Unexpected side benefits of the job for the win?
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Show posts MenuQuote from: alanp on September 25, 2021, 07:17:21 AM
I still have a brief WTF moment when I'm watching a video by an American (in this case, one of Peter Santenello's Amish ones) and they talk about how a cafe' has the most amazing pie... and, rather than a steak and cheese, or steak and mushroom, or chicken and bacon pie... they bring out pudding.
Quote from: alanp on August 19, 2021, 03:58:12 PM
I heard a good term for this kinda stuff -- "panic porn".
The other thing to remember is that journalists are people, too, with their own deeply held beliefs (whether that is Christian values, or completely open borders, or a love of Marx and Engels), so you should read multiple sources on the same topic, and try to pull together what's going on as an aggregate.
Quote from: Aentons on August 19, 2021, 11:26:42 PM
A buddy of mine has fully resisted getting vaccinated because his (mis)understanding was that "you can still get covid and give it to others, so what's the point?". His wife finally threatened to leave him if he didn't. He got vaccinated yesterday.
Quote from: pickdropper on August 20, 2021, 02:46:03 AM
I agree with your overall sentiment, so please don't take this the wrong way... almost no person with a solid understanding of the immune system expected sterilizing immunity any of the CoV2/COVID19 vaccines without high vaccination rates. All vaccines, including those against CoV2, improve immunity thereby resisting infection and reducing symptoms in individuals. The efficacy ranges at the individual level ranges from sterilizing to significantly reduced symptoms (i.e. MASSIVELY decreased risk of hospitalization and death). However, vaccines only reach "sterilizing" at the population level once a large enough proportion of the population has been vaccinated- this is the real concept of herd immunity. CoV2/COVID19 continues to cause problems purely because not enough people chose (when readily available) to be vaccinated and not at all because the vaccine is ineffective.
Actually, your mention of sterilizing effect of the measles vaccine is a great demonstration of what I just said. In 2017, an anti-vaxx sentiment polluted the Somali-American community in Minneapolis. The largest outbreak of measles in 30 years ensued, and ~20% of the 80 new infections were in vaccinated individuals. The same vaccine that provided sterilizing immunity to a population was compromised by a significant number of people that were corrupted by anti-vaccine propaganda.
Oh, I don't take that the wrong way at all. My (not very well-worded) post wasn't against the efficacy of the vaccine but more about public expectations and the continued distortion of what the vaccine is actually designed to do.
Muad's comment "If they can still lock us down, even though we're vaccinated, then what is the point of getting the jab of an experimental vaccine? It's basically like nothing will ever change." echos a lot of what I've heard people complain about around here. "Why should I get the vaccine if there are still breakthrough infections" or if there are continued mask mandates or lockdowns, etc. The vaccine isn't an immediate fix, but it's a significant help as we all work together to bring order out of chaos. It's just going to be a process and not a switch that gets flipped.
And yes, your measles example is solid.
Quote from: alanp on August 17, 2021, 06:38:48 AM
Someone in NZ has the Delta variant... naturally, he decided to jump in his car and go for a drive (before he had symptoms, to be fair.) I'm starting to wonder if one of the early symptoms is itchy feet and the desire to go for a wander.
So, we're at Level 4, full lockdown. It wouldn't piss me off so much if *I* got a holiday too, rather than continuing to work at the slaughterhouse while other people stay home and play Xbox.
Quote from: fig on August 18, 2021, 01:14:32 AM
I've stopped watching or reading the news, or any TV....
I'm feeling muucchhh better now.
Quote from: alanp on August 14, 2021, 05:59:37 AM
It's interesting, how translation can cause gaps in understanding, sometimes.
Ivan Grozny. In English, Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Russia.
This is a bit misleading, to modern readers, though. It's like Pratchett's Lords and Ladies. "Elves are fantastic. Elves beget fantasy. Elves are terrific. Elves beget terror. No one ever said elves are nice."
The translation 'Terrible' doesn't mean as in the modern understanding of rubbish at something. It's closer to the original meaning, as in he was a terrible foe. Ivan the Formidable would possibly be a closer modern translation.
Quote from: Tremster on August 05, 2021, 07:16:33 AM
Necro bump.
Gibson is now suing Mojo Hand FX over the name "Mister O" phaser, which could be mistaken for "Maestro".
https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-serves-mojo-hand-fx-with-cease-and-desist-over-mister-o-pedal-name/
Quote from: matthew.raiteri@gmail.com on May 25, 2021, 11:28:17 AM
I get why it took 150 years to build something like that a thousand years ago, but they just build a building that is a mile tall in Dubai in five years (the length of of a really good Bowie song).