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Jan. 21st, 2022 03:52 pm
Nov. 9th, 2021 05:27 pm
(no subject)
Now and then I read something that makes one think: “I need to tell this to the world”. The last time was when the local paper I have online wrote that the Norwegian town Bodø,north of the polar circle, now has lost two whole months of winter. The winter is two months shorter than it should be. Crazy. And, to me, also supricing, I couldn't find any article about it in English. You have to take my word for it. Or North America has towns north of the arctic circle too. The same thing must be happening there. (Sure because of the gulf stream the climate isn’t the same here and in Alaska.But that’s another story.) To make it personal. Bodø is on the same latitude as the Swedish mining town Gällevare, where I spent part of the summer when I was sixteen. Dad worked there, at the hospital. Another random thing I just learned about Gällevare. One of the mines there is the Aitik mine, a copper mine. That mine is also used to dump digested sludge from Stockholms sewer treatment system. Now I don’t know why they use sludge from Stockholm when one can assume that they have locally produced shit. But apparently that’s how mining and sewer treatment works. Also don’t forget this was about the climate catastrophe.
Then we have this thing. The rich world have treated themselves to more “booster shots” than poorer countries have had first shots. I get "we" prioritise ourself. I’m not against “booster shots". This still, just doesn't look good.
Then we have this thing. I remember reading that international media stopped writing about Sweden and covid when we no longer were in the top 20 list of death per capita. Now I read in a paper that Sweden isn't in the top 50 countries when it comes to death in covid. So now the rest of the world should be uninterested. That I actually found in English meadia. At the time of writing, more than 50 countries have a higher death rate[than Sweden]. If you measure excess mortality for the whole of 2020, Sweden (according to Eurostat) will end up in 21st place out of 31 European countries. If Sweden was a part of the US, its death rate would rank number 43 of the 50 states.. Make whatever you want out of that.
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Aug. 10th, 2021 07:19 pm
(no subject)
So we live in a world where it’s odd that an illiberal state chose illiberal metodes to fight a pandemic.
And having to write that sentence, is appernetly a normal things in 2021. The world has gone crazy.
Then it could be mentioned that Hungary has twice the death in covid than Sweden. (Maybe the numbers of dead has more to do with materialism than moralism.)
Jun. 25th, 2021 01:14 pm
Why is there not more talk about this?
I don’t know if this is the right place to write this. Nor am I saying I am the right person to write this, but I do think it needs to be said. It’s possible that a scientist disagrees with you without that scientist being evil. It’s even possible that the scientist in question isn’t stupid or untalent. The reason I write that is the American skeptical community. I knew about that community, and I - rightly or not - respected them. Now I, rightly or not, don’t respect them.
Worst example, from the perhaps most famous American skeptic I know about. I respected David Gorski. More recently wikipedia referred to him when they claimed the Great Barrington Declaration was funded by crazy right wing, climate catastrophe denier Charles Koch. The thing is, one, of course Sunetra Gupta, Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff have always denied that. And btw at least Gupta says she’s left wing and not intressted in money. Two, according to this article: Quacks in the ivory tower, the whole thing comes from a blogger who among other things is a “september 11 truther”. Like dr David Groski et al. were so determined to prove the “other side” was evil, they didn’t care about the source of their “proof”. I know, in the US and the UK, it is extremely polarised - we’re that too, but not that extreme - something like that could happen.
It’s not enough that GBD could be wrong (because they could be wrong) they must be painted as funded by a cartoonish evil, anti-science lobbyist. At the same time, I know that the right wing in the US does the same thing. I have seen some right wing American paper call Fauci a “villian”. Again it’s not enough to think he is wrong (because he might be wrong) he must be a villain. The difference is, I have never had any respect for the American right wing media*. So great job David Groski, I’m sure you’re a much better person than whoever called Fauci a villian. But now, since you Groski couldn't have a grown up conversation with other scientis, I ended up mentioning you in the same paragraph as that journalist.
Then, I remember the early 1990s when a government report on the Chernobyl catastrophe was presented. One politician from the green party said the report proved that a Chernobyl-like catastrophe could happen in a Swedish nuclear power plant. This while another politician, this one from the largest right wing party, said the report proved that a Chernobyl-like catastrophe can’t happen in a Swedish nuclear power plant**. Since last spring when the debate about the pandemic response started for real, I thought this would end in the same way as after that government report. Both sides, both the fans of heavy handed laws, and the critics of those laws, should say the scientific reports prove they were right. And that’s where we are now. Jay Bhattacharya can point to 600 000 dead Americans and say that proves there are better ways to handle pandemics than heavy handed laws. While Neil Ferguson can point to 600 000 dead Americans and claim he was right, the laws should have been even tougher.
Me, full disclosor. I have never signed any petition about how we should handle pandemics. But I hope we did the right thing, meaning I must hope everyone thinking heavy handed laws are the only thing that works, for peoples heath, is wrong.
* I did not respect those newspapers even when I myself voted for bourgeois parties. They are so far too the right.
** With cold war logic Swedish and Soviet nuclear power plants should be very different. Since the Swedish plants are American designed, and the Soviet plants are - well Soviet designed.
Worst example, from the perhaps most famous American skeptic I know about. I respected David Gorski. More recently wikipedia referred to him when they claimed the Great Barrington Declaration was funded by crazy right wing, climate catastrophe denier Charles Koch. The thing is, one, of course Sunetra Gupta, Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff have always denied that. And btw at least Gupta says she’s left wing and not intressted in money. Two, according to this article: Quacks in the ivory tower, the whole thing comes from a blogger who among other things is a “september 11 truther”. Like dr David Groski et al. were so determined to prove the “other side” was evil, they didn’t care about the source of their “proof”. I know, in the US and the UK, it is extremely polarised - we’re that too, but not that extreme - something like that could happen.
It’s not enough that GBD could be wrong (because they could be wrong) they must be painted as funded by a cartoonish evil, anti-science lobbyist. At the same time, I know that the right wing in the US does the same thing. I have seen some right wing American paper call Fauci a “villian”. Again it’s not enough to think he is wrong (because he might be wrong) he must be a villain. The difference is, I have never had any respect for the American right wing media*. So great job David Groski, I’m sure you’re a much better person than whoever called Fauci a villian. But now, since you Groski couldn't have a grown up conversation with other scientis, I ended up mentioning you in the same paragraph as that journalist.
Then, I remember the early 1990s when a government report on the Chernobyl catastrophe was presented. One politician from the green party said the report proved that a Chernobyl-like catastrophe could happen in a Swedish nuclear power plant. This while another politician, this one from the largest right wing party, said the report proved that a Chernobyl-like catastrophe can’t happen in a Swedish nuclear power plant**. Since last spring when the debate about the pandemic response started for real, I thought this would end in the same way as after that government report. Both sides, both the fans of heavy handed laws, and the critics of those laws, should say the scientific reports prove they were right. And that’s where we are now. Jay Bhattacharya can point to 600 000 dead Americans and say that proves there are better ways to handle pandemics than heavy handed laws. While Neil Ferguson can point to 600 000 dead Americans and claim he was right, the laws should have been even tougher.
Me, full disclosor. I have never signed any petition about how we should handle pandemics. But I hope we did the right thing, meaning I must hope everyone thinking heavy handed laws are the only thing that works, for peoples heath, is wrong.
* I did not respect those newspapers even when I myself voted for bourgeois parties. They are so far too the right.
** With cold war logic Swedish and Soviet nuclear power plants should be very different. Since the Swedish plants are American designed, and the Soviet plants are - well Soviet designed.
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May. 21st, 2021 07:12 pm
Yeah, I suspect you're tried of this
One more thing about the world and the pandemic. It has been pointed out that the digital media gigants remove posts that argue for less restrictions than WHO. But have no problems with any post arguing for more severe restrictions than WHO recommends. Trade offs be damned.
I honestly think the tech gigant are well meaning. The thing is, I could be wrong, but I feel I respect science too much to be sure one side in a scientific debate should be censored, trolled, accused with over the top name calling. The debate has all been about lockdowns and public masking, and what’s irritating is that they decided that one side wasn’t just wrong. They were dangerous.
Another thing, I remember a documentary where a teen girl from Uganda said something like this: “We are the one suffering from lockdowns - missed school, poverty, abuse (including sexual), forced marriage, etc - while the one dying of covid are old men." The point was, the old men, were the one in power. Therefore Uganda had lockdowns. I’m not saying it’s that simple, it was also about countries following each other, and taking national pride in heavy handed laws. Or I can point out that Swedish, epidemiologist Johan Giesecke is the old man, who word for word said that his life was less important than the life of his grandchildren (if I was an old man, I wish I could say the same: "don't close schools or kindergardens for me"). So there are exeptions.
Yeah I still think tech means well. But what I’m coming to is simply if it’s the same with Silicon Valley? Tech-bros are rich, men. Tech-bros are not poor, Ugandan teenage girls.
I honestly think the tech gigant are well meaning. The thing is, I could be wrong, but I feel I respect science too much to be sure one side in a scientific debate should be censored, trolled, accused with over the top name calling. The debate has all been about lockdowns and public masking, and what’s irritating is that they decided that one side wasn’t just wrong. They were dangerous.
Another thing, I remember a documentary where a teen girl from Uganda said something like this: “We are the one suffering from lockdowns - missed school, poverty, abuse (including sexual), forced marriage, etc - while the one dying of covid are old men." The point was, the old men, were the one in power. Therefore Uganda had lockdowns. I’m not saying it’s that simple, it was also about countries following each other, and taking national pride in heavy handed laws. Or I can point out that Swedish, epidemiologist Johan Giesecke is the old man, who word for word said that his life was less important than the life of his grandchildren (if I was an old man, I wish I could say the same: "don't close schools or kindergardens for me"). So there are exeptions.
Yeah I still think tech means well. But what I’m coming to is simply if it’s the same with Silicon Valley? Tech-bros are rich, men. Tech-bros are not poor, Ugandan teenage girls.
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May. 9th, 2021 01:10 pm
Writing this is part of my pain control
This article has been going around social media: As West races back to travel, ‘zero-Covid’ economies like Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia face hermit risk. One detail I noticed was this words ”Britain, where more than half the population has received at least one vaccine dose”. Only half? Last week, not the week that ends today, the week before, we passed 30% vaccinated with at least one dose. Are we just 20% behind? The headline I have seen in British papers told me we in the EU are crazy bad at getting vaccines. Ok, headlines are hyperbolic and shouldn’t be taken literally. The point is, I was under the impression we were much more behind.
With small letters. Right or not, the reason that the South China morning post article was going around was that the paper is so close to the Chinese regime and the article is seen as prof the regime sees problems with the zero-covid-strategy.
Related. I got my second vaccine dose last Friday. Yesterday I had fever and my body was hurting. You know it actually helped to write. I was spending some time writing for that reason. It made me think of other things when the pain in my legs, back and head. Cool. And when I write about writing, I can, in a subordinate clause, mention that I have sent book scripts to some publishers. The funny thing is, after I have sent it I have realized two things I want to change. So now those two things feels very important and I feel the need to send the improved manus to other publishers. I have always loved when musicians change the lyrics, compared to on the albums, during live performers. That’s how I work. Always trying to improve my texts.
With small letters. Right or not, the reason that the South China morning post article was going around was that the paper is so close to the Chinese regime and the article is seen as prof the regime sees problems with the zero-covid-strategy.
Related. I got my second vaccine dose last Friday. Yesterday I had fever and my body was hurting. You know it actually helped to write. I was spending some time writing for that reason. It made me think of other things when the pain in my legs, back and head. Cool. And when I write about writing, I can, in a subordinate clause, mention that I have sent book scripts to some publishers. The funny thing is, after I have sent it I have realized two things I want to change. So now those two things feels very important and I feel the need to send the improved manus to other publishers. I have always loved when musicians change the lyrics, compared to on the albums, during live performers. That’s how I work. Always trying to improve my texts.
May. 7th, 2021 09:20 pm
Draconian laws
I have seen that both Ron DeSantis and Caitlyn Jenner might use criticism of the draconian pandemic laws in their political campaigns. I might have trouble seeing that being successful, but what do I know? Things can change. I happened to read the claim that it worked in Spain. Spain, like Caitlyn Jenner's California, had draconian laws and high body count. The article meant that was the reason the ruling party of Spain was punished by voters in Madrid.
You know in Europe it’s not that simple that the left wanted hard lockdowns and the right didn’t. The most extreme example must be Hungary, that country must be wired from the American debate perspective, right? Hungary the country with a national chavoistic, far right ruler. The country that had lockdowns when others still thought it was against civil rights. The country that had masks laws even before the WHO said masks could be used. Also the country with the highest number of deaths per person in the world. In theory the left can use that to attack the right wing government in Hungary.
The point is that if the opposition can show that the draconian laws have not had such impressive results, but more collateral damage, then they can of course win some votes on it. No matter what country they are in.
The point is that if the opposition can show that the draconian laws have not had such impressive results, but more collateral damage, then they can of course win some votes on it. No matter what country they are in.
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One year of the pandemic:
1. Did you catch COVID-19? If yes, when, and was it bad?
No.
( Read more... )
1. Did you catch COVID-19? If yes, when, and was it bad?
No.
( Read more... )
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Aug. 3rd, 2020 09:35 pm
Things I have to ask
So seriously is this true? (Note he's writing from an American perspective.)
Then here it’s the left that’s generally against hard lockdown, the opposite of how it’s in US and UK. I can speculate - like one of my most intellectual fb-friends did - that the negative press gives the right here ammunition when attacking the social democratic / green government. “See you are bad, New York Times thinks so”. So ironically* the american left using there vision of Sweden to attack Trump will make it more likely we will get, here I was going to write “a blue brown government”. So now I have to ask, you know that blue means right wing politic and red means left wing politics, right? “Red is the symbol for the blood the working class has spild” said Trotsky and Joe Hill also mention a red flag in a song or two. (According to a podcast I listen to Bob Dylan and Dave Grohl, are fans of Joe Hill, so let's assume he’s well known.)
* Dubble ironic if we should believe the people saying the high bodycount in Stockholm is because the right wing rule there has prioritized low taxes and privatizations over health care.
Then here it’s the left that’s generally against hard lockdown, the opposite of how it’s in US and UK. I can speculate - like one of my most intellectual fb-friends did - that the negative press gives the right here ammunition when attacking the social democratic / green government. “See you are bad, New York Times thinks so”. So ironically* the american left using there vision of Sweden to attack Trump will make it more likely we will get, here I was going to write “a blue brown government”. So now I have to ask, you know that blue means right wing politic and red means left wing politics, right? “Red is the symbol for the blood the working class has spild” said Trotsky and Joe Hill also mention a red flag in a song or two. (According to a podcast I listen to Bob Dylan and Dave Grohl, are fans of Joe Hill, so let's assume he’s well known.)
* Dubble ironic if we should believe the people saying the high bodycount in Stockholm is because the right wing rule there has prioritized low taxes and privatizations over health care.
