absolute galore
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Interesting how yesterday’s Degas was evocative of painters like Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard, while today’s reminds me more of Paul Gauguin, albeit with a more subdued palette.
Here is a different take on the screen shot posted today about the head of Pfizer research and female sterility:
The ex-Pfizer scientist who became an anti-vax heroI realize both pieces have objectives. But I don’t think Mike Yeadon would be the only one sounding an alarm if it were even somewhat likely that the sterilization claim were true. In any case, there needs to be more evidence before it can be taken seriously.
This goes back to my complaint that by bringing in this kind of stuff, it only serves to dilute anything nearby. Not that every piece has to be some gold standard, but then there is the Denninger lawyer guy. He uses the word “bombastic” to describe something, but that is exactly what his writing is all about. It’s a style that makes me feel the guy is yelling in my face, and I would not have a prayer of getting in a word edgewise.
This matters to me, because I am still looking for solid, trustworthy ammunition when friends question my decision not to be vaccinated. There is no way pointing them to TAE will help my cause, between links like the above and some of the posted comments and links.
Obviously TAE does not exist to help me make my case or give me confidence in my decision, and I do not expect that. But being a little more selective might be worthwhile.
Maybe I am just feeling vulnerable after a long phone call with an old friend who I consider smart and thoughtful and shares much of my general view of the state of things. He got very angry about my mild questioning of the policy of vaccinating everyone (I did not even directly say I was not vaccinated). Part of his argument was, they are effective, there is no downside, this is the way the world operates. He gave examples: seatbelts, the need to be vaccinated when going to certain countries, kids required to be vaccinated to attend schools, etc. He has no issue with the concept of a vaccine passport. I think he is in the “morally wrong not to get vaccinated” camp.
I was shocked a bit–not necessarily at his position, but that he was so vehement. He did not really want to hear about the issues that go along with it–security state, removal of free speech–saying that was a different subject.
Again, my hesitancy is not strongly based on a fear that the vaccine is harmful. The reports of problems are often presented in ways that try to magnify the issue and create alarm, the same way covid deaths and younger people dying, etc. are portrayed. It is designed to create maximum fear, or maximum doubt.
Since most of us have experienced this pandemic through our computers and phones, and that is where virtually all of our information comes from, we need to weigh the sources and try to make some kind of assessment for ourselves. There is little connection to reality, with exceptions like John Day, who certainly sees a slice in his practice.
My take so far:
It is a serious illness.
Our response was an over-reaction.
There appear to be medicines that can greatly reduce the severity of the symptoms.
There seems to be an effort to discredit these medicines.
The vaccines appear to keep most people from dying from Covid.
There is confusion as to whether they can help stop the spread.
We do not know the long-term effects of the vaccines, if any. There are reports of adverse reactions, but it is difficult to determine how serious of an issue it is, and does the treatment really do more harm than the disease?
It does not seem like a good idea to require very low risk people such as children to be vaccinated against Covid, due to the treatment vs. disease issue.
It is going to be a problem when you have a mixed population of vaxxed and unvaxxed–mostly a political problem, but tempers are high.
They do not take Paypay in India, so I still do not have Ivermectin on hand. I do take Vitamin D (should I keep taking it even in the summer?) What about combining Ivermectin with Doxy-something, as suggested the other day? Is that also available via Indai?Ivan Illich is one of my favorite thinkers. I have well-worn print editions of Tools for Conviviality and Energy and Equity. I will sometimes google his other papers. On one of these searches a few months ago I came across the blog of theCanadian writer David Cayley, who knew Illich well and was something of an acolyte. I am ordering his book , Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey (he could use help with that title).
He wrote a post about the Pandemic in April of 2020 as filtered through Illich: Questions About the Current Pandemic From the Point of View of Ivan Illich
He wrote a follow-up in December, still too early to talk about the vaccine, though I will be interested to read his take on it: Pandemic Revelations
Re: Miley. It’s true she lacks the natural sensuality of the woman playing the bass guitar that you linked to yesterday. I don’t find her terribly attractive in that sense. But I give her credit for growing up in the public space and dealing with all the hate–she was only 19 or 20 when she made the Wrecking Ball video, trying to break out of her Disney character.. Maybe I’m a sucker, but like I said, I get the feeling she loves to sing. In any case she sure does work with some talented musicians. Yes, of course to each our own!
Just saw this on the NYT front page (don’t have a subscription):
Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe
Coronavirus variants and hesitancy about vaccines will keep the goal out of reach. But inoculating the most vulnerable may be enough to restore normalcy.Of course anything that starts with “experts say” or “experts now believe” belongs in the funnies section. They try to lay it on “vaccine hesitancy” . Protecting “the most vulnerable” should have been the only policy from the beginning, letting the rest of us have our “normalcy.”
I have had just as many people die of the vaccine in my circles as have died of Covid-19. That would be zero. And about the same number of adverse affects from each–miserable for a day or two, got better. As the minority who are foregoing vaccination for Covid-19, are we too eager to find major faults with the vaccines? I’m just asking. My resolve has gotten a bit firmer after reading about the eye issues potentially triggered by vaccination, despite not seeing any further or clearer evidence than that one kind of sketchy link. I have had two retinal detachments, and the blood flow to my eyes is not great, sometimes my vision blacks out for a few seconds when I stand up.
I am already getting tired of defending my position. I went to a party Saturday night held for a friend who recently obtained U.S. citizenship. The party was held at another friend’s house, in the large backyard. I was one of the first to arrive (it was a surprise) and as I wheeled my bike through the gate, the hostess asked if I had been vaccinated. I said no, I was one of the unvaxxed.
She said well you have to wear a mask. Do you have a mask? I had my bandana, so I said yes. Then she asked if I was opposed to being vaccinated and I told her I did not want to talk about it. Anyway, after sitting for a few minutes in the backyard (their 9-year-old was also wearing a mask) I decided no way would I stay around and be the only adult wearing a mask while all the clean vaccinated folk mingled, so I left. I don’t ever wear a mask outdoors, never have, even when walking about town. My friend later called and said I would only have to wear it if I went in the house to use the bathroom, so I went back. I expect more feelings of being ostracized going forward.
The idea that it is morally incorrect to choose not to be vaccinated is funny. I am not allowed to risk a .6% chance of dying (male, 60-65) because of herd immunity, which is some vague, ever-changing idea out there? These very same folks were happy to let me take a risk when I volunteered to deliver groceries at the start of the pandemic. I thought it would be mostly older folks, but lo and behold, some of the people at the party were my customers, people in their early 30s.
By making this choice, though, you get boxed in, and you are a social pariah for ruining the plan. Do you think people will remember Pelosi’s lukewarm reminder (I mean, come on, what could she say? We’ll be enlisting the National Guard to herd people into vaccine centers? THAT would be herd immunity) Or will they remember the “Shun Them” opinion pieces in places like USA Today? Somehow I don’t think most people will give a dying fluck about Nurenberg , etc.It will just be You’re selfish, you’re ruining it for all of us. You are helping the variants. Oh well. Take no prisoners and all that.
Tried to post this in yesterday’s comments, but it did not get through. @madamski wrote: Miley Cyrus sucks!
Gotta disagree! Miley is a rock&roller. She is a great singer of many classics. (I even like some of her original stuff on her latest album, Plastic Hearts). She has covered Paul Simon, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, Blondie, Temple of the Dog, Nine Inch Nails, Bob Dylan, Roberta Flack, Metallica, Tom Petty, The Doors, The Cranberries, Joan Jett (she inducted Jett into the R&RHoF) etc. etc. etc. all with passion and sensitivity to the original. Here’s a couple, but there are lots and lots–she’s been doing covers since she was a kid. She is a born entertainer, and you can feel her joy in what she does. Love me some Miley..
Doll Parts
Baby I’m in the Mood for You
Look What They’ve Done to My Song, Ma
50 Ways to Leave Your LoverAnd I like the way he ignores the fact that it was President Trump who was mainly responsible for the “wildly successful” rollout. And the cartoon at the bottom shows USA Today all on board with Guliani’s supposed malfeasance in Ukraine instead of Hunter Biden. Science and facts. Uh huh.
A few choice quotes from “Shun the Unvaccinated” (Which actually is just one big choice quote):
“Biden’s wildly successful vaccine rollout means that soon everyone who wants a vaccine will have one. When that happens, restaurants, movie theaters, gyms, barbers, airlines and Ubers should require proof of vaccination before providing their services.
And it shouldn’t stop there. Businesses should make vaccination a requirement for employment. A COVID outbreak can shut down a business and be financially devastating. And failure to enforce basic health and safety measures is not fair to employees who have to work in offices, factories, and stores where close contact is required. Things should get personal, too: People should require friends to be vaccinated to attend the barbeques and birthday parties they host. Friends don’t let friends spread COVID.
Surely, if a bakery can refuse to provide its services to a gay couple getting married, they can refuse to bake a cake for people who choose to place themselves, the bakery staff and its customers at risk of contracting a deadly illness.
As a country, America has become too tolerant of half-witted individual autonomy that ignores the existential needs of the vast majority of its citizens. While writing this column I caught a TV promo for a new documentary in which Cher saves an elephant. It made me think of her performance in “Moonstruck.” Vaccine hesitancy? We need Cher to slap us in the face and tell us to “snap out of it.”
Yeah, once Cher, riding an elephant, makes a Get Jabbed PSA, I’ll run out and get one.
Had another awkward exchange in the office last week.
Had perhaps my closest friend not invite me to an outdoor cookout last night because his wife is concerned about my unvaccinated status. People should require friends to be vaccinated to attend the barbeques and birthday parties they host. Friends don’t let friends spread COVID
I am preparing to be further ostracized and despised I guess. I suppose I could just tell people I have been vaccinated (except apparently it won’t be long before I can’t shop or go to work). I could also see my ex using this to get the courts to take away my custody rights.
The subject of fake passports was broached yesterday. Something to consider. But honestly part of my stance involves taking a stand against this complete medicalization of society. Ivan Illich is rolling in his grave.
If this virus is like the flu, how will herd immunity work? Why are flu vaccines changed every year? Why is there no stampede to wipe out flu?.
Sometimes I feel like TAE is bipolar. One day we are all good, the deaths are among the elderly with a bunch of underlying conditions, our chances of not dying are 99.873%, pretty much zero if we take Ivermectin and Vitamin D.
Next day, we all gonna die.
I read the India story here yesterday. The headline included May Be Much More Deadly but did not offer any particular evidence to that effect. Today you are saying that people are keeling over dead in parking lots.
It certainly sounds troublesome. Have people who are vaccinated been getting this variety I wonder? I heard a report (here?) that Ivermectin was less effective on some developing strains.
I wonder if they will still export Ivermectin. I have not ordered mine yet because they will not accept Paypal payments. I downloaded the app for the payment they do accept, Revolut, but I am hesitant to link it up to my bank account.
I don’t think I had ever heard of Flatlands before, other than the name of a 90s? movie. Ingenious little parable, good fit for today’s craziness.
Went for a nice bike ride yesterday across the river, into apple orchard country. All the apple trees are in blossom.
@Polder Dweller wrote: “…what if the real pandemic isn’t the virus, but the vaccines? …If somebody would like to debunk that idea, I’d be only too happy – I’m beginning to sound paranoid. “
In the as far as I can imagine unlikely event that the vaccine(s) make people more receptive to dying when the next virus hits, it will more likely be because the folks that are currently experimenting with blocking the sun did not foresee the problem, not because they engineered it that way. It would be a good Hulu miniseries though, if it isn’t already.
I’m sure “decoupling” money, finance, debt, all that “abstract” stuff, from real world physicality will work out just fine. Reality is so last century. And who needs all that dirty stuff like oil and lithium and soil when we have iphones and Teslas and TikToc and Cheese Doodles and windmills.
Here’s something that puzzles me: “U.S. imports from Russia averaged 538,000 barrels a day in 2020—more than the 522,000-barrel-a-day average from Saudi Arabia..” Bloomberg Business Week, March 24, 2021
So, we are putting sanctions on the country that is our 3rd leading supplier of oil? It seems to me that Russia could rather easily find other buyers for these half a million barrels a day–China, for instance–if push comes to shove. Or is the plan to roll a few tanks over the border, put up a green zone around the Kremlin, and take over the Russian oil fields? Another idea that should work out just fine.
On the Covid front, it really is astounding how just about every single person I have talked to in my little sphere has virtually zero hesitancy about getting vaccinated. In fact, despite being older than most of them, I now only know one person who has not been vaccinated and doe not plan to be. (It’s not exactly comforting that he has drifted heavily into conspiracy waters, which I avoid.)
Last night a friend held a reopening for his pub restaurant and it was well-attended, the biggest indoor crowd I’ve seen in a while. He installed an air ventilation system that supposedly zaps “98% of pathogens” from the incoming fresh air before circulating. But he has had this since mid-July, and had to close in December because there were simply not enough people willing to come out. Now that the vaccine is here, everybody is fancy free.
But I find myself quickly labeled an anti-vaxxer if it comes up that I have not been vaccinated. Since my reasoning for not being vaccinated is I don’t believe the situation warrants in most cases, and it is quickly taking us into totalitarian behavoir under the guise of public health, I thought it was important to express these views to others. But almost everyone is so on board, all it does is make people angry at me. (if people were dropping dead around me a la the plague, I would definitely take my place in the vaccination line). One friend last night asked me if I would let my 11-year-old get vaccinated.
I have no control over that, unfortunately, because the custody laws in NYS are biased against the father. But I said why would I, since the virus is not affecting kids. He scoffed, and said something like “Not for now anyway.” (Yeah, if it does go after kids, it could well be due to our mass vaccination of people who don’t need it.) Then he asked me if I had been vaccinated for mumps or the measles. As if I had a choice, or as if that were relevant to the discussion. At least there are now many more people on the not very crowded sidewalk joining me in not wearing a mask. Probably because they now feel invincible after receiving their precious “jab.” Now I think I will defer to my right to medical privacy when the question inevitably comes up again.
I do look to TAE participants to draw some sustenance for my position, especially after reading scare pieces in the MSM, such as yesterday’s article in the NYT throwing out meaningless percentages along with horror stories of grave medical complications and death with “Long Covid.”
The engraving was actually quite large, probably close to four feet across, and in a beautiful frame. It was also not as rectangular, it may have even gone as far as the monks’ feet. I like the engraving more than the painting–masterful, and the medium enhanced the subject matter.
We did not have much art in the house when I was growing up. There was a framed print of Dali’s Crucifixion, a truly large and fantastic real engraving ofGustave Dore’s The Neophyte, and a cheap framed print of Picasso’s Don Quixote lithograph.
My uncle picked up the Dore long long ago in a shop in NYC and gave it to my father, who had left divinity school to marry my mother. It hung above my father’s home desk for many years, until he got a private office at work and my mother made him move it there. I eventually came into possession of it, and sold it in my antique/junk store, for likely way less than it was worth. It is one of the few objects I regret selling. Not for any money I may have left on the table, but just because it speaks to me more as I get older.
“Big numbers can make us numb,” Ghebreyesus said, as he urged people not to forget that each death from the virus is a “tragedy” for families and communities. He also highlighted the “alarming” increase in infections and hospitalizations among those aged 25 to 59, “possibly” due to highly transmissible newer variants and the increased social mixing of younger generations.
This is another one of those random statements that give me pause about not getting a vaccine at 61–even as I know that is probably its intent, in a way. Though I am more in madamski’s camp in that there is not a puppetmaster behind every door. I believe humans act in certain ways as civilizations decline, and we are more or less following the script, and what role you get is mostly fate and personality.
In addition to the engraving, Dore did a full painting of The Novice, a not uncommon practice to help make ends meet. Here is the painting:
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@ WES
“I have noticed that one is not allowed to point out the irony that after being vaccinated, the vaccinated still must wear masks, stay socially distance, and remained in lockdown, nor that they need to be re-vaccinated.”
There have been a number of links here on TAE to Tucker Carlson doing just this. Although he did also report that Chelsea Clinton tried to get zuckerberg to shut down Carlton’s Facebook show. Carlson has a weird laugh but I thought his takedown of Bill Gates’s “Sun Dimming” project was pretty good. Favorite line: “A guy who cuts his hair with garden shears is trying to control the solar system.”
@madamski I’m aware of what a terrible president Nixon was, although it was inevitable that the U.S. would come off the gold standard, since continual growth or die was already built into our economic DNA, and we would have blown by peak gold pretty quickly.
In any case, being POTUS seems to require many negative traits. I was just saying in terms of holding his own with world leaders, Nixon at least behaved somewhat like an adult with a brain cell or two. Biden is a sentimental old fool who apparently now actually believes the little folksy bs he spins. I mean, I looked into his eyes and said we understand each other, he’s a killer, he has no soul, etc. Even Reagan wouldn’t say those lines in a movie. And everyone looked and acted older back in the day–weird how that works. Plus Biden has access to better meds to keep up appearances. God help us.
Ah. “The Scream.” Poor Edvard Munch. He’s not unlike a decent actor who gets famous for starring in a popular tv sitcom and can never break away from that public association.
Of all the nonsense and insanity that has defined politics in the last decade, the B.S. about Russia, combined with our complete loss of diplomatic skills, is both the most frustrating and the most utterly irresponsible and dangerous. Not to mention we squandered a golden opportunity to de-escalate world tensions by working together in some kind of capacity. Instead, we drove them toward China and Iran. Tricky Dick looks pretty damn good from this perspective; certainly in a different stratosphere than Comatose Joe.
P.S. @Madamski –Thank you for the Joe Jackson.
@madamski wrote:
@ Dr. D“You seem like a smart guy, I read your posts everyday, but your ability to be conned by the climatards and eco-loons is somewhat a disservice to your readers that actually can think by themselves.”
The “smart guy” might want to know to whom you refer. You know, like using their name? It’s what smart people do when they want the object of their criticism to understand your criticism.
Maybe some of those blueberry droppings got on your spectacles?;^) You are quoting a doctor of an altogether different letter.. That was Dr. P, not Dr. D. There are a fair number of Doctors on this little Internet island. However, in terms of quantity of prescriptions, there is no comparison, with Dr P’s 7 replies not in the same galaxy as the more than 1800 screeds of Dr. D’s.
While I’m here, I meant to ask the other day, do we think Mick Jagger is for or against vaccines? Is he a “climate denier” or making fun of climate deniers? The last verse threw off my read of the song. Not that it matters much. He works hard, but he’s no working bloke.
Even further back, was it someone named Craig Murphy(?) who objected to vaccine abstainers as immoral because, while forgoing the risk of getting a vaccine, they still benefit from the herd immunity created by all those who did take the risk and get vaccinated.
The huge flaw in that is,that is just how he views it. I imagine there are plenty of people like me who are not afraid of the vaccine, but also not terribly afraid of the virus, at least in its current forms, and object on the grounds of how it it creating not herd immunity, but herd behavior. All kinds of lines are being blurred or obliterated, and there is plenty of immorality, but it is not coming from the decision of some to not be subjected to a vaccination just because there is tremendous pressure to do so, despite little scientific evidence that everyone should be getting it.
Final comment: I have no idea who Jimmy Dore is, but after watching the video posted above, I have little interest in finding out. I find people who swear that much when communicating to a public audience are generally unimaginative and often blowhards with nothing much to say. George Carlin excepted, obviously.
@mister roboto, thanks for the facemask link. I already knew it was a crock when it listed cancer and alzheimer’s as consequences of wearing a mask, but yeah, you see how it gets cloaked in “legitimacy.” While I appreciate our host offering contrary and nuanced views, it’s silliness like this that greatly hinders trying to hold a reasonable discussion with someone steeped in mainstream narratives. I happen to think most masks are mostly about as effective as Linus’s blanket, particularly outdoors, but if I use this article as a source to make a point, there goes my credibility. Too many articles are like this, and rather than a thoughtful dialog, it only makes the situation worse.
You would think some of the bad reactions to the Astrazeneca vaccine, which apparently can take up to several weeks at least to manifest, would give people pause. What’s to say the reactions to some of the other vaccines don’t come along for a year? I’m not that concerned about the vaccines being deadly or crippling, but since I don’t think I am at high risk for dying, I prefer not to be part of the gleeful herd. It all freaks me out from a human rights standpoint.
You mention hospitality and travel workers not having a choice. But it’s a lot more than that–retail stores, salespeople, utility employees who go into people’s homes. And of course educators, medical personnel, I would assume law enforcement, etc. I’m currently employed as a sales person who is occasionally subjected to trade shows (blessedly all cancelled for the past year) and I am already under not so subtle pressure to get vaccinated.
I am trying to buy some Ivermectin from Kachhela Medex, a source recommended by several on the list. They do not seem to take Paypal though, my preferred method for this kind of thing. Anybody know a source over there that takes Paypal? Otherwise, I did download and fill out the application for a money transfer Kachela lists called Revolut. But I am always wary of these apps, which require a decent amount of personal info, including a photo. They also share my info with other financial companies, and continue to do so even after/if I terminate. Sheesh.
The fear-mongering continues. From today’s NYT:
Virus Variants Threaten to Draw Out the Pandemic, Scientists SayDeclining infection rates overall are masking a rise in more contagious forms of the virus, including some mutations that are more deadly.
“The best way to think about B.1.1.7 and other variants is to treat them as separate epidemics,” said Sebastian Funk, a professor of infectious disease dynamics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “We’re really kind of obscuring the view by adding them all up to give an overall number of cases.”
The authors claim this is worrisome because it makes the vaccines less effective, yet in another paragraph they claim it’s not really a problem. Fauci even says that a booster with the current vaccines is fine, rather than trying to “play whack-a-mole” with each new variant.
In terms of more deadly, they don’t really go into that, other than a link to another NYT article claiming the UK variant is 67% more deadly.
And of course at the end of the article there is a link to the obligatory young person who succumbed to “Covid 19 complications” –this time a basketball “super fan” (whatever that is), age 23.
“The major threat to health in the world is modern medicine.” Ivan Illich, Medical Nemesis, 1974.
His full take may not be for everyone, but much of it is spot on. He also talks about the “health care” system in Tools for Conviviality.
@phoenixvoice wrote: *this* bite became horribly infected with MRSA and I ended up in the emergency room when the pain was so bad I could hardly walk. It had to be surgically cleaned out, and I was put on IV antibiotics for a couple of days.That is an ironic example, as MRSA is a result of the overuse of antibiotics. Originally a “hospital” disease, it has entered the community as well.
Yes, modern medicine can be almost miraculous at times. I have been the beneficiary, having had two fully detached retinas put back in place over the past 5 years. Throughout most of history I would be fully blind by now. (On the other hand, I’ve had some questionable dentistry. My friend put it well when he opined that dentists were like chiropractors.)
But whether you look at it through Illich’s “two watersheds” or Tainter’s collapse of complex systems, or the law of diminishing returns, the health care system, like education, transportation, finance, manufacturing, and the military, is FUBAR..
Thank you to everyone who replied to my comment yesterday. (I’m replying here because yesterday’s comments went to 3 pages.)
I’ve got a request in for Ivermectin quotes. I see they come in tablets of 3, 6, 12 or 18mg each. Any thoughts? My plan is to order from Kachhela Medex as specifically recommended, and probably one other company. I will look for companies that accept Paypal. What is the cost of a reasonable supply for 1 person? I will probably get enough to have on hand for 3-4 if the price is right for that quantity, just in case. Does it come with an expiration date?
When the lockdown stuff first started a year ago, I volunteered to deliver for the local Natural Food Mart, which was not allowing customers in the store, but allowed them to pick up curbside. I figured I would be delivering mostly to older folks, but was shocked to find many were people much younger than me who were afraid to leave the house.
Although Trump was certainly lacking in charm and decorum, I do recall him saying, after dealing with the virus personally, don’t be fearful, don’t let it control your life. This to me is a presidential thing to say. As opposed to the director of the CDC blubbering about her feelings of impending doom.
So, not terrified of the virus, but as I said, I would prefer not to deal with lingering issues. That also seems like it is a slim prospect, and would also be mitigated by Ivermectin if/when needed. My main beef against the vaccinations is how they are presented as de facto the only solution, that we need to roll up our sleeves, get in line, and receive the “jab” (what a stupid bit of slang, irritates the hell out of me.) It’s also hilarious that many people who would not touch a genetically modified tomato with a ten-foot pole are so eager to get a shot of mRNA. The idea that it is suddenly okay to ask your employees about their medical history, that you need to carry a card proclaiming it. That it will create two classes. Which in itself is ridiculous. Even supposing the vaccine prevents transmission, if I go in to a restaurant, those who want to feel “protected” from Covid are already vaccinated, so what difference does it make? Monumental idiocy. Anyway, thanks again to our host and TAE readers.
@sumac.carol Yes, that’s what I was asking above, has anyone ordered from that link? Is this where you obtained yours? How long did it take? Does the product appear legit? That would be my preference over taking a vaccine.
John Day wrote yesterday:
SARS-CoV-2 is bimodal. 80% of people stop it in the nose, where it is mild. In 20% of people it gets into lungs, guts and bloodstream. It has special aggressive powers to attack blood vessel linings, which can ruin lungs, kidneys, heart and brain.
So here is where I am. 61 years old, excellent overall health, commute to work by bicycle, no known underlying health issues, not overweight.
My take on the vaccines: I am not of the camp that they are definitely super dangerous, or part of some big plot, though I do understand the long-term affects are unknown. I don’t feel like they are necessary for everyone, and I am repulsed by developments like the Excelsior Pass and other “vaccine passports” coming down the pike–both the technologies and the ideologies.
So, as a otherwise healthy 61-year-old, do I get vaccinated because I am likely to be in that 20% where the virus attacks the organs (and still refuse to participate in vaccine passports). In other words, am I at enough risk that the vaccine is worth getting. Or am I safe with my Vitamin D regimen and possibly having some Ivermectin on hand. And has anybody here actually ordered from that India link that JD posted a while ago?
I also have a child custody situation that complicates things (child is under 12 yrs old). And I have someone at work coming around saying they are doing an “informal” survey of who has been vaccinated, and now reminding me daily I am eligible.
I am inclined to not get vaccinated due to distaste of the whole thing (I do not wear a mask outdoors in public). But if I am at some risk of messing up an organ or two with long term health repercussions, would prefer to avoid that. I can guess some of the responses, but curious what folks here would do in my situation.
This morning I took a bicycle ride before the rain and at the end I stopped at the bagel shop. I donned my navy bandana, went in, and ordered an everything bagel with cream cheese. While I was waiting with 4 other customers, a young woman came in with a child of about four years old.
Mother: There’s a lot of people in here, honey. We better double mask.” [Reaches down to put a second mask on her child, whose face is already covered.]
Child [squirms].” MMmmmmm, no!”
Mother:[Finishes tying the second mask around the child’s face] “It’s only for a few more minutes, honey.”As Donald Trump might say, “Sad.”
Gotta give proper credit to the New York State marketing department, naming the vaccine I.D. card Excelsior Pass. A little stroke of genius using the State motto “Excelsior” (Ever Upward!) combined with “Pass,” with its invocation of Easy Pass, the automatic toll booth technology that most have already submitted to; also connotations of the innocuous “hall pass” and the term “free pass”. Certainly, the excellent, ever-upward, free and easy pass to see a Giants football game or an art exhibit or a Bruce Springsteen performance on Broadway. Provided you’ve been an obedient citizen and have submitted to all the requirements.
And it’s cutting edge, too! It … “utilizes proven, secure technology to confirm an individual’s recent negative PCR or antigen test result or proof of vaccination.”…”New York State is the first state in the U.S. to formally launch this potentially transformational technology,” the governor’s office said.
So does this mean the Excelsior Pass technology is as proven as the vaccine? That would be a relief. Here’s a thought: “potentially transformational technology” (provided by State sponsor IBM). Right. So this is, what, an interim step before we all get injected with a “health bio” chip, that can be updated remotely and scanned anywhere? It’s already done for dogs.
And what’s a few thousand deaths or a little groping from our randy, single governor when compared to the good he’s doing by being the first to unleash this transformational technology on the citizens of the United States?
Mister Roboto wrote: “So Ivermectin works for long Covid (which is the main thing that demonstrates that this is seriously not “just the flu, bro”)...”
From the CDC website:
Most people who get flu will recover in a few days to less than two weeks, but some people will develop complications (such as pneumonia) as a result of flu, some of which can be life-threatening and result in death….
serious complications triggered by flu can include inflammation of the heart (myocarditis), brain (encephalitis) or muscle (myositis, rhabdomyolysis) tissues, and multi-organ failure (for example, respiratory and kidney failure).Flu virus infection of the respiratory tract can trigger an extreme inflammatory response in the body and can lead to sepsis, the body’s life-threatening response to infection. Flu also can make chronic medical problems worse. For example, people with asthma may experience asthma attacks while they have flu, and people with chronic heart disease may experience a worsening of this condition triggered by flu.
Have to admit, it does sound familiar.
@Doc Robinson I was talking with a friend last night who just got the Johnson and Johnson single shot, in anticipation of visiting her elderly parents, who got their double dose shots. But she is hesitant, because a friend of hers just came down with Covid a week after receiving her second shot. I think we may hear more stories like this as people start to congregate thinking they are fully protected by their vaccinations.
More unreality: The entire front fold of the digital New York Times is devoted to the rise of violence against Asians, people of color, and women. All tied to a tragic bloodbath in the Atlanta area committed by a 21-year-old who has confessed to having a “sex addiction.” Can we wait for the investigation before rolling out the editorials? Because isn’t that inflaming a bad situation with so far unrelated events? But since speculation now counts as hard news, once they made the assumption they went full in, because it bolsters their narrative.
Can the U.S. get any more depraved or debased? This “killer with no soul” business is magnitudes more shocking than anything out of Trump’s mouth during his four years. It’s like we are a comic book country. Biden has always been a fool who believes the myth he created for himself as a tough acting tough talking kinda guy. Now that his meager mental abilities are even more diminished, it would appear he has no capacity to reign that in when needed.
I can’t imagine a president whose handlers have not yet allowed him to have a press conference would permit him to sit down to an interview without having a list of the questions to be asked. But maybe the interviewer caught him off guard with the killer question. How he could be allowed to talk like that about the leader of a country as important as Russia in global affairs is just incredible. How is this idiot now going to sit down and have any kind of meaningful talk with Putin? Or will Harris step in as “good cop?” since apparently she is the one talking to world leaders. “Hi Vlad. Kamala here. Don’t mind old Joe, he was off his meds again. Let’s chat.”
We have exactly nobody at the helm who has a clue about diplomacy. We have become so narcissistic that we are simply no longer capable of seeing anything, especially anything remotely resembling reality. Pelosi was worried about Trump with the nuclear codes? I am much more alarmed by who exactly has their finger on that button right now. What little committee that might consist of we have no idea, but we can safely imagine it is singularly unqualified.
Even the Washington Post‘s mea culpa can’t stop with the editorializing: Trump “urged” the investigator,…”asserted” she would find…Can’t even make a major correction without putting a slant on it. How about here is the quote as we wrote it. Here is the quote as he said it. Is that too hard to do? I don’t need the WP to tell me what constitutes an urging or assertive tone of voice. It might seem picky, but not in the context of the paper’s f8&$-up..
Dr D wrote: “Majority of Brits Say They Will “Miss” Some or Many Aspects of Lockdown (SN)”
Simply shows that humans are adaptable and try to make the best of any situation.
Or could it be that those WFH realized how crappy were their commutes, how toxic the workplace vibe, how mindless their tasks? And for those that still had jobs they had to show up for–less traffic, less jerks at the deli counter at lunch! And most of the people that have jobs that actually involve making something, or picking something to eat, don’t live in England. So yeah, I guess many are “making the best of it” and still getting paid or still on the dole, for now anyway.
The carbonara sauce pasta violence twitter joke went over my head. I must have missed a news cycle. Or maybe this was a twitterverse thing, of which I am not a member.
For a while now I’ve had this urge to get a t-shirt printed up:
F*$k Biden
F*$k Harris
F*$k Cuomo
F*$k The NYT
F*$k LockdownsOr some such variation. In a nice square block print. Living in a smaller Hudson River town a ways up from NYC, I’m amazed and somewhat horrified at how quickly virtually everyone has adopted mask use–outdoors, on uncrowded sidewalks, on foot paths in the woods. As though passing by someone for 1-2 seconds is going to make you die.
So good for Naomi Wolf. But I don’t see everyone on the outside. It’s scary how quickly people will adopt behaviors without any real reasoning or proof. I guess it could come in handy if/when a real disease comes along, a la the Plague. Meanwhile, walking down the street without a mask feels a little defiant, sometimes uncomfortable. I have to resist the occasional urge to put one on and blend in. In one hopeful sign, over the past week or two I have seen a handful of maskless fellow citizens. (At a city council meeting this week, a council member objected to the word “citizen” and instead suggested “community member.” I wish I was kidding.)
But IIRC, TAE did have a link to the Spanish study, or a story about it, with a positive spin, a week or so back. And why not study it as an active cure rather than just a prophylactic. I would think trying to set up a study proving its worth as a prophylactic would be more difficult. I don’t need a study, I’ve been taking 2000-4000 IU a day for a while. Because why not, here in winter in the Northeast.
I think Cook makes the basic point that the “health industry” has passed the second watermark Illich talks about, and exists mainly to tend to its own existence. The Spanish study is trashed, and the Brazilian study is lauded, even though it sounds like the reverse should be true. Who knows, maybe the right form of the vitamin in super high doses can help already ill patients. It certainly doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility.@WES wrote: I studied electricity in early 1970s. In my rather short life, I have seen tremendous improvements in electrical energy use…This is what Ivan Illich failed to understand and is one reason why few remember him. He was too rigid.
Illich lived until 2003, and he saw many “improvements” in technology over his lifetime, even up to 1975. He certainly takes into account improved efficiencies and other factors in the full (85 page) essay, but efficiency is just another side of the increased per capita energy consumption, not terribly relevant in the end.
Outside of Illich’s arguments, from a pure technology point of view, you have the law of diminishing returns–you can’t produce a light source with zero energy use. From a human behavior standpoint, you have the Jevons Paradox. Once refrigeration reached a certain efficiency/cost, you have every gas station in America with walls of refrigeration. In other words, the greater efficiency at lower cost encourages increased deployment and use.
The one thing that did dawn on Illich as the years went by, was that the world was not going to be able to grasp the danger of its energy glut; or if it did, be able to do anything about coming to an agreement on where the cutoff per capita should be. Because that would go against being American, whether you have capitalist or socialist tendencies. And once the cat is out of the bag and you build entire infrastructures, there is no way to go back. You pour that much excess energy into a system and it will be compelled to use it, whether a petri dish full of microbes or Western Civilization. I think it is beyond even addiction, it is a biological imperative. It still ends up at Tainter’s collapse of the complex. So yeah, headed for a reset, but not the green fantasy envisioned by the billionaires club. Humans will have little to say in where this ends up going. At this point we are in freefall reaction mode (and of course our reactions are almost comically guaranteed to be the exactly wrong ones!;^)
Of course the meta math has to do with the wattage consumption per capita, regardless of the technology. Doesn’t matter if it’s lithium or biofuel from the Lorax tree, it’s the energy addiction that will have us “collapsing into a sociocultural energy coma:”
“The widespread belief that clean and abundant energy is the panacea for social ills is due to a political fallacy, according to which equity and energy consumption can be indefinitely correlated, at least under some ideal political conditions. Laboring under this illusion, we tend to discount any social limit on the growth of energy consumption. But if ecologists are right to assert that nonmetabolic power pollutes, it is in fact just as inevitable that, beyond a certain threshold, mechanical power corrupts. The threshold of social disintegration by high energy quanta is independent from the threshold at which energy conversion produces physical destruction. Expressed in horsepower, it is undoubtedly lower. This is the fact which must be theoretically recognized before a political issue can be made of the per capita wattage to which a society will limit its members.
Even if nonpolluting power were feasible and abundant, the use of energy on a massive scale acts on society like a drug that is physically harmless but psychically enslaving. A community can choose between Methadone and
cold turkey”—between maintaining its addiction to alien energy and kicking it in painful cramps—but no society can have a population that is hooked on progressively larger numbers of energy slaves and whose members are also autonomously active.In previous discussions, I have shown that, beyond a certain level of per capita GNP, the cost of social control must rise faster than total output and become the major institutional activity within an economy. Therapy administered by educators, psychiatrists, and social workers must converge with the designs of planners, managers, and salesmen, and complement the services of security agencies, the military, and the police. I now want to indicate one reason why increased affluence requires increased control over people. I argue that beyond a certain median per capita energy level, the political system and cultural context of any society must decay. Once the critical quantum of per capita energy is surpassed, education for the abstract goals of a bureaucracy must supplant the legal guarantees of personal and concrete initiative. This quantum is the limit of social order.
I will argue here that technocracy must prevail as soon as the ratio of mechanical power to metabolic energy oversteps a definite, identifiable threshold. The order of magnitude within which this threshold lies is largely independent of the level of technology applied, yet its very existence has slipped into the blind-spot of social imagination in both rich and medium-rich countries. Both the United States and Mexico have passed the critical divide. In both countries, further energy inputs increase inequality, inefficiency, and personal impotence. Although one country has a per capita income of $500 and the other, one of nearly $5,000, huge vested interest in an industrial infrastructure prods both of them to further escalate the use of energy. As a result, both North American and Mexican ideologues put the label of
energy crisis” on their frustration, and both countries are blinded to the fact that the threat of social breakdown is due neither to a shortage of fuel nor to the wasteful, polluting, and irrational use of available wattage, but to the attempt of industries to gorge society with energy quanta that inevitably degrade, deprive, and frustrate most people.A people can be just as dangerously overpowered by the wattage of its tools as by the caloric content of its foods, but it is much harder to confess to a national overindulgence in wattage than to a sickening diet. The per capita wattage that is critical for social well-being lies within an order of magnitude which is far above the horsepower known to four-fifths of humanity and far below the power commanded by any Volkswagen driver. It eludes the underconsumer and the overconsumer alike. Neither is willing to face the facts. For the primitive, the elimination of slavery and drudgery depends on the introduction of appropriate modern technology, and for the rich, the avoidance of an even more horrible degradation depends on the effective recognition of a threshold in energy consumption beyond which technical processes begin to dictate social relations. Calories are both biologically and socially healthy only as long as they stay within the narrow range that separates enough from too much.
The so-called energy crisis is, then, a politically ambiguous issue. Public interest in the quantity of power and in the distribution of controls over the use of energy can lead in two opposite directions. On the one hand, questions can be posed that would open the way to political reconstruction by unblocking the search for a postindustrial, labor-intensive, low-energy and high-equity economy. On the other hand, hysterical concern with machine fodder can reinforce the present escalation of capital-intensive institutional growth, and carry us past the last turnoff from a hyperindustrial Armageddon. Political reconstruction presupposes the recognition of the fact that there exist critical per capita quanta beyond which energy can no longer be controlled by political process. A universal social straitjacket will be the inevitable outcome of ecological restraints on total energy use imposed by industrial-minded planners bent on keeping industrial production at some hypothetical maximum.
Rich countries like the United States, Japan, or France might never reach the point of choking on their own waste, but only because their societies will have already collapsed into a sociocultural energy coma. Countries like India, Burma, and, for another short while at least, China are in the inverse position of being still muscle-powered enough to stop short of an energy stroke. They could choose, right now, to stay within those limits to which the rich will be forced back through a total loss of their freedoms. ”
Ivan Illich, Energy and Equity, 1974
I have a tattered, falling apart copy. You can read a pdf of the full essay/booklet here: http://www.davidtinapple.com/illich/1973_energy_equity.html
As the years pass, Illich is more on point and relevant than ever. Which would explain why virtually nobody talks about his ideas these days. Because we want a Green Deal with No Limits.
“We destroyed it for profit” apparently does not in their eyes contradict “we’ll fix it for profit too”.
Reminds me of my Rite Aid drugstore. They often have a sandwich board on the sidewalk advertising a “Stop Smoking” kit of some sort. And behind the counter inside are…hundreds of cartons of cigarettes.
generic wrote: Bill Gates is not an expert in science or technology.
No, but his wife plays a doctor on tv. That must count for something.The problem with ceasing to consume as a solution is, it kills the economy, which must keep expanding to survive. And as we know, it’s not as simple as all that. And in the end, that’s the issue, the over-complexity thing. Problem is, that is build into any system, and human economies are not an exception. Despite the technofantasists who insist there is a solution right around the corner. Even if that were true, look where all the other solutions got us…to the point where we obediently listen to the same people who gave us the last solution and are now offering the solution to that solution. …Cigar, cigarette? Get your nicotine patches here, get ’em here. Chemotherapy Ward 4, This Way. Sorry, but going cold turkey on consumption, even if you could get people on board, would create as many problems as it solves.
Such a clean, serene palette from Van Gogh. I love the extreme offset of the figures, too. I’ll take this over some of his more famous works, please. Thank you.
While I have definitely gotten on board with supplemental Vitamin D, and I am seriously thinking about ordering some Ivermectin from India, I am not giving up my baguettes and spaghetti and meatballs any time soon. Or my mashed potatoes or rice and beans or occasional bowl of locally made ice cream. This whole concept of anti-aging, and food restrictions, diets, etc. strikes me as anti-life in a way. Since industrial society got into full swing, there have always been these cure all live forever tenets based on the food we ingest. Sure, eat your greens, watch the sugar, and don’t be a glutton. But celebrate the bounty of a fresh baked loaf of bread and don’t stress over a yummy dessert. Who really wants to live much past 80 anyway? Especially these days.,.
