Favorites December 22nd 2021

Philippe Lemoine @phl43

What just happened in South Africa and what is happening in the UK makes no sense in the traditional modeling framework, but it makes perfect sense if you assume that the virus is spreading on a network with community structure, as I recently proposed. cspicenter.org/blog/waronscie…

Interesting framework explaining why we've had so much trouble forecasting COVID's spread.

David Rennie 任大伟 @DSORennie

My taxi in Hebei ski country just pulled off for two-minute battery change by robot. A fresh battery lasts 150km in winter, says driver. He pays 45yuan ($7) for a fresh battery. Impressive system, all the more for being totally workaday, not exotic. Future here now for China EVs.

I remember seeing Tesla's demo of this concept almost 10 years ago, but they never brought it to market. Cool to see someone finally doing it.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

Whoa, gray hair can regain its color:

scientificamerican.comGray Hair Can Return to Its Original Color—and Stress Is Involved, of CourseThe universal marker of aging is not always a one-way process

I mean, you already knew it was about stress right? Sounds like getting less stress actually does something.

XKCD Comic @xkcdComic

Rapid Test Results xkcd.com/2558/ m.xkcd.com/2558/

That 'Click To expand' is also called a hamburger button.

Colin McMillen @mcmillen

tbh, SMS scams (and no-click exploits!) are common enough that perhaps text/messaging apps should start *not* showing their content by default when coming from an unknown sender.

Jake Wilson for Somerville @jake4somerville

PSA: If you get a text purporting to be from your wireless company saying your bill is paid and offering you a free gift, DO NOT click the link. It's a #phishing scam. https://t.co/yB7MHDHNFG

I get like, three of these a week.

Libertarianism.org @libertarianism

"Japan is a scale model of what the U.S. should expect from population decline and restrictive immigration policies. Let’s not learn that lesson the hard way." - @PMatzko

Get immigration going again, we don't want to be like Japan on this!

Bob Wachter @Bob_Wachter

Even here in SF, the nation’s most vaccinated (and likely boosted) city – and a city where masking is still the norm – we’re now seeing the familiar northward-facing curve (Figure). It’s now clear that no place in the U.S. will be spared a direct hit from Omicron.(3/25)

The graph for SF definitely demonstrates that Omicron is on the rise, but it's hardly the most extreme one I've seen for the US.

Timothy B. Lee @binarybits

Polls obviously look bad for Democrats right now but things could plausible turn out the way they did for Clinton and Obama: a midterm bloodbath followed by a solid re-election. Especially because both of biden’s big problems, covid and inflation, are likely to improve by 2024.

Worth noting that nothing will get done after that midterm bloodbath, but still hopeful overall.

Care Bear Barney Criminal🐻🦕 @bear_wrongdoer

That bit in Alien where the little mouth comes put its bigger mouth

😬

March 2019, Toronto