Thank You For Your Service

I would love to see all the young people who choose to get a job working at a fast food place added to the list of modern day heroes.  How do we get that started?

(If it involves me actually buying fast food then forget it.)

HORSE Pills?!

You’ve probably read headlines or heard news about people taking...  HORSE PILLS...  for COVID treatment.  Like most everyone who didn’t take horse pills, I thought this news was somewhere far, far beyond absurd.  One of those “we’re all dumber now just having heard this” moments.  Aren’t you left wondering how someone could possibly get to horse pills as a possible solution?  Did they just start indiscriminately grabbing any drug and taking it?  It’s like the more you try to dig into this logic, the less sense it makes.

Well here’s what I have found most news stories leave out of this story which barely makes any sense.

Ivermectin, which totally is a horse drug, actually is sometimes prescribed IN MUCH SMALLER CONCENTRATIONS to treat humans suffering from rosacea, head lice, and some parasitic worms.  Never for viruses, but at least now I know that some version of it is sometimes intended for human consumption.  It’s also available (IN HORSE DOSES) at farm supply stores.  I bet it probably costs less there, and I’ll bet you sometimes people do sneak a little horse medication for their own ailments from time to time.  I think we all just got a shocking little glimpse into the world of farm life homeopathy.

While I still think it’s as bat shit crazy as ever, I have to say I honestly do feel a little better knowing it is sometimes prescribed for people without tails, because this was one tough pill to swallow. 

I promise I did not go all this way just to make that stupid joke.  I bet the real truth is that whoever was doing this probably cut the pill into smaller pieces and took what looked like one regular-size pill.

It's all still incredibly wrongheaded, but at least now I can connect some of the dots, and I think some of those dots are connected to sensational journalism.  Did you know owners give their horses Tylenol, and there is an apple-flavored aspirin?  Well now I do, and trust me, the next time I see someone take Tylenol I’m going to say “That’s crazy - why are you taking Tylenol?  They give that stuff to horses!”

Root Down

“We’ll just explain the facts to people and everyone will do the right thing.”

I think we're doing a poor job of educating people about Coronavirus and the vaccine.  I suggest that there were a lot of people who knew 16 months ago that they were going to get the vaccine, and there were just about as many who knew they weren't going to get it.   As far as education goes, I think we've been preaching to the choir.  Not so sure we've even made a dent in terms of convincing those who actually needed convincing.

"Oh - 'listen to the science' not good enough" you ask?  Well, I do have thoughts on that, but in a word - NO.  Clearly that approach hasn't been working.  We need to find another way in.

I'm not going to attempt to turn this into a comedy piece on how we should try explaining it with crayons or by using sock puppets with tiny little Kid Rock t-shirts on them.  SORRY.  I'm going to afford the non-vaxxers a little more respect and suggest that they just need to reach an understanding in a different way.  I'm not sure what that is, and I'm not sure that it's hopeless.  I just don't think we've gotten to or addressed the root cause of the refusal to get vaccinated.

Yes, But As A Noted Scientist...

 "Listen to the science"

TRUE AND SAD FACTS: science only shows you how things work.  It doesn't tell you what to do.  I mean, it should tell you what to do, but it's only data - it ain't yer mom. 

For example, I'm sure a lot of people who pour gas into plastic bags know that gas is flammable, and I suppose most people understand the concept of a contagious virus.  

Gathering information is one thing, but putting that information to use is quite another.  The "answer" it presents can really depend on your own ideals.  Probably the basis for the concept of the Evil Scientist.  

Plus anti-vaxxers.