The Book of Boba Fett, S1E2-3

Recently we watched episodes 2 and 3 of The Book of Boba Fett. These episodes continue the things that were good about the premiere, particularly the rich visuals and the moody setting, while developing enough of a narrative arc to keep the story interesting. They continue to humanize Boba Fett and introduce new villains and challenges to give the story room to run, though they continue to underuse co-star Ming-Na Wen and in fact seem to deliberately marginalize her with a clunky face shield in several scenes.

The episodes continue the premier's approach of splitting time between two stories: Fett's time with the Tuskens after escaping the sarlacc, and "present day" with Fett and partner Fennec Shand establishing themselves as warlords on Tatooine. Watching both episodes in one sitting was helpful because they tell such related parts of a story. Ep. 2, clocking in at 13 minutes longer than eps. 1 and 3, spends most of its time in flashback, which ep. 3 complete. Likewise, ep. 2 introduces new challenges Fett faces in the present day, and ep. 3 spends more time fleshing them out.

Spice Trade and Space Millennials

In the flashback timeline Fett continues his recovery with a Tusken tribe. ( Episode 2 spoilers )

In the present-day timeline of eps. 2-3 Fett discovers a new foe, and old foe, and makes new allies. The new foe ( Episode 3 spoilers )

Oh, right, the Space Millennials!



They're not the villains, though. A local merchant complains to Fett that a gang of youths with cyborg enhancements are stealing his water. Fett and Shand go to investigate and find a small group of conspicuously dressed young people, with brightly colored space-mopeds, hanging out drinking water.

The showrunners telegraph that the water is an extravagance, like the much maligned avocado toast that supposedly prevents Millennials from being able to buy houses. Plus, how is it that they can't afford water but can afford cybernetic implants and brightly colored space-Vespas that look like the oversized iPhones of a galaxy far-far-away? Oh, and they're unemployed despite owning these fancy iMopeds. Total Millennial stereotyping, here.

The young adults have a good side. They're stealing but only from a dishonest merchant who tripled his prices on a necessity of life. Fett offers to pay their debt, at a discount, if they work for him. They agree. And in addition to helping fight off one foe (spoilers above) they help him chase down another foe in episode 3's final scenes.

Fett goes to confront the city's near-useless mayor after learning of his latest attempt to stir up trouble. ( Episode 3 spoilers )

Yup, don't mess with drug spice dealers! 🤣

Vaxxed and Done? Covidiot Bingo!

On Monday this week I read an interesting article in my newsfeed. It was "Why More Americans Are Saying They’re ‘Vaxxed and Done’" by Derek Thompson in The Atlantic (10 Jan 2022). In it the author makes the argument that responsible people who've followed the science of Covid and precautions against it should give up avoiding crowded indoors places and being such sticklers about mask mandates and instead just live our lives. As long as we're vaccinated and wear masks ourselves, he explains, we're as safe as we ever will be; so we might as well get on with life.

Coincidentally a bunch of my friends on a Discord server were discussing it Monday. It's an appealing argument. I'm definitely getting tired of staying home from lots of things and wearing a mask when I do go out. Lots of my friends are, too. And we're all the target audience this author is aiming at: we're all vaxxed; most if not all of us are boosted, too; and we've all been diligent about masking, social distancing, and foregoing many previously normal activities that entail being among crowds indoors.

But just because the idea is appealing doesn't mean it's good. And that's where my suspicions started getting aroused in thinking about this article. "Is the author really a science-follower talking to fellow science followers," I wondered, "Or a charismatic covidiot, a wolf in sheep's clothing trying to persuade us to stop trying to fight the Coronavirus?"

My suspicions were especially aroused because the author cites no data. His argument is all about feelings— you should go back to normal because you're tired— with no facts to support evidence based decision making.

So I went and looked at the facts. A simple one is the 7-day average new case rate. It's a stat I refer to repeatedly in this blog. I like it because it's the best data form of answer to the question, "If I go out right now, how exposed will I be to people who are contagious with this virus?"

What Actual Data Shows

My go-to source, as usual, is the New York Times "Coronavirus in the U.S." page. Here's a comparison chart I built from their latest data today:



I've highlighted a few datapoints above. The first one (on the left) is from June 10 last year. I picked that date because I was starting to feel close to "Vaxxed and Done" (VAD) myself back then. I'd gotten my second Pfizer shot two months earlier. Big employers were talking about bringing employees back to the office. We had friends over to our house for the first time in 14 months. The CDC updated guidance that vaxxed people could gather safely in groups (with strangers) outdoors. I took my first flight in 15 months. What I was still waiting on in to be truly VAD was for the rates to drop lower. By around the middle of June they had dropped pretty low and I was more or less VAD... but then the rates started to climb again, and Delta entered the picture.

The second datapoint I highlighted above is Nov. 10. (I'm kind of picking a 10th of the month thing here to align the dates with the article's publication date.) Even after the late-summer Delta surge has started to subside, the new case rate— aka, "How many sick people am I exposed to if I go out?"— was 5x what it was in June. 5x. And it had been much higher, more than 10x June's low, just a month earlier. Oh, and those are just the nationwide averages. In some states the October/November numbers were 50x higher than June's. So any feeling that we were VAD in June would have to be walked back by then. The facts on the ground just didn't support it anymore.

Then that brings me to the third datapoint I highlighted: last Monday's numbers. There I went with the latest data, rather than figures from June 10 when the article was published, because I want to show the numbers are astonishingly high and still rising. The January 14 figure is 55x the rate from June 10. (The rate on Jan 10 was only about 50x June's.) When the rate goes up that high from being ready to call it VAD, to keep calling it VAD is absurd.

Covidiot Bingo

Okay, so the author's argument falls apart, absurdly so, when actual data is considered. But is he just wrong or a smiling liar, a wolf in sheep's clothing? For that I reread his article looking for the tells. I found he:

1. Starts with a "Both Sides" argument equating Democrats to Republicans on issues of following the science of Coronavirus, social distancing, masking, and vaccines.
2. Cherry-picks unrelated data points to discredit scientific consensus, government policy, and responsible behavior.
3. Fails to cite any pertinent, organized data, even though it's readily available.
4. Appeals to the audience's emotions, including tweaking the idea that if they just agree with him they'll be smarter than everyone else laboring under common delusions
5. Presents arguments widely used by the science- and vaccine-denying political right, particularly the "We're all going to get it anyway so we might as well quit trying" argument. (This is similar to the "Let 'er rip" argument also going around the conservative blogosphere in recent days.)

All these, individually, are techniques the lying demagogues of the political right use to keep 30%+ of the country angry and stupid. With 5 together like this I shout, "Covidiot Bingo!"

Don't believe Thompson's article or his argument. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing trying to convince Covid-cautious people to give up. His goal wouldn't be to help us relax for our benefit but to stop calling for vaccine, testing, and mask mandates so that he and his Covidiot friends can live their lives unencumbered by responsibility.