Elerond

Soap is best against SARS-CoV-2, because it destroys it protein shell and prevents it from infecting cells. Sanitizer is bit less effective but good to use if you aren't able to wash your hands with soap.

Millions. infants died in malnutrition, caused by combination of several factors. Powdered milk was already lacking some nutriments Water in poorer countries contained impurities that caused that powdered milk didn't mix well which caused that babies bodies had difficulties to adsorb nutrients from the milk and leading to diseases in infants. Powdered milk was relatively expensive, lots of people used too much water in order to save powder, causing nutrient amount that babies got from the milk to close to zero. Using milk powder often leads in decrease of milk that mother produces

https://www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/events/events/2021/04/european-immunization-week-2021/news/news/2021/04/covax-helps-make-equitable-access-to-covid-19-vaccines-a-reality-in-the-who-european-region COVAX aims to deliver 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of the year, which should be enough to protect high-risk and vulnerable people, including frontline health workers. Its goal is to ensure equitable access for all participating economies across the globe, regardless of size or income level. So far, COVAX has shipped over 40.5 million COVID-19 vaccines to 118 participants. This includes both self-financing and funded countries and territories. Within the Region, COVAX has delivered initial batches of Pfizer–BioNTech and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses to Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, as well as Kosovo (in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 [1999]). Team Europe, which brings together the European Union and its Member States, is one of the lead contributors to COVAX, with over €2.2 billion pledged to help secure 1.3 billion doses of vaccines for 92 low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2021. We need only 10 billion dozes more and we can put this pandemic behind us.

I would not call it objective source of information when your source itself says that it is just their opinion EDIT: It seems that neither of the authors of that opinion piece have any expertise on virology

EU doesn't have funds to offer, as it doesn't have any taxation or borrowing powers. All its money come from member states in members fees, which are negotiated by member states during EU's budget negotiations and EU's budget is usually decided for 7 years to future. EU's budget has some unallocated funds, which EU's commission can use in situations like this, but usually if there is need for billions of euros worth funding then member states need to either decide emergency funding or renegotiate EU's budget. 3 billion euros may sound quite small when you compare it to sums that are thrown around in negotiations between western economies, but it is ~5% of Belarus GDP, and offer also includes 'magical' promises of lifting sanctions against Belarus, which value is difficult to calculate, but it would have massive effect in Belarus economy even in most pessimistic estimates.

Basically they are barring direct flight from central Europe to Moscow, which are currently almost non-existent, as almost all other flights that enter in Russian air space don't go over Belarus

It was really funding of development issue considering that BioNTech got their vaccine working already in January 2020. Issue has been to test it and mass produce it. Even though they got their vaccine working lab in January 2020 it wasn't until April 2020 when they were able to start clinical tries after signing agreement with Pfizer (who gave them 113 million dollars. EU then gave them 100 million euros and Germany gave them 375 million euros, so that they could finish clinical tries and start mass production. Pfizer for some reason decided not to take money from US warp speed fund ) and it took all the way to December 2020 to get approval for the vaccine. Scaling up vaccine production has not been easy for Pfizer as vaccine is produced in three stages. First stage is molecular cloning of DNA plasmids which is done in one factory in USA where it is transferred to stage two facilities, which there are two, one in USA and one in Germany, where they produce desired mRNA strands. From these facilities mRNA strands are transferred to stage three facilities, where mRNA strands are combined with lipid nanoparticles and filled in vials and frozen. There are also only two stage three facilities, one in USA and one in Belgium. All the vaccine dozes outside of USA are finalized in factory in Belgium (meaning that Pfizer vaccines that go to other parts of america than USA need two flights over Atlantic ocean). Whole production sequence according to BioNTech-Pfizer took from start to finish 110 days in February 2021 and they were aiming to reduce it 60 days. Also Pfizer revealed that they use 280 components produced in 19 different countries to make the vaccine. BioNTech signed contract with German production facility to expand their vaccine production capacity (using those funds they got from the government) in September 2020. Expansion is estimated to be ready end of this year and then facility should be able to produce 750 million dozes per year. In April Pfizer got authorization to scale up their production facility in Belgium. So it was more of question of where existing production facilities were located and as building new facilities just takes their time.

Consider that 1-year old has usually got ~15 vaccination shot against more deadly diseases. Even though medical experts use high caution principal towards covid vaccines, all the vaccines that have been approved so far have been effective and safer than almost all the medicine that you commonly use. And even though covid is only rarely dangerous for children, vaccines have been so far much much less dangerous to anybody.

They didn't start from zero, adenoviruses are used in quite lot other medicines (cancer etc.) which is why they were able to reach their current capacity. But they estimated that they could increase their capacity to hundreds of millions dozes in months, which proven to be much more difficult than they anticipated. And it is even more difficult if there isn't existing facilities to produce adenoviruses.

"Brazil should be licensing then producing their own vaccines en masse (as with local Sputnik)" That is easier said than done, as scaling up adenovirus has turn out to be more complex than was anticipated which is why AZ, Sputnik and J&J all have failed to match predicted production numbers

Best explanation how they have connected those solar fields is following 11.1 Transmission and distribution Most solar power systems in Germany are connected to the decentralized low-voltage grid (Figure 21) and generate solar power consumption. As a result, solar power is mainly fed in decentrally and hardly demands to expand the German national transmission grid. High PV system density in a low voltage grid section may cause the electricity production to exceed the power consumption in this section on sunny days¸ due to the high simultaneity factor. Transformers then feed power back into the medium-voltage grid. At very high plant densities, the transformer station can reach its power limit. An even distribution of PV installations over the network sections reduces the need for expansion. PV power plants are decentralized and well distributed thereby accommodating the feedin and distribution of the existing electricity grid. Large PV power plants or a local accumulation of smaller plants in sparsely populated regions require that the distribution network and the transformer stations are reinforced at certain sites. The further expansion of PV should be geographically even more consumption-friendly, in order to simplify the distribution of solar electricity. For example, Brandenburg or Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have installed 3 to 4 times more PV power per inhabitant than the Saarland, NRW, Saxony or Hesse [AEE2]. https://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/content/dam/ise/en/documents/publications/studies/recent-facts-about-photovoltaics-in-germany.pdf Page 31.

Germans at least try to prove you wrong, or at least it feels like that Germany is full of solar panel fields like in above picture

For example Nokia already introduced process to reuse 100% of materials in lithium batteries in early 2000s. But battery recycling has seen some downturn after Nokia left cell phone making business. And of course larger batteries need larger processing systems than those which Nokia developed for cell phone batteries. Also in case of soil and water pollution, coal mining, fracking and drilling oil also cause massive amount of that, so badly recycled lithium batteries aren't really adding amount of soil and water pollution (in comparison if same energy would be produced using either coal or oil) in world put moving it to different locations.

Some of those energy storages are used regular base to sustain load in electric grid and district heating here. All the dam here have artificial lake, so that water flow can be controlled. (Hydropower makes 20% of Finland's total electric production) Wind parks have batteries and hydrogen production plant in order to balance output to electric grid and store overproduction. (Wind parks make 10% of Finland's electric production) Geothermal storages are used to store excess heat during summers to increase production capacity during winters. (geothermal heating, makes 33% of FInland's heat production) But there is no point for example to first transform kinetic energy from wind to electricity and then transform it chemical or potential energy and then back to electricity unless it is excess energy that can't be fed in electric grid. Because there isn't way where you can transform electricity to another energy form with 100% efficiency (some of that energy always transforms in form that can't be stored )

You store energy which can be used to produce electricity Potential energy storages like artificial lakes have been used from beginning of hydropower Batteries are also quite old invention. Using electrolysis to split water to hydrogen and oxygen is also couple hundred years old invention Geothermal storages are bit newer invention Compressed air/steam/liquid can also be used store energy NASA has experimented with FES/Flywheel energy storages in which energy is stored as rotational energy By lifting solid masses to high can also used as potential energy storages And there are quite lot other ways to store energy. So storing energy/electricity isn't the problem. Problems are scale and poor efficiency, especially when form of energy transformed multiple times.

There are other drawbacks in turbines than space. Like for example it is more difficult to control how much electricity is produced and you need temporal storages, like batteries, hydrogen etc.. Also noise pollution and turbines killing birds are problems. Need to build in windy locations, which creates its own challenges for transmission. Also repair routes and recycling materials from the mills need to be taken in account. Nuclear plants also take lots of space and they need much more additional infrastructure. Like for example hundreds of kilometres of tunnels to store the nuclear waste. Massive cooling systems (which of course can be utilized in district heating). Uranium mines, storages for uranium ore. Processing plants for uranium ore, urania/yellowcake, uranium hexafluoride,uranium oxide and nuclear fuel (uranium rods). Storage spaces for ore, intermediate products and fuel/rods. Transportation for ore, intermediate products and fuel/rods. Cooling storages for used rods. Transportation for nuclear waste. Also you need lots of work force and automation from start to end of the supply line. Also you need to have complex repair plans and workers with know how to repair such complex systems. And addition to that you need natural disaster and force major plans. Also transmitting so much energy quite lot infrastructure and controlling systems. It isn't that easy for Rosatom and CNNC and they also need to work with lots of private companies and state owned actors in their projects.

Sorry for double post. Even though video is 30 minutes long I would recommend to watch it as it gives nice insight what industrial partnerships may cause

They are dabbling nuclear power, but it is far from clean. But much better than coal, especially old coal plants. Rosatom's nuclear plant projects seem to face multiple problems. Currently their best reactor VVER-1200, is only capable to produce 1,198 MWe of power, which is 300-400 MWe less than its competitors reactors Single reactor plant still cost lot (Rosatom's estimate for their single VVER-1200 reactor plant in Finland is 7 billion euros [estimated building time 7 years after 11 years of project planning]), compared to Areva's 1600 MWe EPR reactor plant which was estimated to cost 3.2 billion euros, although it costs increased to ~10 billion euros because building it took 12 years more than Areva estimated. Financing Rosatom's plants is difficult thanks to sanctions put in by USA So nuclear power gives cleaner and some what safe power generation, but it isn't that efficient as you can build much more power generation and faster with same money by building wind turbines. Small modular rectors (SMRs) would be much better choice if you want efficiency, although they are best suited to heat generation instead of electricity. Because they don't need massive plants around them, which make it possible build them into cities. And because they can be in middle of city, it is much easier to connect them to city's district heating.

Coal question is interesting one. Like for example here there are multiple coal powered heath plants even though coal is more expensive than alternatives, and we need to buy coal from other countries which strains our economy. Mentioned cheaper alternatives for coal are domestic and would create new jobs here. Our coal plants are already old and their constant repairs make using coal even more expensive. But regardless of mentioned facts we have lots of politicians in city councils and in parliament who adamantly claim that coal is necessary and do their best to block any attempts to replace coal with domestic energy sources (wood, waste, peat and hydrogen burning plants, deep geothermal plants and nuclear powered heating plants).

As long as Olympians are allowed publicly wear religious symbols and pray, I don't see how bending the knee, rising the fist or wearing black ribbon to show your world view is any different, but it isn't support for human rights movements which IOC has banned political symbolism with exception of some religious symbolism in the games even when that symbolism supports ideologies in Olympic Charter. Of course IOC could have just banned political gestures that support movement that go against Olympic Charter, but that would be bad for the business. It is easier to sell 'ban of all politics in the games' than Olympic values of equality, peace etc..

At least all the Olympians had to take following politic free oath in order to participating in the games Olympic Oath: In the name of the athletes. In the name of all judges. In the name of all the coaches and officials. The athletes' representative then completes the oath: We promise to take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules and in the spirit of fair play. We all commit ourselves to sport without doping and cheating. We do this, for the glory of sport, for the honour of our teams and in respect for the Fundamental Principles of Olympism. Fundamental Principles of Olympism 1. Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles. 2. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity. 3. The Olympic Movement is the concerted, organised, universal and permanent action, carried out under the supreme authority of the IOC, of all individuals and entities who are inspired by the values of Olympism. It covers the five continents. It reaches its peak with the bringing together of the world’s athletes at the great sports festival, the Olympic Games. Its symbol is five interlaced rings. 4. The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. 5. Recognising that sport occurs within the framework of society, sports organisations within the Olympic Movement shall apply political neutrality. They have the rights and obligations of autonomy, which include freely establishing and controlling the rules of sport, determining the structure and governance of their organisations, enjoying the right of elections free from any outside influence and the responsibility for ensuring that principles of good governance be applied. 6. The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Olympic Charter shall be secured without discrimination of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. 7. Belonging to the Olympic Movement requires compliance with the Olympic Charter and recognition by the IOC. https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document Library/OlympicOrg/General/EN-Olympic-Charter.pdf

"There is no place for the weak-willed or hesitant. Only by firm action and resolute faith will mankind survive. No sacrifice is too great. No treachery too small." — Liber Doctrina Ordo Hereticus, Chapter XXVIII, "Exterminatus If Warhammer 40k has taught us anything it is that corruption is worst of all the crimes and you can't go overboard when you try to prevent it "Some may question your right to destroy ten billion people. Those who understand realise that you have no right to let them live." — Exterminatus Extremis 😋

I would say that barrel length makes some difference in mass shootings. As 20-25" barrel is quite bother in closed bases like schools, shopping centers and clubs, where 12-16" barrel is much easier to handle in such spaces.

That is technically true, but current communist party isn't united behind singular ideology, but they are more like left wing alliance and even then it has only ~13% support and Marxists are minority in the party. Left-wing nationalist (who don't really care about communism or socialism, in their world view social struggle is between nations) and reformers (who are critical towards communism and USSR and want socialism that is quite close to Nordic socialism). In my knowledge grannies and veterans aren't don't make any bigger sunk of members of communist party than they make of United Russia. I would not recommend to go shout Marxist slogans in Karelia for example, as there those grannies may beat you up.

Yes, Russia: "I'm a Marxist!" Response: you are loony or westerner idiot and in worst case you end in hospital because people bet you up.