COVID-19 in your part of the world

[vol.2]

We know that Covid indiscriminately targeted the obese, and Japan just doesn't have that demographic in large numbers. Elderly of course, are everywhere, but I'll go out on a limb and say they're generally healthier than our elderly (eg many carying for themselves well into their 80s) and the population in general had absolutely zero qualms about masking up.

No, that totally tracks. You know I was over there for some years, and my older relatives were living alone and totally fine. They would even ride their motor scooters to the mahjongg parlor every day and hangout with their friends as you said, well into their 80s. I cannot say as much for all of my relatives in the US.

I was thinking about it yesterday, and I think it's down to a generally better attitude around health and in healthcare than we have in the US. The fact that they have basically free health care as a retired person is huge, and the single payer thing makes it so everyone can afford to take care of themselves.

[GaijinPunch]

I was thinking about it yesterday, and I think it's down to a generally better attitude around health and in healthcare than we have in the US. The fact that they have basically free health care as a retired person is huge, and the single payer thing makes it so everyone can afford to take care of themselves.

Twice I've gone to the doctor after leaving, so not having any of their insurance. Both times I've had same-day service, for $40 and $120 or so respectively - the second time including two prescriptions filled. Cheaper than my copays here in the US.

[Vanguard]

aka "the thing we'll use to keep scaring sheep as long as we can milk this"

What milk?

Covid has been nothing but a drain on the economy and the death of approval ratings for politicians in power ever since it arrived.

The milk was an unprecedented expansion of government power over ordinary citizens, colossal profits for big pharma, widespread impoverishment of the working class, the destruction of countless small businesses, and the largest upward transfer of wealth in history. All in all a huge win for the ruling class.

[vol.2]

kind of blows my mind thinking about the numbers today. the death rate of reported cases of covid is something like 10% https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

[Vanguard]

kind of blows my mind thinking about the numbers today. the death rate of reported cases of covid is something like 10% https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

according to that link, it is close to 1%.

[EmperorIng]

Dunno what we are going to do once covid isn't an emergency anymore in a few weeks!

[BryanM]

Wrestlemania starts this summer. We can tighten our belts and look forward to that.

[vol.2]

kind of blows my mind thinking about the numbers today. the death rate of reported cases of covid is something like 10% https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

according to that link, it is close to 1%.

MATH!

[EmperorIng]

Wrestlemania starts this summer. We can tighten our belts and look forward to that.

Damn man, who's even there to look forward to?

Once you peer into the world of Japanese wrestling, it's so hard to go to something by comparison so passionless!!!!

[BIL]

the world of Japanese wrestling

Hoooly fucking shit my sides Anus Firecracker Death Match has been surpassed.

* "An Anus Explosion death match was contested between Mr. Gannosuke and H in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling on October 29, 1998 in Korakuen Hall. The stipulations of the match stated that, in order to win a wrestler had to place a firecracker into their opponent's rectum, and have it explode. Gannosuke won this contest after bounding H with his hands around a corner turnbuckle, facing the audience."

~ "H would issue a challenge to Hayabusa, or Masashi Honda for the next Korakuen Hall show. H would request an Anal Explosion match, where the loser would have to have a firecracker set off in their ass, just like Eiji Ezaki & Masashi Honda had to do after graduating the FMW Dojo." ~

[BulletMagnet]

So late Thursday my throat starts feeling scratchy, as tends to happen when I pick up some random bug or other, and I get to bed early in hopes of sleeping it off. Friday morning not only has it gotten worse but I'm achy, drained of energy and shivering in the middle of a heatwave; I call out of work and spend most of the day in bed. Saturday and Sunday things steadily improve, with my fever dropping from 103 F to 99 or so, and pretty much the only lingering symptom is a stuffy nose, so I'm prepared to head back to work tomorrow; just to be safe, though, I decided to break out one of the ol' test kits...

Yup, after all this time, what I figured was just a particularly nasty summer cold was my first bout with Covid, of all things. And my evening has consisted of rapid-fire calling/texting/etc. everyone I've been in contact with for the past week to let them know that Leprosy: HD 2D Remake has decided now is the time to smack me around. Not the way I was planning to burn the remainder of my personal time for the year.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

So late Thursday my throat starts feeling scratchy, as tends to happen when I pick up some random bug or other, and I get to bed early in hopes of sleeping it off. Friday morning not only has it gotten worse but I'm achy, drained of energy and shivering in the middle of a heatwave; I call out of work and spend most of the day in bed. Saturday and Sunday things steadily improve, with my fever dropping from 103 F to 99 or so, and pretty much the only lingering symptom is a stuffy nose, so I'm prepared to head back to work tomorrow; just to be safe, though, I decided to break out one of the ol' test kits...

Yup, after all this time, what I figured was just a particularly nasty summer cold was my first bout with Covid, of all things. And my evening has consisted of rapid-fire calling/texting/etc. everyone I've been in contact with for the past week to let them know that Leprosy: HD 2D Remake has decided now is the time to smack me around. Not the way I was planning to burn the remainder of my personal time for the year.

It's generally recommended to take a Covid-19 test kit at the first signs of what could be construed as the "common cold," a bad case of "hay fever" allergies or the dreaded full-on Covid-19 she-bang -- you never know, especially with the latest Covid-19 super-strain variant going around these days. It's still out there, folks -- don't assume that it could be just a common cold when it could easily be something more serious indeed (not to those whom had gotten Covid during the pandemic of 2020-2023 and still are having to deal with the effects of "long Covid" for which there's no remedy/cure for it).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[vol.2]

So late Thursday my throat starts feeling scratchy, as tends to happen when I pick up some random bug or other, and I get to bed early in hopes of sleeping it off. Friday morning not only has it gotten worse but I'm achy, drained of energy and shivering in the middle of a heatwave; I call out of work and spend most of the day in bed. Saturday and Sunday things steadily improve, with my fever dropping from 103 F to 99 or so, and pretty much the only lingering symptom is a stuffy nose, so I'm prepared to head back to work tomorrow; just to be safe, though, I decided to break out one of the ol' test kits...

Yup, after all this time, what I figured was just a particularly nasty summer cold was my first bout with Covid, of all things. And my evening has consisted of rapid-fire calling/texting/etc. everyone I've been in contact with for the past week to let them know that Leprosy: HD 2D Remake has decided now is the time to smack me around. Not the way I was planning to burn the remainder of my personal time for the year.

Shitty. Hope you feel better soon!

[BulletMagnet]

It's still out there, folks -- don't assume that it could be just a common cold when it could easily be something more serious indeed

In retrospect I really shouldn't have been surprised as I was, since whenever I got a vaccine booster the side effects felt a lot like, well, what this felt like, just less intense. A real Homer Simpson "d'oh!" moment when that particular neuron finally fired.

Shitty. Hope you feel better soon!

Thanks, I'm definitely a lot better than I was; the thing is that I have to wait for the fever to be completely gone for 24 hours without meds before I can go back to work, and my temperature has been hovering just above normal early in the day before jumping a degree or two later on, so I can still function without much trouble but as mentioned in my previous post watching my sick/personal time vanish as this thing lingers to no particular effect does make it feel like it's just messing with me.

[chempop]

Hey everyone, been a while! I'm alive and well though I finally got covid a few weeks ago for the first time -- IT SUCKED. I took a week off work, thankfully had some PT built up over the last year. Took about 5 days for the fever to break, the brain fog is no joke, recovered mostly now although sense of smell is still a bit faded.

Not the post I thought I'd make upon returning to the forum, but I guess there is no significant shmup news that I've missed in the past... 5 years? I suppose CC:WI was the genre's swan song, grateful for that one.

Hope everyone is having a good summer, I'm going to hopfully check out the new Alien movie this weekend. Next month I'll be 43, getting fucking old, although someone guessed I was 30 today so I must be doing something right

[Blinge]

I know the truth. where you've been hiding.

Playing ungodly amounts of Let it Die.

[chempop]

I know the truth. where you've been hiding.

Playing ungodly amounts of Let it Die.

Hey man! At least it's on topic AMIRITE?

[EmperorIng]

Not the post I thought I'd make upon returning to the forum, but I guess there is no significant shmup news that I've missed in the past... 5 years? I suppose CC:WI was the genre's swan song, grateful for that one.

glad you're getting on the other side of things!

Shmup news in the last five years? Let me think...

-Cotton Renaissance, we've had something to the effect of 3 or so new cotton games, including one excellent arcade shmup that is getting a sequel (Rock n' Roll)
-Rolling Gunner, made by former cave devs, turns out to be one of the best new shmups in years
-Alfa System released a stealth sequel to Castle Shikigami, called Sisters Royale, and it's actually good!
-DDP SaiDaiOuJou is now playable in mame
-endless flood of 00s-era ports: Shikigami games, GREV games, Triggerheart
-endless M2 ports, most notably the Ray- trilogy, Darius collections, and DDP DOJ (and toaplan collections, if you like games like Tiger Smelly)
-Milestone is BACK and SHITTIER than ever, baby!
-fan hacks have made Dimahoo playable!
-and plenty of world records achieved in the community in the interim, e.g. NTSC-J in Muchi Muchi Pork, M.Knight in Chaos Field, Meriscan in Air Gallet, moglar5k in ketsui (since beaten by SPS), Plasmo and Pearl in Pink Sweets... that's from the top of my head.

[Blinge]

SDOJ is playable in mame? fuck my life lmao!
I spent ungodly amounts of time hunting for a copy of it in Akihabara in 2018.
Eventually coming home with a Deluxe edition found in a tiny game store in a mall in Kobe.

I played it once. It's back at my parents' place now.

Anyhow - Chem did you catch the Neo D.O.D. Hammers challenge supercut I uploaded to YT?
much love
play a better game.

[Sengoku Strider]

So late Thursday my throat starts feeling scratchy, as tends to happen when I pick up some random bug or other, and I get to bed early in hopes of sleeping it off. Friday morning not only has it gotten worse but I'm achy, drained of energy and shivering in the middle of a heatwave; I call out of work and spend most of the day in bed. Saturday and Sunday things steadily improve, with my fever dropping from 103 F to 99 or so, and pretty much the only lingering symptom is a stuffy nose, so I'm prepared to head back to work tomorrow; just to be safe, though, I decided to break out one of the ol' test kits...

Dude, GO TO THE HOSPITAL AND STAY THERE UNTIL YOU ARE OUT OF THE WOODS. I met up with a friend on Sunday, he got it 2 years ago, I got it 3 years ago. The two of us are only just getting fully back on track now, that's how serious it fucked us up. The university literally axed the program he was teaching while he's been on leave for a year, he might not even have a job to go back to. I probably had it for months before the symptoms got so bad I couldn't just tell myself it was fatigue from overwork. If I could go back in time, the first thing I would tell myself is to absolutely not try to tough it out, it's as serious as cancer. Whatever obligations you have in the short term are not worth months or years of long covid fallout.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

SDOJ is playable in mame? fuck my life lmao!
I spent ungodly amounts of time hunting for a copy of it in Akihabara in 2018.
Eventually coming home with a Deluxe edition found in a tiny game store in a mall in Kobe.

I played it once. It's back at my parents' place now.

Anyhow - Chem did you catch the Neo D.O.D. Hammers challenge supercut I uploaded to YT?
much love
play a better game.

Yes, DDP-SDOJ is also playable on Final Burn Neo as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BulletMagnet]

Dude, GO TO THE HOSPITAL AND STAY THERE UNTIL YOU ARE OUT OF THE WOODS.

I've been back to...well, as "normal" as I get, I suppose, for weeks now, but I appreciate the concern: the fact that I only just picked it up so recently, with 1) The surviving variants having trended more towards "not fun, but not as dangerous" and 2) Having been vaccinated and boosted, certainly helped in that regard. Quite a few people in my vicinity picked it up not long afterwards (and not all of them can plausibly blame it on me), but have also recovered with no lingering effects to speak of. Whatever variety of the virus this was certainly did catch me off guard, though, have to give it credit for that.

[Randorama]

Long-lasting COVID effects seem a general problem: I know dozens of people who are participating in longitudinal studies on the topic, in different countries. Maybe they are just secretly fine-tuning their fridge magnets [/tin-foil hat]. Awful jokes aside, their experience is that sometimes it is even hard to spot them in the first place, though they are definitely nasty. An acquaintance of mine spent a whole dinner with me struggling to follow my comments If I would speak over a certain speed. She still has general slowed down reflexes, so driving has become an ordeal.

Sengoku Strider:

overwork in Academia is awful, at least in my experience. I am nevertheless thankful that I don't do a physical/technical job for a living: I would have been dead a long time ago, out of sheer incompetence.

My life experience is that it is wise to monitor overwork levels all the time and carefully check when it affects productivity. I had to bring a much younger colleague to the hospital due to a "general physical collapse". The diagnosis was more complex, but the doctor summed it up like this. We barely avoid having a young orphan and widow as a consequence. As his senior colleague, I actually need to prevent him from working too much (orders from above, go figure).

My two cents are that there is no point in working too much if the brain at some point grinds to a halt, irrespective of how much caffeine you ingest (I experienced first-hand, of course). Academia work eats up memory, and when memory is full, the brain generates all kind of hormones and random toxins. Self-monitoring is important, staying healthy and fresh is also important, and if someone can yell "rest time/sleep!" when you are over the limit, then you're in luck. All assertions worth of a "Captain Obvious" issue, perhaps.

The good news, to cite Greg Lemond, is that "it doesn't get any easier [over time]; you just get faster". More time for real life (yes, including shmups) whenever "getting faster" becomes the norm.

[vol.2]

People in Baltimore are getting Covid a lot now, but so far I haven't heard of anyone getting it "bad." It's always someone who has a cold and then they take a Covid test and it turns out positive and then they feel better in a couple days. Both my parents and my gf all had Covid within the last 2 weeks and I managed to dodge it (or the test I took was false). So far I'm feeling fine though. Hope it hold up, about to go to the beach.

[chempop]

I didn't expect it to hit me nearly as hard as it did, I'm overall a fairly healthy person. First day was one of the worst stomach bugs I've ever had, fever reduced with advil the next day, but then it flared up again and the next 3 days were more or less me glued to the couch. I was munching quite a bit though, mostly simple stuff like crackers and ice cream.

Took just under 2 weeks for me to test negative. I thought all of my colleagues would come down with it, but apparently there is also this other fever and cough going around that they have instead