Author: Brand Smit

My position on vaccines, natural immunity, and masks

FRIDAY, 11 FEBRUARY 2022

On 11 November 2021, I received my first and only vaccination against COVID-19. At that point, I figured I was going to go to South Africa in the first months of 2022, where the Delta variant was still sowing panic. I already understood that the vaccination would not sterilise me against the virus, but reckoned it might alleviate my symptoms if I did get it. It sounded like a reasonable argument for vaccination.

However, I don’t plan on getting a second shot or any boosters. Reason number one is the fact that it is generally accepted that the symptoms of Omicron – which is now the dominant variant – are more moderate. Second reason is because I believe that SARS-CoV-2 has already become part of the family of more than 200 flu-type viruses that plague humanity every year, and that the only reasonable long-term resistance to it is natural immunity. This natural immunity is built up and maintained with repeated exposure to the viruses so that the immune system can make the necessary adjustments against genetic changes that occur continuously in viruses.

To give my immune system the best chance against SARS-CoV-2, I will do my best to stay fit and healthy, including following a healthy diet, enjoying regular fresh air and sunshine, and exercising at least five days a week. The only alternative is injections every four to six months for the rest of my existence.

This brings me to the third reason for my current position on vaccinations. I reckon there is a high probability that national health departments, international health organizations, and Big Medicine are not honest about the side effects of the vaccinations. And mass media and politicians cannot be trusted to make sure the truth sees the light, because of billions of dollars that flow annually from the coffers of Big Medicine to mass media and political leaders with decision-making powers on these matters.

Since we’re on the subject, I wear a mask when I cycle in traffic and don’t want to inhale the exhaust fumes of trucks, buses, cars, and scooters without the protection of some kind of filter. Also, as a teacher in a classroom with children who showed symptoms of flu or cold, I always preferred if they wore masks to prevent them from sneezing and coughing over me and other students. I also understand that doctors and other medical staff wear masks to protect themselves and their patients from bodily fluids containing bacteria and other germs. To be required to wear a mask everywhere in public, including when walking on your own in the park or on the beach while not actually having any type of flu symptoms, is, on the other hand, absurd.

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Set yourself up for opportunity and luck – even if you never become a superstar

WEDNESDAY, 5 JANUARY 2022

To build on a thought from last week or so: If you look at most people in their middle years or later, it’s clear that they never became superstars. They may be “superstars” to their families, but very few people end up with exceptional talents and achievements in any area, much less in more than one area – such as sports and art, or engineering and cooking.

The other part of the thought is that even people who achieve superstar status sometimes do more harm than good. Despite all their achievements and prizes and status.

So even though you never achieved superstar status, never won any prizes for your work, never achieved much in any field, but it can also be said that you did little harm to other people, to animals, and to the environment, I think it’s entirely appropriate to say that you can hold your head high – you’ve done well.

MONDAY, 24 JANUARY 2022

Point 1. As already mentioned, very few people become superstars. Only a select group of people achieve more than one or two of the things they once set out to do or hoped to achieve.

Point 2. One person criticises another for his unimpressive income and low contribution to a common cause. Asks the latter: “Are you making as much money as you possibly can? Are you doing everything in your power to get more done? Why don’t you make more money? Too busy enjoying life? Can’t figure out how? Tried but failed? Tried but didn’t try hard enough?”

Point 3. Few people create income opportunities out of thin air. Most people accept opportunities offered to them, and then they work hard to maintain these sources of income. But did they create the opportunity for themselves? No.

Point 4. What does happen is that people prepare to profit from existing opportunities by training in a certain field and by gaining certain knowledge.

* * *

I. Identify a good opportunity – for you. People’s needs and desires are all opportunities.

II. Get trained or gain experience in a particular opportunity field. Then set yourself up to profit from existing opportunities. (Training doesn’t happen overnight. If you’re twenty, you have the option to get trained for several things. If you’re fifty, you can still get trained or develop skills yourself, but you’re more likely to look at what you’re already trained for, or at what you’re already experienced in.)

III. I initially thought that 99% of all the money I made in my life came from opportunities that were presented to me – from people asking me if I was interested in a position in a gift shop when I was a student to people in Taiwan walking up to me or calling me at home or knocking on my door and asking me if I had time for another English class. Then about a minute ago I realised: I was set up for the opportunities, in the case of the latter examples, by coming to Taiwan and being contactable.

Another thing: Most people don’t hustle on a street corner for money. Strangely enough, the only people who do this, who make cold calls and ask people for money, are beggars – who are seen as being on the lowest rung of the economic hierarchy. I wanted to say that street vendors hustle too, but they also set themselves up for opportunity: people walking past them who happen to want, or need what they are selling – “I’m hungry, and here’s a guy selling hot dogs”.

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Friday, 31 December 2021

Could certainly have been expected after all these years. I ran out of words. Or I had to buy new words, but I forgot. Or I ordered some words, but the container ship sunk. Or the train derailed. Or the plane ran out of gas.

Previously I talked about what had been done. But that’s done now.

Or I talked about what was going to be done.

Or I told anecdotes of anger, sadness, joy, fear, and embarrassment.

But everyone gets angry. Sad things happen. Joy is wonderful. Fear is a pest, and embarrassment is a waste of time. Most of the time.

Best of all, I look forward to next year. I think it will be an exceptionally good year.

Like every year.

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That’s it for old Fat Guy

THURSDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2021

We took old Fat Guy to the vet for the last time yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, 10 November 2021.

He vomited badly in August. We thought it was the end. He’s fifteen years old this year, so we had been thinking for quite a while he may not be with us for another year.

However, he recovered quickly, jumped on the furniture again, ate his usual amount of food, and so on.

Sunday, 3 October, he had a similar bout of throwing up. This time it was worse. We didn’t think he was going to see the end of the day. The next morning, I saw a dead pigeon on the sidewalk. “Death is in the air,” I thought.

We took him to the vet in the afternoon, and after a cursory physical examination and a blood test, the vet declared that he had kidney disease, and that he only had a twenty percent chance of recovering. We left him at the clinic for three days to get some fluids. There was no certainty that he would come home again.

Three days later we brought him back. He was uncertain on his feet, and after a few rounds through the apartment decided on the floor to the left of the bed in the master bedroom as his last domain.

That’s where he stayed for the next five weeks.

We took him back to the vet every two days for fluids and the occasional vitamin injection.

Some days he ate well and drank enough water; some days he just stared ahead and slept. The first week of November, I told the vet’s assistant that he was stable, walking around a bit, and that I had seen him eat and drink a few times. He didn’t always make it to the cat litter, and he leaked a bit, so his sleeping area had to be cleaned regularly.

Sunday, 7 November 2021 was the first time we saw blood in his faeces. And not a little. It was bad.

By Tuesday, he was no longer eating. It also got cooler again, and luckily, he didn’t get up to lie down on the cold tiles when we put him on a cloth towel for comfort with some paper towels for hygiene.

We took him to the vet again, and again touched on the subject of euthanasia.

We decided on either Wednesday or Friday. An article on the Internet quoted a veterinarian as saying that giving an animal its final injection is one of the easiest aspects of his job, as he brings relief to a terminally ill animal. He also said it was one of the last expressions of compassion the owner could give to a beloved pet.

By Tuesday night, I suggested that we don’t postpone any longer. Natasja let the vet know early the next morning.

I’m a bit of a weakling with these matters. When we decided the hour had come, I picked him up from the floor and put him in his cat carrier for the last time. He just murmured a little.

At the vet we took him out and placed him on the table. I caressed his head a few more times … and then decided to step away.

The vet gave him an anaesthetic, and about three seconds later his head dipped. Then, with a larger syringe with yellow-orange fluid in his hand, the vet asked us if we were sure we wanted to continue. We nodded. Then he injected him. I walked away to the sink.

We stood around for a few minutes. The staff spoke. Natasja spoke. The vet spoke. I asked how long it would take before it was over. Natasja asked more specifically how long it would take for his heart to stop. The woman we spoke to the most said that it was over. His heart had already stopped.

We draped one of his favourite blankets over him. The staff placed his body in a new cardboard box and explained the cremation process.

We paid the necessary fees and thanked everyone for their help.

And drove home with the empty cat carrier.

A pet is one of those things that makes life worth living – specifically the sadness, and the loneliness, and the worries that are sometimes part of one’s everyday existence.

Well, that’s it then.

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What positive thinking means in practice

TUESDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2021

I’m a big fan of positive thinking – believing you can do something if you put in the effort.

But sometimes it feels right to be a Devil’s Advocate, to simply say: It’s not going to work; you’re going to waste your time. Or: the probability is very slim that something will be a success.

Someone will then remind me – of all people – of the power of positive thinking.

The Devil’s Advocate reply: It is perfectly accurate to point out what you can accomplish with the right mindset. But are you aware that success with a particular business requires a massive amount of work? Are you aware that you will have to spend a thousand or more hours on it before you see any returns? Are you ready to focus on it like a steel-cutting laser beam? Are you willing to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on it?

This is what positive thinking means in practice: To believe that something is already a reality, so much so that you only have to reach out and seize it. And if you believe in it so much, you will spend any amount of time on it, with laser focus and no effort saved, and you will think nothing of spending a serious amount of money on it.

Positive thinking is a force to be reckoned with. But you must be able to prove and show that your thinking is more than just words.

If you can’t do that, then your business is doomed to failure.

And let’s be honest: On how many projects in your life are you really going to put in a thousand hours of hard work? On how many businesses are you going to spend at least months of your life, and hundreds or thousands of hard-earned dollars?

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