Corona Virus links

The first post of this was done on the 17th of March 2020.

Just keeping track of Total cases and deaths for 3 countries of my interest today.

 

Update 20th August 2020 :

Just back from a holiday in France…going through my 3rd testing for Covid…to protect family and friends and reassure ourselves that we are not sick. Feeling ok but clearly second wave is in progress for European countries.

Still using my Colab code to access the latest data. [here] 

Update 19th July 2020 :

How can anybody say that the UK is out of the crisis !….still 80 to 100 people die daily …I can’t see the flat part of the curve…

 

 

 

Update April 2020:

I still find the media and the countries governments very poor at providing useful information to the general population. I also continue to struggle to understand the true impact of this virus on our overall deaths levels in the UK.

I remember the BBC posting an idiotic  “we have reached 100 death per day” when all scientists were explaining that we were on track to get to 1000 deaths a day. The media was not helping in preparing the population to understand the scale of the problem.

Having said the above, I still do not understand how much more deaths per day did the virus bring to us in comparison to all other diseases we have had in the past. I need to research this.

After many updates and searching the internet for the right data, I have decided to build my own tracker using the source data. I used python and google COLAB.

The code in the link will access the source data and make some graphs out of it.

I coded the notebook to plot the countries of my interest.

We are currently being told that we might have reached a peak…with 400 people dying daily in the UK I find this obscene.

 

 

 

Status 27th of March 2020:

Getting annoyed by the media system that they are not preparing the population in the UK for what is about to come. We had headlined on BBC website on the 26th saying that we had passed the 100 people dead in a single day. With nothing explaining what to expect in the coming weeks. If we are anything like other European countries we should brace for circa 1000 people dying per day…today 27th…184 dead in the day…no headlines from BBC…maybe they are starting to get it….

 

 

 

A few interesting links :

World number of cases, the best link in my opinion: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

The FT Graphics : here

 

The source Data:

https://qap.ecdc.europa.eu/public/extensions/COVID-19/COVID-19.html

A live panel of Data

https://covid19.dsplay.tv?countries=United%20Kingdom%2CFrance%2CSpain%2CBelgium&duration=5

UNited Kingdom Gov Stats : https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/f94c3c90da5b4e9f9a0b19484dd4bb14

BBC Cases in your area: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274

Nice Graphics to explain contagion: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/?fbclid=IwAR1axXapFPLQJbWX1LDgBo9zIMaPs_rdgLvcugvniGdoog17AQNNKe4Sze8

Beds Available:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/critical-care-capacity/critical-care-bed-capacity-and-urgent-operations-cancelled-2019-20-data/

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Changing subject

A quick post to move away from Virus stuff…

As I have been making a few biscuits/waffles calling for either levure chimique or baking powder of Baking soda. I have tried to understand the differences.

Levure Chimique and Baking Powder are very similar, they will produce CO2 in your pastry/dough as long as you simply add a liquid. The base and the acid are already present in their dry form.

The levure chimique has wheat flour and baking powder has maize flour. The levure chimique is supposed to be more performing at the same weight.

A packet of levure chimique is about 11g or 2 teaspoons, sufficient for around 500g of flour.

The baking powder should be scaled up by about 40%. So about 15g for 500g.

The Baking Soda (or Sodium bicarbonate) is only a base (high PH) agent for which your recipe needs to have an acid to react with to create the CO2. This could be lemon juice or yoghurt. 3 Tablespoons of baking soda in 500ml of water will make water with a PH of about 9.5…. (Lye or Lessive de Soude is usually PH14). Baking soda is useful for heartburn as it will lower Gastric Acids. (1/2 teaspoon in one glass of water). Baking Soda is also helpful to absorb odours in the fridge or to make a scented jar with essential oils.

Note: Baking soda can be used to clean drains or degrease kitchen ustensils because of the high PH but is not as efficient as Caustic Soda or Crystal Soda (the green bags stuff) is further up the PH scale at approx 11.5. The best being “Lye” or Lessive de Soude which is up in PH14.

 

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Helping NHS – Staying home

After a couple of frustrating days trying to get my 3D printer to work as it is supposed to, I managed to get my first Face Shield made using a Czech design for a crowd of 3D printing enthusiast helping the NHS with a lack of protective equipment.

The crowd is printing the 3D frames and a charity is assembling, cleaning, distributing for us.

Only 30 hours to go before I can send my first batch.

 

 

Update: There is now 5500+ people producing parts like me…and friends on Facebook have reached for help etc…really cool. Also purchased some polypropylene for laser cutting a different shield. If it works, the production will be up to a hundred a day rather than the 5-7, I can do now.

As of Monday 13th. : 20 Shields complete. just run out of orange PETG

 

I use a type of plastic called PETG which is food safe and easy to clean even if the shields are expected to be only single-use shields. To print reliably with my setup requires 2H and 49 minutes of printing for the top part and about 30 minutes for 2 bottom parts. I am still challenging the group for the need for the bottom part full stop. The design might change over the coming weeks.

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Cedar Gas Bottle

I am going nutz with this confinement thing….did this today…it is on wheels so can move easily around. The top is like a hat to have easy access to the bottle. It is also open on the back to slip the bottle into it without having to lift it very high. It is made with cedar wood which is nice to work and soft. Also smells nice when cutting which I had lots to do…

 

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New Project

Need a new project….thinking of doing something like this…It is a small stainless steel ball which appears to roll magically over sand and leaving nice patterns in the sand like to some Japanese Zen garden techniques. It is like a frame with a concealed robotic arm to drive a magnet moving the ball from below the sand.Japanese Sand Gardens - www.japaneseflowergardens.weebly.com

Will document over the next few weeks how I am progressing and what I am doing. Given it is computer controlled, I envisage to place a stone in the sand as well and make sure the ball can avoid it.

I obviously, there is a fair amount of internet browsing.

 

been doing some research and found this

https://www.geogebra.org/

and this

https://www.geogebra.org/m/uxc2G78E

need to start with some design in Fusion 360….

More research :

 

 

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Virus Simulator

With the home confinement imposed by the epidemic of the COVID-19 virus, I have been doing many projects that I had on hold for long. But also started new ones…

I saw a nice explanation of the impact of containment on the spread of the virus through the population and the potential impact on the health services and the level of mortality etc…

I thought that I could make some sort of display frame and build a simulator.

 

 

It is an electronics build but the actual coding of the simulator has been more of a challenge. In particular, creating a model that is simple enough so that the display is fluid and give an impression of true virus spreading etc…

This is interesting: try

The current system creates a random population of people (pixels) scattered across the 4 panels of 64 by 64 leds. The system picks randomly a level of containment (or none), and a level of agitation of the people moving across the display. These are blue pixels.

The computer creates an initial load of viruses across the population randomly. Between 5 and 10.

If the people with the virus get in contact with a pixel that is not sick, then there is contagion and the new person can infect others.

There is a lifetime for the disease and a mortality rate. If a person survives the virus, they are then immune but only for a certain amount of time. This creates waves of disease spreading across the screen.

At the top of the display, there is a graph that shows the number of people sick in the population. This clearly shows the curve of the evolution of the disease. Sometimes the peak is very sharp and sometimes the peak is only a small bump.

The system tracks the time it takes for all the sick people to either die or recover. Once there are no sick people anymore, the system re-starts a new simulation with new parameters picked randomly within boundaries.

The system also tracks the parameters that result in the longest disease time, the shortest disease time, the hight death ratio and the lowest death ratio.

In general, it takes between 1 to 6 minutes to run a single simulation. This one is about 3 minutes.

So far I have been able to observe that the longest disease is when there is a high level of containment. It also reduces the level of mortality but not as much as I expected. I tend to spread the disease over a longer time period.

As per the above, the shortest simulation was 31 seconds with a starting population of 1600, an initial virus load of 12 viruses, as disease life of 45 cycles and an immunity life of 70 cycles, with no containment at all. This resulted in a 54% death rate.

Clearly this is not a scientific experiment but just a toy display. I am very please with the simulation effect which gives a good sense of a disease spreading through a population.

It is made with a Raspberry Pi running a version of Linux. It is programmed in Python.

 

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End of Week 1- Coppa Corona

Time for me to check on my Corona-Coppa… started this a week and a half ago. It is a piece of pork shoulder which I have started to cure about 10days ago.

I salted the meat with Kosher salt for 1 day and 1 night in the fridge. I then washed thoroughly and dried it very well.

 

Then I took some black pepper and blitz to a coarse crush. Covered the meat on all sides and simply left in the open air within the fridge.

I am checking on the meat regularly and turning it from one side to the other to ensure that the moisture is not accumulating anywhere. It is important for the meat to stay dry to prevent any bad bacteria or mould to start growing on the meat.

So far so good.

I can allow myself a glass of red to get me waiting …..

 

I need to wait until the meat is 65% of whatever it was when I started…which could be 8 weeks…

I wish I had measured it at the start….

oh well….

will simply have to wait until I cannot resist the urge to tasting it…

 

 

I am also ready for a weekend treat with a nice milky-bread bun. It is a recipe from one of my nieces (Benedicte) with who I exchange recipes regularly!

Will document this recipe properly very soon…

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Same Place different soul

Since we are now on confinement and only allowed to go out alone and for essential reasons, I cannot go out on a ride with the motorbike beast.

So I converted my authorised sports activity to be a cycling ride to the same location but this time I was accompanied by Philippe who also passed away last year in February. He was a keen cyclist and the weather made us both happy this morning.

30KM cycling even with the electric bike is still a good exercise for the body and the soul.

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Oli-Cookies

In a continuation of the survival to virus series….here is an essential recipe for keeping the moral on a high.

It is an international recipe with Belgian Sugar, French  Butter and Pralin, Swiss Chocolate, English eggs, Canadian Flour…probably could stretch the baking powder to be Irish.

Expect sugar rush and nice smell in the house.

Undercook for chewiness. (15 minutes)

Crispy cook. (20 minutes)

 

Ingredients :

  • 150g of Butter (softened)
  • 150g Cassonade or light brown sugar. (beetroot based if possible)
  • 100g Caster sugar
  • 2 sachet of vanilla sugar or a 1.5 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 240g of plain flour
  • 1 sachet of levure Chimique or 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1 Tablet of dark chocolate 100g (with Salt) or add salt to the recipe
  • 100g of “Pralin”. ( hazelnut sugar-coated — see pictures)

How to Make:

  • Mix butter and all sugars with a mixer. Medium speed to get a soft, lightly coloured mixture.
  • Add the egg and mix again.
  • Add the flour and mix to a soft dough. (probably manually)
  • Break the chocolate in small pieces and add to the mixture with the Praline.
  • Roll the dough into a long sausage shape
  • Cut pieces to make cookies and put on a silicone sheet or baking tray.
  • Put into oven for 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees celsius. (Enjoy the smell in the house, think about your childhood etc….)
  • Cool down on a rack….eat with ice cream, and-or coffee.

 

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Just before confinement…

It is a bit more than a year that Guy left us. So much has happened since and the recent events are putting a lot of things in perspective.

Decided to take Guy on a motorbike ride with me today. He loved his motorbike and I know he was looking after me as I was getting back on the wild animal…with a 1.2L engine, 4 parallel carburettors, a V-Boost compressor, a shat-drive, 145 Horsepower, a loud puffing noise…

On many occasions, I have considered selling it. My brain says, I only do a few miles per year and it is costing me taxes, MOT and insurance, it is dangerous. My heart says… NEVER…. love it too much. The thrill and adrenaline always put a smile on my face. It reminds me of good times and brings them to the present.

As I come back home the prime minister just announced the full lockdown of the UK for the foreseeable future…I am glad I followed my instinct to do it “now” and not tomorrow.

Life is too short to wait for the right time just do it now.

 

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Stay Calm

 

Staying home does not feel like fighting an enemy or being brave as the invisible threat invades our hospitals.

Made this small incent burner from Japanese inspiration, trying to find the much needed inner calm that we all want at the moment.

It is a great time to reflect on what is important in life, how hard it is for others that we tend to forget in our rushed city lives. A few months of rationing will never compare to a lifetime of struggle to find food or fight wars and diseases.

 

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Survival skills #1 – Bread Making

A family fun thing, I was challenged by a brother in law to explain my bread recipe in a short video…

Here you go: Video link

 

Good health to all.

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Word Clock

Yes, that is right, not a world clock, a word clock.

It tells the time in English…

Made it all from scratch using online inspiration, in particular, the faceplate.

 

 

I saw this first online a long time ago and then at Selfridges more recently, it reminded me that I must build one for myself. Various versions of this are sold for an enormous amount of money (£1000-£2000), there is much satisfaction in building one yourself.

The code is a copy and pastes from a version I found online. The box is made from scratch using Fusion360 and my laser cutter. I made 4 different iterations before getting to the right dimensions and hole alignment etc…this is the latest. Not 100% perfect but nobody will notice except me. Will do one last version…it is my OCD.

It is made of a Trinket 5V controlling a matrix of NeoPixels and the time is kept accurate using a Real-time Clock communicating to the Trinket using I2C protocol. The time is kept in memory in case of power cut through a small button battery.

As usual, it took me forever to get this project done…I bought the part almost a year ago exactly!

When I started this blog in 2012, I already had some interest for “time” in general. (As per the tag line ) Why do some people manage to do more things than me with the same amount of time as me? How can somebody become a president within 50 years and others struggle to do their tax returns on-time?

Why is there no “pause button” (that would be super cool) for time? [some science why]

When I was still working, I used to tell my team:
“Enjoy today like if it was the good old days……. because it is!”

Recently, I feel that time is taking me through life quicker than I would want it to. Seeing time as words rather than a running set of numbers or a needle counting seconds gives me a bit more peace to enjoy “now” as a dear friend used to tell me.

 

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Just another Friday !

Friday

 

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Les Olives de Gilles et Chantal

At last Gilles et Chantal are over to visit our house and to discover London…last visit was probably when Jules was born so close to 20 years….

 

 

Because I cannot find “Lessive de soude” (a 30% Caustic Soda or Lye mixture). I am trying to use Baking Soda which is also a higher PH.

Lessive de soude at 30% (as you purchase the liquid bottles in France) is usually PH14.

Baking Soda of 3 Table Spoons in 500ml of water PH9.5 (I have measured this ). So I am using that to take the bitterness out in the initial soak.


 

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Bike fitting

A quick post to record how to set up a mountain bike for a good fit.

This link is a good explanation.


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Happy Valentine !

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Absolutely Love this – Boston Dynamics

When I saw the first digital camera from Canon, I thought it was the future and wanted one immediately. It was clunky, saving files on a micro floppy disk at resolutions that were sub-par, etc….but I knew it would one day become something like we have in our iPhones, always with us, amazingly powerful etc…

Today, I see the same future for the technologies from Boston Dynamics…I wish I could live in the future now but without having to get old…can’t wait.

See the video here.

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2020 is a Leap Year

In 2020 we have one extra day to do “something”….given the state of our planet I will use this extra day to try to improve my CO2 footprint.

In 2018 we got rid of the petrol car and went full electric with the Tesla. In 2019 we installed solar panels.

But when you look at the below graphic it seems that there is still a lot to do and clearly changing our diet to a more plant-based diet should be part of the master plan. (by the way I recommend watching this…)

As I was browsing the internet to better understand how we “capture” CO2, I realised that there is almost “NO” solution other than planting trees…..which seems such a low tech solution and inefficient in terms of returns.

To illustrate the lack of technology to absorb the CO2, it would take 1 cubic meter of porous basalt (ie a rock of 1m by 1m by 1m) a full year to only “absorb” 0.5KG of Co2 from the atmosphere.

We challenged our friends in our yearly “New Year Wishes”  video to do something about the environment.

To fulfil my commitment, I am currently researching some sort of carbon capture device that I could build at home similar to this thing. I would love to work with these people….they seem to be having a lot of fun.

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Solar Tracker

A simple Raspberry Pi tracker for Solar and Tesla Battery Here.

 

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