Open mike 07/02/2021

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, February 7th, 2021 - 26 comments
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26 comments on “Open mike 07/02/2021 ”

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  1. Tricledrown 1
    7 February 2021 at 8:54 am

    Jim Mora has Pagani on his show this morning she seems to be a self proclaimed covid expert.

    Pagani doesn't seem to understand that countries that have rushed vaccine approvals because 10's of thousands of people are dying .NZ has the luxury of getting the best vaccine.then Pagani is proving how selfish she is by saying that we should have vaccines now when other countries actually need those doses to slow the massive death tolls they are suffering.

    With international travel not starting up till 2024 according to their commentary no need to Panic.

    • Poission 1.1
      7 February 2021 at 1:48 pm

      There are self proclaimed experts,and experts who are not even wrong,with pandemics and covid.

      The foremost solution was always the simplest and cheapest,where sophistry should be isolated, and simple local solutions applied.

      https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economic-issues-watch/why-some-experts-got-pandemic-readiness-wrong

    • lprent 1.2
      7 February 2021 at 4:18 pm

      Josie Pagani is, in my opinion, a damn near perfect indicator of directions not to follow.

      Unlike Mike Hosking who has similar traits in public, she is not well paid to dog whistle, lacks the advice in how to do it, and it shows in just how bloody stupid she is at it. Not just a dog whistler trying to raise profile but an incompetent one as well.

      I have no idea why anyone would consider that anything she has to say to be 'expert' or even worth listening to in any way. That includes everything from the labour party to covid-19.

      So thick, she appears completely unaware of the limits to her knowledge. Or even that there are limits. Her usual defence against people pointing that out is to go off on an anti-intellectual or anti-elitist rant – anything to avoid dealing with the issues she is raving about.

      That is just from reading and listening to her over the last decade

  2. Reality 2
    7 February 2021 at 9:11 am

    There are all too many self-proclaimed experts. And usually they are very self-satisfied with themselves. The term "influencer" that some give themselves puzzles me. From what I can see they don't have any particular knowledge or expertise that qualifies them to influence other people. Just a very high opinion of their own importance.

    • WeTheBleeple 2.1
      7 February 2021 at 9:15 am

      Influencer culture should be burned to the ground. Vacuous nobodies with abs. Now proving to be dangerous vacuous nobodies.

    • Anne 2.2
      7 February 2021 at 9:39 am

      … they don't have any particular knowledge or expertise that qualifies them to influence other people. Just a very high opinion of their own importance.

      … and a desire to be part of the political journo 'A list' crowd because they think they're one of them which they're not. The high opinion of their own abilities means they frequently make asses of themselves but don't know it.

    • mary_a 2.3
      7 February 2021 at 11:40 am

      @ Reality (2)

      Pissing important "influencers" are nothing but ragtag nobodies, putting themselves on a self erected pedestal, playing dangerous games with society's vulnerable. Time to seriously look into these frauds.

      I would much rather be informed, than influenced thank you.

    • arkie 2.4
      7 February 2021 at 12:35 pm

      'Influencer' is an advertising/marketing term. Those that self-identify as such are essentially unwitting victims of a platform that commodifies interaction. Their influence is their 'social capital' which is what is valuable to advertisers. Younger audiences aren't as receptive to traditional advertising, being more susceptible to the so-called 'native' advertising that 'influencers' provide. The most important goal of advertising simply being getting eyes on your products.

      • In Vino 2.4.1
        7 February 2021 at 9:57 pm

        Plus their proponents have a charming habit of telling us, "Advertising is only there to inform." Bloody liars.

  3. Sabine 3
    7 February 2021 at 10:12 am

    this is a very interesting and very scary read on mutations and the new strains of the tfv

    https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/02/05/964447070/where-did-the-coronavirus-variants-come-from

    • Incognito 3.1
      7 February 2021 at 12:04 pm

      In other words, perhaps, the coronavirus virus uses long-term infections as a mutational testing ground. While inside one person, they can try out all these different combinations of mutations and figure out, through trial and error, which ones are best at evading the immune system or helping the virus become more infectious.

      Nothing new and textbook virus evolution. However, the leap to the last sentence is not and is not the most likely outcome, rather the opposite, in my opinion, and very poorly worded.

      And this process is likely happening again right now, worldwide, in other immunocompromised patients. Eventually, these new variants could mutate again and create even more dangerous forms of the virus.

      However, Josie Pagani will explain, no doubt.

      The article fails to discuss how it informs us and potential the implications for detection, treatment, and care of patients with Covid, for long-term quarantine and follow-up of some patients, for vaccination prioritisation, etcetera. Theory without impact in the real world is like a tree falling in the forest without making a sound …

      To me, this piece is another more sophisticated form of scaremongering but scaremongering nonetheless.

      BTW, this is no reflection on the commenter who posted this, because the linked article is highly illustrative of much of the ‘reporting’ on Covid-19.

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 3.2
      7 February 2021 at 2:22 pm

      Not surprising that the variants so far are not yet tending to evade vaccines – there is little incentive for them to do so (yet!).

      After vaccination rates climb – and the selective pressure to evade vaccines increases – that’s when vaccine-resistant strains will come to the fore, I suspect.

    • lprent 3.3
      7 February 2021 at 4:32 pm

      Pretty much bog standard virus recombination and selection. That is why the title of your linked article is now referring to them as variants.

      So far I haven't actually seen any significiant mutation outside of the variants that were present in Wuhan at the end of 2019 and start of 2020. What we have seen is the usually shuffling and selection. In other words getting a better selection of existing traits to survive and prosper. Even those re-selection variants are running at about tenth or twentieth of the rate that most normal low base pair diseases run at.

      The only reason that this disease has had such a wide effect worldwide is because it is a recent species hop into humans and we don't have much immunity to the type of infection.

      But it is going to be an endemic disease. 32,000+ base pairs means that it has a lot of existing capacity for new variants over time.

  4. Jester 4
    7 February 2021 at 10:16 am

    Sounds like a big shake up at Magic Talk radio Obviously John Banks wont be back again but sounds like there could be more changes from this headline on Stuff.

    Radio host Sean Plunket's future at Magic Talk uncertain | Stuff.co.nz

    • millsy 5.1
      7 February 2021 at 4:45 pm

      You won't be able to have bottle blond hair or gypsy earrings in a Christian theocracy. Or bright purple lipstick for that matter.

      All flat shoes, shapeless dresses and head covering. Sorry Karen.

  6. joe90 6
    7 February 2021 at 3:24 pm

    These clowns are worried about being chipped…

    https://twitter.com/nytopinion/status/1357991576795041794

  7. greywarshark 7
    7 February 2021 at 4:24 pm

    From a book I have – A Year of Graffiti – for the 7th:

    'Predestination was doomed to failure from the start. York University'

  8. Pat 8
    7 February 2021 at 6:14 pm

    Pre mod?…really?

    • RedLogix 8.1
      7 February 2021 at 7:15 pm

      Nothing to do with me, it's an automatic process.

      I'm the one who had to approve it manually as a result. Say thank you.

  9. Pat 9
    7 February 2021 at 7:51 pm

    Merci beaucoup

  10. Incognito 10
    7 February 2021 at 9:00 pm

    There’s been a lot of reporting and analysis this week by journalists who understood the significance of what was in these big reports [from the Climate Change Commission] – and worked hard to sum it up for the public even if the details were released to them in a way that made that a bigger task than it should have been.

    But there has also been a lot on air from people with opinions on the bid to cut emissions in the next 30 years who didn't really engage with the report at all.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018782268/climate-blueprint-release-annoys-reporters-confounds-broadcasters

    Indeed, much of it is unhelpful or even counter-productive. Interestingly, they seem to be doing a slightly better job with reporting on Covid-19. Is that because that is inherently less complex or because Government has shown the way of utilising experts’ advice and these experts are given air-time and other platforms to share their professional expertise and opinions?

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