[Abyss]

amphibian, on 06 September 2022 - 08:50 PM, said:

In my experience with companies, one has to raise a low level sustained stink for the process to start getting a company car purchased etc. The key is to avoid a classification/definition change of your job as "requiring own vehicle to do the job" by proposing the cost savings and ease of access that having a company car for more than one person to use - even if it ends up being you mostly using it.

Catch the motor fly with honey if possible.

Cause, on 06 September 2022 - 09:31 PM, said:

Im the only one in the state of philadelphia, but they hired me without a drivers licence. To change a year later to must own his own car seems a stretch.

I'm no US labor lawyer, but it doesn't seem like a stretch.
'Revised priorities to focus on expansion into new markets require the individual in the role to have their own transportation, the use of which will be compensated yadda yadda start looking at beaters.'.

Amph's approach is solid, sell it as their benefit.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Friend of mine who's been being almost as cautious as I have (P100 mask, living like a hermit most of the time) got covid. Has fibromyalgia too; covid seems to be making it much worse---pain all over their body.... Got it a few days before they were scheduled to get the BA.5 booster.

Glad I didn't wait to get my booster... had been thinking of waiting another month (so it would be > 6 months since my last one, and peak around Halloween), until I read this:

'“You could make the argument to get the shot in October or November so you’ll have good protection through the winter when cases are likely to be higher and there will probably be some more human data,” [...]

“I’ll probably get mine when it’s ready because to me, it’s like an amateur trying to time the stock market, and you’re probably better off getting it when you’re eligible and going from there.”'

Omicron BA.5 boosters, explained

... that + wanting to go to some indoor Philadelphia Fringe Festival shows + strong possibility BA.5 will no longer be the dominant variant in October (+ good chance there will be enough outdoor Halloween events that if I even do decide I want to go to some I'll have plenty of outdoor options + Eastern State Penitentiary upscale haunted houses and Halloween lounges open next week so no need to wait).

OTOH they almost certainly got it from their live-in SO, who works as a nurse. Hopefully they're still wearing fitted N95 masks (or better) at the hospital....

And an acquaintance without live-in SO who's been about as cautious as me got it after maintenance workers barged in (maskless)... reminding me to get back in the habit of getting up early to shave thoroughly before any maintenance workers might enter and being ready to whip on my P100 mask. Come to think of it I should get out my air purifier and have it ready to go (usually don't bother using it since I'm trying to save electricity...).

[Malankazooie]

Malankazooie, on 20 June 2022 - 10:13 PM, said:

Do any of you guys have those trampoline, bouncy floor centers in your area? The one nearest me has closed (I guess it has been closed for awhile, I only recently noticed). Are they closing in your area? Is that a result of the pandemic and kids having a tendency to snot and cough on each other, so they couldn't survive the shutdowns? It's a shame because the one near me used to have overflowing car parks (we call them parking lots here in 'murica) out into the adjacent street. It really used to be cooking with business on the weekends.

Now it seems pickleball is all the rage. I remember playing it during the racket sports section in one of my Phys Ed. classes in high school. It's a lot of fun. Easy entry for the inexperienced too, unlike tennis.

Update on this: Called it!

So after the trampoline business shutdown, every time I passed by the building (last half year I'd say), there was always construction work being done. Well, was swinging by there during lunchtime and sign announcing the new business - Pickleball!

Pickleball, it's sweeping the nation!

Kicking myself. I should have jumped in early and looked for opportunities (Dick's Sporting Goods possibly?), bullishness on sport injury over the counter cures? (them knees and hips of the senior demo gonna sound like stepping on a sheet of bubble wrap every morning for avid participants).

Now, I wonder what will replace the Axe throwing rec activity that seemed to set up shops around a decade ago. I think that activity may be approaching it's end.

[worry]

On Monday I saw a large shipping truck for a company whose sole product is Pickleball nets.

[Tsundoku]

Abyss, on 14 September 2022 - 04:37 PM, said:

I'm no US labor lawyer, but it doesn't seem like a stretch.

Unlike Ryan Reynolds.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Malankazooie, on 16 September 2022 - 08:43 PM, said:

Malankazooie, on 20 June 2022 - 10:13 PM, said:

Do any of you guys have those trampoline, bouncy floor centers in your area? The one nearest me has closed (I guess it has been closed for awhile, I only recently noticed). Are they closing in your area? Is that a result of the pandemic and kids having a tendency to snot and cough on each other, so they couldn't survive the shutdowns? It's a shame because the one near me used to have overflowing car parks (we call them parking lots here in 'murica) out into the adjacent street. It really used to be cooking with business on the weekends.

Now it seems pickleball is all the rage. I remember playing it during the racket sports section in one of my Phys Ed. classes in high school. It's a lot of fun. Easy entry for the inexperienced too, unlike tennis.

Update on this: Called it!

So after the trampoline business shutdown, every time I passed by the building (last half year I'd say), there was always construction work being done. Well, was swinging by there during lunchtime and sign announcing the new business - Pickleball!

Pickleball, it's sweeping the nation!

Kicking myself. I should have jumped in early and looked for opportunities (Dick's Sporting Goods possibly?), bullishness on sport injury over the counter cures? (them knees and hips of the senior demo gonna sound like stepping on a sheet of bubble wrap every morning for avid participants).

Now, I wonder what will replace the Axe throwing rec activity that seemed to set up shops around a decade ago. I think that activity may be approaching it's end.

My elderly father was playing a lot of pickleball... at least until he injured his big toe and got some sort of cold (though he refuses to get tested for covid, even though he has the tests right there and has used them before). Now he's become obsessed with chess again (supposedly spending more than three hours a day playing it). Thinks it may help him stave off dementia for a little bit longer (... unless he gets long covid---but he doesn't even want to think about that... much less take precautions beyond what 'most people' seem to be doing (because most people are obviously chess grand masters, right?... that must be how they get that way...)).

[Nicodimas]

It's getting tough.. really tough

Where to land and survive..and not starve to death

So many don't see it

We picked Argentina

Good luck..

[Nicodimas]

This weekend was awful

I consoled alot of people with kids ..

Thelayoffs are coming...

Feels 07..awful

[Aptorian]

This isn't Facebook, Nico. You've got to be a little less cryptic.

Did you run out of Ben and Jerry's?

Edit: Ah, the recession.

Do you think it's going to be better in Argentina?

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 18 September 2022 - 06:20 AM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'new BA.2.75.2 sub-lineage is currently the most immune evasive SARS-CoV-2 variant ever known.

[...] plasma from all various Omicron variants breakthrough infections including the BA.5 had no effect against the new BA.2.75.2 sub-lineage.

[...] Evusheld, one of the last remaining drugs that have an efficacy against the some of the newer Omicron variants has no effect on the BA.2.75.2 sub-lineage.

[...] The BA.2.75.2 sub-lineage is now rising exponentially in certain parts of India and has also been found in
Singapore, Spain, Japan, Germany, Chile, South Korea, Australia, United Kingdom and even in the United States.'

SARS-CoV-2 BA.2.75 Variant Is Evolving Rapidly, Spawning Many Sub-lineages Like the BA.2.75.2 That Is Now The Most Immune Evasive Variant Known

... if these results hold up---so much for my BA.5 booster giving me enough protection to, say, take off my mask for a moment to chug a drink at an indoor bar. Then again since BA.2.75.2 doesn't seem to be common in the US yet (but with so little testing it may be hard to tell---aside from wastewater perhaps...) this could be my 'last chance' to do something like for a while, when I'm supposedly at peak immunity (about two weeks from my booster). Remaining celibate during the pandemic has been driving me a little crazy. Then again... risk of long covid probably still isn't worth it. Plus drinks are ridiculously expensive (wasted so much money on drinking over the years, ugh) and the stock market's in the shitter. And the association of relatively moderate drinking (> 1/2 drink/day on average) with brain shrinkage could be causal (or not)---though so far afaik they haven't even managed to produce any evidence that 4 in a row is associated with more brain shrinkage than 4 over one week. Then again, 4 drinks at a bar would compromise my immune system and probably mess up my sleep. But my alcohol tolerance may be completely gone by now, so I might be more than fine with one or two. Hopefully better studies will clarify the long-term effects of alcohol on the brain in the near future.... There are also outdoor bars/clubs I could go to, though I imagine the social pressure to not wear a mask would be considerably higher there, even if they're crowded. Decent chance covid cases in the US will be considerably lower after the expected winter surge.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Not as bad as that article suggests, but still very bad: 'BA.2.75.2 was neutralised, on average, five-fold less potently than BA.5, representing the most neutralisation resistant variant evaluated to date. These data raise concerns that BA.2.75.2 may effectively evade humoral immunity in the population.'

Omicron sublineage BA.2.75.2 exhibits extensive escape from neutralising antibodies

OTOH this is a separate study... so that's at least two preprints so far.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 18 September 2022 - 04:49 PM

[Morgoth]

Aptorian, on 18 September 2022 - 06:19 AM, said:

This isn't Facebook, Nico. You've got to be a little less cryptic.

Did you run out of Ben and Jerry's?

Edit: Ah, the recession.

Do you think it's going to be better in Argentina?

Of all the places one could chose to flee a recession...

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'the Biden administration's technological optimism is paired with an institutional conservatism: Too many Washington agencies proved too cautious during the pandemic, and little has been done to make them more daring.

[...] I have spoken to some of the researchers working on universal coronavirus vaccines and I'm stunned by how little help they're getting. One described months of delay trying to find the monkeys needed for trials. You might think the U.S. government, with all its power and might, would name a point person that the teams working on these vaccines could call if they needed something, anything. Instead, many of our most brilliant virologists spend their work days trying to find lab animals and figure out how to conduct due diligence of manufacturing facilities.

And I have been puzzled by the Biden administration's disinterest in building on the Trump administration's central success: The Operation Warp Speed program that sped the vaccines into development. We could have Warp Speeds for so much more (and we are far from done with vaccines). I've asked this question of top Biden staffers, and I cannot say the answers I've heard have made much sense. I suspect the problem here relates more to crediting the Trump administration than with the possibilities of the Warp Speed program. [...] But that doesn't explain why Biden hasn't launched Warp Speed-like policies under a new brand.'

What Joe Biden Knows That No One Expected Him To

'We urgently need such an accelerated initiative now for nasal vaccines. [...] As the virus continues its accelerated ability to evade our immune response and increase its transmissibility, we urgently need to achieve population-wide respiratory mucosal immunity [to stop transmission and infection].'

Operation Nasal Vaccine—Lightning speed to counter COVID-19 | Science Immunology


... what does Biden do instead? Goes on national television to declare that the pandemic is 'over'. US booster rates are already worse than Iran and Rwanda....

'Wish this was true. What's over is @POTUS's and our government's will to get ahead of it, with magical thinking on the new bivalent boosters. Ignores #LongCovid, inevitability of new variants, and our current incapability for blocking infections and transmission

only 1 of 3 Americans have had any booster shot. A proclamation "it's over" is not going to help that

Remember when the pandemic was over in June 2021, when we were down to <12,000 (real number) confirmed cases per day, and Independence was declared?'

Eric Topol on Twitter


China approved an inhalable vaccine a few weeks ago that seems to be effective at stopping transmission. Russia claims to have one as well.

'There's ample evidence from multiple studies that mucosal IgA antibodies are what will be needed to help block infections and transmission, such as this NEJM new report with 60-80% reduction of breakthrough infections (and reduced viral load, higher Ct, Tables below) as a function of mucosal IgA antibodies [...] encouraging data from CanSino's newly approved inhaled vaccine vs Omicron is a solid precursor for the many programs that are in advanced clinical trials.

Ground Truths


There's probably going to be a massive BA.2.75.2 surge this winter---most likely considerably larger than last year's (much greater immune escape + much more contagious).

If the titanic surge starts shortly after the midterm elections I imagine many will interpret it as punishment from Go*. Especially if Democrats win. As if Trump fanatics needed any more inspiration....

[BK (NTS no politics)]

Invest 98. Stress lvl increasing.

[QuickTidal]

People in Iran fighting for their lives Over a militant dress code.

We have dear friends who left Iran due toe Islamic regime there, and we’ve been commiserating with them over the horrors occurring in their home country with the morality police and the protests and killings.

[Maark Abbott]

Four covering twelve today.

Madness. Stress level is peaking way too high.

[amphibian]

I move out fully tomorrow. My brothers are going to help load the heavy stuff in the van, I've borrowed money to get things going, and it's been actually quite relieving to be able to get this done.

One of the shitty parts is that my soon to be ex wife decided that I was winning in terms of what I was taking (all agreed to by her beforehand) and started fights over two non essential items to try and win something back. So she texted me for 4.5 hours and peppered awful things she wanted to hurt me with in between talking about how I was treating her as if bottom of barrel by discussing what I would take with her calmly over several days prior and sticking to that.

It is incredibly weird to be sitting, trying to maintain calmness, and having an ex melting down in tears about how she doesn't understand why I'm being so nice then accusing me of doing it to make her feel bad.

[Tiste Simeon]

Oh man Amph I know you're making the right decision but that's still tough. I hope the move goes well all things considered.

[Lady Bliss]

I know it is difficult but I’m glad you are getting out Amph.

[QuickTidal]

Oh dear Amph. That can't be good for your mental health to deal with, but I guess the silver lining is that you're getting out and away from that situation. That takes strength and courage and you've got those, so hang in there and come to us if you need us.