It is now NOT your fathers Covid... Mask up !!

Thanks for posting and clarifying. IMO, humans have done some good things - mostly for the benefit of humans. They have done some bad things - often against the planet itself or to other species (but also to other humans). I do not have a positive view of the outcome of man's possession of this planet but that does not mean that whilst we occupy it there will not be a natural progression of finding ways to mitigate the natural and man-made harms which exist.

Specifically related to Covid-19: The emergence of the virus is probably due to man's folly in one way or another BUT man still has to then examine ways to control it (the alternative being to sit idly by and do nothing) - various countries have done many different things (indicating few have any real ideas of the best way) and some have been unnecessary and destructive. IMO that is due to political incompetence - few countries have many scientists as leaders and when they listen to scientists they 'cherry pick' the bits they think are best (without the knowledge or skills to make such decisions). The UK for example did so many crazy things that even this mere human here (me) puzzled at - they simply did not make sense. But what can we do - societies have evolved to choose leaders and they choose them for all sorts of reasons (mostly self-interest and/or false promises and/or no alternatives). These leaders, if democratic, rule for a short period and leave their mistakes behind them (often going on afterwards to a lucrative career).

But, as for Covid-19, they HAD to do SOMETHING. We can only rage at some of the things they did but future analysis will tell us what WOULD have been best - they should learn from that for the next similar crisis. But will they???

 

I voted FOR Brexit. Why? Because when the UK joined what is now the EU it was a Common Market (in name and actuality) - a grouping of countries to allow for easier trading. BUT, after we joined it became political and started making laws which affected the UK. The ruling classes are on big salaries and some are not elected. We were sold a lie and so changed our minds.

Btw, IMO other EU countries will follow and the EU will eventually fail - perhaps the UK had the sense to abandon ship first.

 

i appreciate your response and your position on this, esp what you have voiced re covid. i think we just have different philosophies on how to manage, or in my case, if we should manage such events.

the crocodile and cockroach have lived on planet earth (so the fossil people say) for 200 or 300 million years. virtually unchanged. i personally think at least 100 million of those years in each case can be explained by the presumed fact that they have no attorneys, and probably another 100 million that they have no doctors. how would they handle covid? some of them would die, the rest would develop resistance of some sort, and the species continues. its the same way we handled things until the advent of modern medicine, and the attorneys who require that the skills associated with modern medicine be applied to the max.

hippocrates said something to the effect, "above all do no harm", meaning i would guess that just because you can do something does not mean you should do it. i feel we are using our unique and wonderful talents to do things just because we can and in medicine because we can get paid for it if we can just get an ICD 9/10 code for it!!

i enjoy pure science and love the discoveries. but i cast a jaudiced eye at applied science. once money becomes involved the facts seem to get distorted.

so i respect your opinion and you may be right. i will try to follow the law here and wear a mask when i must. i won't receive vaccination unless it means being able to travel in which case i will swallow my pride. and i will wear a mask in your presence if you want me to as i do not wish to offend friends

 

Just to correct something, if you don't mind - about 99% of all species that existed are now extinct. So the croc and cockroach are just two of a VERY FEW examples. If EVERYTHING was now extinct we would not be writing this!

Also, during the major part of the existence of planet Earth and the evolution of species, there was no air travel (except for air-dispersed species) - many species were isolated and a disease or other natural disaster probably did wipe them out or create an immunity (if the disaster was a pathogen), but only that localised group. That is why successful species disperse.

So the millions of species who may have been wiped out by a virus in the last millions of years are those we know nothing about.

 

i agree with your post! i think science generally agrees there have probably been five major mass extinctions during the history of life on earth occuring roughly every one hundred million years and that perhaps as many as 99 percent of all species perished during those extinctions. perhaps all the more reason to pay attention to the survival strategies of the survivors? and there is apparently growing agreement that we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, this one caused by the human species. hopefully since we all at dumaguete info have dispersed to the philippines we will also be successful. i think my asawa wants to take me to her abrularyo who in turn will take us to the cemetary at midnight tuesday to burn a candle especially intended to protect us from covid. i hope so. i am tired of drinking VCO with my tequela.

 

well i can only say that my experience is that the enforcement of all of the rules is inconsistent at best. every place i go has different rules (or no rules) being enforced, compared to the last place i visited. the main market downtown is almost the same as before covid other than the presence of masks on many faces but probably just as many uncovered or partially covered. my own performance is mostly CYA but respectful of those just trying to do their jobs. in the meantime the economy world wide is going down the big swirly and it simply can't last. vaccines may make a big differenence in attitudes but i wonder if there will be anything left by christmas

 

If you are still thinking masks are not useful then maybe you should watch this