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Comment Re:Definitions and error bars please (Score 1) 177

It wasn't rushed - it was simply that the usual years of bureaucracy was eliminated from the process. Nothing like a pandemic to put a rocket up a pen-pushers arse.

mRNA vaccines have been under development for decades, but a key problem was getting enough virus sample to test (there wasn't enough SARs or MERs because, although very dangerous, neither was especially infective). SARS-Cov2 fixed that.

Comment Re:Honest question, not looking for a fight. (Score 2, Informative) 646

This is entirely false.

Not sure of the US figures, but in the UK Covid19 was accounting for over 1/3 or all deaths (4x as many as flu and pneumonia) before the lockdown started to bite in a situation where weekly deaths peaked at twice the 5-year average, and a excess death rate peaking of over 100%. It killed more people in eight weeks than flu and pneumonia do in an entire season.

It was by far the biggest killer until lockdown started to work. Deaths are low at the moment, but that's because most people are ignoring the government and staying home, and the return to school hasn't kicked in yet.

That's what happens when you novel virus with no natural immunity get loose.

Submission + - SPAM: Air Force Shocks Defense Sector As Secret Fighter Jet Takes Flight

schwit1 writes: After delivering the a big surprise about the sixth-generation fighter prototype, Roper gave no other details. He would not disclose any information about a timeline for fielding, what technology would be onboard, or which companies are participating.

"The NGAD(Next Generation Air Dominance) has come so far that the full-scale flight demonstrator has already flown in the physical world. It's broken a lot of records," Air Force acquisition chief William Roper said during the Air Force Association's annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

"A lot of the mission systems that we require for next-generation air dominance have been flown on test articles. So they are coming along very well, and digital engineering seems to accelerate everything."

Link to Original Source

Submission + - Scientific American journal breaks a 175 year tradition. Endorses Biden (scientificamerican.com)

140Mandak262Jamuna writes: It has always remained neutral in the election and politics. But it endorsed Biden this time.

The evidence and the science show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and its people—because he rejects evidence and science. The most devastating example is his dishonest and inept response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which cost more than 190,000 Americans their lives by the middle of September. He has also attacked environmental protections, medical care, and the researchers and public science agencies that help this country prepare for its greatest challenges. That is why we urge you to vote for Joe Biden, who is offering fact-based plans to protect our health, our economy and the environment. These and other proposals he has put forth can set the country back on course for a safer, more prosperous and more equitable future.


Submission + - Boeing 737 MAX House Commitee Final Report Released

thegreatbob writes: Excerpt from avherald.com

On Sep 16th 2020 the Committe on Transportation and Infrastructure of the United States House of Representatives released their final report of 238 pages into the safety cultures of both Boeing and FAA which led to the crashes of both Lionair's Boeing 737-8 Max and Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 737-8 Max. The Committee concluded:

Time for a Culture Change

Both Boeing and the FAA share responsibility for the development and ultimate certification of an aircraft that was unsafe. Both must learn critical lessons from these tragic accidents to improve the certification process, and the FAA must dramatically amplify and improve its oversight of Boeing. While the changes that the FAA and Boeing have proposed will be the start of a long process, changing the fundamental cultural issues that led to an environment that permitted Boeing to build, and FAA to certify, a technologically faulty aircraft will take much longer.

Link for Lion Air

Link for Ehtiopian

The 238 page report is shared between the two due to the common factors in both crashes.

Comment Re:Brexit (Score 5, Insightful) 76

That isn't the EU's sentiment at all (insofar as a member group with 27 members has a sentiment).

The sentiment is simply: you are no longer a member of our golf club, so you don't get to play on our greens without paying the non-member fees.

And the biggest "green" is the single market (ironically invented by Thatcher). If we want tariff-free access we play by their rules. Simple and perfectly normal.

Submission + - Cambridge Staff 'Fobbed Off' At Meeting Over ARM Sale To Nvidia, Says Union (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Opposition to the $40 billion sale of the UK’s largest tech firm, Arm Holdings, is mounting, as the trade union Unite said staff concerned about their future had been “fobbed off” and the company’s local MP urged the government to act. The government has so far declined to say whether it will consider deploying powers to block the deal or attach conditions, despite pressure from Labour, trade unions and Arm’s outspoken co-founder Hermann Hauser.

On Tuesday, Unite said members who worked for Arm at its Cambridge headquarters had been kept in the dark and fobbed off in an internal meeting, with senior figures telling them any transaction was at least 18 months away. Unite called on the government to prevent the sale, saying ministers should be “protecting tech firms from being hollowed out by detrimental takeovers and providing the investment needed for the sector as a whole to flourish." Daniel Zeichner, the Labour MP whose constituency includes Arm’s headquarters, will meet union officials and employees on Friday. Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, he called on the government to secure a legally binding guarantee to protect jobs as well as an exemption from US foreign investment rules.

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