COVID-19 vaccination follow-up

On April 16th, I received my second dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.  Like the first dose, it was administered by a member of the Ohio National Guard at the Wolstein Center’s mass vaccination site. 

As with the first dose, I experienced a slightly sore arm afterward – but no worse than a standard vaccination.  Shortly after I went to bed that night, I began to feel a bit feverish and achy, and I didn’t sleep well.  The next morning, I awakened around 8:00am, late for me even on a weekend.  I felt sleepy but recovered.  Over the course of the day, I felt progressively better; and by Sunday I felt like Superman.  The last few days I’ve been physically active, going to the gym, working on the house, and have started losing weight.

Here’s to a healthier remainder of 2021.

#GetYourShot    

 

On Religion and the Environment

 

Several years ago, I mentioned my concerns about the environment to an acquaintance of mine.  This person replied “I don’t worry about that, it’s all in God’s hands and there’s nothing we can do about it” or words to that effect.  My respect for this person, which wasn’t particularly high to begin with, dropped precipitously on that day.  This same person referred to Earth as a “Hell” and that he was unafraid of death because he would be in “Heaven.” 

But it did bring to light the lazy theology I encounter among many of the religious – particularly Christians.  “We should do whatever we want to the Earth: pillage, exploit, destroy; because God created it for us and gave us dominion over it.  No need to worry about that happens here on Earth.  We the Righteous will be rescued during the Rapture.” 

Per the Book of Genesis, God tells Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over [the] fish of the sea, and over [the] bird of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping on the earth."

Fair enough.  According to God, humans are in charge.  But just as when a parent gives a child a gift, it seems doubtful God would have intended humans to trash said gift.  Can you imagine if God had given Adam a car and said “crash it and don’t bother to wear a seat belt, for I can create a new vehicle and repair your injuries.”

There are two possibilities: God or gods exist; or he/she/they do not. 

Religions of all stripes portray humans as the children of God, who is generally depicted as male, and who has created us in His image – or half of us.  What do parents want of their children, particularly their adult children?  To break the gifts they are given, mismanage their resources, and run to their parents whining and begging for help?  Or do parents want their children to stand up, grow up, support themselves, solve their own problems, and be productive citizens who contribute not only to themselves but to their fellow humans and to their planet?  Any reasonable parent would want the latter, and so would any deity worthy of the name and of worship.

Of course, there’s always the possibility that no god(s) exist, and that we humans are truly on our own, and that no one is capable of protecting our planet except for us – if it’s not already too late.

In either case, it is best to protect the gift that a god may, or may not, have given us.  Our planet need not be a “Hell”, either literally or figuratively. 

My battle with Facebook’s algorithms

I’ve been a member of Facebook since 2008.  Since that time, it has gone from being a convenient place to share photos and life-updates to one of the world’s primary platforms for the spreading of misinformation and disinformation.  I am certain that is NOT what Mark Zuckerberg intended when he first cobbled it together in his Harvard dorm room. 

Over the past two years, I have created groups and posted content related to the 2020 election and its aftermath. It will surprise no one who reads this blog or who knows me personally that I was opposed to Donald Trump, and my group postings reflected that.  I also administrate several other groups on Facebook, including those related to Vladimir Horowitz and George Szell, and help moderate a few others.  

Soon after wandering into the virtual political arena, I detected a pattern in which certain words or images triggered Facebook’s algorithms and my posts were taken down – and on more than one occasion, I was blocked from posting or even “reacting”.  When I asked for arbitration, the decision was reversed – sometimes within a few minutes – and I was able to post again.  On Monday, I scheduled a post for Tuesday morning in one of my groups that contained the cartoon shown below (here at reduced quality for free-use purposes).

The cartoon above does not call into question the efficacy of vaccines.  It is not anti-vax.  It’s poking fun at those who cling to conspiracy nonsense as a justification to avoid taking the vaccine and wearing masks.  Frankly, I think half of them are just selfish and afraid of needles.

But FB’s bots found the scheduled item, claimed it was anti-vaccine misinformation, and sent me to FB jail – where I will remain until the “sentence” expires or is reversed.  In addition, previously scheduled posts in other groups unrelated to politics of any kind have also been held back.   

It seems Facebook’s programmers are content to penalize users who post items which do not violate their policies, but unwilling to do much about the pervasive and obvious fake accounts acting on behalf of hostile governments.  We are not merely talking about programing algorithms here, but about systemic bias.  It wasn’t until after he’d lost the election that Facebook began deleting some of Donald Trump’s more incendiary posts.  It was not until five people were killed in the Capitol insurrection, which Trump helped incite, that he was blocked from posting. 

At this point, I’m sure there are those who are asking “Why is Hank complaining?  Facebook is free!”  True, there is no charge.  But every time you scroll your feed and see a cleverly pointed advertisement, it’s taking up your time – even if it’s a few seconds – and time is not free. Further, the time I spend administering and moderating other groups – which help to keep those groups and Facebook civil – are in a very real way a service I am providing for free.   

I get it. Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences, and the First Amendment doesn’t apply here because Facebook is not a government entity.  But this kind of constant fuck-uppery one sees from Facebook would never be permitted in a regulated business, like airlines or insurance.  When any entity has grown so large that it cannot adequately police itself, it needs to be regulated or even broken up.