RichlandsAlum

All of the information in this thread is very interesting and somewhat useful.  Unless you're Liberty Christian Academy.  Then you can pretty much make up any number you want and nobody will challenge it.

Much appreciated, but I consider myself poorly educated due to the fact that I only did what I needed to make it through high school, as I had no ambitions of attending college. My ambitions at the time consisted of either joining the Marines, or getting a job in the mines. My dad (a Marine who survived Iwo Jima) talked me out of both. Fortunately, I was able to land a job at Eastman, where I learned that being dependable, listening to people with experience, taking an interest in learning the intricacies of my job, actually doing a good job and having some communication skills would allow me to make a nice living and retire comfortably. I consider myself beyond fortunate. 

I've lost faith in more human institutions over the past year and a half than I can recall.  But the performance of the media (painting with a broad brush there) has been particularly dismal.  The phenomenon of social media certainly has a key role in the rampant confusion attached to this pandemic, but "journalistic integrity" seems to be a term of pure nostalgia at this point.  I also never thought I'd see the day (in this country at least) where fear and ignorance are actually guiding principles for public policy. 
The truth in all matters will reveal itself, but that will probably take a long time.  And it's hard to imagine that those who write history in the future will view our contemporary society in very charitable terms.

I've lost faith in more human institutions over the past year and a half than I can recall.  But the performance of the media (painting with a broad brush there) has been particularly dismal.  The phenomenon of social media certainly has a key role in the rampant confusion attached to this pandemic, but "journalistic integrity" seems to be a term of pure nostalgia at this point.  I also never thought I'd see the day (in this country at least) where fear and ignorance are actually guiding principles for public policy. 
The truth in all matters will reveal itself, but that will probably take a long time.  And it's hard to imagine that those who write history in the future will view our contemporary society in very charitable terms.

Honest to goodness journalism died during the Reagan administration when so many policies were deregulated. Which allowed for the creation of CNN and Fox News type programming. It got progressively worse through competition and failed attempts to put the toothpaste back in the tube up to the advent of social media. Social media created an explosion to an extent nobody could have predicted.
At this point, attempts at "journalism" are set aside in an effort to be the first to get a story out. Forgoing traditional methods of sourcing data in responsible ways. Especially when nontraditional news sources like social media often get "news" out well ahead of traditional media outlets. Leaving traditional media outlets scrambling to remain relevant. It's truly a "Catch-22" situation. 
 

I've lost faith in more human institutions over the past year and a half than I can recall.  But the performance of the media (painting with a broad brush there) has been particularly dismal.  The phenomenon of social media certainly has a key role in the rampant confusion attached to this pandemic, but "journalistic integrity" seems to be a term of pure nostalgia at this point.  I also never thought I'd see the day (in this country at least) where fear and ignorance are actually guiding principles for public policy. 
The truth in all matters will reveal itself, but that will probably take a long time.  And it's hard to imagine that those who write history in the future will view our contemporary society in very charitable terms.

Can we move this thread to the discussion section of the board or political section.....this is a football thread and I think its veered a little off of football.

I'm an older, poorly educated Appalachian American. My research skills are shaky at best, not to mention my ability to comprehend the actual findings of my research. That's why I consulted with my doctor of 35 years. He's always been pretty good at understanding shit related to the medical field, and has never steered my wrong. He told me emphatically that I needed to get vaccinated, so I did as soon as I was eligible. 

My understanding all along has been that the vaccines do not prevent anyone from contracting Covid -- but that the intent was to mitigate the most severe consequences (like death) associated with the disease.  And the data so far suggest that they are all pretty darned effective when measured against that type of standard.
So am I the only one who is a little bit perplexed by all of the "[insert name] was vaccinated but got Covid anyway" anecdotes?  

My understanding all along has been that the vaccines do not prevent anyone from contracting Covid -- but that the intent was to mitigate the most severe consequences (like death) associated with the disease.  And the data so far suggest that they are all pretty darned effective when measured against that type of standard.
So am I the only one who is a little bit perplexed by all of the "[insert name] was vaccinated but got Covid anyway" anecdotes?  

My understanding all along has been that the vaccines do not prevent anyone from contracting Covid -- but that the intent was to mitigate the most severe consequences (like death) associated with the disease.  And the data so far suggest that they are all pretty darned effective when measured against that type of standard.
So am I the only one who is a little bit perplexed by all of the "[insert name] was vaccinated but got Covid anyway" anecdotes?  

Fauci said to "follow the science".  Apparently, he meant Political Science.

Our public figures, in both political persuasions, have done a borderline unethical job of setting public expectations for this virus.  One of the things Flip-Flop Fauci actually did correctly was to temper expectations for the vaccine, because the results wouldn't be a known quantity for some time.  It was unclear if the vaccine would work like the flu vaccine (significantly cut the risks) or like the measles vaccine (wipe the sucker out).  Turns out, the results are more akin to the flu vaccine, which is A-OK.  However, expectations were set at an impossible level.
 
What I cannot agree with is that the "bar was lowered".  mRNA vaccine technology has existed since 1991.  There was a SARS vaccine (COV-1) that was about 90% done but shelved due to the lack of presence in Asia for some time.  The whole "we don't know the long-term effects" is a complete red herring, plain and simple.  We have known for some time that the supposed "long term" effects of a vaccine usually manifest extremely quickly.  Lo and behold, that's exactly what happened here.  We found out that the J&J vaccine will cause blood clots in a microscopic percentage for women.  Moderna #2 will make a lot of folks feel cruddy for about 24 hours.  And, that's it.  If anything "bad" was going to happen, it would have happened in the first 340M data points.  
 
To fit your analogy, it's not like 60% suddenly constituted an A.  It's more like you took a 3-week summer course that would normally be a 3-hour fall/spring course.  You still learned everything you needed to learn, and the final exam was just as hard.  But it passed, not with an A, but probably with a B+.

My understanding all along has been that the vaccines do not prevent anyone from contracting Covid -- but that the intent was to mitigate the most severe consequences (like death) associated with the disease.  And the data so far suggest that they are all pretty darned effective when measured against that type of standard.
So am I the only one who is a little bit perplexed by all of the "[insert name] was vaccinated but got Covid anyway" anecdotes?  

My understanding all along has been that the vaccines do not prevent anyone from contracting Covid -- but that the intent was to mitigate the most severe consequences (like death) associated with the disease.  And the data so far suggest that they are all pretty darned effective when measured against that type of standard.
So am I the only one who is a little bit perplexed by all of the "[insert name] was vaccinated but got Covid anyway" anecdotes?  

My understanding all along has been that the vaccines do not prevent anyone from contracting Covid -- but that the intent was to mitigate the most severe consequences (like death) associated with the disease.  And the data so far suggest that they are all pretty darned effective when measured against that type of standard.
So am I the only one who is a little bit perplexed by all of the "[insert name] was vaccinated but got Covid anyway" anecdotes?  

My understanding all along has been that the vaccines do not prevent anyone from contracting Covid -- but that the intent was to mitigate the most severe consequences (like death) associated with the disease.  And the data so far suggest that they are all pretty darned effective when measured against that type of standard.
So am I the only one who is a little bit perplexed by all of the "[insert name] was vaccinated but got Covid anyway" anecdotes?  

My understanding all along has been that the vaccines do not prevent anyone from contracting Covid -- but that the intent was to mitigate the most severe consequences (like death) associated with the disease.  And the data so far suggest that they are all pretty darned effective when measured against that type of standard.
So am I the only one who is a little bit perplexed by all of the "[insert name] was vaccinated but got Covid anyway" anecdotes?  

I used to listen to 93.9 quite often until they played an Exile song one day and pretended it was Country.  I cannot abide by such tomfoolery.

Liberty(Bedford) 33, William Byrd 28
Happy to see my son's team win in his first varsity outing.  Liberty's lack of numbers is likely to be a problem in the long run (lot of guys playing both ways almost bit them last night).  Byrd is small and quick on offense -- Hairston kid at QB is very hard to contain and can throw the ball well.  Otherwise hard to say what the future holds for either team, but it was great to be back under the Friday night lights.

Congrats to Bruton High.  Final Score, Bruton (2A) 32, Northampton (1A) 28.  The little 2A school from Williamsburg the competes in the Bay Rivers with mostly 4A schools got its first win since October of 2017.  In 2018, the school had low numbers and just couldn't compete as it was taking vicious beatings in the Bay Rivers and went 0-5.  It cancelled it's 2018 season after only 5 games.  It went 0-10 in 2019, and this spring of 2021, it went 0-3.  The win for Bruton, who along with Poquoson, are the only 2A schools in the 4A heavy Bay Rivers District, came for the first time in nearly 4 years.  Bruton, historically is a solid basketball power for many years (down recently) and was the home school of former Virginia Tech QB and High School All-American Bryan Randall.  

Liberty(Bedford) 33, William Byrd 28
Happy to see my son's team win in his first varsity outing.  Liberty's lack of numbers is likely to be a problem in the long run (lot of guys playing both ways almost bit them last night).  Byrd is small and quick on offense -- Hairston kid at QB is very hard to contain and can throw the ball well.  Otherwise hard to say what the future holds for either team, but it was great to be back under the Friday night lights.

Impressed by what little I got to see of them at the jamboree in Bedford this past Friday.  Very impressive team on the field and apparently a class operation off of it.

Impressed by what little I got to see of them at the jamboree in Bedford this past Friday.  Very impressive team on the field and apparently a class operation off of it.

Impressed by what little I got to see of them at the jamboree in Bedford this past Friday.  Very impressive team on the field and apparently a class operation off of it.