Some various thoughts on the shift towards de-masking.

1) I don't actually think that a memo went out telling governors what to do. I do think governors are looking to one another for guidance, in the absence of knowing what to do. This occurred early on with closing. 2) "The science has changed"... not really. Certainly not in the last few days. The trajectory of cases did change, and that's a big part of it but not all of it. Completely consistent to support masking a month ago and not now. It's not an admission of being wrong.

I stand by my prediction that Facebook is the AOL of this generation. If it's around at all in 20 years, it'll be as a shell of current self in the public consciousness.

https://twitter.com/kevinroose/status/1489274079685136385

Then Microsoft will take its place in FAANG and it'll be MAANG

Then people will realize that Netflix doesn't especially belong in that group, so it'll go and it'll just be MAGA.

I'm probably not getting what he said entirely right, but blogger Dave Schuler once pointed out that east of the Mississippi and north of Mason-Dixon, almost every city but NYC that isn't a state capital has lost population over the decades. DC, of course, is a national one.

https://twitter.com/AlecMacGillis/status/1425935414918094850

I can't find his post but here is his excellent blog (one of the best solo ones around): theglitteringeye.com

I supported a remote option before it was cool. #AheadOfTheCurve

https://twitter.com/ConorPWilliams/status/1425214177627541517

I will say, though, last year advocates for remote learning spent a lot more time and energy trying to disempower parents that wanted in-person, than the other way around.

For those of you having difficulty understand why people don't trust the vaccine, let me shed some light on the matter. A thread:

Imagine you're a normal person, and you come back from your men's rights group meeting and you log on to a gaming review website and 1/ In ADDITION to denying the efficacy of the miracle drug ivermectin, the so-called medical experts do nothing but take a dump on the Alex Jones concoction you've been taking that have been helping you bulk up.

Yet we're supposed to believe them when 34/

1) What is it with the right demanding apologies all the time whenever people happen to be wrong. It's... not exactly a habit I see the right being into. (Like... have I missed the apologies for "People will stop caring about Covid after the election"?)

https://twitter.com/DrewHolden360/status/1366548763838455812

2) There is a lot to criticize about his pandemic response, but "he's a cretin" is not really a criticism of his pandemic response, nor is complimenting his pandemic response saying that he is not a cretin.

As is often the case, caught between two sides on the masking thing with some folks arguing that it's a minor inconvenience any complaints about which are posturing and whining, and a lot of people who are in fact posturing and whining. Mask-wearing genuinely hits different people differently. That you don't mind, or your child doesn't mind (or there are no apparent adverse effects) is great. Not universally applicable.

And for heaven's sake, masks really are not an avatar for personal liberty.

People aren't good with "This is effective but not 100% effective" calculations but attempts by health people to compensate ("Since this is not 100% effective we need to stress how not effective it is so they know it's not 100% effective") just makes matters worse.

https://twitter.com/CheeseForEvery1/status/1420198564526010372

If it is the case that the vaccine is ineffective against spread and we have to wear masks to prevent spread, people talking about "But the messaging!" need to let it go. But...

We're getting some really good comments on my schools post. From @OG_Jaybird and @Robot_Bastard here: ordinary-times.com/2020/08/20/eve… Kazzy, on moving goalposts ordinary-times.com/2020/08/20/eve…