1. Politics of Humor; 2. Gender, Race and Medicine; 3. Open Research; ↕4. Zika; 5. Medical Soft Targets; 6. GMO Apples; 7. Medical Tourism ↔ Organ Theft; 8. The Price of Lox; 9. Doomsday Clock; 10. Medical Countermeasures (MCM); 11. DMORT; 12. Smog - Pollution; 13. Demographic Imbalance, GeoMagnetic Reversal; 14, ; ↕T. Trumpism ↔ Parademic; ↕C. Communications.
-1. Not Just Funny: Satirical News Has Serious Political Effects. Satirical news programs, often dismissed as mere entertainment, have real political effects on the people who watch them, new research suggests. A study found that people chose satirical news that matched their pre-existing attitudes – liberal or conservative – and that watching satirical news reinforced those attitudes as much as watching serious news. Not sure that this is correct, but then the focus of the study was reinforcement of a priori beliefs, not changing beliefs. There may have been a correlation during the Disneyland outbreak as it was largely provaccine and fostered the passing of SB227 in California. Ebola political cartoons was a mix of anti-government about bringing people with Ebola here [Meme], Kaci Hickox(Search)*, hate and fear mongering(Search), the threat of potential airborne(Search) (airlines and air) transmission; at the same time there was cartoons that ridiculed the panic and politicians who did nothing or exploited the fear. For Ebolaphopica this appears in the never happened aftermath to have persuaded some to a different view, while others remained entrenched in the previous beliefs. In the case of Zika there as lots of sarcasm about congress(Search) delaying funding (161030)-4.1↓, but that did not change congressional behavior, though both partisan sides were unhappy with the lack of action (giving in, compormise). Unable to find a full copy of the reference article to see if these parademic issues appeared, but from the title the data was from video news, not political cartoons or humorous essays which was my source. Selecting Serious or Satirical, Supporting or Stirring News. Selective Exposure to Partisan versus Mockery News Online Videos.
*. Why the C.D.C.’s Power to Quarantine Should Worry Us. This opinion piece is reminiscent of FEMA Camps during the Obama administration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new regulations this month that give it broad authority to quarantine Americans. The rules outline for the first time how the federal government can restrict interstate travel during a health crisis, and they establish in house oversight of whether someone should be detained, without providing a clear and direct path to challenge a quarantine order in federal court. State and local authorities had previously been the ones to usually deal with issues like this during epidemics. Now the administration of Donald J. Trump has even more authority to detain people than the Obama administration had during the Ebola crisis. 170122-T.B, 170101-3↓. This is a bit disingenuous as it was the CDC during Ebola that was not recommending quarantine and the states were the ones that were over reacting. The power that public heath departments have has always been scary in the implications of what they could do. Fortunately there are very few cases of abusing this power or reaction in an overabundance of caution.
-2. January 23, 1849 First Woman M.D., in the US as well as on the UK Medical Register. Elizabeth Blackwell graduated with the highest grades in her class and was granted an M.D. Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women. Johns Hopkins and the Feminist Legacy: How a Group of Baltimore Women Shaped American Graduate Medical Education. Women in Medicine: How Female Doctors Have Changed the Face of Medicine. This issue of differences in gender when providing medical care is not one I have seen reported in media. I have heard from medical personnel that there is an assumption in some places or groups that women are nurses and men are doctors, and some resistence of being treated by a woman, or resistence of treatment by men. No reports of overt resistence from men or women coworkers based on gender [Strip].
-A. The following is an anecdote, not verified information; from military personnel have also been told that women were not recognized as women when they were in uniform in some countries, but when they were not in uniform the surprise of people to recognize they were female. Jan 26, 1961, Kennedy Appoints First Female Presidential Physician. Young Girls Are less Apt to Think That Women Are Really, Really Smart, apologize for the implied bias that doctors are smart, too much evidence that not all have that quality.
-B. A transgender informant from an ethnographic study I did in graduate school (Close Enough) reported to me with amusement at herself that she would also assume that women were not fellow physicists. ¶ This is an example of an illustrative anecdote. Helps illustrate a point, but is not definitive evidence and susceptible to becoming reasoning by anecdote. An over generalization of a single case as being representative of a whole category. They can be useful, but are likely to be urban legends from a Friend of a Friend (FOAF)* 6.3↓. An anecdote can also be given a different meaning than intended by the originator, usually by focusing on alternative, value laden, meaning of terms such as transgender or informant. This error can be exacerbated if one assumes what the thesis Close Enough was about from the context. The thesis was actually a study of linguistic relativity and application of rumor theory to ethnographic methodology. Two recent illustrative anecdotes of this is How a Secret Service Controversy Turned a Professor’s Life into an Online Nightmare. New York University’s Kerry O'Grady was confused for a Secret Service agent by the same name. The agent is under investigation for appearing to indicate that she would not take a bullet for President Trump; And The Conspiracy Theorist in the White House. There are parts of the president’s job that affect the security of the United States, its preparedness for disasters and epidemics, the strength of its economy, and a thousand issues besides. These duties are many, and they are grueling, and they are not fun.
-*. In today’s world much of the spread of gossip, misinformation, conspiracy theory, rumor is via a social media platform, the modern equivalent of word of mouth. Finding Credibility Clues on Twitter. By scanning 66 million tweets linked to nearly 1,400 real world events, including the emergence of Ebola in West Africa, researchers have built a language model that identifies words and phrases that lead to strong or weak perceived levels of credibility on Twitter. Their findings suggest that the words of millions of people on social media have considerable information about an event's credibility – even when an event is still ongoing. ¶ The classifications included positive and negative emotions, hedges and boosters, and anxiety. Tweets with booster words, such as 'undeniable,' and positive emotion terms, such as 'eager' and 'terrific,' were viewed as highly credible. Words indicating positive sentiment but mocking the impracticality of the event, such as 'ha,' 'grins' or 'joking,' were seen as less credible. So were hedge words, including 'certain level' and 'suspects'. Higher numbers of retweets also correlated with lower credibility scores. Replies and retweets with longer message lengths were thought to be more credible. It could be that longer message lengths provide more information or reasoning, so they're viewed as more trustworthy. On the other hand, a higher number of retweets, which was scored lower on credibility, might represent an attempt to elicit collective reasoning during times of crisis or uncertainty.
-Quote: If you suspect that reality is a figment of your imagination, you are correct. – Robert Blew
-.2.1. Besides gender there are issues about race/ethnicity/culture. How Race Consciousness Influences Your Likelihood of Getting a Flu Shot and how they may influence attitudes and behaviors towards the flu vaccine.
-2.2. How Victorian Gender Norms Shaped the Way We Think About Animal Sex. That males are naturally promiscuous while females are coy and choosy is a widely held belief. Even many scientists—including some biologists, psychologists and anthropologists—tout this notion when interviewed by the media about almost any aspect of male-female differences, including in human beings. In fact, certain human behaviors such as rape, marital infidelity and some forms of domestic abuse have been portrayed as adaptive traits that evolved because males are promiscuous while females are sexually reluctant [Photo]. Context is critical for parademic. One cannot fully understand The Crucible* unless one understands the historical, biological and social context of the Salem Witch trials and McCarthyism [Slide Show] Salem Finalizes Plans for Memorial Where ‘Witches’ Were Executed. Same is true of Trumpism T↕. Biodisaster and parademic will occur in the context of Trumpism, but neither can be completely understood if only interpreted in the context of Trumpism (though much of what happens in todays world will need to consider the influence of Trumpism), and Trumpism cannot fully be understood in terms of just biodisaster and parademic. ¶ Does Your Plan Address Gender Issues. In addressing the issues of women in disasters, we sometimes focus too much on vulnerabilities rather than need.
-*. The New Play about 'Roe V. Wade' Is a Prism for Looking at the American Divide is another example of political theater, that has parademic implications, is about a contemporary politicized issue that influences parademic. Roe v. Wade Is a ‘Jealous God’ That Demands Blood and Generates Rage. 'Alternative Facts' and the Anti-Abortion Movement.
-2.3. Another historical event that had unexpected biosphere consequences. Jan 24, 1935, First Canned Beer Goes on Sale. Today, canned beer accounts for approximately half of the $20 billion U.S. beer industry. Not all of this comes from the big national brewers: Recently, there has been renewed interest in canning from microbrewers and high end beer sellers, who are realizing that cans guarantee purity and taste by preventing light damage and oxidation. Unfortunately there are Environmental Consequences of Beverage Container Waste [Photo, Photo].
-3. This issue has appeared before in parademic, in fact part of the design of parademic was to track its own research as it evolved. John Arnold Made a Fortune at Enron. Now He’s Declared War on Bad Science. There is mounting evidence that science itself – through its systems of publication, funding, and advancement – had become biased toward generating a certain kind of finding: novel, attention grabbing, but ultimately unreliable. The incentives to produce positive results were so great, that some scientists were simply locking their inconvenient data away. The problem even had a name: the file drawer effect. Keeping a public log of the experiments, hypotheses, methods, workflows, and data as they worked. That way, it is harder for them to go back and cherry pick their sexiest data after the fact, and easier for other researchers to come in and replicate the experiment later. Have registered with the Center for Open Science Blew, R. A. (2017, January 23). Parademic, Human behavior in the context of biodisaster. This is partly to explore if this is something useful for parademic, and partly to find if there are others working the same topic.
↕4. Culturally Antagonistic Memes and the Zika Virus: An Experimental Test. This paper examines a remedy for a defect in existing accounts of public risk perceptions. The accounts in question feature 2 dynamics: the affect heuristic, which emphasizes the impact of visceral feelings on information processing; and the cultural cognition thesis, which describes the tendency of individuals to form beliefs that reflect and reinforce their group commitments.
-4.1. Unrecognized Emergence of Chikungunya Virus during a Zika Virus Outbreak in Salvador, Brazil. Public health authorities and health professionals did not immediately detect the increase in CHIKV cases, likely because all the attention was directed to the ZIKV outbreak and ensuing complications. It is important that regions in the world that harbor arbovirus vectors and did not experience intense ZIKV and CHIKV transmission be prepared for the potential co-emergence of these two viruses. This is always a potential during a disease outbreak, another outbreak that is masked by the first, or attention is so focused on one disease that another is neglected. Effects of Response to 2014–2015 Ebola Outbreak on Deaths from Malaria, HIV/AIDS, and Tuberculosis, West Africa. ¶ Ironically one of the contributing causes to Ebola and Malaria is the cutting down of forests when African Trees Kill Both Malaria Mosquitos and the Parasite.
-5. Doctors and Nurses of Aleppo Wonder What to Do Next. Right up until he absolutely had to leave, nurse Abu Hussam was determined to stay in Aleppo. Months of airstrikes and assaults couldn't dissuade him - his community needed him. When forces supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad moved in to take control of the city last month, Abu Hussam was among the last of the civilians evacuated from the city. He couldn't stay, because the Syrian government has persecuted medical staff and their families for treating rebels. The Solidarity and Health Neutrality of Physicians in War & Peace. Nice idea but I don’t see it working unless all of medical unite to support each other. For instance when the Syrian/Russians Jets bombed hospitals then Syrian/Russian physicians would have to go on strike to stop attacks on hospitals. Good luck with that ever happening, A third party could bomb the hospitals on the offending side, but again that is not easy. This methods would not work at all against non-nation actors. This is one of the roles missing from the cooperative game Pandemic 170122-T.B↓ with non cooperating actors such as terrorist after soft targets(Search), abortion(Search) clinic bombers andassassins, anti-GMO(Search) 6.1↓, or anti-vaccine(Search) Another Reminder That There Is No Autism Epidemic, More Evidence Autism Rates Not Truly Increasing, or anti-science(Search), or animal rights destroying research, medical scams(Search), patients and communities that attack health care workers and facilities, panicked people “quarantining(Search)” medical personnel, politicians that seek a short term personal gain, business looking for a quick buck, countries saving face, corrupt(Search) officials.
-5.1. Russia Ditches Plan to Increase Spending on HIV/AIDS. The Russian Health Ministry has decided that the country cannot afford to spend $1.2 billion that was supposed to go toward ramping up the response to its burgeoning HIV/AIDS epidemic. How Much Has the Syrian Civil War Cost Russia and the US. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement Monday on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria comes amid worsening economic conditions in Russia, with low oil prices and Western sanctions battering the economy. Both Russia and the U.S. have spent millions of dollars a day on operations in Syria. Russia began airstrikes in Syria Sept. 30, 2015, and its 137 day involvement in the conflict has been estimated to cost approximately $3-4 million a day. The Russian government has not released its own figures, and IHS has noted that its estimates could in fact be higher because cruise missile assaults were not included in the daily costs. At the lower end of $3 million a day, Russia’s involvement has thus far cost the Kremlin approximately $498 million, with higher end estimates at $664 million, relatively low figures when compared with Russia’s defense budget of approximately $50 billion. Russia's AIDS Epidemic Reaches Crisis Levels (2016) and is on the threshold of moving from a concentrated epidemic, where HIV is highly prevalent in one subsetof the population, to a generalized epidemic, where HIV rates among the general population are sufficient for sexual networking to drive new infections. ¶ The Russian epidemic has been driven by very harsh drug laws and a lack of harm reduction and needle exchange programs, as well as repressive homosexuality laws. The Russian Federation continues to steadfastly deny the evidence on the effectiveness of harm reduction, and the rates of HIV infection among people who inject drugs in the country are among the highest in the world. ¶ 204,000 people have died of HIV in Russia since the first case was recorded in 1987. Expected the number of new cases in 2015 at least 93,000, up from just under 90,000 in 2014. AIDS in Russia, Immune to Reason may be returning to US policy relatively soon. Fighter Jets Will Be Sent to Guam as Russia Gets Provocative. Russian Grounds Tu-95 Bear Bomber Fleet (2015),
-5.2. Post Ebola Reforms: Ample Analysis, Inadequate Action. Better preparedness and a faster, more coordinated response could have prevented most of the 11 000 deaths directly attributed to Ebola and also the broader economic, social, and health crises that ensued. In the aftermath of this collective failure, numerous reports were published reviewing what went wrong and how infectious disease outbreaks should be better managed T.4.1↓. Agree that there is probably sufficient analysis on the clinical side, and action so far is inadequate. The inadequate action is partly because there is still limited understanding about the broader economic, social and health crisis that were not the aftermath but existed before and fostered the outbreak in the first place. One reason for the inadequate response is Where Are Sierra Leone's Missing Ebola Millions, nearly three years after Ebola hit funds raised to fight the deadly virus have still not been accounted for. Why spend money solving a problem if it is not going to be directed at solving the problem.
-6. The First Non-Browning GMO Apples Slated to Hit Shelves Next Month. The Anti-GMO response will be worth watching. GMO Arctic Apples to Hit Shelves Next Month Without Clear Labeling, the labeling is important because it is hard to make people afraid of something that they can’t identify, and labeling implies something is wrong. The evaluation of these arctic apples has taken a few years Genetically Modified Non-Browning Apples Are Approved in the U.S. (2015). and already faced resistence and the same arguments are likely to be used again, Core Truths: 10 Common GMO Claims Debunked (2014), Three New “Non-Browning” GMO Apples to Hit Store Shelves. Here is How to Avoid Them. There will also be conspiracy theory arguments that these apples were foisted upon the public covertly and that the FDA/BigAg was involved [Cartoon, Cartoon, Meme, Photo, Meme, Chart]. ¶ Another expected anti-GMO target will be First Stable Semisynthetic Organism Created, New Organisms with Synthetic DNA Could Lead to Entirely New Life Forms.
-6.1. GMOs are not a biodisaster, though like any manipulation of life (agriculture to zoology) could have unintentional consequences that could be biodisaster. GMO is a parademic as it is a cultural response to biodisaster, such as famine. Anti-GMO is not a parademic unless it hinders efforts to control and contain biodisaster. ¶ Anti-GMO is of parademic interest as it is a weak indicator of possible resistence to biodisaster efforts. An indicator is not an absolute clue to what will happen, but one anticipate what is more likely to happen. ¶ A community that does not practice cremation, with traditions against the practice, are more likely to resist cremations and mass graves. ¶ Anti-GMO has been associated with resistence to pesticides (not an unreasonable concern), conspiracy theories, erroneous natural marketing, anti-vaccine (which has fostered disease outbreaks), phobia of unlikely events (at least so far no dangerous mutations have developed), apophenia, logical fallacies 5↑. These can cause hindrance to biodisaster responses, or can be channeled into assistance. 7 Things I Learned from Being Involved in the GMO “Debate”, Questions on GMOs, The FDA's Newly Proposed GMO Rules Are Nonsense. Donald Trump Dominates Natural News 2016 Presidential Poll as Runaway Favorite with 44.3% of the Vote; 97.9% of Readers Reject Establishment Candidates, Dilbert Creator Scott Adams Endorses Trump, Says Hillary Is a Bully 8, T.3.1↓.
-6.2. Wonder if anti-GMO will object to this, or accept simply because it is a return to being natural. The Quest to Return Tomatoes to Their Full Flavored Glory. We’ve bred the original tomato taste out of existence. Now geneticists are asking: Can we put it back. There is also the possibility of improved coffee A Coffee Renaissance Is Brewing, and It’s All Thanks to Genetics. ¶ This other though will cause outrage about franken– 170108-11↓, Controversial Research on Creation of Human/ Animal Embryos Published, First Human/Pig Chimera Is a Step Toward Custom Organs, Scientists Create a Part Human, Part Pig Embryo — Raising the Possibility of Interspecies Organ Transplants. This is a double whammy of being both GMO and organ donation, Why Don't More People Want to Donate Their Organs around 21 Americans die each day waiting for transplants. What's behind the reluctance to posthumously save a life, 7↓. Synthetic Biology: Governance for a Small Planet, #Book Synthetic Biology: Safety, Security, and Promise.
-6.3. ‘Aspartame Causes Cancer' Was a Classic Internet Hoax. The aspartame myth goes back to a letter circulating on the '90s internet. It was supposedly written by Nancy Markle, who had “spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE” on aspartame, supposedly happened in 1995. The kicker: Nancy Markle never existed. The letter was written by an aspartame truther named Betty Martini. She's still around online, if you're interested. But the letter’s use of all caps writing and conversational (read: poorly punctuated) tone to convey “scientific” information probably looks familiar for anyone who's spent any time on the internet. The letter made its way around the internet for years and is still around as chain mail. It's the canonical example of an internet hoax, and it spread quickly. In a very different letter printed in The Lancet, American medicine’s foremost journal, in 1999, researchers wrote that they had found over 6,000 websites mentioning aspartame, with many saying it was the cause of multiple sclerosis, lupus erythematosis, Gulf War Syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, brain tumors and diabetes mellitus among many others. The internet was relatively small back then, and it had been growing rapidly every year since 1995. The aspartame hoax grew with it, as people tried to navigate this new technology 6.4↓. Virtually none of those 6,000 websites offered sound evidence. 2.A↑.
-6.4. There is also the tendency to default to a technological solution(Search) for biological and social problems 6.3↑. Sorry, Silicon Valley, but ‘Disruption’ Isn’t a Cure All. When it comes to addressing epidemics, and a lot of other global challenges, the Silicon Valley startup mentality doesn’t work. ¶ Late last year, a colleague and I found ourselves pitching our science to an organization that spends millions of tech industry dollars to accelerate and disrupt the kind of research we do. Their representative was just out of college, and he carried himself with the aggressively relaxed manner of a new Silicon Valley convert. Despite his confidence, it soon became clear that he knew virtually nothing about epidemiology, biostatistics, health systems, or health policy. He was nevertheless convinced that cash and some programmers should be able to fix global health. 170115-6.1↓. We observed this technological default during Ebola, directing effort to do social media monitoring when there was not infrastructure, of creating GIS maps for Liberia where roads and villages in literally fluid, and putting in near state of the art Ebola Treatment Units that were no longer needed by the time finished. The author of this article is not an anti-tech luddite, Cell Phones Can Become a Weapon Against Disease, Caroline Buckee: Mobile Devices and Disease Detection Panel (Video), How Cellphones Helped Researchers Track Malaria In Kenya.
-7. Another dark side and risk of Medical Tourism(Search). Pakistani Police Rescue 24 from Organ Trafficking Gang 6.2↑. The UK is signed up to the Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Human Organs, and the Department of Health told us there were systems in place to prevent organ trafficking in the UK. But NHS doctors have told us they had seen desperate patients go abroad to buy kidneys. Data from NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) shows that Pakistan is the number one destination of choice for patients seeking a kidney overseas. Overall, about 400 people have received follow up treatment in the UK after having had transplants overseas, since the year 2000. Medics say cases are likely to be under reported, and the figures do not include those patients who do not come back, or do not survive the operation. Medical Tourism has a number of parademic overlaps, exploitation, conspiracy theory, the blurring between fiction and reality You've Got to Be Kidneying, Organ Theft, raising costs of health care, poverty, health inequality, and one of the sources for the spread of antibiotic resistence.
-8. Salmon Prices Surge as Parasites Plague Fish Farms. Salmon farmers, who provide the vast majority of the fish sold to U.S. consumers, face myriad environmental challenges, including an outbreak of sea lice that global warming could be exacerbating, say scientists. The parasites, which feed on the fish’s blood and tissue, reportedly are growing immune to the pesticides that producers are using to battle them. Economic impact of a biodisaster if one of the first indicators that a biodisaster will be taken seriously and the event will become parademic. One of the potential ways to control this is by GMO, which will be opposed (Poster, Poster, Poster, Cartoon) 6.1↑.
-9. Watch the Doomsday Clock Announcement. Factors influencing the 2017 deliberations regarding any adjustment that may be made to the Doomsday Clock include: a rise in strident nationalism worldwide, President Donald Trump’s comments on nuclear arms and climate issues prior to his inauguration on January 20th, a darkening global security landscape that is colored by increasingly sophisticated technology, and a growing disregard for scientific expertise, T.3↓. Handicapping This Year's Doomsday Clock Adjustment. Every year, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists decides how much closer we are to apocalypse. It Is Now Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight. Doomsday clock moves ahead. Words matter: Board marks 70th anniversary of iconic clock by expressing concern about unsettling and ill considered statements of President Trump on nuclear weapons and climate change, The World Just Ticked a Bit Closer to Doomsday Thanks to Trump, Thanks to Trump, the Doomsday Clock Advances Toward Midnight, Doomsday Clock Ticks Closer to Apocalypse Measure of Humanity's Risk of Annihilation Now Sits at 2.5 Minutes to Midnight, the highest level of alert since 1953. Poll 1. Less than 3 minutes to midnight: 79% 2. Stay at 3 minutes to midnight: 10% 3. More than 3 minutes to midnight: 11%. In terms of a biodisaster/All BioHazards (ABH) the clock should be moved closer to midnight than this. The threat of a biodisaster remains the same increasing threat, but the ability to spot the initial emergence and/or acceleration of a biodisaster (Impact of Increasing the Number of Ebola Surveillance Officers), to mobilize, to contain and to control have already decreased markedly during this past week. Trump Supporters Don’t like His Climate Policies. [Meme, Photoshop, Photoshop]. Here’s One Way Trump’s Team Could Manipulate Government Data, with plans to recalculate the social cost of carbon, which has been called “the most important number you’ve never heard of”.
-9.1. Doomsday Prep for the Super Rich. Some of the wealthiest people in America – in Silicon Valley, New York, and beyond – are getting ready for the crackup of civilization. Less focused on a specific threat – a quake, a pandemic, a dirty bomb – than on the aftermath. The temporary collapse of government and structures. Wealthy survivalists swap tips on gas masks, bunkers, and locations safe from the effects of climate change. One member has an underground bunker with an air filtration system. Historically the wealthy have always buffered themselves from disasters that impact on the general population: fortified palaces, islands, mountain tops, estates in the country, gated communities, penthouses. These did not always work against biodisaster, sometimes becoming traps. The continued fear of collapse of society is a self created parademic issue. Super Rich American ‘Preppers’ Buying in New Zealand Ready for US Doomsday, Trump Apocalypse - 13,000 Americans Register Interest in Moving to NZ. Silicon Valley Billionaires Are Preparing for the Apocalypse with Motorcycles, Guns, and Private Hideaways, Doomsday Bunkers of the Rich & Famous: "You Need So Many Things to Ride out the Apocalypse".
-A. What the Stat about the 8 Richest Men Doesn't Tell Us about Inequality. It's a shocking statistic that caught the world's attention last week: Just eight men own the same wealth as 3.6 billion people living in poverty — that's half the population of the planet. There are about 1,810 billionaires, down from a record 1,826 a year ago. Their aggregate net worth: $6.5 trillion, $570 million less than last year (Mar 1, 2016), The World's Billionaires. That is probably not enough people to sustain civilization and would take a few thousand years to repopulate the planet with Humans. Wage Disparity Took Another Turn for the Worse Last Year.
-9.2. ∩ Why Shock Tactics No Longer Work When Trying to Sell Resilience. Why attempting to convince organizations to take business resilience seriously through fear of what can go wrong is no longer an effective tactic. Taking a positive approach to the benefits of resilience is much more likely to achieve real interest. ¶ There has always been a caveat about crisis communication should not create angst and panic; for obvious reasons. Today, if you stopped someone in the street today and told them the emergency services and other agencies were training and exercising for a terrorist attack, half the public would have fear that something was going to happen and the other half would say that they would expect them to be training given what goes on around the world today. Sadly the world changes and will continue to do so. Disasters and tragedies happen: not more frequently, but the technology of today enables it to be reported instantly. They have become more ‘common place’ and accepted norms even though they still cause shock, outrage and disbelief. ¶ Until there is an ‘up front’ type of benefit to having resilience, such as an insurance premium discount or a due diligence pass for a business banking loan, rather than just solely concentrating on the concept that you will be better prepared for something which might never happen, then we will always be trying to ‘hustle’ resilience onto organizations. [Meme, Meme, Meme, Meme].
-10. Health Security Memos to the New Administration and Congress. Protecting the Nation from Health Security Threats. Funding and Organization of US Federal Biosecurity Security Programs. Healthcare Preparedness: Saving Lives. Strengthening the US Medical Counter-Measure Enterprise for Biological Threats. Assessing and Addressing US Health Security Risks. Improving Biosurveillance Systems to Enable Situational Awareness During Public Health Emergencies. Strengthening US Public Health Preparedness and Response Operations. Partnering with Communities to Foster Trust, Save More Lives, and Prompt Recovery in Epidemics and Disasters. A Biosafety Agenda to Spur Biotechnology Development and Prevent Accidents. When the Next Disease Strikes: How To Communicate (and How Not To) C↓. Maintaining US Leadership in Emerging Biotechnologies to Grow the Economy of the Future. International Engagement Is Critical to Fighting Epidemics. Prevention of the Development or Use of Biological Weapons. If the implications of T.3↓ are correct this will not be widely read by congress or the administration. Why Prepare or Mitigate Today – We've got Plenty of Time.
Procrastination is a spectator sport – not being in the game. We Don't Need No More Stinking Studies, action, not studies is what is needed. Washington's 30 Year Earthquake Drill for the 'Big One': Order Studies. Ignore Them. Repeat.
-11. Preparing for the Worst: Alabama's Mortuary Response Team Trains in Cullman. If that sounds morbid, it can’t be helped. When bad things happen and lives are lost, someone has to step into action to begin picking up the pieces — in every sense. Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORTs) [Patch]. Team Structure is a flexible NIMS structures depending on the needs of the situation. DMORTs do not have their own logistics and public informtion elements so they depend of the larger NIMS to provide those. In a biodisaster mass fatality an ICS would be designed around DMORT, while a bioweapons event would be structures around investigation and forensics. Mass Fatality Management: Local & Regional Planning, DMORT Standard Operating Procedures for National Transportation Safety Board Activations, Managing Mass Fatalities: A Toolkit for Planning.
-11.1. How to Calculate the Economic Impact of Grief. It might seem callous to link the huge pain of mourning for a lost child to the implications for the parents’ earnings. As the stereotype suggests, it takes an economist to quantify emotions in terms of money. And I admit that the economic impact is of second order importance when seen in the light of the intense grief in such heartbreaking circumstances. ¶ Not all parents suffer to the same extent in terms of their earnings. Data shows that many years after the loss of a child, some parents earn 30% less, year after year after year, whereas others start with an income loss of 10% but then almost fully recover their income loss some six years later. ¶ The economic well being of the parents suffers for a long time after the intense grief has subsided. In addition, parents who lose a child are more likely to leave employment, get divorced, and experience a deterioration in mental health. In the first years after the loss, the probability of hospitalization for mental health problems is two to three times higher than otherwise. Of course, these are average effects, and there are many bereaved parents who are less affected. ¶ Talking about death is never easy. But if we can anticipate the economic problems that bereaved parents are likely to face, it may be possible to help them avoid the additional pain of financial destitution. Early Family Deaths May Create 'Grief Gap' for Black Americans.
-12. Smog Pushes Beijing Residents to Innovate for the World. Beijing residents concerned about breathing the capital's thick gray air are adapting, inventing and even creating businesses to protect the health of their families and others. Some of their efforts could help people around the world. Air Pollution and Lack of Physical Activity Pose Competing Threats to Children in China. ADDED: Beijing Smog Is Rich in Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a sense antibiotics resistance is another form of pollution. Fear, Then Skepticism, Over Antibiotic-Resistant Genes in Beijing Smog. Researchers did not find live bacteria capable of infecting anyone, despite discovering antibiotic-resistant genetic material in the smog. Beijing Air Quality Turns Bad Again. ¶ 2015 Indonesian Fires Exposed 69 Million to “Killer Haze”, Death Toll Climbs to 11 in Chile Forest Fires, T.2↓. Smog: What Lurks Within. Researchers Dive Into the Science of London's Deadly Fog of 1952, when up to 12,000 people died when acidic fog covered the city of London. 170108-13, 170101-6, 161225-5, 161218-9, 161113-2 et al↓.
-12.1. The Continent That Contributes the Most to E Waste Is .... While the world becomes more wired through laptops, tablets and mobile phones, a mountain of electronic waste — or e-waste — is also growing. The greatest contributor to that stock of e waste is Asia.
-12.2. An illustrative example of a biodisaster that was slow, hidden, and still not receiving attention. Underground Fires, Toxins in Unfunded Cleanup of Old Mines. The fire, which may have started with arson, lightning or a forest fire, smoldered for several years before bursting into flames last July in rural Preston County. The growing blaze moved the mine to the top of a list of thousands of problem decades old coal sites in West Virginia awaiting cleanup and vying for limited federal funds. ¶ Despite being one of the most affected, federal officials have only one-third of West Virginia's proposed cleanup costs on their $7 billion national list of high-priority work. The sites include old mines that leak acidic water into streams and kill wildlife and dangerous holes that attract children. Tunnels and caverns beneath homes also need to be shored up and new water lines are needed where wells are polluted.
-13. This may be a new category of biodisaster. The demographic, population and organic imbalance that will impact on continuity of species. Still a speculation but not limited to human populations, but the larger system when the various elements that make up an ecology or population are so far out of ratio that the system collapses. This can be dis_apportions of gross population, age, gender, mutually supporting species, food sources. The Countries That Will Be Most Impacted by Aging Population (2014). Elderly Economics: Offsetting the Graying of China, China's One Child Policy Change Will Take Decades to Relieve Economic Pressures of Aging Population, China Population Crisis: New Two Child Policy Fails To Yield Major Gains. China’s Hunger for World’s Food Grows, and U.S. Farmers Are Glad. White Fear of Demographic Change Is a Powerful Psychological Force.
-13.1. Another new biodisaster may be GeoMagnetic Reversal. The possibility of this has been known for decades Magnetic Pole Reversal Happens All The (Geologic) Time but the impacts are uncertain. Why the Earth’s Magnetic Poles Could Be about to Swap Places – and How it Would Affect us. A Solar Magnetic Reversal Means There’s No Need to Flip out – Yet.
-14. An Empire of Remedy. Vaccination, Natives, and Narratives in the North American West. In 1832, the United States began an extensive program to vaccinate Indians against smallpox. The program reached roughly 50,000 Indians both friendly and hostile to U.S. authorities. The program was far-reaching because more than they feared Indians, Americans feared the smallpox virus. Their terror was palpable in narratives published in the 1830s. In addition, as narratives from the period make clear, rather than thinking of diseases such as smallpox as providential scourges that would clear the way for U.S. settlement, officials offered the smallpox vaccine to Indians in an effort to win their goodwill, and detach them from alliances with Britain or Mexico (both of whom also offered vaccine to the Indians). Finally, as the U.S. began its tentative first moves into the West, narratives about vaccinating Indians helped Americans convince themselves that they were not simply conquerors but healers. Fits well with the narrative of the invading Europeans bringing disease to North America.
↕T. United We Can't Stand. A new congressional bill seeks to end U.S. participation in the United Nations, but the same bill has been introduced to each new Congress for 20 years running. This usually does not warrant much attention, but with proposals of withdrawing from NATO, the World Trade Organization and other International organizations this takes on more meaning the usual. In addition this would also imply withdrawal from the World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization, Northern Emergency Management Assistance Compact, Pacific Northwest Emergency Management Arrangement and defunding of the US Agency of International Development, which supports several international health Non Governmental Organizations. The first of these actions will be the North American Free Trade Agreement, United States/Mexico Coordination on Public Health Events of Mutual Interest, Trump Says Will Begin Renegotiating NAFTA Pact Soon, Mexico President Speaks with Canada's Trudeau Ahead of Trump Talks. ¶ This is not the first time in US history this type of political movement has happened. How the 19th Century Know Nothing Party Reshaped American Politics. From xenophobia to conspiracy theories, the Know Nothing party launched a nativist movement whose effects are still felt today.
-T.1. Fact Check: Science and the Trump Administration*. Many in the science community have expressed concern about the lack of science literacy demonstrated by the new Trump administration. A look at the administration's statements and actions related to five key issues that are informed by science – anthropogenic climate change, vaccines, evolution taught in public schools, environmental science and protection of public lands, and human rights — bolsters that concern. Four of these directly impact biodisaster. All, and one specifically, impacts science literacy of the general population, which influences parademic. Memo Freezing NIH Communications with Congress Triggers Jitters, Trump Bans Agencies from 'Providing Updates on Social Media or to Reporters', Trump Administration Tells EPA to Cut Climate Page from Website, Trump Administration Imposes Freeze On EPA Grants and Contracts, Trump Administration Backs off Plan to Scrub Climate Pages from EPA Website. EPA Scientists' Work May Face 'Case by Case' Review by Trump Team, Trump Silences Government Scientists with Gag Orders, The Nation’s Top Scientists Can’t Get Through to Trump — and They’re Alarmed, What the Hell Is Going on at the EPA Right Now. ¶ Trump Administration Seeks to Muzzle U.S. Agency Employees, For a Few Hours, Badlands National Park Was Bad to the Bone in Defiance of Trump [Art, Tweet, Tweet, Patch - Patch, Tweet], National Park Disservice, It’s Not Just the Park Service: 'Rogue' Federal Twitter Accounts Multiply, Top Download from Any Federal Site Right Now Is Park Service Report on Climate Change. ¶ Trump Administration Cancels Ads Encouraging Obamacare Sign Ups, Health Care Signup Deadline Approaches on Jan. 31, TN Lawmaker Lashes Back at Trump, Pushes Obamacare Enrollment, Trump Administration Backtracks Part Way on ACA Enrollment Outreach.
-*. Reminds one of when the Governor of Florida made it policy that state officials could not refer to climate change or sea level rise, a precursor of the current federal actions. It was funny then, not so funny now. Rick Scott's Ban on State Officials Acknowledging Global Warming Imperils Florida (2015), Florida Environment Official Dismissed for Mentioning Climate Change at Work (2015), Florida’s Not the Only State Where Officials Censored the Term ‘Climate Change’ (2015), Evidence of Gov. Rick Scott's Ban on "Climate Change" (Video) (2015), Gov. Rick Scott’s Anti-Science Purge Begins: State Employee Banned for Uttering ‘Climate Change’ (2015). Governor Scott Orders 1.5 Million Floridians to Flee the Result of Climate Changein (2016), 161113-4.1E, 150322-39↓, [Meme, Meme, Meme]. In someways one can understand not learning from history, but not learning from current events is something different.
-T.1.2. Scientists Join Massive Protest Against Trump, First Women, Now Scientists Are Planning to March on Washington, Government Scientists Go 'Rogue' in Defiance of Trump, Scientists Are Quickly Mobilizing to Protest Trump, Why Scientists Are Planning Their Own March on Washington, C↓ [Cover, Meme]. H5N1 reports something similar happened in Canada, Harper's Seven Year War on Science. \fs24cf3 Ben Stein Roused by Suppression in Science (2008), What the US Can Learn from Canada's Battle with an Anti-Science Government. ¶ Are Federal Homeland Security Funds at Risk Due to Sanctuary City Status. This will take time to sort out, and perhaps the legal battle will consume four years of time. Disagree, this action could take place immediately, then the legal process could take years to sort out. In the meantime funds could be cut off creating massive vulnerabilities in trying to solve a security problem that did not actually exist in the first place. Trump Threatens 'Sanctuary' Cities with Loss of Federal Funds. Trump's Budget Director Pick: “Do We Really Need Government Funded Research at All”.
-T.2. Trump Bans U.S. Funding for Groups That 'Promote' Abortion Overseas, which will disqualify many groups that provide health care, reproductive health care, women’s health care, pediatrics, surgery, infectious disease control, preventative medicine, prenatal care, infant care, environmental health. In short nearly every medical NGO, IGO in the world. Domestic agencies that are associated with abortion that get federal funding are likely to be included later, or are already targets by states. This could exacerbate situations like Malnutrition Wiping Out Children in Northern Nigeria, Aid Workers Say, malnutrition also increases risks for disease outbreaks and provides a recruitment tool for extremist groups. A move to watch for that will impact on HIV is executive orders and laws related to homosexuality. Belgians, Dutch Join in Opposing Trump's Anti-Abortion Plans, Dutch Commit $10 Million to Replace Lost U.S.Abortion Funding. Global Gag Rule Will Cause More Abortions, Not Fewer, Trump’s ‘Gag Rule’ Will Harm Global Health, US Anti-UN, Anti-Abortion Orders Threaten Global Health, 'Global Gag Rule' Jeopardises Future of Asia Health Initiatives, Campaigners Say, United States: the Mexico City Policy Endangers Women's Lives. Agricultural Fires in Brazil Harm Infant Health, a Warning for the Developing World 12↑. Why Do We Need Large Population Studies, Large Study Finds 14 New Genetic Disorders in Children. ¶ Doctors: Kids to Suffer under Trump's Immigration Policies, Fear of Refugees Isn’t Logical. It’s Emotional. And That’s Why It’s So Powerful, The Toxic Health Effects of Deportation Threat. Another characteristic of parademic in persistence in erroneous belief, becoming entrenched in an ideation when it is challanged, and doubling down (2) Despite Dissent, Trump Gives No Sign of Backing down from Ban.
-T.3. Science and Facts, Alternative or Otherwise. The world is a mess 9, 10↑. I'm not referring to politics or the state of the society, here. When I tell you the world is a mess, I mean the physical world we apprehend with our senses. It's a jumbled barrage of sights, sounds, impressions and intuitions. Dealing with that mess is why we established the concept of facts. And dealing with the concept of facts is why we invented science. Since this weekend saw "alternative facts" suddenly added to our vocabulary*, it's a good to time to reflect on how we humans came up with the whole science thing for dealing with facts, alternative or otherwise. Donald Trump’s Science Denial Is Becoming National Policy.
-*T.3.1. New terms being added to the general vocabulary is a characteristic of great social upheaval and change. This continues to happened with computer technology 10 New Words You Need to Know in Silicon Valley, and biodisaster (Ebola, Zika, Climage Change, ecological damage, toxic waste, parademic). The newest neologism for biodisaster is fungal resistence. New Medical Worry: Deadly Fungal Infection That Resists Treatment. ¶ Another neologism is Kleptocracy, The First Week in Donald Trump’s Kleptocracy Was Very, Very Kleptocratic, which is also indicative of the economic disruption that accompany parademic and social disruption (if not destruction). Trump Order Paves Way for Agencies to Weaken Health Law, Investors Gird for Impact of Trump Healthcare Measures, U.S. Fund Managers Betting Trump Fails to Rewrite Obamacare they are buying shares of hospitals, health insurance companies and biotech firms they see as unfairly hit by political uncertainty. Healthcare stocks fell swiftly after Trump was elected on Nov. 8, and have underperformed since. Broad Worries about Potential Health Care Loss. Trump Tries to Pave the Way for Development by Accelerating Environmental Reviews.
-T.3.2. '1984' Hits No. 1 on Amazon after Conway’s ‘Alternative Facts’ Quote [Cartoon, Photo Shop, Art], Sales of George Orwell's 1984 Surge after Kellyanne Conway's 'Alternative Facts', Kellyanne Conway's "Alternative Facts" Comment Sparks Internet Memes [Meme], You, Too, Will Love Big Brother: A Life of Reading and Rereading '1984', Ministry of Truth [Art]. Orwell, Ministry of Truth, and 1984 have been parademic topics before: 160724-8ADDED, 150621-M.3, 141219-E.10A, 141207-E.8.1, 140914-4.3, 140803-8, 140720-1, 140323-4, 140209-17, 130929-22.1, 130630-15.2, E101114-2.1. In the Book 1984, Did They Have Universal Healthcare, The Affordable Care Act … Leading America to Socialism [Poster], Uneasy About the Future, Readers Turn to Dystopian Classics. Why Are So Many Older Americans Against ObamaCare, Calling it "Socialist", While They Happily Receive Medicare, Obamacare is Pure Socialism, Turning Lies into Laws. ¶ Trump Supporters Refuse to Believe Their Own Eyes, they still think Trump’s inauguration crowds were bigger, despite the evidence. Here’s why. Donald Trump Is the Sole Reliable Source of Truth, Says Chair of House Science Committee, “Better to get your news directly from the president,” said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas. ¶ 6.1↑ “Dilbert” Creator Scott Adams Has Endorsed Donald Trump in the Most “Dilbert” Way Possible. A Look Back at My Trump Predictions is a valuable record of the thinking behind Trumpism support. Hopefully there will be material added to chart the reasoning for continued support, or why there is a recant of the recant [Meme, Strip, Strip, Strip]. ¶ Trump Sold America a Miracle Cure, but when miracle cures fail, the patients don’t blame the salesman. Alternative Fake Medicine Endangers Another Cancer Patient’s Life.
-Quote: There is no longer a consensus what a fact is. – John Oliver
-T.3.3. Not a surprise but 1984 has come up before related to vaccination. The Orwellian Campaign to Project Anti-Vaccination onto Republicans (2015), the anti-vaccination movement is largely a phenomenon of the affluent crunchy granola Left. So why did the Right get tarred and feathered with it. And this cites Robert Kennedy(Search) 170122-T.1, 170115-7 et al↓ as a liberal who is painting the Republican’s as Vaccination Nazis. Events have changed and now the Republican’s are now heavily associated with anti-vax Inauguration Day: How President Trump Could Undermine Trust in Vaccines. On the Orwellian language and bad science of the anti- vaccine movement: “SmartVax” versus “MaxVax” (2011). [Meme posted by Vaccine Resistence Movement]. What is Political Doublespeak. Is Jill Stein Anti-Vaxx. Google Gives New Meaning to “Orwellian”. Becomes Ministry of Truth (2015). Australian 'Ministry of Truth' Attacks Vaccine Critics and Homeopathy (2014). Is the Ministry of Truth (AKA – the CDC) Rewriting History (2013). GOP Lawmakers Advance Anti-Vaccine Bill; Health Experts Object.
-T.4. This is the creation of a climate of fear and uncertainty. People afraid to do anything because of unknown who interpreted and the consequences. US Health Officials Cancel Climate Conference; Don't Say Why, USDA Scientists Have Been Put On Lockdown Under Trump. But a cosponsor was told by the CDC that the agency was worried how the conference would be viewed by the Trump administration. The incoming administration did not ask or order that the meeting be canceled. They had no idea or not whether the new administration would be supportive. The decision was "a strategic retreat," intended to head off a possible last minute cancellation or other repercussions from Trump officials who may prove hostile to spending money on climate change science. They decided the better part of valor was to stop and regroup" until it could be discussed with Trump's new health leadership, Benjamin said. A new CDC director has not been named. The CDC’s Canceled Climate Change Conference Is Back on — Thanks to Al Gore, The CDC Canceled a Climate Change Event. Al Gore Will Host it Instead. lineUncertainty includes what is fact A Case Study in Fake News: Did the FBI Raid the CDC Based on the CDC Whistleblower’s Allegations 160911-9, 160403-5.3↓+. Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change.
-A. An unverified story that could start another cycle of bioterror fear and conspiracy theory in the current uncertainty, but currently is drowned out by Trumpism, Russian Scientist in Charge of Producing Ebola and Smallpox for the Kremlin Disappears, Ex-Head of Virology State Research Centre Vector Vanishes: Interpol Alerted, Russian Scientist Ilya Drozdov Disappears. The sources are not considered reliable for verifying information and nothing can be located on Interpol sites. Likely he disappeared if he embezzled, but bit of a scare with “smallpox:”.
-T.4.1. In addition there was concern that a FEMA director has not yet been appointed, Tornado Deaths over Weekend Exceed 2016 Toll, Devastation Lies in the Wake of Sunday Tornado, Who's on First, What's on Second at FEMA, which would slow presidential disaster declarations, Officials Beg Trump to Send Help After Storms Kill 20, A First Disaster Test for Trump. Doesn’t bode well for being able to handle Flu Season on Track to Be One of Worst on Record, US Flu Numbers Rise as 2 More Pediatric Deaths Noted, How a Pandemic Might Play Out Under Trump, Proliferation of Bird Flu Outbreaks Raises Risk of Human Pandemic, Five Nations Report More, Varied Avian Flu Outbreaks, CDC: Flu Now Widespread in 37 States, H7N9 Is Having a Big Season...Happy New Year, H5N8, Other Strains Strike Birds in Europe, Japan, Israel, New Bird Flu Virus Type Confirmed on German Turkey Farm. CDC Expands Search for Rats and People Infected with Seoul Virus. Washington State Mumps Outbreak Nears 300 Cases. World Still “Grossly Underprepared” for Infectious Disease Outbreaks, an excerpt of another article by a Homeland Security website 5.2↑.
↕C. Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Corner [Logo]. T.1↑ indicates that 170122-C may come sooner that anticipated. Interesting to see how communication between public health at the federal and state levels will happen, much less public information to the public. Hopefully we will not have news blackouts of disease outbreaks simply because it is against policy or will cause embarrassment to national pride.
-C.1. 10↑ When the Next Disease Strikes: How To Communicate (and How Not To).
Why Is Risk Communication Important. No matter how effective the planned response, poor communication with the public will greatly undermine its effectiveness.
Key Principles in Effective Communication. Public health agencies have increasingly embraced risk communication as an important aspect of emergency response and have expanded efforts to improve the effectiveness of their efforts.
Aspects of Risk Perception. Regardless of measured and quantitative or technical risk assessment, several factors can make health threats seem more ‘‘risky’’ to the public.
Recommendations. Don’t be taken by surprise. Communicate uncertainty when it exists. Take a deep breath: Carefully consider and communicate policy responses. Eliminate the phrase “out of an abundance of caution”. Do more research on what works.
-C.2. Talking to Injured and Ill Employees is Easy, Once You Know How. In the world of worker’s compensation and disability, we all learned to “talk about return to work early and often”. We’ve heard it so much that it makes sense and feels natural. The only problem is that it’s wrong. ¶ Ok, I overstated it. There is indeed good evidence that being at work is an important part of recovery. There is also strong evidence that the employee’s expectations about being able to work are one of the best predictors of when he or she will return. The problem is that we who work around claims, whether as adjusters or treatment providers, believe that our expectation will drive what the employee wants. That’s where it gets more complicated, and how and when we state our expectations becomes more important. Spoken too soon, without first establishing trust, expectations that contradict the employee’s own will just create resistance. Good sensible article, but what about the worker who has a terminal condition and wants to work as long as they can (AIDS). What about someone who may be been exposed to an infectious disease, is not showing symptoms, but can spread the disease before symptoms appear (Measles). What of those who may have been exposed but cannot spread the disease until they show symptoms (Ebloa), that they are still in the incubation period, and people are terrified. What if others demand someone not be permitted to work because of their fears.
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