Thoughts about Covid-19 and the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

Richie Blondet said:
That was/is a huge reason I terminated my account. It was an orgy of pseudo-intellectual cow dung being disseminated by people who belong in prison or slung-shot into space. Never-ending the fact I didn't care for Facebook's algorithms keeping me abreast of all of my "friends" interests. If someone I was connected to "liked" a Trump-oriented meme, my timeline would be flooded with similar content.
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The one thing about Facebook that makes it pretty essential for dancers is the events section. Basically, all dance parties and festivals (at least here in Europe) are mainly organized, coordinated and marketed through facebook. So if you don't have it, it's a lot more difficult to find out all this information. Or to find a carpool or room share for a festival, etc.

Also, I spend almost no time scrolling through the news feed, but I find Facebook really good for helping me keep in touch with people, including both friends that I see/talk to more regularly and people that I see more rarely. Especially since my friends are scattered throughout the world.

E.g. someone might see a story I post that I'm traveling somewhere and then reach out saying they're in the same city and we can meet up etc.

As a direct example :) once you got off Facebook, I had no way to reach you. I kept wondering how you were doing.

I also find Facebook really helpful for helping me remember new dance friends' names, as someone who has terrible memory for names. Seeing the person's name and pic in my friends list is really helpful. If all I had was their name and number or email, I'd be lost.

PS We know it's you from your username so you don't need to sign off with your name in every post :)
 
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Smejmoon said:
Well, there's a problem. Current political quasi-democratic systems are designed /evolved for populists and liars to succeed. Voting is part of the problem, not solution.
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I'd say a lack of education/savvy for one to gauge the rhetorical promise makers (aka "Poverty Pimps") from those truly devoted to public service is the issue. Media is at the forefront of shaping the thought process of the many. When media, particularly of the commercial variety, is your sole source of educational enlightment, one runs a higher risk of being bamboozled or psychologically made to feel one's choices are limited. It's why there is strictly a 2-Party system in the U.S., as one example. Media stokes the fear of the unknown with the thought of establishing something else. An alternative to the "norms" of democracy within a capitalist republic.

Richie
 
Sabrosura said:
The one thing about Facebook that makes it pretty essential for dancers is the events section. Basically, all dance parties and festivals (at least here in Europe) are mainly organized, coordinated and marketed through facebook. So if you don't have it, it's a lot more difficult to find out all this information. Or to find a carpool or room share for a festival, etc.
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I think organizers may want to consider using some of the alternatives that are available. Discord comes to mind. Clubhouse. Unless they set up a private group, Facebook tends to be open to everyone. The alternatives can be limited to those who are invested in those events. If they're not using them already.

Also, I spend almost no time scrolling through the news feed, but I find Facebook really good for helping me keep in touch with people, including both friends that I see/talk to more regularly and people that I see more rarely. Especially since my friends are scattered throughout the world.
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That was my initial purpose for it. But after awhile it loses its luster when certain things get revealed (ie. ideologies, etc) that didn't emerge when you broke bread with one's people prior to social media. On top of all the interlopers getting into your business. In my personal case, it isn't for me. Any needs or pursuits I had are no longer the same.

E.g. someone might see a story I post that I'm traveling somewhere and then reach out saying they're in the same city and we can meet up etc.
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My circle is small so if I'm making my way somewhere no one will publicly know beforehand. Or very rarely after lest I wanted to share something I thought was hip. But even something as simple as that invited stupid commentary. So I'm done with Meta.

As a direct example :) once you got off Facebook, I had no way to reach you. I kept wondering how you were doing.
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Sorry about that. I'm in a much better state of health since then. I've actually been contributing to research on books, podcasts (One was an NPR Radio "Latino USA" segment of the legendary Mexican-American composer Maria Grever), WBAI in NY (not the traditional Latin music specialty shows, but African-American hosted programming focusing on Harlem and offered the "Latin" side of Harlem's community and musical equation). Some stuff I didn't get public credit for. But what else is new?

I also find Facebook really helpful for helping me remember new dance friends' names, as someone who has terrible memory for names. Seeing the person's name and pic in my friends list is really helpful. If all I had was their name and number or email, I'd be lost.
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Facebook has been a boon to you. And it definitely helped me. It got me two jobs doing what I love. Which led to all these other opportunities. It just all turned to poop for me once the U.S. became divided between Pro and Anti-Trump folk. It spilled into social media. Like you I kept in contact with a lot of people thru FB. Sadly a lot of them passed away. After successfully logging back in in 2020 (during the peak of the pandemic) two of my relatives I notified about my dad passing, passed away themselves. My friend Kim died. Some folks I was close to over recent years passed. Other relatives followed. My uncle passed. My aunt followed. My cousins who were fairly young. It gets a little depressing to log on and they're not there. Who were the norm for you. I probably should've kept the page and taken a long time out. But it's deactivated so I'm not about to launch a new account and start over. Besides I just don't have the time. This here (Salsaforums) is the sum total of my online presence, beyond youtube or watching the tiktok video that interest me (was glad to see there's some real serious content being presented on there. It's not all silly puddy).

PS We know it's you from your username so you don't need to sign off with your name in every post :)
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But you ain't the boss of me.

RICHIE
 
bailar y tocar said:
A friend from Germany who was on vacation in Israel is stranded as of this morning. A friend from Chicago who was supposed to travel to Thailand is also stranded as of today. All flights are cancelled.

At this rate all air travel will be cancelled (*not) fairly soon until further notice. If you do decide to leave be prepared to stay for awhile.

Stay local for a month or so and hope it peaks out (*not). Should be some decent bargains when travel starts back up. (*not)

On the bright side: this could be the end of bachata sensual, zouk and kizomba :dancingbanana:(*not)
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Wow
My prediction/assumption turned out to be 100% wrong.
 
bailar y tocar said:
.... what Katalin Karikos (the Hungarian RNA vaccine inventor) put together is more than just a bit of RNA that expresses a protein. She had worked on this since 1985 in Hungary, then at the University of Pennsylvania and finally when she joined BioNTech in 2013 after she was fired from the University of Pennsylvania. Nonetheless a shoo-in for the Nobel prize this year.
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My prediction was off by two years. Oh well.
 
bailar y tocar said:
My prediction was off by two years. Oh well.
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The real question is why it took the Nobel committee two years to make a decision that was worth the prize. What additional information were they waiting for. Or what other more important discoveries had a pressing needs to be recognized. It is known that Nobel awards generally require significant length of time for the discoveries to prove their that they were valid, useful, and advanced our understanding of science. That can take decades. Though the usefulness by itself is huge validation and inherently advances our understanding of the science.

While those that first cultivated polio virus in human tissues were awarded Nobel prize within 6 years. Salk (IPV) and Sabin (OPV), I don’t think were recognized by Nobel committee for their discoveries that saved millions of lives. I think Sabin also deserved a Nobel Peace prize for not patenting the IPV thereby making is easily accessible worldwide. Which leads you to question what Nobel committee presses more weight on and its biases that underplay very critical contributions by scientists.

As far RNA, its research and promise dates back at least 3 decades. The Covid-19 vaccines were developed within few hours because of all that research of previous years. By 2021 it was clear how vital role RNA discovery played in the first pandemic of the modern times and its potential in other treatments not related to Covid.

I suspect politics is everywhere in science including in the Nobel committees.
 
Covid is still among us and several people I know got it recently.
But as was predicted: "How does a pandemic stop? People just loose interest in it. Life goes on."
 
MamboJazz said:
Covid is still among us and several people I know got it recently.
But as was predicted: "How does a pandemic stop? People just loose interest in it. Life goes on."
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I have a suspicion I might have had it last week. I felt a cold coming on but it never really turned into a full blown cold.... then at night my nose and sinuses were sooo congested I could not swallow easily.

Who knew that when one swallows, the action creates back pressure between the mouth, nose and sinuses which is equilibrated by air through the nose.... except .... when the nose is so completely plugged up that it is virtually airtight then swallowing is not so easy.

Anyways, the congestion went away all alone the next morning. This had been my typical pattern with past covid infections, a three day "cold" that never progresses to coughing, sinus infection or worse.

Obviously I could have used one of the tests laying around here at home just to be sure... but :rolleyes:....
 
2025 now and covid is long forgotten.

Wait, the last weeks reports popped up that German Intelligence Agency believes already since 2020 (!) that covid likely leaked from a lab. That's breaking news, because back then this was officially called a mad conspiracy theory. But now even the most famous german virologist (he was on german TV each day back then) is inclined to think it may possibly be true.

"Drosten, once a firm believer that the virus responsible for COVID-19 had natural origins, has since changed his opinion: «The more time passes, the more skeptical I become,» he told the German newspaper Tageszeitung in January."

Main reason is the chinese had five years now to publish all data about the origin, including samples - but they never did. Five years is too long to expect more to come.

"China has also declined to share crucial biological samples. Samples from raccoon dogs, for instance, could quickly confirm – or disprove – the prevailing theory that the pandemic originated in an animal market in Wuhan."

I understand if governments decided to not speak out about a lab origin back then, fearing to spread even more fear. But some scientists sustaining the lab theory back then got heavily attacked and discredited.

www.nzz.ch

German intelligence supports COVID-19 lab-leak theory

New findings add weight to the theory that COVID-19 originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Experts point to lax security measures and allege China manipulated scientific journals to obscure the virus’s origins.
www.nzz.ch www.nzz.ch
 
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