Anecdotally my partner who developed type 2 diabetes and longcovid issues after his covid infection fared a lot better with the covid infection we got in August this year on metformin. He had been on metformin for a few months at that point and increased his dosage when we got sick.

The acute phase was over faster, it did not go into his lungs or drop his spo2 like it has in the past and no longcovid stuff this time or going to the ER. He still ran very high fevers like everytime and it was still scary, but it cleared out this time and he is now running an 8k easily again. Previously he typically developed a rash, deep muscle fatigue, chest pains and tiredness after covid, but not this time. No inhalers needed either. He also has sleep apnea so it has been a time for sure.

This is essentially the entire Scandinavian fash. Typically with some not so subtle eugenism thrown in.

Bothered me too tbh.

I don't think these braimworms can be expelled at this point. There is probably only one type of hard wall that could do that now.

In Finland news.

National news is running a story on the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3 stating that it has visited Russian ports several times. This is the story, full stop. This is framed as being very suspicious although nothing is actually being said. The headline literally is "Chinese ship has suddenly visited Russian ports several times". The newspiece has open commenting so the local conspiracy heads can rile themselves up well and good.

This is accompanied by another news piece with speculation on a Russian war ship being parked at the Denmark strait near the Chinese ship. This is full on conspiracy brain stuff, in our national news.

On Putin and the missile there are stories where history now starts from the missile. It's Russian aggression and just happened for no reason. Putins speech is called chilling and a threat to the West. An expert is called upon to explain how the next weeks will be dangerous, but we are told that there is one thing that can appease Russia. I did not look at what this one thing is. No mention of the USA or UK.

On Ukraine the story that most ukrainians would wish for the war to end is also up with an open commenting section. Hundreds of Finns have taken the time to comment on how we should fight to the last ukrainian.

There is also a piece about the missiles having no payload which seems to puzzle the local natohawks somehow.

There is also an interesting type of new anti-labor news story about a remote worker who works globally and thinks labor laws and such restrict this awesome new lifestyle.

Several other stories on the cable stuff and much warmongering, but nothing much worth going over.

Thanks, this is very common here. You can get all sorts of different shapes and styles and most commonly they are hung from pockets on each side. Also lots of wearable reflectors like arm bands, small vest type things.

From Natopedia: "In the late 1950s, Mr. Arvi Lehti a farmer and plastic manufacturer from Pertteli, Finland came up with the idea of a reflector suitable for pedestrian use. His initial idea was to join a pair of automotive reflectors together and attach them to clothing. This early concept was developed further by Arvi's company Talousmuovi into a small, light-weight reflector fit for commercial sale. In the 1960s The Finnish police and transport authority wanted a reflector to improve pedestrian safety, they asked Talousmuovi to design one. The reflectors they created were eventually made for sale to Finns and later the world."

I understand.

But a gentle reminder that this disappointment in other people is also a slippery slope to misantropic thinking that got hold of at least me when we got to the vaccine phase and so many people were left behind. This is where I faced the choice of whether to continue being angry and slipping down that path or going all in on understanding even this from a Marxist pov. I am glad I ended up the latter.

Because the media did highlight only the most crass or absurd behaviours, the worst of us. And the powers that be really put in the work in creating an environment of suspicion and doubt. The entire thing got neoliberally framed as individualism and Chinas zero covid was demonized from day one, with many horror stories to boot. Then roll in the Ukraine war and libs here were standing in lines for iodine pills with their covids and naked faces, fearing nuclear war. It's all very absurd, but the consent manufacturing was very effective. In our risk culture people have put their ontological safety in to the hands of experts who mostly told them it's fine.

I used to be very upset with them, but these days I am looking at this and things like the anti-vax movement and trying to understand how we got here.

Because the early solidarity was there I feel there is no reason why it would not rise again. Even the post is a bit doomer about that, but we have previous examples of this like from hurricane Katrina where this also happened. The media spin that eroded that solidarity is fairly well documented.

Yeah it simplifies the "good times" quite a bit and probably is the pov of a computer touching privileged person, but I think a change was still there. At least for the first weeks. It didn't take long for the powers that be to sow discord into the solidarity that did try to surface.

Agreed, but on the whole it didn't feel like this article tried to claim that. More like using the term for the era when on the whole most people were on the same page that this is a pandemic.

It's completely expected, but still so absurd and outrageous that the word alleged is used in this headline.

New cold war warming work from the Wired: "The result is an ecosystem that operates in full public view where, for as little as a few dollars worth of cryptocurrency, anyone can query phone numbers, banking details, hotel and flight records, or even location data on target individuals."

I struggle to see how this is so different from the country I am in where you can search who owns a vehicle from a license plate, search phone numbers by name and so forth. And where all our data is openly sold to the highest bidder and Google knows more about me than my relatives.

Link to Wired

In Finland news:

They are now trying to blame China for the cable damage.

Hilariously at the same time there is reporting that Finnish boomers love Temu.