SunSurfer
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Posts posted by SunSurfer
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@Neil Gendzwill Although the experiment shows a significant result using the intra-ocular traumatic test of statistical significance, the engineers and scientists amongst the watchers will cringe at the uncontrolled variables on your test bench (floor).
Some learned comments from another thread to inform your test results.
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@pow4ever Paper is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. However, from USC Davis, a usually reliable source.
Evidence of viral load in the USC paper is reported at only one point in time, and does not describe what happened to viral load over time. Hence the reference to the Singapore paper where it was tracked over time, but the USC paper gives us no information that confirms or refutes the Singapore finding.
IF the key findings (similar distribution of viral loads in Delta infected subjects, vaccinated or unvaccinated) are REPEATED in other settings THEN it would appear that vaccine passports allowing greater freedom of movement are not appropriate.
An old saying "One swallow does not make a summer."
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Does having Covid and recovering mean all is well? Report here of a large followup study on "long Covid" symptoms. Researchers tracked 270,000 survivors in USA for 9 defined symptoms (up to 200 long Covid symptoms have been reported).
37% of survivors reported at least 1 of the 9 symptoms at 6 months after their illness.
(Can't find a direct link to the data/paper at this point. The link takes you to a Guardian article describing the paper) -
2 hours ago, BlueB said:
Might even be better to go without! Depending where you wanted the swelling...
Or where you got the vaccination.
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6 hours ago, Chouinard said:
Truth or Fiction - thought I'd worm this into the conversation.
If you choose to take ivermectin, and I am not recommending that anyone does for Covid-19, here is the ivermectin data sheet put out by the branch of the NZ government that regulates medications. The document describes the dosages that are used in humans and the potential toxicity of the drug in humans. Might not do you any good, but at least it should minimise any physical harm.
https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/Profs/Datasheet/s/Stromectoltab.pdf
In relation to ivermectin use for Covid-19, there is a paper from a reputable and peer reviewed source showing ivermectin significantly inhibits Covid-19 growth in a laboratory cell-line setting (not humans).
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220302011
The only problem is that this inhibition occurred at ivermectin levels between 2.5-5uM solution strength, approx 2-4ug/ml (microgram/ml).
A standard dose of ivermectin for an adult (12mg) produces peak concentrations of 46ng/ml (nanogram/ml) 4 hours after dosing (see medsafe doc).This issue is explored further in the letters that follow this editorial in the same journal that published the inhibition paper.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7172803/
So to achieve the kind of concentrations described iin the inhibition paper you would need to take roughly 100 times the normal dosage of ivermectin. This is not something that has been trialled in humans, although the medsafe document describes some studies where relatively large doses of ivermectin were given to volunteers to see what happened (described in more detail in the letters after the editorial).
So we don't have a plausible mechanism for ivermectin to act on Covid-19 at normal doses. And we don't have any human trials at the higher doses. (though the inhinbition paper suggests that studies to work out if there is a suitable human dose might be a good idea)
Covid-19 vaccine technology and mechanism of action is, by comparison with ivermectin , well understood. All the vaccines in use in Western nations have undergone all stages of human trials -
and are now in the surveillance phase, where extremely rare complications that were not identified earlier are likely to be found.
So,
seems to me that people who won't take the vaccine because it "hasn't been tested enough" but will take ivermectin aren't really thinking straight.-
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10 hours ago, TVR said:
Since this is now the FB generation and "trusted" sources are outlets like FB now:
Channel 7 is doing a piece on those who have lost someone unvaccinated to COVID. Here is their request to the comments:
After the vaccines were available to everyone, did you lose an unvaccinated loved one to COVID-19? If you're willing to share your family's story, please DM us your contact information. We may reach out for a story we're working on.
Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/wxyzdetroit/photos/a.461583946134/10158207966696135/?type=3
Read the posts. Read what everyone is saying. I don't think FB will keep this up for long.I looked at the Facebook page you linked.
So the anecdotal Facebook "evidence" supports an avalanche of deaths due to Covid vaccination? Really?In New Zealand, a nation with a sophisticated, joined up, centrally organised healthcare system
where 2.9 million people have received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine,
where there is a national patient registration system,
where all deaths are required to have a death certificate with the cause of death,
where there is universal access to free public hospital care, and
where there is a rigorous drug adverse reaction monitoring system (https://nzphvc.otago.ac.nz/reporting/),
ANYONE may report a possible death or reaction to a drug to CARM. I've reported drug reactions to CARM myself, and have published case reports of newly identfied, or rare drug reactions.
Doctors in NZ have no financial incentive to withhold information about adverse reactions to any drugs or vaccination.A number of deaths have been reported that were associated in time with Pfizer Covid vaccination. Just 1 death, due to myocarditis in a patient with multiple other health issues, has been determined to be due to the vaccine. During the vaccination campaign there has also been just 1 death decided to have been caused by Covid, in a 90+ year old woman with multiple other health issues.
Association in time is not evidence of cause and effect.
I am not sure whether you "trust" Facebook as an information source to make decisions about your own health.
I don't want to win an argument.
I do want you to be as safe as modern medical science can make you, in the face of an illness that can kill.
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New to me. Having fun on Hot assym's.
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Family members of unvaccinated people who died of Covid tell their experiences. Some insights into why people who aren't keen to vaccinated feel that way. The piece is not unsympathetic to the vaccine hesitant.
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UK data showing how vaccination reduces death rates from Covid.
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Covid immunology explainer for the general public. The immune system is actually incredibly complex but this gives you the basics.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/126331885/covid19-to-boost-or-not-to-boost
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The link takes you to a newspaper article describing follow-up after vaccination research that, for now, suggests caution about vaccinating healthy teenage boys against Covid with the Pfizer, and possibly Moderna, vaccines.
As with everything Covid, what we "know" keeps changing as new research becomes completed. Any decision about what we personally do should be made in the light of our current best information.
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2 hours ago, bumpyride said:
30 years ago I spent 5 weeks in NZ. Was invited into a home of an older couple and was offered a partnership in their business. I have many times thought that it was the place I'd most like to be if it wasn't for my family. Covid even makes that decision even more foolish.
Glad you folks are so on the ball in so many ways.
NZ and the USA are very different places despite both starting from people leaving England (and other parts of Europe) and wanting to start a new life.
We trust our government.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/30/even-as-new-zealand-battles-covid-trust-in-government-bucks-global-trendAnd, one of our founding "myths" about ourselves is highly valuing fairness and natural justice as described in -
"Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies, New Zealand and the United States" by David Hackett Fischer.
https://artsfuse.org/56492/fuse-book-review-fairness-and-freedom/ -
9 hours ago, TVR said:
What about natural immunity? Vaccination has become a cult. What would the justification be to force vaccination of someone with antibodies from a previous infection when all science shows natural immunity to be more of a robust shield. What are the numbers for risk of adverse affects, including death, vs protection in children as well?
Anyone want to explain to the rest of humanity why Israel, with one of the highest vaccination rates of any county on the planet is having record numbers of infection right now? It isn't from the unvaccinated, and these record case counts prove the vaccine doesn't stop transmission. This push to force vaccination while ignoring natural immunity is not helping to convince people and those pushing the previously exposed who now have immunity to vaccinate had better hope there are no long term side effects as the vaccine manufacturers have liability immunity, but those administrating the vaccine do not.https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-covid-graphs-prove-vaccines-works-delta-pfizer-1.10101640
Doubting science has become a cult. Vaccination removed smallpox from the world apart from a couple of secire laboratories. It has pretty much removed polio from the developed world. Vaccination of young women prevents deafness from intrauterine German measles. And the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine prevents many cases of cervical cancer, other genital & throat cancers. Care to catch hepatitis B, typhoid, Japanese encepahlitis, meningococcal meningitis etc etc. Or just get vaccinated!
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12 hours ago, Neil Gendzwill said:
Well my wife just tested positive despite being fully Pfizered. Just a runny nose so far. Add her to the stats. We had over 400 new cases last report which is a record regardless of wave and our idiotic government is still insisting that doing nothing other than offering vaccines is the right course of action. Meanwhile our icu, er, testing and tracing facilities are overwhelmed and our medical staff are burned out.
Vaccines won't necessarily stop the virus getting on board, but they do change what your immune system does and how fast it does it. Vaccination should markedly reduced the severity of the illness your wife has as a result of the virus getting a foothold. Hope she heals quickly Neil.
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7 hours ago, BlueB said:
And back to beautiful, sunny Vancouver!
After a month of hopping borders and hugging people all over the Balkans, my kid and I returned in good health. Canada seems to have a pretty good entry system, where lots of stuff is uploaded prior to travel. They still check the covid related docs, though.
One part I didn't understand was mandatory masks on the plane. Due to Canadian regulation, only people in possession of negative test could board. Majority, being the returning Canadians, were vaccinated too. What's the point of the masks then? I wonder if the airline is actually protecting itself, from potential liability...
A negative Covid test is no guarantee passengers aren't in the early stages of Covid infection. New Zealand has the same requirement for a negative Covid test within 72 hours of departure of plane to NZ. Despite that arriving passengers frequently become Delta Covid positive soon after arrival, while they are still in the mandatory government managed isolation facilities.
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The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks!
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On 5/15/2021 at 1:46 AM, Neil Gendzwill said:
They used to be a lot blusier when Peter Green was involved. This is one of my favourite current bands covering one of their old ones:
I have an MP3 320 kbps ripped copy of Fleetwood Mac - The Essential Blues Collection. May have been a very limited release CD, not even Spotify has it amongst their FM discography.
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14 hours ago, Chouinard said:
@SunSurferplaying chicken with the fence are we?
Relatively narrow trail. Collided with a young snowboarder coming from uphill of me who tried to pass on the fence side of that trail just as I was about to dive into a fence side turn. Obviously, not in the video. Left me with a beautiful big bruise down the whole of my right arm.
Thirst SC was a great tool for the conditions, hard pack under loose lumpy scuffed off snow.
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A little something out of the Southern winter, blighted by a nationwide Delta Covid Level 4 lockdown on the day following a 40+cm dump at Cardrona (& similar over most South Island fields). Ski fields here can't operate until the Level drops to 2 or less, and that may not happen before our season is nearly over. A fortnight in new cases seem to be plateauing and much of the country will get to Level 3 in 3 days time.
Think of this as a video review of the Thirst SC in typical NZ resort conditions, hard pack under cut up loose snow, getting lumpy from early in the day. The GoPro8 used had a "dead mouse" wind noise muffler so the edge bite of the Thirst is clearly audible. A range of POVs used, including 16:9 in "portrait", and a boot top mount looking forward.
Just getting to grips with DaVinci Resolve 17 from BlackMagic Design, a completely free, high end video editing tool.
If I could have put a music track to it, it would have been Robert Palmer's "Simply Irresistible"!
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New Zealand also in complete highest level lockdown as we attempt to eradicate a Delta variant breakout into the community. After watching Australia's uncontrolled outbreak the government here moved as soon as the first Delta case was announced. NZ population have really valued the freedom they have had within the country over the last 15 months. Last riding day of my trip was Tuesday 17th August. Anticipating at least 4-6 weeks of this as we attempt to recover our in-country Covid free state.
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RAL now seeking to change its business model and bring in investors to stay financially viable. Personal opinion, talking to all the Aucklanders down here in Central Otago because the snow and weather is so bad at Ruapehu, is that they are unlikely to find partners and Ruapehu Alpine Lifts will stop operating, and the first NZ major ski field to stop because of climate change is not far in the future at all.
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2021:
End of my first week down here, 3 more to go. All days at Cardrona so far. Annual leave allowances much more generous in NZ than in USA, and a range of issues have prevented me taking an actual extended holiday since I was down here a year ago.
Have skis and 5 boards, plus my wife with me as we mark our 40th wedding anniversary. The original honeymoon involved lots of skiing! She no longer skis (long story) so every so often this trip I take a day off for vineyard visits, good food etc.
All gear has been ridden so far, including the new Thirst Superconductor. I'm wearing the Thirst rider's manic grin! Weather is suitably cold for August so far, after our warmest July on record. Snow base is about 2/3 normal. Mixture of days, a blue sky day with massive crowds at one extreme, and today -7C, windy and snow/ low cloud through till just before lunch with few people around.
This year's changes. Boot toe work and technique changes have meant my UPZs are very comfy and get left buckled through the whole day. Bindings have gone to 65/65 to prevent any boot out on the Thirst, but this has also helped me really ride with a + stance both toe and heel side. The same angles are also helping me to carve later day bumpy snow without a plate by allowing my knees to shock absorb while having minimal effect on edge angle. In addition, bending my knees in the turns lowers my centre of mass, improves my shock absorption, and helps me recover when ice is unexpectedly encountered. Riding centred between the bindings in the bumps helps my fore/aft balance and makes my rear heel much less likely to lift in the boot when a bump impact is not fully anticipated.
Run into the local Donek rep a couple of times, he lives in Central Otago, and has a few boards available to demo. He tells me Sean has got the USA to NZ freight costs down to almost unbelievable levels, comparable almost to moving a board inside NZ. Seen just 2 other hardbooters in the distance over the week but our lift queues haven't coincided.
7 days, just under 40,000m vertical total, biggest day just under 9,000m.
Favourite moments so far, a "nice turns" conversation opener on the chair from one of Cardrona's senior instructors, and getting to repeatedly carve Sluicebox (150m stretch of steep, limited width, but carveable terrain) today with few interruptions given the low traffic levels.
Friends and family arrive during the next week, one mate is keen to use his GoPro, so hopefully some video to cool your summers soon.
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@TVRhttps://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html
Has an answer, based on current state of knowledge, on whether people who have had Covid should be vaccinated. Despite its international reputation being damaged in the recent past, the CDC remains a reliable source of general health advice. For specific advice, taking into account your personal health history, discuss the CDC recommendation with your doctor.
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A fitness fanatic, who didn't want to put the vaccine into his body, who thought that if he got Covid it would be a mild illness because he was young and fit. His only co-morbidity, according to his sister, was his belief in his own immortality.
Evolution by natural selection is a brutal process, but by it Covid may make the world a smarter place.
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Occasional soft boots: suggestions
in Carving Central
Posted
If you choose to ride hard boots on a wider board at significantly different angles from your normal stance, then you should watch this video first to understand how the angle changes change the geometry of your stance and how that interacts with your physique.