misc. comments 65

[redbird]

More comments I've posted elsewhere and want to keep:

A tangential response to a post by liv about changes in LGBTQ culture over time: :

I happen to be wearing my rainbow "QUEERVILLE" shirt today, and a hospital staffer complimented me on it. I thanked her, and she said she also has that shirt, and we both probably got it from the Somerville High School GSA*. I also said that I wished I'd had anything like the space for queerness that those teens do--but part of what my generation fought for was precisely that things would be easier for younger people.

*The shirt is a portmanteau of "Somerville" and "queer," and this probably says a thing or two about Somerville. GSA in this context usually stands for Gay-Straight Alliance, but as of a couple of years ago, Somerville High School's GSA was the Gender and Sexuality Alliance.

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In reply to a friend who said she wsa "starting to feel like spouse and I are the only people still taking covid precautions" and asked to hear from other people who still are, to help her feel less weird:

The "new normal" does feel rather like "here's a vaccine booster, and you can mail-order good N95 masks, but otherwise you're on your own."

I am still taking precautions, not as much as a year ago, but I'm masking on transit and in shops, and I'm not eating inside restaurants. I haven't been to a museum since they made masks optional, or a play since before the pandemic.

On the other hand, I am taking transit to get to medical appointments rather than a cab or Lyft, and we're doing most of our own shopping (cattitude and adrian_turtle are doing more than I am, in part because I'm the one with the weird immune system).

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This random comment on a place named Kandahar in Saskatchewan, with digressions, was from a comment thread in minoanmiss's journal:

Definitely weird: it's part of a "rural municipality" called "Big Quill No. 308," where the "Big Quill" appears to be a lake and I have no idea what the "308" part signifies. There is no "rural municipality of Big Quill No. 307," or "no. 1," or indeed any other municipality with "quill" in its name.

Most of a century ago, George R. Stewart wrote an odd and detailed book called Names on the Land: an historical account of place-naming in the United States. There's a sequel, Names on the Globe, from 1975, but I don't think it went into that level of detail, and I don't think anyone else has gone into that level of detail. (Stewart's bibliography is an interesting mix of detailed nonfiction, things like that and books on specific bits of history like battle in the US Civil War, and fiction, including science fiction.

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In reply to a locked post:

This is the second place recently I've heard someone suggest moving the clocks forward a half hour and leaving them there. I like the idea, personally, but that's partly because that would put clock noon in Boston close to local solar noon.

The same article mentioned an American poll, asking people whether they would like permanent daylight time, permanent standard time, or the current twice-a-year switch. About a third of the people surveyed like the current system, and two-thirds wanted to stop changing the clocks--but half of the people who wanted to stop changing the clocks (1/3 of the total) wanted to keep daylight time, a quarter (1/6 of the total) wanted to keep standard time, and the final quarter (1/6 of the people surveyed) just wanted to stop changing the clocks, with no strong opinion about where to leave them.

Comments

[dewline]

I find myself resenting this "you're on your own if you want/need to keep masking up" push by the right-wingers and other...factions. I have my family-focused medical reasons for this, and job-search reasons, too. I want to work, but I don't want to risk Pandemic-induced lobotomy for it.

If such demands are made of me?

No.

[jenett]

For data point (and I was meaning to post about this so it's in my own journal as a record), I'm currently at the following, as someone who isn't immunocompromised but who did have post-viral syndrome stuff that completely derailed my life a decade ago, and an immune system that overreacts as a hobby.

- Masking any time I'm indoors that isn't home (but not outside walking: if I might pop in somewhere, I have one in my pocket.)

- Going to work in person two days a week (and now alternate Mondays), but my office is a "staff only" space because both I and the other library person are continuing to be super careful, and we just acquired an air filter.

(Work is at "masks are optional, do not question people's choices about it, masking is supported" but in practice only about one in ten people are at this point.)

- Not doing things inside with other people if I can avoid it (in my case, this is because - that post-viral stuff? I'm doing a lot better now, but doing things in person with other people is super exhausting to me, and I need a pretty compelling reason to do it anyway.)

- Medical appointments as needed (and my most frequent one, every three weeks allergy shots, is very proactive about people masking still.)

- That especially goes for eating. (I'm meeting friends for a meal outside tomorrow, somewhere we should still be able to sit outside. If for some reason that doesn't work, I will sit with them inside masked, have a good time, and get my dinner to go.)

- The one I'm struggling with is about coven practice (7 bodies) resuming in my apartment rather than online - almost everyone else has vastly more exposure risk on a regular basis (service-facing jobs, kids, etc.) and meeting in my apartment means air in my apartment is affected, and I do not have a great solution for either part of this. Right now I'm at "Let's see what's happening after the holidays, tail end of January" and then discuss (with a clear "If I come down with something, even a bad cold, I am probably out for the count for anything - coven stuff, more than minimal work stuff, writing stuff, doing my own household stuff - for a week or two.")

[lcohen]

i need to mask and get short of breath and dizzy while masking so i only go places where i can feel comfortable unmasked (friends houses where i know everyone is vaxxed and boosted and testing when exposed) or will only be there a short amount of time. the two hours masked at a singing was very hard on me, though worth it since it was a memorial for a friend.

i would love to keep daylight savings time because i like the light at the end of the day when i get off work. having it be dark so early makes me feel like the day is over and like not doing anything more.

For your friends who wonder who's taking precautions

[ng_moonmoth]

Spouse and I are vaccinated, boosted, and recently bivalent boosted. We have been masking diligently from the start, and still are. We always mask in enclosed spaces unless we are with family (all of whom are as careful as we are), and anywhere outdoors where we may be less than six feet from many other people. We are willing to shop as need be (but discretionary shopping is rare), eat out occasionally (outdoors if we can, and wearing masks unless actually eating), and occasional movie theaters (masked unless eating, and trying to sit at some distance from others).

We are also willing to attend membership events of particular interest, as long as there is a vaccination and masking policy along the lines of "proof of vaccination required to pick up your badge, masks on unless eating (and socially distanceable spaces provided for that)". We did each bring our own cases of COVID home from one of those events, but it was held in a state where there has been less emphasis on masking than where we live, and I'm not certain we got it at the event, as we later attended an event with similar restrictions in a more mask-conscious state and returned negative.

So yes, we are taking it seriously, and pretty much everyone who is close to us as well.

[kareina]

Oh, is the place-naming book just focusing on interesting place names in the states, or all of them? There is a wonderful book here in Sweden which compiles most, if not all, of the place names here, and says what they mean, and the earliest record of the name in use for that place, which, luckily, is available in a searchable pdf: https://www.isof.se/lar-dig-mer/publikationer/publikationer/2016-01-01-svenskt-ortnamnslexikon (which is great for anyone wanting to document a Swedish language place name, or an individual name that includes a "from here" element, since many of the names are documented to the 1300's or earlier.

[redbird]

Names on the Land is just place names in the United States, and I think is limited to the contiguous/Lower 48, having been published well before Alaskan and Hawaii an statehood. The same author later wrote Names on the Globe, which I haven't read because the New York Public Library didn't have a copy.

I assume that PDF is in Swedish?

[kareina]

Very much so. But the College of Heralds is ok with it as a source for names, anyway. One can understand the date without a translation.

[boxofdelights]

I went to Classics book group today, for the first time since they started meeting in person again. ~20 people in a back room in a windowless gaming and comics co-op. I was the only one in a mask. I love that book group. I'm vaccinated. Is it worth the risk? I don't know.

[redbird]

I guess the next question would be, are the other people in the group vaccinated? At this point. there are a lot of people who are vaccinate, some of them boosted, who think that will keep them safe indoors and unmasked; unfortunately, they look just like people who are unvaccinated and "don't believe in" masks.

And I don't know what your other risk factors are; if I was still on the Tecfidera instead ff the Ocrevus, I might be more comfortable with that sort of risk.

[switterbeet]

I also said that I wished I'd had anything like the space for queerness that those teens do--but part of what my generation fought for was precisely that things would be easier for younger people.

I think I'm slightly younger than you (37) but I very much feel this a lot sometimes. Things have gotten so much better since I was 13 (when I realized I was queer) that I'm both really happy and also kind of envious.

My partner and I are still also taking COVID precautions which basically amount to no indoor unmasked anything. I don't have much point here beyond, "you're not alone."

I wonder if No. 308 is with regard to a First Nation reserve? A lot of them are in the form "Nation Name No. XXX" or similar. I did some quick googling but didn't find anything to confirm this, but the structure looks right.