« first day (3768 days earlier)      last day (1137 days later) » 

12:05 AM
@Mitch I think you're reading it wrong.
The graph is indeed unclear.
This is what I think they mean, based on what I think they want their message to be:
Green dots = black share of the vaccinated population.
Yellow dots = black share of the general population.
Each green and yellow dot should be in the same location. But the green dots are lagging behind what you would expect.
Suppose you have a population of 100, of which 20 are black.
Now suppose you pick 10 people to vaccinate at random.
Then you should get 2 black vaccinated and 8 non-black vaccinated. Proportional.
Then 2/20 blacks have been vaccinated and 8/80 non-blacks.
So both dots should be at 10%.
But what's really happening is that they picked 1 black and 9 non-blacks to vaccinate.
So 1/20 blacks are vaccinated (5%, green dot) and 9/80 non-blacks. Of the general population, it is still 10/100 = 10% (yellow dot).
So the green dot (5%) is lagging behind the general population (10%).
Where I said "they picked", it is probably rather a matter of people finding it hard to register or something.
Or perhaps the black population is much younger, so they don't qualify yet?
What matters is what the figures tell us, which is nothing, without an explanation.
 
 
2 hours later…
2:40 AM
 
That's quite a lot.
Which country is that?
 
Ah.
Well, not bad.
 
Eric Topol regularly posts them
Eric Jeffrey Topol (born 1954) is an American cardiologist, scientist, and author. He is the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, a professor of Molecular Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute, and a senior consultant at the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California. He is editor-in-chief of Medscape and theheart.org. He has published three bestseller books on the future of medicine. The Creative Destruction of Medicine (2010), The Patient Will See You Now (2015), and Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Mak...
 
OK.
Do they have these protective nose sprays in Russia?
 
2:52 AM
Protective against covid? I guess we don't have them.
Have they even entered any market?
I thought they were only in the development phase.
 
Someone told me they had them in Russian and/or Israel.
She showed me a bottle someone brought with him from...I thought she said Russia.
 
By the way, Topol in Russian means "poplar"
 
Taffex. It's an Israeli manufacturer.
Interesting sound change.
But other sprays are also being developed.
She said this was one sold at every street corner in country x.
 
3:07 AM
Is it a barrier spray, then? There have been lotions like that to protect skin from microlesions due to frequent handwashing, but then something went terribly wrong from sustained use, if memory serves.
 
I think there are different sprays.
But I think most contain a substance that kills viruses.
But maybe also a kind of barrier?
I'm sure there are also combinations.
 
Colloidal silver and vaseline, mmm.
We're entering allergy season around here soon, and I wonder what differences will be seen with allergies and all the masks.
 
We have many more people being tested here because of allergy season.
There is some hope that the non-declining number of positive tests is partly because of the increase in the total number of tests.
 
3:28 AM
I've noticed that in stats. Hopefully makes sense.
 
Indeed!
 
In the long term, interesting to see how differences in exposure to pollen will change things for people.
 
3:43 AM
Hmm how do you mean?
 
Generally when you're outside a lot you gradually adjust to the pollen. When you're outdoors less, you get more of a reaction when you do go out.
 
Ah, in that way.
Then I hope people will not react too badly to it.
 
But if you're covering your face, perhaps blocking the pollen, I don't know, maybe the same logic follows. I worry about students who are stuck inside all day, or those who have to wear masks during their 20 minute recess: will the kids end up with awful allergies later on?
 
4:00 AM
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in link text in body, potentially bad ns for domain in body, potentially bad keyword in body (71): This kinda ruined all my motivation to playwith by Dingbest on english.SE
 
My personal logic is that my allergies got worse when I quit smoking because I didn't take as many breaks to go outside. Medical journals were not impressed.
 
Hmm.
Allergies are complex matter.
 
4:19 AM
Too true. No one needs a complex complex.
 
Heh.
 
5:04 AM
My Nike shoes cracked.. too bad.
This guy always runs in shorts and with his dog
It was minus 12°C
 
Cold legs is not so bad, but cold hands is.
 
5:27 AM
@Cerberus Because the body loses heat faster through the hands?
 
6:08 AM
 
6:24 AM
> If deviations are recorded, the air conditioning must be switched on to restore the required climatic parameters.
Should there be the?
 
6:51 AM
> Bags should be filled not more than ¾ full”.
Is there an alternative official-style phrasing for this?
> Bags should be filled 3/4 full at most.
Does not sound like a business text.
> Bags should only be filled to ¾ full.
Does only work as a synonymous construction to not more than here?
 
7:37 AM
> In laboratory premises, a temperature standard of +15 to + 25°C and relative humidity of no higher than 60% is used to ensure the correct operation of the equipment and storage of reagents.
I think that this "temperature standard" is wrong usage. In Russian, "standard" can mean "standard range", "specified standard range", something that must be adhered to.
In English, the count noun usage of "standard" seems to be "an item that serves as a yardstick".
 
 
2 hours later…
9:57 AM
1
A: "Bags should only be filled 1/2 full" - does the word "only" work as "not more than" here?

Michael HarveyDictionaries show that 'only' can mean either: limited to not more than, OR is not anything other than, the people, things, amount, or activity stated Only (Cambridge Dictionary) Translators of technical documents, instructions, etc, should make sure they understand the exact intent of the orig...

Says that "up to half full" might be better than "not more than half-full".
Hm.
William Walker MVO (1869–1918) was an English diver famous for shoring up the southern and eastern sides of Winchester Cathedral. == Early life == He was born William Robert Bellenie, in Newington, Surrey, England, in 1869. Around 1900, he adopted the name William Bellenie-Walker, eventually dropping the Bellenie part to be known as Walker. == Diving career == In 1887, Walker began diver training at Portsmouth Dockyard. He worked through the roles of diver's attendant and diver's signal man, passing his medical exam and deep-water test to qualify as a deep-water diver in 1892.In his time, William...
Interesting man.
 
 
1 hour later…
11:20 AM
 
11:56 AM
The Welbike was a British single-seat motorcycle produced during World War II at the direction of Station IX — the "Inter Services Research Bureau" — based at Welwyn, UK, for use by Special Operations Executive (SOE). It has the distinction of being the smallest motorcycle ever used by the British Armed Forces. Between 1942 and 1943, 3,641 units (plus a prototype and some pilot models) were built and, although not much used by the SOE, some were issued to the British 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions and some were used at Arnhem during Operation Market Garden.The Italians, Germans and Americans also...
The wheels are painfullly small even for a city's streets
 
12:28 PM
> Short history of Japan
 
1:18 PM
> If anincorrect measurement mode is displayed on the screen, press the SCALE button repeatedly until you see the required mode.
Is this use of "an" acceptable, or should it always be the with wrong or incorrect?
 
1:51 PM
@CowperKettle It depends on whether there are multiple measurement modes. If there are, an would be correct. If only a single one, use the.
 
2:34 PM
0
Q: What do we call the stream-like leftovers of water sticking to a glass surface?

CowperKettleFrom a Russian document: Лабораторная посуда считается чистой, если вода, стекающая по стенкам, не оставляет капель или «ручейков». Translation: Laboratory glassware is considered clean when the water running down its walls doesn't leave drops or "rivulets". But I'm not sure about "rivulets"....

They're streaks. — Edwin Ashworth 1 min ago
Wow. I thought they were threads really
 
A streak is usually the dried residue of one of those little rivulets. I don't recall anyone ever referring to a streak of water.
If residue is what you mean, use streak.
 
2:55 PM
@Robusto No, what is meant in the text is the wet long drops clinging to the glass and making it impossible to use the lab beaker with precision
When I read the title, "rivulets" was the first word that came to mind. — KillingTime 2 mins ago
Must be rivulets then
 
@CowperKettle Yeah, for lack of a better word, rivulets would work.
And by "a better word" I mean a word that is already in common parlance describing those things.
But I can think of no such word. If you used rivulets I would understand you, but if you said streaks I would think of dried residue of water.
 
"I had been waiting for you for the last two hours but you did not turn up on time" -- Is this sentence correct?
 
@NavdeepSingh I would use have been
 
@CowperKettle because of "for the last two hours" right?
 
3:05 PM
@NavdeepSingh It depends on the context. You can use either had or have depending on what time frame you're talking about. If you are talking about a situation that just happened, use have; if you're talking about a prior event, sometime in the past, use had.
 
@NavdeepSingh Yes, because this is such a recent thing, and these two hours have just ended.
 
"When we first met, I had been waiting for you for nearly an hour under the big clock in the square."
"Where have you been? I have been waiting for nearly an hour!"
 
@CowperKettle I agree with you. It just happened.
 
Context is everything.
You could also use "the last two hours" with had, if the context is set up for that.
"When we first met, I had been waiting for you for the last two hours under the big clock in the square."
 
@Robusto I got it.👍
 
3:12 PM
Yes, context is king.
 
3:27 PM
A. "Scientists now hope that cloning can be successfully conducted in human beings".
B. "Scientists now hope that cloning can be conducted successfully in human beings
Which one?
In my notes there's a rule that says for intransitive verb use adverb just after it. But here there are two verbs ("be" and "conduct")
So how to decide in such cases?
 
3:41 PM
Who cares what his hair colour was? — Michael Harvey 7 hours ago
Haha
@NavdeepSingh Both look okay to me.
 
4:08 PM
@Cerberus Yes, I am reading it wrong but I think it is not unreasonable for me to mix up what is modifying what in that label.
black, share, general/vaccinated, population
they parse it as general population that is black vs vaccinated population that is black
but I read it as general population that is black vs share of that same population that is vaccinated
 
4:26 PM
@CowperKettle I am not so much concerned for the body here, as for the freezing of certain body parts. Hands are much thinner, so they cool down much faster.
 
4:40 PM
@Cerberus Ah!
I always get fingers numbed by frost even in my gloves
For some reasong my toes and fingers very quickly freeze. Not so with other people, certainly, because I've been doing sports in the winter in company with many people and I noticed that their fingers don't freeze nearly as fast as mine.
Imagine being on that spot. That would kill you instantly, I guess.
> After their violent birth, most seem to disappear into the landscape almost as quickly – the void left by the explosion near Seyakha – which measured 70m (230ft) wide in places and more than 50m (164ft) deep – flooded with water in just four days due to its proximity to the river.
And Siberia is full of small lakes, thus making possible recent craters look innocuous
 
@NavdeepSingh This.
Either works, but the latter is better.
 
@CowperKettle Exactly.
Hands are the worst, if you should go running naked.
Maybe toes as well, if they touch the cold ground.
And much worse if they get wet.
 
4:59 PM
When I had a high TSH by hands went instantly cold the moment I took off the gloves.
When I went on thyroxine, the symptom vanished.
I still don't understand why I had a high TSH
My thyroid hormones were normal. T3 and T4. There were no antibodies.
And my thyroid looked absolutely normal on ultrasound.
I've been taking thyroxine ever since. Now at 100 mcg/day.
But I could not work when I had a high TSH.
I just sat and stared at the screen.
Could not force myself to do anything.
And I started to limp. I could not make a dash if the traffic light was blinking, because I would have a cramp in my left calf.
I only could walk, and not run.
It went away quickly after I started taking thyroxine.
I read a heap of papers on PubMed but there was no such symptom.
A TSH of 6.5 is not that high, and must never cause leg cramps and limping.
The majority of people will not even notice a high TSH until it reaches 10 or more.
The cramp in the calf was getting worse with exertion. It once went away, and I went for a jog. After 5 minutes I had to stop, and slowly limp home.
And I was limping for the next day.
The doctor got very alerted and said that something was very wrong, and sent me immediately to have a leg ultrasound to check for blood clots. Of course there were no clots.
He then sent me to the neurologist who only said that my muscle was tense in the calf.
And prescibed a course of magnet therapy, which is pseudoscience, but is sadly practiced widely in Russia's state-owned outpatient clinics.
You just stick a leg in a magnet, and then they turn on the electric power. This is preposterous.
So I was limping and limping until I decided to go to an endocrinologist on my own initiative. She ordered a full panel to check for everything that could be checked, and found this elevated TSH.
 
5:35 PM
@CowperKettle When I was sick last year I had a very low TSH (0.007%) but that didn't make me hotter. I'm not sure how this agent works, since during that period my heart rate was astronomically high, around 100 bpm while resting (about twice the normal for me). You'd think a high heart rate would heat up the body.
 
5:45 PM
It's weird, because if you have a high Thyroid Stimulation Hormone score, shouldn't that mean your thyroid is overactive? I don't understand this. For a long time I thought TSH stood for Thyroid Suppression Hormone, based on my experience with having almost none.
When I first started getting sick I noticed that an easy bike ride (50 km, little climbing) made my HR shoot up to 145 bpm from a normal of around 100-110. Very scary.
 
6:37 PM
> So, long story short I started writing a symphony. And normally I try to avoid publishing unfinished pieces, but I don't want to have to go through and completely rewrite a movement of a symphony. So, I beg of you to please give me feedback. I have never written sy2mphony or symphonic work.
Awwww.
You almost had me there.
But then the very last sentence you just couldn't be bothered to read.
So why should I now.
N. B.: the symphony in question is 8:11 long, and after the 0:58 mark, it's all just empty bars.
Tutti tacent.
So do I.
 
7:02 PM
@Robusto No, TSH reacts to the levels of thyroid hormones. It's cybernetics. If your thyroid is overactive, for instance, if you have hyperthyroidism, TSH will drop close to zero.
And if your thyroid is underactive, TSH will increase above the normal range, which is about 0.5 to 3.0.
In order to force the thyroid into producing more hormones.
Normally, TSH should not drop close to zero.
I did not know that during disease it might do so.
It's amazing that a mere 150 years ago we did not know anything about these regulation systems in the body.
 
@CowperKettle The endocrinologist said the virus I had damaged my thyroid. Luckily, it recovered over the course of a few months.
But it was weeks before I got to talk to an endocrinologist, and none of the "regular" doctors came up with a thyroid diagnosis.
 
8:08 PM
@Robusto Looks like in some aspects Russian healthcare might be better. But then I live in a big city. Maybe it's way worse in small towns.
In Russia you can order any kind of a blood test you want, without a doctor.
And you can buy a lot of drugs without going to the doctor.
Which is bad in terms of promoting antibiotic-resistant bacteria, because people start eating antibiotics for every cold.
 
8:29 PM
I think in America they also take lots of antibiotics.
Much more than here.
 
@CowperKettle Well, you have to know what kind of blood test you will need. Which task I usually trust a physician to do competently, as I am entirely incompetent in that area.
 
8:52 PM
The doctors I saw initially tried treating me for my cough with antibiotics and a steroid (which made my heart rate go through the roof). It was only after I went to the ER that I finally got a blood test for TSH.
But the thing that pissed me off about the primary-care doc was that I told him about the high heart rate and he said "We don't worry about heart rate unless it's over 100 bpm at rest." (Mine was coming at 98 in the doctor's office.) Never mind that that was double my normal rate. And excuse me, but 100 bpm at rest ought to be a sign that something is seriously wrong anyway.
 
9:07 PM
@Robusto That sounds pretty green
But who am I kidding, even seasoned doctors sometimes look so chill when they shouldn't be. Maybe it's even part of their training
 
@M.A.R. Which is why I switched primary care providers.
 
@Robusto Forget about that, are you doing okay?
 
Oh yeah. All this happened at the outbreak of the Covid thing. I was better by May last year.
 
Well I've taken so much steroids I've probably made even my flora steroid-resistant
 
Heh. Have you had bad side effects?
 
9:12 PM
My face looks chubby
Like I'm 280 pounds or something
A bit jowly, the cheeks look fine
 
Wow. Do you have to keep taking them?
 
Well yeah, but the dose is much lower now
So nothing too exotic
Prednisolone also impairs healing a bit, so cuts leave marks for longer than they should
And maybe it does raise my heart rate a little bit, but not noticeably so.
My other medication is making me go bald, OTOH
 
@M.A.R. That's what I was given. I have a strong heart from all the exercise I do, and it was just hammering away at 120 bpm in the ER.
@M.A.R. Which one is that?
 
Well, used to, again . . . I now have a high forehead but no shiny tops
@Robusto The more badass immunosuppressors; Mycophenolate mofetil (Brand name probably Cell Cept, I wouldn't know what's trending over there), and Tacrolimus (Prograf)
 
Yeesh. My sympathies.
 
9:16 PM
Nah, it's become so routine, I have to remember to take them actually
All the awe was for a couple of years ago
______
YouTube captains crack me up
 
Captains? I don't know the term in the context of YouTube.
 
Captions, brainfart
I was distracted and my mind replaced a word from Band of Brothers
Which apparently Mitch hasn't even watched! I don't believe him, to be sure
 
You never know about @Mitch.
 
Found it!
 
lol, looks like someone left autocorrect on
 
9:32 PM
There are also videos that contain farts which it interprets as "applause"
 
There are many ways to signal approval. Clapping, whistles, cheers—why not farts?
Especially for one of this guy's performances:
Joseph Pujol (June 1, 1857 – August 8, 1945), best known by his stage name Le Pétomane (, French pronunciation: ​[ləpetɔman]), was a French flatulist (professional farter) and entertainer. He was famous for his remarkable control of the abdominal muscles, which enabled him to seemingly fart at will. His stage name combines the French verb péter, "to fart" with the -mane, "-maniac" suffix, which translates to "fartomaniac". The profession is also referred to as "flatulist", "farteur", or "fartiste".It was a common misconception that Joseph Pujol passed intestinal gas as part of his stage performance...
 
"flatulist", I know that word, probably from another Wikipedia article
 
It almost sounds like Wikipedia is trolling us.
 
10:10 PM
> Q. How many art directors does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A. Does it have to be a light bulb?
 
Hah.
Our curfew has been extended to 30 March.
Prime Minister and Minister of Healthcare.
 
@Cerberus What are the limits of the curfew?
 
21.00–4.30.
Do you have a curfew?
 
No.
 
Meanwhile, daycare and high schools and barbers have reopened.
 
10:12 PM
Kind of a leaky boat, no?
 
Curfew was supposed to be a last resort, to be lifted first of all.
As it violates several important civil rights, which does not apply to the other rules.
 
@M.A.R. never seen it. Probably some kind of WWII series with a handful of actors that are well known for other things. Like Shaving Ryan's Privates or some other drama
@Robusto a leaky boat raises all other ships, or something
 
Thank you, Mrs. Malaprop.
 
@Robusto I'm pretty transparent. I mean that's how pulse oximeters work
 
We saw right through you.
 
10:19 PM
We got one for fun and lately I have like 50% SatO2 and pulse 30.
I'm not sure if that's good
But really I think it doesn't work well
95% is 'concerning'
 
Yeah, so I hear.
Different Pulse 02 for different folks.
 

« first day (3768 days earlier)      last day (1137 days later) »