Exiern

Discussion (5) ¬

1. 
   Brother Parvus

   October 26, 2020, 4:57 pm | # | Reply

   Whack fol the daddy-oh, there’s uisce[0] in the jar!

   [0] uisce beatha == water of life
2. 
   Kody The Monk

   October 26, 2020, 11:47 pm | # | Reply

   Sounds like she is the last survivor of a Tontine.
3. 
   Gromnir

   October 27, 2020, 9:22 am | # | Reply

   “…a good year?”

   “In hindsight mostly yes. But at the time… the worst.”

   I wonder if 2020 will match that descriptor or just be misery upon misery in retrospect.

   • 
     Some Ed

     October 28, 2020, 11:21 am | # | Reply

     In the pandemic of 1918, we didn’t have the mask technology to really deal with the situation properly. It was helpful, sure, but it was mostly a matter of decreasing the contagion spread from the already infected. While many masks using that same technology are again in use today, we also have a relatively scalable mask supply that *can* actually protect the person wearing it.

     It’s conceivable that we could finally make progress on reducing the impact of the annual flu season, if we can extend a culture of allowing people to wear these masks in public.

     I mean, it probably *won’t* go like that, because a lot of people are very opposed to the masks. But it’s one possible outcome that I think would make 2020 look like a pivotal year improving things.

     It’s also possible that it could be a pivotal year on progress towards enfranchising the disenfranchised. It doesn’t really seem like it will be to me, but there’s enough push for that to plausibly have some success.

     • 
       Shan

       October 28, 2020, 7:11 pm | # | Reply

       The biggest thing we can do that works is keeping our distance from each other. They knew that back in 1918 as well. Regrettably, they had people who opposed that as seen in this tale of two cities.

       https://www.businessinsider.com.au/history-of-how-st-louis-vs-philadelphia-treated-1918-flu-pandemic-2020-4?r=US&IR=T

       There were even Anti-Mask Leagues (they were actually called that!).

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Mask_League_of_San_Francisco

       It’s depressing how little has changed, if anything we have regressed in some ways from that time.

       It’s a bit more complicated with masks and their effectiveness, the number one measure is to stay apart. Victoria, Australia (and especially Melbourne) had just one crack in their quarantine defences and were unlucky to have the disease explode like it did.

       They locked everything down and hit zero new cases a day for two in a row (down from hundreds a day) but it took about four months of extremely stringent measures and they have to remain vigilant as there’s still an undercurrent of disease lurking about which could break out again if the surveillance lets up from its current heightened levels (given how much of a battle it was to achieve what they did, it will not).