Open data can be scary

I checked the main covid map earlier, and my home town, Bishop Auckland, where my mother and sister are, has dropped down to 177 cases/100k (from a high of 531 in early November). Well, that's good, I think. (Chatham Central where I am is at 875 and rising rapidly)

Just checked twitter, and @CovidGenomicsUK have posted a snapshot map from their database of where the new variant is known to be in the UK. And I look at it and think, that spot just above the 'd' in 'United Kingdom' is awfully close to Bishop. So I follow the link and wait for the project to load, which then lets you zoom in the map. And it's not just close to Bishop, it's in Bishop. Bugger. So I've just had to message my sister to tell her to be even more careful than she's already being. Link to the data: https://t.co/AywK4Can02

Just being able to do that made me reflect that Vernor Vinge totally called it when he had 'Rainbows End' open with hobbyists spotting a new respiratory bug from online data.

In other covid news, the government has apparently abandoned plans for mass lateral flow testing given the accuracy (or lack of) of the tests. A DHSC spokeswoman defended the test by saying it had a sensitivity of 57% and 84% in people with high virus loads. *headdesk* its the ones who don't have high viral loads yet it was supposed to catch. They might as well flip a coin, it's almost as accurate, and a whole lot cheaper;.

Care package received

My sister said early last week that she was posting me a package for Christmas from my mother (AIUI she went and found a mobile post office in one of the local villages because they only allow one person in the van at a time, where the actual post office would likely be jammed). We were beginning to think it wouldn't arrive until after Christmas*,but it finally arrived this morning. I was expecting it just to be the stuff she'd normally put in a Christmas Stocking for me: sweets and a few little gimmicky things. Nope, this is about A4 size, 8" deep, fairly hefty and cost £5 to post. I have no idea what's in there, other than it probably will have the sweets etc, but I'm under orders not to open it until the 25th. I'm resisting the urge to give in to my inner 8yo and give it a good shake...

* The irony here is a package I ordered from Amazon for a present to me at about the same time, which said it wouldn't deliver until well after Christmas, turned up in three days, from Switzerland.