Tag: Vaccine

Government, Health

Crossing The Minefield

Because I have some time on my hands, and I’ve got my tinfoil hat shaped just right, I’m going to add an update to my previous (poorly worded) post on leaky vaccines. This one is about risk assessment. I think we’d all agree that each individual should be able to make an informed decision about the risks of getting or not getting the vaccine or booster. In a perfect world we’d see all the pros/cons and decide what’s right for your particular scenario. But what if you weren’t told all the info?

(adjusts hat) Ok, here we go. It’s starting to look like after your first dose of the mRNA vaccine you go through a roughly two week window of a highly immune suppressed state. The reasons why are not clear yet. The most likely cause seems to be that the mRNA vaccine has to turn off the toll-like receptors so the vaccine can enter the cells without being attacked by the immune system. Other options are a fall in lymphocytes and neutrophils that are seen three days post vaccine. Regardless of cause, it appears likely that you are in a highly immune compromised state for several weeks after your first dose. This does not happen after the second dose.

The impact of this is a significantly increased death rate post first dose. This was seen clearly in the Israel data and now in the Palestinian data since they are just now getting their first doses. Going back to Israel, we see the same corresponding rise in death rate following the booster.

Just to be clear, people are NOT dying from the vaccine. They appear to be briefly in a highly immune compromised state and then get covid or a cancer spreads, etc…

So to steal a brilliant analogy – we have some percentage risk by not taking the vaccine, based upon our age, comorbidities, fitness, etc… We can mitigate some of that risk by taking the vaccine, but in order to do that we have to first cross a minefield. You’d probably want to know what are the odds of stepping on a mine, right? Well, the first study on this shows a 46% increase in suspected covid during that two week period. Even the Pfizer data itself shows a 40% increase.

Don’t you think it would have been good to know that you’d briefly have a nearly 50% increased chance of getting covid and massively increased odds of being hospitalized for several weeks after getting your vaccine? The tradeoff for running across the minefield is a vaccine that is eventually 56% effective (not the 95% we were sold).

Again, I’m not arguing that you shouldn’t get the vax. I think most folks 50 and older, or folks with comorbidities should. BUT, don’t you think folks should have been advised that for 2-3 weeks post first dose you need to self isolate as much as possible to reduce the risk of getting covid? I blissfully went back to work after my first dose, including working the covid floor! And why in gods name would we be pushing the vaccines during peaking cases? From a big picture, public health standpoint, you’d want to be vaccinating during lulls in case rates.

Which brings me back to the previous post. What if we’ve created a bunch of vaccinated asymptomatic superspreaders who are inadvertently causing a spike in case rates? And then in response we push/mandate vaccinations and start boosters. We just potentially put millions of people into that two week risk window with covid on the increase and superspreaders walking around… The hospitalization and death rates will be interesting follow this winter.

Come to think of it, my tinfoil hat is feeling a little snug. Time to take it off and go do something productive outside.

Government, Health

Did We Screw Up?

Sit back and relax for a minute. I have a short tale that might worry you a bit. One that, if true, would prove to be one of the greatest public health blunders in history. It’s about a vaccine. Wait, wait, don’t go… this isn’t an anti-vax tirade or a rant about mandates. It’s a story about what happens when people rush to make a decision without waiting for all the data.

A question – what happens if we created a “leaky vaccine” and pushed it out to billions of people?

Here’s the background. I follow a number of statisticians. Yes, I know I’m a geek. But I like data and charts and graphs. I admit much of the stats are above my head, but I took just enough statistics to semi-sorta understand what I’m reading. Anyway, I first heard about the idea of leaky vaccines from something that Joe Rogan said on his podcast. He, of course, was immediately blasted for pushing tinfoil hat conspiracy stuff. Which, of course, made me want to read more about it. Enter the statisticians who plot and analyze the data and ignore the politicians and media wisdom.

What you want is a sterilizing vaccine. One that creates an immune response powerful enough that it instantly attacks and wipes out the virus in the host before it can replicate and spread. What you don’t want is a “leaky vaccine” that produces an immune response sufficient to protect the host, but isn’t able to prevent a buildup of viral load or transmission. Every day it’s looking more likely that we’ve produced a pretty leaky covid vaccine. This is generally ok for you, the vaccinated individual. Your immune response protects you from getting really sick. But the population as a whole…

Here’s the worrisome part. The data is showing that when a vaccinated person is hit with covid, their viral load and shedding of virus is equal to that of unvaccinated people and lasts for days. And the best part? Because they have an immune response that starts working to protect them, they are generally asymptomatic. Are the lightbulbs starting to go off? In our mad rush to push the vaccine without sufficient testing, we may have just created a bunch of vaccinated asymptomatic superspreaders, happily walking around and infecting the unvaccinated and those unhealthy folks (vaccinated or not) who managed to dodge the bullet during the first covid wave.

Israel, one of the most vaccinated nations on the planet, got hammered with a second wave. Similarly the UK and many highly vaccinated cities in the US. The hospitals are being overrun in many cities, including my own. In many places it’s far worse than the first covid wave. We’re seeing tons of “breakthrough” cases – vaccinated folks who get covid. Unfortunately many of those folks have multiple comorbidities, which is why they got the vaccine in the first place. Their outcomes aren’t great (but still better than without the vaccine). Get vaccinated so you can safely visit your immunocompromised family and friends! We need a vaccine passport so we can safely shop and go to restaurants! The potential irony would be humorous if it wasn’t so tragic.

It’s a catch-22. The vaccine we rushed into the population is clearly good for the individual, but may be bad for society as a whole. Politicians and public health officials panicked and pushed out something without knowing the potential long term impacts. And now that we’re facing skyrocketing case and fatality rates again, the panicked response is boosters! We need boosters in every arm ASAP!

Never mind that the FDA advisory panel voted 16-2 AGAINST authorizing the booster for everyone. The CDC ignored that and did it anyway. The two top virologists at the FDA resigned over the politicization and handling of all this. Yay! Trust the science bitches.

It’s easy to be an armchair quarterback, I get that. But what makes science all sciency, is a willingness to continually examine the data, re-evaluating, questioning, and rethinking your hypothesis if results weren’t what you expected. Unfortunately politics and fear forced us to throw all that out the window. Politics and vanity will keep anyone from saying out loud, “uh guys, we might have screwed up?” Maybe this is a big nothingburger. Maybe in a couple years this will be a minor, annual flu-like annoyance. Or maybe we’ll be on booster #8 and wondering why we keep getting so many mutating variants? My tinfoil hat fits me just fine, thank you.

Health

No Vax, No Treatment?

Social media is an interesting place. There is no doubt its driven a giant wedge in society. Everyone has been forced into one camp or another. There is no longer respectful debate or differing opinions… on anything. People are constantly outraged at something. Outraged and extreme. There are no shades of gray, just black and white. The latest outrage seems to be a massive amount of self-righteous indignation over people choosing not to get the vaccination for the virus we shall not name.

Post after post on Twitter and Facebook of people calling folks who haven’t been vaccinated uncaring monsters, selfish, and worse. What I’m seeing a lot of lately are people saying that if an unvax’d person gets Covid they should be denied a hospital bed, relegated to tents in the parking lot, or “go to the back of the line”.

Not only does that opinion lack any compassion, it also shows a complete lack of understanding of our healthcare system. I’ll estimate that at least 50% of my hospital (probably more) is full of people being treated for something self-induced. Obese, smoker, throws a clot and has a stroke. Uncontrolled diabetic who has non-healing necrotic foot ulcers. Alcohol detoxing. Drug overdoses. Alcohol induced cirrhosis. Suicide attempts. Intravenous drug users with massive septic abscesses. The list goes on and on.

All these folks get treated. We don’t withhold care because they are responsible for their illness. We don’t judge your poor life choices. Oh, and by the way – the vast majority of these folks are unfunded. They do not have insurance. They still get the same care as everyone else. The hospital has to eat that cost, and so it gets passed on to you.

Are hospitals starting to see a lack of beds? Yep. But it’s for a variety of reasons. Prior to Covid we were starting to see a decline in the number of rehab, skilled nursing, and assisted living facilities. We have patients in the hospital that are medically cleared, but have been there for weeks (months sometimes) because we can’t find a facility that will accept them. Covid made that problem 10x worse. I’d guess that at any given time close to a quarter of the beds on my floor are occupied by patients who have been cleared to go but we can’t find placement for them.

The other issue is one of staffing. Many, many hospitals were starting to see staffing shortages pre-covid. With the pandemic, the bottom simply fell out from a staffing perspective. We often have physical beds available… just no staff to be able to accept more patients. I receive text messages from management nearly daily, begging for folks to come in and work additional shifts. Overtime pay, premium pay, covid bonuses, and we still can’t cover all the staff shortages.

So now we have a new variant that’s hitting the world pretty hard and that’s making everything worse again. Is this new wave impacting care for non-covid things? Absolutely. We’re now limiting elective surgeries again and postponing non-urgent procedures. That sucks. The trickle down effect of people postponing care will hit us hard later. All in all, this is a mess. Covid will be with us forever and the impact on our nation’s overall health will be a generational one. The point is that hospitals being “overwhelmed” is a multi-factorial problem, not just due to Covid. Surges in Covid cases simply exacerbate what was already an issue in healthcare.

So back to my original point. If you think that we should start rationing care based upon a personal choice about a vaccine… be careful what you wish for. We go down that road and you better not show up to the hospital slightly overweight with hypertension and a smoker, and complaining of chest pain. You may get put to the back of the line so we can treat someone with cancer first. So sorry you’re having a heart attack, I guess you should have taken better care of yourself. Bottom line, this pandemic sucks for everyone. Stop with the indignant, self righteous outrage. We’re divided enough already as it is. No need to add to it so you can feel morally superior over someone who makes different choices than you.

Government, Health

A Timeline
  • September 2021 California and New York roll out their vaccine passport. Proof of vaccination required to visit restaurants, bars, and many stores. The original paper vaccine card, CA’s digital vault or IBM’s digital health pass app (Excelsior in NY) are accepted.

  • February 2022 As the Lambda variant begins spreading widely, 39 of 50 states now require vaccine proof to enter most public and commercial buildings. Markets and grocery stores are exempt in most states that require proof.

  • June 2022 Due to rampant fraud, paper versions of vaccine history are no longer accepted. Where required, an approved digital version must be shown.

  • August 2022 One of President Harris’s first actions is to sign the American Health and Safety Act (AHSA), mandating proof of vaccination status for all public venues in all states. Federal funding will be withheld for states that opt out.

  • October 2023 The President signs the emergency funding bill for the newly formed Digital Health Consortium, a joint effort between IBM, Apple, and Alphabet to nationalize the Digital Health Wallet app. The consortium will also develop Digital Health Scanners which will be distributed to all retail, commercial, and office buildings that fall under the AHSA vaccine requirements.

  • July 2024 The annual influenza vaccine is added to the list of required vaccines registered in the National Digital Health database. The CDC continues to advocate for adding Hepatitis, Pneumonia, TB, and the newly developed RSV vaccine. A trial program enabling people to opt in with their sexual health status is added to the Digital Health Wallet, enabling people to share their history of any sexually transmitted diseases with potential partners.

  • January 2026 President Sanders signs the Climate Accountability Act into law, enabling power companies to link all household and commercial real estate SmartMeter data to the National Climate database. Electricity usage will be charged for and throttled based upon your calculated carbon profile.

  • May 2027 Congress approves linking an individuals carbon profile to their Digital Health Wallet, claiming the climate crisis is also a health crisis. Retail establishments are encouraged to charge an additional carbon tax to customers who’s Health Wallet scan shows a negative carbon profile. Retail stores who choose to add the tax earn a “Environment Friendly” blue check symbol on the three approved social media platforms and are eligible for special federal subsidies.

  • January 2028 The retail Carbon Tax is now a mandatory federal tax. The tax is a sliding scale based upon the individuals carbon profile and federal tax bracket.

  • March 2028 In a narrow decision the 12 member Supreme Court overturns the final federal privacy appeals, enabling employers, insurance companies, and a wide variety of “Shared Usage” companies (hotels, rental cars, airlines, etc…) to access the National Digital Health database. Based upon vaccine and carbon profile data, approved companies can restrict or utilize a sliding scale to charge for services. Employers can pre-screen potential candidates.

  • April 2031 The Person Place and Footprint biometrics database goes live. Citizens are given a score, calculated from six integrated systems; Criminal Justice, Experian Credit, Climate, Digital Health, IRS, and the Universal Social Media Ranking System. The PPF score will be available to authorized users prior to citizen engagement, or real-time via facial recognition or iris scan.

  • February 2034 Facing extreme food and electricity shortages, the free states of Florida, South Dakota, Idaho, and Texas begin coordinating violent, cross-border raids and targeted cyber attacks against neighboring states.

Daily Life, Government, Health

A Tower Of Babel

It’s an interesting paradox we’re seeing today. On one hand we live in the most information rich time in history. People walk around with a device containing all of human knowledge, instantly available, in their pockets. Any fact, figure, formula, quote, or phrase is simply a button press away. We’re no longer constrained to listening to Walter Cronkite telling us what happened each night – we have literally thousands upon thousands of news presenters available to us. Every newspaper and magazine article written in the world each day are available to us. Millions upon millions of everyday ordinary people are publishing their opinions and thoughts in blogs, vlogs, YouTube videos, e-books, and pushing that content out into the world daily. Social media allows us to publish whatever random thought pops into your head instantly to thousands. The amount of data we have available to consume is truly mind boggling.

And yet, even with all of that available knowledge, opinions, thoughts, and diversity of voices… we no longer know what to believe. Government, as an institution, has shown itself to be corrupt and untrustworthy. Institutes of science, the CDC, NIH, NOAA, etc… are deeply political and agenda driven. The garden gnome Dr Fauci has probably done more to damage the credibility of “scientists” than any person in history. Journalists of all types are now so biased it’s very hard to find a true independent voice. People now choose their journalists based upon what side of the political spectrum they’re from. Military leaders have lost credibility. According to the media, every priest, kids sports coach, and boy scout leader is a raging pedophile so you can’t turn to them. Teachers are being exposed daily as having political agendas that influence what and how they teach. Our mega corporations, in partnership with the government, are busy trying to create an Orwellian social credit system that will punish free thought.

How are we supposed to know what to believe today? Mrs Troutdog has a trip planned and asked me if I thought travel was safe right now with the delta variant (you know, the virus that shall not be named) so prevalent. I honestly don’t know what the answer is. I’m a practicing RN who’s taken a fair number of science, statistics, and research courses. I work in a hospital and do work the Covid floor from time to time. I read research papers, articles, and hospital issued policies and positions. I read every independent investigative journalist I can find. I make a point of watching videos from a wide spectrum of medical folks. There is such a massive flood of often contradictory, conspiracy, and agenda driven information out there… as a reasonably well informed person, I still don’t know what to think. The amount of conflicting information is so massive, it’s hard to make an informed decision.

How did we get to this point? Even when a doctor says something about the virus, I now feel I have to question everything. Not that I think they’re lying, but that they’ve fallen into one camp or another so I need to take what they say with a grain of salt. I no longer trust the data that gets published by the government. Everything is so agenda and funding driven I’ve become skeptical of everything. How do you function in a world where two trusted sources often say completely contradictory things? My brain hurts. I just want someone to tell me the answer.

So here’s my truth nugget out of all this pessimism. I don’t think any of this is new. Government has always been corrupt. There has never been such a thing as scientific consensus. Journalism has always been agenda driven and biased. Most of us have just been blissfully unaware. We had lives to live. Families to raise. Ball games to watch. We believed what Walter Cronkite told us. We believed whatever was printed in our local newspaper. Because humans are frightened herd creatures. We want someone in authority to tell us what to believe.

But now the curtains have been thrown open. The ugly reality that there are no universal truths out there, is glaringly evident to all. So this is going to go one of two ways. The government and mega corporations will continue to squash free speech and squeeze everything down to accepted opinions. If you want to get along and function in society you’ll toe the party line. And that will be ok for most. We want to get back to watching our sports and going to Disneyland and raising our families.

Or, the trust chasm will grow. More and more independent voices will raise contrary opinions. People will learn to think critically and not blindly trust the authorities. We’ll begin to reject massive central government control on every aspect of our lives. This fourth industrial revolution we’re in will spawn a more independent society that moves away from the nanny state.

Whatever happens, it will be messy. Right now the information wars are like a room full of screeching baboons all flinging poop at each other. I think people are tired of it. Government and the mega corporations are so powerful it’s hard to see them losing. look at nightmare of government control that Australia has created if you want to see our current trajectory. I scoffed at the idea of the China social credit system ever taking hold here. And in less than a year we now have major cities in the US requiring you show your vaccine status if you want to shop, go to a restaurant, or watch a ball game. Government officials are publicly saying they intend to make participating in society difficult if you don’t comply with their health mandates. What makes you think they’re going to stop there?

People in France, Germany, and even Australia are protesting in the streets by the tens of thousands at the controls being forced by their governments. Here in the land of the free and home of the brave… crickets. It’s fascinating to watch. It’s hard to predict what way things will turn. Are you a red pill or blue pill? Regardless, it’s an amazing point in history, that’s for sure.

I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.

Cypher, The Matrix 1999
Daily Life, Government, Health

Who’s Afraid Of The Passport?

The current discussions around mandatory vaccines and vaccine passports is interesting. I use the term “discussion” loosely. It’s more like two baboons in a cage screaming at each other and throwing feces. I generally don’t like when someone tells me that a thing is mandatory. Dammit, we’re supposed to be a free people. Nobody tells me what I can and cannot do. If I want to sit in my recliner and drink beer and eat donuts all day, that’s my god given right. Except there are plenty of things that are mandatory. A drivers license to drive. Education through high school is compulsory. You must be licensed to cut hair, open a business, be a gym instructor or chiropractor. As a society we’ve made all sorts of things mandatory. In theory, we’ve made those choices collectively through our elected representatives. They weren’t edicts handed down by the king of the seven realms. We voluntarily put those restrictions on ourselves.

Ok, but requiring vaccines are different. That’s my personal health information. Maybe. But we already mandate vaccines. There are a whole host of required vaccines various states require to attend public school. I chose to work in health care. I was mandated to get whole bunch of additional vaccines if wanted to be employed. There’s nothing new about requiring a vaccine.

Except this one does feel different. It’s brand new. It did not have the full edge-case testing over a long period of time that other well established vaccines had. As a broad statement, I think it’s pretty safe. I was one of the first folks to get it when it was made available to health care workers. I’m older and was going to be regularly exposed to folks with the virus that shall not be named. I made a risk assessment and decided it was worth it. But I have a number of coworkers who are young and are thinking about starting a family. They haven’t gotten the shot because of the unknown factor when it comes to pregnancy. I think that’s very understandable and a reasonable risk assessment for someone who’s young and healthy. Except our hospital just announced that they are making the vaccine mandatory to continue employment. That bothers me. Mandating a vaccine that does not yet have full FDA approval to healthy young people doesn’t seem right. Maybe health care is a slightly different scenario, but making the shot mandatory is being talked about in all walks of life. Healthy college kids, people who’ve already had Covid, and many non-essential businesses. Making something like the flu shot mandatory to work as an accountant or a Starbucks barista never would have been accepted in this country. Jenny Mccarthy made sure of that. Why is this any different?

And then there’s the vaccine passports. I generally don’t pay much attention to that discussion. In the back of my mind I just didn’t think proving health status was something that this country would seriously consider. Other countries may do it and that’s fine, I just won’t go there. France is attempting to require a vaccine passport to go to bar or restaurant. Our news will never show it, but tens of thousands of people are in the streets of France, day after day, protesting this. It’ll never be seriously considered in this country, will it?

And then this morning I read something on Twitter that made me realize we’re closer to a passport than I thought. Geraldo Rivera made the following statement: “All Americans need to be Vaccinated. With #VaccinePassports. I have right to know if you’re contagious”. Not that I think Geraldo is the authority on anything… but for some reason that bugged me. I have the right to know if you’re contagious. Think about that statement. I’m starting to think more people that I ever thought would be willing to submit to carrying proof of vaccination status around with them. I find that frightening. I can stomach certain types of jobs requiring a vaccination as a condition of employment. I don’t have to work in that field if I don’t want to be vaccinated. But requiring a shot and proof to be out and about in society doesn’t fly for me.

There is a massive list of communicable diseases that people are walking around with every day. You’re encountering them all the time without knowing it (how do you think you get the common cold?). Could you imagine the outcry if we required people to carry proof that you don’t have HIV? Yes, I know that’s not an airborne/droplet transmission vector. It’s an extreme example of forcing people to share private health information. There’s plenty of airborne diseases – measles, TB, influenza, chickenpox, RSV, pertussis, etc… The CDC estimates that a third of the population is colonized with MRSA, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which is a staph bacteria. It’s very easily spread and was probably our biggest infection control issue in the hospital pre-Covid. Should I have to show my status on any of those if I’d like to drop into my local bar for a drink?

We’re potentially heading down a slippery slope. I don’t know what the right answer is. My fear is that humans are frightened herd animals. We tend to make panic decisions that may have unexpected consequences we haven’t fully thought about yet. Mandates of anything are very hard to roll back once enacted. A vaccine passport is a genie we won’t be able to put back in the bottle.

Government, Politics

I Am A Killer
  • Over the years we’ve kept a fun holiday tradition going. Seeing as we don’t live in a big city we have the option to go out in the forest and cut down our own Christmas tree. Wait, you mean Christmas trees don’t come prepackaged from a local parking lot? A large group of us gather and bring enough food to feed an army. A large bonfire is built and adult beverages are consumed. Kids slide down hills on sleds and dogs race around barking happily and making general nuisances of themselves. A great time is had by all, then sometime in the late afternoon we remember why we are actually there. Everyone troops out into the forest, finds their perfect tree and drags it back to the vehicles. (don’t worry, it’s sanctioned by the forest service, we buy permits and only go to approved areas) It’s a neat tradition that gives a little more meaning to your tree each year. This year was no different. Except that a number of days after we got home life got in the way and we’re not going to be able to put the tree up this year. No big deal other than I’d already cut down a tree. I don’t know anyone who needs a Christmas tree at this late date. I killed a tree for no reason and I feel really bad about it. I’m going to have to find a way to plant a tree or something to get rid of my guilt. Anyone have any ideas of a worthy cause related to trees?
  • These people are absolute fucking garbage. The worst. I’m referring of course to our ruling class in Washington. These scumbags helped encourage their states to shut down and kill local business. They’ve cratered a booming economy and done nothing but spread fear and panic. They spent months now arguing over a “Covid” spending bill. They carefully positioned the optics to look like they were arguing over how much money to distribute to the people. The left villainized the right, accusing them of not caring about people. My god, they shrieked, we have to help the people who are suffering the most. Do something! Conveniently they waited until the election was over and then managed to pass a new Covid relief bill. Printed 1 Trillion dollars out of thin air. Whew, at least the little people will get a massive $600. Don’t spend it all at once now. What’s the part they never mentioned? Hundreds upon hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars in pork. Aid to other countries. Millions in new government programs. $26 million for salaries and expenses for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (I kid you not). $167 million to the office of arts and humanities. $1.4 Billion for something called Asia R.I.A. I wonder if any of these politicians would have the guts to explain this to a restaurant owner who’s gone of of business due to this China plague? To repeat myself, these politicians are absolute fucking garbage. Yes, I’m pissed.
  • Got my first dose of the anti-Wuhan plague vaccine today. Haven’t turned into a zombie. Yet. Maybe it happens with the second dose? I feel powerful antibodies coursing through my system. Soon, I shall be able to run naked through the Covid unit at work sans N95. Ok, maybe not naked. That might be an HR issue.
  • I came home yesterday and surprised Mrs Troutdog and her sister dragging a couch from upstairs down to the living room. The look on their face was pretty funny. I wasn’t supposed to be home that early. They basically rearranged all the furniture in the house. We’ve actually talked about doing it for years, but never committed to doing it. Glad they took the initiative, it looks much better.
  • The WHO changed their definition of herd immunity. They’ve removed any reference to achieving it through previous infections. Hmmm.
  • China is not our friend. We’re fools if we think we can go back to “normal” relations with them. I mentioned a while ago that they just planted their flag on the Moon with their second lunar lander. If our media wasn’t such garbage you might have actually heard about it. A few folks are sounding the alarm about their intentions. Our media will label them racist and nationalists.
  • Because of the aforementioned furniture rearranging, we’re going to buy our holiday gift to ourselves and get a new TV. I’m currently researching – my plan is to get something that requires a crane to install. Mrs Troutdog may have other plans. Stay tuned.

Song of the day: Dannic – Doster 

Cool, Daily Life, Government, Health, Politics

The Fat Lady Sang
  • The election is over. The proverbial weight to height ratio challenged person who prefers the pronouns she/xe/zie has sung (but not in a non-socially distanced room). Could there still be a weird twist that throws this to the courts for years? Sure, it’s 2020 after all. Highly unlikely though. It’s time for Trump to show grace and concede. A bitter pill to swallow, for sure. How do you show grace to someone who’s called you a racist white supremacist over and over? How to you show grace to a party that spent more than four years going after you with every possible vicious attack, including the kitchen sink? How do you show grace to a party who had many members who refused to attend your inauguration? How do you show grace to a party that spent four years extolling their members to harass the other party whenever you see them in public? To vow to make lists of people in the current administration to ensure they never get jobs again? If it were me, I’d declare that I’m leaving because I value the peaceful transfer of power, then go scorched earth nasty. Refuse to participate in any of the pomp and circumstance of the new inauguration and declassify investigations, documents, and otherwise find ways to harm the incoming administration in any way possible. Because I’m petty like that. Trump’s in a no win situation. He does that and the media will excoriate him even more (if that’s possible). The swamp and the deep state are too big – they’re going to win no matter what. Trump’s going to have to swallow the huge shit sandwich and then use whatever money and influence he has to attack the swamp from the outside. It’s a sad mess all the way around.
  • As states and cities are busy ramping up lockdowns again, I stumbled on a ZDoggMD video from back in August that perfectly describes why lockdowns were and are such a horrible idea. Well worth watching.
  • As I read this article it dawned on me why nobody in government is ever held accountable for anything. This country managed to create, test, and distribute a new vaccine faster than the Durham report investigation. He’s been investigating since April with no end or results in sight. We’ll be well into the Harris administration before the Durham report comes out. I’d love to have a job that has no time accountability.
  • I had to change my password at work this week. Unlike every other password I have, what I choose at work has consequences. I have to log in to our EMR/charting system approximately 50 or so times a day. The password you choose has to be easy to type while standing up (try it!). I waited until the very last day and then during a brief lull in the action, reset my password to something I’d practiced and knew would be a good one. And… something went wrong. I had to get on the phone with IT who said we need to reset it and start over. So on the fly, while the support dude waited on the phone, I had to pick a new password that met all the security requirements. I panicked and chose badly. I can’t type the damn thing to save my life. It takes me at least two (if not more) attempts every time I log in. Hard to believe I was a technology guy at one point.
  • Outside Magazine put out an article titled “A Bad Uncle’s Guide to Dangerous Gifts“. I fully endorse this. You are not doing kids any favors by protecting them from every conceivable danger (real or imagined) they may encounter. Go ahead and give ’em a pocket knife when they’re wee little sprouts. Sure, they’ll probably cut themselves but it’s not like they’re going to slice off a finger. They’ll heal and have a new learned respect for it. We used to send out ten year olds to tend the sheep, and help work the farm. Kids are capable of far more than we give them credit for.
  • I’m scheduled for my Wuhan China Plague vaccine next week. Stay tuned. I’ll let you know if I grow a third eye or develop a rare neurologic disorder.
  • I’m faced with yet another first world problem dilemma. My truck is 10 years old and has about 100,000 miles on it. Runs great, no obvious issues after my last major service. Here’s the problem. I’d like to put some farkles on it that will better fit my lifestyle. They’re not cheap. Do I spend a bunch of money on an older truck or wait until it dies and invest in a new fancy truck? Sell it and get a new truck now? Sigh, I can’t decide.
  • Speaking of trucks, I still really like the Tesla Cyber truck. I would buy one in a heartbeat but I don’t think it would fit my lifestyle. I almost put my $100 deposit down the other day. Need to think about this some more.

Song of the day: Stone temple pilots “Vasoline LIVE Farm Club“

Cool, Daily Life, Government, Politics

Dude, Do You Even Contrarian?
  • C.S. Lewis said, “When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind”. I love that quote. As a country we’ve gone from Timothy Leary’s “Question Authority” in the 60’s, to blindly worshiping the high priest of Covid, Dr. Fauci. As a contrarian, the goal isn’t to blindly reject everything you see, or to embrace every crackpot claim you read on the internet. The point is merely to question. Read other news sources. Actively read opinions you don’t (think) you agree with. The media, big tech, government, all have an agenda. That’s ok as long as you recognize the agenda and take what’s presented with a grain of salt. One of the most discouraging developments in the last few weeks was the plummeting of Fox News ratings. Their viewership were unhappy with election and post election coverage by Chris Wallace, et al., and loudly proclaimed on Twitter they were done. Never watching Fox again. Sadly, that makes them no better than the average CNN viewer. These folks are saying that if they don’t hear what they want to hear, they’ll go find someone else to tell them what they want to hear. Come on man! That’s wrong. Be a contrarian. There are tiny elements of truth in everything. You just have to think critically and find them. It’s ok to think for yourself. Really. Try it.
  • The single biggest story of the entire election should be the Hunter Biden laptop/emails. The allegations may or may not be true… I don’t really care. What’s important, and what should make you angry (if you’re being intellectually honest) is that the media, big tech, and possibly the FBI, actively suppressed a potential bombshell story at a critical time. A story that could very well have swung the election. The same media and tech giants that ran 24/7 for two years with vague Russian influence claims. We’re supposed to live in a society that values truth. We’re not supposed to be an authoritarian country that has state run media. I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on, this should piss you off.
  • I’m not sure what to make of it, but Pat Sajak is getting angry. “Don’t!”, on a recent show Sajak yelled, “You won! Don’t argue, Darin!…You got the puzzle. Ungrateful players! I’ve had it!”
  • I give up. Obama won a Nobel prize for, I have no idea. May as well give Biden and Harris Time Person of the Year. For what? The man is a confused 80 year old who can’t get a coherent sentence out. He literally did not campaign, rarely leaving his basement. When he did appear in public it was in front of six people in weird crop circle things. His running mate, Harris, did not take a single question from the press during the campaign. I couldn’t find a single sentence in the very long Time piece describing why they picked these two for the cover. We get it, you didn’t like Trump.
  • Melinda Gates is “incredibly disappointed” that President Trump has put Americans first in line to receive the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine. A globalist who married her money, money earned from an American company (that I used to work for), lecturing the very country who drove development of the vaccine. The ego and lack of self-awareness of the these people amazes me sometimes.
  • If you like black and white portrait photography like I do, this is very cool. For eight years, photographer Lee Nye tended bar at Eddie’s Club and took 125 portraits of regulars. They’ve been put into a book with biographies of each patron.

Song of the day: Jeff Healey – “See The Light – Night Music 1988”

Cool, Government, Health, Politics, Solving the wrong problem

Hot Tub Chemistry

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • There has never been a point in my life where I thought what I really need right now is a hot tub. Hot tubs are so… 1980’s. When we bought a house that had one I assumed I’d simply shut it off and find a way to get rid of it. I pictured having to start robbing convenience stores just to pay for the electric bill if I kept it running. And then one fateful day I decided to get in and see what the hype was about. I can now honestly say I love my hot tub. I’m in it at least once, sometimes twice a day. I couldn’t imagine not having one. The only issue I struggle with is the chemicals. I have two strikes against me. I floundered with chemistry in school and I’m not terribly precise with measuring things. This is why I can’t do carpentry or bake things. Anyway, I ran out of bromine and mistakenly bought the wrong kind. I wanted the tiny little tablets that go in the floaty thing, but instead came home with giant hockey pucks obviously intended for swimming pools. I figured what’s the difference and threw a couple of pucks in the tub. The bromine quickly rendered the PH to zero. My test strips wouldn’t even register any more. I spent the better part of an entire day doing mad scientist calculations and adding chemicals to get the PH and alkalinity back to normal. Note to self, don’t do that again.
  • The mask discussion has become religion. And as with religion, you don’t dare question someone’s beliefs. It amuses me to no end listening to people who probably couldn’t pass a human physiology test if their life depended on it, pontificate on the merits, or lack thereof, of mask wearing. As someone who could pass a physiology test (maybe, it was a while ago) and has had actual classes on reading and interpreting research studies, here’s what we know – nobody has any actual idea if masks work or not. No, seriously. We have no actual idea at this point, despite what the talking heads on TV and YouTube say. Plenty of theories, but that’s it. Up until eight months ago, here’s what we understood: A well fitting surgical procedure mask offered protection against bacteria but not viruses because a virus was smaller than the openings in the mask material. The only thing that would protect you (or others) from a virus was a properly worn, fit-tested, N95 respirator. Magically that has all changed. The Covid virus must have gotten fat, because now any mask dangling below your nose or nasty-ass bandana pulled over your face is just as good as an N95. Now, I do think there’s an argument to be made that a mouth and nose covering of any sort in certain circumstances has the potential to lower the possible viral load you ingest, resulting in a more mild case of the ‘rona. The problem I have is that is NOT what’s being talked about. Politicians and the religious mouth-diaper fanatics are talking as if mask mandates are going to somehow stop the virus. Only two things will stop the (any) virus. Herd immunity achieved naturally or via vaccine, or a complete and total quarantine of the population for an extended period (remember 15 days to flatten the curve?) We’ve lost all perspective and reality about what benefit wearing a mask might provide.
  • I stumbled on a magazine called “Route” that’s all about stories and photographs of the old Route 66. Now that would be a neat trip – a week of exploring and photography of the old byway.
  • The verbal scuffle between Tucker Carlson and Sidney Powell will be interesting. Someone’s reputation will get tarnished over this one. Who’s it going to be? I will say, Powell needs to put up or shut up soon or she just became a whacky conspiracy theorist. If she’s right, the Trump army will leave Tucker in droves.
  • ZdoggMD reading mean comments had me laughing out loud.

Song of the day: Tracy Bonham “Mother Mother“