I could not care less about the one-sided proselytising and unscientific crankery of that cultish little clique.
Last time I checked Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Switzerland (amongst others) were all in Europe.
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Last time I checked Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Switzerland (amongst others) were all in Europe.
Setting aside the arguments of sources with Phoenix, I'd like to prod your brain on this:
Very early in the pandemic, before things were politicized, I recall discussions of mask wearing, where the general message was that professional masks designed to stop fine particles could prevent transmission of a virus through them, while simple cloth masks cant do that, the particles are too small. However, the virus being suspended in moisture, which cloth tends to absorb, gives at least some capacity for cloth masks to slow the spread by catching droplets only if they are cleaned and only for short periods of time. The recommendation therefore being to wear a mask briefly if moving through a crowd or interacting with a vulnerable population, and otherwise either replace it frequently or don't even bother.
It seems to me that understanding of masks cleanly explains the seemingly contradictory results of different tests: immediate physical tests of masks tend to show them working well, even cloth masks. Which makes sense, if they are clean and dry when the test begins. But on a large scale, comparing populations by mask mandates gives little confidence to the idea that they significantly slowed transmission, which makes sense if everyone is just wearing the same dirty masks for long periods of time.
Does my memory and interpretation of events seem plausible to you?
At the beginning of the pandemic, there was data for professional, tested masks. But the effectiveness of cloth masks was questioned a lot. People still agreed that those were better than no mask, but also preferred to leave the professional masks to particularly vulnerable groups. Mask-making guides to improve the quality of self made cloth masks were supplied nontheless.
When time went on, people tested the cloth masks and found them (unsurprisingly) of very varying quality. Crafting skill, the chosen fabric and how the maker chose to balance ease of wear and protection all influenced the results. So they were gradually phased out later.
While i do remember people cautioning that wet cloth masks might be less effective, i don't remember any guidelines ever that told people to wear masks only short term.
Basically you're on the right lines.
The virus floats around in particles in the air. In an enclosed space with infected people, there will be virus present, and the more infected people and the more time people spend in that space, the worse it will be. My way of viewing it is that someone's chance of picking up the virus would probably be similar to a drug dose-response curve, where dose is a combination of virus concentration and length of time of exposure.
The obvious aim of masks is reducing the virus breathed into the air and preventing entry of virus from the air to the lungs (the former believed more important), thus reducing the dose. However, masks are not perfect and someone in a busy, enclosed space for a long time is very likely to become infected irrespective of mask wearing. For this reason, yes, the parameters of the study and activities of its participants may be very important to the result. Test indoor workers in an enclosed place working 7-8 hours a day in and out, masks might turn out to be low effectiveness, even the best ones - at best delaying the inevitable (although that will still slow spread). Test people going to a supermarket for 20-30 mins a day, they might be a lot more so. If almost everyone is sheltering at home and only meeting outdoors, masks may appear useless because there's low transmission. (Although, of course, if one person in a household gets it, the high length of time and enclosed space then applies and everyone in the household gets it, masks or not.)
There's also another factor to consider, which is the amount of virus someone is exposed to. For many illnesses, the higher the viral load, the more severe the symptoms and the more infectious a person is to thers. This is not totally nailed down for covid, but there is plenty of evidence in support. Thus masks may also reduce the healthcare burden that way, too, by reducing the viral load at initial infection.
Other key elements here then include population level behaviour of adherence: the proportion of people who mask up can have a huge effect. 20% masking may be borderline useless, where 70-80% masking may be highly effective. One of the other major problems is that a lot of these studies don't actually know what the adherence is, and in some cases, they are likely not to be good. Imagine a drug trial where a researcher is trying to see the effectiveness of a drug, but a high proportion of the patients aren't actually taking the drug and the researcher doesn't know precisely how many or who. For many drugs, it is doubtful a difference could be seen from placebo even if the drug works. Thus a study can simply be incapable of observing whether it works or not (or at least, not without more participants than is practical to accomplish).
So mask wearing may indeed be of low use in some circumstances, and very useful in others. But if too few people use them, it all but guarantees that they cannot be observed to work.
My issue with the sources Phoenixmgs is relying on is that some of them (e.g. Marty Makary) are just a load of bunk. Mostly, however, they represent a very specific sector of the research community of people heavily into "Evidence-based medicine" (EBM). EBM is based in a series of reasonable beliefs, however, like any set of beliefs, it collapses into absurdity when taken to extremes. And taking to extremes is what these guys do. I am particularly concerned that they have become far too emotionally or ego invested in this, to the point they have ended up doing things like acting as de facto anti-vaxxers. One factor to consider is that being very active in forms of social media, I think they cannot help but be affected consciously or subconsciously by their viewership, including through income such as paid subscriptions on Substack. They are not pulling viewers who are neutral, and it becomes very likely they are tending to push the messages they perceive their audience want to hear.
WTF, Italy! Are you trying to go full Japan and outdo Japan when it comes to groping women and girls on the trains?
Remember that Silvio Berlusconi was Italian prime minister for the better part of two decades.
And also that Italy is home of the Vatican. I'd be surprised if they didn't have some law protecting gropers.
I haven't forgotten, but this is still stupidly shocking to see. This is full boomerang stupidity right here. I wouldn't be surprised to expect a lot of guys fingers from angry parents I ain't going to blame the mommy or daddy the one to kick the teacher or whatever authority figure's ass trying that shit.
The Vatican as illicit-sex-positive ? Unlikely. They might hide gropers to avoid scandal though.
From my pov, it's not shocking at all. The attitudes that allowed an openly corrupt sex pest like Berlusconi to thrive, gain power and then keep it, have not disappeared with him.
They still hide and move around pedophiles; it wouldn't surprise me. Besides, I like to call them hypocrisy thy name is jerkface. It's still enabling or hiding a sexual act, so it fits in my book.
Absent
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The Guardian has an article on it now :
www.theguardian.com
Italian man cleared of assault because grope only lasted ‘between five and 10 seconds’
Judge trying case of caretaker accused of sexually assaulting teenage student rules grope too fleeting to be a crime
www.theguardian.com
Ah yes, truly a microcosm of American political discourse. Two old men farting into microphones after callnig each other "fucking isane" over their various views of Climate Change:
[10:21 AM]
www.thedailybeast.com
[10:21 AM]
A Gigantic Fart Derailed RFK Jr.’s NYC Press Dinner: Report
RFK Jr.’s event devolved into a shouting match between geezers and ended with a prolonged bout of flatulence.
Dude one of the few things I liked about Spiderverse was the Gwen/Miles not "will they/won't they" but "seriously come the fuck on, everyone notices within 5 seconds of meeting you two" relationship. Like it really drove the story, way more so that the overly convoluted multiverse police thing.
Like I do love some of the other Spiderman variants, but the third movie could just be Miles and Gwen trying to get back to one another and trying to make a relationship work, and I'll totally be there for it.
Like Im not all for romances, but when its done well and you can actually buy the chemistry, man set sail, get that ship in the water. I don't often say this but Im glad this isn't in the MCU, because Disney has a real bad track record of canceling inter-racial relationships to appeal to the oh my god you make the Nazis look like boy scouts racism and xenophobia of the Chinese censors.
Also Gwen is trans? Or at least that's what all my trans friends say, and I dunno, that wasn't really in the text of the movie. Reminds me of people thinking Velma is some sex goddess, despite never showing that in any of the Scooby Doo shows. Wishful thinking and fanfic fodder.
Korey mentions that during the last 10 minutes of the video, so we all agree. I was glad from the very beginning that these movies aren't tied to the MCU, aside from cameos and in-jokes. Here's hoping Deadpool 3 does the same thing.
Gwen is not trans, but support trans rights. In the background of her room, and on Captain Stacy's uniform, she has a support trans rights flag on her wall, while her father has the pin variation on his uniform.
Pretty much. But the whole Velma is either lesbian or sex goddess has been building since the late 70s and early 80s.
From what I've heard, and you won't like this, is Deadpool 3 is 100% MCU. Remember in Deadpool 2 he goes around at the end killing alternate Ryans from bad movies, like the one from Green Lantern or the weird Deadpool from Wolverine?
Yeah apparently that triggers an investigation by the TVA into Deadpool's time/space shenanigans, and the movie involves Morbius recruiting Deadpool to fight in some universe where Magneto has taken over the world as a result of Deadpool's shenanigans, and wibbly wobbly space magic happens, and Deadpool gets stranded in the MCU at the end.