The Telegraph may not be perfect, but I doubt that Nature is much better. — Apollodorus

:rofl:

My employer's "polite" request was "Get the vaccine or get fired, and fuck all the times you had our back." Getting fired means no income, because the employer is the entire province, so no job, no house, no pension, and I would have to move. — Book273

yet

I did the research; there are no appreciable flaws in the science of the vaccine, the side effects are negligible. However, since one can still be infected and infect others, not a lot of motivation there. — Book273

Odd.

Hopefully this new Omicron variant causes less severe disease and becomes the dominant strain. @jorndoe?

You obviously don't know what Libertarianism means. — Harry Hindu

Libertarianism is a cover for plutocracy. Most are just corporatists. All are capitalists through and through.

But if you want to go on believing the standard lines about “freedom,” you’re welcome.

Why you still vote for the same people that have been in power for 50 years and expect things to be different? — Harry Hindu

You mean capitalists? You’re right— libertarians are a far more extreme version of capitalism.

Welp, we'll see how much this omicron varient has already spread. It seems to me that once they've detected it as a new strain, it's already too late.

It's been almost two years with this thing already. We may have another interesting year next year.

Time flies...

I agree the probability isn't very high but at the same time there's no scientific proof available, that I know of, that it couldn't have been engineered to some extent. If I've missed something, happy to be corrected (I am tired of Covid news to be honest). There was a Nature article early on in the pandemic that was reported by mainstream media as excluding the possibility but this turned out to be wrong. The EU has sent people over to investigate the lab leak theory but no conclusive evidence either way.

:up:

Libertarianism is a cover for plutocracy. — Xtrix

No doubt you mean 'libertarian capitalists' (in contrast to 'libertarian socialists'), right?

Hopefully this new Omicron variant causes less severe disease and becomes the dominant strain. — The Opposite

I hope so too. COVID-19 might become just like the common cold virus - the worst that can happen is a few days in bed and that's it.

From what I could gather, the Omicron variant has multiple mutations and these seem to be random. Maybe, just maybe, these increase infectivity but decrease lethality. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope, like you do, that the die will roll in our favor! Fortune is fickle, we know, but what we lack in determination and intelligence, we make up for in our love of gambling...with our lives. :grin:

Questions for our resident Doctors and epidemiological experts: Did the Delta variant arise in people who did not have Covid 19? Did the Omicron variant arise in people who did not have Covid 19? If the answer is in the negative, did those who had Covid 19 get it from wearing a mask? Did they get it from social distancing? Regarding Omicron, did they get it from taking a Covid 19 vaccine? How did these variants arise? Where did these new variants come from? Were they grown in labs? Did they come from bats? Who is responsible for these variants? No one?

If it is a lab leak and how China dealt with that then I'd like my 45 billion EUR spend on Covid measures back. — Benkei

Right. It's about the money. A powerful motive for blaming.

And we'd probably be far less relaxed next time something like this happens.

As long as people can blame others, their egos are satisfied.


But why doesn't anyone blame the US for leaking the 1918 influenza pandemic?

My concern is establishing the truth.

When a person is acting suspiciously, it is the duty of the police to investigate them and the same applies to state actors: the international community must investigate suspicious state activities for its own security.

In China’s case, no proper investigation has been conducted. So, pressure must be put on Western governments to take appropriate action. — Apollodorus

The desire to blame someone is strong. These days, China is the usual suspect for everything bad, so let's blame China ...

These days, China is the usual suspect for everything bad, so let's blame China — baker

It's hard not to blame an ultra-covert, Orwellian government in the CCP.

Yes, because the US is too amoebic to blame.

Note that they skipped the letter xi and went straight to omicron.

amoebic to blame — baker

:chin: never heard that phrase before...

Well, Murican culture is shapeless, shape-shifting. China at least has definition.

And it was the Muricans who started the 1918 influenza pandemic and let the damn thing spread.

Murican culture is shapeless, shape-shifting. China at least has definition. — baker

Sounds like you'd enjoy a social credit score, and learning to love Big Brother.

Better the devil you know!

@baker and it's not just the US blaming the CCP:



The whole world should be rioting against the growing insidious influence of the CCP.

Make no mistake: I resent China. I just resent the West more.

Better the devil you know! — baker

Well, that's the issue - the West doesn't know enough about them.

I resent China. I just resent the West more. — baker

Maybe you should try living in both? Compare and contrast?
:chin:

Well, that's the issue - the West doesn't know enough about them. — The Opposite

While the West is too amoebic to be known.

Maybe you should try living in both? Compare and contrast?

Too small a sample for analysis.

amoebic — baker

What do you mean by this? Lol

Fix the problem, not the blame.

:up: Thanks.

Very interesting and useful. Thanks.

An amoeba (/əˈmiːbə/; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; plural am(o)ebas or am(o)ebae /əˈmiːbi/),[1] often called an amoeboid, is a type of cell or unicellular organism which has the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and retracting pseudopods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoeba

But look what they're doing to us!!!!!!

I know that definition, but I've never heard the word used in the way you're using it :rofl: