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There's a setting on the list accessible from top right of the screen that allows you to see a message like this in response to trolls: "You've chosen to ignore content by brenthutch." I highly recommend it.

Do you remember the adverse reactions to the J&J vaccine back in April? 6 million doses given. 6 women had blood clots attributed to it. One died. As a result, administration of the vaccine was suspended while they tried to figure out what happened. There was a similar situation of 'reactions, suspension of use, investigation, resumption of use' in Europe (UK?) for the exact same thing. Yet the fools and idiots keep on claiming that the vaccines are 'killing people'. Do you really think that the 'government' could keep it quiet? Do you think that Fox, OAN, Blaze, Breitbart and all of the other Alt-right shit-stirrers wouldn't have this all over the place? Even the "main stream media" is 'death focused' enough that they wouldn't let this slide (if it bleeds, it leads). The last few years have seen such an eruption of anti-intellectualism that has been frightening. One that was interesting was that people were reported to have voted for Brexit specifically because the 'experts' told them not to. The current 'treatments' for Covid that are being touted by the fools are equally baffling. Vitamins & minerals. Ivermectin (parasite treatment) HCQ None of them have any valid studies supporting them. These same morons reject the vaccines because they don't think they've been studied enough. The idiots are also starting to spread the idea that the current protocols, Regeneron, Remdisivir and even ventilators are what is killing people instead of Covid. The fact is that by the time these dipshits get to the hospital, they are pretty much doomed. I've seen reports from EMS/ER intake people that if the incoming patient has O2 sats below about 80% on room air, their lungs are damaged to the point that they are not likely to survive. And, of course, once they get to the hospital and realize how much trouble they're in, they want everything. Vaccines (too late), vent, EMCO, even lung transplants. I heard a second hand story about an unvaccinated guy who was in bad shape. A vent would only prolong the misery. So he decided to just do palliative care and hospice. He called family and said goodbye. The family members convinced him to try everything. It won't change the outcome. Just prolong the agony and tie up resources. Right now, it's looking like the current 'wave' is going to subside. New cases aren't increasing as fast as they've been, and are starting to decline in places that saw the first of the delta. That doesn't change the fact that the 7 day average deaths is over 2k, and will continue to be so for a couple weeks (deaths lag new cases by a couple weeks). And, not surprisingly, Florida is seeing more cases & deaths than it did during the worst of it last winter. Link:https://www.google.com/search?q=covid+deaths+in+us&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS910US910&oq=&aqs=chrome.0.69i59i450l8.4576594j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Just google search results, but it has a nice graph at the top. You can switch between deaths & new cases, and pick individual states or the entire country (or other countries), We're likely to see 750k total deaths (3/4 of a million dead) by Halloween. The real fun part will be all the people who had bad cases and didn't die. They're going to be in long term care or on oxygen for a long time. And it didn't have to happen. The Herman Cain Awards page on Reddit is very active. I don't see that changing for a while.

Death is not necessarily the worst outcome, nor is it binary. The long term effects of COVID and those suffering from ongoing effects of a covid infection need to be included. Plus, I am tired of seeing all the relatives of idiots asking for money.

Hell, yes! I was going to say that myself. Given the choice between a vaccine to prevent a disease, or a drug to treat it after I've been infected, I'll choose the former every time. But that's just me.

How is it that a man of your intelligence fails to understand the simple fact that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

That's one way to develop real objectivity. To not 'hitch all the horses' to any given idea. Another is to actively try to undermine or disprove one's own theories and ideas. The good old "what did I get wrong?" self critique. It's not easy. It takes practice. But it pays off. In part because when someone throws up an objection, being able to respond with "I already looked into that fairly deeply and here's why it doesn't hold true" is a good thing.

Very true. But the trustworthiness of the source also matters. Especially for stuff that ordinary people cannot accurately judge. The idea of running one lug nut short on each wheel for a short time is something that is very easy to evaluate. A 'no brainer' if you will. The key to that anecdote is that it was a simple idea that the motorist simply hadn't thought of. Effectiveness & safety of vaccines, transmissibility & deadliness of viruses, effectiveness of mitigation methods, all of that is well beyond the judgement capabilities of 'ordinary people.' Or even scientists. In the beginning of the pandemic, the big thing was hand washing, sanitizer & disinfecting surfaces. That's because the known coronaviruses (along with rhinoviruses) are 'surface contact' spread (large droplet). After the spreader event at the church choir practice in Washington state, a few epidemiologists clued into the fact that Covid-19 is more 'airborne' spread (small droplet). They tried to convince the scientific community, but were dismissed for quite a while. So 'wash your hands' took precedence over 'stay away from people and wear a mask' for quite a while. And the disease spread. Of course, when the scientific folks understood the reality, and changed the recommendations, all of the idiots refused to believe them. And accused them of lying. Or not knowing what they were doing. And the alt-right shit spreaders took it and ran. Anyone who applies critical thinking to Brietbart or OAN knows full well how accurate their reports are(n't). But the fools and idiots lap it up, spread it around and revel in their ignorance.

There is NOT a double RSL in this video. The reserve deployed THRU two risers (two risers from the same same side of the rig). .

Except polarized sunglasses are oriented to block light reflecting off of surfaces, which has a pronounced horizontal polarization. This is why they are better at preferentially cutting down on glare, compared to non-polarized sunglasses. I doubt they make polarized glasses that are oriented 90 degrees from the standard orientation. (I mean, who would want sunglasses that make glare worse?)

Hey, don't joke. base698 knows what he's talking about - he can draw the Krebs cycle...from memory.

He is likely low. According to the PRB the average Afghan family size is 8.0.

Two trillion would be $52,000 for every man woman and child in Afghanistan. So probably $350k per family. "On Jan. 17, 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower gave the nation a dire warning about what he described as a threat to democratic government. He called it the military-industrial complex, a formidable union of defense contractors and the armed forces." Whats even worse is the idea that this complex of the self serving throws the lives of young men and women. Into a meat grinder that suggests their lives are worth supporting this industry.

NYT today: Who won the war on terror? American defense contractors, many of which were politically connected companies that had donated to George W. Bush’s presidential campaign, according to the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit that has been tracking spending in a series of reports called the Windfalls of War. One firm hired to help advise Iraqi ministries had a single employee — the husband of a deputy assistant secretary of defense. The war proved enormously lucrative for many Americans and Europeans, too. One 2008 study estimated that some 40 percent of the money allocated to Afghanistan actually went back to donor countries in corporate profits and consultant salaries. Only about 12 percent of U.S. reconstruction assistance given to Afghanistan between 2002 and 2021 actually went to the Afghan government. Much of the rest went to companies like the Louis Berger Group, a New Jersey-based construction firm that got a $1.4 billion contract to build schools, clinics and roads. Even after it got caught bribing officials and systematically overbilling taxpayers, the contracts kept coming. “It’s a bugbear of mine that Afghan corruption is so frequently cited as an explanation (as well as an excuse) for Western failure in Afghanistan,” Jonathan Goodhand, a professor in Conflict and Development Studies at SOAS University of London, wrote me in an email. Americans “point the finger at Afghans, whilst ignoring their role in both fueling and benefiting from the patronage pump.” etc.