ESS, COVID-19

ESS, COVID-19

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I am reading The Selfish Gene at the moment. It’s a very good book, and beautifully written, as you would expect from Dawkins. This pair of sentences, though, stood out for their disappointing relevance to anti-vaccination, anti-mask, and otherwise anti-scientific individuals’ behavior. In the next paragraph, “ESS” means “evolutionary stable strategy”. In (too simple a summary), ESS means the strategy that evolution ‘settles upon’ which is most effective at reproducing the genes that regulate that strategy. “It is possible for…

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Is the US a first world country?

Is the US a first world country?

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Countries are often compared. Comparisons are made about wealth, about happiness, about healthcare outcomes, and about education outcomes (literacy, for example). Many people rank the United States as a developed country, because it has high rates of wealth and is “industrialized”, but in this article we will look at how the USA ranks in a lot of different areas and let you decide whether it warrants being considered a first world country: Firearm-related death rate US ranks ninth in terms…

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What Microsoft should do next

What Microsoft should do next

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If you follow tech news, you will know that Microsoft have recently announced Windows 11 – the next version of Windows. As well as some cosmetic changes, it will be capable of running Android applications. This is a significant improvement to Windows and is something that I genuinely think is paradigm-shifting. Here’s why. When Windows was first launched it ran “Windows applications”. It ran only on 16 bit architecture – the original IBM compatible hardware with a few upgrades. In…

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Obstruction in soccer / football

Obstruction in soccer / football

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Football, as it’s called everywhere (soccer only in the USA), has a rule that is a little vague, but I think it’s currently interpreted in a way that makes the game less interesting to watch, have fewer goals, and is, overall, less sporting. Here’s the rule so you can know what I am talking about (from the FA): Impeding the progress of an opponent means moving into the opponent’s path to obstruct, block, slow down or force a change of…

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The filibuster

The filibuster

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I have to admit, I did not know about the filibuster’s history, nor its actual timing in the bill approval process. This video makes it very clear, and makes it very clear why it has to go:

Eight shows on streaming services you may have missed

Eight shows on streaming services you may have missed

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Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Nebula, Curiosity Stream, Amazon Prime, Peacock, and many other services are now vying for our money. Once we have parted with our hard-earned cash, though, we rely on word of mouth, algorithms, or just dumb luck to find great shows on the services. So here’s a list of the gems you might have missed on some of the above services: Kim’s Convenience (Netflix) A highly successful Canadian sit-com, it still hasn’t penetrated the zeitgeist, despite being…

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Knowing how your gender limits you

Knowing how your gender limits you

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If you are of the belief that men and women have achieved equality, or if you are a man who believes in equality, but does not know how to make it a reality when men continue to earn more than women on average, there is an online webinar which might interest you: Josh Levs “Removing the ‘man-can’t’ myth”.