Satans Little Helper

A recent study has looked into this. Although education wasn't explicitly part of the model, "trust in science" was part of it. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)00172-6/fulltext In other words: lots of the variation could not be explained. But trust in government and general interpersonal trust were important. Something which the US excels at! ;D Personally, it looks a bit like a "throw a lot of factors into a model and see what sticks" study. But it gives an indication of how these factors perform wrt one another. Even if the deeper underlying causal relations are largely unknown. Or, put differently, interesting to look at, but please don't confuse with TRUTH. Yeah, I typed that with capitals. Given the bunch of "woke" individuals roaming this forum. Always in a fight to earn points for having THE BEST grasp on "reality". The BEST reality. * Trump fingers * ?

OK, I want to respond, but there's a lot to unpack here. Your post is a compilation of facts, speculation and opinion. And it's all intertwined like a plate full of spaghetti bolognese. Example: First the facts: you're not hearing plans for the next 5 years. OK, the explanation is pretty easy: planning suggest predictability. Or certainty. And we're simply not in a situation where you can predict how the world looks in 5 years time. Let alone plan on how to deal with it. This has nothing to do with a lack of consideration (that was speculation and or opinion on your part). It's painfully obvious to various governments that some things are to stay for a while. (Like the climate crisis.) It was already mentioned at the first wave, I believe, by various political leaders around the globe that we were in a process where we would have to learn how to live with it (short and long term). And just as obvious was the conclusion that stuff like healthcare systems (eg. amount of available ICU) should be improved to the new situation (whatever this "situation" specifically is -> note the importance of specificity to be able to actually make a reasonable plan). But this also impacts economies and businesses. Remember the panic about the availability of face masks in those early months of the crisis? That's another component that needs to be addressed. Lets assume there are many more. Also note that while everyone is following the media hype, few are aware of the steps already being taken. Why? Because normal politics is boring and not clickbait-worthy! Yes, we're all clickbait sheep complaining about stuff we don't have a clue about. So in the meantime, various countries have actually implemented plans - and in some cases executed - to localise certain high risk industries. Do you see that in the news? Perhaps. My guess, only if you know where to look. And if you do, it's easy to forget with all the other noise. Also note that the news focusses on the stuff that bad. The good is not interesting. As it is assumed to be obvious. Nobody's interested in reading that today the traffic lights performed perfectly, right? You only read about traffic lights when something went horribly wrong. Again, just stating the obvious. And another factor is the variance between various countries. Not every government (country) is the same. Perhaps your local government is exactly as you describe. But in that case, I can only assure you that your local government is not a good representation of all governments. In which case this generalised "lack" wouldn't be general at all. Other than that, we can't tell what is "normal" in 5 years time. This was also the exact same conclusion of the video you posted earlier. It was in big bold letters. Something like "WE DON'T KNOW" or "WE CAN'T...". Or something along those lines. Finishing with a remark about not believing anyone telling you otherwise. I hope you understand you can't just make plans on how to deal with the situation in 5 years time in a situation like that. Especially when the risk/impact of making the wrong plans is huge. As any investment will be huge. Don't forget you're talking about limited budgets. If you spend more budget on ICU capacity, you have to spend less on other parts of the budget. (schools?) Also note this stuff is highly political in the sense that there are many stakeholders and important issues. And there needs to be a reasonable equilibrium between all this "stuff". Governments are forced to move budgets from one important issue to another. And yes, that does require "deep" plans. Don't expect those deep plans to be published soon though. Even if those plans are currently finished. Which I doubt. It takes time. And yes, there's an argument that it requires too much time. In which case I will point to all your fellow citizens of your country with vastly different (opposing) opinions. Without those people, it's difficult to change things. Coming back to your "lack of consideration": often it's better to assume there's a lot of consideration at the governmental level. Unless you live in a completely corrupt country, that is. And that this sense of a lack of consideration is more a reflection of the political discourse, if you will. Which includes - as far as I'm concerned - the opinions of the general public. (Also note the impact of the media and it's publication bias: clickbait...conflict...etc) Lastly, I know I have told you little you didn't already know. And I suspect that your post has a strong emotional source, if you catch my drift. In that case, no explanation from me or anyone else would change that, I'm guessing. (or at least my wall of text wont) And perhaps this is more about coming to terms with the realisation that life will remain uncertain for the coming period. That's not just for governments. That also for us. Please note that governments can not just create certainty by force or magic. At least not when it comes to issues like corona or the climate. Also note that uncertain doesn't mean it can't change for the better.

The experience is that omikron cannot be contained. It spreads too fast. Even within a lockdown. And given that the amount of hospitalisations is manageable, societies are opening up. And it's not just a few countries, btw. The biggest problem is that lots of people can't go to work because of (mild) covid. Which, btw, has already lead to lifting restrictions for "significant" people with covid. Such that they're still able to work. In other words, the problem has shifted from keeping the healthcare system from choking to making sure people can work to keep society running. In case you're still wondering why. An important argument for lifting restrictions in the first place, is the necessity for kids to go to school. Now that covid is less severe, the argument to keep kids home is simply not strong enough. And with schools opening up, you're already in a situation that covid spreads like mad.

No, didn't miss that. Have you noticed I'm talking about actual numbers. Not projections or models? Again though, the vaccination rate is an important underlying factor. The US is piss poor in that aspect. That potentially changes the whole dynamic. The vax rate in Europe is simply superior. I suspect that's an important part of the difference. (Also in South Africa btw. Not just Europe)

Again, over the pond Omikron is skyrocketing (UK already in decline btw). And the big thing is that it is less severe than delta. In terms of hospitalisation rate, ICU-rate and death-rate. That was also confirmed in that presentation you posted. I believe with relatively old data, btw. In europe, the expectations at the beginning of the omikron wave were way worse than what transpired. That's not an underestimation. That's an overestimation! PLease note that it can go both ways. Sometimes things look worse than they are. And sometimes the other way around. Currently, in Europe though, there's this strange experience that the new covid cases are setting records, while hospitalisations/deaths move only a little. Sometimes even still on the decline. (possible because of a recent delta wave that was still going on) And that's not because of a delay. It's been like this for a couple of weeks now. Easily a month. Omikron is a completely different animal.

Are you sure you're not mixing up the delta boom and the omikron boom? The delta boom was (is?) quite severe indeed. It's even a bit early to consider that past. Omikron is still very much on the rise.

Are you talking about the US specifically? The part about people dying at quicker rate and rising hospitalisations is def not something universal. In Europe countries are opening up again. And the US appears to look a few steps behind the curve wrt Omikron. And also in terms of rate of people being vaxxed, btw. The Vax rate in the US is relatively poor. Don't put this on denial of reality please. Reality is a very timely/local thing. I understand people being annoyed with false hope, but there's def a different reality over the pond. And yes, corona is here to stay. Haven't seen anyone arguing otherwise. Also note that presentation was specifically aimed at the US situation. Which, to me, explains the focus on the importance of vaccines and boosters. Makes sense to focus on the importance if the vax-rate is as low as it currently is in the US. And his disclosure at the start of the presentation isn't unimportant either, btw.

I think this video does a pretty good job on explaining where we are now. Some explanations about various mutations. Plus a bunch of comparisons between them. Some explanation about the current variants of Omikron that are out there. Some arguments on whether or not we should be worried. And to what extent. His comparison with what is basically a family tree is also helpful in this regard, imo. It makes the idea of all these different variants out there a bit more relatable, if that makes sense. ? My take away: - omikron spreads so fast, there's nothing to do against. we'll all be exposed to it one way or another - thankfully, covid is way more mild than the earlier variants. in many countries where there's an explosion of omikron cases, the amount of people actually ending up in ICU is declining. (eg. denmark, uk, south africa) (US tends to be a bit different because of the quality of the healthcare system and social/cultural aspects like the prevalence of obese people, for instance and the accessibility of unhealthy nutrition ) - after omikron, your immune system is as best equipped as possible to be able to deal with other more severe variants like delta Of course, for people with some immuno deficiency it's a different story. Most of this, if not all, is covered in the video below. And as always, it's a talking head on youtube, so remain vigilant. ? But I'm willing to go with this one.

I love the basic channel kind of stabs in the first track

Frik, there's way too much unreleased good stuff! Richie, pls!

That's a long list of releases! And many of them LPs. Yummy ? Hopefully they'll do digitals as well. But they haven't put up too many releases up on their bandcamp ?

Love that slo version of the Marshall chords! Did he put that up on SC somewhere? Must have missed it.. grr Only have the 36sec version.

Way worse. And that's a *conservative* estimate! ;D

do jlin and afrodeutsche fill the bill?

Yes! Also check his predawn qualia ep. Bit more melodious. And the 61 mirros/ music for skalar album. The 8th track on this album is a beaut. Doesn't fit this thread, but if you're into those dreamy aphex ambient tracks with those early morning blissful melodies, that 8th track should be your thing. There's prob more good stuff, but thanks to your post I see I'm only aware of half the stuff he has on bandcamp at the moment. ;D

Nice! In the description on SC it says Does this mean we'll get to see a proper release of this? The date/year makes it a bit too specific.

Chris de Luca Unknown EP, Breakart EP has a couple good tracks. Obviously, the Bjork mit Funkstorung single is a must.

Yeah, well, it's kind of an insult to have a couple of guys without masks carrying a casket with their groins. Brilliant set of gifs btw (the more you discover... thx!) ?

LOL Novax. Is that a No-vax thing? Or a Novavax? Probably both. ?

Yes! Interesting stuff. Couple of good tracks on there. Especially "let's move to belgium", "compund eyes b" and "nemo pro omnibus". This last track is a bit of a beast. It sounds like watching some kind of natural phenomenon unfold. Like watching BBC Earth. But on an alien planet. ?

Arguably, Omikron might be our saviour. It might have turned this corona variant into something way more harmless (because it doesn't impact the lungs (and/or kidneys and other organs even) like previous variants did, but instead, remains in the higher air pathways like a normal cold - which is why it's more transmissible.). First signs are that even with the higher transmission-rate, the absolute amount of people needing to go to the hospital might still be lower. *crosses fingers *

Interesting video worth your time, imo. The guy is a british cardiologist. Has a bunch of good videos, mostly unrelated to covid, btw.

Do both. And start with the movie. If you can't stomach the movie, you can skip ahead to the review. But try the movie first. In a way, it's a similar experience to watching the 3rd season of Twin Peaks. (neo is a talpa) ;D

The Red Letter Media review of the Matrix #4 was (also) enjoyable!