@wineismylife posted:Ben Carson positive now.
Don't worry Ben, just because it affects black people worse than whites, I'm sure you'll be just fine. Ask Herman Cain.
phase 3 trials, prelim look for pfizer study looks great.
And the incompetence of the trump admin still comes back to bite the american public. We gave them 2 billion just to manufacture and distribute the vaccine, but they took nothing for the development of the vaccine. That means a private company owns 100% of the IP to this vaccine but still got a 2 billion tax payers wind fall on a deadly disease that affects millions of people.
If someone had properly strong armed the company, the american public would have been owners of the IP, and then any president can use the defense production act to mass produce the vaccine.
Esper first to be fired! Has already demoted a few others over weekend. The purge has started
New study 1 out of 11 Coronavirus patients wind up back in the hospital.
@flwino posted:Esper first to be fired! Has already demoted a few others over weekend. The purge has started
I really don't understand firing people with 2 months to go. Why bother? In yesterday's Ravens-Colts game, the Colts had the ball deep in Raven territory with 2 seconds to go. The Colts were behind by 14 points. So, with 2 seconds to go, they called time out. Why?
@irwin posted:I really don't understand firing people with 2 months to go. Why bother?
Because he's not leaving and he needs a friendly military to complete the coup.
Biden may need to hire a proctological surgeon to remove the A$$hold out of the W. House.
@The Old Man posted:Because he's not leaving and he needs a friendly military to complete the coup.
Tuesday night massacre at the Pentagon. You may be on to something.
Actually, it's starting to sound like boxes being checked on Putin's "To Do" list.
With the numbers shooting up, maybe we won't need a vaccine after all. We'll either have infected herd immunity or be dead.
NY Times: "Corey Lewandowski, a Trump campaign adviser who has been working on efforts to bring lawsuits contesting the election outcome in several states, tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday, a person briefed on the diagnosis said Thursday."
Couldn't happen to a more deserving person.
I can think of a few others perhaps more deserving.
Spoke to a friend of mine today. He spent 7 weeks in the hospital with Covid-19. 2 months in rehab. Nearly died a few times. Has had ongoing issues, taking him back to the hospital and to the docs for various complications. Still has a large oxygen tank at home, and a smaller portable one when he goes out. 63 years old. He's a sole practitioner lawyer who hasn't been to his office since March. Today he went in to do a few things and to work on closing his office. He can't function as a lawyer anymore, really. Meanwhile, our courts which had sort of opened a bit ago, and actually resumed jury trials a little starting Oct. 5, have now closed down again....No jury trials until 2021 at the earliest.
The head of the ICU at the hospital where my friend was a patient has died of Covid-19.
We are not close to ending this scourge. We might be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is many miles long.
I wonder how WineDrMike is doing. Wasn't he also a victim of this?
could be.
Boy, things look like they are getting real bad. 150,000 or so daily infections. Hospitalizations and death rates are going to increase soon.
Down here in Florida, nothing has changed. I mean nothing. It's business as usual. With a Governor who has already said he will not close things down again. So we are truly on our own.
@Rothko posted:Boy, things look like they are getting real bad. 150,000 or so daily infections. Hospitalizations and death rates are going to increase soon.
Down here in Florida, nothing has changed. I mean nothing. It's business as usual. With a Governor who has already said he will not close things down again. So we are truly on our own.
Not really. God is with you. And the White House Coronavirus task force. 😈
Good news from Moderna about its vaccine. Over 90% effective and doesn't have to be deep-cold stored like Pfizer's. So if two vaccines get approved soon, that should greatly increase the amount of vaccines available.
Now you just have to wait. I feel terrible for all the people who are going to die between now and next spring, when they might have been saved by a vaccine but weren't.
@Rothko posted:Good news from Moderna about its vaccine. Over 90% effective and doesn't have to be deep-cold stored like Pfizer's. So if two vaccines get approved soon, that should greatly increase the amount of vaccines available.
Now you just have to wait. I feel terrible for all the people who are going to die between now and next spring, when they might have been saved by a vaccine but weren't.
To add to this the Moderna vaccine is 94.5% effective. It doesn't require the deep cold storage the Pfizer vaccine does which makes it easier to distribute but it is also a two shot dose 28 days apart. It might also be a required annual vaccine. Not enough data on that point yet.
Over 14,600 new cases in IL in the last day, with 168 deaths.
lock down doesnt work when at least 72 million people in this country don't want to follow guidelines.
Key West back to mandatory mask wearing any time outside home (previously did not have to outside if you could distance)
Of course, thanks to governor, there is no way to enforce as they cannot fine or take any action against individuals for violations.
Not that I care about the movie, but this is quite a shock:
"In a stunning move, Warner Bros. will release its much-anticipated sequel Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max and in U.S. theaters on Dec. 25."
@jcocktosten posted:Key West back to mandatory mask wearing any time outside home (previously did not have to outside if you could distance)
Of course, thanks to governor, there is no way to enforce as they cannot fine or take any action against individuals for violations.
He believes in herd immunity and stupidity
Colleague of mine has 2 employees with + tests. Closing his office for 2 weeks. Friend of mine's daughter and her fiancee just tested positive. Another friend's daughter-in-law got it. These are all youngish people.
Yikes.
The county I live in and the bordering one that I’m a few hundred yards from are both at under 20% hospital bed availability. 
I think the county where I live is at 94 or 95% ICU beds in use.
Like stupid father, like stupid son.
More infected in DOD. Sen. Scott infected - couldn't happen to a better person.
@The Old Man posted:Like stupid father, like stupid son.
I never watch Jimmy Kimmel but this is a pretty good line, “I guess his father finally hugged him."
Got back from Thanksgiving holiday to learn that my neighbor has it bad, and may not make it.
We are in for some bad weeks/months to come.
Postponing Christmas.
Xmas falls this year on 12/25. Actually, every year it is on that date. This year, due to the coronavirus, things are different. Family Thanksgiving dinners did not occur. I believe that after the vaccine is finalized, distributed, and administered, which will take months, you will see large family gatherings and other events to make up for missed opportunity. We Jews have not postponed Passover or Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. But the observance of these days has been markedly different. On Passover, instead of gathering in our homes with large numbers of people, we zoomed. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, instead of gathering in our synagogues, we live streamed. Easter last year was different for Christians and Catholics to be sure.
Now, for me, Christmas has always been little more than a day off from work. My grandparents were married on Christmas in Vienna, because it was a day off from work for everyone, so it was convenient in that regard. So, as a kid, we gathered at home on Christmas every year to celebrate my grandparents' anniversary. Back in 1968, we had a big gathering to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
My proposal is that Christmas be postponed this year until June 25th. Hopefully, by then, large numbers of people will have been vaccinated. And, if not, we can take a page out of the NFL playbook and move Christmas to August 1.
But, you say, how can you celebrate Christmas when it is warm outside? Well, that’s what they do in the Southern Hemisphere. They manage.
Jews use a lunar calendar to set their holidays. Jews have a periodic leap month, which occurs in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of every 19 year cycle so that the holidays stay more or less at the same time of year. So, Rosh Hashanah sometimes is in the earlier part of September, sometimes later in the month. Passover is frequently in March, but sometimes in April, but always in the spring. Christians, following a solar calendar of 365.25 (about) years, have a leap day every fourth year (about) so that the calendar is regularized. But Moslems? They have no leap anything. So, since the lunar year is 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, 34 seconds, they lose around 11 days per year. Thus, their holidays, like Ramadan which requires a fast during daylight hours, can come in the winter, when there is less daylight and thus a shorter fast, or, it can come in the summer when there is a lengthy daylight, and the fast is longer. But, the point is, the Moslems have adjusted to observe their holidays at all different times of year. They seem to do fine with that, though if you ask your friendly Moslem pal, I suppose he prefers Ramadan in the winter.
Think Christmas in June is strange? I would concede that it is. But, is it stranger than a 60 game baseball season, which ends with a spectator less playoff schedule, played in strange places? Is it stranger than the Ravens playing their Thanksgiving night game against the Steelers on the following Wednesday afternoon, thus causing the next game (against Dallas) to be postponed to the next Tuesday? Is it stranger than playing the Masters in November without fans and azaleas? Is it stranger than closing bars at 10PM or not selling the dreaded middle seat on airplanes?
Of course, it is more than a bit obnoxious for me, as a Jewish person, to propose this, particularly since Christmas has no religious or much of any other meaning to me. This would require buy-in from the nation’s Catholic and Christian clergy, even up the food chain to the Pope himself.
But, what would be more 2020, than postponing Christmas until 2021?
@irwin posted:Postponing Christmas.
Xmas falls this year on 12/25. Actually, every year it is on that date. This year, due to the coronavirus, things are different. Family Thanksgiving dinners did not occur. I believe that after the vaccine is finalized, distributed, and administered, which will take months, you will see large family gatherings and other events to make up for missed opportunity. We Jews have not postponed Passover or Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. But the observance of these days has been markedly different. On Passover, instead of gathering in our homes with large numbers of people, we zoomed. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, instead of gathering in our synagogues, we live streamed. Easter last year was different for Christians and Catholics to be sure.
Now, for me, Christmas has always been little more than a day off from work. My grandparents were married on Christmas in Vienna, because it was a day off from work for everyone, so it was convenient in that regard. So, as a kid, we gathered at home on Christmas every year to celebrate my grandparents' anniversary. Back in 1968, we had a big gathering to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
My proposal is that Christmas be postponed this year until June 25th. Hopefully, by then, large numbers of people will have been vaccinated. And, if not, we can take a page out of the NFL playbook and move Christmas to August 1.
But, you say, how can you celebrate Christmas when it is warm outside? Well, that’s what they do in the Southern Hemisphere. They manage.
Jews use a lunar calendar to set their holidays. Jews have a periodic leap month, which occurs in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of every 19 year cycle so that the holidays stay more or less at the same time of year. So, Rosh Hashanah sometimes is in the earlier part of September, sometimes later in the month. Passover is frequently in March, but sometimes in April, but always in the spring. Christians, following a solar calendar of 365.25 (about) years, have a leap day every fourth year (about) so that the calendar is regularized. But Moslems? They have no leap anything. So, since the lunar year is 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, 34 seconds, they lose around 11 days per year. Thus, their holidays, like Ramadan which requires a fast during daylight hours, can come in the winter, when there is less daylight and thus a shorter fast, or, it can come in the summer when there is a lengthy daylight, and the fast is longer. But, the point is, the Moslems have adjusted to observe their holidays at all different times of year. They seem to do fine with that, though if you ask your friendly Moslem pal, I suppose he prefers Ramadan in the winter.
Think Christmas in June is strange? I would concede that it is. But, is it stranger than a 60 game baseball season, which ends with a spectator less playoff schedule, played in strange places? Is it stranger than the Ravens playing their Thanksgiving night game against the Steelers on the following Wednesday afternoon, thus causing the next game (against Dallas) to be postponed to the next Tuesday? Is it stranger than playing the Masters in November without fans and azaleas? Is it stranger than closing bars at 10PM or not selling the dreaded middle seat on airplanes?
Of course, it is more than a bit obnoxious for me, as a Jewish person, to propose this, particularly since Christmas has no religious or much of any other meaning to me. This would require buy-in from the nation’s Catholic and Christian clergy, even up the food chain to the Pope himself.
But, what would be more 2020, than postponing Christmas until 2021?
A very interesting idea and read, thanks. But we need a major holiday in December as the next one is months away - Easter - and the one before that is in October. Winter here is miserable enough (for non-winter enthusiasts like myself) with Christmas, never mind without it!
No, because no one actually knows when Jesus was born. Not only was it probably not Dec. 25, but it almost certainly wasn't the year 0 CE. It is often thought that it relates to the winter solstice (which falls on Dec 21 or 22) and Satualia, a festival dedicated to the Roman deity Saturn. For many decades the Adler Planetarium's most popular sky show was their annual Star of Bethlehem show. I saw this show once. This brochure is not from the one I attended (this from 1953, I'm not that old!) that I found online.
The show ran until 2010. In the show they postulate different occurrences that may have been the "bright star in the east." Everything from a comet the Chinese recorded to of course Venus. Some have suggested a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, which occured like the one we're going to have Dec. 21st. This one was in October of 7 BCE. Also perhaps a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter which occurred--wait for it--June 17th 2 BCE.
All I know is when he died he triggered centuries of gentiles beating up Jews on the way home from school and being asked, "Why did you do it!? Why did you kill Christ!? As Lenny Bruce said, "A lot of people say to me, 'Why did you kill Christ?', I dunno, it was one of those parties, got out of hand, you know."
I think that there is 0% chance that everyone will agree to move Christmas to June. Who makes that decision, anyways? The Pope? The Archbishop of Canterbury? It's an interesting idea, and certainly would save lives, but there is no way that's going to happen.
@Rothko posted:I think that there is 0% chance that everyone will agree to move Christmas to June. Who makes that decision, anyways? The Pope? The Archbishop of Canterbury? It's an interesting idea, and certainly would save lives, but there is no way that's going to happen.
Half the population refuses to wear masks, pause travel and refrain from large gatherings. Good luck with trying to change the behavior of selfish morons.
@Rothko posted:I think that there is 0% chance that everyone will agree to move Christmas to June. Who makes that decision, anyways? The Pope? The Archbishop of Canterbury? It's an interesting idea, and certainly would save lives, but there is no way that's going to happen.
I admit to shopping at home shopping channels on occasion. This year they had Christmas in spring, Christmas in July, Black Friday in September, Christmas Preview in October, Countdown to Christmas in November and Only Blank Remaining Days to Christmas right now. So June, why not?