And yet all this bitching about other people wearing masks, when you can name legitimate reasons they might... But there's still all this bitching when they do it because one doesn't, and can't, know their motivations, but one can, and does, dismiss it as meaningless "virtue signaling." While, I might add, being self-righteous about not wearing a mask.

How about we all just fuck off to our own affairs and let people wear them if they want to? It harms you not at all if someone else, who, let's remember, is not you, is wearing a mask on their personal face.

:tup:

^ Straw man point. Your words, not mine.

Masking indefinitely isn't bad for human health, but it makes one look ridiculous, like they have anxiety or paranoia issues.

Are we going to keep going back and forth about this, I thought I already made this point to you like 3 pages ago. :shrug:

By the way, I would also argue that trying to completely isolate oneself from any exposure to any virus anywhere is not particularly good for one's health (nor is it even possible). Exposure to viruses is exactly how we develop immunity to them. We only have vaccines against 0.0003% of viruses in existence. The rest requires us to train our immune system, and we only get that through exposure.

The only places I'm still regularly masking these days are at school drop-off for my kids (the school's rules, not mine), and at our local market where they are still "requesting" (not requiring) customers to wear masks.

I'm enough of a "go along to get along" guy that if an establishment is still requesting masks, I have no issue slapping one on while I shop.

It's just not that big of a deal to me anymore either way now that the silly outdoor masking thing has thankfully gone the way of the dodo around here.

Exactly. It sounds like the other group is more mindless group think.

Ugh, you know over a million people died from this in the world, right?.it would've been much worse if there were no precautions.

:shrug:

Not sure what point you are trying to make. None of this has to do with vaccinated people walking around outdoors with a mask on, but go ahead and do you, bro...

^ Did you just call mask wearing by vaccinated people outdoors "silly"?

Get ready to be called anti-health by the group-think police! :haha:

Anyhow, ironically I'm wearing a mask as I type this message, since I"m at the office and it's still a requirement in healthcare settings.

But I don't wear a mask anywhere else, because vaccines you know, work.

The other thing is that strikingly good looking people like myself are hindered by masks. I think it's the ugly people who want to keep wearing them, it puts them at a level playing field with the rest of society :D

i've been saying that outdoor masking (in the vast majority of situations) is pretty damn silly for many months now.

I am vaccinated and walk outside with no mask.
I just think it'd silly to downplay the damage.

Then explain why basically all the loudest anti-maskers are from one metro area (Chicago) on the forum? Even 10023.....
Geographical groupthink.
Or Chi-town had a worse experience than lets say....Baghdad?

That's not what is happening though. I can't believe the vast majority of people in SF want to wear a mask but probably do anyway because of what others might think of them or that's simply what's expected of them. People here on this forum have mentioned examples where they just wore them to avoid negative reactions.

Those who want to wear a mask in areas that are anti-mask are less prone to buckling under the peer pressure. And good on them.

huh?

name them.

it's like two guys (TUP & bnk).

and those two goofballs aren't just loud-mouthed about masks, they're loud-mouthed ax-grinders in general, about any vaguely political topic.

10023, twister, lvdw, jtownman, possibly more. I didn't mean you since..."pretty darn silly" is incredibly tame and not loud at all.
Sorry for noticing guys...but remember CA is the lockdown state so it's ok to attack us :D. Just don't consider it for the Northern parts of the state...too red.

10023 - hasn't lived in chicago for well over a decade now

twister - just an extended stay tourist. was very recently living in denver. now temporarily in chicago for the summer. will be moving on to his next "home" very shortly.

lvdw - haven't noticed him saying much of anything about masks.

jtownman - yeah, i did forget he moved here for school. i still think of him as a virginian.





and how about:

Jmanc - not a chicagoan

camelback - not a chicagoan

phil mcavity - not a chicagoan

photolith - not a chicagoan

You pay attention to details :)

For everyone here, since this thread is supposed to be "no politics" and more local impacts of the pandemic (or what's left of it) - I would recommend going to the Jungle (CE thread) to throw poo at people with respect to masks. It's great, we have free wine over there.

Not sure about that one (he isn't yelling), but that basically is the entire list! So, it's outsiders who move to the metro, and was it really that bad or are they overblowing it?
Nah they too scared, but you aren't.

Don't mistake the loudmouthed progressives for the mass of the population.

was what ever that bad?

covid?

chicagoland had a slightly worse than average experience with covid compared against other major US cities as far as infection* and death rates go.


(*) IL went all-in on testing pretty early, so our infection numbers will always look worse on paper compared against states with lazier attitudes toward testing, where LOTS of cases went unconfirmed.





you've talked about your new nomadic lifestyle in this and other threads many times now recently.

What was ridiculous was that he was telling people to STAY HOME at that point and AVOID GROUPS OF PEOPLE and he had CLOSED RESTAURANTS TO INDOOR DINING so what did he do? He rented a restaurant, invited a group and they all left their homes and gathered and took off their masks and schmoozed.

It wasn't that he wasn't wearing a mask while eating. It was that he wasn't home and was throwing a party in a supposedly closed restaurant that pretty much required the doffing of masks (to eat, as you say).

The lockdown for Chicago, as they were making it out to be some nightmare where you have to indefinitely wear masks (till a few days ago) with no options for any fun.
Well IL did the right thing, and it definitely prevented more deaths.

oh that, yeah, that was 100% USDA grade-A hyperbole.

but what do you expect from hopelessly myopic ax-grinders?

intelligent people tune that shit out and live their lives.

I no longer live in an urban expanse, but it does seem like people living in the cities had a rougher time with the restrictions and definitely a worse time with deaths. The problem for my rural area would be there's maybe 20 total hospital beds, so people who got COVID were sent to other counties. COVID was also a "big city virus" for us because that's where everybody was getting it from. There wasn't community spread here till pretty late...

But "pretty late" made up for it. The highest rates of covid in California are now in the hinterlands.

the rural midwest had a different experience.

states like the dakotas had to deal with one of the worst outbreaks anywhere in the nation in terms of rates.

That's why the SF Bay Area's numbers are so impressive. Despite being somewhere in the top 2-5 (depending on how you want to rank it) most urban areas in the US, I believe it has the lowest (and most accurate given the widespread testing relative to rural areas) death rates and highest vaccination rates. Being the first to lockdown saved countless lives.

We also have the lowest rates of vaccination - with more vulnerable populations and less services :(. There's natural social distancing, at least....no masks in the forest.

I had a deep dish at Lou Minaldi's which started my long descent in hating masks. I think Photolith was born there.

Who?

;)

I think you knew who I meant: Lou Malnati

^ totally.

just messing around.

At least I know 'Giordano's'

Was Sen. Synema there? ;)

I swear, both the Chicagoans by blood (or many years of living here) as well as many of the newcomers are out of their minds! :)

As for me, I'm perfectly normal of course. And yes, back to the original topic at hand, while I no longer have to wear a mask at work, it's still weird NOT wearing one indoors. Getting less weird by the day, but still definitely not normal. ;)

Aaron (Glowrock)

So life for me is 100% back to normal. The other day I went to work and didn't even bring a mask (which still scares me a bit).

I don't wear a mask at work, at the store, or at my apartment anymore. About 40% of people are still wearing their masks in my building. Restaurants appear to have stopped capacity limits. Besides one. There is a place next to my house that STILL does not allow indoor dining and recently had an event outside doing yoga and required everyone wear a mask LOL

Oh, I saw a lady wearing a mask while riding a bike on the road at 5:30 am last week.

You can't make this shit up.

It’s because she probably has always been unattractive, so she sees a benefit.

Once again, for good looking people wearing a mask has been like Superman with kryptonite.

Masks gone, it’s like you get your powers back. The power of.........

....sexiness......

and the mask debate goes on. Get a life. Who cares its over. We know more now in hindsight. Hindsight is always 20/20

If you’re in the UK, this is a great way to spend 90p:

https://www.thebadgecentre.co.uk/i-a...iABEgLLlfD_BwE


FYI:

https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/face-cov...xemption-badge

I've actually heard the reverse from women. Some enjoy wearing masks because it means they don't get catcalled by random dudes.

Also, maybe it's still a bit cold in the morning at 5:30 there? Certainly the wind chill when on a bike can get bad, and a mask helps warm your face.

Where's the fun in that? It's much more fun to sit around like gossipy mean girls in the high school cafeteria, bitching and being bitchy about what other people are wearing or, as the_becky_politician can attest, making catty remarks about other people being ugly.

Yeah, I guess it goes to show you that ideas come full circle.

For years I've heard Western women criticizing the Islamic world because of how their women are oppressed by having to cover bare parts of their body, wear face coverings, etc....namely they aren't "free" to show their legs, their skin, etc the way western women are.

Some of the Islamic people I've known (men and women) who defend Islamic ways of dressing have argued that it's not actually subjugation of women, but it's a way of protecting them from men and their sexual urges.

The practice of wearing a veil on women's faces goes back thousands of years, and was even practiced in Ancient Rome, Greece, and Persia.

Ironically, here in the US I guess some women find mask wearing to be of some benefit.

I once recall going there almost 18 years ago for the first time...still a great pizza joint to this day. The calamari must still be good there. When mask mandate was unheard of. :tup:

Women being presented with the choice of when and how to cover themselves obviously being a big factor here. I don't think many Western women criticizing the Hajib are doing so because of their fashion sense or "it's criminal to wear something that makes it harder to breathe!"

WOAH!!!!!!

holy blast from the past, batman!

where you been, man?



sadly, 7SD still hasn't been built yet. ;)

Absolutely, I agree. The choice of covering one's face is far different from one being forced to do it.

Hey Dan, how you been? I figured I make a jump in my time machine to 2021. I've actually been on the road many years as a truck driver traveling the country for many years and have been working on digital marketing. Today, I have settled down in my own home living locally in Indy (don't do long hauls anymore). Ever since I've remarried to my now wife who is from Manchester,UK. My daughter Jada is now 16 (actually named after Dylan's sister). I take it you still live in the Marina City towers. I believe Jan (Scity) also lives there. Btw, Jasonhouse still around? So much has probably changed on the forum since I've been gone. My love for architecture is still strong to this day just like deep dish. May be I can throw in the Old Style too. Yes, 7SD was my favorite proposal. May be one day. Glad to be back :tup:

I'm not an anti-masker. Lol.

I wore my mask when/where it was mandated. Once those random arbitrary mandates ended, I bought some lighter fluid and burned my mask on the sidewalk. :D

You were basically an anti-masker unless you wore your mask because you understood its value in the pre-vaccine era and wore it because it stopped the spread of your virus to others and theirs to you, not because it was mandated. And the emotionalism of burning it shows your hostility.

Check your PM inbox.