Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: Panjack

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ORIGINAL: mind_messing

...Also worth noting post #242 (concerning removals of statues of Confederate generals) has gone unremarked.

A rule for thee, but not for me

I'm concerned only with "political" postings I otherwise would respond to. It's better I address comments (I think provoking) in this way, instead of either not coming here or engaging in a back-and-forth in ways that doesn't benefit the forum.

In my imperfect way, I'm just trying to keep things here civil...for my own benefit, of course!

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ORIGINAL: RangerJoe
Confederate generals are US veterans. Enough said.

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...they'll never be called American veterans. The closest they ever came was "American citizens" ..."who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War."

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...no legislation either explicitly or implicitly granted Confederate soldiers status as United States veterans. Survivors of dead Confederate soldiers often took offense at measures appearing to equate them to Union soldiers, objections that died off as Southerners from the Civil War era did.

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It'll be hard for any widespread fudging of numbers

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A rule for thee, but not for me

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no legislation either explicitly or implicitly granted Confederate soldiers status as United States veterans.

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Guys, please lay off the Confederacy stuff

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ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653
AMC Theaters announced that when they open they will require movie goers to wear masks. Would any of you sit thru a 2 hour movie wearing a mask?

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ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

So I am a movie goer, I go to three or four a year maybe. I like Sci-Fi, I used to like Horror but these days it is either silly or gives me nightmares. I like to go on opening Friday, afternoon-ish, go to restaurant, have a nice meal and a few cordials to get in the mood, slide over to the theater before the 5 p.m. rush so that there are only a handful of us to see the premier on the Super HD Dolby Surround Big Screen.

AMC Theaters announced that when they open they will require movie goers to wear masks. Would any of you sit thru a 2 hour movie wearing a mask?

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ORIGINAL: Kull

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ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653
AMC Theaters announced that when they open they will require movie goers to wear masks. Would any of you sit thru a 2 hour movie wearing a mask?

It might be worth it if it kept the bratty teenagers quiet!

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ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

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Guys, please lay off the Confederacy stuff

Stop bringing it up damn you all, it was a one liner from three pages ago. Such a lack of focus here!

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ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

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A rule for thee, but not for me

That's because you guys are making assumptions or judgements that are incorrect. We were talking about a change in Social Opinion [which I purposely didn't even say was as much, I made a joke about the virus causing insanity] and the current problems with baseball. There was no political discussion there and the moderators noticed that, and that is why you couldn't get us censured or the thread closed. I have been letting these attempts go but this is third time. It is you who should be censured. You are trying to incite riots. Calm down.

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ORIGINAL: mind_messing

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I doubt anyone thinks the numbers anywhere are perfect (I said as much, above). In some places, they are more suspect than others. But the instance you cited is statistically meaningless. It did nothing except suggest to a casual reader that Georgia's numbers are suspect, which isn't true (at least, not based on that instance).

It'll be hard for any widespread fudging of numbers in places where there is scrutiny. Not only would the perpetrators get caught, they'd be crucified in print. Can you imagine what would happen to a governor or to a state health director that said, "Hey, let's play with numbers to make Covid look worse/better than it actually is."? In every case, somebody would blow the whistle. Who would take that chance? It's going to happen here and there, but most instances of bad faith trickery are going to be isolated/limited in scope.

Hey, wherever there are hotspot, those jurisdictions are reacting. Where there aren't, things are proceeding per easing. That's the only way it can work, right?

I can think of any number of ways to fudge the numbers.

Are the state level statistical publications tied to a specific definition to ensure standardized reporting?

What about assigning location of death? Do you record where fatalities lived, or where they were tested?

Or test numbers. What if you give one person six tests over a week. Have you tested six people, or one? Do you count confirmed false positive/negative results?

The situation in the UK was such that the head of the Office of Statistical Regulations got involved by writing to the health minister. I imagine the US, with the granular state system may even be worse.

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

We're talking about two different things.

By "Fudging the numbers," I mean bad faith manipulations to present a false narrative. That's going to be hard to do for anybody under heavy scrutiny, as are most US jurisdictions (and likely many in other nations too).

Good faith variations in how to interpret things isn't what I was talking about.

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

We're talking about two different things.

By "Fudging the numbers," I mean bad faith manipulations to present a false narrative. That's going to be hard to do for anybody under heavy scrutiny, as are most US jurisdictions (and likely many in other nations too).

Good faith variations in how to interpret things isn't what I was talking about.

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ORIGINAL: mind_messing

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I doubt anyone thinks the numbers anywhere are perfect (I said as much, above). In some places, they are more suspect than others. But the instance you cited is statistically meaningless. It did nothing except suggest to a casual reader that Georgia's numbers are suspect, which isn't true (at least, not based on that instance).

It'll be hard for any widespread fudging of numbers in places where there is scrutiny. Not only would the perpetrators get caught, they'd be crucified in print. Can you imagine what would happen to a governor or to a state health director that said, "Hey, let's play with numbers to make Covid look worse/better than it actually is."? In every case, somebody would blow the whistle. Who would take that chance? It's going to happen here and there, but most instances of bad faith trickery are going to be isolated/limited in scope.

Hey, wherever there are hotspot, those jurisdictions are reacting. Where there aren't, things are proceeding per easing. That's the only way it can work, right?

I can think of any number of ways to fudge the numbers.

Are the state level statistical publications tied to a specific definition to ensure standardized reporting?

What about assigning location of death? Do you record where fatalities lived, or where they were tested?

Or test numbers. What if you give one person six tests over a week. Have you tested six people, or one? Do you count confirmed false positive/negative results?

The situation in the UK was such that the head of the Office of Statistical Regulations got involved by writing to the health minister. I imagine the US, with the granular state system may even be worse.

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I think we've gotten off track. I wasn't suggesting that highlighting numbers from anywhere is manipulation or bad faith.

Apparently it's not possible for me to communicate clearly via the written word. All I meant was that it would be hard for any entity (local, state, national) to manipulate numbers in bad faith, given scrutiny levels.

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I think we've gotten off track. I wasn't suggesting that highlighting numbers from anywhere is manipulation or bad faith.

Apparently it's not possible for me to communicate clearly via the written word. All I meant was that it would be hard for any entity (local, state, national) to manipulate numbers in bad faith, given scrutiny levels.

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ORIGINAL: Sammy5IsAlive

Ok sorry.

I think the message board does odd things sometimes - it was showing your reply as a reply to me and not to m_m

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I think we've gotten off track. I wasn't suggesting that highlighting numbers from anywhere is manipulation or bad faith.

Apparently it's not possible for me to communicate clearly via the written word. All I meant was that it would be hard for any entity (local, state, national) to manipulate numbers in bad faith, given scrutiny levels.

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ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I think we've gotten off track. I wasn't suggesting that highlighting numbers from anywhere is manipulation or bad faith.

Apparently it's not possible for me to communicate clearly via the written word. All I meant was that it would be hard for any entity (local, state, national) to manipulate numbers in bad faith, given scrutiny levels.

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Like a missile locking on its target, antibodies attack invaders inside the body with a singularity of purpose: search and destroy. Typically, infection-fighting white blood cells produce antibodies as an appropriate response to an invading germ. In some people whose immune systems can’t mount a sufficient attack against a virus, donated antibodies from another person’s plasma may help. Researchers believe the power of antibodies lies in their ability to bind to a virus and neutralize it, or block it from entering cells, said Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. Modjarrad leads the Army’s COVID-19 vaccine development research.

But not all antibodies are created the same. “Antibodies come in different flavors, some of them are neutralizing and some of them are non-neutralizing and we don’t know exactly which individuals are developing what type of antibody,” said Shelly Krebs, chief of B Cell Biology Core at WRAIR Military HIV Research program.
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Future research may lead to the development of highly concentrated neutralizing antibodies extracted from large quantities of convalescent plasma as a potential therapy for prevention and treatment, added Cap.

Scientists believe monoclonal antibodies—derived from a single immune cell—may also hold potential as both a treatment and preventive measure against COVID-19. Krebs and her team have engineered monoclonal antibodies in the lab by isolating the best neutralizing antibodies from CCP samples to create an army of exact replicas that target the COVID-19 virus down to the atomic level, explained Modjarrad. “We know where and how well it’s going to target, and we know the kinetics of how long it will last in the body and how long it will provide protection,” he explained, noting convalescent plasma does not provide that level of effectiveness. “CCP is not generally used for prevention but for treatment.” Monoclonal antibodies could be used for both treatment and prevention of COVID-19 because the transfused neutralizing antibodies would provide immediate immunity, he added.

Monoclonal antibodies have been in use for decades and revolutionized cancer treatment. Krebs’ lab plans to expand the research into monoclonal antibodies against COVID-19 into animal studies this summer. “Our primary goal is to come up with a treatment for people who have COVID-19,” she said.

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ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

DOD: Understanding the Potential of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma
By
Carol Duff, MSN, BA, RN -
June 19, 2020

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Like a missile locking on its target, antibodies attack invaders inside the body with a singularity of purpose: search and destroy. Typically, infection-fighting white blood cells produce antibodies as an appropriate response to an invading germ. In some people whose immune systems can’t mount a sufficient attack against a virus, donated antibodies from another person’s plasma may help. Researchers believe the power of antibodies lies in their ability to bind to a virus and neutralize it, or block it from entering cells, said Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. Modjarrad leads the Army’s COVID-19 vaccine development research.

But not all antibodies are created the same. “Antibodies come in different flavors, some of them are neutralizing and some of them are non-neutralizing and we don’t know exactly which individuals are developing what type of antibody,” said Shelly Krebs, chief of B Cell Biology Core at WRAIR Military HIV Research program.
.
.
.
Future research may lead to the development of highly concentrated neutralizing antibodies extracted from large quantities of convalescent plasma as a potential therapy for prevention and treatment, added Cap.

Scientists believe monoclonal antibodies—derived from a single immune cell—may also hold potential as both a treatment and preventive measure against COVID-19. Krebs and her team have engineered monoclonal antibodies in the lab by isolating the best neutralizing antibodies from CCP samples to create an army of exact replicas that target the COVID-19 virus down to the atomic level, explained Modjarrad. “We know where and how well it’s going to target, and we know the kinetics of how long it will last in the body and how long it will provide protection,” he explained, noting convalescent plasma does not provide that level of effectiveness. “CCP is not generally used for prevention but for treatment.” Monoclonal antibodies could be used for both treatment and prevention of COVID-19 because the transfused neutralizing antibodies would provide immediate immunity, he added.

Monoclonal antibodies have been in use for decades and revolutionized cancer treatment. Krebs’ lab plans to expand the research into monoclonal antibodies against COVID-19 into animal studies this summer. “Our primary goal is to come up with a treatment for people who have COVID-19,” she said.

https://www.veteranstoday.com/2020/06/19/dod-understanding-the-potential-of-covid-19-convalescent-plasma/

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ORIGINAL: Sammy5IsAlive

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ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

So I am a movie goer, I go to three or four a year maybe. I like Sci-Fi, I used to like Horror but these days it is either silly or gives me nightmares. I like to go on opening Friday, afternoon-ish, go to restaurant, have a nice meal and a few cordials to get in the mood, slide over to the theater before the 5 p.m. rush so that there are only a handful of us to see the premier on the Super HD Dolby Surround Big Screen.

AMC Theaters announced that when they open they will require movie goers to wear masks. Would any of you sit thru a 2 hour movie wearing a mask?

Yes? That wearing a mask/face-covering has become such an issue just seems bizarre to me. As with any unfamiliar stimulus it feels a bit weird for 5 minutes but after that you barely notice it.

But that is why I think this thread is doomed to be locked again eventually. It is impossible to discuss Covid-19 and particularly the situation in the US without reference to politics. This new thread has ticked along for a few weeks with very little activity apart from brief personal anecdotes. The moment the conversation has moved to any meaningful discussion of the wider picture everything has kicked off again. That's not through any 'malice' on anybody's part - it's just an inevitability.

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ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

This is shameful. We can do better than this.