vivweb01blog

  A debate on this subject between scientists in the SETI field has been simmering in the background ever since the first attempt was made to send a ‘letter to the cosmos’ via the Arrecibo message in 1974. The debate recently resurfaced in response to NASA’s proposal to rejuvenate the project by setting up a ' Beacon in the Galaxy '. At first sight, there might appear to be good reasons to be wary of advertising our presence and credentials as intelligent life forms – however friendly we might think a visiting alien species might be. The key factors which tend to undermine the argument against the proposal, however, are – space and time.  A detailed look at the implications of the sheer vastness of   both of these dimensions has certainly convinced me that the likelihood of our own species ever encountering or even receiving communications from an alien species is very low. You can see why in my recent blog entitled ‘ Are we Alone in the Universe ’. Even if any of...

 W e in the UK are currently experiencing an attack on our personal financial resources, the like of which we have not seen since the financial meltdown of 2008-9.  The 'UK cost of living crisis' as it has been called has been a long time in the making. What has caused it ? The answer is complex, but amounts to a 'perfect storm' of coincident events. The combined effects of 10 years of artificially-induced low interest rates and excessive quantitative easing by central banks conspired to prevent 'normal' levels of inflation throughout the 2010s. This unprecedented (and in retrospect somewhat foolhardy) interference with the financial system effectively stored up inflationary pressure, and this was exacerbated by the economic effects of the Covid pandemic.  The worldwide economic 'recovery' resulting from the lifting of Covid restrictions  a nd the recent Ukraine conflict have  triggered a rapid increase in demand resulting in a surge in the world price o...

  C hina seems to have got itself into a ‘spot of bother’ with Covid  recently, to put it mildly… Unlike the USA and most of Europe, where deaths and hospitalisations in most countries are now on the wane, China is currently in the thick of it, and has experienced a major resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 which has spread from an initial ‘hot spot' in Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland. The epidemic appears to be spreading rapidly across China, despite herculean efforts by the authorities there; early control measures included full lockdowns of large areas and even big industrial hubs such as Shenzen. Shanghai itself has been under full lockdown for the last 2 months, and is only now beginning to see a significant fall in case numbers - this is the major industrial hub of south China and its loss of productivity is likely already to have had serious consequences for China's economy. Why has this happened ? We need to look in detail at the history of SARS-CoV-2 to provide an explanat...

T here has been much talk recently in the media of possible military escalation in Europe  involving limited nuclear exchanges, much of it frankly quite terrifying for many of us. Having lived through the first  cold war of the 1970s and 80s myself, I’m acutely aware that once the nuclear ‘genie’ was out of the bottle, it would be virtually impossible to stop escalation to a strategic level and prevent the resulting armageddon. There is really no prospect of a limited  nuclear exchange - it's literally all or nothing. Having managed to survive the nuclear age this far, we cannot, and must not, allow the miscalculations of a single deranged individual to plunge a world of 8 billion inhabitants into a nuclear holocaust. As you'll see from a recent blog I posted, the likelihood of us finding anywhere else habitable in the solar system or beyond is basically zilch, so we have but one chance for survival - planet Earth. The West has already applied sweeping sanctions to Rus...

This move by HM Government was predictable in the current political climate, and well publicised in advance. It will be welcomed by some, and inspire dread in others, given that it puts UK very much 'out on a limb' compared to other nations (and a fragile limb at that, given the intensity of recent and future storms). The rationale behind the move draws extensively on a reliance that the warmer weather and the application of 'personal responsibility' will keep the virus in check. I fear this may prove to be misguided on both counts.... The steady waning of immunity over time we have seen with this particular coronavirus will necessitate frequent boosting to keep the virus at bay, and not just for the elderly.  It is not surprising, given our experience over the years with the 4 'endemic' coronaviruses responsible for common cold infections.  None of our vaccines prevent infection, although they do raise the threshold for infection somewhat. The need to main...

  Hi All. I’m just posting a quick link to my website in the continued absence of any Google index entries (pretty underwhelming after 11 months when all the other major sites indexed it within 3 months of going live !).  You can access pages on a range of topics including: UK Freeview , GetiPlayer , Android apps and devices, e-Readers , HUDLtablets and Covid 19 .  There is also a download section on the homepage where you can help yourself to a range of useful guides and reviews which I've authored. These are based on my own practical experience with various products and procedures.  There’s even a detailed guide on how to set up and manage your own Google site if you’re so minded. I’m planning to keep the site and blog items regularly updated – if there’s anything you would like posted, just contact me via the Contacts page Hope this is useful – take a look at the site when you have a minute and see what’s on offer…. Viv

  I’m posting an update on progress with our Covid19 vaccines in the hope that it will promote some discussion on where we should go in future. I will also attempt to update this blog and the website on future developments with vaccines and on the course of the pandemic generally. You can see some more detailed proposals on the website at https://sites.google.com/view/vivweb01/covid19 . SARS-CoV-2 is the virus which causes Covid 19 symptoms. Since Covid19 is a notifiable, and still potentially fatal, disease SARS-Cov-2 variants of concern (VOCs) have been a ‘hot’ pandemic news item since the start of the pandemic, when it was realised that the virus was evolving into different and potentially more dangerous forms. Identifying and tracking new variants has been one of the principal concerns of governments in the developed world, and continues to be a key element in managing Covid19. Why are these new varian ts important ? – you can see a more detailed answer to this questio...