No surprises with this one:


Covid: Face masks affect how we interact, says Cardiff University study
wrote:

Wearing face masks could be affecting the way we interact with others, new research suggests.

People tend to automatically imitate others' facial expressions of emotion. However, a study ... [has] found that people unable to use their mouth to mimic [other's] emotion struggled to empathise with [those] other people...

... "People tend to automatically imitate others' facial expressions of emotion when looking at them, whether that be a smile, a frown, or a smirk.

"This facial mimicry - where the brain recreates and mirrors the emotional experience of the other person - affects how we empathise with others and interact socially. Our study suggests that when the movements of the lower part of the face are disrupted or hidden, this can be problematic, particularly for positive social interactions..."

When safely behind a mask, we all become cold poker players?...

From my experiences, that is certainly true to varying degrees for people, depending very much on their other body language. Then also, some people adjust to still get a friendly message across.


However, for some other people, regardless of good health, are masks simply too scary for them?

Stay safe folks!
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Well Tonga has finally made it into the lists in 224th place (I wonder why Palau hasn't got a page yet) while Florida's death count jumped from 59,499 to 60,197 the other day and New Zealand has set a new daily case record of 204 as they climb the lists.

Meanwhile here down under yesterday saw our national single dose vaccine average passed 89% as the fully vaccinated number passed 80%. By the time I take a bus load of us villagers out to Inverell on Tuesday that will add another 17 to the fully vaxxed figure (and the daily reminders will cease). Mind you the powers to be finally decided after all this time to send a Pfizer vax squad to the village last Friday which hopefully will pick up the rest of the normal people around here, but sadly there are a few dead set abnormals around here (they also make up the village trouble makers' group).

I'll try and get an update in once these daily reminders and jabs are done with.

We've all just got back from our bus trip out west and now all 17 of us are fully dosed with Moderna.

Well Florida's death count jumped again, this time from 60,197 to 60,418.

We've all just got back from our bus trip out west and now all 17 of us are fully dosed with Moderna.

Well Florida's death count jumped again, this time from 60,197 to 60,418.

Did you all have to get a rapid test before you got on the super spread bus?

I suspect that they are so remote in the outback that they are effectively all the same family!

Then again, it might be warm enough over there to have all the windows open.

;-)


Stay safe folks!
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

So... Over here in the UK we have...

Supposedly a rapid drop in infection numbers that looks very reassuring, although the numbers are still high at well over 30 thousand new cases a day.

Yet... The ONS is finding that those currently infected are still numbering about 1-in-50 people in England, and a worsening 1-in-40 people in Wales...


What is to be believed?...

Is our government 'cooking' the testing numbers?
Or are we just not testing??
Or??
Crazy?


Stay safe folks!
Martin


Gov.UK Daily Cases

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, UK: 5 November 2021

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Or are we just not testing??

The UK is testing a lot more than most countries on the per capita rate. About 2.5 times the rate in the USA.

That is one reason the UK rate is so high. It is certainly not low, for most of the last month the UK has been in the top 3 reporting countries for new cases.

Did you all have to get a rapid test before you got on the super spread bus?

Being the driver and seeing as we all went thru this 4 weeks ago I wasn't bothered about that (not to mention that half of them kept dropping in here over the last week giving me daily reminders on the countdown). ;-)

I suspect that they are so remote in the outback that they are effectively all the same family!

Then again, it might be warm enough over there to have all the windows open.

Well a few are related, but yes we are a very small mountain village miles from anywhere, and it was a warm dry day so the windows were mostly open.

The "anti-vaxxers" are dying out?

Or they are slowly coming round to the dominant group view and good sociable sense?...


Coronavirus and changing attitudes towards vaccination - 7th to 16th Sept 2021
wrote:

... Main points

Of previously coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine-hesitant adults, we found:

• Over 4 in 10 (44%) were now vaccinated, while 55% remained unvaccinated.
  
  
• A higher percentage (46%) of younger adults (18 to 29 years) reported vaccine uptake compared with those aged 70 years and older (19%), whereas previous analysis showed younger adults were more hesitant.
  
  
• There was similar vaccine uptake between Black and Black British (47%) and White (42%) adults, while previous analysis showed higher hesitancy among Black and Black British adults.
  
  
• Around two-thirds (65%) of those now vaccinated said that wanting restrictions to ease and life to return to normal had motivated them to get a vaccine.
  
  
• Of those who remained unvaccinated, 58% said that worry about side effects had stopped them from getting a vaccine...
  

Three thoughts with that summary:

I'm not sure that the Black/White cultural distinction works well when likely the more significant distinction for the numbers is likely to be more economic or ethnic (or education?);

Very good that some do acknowledge trying to get "back to normal";

And very curious how those remaining "58%" ignore the far more drastic side effects of COVID itself!!!

Stay safe folks!
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

VAXX

ROTFLMMFAO

I Don't Follow da HERD.

'specially Where BIG PHARMA and Politicians are Concerned

Plenty of People with PhDs and Other 'Just' Folks who are ANTI-

I'm with Them

Yope

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

Got to LOVE dA GUV of FL

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/11/11/masked-up-states-reporting-more-coronavirus-cases/

Yope

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

It's long past time for another update of the lists so I'll try to be brief as the world's total case tally exceeds 253 million while total deaths pass 5.1 million.

Starting again with the top 50 of the death list saw Guatemala remove Sweden from 44th spot, Greece replaced Paraguay in 42nd while Egypt jumped over Myanmar and Bolivia into 36th after Thailand displaced Bolivia 35th, Bulgaria took 31st from Tunisia and Malaysia claimed 26th from Canada. Czechia was knocked out of 24th by Hungary as the Ukraine yanked Turkey out of 18th and Iran completes the changes by replacing Colombia in 10th place so it's onto the case list now.

The Faeroe Islands did leap from 203rd spot up to 200th, but that was over shadowed by the Cayman Islands' longer leap from 205th up to 198th, Liechtenstein replaced Sao Tome/Principe in 195th while Dominica jumped over Chad and St. Vincent Grenadines to claim 188th, New Zealand took flight over Liberia, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Gibraltar, Sierra Leone, Niger and Eritrea to land in 178th as the Isle of Man jumped over Yemen and Gambia to become the 175th member of the 10K+ club, South Sudan displaced Hong Kong from 171st and Brunei leapt over Saint Lucia, Equatorial Guinea and Djibouti to takeover 167th after the Channel Islands jumped over Equatorial Guinea and Djibouti into 166th place.

Iceland also passed Equatorial Guinea and Djibouti as well as Burkina Faso to claim 164th place, Barbados took a very long flight over Aruba, Taiwan, Mali, Nicaragua, Tajikistan, Curaçao, Congo, Mauritius, Timor-Leste, Burundi and Mayotte having to come down for refueling in 151st as Somalia leapfrogged Lesotho, the Seychelles and the Bahamas into 147th, Belize jumped over Togo and Tanzania the takeover 142nd while Papua New Guinea replaced Guinea in 140th, Gabon replaced Guyana in 138th and Laos also took a very long flight passing over Mauritania, Malta, Cabo Verde, French Polynesia, Sudan, Madagascar, Martinique, French Guiana, Syria, Eswatini and Suriname to make a refueling stop in 126th spot.

Trinidad/Tobago displaced the D.R.C. in 121st place, Rwanda became the 112th country to enter the 100K+ clubhouse while Finland took 100th from Afghanistan, Australia passed Kyrgyzstan to claim 98th as Singapore took a long distance flight over Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Albania, Botswana, Algeria, North Macedonia, Zambia, Estonia, Nigeria and Norway (earning enough frequent flyer points to join the 200K+ club while in flight) to make a stopover in 88th, Latvia leapt over Algeria, Zambia and Nigeria into 87th and Bosnia/Herzegovina replaced Kenya in 84th spot.

Armenia became the 82nd member of the 300K+ club then bumped Oman out of 81st spot, Slovenia took a flight over Egypt, Moldova, Libya, Ethiopia and Mongolia to make a stopover in 75th as South Korea leapfrogged Libya, Ethiopia and Honduras into 73rd, Denmark did the same to Uruguay, Kuwait and Venezuela to claim 68th while Lithuania zipped past Uruguay, Venezuela, Kuwait and Palestine to takeover 66th, Ireland jumped over Paraguay and Panama into 63rd and Croatia took wing over Paraguay, Panama, Myanmar, Ecuador and Bolivia to land in 59th place.

Slovakia also took flight over Paraguay, Panama, Myanmar, Ecuador and Bolivia before landing in 58th place, Azerbaijan jumped over Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia to claim 55th while Bulgaria leapfrogged Guatemala, Belarus and Lebanon to takeover 50th, Georgia became the 49th country to enter the 700K+ clubhouse before passing Tunisia and the U.A.E. into 47th as Greece passed the U.A.E. and Nepal to make it into 45th (joining the 800K+ club during the process), Austria leapt past Nepal, Jordan and Switzerland becoming the 42nd member of the 900K+ club (Switzerland became the 43rd member) and Hungary passed Jordan and Switzerland to become the 41st country to enter the 900K+ clubhouse.

Vietnam became the 40th member of the 900K+ club before zipping past Morocco, Kazakhstan and Cuba to become the 37th country to enter the 1M+ clubhouse, Serbia displace Sweden from 34th as Belgium took 31st spot from Israel, Romania jumped over Chile and Japan into 27th after Canada passed Japan to claim 26th, Thailand became the 24th member of the 2M+ club while the Netherlands took 21st from Peru, the Ukraine jumped over South Africa becoming the 17th country to enter the 3M+ clubhouse before removing Poland from 16th and Germany jerked Italy out of 12th spot.

Colombia became the 11th member of the 5M+ club while Iran became the 8th member of the 6M+ club as Turkey became the 6th member of the 8M+ club and Russia will become the 5th country to enter the 9M+ clubhouse tomorrow.

[edit] Florida's death toll jumped again from 60,418 to 60,697, but why keep up this feeding in of 4 week old data? Why not just get it back into real time?

Well that'll do for now.

Florida's one month delay for admitting that people have died adds up to a lot of hiding that people are being unnecessarily killed by DeSantis...

Deadly politics at play?...


Stay safe folks...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Here's a question for those skeptical about medical treatments.

There are two treatments that can cause blood clots, in one group of people;
in the first 1 in 50,000 are at risk
in the second it is 2 in 10,000.

Which of these two treatments would you say should be withdrawn due to the risk of blood clots?

Yep. Preservation of tax paying resources is a function of government.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/14/austria-orders-nationwide-lockdown-for-unvaccinated

The Austrian government has ordered a nationwide lockdown for people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, a measure aimed at slowing the fast spread of the disease in the country.

The move, going into effect at midnight on Sunday, prohibits unvaccinated individuals older than age 12 from leaving their homes except for ... getting vaccinated.

police have been asked to check people outside to make sure they are vaccinated, Schallenberg said, adding that additional officers would go on patrol to control the lockdown.

After their last winter and given their access to vaccines I was surprised to find out that even our chain dragging states here have higher immunisation rates than most European countries. :-O

This coming winter doesn't look good for them as numbers are already exploding over there now. :-(

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/13/us/snow-leopards-covid-nebraska-zoo.html

Three ‘beloved’ snow leopards died of Covid complications at Nebraska zoo

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An alarming new study has again put the spotlight on China’s popular wet markets, claiming they posed a “potentially high risk”.

....“This study highlights exactly why the wildlife trade and live animal markets are a pandemic accident waiting to happen,” co-author Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Sydney and recipient of the Prime Minister‘s Prize for Science, said this month.

“This paper also shows that humans regularly transmit their viruses to other animals. There‘s clearly two-way virus traffic.”

According to The Straits Times, the study into more than a dozen species of game animals traded as exotic food in China identified 71 mammalian viruses, believed to be “emerging” viral pathogens. 18 of which have been deemed “potentially high risk”.

The research did not claim to find anything resembling Sars-CoV-2, which sparked the Covid-19 pandemic, however the authors revealed that strains carried by bats are transmitted across the species barrier to infect other animals in “spillover events that risk seeding dangerous outbreaks”.

Civets, the species blamed for the spread of SARS in China some 20 years ago, were found to be carrying the most troubling microbes....

I highlighted a part just for our friend with the rock solid brain.

Usually, rock solid is a compliment.
I think I've lost some brain plasticity during all of this.

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Capitalize on this good fortune, one word can bring you round ... changes.