Messages

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Off Topic / Re: It's a bit warm/ wet/ cold outside

« on: 19 April, 2022, 01:08:28 PM »

Hi folks - long time no see!

I've been lurking/posting a lot on social media/studying/building a staff engagement plan on climate for approx 7000 employes, so have been a bit busy.     I have been lurking though.

I recalled this thread, and wondered if you'd be interested in a podcast called The Great Derelict, where I am a guest on an episode.  It covers science fiction broadly, and of course Dredd and 2000AD have come a up. 

Anyway, I'm in this particular episode, where we discuss science fiction and where climate change, or the effects thereof, have been the focus of the story or alluded to somehow. 

It's a fun listen (mostly), and I was honoured to share the spot with Kit Rackley, a geologist who has studied under some of my climate science heroes.

Link to the general site here, but also available on Apple podcasts etc:

https://greatderelict.libsyn.com/climate-change-in-science-fiction


(PS - I hope you enjoyed our look at Portrait of a Mutant on Eammon's MCBC)

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General / Re: The DAVE EVANS TRIBUTE BOOK — LAST(ish) CALL

« on: 07 June, 2021, 10:06:12 PM »

Hi Jim. I hope I’m not too late, and thanks for organising this. Please domuse what I said in the other thread.

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Announcements / Re: Dave Evans, R.I.P.

« on: 07 May, 2021, 12:28:06 PM »

Just this minute heard the news. So shocked! Absolutely gutted! First met him when I hit the Cardiff cons as Judge Pal many years back, and instantly taken by what a nice guy he was. It was always so great to catch up with him at cons afterwards. This must be such a shock for his family - my heartfelt condolences.

What a sad, sad day.

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Games / Re: Aliens: Fireteam Game.

« on: 05 March, 2021, 12:38:29 PM »

This very much makes me think of Left4Dead with an Aliens skin.

Which I am TOTALLY down with.

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Off Topic / Re: Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

« on: 03 March, 2021, 05:29:32 PM »

D’oh!

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Off Topic / Re: Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

« on: 03 March, 2021, 04:05:22 PM »

I think I have a picture which sums up everything you’ve both said, plus the attitude to COVID19, plus the attitude to environmentalism/climate science.

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Off Topic / Re: Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

« on: 03 March, 2021, 01:07:43 PM »

I

Plus I don’t have to deal with other peoples choice of music anymore. The bloody radio did my head in!! Shite music, interspersed with people talking absolute fucking drivel ...

On the radio or in the office?

Both, definitely. Some people I liked chatting to because they were witty, articulate, and I could learn a lot from them. Most have nothing in their lives but soaps and reality shows, which may be fine for them, but now I don’t have to feign interest.

Also, my workplace is one of those happy clappy places where they try to be fun and cool, which is just not me. I want to get in, work hard, do a good job, get the hell out, and back to my actual life. Although the company has tried very hard to retain that culture at a distance I’ve been able to duck out of most of it, and I know I’m not the only person breathing a sigh of relief.

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Off Topic / Re: Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

« on: 03 March, 2021, 11:09:28 AM »

Agree with the above, and I feel totally blessed to work for a company that quickly supplied its workforce desk, chair, laptop etc etc to get everyone up and running at home ASAP, and is now talking about making that permanent for those who want to - flexible working, a couple of days in, but you don’t have to, but equally allowing people to come in all week if they’re the type that crave company.

I kind of like other people, but ones I choose to hang out with, not ones I’m forced to endure just ‘cos we both have to earn a wage.

As such, I recognise how massively, hugely lucky I am with my workplace, because I know many won’t have that choice, haven’t had that choice, will never have that choice, and some aren’t even employed anymore.

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Off Topic / Re: Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

« on: 03 March, 2021, 11:02:03 AM »

I’m with Homers block, with the occasional foray into the office for a four-cred freeze whip and to say hello.

I much prefer working at home. I’ve just been watching This is Spinal Tap while writing a training course on financial regulation. Not possible in the office!

Plus I don’t have to deal with other peoples choice of music anymore. The bloody radio did my head in!! Shite music, interspersed with people talking absolute fucking drivel - it drove me mad! Now I can listen to Iron Maiden and as much classical music as I want.

Plus I don’t have to deal with people. I was (technically still am) the department subject matter expert, a referral point, but that meant people would wander up and ask me about ANYTHING - literally the kind of bollocks a 30 second Google would have answered. It got to the point where I’d say “I’ll email you the details” and then send them a Let Me Google That For You link. Of the 8 hours in the office I barely got four hours work done ‘cos of this.

And how much money have I saved?! No bus fares, no stupidly expensive cups of tea, no canteen that would charge you three loaves of bread for yesterday’s dry sandwich, etc etc.

And how much time have I saved?! Not just in terms of being able to do more work, but I’ve clawed back two hours of my day every day from travel time, and I bloody love it! I wake up at 7.30 and I’m working at 8. I finish my day at 4.30pm and I’m instantly at home. Bloody brilliant! More time with my partner, more time for my own studies - climate science courses, harp etc - more time to read, play games, go for a nice walk etc etc etc. It’s magic!

I hope that answers your question. 😄

So, why do you like going to the office then?

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Off Topic / Re: Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

« on: 02 March, 2021, 06:31:08 PM »

That BBC 5 Live show above with Dr Gurdasani? Someone has taken the most crucial parts, edited it to 10 minutes, and turned it into an info cartoon of sorts. It is very good indeed - highly recommended:

https://youtu.be/vAEPTII_r2c

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Off Topic / Re: Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

« on: 02 March, 2021, 06:10:31 PM »

Epidemiologist Dr Deepti Gurdasani (who I'm sure you already follow) has had a lot to say about this subject recently, far too much to meaningfully link to but suffice to say that she is entirely unconvinced by the official line on this, and she's been right about a whole fuckton of stuff in the last year or so. Any forum members also on Twitter who want some clear, informed, expert opinion on this whole covid mess could do worse than add @dgurdasani1 to their follow lists…

Yes indeed! And her segments on TV despite being short are hard hitting!

Here’s the 30 mins on BBC 5 live that I posted above, where she is stellar:

https://youtu.be/eLfHTsrOmJY


Here she is again on BBC breakfast, once just herself, and again with a colleague, but both times giving solid info, and all worth a watch:

https://youtu.be/rpJnk1g-098

https://youtu.be/ZEzsRyggFBI

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Off Topic / Re: Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

« on: 02 March, 2021, 04:44:26 PM »

Yeah, it’s some real facepalm stuff, eh?

Anyone who has kids knows damn well that even in the non-plague years they infect each other with goodness knows what cold and flu germs, measles, chickenpox etc etc etc etc, giving it to the adults either at school or at home. Kids in schools have ALWAYS been vectors of transmission.

So even without solid data, due to lack of testing or whatever, when I hear anyone suggest it ISN’T coming from the kids it makes me want to scream, and throw my phone through the bloody window.

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Off Topic / Re: Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

« on: 02 March, 2021, 02:14:39 PM »

More on Long Covid in kids here:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/02/long-covid-uk-children-date-cause-concern-scientists-say

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Off Topic / Re: Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

« on: 28 February, 2021, 09:23:27 PM »

My apologies - probably my brain working overtime. But yeah, kids who get Covid are far from safe from long term effects.

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Off Topic / Re: Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

« on: 28 February, 2021, 01:46:52 PM »

Woah woah woah!! Did I just read ‘kids unlikely to get long Covid’?!

That is not the case! According to one of the UKs top epidemiologists, Dr Deepti Gurdasani, the ONS data shows 10%-15% of kids who are infected suffer from Long Covid, a broadly similar percentage to adults.

Listen to her discuss this on BBC 5 Live a couple of weeks back - the figures are startling!

Go from about 17:28

https://youtu.be/eLfHTsrOmJY


The whole 30 minutes is worth a listen to be honest, as she discusses the essential transmission mitigation measures needed in schools, takes down the hollow arguments from a Tory MP, and a colleague who has missed this in the ONS data.


EDIT: Here’s more info on Long Covid rates in children from Dr. Christina Pagel, who is on Independent Sage.

https://twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1363473889951637504?s=21


Summary - primary schools kids are twice as likely to bring COVID into the home as adults, secondary school kids seven times as likely to bring COVID into the home than adults, 10% to 15% of children who are infected exhibit Long Covid even if previously asymptomatic, and schools are one of the main ways COVID is transmitted into the wider community.

That is why, without significant transmission mitigation measures in place in schools we are very likely to see children suffering, an increase in the R rate, more deaths in the wider community, and probably another wave/lockdown.