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Today in Covid

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The state of Oregon reported there were far fewer Covid deaths last weekend than in recent weekends, because the server that you report Covid cases to was down for ~27 hours. Apparently, if you die but the server dies first, maybe you didn't really die?

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war is peace!

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What's the group consciousness re: the flu vaccine for <50?

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Do it.

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I started getting mine a couple years ago because I would have a doctor's appointment conveniently around the time it became available. This has been the case now for 4-5 years. If it's available to add to a current appointment I'm all in, but I wouldn't be surprised if I miss it in the future because I don't have an appointment that lines up.

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Used to not get it, but now that I have kids who bring home all kinds of germs I do.

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I've never had it, but not for any particular reason. Maybe I should start getting it.

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Get it. No need or excuse for any avoidable up-tick in illnesses ever, but especially now.

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I started a few years back when I began to have to visit my folks on short notice during various health crises - in fact their doctors were telling them to make sure I'd had flu shots before visiting post surgeries and whatnot. I don't get sick any more or less frequently, but if it helps minimize the spread... got the flu vaccine this past Saturday, in any case, and now that I'm 50, they gave me the extra-strength version.

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Get it. In the age of COVID, it makes no sense not to get the flu shot. Do you want to run the risk of needing hospitalization from the flu and being denied by the next wave of COVID hospitalizations?

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The flu shot hurt more than the vaccine by 300%

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I am a strong supporter of vaccines--get all of them! Get your flu shot!

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I'm anti-tetnus vaccine! lock my jaw up! I am playing in all the rust!

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This year I got the special version for >65.

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we get ours every year. i only am recently > 50. but my wife is a doctor/medical person.

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So I got the J&J back in April, so it seems like I should get a booster soon and that it should be Pfizer, is that what the professionals are recommending?

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I'm looking to return to the US next year - and I'm fully vaccinated, but with SinoPharm which is an inactive virus vaccine, and isn't recognized by the US.

Additionally, China has been rumored to be implementing Pfizer (or it's Fosun Pharma licensed version) as booster shots, but it's already been delayed by a month.

I wonder should I get the full cycle of Pfizer when. I get back to the US in March/April/May or just the one booster?

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Got a booster appointment for tomorrow.

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I thought a Moderna booster had the better booster effect than Pfizer for patients who originally got the J&J vaccine.

I'm also a J&J patient. I'm also a Kaiser member. Supposedly I'll be able to book a booster appointment online tomorrow.

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This is my understanding as well.

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You and FS can each get different ones and then we can use you as case studies. Which one turns into a werewolf.

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Ooh are you making fun of them for being too hairy or not hairy enough? Hmm...

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going to go get my booster shot this week

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Is it directly through Pfizer? I'm not sure how I can get one right now since I don't have underlying health issues.

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apparently around here you just go to CVS and ask for one. no one asks anything and "this is known"

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the county vaccination sites where I live are just taking people's word for it. According to my missus, who has been volunteering again to help with data entry, they're not overloaded with people looking for boosters at the moment.

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I mean I suppose as long as there isn't a line then there isn't a reason to stop people from getting it that want it.

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Most realize that whatever it takes to get someone vaccinated is a step in the right direction.

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The FDA is supposed to give an opinion on vaccinations for kids aged 5-11 today. The vaccines may be made available as soon as next week for schools and other outlets.

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Elsewhere in college

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I got a UCSC sweatshirt in the mail yesterday that I didn't remember buying and was the wrong size. Research uncovered that it indeed was my purchase...late night, on a weekend.

Dr. Ms. Newellbany congratulated me for the benign nature of my drunken mistakes.

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Is it from Homefield Apparel?

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A lot of merchandise is sold under similar circumstances, so long as the customer isn't too far gone to click on "Buy now!"

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On the topic of alcohol:

Good news: I don't think it's alcohol that's triggering my rashes (I have gotten a rash on days when I didn't drink, and I also had two drinks at a wedding on Saturday but didn't get a rash)

Bad news: I don't know what's causing it

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Might be a type of fabric?

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My sister-in-law started getting rashes in her mid-30s. Took her a while to narrow down what was triggering them. Turns out she started developing allergies to things that were never an issue before such as gluten, celery, peanuts, and a few other things.

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I developed a pumpkin seed allergy in my 40s, which apparently is pretty rare. I am indifferent to pumpkin seeds so no big deal, but JFC did it have to coincide with them becoming a trendy ingredient in just about every restaurant meal?!?

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ouch

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oh noooo

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I heart UCSC

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She must be so proud

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No 1 and I were online looking at different cars. Found a beautiful midnight purple Skyline R33 on ebay motors. It's at 92.5K right now. Saw some really cool JDM cars. Drunk me might have bought one. Not the R33 but other cheaper cars.

Also looking at the fine print it looks like getting one to clear CARB would cost 15-20 K.

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which "drunk HAG" are you referring to? i have yet to meet this person ...

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So it's good that I don't drink I guess. It's 1/2 a beer or one shot and I'm super red HAG.

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Maybe I should buy some Pepcid A/C and try that. Supposedly that works for Asian flush.

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the lady friend sleep shops. this last time it was a load of Cal swag. One time before it was a generator from costco.

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A generator seems eminently practical given PG&E's PSPS events.

I haven't been hit with a PSPS event and I still think about ways in which to mitigate such an event.

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We used to get so many multi-day outages that at least 4 of my immediate neighbors have permanent whole-house generators plumbed into their gas lines.

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In the meantime, the generator has come in handy for our tailgates as we have a tv to watch the other games

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I hope it's quiet enough that it doesn't detract from the proceedings on TV and otherwise. Often, those devices are noisy.

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quite. though we have a long extension cord which helps too

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Yay!

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I got hit once and then the other was a blown transformer. I think I'm on the same circuit as a nursing home so it's possible they won't turn us off to keep the nursing home up.

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Lucky you. No such luck for me. I'm in a thoroughly residential neighborhood and was close to an area blacked out by one of the earliest PSPS events. Literally two blocks away.

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Crossing my fingers. I'm just glad I have a gas hot water heater.

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Generally if you’re on a circuit that has a fire, police, or healthcare facilities they turn you off last.

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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PRO

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DeVante Adams on covid list on a short week. I need to pick up someone.

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CAL

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Go Bears!

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Chase Garbers leads the Pac-12 in total offense with 2,029 yards. The Bears are 4th in the conference in total defense and fifth in total offense so the stats indicate we should be right in the middle of the pack, but alas we are not.

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I recall being mocked last week when I said we were wasting Garbers 😀

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If Garbers can beat Stanford, ucla and usc to end this season I will agree with you.

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nothing has changed

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I agree he is not Aaron Rodgers or Jared Goff, but I was an undergrad during the Justin Vedder era, so am maybe colored by that a bit as to my baseline. Vedder would not be putting up a stat line like Garbers’ last week (which would have been better also if the coaching staff didn’t turtle in second half). I do not know recruiting well though, admittedly. Is there anyone in the wings that would really be better than Garbers next year? My 25 years of Cal fandom finds this unlikely, but I admit I do not know Kai Millner from Arthur Miller

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Ah yes Justin Vedder, famous grad of the Wet Noodle QB School

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Time to regress up to the mean!

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6-6 would be more than amazing

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Boxes

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I have two boxes of stuff that came with me to China from Texas (in 2007!) that I haven't unpacked. It's all stuff that I want to keep - nostalgic stuff - but I didn't really need in China.

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Whoa, it's funny this came up - I recently received a box I packed up at my parents house in 1992 - my sister bought the house, and just mailed it to me. Random stuff from both my childhood - to high school. Felt really, really weird opening it, like entering a time portal to when I was a much different person. A really bad surrealist painting (it was my first). My stamp collection- a book "All About Whales" - and love letters I'm frankly scared to read.

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OMG I owned “All About Whales” that was one of my favorite books!

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Slide Rule - that alone dates me.

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Any circular slide rules?

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I had a cardboard circular slide rule. Some of the plastic ones were very nicel.

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I kept my 6 inch aluminum slide rule, but I wish I'd kept the 12 incher.

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DBD late night starts early yet again

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The last two moves I threw out so much stuff it felt weird. Some trash I left on the curb for pickup, and all sorts of people came by and went through it and took things. Somebody left a rusty old bicycle in my pile, which annoyed me, but a few hours later someone else had taken it.

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For me, a move = get rid of stuff. I hadn't moved in 20+ years until we did our home remodel two years ago. that involved two moves within 7 months (leaving and coming back), which resulted in some good weeding out of stuff. We still have too much, but our place is small-ish and don't have lots of storage. And have a (rare for SF?) garage that doesn't run under the house, so not a lot of storage space there, for better or worse...

I have a box where I collect old cables, bulbs, etc. And every now and then take them to the e-recycler in The Mission.

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the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away

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Not totally sure what's in it since it's unopened, but I have a box in my garage from my London move, which was 2 moves (and 11 years) ago. I think it might be picture frames, but who really knows?

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This seems like a good time to restate the quote from Seven from a few days ago.

Per Brad Pitt ... “What’s in the box?

Morgan Freeman would say. “ Don’t open it.”

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Books from grad school. The only one I have shelved is financial accounting at the moment. Touchy feely books like Organizational Design and a couple of books by Peter Drucker are in the boxes, so I recall. "Leaders do the right thing, managers do what is right."

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who moved my cheese?

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That was the most condescending piece of film I have ever seen in a work setting.

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Same for the book.

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Not surprising.

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cables

lots and lots of cables with out of date and / or proprietary connectors. I think I have a couple of boxes of "memorabilia" in the basement which could probably all be thrown out since I haven't checked them since we moved in 2007... I guess the tension there is between "I haven't used it" and "perhaps the kids might be interested in that time capsule after I'm dead." Since I'm not expecting an imminent demise, I have some time to sort this through.

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We also have a couple boxes of cables that I still rummage through occasionally (I was just in there last week trying to find a 3.5mm to 6.25mm audio jack converter). There's a handful of boxes of largely untouched stuff (clothes, Cal memorabilia, old video game consoles). The basement has plenty of storage space, so I'm not concerned about a few boxes taking up much space.

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I've had to dig thru spare cables, connectors, and other parts plenty of times. Often when even Amazon Prime is not a timely alternative. And saved the day any number of times.

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So. Many. Cables.

USB A, USB B, USB C, microUSB, miniUSB. HDMI, microHDMI, DisplayPort, miniDisplayPort. Ethernet of various Cats. Lightning and various adaptors. Power supplies varying from 5v to 48v.

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An entire one gallon Ziploc of Euro and British plugs...

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Mainly leftovers from cellphones I owned 10-15 years ago

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I have one of these as well. I need to throw it out...it’s symbolic of my penchants for keeping things on the off chance I may need it eventually...

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Someday VGA will come back...

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I have a few. One has some kitchen pots and stuff that I don't need right now. Another has some stuff from my office cube that I don't need since I'm working from home. A third has clothes that I don't wear. I've grabbed a few things from the 3rd box but it isn't unpacked.

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I guess I also have maybe 4-5 other boxes of kids stuff from their rooms. Like books, halloween costumes, stuff they had in their room.

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there are some things that permanently live in boxes like "undergrad and grad school notebooks"

you may wonder why i keep these things. there was a certainly muscle memory to things written or drawn in those notebooks and i can easily find something from a bygone class.

while i dont really need it for remembering astronomy or physics, there are techniques in there that can be re-purposed for many other applications

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