I mentioned COVID yesterday. We should be free of it by now, but… well, nowhere near enough people were willing to do what it took to stamp on it*. We are, thanks to the economic and political events set in motion in the 1980s, in an era which does not lend itself to people putting aside their personal agenda to further the public interest. I’m pretty sure I was one of those who pointed out waaaaay back when this started that “If you are worried about getting sick, wear a mask; I’m not, so I won’t” enhances the likelihood of transmission, since masks are a lot better at keeping the sickness in a sickie than keeping it out of the uninfected.
This was a problem with the 1919 Influenza too, though, so I can’t (entirely) blame Reaganomics. Rugged individualism, on the other hand, has a lot to answer for.
*Vietnam did a pretty damn good job, with its emphasis on collective action. Just imagine where we’d be now if the rest of the world had shut down for long enough to do away with domestic transmission…
† This is assuming that I haven’t already taken a dose of Delta inside my doubly-vaccinated lungs already (despite still masking). I heard this morning that vaccination reduces not only the severity of the initial infection but the likelihood of having your organs wrecked by an infection, so I’m still happy to have gotten my shots.
The less-fun and not-usual thing I bring today is a useful link to what happens when someone who understands science gets fed to the back teeth with people saying dumb things about vaccines. If you know someone who is drifting away from sense and one of the actual benefits of modernity, try this small bit of text.
Now, to balance that out, here’s some delightful cartoon cats, one of whom is a terrifying psychopath. The other one wears a cap.
…which is a confusing way of putting it, but I’m sure you follow, given all the helpful explanations in the news.
This means that I can also start this countdown:
That’s right! The waiting period was cut in half, thanks to Canada’s non-private medical system and position of privilege in the world economy. Thus, I am now waiting
I don’t have anything profound to offer this week. The film below isn’t what I was originally going to offer in this slot, but…
I’ve just heard that by dawn of St. Patrick’s day, both my parents will have had their initial jab of the COVID vaccine. No idea which, but definitely one of the two-stage entries. And what better way to express the joy this news bring that with a tumble of kittens developing their murdering skills?
I’m also going to hint at another source of contentment, appearing later this month…
As we’re all still under the dark shadow of COVID-19, to a greater or lesser degree, I’m going to add an R to it to celebrate the start of my vacation– the month, you see, has no R in it, so by complicated and slightly insane connections, this works… um… to keep viruses away…?
WHATEVER! PRETTY BIRDS NOW!
I am also wearing a damned mask. Poorly developed magical thinking is only one of the approaches I’m taking to staying healthy, and a rather less important one than listening to doctors. The two-week isolation I’m about to undertake is nothing to do with being infected, just tired.
I the part of Canada in which I live, we’re doing pretty well in the COVID department. We started closing stuff up early, we’ve got a ridiculously low population density, and it’s not a popular destination for world travellers. We have flattened the hell out of that menacing curve.
So, of course, there are some painfully silly people who think we can just press the big red STATUS QUO ANTE button and return to the way things were previously, with buffet restaurants and stadium crowds cheering on their sportings teams (the basketcurling scene has really suffered this last month). Not how it works, of course, although it’s a tempting folly.
Then, of course, there’s the pointedly silly people, who we can use as object lessons and a source of amusement.
Oddly, while I watch people like this who spent most of their time tying together the rhetorical shoe laces of flat Earth fanciers, YouTube never suggests I might like to see the flatlings themselves. I am strangely blessed.
Schadenfreude, shameful or spiteful joy, has become a fairly popular concept in the English speaking world, because it is a very useful description of a sensation, like the one felt upon hearing Rand Paul tested positive for COVID-19.
For today’s film, prompted by the current plague and a means of dealing with it, trims away the Schaden– in many versions you will hear a jolly sounding operatic fellow bellow out “FREUDE!” at one point in the final movement.
Given the source, I probably should have put “Vreugde zonder Schaamte” as the title, but then I wouldn’t have been able to make all that prologue waffle.
I understand a lot of people are home from work and rampaging through their viewing queues. It turns out that I’m quasi-essential to The Regular Job, so here I am, offering a couple of films, because you don’t want to get all the way through the third season of Castlevania already, do you? Pace yourself!
The first is more of a PSA, once again urging us all to wash our hands properly. The second is just fun.
If you’re scraping around for more entertainment and have a good tolerance for bonkers nonsense, you might want to devote a few hours to Beastars.
What's up at Ravens March. 