Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

Discussion in 'SBAF Blogs' started by purr1n, Dec 26, 2018.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    @bilboda will be fine. Not getting a vaccine isn't a death sentence. I know lots of people who did not get the vaccine. And at least one who didn't who somehow has the antibodies. (If we think about it, makes sense considering how contagious it is - if you are out and about, didn't get the vaccine, and didn't get sick, it's likely you already got infected). Riding a SuperSport motorcycle has higher death risks than not getting vaccinated. I know a handful of people who bit the dust riding those kinds of bikes.

    Hey, my wife and I rode our mountain bikes without helmets today, like everyone else in South Texas. When we took off from the garage, I reminded her that she forget her helmet (it's a habit we formed in California because everything is illegal, including riding a kick scooter without a helmet). She replied back in a curt "no" f**k you not up for discussion sort of way. After that, I didn't bother with my helmet either. We rode our bikes without helmets like we did when we were kids.
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2021
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    CFR vastly overestimates the true risk of death in with SARS. Lots of people go undiagnosed. CFR also reflects scale of testing when comparing two countries.
     
  3. Beefy

    Beefy Friend

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    Both factors will affect vaccinated and unvaccinated people similarly. The data proving reduction in death risk with vaccination is solid.
     
  4. Stuff Jones

    Stuff Jones Friend

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  5. bilboda

    bilboda Florida boomer

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    The idea is nice, but until the election process is trusted and secured, it won't matter, or is hacking one of the tools? I didn't read the whole thing.
     
  6. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    You don't even trust the election process in our state of FL?
     
  7. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    How many lives did any of them save, compared to Alexander Fleming. Clever guys, maybe. Financially successful, sure, but not in the same league.

    In fact, with every Amazon order that I make (and yes, I'm still making them) I feel more that I am contributing to the 21st century's answer to slavery.


    Notwithstanding Beefy's holy fuckballs, I absolutely agree. Even for me, at nearly-70, the actual risk of catching it is not huge, and the risk of dying from it is small. Big enough, though, that I'd much rather not --- and I am Astra-Zeneca vaxxed in the land of the Delta variant, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

    @bilboda: Keep it up! You're doing a great job of eliciting useful information from @Beefy et al.
     
  8. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Watch out! @YMO is taking his shirt off again! :eek:
     
  9. bilboda

    bilboda Florida boomer

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    Remember Bush/Gore and the hanging chads?

    The presidential election was determined by the FLORIDA Supreme Court.
    And there is election fraud in every election, some more than others.

    The current contra narrative is that Trump was winning Florida by so much that the excessive cheating had to stop as it would reach the level of the obvious and absurd. That's when the other states shut down so they could employ their fixes overnight, turning the remaining states from Trump leading to Biden victories.
     
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  10. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    No, the election was finalized under the SCOTUS case Bush v. Gore. You really need to do better research on this topic since the Florida Supreme Court only requested that a manual recount to be presumed. This is how you could lose creditability.

    It was after the 2000 elections that the FL GOP improved of the voting process in FL, including allowing more people to vote by mail (which is now scares the GOP nowadays), make it easier for our Supervisor of Elections to count the votes before Election Day, and so much more. After the 2000 embarrassment, voting in FL by mail or in person is super secured, and its been under GOP control for 20+ years!

    You live in the state of FL, you need to first worry about if your own vote will count. I do not give a f**k how elections are handled in AZ, TX, NY, IL, etc. because I do not live there. If those states want to f**k up their elections and make it harder to vote, then so beat it. I'm super f'ing happy that our elections aren't controlled by the Federal Level, and screw IMO the Dems who want to bring more Federal Oversight into our elections process.

    Dude, you live in a state that's been controlled by the FL GOP for 20+ years, and that's includes our Secretary of State office.

    There was no cheating in FL. Trump doing well in FL in 2020 was no fluke:
    • Registered GOP Voters are about to overtake Registered Dem voters for the first time ever in FL. Back when Obama was elected twice in FL Dem had 600k+ voting registration advantage. FL Dem as a party is broke, insufficient, and killing itself over the direction of the party. While FL GOP has money, power, an united voice, and with tons of new arrivals more of those folks are registering with the GOP.
    • Dem Party did not invest a lot of time and resources into Trumps' home base, which is FL. FL is one of the most expensive states to campaign in due to tons of different media markets.
    • Trump/GOP campaign the Latino Voters HARD, and the Dem Party didn't . Why do you think Biden only won Miami-Dale by 10% when normally Dems win Miami-Dale by 20%+? That right there is where Trump did best on his margins in 2020.

    FL Election Law only effects FL. If voters in the other states want to make their Elections harder/easier, then that is up to them to figure it out. Focus on you state, since that's where your vote will count.
     
  11. Pancakes

    Pancakes Friend

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    You're so right on this. All the (many republican!) judges and state secretaries (many republican!) and countless others in (republican!) state government who certified their states' results are lying sacks of closet democratic shit. Luckily the (utterly incompetent, attention seeking, money making (Cyber Ninjas)) Arizona audit finally showed the truth - Biden got even more votes than was officially reported. Uh-oh!

    Conspiracy theories and magical thinking don't do anything other than put your brain in a fantasy world. Problem is you actually live in the real world. When one's brain cannot rectify the differences between whatever it perceives and reality, the psychological side effects are quite unpleasant.

    Alternative facts are not actual facts. They are the bullshit that bullshitters rape your mind with.
     
  12. Beefy

    Beefy Friend

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    My personal scientific/clinical hero is a guy that almost nobody has ever heard of outside specialist fields, Dr Antoine Hakim. He is a neuroscientist who worked to understand the pathology and treatment of ischemic stroke, and was the main person behind the FAST (face, arms speech, time) public health campaign for stroke detection and rapid treatment.

    But a scientist doesn't have to be a pop star to change lives. All that is needed is for the disease and treatment to not be politicized... To not have bozos deny that strokes exist. To not have idiots suggest that strokes are just a little blood vessel blockage that will be gone in a couple of weeks. To not have ignorami swear that Activase is a plot from evil drug companies. To not have dolts say strokes can easily be treated at home by DermaBenSs Horse Shampoo. To not have brainless conspiracy-pushing politicians standing up in houses of law claiming nobody dies of stroke anyway.
     
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  13. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    In the spirit of providing useful information - rather than throwing fish to sealions - please do not assume that your risk of catching it is small.

    Comparison with influenza is illustrative. In Canada, the 2020-2021 (Sept 27-May 1) flu season was a non-event: here in BC, 18 positives from 11 individuals were detected in >75,000 tests and in only 1 of those 11 was the virus thought to be wild (the other 10 had received vaccines). In a normal BC flu season, ~28,000 tests will detect >5000 cases.

    http://www.bccdc.ca/resource-gallery/Documents/Statistics and Research/Statistics and Reports/Epid/Influenza and Respiratory/2020-2021/Week_17_BC_Influenza_Surveillance_Bulletin_2020-21.pdf

    By contrast, in the same period (Sept 13 2020-May 1 2021), BC reported 124,876 covid 19 cases. Sure, far more tests, but you can see that the test positivity rate for covid is 4 orders of magnitude higher than for flu.

    http://www.bccdc.ca/Health-Info-Sit...Week_17_2021_BC_COVID-19_Situation_Report.pdf

    So all the restrictions, hand sanitizing, etc. we had over that period essentially eliminated transmission of the flu and other respiratory viruses - yet covid still ran rampant.

    Regarding the effectiveness of AstraZeneca vs the mRNA vaccines, the most recent Public Health England data compilation is again worth reading. Estimates of effectiveness (2 doses) against symptomatic disease (incl. from delta) are 65-70% with AstraZeneca and 80-95% with the mRNAs. Estimated effectiveness against hospitalization and mortality are >90% for all (Table 1, p. 7):

    https://assets.publishing.service.g...992/Vaccine_surveillance_report_-_week_38.pdf

    Message: It's really f'ing contagious, particularly delta. Be careful with your contacts; and of course, get vaccinated.
     
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  14. Beefy

    Beefy Friend

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    Bingo, exactly.

    I focussed on the death rates in my series of posts, because that is what was pulled up by the illustrious Ron Johnson and needed to be corrected. And the evidence is that COVID is indeed still very, very deadly versus other bugs floating around, there really is no other conclusion to reach. But the real problem with COVID is just how stupidly contagious it is. The original strain was bad enough, twice as contagious as the flu, and each new strain just keeps getting worse. Delta is, what, in the top five of all viruses for R0? Something like five times more contagious than the flu. Just crazy.

    Ah, here we go, COVID delta at R0 of 5-9, sixth highest in this Wikipedia table, although probably more contagious than whooping cough and rubella. Also notable, it is more contagious than polio, except you only have to breathe it in rather than literally eat shit.
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2021
  15. Beefy

    Beefy Friend

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    @Hark01, don't be such a f'ing clown by just going through clicking dislike on everything. If you have something to say, man up and say it.
     
  16. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    LOL, rando's and the dislike button, what can you do. If he really is in Crotia, I'm interested in what he has to say because in my limited understanding Crotia is the most R. Catholic (as opposed to Slavic Orthodox), most "western" in character of the former Yugoslavia states. I'm fascinated by Hungary myself, because to get the EU technocratic (classical) liberals panties in such a wad you must be doing something right ;)
     
  17. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Cheers. Worry not. I'm concerned enough, for instance, to wear an n95 mask when interacting with others --- and my concern is as much for them as for me. With a disease that can produce symptoms from death to a bad day, I work on the basis that I just might be a danger to others without even knowing it.
     
  18. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I concur with all of his sentiments (that the current pool of potential Presidential leaders are all but useless) except the part where he says "government does not control the government". Cummings is a Brit who does not fully understand the American system. He's thinking from a old-school Thatcher era POV.

    The problem with the American representative democracy, which is more egalitarian than its British or European counterparts, is that there is no guarantee of effective government. It's a bit closer to mob rule. Sometimes it's good, other times it ain't. I don't see how the involvement of Silly Con Valley will help either. Silly Con Valley has disproportionately less influence than it should. Among many reasons are the vast distance from the power center in Washington DC, newer less established high-tech businesses than legacy businesses such as oil and heavy industry, and techies eschewing of politics preferring to do cool shit instead.

    Now in the sense of having a Steve Jobs (the Silly Con reference) type of figure to take the reigns and through sheer force of will make government effective, I'm all for that. The problem right now is polarization. Most people are in the middle. Maybe I'm not in the middle myself, but I would actually prefer to live in area which has competitive elections. It's a check against power corrupting those in power. I simply do not trust either side fully. I don't want single party rule by Democrats. I don't want single party rule by Republicans. One can say that polarization has always been around since the days of Jackson vs. Whigs (which has its origins a generation before them), but one fact remains: there are more US Representatives in safe (non-competitive) districts than ever before in history because of gerrymandering through data analytics. This allows shitheads from both sides who have nothing to lose by being shitheads (in fact they have to be shitheads otherwise they will lose in the primaries) while the majority of citizens want compromise (the only way to effective government) to move forward.

    Getting back to the visionary deal: This is why we need an enlightened dictator - one to steamroll all of shitheads. Modern democracies are still young and as such there is no guarantee that they will last. We only need to observe from history. We need a Julius Caesar. And then an Augustus to shore things up after Caesar assassinated. Trump is a wannabe Crassus, who almost got the position, but not quite.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2021
  19. mitochondrium

    mitochondrium Friend

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    well I do not know about the EU in general I despise him because he is a xenophobic and homophobic dimwit and I guess his Fidesz is a party where both those traits are part of the package. Recently they passed a law which discriminates homosexuals.

    I guess People from Slovenia would not agree with you on Croatia being the most „western“ part of former Yugoslavia and the majority are Roman Catholics. Small but beautiful country, when crossing the border from Carinthia to Slovenia there is hardly any difference in the way the small villages look and the cars people drive.
     
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  20. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    Missinformation. The law prevents homosexual activism targeted at children - Soros funded "gender unicorn s" in kindergarten and the like.

    As far as Slovenia you could be right. I recall that crotia came out of the Yugo breakup a bit higher functioning... perhaps Slovenia did as well
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2021

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