CD Richards

CD Richards: Today brought the terrible and unexpected news that one of my partner's work colleagues and a good friend has passed away. Her struggles ended at age 41 - far too young to lose such a gentle and kind soul.

"Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Dylan Thomas

CD Richards: Time for a break from the Church of FanStory. Try not to miss me.

FanStory wrote to CD Richards: Balance finished second in the contest "5-7-5 Poetry Contest"

FanStory wrote to CD Richards: Asphodel Meadows finished second in the contest "Myth, Legend or Fairy Tale"

FanStory wrote to CD Richards: Congratulations! Anthropophobia won the contest "Acrostic Poetry Contest"

CD Richards: Looks like FanStory has gone psychic! As I look at the profile thoughts entry on the forum thread listing, it says the latest post was "in a year" :)

FanStory wrote to CD Richards: Be With Me finished second in the contest "3-6-9 Poem"

FanStory wrote to CD Richards: Hollow Words finished second in the contest "Betrayal"

CD Richards: I'm just going to say this here in response to comments I've seen elsewhere about the tragic death of two police officers and an innocent neighbour, as well as three low-lifes in Queensland Australia. I won't be arguing the point with anyone.

1. The two officers who died were carrying weapons. Those weapons didn't save their lives.
2. Had the three "legally entitled" firearms owners not been in possession of weapons, six people who are now dead would still be alive.
3. The perpetrators of this hideous crime have been identified as far-right conspiracy theorist nut jobs. Is anyone surprised?
We do not need this sort of insanity on ours shores; we've gone nearly forty years without it. But thanks to the internet, the epidemic of craziness taking place 10,000 miles away was never going to be avoidable. The ranks of our feeble-minded and mentally unstable are growing too. Congratulations to all those who've fought so hard to defend the right to be idiots. You win.

CD Richards: To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.

- Winston Churchill

CD Richards: I'd copy the post from the group I borrowed this from, except I can't. So instead I'll have to type it. It's so much fun, and it's true!

Nearly all of Emily Dickinson's poems can be sung to the tune of Gilligan's Island. For example:

Because I could not stop for Death
He kindly stopped for me.
The carriage held but just ourelves
And immortality.

Another:
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading -- treading -- till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through

Last one:
I heard a Fly buzz -- when I died --
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air --
Between the Heaves of Storm

:)

CD Richards: Breaking news: Yoko Ono has threatened to have her music added to Spotify if they don't remove Joe Rogan.

CD Richards: My thought for the day:

How come there are so many people who barely managed to graduate high school (if that), and don't know the difference between there, their and they're; but somehow, overnight, have become world-leading epidemiology experts, knowing more than people who have dedicated decades of their life to studying viruses? Quite astounding.

To my friends here on FS, and even those who are not, have a safe and happy Christmas!

CD Richards: There is some alarming and potentially deadly nonsense being spread in communities at large and on this site regarding Covid-19 vaccinations. Millions of people have died from this contagion, and millions more will, if superstition and ridiculous conspiracy theories are allowed to propagate. Here are a couple of occurrences which happened fairly recently in my home state:

1) 30 of 36 people at a party contracted Covid-19. Not one of those thirty people had been vaccinated. The 6 people who walked away from the party without contracting the virus had all been fully vaccinated. Speaks for itself, doesn't it? If there was no connection between immunity and vaccination, then the probability of this outcome by chance is around 1 in 2 million.

2) On one particular day, the evening news announced that there were 47 Covid-19 patients occupying hospital beds in the state, including children and young adults. 16 were in intensive care and 5 on ventilators. Not one of those patients had received a vaccination.

The evidence is clear and indisputable. There is a tiny chance of complications, including blood clots, from getting the vaccine. The risk of getting blood clots or dying if you are not vaccinated and catch Covid-19 is orders of magnitude higher.

Don't put off getting the vaccine if you want to minimise your chances of dying, and more importantly, don't spread stupid rumours with no basis in fact and risk the lives of others.