Re: Check Ins, Reassurances, and Concerns, 4/14

1

Got Dose Dos this morning (Pfiser). My wife gets hers tomorrow (Moderna). Got ice cream with an earlier vaccinated friend Monday after work, and it was great to see him again. Reconnecting with everyone is going to feel a little weird, but hopefully remain special for a while.

I also got informed that I'm getting a title and raise to meet the extra responsibilities I've taken on... so this has been basically the best week ever. Sorry for bragging so.


Posted by: Mooseking | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 9:11 AM
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hooray!! That's all wonderful.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 9:13 AM
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The public school system ended its synchronous remote schooling as of Monday. Instead of having 25% present, Jammies is back up to basically 100%. Instead of having 25% sort of following along and 75% over zoom, he now has 25% sort of following along and 75% saying nothing, because they really have not learned any geometry in the past six months and they are in a hole that feels overwhelming and impossible to climb out of. Good times.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 9:16 AM
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Ugh. Younger brother who has been in and out of rehab for the last 5 years had a serious relapse and totaled his car while drunk. Fortunately, no other cars were involved and he wasn't seriously injured, so it could have been a lot worse.

I'm not sure where this goes. He's in his mid 40s and is basically starting over from zero. No money, no job, no prospects, and now he'll lose his license. Which is good from a safety point of view, but Southern California is not set up for people who don't drive.

Of course, contemplating this bleak situation is what sends him back into relapsing in the first place.


Posted by: AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 9:22 AM
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4: Wow, that sounds hard for him to navigate, and hard to support him through. Are you also in SoCal, or would you be reaching out remotely?

Hopefully there will be interesting prospects for him as the economy gets going again giving him options to investigate, but that's a bleak couple of months to navigate while waiting.


Posted by: Mooseking | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 9:54 AM
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4: Yikes. Hard all around. It's really a shame that we don't have better medications (akin to suboxone) to support people trying to deal with alcohol addiction. Alcohol addiction just sucks. And then once you manage to avoid the substance, rebuilding your life is so damn hard.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 10:09 AM
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We closed on the new house yesterday, so we should be out of the AirBnB Friday. (One of the sellers just got COVID, so we're giving them a little leeway about getting out.) Moving again is going to suck, but it'll be nice to finally have some stability when it's over.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 10:20 AM
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Are you also in SoCal, or would you be reaching out remotely?

I'm on the opposite coast, but the rest of the family is in the area. He's currently staying with our mom.

Things have been in a mostly downward spiral with occasional pauses for a while now. When I saw the email from my mother in my inbox with his name in the subject heading, my first thought before clicking on it was that I might be buying plane tickets to fly out for funeral in the next 10 minutes.

Which at least means that the actual news was a relief.


Posted by: AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 10:23 AM
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7: I'm a confirmed renter, but congratulations on the house.


Posted by: AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 10:25 AM
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Thanks! (And sorry to hear about your brother.)


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 10:27 AM
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8: I'm sorry. That's rough.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 10:31 AM
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We have an Amazon warehouse in Heebieville, but the next town over only has a Sortation Center, according to our local newspaper. I didn't know that was a word, but google tells me it is. I don't even know how to sortate.


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 2:35 PM
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Am I losing my mind? Is it a normal word, like permutation?


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 2:36 PM
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Do I say it without hesitation or obfuscation?


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 2:37 PM
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Sorry about your brother. That sounds horrible.

In the middle of a vacation here. It's overdue. I'm curious, how much vacation time does everyone get? I get about 4 or 5 weeks a year, but that's all time off, vacation and sick leave. It doesn't feel like much at all, especially not this year, when every little sniffle had to be taken dead seriously.


Posted by: Cyrus | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 2:37 PM
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Am I a word?


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 2:39 PM
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Are you my beautiful wife?


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 2:40 PM
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These are all me. And I'm also sorry to hear about your brother, AL.


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 2:41 PM
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But really: sortation. I'm having reverse semantic satiation. It seemed unfamiliar and now I'm convinced it's a normal word. Punctuation. Sanitation. Sortation. Now I've lost it again.


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 2:45 PM
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15.2: That's what I get for vacation also. When we couldn't go anywhere, I started taking off Fridays if we were not busy and just sitting around the house.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 2:48 PM
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That is also vacation and sick leave.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 2:52 PM
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Spouse got her second shot on Monday and I just was able to grab an appointment for son's first shot next Tuesday (second day that Oahu is open for anyone 16+), so feeling pretty good on that front. OTOH I've just finished three days of being on Zoom basically nonstop from 5am to noon and then intermittently in the afternoons, with two more days of a more normal Zoom load to go this week, so what I'm really feeling right this moment is fuck time zones and fuck Zoom.

We get 21 days of vacation and 21 days of sick leave, plus 13-14 holidays (Election Day in even-numbered years). The sick leave leave is more than plenty, and I've accumulated some cushion of accrued vacation, but I can still look a bit enviously at places that get 6+ weeks (mostly non-USian).

Happy for those whose weeks are better and sorry for those whose weeks are worse.


Posted by: DaveLHI | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 2:59 PM
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I got my first shot (Pfizer) yesterday. So so so so so so happy and grateful. I was embarrassingly delightedly cheerful to every single volunteer and worker I encountered at the (huge) vaccination site. Three of them were beyond joyful back at me. It felt like the happiest, most pro-social event I've been part of in 14 months.

And today only a mildly sore arm. So yay for low side effects, at least on dose 1.

My car is kaput, which is a pain, but I'm able to afford a replacement, which puts me ahead of a lot of Americans, so I'm trying to count my blessings.

I'm so sorry about your brother, Academic Lurker. That is just beyond hard on him and everyone who loves him. My late cousin (who died of Covid last summer in her late 50s) was in and out of rehab and sobriety for her entire adult life, and it was incredibly painful for my aunt in particular. Sending comforting thoughts if that is helpful.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 3:12 PM
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Heebie, the TDL (transportation, distribution, and logistics) field has its own vocabulary for sure, but sortation is a new one on me.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 3:12 PM
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Let me be the first to suggest a Rav4.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 3:19 PM
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2nd Pfizer Saturday. Tim is due for 2nd Moderna in 1 week.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 3:20 PM
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I started out with 29 days PTO, but 9 of those are holidays. I can work the holiday and bank the time. After 5 years, I moved up to 34, but I can keep that amount every September and cash out up to a week. Right now, I probably have around 8 weeks worth of time right now with only 5 days to take off.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 3:26 PM
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Thanks all.

On a less depressing note: for totally random reasons I was reading the wikipedia page for the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988, Michael Caine and Steve Martin) yesterday and came across this:

It started as a possible vehicle for Mick Jagger and David Bowie, who approached Dale Launer to write a screenplay for them

I like the movie that was made, but I'm genuinely curious about what this alternate universe version would have been like. Maybe an epic battle of the bands would have figured into plot somehow?


Posted by: AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 4:06 PM
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My favorite part was "Can I go to the bathroom?"


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 4:10 PM
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And when Steve Martin sang Under Pressure.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 4:20 PM
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Nah, let them play to their strengths. Bowie on vocals, Martin on banjo.


Posted by: DaveLHI | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 4:42 PM
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I think I get 4 weeks PTO and 5 days Sick. In 3 years I'll get another 40 hours of PTO, assuming I'm still a non-exempt employee. However, the last couple of years I have "bought" and extra week of PTO, due to all my myriad health problems. All it really means, since the health stuff has all been covered by FMLA/insurance, is that instead of taking several days of unpaid FMLA intermittent absence at the end of the year, my biweekly paycheck is reduced by a few bucks (I can't remember exactly how much). Really, they're pretty generous with the time off. Last year I got to take several days as "Other Company-Paid Time" due to the riots. So now you see why I'm always trying to foment revolution. Ha ha ha. And this year I get to take the two days I took off to get vaccinated as OCPT as well. Compared to all the other parts of my employment there, the PTO situation's really not too shabby.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 4:47 PM
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Our housekeeper gave us a $200 hand me down coffee maker today, so that's pretty awesome! She said a swanky client had it for a few weeks, barely used it and gave it to her. She kept it for a year, but doesn't drink coffee, so she barely used it as well, and was finally like, "let's re-home this." Isn't that great?


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 4:56 PM
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On the other hand, my beloved pandemic kitten is having pee accidents outside the litterbox and it's stressing me out.


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 4:57 PM
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Give it to the housekeeper to give to the swanky client.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 4:58 PM
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Oh, since this is the check-in thread, not much has changed here, despite all the big news. Shit is still fucked up. Most of my white peer group elsewhere is incandescent with rage and can talk of little else. My (much, much smaller) set of Black friends are mostly sounding either apocalyptic or absolutely resigned and trying to think of other stuff. I have to say, regarding the other place, that I am getting a TINY BIT SICK of all the heartfelt expressions of solidarity from white theater directors, brewery owners, ministers and every conceivable non-profit (all real examples) with the oppressed Black people of Minneapolis. Nobody needs to hear another white person's opinion on all of this. Man though, if this were a WARM April, there could be quite a different story going on right now. General Winter was against us this time.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 5:05 PM
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4, 8: I'm sorry to hear about the troubles with/for your younger brother, AcademicLurker. That's just really rough.


Posted by: Just Plain Jane | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 5:18 PM
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Baseball season has started. It's General Spring.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 5:29 PM
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Spring is the part where it's still too damn cold but the mosquitos are hatching?


Posted by: DaveLHI | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 5:54 PM
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So sorry AL about your brother. I hope he can find a way forward, for you and for your family. And congratulations on the title, Sir Mooseking or however we're supposed to address you now.


Posted by: chill | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 6:33 PM
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16:Am I losing my mind? Is it a normal word, like permutation?

The packages need sortated.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 6:40 PM
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16: Seems to have been used occasionally in English bureaucratese back to at least the 19th century. Significant increase in starting in the latter half of the 20th century (seems to be used with regard to computer sorting as well).

Mr . Roberts , notwithstanding his promotion to the office of Secretary , has continued , as before mentioned , the operations which he commenced while at the Carlton Ride , with regard to the superintendence of the sortation of the Welsh .


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 6:43 PM
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42: That was the preview snippet, on search it turns out it was "the sortation of the Welsh Records."

Boring.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 6:45 PM
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Thank you, Witt and Stormy. I needed validation.


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 6:57 PM
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How long were you parked?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 7:50 PM
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So long they sortated my tired.


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 9:14 PM
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Tires.


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 9:14 PM
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Sortate the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 04-14-21 11:24 PM
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Specifically, sortate out the ones with TB.


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 12:25 AM
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I'm sorry about your brother, AL. I have a second AZ shot on Saturday; today I have to collect my mother's ashes, give her wheelchair to the care home, and post a rather hideous painting of hers to the ex, at whose urging she bought it. This all makes me feel waterlogged with grief, just wallowing around, unable to make steerage way.


Posted by: NW | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 2:15 AM
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Hooray for everyone getting their shots.

I get 37 days annual leave and 14 sick days. I can carry over 10 days of leave which I've done since I've been here but last year on account of the pandemic they let us carry over 20 days so this year I have 57 days annual leave accumulated.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 4:48 AM
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That's not counting holidays which amounts to another 12 days off (The two Eids which are 5 days each, their national day and something called sports day).


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 4:50 AM
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My sympathies AL.

28 This bit of David Bowie talking about seeing Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones opening for Little Richard should bring a smile.
https://twitter.com/notnotnuanced/status/1382014915284729856


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 4:54 AM
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50 And my sympathies to you too NW.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 4:58 AM
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Second shot done.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 5:33 AM
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Weirdly, the guy told me to take Tylenol or Ibuprofen before I go to sleep tonight. Just to take it, not if I feel bad.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 7:22 AM
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Sortate appears to be a term in Romanian for "sprted out."


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 7:34 AM
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It did hit me like a ton of bricks overnight, while I slept. I think Ibuprofen might have been wearing off by then if I'd taken that advice, though.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 7:34 AM
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The masonry of Damocles.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 7:39 AM
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Sympathies AL and NW.

53 is great, thanks for sharing Barry


Posted by: lw | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 7:43 AM
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You aren't allowed to get close to the lions at the Pittsburgh Zoo because two of them have covid.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 7:58 AM
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39: That's the famous Montreal season, "still winter." (The one that follows is "road construction" and then you're back to "almost winter.")

"Sortation" is what you can do to (with?) the famous people after they're dead.

Meanwhile, Germany's highest court has decided that the couple hundred euros I had netted from Berlin's new and improved rent cap was unconstitutional, so it's back to paying a bunch to a very large corporation that oh so surely needs the relief. (The cap had even allowed rents 20% above the actual calculated cap, if that had already been in the contract. We were well above the 20% above. Anyway, my goal is to find an MdB [since the court said rent was a federal matter] who will write a new statute not just reinstating the cap the court vacated, but mandating that the larger the holding company, the further below the rent cap their rents have to be. Because they get more efficient with size, right? I think pushing the company that rents to me to 20% below the calculated local maximum would be a good place to start.)

Anyway, Germany has averaged 500K vaccine doses per day over the last week. Scaled up to the US, that would be 2M, so about 1/2 to 2/3 of the current American rate of progress. Yay? Still no idea when Berlin will get around to my 50+ age bracket.


Posted by: Doug | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 8:55 AM
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The place I got the shot this morning was filled with young people. Nearly everyone was younger than me and I'm not fifty yet.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 8:59 AM
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There was a woman with a t-shirt from the school near my house. We were an hour and a half away from home.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 9:01 AM
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Possibly the vaccine program was designed to remind people in the city that lots of rural people still like Trump.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 9:20 AM
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63: Yeah, my 32-year old-daughter got hers Monday. PA was so slow to get below 65 and then, whoosh!


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 9:58 AM
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15, 51: I have to admit that I'm envious reading the time off you're all citing. I get 10 days vacation (max carryover of 40 hours), and 5 days of sick leave that reset in January without carryover. Ah, the efficiencies of the American private sector. ;)

We do get 8 paid holidays a year--I assume that you all weren't including that in your time off cited. The sad thing is that I know people who would be quite envious of my vacation time -- the CA mandated sick time is all they get.


Posted by: Mooseking | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 10:26 AM
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Got the 1st dose drive-through. Feel a little funny after 50 minutes, but I'm been primed out the wazoo for side effects...


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 11:28 AM
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Everyone just got it in the arm where I was.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 11:29 AM
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I knew you would take that as a straight line as I typed, Moby, but I did it anyway...


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 11:55 AM
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I knew you knew, but did it anyway.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 11:58 AM
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Inside a dog, the vaccine is already there.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 2:14 PM
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So, eighty-one years old, and today my mother tells me that she very briefly dated a Laker when she was a young flight attendant living in LA. Howie Joll/iff, who Wikipedia tells me was the least productive Laker in the team's history, averaging only 2.8 points per game.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 3:13 PM
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67: No, I should have clarified: All the holidays come out of PTO. Which is a drag, because the brokerage industry has a fair amount of holidays, and we used to get those independent of PTO. They even made us work on Good Friday!


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 3:40 PM
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If Spike's around, WTF with removing the state mask mandate? We're going to have to put NH on our quarantine list.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 4:08 PM
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Live free (conjunction of your choosing) die.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 4:37 PM
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73: no kidding!!


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 4:47 PM
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My grandmother - the bitchy granny - dated Hank Greenberg.


Posted by: heebie | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 4:48 PM
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If the internet didn't exist, you wouldn't have known he was awful.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 4:49 PM
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At basketball.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 4:49 PM
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I have no stories about my parents or grandparents dating someone famous. I know a story about my dad on a double date where he and my cousin (close in age to my dad) went out with two women who were sisters. The reason I know that is because my cousin decided that was a good story to tell at the rosary for my dad.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 4:58 PM
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I'm just baffled by hearing an unfamiliar story from her at this late date -- I would have thought I'd heard everything by now.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 5:05 PM
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Maybe you didn't listen well when younger?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 5:22 PM
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It's now twelve hours from my second dose. I feel fine, but a little tired from exercising earlier. Debating having a drink or two.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 5:28 PM
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84: Don't.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 5:35 PM
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Dr. Google says it's fine.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 5:36 PM
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I'm a little disappointed that there's no CDC guidance saying when I can stop washing my hands.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 5:43 PM
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If they do a gritty reboot of Colombo, they should start with some murderer acquitted because the evidence was contaminated with cigar ashes.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 6:03 PM
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Anyway, still no side effects.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-15-21 6:43 PM
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87: a basic hand hygiene is *still* important for preventing other infectious diseases.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 2:37 AM
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Had my first vaccine dose on Wednesday. England officially opened things up to people between 45 and 49* on Monday, which includes me. I felt a bit crap yesterday and still have a slightly elevated temperature and a headache, but nothing major. Minor grottiness.

* something that's been mildly irritating me is the general inconsistency on this one. Friends and family members who live in more suburban areas near, but not in, London have been getting their vaccines weeks ago in some cases, even though they are much younger than 50.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 3:52 AM
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78: My grandmother - the bitchy granny - dated Hank Greenberg.

Presumably she did not call him the "Hebrew Hammer."


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 4:14 AM
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Minor grottiness is a pretty good way to describe how I feel this morning. No actual fever and I can't be sure it's the vaccine as opposed to pollen or the change in the weather.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 4:19 AM
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My wife had 2nd Moderna yesterday and by bedtime felt poorly with fever of about 100. She is better this AM but feels very tired.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 4:35 AM
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I got the good kind.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 4:40 AM
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Maybe she was bitchy grandma because of years of "Hebrew Hammer" jokes?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 5:04 AM
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We found out last night that Ace has a secret TikTok account and a secret gmail account. She'll be 8 next week.

It was definitely a talking-to where it was hard to keep a straight face, although we did have some dangers to impress upon her about the wiles of the internet. We busted her for the TikTok account, and found the gmail account in the course of the discussion. The user name for the gmail account is Fuck Fuck, and so when you go to the main page it says, "Fuck, do you want to finish setting up your gmail account?" which made me burst out laughing.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 5:50 AM
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The older two just never would have had this kind of secrets, because they're so naturally anxious about being caught. Whereas Ace is so relaxed, you can just see her curiously going to the gmail site and pushing buttons, and thinking, "Huh, they just let you do this? You just type stuff and that's all?"


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 5:51 AM
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And also, if she'd wanted a TikTok account, we would have set something up with supervision. I don't think TikTok is the worst thing in the world. So it was her assumption that it's forbidden, but it actually wouldn't have been. Hawaii used to have one, and then it got deleted from inactivity or something.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 5:52 AM
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Does that mean FuckFuck@gmail.com is now available?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 5:58 AM
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97: Fuck, belongs in the fucking vocative thread.


Posted by: dalriata | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 6:04 AM
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My son is deep into being the guy who isn't on social media, which I am fine with. He's also deep into never answering texts or opening emails, which is inconvenient for things like picking him up.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 6:16 AM
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100: The actual address was our kitty cats' names. It was just the name she told Gmail to address her by.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 6:30 AM
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Never mind then.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 6:34 AM
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Fuck, it's okay.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 6:43 AM
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202: Listen dalriata, quit trying to make everything about the vocative.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 6:49 AM
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"Fuckfriend" is the new "fetch".


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 6:56 AM
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93: Pfiser, a bit some around the site on injection day and the next day, no symptoms on the second morning after the second shot. Whew!

My wife got her Moderna yesterday and was fine, slightly sore with the beginnings of a headache. Today she's a little tired, but fully functional.


Posted by: Mooseking | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 9:13 AM
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(a bit sore, not a bit some...)


Posted by: Mooseking | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 9:14 AM
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Spent the night last night in the new house. Today movers are bringing over out stuff from our storage units, then we'll bring over the remaining stuff we have at the Airbnb. It feels good to be mostly done with this process.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 11:50 AM
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Moderna 2 is kicking my butt today.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 11:55 AM
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Have other people experienced virtually no symptoms after the first (Pfizer) dose, other than pain in the relevant arm?

I was perhaps even hoping for more generalized symptoms as a sign of the body reacting, but it's been 25 hours and still nothing. I felt oddly drowsy / out of it between hours 2 and 3, but not since. One person suggested most severe symptoms are after hour 8, so that may have been prompted by my expectations.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 12:22 PM
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112.1 Basically just like a bad hangover but I can't really tell since I'd been drinking the night before.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 12:27 PM
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112.1: That was my experience.
The second dose apparently hit harder, but it's still not bad. I've worked a full day and I'm dragging, but it feels like a bad cold.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 12:28 PM
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112: First dose was pain in the arm and then a little tired. Second was bad.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 12:30 PM
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112 - Yes, both Pfiser rounds for me were limited to soreness around the injection site.


Posted by: Mooseking | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 12:37 PM
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Part of me is wondering if it was a good idea to have ridden the exercise bike last night after I got the shot.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 12:47 PM
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112: Me. First Pfizer dose I had no symptoms but arm pain.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 12:57 PM
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112: First Moderna dose was some arm pain and no other symptoms. #2 I'm running a fever and I have very bad body aches (which is my usual 'flu sign') shiv was fine with just a sore arm with both.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 1:12 PM
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117: Probably actually.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 1:16 PM
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I have body aches, which is also my usual sign for a virus (as opposed to an allergy), but no fever. Also, my head is clear. I woke this morning with a foggy head and no pain.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 1:23 PM
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Ontario appears to be a shit show. Hoping Jane is ok.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 1:38 PM
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Thanks to all for sharing.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 3:56 PM
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Yeah, I just had arm pain (and a small bruise at the injection site) from Pfizer #1. We'll see about #2 in a couple weeks.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 5:08 PM
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I have chosen to think that my adverse reaction to Moderna #2 is a result of my robust, vigorous immune system. Is that how that works?


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 5:33 PM
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I think it works with t cells and NyQuil.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 5:54 PM
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I'm not an immunologist.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 6:04 PM
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125: It does mean you've been careful or lucky and had no prior exposure at levels that would trigger an immune response. And in general, yes. Younger people in general are experiencing worse side effects because of a more robust immune system. IANAI, either.


Posted by: ydnew | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 6:29 PM
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I guess there's an availability bias on my expectation of symptoms - people with no significant symptoms are less likely to post about that fact.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 04-16-21 7:17 PM
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Re-upping this vaccine question for the pharma people.


Posted by: MC | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 1:27 AM
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130: Sorry, I didn't answer because the thread had moved on by the time I saw it. I was also dissuaded by "clever."

So, thoughts: (2) is easier to answer. I would imagine trials can easily be done ethically. First option would be, on basis of antibody/measured immune response in Roc, to compare to existing vaccine in clinical trials. That would be difficult logistically, as I don't know how any pharma would get their hands on vaccine to do a competing trial given scarcity. You'd need to coordinate with a university or health care provider already giving shots, I guess. Second, because vaccines are scarce in a lot of places, I don't think it would be unethical to run a trial where the other option is to wait for months with no vaccine. If they move quickly enough, I wouldn't be too concerned that they're proceeding in an unethical way. If it's months out, then it would really need to be a head-to-head comparison.

(1) is a little tougher to say. I think at this point, the science is sufficiently mature that looking at antibody readout is a good proxy for how well a vaccine would keep its recipient from getting sick. It's being done now in post-release vaccine studies (just saw one in NEJM), BUT in the US, this would be a very, very tough case to make to a regulatory body for moving into a trial with high enrollment like other Phase 3 trials. I guess I think that this seems scientifically OK to me. If you could say strength of antibody response showed the same intensity and apparent duration as other successful vaccines, I don't see why that would be an issue at this stage of the pandemic. Earlier on, I'd have been much, much more skeptical that initial titer would be a meaningful proxy for protection from infection. Also, the common caveat: that readout tells you nothing about protection from transmission.

I would be more interested in which technology platform they're using, honestly. If I have time, I'll try to look it up (assuming it's public). The 3 platforms that have been granted emergency authorization seem to all work to some extent, but there's an absolutely clear winner at this point, so I'd also tend to evaluate by homology to what's already available and (so far) successful.


Posted by: ydnew | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 6:52 AM
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Wait, they're trying for an EUA BEFORE Phase 3?! Sorry, I just started reading to figure out the planning. And Phase 2 was only the readout, which seems OK to move to Phase 3, but authorizing before Phase 3 is just . . . what?


Posted by: ydnew | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 6:59 AM
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My side effects are gone. I feel great, except for all my joint pain.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 7:04 AM
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The side-effect of no vaccine is boredom, which is worse than any amount of pain.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 7:05 AM
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I can't really go nuts because we have an unvaccinated child in the house. Mostly, I was in a hurry to get vaccinated so I can see my mom again.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 7:09 AM
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Work just announced our annual meeting will be in person in October because they assume we'll all be vaccinated by then.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 7:16 AM
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But I'm not going to the bar while the local numbers are so high.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 7:21 AM
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I mean, I'll go sit outside if the weather goes back to normal.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 7:28 AM
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From me, clever is a term of endearment.
131: Thanks.
132: No idea. That's where clever people come in.


Posted by: MC | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 7:32 AM
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139: But to me?! So, there is a thing in medicine where companies in a rush try to use surrogate measures for a true endpoint. One example is cancer - the gold standard is 5 years without remission. That means you have to enroll and follow for 5 years, which is really expensive. Companies love to try to use some other measure that would let them say something like, "Rate at which a drug shrinks tumors is highly correlated to survival rate at 5 years. Our drug shrinks tumors 2X faster, so we shouldn't need to wait 5 years to get the final numbers. Approve now!" This can be a great approach, but sometimes your surrogate doesn't work properly. Regulatory agencies are pretty careful about things like this, because it can open floodgates of applications using the (maybe not 100% accurate) surrogate measure.

In this case, it seems awfully risky to me as a strategy for regulatory approval. And unprecedented from a trial perspective.


Posted by: ydnew | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 7:50 AM
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Back to normal today. I too choose to think that the robust immune response means my body will now feast on the spikes of any Covid-19 that comes its way , but who knows.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 8:12 AM
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140: The nice thing about surrogate end-points is that working on one was how I first learned that selling out to pharma was an option with my skills.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 8:17 AM
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142: My lab at NIAID was working on a project to correlate clear CT or PET scans with durable success of TB antibiotic therapy instead of following patients for relapse for two years following the end of treatment (expensive in a resource-poor field). Something called a waterfall plot was involved. Lots of statistics. Our stats lady was distractingly attractive. Have you considered that for a professional boost?


Posted by: ydnew | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 8:21 AM
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I tried being distractingly attractive, yes. I didn't work.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 8:24 AM
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I s/b it.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 8:24 AM
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145: I like the first version better.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 8:32 AM
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"I didn't work" is wrong because I really put in the effort. Even trimmed my nose hair.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 8:33 AM
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47: That would suggest that, despite grooming, you weren't "distractingly attractive."


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 8:48 AM
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Right. So they gave me a private office.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 8:51 AM
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If Spike's around, WTF with removing the state mask mandate? We're going to have to put NH on our quarantine list.

Its crazy because cases are clearly on the rise again and a bunch of kids are going back to school next week on the gov's orders.

We didn't even get our state mask mandate until November (conveniently after the election) so there are still a lot of mask ordinances that are still in place that had been passed by local municipalities before the state deigned to do anything about it. Those are still in effect so now we get to fight about it locally for the next couple months. That won't be divisive at all!


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 9:19 AM
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Ontario is such a mess right now. Our hospitals are rapidly approaching Italy/New York in March/April of 2020. There are field hospitals in the parking lots. All non-emergency surgeries are cancelled, and we are days away from triaging ICU access. It's all variant-driven, and the case curve right now is almost a straight vertical line.
The govt was warned that this would happen 2 months ago, and responded by reopening schools and restaurants. So here we are.
Our test and trace capacity is laughable, so we don't know where close to half of cases come from. We don't do rapid testing at all. What we do know, though, is that the single largest source of growth comes from workplaces, particularly warehouses and manufacturing, where vulnerable, low-paid, often racialized people work in dangerous conditions-- people who are much more likely than average to live in crowded, sun-standard, and multi-generational housing. (Ontario also has a housing crisis.)
People have been calling for the govt to institute paid sick leave for MONTHS. In response, yesterday the govt did NOT institute paid sick leave, or close any workplaces, but they DID close playgrounds and ban all outdoor gatherings. (Churches are still open though!) They ALSO granted the police sweeping powers to arbitrarily stop and fine anyone out of their house for a 'non-essential' reason.
In a completely unprecedented move, most of the police departments in the province have responded by publicly saying "we're not going to do that." (They will, of course. And they'll focus on randomly stopping Black and Brown folks heading to dangerous warehouse jobs. But it's still amazing that they're saying it.)
I'm shaking with anger and am going to calm down by breaking the law and going across the street to shoot hoops on an empty playground with my 9 year old.


Posted by: MattD | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 9:46 AM
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151: Tim's mother got 1 dose of Pfizer, so I feel a little better, since she is selling her house and moving to Ottawa in June.

Canada was in on this ridiculous kids shouldn't wear masks in school business, because it will harm their psychological development. I might believe this about babies - because I've seen them very frightened of people wearing masks - but 8 year-olds can treat them as a fashion accessory.

Restaurants!


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 10:42 AM
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Wow, this Toronto Star front page.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 11:08 AM
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152.2: depends on the Province. Ontario has had masks in school all year. BC has not. And yeah my kids forget to take theirs off at the end of the day. Kids don't mind them at all.


Posted by: MattD | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 11:17 AM
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I don't know much about Canada, but I have been curious about what is going to happen to medical care in places where there were aggressive anti-protection actions. It's never been easy for rural areas in red states to keep doctors and a large part of the attraction (it seemed from the ones I knew growing up) was being a respected community leader. "For reasons of political expediency, we've decided you should watch a bunch of people die very slowly while we let health policy be dictated by the owners of packing plants and bars" is probably the kind of thing people remember when they get a job offer somewhere else.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 12:12 PM
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156: A lot of doctors think very highly of themselves and believe they have unique public policy insights - about everything, even things where other people have considerable expertise. The ones at the prestigious hospitals (outside of primary care) are so used to people telling them how wonderful and brilliant they are. I think it was a rude awakening that even in a place like MA, Republicans were still Republicans, and willing to alluu out w a lot of death so long as the hudpitsl system didn't shut down entirely. Their working conditions and the PTSD didn't matter. So many people I know said that they would give up all the free food and healthcare heroes stuff, if people would just stay home.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 12:59 PM
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Right. Lots of doctors are assholes, but that doesn't hurt my theory.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 1:02 PM
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157: They're not all assholes, exactly. All I meant was, I think there were people in the medical Mecca of Boston who felt that our government wasn't pro protective measures enough. They're disillusioned by urban places too.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 1:12 PM
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I wonder if there's good surveys on this, but I feel like the Republican vaccine hesitancy which is especially centered on rural non-college men is part of a more general phenomenon of just not wanting to get medical care. Going to the doctor is a sign of weakness, so own the libs by dying like a real man.


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 1:33 PM
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OT: How come when the British put a corpse in the back of a Land Rover it's classy but when I do it, it's a problem?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 2:39 PM
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Getting some cognitive dissonance comparing the case/death numbers out of Ontario versus those in PA and other parts of the US Northeast, and the respective discourse of concern in the two areas. Not necessarily saying anything's wrong there--although if anything I'd lean towards Americans being overly certain--it just feels weird.


Posted by: dalriata | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 3:40 PM
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WTF, the Indy mass shooter was a brony and posted on facebook that he hoped to be with Applejack in the afterlife. Imagine trying to go back in time and explain that to someone pre-gamergate. That's some darkest timeline shit.


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 4:20 PM
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I don't think most people now have actually heard of gamergate. Somebody is having to explain this to the victims' parents and grandparents right now.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 4:41 PM
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Anyway, if the picture on twitter is accurate, this isn't going to be one of those times where people reset their stereotypes.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 4:46 PM
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The Columbo from 2003 where he is still driving the same car as he did in 1971 is a step too far for my suspension of disbelief.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 6:38 PM
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People have been calling for the govt to institute paid sick leave for MONTHS. In response, yesterday the govt did NOT institute paid sick leave, or close any workplaces,

This makes me so angry, I cannot even see straight. People are going into work sick (and spreading the virus) because they cannot afford to stay home, because they don't have paid sick leave. "Stay home!" is a meaningless slogan if we keep workplaces open, and do not provide basic income support for those who need to stay home.

(Dear God, why must we be ruled by this idiocracy?!?)


Posted by: Just Plain Jane | Link to this comment | 04-17-21 10:07 PM
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Got second Moderna 10am yesterday. Drove three hours to vacation house in the afternoon. Played 9 holes evening golf. Woke up at 2am feeling like knives behind my eyes. Took two Advil and mostly better now, and I'm going to go out and do more activities than I should today.
Drank 100 oz of Gatorade (sugar free) yesterday, not sure if that helped or not.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 04-18-21 6:26 AM
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That was only 24 days after first dose, not 28, but CDC says 24-42 is acceptable range.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 04-18-21 6:27 AM
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I had barely any side effects from Moderna #2 (sore arm, a day of tiredness). My poor sister was in bed for 60 hours with every known side effect.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 04-18-21 11:32 AM
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So, this happened last night.

I honestly don't know what people expected, other than this constant escalation. The pigs have been just attacking whoever they see -- including local residents who came out of their houses & apartments to see what's going on. They've brutalized so many people now, between this past week and last spring, I would guess most people on the white left know someone who was seriously injured (I do) and most Black people are no more than two degrees of separation from someone brutalized or brought up on fake charges. Do they think we'll forget? I haven't forgotten about Tycel Nelson, dead these 30 years, so why would anyone think the people won't remember George Floyd and Daunte Wright this summer or next summer, or the summer after that? It's not like the pigs are going to stop killing Black folx anytime soon, do they think they'll be able to crack down like this EVERY SINGLE TIME? Fucking deluded morons.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 04-18-21 2:30 PM
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169: My aunt who had chronic fatigue - genuinely not sure based on her personality how much of this is psychological, because she's always embraced being disabled - claimed to react for 2 weeks.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 04-18-21 2:32 PM
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Pretty much better now. Even sore arm is gone. Doing a busy day of activities was correct choice.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 04-18-21 2:35 PM
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If you're into that scene, sure.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-18-21 4:10 PM
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I'm having my doctor just punch me in the arm, so I don't feel left out.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 04-18-21 4:10 PM
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That's not covered here. It's $800 out of pocket.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 04-18-21 4:42 PM
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159: one day medicine will discover the idea of not trying to sell your product by shouting at the customer, but on the way it will have to give up on its pretensions to take over the social role of the priesthood and that won't be any time soon. There was a really terrible and entirely wilful and profit-motivated medical/pharmaceutical disaster within the last decade that hit exactly that demographic, in size!


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 04-19-21 2:13 AM
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