Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Florida is pretty open, it's very different from Hawaii where you need "permission" just to get in the state.  I'd say Georgia is somewhat open, some places require masks and some restaurants are take out only, still, and some request masks.

France is in various versions of a shut down for the unvaxxed.  Their case numbers are MUCH higher than anything previously, their deaths have gone up some but have not reached where they were earlier for obvious reasons.

I sense many of us realize all these measures might delay the inevitable a bit but won't stop it, it's endemic now.  We're still planning for the Baltic Cruise in May and I might do another US trip in between, maybe to Vegas, we like the areas near Vegas, not the city itself that much.

We postponed our summer Euro trip-- again.  There's just no way to know how the governments of those countries will react when the next wave, or the wave after that, hits them.  And I don't want to bother spending all the time and money to get there, to find that the restaurants and attraction we'd hoped to visit, are closed or otherwise compromised.

So we'll do a beach vacation in Mexico instead. 

It's interesting being in town on the border of a couple states.

Everything is functionally open everywhere. In one state, because of a "mask mandate" in the specific city, a majority of people wear masks, but people don't generally care. In the other, where I used to live and which has been less strict, I walk into a restaurant with a mask and almost no other customer has one. And then I shrug and take my seat because I tend to be a live and let live guy. It's always an intersting transition.

going from tyranny to freedom can be very interesting

How were you feeling from the first one? Which brand did you go for?

What the Joe Rogan podcast controversy says about the online misinformation ecosystem : NPR

An interesting dilemma I think, but people are so prone to confirmation bias, they will get bad info from somewhere else if not here.

In several nations Excessive Death counts are indicating death numbers beyond those attributable to COVID.

Russia’s population drop of 700K last year amounts to more than their Covid losses. Going back over a decade before the pandemic began, Russia’s mortality rates were already too high. Got to believe that a century of tyranny, corruption, and economic depression resulting in famines, prison camps, severe alcohol abuse, and a lack of religious vision has long since broken the collective spirit of Russia, IMO.

As for the UK, their surprising decrease in life longevity (and rise in mortality) started decreasing before the pandemic as well, where Covid is certainly the main driver behind the UK’s current spike in excess deaths. But last year the UK’s excess deaths were not fully explained by Covid.

In the larger picture, IMO, costs and poverty and homelessness are rising across the first world without short-term political solution, and healthcare cannot keep up with our collectively poorer health from worsening diets, more polluted living environments, and especially rising drug abuse. It’s all adding up to Covid pushing it all beyond the breaking point.


https://twitter.com/Tolling_Bell/status/1464408199155437568


https://twitter.com/RFERL/status/1487369032726548480