Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

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My COVID Experience

covid risk assessment age vaccine

So, I managed to make it nearly 3 years into the pandemic without catching Covid. I even began to think that maybe I was one of those “super-immune” people who never get it despite being exposed repeatedly. The press loves to write about these (mostly hypothetical) people.

However, it wasn’t to be. I dodged the original virus and all the early variants. But I wasn’t able to avoid Omicron forever, though I made it a year into it. I tested positive for Covid in early December after developing mild respiratory symptoms.

Here’s how it went: I had mild respiratory symptoms for a few days. Mostly a scratchy and slightly sore throat and some phlegm. As my respiratory symptoms cleared up, some less pleasant GI symptoms started developing. Those were a real hassle for a few days, and then they hung around in a lesser form for another week or two. I also had a couple of weird and random symptoms that popped up briefly and then never returned. And I tested positive on rapid tests for about 2 weeks.

I fully recovered a few days before Christmas.

All in all, I’d say it wasn’t a fun experience and I wouldn’t recommend it. But I’d also say it was far from the “sickest I’ve ever been,” which is how I’ve heard many people describe it. It was more weird than troubling. I assume that being vaccinated and boosted twice (once with the original and once with the bivalent vaccine) helped a fair bit.

Anyway, that’s my Covid experience. I hope it’s the first and final time I get it. While I’ll surely continue following Covid politics, I don’t intend to write about it again. Unless we see new and particularly noteworthy developments.

When Did The Roman Empire Fall?

I’ve spent the last few months getting into the History of Rome and History of Byzantium podcasts. And along with Mike Duncan, Robin Pierson, and their listeners, I’ve been asking myself: when did the Roman Empire fall?

The traditional view says it fell in 476 CE. But in recent decades, historians have put more emphasis on a ‘continuity and change’ narrative than on a ‘decline and fall’ narrative. Well, which is it? Did the Roman Empire fall in 476 CE? Earlier than that? Or did it live on much longer? Maybe it lasted all the way until the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453?

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2022 Review

At the end of the year, it’s time to write another year in review. I hope 2022 treated readers well! And for any newer readers, please do check out our previous reviews from 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018.

For the quick version, I feel pretty good about 2022! For this post, let’s take a look at how things have been going here in the Base and Superstructure blogging world. And perhaps tease a bit of a preview for what’s coming in 2023.

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