I am not full sure people appreciate the impact of B117 strain on the course of the pandemic. TL;DR B117 is "a pandemic inside a pandemic" and demands both monitoring and preparation for when it arrives in a location. Vaccination is even more of a priority due to B117.

Context: I am an expert on human genetics and computational biology. I know experts in viral evolution, testing, infectious epidemiology, clinical trials. I have COIs in that I am long established consultant to @nanopore and I am on the Ox/AZ vaccine trial.

B117 clearly transmits faster. This has been clear in a UK context now for over a month, with particularly insightful backtracking of growth of B117 from low levels through October/November; it is true in Denmark; it is true in Ireland.

(Shout out the fast responding science of @CovidGenomicsUK, of the analysis of @jcbarret and @arambaut, of clever genomics-epi models of @MoritzGerstung and @harald_voeh and on it testing / spidey sense of @The_Soup_Dragon)

(In Denmark their excellent genomic surveillance, similar to UK's allows Denmark to know about the growth of B117 from low level in the context of other strains - props to @MadsAlbertsen85 and colleagues; In Ireland it is becoming one of the dominant variants)

OPERATION BRASSTACKS
A Thread
Type: Major Indian Combined Arms Military Exercise
Target: Southern/Central #Pakistan
Goal: Military provocation leading to armed conflict
Result: Pakistani Counter Deployment; Exercises halted; Standing down of Indian Forces.
Date: 1986-1987
#India

Operation Brasstacks was the brainchild of then Indian Army Chief General Krishnaswamy Sundarji who wished to provoke a Pakistani response to a massive planned Indian army mobilisation in the guise of military exercises near Pakistan’s border. General Sunderji's strategy was

to provoke Pakistan to respond and this would provide India with an excuse to implement existing contingency plans to go on to the offensive against Pakistan and take out its atomic bomb projects in a series of preventive strikes.
It was the major and largest mobilization of

Indian forces on the Indian Subcontinent, involving the combined deployed strength of two Army Commands (Western and Southern)- almost 500,000 troops , plus 200,00-300,000 more reservists amounting to over 2/3rds of the Indian Army. The exercises would also involve a series of

amphibious assault exercises by the Indian Navy near to a Pakistan naval base in Korangi Creek. All these exercises were meant to be done within 100 miles of the Pakistani border.

The Indians knew that the military strategists of the Pakistan Armed Forces would regarded this

Shri Hanuman had boon to be immortal. And be present where ever there is Ram stuti.
I came across this beautiful story that I would like to share
#threadstories
#Hanuman ji is believed to live in the foothills of Himalayas. But once he spent a lot of time in Sri Lanka
1/9

Where Ravan's brother ruled for many years..
On his way back he came across tribal people from community called #Mathanga
He gave Darshan to them. The chief of the tribe asked him to keep coming back to guide their generations
Hanuman ji said that whoever recites this mantra
2/9

I will give them Darshan. But there are two conditions
1st he/she must know his relationship with me
2nd there must not be anyone around him in 950 mts radius. If present, that person must also know about my relationship with him /her.

He promised to come after every 41 yrs
3/9

The Mathangs also maintain a ‘logbook’ where they record all the words spoken and ‘leelas’ performed by Lord Hanuman.
They call him their Guru
Who teaches them how to live their lives.
A Sri Lankan organization called Setuu is studying this ‘logbook’ and also conduct
4/9

programmes for Hanuman devotees who can do ‘Sadhna‘ under the guidance of Setuu masters. Devotees who qualify all the criteria will be eligible for Hanuman’s ‘sakshaat darshan‘
The Setuu has certain conditions that need to be kept in mind which includes devoting one complete
5/9

https://t.co/xvP6tVlIaE
Quite a surprise. Ferguson isn’t qualified to comment on such things. He lacks understanding of basic biological concepts, partly explaining why his predictions are often so extreme.

That said, I’ll take him as an ally. It’s clear we’re already at herd immunity. How can I be sure? London had a huge peak of excess deaths in spring. The timing of peak deaths showed clearly that the pandemic was self-limiting. Recall much debate about whether the interval...

...between lockdown & peak deaths was long enough for lockdown to have been the cause of reducing deaths? The answer was “no”. But it was close & I can understand people thinking “well, it’s close, so perhaps it was lockdown that did it?”, thereby establishing a foundational...

...myth favoured by those who genuinely believe lockdown saves lives (it clearly doesn’t).
I’ll get to London & here immunity. But those wavering about the evidence about lockdown in spring really will benefit from cogitating on this graph.

In blue are the 30 trusts with the earliest date of peak deaths in spring. In red, the 30 with the latest peak deaths. For me, this is proof that national lockdown, which began Mar 23, played no role whatsoever in turning the pandemic. You’ll see some areas had peak daily...

The crisis in the NHS is overwhelming this week. It has reminded me of conversations I had with my late father on how to manage within the state sector. I think they're worth sharing.

My father worked for the nationalised electricity industry from the late 1940s to late 1980s. He spent much of that time as a fairly senior engineer. He was committed to what he did. He believed electricity supply was a human right. And he sought to delver it.

He left the industry and retired when he realised that privatisation challenged what the believed in. The priority was no longer supply. It was, instead, profit. He had a clear example of the difference this made. It was about emergency management.

In his day the state electricity boards ensured that they had all the capacity they needed to manage emergencies to keep supply going as well as possible, come what may. It meant there was excess capacity. But it wasn't wasted - maintenance and training was done instead.

Privatisation saw that excess as waste, and it went. It was assumed contracts could buy in support when needed. My father believed that was dangerous - because when demand was strongest the most inexperienced people would be put to work on the job.

The Chartwells/Compass free school meals package scandal is a teachable moment about capitalism. 1/ Why do so many families need free school meals? Because real wages have stagnated while profits soared...

2/ Why packages and not vouchers? Because the big outsourcers like Compass *lobbied the government* against vouchers, claiming they could use their scale to provide cheaper food...

3/ Here's the business model in a single graphic. Buy food as cheap as possible. Achieve growth by replacing/acquiring smaller, higher-quality providers, hire the cheapest possible labour...("we focus relentlessly on costs")... but it's not done to make huge bottom line profits

4/ If you look at a normal year, Compass and other big outsourcers make relatively meagre profits... they grow, and drive dividends, by acquisition - not by innovation... (except in ways to cut costs)...

5/ Businesses like this were created by the state. They're not the product of the market, or consumer choice, but of regulation. They survive on wafer thin margins because that's how the govt structured the market...

Law society published some guidance recently on e-signatures...https://t.co/g70MUWg6K0 - some thoughts and comments...

👁‍🗨 Witnessing...they conclude that witnesses have to be "physically present" and you cannot witness somebody by video link. Probably correct as a matter of case law. It's a shame they aren't more forceful in their urge for change here...

The point in witnessing has always been evidential. So that if one person claims they didn't actually sign a document, you have somebody you can call upon to attest evidence that they did or did not. Also adds some formality to the process to make people think

When you're using e-signature, people's email addresses are being put into a system. You also have IP addresses, geolocations, timestamps all recorded when people actually go on to sign the document. Doesn't this add quite a lot of evidential value?

Physical presence would help avoid a scenario where somebody gains access to somebody else's email account, signs a document and then gets somebody to witness. If that witness were virtual, they wouldn't see the mischief that has occurred...is this not quite a remote risk though?

On November 25th, Jack Dick-weed sold TWTR options for $4.8M

🧵THREAD 🧵As it's the start of a new year, there seems to be a lot more calls for freelance pitches about. If you're thinking of pitching for the first time, or wanted a refresher, here are some of the things I find useful. /1

First up, finding work – here's what I use to find calls for pitches each week. But you can easily search these yourself or set them up as columns in your TweetDeck. Use quote marks so it searches for the exact phrasing. /2

I also try to keep a note of places making call outs that I don't immediately have ideas for – they're probably going to be swamped fairly quickly, but now you know they have budget – and they'll be less swamped if you come back to them in a month with a belter of an idea. /3

In weird Covid times, this is also a really helpful spreadsheet from @studyhallxyz on who is and isn't accepting pitches atm. This kind of stuff is often just useful to give you ideas of places you didn't realise you could pitch. /4

If you can't find an editor's email address, my favourite tool is @EmailHunter which shows you the format of an email address at any organisation, so you can take a best guess. 50 free searches a month. /5

THREAD ✔
what @M_McCormackMP voted for

A citizenship test

A combined Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

A plebiscite on the carbon pricing mechanism

A same-sex marriage plebiscite

An Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC)

✔
Emissions reduction fund

Banning mobiles and other devices in immigration detention

Charging postgraduate research students fees

Civil celebrants having the right to refuse to marry same-sex couples

Compensating victims of overseas terrorism since the September 11 attack

✔
Decreasing ABC and SBS funding

Decreasing availability of welfare payments

Deregulating undergraduate university fees

Drug testing welfare recipients

Getting rid of Sunday and public holiday penalty rates

Government administered paid parental leave

✔
Greater control over items brought into immigration detention centres

Increasing eligibility requirements for Australian citizenship

Increasing funding for road infrastructure

Increasing indexation of HECS-HELP debts

Increasing or removing the Government debt limit

✔
Increasing scrutiny of unions

Increasing state and territory environmental approval powers

Increasing cost of humanities

Increasing the initial tax rate for working holiday makers to 19%

Increasing the Medicare Levy to pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme

THREAD ✖
@M_McCormackMP voted against

A carbon price

A fast transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy

A minerals resource rent tax

A Royal Commission into Violence and Abuse against People with Disability

An NBN (using fibre to the premises)

✖
Assisting the Arts through the coronavirus pandemic

Carbon farming

Community right to say no to nuclear waste disposal sites

Creating a federal Anti-Corruption Commission

Decreasing the private health insurance rebate

Doctor-initiated medical transfers for asylum seekers

✖
Encouraging Australian-based industry

Ending illegal logging

Ending immigration detention on Manus Island

Ending immigration detention on Nauru

Government action on animal & plant extinctions

Increasing Aboriginal land rights

Increasing access to the JobKeeper Payment

✖
Increasing access under Freedom of Information law

Increasing competition in bulk wheat export

Increasing consumer protections

Increasing fishing restrictions

Increasing funding for legal aid

Increasing funding for university education

✖
Increasing funding for vocational education

Increasing government support for dairy industry

Increasing housing affordability

Increasing investment in renewable energy

Increasing marine conservation

Increasing penalties for data breach

Increasing political transparency

On this day in 1917, Stella Cunliffe was born. She became the first female President of the @RoyalStatSoc in 1975 and during her life was associated with many famous institutions including the British Girl Guides, the Guinness Brewery and the Home Office. 1/9

Born in Surrey, she was the first person from her school to go onto University, gaining a degree in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1938. 2/9

Her statistical career began in 1939, when she joined the Danish Bacon company, working on food allocations. During the war she was in charge of rationing in London. The bacon ration was 3 or 4 rashers per person per week. 3/9

At the end of the war she joined The Girl Guides and went to Europe to help feed the war refugees. She was also among the first civilian volunteers to go to Belsen Concentration Camp to oversee the de-lousing of inmates there. 4/9

Cunliffe then took a job as a statistician at the Guinness Brewery @GuinnessGB where she stayed for 25 years. It was here that she famously redesigned the instructions for quality control workers who had to accept or reject the handmade beer barrels. 5/9

🌟🌟 Celebrities riding bikes: a thread 🌟🌟

Justin Theroux

Sarah Jessica Parker (bonus points for a hire bike!)

Pippa Middleton

Kendall Jenner

Happy Tuesday! The latest focal S:N501 build is now updated with sequences from 11 Jan.
There are 101 new sequences in the 501Y.V1 (B.1.1.7 #b117) & 501Y.V2 variants.

Additionally, I'll include some updates on S:E484K in this thread.

1/20

https://t.co/dXx6nk6Llz

There are 97 new non-UK sequences in 501Y.V1, including the first sequences in the cluster from Slovakia, Mexico, & Belgium, plus additional sequences from the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Spain, Ireland, & Sweden.

2/20

Slovakia has 10 sequences that fall in 501Y.V1 for the first time. These are closely linked, & likely indicate a single introduction and ongoing transmission (remember: vertical distance is not meaningful on the same branch - position of the 2 English samples is arbitrary).

3/20

Belgium has 5 sequences in 501Y.V1 for the 1st time, indicating 3 separate intros. 3 seqs cluster together (zoomed, divergence), indicating a single introduction. The connection to Netherlands might indicate transmission, or 2 transmissions from same diversity in the UK.

4/20

Mexico also has a sequence that falls into 501Y.V1 for the first time.

5/20

In the NY Times today, I argue w/ @brianbeutler that a Civil War amendment to the Constitution--barring those who've "engaged in insurrection" from holding office--authorizes a broader response, one that goes beyond impeachment and beyond Trump

Congress should use its power under the 14th Amendment to pass a law blocking the instigators and perpetrators of last week’s siege of the Capitol--including but not limited to Trump--from holding office ever again.

This would be a complement, not a substitute, for impeachment.

Even during the Civil War, the traitors never breached our Capitol. On Wednesday, they did. They paraded the Confederate battle flag through its halls, halted the electoral vote count, and upended the peaceful transfer of power with

As we respond, we should draw from the lessons of preceding generations--including those who drafted the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment during what Reconstruction historian Eric Foner calls America's "Second

The Framers of the 14th Amendment arrived at a consensus that we sadly find ourselves needing to enforce again: Those who swear an oath to defend our Constitution but then betray that sacred oath by participating in an insurrection cannot be permitted to hold public office again.

#Bookmark this

Untold saga
|| Kalabhairava ||

I repeat “Untold Unsung now Unearthed”

Go through entire thread carefully. It contain mesmerizing story.
+
Next weekly thread would be on || The Major Vratas of Ancient India || according to scriptures

RT & spread the knowledge

Glimpse of the entire thread.

कपालं ब्रह्मणः सद्यो भैरवस्य करांबुजात् |
पपात भुवि तत्तिर्थमभूत्कापालमोचनम् ||

Brahma’s skull then fell to the ground from the lotus like hand of Bhairava. That tirtha (place of pilgrimage) became Kapalamochanam, in Varanasi.
Starting the thread

Many years ago, Brahma lost his head slightly. He began to imagine that he was superior to Shiva and Vishnu. He told all the sages, “I am the supreme godhead. There is no one else but me.”

While Brahma was thus instructing the sages, Vishnu arrived and was enraged at Brahma’s behaviour. “You are indeed ignorant,” he told Brahma. “I am the supreme godhead. You are only the creator. But I am, after all, the preserver.”

As I lie here awake having a mild panic attack about the coming days in the US, I’m remembering that just this spring I found out one of my new mom friends was a Q conspiracy theorist. It came as a complete shock. 1/

We connected early in the kinde year and spent many afternoons hosting casual play dates on the school playground bonding and chatting. Had a Christmas gathering together (2 actually). We bonded over a similar childhood 2/

So it was a complete shock when she sent me and two other moms in our group text a Q conspiracy YouTube video under the guise of, “let’s have hope this (Covid lies/Democrats being in charge) will all end soon.” 3/

I was FLOORED. I’m pretty open about my politics. Many moms and I chatted regularly after school about the stress of a Trump presidency or how much we loved Harris. She’d sat at my kitchen table and agreed with me on values. But this was 🤯 rhetoric 4/

At first I asked if she meant to send that video, and she confirmed she did. So I replied that I was a democrat and didn’t see how that message was overly positive. She told me she was “sad for you” that “you’re not willing to listen to the whole message.” 5/