Greetings… Ahoj! Aloha! Bom dia! Bonjour! Bună! Ciao! G’day! Geia sas! Günaydın,صبح بخیر, בוקר טוב 你好! Hi! Hei! Hello! Hallo! Hola! Halō! Kamusta! Kia Orana! Kon’nichiwa! Mabuhay! Namaste! Ni Hao! Neih hou! Pagi! Sawasdee! 😄

@999 ✨
@Alexander
@Aline van Wijk
@Alistair McHarg
@Adrian Colley
@alysonsee (Fca)

@Amanda Gordon

@Αντισθένης
@(apexkreatorz@diasp.org)
@Amanda Park
@Andi Droid
@andie_grant@pluspora.com
@Andrew Pam
@Astheroth 🇨🇱🐍
@Beej Cobalt
@Bill Brayman
@Bob Lai
@Brian Arbenz
@bruce_shark@pluspora.com
@Carsten Raddatz (劉愷恩)
@Cass M
@Cats of Commons 💫
@catty _big
@Chad Haney
@Chel
@Chris Johnson
@Christian Nalletamby
@Christoph S
@Chuck Dee
@Clarice Boomshakalaka Bouvier
@Corinne Howell
@Dan Weese
@Dave Chinner
@Dave Higgins
@Dave Sutton
@David Amerland
@David Calderon
@(((David "Kahomono" Frier)))
@David Thiery
@Dean Barnett
@debo@pluspora.com
@Di Cleverly
@diane a
@Diane S
@Don Little
@Doug Senko
@doug t
@Dr. Cassone
@Dr. Marinus Kruissen
@Drew McCarthy
@Dryade Geo
@dt@pluspora.com
@Eoraptor
@Foryouwhynot IB
@Fritz R.
@Frank Valls
@Gaffer
@Garry Knight
@geo. tirebiter
@Ghoulam BELHOCINE
@greggtaylor@pluspora.com
@Griff Ferrell
@Guy Geens
@hackbyte
@Hans W
@hardhat@pluspora.com
@Heidi Anne Morris
@Hilary
@Holly Jahangiri
@Isaac Kuo
@itsanogo
@Jacob Clayton
@Jay Bryant
@Jeff Sexton
@Jodi Kaplan
@Joe Dillmon
@John Hummel
@John MacLeod
@Joltrast
@Jon Donaldson
@Joseph Teller
@Joyce Donahue
@Karl Auerbach
@Katherine Bond
@Kay Simpson
@kcperry@pluspora.com
@Klaus Lademann
@Krinny J
@Lee Rothstein
@Lesley
@libramoon@pluspora.com
@Lisa Stranger
@lisachabot@pluspora.com
@Lizzie
@malenkov@vernera.social
@Mari Thomas
@Martha McDougall
@Matthias Vos
@Michael Keukert
@__Michele__Hax@pluspora.com
@Meep
@Michael Warburton
@Michael Hughes
@Miguela
@mongrel_shark@pluspora.com
@mudhooks@pluspora.com
@Muse
@Nelou LaLouve
@Nigel Taujess
@nilajones@pluspora.com
@Nora Qudus
@Olaf
@Olav ᚢᛚᚹ
@Octave Auguste
@papyjeanclaude@diaspora-fr.org
@Paul Ferguson
@Peter Oram
@Phil Landmeier (ᚠ)
@Philip Setnik
@Phil Stracchino
@pianomad
@Vinny
@PusheenMaster5
@RealNewz247
@Richard Healy
@Richard
@Rob Anybody
@Rob Patterson
@7sleepers Music
@Rodrigo Mesa
@Ron Serina
@Samps
@Samuel Smith
@fig1312@poddery.com
@shar@pluspora.com
@Sheila Nagig
@Shelenn Ayres
@shoshin_seishu@pluspora.com
@smellsofbikes@pluspora.com
@Stefani Banerian
@Stripes The Tiger
@Stuart Richman
@Su Ann Lim
@Susan ✶✶✶✶
@🐾 Team Sintti 🐾
@Ted Ewen
@Terry Poulin
@Thom
@tomgrz
@Tobias Klausmann
@UnclePirate (Stan McCann)
@V. T. Eric Layton
@Veronika
@Vincent55
@uinseann@diasp.org
@Violante de Rojas
@V K
@winners@diasp.org
@Whuffo

If we’ve missed you on this serendipitous who’s who list of active Plusporans and #CHECKIN visitors, just yell! 💕

First!!! Hee-Hee!!! /me waves to @Su Ann Lim 👋 😀

@David Calderon well done! 👋🏆😄

Don't be crazy this weekend. Stay home, stay safe.

Hello All!

The rapidity that daily conventions have been set aside, modified or replaced, has surprised me. Most if not all folks are cheerful about it.

I shold stop being surprised by this. But the general lack of education of the majority of the worlds population. Especially those in power. 😵

I was surprised how well everyone got into the spirit of lockdown for a while, and i suppose, just the opposite this summer.

Re the gif, I carved a large 3d yin yang out of granite, 2 ft wide. I'll have to find a pic to post.

@Rodrigo Mesa 👍

@greggtaylor@pluspora.com yes, many people are far more flexible and resourceful than anticipated.

@mongrel_shark@pluspora.com no kidding!

@Bill Brayman yes, please! looking forward to seeing your carving!

@Bill Brayman. Nice work!

https://pluspora.com/uploads/images/24f620d2a10afa1386a8.jpeg

Do you mean the staggering descent of the US into fascism so very quickly? It's unbelievable to me how fast and how deeply entrenched repression has taken over the US through the tactics of "fear and loathing" political pressure. Surprised me and perhaps many others. Nonetheless, the last 30-35 years or so has been leading the US down this route. Sigh. Hope to wake up one of these mornings and see a fresh breeze of hope again.

I remember thinking at the beginning of the year, "Waah, I love this number ! Twenty-twenty. It's a rare date... It's going to be a fantastic year, creative, playful, full of promise"...

Eeehhhh... 😳 😫 🙄

I fear there is a part of me that has always known there was a dark future ahead. It doesn't look exactly like I envisioned in the various timelines I perused. I certainly did not envision a potential failure of all the major governments of humanity to understand the need to communicate and cooperate against an alien invader that could not be reasoned with and which acts in merciless manner in its hunger for human bodies.

I also presumed that certain governments might be more controlling but in the process they would be less likely to engage in preparations for war while their perspective households were on the brink of collapse from a plague.

I am slightly amused by some of the little things that have come to pass:

I ran a near future RPG some twenty years ago, set in a 2025. I took existing things and trends and a few wild assumptions. The ones that seem to have come true are the ones that were humorous throw ins that some of the other players in the game scoffed at and thought were unbelievable.

K-Pop Music becoming mainstream, electric hybrids and self driving electric taxis, pocket computers that also acted as internet terminals, a revival of DR Who and large swaths of humanity watching it and knowing about Daleks and the like.

What failed to come out so far is the 23 big sticks, space platforms in far orbit to detect and defend against asteroids and other space debris that might hit the planet; Functional AI via Quantum Computing to the point of personal assistance machines for the handicapped (sophisticated human shaped bots and wheel chairs that could make life easier for the permanently physically disabled in staying independent); Corporations having their own voting representative seats in the US congress as amorphous states; Hillary Clinton becoming President (yeah that was in the game... close bit no win on my predictions). None of these things will happen in the next 5 years, to say the least.

@Su Ann Lim As far as I'm concerned, I preferred the lockdown. Nice and quiet. I hope it comes back. There's way too much noise and activity out there now.

Hello again! It's another beautiful day here in the land of eternal summer. Our quarantine will be further relaxed in a couple of weeks as the cases dwindle. I've been taking it easy and reading a good book today - guess I'll post some things before bedtime.

Well, bad news / good news. The bad news is, the total of trees we have lost now stands at 20, not 15. The good news is, the tree services used our job to audition a new chipper they were considering buying, and gave us a deep discount in return. So, fewer trees but a bit more money left afterward.

Next step: plant NEW trees. (Not they will soon make up for the ones that died - those were all in the 15-20 meters category.

That trump is STILL in office (or alive for that matter, holding rallies with no mask and whatnot)

I'm surprised about a few things as well:
- finally, after only 8 years of delay, this city will actually open its new airport. (Heh, that thing was being planned when I graduated from school in the mid-1990s, and the choice of location was choked off by political decision making and not founded entirely on grounds of reason. I am not really surprised it took that long, but am indeed happy the end is near and all the jokes may phase out finally)
- many delays happened otherwise, only a few of which are covid19-related, turn out to work in favour of other dependencies.

I'll leave it at that. enters an image desription here

@Nigel Taujess here too.. and the year spelled YYYY reminds me of early 2000s band 22-20s, Devil in me.. 🤘🏻

Good morning ...that everything I predicted came to pass was the biggest shocker. Since I keep journals I go back over them once in a while and now I feel like Nostradamus. The biggest shock is that trump is still in office and the republicans are still behind him 100% We are so screwed here in the US. But I did predict that in 2004

In the game Plague Inc., you get the news item " distributes face masks" as soon as your disease is detected and has the "air 1" transmission feature. To my surprise, we now know that isn't true. No country was in a position to distribute face masks to all residents. We were less prepared for a real pandemic than the joke one which destroys all humans.

My dad is late 80s and has a less than perfect heart. I am surprised at the state of cardiac care. He went for an angiogram and they inserted 3 stents. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital last week and he's scheduled for a valve replacement. Both procedures are day surgeries with no large incisions. Amazing!

What has surprised me?

• That I could work from home so much more efficiently than in the office.

• That so many people disregard pandemic safety guidelines as if this is not a serious health threat - even people who are smart enough to know better.

• Also, that my own church-related organization is so adamant about making older vulnerable people come back in to work in a poorly ventilated building in person when we can work just as efficiently from home. While some have been more than accommodating, people at most risk from the virus have been disrespected.

I will be going back on Monday, cautiously, under protest. I predict, with hospitalizations in my state beginning to go up, that we will eventually be downgraded to the previous phase of reopening and I go back to working at home.

@Cass M to me going back like that shows a callous disregard for human life...I see it everywhere too. If you can work more efficiently from home what is the big deal of going in to questionable safety ? Unless the "boss" needs to crack the whip of fear over his/her employees as some justification of their existence.

That people really don't avoid anything like the plague when there is an actual plague!

hahahahaahah @Jodi Kaplan you are so right! we can no longer use that phrase!(well I can and many of us here but....you know.)

• That my company is encouraging people to work from home. And not just until it is safe but as a permanent job perk
• That people are so willing to take risks with their health just to have a drink in a crowded bar.
• That the pandemic which should unite people to fight is being used to divide the country

@Bill Brayman what a gorgeous piece of art!

@Cass M great surprises!

My list of surprises is very long, like @Nigel Taujess the year I envisioned has been completely eclipsed by a global experience that all of us shared! Those of us already active online were so fortunate. Not only was a part of our lives undisturbed we had ready access to keep informed of most current developments, and had skills to prevent being misinformed. We have front row seats to things happening everywhere!

I'll avoid touching on the overwhelming negative surprises - most of you are too aware of them. I've been very surprised at the incredible amount of collaboration, learning and help provided across the world. My area would definitely have been in much worst shape if our public health didn't learn from counterparts from places earlier hit. The CDC experts from so many countries openly gave advice (via translations) via public channels. I was shocked at how fast people voluntarily self isolated and then reached out to help one another in ways we hadn't before. BTW I have a very special fond memory of being sent outstanding masks from one of you from across the world during a time when I was fretting because none could be found here. The only thing I had was Zach's bandanna. I will always be grateful.

It shocked me how effective our unpopular left wing provincial government was in supporting the leadership of public health to move mountains and yet prioritized spending time with all of us via livestream DAILY until phase 2 (we're in phase 3 and they're still in our homes 3 times a week) - giving us honest facts, good news/bad news, daily advice and answering EVERY question posed to them by media and via email. I was shocked by the genuine tears and emotions expressed by our chief public health official and Minister Health at times when delivering news. Umm... Sure we're Canadians but our government officials and bureaucrats aren't normally so transparent. I was shocked that prior to reopening most organizations adhered to or exceeded demanding covid safety requirements which are permanently a part of our standard workplace safety set of laws. All have to have their own safety plans which must be available on demand to any member of the public or safety inspectors to review. All this has been incredibly challenging and costly, and a few actually view these actions as fascist tyranny (!). These marginal folks obviously have not kept informed regularly - they are clueless that the public has been largely educated to protect ourselves with practical measures - we have been equipped with knowledge of how to keep covid contained, and also the tools to gauge for ourselves whether any location is safe/not. With our new normal existence, we have most of our freedom back, regardless of covid level of transmission at the moment.

Another surprise - with your help I've learned to cook well enough I enjoy eating at home most of the time.

Somewhere along the line, I've gotten old. Nothing much surprises me these days, particularly anything to do with human nature.

Hell, even the zombies later on around November won't surprise me. Oh, locusts coming, too. ;)

The real surprise for me was how much of a difference it would feel for me to only leave the house when necessary.

As I work from home, my pre-pandemic routine was to spend most of every day at home with maybe a trip to the local shops some days. So, I wasn't expecting having to spend most of every day at home with maybe a trip to the local shops some days to feel like such a major thing.

@V. T. Eric Layton I read that locus are invading somewhere maybe Mexico? no sure

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-locust-plagues-in-east-africa-are-sending-us-a-message-and-it-s-not-a-good-one

The # of regions being affected by locust swarms is growing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQGn9Ts_YWI

@Bill Brayman Very nice work. Although I had to look closely. It looked like a butt at first. ;)

Surprised? Our thug governor called for the shut down.

During the shut down, I felt safe on the street. Drivers actually stopped before the crosswalk or sidewalk. They looked at their surroundings. Now, as before they only care about getting someplace in a hurry

Good evening, well Corona was a nasty surprise.
I was surprised how much Corona boosted digitalisation processes in University and other bureaucratic government institutions.
What was impossible due to the unwilling of some people is now suddenly possible.

But I'm still a bit mad that I couldn't visit my gf in Japan.

And what me also surprised is that my sister is now a mother. Never thought that she will have kids one day.
Well, tomorrow I will visiting my sister and my nephew for the first time.

I'm shocked at how passive Americans are, surprised certain politicians haven't been assassinated yet. Especially when their words are the literal cause of others deaths.

@Rodrigo Mesa 🤣

Space - I'm surprised we haven't made bigger strides. When I was nine, I ended up in hospital having my appendix removed. That was 61 years ago. My uncle visited me and gave me a book about space, knowing I was interested. In it was an artist's view of what the space station would look like, and it was almost exactly the same as the one in 2001 A Space Odyssey - like a spoked wheel, turning slowly to mimic gravity around the outer parts of it.
Maybe if we spent less on wars, we could spend more on space. I also hope we can keep politics, religion out of it. The idea of Space Force scares me.

@Christoph S how exciting to meet your nephew for the first time. I think you mentioned his name before, I've forgotten!

@Michael Willsey I'm surprised too. But I've got my fingers crossed against violence, there have been too many deaths already.

@Rodrigo Mesa 😂😂😂

@Don Little War is more important. /s

We should have had an international moon base by now. Instead, we have a measly tiny station. We should have had a manned landing on Mars.

We should have been able to beat cancers by now. We should have a highly educated population.

Instead, we kill.

@Su Ann Lim Agreed, too much violence already, people looking for excuses, any assassinations of Politicians is likely to be the cause of greater violence! Many are frustrated when they see privileged people above the law, and causing great harm to others. In a realistic world, they would be treated same as any criminal. Arrest by law enforcement and then trial. How are we to accept it with calm when someone is actively harming others? As in, people are literally being killed in font of our eyes. How can we stand by? When politicians are in office, being paid by our tax money, there to serve us, at some point when the 'Authorities' fail to do their duties. When can the people remove a criminal from leadership? I agree no violence but isn't it also immoral to stand by as others are being harmed and killed?

@UnclePirate (Stan McCann) Money and greed bring out the worst in people. To think what could have been achieved by now if we hadn't put so much money into wars.
In other words, what you said.

@Michael Willsey I don't have answers. It's a very tough situation. I agree T's responsible for many deaths.

I've always liked waving at people when I go on my walks. These days people wave back and smile!

Color me surprised and pleased that this time around, the Black Lives Matter movement — but, more importantly than 'BLM' itself, general reaction to, awareness of, and dissatisfaction with the shit deal that non-whites get in the US — is finally getting real traction, not just in the US but in much of the world. Statues of King Leopold II being pulled down in Belgium. US cities voting to dissolve their police departments. Finally something is HAPPENING. The world is paying attention at last, and perhaps THIS time it won't end up all just swept under the rug again.

@Phil Stracchino Stracchino
"Statues of King Leopold II being pulled down in Belgium."
WOOHOO!

@Muse
I've noticed that too. Wife and I will sometimes take some folding chairs out to in front of our garage in the sun (with the cat, of course) and watch people walking by with their dogs. Waves, Hi, how are you, people we previously didn't know existed. There have been unexpected plusses.

👍 @Don Little

👍 @Phil Stracchino

But... we're only halfway to 2020. Probably in the second half a lot more will happen.
It remains to be seen what and how.
What is certain is that we (well, we who are discussing here, at least) seem to see where the dead ends are ; and where the possible outcomes would be.
But what about the others ? That is to say, the enormous mass of those who... ah, how shall I put it... let's say, those who "blindly follow the guidelines", and in doing so, validate decisions that do not go in the direction of Nature, of a balanced and supportive society, in short, of a healthier and safer future... Well, you see. They, what do they see ?
Is there a way to make them aware of the situation, of the possible alternatives ?

@Muse, I notice that too! Smiling via the eyes is effective too, and appears to resonate more often that not. Positively surprising for me!

@Muse How do you know if they're wearing a mask?

@Phil Landmeier (ᚠ) Kangaroos wear their masks over their bellybuttons!