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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 3:53:26 GMT 1
Time for purely anecdotal random thoughts:
Israelis and South Koreans are generally relatively touchy-feely and talk loudly. Hebrew/Arabic spoken loudly and aggressively is basically an aerosol shower, and South Koreans are about twice as loud and five times less contact-averse as the Japanese.
The worst anti-vax group that I've had the misfortune of debating was Israeli. There is a large New Age/Alternative Medicine market there, a hotbed of non-right-wing anti-vaxx.
If you think Tokyo's population density is ridiculous, multiply it by *2.5*, and you get Seoul's.
Given all that I think these two countries have done very well so far in this pandemic.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 4:05:50 GMT 1
I knew Ed Yong's works and liked them before the pandemic, because I liked his writing and vast knowledge on the world of microbes. But in this pandemic he showed another strength of his, that is the fact that his heart is also in the right place.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 4:23:35 GMT 1
You often hear the expression "Everyone's going to get Omicron anyway" and wonder what that actually means?
Well, it's one of those lazy expressions for sure. Given the ridiculously high R0/Rt, in the US for instance, the attack rate of this variant is remarkably high. But of course it is not 100%, far from it. It's more like 40-ish% according to the data so far, which basically means 40% of Americans might catch it one way or another some time this year, mostly younger people.
You will get SARS-CoV-2 some time in the future, but if you manage to avoid getting Omicron this year, being one of the 60%, I'd bet the strain/variant you will get is not going to be Omicron.
So, "Everyone is going to get Omicron anyway" is not only lazy, but also totally inaccurate.
* This is just a rough sketch, and obviously these things vary between communities/countries.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 7:34:49 GMT 1
"Expelled from a royal family due to the suspicion of underage sex/child sex trafficking" is a hell of a thing to put on your resume.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 7:48:16 GMT 1
I told you a thousand times that she's just not very bright or even smart, and it was obvious if you knew how she climbed up the ladder in her career. Hell, it should've been super obvious to anyone when she was destroyed by that faint feather attack by Gabbard in the primary debate.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 7:58:19 GMT 1
I don't know if there's any actual correlations between the visual ugliness and reactionary tendencies, but just look at the faces of those young American right-wing propagandists. Fucking Backpfeifengesichts everywhere. Did something ominous happen to Charlie Kirk's face when he was a child?
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 8:05:45 GMT 1
What the fuck, Australia? That's so anti-climactic. It would be a better wounded ego/drama queen/fake victimhood story if he actually played.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 11:12:38 GMT 1
Perhaps, but FWIW, I have yet to meet a Serb who actually, sincerely likes him. Like "He's important to Serbia, very smart, speaks many different languages, and I will cheer for him on the tennis court no matter what --- (a few glasses of wine) --- but you know what, fuck him."
I only know four Serbs, one of whom is an ex, so the sample pool is extremely small, and a bit biased, mind you.
And I wouldn't use the word "divisive" to describe Djokovic. I mean, he would be a more attractive person if he were truly "divisive". His personality is unfortunately smaller than that.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 11:45:59 GMT 1
LOL @ Kyrsten Sinema. She won't be able to land on any lucrative job after this whole narcissistic shitshow. Because having been a national politician alone is not enough; You need to have friends in D.C., and she has none. She won't be very rich, low-six-figure, tops.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 12:25:50 GMT 1
Covid is not endemic now. No matter how loudly you say it is, it just isn't, as it wasn't the last 4 times you said it was. Aren't you tired yet?
It probably will be, but no one knows when.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 12:40:43 GMT 1
It's always deeply satisfying to see Andy Murray defeat a giant servebot on the tennis court. Has never lost a match to John Isner or Ivo Karlovic. True legend.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 14, 2022 12:52:54 GMT 1
Most people in and outside the US don't seem to understand how fundamentally archaic, arbitrary and even undemocratic the US political system is. You could blame the "American character" all you want for much of the ill, but given the precarious nature of the entire system, it's actually a testament to the very "American character" that it has survived to this day without a major mayhem.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 15, 2022 2:27:40 GMT 1
OK, I know. The Civil War. That was certainly a "major mayhem". My bad.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 15, 2022 2:36:11 GMT 1
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 15, 2022 4:59:25 GMT 1
I suspect part of the reason for why people keep talking about the Wuhan lab leak theory is the annoying Chinese routine of trying to blame "contaminated (imported) (frozen) food" for Covid, without a shred of evidence. In fact, the CCP STILL mentions that whenever there's an outbreak somewhere in China.
It was clearly an attempt to shift the blame onto something external, and still is. That's the only way you should interpret it until they present actual evidence for that theory. It does give you the impression that they are desperate, and that arouses suspicion. It *is* indeed fucking super-annoying and uber-pathetic.
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