The Hollywood Reporter revealed today that a 20-year deal between Marvel, Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment — the intellectual property company Lee started in 2001 — will allow Marvel to license the name and likeness of Lee. He could be inserted in feature films via CGI, Disney theme parks or various "experiences" and merchandise.
"It really ensures that Stan, through digital technology and archival footage and other forms, will live in the most important venue, the Marvel movies, and Disney theme parks," Andy Heyward, chairman and CEO of Genius Brands told the pub. "It's a broad deal."
"...the deep searing hatred of free speech, free association and freedom of ideas reveals itself every time." floppy cameltron, 2018
Friday, May 20, 2022
This is disgraceful: CGI Stan Lee cameos.
Netflix lays off 150 Wokesters.
Netflix's recent axing of 150 staff targeted many of the firm's wokest workers who are prolific social justice warriors on social media.
The struggling streaming service has pulled the plug on several projects that were aimed at discussing race and LGBTQ issues, Variety reported, and axed the diverse employees working on and promoting them.
In addition to the layoffs, the company also fired nearly 70 employees working for its social media and publishing teams focused on marginalized communities.
They included Strong Black Lead, the Asian American-focused Golden, the Latino-focused Con Todo, and the LGBTQ-focused Most.
Netflix claimed its latest layoffs were due to 'a slow down in revenue and decline in subscribers.' But they represented just 150 of the firm's 11,000 staff, sparking speculation that a purge of meddlesome woke staff was afoot.
One of the things going for Netflix is their data capture. They know exactly what subscribers watch, what they start watching and then drop, what they fast-forward past, what time of day they watch, pretty much everything. So they KNOW what is working and what isn't.Netflix has also scrapped a host of woke shows - the most famous of which is Meghan Markle's doomed animation Pearl, about a socially-conscious girl said to have been based on Meghan herself.
Other scrapped projects included Antiracist Baby and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, two adaptions by Critical Race Theory expert Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, as well as a kids' fantasy series Wings of Fire from executive producer Ava DuVernay, and the children's film With Kind Regards From Kindergarten.
The most notable of the scrapped works was Antiracist Baby, based on Kendi's book of the same name, which had been envisioned as a series of animated vignettes set to music and intended to explore racism in America.
Netflix had previously said that the show would 'leverage the power of earwormy songs to empower kids and their caregivers with simple tools to uproot racism in ourselves and society.'
Also cancelled was a documentary written by Kendi, titled Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, which was aimed at teens and young adults.
Netflix is still proceeding with a third Kendi project aimed at adults, titled Stamped From the Beginning.
Also scrapped was the kids' fantasy series Wings of Fire, based on the book series by Tui T. Sutherland's, which would have seen famed black filmmaker Ava DuVernay as an executive producer.
Although a fantasy story, Wings of Fire explores themes of racism and prejudice through its fictional world.
Another project, which was revealed to be a film adaption of Adam Kline's With Kind Regard from Kindergarten, was also cancelled by Netflix.
Friday, May 13, 2022
Gaslighting: a textbook example.
Wait, what? I've read almost all of Tolkien. I've watched every Star Trek series. I've read some of Ringworld, and in general, I devoured science fiction. What on Earth are these fans so upset about? What am I missing here? I decided last night to do a little bit of looking, and I regret some of the time I sacrificed but it certainly left me with some thoughts. I can always tell things are going wrong when people use terms like "woke" which is just one of those right-wing slurs that they use to replace "compassionate" or "reasonable" it seems.
Wow, this response is not in any way kidding. YouTube videos are attacking diversity left and right, offended that Black actors have roles in science fiction and fantasy when the roles were not specifically played by white actors or noted as being white in the book, novel, or previous filmed version. The hatred at times is pretty intense:
What I was reminded of reading through this was a moment I particularly enjoyed from maybe my favorite series of Star Trek, Deep Space Nine.
The heart of all science fiction has been to understand each other, to venture into what could be, what is, and how things can be better or worse. My dad is far from being a progressive; hell, as far as it goes politically, we don't agree on a lot. But we both love science fiction, despite his mixed reviews on the newest variants. As a kid, if I asked him he would have said without a hesitation that Star Trek 2, 4, and 6 were the best movies. What themes were in them? Environmentalism. Genetic engineering and privilege. Profiteering off of war.
I hate to break it to all of the fan boys who think they should be upset at the casting of shows: You have it all absolutely wrong. That isn't to say I'm going to love the new Amazon series, or that I thought their Ringworld series was the best—it was okay in my opinion—but it is to say that the criticism over companies making science fiction woke? That this is so new it never happened before?
First reported by Variety, Netflix has added a section on "Artistic Expression," that commits to allowing audience members make their own choices.
"We program for a diversity of audiences and tastes," the statement reads. "And we let viewers decide what's appropriate for them, versus having Netflix censor specific artists or voices. "
The memo goes on to say that employees may have to work on content that they "perceive as harmful," warning that if this is difficult for them to accomplish, "Netflix may not be the best place for you."
Monday, May 09, 2022
Remember when Dr. Who was fun?
Doctor Who's newest incarnation has been announced. Replacing Jodie Whittaker — and becoming the 14th Doctor Who — is 29-year-old Netflix star Ncuti Gatwa.
Saturday, April 30, 2022
Diagnosis of Western Elites: Nihilist Lunatics
So, Professor Brenner, tell us what buzzsaw you ran into when you dared raise some serious questions about a foreign policy matter.
MB: Yes, it came only partially as a surprise. I've been writing these commentaries and distributing them to a personal list of roughly 5,000 for more than a decade. Some of those persons are abroad, most are in the U.S.; they're all educated people who've been involved one way or another with international affairs, including quite a number who have had experience in and around government or journalism or the world of punditry.
What happened on this occasion was that I had expressed highly skeptical views about what I believe is the fictional story line of what has been happening in Ukraine, back over the past year and most pointedly in regard to the acute crisis that has arisen with the Russian invasion and attack on Ukraine. I received not only an unusually large number of critical replies, but it was the nature of them that was deeply dismaying.
One, many—most of them came from people whom I know, whom I knew as level-headed, sober minds, engaged and well informed on foreign policy issues and international matters generally. Second, they were highly personalized, and I had rarely been the object of that sort of criticism or attack—sort of ad hominem remarks questioning my patriotism; had I been paid by Putin; my motivations, my sanity, et cetera.
In other words, he was getting the Trump treatment!
Third was the extremity of the content of these hostile messages. And the last characteristic, which really stunned me, was that these people bought into—hook, line and sinker—every aspect of the sort of fictional story that has been propagated by the administration, accepted and swallowed whole by the media and our political-intellectual class, which includes many academics and the entire galaxy of Washington think tanks.
And that's an impression that had been growing for some time, that this was not a dialogue. It was, in effect, to launch one's thoughts into a void. A void, because the discourse as it has crystalized is not only uniform, but it is in so many respects senseless, lacking any kind of inner logic, whether you agree with the premises and the formally stated objectives or not.
In effect, this was intellectual and political nihilism. And one cannot correct that simply by conventional means. So I felt for the first time that I was no part of this world, and of course this is also a reflection of trends and attitudes that have become rather pervasive in the country at large, sort of over time. And so beyond simply disagreeing with what the consensus is, I had become totally alienated. And I decided there was no point to distributing these commentaries. That's essentially it, Robert.
This is essentially what one sees broadly across social media/blogs etc. on a wide variety of subjects from self defense to energy to foreign policy. There is The Approved View of the day/week/month/year, and then there are all the other views, which are to be deplored. Thus we get to the place where American (and European!) foreign policy is playing chicken with the Russians when the Americans have no interests at play. They're doing a wheelie while playing chicken.Would Russia have invaded Ukraine if Trump was still president? Maybe? Or more likely, Trump would have brokered a deal with Putin. Just like the other deals he made all over the place. He made deals with everybody. It worked.
One of the things most alarming about the DemocRat Blue-Check media crowd is the way they keep screaming for the USA to get in there and end that war right now. No wondering how it started, just screaming they want a US imposed No Fly Zone. They want the US to send tanks and artillery and lots of stuff to the Ukrainians. They want Germany to armor up and face down those Russians. Not one of them seems to be thinking about making a deal with the Russians. The Russians who have nukes.Yes, the Russians have nukes. They have short-range artillery fired nukes, they have mid-range truck-mobile missile nukes, they have ICBM nukes that can reach out and touch Nebraska from the middle of Siberia. They have suitcase nukes, from what I recall after the Soviet Union fell. Defectors talked about them.
Rule Number One of diplomacy used to be "Do not fuck with the guy who has nukes." But here they are, fucking with him. Daring him. As if it doesn't matter what the Russians want, or what they do. As if they don't care that Putin might nuke Kiev just to show the Americans that they better smarten up and stop screwing around.
He could really do that. Like, right now. Hell, he could nuke the USA. Just like in the old days, when the air raid siren would blow, and you'd wonder if you were going to die in 15 minutes. I remember one time the siren went off, and I went to sit out in the park. I figured if the Soviets were going to blow us to Hell, I'd be better off vaporized than dying of radiation poisoning after a month or a year of suffering.You assholes are cheering for this to happen. I can see you doing it. If I don't die in a nuclear war, I'll remember.
Thursday, April 28, 2022
Elon: I'm buying Twitter! DHS: hold my beer...
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Proof of life post.
The Phantom remains, I just haven't felt moved to post anything from the news lately.
So, still alive and kicking. Yay.
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Shang-Chi vs. Will Smith
According to an ACE announcement, Liu, Zhang and Munteanu will be available for celebrity photo ops and in-person autographs on June 4 at Awesome Con at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The announcement also noted, however, that the actors would not be signing any comic books deemed offensive, particularly Marvel Comics' original "Shang-Chi" run from 1974-83.
"Simu Liu will not sign any Master of Kung Fu comics or other comics deemed offensive," the note read. "All autographs from Simu will be signed in English only."
Shang-Chi first appeared in the 1973 comic book "Special Marvel Edition" issue No. 15, created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin. It went through a title change two issues later to become "The Hands of Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu."
While it featured an East Asian protagonist, the series was ripe with "yellow peril" tropes, most notably in the form of the hero's father, Fu Manchu, a fictional cultural icon who has been deemed by many as "yellow peril incarnate."
First, it is a slap in the face to fans, some of whom might really have a copy of Master of Kung Fu they were willing to pay $150 to have autographed. Why is Shang Chi even a thing in the first place? Those comics. They were pretty good.
Thursday, March 24, 2022
European gun control, 2022 version.
WARSAW, Poland — Scared that Russian President Vladimir Putin will eventually target them, Polish civilians, many of them women, are flocking to gun ranges so they can learn how to shoot Glocks and AK-47s.
The number of people coming to shoot guns has tripled at Strzelnica Warszawianka, a gun range and shooting school in the Polish capital Warsaw that's tucked in a basement underneath a swimming pool, since the war erupted, one instructor told VICE World News.
Wow. How unexpected. Who could have seen that coming?
In Poland, gun laws are fairly strict, so owning one isn't easy: it takes months to go through all the prerequisite background checks, and some firearms have to be registered with police. But Chewiński said Poland's government will likely loosen the restriction soon, which will make owning a gun easier. "Of course to access weapons you'll have to get psychiatric clearance. You can't just show your ID and buy a weapon," he said.
Tuesday, March 22, 2022
The Ivory Tower: wrath demon or succubus?
Now, the politicization and tribalism of campus life have crowded out old-fashioned expectations about justice and neutrality. The imperatives of race, gender and identity are more important to more and more law students than due process, the presumption of innocence, and all the norms and values at the foundation of what we think of as the rule of law.
Critics of those values are nothing new, of course, and certainly they are not new at elite law schools. Critical race theory, as it came to be called in the 1980s, began as a critique of neutral principles of justice. The argument went like this: Since the United States was systemically racist—since racism was baked into the country's political, legal, economic and cultural institutions—neutrality, the conviction that the system should not seek to benefit any one group, camouflaged and even compounded that racism. The only way to undo it was to abandon all pretense of neutrality and to be unneutral.
At first, the conventional wisdom held that this was "just a few college kids"—a few spoiled snowflakes—who would "grow out of it" when they reached the real world and became serious people. That did not happen. Instead, the undergraduates clung to their ideas about justice and injustice. They became medical students and law students. Then 2020 happened.
All of sudden, critical race theory was more than mainstream in America's law schools. It was mandatory.
Starting this Fall, Georgetown Law School will require all students to take a class "on the importance of questioning the law's neutrality" and assessing its "differential effects on subordinated groups," according to university documents obtained by Common Sense. UC Irvine School of Law, University of Southern California Gould School of Law, Yeshiva University's Cardozo School of Law, and Boston College Law School have implemented similar requirements. Other law schools are considering them.
As of last month, the American Bar Association is requiring all accredited law schools to "provide education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism," both at the start of law school and "at least once again before graduation." That's in addition to a mandatory legal ethics class, which must now instruct students that they have a duty as lawyers to "eliminate racism." (The American Bar Association, which accredits almost every law school in the United States, voted 348 to 17 to adopt the new standard.)
Trial verdicts that do not jibe with the new politics are seen as signs of an inextricable hate—and an illegitimate legal order. At the Santa Clara University School of Law, administrators emailed students that the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse—the 17-year-old who killed two men and wounded another during a riot, in Kenosha, Wisconsin—was "further evidence of the persistent racial injustice and systemic racism within our criminal justice system." At UC Irvine, the university's chief diversity officer emailed students that the acquittal "conveys a chilling message: Neither Black lives nor those of their allies' matter." (He later apologized for having "appeared to call into question a lawful trial verdict.")
Professors say it is harder to lecture about cases in which accused rapists are acquitted, or a police officer is found not guilty of abusing his authority. One criminal law professor at a top law school told me he's even stopped teaching theories of punishment because of how negatively students react to retributivism—the view that punishment is justified because criminals deserve to suffer.
"I got into this job because I liked to play devil's advocate," said the tenured professor, who identifies as a liberal. "I can't do that anymore. I have a family."
Other law professors—several of whom asked me not to identify their institution, their area of expertise, or even their state of residence—were similarly terrified.
Nadine Strossen, the first woman to head the American Civil Liberties Union and a professor at New York Law School, told me: "I massively self-censor. I assume that every single thing that is said, every facial gesture, is going to be recorded and potentially disseminated to the entire world. I feel as if I am operating in a panopticon."
This has all come as a shock to many law professors, who had long assumed that law schools wouldn't cave to the new orthodoxy.
Famed North Korean defector Yeonmi Park offered a chilling account of her time at Columbia University, saying that not even North Korea went to the level of brainwashing that she witnessed.
Speaking with Fox News, Park became increasingly dismayed with the cost of an education that amounted to little more than what she described as indoctrination.
"I expected that I was paying this fortune, all this time and energy, to learn how to think. But they are forcing you to think the way they want you to think," she said. "I realized, wow, this is insane. I thought America was different but I saw so many similarities to what I saw in North Korea that I started worrying."
Like in North Korea, Park said she witnessed example after example of anti-Western sentiment and guilt-tripping. During her orientation, for instance, a staff member scolded her for liking classic literature.
"I said 'I love those books.' I thought it was a good thing," Park said of her orientation. "Then she said, 'Did you know those writers had a colonial mindset? They were racists and bigots and are subconsciously brainwashing you.'"
It seems very clear that elite colleges discriminate against Asian-American students, and that the Supreme Court is going to find this. (One expert said no discrimination would result in around 65% Asian-American admits.) The fact that this has been so tolerated speaks volumes. Stopping standardized tests -- which are imperfect and correlated with socioeconomic status -- seems to be bad. Other items like the personal essay are surely more correlated and more hackable. I'm all for looking at test scores in context, but dropping entirely denies opportunity. (I wonder if this is correlated to the earthquake coming when colleges can no longer discriminate against Asian-American students.)
Wednesday, March 09, 2022
No one is listening to your tweets.
Why it matters: The rising power and prominence of the nation's loudest, meanest voices obscures what most of us personally experience: Most people are sane and generous — and too busy to tweet.
Reality check: It turns out, you're right. We dug into the data and found that, in fact, most Americans are friendly, donate time or money, and would help you shovel your snow. They are busy, normal and mostly silent.
- 75% of people in the U.S. never tweet.
- On an average weeknight in January, just 1% of U.S. adults watched primetime Fox News (2.2 million). 0.5% tuned into MSNBC (1.15 million).
- Nearly three times more Americans (56%) donated to charities during the pandemic than typically give money to politicians and parties (21%).
Friday, February 25, 2022
New class divide at work in Trucker's convoy?
While much has been made of the "working class" and its alienation from "the elite," this phrasing comes with associations about material wealth and economic class that aren't necessarily helpful. Many of those who support "populist" politics in opposition to the elite tend to be relatively solidly middle class, while many a starving artist supports the establishment Left. The character of one's work and lifestyle seems to shape the common values of each side of the class divide more than income does.
Consider instead two main classes of people in society, who tend to navigate and interact with the world in fundamentally different ways. The first are those people who work primarily in the real, physical world. Maybe they work directly with their hands, like a carpenter, or a mechanic, or a farmer. Or maybe they are only a step away: they own or manage a business where they organize and direct employees who work with their hands and buy or sell or move things around in the real world, like a transport logistics company. This class necessarily works in a physical location or owns or operates physical assets central to its trade.
The second class of people is different. They are, relatively speaking, a civilizational innovation. They don't interact much with the physical world directly; they are handlers of knowledge.
For simplicity's sake, let's call these two classes the Physicals and the Virtuals, respectively. This division maps closely onto another much-discussed political wedge: the geographic split between cities, where most of the Virtuals are concentrated, and the outlying exurbs and rural hinterlands, where the Physicals remain predominant. No coincidence that partisan differences between urban metropolitan cores and provinces have become one of the defining features of politics across the Western democratic world.
This makes a certain amount of sense when driving past it at 30mph. The age-old divide between the landed class and those who work the land, reframed as knowledge-wranglers vs. knuckle-busters. Latte sippers vs. trucker, with the latte set sitting firmly in the political driver's seat.
For the Virtual elite, the most unforgivable thing about the Physicals and their grimy world is that they stubbornly refuse to yield to full, frictionless control. Virtuals are increasingly most comfortable in a purely virtual environment—one where they can have direct, instantaneous control over (virtual) matter. Real matter is stubbornly resistant, a reminder that the self doesn't control the universe, and that they are vulnerable, even mortal.
The guys in charge of stuff like Amazon, WalMart, Google, General Motors, Bank of Canada etc. really, really want to get rid of those deplorables from their supply chains. They're willing to kill people to get it done. They'd be more than happy to send -existing- self-driving technology out into the world, stitched into existing 18-wheelers, and simply accept the resulting carnage as the cost of doing business. They don't care if it results in better command and control success for them.
Exhibit A, the truckers. The truckers are the guys impacted by control policies imposed by a central authority that has no idea what the result of their policy will be. Worse than that, they really don't care. The creation and roll-out of the policy was their whole interest in the matter, what happens as a result is not their problem.
One more idiotic policy did not seem like a big deal to force down the trucker's throats. The suits back in Ottawa didn't think twice, they mandated Covid-19 vaxx to anybody crossing the border. No jab, no job, rednecks. Shut up and get your shot.
Monday, February 14, 2022
Trudeau invokes Emergency Act.
Friday, February 11, 2022
GiveSendGo defies Ontario. And the cops are "visiting" on-line supporters of the Freedom Convoy.
Know this! Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo. All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns, not least of which is The Freedom Convoy campaign.
Are you kidding me? Randomly driving around the last two weeks I've seen a lot of Normies out there with Canadian flags hanging off the backs of their pickup trucks. Lawn signs supporting the convoy. Tractors dressed up with flags and signs sitting in front of the Tim Horton's on Highway 3 in the Middle of Nowhere Ontario. This is not some little Antifa rent-a-mob bussed in to break windows. They finally pissed off the Normies. All those people who don't pay attention to the news and don't care about anything but home and job, they're PISSED. And they are letting the government know that they're pissed. That's what this is.
Wednesday, February 09, 2022
Summation of the Freedom Convoy in one cartoon.
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
CDC says: Natural immunity to Corona is a thing.
Summary
What is already known about this topic?
Data are limited regarding the risks for SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization after COVID-19 vaccination and previous infection.
What is added by this report?
During May–November 2021, case and hospitalization rates were highest among persons who were unvaccinated without a previous diagnosis. Before Delta became the predominant variant in June, case rates were higher among persons who survived a previous infection than persons who were vaccinated alone. By early October, persons who survived a previous infection had lower case rates than persons who were vaccinated alone.
What are the implications for public health practice?
Although the epidemiology of COVID-19 might change as new variants emerge, vaccination remains the safest strategy for averting future SARS-CoV-2 infections, hospitalizations, long-term sequelae, and death. Primary vaccination, additional doses, and booster doses are recommended for all eligible persons. Additional future recommendations for vaccine doses might be warranted as the virus and immunity levels change.
Friday, January 21, 2022
Another "CBD prevents COVID" study.
Cannabidiol—the non-psychoactive cannabis compound better known as CBD—is a potent blocker of SARS-CoV-2 replication in human cells, new research shows. Not only that, but a survey of real-world patients taking prescribed CBD found a "significant" negative relationship between CBD consumption and COVID-19 infection.
As detailed in a paper published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances by a team of 33 researchers at the University of Chicago and University of Louisville, a survey of 1,212 U.S. patients taking prescribed CBD found that people taking 100 milligrams-per-milliliter oral doses of CBD returned positive COVID-19 tests at much lower rates than control groups with similar medical backgrounds who did not take CBD.
What's interesting to me here is not the actual science. But here's the abstract anyway.
The spread of SARS-CoV-2 and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need for new treatments. Here we report that cannabidiol (CBD) inhibits infection of SARS-CoV-2 in cells and mice. CBD and its metabolite 7-OH-CBD, but not THC or other congeneric cannabinoids tested, potently block SARS-CoV-2 replication in lung epithelial cells. CBD acts after viral entry, inhibiting viral gene expression and reversing many effects of SARS-CoV-2 on host gene transcription. CBD inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication in part by up-regulating the host IRE1 RNase endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response and interferon signaling pathways. In matched groups of human patients from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative, CBD (100 mg/ml oral solution per medical records) had a significant negative association with positive SARS-CoV-2 tests. This study highlights CBD as a potential preventative agent for early-stage SARS-CoV-2 infection and merits future clinical trials. We caution against use of non-medical formula-tions including edibles, inhalants or topicals as a preventative or treatment therapy at the present time.
Thursday, January 20, 2022
CDC says cloth masks don't work on Covid.
Oh? Some are better than others? Tell me more, CDC.Summary of Recent Changes
- Added information to present similar content for masks and respirators
- Clarified that people can choose respirators such as N95s and KN95s, including removing concerns related to supply shortages for N95s
- Clarified that "surgical N95s" are a specific type of respirator that should be reserved for healthcare settings
- Clarified that some types of masks and respirators provide more protection to the wearer than others
Key Messages:
- Masking is a critical public health tool for preventing spread of COVID-19, and it is important to remember that any mask is better than no mask.
- To protect yourself and others from COVID-19, CDC continues to recommend that you wear the most protective mask you can that fits well and that you will wear consistently.
- Masks and respirators are effective at reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, when worn consistently and correctly.
- Some masks and respirators offer higher levels of protection than others, and some may be harder to tolerate or wear consistently than others. It is most important to wear a well-fitted mask or respirator correctly that is comfortable for you and that provides good protection.
- While all masks and respirators provide some level of protection, properly fitted respirators provide the highest level of protection. Wearing a highly protective mask or respirator may be most important for certain higher risk situations, or by some people at increased risk for severe disease.
- CDC's mask recommendations provide information that people can use to improve how well their masks protect them.
Choosing a Mask or Respirator for Different Situations
Masks and respirators (i.e., specialized filtering masks such as "N95s") can provide different levels of protection depending on the type of mask and how they are used. Loosely woven cloth products provide the least protection, layered finely woven products offer more protection, well-fitting disposable surgical masks and KN95s offer even more protection, and well-fitting NIOSH-approved respirators (including N95s) offer the highest level of protection.
Whatever product you choose, it should provide a good fit (i.e., fitting closely on the face without any gaps along the edges or around the nose) and be comfortable enough when worn properly (covering your nose and mouth) so that you can keep it on when you need to. Learn how to improve how well your mask protects you by visiting CDC's Improve How Your Mask Protects You page.
A respirator has better filtration, and if worn properly the whole time it is in use, can provide a higher level of protection than a cloth or procedural mask. A mask or respirator will be less effective if it fits poorly or if you wear it improperly or take it off frequently. A respirator may be considered in certain situations and by certain people when greater protection is needed or desired.
4. Airborne aerosols and respiratory viruses transmission
Respiratory viruses may be transmitted through indirect contact, direct contact person-to-person, large droplet spray, airborne aerosol, or a combination of all of these. Disease-carrying aerosols contain substances < 5 μm, while infectious disease physicians traditionally consider large droplet sprays to contain substances > 5 μm at close range (6.6 feet or < 2 m). It is generally believed that droplets and aerosols >5 μm settle within 6 feet away from the infected person who produces them, due to gravity (Duguid, 1946; Morawska et al., 2009; Asadi et al., 2019). Nevertheless, the use of 5 μm as a definite for these definitions is not supported by novel aerosol science, and the creation of a false dichotomy between what is considered an aerosol and what has considered a droplet undermines the notion of transmission (Klompas et al., 2020; Prather et al., 2020). The route of virus exposure is crucial to understanding transmission. Aerosols and droplets sprayed on the body and its mucous membranes, a kind of contact transmitter, while aerosols particles are inhaled by the respiratory system (Dhand and Li, 2020). This distinction now follows disease severity, infectious dose, and control strategies. At a close range, both inhalation and contact transmission pathways are possible, but in a longer range, when the droplets have settled rapidly transmission through the inhalation pathway is important. According to aerosol science, the aerosol size is not 5 μm, so an aerosol > 5 μm is inhalable and extends over 6 feet. Also, the aerosols may be formed through the resuspension of static aerosols or settled dust (Duguid, 1946; Prather et al., 2020). The virus is found in saliva or respiratory fluid, which varies in size from aerosols and droplets from 0.2 μm to 100 μm. In general, these aerosols particles and drops are produced through breathing, speaking, and talking with aerosols, coughing, and rapid drops accompanied by coughing (Dhand and Li, 2020; Heyder et al., 1986).
The CDC finally, on January 14th 2022, admitted it.
So, what does this mean? Will the CDC finally back off the mask bullshit and admit it was all theater? Of course not! Don't be silly. No, what they're going to do is double and triple down, and start specifying N-95 respirators for toddlers and everybody else. You can see it in their recommendations sheet.
Lately we've seen the various cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister out there on TV saying that wearing a mask is the wrong idea. The reason they state for this claim is that the mask "gives people a false sense of security."Translated from Official Speak: You people are too stupid to live. This is all far too complicated for your feeble minds to comprehend. Just shut up and do what you're told.
While the federal government is telling us we are a bunch of racists and we shouldn't wear masks to curb the spread of COVID-19, otherwise known as the Kung Flu, the Wuhan Flu, the Chinese Communist BioWeapon Flu, the Bat Flu, and etc... the Premiere of Ontario is saying we need to be making masks right here in Ontario instead of begging China for them.
Welcoming the removal of face coverings in schools, political commentator Sophie Corcoran breaks down as she recalls her experience of wearing a mask in the classroom.
More than 40 physicians are currently being investigated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) for promoting unproven treatments for COVID-19 or sharing unverified information about its vaccines, Global News can reveal.
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The revelation comes after Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott publicly urged the CPSO to crack down on a group of doctors accused of spreading unverified medical information about the vaccines, after the situation was brought to light in a Global News investigation.
During a press conference on Wednesday morning to update Ontarians on the province’s fight against the Omicron variant, Elliott labelled the reports “extremely concerning.”
“At a time when it’s never been more important for Ontarians to have confidence in the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, this is unacceptable,” she said.
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Karen attacks!
Karen attacks nurses:
Three Ontario nurses who have faced discipline for their stances on the pandemic are suing the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) and a media outlet in British Columbia, with the libel suit seeking $1 million.
Kristen Nagle of London, Kristal Pitter of Tillsonburg and Sara Choujounian of Toronto have been investigated by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) for sharing their controversial views about the pandemic on social media.
Karen attacks doctors: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article257335847.html
A doctor with decades of experience can't practice medicine after her license was temporarily suspended over complaints that she shared coronavirus misinformation, according to a Maine licensing board. The board has ordered her to undergo a neuropsychological evaluation, it said.
Novak Djokovic left Australia on Sunday evening after losing his final bid to avoid deportation and play in the Australian Open despite being unvaccinated for COVID-19. A court earlier unanimously dismissed the No. 1-ranked tennis player's challenge to cancel his visa.
In a Canadian first, Quebec Premier François Legault announced on Tuesday that a new "health contribution" will have to be paid by residents who haven't received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine for non-medical reasons.
Since January 1, the New Cases by Vaccination Status table has shown a significant number of new cases as unvaccinated. This data is not accurate. This table is no longer featured on the dashboard until a review of the information is complete and the data rectified.
Customer in an Etobicoke Costco is arrested and hauled away by cops for not wearing a mask despite having a medical exemption. Allegedly one of the managers of the store is detaining the man alongside police.
Karen is becoming a problem, you ask me.
That's what I'm talking about, right there. Just fucking fire them all. Every single one.Glenn Youngkin, Virginia's first Republican Governor in more than a decade, wasted no time addressing his campaign pledges, signing nine executive orders and two executive directives. Within hours of being sworn in, Youngkin:
1. Banned the use of CRT and other inherently divisive concepts in schools;
2. Ended school mask mandates;
3. Terminated the entire Parole Board of the Commonwealth of Virginia (all were Democratic appointees);
4. Initiated an investigation into Loudoun County;
5. Established the position of Chief Transformation Officer to review all government agencies, beginning with the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Virginia Employment Commission;
6. Declared Virginia open for business and initiated a review of burdensome Covid regulations;
7. Established a commission prevent human trafficking and provide support to survivors;
8. Established a commission to combat antisemitism;
9. Withdrew from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI);
10. Directed all Executive Branch entities to reduce job-killing regulations by at least 25 percent;
11. Rescinded the vaccine mandate for all state employees.@Maximus_4EVR adds:
"Meanwhile, new Attorney General Jason Miyares (who was also just sworn in) has terminated the entire Civil Rights Division of the AG's Office (many of them Soros backed lawyers). YOWZA!
That was a MASS firing within a few moments of being sworn in. The MSM are calling it 'insane' and 'mean.'
Friday, January 14, 2022
Capitalism treats socialism as damage and routes around it.
Yes you read that right. Defense distributed has taken their Ghost Gunner desktop CNC to the next level. They are now offering jigs and code to mill a zero percent receiver (raw billet blank aka brick of aluminum) into a lower receiver. Life finds a way to be ungovernable.
I've talked about this before.There are easier things to make than an AR-15. I'm not going to list them here because Lucy is watching, but a little look at history shows all sorts of things an enterprising lad could make out of aluminum, plastic and steel. If guys can do it by hand in a busted-ass hut in Pakistan, guys can do it in North America with power tools.
Cannabinoids Block Cellular Entry of SARS-CoV-2 and the Emerging Variants
Abstract
As a complement to vaccines, small-molecule therapeutic agents are needed to treat or prevent infections by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants, which cause COVID-19. Affinity selection-mass spectrometry was used for the discovery of botanical ligands to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Cannabinoid acids from hemp (Cannabis sativa) were found to be allosteric as well as orthosteric ligands with micromolar affinity for the spike protein. In follow-up virus neutralization assays, cannabigerolic acid and cannabidiolic acid prevented infection of human epithelial cells by a pseudovirus expressing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and prevented entry of live SARS-CoV-2 into cells. Importantly, cannabigerolic acid and cannabidiolic acid were equally effective against the SARS-CoV-2 alpha variant B.1.1.7 and the beta variant B.1.351. Orally bioavailable and with a long history of safe human use, these cannabinoids, isolated or in hemp extracts, have the potential to prevent as well as treat infection by SARS-CoV-2.
Given the juicy nature of this study for juvenile-minded journalists [ha ha, stoners can't catch the 'Rona, ha ha!!!] it will be interesting to see them pass hard on reporting about this result. I prophesy there will be no mention of it anywhere. I found it at Slashdot, not exactly mainstream.
A doctor with decades of experience can’t practice medicine after her license was temporarily suspended over complaints that she shared coronavirus misinformation, according to a Maine licensing board. The board has ordered her to undergo a neuropsychological evaluation, it said. Dr. Meryl J. Nass, who got a license to practice medicine in Maine in 1997, had her license “immediately” suspended for 30 days after a board investigation and review of complaints against her on Jan. 12, according to a suspension order from the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine.The letter gets very smeary along the way:
“The information received by the Board demonstrates that Dr. Nass is or may be unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety to her patients by reason of mental illness, alcohol intemperance, excessive use of drugs, narcotics, or as a result of a mental or physical condition interfering with the competent practice of medicine,” the evaluation order states. The complaints against Nass include how the board was told she engaged in “public dissemination of ‘misinformation’” about COVID-19 and vaccinations “via a video interview and on her website,” the board said about the October 26, 2021 complaint. It lists several comments Nass made that were subject to the board’s investigation.Sounds like a Karen complained about a social media post, right? Here's the important part:
Other grounds for her suspension include how Nass treated COVID-19 patients with Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, according to the board.Now, of note, it does not seem like any of Dr. Nass's actual patients are complaining that the good doctor made them sick with her crazy horse paste witchcraft and fish tank cleaner voodoo. This is activists complaining to the board, and the board coming down on her for making them look bad.