Ian Kenway @iankenway@social.cleverlibre.org

Thousands of #UK #language #students left in limbo as #Brexit hits #travel plans | Brexit | The Guardian

The British are bad enough at learning foreign #languages as it is.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/feb/23/thousands-uk-language-students-limbo-brexit-hits-travel-plans

#Politics #Erasmus

Today's #Covid19Cymru headlines:
Cases show a slight rise today, but it's just one day, so it's dangerous to read too much into that. R seems to be closing in on 1, and that's a concern. Deaths down.

It's another day when I look at the figures and feel that we're not in as comfortable position as we were just a few weeks ago. Tuesday normally reports a low number of cases, so today's 317, though it sounds low, is actually an increase on last week.
1/4

Last Tuesday was unusually low, and noise happens, but I've had more days lately when I've been concerned, and fewer when I've been confident we're going the right way.
7-day average: 362 - UP 7

The positivity is also a slight concern. Tuesday's positivity is normally relatively high, though. Today's 8.6% is the highest for a week; last Tuesday was 8.7%. Again, only the slightest of falls.
2/4

R (estimate 1 - publication date data): 0.96 - UP 0.04
R (estimate 2 - sample date data): 0.95 - UNCHANGED

Estimate 1 seems now to be confirming what I've seen in estimate 2 now for a few days. R is indeed edging up towards 1.

There were 4 deaths. Tuesday's figures represent reporting on Sunday so are normally low. But still, this is the lowest daily figure (excluding days with known data issues) since 3rd November.
7-day average: 15.0 - DOWN 0.57
3/4

#Ceredigion has 3 new cases, sharing top spot with Bridgend and Monmouthshire. The latter two, however, push Ceredigion into third place, taking first and second place respectively, due to better per capita figures.
7-day average: 3.14 - UNCHANGED

Ceredigion's cases are:
1: Aberystwyth North
1: Rheidol, Ystwyth & Caron
1: Beulah, Troed-yr-Aur & Llandysul
https://portalcovidcymru.co.uk/map.html
4/4

@bob the Australians got themselves into a pickle by becoming dependent on FB in the first place for not just "tabloid" news but important public sector info like weather alerts, road safety announcements - there is no reason why these can't be published on the govts independent websites and different social media (even the UK makes a far better job of this, although the public sector overuses Twitter for short form time sensitive info compared to longer press releases)

@freemo

You can see a the shadows of various buildings at different points, moving *counterclockwise* across the screen. Shadows move in a clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere.

This, by the way, is how we came up with "clockwise" - shadows moving in that direction meant that sundials have to be laid out in that direction, and the design of clocks derived from that of sundials.

@datatitian

In opposite to large oligopolies, we at Tutanota are committed to fair and transparent pricing.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/02/att-raised-phone-prices-153-as-service-got-steadily-worse-report-finds/

That's why the basic Free account will remain free forever. And if you need more features, just check our pricing page - at the bottom there is a pricing calculator which lets you easily calculate the best price for your needs: https://tutanota.com/pricing/

Hearths on fire: #UK residents incensed by #pollution from #WoodBurners | #AirPollution | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/20/hearths-on-fire-uk-residents-incensed-by-pollution-from-wood-burners

#Environment

Tobacco giant bets £1bn on influencers to boost 'more lung-friendly' sales - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/feb/20/tobacco-giant-bets-1bn-on-social-media-influencers-to-boost-lung-friendlier-sales confirms that tobacco companies are evil, and "influencers" are shallow, gullible fools

Rick Perry says Texans will endure blackouts 'to keep the government out of their business' - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/18/rick-perry-texans-endure-blackouts-keep-government-out "willingly endure longer periods of sub-freezing temperatures if it stymied Democrats’ energy policy and efforts to combat climate change." idiot