Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 1d

They should be good for at least ten years

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 1d

How would you figure out whether it's worth it for people to have masks on hand without trying to compare the costs and benefits? Is your objection to trying to do that comparison in dollars?

You Should Get a Reusable Mask

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 2d

Estimating the chance of future natural pandemics, without even taking into account the increasing risk from AI-assisted engineering, I get that a good reusable mask is worth about $14k. Since they cost $30-$60, they're well worth buying to keep on hand!

A pandemic that's substantially worse than COVID-19 is a serious possibility. If one happens, having a good mask could save your life. A high quality reusable mask is only $30 to $60, and I think it'...

Aerolamp | far-UVC Air Cleaning for Indoor UV Light Cleaning

4 3 7

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 3d

Does anyone remember who I lent my Far UVC lamp to? I'm completely blanking on it. It was one of these: aerolamp.net

Aerolamp uses far-UVC technology for air cleaning! UV light cleaning with far-UVC is safe for people, for air cleaning, and indoor UV Light Cleaning

aerolamp.net

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · 24d

How should BIDA reduce airborne infections? Masks, far UVC, glycol vapors? Some combination? Nothing? Let us know what you'd like to see!

BIDA Covid Survey, Fall 2025

We're trying to understand the preferences of our community around covid precautions--does the dance feel too risky? Too conservative? What would you like to see different? What affects whether you...

docs.google.com

Significant Effect of Mask Requirements?

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Sep 10

Mask optional dances had 9% higher attendance on average, but (via permutation testing!) it was just p=0.2.

Entropic Thoughts recently reanalyzed the data I'd shared on the relationship between mask requirements and dance attendance we've seen at BIDA. They conclude: Other sources account for most of th...

Glycol, Far UVC, and CFM Measurement at BIDA

1 3

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Sep 8

As in AC? No. We also run these fans all winter, even when its very cold. This many dancers do put out a lot of heat.

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Sep 8

We tried glycol vapors and far UVC at BIDA last night, for reducing inhalation of infectious aerosols. No issues with either!

I also stayed after to make an estimate of how much ventilation we're getting; looks like ~24 CFM/person.

We planned to trial far UVC and glycol vapors at the BIDA contra dance last night: these are two options (beyond masks and ventilation) for reducing infectious aerosol inhalation. Both worked without...

The cat mayoral race: meet 11 runners and riders in the US’s most furious – and furriest – election

2 3 6

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Sep 5

Our cats are in the paper!

Two-year-old siblings Clementine and Nix are running for mayor and vice-mayor respectively. Their owner Lily, 11, says the pair’s goals are lengthy: ...

It has been the talk of Somerville, Massachusetts this summer, with the winner announced later today. Will it be the candidate who promises free kibble or the one who speaks gnomically of ‘CRIME’?

www.theguardian.com

5

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 31

The amount of TEG this puts in the air is tiny: below the point at which the air is saturated even with the super low vapor pressure.

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 27

I'm working out the logistics for trialing triethelyne glycol for pathogen control at a contra dance, and ran some tests to figure out how much to dilute it to get the right amount of vapor. www.jefftk.com/p/calibratin...

Calibrating an Ultrasonic Humidifier for Glycol Vapors

I'm working out the logistics for trialing triethelyne glycol for pathogen control at a contra dance, and I need something to put the liquid glycol into the air. I'd initially been thinking of using ...

Before having kids I thought teaching them to clean up would be similar to the rest of parenting: once they're physically able to do it you start practicing with them, and after a while they're indep...

4 3

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 24

Before having kids I thought teaching them to clean up would be similar to the rest of parenting: once they're physically able to do it you start practicing with them, and after a while they're independent and do it reliably. Tidying has not been one of these.

Kids and Cleaning

I generally find the numbers printed on pasta boxes for cooking time far too high: I'll set the timer for a minute below their low-end

1 6

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 23

I should have mentioned that I live at the bottom of Mponeng, sorry!

1 2

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 23

The numbers printed on pasta boxes for cooking time generally seem way high, even on the low end. I ran an experiment on some "13-15min" Rigatoni and we liked it best around 10min30s.

Pasta Cooking Time

I play by ear, and when I write tunes I normally save them by making a recording. This isn't ideal for sharing, though, especially with people who are more comfortable learning tunes from dots. I last...

3 6

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 19

This year you can order the nasal spray flu vaccine to your house, and self-administer. I just ordered for our whole family: $18 for five people, delivered.

I expect the kids to strongly prefer this to needles, and it's much easier logistically.

www.flumist.com

1 5

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 17

I play by ear, and when I write tunes I normally save them by making a recording. Since other people use dots, I'd like to have transcriptions, but this is hard. I had a go at this with AI tooling without success, and then did reasonably well writing four tunes out manually.

Writing Out My Tunes

BIDA Masking and Attendance

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 16

BIDA has now finished its second year alternating whether dances required N95s. Over 44 dances, mask-required averaged 166 (median 160) vs mask-optional at 190 (median 184).

BIDA has now finished its second year alternating between mask-optional and mask-required dances. What effect does this have on attendance? I tried to look at this in January 2024, but with only ele...

Trialing Far UVC and Glycol Vapors at BIDA

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 15

As we go into winter, the BIDA dance is thinking about infection reduction. Our primary approaches are requiring high-filtration masks at half our dances and bringing in large amounts of outside air, but at our 2025-09-07 dance we'll be testing far UVC and glycol vapors.

Cross-posted from the BIDA Blog As we go into winter, we're thinking about infection reduction. Our primary approaches are requiring high-filtration masks at half our dances (which we'll run another ...

Reference Contra Dance Sound System 2025

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 13

Here's an update of an older post, laying out an example sound system for a contra dance. The big changes are a switch to a digital mixer (XR18) and going from K10s to HD10As for speakers. Overall it's about $3.2k, 37% cheaper than 2014 in real terms.

In 2014 I wrote up a reference contra dance sound system, with gear recommendations and rough costs. I've been thinking a bit more about gear lately as BIDA has replaced some equipment, and I wanted ...

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 11

What changed in 2010?

Sturdier and Lighter Pedalboard

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 10

I rebuilt my pedalboard, saving 9.3lb (23%) which means it now all fits in a 50lb checked bag. It's also no longer falling apart, and should last more than a year.

A major part of my sound is a pedalboard. The key parts are: Four drum pedals, so I can play drums with my feet. A few guitar pedals, to play with the sound of my electric mandolin. A raspberry ...

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 9

Pro AI Bots Scraping List Archives

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 5

I'm on various mailing lists, and the archives are a trove of niche knowledge. A dance calling list I'm on is considering making archives subscriber-only, to keep AI bots from snarfing up this data. But I think this harvesting is overall a good thing: I'd prefer future LLMs gave good dance advice.

I'm on various mailing lists, and the archives are a trove of niche knowledge. A dance calling list I'm on is considering making archives subscriber-only, to keep AI bots from snarfing up this data. B...

One strategy we often find helpful with our kids is the

Jeff Kaufman @jefftk.com · Aug 1

When something doesn't go well with the kids a "do over" can offer a chance to try again. It quickly breaks the bad pattern and replaces it with a better one. You're not digging into what should have happened, you just jump back and try again. It works whether they, I, or both of us messed up.

Two Kinds of Do Overs