Footage of me leaving the clinic earlier today after getting my second Morderna Shot:
Losing is like fertilizer: it stinks for a while, then you get used to it. (Tony, Hibbing)
LOL
Knowing is half the battle! Or something.
Blog!
And it's happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well, I guess this is growing up
So, I've been hesitant to post in this thread because conversations about COVID and vaccines become fraught real quick, which is beyond unfortunate. At any rate, I live in Tennessee, where we are 47/50 in % of people getting the vaccine in a state. Looking at what is happening in India, I honestly believe that America withholding vaccines is a moral and practical catastrophe. Currently, I am listening to NPR describe parent vaccine hesitancy for kids between ages 12-15 right beside a headline describing nearly half a million infections in India yesterday and a death toll that is wildly underestimated. Is it just me, or does this sound bizarre? Am I taking crazy pills?
Last edited by quido8_5; 05-07-2021 at 12:15 PM.
Stuff I've Watched out of *****
The Last Duel - ***
Only Murders in the Building: **
Squid Games: **.5
I don't know how anyone can be hesitant in getting the vaccine under any circumstance at this point. The data should be driving decisions. People are numb to numbers like 50,000,000 dead.
There are a lot of people here with teflon brains. Data just slides right off them. It doesn't help that many mainstream talking heads are fomenting bullshit conspiracy theories and anti-vax sentiments, and I wouldn't be surprised if the news networks they call home are underreporting what is going on in India so as not to violate their audience's horse-blindered world views, like they did during the kids in cages atrocity. Bitter? ME?Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
As for the folks in India, the company Duke & I work for has a huge presence in India. I don't know how often, if at all, Duke works with folks over in Bangalore or Hyderabad, but I do every single day, and all the folks off work right now, and the stories I am hearing, is heartbreaking. My old boss, for example, lost his Dad last week, and his sister right now is fighting for her life. Just terrible.
Losing is like fertilizer: it stinks for a while, then you get used to it. (Tony, Hibbing)
Largely vaccine hesitancy and the attitude that "this is all over or was never a big deal anyway" is a failure of many Americans to see or care about anything that didn't happen to them. 600,000 people have died here, but most people didn't know any of those people. In just my own experience the people I know that got infected barely had any difficulties. I figure that's broadly the case for most people's direct experience with the virus. So if there's a lack of empathy or ability to think beyond one's immediate experience, it's easy to shrug the whole thing off as an inconvenience rather than a crisis. But really it's people failing to realize that they've been extremely lucky and their experience could have been (or still can be without the vaccine) much worse.Quoting quido8_5 (view post)
I don't know enough about the situation in India to speak confidently, but it seems to be an example of the worst case scenario for this disease. I saw parts of a CNN report from a hospital and it showed people having horrible reactions, convulsions, unable to breathe, etc. I don't recall seeing such obvious displays of how horrible it can be to get this disease during any of the peaks in cases in the USA, just statistics and shots of doctors in PPE. Few clips of individual people that could convince people of the severity. It's likely a patient privacy issue, but seeing the report from the Indian hospital shook me and I wondered if similar footage here in the States earlier on could have scared more people straight.
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black widow - 8
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freaky - 7
now reading:
lonesome dove - larry mcmurtry
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The Harrison Marathon - A Podcast About Harrison Ford
This is a fantastic point. My sister in law is a nurse in the COVID unit and regularly saw multiple people die every day from October-February. Both my parents (76 and 73) got it. Mom was mild, dad contracted pneumonia and is very lucky to be alive (he has a number of preexisting conditions). It is a vicious and debilitating virus. If we had actually shown what the hell it looked like instead of just having talking heads it probably would've saved lives.Quoting Lazlo (view post)
Stuff I've Watched out of *****
The Last Duel - ***
Only Murders in the Building: **
Squid Games: **.5
For sure. All I ever saw was long shots of people in hospital beds through ICU windows. Looks bad, but it's not all that impactful in terms of showing the potential severity of the virus. Easy to shrug off, easy to ignore the please from people like your sister-in-law that it's a bad deal. Too many Americans needed to see the suffering to believe it or approach empathy, unfortunately. The footage from India of people actually experiencing symptoms was terrifying.Quoting quido8_5 (view post)
last four:
black widow - 8
zero dark thirty - 9
the muse - 7
freaky - 7
now reading:
lonesome dove - larry mcmurtry
Letterboxd
The Harrison Marathon - A Podcast About Harrison Ford
Pretty often. There's a guy on our team that is instrumental with getting us certain data. I haven't heard anything from his family, but a friend of his who also worked for our company passed away from COVID.Quoting bac0n (view post)
Yeah, the numbers in America certainly don't match the footage that was shared, even by a company like CNN.
If anything, those numbers seemed to lead up to a video of a notable athlete that also contracted it, only to be 100% the next week. Hardly the emphasis that I saw from China/Italy in the early part of 2020 or what we're seeing in India right now.
Advertisement of the year right here:
"How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home wine-making course and forgot how to drive?"
--Homer
We'd have about 2 weeks of food. After that I'm planning to just eat off the fat of the land, Lord of Flies Style. Been eyeing my neighbors for fat content and I like what I see... just waiting for the apocalypse (or anything resembling it).
Stuff I've Watched out of *****
The Last Duel - ***
Only Murders in the Building: **
Squid Games: **.5
I hate that commercial because of the office workers. Back to the office? Absolutely not.
I've read that it'll be when 80% are vaccinated would be when indoors would open for most. I think we'll hit a wall between 50-60%Quoting Mal (view post)
Heh I’m morseo reacting to their (?!?!) enthusiasm (wtf noooo)Quoting Ezee E (view post)
Is that what they were clamoring to get back inside? I thought it was a mall or something lol.
"How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home wine-making course and forgot how to drive?"
--Homer
First shot booked for June 2.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Congrats!!!
Nice. Soon you will have the power of 5G! I mean, Grayskull.
Blog!
And it's happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well, I guess this is growing up
I can't wait til I show up in Bill Gates' Tinder results.Quoting DFA1979 (view post)
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
VACCINATED! Rolled the dice on J&J.
Went to the local pharmacy chain. Nobody in the store except me, 2 cashiers, and the pharmacist. Whole thing 5 minutes. Had to sit there afterwards to make sure I didn't have an allergic reaction (I guess?), then they gave me the card, and let me go.
Ate at McDonald's, but didn't have the foresight to order the new chicken sandwich.
Congrats Irish! Let us know you're doing OK over the next couple days!
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Increasingly feel like not getting the chicken sandwich was a real missed opportunity.