Drew Dowdell

The New York Post is a trash tabloid, but even then, the quotes are telling "half the nurses in the facility would not get the vaccine, citing political reasons." and "Survey respondents leaning against taking the vaccine said, among other reasons, that they were concerned how politics influenced the development of the vaccine". Also, that article is from December 30th, just a few weeks after the vaccine had been released. How about some up to date data, no? FALSE: The pandemic is not winding down. There are spikes again in a number of major cities including my own. ALSO FALSE - The administration has not changed testing procedures at the boarder. Anyone caught by CBP is held for 72 hours while they are tested. This is carry over policy from the previous administration. Biden Hasn't Reduced COVID-19 Testing at the Border - FactCheck.org - Lots of sources at the bottom too. But you're getting dangerously close to bumping into the No Politics rule. You've already used your final opportunity on that one. So move on from that point. ALSO FALSE - It is being well documented, however the full extent of the greater benefit is not yet fully known. ‘Natural Immunity’ From Covid Is Not Safer Than a Vaccine - The New York Times (nytimes.com) "Early evidence suggests that the Covid-19 vaccines may fall into this category. Volunteers who received the Moderna shot had more antibodies — one marker of immune response — in their blood than did people who had been sick with Covid-19." If you follow that link in the quote, it will take you to the NEJM where it will state in the report that people who had Covid-19 had 80% effectiveness while the vaccines have ~95% effectiveness. 80% < 95% Not my opinion... take it up with the New England Journal of Medicine, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the 31 doctors that worked on the study. If you think you're more qualified to make an assessment than those doctors and organizations, please provide some credential so we know it's not just your opinion.

That's actually a lower rate than the article from Israel that I quoted, so I'm not sure why you think that helps your argument. And all it is saying is that the vaccine didn't protect everyone. We KNOW that. We knew it going into it. Vaccines rarely ever protect everyone and there is nearly always someone who is unable to take a vaccine for other health reasons. That is why it is so important for those of us who can take the vaccine to take the vaccine... to protect those who can't. That is the only ethical way we get to herd immunity. If 80% of people out there take the vaccine, this pandemic is over. By not taking it, you're only helping to extend it longer. Even if you had covid, you are not as protected from the virus or variants as you are if you took the vaccine.

I did... here's is a quote from one of them.... 271 out of 3,387,340 people got severely infected with Covid after being vaccinated (and we don't have any information on their underlying health conditions, so they could all be obese diabetics for all we know), and of those, 99 still died (but again, the article doesn't give info... did they die from Covid or were they already compromised in some way with severe co-morbities?) 0.2% of those vaccinated caught the virus, 2% of those people or 0.000029% of the total vaccinated, died. Only 0.00021% of those who were vaccinated caught covid and got serious illness. You don't get much more of a sure thing in risk management of any sort, in the world of vaccines, this is a grand slam hit out of the park success. By comparison, the Flu vaccine is between 40% and 60% effective depending on the strain in a given year. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are ~95% effective. All numbers came from your article in the last link. I consider that one to be one of the best because Israel has by-far the highest Covid vaccination rate of any country, so I consider its data to be the most revealing.

My contribution to Easter Dinner. My entire pod is fully vaccinated now so we were able to gather for the first time in a year. Strawberry cheesecake, everything is homemade.

The reason they are still telling people to mask even if they’ve been vaccinated is that you can be an asymptomatic carrier. So even if your aren’t ill, you can carry the virus for a time and if you sneeze, say for seasonal allergies, you can spread the virus. That isn’t a reason to not get vaccinated. If the odds of winning a roll of the dice were 95% in a casino, I’ll take that bet every single time. Even if I hit the 5% and lose, I can roll again in 90 days. Risk assessment has been part of my job for over a decade and a half.

That is expected. The flu shot has a lower effectiveness than the Covid shot. None of the vaccines are expected to be 100%. However the vaccine is effective that even if you’re vaccinated and still get it you don’t end up in the hospital. so that is a major improvement over dying. That’s the point of the vaccine, to prevent mortality. That’s why getting the vaccine is important even with the variants.

Different markets. The Rivian prioritizes range over ultimate power. Also there is a big difference in size.

A lot of the Covid deniers will point to the survival rate (while also pointing at the wrong number), but survival does not equal recovery. People survive cancer all the time, but they are often not able to do the things they once did. My old boss was a multi-time cancer survivor (it did get him eventually) but even when he was in remission he was relegated to a lifetime of medications that had side effects and he couldn’t take the stairs going up because he no longer had adrenal glands. So yeah, he survived cancer for a time, but he never recovered. The same is happening to people who get Covid.

And the case of the Uglies rolls on with EVs. Why does every EV have to be so god damn ugly!?! I like the numbers from the power train, but the car could be powered by the risen Jesus pedaling hard and I still wouldn’t drive that thing. So far, the only EVs I think look decent are the Audi, Porsche, and Volvo/Polestar. The Rivians look great. The BMW, MB, Hummer, and Bolt all look ugly or dorky. The Teslas and Jaguar are meh. If the Cadillacs stay close to concept they should look pretty good, but Cadillac has a habit or producing gorgeous concepts and then dumbing them down a lot for production.

I have friends in Boulder Colorado who got it very early in the pandemic, just before things started getting locked down. They were sick for a month and pulled through, however a year later they still have after effects. This is a very healthy couple who would get out and exercise regularly and go hiking in the mountains. These days they get winded climbing up the one flight of stairs to their apartment. As far as I know they haven’t had any chest X-rays, but there’s plenty of evidence that they’ve suffered long term/permanent lung damage. They’re the same age as me.

@USA-1 your strong immune system could very well be your undoing if you were to catch Covid. Many of the young healthy people who died did so because their immune system over reacted and flooded their lungs with mucus and inflamed air passages too much in an attempt to fight the virus. You are correct that mRNA vaccines have not been widely used like this before, but they are not untested. The vaccine itself is out of your system within a few days of each shot, removed by your immune system. While using mRNA is a new technique for creating immune response, that’s where the novelty of it ends. Once your body recognizes it as an intruder, the immune process works the same as any other vaccine or even just being infected. And because the vaccine is expelled within days by the body, there is no reason to assume any long term side effects. Think of mRNA as the 3D Printing of the vaccine world. Once the composition of a virus’s spike protein is known, we now have the ability to isolate just the DNA that creates just that spike protein. With today’s technology, that means a vaccine can be developed for a specific virus within weeks to months instead of years. The implications of mRNA vaccines are huge. While we’ve all been talking about just COVID-19, scientists are already looking at using this technology for scores of other diseases such as cancer. This has been a breakthrough as big or bigger than antibiotics and we’re seeing the beginning of it. mRNA vaccines won’t work for all types of viruses, but it will work for a lot of common ones. I imagine in a few years once the focus on Covid has died down, there will be vaccines for the common cold. And because the technology is akin to 3D printing, the new vaccines will be relatively cheap to produce as well. The data so far shows that people who have been vaccinated have significantly higher antibody levels than those who got Covid, so even if you had it before you are not as well protected as someone who got their shots. The only people who died from the shot were either in extremely frail health and should not have been vaccinated in the first place or people who have severe allergic reactions to an unrelated ingredient in the vaccine. People who experience certain kinds of allergies are instructed not to get the Moderna or Pfizer shots. The J&J shot has a significantly lower rate of allergic reaction, but also lower protection from the virus. There are only 2 big question marks that will only be answered with time. 1. Will we need to get boosters to combat against variants? So far the data shows that while you may not be completely protected from a new variant, having the vaccine does prevent the illness from becoming serious enough to cause hospitalization and completely prevents death from the virus. So for now, getting the shots is worthwhile even with the variants out there. I will get the Moderna variants booster if/when it becomes available and needed. We have to do this with influenza every year, so it’s no big deal. 2. The other question mark is on how long immunity lasts. Most vaccines require booster shots after a period of years. The MMR vaccine is usually given to children, but for people my age and older they’re finding that the body forgets how to make the antibodies after a bunch of years for the vaccine that was being used in the early 80s when I got mine. There is a newer MMR shot that is supposed to improve on that which children are getting these days. I got a booster for MMR a couple years ago because I had the old vaccine. A few years ago I talked to my doctor and had him put me on a schedule to get boosters of anything and everything I might need because I was traveling internationally regularly. But the risk of the body forgetting how to make antibodies is present for nearly all vaccines, so while we do not have data yet on when boosters for Covid-19 might be needed, I’m just assuming they will be needed eventually in order to maintain immunity. I do hope you’ll reconsider and eventually get the shot USA.

Gas cap loose?

Without vaccines, “herd immunity” is just another way of saying “the weak shall perish”. These vaccines have been in development for over a decade and that’s the only reason they were done so quickly. They were trying to develop a vaccine for common cold viruses and the work they did for that translated directly into a Covid-19 vaccine. I would expect CDC guidance to change as the situation changes and new things are learned, that’s just common sense. My whole pod is vaccinated now, so we’re able to gather as a family for the first time since last year for Easter. So far, the vaccine is proving to be effective against severe illness when someone is infected with the variants. I expect all of those who get vaccinated will need boosters at some point. I get my flu vaccine every year, I’ll get the Covid one as often as needed.

So that second pair is pretty close to what I’d buy if I got LEDs because they look pretty close to OEM. However, I think this set might also look awesome given the horizontal theme on my front end. Four horizontal DRLs might look awesome.

If one person tailgates you, they’re a douchebag. If a whole line of cars is tailgating you, you’re the douchebag.

Wrong year, I need the sealed beam style. I ended up buying the Philips Crystal Visions. $54 for all 4 bulbs. I’ll run them for a while and if I don’t like them I’ll get the Philips LED version. I didn’t go with them this time around because they’re $86 per bulb plus tax and shipping on RockAuto. I don’t remember the last time I changed the halogens on the Toronado and halogen bulbs lose brightness over time. So it might just be age.

I’m not finding and LED retrofits that I like, so I may try those.

Name: Oldsmobile Toronado Category: Vehicles Date Added: 2021-04-02 Submitter: Drew Dowdell Oldsmobile Toronado So as I mentioned in another thread, I’m trying to keep the truck parked for a while and only drive the Toronado. As I was driving home last night I noticed how dim the sealed beams are. I have LEDs on the truck and active HIDs on the Chrysler. I think I need to find an LED retrofit for the Toronado just for safety reasons.

Buns

That’s..... not supposed to happen

About as subtle as a hemorrhoid

I don’t know who that guy is but he looks one spare rib dinner away from a heart attack.

The day we are reminded what we are the other 364.

I qualified because I’m management in an organization with first responders. Albert had to wait a bit longer but eventually he got qualified because he is taking care of his parents. He got his second shot today of Pfizer. He says he’s feeling fine but I’ve caught him napping today. ( he’s off today) my best friend qualified under the BMI rule which is ridiculously low. He’s a weight trainer so he’s not actually obese but his BMI qualified him.

I have an ION I bought from @Paolino a bunch of years ago. Software support for it is virtually nil now. Instead of trying to get the ion software to work, download Audacity for free and use the record player as a Mic input. It will save hours of frustration.