It was already a D- lol.

To be honest it's probably been revised upwards to a D or a D+ because since then they have got their act together a bit.

Still too little too late though.

 

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Personally, I would close FB (and Twitter) down.  While in  the  current situation they COULD be a conduit for  useful  information, they invariably descent into  half truths, "tin hat" conspiracy theories, outright lies and  sh*it stirring.

 

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No that would be a terrible idea.

Don't hit the only sector of the economy that will do okay out of this!

The 'fake news' stuff is not a social media problem, it's an education problem. Critical thinking is not taught anymore, and spoonfeeding people with fact checkers will, imo, make the problem worse in the long term.

 

It's also a meta data issue. Here is one thing you can say about something like 4chan, they really know how to make a meme go viral. They understand how important meta data is and can exploit that. Scientific journals, for example, are at the opposite end. Good for getting facts, but terrible for proliferating it.

 

 

 

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Quite right. If you believe social media, coronavirus is either a bioweapon, a depopulation tool invented by Bill Gates, or  byproduct of vaccines 

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So 0.00017164179 % of the population are positive. Perspective.

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One day, people will learn that bombing 'fake news' into oblivion using censorship doesn't work, and in fact makes the problem worse by appearing to legitimize 'cover up' complaints or activiating the stressiand mode.

Children today are being taught absolute drivel about 'non binary genders' and 'cultural appropiation' but they are not being taught critical thinking.

For example if someone denies the hollocaust and comes up with superficially convincing arguments, the right response is not outrage, the right response is a systematic dismanteling of the argument.

 

I mean, for example, some moon landing conspiracy arguments are superficially very convincing. People need to understand why they fail, not just get offended by bad arguments.

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when you know folk who've had recent Cancer diagnoses and people who've died from "flu" and when you read that in poorer parts of the UK, average lift expectancy is 58... and when you see and read reports of refugees dying in the Med and the Aegean sea... and you see the number of children dying world wide from preventable child illnesses... it does rather put a lot of this hysterical nonsense into perspective... Of course Coronovirus is not a small matter... but when you read some of the nonsense on the internet.. and at the same time you are hearing about death and tragedy involving young lives across the world about which nothing is being done because it is too difficult or awkward or not politically expedient to take action, I'm afraid I can't get that worked up about all this.. No doubt I'll wash my hands for 20 seconds but that'll probably be it! Who knows I might succomb... but I suspect there are many other more likely things that I might die of.

It's also a Soros funded plot to delay/cancel brexit (I kid you not)

Depends on the quality of the sources in your social media I guess.

The same is true for this 'coronavirus is a bioweapon' argument.

It isn't true, but you'd need a undegrad understanding of genetics to understand why it isn't true. And since the vast majority of people don't have that, they don't really have the right to just laugh it off as something 'only stupid people believe'.

 

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Yeah, it's so different from when you were a child!

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned. Boris again floating the idea of letting it rip. It sounds like we will take fewer measures to control the spread than some other countries. Either because a) we don't think they're effective b) we're prioritising economic activity at a higher level than some other nations.

He told ITV's This Morning programme: "One of the theories is perhaps you could take it on the chin, take it all in one go and allow the disease to move through the population without really taking as many draconian measures. I think we need to strike a balance."
Source:BBC

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I much prefer the open web to the walled gardens of Facebook and Twitter. Whether closing them is the way to go I am less certain. 

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PM's spokesperson confirms what we have been expecting. The PM has been briefed that it is "highly likely" that #coronavirus will spread in a significant way. Still technically in 'contain' phase but govt now accelerating preparations for 'delay phase'

— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) March 5, 2020

I take a biologist's view of this, Brian. Evolution will have its way. Facebook, Twitter or whatever - if people wish to wade through the social media garbage and work themselves up into a state - that's fine. It's freedom of speech - however stupid and ill informed. Best to let them folks post freely. They need only pay attention if posters give their sources or at least demonstrate some basic knowledge and logical thought.

I'm as knowledgeable as I can make myself just now, as prepared as possible, sufficiently aware of probable risks, resigned to the fact that we may get Covid-19 virus, hopeful we will both survive it, sanguine if regretful about the possibility of one or both of us dying. Life's been good.

Roger

p.s. the senior garden jackdaw has been renamed. He is now Corvid-1.

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Hopefully the Muppet justs listens to the experts.

 

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Italy have reported 769 new cases and 41 new deaths

Total to 3,858 with 148 deaths

41 new deaths  Terrible news.

There 'real' cases must be out of control.

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That's insane. 

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Breaking: The Royal Berkshire NHS Trust has said one patient with underlying health conditions has died after testing positive for coronavirus.

First UK death confirmed in Berkshire (underlying health issues, elderly man).

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LOL.

I wonder what the panickers do with all the extra stuff that they don't really need? Toilet rolls, for example; this new form of flu doesn't make you crap any more than you normally would, and if it zonks you like regular flu you won't really care about using the loo either - you'll be asleep.

One of my friends at work said they're going to (panic) buy some toilet roll this evening. They didn't have an answer as to why they suddenly needed it!

Talking of work, I was summoned to a meeting earlier about their plans if the school has to shut for two weeks. Google Classroom, apparently, with work set by teachers and live classes (delivered from the teachers' homes) by Google Meet. Of course, getting the kids to actually "tune in" or download / complete / upload the homework is another matter!

The ironic thing is if this a) turns out to be needed and b) works, it shows that you don't need 10 teachers teaching 10 classes the same thing... you could do it just as well with a fraction of staff. Add in a spot of AI ("It looks like you're struggling at maths, here are some easier / alternative problems") and I have to wonder what schools will look like in the years ahead!

 

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Old, already sick man dies of flu, then. I wonder how many old men have died from regular flu in the UK so far this year?

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I also think business flights should reduce in future now they realise they can just use webex / Skype. 

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Tragic news. Its downhill from now. This is when panic will set in.

Despite the rational discussion on here, people outside of this forum get worked up over tea bags and/or Love Island.

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