21 Comments
Jan 15, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

Sorry, Greg. I realize that this is not the proper forum to use for this warning. I am considered to be at the extreme reaches of people concerned with Covid fears and you may simply disregard this comment and the imbedded YouTube video. I urge you not to do this and instead take the thirteen minutes required to watch it. The doctor explains a lot of reasons why many of us are so cautious about any exposure to the present Covid viruses. This video was obtained from one of the comments in a Washington Post article this morning. I hope you will send it to other friends and associates whom you care about. Please post it far a wide.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XKE1QcM7WUI

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Jan 15, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

The video does confirm what we've been hearing for the past almost three years. COVID is not a political agent and never has been. It's always been a health emergency. Mitigation efforts must continue, especially if one has already been infected before. COVID is here to stay.

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Exactly. Also, it doesn't really matter where it came from. Focusing on conspiracy theories that look to assign blame are a waste of energy and resources. Disease happens. We need to focus on handling it better.

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Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I have long suspected that a friend has long Covid and now, having learned so much about this, I am thinking that's what is going on with me. I have never tested positive, but the doctor says here that if one has asymptomatic Covid, one can still have long Covid. I am seeing a Vascular Cardiologist on Wednesday. Ironic, no? I guess I'm right there with you on that extreme end of the spectrum because I refuse to be around people who do not wear masks or people in groups in enclosed spaces.

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I was one of only two people in my subway car on Friday in NYC wearing a mask. I'm not the most hard-ass guy about masks, but why would you not wear one in a subway, an airplane, and so on?

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Thanks for sharing this, J.P.

To be clear to anyone else reading the comments, this is a video by a cardiologist who has done extensive work with long covid. It's not some weird quackery. Her conclusion is that we have to do more to mitigate reinfection, as that increases risk of cardiovascular damage. We are looking at a potentially huge and catastrophic health crisis down the line.

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I actually just sent this video to my doctor. I know he already knows, but it can’t hurt to keep talking about it. The two times I’ve had it, I’ve relapsed but feel terrific now. 🤞

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Thanks for this link. We may collectively know this on some level but it sure is still in the subsconsious (or unconscious.).

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Jan 15, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

Oscar is a favorite of mine, but had never read this. I love The Picture of Dorian Gray and often feel that the current Republican Party is the corrupted visage of the real “Dorian.” May the truth be told.

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Good call, Jeri. There's a painting in the GOP attic for sure.

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Jan 15, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

I have never read this. Thank-you. The first aphorism and the last pretty much sums it up for me.

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Thanks. That last one is just perfect.

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Jan 15, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

Thank you for this, Greg. I may have read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" back in high school, so I'm encouraged now to find it and read it again. I can't, however, thank you for introducing me to Forgiato Blow. Good gods!! In the middle of that too-long article, I had to scroll up to refresh my memory as to how old the guy was -- oh, THIRTY-EIGHT! My adolescence lasted a much longer time than my teenage years, but it certainly didn't last until 38. I also don't have much love for cars as an artistic symbol, but the picture of the Mercedes turned my stomach. How stupid. How childish. Ugh! There truly IS no bottom to these people. The bright, shining silver lining to all of this, that occurred to me as I read, is that at least MOST of the left isn't insane like this. Can you imagine? BEDLAM!

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Thanks, Steve.

I sort of can't believe that guy exists and isn't some Andy Kaufman long-form gag artist. But he's real. One day there will be a whole chapter about him in a book about the decline and fall of our civilization...

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Jan 15, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

I visit museums whenever possible.

I usually can do a good hour and maybe two.

Three if they have a good resturant and gift shop.

My lady friend of 87 years has a Fine Arts degree from NYU and i like her works.

However i have always preferred the master pieces created by the galaxie gods.

Currently the Hubble and Webb telescopes are providing the greatest art in the ever expanding galleries of the galaxys.

Glad to hear about Dorian.

I thought it was Grey?

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To be clear, I love the art, but don't like the spaces generally. I always feel like I'm in the way or bothering someone. An exception to the rule is the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, built at the old train station. After the stifling Louvre, that was a breath of fresh air.

And no, he uses the American spelling...

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Jan 15, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

…no wonder people social-climb in New York, since it has more genuine social mobility than London or Paris, where clothes, accents, and manners reveal all too much about origins and where there are no more than three degrees of separation between any two people. Everyone already knows every single bad thing about you. In all three cities, people practice what Paul Valéry called the ‘delirious professions,’ those careers that depend on self-assurance and the opinions of others rather than on certifiable skills. The delirious professions, I’d hazard, comprise literature, criticism, design, the visual arts, acting, advertising, all of the media—but not dance, for instance, where you can either do your thirty-two tour jetés without ‘traveling’ downstage, or you can’t. If you can do them, you can dance in any company in the world without further ado. But all the delirious professions, having no agreed-upon standards, require introductions and alliance, protectors and patrons, famous teachers or acclaim by someone reputed. In short, they depend upon that most mercurial of all possessions: reputation.

—Edmund White

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Jan 16, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

"An ounce of appearence is worth a

Pound of performance"

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Sadly true.

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Thanks, Sharon. Cue "Delirious" by Prince...

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People’s attention is understandably galvanized on “what now!” Instead of mulling, I’ve gone into mobilization mode. I’m hoping a societal instinct will kick in that’s similar. Order the house, brain and society. Someting good must be happening bc I have a Peacock subscription and already bored with the amazing A+ series …. UNDECLARED WAR, which is terrific BYW (Russian speakers and subtitles) about Russia’s plan to embed code within code to make us react the way they want us to.

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