Refuse it, send it back, order from a reputable company like Adorama. You got a lens from a poorly run camera store associated with Amazon. The lens is possibly a return or grey market version. Even if it works now, such rough treatment might lead to future problems.

Promise, don’t use ethanol in the ear. My knowledge base on the ear is well beyond Google. Ethanol is a well known topical ototoxin. Experiments on Guinea pigs and chinchillas with ethanol conducted generations ago demonstrated the risk with topical use in the middle ear. In real life a popular eye drop that had ethanol in solution was occasionally substituted for an ear drop with the same name and basic formulation but with saline as the solvent. When treating an ear infection, substituting the eye drop with ethanol in it for the ear drop was occasionally disastrous and caused hearing loss. I believe it also caused facial paralysis in rare cases when the nerve was not protected by bone as it passed through the ear. Rubbing alcohol is just fine if it gets in the middle ear. Ethanol has even been used as an injection to kill nerves when the nerve is causing chronic pain.

I stand corrected, I wrote in a hurry running out the door. Isopropyl alcohol is rubbing alcohol and is safe in the ear. Methanol is typically safe but hurts topically. Ethanol is ototoxic topically if it gets into the middle ear through a hole in the ear drum. DO NOT USE ETHANOL TOPICALLY IN THE EAR AS DROPS. Promise, I know ototoxic. So take a drink of your favorite ethanol to help deal with the pain and put the rubbing alcohol/vinegar drops in the ear. Topically it is very safe, only ingested is rubbing alcohol dangerous.

Make sure you use rubbing alcohol (methanol). Ethanol (ie vodka) is bad news in the ear. Ethanol is ototoxic and can cause deafness and also can damage the nerve that moves the face if the ear drum has a hole in it.

Vinegar(domboro solution) is very effective against ear infections and has been used medically for generations. It works against swimmers ear, and middle ear infections if there is a hole in the ear drum. Infectious bacteria that are common to the ear won’t grow in an acidic environment. That is why cerumen has an acidic pH.

The methanol dries out moisture in the ear. It acts as a desiccant.

The combination doesn’t always work, but is often effective.

Demographics with an aging population, the role of organized crime, the failure of using their college brain trust well, the failure to use women as a major leadership force (culturally imbedded misogyny), the failure to integrate immigrants (xenophobia), the loyalty issues related to employment, a lack of upward mobility with the failure to recognize nonconformist genius, along with over leveraged banking institutions that was mentioned above, among other issues like the cost of production in Japan, have also been pointed out as significant factors in decades of a relatively stagnant economy. An economy is far more than it’s manufacturing culture. Like I said, I like Japanese cars and cameras. But I would never open a business there. We can learn a lot from Japan, both good and bad. But I would never want to emulate their general economy, especially with its current debt to GDP ratio. Sadly, with our current stimulus packages we have pushed ourselves to a similar situation where we have more national debt than economic production. Looks like we learned the wrong lessons from Japan, failing to emulate the good and picking up some of the bad.

Thanks for the resources. What a great thread.

I also heard she had off stage behavior that matched it.

Dr Deming, like so many other efficiency experts, is amazing to study. I have bought Japanese cars for years, several made in the US. Interesting facts though. Since 1960 Japan has had 13 years with negative economic growth rates, 12 of those in the last 30 years. In the same period, the United States has had one year with negative growth rates. The average per capita GDP is $40 K in Japan and $65 K in the US. There simply is much more to an economy than automobile, watch and camera production methods. Watching Japanese men walk through the subway at rush hour, I was struck with the notion that possibly the same characteristics, the same national temperament, that made Deming so effective in Japan, are the same features that have led to their national economic malaise.

My understanding is that Sarah Vaughn was sassy in much the same way that Mae West was sassy, and that it flowed into her music. Love the Duke Ellington song books. Sarah, Billie and, of course, Ella are all magic.

Empty post

Sadly, we will be seeing obits for those who refuse to believe science and refuse the vaccine. It is inevitable, like the sun rising. I hope patman1 gets the mild infection. Older individuals die daily from all kinds of conditions, and the vaccine won’t protect from other causes of death. But it will save those who get the vaccine from deaths from COVID.

I only comment because I don’t want someone to choose death or disability because ignorance is put forward as fact. The vaccine is safe and effective. Covid is very dangerous and everyone not vaccinated will eventually get infected. Make your choice. Because of treatment advances, the vaccine is no longer like playing Russian roulette with a 20 chamber pistol, but it’s close enough for my tastes.

These articles are just an example of how you can find a comment on the Internet proving anything that you want. Following radical websites from any political spectrum without exercising critical thinking is a certain path to be manipulated and a frightening way to live life. The quoted site regarding vaccines is manipulative and straight out wrong. It’s much like trusting a plumber for definitive advice on a bladder cancer because, much like a bladder and urethra, a plumber works on fluid in pipes and containers.

Covid is still very dangerous. I personally know a dozen people who have died from COVID and another 25 plus who are still struggling with disabilities caused by the infection. The new variant from South Africa is very worrisome. I hope people are wise enough to ignore the anti vaccers. They peddle in ignorance, fear and paranoia.

Fortunately, 25 people have not died as a result of receiving the Covid vaccine. But even imagining that your exaggerated number is correct—25 people have died from vaccine in 2 1/2 months—remember, far more than 25 people have died of COVID worldwide just during the short time that it took us to write our collective comments. COVID is a killer, the vaccine is not. The data is pretty complete and the claim of 25 people having fatal reactions to the COVID vaccine is incorrect. People have died after getting the vaccine, but people have also died shortly after eating French fries and getting a sponge bath, which doesn’t mean they are a cause of death. Reviewing the vaccination health reports from multiple western nations, I can find no reports of COVID vaccine death causation.

I have read many of the reports, and also critiques of the reports, provided by both Pfizer and Moderna. The second dose is important in establishing near universal absolute immunity. The first dose provides immunity to a significant part of the population but still allows for many to become infected. No person infected after receiving the first dose of vaccine has ended up in the hospital though. So even just getting one dose is important in preventing severe infections. I’m always grateful when people say they are getting vaccinated. A COVID infection is very dangerous, a COVID vaccine is not without risks, but is not terribly dangerous.

The immune system is extremely complex and very incompletely understood. We will learn a lot from COVID. But in regards to basics there are two main forms of infectious immunity, cellular and humoral. One is created by cells attacking infectious organisms (cellular). The other type of immunity is created by cells creating compound proteins (immunoglobulins like IgG and IgM) that latch onto the organisms and allow the body to destroy the organisms (humoral). When people talk about serum levels, they are talking about levels of immunoglobulins. The cellular immunity is every bit as important as humoral immunity and is more difficult to measure with tests. Both forms of immunity are created with the COVID vaccines and the second dose seems important for establishing both forms of immunologic memory, but possibly more so for cellular immunity. I expect that we will may get a third dose, a booster, in 8-10 months, but that is personal conjecture at this stage.

I learned a lot about bad composition with a Polaroid Instamatic as a twelve year old. As a young man I took my first really good shots with Kodachrome in an Olympus OM 1. A marvelous camera that was stolen from my neck on a train platform when I was laden with luggage. So far, it’s the only time that I’ve been robbed. I replaced it with a much less expensive Fuji that also took some of my most memorable shots in Cape Town, Soweto and Kruger. Soweto visits made me a freak at that time, shortly after the riots in the seventies. I developed friendships and enjoyed visits to them in their 2 room cinderblock homes despite Apartheid and the real danger to my safety. Taking pictures there was illegal but I managed to snap a few off.