Yeah. People are looking for whatever guidance meets their "feels right" (=strict) criteria for safety rather than listening and adjusting to ongoing shifts. So — WHO said "vaxxed should mask" and they jumped on it, "see!!!" But WHO says young kids shouldn't mask=Nobody cares 😭

— much ADU about nothing (@normalvariance) July 22, 2021

That’s why you rarely see the “Believe Science” incantation trotted out anymore. It was only used as a leverage point to scold people. No one cared about the science in the least because we never followed the science, and even the liberals chanting the “Believe Science” mantra knew that at the time, I think.

But now it’s nowhere to be found, and that’s better. These days you’re a “Covid denier” if you don’t want to hide inside for years and wear a mask in perpetuity.

Delta variant risk for vaccinated: the real COVID “breakthrough cases” danger.

Good article. I don’t give a fuck about avoiding a mild case of Covid at all. It does appear that breakthrough cases are more common with Delta than thought, though. I’m guessing (as the article notes) that what matters is prolonged exposure. That is, if you are incidentally exposed and would’ve been infected pre-vaccine, the vaccines will protect you from this infection.

However, if you bathe in Covid day in and day out by being near those who are infected and use no mitigation measures, you will eventually probably get it too.

I like the song, but the video idea and execution is great. The “robot” is a movie camera motion control rig, a very expensive one. It’s designed to hold heavy cameras so it can easily support a smallish human.

England has run out of pediatric ICU beds this evening.

(So much for Freedumb!!! Day!!) https://t.co/sQhmK8BxPq

— Charlie Stross (@cstross) July 21, 2021

This is 100% false (why the tweet was deleted), but beyond that because children get ill enough to need an ICU at vastly, vastly lower rates than adults, there are never all that many pediatric ICU beds in existence anywhere.

This is the base rate fallacy in action.

It enrages me how none of these fuckers will answer exactly how long people are supposed to stay indoors, exactly how long society is supposed to be on hold. Two years? Ten years? Fifty? Of course they cannot give an answer because this is all just performance.

I know liberals are opposed to doing a utility calculation like this, as most of them are deontological thinkers, but how many people should we attempt to “save” by torturing and harming millions? Lockdown is extremely mentally damaging. Even masking has harms (though not the ones most conservatives cite). I wish I could get some sort of answer out of these people about how long lockdowns are supposed to last, how long we are all supposed to cower inside, how long people are supposed to be penned inside their prison countries unable to visit loved ones “for their own good.”

They will never answer this because the scolding and the holier-than-thou finger-wagging is the fucking point.

Cape Cod Republican who "defended the freedom" of people not to be vaccinated against #COVID19 dies of you'll never guess what. https://t.co/fNmLT3BtnQ

— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) July 20, 2021

No great loss.

And yep, I’d say that of any assclown fucking mook who refuses the vax and dies of Covid.

Die drowning, motherfuckers. This is the real world and there are consequences of dipshittery.

New preprint from Israel using household contacts finds that the Pfizer vaccine has an overall vaccine effectiveness against transmission of 88.5%.

Want to know the best way to protect your unvaccinated kids? Get vaccinated yourself.https://t.co/0qhWpaEj2y

— Benjy Renton (@bhrenton) July 19, 2021

That’s about what I expected and the vaccines are working great. So, as I noted, many people are just outright lying about vaccine efficacy. Lockdown worshippers will always puzzle me.

The early 1990s were a vibrant & fun time, as reflected in these zippy neon car colours/graphics.

Today, cars are predominantly grey, black or white. Boring.

They reflect the mood of the time, & in the 90s we were generally in a neon mood.

(Plz don’t @ me with your “yeah but”) pic.twitter.com/x6OYf7mtVm

— Andrew King (@twitandrewking) February 1, 2020

The early 90s was the last vestige and expression of non-prudish culture and practice. This sort of thing was its last real flowering before the beige era began and the liberals all transitioned to tiresome two-bit goody-goodies.

Literally and metaphorically, we were more into letting it all hang out then. And you know, don’t argue with me on that. I was fucking there. I remember. The whole culture is vastly different now, and it shifted drastically between 1993-2000 or so.

I’m not sure exactly what brought about this massive change. Some is just drift. But a lot of I believe has to do with how much harder it has become to get ahead and stay at least middle class in our society. People feel they can take fewer risks and scold those who do almost reflexively now. When all is precarious, even the tiniest self-expression feels like a grave threat — in yourself or from others.

This has made a worse and more limited world. In some ways, I don’t blame the prudes. But we always have a choice to make the world worse, and it’s one they make every day.

Sometimes it feels like certain people are so pro mask they’re almost anti vaccine. I have a lot of confidence in the vaccine (plus I have natural immunity from a prior infection) and that’s why I don’t feel the need to wear a mask 🤷🏼‍♀️

— Angie Schmitt🚶‍♀️ (@schmangee) July 21, 2021

Masking has become a cult on both sides. On the conservative side, it’s just the obverse of the progressive “a mask is the solution to everything” belief that has developed.

The reality is that masking is a mildly-effective mitigation measure — one among many. Better ventilation is more effective, and vaccination is the best option. Defense in depth means that all of them together would be most effective, but masking is very destructive to social cues and is highly uncomfortable, too. I’m all in favor of doing away with it if vaccines are available.

Lockdown lifers and masker cultists are usually the same people, but not always. According to them now, the “vaccines don’t work.”

All terrible people.

So much fun. And some great anti-prudery here, and the best thing about it is that the prudes won’t even understand it.