Why not replace the main air circulation filter with a HEPA filter? E.g., I have two filters on my AC/heating system that I replace every month or so even though they're still pretty clean. I'm tempted to simply put HEPA filters in instead. Any problems?
Or I could jury-rig it so that only half of the filter was HEPA and the other half MERV. That would still cut down tremendously on finer particles.
Dropping nukes on either/both Iran's or North Korea's nuclear facilities and then handing the smoking remains off to Joe Biden would be an excellent display of good judgment and provide something to keep the Democrats busy for a few years until we can have another election.
"three officials on Thursday morning: a French police official responsible for public security in a key section of central Paris, and two intelligence officials from NATO countries..."
So 3 European officials call it a coup? How about some
evidence? This claim is drivel.
Tempting but, since the last update, Ubuntu's disk indicator flashes every second, reminding me of the doomsday countdown in "Independence Day" and of HAL reading lips in "2001".
I supported ACLU for decades. But about 30 years ago I noticed their messaging changing: less about racial civil rights and a move toward sexual civil rights. I met someone who worked with their local offices and in conversations it became apparent that ACLU was undergoing a shift in management style: persons from the gay community were moving into local and national positions in their organization.
Fast forward to 20 years later ACLU was (also) now concerned about bullying in schools. I had seen one bullying incident in my entire life, despite exposure to all types of people. Seeing their fallback from black civil rights, the advancement of LGBT causes to the forefront, and the support of such causes as "bullying", I surmised that ACLU had "gone off the rails". It was no longer the organization I once admired. I ceased my contributions.
- It’s an uncomfortable truth but blacks commit crimes at nearly three times the rate that whites do.
- Blacks commit 36% of the violent crime in the US even though they are only 13% of the population.
- Blacks in England commit crimes at nearly three times the rate of their population rate.
- The parity in black crime rates in the US and black crime rates in the UK prove that there is no systemic or institutional racial bias in the US, and that the judicial system is not unfairly targeting blacks.
- There is no systemic racism in US Judicial System.
- There is no racial bias that unfairly targets innocent blacks in the US Criminal system.
- The cycle of black crime begins with the breakdown of family values that has 72% of black pregnancies creating low-income single parent households.
- Black children growing up in single-parent low-income situations are likely to repeat this cycle unless they raise children in a married two-parent household with more stability.
- White privilege isn’t creating a system that unfairly arrests and prosecutes blacks, the black parents making bad life choices are creating situations that increase the likelihood of bad outcomes happening are the ones responsible.
- White privilege isn’t real and isn’t responsible for blacks committing more crimes, black adults making poor life choices are the ones responsible.
"INTERRACIAL VIOLENT CRIME INCIDENTS 2018" for
black on white, black on hispanic, white on black, white on hispanic, hispanic on white, hispanic on black crimes:
In that discussion I somehow lost whatever karma I had on this BB. Despite being polite and reasonable I was blasted into oblivion by some jerk(s). But with my now (-2) karma I am not above being jerky myself by pointing out that I was right, crooked-v was wrong, and any "field hospitals" the US Army made would indeed be, as I stated then, _field_ _hospitals_ and nothing like what "crooked-v" (https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=crooked-v ) envisioned:
"Making these spaces fit the physical needs of these hospitals (massive power requirements for equipment, hallways and elevators with certain amounts of clearance for transporting patients, extremely well-controlled ventilation systems, sanitizable surfaces everywhere, rooms laid out with central access for doctors and nurses) would take so much time and effort that it would be more money- and time-efficient to build new buildings with the expertise of a group practiced in building new, reasonably high-quality buildings as fast as possible... like, say, the Army...These need to be modern hospitals, not 19th-century sanitariums where patients just get dumped into a bed and left to die or recover on their own."
- crooked-v, being wrong, wrong, wrong
- narogab, being a jerk and an asshole (but almost always, a _correct asshole).[God, it feels good to let go of that knife].
crooked-v says "these hospitals (massive power requirements for equipment, hallways and elevators with certain amounts of clearance for transporting patients, extremely well-controlled ventilation systems, sanitizable surfaces everywhere, rooms laid out with central access for doctors and nurses) would take so much time and effort that it would be more money- and time-efficient to build new buildings with the expertise of a group practiced in building new, reasonably high-quality buildings as fast as possible... like, say, the Army."
Can you name 3 hospitals that fit your description and were built by the US Army in the last 10 years? I mean "actually built" (not bought, not prefabricated for, etc.) Can you name a single one? I don't think so.
I was speaking to a US Army carpenter 5 weeks ago: his Army classes taught him how to build an outhouse: it was his choice whether it had a door or a window - he chose a door because the design/build is simpler.
I'd much rather have a Mexican laborer who is familiar with a handsaw and hammer than the average GI in the US Army.
You're wrong about what they are trained to build and you're wrong about their skills. The Corps of Engineers are good at earth moving and that's about all. This will be a "learn on-the-job" boondoggle.
We don't need what you describe: we need modern buildings that have good roofs and in which the proper equipment can be deployed. Those buildings are already built: gymnasiums, dormitories, meeting halls, stadiums, auditoriums, churches et al all fill the bill and are almost immediately available.
crooked-v says "Right, and I'm sure hiring random people to construct temporary buildings as fast as possible would result in something that won't fall in on peoples' heads immediately."
Here you _must_ be talking about the US Army - there's little more random than the conscripts today. And they'll do it on the lowest bid. A recipe for success or for failure?
We have plenty of space (churches, meeting halls, school and university dormitories) to use for temporary hospitals w/o the Army building temporary buildings that will cost a fortune and later be torn down all on the taxpayers' dime. Charitable organizations, universities and institutions should be willing to donate those resources.
I don't want to pay the army for building: I want their doctors doing research on a cure/fix for Covid-19 and I want their soldiers alert and ready. It would be cheaper to hire immigrant Mexicans to build temporary hospitals.
Using the army to build hospitals when better space is already is a waste of time, a waste of money and little more than a boondoggle for the suppliers who are chosen.
And isn't this possibly a violation of the posse comitatus Act?
1. If the old-school stats work, why use NN/ML? Instead sample the big data and use a classical statistical model. This was stated to me by a business school faculty member, to my astonishment. I had no good answer. I had hoped that the new tech could do the work faster or see a pattern faster or see something that was invisible to classical stat.
I don't agree that medical science is doing what they can. They seem more interested in protecting their turf. The most creative and ballsy are the Chinese guys collecting plasma with Covid-19 antibodies from healed covid19 patients. That is creativity! But right behind them are their naysayers screaming bloody murder.
An acquaintance disappeared 4 weeks ago; he's holed up in the mountains for the duration. I wish him luck but the rest of us need something more creative.
I am disappointed. My bet is that a solution will come out of left field, will be initially opposed by medical science and ultimately absorbed by the same.
Whereupon we'll be back in the same situation, waiting for the next bug to come along.
Most people assume that the various governments' published statistics are accurate. They also often implicitly assume that the various statistical measures are consistent across nations. Are these reasonable assumptions given the politics of the various countries?
I don't see how this could work unless you cordon off populations, test them and _keep_ them isolated from each other. Even then you would have to sterilize goods that passed between isolated groups. That may work for cows if you have enough barns and fences but definitely is impossible for humans.
I believe that we must be practical and treat based on symptoms. The oft-sought but elusive "test" is a mirage sought by medical researchers that would be nice but is not practical given today's technology and the limitations of human behavior. Besides the test is generally simply not available.
I'll be surprised if the italian towns' quarantines hold.
I lost my sense of smell when I took a zinc tablet to prevent covid-19 (serious but funny). Maybe I shouldn't have dissolved it in my throat (as was suggested). Zinc is really bitter! My sense of taste is off too - nothing tastes good.
Thanks to this thread, I won't know whether my diminished smell is from the zinc tablet or I've contracted Covid-19!
