Health News: “Navigating The Coronavirus” – Wall Street Journal (April 17)

From the Wall Street Journal (April 17, 2020):

As the coronavirus pandemic upends work, travel and home life, the rules are shifting for what people can and can’t do in their daily lives. The WSJ is continuously updating advice and information on how to stay safe, healthy and connected, and how to help others.

WSJ Special Section 4.17.20 - Navigating the Coronavirus-

Aid to a Friend Caring for a Coronavirus Patient

“Because I am organized in my job and day-to-day life, I took on my husband’s care thinking I would have it all quickly in hand. But things didn’t turn out that way,” writes Leslie Yazel, whose husband came down with coronavirus-related pneumonia. Here, she offers what she learned about the best ways to help those who are caring for someone with coronavirus.

Get a Good Night’s Sleep

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Exercise Podcast: Home Rowing Machine Maker “Hydrow” CEO Bruce Smith

The Entrepreneurs Monocle 24 PodcastAs gyms are closed and many of us are stuck at home, it’s an opportune time for home fitness platforms. We speak to Bruce Smith, founder of Hydrow, while Jason de Savary of London’s Core Collective talks about the gym’s new CCTV platform.

Bruce SmithCEO & Founder

Bruce Smith CEO of HydrowLife-long entrepreneur and rower, Head of the Charles winner, coached the US Lightweight Eight to a Bronze medal at the 2015 World Rowing Championships and former Executive Director of Community Rowing – Boston.

Every aspect of Hydrow is engineered by rowing experts to elevate your experience. From computer-controlled resistance to revolutionary Live Outdoor Reality™ technology, Hydrow delivers an effective and enjoyable workout that brings the river home to you.

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Covid-19 Podcast: Testing Lab Challenges, WHO Funding & Immune System Issues (Nature.com)

nature-podcastsBenjamin Thompson, Noah Baker, and Amy Maxmen discuss Trump withholding funds from the WHO, and how COVID-19 kills. We also hear about controlling misinformation while communicating risk.

In this episode:

01:15 Understanding bottlenecks

After listening to last week’s episode of Coronapod, researchers in the USA were inspired to start collecting data about the challenges facing labs carrying out testing. After more than 4,000 responses to their online survey, we discuss their goals.

03:08 A hole in the WHO’s funding

US President Donald Trump has announced plans to withhold funding for the WHO, pending a review of the organization’s handling of the pandemic. We discuss the decision and ask what it means for the global response to COVID-19.

News: Nature‘s rolling coronavirus news blog

05:55 Responding to the immune system

We investigate the role of the immune system in the death of COVID-19 patients and what this could mean for treatments. Could some therapeutics actually be undermining the body’s ability to fight the virus?

News: How does COVID-19 kill? Uncertainty is hampering doctors’ ability to choose treatments

13:54 One good thing this week

Our hosts pick out things that have made them smile in the last 7 days, including seasonal memories from Sierra Leone, a trip to the supermarket, and the 99-year old war veteran who has raised millions for charity.

BBC News: Coronavirus: Capt Tom Moore’s NHS fundraiser hits £17m

18:33 Communicating complex data

Clearly communicating risks and evidence is key for governments and other organisations if they are to best inform the public during the pandemic. But what is the best way to do it? We hear the methods that communications experts and behavioural scientists recommend to keep the public informed, and keep misinformation at bay.

Travel & The Pandemic: “Lockdown // Edinburgh” In Scotland (April 2020)

Filmed and Directed by: Carsan Choong

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected many people’s lives all over the world. This short film is focusing solely on Edinburgh, showcasing the situation and how the daily lives in the city have been affected. Inclusion of some positivity and optimism too in this short film.

My own old stock footage as well as some aerial footage from third-party suppliers were used. New current footage were shot without flouting the lockdown rules, only done so in conjunction with essential travel.

Music: Nicholas Britell – End Credits Suite (Moonlight – OST)

Edinburgh is Scotland’s compact, hilly capital. It has a medieval Old Town and elegant Georgian New Town with gardens and neoclassical buildings. Looming over the city is Edinburgh Castle, home to Scotland’s crown jewels and the Stone of Destiny, used in the coronation of Scottish rulers. Arthur’s Seat is an imposing peak in Holyrood Park with sweeping views, and Calton Hill is topped with monuments and memorials.

1950’s Artwork: English Painter John Minton’s “Lavish” Food Book Covers

From Apollo Magazine article (April 13, 2020):

John Minton Illustration for French Cooking by Eizabeth DavidMinton had gone on to produce a series of spectacularly colourful oil paintings of Corsica on his return to London, exhibiting them at the Lefevre Gallery in 1949. Many of them depicted fruit and fish and other ingredients for Mediterranean cuisine, and so confirmed Minton as the obvious choice for the David commission. 

David delightedly recalled that: ‘In the shop windows [Minton’s] brilliant blue Mediterranean bay, his tables spread with white cloths and bright fruit, bowls of pasta and rice, a lobster, pitchers and jugs and bottles of wine, could be seen far down the street.’

Variations on these two images were used for the double-page spread on which the title appeared in David’s second book, French Country Cooking (1951), while the wrap-around image on the dust jacket depicted the interior of a well-stocked kitchen, many of its utensils borrowed from the author to ensure accurate representation.

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Francis John Minton (25 December 1917 – 20 January 1957) was an English painter, illustrator, stage designer and teacher. After studying in France, he became a teacher in London, and at the same time maintained a consistently large output of works. In addition to landscapes, portraits and other paintings, some of them on an unusually large scale, he built up a reputation as an illustrator of books.

In the mid-1950s, Minton found himself out of sympathy with the abstract trend that was then becoming fashionable, and felt increasingly sidelined. He suffered psychological problems, self-medicated with alcohol, and in 1957 died by suicide.

From Wikipedia

Art History: “Toulouse-Lautrec And The Stars Of Paris” (MFA, Boston Video)

Curator Helen Burnham, Pamela and Peter Voss Curator of Prints and Drawings, introduces us to the celebrities of 19th-century Paris made famous by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and his contemporaries. The exhibition features the rich holdings of the MFA and its organizing partner, the Boston Public Library.

New Hospitality Books: “Amerifine – Hotels: Icons Of American Luxury (2020)

The fifty independently owned and operated hotels in this book make up the best of Amerifine Icons of American Luxury - Hotels - Assouline April 2020what the United States can offer: extraordinary locations, exquisite design, fantastic food, and boundless comfort. These first-class establishments are run by American hoteliers with a passion for proper American hospitality.

Over the course of the last two centuries, the American hotel has become a fixture of the modern lifestyle and a concept that has revolutionized travel, created subcultures, and given new meaning to locales both urban and remote. A superior hotel is much more than a place to spend the night: it is an institution, a cultural center, an icon of luxury. Since the 19th-century opening of the Tremont House—America’s very first five-star hotel—the great American hotels have come to symbolized style, opulence and social distinction to well-heeled travelers from around the globe.

Amerifine Icons of American Luxury - Hotels - Assouline April 2020

Amerifine, a discerning voice of American luxury, has endeavored to curate the finest, most iconic expressions of American hospitality currently in operation. Without exception, each hotel pictured here fulfills and transcends the great responsibility of the modern hotel: to turn each visitor’s experience of their destination into something truly memorable.

Faye Mythen was born in London but lives between the USA and Europe. She is a passionate Ameriphile and founded Amerifine to promote the most ambitious and well-loved American luxury brands and hotels and experiences. Mythen’s career spans 25 years as a entrepreneur, uncovering new businesses, several of which embody America’s proud history of excellence, craftsmanship and great design.

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Top New Science Podcasts: Countries’ Coronavirus Comebacks, Managing Water & The Ancient Wari

science-magazine-podcastsContributing Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt talks with host Sarah Crespi about countries planning a comeback from a coronavirus crisis. What can they do once cases have slowed down to go back to some sort of normal without a second wave of infection?

Contributing Correspondent Lizzie Wade joins Sarah to talk about water management and the downfall of the ancient Wari state. Sometimes called the first South American empire, the Wari culture successfully expanded throughout the Peruvian Andes 1400 years ago.

Also this week, Yon Visell of the University of California, Santa Barbara, talks with Sarah about his Science Advances paper on the biomechanics of human hands. Our skin’s ability to propagate waves along the surface of the hand may help us sense the world around us.