Feds are seizing medical supplies from hospitals without saying what they’re doing with it [Noam N. Levey/LA Times]
“In order to have confidence in the distribution system, to know that it is being done in an equitable manner, you have to have transparency,” says Dr. John Hick, a Minnesota emergency physician.
“Are they stockpiling this stuff? Are they distributing it? We don’t know,” one official said. “And are we going to ever get any of it back if we need supplies? It would be nice to know these things.”
New study investigates California’s possible herd immunity to COVID-19 [Caitlin Conrad/KSBW]
Scientists are investigating the possiblity that California was infected with coronavirus early — in the fall. The mystery is that California gets more visitors from China than other states do, and yet has a relatively low infection rate.
The 10 Most Offensive Movies Ever Made [Keith Langston/Screenrant]
(1) The writer Tad Williams and his wife, Deb, had a cat named “Henry, Portrait of a Serial Kitten.” Or just Henry. Tad told wonderful stories about that cat, and Julie and I got to meet the cat, who was indeed wonderful.
(2) The following would be great names for podcasts: “I Spit On Your Grave,” “The Human Centipede,” and “Cannibal Holocaust.”
Swiss physicist Nicolas Gisin may have solved one of the fundamental mysteries of physics: Does time exist?
Does Time Really Flow? New Clues Come From a Century-Old Approach to Math
Relativity makes no distinction between past, present and future; they are all fixed. In relativity, “now” does not exist.
In real life, though, we know that time flows from past to future and we live in the now. Quantum mechanics agrees with real life.
How to resolve the contradiction?
Gisin thinks he has, using an obscure, turn-of-the-20th Century branch of mathematics.
Gisin’s theory, if borne out, would explain the nature of time, reconcile classical and quantum mechanics, explain whether numbers are real, describe the nature of “now,” and might require physicists to invent a whole new kind of mathematics. Kind of a big deal!
[Natalie Wolchover/Quanta Magazine]
Coronavirus breaks my iPhone: FaceID doesn't work when you wear a mask
Privileged person problem: When I go to the supermarket, I keep the shopping list on my iPhone. When I’m wearing a mask, Face ID doesn’t recognize me. I have to open my iPhone by entering the passcode a dozen times or more.
I heard about a feature called “Setup Alternate Appearance” for situations where you have an “appearance that can look vastly different.”
I tried it with my mask on this morning. Nope, didn’t work. It said I had something obscuring my face and I should try again.
Joanna Stern has more on the whys and wherefores at the Wall Street Journal. The iPhone needs to see your eyes, nose and mouth. It’ll work for many sunglasses but not all. It supposedly works when men grow and shave off facial hair, and when women wear or don’t wear makeup.
There’s apparently a workaround to the mask problem: masks printed with images of the lower parts of faces on them!
Doctors who’ve been living with this problem for years offer suggestions: Just use pen and paper, bunch up your interactions with the iPhone in batches all at once, tell someone you trust to unlock the phone for you, ir continue typing in your passcode like a savage.
Stern notes, and I can confirm, that you can punch in your passcode and otherwise use your iPhone while wearing thin nitrile gloves on with trivial additional inconvenience. 🌕