Interesting Links for 18-12-2022

[andrewducker]

1. Did you know that Carol of the Bells is Ukrainian in origin?

(tags:carols Ukraine history )

2. People who skipped their COVID vaccine are at higher risk of traffic accidents

(tags:vaccination cars driving accident safety )

3. How Putin's War in Ukraine Became a Catastrophe for Russia (in-depth and fascinating to see it all laid out)

(tags:Ukraine Russia epicfail war vladimirputin )

4. Neil Gaiman and Diane Duane on why you should test your backups

(tags:neilgaiman writing backup )

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

The second link refers to a Canadian study, although it's published in the American Journal of Medicine. In the US, rural areas tend to have more vaccine resistance than urban ones (along with more conservative politics.) I don't know if that's the case in Canada. The conclusions that EMTs responding to car crashes should take covid precautions is still sensible.

[mellowtigger]

Or, as I predicted 2 months ago, it's an expected outcome of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection. There's always the remote possibility that the 5 things to know are wrong (I hope I'm wrong), but time slowly keeps proving them right. :(

[adrian_turtle]

It could be that, or it could also be something about risk averse people being vaccinated, and risk averse people driving cautiously. Hard to untangle the effect with this scale of study. Concerns about immune system damage certainly seem to be borne out, though it's unclear about whether that damage will be permanent or whether it can heal eventually. (Of course, it hardly matters if the damage might possibly heal in 3 years, for an immune system getting re-damaged by a new infection every winter.)

[hairyears]

Thank you, I was pretty sure that someone would beat me to it with this: risk-averse people are cautious drivers and, conversely, dangerous driving is probably correlated with a tendency to making bad decisions about risk in general.


The elevated risk to EMTs and at-the-scene responders was... Let's just say I should've thought of that.

[snippy]

Anecdotal evidence from my moderately large, famously-liberal west coast city is that the people who refused to limit going out at the very beginning of the pandemic when really, most public things were closed except grocery stores (even parks were limited) because they didn't believe in COVID or didn't agree with voluntarily limiting their rights all drove like maniacs while there were many fewer cars on the road. Add that to constant blue flu as the local LEOs were petulant about the BLM movement leading to lack of traffic enforcement. Local speculation is a combination of "and they got used to doing whatever they pleased" and "they never cared in the first place but there are still fewer careful people driving at all."

[mellowtigger]

#1 And it's my favorite holiday song!

[andrewducker]

Exemplified by the Muppets version, of course.

[andrewducker]

Or possibly the Star Wars version, if you like that kind of thing
https://youtu.be/66M8NwkRmew

[calimac]

1) I sure did know that, and I even just mentioned it in a review I wrote of a concert of it and other Ukrainian carols being sung in the original Ukrainian:

"... the New Year’s toast to prosperity that’s the one number all the listeners would recognize, perhaps the best-known piece of all Ukrainian music: Mykola Leontovych’s “Shchedryk,” more familiar in English as “The Carol of the Bells.”"

[andrewducker]

I'd expect you to know :⁠-⁠)

[kerk_hiraeth]

Yes to the first one.

Diane Duane wrote one of the books; two really, that I credit for making me an actual Star Trek fan, as opposed to someone who liked a TV show. Along with John M. Ford's The Final Reflection her portrayal of the Rihannsu is the definitive one for me; as his is of the Klingons in that book.

Also they both helped make Kirk more likable and, eventually, relatable to me.

Theirs was a golden age of Trek novelisations for me.

kerk

[dewline]

Same here.

[stormehowl]

I love that Carol of the Bells is Ukrainian! I love that tune so much and there is something about Ukrainian's National Anthem that has this similar intense, a solemn, mesmerizing magic to it. I really view them as such a musical, artistic, deep people and I've realized this so much following their official channels and journalism on instagram throughout the entire terrorist invasion by Russia. Videos stick in mind of Ukrainian musicians playing cellos or violins out in the park or shelters while bombs explode around their cities - usually playing very moving, sad sounds.

Carol of the Bells

[danieldwilliam]

I heard a enjoyable dance remix of Carol of the Bells on Radio 6 on the way to MLW's Christmas concert.

Re: Carol of the Bells

[andrewducker]

If you remember enough information for me to find it let me know!

[darkoshi]

Carol of the Bells is one of my favorite Christmas songs. I like the a capella choral versions the best.

The page for the original Ukrainian song includes a recording of it being sung in 1922 - a hundred years ago! It sounds exactly the same except for the words.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shchedryk_(song)