<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal>> <b>On Behalf Of </b>William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] Who has a vote that counts?<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'>So where are the N95 masks we proles can buy? Limited to medical personnel is all I can find. spike, let's start making them and make a great big pile of money. bill w<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>One of my scouts is doing an eagle service project of raising money to buy these things, which you can do if you buy them in quantity. They aren’t cheap, and if they are labeled N95, they aren’t necessarily. If made in China, they know that if they stamp them N95, they can get more money for them. So… they do.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Another problem is that to make that standard legitimately, the masks are uncomfortable, so fewer people will wear them.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But here’s another take. A lotta my own friends and associates are in their 70s and 80s, which often brings with it hearing loss. Older people seldom learn sign language, and it wouldn’t help much of they did, since most people don’t know how to sign. Wearing a mask causes them to need to stand closer, since they rely partly on lip reading, which most of us can do from the time we are still young.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>When dealing with older hearing-loss associates, a mask might be the wrong thing.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>