Winding Down
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology and science news
by Alan Lenton
5 April 2020
This was a difficult issue of Winding Down to write – probably even more difficult than the one immediately following the events of 9/11. I’m sure everyone is absolutely up to their eyes with news, info (both true and false), warnings and the like on the subject of the pandemic.
Last issue I more or less ignored it, but that’s not really possible any more, since it’s becoming clearer that things will not be the same when it is all over. There is some good news, especially on the issue of people working together and helping one another out. Unfortunately most of it gets lost in the general doom and gloom, so I thought I would concentrate on that, and some of the things you can have at least a smile, if not a laugh, about.
Folding At Home:
But first here is something you can do help fight back against the virus.
In order to produce a drug that will neutralise the virus, we need to know more about the inner structure of the virus, and especially the mechanisms it uses to penetrate human cells. And for that, I’d like to introduce you to ‘Folding at Home’ aka FAH.
FAH is a network of home computers and the like, each of which is running a small program in the background. Each program is doing a share of the work figuring out what the proteins that make up the virus are and how they work (‘fold’) to penetrate human cells. Once we have this information it becomes more obvious how we should target drugs to disrupt that mechanism.
Most home computers have plenty of spare capacity, unless you are already doing something very intensive, so it isn’t intrusive (I’m running the app at its highest setting at the moment, without it affecting my writing of Winding Down). Taken together, those networked apps turn into the world’s biggest supercomputer, and it’s dedicated to helping find a solution!
If you’re not already part of this world spanning network, why not give it a try?
https://foldingathome.org/2020/04/03/capturing-the-covid-19-demogorgon-aka-spike-in-action/
Things that made me smile:
With the lock down in the UK being taken seriously the pubs, normally centres of conviviality, are all closed. So, one small brewery specialising in ‘signature’ beers has produced its own ‘Pub in a Box’ – everything you need to enjoy a pint at home, right down to the glasses, beer mats and nibbly things. And, this made me laugh as an ex-rock band manager, they are employing musicians whose gigs have been cancelled to do the deliveries, because, band members are used to carrying heavy loads in and out of buildings!
https://www.delish.com/uk/food-news/a31733036/pub-in-a-box/
Here in the UK some bits of our National Health Service (NHS) started to run out of the disposable ‘scrubs’ that they wear while working. So, one of the admin people was given a list of possible suppliers to ring and see if they could source some more. Eventually, working down the list, the admin person reached a company called MedFet UK.
It turned out that it was, in fact, a shop. To be precise, a fetish shop. After everyone had stopped laughing the shop generously donated what stock they had free of charge!
https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/28/medical-fetish-site-donates-entire-stock-scrubs-nhs-12469788/
Here is a piece of science that made me laugh. Exoplanets (planets circling stars) have been a popular topic for astronomy recently, especially those in orbit in the ‘habitable zone’ (where liquid water can exist) which are the focus of a lot of excitement.
Now, a scientific paper has been produced which divides the habitable zone into the ‘real habitable zone’ and the ‘boring habitable zone’. The former is defined, very carefully, as that part of the habitable zone capable of producing gin and tonic! Fan-tas-tic!
Mine’s a Bombay Sapphire with Fever Tree tonic, ice, a slice of lime, three cherries threaded onto one of those really cute little umbrellas, and a cocktail stirrer...
https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2020/04/01/getting-real-with-the-habitable-zone/
If you’re into grown-up colouring books why not try this free one which is a little different? The pictures are from well known artists (now out of copyright and in the Public Domain), such as Hokusai, Albrecht Dürer, Harry Clarke, Virginia Frances Sterrett, Jessie M. King, and Aubrey Beardsley.
It’s a .pdf file which you can download and print!
https://publicdomainreview.org/blog/2020/03/free-colouring-book
On the pictures front I thought readers might like to browse through a set of pictures showing how a massive exhibition centre in East London was turned into an emergency hospital for treating 4,000+ virus patients in a mere 9 days. An impressive piece of work.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-52092253
Staying with pictures, here are a few sets from medieval paintings (sort of). The first is a selection from illustrated manuscripts showing people being killed. And they all look really happy about it! The second is also from manuscripts – it turns out that medieval scribes couldn’t draw cats. They wouldn’t have done very well on the internet...
The third set is my favourite, and entirely different. Auto mechanics posing for famous paintings. Fantastic! You have to see this to believe it.
https://www.sadanduseless.com/happy-killing/
https://www.sadanduseless.com/ugly-cat-art-gallery/
https://www.sadanduseless.com/renaissance-recreations/
And finally, something to help you relax a bit and unwind, especially, but not just for, parents with children home from school for an indefinite period. It’s a set of video resources including ten hours of relaxing, soothing, mountain scenes, some guided imagery for children, and more. My favourite? The guy playing a Beethoven sonata on the piano for a blind elephant. Wonderful!
http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/soothing-uplifting-resources-for-parents-caregivers-stressed-by-the-covid-19-crisis.html
And last but not least, here’s a quote that I stole from ‘The Register’. It was in an article about the International Space Station:
‘In space, no one can hear you scream, “Who used the last sheet of toilet roll!”‘
Definitely a fine example of toilet humour!
Credits: Thanks to readers Barb and Fi for drawing my attention to material for Winding Down.
Footnote
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
5 April 2020
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist, the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/index.html.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.
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