DuckCrossing

Long day trying to learn the pencil2d inter face.
It is very clever: the backgrounf is on a bitmap layer, the duck
images on another, and the camera pans on another layer. Getting it
all to work together is going to take practice!!

Little Film

😒😯 Trying to put little movies together. Harder than it looks:

New Tool

Getting familiar with pencil2d. It really is bare bones:
all the letters and the background were done in EpressionBlend.
But it is  - eventually - easy to use...

                          ...

Animation

Downloaded pencil 2d this afternoon - an open-source 2D animation tool - and up to

no good! Need to get this working...

H Money

Le Monde had a very iteresting piece about the recent spending
embarked on by western democracies to counter the effects of the
coronavirus. I t ended up hinting that mutualization ws in the books
for european countries. One jst needed to understand helicopter moneyès
relationship tp quantittive easing.

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2020/04/23/coronavirus-d-ou-viennent-tous-ces-milliards-des-plans-de-relance_6037543_4355770.html

I would very much like to translate a piece on the latter. Problem being,
it's a bit of a reach for me.The article:

https://www.valuewalk.com/2016/06/helicopter-money-works/

Maybe tomorrow, after a nigjt's rest!!

Shopping

Going bloggers, here! Haven't been shopping in a month...

We are working on a notion of what is essential that is very narrow.
And although it might be cool to order on-line for adults, shopping is a
heroic activity for children!!

It is possible to overlay one video on another, or a GIF on a video.
Need to work on the concept...

The empty Montreal background footage : https://youtu.be/TA5ol0M5iHM

                                                         *     *     *

Russian video editor Movavi has a really helpful video!

Strong

The Gas station hot-dogs, going strong!! 💖💖

Solved!

So maybe viruses are not that mysterious. The experts are telling us
already. When a virus infects a cell, it is the cell. When it is not in a warm
body, it is inert. There it is: the virus occurs in that moment in evolution when
life needs to replicate the virus and the host, together, to complexify. Voilà!

https://www.sudouest.fr/2020/03/08/que-sont-ils-d-ou-viennent-ils-pourquoi-essaient-ils-de-nous-tuer-que-sait-on-des-virus-exactement-7293350-4696.php

source: SudOuest.fr with AFP

Posted on 08/03/2020

translation: GoogleTransalte/doxa-louise

What are they, where do they come from, why are they trying to kill us: what exactly do we know about viruses?

We touch hundreds of millions of them  every day, but they hold many secrets. What do we know about viruses?

Most viruses catch our attention because they make us sick. But some have beneficial effects. 

They are as old as life itself, but scientists cannot say for sure if they are alive. Viruses are written into our DNA, shaping the human saga through mutation and resistance.

We touch hundreds of millions of them every day. As the new coronavirus epidemic is disrupting global markets and prompting health authorities to take unprecedented containment measures, a very basic question needs to be asked: what exactly is a virus? What are they made of? Where do they come from ? And, perhaps more importantly, why are they trying to kill us?

Unimaginable numbers 

The story of viruses is perhaps best told through mind-blowing figures. Curtis Suttle, a virologist at the University of British Columbia in Canada, says the physical properties of viruses make them difficult to understand.


Their small size, to start with. If each virus in a human body were the size of a pinhead, the average adult would reach 150 kilometers (95 miles) in height. And in a 2018 study, Suttle discovered that more than 800 million viruses are deposited on every square meter of Earth every day. Perhaps more telling, in a tablespoon of seawater, there are generally more viruses than people in Europe.

"We swallow over a billion viruses every time we go swimming. We are inundated with viruses"
Finally, to judge their excessive nature, a 2011 article published in Nature Microbiology estimated that there was more than a quintillion (i.e. a figure with 30 zero) of viruses on Earth. Put them all end to end and they would stretch for 100 million light years, or 1,000 times the width of the Milky Way.

Alive or inert?

According to Teri Shors, professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and author of several books on the subject, viruses are better thought of as "molecular packages". "These packages must be small enough to fit inside a cell to cause infection."

Essentially chains of genetic material contained by a few protein molecules, viruses occupy a strange middle ground between the living and the inert. Since they have no cells and do not produce energy through respiration - a key definition of living organisms - many scientists do not consider them to be living. However, as soon as they infest their host, viruses enter into activity in a way rarely seen in nature, hacking cells with new genetic instructions to replicate at breakneck speed.

For Ed Rybicki, virologist at the University of Cape Town, viruses are "as much a concept as a thing". "I consider viruses to be alive because when they are in a cell, they ARE the cell." Teri Shors describes viruses as "metabolically inactive". "Unless they can get into a hot body and get inside a cell, viruses are inert."

But once the virus infects its host, "the whole cellular machinery is entirely devoted to the production of viral descendants," remarks Curtis Suttle. "It's the living virus".

Where do they come from ?

Although their beginnings are uncertain, viruses have left their mark on most of life on Earth, including humans. About eight percent of the human genome is of viral origin - that is, the remains of old viruses that infected us, developing tolerance at the species level.

But their story begins long before that of humans. "We think the viruses were there at the very beginning," said Curtis Suttle.

"Whatever primordial soup that gave birth to cell life, it probably gave birth to viral life at the same time"

Are all viruses bad?

Most viruses catch our attention because they make us sick. In recent years, outbreaks of viral infectious diseases have become widespread, from the current epidemic of coronavirus to that of SARS in the early 2000s to Ebola in West and Central Africa.

But there are also virtuous viruses. "Almost all viruses are actually harmless to humans," said Rybicki. Indeed, many viruses are beneficial to human health, infecting other organisms that would otherwise harm us.

Another advantage: the absorption of carbon from oceanic algae, which helps purify the air we breathe, is greatly accelerated by viruses.

And they also have health apps. In addition to vaccines derived from weakened or killed viruses, a new area of ​​treatment, virotherapy, is developing new ways to treat chronic diseases such as cancer. "These viruses replicate in cancer cells but not in healthy cells, so this treatment is not as toxic as conventional cancer therapies," said Teri Shors.

For Rybicki, who has spent most of his professional life trying to unlock their secrets, the most remarkable thing about viruses is the number of mysteries they still hold. "They are the most diverse organisms on our planet (...) and we don't know anything about them yet." The recent discovery of giant viruses shows that they are still capable of surprising us.

                                                                   *     *     *
It would be nice to have some closure on this:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11462934/coronavirus-wuhan-lab-russia-microbiologist-claims/

Tricky

Learning to make 3-D objects. It's a little tricky:

The black was a 2-D object I downloaded from the Web (flaticon). I traced and extruded
the pieces to make the purple...

A custom video can be created using the history feature.

Plateau

Not clear whether this is illusory, or is truly happening,
but the seven-day running average of global deaths -as
reported by the WHO - is levelling.

The epidemic is everywhere but we might still see flare-ups...

source: Liberation

Less than Zero

Did you say below zero!?

I was - to say the least - surprised to see oil trading at less than zero $US
per barrel yesterday. There is an explanation: reserves are full; it is a
physical problem.

Other development; the President announced that the US might use this
opportunity to replenish american strategic reserves!!

https://www.ledevoir.com/economie/577356/le-brut-americain-s-effondre-mine-par-la-chute-de-la-demande-et-la-saturation-des-reserves

Royal BD

There is a royal birthday today. Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II
turns an awesome 94. Lockdown birthdays are so annoying.

Surmortalité

The numbers are in for France, the Covid is responsiblefor
heightened mortality of 5% for men and 1% for women compared
to the years 2018 and 2019. (There was a pneumonia epidemic in 2018).

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2020/04/10/coronavirus-la-surmortalite-en-france-par-age-sexe-et-departement_6036275_4355770.html

Adapting

Nasty squabble about operating Canada's Parliament during the pandemic
currently under way. the current government has already got powers
over spending transferred to them to September. (We have  minority government).
We need to go from there.

MPs need to get that, if/ when they are in Ottawa, there is no going home
for a while.

Different Parliaments in other countries are adapting. With respect to Canada,
I like the idea that:

1 - Members of Parliament can ask questions on behalf of other MPs.
(Presumably, those staying at home for a pre-defined period). MPs
are actors, and I have every confidence in them to do this.

2 - When votes do occur, everybody votes ie some in person, some remotely.
Because it is important to know how one's MP stands on various issues.

3 - Just because someone is in Ottawa doesn't mean they have to be present
for the work of various committees. Some things just get done remotely. Period.

I used to watch Parliament on community TV when I lived in Ottawa. The coverage
is very good!!

Picture This

Viruses are too small to be actually photographed, but their
shape can be inferred from data about them. Those perfect sphere animations
had me thinking they had been modified by humans because there were
asymmetrical protrusions on them, which would unbalance them. In fact,
viruses are more like chocolate-covered peanuts, all the same but each uniquely
disformed... Stuff happens at transcription!? So that arguments that the
mutations we do find might well be natural make sense!?

*     *     *

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microscopie_électronique_en_transmission

A Tad

As of today, people flyimg, or taking the train or even public

transit in Canada are advised to wear a face mask. Had a go

at making one from the US CDC instructions.

It is not uncomfortable, because one adjusts the width from the 

inside. Just a tad suffocating 😒

https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-make-a-cloth-face-mask/

                                             *     *     *
source: Liberation, CheckNews

author: Florian Gouthière April 20, 2020 at 3:13 p.m.

translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

Covid-19: how is it that the rate of reproduction of the disease is decreasing?

Edouard Philippe announced at a press conference that the R-zero was now close to 0.6. That is, ten patients infect only six new people.

Hello,

Your question follows on from statements made by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Sunday  during his press conference  : “We mentioned this somewhat technical, but absolutely essential concept, which is called R 0  […]: the number of people that a patient infects; the transmission of the disease from one patient to how many other patients. If we do nothing, because this disease is fairly contagious, we observe a rate of the order of 3 to 4 […]. To reduce the epidemic, the R 0 […] must be equal to or less than 1. This is how we are able to reduce the circulation of the virus […] and to extinguish the epidemic gradually. Thanks to containment,  epidemiologists believe that we have succeeded in getting this R0 [to a value close to] 0.6. In other words, ten patients only infect  six new people. ”

The basic reproduction rate of a disease is a central concept in epidemiology. It makes it possible to characterize the epidemic potential of a disease. To estimate this rate precisely, many factors can be taken into account. However, in its simplest version, the calculation depends on three essential parameters.

First factor: the period during which the disease is contagious (usually expressed in days).

Second factor: the number of different people with whom we interact during a given period (generally expressed in “number of contacts per day”).

The last factor is that of the probability of transmission, in other words the ease with which contamination can occur during each “contact”. This variable can be influenced by different protective measures (hand washing, wearing a mask, etc.).

By multiplying the first two factors, we obtain the number of contacts potentially exposed during the contagious period. Multiplying by the last factor provides an estimate of the number of people that an infected individual is likely to infect. In other words: our rate of reproduction of the disease.

If one patient can infect more than one other, the disease spreads quickly. In the case of an R 0 of 2, an individual will contaminate two, each of thee will contaminate two others, who will themselves contaminate two others… 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32: not only does the disease spreads, but it spreads quickly.
When we speak of R 0 less than 1, this means that if we take a large number of infected people, we see that they have succeeded in infecting only a smaller number of individuals. If these new patients also contaminate an even smaller number of patients… the epidemic ends by itself.

Containment measures have a direct influence on the second factor mentioned above: the number of people with whom we interact during a given period. The decrease in our daily contact has, mathematically, resulted in a decrease in the number of people newly infected daily. The adoption of “barrier” measures, including more stringent hygiene measures, also affect the third factor in the equation.

The decrease in R 0 reflects a change in the dynamics of the epidemic. The infectious properties of the virus have not changed: if social interactions increase and “barrier” measures are less followed, the number of new daily cases starts to rise again.

The Prime Minister, during his press conference, set the objective that despite the deconfinement "the R 0 must remain equal to or less than 1" , explaining that the main lever for action was "prevention" , in other words our respect for barrier gestures.

When a part of the population is immunized against an infection (either by a previous exposure which generated an immune memory, or following a vaccination), the calculation of the reproduction rate of the disease is slightly modified . In fact, part of our social interactions is done with protected people, which mechanically reduces the spread of the pathogen. Epidemiologists speak of the "effective reproduction rate" of the disease. In the case of Covid-19, the number of months during which immunity remains acquired is unknown , and no vaccine has yet been found.

Florian Gouthière

7:30 am

First thing Sunday Morning: a fire...

8:45 It"s a carpet manufacturer; there were explosions. there is a lot

of really black smoke, but fire trucks are arriving to lend a hand...

https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2020/04/19/important-incendie-a-saint-jean-sur-richelieu

                                                           *     *     *

Different kinds of fires need to be dealt with differently.
For example, putting water on a petroleum products fire will
only make it worse. Can't help but wonder; this fire is awfully
persistent!!

For an extreme example, an oil well fire is extinguished by first
'blowing out the candle' ie removing the heat, and then capping the
well...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_well_fire

Coding a virus

Below, a covid-19 animation showing the capside
(envelope).

Interestingly, the capside to a virus has to use the same elements repeatedly.
If not, the code would always take more room than the envelope.

From the German-language Wikipedia:

As early as the 1950s, Francis Crick and James Watson assumed that the packaging of the nucleic acid of viruses had to consist of many identical subunits and that these were necessarily arranged symmetrically. ^[1] This results from the consideration that the information on a nucleic acid can never be sufficient to encode a single large protein which completely surrounds this nucleic acid. The coding nucleic acid would arithmetically always take up a larger volume than the protein it encodes. The genetic information must therefore be used several times by many copies of identical proteins.



Coronavirus from Fusion Medical Animation on Vimeo.

...

The individual subunits from which a capsomer can in turn be constructed are sometimes referred to as protomers .

With a given genome sequence of a virus, those proteins which form the capsomer can be recognized very easily, since they contain a high concentration of positively charged or basic amino acids ( arginine , lysine , histidine ) in certain sections . These basic protein domains of the capsid proteins (core proteins) are necessary for non- covalent binding to the negatively charged viral nucleic acid which is to be packaged.

...

• In the case of non-enveloped viruses, the capsid forms the surface of a virion. As a result, it is directly exposed to attack by the immune system and acts as an antigen . In the case of viruses, the surfaces often change epitope and thereby escape the host's immune system, which is however only possible to a very limited extent in the case of naked capsids, since numerous changes in the capsid proteins can also lead to loss of stability or impairment of self-assembly . Uncovered viruses are therefore generally less variable in surface epitopes than enveloped ones.
• Since regularly arranged proteins are a much stronger antigen than irregularly arranged ones, capsids are particularly suitable as a material for vaccinations . ^[10]
• The capsid of non-enveloped viruses also mediates binding to receptors in the target cell in order to initiate entry into the cell. With some enveloped DNA viruses, a special transport of the capsid to the nuclear pores ensures that the virus genome penetrates into the cell nucleus.
• Due to the ability of capsids to serve as a transport vehicle for nucleic acid in cells , capsids produced in vitro , so-called virus-like particles (VLPs), are of particular interest in genetic engineering and gene therapy .

Over Time

You know what might well be the most dangerous, least
socially-distanced place of all ? An ordinary ICU unit. Urine
from one patient, sweat from another, the staff protective equipement
collects it all over the time of the shift, and spreads it around.

Fun is Fun

We are hearing a great deal, these days, about the
rate at which things double. For those who might want
to calculate such things, here is a review of the mathematics
involved.

Let us say that, for every unit 1, I can expect a 25% increase.
The number of times at which this happens - n - determines
the global outcome. To tun 1 into 2, what should the value of n
be. That is our problem. And to solve it, we will need to use logarithms.

Indeed, we have two candidates, the natural logarithm using e
as a base, and the base 10 logarithm. The result, in both cases,
will be the same.

Math is Fun is one of my go-to sites. They explain logarithms
as follows:

And that is the heart of the matter. One needs to divide by
a value with an exponent, and the only way to do that is to
switch to two values that express exponents with respect to
the same base number.

Converting to logs is complicated, and the computer does it best.
Below, my Windows 10 calculator does the job.

https://www.mathsisfun.com/money/compound-interest.html

Hard Day

Hard day of R&D:

All Dressed

 https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/04/15/en-californie-la-distanciation-sociale-a-fait-la-difference-face-au-coronavirus     

source: Agence France Presse

Wednesday, April 15, 2020 00:55 in le Journal de Montreal

translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

Social distancing in California tipped the scales against the coronavirus

California, the most populous state in the United States, was also the first in the country to impose strict containment measures, a successful strategy to limit the spread of the coronavirus and prevent overcrowding in hospitals and the resulting mass deaths.

"If we look at the data, it is clear that rapid measurements make the difference in flattening the curve " of hospitalizations linked to COVID-19, explains to AFP Professor Anne Rimoin, epidemiologist and public health specialist at the university UCLA in Los Angeles.

"California has really been at the forefront of regulations to keep people at home, promote social distancing, cancel concerts and large gatherings, and even encourage people to cover their faces. All of this put together, it makes quite a difference, ”adds Ms. Rimoin.

It was in California that at the end of February the very first American cases of "community transmission" were reported, that is to say locally among the population, and not via people who had traveled in areas then infected outside the country.

Governor Gavin Newsom imposed confinement on 40 million Californians as of March 19, when the state only officially registered a large thousand cases and 19 deaths. But millions of people in the San Francisco area, the worst hit by the Covid-19 at the time, had already been ordered to stay at home three days earlier.

On that same day, New York had already seen more than 5,000 cases. Local authorities waited until the next day to take measures to limit movement of the population.

While the pandemic exploded in New York, with more than 10,000 deaths and emergency services and morgues overwhelmed, the situation remained contained in California: 758 deaths for just over 23,000 cases identified.

Even if the density of population and the extreme urbanization of New York can partly explain this alarming result, for Anne Rimoin the rapid reaction of the Californian authorities was indeed the determining factor.

"Once the virus begins to spread, it spreads exponentially, so acting quickly to keep people from crowds is the best thing to do," said the Ebola specialist.

75% and five months

If the number of cases doubles every three or four days, as was the case with COVID-19 at the start, "then by ordering confinement a week earlier, you will prevent the epidemic from quadrupling", notes expert Erin Mordecai in infectious diseases at Stanford University in California.

The researcher and her team have developed a mathematical model to measure the effectiveness of confinement in relation to COVID-19 cases.

"One thing the model shows is that the speed with which the measures are implemented is more important than their intensity," she told AFP.

It turns out that Californians also seem to have respected the instructions limiting travel to "essential activities" and the rules of social distancing. According to Erin Mordecai's calculations, they have on average reduced their social interactions by 75% for almost a month.

How long should it last? Patience: in Santa Clara County, which is home to Silicon Valley, containment should remain in place "at least five months for the epidemic to stop completely," said Mordecai. "And again, we would remain vulnerable" if a new patient arrived, she said.

For experts as for Governor Newsom, who outlined the conditions for a return to normal on Tuesday, social distancing can only be eased once we have the means to test all people with symptoms of COVID- 19, in order to be able to isolate them.

"Otherwise, we will lose all the enormous progress we have made so far, at the cost of enormous sacrifices," warns Professor Rimoin.

"If we just reopen everything, the virus will still be there and we will find ourselves at the starting point," adds the epidemiologist, who insists on putting "public health before the economy".
"And everywhere in the world, it should be prohibited to leave your home without covering your face!", she urges.
        

                                                            *     *     *


An interesting development on the shopping front:
St-Jean-sur-Richelieu now has a Buylocal platform,
with a number of businesses listed. Could I perhaps
order a pair of runners and have them delivered 'in real
time' like pizza!?

http://commandezlocal.ca/

                                                           *     *     *

Working from home takes it, in Germany

source: Der Spiegel

Easter 2020

Man up and tell us!

There is a lot of talk in British and Australian media about the
possible origins of the coronavirus, involving an accident
in a Wuhan laboratory studying coronavirus where a worker got
splattered by bat blood, and was then isolated 14 days.

...Incidentally, this research was funded by the US Department of Health!?

Himalayas View

I need a splash page, sorta DOXA-LOUISE presents...

I also would like to generate more than one random setting in a film,
for variety. Will be working with Timer code today...

Exciting

This is a marvellous thing: for the first time in 30 years,
it is possible to see the Himalayas from inland India.

Blue Bird is very excited!!

This is my next animation project:

*     *     *

Lyse and friend, at home...

❤❤

Definitive

The definitive version of the bunny movie:




If using the code from yesterday, on Eclipse, one should
make sure to create an image file as a source folder. 😄

The Game

It's the law of the jungle: Bunny gets it right or
it goes to Penguin.

I made the diameter a little tight, so that it is possible to always
win with a little attention (False clicks give it to Penguin).

Wait till we get a timer on it...

Playing for 10, and gotcha there, Penguin!!

The Eggs image is 80 x 64 pixels. I have put an 18 pixel radius
on the target circle that gives Bunny the point...

Full Bunny

Below, the full-length version of the Bunny Challenge announcement.
Still learning how to edit, I know. But fun!!

The Bunny Challenge

Javafx Bloom Effect:

Javafx Glow Effect:

#Who_Said_It

NO 1-

       N0 2 -

"I live in Canada; I go to bed with a

freaking scarf and mittens..."

                                                                     *     *     *

Got the promised rebate on my electricity bill. This was most welcome.
I understand the money is coming from an overly fat contingency fund. It
will help me in this social contingency. Thank You.

One doesn't really notice it but, in normal times, one "shops' one's
purchases between stores to take advantage of bargains. Currently, we are
more forced into one-stop shopping and costs are higher overall...

                                                                   *     *     *

Geolocation can be usedfor non-compliance:

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/04/03/pas-de-geolocalisation-a-court-terme-dit-francois-legault

Getting Serious

From Liberation:

From the Top

This epidemic caanot be stopped by curative measures, but
needs to be stopped from the source, by protecting by-standers
to those who are ill. In Liberation:

https://www.liberation.fr/debats/2020/04/02/medecin-generaliste-je-suis-desarmee-face-aux-patients-en-detresse_1783953

Dancing

The Dancing Wabbit is coming along: code now allows the user to
make the Wabbit dance using the L key to the right and the K key to the left.
One gets the yellow right-facing Wabbit by default, and needs to hold
the S key down to get the left-facing orange one. Short film, below:

There is also a version where right and left facing alternate with A for right
and S for left.

#Is_It_Over?

From the Telegraph, UK

Happy April 1!

                                                       *     *     *

It's in Le figaro: young people who end up in hospital on covid-19
are often overweight or obese, everywhere!

https://www.lefigaro.fr/sciences/coronavirus-l-obesite-facteur-de-risque-majeur-chez-les-jeunes-20200401

                                                     *     *     *

From Premier Legault's daily briefing:

source: La Presse