We know whether the COVID vaccines work

We know whether the COVID vaccines work

The COVID vaccines have been rejected by some people, especially in the USA. The reasons vary from lies about the use of aborted babies in their production, to doubts about how well they work. (A so-called ‘pro-life’ group has said there are no moral reasons not to use the Moderna, Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, or even Johnson and Johnson vaccines – source 1, source 2). To clarify that they do work, these graphs provide a very clear, simple comparison of similar…

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Why you know less than you think

Why you know less than you think

Everything I know is learned. It’s an important thing to remember – it’s easy to forget and believe that everything you know is true in some fundamental and foundational way. Everything you know is learned too. Let’s unpack that. What do you know to be true? I know that I am writing this at the moment. Well, I think I am. Some dreams are pretty vivid, and hallucinations can be so vivid that people genuinely don’t know what’s going on….

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How not to die because of your roof

How not to die because of your roof

The title of this article may seem like an easy thing to achieve – don’t climb on it. But this is not about falling off your roof. Let me give you some background. I am from England. In England, the weather ranges from around 80°F (26°C) on occasional days in the summer, to around 32°F (0°C) on occasional days in the winter. Most of the year, the weather hovers around 50°F (10°C) to 60°F (15°C). The air is more humid…

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Windows 11 first thoughts

Windows 11 first thoughts

I installed Windows 11 on my personal laptop last night because I like to try new things. Some people see an update to Android, or to a program they use, and fear having to learn the changes, or to make things comfortable again. But I am the reverse – if something can be changed, I want to try it out. Every review that I have seen says something like “It’s not finished yet” which is true, so I will ignore…

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Measuring GDP is the wrong measure

Measuring GDP is the wrong measure

I wrote recently about how the USA is a third world country by a lot of measures, and that it ranks low in most other comparisons with developed, healthy countries. You can read more about that here: Is the US a third world country? I feel commended now that Andrew Yang’s new Forward Party has said something similar. Here’s what they say on their “American Scorecard” page: You can’t fix something if you’re not measuring the right things. Right now,…

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Incongruous thinking about the EU

Incongruous thinking about the EU

Some people believe, not inaccurately, that the people of the US are guilty of ignoring the rest of the world. As I discussed in an earlier post, if Americans knew how good the Scandinavians have it, they would not be voting the way they vote, or stomping around about the superiority of their country. The same is true of Britons. They vote against their best interests all the time, but the voting system there also reduces the need for compromise…

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Vaccine mandates

Vaccine mandates

The US used a vaccine mandate to survive the war of independence. This from today’s New York Times (the full article, though behind a paywall, is worth a read): The rationale for workplace mandates revolves around those large benefits: Even in a country that prioritizes individual freedom as much as the U.S. does, citizens do not have the right to harm their colleagues or their colleagues’ families, friends and communities. One person’s right to a healthy life is greater than…

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Thoughts about the world

Thoughts about the world

In the distant past (for the internet), I thought through and modified my worldview by blogging. Since I stopped blogging about politics and philosophy my views have changed some more. Now I would like to review some of those views and open them up to challenge by others on the internet. It seems to me that, to paraphrase a famous passage, there are some things all humans should be able to agree upon: All people, regardless of gender, race, education,…

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Social Media and Vaccines

Social Media and Vaccines

There are some concerns about the COVID-19 vaccines. Some of these concerns are legitimate (myocarditis in young men) and some are based on conspiracy theories that are demonstrably nonsense (tracking chips in the vaccine, or its supposed links to Satan). The myocarditis one is particularly interesting and, unfortunately, provides fuel to the blanket anti-vaxxers who are responsible for recent outbreaks of the previously-controlled, measles, and the current continuation of the global pandemic which has cost 1/500 Americans their lives. As…

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