Today was D Day – and there were plenty of landings to organise. I had a series of deliveries expected this week, but somehow they all arrived early – all of them this morning. My ginger drinks arrived, along with some really good quality flour. And the decking, and the hard drive enclosure (thanks to Andy for finding a company that had some in stock).
I had to move the car to make sure there was enough room for the wood delivery – so I decided I would take the opportunity to drive a few minutes to charge the battery. It was nice just to do a tour of the block.
The new excess deaths data was made available today. I know a lot of people wonder if we can trust the numbers because they seem to keep changing. The excess deaths is the number that the scientists think is most representative of the harm caused by the pandemic.
Oddly enough the excess death number is likely to go down later in the year if we don’t have a second wave. The reason is that COVID is, in part, moving deaths from later in the year to earlier. So we expect there may be a lower number of deaths than expected once the first wave has passed. It will be a year before we see the numbers settle.
The daily reporting is really about giving an impression of where we are, it is not the data the scientists are using, it is prepared to help us understand whether we are doing the right thing.
Talking of doing the right thing I was a bit annoyed by the Uber advert today. This was followed by Steve posting a related video. these adverts hoping that when you see them you will hear “look at how amazing we are in supporting the NHS” but actually could be accused of using COVID to try to sell you a product.
I used to live in a flat above a local post office – and the owner explained to me that he had between four and six items he didn’t make any money on (things like tea, sugar, bread) because those were the items people compared prices on. It was a loss leader – do something that costs in order to make more money.
When you see the adverts just ask yourself, is the NHS support a loss leader to get your business.
I see Starship Troopers 3 was on tonight. I still remember watching the first film in the series in a cinema. People were laughing and cheering at the tongue in cheek comedy. Humans were fighting evil bugs and splatting them. As the film progressed the uniforms changed and it became obvious that the humans were modeled on the Nazi regime. The torture of bugs that they had cheered a few minutes previously was actually a representation of concentration camps. The film was about how propaganda could influence people.
I have decided to try to keep a note of the companies selling their products on the back of their wonderful good deeds. It will be interesting to see if they are still doing it in 6 months.