An introduction to piezoelectric haptics provides the pros and cons of each and details piezoelectric transducer principles, theory, and modelling along with a proprietary energy recovery process that greatly reduces input power requirements.
An introduction to piezoelectric haptics provides the pros and cons of each and details piezoelectric transducer principles, theory, and modelling along with a proprietary energy recovery process that greatly reduces input power requirements.
Wash your hands and stay at home as much as you can. Please be careful. I love you.
NEW RESOURCES – MEDICAL/HEALTH
Pro Bono Australia: The project filling in the coronavirus language gap. “There’s a lot of information out on how to keep safe from coronavirus, but if English isn’t your first language, it can be difficult to track down essential information. It’s an issue that Selena Choo is trying to fix. She has created Videos in Language: Coronavirus and Handwashing, a digital library of important coronavirus health information, videos, and tips, in 28 different Middle-Eastern, African and Asian languages.”
NEW RESOURCES – EDUCATION/ENTERTAINMENT
Times of India: Gujarat: World’s largest image bank of Ravi Varma goes online. “Amid nationwide lockdown, works of India’s celebrated artist Raja Ravi Varma, who gave face to Hindu gods and goddess, have gone virtual.”
NEW RESOURCES – OTHER
Data Journalism: Verification Handbook. “The latest edition of the Verification Handbook arrives at a critical moment. Today’s information environment is more chaotic and easier to manipulate than ever before. This book equips journalists with the knowledge to investigate social media accounts, bots, private messaging apps, information operations, deep fakes, as well as other forms of disinformation and media manipulation. The first resource of its kind, it builds on the first edition of the Verification Handbook and the Verification Handbook for Investigative Reporting.”
WBRZ (Louisiana): Ag Center creates tool to safely connect community with local farmers amid COVID-19 crisis. “Supporting your local farmers during the shutdown is just a click away with a new brand new tool. ‘Farms especially have lost a lot of their market, restaurants especially, even those that are open have very limited capacity and schools are a big one as well,’ Johannah Frelier with the LSU Ag. Center said. Frelier has compiled a state-wide list of local farms, butchers, and distributors providing farm-fresh food.”
WENY: NYS Bar Association to offer free legal aid for denied unemployment insurance applicants. “The Bar Association is helping people who have applied for unemployment insurance but were denied. The Bar Association President says people have a much better case to make while challenging that denial if they have an attorney in their corner, but as you can imagine, someone without a job may not be able to afford one. If you’re denied an unemployment insurance claim with New York, you can challenge it and get a hearing, if the ruling stands, you can then appeal it.”
Film News: BFI launches Britain On Lockdown a public call out to map the digital video response to Coronavirus. “Today the [British Film Institute] launches a public campaign, Britain on Lockdown, calling on the British public to recommend those online videos that best represent how Britain has experienced the impact of Coronavirus. From Joe Wicks to Boris Johnson, solidarity for NHS frontline workers and local communities coming together through to comedy parodies, public health videos about the importance of proper handwashing and charity campaign films, online video has played a key role in our collective experience of the lockdown in a way that has never been experienced before.”
USEFUL STUFF
Los Angeles Times: Teens are feeling lonely and anxious in isolation. Here’s how parents can help. “Normally adolescence, a developmental period marked by impulsivity and feelings of invincibility, is a time in which teenagers separate from their parents and bond with their peers. Now that families are confined at home, parents are in a peculiar position in which they have to balance the seriousness of the novel coronavirus with their teen’s desire for social interaction.”
UPDATES
New York Times: New York Attorney General Scrutinizes Amazon for Firing Warehouse Worker. “Amazon may have violated federal worker safety laws and New York State’s whistle-blower protections when it fired an employee from its Staten Island warehouse who protested the company’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a letter the office of the New York attorney general, Letitia James, sent the company last week.”
New York Times: Commissioner Resigns After He Threw a Cat During Zoom Meeting. “The city Planning Commission meeting in Vallejo, Calif., last week followed the same humdrum pattern of so many municipal meetings: There was the Pledge of Allegiance and a roll call, followed by various reports…. But things took an unexpected turn about two hours and 24 minutes into the session after one of the commissioners, Chris Platzer, was asked if he had any comments after reviewing a project application. ‘Yes, if I’m allowed to make them,’ he said, just after a cat could be heard loudly meowing offscreen, according to a video of the meeting.”
Marine Corps Times: Dozens test positive for COVID-19 at San Diego boot camp. “Nearly four dozen recruits within Bravo company aboard the recruit depot in San Diego, California, have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a Marine official. Training at the depot has not been halted and there is no current pause in receiving incoming new recruits, the official said.”
The Moscow Times: Nurses Quit En Masse From Russia’s Top Coronavirus Hospital: Reports. “Nurses have quit en masse from Russia’s top coronavirus hospital in Moscow over poor working conditions and low wages, the investigative news website Open Media reported Monday. A former nurse who said she quit the Kommunarka hospital after almost two months told the outlet that more than a dozen nursing staff had left in that period. They reportedly quit because they were denied clean protective gear, food and adequate accommodations, and were not paid bonuses promised by President Vladimir Putin.”
SOCIETAL IMPACT
Geo Awesomeness: 10 ways people are using this amazing Google tool to create custom COVID-19 maps. “Google is witnessing a huge surge in the number of people using its custom mapmaking tool, My Maps, during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Google, there have been nearly 3 billion creations, edits, and views in My Maps between December 2019 and April 2020. In the same time period last year, that number was only 2 billion.” Nice roundup but minimal annotation.
The Print (India): Zoom, Google Meet classes ‘next to impossible’ as J&K students struggle with 2G speed. “Schools and colleges, among the worst affected by the lockdown to contain Covid-19, are now increasingly resorting to online classes to salvage their academic sessions. But that has proved a problem for educational institutions in Kashmir where an internet blackout was only recently lifted. In the first week of March, the Jammu and Kashmir government lifted the seven-month long ban on the internet but restricted the speed to 2G, creating hurdles for those who might want to attend online classes.”
The Star: FOMO is dead, and social media influencers are sputtering. “COVID-19 has turned a lot of brick-and-mortar businesses upside down, but it’s upending virtual occupations, too. Suddenly social media influencers — i.e. professional jet-setters who, pre-COVID, chronicled their lives from tropical beaches and elite parties — have nothing to do but sit around at home and wait out the plague like the rest of us.”
The Daily Free Press: Coronavirus brings unseen effects even when sleeping. “In this unprecedented time, many people quarantined in their homes have turned to sleep for relaxation and escape from the daily stress of the coronavirus. Yet these worries in one’s waking life are now carrying over to the unconscious, producing vivid and often illogical dreams. As a result of newfound concerns and societal shutdowns, many are reporting increasingly detailed dreams. This phenomenon is tied to rising cortisol levels and emotion-associated neurotransmitters, Sanford Auerbach, associate professor of psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine, said.”
Daily Beast: Meet the Out-of-Work Women Stripping on Instagram for Celebs During the Pandemic. “For Munni, a 23-year-old Manhattanite, things were looking particularly dire. She was laid off from both of her jobs—cashier at a bagel shop and hostess at a Japanese restaurant—in mid-March, and had just $60 to her name. ‘I was late on my rent and got laid off from my job a few days before the pandemic really hit New York,’ she tells The Daily Beast. ‘It was really scary for me, and I was stressed out about how I would make ends meet.’ Then a friend told her about Demon Time, a roving virtual strip club on Instagram Live, where women could dance anonymously (in a ski mask, or by leaving their head out of the frame) for an online audience of thousands, including celebrities ranging from The Weeknd to Kevin Durant, and rake in thousands of dollars a night.”
Washington Post: ‘What happens if you and Daddy die?’. “Some health-care workers have moved away from their families, and many others have isolated in spare bedrooms or basements, trying to explain to their kids that they can no longer hug them because the consequences of even a single touch could be dire. Most of all, parents have wrestled with how much to divulge, because what their children do and don’t know about the pandemic could consume them. In many cases, it already has: Kids have endured nightmares and recorded their anguish in journals, written parents goodbye letters and created detailed plans of what they’ll do in case they never see their mom or dad again.”
The Appeal: Black Women Have Long Faced Racism In Healthcare. Covid-19 Is Only Amplifying It.. “Across the United States, Black women like [Rana Zoe] Mungin have long faced significant social, economic, and racial barriers to receiving healthcare. Wage disparities, lack of access to hospitals and doctors’ offices, and the chronic stress of racism and implicit biases from providers all contribute to worse healthcare outcomes for Black women versus their white peers. Now, doctors and policymakers are concerned that those factors are compounding in the COVID-19 pandemic, creating greater gaps in care, and potentially increasing the virus’s spread.”
INSTITUTION / CORPORATE / GOVERNMENT
Sydney Morning Herald: Google races to replace Zoom as live video app of choice. “Google says its Meet service is more secure because it’s a part of the company’s existing portfolio of accounts and services, which is subject to stringent security testing. The Meet service has, until now, been offered as part of the company’s G-Suite services that businesses and schools pay for. However, Google has now started rolling it out gradually to everyone with a personal or business Google account.”
Philadelphia Tribune: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Black churches aid free testing. “It was early last Friday morning when Andrea Lawful-Sanders, an on-air personality at WURD Radio, witnessed dozens of cars waiting to get into the parking lot of the Mt. Airy Church of God in Christ. People were waiting at the 6401 Ogontz Ave. church for COVID-19 tests administered by the Black Doctors COVID19 Consortium, which had organized yet another one of its free-of-charge community testing events. Lawful-Sanders was there to drop off face masks.”
ProPublica: Health Insurers to Investors: We’re Good. Health Insurers to Lawmakers: Please Help.. “Executives at Cigna, the health insurance giant, have signaled to investors that the coronavirus pandemic isn’t hurting the company’s business and might actually be a boon. But that hasn’t stopped the trade group that represents Cigna and other health insurers in Washington from asking lawmakers for aid.”
RESEARCH
New York Times: Data on Gilead Drug Raises Hopes in Pandemic Fight, Fauci Calls It ‘Highly Significant’. “The top U.S. infectious disease official said Gilead Sciences Inc’s experimental antiviral drug remdesivir will become the standard of care for COVID-19 after early results from a key clinical trial on Wednesday showed it helped patients recover more quickly from the illness caused by the coronavirus.”
Washington Post: Scientists know ways to help stop viruses from spreading on airplanes. They’re too late for this pandemic.. “On March 14, 1977, a woman with the flu climbed aboard a 737 and headed for Kodiak, Alaska, with 53 other passengers and crew. After an engine failed, most of them sat on the runway with the cabin doors shut, and the ventilation system off, for two hours. Within three days, 38 more people were sick. More than four decades after state and federal epidemiologists showed how easily viruses spread from person to person on airplanes, the novel coronavirus has decimated global aviation. Daily passenger screenings are down 95 percent, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Though there have been significant advances since the 1970s, and airlines spent weeks touting the safety of flying and their steps against the coronavirus, passenger cabins still pose a danger for the spread of infectious diseases, experts said. It is a problem of biology, physics and pure proximity, with airflow, dirty surfaces and close contact with other travelers all at play.”
POLITICS AND SECURITY
The Daily Beast: Fake Utah Doc Peddled ‘Ingestible Silver’ as a Bogus COVID Cure: Feds. “Gordon Pedersen says his ingestible silver products can ‘destroy’ the coronavirus and help protect people from contracting the deadly illness. The Department of Justice says that is flat-out wrong and has taken legal action to stop him.”
BuzzFeed News: A Judge Sided With Native American Tribes Challenging How The Trump Administration Is Handling Coronavirus Relief Money. “The Trump administration cannot distribute coronavirus relief money intended to help Native American communities respond to the coronavirus pandemic to certain for-profit Native corporations, a federal judge ruled Monday evening.”
Vanity Fair: Inside Donald Trump and Jared Kushner’s Two Months of Magical Thinking. “On the afternoon of Thursday, March 19, Donald Trump sat in the Oval Office obsessing over the beaches in Florida. CNN footage of shirtless spring breakers packed onto the sand while the coronavirus pandemic raged sparked national outrage—and pressure on Trump to act. The next morning, New York governor Andrew Cuomo would announce strict stay-at-home orders for residents, but Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis refused to close his state’s beaches, a position even Florida’s Republican senator Rick Scott called reckless.”
CoronaBuzz is brought to you by ResearchBuzz. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment, send resource suggestions, or tag @buzz_corona on Twitter. Thanks!
Infineon’s 1200-V TRENCHSTOP IGBT7 module family offers power solutions up to 11 kW in PIMs and up to 22 kW in six-pack topologies for industrial-drive applications.
Infineon’s 1200-V TRENCHSTOP IGBT7 module family offers power solutions up to 11 kW in PIMs and up to 22 kW in six-pack topologies for industrial-drive applications.
Infineon’s 1200-V TRENCHSTOP IGBT7 module family offers power solutions up to 11 kW in PIMs and up to 22 kW in six-pack topologies for industrial-drive applications.
Aceinna’s IMU383ZA integrated inertial measurement unit (IMU) features a triple-redundant sensor architecture for ultra-high reliability.
Aceinna’s IMU383ZA integrated inertial measurement unit (IMU) features a triple-redundant sensor architecture for ultra-high reliability.
Wash your hands and stay at home as much as you can. Please be careful. I love you.
NEW RESOURCES – MEDICAL/HEALTH
Berkeley Lab: Machine Learning Tool Could Provide Unexpected Scientific Insights into COVID-19. “A team of materials scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) – scientists who normally spend their time researching things like high-performance materials for thermoelectrics or battery cathodes – have built a text-mining tool in record time to help the global scientific community synthesize the mountain of scientific literature on COVID-19 being generated every day. The tool, live at covidscholar.org, uses natural language processing techniques to not only quickly scan and search tens of thousands of research papers, but also help draw insights and connections that may otherwise not be apparent.”
TechRepublic: New database of pediatric COVID-19 patients hopes to protect vulnerable children with cancer. “The Global COVID-19 Observatory and Resource Center for Childhood Cancer combines several COVID-19 resources for medical professionals specializing in treating pediatric cancer, including a resource library, a global registry of pediatric cancer patients infected with COVID-19, and a collaboration space for healthcare professionals.”
KSAL: State’s New COVID-19 Website Launches. “The site includes the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) daily case rates, what to do if you experience COVID-19 symptoms, how to protect yourself and more updated information on state resources in place to help Kansans. Kansans also can learn about volunteer efforts taking place statewide.”
Mashable: New website offers quick mental health support during COVID-19. “There’s no shortage of local, state, and national helplines that offer support to people during emotional or mental health crises. The problem is that they’ve not been easily accessible in one searchable database, which means it might take callers or texters reaching out for help longer to find the resources they need. A new website launched Tuesday by the Pandemic Crisis Services Coalition aims to change that. Its goal is to make mental health support a click away for people who are struggling with their emotional and mental wellbeing during the coronavirus pandemic.”
NEW RESOURCES – EDUCATION/ENTERTAINMENT
TimeOut: London’s first public art walk The Line goes online. “There is a now new way to walk the line without ever getting lost. To celebrate its fifth birthday, mark International Sculpture Day and cope with the obvious barrier of the lockdown, The Line is going online. In collaboration with children’s arts charity House of Fairy Tales, it has launched a new interactive map which will guide you through each art installation. Click on the numbered dots and you’ll be given the story behind sculptures like Alex Chinneck’s immense 35-metre-tall latticed steelwork ‘A Bullet from a Shooting Star’ or Laura Ford’s ’Bird Boy’, a lonely figure of a lost child in a bird costume that stands on the edge of a pontoon in the Royal Docks.”
T.H.E. Journal: Updated: Free STEM and STEAM Resources for Schools During the COVID-19 Outbreak. “Education technology companies and organizations have stepped forward to help educators bring STEM and STEAM experiences to students in virtual ways during the COVID-19 closures. The following list of free resources in the arts, coding/computer science/engineering, crafting/design/making, math, science and integrated STEM/STEAM will be updated regularly as announcements are made.”
NEW RESOURCES – OTHER
New York Times: Oprah to Headline Facebook, Instagram Graduation Event. “Oprah will be the commencement speaker and Awkwafina, Jennifer Garner, Lil Nas X and Simone Biles will offer words of wisdom to the Class of 2020 in a multi-hour graduation streaming event on Facebook and Instagram on May 15.”
High Times: High Times Opens Its Digital Archive To All. “Just as industry webinars and sesh hangouts on Zoom are starting to lose their appeal as sources of quarantine cannabis content, High Times has come to the rescue by opening the magazine’s archives online for all the world to view for free. From interviews with cultural icons such as Andy Warhol and Hunter S. Thompson to work contributed by the likes of Charles Bukowski and William S. Burroughs, High Times has featured stories that are nearly nonexistent in today’s fast cut, clickbait society. By simply registering online with an email address, every issue of High Times ever published can be viewed online through May 20, with no credit card required.”
USEFUL STUFF
Screen Rant: Free Digital Comics Are Helping Fans Get Through Coronavirus Lockdown. “The Coronavirus pandemic has thrown the comic book industry for a loop, giving fans week after week without new comics for the first time in years. To make matters worse, their favorite superheroes, characters, and senses of humor have gone missing when they’re needed most, as millions around the world weather the storm in isolation. To help those comic readers during this difficult time, some creators and publishers have come to the rescue by releasing free digital content while the printed weekly issues and trade paperbacks are unavailable. We’ve rounded up some of those that are currently providing fans with the best online content for free.”
PopSugar: How to Turn a T-Shirt Into a Face Mask in Less Than 10 Minutes — No Sewing Required. “The CDC released a no-sew T-shirt face mask tutorial, and it’s a lot easier than you might think. Keeping with CDC cloth face mask guidelines, this method takes less than 10 minutes to do and only requires a T-shirt, scissors, and ruler.”
UPDATES
Washington Post: Three doctored covid-19 protest photos — and other lessons on fake news. “This is the latest installment of a weekly feature on this blog — lessons from the nonprofit News Literacy Project, which aims to teach students how to distinguish between what’s real and fake in the age of digital communication and a president who routinely denounces real news as ‘fake.'”
BBC: Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be ‘scrapped’ instead of delayed again, says Games chief. “The postponed Tokyo Olympics will be ‘scrapped’ if they cannot take place in 2021, says Games chief Yoshiro Mori. Tokyo 2020 is now scheduled to run from 23 July to 8 August next year after being delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.”
CNET: Every coronavirus symptom you can have, according to the CDC. “As countries like the US face coronavirus testing shortages, a lot of people are depending on matching their symptoms to the list of officially recognized symptoms of COVID-19 to determine if they have the disease or not. Those efforts may have gotten easier as the CDC has expanded its list of coronavirus symptoms, adding six more indicators. Previously, the only recognized symptoms were fever, coughing and shortness of breath.”
CNET: US hits 1 million coronavirus cases. “In a new grim milestone, the US now has more than 1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to tracking numbers from the John Hopkins University and Medicine Coronavirus Research Center. As of 11:30 a.m. PT on Tuesday, there have been 57,266 deaths from 1,002,498 confirmed cases in the US. Around 5.6 million people have been tested across the nation.”
The Times: Germany ready to tighten lockdown as coronavirus infection rate climbs again. “Germany may be compelled to bring back elements of its lockdown amid signs that coronavirus cases could be on the point of starting to multiply again. The country’s virus reproduction rate, which measures how many people the average person with Covid-19 infects, has rebounded to a value of 1.0, the dividing line between growth and decline, according to government epidemiologists.”
SOCIETAL IMPACT
Daily Beast: Covid Cashout: Plastic Surgeons and Cannabis Startups Rush to Grab Coronavirus Trademarks. “Trademark applications filed with the Patent Office show an explosion in products marketed in some fashion as related to the virus. Nearly 200 applications containing the words ‘coronavirus’ or ‘COVID’ have been filed since March 29, the first time either word appeared in a trademark application, according to USPTO’s online database.”
Caltech: Forming New Habits in the Era of the Coronavirus. “With the coronavirus pandemic upon us, people are readily forming new habits, such as washing their hands more frequently and communicating with colleagues over video platforms like Zoom. Which of these habits will stick when the pandemic is over and which will pass? Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics and the T&C Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience Leadership Chair in the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech, is looking into this question of habit formation, or what scientists call habitization. He says that the coronavirus pandemic may have ripple effects that lead to lasting behavioral changes in the arenas of public health, education, and more.”
Stylist: Comparison culture is worse than ever during lockdown. Why?. “Despite finding ourselves in the middle of a global pandemic, our desire to compare ourselves to the people we follow on social media and interact with online is stronger than ever. But why is this? And what, if anything, can we do about it?”
Phys .org: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now elastic? Mask makers cope with unexpected COVID-19-related shortages. “With protection against COVID-19 spurring demand, hobbyists skilled in sewing have turned to making masks and are hunting down materials and sewing machines. That’s led to shortages of elastic and high demand for less pricey sewing machines and even the services of people who repair old machines.”
CNET: A chef offered up her sourdough starter on Instagram and the results are amazing. “Nothing travels faster than news in 2020, thanks to social media, except maybe sourdough starter. Just ask Johanna Hellrigl, the 31-year-old chef and Washington, D.C, resident who, at the start of the outbreak when the U.S. began shuttering, offered to share a sourdough starter with her 6,000-plus Instagram followers. At last count, the former executive chef at Doi Moi had distributed over 500 iterations of her starter and, in doing so, created a sprawling network of baked goods and goodwill in rather dark times.”
GQ: How Instagram Live Became Appointment Viewing. “On Instagram Live on any given day over the past two months, you may have watched SZA lead a sound bowl meditation, Rihanna and Lil Uzi Vert do the Futsal Shuffle, or Offset make an offer on Reese Witherspoon’s dad’s car. Seemingly overnight, Instagram Live has become a digital smorgasbord, catering to all manner of pop-culture predilections, many of which you probably didn’t know you had in the first place…. While all these shows differ in content, there’s an energetic thread that runs throughout them: a quaint clumsiness and a spontaneous sort of humanity that you rarely encounter in such abundance on celebrity social media channels.”
New York Times: ‘I Could Be One of Them’: Belgians Help Migrants Amid Coronavirus. “Gare du Nord, once the busiest train station in Brussels, the Belgian capital, has been nearly empty of regular travelers after the lockdown, since most trains have been canceled. But twice a day, a long line of migrants waits along a platform for food and hygienic supplies. Nabil Moujahid, a 33-year-old schoolteacher, started a grass-roots initiative called Citizens in Solidarity to distribute food to migrants who gather in the Parc Maximilien near the station.”
The Daily Beast: Fox-Loving Parents Are Driving Coronavirus-Paranoid Kids Insane. “The spread of coronavirus is pitting family members against each other over the severity of the pandemic and the steps needed to combat it. The fault lines are generational and geographic. But mainly they appear determined by news appetites.”
CNBC: Belgians urged to eat fries twice a week as coronavirus creates massive potato surplus. “Belgians are being called upon to eat fries at least twice a week as more than 750,000 tons of potatoes are at risk of being thrown away. The coronavirus crisis has led to a surplus of potatoes in the small European country, as demand for frites — a national dish of twice-fried potatoes often eaten in bars and restaurants — has slumped amid Belgium’s government-enforced lockdown.”
New Yorker: April 15, 2020: A Coronavirus Chronicle. “The novel coronavirus is not the first pandemic of the global age, but it is easily the most relentless. In just a matter of months, from the first appearance of respiratory illnesses in a cluster of people associated with the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the virus infected millions of human hosts, killing tens of thousands. The disease it causes, COVID-19, has come to every corner of the earth, except Antarctica. How it first reached New York City, which by late March had become known as the epicenter of the pandemic, is not hard to imagine.”
INSTITUTION / CORPORATE / GOVERNMENT
NBC News: Face masks for passengers now required on all JetBlue flights. “JetBlue Airways on Monday became the first U.S. airline to announce that all passengers will have to wear a face covering on flights. Starting May 4, passengers will be required to wear a mask that covers their nose and mouth during the duration of each flight and also during check-in, boarding and deplaning, according to a JetBlue statement.”
Food & Wine: Rolls-Royce’s Honey Production Is Still Booming, Even While Auto Plants Are Shut Down. “What would you consider the Rolls-Royce of honeys? Maybe you prefer for your honey to be monofloral? Perhaps you’ve been turned on to Melipona honey from Mexico? Or maybe ‘the Rolls-Royce of honey’ is simply the honey made by Rolls-Royce? Yes, the car company produces its own honey—and while the coronavirus pandemic has brought car production to a standstill, honey production is actually booming.”
Toronto Star: Toronto Public Library and friends remix wartime posters for the pandemic. “‘Keep These Hands Off!’ the Second World War poster implores, urging people to buy victory bonds as a mother and baby cower from the gnarled hands of the enemy. ‘Keep These Hands Off!’ the pandemic version of the poster echoes, as the same mother and baby cower, but with masks. ‘Who knows what, or who you touched.’ The Toronto Public Library has more than 100 wartime posters in its digital collection and, last week, they asked people to remix them ‘to speak to the new historic moment we’re in.'”
RESEARCH
BBC: Coronavirus: ‘One billion’ could become infected worldwide – report. “One billion people could become infected with the coronavirus worldwide unless vulnerable countries are given urgent help, an aid group has warned. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said financial and humanitarian aid were needed to help slow the global spread of the virus. It said ‘fragile countries’ such as Afghanistan and Syria needed “urgent funding” to avoid a major outbreak.”
UC San Diego Health: Loss of Smell Associated with Milder Clinical Course in COVID-19. “Following an earlier study that validated the loss of smell and taste as indicators of SARS-CoV-2 infection, researchers at UC San Diego Health report in newly published findings that olfactory impairment suggests the resulting COVID-19 disease is more likely to be mild to moderate, a potential early indicator that could help health care providers determine which patients may require hospitalization.”
Berkeley News: Study challenges reports of low fatality rate for COVID-19. “A comparison of daily deaths in Italy since January 2020 with those over the previous five years there indicates that the fatality rate in that country for those infected with the new coronavirus is at least 0.8%, far higher than that of the seasonal flu and higher than some recent estimates. Extrapolating from the Italian data, University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory data scientists estimate that the fatality rate in New York City and Santa Clara County in California can be no less than 0.5%, or one of every 200 people infected.”
Phys .org: Correlations in COVID-19 growth point to universal strategies for slowing spread. “Researchers in Brazil analyzed the growth of confirmed infected COVID-19 cases across four continents to better characterize the spread of the virus and examine which strategies are effective in reducing its spread. Their results, published in Chaos, found the virus commonly grows along a power law curve, in which the social, economic and geographical features of a particular area affect the exponent to which the infection spreads rather than affecting traits of the infection itself.”
Washington Post: Antibody tests support what’s been obvious: Covid-19 is much more lethal than the flu. “The new serological data, which is provisional, suggests that coronavirus infections greatly outnumber confirmed covid-19 cases, potentially by a factor of 10 or more. Many people experience mild symptoms or none at all, and never get the standard diagnostic test with a swab up the nose, so they’re missed in the official covid-19 case counts. Higher infection rates mean lower lethality risk on average. But the corollary is that this is a very contagious disease capable of being spread by people who are asymptomatic — a challenge for communities hoping to end their shutdowns.”
POLITICS AND SECURITY
BetaNews: Americans fear the COVID-19 crisis will lead to more government tracking. “As COVID-19 has spread around the globe, governments everywhere have been taking extraordinary measures to try to contain the pandemic. There are fears though that some of these measures could become the new normal. The CyberNews.com website decided to ask people in the US how they feel about possibly giving up their privacy during the government’s response to the coronavirus. It finds that 79 percent are either somewhat worried or very worried that intrusive tracking measures enacted by the government could continue long after the pandemic has been defeated.”
CNET: Zoom security issues: Zoom could be vulnerable to foreign surveillance, intel report says. “Here’s everything we know about the Zoom security saga, and when it happened. If you aren’t familiar with Zoom’s security issues, you can start from the bottom and work your way up to the most recent information. We’ll continue updating this story as more issues and fixes come to light.”
NBC News: Warren, Ocasio-Cortez propose halt to big mergers during coronavirus pandemic. “Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are teaming up on a proposal to halt mergers and acquisitions for large companies during the coronavirus pandemic, elevating a progressive cause as Democrats and apparent nominee Joe Biden craft the party’s platform ahead of the 2020 election.”
The Detroit News: COVID-19 doctor charged in multimillion-dollar fraud case. “Dr. Charles Donald Mok II, 56, of Allure Medical Spa used the COVID-19 pandemic to bill insurers for vitamin C infusions fraudulently presented as COVID-19 treatments and preventative measures, according to a 47-page criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday. He also failed to utilize appropriate protocols at the clinic to minimize the spread of the virus, prosecutors said.”
Politico: Trump called PPE shortages ‘fake news.’ Health care workers say they’re still a real problem.. “For this story, reporters in the past week spoke with 17 health care workers and officials across the country, including some who responded to a POLITICO survey about working conditions on the front lines of coronavirus. Some spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution, because some hospitals have threatened to fire workers for airing their concerns publicly. The interviews reveal a medical workforce still struggling to adapt to dangerous conditions with little confidence that the available protective gear is being steered to the places it’s needed most. Some say they’re still being forced to reuse masks or MacGyver their own equipment four months into the U.S. outbreak, even as Trump dismisses questions about shortages as ‘fake news,’ as he did earlier this month.”
Salon: Trump administration hijacked 5 million masks from veterans hospitals, chief physician says. “The chief physician overseeing the Veterans Health Administration acknowledged that the Trump administration redirected a shipment of masks to the national stockpile after officials denied claims that health care workers were forced to work with inadequate protective equipment.”
CoronaBuzz is brought to you by ResearchBuzz. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment, send resource suggestions, or tag @buzz_corona on Twitter. Thanks!
OmniVision has claimed the industry’s first 0.7 micron, 64-MP image sensor for ultra-thin smartphone cameras.
Tektronix’s TBS2000B digital storage oscilloscopes comes with easy-to-use controls and automated measurements for engineers and educators.
NEW RESOURCES
DJ Magazine: A new archive to capture the memories of the ’80s and ‘90s rave scene is going online. “A new online archive will celebrate Blackburn’s acid house rave scene of the late ’80s / early ’90s. FLASHBACK is a new online archive comprising images and audio interviews, reflecting on the infamous acid house parties that took place in Blackburn, Lancashire between 1988 and 1991.”
Haslemere Herald: New website offers sneak peak at Jane Austen House’s collection. “JANE Austen’s House in Chawton has announced a number of newly-acquired objects via its new website, which launched last week. Short videos will also be shared via social media, allowing the public a sneak peek at the new treasures in the house’s collection while its doors are closed during the Covid-19 outbreak.”
TWEAKS AND UPDATES
Neowin: New Google Play policies crack down on background location access and more. “Google is once again updating its Google Play policies to crack down on malicious app behaviors that could hurt a user’s privacy and safety. Today’s updates focus mostly on three aspects – access to the user’s location in the background, deceitful in-app subscriptions, and manipulated media.”
Jewish News Syndicate: Online database with 26 million documents on Nazi victims, survivors now online. “The world’s most comprehensive archive on the victims and survivors of Nazi persecution reached a ‘milestone’ on Tuesday by publishing 26 million documents to its online database, including new information on forced laborers and deported Jews.”
BetaNews: MyFamilyTree 10 adds new interactive Fan chart view, introduces tool to resolve duplicates. “Ahoy family historians! Chronoplex Software has released a landmark version of its free family history app for Windows users. My Family Tree 10.0, also available in 32-bit form, adds a brand-new interactive fan view that can also be used as a printable or shareable chart. Other highlights include a new tool to resolve duplicate entries, various improvements to the user interface, a brand new progeny report and the ability to create placeholder entries in the tree for filling out later.”
USEFUL STUFF
MakeUseOf: 5 Job Boards to Find Work From Home Gigs and Remote Jobs. “Businesses both big and small have to cut costs in this economic climate. But working from home, remote jobs, and even part-time gigs can smoothen the bumps. While it’s a tough situation, don’t wait for things to get worse. Be proactive from today. These free websites will help you handle layoffs and find current job boards.”
AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD
Digital Preservation Coalition: How do you preserve records from within an EDRMS?. “Last month the DPC kicked off a new task force. A group specifically focused on considering how to preserve records from within an Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS). According to Wikipedia, ‘Electronic document and records management is used by organizations to manage documents and records throughout the document life-cycle, from creation to destruction.’ …but what if ‘destruction’ isn’t appropriate? What if preservation is required? In many organizations it is likely that some records require longer term retention or may even need to be kept in perpetuity.”
Arab News: Itching to travel? Visit the wonders of AlUla … from home. “When Saudi Arabia’s ancient heritage site of AlUla announced it would open to the world in late 2020, it was on the bucket list of every fervent traveller. Who wouldn’t want to visit Hegra, the impressive Maraya Concert Hall or watch the sunset at Elephant Rock? As we approach the International Day for Monuments and Sites on April 18, it is worth commemorating these ancient lands with their 200,000 years of history — an area once pivotal for trade and the transmission of cultures, which connected Asia, Africa and Europe.”
Brisbane Times: Facebook delete group where young men allegedly shared revenge porn . “Facebook is attempting to delete the accounts of young men in charge of a Facebook group where revenge porn was allegedly shared and men talked about being violent to women. The private Facebook group, called ‘Melb guy pals’, had almost 7000 members and was shut down by Facebook on Friday for violating the social media giant’s community standards.”
SECURITY & LEGAL
CBS News: Have you shared your old senior photo on Facebook? Hackers may be using your post against you.. “A seemingly innocent new Facebook trend has been increasingly popping up on news feeds — people sharing their old high school senior photos in support of the class of 2020. But those nostalgic posts could make users more susceptible to hackers trying to break into their online accounts, among other security issues.”
CNET: Judge rules against Twitter transparency effort, citing national security. “Six years ago, Twitter sued the US government in an attempt to detail surveillance requests the company had received, but a federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of the government’s case that detailing the requests would jeopardize the country’s safety.”
RESEARCH & OPINION
Penn State College of Engineering: Twitter data may offer policy makers a glimpse into demand for renewable energy. “Tweets could one day help policy makers and energy companies better communicate in near real-time to help customers make better sustainable energy choices, according to a team of researchers. In a study of Twitter data from users in Alaska, researchers found that they could plot how people’s opinions changed about renewable energy over time, as well as what forms of renewable energy were more acceptable, said Somayeh Asadi, assistant professor of architectural engineering, Penn State.” Good afternoon, Internet…
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OmniVision has claimed the industry’s first 0.7 micron, 64-MP image sensor for ultra-thin smartphone cameras.
Tektronix’s TBS2000B digital storage oscilloscopes comes with easy-to-use controls and automated measurements for engineers and educators.
Bosch’s BMP390 barometric pressure sensor is 50% more accurate than its predecessor and can measure height changes below 10 centimeters thanks to improved resolution.
Bosch’s BMP390 barometric pressure sensor is 50% more accurate than its predecessor and can measure height changes below 10 centimeters thanks to improved resolution.
Wash your hands and stay at home as much as you can. Please be careful. I love you.
NEW RESOURCES – MEDICAL/HEALTH
KOKH: American Red Cross offers free mental health support during coronavirus pandemic. “The American Red Cross Training Services is offering a free Mental Health First Aid Course. The training will show you how to manage stress, and how you can offer support to family members, friends, and coworkers.”
News-Medical: A new website launched to track landmark coronavirus studies. “The Company of Biologists is delighted that a group of early-career researchers in the preLights community have launched a new website, covidpreprints.com, to track landmark coronavirus studies throughout the ongoing pandemic.”
Chronicle-Tribune: New website provides Hoosiers free expert mental health resources during COVID-19. “The site is designed to address the increase in anxiety, depression and other mental health issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including both first-time issues as well as preexisting mental health concerns.” This is for residents of Indiana.
NEW RESOURCES – EDUCATION/ENTERTAINMENT
Guwahati Plus: National Digital Library of India Gives Open Access to All. ” In order to help the students as well as the public to utilize the lockdown period in various literary and academic activities, the Union Ministry of Human Resources has given free access to the National Digital Library of India (NDLI)for all. As such over 3,82,00,000 books and periodicals available with the library can now be accessed by the general public.” There does not appear to be a geographical restriction; I was able to access an Elsevier article. However I did have to have cookies enabled.
Red Tricycle: Lin-Manuel Miranda Announces New School Program, #EduHam at Home. “Lin-Manuel Miranda just announced an extension of the Hamilton Education Program, a classroom initiative that walks through Miranda’s Hamilton creation process and ends with students making and performing their own musical theatre pieces. #EduHam at Home is an extension of the program. While schools are closed, the #EduHam allows students to be creative theater artists while adhering to social distancing guidelines.”
9to5 Google: Google wants to help cure your boredom with its most popular Doodle games. “Over the years, Google has featured an impressive number of games and minigames on its homepage, all of which have been carefully preserved and archived on the Google Doodle Blog. Starting April 27 and running for two weeks, Google is launching a new series of ten Doodles, each one a callback to one of the company’s popular games.”
Broadway World: British Museum Revamps Collection Online. “The British Museum today launches a major revamp of its online collection database, allowing over 4 million objects to be seen by people anywhere in the world. This new version of the online database – officially called the British Museum Collection Online – has been unveiled earlier than planned so that people who are currently under lockdown measures due to Covid-19 can enjoy the treasures from one of the world’s great collections from the comfort of their own home.”
NEW RESOURCES – OTHER
WZDX: Hundreds share recipes on “Quarantine Cookbook” Facebook page. “Are you tired of cooking and eating the same meals during the quarantine? There’s a new Facebook group that can help! The group, Quarantine Cookbook, was created by an Albertville woman. Ansley Cash created the group so people can share recipes during the stay-at-home order.”
KKTV: New website for Colorado business owners breaks down best practices for when and how to open back up. “The governor’s office is hoping to clear up any confusion for business owners and residents across the state with a new website. Click here for the safer at home website. The website covers a variety of questions and provides resources for a number of business owners.” This article also links to information on Colorado businesses that are still open.
USEFUL STUFF
Boston City Life: The Coolest Ways to Experience Boston Museums Virtually Right Now. “Beyond virtual museum tours available for free via Google Arts & Culture, Boston’s best museums are rolling out plenty of innovative new ideas and activities this spring. From a digital music playlist that animates an urban art exhibit, to an interactive game that lets history buffs play sailor, check out these exciting ways to engage online with Boston’s museums right now.”
NBC News: Virtual Kentucky Derby at Home Party: Date, start time, TV, how to watch, live stream. “On May 2, Churchill Downs will empty on the first Saturday in May for the first time since 1945. The 146th Kentucky Derby has been moved from May 2 to Saturday, September 5 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the party will still go on—from home. Fans can stay healthy at home as NBC Sports and Churchill Downs partner for a virtual Kentucky Derby at Home Party, which includes The First Saturday In May: American Pharoah’s Run to the Triple Crown, a look back at American Pharoah’s 2015 Derby win en route to his historic Triple Crown, and The Kentucky Derby: Triple Crown Showdown, a socially distant, computer-simulated edition of the Run for the Roses that pits all 13 Triple Crown winners against each other.”
UPDATES
TechCrunch: The ‘Wikipedia of COVID-19’ has launched a crowdfunding drive to keep going. “The Handbook has created a free online library, not unlike Wikipedia, where technologists, doctors and other specialists can find projects, share best practices, and communicate. This prevents them from wasting time working on the same problems associated with the pandemic, or at least seeing how others have solved them before attempting anything new. The CTH is already at over five hundred pages, including everything from community finance tools to ventilator designs and has now been viewed over 500,000 times in the UK and abroad. The launch of the Handbook has enabled UK doctors to advise their peers in Ecuador on developing safe personal protective equipment; mutual aid groups in the UK to sharing ways of organizing volunteers and their finances; and the exchange of models, data and infographics charting the progress in stopping the virus.”
NBC News: Pug in North Carolina tests positive for coronavirus, may be first for dog in U.S.. “A pug in North Carolina has tested positive for the coronavirus, which may the the first such case for a dog in the U.S. The dog, Winston, was part of a Duke University study in which a whole family in Chapel Hill, the McCleans, were tested for the virus. The mother, father, son, and pug tested positive, while the daughter, another dog and a cat tested negative, according to NBC affiliate WRAL in Raleigh.”
SOCIETAL IMPACT
New York Times: Top E.R. Doctor Who Treated Virus Patients Dies by Suicide. “A top emergency room doctor at a Manhattan hospital that treated many coronavirus patients died by suicide on Sunday, her father and the police said. Dr. Lorna M. Breen, the medical director of the emergency department at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, died in Charlottesville, Va., where she was staying with family, her father said in an interview.”
KRDO: Toymaker Hasbro is making thousands of face shields for health care workers. “Hasbro, known for its popular boards games such as Monopoly and Scrabble, is shifting its efforts from creating games and toys for kids to making plastic face shields for health care workers. On Saturday, the company announced its plan to partner with Cartamundi, a card and board game manufacturer, to produce 50,000 face shields per week for front line health care workers.”
Reuters: Exclusive: More than 2,200 Indonesians have died with coronavirus symptoms, data shows. “More than 2,200 Indonesians have died with acute symptoms of COVID-19 but were not recorded as victims of the disease, a Reuters review of data from 16 of the country’s 34 provinces showed.”
The Appeal: As The Coronavirus Spreads, Prisoners Are Rising Up For Their Health. “It began with a trickle, then a cascade: The spread of the highly contagious novel coronavirus has sparked a wave of spontaneous protests inside jails, prisons, and detention centers across the U.S. Since March 17, the date of the first known COVID-19-related prison hunger strike, there have been more than 75 protests and uprisings, according to tracking data at Perilous Chronicle, a digital media project documenting prisoner unrest since 2010 that two of us maintain. And the actual number is most likely much higher. Taken together, these actions have involved approximately 3,000 incarcerated people, with many more ‘outside’ supporters participating in solidarity call-ins and demonstrations.”
National Catholic Reporter: US bishops wrestle with whether or how to open churches. “For the past few Sundays, Bishop Peter Baldacchino has been celebrating Mass from a stage located in front of the church. There he prays near the cathedral parking lot, every other space filled to assure proper distancing, with ushers pointing directions to driver worshipers. Many of the parked parishioners hear the liturgy via their car radios. Some close their windows in recognition of the pandemic. The host is distributed at each car via ministers in masks and gloves.”
INSTITUTION / CORPORATE / GOVERNMENT
New York Times: China Police Detain Three Linked to Censored Coronavirus Archive. “Chinese police have detained two people who contributed to an online archive of censored articles about the coronavirus outbreak, a friend and a family member of one told Reuters on Monday. The two – Chen Mei and Cai Wei – have been out of contact since April 19, when police detained them in Beijing, Chen Kun, Chen Mei’s brother, told Reuters.”
ABC News: Turkey: Over 400 detained for pandemic social media postings. “Turkey has detained 402 people in the past 42 days for allegedly sharing ‘false and provocative’ social media postings concerning the coronavirus outbreak, officials said Monday.”
RESEARCH
CNN: Coronavirus could be tied to a rare but serious illness in children, UK doctors say. “A small but rising number of children are becoming ill with a rare syndrome that could be linked to coronavirus, with reported cases showing symptoms of abdominal pain, gastrointestinal symptoms and cardiac inflammation, UK health care bosses and pediatrics specialists have warned.”
CNET: How you talk about coronavirus actually impacts its spread. “[Vicky Chuqiao] Yang and other researchers argue anecdotes like this show just how complicated the spread of COVID-19 is. Beyond coughs and contaminated surfaces, its movement also depends on the spread of information through the media and online, which can change human behavior and the trajectory of the epidemic.”
WTVD: Popular heartburn medicine being studied as treatment for coronavirus. “Over the past few weeks researchers have been discreetly studying a new potential treatment for COVID-19 — and it might not be what you expect. The treatment in question is called famotidine, and it’s the active ingredient in Pepcid, an over-the-counter medication commonly used to alleviate heartburn.”
POLITICS AND SECURITY
Washington Post: President’s intelligence briefing book repeatedly cited virus threat. “U.S. intelligence agencies issued warnings about the novel coronavirus in more than a dozen classified briefings prepared for President Trump in January and February, months during which he continued to play down the threat, according to current and former U.S. officials. The repeated warnings were conveyed in issues of the President’s Daily Brief, a sensitive report that is produced before dawn each day and designed to call the president’s attention to the most significant global developments and security threats.”
Jay Inslee, Washington Governor: Inslee announces Colorado & Nevada will join Washington, Oregon & California in Western States Pact. “Gov. Jay Inslee announced today that Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak are joining Washington, Oregon and California in the Western States Pact — a working group of Western state governors with a shared vision for modifying stay at home orders and fighting COVID-19.”
New York Times: How Trump and His Team Covered Up the Coronavirus in Five Days. “The strongest critics of the Trump’s administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic point to its flat-footedness and the consequences of time lost. But the full account looks worse. Over the last five days of February, President Trump and senior officials did something more sinister: They engaged in a cover-up. A look at this window of time gives insight into how several members of the president’s team were willing to manipulate Americans even when so many lives were at stake.”
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Nexperia’s tiny MOSFETS are 36% smaller than previous generation devices with the lowest RDS(on), targeting mobile and portable applications, including wearables.
ERNI’s single-row MicroBridge cable-to-board connectors with a 1.27-mm pitch targets the automotive sector, and is built in accordance with automotive test specifications VW75174 and USCAR-2.
Nexperia’s tiny MOSFETS are 36% smaller than previous generation devices with the lowest RDS(on), targeting mobile and portable applications, including wearables.
ERNI’s single-row MicroBridge cable-to-board connectors with a 1.27-mm pitch targets the automotive sector, and is built in accordance with automotive test specifications VW75174 and USCAR-2.
Featuring the Zen 2 core architecture, AMD’s latest 3rd Gen Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X processors deliver twice the multi-tasking capabilities over previous generations with four cores and eight threads for mainstream gaming users.
Wash your hands and stay at home as much as you can. Please be careful. I love you.
NEW RESOURCES – MEDICAL/HEALTH
India Today: Kerala university launches Covid-19 search engine for India, will let experts find latest research material. “Though there are dozens of apps in the country that provide information on the coronavirus, the search engine is a first dedicated toward the medical community in India. The idea is that through this search engine scientists, doctors and researchers who are racing to better understand Covid-19 and the novel coronavirus will be able to keep a track of the latest research about the disease and the pandemic it has caused.”
Geeks in Cambodia: Cambodia’s Health Ministry Creates Online Location-Tracking Map Of Covid-19 . “As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Cambodia reached 122 (as of April 22), the Ministry of Health’s Communicable Disease Control Department (CDC) has recently launched an online initiative that provides an interactive map and updated case count in near real-time, as well as a series of educational videos to help people play their part to stem the spread of the virus.”
NEW RESOURCES – EDUCATION/ENTERTAINMENT
Google Blog: Go on a cultural rendezvous with “Art For Two”. “If you don’t work for a cultural institution, you’ve probably never had the opportunity to wander all alone through a museum’s hallways, exhibition spaces and galleries, after hours, with no one else around. That’s a privilege usually reserved for staff—until now. In the first installment of Google Arts & Culture’s new video series called ‘Art for Two’, curators from three cultural institutions are extending a special invitation to explore their collections, minus the crowds, as they discuss their favorite rooms and pieces with digital curators Mr. Bacchus and The Art Assignment.”
Nieman Lab: Bloomberg Media will be free for every college and graduate student in the world for the next three months. “Although the company limits its regular student subscription pricing to those based in the United States, any college student in the world can register with their university email to redeem the priced-for-a-pandemic offer. That’s…a lot of students. Just under 20 million people started the fall semester at a college or university in the United States, and many times that are enrolled worldwide.”
ABC 6: New initiatives aim to support Rhode Island arts community. “With the galleries, concert venues, museums, and theaters shut down, artists have lost their livelihoods overnight. That’s why the Artist Relief Fund, supported by several organizations, has been a lifesaver for people like Magnolia Perez, a bilingual actress, teaching artist, and mother of three.”
USEFUL STUFF
The List: Best Scottish online events this week. “Aside from stepping outside for some exercise or to purchase essential items, we’re all stuck at home for the foreseeable future. The boredom is setting in for some, but thankfully there are plenty of Scottish online events to keep you and your family busy this week. Read on for some of the best Scotland-based events streaming on various social media platforms this week including live music performances, art classes, quizzes and more.”
Make Tech Easier: Skype vs. Zoom: Which Will Serve You Best in Lockdown. “As much of the United States and other places around the world are under stay-at-home orders, many people are working from home. That is good news for services like Skype and Zoom, two apps dedicated to group video chat. As both apps offer roughly the same service, how does a person or business choose which one to utilize? Let’s look at which one serves you best in lockdown.”
MakeUseOf: 5 Meditation and Relaxation Apps to Beat Stress and Anxiety. “The entire planet is trying to stay safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. But apart from the virus itself, the changes and upheavals in lifestyle can take a heavy toll on mental health. Time and again, meditation has proven to be the best practice to relieve stress and reduce anxiety. Apart from mindfulness meditation for beginners, there are other techniques like self-reflection and mind training to counter those negative thoughts. And you can get it all for free with these apps.”
DIY Photography: Instagram Soon To Roll Out “Memorial Accounts” In Light Of Covid-19 Deaths. “Instagram has been working on creating ‘in memoriam’ accounts for deceased members of the platform. However, the current situation has reportedly forced them to speed things up. According to the latest report, Instagram wil launch the feature soon due to the increasing number of COVID-19 deaths. Reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong was the first one to figure out Instagram’s upcoming feature.”
New York Times: What to Do When Your Uncle Believes Coronavirus Conspiracies. “It’s not unusual for my relatives or friends to talk about kooky ideas. But now others’ believing in hoaxes or bad information feels dangerous. This drug is a miracle cure! Blame this billionaire for the virus! I tried to figure out what we can do when someone we love believes in coronavirus conspiracies they see online. What I learned is we need to have empathy for people who are afraid of a scary illness. We should be on the lookout for those who have reasons to talk up misinformation. And with trust in authority figures falling among many Americans, we can step in and spread good information to people who trust us and model good behavior.”
The Texas Record: COVID-19 Records and How Long to Keep Them. “The analysts here at TSLAC have been getting tons of questions about how governments should be handling their COVID-19 records. The influx of these questions is understandable – we are working during extraordinary times. In fact, these may be historic times; COVID-19 records may potentially be used as documentary evidence by future researchers, historians, and citizens. However, we’re here to tell you: don’t panic! Well, at least don’t panic about the records. If you know anything about basic records management, then you already have all the tools you need to manage COVID-19 records.”
TechHive: How to record all the free streaming TV before it’s gone. “With a service called PlayOn, you can record movies and shows from online sources like Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, and CBS All Access. The resulting video files are yours to keep, even if you’ve stopped subscribing to the services from which those files came. If we’re going to remain mostly at home for the foreseeable future, now might be the time to stock up on free movies and shows to watch later.”
UPDATES
BBC: Coronavirus: Worldwide death toll climbs to 200,000. “More than 200,000 people worldwide have now died with the coronavirus, figures from Johns Hopkins University show. There are more than 2.8 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, according to the tally. It comes after the number of fatalities in the US passed 50,000, as Americans endure the world’s deadliest outbreak.”
CNBC: Public companies took far more small business loans than first thought — here’s the latest tally. “Even as the U.S. small business relief program is set to reopen Monday with fresh funding, the full extent that public companies tapped the emergency facility is only now becoming clear. More than 200 public companies applied for at least $854.7 million from the government program that was billed as for small businesses without access to other sources of capital, according to Washington D.C.-based data analytics firm FactSquared.”
BBC: Coronavirus: New Zealand claims no community cases as lockdown eases. “New Zealand says it has stopped community transmission of Covid-19, effectively eliminating the virus. With new cases in single figures for several days – one on Sunday – Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the virus was ‘currently’ eliminated. But officials have warned against complacency, saying it does not mean a total end to new coronavirus cases.”
SOCIETAL IMPACT
BBC: Coronavirus: India’s circuses struggle to survive the lockdown. “Circuses are already a dying art form in India, and the lockdown imposed to spread the curb of the coronavirus has left them barely hanging on for survival.”
CNN: Writing about the dead during a pandemic: ‘They are not a statistic or data point’. “Obituary desks are expanding all across the United States as newspapers strain to capture the scope of the loss from the pandemic. The papers are honoring individual lives through short stories, features and special presentations. And in doing so, they are converting the death toll statistics of Covid-19 into deeply human stories.”
Mashable: Man dressed as grim reaper to visit Florida beaches that reopen too early. “While the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, some U.S. states have decided to reopen as soon as… well, right now. Georgia was the first to ease restrictions, with businesses like gyms and salons opening Friday. Michigan will soon follow suit, following protests from residents. Reopening worries some citizens, medical professionals, and elected officials, but one Florida man is dedicated to doing what he can to flatten the curve. Attorney Daniel Uhlfelder said he will tour the state’s beaches on May 1 to remind fellow Floridians to stay home.”
MIT Technology Review: Covid-19 has blown apart the myth of Silicon Valley innovation. “Silicon Valley and big tech in general have been lame in responding to the crisis. Sure, they have given us Zoom to keep the fortunate among us working and Netflix to keep us sane; Amazon is a savior these days for those avoiding stores; iPads are in hot demand and Instacart is helping to keep many self-isolating people fed. But the pandemic has also revealed the limitations and impotence of the world’s richest companies (and, we have been told, the most innovative place on earth) in the face of the public health crisis. Big tech doesn’t build anything. It’s not likely to give us vaccines or diagnostic tests. We don’t even seem to know how to make a cotton swab. Those hoping the US could turn its dominant tech industry into a dynamo of innovation against the pandemic will be disappointed.”
WLRN: Inmate Coronavirus Cases In Miami-Dade Have Exploded, Contrary To Official Claims. “In the document filed on Saturday, Miami-Dade County reported that 159 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 in Metro-West Detention Center alone. The number reflected the number of positive inmates in the facility as of April 19….However, the Department of Corrections has in recent days been relaying information indicating there were far fewer inmates that had tested positive. On Friday, Department of Corrections spokesperson Juan Diasgranados wrote to WLRN in an email that there were 59 inmates who had tested positive across the entire jail system.”
New York Times: The Social Media Challenges Helping Keep Boredom at Bay. “With the coronavirus continuing to upend familiar rhythms of life, leaving schools shuttered, millions out of work and billions stuck at home, those looking for ways to pass the time have gotten creative. In the absence of jam-packed calendars, people are turning to social media challenges in droves. Some bring together families for choreographed dance routines while others spark the inner artist or unlock hidden engineering skills. All of them hold the promise of warding off boredom and — maybe — earning users a moment of online celebrity.”
Daily Beast: ‘Too Little, Too Late’: Inside the Nation’s Worst Coronavirus Hotspot. “By Friday, over 2,000 people, or almost 80 percent of the [Marion Correctional Facility’s] population, had tested positive for COVID-19, causing Marion County to become the number one COVID-19 hotspot in the nation, according to The New York Times. At least 15 inmates and one corrections officer have died statewide, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC). Some 150 correctional officers at Marion alone have also tested positive for the coronavirus, and Gov. Mike DeWine called in the National Guard to fill the void.”
School Library Journal: What Librarians Are Doing to Support Students and Teachers in the Shutdown | SLJ COVID-19 Survey. “School Library Journal’s School COVID-19 Response Survey queried K-12 librarians from April 2 to April 12 about their experience. More than 1,000 librarians responded, providing information about preparedness for remote learning; how librarians are supporting students and teachers, and more. Topics included services they have provided staff and students, school schedules and curriculum, plans for returned library books when schools reopen, and the pandemic’s possible impact on future purchasing.”
Poynter: Have you become a personal fact-checker to your family and friends?. it me. “For years, I heard friends who are doctors talk about people who approach them in parties, concerts and even soccer games to ask medical questions or have a quick appointment. Since mid-March, when the World Health Organization declared that the planet was experiencing a COVID-19 pandemic and a tsunami of misinformation, I have empathized with doctors. I have become a sort of personal fact-checker for a huge group of family and friends, people who reach me daily on WhatsApp, Slack, Facebook Messenger, Instagram or email.”
BBC: Coronavirus: ‘I’m tattooing myself every day in lockdown, but I’m running out of space’. “Sitting on the sofa in his flat in Walthamstow, north-east London, with his dog Pingu by his side, Chris Woodhead is trying to find space to add another tattoo to his already crowded body. There is little unmarked skin left – from the tips of his fingers to the soles of his feet, almost every inch is covered in a vast jumble of tattoos of different styles. A pair of dice have fallen just before the toes of his right foot begin, a scorpion extends down his inner thigh, there’s a leaning palm tree, a swordfish arching around a love-heart, and a voodoo doll floats above some ripe, glossy cherries.”
INSTITUTION / CORPORATE / GOVERNMENT
Politico: USDA let millions of pounds of food rot while food-bank demand soared. “Tens of millions of pounds of American-grown produce is rotting in fields as food banks across the country scramble to meet a massive surge in demand, a two-pronged disaster that has deprived farmers of billions of dollars in revenue while millions of newly jobless Americans struggle to feed their families. While other federal agencies quickly adapted their programs to the coronavirus crisis, the Agriculture Department took more than a month to make its first significant move to buy up surplus fruits and vegetables — despite repeated entreaties.”
New York Times: Testing Remains Scarce as Governors Weigh Reopening States. “As governors decide about opening their economies, they continue to be hampered by a shortage of testing capacity, leaving them without the information that public health experts say is needed to track outbreaks and contain them. And while the United States has made strides over the past month in expanding testing, its capacity is nowhere near the level Mr. Trump suggests it is.”
The New Yorker: Seattle’s Leaders Let Scientists Take the Lead. New York’s Did Not. “Epidemiology is a science of possibilities and persuasion, not of certainties or hard proof. ‘Being approximately right most of the time is better than being precisely right occasionally,’ the Scottish epidemiologist John Cowden wrote, in 2010. ‘You can only be sure when to act in retrospect.’ Epidemiologists must persuade people to upend their lives—to forgo travel and socializing, to submit themselves to blood draws and immunization shots—even when there’s scant evidence that they’re directly at risk. Epidemiologists also must learn how to maintain their persuasiveness even as their advice shifts. ”
RESEARCH
The Next Web: Boston Dynamics is open-sourcing its robot tech to help hospitals fight coronavirus. “We’ve seen Boston Dynamics‘ Spot robot walking, running, dancing, and opening doors. Now, the company has assigned it a more important task during the coronavirus pandemic: telemedicine. In this new solution, the iPad mounted on the robot lets health workers communicate with patients remotely, saving time, reducing exposure, and preserving personal protective equipment (PPE). The newly developed application is already under trial in Bringham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts. ”
San Francisco Chronicle: Exclusive: Coronavirus caused heart to rupture in nation’s first known victim, autopsy shows. “The Santa Clara woman whose death from COVID-19 is the earliest so far known in the United States suffered a massive heart attack caused by coronavirus infection, signs of which were found throughout her body, according to an autopsy report obtained exclusively by The Chronicle.”
Financial Times, non-paywalled: Global coronavirus death toll could be 60% higher than reported. “The death toll from coronavirus may be almost 60 per cent higher than reported in official counts, according to an FT analysis of overall fatalities during the pandemic in 14 countries. Mortality statistics show 122,000 deaths in excess of normal levels across these locations, considerably higher than the 77,000 official Covid-19 deaths reported for the same places and time periods.”
San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser study finds coronavirus seriously affects people regardless of age. “A study of 1,300 Northern California Kaiser patients who tested positive for the coronavirus last month found that nearly a third were hospitalized and almost 1 in 10 ended up in intensive care — and nearly as many young and middle-aged adults were admitted as people age 60 and over, according to results published online Friday.”
FUNNY
Mashable: Brad Pitt as Dr. Fauci on ‘SNL’ reminds viewers not to inject bleach. “Hey, America! Dr. Fauci knows you have a little crush on him. So who better to portray the doctor on Saturday Night Live this week than collective crush of the ’90s, Brad Pitt? The deeply random casting likely came about because a few weeks ago, Dr. Fauci jokingly said he’d like the famously handsome star to play him on the program. Anthony Fauci…can you even believe your life right now?”
POLITICS AND SECURITY
The Hill: San Francisco mayor says city’s PPE orders have been diverted, confiscated: It ‘blows my mind’. “San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) said Friday that her city’s orders for personal protection equipment (PPE) have been diverted to other U.S. cities and foreign countries. ‘We’ve had issues of our orders being relocated by our suppliers in China,’ she said at a press conference. ‘For example, we had isolation gowns on their way to San Francisco and they were diverted to France. We’ve had situations when things we’ve ordered that have gone through Customs were confiscated by FEMA to be diverted to other locations.'”
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