Monday, April 26, 2021
I had 1:1 counseling sessions with my local bird experts and garden center staff this weekend. As measured by the numbers of birds feeding and plant survival time, we shall see if their advice helps bend nature to my will. I am often amused at the delta between my success at kidney doctoring and horticultural skills. Maybe I need a more complex payment system to incentivize my plant-care performance? (And, if I just had an electronic health record system for my plants‽)
-----
CDC National Hospitalization trend data
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#hospitalizations
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=casesf
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Vaccine Tracker
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends
-----
The CDC's weekly review covers the seven days ending on 4/23/21. Note that the CDC's data lags through the weekend. Nevertheless, it is comforting to read a bit of commentary about stable hospitalization and falling case rates. The falling vaccination rates are concerning.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html
Eric Topol was exploring the data over the weekend as well.
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1386431599223312387
Just a reminder that much of the world is still having an awful time with COVID - the images and data from India are heartbreaking and scary.
https://apnews.com/article/health-india-coronavirus-8788a4dadc2103ec30f40111dec92f15
and
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-25/u-s-to-consider-sending-india-unused-vaccine-doses-fauci-says
The NY Times offered this article on thinking about masks and activities late last week:
Dr. Marr uses a simple two-out-of-three rule for deciding when to wear a mask in public spaces or when she doesn't know everyone's vaccination status. "If you're outdoors, you either need to be distanced or masked," she said. "If you're not outdoors, you need to be distanced and masked.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/well/live/covid-masks-outdoors.html
Based on Dr. Fauci's comments on the Sunday news programs sounds like the CDC will be revising its outdoor mask guidance shortly.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/fauci-expects-cdc-to-revise-mask-guidelines-says-covid-19-transmission-risk-outdoors-is-really-low
Here are more compilations of data on breakthrough infections. Rates are very low, asymptomatic, and fewer than anticipated.
https://slate.com/technology/2021/04/covid-19-vaccine-breakthrough-infections-cdc-data.html
commentary
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1385233588132581380
Here is more reason to convince the hesitant to get vaccinated from the N.Y. Times. "The health effects of Covid-19 not only can stretch for months but appear to increase the risk of death and chronic medical conditions, even in people who were never sick enough to be hospitalized, a large new study finds."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/health/covid-patients-health-risks-long-term.html
Here is the Nature article, which looked at new problems, meds, and labs in the 6-months following a COVID diagnosis in the Veterans Affairs database.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03553-9
From the article:
"Our [study] identifies incident sequalae in the respiratory system and several others including nervous system and neurocognitive disorders, mental health disorders, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, malaise, fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, and anemia. We [found] increased [use of] pain medications, antidepressants, anxiolytics, antihypertensives, and oral hypoglycemics and evidence of laboratory abnormalities in multiple organ systems." Ouch.
Infographic of the day: Macaron Troubleshooting
Thanks to my older son, we have s'more's macarons in our kitchen as of last night.
https://i1.wp.com/www.piesandtacos.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Copy-of-Macaron-Troubleshooting-1.png
from
https://www.piesandtacos.com/macaron-troubleshooting/
---Bonus Round - Analog Computers.
One of my guilty pleasures is YouTube surfing on the weekends. The videos are often odd, mediocre, and a precursor to napping. However, I found myself wide awake and focused watching Smarter Every Day's 2019 interview with retired NASA engineer Luke Talley (and now guide at the Huntsville, AL US Space & Rocket Center). It is 40 minutes of geek bliss. Luke, who must be in his 70s, can rattle off incredible details of how the analog computers guiding the Atlas V rocket were built and worked. And he is witty. And to think, there are thousands of people like Luke working in the space program today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mMK6iSZsAs
here is a shorter version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI-JW2UIAG0&t=187s
NASA has an oral history program and interviewed Luke in 2012
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/ltalley.pdf
"We had a 16,000-word memory on the Saturn Instrument Unit computer. We could do 8,600 operations per second on a good day. A cell phone probably does three or four million operations a second. It was not integrated circuits as we think of today. They were hybrid circuits where you had little discreet chips that are transistors and then they are mounted on a carrier circuit of some sort. These pieces all tie together. The computer drew eighty watts and would actually flow coolant through it to keep it cool."
On the NASA-based trickle-down of tech
"What they did was make this circuit, this component, that comes off the same line as the components that you buy at Radio Shack. It is just the screening that you go through after you make it. If it passes all these screens, it goes into the NASA bucket. If it passes all but the last two or three, it goes in the military bucket. If it passes all but one or two, it goes in an automobile or your stereo. If it fails the first one, it goes to Radio Shack. That is kind of the way it worked. (Both Laugh) I am not picking on Radio Shack, but that is kind of the way it was."
And, while we're fanboying on NASA engineers, learn about Margaret Hamilton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_(software_engineer)
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
I had 1:1 counseling sessions with my local bird experts and garden center staff this weekend. As measured by the numbers of birds feeding and plant survival time, we shall see if their advice helps bend nature to my will. I am often amused at the delta between my success at kidney doctoring and horticultural skills. Maybe I need a more complex payment system to incentivize my plant-care performance? (And, if I just had an electronic health record system for my plants‽)
-----
CDC National Hospitalization trend data
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#hospitalizations
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=casesf
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Vaccine Tracker
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends
-----
The CDC's weekly review covers the seven days ending on 4/23/21. Note that the CDC's data lags through the weekend. Nevertheless, it is comforting to read a bit of commentary about stable hospitalization and falling case rates. The falling vaccination rates are concerning.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html
Eric Topol was exploring the data over the weekend as well.
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1386431599223312387
Just a reminder that much of the world is still having an awful time with COVID - the images and data from India are heartbreaking and scary.
https://apnews.com/article/health-india-coronavirus-8788a4dadc2103ec30f40111dec92f15
and
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-25/u-s-to-consider-sending-india-unused-vaccine-doses-fauci-says
The NY Times offered this article on thinking about masks and activities late last week:
Dr. Marr uses a simple two-out-of-three rule for deciding when to wear a mask in public spaces or when she doesn't know everyone's vaccination status. "If you're outdoors, you either need to be distanced or masked," she said. "If you're not outdoors, you need to be distanced and masked.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/well/live/covid-masks-outdoors.html
Based on Dr. Fauci's comments on the Sunday news programs sounds like the CDC will be revising its outdoor mask guidance shortly.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/fauci-expects-cdc-to-revise-mask-guidelines-says-covid-19-transmission-risk-outdoors-is-really-low
Here are more compilations of data on breakthrough infections. Rates are very low, asymptomatic, and fewer than anticipated.
https://slate.com/technology/2021/04/covid-19-vaccine-breakthrough-infections-cdc-data.html
commentary
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1385233588132581380
Here is more reason to convince the hesitant to get vaccinated from the N.Y. Times. "The health effects of Covid-19 not only can stretch for months but appear to increase the risk of death and chronic medical conditions, even in people who were never sick enough to be hospitalized, a large new study finds."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/health/covid-patients-health-risks-long-term.html
Here is the Nature article, which looked at new problems, meds, and labs in the 6-months following a COVID diagnosis in the Veterans Affairs database.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03553-9
From the article:
"Our [study] identifies incident sequalae in the respiratory system and several others including nervous system and neurocognitive disorders, mental health disorders, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, malaise, fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, and anemia. We [found] increased [use of] pain medications, antidepressants, anxiolytics, antihypertensives, and oral hypoglycemics and evidence of laboratory abnormalities in multiple organ systems." Ouch.
Infographic of the day: Macaron Troubleshooting
Thanks to my older son, we have s'more's macarons in our kitchen as of last night.
https://i1.wp.com/www.piesandtacos.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Copy-of-Macaron-Troubleshooting-1.png
from
https://www.piesandtacos.com/macaron-troubleshooting/
---Bonus Round - Analog Computers.
One of my guilty pleasures is YouTube surfing on the weekends. The videos are often odd, mediocre, and a precursor to napping. However, I found myself wide awake and focused watching Smarter Every Day's 2019 interview with retired NASA engineer Luke Talley (and now guide at the Huntsville, AL US Space & Rocket Center). It is 40 minutes of geek bliss. Luke, who must be in his 70s, can rattle off incredible details of how the analog computers guiding the Atlas V rocket were built and worked. And he is witty. And to think, there are thousands of people like Luke working in the space program today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mMK6iSZsAs
here is a shorter version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI-JW2UIAG0&t=187s
NASA has an oral history program and interviewed Luke in 2012
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/ltalley.pdf
"We had a 16,000-word memory on the Saturn Instrument Unit computer. We could do 8,600 operations per second on a good day. A cell phone probably does three or four million operations a second. It was not integrated circuits as we think of today. They were hybrid circuits where you had little discreet chips that are transistors and then they are mounted on a carrier circuit of some sort. These pieces all tie together. The computer drew eighty watts and would actually flow coolant through it to keep it cool."
On the NASA-based trickle-down of tech
"What they did was make this circuit, this component, that comes off the same line as the components that you buy at Radio Shack. It is just the screening that you go through after you make it. If it passes all these screens, it goes into the NASA bucket. If it passes all but the last two or three, it goes in the military bucket. If it passes all but one or two, it goes in an automobile or your stereo. If it fails the first one, it goes to Radio Shack. That is kind of the way it worked. (Both Laugh) I am not picking on Radio Shack, but that is kind of the way it was."
And, while we're fanboying on NASA engineers, learn about Margaret Hamilton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_(software_engineer)
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
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