Secular humanism is a fine replacement for religion. I've been a socialist and secular humanist since I was 16 (40+ years), and it's a perfect fit for me.

FB unpublished it, and the owners are disputing the action. In the meantime: https://www.facebook.com/herman.cain.awards.get.vaccinated

Yes, it is missing.

@Kiki - I created a post in the Forum earlier this morning about why the GOP hates the LGBTQ+ community, quoting Mordechai Ovits. It explains rather a lot.

Absolutely, yes. I have long Covid (Feb 2020) and just went through two months of shingles hell. My former coworkers at the practice (where three of us contracted Covid from a patient) and I are all now considered immunocompromised and are dealing with various "surprise" conditions. The best news I've had in a long while is that one of us three was facing potential lung transplant but in the recent two months his lung function has begun to improve on its own. He is healing, slowly. I got the news a couple days ago and wept for a solid hour afterward.

Meatmarket, thank you. You've done the right thing.

@Kiki - There are interesting and sad discussions going on in the community about how to play down one's visible queerness. It should NOT have to be this way, but it's a matter of safety. I look pretty damned queer, but if I work at it, I could pass for a short-haired farm wife which is a thing in my region. My teenaged kid is also queer, and we're having these discussions, too, because the apple didn't fall far from the tree, appearance-wise. They've removed all rainbow bling from their school backpack, and other measures. It's very hard on the kid, because they've only just come out. We have to balance safety with living one's truth.

I understand your point, but it feels a bit unpleasant for my community to be used as bait. I mean, we're already in the crosshairs, but it would just fire up the lunatics to attack any queer person in a 10 mile radius on their way to the trap. Sigh.

I agree that the undercount in the US is considerably higher than 18%. Be we'll likely never know what that % is.

@DeathofRats-BadgeHoorMaroon - I'm seeing a slow uptick in mask wearing here in western Massachusetts in the past week. But the antimaskers sure are a bunch of smug motherfuckers, aren't they.

Oh gawd, I've had Roxy Music earworms, particularly when mowing the farm fields--why, I do not know. I love you, Bryan Ferry, but enough is enough!

There was a semi-scientific study about 15 years ago re: earworms and how to stop them. The best solution the study came up with was to sing aloud "America" from the musical West Side Story, yes, including the clapping. Apparently, the frequent changes in tempo kill earworms. It's my go-to earworm buster.

@Liverpool - My friend and I are both in western Massachusetts, not in Colorado. DeathofRats has the scenario exactly correct, and it's nationwide. As for how did I let peeps know? I PMed them via Facebook's Messenger app and let them run with it. There was universal rage/anger, and I imagine there were phone calls to the grocery store. My friend is 30 hours into Paxlovid treatment. He said last night was the worst: very high fever, chills, coughing, hallucinations. Mid-morning today, his fever broke. He is very weak. I check in with him every four hours. He lives alone. His ex-boyfriend is a caterer and is dropping off pre-made meals on the doorstep. I am very, very worried, but glad that the fever is broken.

I am ENRAGED. A dear friend reached out to me this afternoon; he's a recent cancer survivor, vaxxed and one booster (he was scheduled for booster #2 but now has had to postpone that), and he caught Covid from an unmasked coworker. The coworker and the coworker's wife both have Covid, and the wife was threatened with firing from her employer if she didn't show up at her job in a local grocery store WHILE HAVING AN ACTIVE CASE OF COVID. I called the store manager and gave him a piece of my mind, and he shunted the responsibility to the owner. I told him I would let everyone I know in that town what the deal is with the store's shitty Covid policy, and I made good on that. In the meantime, my dear friend just started Paxlovid, but I'm truly afraid for him, and I know he's scared, too. He was masked with KN95 at the office, but the coworker was coughing and sneezing all over the place. FUCKING FUCK.

@Liverpool - My doctor surmises that I got shingles from a combination of a compromised immune system, long Covid, and overwhelming stress from my former job. I'm certain she is correct on all counts. I was to have the shingles vax in August, but it caught me first, dammit. Now I have to wait six months, and may not be able to have it all because there's a history of Guillain-Barre Syndrome in my family, where multiple members got GBS post-vax. I can have almost all vaxxes, but with the shingles vax, there is an increased risk of GBS. It was very serious and nearly killed my mother. I just have to weigh the risk, but I have time to think about it.

@oppnhk98c12s I have long Covid. You do not want long Covid. Keep masking.

Thank you, 'Pool. It's been 8 weeks of agony, which only started letting up this week, and I finally felt strong enough to get my 2nd Pfizer booster. In early May, I got completely overwhelmed by all that was going on in the real world and, compounded with feeling so damned ill and conducting a major job search at the same time, I stepped off of all social media and SAV to try to get myself in hand. I am doing better now, I just accepted a job offer with a wonderful, local non-profit organization, and I'm carefully returning to the online world. I live in Massachusetts, which is a far safer place to live, particularly as a queer person.

Popping in for a moment from self-imposed media hiatus to provide a direct link to the audit report. It is not behind a paywall. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22031737-final-guidepost-solutions-independent-investigation-report

Woke up to this news, and it has broken me. I'm done with all social media, including SAV, and media in general. I've enjoyed your comments, Mary. Be well.

This is the kind of quality content I am here for! My partner and I are contemplating getting an air fryer. We're looking seriously at one of the Cuisinart ones that looks like a large toaster oven rather than the ones with that front pull-out basket as shown in the original post. Those of you who LOVE your air fryer, which brand/model do you have?