A Scientific Meeting on Coronaviruses Was Cancelled Due To Coronavirus (qz.com) 43
The latest event to be cancelled as a result of the spread of the novel coronavirus is, ironically, a scientific meeting on coronaviruses. From a report: On March 9, the official meeting of the International Nidovirus Symposium, was postponed to 2021. The meeting, which happens only once every three years, was set to take place this May 10 to 14 in the Netherlands. "We started noticing that people were hesitating to register due to all the uncertainty," said Marjolein Kikkert, a microbiologist at the Leiden University Medical Center who was leading the conference's planning committee, in an email to Quartz. "The expanding outbreak in Europe in the last week made us feel we should take responsibility and set the good example as coronavirologists to not further spread the virus ourselves."
"Nidovirus" is an order of viruses that includes coronaviruses, like SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus going around now), SARS-CoV (severe acute respiratory syndrome, which emerged in 2003), and MERS (Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, which emerged in 2012). The order also includes arteriviruses, a group that can infect horses, pigs, monkeys, and mice; and roniviruses, a group that can infect shellfish. The 14 previous nidovirus symposiums have functioned like any other scientific meeting: Attendees would present research, find collaboration opportunities, and get to know other members of a relatively small field within microbiology.
"Nidovirus" is an order of viruses that includes coronaviruses, like SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus going around now), SARS-CoV (severe acute respiratory syndrome, which emerged in 2003), and MERS (Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, which emerged in 2012). The order also includes arteriviruses, a group that can infect horses, pigs, monkeys, and mice; and roniviruses, a group that can infect shellfish. The 14 previous nidovirus symposiums have functioned like any other scientific meeting: Attendees would present research, find collaboration opportunities, and get to know other members of a relatively small field within microbiology.
Like rain on your wedding day (Score:2)
Isn't it ironic
Re: Like rain on your wedding day (Score:1)
He won the lottery....and he died the next day.
and who wouldda thought it figgered!!!
Re: (Score:2)
No it is merely oxymoronic.
Maybe Catholics will get lucky and Pope Francis's Synod on Synodality (meeting on meetings) will also be canceled.
Re: (Score:2)
There is nothing ironic about weather, regardless of what outdoor social events you planned.
Re: (Score:2)
That song makes far more sense if you simply substitute the word "unfortunate" for "ironic." I don't think Alanis understood what irony is supposed to mean.
However, writing a song about irony that contains no irony is pretty damn ironic.
Re: (Score:2)
There are a lot of people that have shame around being stupid, and I did too. It was embarrassing to have the planet basically say: "you’re a dumbass for your malapropism!". And at the same time, it is ironic that a song called "Ironic" isn’t filled with ironies. ... Although there are times where I’m grammatically very intense and very perfectionistic, there are other times where clearly I don’t care and I make up words and I play with words linguistically like they’re paint.
-- Alanis Morissette
No Alanis, fuckups aren't ironic, either.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"Ironic" can mean "unfortunate" or "unexpected".
Says who?
Re: (Score:2)
Says who?
Most people who use the word. Try Google. I found lots of different definitions. https://www.vocabulary.com/dic... [vocabulary.com]
Re:Like rain on your wedding day (Score:4, Informative)
"Ironic" can mean "unfortunate" or "unexpected". That you don't like a definition doesn't mean it doesn't exist. If you want a prescriptive language, move to France.
English has a rich diversity of dialects. But some are best avoided as they create a perception that the speaker is stupid and uneducated.
You are free to use alternative verb conjugations such as "I is ..." and "Youse all are" , but people will judge you.
Re: (Score:2)
"Youse" and "Y'all" are an attempt to differentiate plural you from singular "thou". Though "thou" i
Re: (Score:2)
"Ain't" was "proper English" in the 1700s,
It was common until much more recently, and still used in humourous or informal contexts in written English. And something heard more in the past from old rural people.
"Yo'all" is a regional dialect. Sounds fine when used in Tennessee, but not in a speech to an international audience. Context matters.
Only "youse" from your examples sounds low-class or uneducated to me, not archaic or regional, but I suppose it depends where you live.
Maybe because I know the history you described? Or just the peopl
Re: (Score:2)
If you consider weather to be unexpected you're just an idiot. I'm not complaining about the word, just the idiot using it here. Weather is not ironic.
Re: (Score:3)
Coronavirus on your coronavirus day is ironic, and unfortunate.
Both the song and the vernacular misuse ironic, in a similar manner, so the song isn't "wrong", the definition is just changing. At least "dramatic irony" means the same thing it did 100 year ago.
Re: (Score:2)
You know, I'm not actually sure coronavirus on your coronavirus day is ironic either? It's coincidental. A thing affecting a related thing... in a way that's not even surprising or unexpected honestly.
Situational irony is a stark contrast between the intended/expected outcome, and the actual result. A "backfire" in other words.
If scientists met to discuss how to fight the coronavirus, and instead worsened the outbreak by all infecting each other and spreading it further, THAT would be irony.
Seasonality (Score:2)
There's no indication that this coronavirus will follow the typical flu season patterns, but if it were to, we should expect to see a big natural falloff starting next month.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Seasonality (Score:4, Informative)
It hasn't really grabbed on in Australia (yet), but it's doing just fine in India which is equatorial, and has hit Singapore fairly hard. Summer doesn't seem to be slowing it down substantially in South America either.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Infection numbers from India are low.
Thailand was one of the first countries it spread to, and they still have low numbers today; they've dropped off most of the charts showing the spread of the virus, because they have so few cases.
All the places that have lots of infections are places that are cold.
And for geography-challenged idiots, Iran is arid and therefore has cold winters. Check the weather in Tehran before bleeting "but Iran!"
Singapore has less than 200 cases. The reason they're in the news more th
Re: (Score:3)
Wouldn't it have simply been better to push the conference dates back by two months?
Anyone who's ever organized a conference says "No." First you have to find lodging for the attendees, preferably with the same block rate you've negotiated months previously. You need to find a venue, arrange catering, etc. Get everyone notified of the new date and hope your presenters can now make it there. Plus a ton of other details that I'm sure I haven't thought of. Plus multiply exponentially with the size of the conf
Re: (Score:2)
I would think that real experts would know better than to try to schedule a face to face conference and go virtual. They could also save on travel, lodging, and eating out... win, win!
Re: (Score:2)
At some point the changing whether typically does a lot to mitigate how well most viruses are able to spread.
Sadly, in this day and age, everything is political. "the flu ends at the end of flu season" was stated by D. John Drumpf, and so that's now a political statement.
The problem is it's 100% false. Well, 95% false. What warmer months does is adjust the R0 down, as the conditions make it less communicable. Drier air and warmer temperatures dry out surfaces faster and kill the virus before transmission. But the R0 of SARS-CoV-2 is higher than Infuenza. So a reduced R0 might not have the same effect with a
Nested loop (Score:2)
Good Joe Rogan discussion with Michael Osterholm (Score:4, Informative)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Michael Osterholm is an internationally recognized expert in infectious disease epidemiology
as was ... (Score:1)
as was a meeting about self-referential jokes.
We apologize for the fault in the Corona Virus (Score:2)
I propose... (Score:2)
Xzibit (Score:3)
Yo, dawg, I heard you like Coronavirus... So I put Coronavirus in your Coronavirus!!!
I wish I could hear that discussion: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Wait, why would they be expected to be macho and show up anyways?
Your imagined bullying seems highly unlikely.
They have nothing to "live down." In any future jokes, they're likely to be the aggrieved party, not somebody who failed at something.
Re: (Score:2)
The joke is they should have known better and scheduled it as a virtual conference.
Re: (Score:2)
What's the joke? Did you misread it as "Virtual Reality Meeting?"
Humans should build a better way. (Score:2)
Needing meatspace interaction is a defect.
Scientists should develop Free and Open Source (so poor countries and people can participate) conferencing solutions specific to their specialties. They should be used often enough they become second nature and meat gatherings rightly considered wasteful (though fun, but people can be trained to have fun differently) and abandoned.
The carbon footprint of conferences is enormous. Flight shaming should increase and low energy waste become a mark of pride.
Re: (Score:3)
They don't "need" it, the purpose of conferences is mostly as a social mixer, so you can create connections to other people in your industry. You won't get very much of that result with an e-conference.
They put studies in written form, so conferences must be for something else than a "need." Maybe it is only an enhancement.
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. It is about the conference dinner, the social events, etc. The talks are merely there for people and groups to introduce themselves more in dept and make it easy to get a broader overview and as a conversation starter.
Why Aren't They Showing Us How to Videoconference (Score:2)
Wouldn't this group of scientists, whose information is presumably a very hot topic now, do well to demonstrate how their conference can be done via video? How better to convince people that videoconferencing is now a good substitute for travel?
Take Responsibility? (Score:3)
The expanding outbreak in Europe in the last week made us feel we should take responsibility and set the good example as coronavirologists
I hope you mean "act responsibly", if not you have a heck of a lot of explaining to do...
Yet Australia (Score:2)
This isn't an isolated case (Score:2)
It is not just that one conference that is affected. There are a number of medical conferences that are being postponed right now (or there are discussions about doing so). This isn't just that people aren't gathering together anymore, because there are plenty of other non-medical conferences that are still going ahead (although to be fair, those other ones are more likely to be national events).
But the big problem for these medical events is that the speakers and delegates are kind of busy right now (for s
We're doomed (Score:1)
So the people in charge of the conference aren't smart enough to talk to the people that now about the subject and not cancel the conference.
Stupid people in charge.