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feanorianethicsdepartment · 3 years

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i ain’t done anything for @tolkienocweek yet, mostly because my covid-induced neet-dom has decoupled me from any association with sidereal time and thus there’s no way i could guarantee getting something out on its specific day. still, i do have one character that could potentially qualify for day 3 (background characters) or day 4 (self-inserts), sorta. i’d like to introduce you all to the proprietor of the fëanorian ethics department, the as-yet-nameless fed elf

fed elf is a... moderately idealised self-insert of mine, though she’s taking on a life of her own

she’s also a noldo. of course she is

her Noldorin Craft™ is, as i’ve said before, arguing. she has very strong opinions about almost everything and will debate them at length

she’s moderately infamous for it in tirion

she’s especially fond of philosophy, in the ancient-greek asking-a-million-rhetorical questions style. what should we do? why do we do the things we do? why do the valar get to tell us what to do?

... you can probably tell which side of the fëanor/fingolfin debate she landed on, if it wasn’t already obvious

she’s not particularly close to any of the future capital-H House, but she is in their rough orbit. one of the miscellaneous guild trolls that form the rank-and-file of their initial expeditionary force

idk if she’s ~devoted to the cause enough to go to formenos, but when the trees get eaten and fëanor rolls up into tirion with the solution to all their spider problems, she is all for it

she’s a passing acquaintance of maedhros from those times when he’d show up in her guild hall for debate night, so she probably ends up with his crew, at least initially

... there’s a very good chance her first attempts at crafting a new noldorin ethical system happen on that horrible night aboard the blood-stained swanships of alqualondë

in any case, she gets good enough at murder to not die before the brothers hellspawn are divvying up east beleriand, and the formerly reasonably undelineated fëanorian host is splitting up into its various garrisons

most people stay with whoever they’re already riding with, but there are exceptions. she is one of them, as soon as she hears about caranthir’s Plans she immediately switches allegiance to the future lord of thargelion

he’s deliberately trying to set up on the trade routes! they’re gonna make contact with the dwarves! there are apparently trails leading over the blue mountains, links to communities of elves unlike she’s ever seen!

so many new people to argue with!!!!!!

so she heads up to lake helevorn, and helps with setting up the city. she winds up filling some middling role in east beleriand’s military bureaucracy, when she’s not on orc-killing duty

but her true passion is *~ethics~*

there is actually a practical component to this. due to Certain Events the noldor (especially the fëanorians) aren’t as-well suited to their pre-darkening moral codes as they might have once been

they need a new one, with contingencies for, like, murder, and all the other new situations they’ll encounter in this new world! the questions of what’s right and wrong have been blown right open, and fed elf is possibly the happiest she’s been in her life. they’re building everything else from first principles, why not this?

and the fëanorian host in aggregate does actually care about morality, even though outsiders never believe that. it’s what separates them from the orcs (in their minds at least); they’re doing everything for a Cause, not for destruction’s sake alone. say what you want about the fëanorians, their problem was never a lack of ideals

she gets people coming in sometimes, wanting to know what the right thing to do in a situation is. either that, or they think she’s wrong about something and want to explain why in depth, which is almost as fun

soon enough, there’s a small shop just off the main streets of lake helevorn called the fëanorian ethics department

(she’s the only one with a shop, but she’s not the only member of the host with Opinions. the guy on the other side of the market district whose system is fairly similar in the broad strokes but completely different in the details is her personal archnemesis)

for most of the first age, fed elf has it pretty good. by her standards, at least, and she’ll happily exposit at length as to why they’re the only ones that matter

the work on the system of ethics never quite stops, but it does slow down. she’s less prescriptivist than most noldor, so she does a lot of observation and interviewing and stuff, and also new things keep happening for her to cover, but she does manage to nail down the basics!

she does consultation, in varying levels of official capacity, but she’ll also just. answer anyone who comes in with a question. or asks one within earshot

it’s mostly noldorin fëanorians she has debates with, the sindar and atani generally prefer to ask her whatever they want to know with minimum fuss, but whenever she gets a real fight going they all join the crowd. watching fed elf argue with people is one of lake helevorn’s municipal spectator sports

she also has conversations with travellers! these usually start when some newcomer is staring in befuddlement at the sign outside her shop and she takes the opportunity to pounce

she asks them detailed questions about their own ethical systems, which she files away for potential future incorporation/argument ammunition. they fairly frequently ask questions of their own, most often variations on ‘you guys seriously have morals?’

sometimes this even turns into a proper ethical debate! these aren’t usually as well-argued or intense as the ones she has with other fëanorians, particularly if she’s not talking to a noldo, but when she meets someone who’s a proper match for her it is the highlight of her year

running the shop does generate a fair bit of paperwork she tends to be too emotionally invested in to deal with properly, so she hires help now and then. one recurring underling is a clumsy perpetually-ill atan who is nevertheless really good with the filing and holds fierce opinions of their own, even if they hide under the table whenever anyone so much as raises their voice

(that atan is me. much less idealised self insert)

like every other elf in the host, fed elf is still under arms. she has a unit, she’s part of the orc patrol rotas, when caranthir needs to do a battle she pulls her broadsword out from under her desk and reports for the muster. east beleriand is just a pretty violent place in general, and her most impassioned arguments frequently shade into all-out duels. east beleriand, where even especially the philosophers will knife you

but just like fëanor promised on tirion upon túna so long ago, she’s built a place where she can be the best version of herself, and she couldn’t be happier (marketplace douche notwithstanding)

like so much of the host, she has big plans for when they topple angband and reclaim the silmarils. it’s just, well

i am not entirely sure what fed elf’s fate is after the fall of thargelion. most likely she died at some point, because so do most of her peers and also because she has an aversion to cutting her losses that’s definitely gonna backfire sooner or later

it’s either that, or she abandons everything she ever worked out to flee over the blue mountains, or she sticks with the host long enough to see all their ideals and dreams burn to ash. out of all of them death is probably her kindest fate

if she does die - she’s definitely a kinslayer at least one time over, she is staying in the halls for a While. the local maiar completely stonewall her every time she tries to argue her way out, she has plenty of time to sit around and think

because yeah, the host’s century-long self-immolation has given her a lot to think about. she was wrong, it turns out, in several important ways, and from the outside she can see how much the ethical system she put her heart and soul into was bent towards destruction

if she ever gets out, it’ll be after a lot of self-reflection, a massive dose of humility, and her accepting her own small-but-not-insignificant role in the nightmare they created

the fëanorians as get let out of the halls of mandos are without fail less violent, more self-aware, and just generally more conscious of their actions than they were when they went in. fed elf is no exception to this

she’s also no exception to the rule that their time in elf afterlife therapy generally fails to lower their volume at all. soon after her rebirth, after some time spent rethinking her personal moral code, fed elf puts out a thesis as to why elwing’s refusal to give up the silmaril was perfectly justifiable under fëanorian ethical mores

this pisses off a measurable proportion of aman’s sapient population. soon the furious letters of rebuke are pouring in nightly

exactly. as. planned

#tolkienocweek #my terrible headcanons #my terrible ocs #feanorian minions #i have a lot of hcs about how they work that i tried to fit into here #in general i feel like their initial noldorin core is mostly made up of the family hellspawn's personal friends #just groups of buddies going off to war together! there's no way this can end badly!#my mental image of fed elf is way more defined than it has any right to be #i made her up to have a cool blog title and for absolutely no other reason #still it is oc week. y'all are basically asking for my ideas at their dumbest

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rothjuje · 3 years

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Today is Justin’s last day. His office going away party was yesterday. 7.5 years. Dang. He’s been with this company our entire marriage.

I sign for the new company’s tech package this am. Justin working from home seems like a dream. This constant fear and anxiety about him bringing covid home from work, GONE. With the time change and working remotely, he’ll also be off 3 hours early. Given he has been working 12 hour days (to make up for all the furloughs and layoffs the past year) we should be seeing him an extra 3 hours at least.

Perfect timing with Alyssa starting school. Instead of Justin getting home at 7 and the kids already melting down, he’ll probably get off around 4 and then early bed times for all. But will Alyssa actually start school? Delta will likely explode here since masks aren’t a thing. I think if school starts as normal, no masks, it won’t last very long.

Justin’s new company has been very conservative with covid. They worked fully remote for 15 months. We’re thinking with delta they might go back to fully remote. He will ask Monday, and then we will plan the move from there.

Our realtor (zero bedside manner) laughed when we said we were hoping to make a contingent offer. She said, “sell your house, get into temp housing up here, and then we’ll talk.” The temp housing the relo package sent us? 10k. A MONTH.

I don’t know what we’re going to do. This market is absolute hell to buy in. Add in raging covid and scary delta...not fun. Probably the worst time to make a cross country move.

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lokiondisneyplus · 4 years

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After more than 40 years as an actor, Sheri Mann Stewart had finally taken the plunge to launch her own production company. A week after she wrapped shooting her first film for Mann Woman Productions, Atlanta went on pandemic lockdown.

Mann Stewart was suddenly left with a film on hold, an audition on hold, and the careers of her husband and two sons — all performers — on hold. Instead of ushering her first film — prophetically inspired by John Paul Sartre’s “No Exit” — through editing and post-production, she spends several hours each day on the phone trying to iron out issues with unemployment benefits that she has yet to receive.

“Nothing like this has ever happened,” said Mann Stewart an Atlanta native who most recently appeared in Tyler Perry’s Netflix feature film “A Fall from Grace.” “I think, one way or another, our industry will be changed.”

COVID-19 left actress Sheri Mann Stewart with the first film from her production company on hold, an audition on hold, and the careers of her husband and two sons – all performers – also in flux. She has spent time working on other projects including a new YouTube series to support LGBTQIA youth who may not be in supportive environments.

Like many other industries, the film and TV business has been shut down since mid-March, with only a few exceptions such as late-night talk shows and virtual versions of “American Idol” and “The Voice.” With plenty of content currently in the pipeline, streaming services and television networks have managed so far, but if production doesn’t restart soon, viewers will face a major drought of new shows to watch this fall.

Pressure is building to get production started as soon as possible, but the natural intimacy of a typical set with makeup artists, camera operators, producers, actors and production assistants constantly crossing paths, makes creating proper protocols a serious challenge.

“People are anxious to get back to work,” said Mark Wofford, general manager at Atlanta-based Production Consultants & Equipment, which provides motion-picture rental equipment. “But this has to be weighed against the need to make sure everyone is safe. It’s going to be a real balancing act.”

Georgia has become a major player in Hollywood production, courtesy of generous tax credits to film and TV production companies passed in 2008. It’s now the third-largest state for such content after California and New York. As the only state with no cap on its credits, Georgia has drawn big-budget films such as “Black Panther” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”

Despite Hollywood’s liberal leanings — some in the industry called for boycotts after Georgia’s 2016 religious liberty bill and 2019 heartbeat abortion bill — the Republican-led state legislature and three Republican governors have consistently embraced the tax credit system. At the recent Georgia Film Day on March 11, Gov. Brian Kemp spoke before 200 industry supporters in the state Capitol atrium, extolling the $2.9 billion in direct investment and 50,000-plus jobs the business brought into the state last fiscal year. Weeks later, Kemp would issue a statewide shelter-in-place order.

In May, the Georgia Film Office released a set of nonbinding best practices for film and television productions to consider during the pandemic. The guidelines included holding remote auditions and virtual location scouting as well as reducing the number of extras used on set and placing clear barriers between actors to be removed just before the director yells “Action!”

Local studios are preparing to reopen this summer as they await multiple unions to accept unified protocols. Earlier this month, a task force composed of the various unions and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, sent approved health and safety guidelines to governors in California and New York with plans for final protocols to follow soon. “This document is an initial set of principles and guidelines that we all agree form a relevant and realistic first step to protecting cast and crew in the reopening of the entertainment and media industry in its two largest markets,” said a joint statement from unions, including the Teamsters, the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA. Face masks for live audiences, staggered mealtimes with no buffet-style setups, and daily screenings for COVID-19 along with a designated COVID-19 compliance officer, were among the recommended guidelines.

Studios have already begun to make big investments in COVID-19 friendly infrastructure. Since March, two of the largest studios in the metro area — Pinewood Studios in Fayetteville and Blackhall Studios in Atlanta — have each invested more than $1 million to retrofit their studios. One of the biggest costs: improving the HVAC systems on their sound stages and offices so they are comparable to that of hospitals in order to reduce the chances of airborne transmission of viruses. Major film and television productions can easily have hundreds of staff members working in tight indoor quarters, creating the kind of environment that public health officials have noted can increase the spread of COVID-19.

“I’ve had to become an expert in viral containment,” said Ryan Millsap, owner of Blackhall Studios. “Until March, I hadn’t given it a second thought. This is a big moment in our generation where disease has come to the forefront.”

Atlanta-based makeup artist Tracy Ewell has seen a virus or cold spread like fire on almost every production on which she has worked. She started toting a personal air filter to set up in the trailers and tents where she and her team spend hours getting actors camera ready. ”I am paid to be hygienic,” Ewell said. “I take full responsibility for my actor’s condition, but masks don’t work in my world.”

Ewell, who has worked as a department head on productions for Marvel and the Netflix drama “Ozark,” is not afraid of returning to set, but she knows that is a decision everyone will have to make for themselves. The initial industry guidelines for makeup artists included providing more time to allow for safety measures to be followed, but additional protocols need to be established before that kind of work can continue. “I would be comfortable having fewer people on set in my department if I knew they were going to have the time,” Ewell said. But more time means more money, and studios now have to make big investments at a time when they’ve posted big losses.

Just before the pandemic shut down productions nationwide, HBO finished its upcoming J.J. Abrams drama, “Lovecraft Country,” and Paramount wrapped Chris Pratt military science fiction movie “The Tomorrow War” at Blackhall. Millsap was about to sign with two other major studios for new productions when COVID-19 put the kibosh on that.

Since then, Millsap has generated zero revenue, shedding more than $1 million a month while keeping his 12 full-time employees on payroll. He said he has had enough money in the bank to keep his studio afloat but would be challenged if shows didn’t begin shooting by the fourth quarter. If all goes well, two major studios will begin pre-production at Blackhall in July with potential full-blown production by August or September, he said.

Frank Patterson, the head of Pinewood Atlanta Studios, said they have had to study every aspect of their business, from more limited security access to more sequestered work pods, dividing the studio into zones. They also hired a medical testing company, BioIQ, to handle the anticipated flood of COVID-19 tests they plan to use on a daily basis. “Some days, we’ll have 6,000 people on the lot,” he said.

The past couple of months have been “overwhelmingly stressful because I’m working with people I’ve known for decades,” Patterson added. “These are people I grew up within the industry. We have to make certain nobody gets sick. At the same time, these are friends who haven’t worked for months and have families to feed. We need to get this done now.”

Atlanta-based Tyler Perry Studios was the first in the country to announce detailed plans to shoot two of his BET television series in July. Perry has some advantages most other studios do not. He owns 330 acres of a former Army base and has at least 80 residences on the property which will enable him to more easily isolate crew and actors. He writes and directs his own TV series in a way that will enable him to finish shooting an entire season in less than three weeks. He has developed protocols to test everybody multiple times with contingencies in case anybody gets COVID-19. He has scaled back on-site crew and extras and is using his largest sound stage as a cafeteria with proper social distancing.

“It’s an enormous undertaking and an enormous cost to the budget,” Perry told Variety last month.

Mann Stewart had just been called for an audition for a Perry television production before the studio closed. She is unsure if that opportunity still stands but has continued with other auditions, including a recent commercial audition that came through in late May. Still, it is never far from her mind how so many aspects of the industry must change.

While writing a script for a play, she found herself debating if she really needed the characters to have a physical interaction.

“I try not to let it impact me and say I can fix it later but…,” said Mann Stewart, her thought left trailing.

Some studios are already pondering creative solutions to those kinds of concerns. As soon as the pandemic hit, executives at Atlanta-based Crazy Legs Productions created an advisory council of five medical experts to help them draw up 25 pages of safety guidelines. Last month, they began compiling a database of local actors who are in relationships with other actors. “We can cast a husband and wife as a husband and wife,” said Scott Thigpen, chief operating officer. “It’s a way to mitigate risk.” They are also considering using family members as extras.

The company, which launched in 2006 and now has 34 salaried employees, produces docuseries for TLC such as “Family by the Ton” and crime shows for ID, like “Dead Silent. ” They also began shooting films for the first time this year.

Industry insiders are confident productions in Georgia will bounce back quickly and fill sound stages as a backlog of content gets filled.

After months spent keeping their skills sharp and in some cases, auditioning via Zoom, actors across metro Atlanta are ready to get back to work, said Clayton Landey, president of SAG-AFTRA Atlanta local. He hopes summer marks that return but said the proper precautions are needed. Landey, a 48-year industry veteran, recalled a scene years ago when his character was being hit with a bullet. Everyone else on the set was standing behind safety glass. “I feel a little like that now,” Landey said. “I am interested to see what is going to be the new normal in terms of safety on set.”

The pandemic ended a theater run for Landey and stalled a film, which no longer has a date to begin production, but he has spent the past three months staying connected to other actors through virtual chats and meetups. Landey worries about the actors who may be suffering mentally while isolated from the career that allows them to channel their emotions into their work. Though acting is a field that prepares you for career ups and downs, this is unlike anything they have seen before, he said.

“Nothing in our industry touches what we are going through now. Typically when there are times of stress or hard times in the general population, we are working like crazy because entertainment is what gets you through the day,” Landey said. “This time, it is slapping us all.”

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coronashmorona · 4 years

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COVID-19 Isolation:

Day 0

For a day & a half, my husband (hereinafter “Hubs”) & I pondered (read: lowkey argued about) the boundaries & limitations we should be imposing on our selves & our kids given the increased prevalence of coronavirus in our area. Was avoiding everyone all weekend really necessary? Can we eat takeout food? Should our kids go to school on Monday? What about after-school activities? What about the fantasy baseball draft we were supposed to host next weekend? Or the slew of small children’s birthday parties scheduled for the coming weeks?

Hubs was already planning on working from home, which he does often the last few years after his firm moved to a “hoteling” style office. My work is very flexible part-time & gets done whenever I can fit it in around everyone else’s schedules, i.e. can also take place from home if needed.

Then, today, we got word that all local schools will be closed for 2 weeks. So at least that’s settled.

Now, we’re confronting the challenge of how to go about our daily lives under these strange new circumstances. Namely:

The need for some kind of scheduled routine. We have a first-grader & a preschooler. They are absolutely wonderful, but go entirely bonkers if we’re home without any structure. They’re also in completely different places as far as personality, temperament, & educational needs.

First-grader (hereinafter “6yo”) is kind of a high-strung, type-A, preintellectual. She needs a full briefing about what’s happening every hour of every day. If plans change, she has a million questions about what the alteration entails. (If she’s conscious, she has a million questions, period.) She enjoys so many great activities - artistic pursuits, imaginative play, dancing, & really anything else that involves running around like a banshee - but constantly asks for TV time and/or a snack anyway. Historically, it’s been nearly impossible to set her up with an activity & walk away for more than 10 minutes; she’s just the sort of kid who needs/expects an adult caregiver to provide companionship, guidance, & answers at all times. I’m hoping that having an agenda mapped out for each day will remind her of school & she’ll be more amenable to doing things independently for a relatively short, set amount of time. I can also meet her halfway & do my work at the dining room table while she embarks on a quiet activity. Finally, it sounds like the school district is hatching a contingency plan for remote student learning, complete with daily homework posted online, which is comforting to say the least.

Preschooler (”4yo”) is a rambunctious ball of energy, but tends to be pretty easygoing overall. If left to his own devices, he’ll wander over to his trains or his blocks or even a book & play on his own. The problem, of course, is that when left to his own devices for too long, he’s probably up to no good. His favorite pastime of late has been playing in Hubs’s office, using some old printers & other computer accessories to “build Robot Marty” (a.k.a. the robot that roams the aisles at Stop & Shop). This activity will be mostly off-limits while Hubs works from home - a deprivation that I’m sure will be ill-received & spawn all sorts of disruptive discovery missions, i.e. let’s see what happens when we stick the end of Mama’s headphones into the electrical outlet. Oyyy. My hope is that if I break out some toys he hasn’t used in a while, & a few shiny new (read: held in abeyance since his birthday) ones, he’ll amuse him accordingly while 6yo & I do our thing.

Getting fed. I am really, really nervous about consuming commercially prepared food right now. The chances of contracting COVID-19 from it are small, but it doesn’t seem worth the risk. As it is, I’m a bit of a DIY food purist, frequently eschewing restaurant food for my own creations. I have a whole separate blog detailing my experiences with Whole30, in which I take my appreciation for clean-eating to the max in order to improve my health. Tl;dr I cook a lot of fresh veggies & lean meats & try to minimize the amount of processed foods in my diet. Doing this is hard enough under ~ordinary stressful circumstances, let alone a global pandemic. I’ve already slid into some unhealthy reflexive stress-eating that needs to be curtailed ASAP.

The biggest point with this, I feel, is establishing a meal+snack schedule. Else, the kids will constantly be asking for things to eat, interrupting any hope of sticking to a playtime/learning/physical activity schedule. On certain days spent mostly at home, I feel like all I do is stand in the kitchen cutting fruit, & we will not survive the next few weeks if that’s how it’s gonna be. Granted, this is sometimes exacerbated by my own penchant to use a free minute here or there to chop & roast some Brussels sprouts or eggplant. But there has to be a point at which “oh look, Mom’s in the kitchen” doesn’t automatically translate to “let’s give her something else to do”.

A possible strategy to alleviate this involves cutting a bunch of fruit in advance, portioning it out, & storing it on a fridge shelf the kids can reach, so they can get it themselves. I don’t want to deprive them of food; we just feel that they shouldn’t be eating a constant stream of processed garbage. This is a particular risk for 6yo, who has the metabolism & appetite of a hummingbird & openly fixates on the constant quest for treats.

Dealing with life’s other extenuating circumstances. As others with young children can likely attest, our life is constantly in several different states of flux, limbo, and/or disarray. Some other things we’ve been dealing with lately and/or will be dealing with shortly:

Hubs’s dad is having a hip replacement tomorrow. Several people tried to talk him out of it, but he’s been having terrible sciatic pain for a long time & as long as the surgeon/hospital will have him he feels he needs to go ahead with it. Who will take care of him afterward, & whether/when we can visit, remain uncertain. LATE-BREAKING UPDATE: surgery cancelled. A relief insofar as one variable eliminated.

Last week I definitely herniated/tore something in my abdominal area while pulling the kids in a wagon, & need to see a doctor for that. I’m not thrilled with the idea of being in a highly-trafficked public place, but I also don’t want to put off getting myself looked at & aggravate the injury in the meantime. As it is, I’m trying not to lift heavy things (e.g., our 4-year-old) or spend too much time on my feet, but that in itself is a struggle. Right now my appointment is scheduled for a time at which Hubs has a very important (virtual) work meeting, so I need to reschedule it and/or find someone else who can watch the kids. I’m praying for the former outcome because it begs the question “Who should we be letting in the house?!”

We’re in the early stages of renovating our kitchen. This means that we’ve met with a few designers/contractors about possible layouts & options, inching towards finalizing a plan & selecting one of them to carry it out. It sounds like Hubs wants to move ahead with this process as before, but suffice to say my mental bandwidth is now sufficiently occupied with other shit.

I’m always in the middle of 187 different things, & it feels like they’re all now on hold: purging the house of outgrown clothes & toys, organizing the basement, learning German, catching up on continuing legal education credits,

Processing the fear + existential woe. None of us have ever lived through anything like this. It is fucked up. I try to take comfort in the fact that the isolation protocols are empowering: by staying away from others who might be carrying the disease, we’re taking control of an uncertain situation.

But there’s still so. much. uncertainty. Right now, the kids are scheduled to go back to school March 30th. Then their spring break will start on April 8th, to coincide with the start of Passover (as well as Holy Week & Easter). Last year, we hosted a seder for 18 people. Can we do that this time? I have tickets to one concert (locally) in late April, & to another (abroad) in early June - will either one actually be happening?!

These are, decidedly, #firstworldproblems. But I think I join the rest of humanity in being utterly pissed off & daunted by the whole ordeal. Until another few weeks pass, all we can do is wait. And wash our hands a lot. 🧼 💦 🙏🏼

#covid19 #coronavirus #social distancing #self isolation #parenting #kids

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sciencespies · 4 years

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How Scientists Are Keeping Irreplaceable Research Going During the COVID-19 Pandemic

https://sciencespies.com/nature/how-scientists-are-keeping-irreplaceable-research-going-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

How Scientists Are Keeping Irreplaceable Research Going During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Every year for the last half-century, scientists have gone to sea to collect ocean data as part of the Northern Gulf of Alaska Long Term Ecological Research Project. Now, because of the novel coronavirus, the five-decade-long project faces potential data gaps.

Russell Hopcroft, project leader and oceanography professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, says the status of three research cruises planned for 2020 is unclear even as the first is scheduled to depart in five weeks. The research team already decided to replace non-Alaskan team members with Alaskan scientists to reduce the amount of travel involved and drive, rather than fly, to the vessel’s launch point in Seward.

If they can continue, all team members will actively monitor their health for 14 days before boarding, self-quarantining and taking their temperatures regularly. But if the vessel doesn’t sail, the project will see gaps in the physical and biological data scientists have been carefully collecting for decades. “You hate to miss a data point because you never know what any given year is going to look like and whether it’s going to be an important year where something odd has happened,” Hopcroft says.

Hopcroft is one of many researchers scrambling to find ways to continue their research in a rapidly changing world where travel is difficult if not impossible and many university campuses are closing. The National Science Foundation and other agencies are working with scientists to adapt research plans and funding schedules, but many questions remain unanswered.

The village of Qaanaaq, Greenland, sits on the edge of a fjord that is ice-covered in winter.

(Mary Albert)

The Ends of the Earth

NSF has halted deployments to Antarctica, for example. A mid-March flight to bring construction crews to work on projects including the Antarctic Infrastructure Modernization for Science (AIMS) initiative has been delayed for at least a month.

On the other side of the world, Polar Bears International scrambles to continue its remote Arctic fieldwork. Geoff York, the organization’s senior director of conservation, spoke to Smithsonian from self-isolation at his Bozeman, Montana, home after returning from Europe. Much of the team’s upcoming fieldwork to places like Canada’s Western Hudson Bay and Norway has been canceled or put on hold. He says the complex and expensive logistics involved means rescheduling may not be possible.

York says researchers spend years preparing for such projects, including spending the last year on logistics such as caching fuel and food in remote locations. “Some of these are kind of opportunities that are windows in time,” York says. “If they’re missed, trying to come back to do them again can be quite difficult.” York says the nature of the work leaves researchers with few options for alternative arrangements.

“In most of these, there is no Plan B,” he says. Such an endeavor requires “specialized training to do the work of getting out, and most of the cases involve live capture of polar bears out on the sea ice, so definitely not anyone can step in and do that.”

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Some scientists bridge the gaps with technology. When the COVID-19 crisis began, Mary Albert, professor of engineering at Dartmouth College, had just begun a four-year project to collaborate with the 600-person community of Qaanaaq, Greenland, to create sustainable energy solutions. The NSF-funded project is slated to begin in April when Albert and her team were set to visit Qaanaaq to learn about the community’s goals and vision.

Because of the remote area’s limited medical resources, however, Albert and her Greenlandic colleagues were concerned about the chance of inadvertently introducing the coronavirus to the community and agreed to postpone the trip to late August or September. In the meantime, the team focuses on emails, phone calls, and teleconferencing to exchange information and gather preliminary data. The researchers had hoped in April to install meteorological stations with sensors and instrumentation to chart soil temperature, wind speed and solar radiation, but that component will have to wait.

“We’ll lose the summer data from that and so it will put us back that way… but it’s definitely not a show-stopper,” Albert says.

Åsa Rennermalm, associate professor of geography at Rutgers University, is also assessing her data-collecting options. She planned fieldwork for June and August in Greenland, where she is working on a decade-long data project monitoring meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet as it flows through the tundra. If she can’t travel, she will have to hope the instruments she left in place remain and continue to function. The sensors are programmed to collect data every 30 minutes and have a capacity of 40,000 data points, so they should continue to collect throughout the summer. However, when she visits her stations, she performs important calculations to ensure accurate data and troubleshoots any technical issues, which is now impossible.

“To do high-quality observations, you should go and do the discharge measurements once a year at least,” Rennermalm says. “Even if the instrument is running, if we can’t go it will reduce the quality of the data.”

Elizabeth Thomas in Greenland

(Kristen Pope)

Careers in Limbo

One of Rennermalm’s biggest concerns is the impact canceled fieldwork would have on her graduate students. She hopes to bring two graduate students to Greenland to collect data for their PhDs this year.

Elizabeth Thomas, assistant professor of geology at the University of Buffalo, shares those worries. Losing a summer’s worth of fieldwork could be detrimental to a graduate student’s ability to complete their projects and graduate on time—before their funding runs out. Fieldwork is also one of the most sought-after graduate school experiences.

“I’ve had graduate students ask me, ‘So are we going into the field?’” Thomas says. “Because it’s a highlight of their graduate careers to get to do stuff like that, and it’s totally up in the air right now, which is really sad.”

Research in Thomas’s lab also could grind to a halt if her school orders its labs to close, a possibility many colleges and universities must consider. For now, her lab has enacted strict cleaning, hygiene and social distancing protocols, and its members hope to work as long as possible.

Thomas, too, has fieldwork planned in the far north this year. She was to visit Alaska in July and Baffin Island, Canada, in August. While her team didn’t buy plane tickets yet, they already scheduled helicopter time. Overall, she worries about bringing students into the field when so much remains uncertain. “We understand and accept the regular risks related to fieldwork, but this is a whole new thing that we’ve never even considered,” Thomas says. “The nice thing is the science can still happen. It will eventually happen whether we go up this summer or next summer.”

youtube

Science in Danger

Despite the challenges, scientists aren’t worried about only their work—they are concerned about the pandemic’s toll on the world. While Hopcroft is in Alaska preparing for three cruises that may or may not happen, gathering equipment and supplies, he emphasizes that whether or not he can collect data this year, safety is everyone’s priority.

“There is the balance to be found between our desire to maintain our scientific work and the health [and] safety of those involved,” Hopcroft says. “At this point, I just keep making contingency plans, but the ultimate decision just before the cruise will be made based on everyone’s safety and the perception of risk.”

Says York: “In the short term, [COVID-19] could have significant impacts on research globally that range from delay to cancelation, from disappointing postponement to significant expense, lost data, and disruption of long-term data sets. Of these, lost data and disruption of long-term data are the most concerning, especially in a time of rapid environmental change and for projects where timing is critical to policy actions. International collaboration will be significantly curtailed as well, across disciplines, as travel restrictions fall into place and borders close.”

Editor’s note, March 20, 2020: This story has been updated to clarify that the Polar Bears International organization does not currently work in Greenland.

#Nature

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livinginlandmarketing · 3 years

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Erika Chabarin enjoys an afternoon of bowling with her friends at Bowlero in Torrance on Tuesday April 6, 2021.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

Is California spiking the football before the game is truly over?

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s declaration that the coronavirus outbreak could largely be over in his state by June sent local leaders, public health experts, doctors and business owners scrambling for thoughtful answers to that question.

Some questioned the wisdom of of the state’s sudden shift into the recovery fast lane, given the significant gains still needed to attain vaccination goals and the gradually slowing declines in caseload growth. Others, however, were confident that this was the appropriate decision for a state eager to break free of the fiercely debated coronavirus restrictions and the economic turmoil triggered by a bitter year of pandemic.

Gov. Gavin Newsom greets people as they wait in line to receive COVID-19 vaccines at 16th Street Seventh Day Adventist Church in San Bernardino on Friday, April 2, 2021. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Soon after Newsom declared on Tuesday, April 6, that the state’s color-coded recovery tiers would be erased come June 15 — a mere 10 weeks from now and five days before summer’s dawn — Los Angeles County Health Director Barbara Ferrer held her own press conference Wednesday, hosting a session that replaced Newsom’s grin with reminders grim.

The governor spoke of “resuming everyday activities,” wide-open businesses and “common-sense risk-reduction measures.” In response, Ferrer raised the specter of the “double mutant,” potential super-spreaders and the enduring sting of winter’s deadly surge.

Iris Schmalix gets a bandage after receiving a vaccination shot at the COVID-19 Vaccination Center at California State University, Los Angeles in Los Angeles, Wed, Apr. 7, 2021. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

“I don’t think anybody knows exactly what reopening looks like on June 15, except that with a lot more people vaccinated many restrictions on some of our activities will no longer be necessary,” Ferrer said.

Ferrer’s words were not stripped of optimism, however. Ferrer said L.A. County would follow the state’s guidelines, including the continuation of a mask mandate and social distancing, especially in schools and other settings with children. And she said she sincerely hopes the statistics — and the vaccine supply — will boost the governor’s buoyant vision.

“I think it’s completely possible if we move forward with this collective will to take care of each other from now until the time we get more and more people vaccinated,” Ferrer said Wednesday. “That’s what gives us that extra level of protection that allows us to get beyond the blueprint.”

Barbara Ferrer, Director of Public Health for Los Angeles County, at a press conference Friday, March 6, 2020. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

In Orange County, experts and officials aligned optimistically — but with their own caveats.

“I do believe that we’ll be in a much better place June 15 than we are even today,” said UC Irvine epidemiologist Andrew Noymer.

But eight weeks still feels like a long ways away to the Irvine professor.

“These things can kind of turn around,” Noymer said, noting that Michigan has seen an unnerving uptick in cases in the past month.

Restaurant, brewery and distillery owners received news that they will be able to fully open by June 15. They’re making plans to get operations a bit more back to normal. Wil Dee, owner of Haven Craft Kitchen + Bar in Orange, watches as California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a noontime coronavirus update in which guidelines to reopen dine-in restaurants were addressed, on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Dr. Roger Lewis, who leads the team at the L.A. County Department of Health Services that forecasts hospitalization demand based on coronavirus case rates, said that local modelling shows June 15 as a reasonable target for complete reopening given what they are seeing in the local models.

“Our models show that the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is steadily going down and in fact we’re seeing some of the people hospitalized with positive COVID-19 are hospitalized for other reasons.”

Key numbers have now returned to levels last seen in March 2020 before the first surge in patients in April.

As of Wednesday, 572 people with COVID-19 were admitted to L.A. County hospitals with 136 in intensive care units. In Orange County, 114 were hospitalized with 29 in ICU. In Riverside, 106 were in hospitals with 20 in ICU. And in San Bernardino 103 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals with 25 in ICU.

Adjusted coronavirus case rates this week in L.A. County were 3.1 per 100,000 people. In Orange County it was 3.0 per 100,000. In Riverside it was 3.5 per 100,000. And in San Bernardino it was 3.4 per 100,000. To advance to the yellow tier, adjusted case rates must fall below 2.0 per 100,000 people.

Still, Ferrer cautioned that rates of declines have levelled off significantly. And she worried that more gatherings in the days ahead could kickstart increases in those pivotal categories.

At the top of mind for Lewis and many others are the growing number of variants, including a “double mutant” recently found by Stanford University researchers that could be especially virulent.

“While we have essentially informally good news locally, we would be foolish not to be paying very close attention to what’s happening in Michigan and other states,” Lewis said.

National public health officials have been watching increases in caseloads in Florida, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, too.

“We don’t live in a bubble here in L.A. County,” Ferrer said. “In order for us to hold on to the gains we’ve made, we have to be more diligent not less diligent.”

The June 15 deadline is ultimately contingent on two factors outlined by state health officials Tuesday: Case rates remaining low and vaccine rates increasing.

Statewide, more than 20 million vaccine doses have now been administered, at least 4 million of them in the state’s hardest-hit communities based on the Healthy Places Index.

For Dr. Lawrence Sher, an allergist-immunologist who leads the Palos Verdes Medical Group, said assessing the vaccine stats make him believe June 15 could be premature.

“Everybody is, of course, weary and looking forward to reopening. And the state is looking forward to that for multiple reasons,” he said.

Chilled syringes with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine wait for use at drive through vaccination site at Santa Ana College in Santa Ana, CA on Wednesday, February 17, 2021. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

But he added: “Until we get children and adolescents vaccinated as well, we still can have problems down the road. We are still being a little more aggressive than most of us would like them to be.”

A key factor: Southern California’s millions of minors.

So far, the Pfizer vaccine is approved for residents 16 and older. Both the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson require recipients be at least 18. Drug makers, however, are currently in trials with children as young as six months old.

Sher expects it will take another few months for children 12 and older to be approved. Children younger may require six months or more, he said.

“They (drug companies) are all trying to go younger and younger,” Sher said. “They just have to get the approval and inoculate as many people as possible to prevent spread and mutations of the variants.”

The ultimate question: What constitutes herd immunity? Experts do not agree, Sher said.

Most place it anywhere from 70 to 80% vaccinated — or higher. It really depends, he said, on how effective the current vaccines prove to be at warding off variants. (A hint: So far they have fared pretty well, including against the U.K. variant, Sher said.)

Moving into the new green tier on June 15 “depends on us,” said Brandon Brown, a UC Riverside associate professor with a background in epidemiology.

“We need high vaccination rates, people practicing masking and physical distancing, we need to do better with (hard-to-reach) populations, and importantly keeping a close watch on the data to track the number of hospitalizations and cases including the new variants,” he wrote by email.

Brown worried about the summer break bringing increased travel and more people easing up on prevention measures, some of which became habits back when caseloads were soaring.

“Masking may need to be our ‘new normal,’ even after June 15,” Brown said.

Much progress has been made in getting vaccines into the field, with about 40% of the state’s adults getting at least one dose, said Bernadette Boden-Albala, dean of UC Irvine’s School of Public Health.

But she’d like to see that number at least doubled before people go back to a pre-pandemic “normal.”

Some of the groups already eligible for the vaccine — seniors, people with underlying health conditions and public-facing workers — were highly motivated to get inoculated because they face higher risks from infection, Boden-Albala said.

Fear of death can be a powerful motivator. It generally doesn’t resonate, however, among younger residents.

“What is concerning is that we don’t really understand the behavior in terms of vaccine uptake of young people,” she said

Also: “Vaccine hesitancy is going to rear its ugly head,” she added.

Noymer and Boden-Albala both worried that the end of the state’s tier system will make it harder to fine-tune the response based on what’s happening in each county.

However, Richard Carpiano, a public health scientist and medical sociologist at UC Riverside, doesn’t foresee the same problems.

Eliminating state tiers throws decision-making to the counties, which could decide to keep more things closed if their numbers go in the wrong direction, Carpiano said.

“The trick is, to make that work, there needs to be more detail around what the markers will be, what to be aiming for,” he said.

Alice Kao, owner of Sender One Climbing, Yoga, Fitness and Sender City. Kao, like so many others, have been deeply impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

Alice Kao, who owns Sender One Climbing, an indoor gym with a location near LAX airport, called the June 15 reopening date a hopeful sign.

More than 800,000 coronavirus vaccine shots given in San Bernardino County

Coronavirus case numbers continue to decrease in Riverside County

Ontario, Canada, issues stay-at-home order for 14M residents

Coronavirus tracker: California surpassed 20 million vaccinations administered as of April 6

Rufus Du Sol to play Banc of California Stadium after most coronavirus restrictions lift

But real recovery for business owners, jolted by the gut-punch delivered by months of restrictive health orders and the subsequent shutdowns, still seems far off.

“I celebrate that this hurdle to our business recovering will be behind us soon, but this is not the only hurdle,” Kao said. “Whether a business is able to fully recover will depend on a lot more factors than whether the government says we can. Going back to the way we were is going to take time.”

Kiran Savage-Sangwan, executive director of the California Pan Ethnic Health Network, which represents the interests of minorities, said their biggest concern was maintaining a clear focus on equity as the vaccine is rolled out.

While progress has been made on the unsettling gaps detected in the initial months, revealing that communities of color were bearing an inequitable burden, Savage-Sangwan said more needs to be done to reach those hardest him.

“The larger question is who has access to the vaccine supply and is it equitably distributed,” she said.

“The state has made great strides in that area but when we look at the data it’s clear we have to do more.”

Staff writers Jeff Horseman and Ryan Carter contributed to this report.

-on April 07, 2021 at 09:48AM by David Rosenfeld, Alicia Robinson

#riversidenews

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techcrunchappcom · 4 years

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/getting-back-to-work-gladstone-football-team-begins-summer-workouts-news-sports-jobs/

Getting back to work: Gladstone football team begins summer workouts | News, Sports, Jobs

Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Gladstone’s Ryan Polley performs a deadlift at the Gladstone training facility Monday, while teammate Blake Servant walks by. The Braves began outdoor workouts for the first time after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lifted the stay-at-home order last week that was originally supposed to run through June 12. After the order was lifted, the Michigan High School Athletic Association approved use of outdoor school facilities in groups of up to 100 as long as social distancing is taking place.

GLADSTONE — For the first time in nearly three months, athletes were allowed to return to outdoor athletic facilities Monday. Following Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s announcement early last week that she would be lifting Michigan’s stay-at-home order, the Michigan High School Athletic Association approved workouts at outdoor school facilities in groups of up to 100, as long as social distancing takes place.

The Gladstone football team didn’t waste any time, jumping into summer workouts at the Braves training facility right next to the football field. A group of roughly 15 showed up for the hour-long workout, which began with head coach Jeff Hansen running through protocols of how they would deal with the new regulations due to COVID-19. Temperature checks were conducted on each athlete before beginning any physical activity, hand sanitizer was present before using the equipment, and regulations for conducting a safe workout were posted on the wall.

“It’s a relief,” Hansen said about getting back to work. “It’s kind of exhilarating to have the kids come back — you can tell they’re happy to be here. I’ve had a lot of correspondence with our players through text messaging and email, talking about finally being able to come and do this. To do something football related, the kids are excited, the coaches are excited, and we’re just really happy to get things moving in a positive direction and be involved with sports again.”

The players were able to take weights outside, and they also used medicine balls to do lunges among other activities.

“We just want to get their bodies back to working athletically, because a lot of these guys generally stay in pretty decent shape, but they’re not in competition shape,” Hansen said. “The MHSAA has eased some of the regulations when it comes to summer dead periods, I think, because a lot of the kids are going to be de-conditioned. They haven’t competed in spring sports and their winter season was cut off, so we’re going to start slow and just make sure we get everybody in good enough shape so that they can have a good healthy season. … If they’re healthy, that’s going to help them to deal with being less injury-prone and things like that.”

Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Gladstone football coach Jeff Hansen does a temperature check on Caden Downey before the team begins its outdoor workouts Monday. Each player has to be temperature checked before participating in any physical activity.

For seniors Blake Servant and Ryan Polley, it’s been a long time since participating in an organized team activity.

“It feels really good,” said Servant, who last participated in an athletic event during wrestling in the winter. “All throughout quarantine I’ve just been trying to ease in and keep fit and stuff, but just coming back and lifting more heavy weights is a better feeling.”

Servant suffered a bad ankle sprain in a scrimmage against Munising before the season even got started last fall, which limited his impact. He’s looking to bounce back in a big way as a senior.

“I just want to finish off my high school career really good with football,” he said. “I just want to really work hard this summer and hope to be something good this season.”

Polley’s last organized team event was baseball practice in the spring before everyone was put on lockdown.

“It feels great (being back),” he said. “It’s nice to be outside. I’ve been working out at my house, but it’s just not the same — especially getting back with my teammates and everything.”

He hopes to see more guys come out and more production as the workouts continue. Workouts are to continue every day, Monday through Friday from 4:30 to 5:30.

“With this group of guys, the sky is the limit,” he said. “I think we could be a really good team. … We have the talent, it’s just a matter of getting people here and working.

“More than just even getting guys here, I’d like to see everyone getting dedicated and trying to become better. Whether it be max (lifts) or just getting faster or anything like that, I’d just like to see everyone trying to better themselves.”

Although the workouts are voluntary, Hansen noted they’re a point of emphasis.

“It’s something we emphasize greatly, because when our student-athletes are working out together for all of their sports, it gives them confidence and they see the improvement,” he said. “They get in better shape and they feel better about themselves. Confident athletes just play better. They get to mingle with their teammates, so you build a lot of team chemistry and trust, where they see each other working. They put themselves in a position to succeed, because the athletes that have came in and have worked and are ready, just stand a better chance to get out there and maximize their playing potential.”

Last week, Great Northern Conference athletic directors met to discuss a number of contingency plans for football scheduling if the MHSAA puts on tough travel restrictions or COVID-19 numbers spike back up.

“The MHSAA has kind of given us some guidance on how we can do summer workouts and where they see competition going. There’s some level of adjustments they can use based on what the level of COVID infection rates are in different places,” Hansen said. “They’ve thought about breaking down scheduling into something regional, and maybe putting in a radius of where you should play schools … things like that. So there are a lot of options on the table that are really positive as far as moving towards having a football season and an athletic season this

fall. As long as we have kids in school and COVID doesn’t come back with a vengeance, we’re going to be okay.”

One of the possibilities that was discussed at the meeting is playing two games against each conference opponent, which would make an already tough schedule even tougher. The Braves always have their work cut out for them as one of the smaller schools in the GNC. This year will be no different, but Hansen is optimistic about his group of senior leaders.

“I really like the culture of our football program — we’ve got a lot of ownership within our locker room,” he said. “These workouts are led by our seniors and upperclassmen that have been part of it. They understand the expectation and they understand what it takes to win games and how tough the GNC really is. If you want to be competitive in the games in the GNC, you have to put the work in during the offseason.”

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dpargyle · 3 years

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I just went to my first Pride March. (not really a parade - due to COVID) - it was...not quite what I was expecting but also maybe what I needed?

I suppose I was expecting something similar to the Pride Parades depicted in Sense8 lmao? Like absolutely balls to the wall ludicrous - everyone hella drunk & making out with rainbow confetti fluttering all about them - I guess I should've known cuz that was Rio Pride & therefore its whole own thing! And this is Salt Lake City. Still, though - thousands of people were marching! First off - way too many fucking pigs at the event. Just a ludicrous amount of cops. & I only witnessed a small contingent of folk admonishing them to their faces...

also - this may be a severe case of anxiety on my part - but I couldn't help but notice all the convenient sniper positions atop every building along where the march rolled down. Like, I think this is simply a product of living in America too long & now I'm traumatized, but...

literally every time I go out these days in public I'm always looking out of the corner of my eye for easy exits & contingency plans should active shooter scenarios occur...I guess that's really dark but this is where my mind goes - particularly at events like Pride - which, if I was a hateful piece of shit coward bigot I would consider at the top of my prime target list... - so I was thinking about the pigs & possible active shooters - sitting on the corner waiting for the parade to roll by as the crowd got larger & larger around me..

I've never been a ra-ra scream & shout type of person so I just felt a bit off to the corner (& did throughout). This is something I want to work on the next year - to leave my shame behind & join in with humanity unabashed - as myself - as Lucy...

So, anyway, I'm sitting on the sidelines, as usual - & I catch sight of this family - & this girl whose like 10 or 12 - with a rainbow flag cape - & she's posing - and her folks are taking pics & supporting her & it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen - & suddenly this

wave of emotion comes crashing down inside me all of a sudden. Like. My little sister (she's 16 now) just came out as bi - & my folks have been much more supportive of her than I thought they would be (at least to her face - I don't know what they say to each other in private...)

Like, they're far from perfect, & still pretty transphobic (but that's a topic for another day) - but they're trying. At least. & I'm really happy for my sister & all the rest of the little ones who are finally being given that support for who they truly are, but...

like. growing up Evangelical - my parents never even gave us an opportunity to explore gender/sexuality AT ALL back then. Queer folk were all deviants & bad influences & we should pity them for being cast into outer darkness & fire & brimstone or whatever -

so like - to even THINK about being queer would be considered an evil act. & I swallowed this toxic theology wholesale - so I never got the chance to...not hate those parts of myself. So I'm watching this happy family & feeling this deep gaping hole in me - mourning for the kid - the girl - I could've been, if I had even been given the chance to know back then. to breathe. At the same time, feeling deeply glad the kids are getting this now - at least some of them (I know there's still a lot of hate - but things are SLOWLY beginning to change)

so I'm already nearly choking up - & the parade arrives at that second - & I'm watching all these happy, joyful, jubilant faces - flying flags of every color - & it was just - tears in my eyes. Like holy shit. These are my people. & the amount of trans flags I saw -

mostly draped around young shoulders - set my heart alight. It's so beautiful, too, because you can see all the folds on these flags pretty clearly - so a lot of these flags have very obviously just been pulled brand new out of their boxes -

& this rising wave of queer folk is about to batter down the doors & the tears were in my eyes & I'm so happy for them & so happy for us but also deeply sad for everything I couldn't be, couldn't admit to myself when I was younger. But I'm looking forward to who I will soon be.

So that was Pride, huh? Anyway - last night I published the first episode in a memoir-type podcast. The first episode is basically coming out - so you kids may already know much of this. But this is what I plan to show my family, when I'm ready: https://share.transistor.fm/s/b7f6d2c4

#barefoot lucy in the burning garden

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hentaigame963 · 3 years

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Though it's mild on purposeful choices, this dive into the world is filled up with strong writing, interesting personalities, and gorgeous art.

The set-up for hentai games, the 2nd hentai games visual novel following last year old Coteries of newyork, is irresistible. The protagonist, Julia, can be really a newly turned vampire whose entire life like a struggling freelance investigative journalist is now happily supporting her. But in lieu of dwelling a glamorous, intriguing vampire presence, she becomes a glorified immigration officer, broadcasting vampire motion and outside of New York. This is a rather adorable presence until her background for a journalist gifts her opportunity to venture up an investigation in regards to the locked-room murder of an highprofile star, along with her prospective within ny's vampiric culture will probably be dependent on whether she is ready to address the crime. In training, hentai games is not as stimulating than that premise implies. There is a murder, yes, and Julia has to fix it. Nevertheless, youpersonally, the player, are barely involved. This is really actually a five-hour visible book that's very lower on meaningful choice and outcome, although there will be several differences and exceptional components to unique playthroughs, your effects on the analysis will be negligible. But though it's gentle on participant entered, hentai games is a fun visual publication for that most part, using an interesting central personality, strong script, along with strong demonstration.

hentai games is someplace within a self indulgent spin-off and an immediate sequel to both Coteries of both newyork. Julia and also a few other personalities are all new, but the majority of the main cast carries over specifically out of that very first match, including the murder victim. The principal thrust of hentai games's narrative involves meeting the four characters that you can decide to serve in the first game's titular coterie, every one those who possess any insight into the instance and exactly what took place... type of. In fact, the investigation into the murder never really coheres into a satisfying who dunnit --you may spend the majority of your time looking at text that's projected around animated backgrounds and character portraits, also occasionally you have to make a choice about what Julie states or will next. But these don't contribute to meaningful effects, but with a lot of the major reveals happening proper nearby the ending . Not one are especially surprising . But if the murder storyline fizzles, hentai games is more successful like a story about a youthful vampire coming into terms of everything she desires for himself. Julie's an interesting personality, a young woman having commitment difficulties and also a short fuse, and a sense of spirituality and morality which clashes discriminated contrary to her newly undead standing. Julie is really a comparatively intricate figure, also if the options that the player can result in her really are few, becoming to know her better over the plan of this match is satisfying. The match's writing excels best when it's attempting to match everything exactly is inside of Julie's mind, and the script does quite a superb job of balancing Julie's individuality from your choices you can possibly make with her, and so that no choice ever feels hugely from character.

Julie's vampirism is performed compared to the protagonist at Coteries. Some times, the choices you're going to be given simply take her powers in to consideration -- aliens within this universe have super strength, stealth abilities, and some hypnotic powers--however because the story is largely place a month or two later she has flipped, you don't view Julie coming into terms with her own powers at the same way the very first game's protagonist did. Her powers don't have an effect on gameplay in a purposeful way very often, both. You may make your choice to feed sporadically, but there isn't any more a mechanic--in the first match, some options would be locked off in the event that you failed to keep your appetite for bloodstream thirsty, but that's not the case for hentai games. Julia's vampirism is a lot more essential to her characterisation than it's to your decisions that you make, nonetheless nevertheless, it may even now, some times, feel to be an after thought.

At various factors, you'll get to decide on which side story you experience and go alongside. All these sections are largely inconsequential for the overall murder puzzle, but can include some pleasant insights into Julie's life, and also the vibe of the new-york she occupies. This does imply that you simply can't experience everything in 1 playthrough, but Shadows doesn't exactly branch widely --in the event that you perform the game twice, you are able to definitely watch everything. There are exactly five choices that truly matter concerning the match's narrative, ordering the"characteristics" Julie owns, and also the end you get is contingent upon the traits that Julie exhibits across those five two-option options. One ending is considerably more satisfying compared to the flip, but I eventually didn't feel as though I had had some true impact on the match's events by the endresult. hentai games is put in early 2020, which is apparent the real-world COVID-19 pandemic changed the match creating --characters start referencing it midway through the match, also ultimately it really is directly impacting the storyline, as Julie explains empty characters and streets share what this means for its metropolis. This real-world accuracy feels a little out of position in a story about a vampire detective, and also one of the game's endings contains a brief acknowledgement of how a character's plan does not make sense in light of what is occurring, but it's undoubtedly interesting the game really doesn't shy away from the very real shadow that has dangled over New York (and much of the remaining portion of the entire world ) this past year. This is simply not the only element of the match which produces hentai games sense like it had been written over a short space of time, even nevertheless. While the dialog flows well and feels correct to every character, and Julie and some other personalities are well-developed throughout the script, there certainly are lots of ideas and concepts which are hurried around. Unexpected details of personalities are revealed and immediately dropped, along with lots of unnatural elements which are introduced do not really perform in just about any interesting manner, like they will have already been abandoned. The in-game dictionary gives you total definitions of most the vampire along with lore-specific conditions which the characters utilize inside their own conversation, that is appreciated, however this means that the ball player is bogged down down with literary jargon that has to be retained at heart to completely know what's taking place. hentai games is obviously meant to be part of a bigger hentai games world and mythology, also in the event that you're not acquainted with this RPG universe, it feels as if you're passing up some context.

hentai games has radically increased the grade of its backgrounds from the first match, together with greater info and revived components. They look great, and if there's a great deal of repetition (and most coming locations in the preceding sport ), the solid artwork and great, distinctive character designs help to keep the game engaging. Even the soundtrack, written by Polish artist Resina, stands outside, way too. It has equal portions magnificent and menacing, and also the brooding, moody paths that engage in under all the match's beautiful graphics put the tone superbly. The songs can be used to excellent effect, putting the tone and which makes it much easier to envision actions that have been clarified in the script however, never portrayed. Every time that I loaded up the game, I would take a little time to delight in the tremendous principal title subject before commencing. Do not move into hentai games hoping a Choose Your Own Adventure puzzle, however much it appears just like you. This is a casual dip into some other world, a game with big ideas that it doesn't quite follow through on pursuing, however, which remains pretty convincing because of some sound writing, entertaining personalities, and breathtaking artwork. It truly is far from the authoritative hentai games practical experience, however it's worth paying one long, dim night with.

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gizedcom · 4 years

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Sunshine State beckons for Aussie sports amid coronavirus

Australia’s so-called Sunshine State continues to be a safe haven for professional sports in the country because of its relatively strong success in dealing with the coronavirus.

Six Melbourne-area Australian Football League teams have already been relocated temporarily to Queensland because of a spike in COVID-19 infections in Victoria state and a subsequent six-week lockdown of the city. On Wednesday, AFL officials told the Queensland government they would like more clubs to make the move north.

Australia’s National Rugby League, concerned over a fresh outbreak in two Sydney suburbs where many NRL players live, is also considering relocating some teams to Queensland. Although at this stage, with the league seven rounds into a comeback following the coronavirus lockdown, most teams remain in New South Wales state.

And the A-League, set to resume this weekend for the first professional soccer in the country since March, said it was preparing a “Plan B” option where all clubs will be located in Queensland to play out the remainder of the season.

Queensland shut its borders to all but essential travel and freight movements in late March and only reopened last week to most of the country. Victoria residents had to undergo two weeks of quarantine or prove they had been out of the state for the same period to be allowed into Queensland, usually a warmer-weather destination for tourists from the southern states in Australia’s winter.

On Wednesday, Queensland health officials reported no new infections, as it has for much of the past three weeks. There have been nearly 1,100 COVID-19 cases in Queensland and just six deaths.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Wednesday said AFL chief Gillon McLachlan had requested for more clubs to be based in the state.

“He is looking to book accommodation for hundreds of players and officials at Queensland hotels for two months,” the premier said. “I stress none of these measures can happen without strict quarantine protocols and the COVID management plan that has allowed the AFL season to proceed.

“As everyone knows, AFL’s more than a sport to Victorians. We know how they feel. Given the choice between not having a season and having it based in Queensland I think I know what the fans would like to happen.”

There is a reason for Palaszczuk’s warm hospitality — she’d love nothing more than for Brisbane to host the season finale. Traditionally the Grand Final is held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with often a capacity crowd of 100,000.

“As I told Gil, if the season (is) based here then the grand final should be played here too,” she said.

McLachlan was due to face a news conference later Wednesday.

He has said the AFL would decide on a venue for the grand final in August. The MCG holds a contract to host the final game but because of travel restrictions and increasing coronavirus cases, there is a strong likelihood it will be played outside Victoria for the first time.

The Australian Rugby League Commission, which administers the NRL, said it has considered basing all 16 clubs in Queensland due to the outbreak in the western Sydney suburbs of Campbelltown and Liverpool. The Brisbane Broncos, Gold Coast Titans and North Queensland Cowboys are permanently based in the Sunshine state.

“I would say in our contingency planning that anything is possible, we need to be able to be really dynamic and agile, but that (relocation) wouldn’t be really high up on our list of potential mitigations for this,” interim NRL chief Andrew Abdo said. “At this point in time, we’re hopeful we don’t need to get there.”

A-League soccer officials said the new suburban outbreak in Sydney could force a move to Queensland, but that appeared to be on the back-burner when the league released a revised schedule on Wednesday. It shows 27 regular- season matches being played in 34 days, followed by playoffs. They will use six venues — five in New South Wales state and the other in Brisbane.

Australia’s other professional football code, rugby union, has been back playing for two weeks with the Victorian team, the Melbourne Rebels, based in Canberra. There will be no matches played in Melbourne in the five-team Super Rugby AU tournament.

Image credits: AP

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businessliveme · 4 years

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Covid-19 Webinar Series: Contingency Planning & Understanding Recent Resolutions to UAE Labour Law

BusinessLive Middle East recently held a webinar on Sustaining Business Continuity and Evolution During and Post COVID-19 in which we spoke to industry experts from GCC on a variety of topics ranging from the Central Bank of UAE’s relief packages to bankruptcy, contingency planning and the recent resolutions added to the UAE Labour Law.

In the second concluding part of the series, Mamoon Khan, a partner in the Banking department at Al Tamimi & Company, answers our queries on creating pragmatic contingency plans that cover all possible scenarios.

We also talk to Natalie Jones, an experienced senior associate who joined Al Tamimi & Company’s employment practice in 2012. She advises clients throughout UAE (onshore and in the free zones), concerning all aspects of UAE employment law compliance from the on-boarding process, day to day management of employees, advising on termination and post-termination issues.

Q&A session on Contingency Planning

Contingency planning is a vital part of any organisation/business. It becomes even more important during times of crisis. How can one create a pragmatic contingency plan that covers all possible scenarios?

“I’ve got some practical suggestions based on the legal framework we have that we have in the UAE. In these difficult times, businesses have to look re-planning their existing businesses. I think the preservation of cash is extremely important as is avoiding capital expenditure unless it is essential. They should also focus on collections and stretching out their payables. Basically, this means developing a liquidity strategy for the immediate future.

I also think they should focus on risk analysis in terms of the existing business and, most importantly, how to live with creditors.

“Once you assess the financial health and the expectation of future cash flow and a mechanism to preserve cash, it is very important during that stage, through your corporate governance process to your internal processes, to begin interacting with your creditors, including banks and financial institutions, which perhaps in a certain instance are your significant or substantial creditors.

I think the first point, strictly for UAE borrowers, is to assess whether such creditors are still part of the test guidelines. They need to check if their banks have availed the stimulus package provided by the central bank and if yes then what sort of relief can be obtained from these banks. This provides them with a vacuum period to be able to stretch out their laundry payments, interest repayments, and other unfunded facilities, and get some relief.

“When dealing with banks, and this is a very important point, make sure that you deal with the relationship managers or any restructuring office in the bank, who will be more sympathetic to your cause. Avoid dealing with remedial offices in banks because these offices have a bottom line and are usually very trigger-happy in initiating litigation against debtors.

“If you have multiple creditors of banks, then perhaps consider dealing with them collectively as opposed to individually, in order for the stronger creditor in that group to control the smaller lenders. We have always seen that to be very helpful. If you have a stronger bank, which is willing to support you, it will bring in line some of the smaller creditors.

“And if you are dealing with them collectively, perhaps when you are in dire distress but you have still an expectation to provide the business, then consider discussing an informal – standstill agreement – which essentially imposes a moral obligation on these creditors not to take action whilst the restructuring negotiations are taking place. You could also look at appointing a creditor committee with a lead a bank to help you steer through the restructuring process.

“Another very important thing is to deal with all the creditors equally and be transparent with them, because eventually if you do go into bankruptcy that is a penalty that can be imposed on you if you were found to be dealing preferentially with one creditor over the other.

“However, you could be in a situation where you may have to prefer one creditor over the other given your current financial condition. As an example, you could perhaps prefer your raw material supplier or any other counterparty, providing services that are extremely critical to the preservation of the business.

“You may have in your group of creditors, certain secured creditors, who hold a preferential debt. For example, a mortgage or a pledge over your assets. These could rank a little lower in your priority because you know that they have secured assets and they’d be more willing to be, forthcoming, given that they already have certain rights over your assets.

“Lastly, for any potential restructuring, it would definitely benefit you appointing a skilled financial advisor to help you steer through these troubled waters. A financial advisor can essentially help you assess the current nature of your business and your expectation of cashflow. They also are very experienced in dealing with creditors. Financial advisors can definitely come in handy when you’re dealing with multiple creditors.”

What potential risks, liabilities, and obligations should the management or top tier keep in mind when creating contingency plans? How best can one mitigate the risks and liabilities?

“In order to respond to this particular question, we need to understand who the management is in a corporate entity. From the UAE perspective, the manager or management is not very clearly defined in the bankruptcy law. They have either deliberately or inadvertently vague.

“The bankruptcy law defines management as any person, who can exert influence over the decision making of the company and they’ve left it at that. This under, common law jurisdiction, is called shadow directors. You may have a manager appointed or directors appointed under the constitution documents, but then you have other people in the management, who are not formally part of your corporate documents, in form of a CEO or CFO or a COO. They may also be liable because they are exerting certain influence in the decision making of the company. So, it is very important to understand who the manager is.

“In terms of the awareness of liabilities, I think any manager who is in control of the decision making during the first trigger – filing for preventive composition – should be aware of not taking any unnecessary risks, which would render them liable.

“The management or the manager at that stage should consider the following actions, which can potentially hold them liable. Sale of any assets of the company undervalue, and disposal of assets, which has no benefit to the company, hiding of assets, concealing of information, removing of assets from the jurisdiction, can all increase their liability and one needs to be careful when dealing with creditors. If you’re preferring one creditor over the other or you’re managing your creditors in a way that it harms the general body of creditors, it can affect you adversely in bankruptcy court when looking at management liabilities.

“While there is no liability or penalty for not filing for bankruptcy, the bankruptcy law does provide for various penalties which range from prison terms up to a maximum of $1 million in fines if management is found to have taken actions that harm the interest of the company.

“Strict liability is where the bankruptcy law imposes a payment obligation on the manager or a director without any exceptions if it is determined that such manager or director is responsible for the company’s losses (where the company’s assets are not sufficient to pay 20 per cent of the company’s debt)

“In terms of mitigation, the law uses the term called necessary precautions without really defining it. So, when taking any actions in that particular period the management should be taking necessary precautions when taking any decisions, which in our view essentially translates to being very transparent with all their dealings and this comes down corporate governance within the company. Essentially you should take minutes of all your decisions and documenting them for all future evidentiary purposes.”

“It helps to keep all the paper trail, keeping the chain of correspondence with the shareholders, making them aware of the financial condition of the company and the actions being taken, seeking their consent where required. It is important to be pushing decisions upwards to the shareholders and if the senior management is not comfortable then escalating it to shareholders for them to take the decision.

“Lastly, the most important point is preparing and maintaining sufficient evidence on record of all the key decisions that were taken by the management in an effort to minimise the losses of the company.”

How does one ensure the legal language and the tone of corporate authorisations take into account the circumstances of financial distress?

“This is very important, even from a non-financial aspect as well. In our experience, we see a very skeletal form of corporate authorisations in the form of a two-or-three liner corporate resolution. I think the most important thing is to be more descriptive in your resolutions. This will reflect on the good corporate governance of your company. The first point is to take minutes of all resolutions from directors, shareholders and managers. Particularly in times of financial distress, even the communication between the managers and the shareholders needs to be reflected through proper correspondence, which is duly certified. It is also important to duly certify the corporate authorisations with signatures of the keepers, key directors, and perhaps directors and partners, which gives them more credence to that resolution. It is also good practice to ensure that the resolution reflects the circumstances under which the decisions were taken in order to minimise losses and in the best interest of the company. “Lastly, all corporate authorisations need to be recorded and produced, so that they are available at every stage when it is required.”

Q&A session on UAE Labour Law with Natalie Joneshigh

Who does the MOHRE new Resolution (279 of 2020) apply to?

“The resolution, strictly speaking, applies to all entities under the remit of the ministry. These are basically the entities, which obtain work permits or labour cards from the ministry when they’re onboarding employees. The remit of the resolution would not extend to the free zones. Having said that some of the free zones are now implementing the resolution. And in addition to that, we expect that the courts and the authorities more broadly expect most entities in the UAE to act within the spirit of the resolution and therefore comply with the terms of the resolution.”

What are the permitted measures to ease the financial burden of employment costs on employers?

“The resolution provides a number of actions, which can be taken by employers. I think it’s important to note at the outset that the Labour Law still governs the employment relationship in the UAE outside of DIFC and ADGM.

“What’s useful about the resolution is that it reflects a number of provisions that haven’t been set out in law to date. The resolution provides for employers to place employees on remote working so they can work from home. It also provides for asking employees going on paid leave. But that is not new, because the Labour Law does allow employers to place employees on paid leave at its discretion.

“The new provisions that have been provided include unpaid leave and deductions in salary, both for a temporary period and for a longer period, although the relevant periods are not set out in the resolution.

“The resolution also provides, in some terms, for a provision of redundancy. It doesn’t say specifically about redundancy, but it does contain guidance for employers in circumstances where the employer has a surplus of employees as a result of the current situation and it provides steps that must be taken by those employers in that situation.

“It is important to note that when we’re talking about unpaid leave and reductions in salary, whether temporarily or long term, the employer can’t act unilaterally. So, the resolution does not allow employers to impose a paid leave or reductions in salary without employee consent.

“The ministry has provided a document that must be entered into between the parties that will act as an addendum to the employment contract filed with the ministry. It is a simple document and basically allows the parties to tick what measures they’re putting in place and set out the timeframe within which the said measures will be in place. It also allows the signatures by both parties so that there isn’t a dispute in the future as to whether the parties agreed with the terms or not.

“Strictly speaking, the measures set out in the resolution should be followed in the order in which they are set out. For example, remote working, unpaid leave, salary reductions, and then redundancy. There are, however, no penalties set out in the resolution and therefore we obviously don’t know at this point in time what the repercussions would be if the steps were not ticked.

“From experience with the courts, it would be a case of how sympathetic the courts would be if there was a dispute. For example: If an employer can show that it has followed the resolution exactly and took all steps to maintain employment and to consult with employees and followed everything in order, then I think the courts would likely be more sympathetic than if an employee could demonstrate that an employer had failed to follow those steps in order. It is a question of how the courts will deal with a case in the event of a dispute rather than there being any specific measures at this point to make sure the steps are followed.”

How long will employers and employees be subject to the Resolution?

“The resolution does not say anything about the timeline. It has an implementation date of March 26, but it doesn’t have an end date. And what’s interesting is often when resolutions are implemented by the ministry or by other authorities, there is usually an implementation date and nothing about a withdrawal.

“This resolution provides in the context of making employees effectively redundant and the measures will be in place until the earlier of the employee finding a new role or the employee being able to leave the country. For example, when travel restrictions are lifted or when the resolution is withdrawn, which I think indicative of the fact that at some point the resolution will be withdrawn, but the authorities obviously don’t know the timing of that yet.

“I think the resolution will be in place for probably months rather than weeks until we are seeing a real turnaround in terms of what’s happening.”

What are employers’ rights in respect of COVID-19 and reducing entitlements?

“As I mentioned earlier, the Labour Law is still in place at this point and it doesn’t say anything at all about employers being able to reduce entitlements for employees. So, we need to look at the resolution in that regard. Employers can, pursuant to the resolution, reduce salaries temporarily or long-term and can put employees on unpaid leave. In all cases, though we need to employee consent. As an employer, you cannot force employees to consent to unpaid leave or reductions in salary. This is where documenting conversations comes in. I think it’s important even before we’re documenting anything just to make sure conversations are happening. So, the employer must ensure clear, transparent communication with employees.

“Most employees obviously are aware of what’s going on. In UAE they can see, for example, that Dubai is on lockdown and there are restrictions in terms of employees that can go into the work premises. In Abu Dhabi, only 30 per cent of the workforce can attend the office. Employees are also aware that there will be an impact on a lot of companies in terms of cash flow because clearly a lot of companies are not making money. So, I think employees know what’s going on, but what they need is open communication from the company as to what exactly is happening, particularly in relation to their employment and what measures are being put in place by the company to try and limit any impact on employees and on the business as a whole.”

What are employers’ obligations where offices/work premises are partially or fully closed?

There’s nothing specifically relates to employer obligations other than the terms of Labour law, which continue to apply. The terms of the employee’s employment contract continue to apply other than where there is written evidence that new terms have been introduced and accepted by both parties. So, if there is no agreement to the contrary, the employer would still have to pay the employee their salary and any benefits entitlements under the Labour Law will continue to accrue.

“It is important that employers take a proactive approach in terms of what they are doing, particularly for employing entities that are closed and not doing any business, which results in them not being able to pay salaries. If they just stopped paying salaries without documenting it and without getting employee consent, they are going to struggle in the event that employees file a claim. So, as it stands right now, the Labour Law is in place, the contract is in place, obligations continue unless there is an agreement to the contrary.”

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swedna · 4 years

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It’s the turn of the large conglomerates to bite the bullet. If technology and new economy firms took the lead so far in shielding their employees from coronavirus, now the traditional big groups including the Tatas, and Reliance are taking unusual measures to cope with the growing health hazard. Speaking in one voice, corporate India is asking its people to reduce travel, limit meetings and adopt stringent hygiene standards. Some of them are allowing work from home and advising self-isolation in what looks like a new normal.

Manufacturing plants have not caught up with work from home yet. Unlike the services sector, people in manufacturing do not need to travel extensively outside the premises and this offers a natural immunity, especially if it is also linked to a township.

That apart, other steps are being taken proactively by business majors with deep presence in manufacturing. For instance, every person stepping into the Reliance premises is being thermally screened. “We have asked anyone with symptoms of flu etc to isolate themselves. Fortunately, in the last one month there has not been much of international travel and we did not need to quarantine any of our executives,” said a Reliance spokesman.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus LIVE: SAARC leaders meeting today; Pak accepts Modi's offer

Reliance has formed a special group to monitor the situation and brief the chairman and the executive directors every day. Meetings that require more than 20 people in one room are avoided. Carmaker Maruti Suzuki has told employees to use teleconferencing and video conferencing instead. At Tata Sons, at least two employees have self-quarantined and are working from home as they have just returned from coronavirus-affected countries.

"These persons have not tested positive, it's just a precaution,” said a person familiar with the matter. The holding company has issued an advisory to Tata Group employees to avoid non-essential travel and large gatherings.

graph Tata Steel has suspended all business travel, domestic and international, until further notice. It is disabling the biometric-based attendance system as a precaution. Coal India has told staff to avoid handshakes and use the namaste greeting.

ITC is putting together a business continuity plan to address potential contingencies. Its own Savlon hand rub dispensers are kept at prominent places. Here too, all international travel is suspended. Anyone coming from abroad first has to meet the company doctor before doing anything else.

Companies such as Coca-Cola, Godrej Consumer and Uber have all given their employees the option to work from home given that most employees are connected via laptops and phones.

The result of this mass migration to homes is that offices in the central business districts of Mumbai such as Bandra, BKC and Worli are looking sparsely populated.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus: E-commerce gets a boost as customers prefer to stay indoor

Those who have not already moved to the ‘work from home’ principle, are going to start soon. From Monday, Star India staff will work from home. “In light of the ongoing COVID-19 developments, to minimize the risk, we have decided that effective Monday, all our offices across India will shift to work-from-home status until further notice,” said a Star India spokesperson.

However, companies that are part of the stock market ecosystem find it difficult to issue a work-from-home directive. Mutual fund managers have to follow a certain work ethic to curb insider trading or front running. Along with the analyst community, they have to make extensive use of office infrastructure like data terminals which is difficult to replicate at home.

An industry official said that if the situation worsens, they might have to seek regulatory approvals before moving certain functions to homes. Meanwhile, India’s largest brokerage in terms of active clients, Zerodha, has ordered all its 1,200 employees to work from home.

A string of companies, including the Mahindra Group, have asked pregnant women not to come to the office. Insurance company HDFC Life has given all pregnant women the option of working from home.

Another insurer, ICICI Lombard, is preparing for exigencies. "We have conducted drills at our key offices to ensure that we are able to service customers and settle claims if our employees need to operate from home. We are apprising customers on this aspect and reassuring them that our health insurance policies cover hospitalization due to coronavirus,” said Sanjay Datta, head of Underwriting, Reinsurance & Claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance.

ALSO READ: Premium purveyors see a slowdown coming due to coronavirus outbreak

Several of the country’s drug makers have cancelled their sales conferences and domestic trips. "The hospital sales teams practically cannot meet doctors now as they are not allowed to enter the premises at most places," said a leading pharma giant.

At Bharti Airtel, it is work as usual in the office though with lots of hand sanitisers, deep cleaning, and thermal screening. Vodafone Idea has issued advisories related to travel, cleanliness, and work from home options.

India's top law firms too are gearing up with preventive measures. Dina Wadia Partner and Member of Executive Committee, J Sagar Associates said that they had all contingency plans in place including banning non-essential travel and work from home facility. She said that they are fully geared for this and are also testing its efficacy by having half work from office and half from home and all work from home for a few days this week. Like her, Shweta Shroff Chopra, Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co said that from the day the first case was reported in India, her firm had put in all emergency response measures in place including WHO protocols, safety resources (60 per cent alcohol based sanitisers, masks, disposable eco-friendly crockery, etc), disabled biometric access and put in place more frequent deep cleaning measures, across all its offices.

With inputs from Pavan Lall, Subrata Panda, Samie Modak, Abhijeet Lele, Megha Manchanda, Shally Seth Mohile, Ishita Ayan Dutt, Avishek Rakshit, Viveat Susan Pinto, Raghavendra Kamath, Vinay Umarji, Jash Kriplani and Sohini Das

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ncmagroup · 4 years

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With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the world is in the midst of what could turn out to be one of the biggest pandemics of the century—or, at the very least, a disease epidemic, unlike anything the U.S. has seen in over a decade. And it’s hitting people hard where they spend a huge chunk of their time: at work.

With massive industry conferences like South By Southwest in Austin canceling at the last minute, mandatory travel bans, quarantines, and work-from-home policies in force, companies are faced with balancing the health and safety of their employees with the need to keep the lights on.

“There are no rulebooks for this kind of stuff,” says John Bremen, managing director of human capital and benefits for advisory firm Willis Towers Watson. “This is really a new and evolving situation.”

Now that worldwide cases of COVID-19 are in the six figures and disease experts are warning the elderly and immune-compromised to avoid travel and crowds, we heard from workplace experts about the tough choices employers must make in the midst of the turmoil. Here, we answer some of the most asked questions about how to deal with a highly contagious virus at large.

How do you decide whether to place travel bans or have employees work from home?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health departments continue to offer guidance on this for employers, but this will also largely depend on where you operate and who your employees are. If you run a business with younger employees in a state with limited or no cases of COVID-19, you don’t need to send workers home immediately.

That said, if there are COVID-19 cases in your area, you have older or immune-compromised employees, or if your workers have traveled to a high-risk area, it may be smart to have employees work from home if they can. Nearly half (46%) of organizations are implementing remote work because of the epidemic, according to a recent survey from Willis Towers Watson.

If you’re going to encourage employees to work remotely, your IT departments should be prepared to provide laptops to those who need them or to set up technology so employees can access company systems from home. “The CDC and the state departments of health are trying to avoid large groups of people,” says Regina Morek, a human resources consultant in Ithaca, New York. “Employers might be testing out ways they can have core staff—not a large group—at the workplace and then others working from home.”

Regarding travel, many major employers (Amazon, Apple, Google) have restricted non-essential travel and have banned all travel to countries that have been hardest hit by COVID-19, such as China, Italy, South Korea, and Iran. Some 55% of companies are encouraging virtual meetings to decrease travel, and 47% have canceled planned conferences in certain countries, according to the Willis Towers Watson data. This has already had an impact on industries supported by business travel, such as hotels, event and conference planning, trains, and airlines.

And of course, it goes without saying that you should encourage all employees to stay home if they have any symptoms of illness.

How should you communicate company policy and developments to employees?

Employers should be using any and all channels to keep workers updated. “In times like this, I think overcommunicating is absolutely fine,” Morek says. She recommends communicating via email, via phone for those employees who don’t use their email or who don’t have access to email, and creating a special area on your website or intranet for COVID-19 employee updates.

Another option: Create a dedicated phone number employees can use to find out the status of the workplace. “Supervisors must listen to employees and allay fears, as best they can, by conveying knowledge and facts,” Morek says.

That goes for more general COVID-19 information as well. More than half (59%) of companies have organized communication campaigns geared toward preventing the spread of the disease. (Hint: Wash your hands.)

How should you handle absences due to COVID-19 quarantines or school closures?

How companies manage worker absences will vary depending on that employee’s vacation allotment, their duties, and their benefits in general. If a worker gets quarantined, for instance, but they can still work from home, they may not have to take any vacation or sick leave.

Some companies are also pledging to continue to pay hourly workers their regular wage even if their hours are reduced due to COVID-19. Uber is offering drivers and delivery workers 14 days of paid sick leave if they’re quarantined or ill due to the coronavirus, Olive Garden pledged this week to offer all hourly workers 40 hours of annual paid sick leave, and Walmart will provide two week’s paid sick leave without using their existing sick leave.

For employers of workers in the service, food, delivery or healthcare industries where human contact is necessary and/or the work can’t be done remotely, you must review PTO and sick leave policies. Workers are grappling with tough choices, trying to decide between working during the outbreak or losing pay if they don’t have paid sick leave.

In a recent Wall Street Journal report, HR consulting firm leader Arthur J. Gallagher said he anticipates companies will be willing to adjust their PTO policies due to the talent shortage many are experiencing. “With the tight labor market, most employers do not want to have to replace existing employees,” he said. “I do suspect we will see an increase in flexibility,” he said.

“Companies are trying to do what’s in the best interest of their employees,” Bremen says. “For some, [absence might be treated as] paid time off, for some it might be sick time, and for some, it might be short-term disability leave.”

You’ll want to be clear about your policies and what will happen if workers must go home for extended absences. “Does it qualify as paid family leave?” says Matthew Burr, a human resources consultant in Elmira, New York. “Are we paying people to try to get them through the hard times or is it unpaid? Are we accepting doctor’s notes? All that stuff needs to be hammered out.”

What policies and procedures should you employ to keep business running while following necessary protocols?

If you don’t already have a contagious disease policy or business continuity plan, now might be a great time to create one. “If employers neglected to implement a contagious disease policy during the West Nile or Ebola virus outbreaks, the severity of the coronavirus is all the impetus companies need to develop a written policy,” says Melissa Gonzalez Boyce, JD, legal editor of human resources site XpertHR. “Written policies help prevent the spread of disease by creating work rules that promote safety through infection control and minimize the negative impact of sudden emergencies.”

Likewise, a business continuity policy will guide business operations when decisions must be made quickly in a chaotic atmosphere. It might also outline a contingency plan for vital duties and functions if an important employee (or team) is too sick to work for an extended period.

It’s also important to practice and encourage empathy at a time of uncertainty and stress. This is especially true since fear about COVID-19 can lead to social stigma toward certain people or places. It can also result in stigma or avoidance of people who have been quarantined for the disease.

Employers can discourage negative behavior or beliefs with the following practices:

Maintain the privacy of those who may be seeking healthcare for coronavirus

Share accurate information and correct misinformation about how the virus spreads

Speak out against negative behaviors, including negative information on social media about people or groups of people

Share images responsibly and ensure that they do not reinforce stereotypes

Thank healthcare workers and responders

Will this send us into a recession?

It’s early days for recession talk—and this situation is a new one for most players. “There are so many unknowns, and I think it’s very difficult to predict,” Bremen says. “I think everybody certainly hopes there’s a speedy resolution to it, and I think everybody would like to get back to business as usual. The question is how long it will be until that happens.”

In terms of government response, there have been talks of everything from a payroll tax cut to assistance to hourly workers, which indicates that these recession fears are felt broadly and different agencies are trying to mitigate damage and prepare for economic impacts.

In the meantime, keep in mind that recent job numbers were good and unemployment levels are still at record lows. “The markets are in panic mode right now, but I don’t think there are long-term repercussions,” Burr says. “The economy’s been doing very well. We’ve got to take it day by day and not overreact to some of the coverage.”

Where can you get the best, most up to date info about COVID-19?

To reduce the spread of the virus, the WHO and CDC suggest the following precautionary measures:

Stay home when you are sick.

Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a

regular household cleaning spray or wipe.

If you have fever, cough or difficulty breathing, see medical care early.

Stay informed and follow the advice given by your healthcare provider.

For the latest updates, here are the best resources for information on the coronavirus:

CDC page on Coronavirus Disease 2019

Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers

Cleaning and Disinfection Recommendations

Comprehensive and Updated FAQs for Employers on the COVID-19 Coronavirus(Fisher Phillips, labor and employment attorneys)

State Departments of Health

Has your workplace been impacted by coronavirus? We’d love to hear from you.

Go to our website: www.ncmalliance.com

Coronavirus at work: how companies are responding to Covid-19 With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the world is in the midst of what could turn out to be one of the biggest pandemics of the century—or, at the very least, a disease epidemic, unlike anything the U.S.

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hentaigame963 · 3 years

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