I washed my Apple headphones. Ok. I also dried them as well.
They still work. Because. Apple.
Mike
Telling Apple What They Should Do
I believe I have commented on this subject before somewhere on this blog but I recently had the opportunity to post a comment to the article’s author. I can’t remember which website this was because there are so many. I saved this to my desktop and forgot about it.
COPS versus Terminators
I absolutely LOVE the Terminator franchise. All of it. I found this by way of Daring Fireball. Read the whole thing. If you are a Sci-Fi junkie, you’ll appreciate the message.
By now you’ve probably heard the news that a Terminator has killed another innocent civilian just days after the last innocent civilian was killed by a Terminator. This unfortunate incident has led to renewed calls to divert funding from the Terminator program and reallocate it into other services that would prevent Terminators from being necessary in the first place. But just because a growing number of Terminators have ignored their AI programming and begun slaughtering humans left and right doesn’t mean we should take the dangerous and radical step of defunding the Terminator program.
via McSweeney’s
Why Aliens Won’t Visit Us
This is a pretty cool article about a subject I most certainly have an opinion on. My idea about this is simple. If alien life can grow to the point that they are traveling among the stars, they have probably gotten to a point where they’ve killed themselves off. I don’t believe we’ll ever see interstellar life that isn’t in fossilized form. By the time we can travel the stars (assuming we haven’t killed ourselves by then) alien civilizations have probably risen and fallen. Use Star Wars as an example. The story takes place a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. I’ll add, and then they all died.
This article isn’t quite as grim as that.
As Berezin explains, this doesn’t necessarily mean a highly developed extra-terrestrial civilisation would consciously wipe out other lifeforms – but perhaps “they simply won’t notice, the same way a construction crew demolishes an anthill to build real estate because they lack incentive to protect it”.
ScienceAlert
Common Sense
I believe it ok to protest something you feel very strongly about.
I believe that is NOT ok to damage other people’s property because you feel strongly about something.
People that damage other people’s property in the name of social injustice have a much bigger problem than their strong feelings about a particular subject. Their moral compass is obviously absent, damaged, or is currently rotting away. The only “justice” these types of people deserve is jail time.
I’m including something I found on Twitter…
— Kirkland (@KirklandYuknis) June 1, 2020
The Truth About Hydroxychloroquine
If you are looking for evidence to suggest that this drug helps with COVID-19 treatment, you’d be hard pressed to find it. You can draw your own conclusions from the following…
From the BBC…
The death rates of the treated groups were: hydroxychloroquine 18%; chloroquine 16.4%; control group 9%. Those treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine in combination with antibiotics had an even higher death rate.
via BBC
From MySanAntonio…
The dangerous side effects of the drugs are much better known. Most seriously, the drugs can trigger arrhythmia, which can lead to a fatal heart attack in patients with cardiovascular disease or who are taking certain drugs, including anti-depression medications. Doctors recommend screening with an electrocardiogram to prevent the drug from being given to the 1% of patients at the greatest risk of a cardiac event. The drugs also can cause vision loss called retinopathy with long-term use, and chloroquine has been associated with psychosis.
via MSA…
From The Journal of the American Medical Association…
Findings In this phase IIb randomized clinical trial of 81 patients with COVID-19, an unplanned interim analysis recommended by an independent data safety and monitoring board found that a higher dosage of chloroquine diphosphate for 10 days was associated with more toxic effects and lethality, particularly affecting QTc interval prolongation. The limited sample size did not allow the study to show any benefit overall regarding treatment efficacy.
Meaning The preliminary findings from the CloroCovid-19 trial suggest that higher dosage of chloroquine should not be recommended for the treatment of severe COVID-19, especially among patients also receiving azithromycin and oseltamivir, because of safety concerns regarding QTc interval prolongation and increased lethality.
via JAMA…
And last but not least, from the New England Journal of Medicine…
Of 1446 consecutive patients, 70 patients were intubated, died, or discharged within 24 hours after presentation and were excluded from the analysis. Of the remaining 1376 patients, during a median follow-up of 22.5 days, 811 (58.9%) received hydroxychloroquine (600 mg twice on day 1, then 400 mg daily for a median of 5 days); 45.8% of the patients were treated within 24 hours after presentation to the emergency department, and 85.9% within 48 hours. Hydroxychloroquine-treated patients were more severely ill at baseline than those who did not receive hydroxychloroquine (median ratio of partial pressure of arterial oxygen to the fraction of inspired oxygen, 223 vs. 360). Overall, 346 patients (25.1%) had a primary end-point event (180 patients were intubated, of whom 66 subsequently died, and 166 died without intubation). In the main analysis, there was no significant association between hydroxychloroquine use and intubation or death (hazard ratio, 1.04, 95% confidence interval, 0.82 to 1.32). Results were similar in multiple sensitivity analyses.
via NEJM…
Hilarious
the room next door – Matt Hancock's Daily Briefing
— Michael Spicer (@MrMichaelSpicer) May 9, 2020
for #TheMashReport pic.twitter.com/vapCzB2Z8n
Exhausting Audiobook Series
I have a page link in the upper right hand corner called “Exhausting Book Series.” These are book series that I’ve listened to up to the point where I just couldn’t go on anymore. I believe the “Ashes” trilogy was the only series where I had to stop almost immediately after starting because the reader was over emotional. I’ve updated the section with other options from Audible on why others feel the same way I do about them. I was pleasantly surprised to see that someone felt exactly the same way about the Ashes Trilogy. You may agree or disagree. Feel free to leave a comment either way.
Cool & Inspiring
I needed this reminder today so I thought I'd share in case you needed it, too. pic.twitter.com/HDRB43MM8Y
— Anne Wheaton (@AnneWheaton) May 3, 2020
Fun with Text Messages
According to Michael Simon over at Macworld, random characters are apparently crashing iPhones. This problem has been corrected in the current beta. I was hoping to crash my phone.
Good Advice
This is from my web hosting company. I was with another hosting company for about 10 years before I needed to switch away from them. I found Dreamhost and never looked back. This company is amazing.
Nope. Not getting paid to say that. They are wonderful.
