quote:

Originally posted by Batman:
Let’s all just do our part and hope for the best. There will be shows at some point, and I will be back to support them.

Well Said, Probably will need more support if a previous one cancelled. So if you often say "I'd like to go" make sure you do actually go to ones later in the year and support the Non-sport card dealer, show and hobby.

Just got word- the May Philly Non-Sport Card Show has been cancelled.

quote:

Originally posted by cubby5454:
Just got word- the May Philly Non-Sport Card Show has been cancelled.

very sad but was always going to happen.

Notices going out directly:

quote:

Spring 2020 Chicago Non-Sport Card Show is
Cancelled

With the current health concerns, it would be irresponsible to hold a gathering of collectors at this time. So we have made the difficult decision to cancel our Spring event. Promo cards will be carried over to the Fall Show which will be

October 9th and 10th

Creative Guest Randy Siplon will be joining us in October, we're excited to bring him in and so glad he was able to make October work for his schedule.

To help Randy support his upcoming Kickstarter for Siplon Studios, we are making the Freaky Faces P1 available to anyone who wants to send a SASE, this card features original art by Randy Siplon and the Chicago logo on the back. Send a SASE to:

Scifi Cards
Chicago Promo Offer
PO Box 10187
Glendale, AZ 85318

Any remaining promos will be available in October.

Bummer, Ed!

I suggest you do a virtual card show. . .

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:
Bummer, Ed!

I suggest you do a virtual card show. . .

He has already started with the Freaky Faces Card

So in spite of saying "never, never, ever" for a week, NYS Governor Cuomo just announced the strictest shelter-in-place policy in the country. Every non-essential business has been ordered closed. No one should go out except for food, medical needs, or solitary exercise. Guess I don't have to worry about picking up my Game of Thrones boxes at my LHS now.

Honestly I don't know how this is supposed to work because they are acting on preventive measures and anticipated models that no one wants to happen. There is no time frame to say when it's over and according to case numbers it hasn't actually begun yet. Positive cases are going up because testing has increased. The fear of what could happen is way worse than what has happened so far. But by imposing these restrictions now, there is nothing left to cut out.

Forget about the economy. This puts most working New Yorkers on unemployment, if they can even apply on the website since that crashed yesterday. There is no amount of government rebates or incentives to come that is going to make up for the money businesses and individuals will lose. If we get actual food shortages because that essential supply line breaks down, or people run out of money to pay, it will be another kind of crisis. We have weathered disasters in NYC before, but not even 9/11 touched every person. And again, we are waiting for the other shoe to drop. These policies have to be temporary or they destroy the society they are saving. We need a vaccine or the weather or a natural immunity to stop the spread. In the mean time I have never seen anything like it and the people are behaving extremely well under the circumstances. This is another level.

Anyway that's the update from NY and a little of my editorial. I hope things are better in your corner of the world, wherever it is. Good luck and God Bless.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

Honestly I don't know how this is supposed to work because they are acting on preventive measures and anticipated models that no one wants to happen. There is no time frame to say when it's over and according to case numbers it hasn't actually begun yet. Positive cases are going up because testing has increased. The fear of what could happen is way worse than what has happened so far.

Every epidemiologist, every health professional, that I've heard says this is what has to happen. If we wait until it is bad, it is too late. It hasn't really hit my town yet (not hard, anyway), but the local officials said that our hospitals have about 200 ventilators to assist patients in breathing, and 100 of them are in use. So if we get 100 serious coronavirus patients who need breathing machines, we are out. The 101st will die.

We have to slow down the rate of transmission and infection -- that's the only thing that can buy time for a vaccine to be developed and distributed. Read this: https://twitter.com/yaneerbary.../1240657722955218945

"according to case numbers it hasn't actually begun yet"
Where are you getting that idea from? Johns Hopkins posts real-time data. New York, as of this morning, had 5700 confirmed (tested) patients, and 38 deaths. Deaths lag infection by about three weeks - call it 20 days. If the virus is 1% fatal, that means that 3 weeks ago, there were 3800 infected. It grows exponentially by a factor of 10 every 10 days (approximately), so 10 days ago, NY had 38,000 infected, and now it has 380,000 infected. The vast majority of people who have it have not been tested, but they still can transmit the disease. It has begun, and lockdown is the only way to slow it down.


Positive cases are going up not only because testing is going up, but also because the virus is spreading. We know it is spreading because hospital admissions and deaths are rising. Patients who have the virus can spread it before they show symptoms.

You may get bored sitting at home. But you may be saving yourself from becoming sick, and from passing it on to others who might get very sick, and even die.

And wash your hands.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bill Mullins,

As testing increases, there will be more positives. I did not say that, the Governor said it, the Mayor said it, the President said it and the statics prove it. I thought some people might like to know the latest news from the ground where I am, since we were talking about it. That's all.

Give people more credit than just not wanting to be bored at home, please. There are life changing consequences to this going on. Physical, emotional and economic, the whole spectrum and if it doesn't effect someone yet, then they are lucky and have easy talking. Let's hope it passes fast and maybe the malaria vaccine proves useful. The news on this is changing by the hour.

The government is having to force everything to close for 2 main reasons.

First a lot of people are spreading the disease who are asymptomatic. The estimate is that only around 20% of cases lead to hospitalization (and that may be high). That means that in the public there are about 5 times more people infected than the number of confirmed cases being reported in the US. Additionally symptoms lag about 5 days behind the infection for people who are infected, so the number of infected who are being reported now is effectively data that is 5 days old.

Also while a lot of people did take this seriously and attempted social distancing a lot of people didn't, many people are still on spring break and going out like nothing is happening.

I personally am very glad that the government is shutting things down. . . I just wish more people took it seriously so it didn't have to come to that.

Hi Raven,

The county I live in (Santa Clara) has been under a "shelter-in-place" order since it was announced last Monday. I am already four days in. Day-to-day, it's not that bad. You just have to get used to a different way of living. You can still order books and DVD's, so if you get bored with what's on TV, Netflix, or whatever, you can go back to old-school entertainment.

Financially, I hear you already. A bank called me on Tuesday to tell me I'm late on a payment. Yeah, no kidding. I was late last week because I didn't have enough to make that payment. My employer couldn't pay me the previous Friday. Because of the order, I can't go get another job. I have to stay home and figure out something and play the ball as it comes off the wall. The governor has since extended the order to the entire state. Banks are going to have to understand that CA, and now, NY residents can't go anywhere. Most people don't have a telecommuting kind of job (you can't stock a shelf nor assemble cars remotely). The due date to pay our taxes has been pushed back 90 days. The banks need to understand and extend mortgage and credit card payment due dates at least the same amount of time with no late fees. I'm not hearing enough about that on the news.

The whole country should stay home. There are still people downplaying this situation, how it's not that bad. Even if it doesn't seem like a lot of people are dying, thousands are going to be seriously ill. I had a bad flu a few years ago. I probably should have been hospitalized. It was miserable. It seemed like I picked up a symptom every day (congestion, cough, loss of appetite, body aches) and then I seemed to recover step-by-step, day-by-day. Thousands can avoid getting that sick or avoiding transmitting it to someone else if they stay home.

I know that the fun of collecting stuff is getting something new periodically. We might have to just be happy with what we have for a while. People are looking for things to do when they are stuck at home - people like me who don't have bad winter weather. They are going through their closets, organizing their photos, putting files into folders, etc. It's a good time to go through your own collection. Think about a better way to organize it if you have some stuff all over the place. Sort out cards of a category that could be in their own different box Determine what duplicates you have. Get a more accurate idea of what you're still missing in some old or recent set. Type up lists. I find cards I forgot about every time I go through a box.

I wasn't sure NSU was going to be able to publish another issue but see the site has already a posted a picture of it.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
As testing increases, there will be more positives. I did not say that, the Governor said it, the Mayor said it, the President said it and the statics prove it. I thought some people might like to know the latest news from the ground where I am, since we were talking about it. That's all.

Give people more credit than just not wanting to be bored at home, please. There are life changing consequences to this going on. Physical, emotional and economic, the whole spectrum and if it doesn't effect someone yet, then they are lucky and have easy talking. Let's hope it passes fast and maybe the malaria vaccine proves useful. The news on this is changing by the hour.

Thats unfortunate Ed but we all have to do our bit during this epedemic.
We only have about 30 confirmed cases in New Zealand but it is affecting every one , all sports and events have been cancelled throughout the country and borders closed.
This morning I received an E Mail advertisment for Wizard World meet the cast of Supernatural at Wizard World ,Nothing being said about it being cancelled or postponed.

I belong to a stamp collector board which has over 20,000 members from many different countries. Interesting read about what some places are doing to slow down the proliferation of this virus. here's the link:
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=89431

This message has been edited. Last edited by: promoking,

Phoenix Fan Fusion postponed from Memorial Day Weekend to September.

As it stands now, no shows until June for me. I guess that's the foreseeable future now.

I'm about ready to write off June too, and hope Denver Comic Con on July 4th weekend goes off. Would hate to miss that one.

Ed

quote:

Originally posted by promoking:
I belong to a stamp collector board which has over 30,000 members from many different countries. Interesting read about what some places are doing to slow down the proliferation of this virus. here's the link:
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=89431

Thanks for the link, some good reading and it does illustrate a universal truth. No matter what the opinion expressed, there is always someone ready to jump down your throat.

Who knew stamp collectors could be so combative?

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
No matter what the opinion expressed, there is always someone ready to jump down your throat.

Ain't that the truth??

I thought this was interesting reading about what DC Comics is doing for its retailers etc..

https://www.msn.com/en-us/ente...QXw5?ocid=spartandhp

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:
I haven't seen any deals on entertainment cards. . . I've been looking. . .

I'm still not finding any deals, in fact the prices on what I am watching seem to be going up.

quote:

Originally posted by promoking:
I thought this was interesting reading about what DC Comics is doing for its retailers etc..

https://www.msn.com/en-us/ente...QXw5?ocid=spartandhp

Very interested in the multi-distributor angle, that could be a game changer.

Though, by continuing to publish some retailers claim they are being pushed aside if they are being forced to be closed. They'll miss out if they are in a lock-down area.

There's also some grumbling that DC is going to continue to publish all issues digitally. Thought being that once the comic has been read online, fewer will be sold. Though, the fully returnable angle should make that a little easier. But retailers are afraid once some readers go digital, they'll never come back to the store.

Unfortunately, it's not a simple solution.

Ed

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:
I haven't seen any deals on entertainment cards. . . I've been looking. . .

I'm still not finding any deals, in fact the prices on what I am watching seem to be going up.

Bottom line is people are trying to pay their bills.

I'm seeing fewer looks right now, but still some healthy sales.

Looking into doing coupon codes on the website to try to keep business off eBay, where the fees are higher.

Ed