CCP Virus Divisiveness and Incoherence 12-17-2021

 

They're both absolutely sure they're right, and even more importantly, both are certain the other guy is wrong. Dead wrong.

Most of us are out to lunch when it comes to discussing this virus, how it's being dealt with, just about everything about it. I want to try to boil some things down and parse them out just a bit. I am not a virologist, nor am I an advanced mathematician. But I have struggled, tried very hard to understand this whole virus thing. I've seen the points you and many others have made on social media. Here are some thoughts on some of the most hotly debated and contested issues:

"Masks work!" "No, masks don't work!"

Do masks work for Covid, which I prefer to call the Communist Chinese Party Virus (CCP Virus)? Well for starters, what do you mean by work? A lot of people think masks working means, "If I wear a mask, will the mask work and ensure that I don't get sick?" Then the next person is saying, "If you wear a mask when you're around me, will the mask work and ensure that you won't get me sick?" And then you've got some thinking if we all wear masks, will the masks work and ensure none of us gets sick?" Well, I don't believe masks are that fully effective. In the context of these questions, work and don't work are sort of an absolute, a guarantee. The person who tells you, I'm not wearing a mask because they don't work, is telling you the mask won't guarantee that nobody can catch the CCP Virus.

Well, mask wearing doesn't guarantee that nobody will catch it. You, me, everybody wearing masks will to a debatable extent reduce transmission, but NOT eliminate transmission. The type of mask, if the masks are worn properly, and whether or not the masks are fresh/clean, i.e. changed out regularly at "proper" intervals, will also factor into efficacy. It's a numbers game. A guy with the virus enters a closed space with 100 people, theoretically/hypothetically, and nobody has on a mask, and they interact all day, or for some certain amount of time, let's say 40 of the 100 will catch it. If that guy wears a proper mask, maybe 40 is reduced to 30 or 20. And if everyone wears a proper mask, maybe the number is reduced further to 5 or 10 or something. The definition of the mask working, if you look at it as a fail safe means of protecting yourself, probably isn't that if I use it I still have a 5-10% chance to catch it. "I've still got a 5-10% chance to catch it? The damned mask don't work, I ain't wearing one!" All they are really doing in advocating masks is trying to reduce transmission. After much thought, I think a much better discussion about masks is "Do masks help," rather than, "Do masks work?" If a medicine works we either don't get sick or we get better. If it helps, we may still be sick but not as severe. Which leads me to the next things, vaccines and boosters. One of the biggest blunders officials made when it came to the mask mandate strategy was initially to sell it as only necessary until we have a vaccine. That was a major fuck up there, no doubt about it.

The vaccines - what to trust, or not trust? I truthfully can't say I know.

The vaccines are so effective you can still catch and transmit the CCP Virus after you've had the jabs. The vaccines are so effective that you probably better still wear a mask indoors. The vaccine is effective, but it wears off over time. The vaccine is effective, but we're not sure about the Omicron mutation, or whatever other mutants may come along. You cannot enter here without proof of vaccination. You cannot work here if you haven't been vaccinated. You cannot attend classes here unless you've been vaccinated. You cannot travel unless you've been vaccinated. Maybe, even after you've had a booster, you'll have to get a new vaccination for Omicron or other mutations that come along. Due to Omicron, in person classes are cancelled, even for the vaccinated. Ai yai yai yai yai!

I've come to my own conclusion: similar to the masks, they're not guaranteeing anybody anything with the vaccines. It's another numbers game. If nobody gets a jab, then depending on something called the "R Value" or "R Number", a certain number of people will catch it and transmit it to the next person, and so on and so on. Vaccinated people can still catch and transmit, but whatever that R Value is, it is reduced by some too complicated to explain percentage. So instead of telling us we're 25%, 50%, 75% less likely to catch and transmit if we're vaccinated, they just urge and mandate and chastise the non-compliers. And the non-compliers, rightly so, in my opinion, are calling bullshit. Why? Because if I can still catch and transmit, then the vaccine don't work. We should be talking about how much the vaccines can help, but instead we are arguing whether they work or don't work, which to most people means guarantees to us we won't get sick.

What's worse is that the vaccines wear off. So two weeks after you get it it's some percent effective, let's say 90%, but in 6 months that might be 50% or 60%. Then you need a booster, which they think will work for Omicron. I'm glad they think so. Scientists. Sheesh.

Scientists: they're learning as they go. Hard to know who to trust.

The bottom line is while scientists surely are looking for a 100% effective cure and for 100% effective preventive medicines and strategies, that in the meantime their strategy is more of a numbers game. This is where I know I'm out of my depth, but I'm going into the weeds a bit to make a point. Each mutation has a different "R Value". I read that anything higher than a "1" is bad. I watched a video earlier form Dr. John Campbell (Do yourselves a favor and find him on YouTube and watch him.).  He said the Omicron has an R Value in England of 3 or 4. That is alarmingly high. Remember they told us the Delta variant was more transmissible than the original, and now this is even more so. Omicron, on the other hand, may be less deadly and cause less serious illness.

So the scientists are making complex mathematical models. They have to factor in which variants of the virus are circulating, and there is more than one, more than two even. Then they look at social distancing, mask wearing, both mask compliance and quality of mask wearing, vaccines... what percentage has had them, which of the three Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J did people get or NOT get, how many have had a booster, how long has it been since the vaccine or booster was administered, etc. They have to factor in natural immunity: who had it, how long ago, what antibodies do they still have, how long do those last? See, while they DON'T have a cure, a medicine or a strategy that will work in the traditional sense to keep us all well and eradicate the virus, they instead are looking at strategies and scenarios to try to find a magic number that will reduce or make the virus manageable, or hopefully even containable.

They HOPE they find a magic number for vaccination, and mask compliance, along with natural immunity to get in front of this stuff. So far they haven't. Our President ran saying the former President didn't have a plan, but he did. Bullshit. This stuff is more widespread now than before, more people died this year than last, too. Well if he's got a plan, it isn't working. There's that word again. I said working. Because to me working means no more people getting sick, no more virus. Forget that. Shit, Joe's plan isn't even helping. More people died than last year, Joe. Dumbass.

The next time you want to argue for mandatory closures, restrictions on travel, work, dining, etc., the next time you want vaccine mandates and mask mandates and someone objects, don't try to tell them "Because they work." Bullshit. If the vaccine works, tell me why the vaccinated are so worried about being near unvaccinated people. Tell me why vaccinated people are sill wearing masks. They're doing so because it doesn't work.

We should be having honest discussions about what helps. Masks don't work, but do they help? How much do they help? What about vaccine? How does it help? But no. We're arguing works vs. don't work, and none of us has a real handle in the mechanics and mathematics of help... What helps or don't help and how much? Our leaders have done a shitty job selling their strategies. Us regular people? We'd rather argue about shit working or not working than to understand what helps and what don't and how much so we can dialogue productively.

What do I know? I don't work no more, neither, I'm retired. I'm also vaccinated and boostered. My decision.

Rittenhouse Case Vs. the Aubrey Case - 11/19/2021-1

The number of people who have NO IDEA WHAT THE RELEVANT LAWS ARE and who TAKE NO TIME WHATSOEVER TO TRY TO LEARN AND UNDERSTAND THE LAWS SURROUNDING THE CASE, yet who proclaim assertively why Kyle Rittenhouse should be either convicted or exonerated is astounding. I hope the jury is able to do what it's obvious a majority of Americans and our corrupt media can't: strip away their emotions and decide based on the facts and the law.

 

Kyle Rittenhouse in the courtroom.

Further, I see no parallel or link between the Rittenhouse case and the case against the men who killed Ahmed Aubrey. If my understanding of the facts in both cases is indeed correct, and if justice is done fairly and impartially, as I hope we all would hope to be the case, Rittenhouse will get off and Aubrey's killers will be convicted and spend the rest of their days in jail.

 

Aubrey case defendants.

 

Book Recommendations - 11/19/2021

Several days ago Bob Settle hit me up for an update on my book recommendations. This will take a minute, but here goes. I am mostly drawing from the last couple of years, and sticking, I think for the most part, to non-fiction. If you don't want to read all the prose, scroll down and I compiled a little list toward the end of this post. But if you do you'll miss all my musings and explanations... your choice.

Books, books, books, books, books.

 

I love Stephen Ambrose books. As great as his World War II works are: Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, D-Day, etc., my two favorites so far are Nothing Like it in the World, about the building of then Transcontinental Railroad, and Undaunted Courage, which tells the epic story of the Lewis and Clark expedition in the early 1800's.

I have had a lifelong love affair and endless fascination with our U.S. National Parks, as well as histories of the exploration of the American West and how westward expansion and settlement impacted the various Native-American tribes. Empire of Shadows, by George Black, covered both topics and was a really great read. I highly recommend it.

Next I'll add a pair of books co-written by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin. As much as I liked several of Tom Clavin's solo books, Tombstone, Dodge City, and Wild Bill, his works with Bob Drury are superior. I definitely recommend The Last Stand of Fox Company, a Korean War. Chosin Reservoir USMC story that is at once gripping and awe inspiring. I recently read their Blood and Treasure, Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier. I really liked this book. It humanized Boone, whose legend is nearly comic book stuff, and described early U.S. expansion and settlement into Kentucky, a state I have lived in and owned a home in for 30 years.

The next two books that make my list are two that I read prior to the pandemic, both of which I am fairly certain I will read again. One Bullet Away, by Nathaniel Fick. This book is one of the best USMC book I ever read in that it really gives one a sense of what the Corps is and who Marines are. This is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the Marines. Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, is the story of Luis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete and World War II airman. Between his survival on a raft, survival in a Japanese POW camp, and his story after the war, this is one of the best stories I ever read about any aspect of the Pacific Theater in WWII.

David McCullough has become perhaps my favorite author of historic, non-fiction. I am currently reading The Path Between the Seas, about the construction of the Panama Canal. I'm almost halfway through and I already know it needs to be on this list. His John Adams is in my top 10 history books of all time and if you love our country and our history and you haven't read it, you have to. The Great Bridge, which chronicles the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in the late 1800's, is an epic and I can't recommend it highly enough. McCullough's Mornings on Horseback, which covers Theodore Roosevelt's younger years, is absolutely must read stuff. I read several other of McCullough's works, 1776., The Wright Brothers, The Pioneers, and have his The Johnstown Flood, Truman, and The Great Journey, Americans in Paris all lined up on my yet to be read collection. But Adams, the Bridge, Mornings, and the Path, which I'm reading now, are the four I most highly recommend.

I recently read The Last Stand, Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, by Nathaniel Philbrick. This book fits perfectly into the genre I've come to love, expansion into the west and the plight or fate of Native Americans as the expansion took place. I definitely recommend it. Toward the book's conclusion I learned that there were veterans of the 7th Cavalry who took place in the Wounded Knee massacre in December, 1890. I had a copy of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, many years ago, but never read it and somehow got disconnected from it. So I ordered a new copy and it is high on my list for 2022. Also on my list for 2022, while I am writing about Bury My Heart, I also have Empire of the Summer Moon, Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanche Tribe by S.C. Gwynne cued up for 2022. When I'm ready for more about Custer and the Little Bighorn, I have Stephen Ambrose's Custer and Crazy Horse also on my shelf to be read.

Last year and this I read three by Hampton Sides. Blood and Thunder, The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West. That book was really well written and fits with those listed in the preceding paragraph as far as genre and content. And as far as conquest goes, I think it is fair to say it is the story of the conquest of the Native-American tribes more than of the west itself, although there iis also described in it the conflicts with Mexico that led to annexation of what would become the western states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, etc.

Hampton Sides also wrote In the Kingdom of Ice, the epic story of the USS Jeanette's disastrous but amazing attempt to sail to the North Pole in the 1800's. I can't recommend this one highly enough. I have to thank the aforementioned Bob Settle for this great recommendation. The Other Hampton Sides book I read this year is On Desperate Ground, which paired with The Last Stand of Fox Company, comprised a great study of the US Marines in the Korean War. In On Desperate Ground, Sides does a good job exploring Douglas MacArthur's leadership. I'll leave it at that.

Even though it's been a couple of years, I should include Life, Keith Richards 2010 Autobiography. If you love the Stones like I do, this book is an absolute must. It's written in a way that I could imagine Keith in the room telling the story to me in person as I read it. Highly recommended for 60's and 70's rock fans. A must.

Last but not least in this post, another book I read some time back, but which anyone who is interested in the Pacific Theater in WWII and the US Marines ought to read, With the Old Breed, by E.B. Sledge. Along with the aforementioned One Bullet Away (Fick), no book I ever read gave a clearer understanding of what it was like for Marines in island to island combat in WWII. I give this book my highest recommendation.

Rated on a scale of 1-10, here are my recommendations in list format, with each Rating - Title - Author:

10/10 - Nothing Like it in the World - Stephen Ambrose

10/10 - Undaunted Courage - Stephen Ambrose

8/10 - Empire of Shadows - George Black

10/10 - The Last Stand of Fox Company - Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

8/10 - Blood and Treasure, Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier - Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

10/10 - One Bullet Away - Nathaniel Fick

10/10 - Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand

TBD - The Path Between the Seas - David McCullough

10/10 - John Adams - David McCullough

9/10 - The Great Bridge - David McCullough

9/10 - Mornings on Horseback - David McCullough 

9/10 - The Last Stand, Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn - Nathaniel Philbrick

8/10 - Life - Keith Richards

9/10 - Blood and Thunder, The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West - Hampton Sides

9/10 - In the Kingdom of Ice - Hampton Sides

9/10 - On Desperate Ground - Hampton Sides

10/10 - With the Old Breed - E.B. Sledge

I have a ton of fiction lined up for 2022 and also some great non-fiction. Remind me and I'll post an update toward the end of next year.

 

Rittenhouse Madness - 11/15/2021

This morning I'm making just a quick hitter post, as the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict may come today. Just a few thoughts and unpopular opinions, so here goes:

I support Second Amendment rights and gun ownership. But as soon as I heard about this incident my reaction was to think, 'the kid had no business taking a long gun (or any gun) up there'. Should it have been or was it legal to do that? Yes. But I put a kid like Rittenhouse taking the gun up there squarely into the "nothing good can come from it" category.

Pointing a gun at an armed man down can lead to tragedy. And it did.

 

So just to be clear, I'm not calling Rittenhouse a knight in shining armor or anything like that. But if you're reading this and see him as the single villain in the story, you're also probably someone who bought into the Antifa and BLM protests as being "peaceful protests". No, they weren't peaceful protests, and you're a goddamned liar or stupid if that's what you think. Let me refresh your memory: the criminals had gone wild, using some peaceful protestors as cover, across the country they were taking over police stations, burning vehicles, including police cars. They were threatening people in restaurants, breaking into businesses, burning, robbing, and in full on riot mode. If you're pretending that all the shit that was going on, and the intentionally ineffectual police responses nationwide to the crime and destruction, was all okay and normal and acceptable, you're part of the problem. Police were largely standing down so as to not escalate the situation, leaving innocent persons and business owners victims to violent, destructive, criminal mobs, masquerading in and amongst some peaceful protesters. If the police weren't going to step in and control the mobs, then who?

I saw the videos. I have read the trial testimony. Anti-gun people want to make Rittenhouse the aggressor solely because he had the audacity to bring a gun to the rioting, looting, and arson in Kenosha. The prosecutor is trying to make his shootings into premeditated murder. Bullshit. If he wasn't threatened, nobody ever was. The fact he had the audacity to bring the gun to a riot does NOT surrender his right to defend himself, in my opinion. A lot of people, myself included, carry a gun for self-defense. Many of us have a gun in our vehicle for that same purpose. Many, many, many of us have guns in our home for home protection. When we are threatened, should circumstances come to pass that bring us to use those guns in self defense, the fact we exercised our right to have the weapon does NOT constitute premeditation. That is what the prosecution is alleging, and it's bullshit.

Rittenhouse showed up with a gun. Back to where I started, my immediate thinking is, "What was he thinking? Nothing good can come from it." But if you want to ignore what was going on in Kenosha, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, and other cities, and characterize this kid as the lone villain, I don't know how to help you. You're in a echo chamber where anything I say isn't likely to resonate. I contend that had nobody gone after Rittenhouse, then nobody would have gotten shot. His error in judgement for being there with the gun considered, in my opinion the kid acted in self defense.

Not guilty.

Follow the Science - 11/14/2021-2

"Follow the science."

"Okay, I will. Show me the science on virus transmission from people with naturally acquired immunity."

 

"There is none. Our scientists haven't studied it."

 

"By 'our scientists', are you referring to the scientists whose science you advocate that I should follow?"

 

"Well, yes."

 

"Are these scientists too lazy to study natural immunity, too stupid to know it should be studied, or too dishonest about their motives to study something that might take big pharma money out of their pockets?"

 

I'll tell you why I think they haven't studied it. Bureaucrats and regulators have decided a one size fits all approach, with all of the eggs in the vaccine basket will be easier to oversee and manage. They are also beholden to and endlessly trying to ingratiate themselves to big pharma, and there is no money for big pharma if you are naturally immune (aka a virus survivor) and do not require an injection.

 

Follow the science, my ass. Follow the dollars.

Pandemic, Endemic: A Personal Responsibility Manifesto - 11/14/2021

It looks like the Communist Chinese have given us a gift that will keep on giving. We are stuck with the CCP Virus and it's mutations, and not just for a little while, but forever. It's going to be here forever. This morning I'm going to talk about that, and I'm going to be very blunt. Tune out now if that's not your style, okay? F-bombs will be dropped.

 

First off, the virus isn't a hoax. It's real, way too real, really. So I'm not a denier. I'm not a zealot either way. I've taken precautions, like most people have. I haven't taken those precautions as far as I know some of you have. Neither have I been nearly as cavalier about it as some of you have been. I got the shots (Moderna) and I got the booster, too. I wore a mask every single time it was required and sometimes when it wasn't. Before I go on, let me say that I have NEVER had much confidence in the mask. And I was disappointed when I learned that the vaccines don't prevent you from catching or spreading CCP Virus. But I do believe that if I am infected, that I am better off having had the shots than not. My opinion. I'm not telling you you're wrong, even if you are. I'm not saying I'm right, because I know that maybe I'm not. My choice.

I take Zinc, extra Vitamin D and extra Vitamin C every morning. I check my temperature and my blood oxygen level every morning, too. Right now I'm at 98.7º and my blood oxygen is 98%. Mostly due to my wife's urging, I sanitize my hands after I get in the car after eating or shopping, getting gas, etc.

I practiced plenty of social distancing and hand washing and for a time I cut back on eating out, shopping, etc., too. I didn't cut either of those things out completely, but for several months I did cut way back. I know people are still catching the virus, and that I might, too, but I am for the most part done with limiting my shopping or dining out because of a virus which is a) no longer a pandemic, b) for which I am vaccinated, and c) for which there are many treatments and many medical lessons learned as to how to treat it available now that weren't months or a year ago.

I have mild COPD. twice last week in a "walking through the airport" type situation, where masks are required 24/7, I had difficulty breathing through my mask, a real shortness of breath. Gasping. I remember exactly what I was thinking the second time: "Fuck this stupid fucking mask it ain't even a fucking pandemic anymore and this stupid useless fucking mask is strangling me!"

It was a one-two punch thing for me that precipitated writing this ranting piece. Walking through the airport gasping in my mask was part one, The second was finding out on Friday (I think it was Friday) that the CDC has finally admitted that it doesn't have any data to show even one single case of a person with naturally acquired immunity, i.e. a CCP Virus survivor, transmitting the virus to someone else. Not that it has never happened, but rather that they simply don't know because they haven't collected any data on it. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. No interest in it at all. These are the same motherfuckers who are pushing vaccine mandates. They can go fuck themselves.

These are the same motherfuckers who have consistently poo poo-ed any drug that might help fight the virus if that drug is out of patent. Why? Because their big pharma masters won't make any money on out of patent drug treatments that are available to us cheap and over the counter.

It's time, friends. It's probably way past time, but suffice it to say, it's time. What time is it? It's time for mandates and restrictions to move into the realm of personal choice. It is time for us all to take personal responsibility and for the government, total slaves to their big pharma PAC money handouts and the influence of corporate greed, to stop with the fucking mandates and restrictions and pull back to making recommendations. I may follow those recommendations, but I will rankle and speak up against mandates. The fucking scientists who you overstepping pricks want me to follow are in lock step with corporate big pharma, slaves to big pharma dollars, and aren't even looking at natural immunity. So I say fuck 'em.

We have gone from 15 days to flatten the curve all the way to now imposing restrictions and mandates in a very flawed effort to totally eliminate a virus they are simply NEVER going to eliminate. We are threatening companies and worker's jobs if they won't get a vaccine even if they have survived the virus and have natural immunity. And the pandemic meanwhile is over. It's over. What we're in now is the ebb and flow of living with this virus forever. That means an endless string of virus variants will come and go. There will be peaks, valleys, spikes, and periods of relative stability. But in the big scheme of things, it ain't going nowhere.

You think the vaccine, or one of the vaccines is right for you and your family? Get it. I did. I would again.

A booster is right for you? Me too. I got it. But when and where will boostering end? I'm not going to get a shot every 3, 4 or 6 month for the rest of my life. Big pharma would love that. $$$$$!!!! Fuck them.

You think cutting back on your shopping trips and visiting restaurants will reduce your chances of getting the virus? Cut back, by all means.

You believe wearing a mask will protect you? Wear it. I will decide if it's right for me. Or at least I should. Unfortunately, there are still many of you pushing your government to overstep and intrude into my life and my personal decisions. Fuck you for that. Hospitals, dentists, doctor's offices require a mask? I'm okay with it, I don't know that I am a threat to anyone's health, but I'm okay in that situation.

You own a restaurant or store and you want me to wear a mask to shop there? I'll respect that IF I decide that you're selling something I need or want badly enough to put the thing on. But know that there are times I simply won't frequent your business if the mask requirement was your idea. I'll give you a break if your state, local, or our federal government require you to do so. But if it's your idea, I think that's your prerogative. You will be less likely to see me if that's the case.

You have a compromised immune system or other health issues that put you at high risk and you have to tread very carefully as we move forward living with this virus among us in perpetuity? I respect that and if you want me to wear a mask when we visit, or to reduce our interactions, or to plan them in a way that is safe for you and works to ensure your safety? I absolutely will do that. Why? We're either friends, family, co-workers, or something. Even if you're a shopkeeper, if you have high risk factors, AND you make that known, I will wear a mask or whatever when I come in. But if you're just a fearful scared person with no health issues or other high risk situations and you want to tell me how I need to carry on with my life as we move forward? You can go fuck yourself.

You own a store and you want to see my vaccination card so I can shop there? You can go fuck yourself, twice.

Look. It's time.  It's time we each own our own health and our family's health. This shit is no joke. It can make you really sick. It makes some people really, really sick. It has killed people who I know personally. But it's time to get the government out of my life. It's time to end the divide between maskers and anti-maskers, vaxxers and anti-vaxxers and to respect each other's choices. It's time for personal responsibility and for people to mind their fucking business otherwise.

Phony White Supremacy - 11/5/2021

 

Happy Birthday, Marines!

Now that MSNBC, CNN, and a host of others (leftist media outlets, you name 'em, they're all in) have deemed voting for a black, immigrant woman (and a Marine!), she being the first black Lieutenant Governor in Virginia history, and voting for a Hispanic Attorney General in Virginia proves that voters there are and support white supremacy, it's time for the rest of us white supremacists to join together. We must vote in more conservative, female, minority, and immigrant candidates everywhere. Because that what white supremacists do!

 

Winsome Sears, first Black person ever elected to be VA Lt Gov.

 

Hispanic Republican Jason Miyares, VA's new Attorney General Elect.

Bereft of popular ideas, that's what these hateful, spiteful, little people do. Losing an argument (or an election)? Point the finger and cry, "Racism! White supremacy! Bigotry!" When the ONLY card in your hand is the racism card, that's the only card you can play. And sadly, that's all they got. The fact they're so uniformly playing the racism, white supremacy card proves some contrary logical explanation for their behavior is NOT true. They've got NOTHING, so racism, white supremacy it is.

 

 

Speaking of bereft of ideas...