Rani

Screen shot from the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy: “My God. He’s gonna do the entire speech.” Willow: “Man, just ascend already.” Buffy: “Evil.”

The Little Mermaiden Name

John Tucker Must DEI

No problem! For some reason I’m unable to see the chat icon on your profile to DM you (might have to enable it in your settings?) Or if you don’t mind, could try sending me a DM first

There’s a pharmacy in Toronto run by a really kind pharmacist who offers shots to anyone who wants one as long as it’s been at least 3 months since the last one. My family and many folks in our local c19 FB group have been going there for the past year. If interested, can DM the name of the place :)

Just the image alone is so calming :) Is this Terra garden center?

YouTube video by Gilmore Gags Paul Anka likes his illusion of freedom

Reminds me of this silly scene in Gilmore Girls where they’re discussing Lorelai’s quirky new pet dog: “Oh he’s totally fine having his personal freedom slowly stripped away. As long as he’s completely unaware that it’s happening, just like a true American.”

It’s a throwaway line, yet so apt.

A side by side comparison of two headlines of the same article from The New York Times. The headline on the left reads “Five Years Ago, We Were Terrified of Covid. We Were Right to Be Afraid” (February 25). The headline on the right reads “The Covid Alarmists Were Closer to the Truth Than Anyone Else” (February 26).

What’s interesting is that they intentionally changed it to this headline using “covid alarmists” after the article had already been published. Here’s a side by side comparison (credit to @catinthehat.bsky.social), with the original headline on the left (still shows up on a Google search too).

Do you by any chance have access to a different brand of rapid tests? Or even another box with a different lot number/expiry date? May be helpful to confirm the accuracy of the current positive result.

So sorry to hear that. I think it’s less common, but not rare either. This summer 2 family members tested +, one for 15 days, the other for 18 days. I suspect it may be related to having a higher viral load (exposure was over several days, maskless, poor ventilation, no nasal spray, Metformin, etc.)

Screenshot of tweet from David Fisman (DFisman) on January 27, 2023 that reads: I spoke to an outstanding pediatric colleague today who termed omicron SARS-2 a Trojan horse in kids. Initial illness non-severe for the overwhelming majority of kids. Their concern is the downstream illness a few weeks later: infectious or immune. And we shared the frustration that most clinicians can't or won't see the linkage between upstream sars-2, and downstream infection or autoimmunity. They ARE linkable via history, serology or even PCR (seeing a high cycle positive "tail")

"We are in the midst of the longest, saddest, most excruciating 'I told you so' in the history of the world."

👇

It’s so disheartening. The worst part is it feeds into and gives validity to the right-wing ecosystem’s claims that the left weaponizes public health and protective measures as a political tool. Everything they previously advocated for was abandoned shortly after coming into power for the economy.

Screenshot from Abbott Elementary with Mr. Johnson and Ava standing in a school hallway. The accompanying text reads: “It’s tough times out here. People need the laughs.”

Absolutely guaranteed at least one belly laugh every episode. Consuming any food or drink while watching has actually become a safety hazard haha

Also for me it’s Ava—always start laughing in anticipation the moment she enters the scene before even delivering her line.

So glad it’s back this week!

SpongeBob and Patrick smiling at each other while standing in the middle of a road surrounded by burning buildings, large fires, and smoke. The accompanying text reads: “We did it Patrick! We saved the city.”

🎯

Quote tweet from former CDC director Rochelle Walensky, MD from August 18, 2020: “Spot on! Combatting COVID19 requires a comprehensive multi-pronged approach: masks, tests, treatments, vaccine. Those holding out for the vaccine alone are going to be sorely disappointed; time to beef up the dimensions we have on hand already!” Tweet underneath is from Dr. Tom Friedman: “Am I hopeful we will have a vaccine in the coming months? Yes. Do I think this will get us back to pre-Covid reality? No. Vaccines take a long time to get to people, often have stumbles in rollout, and don’t protect perfectly.”

1. CDC internal docs leaked during Delta www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/...

2. Delta Airlines CEO letter to CDC www.washingtonpost.com/context/delt...

3. Impact Research Memo: “Push for Normal” docs.house.gov/meetings/VC/...

4. This tweet from Walensky in 2020, prior to becoming CDC director

Archiving studies/resources from gov websites like PubMed/NIH, CDC, EPA. Stocking up on N95s (enough to share with others), updating vaccines, replacing old laptop (and any other essential household items likely to be hit by tariffs). Also daily reminders not to lose sense of humor among the horrors

Totally…and rest assured, only “the vulnerable will fall by the wayside”

Fascism is only rising due to fascism debt. We just need to build up our immunity by embracing more fascism and normalizing authoritarians. Long fascism is very rare and if you’re worried you can just stay home forever. We need to learn to live with fascism. Now everyone back to brunch!

Samesies

Screen shot from Gilmore Girls with the caption “If the hurricanes don’t kill us, the bird flu will.”

Mood

Oh for sure. Feels like we’re living Murphy’s Law "anything that can go wrong will go wrong”. C19/RSV/flu/pneumonia/TB/pertussis spreading simultaneously in a immunesuppressed population & symptoms overlapping with H5N1. No testing/masks + public in the dark, politically captured PH, Trump incoming…

The United Nations just published this graph showing the ages of people killed in Gaza.

The base of this pyramid of death are babies and toddlers.

How can this be described as anything other than genocide?

www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...

Me learning Canada now has its first human case of bird flu: oh god

Me learning it’s a child in BC, with Bonnie “wash your hands for an airborne virus” Henry in charge: OH DEAR GOD NO 😭

This website of Covid safe dentists may be helpful :) There’s one located in Hamilton and another nearby in Burlington on the list. It was created back in 2022, so may want to call ahead and confirm they are still adhering to the appropriate protocols.

www.covidsafedentists.ca

Shrinked. And sometimes unshrinked 😷
Love your commitment to the bit hehe

COVID wastewater graph for Toronto North, Ontario with data starting from January 2021 and up to January 2, 2024. Viral load is currently high and increasing.

👀

In the mean time, Public Health Canada just updated their wastewater monitoring dashboard yesterday (January 9) with data including and up to January 2. This is one of the regional wastewater graphs for Toronto:

Link: health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/was...

WW2-style propaganda poster of a femme-coded peson hugging a package of KN95s. The text reads "It’s never too late to — to start masking again! You can restart COVID safe practices at any time! No matter when or why you stopped!"

Hehe anytime :) Just gallows humour-ing our way through it together