Interesting Links for 03-12-2020

The man who oversees elections in Georgia is righteously angry

(tags:elections voting USA violence video )

The BBC are asking musicians to work for exposure

(tags:BBC music OhForFucksSake pay )

This thread of people testifying about election fraud in Michigan would be hilarious if it wasn't horrifying

(tags:elections fraud USA OhForFucksSake wtf )

Physicists Nail Down the 'Magic Number' That Shapes the Universe

(tags:numbers physics )

On conspiracy theories - and who's really in control

(tags:conspiracy video )

Would you move to a remote island you'd never visited?

(tags:Scotland )

Do you struggle with mask wearing?

A friend of mine (woodpijn) has solved the mask problem! Or *a* mask problem, anyway.

They find masks very difficult. They're fine for the first 10 minutes or so, but after that they feel very dizzy and nauseous and like they can't breathe properly. It sounds like a lot of people have the same problem*.

A discussion elsewhere suggested that it's not depletion of oxygen or buildup of CO2, but just buildup of humidity from the water vapour in your exhaled breath.

So they tried tucking a couple of sachets of silica gel into the mask (the ones you get in packets of electronics and some mail-order clothes), and that seems to work! Now they can last through an hour-long supermarket trip with only mild discomfort.

Spread the word to your mask-sensitive friends.

* I get a very minor version of this myself. I dislike having a hot lower face, and it can make me feel a bit claustrophobic but it doesn't make me feel nauseous/dizzy.

Life with two kids: Terror on the ice

This morning was Gideon's vaccinations, at 9:20. So the original plan had been that we'd go together, dropping off Sophia at nursery along the way - there only being a 10 minute walk between them. But then Jane was awake between 1 and 3am this morning with a piercing headache and vomiting, so I was awake keeping her company, and so she was in no state to go out this morning. I said, no problem, I'll take them both - I'd never been out with the two of them by myself, but how hard could it be?

And then it snowed. Except it was more like slush, that then froze, turning our driveway into a black-ice-covered slide, at a 30 degree angle. And just getting the three of us down to the road without any of us falling over was an exercise in terror. At one point Sophia said "Daddy, I scared." and I replied "Me too", and then found us the safest route down to the road I could. Once we were in the middle of our road, walking where the car tracks had melted the ice, it was okay, and we managed to get there okay. Except that the bus was 5 minutes late (understandably) and then Sophia was being slightly difficult on the bus - nothing awful, but enough to distract me at a crucial moment, so we missed our stop and had to backtrack to the nursery.

All of which meant we arrived at the health centre about 5 minutes late. Thankfully, they didn't care, and Gideon was remarkably well behaved (literally cried for less than 5 seconds after each of his injections), and I made it home again in one piece.

And then the health visitor was half an hour late for Gideon's three month checkup, so I phoned and it turned out they'd lost the appointment, but they were free, so they popped round and measured him (70th percentile weight, 80th percentile height/length and 98th percentile head size. He's going to fall over a lot if he's not careful).

The rest of the day was spent relaxing as hard as possible, to make up for all of that!