h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, not many people like to be jabbed with sharp needles. The few who do are worth worrying about, but for different reasons.

As a species, we sometimes fare poorly when asked to judge the magnitudes of different risks. You can die by being in a plane that crashes, or by falling in your bathtub. So, you bathe daily (perhaps), but fly rarely. George Burns fell in his shower when he was 98. Luckily, his live-in staff got medical help for him.

Some eligible people won't get the vaccine because (1.) the website is too frustrating They give up. (2.) They don't have the gadgets needed to access the website. (3.) They don't have transportation to the vaccination sites. (4.) They don't trust the people who are pushing the vaccines.(5.) They worry about not being able to get the second shot.

It's amazing that anyone has gotten vaccinated.

(6.) They don't trust vaccines, people who administer them, or authorities in general.
(7.) They don't even believe covid-19 exists or that anybody has ever died from it.
(8.) If they believe covid-19 exists it was probably made by either Chinese or other sinister organisations.
(9.) God wills it ...

Over here the vaccines will come to you if you don't have gadgets, transportation or the like

Let me be clear: I want to be vaccinated. This is a really scary disease that has killed the father of one of my neighbors. For two days running I have visited the state's website repeatedly Even though I am told that there are *no* slots available through a week from now, 60,000 peopole have nevertheless been able to get vaccinated.

Our fact-resistant covid-19 skeptics and deniers see themselves confirmed in the fact that many of the first vaccinated have died. But there is hardly anything strange about people over 90 dying, is there?

And just to make clear: No excess mortality has been detected in said segment.

For hose who died there is 100% excess mortality. For those who survived, there's far less.

Math, you can't beat it

Some of those who survived Covid-19 came away with decreased vitality.

Indeed. Rehabilitation centers are being set up here for not only adults but also children and young people suffering from long lasting physical as well as psychological fatigue.

According to simple math my steps are 61.50 cm long on average, since I walked 6 km yesterday and used 9756 steps to accomplish that

Isn't that insanely exciting?

If you say so.

I have shorter legs, so my steps are probably not as wide.

To some all that matters is getting there

To some not even that matters

if there's a there for me to get to.

The destination is nothing, the road is everything [Kierkegaard]

Do people make roads because they like roads?

No. They want people to get to destinations.

Of course, if you were one of the ancient Romans, you might have wanted your armies to get to places where they could conquer and pillage.

The Romans gave u on conquering anything north of the Rhine, so kierkegaard's Copenhagen was safe until 1100 A.D., when it came into being. Lord Nelson invaded it, as did Hitler. Be afraid, be very afraid.

(I'm just being . Philosophers should play soccer in Monty Python episodes. That's where they are safest from invaders. No one expects to find them there. )

Just read an interview with five fact resistant corona deniers about their life after they looked through the great international conspiracy: "It feels completely like living in a parallel world"

Usually when people talk about other people living in parallel societies they don't realize that they themselves also live in one. This is a first. At least to me.

One of them says that after the bombing in Manchester, England, in 2017, it suddenly came to them and they could see everything clearly: The conspiracy behind this made-up covid-19 scam. It wasn't evil muslims behind the bombing, it was the West(ern World)! The corona was only the next step.
It is unbelievable that their family and friends can't see it - and even gave them a nice silver hat for christmas.

Says it all, yes?

I'm constantly amazed that here in the States we have one of our two major political parties which is primarily based literally on lies and conspiracy theories. I mean, sure, it's part & parcel for politicians to lie now and again, but these people, nearly half the population of the country, rabidly refute clear and well established fact as a point of pride. The Republican party has become a religion!

Apparently we really do live in the post-factual world now

Would you welcome it if both the GOP and the Democratic Party were split in two and the two center oriented halves formed a coalition government?

Something like that seems to work in several nations over here. For now at least.

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PS: That silver hat I mentioned was of course a tin foil hat