Notices by Hilary (regordane@mastodon.me.uk)

@dalias @luckytran

I agree that the evidence already existed.

But not that there was willful ignorance. Stupid mistakes are more common than evil.

@luckytran

It confused the hell out of me, because my expertise is in sexual transmission so at first I thought I should defer to public health colleagues with more experience in respiratory infection.

Plus, I was aware of historical contagion/miasma debates about the nature of infection, but had understood them to be superseded by germ theory. Pre-covid, I had not realised how much germ theory was interpreted as... contagion.

@luckytran

I'd always assumed that germ theory meant germs. Which could spread by contagion, or via aerosol (equivalent to miasma).

Early in the covid pandemic I was just perplexed. Thinking... have these "experts" never done housework? Never dusted stuff? How can they possibly believe that particles larger than 5 µm can't stay airborne?

I was right and they were wrong.

But that whole "wash your hands" and "no you don't need to wear a mask" error came from that.

@luckytran

Yeah... up to a point.

But pre-covid there was also a WRONG dogma which was widely accepted by western public health professionals.

It was assumed that airborne transmission doesn't happen (instead it's all by contact, so "wash your hands"). Pre-covid, this was the mainstream view among westerm infectious disease specialists, but it's WRONG.

The error came from confusing two particle size thresholds: 5 µm to enter the lung directiy, and 100 µm to remain airborne.

@quinn @breiter @jeffjarvis

It's unusual to get shingles so soon after the initial infection ie chickenpox. I'm sorry you were so unlucky.

One of the imponderables about routine childhood chickenpox vaccination is how it will affect shingles in younger adults. There's a huge population of adults who've had chickenpox which could re-activate as shingles. Allowing chickenpox to circulate means many get re-exposed when their kids get chickenpox. Which acts like a vaccine. Preventing shingles.

@breiter @quinn @jeffjarvis

I think it's more complicated. Chickenpox in adults can be severe, whereas in children it's a nuisance but almost never serious.

100% vaccine coverage isn't achievable, and partial coverage pushes up the typical age of first exposure. Introducing chickenpox vaccination could therefore paradoxically increase the number of severe adult cases.

I'd guess that the balance of risks does now favour vaccination but it's not as straightforward as one might imagine.

@mekkaokereke @carlosrodriguez

Seems to me there are two separate conversations going on here. One is about fast, direct transactions. In the UK we take this for granted. People in the USA tend not to realise how primitive their banking systems are in comparison with civilised countries.

The other, more fundamental, conversation is about what defines money and gives it meaningful value. Only governments can do that. Bitcoin doesn't qualify, and its supposed value is spurious.

@kyonshi @adelinej @kagan @cykonot @servelan

Good, but please in future be a LOT FASTER to accept and learn when people are telling you that you have got something wrong.

@cstross @alexproe @ChrisMayLA6

This. There might, possibly, be a few marginal cases where hydrogen generated on site is a sensible fuel for energy generation (I'm not actually aware of any).

But it is obviously daft and a complete non-starter for things that move (trains, road vehicles etc) or distribution over wide areas (eg for domestic use).

Hydrogen is total hype and the sooner the idea gets knocked on the head the better.

@ryanc

On hols right now, will try to remember to do this when I get back and can figure out how to send it.

Meanwhile, have boosted.

Might be worth re-posting in a few weeks when people are less likely to be halfway up a mountain.

@ianhecht @mentallyalex @TonyStark

Kids need to be fed. For the benefit of the hard of thinking, I'll repeat that. Kids need to be fed.

In any civilised society, one of the key roles of government is to ensure that kids get fed, regardless of who their parents are or what they may have done.

@jeffowski

I'm not trying to convert anyone (that's against my religion).

But I like exposing atheists to the idea that the (Christian) religion they have rejected is a narrow and restricted concept, which many real religions don't follow.

@jeffowski

I don't believe in a God who tells me to do things. I don't believe in blasphemy.

So I really can't answer your question. Except to say that you persist in not understanding the premise. Or possibly, if I did start to think that God commanded me in such ways, I should seek psychiatric care and probably anti-psychotic medication. Because that's the only way I can imagine such a scenario.

I am the religious one here.

@jeffowski

Religious people other than fundamentalist Christians have spent three thousand years discussing this *conundrum. And learning deeply from doing so.

But yeah, fundamentalist Christians waltz in and assume it should be taken at face value. And atheists follow their lead.

*I once gave a sermon. On the akeida. I'm not a Talmud scholar. But even I know enough to find many different ways of learning from this superficially challenging story. A bit like the Greek myths..

@jeffowski

Hm, I said you seemed to be getting a bit desperate... but I hadn't expected you to confirm that so conclusively.

I mean, WTAF. You know I'm not Christian. It's pretty easy to discern I'm not American.

I started this conversation by saying the religion atheists don't believe in is invariably Christianity (because they know fuck-all about any other). So.. thank you for proving my point.

@jeffowski

Sounds to me that you're getting a bit desperate now.

@jeffowski

If some atheists have been exposed to the idea that religion can be more diverse, flexible and accommodating than the fundamentalist Christianity they have rightly rejected... I'd see that as a win.

@jeffowski

I assume you're aware that there are well-established religions that don't even have a god?

Or that there are religions that don't assume that morality is dependent on belief?

Oh, no, I guess that would be too much to hope for.

You are so fucking ignorant.

@jeffowski

You don't even know what a religion is.

"Establish things as fact"? Erm, nope. Not mine, buddy.

@jeffowski

Yes, I follow you because sometimes I need to know what harm people are doing. You're as ignorant as fuck and yet you call me a moron?