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Hey, there! It's been a while since my last post in this forum but I am back with some great news to those who want to know more about the local culture by learning the local dialect or BISAYA/VISAYA.

The Bisayan classes will be done via Zoom (3x a week plus one physical meeting ( with all health protocols applied).

The Learn Bisaya Online is set on Sept., this year. Time will be agreed by the members but tentatively, the Zoom meetings will be held at 8 pm or if you have suggestions, feel free to share them here.

 

This is from https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1305300/comet-streaking-past-earth-providing-spectacular-show

I am not sure if I am allowed to provide the photo from the article (will remove it if not) but this spectacular comet is moving this way.

A summary of the article says: "CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — A newly discovered comet is streaking past Earth, providing a stunning nighttime show after buzzing the sun and expanding its tail.

Comet Neowise — the brightest comet visible from the Northern Hemisphere in a quarter-century — swept within Mercury’s orbit a week ago. Its close proximity to the sun caused dust and gas to burn off its surface and create an even bigger debris tail. Now the comet is headed our way, with closest approach in two weeks.

Scientists involved in the mission said the comet is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) across. Its nucleus is covered with sooty material dating back to the origin of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago.

The comet will be visible across the Northern Hemisphere until mid-August, when it heads back toward the outer solar system. While it’s visible with the naked eye in dark skies with little or no light pollution, binoculars are needed to see the long tail, according to NASA.

It will be about 7,000 years before the comet returns. (I am guessing we might not get a 2nd chance to see this! )

Comet streaking past Earth, providing spectacular show
Associated Press / 12:10 PM July 11, 2020


Comet Neowise soars in the horizon of the early morning sky in this view from the near the grand view lookout at the Colorado National Monument west of Grand Junction, Colo., Thursday, July 9, 2020. (Conrad Earnest via AP)

[P.S. To save the person who makes snide comments making one here: Everyone's an astronomer now)

 

the point here is that young people are now filling up the ICU beds

 

For anyone locked down with time to kill check out https://tinyzonetv.to/ thousands of HQ movies and every tv series ever aired free. top quality without spam or adds

I have made it through to season 8 , 1978 MASH . 4 years to go.

I recommend the full series Band of Brothers will take a few days but a magnificent series

 

I don't own this site nor moderate the Forum, so this is probably not my business. However I have a sense of fairness (not really a good thing to have in this senseless world) and note that in a thread (which I cannot find now) Mikal used the word 'false' in relation to the IMMEDIATE introduction of a new quarantine pass system by Gov. Delgamo. For that he appears to have been banned.

Depending on how the word 'false' is used or the interpretation of the context in which it was used, he may have 'broken the rules' but in fact the information he commented on was 'inaccurate' at that time. The EO was NOT introduced with "immediate effect" on 5th May.

This was NOT in any way the fault of the original poster as he supplied that information in good faith (if it was @DavyL200 then his expertise is to inform members of legislation before most of us have a clue). It seems someone in the Governor's office jumped the gun.

Mikal has made some excellent contributions in his postings and is no way an ON type (you will remember him!).

Perhaps his ban could be reconsidered if the moderators wish to do so. Or I could volunteer to take his place in the best spirit of 'Spartacus' (hmmm .... although I recall that didn't work out too well).

 

You do not have to go to immigration until this is over... Just in case you did not know

 

English being not my mother tongue, please accept my apologies in advance
Have heard about this forum when I was in Dumaguete in 2016, it was not my first time in the Phils and I'm looking forward to come back asap for holiday, and for retirement in a relatively near future.
It's now about 2-3 years that I've used to read this forum, makes me feel a bit like in holiday and reminds me of the good times here.
I've decided to join as member so at least I can put some emoji as "ratings", see pics in full screen (especially the beautiful ones from "Dr Ski") and eventually put my 2 centavos !
Also in this special covid times, I've learned a lot of things concerning this virus by reading this forum (special thanks to "it's not my real name").
Oh! one last thing (finally !) ; I love to ride motorbike (especially 2 stroke, hence my nickname)... I like to ride on my own or with one or two friends max...so I'm not a big fan of MC Clubs...just saying

 

Seems like it will be up to the governor to make the decision to extend or nor extend the N.O. quarantine. Are there new local virus cases this week?
I would hope, if there is no EQ, certain precautions are still taken, such as masks, social distancing, and if you feel sick go to the hospital. With no mass testing available, peeling the onion might be necessary.
The current Dumaguete entrance system is not sustainable.

 

The biggest game changer will be a vaccine (a year or more away), new drugs (unlikely for a very long time), combinations of existing drugs (many have been stated as effective but none have yet been selected for mass use) ... or knowing if people are immune.

Knowing the immune status is achieved by ANTIBODY testing - up to now testing is for the ANTIGEN (the virus itself) and this tells the person if he is currently infected.

Testing for the antibody will tell the person if he HAS been infected (even if he was not aware as the symptoms were very mild or non-existent). I queried many times on this forum why they were not doing antibody tests but the answer was they didn't have one! Now they have.

So, if people can be identified as immune (but not currently infected) then those people should (hopefully) be able to go out and return to work. No one knows currently how many that is - it could be millions in a country the size of the UK. They can return a country to nearer normality as they can work, go shopping, visiting cinemas etc.

One major problem I can foresee is how to identify them as, obviously, some people not tested will say they are immune (and many people will have self-tested at home)! The pubs will re-open and be filled 'self-declared immune' who are either (i) immune (good - but not tested so they did not know), (ii) uninfected but not immune and (iii) infected. So '(iii)' will be a great danger to '(ii)'.

The other problem is getting hold of the antibody test kits - let's hope all countries can get hold of kits so that we have a better understanding of the level of immunity within a population and can specifically identify those who are now immune.

Btw, there have been cases of recovered individuals who showed symptoms a second time but the evidence is that they are not spreaders. IF immunity is weak or short-lived then we are back to square one.