My COVID pledge

Posted: September 5, 2023 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

As the news media rumbles and rants over the rise in COVID cases, including that of Doctor Jill, it’s time to prepare for an onslaught of information that provokes fear and misunderstanding.

I have many regrets about what I did during the pandemic. 

I wouldn’t come to Temple University because of fears that young people were incubators of the disease. 

I didn’t visit a friend who was dying of cancer. I didn’t keep in touch with friends who died because they couldn’t get the treatment they needed.

I waited in line for the first COVID shots—not protesting the inadequate features of the drugs and the many side effects of the shots. 

I didn’t try to stop the politicians from passing laws to make voting easier without showing up at a polling station. I believe these laws were responsible for Trump’s loss, one of the worst outcomes of the pandemic. 

Now, I’m making a pledge to myself and others.

I will not wear a mask. Various studies have determined that masks made little difference in preventing disease, except Dr. Tony Fauci continues promoting them. 

I will not get shots. When President Joe said he requested federal dollars “for funding for a new vaccine that is necessary, that works,” it gave me chills. After the pharmaceutical companies created remedies that didn’t work well, why should the taxpayers pick up the tab again?

I will not carry around a card that lists my shots.

I will not socially distance. I will boycott stores and companies that require masks and social distancing.

I will vote against anyone who closes businesses and schools. Only recently, national surveys show that math and reading skills have dropped dramatically, and school absenteeism is roughly 10 percent each school day. 

I will never retire to a nursing home where thousands of my fellow seniors died during the pandemic, a disgrace that still goes unpunished. 

Many of us learned a few things during the pandemic. You really can’t trust the media, and you really can’t trust politicians!

Fortunately, I live in central Pennsylvania, where many people share my sentiments. It was a relief when my wife and I moved here in March 2021 to find signs that said masks were optional.

Matthew Hennessey of The Wall Street Journal agrees with me. He wrote recently, “In hindsight, I can’t help but feel I sold my God-given freedom too cheaply. I won’t get fooled again.”

In Honor of Mexico’s Berlin Wall Move Biden Should Vow Not to Prevent Any Person From Leaving the US Who Wishes To

Posted: September 4, 2023 by datechguy in Uncategorized

At least that’s how I would handle this story:

Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero directed the 3-ton Cold War relic to be installed in Friendship Park in a project titled, “A World Without Walls.” Written on the slab of concrete is the inscription, “May this be a lesson to build a society that knocks down walls and builds bridges.”

When asked why Caballero decided to erect the piece in Tijuana, the mayor said “How many families have shed blood, labor, and their lives to get past the wall,” according to the New York Post.

I must confess that having been born in 1963 and having a vivid memory of the cold war I don’t recall a whole lot of effort being made by the East Germans to keep people from entering, but maybe that’s just me.

Pintastic 2023 T -3 The People Behind the Scenes

Posted: September 4, 2023 by datechguy in fun, pinball, special events
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Yesterday In my post on the EPM crew it was noted how much the crew make a difference for their ability to safely pack and move dozens of machines from Providence RI to Sturbridge MA. There is a another crew at every Pintastic that is worth a shout out and that’s the crew of volunteers like Lisa:

And the People like David Marsdon one of the founders who keep things going

You will see folks like them working hard to make sure you are able to have a good time. If you attend Pintastic NE 2023 this year, make it a point to say thanks.

Review: Season 3 of Ragnarok on Netflix

Posted: September 3, 2023 by John Ruberry in culture, entertainment, media
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By John Ruberry

Moving to a new town, particularly after a tragedy–the death of your father–is a painful experience. Which is what high school student Magne Seier (David Stakston) and his younger brother, Laurits (Jonas Strand Gravli), confront when they move to the small Norwegian town of Edda in the Netflix series Ragnarok. 

And Edda isn’t just any town. The largest employer there is Jutul Industries where their kindly but weak-willed mother, Turid (Henriette Steenstrup), finds a job. More on Jutul in a bit.

How does Magne cope? By becoming a reincarnation of the Norse god Thor. And if “jutul” sounds familiar, they are the enemies of the Norse gods. 

Over the first two seasons, Magne, for the most part reluctantly, puts together a new gathering of the gods, including assisted care home resident Wotan Wagner (Bjørn Sundquist) as the new Odin, another high schooler, Iman Reza (Danu Sunth), as the new Freyja, and Harry (Benjamin Helstad), a mechanic and a boxer, as the new Týr. 

While Wotan/Odin wears an eye patch–the mythological Odin was one-eyed–he doesn’t ride a an eight-legged horse. The contemporary Odin travels around Edda in a motorized scooter. But he does look into the future with rune stones. There is also a tip of the hat to the importance of dwarfs in Norse mythology. A minor character, Halvor Lange (Espen Sigurdsen), a doctor at Wotan’s nursing home, is a dwarf.

Magne of course has Thor’s hammer.

Laurits is the reincarnation of the devious trickster god, Loki, and it’s difficult to ascertain whose side he is on. As it is with his “child,” his onetime tapeworm, the Midgard Serpent, who Laurits calls “Little O.”

In the third and final season of Ragnarok, the gods expand their crew, adding Kiwi (Ruben Rosbach), as Heimdall, and Laurits’ love interest, Jens (Vebjørn Enger), as Baldr.

Ragnarök, according to the Norse mythology, is the end time of the world, when the jutul or jötunn, often sloppily translated into English–as it is for this show–as giants, battle each other. In the first season, we are introduced to the Jutul family, led by Vidar (Gísli Örn Garðarsson), his wife Ran (Gísli Örn Garðarsson) ,and their high school age children, Fjor (Herman Tømmeraas), and Saxa (Theresa Frostad Eggesbø). Vidar is the CEO of Jutul Industries, which is poisoning the fjord off of Edda, and Ran is the principal of Edda High School. All of this is quite awkward, to say the least, for Magne.

The following paragraph contains Season Two spoilers.

A battle between Magne and Vidar at the end of the first season in inconclusive, which is not that case with their second confrontation; Magne kills Vidar with and ancient axe. That is one of the few ways gods and jutuls can be slain. That leads to a power struggle between Saxa and Fjor for control of Jutul Industries. Ran withdraws into depression, and Laurits, who we learn is Vidar’s son, plays both sides of the conflict. 

As Season Three begins, Turid is planning her wedding, inevitable conflict is coming, and oh yeah, final exams and graduation at Edda High School loom. As for that battle, the two sides line up, as in a western movie, or more accurately, as with the final showdown in Akiro Kurosawa’s Yojimbo.

While I enjoyed the first two seasons, I see Season Three as a big letdown. The performances are still compelling, the cinematography still great, and an enjoyable presence who was largely absent in Season Two, the radio announcer (Jeppe Beck Laursen), briefly returns. Ragnarok’s unseen announcer is reminiscent of the one in the M*A*S*H television series. 

And I have to say it, the Laurits and Jens romance is very in-your-face one–as if the writers are yelling out, “Look, they’re gay! Gay! Gay! Gay!” Much more is left to our imaginations with Magne and his female love interests. The creepy romantic encounter at a party with Ran and two male students from her high school in the first season is mostly off-screen. Are the writers and directors trying to compensate for the decades of absence of gay characters in movies and in television series? Oh, one more failing: the CG to create the Midgard Serpent, is unconvincing.

As a whole, Ragnarok is still worth your time, particularly if you enjoy coming-of-age dramas and ancient mythology, but don’t expect so much in this final season.

As of this writing, it is the seventh-most popular offering on Netflix.

Ragnarok is rated TV-MA for violence, sexual situations, marijuana use, and underage drinking. It is available in Norwegian with English subtitles as well as dubbed English. Besides Norwegian, there are smatterings of Old Norse and English throughout Ragnarok.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

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