December 23, 2020 - Christmas Eve Eve
The Pensive Pelican and Fallacious Antelope are two of a long list of usernames my older son and I brainstormed after dinner last night. He is our keeper of lists: names for robots vacuums, fictional 80's big-hair bands, foods that have verb names (e.g., squash), and, in this case, potential usernames for online activities. For usernames, he favors two-word combos - an adjective and animal that sort of alliterate and are oddly related. Our casual banter was facilitated by his winter break - having the homework-free space and time to talk. It reminded me how much our home has turned into an office and a classroom.
-----Latest Data---
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=cases
Also, look at https://covidtracking.com/data
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
About the data:
https://covidtracking.com/about-data/visualization-guide is the best resource to understand data visualization and data integrity.
-----
Dr. Fauci received the Pfizer vaccine yesterday.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2020/12/22/fauci-vaccinated-against-coronavirus-azar-newday-vpx.cnn
The new strain of coronavirus is still a point of great interest. Here is an illuminating Twitter thread from a U.K. virologist. https://twitter.com/oxfordviromics/status/1341491766915198980?s=10
BioNTech (Pfizer's vaccine co-developer) offered more definitive comments about the vaccine efficacy on the viral variants.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/12/22/949150817/biontech-ceo-says-highly-likely-vaccine-is-effective-against-u-k-virus-variant
Read this with a big dollop of skeptical interest. Science magazine explores the hypotheses about the causes of the infrequent but scary anaphylactic reactions to the Pfizer vaccine. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/suspicions-grow-nanoparticles-pfizer-s-covid-19-vaccine-trigger-rare-allergic-reactions
AND lastly, PLEASE BE SAFE over the holiday. Here is a new study validating the swiss-cheese model of coronavirus transmission reduction - "Masks NOT enough to stop COVD-19's Spread without distancing."
https://phys.org/news/2020-12-masks-covid-distancing.html
This pairs nicely with the 11/24/20 "Face masks slow spread of COVID-19; types of masks, length of use matter."
https://phys.org/news/2020-11-masks-covid-length.html
Infographic of the day: Christmas Turkey Chemistry
https://twitter.com/compoundchem/status/1341644000617480192/photo/1
If I ever make a fragrance for men, you can be sure I will call it Furan - the meaty, burnt scent of masculinity.
----Bonus Round --- Reminiscences
In a text exchange yesterday, I found myself thinking about the fill-in-the-bubble forms used on most of the standardized tests I took from 1982 to 1993. The company that makes them is called ScanTron. It turns out they perfected the "give you the printer and sell you the jacked-up ink" model of sales in the 1970s.
https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2016/12/scantron-technology-creates-more-efficient-testing
A common and unsettling theme amongst my 1970s to early 1980s family photos is red pants. It seems that every member of my family owned a pair. Thankfully, I do not have documentary evidence of multiple people simultaneously wearing red pants (it was a trend, not a conspiracy, apparently). But some of those pants were from Sears - Toughskins. These were colorful, non-fading, and cardboard-like denim that would not get holes in them (to the chagrin of a young Adam watching holey and distressed-denim clad musicians on MTV). If I had time, I would be paying for talk therapy related to the psychic scar these Scarlet-Letter-in-the-form-of-pants left.
https://blog.sfgate.com/parenting/2009/04/01/a-tribute-to-toughskins/
Clean hands, sharp minds, and get some rest.
-Adam
I will restart on Monday.
The Pensive Pelican and Fallacious Antelope are two of a long list of usernames my older son and I brainstormed after dinner last night. He is our keeper of lists: names for robots vacuums, fictional 80's big-hair bands, foods that have verb names (e.g., squash), and, in this case, potential usernames for online activities. For usernames, he favors two-word combos - an adjective and animal that sort of alliterate and are oddly related. Our casual banter was facilitated by his winter break - having the homework-free space and time to talk. It reminded me how much our home has turned into an office and a classroom.
-----Latest Data---
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=cases
Also, look at https://covidtracking.com/data
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
About the data:
https://covidtracking.com/about-data/visualization-guide is the best resource to understand data visualization and data integrity.
-----
Dr. Fauci received the Pfizer vaccine yesterday.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2020/12/22/fauci-vaccinated-against-coronavirus-azar-newday-vpx.cnn
The new strain of coronavirus is still a point of great interest. Here is an illuminating Twitter thread from a U.K. virologist. https://twitter.com/oxfordviromics/status/1341491766915198980?s=10
BioNTech (Pfizer's vaccine co-developer) offered more definitive comments about the vaccine efficacy on the viral variants.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/12/22/949150817/biontech-ceo-says-highly-likely-vaccine-is-effective-against-u-k-virus-variant
Read this with a big dollop of skeptical interest. Science magazine explores the hypotheses about the causes of the infrequent but scary anaphylactic reactions to the Pfizer vaccine. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/suspicions-grow-nanoparticles-pfizer-s-covid-19-vaccine-trigger-rare-allergic-reactions
AND lastly, PLEASE BE SAFE over the holiday. Here is a new study validating the swiss-cheese model of coronavirus transmission reduction - "Masks NOT enough to stop COVD-19's Spread without distancing."
https://phys.org/news/2020-12-masks-covid-distancing.html
This pairs nicely with the 11/24/20 "Face masks slow spread of COVID-19; types of masks, length of use matter."
https://phys.org/news/2020-11-masks-covid-length.html
Infographic of the day: Christmas Turkey Chemistry
https://twitter.com/compoundchem/status/1341644000617480192/photo/1
If I ever make a fragrance for men, you can be sure I will call it Furan - the meaty, burnt scent of masculinity.
----Bonus Round --- Reminiscences
In a text exchange yesterday, I found myself thinking about the fill-in-the-bubble forms used on most of the standardized tests I took from 1982 to 1993. The company that makes them is called ScanTron. It turns out they perfected the "give you the printer and sell you the jacked-up ink" model of sales in the 1970s.
https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2016/12/scantron-technology-creates-more-efficient-testing
A common and unsettling theme amongst my 1970s to early 1980s family photos is red pants. It seems that every member of my family owned a pair. Thankfully, I do not have documentary evidence of multiple people simultaneously wearing red pants (it was a trend, not a conspiracy, apparently). But some of those pants were from Sears - Toughskins. These were colorful, non-fading, and cardboard-like denim that would not get holes in them (to the chagrin of a young Adam watching holey and distressed-denim clad musicians on MTV). If I had time, I would be paying for talk therapy related to the psychic scar these Scarlet-Letter-in-the-form-of-pants left.
https://blog.sfgate.com/parenting/2009/04/01/a-tribute-to-toughskins/
Clean hands, sharp minds, and get some rest.
-Adam
I will restart on Monday.
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