True story. My first visit to a grocery store in the US 15 years ago, I asked an employee where to find "capsicum". He sent me to the juice aisle. I asked another employee. Also juice aisle. Third person I asked came with me and patiently pointed out the Capri Sun shelf. ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚

Reminiscing about my grocery store visits when new to the US. Only kind of shopping I do recreationally. First couple of weeks, I spent hours just hitting different grocery shops and checking out all the foods and randomly buying some that I'd read about or seen on TV.
One of my first instinctive purchases was a turkey drumstick. So huge! Reminded me of those big joints of meat eaten by Jughead or Obelix or Flintstones. I bought it and tandoorified it at home right away in my oven debut. I had never seen an oven before that. Was a bit scared.
I remember the time I came home with a can of spam and my roommate (who was in his 5th year in the US) was like why spam? It sucks! I said yeah, but I have to taste the meat so bad that junk mail is called that. I gamely finished the can. Never bought it again. ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚
I visited 1st in 05 and moved in 06 so it was the cable TV, blogs, torrents age. Not exactly a time when US culture was largely unknown to us. I knew it's okra not ladyfinger, eggplant not brinjal, 1 oz is ~ 30g, 1 lb ~ half kg etc. But some blind spots remained. Some for years.
The first time I ran out of my Crocin stash and went to the convenience store to buy a replacement, I was shocked to learn that the employees there had never heard of paracetamol! What kind of country doesn't have paracetamol, I wondered. Later learned it's acetaminophen here.๐Ÿ˜‚
First time we went camping in the US, asked at a store "do you have any torches?" And the guy deadpanned. "Nope. No pitchforks either. But if you need flashlights, they're over there." ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚
Oh one more confusion from early days.
"Which aisle for dry fruits?"
"Aisle 9"

Goes to aisle 9. Finds no almonds, cashews, pistachios. Just literally, dried fruits. Like apricots and stuff. ๐Ÿ˜‚
I was petrified the first time I filled a car, because the first few times I drove in the US was with a friend in NJ where it's full service by law. So first time in PA, I thought some random spark from my phone would blow up the whole pump. ๐Ÿ˜‘๐Ÿ˜‘
https://t.co/FRuuc8ySm4
By the way, because NJ is full service by law, a frequent sight at gas stations in surrounding states is college students looking very lost about what the process is. And since most of my students are NJ kids, they readily identify with my story of my self service experience.
Back then, there was internet but no smartphones. And talk time was limited to 400 daytime minutes a month unless on the same carrier. So a lifehack was reciprocal googling arrangement with others on Verizon. I'll call you to google stuff for me when I need and vice versa.
So like "hey, I'm in Kissimmee Florida with this gujju woman I'm dating on such and such street and I need a nice Ethiopian restaurant nearby if possible." And the dude is like "on it".
He calls the next week from Cleveland asking for some bar with rock and roll history. Etc.

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global health policy in 2020 has centered around NPI's (non-pharmaceutical interventions) like distancing, masks, school closures

these have been sold as a way to stop infection as though this were science.

this was never true and that fact was known and knowable.

let's look.


above is the plot of social restriction and NPI vs total death per million. there is 0 R2. this means that the variables play no role in explaining one another.

we can see this same relationship between NPI and all cause deaths.

this is devastating to the case for NPI.


clearly, correlation is not proof of causality, but a total lack of correlation IS proof that there was no material causality.

barring massive and implausible coincidence, it's essentially impossible to cause something and not correlate to it, especially 51 times.

this would seem to pose some very serious questions for those claiming that lockdowns work, those basing policy upon them, and those claiming this is the side of science.

there is no science here nor any data. this is the febrile imaginings of discredited modelers.

this has been clear and obvious from all over the world since the beginning and had been proven so clearly by may that it's hard to imagine anyone who is actually conversant with the data still believing in these responses.

everyone got the same R
Two things can be true at once:
1. There is an issue with hostility some academics have faced on some issues
2. Another academic who himself uses threats of legal action to bully colleagues into silence is not a good faith champion of the free speech cause


I have kept quiet about Matthew's recent outpourings on here but as my estwhile co-author has now seen fit to portray me as an enabler of oppression I think I have a right to reply. So I will.

I consider Matthew to be a colleague and a friend, and we had a longstanding agreement not to engage in disputes on twitter. I disagree with much in the article @UOzkirimli wrote on his research in @openDemocracy but I strongly support his right to express such critical views

I therefore find it outrageous that Matthew saw fit to bully @openDemocracy with legal threats, seeking it seems to stifle criticism of his own work. Such behaviour is simply wrong, and completely inconsistent with an academic commitment to free speech.

I am not embroiling myself in the various other cases Matt lists because, unlike him, I think attention to the detail matters and I don't have time to research each of these cases in detail.
Imagine if Christians actually had to live according to their Bibles.


Imagine if Christians actually sacrificed themselves for the good of those they considered their enemies, with no thought of any recompense or reward, but only to honor the essential humanity of all people.

Imagine if Christians sold all their possessions and gave it to the poor.

Imagine if they relentlessly stood up for the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner.

Imagine if they worshipped a God whose response to political power was to reject it.

Or cancelled all debt owed them?

Imagine if the primary orientation of Christians was what others needed, not what they deserved.

Imagine Christians with no interest in protecting what they had.

Imagine Christians who made room for other beliefs, and honored the truths they found there.

Imagine Christians who saved their forgiveness and mercy for others, rather than saving it for themselves.

Whose empathy went first to the abused, not the abuser.

Who didn't see tax as theft; who didn't need to control distribution of public good to the deserving.

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