246 Matching Annotations
  1. Last 7 days
    1. It will be seen from the foregoing that care isrequired in the appKcation of the card system,and that neglect must sooner or later lead to failure. There wasindeed a time when it seemed doubtful whether the card systemwould survive the first attempts. It was even tried and abandonedby some. These early failures were in the main due to the absenceof expert labour and to the higher order of accuracy required ascompared with the book system. The systems were not thenplanned out with that care that is bestowed upon them now. Onesystem would be started and presently there would be a decisionto alter it so as to fall in with riper experience. In the absenceof one system consistently adhered to the files soon got into achaotic condition until at last they had to be abandoned, for infact they had become useless.

      This sort of failure is still seen today with people setting up note taking systems in a variety of digital environments.

  2. Feb 2024
    1. Zwei neue Studien aufgrund einer genaueren Modellierung der Zusammenhänge von Erhitzung und Niederschlagen: Es lässt sich besser voraussagen, wie höhere Temperaturen die Bildung von Wolkenclustern in den Tropen und damit Starkregenereignisse fördern. Außerdem lässt sich erfassen, wie durch die Verbrennung von fossilen Brennstoffen festgesetzten Aerosole bisher die Niederschlagsmenge in den USA reduziert und damit einen Effekt der globalen Erhitzung verdeckt haben.

      https://www.derstandard.de/story/3000000208852/klimawandel-sorgt-fuer-staerkeren-regen

      Bold

      Studie: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adj6801

      Studie: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45504-8

  3. Jan 2024
    1. If you have studied the historical campaign, you may wonder if the same operational plan can be duplicated in the game—with the same results.  The answer is yes.  The unit capabilities and game mechanics allow for a repeat of history, but there is always the other player to consider.  As with history, the two sides have nearly the same number of infantry divisions, tanks, mobile units and artillery.  The German advantage is most evident in airpower—the Luftwaffe dramatically outclassed the Allied air forces in the campaign (and so it is with the game).  Only the German player who knows exactly how to employ their units with careful attention to the movement and combat sequences, event card use, the hidden unit dynamic, and especially the air rules—will be able to duplicate the historic success of the 1940 Wehrmacht.  And even then, the historic result was only possible because the Allied response played almost perfectly into Germany’s hand.  But there is more than one path to a decisive result, and the game allows for multiple campaign plans for both sides.  The rules are set up to mirror the operational, command, and doctrinal differences between the two opposing sides, but the contest is designed simply to re-create the same historic “canvas” upon which both players may then paint—the issue will be decided by a combination of player decisions and the fortunes and fog of war.
  4. Dec 2023
    1. in my view the biggest the most dangerous phenomenon on the human on our planet is uh human stupidity it's not artificial intelligence
      • for: meme - human stupidity is more dangerous than artificial intelligence

      • meme: human stupidity is more dangerous than artificial intelligence

      • author:Nikola Danaylov
      • date: 2021
    1. File over app File over app is a philosophy: if you want to create digital artifacts that last, they must be files you can control, in formats that are easy to retrieve and read. Use tools that give you this freedom. File over app is an appeal to tool makers: accept that all software is ephemeral, and give people ownership over their data. In the fullness of time, the files you create are more important than the tools you use to create them. Apps are ephemeral, but your files have a chance to last. The pyramids of Egypt contain hieroglyphs that were chiseled in stone thousands of years ago. The ideas hieroglyphs convey are more important than the type of chisel that was used to carve them. The world is filled with ideas from generations past, transmitted through many mediums, from clay tablets to manuscripts, paintings, sculptures, and tapestries. These artifacts are objects that you can touch, hold, own, store, preserve, and look at. To read something written on paper all you need is eyeballs. Today, we are creating innumerable digital artifacts, but most of these artifacts are out of our control. They are stored on servers, in databases, gated behind an internet connection, and login to a cloud service. Even the files on your hard drive use proprietary formats that make them incompatible with older systems. Paraphrasing something I wrote recently: > If you want your writing to still be readable on a computer from the 2060s or 2160s, it’s important that your notes can be read on a computer from the 1960s. You should want the files you create to be durable, not only for posterity, but also for your future self. You never know when you might want to go back to something you created years or decades ago. Don’t lock your data into a format you can’t retrieve. These days I write using an app I help make called Obsidian (@obsdmd), but it’s a delusion to think it will last forever. The app will eventually become obsolete. It’s the plain text files I create that are designed to last. Who knows if anyone will want to read them besides me, but future me is enough of an audience to make it worthwhile.3:05 PM · Jul 2, 2023·1.1M Views

      檔案(媒介、載具)優先於應用工具

      — Obsidian CEO

      test

    1. Confessions Of A Digital Hoarder Taylor hatmaker / Jan 24, 2013 / Web <img width="610" height="400" src="https://readwrite.com/wp-content/themes/rw/images/single-featured-default.jpg" alt="Confessions Of A Digital Hoarder" /> <img width="26" height="26" src="https://readwrite.com/wp-content/themes/rw/images/fb-icon-light.png" /> <img width="26" height="26" src="https://readwrite.com/wp-content/themes/rw/images/twitter-icon-light.png" /> <img width="26" height="26" src="https://readwrite.com/wp-content/themes/rw/images/linkedin.png" /> <img width="26" height="26" src="https://readwrite.com/wp-content/themes/rw/images/email-share-icon.png" /> <img width="500" height="282" decoding="async" src="https://readwrite.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/MTIyMjk0Nzg0NDMyODMzMTI2.jpg"> In the dawning era of persistent digital experience, an obsessive documentarian like myself should flourish. In my pre-Web, analog life, I was the one with shoeboxes of photos, scrawling notes and lists on anything scrawlable. But the advent of the cloud – the arrival of multi-gigabyte virtual storage lockers, auto-syncing, and bookmarklets, oh bookmarklets! – has taken it all too far. My sanity is buckling under the collective desire to keep everything on the Internet. All of these little processes, saving that New Yorker essay to Pocket, poring over my archived tweets, figuring out which corner of the cloud I stuffed that then-genius story idea in… it makes me crazy and I hate it and I’m done. I come to you teetering on the existential irony of it all – the recursive madness of obsessively chronicling my life in lieu of living it.  Is there a Hoarders for the Web? Sign me up. The Enabler: Evernote One tool landed me in this mess to begin with: Evernote. I turned to Evernote to subtract the paralysis of where do I keep this?

      點頭如搗蒜

  5. Nov 2023
    1. One such way that social media accounts are exploited is when users are enticed to download malicious browser extensions that request read and write permissions on all websites. These users are not aware that later on, typically a week or so after being installed, the extensions will then download some background Javascript malware from its command and control site to run on the user's browser.
    1. Die englische Regierung hat in der letzten Oktoberwoche 27 Lizenzen zur Öl- und Gasförderung in der Nordsee vergeben. George Monbiot konfrontiert diese Entscheidung mit aktuellen Erkenntnissen zum sechsten Massenaussterben und dem drohenden Zusammenbruch lebensunterstützender Systeme des Planeten https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/31/flickering-earth-systems-warning-act-now-rishi-sunak-north-sea

  6. Oct 2023
    1. What interests us far more is that these apprentice writers have interesting ideas to convey, and manage to support their arguments well.

      only partial match: the most important thing is the information (more than presentation/formatting)

    1. we: (1) Introduce a more inclusive set of terminology to improve future discourse on major transitions (Figure 1), and (2) explore how major ecosystem transitions arise within broad frameworks
      • for: MET, METs, METs - more inclusive terminology

      • paraphrase

        • the authors
          • Introduce a more inclusive set of terminology to improve future discourse on major transitions, and
          • explore how major ecosystem transitions arise within broad frameworks that can include
            • multiple Fusions and Information Leaps,
            • morphological innovations,
            • catalytic actors and events, and
            • variation in the selective processes involved.
  7. Sep 2023
    1. So all of these are necessary wedges to add to have a chance of delivering 1.5, if you assume, what I think my IPCC colleagues would call an orderly phase out of the fossil fuel economy. But, of course, I would like to turn that around to say, well let's take an Earth system perspective on this, 00:22:02 and just look at the tipping points, the buffering capacities, how the planetary boundaries are doing, and build it up from that perspective. And then you end up with the result that shows that the budget is gone.
      • for: more aggressive target, question, question - fossil fuel phase out
      • comment

        • the current approach sets a target of 1.5 Deg C to reach,
        • the science needs to continuously update the policy.
        • Unfortunately, this means our target will need to be LESS THAN 1.5 Deg C
      • question

        • if there is no budget left anymore, that puts politicians in a bind in how to achieve an orderly phase out.
        • nobody seems to have the answer
        • what do we do?
  8. Aug 2023
    1. block a text with the cursor

      This is how an annotated text looks like. You can use markdown to comment as well. Even an equation such as $$e = m \cdot c^2$$ will render nicely.

  9. Jul 2023
    1. Die Unterstützung der deutschen Bevölkerung für die Ziele der Klimabewegung hat sich, einer Umfrage im Auftrag des Vereins More in Common zufolge, in den vergangenen beiden Jahren halbiert. Nur noch 34% unterstützen danach die Ziele der Bewegung. Nur 8% haben Verständnis für die Protestformen der letzten Generation. https://taz.de/Umfrage-zu-Klimaaktivisten/!5951393/

    1. .

      Image description

      Whenever I open the annotations on the right side of the screen, a trailing period appears in the text. It looks like this:

      Collaborate with

      anyone, anywhere

      .

  10. Jun 2023
  11. Mar 2023
  12. Feb 2023
    1. The long-term consequences of Russia’s war are less clear. But experts are concerned it may also lock in more future fossil fuel dependence as places like Europe search for replacements for Russian fuel.
      • Russian war may increase usage of fuels
      • this could make reaching the 1.5 Deg C target more difficult
  13. Jan 2023
    1. High Country News, Rebecca Nagle reported that for every dollar the U.S. government spent on eradicating Native languages in past centuries, it has spent less than 7 cents on revitalizing them in the 21st century. 

      !- United States indigenous language : ststistic - US Govt spent less than 7 cents for every dolloar spent eradicating indigenous language in the past - Citation : report by Rebecca Nagle in the High Country News: https://www.hcn.org/issues/51.21-22/indigenous-affairs-the-u-s-has-spent-more-money-erasing-native-languages-than-saving-them

    1. Much of what they do can be done without eliciting the ire of nation-states. Bike shares, pedestrian zones, insulated buildings, renovated port facilities, congestion fees, car emission limits, furnace specifications, fuel upgrades (from oil to gas to alternative energy) and white paint roofs, for example, are only some of the innovations city officials can promote to effect significant reductions in emissions and pollutants.

      !- cities actions : can be done without eliciting ire of nation state - bike shares - pedestrian zones - insulated buildings - renovated ports - congestion fees - car emission limits - furnace specifications - fuel upgrades - white paint roofs - cities are the right level for focusing on effective global climate action

    2. here states have grown dysfunctional and sovereignty has become an obstacle to global democratic action—as when the United States (or China, France, or Canada) refuses to compromise its sovereignty by permitting the international monitoring of carbon emissions on its soil—cities have increasingly proven themselves capable of deliberative democratic action on behalf of sustainability, as they have actually done in intercity associations like the C-40 or ICLEI. If presidents and prime ministers cannot summon the will to work for a sustainable planet, mayors can. If citizens of the province and nation think ideologically and divisively, neighbors and citizens of the towns and cities think publicly and cooperatively.

      !- claim : cities can mitigate corrupted democracy and foster global cooperation - ie. C40 or ICLEI (also Covenant of Mayors) - cities are not plagued by the problems of state actors who cannot reach any meaningful agreement at COP conferences

  14. Dec 2022
  15. Nov 2022
    1. In our system, events are generated by physical hosts and follow different routes to the event storage. Therefore, the order in which they appear in the storage and become retrievable - via the events API - does not always correspond to the order in which they occur. Consequently, this system behavior makes straight forward implementation of event polling miss some events. The page of most recent events returned by the events API may not contain all the events that occurred at that time because some of them could still be on their way to the storage engine. When the events arrive and are eventually indexed, they are inserted into the already retrieved pages which could result in the event being missed if the pages are accessed too early (i.e. before all events for the page are available). To ensure that all your events are retrieved and accounted for please implement polling the following way:
  16. Oct 2022
    1. I'm afraid you missed the joke ;-) While you believe spaces are required on both sides of an em dash, there is no consensus on this point. For example, most (but not all) American authorities say /no/ spaces should be used. That's the joke. In writing a line about "only one way to do it", I used a device (em dash) for which at least two ways to do it (with spaces, without spaces) are commonly used, neither of which is obvious -- and deliberately picked a third way just to rub it in. This will never change ;-)
  17. Sep 2022
    1. neural additive model (NAM) [15]. The NAM is a differentiable (gradient-based) additive model which can adapt as the estimated latent treatment benefits are updated during training.
    2. S-learner strategy

      What is S-learner strategy?

    3. GAMs [12]

      learn more about generalized additive models

    1. When to the station they were taken,cna they were charged of taking life,When searching Carey they found upon him,‘Mr. Sieenson’s pocket-Knife

      The knife found on Carey was Stevenson's pocket knife that he had on him

  18. Aug 2022
  19. Jul 2022
    1. It really only takes one head scratching issue to suck up all the time it saves you over a year, and in my experience these head scratchers happen much more often than once a year. So in that sense it's not worth it, and the first time I run into an issue with it, I disable it completely.
    1. “We have certain events to relate,” Mr. Franklin proceeded; “and we have certain persons concerned in those events who are capable of relating them. Starting from these plain facts, the idea is that we should all write the story of the Moonstone in turn–as far as our own personal experience extends, and no farther. We must begin by showing how the Diamond first fell into the hands of my uncle Herncastle, when he was serving in India fifty years since. This prefatory narrative I have already got by me in the form of an old family paper, which relates the necessary particulars on the authority of an eye-witness. The next thing to do is to tell how the Diamond found its way into my aunt’s house in Yorkshire, two years ago, and how it came to be lost in little more than twelve hours afterwards. Nobody knows as much as you do, Betteredge, about what went on in the house at that time. So you must take the pen in hand, and start the story.”

      Mr. Franklin suggests that more first- and third-person narrators i.e., characters in the story, be included to tell the tale about the Diamond and its disappearance. But how reliable is the evidence that each one has to offer? This is probably at the heart of this detective story.

  20. Jun 2022
  21. May 2022
  22. Apr 2022
    1. What makes for a great reading experience? Is it just the number of pages one reads in a day? Or is it something deeper, more intentional, more fulfilling? We believe it is the latter. So, if you are also wondering, how to read books more deeply and intricately? Here’s a list of ways you can get more out of a book you’re reading.
  23. Mar 2022
    1. The last note is that when binding commands to keyboard shortcuts it is often necessary to only have one command, not two commands connected with a pipe like we use above. You can accomplish this by invoking your piped command as a command string argumetn to a new shell like this:
  24. Feb 2022
    1. his suggests that successful problem solvingmay be a function of flexible strategy application in relation to taskdemands.” (Vartanian 2009, 57)

      Successful problem solving requires having the ability to adaptively and flexibly focus one's attention with respect to the demands of the work. Having a toolbelt of potential methods and combinatorially working through them can be incredibly helpful and we too often forget to explicitly think about doing or how to do that.

      This is particularly important in mathematics where students forget to look over at their toolbox of methods. What are the different means of proof? Some mathematicians will use direct proof during the day and indirect forms of proof at night. Look for examples and counter-examples. Why not look at a problem from disparate areas of mathematical thought? If topology isn't revealing any results, why not look at an algebraic or combinatoric approach?

      How can you put a problem into a different context and leverage that to your benefit?

  25. Jan 2022
    1. Shipping solved for your business Save time, money, and headaches with intelligent software and shipping services designed for small and midsize e-commerce companies.

      More rational

  26. Nov 2021
    1. I would also like to talk about bathroom we have bathrooms for women bathrooms for men. But we don’t have bathrooms for People of the Transgender community and we also don’t have private feeding places for people who have baby. There is a free hands free sanitary napkins mishen in one of the bathrooms. It should be in all of the women’s and non gender bathrooms. This is also a right and for people who are having a hard time in school more homework help in all departments tutors. Also preparing us for the future and giving us more of an option for a gap year instead of pushing us out of the nest. Sometimes we are not ready for jobs.

  27. Oct 2021
    1. List only the first author’s name followed by “et al.” in every citation, even the first, unless doing so would create ambiguity between different sources.

      APA 7 3 or more authors

  28. Sep 2021
  29. Aug 2021
    1. In everyday usage, MST is often referred to as Mountain Time (MT) or the Mountain Time Zone. This can add a bit of confusion as the term Mountain Time does not differentiate between standard time and Daylight Saving Time, so Mountain Time switches between MST and MDT in areas that use DST during part of the year.
  30. Jul 2021
  31. datatracker.ietf.org datatracker.ietf.org
    1. The WebSocket Protocol is designed on the principle that there should be minimal framing (the only framing that exists is to make the protocol frame-based instead of stream-based and to support a distinction between Unicode text and binary frames). It is expected that metadata would be layered on top of WebSocket by the application Fette & Melnikov Standards Track [Page 9] RFC 6455 The WebSocket Protocol December 2011 layer, in the same way that metadata is layered on top of TCP by the application layer (e.g., HTTP). Conceptually, WebSocket is really just a layer on top of TCP that does the following: o adds a web origin-based security model for browsers o adds an addressing and protocol naming mechanism to support multiple services on one port and multiple host names on one IP address o layers a framing mechanism on top of TCP to get back to the IP packet mechanism that TCP is built on, but without length limits o includes an additional closing handshake in-band that is designed to work in the presence of proxies and other intermediaries Other than that, WebSocket adds nothing. Basically it is intended to be as close to just exposing raw TCP to script as possible given the constraints of the Web. It's also designed in such a way that its servers can share a port with HTTP servers, by having its handshake be a valid HTTP Upgrade request. One could conceptually use other protocols to establish client-server messaging, but the intent of WebSockets is to provide a relatively simple protocol that can coexist with HTTP and deployed HTTP infrastructure (such as proxies) and that is as close to TCP as is safe for use with such infrastructure given security considerations, with targeted additions to simplify usage and keep simple things simple (such as the addition of message semantics).
  32. Jun 2021
    1. Giving peers permission to engage in dialogue about race and holding a lofty expectation that they will stay engaged in these conversations throughout the semester or year is the first of the four agreements for courageous conversation. While initially, some participants may be eager to enter into these conversations, our experience indicates that the more personal and thus risky these topics get, the more difficult it is for participants to stay committed and engaged." Singleton and Hays

    2. "Courageous conversation is a strategy for breaking down racial tensions and raising racism as a topic of discussion that allows those who possess knowledge on particular topics to have the opportunity to share it, and those who do not have the knowledge to learn and grow from the experience." Singleton and Hays

  33. May 2021
    1. They feel more personal. It's no handwritten note, but it's much more personal than an over-designed email with the recipient's first name crammed somewhere inside.
  34. Apr 2021
    1. Screen and Tmux are used to add a session context to a pseudoterminal, making for a much more robust and versatile solution. For example, each provides terminal persistence, allowing a user to disconnect from one computer and then connect later from another computer.
    1. My wife's first description of playing Fjords was that it felt a bit like playing Othello, in that you had to think too far ahead. I don't see it that way. I think that the luck of the draw & the fact that a tile must be played if it can, means that you can't always plan too far ahead. Often you have to try to work out how to make use of what you've got.
    1. Sometimes it requires more luck than strategy to complete the levels because of the building queue system.
    1. I'll tell you my intention right away, because the language difference between us may offend you. For those things I don't understand, I apologize in advance (if you don't need my apology and feel that my apology is offensive to you, I firmly withdraw my apology).
  35. Mar 2021
    1. I don't understand why this isn't being considered a bigger deal by maintainrs/the community. Don't most Rails developers use SCSS? It's included by default in a new Rails app. Along with sprockets 4. I am mystified how anyone is managing to debug CSS in Rails at all these days, that this issue is being ignored makes sprockets seem like abandonware to me, or makes me wonder if nobody else is using sprockets 4, or what!
    1. Before a bug can be fixed, it has to be understood and reproduced. For every issue, a maintainer gets, they have to decipher what was supposed to happen and then spend minutes or hours piecing together their reproduction. Usually, they can’t get it right, so they have to ask for clarification. This back-and-forth process takes lots of energy and wastes everyone’s time. Instead, it’s better to provide an example app from the beginning. At the end of the day, would you rather maintainers spend their time making example apps or fixing issues?
    1. Another example: a list (<ul> or <ol>) should generally be used to group similar items (<li>). You could use a div for the group and a <span> for each item, and style each span to be on a separate line with a bullet point, and it might look the way you want. But "this is a list" conveys more information.
  36. Feb 2021
    1. Personally, I'm starting to think that the feature where it automatically adds xray.js to the document is more trouble than it's worth. I propose that we remove that automatic feature and just make it part of the install instructions that you need to add this line to your template/layout: <%= javascript_include_tag 'xray', nonce: true if Rails.env.development? %>
    1. Have you ever felt like a framework was getting in the way instead of helping you go faster? Maybe you’re stuck on some simple task that would be easy to do manually, but your framework is making you jump through configuration hoops. I end up getting lost in a sea of documentation (or no documentation), and the search for that one magical config key takes just a tad bit too long. It’s a productivity sink, and worse than the time delay it adds to my frustration throughout the day.
    1. Using a terminus to indicate a certain outcome - in turn - allows for much stronger interfaces across nested activities and less guessing! For example, in the new endpoint gem, the not_found terminus is then wired to a special “404 track” that handles the case of “model not found”. The beautiful thing here is: there is no guessing by inspecting ctx[:model] or the like - the not_found end has only one meaning!
    2. A major improvement here is the ability to maintain more than two explicit termini. In 2.0, you had the success and the failure termini (or “ends” as we used to call them). Now, additional ends such as not_found can be leveraged to communicate a non-binary outcome of your activity or operation.
    3. The new 2.1 version comes with a few necessary but reasonable changes in method signatures. As painful as that might sound to your Rails-spoiled ears, we preferred to fix design mistakes now before dragging them on forever.
    4. The new call API is much more consistent and takes away another thing we kept explaining to new users - an indicator for a flawed API.
    5. There is nothing wrong with building your own “service layer”, and many companies have left the Traiblazer track in the past years due to problems they had and that we think we now fixed.
    1. note that TRB source code modifications are not proprietary

      In other words, you can build on this software in your proprietary software but can't change the Trailblazer source unless you're willing to contribute it back.

      loophole: I wonder if this will actually just push people to move their code -- which at the core is/would be a direction modification to the source code - out to a separate module. That's so easy to do with Ruby, so this restriction hardly seems like it would have any effect on encouraging contributions.

    1. Ed Regis also reported that, as a student at Oxford, More “kept a heart-lung resuscitator in hisdorm room, just in case.”513More has also noted that his undergraduate dorm room was a source of fascination to many of his peers as it housed “several shelves of bottles and pills, and people would come to my room and goggle-eye at them.”

      This seems a bit neurotic, but perhaps I'm missing something.

    2. Extropymag was one of the two main mediums in which extropian ideas were circulated—the other was, of course, the Internet. The first issue of Extropyin 1988 had a print run of 50 and interest was scant. Speaking about the first editions, More recalls, “we basically forced them on people.”444By 1992,the editors were churning out 750 copies,445and in the subsequent Winter/Spring edition of 1993, the output more than trebled to 2,500.446In 1992 a separate newsletter, Exponent, was launched and circulated bi-monthly, and in 1993 Extropywas printed in colour for the first time. By 1995, the print run per issue was 4,500.447Althoughthese are ultimately small print numbers, every increase was seen by Extropy’s founding editors as an important milestone in the pursuit of what More referred to as the “inexorable advance”448of extropianism.

      These are interesting numbers to contemplate in terms of how few people have actually heard these ideas and arguments before in a serious way.

    1. cultural capital

      Introduced by Pierre Bourdieu in the 1970s, the concept has been utilized across a wide spectrum of contemporary sociological research. Cultural capital refers to ‘knowledge’ or ‘skills’ in the broadest sense. Thus, on the production side, cultural capital consists of knowledge about comportment (e.g., what are considered to be the right kinds of professional dress and attitude) and knowledge associated with educational achievement (e.g., rhetorical ability). On the consumption side, cultural capital consists of capacities for discernment or ‘taste’, e.g., the ability to appreciate fine art or fine wine—here, in other words, cultural capital refers to ‘social status acquired through the ability to make cultural distinctions,’ to the ability to recognize and discriminate between the often-subtle categories and signifiers of a highly articulated cultural code. I'm quoting here from (and also heavily paraphrasing) Scott Lash, ‘Pierre Bourdieu: Cultural Economy and Social Change’, in this reader.

  37. Jan 2021
    1. a triager would be very welcome; someone that can ask follow-up questions on issues, create test cases for the problems, and so on.
    2. Show me good PRs, bug triaging, documentation fixes, whatever and you're a candidate if you ask for it.
    1. Volkswagen, the world’s largest car maker, has outspent all rivals in a global bid by auto incumbents to beat Tesla. For years, industry leaders and analysts pointed to the German company as evidence that, once unleashed, the old guard’s raw financial power paired with decades of engineering excellence would make short work of Elon Musk’s scrappy startup. What they didn’t consider: Electric vehicles are more about software than hardware. And producing exquisitely engineered gas-powered cars doesn’t translate into coding savvy.

      Many thought Volkswagen would crush Tesla as soon as they put their weight behind an electric car initiative. What they didn't consider was that an electric car is more about software than it is about hardware.

    1. The CardLayout creates a store in context and the Card creates a standardized div container and registers it to the store so that the CardLayout has access to that DOM element. Then in afterUpdate you can move the DOM elements into columns and Svelte will not try to put them back where they go. It's a bit messy but it works.
    1. This is a by-product of the success of Ubuntu. Whether people like it or not, most software available for Linux will target Ubuntu first. There may be packages available later for other distros / systems, but on the whole, you can be sure a software developer will target Ubuntu if they target Linux.
    2. I’m not a dev either, so no Ubuntu fork, but I will perhaps be forced to look at Debian testing, without some advantages of Ubuntu - but now that Unity is gone (and I deeply regret it), gap would not be so huge anymore…
  38. Dec 2020
    1. According to the best estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 99.997 percent of individuals aged 19 and younger who contract coronavirus make a full recovery, 99.98 percent of those aged 20 to 49 make a full recovery, and 99.5 percent aged 50 to 69 fully recover.

      The takeaway: >99% of people age 0-69 infected with SARS-CoV-2 survive COVID based on the CDC's current best estimate of infection fatality ratio. A subset of those infected will suffer from continued symptoms even though they did not die from COVID.

      The claim: Greater than 99% of people age 0-69 fully recover from COVID-19.

      The evidence: This numbers align with the CDC's current best estimate of the infection fatality ratio (1). Infection fatality ratio is the number of people that die from a disease divided by the number of people who get the disease. These numbers do not account for people with symptoms such as lung damage, chronic fatigue, and mental illness which may follow a COVID infection (2, 3).

      In a study of 143 hospitalized patients from Italy after an average of 60.3 days, only 12.6% were symptom free (4). Per Mayo Clinic guidelines, long term effects can occur in those with mild symptoms but most often occur in severe cases (5). Mental health problems were diagnosed 14-90 days after COVID in 18.1% of COVID patients studied (3).

      A more accurate estimate of the number of people that fully recover may be obtained if the number of people who recovered without hospitalization is used. The numbers presented are the CDC's current best estimate of the number of people that survive COVID not the number of people that fully recover.

      Sources:

      1) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scenarios.html

      2) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02598-6

      3) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30462-4/fulltext

      4) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2768351/

      5) https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-long-term-effects/art-20490351

  39. Nov 2020
    1. The recommendation to wear surgical masks to supplement other public health measures did not reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate among wearers by more than 50% in a community with modest infection rates, some degree of social distancing, and uncommon general mask use.

      The takeaway: While minimal protection occurs when a mask is worn in a place where many others are not wearing a mask, community masking is associated with a reduction in COVID cases.

      The claim: In a community with modest infection rates, some social distancing, and most people not wearing masks, wearing a surgical mask did not reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate by more than 50%.

      The evidence: This study showed that wearing a mask in a community where most people did not wear a mask, did not reduce the risk of getting infected by 50%. Fewer COVID infections were reported in the mask group than in the unmasked group. This study agrees with a meta analysis which showed that masks resulted in a decrease in infections but did not prevent all infections (1) According to the CDC, seven studies have shown community level benefit when masking recommendations were made (2).

      When most in the community are not wearing masks, social distancing, and washing hands, wearing a mask alone provides minimal protection to the mask wearer. Community wide masking is associated with a reduction in COVID cases (2).

      Sources:

      1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29140516/

      2) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/masking-science-sars-cov2.html

    1. Unfortunately it is not just the semantic that is broken. There are lot of things.For example if you look at some of the examples (https://flutter.github.io/samples/#/) - you can see that indeed there are some div and p tags but it is not entirely normal DOM elements. For example you can't even select text anywhere on the screen. And there are more and more little things like that.Just to be clear - Flutter for web is great, I'm happy it exists, but it is not comparable to React/Vue or Svelte.IMO Flutter for web is good to post live examples of Flutter code or maybe some last-minute-boss-request to make a web version of existing app, but for not for full-blown web app. :)
    1. One last bonus: CSS variables can be written in a way that makes it easier for human programmers to understand. If you just see hex code #93e9be, you won’t know what color it produces, while --brand-green makes clear the purpose of the variable.
    1. An additional benefit is semantic identifiers. For example, --main-text-color is easier to understand than #00ff00, especially if this same color is also used in other contexts.
    1. Gov. Kristi Noem defended her hands-off approach to managing the deadly COVID-19 pandemic while addressing lawmakers earlier this week and called mandatory stay-at home orders "useless" in helping lower the spread.

      Take away: Lower COVID-19 spread occurred after stay-at home orders were issued. Room for debate exists on how restrictive lockdowns should be.

      The claim: Mandatory stay-at home orders are "useless" in helping lower the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

      The evidence: Two publications showed that lower COVID-19 spread occurred after stay-at home orders were issued (1, 2). Hospitalizations were lower than predicted exponential growth rates after implementation of stay-at home orders (3). Some caveats to consider include that it is impossible to tease apart the effects of the stay-at home orders from other measure implemented simultaneously with stay-at home orders such as increased hygiene measures, social distancing guidelines, and school closures. It is also impossible to conclusively state that the effect is from the stay-at home order and not the natural progression of the disease.

      The comparison between Illinois with stay-at home orders and Iowa without stay-at home orders resulted in an estimated 217 additional COVID-19 cases in Iowa over the course of a month (2). This small number raises the question, "are stay-at home orders worth it?" It is important to remember that comparison of Iowa and Illinois is the comparison of two social distancing strategies. Stay-at home orders close everything and then write the exceptions that can remain open. Iowa took the approach of leaving everything open except what the government choose to close (4). Some businesses in Iowa were still closed and many federal guidelines were still followed. A negative control showing disease progression without any mitigation measures does not exist in published literature.

      Sources:

      1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7246016/

      2 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32413112/

      3 https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2020/04/07/iowa-equivalent-stay-at-home-order-coronavirus-kim-reynolds/2961810001/

      4 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7254451/

    1. Schleiss says a better analogy for COVID-19 is the mumps. For more than 45 years, we’ve had a very effective vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (which are also RNA viruses).

      The takeaway: Even though mutations happen in all virus, vaccines still work. Current evidence about SARS-CoV-2 indicates that an effective COVID-19 vaccine can be obtained, and that it should be able to provide immunity against the virus.

      The claim: A better analogy for COVID-19 is the mumps. For more than 45 years, we’ve had a very effective vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (which are also RNA viruses).

      The evidence: We are all imperfect and we all make mistakes. For a virus, a mistake means the introduction of a mutation in its sequence, and RNA viruses (like the flu, mumps, measles virus, and SARS-CoV-2) have the highest error rates in nature. Mutations are indispensable for viral survival and evolution; this property is believed to benefit the viral population, allowing it to adapt and respond to different complex environments encountered during spread between hosts, within organs and tissues, and in response to the pressure of the host immune response [1]. How fast a virus is changing can be estimated by measuring its mutation rate, and then they can be classified as changing fast – high mutation rate – like HIV or Influenza, or as stable, like measles or mumps virus. SARS-CoV-2 has a mutation rate three times slower than the flu virus [2], but it's still changing faster than the mumps virus (the mutation rate of influenza is more than 10 times higher than mumps) [3]. Of course, how fast a virus can change has implications in the efficacy of treatments and vaccines, but it's not the only determinant. Even though mutations happen in all viruses, vaccines still work. A great example is the measles virus, as the antigenic composition of the vaccine (the molecules that “wake up” the immune system) used to prevent it has remained efficient since it was developed, in the 1960s, and confers protection against the 24 circulating genotypes [4]. The same is true for the mumps virus, with a vaccine that has been efficient for many decades [5]. Sequencing data suggest that coronaviruses change more slowly than most other RNA viruses, probably because of a viral ‘proofreading’ activity that corrects all the copying mistakes [6]. Taken together, all this evidence indicates that an effective COVID-19 vaccine can be obtained, and that it should be able to provide lasting immunity against the virus.

      Sources:<br> 1

      2 SARS-CoV-2 mutation rate: 1.26 x 10-3 substitutions/site/year

      3 Influenza (flu-virus) mutation rate: 3.68 x 10-3 substitutions/site/year. Mumps mutation rate: 2.98 × 10−4 substitutions/site/year

      4

      5

      6

    1. Anxiety From Reactions to Covid-19 Will Destroy At Least Seven Times More Years of Life Than Can Be Saved by Lockdowns

      Take away: Though the number of COVID deaths prevented and the exact number of years lost due directly to decreases in mental health from lockdowns is at best a rough estimate, several facts are known. Lockdowns decrease mental health, and a decrease in mental health shortens lives too.

      The claim: Anxiety from reactions to COVID-19 will destroy at least seven times more years of life than can be saved by lockdowns.

      The evidence: This article references many studies detailing the anxiety surrounding COVID-19 (1-4). These studies indicate that many people have increased stress due to COVID. Nature Public Health Emergency Collection reports that the mental health cost of widespread lockdowns may negate the lives saved by this policy (5). This article lists many articles which describe the effect of stay-at-home orders on mental health. Additionally, the effect of poor mental health on physical outcomes is well-defined. Poor mental health shortens lives. Other factors with COVID such as negative media coverage and dealing with job loss and death are also described as negatively affecting mental health. It is unclear how much of the negative mental health outcomes is directly related to lockdowns and what is contributed to the disease, job loss, future uncertainty, and continuous media coverage.

      Several supporting facts used in this article are now outdated or could use clarification. Many assumptions are detailed in this article to estimate the number of years lost due to mental harm caused by lockdowns. One example is the authors used a survey of 1,266 patients to estimate the number of people in the United States who have suffered mental harm from lockdowns. These estimates are challenging to conclusively verify. The authors did choose the conservative estimate for each of their numbers. One example of an outdated number is the predicted number of deaths was 114,228 by August 4th. The actual number of deaths per Johns Hopkins was 157,500 (6).

      Based on the facts, anxiety and mental disorders can be deadly. Lockdowns result in an increase in poor mental health. The exact number of years lost due to poor mental health directly resulting from lockdowns is less clear. Poor mental health may also result from constant media coverage, loss of loved ones and fear of the future.

      The sources:

      1) https://www.psychiatry.org/newsroom/news-releases/new-poll-covid-19-impacting-mental-well-being-americans-feeling-anxious-especially-for-loved-ones-older-adults-are-less-anxious

      2) https://www.kff.org/health-reform/report/kff-health-tracking-poll-early-april-2020/

      3) https://www.bsgco.com/post/coronavirus-and-americans-mental-health-insights-from-bsg-s-pulse-of-america-poll

      4) https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-health-tracking-poll-late-april-2020-economic-and-mental-health-impacts-of-coronavirus/

      5) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7431738/#

      6) https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map

    1. Man, for some reason, I really like this answer. I recognize it's a bit more complicated, but it seems so useful. And given that I'm no bash expert, it leads me to believe that my logic is faulty, and there's something wrong with this methodology, otherwise, I feel others would have given it more praise. So, what's the problem with this function? Is there anything I should be looking out for here?

      I think the main thing wrong with it is the eval (which I think can be changed to $("$@") and it's pretty verbose.

      Also, there are more concise ways to do it that would probably appeal more to most bash experts...

      like set -x

      and it does unnecessary things: why save output to a variable? Just let output go to where it would normally go...

      So yeah, I can see why this solution isn't very popular. And I'm rather surprised by all the praise comments it's gotten.

    1. I think it is indeed important that we get this right but I'd prefer to hold off on implementing such a system until we have grown contributors and until the project is successful. I expect that after the initial open source release and before the end of the year we'll want to move pretty quickly on this project and I recommend revisiting the RFC based model early next year. Does that sound like a good plan?
    1. On every measure — new infections, hospitalizations, and deaths — the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction

      The takeaway: Though COVID-19 cases are at a record high, the number of deaths from COVID-19 has not followed the steep rise in cases. An increase in the number of deaths may be reported later as deaths lag cases by several weeks.

      The claim: On every measure - new infections, hospitalizations, and deaths - the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction.

      The evidence: New COVID infections in the US are the highest they have ever been with a 7-day moving average of 104,417 cases/day (1). The number of deaths in the US is similar to the number of deaths in August, lower than the number of deaths in the spring and higher than the number of deaths in the summer (2). A slight increase was seen in the number of deaths for the first two weeks in October followed by a slight decline which may change as more data is added (3). The number of emergency department visits for coronavirus like symptoms is on an upward trajectory nationwide (4). The CDC states "At least one indicator used to monitor COVID-19 activity is increasing in each of the ten HHS regions, and many regions are reporting increases in multiple indicators" (3).

      Though COVID-19 cases are at a record high, the number of deaths from COVID-19 has not followed the steep rise in cases. An increase in the number of deaths may be reported later as deaths lag cases by several weeks.

      Sources:

      1) https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_dailytrendscases

      2) https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_dailytrendsdeaths

      3) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

      4) https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#ed-visits

    1. We have designed a dimeric lipopeptide fusion inhibitor that blocks this critical first step of infection for emerging coronaviruses and document that it completely prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection in ferrets.

      The takeaway: Dimeric lipopeptide fusion inhibitor prevented SARS-CoV-2 infection in all six ferrets tested. Much more work is needed before this could be used in humans.

      The claim: Treatment of ferrets with a dimeric lipopeptide fusion inhibitor completely prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection in ferrets.

      The evidence: Per Figure 3, SARS-CoV-2 was detected in all three animals inoculated with the virus, all six animals treated with a placebo, and none of the animals treated with the dimeric lipopeptide fusion inhibitor (1). Animals treated with dimeric lipopeptide fusion inhibitor did not mount an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 while an immune response was seen in inoculated animals and placebo treated animals (Figure 4).

      More research is needed before this treatment can be used in humans. This preliminary study showed that in a small sample of animals which do not typically show COVID symptoms, SARS-CoV-2 infection was blocked by the dimeric lipopeptide fusion inhibitor. This paper describes the first step in a long journey. Before a new treatment is approved for use in humans, Phase I, II and III clinical trials must be completed (2) which includes showing that a treatment does no harm to healthy humans and proving that it works in humans. This work also needs peer-review in a published journal which may occur with time.

      Sources:

      1) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.04.361154v1.full.pdf

      2) https://www.fda.gov/patients/drug-development-process/step-3-clinical-research

    1. Note that when using sass (Dart Sass), synchronous compilation is twice as fast as asynchronous compilation by default, due to the overhead of asynchronous callbacks.

      If you consider using asynchronous to be an optimization, then this could be surprising.

    1. // replace css-loader with typings-for-css-modules-loader environment.loaders.get('moduleSass').use = environment.loaders.get('moduleSass').use.map((u) => { if(u.loader == 'css-loader') { return { ...u, loader: 'typings-for-css-modules-loader' }; } else { return u; } });
    1. The coronavirus pandemic is expected to take the U.S. national debt to levels not seen since World War II.

      The takeaway: The debt to GDP ratio after coronavirus relief spending is higher than it has ever been.

      The claim: The coronavirus pandemic is expected to take the U.S. national debt to levels not seen since World War II.

      The evidence: A number of COVID-19 spending acts and executive orders include: Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020, Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), CARES Act, Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, and President Trump's Executive Actions (1). Prior to these bills and executive actions, the fiscal year 2020 federal deficit was predicted to be $3.1 trillion (1). The total cost of the coronavirus relief measures is $2,607,000,000,000 (1). The debt to GDP ratio in 2020 at the end of quarter 2 is 136% (2). The debt had previously peaked in 1946 after WWII at 118% debt to GDP ratio (2).

      Sources:

      1) https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertberger/2020/10/18/5-big-numbers-reveal-the-unsettling-scope-of-stimulus-spending/?sh=26ae8057142b

      2) https://www.thebalance.com/national-debt-by-year-compared-to-gdp-and-major-events-3306287

  40. Oct 2020
    1. Take away: Even though mini-lungs (and mini-organs) are extremely valuable tools for scientist to study disease and prospective therapeutics, results obtained with these models are hardly generalizable and normally need to be validated in animal models and clinical studies.

      The claim: Based on our model we can tackle many unanswered key questions, such as understanding genetic susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, assessing relative infectivity of viral mutants, and revealing the damage processes of the virus in human alveolar cells. Most importantly, it provides the opportunity to develop and screen potential therapeutic agents against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

      The evidence: Regardless of their name, mini-organs are hardly real miniature organs, these clumps of cells resemble organs in many ways, but they lack certain features that allow real organs to function and grow. For now, mini-organs don’t develop beyond tiny and simplistic models of organs, and remain hard to produce in the large, consistent batches needed for drug screening and other efforts. But, in spite of their limitations, they still are a giant step up from 2D cultures of cells that scientists have long grown in the lab. In particular, studies of SARS-CoV-2 in mini-organs have limitations because they do not reflect the crosstalk between organs and systems that happens in the body. Here for example, the mini-organs do not produce the full cellular spectrum present in the adult alveoli. Also, the mini-lungs in this study cannot mimic an interaction with the immune system, which likely influences how the disease develops. Some groups are beginning to test existing drugs against SARS-CoV-2 in mini-organs in a small scale, but we will only know at the end of this process what the predictive value of these systems are for testing drug efficacy.

      Source: https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(20)30498-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/ncb3312 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.10.144816v1 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.25.115600v2

    1. We find that COVID-19 has likely become the leading cause of death (surpassing unintentional overdoses) among young adults aged 25-44 in some areas of the United States during substantial COVID-19 outbreaks.

      The takeaway: During the peak of infections during large outbreaks, COVID-19 deaths in age group 25-44 is higher than drug overdose deaths.

      The claim: COVID-19 has likely become the leading cause of death in age group 25-44.

      The evidence: This article compares COVID-19 deaths to opioid deaths during 2018. When the hardest hit areas are combined and areas not hit are excluded, the number of COVID-19 deaths is five deaths more than the opioid deaths during the same period in 2018. Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in the age group 25-44 (1-2). In 2018, opioid overdose resulted in 24,253 deaths in the age group of 25-44 in the United States (3). Transportation fatal injuries for the age group 25-44 in 2018 was 12,904 (4). In 2020, deaths from all causes for age group 25-44 is 124,736 with 5,911 directly attributable to COVID-19 (5, accessed 10/28/2020).

      COVID-19 was briefly the leading cause of death in the hardest hit areas during the peak of the epidemic for age group 25-44 if unintentional injuries is broken into subcategories.

      Sources: 1 https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/animated-leading-causes.html

      2 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_06-508.pdf

      3 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6911a4.ht m

      4 https://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html

      5 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm

    1. One of Svelte's advantages, for me, is that I can test out ideas with relatively few lines of code. the #with feature could save me from adding a separate component for the content of an #each loop. I get frustrated when I have to create a new file, move the content of the #each clause, import it as a component, and add attributes and create exports for that, and implement events to send messages back, and event handlers, when I just wanted to test a small feature.
    1. hyperscript is more concise because it's just a function call and doesn't require a closing tag. Using it will greatly simplify your tooling chain.

      I suppose this is also an argument that Python tries to make? That other languages have this con:

      • cons: closing tags make it more verbose / increase duplication and that Python is simpler / more concise because it uses indentation instead of closing delimiters like end or } ?
    1. In React 0.12 time frame we did a bunch of small changes to how key, ref and defaultProps works. Particularly, they get resolved early on in the React.createElement(...) call. This made sense when everything was classes, but since then, we've introduced function components. Hooks have also make function components more prevalent. It might be time to reevaluate some of those designs to simplify things (at least for function components).
    1. The events did not seem to trigger spikes in infections

      The takeaway: An increase in COVID-19 infections occurred nationwide in the time following protests. Due to simultaneous occurrence of non-uniform lifting of stay-at home orders, Memorial Day, and Black Lives Matter protests, it is not possible to conclusively determine the exact cause of the nationwide COVID-19 case spike after June 9, 2020.

      The claim: Black Lives Matter protests did not seem to trigger a spike of COVID-19 infections.

      The evidence: This statement is based on an article written in IZA Institute of Labor Economics discussion paper series (1). The article, titled “Black Lives Matter Protests, Social Distancing, and COVID-19” states that overall, stay-at home orders were better followed during protests based on cell phone data. Yet it still shows a steady increase in COVID-19 cases (Figure 6, 1). Additionally, The data from this report stops after June 9th while riots continued and COVID-19 cases across the country spiked (2, 3). As other factors such as Memorial Day weekend, and opening of economies occurred in a non-uniform fashion during the same time as protests, it is not possible to determine the exact cause of the nationwide spike in COVID-19 cases.

      The abstract of the IZA report was updated August 2020 to read: "We conclude that predictions of population-level spikes in COVID-19 cases from Black Lives Matter protests were too narrowly conceived because of failure to account for non-participants’ behavioral responses to large gatherings." (4). The non-participant response was explained by this statement in the abstract: "Event-study analyses provide strong evidence that net stay-at-home behavior increased following protest onset." To put this in plain language: non-protestors stayed home more during protests which resulted in a steady increase in COVID-19 instead of a spike. The effect of mask wearing by protestors was not mentioned in the report.

      Only anecdotal evidence and one small study (20 participants) were found showing protestors wearing masks (5-9). No scientific publications with the direct effect of the masks on the spread of COVID-19 during protests were found.

      Valentine et al examined eight cities with tens of thousands of protestors (1, 10). Cities were chosen which had economies open at least 30 days prior to the protests to control for an expected spike when economies open. They found that six out of eight cities examined had significant abnormal positive growth of COVID-19 infection rate following the Black Lives Matter protests (10). All cities studied had abnormal positive infection rate growth.

      Protests resulted in abnormal positive infection growth rates in all eight cities with stay at home orders lifted for at least 30 days prior to protests (10). A spike in COVID-19 cases nationwide happened after June 9th (3). Due to simultaneous occurrence of non-uniform lifting of stay-at home orders, Memorial Day, and Black Lives Matter protests, it is not possible to conclusively determine the exact cause of the nationwide COVID-19 case spike after June 9, 2020.

      Sources:

      1 http://ftp.iza.org/dp13388.pdf

      2 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/07/george-floyd-protests-enter-third-week

      3 https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_dailytrendscases

      4 https://www.nber.org/papers/w27408

      5 https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/24/883017035/what-contact-tracing-may-tell-about-cluster-spread-of-the-coronavirus

      6 https://www.vox.com/2020/6/26/21300636/coronavirus-pandemic-black-lives-matter-protests

      7 https://news.northeastern.edu/2020/08/11/racial-justice-protests-were-not-a-major-cause-of-covid-19-infection-surges-new-national-study-finds/

      8 https://www.geekwire.com/2020/testing-shows-no-big-spike-covid-19-infections-due-protests-wear-mask/

      9 https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-68862/v1/79db6827-52c3-4e94-afa0-679d15a89049.pdf

      10 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7454741/

    1. This is a very dangerous practice as each optimization means making assumptions. If you are compressing an image you make an assumption that some payload can be cut out without seriously affecting the quality, if you are adding a cache to your backend you assume that the API will return same results. A correct assumption allows you to spare resources. A false assumption introduces a bug in your app. That’s why optimizations should be done consciously.
    2. In the vast majority of cases there’s nothing wrong about wasted renders. They take so little resources that it is simply undetectable for a human eye. In fact, comparing each component’s props to its previous props shallowly (I’m not even talking about deeply) can be more resource extensive then simply re-rendering the entire subtree.
    1. A scientific review of the science behind lockdown concludes the policy was a MISTAKE & will have caused MORE deaths from Covid-19

      Take Away: The new scientific paper confirms earlier modeling work and should not be interpreted as a detailed prediction for future deaths due to the ongoing pandemic.

      The Claim: "A scientific review of the science behind lockdown concludes the policy was a MISTAKE & will have caused MORE deaths from Covid-19"

      The Evidence: The scientific process involves replication and confirmation of experiments and studies. A new paper replicates and expands on an early modeling study of the COVID-19 pandemic in England (1). Their findings support the earlier results. However, there are limitations to the replication paper, which does not accurately reflect the current state of the pandemic response and does not make detailed predictions for a second wave of infections and deaths.

      A recent expert response to the paper further explains (2):

      "It needs to be stressed that all the simulations assume that interventions are only in place for 3 months (18th April – 18th July) and then completely relaxed. This gives rise to a strange set of scenarios where a second wave is allowed to progress in an uncontrolled manner."

      “It is this that leads to the counter-intuitive headline finding “that school closures would result in more overall covid-19 deaths than no school closures” – actually what the authors find is that a short period of intense lock-down (including the closure of schools) leads to a large second wave if it is allowed to run with no controls. To be fair the authors do highlight this in the paper, but it is not in the reported press release." -Prof Matt Keeling, Professor of Populations and Disease, University of Warwick

      Sources:

      (1) https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m3588

      (2) https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-reanalysis-of-model-used-for-imperial-report-9-and-impact-of-school-closures/

    1. The model predicted that school closures and isolation of younger people would increase the total number of deaths, albeit postponed to a second and subsequent waves. The findings of this study suggest that prompt interventions were shown to be highly effective at reducing peak demand for intensive care unit (ICU) beds but also prolong the epidemic, in some cases resulting in more deaths long term. This happens because covid-19 related mortality is highly skewed towards older age groups. In the absence of an effective vaccination programme, none of the proposed mitigation strategies in the UK would reduce the predicted total number of deaths below 200 000.

      Take away: This model excludes the possibility of vaccination. As many vaccines are in stage three clinical trials, the conclusion that more people will die from closing schools, etc. will most likely not be realized.

      The claim: School closures and isolation of younger people will increase total number of deaths from second and subsequent waves of COVID-19 when restrictions are lifted.

      The evidence: This model predicts more deaths from the combination of place closures such as schools, case isolations, household quarantine, and social distancing of over 70s than for the combination of case isolation, household quarantine, and social distancing for over 70s. The majority of the deaths for the combination of place closures, case isolations, household quarantine, and social distancing of over 70s occur once the restrictions are lifted. This model excludes the possibility of a vaccine reducing the size of the second wave.

      At least ten companies have a COVID-19 vaccine in the final stage (Phase III) of clinical trials (1). Therefore a model which excludes vaccination will most likely not be accurate to reality once a vaccine is widely administered.

      Source:

      1 https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines

    1. For every one confirmed case, Redfield said, the CDC estimates that 10 more people have been infected.

      Take away: While this estimate may be the most accurate at the time there are several reasons (addressed below) why any estimate provided at this time may be imprecise. As more data is accrued, including information on the immunological dynamics of the SARS-CoV2 antibodies, we should expect to see a more accurate estimate.

      The claim: For every one confirmed case the CDC estimates that another 10 more people have been infected.

      The evidence: This estimate was revealed in a press briefing with CDC Director Robert Redfield on June, 25, 2020. It is important to emphasize that this is an estimate extrapolated from the collective data of numerous seroprevalence surveys (antibody tests) performed in different locations across the U.S. While it is most definitely true that the reported case numbers are lower than the actual, given the prevalence of asymptomatic individuals that do not visit medical centers to be tested, the actual figure may be lower or higher than the estimate presented here due to a variety of factors including:

      1) Areas surveyed: Indeed, it is known that the number of cases vary disproportionately across different areas of the U.S. According to the CDC, three types of seroprevalence surveys are commonly performed: large-scale geographic, community-level, and special populations. It is important to note that each survey may or may not be completely representative of the specific area yet alone the U.S. as a whole.

      2)Type of antibody testing: The FDA reported on the performance of numerous EUA authorized serology tests. The conclusion is that each test has varying levels of accuracy and confidence intervals. As the estimate provided by Redfield was most likely obtained from data derived from the specific test used at each individual surveillance site, the figure may be further skewed by the accuracy of each test.

      3)Origin of blood samples: The type of individuals from which the blood samples tested originated may have a significant effect on the Redfield’s estimate. For example, if certain surveillance sites are exclusively testing samples from sick patients, the estimate may be an overestimate as a population presenting COVID symptoms is more likely to test positive than a healthy-looking population. Therefore, a detailed characterization of the individuals from which the blood was obtained would be needed in order to uphold accuracy.

      4)Time of tests: As the advent of antibodies can occur a week or longer post-infection, individuals who have recently been infected may not have detectable levels of antibodies and may come up as false negatives. It is also possible for an individual to simply not produce enough antibodies to be detectable by a given serology test. Furthermore, a recent paper published in medrxiv suggests that certain antibodies have reduced titers within 50 days of symptom onset.

      Take away: While this estimate may be the most accurate at the time there are several reasons (addressed below) why any estimate provided at this time may be imprecise. As more data is accrued, including information on the immunological dynamics of the SARS-CoV2 antibodies, we should expect to see a more accurate estimate.

      The claim: For every one confirmed case the CDC estimates that another 10 more people have been infected.

      The evidence: This estimate was revealed in a press briefing with CDC Director Robert Redfield on June, 25, 2020. It is important to emphasize that this is an estimate extrapolated from the collective data of numerous seroprevalence surveys (antibody tests) performed in different locations across the U.S. While it is most definitely true that the reported case numbers are lower than the actual, given the prevalence of asymptomatic individuals that do not visit medical centers to be tested, the actual figure may be lower or higher than the estimate presented here due to a variety of factors including:

      1) Areas surveyed: Indeed, it is known that the number of cases vary disproportionately across different areas of the U.S. According to the CDC, three types of seroprevalence surveys are commonly performed: large-scale geographic, community-level, and special populations (1). It is important to note that each survey may or may not be completely representative of the specific area yet alone the U.S. as a whole.

      2)Type of antibody testing: The FDA reported on the performance of numerous EUA authorized serology tests (2). The conclusion is that each test has varying levels of accuracy and confidence intervals. As the estimate provided by Redfield was most likely obtained from data derived from the specific test used at each individual surveillance site, the figure may be further skewed by the accuracy of each test.

      3)Origin of blood samples: The type of individuals from which the blood samples tested originated may have a significant effect on the Redfield’s estimate. For example, if certain surveillance sites are exclusively testing samples from sick patients, the estimate may be an overestimate as a population presenting COVID symptoms is more likely to test positive than a healthy-looking population. Therefore, a detailed characterization of the individuals from which the blood was obtained would be needed in order to uphold accuracy.

      4)Time of tests: As the advent of antibodies can occur a week or longer post-infection, individuals who have recently been infected may not have detectable levels of antibodies and may come up as false negatives. It is also possible for an individual to simply not produce enough antibodies to be detectable by a given serology test. Furthermore, a recent paper published in medrxiv suggests that certain antibodies have reduced titers within 50 days of symptom onset (3).

      To conclude, while this estimate may be the most accurate at the time given the available data, many factors can affect the figure and, in some instances, more information is needed as it is unclear exactly how this number was obtained from the information provided in the press briefing.

      Sources: 1) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/about-serology-surveillance.html

      2) https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-emergency-use-authorizations-medical-devices/eua-authorized-serology-test-performance

      3) https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.09.20148429v1

    1. The CDC summarized it succinctly, “For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned.

      The takeaway: >50% of the adult US population has at least one chronic condition. Therefore exclusion of deaths from people with comorbidity will not predict how COVID-19 affects >50% of the adult US population.

      The claim: Only 6% of deaths were caused by COVID-19 alone.

      The evidence: The CDC website does state that "For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned." (1) The same web page also states "Data during the period are incomplete because of the lag in time between when the death occurred and when the death certificate is completed, submitted to NCHS and processed for reporting purposes. This delay can range from 1 week to 8 weeks or more."

      Additionally, in the USA 6 out of 10 adults have one chronic disease and 4 out of 10 adults have two or more chronic conditions (2). Based on this data, COVID-19 deaths in people with chronic conditions should not be excluded because >50% of the adult population has at least one chronic condition.

      Sources:

      1 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm?fbclid=IwAR2-muRM3tB3uBdbTrmKwH1NdaBx6PpZo2kxotNwkUXlnbZXCwSRP2OmqsI

      2 https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/infographic/chronic-diseases.htm

    1. The positivity rate — the percentage of tests with positive results — is 6.5%, well below the 10% recorded recently, he said.

      This is a particularly important metric for any testing program, because it gives a sense of whether enough testing is being done to accurately capture the true positive rate. For instance, the WHO recommends that to ensure adequate testing, the % positive rate should be at or below 5% for at least 14 consecutive days: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/testing-positivity

    1. Not so novel coronavirus?

      Take away: More research is needed before the conclusion can be reached that T-cells from common cold coronaviruses are protective against SARS-CoV-2.

      The claim: A significant part of the population may be immune to SARS-CoV-2 due to cross-reactivity to T-cells from HCo infections (“common cold viruses”).

      The evidence: T- cell cross reactivity between common cold coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2 occurred in 20-50% of people not exposed to SARS-CoV-2 (1-4). This cross-reactivity from T-cells led to the speculative hypothesis that cross-reactivity explains why children and young adults are not affected as badly as older adults (1). Additional research is needed to conclude that the presence of cross-reactive T-cells leads to less severe COVID-19 disease and does not result in the cytokine storm which is harmful instead of helpful in recovery from COVID-19 (2, 4). Significant cross-reactivity between SARS-CoV-2 and HCo antibodies was not observed with 1064 serum samples when tested with ELISA (5). A small study found some cross-reactivity between SARS-CoV-2 and HCo using rapid immunochromatographic antibody test which tests the ability of antibodies to react with SARS-CoV-2 (6).

      The immune system uses multiple components to rid the body of an infection. Innate immunity includes inflammation, fever, and cells which non-specifically destroy infectious/toxic particles (7). The adaptive immune system includes cells which adapt to the specific pathogen it is attacking (8). The adaptive immune system includes B cells and T cells. B cells produce antibodies. Antibodies bind and neutralize toxins/infectious particles. T cells kill infected human cells which present antigens, infectious particle identifiers, which specific T cells recognize. A summary of the immune system's interaction with SARS-CoV-2 is written (9). Additional discussion can be found (10, 11).

      In conclusion, T-cell cross reactivity was shown to occur (1-4). More research is needed to conclusively determine whether the presence of HCo cross-reactive T-cells leads to prevention or less severe infection by SARS-CoV-2.

      Sources:

      1 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-020-0389-z

      2 https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)30610-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867420306103%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

      3 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32766111/

      4 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2550-z

      5 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7417941/

      6 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7381928/

      7 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26846/

      8 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21070/

      9 https://www.cell.com/trends/pharmacological-sciences/pdf/S0165-6147(20)30130-9.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0165614720301309%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

      10 https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/07/07/more-on-t-cells-antibody-levels-and-our-ignorance

      11 https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1278400526716211200?s=20

  41. Sep 2020
    1. But when you’re using Svelte within a larger Rails app, you probably already have a CSS system in place and there’s no reason to change that. You can just use the same CSS classes as you do elsewhere in your app, and everything will be fine.
    1. Researchers offer first proof that Ultraviolet C light with a 222 nm wavelength — which is safer to use around humans — effectively kills the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

      Take Away: Most germicidal ultraviolet (UV) lamps emit a wavelength of around 254 nm. While these are very effective means of sterilization, they are also damaging to human skin and eyes and therefore are used in unoccupied spaces. However, a recent study has shown that a safer form of UV light at a wavelength of 222 nm is effective in killing SARS-CoV-2 virus in vitro.

      The Claim: Researchers offer first proof that Ultraviolet C light with a 222 nm wavelength — which is safer to use around humans — effectively kills the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

      The Evidence: The authors reference the safety of 222 nm UV light, and there are many studies to support this claim. 222 nm UV light has been shown to not cause DNA damage or skin lesions even at higher doses and for longer exposure times than used here (1, 2).

      In the study referenced, researchers at Hiroshima University exposed SARS-CoV-2 virus to low dosage 222 nm UV light and subsequently measured the amount of viable virus (3). They found that exposure of 0.1 mW/cm^2 for 30 seconds reduced the amount of viable virus by 99.7%. However, as the authors note, this study was performed using virus plated on a dish in a hood, and translation of these results to a public setting is unclear. For instance, in a hospital, there are many different types of surfaces and direct/consistent exposure to the UV light might not be feasible. While this study is promising, additional studies need to be done before promoting this as a safe and effective means of killing SARS-CoV-2 in an occupied environment.

      Sources: 1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6059456/

      2) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/php.13269

      3) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196655320308099#:~:text=Results,after%20a%205%2Dmin%20irradiation.

    1. He added that while it would not be possible to check every test to see whether there was active virus, the likelihood of false positive results could be reduced if scientists could work out where the cut-off point should be.

      Take Away: This is an incorrect usage of the term "false positive." A positive PCR test result from a recovered infection is a valid and true positive.

      Claim: PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2 give false positive results when there is no active virus.

      Evidence: The diagnostic PCR tests currently in widespread use are designed to detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in a clinical sample. The RNA is only a part of the complete virus and is not infectious on its own. Research has shown that viral RNA can be detected in some samples up to 12 weeks after onset of symptoms (1). In other words, this is like testing if an oven is warmer than the room temperature - it could be hot even after it has been turned off.

      By definition, in the context of SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests, a "false positive" means that a test result is deemed positive when in reality there was no viral RNA in the sample. If a person is recovering from an infection, gets tested, and then is given a positive test result, that is a true positive regardless of whether they are infectious or not.

      Sources: 1) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/duration-isolation.html

    1. I really have no idea how you came up with this solution but that reflects a major problem with many npm packages, i.e. 90 percent of the library documentation should be pulled from the Git issues or SO answers.
    1. If you were infected with the novel coronavirus, a new study suggests that your immunity to the virus could decline within months.

      Take away: Waning antibodies don’t necessarily mean that immunity will also decrease, because other components of the immune system retain “memory” for an infection and can combat invaders even after antibody counts have gone down.

      The claim: “If you were infected with the novel coronavirus, a new study suggests that your immunity to the virus could decline within months.”

      The evidence: This study [1], along with others [2], does indeed show evidence for declining neutralizing antibodies within a few months after infection; however, antibody counts alone are not enough to predict whether a patient will have durable immunity to a virus. Neutralizing antibodies are generated by B cells, a type of immune cell that patrols the body looking for their molecular targets. Some B cells carry “memory,” a quality that allows them to respond quickly when they see a virus or pathogen that they have encountered before, which allows them to pump out large quantities of antibody rapidly to fight the infection [3]. It’s actually normal in many viral infections for antibody levels within the blood to wane over time; the real concern is whether there are enough memory B cells to generate new antibodies at a moment’s notice.

      In addition to B cells, a second type of immune cell known as a “T cell” is critical for predicting durable immunity. Like B cells, some T cells carry “memory” and can patrol the body for years looking for their targets. Some T cells play a role in helping B cells produce antibodies quickly, and other T cells can actually target the infection directly [4]. Studies have now shown that T cell responses can persist after SARS-CoV-2 infection, and some patients even have T cells that can react to SARS-CoV-2 due to “cross-reactivity,” likely from preexisting immunity from common cold viruses that share some characteristics of SARS-CoV-2. While this cross-reactivity does not guarantee immunity, the presence of robust B and T cell responses is important, and could be more predictive than presence of antibodies alone.

      This article, written by a two well-known immunologists and COVID-19 experts at Yale University, provides a nice summary of the data that puts these claims in context [6].

    1. COVID-19 Can Wreck Your Heart, Even if You Haven’t Had Any Symptoms

      Take Away: SARS-CoV-2 infection has been clearly linked to heart muscle injury in those with severe COVID-19 illness. However, at present, there is insufficient data to determine the impact of mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 on the hearts of previously healthy individuals.

      The Claim: COVID-19 can wreck your heart, even if you haven’t had any symptoms.

      The Evidence: Several articles, including this August 31st piece (1), have raised the alarm about dangerous effects of mild or even asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 on the heart of infected individuals.

      In support of this argument, there have been numerous reports, some of which are cited in the article above, documenting severe heart inflammation (myocarditis) and injury (e.g. cardiomyopathy and/or heart failure) in patients with COVID-19. However, most of these documented cases were in individuals with severe cases of COVID-19. At present, the evidence for clinically significant heart injury (requiring treatment or special precautions) from mild or asymptomatic COVID-19, is much less clear, especially in those with no prior evidence of heart disease.

      One recent study reported that 78% of patients from an unselected cohort (including patients with asymptomatic, mild, and severe cases) had evidence of myocarditis (via MRI or blood testing) following COVID-19 infection (2). This study clearly demonstrated the link between COVID-19 and myocarditis by examining tissue from biopsies of the heart (the gold standard definitive diagnosis of myocarditis) of patients with the most severe cases. The study went on to show that, on average, patients who were treated for COVID-19 at the hospital (presumably more severe cases) and patients who were treated at home (presumably asymptomatic to moderate cases) both had blood test levels or MRI findings suggesting elevated myocarditis compared to non-COVID-19 infected patients with similar health profiles.

      A key limitation here is “average”. The study was not designed or powered to look for the rate of myocarditis in only previously healthy patients with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19. This study included asymptomatic patients in the analysis, but without knowing their prior health or comparing their findings to other healthy non-COVID patients, it is not possible to infer the risk of myocarditis to this population. To their credit, the authors of the study discuss this limitation in their conclusions.

      Despite this, the study was widely covered as evidence that ”COVID-19 can wreck your heart, even if you haven’t had any symptoms.“ In order to answer that question, we need research looking selectively healthy patients with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 as outlined above.

      Until that research is conducted, we might look at COVID within the same context as a number of other well studied viruses, many of which generally cause mild illness, that have also been shown to lead to heart injury and inflammation (3).

      Disclaimer: This content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with any questions regarding a medical condition.

      Sources:

      1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-19-can-wreck-your-heart-even-if-you-havent-had-any-symptoms/
      2. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2768916
      3. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.108.766022
    1. Take away: People are infectious for only part of the time they test positive. The tests for COVID-19 were granted emergency status by the FDA so some debate concerning the most ideal number of cycles is to be expected. It is worth noting that the FDA has the disclaimer "Negative results do not preclude 2019-nCoV infection and should not be used as the sole basis for treatment or other patient management decisions. Negative results must be combined with clinical observations, patient history, and epidemiological information (2)."

      The claim: Up to 90 percent of people diagnosed with coronavirus may not be carrying enough of it to infect anyone else

      The evidence: Per Walsh et al. (1), SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) is most likely infectious if the number of PCR cycles is <24 and the symptom onset to test is <8 days. RT-PCR detects the RNA, not the infectious virus. Therefore, setting the cycle threshold at 37-40 cycles will most likely result in detecting some samples with virus which is not infectious. As the PCR tests were granted emergency use by the FDA (samples include 2-9), it is not surprising that some debate exists currently about where the cycle threshold should be. Thresholds need to be set and validated for dozens of PCR tests currently in use. If identifying only infectious individuals is the goal, a lower cycle number may be justified. If detection of as many cases as possible to get closer to the most accurate death rate is the goal, setting the cycle threshold at 37-40 makes sense. A lower threshold will result in fewer COVID-19 positive samples being identified. It is worth noting that the emergency use approval granted by the FDA includes the disclaimer that a negative test does not guarantee that a person is not infected with COVID-19. RNA degrades easily. If samples are not kept cold or properly processed, the virus can degrade and result in a false negative result.

      Source: 1 https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa638/5842165

      2 https://www.fda.gov/media/134922/download

      3 https://www.fda.gov/media/138150/download

      4 https://www.fda.gov/media/137120/download

      5 https://www.fda.gov/media/136231/download

      6 https://www.fda.gov/media/136472/download

      7 https://www.fda.gov/media/139279/download

      8 https://www.fda.gov/media/136314/download

      9 https://www.fda.gov/media/140776/download

    1. Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be.

      Take Away: Diagnostic tests are most useful when they are both sensitive and rapid. The sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests is not the issue, but rather the time it takes to get a result. Additionally, the "90%" statistic is likely misleading due to the data source and not generalisable to all testing results.

      The Claim: The usual PCR diagnostic tests may be too sensitive and too slow, with up to 90% of positive cases due to trace amounts of virus.

      The Evidence: Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based tests, which are currently in the most widespread use for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, involves a molecular process that amplifies target DNA sequences in repeated temperature-dependent cycles. The amount of target DNA is measured after each cycle and the number of the cycle when the target can be reliably detected is often referred to as the cycle threshold (Ct). The Ct value is proportional to the amount of starting DNA in the sample and can be used to estimate the viral load of a patient. In some ways this is like a teacher making photocopies of a chapter from a textbook until they have enough for all their students.

      However, Ct values are relative measurements and need to be directly compared to controls for every sample - a Ct value taken alone can be meaningless. For instance, consider an infected patient who is tested twice: the first time they are gently swabbed and the sample is relatively dilute, the second time they are vigorously swabbed and the sample is relatively concentrated. The resulting Ct values could be drastically different. Therefore, Ct values need to be considered carefully in the proper context for making medical or policy decisions. The FDA also recommends that a PCR result alone should not be used to determine infection status.

      Positive results are indicative of the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA; clinical correlation with patient history and other diagnostic information is necessary to determine patient infection status. (1)

      Current PCR test results are generally given as a binary positive/negative based on a cutoff value for Ct. The cutoff needs to be determined based on the performance of each individually developed SARS-CoV-2 test, of which there are currently over 160 that have been granted emergency use authorization by the FDA (2). Based on unpublished data from the CDC, setting a stringent Ct cutoff of 30 could return negative results in patients who are both infected and potentially infectious (3 Fig 5). Furthermore, a 30 cycle cutoff would return invalid results for samples which are too diluted. Based on the same CDC data, up to 30% of potentially infectious patients would get invalid results and need to be re-swabbed, thereby extending the time between getting infected and getting a positive result.

      The period of time when RNA from SARS-CoV-2 can be detected (and a positive PCR test result returned) may extend up to 12 weeks after recovery, with Ct values trending higher over time (3,4). According to The New York Times article, they looked at Ct values from people who tested positive in Massachusetts in July and found 85-90% of results had Ct values greater than 30. The epidemiology of COVID-19 is highly time and region dependent. Massachusetts had a peak in COVID-19 hospitalizations on April 21 (5), which is 9-12 weeks prior to the testing data analyzed by The NY Times. Therefore, the detection of a large proportion of people with lingering viral RNA is not surprising. These results are likely not universal and can not be applied to other regions, especially where community spread is still significant.

      Sources:

      (1) https://www.fda.gov/media/135900/download

      (2) https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-emergency-use-authorizations-medical-devices/vitro-diagnostics-euas

      (3) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/duration-isolation.html

      (4) Li N, Wang X, Lv T. Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 RNA Shedding: Not a Rare Phenomenon. J Med Virol 2020 Apr 29. doi: 10.1002/jmv.25952.

      (5) https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/05/22/massachusetts-finally-seeing-downward-coronavirus-trends/

    1. Detection of viruses using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is helpful so long as its accuracy can be understood: it offers the capacity to detect RNA in minute quantities, but whether that RNA represents infectious virus is another matter. RT-PCR uses enzymes called reverse transcriptase to change a specific piece of genetic material called RNA into a matching piece of genetic DNA. The test then amplifies this DNA exponentially; millions of copies of DNA can be made from a single viral RNA strand.

      Take away: The claim that virus can be detected for a long time but is not infectious needs further clarification. This claim was based on a Lancet article (1). Within the Lancet article, some of the studies cited detected RNA in stool/blood/seminal fluid samples instead of nasal swabs. Other studies cited did not test infectious nature of virus detected by PCR. It is several logic steps to travel from detecting virus in stool/blood/seminal fluid in Lancet article to concluding that PCR of nasal swabs for COVID-19 results in large numbers of false positives.

      The claim: RNA from coronavirus is present and can be detected for a long time but may not be infectious.

      The evidence: The Spectator article links to the article "SARS-CoV-2 shedding and infectivity" in the Lancet (1). This article cites seven articles to support the statement that RNA persists long after virus is not infectious. Of these articles, only one reports that virus was detected at ~30 days but could not be cultured beyond three weeks (2). This article also states that detection was easier in stool samples than nasal samples after the first five days. Several articles cited by source 1 did not report infectivity of virus detected (3, 4, 5, and 7). Of the two remaining articles, virus was detected in serum/blood (6 and 8). In the serum study, 58% of tested specimens were infectious (6).

      Source:

      1 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30868-0/fulltext

      2 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(03)13412-5/fulltext

      3 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15030700/

      4 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27682053/

      5 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29648602/

      6 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(16)30243-1/fulltext

      7 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28195756/

      8 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22872860/

    1. Take away: Though many articles are referenced, additional context is needed because the conclusions of the publications do not always agree with the conclusion of the author of this article. Additionally, publications which conflict with the claims in this article are not presented.

      The claim: Masks are neither effective nor safe.

      The evidence: The data in the articles referenced here is inconclusive regarding whether masks are or are not effective. Though several studies referenced here did not see a statistically significant difference between those who wore masks and controls, several facts need to be considered. The sample size of people who became sick in the individual studies was small (often <10 people). Compliance in the mask group was not enforced. A number of the articles referenced are pre-prints lacking peer-review and validation. Some of the articles compare N95 masks to surgical masks but do not have a control no mask group. Additionally, the claim of the author of this article sometimes differs from the conclusions written by the authors of the publications cited. Publications which contradict the conclusions of the author are not presented (1, 2).

      Sources:

      1 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32497510/

      2 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27632416/

    1. This giant machine can be your best friend as long as you’re good for the business. But if you accidentally happen to get in its way, it’ll simply screw you over and won’t even notice. If tomorrow a corporate lawyer decides they need to cover their corporate ass more tightly — be it international sanctions, dodging any potential lawsuits from vocal minorities, or anything else — they won’t think twice: they’ll readily dispose of anyone and betray any “ideals” you might have thought they stand for.
  42. Aug 2020
    1. Although public health officials have warned that the presence of antibodies does not guarantee immunity from the disease, the common perception that this is the case makes the issue of bogus tests nothing short of a matter of life and death.

      Take away: COVID-19 infections result in antibodies in almost all cases. These antibodies probably give immunity to future infection for at least some time, although how long is still not known.

      The claim: The presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV2 does not guarantee future immunity from future COVID-19 infection.

      The evidence: COVID-19 has not been present in the human population long enough to know how long immunity will last. There is some evidence to suggest that having COVID-19 typically leads to antibodies will provide at least some immunity to future infections. The vast majority (>90%) of serious (1-3) and mild (4,5) COVID-19 infections do result in the production of antibodies and it has been found that neutralizing antibodies provide immunity to reinfection in monkeys (6). We do not know how long immunity lasts. The best evidence is from the related coronavirus infections SARS and MERS. SARS and MERS infections result in antibodies that last for at least 1-3 years (7-9).

      Source:

      1. https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa344/5812996
      2. https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2020/05/13/13993003.00763-2020.abstract
      3. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0897-1)
      4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396420302905
      5. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.11.20151324v1
      6. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.13.990226v2.abstract
      7. https://www.jimmunol.org/content/jimmunol/181/8/5490.full.pdf
      8. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/13/10/07-0576_article,
      9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5512479/
    1. Asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is ‘very rare,’ WHO says

      Take away: Dr. Van Kerkhove appeared to refer to only “asymptomatic” individuals and not “presymptomatic” individuals in her statement. Clarification from the WHO, and public availability of the data leading to the claim, is needed for proper interpretation. At the current time, existing published data indicates that a significant amount of SARS-CoV-2 infections are due to individuals who did not have symptoms when they spread the virus.

      The claim: According to the WHO, asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is ‘very rare’.

      The evidence: This statement is attributed to WHO official Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove during a recent news conference. It deserves greater clarification from the WHO, but Dr. Van Kerkhove appears to make the distinction between “asymptomatic” and “pre-symptomatic” individuals during her comments. This distinction is essential for proper interpretation of her statement. “Asymptomatic” refers to persons who test positive, but who never display symptoms throughout the course of their SARS-CoV-2 infection. In contrast, “presymptomatic” individuals are those with confirmed infection, who do not currently display symptoms, but later go on to develop COVID-19 related symptoms (fever, cough, loss of taste/smell, etc).

      Importantly, the distinction between asymptomatic and presymptomatic can only be made retrospectively. From a clinical standpoint, if someone currently has no symptoms, but tests positive, there is no way of knowing at that time if they are “asymptomatic” or “presymptomatic”. Preliminary data estimates that around 20% of SARS-CoV-2 infections are truly “asymptomatic”.

      If “asymptomatic” individuals were rarely involved in transmission of the virus, this would be an important finding, but from a practical standpoint if “presymptomatic” individuals still spread the virus (as the data indicates), then the rationale for preventative measures still stands. Early studies [1] [2] have estimated that up to 40-60% of virus spread occurs when people don’t have symptoms. Preventative measures such as social distancing and universal mask wearing have been implemented to prevent the spread of virus from individuals not currently demonstrating symptoms.

  43. Jul 2020
    1. There's a few other questions on StackOverflow regarding how to structure YAML files for i18n, and I don't think there is a 'right' answer to your question. If it works for you, then great! I would say that any answer you get will be completely subjective, and more about i18n and translation management rather than anything specifically to do with the Rails way.
    1. The vaccine uses messenger RNA (mRNA), which are cells used to build proteins -- in this case, the proteins that are needed to build the coronavirus' spike protein, which the virus uses to attach itself to and infect human cells. Once the immune system learns to recognize this target -- thanks to the vaccine -- it can mount a response faster than if it encountered the virus for the first time due to an infection.

      This explanation is garbled and misstated. Genetic material is stored in DNA in the nucleus of the cell. Messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules carry the information stored within the DNA to the rest of the cell. Both DNA and RNA are a type of molecule called a "nucleic acid." Once outside the nucleus, the information in the messenger RNA can then be read, or "translated," to create proteins, such as the spike protein used by SARS-CoV-2. These proteins in turn carry out a wide variety of tasks that allow cells to function. This process is known as the "Central Dogma of Molecular Biology".

    1. JSON parsing is always pain in ass. If the input is not as expected it throws an error and crashes what you are doing. You can use the following tiny function to safely parse your input. It always turns an object even if the input is not valid or is already an object which is better for most cases.

      It would be nicer if the parse method provided an option to do it safely and always fall back to returning an object instead of raising exception if it couldn't parse the input.

    1. Even having useCallback() returning the same function instance, it doesn’t bring any benefits because the optimization costs more than not having the optimization.
    1. I agree in general splitting an array, according to some property using the order of the elements (no take_drop_while) or to some other array (this request) is more difficult than it could be.
  44. Jun 2020
    1. For example, if error messages in two narrowly defined classes behave in the same way, the classes can be easily combined. But if some messages in a broad class behave differently, every object in the class must be examined before the class can be split. This illustrates the principle that "splits can be lumped more easily than lumps can be split".
    1. “The alarming truth,” warned the researcher, “is that the average number of permissions requested by a flashlight app is 25.”
    2. “Asking for too many permissions is dangerous,” ESET malware researcher Lukas Stefanko explains. “These permissions can be misused as an exploit to access more device components, such as call logs, phone numbers, and browsing history.”
    3. At the heart of Google’s challenge has been so-called permission abuse—millions of apps requesting the rights to access device data and functions beyond those needed to deliver their own functionality.
    1. Google’s novel response has been to compare each app to its peers, identifying those that seem to be asking for more than they should, and alerting developers when that’s the case. In its update today, Google says “we aim to help developers boost the trust of their users—we surface a message to developers when we think their app is asking for a permission that is likely unnecessary.”