Hot and humid, rain in places. Maybe lots of rain. It poured down on the south side of town yesterday, but didn’t even sprinkle at my house. Kids just got hot and sunny all day. I got a car wash. Houston. Go figure.
Did my errands yesterday, which had me driving down to Dickinson and back. Lots of different microclimates in that loop.
Went looking for dead rats in my attic. Surprisingly I didn’t find any. I was sure the bad smell must be coming from the attic. Wasn’t. That means the rat is probably on my patio under or behind something. I reset traps and re-baited the poison box while I was up there. Freaking hot, even in the late evening. 105F in the sun in the afternoon.
Went grocery shopping at our local “small” HEB store. Still has gaps on the shelves and limited selections. Most of what I wanted was at least there in some form. Eggs were still weird but there were close to the normal varieties. No whipped cream in cans though. Couldn’t get the apple soda I wanted, it just wasn’t there. The Dr Pepper flavor I usually buy in the tiny cans I had to buy in big cans but at least they had it. Fancy bottled water had about 8 feet of empty shelf. They did have a pallet of Charmin blue, but it was pricey. Gas is ~$2.80/gallon, 87 octane. Neither expensive, nor cheap.
My kids complain that I buy too many groceries. Please God let that be true.
It’s funny how time is so elastic, at least our perception of it. Today is the three year anniversary of my dad’s death. So much has happened since then that it seems like it was a lifetime ago on the one hand. On the other, it still feels like yesterday some days, and some days I forget he’s gone and catch myself thinking, “I’ll pick this up for dad, he’d get a kick out of it…” He’s not really gone as long as we still remember him.
Nor are all the other’s who’ve passed. Light a candle, raise a glass, and remember absent friends.
n
(and don’t let the stacking get in the way of living your life.)
To absent friends
Went grocery shopping at our local “small” HEB store. Still has gaps on the shelves and limited selections. Most of what I wanted was at least there in some form.
I noted late last night the surprising number of empty Blue Rhino propane cannisters at our local HEB.
I also noticed that he frozen pizza section is dominated by the HEB private label.
Most of the canned/moist cat food section is still bare.
As far as the stores go, ours is somewhere in the middle in terms of size and product demographics. The location is a remodeled Albertsons which probably would have closed already if the building didn’t sit on a choice piece of real estate which sees an increasing traffic volume between Dell and HPE and the new H1B developments to the northwest. Plus, a Fancy Lad neighborhood of 4000-6000 sq ft homes quietly sits nearby, ironically within walking distance of the Goodwill.
Started out patient therapy today at the Orthopaedic clinic. Yee haw, what an adventure. Lot of stretching, discomfort, some pain, damsels of torture I tell you. But necessary.
@ray, all those things, and absolutely necessary.
82F and 86%RH with sunny skies. This despite the thunderstorm predictions. SOMEONE will get them, that’s almost a certainty.
Vet appointment this morning. Puppy will get the last of his shots. Lot more shots and tests than I remember from our last puppy 14 years ago.
Need a provable clean bill of health for obedience classes, which start tonight with oldest daughter. (yes, they’ll be training her as much as the pup.) Should be interesting. I get good results, but my wife and the girls don’t. There’s a ‘consistency’ issue.
There was a nationwide wireless emergency alerting test yesterday, and I was signed up as a volunteer, but I never got the alert. Negative results are as important as positive I guess. The people should get some benefit from the spy device they’re carrying.
n
So much to unpack. “Experimental treatment”? I don’t know about that anymore. You have multiple hundreds of millions of people vaccinated and we are not all turning purple or growing a third eye and the beneficial effects on deaths, hospitalizations, and actual infections are real and non-trivial. The negative consequences are few and are less likely than serious consequences from the disease. What more would an FDA full approval provide as assurance at this point unless you are worried about being sued because you didn’t have the scrap of paper? It is a silly hill to make final stand on.
As for his concern about being forced and the good question asked in the last paragraph about whether it is “morally right”: Public health measures are always about more than just you. Generally they benefit you directly and everyone else indirectly. My own ugly comparison is to whether someone has the right to defecate where ever they want to claiming personal freedom. It is a public health issue to force you to use proper facilities not only because you can make yourself sick but because you can sicken your neighbors due to fouling the water. All claims of personal freedom will be ignored.
While less stinky, vaccination is much the same. COVID is not small-pox or polio, so maybe (I don’t agree myself, but maybe) you can leave room for personal choice here, but there will be consequences, like losing your job, or a ban on attending certain public functions. Up in the Great White North, the province of Quebec is going to go with a vaccine passport. France is doing somewhat the same. It is possible the Canadian government will mandate the same nationally. Do I like the idea of having to show papers before going to a restaurant? No. Do I like having a group stubbornly staying unvaccinated as a vector for the disease or further mutations? Even less than showing papers. Governments have tried really hard to get everyone vaccinated using rational arguments and even carrots (don’t ask what I think of giving someone a lottery ticket to encourage vaccination, it’s not pretty). It’s time to get out the stick.
“It’s time to get out the stick. ”
–once you decide that, then number of things that will elicit a beating goes to infinity.
n
I need to refill a propane tank this weekend. I hope they have some. I guess I should buy another one.
It’s time to get out the stick.
It’s time to get out the
sticktruncheon.FIFY
We do not force vaccinate for anything else. WUFLU is such a non-issue for the vast majority that you have to be tested to even know you have it.
People lined up for smallpox and polio vaccines because the diseases were devastating.
As for experimental, THEY are still legally and in every sense of the word. We don’t know anything about long term effects. We don’t know if it has any effect on fertility, pregnancy, heart health, or any other thing that takes time to show up. We don’t know if different ethnic groups will have different reactions long term.
(and I remind everyone that there isn’t one vax there are a bunch. We’ve got three different one’s in the US alone, and if the booster is different, that makes 4 or 5.)
n
Started out patient therapy today at the Orthopaedic clinic. Yee haw, what an adventure. Lot of stretching, discomfort, some pain, damsels of torture I tell you.
Didn’t think you were into that sort of thing. 😛
Note, I used the whole context to keep this family friendly, but couldn’t resist. You will overcome this, and be better than new. Best to ya.
We do not force vaccinate for anything else. WUFLU is such a non-issue for the vast majority that you have to be tested to even know you have it.
The Measles vaccine floats in and out of the “mandatory” category for school attendance at various levels.
While the vaccine is FDA approved and proven safe over decades, many people cannot take the shot because it uses an egg culture. However, herd immunity was generally believed to cover the situation until the Measles pandemic based in the Vancouver WA side of the Portland Metro area in early 2019, staring among the stridently anti-vax fringe religious communities who live in the rural areas north of the urban areas.
I disagree, as you are taking the argument to an extreme that is absurd. If governments “getting out the stick” is really a concern of yours, its a little late. Things have been going downhill in that regard since publication of the ten commandments (well, really much further back than that). Governments use coercion when required. I think we may disagree if this is an appropriate case for it’s use. Please also note that vaccine passports are a fairly gentle use of the stick. The unvaccinated are not being held down and injected, or being told to never leave their home. They are having some freedom of movement/employment restricted as a consequence of their decision. I will say if the virus in question was Ebola, I would be assisting those doing the holding and injecting. Of course, were it Ebola (30% death rate?) there would be few refusing the vaccine.
The vaccine does not prevent you from getting it. It lessens the severity.
OK, now I am in the hate-the-editor camp. I first tried my last entry using my phone. I used bold and color for a few words, and wrote the rest. It looked fine until I submitted it, and then it was all smooshed together, so I deleted it rather than try to fix it. I started fresh on my computer, and again all looked perfect with the bold and color text for a few words. When I submitted that, it lost the color but kept the bold. Close enough, but I clearly need more practice.
Just like my adventures in long highly formatted text documents years ago, I will choose to keep things simpler. I am not an editor.
Rick, please don’t take this as disrespect for your efforts. Maybe toward WordPress, but still not complaining. Or, maybe this: if someone makes a tool, they should be sure it works before inflicting it on the public.
I will say if the virus in question was Ebola, I would be assisting those doing the holding and injecting. Of course, were it Ebola (30% death rate?) there would be few refusing the vaccine.
Unlike Covid-19, Ebola has a therapeutic, ironically a product of research by the much-loathed US tobacco industry.
Mandating vaccines is pointless if those testing positive aren’t made to stay home. It is being tried in some places in the US, but the national policy is to avoid stigmatizing the sick.
Very true. Vaccination also reduces the time you are infectious so being vaccinated reduces the opportunities for spread from any one person. The public health goal is herd immunity and the larger the portion of the herd that is unvaccinated, the more likely this goal will not be reached. Yesterday, I wanted to know if a booster was really required, as I would prefer those doses go to the rest of the world, not just to save lives but because the unvaccinated third world is just one huge “petrie dish” for mutations and it is in my personal interest to reduce that “petrie dish” to miniscule size. Good for their citizens and good for me. I don’t need a similar dish festering where I live.
The whole thing is fear driven. You have the people scared shitless of getting COVID-19 (due to their age or pre-existing conditions) that want the entire world forcibly masked and vaccinated for their own peace of mind. Then you have the people scared of getting a new vaccine with unknown long term affects. Meanwhile, the pandemic is now endemic and is never going away. When the Delta variant runs its course the Epsilon variant will come along, then the Zeta variant and so on for the rest of all time. So, it will be amusing in 20 years when we look back and laugh at all of the COVID-19 panic around a virus that, by then, will just be a part of everyday life and that nobody (vaccinated or unvaccinated) will give a shit about.
The fear of getting it plays into the left’s agenda and the fear of the vaccine plays into the right’s agenda and we’re all just pawns for them to manipulate how they want to waste our tax dollars. It’s also great for MSM ratings as panic and outrage really bump their viewer counts. So, the left will keep slapping pictures of the 1-in-10000 COVID-19 patients on a respirator on the front page of their websites and social media so that 1-in-10000 feels more like 1-in-1 and the right will keep posting photos of demonstrations against government overreach and conflicting science.
I see I may have made an error in using the carrot and stick analogy as “stick” is being taken to extremes. Certainly, no truncheons should be used as there are gentler means of coercion.
May your chains set lightly upon you.
Spaces after a sentence:
I was stationed at the Pentagon in ’91. The GPO Style Manual stated “there will be one space between sentences…” which I followed. I had a memo kicked back because some Colonel didn’t like the way it looked. I told my boss “the GPO…” Shut up, maggot! We make the rules, we don’t follow them.
Mechano-gene-splicing experimental, pseudo COVID vaccine:
Still no full FDA approval. That, to me, means experimental. What are they waiting for? Oh, yeah, to see who dies, grows a third eye, etc. Experimental.
Vaccine passports:
No thanks. I believe they are unConstitutial at the Fed level. It is no different than trying to tax guns out of existence. “We aren’t banning them, just put a tax so high on a gun, you can’t afford it.” I believe there are 10’s of millions of people who choose not to vaccinate and are doing fine. Letting crimmigrants across the border with no testing or treatment is criminal.
/off soapbox
Earlier comment on “desktop publishing.” I agree. That was a big waste of time for many people, especially in large organizations. I had a boss who cared more about style than function, and wasted a lot of our time on it beyond the simple conveyance of information. It really was make-work, but none of us could convince him of that. Note that this was for internal writing only, and had nothing to do with something that went outside. For that, we had a professional pubs outfit that was staffed with very good people. Even they hated getting stuff highly formatted, because it made them take the extra step of stripping out all the formatting and applying house standards. Again, I was relieved to NOT have to do that crap.
A small story. I had an employee who wrote excellent analyses that included lots of formulas. His style of working before computers was to write everything neatly on paper, with at least one big formula per page. This was sent to those pubs people if it really needed to be first class formatted for printing, but most often it was simply typed by a typist with his hand drawn formulas pasted in. Very easy and utilitarian. Then computers came, and he was expected to create everything himself, including the formulas. The state of the art at that time was crude, and didn’t support graphics or formula creation, and he was struggling. About then I came into the picture. I went to the pubs folks and asked for help. They had editors, equipment, and expertise, and they were more than happy to help. They were also cheap, considering the big picture. They assigned a crackerjack editor to my guy, and all worked out well. He went back to his old ways, and they relieved him of the burden of learning something he was not good at.
Desktop publishing is now much more mature, and is good for home use, clubs, and very small companies. It took a few decades, but most of it is built into the humble word processor. I am glad I no longer have to worry about that stuff.
Nick’s comments about CAD and sketching are in the same vein. I have tried some of this, and will do more, but it is time consuming and not of much use for most of us. CAD is wonderful for disciplined design. It enforces design rules, and can be a big winner in certain fields. The aircraft industry comes to mind. With 3D CAD, the parts can be drawn, then calcs such as weight, CG, etc. can be determined automagically, and sent up to the next level. Datasets can also be sent to CAM systems where the parts can be manufactured. The gains are enormous, but it took decades to get to this. A perhaps better example might be IC design, where manual methods just can’t do all the complex work needed for things like a CPU.
Unlike Covid-19, Ebola has a therapeutic…
Only if you ignore HCQ, Ivermectin, Vitamin D, steroids, nebulizers. Which, of course, TPTB are actively doing.
@TV, I remain steadfast in my use of “experimental”. I will continue to believe that until we have years of data showing that there are no long term effects from the new, never before used technology in this medical treatment (not an actual vaccine as traditionally defined). I fully expect the FDA to grant full approval of this treatment this Fall, without ever completing any long term studies or animal studies. That will be a political, not a scientific, decision.
Re: truncheon
When they start holding people down and injecting them, the shooting starts.
And you can be as cavalier as you wish about someone losing their job over this. But the fact is, I already have.
@ TV
”The public health goal is herd immunity and the larger the portion of the herd that is unvaccinated, the more likely this goal will not be reached. ”
If the goal is public health via herd immunity, then the policies at the absolute minimum need to account for natural immunity conferred by contracting the virus.
Otherwise the real goal is something else.
If the goal is public health, then at an absolute minimum the southern border needs to be closed.
@Greg; is the Libre version of PPT better when handling document-wide formatting such as the ‘master slide’ and templates? Many times those things seem impossible to wrangle in the MSFT version.
Otherwise the real goal is something else.
Don’t discount the percentage of the population who are simply control freaks.
If you doubt those people exist, try an HOA board meeting in Florida under current FS 720.
You are not wrong, but that requires constant retesting of the unvaccinated to see if we are at a threshold for herd immunity yet or not (assuming that natural immunity is as good as that conferred by a vaccine – I don’t know if it would be better or worse, likely the same). It is a lot simpler to just vaccinate and track one total in my “not an expert or a doctor” opinion. You are also assuming people who refuse vaccination will be willing to be tested, perhaps several times. (Somehow I doubt testing will happen as the behavior of the unvaccinated is generally not in alignment with a concern for reaching herd immunity).
As for “the real goal”, please explain? (Sorry, I dislike vague statements like this that at least to me imply a conspiracy afoot to somehow do us all down). I can see the vaccine companies wanting to sell more vaccine as a goal. Hardly a surprise. What else?
@nick; how much are eggs at HEB? We always get ours from Costco. Two dozen organic large eggs are currently $6.89 delivered via InstaCart (don’t recall the in-store price).
@Greg; is the Libre version of PPT better when handling document-wide formatting such as the ‘master slide’ and templates? Many times those things seem impossible to wrangle in the MSFT version.
I use the default template without changes.
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/90-patients-treated-experimental-israeli-covid-drug-discharged-within-5-days
n
Control freak.
“I don’t say nothing about the shrubery being cut.”
“I don’t say nothing about the backyard.”
“We have rules … I don’t want to go find out what they are … but …”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BloYUqayzak
@TV
The evidence points to a goal of control.
Anything other than an N95 respirator or equivalent filtration performance is not effective in protecting the wearer.
Cloth masks are the equivalent of keeping mosquitos out with a few layers of chain link fence. So, more evidence of control.
There are studies showing that natural immunity is better than the mRNA vaccines. There is also ample evidence that giving the vaccine to people who have had the Wuhan flu results in more frequent and more severe reactions. There is also some evidence that the the result is a lowered immunity.
If public health were truly the goal, we’d have N95 dispensers on every street corner, right next to the ivermectin dispenser
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/new-side-effects-potentially-linked-mrna-vaccines-eu-warns
n
Has a single aspect of the 9-11 kabuki security theater been rescinded? Has the TSA shrunk or grown? And are they at all effective?
For that matter, has the income tax ended? (it was a ‘temporary’ measure)
I’m old enough to remember when you could just walk onto a plane. When you could buy a ticket anonymously with cash. When there were no databases of second class citizens (no fly lists) whose movements were restricted.
Who will enforce vax passport restrictions and what will be the level of force authorized? EN force. <-it's right there in the word. Will gangs of thugs be able to demand to see your passport as you walk down the street? Will they beat you or take you into custody if you can't prove your status? Saudi Arabia has a whole agency to do that... It is the nature of humans and of governments that this sort of thing never goes backwards without violence. How many people are you willing to jail or kill "to encourage the others"? n n
Yes, an N95 mask will protect you. If it is the right model (size and fit) for you and is fitted and worn properly. Just placing dispensers of N95 masks to be worn casually will not work. (An ample supply of N95 masks and training in fitting and wearing these early in the pandemic is a path not taken, and not possible due to supply. Masks are likely available now, but proper fitting?) Cloth masks work but they don’t protect you. If worn over nose and mouth they provide some protection to everyone else for a virus that travels on aerosol moisture as the mask will trap the moisture. (When you see how casually cloth masks are worn, I have even less confidence in N95 use as a solution.)
There is inconclusive evidence for Invermectin and studies that show improved immune response for having the vaccine after having already had COVID, so I think that is inconclusive as well.
I don’t really know what to say about this being all about control other than to say perhaps we should agree to disagree.
A copy/paste of content from an external source copies the text *and* the formatting, in Visual or Text mode.
There is no equivalent of ‘paste special’ that allows you to paste plain text (at least, in the default TinyMCE editor currently installed here). That’s why Nick got the giant text in one of his comments yesterday.
You can see this if you copy a headline and text from a news site (or even from something you create in another editor). Paste it in Visual mode, then look at it in Text mode, and you will see the extra formatting tags. Paste in Text mode, and see then extra formatting codes.
If you want to ‘normalize’ it here, then paste, select all, and hit the dropdown in the upper left corner and select paragraph. You may also need to unselect bold/italic/etc with the text selected.
You can also click on a paragraph or ‘text hunk’ and use the upper-left dropdown to change the formatting to something else. The dropdown shows the current formatting being used in the current ‘block’, and you can change the formatting of that block with the dropdown.
That is the same way that Word works (which TinyMCE emulated). Type some ‘normal’ text in a couple of paragraphs. Click on one of the paragraphs, then mouseover one of the styling choices in the Styles area of the ribbon. You will see the styles previewed for that block you clicked on; clicking on the style applies that style to the current ‘block’.
That’s the way it works.
@TV
”There is inconclusive evidence for Invermectin ”
see the two links I posted yesterday
Not good enough. You want to enFORCE your view of proper procedures on everyone else. We want to live our lives, take precautions for ourselves as we see fit according to the science that we evaluate, and allow others to do the same.
That meta-analysis includes the discredited and withdrawn paper. Which was the largest and most favorable study.
We are well on the way to getting the generator installed. It is on its new slab already. The three guys moved it off the trailer and through 70 ft of grass using plywood and a pallet jack. They are now anchoring the generator to the slab and running the electric cables to the breaker box outside the garage wall.
The six guys digging the 18 inch deep trench for the 190 foot natural gas line are done. They already have the takeoff and valve installed for the meter and the gas line pressurized to the generator.
The 38 kw natural gas generator is bigger than I thought. 6 foot long, 3 foot wide, and four foot tall. It has a Mitsubishi turbocharged and intercooled four cylinder motor. They have installed 2,000 since the Feb freeze and have orders for 5,000 more in the Houston metroplex. They normally install 2,000 generators a year.
I will post pictures later.
@lynn, whooo hoooo!
n
They did have a pallet of Charmin blue, but it was pricey.
It is pricey until you can’t buy it no more.
My Dad used glossy toilet paper with wood chips in it in Poland in the 1970s. He takes his own TP now when he goes outside the USA.
My UPSes are all crying now. He is moving the meter cables to the transfer box now. Gonna be down for a while. We turned the a/c units down in the house beforehand.
What’s the total cost of this beast again?
The problem there is your choices can affect others – specifically children under the age of 12 who cannot yet get vaccinated and could get infected by an asymptomatic carrier.
You don’t want to wear a helmet on a motorcycle or a seatbelt in your car, go right ahead as you’re only endangering yourself (not counting any dependents you may have). With Covid, please consider the kids that you might come close to.
The dirty bastard 500 error ate my previous half hour of annotated comment.
TL:CC (too long,can’t comment)
Vax passports put people like this guy in charge.
https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1424074480427491333
He’s not some nobody, he used to BE the government. His understanding of the Constitution is ass backwards. His arguments are based on completely wrong ideas (he thinks the vax protects UNvaxed people from vaxed people), and he’s willing to make you a second class citizen to get what he wants.
–LIFE LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, asshole.
n
Really? The under 12 group has a survivability of what? 99.998%?
To put it in perspective, The National Safety Council (NSC) puts the chances of dying in a motor vehicle accident at 1 in 107.
I take it, based on your stance on COVID-19, that your children are not allowed to ride in a vehicle?
@alan, you are factually wrong.
” specifically children under the age of 12 who cannot yet get vaccinated and could get infected by an asymptomatic carrier.”
— being inoculated only [partially] protects the person who got the shot. The inoculated person can still get, carry, and give the virus to others. That is straight from the lying CDC, and since it’s counter to their narrative, we can (provisionally) assume it’s true. Especially since jabbed people are clearly getting sick from wuflu.
Everyone in the country could get one of the many shots, and STILL the virus would be transmissible to the un-jabbed.
n
That rationale carries no weight because it’s been used to rationalize any and every bit of nanny-statism, nosy neighborism, and outright tyranny.
Case in point. It’s claimed that my not wearing a helmet affects everyone because “the healthcare system” has to deal with any injuries I take because of not wearing a helmet, and everyone’s insurance goes up, and the government loses the income taxes I’d have paid. (Yes, that last item was actually given as a reason for not allowing people to take risks. Look no further for evidence that leftists consider us all to be property of the state.)
Thousands die of the flu each year, yet there is no mask *mandate* or vaccination passports. The same with other communicable diseases. It’s on your own recognizance.
Aren’t children 12- at extreme low risk? Why use that as a point? It’s for the children!
Freedom ain’t free. Yeah, it’s hard pill to swallow, but there it is.
Or you could got the Arnold Sausagehanger route:
Arnold Schwarzenegger says ‘screw your freedom’ to those who don’t get in lockstep with CDC’s moving goalposts
I say fcuk him.
LOL! Everybody is cross posting on Mr. Alan’s comment.
We love you, Mr. Alan! Welcome to the conspiracy!
Thanks, Rick. I tried some of your suggestions, and they worked! It is pretty nice, and I might use it more now that I have discovered how it works.
Two small quibbles, and I will probably discover more if I use the editor a lot. The first is that it works differently on my computer and on my phone. I would probably get used to that if I use it a lot. Second, I work in draft mode in Word, and have Paste set to paste text without formatting. That seems to work when I copy some text with different formats in Word and paste them into the editor in Visual mode: they arrive with no formatting, or the default paragraph format. I actually like that, but might explore a way to preserve certain formats such as italics when pasting.
But wait! I still remember the old days here, where there was little or no formatting. Life was simple. Like a lot of things, we can’t go back, or maybe we don’t want to.
I still remember what a joy it was to use a plain text editor and not have to be bothered with formatting. Those days are gone for many.
FWIW, I use a tiny little program called “Pure Text” that runs in the system tray. It turns anything in your clipboard to nothing but text. Works great, doesn’t seem to do anything bad. I’ve been using it for a couple of years.
n
The 38 kw natural gas generator is bigger than I thought. 6 foot long, 3 foot wide, and four foot tall. It has a Mitsubishi turbocharged and intercooled four cylinder motor.
What’s the total cost of this beast again?
Sales price $23,825
Sales Tax $1,283
Total cost $25,018
I put 50% down.
@nick, sorry, not seeing what fact(s) I’ve misstated? My point is that the un-jabbed, especially those that go unmasked, present a source of infection to those who are not vaccinated (children under 12 – specifically my three grandkids) and/or the immunocompromised (my wife from cancer, her son’s father from a kidney transplant).
And I understand the risk to kids is low, but it’s not zero, and I can’t ever imagine being the parents of a kid that falls into the .002(?) percent who don’t survive.
bloody hell. 500 error got me again.
That lukewarm statement is the BEST CDC can come up with regarding ‘breakthru cases”.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html
If they applied that same standard, invermectin, HCL, and even reiki would be standard treatments.
n
As an infrequent commenter here I would like to thank TV, Alan, ech etc for their contrarian (to the majority here) opinions. ech in particular has made many useful posts.
I welcome different opinions. They are much more useful than the unexplained down-thumbs, which often appear on factual comments and with no follow-up rebuttal.
@Greg; is the Libre version of PPT better when handling document-wide formatting such as the ‘master slide’ and templates? Many times those things seem impossible to wrangle in the MSFT version.
Since Greg used PPT differently, I can maybe add something. Most of my early PPT use was before templates, and when these arrived I ignored them. We had developed our own templates, which were stored as files with dummy text. At some point, I started using master slides. The master slide concept was always a great feature of PPT IMO. I used it extensively. As for styles, we didn’t use them at all because our slides were pretty simple. What I remember about PPT was that it always worked well for my needs.
When I started investigating Linux, I had a test installation that used Open Office. ISTR the presenter worked very much like PPT, and so probably had a master slide function. When I moved completely to Linux, OO had been replaced with Libre Office, which was different: better in some respects and worse in others. My recollection is that it did not implement master slides either very well or at all. Sorry, I just didn’t use the presentation module much. I mainly just opened files some people sent me. What little I created frustrated me. LO is a poor substitute for MS products, but that comes from many years using MS and mostly liking it. I view alternatives through that lens.
I always suggest trying alternatives yourself. I know, that can be time consuming, but I don’t know a better way. You can install LO on Windows if desired, although I have never tried that.
One thing I learned was to take the time to learn these complex programs. For me, there is no substitute. I didn’t do much with PPT, but always could make it do what I needed. OTOH, I have invested many hours with word processing and spreadsheets, and still consider myself a novice. In fact, I don’t think there is anyone other than one who teaches spreadsheets who knows more than a few percent of all the capability. Talk about a killer app!
Uhh…
https://www.houstonisd.org/Page/122193 (and yes, I see that you can claim a religious exemption)
And…
https://www.houstontx.gov/barc/licensing_your_pet.html (…and vaccinated against rabies every year.)
Regarding the 500 errors –
I looked at the server error logs, and they are some ‘remote injection’ errors in the error log. They are from 75.53.225.xx, which geolocates to Houston, so I assume that it might be Nick’s entry that caused the ‘remote injection’ error. (Although that is an assumption based on the geocode.)
So, Nick, the next time you get the 500 on a comment POST, please let me know the time of occurrence, so I can look more closely at the logs.
And, Nick, if you can email me your IP address, that might allow me to filter the log to see what is happening.
fuking hell. 500 error. there is a phrase I just can not put in the comment.
@nick, sorry, not seeing what fact(s) I’ve misstated?
A person who has been vaxxed can transmit the virus. They can get sick from it, they can carry it, they can be asymptomatic, or very ill. The whole country can get the shots and STILL give it to kids and immunocompromised.
n
If I copy and paste this phrase from the CDC website, if I type it, even if I obfuscate it with an extra space between every letter or a CRLF between every word gets me a 500 error.
n
Ah shoot, I’m late for an appointment, I’ll be AFK for a bit.
@alan, I had a more thorough and more softly worded reply but it got eaten and sent me down the rabbit hole. Please just consider that I was both of those things in my first attempt.
n
There is some evidence that vaccination may make illness less severe for those who are vaccinated and still get sick.
bloody hell, that time it went thru.
n
“There is some evidence that vaccination may make illness less severe for those who are vaccinated and still get sick.”
That time too.
arrrrrrg,
n
And on a lighter note, had to pick up his heartworm pills for one of our pack at Costco just now so more on Costco in-store egg prices:
Two dozen – $3.99
Five dozen – 8.99
Two dozen organic – 5.89 (or $6.89 from InstaCart)
And btw, always ask the vet for a scrip rather than letting them sell you most non-emergency pet meds – Costco carries many of them at a much lower price.
Had a strange thing happen. My credit union uses a cell phone app as one option for account access. I only use it for mobile check deposit, and it is a real pain. Another CU supports use of a desktop scanner, which works infinitely better, but I don’t do much business with them. Anyway, the phone app has many user complaints, and I have had my share of problems. I only deposit a few checks per year, so it is definitely more convenient than driving to an ATM or office.
Recently I tried to deposit a check, and the app could not focus on the back of the check. Although my phone has an excellent camera, the app disables most of the camera’s goodness, and is pretty lame. I would move the phone until the focus was fine, but as soon as I would tap the screen to take the picture it would repeatedly move in and out of focus, only to settle on an out of focus image. The front of the check focused just fine. Worse, if I tried to retake the back of the check, the app would terminate.
I do these things late at night, so gave up until I could call support the next morning. The nice agent asked a few questions (did you reinstall the app? Etc…) After a few more questions, she asked the amount of the check, which was more than the remote deposit limit. I had never known there was a limit. But why did it terminate?? No idea. I had deposited another check just before, so that might have been a clue. However, the focusing behavior has happened before. So much for error messages.
Moral: watch out for multiple modes of failure, and never assume only one is the cause. Moral two: consider dealing with a better institution. Unfortunately, the industry seems to be going to cell phones to deposit checks. In fact that one I mentioned above has dropped support for desktop scanners. I wish I could just avoid checks, but some still arrive.
Well, Me And Bobby McGee: ” Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose.” Janis Joplin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTHRg_iSWzM
Awww. Endorse it and send the check to me. I’ll be happy to see that it gets deposited. 🙂
I hear the best Credit Unions are in Nigeria. For a “nominal” fee you can deposit your check over the phone – just give them the check amount, your account number and account passowrd and they’ll do the rest!
I have found out from my CU that remote depositing a check causes a message containing the account number, and amount, to the ON-US bank or CU. These institutions have their own rules for allowing, or denying, a remote deposit. Case in point in the MIL’s CU. My wife is allowed to write checks as she is joint on the account. But since the MIL died the CU denies any remote deposited checks but will allow depositing at any CU or bank. Annoying it is.
Also, government issued checks cannot be electronically (remote) deposited. Such checks must be taken to a bank or CU for processing. I get mileage checks from the VA and each one requires a trip to my CU. I sometimes batch them up and do several at a time.
Deposits are probably the only reason physical bank branches still exist in the numbers they do. I’m guessing cash deposits for retail business will be about all the branches are good for pretty soon. Some banks and credit unions even charge fees to do something in-person at a branch that can be done at an ATM or via their website or app.
No deposit by mail option? I mean nothing could go wrong sending them via the USPS, right??
I have found out from my CU that remote depositing a check causes a message containing the account number, and amount, to the ON-US bank or CU.
I don’t understand.
@nick – the error logs indicate that there is some hex characters embedded in the text that causes the 500 error. You may not be able to see the hex characters, but they are recognized as a code injection attempt, which is why the server blocks them (via the mod_sec3_CRS module, which interprets the pattern as being a security risk, and therefore blocks the request, which is returned as a 500 error).
The embedded characters are hex characters for CR and LF, but the regex pattern in the mod_sec rule ‘catches’ them (along with the other characters) as potential harmful code in the request.
Don’t know why your process is causing the CR/LF patterns in the text you paste. Might be that ‘paste’ add-in that you mentioned earlier (yesterday? today?). I don’t think you’ll be able to see them in the Text tab of the comment editor, but there might be another technique to view them (Notepad++). Perhaps others here have a ‘analyze the clipboard via hex’ process/app.
But, those embedded hex characters appear to be the cause of your 500 errors on posting comments. I don’t think they are the fault of anything in WP or any plugins/themes.
And, I have verified that mod_sec is catching your POST as a rule violation because your IP address is in the error log that mod_sec writes to.
Thanks for the suggestions to use a Nigerian CU, and the USPS mail. I’ll get right on that. And, special thanks to ~jim for the free deposit service; I would NEVER have thought of that one. Aren’t you the guy who used the Uncle Fester meme on the old Hardware Guys site? Inquiring minds…
The phone app service reads the MICR line on the check, and the amount, sends a request to the institution on which the item is drawn. The institution can verify the account and determine if there are sufficient funds. It can reject the deposit.
I wish I could inject some lame humor. Things seem to be getting a little heavy. I do respect the general tenor here, and the ability to discuss things civilly. Seriously, the best bunch of people I know of.
As for the COVID stuff, I have been trying to make sense of the latest developments. In short, I can’t. It is getting pretty confused. FWIW, I don’t get out much, but in the last week have seen practically no masking here in our little isolated town. There are signs on some businesses, but even some of the employees don’t wear masks. Worse, I see a few people who wear masks so badly (not covering the nose or even lower) that they should just not even bother. Are we stupid? Rhetorical question.
Wife had to go our for a routine eye doc visit and some errands. Looking forward to her report, but I doubt it will be any different.
The phone app service reads the MICR line on the check, and the amount, sends a request to the institution on which the item is drawn. The institution can verify the account and determine if there are sufficient funds. It can reject the deposit.
Oh. I thought you might have meant an SMS message. At one point, I thought my phone app might require voice connectivity, which is poor in my house. I proved that not true by using only Wi-Fi, which can be hard. It that case, I went to a place where there was provably no voice connectivity, and the app still worked. This means it could be secure. Could, not necessarily, but likely.
I am so tired about all this security stuff. Not at our end, mind you, at other ends. Even some financial institutions seem to be pretty casual IMO. One I don’t like are confirming emails that say too much about what I just did. I have complained, and was told there is no way to turn these off. They are a courtesy. I will say, one company recently removed some information from their emails that I object to, and I never even suggested it to them. There is some hope.
All this hullabaloo in the news about debates within school districts over whether students should be masked when school starts. Meanwhile, my daughter’s school started today and the overwhelming majority of the 500 kids are unmasked and the staff was too. Masks are optional (you won’t get in trouble for wearing or not wearing one) but it seems everyone has opted out. There’s two different Americas. The one on the news and the one most of us live in.
One possibility why I am a little sensitive to SMS is that our CU recently announced that they will be sending out some sort of security warnings, but only via SMS for those people who give a cell phone number in their profiles. SMS? Really? For Security messages? Just stupid, and I sent them a secure message on their web site to that effect. I don’t use SMS, and will avoid it if possible. If something is important, at the very least have the option to notify by email to log on to the secure site. What is wrong with these people?
A friend has been experimenting with Signal, and I have been tempted to try it. Secure? Not sure. Probably isn’t supported by financial institutions.
Signal seems cool, but hardly anyone I know is on it so it seems mostly useless as a messaging app (just who would I message?). I also have Telegram too, but again, few people are on it (though, there are a tad more than Signal has).
WhatsApp is crazy popular worldwide, but it’s owned by Facebook so I just can’t trust it. I watched a YouTuber from Germany who lives in the US discussing some of the differences and she said she was surprised people here actually send text (SMS) messages (or iMessages). In Germany, when you say “text me” what you really mean is “WhatsApp me” as that’s what most people use. (Where’s our resident German to expand on this?)
I use something similar that came with the first versions of Windows and ever since: Notepad.
I use Signal to send sensitive info to family. I got tired of sending acct# or Netflix login info to lazy kids. Better than letting Apple give all to NSA. Then I disappear the message. I told them to get Signal if they want my IT services.
Wait until Apple starts scanning *everything* for wrong think.
When I signed up, several of my contacts popped as on Signal.
From yesterday “There is no reason to put extra spaces between sentences. ”
Wrong!. Two spaces indicate the end of a sentence. I much prefer using two spaces there. Makes reading so much easier,
I know I’m in the minority on this, but Webster’s Secretarial Handbook by Merriam-Webster, 1983 states that sentences end with two spaces following the end of sentence punctuation. And that’s the way I learned it in High in the early ’60’s.
The bottom line on all the Covid chatter, both here and in the wider world?
It’s BORING.
I suspect that there are more instances of one space at the end of sentences, and that you may not notice the only-one-space as you read anything. Unless you are reading in a non-proportional font, the one space is now a standard, and doesn’t affect reading.
Text on-line in any site, and even printed material, is 99% (or more) going to only have one space between sentences. Unless it is written in Courier or another non-proportional font.
Although the two spaces may have been a standard 50+ years ago, it is not now. I suspect that most everyone finds proportional text easier to read, except in special cases (programming code is sometimes easier to view/work with in non-proportional fonts).
My understanding is the two spaces is due to typewriters being a mono-spaced font. A space used the same space as any other letter. The two spaces made the recognition of the end of a sentence easier.
That has long since passed with proportional spaced fonts. The space does stand out as the end of a sentence without using two spaces. Newspapers that used Times New Roman as a font always used a single space at the end of a sentence before starting another. Only typewritten documents used the double space.
My $0.02. Use what you like. Just don’t press return at the end of each line. Them’s some fighting issues. 🙂
Oh, my sweet summer child, if they aren’t doing that now it’s only because they don’t have the resources.
Don’t call me child! My Social Security was finally approved!
“Wait until Apple starts scanning *everything* for wrong think.”
Oh, my sweet summer child, if they aren’t doing that now it’s only because they don’t have the resources.
Microsoft Teams has a transcription feature that is always running in the background whether or not you turn on the text. Do you think that’s simply discarded at the end of a call.
If Microsoft has the tech and the resources, Apple does too.
Don’t call me child! My Social Security was finally approved!
Pffft! I reached SS age a long time ago, and I still think of myself as a kid. Some of us want to have our fantasies. 😛
Deposits are probably the only reason physical bank branches still exist in the numbers they do.
–the hispanic population around here uses the branches. The lobby is full whenever I go in. I go in to get free money orders when I need one, or to deposit cash, which for various reasons doesn’t happen anymore. I still have to sneakernet money from BofA to my business account, with two in person lobby visits, if I’m in a hurry (like an automatic check overdrew my business account and I have to deposit cash to cover it.)
@marcelo, puretext is two clicks away, and instant. Notepad, not so much. I don’t have to use it often, and I did try it on the pasted text that caused the issue today to no avail.
@rick, thanks for tracking that down. I suspected something hidden, and I did look at it in the text tab, and used the puretext program on it without seeing anything. Where that something is coming from is still a mystery. I’m not the only one who gets the 500 errors, but I’m probably the most prolific commentor, so it hits me a lot. I deleted each line in that comment that is missing the quote and tried posting, and once I deleted the quoted line, it posted fine. It’s possible CDC is playing silly buggers with hidden characters to track dissemination of docs. A lot of what I get from open but official sources has extensive URL tracking which I usually try to remove.
Back from my pickups and meeting with my soon to be new auctioneer. He’s willing to take a bunch of stuff. I’ll be meeting with him again next Monday. Oh, btw, his business partner is sick and tested positive for wuflu, despite his jab. Joy.
n
added- I don’t use any thing special for cut and paste, not even the office extended clipboard.
n
A long time ago in a forum far, far away I used Uncle Fester. I now prefer Achmed the Dead Terrorist. I keel you!
Started out patient therapy today at the Orthopaedic clinic. Yee haw, what an adventure. Lot of stretching, discomfort, some pain, damsels of torture I tell you. But necessary.
You need to give them $10 every time they make you scream. Means that you get more use out of that knee in the future.
I will post pictures later.
38 kw natural gas generator installed and running as needed. Only one problem remains: Centerpoint needs to bring and install a higher pressure gas meter for the house in the next two to six weeks. But we separated the house from the grid, the generator started and came up to load in ten seconds. Both a/c units started and ran just fine even though it was complaining about low fuel pressure.
https://www.winsim.com/generator_new_pad.jpg
https://www.winsim.com/generator_arrives.jpg
https://www.winsim.com/generator_move_slab.jpg
I will post pictures later.
38 kw natural gas generator installed and running as needed. Only one problem remains: Centerpoint needs to bring and install a higher pressure gas meter for the house in the next two to six weeks. But we separated the house from the grid, the generator started and came up to load in ten seconds. Both a/c units started and ran just fine even though it was complaining about low fuel pressure.
https://www.winsim.com/generator_gas_meter_takeoff.jpg
https://www.winsim.com/generator_trench_behind_garage.jpg
https://www.winsim.com/generator_on_slab.jpg
I will post pictures later.
38 kw natural gas generator installed and running as needed. Only one problem remains: Centerpoint needs to bring and install a higher pressure gas meter for the house in the next two to six weeks. But we separated the house from the grid, the generator started and came up to load in ten seconds. Both a/c units started and ran just fine even though it was complaining about low fuel pressure.
https://www.winsim.com/generator_transfer_switch_inside.jpg
https://www.winsim.com/generator_back_finish.jpg
https://www.winsim.com/generator_corner_finish.jpg
I will post pictures later.
38 kw natural gas generator installed and running as needed. Only one problem remains: Centerpoint needs to bring and install a higher pressure gas meter for the house in the next two to six weeks. But we separated the house from the grid, the generator started and came up to load in ten seconds. Both a/c units started and ran just fine even though it was complaining about low fuel pressure.
https://www.winsim.com/generator_far_side_finish.jpg
https://www.winsim.com/generator_side_finish.jpg
https://www.winsim.com/generator_transfer_switch_final.jpg
My way is more productive. Pinned to the task bar and only one click. 🙂
They can just buy some from ‘Bronco Boy’ (AWS).
Is that one of those ideas which sounds stupid but is actually a good idea?
only one click
–to open, but then you have to paste, and select and copy, then close, decline to save, etc….
Whereas I just click once to open the task bar, once on the icon, then I can paste into my work! MUCH easier! MY WAY is the best!
n
See, so much better!
only one click
–to open, but then you have to paste, and select and copy, then close, decline to save, etc….
No close nor decline to save. Just leave it open. Minimize at most.
You have to install and maintain. I do not. See, long term benefits.
(Difficult to change one’s own set processes, eh?).
And I bet that Lynn has not changed browsers yet because of saved passwords…
Re one click or whatever. I open everything I normally use when I restart Windows after some update that requires it. I just leave all the windows open, arranged in a certain way that never varies. I Alt-Tab between whatever I need. No starting or closing, or clicking. Have been doing that since 1989. My way. Do something similar on my phone. Everything is instant, no waiting for something to open, although that is an obsolete idea with recent computers.
For some reason, I can’t get my wife to adopt this. I have tried to teach her Alt-Tab, but so far, she just opens and closes whatever she is using. She only multitasks in front of the TV.
@ech
“That meta-analysis includes the discredited and withdrawn paper. Which was the largest and most favorable study.”
Shiite. That only leaves 61. Facebook and Google should definitely continue censoring the discussion until we’re up to at least 63.
@TV
I’m too aware of the problems of fitting respirators. I had Scott Air-Paks removed from an entire R&D building because management decided they weren’t going to pay for training that year. Had them take out the hooks, too.
Disposable N95’s are another matter–the fitting videos are on YouTube. In English, at least. People who want to protect themselves will learn to fit them and check the fit automatically, just as thousands of workers do every day. For the posers that don’t, they will catch most of the outgoing.
@Lynn
What’s the recommended testing schedule for the new generator? Quarterly?
TV
“My own ugly comparison is to whether someone has the right to defecate where ever they want to claiming personal freedom. It is a public health issue to force you to use proper facilities not only because you can make yourself sick but because you can sicken your neighbors due to fouling the water. All claims of personal freedom will be ignored.”
That was probably true ten years ago, and might have been true even five years ago, but in San Francisco and a lot of other blue paradises, the right to crap anywhere has been discovered hiding under a penumbra.
If this pre-release paper holds up to peer review, and you don’t want to get the chinkyflu, you need to go back to masks…
–because as this experiment runs, we’re learning new things.
n
Rare burgers tonight with tomato and Hatch chilis.
Forgot the red onion.
Bless the gardeners.
@Nick
“…we’re learning new things.”
Gee, it’s almost like the stuff was designed to be hard to eradicate.
That generator looks first class. Would be curious to know what kind of coolant is used, and how often it should be changed. That is always a consideration. The new (last 10 years or so) HOAT antifreezes are the best the industry has to offer, unless Generac uses something better. There used to be better formulas, but I think they are no longer available. The Army used it in their vehicles that sat for years in storage. No corrosion or elastomer deterioration. Wouldn’t know where to get it, and would not use it in a modern automobile, so maybe not that generator. Generac knows best, but even they have to yield to the EPA.
Lynn, in your climate, when you maintenance run the generator, make sure it is loaded and warms up fully. That would probably take at least 15 minutes. Less and I would be worried about condensation problems in the engine, especially the oil. Oil changes should be annual or more frequently, unless you have a very long warranty.
“…The CDC further recommends that all schoolchildren and teachers, even those who have had Covid-19 or have been vaccinated, should wear masks.
The CDC asserts this even though its own statistics show that Covid-19 is not much of a threat to schoolchildren. Its numbers show that more people under the age of 18 died of influenza during the 2018–19 flu season—a season of “moderate severity” that lasted eight months—than have died of Covid-19 across more than 18 months. What’s more, the CDC says that out of every 1,738 Covid-19-related deaths in the U.S. in 2020 and 2021, just one has involved someone under 18 years of age; and out of every 150 deaths of someone under 18 years of age, just one has been Covid-related. ”
“In truth, the CDC’s, U.K.’s, and WHO’s earlier guidance was much more consistent with the best medical research on masks’ effectiveness in preventing the spread of viruses. That research suggests that Americans’ many months of mask-wearing has likely provided little to no health benefit and might even have been counterproductive in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus.”
https://www.city-journal.org/do-masks-work-a-review-of-the-evidence
(HT to HotAir)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9887787/US-inflation-Wholesale-prices-soar-7-8-biggest-surge-record.html
Passed a demonstration outside school admin area against mandatory masking while on my way home today. HISD, not my ISD. So far, my ISD has not suggested they would like mandatory masks. My feeling from teachers is that THEY don’t want the masks.
There were 20-30 people with signs, including some goofy attention whores.
n
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/watch-parents-make-threats-after-school-board-mandates-elementary-children-mask-we-will
“we know where you live.” Some people have been paying attention and making lists.
The slide is feeling slipperier and slipperier.
n
Tropical Storm Fred, come on down!
Sat am for southern FLA…
n
I ain’t touching that one, no sirree!
“Although the two spaces may have been a standard 50+ years ago”
–well, I learned to type in ’82 iirc. Seems to me we’re still using qwerty keyboards, still writing in english, still got 30 letters in the spanglish alphabet, (ch, ll, n~, rr), so why NOT have two spaces after a period? Not like it uses up precious resources…
n
@mediumwave… I un-spammed you for a post about the chrysler turbine on the 7th… ya gotta let us know if you get caught in the filter….
@ fjenkins, thanks and welcome. Looks like the thumbs up widget only goes to six, because I couldn’t add one….
n
Nope: SteveF currently has 11 ups in a comment.
I wonder what is happening today. Earnest discussions. Unyielding positions. Glitches galore.
There must be a full moon…
@marcelo, at least for the east coast and central states, it’s now Friday the Thirteenth! Very small new moon, as it was dark last weekend.
n
And I bet that Lynn has not changed browsers yet because of saved passwords…
The idiot programmers at Firefox changed the menu spacing to double from single in release 91.0. The only way to change it back is to muck with the base CSS file. Which, I have no desire to tough.
Nah, I have all my passwords on yellow stickies under my keyboards. Very few passwords are saved. But I do like the menus in Firefox. But see my first comment.
@Lynn
What’s the recommended testing schedule for the new generator? Quarterly?
Don’t know. We used weekly at TXU so I plan on going with that.
Lynn, in your climate, when you maintenance run the generator, make sure it is loaded and warms up fully. That would probably take at least 15 minutes. Less and I would be worried about condensation problems in the engine, especially the oil. Oil changes should be annual or more frequently, unless you have a very long warranty.
I bought the maintenance package. They put a cell on it and monitor all starts. They change the plugs and oil annually. $50/month. If my starts exceeds the magic number then they come out and change the oil and plugs for $150.
She has a very long shutdown protocol also. She will not turn off when the grid is re-established unless the grid power is good. Then she has a ten minute cool down before she turns off.
Then she has a ten minute cool down before she turns off.
–you don’t want short cycling. Gotta get the hysteresis under control.
n
(and now I really AM off to bed.)
I don’t want to contribute any further to the Covid vaccination debates, but I would like to comment on human perceptions of risk.
On the one hand, you can go overboard with risk reduction. There was a study in the UK that showed that kids who played on super-safe playgrounds (rubber padding everywhere, etc.) wound up (in life, not on the playground) with more severe injuries. Kids who played on traditional playgrounds, with gravel and hard surfaces, learned to be careful. More skinned knees, fewer broken bones.
On the other hand, some risks that we take for granted should be looked at again. As MrAtoz pointed out, the flu kills a lot of people every year. Do we really need to accept that? For example, lots of those deaths are patients who catch the flu from hospital personnel. Shouldn’t we require the personnel to get flu shots?
The point is: we need to be willing to have these discussions. Even if we sometimes wind up “agreeing to disagree”, the discussion itself is important.
You can set Signal as your default SMS app. When you send a message to someone, if they don’t have Signal, they will get an SMS. When you start a new message, Signal shows you how it will be sent.
Signal has become very popular here, because WhatsApp is insisting that all users accept the new ToS that allow it to share your data with Facebook. No one here wants that.
One of the best things my Dad ever did for me was enroll me in a summer gymnastics class at the YMCA when I was six years old. He wanted me to learn to be able to fall without hurting myself.
Learning how not to fall to begin with, he left up to me.
The worst part of falling is the embarrassment. There’s just no good way to fall in front of other people. 🙂
Falling with style: https://youtu.be/CZeMZ3WPuLY
See also: https://youtu.be/WhVLgTsoMhQ