quotes

Monthly Quotes

Our usual collection of quotes encountered.

Conspiracy is the default explanation of a mystery when you’re looking for meaning. Uncertainty is the default when you’re looking for truth.

[A molecule called Celastrol] does all kinds of stuff in cell assays and animal models … and you can basically find papers that will illustrate it doing anything you feel like seeing – antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antidiabetic, antioxidant, insecticide, you name it. It’s probably a decent floor polish, although I’m not sure I’d recommend its use as a dessert topping.
[Derek Lowe; https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/fun-protein-degradation]

I don’t think that AI is going to provide answers … any time soon – largely because the difficulty is lack of knowledge in the first place. You can’t expect the software to take a bunch of used pizza boxes and find a route to convert them into gold jewellery, and unfortunately a lot of our knowledge (when you look at it on the absolute scale) is at the used pizza box stage.
[Derek Lowe; https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/ai-and-patent-system]

Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will
[Antonio Gramsci]

Why is being a nerd bad? Saying I notice you’re a nerd is like saying, “Hey, I notice that you’d rather be intelligent than be stupid, that you’d rather be thoughtful than be vapid, that you believe that there are things that matter more than the arrest record of Linsey Lohan. Why is that?”
[John Green]

In war, the strong make slaves of the weak, and in peace the rich make slaves of the poor.
[Oscar Wilde]

When we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are not. All sensation and consciousness ends with death and therefore in death there is neither pleasure nor pain. The fear of death arises from the belief that in death, there is awareness.
[Epicurus, died 270BC]

You are not lazy, unmotivated, or stuck. After years of living your life in survival mode you are exhausted. There is a difference.
[Nakeia Homer]

The Brexit agreement was written in English so they could understand it.
[Ursula von de Leyen, EU President]

The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
[Bertrand Russell]

It is obvious that we can no more explain a passion to a person who has never experienced it than we can explain light to the blind.
[TS Elliot]

I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.
[Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald]

The human body is the best work of art.
[Jess C Scott]

medical

Monkeypox 7. Another Quick Update

This is yet another post of a few quick notes from the last couple of weeks.

The headline message remains: The risk is low so don’t be concerned, but do be vigilant.

  1. Cases are appearing with no known contacts with confirmed cases, suggesting transmission is being missed due to undetected circulation of the virus. [1]
  2. Many cases appear non-typical with the rash appearing before other symptoms. [1]
  3. DNA sequencing suggests monkeypox may have been circulating in people for years. [2]
  4. The pattern seen means that there has been sustained human to human transmission since at least 2017 and spreading quite widely in people in Africa. In some African countries person-to-person spread is likely to have gone unnoticed for years. [2]
  5. Genome sequencing shows that the monkeypox viruses responsible for these cases are closely related to ones detected in a small number of cases in Israel, Nigeria, Singapore and the UK between 2017 and 2019. [2]
  6. The 47 DNA-letter changes in the latest viruses compared with earlier ones is an unexpectedly high number of mutations. [2]
  7. We shouldn’t assume that monkeypox won’t evolve to be better at spreading in people if given a chance. [2]
  8. There is no reason to panic as this is something we can get under control. But we have to take it seriously. [2]
  9. Genetic testing identified two strains of monkeypox in the US. Most US cases involved the strain linked to the recent outbreak first identified in European countries. However the presence of a second variant suggests the virus may have been spreading unnoticed for some time. Data from many more patients will be needed to estimate how long the virus has been circulating in the US. [3]
  10. In England it is now a legal requirement for doctors to notify their local council or health protection team about any suspected monkeypox cases – as they have to for measles, scarlet fever and tuberculosis. [4]
  11. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has detected to 524 cases as of 14 June. [5]
  12. More than 1800 cases of monkeypox have now been confirmed in dozens of countries outside Africa in the latest outbreak. [6]
  13. The World Health Organization has said it will rename monkeypox to avoid discrimination and stigmatisation as the virus continues to spread. The working name is “hMPXV” for “human monkeypox virus”. [6]

References

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61696974
[2] https://www.newscientist.com/article/2323019-monkeypox-dna-hints-virus-has-been-spreading-in-people-for-years/ [£££]
[3] https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/monkeypox-likely-spread-undetected-in-us-before-recent-reports-70102
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61723964
[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/monkeypox-cases-confirmed-in-england-latest-updates
[6] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/15/who-to-rename-monkeypox-virus-to-avoid-discrimination

memes, words

Ten Things: June

This year our Ten Things each month are words with particular endings. Clearly this won’t be all the words with the nominated ending, but a selection of the more interesting and/or unusual.

Ten Words ending with -i

  1. dhobi
  2. mehari
  3. punani
  4. barramundi
  5. maharishi
  6. origami
  7. chapati
  8. biryani
  9. kimchi
  10. yogini

Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to write a story in at most three sentences using all these words correctly. Post your attempt in the comments before the end of the month and there’s an e-drink for anyone who I consider succeeds.

food+drink, pleasures

Culinary Adventures #87. Long Jubilee Holiday Weekend

So that’s the end of a a long Jubilee holiday weekend (plus Monday) on which we did little except eat like the gentry (as I’m sure our great-great-grandfathers would say).

Thursday
All-in-One Duck, Fennel & Asparagus Salad with Croutons
Raspberries & Cream
Ionos Greek White Wine

Friday

Crab, Tomato & Mushroom about to meet its Pasta

Crab with Tomato, Mushroom and Spaghetti
Strawberries & Cream
Champagne; Domaine Tariquet “Le Légendaire” Armagnac

Saturday
Tangy Stir-fry Pork with Pepper, Asparagus & Noodles
Deconstructed Ealing Mess: Strawberries & Almond Croissant Pieces with Cream
Domaine Maby Tavel Rosé 2020

Sunday
All-in-One Chicken Tikka, Asparagus & Tomato Salad with Croutons
Large, long, gin & tonic

Monday
Thick Rump Steaks, Chips & Asparagus
Summer Pudding & Cream
Champagne; Armagnac (as above)

Main courses (except Sunday) done by me; puddings and Sunday main by N.

And now we return to sausage & mash, and fish finger sandwiches. ☺☺

current affairs

Imperial Measurements Consultation

In a move typical of obfuscatory government everywhere, on Friday 3 June, a public holiday, the UK government slipped out a purported consultation on the suggestion of the UK reverting from metric to Imperial measurements.

I’m not going to rehearse the arguments here – I have better things to do, like cook dinner. However my polite response is basically: If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

The current system isn’t broken; it doesn’t need to be changed; although it could be improved by removing the last vestiges of Imperial measurements which remain.

You can find the consultation at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/choice-on-units-of-measurement-markings-and-sales. The consultation is open until 26 August (which you also aren’t told except hidden in the documentation).

Anyone may respond: so please do.

H/T Martin McKee, @martinmckee on Twitter.

current affairs, medical

Monkeypox 6. Quick Updates

This is really going to be just a quick few updates of some of the salient features I spotted in the last few days.

The headline message remains: The risk is low so don’t be concerned, but do be vigilent.

Illness & Precautions

  1. Infection during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage. [1]
  2. A child’s temperature is likely to be higher with monkeypox, and they may complain of backache, lower leg aches, chills, and very tender glands around their neck. The blisters are bigger with monkeypox (cf. chickenpox). [2]
  3. People with monkeypox have been told to avoid contact with their pets for three weeks amid concerns the animals could become infected and pass the virus on to other people. However the risk of someone passing monkeypox to their pet is low and no cases of monkeypox have ever been suspected or reported in pets in the UK. [3]
  4. People who have tested positive for the virus and their close contacts are being told to isolate at home for 21 days. They should avoid contact with other people until all lesions – or blisters – have healed and scabs have dried off. [4]
  5. Anyone testing positive is being told to abstain from sex while they have symptoms, and then use condoms for 8 weeks as a precaution. [4]
  6. Confirmed cases and their close contacts should take extra care if they need to leave the house to see a doctor or other health worker. [4]

Epidemiology

  1. Health officials are reporting that the current monkeypox outbreak is mostly affecting younger men in London. Although anyone can contract the virus, 111 of 183 cases** in England are in men who have sex with men. In England, 86% of those infected live in London and only two are women. Most are aged 20 to 49. [5]
    (** This was a couple of days ago and the numbers have increased since then. The UK government regularly publishes the latest figures etc. [11])
  2. People aged 50 and above are likely to be immune (they’re more likely to have had a smallpox vaccination) but the under-50s are more susceptible. [7]
  3. The recent outbreak of monkeypox is being linked to events taking place in Spain and Belgium, according to a leading advisor to the WHO. And the authorities are investigating possible links between a recent Gay Pride event in the Canary Islands, which drew 80,000 people, and cases at a Madrid sauna. [6]
  4. Experts in Africa have warned that monkeypox could change from a regionally widespread zoonosis to a globally relevant infectious disease. The virus may be filling the ecological and immunological niche once occupied by the smallpox virus now that smallpox vaccination has ceased. [1]
  5. Which means this was an outbreak waiting to happen after the end of global smallpox vaccination more than 40 years ago. [7]
  6. There’s unlikely to be the same “explosive growth” of infections into the general population that was witnessed with Covid. However the outbreak could continue for several months as contact tracing slows but does not stop transmission. [7]
  7. Scientists are working through how the disease came to flare up in so many countries in such a short space of time. Many suspect that monkeypox was circulating at low levels, undetected, in the UK or Europe for several years before it reached the MSM community and flared up. [8]
  8. Genetic studies on monkeypox viruses taken from people in the ongoing outbreak show a close resemblance to the virus that reached the UK, Israel and Singapore from Africa in 2018 and 2019. They all have a common ancestor which probably dates back to 2019. [8]
  9. Data from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the early-1980s and mid-2010s suggest the effective reproduction numbers at those times were 0.3 and 0.6, respectively – meaning each infected person passed the virus to fewer than one person in those populations, on average. [1]
  10. DNA viruses like these are a lot larger and more complicated than RNA viruses like Coronaviruses. Coronaviruses are among the largest RNA viruses known, at about 30,000 base pairs, but things like monkeypox are up over 200,000 bp. [9]

Zoonotic Concerns

  1. The infection can be spread by animals, and pet owners have been urged to “manage exposed pets and prevent the disease from being transmitted to wildlife”. [10]
  2. The EU has warned that the zoonotic transfer to humans could spill over yet again from humans to other mammals, potentially making monkeypox endemic in Europe. That’s a real concern, since we know the disease can be carried by a variety of small mammals. But what we don’t know is the likelihood of humans passing it on to animals, or the disease getting established among those animal populations in the wild. [9]
  3. Some of our most troublesome infectious disease threats – think Ebola, or Nipah, or coronaviruses, and now monkeypox – are disproportionately zoonotic diseases. [1]

References

[1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-we-know-about-the-rise-in-monkeypox-cases-worldwide/ [£££]
[2] https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/20163472.uk-monkeypox-outbreak-tell-difference-chickenpox-monkeypox/
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/may/27/monkeypox-patients-contact-pets-uk
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61640196
[5] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61660180
[6] https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/20160206.monkeypox-outbreak-sex-raves-spain-belgium-may-blame/
[7] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/24/monkeypox-outbreak-was-waiting-to-happen-say-scientists
[8] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/25/monkeypox-may-have-been-circulating-in-uk-for-years-scientists-say
[9] https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/now-monkeypox
[10] https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/20162530.monkeypox-pet-owners-urged-manage-exposed-pets-uk-cases-rise/
[11] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/monkeypox-cases-confirmed-in-england-latest-updates

amusements, quotes

June Quiz Questions

This year we’re beginning each month with five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. They’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers, so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as have a bit of fun.

June Quiz Questions: Famous Quotations

Who said …

  1. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
  2. “Every harlot was a virgin once.”
  3. “I have always believed that I was slightly saner than most people. Then again, most insane people think this.”
  4. “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.”
  5. “In converting Jews to Christians, you raise the price of pork.”

Answers will be posted in 3 weeks time.

amusements, personal

Unblogged May

Sun 1 At least 13 keyboards & 15 mice unearthed in clearing out all the old computer junk; as well as a box of old cables. I wonder if they reproduce sexually or by parthenogenesis?
Mon 2 It’s always surprising how much better one feels for a haircut.
Tue 3 Today has been one of pushing jelly uphill through treacle with a toothpick – so many things had to be fixed or cajoled into working properly.
Wed 4 Today, not one, but two 5 minute jobs that actually took five minutes! And they avoided London bus syndrome, by not arriving three together.
Thu 5 Local election day, and how nice not to have to flog round to the polling station having already voted by post.
Fri 6 Watching Tilly cat this evening sitting quietly . Waiting. Squirrel daft enough to trot along the fence a foot above her. And oh, she so nearly got it; if only she hadn’t needed to hang onto the fence! Yon squirrel had a very lucky escape.
Sat 7 What’s that big bird circling high a couple of streets away? Binoculars. Buzzard: right size; right flight pattern; right tail; wings too slender & pointed. Red Kite: right size; right flight pattern; right wings; but tail convex & curved, not forked. Gull: right size; right wings; not sure about the tail; but unusual flight pattern. Falcon: too big. And we don’t have osprey or marsh harriers round here!
Sun 8 Several good pictures of our foxes on the trail camera this week, as they’re out and about more in daylight (dusk and dawn anyway) at the moment as they’ll have cubs to feed. I wonder where their den is?
Mon 9 Something ails the boiler. There is no hot water – well there is intermittent hot water. Looks like something to do with a pressure somewhere. Call out to our gas engineer.
Tue 10 Having managed the sum total of 3 hours sleep, I was sufficiently wrecked that I cancelled my morning meeting. And felt a lot better after another 2 hours sleep.
Wed 11 Wet & windy. There was a good chill breeze in the bedroom window at 3am. And windy rain by the time I surfaced md-morning. But a nice sunny evening.
Thu 12 Finally bit the bullet and placed an order to move the house phone & broadband away from BT to a VoIP provider. Moved the outgoing calls a year ago. When all done we should be saving around £20 a month.
Fri 13 Hold on! Today’s Friday (no not Saturday) and it’s the 13th. No wonder it’s one of those days when everything fights back.
Sat 14 N and I spent the afternoon baking: rhubarb tart and cheese scones with tomato & garlic. Then for dinner: lemony salmon, garlic potatoes, asparagus, tomatoes & mushrooms (all done in parcels in the oven) followed by strawberries & cream; washed down with a bottle of bubbly. Talk about living like the gentry!
Sun 15 Sunday morning. Oh what fun! Trying to get worming tablets down three cats and then flea treat them. Three very pissed off felines all went out. Not sure how I escaped intact!
Mon 16 A day spent chasing my tail, which doesn’t bode well for the next fortnight, which is going to be almost endless chasing of tails to keep up.
Tue 17 And suddenly the garden is awash with roses.
Wed 18 Phew! Two days of Zoom calls of all sorts = fair knackeration.
Thu 19 The gas man cometh – NOT! His previous job has overrun so our boiler service must wait. A nuisance, but we needed a quiet day.
Fri 20 Two young great tits around the nut basket at lunchtime; they must be almost independent but were still being fed insects the parents were picking off the plants. But sadly varmint Rosie cat later destroyed a long-tailed tit – and we ain’t got too many of them.
Sat 21 Yay! The gardener cometh for the first time this year. But Nooo! Also cometh the labyrinthitis (again); if it’s as resistant as last time it’ll be a trip to the doctor’s.
Sun 22 Reprise the gardener. At least we can now walk down the front path without needing a machete.
Mon 23 Vertical hold still on the blink, so spent most of the day horizontal. Cancelled tomorrow’s trip to the dentist.
Tue 24 Vertical hold returning to normal, but very glad to have cancelled the dentist appointments.
Wed 25 <expletive deleted> banks!
Thu 26 N heroically took all 3 cats to the vet for shots, and Boy Cat for some dental work – poor little beggar has had 4 extractions!
Fri 27 Blimey, that’s two weeks in a row that the supermarket delivery has been 100% correct. A couple of items not available, but an overall improvement.
Sat 28 OMG! Must celebrate. I won £10.30 on the lottery. That doubles this year’s winnings.
Sun 29 Picked 2 small (lime-size) lemons from the treelet on our patio. Last year’s flowers; now just ripe. Tried a thin slice from one; really lovely; not too acid. Was gorgeous in my G&T, and the flesh was good afterwards too. Exeunt scurvy.
Mon 30 The gas man cometh (at last) to service the boiler and flush the heating system. Three cats head for the hills, but return in time for an afternoon snack!
Tue 31 Somehow I managed to find time – and just enough enthusiasm – to cut my hair, in between all the chaos of the day.