wolfriverjoe

There's a quote attributed to Neils Bohr that goes something like: If you are studying quantum and are completely, totally, utterly confused; then you are starting to understand it. If you think you understand it, you don't have a clue. I looked a bit for it, and can't find it. But I've seen it in the past. I've got a good grasp of Newton. Some understanding of Einstein (relativity). But quantum is beyond me (mostly because I haven't really studied it).

That's one way to develop real objectivity. To not 'hitch all the horses' to any given idea. Another is to actively try to undermine or disprove one's own theories and ideas. The good old "what did I get wrong?" self critique. It's not easy. It takes practice. But it pays off. In part because when someone throws up an objection, being able to respond with "I already looked into that fairly deeply and here's why it doesn't hold true" is a good thing.

Very true. But the trustworthiness of the source also matters. Especially for stuff that ordinary people cannot accurately judge. The idea of running one lug nut short on each wheel for a short time is something that is very easy to evaluate. A 'no brainer' if you will. The key to that anecdote is that it was a simple idea that the motorist simply hadn't thought of. Effectiveness & safety of vaccines, transmissibility & deadliness of viruses, effectiveness of mitigation methods, all of that is well beyond the judgement capabilities of 'ordinary people.' Or even scientists. In the beginning of the pandemic, the big thing was hand washing, sanitizer & disinfecting surfaces. That's because the known coronaviruses (along with rhinoviruses) are 'surface contact' spread (large droplet). After the spreader event at the church choir practice in Washington state, a few epidemiologists clued into the fact that Covid-19 is more 'airborne' spread (small droplet). They tried to convince the scientific community, but were dismissed for quite a while. So 'wash your hands' took precedence over 'stay away from people and wear a mask' for quite a while. And the disease spread. Of course, when the scientific folks understood the reality, and changed the recommendations, all of the idiots refused to believe them. And accused them of lying. Or not knowing what they were doing. And the alt-right shit spreaders took it and ran. Anyone who applies critical thinking to Brietbart or OAN knows full well how accurate their reports are(n't). But the fools and idiots lap it up, spread it around and revel in their ignorance.

There's a big (and I mean HYOOOOGE) difference between a legitimate difference of opinion and having an unsubstantiated position based on bullshit. Anti vax falls under the second, not the first. One of the big problems with the pandemic is the anti-intellectualism. These fools take pride in not knowing. And they then dismiss 'science' because it changes. One of the principles of Darwin evolution is 'survival of the fittest'. Which is somewhat true, but it's better put as 'survival of the most adaptable'. Change is inevitable. Being able to adjust and adapt to that change means survival. Science changes as knowledge grows. It adapts. Ignorance refuses to admit there's any change at all. Remember the 'evolution debate' between Ken Hamm & Bill Nye? When asked 'what would make you change your position?', Nye replied "Evidence". Hamm replied "Nothing." Sums it up very nicely. I mentioned the anti-intellectualism in a post yesterday. One thing I didn't go into is the fact that, despite the gains it's made in recent years, it's taking a huge hit right now. Proponents are removing themselves from the argument, and life itself. Many that survive the lesson are realizing how important knowledge & science are. Not all, but more than a few.

Do you remember the adverse reactions to the J&J vaccine back in April? 6 million doses given. 6 women had blood clots attributed to it. One died. As a result, administration of the vaccine was suspended while they tried to figure out what happened. There was a similar situation of 'reactions, suspension of use, investigation, resumption of use' in Europe (UK?) for the exact same thing. Yet the fools and idiots keep on claiming that the vaccines are 'killing people'. Do you really think that the 'government' could keep it quiet? Do you think that Fox, OAN, Blaze, Breitbart and all of the other Alt-right shit-stirrers wouldn't have this all over the place? Even the "main stream media" is 'death focused' enough that they wouldn't let this slide (if it bleeds, it leads). The last few years have seen such an eruption of anti-intellectualism that has been frightening. One that was interesting was that people were reported to have voted for Brexit specifically because the 'experts' told them not to. The current 'treatments' for Covid that are being touted by the fools are equally baffling. Vitamins & minerals. Ivermectin (parasite treatment) HCQ None of them have any valid studies supporting them. These same morons reject the vaccines because they don't think they've been studied enough. The idiots are also starting to spread the idea that the current protocols, Regeneron, Remdisivir and even ventilators are what is killing people instead of Covid. The fact is that by the time these dipshits get to the hospital, they are pretty much doomed. I've seen reports from EMS/ER intake people that if the incoming patient has O2 sats below about 80% on room air, their lungs are damaged to the point that they are not likely to survive. And, of course, once they get to the hospital and realize how much trouble they're in, they want everything. Vaccines (too late), vent, EMCO, even lung transplants. I heard a second hand story about an unvaccinated guy who was in bad shape. A vent would only prolong the misery. So he decided to just do palliative care and hospice. He called family and said goodbye. The family members convinced him to try everything. It won't change the outcome. Just prolong the agony and tie up resources. Right now, it's looking like the current 'wave' is going to subside. New cases aren't increasing as fast as they've been, and are starting to decline in places that saw the first of the delta. That doesn't change the fact that the 7 day average deaths is over 2k, and will continue to be so for a couple weeks (deaths lag new cases by a couple weeks). And, not surprisingly, Florida is seeing more cases & deaths than it did during the worst of it last winter. Link:https://www.google.com/search?q=covid+deaths+in+us&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS910US910&oq=&aqs=chrome.0.69i59i450l8.4576594j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Just google search results, but it has a nice graph at the top. You can switch between deaths & new cases, and pick individual states or the entire country (or other countries), We're likely to see 750k total deaths (3/4 of a million dead) by Halloween. The real fun part will be all the people who had bad cases and didn't die. They're going to be in long term care or on oxygen for a long time. And it didn't have to happen. The Herman Cain Awards page on Reddit is very active. I don't see that changing for a while.

Obesity is a hell of a comorbidity for Covid. So is the diabetes, cardio-vascular disease and all the other stuff that comes along with obesity. The number of people earning Herman Cain awards who are morbidly obese is staggering. Their denial of the obesity is almost as prevalent of their denial of the seriousness of the disease.

Yeah, like the people behind this wouldn't apply just a bit of understanding of crowd psychology (or idiot psychology) to this sort of thing.

Ummm... Used to?

Yup. And until kerosene was found to work well, and then crude oil found in accessible places in decent quantities, the whalers just about exterminated the whales. Like as in "all of them gone".

In addition to using a specific metric from a fairly short time, (I remember the double digit inflation of the late 70s & early 80s), it's also cherry-picking from a time when the economy was basically at a standstill just after reopening everything last August to a time when the economy has done a great job of rebounding. For example, look at gas prices. Back up to where they were before the pandemic started (plus a bit, partly due to the hurricane damaging oil production & refinery capability in the Gulf). But way up from where they were back last August, when traffic was virtually non-existent. And since he hasn't stated his name since you issued the challenge, I'm wondering myself.

Oh hush. Stop using facts. You know, like back in 1921 cars were a rarity, only owned by the well-to-do. Or that most rural homes were without electricity. You're just being silly.

United Airlines has issued it's policy on those who have a 'valid reason' to refuse the vaccine. They don't get fired. Those claiming a religious exemption get unpaid leave. Those who have a valid medical reason get temporary medical leave. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/united-airlines-staff-who-are-granted-religious-exemptions-vaccine-mandate-n1278782?cid=sm_npd_ms_fb_ma&fbclid=IwAR32UdnYA0CQkXZJQ2_iWkkK-RNxJWcHMceFOXRbBAOcOTKMCq8EIBakouw

To be fair, the mask is not a cure. Neither is the vaccine. Both are mitigation methods that will slow the spread and stop the pandemic. But those idiots are too stupid to understand science. Fortunately, the kids seem to have some sense.

That study has a lot of flaws. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ivermectin-sterility-in-men/ I don't have a problem with those idiots sterilizing themselves, but it doesn't look like it's happening. Going blind & destroying your liver are bad enough and they're real.

Like there's nothing more important to do on that particular day.

The "Redneck Riviera" is doing really great these days. Last month, deaths & new cases AL - 815/118804 FL - 6629/583466 LA - 1497/122997 MS - 919/88714 TX - 4813/479143 Total deaths that area last month: 14673 Total deaths last month US - 31529. Nearly half. Throw in some more of the south: AR - 788 MO - 873 KY - 473 TN - 802 GA - 1318 SC - 831 NC - 972 VA - 341 Total - 6298 Total for the "Confederacy" - 20971. Nearly 2/3 the total in the US. Almost as if they're trying to lose the Civil War again. Data from Johns Hopkins: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map

Same guy made it on the Herman Cain Reddit sub. They're being fairly strict about not posting full names of 'non-public' people, so the name wasn't included. I didn't know him. But I have to say that his posts (FB?) were absolutely typical of HCA recipients.

I've linked the Herman Cain Awards sub on Reddit a couple times. I said a while back that I'm done being nice to these idiots. They don't care about anyone else, they also don't think they're going to get it. When they do, they 'gnash their teeth and rend their garments', and beg for the 'prayer warriors' to 'storm the gates of Heaven with prayers'. They go so far as to coordinate the times of the prayers so God gets a lot of them at once (funny how a denial of service attack on God's "prayer servers" seems to be a good idea). Then, of course, they start a 'GoFundMe' page to cover the costs of the funeral and the fact that many times the man was the sole provider for the family. There's an interesting piece on the mentality of the Anti-Vax types. Not a 'suicide cult', but a "homicide cult". https://timjwise.medium.com/covid-anti-vaxxers-arent-a-maga-death-cult-it-s-worse-than-that-16d74186e46b From it: Living proof of 'actions have consequences'. More so that stupidity has consequences. I don't think we've seen a 'culling event' on this scale in a long time. Interesting that many of the people being culled are essentially co-conspirators in their own deaths. Also from the linked article: Last, a link to a post on the Herman Cain Award sub: The comments are interesting. Not all of them are 'laughter', although many are. Most express frustration and despair at what these idiots are doing and how it affects all of us. The fact that the anti vax folks are perpetuating the pandemic has serious consequences. For everyone.

I think somebody got confused about what thread was what:

Are you in the right thread?

That's been true since there have been pictures to document it. This is from a work of fiction, but it rings pretty true (bonus points to anyone who identifies it - for real, not by googling it):

The thing called 'protection of lawful commerce' or something like that was because of just that. In the late 90s, after the anti-gun folks got pretty much shut out of legislation (every single legislator, both state and federal learned the lessons of the 96 mid-terms), the gun control/ban folks tried to sue the gun industry out of existence. They filed lawsuits that they knew full well would get thrown out. But they filed them in the expectation that the costs of defending them would bankrupt the 'gun industry'. So the NRA used it's political power to pass laws against just those sorts of things. One can reasonably argue that the law overstepped. But the arguement above is exactly why it was passed.

Yeah. The funny part about extortion. It tends to work better when the accusations are true. According to the story, Gaetz says all the accusations are lies. So he's exonerated. By that definition, Bill Clinton 'did not have sex with that woman', right?

You mean giving Trump his due for surrendering the country to the Taliban?

Those are questions a longer development & trial would have answered. What's the optimal time between the 2 shots? How long will the immunity last? Is there an advantage to mixing & matching different brands for the 2 shots? When vaccines take years to develop & get approved, those questions get answered. In the current situation, they established safety (mostly) and effectiveness and let it go at that. Given how many had died, I have zero problems with that.