[QuickTidal]

Gorefest, on 25 November 2020 - 04:54 PM, said:

She is still your sister, though. Surely there is grounds to have an amicable relationship without bringing politics etc into it? I certainly don't agree on certain things with my dad or my brother-in-law, but we mostly just steer clear of potentially fraught conversation topics and, if they do crop up, I will make my position clear but at the same time accept that I won't be able to change their ingrained views. An agree to disagree stance to keep the peace in the family. It's just not worth the heartache and the collateral damage (my mom, my sister, nephews, etc).

I wish this were true. Every time I try to, she brings up politics anyways. She always finds a way to turn any conversation to her views. And when I state to her that I one't talk about it, she gets stinky with me for the rest of whatever visit it is. And it's not just expressing her opinion, she BADGERS you about it until you reply. This is no longer just simple political disagreement, it's fundamental disagreements about life and how it's lived.

Like Ford. Before Ford was elected I told her that his policies (or lacketherof) and those of his cabinet would affect myself and my family in real ways in real time. She voted for him anyways. She voted for a guy who actively seeks to make my life harder.

I don't know if there is a bridge there still to cross.

[QuickTidal]

More on topic....this tweet thread made me sob today...

[Malankazooie]

Local news last night reported that there is hoarding going on again like happened at the beginning, including hand sanitizer. Which really confounds me. As I understand it, people bought up a year's worth of hand sanitizer during the beginning of this pandemic back in March/April, so why another run on that particular item? Are people doing this to give them a feeling they are in some small way taking back control over what's happening? That they are attempting to impart some semblance of order on the chaos on the approaching darkest winter on record? Like, how much hand sanitizer can you pack away in your cupboard or pantry?

[Cause]

I know this is just anecdotal but I have noticed that people seem more and more willing to use their special needs kid as some kind of special pass. When people write complaints on Facebook or Twitter business their inconvenience is magnified by dropping mention of their special needs kid. When asking for favors it will also help their special needs kid.

Now sometimes this is justified, sometimes this is important and relevant information but sometimes it’s just pure manipulation.

[Cause]

Malankazooie, on 25 November 2020 - 06:19 PM, said:

Local news last night reported that there is hoarding going on again like happened at the beginning, including hand sanitizer. Which really confounds me. As I understand it, people bought up a year's worth of hand sanitizer during the beginning of this pandemic back in March/April, so why another run on that particular item? Are people doing this to give them a feeling they are in some small way taking back control over what's happening? That they are attempting to impart some semblance of order on the chaos on the approaching darkest winter on record? Like, how much hand sanitizer can you pack away in your cupboard or pantry?

I would think game theory and psychology have the answer. People horse because other people are hoarding. Hoarding leads to empty shelves which gives the appearance of scarcity which encourages hoarding.

I just ordered more hand sanitizer than I needed but I did it in my case because Amazon wouldn’t sell me one bottle or Purcell.I had to order four. I already own hand sanitizer but it’s some disgusting no name brand which stinks. Will try give away when I can.

[QuickTidal]

Cause, on 25 November 2020 - 06:29 PM, said:

I know this is just anecdotal but I have noticed that people seem more and more willing to use their special needs kid as some kind of special pass. When people write complaints on Facebook or Twitter business their inconvenience is magnified by dropping mention of their special needs kid. When asking for favors it will also help their special needs kid.

Now sometimes this is justified, sometimes this is important and relevant information but sometimes it’s just pure manipulation.

Special needs or not, no one NEEDS to go into a bookstore to shop during a pandemic. It's ludicrous on the face of it.

[QuickTidal]

Hoo boy, more tales from the Anti-Mask, Anti-lockdown set in my province.

https://toronto.city...bicoke-covid19/

This is Adam Skelly, a rich, white, trust fund kid...who is refusing to close during the lockdown OR even have the rules in place for masking and social distancing. No one has yet been fined. He's been open three days. The cops have been there EVERY DAY and done jack shit. He says he ASKED them to fine him...they declined.

Anyone want to take a guess how FAST this place would have been shut and the owner fined if he was an immmgrant or POC? Anyone? It would have happened Monday morning as the lockdown was first in effect. No question. In fact, if a place run by POC opened on the back of this guys stance and claimed to be doing the same thing....they would get shut down immediately.

The Toronto Police like to try to pretend they aren't racist and there is not racial bias to what they do here in Canada....but when a rich, white, anti-mask, anti-lockdown (and anti-vxxer) ASSHOLE is allowed to basically flout the rules and get on the news and CHALLENGE the province to come do something if they can...and even threaten to take it up the courts....

Holy shit the white privilege on display is fucking breathtaking.

I hate this timeline. This clown has SOLD OUT his wares now for two days...that's how many other assholes are flocking to his place to "support him"....

UPDATE: They JUST charged him finally...The owner of Adamson BBQ has officially been charged. Two charges under the Reopening Ontario Act, one charge issued by municipal licensing and standards, and one charge laid by public health. The licensing one is not surprising, but I'm GLAD TPH is charging him under the pandemic rules. The problem is that he will probably open tomorrow, and get himself thrown in jail for his point...

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 25 November 2020 - 07:32 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'AstraZeneca and Oxford University on Wednesday acknowledged a manufacturing error that is raising questions about preliminary results of their experimental COVID-19 vaccine.

A statement describing the error came days after the company and the university described the shots as "highly effective" and made no mention of why some study participants didn't receive as much vaccine in the first of two shots as expected.

In a surprise, the group of volunteers that got a lower dose seemed to be much better protected than the volunteers who got two full doses. In the low-dose group, AstraZeneca said, the vaccine appeared to be 90% effective. In the group that got two full doses, the vaccine appeared to be 62% effective. [...]

Experts say the relatively small number of people in the low dose group makes it difficult to know if the effectiveness seen in the group is real or a statistical quirk. [...]

Another factor: none of the people in the low-dose group were over 55 years old. [...]

Another point of confusion comes from a decision to pool results from two groups of participants who received different dosing levels to reach an average 70% effectiveness[...]

"You've taken two studies for which different doses were used and come up with a composite that doesn't represent either of the doses, [...] I think many people are having trouble with that.″

Details of the trial results will be published in medical journals and provided to U.K. regulators so they can decide whether to authorize distribution of the vaccine.

[...] U.S. officials are trying to determine what immune response the vaccine produced, and may decide to modify the AstraZeneca study in the U.S. to include a half dose.

"But we want it to be based on data and science," [Slaoui] said.'

https://www.snopes.c...-study-results/

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 26 November 2020 - 02:04 AM

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

Malankazooie, on 25 November 2020 - 06:19 PM, said:

Local news last night reported that there is hoarding going on again like happened at the beginning, including hand sanitizer. Which really confounds me. As I understand it, people bought up a year's worth of hand sanitizer during the beginning of this pandemic back in March/April, so why another run on that particular item? Are people doing this to give them a feeling they are in some small way taking back control over what's happening? That they are attempting to impart some semblance of order on the chaos on the approaching darkest winter on record? Like, how much hand sanitizer can you pack away in your cupboard or pantry?

Everyone bought a year's supply of hand sanitizer, realised they didn't have any where to store it and tossed half of it. Now they will do the same thing again.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'Mink are rising from mass graves in Denmark. [...] the corpses keep coming back to the surface. "As the bodies decay, gases can be formed," Thomas Kristensen, a national police spokesman, was quoted saying in local media. "This causes the whole thing to expand a little. In this way, in the worst cases, the mink get pushed out of the ground." Danish authorities concluded the threat to humans from the new mink-related strain of the coronavirus has now "very likely been extinguished," and they plan to bury the animals in graves six feet deep going forward.'

https://www.thedaily...graves?ref=home

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 26 November 2020 - 05:06 AM

[Aptorian]

Mink Gate has turned into a political shit show here in Denmark. The order to kill all Mink in Denmark was given without first check-in whether the government had the right to issue such an order. So the order is seen as being unconstitutional.

The Minister in charge has had to step down and now the Prime minister is under fire for her role in the mater.

[Garak]

At least you have politicians who will step down because of such a shit show. Ours tell us now is not the time to point fingers but to come together and we must ALL accept blame for the event (recent fire in a hospital ICU that saw 10 dead and many injured, including a doctor that rushed in time and again to get the patients out) because we all bare blame. After all, we voted for them. And we should vote them this year as welll, the other parties only want to lock us in our houses and take away our rights after all. So you know, you could have worse politicians.

And then of course there's the USA ones. Hope the door hits them on the way out.

[Aptorian]

Garak, on 26 November 2020 - 08:43 AM, said:

At least you have politicians who will step down because of such a shit show. Ours tell us now is not the time to point fingers but to come together and we must ALL accept blame for the event (recent fire in a hospital ICU that saw 10 dead and many injured, including a doctor that rushed in time and again to get the patients out) because we all bare blame. After all, we voted for them. And we should vote them this year as welll, the other parties only want to lock us in our houses and take away our rights after all. So you know, you could have worse politicians.

And then of course there's the USA ones. Hope the door hits them on the way out.

Oh believe me, our Prime minister is deflecting blame and responsibility like a shitty Captain America weathering the full blunt of the Infinity Gauntlet. She wants all the glory and none of the blame for the handling of the Corona virus. The opposition had been afraid of speaking against the government the first 6 months, both in solidarity with the crisis but also out of fear from a public backlash, but now they're seeing their chance to finally get some cheap points by demanding accountability and accusing the administration of breaking the law.

[Maark Abbott]

Ah, another tier three lockdown.

[glasseye]

Maark Abbott, on 26 November 2020 - 12:48 PM, said:

Ah, another tier three lockdown.

Ditto

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Incredible Aptorian, on 26 November 2020 - 10:48 AM, said:

Garak, on 26 November 2020 - 08:43 AM, said:

At least you have politicians who will step down because of such a shit show. Ours tell us now is not the time to point fingers but to come together and we must ALL accept blame for the event (recent fire in a hospital ICU that saw 10 dead and many injured, including a doctor that rushed in time and again to get the patients out) because we all bare blame. After all, we voted for them. And we should vote them this year as welll, the other parties only want to lock us in our houses and take away our rights after all. So you know, you could have worse politicians.

And then of course there's the USA ones. Hope the door hits them on the way out.

Oh believe me, our Prime minister is deflecting blame and responsibility like a shitty Captain America weathering the full blunt of the Infinity Gauntlet. She wants all the glory and none of the blame for the handling of the Corona virus. The opposition had been afraid of speaking against the government the first 6 months, both in solidarity with the crisis but also out of fear from a public backlash, but now they're seeing their chance to finally get some cheap points by demanding accountability and accusing the administration of breaking the law.

Breaking the law for a nontrivial (non-delusional, scientifically valid) chance of saving humanity from another year of the pandemic seems pardonable (at least...). I'm tempted to say the rest of the world should have demanded it.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 26 November 2020 - 04:06 PM

[Aptorian]

There's a lot of uncertainty surrounding the decision to cull the mink. The stated reason for killing them is that they believed there was a new mutation spreading via the mink and they needed to act now to stop the spread. But that's not quite right.

The mutation or new strain was already known about before they suddenly had to act quickly, no new cases of that strain was actually known about at the time they decided to act and the experts didn't believe the mutation would make the vaccine ineffective.

They closed down Northern Jutland for a week to stop the virus that wasn't actually spreading and had to lift the shut down a week later because it was deemed unnecessary.

And with regards to the mink being a potential virus spreader, this was something the government knew about since before the summer and if animals in close quarters are that big an issue then what about the rest of our livestock?

There's a ton of weird stuff surrounding the government's decisions, where it looks like they act first and think second.

[QuickTidal]

Nobody likes minks anyways.

[Aptorian]

Rich Chinese people are pretty fond of them but good riddance to that industry.

[Primateus]

Azath Vitr (D, on 26 November 2020 - 04:05 PM, said:

Incredible Aptorian, on 26 November 2020 - 10:48 AM, said:

Garak, on 26 November 2020 - 08:43 AM, said:

At least you have politicians who will step down because of such a shit show. Ours tell us now is not the time to point fingers but to come together and we must ALL accept blame for the event (recent fire in a hospital ICU that saw 10 dead and many injured, including a doctor that rushed in time and again to get the patients out) because we all bare blame. After all, we voted for them. And we should vote them this year as welll, the other parties only want to lock us in our houses and take away our rights after all. So you know, you could have worse politicians.

And then of course there's the USA ones. Hope the door hits them on the way out.

Oh believe me, our Prime minister is deflecting blame and responsibility like a shitty Captain America weathering the full blunt of the Infinity Gauntlet. She wants all the glory and none of the blame for the handling of the Corona virus. The opposition had been afraid of speaking against the government the first 6 months, both in solidarity with the crisis but also out of fear from a public backlash, but now they're seeing their chance to finally get some cheap points by demanding accountability and accusing the administration of breaking the law.

Breaking the law for a nontrivial (non-delusional, scientifically valid) chance of saving humanity from another year of the pandemic seems pardonable (at least...). I'm tempted to say the rest of the world should have demanded it.

It's also that the government was actually doing rather well handling the pandemic, right up until Mink Gate. And it's really a situation where no one is coming out looking particularly good. The government looks bad because they fucked up. The opposition looks bad because their demands for accountability seems to expose a level of rank hypocrisy.

It's fucked up.