to their shopping cart & deliver them to your place on their way home.... :-)



    Thank God, for a while it is a house arrest. But the
    measures are crazy and excessive. As Putin says "we
    react in advance".


    Another bit of gallows humour:

    Q. (looking at the family dog) Mom, why are humans wearing muzzles?
    A. Because they're not bright enough to learn "sit" and "stay".

    What seems excessive to some folk may not be to others. Awhile ago the police in Victoria BC responded to complaints from the neighbours about a noisy party which continued until well after 11:00 PM. The participants were fined. Some apparently felt they deserved a treat after being good for a few days.... :-Q



    Although we have now quite many infected people and
    a very low death rate among them. But nobody pays
    attention at the statistics.


    I find the statistics confusing at times because we still have much to learn about this disease. But there's some evidence that the death rate is lower in jurisdictions where the authorities have been more proactive.... :-)



    The distinction is often overlooked in news
    reports.... :-))

    The difference is probably in the way how Canadians
    and Russians understand the verb "advise". ;-)


    Perhaps. A lot may depend on how the police interpret what they've been told to do as well. But we have rules which apply to everyone regardless of their apparent state of health. Nail & hair salons are closed because they can't keep a safe distance between the staff & the customers. Restaurants are open for takeout only. Access to public beaches & parks is a lot more limited than it was a few weeks ago, because too many people weren't paying attention. And when BC's chief medical officer was asked about a "suggestion" which she'd made she replied tersely "That's not a suggestion, that's an order"... [grin].




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:221/6 to Ardith Hinton on Wed Apr 22 16:09:10 2020

    Hi, Ardith Hinton! - >Alexander Koryagin
    I read your message from 20.04.2020 21:24

    And you? I hear Moscow is affected as well... (sigh).
    For a while I am well.
    Glad to hear it. Thus far... touch wood... so are we. Ex-Brits may
    say "knock on wood", but the meaning is the same. The objective is
    to frighten off evil spirits who enjoy messing with success.

    Do you spit over your left shoulder? ;)

    Although, I think that deaths from a long quarantine can be more
    numerable than from the virus. Working was the thing that kept
    relatives apart. (black humour).

    Yes, we've heard other comments to much the same effect. :-))

    And also is clear that if you keep quarantine and the number of
    positively tested people has been rocketing after the virus incubation
    period passed, it means that the virus is already widespread and the
    quarantine has no effect. The tests only light the limited area of the
    problem, as the light spot of a flashlight is getting bigger on the
    floor while you make the light cone wider.

    The most crazy thing in it is that Putin has imposed the same
    measures across all Russia.

    That may not be such a bad idea. We heard about a guy who returned
    to the Northwest Territories after a trip through BC & Alberta...
    and infected others in his home town. Population density is not the
    only risk factor.

    Covid19's death toll in Russia is 0.8% of the number of infected people.
    Most people have the easy form of it of have no symptoms at all. There
    can be many reasons for that, but what is clear that Russian authority
    prefer not to note this fact. It is a very convenient moment for Putin
    to extend his grip on the country.

    I even heard a story about a man who stroll alone along
    the sea, and he was caught by the police, for violating
    self isolation.

    Hmm. The difference between quarantine & self-isolation, AFAIC, is
    that if you're quarantined you may not leave your home for any
    reason. If you are voluntarily self-isolating the degree of
    strictness is more flexible. You can shop for groceries or take a
    walk as long as you remain at a safe distance (currently defined as
    6 feet or 2 metres) from anybody who doesn't live in the same
    household. Or you can eagerly accept a friend's offer to add a few
    items to their shopping cart & deliver them to your place on their
    way home....

    Yes, we can go to shop. But what is more dangerous - a single man
    walking along the sea or people from all the town shoping in the same
    shop? Where the limit of craziness?

    Thank God, for a while it is a house arrest. But the measures are
    crazy and excessive. As Putin says "we react in advance".

    Another bit of gallows humour:

    Q. (looking at the family dog) Mom, why are humans wearing muzzles?
    A. Because they're not bright enough to learn "sit" and "stay".

    Well, it is funny. But if we look at numbers:

    https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/united-states-influenza-pneumonia
    The death toll from influenza and pneumonia is 80.5 thousand people per
    season (the number of 2017). 220 people per day. But every epidemic as
    we know from history lasts usually 2 months. It means that during the
    days of the epidemic the death toll is 6 times higher than average death
    toll! I.E 1323 person per day.

    Now suppose the American media, in 2017, would have announced that the
    US has an awful epidemic, and every day the country is going to lose
    1300 people per day during three months!!! (some days more some days
    less). Will it be hysteria and panic? No doubt about that. The epidemic
    of COVID19 is a media epidemic.

    What seems excessive to some folk may not be to others. Awhile ago
    the police in Victoria BC responded to complaints from the
    neighbours about a noisy party which continued until well after
    11:00 PM. The participants were fined. Some apparently felt they
    deserved a treat after being good for a few days....: - Q

    Maybe you heard recently that one Russian man shot and killed five
    people under his windows because they were too noisy. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/04/05/russian-man-shoots-kills-5-neighbors-over-noise-complaint-reports-a69874
    or
    https://is.gd/Iflmln

    Although we have now quite many infected people and a very low
    death rate among them. But nobody pays
    attention at the statistics.

    I find the statistics confusing at times because we still have much
    to learn about this disease. But there's some evidence that the
    death rate is lower in jurisdictions where the authorities have
    been more proactive....

    It doesn't matter how much people is in quarantine. The death toll is
    measured when we take the number of infected+recovered people and the
    number of people who died. It is well known that majority of people
    don't have any symptoms while being ill with COVID19 or they are ill in
    an easy form.

    Bye, Ardith!
    Alexander Koryagin
    english_tutor 2020

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Ardith Hinton on Wed Apr 22 16:27:16 2020
    Ardith Hinton:

    I find the statistics confusing at times because we
    still have much to learn about this disease. But there's some
    evidence that the death rate is lower in jurisdictions where the
    authorities have been more proactive.... :-)

    Sure enough -- just look at the situation in China, South Korea,
    and Norith Korea, which has been self-isolating for more than half
    a century.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Alexander Koryagin on Wed Apr 22 16:43:26 2020
    Alexander Koryagin - Ardith Hinton:

    And also is clear that if you keep quarantine and the number of
    positively tested people has been rocketing after the virus
    incubation period passed, it means that the virus is already
    widespread and the quarantine has no effect.

    How do you know that? In my opinion, without the quarrantine and self-isolation the figures whould have been even worse.

    The tests only light the limited area of the problem, as the
    light spot of a flashlight is getting bigger on the floor while
    you make the light cone wider.

    I agree, but that is all we can do, and then extrapolate both in
    space and time.

    The most crazy thing in it is that Putin has imposed the
    same measures across all Russia.

    No, he has not. He has left a lot of freedom for municipalities,
    with exactly the purpose of adapting the measures to the situations
    in earch region.

    That may not be such a bad idea. We heard about a guy who
    returned to the Northwest Territories after a trip through
    BC & Alberta... and infected others in his home town.
    Population density is not the only risk factor.

    Covid19's death toll in Russia is 0.8% of the number of infected
    people. Most people have the easy form of it of have no symptoms
    at all. There can be many reasons for that, but what is clear
    that Russian authority prefer not to note this fact.

    In what way do they overlook this fact?

    It is a very convenient moment for Putin to extend his grip on
    the country.

    In what way?

    I even heard a story about a man who stroll alone along
    the sea, and he was caught by the police, for violating
    self isolation.

    And was he not violating self-isolation? Had he not been warned of
    the consiquences of this violation?

    Yes, we can go to shop. But what is more dangerous - a single man
    walking along the sea or people from all the town shoping in the
    same shop? Where the limit of craziness?

    There is a difference: you can live without a relaxing saunter,
    but you cannot live without food or some crucial medicine. It is
    for the same reason that you may walk your dog but may not your
    child.

    But if we look at numbers:

    https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/united-states-influenza-pneumonia
    The death toll from influenza and pneumonia is 80.5 thousand
    people per season (the number of 2017). 220 people per day. But
    every epidemic as we know from history lasts usually 2 months. It
    means that during the days of the epidemic the death toll is 6
    times higher than average death toll! I.E 1323 person per day.

    Now suppose the American media, in 2017, would have announced
    that the US has an awful epidemic, and every day the country is
    going to lose 1300 people per day during three months!!! (some
    days more some days less). Will it be hysteria and panic? No
    doubt about that. The epidemic of COVID19 is a media epidemic.

    Not at all, but you confuse the relative death rate and the
    absolute death toll. The death rate from COVID-19 is thirty of so
    time hither than that of the common seasonal flu, which means that
    the coronavirus is thirty times the deadler!

    Although we have now quite many infected people and a very
    low death rate among them. But nobody pays
    attention at the statistics.

    How do you know that, really?

    I find the statistics confusing at times because we still
    have much to learn about this disease. But there's some
    evidence that the death rate is lower in jurisdictions where
    the authorities have been more proactive....

    It doesn't matter how much people is in quarantine. The death
    toll is measured when we take the number of infected+recovered
    people and the number of people who died.

    No, death toll is simply the number of people who have died, it has
    nothing to do with how many have contracted COVID and recovered.

    It is well known that majority of people don't have any
    symptoms while being ill with COVID19 or they are ill in an easy
    form.

    Which makes self-isolation the more important, does it not?

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:221/6 to Anton Shepelev on Thu Apr 23 23:21:08 2020

    Hi, Anton Shepelev! ->Alexander Koryagin
    I read your message from 22.04.2020 16:43

    And also is clear that if you keep quarantine and the number of
    positively tested people has been rocketing after the virus
    incubation period passed, it means that the virus is already
    widespread and the quarantine has no effect.

    How do you know that? In my opinion, without the quarrantine and self-isolation the figures whould have been even worse.

    The idea is this -- let them suppose we have at the start 10000 infected
    people hidden in Moscow. The incubation period of the covid19 is 2
    weeks. If we put the city on quarantine we expect that in 2 weeks sick
    people will either be well or they end up in hospital. But after the
    quarantine they have 4-5 thousand infected people per 60 thousand tests
    every day. It means the epidemic cannot be controlled by the quarantine. Probably because too many people continue working, shopping etc. It
    means we should do as they do in Sweden and allow people to overcome
    illness and get immunity. Quarantine doesn't work.

    The most crazy thing in it is that Putin has imposed the same
    measures across all Russia.

    No, he has not. He has left a lot of freedom for municipalities,
    with exactly the purpose of adapting the measures to the situations
    in earch region.

    There is no such freedom in Russia. And there are no local leaders who
    can do things on their own. It is safe for them to copy Moscow measures.

    That may not be such a bad idea. We heard about a guy who
    returned to the Northwest Territories after a trip through BC &
    Alberta... and infected others in his home town. Population
    density is not the only risk factor.

    Covid19's death toll in Russia is 0.8% of the number of infected
    people. Most people have the easy form of it of have no symptoms
    at all. There can be many reasons for that, but what is clear that
    Russian authority prefer not to note this fact.

    In what way do they overlook this fact?

    They try to persuade us that in Russia the situation is like in Italy
    and Spain. They have created panic, psychosis and under this gravy they
    make from Russia a state fully controlled by the KGB and police.
    Yesterday for instance, they created a new law for increasing police power.

    It is a very convenient moment for Putin to extend his grip on the
    country.

    In what way?

    Now KGB is creating a system to control every sneeze and test it.
    Nowdays people are arrested during meetings for democracy, then they
    will be arrested right after leaving their flats. They want to be able
    to control every person using millions of cameras and other spying
    tricks. For instance, they enforce people to install spy apps in their smartphones.

    I even heard a story about a man who stroll alone along
    the sea, and he was caught by the police, for violating
    self isolation.

    And was he not violating self-isolation? Had he not been warned of
    the consiquences of this violation?

    Every measure must be justified.

    Yes, we can go to shop. But what is more dangerous - a single man
    walking along the sea or people from all the town shopping in the
    same shop? Where the limit of craziness?

    There is a difference: you can live without a relaxing saunter, but
    you cannot live without food or some crucial medicine. It is for
    the same reason that you may walk your dog but may not your child.

    Now everybody uses a safe distance 1.5 meters. If person is alone and
    there is no people around 50 meters from him it is imbecility to arrest
    him or make out a fine.

    But if we look at numbers:

    https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/united-states-influenza-pneumonia
    The death toll from influenza and pneumonia is 80.5 thousand
    people per season (the number of 2017). 220 people per day. But
    every epidemic as we know from history lasts usually 2 months. It
    means that during the days of the epidemic the death toll is 6
    times higher than average death toll! I.E 1323 person per day.

    Now suppose the American media, in 2017, would have announced that
    the US has an awful epidemic, and every day the country is going
    to lose 1300 people per day during three months!!! (some days more
    some days less). Will it be hysteria and panic? No doubt about
    that. The epidemic of COVID19 is a media epidemic.

    Not at all, but you confuse the relative death rate and the
    absolute death toll. The death rate from COVID-19 is thirty of so
    time hither than that of the common seasonal flu, which means that
    the coronavirus is thirty times the deadler!

    It is not correct. In the US covid19 will hardly overpass the mentioned
    number 80.5 thousand -- the death toll from flu and pneumonia in 2017.
    In Russia his death toll much low that in the US.

    Although we have now quite many infected people and a very low
    death rate among them. But nobody pays
    attention at the statistics.

    How do you know that, really?

    Well look at the statistic at https://koronavirus-ncov.ru/koronavirus-v-rossii-v-cifrah
    Most people are ill without symptoms; the death percentage is 0.8%. And
    it is clear that the real number of the infected people many times
    higher. So the death toll in Russia is smaller than 0.8%.

    I find the statistics confusing at times because we still have
    much to learn about this disease. But there's some evidence that
    the death rate is lower in jurisdictions where the authorities
    have been more proactive....

    It doesn't matter how much people is in quarantine. The death toll
    is measured when we take the number of infected+recovered people
    and the number of people who died.

    No, death toll is simply the number of people who have died, it has nothing to do with how many have contracted COVID and recovered.

    But how do _you_ count the death percentage?

    It is well known that majority of people don't have any symptoms
    while being ill with COVID19 or they are ill in an easy form.

    Which makes self-isolation the more important, does it not?

    In reality there is no self-isolation. There are a lot of people who
    continue to work, all people continue interact with each other, visit
    shops etc. The epidemic has been going on as it went before. It stops
    soon, right after the moment when a more than 70% population have had it.

    Bye, Anton!
    Alexander Koryagin
    english_tutor 2020

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Alexander Koryagin on Fri Apr 24 02:31:40 2020
    Alexander Koryagin - Anton Shepelev:

    Hi, Anton Shepelev! ->Alexander Koryagin
    I read your message from 22.04.2020 16:43

    And also is clear that if you keep quarantine and the
    number of positively tested people has been rocketing after
    the virus incubation period passed, it means that the virus
    is already widespread and the quarantine has no effect.

    How do you know that? In my opinion, without the quarrantine
    and self-isolation the figures whould have been even worse.

    The idea is this -- let them suppose we have at the start 10000
    infected people hidden in Moscow. The incubation period of the
    covid19 is 2 weeks. If we put the city on quarantine we expect
    that in 2 weeks sick people will either be well or they end up in
    hospital.

    I fear you are misusing terms again. Nobody put Moscow on
    quarantine. And even if they had, the result would not have been
    so perfect as you describe, for in matters sociological there is
    always the same kind of "friction" that Clausewits described with
    regard to war.

    But after the quarantine they have 4-5 thousand infected people
    per 60 thousand tests every day. It means the epidemic cannot be
    controlled by the quarantine.

    Again, no global quarantine has been put in effect in Moscow. Your
    conclusion that it does not work from the statistics is too
    simplistic. I asked:

    How do you know that? In my opinion, without the quarrantine
    and self-isolation the figures whould have been even worse.

    What is your answer?

    Probably because too many people continue working, shopping etc.
    It means we should do as they do in Sweden and allow people to
    overcome illness and get immunity.

    And sacrifice about one percent of the population? Simply let them
    die, or even kill them? Pay heed to how many young people in Russia
    have been put on artificial lung ventilation already.

    The most crazy thing in it is that Putin has imposed the
    same measures across all Russia.

    No, he has not. He has left a lot of freedom for
    municipalities, with exactly the purpose of adapting the
    measures to the situations in earch region.

    There is no such freedom in Russia.

    It has been officially granted to governors, and we have heard in
    the news of the different measures taken in different regions. You
    are simply wrong.

    And there are no local leaders who can do things on their own.

    Depends on what things you mean. I single counterexample can prove
    you wrong.

    It is safe for them to copy Moscow measures.

    I think it is not safe but stupid, and whoever does so put his
    office at risk.

    Covid19's death toll in Russia is 0.8% of the number of
    infected people. Most people have the easy form of it of
    have no symptoms at all. There can be many reasons for
    that, but what is clear that Russian authority prefer not
    to note this fact.

    In what way do they overlook this fact?

    They try to persuade us that in Russia the situation is like in
    Italy and Spain.

    I have never witnessed this persuation.

    They have created panic, psychosis [...]

    Again, I live in the Moscow region and see no sings of a panic or
    psychosis. On the contrary -- people are calm and too careless, too well-at-ease.

    On the other hand, a relative of mine is currently in hospital, and
    I can tell you that the measures in the state medicine institutions
    are super strict!

    and under this gravy they make from Russia a state fully
    controlled by the KGB and police.

    Sounds like a conspiracy theory :-)

    Yesterday for instance, they created a new law for increasing
    police power.

    Haven't heard of it, can't comment. How do you like the changes to
    our constitution instead? Is it not some progress since the
    previous version, dictated by our defeaters in the cold war?

    It is a very convenient moment for Putin to extend his grip
    on the country.

    In what way?

    Now KGB is creating a system to control every sneeze and test it.

    KGB? I am sure it was the government in open cooperation with
    the medical institutions.

    Nowdays people are arrested during meetings for democracy, then
    they will be arrested right after leaving their flats.

    I once saw a meeting summouned by one Navalnyj. He had thosands of
    befuddled teenages chant in rythm: "Putin is a thief! Putin is a
    thief!". That is not was not a constructive meeting but a low and
    amoral mass manipulation. Such meetings should not be allowed at
    all. So it all depends on what people say and do at the meeting,
    and `democracy' is a hackneyed, inflated, and abused word.

    They want to be able to control every person using millions of
    cameras and other spying tricks.

    What kind of control do you mean? Survelliance cameras are indeed
    widely used and sometimes abused -- all over the world.

    For instance, they enforce people to install spy apps in their
    smartphones.

    Say what? A Russian citizen is not obliged to own even a cell phone!
    I have a cell phone, but no smartphone. I haven't heard that anybody
    was obliged to intall a spying program on their smartphone, althoug
    such programs are preinstalled in plenty on Google and Apple
    smarphones.

    People under quarantine with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 are
    obliged to use a tracking application installed on a smartphone for
    the police to control their observance of the quarantine. It is not
    a spy app, but an openly declared tracking system. I don't even
    understand how it is supposed to work if you "forget" your phone at
    home. But it is a grave matter on which the health and lives of many
    people depend. And since we have heard stories of infected people
    escape the quaranine, the measure is more than justified.

    And was he not violating self-isolation? Had he not been
    warned of the consiquences of this violation?

    Every measure must be justified.

    A matter of life or death is good-enough justification for me.

    There is a difference: you can live without a relaxing
    saunter, but you cannot live without food or some crucial
    medicine. It is for the same reason that you may walk your
    dog but may not your child.

    Now everybody uses a safe distance 1.5 meters.

    Everybody? Always? Come on! People are not robots executing a
    well-debugged program. Narrow coridors in multiflat buildings and
    narrow valleys in grocery stores simply don't allow it, nor does
    the sheer amount of people in those stores.

    If person is alone and there is no people around 50 meters from
    him it is imbecility to arrest him or make out a fine.

    Not at all. Nobody is going to hire a commision of independent
    experts to estimate the proximity of other people througout the
    course of every careless person's walk. The requirement is safe and
    simple: you may leave your home only if you a have a need to.
    If you dislike it, propose your own, and it better be clear,
    unambiguous, and verifiable. Yes, it must be verifieable, or it is
    fluff.

    Not at all, but you confuse the relative death rate and the
    absolute death toll. The death rate from COVID-19 is thirty
    of so time hither than that of the common seasonal flu,
    which means that the coronavirus is thirty times the deadler!

    It is not correct. In the US covid19 will hardly overpass the
    mentioned number 80.5 thousand -- the death toll from flu and
    pneumonia in 2017. In Russia his death toll much low that in the
    US.

    I said you confuse death rate and death toll, but in this other
    paragraph, which does not answer my remark, you continue to confuse
    them.

    Although we have now quite many infected people and a
    very low death rate among them. But nobody pays
    attention at the statistics.

    How do you know that, really?

    Well look at the statistic at https://koronavirus-ncov.ru/koronavirus-v-rossii-v-cifrah
    Most people are ill without symptoms; the death percentage is
    0.8%. And it is clear that the real number of the infected people
    many times higher.

    As is the nubmer of people who *will* die, but we have to deal with
    the present moment and the data we do have.

    So the death toll in Russia is smaller than 0.8%.

    It is not the right way to estimate death rate. The right way is to
    divide the number confirmed deaths from COVID-19 by the total
    number of confirmed contractions. By the end of the pandemic, the
    ratio will stabilise and finalise, and you shall see how wrong or
    right the current figures are.

    No, death toll is simply the number of people who have died,
    it has nothing to do with how many have contracted COVID and
    recovered.

    But how do _you_ count the death percentage?

    See above.

    It is well known that majority of people don't have any
    symptoms while being ill with COVID19 or they are ill in an
    easy form.

    Which makes self-isolation the more important, does it not?

    In reality there is no self-isolation. There are a lot of people
    who continue to work, all people continue interact with each
    other, visit shops etc.

    Some do it less, some more carefully, and some not at all.
    Self-isolation can never be perfect, but it decreases social
    interation, slows down the propagation of the virus, and relieves
    the strain on the medical system, letting them save more lives by
    keeping the load within their capacity.

    The epidemic has been going on as it went before. It stops soon,
    right after the moment when a more than 70% population have had
    it.

    How soon is that? Anyway, I hope a vaccine is found sooner.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:221/6 to Anton Shepelev on Sun Apr 26 16:07:40 2020

    Hi, Anton Shepelev! - > Alexander Koryagin
    I read your message from 24.04.2020 02:31

    And also is clear that if you keep quarantine and the number of
    positively tested people has been rocketing after the virus
    incubation period passed, it means that the virus is already
    widespread and the quarantine has no effect.

    How do you know that? In my opinion, without the quarrantine and
    self-isolation the figures whould have been even worse.

    The idea is this -- let them suppose we have at the start 10000
    infected people hidden in Moscow. The incubation period of the
    covid19 is 2 weeks. If we put the city on quarantine we expect
    that in 2 weeks sick people will either be well or they end up in
    hospital.

    I fear you are misusing terms again. Nobody put Moscow on
    quarantine.
    <skipped>

    What is quarantine according to you?

    But after the quarantine they have 4-5 thousand infected people
    per 60 thousand tests every day. It means the epidemic cannot be
    controlled by the quarantine.

    Again, no global quarantine has been put in effect in Moscow. Your conclusion that it does not work from the statistics is too
    simplistic. I asked:

    How do you know that? In my opinion, without the quarrantine and
    self-isolation the figures whould have been even worse.

    What is your answer?

    There is a big doubt about it. The average death toll can be higher but
    it is important how to count deaths. There are millions of people who
    die every year from variety of illnesses. If a person with flu dies from diabetes or oncology, cardiovascular disease etc -- only crazy people
    can put such deaths on flu's account.

    Another matter with covid - now WHO tells us that if a person dies and
    he/she has a covid virus - it should be treated as a death from covid.

    That's why many countries have so different statistics. Now Russia also
    began count it in such a way, and death toll in Russia began growing
    quickly. It is a dirty trick.

    I have already explained to you the quarantine idea. It can be tried.
    But if after this measure covid tests continue to show mass infection --
    such quarantine should be lifted because it is useless and cripples
    economy. It means that huge masses of the police, National Guard troops, Government structures, workers of important plants, shops who keep
    working, and usual people who shopping -- are, all together, a perfect
    engine to spread covid19.

    Another factor is that there are huge masses of infected/recovered
    people who don't know that they were infected/ill with covid19, so they
    are out of statistics. Vast majority of them is without symptoms or
    almost without them. Nobody tested them. These people are the main
    engine of the infection. But we know that if 70% of the population catch
    the illness and recover the epidemic stops.

    So we should isolate old or sick people and let other people live a
    normal life. In this case the average year death toll will be as a
    normal death toll from flu/pneumonia.

    The excessive deaths in Italy and the US are also because of
    unpreparedness and lack of knowledge how to defend themselves from the
    virus. But now the safe measures for old and sick people can be
    implemented adequately.

    <skipped>
    They have created panic, psychosis [...]

    Again, I live in the Moscow region and see no sings of a panic or psychosis. On the contrary -- people are calm and too careless, too well-at-ease.

    Panic was created not for people -- it is a cover, a justification for
    freedom to be giving away.

    <skipped>
    Now KGB is creating a system to control every sneeze and test it.

    KGB? I am sure it was the government in open cooperation with the
    medical institutions.

    There are medical specialists who think in other way, but they are not
    allowed on state TV.

    Nowdays people are arrested during meetings for democracy, then
    they will be arrested right after leaving their flats.

    I once saw a meeting summouned by one Navalnyj. He had thosands of befuddled teenages chant in rythm: "Putin is a thief! Putin is a
    thief!". That is not was not a constructive meeting but a low and
    amoral mass manipulation. Such meetings should not be allowed at
    all. So it all depends on what people say and do at the meeting,
    and!?! democracy' is a hackneyed, inflated, and abused word.

    Democracy in Russia was shot and killed from tanks in 1993. The
    impotent, pocket state Duma was created, all free thinking media were
    closed. People again started to eat soup with bast shoes and constantly
    elect their main shoemaker. Now nobody knows how to remove this
    shoemaker from power. No wonder many young people are crazy about the situation.

    They want to be able to control every person using millions of
    cameras and other spying tricks.

    What kind of control do you mean? Survelliance cameras are indeed
    widely used and sometimes abused -- all over the world.

    For instance, they enforce people to install spy apps in their
    smartphones.

    Say what? A Russian citizen is not obliged to own even a cell
    phone! I have a cell phone, but no smartphone. I haven't heard that anybody was obliged to intall a spying program on their smartphone, althoug such programs are preinstalled in plenty on Google and
    Apple smarphones.

    This app gives people a pass to go out. You cannot even ride your own
    car without it. But read the comments in Google Play.

    <skipped>
    Not at all. Nobody is going to hire a commision of independent
    experts to estimate the proximity of other people througout the
    course of every careless person's walk. The requirement is safe and simple: you may leave your home only if you a have a need to. If
    you dislike it, propose your own, and it better be clear,
    unambiguous, and verifiable. Yes, it must be verifieable, or it is
    fluff.

    Under the constitution people can be ordered such things only after
    Emergency status has been introduced in the country. So all the orders
    which we hear now are completely lawlessness, and KGB and Putin do what
    occur to them.

    <skipped>

    Some do it less, some more carefully, and some not at all. Self-
    isolation can never be perfect, but it decreases social interation,
    slows down the propagation of the virus, and relieves the strain on
    the medical system, letting them save more lives by keeping the
    load within their capacity.

    I have heard enough lie from the state TV. The vast majority of people
    who put into infectious diseases hospitals have mild or no symptoms of
    covid.


    Bye, Anton!
    Alexander Koryagin
    english_tutor 2020

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Denis Mosko@2:5064/54.1315 to All on Sun Apr 26 18:26:56 2020
    Can, could, will, would, ought to, should, must, may, might, need, shall.

    Tableau:

    Simple Modal + be
    Continous Modal verb + be being
    Perfect Modal verb + have been
    Perfect continous Modal verb + have been being

    Just like in future tenses!

    --- GoldED+/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-b20120519 (Kubik 3.0)
    * Origin: ;) (2:5064/54.1315)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Alexander Koryagin on Tue Apr 28 00:08:54 2020
    Alexander Koryagin:

    I fear you are misusing terms again. Nobody put Moscow on
    quarantine.
    <skipped>

    What is quarantine according to you?

    As I understand their usage in Russia:

    Quarratine: Self-isolation:
    Mandatory Practically voluntary
    Enforced Weekly controlled
    Absolute Partial

    How do you know that? In my opinion, without the
    quarrantine and self-isolation the figures whould have
    been even worse.

    What is your answer?

    There is a big doubt about it.

    In whose mind?

    The average death toll can be higher but it is important how to
    count deaths. There are millions of people who die every year
    from variety of illnesses. If a person with flu dies from
    diabetes or oncology, cardiovascular disease etc -- only crazy
    people can put such deaths on flu's account.

    It is not so simple, because many deathds due to COVID-19 have been
    caused by various compications and aggravations of pre-existent
    chronic illnesses, often on the background of a weak immune system.
    Are you familliar with the chaos theory and its herarchy of causes?

    Another matter with covid - now WHO tells us that if a person
    dies and he/she has a covid virus - it should be treated as a
    death from covid.

    What do you mean? The cause of every single death is alway
    investigated according to our general law, which has nothing to do
    with the temporary anti-COVID measures. No doubt, special attention
    is being paid to the testing and diagnosis of COVID during this
    pandemic.

    That's why many countries have so different statistics.

    Why do you exclude the natural suggestion of different
    epidemiolocal situations existing in different countries on account
    of such factors as population density, habits, and measures taken?

    Now Russia also began count it in such a way,

    What way, exactly?

    and death toll in Russia began growing quickly. It is a dirty
    trick.

    You seem to imply that we have changed the method of calculating
    deaths due to COVID-19. If so, what evidence do you have of it?

    I have already explained to you the quarantine idea. It can be
    tried. But if after this measure covid tests continue to show
    mass infection -- such quarantine should be lifted because it is
    useless and cripples economy.

    As I have already answered, the lifting of these measures will
    aggravate the situtiaon and overwhelm the medical system way beyond
    its handling capacity. As a result, the death rate and death toll
    will surge.

    It means that huge masses of the police, National Guard troops,
    Government structures, workers of important plants, shops who
    keep working, and usual people who shopping -- are, all together,
    a perfect engine to spread covid19.

    Not perfect if they take precautions. They can't go on vacation
    anyways, and everybody else must cooperate to save those people of
    COVID and prevent them from infecting others.

    Another factor is that there are huge masses of infected/recovered
    people who don't know that they were infected/ill with covid19,
    so they are out of statistics.

    If so, how do you know that they exist?

    Vast majority of them is without symptoms or almost without them.

    Yes, I have heard of the symptomless development of the infecion,
    but is reported to be around 25%:

    https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-asymptomatic-spread.html

    It not a "vast majory", as you say.

    Nobody tested them. These people are the main engine of the
    infection.

    vehicle

    But we know that if 70% of the population catch the
    illness and recover the epidemic stops.

    That may be correct, so what?

    So we should isolate old or sick people and let other people live
    a normal life.

    Do you realise how hard it is to isolate the old from the young?
    Do you propose a network of concentration camps? Do you realise
    that it is not only old people that die by COVID? The first
    reporter of the beginning pandemic, now China's and the World's
    hero Li Winliang, died of the virus at 33:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Wenliang


    In this case the average year death toll will be as a normal
    death toll from flu/pneumonia.

    First, what makes you thing so? Second, it is atrocious to
    sacrifice even a single human life, regardless of statistics.

    The excessive deaths in Italy and the US are also because of
    unpreparedness and lack of knowledge how to defend themselves
    from the virus. But now the safe measures for old and sick people
    can be implemented adequately.

    I doublt it is so easy (see above).

    They have created panic, psychosis [...]

    Again, I live in the Moscow region and see no sings of a
    panic or psychosis. On the contrary -- people are calm and
    too careless, too well-at-ease.

    Panic was created not for people -- it is a cover, a
    justification for freedom to be giving away.

    Whatever -- I see no panic or pshychosis, for the people or
    otherwise. I don't understand what you mean.

    KGB? I am sure it was the government in open cooperation
    with the medical institutions.

    There are medical specialists who think in other way, but they
    are not allowed on state TV.

    Which orgranisations in Russia are working on the development of
    tests and vaccines is open information, and KGB is not one of
    them, no thanks.

    I once saw a meeting summouned by one Navalnyj. He had
    thosands of befuddled teenages chant in rythm: "Putin is a
    thief! Putin is a thief!". That is not was not a
    constructive meeting but a low and amoral mass manipulation.
    Such meetings should not be allowed at all. So it all
    depends on what people say and do at the meeting, and!?!
    democracy' is a hackneyed, inflated, and abused word.

    Democracy in Russia was shot and killed from tanks in 1993.

    You may say so, and we are barely starting to recover.

    This app gives people a pass to go out. You cannot even ride your
    own car without it.

    That is wrong. There are *two* alternative ways to obtain the pass:

    1. By SMS
    2. Through the State Services portal

    Having no smartphone, I have used both of them.

    But read the comments in Google Play.

    No, you do your homework!

    Under the constitution people can be ordered such things only
    after Emergency status has been introduced in the country.

    Interesting. But it is a poor constituion that does not let the
    government to defend its people from a pandemic without an all-out
    emergecy.

    So all the orders which we hear now are completely lawlessness,
    and KGB and Putin do what occur to them.

    I choose life!

    Some do it less, some more carefully, and some not at all. Self-isolation can never be perfect, but it decreases
    social interation, slows down the propagation of the virus,
    and relieves the strain on the medical system, letting them
    save more lives by keeping the load within their capacity.

    I have heard enough lie from the state TV.

    I don't know what lies you mean, so I cannot comment. Provide at
    least a single attributed citation, for an example.

    The vast majority of people who put into infectious diseases
    hospitals have mild or no symptoms of covid.

    How do you know that? On what accout are these people put into
    hostitals if they have no symtoms, and therefore have not been
    tested for COVID?

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:221/6 to Anton Shepelev on Tue Apr 28 16:27:48 2020

    Hi, Anton Shepelev! -> Alexander Koryagin
    I read your message from 28.04.2020 00:08

    <skipped>
    The average death toll can be higher but it is important how to
    count deaths. There are millions of people who die every year from
    variety of illnesses. If a person with flu dies from diabetes or
    oncology, cardiovascular disease etc -- only crazy people can put
    such deaths on flu's account.

    It is not so simple, because many deathds due to COVID-19 have been
    caused by various compications and aggravations of pre-existent
    chronic illnesses, often on the background of a weak immune system.
    Are you familliar with the chaos theory and its herarchy of causes?

    You don't hear me -- I have already told you that flu also aggravates
    many chronic illnesses, but nobody blames flu for deaths from that many illnesses. Present day statistic about covid19 deaths is not correct.

    Another matter with covid - now WHO tells us that if a person dies
    and he/she has a covid virus - it should be treated as a death
    from covid.

    What do you mean? The cause of every single death is alway
    investigated according to our general law, which has nothing to do
    with the temporary anti-COVID measures. No doubt, special attention
    is being paid to the testing and diagnosis of COVID during this
    pandemic.

    I told you that WHO ordered that covid19 deaths to be counted
    differently than deaths of flue/pneumonia.

    That's why many countries have so different statistics.
    Why do you exclude the natural suggestion of different
    epidemiolocal situations existing in different countries on account
    of such factors as population density, habits, and measures taken?

    It is also a factor.

    Now Russia also began count it in such a way,
    What way, exactly?

    If a person dies and he has been tested positively - this death is
    counted now as a death of covid.

    and death toll in Russia began growing quickly. It is a dirty
    trick.

    You seem to imply that we have changed the method of calculating
    deaths due to COVID-19. If so, what evidence do you have of it?
    Read it in Russian: https://www.svoboda.org/a/30574844.html

    <skipped>
    Another factor is that there are huge masses of infected/recovered
    people who don't know that they were infected/ill with covid19, so
    they are out of statistics.

    If so, how do you know that they exist?

    The US does numerous tests for covid19 antibodies - the marks that a
    person has recovered from the virus. The tests show that a huge number
    of people have such antibodies and their illness was not registered when
    they were ill.

    Vast majority of them is without symptoms or almost without them.

    Yes, I have heard of the symptomless development of the infecion,
    but is reported to be around 25%:

    https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-asymptomatic-spread.html

    Up to 50% here: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/50-percent-of-people-with-covid19-not-aware-have-virus

    It not a "vast majory", as you say.
    I summed "without symptom + those with mild symptoms". People with mild symptoms also don't go to the hospital.

    So we should isolate old or sick people and let other people live
    a normal life.

    Do you realise how hard it is to isolate the old from the young? Do
    you propose a network of concentration camps?

    Nothing will change. ;) Now old and young are locked in the same flats. ;-\

    Do you realise that
    it is not only old people that die by COVID? The first reporter of
    the beginning pandemic, now China's and the World's hero Li
    Winliang, died of the virus at 33:

    Every rule have exceptions.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Wenliang

    In this case the average year death toll will be as a normal death
    toll from flu/pneumonia.

    First, what makes you thing so? Second, it is atrocious to
    sacrifice even a single human life, regardless of statistics.

    Every years tens of thousand people dies from cold. It is cynical, but
    it is a "normal" number.

    <skipped>
    Under the constitution people can be ordered such things only
    after Emergency status has been introduced in the country.

    Interesting. But it is a poor constituion that does not let the
    government to defend its people from a pandemic without an all-out emergecy.

    Law is law. If there is the state of emergency the authority has right
    to demand people to comply with their orders, but people and business
    will get many possibilities to reduce its losses! As a force major, they
    could suspend rental, credit payment -- it is awful when people are
    prohibited from working but they should pay everything as usual.
    A swinish situation.

    Bye, Anton!
    Alexander Koryagin
    english_tutor 2020

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Alexander Koryagin on Wed Apr 29 01:55:02 2020
    Alexander Koryagin to Anton Shepelev:

    It is not so simple, because many deathds due to COVID-19
    have been caused by various compications and aggravations of pre-existent chronic illnesses, often on the background of a
    weak immune system. Are you familliar with the chaos theory
    and its herarchy of causes?

    You don't hear me -- I have already told you that flu also
    aggravates many chronic illnesses, but nobody blames flu for
    deaths from that many illnesses. Present day statistic about
    covid19 deaths is not correct.

    I am sorry. Now I see what you mean and wonder how you know that
    the death-attribution (what is the right term?) methods for the
    common flu and for COVID-19 are so very different?

    Another question -- do I understand your paragraph above as
    implying the World Health Organisation, and the governments of all
    the affected states are in collustion about using widely different
    standards for accouting deaths due to COVID-19 and due to all other
    diseases?

    I told you that WHO ordered that covid19 deaths to be counted
    differently than deaths of flue/pneumonia.

    I missed it. Where did you say that? Did you provide a reference to
    an official WHO regulation?

    Now Russia also began count it in such a way,
    What way, exactly?

    If a person dies and he has been tested positively - this death is
    counted now as a death of covid.

    What -- even if he poisoned himself (God forbid!) with a cianide?

    and death toll in Russia began growing quickly. It is a
    dirty trick.

    You seem to imply that we have changed the method of
    calculating deaths due to COVID-19. If so, what evidence do
    you have of it?

    Read it in Russian: https://www.svoboda.org/a/30574844.html

    Although I am chary of reading such openly rusophobic resources,
    this article was not bad. It even has a very good explanation and
    justification of the new death-accounting method. I have no
    objections. It is not a dirty trick, as you call it, but a way to
    account deaths that would not have happened then and there if the
    person had not contracted the virus. Even with the corrections for
    this method of calculation, the author of that article esitmates
    the lethality of COVID as up to 10 times higher than that of the
    common flu.

    Another factor is that there are huge masses of
    infected/recovered people who don't know that they were
    infected/ill with covid19, so they are out of statistics.

    If so, how do you know that they exist?

    The US does numerous tests for covid19 antibodies - the marks
    that a person has recovered from the virus. The tests show that a
    huge number of people have such antibodies and their illness was
    not registered when they were ill.

    Very well, but how come these people are "out of statistics", if
    they have been tested?

    Even if the statistics is lagging and suffers from systematic
    error, incomplete coverage, and incosistent methods between
    countries, it is still a useful indicator of the development of the
    pandemic because the error, although unknown, is stable in time.

    Vast majority of them is without symptoms or almost without
    them.

    Yes, I have heard of the symptomless development of the
    infecion, but is reported to be around 25%:

    https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-asymptomatic-spread.html

    Up to 50% here: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/50-percent-of-people-with-covid19-not-aware-have-virus

    No problem, let it be 25-50%. Still not "a vast majority", but a
    pretty high ratio anyway.

    It not a "vast majory", as you say.
    I summed "without symptom + those with mild symptoms". People
    with mild symptoms also don't go to the hospital.

    OK, now that approaches that "vast majority" of yours. I am
    starting to understand.

    So we should isolate old or sick people and let other
    people live a normal life.

    Do you realise how hard it is to isolate the old from the
    young? Do you propose a network of concentration camps?

    Nothing will change. ;) Now old and young are locked in the same
    flats. ;-\

    I don't see how that anwers my question.

    Do you realise that
    it is not only old people that die by COVID? The first
    reporter of the beginning pandemic, now China's and the
    World's hero Li Winliang, died of the virus at 33:

    Every rule have exceptions.

    These are not, strictly speaking, exceptions. The relatively low
    (yes statistically stable) death rate among the young is not a
    reason at all to risk their lives. They may be "exceptions" to some
    cabinet statistician or a soulless government official in Sweden,
    but they are dearly loved ones to their friends and relatives. What
    will you say to them -- I am sorry, but your brother died because
    he turned out to be an exception to our staticical distribution?

    In this case the average year death toll will be as a
    normal death toll from flu/pneumonia.

    First, what makes you thing so? Second, it is atrocious to
    sacrifice even a single human life, regardless of statistics.

    Every years tens of thousand people dies from cold.

    They freeze to death?

    It is cynical, but it is a "normal" number.

    I beg your pardon: what is cynical about the statistics of deaths
    from cold?

    Under the constitution people can be ordered such things
    only after Emergency status has been introduced in the
    country.

    Interesting. But it is a poor constituion that does not let
    the government to defend its people from a pandemic without
    an all-out emergecy.

    Law is law.

    Tell, if you know, whether the police have the right to limit the
    freedom of movement and travel of a man infected with some
    super-lethal and super infectious disease, such as the black pox?
    IMHO, they are oblived to do so in order to protect the other
    people's rights for life. What do you think?

    Is it only the Russian "liberals" that turn to constituion when
    everybody's first and foremost care should be of their own and
    other's health?

    If there is the state of emergency the authority has right to
    demand people to comply with their orders, but people and
    business will get many possibilities to reduce its losses! As a
    force major, they could suspend rental, credit payment --

    I think it would be *much* harder on the economy. Money is not made
    out of nothing -- not rubles anyway.

    it is awful when people are prohibited from working but they
    should pay everything as usual.

    In Russia, those prohibited from working are guarranteed to
    receive theor usual monthly salary throughout their forced absence
    from work due to the pandemic. Rent and credit relaxations are also
    enacted.

    A swinish situation.

    Is it any better in other countries with the lockdown?

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Anton Shepelev on Wed Apr 29 02:08:24 2020
    I wrote:

    Tell, if you know, whether the police have the right

    A grammatical error. Should be: "Tell *me*..."

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Alexander Koryagin on Tue Apr 28 20:46:08 2020
    Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

    Ex-Brits may say "knock on wood", but the meaning is
    the same. The objective is to frighten off evil spirits
    who enjoy messing with success.

    Do you spit over your left shoulder? ;)


    Sounds like quite a feat... I'm not sure I could pull that off. But
    Dallas has just reminded me of another British tradition whereby a person who's
    spilled some salt will be advised to throw it over their left shoulder.... :-)




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Ardith Hinton on Wed Apr 29 12:32:48 2020
    Ardith Hinton to Alexander Koryagin:

    Do you spit over your left shoulder? ;)

    Sounds like quite a feat... I'm not sure I could pull
    that off.

    I think you misunderstand the instrction. The task is to hit the
    invisible devil that ever sittenth on thy left shoulder. It seems
    sufficient, for the purpose, to spit to the left and just a tad
    backwards -- in the eight o'clock direction.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From mark lewis@1:3634/12 to Anton Shepelev on Wed Apr 29 09:21:10 2020
    Re: Misinterpretation... 1.
    By: Anton Shepelev to Ardith Hinton on Wed Apr 29 2020 12:32:48


    Do you spit over your left shoulder? ;)

    Sounds like quite a feat... I'm not sure I could pull that off.

    I think you misunderstand the instrction. The task is to hit the
    invisible devil that ever sittenth on thy left shoulder. It seems sufficient, for the purpose, to spit to the left and just a tad
    backwards -- in the eight o'clock direction.


    i don't think she misunderstood it ;)


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spilling_salt

    A superstition in Western cultures holds that spilling salt is an evil omen. [...]
    The most common contemporary belief requires you to toss a pinch of the spilt salt over your left shoulder, into the face of the Devil who lurks there.



    )\/(ark
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
    * Origin: SouthEast Star Mail HUB - SESTAR (1:3634/12)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:221/6 to Anton Shepelev on Wed Apr 29 22:20:14 2020

    Hi, Anton Shepelev! -> Alexander Koryagin
    I read your message from 29.04.2020 01:55


    It is not so simple, because many deathds due to COVID-19 have
    been caused by various compications and aggravations of pre-
    existent chronic illnesses, often on the background of a weak
    immune system. Are you familliar with the chaos theory and its
    herarchy of causes?

    You don't hear me -- I have already told you that flu also
    aggravates many chronic illnesses, but nobody blames flu for
    deaths from that many illnesses. Present day statistic about
    covid19 deaths is not correct.

    I am sorry. Now I see what you mean and wonder how you know that
    the death-attribution (what is the right term?) methods for the
    common flu and for COVID-19 are so very different?

    Some Americans see it this way: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/birx-says-government-is-classifying-all-deaths-of-patients-with-coronavirus-as-covid-19-deaths-regardless-of-cause
    or
    https://fxn.ws/2JKBDDX

    Another question -- do I understand your paragraph above as
    implying the World Health Organisation, and the governments of all
    the affected states are in collustion about using widely different standards for accouting deaths due to COVID-19 and due to all other diseases?

    I told you that WHO ordered that covid19 deaths to be counted
    differently than deaths of flue/pneumonia.

    I missed it. Where did you say that? Did you provide a reference to
    an official WHO regulation?

    I don't know where they store their documents. But most countries now
    count covid19 deaths as I had told.

    <skipped>
    You seem to imply that we have changed the method of calculating
    deaths due to COVID-19. If so, what evidence do you have of it?
    Read it in Russian: https://www.svoboda.org/a/30574844.html

    Although I am chary of reading such openly rusophobic resources,
    this article was not bad. It even has a very good explanation and justification of the new death-accounting method. I have no
    objections. It is not a dirty trick, as you call it, but a way to
    account deaths that would not have happened then and there if the
    person had not contracted the virus. Even with the corrections for
    this method of calculation, the author of that article esitmates
    the lethality of COVID as up to 10 times higher than that of the
    common flu.

    Who can know "covid19 style" flu death rate if flu was never accused for chronic people deaths? Most sick people with variety of illnesses have
    poor immunity, they often catch cold, pneumonia and they die. But it is
    the main chronic illness that had diminished their immunity, not flu!
    The same can be told about covid19.

    <skipped>
    The US does numerous tests for covid19 antibodies - the marks that
    a person has recovered from the virus. The tests show that a huge
    number of people have such antibodies and their illness was not
    registered when they were ill.

    Very well, but how come these people are "out of statistics", if
    they have been tested?

    Now there is only a rough approach -- the results of antibodies tests
    are approximated to all the population.

    <skipped>
    Do you realise that it is not only old people that die by COVID?
    The first reporter of the beginning pandemic, now China's and the
    World's hero Li Winliang, died of the virus at 33:
    Every rule have exceptions.

    These are not, strictly speaking, exceptions. The relatively low
    (yes statistically stable) death rate among the young is not a
    reason at all to risk their lives. They may be "exceptions" to some cabinet statistician or a soulless government official in Sweden,
    but they are dearly loved ones to their friends and relatives. What
    will you say to them -- I am sorry, but your brother died because
    he turned out to be an exception to our staticical distribution?

    Well, if people think as you they will stop the world every winter to
    isolate people from tens of thousand deaths from cold disease. It is
    demagogy, and it is funny to hear it.

    <skipped>
    Every years tens of thousand people dies from cold.
    They freeze to death?

    In English the word "cold" is also an illness. Usually it is flu or
    acute viral respiratory infections.

    <skipped>
    Under the constitution people can be ordered such things only
    after Emergency status has been introduced in the country.
    Interesting. But it is a poor constituion that does not let the
    government to defend its people from a pandemic without an all-
    out emergecy.
    Law is law.

    Tell, if you know, whether the police have the right to limit the
    freedom of movement and travel of a man infected with some super-
    lethal and super infectious disease, such as the black pox? IMHO,
    they are oblived to do so in order to protect the other people's
    rights for life. What do you think?

    I think that doing it without law opens a vast possibilities for law
    violation. Under cover of high words they can do whatever they like. It
    must not be so.

    Is it only the Russian "liberals" that turn to constituion when everybody's first and foremost care should be of their own and
    other's health?

    If there is the state of emergency the authority has right to
    demand people to comply with their orders, but people and business
    will get many possibilities to reduce its losses! As a force
    major, they could suspend rental, credit payment --

    I think it would be *much* harder on the economy. Money is not made
    out of nothing -- not rubles anyway.

    Good justification. Apply resume to Putin! ;-)

    it is awful when people are prohibited from working but they
    should pay everything as usual.

    In Russia, those prohibited from working are guarranteed to receive
    theor usual monthly salary throughout their forced absence from
    work due to the pandemic. Rent and credit relaxations are also
    enacted.

    You are probably from the Moon -- people survive in Russia as they only
    can, and the vast majority of Russian economy is grey. Banks also don't
    give credits to everybody in need -- they are not a charity. Putin also
    refused to give money from state reserves to people who lost jobs.

    Bye, Anton!
    Alexander Koryagin
    english_tutor 2020

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:221/6 to Ardith Hinton on Wed Apr 29 22:27:40 2020

    Hi, Ardith Hinton! -> Alexander Koryagin
    I read your message from 28.04.2020 20:46

    Ex-Brits may say "knock on wood", but the meaning is the same. The
    objective is to frighten off evil spirits who enjoy messing with
    success.

    Do you spit over your left shoulder?

    Sounds like quite a feat... I'm not sure I could pull that off. But
    Dallas has just reminded me of another British tradition whereby a
    person who's spilled some salt will be advised to throw it over
    their left shoulder....

    Our tradition says that devil follows every person at his left side. And spitting over the left shoulder is tantamount to chasing him away, and
    the person as if prevents himself from devil's tricks.

    Bye, Ardith!
    Alexander Koryagin
    english_tutor 2020

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to mark lewis on Thu Apr 30 01:53:16 2020
    mark lewis - Anton Shepelev:

    The most common contemporary belief requires you to toss a pinch
    of the spilt salt over your left shoulder, into the face of the
    Devil who lurks there.

    There is a great short story about this devil by Clark Ashton
    Smith, titled:

    The Demon, the Angel, and Beauty:

    Of the Demon who standeth or walketh always with me at my left
    hand, I asked: "Hast thou seen Beauty? Her that meseemeth was the
    mistress of my soul in Eternity? Her that is now beyond question
    set over me in Time; even though I behold her not, and, it may be,
    have never beheld, nor ever shall; her of whose aspect I am
    ignorant as noon is concerning any star: her of whom as witness and
    testimony, I have found only the hem of her shadow, or at most, her
    reflection in a dim and troubled water. Answer, if thou canst, and
    tell me, is she like pearls, or like stars? Does she resemble most
    the sunlight that is transparent and unbroken, or the sunlight
    divided into splendour and iris? Is she the heart of the day, or
    the soul of the night?"

    To which the Demon answered, after, as I thought, a brief space of
    meditation:

    "Concerning this Beauty, I can tell thee but little beyond that
    which thou knowest. Albeit, in those orbs to which the demons of my
    rank have admission, there be greater adumbrations of some
    transcendent Mystery than here, yet have I never seen that Mystery
    itself, and know not if it be male or female. Aeons ago, when I was
    young and incautious, when the world was new and bright, and there
    were more stars than now, I, too, was attracted by this Mystery,
    and sought after it in all accessible spheres. But failing to find
    the thing itself, I soon grew wear of embracing its shadows, and
    took to the pursuit of illusions less insubstantial. Now I am
    become grey and ashen without and red like old fire within, who was
    fiery and flame-coloured all through, back in the star-thronged
    aeons of which I speak: Heed me, for I am as wise, and wary and
    ancient as the far--travelled and comet--scarred sun; and I am
    become of the opinion that the thing Beauty itself does not exist,
    Doubtless the semblance thereof is but a web of shadow and
    delusion, woven by the crafty hand of God, that He may snare demons
    and men therewith, for His mirth, and the laughter of His
    archangels."

    The Demon ceased, and took to watching me as usual-obliquely, and
    with one eye-an eye that is more red than Aldebaran, and
    inscrutable as the gulfs beyond the Hyades.

    Then of the Angel, who walketh or standeth always with me at my
    right hand, I asked, "Hast thou seen Beauty? Or hast thou heard any
    assured rumour concerning Beauty?"

    To which the Angel answered, after, as I thought, a moment of
    hesitation:

    "As to this Beauty, I can tell thee but little beyond that which
    thou knowest, Albeit in all the heavens, this Mystery is a topic of
    the most frequent and sublime speculation among the archangels, and
    a perennial theme for the more inspired singers and harpists of the cherubim-yea, despite all this, we are greatly ignorant as to its
    true nature, and substance, and attributes. But sometimes there are
    mighty adumbrations which cover even the superior seraphim from
    above the wing-tips, and make unfamiliar twilight in heaven. And
    sometimes there is an echo which fills the empyrean, and hushes the
    archangelic harps in the midst of their praising of God. This is
    often, and these visitations of echo and shadow spread an awe over
    the assembled Thrones and Splendours and Dominations, which at
    other times accompanies only the emanence or appearance of God
    Himself. Thus are we assured as to the reality of this Beauty. And
    because it remains a mystery to us, to whom naught else is
    mysterious except God, we conjecture that it is the thing upon
    which God meditateth, self-obscured and centred, and because of
    which He hath held Himself immanifest to us for so many aeons: that
    this is the secret which God keepeth even from the seraphim."

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Alexander Koryagin on Fri May 1 23:46:08 2020
    Alexander Koryagin to Anton Shepelev:

    It is not so simple, because many deathds due to COVID-19
    have been caused by various compications and aggravations
    of pre-existent chronic illnesses, often on the
    background of a weak immune system. Are you familliar with
    the chaos theory and its herarchy of causes?

    You don't hear me -- I have already told you that flu also
    aggravates many chronic illnesses, but nobody blames flu for
    deaths from that many illnesses.
    Present day statistic about covid19 deaths is not correct.

    I am sorry. Now I see what you mean and wonder how you know
    that the death-attribution (what is the right term?) methods
    for the common flu and for COVID-19 are so very different?

    Some Americans see it this way: https://fxn.ws/2JKBDDX

    Reading:

    Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House
    coronavirus task force, said the federal government is continuing
    to count the suspected COVID-19 deaths, despite other nations
    doing the opposite.

    "There are other countries that if you had a pre-existing
    condition, and let's say the virus caused you to go to the ICU
    [intensive care unit] and then have a heart or kidney problem,"
    she said during a Tuesday news briefing at the White House. "Some
    countries are recording that as a heart issue or a kidney issue
    and not a COVID-19 death.

    To decide whether it is correct or not, one has to ask the doctor:
    would that person have died then and there of their heart or kidney
    condition had they not contracted COVID-19? If the answer is no,
    then we may blame COVID-19, as the the major cause of death. Since
    the new virus is more deadly than flu, it is only meet to give it
    more weight over other factors in the attribution of death.

    Any death is due to the failure of one vital organ or another. Both
    seasonal flu and COVID-19 cause death by agrravating a pre-existing
    weakness in the organism. If one follows this logic of yours to the
    end, one shall conclude that no one has every died by flu or by
    COVID-19, which is, obviosly, wrong. Everybody dies becuase their
    brain stops working!

    Read it in Russian: https://www.svoboda.org/a/30574844.html

    Although I am chary of reading such openly rusophobic
    resources, this article was not bad. It even has a very good
    explanation and justification of the new death-accounting
    method. I have no objections. It is not a dirty trick, as
    you call it, but a way to account deaths that would not have
    happened then and there if the person had not contracted the
    virus. Even with the corrections for this method of
    calculation, the author of that article esitmates the
    lethality of COVID as up to 10 times higher than that of the
    common flu.

    Who can know "covid19 style" flu death rate if flu was never
    accused for chronic people deaths? Most sick people with variety
    of illnesses have poor immunity, they often catch cold, pneumonia
    and they die. But it is the main chronic illness that had
    diminished their immunity, not flu! The same can be told about
    covid19.

    Yes.

    <skipped>
    The US does numerous tests for covid19 antibodies - the
    marks that a person has recovered from the virus. The tests
    show that a huge number of people have such antibodies and
    their illness was not registered when they were ill.

    Very well, but how come these people are "out of
    statistics", if they have been tested?

    Now there is only a rough approach -- the results of antibodies
    tests are approximated to all the population.

    Great, so they are *not* our of statistics after all, are they?
    Futhermore, it is in our official news that 40% of cases are
    detected by testing people who evince no symptoms, so we *do* test
    apparently healthy people and include them into statistics.

    Do you realise that it is not only old people that die by
    COVID? The first reporter of the beginning pandemic, now
    China's and the World's hero Li Winliang, died of the
    virus at 33:
    Every rule have exceptions.

    These are not, strictly speaking, exceptions. The relatively
    low (yes statistically stable) death rate among the young is
    not a reason at all to risk their lives. They may be
    "exceptions" to some cabinet statistician or a soulless
    government official in Sweden, but they are dearly loved
    ones to their friends and relatives. What will you say to
    them -- I am sorry, but your brother died because he turned
    out to be an exception to our staticical distribution?

    Well, if people think as you they will stop the world every
    winter to isolate people from tens of thousand deaths from cold
    disease.

    Wrong. I think as I do, yet I don't try to isolate my elderly
    relatives every winter.

    It is demagogy, and it is funny to hear it.

    Demagogy implies a loggical fallacy. Where is mine? All I say
    follows from a sober analysis of cause and effect, which you seem
    to simplify to binary (boolean) statements that are either true or
    false. Every event is conditioned by an infinite multitude of
    causes extending infinitely both back in time and down into lower
    orders of the physical world. Well, some say the latter extension
    is not infinte and build Thomaic (of Aquinas) proofs of God on that
    premise...

    Every years tens of thousand people dies from cold.
    They freeze to death?

    In English the word "cold" is also an illness. Usually it is flu
    or acute viral respiratory infections.

    OK. So how do the doctors know they die from cold, and not from the
    failure of a vital organ (heart, brain)?

    Tell, if you know, whether the police have the right to
    limit the freedom of movement and travel of a man infected
    with some super- lethal and super infectious disease, such
    as the black pox? IMHO, they are oblived to do so in order
    to protect the other people's rights for life. What do you
    think?

    I think that doing it without law opens a vast possibilities for
    law violation. Under cover of high words they can do whatever
    they like. It must not be so.

    It may be so, yes, but what do you say about my specific example of
    a man with black box demanding and executing his constitutional
    freedom of movement?

    it is awful when people are prohibited from working but they
    should pay everything as usual.

    In Russia, those prohibited from working are guarranteed to
    receive theor usual monthly salary throughout their forced
    absence from work due to the pandemic. Rent and credit
    relaxations are also enacted.

    You are probably from the Moon -- people survive in Russia as
    they only can,

    Russia has declared a lock-down with the retention of the full
    salary. It does not sound like survival. I for one feel rather
    uneasy because I can't work from home so much and so well as have
    done in the office, yet my salary is the same. I am ashamed. But
    don't starve.

    and the vast majority of Russian economy is grey.

    I know there is grey economy, but how do you know most of it is
    so?

    Banks also don't give credits to everybody in need -- they are
    not a charity. Putin also refused to give money from state
    reserves to people who lost jobs.

    What a minute -- he has increased the unemployment compensation, he
    is spending trillions of rubles to help small businesses stay
    afloat. He has initiated help to a select hundred or so large
    stragetical enterpiese all over Russia lest people lose their
    workplaces.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Mike Powell@1:2320/105 to ANTON SHEPELEV on Sat May 2 10:35:00 2020
    To decide whether it is correct or not, one has to ask the doctor:
    would that person have died then and there of their heart or kidney
    condition had they not contracted COVID-19? If the answer is no,
    then we may blame COVID-19, as the the major cause of death. Since
    the new virus is more deadly than flu, it is only meet to give it
    more weight over other factors in the attribution of death.

    Agreed. Some places are doing it that way, while other countries (and US states) may be counting anyone who tests COVID positive, even if their
    death was caused by something completely unrelated. Fall off a ladder, hit your head, die of trauma, test positive, dead of Wuhan Coronavirus.

    I believe it is correct to count that person as a positive test, but I
    don't believe it is correct to count their death in the statistics. I am
    not certain anything that extreme is being counted but we are getting the impression from some US states that they would count situations like that.

    Any death is due to the failure of one vital organ or another. Both
    seasonal flu and COVID-19 cause death by agrravating a pre-existing
    weakness in the organism. If one follows this logic of yours to the
    end, one shall conclude that no one has every died by flu or by
    COVID-19, which is, obviosly, wrong. Everybody dies becuase their
    brain stops working!

    True. At least early on, everyone dying of the virus was actually dying of
    a complication from it... pneumonia.

    Mike


    * SLMR 2.1a * I am Popeye of Borg. Prepare to be askimilgrated.
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
    * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Anton Shepelev on Sat May 2 22:32:28 2020
    I wrote:

    Since the new virus is more deadly than flu, it is only meet to
    give it more weight over other factors in the attribution of
    death.

    Mefears it is an illiterate usage of "meet". Should not I have
    written instead: "...it is only meet that it (should) receive more
    weight over other factors..." I have not found a reliable number of
    instances of "it is only meet to" in Google books, although I see no
    problem with it...

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Mike Powell@1:2320/105 to ANTON SHEPELEV on Sat May 2 19:36:00 2020
    And now they die (or are dying -- which is correct?) from a wider
    variety of complications.

    I believe that either is actually correct. :)

    Mike


    * SLMR 2.1a * OPCODE: MWAG = Make Wild-Assed Guess
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
    * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Mike Powell on Sun May 3 17:06:00 2020
    Mike Powell to Anton Shepelev:

    And now they die (or are dying -- which is correct?) from a
    wider variety of complications.

    I believe that either is actually correct. :)

    Lately I have had complictions in choosing between the Past Simple
    and the Past Progressive. Desciribing the weather during the voyage
    of the French cruiser Primauguet (where a mutiny is ripeining) to
    the collonial Annam, Paustovsky writes:

    It was not wind but treacly sirup that came from Inidia.
    One's thoughts stuck in it like flies on viscid paper.

    How do you find my translation? -- shall I have writ "was coming"?
    I believe Paustovky avoided "blow" because it does not work with
    "sirup".

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Mike Powell@1:2320/105 to ANTON SHEPELEV on Sun May 3 18:09:00 2020
    It was not wind but treacly sirup that came from Inidia.
    One's thoughts stuck in it like flies on viscid paper.

    How do you find my translation? -- shall I have writ "was coming"?
    I believe Paustovky avoided "blow" because it does not work with
    "sirup".

    I find your translation easy to follow. I see no problem with how it is worded, other than "sirup" is spelled "syrup." :)

    Mike

    * SLMR 2.1a * Pentium Myth #1: The computer only does what you tell it.
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
    * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)
  • From Denis Mosko@2:5064/54.1315 to Mike Powell on Mon May 4 20:34:40 2020
    Hello, buddy Mike!

    skip
    It was not wind but treacly sirup that came from Inidia.
    One's thoughts stuck in it like flies on viscid paper.

    How do you find my translation? -- shall I have writ "was coming"?
    I believe Paustovky avoided "blow" because it does not work with
    "sirup".

    I find your translation easy to follow. I see no problem with how it
    is worded, other than "sirup" is spelled "syrup." :)

    Mike!
    Although English_Tutor's get indentation wrong sometimes too, so I honestly don't know :)

    Denis

    --- GoldED+/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-b20120519 (Kubik 3.0)
    * Origin: ;) (2:5064/54.1315)
  • From Dallas Hinton@1:153/7715 to Denis Mosko on Mon May 4 11:47:28 2020
    Hi Denis -- on May 04 2020 at 20:34, you wrote:

    Although English_Tutor's get indentation wrong sometimes too, so I honestly don't know :)

    Indentation is very hard to handle in FidoNet - each message editor has
    it's own ideas!! It is possible to preceed a section of text with 2
    tilde characters "~" and that's supposed to prevent reformatting, but
    with messages going through so many different systems there's no
    guarantee it will work. This next section should have various indents -
    we'll see what happens:

    level
    Indent
    More Indent
    Yet more indent
    and back to level.

    :-)


    Cheers... Dallas

    --- timEd/NT 1.30+
    * Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Mike Powell on Mon May 4 21:58:04 2020
    Mike Powell to Anton Shepelev:

    It was not wind but treacly sirup that came from Inidia.
    One's thoughts stuck in it like flies on viscid paper.

    How do you find my translation? -- shall I have writ "was
    coming"? I believe Paustovky avoided "blow" because it does not
    work with "sirup".

    I find your translation easy to follow. I see no problem with
    how it is worded, other than "sirup" is spelled "syrup." :)

    Thank you, Mike. `sypup' was my initial spelling, but I corrected
    it because Merriam-Webster lists `sipup' as the main spelling and
    `syrup' as a variant:

    http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&Database=gcide&Query=sirup

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Dallas Hinton on Mon May 4 22:09:12 2020
    Dallas Hinton to Denis Mosko:

    Indentation is very hard to handle in FidoNet - each message
    editor has it's own ideas!! It is possible to preceed a section
    of text with 2 tilde characters "~" and that's supposed to
    prevent reformatting, but with messages going through so many
    different systems there's no guarantee it will work.

    I don't think so. Good transfer agents do not meddle with
    formatting, so we generally see what the author has written:

    This next section should have various indents - we'll see what
    happens:

    level
    Indent
    More Indent
    Yet more indent
    and back to level.

    :-)

    Fine as Fido:

    __ _
    o'')}____//
    `_/ )
    (_(_/-(_/

    Bow-wow!

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Dallas Hinton@1:153/7715 to Anton Shepelev on Mon May 4 16:07:42 2020
    Hi Anton -- on May 04 2020 at 21:58, you wrote:

    I find your translation easy to follow. I see no problem with
    how it is worded, other than "sirup" is spelled "syrup." :)

    Thank you, Mike. `sypup' was my initial spelling, but I corrected
    it because Merriam-Webster lists `sipup' as the main spelling and
    `syrup' as a variant:

    "Main" spelling? I don't think so. According to the online Merriam-Webster:

    si�?rup
    less common spelling of SYRUP

    Collins online says
    sirup
    in British English

    NOUN
    US a less common spelling of syrup

    And for interest, WidiDiff says:

    Syrup is an alternative form of sirup.
    As nouns the difference between syrup and sirup is that syrup is any
    thick liquid that is added to or poured over food as a flavouring and
    has a high sugar content also any viscous liquid while sirup is
    (obsolete) a thick and viscid liquid made from the juice of fruits,
    herbs, etc, boiled with sugar.


    So there! :-)

    Cheers... Dallas

    --- timEd/NT 1.30+
    * Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)
  • From Dallas Hinton@1:153/7715 to Anton Shepelev on Mon May 4 16:11:46 2020
    Hi Anton -- on May 04 2020 at 22:09, you wrote:

    I don't think so. Good transfer agents do not meddle with
    formatting, so we generally see what the author has written:

    I agree -- the operative word being "good". :-)

    This next section should have various indents - we'll see what
    happens:

    level
    Indent
    More Indent
    Yet more indent
    and back to level.

    :-)

    Fine as Fido:

    Excellent!!

    Cheers... Dallas

    --- timEd/NT 1.30+
    * Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Anton Shepelev on Mon May 4 22:26:42 2020
    Hi, Anton! Recently you wrote in an addendum to yourself:

    Since the new virus is more deadly than flu, it is only
    meet to give it more weight over other factors in the
    attribution of death.

    Mefears it is an illiterate usage of "meet". Should not
    I have written instead: "...it is only meet that it
    (should) receive more weight over other factors..."


    AFAIK the second alternative is the usual construction...



    I have not found a reliable number of instances of "it
    is only meet to" in Google books, although I see no
    problem with it...


    ... but I see no grammatical reason to avoid using the first. :-)




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Dallas Hinton on Tue May 5 15:38:34 2020
    Dallas Hinton:

    According to the online Merriam-Webster:

    si�?rup
    less common spelling of SYRUP

    Things have changed since 1913 -- the year of the classic edition
    of M.-W, which I had the honor of consulting.

    Collins online says
    sirup
    in British English

    NOUN
    US a less common spelling of syrup

    And for interest, WidiDiff says:

    Syrup is an alternative form of sirup.
    As nouns the difference between syrup and sirup is that syrup is
    any thick liquid that is added to or poured over food as a
    flavouring and has a high sugar content also any viscous liquid
    while sirup is (obsolete) a thick and viscid liquid made from the
    juice of fruits, herbs, etc, boiled with sugar.

    Although based on an accidental spelling variation, the distinction
    is quite useful, c.f. `compliment' and `complement', or `flower'
    and 'fluor'...

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Anton Shepelev on Tue May 5 15:42:44 2020
    I wrote:

    `flower' and 'fluor'..

    `flour'. What is `fluor'?

    Inventing new words is a fine game. I have invented `callamity' and
    my friend `wintercourse' -- both accompanied with definitions. A
    neural network used to play that game very well through the
    #lexiconjure channel on Twitter.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Denis Mosko@2:5064/54.1315 to Anton Shepelev on Tue May 5 16:44:36 2020
    Hey, Anton! :)

    `flower' and 'fluor'..

    `flour'. What is `fluor'?

    Inventing new words is a fine game. I have invented `callamity' and
    my friend `wintercourse' -- both accompanied with definitions.
    My words: summercourse,
    Fidonews,
    Soyuz.

    Join!

    Denis
    ---
    * Origin: ;) (2:5064/54.1315)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Anton Shepelev on Wed May 6 23:28:04 2020
    Hi, Anton! Recently you wrote in a message to Dallas Hinton:

    Things have changed since 1913 -- the year of the classic
    edition of M.-W, which I had the honor of consulting.


    Uh-huh. If you're referring to the work of Konstantin Paustovsky, who was born in 1892 & wrote a lot of historical fiction, this spelling may reflect the language his characters would have used. Since his name is not a household word in North America, you may need to explain to your readers in E_T that what you are asking about is a bit different from what they would generally do. :-Q



    And for interest, WidiDiff says:

    Syrup is an alternative form of sirup.
    As nouns the difference between syrup and sirup is that
    syrup is any thick liquid that is added to or poured over
    food as a flavouring and has a high sugar content also
    any viscous liquid while sirup is (obsolete) a thick and
    viscid liquid made from the juice of fruits, herbs, etc,
    boiled with sugar.

    Although based on an accidental spelling variation, the
    distinction is quite useful


    ... if your readers are aware of it, which the majority may not be. I didn't know about it until Dallas pointed it out. But when the author uses the word "treacly", I think of the former because "treacle" [UK] = "molasses" [US]. While it was originally derived from sugar cane, some folks equate it with corn syrup. Most types are already quite sweet & thus no added sugar is needed. In the US & Canada we also have maple syrup derived from the sap of trees.... :-)




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Ardith Hinton on Thu May 7 12:13:34 2020
    Ardith Hinton to Anton Shepelev:

    Things have changed since 1913 -- the year of the classic
    edition of M.-W, which I had the honor of consulting.

    Uh-huh. If you're referring to the work of Konstantin
    Paustovsky, who was born in 1892 & wrote a lot of historical
    fiction, this spelling may reflect the language his characters
    would have used.

    I am finishing his collected works and have not encountered a lot
    of historical fiction, except the historical parts of "Tale of the
    North" and "Story of the woods", both of which continue roughly at
    the time of writing. There is of course the long poetico-romantico-impressionist-quasi-autobiographical novel "Story
    of a Life", but I skipped it because I had spent too much time, and
    too recently, listening to it on radio.

    Since his name is not a household word in North
    America, you may need to explain to your readers in E_T that what
    you are asking about is a bit different from what they would
    generally do. :-Q

    Good advice, but this time I was not trying make it sound dated.

    [ Syrup / sirup ]

    Although based on an accidental spelling variation, the
    distinction is quite useful

    ... if your readers are aware of it, which the majority
    may not be. I didn't know about it until Dallas pointed it out.
    But when the author uses the word "treacly", I think of the
    former because "treacle" [UK] = "molasses" [US].

    And I was certain the adjective had become more general than the
    noun, i.e.: adj. cloyingly sweet or sentimental.

    While it was originally derived from sugar cane, some folks
    equate it with corn syrup. Most types are already quite sweet &
    thus no added sugar is needed. In the US & Canada we also have
    maple syrup derived from the sap of trees.... :-)

    Not specifically from maple sap? I like its taste but don't buy it
    frequently because the imported product is expensive here.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Ardith Hinton on Sun Jun 28 13:42:06 2020
    Ardith Hinton

    Some folks consider it acceptable to introduce a tense
    change at the beginning of a new paragraph, but AFAIC it's
    distracting & unpleasant. I would suggest you pick one or the
    other & avoid changing horses in midstream.... :-Q

    This very morning I have enountered that device in Peter Taylor for
    the second time, but it is the first time that I have found the time
    (time, time, time...) to quote it:

    They were on their wa downstairs again now, and by the time they
    had finished with this favorite subject the would be downstairs.
    They would be in the dark, flower-bedecked downstairs hall and
    just before entering the dining room for the promised
    refreshments: the fruit jello, the English tea biscuits, the lime
    punch.

    And now foor a moment Mr. Dorset bars the way to the dining room
    and prevents is sister from opening the closed door. "Now, my
    good friends," he says, "let us eat, drink, and be merry!"
    "For the night is yet young," says his sister.
    "Tonight you must be gayt are carefree," Mr. Dorset enjoins.
    "Because in this house we are all frieds," Miss Dorset says.
    "We are all young, we all love one another."
    "And love cab make ys all yound forever," her brother says.
    "Remember!"
    "Remember this evening always, sweet young people!"
    "Remember!"
    "Remember what our life is like here!"
    And now Miss Dorset, with one hand on the knob of the great
    door which she is about to throw open, leans a little towards the
    guests and whispers hoarsely: "This is what it is like to be
    young forever!"

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Anton Shepelev on Sat Jul 4 15:02:18 2020
    I think you mean Peter Taylor (1917-1994), from the US.


    That is what I meant to say, but my reply apparently scanned out before I noticed the typo.... :-Q




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Dallas Hinton@1:153/7715 to Wayne Harris on Sun Aug 2 20:51:12 2020
    Hi Wayne -- on Aug 02 2020 at 23:40, you wrote:

    If I may, let me ask some questions. My intuition says I should always isolate a vocative in between commas. ``Hi, Anton.'' However, I pretty much never see anyone writing that way. Isn't that a grammar rule?

    The vocative comma use varies with formality. For a good explanation,
    see https://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/hello-vocative-comma -- but the quick and dirty explanation is that in informal writing it's optional.
    IMO, the only time it absolutely must be used (in order to ensure clarity) is in a
    sentence such as "I'm fighting John" which is different from "I'm
    fighting, John".

    Gmail seems happy to fill in (autofill) text (at least in the Windows
    version on a PC). If I address a message to Frank, and begin typing
    Hi<space> it writes "Hi Frank", but if I type Hi,<space> it leaves the
    text alone. Make of that what you will! :-)

    You wrote ``furthermore, [...]''. That also matches my intuition. But
    I often see people ignoring this comma. Perhaps this is an optional
    comma. Is it? What is the book you go to to cite such rules?

    This is called a conjunctive adverb, and the rule seems to be that you
    always have a comma after a conjunctive adverb.

    The books Ardith and I use most are the 2000 "New Fowler's Modern
    English Usage" and the 2016 "Garner's Modern English Usage". Fowler's
    tends more toward British usage and Garner seems more American. Here in
    Canada, of course, we're bilingual. :-)


    Cheers... Dallas

    --- timEd/NT 1.30+
    * Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Wayne Harris on Tue Aug 4 13:59:08 2020
    Wayne Harris to Anton Shepelev:

    I see your use of commas match my intuition about them,
    but I, so far, have not found an English grammar, or any
    book, that would clearly spell out these rules to me.

    I have never consulted grammar books about punctutation, but
    I recommend to you the following books from my definitive
    list of manuals of English Grammar:

    1. The Grammar of English Grammars,
    by Goold Brown

    2. Manual of English Grammar and Composition,
    by John Nesfield

    If I may, let me ask some questions. My intuition says I
    should always isolate a vocative in between commas. ``Hi,
    Anton.'' However, I pretty much never see anyone writing
    that way. Isn't that a grammar rule?

    Of course, your intuition is both logical and grammarical.
    Nesfield, for example, says under rule 214 (c) for the
    placement of the comma:

    After the Nominative of an address--
    Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

    You wrote ``furthermore, [...]''. That also matches my
    intuition. But I often see people ignoring this comma.

    I put that comma because I should pause there were I
    speaking.

    Perhaps this is an optional comma. Is it? What is the
    book you go to to cite such rules?

    I don't think it optional but Nesfield disagrees:

    After an adverbial phrase at the commencement of a
    sentence (Here, however, the use of the comma is
    optional):
    In fact, his poetry is no better than prose.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Anton Shepelev on Tue Aug 4 15:01:28 2020
    I wrote:

    I don't think it optional but Nesfield disagrees:

    Speaking of punctuation, I missed a comma before `but'.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:221/6 to Dallas Hinton on Wed Aug 5 17:11:16 2020

    Hi, Dallas Hinton! -> Wayne Harris
    I read your message from 04.08.2020 12:22


    I don't think it optional but Nesfield disagrees:

    Speaking of punctuation, I missed a comma before `but'.

    Is this comma always required? If so, who stated and where it is
    stated?

    It's not always (or even often) required. "But" is a conjunction,
    not a conjuctive adverb and therefore the comma should or should
    not be there based on context (cf. Fowlers <g>).

    Is this rule applicable?

    -----Beginning of the citation-----
    A comma should be used before these conjunctions: and, but, for, nor,
    yet, or, so to separate two independent clauses. They are called
    co-ordinating conjunctions

    https://www.ole.bris.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/courses/Study_Skills/grammar-and-punctuation/index.html#/id/5eaff0d388d7eb04c5efb44f

    or

    https://is.gd/Kt92EF
    ----- The end of the citation -----


    Bye, Dallas!
    Alexander Koryagin
    english_tutor 2020

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Dallas Hinton@1:153/7715 to Alexander Koryagin on Wed Aug 5 12:44:50 2020
    Hi, Alexander -- on Aug 05 2020 at 17:11, you wrote:


    Is this rule applicable?

    -----Beginning of the citation-----
    A comma should be used before these conjunctions: and, but, for, nor,
    yet, or, so to separate two independent clauses. They are called co-ordinating conjunctions

    https://www.ole.bris.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/courses/Study_Skills/grammar-a nd-punctuation/index.html#/id/5eaff0d388d7eb04c5efb44f

    or

    https://is.gd/Kt92EF
    ----- The end of the citation -----

    There are a couple of problems here: first, I can't go to either of the
    links, as they both come up as possible malware sites (meaning that the
    address shown doesn't match the address the site itself reports);
    second, technically speaking "so" is not a conjunction (based on Miss
    Grundy's teaching of 65 years ago!).

    Regardless of it's status, I would opt to rewrite the sentence so as to
    avoid the issue. e.g.:

    A comma should be used before [are you sure you didn't mean to type
    "after"? dh] conjunctions. The term "fanboys" is a mnemonic for the
    words for, and, but, or, nor, yet, so, which are used to separate two independent clauses. They are called co-ordinating conjunctions.



    Cheers... Dallas

    --- timEd/NT 1.30+
    * Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Dallas Hinton on Fri Aug 7 20:09:42 2020
    Dallas Hinton to Alexander Koryagin:

    https://www.ole.bris.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/courses/Study_Skills/grammar-and-punctuation/index.html#/id/5eaff0d388d7eb04c5efb44f
    or
    https://is.gd/Kt92EF

    There are a couple of problems here: first, I can't go
    to either of the links, as they both come up as possible
    malware sites (meaning that the address shown doesn't
    match the address the site itself reports)

    They both of them refer to a benign page at the University
    of Bristol. You need not fear. I have just gone thither
    and come back alive.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Dallas Hinton on Tue Aug 11 12:21:32 2020
    Dallas Hinton:

    Malwarebytes is a bit, um, oversensitive, at times!

    Well, 'tis better to keep the safe side of storm.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Владимир@1:19/25 to Anton Shepelev on Wed Oct 7 13:49:10 2020
    https://xn--80aa6adkgenj.xn--p1ai/
    Почему профессионалы выбирают это
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
    * Origin: Darkages BBS | darkagesbbs.com (1:19/25)
  • From ╨É╨╗╨╡╨║╤ü╨╡╨╣@1:340/7 to Ardith Hinton on Wed Oct 7 11:53:40 2020
    https://xn--80aa6adkgenj.xn--p1ai/
    -f-+-c-|-+-a -+-C-+-a-|-U-U-+-+-+-#-+-i -#-i-#-+-C-#-A-e -i-e-+
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (1:340/7)
  • From Denis Mosko@2:5064/54.1315 to All on Thu Oct 8 01:44:16 2020
    Launcher reduced to the essential, intended for elderly people
    What does this app do?

    It registers as app launcher (that means it is called when the phone boots and the home button is pressed).
    It lets the user decide if they want to call someone or want to watch images. It reads the contact list and displays all contacts that have an image and a phone number (only the first number is used!).
    Every contact is displayed as a large button with the contact's image on it.
    On click either a call to the contact is initialized or the SMS app is opened to show images sent via MMS
    In image-mode the gallery can be opened
    Calling the ambulance is added on top of the list in the call-screen.
    Language: English and German. (911 and 112 for calling the ambulance is translated of course)
    Why is MMS used for images?

    Because it is available everywhere and every phone has an app installed that can use it
    Because it is the only way (that I found out) to direct the user right to the newest images
    I recommend the use of QKSMS as a SMS/MMS app because it copies all images automatically to the gallery and because it's free.

    Is it useable?

    ... You have the capacity to learn from mistakes. You'll learn a lot today.
    --- GoldED+/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-b20120519 (Kubik 3.0)
    * Origin: � ��砫� �뫮 ᫮��. � ���� �㤥� �ਤ���. (2:5064/54.1315)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to ╨É╨╗╨╡╨║╤ü╨╡╨╣ on Wed Oct 7 21:52:52 2020
    Hi, Алексей! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

    -f-+-c-|-+-a -+-C-+-a-|-U-U-+-+-+-#-+-i
    -#-i-#-+-C-#-A-e -i-e-+ ---

    SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
    - Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (1:340/7)


    I understand what you & others write in English here, regardless of the character set they use. But if you want to write to me in Russian you must understand I know very little of the language & my message editor doesn't allow for the use of Cyrillic characters... so they look like gibberish on my screen.

    If you're feeling uncertain about your ability to write in English, I would suggest you give it a try anyway. That's what we're here for.... :-))




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Alexander Koryagin@2:221/6 to Ardith Hinton on Thu Oct 8 09:14:30 2020
    Hi, Ardith Hinton!
    I read your message from 07.10.2020 21:52

    -#-i-#-+-C-#-A-e -i-e-+ ---
    SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
    - Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net
    (1:340/7 <mailto:[email protected]>➔ <http://nodehist.fidonet.org.ua/?address=1%3A340%2F7>)
    I understand what you & others write in English
    here, regardless of the character set they use. But if you want to
    write to me in Russian you must understand I know very little of the language & my message editor doesn't allow for the use of Cyrillic characters... so they look like gibberish on my screen. If
    you're feeling uncertain about your ability to write in English, I
    would suggest you give it a try anyway. That's what we're here for....
    :-))

    I also would recommend be careful when you go the URLs provided by fidonet freaks.

    Bye, Ardith Hinton -!
    Alexander Koryagin

    english_tutor 2020

    ---
    * Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Denis Mosko@2:5064/54.1315 to All on Fri Oct 16 09:14:26 2020
    Do you agree with the diagnosis?

    The head physician carefully looked at the faces of the resident doctors, in front of which were RG, CT and MMG images of a patient with suspected oncology. A few minutes ago, the neural network revealed the absence of pathology in these images, while recognizing one area to where attention should be paid.

    - Pavel Andreevich, well, you know that the accuracy of the AI system is 75%?!

    "This is why a doctor needs to connect his neurons anyway. And it is for us to make the final decision regarding the methods of treating the patient, responsibility lies on us. However, in symbiosis with the latest technologies, we can make more accurate diagnoses faster, which means saving more lives. By the way, a little more, and we are promised that the diagnostic accuracy will increase to 95%.

    And Pavel Andreevich reminded future doctors about the many innovative solutions that biotechnology presented to the world in recent years: in the field of genetics, the use of cell technologies, genome editing, bioprinting of tissues and organs. About how AI is actively used in drug development. Then he talked about the China's experience, where in 2019 they built the largest medical Internet platform, which united 50 hospitals, and "entrusted" the neural network with the procedure for collecting anamnesis. You see, in the coming decades, with the help of technology, a person will be able to significantly increase the duration and quality of life. For example, already this year, radiation diagnostics should appear, which, using a neural network, will detect intracranial bleeding and injuries of the cervical spine, assess emphysema, investigate brain atrophy and analyze the concentration of iron and fat in the liver.

    - In general, colleagues, in addition to regular professional development, you should expand your professional horizons and constantly bw aware of the latest developments and developments in the field of medicine, even if they do not directly relate to your specialization. Therefore, I strongly recommend everyone to connect to the broadcast of the "Phardemic. Impact of Technological Progress and External Challenges on Healthcare Development" session, which will be held on October 20, from 10:00 to 11:00 Moscow time, within the framework of the openinnovations Forum.

    On the agenda:
    - What technologies can act as a driver of positive changes in the healthcare system? How will the system itself change;
    - How to set up interaction between technology companies and the healthcare system;
    - What measures must be taken to ensure the flow of new ideas, developments and products that are globally competitive, but created in Russia;
    - What has changed in the healthcare market due to the pandemic?
    The session will be attended by Mikhail Murashko (Russian Federation, Minister of Health), Daria Kryuchko (Federal Medical Biological Agency of Russia, Head of the Department of Translational Medicine and Innovative Technologies, FMBA of Russia), Dr. Joerg Moeller (Bayer, Executive Vice President, Head of the Pharmaceuticals Research & Development, Member of the Executive Committee of the Pharmaceutical Division), Aleksei Repik (R-Pharm, Chairman of the Board), Arkadiy Dvorkovich (Skolkovo Foundation, Chairman).
    The discussion will be moderated by David Melik-Guseinov (Government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Deputy Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region).

    Participation in the Forum is free.
    The format is online.

    --- GoldED+/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-b20120519 (Kubik 3.0)
    * Origin: � ��砫� �뫮 ᫮��. � ���� �㤥� �ਤ���. (2:5064/54.1315)