The Best of Web posts are much shorter in length with material that is a notch or two above what you see in the regular TBB posts. It also gives me a short break midweek because I need it. Here is another post with five links about investigating the lab leak theory, an amazing personal story of a writer searching for his vanished dad, how we will all get back to the office or not or possibly do it in a hybrid style, a report from a Bitcoin gathering in Miami full of charlatanism and pics of bizarre buildings that will shock you. Sorry I don’t do clickbait shocking videos of stupid incidents only posted because too many morons keep clicking on them. Say no to clickbait!
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The Lab Leak Theory That Doesn’t Hold Up
Must read if you are interested in the topic. It is not that controversial if you left the politics out of it. The rush to find a conspiracy around the COVID-19 pandemic’s origins is driven by narrative, not evidence. We have been here before with other viruses, I mean, I still remember growing up in Greece running into serious people convinced the HIV virus was intentionally leaked by the CIA! But…at the end of the day (how did this saying ever appear, it is always weird when I say it or see it!):
When infectious diseases can be explained, however, nature is almost always the culprit.
I am going to let you read it all and if you still think the Chinese are wholly responsible for the pandemic without blaming the former US President who knew how serious the virus was and not simply warned the American people to save hundreds of thousands of innocent souls…well, what can I say? The way I see it is that this probably did not come from a lab and nothing has really changed on the ground. Is it still possible? Hell yes. Will I ever bet money on it? No.
Read with an open mind. I have read the articles supporting the lab leak theory and I am not convinced. What do I think? It does not matter of course because I am no virologist and do not pretend to be one on the internet. But after following the pandemic ever since it started…I am not sure it all started in Wuhan. I keep seeing reports that continue to trickle out that the virus may have been around before the first reported cases in Wuhan. I think such cases first reported in Italy have since been explained away and/or discredited. But I keep seeing reports of possible cases from China far away from Wuhan and (this is important) even in the US so maybe we should not discredit the Chinese screaming that if it was a lab leak maybe the lab was based in the US? Ok, you see what I did here? 🙂
I hope we find out one day and I think we will. It just may be some time before we get there. What IS certain and completely unacceptable and inexcusable is how we handled the pandemic AFTER it started. US was rated #1 in pandemic preparedness in a drill in 2019 I believe. And then…reality smacked us to shit, SAD!
My Father Vanished When I Was 7. The Mystery Made Me Who I Am.
I started reading this and could not stop. We are all products of our childhood. So beautifully written…
My dad was a riddle to me, even more so after he disappeared. For a long time, who he was – and by extension who I was – seemed to be a puzzle I would never solve.
The Back to the Office Maximum
We are undergoing massive shifts in, well, everything. Especially work. And where we actually work to be exact! Not much has changed in my end as I have been working from home for over twenty years. In person client meetings have stopped but they are starting back on very slowly. But my wife has not been to the office since early March 2020. My son has been working remotely from Honolulu for his New York City based employer and will continue to do so it appears. I know several who have quit their jobs and many entertaining job offers. It is just wild out there! And this article just captures it all!
‘Fiat is Immoral, Evil Money’: 3 Days in Miami with the Bitcoin Faithful
I enjoyed this article shaking my head what all these charlatans are doing…I guess I never fit into this crowd, oh well.
You know this is going downhill is when it starts out with Ron Paul saying “We have a shortage of liberty and I do know the people here are very much in tune about the principles of liberty!”
And just goes downhill from there! If you do not scream WTF numerous times reading this…well, whatever. I mean how can you not to with something like this?
In a lounge chair on AstroTurf, porn performer Brenna Sparks talks about wanting to get more into NFTs (she’s minted some tweets)…On the roof, sudden rainfall breaks up a topless hot tub session.
I expect more hate mail from crypto bros…
Bizarre Buildings
If you have been reading my blog for a while you know I like quirky things and this post is a great fit! Enjoy looking at some of the buildings and hold back your WTF screams! Here are just a few:
Actually, this fits the travel theme of my blog as it is the largest hotel in the world with 10,000 rooms. Still under construction. But you have to travel to Saudi Arabia to check in…Love the visible comment “I can only see 4 heliports. What if I want to arrive in my 5 helicopters? This hotel sucks!” LOL!
Sometimes I wonder about them architects who come out with designs like this smh! University Of Technology Sydney (Uts)’s Business School Building.
And I leave you with this…
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Just watched the highlights of Game 2 Phoenix Suns vs LA Clippers because there is no way I can stay awake that late. WOW!
Thinking to do Arches & Canyonland parks in September after schools open to perhaps avoid the crowds. What do you think?
Today will be an awesome Euro2020 day. England sleep walked into the 2nd round, not looking for them to get further. I think there is a good chance that Spain will not advance. I think France is too strong to not advance. I do not see how Germany will not beat Hungary.
The 100k CSP card is available with my links finally, help pay my intern 🙂
Good morning!
Thanks for the fascinating links!
Thanks for the compliment 🙂
I am sure Dan finds the first link not very fascinating lol.
We did Arches and Canyonland a couple of years ago. We continued further south along the eastern edge of Utah, all the way to Canyon de Chelly in northern Arizona. Monuments park takes a lot of driving in and out but it’s so worth it. (You could have the TBB plane fly into one of the small airports there and pick you up at another when you’re done).
September is a great time-preferably the last half of September. Itinerary and other tips upon request.
In business news, we’ll be going for that CSP 100k offer later this week, thru TBB if it links to 100k. I’m mostly a cash back player now but, well, nothing wrong with free, is there.
We are having dinner today with a friend who did Arches/Canyonland and has a lot of practice as an assistant to a high profile big time consultant, we recently discovered she puts all her trips together, yes!
Sam, I do not have direct affiliate cc links since I am small potatoes (or is it potatos?). Easy to find here, no arrows needed 🙂
https://travelbloggerbuzz.com/credit-cards/
Trying to get a friend to go for it but…she is stuck on the $95 smh.
I have given up on the plane, sad!
Thanks for the discussion on the lab leak theory. I’m not 100% convinced but I’d rate it as the most likely cause anyway. And this has no bearing on whether or not the covid lab leak theory is true but one interesting bit of trivia I’ve learned in reading about it is that the last person ever to die of smallpox died as the result of a lab outbreak:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_smallpox_outbreak_in_the_United_Kingdom
Headed to Nashville later this summer… finally going to use up my Hyatt certs and I’ll even get into my stash of Hyatt points! I should be globalist by mid-July.
The smallpox virus certainly does not qualify as a ‘novel virus”!
My Hyatt Concierge contacted me today to introduce himself. I think Brock is a boy name. It was a very nice email and looking forward to unload some research time on him 🙂
Be careful down there, way too many people who are not vaccinated! Maybe us going to Miami was not the brightest idea after all.
About that lab leak paper. It’s written in an unfortunate way that indicates bias. Rather than explaining why a hypothesis is “wrong”, only quoting “Scientists wasted no time shredding the idea. Calling it “unbelievable bullshit,”” doesn’t help the reader understand why it’s BS. BTW, the author has spent a bit too much time finding scientists on Twitter rather than true experts that aren’t on social media (use PubMed!). Yup, he’s lazy.
So here’s the bottom line, scientific communication and data sharing rely on trust. When China deletes SARS sequencing data and samples, and suppresses any publications in the field, how can we better understand the origin and potentially prevent the next pandemic?
The joint WHO-China report dismissed all reported cases prior to December 8 as not COVID-19, and revived the theory that the virus might have originated at the Huanan Seafood Mark”
Well, apparently deleted sequencing files have been retrieved and completely debunked the Huanan Seefood hypothesis. Apparently that Seefood market hypothesis was “unbelievable bullshit”
see this publication thread and associated publication:
https://twitter.com/jbloom_lab/status/1407445604029009923
Biden and the NIH should force China to make all the data, notes and efforts available to the public. That’s how we figured out the origins of MERS and SARS. No US gov derived funding should go to CN until that happens.
Just want to say do not take my advice regarding Euro football ok?
I saw that “deleted” sequencing twitter thread, could not understand it frankly. My gut feeling is we are making waaay too much on the reasons behind the deletion?
We will find out one day…it will take a while.
I am cool with Germany and Spain exiting LOL
France, not Spain.
France scored again so never let Ronaldo score on PKs LOL!
Hungary is defending well so far, 30 mims to go. Can’t wait not to see that German coach again, reminds of Sprockets of SNL 🙂
wait…Ronaldo another PK goal!
Wild finish ahead!
The 13 samples were early evolutionary versions of SARS-CoV2, earlier than the samples from the Huanan Seefood market. So it’s one step in the right direction to understand the origin.
The major point is that the Chinese government would greatly benefit from being transparent. And by acting this way, they are feeding conspiracy theories. Especially when the government, with WHO’s support, try to push the Huanan Seefood theory.
I hope Hungary wins.
“down there”? Nashville is actually to the north of Charlotte (and much more west of course). Not worried about the antivaxxers as the wife and I are vaccinated.
Geography fact I learned from Twitter the other day: Bristol, TN is closer to Canada than to Memphis.
>>>>>Bristol, TN is closer to Canada than to Memphis.
What? That can’t be true!
To us up here in Michigan, Ohio and below is South lol.
Bristol-Canada-Memphis map:
https://i.redd.it/6pfsjz79rqg31.jpg
Oh I see…Still wild!
“Sprockets”
Haha…awesome Buzz!
Thanks for the links. Amazing times we are living in.
Canyonland and Arches is definitely a great trip and highly recommended. And if you have time, tack on Bryce, Zion, a slot canyon or two in Page, the Vermilion Cliffs, etc and maybe finish it off with a touch of Sedona if you haven’t been.
We’ll leave the others for another trip, aiming for Arches/Canyonland in late September.