Will There Ever Be an Apology for Covid Overreaction?
In the light of this story, and this one as well, I am more than ever glad that my daughter and I said “no” to the Covid shot and follow-on boosters. Of course, I know that any new vaccine or drug can have a small number of unfortunate side effects but honestly, aren’t well-informed adults allowed these days to calculate the risks and make their own decision? Apparently not for many employees, who were ordered to get the Covid vaccine or be fired … and are now facing health problems that make Covid itself look like pretty small potatoes.
What Happened in 2012?
From cdrsalamander at Twitter, based on an analysis of Monitoring the Future survey data by Jean Twenge.
Thoughts?
Retrotech: Making a Tunic, 1700 Years Ago
The tunic was found in the Norwegian mountains. Textile historians recreated it using the technologies current when it was made–pulling the wool naturally rather than shearing, spinning it into thread (with no spinning wheel), and weaving it into cloth. The labor required was estimated by having skilled people do a sample amount of each task required and extrapolating to the complete garment.
Total labor requirement was 780 hours. The linked post estimates the cost at almost $38000, apparently assuming Norwegian labor rates.
I don’t think anyone would produce such garments using such expensive labor, though (unless it was for some very affluent niche market) but would use cheaper Asian or South American or even American labor. Maybe a reasonable number including overhead and supervision would be something like $5/hour. Which still gives a cost of $3800.
And if someone made it for their own use, or that of someone in their family, that 780 hours would represent a pretty large piece of their work capacity for the entire year.
As Paul Graham noted, clothing was very expensive right up to the Industrial Revolution.
Apollo Missions and an Alternative History
Fifty-four years ago today, Apollo 11 lifted off for its historic mission to the moon.
For those 2 of you who have followed my occasional blogs on the Neptunus Lex page you know how I like history and the little-known bits that are either ignored or rarely acknowledged that can become so profound. Some years ago, I read in one of my history magazines only a paragraph or so that an American Tory, after the Revolutionary War, suggested to James Cook that they consider Australia as a prisoner repository now that the American colonies were gone.