Interesting Links for 10-03-2021

[andrewducker]

Another Covid surge inevitable, Chris Whitty warns MPs

(tags:pandemic doom uk )

Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

(tags:sweden shopping automation )

Here's why "to be" is frequently missing in Scottish sentences.

(tags:language scotland usa )

This article on Harry and Meghan is just perfect (and hilarious)

(tags:viaJennieRigg royalty celebrity UK racism media )

Banks in Germany Tell Customers to Take Deposits Elsewhere

(tags:Germany Europe banking )

Russia turns away from NASA, says it will work with China on a Moon base

(tags:USA Russia China space moon )

Kate Winslet hasn't weighed herself in twelve years. Neither should you.

(tags:weight health )

Zoom Assault Hearing Goes Off the Rails After Court Discovers Alleged Abuser in the Same Apartment as Alleged Victim

(tags:law USA video )

Stop Calling Women Nags — How Emotional Labor is Dragging Down Gender Equality

(tags:women men work homes family )

Vegans get worse scars

(tags:bodies vegan health )

Humans throw away TOO MUCH CRAP IT HAS TO STOP

(tags:Europe technology rights obsolescence )

When we ask our simulation creator how the universe works we are going to be disappointed

(tags:simulation comic funny )

Comments

[cmcmck]

So Whitty is telling us that the mass vaccine programme is pointless then, is he?

[andrewducker]

Not at all. It's saving many lives. But it's not sufficient all by itself. It's part of what needs to happen.

[bugshaw]

I read the emotional labour article (agree!) but am reminded of what it used to be like as a passenger, before I drove. So much car stuff I never realised needed to be thought of! Choosing it, choosing insurance, keeping track of MOT and tax disc, route planning, knowing where fuel stations are and knowing how far you can get on the fuel you have, traffic issues, is the car ready for the passenger or does it need cleaning, regular maintenance, is that noise normal or a signal of failure. And that's without the actual driving.

[andrewducker]

To be clear - the important bit of what he's saying is:
"...even with a vaccine uptake rate of 90 per cent among the UK’s top priority groups, which account for the vast majority of Covid-related fatalities, up to 1 million at-risk people would remain vulnerable to the disease.

This may be enough to fuel another wave of hospital admissions and deaths if restrictions are lifted too quickly, potentially burdening the NHS..."

So we go from many millions of people at risk to 1 million people at risk. But that's still enough to overwhelm the NHS if we lift restrictions too fast.

[andrewducker]

Oh yes, cars are a nightmare. I have kept hoping that self-driving ones would arrive, but they are totally letting me down.

[calimac]

The best line in the royals article is "cosplaying as their ancestors."

[cmcmck]

Although there needs to be an adult conversation about what level of risk we are willing to countenance and I'm not sure we're capable of having that sort of conversation any more.

Can you imagine a parliamentary or assembly debate on the topic?

Seasonal 'flu is between 10k and 25k annually iirc depending on the 'flu.

I fear 'zero covid' is a non starter.

[andrewducker]

I don't think we're going to get to zero. And neither does he. From the article:
"Sir Patrick also insisted that a “zero Covid” strategy was not possible, saying “there’s nothing to suggest that this virus will go away”.

“Our focus needs to be on reducing the levels we have here. That is the key point: to keep things under control,” he said.

“As levels come down, test, trace and isolate becomes increasingly important, cluster identification – making sure we understand where there are outbreaks and how to deal with them – and of course the vaccine is going to make a huge difference to all of this.”"

[dewline]

Another part of what needs doing...could it be this?

[andrewducker]

Sorry, at work at the moment, and not going to have a chance to listen to a podcast until at least the weekend. Synopsize for me?

[dewline]

There's a research project now underway to develop a "universal" vaccine against all coronavirii. One of the research team was interviewed on The Current on CBC Radio about it this morning.

[andrewducker]

Oh that's very cool!

[andrewducker]

And there are distant discussions of balancing risk. And then we open up too much because we balanced spending time infecting our relatives over keeping them safe and over 10,000 extra people died in a month.
https://twitter.com/peterjukes/status/1364961983964053511?s=19

[mellowtigger]

Interesting. Thanks for the link.

P.S. Found the direct link for the "archive" version here:
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-march-10-2021-1.5943660

[danieldwilliam]

The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you, nor does it really understand what it's doing or why or whether someone spoofed the data.

[snippy]

On what is frivolously called emotional labor - I don't see how men can ever be project managers when they can't even manage a simple household. /s

[anna_wing]

Losing fat (by eating fewer calories or exercising more, or both) when you are overweight or obese is a useful priority, given that excess fat is in itself a health risk, for both mechanical and general medical reasons (stress on joints, higher risk of various diseases, worse outcomes for COVID-19 etc). And of course exercising more, with due care, is a good thing for almost everyone. Once you're at a low-risk BMI, getting and staying fit is very helpful for maintaining a healthy weight and an agreeable lifestyle; not to mention that being fit is nice in itself. I still have a couple of kg to go to reach the appropriate BMI for my sex, race and height, so I find that weighing myself is useful to ensure that I am still on track, however slowly, and at least maintaining (I'm already back to a low-risk BMI, so there's no rush; I know I'll hit it as soon as I increase my exercise level). You get used to what you see in the mirror, so the eye is not necessarily the best guide. The scale and the tape measure give you reliable data points.

This is obviously an approach probably best suited to people who don't have particular psychological issues about either food or weight/fat loss.

I was once asked in London if I had an Edinburgh accent (I doubt it, since the only time I have ever been anywhere near Scotland was a lovely weekend in Poolewe, visiting Inverewe and eating superb seafood). I think it was a combination of my accent being audibly RP-But-Not-RP-From-Here, and possibly slight archaic word choice (very common in the English-speaking Commonwealth).

[cmcmck]

I know what you mean about accent.

I'm English born and bred but had grandparents with two very different and strong English regional dialects and then spent time in Belgium mostly speaking French (which I speak with an Algerian accent, but that's another story) :o) and I get accused of being Australian, South African, New Zealand and even Irish!

What effect years of being married to a Scot has had on my accent is more than I know!

[andrewducker]

And it certainly can't explain itself to you!