It's a great question. It seemed earlier in my life, e.g. 80s & 90s that people were moving towards greater comfort with nudity, AND have become more prudish about nudity in the 00s, 10s, 20s. When I go to one of the many hot springs that I like to visit in my region, it is often the case that I'm the only one who is nude. I've never been shy about my body, but the younger generations seem much more shy than they used to be, back when I was one of the younger generations. I tried looking up some articles to try and find an answer to your question, and most point to religion, and the puritanical origins of the current US culture. But there was a clear, from my viewpoint, decrease in this prudishness from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and a clear increase more recently.
I was at an onsen about an hour's drive from my home a few months back. There were people of varying genders, and pretty much everyone was wearing some sort of clothing in the water, something that makes no sense to me. And no one expressed any problem with me wearing a hairtie and some water shoes so I got in the water. It was heavenly, and we soaked and conversed for quite a while. Until this one guy shows up, gets into the top/ hottest pool, and a little while later after assessing that I've probably warmed up enough for some real heat. I walk up the steps from the second pool to the top pool, and start to get in... But this guy starts complaining that I'm nude, he's really bothered. I get one foot into the water, but it's too hot for me. And he looks like one of those red skinned wrathful demons featured in Tibetan Thankhas. So I ask if he's ok with me getting in the water, and he says, "no". Since I can't get in anyway I decide to give him a social "win" by retreating to the second pool. Meanwhile my friend starts lecturing the guy about how he needs to evict the inner cop from his mind. They guy just won't let up, tho. Since we've been there for quite a while already I decided it would be better if we left. Of course this means that to get to my clothes I have to go back up where he is, giving him another gander at my lovely exterior. I put my clothes on, and we left. Friends that I've told this story to have wondered if that guy was just one or a few views of the male physique away from discovering his true sexual interests.
I've fallen onto wireless charging, too. I got a cheapo disc deally that's next to my bed. And then got a car that had a wireless charger. It makes it easier when I'm changing music to not have to deal with a charge cord. The fact that it warms up when it's charging makes me think it's less efficient that a cord, tho'.
“We were not allowed to have any messaging apps on our work phones,” said one former top national security official on the condition of anonymity. “And under no circumstances were unclassified messaging apps allowed to be used for transmission of classified material. This is misdirection at its worst.”
The other tools in this recommendation:
Tor
OTR
TAILS
Qubes OS
I'll leave it to others to comment on the viability of the rest, and Signal has gotten an enormous 'signal boost' from Signalgate, so I'll count that as a win.
People will die directly as a result of the policies of this administration; literally there will be increases in morbidity and mortality. And pyutti could not be happier. It will take decades to recover from the damage done just up to this date. I cannot fathom what 45 more months will do in terms of harm to the US and to the rest of the world directly from these policies. smh.
I like your examples, and they might be close enough metaphorically. To stretch your metaphor to the breaking point, if the camo is so big it interferes with function, like the clown outfit, then the virus is "dead in the water", and can't replicate. If it's just a different hat or glasses, and doesn't interfere with function, then replication can happen.
I'm also waiting for that virologist or immunologist who is gonna correct the bits where I'm missing the point. I know some of those folks are out here 'on fedi', lol, but they might be disguised. ;-)
It looks like there's some discussion going on over on Bluesky about this presentation at ACS Spring 2025, which found using Universal Coronavirus Vaccine search string. Denis - The COVID Info Guy seemed particularly informative.
The glycan camouflage is less effective once the immune system has been exposed to the spike protein, and "knows" what to look for, so it can mount a response, through the T and B cells.
"The function of the spike glycoprotein is to mediate viral entry into the host cell by first interacting with molecules on the exterior cell surface and then fusing the viral and cellular membranes. " Because the spike protein is needed for mediating viral entry to the cell it has to remain in a particular structure to do that job. And so major changes to it would make it work less effectively, some minor changes might not, thus is is relatively unchanging a.k.a. conserved, because if it changed on a given virus particle, that particle wouldn't function, and thus wouldn't replicate.
People will die. Literally increasing morbidity AND mortality on purpose. WTaF?!?!