Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Clap, Clap, Clap for Two Health Leaders

XKCD – This is the Covid Risk Chart  that you want to share to help educate others using real world examples of conduct in correlation to non-COVID and COVID associated risk – imaginative and cogent.


Drivers' licences, hacked accounts, bank details going cheap on dark web

Hacked Facebook, Gmail and Instagram accounts, banking information and even driver licences are being bought and sold on the dark web for as little as $21, with experts warning identity theft may have life-long consequences for victims.

Released last week, the US Privacy Affairs Dark Web Price Index shows the average price of a hacked Facebook account is $106, a hacked Instagram account is $80 and access to a Twitter account costs $70. Access to a hacked Gmail account is being sold for $220 on average, the report showed.

Hallmark’s Christmas Movie Schedule for 2020 Is Here to Make Your Spirits BrightGood Housekeeping. Something to look forward to at last



Do kids need face masks? Yes, and here are the 8 best options we found - FastCompany: “Masks are an incredibly easy way to help prevent the spread of disease (namely, COVID-19)—but it’s not always easy to get everyone in your household to wear one. We’re looking at you, kiddos. The CDC advises that children over the age of 2 wear a mask when they cannot maintain adequate distance from another person—because even if your child isn’t ill, they can still transmit viruses.

With kids living in the US, UK, New Zealand and Singapore and friends scattered to the winds all over the world, I’ve been acutely aware of health leaders and doctors everywhere.

Many, like their political leaders, have left me unimpressed as they flip-flop over the ‘science’ on a daily basis and seem to fall in love with their media images like besotted politicians.

Two notable exceptions – Chapeau, Chapeau to Bonnie Henry and Ashley Bloomfield.

Ms Henry is the Health Officer in British Columbia and her sign off “Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe” has even been memorialised in a bright pink leather heeled shoe in Vancouver.  Everyone in B.C. trusts her – and believes her.

In New Zealand, working alongside NZ PM Jacinda Ardern, Mr Bloomfield has led the response to eliminate the virus.  He would be my New Zealander of the Year.

Clap, Clap, Clap for Bonnie and Ashley



Time in the city is usually taken up running around positioning oneself around this narrative of the normal. But the pandemic situates you in waiting. So much waiting, you gain clarity. You listen more attentively, more anxiously.”

—Dionne Brand, On narrative, reckoning and the calculus of living and dying


A New Role for Little Free Libraries - Book Riot: “…during this pandemic, we are listening a little more attentively, more diligently, perhaps even more sincerely, at the issues that affect our communities. For many, this attention brings painful reminders or a new understanding of the many injustices surrounding us, which can be debilitating. But paying attention has also prompted people to take action. A “small” movement that has taken place during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the redirection of some little free libraries into pantries. The number of people converting their little libraries into spaces to share household items, food, and personal care items is so large that Little Free Library has created a space within their website with a new map to list “sharing-box” locations. Sharing boxes do not need to be a registered Little Free Library to be on the map. The map is open to anyone offering food, household items, or crafts in a sharing box in their neighborhood…”


What’s reopened and what’s still restricted in 16 cities around the world - Washington Post: “There was no common strategy when the pandemic hit. The same is true around the world for plans to climb back from shutdowns. The priorities and pace are different on how to reopen businesses, schools, restaurants and everything else hit by restrictions to battle the spread of covid-19. Some countries have adopted a fast timetable. Others are more cautious. And there are places still trying to reach the downside of the infection curve. Washington Post correspondents and contributors across 16 cities are keeping a scorecard on what is back and what is not…”


Scientists identify six different types of coronavirus with increasing severity levels Telegraph

T-cells: the missing link in coronavirus immunity? Financial Times (David L). Already a topic in comments.

Free saliva-based COVID-19 tests begin at University of Illinois, but school won’t say if students are required to take them Chicago Tribune. ma: “So let me see if I have this straight–South Korea, the U of I, even a micro-brewery in New Brunswick, Canada, can figure out how to rapidly and accurately test people, but the USofA cannot….ok then.”


New Qld public service laws to ‘ensure good work is recognised’, says premier

CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE: The new bill will progress the first stage of public sector management reforms with two priority areas.