Friday Ephemera (661)
The machine uprising, day 5. (h/t, Emil) || The machine uprising, day 6. || Someone else’s dinner. || Arsehole detected. || A map of undersea cables. || A triumph of elastication. || Combat aircraft concepts. (h/t, Things) || Courtesy in odd places. || Suburban scenes. || When you need nine hours of cassette-play. || Music typewriter, circa 1950s. || Your expectations of punctuality are “white supremacy,” and sexist, and also homophobic, you bigot. || His incriminating browser history is probably worse than yours. || Hers, I dare say, is bigger than yours. || Bit snug, some chafing. || Couch glider. || Assorted German pipe organs. || Pick your champion. || The progressive retail experience, part 452. || Passenger came prepared. || When you defer to the lie, complications will ensue. || And finally, with some patience, it takes a village to park a car.
And yes, by all means, follow me on Twitter.
Scientific American…
A mixture of the true, the vague, the false, and the polemical.
But I was stopped dead by her references to the Inflation Reduction Act, specifically the name. She comes right out and says that deceit in the name/ headline is useful and good because the rubes won’t look any farther. I.e. government should lie to the governed.
But I bet she’s all-in when it comes to “consent” in sexual relations…
Meanwhile, in Love Island news.
That is beyond stupid.
“What’s the difference between a country and a county?
Country’s got an R in it so it’s more important.”
Meanwhile across the channel, to solve the problem of climate lunacy because…
Wilted I tell you, everyone know people wilt into a dysfunctional goo if the temperature is over 72 Real Degrees unless they are at a beach or vacationing in Dubai. To solve this existential crisis Guillaume, Maxim, and their pals are planting saplings because…
10 air conditioners, wow, these people are going to make Paris positively arctic. Science!™
Isn’t that the truth, I had to get my oaks ipads because their incessant yammering was keeping me awake at night. However, as they make Paris an actual Novosibirsk it is important to remember…
Too true, is why I got my oaks shotguns. Damn squirrels going after their acorns.
Not a cult, nosireebob.
Somehow this doesn’t motivate me to buy a Peloton.
But trees are social and fare much better when planted in the company of fellow trees, explains Dozier.
Well, I have read that trees do respond to pollen and other substances emitted by neighboring trees. I seem to recall reading that those emissions change when I tree is diseased and that nearby trees react to that change.
And setting aside the link’s breathless language, trees do have a cooling effect. Which is just one reason why a street lined with tall trees is more pleasant. When I was a child, the mature elms shaded our houses quite effectively in the morning and afternoon. When the elms died of dutch elm disease, that cooling effect was lost until the (multispecies) replacements grew to sufficient height.
Trees exchanging water and nutrients? ahahaha no. They compete. Planted too close some will die unless you really water them. Do they exchange sunlight too?
People have been planting trees in cities since forever but these dolts just discovered it.
And where’s the pushback from doctors on this? The physician who is treating the patient has the primary responsibility for keeping those information sources in line and valuable. Who is funding those? It’s not like the broader profession lack resources.
Yeah, I find very few people in the medical profession understand much of anything about statistics. Especially nurses and lab techs. But I question the doctors as well. The problem is the doctors see no reason to answer back. I have noticed an effort by statisticians to try to communicate how statistics works and to clarify how little one can know with extreme confidence. But I don’t blame the statisticians so much. People, and especially the medical and pharmaceutical industries, have great financial and other incentives to misunderstand.
Count yourself lucky. I had a generally positive perspective on the medical field until my PCP passed and I had to find a new one for the first time in a couple decades. And I consider myself lucky to have had found that guy. I had one doctor who it eventually occurred to me was a drunk. And a referral grifter. After that experience I often wondered if our family physician from when I was a child was a drunk. But I only went to him for required checkup to satisfy school and athletic requirements. We didn’t run to the doctor with every case of the sniffles like others seemed to do back then. And as I referenced in my checkup last week, the knowledge is irrelevant if they don’t listen to the words that are coming out of the patient’s mouth. The assembly-line approach has turned some of these guys into virtual robots. Like they’re reading off a script. Last couple of visits were reminiscent of getting technical support from India.
Meh. Californians get what they deserve. In one video, not sure if the one you linked or other ones, he tells a victim they need to “get out of Cali back to where you came from”. Nah. Y’all need to stay right there in your crab bucket so the rest of us can keep an eye on you.
The plate is obscured. It’s a Tesla (granted south California but still..). Everyone has cell phones and dash cameras. There’s clear video of his face. How hard can he be to find? Pathetic.
Count yourself lucky.
My sympathies!
I did very briefly have one GP who was very unhelpful–always had to ask him to explain technical terms because he would not otherwise use plain language.
My current and longtime GP (internist) is pretty good, which is just one of the reasons I am hesitant about moving.
As a for-instance on doctors, I had questions about this ventilator stuff back when it started yet saw very little, like zero, discussion about such an intrusive device being used on people who were likely older and more frail.
Somehow this doesn’t motivate me to buy a Peloton.
I look like that already (well, except for the distinct absence of melanin) – why do I need to spend a couple thousand dollars on a Peloton? Kinda like the overpriced, low-quality crap Victoria’s Secret sells now, and advertises with their new DIE models. You see their stuff on big chunky models and you realize you don’t need to spend a ton of money to look like that. Walmart sells underpants that are just as poorly made, look the same on you, and cost $4 vs $20.
why do I need to spend a couple thousand dollars on a Peloton?
I think the selling gimmick is the video, which allows you to see and interact with others exercising, or pretend you are cycling outdoors. (Or am I mistaken?)
I’d just started a new job three months before the real panic started and the engineer that hired me at the time mentioned the same as that Twitter thread. I.e., that frail people were being put on ventilators, a large percentage of them were dying, and what’s what was sparking the hysteria.
“OMG! We had 10 patients come in with it and 3 of them died! [pulls out calculator] That means, ummm, carry the four… 30% of everyone who catches it is gonna die!!!”
that’s what was sparking the hysteria
In Ontario, the glossy magazine for retired people actually got away with the cover headline “80% Of COVID-19 Deaths Are In Retirement Homes” before the government had a chat with the publisher.
Here’s another thing…with all the bloody hysteria, the “free” vaccines being forced on people in the name of fighting this thing, why are we not testing for vitamin D levels? Seems they are very important to our immune systems and there are numerous studies pointing that way. Now personally I believe the overwhelming number of medical studies are mostly BS, yet the connection between vitamin D and healthy immune systems is nothing new. Why isn’t vitamin D a standard blood test item along with lipid tests and glucose and sodium and potassium etc.?
Added: And further more why are doctors not asking this question?