The right kid received the smallpox vaccine, the left one hasn’t.
This is a genuine photograph that was taken in the early 1900s by Dr. Allan Warner of the Isolation Hospital at Leicester in the UK. Warner photographed a number of smallpox patients in order to study the disease.
The two photographed boys were the same age and both had smallpox. The only difference is that one of them was vaccinated and the other was not. The smallpox vaccine was one of the oldest man-made vaccines that many people refused to inject due to fear and superstition, and as a result the disease was not completely eradicated.
Dr. Warner believed that the best way to challenge fear and misinformation about vaccination was to show the horror of the disease and the clear evidence of vaccination in the workplace through photography. Smallpox was eradicated worldwide after widespread vaccination in the 1960s and 1970s in the early 1980s.
The last two years were difficult for everybody. Well not everybody, many capitalists got richer because of the situation and many lived an easy life because of their wealth. But it was pretty hard for rest of us. The crisis is still ongoing and many still are in danger or face restrictions.
Honestly, my life hasn’t been much changed much. I spend most of my time alone and I don’t have much to do with people. Socializing is not my thing and I have a very small circle of friends. I’ve traveled during this time and I have spent some time with my family, like I always did. So not much changes here.
I appreciate being alive and I appreciate every big and small thing happened in my life which formed the current me. However, I’ve been thinking about how I’m here where I am and found out that every small thing happened in my life were as effective as every major one. Every small thing changed me a little and directed me to where I’m standing.
In fact, if it wasn’t for those small things, I wouldn’t be here. I appreciate small joys of my life. I appreciate them as much as I appreciate every other small major happiness or sadness I experienced or am going to experience.
For example, since 2012 when I got familiar with free software, I admired what Richard Stallman does and now I get the chance of working with him in GNU Project, directly. Or since about a year ago, Alexandre Oliva follows me on a social network I’m in.
I love the happiness I feel when I buy new clothes. I love the happiness I feel when I but a new accessory for myself. I feel alive when I eat a new food. I feel joy when someone thanks me for what I did for them. Like, every week, I get few messages from people who are new in free software movement and they tell me they’re contributing to the movement because my work inspired them; that makes me feel I’m the coolest person alive.
I enjoy my life with these little things. Small things that may not matter for anybody else. I enjoy being alive exactly for these little stuff. I know the day I don’t get happy for these small stupid stuff, I’m not alive any more.
I’m very happy that I can write a blog. I’m very happy that I can talk to people I love. I’m very happy to have few very good friends. I’m very happy I own my own business and I work with people I like.
I’m very happy because I can go to beach. I’m very happy because I give love to people. I’m very happy because I help those in need. I’m very happy because I have no regrets, I know I did what I could, maybe I could do better, maybe not, but I have no regrets.
I’m not sure which variant of COVID I got. For past two weeks, I’ve been experiencing worst feelings I’ve ever known. I was/am constantly tired, full of pain and unable to taste or smell stuff. I’ve been hospitalized for past four days and it’s the first day I’m off of hospital.
I’m better now. I got Remdesivir as medical treatment and doctors took a good care of me. Currently, I get tired after few minutes of activity but doctors say it’s normal. They ask me to drink liquids a lot, specially juice and water, and get Vitamin C.
They also asked me to get rest a lot and eat food (even if I’m not hungry because of the virus) because it’s essential to regain my energy.
One thing that helped me a lot during this time was my health insurance. My previous insurance was expired starting this year (Persian Jalali calendar) and I was not insured. The previous one was from family company but starting this year I was not eligible for it and I forgot to get public insurance until I was about to get hospitalized.
However, lucky us, there’s a great insurance system in this country. Every person is eligible to get medically insured by government. There are different types of insurance and people can choose between them, paying different fees based on your need but the basic plan which covers all public hospitals is free.
I signed up for the basic plan the day before I went to hospital and my insurance started the day I went to the hospital. All my bills were covered by government and I paid only 20% of the costs because of the insurance. The treatment was expensive and I would’ve face some difficulties paying all the bills without insurance.
Many people are facing a lot of difficulties during these times. The economic situation in whole world is pretty messed up and many are unemployed, facing trouble to live a normal life yet to be able to pay for expensive treatments for COVID.
I always advocated for public health insurance from government. I don’t care how some rich people may oppose it or how some people throw shitty “economic” reasons in the conversation but everybody deserves health insurance and nobody should be forced to pay a lot of money to get taken care of in hospital. Nobody should be full of stress about whether one can pay for one’s health or not.
I am proud that I live in a country with public health insurance and I will encourage everyone to vote for such system if there’s none where one lives. It’s basic human right and it’s needed for all.
I read a post on Bill Gates’ blog about polio. It talks about how vaccines helped us survive the disease and easily walk. Thousands of people were infected with polio during time and lost ability to walk or even stand. The suggested cure for polio was a metal tank, an iron lung, a mechanical respirator.
Polio attacks the body’s nervous system, crippling patients. In the worst cases, the disease paralyzes their respiratory muscles and makes it difficult for them to breathe, sometimes resulting in death.
Using changes in air pressure, the iron lung pulls air in and out of a patient’s lungs, allowing them to breathe and stay alive. During the height of the polio epidemic in the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s, rows of iron lungs filled hospital wards to treat thousands of polio patients, most of them children.
Today, we don’t need iron lungs anymore as there’s an effective vaccine for it. Every person now gets vaccinated against polio and, since 1988, the world decided to eradicate the disease. Polio cases dropped since then by nearly 100 percent.
Before vaccines, more than 350 thousand people were infected in a year, facing horrible consequences and difficulties in their life but now there’s fewer than 200 cases yearly only in two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, in which extremists force people to avoid vaccines using religious propaganda.
Today, some people are spreading false information about vaccines claiming a vaccine is a conspiracy to turn people to something other than a human or vaccines are tools to impose surveillance on people. Of course some vaccines are not effective, we’ve seen them, but to induce that vaccines in general are harming people, that makes no sense.
I’ve seen the effect of vaccines on people. From influenza to polio to tetanus and Meningococcal vaccines, I’ve seen how they help people live and be healthy and I’ve seen how without them people are harmed and face difficulties, even death.
I’m not yet vaccinated against coronavirus (COVID-19) but I will be when it’s time for people my age. My grandparents and some relatives are vaccinated. They didn’t face any aftereffects. One of my relatives was vaccinated while his family were not, and I’ve seen how all of his family members got sick but he were OK. All of them recovered, happily.
Vaccines are results of scientific works, and I believe in science. People say science is always changing and is not reliable but that’s one reason I support it. Science always changes and gets updated for better. That’s why I rely on it. When it comes to vaccines, science is proven to be always working to get better, from iron lungs to polio vaccines, it’s always working to help people.
“Defund the police” is a slogan that supports divesting funds from blue pigs departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare, and other community resources.
On 2020 June 5th, the Washington, D.C. mayor unveiled a statement, painted down the street leading to the White House, “Black Lives Matter.” Within 24 hours, Black Lives Matter activists responded with their own message: “Defund the Police.”
This slogan caught on rapidly among tens of thousands of people protesting police brutality in the United States. But what does it really mean to defund the police? And what if it’s not as radical as it sounds?
Mehrdad Minavand and Ali Ansarian, two of most famous ex-football players in Iran are now dead because of coronavirus. Mehrdad was 45 and Ali was 43; both very young and healthy.
Last time they were with each other, they were presenting at a sports TV show sitting next to each other when Mehrdad said on live TV that he doesn’t feel well and then fell. It is believed that Ali was infected in that TV show. They weren’t wearing masks and were sitting closely.
Sadly, many believe that the virus only affects old people and young people are immune to it. Many think the chances of surviving are high, while it’s only a chance. You may be on that few percent part where people die.
Ali Ansarian and Mehrdad Minavand are just two examples of many many young people who are not among us any more, sadly. Even if you don’t want safety for yourself, please wear a mask and keep your distance from people so you won’t spread the virus.
Some people are infected with it but don’t get ill but this doesn’t mean that the virus is not effective on people, you still can spread the virus and endanger people’s lives.
Think about it, you’ll be a murderer if you spread the virus and people die from it.
Please wash your hands regularly, keep your distance from people, and most importantly wear a N95 mask. Please don’t listen to media that is trying to convince you do otherwise. Instead of media, listen to scientists and doctors.
I know the vaccine is in production and some people are vaccinated but it may take long till we all get vaccinated so please until then, follow the protocols and keep safe.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than one million people (confirmed) worldwide, while the real stats probably is 3 times this. However, this pandemic may not have been bad for all people.
Bloomberg has reported that Jeff Bezos’ net worth was increased $13 billion and is a total of $189.3 billion, despite the U.S. entering its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
This is while Amazon (which Jeff Bezos is CEO of) workers are suffering from the economy situation and many are reported to be even homeless. Many Amazon warehouse employees struggle to pay the bills, and more than 4,000 employees are on food stamps in nine states studied by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Only Walmart, McDonald’s and two dollar-store chains have more workers requiring such assistance, according to the report, which said 70% of recipients work full-time.
As Amazon opens U.S. warehouses at the rate of about one a day, it’s transforming the logistics industry from a career destination with the promise of middle-class wages into entry-level work that’s just a notch above being a burger flipper or convenience store cashier.
This is what capitalism and unfair distribution of wealth is doing to American people. While United States reports these problems, many countries don’t even let medias to report the problems such as this. Capitalism is ruining people’s lives. Rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer.
The system should be reformed. The powerful should not remain in power and the powerless should be treated right. Everybody should be equal and live with justice, equality, and equity.
I see many people accusing all of protesters of being a covidiot. Not all protesters are covidiots. During the pandemic, many lives are damaged and many people are in financial crisis because of the situation of the economy.
Many countries are struggling financially and many jobs are lost. People are now very confused and they are experiencing a lot of problems and difficulties economically.
Many of them who are protesting against the coronavirus lockdowns and laws are those who have nothing left and don’t have any money to spend for living. Those whose shops are closed or aren’t getting paid are protesting as well of those idiots who don’t want to wear a mask.
We should not blame everybody. I can’t accuse all of the coronavirus protesters and I can’t accuse all of them to be a covidiot. For sure those who are protesting against social distancing and/or wearing a mask are idiots and worthy of the phrase. I also believe there should be a fine or a ticket for them to be punished but sadly many of those who protest are simply people who are in danger of losing everything.
Many governments do not help the people who have been harmed and endangered, and they have left the people alone. Those endangered and harmed people have every right to protest and should not be blamed not accused of anything.
Among all those years that many people invited you to boycott Black Friday, this might be the most serious one that you should listen to. Black Friday is tempting, I can’t lie. I really would like to buy a thing for less than half of its usual price but it’s affecting more than an individual.
Black Friday usually only takes effect on online shops like the evil Amazon and/or some big chain stores around the U.S. or some other countries and this just helps those stores to grow and get more powerful thus makes people have less power to change the way they behave.
This year, the case is more special than other years. With the pandemic and everything going on, the economy of many countries are collapsing and many shops are suffering from it.
Also, local stores suffer a lot. Since the pandemic began, close to 100,000 businesses have permanently closed. Small businesses ― defined as private companies with fewer than 500 employees ― have especially struggled to survive this year due to less cash flow and smaller operating margins.
This is not just during the pandemic. Even before the pandemic, many local stores were suffering from Black Friday because many people get attracted to those big (usually chain) stores and never shop from local stores again.
Local businesses are struggling to survive and Black Friday is not good news for them.
Black Friday also produces tons of waste. Aside from the physical and financial toll that Black Friday has on shoppers, there are also environmental consequences.
The promise to deliver items in just a couple of days (looking at you, Amazon Prime) requires putting thousands more trucks and ships in service, adding to the pollution that’s already in our air and water. There’s also the ridiculous amount of packaging involved, which floods recycling centers and ends up in landfills.
That’s not to mention how so much of the crap that’s purchased during the Black Friday shopping frenzy ends up in the hands of people who don’t even want it. In fact, 61% percent of Americans say they received at least one unwanted gift over the holidays, according to a 2019 survey by Finder.com, a consumer savings site. That equates to $15.2 billion spent on unwanted gifts. Clothing and accessories make up the most gifted but unwanted items, fueling the carbon-intensive fast-fashion industry that contributes to overflowing landfills.
The Danish government has dropped an attempt to pass emergency legislation allowing it to cull all mink in the country, The Guardian has reported.
While ago, Denmark government announced that it will cull 15 million (or all) of its minks due to fear of COVID-19 mutation moving from minks to human could jeopardize COVID-19 vaccine.
But opposition to the move swiftly emerged. “Massive doubts over whether this cull is properly scientifically based [have] come to light now,” said Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, the leader of Denmark’s largest opposition party, Venstre. “At the same time the government is taking away the livelihood of a large number of people without actually having the legal rights to do so.”
