I'm 66 years old and never saw a Bald Eagle until I was in my 30s. That was near St. Louis along the Mississippi River. Where I live now (the Ozarks) they're common to see and have been for over 30 years. Some years ago I was camping out here on a lake shore and early in the morning there was a pair of Bald eagles sitting together on a limb on the other side of the lake. I couldn't help but stand there and stare at them. After a bit one of them took off and started flying right toward me, and when it got to my side of the lake it swooped down and pick up a dead branch off the shore line and then turn at me, flapped it's wings a couple time and then threw it at me! Then it flew right back to where its mate was and sat back down next it. I couldn't help but think they were both laughing at me.
Last year, about this time of year, I saw my first Golden Eagle. It was trying to snatch one of my hens. Those are truly amazing. By far the biggest bird I've ever seen. And to be so close to it too. I wasn't more than 12ft from it. I waved my arms and screamed at it and it finally let go of the hen and took off. As it took off I saw there was a "murder" of crows sitting in the trees watching us, at least 30-40 of them, and the eagle took off heading their way. As soon as it got close to the them they all took off chasing it, dive bombing it and cawing like mad!
It's truly great to see them, but my experience is you can't trust them.
I never used Twitter much because I sucked at creating a response to posts within the text limit, but when Musk bought it I deleted my account because I knew it'd get just flat out stupid.
I was in my early 20s talking with a friend who was at least twice my age. I was bitching about a guy who'd look at the work I was doing who really didn't know squat about it and start telling me how I should be doing it.
After listening to me for a bit he quietly said "Well, you can learn something from everyone if you focus on that."
I spent a couple days pondering that. At first I tried dismissing it because he wasn't there when the guy I was whining about was blabbering on and on, and he didn't know the guy, but it kept bugging me and after a few more days it occurred to me that if he was right I'd been missing out.
Just a few days later the guy I was whining about came by again and looked at the work I was doing told me he knew a guy who could do most of that for me and it wouldn't cost as much and I could get it done a lot faster. So I went and talked to the guy, and sure enough he could do it, and do it faster and better, and it cost me a lot less.
I ended up making a lot more money on that work, and the company I was doing it for was thrilled with the changes. And since then I've focused what I can learn from others, even those who tend to annoy me.
I'm impressed! I live on a forested ridge above a horseshoe bend in a big lake and there's a fairly steep hill behind our home. Our home is surrounded by big oak trees but there is a big front yard that's all lawn, and behind us there is a lot of open space where we have a pretty big garden and a pretty steep hill below that is forest with big hardwood trees. It pretty much nails down when and where it's shady.
Most of those here didn't wear a mask. When the local mandate to wear them was imposed that just pissed people off here and I got scowled at when wearing them but I refused to react to it and that's as far as it ever went.
I never reacted any different at all to those who were not wearing them. I understood early on wearing those masks were not for my protection and I really did not want to infect anyone.
The N95 masks were a way to protect myself and others at the same time so I kept up with when they'd become available and got them as soon as I could, and made a point to use them, and we gave quite a few to others. My wife brought them to where she works and handed them out. They'd been wearing cloth masks there up until then.
You're spot on about the division. Like I said, I took a lot of guff early on for wearing a mask here. Honestly, I think no small reason that stopped happening here is because so many got infected here and after dealing with it themselves they settled down on shitting on those wearing masks or getting vaxxed.
I see a few people wearing a mask when I go to the big box stores in town now and no one pays any attention to it.
I really don't know what to make of that. I can say we did make a point to keep a distance from others, changed our masks pretty often, and we both used hand sanitizer when we were out in public spaces, so it's possible that made a difference.
We were both in our 60s when this crud began, the low end of the high risk group, so could be were more cautious than most.
We stopped wearing masks after about a month after our 1st vaccination. We've both kept up on those vaxxes since. I work from home so I'm so I'm rarely in crowds but my wife works at a resort and interacts with folks from all over and she's still not been infected.
One of our adult daughters refused to get vaxxed and came to visit for Christmas in 2022 and just 5 days after she arrived she got sick af here. She was in bed for 5 days. Her 2 children, who were 15 and 11 years old and not vaxxed didn't come down with any symptoms at all though and they stayed very close to her.
That same daughter has been infected 2 or 3 times since then and is now dealing with "long covid" issues.
I expect we will see another wave soon as well. People will be gathering and sharing it again. That happened last year and nothing much has changed since aside from the severity of infections, and that probably had do so with natural immunity from prior infections, and folks are still dying from it.
The vaxxes have worked for us though so we'll keep up on them.
Where I live in SW Missouri during 2020 most of my neighbors refused to wear masks and 72% were infected in that 1st year. Among those who did wear them less than half wore the properly. Most of those I saw wearing them did not cover their nose. I guess that was their way of protesting against the local mandate to wear them.
So there is really no way to analyze the effectiveness of masks if you simply ask "did you wear a mask?" and "did you get infected with Covid?".
I can say that my wife and I did wear masks and we did not get infected with covid. And that we bought a box of N95 grade masks as soon as those were available, which was around the beginning of 2021. We both wore them until the vaccines were available, and we've both got the jab and booster shots as recommended.
The last statistic given by the County here was over a year ago and it said that 78% of the residents had been infected with covid and around 450 were killed by it. That's pretty close to 1 in 100 who live here. Most of those killed by it here were elderly and in nursing homes that 1st year.
I started working with my father customizing cars when I was 14 years old in 1973 and from the very start I wore both paper masks and respirators with filters and way back then I took a lot guff from guys who considered that to be unmanly, so even back then there was a stigma involved with wearing those.
Back then I figured it was a "macho man" thing, but during covid women here also refused to wear them, or wear them properly, and they would sneer at me too when I was wearing one in a store.
I'm not a sociologist but this is something that deserves being studied.
Learning "how to drive like everyone is trying to smash into you" has worked for me.
Basically you always keep enough distance between you and the car in front of you to be able to avoid rear ending them, keep an eye on what's behind you, and resist the urge to road rage. For example, when someone cuts you off you put distance between you, "You're still moving forward".
I was offered that advice by a California Hwy Patrolmen when I was just 16 years old shortly after I got my driver's license. It's worked for me. I'm 65 now and I've never been in an accident or crashed a car, and I've never gotten a ticket. So it's really worked pretty well for me.
I'm personally not ready to want a car that drives for me, but I would like others to have one that would put on the brakes when they get too close behind me.
It's slightly possible I'm related to him. My great grandfather moved to the US in the early 1900s. My grandfather told me he offered to buy a ticket for all of the Stephensons who wanted to move here to the US. He was "metal man" (mostly working with sheet metal), so was my grandfather and father.
There are some newer studies since then that are backing up this one. I ran across this one about a couple months ago and bookmarked it and then searched for others as well. One goes back 10 years ago so I was pretty much shocked because I've been looking into this (Schizophrenia) for quite a long time and somehow never came across this.
I've been taking magnesium ("Calm" brand), zinc, potassium, and D, at night after dinner and just before I go to bed and that's really helped quiet down the tinnitus for me. For me, it's stress that triggers it and it can get vicious loud.
I turned 65 this year. I've been using weed for over 50 years now. I have never had any serious health issues at all. My hips are started to tell me I'm getting old but otherwise I'm still doing pretty good.
It's not for everyone but it has certainly been good for me.
I'm surrounded by anti-vaxxers in the rural county I live in. 78% of them have been infected with covid at least once (same 78% voted for Trump here in 2020), and that crud is currently reinfecting folks here now.
A neighbor told me last week everyone in his family were infected a few weeks ago. His 80 year old father ended up in the ICU for a week because he couldn't breath. They had to call a ambulance because of that. He told me was bedridden for week sicker than he's ever been.
A result of the anti-covid vaccine is parents here have decided to not get their children vaxxed for anything now. Our schools are basically a breeding ground for spreading crud now.
Well you for sure know what's it like here. We live on a ridge above a horseshoe bend on Bull Shoals lake and are surrounded hundreds of acres of public land that's forested.