COVID-19 / Coronavirus Discussion

[Mathew]

2 minutes ago, Lego Lass said:

I can tell you from personal experience, it sucks! I had COVID back in Nov. 2020…felt like absolute crap for about a week, but recovered fairly uneventfully. But I have yet to regain any normal semblance of taste and smell (I'd say my olfactory system is working at about 5-10%, and my gustatory sense is maybe 15-20%.) I used to be able to pick out every flavor in a glass of wine…now, I just taste sweet, salty, or sour. Absolutely no nuance to any flavor….and I love to eat and drink as well. So if for no other reason than that…don't get COVID by any means possible! And yes, I've also been vaccinated.

And to the troll who shall not be named who had the audacity to ask "who could possibly be affected by unvaccinated folks?" How about any child under the age of 12, anyone with immune compromise who cannot be vaccinated or cannot mount an appropriate immune response if they are, or those with documented allergies to one or more components of the vaccine? THEY are the ones who rely on the herd for immunity. Unfortunately, the herd isn't anywhere the size it needs to be to afford our most vulnerable friends, family and neighbors the protection they so desperately need. So yeah, it's great that unvaccinated/unmasked folks want to take on personal responsibility if they get COVID, since "it doesn't affect anybody but ME, ME, ME".  Well you're dead wrong…it affects anyone you've come in contact with and unknowingly spread the disease to, as well as the countless health care workers who now have to take care of your sorry ass.

Yay LEGO, Boo COVID! 

Our family went through the same thing last October. We all got covid. The loss of taste and smell is the worst part but luckily I’m 95% back to normal in that regard. 
 

The difference between you and I is that I don’t blame other people. I blame the corrupt governments who allowed it to happen.  Big pharma and big tech who are profiting From it.  Fauci and the CDC for the lies. The finger waving from the phony celebrities. The manufactured media that stokes the divisions. I firmly believe that Covid was man made and on purpose. No way something like this came from nature. 

[BricksBrotha]

[Loghamel]

Not going to wade into this topic, but this has always been one of my favorite posts I found on FB.

"The average adult with no chess training will beat the average five year old with no chess training 100 games out of 100 under normal conditions.

The average 1600 Elo rated player – who'll probably be a player with several years of experience – will beat that average adult 100 games out of 100.

A top “super” grand master will beat that 1600 rated player 100 games out of 100.

This distribution is pretty similar across other domains which require purely mental rather than physical skill, but it's easy to measure in chess because there's a very accurate rating system and a record of millions of games to draw on.

 

Here's what that means.

 

The top performers in an intellectual domain outperform even an experienced amateur by a similar margin to that with which an average adult would outperform an average five year old. That experienced amateur might come up with one or two moves which would make the super GM think for a bit, but their chances of winning are effectively zero.

 

The average person on the street with no training or experience wouldn't even register as a challenge. To a super GM, there'd be no quantifiable difference between them and an untrained five year old in how easy they are to beat. Their chances are literally zero.

 

What's actually being measured by your chess Elo rating is your ability to comprehend a position, take into account the factors which make it favorable to one side or another, and choose a move which best improves your position. Do that better than someone else on a regular basis, you'll have a higher rating than them.

 

So, the ability of someone like Magnus Carlsen, Alexander Grischuk or Hikaru Nakamura to comprehend and intelligently process a chess position surpasses the average adult to a greater extent than that average adult's ability surpasses that of an average five year old.

 

Given that, it seems likely that the top performers in other intellectual domains will outperform the average adult by a similar margin. And this seems to be borne out by elite performers who I'd classify as the “super grandmasters” of their fields, like, say, Collier in music theory or Ramanujan in mathematics. In their respective domains, their ability to comprehend and intelligently process domain-specific information is, apparently – although less quantifiably than in chess – so far beyond the capabilities of even an experienced amateur that their thinking would be pretty much impenetrable to a total novice.

 

This means that people's attempts to apply “common sense” - i.e., untrained thinking – to criticize scientific or historical research or statistical analysis or a mathematical model or an economic policy is like a five year old turning up at their parent's job and insisting they know how to do it better.

 

Imagine it.

 

They would not only be wrong, they would be unlikely to even understand the explanation of why they were wrong. And then they would cry, still failing to understand, still believing that they're right and that the whole adult world must be against them. You know, like “researchers” on Facebook.

 

That's where relying on "common sense" gets you. To an actual expert you look like an infant having a tantrum because the world is too complicated for you to understand.

 

And that, my friends, is science."

[$20 on joe vs dan]

43 minutes ago, Mathew said:

Long story short:  masks (the cloth ones they tell you to wear) and the vaccine do little to keep you from getting covid.  So are you going to refer to your piss meme again?
 

 

wow...I am obviously put in my place with the very scientific "low", "medium", "high", and "excellent" ratings...i see almost no difference between this chart and the pee meme...but again the pee meme is still better because it frames the info more accurately

you must be one of those LEGO resellers of used sets that state the set is 99.9% complete 

[BricksBrotha]

10 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

Not going to wade into this topic.

✌️

Edited August 14, 2021 by BricksBrotha

[junkrigger]

Our family went through the same thing last October. We all got covid. The loss of taste and smell is the worst part but luckily I’m 95% back to normal in that regard. 
 
The difference between you and I is that I don’t blame other people. I blame the corrupt governments who allowed it to happen.  Big pharma and big tech who are profiting From it.  Fauci and the CDC for the lies. The finger waving from the phony celebrities. The manufactured media that stokes the divisions. I firmly believe that Covid was man made and on purpose. No way something like this came from nature. 

I think more credit goes to the Chinese communist party and their scientists. I find it almost impossible to believe that our government and scientists would be able to operate with enough influence in China to originate a virus there and make it look like it came from their soil. The coming economic and tech struggle will require all those who support freedom and democracy to work together, and like it or not spend more of our GDP on scientific research. If a hostile party gets to quantum computing, self aware AI or some other things I won’t mention first we can kiss all our freedoms and democracy goodbye. One of the few advantages we have at this point is international trust, cooperation, and relatively clean environment. Those headwinds are going to be costly for CCP but not insurmountable. For me it comes down to this, our country and it’s government are not perfect but I don’t want to live under CCP rule, do you? Last interesting point, did everyone see the value of that asteroid NASA is hoping to visit in a few years, quadrillions worth of metals, the kind we need to develop the technology necessary to not burn our planet from overheating. A quadrillion dollars is enough to make every single human being a billionaire. Instead of arguing amongst ourselves let’s go mine that asteroid and all be billionaires before dicks in space get their first.


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[lazuli16]

34 minutes ago, BricksBrotha said:

this is still her profile picture

bye bye Little Sebastian.

 

[BricksBrotha]

9 minutes ago, junkrigger said:

 A quadrillion dollars is enough to make every single human being a billionaire. Instead of arguing amongst ourselves let’s go mine that asteroid and all be billionaires before dicks in space get their first.

[Mathew]

20 minutes ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

wow...I am obviously put in my place with the very scientific "low", "medium", "high", and "excellent" ratings...i see almost no difference between this chart and the pee meme...but again the pee meme is still better because it frames the info more accurately

you must be one of those LEGO resellers of used sets that state the set is 99.9% complete 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452199X20301481
 

There’s the full article. 
I’m sorry to say  there are no scientific articles backing up your public urinating memes.

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Mathew

[ravenb99]

58 minutes ago, Lego Lass said:

 

Yay LEGO, Boo COVID! 

Luckily you changed that or someone north of the border might of filed an IP claim!

[$20 on joe vs dan]

5 minutes ago, Mathew said:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452199X20301481
 

There’s the full article. 
I’m sorry to say  there are no scientific articles backing up your public urinating memes.

 

so you're saying...if someone directly across from you in an indoor space..say a crowded bar or train...started coughing and sneezing...you would not prefer him  be wearing a cloth mask? and by your rationale no one really should even attempt to cover their cough or sneezes with their OBVIOUSLY porous hands or arm because it doesn't "effectively" stop "enough" of the germs to make a difference.

[Mathew]

5 minutes ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

so you're saying...if someone directly across from you in an indoor space..say a crowded bar or train...started coughing and sneezing...you would not prefer him  be wearing a cloth mask? and by your rationale no one really should even attempt to cover their cough or sneezes with their OBVIOUSLY porous hands or arm because it doesn't "effectively" stop "enough" of the germs to make a difference.

No I’m not saying that. I posted the article because it’s based on science. It’s also not anti mask but proves how ineffective they are at preventing disease. The cloth masks the well paid experts are telling you to wear are mostly a placebo and are minimally effective. They also can be dangerous if you don’t change and clean them often. 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Mathew

[CosmicSpeed]

No I’m not saying that. 

Right, you're saying it's the government's fault.

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[junkrigger]

I should make something very clear. The Chinese people and people of Chinese lineage, who believe in democracy and its freedoms and responsibilities are our friends and allies, they have contributed greatly to science and culture and have helped build this country into what it is as much as any group have. I have many friends and colleagues from both China and Vietnam and I value and appreciate them and their work. The CCP and Vietnamese communist party and its leaders and members who believe in the CCP’s platform and goals however are a different matter entirely. I figured this was obvious but want to be overt in these times.


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[Mathew]

16 minutes ago, CosmicSpeed said:

Right, you're saying it's the government's fault.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
 

That much is fact. 

[Mathew]

50 minutes ago, junkrigger said:

I should make something very clear. The Chinese people and people of Chinese lineage, who believe in democracy and its freedoms and responsibilities are our friends and allies, they have contributed greatly to science and culture and have helped build this country into what it is as much as any group have. I have many friends and colleagues from both China and Vietnam and I value and appreciate them and their work. The CCP and Vietnamese communist party and its leaders and members who believe in the CCP’s platform and goals however are a different matter entirely. I figured this was obvious but want to be overt in these times.


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It’s obvious which is why I argue so vehemently against the government and not the people. What little freedom we have is left is disappearing quickly and soon we will all have a government that bares a strong resemblance to China. 

[BricksBrotha]

1 hour ago, Mathew said:

That much is fact. 

Meanwhile, every Native American

 

[dennugsmello]

33 minutes ago, Mathew said:

It’s obvious which is why I argue so vehemently against the government and not the people. What little freedom we have is left is disappearing quickly and soon we will all have a government that bares a strong resemblance to China. 
 

 

Go deep enough down the hole and you come to the conclusion the Gov’t really is the representation of the people. At least an accurate extension of our desires. They are giving us all what we want. It’s all consent based. It’s not the ranchers fault. It’s us, the cattle. Mooing for treats and safe fences to keep the predators out. At anytime we can say no and smash the fence and find natural grazing grounds. But we like our oats and warm hay far too much to rock the boat. And bitching on a message board is not rocking the boat. 
 

It can be argued that the Chinese government is exactly as the majority of Chinese want it to be. Strong and United. Almost guaranteed multi-generational longevity. Give credit where credit is due. Odds are their civilization will still stand long after our is destroyed. Western democracies, and democracy in general, is incredibly unstable. Much like a meteor, burning fast and bright but quickly fading away. Democracy is not a sustainable form of Gov’t long term if history is a guide. Especially in high population, multicultural civilization. Just a matter of time before it implodes. 

While I believe Democracy is the best form of government for an individuals well being, it’s highly susceptible to fractures. Give people the power to choose and they will choose to have it all. Wanting it all comes at a cost and the rancher does not have unlimited resources. Add to this fact that the cows believe the goats are better fed and the goats believe the cows are better fed, it’s a wonder the rancher doesn’t kill them all. 

[Jbad87]

6 minutes ago, dennugsmello said:

Go deep enough down the hole and you come to the conclusion the Gov’t really is the representation of the people.

Excellent. Like a more general Animal Farm. China cannot beat us on a conventional battlefield. An unrestricted US military is unbeatable. They are beating us from the inside through the cyber battlefield utilizing our societal weaknesses. Their intelligence community has to have a laugh to themselves watching us throw away our freedoms without hesitation. 

[Alpinemaps]

We actually often manipulate what hackers see so they think they are getting the goods but some physicists job is solely to produce work that looks very close to good science but is junk. This is a strategy that keep Iran’s nuclear program at bay. Private companies are not as careful, smaller budgets.


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Serious question: how do you know the hackers did not manipulate their traces to make you think they only had access to the fake stuffs (while copying the real stuffs at the backend)?

Iran has been six months away from the bomb for the past twenty years...

If you want to know some real truths about Iran’s nuclear program and hacking it, I suggest listening to Darknet Diaries episodes 28, 29, and 30.

https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/28/ is about Israel’s Unit 8200, which is akin to our NSA. That episode sets the stage for https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/29/ which is about Stuxnet, the virus that targeted Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility and how they were able to get the virus into the system. https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/30/ is about Saudi Aramco and how their hack ties into Unit 8200 and Stuxnet.

Fantastic trilogy of episodes and if you have even a lick of interest in hacking and Iran’s nuclear program, give it a listen.

Delta is going through minor league baseball clubhouses right now. Almost all of them have been vaccinated. Obviously, no real health issues, but still positive tests. 

The son of a good friend was drafted this summer and is in Rookie League in Arizona right now. He’s fairly pissed that he’s missing time on the field because unvaccinated teammates came down with COVID. Meanwhile, he had COVID last year while at college, and has been subsequently vaccinated.

He’s trying to start his professional career and he’s dealing with this and it sucks.

[Mathew]

51 minutes ago, dennugsmello said:

 

Go deep enough down the hole and you come to the conclusion the Gov’t really is the representation of the people. At least an accurate extension of our desires. They are giving us all what we want.

You make a good point. Our current government seems to be a representation of two separate generations that want similar things. The Boomers who want their retirement funds and the government safety nets (that they were against during the 80s and 90s) then the Millennials who have nothing but want everything without the work. I know that is a generalization but I find it mostly true from the people I know. And there’s the middle, Gen-X:  A lot of us were lucky enough to grow up middle class but find ourselves in mid life over loaded with debt, working harder for less and an overall lower standard of living than our parents. I’ve accepted that I won’t have the same retirement my parents have, live in a smaller house, drive cheaper cars and work well into my 70s. I do feel burned a bit but my life could be worse. If I had a choice I’d gladly give up the smartphone, prefer a small government if we could go back to living in a more open pre-9/11 world. The 21st century has been a massive disappointment. 

[keymomachine]

5 hours ago, Mathew said:

The difference between you and I is that I don’t blame other people. I blame the corrupt governments who allowed it to happen.  Big pharma and big tech who are profiting From it.  Fauci and the CDC for the lies. The finger waving from the phony celebrities. The manufactured media that stokes the divisions. I firmly believe that Covid was man made and on purpose. No way something like this came from nature. 

You've literally blamed PEOPLE for everything, INCLUDING the virus. What a fun joke.

[Mathew]

7 hours ago, keymomachine said:

You've literally blamed PEOPLE for everything, INCLUDING the virus. What a fun joke.

 

They’re not human. Like you they are Borg. 

[iahawks550]

2 minutes ago, Mathew said:

They’re not human. Like you they are Borg. 

Bjorn Borg, tennis champion

[keymomachine]

22 minutes ago, Mathew said:

They’re not human. Like you they are Borg.