Scrutable

shpalman wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 09, 2021 10:34 am

Car owners in the UK have been told to make sure they do not miss their MOT, even if they are not currently able to use their vehicle.

... the government has declared that MOT and servicing and repair centres are an essential service and remain open for business during the third lockdown. tests are an essential service.

That's not entirely clear because each administration has it's own lock down rules, but our car is booked in for its MOT next week so I'm taking that as a green light.

ETA I take that back after having thought about it for 2 seconds, MOTs being a UK thing...

The article could have been better written though.

Interesting claim that lockdown 3 is being observed more than lockdown 2, contrary to some anecdotes. Maybe the messaging about the state of the NHS is starting to concentrate some minds.

Re MOTS, I think it's one of those things where the government can hardly stop them ("Do you want people to be killed in road accidents, Minister???"), but in practice the effect of suspending them for 3 months or whatever would be negligible. The kind of people who run on bald tyres or worn brakes probably aren't very diligent at taking their cars in for an MOT anyway.

Of course, the test has a "public health"-type function, like childhood vaccines; I would guess that it's so successful that not very many of the 1,800 road deaths in the UK in a year are directly caused by faulty maintenance (because the honest majority people take wrecks off the road knowing they will fail), but at a day-to-day level I don't think it's going to cause a measurable uptick in accidents (and of course people are driving less, unless they decide to go from Leicester to Flintshire for a walk, in which case I hope the engine catches fire). It may also not be a major COVID hazard either, of course.

sTeamTraen wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 10, 2021 8:17 pm

Interesting claim that lockdown 3 is being observed more than lockdown 2, contrary to some anecdotes. Maybe the messaging about the state of the NHS is starting to concentrate some minds.

Roads were quieter where I am this morning.

More footage of ICUs on telly in mid-December would have cut down on Christmas mixing, I'm sure. Yes, you don't want to panic people, but there comes a point where you need to explain how bad it is.

Not sure if this has been posted before, but there's an interesting article by Stephen Reicher and John Drury, in the BMJ, about "Pandemic fatigue."

https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/07/pandemic-fatigue-how-adherence-to-covid-19-regulations-has-been-misrepresented-and-why-it-matters/

tl;dr version is that, despite what we read in the papers, most people are good at obeying lockdown rules. The comparatively rare breaches of those rules are usually prompted by economic necessity rather than irresponsibility.

Reicher and Drury wrote:The way in which issues of adherence have been portrayed and understood during this pandemic have been spectacularly wrong. If anything, the headline stories should not be of “fatigue” and “covidiots”’ and house parties. They should highlight the remarkable and enduring resilience of the great majority of the population – including those who have been most subject to blame such as students and young people in general – even in the absence of adequate support and guidance from government. Indeed, in many ways the narratives of blame serve to project the real frailties of government policy onto the imagined frailties of public psychology.

snoozeofreason wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:07 pm

tl;dr version is that, despite what we read in the papers, most people are good at obeying lockdown rules. The comparatively rare breaches of those rules are usually prompted by economic necessity rather than irresponsibility.

I caught a repeat of one of Sturgeon's briefings, from the 4th Jan I think. She made a point of asking employers to think long and hard about who really needs to come in and to let as many people work from home as possible.

Has Johnson said anything like that? Most of the stern faced warnings I've seen from Tory ministers in the last couple of days are very much emphasising personal, individual responsibility. Tonight it was think about every single contact you have and if it's not absolutely essential, don't do it. But nothing about employers that I've seen.

Interesting thread on rule following:
https://twitter.com/rowlsmanthorpe/stat ... 352192?s=2

The data suggests people ARE sticking to the rules, except the rule that matters above all others

I would humbly suggest that we need to shift our focus

Woodchopper wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 14, 2021 6:02 pm

Interesting thread on rule following:
https://twitter.com/rowlsmanthorpe/stat ... 352192?s=2

The data suggests people ARE sticking to the rules, except the rule that matters above all others

I would humbly suggest that we need to shift our focus

It's the one about self-isolating after having symptoms #stopclickbait

UNMASKED HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING TOURNAMENT

f.cking WHY FLORIDA WHY

American Academy of Pediatrics deems masks a “choking hazard during wresting”

No, masks are pointless during contact sport just generally. You shouldn't be doing contact sport.

Tweet 12 in the thread:

“However, it is not feasible to maintain physical distancing and universal mask wearing during practice and competition for high-contact sports such as wrestling.”

Florida’s response: OH WELL, LET’S WRESTLE UNMASKED ANYWAY!!!

I mean, even something like this reply

I know educated intelligent adults who look at this a virus as no big deal 99% won’t die. I had H1N1 ended up in the hosp with pneumonia death or not it sucked. Currently I commute, shop , work out , and eat out (outdoors) with a mask. Wrestling? Does it surprise anyone ?

"work out" implies going to the gym
"eat out" means going to restaurants

WHAT THE f.ck ARE YOU STILL DOING GOING TO GYMS AND RESTAURANTS

shpalman wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 27, 2021 9:48 pm

I mean, even something like this reply

I know educated intelligent adults who look at this a virus as no big deal 99% won’t die. I had H1N1 ended up in the hosp with pneumonia death or not it sucked. Currently I commute, shop , work out , and eat out (outdoors) with a mask. Wrestling? Does it surprise anyone ?

"work out" implies going to the gym
"eat out" means going to restaurants

WHAT THE f.ck ARE YOU STILL DOING GOING TO GYMS AND RESTAURANTS

She does say that the eating out is outdoors, which is probably safe - though I'd like to see how she achieves that with a mask.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ovid-rules

I can only assume that long covid acts on the conservative brain like that fungus which turns ants into zombies.