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Daily Archives: August 11, 2020

This is the safest indoor space to prevent the spread of COVID-19 according to a mechanical engineer

Fast Company: “The vast majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs indoors, most of it from the inhalation of airborne particles that contain the coronavirus. The best way to prevent the virus from spreading in a home or business would be to simply keep infected people away. But this is hard to do when an estimated 40% of cases are asymptomatic and asymptomatic people can still spread the coronavirus to others. Masks do a decent job of keeping the virus from spreading into the environment, but if an infected person is inside a building, inevitably some virus will escape into the air. I am a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Much of my work has focused on how to control the transmission of airborne infectious diseases indoors, and I’ve been asked by my own university, my kids’ schools, and even the Alaska State Legislature for advice on how to make indoor spaces safe during this pandemic. Once the virus escapes into the air inside a building, you have two options: Bring in fresh air from outside or remove the virus from the air inside the building…”

The Amazing Disappearing Election

The Atlantic – Donald Trump and the coronavirus are all-consuming topics. What will happen to the rest of the world’s issues? “News diversity has fallen since 2016’s presidential election, and it’s fallen further in 2020, as stories about the pandemic have taken over the news globally. Fourteen Media Cloud topics—two of them explicitly focused on… Continue Reading

Boeing 747s Still Use Floppy Disks to Get Critical Software Updates

Gizmodo: “….The discovery comes courtesy of cybersecurity firm Pen Test Partners and was initially spotted by The Register. As part of this year’s virtual DEF CON hacker conference, Pen Test Partners showed off a video walkthrough of a British Airways 747 after the airline decided to retire its entire fleet last month due to the… Continue Reading

Twitter’s reply-limiting feature is now available to everyone

Engadget – “Twitter is making one of its boldest experiments official. After months of testing, the company is bringing its reply-limiting feature, which allows users to control who can reply to their tweets, to all users. With the update, which is rolling out now to Twitter’s apps and website, users can choose who can reply… Continue Reading

Research – wearing a neck gaiter may be worse than no mask at all

Washington Post – “…as face coverings have become increasingly commonplace in American life, so have questions about efficacy — and now a group of researchers from Duke University are aiming to provide some answers. In a recently published study, the researchers unveiled a simple method to evaluate the effectiveness of various types of masks, analyzing… Continue Reading

The Washington Post Will Soon Be Gone From LexisNexis

Washingtonian: “The Washington Post and LexisNexis have been unable to agree to terms. As a result, the Post‘s content stopped updating on LexisNexis products as of Saturday, the service announced to users last week, and archived content will vanish from the service on October 31…” [h/t Barclay Walsh] Continue Reading

How the pandemic might play out in 2021 and beyond

Nature – This coronavirus is here for the long haul – here’s what scientists predict for the next months and years. “…It is clear now that summer does not uniformly stop the virus, but warm weather might make it easier to contain in temperate regions. In areas that will get colder in the second half… Continue Reading

A Record 75% of Americans Can Vote by Mail in 2020

The New York Times: “About three-quarters of all American voters will be eligible to receive a ballot in the mail for the 2020 election — the most in U.S. history, according to a New York Times analysis. If recent election trends hold and turnout increases, as experts predict, roughly 80 million mail ballots will flood… Continue Reading