Covid-19 Blog Series #4

What comes next?

Australia’s mortality rate for Covid-19 remains very low, although it’s getting closer to the expected figure of around 1.5%. Currently, based on Department of Health figures, it’s just under 1% but has been growing recently [1]. We can expect this growth as the peak of infections about 3 weeks ago will be resulting in deaths now.

Covid-19 Blog Series #3

Update 3 - Some Correspondence

My third update on the Covid-19 Pandemic was originally intended to be either a screed on the economic ramifications of the pandemic or a discussion of the testing protocols.

Covid-19 Blog Series #2

And it begins

Late in the day of 29^th December 2019, Dr Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, became worried enough about the increasing number of pneumonia cases at the hospital, that he took to WeChat, a social media and messaging platform. In a group chat with some former University colleagues, he shared information about the cases and the fact that the cause had been identified as a “SARS like” virus.

Covid-19 Blog Series #1

How Many People are Dying from Covid-19?

Spoiler Alert: Nobody knows.

There is, right at the moment, a proliferation of data freely available that would usually be hidden behind a paywall. Most of this is data held by some of the world’s great medical journals such as Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine and as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, most journals and other databases have taken down their paywalls and made data freely available.

Batteries that last for 6000 years (or more)

Being the sort of chap that spends most of his time a long way behind the current news, I have only recently encountered Diamond Batteries. Annoyingly, I first encountered the topic on Facebook in a post that, surprisingly for Facebook, was only slightly apocryphal.

Natural Justice

Being in the habit of asking controversial questions, I am prepared to ask another.

At what point, if ever, should a crime be, if not forgiven, then annulled?

Drink the Local Beer!

The most popular drink in the world, apparently, is water. This is hardly surprising. Next on the list is a bit harder to decide and depends a lot on which oracle you consult. It does seem though that the top five is made up of water, coffee, tea, juice and beer.

God IV - the Final Fisking

A little while back, I commented on God, gods and religiosity in a small piece on this blog. Much to my astonishment, at least one person saw fit to read the damn thing all the way to the end. My correspondent replied in some detail with a fisking of godlike proportions and, being the magnanimous chap that I am, I published her reply. With, of course, my own fisking.

Screaming like Goku

People say strange things to me. I think it's just me, but you never know. I told of a person who recently said to me "I can't sell my car, it smells like fish" and just today someone said to that "I have small birds in my chimney". I'm still not sure whether that was a metaphor.

The Great Train Robbery (Japanese Style)

Occasionally I stumble across a factoid or news article so delicious that I feel compelled to tuck it away for further contemplation. The basic idea is that I might blog about it later - generally I don't, but I might. One such incident that I tucked away was a series of news articles on the great train robbery (or actually robberies) that took place in Japan late in 2015 and early in 2016.