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Daily Archives: August 10, 2021

microCOVID Project

The Delta variant has substantially increased COVID risk, including for vaccinated people. We have adjusted the microCOVID calculator to provide updated numbers. Vaccines still provide substantial protection, but it’s gotten more complicated — read on to learn more about the latest findings, and please consider visiting the calculator to get updated risk numbers for your activities and relationships. What does the Delta variant mean for me? The Delta variant’s increased infectiousness means that COVID cases are surging faster than they used to. We now encourage you to check microCOVID at least weekly or use the risk tracker. You may want to make very different choices from one week to the next about activities like grocery shopping without a mask, dining, attending indoor parties, or going to bars/clubs. We saw the chance of infection from Indoor dining, fully vaccinated with Pfizer increase 7x within one week in Santa Clara County, California! One thing that the Delta variant hasn’t changed is the effectiveness of simple precautions. In particular, shifting activities from indoors to outdoors still reduces your risk 20x as long as you maintain a distance of at least 3 feet. N95 and KN95 masks are still extremely effective when used properly and are now available cheaply online. Still, the Delta variant has affected the consequences of contracting COVID. We’ll discuss the risk of hospitalization, death, long-term symptoms, and of passing the infection to the people around you…”

NASA, International Panel Provide a New Window on Rising Seas

“A new online visualization tool will enable anyone to see what sea levels will look like anywhere in the world in the decades to come. NASA’s Sea Level Change Team has created a sea level projection tool that makes extensive data on future sea level rise from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) easily… Continue Reading

Taking Stock: A global assessment of net zero targets

Black, R., Cullen, K., Fay, B., Hale, T., Lang, J., Mahmood, S., Smith, S.M. (2021). Taking Stock: A global assessment of net zero targets, Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit and Oxford Net Zero “In this report we present what is, we believe, the first systematic analysis of significant emitters, looking at the robustness of net… Continue Reading

New safety and digital wellbeing options for younger people on YouTube and YouTube Kids

YouTube Official Blog: “Today, we’re announcing additional protections for people under 18 on YouTube and YouTube Kids. Younger people use YouTube every day to discover new interests, learn about the world, and connect with the world through online video. But it’s essential that as they do, they have the options and safeguards to create the… Continue Reading

How Your Ad Blocker Can Track You Across the Web

Gizmodo: “…the average ad blocker leaves tiny traces of data on the websites you visit. When those traces are collected en masse, a bad actor (or tech company) could use these signals to identify your specific browser—a process literally called “fingerprinting” in the ad-targeting industry. And like a fingerprint, these signals are basically impossible to… Continue Reading

The long, long reigns of popular databases

InfoWorld: “Database popularity rises and falls over decades, not years. The databases that developers are interested in trying today may permeate the enterprises of the future. Database habits die hard. Just ask Oracle, which continues to rake in billions in database revenue despite being one of developers’ “most dreaded” databases, according to Stack Overflow’s 2021… Continue Reading

Virus Misinformation Spikes as Delta Cases Surge

The New York Times: “…Coronavirus misinformation has spiked online in recent weeks, misinformation experts say, as people who peddle in falsehoods have seized on the surge of cases from the Delta variant to spread new and recycled unsubstantiated narratives. Mentions of some phrases prone to vaccine misinformation in July jumped as much as five times… Continue Reading

Firefox 91 pushes privacy with stronger new cookie-clearing option

CNET: ” With the release of Firefox 91 on Tuesday, Mozilla has introduced a bigger hammer for smashing the cookies that websites, advertisers and tracking companies can use to record your online behavior. The new feature, called enhanced cookie clearing, is designed to block tracking not just from a website, but also from third parties… Continue Reading