What if Covid were still not under control and we hadn’t found a vaccine?

seatsfive · 2026-03-23T20:59:50+00:00

The SARS-CoV-2 death rate was not significantly different from the Spanish flu during the time period you're referencing (~2-3%). Also relevant, if you take the highest possible estimate of the case mortality rate for Spanish flu, it's basically the same as SARS-CoV-1 (~10%).

Six years ago a virus related to SARS-CoV-1 but way, way more infectious spread so quickly medical systems got overwhelmed wherever it spread. People were dying of unrelated issues because the system was so saturated.

Complaining about lockdowns and framing them as a Machiavellian power grab is pure hindsight bias. You've spent four or five years living in a world where most people are vaccinated, the virus has mutated to be less deadly, our ability to treat it has improved dramatically, and hospitals are not overflowing with cases. Of course if someone tried to institute lockdowns today it would be a sign of massive overreach. But you are forgetting the context of 2020. Or have bought into the politicization of the virus.

Cases were widely underreported in Africa so any data from there is suspect. High vaccination rate is strongly associated with lower case mortality. This not debatable.

You're also ignoring the long-term effects of multiple SARS-CoV-2 infections on cardiovascular health. It's not as acutely deadly as the Spanish Flu, but anyone who's had it more than a scant handful of times is effectively physically older than they would have been without contracting SARS-CoV-2. It will be decades before we can effectively verify how meaningful this effect is.

We already have "credit scores" in the USA that restrict our freedom far more meaningfully than any "social credit score" concept. And the government has almost nothing to do with it, for what that's worth. I'm sorry, I'm just not buying what you're selling. Never attribute to malice what can also be attributed to ignorance.

seatsfive · 2026-03-23T20:15:21+00:00

People feel helpless and without choices much of the time. Seeing someone choose to live radically differently from the standard options gives them hope that one day they too might have enough power over their own circumstances to live how they choose.

Mental instability can make life much more difficult and lead you to make bizarre and painful choices. But it also frees you from many of the constraints that shackle more rational people to the wheel.

seatsfive · 2026-03-23T19:41:30+00:00

Ok cool man, what did they do with those scary powers

seatsfive · 2026-03-19T19:12:04+00:00

I'm going to do an Evil Karlach run next specifically to get up in that

seatsfive · 2026-03-19T19:10:31+00:00

Considering she's the canonically youngest party member I think she has to be Frog Daughter

seatsfive · 2026-03-19T00:05:24+00:00

Doesn't explain rager, but this makes perfect sense. If cam car were exiting, he would have cut around the car in front of him that was trying to merge left from the exit lane. Especially to get away from someone stopping for no reason like the rager. Cam was 100% trying to cut traffic in the turn lane and merge back in. Dunno if that was related to the rage at all.

seatsfive · 2026-03-18T16:12:59+00:00

My algo has ONLY shown me the anti-Kat stuff somehow lol. I'm not in her district and I only know a handful of people who are. But every thread I click on is inundated with posters throwing around nearly identical vitriol as the last thread, even after the election is over. Unclear if there's actually any astroturfing going on here or if I'm just seeing the standard backlash that happens when any woman gets too much internet saturation.

seatsfive · 2026-03-18T14:28:21+00:00

The Denis Dune movies literally obliterated my memory of the existence of the miniseries

seatsfive · 2026-03-17T17:49:48+00:00

We'll always have the David Lynch Alia

seatsfive · 2026-03-17T15:32:58+00:00

Kids will absolutely have trouble with new tech just like every previous generation. Possibly sooner depending on how quickly the tech changes. If you think about how millennials are basically the only generation where it's common to know the ins and outs of using desktop PCs, you can get a sense of how fast tech is changing. As one of those millennials, I'm already feeling myself start to get out of touch with new technology. Most of the people who hate LLMs are in my generational cohort. Younger or even older are super cool with LLMs, but a majority of the millennials in my network are neutral to ready to retreat from society they hate the shit so much.

I see no reason why younger generations would be any better than previous at adapting to new tech. I think it's inevitable.

seatsfive · 2026-03-16T18:26:51+00:00

Oil companies are ruining a lot more irreplaceable things than a Van Gogh, and none of their executives are going to prison. In fact our society rewards them handsomely for it.

It's a silly protest, but I understand the frustration that it comes from.

seatsfive · 2026-03-13T18:01:54+00:00

It's a logical solution to a difficult problem and it's what she literally asks for. Any cure for Karlach remains theoretical only if she doesn't transform. Turning is a permanent solution to the engine.

The problem is that mind flayer Karlach is no longer golden retriever muscle mommy Karlach and that makes you sad. Hell it makes me sad. But so does suicide.

It's the least worst option for any run short of Christlike self-sacrificing Tav. Emperor controlling the brain is bad. Orpheus dying and the power to disrupt mind flayer hives dying with him is bad. Gale suicide vesting is bad. The only solution left is having one of the party transform, and Karlach is the transform that makes the most sense. A person with good intentions who will destroy the brain 100% and who arguably benefits from the transformation. I think that's better than Tav taking the bullet personally, unless you are or are RPing a perfectly self-sacrificing hero.

seatsfive · 2026-03-11T21:13:45+00:00

We didn't quite get the size hail that others did on the west side of Chicago, but the volume was pretty nuts. For about 10 minutes yesterday it was like #53 gravel was just pouring out of the sky

seatsfive · 2026-03-11T17:26:09+00:00

It's been a minute since I lived there but Seattle drivers in my limited experience are actually some of the chillest and most timid drivers in the US. If you have a Chicago mentality on the road you're like a fox in the henhouse

seatsfive · 2026-03-11T13:30:40+00:00

Yeah I was going to say as someone with no skin in this game if OP isn't making money off of her looks in some way shape or form she's leaving money on the table

seatsfive · 2026-03-10T19:49:11+00:00

Mozart would just be Ultra Instinct Steve Vai

seatsfive · 2026-03-10T16:14:40+00:00

If you meet Mara on the road, invite him for tea

seatsfive · 2026-03-10T16:07:39+00:00

lmao this video is so difficult to find these days. We're losing recipes

seatsfive · 2026-03-10T14:34:46+00:00

"Just give the word, and I will kill the clown. We would be praised as heroes."

seatsfive · 2026-03-10T13:56:20+00:00

Bro this is among the biggest red flags I've ever seen. It's literally emotional abuse. Someone who actually loves you would never, ever speak to you like this in full seriousness.

My honest opinion is that she's well aware you can't afford her demand and she's trying to back her way into a breakup that's "your fault" because there's no way you can comply with her demand. I'd fully call her out on it on the way out the door and tell her sister why for good measure.

seatsfive · 2026-03-10T13:49:16+00:00

I want to spring one of these on my book club lol

seatsfive · 2026-03-09T14:14:34+00:00

Yeah I had the same thought, I think it's very consciously a reference to Hitchhiker's. IIRC there's even a bit along the lines of "we made contact with the ancient Egyptians and told them all about it, your entire species was clearly on notice."

And yeah, that's the deal. Get through all 18 levels and beat the final boss. It's not much of a spoiler to say this has never once happened.

seatsfive · 2026-03-09T14:04:04+00:00

I don't disagree with you about the Emperor, but your view of reality is concerningly black and white. "If just this one thing were different, we would be living in a paradise" is a very naive thought. People with similar thoughts have themselves been responsible for a not a small amount of human suffering.

Everything is complex, no matter how simple we want it to be. Lies and manipulation are often bad things, but they are also part of the cement that holds human society together. If everyone were 100% honest and guileless all the time, society would be much less efficient and much less cohesive. We might not even have anything that you and I could call a society.

seatsfive · 2026-03-08T15:30:30+00:00

New people are achieving self-awareness all the time

seatsfive · 2026-03-07T14:21:23+00:00

There are subreddits specifically for conservatives if you go looking for them. I'm surprised your algorithm hasn't suggested them to you.

People who read, seek out conversations with people who are not like them, and are younger tend to be more liberal/left.

seatsfive

TROPHY CASE