The Daily Valet. - 4/28/21, Wednesday
✔️ Time to Ditch the Mask?
Wednesday, April 28th Edition
I’m going to do it … go maskless to walk the dog. Wish me luck.
Cory Ohlendorf, Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf
Today’s Big Story
Fully Vaxxed? Ditch the Mask
When you’re outdoors ... and not in a crowd
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered some good news on Tuesday to anyone not looking forward to wearing a mask under the hot summer sun. They updated their COVID-19 guidelines to say that masks can be shed for most outdoor activities—especially by fully vaccinated people.
CDC director Rochelle Walensky said the new guidance is intended for people at least two weeks after their last vaccine shot (the fully vaccinated benchmark). With about 30% of Americans now fully vaccinated, these new guidelines had been expected for a while, and serve as a small step back to normal.
President Joe Biden used the new guidelines to make the case for why people should get vaccinated if they haven’t done so already. “This is another great reason to go get vaccinated, now,” Biden said from the White House on Tuesday. “Yes, vaccines are about saving your life, but also the lives of the people around you. They’re also about helping to get us get back to closer to normal.”
But the new guidelines are not exactly simple and will no doubt confuse people. They rely on individual judgment of risks, and required a whole chart (PDF) to explain when you need a mask and when you don’t. But one thing is clear: most outdoor activities don’t require a mask. Especially for those that have been vaxxed.
An infectious disease expert told NBC News that this appears to be the CDC’s “attempt to provide some reward for people who have been vaccinated, and to help persuade people who still are unvaccinated.” But also added that the guidelines are tricky. “You almost have to keep them with you to figure out, ‘Can I do this, or can I not do this?’”
The CDC says COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting against illness but urges people to continue to take precautions since officials are still learning how well the vaccines work to curb the spread of the virus.
↦ Dig Deeper: A new MIT study casts doubt on the so-called 6-foot rule.
40 Days, Locked in a Dark Cave
The experiment studied how lack of daylight and communication affect our sense of time
Over the last year many of us spent too much time inside—sharing close quarters with others, missing out on sunlight and disrupting our circadian rhythms. But that experience doesn’t hold a candle to this recent scientific experiment.
Fifteen volunteers have just emerged from a sunless cave in Southwest France, where they resided for 40 days without clocks or outside contact as part of a study on time. Referred to as “Deep Time”, the experiment removed natural cues and chronological bearings to see how the participants reorient themselves and relationship to sleep.
Apparently, without the sun rising and setting, the participants lost about 10 days. Their brains couldn’t account for over 200 hours of time. The volunteers marked the “end” of each day based on when they went to sleep, but as they lost a grip on time, they started going to bed later and later.
According to InsideHook, this sort of experiment has wide-ranging implications. For now, it can be studied to fine-tune the living conditions of workers in mines or on submarines; in the future, its revelations could help us plan long voyages into outer space. The biggest takeaway, though? Our internal clocks seriously struggle without the influence of the sun.
↦ Wake UP: From smart clocks that charge your phone while promoting better sleep cycles to stylish design elements that upgrade your bedside table, we've found the best alarm clocks.
Navy SEALs Shift
They will move from counterterrorism to global threats
The U.S. Navy SEALs are undergoing a major transition to improve leadership and expand their commando capabilities to better battle threats from global powers like China and Russia.
The new plan cuts the number of SEAL platoons by as much as 30% and increases their size to make the teams more lethal and able to counter sophisticated maritime and undersea adversaries.
According to the Associated Press, there will be a new, intensive screening process for the Navy's elite warriors, to get higher-quality leaders after several scandals rocked the force.
For the past two decades, many SEALs have been fighting in the deserts of Iraq and mountains of Afghanistan. Now they are focused on going back to sea—a decision that reflects the broader Pentagon strategy to prioritize China and Russia, which are rapidly growing their militaries and trying to expand their influence around the globe. U.S. defense leaders believe that two decades of war against militants and extremists have drained resources, causing America to lose ground against Moscow and Beijing.
‘Disaster Girl’ Sells Her Meme as NFT
A savvy way to make money off the viral image taken back when she was 4 years old
In 2005, 4-year-old Zoe Roth went to check out a house that was burning down in her North Carolina neighborhood with her dad, who happened to have a new digital camera. It's been sixteen years and the image has been turned into countless memes.
What you can count, however, is what the image is worth. Because Roth, known around the web as “Disaster Girl,” auctioned off the famous photo earlier this month as a non-fungible token.
An unknown person reached out to her and her father in February and encouraged Roth to sell the image as a NFT. According to Gizmodo, they thought they'd get a modest amount but it sold for 180 Ethereum—worth approximately $473,000. They will split the earnings from the sale.
She told the Raleigh News & Observer she's now researching nonprofits to donate to, and added: “Nobody who is a meme tried to [sell it] ... is it luck? Is it fate? I have no idea. But I'll take it.”
In Other News
Other Things We’re Talking About Today
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Partner
A Foolproof Gift (That Does Good, Too)
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What We’re Buying
There have been stain-prevention oral care products in the past, but none this simple or this fun to use. Colgate's new wellness-minded brand features this foaming mouth rinse that has repellent technology to prevent stains and spots from setting in on teeth. You pump the foam into your mouth, swish it around and then spit it out like a rabid dog. It's a refreshing way to wake up and not worry about coffee darkening your teeth.
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Today’s Deals
Expires 5/13
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Ongoing Sale
↦ Want More? See all 36 sales
Morning Motto
Fear isn’t always a bad thing.
↦ Follow: @beamingdesign
That’s all for today...
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