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Post by Kapitan on Apr 22, 2021 14:58:01 GMT
You know what's funny? I was talking to my brother the other day about wanting a particular Indian restaurant's buffet to return. Generally buffets are pretty nasty both from a food and sanitation standpoint... But this is one that happens to have fantastic food and I've never seen anything concerning in terms of cleanliness.
We got to talking about buffets in general and whether they'd really make a comeback. A lot of them around here have kind of faded away anyway in recent years (including Golden Corral ... not sure the last time I saw one). But there used to be that, Old Country Buffet, and three or four others that you'd find one or two of in every suburb, usually along the freeways or major streets. Now there seem fewer and fewer.
As a kid, I LOVED buffets. Magical places where you could make your own ice cream sundae or eat all the dinner rolls you wanted!? (I had pretty low expectations I guess.)
Good luck with your second shot. Hope it's uneventful. I ought to be getting an email late next week or so about when and where I'm to get my second one (which is about 3 weeks away).
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Post by kds on Apr 22, 2021 15:21:33 GMT
We have a Golden Corral not far from my house, and it's been empty for over a year now. There are also a couple nearly, but I don't expect them to make it.
There used to be a buffet in Ocean City that I loved. The food was mostly very good, but I've found I just can't eat that quantity of food anymore, so we haven't been in years. It was a COVID casualty, and has close.
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Post by jk on Apr 26, 2021 8:10:53 GMT
What is everyone's opinion of anti-vaxxers where COVID is concerned? Are they entitled to their principles, do you think, or does it come across as a betrayal, particularly to their loved ones?
Maybe this has been discussed from every angle already -- if so, my apologies. It's just that I was recently confronted with a real-life example.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 26, 2021 12:14:56 GMT
What is everyone's opinion of anti-vaxxers where COVID is concerned? Are they entitled to their principles, do you think, or does it come across as a betrayal, particularly to their loved ones? Maybe this has been discussed from every angle already -- if so, my apologies. It's just that I was recently confronted with a real-life example. I don't think it's a very easy question to answer, honestly, despite people having very strong and immediate feelings. In fact I think it is a great example of one of the primary tensions of free civil society itself. (Yes, I know that sounds dramatic.)
As a rule, I like to err on the side of people's individual rights, their liberty to live their lives as they see fit. In general terms, they should be restricted only when the flailing of their arms reaches the other fellow's nose, to paraphrase Justice Brandeis.
But protecting communal interests is the heart of civilization. We realized before we were even human that there was strength in numbers; to live in groups means sacrificing some individuality.
This issue has actually been gaining steam regardless of COVID, though that has made it more prominent. People without underlying medical reasons are really trying to be free riders, taking advantage of a world made safer by everyone around them without contributing to it. That's immoral, even if partly understandable.
In the end, I do not think the government should force vaccination on people ... but I do think that organizations of any kind (public or private) have every right to exclude people based on vaccination status--and not just for COVID, but other key vaccines. So that could include banning people who refuse vaccinations from attending school, religious services, concerts, conferences, and other gatherings.
I haven't had the issue with friends or family, however, so I can't really offer any insights into that nightmare. As far as I know, everyone I'm close to either has gotten or plans to get the vaccine. (I do have a few relatives I would bet based on their politics won't get it unless they have to, but I'm not close to them and haven't discussed it with them.) Though I do have some friends and family who are more and less cautious generally about the pandemic. Some have been regularly getting together with friends in groups throughout; others have lived like monks for a year. As much as I can, I try to let people make their own choices and live based on their own reasoning and perspectives.
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Post by kds on Apr 26, 2021 12:17:09 GMT
What is everyone's opinion of anti-vaxxers where COVID is concerned? Are they entitled to their principles, do you think, or does it come across as a betrayal, particularly to their loved ones? Maybe this has been discussed from every angle already -- if so, my apologies. It's just that I was recently confronted with a real-life example. I can understand if people are a little hesitant to get a vaccine that was rolled out so quickly. But, I don't sympathize with the adamant conspiracy theory nuts who think the vaccine is going to "change their DNA" or whatever wackadoodle theories they subscribe to.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 26, 2021 13:58:29 GMT
I agree with all of the above points. I just wanted to add that I think some people don't think they're going to get COVID-19 anyway, so why bother with the vaccine. They "escaped it" this long. They're almost home free, right? Just a few more months. And, if all of those other people are getting vaccinated, that lessens their chances even more. This segment of people would obviously fall into the category of those who didn't take the virus as seriously as others in the first place.
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Post by kds on Apr 26, 2021 14:06:37 GMT
I agree with all of the above points. I just wanted to add that I think some people don't think they're going to get COVID-19 anyway, so why bother with the vaccine. They "escaped it" this long. They're almost home free, right? Just a few more months. And, if all of those other people are getting vaccinated, that lessens their chances even more. This segment of people would obviously fall into the category of those who didn't take the virus as seriously as others in the first place. I actually fell under this category when they were starting to roll out the vaccine (I wasn't eligible at first anyway). Since March 2020, I never stopped going to work. I still went to the grocery store every week. Once things started to loosen up last summer, I went to restaurants. My family and I went to the beach a few times. We even had some gatherings. And our toddler went back to daycare. I did wear a mask, socially distanced as much as possible, and took precautions, and COVID never made it into our house. But, I also want to get back to normalcy, and if that's what it takes, I'll get it (I'm getting my second round of Pfizer tomorrow)
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 26, 2021 14:41:10 GMT
That describes why I try to keep things in broad strokes for appropriate response: different people who are generally of the same mind still have different ideas about what is or isn't an acceptable risk. And realistically none of us know a whole lot more than anyone else (barring those few who are either virologists on one hand or entirely ignorant on the other).
I've got a friend who has been quick to jump on board with precautions, takes it very seriously, and being a very political guy, has been quick to condemn the "COVID deniers." But ... his girlfriend is younger, I think 30ish, and she (who also considers herself very serious on the issue) has consistently hung out with her entire friend group. Basically they all just declared themselves safe for one another from the beginning. They couldn't go to clubs or bars, but they met at one another's houses and apartments. They attended numerous protests last summer. But they skipped family events and holidays as being unsafe.
Another friend who stopped over for a couple drinks the weekend before last said that other than the most basic grocery store runs and such, she hasn't done anything. Hasn't even been inside a Target, for example. All interactions for her have been outdoors and distanced.
I'm in the middle. I take it seriously and have the whole time. I've worked from home (because the company sent us home, not that I mind). I've skipped most holidays, but attended Easter (mostly outside). I've had a couple (literally) of friends over, but that's it, and mostly outside. But I go to the grocery store pretty regularly, at least weekly. I go to Target or a hardware store or whatever, whenever I need to do so. I don't wear a mask outdoors unless it's a crowded situation: otherwise I think that's silly and more a signal than a precaution. But indoors in public, absolutely. (Of course it's required here, so...)
Point being, even people who seem superficially to be of the same mind about it all can still have pretty dramatically different concepts of risk and different levels of willingness to accept that risk. So I am trying not to look at things as if mine is correct.
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Post by kds on Apr 26, 2021 14:45:39 GMT
That describes why I try to keep things in broad strokes for appropriate response: different people who are generally of the same mind still have different ideas about what is or isn't an acceptable risk. And realistically none of us know a whole lot more than anyone else (barring those few who are either virologists on one hand or entirely ignorant on the other).
I've got a friend who has been quick to jump on board with precautions, takes it very seriously, and being a very political guy, has been quick to condemn the "COVID deniers." But ... his girlfriend is younger, I think 30ish, and she (who also considers herself very serious on the issue) has consistently hung out with her entire friend group. Basically they all just declared themselves safe for one another from the beginning. They couldn't go to clubs or bars, but they met at one another's houses and apartments. They attended numerous protests last summer. But they skipped family events and holidays as being unsafe.
Another friend who stopped over for a couple drinks the weekend before last said that other than the most basic grocery store runs and such, she hasn't done anything. Hasn't even been inside a Target, for example. All interactions for her have been outdoors and distanced.
I'm in the middle. I take it seriously and have the whole time. I've worked from home (because the company sent us home, not that I mind). I've skipped most holidays, but attended Easter (mostly outside). I've had a couple (literally) of friends over, but that's it, and mostly outside. But I go to the grocery store pretty regularly, at least weekly. I go to Target or a hardware store or whatever, whenever I need to do so. I don't wear a mask outdoors unless it's a crowded situation: otherwise I think that's silly and more a signal than a precaution. But indoors in public, absolutely. (Of course it's required here, so...)
Point being, even people who seem superficially to be of the same mind about it all can still have pretty dramatically different concepts of risk and different levels of willingness to accept that risk. So I am trying not to look at things as if mine is correct.
This is the sort of logic I just can't get behind. And, we saw it all last summer when George Floyd protests were going on. Our Governor would have almost daily press conferences, scolding people who had summer cookouts with more than six people, but it was somehow OK for large groups of people to congregate less than six feet apart for long protests. If you can attend a protest, you can attend a family event. That's just skewed logic.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 26, 2021 14:59:53 GMT
I agree, but I think they probably recognized that, too. I think it was more a matter of what they decided was worth the risk. I recall talking to him early last summer when he talks about having unthinkingly taken an open water bottle from someone and drinking from it, only to almost immediately realize this was highly risky (if the other person happened to be positive). It wasn't ignorance in the big picture, it was a measured choice.
I think that might be what is getting a lot of people into trouble with one another: less about assessing the risk (though I think we're pretty bad at that too) and more about deciding what risk is acceptable for oneself.
(Obviously once politicians get involved and it isn't about people deciding for themselves, but the government deciding for them, that is different. And similarly, if what you decide "for yourself" impacts other people, that is also different.)
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Post by kds on Apr 26, 2021 15:10:08 GMT
Right, once politics got involves, it's safe to say that a lot of logical thinking went out the door.
My favorite example is the outdoor dining rule. You can't open up a restaurant for indoor dining, but you can move tables outside, and put them under a big tent?
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Post by jk on Apr 27, 2021 8:26:20 GMT
Many thanks for the feedback, guys. My tactless interference in the real-life example I mentioned almost got me shot at by both sides (a position I have an uncanny knack of finding myself in). But it's all good now.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 27, 2021 11:32:47 GMT
Many thanks for the feedback, guys. My tactless interference in the real-life example I mentioned almost got me shot at by both sides (a position I have an uncanny knack of finding myself in). But it's all good now. In my book, if people on both sides of a controversial issue are upset with your position/comments, you're probably more right than either side.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 27, 2021 16:17:59 GMT
Just got scheduled for my 2nd shot: Monday, May 10, first thing in the morning. Hoping for minimal (if any) reaction to it, as I hear things across the board from just a little arm soreness to feeling on death's door with flu-like symptoms. Dose 1 was nothing but a sore arm, but they say the second is worse.
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Post by kds on Apr 28, 2021 14:49:13 GMT
I got my second Pfizer shot at 4:30p EDT yesterday. So far, just a sore arm. I've also been doubling up on fluids (water and Gatorade), and have been taking Emergen-C since getting the first shot.
So, I'm 18 hours in, and so far no real side effects.
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