Private Equity Is a Scam
10 by vo2maxer | 7 comments on Hacker News.
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Kim Jong-un: fragile and under pressure but he won’t give up
The Observer The North Korean leader’s surprise freeze of his nuclear programme is less a genuine move than a diplomatic manoeuvre,...
Saturday, 4 April 2020
New top story on Hacker News: Verified Functional Programming in Agda
Verified Functional Programming in Agda
12 by TheAsprngHacker | 1 comments on Hacker News.
Middlesbrough
12 by TheAsprngHacker | 1 comments on Hacker News.
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New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: How does your App deal with the death of one of your users?
Ask HN: How does your App deal with the death of one of your users?
13 by herodotus | 0 comments on Hacker News.
My wife died recently. I had to close various accounts. From an IT perspective, the results were shameful. For example, I called her cell-phone provider and closed her account. The agent was very respectful. He offered condolences and closed the account, and said there would be a refund. The next day, there was an email, addressed to my wife, using her first name, asking her to rate her recent experience. I had to use text messaging to close her NY Times subscription. I texted "I need to cancel a subscription" The bot asked me why 1. No time to read 2. Price concern 3. Service issue And I was told I had to answer 1, 2, or 3! Really? Then a human got involved, and he/she was good, but obviously the bot still has some control because at the end I got this: "Thank for contacting the New York Times, I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day." Come on.....this is terrible. The human realized this and immediately added "And also before you go, I wanted to express my most sincere condolonces to you and your family" There is more, but this may be enough. My question for those of you working on apps that have registered users or subscribers: how do you deal with notification that one of your clients has died? Did you even give this use case some thought?
Middlesbrough
13 by herodotus | 0 comments on Hacker News.
My wife died recently. I had to close various accounts. From an IT perspective, the results were shameful. For example, I called her cell-phone provider and closed her account. The agent was very respectful. He offered condolences and closed the account, and said there would be a refund. The next day, there was an email, addressed to my wife, using her first name, asking her to rate her recent experience. I had to use text messaging to close her NY Times subscription. I texted "I need to cancel a subscription" The bot asked me why 1. No time to read 2. Price concern 3. Service issue And I was told I had to answer 1, 2, or 3! Really? Then a human got involved, and he/she was good, but obviously the bot still has some control because at the end I got this: "Thank for contacting the New York Times, I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day." Come on.....this is terrible. The human realized this and immediately added "And also before you go, I wanted to express my most sincere condolonces to you and your family" There is more, but this may be enough. My question for those of you working on apps that have registered users or subscribers: how do you deal with notification that one of your clients has died? Did you even give this use case some thought?
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Wash your damn hands
Peter Gercke/picture alliance via Getty Images
It’s one of the best ways to prevent Covid-19 — and you’re probably doing it wrong.
With Covid-19 cases spreading across the globe, there’s never been a better time to brush up on one of the easiest ways to avoid the spread of infectious disease: proper, consistent hand hygiene.
Everyone from the WHO to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has repeatedly emphasized regular hand-washing (or hand sanitizer if water and soap aren’t available) as a way to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
"There are 10 basic things that you should know.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 28, 2020
1⃣clean your regularly with an alcohol-based hand rub, or wash them with & .
Touching your face after touching contaminated surfaces or sick people is one of the ways the #coronavirus can be transmitted"-@DrTedros pic.twitter.com/Ty8J0zoGKS
Dozens of studies show hand-washing can prevent life-threatening diseases, and even save lives. Reviews of the research, looking at the impact of hand-washing on respiratory diseases, have found the practice cut infections by around 15 to 20 percent.
And it’s not just respiratory diseases like Covid-19: A 2008 review of the research looked at some of the best evidence for diarrhea-causing illnesses; they found that stringent hand-washing protocols, on average, reduced incidents of diarrhea by 29 percent in high-income countries and 31 percent in low- and middle-income countries.
Those decreases matter: More than 2,000 children die from diarrhea-related diseases every day, and respiratory diseases, such as pneumonia, kill millions every year.
Hygiene interventions can also reduce the number of sick days in schools. In a study of elementary school students in Denmark, researchers required the children to use hand sanitizer three times a day. Compared to the year before, there were 66 percent fewer schoolchildren with four or more sick days and 20 percent more with zero sick days.
”There’s more science behind hand hygiene than there is for other forms of infection control,” says Elaine Larson, associate dean for nursing research at Columbia University.
You’re probably not doing it right
A study in the Journal of Environmental Health found only 5 percent of Americans wash their hands properly. Although the CDC recommends 20 seconds of hand-washing, people on average wash their hands for about six seconds.
Obviously, hand-washing isn’t going to prevent disease if people aren’t doing it right. Here are four tips for proper hand-washing, from Larson and the CDC:
1) Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds. The amount of time spent hand-washing is important, Larson explains, to thoroughly cover and scrub every surface of both hands. To do this right, the CDC provides a step-by-step guide: Wet your hands with clean water, lather soap on every surface, scrub your hands together for at least 20 seconds, and rinse before drying. If you need a timer, the CDC recommends humming the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
2) Wash your fingertips and under your nails. “If you think about it, most of the touching and most of the germs are on your fingertips and maybe under your fingernails,” Larson says. “That’s a part of the hand that’s often skipped when people wash their hands.”
3) Wash your hands after every trip to the bathroom, blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing, and before eating. Even if you think you didn’t get anything on your hands, wash them. There are always germs on your hands, and, at the very least, the bathroom is a convenient place to make sure some of those germs are cleaned off.
4) Wash your hands quickly after coughing, sneezing, or dealing with sick people. A previous study co-authored by Larson found that the flu virus can survive on hands and other surfaces for five to 10 minutes before it dissipates. During that time frame, people risk contaminating others as long as they don’t wash their hands.
There’s plenty of evidence to back it up: Dozens of studies show hand-washing can prevent life-threatening diseases, particularly in developing countries. And cleaning one’s hands doesn’t just reduce the spread of disease, it can save lives.
Don’t touch your face, particularly your mouth, nose, or eyes
We don’t yet know everything about how SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes the Covid-19 disease — spreads, but we do have a lot of data on how MERS, SARS, and other respiratory viruses move from person to person. And that’s mainly through exposure to droplets from coughing or sneezing.
When an infected person coughs or sneezes, they let out a spray, and if these droplets reach the nose, eyes, or mouth of another person, they can pass on the virus, said Jennifer Nuzzo, an infectious disease expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. In rarer cases, a person might catch a respiratory disease indirectly, “via touching droplets on surfaces — and then touching mucosal membranes” in the mouth, eyes, and nose, she added. There’s also emerging evidence showing that SARS-CoV-2 could spread through poop — known as the “fecal-oral” route of disease transmission.
That’s why it’s not just hand-washing that’s important; not touching your nose, mouth, and eyes is, too. The CDC had these other, related tips for avoiding Covid-19:
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Stay home when you are sick.
- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
- Everyone should wear cloth face coverings in certain public settings like grocery stores and pharmacies. You should also wear a mask if you have symptoms of Covid-19 or you’re a health worker or taking care of someone who is sick.
Wash instead of sanitizing whenever possible
As for hand sanitizer, Larson says it’s important to know that sanitizers are only active as long as they’re on your hands. So even if it makes your hands feel annoyingly wet, keep the sanitizer on for at least 10 seconds.
A multiyear study from the University of Michigan found that requiring students in residence halls to use surgical masks and alcohol-based sanitizers could reduce the spread of flu-like symptoms by up to 75 percent. Importantly, the study found masks alone played no statistically significant role, indicating that the hand sanitizer was responsible for the results.
On the question of whether to hand-wash or sanitize, there’s a simple solution, according to the CDC: Hand-wash on most occasions and use an alcohol-based sanitizer when water and soap aren’t available. Larson says that, for the typical healthy person, that should cover most hygiene needs.
“Hand-washing is better for cleaning off stuff,” Larson says. “If you have sputum, or if someone coughs, or if you have vomit, crap, or urine on your hands, soap and water are better cleaners. Alcohol is a better antiseptic. But in most cases, you can get the germs off your hands either way.”
from Vox - All https://www.vox.com/2020/2/28/21157769/how-to-prevent-the-coronavirus
via HDMI Installers
Friday, 3 April 2020
5 of the best VPNs for streaming in the UK
Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are valuable tools for improving your online security. They help you to stay safe and anonymous online by shielding your personal data from the prying eyes of authorities and hackers.
These clever services work by hiding your IP address and rerouting your internet traffic through an encrypted VPN tunnel. This secures your bank transactions, protects your digital identity, and lets you work safely on public WiFi networks. You don't care about any of this though, do you?
You are here for one reason, and that's to access more of the content you love with the help of a VPN. You can use these services to binge-watch all the movies and TV shows you want, even if they're not available in your country. Once you've connected to a VPN, you'll be able to override streaming geo-restrictions and unblock everything you're missing out on. Read more...
More about Tech, Software, Vpn, Shopping Uk, and Uk Deals
BEST FOR SPEED
ExpressVPNConnection speed is absolutely essential for effective streaming, and ExpressVPN offers plenty of speed.
- Monthly: £10.18/month
- Six-month plan: £7.85/month
- 15-month plan: £5.24/month
BEST FOR SECURITY
NordVPNNordVPN provides a bunch of security-focused features to protect you and your data.
- Monthly: £9.68/month
- One-year plan: £5.66/month
- Two-year plan: £4.04/month
- Three-year plan: £2.82/month
BEST FOR INTERFACE
CyberGhost VPNAn attractive interface has a big impact on your overall experience, and CyberGhost VPN offers one of the best.
- Monthly: £10.29/month
- One-year plan: £4.59/month
- Two-year plan: £3.09/month
- Three-year plan: £2.10/month
BEST FOR SUPPORT
PureVPNPureVPN offers around the clock customer support, just in case things don't work out.
- Monthly: £8.63/month
- One-year plan: £3.29/month
- Two-year plan: £2.32/month
BEST FOR BEGINNERS
ZenMate VPNOne of the cheapest services on the market is a great option for anyone new to VPNs.
- Monthly: £9.49/month
- Six-month plan: £4.69/month
- 18-month plan: £1.99/month
from Mashable https://mashable.com/uk/roundup/best-vpn-for-streaming-uk/
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