#science juice is a vaccine btw

[of-another-broken-heart]

Combination science juice'd.

I fucking love science.

Do you love science? You should. Get juice'd.

[mimikoflamemaker]

I am really trying to not get worked up by things that I have virtually no influence over (btw I really think more people should try that with the benefit to them and their surroundings) - and, while, mostly I am perfectly able to say f-it, there are still things that, when heard repeatedly, make me want to flip.

Now, to further preface this short rant, I would like to say huge heartfelt FUCK YOU to media whether traditional or online - are you having fun? Great, I hope your servers will burn or something.

I have MSc in biotechnology. Microbiology was my absolute favorite field of study ever since I was introduced to it.

And probably because I am a little more knowledge in the area, I really can't stop the surge of irritation whenever I hear someone who obviously has no idea what they are saying droning on about the plague explicitly for the sake of sowing fear.

One - people get desensitized to such things fairly quickly. We have some really impressive adaptive abilities as a spices - one of it is protecting our sanity by 'switching off '. So are some of the people without masks we see out there ignorant morons? Sure they are. but the majority is just so perpetually stressed by lockdowns and news droning on about how freaking bad it is, that they just "noped out" for the sake of their sanity.

I know I turned off my TV just for that a long time ago.

Two - I am NOT saying that the plague is not a thing. It absolutely is. Just as every new variant - we have science for that. But that same since and knowledge of viruses teaches us that there will be approximately a million more variants if we keep the nitpicking on. Because - and I am greatly simplifying this - due to the very nature of viruses, each time they leave a new host, they are a little different so 'essentially' are a mutant of the initial strain.

So those new variants will keep popping. And popping. And popping... And those interested in keeping the hysteria going - I let you answer yourself for what gain - will use it. Squeeze the last drop of proverbial juice out. The "gain" is after all the most important.

The good thing? From the scientific point of view viruses change towards becoming milder - and that is also what I heard about the omikron - so in time, nature itself will straighten itself up.

That is not being said to discourage vaccination - you absolutely SHOULD get a shot since it may mean, that you are not going to suffocate in a hospital bed or invite your dear grandma to her untimely funeral. Less sick people means less spread, and less spread means less variants - and hopefully less panic from the media.

Because, I am afraid that as long as they will have a fuel, they will keep going and stressing people out.

And stressed and tired people are much more prone to start believing in all sorts of conspiracy BS - I already started to see this in my neighbors. THIS is what scares me.

Because the last thing we need in the world of increasing pandemic risk - is for people to stop believing in science.

[theliterateape]

I’m Not Anti-Vax. I’m Anti-THIS-Vax!

by Joe Janes

  YELP REVIEW: COVID-19 Vaccination

United Center, Chicago, IL

Pfizer & Pfizer

ONE out of FIVE Stars

 The lowest rating Yelp allows in one star. I would give my experience ½ a star if I could! Same as my reviews of the city water fountain on the lake path near Montrose, the tree in my yard, and Yelp itself. 

Look. I believe in science, but only to a limit. I was very excited when I discovered my neighborhood was a high-risk area for COVID which pushed my zip code ahead of the line to receive the vaccine. My appointment was at 11:30am and, yes, I showed up a half hour early and, no, they didn’t make me wait. I was in and out of there in less than half an hour. A less than half an hour that I will never get back!

Here are my complaints –

-       No Snacks! Anywhere. Not even mints as you leave. This is just rude. I just did something for my country and I don’t even get a cookie or a small bag of chips? Juice? Major fail, Uncle Sam. When I gave blood one time at work several years or so ago – BLOOD, mind you – I was given as many snacks as I could wolf down in 15 minutes. The Red Cross cared that I gave them my life’s second most precious fluid. What exactly are my tax dollars being wasted on? Welfare? School lunch programs?

-       BORING uniforms! Ugh. No imagination. It was like a grade school Halloween party where you can either be a fake doctor or play soldier. All tricks. No treats. Seriously, everyone was either in scrubs or camouflage. Camouflage? Really? What are they trying to hide? 

-      Scam! The person who gave me my shot was one of their cos-play soldiers. I played along. “Aye-aye, Derek!” I rolled my sleeve up to my sweater vest and turned my head. The shot was quick and painless which makes me wonder if “GI Derek” even gave me a shot. I asked to speak to a manager and was rudely told I needed to move along. I’m consulting with my lawyer about this. (BTW – Bring your own fashionable bandage. This “flesh” tone one looks like a hideous age spot upon my porcelain pores.)

-      Smiling!  It also bothered me that Derek kept smiling. Sure, he had a mask on, but his eyes had a big toothy grin. People are dying from COVID-19. Is it too much to ask for a man in uniform to take a deadly virus seriously?

-      More Boringness!  I didn’t have to wait to get in and get my shot, but I sure did have to wait before leaving. Big tent, spread out chairs, no music, no television, no magazines, no folk singers. Joe Biden can’t afford to put up a TV with Fox News on it? Really? They don’t want the outside world to be coughing the truth on you in the vaccine tent.

-       NO SNACKS! When you wait, they have a person assigned to you. They approach you as soon as you sit down. This person – Sasha, her name probably was – said hello and then refused to take my order for a light appetizer and hot water with lemon. Nothing.

- Not smiling! Would it hurt Sasha to smile? Her mask creases never moved. Needless to say, I did not tip Sasha. 

-       No consent! The final insult? They automatically signed me up for a second appointment. Um, excuse me? Ever heard of consensual vaccinations? This is America and why I cry.

Were there side effects? Hell, yes, there were side effects! I immediately became cranky and have been sore ever since. There was also some diarrhea after I ate some hot wings at a bar across the street afterwards (Three out of Five stars). I’ll go back for my second shot if the government apologizes for the horrid treatment and promises me a reasonable amount of snacks. And juice. 

[mzyraj]

Sooooo, things. I’ve not been good. Possibly partially thanks to my last physio session. The physio was resetting my pelvis which is apparently also not in the position it ought to be (a lot of this physio stuff is very painful, btw), and we think it must have just like pulled on the nerves in my brain or something because I crashed hard and fast. But I think it wasn’t just my standard seizure because, besides the speed with which it came, I think it triggered some depression and possibly also gastric stuff again? That or I’ve caught a stomach bug maybe.

But the depression crash was for real, and it really fucked with my studying progress because when my brain gets like that... it just wants escapism? Play the games, avoid the thinking and other people. I think I’ve pulled myself out of it, but I’m contending with a lot of nausea and stuff as well. My physio’s going to take it slower this Saturday.

But anyway, I’m back on my studying (with a new and very supportive chair from Ikea), and like... I feel like everybody should have to study this stuff? Like, it’s some missing pages from your body’s instruction manual. All the bullshit you see nowadays about people’s anti- or pseudo-science beliefs - make them learn this actual stuff. I saw a news story earlier about some old woman in China who injected fruit juice into her veins to be healthier - I believe she has survived, but only thanks to a lot of medical intervention to fix her up. 

Like, so many people know a little bit of facts and then make big and very incorrect jumps in logic. Like they know that vaccinations have some bits of actual illness in them + illnesses bad = vaccinations bad! Or vaccinations have some of this chemical in them + this chemical is used in this dangerous thing = vaccinations very dangerous! Fruit juice is healtthy + injecting stuff gets stuff into you faster = injecting fruit juice makes you healthier faster!

Teach people things! I have never studied anything so massively relevant to me and life in general than biology is at this level. It’s not necessarily easy, because the human body is complicated and what I’m studying starts at the most literally elemental level so it’s hard to relate to when it’s talking about molecules and polymers, but it builds up to your body’s processes and why things work the way they do, so.

Study biology, yo. And practise good posture.