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Is it time to bring up the elephant in the room?
Or rather...the Snake?
Or rather...the Snake?
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Fucking fuck off with that bullshit.Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.Comment
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Disillusionment among the base?Comment
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Been that way for a couple of years. Trump's lone accomplishment up to this point is getting elected.Comment
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You may see these headlines today:
HydroxyQ Ineffective in Preventing COVID-19 says the NEJM.
Well, It's clear to me the journalists writing this headline didn't read the whole NEJM report (I did). While you may find the actual results of the study in the body of the article, it's buried in it. The NEJM recounts the study then proceeds to blast it as just about worthless and from which no conclusions should be drawn. The news media is posting misleading headlines again, and it would appear to me this is just another hit piece on Trump and his declaration that he used it and it must have worked.
I don't have a dog in this fight. I don't care if it works or it doesn't as a preventative therapeutic. I don't care if Trump used it and "it worked." However, there is tons of anecdotal evidence in the African continent where it appears to have subdued multiple virus outbreaks as a prophylactic medication beyond it's standard use v. Malaria. Sometimes actual clinical results, what the docs and nurses on the ground are seeing, is better evidence than scholarly studies coming from the "hallowed" medical halls of the West. Whatever
Florida Moving to it's Next Phase of Re-opening Too Soon. New Cases Surge.
I dealt with this yesterday in my afternoon post. The headline is inaccurate. The data in two articles I read on this is buried in the body of it so, OK; in a third article, only new cases are mentioned and I'm done ranting about that. The national media has re-jumped on this trope. Guess the Floyd news is on the back burner for now and we'er gonna all die from COVID's second wave is back up front.
Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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Amstel Light is just Miller Lite at a higher price.
CHANGE MY MIND!"The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham LincolnComment
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Likewise, Heineken is just a worse tasting PBR."The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham LincolnComment
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With regard to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, nothing has changed. NOTHING. It's still with us and it's still infecting people world wide.
For most of the US, if we're using R(0) and R(t), the virus is contained. It is certainly not eradicated and new cases are still happening but at a greatly reduced rate and that suggests containment. 14 states, and FL is not one of them, R(t) has moved above 1.0 and that could be associated with re-opening. But, you have to look deeper at those states by county and by other rate measures to determine if there is cause for alarm. The other 36 states have either remained stable or experienced increased R(t) values but still below 1.0 since re-opening. Looking closer, and FL is my example, the data will reveal the re-opening is moving forward just fine.
Among people I know and socialize with in Fort Lauderdale, there is still a good deal of fear about venturing out to eat at a restaurant. No way are they going to go to a gym, for example. This is especially true if such activity involves being indoors - exercising or dining.
I've read just about all there is that is available on how the virus can be spread in an enclosed, indoor space. The one very detailed study about how influenza is transmitted in a restaurant of diners is particularly well known because it's been on the internet. So has the study that showed how fluorescent particles released in a bathroom coated everything. Easy to be fearful about entering any of these places if all you had seen was what was on the internet. So, I get the fearfulness but, in general, I think it's over-played. The media, both broadcast and social has a lot to do with that.
This particular study on how influenza is spread was a good one. Those that posted it on various web sites suggested that SARS-CoV-2 probably has the same risks for transmission as influenza did in this study. Well, it doesn't. It's quite different. Influenza (H5N1 has received the most research attention) has a predictable and uniform level of infectious virions per particle expelled through respiration (coughing, sneezing, speaking, etc). If small droplets (aerosols) containing sufficient H5N1 virions to produce an infection exist at all, the existence of them is controversial because the research is inconclusive. So, H5N1 aerosol transmission may or may not be problematic.
I bring this up because the research on SARS and SARS-CoV-2 is also inconclusive wrt to the likelihood of aerosol transmission ....... if anything, and this research has been much more robust than anything I've seen in the past for the flu, more recently trends towards the conclusion that small particle aerosols do exist but they don't have sufficient virions to cause infection in healthy humans with competent immune systems. It probably can infect the usual suspects who get sick and die. The research on this suggests that age stratification of illness severity conveniently shows folks over 55 are more likely to develop serious illness and those over 80 might die from it. As the data becomes more robust though that finding could be nothing more than coincidental The emerging reality is that some people over 55 are more likely to have other health factors (and the list is long and beyond just chronic disease like Diabetes) that seem to predispose this cohort to worse outcomes if they become infected. I don't think there is any question that the number of really healthy 80 year olds is small so, yeah, if your over 80, stay home and enjoy a good book or your soaps on the TV.
But, if you are healthy and under 55 or your older than that, younger than 80 and healthy, my take is that your risk of infection from SARS-CoV-2 from aerosols floating around in an enclosed space like a restaurant with the ventilation system pushing it around even without mitigation is low. With it, it's even lower. Go to a fucking restaurant, eat inside and tip the wait staff heavily as they've been out of work for 2 months! If you distance, droplet transmission - the most common route - is significantly reduced. I also believe the risk from surface contamination and subsequent transmission via touching a contaminated surface is over-played. That's because it's easy to interrupt the chain of infection at multiple points along the way.
OK, look, I'm biased and I'm constantly searching the literature that says it's OK for me to cycle indoors in an enclosed space where sweaty people are huffing and puffing. I've found it, mostly, and if the literature says otherwise, I'll tell you. But indoor cycling is something that I have to make my own risk/benefit calculation and for me, it may be different than for others.
For sure, this is not easy. If you're going to do stuff that involves entering enclosed spaces during COVID, you have to do your own risk/benefit calculation and it becomes a personal choice. I'll not fault anyone for avoiding that kind of exposure. Something I did notice venturing out in FTL last evening to a restaurant's first night re-opening with entertainment (we had reservations for 5:30pm) was that it was very busy, staff were masked and followed various restaurant mitigation protocols mandated by state and county, distancing was maintained, people entered with masks and were respectful of the space of others but as the evening wore on and adult beverages flowed, the folks became a bit too relaxed about those things for me. We left a little after 8p with lots of folks still there and enjoying themselves...... closely!Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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Arbery case update. It seems Travis McMichael is fond of the n-word.
https://www.tmz.com/2020/06/04/ahmau...ory-mcmichael/Comment
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Lisa Murkowski told a reporter she completely believes Mattis and found his words necessary and overdue. Also said she's not sure she'll support Trump for reelection.Comment
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And in other news, Susan Collins says that Mattis speaking up will ensure that Trump has learned his lesson and she will continue to blindly follow himOriginally posted by Dr. Strangelove View PostI feel like I am watching the destruction of our democracy while my neighbors and friends cheer it onComment
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Ukraine former top Prosecutor says, after auditing old cases, there's no evidence of any wrongdoing by Hunter Biden.
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Proof of just another hard working fine young man....lolComment
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It seems like Trump has built more miles of WALL in DC over the past week than along the Mexican border in 3 years!! Hyuck hyuckComment
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