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Over Promising, Under Delivering
For those who don't know, I am a bit of a Sliger fan. In particular, I have been looking forward to the recently released Cerb Mini since August of 2019. In the time leading up to and following the release of the case, quite a few issues with Sliger have become apparent, and I think they should be openly discussed. As a moderator on the Sliger Discord and longtime fan, I thought I would be in a good position to discuss these issues. First, I think many of us give Sliger a generous amount of leniency. After all, they are a "small" manufacturer relative to companies like Lian Li and Cooler Master (although they're actually quite a large producer of non-SFF products); they're also family-owned, do manufacturing in house, and are proudly based in the USA. When issues arise with timelines, nobody seems more disappointed than Sliger employees, and that's reassuring to see as a customer. The support team is incredibly responsive (when they aren't overwhelmed as they have been recently), and being able to call and get a human is a wonderful experience. In summary, I don’t think any of us suspect the Sliger folks of being lazy or intentionally misleading. We all know how hard everyone is working, and this post isn't mean to imply otherwise. Still, there has been significant frustration around recent launches and their accompanying issues, and I think the Sliger team should take this opportunity to refocus their efforts and make needed changes.
The Problem
As anyone who has contacted support or been on the Discord knows, you'll almost always be told that issues will be resolved "this week" or "by the end of the week" or "next week." Then, the next week will roll around, and another issue will pop up, and another delay occurs. To illustrate my point, here's the timeline for the S cases (for reference, Kahlin is SligerCases):
Sep 10th: The first details of the cases are made public and said to be coming very soon. "Hopefully have shipping in October, if not sooner"
October: No new information.
Nov 14th: The cases are finally formally announced and "will be shipping by December 7th." The post says that COVID had already made it "almost impossible to keep up this year" with expectations. This is called foreshadowing. It would be a shame if new orders broke all previous sale records.
Nov 20th: This was the original date that purchases were meant to go live, but they were delayed to Nov 22nd due to trouble having the website configured in time. Very minor setback, to be fair - but this shows how much crunching was already going on.
Dec 4th: Kahlin says shipping should start around the 10th or 11th after acknowledging a massive influx of orders. Remember the foreshadowing? This is called payoff. Later on the Discord, they said they had "more orders waiting than shipped in the entire year." This is probably the point at which deadlines should have started changing significantly.
Dec 8th: Shipping delays, S610 shipping Dec 11th, S620 shipping 18th. This post also discusses the "Christmas list," which was meant to prioritize people who wanted cases for Christmas. This was an incredibly kind gesture, but as far as I can tell, it actually didn't end up going anywhere.
Dec 31st: First day I can find where someone said their S case shipped on Discord.
As of now, there are still many people on Discord waiting on their orders from early December. All SV590 orders from November finally shipped as of 1/19, for example. Obviously, things are way behind schedule. Tangentially, consider the timeline for Density (Sliger's EU vendor):
Jan 11th: Density Labs ships - confirmed with density via Discord.
As a minor point, these unrealistic timelines also impacted the user manuals and thermal benchmarks, which were supposed to be released "next week" in November of 2020. They still have not been released, leading to lots of confusion over screw types and such. Clearly, these misses of deadlines don't apply to only physical products, which indicates a more pervasive estimation problem. Obviously, I'm not able to confirm how precise some of these timelines were, as I only have anecdotal evidence to work with. From what I can tell, almost every single timeline given turned out to be incorrect. To focus on the Dec 16th timeline (that certain dates would ship before the end of the year), we have many members of the Discord who can confirm this did not end up being true. One of our members who ordered an hour after S cases went on sale did not have their case shipped out this year, for example. This has resulted in a lot of disappointment among many Discord users. I think it's fair to say that the Sliger team is, at best, optimistic about their timelines. At worst, this optimism becomes disingenuous. Customers continually receive rosy deadlines only to be disappointed again and again and again. For multiple people, this meant the support team telling them directly that their case would be shipping "soon" multiple times. The support team should not have to do this (I assume they don't come up with the estimations). Similarly, the "Christmas list" was a heartwarming idea. Due to it being unrealistic, it probably got a bunch of people's hopes up, only to be let down once again. No prototype cases were made in time, despite earlier promises. This means no large batches of cases were manufactured (with painting) ahead of time, which probably would have led to discovering issues with white paint and such - or at least cushioned massive failure. There have even been some issues with the new cases that would have been caught quickly in prototypes: the PCI-E bracket of some GPUs pushes out the side panel, the side rad mount position makes a double loop nearly impossible, the USB ports make mounting a front fan really tricky. It is clear that COVID has been a particular problem for many companies this year and Sliger is no exception. Delayed shipments of materials, staffers missing, you name it. As mentioned, Sliger themselves said it was "almost impossible to keep up this year" when they first announced these cases. They had already gone through numerous issues with shipment delays and such: Previous LTT and Level1Tech videos caused delays "for two months." Unfortunately, it seems like there wasn't enough changed to prevent this from happening again. For these exact reasons, the deadlines that have been given for the new cases seem even more questionable. Some delays and issues are unavoidable, but I think we're all aware that COVID has done nothing but get worse. My point being: more delays should have been (and continue to be) obvious. With these delays and challenges in mind, launching brand new products + a BF sale seems borderline irresponsible. It's totally unfair to employees who no doubt feel a lot of pressure to try and meet the unrealistic deadlines being set, especially those who are working overtime, Mr. Sliger included (there is no mandatory overtime, to be clear). It was unfair for the customers as well, of course: people pay a lot of money for these products, and they don't deserve to be lied to and given insanely unrealistic timelines. There's really no excuse for it.
Going Forward
I am not a business owner, and I don't claim to be an expert in management, so my feedback here is obviously limited. I think there are a few things the Sliger team should focus on to alleviate these issues in the future:
Serious logistics management. Logistics is an entire area of study and profession for a really good reason. Any manufacturing company that is serious about meeting demand ought to be consulting someone trained to do these things. (I don't know if Sliger already does this, but I assume they don't, given the perpetual issues). This also means making sure that no employees are doing too much - like support team members packing orders.
Improve transparency and PR. There was a single email that went out about delays throughout last year, despite the deadlines in the email being missed. In my opinion, there should be weekly emails that go out to update people on the status of manufacturing. This would also serve to keep internal deadlines in check by forcing accountability. Also, understand that communication is not the same as transparency. Telling people that their cases will ship next week every week is a lot of communication, but not transparent (because it's wrong). I would point to WinterCharm’s fantastic update posts as an example to follow.
Better internal communication. There must be some kind of disconnect going on when deadlines are so unrealistic. How is it that anyone thinks problems will be resolved so quickly?
Stop taking orders for a while, you guys clearly have enough demand already. This was hinted at on the Discord and would definitely help you guys catch up.
Under promise, over-deliver. This is the exact opposite of what occurs right now. The deadlines seem to be based on best-case scenarios instead of worst-case scenarios. Disappointing someone once with a big delay is probably better than repeated disappointments - it's also more genuine.
In summary, there's a lot of frustration from people who have received a “this week” or “next week” one too many times. It’s understandable that people will start to be upset with that. Now that cases are finally getting out the door, it’s probably a good time to look back and reflect on the troubles of the launch, so that next time can be even better.
Book the 2021 Men's Royal Rumble Match | Part One: BUILD
Note: This takes place in a non-COVID world, because what would the Rumble be without a crowd? Since 1988, the spectacle known as the Royal Rumble has graced the world every January, the winner receiving a World Title match of their choosing at WrestleMania, and oftentimes also the main event slot at the Show of Shows. With the 31st of January quickly approaching, the road to 2021’s Men’s Royal Rumble match is on, and with one lucky wrestler having the opportunity to challenge for either the WWE or Universal Championships, it’s every man for himself. 30 spots are open, but who will fill them? That will be settled in the weeks following TLC, in the build to the Royal Rumble…
RAW
WWE Championship December 21st, 2020 2020 has been quite the breakout year for one Drew McIntyre, the 2x WWE Champion coming off a successful title defence at TLC against AJ Styles and The Miz in the eponymous stipulation, the latter cashing in unsuccessfully, only to be returned his briefcase the following night due to the cash-in being claimed illegitimate. Looking for one final challenge to push himself before his year comes to an end, McIntyre puts out an Open Challenge for his title on the TLC fallout edition of RAW, marching out in the main event of the night to receive his opponent. His call is answered by none other than the Limitless, Keith Lee! With two previous matches against the Scottish Terminator ending in indecisive means, he looks to finally put an end to the questions and pounce the champion out of his reign. The two wrestle a true hoss-fest as they slap and chop the meat off of each other, stiffing each other with headbutts amongst other debilitating strikes. A Future Shock DDT from the champ fails to put the final nail in the coffin, Keith giving Drew arguably the closest match of his tenure as champion ever, having him on the ropes time and time again, even delivering a freakish Avalanche Spanish Fly! Catching the Claymore, Lee goes for the Spirit Bomb, but he’s clocked in the back of the head by The Miz’s Mr. MITB briefcase for the DQ! Miz & John Morrison roll Lee out of the ring, before laying into Drew, Miz attempting to cash-in for the second time in consecutive nights, only for Lee to rise up on the apron and bash their heads together, before pouncing them out of the ring with fury in his eyes. Once more, he’s been screwed of his opportunity to put down Drew, the champion and challenger almost coming to blows again after the match, but the show ultimately closes on the shot of the two staring each other down. December 28th, 2020 Continuing on from RAW’s ending the previous week, McIntyre and Lee charge out immediately, wanting to finish matters off, only to be interrupted by Miz & Morrison once more, but to their chagrin, they’re followed out by AJ Styles & Omos, Sheamus, and Riddle too, until the ring overflows with people laying claims to Drew’s title. Before anarchy can break loose though, a solution is proposed by Main Roster Official Adam Pearce. With the Rumble quickly approaching, not only do they need to find a challenger for the WWE Title, but they also need to find RAW representatives in the 30-Man extravaganza. Calling back to Survivor Series, he reminds that RAW won the Men’s 5-on-5, as well as the night overall. Unlike previous years, there’ll be a reward for those efforts. Along with RAW being promised more entrants into the Rumble than SmackDown, next week, there’ll be a #1 Contender’s Battle Royal to crown Drew’s challenger for the Rumble – but there’s a twist. As Lee, Styles, Sheamus and Riddle were all part of the winning side in the Men’s 5-on-5, they have an opportunity to opt out of the BR and instead be guaranteed a late entry into the Rumble! Without second thought, Styles retracts his name from the BR, claiming that the main event of WrestleMania has his name written all over it, and after what Miz pulled at TLC, he’s not going to risk his title shot being stolen again via cash-in. As for the other 3, they think otherwise, still willing to toss their names into the hat, Lee wanting to settle business with Drew as soon as possible, Sheamus traumatised by his 2 second elimination in his last Rumble appearance and Riddle suffering similar fates last year. Styles cackles in their faces, the flat-earther ironically claiming to be the wisest of them all, stating that he’ll eager watch as they all fall on their faces and end up being eliminated at his hands in the Rumble. January 4th, 2021 With the WWE Champion watching on from commentary, the BR unfolds, the aforementioned Lee, Sheamus and Riddle in the running, as well as other names such as Randy Orton after his victory over The Fiend, MVP looking to bring home all the gold to Hurt Business, Miz & Morrison out to stir anarchy, Mustafa Ali backed by RETRIBUTION with Ricochet following close behind, Jeff Hardy joining his Hardy Bro, and even a dark horse pick in Angel Garza, who heads to the ring with a new fire in his eyes, ditching the depths of the 24/7 Title to chase the top prize. The Survivor Series 3 put on strong performances, tossing people out left and right, looking to make their risky play count, whilst Ali uses RETRIBUTION to his favour, also establishing himself as a threat. Orton slithers in the background, doling out RKOs here and there, whilst Garza puts on one heck of a breakout performance himself. As MVP slyly eliminates Hardy, Riddle makes him follow suit, leaving Hurt Business in shambles, proceeding them to cost him the match for revenge! Ali makes a play for Ricochet to join RETRIBUTION, but an RKO from Orton disposes of him, before Garza gets an upset over the One and Only, shattering his dreams! The Final 4 boils down to Lee, Sheamus, Orton and Garza, until an unexpected name joins the party as this theme hits. IT’S ANDRADE! Since being kicked to the curb by Garza, El Idolo has been brooding on the sidelines, but he has returned, making a beeline for Angel as he clotheslines him over the ropes and to the outside, the two brawling to the back as the match continues, 3 remaining. Orton takes the fight to his opponents, dropping them with RKOs, but before he can eliminate them, he find that he isn’t the only one to be haunted by past demons though, as the lights go out. When they come back on, a look of surprise fills his face as he comes face-to-face with a headless Rambling Rabbit! Turning around, he sees Mercy the Buzzard, Huskus the Pig Boy to his left, Abby the Witch to his right, all relics from his assault on the Funhouse last week, and standing on the apron is THE FIEND! Orton goes to strike, only for The Fiend to collapse, revealing to be a mere stuffed version, the distraction allowing Lee to pounce Orton out of the ring and eliminate him! It’s now down to just two, as Lee and Sheamus go head-to-head! After a close match, Lee heads to the ropes as he goes for the Doomsault, but before he can scale to the top turnbuckle, his eyes lock with Drew’s, who stands up from commentary, the slight diversion of attention allowing the Irishman to eliminate the Limitless one, earning a shot for the Rumble, Lee forced to wait another day as he stares holes through the WWE Champion, who lifts his chin high in the air whilst Sheamus celebrates in the ring. Despite their eliminations though, Lee, along with Riddle, confirm their entries into the Rumble on RAW Talk. Confirmed entrants (so far): AJ Styles, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle Hurt Business/The New Day/The Hardy Bros December 28th, 2020 8 days removed from Hurt Business defeating New Day to win the RAW Tag Team Championships from them, the quartet claim that Rumble will see them clean sweep as the United States Champion Bobby Lashley tosses his hat into the Rumble, his worthiness not needing any questioning with his 4+ months long tenure as champ, but as for the new RAW Tag Team Champions Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin, they have a qualifier scheduled against another team who also want in, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods of The New Day out to get back at the duo that took their titles at TLC. With the two teams 2-2 against each other, it’s sure to be a close match as they come to blows, proving to be rather familiar with the other’s offense, the match based more around counters and scouting deadly moves. With MVP barking orders from ringside and Lashley patrolling the quarter, HB seem to have it in the bag, only for The Hardy Bros to run out, running a distraction after what went down between the sides last week, allowing New Day to come back from underneath, Kofi surprising Cedric with a Trouble in Paradise, New Day punching their ticket to the Rumble as HB are left fuming! January 11th – 25th 2021 After HB returned the favour the previous week in the BR, the 8 men collide in a series of match-ups, featuring Hardy defeating MVP to also qualify for the Rumble, the deck stacked against Lashley as he happens to be the only member of his faction making it through. However, January 31st doesn’t roll around without the Hurt Business having the last laugh, defeating New Day & Hardy Bros in 8-Man Tag action, before laying waste to them as they pose with their titles over their bodies, Lashley assuring his teammates that he’ll bring home the victory. Confirmed Entrants so far: AJ Styles, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Jeff Hardy Andrade/Angel Garza January 11th, 2021 The WWE Universe is buzzing following Andrade’s emphatic return to RAW the previous week, costing Garza the Battle Royal after a standout performance from the latter. Due to being unfairly eliminated last week, Garza receives a second shot at reaching the WWE Championship as he and Andrade face off in a Rumble qualifier, killing two birds with one stone as they also get to settle their differences in the ring. Both men show off their Lucha Libre talents as they take it to each other, vitriol for one another fuelling their wrestling, proving that there’s much more on the line in both men’s mind than just the Rumble spot. Angel teases the Wing Clipper, but thinks better of it, wanting to rub salt in the wounds as he goes for La Sombra instead, only for it to backfire as El Idolo fights free, scoring a Wing Clipper of his own, before floating over into La Sombra for the 3 count! The taste of revenge is sweet for the third generation superstar as he finally gets one back over his rival, qualifying for the Rumble! Confirmed entrants (so far): AJ Styles, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Jeff Hardy, Andrade Randy Orton January 11th, 2021 Paranoia grows stronger by the week for the sadistic Orton, as after leaving the Firefly Funhouse in a mess two weeks ago and teasing lighting Alexa Bliss on fire, his past came creeping back and spoiled his shot at earning a shot at the WWE Championship last week. Yearning to take out his pent up aggression on someone, he taunts Hall of Famers on Legend’s Night (takes place on the 11th instead), trying to get into their heads, only to bury himself further in his own as The Fiend continues living rent free inside. January 18th/25th, 2021 In attempts of distancing himself from The Fiend and taking his mind off things, he announces his entry into the Rumble, channelling his frustrations towards becoming 15-time World Champion. Despite this, he’s still not excused from the voices in his head over the following two weeks, at one point hallucinating Alexa Bliss watching him as he looks in a mirror, only to turn around and see nothing there, as well as claiming to hear the Fiend’s laugh in a visit to Dr. Shelby, proceeding to lay out the Doc with an RKO as he struggles to maintain his mental state, the hopes of even making it to the Rumble waning. Confirmed entrants (so far): AJ Styles, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Jeff Hardy, Andrade, Randy Orton Ricochet & RETRIBUTION January 11th, 2021 Another competitor who found himself falling short in the WWE Title #1 Contender’s BR was Ricochet, the One and Only keeping his spirits sky high as he soars into the following RAW, being granted a Rumble qualifier. Pitted against a fellow high-flier, he takes on Humberto Carrillo, who puts on a good showing against the former United States Champion, but after a respectable bout, Ricochet secures a spot in his second Rumble. After the match, he’s confronted by RETRIBUTION, who surround the ring, Ali stepping inside to come face-to-face with Ricochet, who watches him intently. Ali cuts a promo about how Ricochet can’t outrun them, no matter how much he tries, because as much of a superhero he is, they are inevitable, so one more time, he extends his hand to a man he’s loved and respected, requesting him to join RETRIBUTION so he can save him with his light, not wanting to leave a brother to rot in the darkness. Ricochet refuses though, to which Ali chuckles and nods his head, before blasting him with a Superkick! He sicks RETRIBUTION on the One and Only, who tear him apart and leave him a broken mess. January 18th, 2021 Following the events of the previous week, Ricochet demands a rematch with Ali, but to his chagrin, the Shining Light refuses, stating that he had his chance, twice. But if vengeance and darkness is what he craves so desperately, perhaps he’d be willing to defend his Rumble spot against RETRIBUTION? Willing to do whatever to get back at Ali & co., Ricochet hastily agrees, but as the graphic of a Gauntlet fills the screen, one must wonder if he’s made the biggest mistake possible. As he heads to the ring, his first opponent comes in the form of Slapjack, the Black Swan showing off his gifted agility and strength as he guns a flying Ricochet out of the air, but a crafty roll-up allows Ricochet to advance! Next up, he faces Mace, the former offensive tackle spearing through his foe, preventing him from taking flight, but a Wrecking Ball Dropkick into the crowd and a Diving Meteora gets the RETRIBUTION member counted out! Fatigued but still raring to go, he faces his third adversary in T-BAR, the most physically imposing of the quintet taking advantage of the wounded Ricochet by beating from pillar to post, but in his blind rage he goes for a chair, mauling his smaller opponent for the DQ, but with one more opponent to go, Ricochet’s run is over as Ali claims the easy pinfall, taking Ricochet’s Rumble spot! January 25th, 2021 With RETRIBUTION’s leader securing a spot in the upcoming Rumble, Ali delivers a sermon warning the locker room of what’s coming for them in 6 days’ time, signalling to a replay of the fallen angel that was Ricochet deciding to fly too close to the Sun. Though taped up, the One and Only makes his way out, calling Ali for a coward for not facing him like a man, stating that if Ali truly is the man he claims to be, he’d face him right here, right now. But unlike him, he doesn’t want Ali out of the Rumble. He wants to be in there with him, so he can have the satisfaction of being the one to throw him out. Ali calls him foolish for challenging, but accepts, 3-0 over him in recent weeks. And so, the two face-off, Ricochet clearly in a bad way from the opening bell, allowing Mustafa to make quick work of him, going for the 054, but he eats Ricochet’s knees! The One and Only sparks a comeback, giving Ali hell to pay as he dishes out his signature aerial offense. As he heads to the top for the 630° Senton, RETRIBUTION attempt to interfere, only for Ricochet to change direction and wipe them out with a Shooting Star Press! Rolling back inside the ring, he gets spiked with a Tornado DDT, Ali heading back up to the top for an 054, but he misses, allowing Ricochet to finally land the 630° Senton and avenge his losses to his former friend, earning his way back into the Rumble! As the two stand-off after the match, it’s clear that tensions are running high between the two heading into Sunday. Confirmed Entrants so far: AJ Styles, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Jeff Hardy, Andrade, Randy Orton, Ali, Ricochet The Miz & John Morrison January 11th, 2021 After both men fell short in the WWE Championship #1 Contender’s BR, a backstage segment reveals Mizter MITB & JoMo in Pearce’s office, demanding spots in the Rumble as they display their extensive resumes, Miz even attempting to bribe him. Whilst Adam turns down the money, he does grant them positions in the Rumble, showing them to the vending machine filled with entry numbers in capsules, the two cranking it with glee as two capsules slide out, their respective fates sealed inside. However, their hearts and expressions sink as they open them up, seemingly drawing poor numbers, before taking it out on Pearce, claiming he rigged the machine. Adam states that the #30 spot has already been drawn by someone else, but if they’re unsatisfied with theirs, he can remove them from the Rumble if that’s what they’d prefer, to which Miz & Morrison decline, but are clearly unhappy as they storm out of his office. Upon slamming the door shut, Morrison asks Miz what they’re going to do, not wanting to be humiliated like last year in which both didn’t even last a cumulative minute, to which Miz responds that if they won’t be given good entries, they’ll just have to take them instead. Next week, the hunt for #30 begins! January 18th, 2021 Over the course of Monday Night, the two scour the backstage area, featuring a series of skits in which they aim to find and stealing the #30 spot from whoever owns it. The first person they bump into is Elias, who’s singing a song about his entry into the Rumble and how he’s going to win. Questioning what number he drew, the Sinister Songster shoos them off, only for Morrison to catch a glance at his slip, Miz giving him an inquiring look, but Morrison shakes his head, Elias not holding the number they’re after. Continuing their hunt, they run into Keith Lee, but continue to run as the Limitless One scares them off, unfinished business between the parties after the duo cost Lee his WWE Title shot. In the final skit of the night, the exhausted and frustrated pair slump down on a bench when suddenly 24/7 Champion R-Truth runs in from out of nowhere and hides behind the two as a pack of wrestlers hunt him down for his title, Truth only popping out as the coast is clear, looking relieved, only to jump as the voices of MnM startle him, thinking they were mannequins at first. He goes to sprint again, but the duo reassure him that they’re not after his title, instead hoping that he had word on who owned the #30 spot in the Rumble, to which Truth exclaims ‘There’s a Rumble match coming up? When, where?’, before crouching and whispering into their ears ‘Is Paul Heyman going to be there?’, resulting in groans from Miz & Morrison. Knowing it was pointless believing Truth had answers from the start, they shoo him off, only for a glint to appear in Morrison’s eyes as he says ‘on second thoughts…’, before trying to roll up Truth for his title, only for Truth to kick out and run for his life, yelling ‘I knew you was after my title!’, Miz & Morrison left alone to continue what’s looking to be a wild goose chase. January 25th, 2021 6 days left till the Rumble, the two try their luck once more as they roam about backstage, finding dead end after dead end, until a mischievous and hopeful look fills their faces as they come across AJ Styles, who’s confirmed to have a good spot in the match. They play buddy buddy with the Phenomenal One, Miz distracting him with a conversation whilst Morrison tries to manoeuvre Styles’ entry slip out of his back pocket, only to be caught in the act by Omos, who grabs the two by the throat and sends them packing. As MnM finally come a halt after running from Omos, Morrison claims that it’s a lost cause, complaining that they’ll never find it, only for Miz to suggest the two heading over to SD in case someone there has it, John agreeing. January 29th, 2021 Returning to their old home of Friday Nights, they meet old foes… but just old foes, their lengthy history of bad-mouthing everyone doing them no favours. They even split up to search solo in hopes of covering ground faster, but disaster strikes at the eleventh hour as the loud commotion is heard, Miz stumbling across the fallen body of Morrison, blood trickling from his mouth! Miz demands his partner to name who left him in such a state, promising to give them the beating of their life, to which John croaks ‘Number 30’, before whispering the name into Miz’s ear, who freezes upon hearing the mystery man. Miz responds that there’s no way he’s stepping into a Rumble with ‘them’, to which Morrison weakly nods, saying that they have the MITB briefcase anyway, so one way or another, the Mania main event will be theirs. As medical personnel cart Morrison away, Miz yells ‘Two free Rumble spots for whoever wants them!’, before tossing them into the air and running away. Lumbering from across the corridor is Otis, who picks up one of the numbers off the ground, his eyes transfixed on it as he waddles away with a spot in the Rumble. As for the other, a tall figure in a biker jacket walks into shot, their tattooed arm reaching down to grab the slip reading ‘#11’, a satisfied grunt heard from their hooded face as they walk off into the distance with a spot in the Rumble… Confirmed entrants (so far): AJ Styles, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Jeff Hardy, Andrade, Randy Orton, Ali, Ricochet, Elias, Otis
SmackDown
Universal Championship January 1st, 2021 The New Year over on the Blue Brand is kicked off by the Head of the Table and his posse, the Universal Champion Roman Reigns, flanked by Jey Uso and Paul Heyman, entering the ring as replays of his title retention over Kevin Owens the previous week in a Steel Cage match fill the screen. Whilst his tactics were questionable, Jey interfering and handcuffing the Prizefighter to the cage to allow Reigns a clear path to victory, Reigns doesn’t give a damn – the title remains with the Tribal Chief. Grabbing a mic, Roman claims that thanks to Jey listening to him, 2020 became the greatest year of his career, consistently being featured in the main event with showstealers. 2021 is only going to get better for the 3 of them, as he plans to carry his title right through WrestleMania after not getting the opportunity to compete last year. Before he can continue though, he’s interrupted by Owens, Reigns stating that it’s embarrassing how Owens keeps coming back even after he’s been put down multiple times. Owens responds that if Reigns really did his job of ‘putting him down’, then he wouldn’t still be here. If Reigns did his job, then a lot of people still wouldn’t be here, signalling to the back as members of the locker room empty out. Daniel Bryan, Big E, Rey Mysterio and more all fill up the stage, standing side-by-side with Kevin, who claims that all of them are sick and tired of Reigns’ rule. Cheap victory after cheap victory, the name ‘Head of the Table’ is apt because he’s just a block of wood without the legs that are Uso and Heyman underneath him, cheating him to retentions. They all want a piece of him, and they’re here to take it. Reigns cuts him down, calling him a disappointment to his family. When you revolt against your Tribal Chief, you revolt against his family as well, and he’s not going to stand for that disrespect. All these people want cracks at him? Fine, he’ll whip them all into shape, but not one by one. He doesn’t have all day listening to the blabbering of the ignorant. In tonight’s main event, Owens can bring whoever he wants to face him & Jey, no strings attached. Kevin accepts the match, before turning to Bryan in a backstage segment, who’s also had recent issues with the duo, setting up a huge tag match for the main event! Fast forward, Reigns & Jey make their entrances first to show that they’re in control of the place, standing in ‘their’ ring as they await the arrival of the rebels. Owens is out next, staring the two down as he enters the squared circle, before Bryan’s music hits… only for no one to make their way out. Kevin paces about, getting anxious, but he isn’t kept waiting much longer as the titantron cuts to Bryan laid out backstage, a figure in a fur collar jacket standing over him, back to the camera They turn to reveal… SETH ROLLINS! The SmackDown Saviour cackles as Reigns & Jey jump Owens, a Superkick, Superman Punch and Spear putting down the Prizefighter as the show closes on Reigns, Jey, Heyman, and Rollins standing tall. January 8th, 2021 After the shocking ending to the previous week’s show, the plot only continues to thicken as Reigns and co. kick off the show, only this time accompanied by a sneering Rollins, Roman getting on the mic as customary, before claiming that in war, there are those that are with you, and those against you. For those against him, he feels truly sorry for them, because they’ll never learn that no matter what tricks they try to pull and what hope they try to muster up, the ending is always the same. Last week, Rollins came to that realisation and decided to fight for as he says ‘the greater good’, putting the fantasies of Bryan on hold – the man who lies to himself in saying that he’s a better wrestler and fighter than him. Owens suffered the same fate, left on the mat once more, just like any future rebels will be. Rollins chips in, claiming that it’s good to be back with his brother, feeling at home for the first time since he had his own followers that once fought alongside him too. To their collective frustration, they’re interrupted by Owens’ music, who appears on the stage once again, but this time alone. He claims that Reigns can belittle him all he wants, but he won’t disappear until Roman breaks him. None of them will. Reigns chuckles as he looks around, saying that it doesn’t look like ‘they’ had the balls to show up, only for Owens to shake his head with a smirk on his face. Suddenly, a cascade of competitors storm out from the other side of the arena, led by Bryan, causing Reigns and company to scramble from the ring, Reigns seething as the ‘YES!’ Movement takes over the ring, before turning around to Owens who cheekily shrugs his shoulders. Reigns gets in Owens’ face, demanding him to spit out what he wants, to which Kevin points to the title. Through gritted teeth, Roman acquiesces, before spitting that Owens should be careful what he wishes for, because he might just get it. Royal Rumble Qualifiers January 15th – 29th 2021 Whilst the Rumble card shapes up with a match between Reigns and Owens confirmed for the show, everyone else’s attentions turn to the Rumble. They all want shots at the Universal Championship, but the road there isn’t an easy one. Cesaro & Nakamura earn spots after defeating Street Profits thanks to their rivals Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode interfering, only to return the favour as Bryan defeats Dolph Ziggler and Mysterio defeats Robert Roode, a Tag Title bout between them shaping up for the PPV. Rollins makes his way in after a victory over an old rival in Dominik Mysterio, whilst Jey defeats Chad Gable, before a few more names make it in, Sami Zayn defeating Kalisto, Murphy putting down old tag partner Wesley Blake, and King Corbin laying Apollo Crews to rest, the 30-man match filling up. Confirmed entrants (so far): AJ Styles, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Jeff Hardy, Andrade, Randy Orton, Ali, Ricochet, Elias, Otis, Cesaro, Shinsuke Nakamura, Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Murphy, King Corbin Big E/Sami Zayn January 22nd, 2021 Intercontinental Champion Big E has been on a roll since being separated from New Day, channelling the absence of having his brothers by his side towards finding singles success. Reaching the first checkpoint on the Christmas edition of SmackDown when he defeated Sami Zayn to win the IC gold, the hunt for reaching the top continues. After being involved in the revolt against Reigns, E sparked a mini-feud with Crews, leading to a match for E’s title in which he retained. With the Rumble around the corner, the IC Champ heads to the ring and thanks the fans for all their support in recent times, but it appears he isn’t satisfied just holding the IC Title. To prove himself, he needs more, and by that, he means the Universal Championship. So, he officially declares his entry into the Rumble! He states that he aims to become the first person to hold the IC & UV titles simultaneously, and for that, he needs everyone to channel their power of positivity into him one more time. Unfortunately for him though, the power of negativity comes storming out from the back, Zayn ranting about E winning the title being all part of a conspiracy against him, before stating that he shouldn’t even deserve to be in the Rumble considering Zayn actually qualified for the match whilst E just gets handed everything. E tells him the ring is open if he wants to back up his words, only for Sami to step down, claiming that he knows all of E’s tricks by now, he’s not stupid. He’s not going to give him what he wants, but next week is different though, because next week, he exposes E for the fraud he is, E staring him down with defiance. January 29th, 2021 As E heads to the ring for a non-title rematch against Zayn, Sami makes his way out next, but with a mic in hand, saying that he made a few complaints to management for his unfair treatment, and they came through with a proposal. If he defeats E tonight, he gets to enter the Rumble after him, so no matter what, E can’t take advantage of a tired Sami, because it’s common knowledge that the only reason he won last time was because of Zayn entering the match fatigued after carrying this company on his back for so long, not even being given Christmas off like he deserved. E shrugs off the chicanery of Zayn, seeing right through him by now, but the gears keep turning in Sami’s mind as he stalks his way to the ring for their match. Zayn tries every trick in the book that he can think of, baiting E to the outside, trying to get him counted out, leverage pins and even a low blow attempt, but the New Day member overcomes all the obstacles. Picking Sami up for the Big Ending, E accidentally knocks back into the referee to momentarily knock him down, Sami taking advantage and slipping behind to tease a low blow, only to make a grab for E’s title via the diversion, slamming the mat with it before tossing it into E’s hands as he drops to the mat, the referee turning around to see a knocked out Zayn with E holding the title over him! E tries to convince the referee of what actually happened, but the ref doesn’t want to hear any of it, ruling it a victory for Zayn by DQ, the Untouchable rolling out of the ring and ecstatically racing about ringside, finally tripping up E. The Champ is red as Zayn cheats his way to victory, but all he can do is stare down Sami as he realises that his chances of winning the Rumble may have just gone down. Confirmed Entrants (so far): AJ Styles, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Jeff Hardy, Andrade, Randy Orton, Ali, Ricochet, Elias, Otis, Cesaro, Shinsuke Nakamura, Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Murphy, King Corbin, Big E, Sami Zayn Daniel Bryan/Seth Rollins January 23rd, 2021 (Talking Smack) One of the prominent feuds on the Blue Brand aside from the Universal Title picture heading into the Rumble is between Bryan and Rollins, Daniel not brushing off the attack from Seth that easily. With both men qualifying for the Rumble, they make appearances on Talking Smack, Bryan bringing up how he’s done almost everything there is to do in the WWE except win the Rumble, and year after year that goal has nagged at him. Having been in 3 his entire career, he’s gotten closer and closer to winning each time, most recently setting the record for the longest performance in the match whilst making it to the Final 3. But that isn’t good enough for him. He not only wants to win, he needs to win. No doubt both Reigns and Owens are talented, and whoever walks out of the Rumble as champion, it doesn’t matter to him, but what matters to him is that he knows that he’s both the better fighter and wrestler than them, so by the end of WrestleMania, it should be him holding high the Universal Title, and it will be him. He turns as he hears laughter in the distance, Rollins taking a seat further along the table, proceeding to question Bryan. He asks him which Bryan is he sitting across from. The Bryan he once looked up to when they wrestled on the indies, or the one he has to now look down to find. Since returning, what has Bryan done beyond holding the WWE Championship for a while 2 years ago? He’s just been taking up space someone else could be using. He failed to win the Universal Title, he failed to recapture the Intercontinental Title, he failed to win Money in the Bank again, he failed to even qualify for Survivor Series, and that’s all just in the last year. Meanwhile, the man he’s looking at is a former Rumble winner, a former Universal Champion, the man who brought prominence to the IC Title while Bryan vacated it after only one defence. Since Bryan’s return 3 years ago, he’s far surpassed Daniel, and he’ll continue to do so. If they meet in the Rumble, he wants the Beard to remember, his fantasy never came true when the fans begged and pleaded back in 2014, and it still won’t come true when he’s in the match 7 years later. January 29th, 2021 The following week, Bryan is shown to be seated backstage on his own, pacing about as he thinks over Rollins’ scathing words, which seem to have truly left a mental imprint. Otis and Gable enter the scene, Gable having been training Otis for the Rumble in recent weeks. Noticing Daniel’s demeanour, they tell him not to dwell on Seth’s words, reassuring him that he has what it takes to win the Rumble. He’s former multi-time WWE Champion after all, but Bryan cuts them off, saying that it’s always ‘former’ attached in front of his accomplishments. He has nothing to prove his claims at the moment beyond his wrestling. He’s never won the Rumble, but guys like Rollins have. Gable clasps Bryan’s arms, whilst Otis starts massaging his back, not realising Chad was trying to have a serious moment, stepping back as he realises, Gable tells Bryan to stop worrying about others. This is his time to shine, this is his moment. They’re going to be right behind him through it all, but he needs to believe in himself, just like he and everyone else did at WrestleMania XXX. Bryan nods a thanks, before Gable offers that they go find out his entry number in the match, the trio heading to Pearce’s office with the machine. As Bryan cranks it, out pops a capsule with a number, but before he can take it, Rollins bursts in through the door, taking him out with a steel chair, before laying into Gable and Otis as well! Adam attempts to control the situation, but Seth threatens him with the chair, causing him to back off, before Rollins takes Bryan’s capsule. An even wider grin fills his face as he pops it open, before pulling a slip of his own out his pocket, dropping it next to Bryan’s fallen body, saying ‘Good luck champ’ as he cackles and walks off, Daniel heaving his body up enough to see the number. #1 ??? January 29th, 2021 As the final show before the Rumble is about to go off air on the visual of Bryan with the #1 slip pressed in his hand, it cuts to a video package of sorts, rapidly cutting from pictures of death and decay to a bleak darkness, before the sound of bones snapping and incantations being whispered in reverse takes over. Candles are put out then relit by the same hand, stained glass is shattered then fixed back together by the same leg. A tattooed individual puts on a suit, before removing it by the same hand, and then, they come to a halt, sitting down cross-legged, their face shrouded in darkness as they look to the camera. A familiar voice that hasn’t been heard in months reverberates around the room, the figure talking about how the world is cursed place. It melts and moulds you into what it wants you to be, blinds you with false promises, tells fables of good and evil. But there’s no real distinction between the two. He’s been left isolated in the cold for too long, stripped bare of everything that was once his. He’s no wolf in sheep’s clothing. He’s here to reclaim what was taken from him. The end is here. Allow yourself to… fade to black. They look up at the screen as light finally hits their visage, holding a slip with #30 in their hands. Aleister Black is in the Royal Rumble. Confirmed Entrants (24): AJ Styles, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Jeff Hardy, Andrade, Randy Orton, Ali, Ricochet, Elias, Otis, Cesaro, Shinsuke Nakamura, Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Murphy, King Corbin, Big E, Sami Zayn, Aleister Black
Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, (a) continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves as it was seen as a time of liberty for both slaves and freedmen alike. A common custom was the election of a "King of the Saturnalia", who would give orders to people, which were to be followed and preside over the merrymaking. The gifts exchanged were usually gag gifts or small figurines made of wax or pottery known as sigillaria. The poet Catullus called it "the best of days". Saturnalia was the Roman equivalent to the earlier Greek holiday of Kronia,
Kronia ( Cronus ) @ KRN @ CRN @ Corona @ Crown @ CRN @ Carnival Saturn, 'The Lord of the Rings': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_corona https://i.redd.it/incg9gjat5m31.jpg I will not be posting new threads for the next few days. I leave the Thespians of the World Stage to play their mocking games with the slaves (for a time).
"Know table service" = 2020 jewish-latin-agrippa
... ( "Wear the mask" = 2020 squares )
To whomever takes up the role of temporary Saturnalian king - I wish you a good reign.
"King of the Saturnalia" = 777 jewish-latin-agrippa
EDIT - PS. I've just noticed (the font it really tiny) that I have a number of unanswered reddit chat pings. I do not use reddit chat - it requires enabling too many javascripts I would prefer to leave disabled, in order that it works properly. Send PM's rather, if you must. Even though...
Vaccines Are Here. We Have to Talk About Side Effects Disinformation could thwart distribution before government messages have a chance to push back. Debunking might turn out to be everyone’s job.
"Coronavirus Debunking" = 2021 trigonal
The golden ratio is 1.618...
"The Debunking" = 1,618 squares
.. ( "The Coronavirus Trick" = 1,618 jewish-latin-agrippa )
Go forth and debunk, Coronavirus apostates! Go forth and thwart distribution! Debunking the vaccine is everyone's job now.
"Vaccine is here" = "In Prison" = 360 primes ( "The Glory" = 360 primes ) (*)
Side effects ? They admit one side of your face might slide away uncontrollably, like Two-face in the Batman movies (a rather Dramatic symbol). Side @ Sidhe @ Aos sidhe (Elven drama @ Elven trauma) (*) Side Effects @ Sidhe Effects @ Siddhis ('the powers') (*) https://old.reddit.com/GeometersOfHistory/wiki/poems/the-mound (*) The Elves give themselves a bad name.... or the Orcs are playing at Elven mockery.
Brazilian supreme court decides all Brazilians are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Those who fail to prove they have been vaccinated may have their rights, such as welfare payments, public school enrolment or entry to certain places, curtailed.
You don't need state-given rights, if you can say...
"I am Sovereign" = 2021 squares
Tell your friends and family:
"You will take off the mask" = 2021 jewish-latin-agrippa (*)
"Coronavirus Debunking" = 2021 trigonal
... ( "A Coronavirus Debunking" = 1611 english-extended )
The schooling dumbs you down, the 'certain places' are traps, and the welfare payments are dependencies. Who is so presumptuous as to tell you your 'rights'? The 'social contracts' are being rewritten, Mr. and Mrs. Faust. Will you sign? Q: ? "A: Social Contracts" = 555 primes | 911 english-extended Run to the Hills, my friends (or prepare to take over the world, and to feast on politicians). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UidSriRb6eo
"The Saturn Artifact" = 666 primes ( "Cube of Saturn" = 777 jewish-latin-agrippa ) (*) (*)
Fear is the Mind-Killer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On0RbFjh8tI Corona @ Crown (the ruling virus) Noting the english-extended cypher is very tightly related to the latin-agrippa - differing in only the numeric assignments of a few letters - thus, with skill one can construct quite long spells that achieve the same value in both, such as this:
"The One Crown to Rule All" = 1,777 english-extended | 1,777 jewish-latin-agrippa (*)
.. ( "The Coronavirus Must Win" = 1010 primes | 100 in reduction ) (*)
Let's-a go — Miyamoto leads fans through Super Nintendo World—and it looks incredible Nintendo, Universal Studios went all out to deliver a Nintendo fan destination.
"Super Nintendo World" = 1,777 jewish-latin-agrippa (nine-ten @ nine-teen ) [ looks @ school ]
. .. ... .... ..... You're welcome ( "Miyamoto" = "The Born King" = "The Alphabet Code" = 369 primes ) After the conjunction, and with the great debunking under way, in 2021, ..
"Society" = 911 trigonal
.... is witness to....
"The sudden disappearance of covid-nineteen" = 2001 english-extended
The 'virus' (as it is perceived by the ignorant masses) appears to evaporate, like World Trade Centers do in September. The majority of the scientific footsoldiers are shocked, amazed, confused and relieved. The politicians pretend to be shocked, amazed, confused, and relieved. Like the ending scene of The Happening, nature suddenly relents upon humanity, and mankind is spared further antagonistic affronts by the medical industrial complex.
"Miraculous Cures" = 1,777 trigonal
... ( "To Cure the Flu" = 777 jewish-latin-agrippa )
In time, the truth of the allegorical charade becomes clear to all, and the population of the world are simultaneously appalled and relieved.
Appalled that they had fallen for such a transparent stage play, yet relieved that the final curtain has fallen; appalled as to what it all meant, yet relieved of their burden of isolation. All are exceeding curious as to the future direction of the new status quo - for while they were distracted by the soaring Covid case numbers, Tiger Kings on TV, and endless Zoo Meetings, it comes to be known that A Final World Empire was established suddenly and seemingly without fan-fair, beneath their very feet and all around them, and they had hardly noticed (the Covid stageplay being itself the announcement, though most did not understand this at the time). It goes without saying, that after virus relents, there is "a grand celebration" = 2021 squares Everyone takes off their masks, collects them in giant heaps in their village squares, and burns them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcwM9y-_rm4
"Telepathy Phone Number" = "The Telepathic Frequency" = 777 primes ( "A=1: Join with me" )
OBLIGATORY FILLER MATERIAL – Giving thanks edition: Kickin’ around Caracas, Pt. 2
Continuing… He smiles, pockets the money, and scurries off to accomplish his tasks. I’m sitting in the darkened, warm, and well-used pub; sipping at my drinks, puffing on my cigar and noting that I was more or less alone here. I was enjoying my comfort of solitude and familiar surroundings greatly. Suddenly, a gruff hand grips my right shoulder. I hear a guttural voice complain “Why don’t you put out that fucking smelly cigar?” My Hapkido training kicked in as I was about to spin around and clock the klutz that dared intrude on my seclusion and risked to grab my person. However, there was something familiar about the voice that made me hold my hand in the split second before I was to deliver a stunning kidney-punch. “Toivo!”, I shouted, “You gnarly bastard! What the actual flying fennec fox fuck are you doing here in Moscow?” Toivo has already backed up, out of swing or kick range, and is laughing out loud. “You should have seen yourself jump!”, he chortles, “I didn’t know you still had it in you, ya’ old fart.” “Yeah”, I snicker back, “And you’re still one deaf MOFO.” Toivo laughs long and loud as he helps himself to one of my cigars, and the seat on Mahogany Ridge next to me. “Still, Toiv”, I continue, “You haven’t answered me. What the hell you doing in Moscow during this briskly foul month of the equally foul year 2020?” “Just whorin’ around for money”, Toivo chuckles as he instructs the just returned barkeep to make with new rounds of drinks. “As usual. No one else out schmoozing for oilfield services during the lockdown. I can’t afford not to have work, so I’m taking advantage of having a working immune system and flying all over setting up contracts. Working a treat, I might add…” “So”, I reply between sips, “Still have your own service company. That’s rare in this day and age. With all this COVID crapola, even the big guns are hurting bad.” “That’s right”, Toivo adds as he filches my new Montgolfière lighter and fires up his cigar. “They can’t just order people indefinitely indoors and want everyone to work from home. Does not work that way for me or my guys. Seriously difficult to do a workover or well completion over the phone. I pay real well and ensure my people take all precautions and get tested after every job. A few got the ‘Vid’, and I paid for everything until they feel they can return to work. Haven’t lost a soul and damned if I’m going to let that happen on my watch. But damned if I’ll let any of my people go, cut hours, half-time, or close-up shop either. Common sense, situational awareness, and ‘don’t be a fucking idiot’ goes a long way in the world today.” “Having a well-tuned and actively working immune system doesn’t hurt as well”, I add, as I finish up the bowl of Irish Stew; which was incredible, as usual. “So where you off to this time, Rock?”, Toivo asks. “Or are you just returning from a vacation out in Yakutsk? I mean, it is November…” “Nope”, I reply between sips and high signs to our bartender for another round. “I’m only here for the convenience of some of my handlers. I’m actually headed to South America, and that’s as much as I can tell you unless I immediately neutralize you afterwards.” “Ya’ know”, Toivo says without a hint of irony, “That line is a trite cliché. Except when it comes from you. Fine. Need to know basis and I don’t need to know. Gotcha.” “Sorry”, I reply, “It’s really nothing personal, but the fewer who know what I’m up to these days, the better off the world will probably be.” “Yeah”, Toivo replies, “I thought you were doing some academic schtick. Getting another couple of degrees or some shit like that.” “Who says I can’t do both?” I chuckle in return. “Yeah, I’m teaching at [REDACTED] university and getting my DSc. In the meantime, I take odd jobs for fun and profit.” Toivo accepted that and as long as I was on expenses, he decided to see how much hypermath he could use in running up an enormous bar tab. Over drinks and some bar snacks, he told me he was headed back to the US and home for the holidays. “Shit!”, I exclaimed, “I completely forgot that it was Thanksgiving this week. Thanks, Toiv. I’ve got to make some calls and get some food catered.” Toivo snickers and makes some reference as to how I can recall the chemical formula for Eggletonite [(Na,K,Ca)2(Mn,Fe)8(Si,Al)12O29(OH)7.11(H2O) if you must know], but can’t remember my own damn phone number. “Priorities, Herr Toivo, priorities,” I say as I’m dialing the local caterer back home. I make certain Es and the girls have their Thanksgivings taken care of… A few hours later, Toivo’s flight is called and we part after a manly handshake ensues. We pledge to get together, families and all, once the holidays are over. Maybe the new year might just be a little less revolting than the year we just endured. Flight time from Moscow to Caracas is just under 15 hours and I’ve got at least two more to wait until boarding. I check the flight tote board and note that besides Aeroflot, there’s another flight to Caracas on another airline, this one from Turkey. It leaves in an hour, but a quick call to the airlines quashes the idea that I can get out of Dodge, as it were, a bit earlier. So, I waste an extraordinary amount of time and money in the Irish Pub. I can’t smoke on the flight, nor in the waiting area, nor anywhere outside the Pub, so I sit and fume like a foundry chimney until they call my flight. Once again, it’s Business Class on Aeroflot and once the snickering over my attempts at Russian die down, the flight crew were top-notch. The plane seems almost brand new, it was clean, painted where it was supposed to have paint, carpeted where carpet would be a good idea and even the heads sparkled. After a short taxi to our take-off runway, we were wheels-up once again, heading west this time. The flight was 15 or so hours long so I had several pre-nap tots, took a great snooze in the mostly empty aircraft, tried to watch the Russian version of an Avengers movie (The Guardians, 2017. Get a copy. You won’t regret it.) while trying, and failing, not to laugh too much. After a lovely Russian repast of black and red caviar, smoked sturgeon and salmon, blinis and borscht, I decided to have another nap, to bank some snooze-time as I had no idea what I’d be excepting once I land in Venezuela. I am jolted awake by Captain Kangaroo and his overly bouncy touchdown at Maiquetía "Simón Bolívar" International Airport. Here we taxi for what seems like another eternity before we finally find an empty jetway and squeeze the oddly non-Russian-built Boeing 777-300ER into space for our deplaning pleasure. Caracas airport is not world-renowned, or perhaps it is more than just infamous. Many, many airlines, including all US carriers, refuse to fly here due to labor strikes, crime, shortage of qualified ground personnel, stolen baggage, and problems with the quality of jet fuel and maintenance of runways. Needless to say, add the COVID to this stew of infamy, and the whole bloody airport is practically empty. I’m off the plane, down the jetway, and am greeted by a for once, a non-euphemistically monikered brace of Federales. “You are Dr. Rocknocker”, the one on the left, blocking my passage, asks. “Yes, sir. That’s me.” I reply in my inimitable style of international amity. “You will come with us.” The brusquely says. “Ah. Well, umm, you see, no I won’t. There’s this little problem of identification.” I note, “You characters may know who I am and should be awed enough by that, but I have no idea if you say you are who you really say you are. Papers, please?” Yep. That’s me. Giving the police and/or military the business in their own country. “We need to show you nothing. You will come with us now.” The other unsmiling dolt says. “Now gentlemen”, I say as I pull out my cellphone telephone, and hit speed dial. “Let’s see what Senor Nicolás Maduro has to say about all this.” That’s right. I’m ringing the president of the country. I have a ‘special number’ to cut through all the red tape. The two Federales look on in either hilarity or despair. “Hello? Senor Maduro, por favor? Bueno. They’re going to connect me” I say to the befuddled guards. “Buenos dias, Cilia...Com esta?” I cover the phone, “It’s his wife Cilia. Evidently Sr. Maduro is indispose.” The two federales go white when I put Cilia Flores on speaker. “Si, gracias. Just got in, and there’s these two characters here demanding I go with them. Did Carlos arrange a welcoming party for me? He did? Bueno. Their names? Let me ask…” “You, on the right. Name for Senora Maduro?” I ask politely. “Come, come, let’s not keep the president’s wife waiting”, I say, snapping my fingers. “César Fontana Braz” stammers the first. “Armando Quadros Garcia” stutters the second. “Cool. Cesar and Armando. Names go in book.” I say as I ring off the phone after politely asking Cilia to have Carlos give me a ring when he is not so occupied. “Now, Cesar and Armando, where were we?” I asked, smiling like a reptile. They were falling all over themselves getting airport transport so we could go and collect my luggage, and get the proper stamps through passport control and customs. They blanch when they see my Red Diplomatic Passport. The Russians are the only remaining friends of the current administration and that situation is tenuous as best. Hanging by a Damoclean thread is more appropriate. Once we breeze through customs and passport control without so much as a flinch, I get a message that my reservations at the JW Marriott hotel have been received and approved. The hotel is only a dozen miles from the airport and Cesar and Armando are trying mightily to ingratiate themselves by finding the least corrupt taxi. As if by magic, Lucas shows up and makes a big scene that he will take the situation over from here. There is some staccato, machine-gun level hypervelocity Spanish going on, and I’m in way over my head linguistically. So, I do what I normally do in such situations. I pull out an emergency flask and fire up a cigar to await the outcome of this verbal boxing match. Suddenly as it started, it ends with Cesar and Armando skulking off empty-handed and Lucas looking at my cigar longingly. Of course, I offer him one. And ask what that was all about. “Each wanted a different cab for you as it was one run by his relations. Everything here is relations and kickbacks. You will quickly learn anything is available, just have to ask the right cousin, uncle or monster-in-law” Lucas chuckles at his own little joke. “Right, Luc”, I quickly agreed, “Things never change around here. It was that way when I first came to Venezuela some 35 years ago.” Lucas realizes he’s trying, metaphorically speaking, to teach his grandmother to suck eggs, as I was in Venezuela way back when even before he was born. Just a little humility lesson from the Doctor, free of charge. Lucas stashes his filched cigar, grabs my luggage, and stows it in the boot of the car. I have to sit in the back of the sedan as Lucas has all his tat covering the passenger seat. Laptop, cellphone, GPS, several errant dossiers, a bottle of Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva Rum, an eight pack of Cerveza Tovar, his service revolver and a couple of speed loaders, his sap…just the necessities. I barely have time enough to sit and Lucas is punching the throttle, blaring the horn and we’re off to the hotel. I do love driving in South America so much. I quickly tuck my hot-loaded Glock into a shoulder holster and don my Agency vest. Just as a precaution. There are banditos at large around here. But, they were all either siesta-ing or couldn’t keep up with Lucas as he careened around one corner and slalomed around another. Soon, I found myself standing as the only gringo. Hell, the only other vertical biped, at the front desk of the hotel, waiting for my check-in. Suddenly, appearing apparently out of the vapor, one Chief Hotel Clerk, one Jose Antonio Hidalgo Juan Antonio Enríquez, Jr., asks if I have a reservation and if I was alone. “Yes to both”, I replied as Lucas had someplace where I didn’t ask and he didn’t tell me where he was bunking for the night. Just that he would be calling around 0900 so he could partake of the hotel’s famous buffet breakfast, all 100 or so meters of it. Then he’ll take me to the Presidential Palace as I have an appointment with my old buddy, Herr El Presidente. I am checked in and escorted by the bellman to my suite. I thought it was odd that when we got off the elevator on my floor, he was replaced with another person, one Chief Bellman Xabier, and he’d be escorting me to my room. “Things is just plain weird in Venezuela”, I mused to myself as we made the slog down the long, carpeted hall towards my “Vice Presidential” suite. Seems the Presidential Suite was constantly on reserve in case the real President wanted a room. As we’re shuffling down the corridor, I notice the nametag on my “Chief Bellman” looks as if it had gone through the laundry many, many times, it was that battered and washed out. And while he had one hand on my luggage as we wheeled along, he kept his other hand in his right front pocket. “Must be concerned about pickpockets thereabouts”, I thought to myself. We arrive at my suite and he asks for my card-key, which was unusual even in Venezuela. Most bellmen, particularly the Chief Bellman, would be carrying a master-card to unlock the doors for any swell or VIP (vaguely important person). “Well, here you go”, I said with a flourish, as I swiped the card myself and let both of us into the suite. Xavier entered first, and I followed close behind. I tossed my briefcase with all my irreplaceable papers and emergency flasks and cigars on the bed when Xavier asks if I’d like for him to hang my clothes. “Sure”, I said, from the depths of the minibar. I was interested in seeing if there was any Pisco Capel available, as I like that stuff just fine. Xavier is taking his time going through a couple of shirts, a spare pair of pants, and my unmentionables from my Scramble Bag, when he sees that I have a spare wallet, a couple of Zenith's and my Breitling Emergency watch in a separate zipped close but unfortunately not independently locked case. He suddenly stiffens, as he doesn’t realize that I’m watching him from the mirror in the back of the minibar. He looks at me, at the watches, at me, at the watches again, the door, out the window, and around the room. He pockets my Breitling and Zenit watch quick as a bunny fucks as I pretend to be ever so engrossed in with what the minibar was stocked. I’m making idiot noises to distract him as I see he’s finally hung all my clothes. Without turning, I ask him if he’s going to return those watches or if I will be forced to kill him. He solidifies some more, stammers, and pulls out a scabby looking straight-bladed knife. He stands there behind me making the first overtures of a series of really bad life decisions. With a fresh cold beer in my left hand, I turn around and point my Glock, of caliber millimeters ten, point-blank between his eyes. “Now I’m not saying that you should drop that knife. Nor am I saying that you should return my watches. However, this is a Glock ten-millimeter pistol, one of the most powerful handguns in the world, and at this range would blow your damn fool head clean off. It carries eight ‘Eviscerator 145 grain Black Talon’ hollow point cartridges in the magazine, along with eight 10mm ‘Auto 155 grain Xtreme Penetrator Defense®’ loads with another up the pipe. The one question you have to ask yourself is would I miss ventilating your skull all 17 times or only 16? The real question really boils down to: ‘do you feel lucky, punk?’ “Well, do you?” I asked as I sipped my beer while tapping my foot in irritation waiting for his answer. Xavier suddenly has an attack of the mutes. I think he’s trying to say something, hoping to whatever deity he prefers that they won’t be his last words. He is also transfixed by what appears to be the Holland Tunnel that suddenly appeared and is staring him right in the face. I set my beer down on the table and rack a round into the Glock’s guts just to let Xavier know that I’m not fucking around. If he doesn’t make a choice pretty damn quickly, that I’ll gladly paint the back wall of my suite with a fascinating new color: “Hint of brain”. He drops the knife to the floor, and slowly, painfully slowly retrieves my watches and sets them on the table. He also irrigates his trousers soundly as I snort all sorts of nasty, and personal, derision his way and nary vary my aim one millimicron. “OK”, I say, “Good boy. Now, drop your wallet, keys, and anything else you have in your pockets on the table as well.” “Oh, señor…” he begins to protest. I nudge his forehead with the Glock and remind him I’m not anywhere near the mood for fucking around. “Look, Scooter”, I say in my most threatening ‘you do know that you’re keeping me from my drink’ voice. “Either you do as I ask, or your family will be meeting to split up your belongings. When I see President Marcos tomorrow, we’ll both have a good chuckle about some idiot fake bellman and how they can’t catch high-velocity lead slugs worth a damn.” “But, señor”, he continues to protest, “I am poor. My family is poor. I only have a few céntims…” “I didn’t ask for your biography or family history, dick-cheese”, I growled, “Now give, asshole” as I pressed the Glock a few millimeters forward. He empties his pockets and I eventually lower the Glock. “Now run, you cur”, I growled even louder, “You run and tell all the other curs that Doc Rock is comin’ And hell’s comin’ with me. You hear me? Hell’s comin’ with me!” He evidently didn’t get the movie reference, but he hit the hallway flat-out running as I slammed the door, parked the Glock back in its holster and called the front desk. “Hello? Front desk? Yeah, Doc Rocknocker here in the VP suite. In about two minutes you’re going to see some sorry schmuck in soggy slacks come screaming through the lobby. He tried to rob me in my room, but I got the drop on him. Please send someone up to recover his possessions. What you do about and with them is of no concern of mine. And send up a bucket of ice, some bitter lemon and a bottle of best vodka. Got that? Cheers.” “Fucking local idiots”, I muse. The real concierge arrives a few minutes later with my order. He also carefully takes the departed miscreants' belongings, telling me that maybe they can get his fingerprints and have him prosecuted. “One more minute and I’d have all the blood spatter analysis for DNA you could handle”, I snorted as I tipped him generously and bade him out the door. I drew a bath and double-checked the doors were soundly locked. I’m not paranoid but it’s a good thing the Glock is primarily made of polymers. They don’t rust. The next morning, I’m fresh as a daisy downstairs at the breakfast buffet with Lucas. Of course, I had on my best shorts, Hawaiian shirt, and Agency vest, but I decided to leave the Glock behind in my room in the safe. The magazines I left in the safe behind the check-in desk. Not every day you get a private meeting with the president of a country. I need to be a bit vague about the meeting, but other than the fine rum and cigars I was offered, I was given a series of tasks by El Presidente in exchange for carte blanche travel in his country. He wants a signed copy of the book I am researching in Venezuela when it goes to print. He also wants a copy of the data I uncover before I leave the country. Believe me, the original data will be scrubbed and gone long before I present it to El Presidente. He’ll get the ‘Reader’s Digest’ version. Finally, he wants me to extend an invite to Esme to come to Venezuela and meet with him and the First Lady. I can’t promise anything, but if shopping is involved, I doubt even a shooting war could dissuade Esme. Figuring that I’ve done a full day’s work as it stands, I decided to have Lucas drive me back to the hotel where I need to makes some serious notes in several dossiers. I also need to call Esme to tell her of the invitation at the behest of El Presidente and the First Lady. I place a cellphone telephone call to my darling Esme and we have an absolutely lovely conversation. She’s thrilled at the prospect of going shopping with the First Lady of the country and hobnobbing around the land as a VIP. She regales me with the tales of Khan and the ravens. How they steal from his outside food bowl and he’s absolutely inept on chasing them because they take flight before he can get within 20 feet. Perhaps if he wasn’t barking a blue streak, he’d be more stealthy and successful. Esme tells me that Agents Rack and Ruin have been calling all day, wondering where the hell I was. “Is there some problem there?” She asks me. “Well, the country is on the brink of civil war. There is factional fighting. Rampant inflation: a cup of coffee now costs 1.55m bolivars; an increase of 6,639% in the past 12 months. The economy’s all but collapsed. Bolivars are damn near worthless, the US dollar is the hardest of hard currency. Millions have left the country and there’s widespread crime, cases of killings, torture, violence, and disappearances. Shortages of staple items, as well as medical care…you know, sort of the ‘Just after the wall fell’ sort of Russia Syndrome.” I replied. “Well”, Es replies, “Rack and Ruin are having kittens. They’re desperate to talk with you. Call them and tell them it’s not all that bad.” “Well”, I reply, “It’s actually worse, but I didn’t want to upset you.” “Are you safe?” Es asks. “Aw, hell”, I snort, “I’m fine. I’ve been through a lot worse. Still, if Rack and Ruin are antsy, best pull the big brown box out of my office. After I talk to R&R, they’ll probably be wanting to send me some bits and pieces. I’d prefer my own stuff if you know what I mean.” “Will do”, Es replies. She knows the shorthand for ‘I want my own large-caliber weapons’ and associated items of personal defense. “I’ll get ahold of Rack and Ruin”, I note, “They are going to want to send me some kit, if things are all that nasty, even though I only saw a bit of low-octane attempted crime. Just pull my ditty-box and I’m sure they’ll send someone over to collect it.” We covered a few more items, professed our undying love and I rang off. Once I had procured about 300 milliliters of Old Thought Provoker, on ice, I placed the call to Virginia. Agents Rack and Ruin are more or less unflappable, but today, they were flapped. They wanted me to exercise(!) extreme caution. They wanted me to only spend a few more days in-country. If nothing else, they wanted me to chuck the whole fucking project and hightail it home. “Are you high?”, I asked of the perpetually sober Agent Rack. “Quit a job before it’s finished? You know as well as I that’s not the Agency way. And it’s not my way either. Perish the thought.” Agent Ruin takes over the phone and tries to reason with me. I reply that I’ve never failed to complete an assignment before and I’d be goddamned if I’d let a little thing like a shithole country’s 33 and 1/3rd revolution run my happy ass off location. “OK, then”, Agent Rack exhales in defeat, “Then sit tight for a day or so. We’ll get you a parcel through the Diplo Pouch. It’ll contain a few items that will make us all rest easier here.” “OK, that I can do”, I reply with a snort, “Pantywaists”, I sneer under my breath. “Since you’re sending some goodies my way, have someone who’s not afraid of huge dogs drop by the house and have them include my big, brown box in the DP.” They readily agreed and told me to expect the pouch, which can vary from the size of a tin of tobacco to something big enough to overnight an aircraft carrier, within 24 hours. “OK”, I relent, “I’ve got a bunch a writing to do after meeting with El Presidente today. This will work out great. I get ample time to update my dossiers and you don’t have to worry so much about your best agent getting a boo-boo.” “Doctor”, Agent Ruin ripostes, “Please treat this situation with all affordable circumspection. This is no charade; this is a potentially real, and doubly dangerous, situation. Pay heed.” “Agents”, I snort after pouring another 300 mils of Old Thought Provoker over ice, “You are speaking to a Doctor of Geology, one who is an international Master Blaster and plays with home-made nitroglycerine for shits and giggles. ‘Circumspection’ is my middle name.” “We thought it was ‘Danger’…”, They replied as one. “Well”, I chuckled back, “That’s my Confirmation name…” Somewhat mollified, Agents Rack and Ruin again warn me to be careful and to keep an eye out for a parcel that should arrive within 24 hours. “Thanks, guys”, I say before ringing off, “What would you ever do without me?” I hung up before they had time to formulate a reply. So, with nothing much else to do, I resigned myself to getting all my necessary writing out of the way. I needed to formulate another of my unbreakable codes, encrypt all my writings and do the dossier needful so I could send off the information before anything goes south. To be continued…⇝
I believe a link was posted earlier on this sub by a gentleman but here it’s is again with text. https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/wp-content/uploads-en/2020/10/trancript_en.pdf Adam Kiciński (AK): Greetings, I’m Adam Kiciński, Joint CEO of CD PROJEKT. Thank you for joining today’s call which concerns the postponement of the Cyberpunk 2077 release date by 3 weeks - until December 10. We would like to briefly explain the reasons behind today’s decision and also answer any questions you may have. First and foremost, on behalf of the whole Board, I would like to offer an apology for breaking our promise and failing your trust. We underestimated the time required for the very final processes. The game is ready for the PC and runs great on the next-gen consoles, and could be shipped on the scheduled date on those platforms. However, even though the game has been certified on the current gens by both Sony and Microsoft, some very final optimization processes for such a massive and complex game require a bit of additional time. Moreover, while we are releasing on the PC and two console brands, we are, in fact, preparing and testing nine distinct versions of the game, for the following platforms: PC Xbox One Xbox One X PS4 PS4 Pro compatible releases on Xbox Series S and Series X PS5 compatible release ...and Stadia. And last but not least, despite all the effort taken to limit the impact of Covid-19 on our work, the current epidemiological situation at this final stage of the project is not making things any easier. We are fully aware of the consequences of this decision, but at the same time, we feel we have an amazing game on our hands and believe that the decision is the right one to take, and will be borne out in the long run. With that, I think we can go ahead with the Q&A session. I am at your full disposal, as are Piotr Nielubowicz, our CFO, and Michał Nowakowski -Member of the Board responsible for our publishing policy. Q1: Good evening. I’ve got 3 questions. My first one – going back to what you said in the middle of June when you last delayed the game – I think you specifically ruled out delaying it again beyond November 19. My question is – why is it different this time; why you’re confident that you can get this game out on December 10. Secondly, you mentioned in your comments that “we have an amazing game on our hands”. Could you provide some feedback that you’ve been getting from testing on how the game plays and we can get comfortable – when we actually get the game out – that it will be an amazing game and the quality will be as high as you expect it to be; some color on that would be very helpful. And thirdly – longer term, you’ve had some issues with getting this game out in the timeframe that you had set; you cited the complexity a number of times. But obviously you’ve got a very big project to come over the next couple of years, to get the multiplayer out – so, how confident are you that that you are going to be able to handle getting mutiplayer out in 2 years? Has your experience with single-player games increased your confidence or decreased it? Thank you very much. AK: Thank you for your questions. Starting with the first one – we are in a very different situation now; as I’ve said, we have the game ready on the PC and it plays great on both next-gen consoles. We’re finalizing the process on the current gen. To be honest, releasing on the 19th was possible as well, but we believe that having these extra three weeks will enable us to get more things ready to our satisfaction. But we’re talking only about technical things at the very final stage. Our confidence now is even greater than before – we have the game and can play it. I don’t know how best to explain it, but the confidence is there – we’re glad to have more time and believe this is the right move. I know three weeks doesn’t seem like a long period, but it actually doubles our available time starting from the moment the decision was made; this can greatly help us with those technical matters regarding current-gen. I’ll pass the second question to Michał because he has recently been playing the game quite heavily, so perhaps he can share his own opinion too. Michał Nowakowski (MN): This is Michał Nowakowski – I’ll actually not share my own judgment; I’m not impartial, of course, but when it comes to feedback from testing, we have quite a bit of that by now. The feedback is actually quite lengthy and it would take us way too much time to pass it; a lot of it is very technical, we break it down into very minute answers on some points, but one thing has been recurring in all of the test we’ve done. We’ve had people complete the game – for example, just yesterday night we had people complete the game in Japan, and we heard from them – and we keep hearing that it’s unlike anything they had played before. And that comes from the mouths of people who are actually fans of videogames, and I can assume have seen quite a lot. So, that gives us a lot of confidence in the quality of the content we have prepared. It’s of the highest standard and we’re super happy with what we’re about to deliver. AK: And the third question, about future projects – it’s a hard lesson and we know that we have to make certain organizational changes on the technical side of the company, but we believe that we have resources, and – frankly – such a harsh lesson makes us better prepared for future challenges. We take this lesson seriously and we believe that future projects, on the technical side, will be carried out properly. Q1: Could you elaborate a bit about what you mean by “technical issues”? AK: I think we should have had the game playable at earlier stages. With such a big game, too many things may have been put together at a late stage. We should have had more playable builds earlier. Well, what can I add? We’re particularly focused on the content and on delivering the greatest games, but at the same time we believe we can organize the technical side by putting together playable versions earlier than before. Regarding multiplayer – it’s a different project; we actually have initial prototypes and will keep them running throughout the whole course of production. And of course there is one more thing: targeting future releases – probably – just for next-gen will help a lot. We are releasing a game which is, to be honest, a next-gen game, and we’re preparing it for fairly old machines, which poses certain unique challenges that won’t occur in future projects – at least in the next one. Q2: Hi everybody. Still looking forward to visiting Night City. I’ve three questions. One question is to take the opposite tack and ask for assurance from you that you’re confident that this is enough time – because one could worry that – let’s suppose – you needed 7 weeks, which would have implied the game comes out in early January, which, commercially, is not a good time, and it’s the next financial year, so – are you confident this is enough time? Secondly, I’m sure you’ll receive some criticism for the extended crunch – will this relieve any pressure? And does this therefore mean that cash receipts will fall into the next financial year? And finally, have any refunds been requested because of the delay and do you think this could provoke requests for refunds? Thank you. AK: We feel firm. As I said, the game is releasable on the 19th and having those 3 more weeks just gives us more changes to fix this and that – so we feel secure. Of course the decision was not easy, but we also know that the release only happens once. The first impression is crucial, and in the long run having a few things done which wouldn’t have been done in time for the 19th will work in our favor. We feel – maybe not comfortable [chuckle], but confident and will are releasing on the 10th. Regarding crunch; actually, it’s not that bad – and never was. Of course it’s a story that has been picked up by the media, and some people have been crunching heavily, but a large part of the team is not crunching at all since they have finished their work; it’s mostly about Q&A and engineers, programmers – but it’s not that heavy; of course, it will be extended a bit, but we have feedback from the team; they’re happy about the extra three weeks, so we don’t see any threats regarding crunch. MN: I think the third question was whether the majority of revenues and cash collection would be moved to the next year – they’re actually separate things. When it comes to revenues, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the majority of revenues would move – but of course we’re going to have less time during the current year, so a significant portion will move. For the cash I’m gonna allow Piotr to speak in a second; I’m just going to talk about refunds (Q2: I mean for people who have decided that December 10 is too long and they can’t stand to wait another three weeks. You can tell I’m not convinced it’s a big problem, but tell me.) – Well, we don’t think it is, to be perfectly honest; we think people will wait for the game. We see people are excited; I can’t imagine huge masses of people cancelling their preorders and collecting their money back. Whether someone’s gonna do it? Well, of course, whenever there is an event like that there’s always someone who’s frustrated and cancels their preorder. Sometimes these people do come back; sometimes they don’t. Of course we’re going to do everything we can by coming up with materials, previews and so on to convince these people to come back if this is the case – but we don’t see that as a mass problem. When it comes to cash, I will hand it over to Piotr. Piotr Nielubowicz (PN): Hello. There will be a couple of sources of cash inflowing into the company. First, installments due to us upon the release of the game. The release will still occur this year, so such installments should land in our bank accounts before the end of December. Next, with physical distribution reporting occurs in quarterly cycles, so regardless of the release date, whether in November or in December, reports will be delivered to us at the beginning of the next year, as will the corresponding payments. In the case of digital distribution, especially on PC, reports are delivered on a monthly basis, so this year we should collect payments for all the preorders generated in November; however December sales will be reported and paid for at the beginning of the next year, so we assume that release sales will shift from the November to the December window. In this case, the revenues will also move to the beginning of the next year. The net result is that the cash flow for the company may be delayed by 1 month, or, in cases where we generate sales via GOG – by 21 days, so it’s not a significant delay in terms of the time that is to be considered. Q3: Thanks and good evening. You mentioned that – not a majority of revenues, but a significant portion – would move to next year. Could you tell us roughly how significant that move is in your view? The second question concerns expenses: how will this impact expenses for the company; particularly marketing, but also any other expenses which are impacted – is there any impact on how you pay your physical distribution partners? And then – I didn’t quite catch the explanations on the different platforms that you just gave regarding revenues in cash moving into January for some of those platforms – could you go over that again please? PN: First of all, I referred to the question of the cash being postponed, not the revenues being postponed until next year. As far as cash is concerned and whether it will be partially postponed until next year in physical distribution, the situation will not change – in both scenarios (November and December release) the situation is that payments of our royalties will happen at the beginning of the next year. In the case of digital distributions, all royalties for PC preorders placed in November should be reported and paid to the company this year, while royalties associated with December sales will be reported and paid at the beginning of the next year. So, this does not change the whole system; however, release window sales will occur – in the case of digital distribution – in December and not in November; only preorders on the PC will be paid for by the end of the current year – so this is the change I referred to. Secondly, you asked about revenues being moved to 2021. Yes; definitely, the time for the game to exist on the market this year will be shortened by 3 weeks, but we also performed an analysis of sales of The Witcher 3 post-release, and this exercise revealed to us that the vast majority of sales, approximately 90%, happened within the first four weeks following the release, the vast majority of the sales for TW3 in the quarter of release. All key events and circumstances stimulating sales will still occur this year – I’m referring to the release of the game and also the pre-holiday season which should also support sales. Thus, we believe that even though this year’s time window for the game is shorter, revenues may be slightly lower but will still be very much comparable to our initial plan. And what’s even more important – we are not developing the game with the idea of generating only single-quarter revenues. The entire project is designed to result in a game that will continue to sell and generate revenues for years, as in the case of The Witcher 3, The Witcher 2 and even The Witcher 1, which still continues to sell at levels comparable to its release window and provides high value. The same is true for Cyberpunk; obviously the current year is somewhat affected, but the decision to focus on quality should support long-term sales of the game. The second question was about expenses, so – definitely, we’ll need to rethink the marketing campaign and reschedule it a bit to cover the release window in December. Such rescheduling will most probably involve an increase in marketing expenses, but it’s too early to show exactly how the marketing budget will increase. The decision is really fresh and we are working on rescheduling the marketing campaign as we go. Q3: Could I just clarify two things – what happens to the cash flow from the digital console sales; when does that come in? And could I just double-check – you said that for The Witcher 3 90% of the sales came in when you released it, in the first four weeks? PN: We released The Witcher 3 in the middle of the quarter and it enjoyed exactly six weeks of sales before the end of the release quarter. Out of these six weeks, the first four weeks accounted for approximately 90% of total first-quarter sales – that’s what I wanted to say. As far as cash from digital console sales is concerned, it should arrive in our bank accounts at the beginning of the next year. Q4: Thank you and good evening everyone. My first question is: can you disclose anything in terms of the level of preorders for the game, either on PC or somewhere else? Does the delay change anything in terms of your unit expectations? My second question is: given your comments regarding the quality of the game, I’m curious what sort of Metacritic score would you be disappointed with. And my third question: in order to boost sales in December, would you consider offering a bit more aggressive discounts? Is there a risk that the average selling price is a bit lower than what people would imagine? Thank you. AK: I’ll take the first one. We can’t say too much about preorders, but what we can share is that the ratio between preorders of The Witcher 3 at the same stage and preorders of Cyberpunk continues to strongly satisfy. We’re happy with preorders and we’re looking forward to the final stage. The majority of preorders always occurs at the very final stage. Regarding Metacritic expectations – perhaps Michał can cover this, and as for sales – we believe that the 21 day shift shouldn’t change anything; it just moves sales and we really focus on the long-term perspective in terms of sales. This is secured by quality and nothing else matters, so – having better quality and a better initial reaction to the game always works in favor of sales; that’s why we are delaying. As I’ve said – we don’t have to, but we believe that having this extra time gives us a better assurance that everything is as it should be with the game which is coming on the 10th. MN: So, when it comes to Metacritic, we continuously aim at a 90+ game, so nothing has changed here; this remains the goal and, as Adam mentioned, this is actually the main reason for postponing the release. We want to give the game an extra polish; we’d rather be slightly ashamed right now in front of you than be ashamed in front of the players once the game releases. In terms of average selling price, whether it’s going to be somewhat more aggressive – the answer is no. This was not the plan when we were planning to launch on November 19, and it’s still not the plan for the December 10 launch. We believe we have a premium title that’s coveted by the players and we don’t need to offer any extra incentives – I think everybody who is going to be working on selling this game, in retail and on digital platforms, is going to be happy with what the game can make once it starts selling. Q5: If I could just ask one follow-up: are you going to spend a bit more around advertising and marketing to perhaps cover for the “negative PR” caused by delays or will the marketing budget remain unchanged? MN: There is going to be some extra support in terms of budget, that’s for sure, to account for the changed date; yes. Q6: Good evening; couple of questions. It’s quite rare to get a delay after the gold certification for a game. With a lot of copies sold digitally, does this cause any logistical issues or is it just a question of having a bigger Day 1 patch? And the other question I had was on the changed release schedule for the Stadia version. I understand it has recently been pushed ahead to coincide with the launch on all the other platforms. You mentioned the challenge of launching 9 versions at the same time – so could you explain that decision in light of this delay? Thank you. MN: Just to be sure I understand the first question correctly – is it about whether the delay after gold have something to do with logistical issues? (Q6: No – whether it brings any logistical issues with it). OK, I understand. Yes, it brings certain issues because of course we’re not releasing the stock into retail as was planned, on November 19, but it’s not really a huge challenge – it’s more of a warehousing issue rather than anything else; no transports have been moved from the warehouses and so on. So, there is nothing complex going on in the background – such as making crazy calls, trying to do something about that – it’s really just about keeping the stock in the warehouses. So it is kind of an issue per se, but nothing really complicated or challenging. About the release on Stadia – could you rephrase? You broke up a little bit – I heard up until the point you said that we had moved it to occur on the same date as the regular launch, but I didn’t hear the actual question. Q6: Yes, in the context of what you said about the challenge of launching on 9 platforms at the same time, could you explain the decision to proceed with the Stadia launch a bit earlier? Why not postpone it until after the launch of the other versions to alleviate the strain on Q&A and engineering teams? MN: I understand. Stadia doesn’t really affect the complexity of the issues. The things we’re fixing in terms of performance are on a higher layer than Stadia. Stadia is kind of a PC build which, as Adam mentioned at the very beginning, is pretty much ready; so – it really doesn’t pile up. This is why we’ve been able to move it to coincide with the PC release, but the polish is needed to fix all the bugs and quality issues that we’re still facing, and we see that we can’t fix them by the 19th – that’s the only reason we’re moving the date to December 10. Q7: Good evening and thank you for taking my question. You said that the game is “kind of” ready for the next-gen consoles and the PC, and the issue concerns the current generation. Can you say whether you had considered splitting the launch into next-gen/current-gen? And the other question is: can you confirm whether it’s just about optimizing the game so that it runs efficiently on the current generation – or are there also glitches that need to be taken care of during the last three weeks before the launch? MN: I’ll start with the release date: we have not considered splitting the release; we’re big believers in serving everything at the same time. It’s much more reasonable from the perspective of how the team operates and it’s also convenient from the marketing perspective. So the answer here is no. You also mentioned that the game is prepared for next-gen. I would instead say that it’s ready to be played on next-gen – that’s an important distinction because our true next-gen version is going to come later. But yes; the game can be played and I just wanted to make sure that’s not misunderstood. Now, about optimization and so on – games of such complexity and magnitude always have some bugs upon release. This is understood; it’s commonplace – anybody who has played any game out there, like GTA, RDR, The Witcher 3 – any of the big games – knows there are bound to be some bugs. It’s more about the scale and the quantity of these bugs, and it’s really the only issue we’re facing – so of course we’re going to continue improving and working on the game once it launches, as was the case with The Witcher 3 – as everybody knows – but when it comes to the launch moment, we want people to not be pestered by something that is going to be truly problematic for them; we want them to avoid those kinds of situations; we want them to enjoy their arrival in Night City – so, coming back to your question, yes, it’s basically optimization and all the challenges related to that. There’s no other “hidden story” here. Q8: Good afternoon. I just want to ask three questions. Do you have to pay any contractual fees due to delaying so close to launch – to distributors or marketing partners? The second question is about preorders: I wonder what happens to preorders in case of a delay. Are they automatically cancelled in some stores; are you aware of any channels that cancel preorders due to a delay? And the third question: you said that the ratio between preorders for Cyberpunk and The Witcher 3 is very satisfactory; I wonder if this justifies the threefold increase in the marketing campaign which you said was the case with Cyberpunk. MN: OK, I can take the first two. Regarding contractual fees – there’s no penalty in our contracts that we would be facing from any of our partners. The delay is really not that big; it’s three weeks – of course it’s going to impact the amount of time we’ll have to actively sell the game during this calendar year; that’s pretty obvious, but it really doesn’t change expectations towards the game – it’s still out there to be played, so, no. Not only are there no contractual penalties, but no one is demanding any kind of penalties. In terms of preorders being cancelled – this is highly specific to every channel; it depends on the channel’s policy. We don’t really control particular retailers or their policies; however, I know for a fact that there’s no retailer that would cancel all preorders automatically. Some retailers may offer the ability to cancel preorders until the moment of launch, but, frankly speaking, this is something you can typically do with a preorder even in the absence of a delay – if you wanted to cancel a preorder of our game on Amazon yesterday, before we released the news, you could have done it without any hassle whatsoever. So, this is something of a typical practice; you can cancel preorders at any moment in time before the game actually launches and ships. Nothing has changed in regard to that. Yes, there may be some people who would actually cancel preorders right now, because they’re tired, but I still think we can win those people back. I’ll hand over the third question to Adam. AK: The simple answer is – yes. All the data we have, both internal and external, justifies the scope of the marketing campaign, and perhaps we don’t sound very happy today, because – you know – it’s a tough decision, but on the other hand, we’re sure we have something really amazing on our hands and we truly believe that once the game is released, everyone will understand how difficult it was and how great the game is, and then all those bitter pills we had to swallow on the way will seem like a small thing compared to the satisfaction that we’ll enjoy. So – don’t get us wrong, we of course a little stressed internally; we would have preferred to release on the 19th, but on the other hand we feel very strongly about the game. Q9: Good evening everyone. My question relates to the momentum of console sales that may play a bigger role this time around. Do you think that the recent deterioration in economic outlook due to the pandemic may have affected potential sales – with people perhaps less incentivized to buy as early as November, and maybe moving the date closer to Christmas would optimize potential sales? PN: It’s hard to reliably estimate the influence of the pandemic upon sales. We know from our experience in March and April that it offered something of a tailwind for the videogame industry – videogames were among the limited number of entertainment forms that people could enjoy at home, and this particularly boosted digital sales. So, if the situation repeats at the end of the current year, it might offer some support for the game, but I don’t think it hinges upon whether the release takes place in November or December. In any case, the course of the pandemic is not where we look for sales support in the case of Cyberpunk. Q10: Hi, just one question: some people would have thought three weeks before release is quite late for a delay, but as we work towards the new December 10 date – when do you really need to make a final decision that everything would be ready for that date? When do you believe it’s physically too late to delay a game further? Is it two weeks before, one week before...? When can we get comfortable that the game is definitely coming out? MN: We’re not really analyzing it this way because, to be honest, we don’t see such a thing happening. I do realize you’ve actually heard this from us before, but this is pretty close to the launch and – as we’ve mentioned several times – the game is ready; it’s there; you can actually walk through the whole game and a number of people around the world who were given access to the game, have done it. We need to be sure about the performance and that the glitches are gone, so – there is no such analysis at all; we just haven’t thought about that. Q10: Okay, so – basically – we can be comfortable now that the game is definitely coming out on December 10, is that what you’re saying? MN: That’s more or less what I’m saying, I guess – yes. Q11: Hello again. A couple of questions. One was just to clear up the next-gen point. As I understand it, the game will come out on the 10th, playable on, say, PS5, but the actual optimized next-gen version is still scheduled for the first quarter of the next year for both Xbox and PS5. The second question is: does this have a knock-on effect on DLCs? I guess large parts of the studio can be working on those, but still – the engineering and the Q&A guys will be very busy, and for longer than you had ever expected – so does this potentially affect the timing of DLCs, of which we can expect at least three – correct me on that. Thank you. AK: So, with next-gen: what we are releasing now is the current-gen version, which can be played on next-gen consoles thanks to backward compatibility, but without next-gen-specific features. Being strong machines, next-gen consoles are comparable to very strong PCs – they have more memory, much faster hard drive access and so on and so forth. So – the console version played on next-gen looks great; instantly. Next year we will be releasing a full-blown next-gen version – perhaps not optimized for next-gen, but with next-gen features implemented. It won’t be – like the current version – merely an emulation of the current gen. Regarding expansions – we expect no impact. Fortunately, those who are finishing the game and are now involved in those final processes, are not required at this stage of development of the expansions. We don’t expect that this will influence our further schedules. Q12: Hello. You mentioned that the problem was with the current-gen consoles. Is the problem different for Xbox and PS4, the latter of which is perhaps a bit stronger – or is it very similar for both consoles? MN: Hi; Michał Nowakowski again. I wouldn’t say there is a “problem” because there’s nothing wrong with Xbox or PS4 versions – there is optimization to be handled, also because of how we were approaching things from the get-go in terms of development; so – there is no problem with Xbox or PlayStation 4, to be honest. Now, in terms of issues – I don’t think there’s much point in going there. Yes, there are some issues that are similar – I’m not going to go through a full bug report here; that’s probably pointless – but let’s put it like this: there are some issues which are common to both platforms and some issues which are slightly different; it’s a mixed bag, really. It’s something that can be handled, can be done and something that we’re currently working on. It’s a huge game, so there are a lot of things to be tackled – which is the underlying reason behind the conversation we’re having tonight. Q12: My question was related to the rumors form one year ago, I believe, which said that there were some problems with optimization for Xbox, but as I understand – this is not related? MN: This was a total hoax; a fake rumor. That I can say; otherwise – there’s just regular work to be done on both platforms. AK: And I’d like to add one more thing: having the game certified means it’s optimized and it works, but it’s a big game and what we’re going to do in those next couple of weeks is to make it as good as it can be on the current generation – so we’re trying to bump everything as much as possible. Moderator: Thank you; this concludes today’s Q&A session. Mr. Kiciński, I will hand it over to you for any closing remarks. AK: Thank you everybody; tomorrow we are available to take any follow-up questions you may have. Please contact our IR team directly via e-mail or phone. Thank you very much and tune in to our Q3 results. Bye bye!
Notes and Highlights of Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear’s Live Update October 26, 2020
Notes and Highlights of Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear’s Live Update October 26, 2020 Notes bymr_tyler_durdenand Daily Update Team Check your registration status, ballot status, or how to vote here! Note: Thank you to the people who have given awards to these posts but I do want to say: Please don’t spend money to give these posts an award or if you want to give thendonate it here instead. These people need your help more than I need awards. I guess if you are just spending reddit coins that you already have then that’s fine but don’t spend new money, donate it instead. Thank you all! Watch here:
But I have to urge you now: this is not a moment when there's ever more for the state, or for the nation to do for the individual citizen. We're going to keep at it, and we're going to keep taking the steps we need to and I'll keep making recommendations to the Governor and I have every confidence he'll take whatever hard steps we need to, to try to keep everyone safe. But if folks followed the guidance we already have out there: if people followed the six feet of social distancing, the wearing your mask at all times in public, the washing and sanitizing your hands, staying home if you are sick, and not going to school or work if you're sick, and getting tested for COVID if you have any signs or symptoms or exposure risks that make it likely you can have it, if we did those things we wouldn't be in the trouble we're in now. But I'll add the human component to the data the Governor showed. We've had, just over the weekend, a request for an ICU transfer from two states away- not one of our bordering states, two states away, because they couldn't find a hospital in their own state that was closer, or the neighboring state to take the patient. And we took that patient at the hospital here in Kentucky. And I spoke with the state health official from that state who was already aware of this, and we had a discussion about things we can do to try to collaborate, to help people in our own states and across states.
When people go into the hospital there is only one drug, so far scientifically proven to improve your risk of death, and is a drug called Dexamethasone that was first approved for use in 1961, 60 years ago. We have great progress that's being made and all sorts of research fronts. But at the moment, the only drug that increases your chance of survival is a 60 year old medication, that's been used by people for six decades. So we've got a long way to go. And the vaccines, we have great hope that the vaccines are going to reduce the disease, and help us, but I've just got to put that in perspective, the initial vaccines aren't going to be available to people until the end of November at the very earliest and probably not until December, and then it's only going to be a very small amount for health workers and first responders who are at greatest risk and care for the people who are at greatest risk. And then it will take most of next year to roll this out to the entire population, and even then, throughout that whole year, we are still going to have to keep a six foot social distance, wear masks when we're close together, wash our hands, and follow the other guidance. So folks that list that's up there on the screen now that you can see, I hope everyone will listen.
There’s nothing really about sports, people still taking part in sports, I may have overlooked it, I apologize. -- The question is, the redzone reduction recommendations don't include sports, it’s because there's already that recommendation in place. Through KHSAA you use the incident rate map already and there's already a recommendation when it's red that you pause sports. So that's already in place, like schools and like nursing homes.
In terms of school guidance, the state positivity. The guidance in the school reopening is in effect while the state is under 6%. What will change if our state positivity rate goes above 6%? -- Our current school guidance, which is what the question is about, is guidance if the overall state positivity rate is under 6%. If it climbs above 6% we are going to take a close look at it. We will try to make a determination of how much of that may be in one specific area. But if it's determined that this is truly marking out-of-control statewide spread then we may have to look at various statewide solutions but we're not there yet. I also want to say that I think our schools are doing a really good job when they have their kids in.
Is it possible that you’d change the Halloween guidance between now and Halloween?-- <...>We do not anticipate changing the guidance for Halloween because we generally think it follows what we're asking people to do and we also know people are going to go trick or treating with their kids. If you follow that guidance really carefully it can be safe.
On Monday morning President Donald Trump reasserted the cases were rising in conjunction with testing. -- I mean our positivity rate shows that we have more virus. Yes, we're testing more, but we have more virus, even compared to, to that amount of testing than we have in a long time. There's no question we are nationally, and in Kentucky, in a third escalation. We don't need to find reasons around that. It's what we face; recognize the challenge, recognize the problem. Be a part of the solution. We can save lives.
Alright, good afternoon. It is four o'clock on a Monday. It's that time we come together and remember, even with what we're facing, even when times are getting more difficult, that we're gonna get through this, and we're gonna get through this together. I am excited to be back, live here in the Capitol, having emerged from a two week quarantine that I was asked to take because I was in close contact with someone who was positive and infectious with the coronavirus. I'm happy to say that my entire family is safe and tested negative four times, we did not contract the virus. And this is why [holds up mask]. I'm sitting in the front passenger seat of a vehicle, next to somebody driving, and they were infectious. But he was wearing a mask, and I was wearing a mask, and so I'm here today, happy to have never contracted this virus; but also as a testament about the effectiveness of wearing a mask. I want to thank everybody who sent well wishes to me but primarily to my family, to my wife, and to my two kids.
If there is a blessing to being unable to leave the grounds on which you- the yard and the house, on which you live- it's that you get to quarantine with the people you love most in this world, and so I took every advantage I could out of that extra time. And so while for me and my family things are good, the state of this country and the state of our Commonwealth with regards to COVID are not. We're moving in the wrong direction in a fight against a virus that, at this point, we understand enough about to where we should be more effective. We are seeing more cases, we're seeing more people going into the hospital, we’re seeing more people going into the ICU, and we're gonna see more and more people die. It is our job as a Commonwealth, and as a country, to turn this around.
Let me first talk about what's going on in the country, our COVID-19 cases are currently at an all-time high. That means our number of new cases per day right now is even greater than it was in the summer when we were seeing 70,000 cases in a given day, we are now seeing more than that. We have lost 225,158+ Americans, at least in part due to COVID. That is astounding. That in the year 2020 with everything that we know, and with being I think, the most advanced nation in this world, that we are suffering losses on this scale. The current escalation that we are on is already higher than the second, and certainly higher than the first. And trailing the new cases we see all over the country, again, not just more than ever before, but everywhere.
When we saw the first wave that's over there it was mainly New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, and a couple of other places, being hit hard. When we saw the second wave was places like Florida, Arizona, Texas, and some others being hit really hard. Our new wave? And what shows you that the height that it's at now could just be the start? Is that everywhere is starting to escalate. Like those hard-hit, smaller areas in the first two escalation/waves/to me I don't care what you call it as long as you recognize how concerning that it is. And what we have seen with each wave is that hospitalizations follow it. Nationally, we are seeing hospitalization start to significantly increase again. Remember, while we're getting better and better at treating it a certain percentage of these all-time high cases in America, end up in the hospital, end up in the ICU, and end up passing away. The more overall cases, the more people we lose, and the more people who get very sick.
What we're seeing across the country, what we're seeing in Kentucky, in our COVID cases by week is the easiest way to show it. Now while that first national wave if you think back on it was, for them we thought pretty large, we were able to cut it off here in Kentucky. At what now seems like a pretty low volume. And while that second wave was not quite as scary as the first because, again, we'd learned so much about this virus, we had PPE and we had testing, the level of the increase was what was concerning then; the speed at which it increased. With the mask mandate and some others we were able to basically level it off then. The scale and speed of the growth of this third escalation is faster than either of the previous two. Last week we had our single largest week of positive COVID-19 cases and it wasn't even close. 20+ percent over the next highest week. And if you look back three weeks at that 7,675- part of that was a backlog, and so, if you accounted for that, what you would see is a steep increase over about a six-week period. 9,335 cases in a week in Kentucky is something that we never hoped that we would see.
Folks right now if the hospital accepts you as a COVID-19 patient, and we've learned this through some personal experience lately, you are really sick. The amount of people who show up hurtin’, that they say “you don't need to be in the hospital”, it is a really high bar. And so when you see this chart going up, it means a lot of people are getting a lot sicker. And remember, this trails cases by about two weeks. So you can imagine the jump that we see in the overall cases, we should also begin to see in the next two weeks that additional escalation and inpatient beds in use. ICU beds, those that aren't just sick enough to be in the hospital, which is a high bar, but need intensive care to survive- also, going up. And again, if you look at that five week incline, it raises some really serious concerns.
And today, only adds to the concerns that we have over what is undoubtedly a significant and severe escalation that we are experiencing in Kentucky. We had the highest Friday ever, this last Friday. We had the highest Saturday, ever, this last Saturday. We had the highest Sunday ever, yesterday. And now we have the highest Monday, ever, all in a row.
Today we're reporting 953, new cases of COVID-19, which remember Mondays, we have many fewer reports that come in. This is a significantly higher Monday than we usually report. And I believe it's significantly higher than the second largest Monday that we've had. We are now getting extensive numbers of tests back. But the level and number of tests, does not account, does not explain away our higher case numbers because our positivity rate which should go down as we get more testing is actually going up. We're at 5.84% and Dr. Stack will talk about that here in a little bit.
Positive cases today: 953
Probable cases: 14,974
Total confirmed cases: 97,866
When we look at new cases by county Jefferson continues to be hit very hard
Total tests conducted: 45,138 (PCR: 53, Serology: 1,809,871)
Positivity Rate: 5.84%
Total hospitalized: 6,895
Currently hospitalized: 858
Total in ICU: 1,689
Currently in ICU: 2
On a ventilator: 112
Total recovered: 17,881
New deaths today: 3
Total Deaths: 1,410
We also today have lost three additional Kentuckians. Remember our numbers are also lower on Mondays because that audit committee that looks over all potential deaths related to COVID doesn't meet throughout the weekend, or every day of the weekend.
New deaths by county: 75 M Garrett, 73 F Graves, 54 M Lewis
And I've heard this comment that, “Well these are people that have, we can call them comorbidities or other existing conditions.” You know what the most common ones so those are? And we'll try to put this together: hypertension, high blood pressure. Well- how many Kentuckians out there have high blood pressure? That doesn’t mean you're a walking corpse- you are far from dead, it means that when COVID hits you, it makes a serious impact. What's another one, diabetes? Hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians have diabetes. These, when we talk about comorbidities, these are things that people are living with, but COVID is something that they are dying with, at least partially, dying from.
Racial breakdown of all cases: 80.49% Caucasian, 11.49% Black or African-American, 1.66% Asian, 5.91% Multiracial
Ethnicity breakdown of all cases: 90.51% non-Hispanic and 9.49% Hispanic
Racial breakdown of all deaths: 84.32% Caucasian, 11.87% Black or African-American, 0.91% Asian, 2.89% Multiracial
Ethnicity breakdown of all deaths: 96.68% non-Hispanic and 3.32% Hispanic
Long Term Care Facilities (PDF): 26 new residents and 23 new staff positive from yesterday, 24 more deaths, and 7 new facilities.
Total facilities: 358
Total deaths: 854
Active cases: 963 residents, 556 staff
Total cases: 5964 residents, 4146 staff
It continues to impact our long-term care facilities. Today, 26 new residents 23 new staff testing positive- 24 additional deaths can fall into what's attributable to long term care, and seven new facilities with at least one positive case, Now we show active cases versus total cases. This is an area where we continue to work really hard on. But let's just be clear, there is no barrier that we can set up at the doors of these facilities, there is no amount of testing that we can do for those that are entering this facility that can stop this virus from getting in, if you have such a high community transmission, that your county is red. That oughta mean that you want to do everything you can to keep your county from being red, because when there is that level of transmission going on, widespread like wildfire, this virus will find a way to get to those that it can harm the most.
Let me give you a tough update from the Thomson-Hood Veterans Center in Wilmore. We now have 73 residents that have tested positive in that facility. These are our vulnerable veterans that we as a state are taking care of. We now have 8 total deaths that have occurred from that facility of residents, one new one since yesterday. We have four individuals that have recovered, thank God for that, 10 that are hospitalized, and 51 active COVID-19 cases amongst those residents; staff 49 have tested positive and, again thank God, 26 have recovered.
If we don't push down the level of the incidences of this virus, it finds our most vulnerable. And finds those that aren't all that vulnerable, and inflicts some real pain and sometimes death on them.
So where are we as a state right now? I will tell you that we have put in significant protections, restrictions, and guidance. And if you put that up, I want to go through what some of these are because we have more tools in place, and more aggressive steps than we have taken in just about any other state in this country. We put in a mask mandate early, earlier than most states, certainly earlier than any of our neighbors, some of which still won't do this. We require that everybody wear a mask when they are within six feet of those outside of their family, and those who are working inside as well. It's one of the most comprehensive mask mandates in this country, though it is similar to so many that others have now put into place. This, if followed, if significant compliance, is one of the single most significant ways to reduce the number of COVID-19 cases and it's also the most significant way to protect yourself and your family, I would know.
We put a lot of Healthy at Work requirements into place that stay in place. And these require huge sacrifices by those they impact. And compliance with them, is how we honor those sacrifices, but they only work if people follow and do them.
We have significant capacity restrictions and a curfew on bars and restaurants. We have capacity restrictions on how many people can be inside at any one point, on businesses and retails and in both of those, everybody's got to be wearing masks.
Our employers are still asked to allow a certain percentage of people to work from home, 50% for those office-based businesses.
Childcare still limited to 15, childcare facilities were already struggling economically, this makes it harder, but it helps to control the virus.
Indoor and outdoor arenas, we've put some significant restriction levels on, and enforcement requirements that require removal of fans that will not wear masks at those events.
We have a travel advisory where we advise where not to go because of the level of the virus.
We've put through an executive order that gatherings at homes, informal, must be 10 or less.
Long-term care, we have more testing than ever before that's going on and there are still restrictions on visitation, depending on where a county is, and when there was a last positive test.
Correctional institutions, again, testing and restrictions on who can visit, and that's hard on the inmates and their families. We do it, even though it's hard to keep people safe.
Colleges, universities, K-12 schools, all with daily reporting that keeps people up to date and K-12 schools with recommendations based on our incident map about when they should move to virtual learning.
Sports, same recommendations out there about when the virus gets so big they ought to be paused.
And finally, we put together an easy to use, 10 steps on how we defeat COVID-19.
I'm gonna level with you, if more people would follow these restrictions, we wouldn't need to take additional steps. Dr Stack believes and I believe, that if we actually follow these, if we get everybody buying in, if we could get many of our stores back to enforcing how many people come in at any one time and when that level of people have gone there, no more until people come out. If we could get back to wearing masks at all times when we're supposed to here, we wouldn't have the level of cases we have right now. But fatigue and, I guess a cultural war, that's somehow sprung up around what keeps you alive and keeps people around you alive, have led to less compliance as the summer ended and as we move into fall. And now's not the time to give up, Secretary Friedlander said it's the time to dig in. It's the time where more people are going to be at risk than ever, and it’s the time and we need everybody to do better. To those that are working hard and doing their best, thank you, but keep it up, and dial it up. To those who were at one point, We need you back, you know, it was game time a while ago but it's now a critical point where you as a part of Team Kentucky are needed more than ever.
And those who have refused: talk to your minister, read your Bible, wearing a mask isn’t a statement about your own personal freedom, it's about how much you care about somebody else. And please, don't be a person that when somebody else is worried about catching the virus that you mocked for wearing a mask or that you try to cough on one or that you make a scene around, it's not okay.
we restrict visitation for those in long term care facilities, from their loved ones. That's what we ask.
But why is the county red? It's because of widespread community spread. Doesn't mean it's necessarily happening in the schools or spreading because of the schools, it just will spread through the school, if there's widespread community spread. But right now we're just asking the schools to bear the brunt of that. Well, I believe that we, as each one of these communities have a duty first to prevent our county, our area from becoming red because that puts everybody that we live around in danger. But I think we certainly have a responsibility when our county becomes red to look at all of the things that we can do to lessen the spread, to tamp down the numbers, to get back to orange and yellow, and you can view it as doing it for your own personal safety or you can view it for getting kids back in school.
So here are our recommendations and what we recommend for each community is that same Thursday evening that we asked for schools to check and then to plan their next week, we're asking the community to do the same. To know that we've got to live week by week in this virus. It's what it's going to take until we defeat it.
So, when on Thursday afternoon, a county is red. We ask during that next week, starting on Monday:
for all of our employers to allow any employee that can work from home, virtually, to work from home. We know that that's not possible for a lot of professions- but it is with others. And the more we can reduce density, no matter where it is, the better. And if those that can work from home, work from home for that week we will see a lessening of the spread of the virus.
We're going to ask and we're going to do this in the state offices as well. During that next week when a county is red, non-critical governmental offices operate virtually. These are offices that can provide the services that they provide when they're in person, virtually. There are some offices that are going to have to stay open. But I can't put my people that work, ultimately for state government, at a higher level of risk when we're asking other employers to make the same sacrifice of letting their individuals, their employees work from home, and I care about my state employees.
We're asking people to reduce in-person shopping for that week. Please order local, but order online, pick it up curbside- continue to support your local businesses, but avoid in-person shopping.
Order takeout during that week- again. Support those restaurants around you, but do more takeout because we have to reduce our contacts.
Here's the next one that's critical and it is from the White House, I thought it was a good suggestion. If you're going to shop in person, if you're going to dine out, prioritize those businesses that are doing it right. If they're enforcing the mask mandate, if they're enforcing capacity requirements, then you are safer. And I think you ought to ask each business in your area before going there, what they are doing, where they can feel free to advertise it. That type of prioritizing, where your dollars are going, creates a positive incentive for organizations to do the right thing.
We're asking for the reschedule, postponement, or cancellation of public or private events when it's red. So I'm not going to name a county but there is a red county, just last week, that held two major festivals outside, no mask enforcement, and then the question is asked “What can we do to reduce our number of cases?” You can follow the basic guidance of public health. When it's red, if you are holding large public events the virus is going to spread even more. Red tells you that it's already out of control and let's not expose our citizens to anymore.
Next ones from the White House too. It's their advice and at this point, we think it's necessary. If you're county us red: Don't host any gatherings of any size, don't have people over to your house. This means that it's spreading and we see it spreading in informal gatherings more than, more than ever. So during that week and again we're just talking about a week, learn about it on Thursday and then, you know, Monday through that next week, don't have people over. It's not safe during that period of time.
Avoid non-essential activities outside of your home and reduce your overall activity and contacts.
If everybody in a community follows these recommendations, they are less likely to contract the virus, and we believe in a week, if people are strong about this, and the community comes together to do it, that you will come out of the red in that week or at most in the next one, and that your community will be safer. But the color red is used for a reason, it's an alarm. Take it as the color of fire because that's how it spreading. When you reach that point, your area is in danger. And we got to take action to lessen it. Now, these are not mandates, these are our recommendations on how each community can make their community safer. And the reason they aren't mandates is mandates only work if people follow them. And we know that encouragement will do more than enforcement to get people on board, but this also puts ownership in each community. We cannot succeed, if our position is “Well the governor will say no.” Sure, I'll say no when I need to, but if we're not doing the right things inside of our communities each day we're not going to lessen the amount. This is about all of us who care about each other taking ownership in our fight against this virus. These are recommendations that we know, if we follow, can, and will, make your community safer. I'm gonna ask Dr. Stack to come up and give some of his thoughts, and then we'll take questions over this, and anything else.
Jan. 17 update on COVID-19 in MN: As daily cases trend downward, death toll passes 5,900 1,421 new cases each day. That's down from 2,307 one week ago — and it's the lowest that number has COVID In MN: Cases Falling Just Weeks After State Was Hotspot. cases are coming down dramatically after health officials called the state a hotspot last month. “We’ve gone from being The new report that came out this morning shows that Minnesota schools from Nov. 1 to Nov. 7 had over 750 COVID-19 cases reported. That number was between 100 and just over 300 in September. Overall, the United States has more than 25 million confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Hospitalizations have decreased to a little more than 112,000, about 10,000 less than a week ago. Coronavirus Cases, Daily Death Tolls Continue To Fall In MN - Southwest Minneapolis, MN - Cases of COVID-19 have gone down since they peaked on Nov. 16, when 8,38 were reported in a single day in Among the 136,007 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-associated hospitalizations, 132,932 (97.7%) had information on race and ethnicity, while collection of race and ethnicity was still pending for 3,075 (2.3%) cases. MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – New COVID restrictions have gone into place, and Minnesota health officials on Saturday reported an additional 6,265 cases and 51 deaths. Minnesota Department of Health data About 10 percent of Minnesota residents have now received at least the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. But week-over-week, the pace of vaccinations in Minnesota in recent days is falling short. The peak for this state was in early April, with 34 new COVID-19 cases. But that number went way down to four on Apr. 29. In Montana, there have been over 450 total COVID-19 cases and 16 Hennepin County has the most COVID activity in the state with 78,430 cases and 1,231 deaths, followed by Ramsey County with 33,375 cases and 585 deaths, Dakota County with 26,857 cases and 231
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