Margo Musing

I don't know. I just want to be able to follow other people's tumblrs. My blog is at www.margomusing.blogspot.com

[neil-gaiman]

What do you think about Michael not defending David on his comments as he is getting criticized by politicians and other powerful people? I hope they are okay.

If ever David needs defending, I have no doubt Michael will be there.

Being criticized by the Tories, on the other hand, is a badge of honour, and Michael didn't need David when the Tories went after him earlier this year for The Way. It's like being gummed by a toothless dog.

[chronicshoc]

People are being so .... ugh about this.

"Why did he choose a black female tory to shit on"

Because if you didn't know. Kemi was the one actively gunning for trans youth in her leadership campaign.

KEMI was the one, while brianna gheys (a teenage trans girl who was BRUTALLY attacked) murderers were convicted, released an article saying trans youth shouldn't have safe spaces at school and should, BY LAW be outed to family and superiors by teachers who find out/or are confided in.

He called out kemi not because it's easier to shit on a black, cis female politition.

He called out kemi because SHE is the one who was the cause of terror and outrage of trans youth and their families. Which may I remind people, includes him and his family.

Have some links and screencaps

Tories will allow bars on trans women, says Kemi Badenoch

Conservatives would change law so trans people could be excluded from single-sex spaces, if party wins election

Predators exploiting trans rights rules to access single sex areas – Badenoch

The equalities minister said protections for those using single sex spaces needed to be tightened.

Trans activist slams Kemi Badenoch for launching a campaign that 'excludes trans people'

Transgender activist and Liberal Democrat Helen Belcher criticises Kemi Badenoch's proposed changes to the Gender Equality Act.

[dunkthebiscuit]

This was at its most basic a parent challenging a right-wing politician for her ideologies that target his own children.

Badenoch is a Tory. She has privilege (and wealth) - furthermore she has real and genuine political power. She has a platform. She has the ability to drive her transphobic ideology into legislation. She is an actual danger to trans children.

And, as the prime minister said, free speech is a fundamental part of democracy. And that most definitely includes freely speaking out against politicians and policies that are harmful.

This was never a case of a wealthy privileged white man punching down at a woman of colour. That's how the tories and the terfs spun it. This is a father putting himself in front of his (and our, and your) kids.

You cannot in conscience speak from your position of authority as a politician, then claim victimhood when you are judged and challenged on what you say.

You cannot attempt to legislate people that make you feel icky out of existence then cry when someone turns the tables on you.

[chronicshoc]

Reblogging for the (far more articulate than me) extra context and commentary.

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

[margosmusing]

What I want to know, is whether this means there won't be time to set David Tennant on fire again, and if not, whether Arnold in equally flammable?

[neil-gaiman]

The most important question about s3, is David Tennant going to be set on fire?

If Amazon decide not to commission Season 3, I will personally set David on fire to make up for it.

[chrisriddellblog]

Credo by Neil Gaiman.

[entropybegets]

absolutely brilliant

[mojoflower]

#holy shit #I’m SO. FUCKING. GLAD I unmuted #this is sheer poetry #this is High Literature #it’s beautiful #LISTEN!!!!!

[coonazz74]

There is just something about the way this is delivered

[klinger4yossarian-deactivated20]

superb I can imagine teachers 2000 years hence teaching this speech like teachers now assign Cicero and Shakespeare

[dduane]

It’s fabulous. :)

[sizvideos]

Deadpool’s instructive video may save your testicles

[mrs-prism-deactivated20180422]

This is both entertaining and really important.

[accidentallypatriotic-deactivat]

Yo if you’ll reblog the boob campaign, you can damn well reblog Deadpool discussing bollocks.

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

Deadpool is canonically riddled with cancer this is actually such an appropriate campaign

[peace-in-my-garden]

PSA

[piscesmermaid271]

PSA for the guys

[mr-arcturus]

Deadpool with life saving tip…. Heh “tips”

[spontaneousmusicalnumber]

All you fuckers are like “pop tarts are ravioli!” “Uncrustables are ravioli!”

I will hit you in the face with the concepts of convergent evolution and analogous structures

[specsthespectraldragon]

I politely request that you do this.

[spontaneousmusicalnumber]

You asked for it. This will get long and I’ve honestly put too much work into this but here goes.

So first thing first, to understand this concept you need to know how a phylogenetic tree works. A phylogenetic tree is a diagram of what species are related to what, and uses branches and nodes to show this. Real trees can get very large and complex, but let’s start with this example with 4 species.

Is species B more closely related to species A or to species D? Looking at the edge you’d assume A, because it’s closer. But in reality A and B are the least related of the group- they have the farthest common ancestor. The common ancestor is the node at which the branches split. Trace backwards to the split that contains A and B and you’ll find it’s all the way back at node 1, while the split that contains B and D is the closer node 2. The closer the common ancestor, the more you’re related. B and C are the most closely related of the group, because they share a very recent common ancestor. A, being the furthest related from B/C/D, is the outgroup.

Another concept that people find hard to grasp is that just because two animals look similar, that does not mean they are related. Relatedness is determined by evolutionary history, shown by shared structures. Shared structures that are also seen in the most recent common ancestor are called homologous, and they can show an evolutionary relationship. An example could be the tooth structure of a lion and a cat. However, sometimes two unrelated animals come up with the same idea on their own. Birds, bats, and butterflies all have wings, but they all arose independently- the most recent common ancestor of all those was VERY far back and definitely did not have wings. Those non-related but similar structures are called analogous. You cannot compare them as if they are proof of being related.

Mammal natural history is especially tricky with this. These two tiny mousy things: (A vole and a shrew) 

Are MUCH more distantly related than these two: (A deer and a dolphin), who some argue are even in the same order.

(Images from Wikipedia commons)

Okay, so that’s the science lesson for the day. But what does this have to do with ravioli? Well, you can track the history of food somewhat similarly to the evolutionary history of animals. It’s a little less exact due to the changeable nature of making food, but history and relationships can be seen. I claim that the filled shape with sealed edges that is shared by ravioli, pop tarts, and Uncrustables sandwiches is an analogous structure, and grouping all three into one genus is not supported by their evolutionary history. (How is this a stronger thesis than most of what I wrote in college?)

Before we get bogged down in the details, let’s start with an overview of the big picture. Do we organize food by the culture that created it, or by its components, or by its style? If we were comparing something like sushi to something like ceviche, cultural differences would definitely come into play. However all three of the food families in question (pocket pies, sandwiches, and Italian pasta) are Western European or American in origin with heavy naturalization in white American culinary culture. Thus, we can mostly ignore cultural differences and focus on the structure. 

There’s not a single common ancestor to ALL food like there is in animals, but with some grouping we can get to plant-based at the kingdom level, grain-based at the phylum level, flour-based at the class level, and divide that into the subclasses of Savory and Sweet. 

Each of these two subclasses branches off into many, many infraclasses and orders. The three we are most interested in I postulate are as follows:

Putting the pie in an entirely sweet subclass, I realize, is not entirely in keeping with history as meat pies were and are rather common. If I cared enough to edit all of my diagrams at this point I would go back and do so, but this is a Tumblr essay that will maybe be fully read by a dozen people so I will call it fine. Either way, pie is the common ancestor to which we trace the pop-tart. 

As you can see, each of the parties in question (Pop-tarts, ravioli, and Uncrustables) have an easily tracked evolutionary line and their filled wheat-flour-based shapes are analogous structures, not shared by a common ancestor.

Finally, to conclude my point, close relatives of the species in question can also help determine if they are related. If the close relatives of both species share the same traits, then they can be more seriously studied for relatedness. Let’s look at the closest relatives of ravioli (other members of the fresh pasta family), uncrustables (other members of the Sandwich family), and pop tarts (other members of the Pie family). 

Even the closest relatives often do not share the filled form, so saying that poptarts and uncrustables ARE ravioli ignores culinary history as well as common sense. 

[margosmusing]

Love this!

[margosmusing]

Unexpected hedgehog, this evening!!

[margosmusing]

Especially for @unityghost

[haverst]

!!!

source

[catsbeaversandducks]

By PBF Comics

[neil-gaiman]

The first three Graphic Novels. In twenty parts. Coming July 15th 2020. Here’s the cast…

The US link is https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Sandman-Audiobook/B086WP794Z and the UK link is https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Sandman-Audiobook/B086WQCVVG 

[margosmusing]

So excited for this!

[margosmusing]

Somerset - Wild red fox cubs - seen during my Permitted Exercise this evening. 

[neil-gaiman]

Hello there! Fan for several years but just learned on the 30th anniversary that Good Omens came out on May 1st. I was wondering—does this have any correlation with the pagan holiday of Beltane (Mayday) or is it coincidence?

It’s not just a coincidence, it’s a mistake. We got the information from Wikipedia, but I have no idea who put it in there. Colin Smythe, Terry’s agent, just pointed out to us that the book was actually published on May 10th. So we can have another birthday in a bit over a week, if we want.

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Oh dear. :D Very Good Omens though :). Probably switched at the hospital. ❤

[friendraichu]

whoops lmao that’s honestly the funniest thing ever even the co-author didn’t know when his book was released 😂

[neil-gaiman]

I don’t know the publication date of any of my books. Or even how many of them there have been, at this point*. 

Mostly I couldn’t even give you the month they were published, and I’d be happy if I could name the year and the season.

Except I think that American Gods was published on June 18th or 20th 2001. (Goes and checks in https://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/agblogarchive/2001_06/ because I no longer trust Wikipedia.) Nope, it was June the 19th. I did a signing at the Borders Books in the World Trade Centre.

      * I just googled it and was told “At least 34.” THIS IS NOT HELPFUL.

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Well, ‘my’ Google (in Czech Republic) believes in you more (and says 200) :D

[natalunasans]

NG also looks 200% more smug in the czech search result … no wonder, as he’s written more books :D

[margosmusing]

I love this entire exchange, and I hope we get another birthday celebration on10th May :)

[margosmusing]

Damp deer.

[howilearnedtocope]

Why we need masks for all

Okay, I am going to put myself out here: we need masks for all. If you live in a country that doesn’t have widespread use of masks in public, this one is for you.

Here is a graph of coronavirus trajectories by country. All those countries in blue have widespread public use of masks, in addition to other measures.

Obviously I am not basing all of this on a few countries that have managed to slow the spread. Here is a link to a summary of 33 scientific papers that show that masks (even handmade ones, we’ll get to that) reduce spread of infection for the general population. Many of these studies are themselves meta-analyses of data. The evidence is mounting that public mask usage is an important strategy to reduce COVID-19 transmission. I want to highlight this paper in particular which modeled that public mask usage could slow or even stop the spread of an influenza pandemic.

(The CDC and WHO still maintain that healthy people should not wear masks. Preserving them for healthcare workers is important, but that is a separate question from whether they work or not. It seems likely from the evidence presented above that they do help at least somewhat)

Of course, there is a nationwide shortage of masks in most countries. Medical grade masks must be reserved for healthcare workers (if you have some, look for local ways to donate them, many hospitals are accepting donations). So where do we get the masks for the public? We follow the lead of the Czech Republic and Taiwan and make our own. Here is a great summary of how the Czech Republic went from 0 to 100% public mask usage, in less than two weeks.

A person makes masks and a “mask tree” where neighbors could donate handmade masks to others. Note that masks (or anything really) can be effectively sterilized by heating above 70C (158F) either in the oven for paper masks or using regular cycle in your washer and dryer for cloth masks.

Studies have shown even basic household materials like t-shirts can be effective at blocking droplets that contain viruses.

Are they as good as n95 respirators? No. But outside of certain medical procedures, the disease mainly spreads through droplets, and these homemade masks are still pretty good (though not perfect) at blocking those. This goes both ways: the masks provide a layer of protection to protect you, but ALSO contain a lot of the droplets you could be spreading. Some people with the disease don’t have any symptoms at all, so wearing masks is also important to reduce the chance of infecting others.

Masks, like social distancing, don’t have to be 100% effective in order to help flatten the curve.

Here is a model from the Seattle area, which shows how small changes in social contacts can effect total case numbers. You can see that even reducing contacts 25% has a profound effect on case numbers after a few weeks. The same thing would be true if wearing masks reduced transmissions by just 25%.

I want to point out that as long as you don’t take risks you wouldn’t take otherwise and keep your hands off the mask, there is very little risk to doing this now as we wait for further scientific evidence. And the evidence is mounting that simple masks reduce risk and slow spread.

In the Czech republic, they went from no one wearing masks to 100% (it is now mandatory in public) in about 10 days. While the mandatory order to cover your mouth and nose is only a week old, they have seen a slower growth of cases than the rest of Europe despite lots of testing.

Basic masks can be made with just a t-shirt and scissors, no sewing required. This video shows you how, just wear your mask higher on your face than this guy. (Video is changed from original post to one that doesn’t require Facebook login)

And a few more tutorials

DIY facemask with filter pocket from Maker’s Habitat (video)

Facemask with adjustable wire and filter pocket from Easy2Sew (video)

Craft Passion Face Mask Pattern (pattern & instructions)

A Dr Explains how to make a facemask from a HEPA filter (video)

Simple mask that can be made with a sewing machine, from Craft Passion

If you get good at making homemade masks, especially the ones with HEPA filters, some hospitals are now accepting donations of homemade masks as well. Check to see what is going on in your local area.

If the papers cited above are correct, wearing a mask now when you need to leave the house for essential chores will reduce the time it takes to bring our cases down, and public use of masks could be invaluable in keeping cases low when people start to go back to work.

We can change our culture from stigmatizing masks to expecting people wear them. It happened in the Czech Republic in less than two weeks. We can do it too.

If you have the time, please watch this video. It was the thing that really made all of this click for me, and it has a ton of great information. Here is a shorter video from the Czech youtuber who started the movement in his country which I also recommend watching & sharing.

Please reblog & add resouces, tutorials, or mask selfies! There are three main things you can do to help spread the word and normalize mask wearing: 1) share videos & other information on the topic; 2) take a selfie of you wearing a home-made mask; 3) spread the message, with hashtag #masks4all.

[howilearnedtocope]

March 30th updates:

A lot has happened in the four days since I wrote the post. Some news:

Austria Requires Masks in Supermarkets

Bulgaria makes wearing a protective mask in public places compulsory

George Gao, director-general of the Chinese CDC, gave an interview about the biggest mistakes other countries are making:

“The big mistake in the U.S. and Europe, in my opinion, is that people aren’t wearing masks. This virus is transmitted by droplets and close contact. Droplets play a very important role—you’ve got to wear a mask, because when you speak, there are always droplets coming out of your mouth. Many people have asymptomatic or presymptomatic infections. If they are wearing face masks, it can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others.”

President of Slovakia, Zuzana Chepalova has been matching her masks to her outfits this week. Slovakia has also made masks mandatory in public.

A team of public health experts at American Enterprise Institute included public use of masks a key part of their strategy:

There is emerging evidence that asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 is possible, which complicates efforts to pursue case-based interventions. To reduce this risk during Phase I, everyone, including people without symptoms, should be encouraged to wear nonmedical fabric face masks while in public

(Link - it’s worth reading the whole section on masks if you are interested)

US Senator Pat Toomey calls for the public to wear homemade masks to prevent the spread of covid-19. 

Not news, but important, here is the conclusion of a study that evaluated homemade masks against surgical and n95 respirators for protection against respiratory infection:

“Any type of general mask use is likely to decrease viral exposure and infection risk on a population level, in spite of imperfect fit and imperfect adherence, personal respirators providing most protection. Masks worn by patients may not offer as great a degree of protection against aerosol transmission.”

A great new summary video to share, featuring experts from the Czech medical community and the Minister of Health of the Czech Republic:

In addition to the t-shirt method in the original post, here are three more face-covering tutorials that do not require a sewing machine:

This one is disposable!

Here is how to turn a t-shirt into an impromptu face covering, no cutting or sewing required.

5 more new sew styles. Could potentially be reinforced with a paper towel, or additional cloth.

I want to end with a plea not to treat the masks as a substitute for quarantine, social distancing, hygiene and other measures. The biggest fear in recommending masks to the public is that people might get a false sense of security from them. If people use masks as an excuse to take these other precautions less seriously, it could undo any benefit they have and even make the situation worse. If you wear a mask, you MUST continue with all the social distancing and hygiene measures as before. Don’t think of the mask as permission to do risky things: think of it as a constant reminder of how careful we must be.

Mask or not: isolate yourself when sick, stay home as much as possible, keep a safe distance from others when you must go out, avoid touching your face, and wash your hands frequently and well.

Stay safe y’all. These are wild times

[margosmusing]

Young rabbit, met on my Permitted Exercise this evening