Notices by David Mitchell :CApride: (davidm_yeg@mstdn.ca)

@valhalla @goatsarah

It’s the bizarre obsession with the suffering that puzzles me, as if this suffering was uniquely awful and therefore redemptive *because* it went beyond what anyone else has experienced… but it didn’t. Crucifixions were common - they had two other guys to hang beside him. Rome once lined a road with people on crosses. This kind of horror plays out every day, now too, an example of what people do to other people at their worst.

1/

@peterdutoit

“American National Group, plans to cease its homeowners insurance business in nine states, a move precipitated by declining profitability in those markets”

This is why for-profit insurance is such a crock… they will mine you for profit and as soon as you stop being profitable, they will take your premiums and run leaving you unprotected and offloading the cost onto society as a whole.

End private insurance.

“Every leader kills people. Some kill more than others. Leadership requires killing people.”
- Tucker Carlson

I had to fact check that, not because I think he doesn’t believe it, but bc usually this is expressed more euphemistically.

The terrifying reality is that a lot of the general population also believes/accepts this, and they will gladly feed us to the fascists and autocrats so they won’t be first.

“Leadership requires killing people”

Remember that this is what we’re truly fighting.

13,000 trans gender affirming surgeries a year in the US

vs

13,000 penis enhancement surgeries or implants AND
365,000 breast augmentations

So if you have a problem with gender affirming surgeries, I guess now you know where to look.

BuT thE rEgrET rAte!!

71,000 breast implants removed and not replaced
That’s nearly 20% of the total... an awfully high regret / failure rate

@augieray @MaryAustinBooks

Yes, very clear and right on the money… 👇

@realcaseyrollins @freemo

Yup. Having survived half a century on this planet, I find it is more fruitful to spend my time on uncovering what actually *is* rather than other people’s perception of what they decided it ought to be.

@realcaseyrollins @freemo

And that’s why stock prices are a pretty shitty way to measure the health of your nation and its economy

@freemo @realcaseyrollins

Point taken, but to what extend to those immediate effects work out ‘in the wash’ as notable but in the end not necessarily more significant than any other demonstration of market volatility?
My point is that we generally pay too much attention to economic weather and are blind to the things that affect the economic climate.

@freemo @realcaseyrollins

Complex systems take time to change… best practice is to look back a government of two to explain what you see now.

The announcement of a thing isn’t the thing itself… that will take time. If a program is good look for an announcement ten years ago, and thank that person. If things are shitty, look for a change made 4-6 years ago.

If I’m running full tilt across a field and trip, I won’t find the hole that tripped me where my body landed.

@andymoose @freemo

Your medical credentials leave me speechless.

@freemo @andymoose

I think we’re done.

My point is that when people adapt their movement patterns and take precautions against airborne spread, rates plummet. Maintaining the measures that work for long periods will mean long term reductions.

Continuing to use an inflammatory term like lockdown as a broad and blanket term for responsible measures is misleading.

@freemo @andymoose

It doesn’t 🙄

I wait for you to address the “flat out wrong” statement first though.

@freemo @andymoose

From that the website you just linked to…

0 lab confirmed cases from Aug 2020 to Aug 2021

@freemo @andymoose

As the chairman at the time of a church congregation, I am very aware of the various measures in place as navigating them was very much my responsibility. There were no movement restrictions (though there were reduced occupation capacities for buildings) during that ‘flu season.

@freemo @andymoose

Sorry the world was *not* in ‘lockdown’ during the ‘20-‘21 ‘flu season, especially our largest neighbour to the south …unless by ‘lockdown’ you mean ‘required masks in schools and public places’ in which case we shouldn’t continue this conversation.

@andymoose @freemo

It wasn’t just that a somewhat obscure strain was eliminated… here in Alberta, we skipped an entire ‘flu season, with 0 lab recorded cases in 20-21. We weren’t “shut down”, we weren’t being locked away in isolation, we weren’t living pathetic lives that were only a shadow of their former selves: we were instead taking very simple common-sense precautions against airborne diseases.

@freemo @andymoose

Of course that doesn’t invalidate the basic sentiment in the OP: the high level of illness, disability, and death we are experiencing from Covid is absolutely a choice. We have tools that could significantly reduce this burden, both at an individual and a population level, and largely we simply refuse to use them.
Imagine a world where we continued to care enough…

@freemo @andymoose

I suspect the reference was to the Yamagata strain.

Who is shocked that command bunkers under hospitals are turning out to be the new weapons of mass destruction?

…

No, I’m not either.

@ParadeGrotesque @dialect @IPEdmonton

What people might know in their hearts, what they know but won’t admit to themselves, mean nothing if the incentives and coercive systems don’t change.