I used an iPod touch for calling over WiFi for years. It worked just fine, as long as one had a WiFi connection. Do it!

This was from April ‘22. Why don’t we have these pants by now?

Early research done during a previous epidemic demonstrated definitively how airborne transmission occurs, and how masking and to a lesser degree ventilation of indoor spaces could prevent transmission. This research was misinterpreted until SARS-CoV-2, when the research was reexamined. Masks, and other forms of air filtration work to prevent transmission of airborne pathogens. The number of people sickened and killed by COVID-19 was increased by the policies of the trump administration, and by the politicization of masking, a scientifically proven means to prevent transmission of airborne diseases. The trump administration has ‘blood on its hands’ for this action. And trump, and the others involved should be tried for these treasonous crimes. Please vote to make sure that their coup in progress doesn’t destroy democracy in the US and elsewhere.

Brilliant! Yet another reason, scientifically backed, that we should plant MOAR trees!

Thanks! I’ll give it a gander. I was off hiking today, and used some crappy app to track my progress. I know there’s an open source ware that can do it, without invading my privacy; it’s time to start using that ‘ware.

Bingo! This is the way. I only open chrome when I need to log into a google/ alphabet site on the unlikely occasion. And close it immediately after.

Is that a golden shower thought?

Thanks for asking. I was using incorrect terminology. It’s the Influenza B/Yamagata lineage which has probably gone extinct. According to this paper in The Lancet : https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(24)00066-1/fulltext

The B/Victoria lineage persists. B/Yamagata has not been confirmed since March 2020 according to this paper : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9524051/

This paper from Nature goes into it a bit more, in particular wrt implications for vaccines: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-021-00642-4

Yep, this is why I will continue to wear a mask when indoors with other people. Masking, distancing, hand washing, and isolation when sick; simple behavioral changes that have already made two strains of influenza go extinct.

Not everyone has had Covid. And every thing is always changing. It’s because of research like this, which came out around Feb 2024, and lots of other research on post-viral syndromes, that I will continue to be cautious. And recommend to anyone that is willing to listen that they can significantly reduce, even nearly eliminate the chances of getting an URI by taking four or five simple, inexpensive measures.

1. Handwashing
2. Distancing
3. Masking
4. Isolation if sick and
5. Neti washing with salt and a small amount of soap, e.g. liquid Castile soap like Dr. Bronners. Also some additional benefit in viral activity reduction can be had from Iota Carrageenan, and/or xylitol.

And methods have been worked out to load passengers smoothly and efficiently. Alternate sides, every other row, if I recall correctly, leaves plenty of space and time. But nobody uses this.

If I’m in a mirthful mood, sometimes I will wave my hands in a magical gesture, causing the door to open before me, as I enter the grocery store.

Asimov’s and Analog magazines still exist. Short stories, not book length, tho’.

Shiny

Good Bot!

Robust Weakening of the Gulf Stream During the Past Four Decades Observed in the Florida Straits https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105170

Plain Language Summary

The Gulf Stream is a major ocean current located off the East Coast of the United States. It carries a tremendous amount of seawater and along with it heat, carbon, and other ocean constituents. Because of this, the Gulf Stream plays an important role in weather and climate, influencing phenomena as seemingly unrelated as sea level along coastal Florida and temperature and precipitation over continental Europe. Given how important this ocean current is to science and society, scientists have tried to determine whether the Gulf Stream has undergone significant changes under global warming, but so far, they have not reached a firm conclusion. Here we report our effort to synthesize available Gulf Stream observations from the Florida Straits near Miami, and to assess whether and how the Gulf Stream transport there has changed since 1982. We conclude with a high degree of confidence that Gulf Stream transport has indeed slowed by about 4% in the past 40 years, the first conclusive, unambiguous observational evidence that this ocean current has undergone significant change in the recent past. Future studies should try to identify the cause of this change.

PM2.5s have been associated with dementia, yet again.

Literature Citation: Different Emission Sources and Incident Dementia in the US doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.3300