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Entry tags:
Online Learning and Teaching, Coronavirus Matters, Generosity
The past week has consisted of days dedicated to the Otago University HEDC Symposium, three days of teaching workshops (Introduction to Linux and HPC, Advanced Linux and Shell Scripting, and, tomorrow From Spartan to Gadi). So far everything is doing well. Also doing well is my interviews for online learning tools, a field that has become all the more important in these coronavirus days. I feel the need to preface each time this is brought up that my study commenced just before the pandemic, a curious contextual serendipity that one would rather not have to experience! Apropos, a week ago I topped the Diamond League in Duolingo, the third time I have achieved such a level. However, it felt somewhat undeserved as I managed to snipe the position with less than 2,000 points - around the same amount that a year previous would need per day for a week to achieve such a position. Despite the flurry of online learning in its various forms, perhaps it is the case that fewer people are taking up languages or with as much gusto as in the past. It would seem that a certain "petite chouette verte" is also a victim of SARS-CoV-2, at least in some regions.
On that matter, the European Union 3G policy of "Geimpft, Genesen oder Getestet" (vaccinated, recovered, or tested) seems to be working surprisingly well with rapid testing tools. New cases having declined significantly in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy in recent months (but, notably, not the UK). Australia continues to lag on overall vaccination levels, and our case rates are three times their peak last year and increasing, with New South Wales and Victoria continuing to fare very poorly. Fortunately, vaccination does work and death rates have not increased proportionally. It is, of course, absolute figures that matter in this context if you're on the receiving end and the reality continues to be if you're wilfully not vaccinated or immunocompromised, life is going to be hard. It is the former group which appropriate disdain should be directed.
Which is one of those matters that vaccination is self-interested and other-interested as it does reduce transmission (the virus dies out quicker in a vaccinated person). It is, in a sense, an act of generosity. Contrariwise, being wilfully non-vaccinated is a sense of selfishness, combined with ignorance that is a danger to others. Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of people tend towards generousity and a concern for others, and not just in this area. This is my own round-about way of expressing the pleasure of generosity toward a friend who required some bridging finance for a medical issue, but even more so, a most unexpected gift from overseas which I can only spend in memory of a dear and departed friend. Neither act was necessary, but both are carried out with a collective human spirit that inspires.
On that matter, the European Union 3G policy of "Geimpft, Genesen oder Getestet" (vaccinated, recovered, or tested) seems to be working surprisingly well with rapid testing tools. New cases having declined significantly in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy in recent months (but, notably, not the UK). Australia continues to lag on overall vaccination levels, and our case rates are three times their peak last year and increasing, with New South Wales and Victoria continuing to fare very poorly. Fortunately, vaccination does work and death rates have not increased proportionally. It is, of course, absolute figures that matter in this context if you're on the receiving end and the reality continues to be if you're wilfully not vaccinated or immunocompromised, life is going to be hard. It is the former group which appropriate disdain should be directed.
Which is one of those matters that vaccination is self-interested and other-interested as it does reduce transmission (the virus dies out quicker in a vaccinated person). It is, in a sense, an act of generosity. Contrariwise, being wilfully non-vaccinated is a sense of selfishness, combined with ignorance that is a danger to others. Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of people tend towards generousity and a concern for others, and not just in this area. This is my own round-about way of expressing the pleasure of generosity toward a friend who required some bridging finance for a medical issue, but even more so, a most unexpected gift from overseas which I can only spend in memory of a dear and departed friend. Neither act was necessary, but both are carried out with a collective human spirit that inspires.