Seychelles is an island nation in the Indian Ocean. The country consists of 115 islands and it’s primary industry is tourism.

So, it’s not surprising that the nation has made great strides vaccinating its citizens. With 61% of its population fully vaccinated, Seychelles is one of the most vaccinated nations on the planet.

So, why are cases there going up?

The Mysterious Surge

In Israel, which has about the same vaccination levels, the COVID pandemic appears to be more or less under control, at least for now. Cases are in double digits and deaths down to a handful a day, tops.

Yet in…

Perspective | Animal advocacy

I was a horse girl and I spent most of my childhood, in the UK, at the stables down the road.

This might sound idyllic, but the stables down the road (literally, I could walk there) was run by a group of women who, to be blunt, represented the very worst of the English “hunt” community. The two sisters who owned the place were, of course, the worst. Smoking in the barn, never wearing helmets, riding while intoxicated. Buying half-trained auction ponies, making students pay to finish them, then selling on as a profit. Beating horses.

And their worst sin…

Definitely, and indicating that...is really tough.

It’s been over a year. We’ve been living through something that, while not unprecedented in history is unprecedented in our life times.

The science is out there, all of it, for people to read. Yet, I am still hearing ridiculous things being said about COVID-19, about vaccines, about masks.

Have a sample.

“I Can’t Get the Vaccine Because I’m Allergic Because of my Blood Type”

I’m guessing that this person read the studies that indicate A and O blood types may have an impact on COVID severity and got something very different out of them.

While your blood type can affect what kind of allergies you get (B makes you more prone to…

Senator Mike Simmons is proposing an amendment to a bill primarily designed to help protect student privacy.

His amendment would bar schools from applying dress code rules to hair, “including hairstyles historically associated with race, ethnicity, or hair texture.” And his amendment has some teeth…schools that don’t comply will have their funding locked at the previous year’s level until they do.

Hair Discrimination in School

To many people, restricting hairstyles seems quite reasonable. However, historically, hair restrictions in dress codes have been used to apply eurocentric standards to students.

The largest issues are Black students who want to keep their hair natural and secondarily…

Heading back to the store today I saw a Yorkie in a (lopsided) service dog harness. Which reminded me of an issue that sometimes comes up.

The issue of “fake service dogs” is one of those things that gets somewhat overblown. It’s not “transgender people peeking in bathrooms” because some people do pretend their dog is a service dog when it isn’t.

And this, of course, causes issues for service dog handlers.

A lot of the time, issues are worse for people with small service dogs.

Our Image of a Service Dog

I will lay bets that most people have an image of a service dog…

...it's been over a year and people still come up with new ones.

No, wearing a mask will not significantly reduce your body's ability to synthesize Vitamin D.

I can't find anything specifically debunking that, but here's an article from skincancer.org which states that masks do not provide significant UV protection and should not replace sunscreen, which I hope is good enough for most readers.

https://www.skincancer.org/blog/ask-the-expert-do-i-have-to-wear-sunscreen-under-my-mask/

Aleuts are a different group, of course I'm not lumping them together.

https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/resources/inuit_or_eskimo.php

Your stepbrother-in-law is, of course, entitled not to be offended by it, but on the public internet, you will almost certainly run into people who are. (Also, the entire "This one person gives me permission to use the word" thing is not a good look for us white people).