I just ordered two monitors. thinking of buying white board as well.
Virtual coffee seems like good idea
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Hi - weâve got an Architectural business within our Division. they are using laptops to RDS onto their office based tower. Not perfect but begtter than nothing and no need to take desktops home (are the tower drives encrypted - security considerations etc).
Weâve only got two laptops, so not possible 
.
Would be ideal!
Every conference call / video call ever.
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Advice on relationships from divorce lawyers.
A short and sweet video:
(Do talk about money together. Donât marry a boyfriend/girlfriend because they are exciting.)
Stay sane.
Cambridge University research shows itâs best to cover your face
Lower the odds. Make your own mask if you can.
Czech Republic made it mandatory to wear masks.
Slovakiaâs cabinet is rocking masks:
Turns out that you can wear a mask and lower your chances of catching airborne Covid19.
Thatâs what Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and China are doing, among other things to combat Covid19.
Make your own mask - they are all sold out or needed by the NHS/healthcare systems:
- Ninja - with a T Shirt: How To Do Stuff: How To Make a Ninja Mask Out of a T-Shirt: (no sewing).
- No sewing - with a T Shirt: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=807790806395450
- With tools: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNjpH5lBZ8w
- With tools: https://www.deaconess.com/How-to-make-a-Face-Mask
- Another one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCJcE-r7kcg
Researchers at Cambridge University tested a wide range of household materials for homemade masks. To measure effectiveness, they shot Bacillus atrophaeus bacteria (0.93-1.25 microns) and Bacteriophage MS virus (0.023 microns in size) at different household materials.
Not surprisingly, the surgical mask performed best, capturing 97% of the 1-micron bacteria. Yet every single material filtered out at least 50% of particles. The top performers were the vacuum cleaner bag (95%), the dish cloth (âtea towelâ in the UK! 83%), the cotton blend shirt fabric (74%), and the 100% cotton shirt (69%).
Maybe donât use paper towels:
The results werenât great. A single layer of kitchen paper captured just 23% particles. Adding an extra layer only increased particle capture to 33%.
Wear a mask. It can save lives.
I disagree with this.
Surgical masks are best worn when you (potentially) have the virus and youâre trying to make sure youâre not spreading it to others.
Respirator masks (not covered by your chart) are potentially more effective at protecting you against the virus, BUT these are desperately needed by health workers so the general public shouldnât be buying any (and any that are in private hands and still sealed in packaging should be donated).
Wearing masks as a general member of public will do little to protect you because theyâre likely to make you complacent. Unless the mask is airtight you can still end up breathing it in. You can transfer the virus if itâs on the outside of the mask and youâre careless when removing it (or if you reuse it).
Similar issues apply to gloves. You can still have the virus on the gloves, and end up transferring it around because you think youâre safer wearing gloves. You still need to wash your hands. Also very easy to transfer any virus from the surface of the glove to your hands if you havenât practiced safely removing gloves before.
The two most effective measures you can take to protect yourself have always been the same:
- Social distancing and self-isolation.
- Wash. Your. Hands.
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Tons of people wearing masks at the supermarket yesterday, seemed to be just surgical.
Lots of others thinking a scarf or just pulling a tee shirt over their head would do the same job.
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Understood. But the idea is to reduce the risk, not to make it go away completely. Some people carry Covid19 without symptoms. One chap said he tested positive after having fever two weeks before and recovering from it. Itâs airborne and a tshirt turned into a mask can save lives.
Complacency depends on a person, not a mask. People in South Korea, HK, Singapore, China are wearing masks. They also implemented other measures. Their numbers look a lot of better.
âa homemade mask should only be considered as a last resort to prevent droplet transmission from infected individuals, but it would be better than no protection.â
University of Cambridge, Public Health England, Amgen, et al research:
Testing the Efficacy of Homemade Masks: Would They Protect in an Influenza Pandemic?
Anna Davies, BSc, Katy-Anne Thompson, BSc, Karthika Giri, BSc, George Kafatos, MSc, Jimmy Walker, PhD, and Allan Bennett, MSc
ABSTRACT
Objective: This study examined homemade masks as an alternative to commercial face masks.
Methods: Several household materials were evaluated for the capacity to block bacterial and viral aerosols.
Twenty-one healthy volunteers made their own face masks from cotton t-shirts; the masks were then tested for fit. The number of microorganisms isolated from coughs of healthy volunteers wearing their homemade mask, a surgical mask, or no mask was compared using several air-sampling techniques.
Results: The median-fit factor of the homemade masks was one-half that of the surgical masks. Both masks significantly reduced the number of microorganisms expelled by volunteers, although the surgical mask was 3 times more effective in blocking transmission than the homemade mask.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that a homemade mask should only be considered as a last resort to prevent droplet transmission from infected individuals, but it would be better than no protection.
People in Asia wear masks because they are more used to.
Their numbers may be better for a multitude of other factors, such as social distancing, here and in the US there are still many people gathering socially and in public transport.
Wearing masks has little protection, as the virus is heavy and not airborne, and give people a false sense of security. Masks prompt people to touch their face more often which increase the risk.
Masks only work if they also cover the eyes, as you can get it through your eyes, nose or mouth.
They reduce the risk of spreading the virus, not of catching it.
The best advise is social distancing, wash your hands, donât touch your face with unwashed hands.
Understood. Like I said:
This research from Cambridge University and other researchers looks solid.
But reducing the risk is not the same as eliminating the risk.
When cycling with a special âN95/N99â-like mask, it will let some bad air in but itâs better than nothing. My lungs are healthier. But Iâve inhaled a fair share of micro particles nevertheless.
Itâs about reducing the odds.
Stay safe and well everybody.
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Errrr⊠I hope they not watching me. I am too used to my mid afternoon nap while listening to Bjork (screamy era).
Also, my clothing and face is generally covered in food particulates - nobody needs to see that. Post-it note is being affixed to camera as we speak.
ZOOM
Automation Anywhere
Coursera
Look after yourselves during these challenging times.
Understanding how our brains work helps.
NYT:
(Stocking up on large amounts of toilet paper when you see others doing so is an example of social contagion.)
By Judson A. Brewer, M.D.March 13, 2020
Anxiety is a strange beast.
As a psychiatrist, I have learned that anxiety and its close cousin, panic, are both born from fear. As a behavioral neuroscientist, I know that fearâs main evolutionary function is helping us survive. In fact, fear is the oldest survival mechanism we have. Fear helps us learn to avoid dangerous situations in the future through a process called negative reinforcement.
For example, if we step out into a busy street, turn our head and see a car coming right at us, we instinctively jump back onto the safety of the sidewalk. Evolution made this really simple for us. So simple that we only need three elements in situations like this to learn: an environmental cue, a behavior and a result. In this case, walking up to a busy street cues us to look both ways before crossing. The result of not getting killed helps us remember to repeat the action again in the future.
Sometime in the last million years, humans evolved a new layer on top of our more primitive survival brain, called the prefrontal cortex. Involved in creativity and planning, the prefrontal cortex helps us think and plan for the future. It predicts what will happen in the future based on past experience. If information is lacking, our prefrontal cortex lays out different scenarios about what might happen, and guesses which will be most likely. It does this by running simulations based on previous events that are most similar.
Enter anxiety.
Defined as âa feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome,â anxiety comes up when our prefrontal cortexes donât have enough information to accurately predict the future. We see this right now with coronavirus.
Scientists are racing to study the characteristics of the coronavirus so that we can know precisely how contagious and deadly it is â and act accordingly. Uncertainty abounds.
Without accurate information, it is easy for our brains to spin stories of fear and dread.
In addition to being fueled by uncWall Street is a great example of social contagion: we watch the stock market spike and crash, the stock indexes being a thermometer for how feverish our collective anxiety is at the moment. Wall Street even has something known as the Fear Index, or VIX, which outstripped the 2008 financial crisis this week.ertainty, anxiety is also contagious. In psychology, the spread of emotion from one person to another is aptly termed social contagion. Our own anxiety can be cued or triggered simply by talking to someone else who is anxious. Their fearful words are like a sneeze landing directly on our brain, emotionally infecting our prefrontal cortex, and sending it out of control as it worries about everything from whether our family members will get sick to how our jobs will be affected.
When we canât control our anxiety, that emotional fever spikes into panic. Panic is defined as âsudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior.â Overwhelmed by uncertainty and fear of the future, the rational parts of our brains go offline. Logically, we know that we donât need a six-month supply of toilet paper, but when we see someoneâs cart piled high, their anxiety infects us, and we go into survival mode.
So how do we not panic? Too many times, Iâve seen my anxious clinic patients try to suppress or think themselves out of anxiety. Unfortunately, both willpower and reasoning rely on the prefrontal cortex, which isnât available at these critical moments. Instead, I start by teaching them how their brains work, so that they can see how uncertainty weakens the brainâs ability to deal with stress, priming it for anxiety when fear hits.
But this is only the first step.
To hack our brains and break the anxiety cycle, we need to become aware of two things: that we are getting anxious or panicking and what the result is. This helps us see if our behavior is actually helping us survive, or in fact moving us in the opposite direction â panic can lead to impulsive behaviors that are dangerous; anxiety is both acutely mentally and physically weakening and a slow burn that has more long-term health consequences.
Once we are aware of how unrewarding anxiety is, we can then deliberately bring in the âbigger better offer.â Since our brains will choose more rewarding behaviors simply because they feel better, we can practice replacing old habitual behaviors â such as worry â with those that are naturally more rewarding.
For example, if we notice that we have a habit of touching our face, we can be on the lookout for when we act that behavior out. For example:
- If we are starting to worry: âOh no, I touched my face, maybe Iâll get sick!â,
- Instead of panicking, take a deep breath and ask: âWhen was the last time I cleaned my hands?â
- Think. âOh, right! I just washed my hands.â
Just by taking a moment to pause and ask the question, we give our prefrontal cortex a chance to come back online and do what it does best: Think.
Here, we can leverage certainty: If weâve just washed our hands, and havenât been out in public, the likelihood that weâre going to get sick is pretty low.
The more we can see the positive feeling and effects of good hygiene and compare them to the negative feeling of uncertainty or getting caught in anxiety, the more our brains naturally move toward the former, because it feels better.
How do I know this works? My lab has studied these mechanisms for decades. Weâve recently found that simple awareness training (delivered through an app) can reduce anxiety by 57 percent (in a study with anxious physicians) to 63 percent (in a study with people with generalized anxiety disorder) in two to three months.
Understanding these simple learning mechanisms will help all of us âkeep calm and carry onâ (which is how London dealt with the uncertainty of constant air raids in World War II) instead of getting caught in anxiety or panic in the coming days, and whenever we face uncertainty.
When our prefrontal cortex comes back online, we can compare anxiety to what it feels like to be calm. To our brains, itâs a no-brainer. It simply takes a little practice so that the bigger, better offers become new habits.