Photo of Georgia Tech game from 1918 and the story behind it

The story is interesting.

But the photo from the great grandson who was in the same seat this weekend is striking.


https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/captivating-photo-georgia-tech-from-1918-and-the-story-behind/XOukYT9082wGyHDyP27XVL/

Crushed tomatoes

My wife asked me to pick up a can of crushed tomatoes. Is this what she meant?

People am stupid

I just saw something pop up on my YouTube home page, where some "pastor" was saying we've been lied to and that the cdc just spoke the truth.  He called out this line in a report:

"For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned."

And went on to talk about how this is all a hoax,  because only 6% of the reported number died front it, and see, it's nothing like we are told.  Mask wearing doesn't matter.  And the classic "I've never known anyone who was hospitalized."

We are clearly being lied to!

What I'd suggest instead is that the issue here is that he (and others like him) don't know how to read a chart.  Hey, the headline sounds good, why dig any deeper?! This is a failing of many to just accept one thing you hear without context, because it fits your narrative.  It's a failure to understand how "cause of death" is recorded.  And it's also a failure to understand basic science.

What this actually shows is that some of the underlying conditions many Americans have contributed to the higher-than-the-rest-of-the-world mortality rate.

I'd ask: do we have more deaths from these conditions than we had in previous years? The answer is yes, and therefore it's accelerated due to coronavirus.  You might argue "they might have died anyway," and that may be true, but it's missing the point that that they also had coronavirus, and that’s what is shown -  but Covid was still the ultimate cause.

They are just listing other conditions, because that what scientists do when they’re trying to understand what’s going on.

It’s so hard to counter stupidity.

We're doomed....

COVID-19 Provisional Counts - Weekly Updates by Select Demographic and Geographic Characteristics

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm

Sent from my iPad

Ascent Of Man, episode 11 - Knowledge Or Certainty

In the 70s, Jacob Bronowski did a series called “the Ascent of Man”. The series is really quite good.

But this piece of storytelling is really deep and thought provoking.

Another thought on Religion

I was thinking more about my posts regarding religion. And maybe I'm wrong. Christianity isn't what it once was: a belief in an all powerful god who guides humans in some way.

Instead, it's become about Republican Jesus(tm) who is a white, gun-toting, self absorbed fellow who is in it for the cash.

That's what today's Christianity posits. And if we see it through that lens, then I reconcile peoples faith with what I see.

It's the 10 generally accepted recommendations (footnote: try not to break all of these at one time, and if you do, then make sure there's a darned good reason, like money).

It's stories about how a guy lived his life as a messenger for how you can pay cash to get in the afterlife.

It's about people preying on you while they ask you to pray.

It's absurd. And it's why there's a picture of Republican Jesus(tm) with his hand on trumps ass. Or maybe he's just reaching for his wallet!

Now it makes sense.

The messaging around Covid is wrong.

I read this article about the Covid messaging, and, yeah, Our messaging is totally flawed. 

https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/26/covid-19-messaging-is-wrong-americans-arent-listening/

But here's the funny thing: as I look back to March, when we first got sent home in order to "flatten the curve," the rational part of my brain knew this was just to get us on the right path. It wasn't the final answer, and there was still work to do. 

But the emotional part, that feeds on stories, news, and my own desires to go about my life saw it differently. Sure, we'd still have things in place, but we'll come up with better methods for testing and tracing and be able to balance. 

And as I look back, I realize that the emotional part was a little wishful - at least in part because of the messages we were getting. 

My rational brain kept telling me that we were in this for the long haul. And people are inherently selfish and stupid. And there was nothing whatsoever being done to effectively manage the spread. 

And I can see why people don't get the science part. It's an unseen "enemy" and their odds are generally good. And there's no sensational story here. No villain to hate. So it's easy to go with the emotional idea. Reopen the economy! It's a hoax anyway!

But I keep going back to the realization that a plane disappears with 150 people on board and it's a mystery that captures everyone around the world. Around 4,000 people died on 9/11. And we changed security and people were okay with it. 600,000 Americans died in WWII and we were motivated to deliver, to ration, to work toward something. 

We're at just under 200,000 dead from the virus. 10s of Millions infected. 

And we're arguing over whether we should wear a mask. 

You bet messaging is wrong. 

A follow up about religion

When my dad died a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about religion and how there is surely no merciful god.

Today, the husband of an aunt died. He had an untreatable form of cancer, and was dealing with it as best he could.

He was a good man. He gave of himself and lived his life righteously. People loved him, and sort of like my dad, people were inspired by him. 

And here's the thing. He was a man of god, and considered himself to be a good Christian.

And yet he got sick. He suffered. And he passed away.

Meanwhile, there are unhinged narcissists who live on. Without suffering.

So if you still believe in this god, then you've been duped.

This is not a merciful god. And the jokes on you.

Fuck that noise.