Interesting Links for 06-06-2020

[andrewducker]

The UK is still operating on bad faith with its European negotiations. I'm going to have to start stockpiling again soon!

(tags:UK Europe Doom )

Learn to read Middle English in ten minutes!

(tags:language English german history UK )

Buffalo Cops Quit Elite Unit to Back Officers Who Shoved Martin Gugino to Ground

(tags:police assault USA OhForFucksSake )

UK Government finally publishes NHS contracts with Palantir, Faculty and big tech

(tags:UK healthcare privacy NHS )

WHO updates guidance to say everyone should wear face masks in public where there is a transmission risk

(tags:pandemic who )

Pavements to be widened and bus gates installed on Edinburgh city centre streets from next week

(tags:Edinburgh transport bicycles buses )

Comments

[rmc28]

I don't think I've ever really *stopped* stockpiling, just rotating the stash. It's exhausting.

(we probably need to defrost the freezer soon. guess how full the freezer is. arrgh)

[naath]

We're... stocked up still. This fucking year.

[naath]

I had the egges/eyern anecdote in my head as Chaucer, CAXTON I will remember this, I will, stupid brain. (It is a good anecdote, good for when you are faced with 'English never changes' arguments; and easier to remember than Beowulf)

[anna_wing]

I am not in the UK, but I keep a minimum 2 weeks of food, water and essential supplies constantly as a matter of course. Because of COVID19 it is more like a month's worth. If you only buy things you would normally eat, it is straightforward to replace items as they are consumed.
The lesson of Y2K and the survivalists stuck with a lifetime's worth of tinned tuna, was well learned (I trusted the word of my techie friends that they had been working on the problem well in advance, so stocked up on champagne, candied fruit and several tins of wild boar pate de campagne....).

[andrewducker]

I don't think we actually have enough space anywhere to put 2 weeks of food.

[anna_wing]

It isn't that much in volume, for two mostly vegetarian people. A 5 kg bag of rice, a couple of kilos of dried beans and raw peanuts, 15 tins of tomatoes, corn, peas, mushrooms and 5 tins of fruit, some packets of dried beancurd sheets, some packets of dried noodles, a large bag of dried Chinese mushrooms (for making vegetarian dashi stock), a few packs of cream crackers; that fits into two not very big cardboard boxes.

A kilo of onions, garlic and chilis in an open basket in the kitchen.

In the freezer: A couple of packs each of sausages, bacon, soya beans and unsalted nuts, and several sliced loaves of bread. A couple of pats of butter.

In a kitchen cupboard , a couple of large packs of dried apricots and raisins, tea and coffee, dried milk powder, jam, sugar, biscuits, chapati flour. Vitamin pills.

In the fridge, butter,vacuum-sealed cheese, a few bars of 80% local dark chocolate and eggs

You have a baby, though, of course, so that would add to your needs.

[andrewducker]

My freezer is tiny. Less than 20cm by 50cm (it's part of the - also small - fridge). I can't fit a weeks worth of food in the fridge. When we gut and rebuild the kitchen we'll get a full size fridge freezer. Really looking forward to that.

A few cardboard boxes of tuna and rice, etc is doable, but this house doesn't have much spare room, and the only place it could go is in front of the bookshelves, which will be annoying. But I'll have to do it!

[anna_wing]

Yes, if you have space, those double-door fridge-freezers are great. I have an extra chest freezer too, which is full of seasonal fruit, bought in huge quantities and frozen to make ice-cream for the rest of the year. Strawberries and mangoes, mostly. BUt that's not exactly part of the emergency survival kit...

One can live a long time on rice, beans, carrots and onions with a bit of bacon or dried mushroom for flavour, as I recall from my student days.

[andrewducker]

We're almost certainly going to have to settle for one which is fridge section above freezer section, single width. But that will still massively increase our storage.

[momentsmusicaux]

Ha, I never stopped stockpiling. You should see how much cheese I have!

[andrewducker]

We don't have enough space to stockpile much. I'll have to work something out.

[anef]

The Guardian goes into more details on the face masks that people should wear: three layers with an outer water resistant layer https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/05/who-changes-advice-medical-grade-masks-over-60s. I feel faintly aggrieved that this advice wasn't published earler.

[anna_wing]

The problem is actually getting medical grade masks. Huge number of scammers globally. Not to mention that medical grade masks are still in heavy demand by medical personnel all over the world.

I did not know until yesterday, but there is now an entire industry of "ear-savers", which are flat straps that go round the head, with a button at each end, over which one can hook the loops of a normal ear-loop mask. I am having some crocheted for me.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I'm not buying medical-grade anything until the health service has a stockpile.

[anef]

I was a bit unclear what "ear-savers" would look like, so I googled and indeed there is an entire industry. I guess they're for if you're wearing a mask for long hours, which must be very trying for a number of reasons and not just on the ears.

[anna_wing]

The crocheted ear-savers have turned out very well, and if made of cotton or acrylic yarn,they are washable too. Even if you are only wearing a mask for an hour or two while out and about, it's a major improvement in comfort, and helps tighten the fit as well. Medical grade masks have a headband instead of ear-loops because of the need for a tight fit.

My housekeeper and I now have three each.

Buffalo Cops Quit Elite Unit to Back Officers Who Shoved Martin Gugino to Ground

[jducoeur]

That headline may misrepresent the reality of what is going on. See this thread for some semi-speculative discussion of what happened, but the tl;dr is that there is substantial reason to believe that they resigned because their union (willingly or not) screwed them over, rather than it being in solidarity with the fired officers...

Re: Buffalo Cops Quit Elite Unit to Back Officers Who Shoved Martin Gugino to Ground

[andrewducker]

Interesting, cheers!