As a fully vaccinated person, to be honest I no longer understand what that means. Why are there loosening of mask restrictions in the United States? It doesn’t seem the vaccination prevents you from getting Covid. And the definition of a mild case is not clear.
This article is worth reading.
Do you use Twitter?
I’ve had a Twitter account for eons (@douglerner), but have rarely used the app itself. I have my personal and company blog posts automatically shared to Twitter and that’s about it.
With all the weird things going on with my Facebook account I thought I would play with it some more.
The pluses:
The minuses:
Is there any way of making sense of Twitter? Or is there any point in bothering to try to make sense of it?
Other volunteers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics I’ve spoken with have not yet heard what is to become of us since spectators in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures have been banned. I just finished my venue training at the Oi Hockey Stadium and was scheduled to attend July 24-28 and August 3-4. But rumors have it that we should expect some sort of cancelation notice, or suggestion of reassignment of some kind.
I wrote the Olympic Committee and suggested this:
With the new announcement of no spectators, I don’t know what will happen with volunteers. I suppose we will receive an email soon.
I have a suggestion though. How about letting the volunteers who are fully vaccinated be spectators? We can look after ourselves at the venues.That will add some Olympic spirit and require the minimum of management.
I did get a reply:
Mr.／Ms. Douglas Lerner This is Tokyo 2020 Field Cast Office. Thank you for your valuable suggestion. We will share it with our office. Thank you for your understanding. Best regards.
I doubt anything will come of it. So just standing by with my credentials, uniform and other Olympic goods, and a dog sitter scheduled to come and watch Pao those days.
Meanwhile in Facebook land, my disabled account has been restored. Sort of. Like back in February, I can now get in, post in my feed, use Messenger and so on. There was no explanation from Facebook about what happened, and no rule violations listed anywhere. But, like last time, there are some groups I can no longer post in, and some I can. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I can post in the Tokyo Expats group. I can’t post in the Whole Food Plant Based health group. Last time it took months to sort out. I’m using Reddit for groups in the meanwhile, and continuing work on my own social network. But it’s difficult to get people to join a new social network these days. Facebook pretty much has a lock on things. I have told my Messenger friends how to reach me outside the Facebook ecosystem though.
Pao is doing ok – but our afternoon walks have gotten shorter because of the heat. We’ve been taking an extra evening walk instead, weather permitting. I think rainy season in Tokyo will be lifting by the end of the week.
This happened earlier in the year. Then, like now, there was no explanation. My Facebook and Messenger accounts are disabled. I sent in the requested ID – again. Now I’m waiting.
What’s the expression? Once burned twice foolish. It’s been twice now.
I will not use Facebook Messenger again, except to reply to tell people how to reach me elsewhere (assuming I’m let back in). I was in the middle of some nice conversations with friends from undergrad school and, unfortunately, we didn’t bother to share other contact information.
I’m unapologetic about enjoying sharing: photos, bits of humor, what’s going on in Tokyo, other items of interest in the arts or politics or whatever. I also use Reddit. And of course I’m upgrading my own social network at lifemind.com – but it’s basically impossible to get people to join extra social networks unless they are really special. I can’t post photos and bits of info every day to my blog – it would really annoy my subscribers-by-email. I’m not sure what to do about that.
My Instagram account still works, even though they are also owned by Facebook. But the only only reason I have that account is because it’s a one-stop sharing site that mirrors the photos I post on Facebook too, so I can easily reach friends on both. I don’t really feel like using Instagram only. And unless it’s an emergency, I don’t want to use WhatsApp, which is also owned by Facebook. Facebook just controls too much of our daily lives.
I’m not sure what to do really. Reddit is also nice, and I participate in some groups there.
I need to think about it.
But for personal communications, going forward I will not use Facebook Messenger. People can reach me the following ways:
(1) You can send me an email. I check my email all the time.
2) Anybody in the Apple ecosystem (Mac, iPhone, iPad) can use standard iMessage to reach me, also using my personal email address.
(3) Android users in the U.S. and Canada can send text messages to my U.S. phone number.
(4) Everybody can chat with me using LINE – the most popular Japan-based chat app. It’s ubiquitous here in Japan, but it’s also on the US Apple and Google Play.
If you need my personal email address, US phone number, or LINE ID to connect, just reply to this email and I’ll give you the info.
Oh – feel free to share this post to help me catch people I’ve lost contact with.
Thanks,
doug