Read This First 170423, Heuristics Updated Contagious Narrative 170928, Glossary 170815, Mini Lessons 170827
1. The Good Doctor, 2. No Hospital = No Community, 3. Easter Island Population Collapse, ↕4. Mosquito Borne, 5. Meaning, 6. Extreme Event Prediction, 7. Implementing what is Known, 8. Therms vs Temps, ↕C. Communications. <ADDED> 1. (Climate) Animal and Plant Migration, 2. Disaster Rumor, 3. Orange Extinction, 4. Pregnancy Flu, 5. 1918 Flu, 6. Arrested Nurse Patient, 7. Global Health, 8. Cuban Health Attacks, *Covert EPA, 9. Plastic Ban, 10. Bee Massage, 11. Fire Management, 12. Cholera, 13. Starting a CBN War, 14. Private Flights, 15. Tylenol Adulteration, 16. Dr. Oz.
Other Topics: BioTrumpism, BioPolitics, Vaccine, Biosphere, Disaster, Humor, Climate Change, Autism, Genetics, Fire for Biome Management, Megafires, Unintended Consequences, Moral Panic, Puerto Rico, Social Anxienty, Drought and Riot, Command and Control of Military Support in Disaster, Overpopulation, Forced Migration, Depopulation, Evacuation, 1918 Flu, Learning, Cultural Change, Physics, Empathy, Transparency, Genetics of Autism, In What Way Reliable, Superfund, Reliability, Soft Targets, Spontaneous Memorials, Medical Supply Delivery, Rumor, Magical Thinking, Disaster of Disaster Response, Social Media, Stigma, Invasive Species.
-1. Savant Syndrome: Realities, Myths and Misconceptions. It was 130 years ago that savant syndrome was first described, and 70 years ago that Early Infantile Autism was identified. While as many as one in ten autistic persons have savant abilities, such special skills occur in other CNS conditions as well such that approximately 50% of cases of savant syndrome have autism as the underlying developmental disability and 50% are associated with other disabilities. This paper sorts out realities from myths and misconceptions about both savant syndrome and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that have developed through the years. The reality is that low IQ is not necessarily an accompaniment of savant syndrome; in some cases IQ can be superior. Also, savants can be creative, rather than just duplicative, and the skills increase over time on a continuum from duplication, to improvisation to creation, rather than diminishing or suddenly disappearing. Genius and prodigy exist separate from savant syndrome and not all such highly gifted persons have high functioning Autism (Asperger's, Schizotypal). This paper emphasizes the critical importance of separating 'autistic like' symptoms from ASD especially in children when the savant ability presents as hyperlexia (children who read early) or as Einstein syndrome (children who speak late), or have impaired vision (Blindisms) because prognosis and outcomes are very different when that careful distinction is made. In those cases the term 'outgrowing autism' might be mistakenly applied when in fact the child did not have ASD in the first place. In the Socialsphere Autism is a confluence of grief, apophenia, etiology, that affects the whole family. It is not surprising the such a condition of uncertainty gives rise to anger, magical thinking, blame, synchronicity, exploitation, conspiracy theory, unrealistic hope. These are all exhibited by anti-vax behaviors.
-Quote: You’re very arrogant. ¿Does that help you as a surgeon. Does it hurt you as a person. Is it worth it?. – Dr Shaun Murphy
-A. Popular media has picked up on this by creation of fictional presentations of autism. The latest narrative wave of this is ‘The Good Doctor’ Pilot Review: Autism Is Not a Magical Superpower, [Photo, Photo], along with the persistence / perseveration (another aspect of conditions of uncertainty behaviors) that the cause is vaccine. The reality is closer to Nowhere to Go: Young People with Severe Autism Languish in Hospitals. Despite continuing a narrative I disapprove of, the show boils down to human relations and empathy. Counter intuitively following a character who has difficulties with both is an excellent vehicle to explore emotional attachment, C↓. ¶ In a reversal of theater imitating real life, there is the Spotlight Program for ASD that is real life imitating theater.
-B. In 1973 there was a Korean TV Series Good Doctor, US Remake of Korean Drama Good Doctor to Air in Fall. The Curious Case of South Korea. One fact that is not very well known to the general population but pretty well known to people in the international autism world is that autism is highly stigmatized in South Korea, and that families will do just about anything to avoid a diagnosis of autism, because it is so shameful. In fact, if you google “autism” and “stigma” and “South Korea” you find literally dozens of articles that talk about the high social stigma of autism in South Korea. Which is actually kind of remarkable, given that it’s really HARD to find accurate or interesting information about autism in other countries just by googling (trust me, I’ve tried.). | The origin of the interest in South Korea started with this book by Roy Richard Grinker. A father of a daughter with autism by fate and an anthropologist by training, Grinker writes about all things autism and culture. Grinker is a gift to the autism world, because he is really good at what he does. He’s an incredible anthropologist, who spent a lot of years writing about other cultures before he decided to make the personal professional and start studying autism. And study, he did. He spent time in South Korea, he did a lot of interviews. And what he found was that some parents believe that having a child with a diagnosis of autism means that the family is genetically compromised.
-‡. 20 Great Quotes about Autism from Autistic People. Negotiating with Emotion. People with Autism Can Read Emotions, Feel Empathy, there is a fine line between autism and alexithymia – feeling emotions but being unable to identify them. Is Autism Really an Empathy Disorder. Empathy, Mindblindness, and Theory of Mind. Theory of Mind: Understanding Others in a Social World especially important in a biodisaster where everyone is behaving differently than under normal conditions, and maybe not have empathy or understanding of the behaviors of others. This would be like if everyone suddenly has ASD’s, Autism and the Mirror Neuron System: Insights from Learning and Teaching. Genetics Explain Most Cases of Autism. (170924)-170924-7A>. Utahns Who Know Something about Autism Aren’t Too Sure about ABC’s ‘The Good Doctor’. Is new medical drama centering on surgeon with autism a good thing, or is it sympathy porn. The Stigma of Autism: When All Eyes Are upon You.
1.1. Organic Consumers Mean Business. Once you've bought your first organic milk in the supermarket, you are highly likely to continue buying organic milk. With time, you are also likely to increase the number of different types of organic food products on your shopping list. There has been talk of an 'organic staircase' in the sense that consumers are generally buying certain organic products before others. But research shows that in fact we're dealing with an escalator, following a predictable consumption pattern. Milk is the typical entry into organic consumption. Once you have started buying organic dairy products, the typical consumption pattern is that you go from dairy products to vegetables, eggs, baking ingredients until you are consistently buying organic products. ¶ What's interesting is that something is making the organic consumers stick to their guns. Something is making them stand fast. Our study doesn't tell us anything about why this is the case, but if we include our knowledge from previous research in the area, we're able to make an educated guess. Buying organic products is connected to our perception of ourselves as moral human beings. Once that connection is established, there is no way back. I disagree. It is not easy, but it is possible to reverse a dangerous behavior, though an easier goal is to have it go dormant and then watch for “outbreak” again. If it’s a lethal behavior it may be one that will die out – unfortunately others will also die due to both the morale panics and its demise. Have also speculated that there is an overlap between anti-GMO, nutrition as cure and anti-vax; and that there is a similar stair step of becoming increasingly committed to anti-vax with not taking one (HPV or MMR) or changing schedule, and then including more (as well as becoming more organic foods) until vaccine is completely dropped. No evidence for this, but I suspect it is not as predictable of a pattern but more a tendency toward certain behavior increasing with each choice.
-‡. The IVF Panic: All Hell Will Break Loose, Politically and Morally, All Over the World, The Wisdom of a Moral Panic, In Vitro Fertilization Was Once as Controversial as Gene Editing Is Today. GMO Denial Based on Moral Absolutism, Not Rational Analysis, The Moral Implications of GMOs (2003). | AIDS, the Policy Process and Moral Panics, The Hiv/Aids Moral Panic, Are HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases Punishment for Sin. Measles, Moral Regulation and the Social Construction of Risk, Michigan Mom Says She Could Be Jailed for Refusing to Vaccinate Son. One Million Unvaccinated Venezuelan Kids Vulnerable in Measles Outbreak. | Film Review: The Pathological Optimist (Trailer). Attitudes of New England Puritan Ministers Towards Disease and Medicine.
-2. A Hospital Crisis is Killing Rural Communities. This State is Ground Zero. If you want to watch a rural community die, kill its hospital. After the Lower Oconee Community Hospital shut down in June 2014, other mainstays of the community followed. The bank and the pharmacy in the small town of Glenwood shuttered. Then the only grocery store in all of Wheeler County closed in the middle of August this year. Rural Maternity Wards Are Closing, and Women’s Lives Are on the Line.
-‡. Hospitals in Crisis in Uganda as Middle Eastern Countries Poach Medical Staff. Taliban Threats Force Health Facilities in Southern Afghan Province to Close. Venezuela’s Doctors Protest WHO’s Lack of Attention to Poor State of Health Systems; Nation’s Economic Crisis Increasing Hunger among Families.
-2.1. Puerto Rico’s Hospitals Running Out of Everything and Patients Running Out of Time, Battered Puerto Rico Hospitals on Life Support after Hurricane Maria, Hurricane Stresses Puerto Rico’s Already Weak Health System. Thousands with Kidney Disease at Risk in Puerto Rico. | Puerto Rico’s Governor Warns of Humanitarian Crisis, Puerto Ricans are expected to arrive in droves to escape the post Maria hardships they will face on the island, including a shortage of already hard to find jobs*B. Though there has been a Dimensional Assessment of Anxiety in Puerto Rican Patients: Evaluating Applicability of Psychological Questionnaires, I have not seen any indications of anyone testing these in the real world post double hurricane, a missed opportunity. I would assume that the scores would be off the charts, but without a chance to gain insights into which previous problems have added to the social stress with financial problems, Zika -D, -4↓, possibility of dam breaking, congress inaction on statehood, lack of power (both electrical and political), poverty, financial crisis, biotrumpism further cutting health care, Is Health Care a Right, and now the added stress that they may have to migrate to the mainland US (a country that has not been very welcoming). | It will also be informative to see which identify groups will migrate (possibly temporarily). Wealthy and elites are likely as they have the means and easiest acceptance in the US, especially if there are controls enacted to keep undesirable Puerto Ricans out. Violence strikes me to be a high probability, and that will be justification for US government further negative actions and inaction 3.3↓. This may also become another vehicle for Climate Change justification though the current patterns seems to be more about immediate problem solution, rather than solving causes and preventing long term problems (i.e. what is meaningful 5↓, We’ve Grossly Underestimated How Much Cow Farts Are Contributing to Global Warming). Knowing what are the personal identification group would also provide insights, but there is no information available on what the identity groups within Puerto Rico are, or about those outside Puerto Rico who have an interest in what happens there (to include business, real estate, NGO, USG, science journalists). | At a Gas Station with No Gas, Puerto Ricans Settle in for an Interminable Wait, 170924-2. [Photo, people waiting in line is a good sign, but waiting lines are also a likely flash point for a riot, and a place for predators to look for easy prey, especially if lines fall apart or there is a lack of other social guidance of who goes in what order]. In Puerto Rico, Relying on Luck and Enough Gas to Get Medical Care. Puerto Rico’s Slow Motion Medical Disaster. HHS Boosts Post Hurricane Maria Medical Surge into U.S. Territories. I've Never Seen Such Resilient People: Doctors and Nurses on the Ground in Puerto Rico. FDA, Industry Step up Efforts to Avert Drug Shortages after Puerto Rico Hurricane.
-‡. Hysteria Is Starting to Spread: Puerto Rico Is Devastated in the Wake of Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico’s Power Outages Could Get Very Deadly Quickly, Why Puerto Rico’s Power Outages Could Prove Very Deadly, in One Chart, It's Not Just Puerto Rico: 6 Other Caribbean Island Nations Are in Crisis after the Hurricanes. Why Puerto Rico Is Being Denied Shipping Deliveries of Fuel, Government Considering Lifting Shipping Restrictions to Puerto Rico, Nothing, Nothing. Aid Lags in Hurricane Torn Puerto Rico. After Harvey and Irma, Can a Stretched FEMA Come Through for Puerto Rico, FEMA Just Got Another $6.7 Billion to Help with Hurricane Relief. Puerto Rico Is Not Texas or Florida, Hurricane Maria Just Added More Woes to Puerto Rico. Storm Claims Could Top $100 Billion; for Puerto Rico, Maria Changes Everything. With Bottles and Buckets, Puerto Ricans Seek the Water to Survive. Disaster Economics. Could Recent Hurricanes Cause Reemergence of Cholera in Puerto Rico, After Hurricane Maria, Could Puerto Rico Be at Risk of Cholera -170730-5.2B↓, Rumours of Cholera in Puerto Rico Are Rumours Only*. Now Even Money Is Running out in Storm Hit Puerto Rico. Delivering Aid to Puerto Rico a Challenge for Volunteers. Washington Set Puerto Rico Up for a Disaster, Volunteer Pilots Swoop into Puerto Rico with Supplies and Leave with Survivors. In Puerto Rico, Containers Full of Goods Sit Undistributed at Ports. This has been a consistent problem for years. Getting stuff and people to the staging area is easy, getting stuff and people where actually needed is always a problem. As bad as that is in a geodisaster that usually dues to logistic problems from the disaster. In biodisaster the disaster is still going on and delay can be more costly. Eventually though a geodisaster can turn into a biodisaster if not addressed. All biodisasters if not addressed will eventually burn out, meaning all available hosts have recovered into a much changed world (likely one hard to survive in), or died. | The Hidden Toll of Floods. Puerto Rico Emerges from Storm; Water and Some Food Scarce. Life or Death: Puerto Ricans Scramble to Help Most Vulnerable. How Has Society Adapted to Hurricanes. A Look at New Orleans over 300 Years. Preservation of Floodplains Is Flood Protection. While Harvey’s Floodwaters Have Receded, the Health Risks Linger, Flesh Eating Bacteria from Harvey Floodwaters Kills Woman. With Irma - and a Power Failure - Miami Gets a Taste of lineDeadly Heat, Florida Hides Details in Nursing Home Reports. Federal Agencies Don't, 170924-5A. Flee a Cataclysm, or Cling to a Doomed Home. Why People Stay May Surprise You. It can also be dangerous to perform evacuations, After Harvey Hit, One Texas Nursing Home Evacuation Began with a Gun Drawn. The Power of Us.
-*. Was wondering about this. Though my source were the two listed before the H5N1 article, I did not see the connections with the outbreaks in Yemen, West Central Africa, or Haiti that would make that a strong possibility, as long as CDC and EPA arrived to do their jobs, and DOD brought enough water purification systems with them.
-A. More US Ships, Troops Heading to Puerto Rico. Hurricane Maria Response and Relief Operations Underway. One of the issues that may not be much attention outside the National Guard and DoD is who is Command and Control of Military Forces in the Homeland, Pentagon Names 3 Star General to Lead Puerto Rico Efforts, 5th Army Commander. National Guard Chief Cites "Bigger, Larger, More Violent" Hurricanes as Possible Evidence of Climate Change. This Is Like in War: A Scramble to Care for Puerto Rico’s Sick and Injured, <ADDED 170910-170827-2.1>. ¶ There is another military analogy with the Iraq War. Prior to the war (A War by Any Other Name. US Military Action in Iraq Still Lacks a Moniker), its infrastructure (health, transportation, power) was so unstable due to corruption, lack of funds, embargo, lack of maintenance, jury rigging, that the least disruption would have caused a cascading collapsed of all the systems, but less a military invasion, War Crimes: Health Care in Iraq has Collapsed, Army Corps: Puerto Rico Looks a Lot like Iraq in 2003. Puerto Rico was essentially in the same position when Maria arrived, Puerto Rico Is Not Texas or Florida. The General Who Turned Around the Response in New Orleans after Katrina Thinks We're Failing Puerto Rico. America’s Natural Disaster Response Is Its Own Disaster. DoD Accelerates Hurricane Relief, Response Efforts in Puerto Rico, H5N1 Comment.
-*B. Poll: Nearly Half in US Unaware That Puerto Ricans Are Citizens [Cartoon]. As far as I know Puerto Rico is not included in Trump Administration Announces New Travel Restrictions, Trump Plans to Slash US Refugee Admissions, For Some Refugees, Women’s Health Care Is a Culture Shock. U.S. Schools Brace for an Influx of Students from Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria May Be U.S. Preview of Climate Fueled Migration, 3 Weeks After Irma Wrecked Barbuda, Island Lifts Mandatory Evacuation Order. Trump Suddenly Focuses on Puerto Rico, Promises Visit, Aid, White House Scrambles to Show Trump Cares about Puerto Rico, Trump Botches His Response to the Crisis in Puerto Rico, Trump: Puerto Rico Relief Effort Amazing, Tremendous, White House Statements on Puerto Rico Clash with Ground Reports. Trump's Lack of Empathy about Puerto Rico Is Staggering, [Cartoon, referent to NFL take a knee]*C↓, How We Would Cover Trump's Handling of Puerto Rico If it Were Happening in Another Country, [Tweet], The President Who Hated to Pay His Debts Bashes Storm Struck Puerto Rico [Tweet], After Criticism, President Trump Lifts Jones Act Restrictions on Shipping Aid to Hurricane Ravaged Puerto Rico, Donald Trump Tweets ‘Big Decisions Will Have to Be Made’ on Puerto Rico Spending, Sparking Outcry over ‘Double Standard’ [Tweet, Tweet]. Nature Caused Puerto Rico’s Latest Crisis. But Politics Are Making it Worse. Trump: Puerto Rico Leaders Can't Get Their Workers to Help. Trump slams Puerto Rico: They Want Everything to Be Done for Them*D↓. Puerto Ricans: Trump's Relief Efforts Are a Disaster. [Tweet]. The Media Narrative Trump Is Failing Puerto Rico Is Bogus. How Trump’s Time at His Golf Club Hurt the Response to Maria, Trump’s Apathy about Puerto Rico Is Reflected in Where He’s Spending His Weekend, Scarborough to Trump: Poor Leadership Is Golfing While Americans Die, President Donald Trump seems likely to be in attendance at Presidents Cup Sunday, which may explain why he delayed trip to Puerto Rico until Tuesday, if he still goes. If it is not clear at this point, this is no longer a biodisaster but a parademic, one that started before Irma/Maria and will linger long after. Trump Dedicates Golf Trophy to Hurricane Victims amid Controversy over Response. | San Juan Mayor: 'Dammit, this Is Not a Good News Story', DHS' Elaine Duke Explains 'Good News Story' Quote, not an example of the best way to handle a news gaffe, clarified what was actually meant, but did not apologize for being unintentionally insensitive. Trump Praises Puerto Rico Aid, Mayor Says It’s ‘Killing Us’. 'Close to Genocide': San Juan Mayor's Dire Appeal to US for Puerto Rico Relief. Donald Trump to Puerto Rico after Slamming Mayor: Don’t Believe the Fake News, Reporters Are in Puerto Rico to Tell an Important Story. A Mayor in Puerto Rico Asked for More Help. Now Trump Is Insulting Her on Twitter, meanwhile, a relief worker at the island described the situation as societal collapse. Trump Scoffs at ‘Politically Motivated Ingrates’ after Maria. ¶ An early concern about biotrumpism is that it would be unable to handle a crisis, and would create conditions that will exacerbate a crisis, this appears to illustrate both. Soon, Trump Will Have to Handle a Real Disaster (Jun), What Happens When Trump Faces Actual Crisis (Feb), Is the Trump Administration Ready for the Worst (Jan), 170312-2.2, 170305-3, 170220-8.1T, 170129-T.4.1. He however has demonstrated a tremendous ability to create a crisis, magnify one to a larger crisis, or exacerbate previously small problems. Donald Trump Makes Himself the Victim in the Puerto Rico Crisis. SNL Premiere: Alec Baldwin's Trump Hangs Up on Puerto Rico in Cold Open. ¶ With Puerto Rico already unstable, the addition of biotrumpism was the definition of a disaster waiting to happen (DWaitH). For me this had the additional frustration that I actively tried, and failed, to get a journalist who had reported on Puerto Rico problems that the island would be unable to handle a natural disaster with all the other issues and would be a catastrophic event when it occurred. 170611-4.1 -A, 170514-4, 170507-4 et al, How Puerto Rico Lost its Home Grown Food, but Might Find it Again. Amid the wreckage of economic crisis in Puerto Rico, a local food movement is taking root. Hopeful farmers are leasing long abandoned land. But why was the land abandoned in the first place, 170423-4.1, 170312-4.2. Information on Puerto Rico and Disaster History, Puerto Rico Will Be Depopulated. What’s Happening in Puerto Rico Is Environmental Injustice. Puerto Rico Is Getting Short Term Aid, long term support that’s the growing issue. The One Thing Only Trump Can Do to Help Puerto Rico, it needs more money, but Trump needs to ask first. ¶ I suspect that part of the problem Puerto Rico is facing is remota, remote mortality. What happens in Puerto Rico, where most people don’t even know where it is [Map], does not seem to be an issue of any concern. In Hurricane Hit Puerto Rico, a Stunning Silence two days after Hurricane Maria. In San Juan on Sept. 22, the only sign of relief efforts were beleaguered Puerto Rican government employees struggling to address the multitude of problems confronting the devastated island, while coping with their own losses from the storm. In outlying areas, residents were left to fend for themselves, clearing roads, helping neighbors, sifting through the debris of their homes. This was a predictable possible outcome since 170423-4.1 where there were clues that the USG and Puerto Rico were at odds, and the financial crisis in Puerto Rico had resulted in delayed maintenance of critical infrastructure. All that was required was one more disaster, Puerto Rico got two. Again costs of response far outweigh costs if it had been corrected before.
*C. Understanding Football Violence Could Help the Fight Against Terror. Violent football fans, radicals are motivated by shared experience. Football has long been tarnished by outbreaks of fan violence. Although media headlines often link the behavior to 'hooliganism,' the activity could stem from potentially more positive motivations, such as passionate commitment to the group and the desire to belong. Understanding the root cause of the behavior may therefore help in tackling the violence and channeling it into something more positive. 170917-9, Accountability Is Key for Protecting Health Workers, 170910-2.2‡. There was something about the NFL and 1st Amendment rights this week.
*D. This issue of how much to help and not help is a common one in disasters, though usually it is not made so public. There is the phenomena of learned helplessness, or people see that the calvary has arrived, and thinking our troubles are over. At the same time, responders get disgusted with so called disaster victims (usually elites of the community) who demand to be catered to (at the cost of others), when they are inconvenienced, though otherwise buffered from the disaster. Others want things and services that they did not have before the disaster, often times because they were impoverished before while seeing others who are well off in part from services they provide at low pay. Both elites and impoverished (and sadly responders 161023-6.1) see disaster as an opportunity to exploit. | Another concurrent event that always seems to happen is the disaster of the disaster response, if for no other reason than to complain. For example 10,000 responders in the disaster staging area is a performance measure, while 1000responders delivering potable water, food and other critical supplies to 10,000 people a day is an effectiveness measure. To make the situation worse everyone is stressed, in early stages of grief, and may be facing more loss to include life. This is also seen in accelerated biodisasters, though if people are ill they are given more leeway about not helping themselves. Best Intentions: When Disaster Relief Brings Anything but Relief. Natural Disasters Are Costing FEMA Way Too Much Money. Here’s What’s Wrong. A Long Road Home, the systems in place to provide aid after natural disasters often fail those who need help the most. Everyone’s a Socialist after a Natural Disaster. Abusive Bosses Experience Short Lived Benefits. Being a jerk to your employees may actually improve your well being, but only for a short while. [Strip]. So Mad I Could Spit: A Former Disaster Relief Official on Trump’s Response to Puerto Rico.
-E. How to Build a Motivated Group. A common implicit assumption is that motivation is the sole responsibility of the individual and group: either you have it or you don't. This can lead to blaming group members for their lack of motivation. However, psychology has begun to demystify motivation and can offer useful conceptss. The goal is to provide people with the conditions that enhance their natural self motivated behavior. There are three conditions for self determined behavior: competence, autonomy, and social connectedness. 1) Competence is a prerequisite for motivation. Peak performance – called Flow – is achieved at intermediate difficulty of tasks: not too easy and not impossible. Easy steps allow positive reinforcement. As confidence increases, motivation skyrockets. Going slowly allows to find a different more difficult project than first one, clearly stating the purpose at each step. 2) Autonomy is the sense that the project emanates from the person and not from an external source. Using threats or punishment tends to decrease autonomy. Be mindful of when it is appropriate to letting people figure things out for themselves. Autonomy is optimal at an intermediate amount of structure, between the extremes of micromanagement and neglect. This optimal point is specific to each individual and changes over time, because experienced groups need less structure. 3) The third strand of motivation is social connectedness: having someone in the group care about you and your project. The need for connectedness encompasses the striving to care for others, to feel that others relate to you in mutually supportive ways, and to feel a satisfying involvement with the social world (and one’s professional world) more generally. One means is brainstorming about a future project. Our connection to a community and a culture provides us context and empathy during our struggles, celebrations and acknowledgment during our successes. Post Maria Puerto Rico is the opposite of this, and has been long before time. From the first cases of Zika it was clear that the relation between the US and its ignored commonwealth was non existent and antagonistic, meaning the attitude of both the US and Puerto Rico would easily become hostile -2.1, -B -D. <ADDED 170903-170827-8*>, 170423-4.1. ¶ Again frustrating for me as I could see the situation developing but still have not been able to find a mechanism (more precisely a reason that they should care) to alert people about it. This is like the hurricane forecast cone of uncertainty. Not an absolute prediction of what will happen, but that given the given two or more circumstances – in this case long held agnostic and antagonistic attitudes coming into contact, twice, with a large and fast rotating air mass – and what has happened before under analogous circumstances, that there is a high probability of what can happen. Informed with this information one can take measures to mitigate the undesirable results, perhaps even nudge it to a desirable one. ¶ Defend Your Research: What Makes a Team Smarter. More Women.
-3. Solving the Easter Island Population Puzzle. The nearly nine hundred giant stone statues discovered by the first Europeans to land on Easter Island seemed at odds with the small population found living there. It is believed a once thriving community witnessed sweeping ecological change and suffered internal conflict, resulting in a population crash. A new detailed study of the farming potential of the Island suggests it could have sustained 17,500 people at its peak.
-3.1. Study Examines Legacies of Rainforest Burning in British Columbia. Analyses of temperate rain forests located on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada suggest that for centuries, humans have intentionally used fire to manage plant life. Reconstructed 700 years of temporal and spatial aspects of fire activity, there were 16 fires from 1376-1893. No fire activity was detected after 1893, coinciding with the relocation of indigenous groups from the study area. Old growth temperate rain forests are often considered pristine and untouched landscapes, but new science is confirming that these forests were carefully managed with fire to increase the abundance of specific plants. These were slow moving ground fires that left the majority of trees alive and kept the forest open and clear of brush, not the large, uncontrolled wild fires that we've become accustomed to today. [Photo vs Photo. Chart. Meme].
-‡. Fire and Forest Health. #Document Influence of Forest Structure on Wildfire Behavior and the Severity of Its Effects. Forget Smokey the Bear: How First Nation Fire Wisdom Is Key to Megafire Prevention. Fighting Ticks with Fire: a Health Benefit from Forest Management. -170806-8A↓. Wildfire Spreads in Southern California; Mandatory Evacuations in Effect.
-3.2. Climate Insurance Is Rarely Well Thought out in Agriculture. Internationally subsidised agricultural insurance is intended to protect farmers in developing countries from the effects of climate change. However, it can also lead to undesirable ecological and social side effects, as researchers have now explained. Their article also contains recommendations for improved insurance schemes which in future should also take account of ecological and social aspects in addition to economic issues.
-3.3. Drought: A Cause of Riots. The hypothesis of possible relationship between periods of drought and rioting has been verified by studying almost 1,800 riots that occurred over a 20 year period in sub Saharan Africa. The researchers observed a systematic link between the sudden depletion of water resources and the outbreak of unrest. They also succeeded in quantifying the impact of geographic and social factors on the same link. | The observation that political, economic and social causes create tension and droughts are a factor that add fuel to flames that are already burning, agrees with the parademic observation that violence tends to happen in relation to biodisaster if there is already civil unrest, armed conflict, poverty, unequal access to health care, and antecedents for moral panic. Three key elements play a leading role in the likelihood of drought related riots. The first is population density: the more densely populated a region is, the greater the need for water. If there is shortage of "blue gold" in the most dense areas, the probability of a riot breaking out jumps by 50%. Similarly, if a region where there are no lakes or rivers is struck by drought, the risk of a conflict breaking out is multiplied by two; by contrast, areas boasting lakes and rivers see the same risk decreasing proportionally. Finally, if several different ethnic groups share the same water resource within the same region, traditional institutional arrangements may temporarily collapse in the event of a shortage, swelling the risk of conflict by a factor of two. -2.1↑. [Photo] . There is also a correlation between lack of water and lack of food, some water riots may be misidentified as food riots. Behavior in famine situations has little correlation with morality, except when others eat well while others starve.
-3.4. I’m an Environmental Journalist, but I Never Write about Overpopulation. Here’s Why. Isn’t overpopulation the real root of our environmental ills. 1) Tackling population growth can be done without the enormous, unnecessary risks involved in talking about population growth. When political movements or leaders adopt population control as a central concern ... let’s just say it never goes well. In practice, where you find concern over “population,” you very often find racism, xenophobia, or eugenics lurking in the wings. It’s almost always, ahem, particular populations that need reducing. 2) The question is not population size, but how to slow population growth where it causes harm. Luckily, we know the answer. It is family planning that enables women to have only children they want and choose, and education of girls, giving them access to income opportunities outside the home. We know that women, given the resources and the choice, will opt for smaller families. 3) Income inequality is a top concern of people and organizations all over the world. Reducing high end consumption could have an enormous short term impact on carbon emissions. Shifting wealth within populations – reducing the number of very wealthy and the number in poverty – can have as much carbon emission impact as reducing overall population. 4) Talk of population control is rarely popular (for good reason), female empowerment and greater income (and other forms of access) equality are A) goals shared by powerful preexisting coalitions, B) replete with ancillary benefits beyond the environmental. So why focus on the former when the latter gets you all the same advantages with none of the blowback.
↕4. Potential Zika Vaccine Protects Against Pregnancy Transmission and Testicular Damage. Unfortunately we may have a population in Puerto Rico to for field trials, One More Thing for Puerto Rico to Worry About: Disease Ridden Mosquitoes. -2.1 et al↑, -5↓.
-4.1. Los Angeles County: West Nile Virus Increases Prompt Public Health Warning, Campaign, 'It's Not Just a Bite'. Last week, 17 new cases of West Nile virus (WNV) were reported in Los Angeles County, including three deaths among elderly patients who died due to neuro invasive West Nile virus infection. The total number of WNV cases and deaths in Los Angeles County this year is 98 cases and six deaths. This has prompted Public Health to conduct a countywide mosquito borne disease public health campaign, titled It's Not Just A Bite, to inform residents about the continued risk of West Nile virus and Zika virus infections and to promote actions people can take to protect themselves and their communities from mosquito borne diseases. [Poster from a previous campaign]. Deadly West Nile Virus Cases Are Spiking in LA. The First Line of Defense: Chickens, [Photo, Photo, Photo]
Quote: If you want to motivate someone, don't mention DEATH. – Rocky Rhodes
-4.2. CDC Announces Deactivation of EOC for Zika Response. Activated its EOC on Jan. 22, 2016, in response to the effects of the Zika virus infection during pregnancy, til Sep 29, 2017 to routine, long term activities to ensure coordination and collaboration on scientific, communication and policy activities. I am sure why it was kept open. Should have been routine monitoring months before this so if needed EOC could have been stood up again.
-5. Visual Attention Drawn to Meaning, Not What Stands out. Findings overturn widely held ideas of visual attention. Conventional thinking on visual attention is that our attention is automatically drawn to "salient" objects that stand out from the background. Statistical analysis shows that eyes are drawn to "meaningful" areas, not necessarily those that are most outstanding. This coincides with SLA, that what is sharpened or leveled is what has the most or least meaning, giving emphasis influences what is given attention and the action taken 2.1↑. For illustration: “the cars crashed, the fast cars smashed together, the vehicles collided”, basically say the same thing but the interpretation changes. Same can be done with biodisasters: Zika babies 4↑: “ life long mental and physical deformation of new babies who were exposed to mosquito borne disease, neonatal sequella of zika virus, a lifelong hopeless burden”, also say the same thing. This also explains why people take different meanings from the same information, considering some information as noise or dismiss as alarmism, [Meme].
-5.1. Perspective, and what attention is directed to, indicates what has meaning for a particular audience, and what may motivate action. Clarifying Perspectives to Promote Action on Loss and Damage from Climate Change. The hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria highlight the potential for the climate system to cause loss and damage. 'Loss and damage' (L&D) is a phrase used in different ways by people who work on climate policy, negotiation, adaptation and resilience. Four perspectives on L&D emerged: 1. Adaptation and Mitigation. 2. Risk Management. 3. Limits to Adaptation. 4. Existential perspective. Along with knowing what media sources are reliable source of a perspective on information, which is not the same as providing valid information. One also notices that some sources are more likely to report about something that others ignore, i.e. what has meaning to them but not to others. Share Your Concerns: Which Global Crisis Keeps You up at Night. There is also just learning what to pay attention too and what it means [Poster].
-6. #Linguistics. New Technique Spots Warning Signs of Extreme Events. Method may help predict hotspots of instability affecting climate, aircraft performance, and ocean circulation. Engineers have devised a framework for identifying key patterns that precede an extreme event. The framework can be applied to a wide range of complicated, multidimensional systems to pick out the warning signs that are most likely to occur in the real world. Looking for possible states that have very high growth rates and become extreme events (acceleration or deceleration), but also whether this state has any likelihood of occurring. This may be possible with environmental systems for biodisasters, but the added complication of social systems to predict the nature of parademic will still be iffy .
-7. #Learning. The flip side of recognizing that something is a disease and taking some action, or adopting a practice that will help patients (hand washing), is recognizing a treatment does not work (if not injurious) and ending the practice, 170917-1.1*C. Why Did it Take the CDC So Long to Reverse Course on Debunked Treatments for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. For years, people with chronic fatigue syndrome have wrangled with the CDC over information on the agency’s website about this debilitating illness. The website highlighted two treatments that became the de facto standards of care: A gradual increase in exercise and a form of psychotherapy known as cognitive behavioral therapy. The problem was that the evidence doesn’t support these treatments. | This summer, after years of resisting pleas from patients, advocates, and clinicians, the CDC quietly dropped the treatment recommendations from its website. Its decision represents a major victory for the patient community, and for science. But the country’s lead public health agency still has a long way to go to meet its responsibilities to the estimated 1 million Americans with this disease. | Exercise and psychotherapy might sound like the most benign of recommendations. But the hallmark symptom of chronic fatigue syndrome is that overexertion triggers relapses that can leave patients much, much sicker. A steady increase in activity can easily cause further harm, not benefit. In multiple surveys, more patients report getting worse, not better, from these “graded exercise” programs. ¶ The theory underlying the two discarded treatments arose in earlier decades when the medical and scientific communities largely dismissed the devastating illness as illusory or psychological. According to that theory, such patients harbor mistaken beliefs that they suffer from an actual physical disease. As a result, they remain sedentary out of a misguided fear that activity will make them worse. They then develop severe deconditioning, perpetuating their symptoms. Sometimes pseudotreatments are zombie like in their difficulty to kill, Rigvir: A Cancer “Cure” Imported from Latvia That Cancer Patients Should Avoid, or the causative agent is persistent Agent Orange Still Linked to Hormone Imbalances in Babies in Vietnam, could herbicides that were sprayed during the Vietnam War still be causing health problems. ¶ Fortunately some cure’s die out quickly, Doctors Once Prescribed Terrifying Plane Flights to Cure Deafness.
-8. Temperature Is Not What You Think it is. This is a basic concept that most people believe they understand. The reality is different, and that difference influences interpretation of fever, chills, thermometer readings (wind child, wet bulb) readings, climate change, radiation damage, burns, inversions (air pollution), cooling, heating, microwaving. Essentially everything we do.
-9. The Deadly Germ Warfare Island Abandoned by the Soviets. On the Kazakh-Uzbek border, surrounded by miles of toxic desert, lies an island. Or at least, something that used to be an island. Vozrozhdeniya was once home to a vibrant fishing village fringed by turquoise lagoons, back when the Aral Sea was the fourth largest in the world and abundant with fish. But after years of abuse by the Soviets, the waters have receded and the sea has turned to dust; the rivers that fed it were diverted to irrigate cotton fields. Today, a layer of salty sand, riddled with carcinogenic pesticides, is all that remains of the ancient oasis. Thanks to another Soviet project that it is one of the deadliest places on the planet. In 1971, a young scientist fell ill after a research vessel strayed into a brownish haze. Days later, she was diagnosed with smallpox. Mysteriously, she had already been vaccinated against the disease. Though she recovered, the outbreak went on to infect a further nine people back in her hometown, three of whom died. One of these was her younger brother. A year later locals started landing whole nets of dead fish. No one knows why. In May 1988, 50,000 saiga antelope which had been grazing on a nearby steppe dropped dead – in the space of an hour. Vozrozhdeniya was abandoned in the 1990s. The island had been turned into a military base of the most dangerous kind: it was a bioweapons testing facility. Over the years the site flourished into a living nightmare, where anthrax, smallpox and the plague hung in great clouds over the land, and exotic diseases such as tularemia, brucellosis, and typhus rained down and seeped into the sandy soil. Translated into English, Vozrozhdeniya means “rebirth”. Let’s hope the island’s pathogens don’t experience one any time soon. Base X: The Isle of Anthrax.
↕C. Helping Doctors Put Empathy to Good Use. How to Teach Doctors Empathy. The 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Teaching Empathy. 1) You have to be careful about mixing empathy and sympathy. 2) Empathy is a skill based quality. 3) Personal biases need to be recognized and overcome. 4) Empathy is about being present in a situation, but that can be hard for a doctor. 5) Sharpening empathy skills can boost a doctor’s overall performance. The Power of Empathy: Helen Riess (Video). EMPATHY: Eye contact, Muscles for facial expression, Posture proxemics, Affect, Tone of voice, Hearing the whole person, Your response. The Science of Evil and Variations in Empathy. Suppressing Feelings of Compassion Makes People Feel less Moral. Suppressing Emotions. 1↑.
-Quote: People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. – Theodore Roosevelt
-C.1. Transparency in Communication. As I recently read Adapting to the Future of Work, I was struck by this comment. Three in five (59%) of corporate leaders say transparency in communications is critical for achieving their organization’s goals. For me, transparency of communication means open and honest communication. | That raises the question, who are these two out of five corporate leaders who fail to understand that the purpose of communication is to communicate. That, in turn, would seem to subsume the idea of transparency. If statements from leaders at any level of the organization are not transparent, they must, perforce, be hiding something. If they are hiding something, the most pertinent possible question is, Why. | In answering that question, it seems that there are a very limited number of possible answers: 1) They don’t understand the concept of communication. 2) They’re trying to “sell” an idea in which they don’t have full faith or which they somehow believe that their people/team will not accept at face value. 3) They have a completely hidden agenda and are trying to “put one over” on their people/team. | The existence of these limited options raises the question of why it is that a leader is not prepared to be transparent. This is a question that every leader should ask when they decide to communicate. 1) Why am I doing this. 2) What do I need to say in order to achieve the goal of my communication. The honest answer to those two questions should be something that the leader is prepared to discuss openly.
-170924-1>1. See How Human Activity Is Changing Animal Migration Patterns. Over half of the world’s people live in cities, and animals are getting mixed in as well. Rapid urban development means more barriers for animals, and more integration between wildlife and humans. Cities have become their homes, with fruit bats binging on fruit trees within and outside the border of Accra, Ghana, and fishers are thriving in upstate New York by navigating through culverts across town. Cities have also become barriers. Last year, researchers at the Nature Conservancy looked at the effect of manmade barriers like roads, farmland, and urban infrastructure. They found that in the US, only 41 percent of natural lands were connected enough for animals to move through. 170813-1. Lets not forget invasive species (to include germs) enabled by human transportation, or formerly migratory species that now stay in place during the winter. | Plastic Junk Brought Invasive Species to U.s. after Japan’s 2011 Tsunami is a combination of human transportation, trash that floats, and a natural disaster.
-‡. The Drying of Peatlands Is Reducing Bird Diversity. Robin Invasion: Red Breasted Birds No Longer a Harbinger of Spring (2014). Tons of Goose Waste Dropped in Lake Tahoe (2006). Climate Change, Increasing Temperatures Alter Bird Migration Patterns (2012). Migration Blues: When Birds Don't Fly South (2010). One serendipity is that by not migrating spread of flu may be decreased, or Migrating Animals Might Decrease the Spread of Bird Flu and Other Infectious Diseases (2011), Connection Between Extinction of Passenger Pigeon and Spanish Flu (2007, height of the Avian flu dread), Avian Flu Virus Found in Bird Excretions in Rural City. Though unlikely, I’ve been somewhat expecting that some country may make the ill informed choice to shoot down migrating bird flocks as a control measure for the next global flu pandemic. How the Railroad Wiped Out Passenger Pigeons (and Nearly Bison, Too). [Art, Mural, Blend. Photo].
-A. Likely Scenarios for Global Spread of Devastating Crop Disease. New research reveals the most likely months and routes for the spread of new strains of airborne 'wheat stem rust' that could endanger global food security by ravaging wheat production across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the wider world. Quantifying Airborne Dispersal Routes of Pathogens over Continents to Safeguard Global Wheat Supply. Infectious crop diseases spreading over large agricultural areas pose a threat to food security. Aggressive strains of the obligate pathogenic fungus Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici (Pgt), causing the crop disease wheat stem rust, have been detected in East Africa and the Middle East, where they lead to substantial economic losses and threaten livelihoods of farmers. The majority of commercially grown wheat cultivars worldwide are susceptible to these emerging strains, which pose a risk to global wheat production, because the fungal spores transmitting the disease can be wind dispersed over regions and even continents. Add to the mix, drought, human disease, poverty, increasing human encroachment on wild areas, climate change, one has a catastrophic syndemic.
-170924-5.2>2. Frida Sofia: The Mexico Earthquake Victim Who Never Was. News coverage of a girl supposedly trapped in a collapsed elementary school captured the public’s attention. How did everyone get it so wrong. Exploration of rumor enhanced by media, the earthquake’s effect on the community helped spread the misinformation. As a result of our anxiety and expectations, we interpret the information provided by rescuers in a distorted way. It is demonstrated that our perception and attention is selective, that is, it is restricted by our experiences and socioaffective elements, such as the desire to find a person who has disappeared from the disaster or find a loved one alive in the rubble of a collapsed building. This leads to people transforming the information, and then spreading misinformation, a collective confusion. This same article then shares potential misinformation with report of similar rumor from a 1985 news report, by quoting an anonymous psychiatrist this was the result of collective psychosis (Folie à Deux). Unlikely a psychiatrist would have had involvement or made such an irresponsible remark, though collective psychosis may mean something different in Mexican Spanish, this is probably a rumor also and the word psychiatrist would add value and credibility to the comment. Probably a rumor added. The more informative and sourced statement was – Although 16 days had passed, Monchito's paternal grandfather still had hope, but Saturday said that, "unfortunately, the boy is a trophy that everyone wants to win", but that was possibly another addition. This creation of an icon for the narrative helped sustain effort to find victims in collapsed buildings. It may be a moment for chagrin, but is not a mental health problem. We all need a reason to hope. In my opinion hope is not psychosis, neurosis and unrealistic perhaps, but not psychotic*. -6. Amid Mexico's Quake Chaos and Rumors, a Website Helps People Get Facts Straight. | Memorials Spring up at Mexico City's Quake Collapse Sites. After Mexico Earthquake, Bike Brigade Delivers Crucial Supplies.
-*Quote: A neurotic is a man who builds a castle in the air. A psychotic is the man who lives in it. A psychiatrist is the man who collects the rent. – Jerome Lawrence
-170917-1.3*>3. <ADDED 170924>-2. Why Your Orange Juice Might Be from Brazil: Florida’s Trees Are Dying. The state’s citrus industry, beset by a disease killing off groves plus hurricanes and international competition, is banking on producing a genetically engineered orange years away from potential sale. A slowly developing confluence of disasters both geo and bio. To Save Florida's Famous Oranges, Scientists Race to Weaponize a Virus (2015), Can Genetic Engineering Save the Florida Orange (2014), 140914-32, Sorry Hipsters, That Organic Kale Is a Genetically Modified Food. .....point to the ability of GMOs to prevent diseases from ruining entire industries, such as Hawaiian papayas and Florida oranges. 131215-40, USDA Steps Up Citrus Greening Fight as GMO Fix Looks Promising.
-170917-7>4. <ADDED 170924>-5. Pregnant Women Should Still Get the Flu Vaccine, Doctors Advise. A study suggesting a link between the flu vaccine and miscarriage in a limited population is cause for more research, not a reason to change vaccination recommendations. Whooping Cough Shot Effective, but Many Pregnant Women Skip It. 170924-7C. Protect Babies from Flu by Getting Older Siblings Vaccinated, Parents Advised. Get Your Flu Shots, US Urges amid Concerns about Bad Season. Officials Highlight Flu Vaccination Gaps, Progress Ahead of Season, Flu Season: Fewer than Half of Americans Vaccinated, Officials Call for Nearly Everyone to Get a Shot.
-170917-10>5. Sep 28, 1918 Flu Epidemic Hits Philadelphia. How the 1918 Flu Pandemic Revolutionized Public Health. Mass death changed how we think about illness, and government’s role in treating it. Public health policies – like immigration policies – were colored by eugenics, 170910-4.1, 170409-11. It was common for privileged elites to look down on workers and the poor as inferior categories of human being, whose natural degeneracy predisposed them to disease and deformity. It didn’t occur to those elites to look for the causes of illness in the often abject living conditions of the lower classes: crowded tenements, long working hours, poor diet. If they sickened and died from typhus, cholera and other killer diseases, the eugenicists argued, then it was their own fault, because they lacked the drive to achieve a better quality of life. In the context of an epidemic, public health generally referred to a suite of measures designed to protect those elites from the contaminating influence of the disease ridden rabble. We may see a repeat of this pre 1920 worldview with 9 Million Kids Get Insurance Through CHIP. Congress Is about to Let its Funding Expire, Congress’ Cold Shoulder Sends Shivers Through Community Health Centers, With Deadlines Looming, Congress Tardy on Funding for Children’s Insurance, Health Centers, On Cusp of Key Deadline, GOP Still Fixated on ACA Repeal, House Panel next Week Will Take up Bill on Children’s Insurance, Community Health Centers, Policy Perspectives: Congress Should Make a Priority of Community Health Centers; If Capitol Hill’s ‘Health Care Standoff’ Continues, What Happens Next. The timing is especially unfortunate with The Post Antibiotic Era Is Here. Now What, and other on going biopolitics. Archaeologists Discover Fully Intact 17th Century Belief System in Ohio Congressman.
-A. This is one of the most appearing to be unconnected unintended consequence that I have come across. Blame Henry Ford for Deadly Superbugs. The strange journey from soybean fueled cars to antibiotic resistant bacteria. 170910-10. Massive Projected Increase in Use of Antimicrobials in Animals by 2030.
-B. How You Could Help Stop a Flu Pandemic. We seem to be suffering from a global amnesia. Ask any passerby “What was the most catastrophic cause of death in the last 100 years”, and you receive the usual suspects: WWII, perhaps WWI. There are also some less obvious replies: Chernobyl, the Boxing Day Tsunami, Hiroshima. Very, very rarely will anyone say Spanish Flu, and yet that particular pandemic killed up to 100 million people. This Sinister Virus Could Cause the World's Next Flu Pandemic. A New Book About the Pandemic of 1918 Should Inspire You to Get Your Flu Shot [Cover], 170924-10.
-170903-10>6. <ADDED 170910>. Patient at Center of Utah Nurse’s High Profile Arrest Over Blood Draw Dies.
-170827-2>7. Innovating Through "Interesting Times" in Global Health. The reputed Chinese curse – May you live in interesting times – warns of periods of turbulence amid changing power structures and the failure of familiar solutions to meet new challenges. Today, the global health community is certainly living in interesting times. Rising populism and nationalism in the USA and Europe is working against the use of national budgets for international aid and development, despite their inextricable link to domestic health. What the Pileup of U.S. Disasters Means for the World, I believe they only mean hurricanes, not biotrumpism. Why Public Health Insurance Could Help, Even if You Don’t Want It. India’s and Mexico’s experiences offer some of the best evidence on what happens when we add a public option to a marketplace. The private sector is forced to improve its game to retain customers, so more people benefit than just those who directly use the public services.
-170827-2.1>8. <ADDED 170924>-6. US Does Not Believe Cuba Is Behind Sonic Attacks on American Diplomats. Tillerson to Meet Top Cuba Envoy amid Probe into 'Attacks'. | Note the sources and spin of the following: US Cuts Embassy Staff, Urges No Travel to Cuba, US Urges No Travel to Cuba, Cuts Embassy Staff by More than Half, US Urges No Travel to Cuba, Cuts Embassy Staff after 'Specific Attacks', US Stops Issuing Visas in Cuba, Cuts Embassy Staff, Urges No Travel to Island, US to Americans: Stay Away from Cuba after Health ‘Attacks’. US-Cuba Thaw Halted amid Diplomat Injuries This is an illustration of how is a source reliable. The information may or may not be true, but a source can be relied on to give a predictable spin to information, some even noting the original source. The White House and several government agencies at this time are not a reliable source of biodisaster or parademic information or misinformation. Which makes them a parademic via information manipulation*. Its spin on stories is still difficult to predict, information tends to be internally inconsistent, previous comments made are deleted (which is why non white house and trump tweets are used as often as possible in Weekly notes), validity becomes quicky confused, changes in spin happen quickly. Clearly there are changes that have happened, but these are uncertain if they are meaningful, a temporary anomaly, or one that will leave permanent changes. Something in the Air. A Cold War espionage incident could hold clues about what’s afflicting U.S. diplomats in Cuba. There is still the possibility of a Himmler Operation to justify an a priori decision, manufactured proof of a conspiracy theory, or to disrupt Cuba-US relations. If so the perpetrator is still unknown.
-*. An Absent EPA Climate Report, and a Tale of Two Flooded Superfund Sites. A 2014 EPA climate report warned that Superfund site cleanup and monitoring processes needed updates to prepare for more severe floods. That report is no longer located on the current agency website. EPA Says Dioxins Might Have Washed Downriver During Harvey. 170917-1.1‡, <ADDED 170910-170827-8*-A¶1)>, <ADDED 170903-170827-8 et al>, <ADDED 170730-170716-5.3>, 170514-1.5, 170122-9.3. Similar disappearances happened with Climate Change Data, Rescuing Government Data From Trump Has Become a National Movement, 170416-1B, 170305-8.1, 170220-2.4, 170219-T.3, 170205-T.4, 170129-9. ¶ EPA Spending Almost $25,000 to Install a Secure Phone Booth for Scott Pruitt. Usually a secure phone and private office is sufficient, but I suppose since Zinke Says a Third of Interior’s Staff Is Disloyal to Trump and Promises Huge Changes that the EPA has similar problems and wants to keep travel plans secret, -170528-3.1↓. Here Are Some EPA Programs That Scott Pruitt’s $900,000 Taxpayer Funded Expenses Could Pay for.
-170820-3.1‡>9. The National Park Service Showed That its Bottled Water Ban Worked — Then Lifted it. The Trump administration had a report showing the benefits of a ban on selling bottled water at national parks four months before ending the program.
-170806-6.2>10. <ADDED 170820>. Bumble Bee Studies Show How Science Can Be Massaged. Two recent studies on the health of bumblebees and links to neonicotinoids were published simultaneously last month in sister publications of the prestigious science journal empire Nature. Both examined closely similar scientific questions, with somewhat different experimental methodologies. They had one big difference: The study that found that neonics caused no serious issues was ignored by the media while the one suggesting a bee-apocalypse was widely played up as definitive. Let’s unpack what these studies actually showed, and reflect on why the studies have been reported on so differently.
-170806-8A>11. <ADDED 170917>-5. Forest Service Spends Record $2B Battling Forest Fires. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the severe fire season means officials "end up having to hoard all of the money that is intended for fire prevention, because we're afraid we're going to need it to actually fight fires. Secretary Perdue Urges State Foresters to Call on Congress to Fix Fire Funding Problem. Currently, the agency has to borrow money from prevention programs to combat ongoing wildfires. Secretary Perdue believes Congress should treat major fires the same as other disasters and be covered by emergency funds so prevention programs are not raided. -3.1‡↑.
-170730-5.2B>12. <ADDED 170910>. Yemen Cholera Cases Could Hit 1 Million by Year End: Red Cross. Concurrently there are: Regional biodisaster acceleration Cholera Outbreaks in Central and West Africa: 2017 Regional Update - Week 06, Week 08; Regional parademic acceleration Week 10, Week 14, Week 16, Week 18, Week 20, Week 22, Week 24, Week 26, Week 28, Week 30, Week 32, Week 34, Week 36, ...... Deceleration not been reached yet. Unknown if bio or social deceleration will be reached first. Unlikely to reach global acceleration. Cholera outbreaks in Africa are yearly, Africa in the Time of Cholera: A History of Pandemics from 1817 to the Present, though this year has possibly more cases and spread, with Yemen being part of its continued waves. Outbreak in Puerto Rico is a possibility as a parademic to further condemn biotrumpism, but undoubtedly it is being monitored for (this is always a consideration of floods), with rehydration kits already on route, if not already there, and potable water is a known priority, 2.1‡↑. Bangladesh: 900,000 Vaccines “En Route” to Cox’s Bazar to Prevent Cholera, due to forced migration As Rohingya Exodus Slows, Refugee Numbers May Top 500,000.
-170730-5.2A>13. <ADDED 170806>. [Tweet, Tweet, Tweet]. The Invisible Threat. As the Trump administration talks border walls and North Korean nukes, scientists are sounding the alarm on potential biological attacks and natural outbreaks. North Korea’s Biological War: Jong-un's Kingdom Weaponises Deadly Diseases to Smash Enemy. How North Korea Would Retaliate. Sea of Sarin: North Korea’s Chemical Deterrent, 5 North Korean Weapons South Korea Should Fear.
-170528-3.1>14. <ADDED 170924>-7. Private Jets for Tom Price Grounded While Inspector General Investigates Travel Spending. Price Visited Family Members, Longtime Friends on Private Jet Trips. Trump Looking Very Closely at Firing Health Secretary. Poll: Majority View Price's Use of Private Jet as Inappropriate. Sebelius Calls Price's Private Chartered Plane Travel Stunning. Tough Talk: ‘The Price’ Not Right for HHS Secretary; He Should Have to Repay Taxpayers These Funds. HHS Secretary Price Apologizes, Says He'll Reimburse Government for Flights, other headlines say Taxpayers. Price to Pay $52k out of Estimated $400k in Travel Costs, what could HHS do with $350,000. Putting Tom Price’s Charter Flights in Perspective. | HHS Secretary Tom Price Resigns amid Criticism of His Travel on Private Planes (Resignation Letter), speculatively because Trump Will Make Decision Sometime Tonight on Price, Tom Price Broke Trump's Cardinal Rule: Never Get Bad Headlines for the Boss, Trump’s Breaking Point with Price, H5N1 Comment. ¶ One immediate no impact is that Dems Urge Price to Change Obamacare Site Shutdown Planned During Open Enrollment, will likely not change soon as making decisions has become more risky. Intentionally or Not, Administration’s Actions Will Limit Number of Healthy People Bolstering Exchanges. Another moot issue, Here's How Tom Price Could Be Spending His Time, Price’s Exit Adds Another Hurdle to GOP Health Care Push. | Like Price, EPA's Pruitt Spent More than $58k on non Commercial Flights, [Tweet] -170827-2.1*↑. Tough Talk: This Price Is Not Right. The Interior Secretary’s Private Plane Use Looks Pretty Swampy, [Tweet]. <ADDED 170924>-7‡ for other questionable and not questionable travel.
-170521-7>15. <ADDED 170917>. The 1982 Tylenol Terror Shattered American Consumer Innocence. 35 years ago, few over the counter drug packages came with seals that showed when they’d been tampered with. That all changed after cyanide laced Extra Strength Tylenol killed seven people, prompting one of the first product recalls in American history. Pandemic Humor- 3.6.2•.
<ADDED 170910-160911-3.1*G>16. Dr. Oz Was an Embarrassment to Medicine in His Ivanka Trump Interview, Dr. Oz Wonders If Media Induced Stress Could Hurt Donald Trump’s Health. ¶ Trump Shares Medical Information and Affinity for Fast Food with ‘Dr. Oz’. Trump’s Dr. Oz Appearance Has Nothing to Do with Health. Trump’s TV Confidant, Dr. Oz, May Be America’s Most Influential – and Controversial – Physician. Trump Releases Weight, Cholesterol, Blood Sugar and Other Medical Information, Doctor: Trump Would Be 'Healthiest Individual Ever Elected' President. Patient Trump in the Land of Oz, When Donald Trump Met Dr. Oz: a Huckster Bromance, What’s Missing in Dr. Oz’s TV Exam Room, Donald Trump’s Potemkin Physical with Dr. Oz. Overall the Trump Dr Oz Show had no effect. It did however help supporters to continue to trust him, and those who distrust him (and Dr Oz) continued to do so. ¶ Medical Records Won’t Tell Us Anything Useful about the Candidates’ Health. The “concern” over Clinton’s pneumonia is about politics, not medical precision. This is not a recent issue but as usual has precursors A Voters Guide to the Health of the Presidential Candidates (2015), GOP: Hillary Clinton’s Health and Age Are ‘Fair Game’ (2014) Age Was Issue for Ronald Reagan in 1980, Will Be for Hillary Clinton in 2016 (2014). McCain's Age and Past Health Problems Could Be An Issue in the Presidential Race (2008), The Medical Ordeals of JFK, Presidential Diseases. Because age and health are the same issue to most people the age issue was switched to health when the GOP candidate turned out to be older. The decorate candidate was predictable, which allowed time to prepare strategy, but there was a delay as GOP did not know who their own candidate would be. The Hidden History of Presidential Disease, Sickness and Secrecy 170219-12↑. Clinton Diagnosed with Pneumonia. Then the issue turned into mental health -170730-5.2>, Trump Is Dangerous, Mental Health Experts Claim in a New Book. Are They ¿Right?, given the biopolitical context probably would have made for a clearer headline to use a simile, such as correct. Americans Have a Longstanding Love of Magical Thinking. It Gave Us Trump.
Comments