Archives: Tweets

@iampaulkerry I’m no expert but in the medical histories I’ve read, serious diseases going from pandemic to endemic hasn’t been great overall.
I wish I thought it was a case of people assuming endemic was the only possible outcome, rather than delusion about “endemic” actually means. *shrug* @iampaulkerry And I suppose I should note I’m denigrating people with diabetes. It’s just it adds a lot of risk and complication and unpleasantness to your life, and one typically doesn’t celebrate developing it, despite any mental relief one might feel not being at risk anymore.

@iampaulkerry Well, I think the choice to see it that way involves a certain amount of confusion and wishful thinking about how “endemic” might mean “milder” or reduce the necessity of mitigation. (See: many governments worldwide.) @iampaulkerry Which is to say, it feels a bit like ecstatically celebrating that you’re no longer (for example) prediabetic and not grasping that transitioned to full-blown diabetes is not actually a positive outcome at all.

It’s honestly bewildering how many people seem to think “endemic” is good news.

Pandemic = *temporary* emergency, right?

So… “endemic” means we failed to keep it temporary, and now we’re destined for recurring, ongoing waves of of illness, death, & side effects, variants… https://t.co/JawlDz9zL3 … for nobody knows how long, while plenty of governments worldwide seem to be just deciding to throw any and all sensible tools for mitigation straight out the window.

And it never, ever stops. You could be here 30 years. 40. All your life. Doesn’t matter: people will still continue to do this to you regularly. It’s mind-boggling to experience, even though you know abstractly how and why it happens (here and back home, yes, yes, I know).

Gotta love putting in the time and energy to learn about/connect to the place you live and finding that even after 20 years, people STILL presume you’re completely ignorant/clueless like a new arrival, and then insultingly talk down to you on the basis of that presumption. (And love it even more when the context is a power imbalance in a toxic social environment where even people who point out obvious, clear facts get shouted down, and where just pointing out the presumption is incorrect might trigger all kind of punitive nonsense.)

@marc_laidlaw @Analog_SF I think the Dune thing gets mentioned in the bio for one or more books, because I vaguely recall that now that you mention it, but yeah, it’s absolutely wild.

@marc_laidlaw @Analog_SF Yeah, part (much?) of the enduring interest in Hiero’s Journey/Unforsaken Hiero is that Gygax mentioned the first one in the ol’ Appendix N (his recommended reading list for AD&D players/DMs). It apparently was a huge influence on the GAMMA WORLD tabletop RPG. @marc_laidlaw @Analog_SF I have a copy of the SFBC omnibus for the Hiero books, but haven’t gotten around to it yet, though it’s in the “read soon” chunk of my newly disorganized shelves. (We moved house yesterday, still all ajumble.)

Menace Under Marswood by Sterling Lanier gordsellar.com/2022/09/20/sag…

RT @JamesMo19320924: @revjorobertson “Ok, so we are clear that disseases are caused by microscopic things like germs, bacteria and virus, r…

Saga, Volume 2 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples gordsellar.com/2022/09/17/sag…

RT @JamesTurnbull: Yet another Korean woman killed in public by her stalker

english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_e…

Roman Britain by David Shotter gordsellar.com/2022/09/16/rom…

@marc_laidlaw Yeah, rice cookers are just way, way easier, more convenient, and reliable.

(For a while my wife used a special stone pot thingie on the stovetop to make rice, but like almost everyone we know, she eventually went back to using a machine because it’s just so much easier.)

Sirenswail by Dave Mitchell gordsellar.com/2022/09/15/sir…

RT @LauraGee77: Yesterday evening I was attacked by a white woman who was upset I was wearing no bra. I utilized IG live to record her acti…

My wife recently introduced me to Sons of Kemet, whose music is available on the local (Korean) music-streaming app she uses. Pretty amazing band. This is the track is harrowing and perfect. tmblr.co/ZwA1ltcaStiSOu…

My buddy @ahimsakerp’s excellent mythic Greece adventure Arête (@KnightOwlPub) is still on sale at DTRPG for a few more hours!

drivethrurpg.com/product/405146…

@growthesunshine IIRC, we read it in the the last few years of high school (at the school I attended in Canada).

The Graveyard Book Graphic Novel by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell gordsellar.com/2022/08/03/the…

(Which also makes me really leery about think about the whole, “We’ll make special visas for migrant/immigrant workers willing to reside in low-population rural areas,” for obvious reasons…)

Meanwhile, in S. Korea… if this article is to be believed —I’m no expert—LMB’s “4 Rivers Project” is finally paying off… with toxic river water/food.

Who could have known? Well…, for starters, the many experts who warned of this & were ignored.

https://t.co/X3pjp0eGU7 The article also claims that the current President has stated there’s nothing to be done. Which… is about what you’d expect him to say, I suppose.

An outraged mom points out how gov’t wants ppl to have more kids, but can’t even be bothered make tap water safe for those kids.

The alternative is admitting that children and adolescents are actually human like the rest of us, have experienced the same really rough, exhausting, terrifying horror show we all have, and reconsidering our priorities and their needs. But heaven forbid we do that, I guess.

Yeah, I’ve been thinking this for months and months. Like, adults were all, “I can’t read or concentrate for long periods anymore!” and “I lost another loved one,” and “I’m so stressed out” for years, and “experts” are like, “Why aren’t kids doing so well in school anymore?” https://t.co/qtdjCc60lz And really to me it’s more disturbing that it’s “experts” rather than antimask dimwits saying this.
For example, Thomas Kane recently(-ish) invoking the “need” for *more* school hours [unmasked] in [poorly ventilated] classrooms will fix it.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating by Jane Goodall gordsellar.com/2022/07/15/har…

RT @AntonHur: “‘The Ministry of Education needs to set aside a budget to enforce the immediate payment of severance to all university lectu…

📹 Man, I cannot believe it took until now for me hear about Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society. (I know, I haven’t been paying, but it’s not THAT secret, is it?) Great stuff!  tmblr.co/ZwA1ltcYX1kFOi…

Sometimes I feel like I’m the only EWI player who doesn’t care for T-square’s music, even though I’m sure it’s not true.

@Vylar_Kaftan Not there, but that’s hardly unusual.

Woah, if it’s real then this is huge. twitter.com/thiccmatisse/s…

RT @LauraMiers: “A ship ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal late on Wednesday and tug boats were working to release it, two navigational sour…

Love is the Law by Nick Mamatas gordsellar.com/2022/08/03/lov…

RT @MeetJess: This picture is a perfect representation of 2022.
Gave me goosebumps.

My God, what a broken world

@CharleyBurt1 @akikigate Always works for me, though a close second is being suddenly surprised by someone else. (It causes you to gasp, which seems to sort out the hiccups.)

(And it’s not like they can’t add a popup noting, “Hey, we see you’re using [$currentbrowser], but our site doesn’t work with this browser. Please switch to [$workingbrowser] now.” Even *I* could do that. But, eh, why bother, right?)

Ah, tfw your bank updates it kludgy broken software security plugins and suddenly it only works in one browser per platform but they don’t tell you that and instead endlessly prompt you to reinstall the broken kludgy security plugins.

AKA Just another normal day in South Korea. At least these days it only takes me a little time to realize, “Wait, I bet this only works in one browser. I guess I’ll try Safari…”

(I swear the idea of testing and developing your site to work with more than one browser per platform is an alien concept. It’s maddening.)

RT @wsbuckley: A groundbreaking study from @stanfrod researcher @mzjacobson argues that nearly 75% of the world’s countries – 145 – could t…

RT @damiengayle: Instead of being on trial, the people responsible for this are enjoying the most incredible wealth ever seen in human hist…

RT @Tinu: SO A DISEASE UNDER CONTROL FOR DECADES IN AFRICA IS BEING ADDED TO OUR NEW NORMAL???

NO. t.co/xmzQ7PDPn4

RT @EbonyJHilton_MD: The fact we have exposed MILLIONS of CHILDREN to this virus knowing the risk it carries is what’s unforgivable.

They…

RT @timspector: Study shows covid causes persistent cognitive problems after infection but not in mood or anxiety compared to other infecti…

RT @ThierryAaron: This stat is just mind-blowing 🤯

The impact of industrial agriculture on the planet is staggering and completely unsusta…

RT @Diana_C_McNally: He’s unsheltered, dehydrated, unable to maintain good hygiene. Why? Because in @JohnTory’s Toronto, we withhold runnin…

RT @VirginiaBuysse: So the updated bivalent vaccine boosters will be for adults only. Are we really doing this again? Leaving our children…

I sometimes think the Korean government should just be honest and install the sad trombone fail sound when someone enters an Alien Registration Card number in an attempt to access any service at all.

https://t.co/ea3Bnq8Su5 Is making websites work the same for everyone *so* impossible? Really? Is there actually a benefit to *anyone* from instituting such a massive digital divide?

Some services are really hard to access; 100% online booking (but for Korean citizens only) is… ahem, untenable.

RT @koryodynasty: Fucked up are the only words that spring to mind. https://t.co/jR4xrygeGj

@tweetsbymoi Cue my shock when I learned from my wife that some place (places?) in our city slaps bacon into sandwiches *without cooking it*.

(And don’t get me started about burger places asking, “How do you want that cooked?” and happily serving burgers rare.)

RT @Cndnhitman: WTF I try to end my life, get sent to the hospital, tell them the pain I’m in is getting untolerable and they ask if I t…

RT @MeetJess: An Alberta man had no choice but to stay at his dying father’s side, performing basic medical procedures for him as the healt…

@hana_onthego Removable USB works for me with MacOS and 공인인증서 (or whatever they call it now).