Would like to see a chart using per Capita scaling in some way. This makes smaller countries with large populations look bad (Japan?), and large countries with small populations (Russia?) look good. From Reddit.

Happy to see this finally moving in the right direction. From Sierra.

The End of Mr. Go

I saw this article and has halfway through reading it when I remembered The Osborne Effect from the early days in my career. Osborne made an early portable PC. They announced a new model and sales for their existing model stalled. Everyone was waiting for the new and improved model. They never recovered and went bankrupt. A similar thing may be happening with gasoline cars.

When Do Fossil Fuel Car Sales Collapse?

Perhaps it’s eating less carbs or maybe just getting old, but I don’t seem to be able to do things like yard work out in the heat like I used to. I have avoided sports drinks because of all the sugar / artificial sweeteners, but recently gave them a try. I shouldn’t have been surprised at how well they work. I recently looked into making my own home made rehydrating drink and found a much-cited recipe from the World Health Organization (WHO). Reproduced below from the Mojilnar Emergency / Disaster Medicine page.

World Health Organization ORS Recipe

Ingredients:
–          3/8 tsp salt (sodium chloride)
–          ¼ tsp Morton® Salt Substitute® (potassium chloride)
–          ½ tsp baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
–          2 tbsp + 2 tsp sugar (sucrose)
–          Add tap water  to make one (1) liter
–          Optional: Nutrasweet® or Splenda® based flavoring of choice, to taste

Directions:
1.      Add the dry ingredients to a 1 liter bottle.
2.      Add enough water to make a final volume of 1 liter; mix well.
3.      If desired, add Nutrasweet® or Splenda® to taste. Mix well.
4.      Sip as directed above
5.      Discard after 24 hours.    

To add add potassium when salt substitute is not available or to improve taste, you may add orange juice or banana. To each liter, add

• A half cup of orange juice or
• Half of a mashed banana

Contains 27 grams of sucrose, 70 mEq per liter of sodium, 20 mEq per liter of potassium and 30 mEq per liter of bicarbonate. The final osmolarity is approximately 245 mOsm per liter.

Commercially made packets of WHO ORS formula are available in camping stores, on the internet, and from Amazon. Advantages include simplicity, convenient packaging, and stable storage containers. This convenience comes at a significant mark-up.

Mostly for men, but if you need another reason to get that Covid-19 vaccine. An Italian study via NIH.

“Mask up to keep it up”: Preliminary evidence of the association between erectile dysfunction and COVID-19

A good read from the London Review of Books. Basically a review of one of the recent books on the final portion of the Trump presidency, but from a British perspective.

It was going to be huge

I remember the old USENET flame wars of the 1980s and 1990s. I think people just become more uncivil when they aren’t in person and particularly when they are anonymous. A good read from New York Magazine.

The Parallel-Parking Job That Ignited the Internet

I saw an older Jeep Cherokee recently, which would have been one of the larger vehicles of my youth. I was surprised at at how small it looked compared to today’s SUVs and pickup trucks. The UK Daily Mail puts it into context.

Road warriors: How American SUVs are now bigger than the TANKS that fought in World War II

The drought and then the freeze has been hard on the trees. Had two large dead oaks removed in the front and having one removed in the back. Another nice large oak right by the house is sick and getting injections. Made me wonder: are there tree anti-vaxxers?