In other news today...
-
From the"glad they managed to clear 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 question up" category, comes...
-
@jinpa said in In other news today...:
Indeed, it is unusual in that it has a reverse tolerance - frequent use requires less for the same effect.
I haven't heard that about THC, and anecdotally have heard the opposite, that frequent users sometimes take "tolerance breaks"
-
Putin paves way for another presidential term
Russia's president says the final decision would be in the hands of the Constitutional Court.
An MP has proposed "resetting to zero" the number of presidential terms.
Holy shit, that's bold. They still pretend to care about the number of presidential terms and do want to keep it for the sake of
democracyappearance, even after Putin's castling move has kept him in office much longer than the allowed number of terms.
So they're just going to "reset the counter to zero" so Putin can keep his President-For-Live office, but whoever should succeed him has to follow the rules again. This proposal is so blatantly transparent, I have no idea why they're even pretending.
-
@hungrier said in In other news today...:
@jinpa said in In other news today...:
Indeed, it is unusual in that it has a reverse tolerance - frequent use requires less for the same effect.
I haven't heard that about THC, and anecdotally have heard the opposite, that frequent users sometimes take "tolerance breaks"
Reverse tolerance is consistent with both what I have read and personal experience (in the distant past).
-
@acrow said in In other news today...:
in which case the waste product is the only output.
A government process to which the input is toilet paper. What do you think the output is?
-
@HardwareGeek said in In other news today...:
@acrow said in In other news today...:
in which case the waste product is the only output.
A government process to which the input is toilet paper. What do you think the output is?
Works of modern art selling for $130,000?
-
@topspin Indeed, they should just follow China at this point.
-
@topspin said in In other news today...:
Holy shit, that's bold. They still pretend to care about the number of presidential terms and do want to keep it for the sake of
democracyappearance, even after Putin's castling move has kept him in office much longer than the allowed number of terms.Or - they're thinking long-term, so while they want Putin to have his power for as long as he lives, they don't want to make it too easy for the eventual successor, in case they don't like him too much.
-
@acrow said in In other news today...:
half the population drinks occasionally, and apparently they're still not hooked.
About 12.7% of American adults meet the criteria for alcohol use disorder, that’s 1 in 8 adults
Source
Prevalence of Alcohol Use, High-Risk Drinking, and DSM-IV Alcohol Use Disorder
This study presents findings from interviews conducted in 2 US national surveys and reports changes in the prevalences of 12-month alcohol use, high-risk drinking, DSM-IV alcohol use disorder between 2001-2002 and 2012-2013.
-
-
@dkf said in In other news today...:
@acrow said in In other news today...:
The only things government offices manufacture is regulation and paper trails.
I believe this case involved a US National Park Rangers office.
Unless it's a "station", instead of an "office", the point still stands. The same applies to the headquarters of any other agencies, as long as they're physically removed from the stations actually performing the job on the ground. At most, I'd add "HR and administration" to the list of outputs.
-
@topspin That's not unheard of. Finland did the same when Kekkonen was the president. A special law was passed that allowed him, and only him, to exceed the term limit.
-
@TimeBandit said in In other news today...:
@acrow said in In other news today...:
half the population drinks occasionally, and apparently they're still not hooked.
About 12.7% of American adults meet the criteria for alcohol use disorder, that’s 1 in 8 adults
Source
Prevalence of Alcohol Use, High-Risk Drinking, and DSM-IV Alcohol Use Disorder
This study presents findings from interviews conducted in 2 US national surveys and reports changes in the prevalences of 12-month alcohol use, high-risk drinking, DSM-IV alcohol use disorder between 2001-2002 and 2012-2013.
Compared to 9% addiction rate for weed according to the first half-credible google result, which is a decade old.
But it didn't say whether that 9% is total or per-year. I'd be inclined to believe the latter, since longer exposure increases risk of chemical addiction.
-
Self-jeffed from the Corona thread:
Why exclude the UK?
If you're going to close the borders to slow down a pandemic that's already running rampant in your country, at least close them for good. Contrary to apparently popular belief, viruses also spread between close allies.
-
@dfdub and meanwhile, Sweden isn't banning travel to affected countries, even iran, because people have family there and it would be mean to ban them from travel.
-
@Carnage
Same for Finland. There were still planes coming even from Italy, last I checked.
-
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
@dfdub and meanwhile, Sweden isn't banning travel to affected countries, even iran, because people have family there and it would be mean to ban them from travel.
Which would be fine as long as there was sufficient screening/testing, which probably isn't happening due to lack of personnel, right? Seems like all Western governments are completely useless at controlling epidemics.
At least everyone who ridiculed the reaction to the ultimately harmless swine flu pandemic back then now hopefully knows better.
-
@dfdub said in In other news today...:
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
@dfdub and meanwhile, Sweden isn't banning travel to affected countries, even iran, because people have family there and it would be mean to ban them from travel.
Which would be fine as long as there was sufficient screening/testing, which probably isn't happening due to lack of personnel, right? Seems like all Western governments are completely useless at controlling epidemics.
At least everyone who ridiculed the reaction to the ultimately harmless swine flu pandemic back then now hopefully knows better.
Nope. No screening. And if you want to get tested because you think you've caught it, you can't unless you've got a proven contact with someone infected.
Like I said when Iran went full retard, this is going full pandemic so strap in.
And it's a pandemic now, and it ain't gonna slow down.
-
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
And if you want to get tested because you think you've caught it, you can't unless you've got a proven contact with someone infected.
That, at least, makes some sense. Testing capacity is limited and testing is risky for multiple reasons. False negatives when you're testing too early might contribute to spreading the disease and the testing itself puts medical personnel, which you need to stay healthy during the pandemic, at risk of catching various diseases.
-
@acrow said in In other news today...:
There were still planes coming even from Italy, last I checked.
I think I heard somewhere they can't ban traffic from elsewhere in the Schengen region outright.
-
@dfdub said in In other news today...:
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
And if you want to get tested because you think you've caught it, you can't unless you've got a proven contact with someone infected.
That, at least, makes some sense. Testing capacity is limited and testing is risky for multiple reasons. False negatives when you're testing too early might contribute to spreading the disease and the testing itself puts medical personnel, which you need to stay healthy during the pandemic, at risk of catching various diseases.
Apart from that the infection is spreading outside of control, so you might have gotten it from someone that wasn't tested, and you will give it to others that wont get tested because you're not tested, and it'll grown exponentially.
But yeah, right now I guess that the tests are necessary to correctly check if people with a severe respiratory infection has caught covid19 or something else. But it's counter productive, since it'll mean you get even more people infected, and you'll inevitably fall behind.The time window to deal with it is long past by now, so let's see how bad it gets and how many end up dead.
-
@PleegWat said in In other news today...:
@acrow said in In other news today...:
There were still planes coming even from Italy, last I checked.
I think I heard somewhere they can't ban traffic from elsewhere in the Schengen region outright.
Sure they can. It's happened several times already. A government just needs to declare the border control measures, duration, and reasons, so it can be added to the published exceptions list.
Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control
Learn which Schengen countries are currently reintroducing temporary border control in accordance with the Schengen Borders Code.
Unless you mean Finland specifically, in which case you're right. At least until the next general elections, after which we'll see.
-
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
But it's counter productive, since it'll mean you get even more people infected, and you'll inevitably fall behind.
The purpose of the measures taken right now is not to prevent the spread, but to make sure the rate is manageable for the health care system. We're way past the point of no return for "global pandemic" and probably have been since the Chinese government's delayed reaction to the original local epidemic, long before the confirmed cases in Europe.
-
@PleegWat said in In other news today...:
I think I heard somewhere they can't ban traffic from elsewhere in the Schengen region outright.
Contrary to popular belief, open borders don't prevent countries from implementing measures in response to a health crisis. But that's certainly the spin some extremists are trying to put on the current crisis, especially in Italy. Don't fall for their lies.
-
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
Nope. No screening. And if you want to get tested because you think you've caught it, you can't unless you've got a proven contact with someone infected.
We have unconditional mandatory 14 day quarantine for anybody returning from the most affected areas. Was extended to all of Italy by Saturday when Italy was still claiming most regions are clean—likely because some people returning from those tested positive. It is quarantine on your own premises, i.e. you are just required to stay home, but the fine for breaking it can be really hefty.
@dfdub said in In other news today...:
That, at least, makes some sense. Testing capacity is limited and testing is risky for multiple reasons. False negatives when you're testing too early might contribute to spreading the disease and the testing itself puts medical personnel, which you need to stay healthy during the pandemic, at risk of catching various diseases.
IIUC if you are ordered to quarantine, testing negative does not end it anyway exactly because you might have false negative if tested too early.
-
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
The time window to deal with it is long past by now, so let's see how bad it gets and how many end up dead.
That's nonsensical. If 70% of the population will ultimately end up being affected, you absolutely must ensure to slow down the infection such that the infections don't all happen at once and completely overwhelm the available healthcare resources.
-
@Bulb said in In other news today...:
IIUC if you are ordered to quarantine, testing negative does not end it anyway exactly because you might have false negative if tested too early.
Quarantine requires proven contact, though. If we quarantined and tested everyone who panics because they're coughing, we might as well announce full post-apocalytic anarchy right now.
-
@dfdub said in In other news today...:
Quarantine requires proven contact, though.
Here not. Here it applies to everybody who has been to the most affected areas (as declared by the government).
@dfdub said in In other news today...:
If we quarantined and tested everyone who panics because they're coughing
If somebody panics, they are free to quarantine themselves anytime. Nobody can stop them. And if they call up the hygiene station or their physician, they'll decide if it is founded and the person gets sick leave.
-
@topspin said in In other news today...:
If 70% of the population will ultimately end up being effected, you absolutely must ensure to slow down the infection such that the infections don't all happen at once and completely overwhelm the available healthcare resources.
Right now that's absolutely the most useful thing that western governments can do. Unfortunately actual containment strategies are ineffective as the rate of community transmission is already too high. Some east asian countries have a different prognosis as they imposed quarantine rules properly and rapidly enough.
Basically, look at the graphs of infection rates, especially at the shape (rather than the absolute figures because different sized populations, different levels of thoroughness of testing, and so on). If a country's infection rate graph is exponential in shape, it's got the hallmarks of an epidemic in that country and special measures are justified. European countries all show it. So does the US (which is about 2 days behind the UK on the curve IIRC).
Pray for warmer weather. It appears to help.
-
@dkf said in In other news today...:
Pray for warmer weather. It appears to help.
As I read yesterday, probably requires 25°C or higher to significantly impede this virus, and around here we call that 'the height of summer'. Though apparently the human immune system is also at its weakest in late winter/early spring.
The US border closing feels to me like a rare case of "too much, too late" and political grandstanding more than anything else.
-
@Bulb said in In other news today...:
Here not. Here it applies to everybody who has been to the most affected areas (as declared by the government).
Yeah, I should have qualified that with "in most places". My bad.
-
@PleegWat said in In other news today...:
The US border closing feels to me like a rare case of "too much, too late" and political grandstanding more than anything else.
Without getting too garage-y: Especially the UK exception makes it perfectly clear to me that this is a purely political move, possibly to make a point about open borders in the EU for the upcoming elections. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if the exception was the result of a late-night phone call between political buddies.
-
@dfdub said in In other news today...:
@Bulb said in In other news today...:
Here not. Here it applies to everybody who has been to the most affected areas (as declared by the government).
Yeah, I should have qualified that with "in most places". My bad.
Yeah; we probably have the second strictest measures in Europe after Italy. Certainly stricter than Germany though they have higher (relative) incidence. Our prime minister also criticized Italy for being too late with their measures, because some people tested positive returning from regions (mainly Italian Alps) last week that Italy was still claiming to have no risk.
-
@dkf said in In other news today...:
@topspin said in In other news today...:
If 70% of the population will ultimately end up being effected, you absolutely must ensure to slow down the infection such that the infections don't all happen at once and completely overwhelm the available healthcare resources.
Right now that's absolutely the most useful thing that western governments can do. Unfortunately actual containment strategies are ineffective as the rate of community transmission is already too high. Some east asian countries have a different prognosis as they imposed quarantine rules properly and rapidly enough.
Basically, look at the graphs of infection rates, especially at the shape (rather than the absolute figures because different sized populations, different levels of thoroughness of testing, and so on). If a country's infection rate graph is exponential in shape, it's got the hallmarks of an epidemic in that country and special measures are justified. European countries all show it. So does the US (which is about 2 days behind the UK on the curve IIRC).
Pray for warmer weather. It appears to help.
We coded our own pandemic models last week, for fun and curiosity. Of course it's an overly simplistic delay differential equation where the parameters are not properly calibrated (you only get so much out of the news w.r.t. the basic reproduction number etc.) and the counter-measures are not taken into account. May seemed to be hitting the peak before saturation, and the peak was way too high for the hospitals to be able to deal with it.
@dfdub said in In other news today...:
@PleegWat said in In other news today...:
The US border closing feels to me like a rare case of "too much, too late" and political grandstanding more than anything else.
Without getting too garage-y: Especially the UK exception makes it perfectly clear to me that this is a purely political move, possibly to make a point about open borders in the EU for the upcoming elections. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if the exception was the result of a late-night phone call between political buddies.
I strongly doubt the US is actually seeing a different spread, they're probably just a bit behind on the curve at best. They may have effective travel restrictions, but nobody is getting tested inside the country so the actual case numbers are probably higher than reported.
-
@topspin said in In other news today...:
I strongly doubt the US is actually seeing a different spread, they're probably just a bit behind on the curve at best.
That's what the evidence I've seen says.
They may have effective travel restrictions,
Probably not, especially between different parts of the US. There's already been community transmission found in the US so international travel bans won't help much.
but nobody is getting tested inside the country so the actual case numbers are probably higher than reported.
This.
It's going to get interesting (in a
sense) when members of Trump's cabinet start getting sick with it.
-
@dkf said in In other news today...:
It's going to get interesting (in a sense) when members of Trump's cabinet start getting sick with it.
Why stop there? Given the estimates, there's roughly a 50% chance Trump himself will eventually need to be quarantined for a few weeks. The world is certainly going to be interesting when that happens to a lot of important politicians are the same time.
-
@topspin said in In other news today...:
We coded our own pandemic models last week, for fun and curiosity.
Did you have something to base that on already at hand or from did you do something from scratch? Any references? Sounds like a
funinteresting distraction.May seemed to be hitting the peak before saturation
We have a few optimists here that are counting on things being over/better in May.
-
@cvi We also have some virologists who think that counting on warm weather may be optimistic.
-
@Rhywden There is always warm weather in some parts of the world, so we'll see how the epidemics goes there shortly…
-
@dfdub said in In other news today...:
@dkf said in In other news today...:
It's going to get interesting (in a sense) when members of Trump's cabinet start getting sick with it.
Why stop there? Given the estimates, there's roughly a 50% chance Trump himself will eventually need to be quarantined for a few weeks. The world is certainly going to be interesting when that happens to a lot of important politicians are the same time.
@dfdub said in In other news today...:
@dkf said in In other news today...:
It's going to get interesting (in a sense) when members of Trump's cabinet start getting sick with it.
Why stop there? Given the estimates, there's roughly a 50% chance Trump himself will eventually need to be quarantined for a few weeks. The world is certainly going to be interesting when that happens to a lot of important politicians are the same time.
If they haven't already gone into safety protocols, they really ought to.
Not that I think the world wont be alright without government interference for a few weeks, but the age profile of government tends to put them in a risk group, and losing 1/10th of government might be a slight bit of a problem going forwards.
-
@cvi said in In other news today...:
@topspin said in In other news today...:
We coded our own pandemic models last week, for fun and curiosity.
Did you have something to base that on already at hand or from did you do something from scratch? Any references? Sounds like a
funinteresting distraction.May seemed to be hitting the peak before saturation
We have a few optimists here that are counting on things being over/better in May.
Started from scratch with a simple model that only has groups of people that are infected, healthy, or recovered (actually you can reduce that to two groups). It's only a single page of code or so. The only parameters you need are the basic reproduction number, the delay, and the time an infection lasts.
Meanwhile another colleague has coded an SEIR model according to an actual paper on the subject on how to these things are modeled in practice, but I don't have the reference at hand.The problem is really getting the parameters right, which is what the experts still struggle with (and in reality they're time-dependent).
-
@PleegWat said in In other news today...:
probably requires 25°C or higher to significantly impede this virus
Yay, Texas? It was 29 yesterday early evening (I don't know what the afternoon high was), and it's still technically winter, according to the calendar.
-
@dfdub said in In other news today...:
The world is certainly going to be interesting when that happens to a lot of important politicians are the same time.
Quarantining a lot of important politicians sounds like a really good idea (epidemic or not). In fact, since all politicians are important (in their own minds), make it simple; just quarantine all of them.
-
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
losing 1/10th of government might be a
slight bit of a problem going forwardsgood start.
-
@HardwareGeek said in In other news today...:
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
losing 1/10th of government might be a
slight bit of a problem going forwardsgood start.You're giving off Shakespeare vibes here.
-
@topspin said in In other news today...:
@HardwareGeek said in In other news today...:
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
losing 1/10th of government might be a
slight bit of a problem going forwardsgood start.You're giving off Shakespeare vibes here.
The thing is that the passage you're alluding to is often completely misunderstood to mean the complete opposite of what it does.
-
@Rhywden said in In other news today...:
@topspin said in In other news today...:
@HardwareGeek said in In other news today...:
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
losing 1/10th of government might be a
slight bit of a problem going forwardsgood start.You're giving off Shakespeare vibes here.
The thing is that the passage you're alluding to is often completely misunderstood to mean the complete opposite of what it does.
Many people have said that, others have disagreed.
I don't know the original intention, I'm aware of both interpretations though.
-
@topspin said in In other news today...:
@Rhywden said in In other news today...:
@topspin said in In other news today...:
@HardwareGeek said in In other news today...:
@Carnage said in In other news today...:
losing 1/10th of government might be a
slight bit of a problem going forwardsgood start.You're giving off Shakespeare vibes here.
The thing is that the passage you're alluding to is often completely misunderstood to mean the complete opposite of what it does.
Many people have said that, others have disagreed.
I don't know the original intention, I'm aware of both interpretations though.I'm not sure who disagrees but those who disagree probably never read the whole thing.
-
Italian man has found miracle preventive measure to keep (potentially-Covid-19-infected) people at least 1 meter away:
Italian man wears a GIANT disk in a bid to enforce social distancing
An Italian man has taken extreme measures to ward off coronavirus, after it was classed as a pandemic by the World Health Organization this week.
-
@JBert You have no better reference than The Daily Fail? Seriously?
A scientific meeting on coronaviruses was cancelled due to coronavirus
A bit of tarnish on marijuana's benign reputation
