Who Gets the Blame When Schools Shut Down - Somehow, it is teachers who are held responsible—more than government failures or even COVID-19 itself—for pandemic-era school closures. - link
Is a Civil War Ahead? - A year after the attack on the Capitol, America is suspended between democracy and autocracy. - link
The Ongoing Saga of the “Fearless Girl” Statue - Since its installation, the sculpture, by Kristen Visbal, has been mired in legal disputes and claims of “fake corporate feminism.” New York City will soon decide its fate. - link
Sunday Reading: Hospitals and the New Surge - From the magazine’s archive: a selection of pieces about the crucial role that hospitals and health workers continue to occupy in our lives. - link
Vaccine Mandates Have a Bad Day at the Supreme Court - The tenor of the conservative Justices’ questions suggested that the OSHA mandate, which would apply to about eighty million people, has little chance of going into effect in its present form. - link
Cloth masks won’t cut it against omicron.
The rapid spread of the omicron variant means that many medical and public health experts are urging Americans to adopt better masking protocols to protect themselves and others from the spread of Covid-19.
Masking best practices have changed since the beginning of the pandemic, and confusion still abounds about which mask to wear and in what circumstances. However, medical experts are in agreement: Masks are a crucial component in stopping the spread of all variants of Covid-19, and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-approved N95 respirator is still the most effective mask on the market.
Although a simple cloth mask is better than no face covering at all, superior options are now widely available — much more so than in March 2020, when Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance about whether masking was even necessary for Covid-19 prevention vacillated.
And since the omicron variant appears to be far more transmissible than previous variants, masking is a critical tool in helping prevent the spread, particularly in areas where Covid-19 cases are high.
Here’s what to know about masking and omicron.
Mask-wearing guidance has changed a lot over the course of the pandemic, and omicron presents more changes — as well as more opportunity for confusion. With the high transmissibility of the omicron variant, experts say, masking is particularly important. Omicron is estimated to be about 2.7 to 3.7 times more infectious among inoculated people than the delta variant, which rapidly became the world’s dominant strain last summer. While many people are experiencing milder cases with omicron, cases are increasing precipitously, even in highly vaccinated areas. Its ability to dodge antibodies created by the available Covid-19 vaccines means that additional prevention measures — like masks — are now back in the spotlight.
As Abraar Karan, an infectious diseases doctor at Stanford University, explained to New York Magazine in December, cloth masks and face coverings don’t filter aerosols — the particles through which the coronavirus spreads — particularly well; they can escape from an infected person and easily be inhaled if both parties are wearing cloth face coverings.
That means surgical masks and N95 masks are the way to go in 2022, as a recent Wall Street Journal graphic illustrates.
This graphic from the @WSJ is incredibly helpful pic.twitter.com/kQ1YyjOsg7
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) January 5, 2022
N95 respirators in particular are much better at blocking these particles, according to Karan, due to the filter’s structure and the electrostatic charge that attracts and traps the tiny aerosol particles. Just as critically, the filter’s fit over the wearer’s mouth and nose is far better than a cloth mask or face covering, which can leave large gaps on the sides — giving infectious particles ample opportunity to escape.
The N95 has been the gold standard for masks since the start of the pandemic, and they provide the most protection against Covid-19, including the omicron variant. Now that they’re no longer in critically short supply, they’re also the best option for day-to-day use.
As Karan explained to New York Magazine, the N95’s complex, irregular webbing allows for superior filtration which traps 95 percent of aerosol particles — hence the “95” in N95.
When used in a medical setting, N95s are generally single- use, but for average people in lower-risk settings, they can be reused a limited number of times.
N95 availability was scattershot at best in the beginning of the pandemic, even for health care workers. Now, nearly two years later high-quality options are much more readily available.
Cost is still a potential barrier, however, as N95s generally cost a dollar or two per disposable mask, and counterfeit respirators pose an additional problem, as Anne Miller, executive director of the N95 Project, explained to US News and World Report in December. Nonetheless, Miller told US News, there are some failsafe ways to ensure that the model you are purchasing was manufactured by a reputable company and has passed NIOSH filtration tests.
Specifically, N95 masks should have a TC number — TC, followed by a series of five total numbers, then a lot number. KN95 respirators operate under a similar protocol; all models should have GB 2626 - 2019, followed by a space, then KN95 printed on them if they are produced by a reputable company. According to Miller, lack of a brand name on a mask or a claim on the mask’s packaging that it’s FDA approved or registered with the FDA are major warning signs; those claims are essentially meaningless.
However, high-quality respirators that have been tested for fit and efficacy are available, and doing a few basic tests on masks yourself can help you weed out ineffective models. For one, as the Strategist reported last month, you shouldn’t be able to see light through the mask when you hold it up to a light source, nor should you be able to blow out a flame when wearing the mask. And in terms of fit, the sides should collapse when you breathe in, showing that your mask has an effective seal. If air escapes around the sides of the mask, you need a tighter fit, since aerosols can still flow in or out of the barrier.
If you can’t find an N95 or KN95, which is the Chinese-made equivalent, a surgical mask is quite effective as well, given its multiple layers and irregular weave, which is better at intercepting particles than the regular, uniform weave of cloth masks. Surgical masks aren’t quite as effective as N95 respirators, but they use the same filtration mechanism. Fit is also crucial, since surgical masks don’t have the same structure as N95 masks and don’t mold as well to the nose and mouth area. However, fit can be improved by knotting or twisting the side loops before placing them over your ears for a closer fit.
Despite still-existing barriers like cost and confusing messaging, it’s easier now in 2022 to buy an effective N95 or KN95 respirator that’s comfortable and fits your face. And in combination with Covid-19 vaccines and boosters, which provide strong protection against severe Covid-19, a good-quality, well-fitting mask is one of the best steps you can take to protect yourself as case numbers continue to surge in the US.
John Deere will start selling autonomous tractors later this year
The most exciting gadget of the year isn’t a TV that displays NFTs or a foldable tablet computer or anything related to the metaverse. It’s an autonomous tractor.
More specifically, it’s the self-driving John Deere 8R tractor that can plow fields, avoid obstacles, and plant crops with minimal human intervention. It looks a lot like any other John Deere tractor — it’s green and yellow — but there are six pairs of stereo cameras that use artificial intelligence to scan the surroundings and maneuver accordingly. The farmer doesn’t need to be anywhere near the machine to operate it, either, as there’s a smartphone app that controls everything. The tractor goes on sale later this year, just in time for an extra special robotic harvest season.
“In my view, it’s a big deal,” Santosh Pitla, associate professor of advanced machinery systems at the University of Nebraska, told Recode. John Deere’s equipment accounts for more than half of all farm machinery sold in the United States, and even the simple fact that it’s putting an autonomous tractor on the market will change the way farming works. “That’s big news,” Pitla said, “and it’s good news.”
This is clearly a big deal for John Deere, but it also represents a huge step forward for the precision agriculture movement as a whole. Simply put, precision agriculture is a concept that utilizes computers, data gathering, and satellite imagery to build a strategy for maximizing the output of a farm. Autonomous farming equipment like soil sensors, specialized drones, and self-driving tractors are key to a future where we can produce more crops with less effort and less environmental impact. But exactly who’s in charge of that future and who benefits from it is still to be determined.
There’s reason to believe that farmers who own thousands of acres will be first in line to buy John Deere’s new self-driving tractors. With models ranging from 230 to 410 horsepower, the John Deere 8R tractors are big machines designed for big farms. And while the company hasn’t said how much its new autonomous tractor will cost, existing, non-autonomous models in the 8R line can cost over $600,000. John Deere says it will sell the automation system as a kit that can be installed on its other tractor models. The company also says it’s looking into offering a subscription plan, but didn’t specify how much it would cost.
But even if a farmer buys the tractor outright, it’s not clear who actually owns the equipment or the valuable farming data it collects. The newest John Deere tractors are sensor-filled and internet- connected. Almost anything the machine does gets logged and beamed to the cloud from an onboard cellular transmitter, and John Deere has the capability to remotely shut down many of its tractors if it determines that someone has modified their equipment or has missed a lease payment. Many farmers say they can’t even repair the tractors themselves, lest they trip a switch that disables the machine entirely. This means they’re forced to pay John Deere or its authorized repair shops for their maintenance needs. Meanwhile, John Deere’s privacy and data policy says it can share the data about farmers’ activities that its software collects with “outside parties” in certain circumstances.
“I’m all for innovation, and I think John Deere is a helluva company,” Kevin Kenney, an agricultural engineer and right-to-repair advocate, told Wired after John Deere announced its autonomous tractor. “But they’re trying to be the Facebook of farming.”
/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153813/r4f175043_rrd__1x.jpg)
John DeereJohn Deere isn’t the only one working on autonomous farming equipment, and it’s not even clear that big self-driving tractors are the best use of the technology. Case has an autonomous tractor concept that doesn’t even have a cab for a human driver, and AGCO, which owns farm equipment brands like Fendt and Massey Ferguson, is testing smaller autonomous machines, including a seed-planting robot that’s the size of a washing machine. DJI, the popular drone maker, now has an entire division devoted to flying farming robots that can help with anything from crop monitoring to targeted pesticide spraying.
A number of researchers think that swarms of smaller machines working together are more promising for a wider range of farmers. Pitla, the Nebraska professor, is working on technology that would replace a single 500-horsepower tractor with 10 50-horsepower tractors. Not only could the swarm better handle different terrain and smaller farms, whose land might not be as uniform as large farms, but if one tractor broke, the rest could keep working.
“I’ve seen farmers doing 18 hours of planting because the weather is perfect, the soil conditions are perfect,” Pitla said. “It’s a very timely operation. So in a way, if you have swarms of these machines, you’re distributing the risk.”
When you consider the fact that the farming industry is facing an ongoing labor shortage, which some say is getting worse, the concept of autonomous farming equipment is even more appealing. That fact could alleviate concerns that automation takes jobs away from humans, but it will likely take years before we understand just how disruptive widespread adoption of automation in agriculture could be to the labor market.
/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153844/a2d9b21e4f870c162ff4cd6d83a76265.jpg)
DJI
Farmers and technologists alike hope that self-driving tractors and other autonomous farming equipment will usher in an era of greater yields. The driving principle behind precision farming is that by better understanding the soil and addressing issues with crops, we can squeeze more productivity out of the world’s limited amount of farmland without a negative impact on the environment. This factors into a growing debate over whether industrialized agriculture is recklessly profit-driven and exploitative of the land, or if consolidating farms is more efficient. With the proper rollout of autonomous farming technology, we could have it both ways.
“Similar to the autonomous car industry, full autonomy of farm vehicles and equipment can also be considered as an important, if not the ultimate, goal in the agriculture industry,” said Abhisesh Silwal, a project scientist who works on agricultural robots at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute. He added that automating delicate, time-sensitive tasks like pruning and harvesting, which typically require skilled workers, could help sustainability in the long run.
For now, while researchers make drones and swarm-bots smarter, we’ve got John Deere and its self-driving tractor. Even if it’s not suitable or affordable for every farmer, the new self-driving machine is pushing autonomous agriculture further into the mainstream. And unlike the TV that can display NFTs, this technology can actually help feed the world.
This story was first published in the Recode newsletter. Sign up here so you don’t miss the next one!
When Don’t Look Up stops trying to be funny, it has something deeply important to say.
Don’t Look Up, Adam McKay’s dark satire about humanity’s efforts to deflect a comet that’s going to destroy us all, is — at least according to my social media feeds — either one of the most important movies ever or so bad as to be nearly unwatchable. (Reviewers are similarly split — the film currently has a 55 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, though Netflix has reported that Don’t Look Up recorded more than 152 million viewing hours for the week of December 27, the most in the platform’s history.)
A lot of this comes down to what you think of the movie’s politics, which are rather confused for a film that was made with the explicit political aim of encouraging viewers to take climate change seriously — as many, many critics have already noted.
But as others have already pointed out, the movie doesn’t really work at all as an allegory for the long-term threat of climate change, which is very unlike a comet that will leave no survivors if we don’t nuke it in the next six months.
What it does do incredibly well is serve as an allegory for actual comets, or supervolcanic eruptions, or transformative AI, or engineered pandemics, or for anything else that really might abruptly end humanity — and that might well get you laughed off daytime TV for freaking out about them, as happens to the protagonists in one of Don’t Look Up’s best- crafted scenes.
Beyond that, there’s another element of what Don’t Look Up has to say that has been somewhat neglected in the conversation about it, probably because talking about it involves massive spoilers.
Be warned: From here, I’m going to tell you exactly how this movie ends.
The apocalyptic disaster movie — think I Am Legend, Independence Day, 2012, War of the Worlds, The Day After Tomorrow — has its conventions. The hero starts out as an ordinary family man (and yes, it’s almost always a man), but when circumstances demand it, he realizes he has something more than the ordinary inside him. The fate of the world rests on his shoulders, and he’ll save it, or at least salvage something of it for the survivors and the people he loves.
It’s very clearly this genre that Don’t Look Up is in dialogue with, especially in Leonardo DiCaprio’s character’s plot: He begins as an awkward astronomy professor and becomes the face of the comet revelation. Seduced by power and fame, he betrays his wife, and as the world comes to an end he realizes what really matters, making a pilgrimage home to reunite with his family and face his mistakes.
/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23152676/DLU_20210208_14352_R2.JPG)
Niko Tavernise/Netflix
It’s similar to the arc of John Cusack’s character in 2012, who reconciles with his ex as the floods begin to recede, with notes of the poignant reunion the hero of War of the Worlds (played by Tom Cruise) has with his estranged family at the end of the movie. The apocalypse, in this genre convention, is a backdrop for men to realize their mettle, put aside childish things, save their families, save the world, and then choose to live and love in it.
Don’t Look Up is pointedly at odds with that tradition.
The scheme to break apart the comet headed for Earth fails. With humanity facing its doom, the heroes and their loved ones gather around the dinner table and share memories and prayer and family jokes. DiCaprio wins his wife’s forgiveness and gruffly greets his adult children.
And then the comet hits. He, and they, die. Humanity (save for a couple of characters killed off in a closing scene later) is wiped out.
It’s the most serious thing the movie has to say; there are no interjections of the usual Adam McKay silliness interwoven elsewhere (though he does undercut the haunting takeaway with that jokey coda).
Don’t Look Up isn’t about ordinary people who discover inside them the heroism to save the ones they love. It’s about ordinary people who know what’s coming and ultimately aren’t heroes at all. They make a couple of futile attempts to do something, which amount to nothing. And then they die, because that’s what will happen, if we aren’t up to the task ahead of us.
There probably isn’t a comet coming, though with more surveillance we could be a whole lot more secure. But a lot of people who work on existential risks — threats that might plausibly destroy our world — believe that this century will be the most dangerous one in human history. Emerging technologies like AI and synthetic biology make it easier than ever to inadvertently create threats to the entire human species.
Our existing mechanisms for responding to pandemics, let alone to risks we’ve never imagined, aren’t good enough. The power of love won’t preserve the world. There are no adults in the room, and if we don’t become those adults — and maybe even if we do — we could die, and we may destroy our world so completely that nothing will ever grow in the ashes.
As I wrote these words — and as I watched this film — I felt myself flinching away. I don’t want to believe that we are not up to the task of facing existential threats to humanity. I want to believe that everything’s going to turn out okay, that the worst possible outcome can’t actually really happen, for real.
I felt suddenly aware of how often I refuse to glance up at the metaphorical sky lest there’s a comet there, refuse to pick up Toby Ord’s The Precipice, the seminal book on existential risk, lest its pages reveal a danger bearing down on our civilization that no heroes lie in wait to save us from. (Spoiler: The book does, indeed, reveal a whole bunch of them, and argues there is a one-in-six chance one will destroy us this century.)
Don’t Look Up mostly doesn’t know exactly what it’s trying to say. But it knows this, and it captures it perfectly: Humanity is on track to make mistakes we can’t recover from, and we don’t want to look at that, and we don’t know what to do even when we see it.
The point of acknowledging that, of course, isn’t to sink back, self-satisfied, into wise and informed despair. It’s to get us to look up — to look at the threats to our world wherever they’re coming from, and however uncomfortable they are to acknowledge, and then to actually act.
A version of this story was initially published in the Future Perfect newsletter. Sign up here to subscribe!
Nadal beats Cressy to claim Melbourne title - Earlier, former world number one Simona Halep stormed past Veronika Kudermetova 6-2 6-3 at the Melbourne Summer Set 1 final to claim her 23rd career title
Badminton | Lakshya Sen eyeing maiden title on India Open debut - “I had a 10-day break after the world championships and started training from January 1st.”
The Ashes 2021-22 | England’s Jos Buttler to return home with broken finger - Limited-overs specialist wicketkeeper Sam Billings has been called into the squad as cover for Bairstow and Buttler
Anisimova battles through injury to claim second WTA title - “I’m in a good headspace now after an incredibly tough year,” said Anisimova, who missed the Australian Open in 2021 after testing positive for COVID-19
Bopanna and Ramkumar win Adelaide International - In the one hour and 21 minutes contest, the Indians saved all the four break points they faced and broke their rivals twice
Encounter breaks out between militants, security forces in J-K’s Kulgam district - An encounter broke out between militants and security forces in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, police said. Security forces had laun
EAM Jaishankar speaks to French counterpart Le Drian - The ties between India and France are on an upswing with cooperation witnessing a significant expansion in key areas.
Goa polls | Independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar quits; to join Congress - The Sanguem MLA submitted his resignation to the Goa Assembly Speaker
Panneerselvam calls for closure of Tasmac shops as COVID-19 cases rise in Tamil Nadu - He condemns the DMK for not taking steps to close the State-run liquor shops
Settle ring net issue once and for all, CITU urges State government - ‘Untreated wastes being released into sea resulting in depletion of fish resources’
Covid: Thousands protest in France against proposed new vaccine pass - The protests are against a draft law which would in effect ban the unvaccinated from public areas.
Novak Djokovic: Australia loses bid to delay tennis star’s visa appeal - A judge overseeing the tennis star’s deportation case rejects a request to postpone hearing for two days.
Novak Djokovic: Is his vaccine saga an unforced error for Australia? - The story of the star tennis player being held in Australia sparks ire at every twist and turn.
Omicron: Huge number of Covid cases on second Italy-India flight say Indian officials - Majority of passengers on two flights from Italy to Amritsar in India test positive for Covid-19.
Denmark frees suspected pirates in dinghy in Gulf of Guinea - The suspects had been detained at sea in the Gulf of Guinea in November. A fourth remains in custody.
Facebook’s data center plans rile residents in the Netherlands - Locals say Big Tech data centers will syphon away all their green energy. - link
Remarkably, NASA has completed deployment of the Webb space telescope - “This is an amazing milestone.” - link
The weekend’s best deals: Nintendo Switch New Year’s sale, Apple Watch, and more - Dealmaster also has USB-C chargers, the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, and Wacom tablets. - link
Wordle is the word: Why Ars is hooked on a free, easy-to-share web game - Helping you decipher all those green and yellow squares. Also: a nod to Babble Royale. - link
Astronomers discover a strange galaxy without dark matter - New observations suggest that dark matter’s not as ubiquitous as scientists thought. - link
You get banned from SeaWorld.
submitted by /u/mymeatpuppets
[link] [comments]
Guy who has a bad stutter goes to the doctor, he says “ doccttrr I have ttttoo gettt rid ooooff my stttuter ccccan you hhhhelp me?”The doctor says okay let’s do a complete physical on you and see what we find. The guy takes off his clothes and he’s got a huge cock, the doctor says that’s the problem right there! That penis is so big it’s pulling on your vocal chords and causing the stutter, we have several smaller transplants we can choose from and remove the big one. So the guy agrees and has the surgery, a month later he goes back to see the doctor and says “ hey doc I can speak fantastically with no stutter, but my wife isn’t satisfied so I need my old cock back. The doctor says “ ffffuck yyyou”
submitted by /u/wolfraisedbybabies
[link] [comments]
It’s their third date and the guy is really excited to take things to the next level, but they’re both clearly kind of shy about it. So after they park, he asks if she wants to make out. She agrees enthusiastically, and they start kissing.
After a little bit, he pauses and says “hey, do you want to get in the back seat?” She smiles shyly, lowers her gaze and shakes her head no. But they get back to kissing.
After some more time, things are starting to heat up. He’s made it to second base, the windows are fogging, and again he asks “do you want to get in the back seat?” And again she says no.
A little while later, they’re practically half naked, things are getting HOT, and he asks again “hey! Do you want to get in the back seat?” And when she says no, this time he stops and sits back.
“Listen, I don’t know but it seems like you’re really enjoying this,” he says
“Oh, I am!” She exclaims, worried that they’ve stopped.
“And maybe I’m being forward but I’d like to take things to the next level,” he raises his eyebrows.
“Oh me too! I’d like that very much!”
He turns to face her directly and cries out in exasperation, “well then why don’t you want to get in the back seat??”
She looks up at him, tears welling in her eyes, brow furrowed in dismay and whispers…
“But I want to stay up here with you.”
(Folks, I present to you my fathers favorite joke, on his 76th birthday. Happy birthday pops.)
submitted by /u/antoindotnet
[link] [comments]
‘I bet it’s that stuck up cow at No.36’ replies the wife
submitted by /u/AdeptLengthiness8886
[link] [comments]
The devil greets him and says “You have to pick your torture. Pick wisely because this will be your torture for eternity”.
The man goes through hundreds of rooms but can’t decide, until he sees a room where a man is sitting on a couch watching football on TV and getting a blowjob from a cheerleader.
The man says “This is what I want to do for eternity!” The devil says “Are you sure?”. He screams “Hell, yes!”.
The devil goes up to the cheerleader and says “You can stop now. I found someone to replace you”
submitted by /u/afackacc
[link] [comments]