Content creation during a pandemic.

You are correct but those big buildings located in prime locations at expensive addresses (5th Avenue, New York: Collins St, Melbourne: Pitt St, Sydney - to give a few examples) give both prestige and a sense of wealth and success that is simply not found in a Facebook or Twitter account.

You can never judge a company or organisation by its online presence or the number of "likes" its posts get. Just as the physical edifice at the swank city address tells you nothing about the honesty, integrity and competence of those who dwell inside (Lehman Bros, AIG, etc) but at least you have a chance of knowing who you are dealing with unlike those behind URLs and IPs.

My thoughts.

True and there's also the ego factor as well since these CEOs and company owners need to show off whose got a bigger glass tower.

I've worked in a few towers and actually ended up with a massive respiratory infection that gave me walking pneumonia while working in a brand new building in the financial district in Boston. There were a few people in the office that had what appeared to be a cold. I worked in the computer room 2nd shift and never went near them, but got word that they were out with what appeared to be a chest cold when I was delivering their reports.

A bit later I got it and so did my other coworkers in the computer room. A short time after that the rest of the company had it right up to the president who ended up quite sick. The fever was high, around 102, and I couldn't breath. I was put on gigantic, horse-sized, antibiotic pills that caused my stomach to end up messed up. The only solution for the stomach issues was to eat tons of yogurt. When I called in and told my manager I was quarantined to my house due to walking pneumonia, he was p-offed and demanded I come in even though most of the workers were out as well. I left the company shortly after that due to this and other reasons.
 
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I've worked in a few towers and actually ended up with a massive respiratory infection that gave me walking pneumonia while working in a brand new building in the financial district in Boston. .....

That sounds like Legionnaires disease although it shouldn't be a problem in a new building. I believe its caused by bacteria forming in the aircon cooling towers.
 
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That sounds like Legionnaires disease although it shouldn't be a problem in a new building. I believe its caused by bacteria forming in the aircon cooling towers.

We were told it was called new building syndrome. There was some kind of bacteria or something in the water system, but it wasn't Legionnaires.
 
Well I've been having fun repainting some of BenDorsey's work car series to create a Bridge and Build consist for the Central Pacific.

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;)
 
I'm being good and working on my route from indoors. Nice view of the Black River line from here with Remsen high falls in the distance....work in progress of course...always.
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Well I've been having fun repainting some of BenDorsey's work car series to create a Bridge and Build consist for the Central Pacific.
;)

Those are really nice nice loco's and cars, and great history with the old Central Pacific...Maybe the creator would let me reskin them for my route in the North East ?....I'll have to ask.
 
Those are really nice nice loco's and cars, and great history with the old Central Pacific...Maybe the creator would let me reskin them for my route in the North East ?....I'll have to ask.

Ben Dorsey has passed away but he issued a blanket release so long as they aren't used for profit. The loco, caboose, and coach are pencil42's and he has an open release policy.

I've adapted a couple of link n pin couplers as bogies for replacement of narrow gauge knuckle bogie couplers on bendorsey's cars and should be uploading standard gauge versions today.

Some of Ben's assets are quite old but they satisfy my needs. ;)
 
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I'm wondering if corporations are going to realize they don't need all the mega real estate with all the extra expenses and other liabilities associated with these buildings. As a former IT support person, I saw this work at home trend starting a decade ago. The problem back then was the lack of trust by management, and it was only allowed for a mere handful of trusted employees, and then only for those that needed it unless they were in remote services or sales.

With this push to offsite operations, this maybe the push into that direction permanently, and the only companies that will need an actual work-site are those that are in manufacturing. If you think about it, with SAAS, cloud-based storage, and virtual desktops, there is no longer a need for a centralized location.

John, your post made me think of how the company I worked for changed over the years of my employment (1977-2003 with some consulting to 2007). When I started there was a typing pool where you sent most all correspondence that was to be sent out (letters and faxes). You'd send in you first letter draft and get a rough draft back, make changes, send it back, get the revision back, repeat as needed, give a copy to your boss for his comments, revise, get revision back and, hopefully finalize. That process could be about as frustrating as you can imagine. Faxes could be a bit quicker as they were supposed to be, well, fast. If you were just a worker bee you couldn't send you own fax period. Also, paying a contractor invoice was a lengthy process also with a long paper trail.

All that started to change when PROFS terminals started showing up in the later 1980's where we could not only run common engineering programs right at our desk but also send and receive messages, the first emails. PROFS terminals gave way to personal computers and the internet and intranet. Emails took the place of faxes and letters became rare and the typing pool disappeared. Oh, letters were still sent out, mainly for bids documents and such, but normal correspondence via letter was minimized. With personal computer, the engineers and such started typing their own reports (well there really wasn't anyone else to type them) with review usually by another engineer. The review process was cut to the bone so we could get on with the program. Anybody could send a fax as long as they could figure out how to run the machine and they became very easy to use. Invoice pay eventually became entirely paperless with the foreman receiving the invoice electronically and doing the coding him/herself for payment. No middle person whatsoever.

The bottomline is that technology flattened the organizaion tremendously all over the company and, mostly, for the better. Productivity exploded with way fewer people doing way more.

Take care and stay safe,
 
While browsing The Guardian this morning, I found this image, which is eerily similar to the one in the opening post of this thread.

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How did the virus particles get from my screenshot to the pages of The Guardian? Is my anti-virus software not working?


.
 
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I like your image better too!

Picking up on this comment because I feel the same when it comes to content creation, but I don’t know why.

I have all the time in the world now to devote to the hobby and I promised another Trainzer that I would create a series of trees for him. But every morning when I sit down to start working on it, I just cannot find the “energy” to proceed. I allow myself to get distracted by another computer game, a Netflix series, a cat video on YouTube, or just the endless TV news about COVID-19. I don’t know how to explain or break this strange lethargic cycle and I’m feeling more guilty about it with every passing day.

This is so true! I've been working from home now since 13th March and currently indefinitely. And I've basically been indoors (only out once) since 21st March. So a perfect opportunity to do Trainz right? But I too am lacking the 'energy'. This virus is a curse for the over-50s and it's difficult to focus on anything else. :(

Paul
 
For me variety is the key.

I still work on my Trainz project but what I am currently doing is "uninspiring" (adjusting the height and terrain height of all the road splines that are close to the track to eliminate the "floating" effect) so it is progressing slowly. TV (as usual not much really on), reading (I have a supply of books and magazines to read and I can order more online), some new DVDs arrived earlier today and as I was typing this post a WiFi Mesh Extender just arrived by courier so I can significantly improve the wifi coverage in the Sunroom where I have set up a computer work station. Then there is the gardening (just transplanted some cherry tomato plants to pots for a supply of tomatoes in a month or two) and the domestic duties - my partner also keeps me busy.

So plenty, or even too much, to do and that is the reason (apart from the monotonous height adjustments - but that will eventually pass) why I have nor been at my Trainz project as much as I had planned.

I was listening on the radio this morning to a former captain of an RN nuclear sub who would sometimes spend 200+ days submerged. It was interesting. His main advice was to establish a set routine and stick to it, and don't let your personal standards (cleanliness, hygiene, dress, etc) slip.

Keep busy, do different things (I join a Zoom exercise class on Thursdays and Saturdays), keep your mind active.
 
I've been mixing Trainz stuff with jobs around the house such as repainting the front windows (tedious) while the weather is good. It will be frosty by the end of April so I need to get this done. Today, its raining so its a total Trainz day.

I'm working on two assets: one is a station I promised to someone, and a script for mixed gauge track. This is written for the newer Trainz APIs so I'm learning a whole lot about asynch searches, game objects, game object ids, and security tokens. I do have a working test asset for a shared track but not with junctions in it. I'm unsure if that particular version is worth releasing to the DLS.
 
Hello everybody,

I live in Brescia, Lombardy, Italy. One of the centers of the epidemic, although now it seems stabilized.
Here the situation is always very serious.

This is a very fast killer virus, in my city (200,000 inhabitants) there are 80 deaths a day.

The problem is asymptomatic people. Dangerous because they ignore their condition and spread the infection.
My family and I are fine, but after 30 days, the government has imposed at least another 20 days of isolation in the house.
Fortunately there is no shortage of food and supermarkets are normal.
Speculation instead on protective masks.

Trainz helps me a little to endure the isolation.
I am attaching screenshots of Donner route in the Truckee area being updated.

I recommend, use all possible precautions.

you are fine.

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Oh good, I was worried about you, Jango and all my TrainzItalia friends. Take care and be safe. (Donner looks great!)
 
Hey Jango I'm glad to hear you and your family are okay. We have stay at home orders too where I live and so far my family and me are safe.

The Donner Pass route looks really awesome.

Take care.
 
Greetings Jango !
So glad that you and your family are safe. I pray for Italy and will continue to do so. You're route looks fantastic. My family used to rent a cabin in Donner Lake when I was a young boy during the winter. To this day, I've never seen so much snow piled up ! You've captured the atmosphere from there very well.
 
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