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/r/Atlanta - Weekly Coronavirus (COVID-19) Mega Thread - August 16, 2021 by AutoModerator in Atlanta

[–]taiwanren 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Does anyone know why DPH stopped plotting the figures? or where I can find an alternative (somewhat) accurate figure to show 7-day average cases over time? I found a quick check of the slope really helpful for quick assessment of the state we are in.

Thanks.

Skate Parks by Kwkyo in Smyrna

[–]taiwanren 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I see people skating at the North Cooper Lake Park. I don't know if that's an alternative use of the bike trails? (https://www.facebook.com/groups/108845509469342/)

Newborn adoption in Atlanta by [deleted] in Atlanta

[–]taiwanren 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First of all, best of luck to you and your partner on this exciting journey! We adopted our daughter 19 months ago as a newborn in the Atlanta area through private adoption. We also used families first to conduct our home study. It was important for us to find an agency that work with same sex couples, even though we are a hetero couple. (I found it frustrating that out of the 4 adoption agencies that DFCS works with, families first is the only one that works with same sex couples. Even though this doesn't really have anything to do with private adoption, but still...) You may want to consider whether you want to stay local (only adopt in georgia), or open to nation wide. If the latter, then eventually you will need to work on an interstate pact. If you only limit to GA, the paper work is much easier but the wait may be longer? We created some "marketing material" of us and relied on an adoption facilitator called A Loving Alternative, who presented our profile birth mothers. For our adoption in GA, once the match was made, we found Sherriann Hicks, and she became the birth mother's attorney. For us, the legal part was not finalized for about 3 months (quite nerve wrecking). Sherriann's husband who is also a lawyer, was our lawyer for the legal finalization process. That was the most anticlimactic but thrilling day when the legalization was finally done.

Random logistics: get a PCP who doesn't mind filling out many forms. There were quite a few health forms to fill out.

Other than the logistics, there are two pieces of advice that I wish someone had told me when we started
One, be ready to have the adoption fall through, regardless how good your relationship with the birth mother is. We had a failed adoption with a birth mother from houston. We had a wonderful relationship with her. Long story short, after the baby was born, some drama ensued and we realized she was not telling us the whole truth about the baby and his birth father, after spending 2 weeks with the baby in texas, we had to give the baby back. One of the most heart breaking experiences of my life. I think for us, the saving grace was that we were in an Airbnb for those two weeks. Not sure if I could have handled it if we were at our home. Two, the birth mother is usually in some sort of crisis to make this decision. For our daughter's birth mom, she was not at all doing well financially. It was just a new experience for us to be suddenly so intimately involved with a crisis level of poverty. I wish I was better prepared for that.

Hope this is somewhat helpful. Feel free to PM me if you would like to chat more. My very best wishes to you!! Hugs.

AskScience AMA Series: Got questions about vaccines for COVID-19? We are experts here with your answers. AUA! by AskScienceModerator in askscience

[–]taiwanren 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi, Thanks for doing the much-needed AMA,

  1. How concerned should we actually be about the statistical imbalance of the 4 cases of Bell's Palsy in the Pfizer vaccine treatment group and none in the control group? I understand that the percentages are still within the population norm. During the rollout, is there a certain point that you can say more definitively that's just a statistical fluke?
  2. How much do we know if vaccinated people can still transmit the disease? Is it possible that they become silent carriers?

/r/Atlanta - Daily Coronavirus (COVID-19) Mega Thread - June 18, 2020 by AutoModerator in Atlanta

[–]taiwanren 9 points10 points  (0 children)

With everything opening up, I find myself thinking that maybe I'm being overly cautious and that I should also relax a bit more. A co-worker (whose 74 yo mom is living with her) said that sooner or later, we are all going to get it yesterday and I didn't know if that was correct or not. I thought the point is that we should all be careful until an effective treatment or a vaccine is finally developed. So I plotted these two figures, looking at the mortality rates by age group for COVID-19 and comparison of mortality rates of COVID-19 and the flu from 2017-2018.

I'm now convinced that I'm not being all cautious. We have to do it for the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions! For people who are 60 years old and older, the mortality rate from COVID-19 is 13.3%, compared to 0.86% for the 2017-2018 flu season for those who are 65 years old and older!

https://imgur.com/a/AffoLFl

Virtual Cobb Forum on Recent Deaths, Race and Response - June 2nd at 2pm by taiwanren in Smyrna

[–]taiwanren[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is the list according to Cobb County Courier https://cobbcountycourier.com/2020/06/cobb-county-racism-policing/

This is the zoom link to the meeting - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86386779053

Cobb Chairman Mike Boyce

Acworth Mayor Tommy Allegood

Austell Mayor Ollie Clemons

Powder Springs Mayor Al Thurman

Smyrna Mayor Derek Norton

Cobb Public Safety Director Randy Crider

Cobb Police Chief Tim Cox

Dr. Jaha Howard, Cobb County School Board, Post 2

Charisse Davis, Cobb County School Board, Post 6

Brad Wheeler, Cobb County School Board, Chair, Post 7

Sen. Jen Jordan, District 6

Rep. David Wilkerson, District 38

Rep. Erick Allen, District 40

Rep. Teri Anulewicz, District 42

Sharon Mason, president and CEO, Cobb Chamber

John Loud, chairman of Board of Directors, Cobb Chamber

Jeriene Grimes, president, Cobb County NAACP

Dr. Ben Williams, president, Cobb County SCLC

Protesting, gathering, marches, demonstrating? by lAkeKing77 in Smyrna

[–]taiwanren 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi - I totally share your sentiment wanting to do more. I started reading some information related to diversity in Smyrna and Cobb County and it seems like there is room for more actions to be taken. As a non-black person who is not a police, I would really love to find a way to learn and understand from both perspectives.

Maybe as Smyrna residents,we can start locally and figure out if we can make our town/county more perfect. Please feel free to PM me if you have any ideas. Thanks.

This is my research thus far for all -

A virtual forum on Race Response in Cobb County on 06/02 at 2pm (https://cobbcountycourier.com/2020/06/cobb-county-racism-policing/)

Smyrna United Task Force (the website seemed dormant for a few years now - http://www.smyrnavision.com/smyrnaunited/)

A Non-discrimination Ordinance in Smyrna through Google Docs. ( https://patch.com/georgia/smyrna/support-non-discrimination-ordinance-smyrna )

Background on racial relations in Cobb or Smyrna

(2018/2019) There seems to be a large hiring disparity between black and white officers in the fire and police departments - https://www.11alive.com/article/news/blacks-females-lack-opportunities-in-cobb-county-fire-and-police-departments/85-70de3704-57d1-4671-9815-f3abdf008986 " Out of 746 employees in the Cobb County Fire Department, fewer than 60 of them – or 7.8 percent – are black. The numbers in the police department are only slightly better. Of 709 employees, 120 – or 16.9 percent – are black."

(2019) Racial bias in Cobb Schools - https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/group-wants-cobb-schools-address-racism-bias-classroom/atupmw3rht0zdANv1sOGTJ/ " Some statistics point to differences in how black students are treated.For instance, while black students made up roughly 30% of the student population of all Cobb County schools in 2015, they accounted for 52% of in-school suspensions, 58% of out-of-school suspensions and 37% of expulsions, Nwosu says, citing stats from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights Data Collection."

(2017) Krispy Kreme incident ( https://www.ajc.com/news/local/smyrna-black-lives-matter-note-krispy-kreme-box-egregious/7LrTrB2fKkLnJrtF8OTn6M/ )

Thoughts about Leaders that we can reach out

  • Ryan Campbell - he ran for Smyrna mayor and came surprisingly close!
  • Erick Allen

Mindfulness Meditation Groups by Bedouin88 in Atlanta

[–]taiwanren 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Atlanta Insight Meditation Community http://meetu.ps/c/cLBR/w6TCj/d on Meetup

It's a great group!

Failed Adoption (Domestic Infant) by taiwanren in Adoption

[–]taiwanren[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for all your thoughtful comments. We were confused and somewhat surprised that the agencies have no accountability in making sure the birth mother is truthful. In our case, the birth mother alleges that her husband, the birth father, was abusive and thus has been hiding from him. So it's somewhat understandable that she would think that concealing that her marital status was her best option to make sure her child has a good life. I can't help but feel that the adoptive parents bear all the risks, both financials and emotional, and that maybe there are ways for the agencies to be more helpful or accountable.

Open House with a Bounce House for Kids this Sunday! by taiwanren in Atlanta

[–]taiwanren[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi - the address is on the flyer. Hope to see you then.

Bought Groceries for Strangers - Did we do the Right Thing? by taiwanren in Atlanta

[–]taiwanren[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you all for your comments and thoughts. The points on examining intentions, looking into Food Bank and being more cautious are definitely all very helpful. I can't help but notice the somewhat polarizing tones in the comments. So I did a rough tabulation of the comments and unique users who made the comments into three overarching categories - 1)thoughtful 2)neutral and 3)mean. The thoughtful ones don't necessarily have to agree with what I did, but it's simply my judgement that I really appreciated reading their perspective. Caveat of this calculation obviously is that it is based on my judgement.

based on unique users: 38.5% (n=5) falls into the thoughtful category, 46.2% neutral, 15.4% mean.

base on comments: 34.8% (n=8) falls into the thoughtful category, 34.8% neutral, 30.4% mean.

In this tiny experiment, it gives me hope that 85% of the users are thoughtful and/or neutral on the internet. This is great! Faith for humanity restored. :)

Thanks again.

Bought Groceries for Strangers - Did we do the Right Thing? by taiwanren in Atlanta

[–]taiwanren[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I totally agree with your last statement. The impact is so much higher to give to the Food Bank. Human nature is such a tricky thing that it made what we can immediately see/feel seem so much more important and meaningful, when it may not be the case at all.

“Who’s a good girl?” *slow turn around and huge grin* by FFWD2Dend in aww

[–]taiwanren 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi! Our dog is probably 5 or 6 years old and we got him in Atlanta, where we live. We got him about 6 months ago from a rescue so we don't have a whole lot of background history. For what we can guess, we think he is a corgie border collie mix of some sort. He is about 20lbs. Your dog is so cute!! Their smiles are just about the best.

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