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Post by miscmisc on Jan 18, 2022 14:45:22 GMT 1
This is a study on the mechanism of long Covid. Pretty phenomenal.
We do despair in the face of monumental idiots everywhere when it comes to Covid, but sometimes should take a step back and realize that there are many people who do genuinely excellent work to make it easier for us to deal with the pandemic.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 19, 2022 14:10:20 GMT 1
I went back and forth between the US and Japan twice during this pandemic. That was huge for me in understanding how this thing spreads, and why the US was pummeled so badly by SARS-CoV-2.
There are things that the data alone cannot explain. I wouldn't say the Japanese have been doing it right - I've seen a lot of idiocy around here too - but Americans, even many of the ones who do care, have been doing it wrong for the most part.
You have to be objective to understand these things, and if you don't really know what's going on outside your world, you can't be.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 19, 2022 15:39:27 GMT 1
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 20, 2022 3:31:46 GMT 1
The Book of Boba Fett is not very good, is it? I zoned out as I was watching it, thinking of what to eat tonight. That rarely happens to me. And I doubt that's only because I'm not really a Star Wars fan and have no emotional attachment to any of the characters, let alone Boba Fett.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 20, 2022 4:05:38 GMT 1
Nothing to see here.  |
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 20, 2022 4:14:23 GMT 1
I don't think anyone wants me to revisit the Russia/Ukraine thing in this thread, nor do I want to, but if you are an old-timer, you'll soon see the basic structure of things haven't changed at all. Ukraine will end up being on her own, as always.
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Post by K1power on Jan 20, 2022 8:31:07 GMT 1
The Book of Boba Fett is not very good, is it? I zoned out as I was watching it, thinking of what to eat tonight. That rarely happens to me. And I doubt that's only because I'm not really a Star Wars fan and have no emotional attachment to any of the characters, let alone Boba Fett. Overall I do like the show, but I was expecting more from it. It's made by the same team that works on The Mandalorian, after all. But somehow this feels more Disneyfied; From Boba Fett stumbling his way to success to the completely out of place feeling 'cyberpunk delinquents'. Star Wars and specifically this show feel plenty diverse without characters who look, talk and feel like they don't belong in the universe. I'd rather see Boba being a stereotypical badass who's wrecking fools John Wick style. Kinda how he was portrayed in, again, The Mandalorian. But we're only just past the halfway point, it may still end on a high note. While I don't really consider myself a big Star Wars fan either - we've talked about this a few times before - I do tend to follow their live-action stuff and play some of the video games. |
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 21, 2022 11:52:27 GMT 1
Yeah, I don't know, it was soooo hard for me to be emotionally engaged, to care.
And Tatooine became a Disneyland.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 21, 2022 12:11:25 GMT 1
Call me a hypocrite as I was like, yeah, good riddance, take that poison out, when Donald was kicked out of Twitter (I was just being uber-pragmatic, is my excuse), but I see people on the left celebrate Marjorie Taylor Greene banned on Twitter and am kind of worried.
I mean, it's *not* a good thing. Of course fuck MTG, but what does it achieve, exactly?
It will energize MTG's and hardcore right-wing nationalists' base, and raise MTG's profile by a few notches. It's a gift. So strategically speaking, it's a win for *them* while Twitter is definitely not going to be a better place just because MTG is gone.
Most Republicans like that decision too, because they were getting tired of being asked questions about whatever the fuck she said on Twitter the day before.
OK, she broke "the rules." Some arbitrary ones, aka the Terms of Service, of a private company. Sure, fair enough. But who made those "rules"? Yes, a bunch of bullshit lawyers whose priority #1,2, 3, and 4 are to protect the company. It's the company's right, of course. But why do you *like* it?
When you are on the receiving end of it, you will learn that it not only cuts both ways but also does *harder* in your direction, and the "victims" on the right complaining vociferously about it now are freedom-of-speech cosplayers who will celebrate and encourage your being cancelled en masse when in power.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 21, 2022 18:00:46 GMT 1
If an alien came to Earth now and simply looked at the global Covid charts without knowing the chronology and context, they would definitely think that the pandemic was primarily Eastern European-made.
The *population* fatality rate of Bulgaria is approaching 0.5%. Nearly 1/200 of the *whole population* have already died of Covid, and I'm too scared to look up the 65+ population fatality rate. It's incredible, and what's worse, humongously worse, 2/3 of them died *after* the vaccines began to be distributed.
No one cares because it's Eastern Europe, but this is a historic catastrophe that the international media continue to ignore. And if you live in the region and can just shrug it off, your ethical measure is fucked up, and you should wake up. You have internally normalized something fairly abnormal. Your society has utterly failed, and you deserve better.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 22, 2022 3:11:22 GMT 1
So, yes, cases and deaths lag by several weeks.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 22, 2022 3:20:59 GMT 1
A Covid-skeptic that I know who kept calling Covid "just the flu" got the flu for real and became ill enough to be hospitalized. It turned out that he got the *actual* flu for the first time in his life, symptom-wise. I hope he learned words have meanings.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 22, 2022 3:31:02 GMT 1
I said exactly the same thing last year (not here but in public):
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 22, 2022 3:53:46 GMT 1
I don't want to hear any more American say that there's something "uniquely Japanese" about their supposed reluctance to face the nation's past wrongdoings. Have heard this one so many times in my life. So many times.
As it turned out, someone said that much of the American wealth was built on the free labor of the African slaves, which is an understatement if anything, and half of America went apeshit, and Republicans have been winning elections almost entirely on that anti-CRT platform. "Uniquely Japanese" indeed.
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Post by miscmisc on Jan 22, 2022 6:59:06 GMT 1
Sure, Peru has by far the world's worst Covid fatality rate, but it's a total outlier even in the South American context. The second worst country in the region is Brazil, and its fatality rate is less than half of Peru's.
On the other hand, it's uniformly bad in Eastern Europe, and on average a hell of a lot worse than in South America. 14 of 20 worst fatality rate countries are Eastern European (former Eastern bloc) as it stands, whereas only 3 (Peru, Brazil, Argentina) are South American.
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