nice
A couple of days ago I wore a “double mask” into Walmart out of sheer curiosity (two cloth masks; one over the other). I was not in the store for an especially long time but I soon found myself with a headache for the rest of the day. I might just have not had enough water to drink that day, but I won’t be double masking again anytime soon.
It should be added that I am the only one I personally know who has actually done that. My dad was absolutely shocked when he found out what I had done.
By the way, I see on the European statistics that there still seems to be a surge in a lot of countries. I know we are not out of the cave in the US yet either, but what is going on there? Vaccine availably issues? I know it varies from country to country but what is the deal?
Yes, the EU decided to buy vaccines collectively and distribute them to the member states by population size, to avoid competition between EU members states.
But the AZ vaccine deliveries in particular have been going much slower than foreseen.
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tl;dr our governments are stupid.
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before vaccine I used mask with level above FFP3 a lot and everything was OK.
I guess cloth masks are bad
better use normal FFP2 / KN95 or standard medical mask
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Interesting. I completely forget about the EU at times and that there is a bit more cooperation and uniformity between countries with that deal. But in general, I know nothing about how the EU actually works. I could be wrong and it is just my personal opinion anyway, but perhaps there is bit of opposition to a lot of decisions the EU makes and how the body works as a whole? Or do most of you Europeans feel really good about it? The reason I am curious is because, if there is a bit of opposition to it, could it be that a comparison to the Federal government of the US and the conflicts with our government at a state level be made to the EU and each European country? I know it would be far from an equal comparison and, if that is the case, I am not saying that the EU should be abolished (same with US Federal Government); I am opposed to that, rather that there is a conflict of balance of power there as well? Excuse my questions; I have a lot to learn ahead of me yet.
Well, I do know there has been discussion of the matter here but I am frequently too lazy to put posts together and draw a conclusion. I skim sometimes too. And the truth is, all governments I have seen so far seem to be pretty stupid. Some are definitely worse than others (the current United States ain’t pretty at all right now) but they all seem to have their own issues.
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A lot of people do this for the whole day - especially in hospitals - so maybe it was something else?
By the way, in something quite relevant, I do not think that I found this here, but in facebook. If it was posted here, please let me know so I can post the link to the original post:
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Unfortunately, that’s not the way. You need to put in the time; not on these forums, but to the many, many sources out there.
And not the ones in a narrow comfort zone, either.
All this, if you really are interested.
I’m not sure if the EU can really be compared to the US federal government. I think EU member states have relatively more autonomy and sovereignty than US states. But I don’t know how it works in the US, really.
In many EU member states, some political groups (often the more nationalist type) strongly oppose EU membership and want to leave the EU, but this is usually a minority of maybe 20% (except in the UK where about 50% was opposed to EU membership and as a result the UK recently left the EU). But even if some more member states leave the EU, I don’t think the EU will be abolished any time soon.
Most people in the Netherlands definitely want to stay in the EU, but many people feel that the EU needs reforms to make it less bureaucratic.
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I’m going back to university in sept and I just realized that go club won’t be a thing any more…
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Sports with mask may be difficult even dangerous? You need to breathe.
I read in news that the objective should be 90% vaccinated to be back before the virus and that won’t be the case in September.
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Good point (although typically they are medical + cloth masks; not two cloth ones, even though that might not make much of a difference). But yes, as I mentioned with the dehydration theory, there could be many possibilities.
Edit: So sorry @Gia, I just now realized that I replied this to you; I was obviously directing it at @JethOrensin.
Regarding your post, obviously you are under no obligation to respond to any of my questions, and frankly you rarely have many direct replies that I can work with and learn from anyway. I am simply curious as to what all of you on here think, and am more than capable of researching further if no one is interested. In that seemingly rare case, I can do something else to learn with my lazy bones.
Well, an excess in federal power in the US has become more of an issue for a lot of American in recent years, but it could certainly be a lot worse. I don’t really know either, but that is basically what I was picturing in my head while writing my original post. I figured that the European Union did not have a lot to do in terms of authority over individual countries. It seems a little different here in the US with states. I was mostly curious if the US state scenario was the direction the EU was gravitating towards, and if that was the case I would be opposed to it going too far based on what I have seen in the US. That “too far” is hard to figure out and means different things to different people though.
Interesting and thanks for filling me in here. I don’t want to go on too much of a tangent like I almost always do in this thread, but this is interesting and I hope to learn more about the EU eventually.
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The EU has a very different origin than the US federal government. Orginally, it was a collection of treaties on trade and tariffs and economical cooperation that were mutually beneficial.
Then over the decades, more and more treaties were added and it also became more of a political institution with its own parliament and growing authority over individual countries, for example to exert more control over budgetary policies for monetary stability of the Euro zone (which is somewhat different to the EU), free movement of people (including freedom to study or work anywhere in the EU) and also to secure baselines for the rule of law, banking, freedom of press, product safety etcetera. .
Some people feel that this integration process has already gone too far and we need to take steps back, while others feel that this integration needs to go further, like creating an EU military, further integration of foreign affairs, laws, climate change policies, giving more power of initiative and authority to the EU parliament, etcetera.
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Sports with mask may be difficult even dangerous? You need to breathe.
For actual sports, yes. The “law” here, on this matter, at the moment is that while doing any sports activities (including cycling) you do not need to wear a mask, but only two people are allowed to partake in the activity.
So, you could easily and legally play tennis, ping-pong or even 1vs1 basketball, but most of the other sports are illegal mask or no mask.
I read in news that the objective should be 90% vaccinated to be back before the virus and that won’t be the case in September.
Did they mean globally or in a particular country?
Because 90% globally by September seems like an impossibility.
@TheGoban
But yes, as I mentioned with the dehydration theory, there could be many possibilities.
You could also have had a headache from two masks pulling at your ears. Especially if they are new ones, some models are very tight and cause discomfort of that kind. Nothing dangerous, but mildly annoying over time.
I figured that the European Union did not have a lot to do in terms of authority over individual countries.
There are EU legislations and rules that apply to the whole union, so while there usually are not any direct orders towards particular countries to do something, there are widely spread laws which eventually countries have to comply with.
For example, carbon emissions. Noone really micromanages and says that this country needs to do this or that, but the EU says that “by 2030 we need carbon emissions to be down 20%. Do what you can depending on your country” … so, at least to us the common people, it seems like it is a mix of a cohesive goal and individual leeway on how to achieve it. I have not dwelved on the matter deeper.
It seems a little different here in the US with states.
Well, if you wanted to be realistic about it, the States should change “United” to “loosely bound” at the moment 
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90% was for EU. The fact is that in previous goals, it was only like 60-70% but because of the emergence of variants it has been elevated to 90%
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This can be similar with a lot of laws and ideas from the Federal to State level. In some cases, the Federal government wants states to do something on a year to year basis, and after a while they will loose a chunk of federal funds if they don’t comply. So technically states don’t have to agree with a lot of things, but the extra money is frequently nice and seemingly always a temptation for the states. The funny thing is, sometimes in large states implementation costs more that they would loose with the federal “reward money,” so that another entirely different situation arises at times.
If you view it only from the money angle, I’d agree that it is kind of funny.
This is a matter that this whole coronavirus issues really put into the highlight, that correct leadership/governing is not about “gaining money or influence”, but taking the people you lead one further step towards a better future.
For example, in this topic, politicians and other people around the world seriously entertained the idea - and they were quite vociferous about it - that “maybe it will cost us less money to let people die, instead of taking any measures”. Saving everyone is, obviously, not a realistic option, but blatant disregard for the well-being of the citizens is also not a realistic idea. Imagine being a commanding officer and issued commands like “well, it costs more to lose rifles everytime one of you dies, so you will be going to battle with army knives from now on”. Who would follow you? Noone, eventually.
In other topics, people might say “it costs less to burn the garbage, why recycle?” or “it costs less to just burn coal, why solar panels?” or “it costs less to just execute heinous criminals, why bother with prisons?” or "It costs more for the city to invest in public transit. Why not urge the citizens to buy cheap cars? etc etc.
Maybe some of those things do cost more (or maybe they do not, they are hypothetical examples of what “people say”. That doesn’t mean that what they say is correct or well-informed ), but the real question is, “which choice is better? Which choice creates a better future for us and our children?” … that is a kind of question you expect from a leader. Just going by the costs is something you expect from a talentless bureaucrat.
Leadership is quite a tricky thing and not always cost-effective. Being a leader requires a combination of skills. Empathy, critical thinking, an optimal balance between daring and caution, a certain amount of charisma and, of course, the ability to inspire people and delegate.
No wonder people complain in this topci about the lack of leadership in our governments. Not only it is a rare combination, but one could say that we do not seem to vote according to the skills required 
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