Ditto

I've avoided the use of generic accounts from a best practices point of view - does Cyber Security Essentials cover this? My approach is to make the creation and deletion of accounts as automated as possible so it is little more than a press of a button.

If we followed the first rule, we'd have lockdown for common flu every winter. I'd favour keeping a few more restrictions, like masks on public transport. The second change would require a time machine. Personally, I feel waiting longer to get vaccine numbers up would be reassuring, but vaccine rates at about as low as ever right now so that could be some time away. Additionally, the scientific view of delaying further could lead to bigger issues this coming Autumn/Winter. As unpalatable as it is, we can not dismiss the impact of restrictions. Mental health (a sector I work in) has never seen greater demand. Self harming is now almost a given in parallel with other issues. Cancer diagnosis, especially early diagnosis, has taken a hard hit. There are many more health related impacts for continued restrictions. The way forward will not condense to binary logic.

I don't think it is an easy one to answer when - out of interest, what date or data profile would you propose to allow opening up as is being proposed.

Non-pay walled here. https://metro.co.uk/2021/07/06/covid-what-is-the-lambda-strain-and-is-it-in-the-uk-14881619/. The 'no evidence' statement is regularly trotted out - it's accurate but not that valuable - it would be equally true to say there is no evidence that the variant is not more severe and there is no evidence that current vaccines are effective. There is just no evidence either way!

A nice article that shows how legitimate data can be used to paint a biased viewpoint. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57610998

Unfortunately the unprecedented situation of a global pandemic with a novel virus will not condense to a binary piece of logic - it's never going to be as simplistic as that. Average vaccine rates have clearly dropped in the last few weeks, but can you provide an authoritative source that there is an excess capacity? I've yet to see compelling explanation of why the numbers are falling. The risk profile, both in terms of getting covid, but also in terms of vaccine risks is very different for 16-18 year olds than it is for the vulnerable groups. This is why some believe the vaccines should go to those more vulnerable people in other countries. Seasonal flu has a r0 of >1 but we don't especially restrict society because of that. To me the current approach is moving towards less restriction, but accepting there is a price in terms of hospitalisations and death. I don't like it, but it's the situation were are in, but is true of so much in life, be it other illnesses like flu, or driving, for flying, or taking part in sport, or holidaying or whatever - living introduces risks! I would add however, as noted by @Duranis, I do feel too many people are being way too lax and continuing with basic precautions that could reduce the speed of spread, which allows more time for more people to get vaccinated, especially their second dose.

You do know there is no 'd' right?! And I'm not referring to dates or data.

Thanks for this. The Finders version look a possibility, but we'd have to fund an extra £100 beyond his budget, but it might be the best option. I would be interest to understand if it's a design fault with the Ender 3. If anyone has one and a voltmeter, I'd be interested to see if you get -24.0V showing from the heatbed to ground. We needed to test between the bolt holding it in place or on the plate edge. Nothing showed up on the plate surface.

Do you mind sharing the price of this - PM if preferred. I suspect for staff that we are looking for a solution, 5G is unlikely to be available, but 4G would probably suffice. Oddly, I live just a couple of hundred metres from a newly installed massive EE 5G mast, but a search shows no availability in the area.

I'm interested to hear the experiences of anyone that is using 4G (or 5G!), ideally at home, due to poor internet access over traditional telephone lines. How well is it holding up? How much is it per month? Is it up to deep MS Teams collaboration work?

Quick update - endless stalling! They want video and more pictures and have now asked: - unplug the heating wire of the hot bed on the motherboard, and then turn it on again to see if the printer can be turned on normally? Provide a video of the printer booting up.- tear off the tape on the right rear corner of the hot bed, and check whether there are burn marks on the hot bed line? No way! I'm not dismantling pre-built parts and either way, it's a non-function printer and that isn't changing regardless of the results of following their instructions. In the last correspondence I asked clearly for them to provide a return label and advise if they wish to replace of refund - they've ignored that. So the next reply will be 100% clear and I plan to quote distant selling regulations. One more day, then it's on to the credit card company. Seriously, for £120, you'd think they'd just take it back. The only small positive is they are replying quickly.

I have a son at home remote learning due to a positive bubble case and it has impacted my other sons activity too. Not allowed in the cricket team or football and my wife wasn't allowed in to see a dentist - regardless of both kids testing negative twice so far on LFT in the last week. If we fully re-open in July, because hospitalisations and deaths remain low, but cases continue to exponential grow, this is going to be happening a lot more - I think the pressure on a rethink on strategy in schools is inevitable. Having us all able to legally mix fully, but with huge numbers isolated repeatedly doesn't quite appear to be where we want to be heading. Some tough decisions ahead...

I can see that viewpoint now - I guess I would have expected an upper case 'G', but on reflection, it is the grauniad!

Except there are no exams!

As stated, it's a valid request, but I do note the subject title says "FoI for the guardian on sexual misconduct in schools", so I think it needs to be passed to the appropriate person. I suspect in the absence someone with that specific role, it needs the head to reply. *** Edit *** perhaps what I wasn't making clear, is I don't think it is an IT role for FoI requests.

Looks like it's over now - I wasn't organised enough to make any purchases. Oh well, another one will be along soon enough.

The last sentence is political so I can't add to that for forum rules reasons. As for the other items, I agree, there are many factors involved which is why very little is purely black and white with all things Covid. Rarely do singular data facts or conclusions lead to an clear singular actions.

I don't know about earlier versions, by my just turned 14 year old put it together in a couple of hours with no help and it worked first time. The main effort seems to be bolting the vertical framework together, assembling the components and plugging a few connectors in. The bed and all the main moving parts were pre-built.

So far, customer service seem to be stalling wanting videos/photos of the problem - we don't have a video of the spark! They are now asking for pictures of any signs of shorting on the motherboard. I know there aren't any - it's probable the main processor is fried/dead, but doesn't show up visibly. I'll go along with it for one more cycle, but then I will quote the distant selling regulations, consider reporting to trading standards and insist on a full replacement or refund. I hope they play ball as I would be happy to accept a replacement and take your advice on the power supply, but suspect the heat bed is live on the exposed edges, through the fixing bolt, but not the bed itself (anodised by Aluminium oxide presumably). That at least is not on the 240V side of mains supply, but either a manufacturing fault or a massive design error. I can see the soldered connection to the heatbed on the underside, and they are not insulated, so it's not a good on that point alone. I'm not sure how well the distant selling regulations can be used being a chinese company, but it was clearly shipped in the UK. My ultimate backstop, I hope, is we bough on credit card to might be able to get refund that route. Thanks for the tip on the Meanwell PSU - are these or alternatives available in UK.

Yes, the paywall is a serious PITA, but I'm certain it's (no pun intended) old recirculated info. Even if it is true that 100% of people were exposed, it doesn't mean 100% transmission, otherwise, if you see my previous post, my son and at least 30 of his class mates would be infected right now.

Very topical for me as my Yr7 son has just been sent home to self isolate this morning due to a +ve case. In this instance, due to indoor PE because of rain, all those in that session have been deemed close contacts and told to isolate. It might be boys only! They even interrupted a mid-session end of year maths exam, which seems extreme. Where I really feel sorry for him is missing out on weekend football and other outdoor activities - he really needs those.

Today's figures for daily vaccines currently (16:30) state 21,080 - I suspect that's an error! *** EDIT - apparently IT error yesterday means it excludes England data ***

They are less than 10% down on the average weekly rate - they can't increase indefinitely. I'm more interested to understand why they have dropped. Is it supply or something else. I know locally (in the south) a vaccinator spoken to yesterday had said supply had been reduced locally due to supplies being redirected to surge areas, but you wouldn't necessarily expect it to impact national levels. Perhaps the logistics have an impact? This follows the consistent science of more cases, leads to more hospitalisations, leads to more death. But, is the link changed and to what degree has the link changed with the levels vaccinations we have now and what can we expect to see as vaccine levels continue to improve? As above, it follows the well known science. The speed of doubling is clearly linked to the variant being more infectious, but will it relate values change due to vaccinations. We are hearing yes, but I don't have a feel to what degree. I believe 80% of people showed antibodies in a study from the last week or so, many through vaccines and others due to infection. I understand in the Bolton area the numbers have started to stabilise or drop more rapidly than previous waves. With the rapid transmission through unvaccinated school age children, who tend to be less severely impacted or asymptomatic, is the variant peaking quickly then dropping off? Will this trend show in the rest of the UK? The data alone is one part of the picture, the interpretation and understanding of what is leading to the data is more interesting and informative.

There are a couple of interesting points shown up by recent vaccine figures. [ATTACH=CONFIG]62275[/ATTACH] Over the last month, rolling average numbers have fallen. They've always varied, but whether this is due to 'bumpy' supply or something else is an interesting question. With the very high percentage of first doses given now, perhaps it is related to vaccine willingness or ability to get the jab. However, the number of 1st timer jabs has risen over the last 3 weeks so that seems contrary. Second jab levels had dropped noticeably in the last 2 and a half weeks, but I would expect those figures to follow the 1st jabs, but the switch to 8 weeks from 12 for the gap makes interpreting those figures trickier. One other observation, and this is more noticeable on the visual trend line, but the weekly variation (peaks and troughs) in each of the weeks, generally varying less than it has in previous months.

How are you all getting on with your 3D printers? My son bought and Ender 3 from creality for £120 and I have to say the print quality was surprisingly good on test runs. Sadly, it died on day three when the bulldog clip holding the fibreglass print bed on the heater touched the vertical frame upright, sparked and although the LCD lights, no display now comes up. Dead motherboard is anticipated. A quick test with my recently purchased multimeter shows 24v on the heater bed suggestion a serious electrical fault. We have just contacted Creality to get a replacement or refund. We'll now have to wait and see how good the customer service is, but I'm expecting return postage and quick turnaround.