Home » Open thread 11/30/21

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Open thread 11/30/21 — 27 Comments

  1. Tuesday virus update. As expected, 5 days of data dumped yesterday as the state workers got back on the job after the holiday. Not a whole lot changed. Nationally, 14 day new cases possibly showing a level off, but the data is so bad from last week..who knows. Serious cases slowly creeping back up with percentage now at 0.077% from 0.070% last week.

    State level: Florida level at about 1500/day, Georgia slow decline but will probably level like Florida soon. NC moving down. All 3 states very low death rates. NH and CO showing possible plateau of cases, though CO deaths still rising. I have extensive data for CT as I used to live there. What struck me today is that as of now CT has over 12million tests done which is over 4x the population. I pity those who have to undergo such multiple testing to make that number so huge. CT cases continue to rise as the 14 day average deaths is slowly declining to about 3/day down from a delta high of 12 and an alpha high of 290.

    Anyone finding any more info on the omicron virulence? I saw one unverified statement that no one anywhere has been hospitalized. I came across a statement from the local Jax TV station from an interview with a Mayo doctor (Mayo has it secondary facility here in Jax). One nugget popped out: the omicron cannot be detected by the PCR test. Given the large potential false positives we’ve seen with that test, maybe a good thing.

  2. physicsguy,

    Well the Moderna CEO claims their vaccine won’t be as effective with the new variant and Regeneron claims it’s treatment won’t be as effective either. How they can make that claim at such an early date I don’t know. Cynical me thinks they are just positioning for their new Omicorn vaccine and treatments.

    I’ve stopped being surprised by any of this but it is a little amazing the speed these people have gone from never hearing of this to OMG we’re all gonna die!

    We comply to make it end but by complying it will never end.

  3. I haven’t seen any new information about the virulence of omicron… beyond just the general sentiment that so far it appears to yield milder symptoms and fewer hospitalizions, with the caveat that it’s still too early to really conclude anything. But it makes sense that over time successive varients would tend to be more contagious but less virulent. The selective pressure will be towards those traits since sicker people tend to move around less, which means fewer opportunities for transmission to new hosts.

  4. Another interesting thread from Kyle Lamb about the New England states that are showing the biggest increases in cases.

    It seems pretty obvious to me that the vaccines for whatever variant may help some on lowering the severity of illness but other than that they are pretty much useless.

    There is now almost no good argument for vaccine mandates.

    https://twitter.com/kylamb8/status/1465712013854707728

  5. The people seemed so well dressed. Liked the Policeman’s uniform and hat. The Ladies dresses were very nice. Of course the street it was taken on was in the “better part of town”.
    The older man with the beard, hard to tell how old he was, but if he was about 70 could have been a Civil War vet.

  6. A bit off topic but perhaps one of the OGs here could answer a question I have.
    For any thread there is a usual set of regulars commenting. But, in addition, there is a fairly enormous set of “new names”.
    The unfamiliar (to me) names will comment on just one or a couple posts but pretty much every post will have a few of them.
    What is the source for all the people who visit TheNewNeo?

  7. JimNorCal: I usually just lurk, but occasionally I will post something. I enjoy the comments on this site, by the way.

  8. JimNorCal, Neo is linked now and then at Instapundit and of course at Legal Insurrection, and sometimes other places, and new commenters may come from those. But maybe Neo has metrics on “looks” and where they come from.

  9. A couple of the men at my church wear hats, which look so good, besides being sensible. Not so sure about hats for myself, these days, since finding something to fit would be challenge.

  10. “Neo is linked now and then at Instapundit’

    Sarah Hoyt at Insty links Neo often in her overnight set of links.

  11. Most of them are very smartly tailored, probably because they had their clothes made for them.

  12. JimNorCal:

    Generally there are a lot more people who just read and don’t comment, then there are people who comment regularly. But sometimes those lurkers comment (as in this thread at 2:25 PM from “J”). Also, though, when there is a link at Instapundit or elsewhere, there sometimes are quite a few commenters who post just once at that link but don’t stick around. Some do stick around and become regulars.

    There are also people who have some sort of alert that tells them when certain topics are written about. Some are trolls and some are just people interested in that topic. For example, it used to be that whenever I wrote something about Israel, anti-Israel trolls would come (you don’t necessarily see the worst ones because I tend to ban them rather quickly). But many are also friendly. For example, I once wrote a post about a certain poet, and his son came and commented. He must have had some sort of alert or did regular searches for his father’s name. Google has since changed its algorithm so that blogs don’t come up in searches the way the used to, however, and there’s also some glitch on my blog that I have to get some professional to fix that makes this blog even more invisible to Google. I’ve had trouble getting someone willing to help me, and I don’t think it’s mostly for political reasons, I think the job is just too miniscule for them to bother.

  13. Good afternoon, NeoPhiles!
    I don’t often post, but I read faithfully.
    I firmly believe that the better dressed (neatly, not necessarily expensively) people are, the better the general manners.

  14. Although the Omicron variant doesn’t yet appear as worrisome as some feared, I’m getting family urgings to be sure and get the booster. I’m easily in the most vulnerable age group, but so far I’m just pondering, not acting. Which leads me to wonder: how does one find a doctor who will consider all the therapeutic options if one does get the virus? With official recommendations limited to vaccination, masking, etc., I’m experiencing a severe case of Fauci fatigue.

    By the way, I’m another lurker, coming out of hiding only when particularly moved or the news provokes. Neo’s blog—for both posts and comments—is the best, the one I visit most regularly.

  15. But many are also friendly. For example, I once wrote a post about a certain poet, and his son came and commented. He must have had some sort of alert or did regular searches for his father’s name.

    –neo

    Back when I commented at Althouse, I mentioned poet Bill Knott, one of the gods of 70s surrealism, and he popped up immediately the next morning, courtesy of a news service, with his usual grumpy who’s-taking-advantage-of-me-now persona.

    I assured him that I loved his poetry and had nothing but the best intentions. Furthermore, I would be happy to buy the latest version of his “Collected Poems.” He was mollified, knocked $5 off the price, and had the latest, numbered revision mailed out to me.

    Bill Knott is one of the best and strangest American poets. He deserved a better reputation, but he really wasn’t built for people, including those of the “po-biz” as he put it.

    Sadly, he died a few years after our brief interaction. Here’s one of his most famous poems:
    _______________________

    Death

    Going to sleep, I cross my hands on my chest.
    They will place my hands like this.
    It will look as though I am flying into myself.

    –Bill Knott

  16. @ geoffb > “Sarah Hoyt at Insty links Neo often in her overnight set of links.”

    I return the favor by lurking at Sarah’s blog, with only very occasional comments.

  17. Cute that Jussie Smollett is getting at least some of us comeuppance in court. Somehow he is claiming that his Nigerian accomplices put Jussie up to it!

    https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/victoria-taft/2021/11/30/jussie-smollett-uncovers-whos-at-fault-for-his-race-hoax-and-youll-be-shocked-to-learn-its-not-jussie-smollett-n1537705

    So it is a fake hate crime, but it’s someone else’s fault. Furthermore, Jussie is falsely accusing two black brothers. Shades of the Scottsboro Boys!

  18. RE: Rising Congressional interest in UFOs, and serious research on this issue–

    Trying to discern the truth among all the disinformation surrounding the subject of UFOs, here is my understanding of the basic outlines of the situation.

    From the very first crash at Roswell in 1947 (and perhaps earlier) some within the U.S. government knew that they were dealing with real objects and with a real and major issue.

    A small group within government (even perhaps with initial Presidential approval) seized control over this issue, and the decision was made to hide this issue behind a wall of secrecy, disinformation, and derision.

    Over the decades a minority of people involved in this issue occasionally argued for disclosure, but those in control over this issue kept winning the debates, and opting for continued secrecy, non-disclosure, derision, and disinformation.

    Apparently at some point during those seven decades some of those within government who have control over this issue went “rogue,” and from then on
    it has been a deliberate policy (and against law and precedent) not to inform Congress or the President about what elements within our government and private industry have been doing regarding UFOs.

    Apparently, over the last 70 years there have been many UFO crash retrievals worldwide, and the recovered material the U.S. has been able to get its hands on has disappeared into various “off the books” Black/Special Access programs.

    Moreover, as another way to keep this research “off the books” and to avoid Congressional scrutiny, some of this crash material has also been handed over to private industry for them to research, so the Aerospace Industry is also a player here.

    According to Lou Alizondo, now that his, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Chris Mellon, and others years of hard work to bring the issue of UFOs into public view as a real issue worthy of serious consideration have resulted in the high–and getting higher–public prominence of this issue.

    Now, that members of Congress are proposing legislation in the Defense Authorization bill which will set up a permanent office to track and analyze UFOs/UAPs.

    Now that they have partially lost control over the issue, the very same people at DOD who fought tooth and nail to keep up the secrecy, to stop Alizondo and others from raising public awareness of this as a genuine issue, and getting information out into the open are trying to do an “end run” around and to preempt Congress by immediately setting up their own office within DOD, the “Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group,” which will allow them to argue that no action (or control) by Congress is needed, thus allowing some in DOD continue to keep control over this issue–where data is to be collected from, which data is to be researched and how, the amount and character of information released about UFOs, and to whom and when it will be released.*

    *https://www.newser.com/story/313782/pentagon-group-to-mitigate-ufo-threats.html

  19. Apparently, over the last 70 years there have been many UFO crash retrievals worldwide, and the recovered material the U.S. has been able to get its hands on has disappeared into various “off the books” Black/Special Access programs.

    Snort.

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