heywoodu

Why are (in non-virus circumstances) quarter finals and so on even held in these tournaments when a spot in the QF is all one cares about?

My pleasure.

So the other half can go for it too

Ski jumping junior world championships, women's team. Thank the lord for sports not being dependent on what's on TV anymore nowadays

Well, like every decision it is based largely on what experts (people who've studied this stuff - viruses - for decades) say. Every 'solution' is going to have big effects in terms of deaths caused by the virus itself and damage (and potentially deaths) because of the economic impact. One has to find a balance and it's just way too early to say which 'solution' is actually the best.

Of course this is combined with protecting the vulnerable people (meaning, they should definitely stay at home, and the less vulnerable should step up their game to try and help them out). Like I said, every way to try and fight it has its pros and cons. A super strict lockdown for everyone has the extra risk of the virus basically lingering somewhere quietly and hitting back stronger once the lockdowns are lifted.

The prime minister speaking to the people directly like this (not in some debate or something, but live on TV in this form) is something that hadn't happened since the oil crisis in 1973, excluding maybe something less 'critical' like the death of a member of the royal family or the abdication of the queen. With total lockdown I meant what I'm reading about other countries: all non-essential shops closed, borders and airports largely or completely closed and so on. Personally I think it's about finding a balance between 'not enough' and 'too much', and that's a hard balance to find.

Impossible to say which of the two main takes is the best, but I'll be interesting to see in a few months: total lockdown vs more of an acceptance/group immunity kind of way... I think they both have significant pros and cons, very happy I'm not the one who has to decide this stuff.

People singing sort of an Amsterdam 'folk song' out of their windows. The translation of this tweet: "Oh guys, this is so terrible. Pure misery. Like that coronavirus in itself isn't bad enough yet." And most comments are like these: "Does someone have a pen for me to stab in my eye?" and "Can someone please come and cough in my face?" I agree with the comments. Cringe, cringe, cringe to the max.

Dutch prime minister just had his historic speech (last time that happened was during the oil crisis in 1973), where the main thing was him clearly laying out three options. 1. 'Maximum control' of the spread of the virus. Meaning we accept a huge number of people will get it, but we basically try and protect the vulnerable people and try to mostly keep the spread within the healthy population, thus building 'group immunity' and in the end stop the virus from spreading towards the vulnerable. The main thing of this is to make sure it's spread out over a larger period of time and hospitals don't get completely overwhelmed. 2. 'No control', just let it go basically. Obviously this would mean an insane peak which might be way shorter, but would completely overload hospitals and in the end be way more damaging. 3. 'Total lockdown' to try and stop the virus from spreading at all. This is considered to be just so incredibly impractical and unrealistic that it's not really an option. Another bad side of this is that a total lockdown will most likely take months, if not at least a year, and in the end there is no form of 'immunity' whatsoever. Basically, a total lockdown is a pure recipe to postpone the problems described in scenario 2. No thanks to that. He announced we're going full-force with option 1, and I'm glad with it. It seems way better than locking everything down, which in the end is probably going to be the way more damaging.

ooooooh scandal

Have there been many reports of looting in your countries yet, by the way? Not here yet, but if things are actually closed down more (like shops and such), I am 100% expecting shops to be broken into and looted by youth..

EU is apparently about to ban all non-essential travel from outside the EU coming in.

That actually sounds like a lovely bit of entertainment

Right, suspended. Too late, but sure. But...why after a now completely senseless evening session?

Who says Antarctica isn't the source? We all know who lives there..

Now we're doomed.

Don't forget to tune in to Rutte at 19:00

Now I've also watched the 75kg box-off between Ssemujji of Uganda and Ntsengue of Cameroon....way, way less of a robbery in my opinion. I gave Ntsengue the first round myself and Ssemujju the third round, but the second one really was a coin-flip. Personally I'd have given it to Ssemujju, but I can see how someone would go for Ntsengue.

I know I'm often critical about every other fight being called a robbery, but god damn Mulumba got robbed big time The judge who went 9-8 Nadir in the second round...in which Nadir was very clearly being punched around and got a point deducted, what the hell

That's the one I started now. I've only just finished the 1st round, which in my eyes was slightly in favour of Mulumba but went to Nadir.

Boxing, African OQT, to see how much of the alleged robberies is that obvious

Most. Annoying. Song. Ever.

Generally I'm happy we're not all North Korean/Chinese-like, but yeah, that could have been useful this time

That was a pretty quiet train ride, good to say most people stay home