bookofjoe

BehindTheMedspeak: When it comes to Covid, for me it's still 2020

Disclaimer: the fact that for 38 years I wore a surgical mask for 8-10 hours/day 5-6 days/week while giving anesthesia makes my wearing a mask pretty much a nothingburger in terms of discomfort.

Everyone else, well, as Alfred Korzybski, the founder of the science of semantics, wrote in his seminal 1933 book "Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics,": "When in doubt, read on."

Long story short:

• I mask* 100% of the time I enter any commercial indoor place

• All trips happen when things aren't busy so as to minimize my time in line among others

• No outdoor concerts/sporting events/farmers' markets etc.

• No air**, train, or bus travel

• Any car trip with another person in the vehicle requires open windows regardless of weather

• My brother (who lives in Florida; I'm in Virginia) recently came to visit for a week and chose to stay in a hotel once he realized how strict a regimen I adhere to (you will be pleased to know that I did not require him to wear a mask nor did I wear one when he was in my house hanging out — though I insisted he keep his distance (six feet or so) from me

So far so good: as far as I know I haven't had Covid once while EVERYONE I know has had it, many peeps more than once, a couple three or four times; most likely anyone I know who's got long Covid — and there's probably more than one such person — is so miserable they have no interest in communicating with me.

Diff'rent strokes.

*99+% of people reading this shouldn't bother masking. Why? Because 99+% of people who do wear masks these days might as well not be using one.

Deciding whether or not to mask based on your personal perception of the Covid risk of any given situation or activity is absurd.

If you're using a cloth mask, I'm laughing to myself because they're strictly theater; if you're wearing an over-the-ear mask almost certainly it doesn't fit properly such that zero air from outside the mask gets in; if you're wearing anything but an N95, why bother? 

Above and below, my mask of choice.

20 for $9.48 (47 cents apiece. FunFact: when I first bought these at the height of the pandemic in 2020 — after a lot of time and effort tracking down a site that still had them in stock — they cost about $10 each.)

Use a mirror to precisely mold the soft metallic nose bridge to your face; make sure all the edges abut skin with no gaps.

Yes — the two rubber bands that go around your head and the back of your neck are a pain in the butt as well as the neck but you soon become adept with them.

• If a mask gets dirty, throw it out

• If a mask gets wet, throw it out — that means sweat or rain

** I declared myself a "No-Fly" zone after my last plane trip (in 2013) because I found the experience had become dehumanizing and depressing. Since then, even before Covid you couldn't pay me enough to make me board a plane again. Covid didn't make an iota of difference.

More on the current state of the epidemic here, here, here, here, and here.

Roller Coaster Data Base

Finally.

Every roller coaster and amusement park on the planet.

Learn to talk the talk here.

FunFact: China has 1,834 roller coasters — 29% of the global total — more than double the U.S.'s 916.

Inner Message Ring

I love this.

Designed by Jungyun Yoon.

From the website:

A few years ago a Korean singer wrote a song about the sunburn mark that he found on his finger after he broke up with his girlfriend and removed a ring he had been wearing for a long time.

This is the story that inspired Jungyun Yoon to make "Inner Message," a ring with hidden letters on the inside.

Inner Message is a ring that leaves an impression on the finger.

Imagine your lover giving you a ring that on the surface seems plain but later, when you take the ring off, says, "Marry me."

Or imagine that even though you take off the ring to clean your hands, you are still wearing an impression of the word "Always."

From $120.

On the fence?

Watch

the video.