Non-IT News Thread
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Xinjiang: US sanctions Chinese officials over 'abuse' of Muslims
The US has announced sanctions against Chinese politicians who it says are responsible for human rights violations against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
China is accused of mass detentions, religious persecution and forced sterilisation of Uighurs and others. The sanctions target US-based financial interests belonging to regional Communist Party boss Chen Quanguo and three other officials. China denies any mistreatment of Muslims in far-western Xinjiang. Authorities there are thought to have detained about a million people in re-education camps in recent years. They say "vocational training" is needed to counter radicalism and separatism. Mr Chen, who sits on the Chinese Communist Party's powerful Politburo, is the highest-ranking Chinese official ever to be hit by US sanctions, the Trump administration says. He is seen as the architect of Beijing's policies against minorities. -
@Texkonc said in Non-IT News Thread:
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Just found out that the world's busiest airport is now DFW.
Cant say I am not surprised, it is massive, so the volume they can handle....
O'hare was considered the busiest for a long time.
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@scotth said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Texkonc said in Non-IT News Thread:
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Just found out that the world's busiest airport is now DFW.
Cant say I am not surprised, it is massive, so the volume they can handle....
O'hare was considered the busiest for a long time.
Yeah, Chicago fucked that up years ago when they gave away too many rights to United and American.
Thankfully, that contract is finally expiring and a proper modern terminal is going to be built.
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@scotth said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Texkonc said in Non-IT News Thread:
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Just found out that the world's busiest airport is now DFW.
Cant say I am not surprised, it is massive, so the volume they can handle....
O'hare was considered the busiest for a long time.
It was, but Atlanta took over long ago.
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Sweden Has Become the World’s Cautionary Tale
40% higher death rate than even the US, nearly equal economic impact.
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Roger Stone: Trump commutes ex-adviser's sentence
US President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of his former adviser Roger Stone
The announcement came just after the Washington DC Court of Appeals denied Stone's request to delay the start date of his custodial term of 40 months. He was convicted of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering. Stone was the sixth Trump aide found guilty on charges linked to a justice department probe that alleged Russia tried to boost the Trump 2016 campaign. It's hard to say the president's decision to grant clemency to his long-time friend and political counsellor is surprising, but it's still jarring. Even though the president has called the special counsel investigation that prosecuted Stone a sham and a partisan witch hunt, Stone was duly convicted of serious crimes. -
And for those of us that just love faxing...
https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/07/13/1532242/bottleneck-for-us-coronavirus-response-the-fax-machine -
If there is a second wave of Covid, the Swedish approach will have been right all along
Not going into lockdown was described as “a mad experiment” at the time, but Sweden can look to the winter with less trepidation than most
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@Obsolesce said in Non-IT News Thread:
If there is a second wave of Covid, the Swedish approach will have been right all along
Not going into lockdown was described as “a mad experiment” at the time, but Sweden can look to the winter with less trepidation than most
how could there not be - really, only way - to stay locked down until there is a vaccine, and then require everyone to get it.
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@Obsolesce said in Non-IT News Thread:
If there is a second wave of Covid, the Swedish approach will have been right all along
Not going into lockdown was described as “a mad experiment” at the time, but Sweden can look to the winter with less trepidation than most
Why? Isn't Sweden still in the first wave? And now that they are showing no immunity, we are seeing Sweden as "the" example of failure because it's in the worst overall shape now.
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@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Obsolesce said in Non-IT News Thread:
If there is a second wave of Covid, the Swedish approach will have been right all along
Not going into lockdown was described as “a mad experiment” at the time, but Sweden can look to the winter with less trepidation than most
how could there not be - really, only way - to stay locked down until there is a vaccine, and then require everyone to get it.
Will any vaccine be expected to be possible now that they are showing that even getting the disease itself only gives you months of immunity?
Maybe if we get vaccines all the time, like every two months?
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@Obsolesce said in Non-IT News Thread:
If there is a second wave of Covid, the Swedish approach will have been right all along
Not going into lockdown was described as “a mad experiment” at the time, but Sweden can look to the winter with less trepidation than most
"Last week, a study suggested that 30 per cent of Swedes have built up immunity to the virus."
But THIS week, studies show that the immunity doesn't last. So while there IS an immunity in places like Sweden and the US, there's no reason to expect it to save them from a second wave. And the US doesn't even have a possibility of ending the first wave anytime soon, and I think Sweden is in a similar boat.
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@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Maybe if we get vaccines all the time
Then, that would be a vaccine similar to the flu shot. Not all vaccines are a full efficacy forever.
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@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Will any vaccine be expected to be possible now that they are showing that even getting the disease itself only gives you months of immunity?
Yes, some evidence indicates that the natural antibody response may reduce after a few months.
No, it is not a proven fact in any way. It is also not even known the amount of antibody reduction and thus whether the reduced antibody counts are reduced enough to allow reinfection.
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@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Obsolesce said in Non-IT News Thread:
If there is a second wave of Covid, the Swedish approach will have been right all along
Not going into lockdown was described as “a mad experiment” at the time, but Sweden can look to the winter with less trepidation than most
how could there not be - really, only way - to stay locked down until there is a vaccine, and then require everyone to get it.
Will any vaccine be expected to be possible now that they are showing that even getting the disease itself only gives you months of immunity?
Maybe if we get vaccines all the time, like every two months?
Literally the first I've heard of zero or basically near zero immunity - damn that sucks!
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@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Obsolesce said in Non-IT News Thread:
If there is a second wave of Covid, the Swedish approach will have been right all along
Not going into lockdown was described as “a mad experiment” at the time, but Sweden can look to the winter with less trepidation than most
Why? Isn't Sweden still in the first wave? And now that they are showing no immunity, we are seeing Sweden as "the" example of failure because it's in the worst overall shape now.
Also, a small study in a localized area, not yet peer reviewed.
And as Jared points out:
@JaredBusch said in Non-IT News Thread:
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Will any vaccine be expected to be possible now that they are showing that even getting the disease itself only gives you months of immunity?
Yes, some evidence indicates that the natural antibody response may reduce after a few months.
No, it is not a proven fact in any way. It is also not even known the amount of antibody reduction and thus whether the reduced antibody counts are reduced enough to allow reinfection.
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@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Isn't Sweden still in the first wave?
Technically, but it's kinda over...
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Also mentioned by the study:
We suggest that this transient nAb response is a feature shared by both a SARS-CoV-2 infection that causes low disease severity and the circulating seasonal coronaviruses that are associated with common colds.
So who knows. It's just too early to point fingers.
In any case, most will get infected at some time or another anyways. So it's all just political nonsense.
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Another thing, is that Sweden didn't REALLY do much different than most other places. Most things were the same, but many were not mandatory.
Nothing went unimpeded. Middle school+ was closed down and remote in the country, colleges were closed and remote, most businesses that COULD do remote did so, movie theatres and such were closed down and continue to be, theme parks have been closed down for months, social distancing was recommended, stickers on all the floors in all stores and public spaces were down to encourage distancing... streets in Stockholm for example were basically empty, trains were empty... a lot of stuff was done.
The biggest issue was in the beginning, the failure to protect the elderly at nursing homes all over the country. Now that's under control, but that was the main cause of the huge number of deaths.
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@JaredBusch said in Non-IT News Thread:
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Maybe if we get vaccines all the time
Then, that would be a vaccine similar to the flu shot. Not all vaccines are a full efficacy forever.
Flu is like annually, though. This would be a lot more.
