Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[THE_WIZARD_]

You all seem very obsessed for something you say has no chance...just saying...

[lineygoblue]

Correct.

[Ghengis Jon]

"We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning, you’re going to come to me and go ‘Please, please, we can’t win anymore.’ You’ve heard this one. You’ll say ‘Please, Mr. President, we beg you sir, we don’t want to win anymore. It’s too much. It’s not fair to everybody else. And I’m going to say ‘I’m sorry, but we’re going to keep winning, winning, winning."

[AlabamAlum]

Trump lost. Glad to see it’s over. One thing I am NOT glad to see is that posting various Twitter reactions is part of an endless DSL victory lap now.

[iam416]

I remember back when ACB was gonna be a rubber stamp for PDJT's efforts to "steal" the election. Seems like ages ago Ds hit us with those ludicrously fucking stupid arguments.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump lost. Glad to see it’s over. One thing I am NOT glad to see is that posting various Twitter reactions is part of an endless DSL victory lap now.

I believe I've been fairly restrained

[AlabamAlum]

I believe I've been fairly restrained

You’ve posted 12 various people’s tweets/social media posts just this morning. If that is restrained, god forbid we see unbridled.

[Dr. Strangelove]

You’ve posted 12 various people’s tweets/social media posts just this morning. If that is restrained, god forbid we see unbridled.

If I can't tipsily and joyously share the thoughts of Trumpworld 'celebrities' on the night the Supreme Court unanimously told him to start packing his bags then FREEDOM no longer has any meaning, sir.

[Jeff Buchanan]

In COVID news, you're under a rock if you did not know the FDA approved the EUA for the Pfizer vaccine around 9pm last night. I don't think it anything to do with Trump's twitter tantrum.

Here's the bottom line: if there is a good plan in place to get the vaccine into peoples arms like the national news presents it and it goes more or less smoothly, it's predicted by people that study human behavior that Americans will line up for the vaccine at greater rates than are being reported in the news ..... that would be about 40% of Americans are either staunch anti-vaxers or afraid of the vaccine and buying into the conspiracy theories and misinformation floating around on social media platforms.

Experts say you need 60% population immunity to create herd immunity such that viral spread will be reduced. I think it is important to note that some counties have as much as 20% of their populations already with some level of natural immunity from having had COVID. The average is around 10%.

Who's going to get the vaccine first? If deaths are a measure of pandemic severity then these EU countries have thier vaccination priorities straight:

Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, by contrast, have weighed up the benefits of vaccinating various groups and decided to start with the elderly. German experts considered three scenarios: vaccinating those with pre-existing health conditions, the over-60s and people over 80. Their statistical models suggest that if only 500,000 people a week can be vaccinated, over a 12-week period the greatest reduction in deaths and hospitalisations will occur if all of them are over 80. The total years of life gained by vaccinating this group was also estimated to be the largest.

I'm not confident US governments at the state level will get priorities right. Some will, some won't. I'm not convinced there needs to be a nationally mandated distribution plan. By default the US governments logistics plan will impose limits. How state governments deal with that is yet to be seen. It probably won't be pretty.......the bottom line in this particular aspect of the pandemic is that don't get too excited about getting your shot and don't expect a quick reduction in new daily case numbers or deaths. It's gonna be June and that assumes things go relatively smoothly.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I believe I've been fairly restrained.

Pfft ......

And on the other side of the shit storm, we have Hannibal. Let's not forget to give him credit where credit is due for "being restrained."

Again ...... pfft.

[Dr. Strangelove]

In all seriousness, I AM sad to see New Nevada and New California denied statehood.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Here's something else I picked up this morning: Observes are already starting to look retrospectively at why Japan, for instance, has done so much better in dealing with the pandemic than others, limiting both the social and economic impact of the pandemic in Japan.

A couple of things stand out. First, Japan's experts thought the virus was spreading by nearly exclusive airborne means right away. That directed PH policy. There was a massive and effective national information program stressing the need for citizens to avoid the san-mitsu or “3cs”: closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings. The phrase was blasted across traditional and social media. Surveys conducted in the spring found that a big majority were avoiding 3c settings. Authorities also abandoned wide spread testing allowing that it was impractical. They asserted, "you are still going to miss some." True that then but I think now, with the advent of wide spread RAPID antigen tests, testing has value in specific circumstances.

Second, authorities focused in on judicially restricting high risk activities.These insights allowed the authorities to make granular distinctions about risks, opting for targeted restrictions rather than swinging between the extremes of strict lockdowns and free-for-all openings........

Researchers deployed Fugaku, the world’s fastest supercomputer, to model different situations. Crowded subways pose little risk, if windows are open and passengers wear masks, Mr Nishimura insists. Movie theatres are safe, “even if viewers are eating popcorn and hot dogs”, Mr Nishimura says. While most cinemas in the West are closed, “Demon Slayer”, a new animeflick, has been playing to full houses in Japan, becoming the country’s second-highest grossing film ever. In addition to the 3cs, the Japanese government warns of five more specific dangers: dinner parties with booze; drinking and eating in groups of more than four; talking without masks at close quarters; living in dormitories and other small shared spaces; and using changing or break rooms.

Also from experts on the virus in Japan: Sit diagonally from others at a table. It reduces the likelihood of spread of the virus by 75%! One can also asses the air quality in a confined space, i.e., assess ventilation, by using CO2 detectors. If the presence of Carbon Dioxide in the space being analyized is < 1000ppm, its not likely to be a space that will facilitate the spread of the virus by aerosols or droplets. Think how useful this would be for retailers, restaurant and gym owners if it had been widely available and used in the period when the US had low viral prevalence and started emerging from lock-down in June.

I started arguing maybe a month ago for a better information campaign that instead of scaring the shit out of everyone, PH authorities ought to be advising on how we might avoid getting infected. Sure, some of that info is out there but it gets drowned out by the constant drum beat of bad news from the press and even from officialdom. And sure, the Japanese are a homogeneous culture of followers that trust government so, yeah, that works in Japan, maybe not as well here in the US. But it's not hard to see how the Trump administration can be rightly faulted for the breakdown in public trust over pandemic policy. I'm not sure that a Biden administration will make a difference

[THE_WIZARD_]

...for $50 I could have DSL put to sleep...

[AlabamAlum]

If I can't tipsily and joyously share the thoughts of Trumpworld 'celebrities' on the night the Supreme Court unanimously told him to start packing his bags then FREEDOM no longer has any meaning, sir.

You can do as you please. I will wait patiently for the next tweet you share from SkaterBoi420.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Oddly enough, today is the 20th anniversary of Bush v. Gore.

When I picked up takeout last night, the restaurant was pretty full. There's less people out and about than in a normal Christmas season but it's definitely more than I've seen in months. Since summer probably.