Read This First 170423, Heuristics Updated Contagious Narrative 170928, Glossary Updated A-B 171008, Mini Lessons 170827
1. 2014 Ebola Anniversaries, 2. MERS, 3. Unethical Radiation Testing, ↕4. Mosquito Borne, 5. Madagascar Plague, 6. Natural Hazards Center Research, 7. Narrative Manipulation, 8. Anti-Vax Demographic, 9. Walking Technology, ↕C. Communications, <ADDED>. 1. Unbalanced Reporting, 2. Puerto Rico, 3. Variety = Food Security, 4. Weed Resistance, 5. Hepatitis A, 6. Leaning Unethics, 7. Suing about Climate Change, 8. Anthropocene, 9. Balanced Vaccine Reporting, 10. Missed Deadline, 11. Deadly Onomatopoeia, 12. Shenanigans of the Inside, 13. Orwellian Protection, 14. Medical Fiction, 15. Rock Hudson, 16. GMO Bread.
Other Topics: BioTrumpism, BioPolitics, Vaccine, Biosphere, Disaster, Humor, Climate Change, Conspiracy Theory, Media, Logistics, Law, Disaster Funding, Funding Disasters, Water, Forced Migration, Pharmaceutical Supply, Resilience, Music, Corruption, Mass Suggestion, Social Contagion, Obama [Cartoon], Media Attention, Orwellian, Rewriting History, Invasive Species, Risk, Weekly Notes, Principle of Least Effort, Conditions of Uncertainty, Las Vegas Mass Casualty, North Korea (not a Mass Casualty, yet), Puerto Rico, Opioids, Resilience, Antibiotic Resistance, Rio Olympics, West Nile, Cuba.
-1. October 7, 2014 Anniversary of Excalibur being euthanized because of Ebola Fear and speculation becoming fact. Spanish Ebola Patient’s Dog Is Put to Death, Excalibur, Spanish Ebola Patient's Dog, Is Euthanised Despite Global Outcry, No Evidence Dogs Get, Spread Ebola, Why Was One ‘Ebola Dog’ Saved While the Other Was Euthanized [Photo]. | The building dread about Ebola blows into full Ebolaphobia with the death of Thomas Duncun October 8, 2014 . This year is the 4th anniversary so unlikely there will be much media on this (there was none). Likely there will be media coverage of Ebolaphobia in October 2018, especially if there is a connection made with the 2016 midterm elections and how Ebolaphobia influenced it, with possible connections to Trumpism. In the US anniversaries are typically the 1st, 5th, 10th, 20th, 35th, 50th, 75th, 100th. I don’t believe I will be writing Weekly Notes any longer by 2114 so will not be cross referenced in the database if the last few anniversaries are perorated. In fact likely that anyone alive in 2014 who had personally experienced Ebolaphobia will all have passed on by that time.
-2. Though not included in Weekly Notes for some time, MERS continues. Health Experts Zero in on Camels to Fight Deadly Mers Virus), which has killed at least 722 people over the past five years. Almost all the outbreaks so far originated in the Arabian Gulf, but MERS-CoV could infect humans wherever there are one humped dromedary camels – two humped bactrians are not affected. H5N1 Comment. This is all well and good, but where is this vast amount of research being published. This has been the situation ever since MERS was identified back in 2012. We saw more research published by the Koreans, after their imported outbreak in 2015, than we've ever seen from the Saudis themselves. A health problem with implications for a vast swathe of Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia is being ignored instead of being attacked with all the resources of some very rich countries like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.
-3. Cold War Radiation Testing in US Widespread, Author Claims. Three members of Congress are demanding answers after a St. Louis scholar's new book revealed details of secret Cold War era U.S. government testing in which countless unsuspecting people, including many children, pregnant women and minorities, were fed, sprayed or injected with radiation and other dangerous materials. The health ramifications of the tests are unknown. Lisa Martino-Taylor, an associate professor of sociology wrote #Book Behind the Fog: How the U.S. Cold War Radiological Weapons Program Exposed Innocent Americans [Cover], (Excerpts), acknowledged that tracing diseases like cancer to specific causes is difficult. ¶ This adds to the conspiracy theory narrative of US using bio and chemical weapons, such as appeared during the 2014 Ebola.
-‡. 170709-7A, 170611-C, 161030-2.1, 160731-8, 160724-8, 160710-5.1*, 160619-10, 160417-9, +↓. Trump Administration Opposing Bid for Syphilis Study Museum, Trump and the Rewriting of History. The Infamous, 40 Year Tuskegee Study. The Lasting Fallout of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. United Nations Guilty of Infecting the World with the Biological Weapon AIDS.
↕4. Cameron Co. Health Officials Confirm First Locally Transmitted Case of Zika. Significance: just brushed by Harvey rain, but undamaged. Probably not much of an increase in mosquito threat, but that was already high. Some evacuees may have come to this area and been exposed and then carried back to Houston area where it could spread more in the mosquito environment there. Texas County Still on "High Alert" over Zika Virus. Health officials watching mosquitoes in Texas after Harvey. [Map, Map]. Someone experienced with Zika epidemiology and familiar with recent history and geography of Texas would not have needed significance explained. However with most biodisaster and parademic information one needs to provide significance so others will know what to watch for, what the risk* is, and prepare for possible future decisions, if not make decisions to prevent a future risk problem. Currently there are neither the resources or mindset to be proactive. Weekly Notes gives practice at this by putting topics together, or links to topics, that may not seem connected. This allows the reader to learn to puzzle out how or why the two are connected [Photo]. Barring that sometimes the wrong stub is cited – which is usually not intentional but something that happens in crisis situations – there is always a connection. However in the real world with real crisis there may be links made that are not actually connected. This can misdirect effort and cause serious harm if not identified and corrected early. Where this becomes even more dangerous is when think they are communicating and the people getting the message think they understand, Interpreting Hurricane Forecast Displays Can Be Difficult for General Public. The 2017 hurricane season has highlighted the critical need to communicate a storm's impact path and intensity accurately, but new research shows significant misunderstandings by novice viewers of the two most commonly used storm forecast visualization methods. 171001-2.1E¶.
-*. Your Risk Intelligence Decides How Much of a Daredevil You Are. The behaviors of risk perception and risky decisions – (actually a decision is always when there is uncertainty, otherwise its merely a choice among provided options – are key to parademic, especially in regards to parademic management and accelerated biodisaster mitigation, containment and control. A website that explores this deeply is Risk & Uncertainty | Judgment & Decision Making | Cognitive & Statistical Modeling.
-4.1. US Olympians at 2016 Rio Games Were Infected with West Nile Virus, Not Zika. Athletes and staff who traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2016 Summer Games did not become infected with Zika virus but did test positive for other tropical, mosquito borne viral infections, including West Nile Virus, Dengue Fever and Chikungunya. 170402-4.1, 170220-6.1P, 160911-4A. In Harvey’s Wake, Health Officials Watch for West Nile and Other Mosquito Borne Diseases.
-5. Why Plague Season Is a Big Worry in Madagascar this Year. The number of cases has prompted a ban on public gatherings, and concern from the World Health Organization. The disease is spreading in cities and has claimed 30 lives so far. 160612-7.1 is about conditions there that foster plague, poor sanitation, poverty, corruption by elites, restrictions to access to health care. Plague reports in Madagascar getting larger each year that there is an outbreak. These waves started in 2000. 150830-11, 150705-4, 150201-12, 141214-39, 141121-46, 140706-3, 140309-19.1. Madagascar: Plague Victims Increase. Plague Is Spreading at an Alarming Rate in Madagascar. Yes, Plague. ¶ Madagascar: Two Suspected Plague Corpses Stolen by Relatives. We were facing people who were ready to kill if we touched the body. The germ lives in the grave. Tombs where the plague victims have been buried must be sealed for years. Otherwise, the bacteria will continue to spread and affect the living. Rats Used to Spread the Black Death. Now, Poverty Plays a Role.
-6. Research Counts. The Natural Hazards Center is committed to uplifting the work of others and to bringing it to new audiences. To that end, we are launching a new initiative called Research Counts. This series will serve as a platform for hazards and disaster scholars to provide insights regarding major research findings and enduring lessons. It will also provide a forum for raising new questions worthy of exploration. The pieces in the series are brief and intended for broad consumption. We want to work with our community to get this knowledge into the hands of those who need it most. We are launching the series with original briefs from experts in a variety of disciplines, ranging from anthropology to engineering. These scholars are lending their voices to help us understand the catastrophes that are disrupting lives and livelihoods the world over, and to place them in broader context. Quick Response Grants Available to Collect Perishable Disaster Data.
-7. Parademic interest here is not the biopolitical issue of abortion but biopolitics manipulating information and narratives. HR 36 Is a 22 Week Abortion Ban Not a 20 Week Ban. Why the Lie. Possibly based on ignoring the scientific literature about fetal pain, that medicine does not use fertilization age, getting bad advice, not understanding the science. More like the confusion is done purposefully to: dissuade patients, to scare doctors, to establish a fake fertilization age as the standard for personhood. The Disturbing Rise of Cyberattacks Against Abortion Clinics, 170917-9A.
-8. One of the conundrums about anti-vax over the years has been determining who are anti-vax. The picture has always been confused with crossing otherwise stable lines between demographics and beliefs. It is known that anti-vax form clusters, which makes it possible to identify areas where there may be an epidemic and resistance to vaccines, or where an epidemic is likely to occur, but the clusters can be very different from each other. What Do CT, MA, NY and California Share in Common. Voting and Anti-Vaccine Beliefs‡*. While journalists have continued to try and portray the right as being equally anti-vaccine, data using social media show otherwise. California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania – left leaning states, the Whole Foods demographic, wealthy progressive elites who want poor kids to provide herd immunity while they adopt the precautionary principle – have the most negative tweets about vaccines of any states. Though this observation, and observations that are the complete opposite have been made before, there was one insight: Anti-vax correlates to voting patterns nationwide. Counties that are more balanced politically have high vaccination rates, while politically slanted counties have low vaccination rates. Possibly there is a stress from being in a economic, political or belief homogeneous area that is not recognized. This may create a condition of uncertainty if everyone around the area seems to be different and in opposition. Not being able to control that they use magical thinking and control something that they can control.
-‡. Everything You Need to Know About Anti-Vaxxers, The Average Anti-Vaxxer Is Probably Not Who You Think She Is, The Faces of Antivaccine Parents: Overwhelmingly Affluent, White, and Suburban. A Little Blue in the Face over Yellow Fever Vaccination. *Twitter a Hotbed of Anti Vaccine Sentiment. Affluent regions most likely to be hubs of tweets of Anti-vaccine sentiment. I believe this is based on the same research article as used for -8↑ but sharpens economics while the above sharpens voting.
-8.1. The Healthcare Wars of 1920s Harlem. When we talk about people who distrust doctors and use alternative medicines, we’re often thinking of celebrities and privileged white communities with low vaccination rates. Historically, however, the conflict between Western medicine and its alternatives has often played out in oppressed communities. That was the case in Harlem nearly a century ago. -170917-7A↓.
-9. Though not specifically about parademic / biodisaster, this is a great example of how a change in technology (foot wear in this case, especially the addition of the raised heel), due to historical changes in human created environments (urban anthromes*, hard surfaces). This resulted in changes in posture, health, fashion, ambulation, musculature, Zipf’s Law. This Video of How Medieval People Walked Is Oddly Compelling. [Chart, Photo]. Social and technological development are inextricably linked, I think this is a quote but can’t find a reference, possibly something I heard in college classes. ¶ A pre historical tidbit This Ancient Primate May Be Responsible for Genital Herpes, Humans Caught Herpes from Ancient Hominin Ancestor. *Humans are not the only ones that adapt to anthromes, Mice Are Evolving to Survive Life in New York City.
↕C. The Three Rules of Three for Communicating Well. 1) Make no more than three points. In fact, one big point is even better. 2) Try to explain difficult ideas three different ways. Some people can’t understand something the first couple of ways I say it, but can if I say it another way. This lets them triangulate their way to understanding. 3) Try to find a subtle way to make an important point three times. It sticks a little better. 4) Tips tend to be anemic when they don’t come fortified with experience, or with a vivid story that lets you enjoy a vicarious experience. 5) So why does weekly notes make multiple points in poorly constructed sentences where connections are not clear. Because it’s a database, not communication but a smorgasbord, take what you need or can use. Biodisaster is chaotic with linkages to topics that seem unrelated. If one is going to deal with people in a biodisaster one better practice now than after biodisaster and behavior and accelerated. One of my favorite analogies is to learn how to fly the plane before it takes off, and even then have a trustworthy mentor with you is a good idea. [Photo, CG]. One recommendation is to not read the whole weekly notes and delve into each link. Skim through for topics of interest and expand from there as one begins to see connections with other topics with your own areas of interest. It’s always to learn about what one is interested in and already have some familiarity with the topic. It also helps that in the field of disasters and people one can never be an expert that knows everything. In general Weekly notes consciously violating the rules of writing, A Summary of The Science of Scientific Writing. The Flame Challenge -170827-2.1↓.
-C.1. I had indicated awhile ago that the CERC corner may disappear. That seems to be the case. It could be a simple case of running out of anything more to say, or one could give a more sinister implication that it is no longer in HHS interest that there be effective Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication. [Logo]. Newsletter Archive. Communication is still a Parademic topic but will be indicated by #Communication.
-171001-1.1‡>1. #Communication. #Law. False Balance* in Reporting the Case of a Local Mother Jailed for Contempt of Court for Reneging on an Agreement to Vaccinate Her Child. Rachel Bredow is antivaccine and doesn't want her children vaccinated. Her ex husband disagrees. When Ms. Bredow violated a court order to vaccinate her child, she was thrown into jail for contempt of court. Unfortunately, our local media have not exactly covered themselves in glory covering this story. US Judge Tells Mother She Will Go to Prison Unless Her Son Gets Vaccinated. Michigan Mom Who Refused to Vaccinate Child Gets 7 Days in Jail. Poll: Should Parents Be Jailed for Refusing to Vaccinate Their Child. Michigan Mom Faces Jail for Refusing to Vaccinate Child. 170122-9.1. Pediatrician: Don’t Make Your Kid’s Healthcare a Proxy in Your Divorce Battles. *[Tweet]. -170917-7>8↓.
-A. This change in policy could eventually have wider health care implications. HHS Rolls Back Mandate That Even Religious Employers Provide Birth Control. This permission based on a religious or moral (that is an individual can decide they are against it), can easily be expanded to allow pharmacists to not provide medicines and drugs and doctors to not provide care based on personal beliefs, to not give marriage licenses to same sex (and different race) couples, to refuse service to those with the Mark of Cain, and a national policy that people do not have to vaccinate if they personally believe these are harmful. We have already seen the evidence has no power against wishing something were so. Trump Just Officially Made it Easier for Employers to Stop Covering Birth Control. Birth Control Saves Lives. Trump Just Made it Harder to Get. It is interesting that people can be against abortion, against birth control, for the death penalty, without suffering mental breakdown for the cognitive dissonance, doublethink. 4 Takeaways From HHS Rollback of Key Contraception Coverage Provision. -170827-2.1*↓. | California Challenges Trump’s Rollback of Birth Control Mandate which will only increase Trumpest (Trump’s temper and tempest 170528-3.1**↓) at California, California Governor Signs Sanctuary State Bill. ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Trump Administration over Roll Back of Birth Control Mandate, it’s almost like someone anticipated the next action and already had the paperwork done before it happened, so it could be filed immediately. ¶ The separation of church and state is already blurry in disasters. For example allowing faith groups to provide disaster assistance is probably a good thing, that is if they don’t proselytize or withhold help from those not of their faith. But where does one draw the line with a disaster pamphlet that is also a religious tract, or a political action that is taken to win support for a party or individual, by using a religious doctrine as justification. Sharing Disaster Public Education Materials. White House Acts to Roll Back Birth Control Mandate for Religious Employers.
-B. Social Acceptance More Important than Economic Factors in Fertility Treatment Availability. A new British study has shed light on some of the reasons why Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) usage varies across Europe – pinpointing moral and social acceptance of the treatment and religion as key. Scientists have, for the first time, assessed the relative importance of the role that economic, demographic and cultural normative factors play in the process. Religion was found to be a key factor, with a strong correlation between the size of religious Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim groups in a country and the ART usage. Having a higher proportion of Protestants in a country explained a large part (25%) of higher ART take up. The study also revealed a relationship between cultural attitudes in countries where ART was considered to be socially acceptable, with the number of people using the treatment. In Scandinavia for example, where ART usage is high, it is seen as a public good and justified, and the government has taken a key role in making services widely available to singles, those on low income and LGBTQIA groups. However in other countries, such as Italy – where the Catholic Church is openly against ART and heavily influences the policy agenda – ART is not widely used or available. This often forces individuals to travel for cross border care outside of their own country.
-171001-2.1 et al>2. Was interested to see if Puerto Rico would drop off media coverage after At Least 58 People Are Dead After Gunman Attacks Concert, Mass Casualty Incidents and the Overlap Between Trauma Systems and Hospital Disaster Preparedness, -170917-6↓, and The past 72 Hours in Rising Tensions Between the US and North Korea [Tweet, Tweet], Why Trump Humiliated His Own Secretary of State, or some other crisis of the moment, One Disaster after Another, Could Fatigue Set in. It is not the number of articles that are written, but the ones that are picked up by media sources that have wide circulation, and who read those sources. These Charts Show Fox News Really Did Ignore Puerto Rico’s Crisis. They talked more about tweets than about resources. Sean Hannity: From Las Vegas to Puerto Rico, Media Plays Politics to Hurt Trump. Trump's Reverse Midas Touch Is Making Everything He Hates Popular. | News Coverage of Trump More Negative than for Other Presidents. I had wondered in 170220-9.4 if I had somehow biased the white paper about which form the Trump government would take due to my dislike of the man and his staff (or at least his staff at that time as it has changed since then. Apparently my supposition that my data source was the reason for the bias, and the fact that the parademic is a topical area not consciously covered by media, not my own personal bias. PeopleDon't Like Bad News. We are fighting the ostrich like tendencies of people. Trump Slams 'Fake News' for Puerto Rico Trip Coverage [Tweet]. Trump in Puerto Rico: A Public Relations Fiasco [Tweet]. It appears Puerto Rico did not drop off the media radar, but it became two stories, Puerto Rico Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief, and Trump vis a vis Puerto Rico. My recollection (i.e. unreliable data source) is that media has never covered the president as much as the disaster before (though one could argue they are one and the same). There was criticism of Bush and FEMA for Katrina during the disaster response but I believe most of it was after recovery was underway. Trump: The Senate Should Investigate Media Companies That Make up News, White House Tries to Dial Back Trump's Call to Investigate Media.
-‡1. Dems Rip Trump for Dedicating Golf Trophy to Hurricane Victims, [Cartoon], 171001-2.1 . Many Puerto Ricans Angry over Trump’s Comments on Island. Hurricane Churns up Debate: Should Puerto Rico Be a State. Hamilton Composer Lin-Manuel Miranda to Donald Trump: “You Are Going Straight to Hell”, criticizing the president’s response to the crisis in Puerto Rico. Hurricane Maria Shows Trump Revels in Conflict, Chaos amid Crisis, the suffering of others. White House Releases Trump's Puerto Rico Schedule, anticipating a disaster media will probably cover the visit. Puerto Ricans Hope Trump Brings Relief, Not Rhetoric, after Maria. Trump Travels to Puerto Rico after Criticism of Slow Response. Trump Heads to Puerto Rico to Survey Hurricane Damage. Trump to Puerto Rico: They Have to Give Us More Help. We Asked 6 Senate Republicans about Trump and Puerto Rico. They Think It's Fine. Trump Touts Relief Efforts in Puerto Rico: We've Saved a Lot of Lives, but there are no counts yet. Trump oftlineSees Miracle Puerto Rico Survival, Ignores Critics. Trump Tosses Paper Towels into Crowd at Puerto Rican Church [Tweet, Meme], Trump Defends Throwing Paper Towels to Puerto Ricans. The Latest: Trump Calls Puerto Rico Trip Terrific, and the residents of the U.S. island are so thankful for what we've done. Trump Doles out Praise as Puerto Ricans Despair. Colbert Mocks Trump’s Puerto Rico Visit: You’re at a Disaster Site, Not Working The Floor at Your Casino. Trump's Puerto Rico Visit Is a Political Disaster. Trump Says Helping Puerto Rico Is Breaking the Us Budget. Texas Has Gotten Way More Money. Trump Complains about Price Tag of Puerto Rico Recovery, Brags about Military Boondoggle. The Research on Race That Could Explain Trump’s Slow Response to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Is All Our Worst Fears about Trump Becoming Real. Puerto Rico Pays Taxes. The US is Obligated to Help it Just as Much as Texas and Florida. Residents React to Trump's Visit as Death Toll in Puerto Rico Rises to 34. AP-NORC Poll: Low Marks for Trump's Puerto Rico Response. Trump Strikes False Notes on Puerto Rico. Trump’s Taste for Flattery Is a Disaster for Puerto Rico – and Someday the World. How Colonialism and Racism Explain the Inept Us Response to Hurricane Maria. Trump’s Administration Deleted Data on Puerto Rico’s Crisis from FEMA’s Website C¶↓, [Cartoon, probably a recycle of Meme]. Trump Approves Mississippi Emergency Declaration Ahead of Hurricane Nate*, if one were suspicious one would think this is establishing a pattern of what state or territory voted for whom. Trump: Nobody Could Have Done What I’ve Done for Puerto neRico with So Little Appreciation [Tweet, Tweet, Tweet].
-*. Hurricane Nate: Here Comes Number 4, South Spared Widespread Devastation as Hurricane Nate Becomes Tropical Depression, Hurricane Nate Weakens as it Soaks Mississippi, Alabama. Next is Hurricane Ophelia. Hurricane season usually ends Nov 30, Hurricane Season's Peak Period Lasts a Few More Weeks. Here's What to Expect. Hurricane stories will probably die out for this year, but the as the death counts begin to come it there will be more criticism about Puerto Rico.
-‡2. In Puerto Rico, Acute Shortages Plunge the Masses into Survival Struggle. Puerto Rico Cell Service Is Decimated. So this Is Happening. Information, especially with social ties, is a critical survival need; Alphabet Closer to Using Balloons for Telecom in Puerto Rico. Why Puerto Rico Will Be Without Power for Months, They're Giving Puerto Ricans Power in a Dark Time. Solar Panels to the Rescue, There’s Reason to Be Skeptical of a Tesla Powered Puerto Rico, the island territory has long been a laboratory for seedy experiments.. Trapped in the Mountains, Puerto Ricans Don't See Help, or a Way out. When Hurricane Maria Hit Puerto Rico, Everything Collapsed Simultaneously. Can Puerto Rico Rebuild. A future problem to look forward to in Puerto Rico, Texas Hospitals Feeling the Long Term Financial Strains of Harvey. It's Not Just Puerto Rico: 6 Other Caribbean Island Nations Are in Crisis after the Hurricanes. FDA Works to Prevent Global Drug Shortages from Damage to Puerto Rico Factories. Twelve of the top 20 global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have manufacturing facilities on Puerto Rico, which manufactures seven of the top 10 drugs sold globally; Hurricane Reveals Just How Much America Relies on Puerto Rico for its Pharmaceutical Supply, Pharmaceutical Factories Try to Keep Running as Puerto Rico Infrastructure Struggles from Hurricane Damage, -170917-10‡↓. Aid Is Getting to Puerto Rico. Distributing It Remains a Challenge. Hurricane Maria Worsens Puerto Rico's Water Woes, this is common in disaster, where a large disaster reveals many smaller disasters and misdeeds that have been ignored or hidden for a long time. 112 Degrees with No Water: Puerto Rican Hospitals Battle Life and Death Daily, Much of Puerto Rico Has No Running Water and the Problem Is Not Just Cleanliness. Feds Activate Emergency Prescription Program for Uninsured Puerto Ricans. Storm Relief Strains Military as Report Gives Sober Look at Readiness. Why States Took So Long to Dispatch Help to Puerto Rico. FEMA Takes down Data on Puerto Rico Access to Water and Electricity ¶↑, C↓, Q&A with Former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. NOAA Is Running Out of Money for its Hurricane Hunting Planes and Drones. Hurricane Mauled PR’s Renowned Monkey Island Research Center. In Puerto Rico, Lives Depend on Volunteer Doctors and Diesel Generators. Why Cholera Isn't Likely in Puerto Rico, but Other Diseases Are, 171001-2.1‡. After the Hurricanes, Who Cleans up the Caribbean. Following the hurricanes, some governments may have to rebuild trust as well as homes.
-A. She Was Covered in Insects and Unable to Walk: Doctors in Puerto Rico Only Now Discovering the Problems in Remote Towns*. Puerto Rico Tries to Shore up Hospitals in Remote Towns (Photos). Cities are more likely to get aid than outlying areas because they have larger populations, tend to be centers of wealth - transportation - power, are easier to reach with aid and have more media coverage. In fact despite the common belief, I would stay in an urban area if there is biodisaster rather than escape into the countyside to be safe. Puerto Rico es remoto muerte. There is a Key Idea that I am still debating if it is vaild in terms of biodisaster and parademic: The world can be roughly divided into two groups: the Functioning Core, characterized by economic interdependence, and the Non-Integrated Gap, characterized by unstable leadership and absence from international trade. The Core can be subdivided into Old Core (North America, Europe, Japan, Australia) and New Core (China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Russia). The Disconnected Gap includes the Middle East, SouthAsia (except India), most of Africa, Southeast Asia, and northwest South America. The Definition of the Functioning Core and the Non-Integrating Gap. [Map]. Puerto Rico is in the gap -C↓ along with Dominica in Tatters Weeks after Maria: We Saw Everything Totally Destroyed. However in relation to Puerto Rico the US response is remindful of a gap country -C↓, by a core country. This seems odd given it is in fact a territory of the US, though there are other areas of the US that are fringe or ignored: Appalachia, Inner Cities, Sovereign Reservations, Cajuns, ethnic / religious separatists, gang controlled neighborhoods.
-B. How Cultural Resilience Made a Difference after Hurricane Hugo and Could Help Again. It is particularly in times of disaster that people turn to culture not only for solace but for survival. Could conducting field ethnography be part of disaster response that helps people. Hard Lessons from Puerto Rico. Logistics. There is a "time-space continuum" that cannot be bridged. Puerto Rico has 1,000 miles of ocean to be crossed before it even arrives on the island. The next logistic issue is that there are interdependencies in logistics and shipping. The harbor has to be cleared of debris; cranes must have electrical power to operate; you might have all the hardware and supplies (like diesel), but if you don't have staff to operate the system, you are still not functional. Lastly, that last mile, getting the supplies delivered to where they are needed, can be the hardest part once the system is working. Food was still being rationed and grocery store shelves are bare 10 days after storm landfall. Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Russel Honore who has been in the news lately had the best quote (back in Katrina days) that I've used over and over again, "Logistics, if it was easy, it would be called taxes". Three Things that Drive Disaster Recovery,
they all have to do with people. To recover, there will need to be, besides electrical power and water (and information): Housing for people to live in. Schools have to be functioning. Jobs. The Mental Health Impact of Major Disasters like Harvey, Irma and Maria. The Most Empowering Tool for Hurricane Recovery. Want to help residents rebuild after Harvey and Irma, give them access to reliable data. Old San Juan Shows its Resilience after Puerto Rico Hurricane. | #Music 'We Feel Forgotten': In Storm Battered Home of Musical Hit, Help Comes 'Despacito', Puerto Rico's 'Singing Newspapers' Tell a Story of Resilience, Lin-Manuel Miranda Explains How He Made His New Benefit Song for Puerto Rico.
-C. Puerto Rico Hasn’t Updated the Hurricane Maria Death Toll in 5 Days. The outdated death count is a sign the government is broken. Hardly, I’ve seen no evidence that not doing paper work, or updating a website, means society has collapsed. Priorities have to be made and saving lives is more important than counting the dead. The dead can be counted later and proper documentation done. The living can’t wait unless one would prefer to have higher mortality numbers 170220-1.6, Patient Bleeds to Death, Blood Bank Paperwork Completed Without Errors. Puerto Rico Finally Updated the Hurricane Maria Death Toll to 34 . Some of the people who work in the government lost their homes themselves and aren’t at work. So they can’t do death certificates. The dead can’t be documented because of all the logistics and legal aspects of declaring someone dead. Not being able to document it doesn’t mean it’s not happening, in fact would be an indicator that the situation is dire. One problem with not updating the death count is that it can make the situation on the ground seem less dire than it actually Is. Counting in a mass casualty event is not easy, Sheer Number of Casualties Makes Las Vegas Count Difficult. Doctors and emergency officials are still trying to figure out exactly how many people were shot in Las Vegas. The wide range of injuries and the sheer number of people injured are challenges. The topic of maintaining accurate counts of morbidity and mortality in disaster has been a topic before in Weekly Notes. Bottom line is that the numbers become useless, the location of cases and trends up or down become more important than precision. There is also the problem of rumors that complicate counts, Did All of the Patients in a Puerto Rican Intensive Care Unit Die. Similar to other items, aside from Trump rants, that take the position that Puerto Rico is at fault to being vulnerable to severe hurricanes. This’s remindful of preemptive blame by proxy, when it is anticipated that disaster is very possible, when one wants to document one is not responsible, distancing themselves from a problem, transferring culpability by othering the ones (oft times the ones who suffer the consequences) who are being blamed -A↑, 170924-5.1C*↓. 170924-5.1C*, 170507-4.1.
-D. Trump to Request More Disaster Relief Funds this Week. The Latest: Trump Says US must 'Wipe Out' Puerto Rico Debt, Trump Budget Chiefs Says No Bailout for Puerto Rico Debt. Puerto Rico after Maria: The Status of Recovery. Puerto Rico Is Running out of Money. Federal Disaster Relief Funding is Not All FEMA Dollars, analysis of Federal disaster relief funding. GOP Bill Would Direct Extra Medicaid Funds to Puerto Rico. FEMA Has Yet to Authorize Full Disaster Help for Puerto Rico, Texas got it 10 days after Hurricane Harvey hit. White House to Seek $29B Disaster Aid Package. Puerto Rico Bonds Sink; White House Says No Debt Bailout. Ex Presidents to Highlight Hurricane Relief Concert. Trump's Puerto Rico Golf Venture: Not Such a Great Deal(Search↓). Trump seems pessimistic about Puerto Rico's ability to pay its debts. That view may, in part, reflect his own financial experience there, where he once got stung by a golf course bankruptcy; Did Donald Trump Bankrupt a Golf Course, Leaving Puerto Rico with $33 Million in Debt. Trump Wants to Curtail Flood Insurance in Flood Prone Areas. Puerto Rico Has More than $70 Billion in Debt Because of this. Trump Wants Puerto Rico Debt Handled in Court, Not Eliminated. Did the Trump Administration Refuse Puerto Rico's Request for Food Stamps to be Used for Hot Food. U.S. Jobs Dropped by 33,000 in September, Likely Due to Storms. ¶ Unknown if true but that does not matter if people believe it is true. Donald Trump Says: I Will Buy Puerto Rico, and Turn it into Puerto Trump, In Controversial Campaign Move, Donald Trump to Buy Puerto Rico. In either case any fire (flood) sale of all or part, (pharmaceutical companies) of Puerto Rico will look suspicious, especially if the Trump Organization (to include rumor) is involved, Trump Spins in Foreclosure Game (2007). Note similarities to Trump properties profiting from his being president, Secret Service Spent $137,000 on Golf Carts for Trump Clubs, Trump's D.C. Hotel Turns an Unexpected Profit. Gee, How Did That Happen, To the Victors Go the Spoils: Donald Trump’s First Backers Are Benefitting from His Win, Trump’s Business of Corruption [Cartoon], Losses at Trump’s Scottish Resorts Doubled Last Year often because of environmental opposition. United States of America Corruption Rank.
-E. San Juan Mayor Criticizes Trump's Puerto Rico Comments. Politicizing Puerto Rico, making a hurricane and suffering people a wedge issue. Is San Juan's Mayor Sabotaging Puerto Rican Relief Efforts to Make President Donald Trump Look Bad. Who Is Supporting Who in Puerto Rico. It is a "bottom up" process, not a top down one. 171001-2.1B. Dems Rip Trump for Criticizing Puerto Rico Official from Golf Club. A Mayor in Puerto Rico Calls for FEMA Help. FEMA's Director Says He's Filtering [Her] Out. "We don't have time for the political noise". Though sometimes difficult to do, never, never, ever, at no time, lie and/or become part of a political struggle (they are nearly the same thing) during any disaster. Not getting involved when one your boss says you have to will get you fired, but the job is to serve everyone as equally as possible. [Meme].
-F. Next Package of Hurricane Relief Aid Expected to Top $10 Billion. Congress should act quickly. If it doesn’t, expect 100,000 to 200,000 island residents to relocate, at least temporarily, to the mainland United States in the coming weeks; Thousands of Caribbean Hurricane Evacuees Arrive at Port Everglades, A Day Before Caribbean Trip, Pence Meets Newly Arrived Puerto Ricans in Orlando. What the Hurricane Maria Migration Will Do to Puerto Rico, and the US. An Exodus from Puerto Rico Could Change Florida Politics.
-170924-1>3. <ADDED 171001>1. Just a Few Species Make Up Most of Earth's Food Supply. And That's a Problem. The looming threat of extinction from climate change makes the lack of diversity in the world’s food supplies a dangerous prospect. Win Win Strategies for Climate and Food Security. This has been a known problem for a long time. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t have only eggs but other things to eat. Why Should Humans Care About Preserving the Diversity of Life on Earth.
-170924-1A>4. <ADDED 171001>1. Are We at a Tipping Point with Weed Control. Imagine walking the cereal aisle at your favorite grocery store. Are you reading labels, scanning prices, thinking about weeds. If you're like most American consumers, weeds probably aren't at the forefront of your mind when buying food. But if farmers could no longer control weeds with existing herbicides, Americans would take notice pretty quickly. [Cartoon, CG, Photo]. A Wayward Weed Killer Divides Farm Communities, Harms Wildlife.
-A. Deer Prefer Native Plants Leaving Lasting Damage on Forests. When rampant white tailed deer graze in forests, they prefer to eat native plants over certain unpalatable invasive plants, such as garlic mustard and Japanese stiltgrass. These eating habits lower native plant diversity and abundance, while increasing the proportion of plant communities made up of non native species, according to a new study. When Native Species Invade. Long Term Effects of White Tailed Deer Exclusion on the Invasion of Exotic Plants: A Case Study in a Mid Atlantic Temperate Forest. Too Many Deer: A Bigger Threat to Eastern Forests than Climate Change. This upturns some naive concepts of conservation, native species and invasive species. They are not automatically good or evil. In today’s world it is humans that make them so in thought, and human management of the environment that makes them so in reality. [Photo].
-170924-3>5. An Outbreak Waiting to Happen: Hepatitis A Marches Through San Diego’s Homeless Community. How San Diego’s Hepatitis A Outbreak May Have Had its Roots in a Baseball Game. Hepatitis A Spreads Through San Diego: Why It's So Hard to Stop.
-170924-5.1C*>6. Middle Managers May Turn to Unethical Behavior to Face Unrealistic. While unethical behavior in organizations is often portrayed as flowing down from top management, or creeping up from low level positions, a team of researchers suggest that middle management also can play a key role in promoting wide spread unethical behavior among their subordinates. -171001-2.1C↑. I don’t see this being different from top down. The upper echelon influence the behavior of the middle, who influence their subordinates. The role of the middle would either exacerbate the behavior to be more unethical, or mitigate it by limiting unethical consequences. The top echelons may not recognize the consequences of their expectations encouraging unethical solutions, possibly even being appalled of the lack of ethics among subordinates. Obviously this means there is poor communications with middle management who would be in the position to point out consequences of their decisions and policies, except they don’t as they want to move up and not succeeding at a task would jeopardize that. Once at the upper level they would continue unethical practices as being a norm of getting ahead and being a success. This leads to biodisasters and parademic, when success results in behavior that damages the environment, lowers diversity, put money before people, dehumanizes, increases mistrust, and saves money by defunding health, medicine, communication, and emergency response.
-170917-3>7. <ADDED 170924>4. Suing Oil Companies to Pay for Climate Change. Cities and towns are using the latest new, hard data about the worst climate abusers to file lawsuits against specific companies.
-170917-6>8. Scale of Human Impact on Planet Has Changed Course of Earth's History. The multitude of human impacts have changed the course of Earth's geological history, and the scale of these justifies developing a formal proposal that the Anthropocene. Rapid changes to the planet include acceleration of rates of erosion and sedimentation; large scale chemical perturbations to the cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements; the inception of significant change to global climate and sea level; and biotic changes including unprecedented levels of species invasions across the Earth. White House: This Is Not The Geologic Era To Debate Gun Control, This Shooting Isn’t about Gun Control We Refuse to Pass, It’s about Access to Mental Health Care We’re Continuing to Gut, -171001-2.1↑.
-170917-7>9. <ADDED 171001>4, -1↑. Flu Vaccination Dishonesty, 2017 Edition – and Why Am I Posting So Little These Days. Comment: I have been an RN for many years now and have increasingly struggled with the movement towards mandate regarding this vaccine. Luckily I have not yet worked for an organization that could terminate on such grounds, but masking as the alternative has its own challenges. I also struggle with the increasingly caustic and media amplified rhetoric concerning the flu vaccine and HCWs who choose not to vaccinate. Response:
The topic is the recently published study that found (to the investigators’ surprise) that pregnant women in two post pandemic flu seasons who were vaccinated against the flu the previous year and again in the current year during their first trimester were likelier than other women to miscarry. The study wasn’t some piece of anti-vaccination propaganda. It was funded by CDC, which expected it simply to reaffirm the safety of flu vaccination for pregnant women, and was conducted by mainstream members of the vaccine research “Guild”. The finding needs replication, of course; it’s a signal of a possible problem, not dispositive proof that the problem is real. And even if the problem is real, odds are that pregnant women are still better off getting the flu vaccination than not. Flu is almost certainly a bigger risk than the flu vaccine – to pregnant women, to their fetuses, and to their babies after they’re born. | What I’m writing about is the over the top and sometimes dishonest way the public health profession (“the Guild”) has trashed this study – as it tends to trash any study that it fears might threaten public confidence in the virtues of vaccines. I understand the value of assuring pregnant women that they and their babies face a greater risk from flu than from the flu vaccine – and that one tentative study result is way short of proof that they face any risk at all from the flu vaccine. But arguing that the study shouldn’t have been published, as Paul Offit (another Guild superstar) wrote – The Pregnancy Vaccine Scare That Should Have Never Been, Autism Investigated Demands Daily Beast Retract Paul Offit Post on Vaccine Miscarriage Study, Paul Offits Defends Flu Vaccine After Miscarriage Study, Are Pregnant Women Who Get Flu Shots at Risk for Miscarriages – strikes me as bad science and bad risk management if he means it, and as dishonest risk communication if he doesn’t. ¶ Some of the criticisms of the study by Offit and others are valid – and were acknowledged by the authors in the first place. In fact, the study authors were clearly unhappy about what they had found and went out of their way to emphasize the study’s flaws, both in the Vaccine article and in follow up media interviews. Other criticisms are not so valid. Two of them particularly offend me: 1 The claim that the numbers in the key subsample analysis are too small to be significant. 2 The claim that the study isn’t worth worrying about because it found only an association between flu vaccination and miscarriage, and failed to prove that vaccination causes miscarriage. ¶ Even though the flu vaccine is one of the least effective vaccines in current use, especially for older people, it’s a lot better than nothing. The upside of the flu vaccine isn’t anywhere near as impressive as the upside of all those incredibly wonderful childhood vaccines, but it’s real, whereas the downside is almost nonexistent. A flu shot is easy, cheap, and safe, so why not. The Guild oversells the flu vaccine. The widespread attacks on the miscarriage study are only the most recent of many examples. Every year as flu season approaches, we collect examples of flu vaccine hype and dishonesty. One perennial example: Somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere just had a really bad flu season, so ours will probably be really bad too. This year the meme is that Australia’s season was bad so ours will be bad. Australia’s flu season really was a lot worse than the previous five years of mild Australian flu seasons. But why do we never, ever see a news story that quotes a public health official to the effect that Australia just had a mild flu season so ours will probably be mild too. The answer is obvious. Every year flu vaccination proponents choose what to say this year that isn’t actually false to encourage people to get vaccinated. Selectively deciding which parts of your data to share isn’t exactly dishonest, but it isn’t exactly evidence based medicine either. It’s what PR people and lawyers do, not what scientists are supposed to do. Hype and dishonesty threaten their credibility. Public health has been gilding the lily – overstating the upsides and understating the downsides of genuinely worthwhile health interventions. However, so far evidence that their risk communication misbehaviors have saved lives is stronger than evidence that these misbehaviors have undermined credibility. ¶ The example of flu vaccination hype that’s most familiar to you, is the Guild’s overstatement of the case that vaccinating healthcare workers against the flu protects patients. I think “easy, cheap, and safe” is a good enough reason for me to get a shot that might or might not protect me from the flu. But it’s obviously not a good enough reason for your employer to force you (or any healthcare worker) to get a shot you don’t want to get. Protecting patients, on the other hand, probably would be a good enough reason. There is evidence that flu vaccination of healthcare workers protects patients in nursing homes and similar facilities. There is virtually no convincing evidence that the same thing is true in other healthcare settings. I am comfortable with the employers of healthcare workers in these other settings urging them to get the flu shot for their own sakes, and to reduce absenteeism. I am comfortable with employers suggesting that it’s plausible that there might be a benefit to patients, even though the benefit hasn’t been shown. Going beyond that is going beyond the evidence. Fewer Newborns Get Whooping Cough When Moms Get Vaccinated. Is There Any Reason Not to Get a Flu Shot.
-A. Antibiotic Apocalypse’: Doctors Sound Alarm over Drug Resistance. The terrifying prospect that even routine operations will be impossible to perform has been raised by experts alarmed by the rise of drug resistant genes. Though there is not a denialism or anti germ theory movement per se, there are numerous antecedents Antibiotics in Meat Do Lead to MRSA in Humans, 170924-7B, <ADDED 171001-170917-10>5, 170917-1.1C, 170910-5 -10, 170319-*8.2, 170226-7 -7.1 -7.1, 170220-6.5, 170122-2 -2.1, 161204-11, 160925-2 -2.1, 160515-8. These are already hindering efforts to solve this already accelerating biodisaster. -171001-1.1‡>1↑.
-170917-10>10. <ADDED 171001>5 . Congress Misses Deadline to Reauthorize Childrens' Health Care Program. States won’t run out of CHIP funding in the immediate future. Three to Ten states and Washington, D.C., are expected to run out of money by December, and the majority of states will run out by March. Perhaps I was too harsh framing some members of congress as being elitist more comparable to the wealthy gentry of the 19th century, for whom lower classes were a necessary evil to be looked down upon. They were probably aware they would have some time to fund CHIP and Community Centers, while their last chance to take health insurance away from millions of people was fast slipping away. Oh wait, maybe I was right in the first place. CHIP Funding Measure Passes Through Committees, but It’s Not Smooth Sailing Ahead for Bill.
-‡. Funding for Popular Children’s Health Program Expires Without Congressional Action. Which States Are Hit Hardest by Failure to Fund Children’s Health Program. CHIP Covers 9 Million Kids. Its Funding Expired this Weekend. House Republicans Propose Puerto Rico Funding as Part of CHIP Bill, -171001-2.1↑. Children’s Health Care Bill Faces New Obstacles. 5 Takeaways from Congress’ Failure to Extend Funding for Children’s Coverage. 1. Will children lose coverage because Congress missed the deadline. 2. What are states doing in reaction to Congress missing the deadline. 3. When is Congress likely to act. 4. If CHIP is so popular among Republicans and Democrats, why hasn’t Congress renewed the program yet. 5. Who benefits from CHIP. GOP's Plan to Pay for CHIP May Derail Efforts to Renew Funding of Popular Program. Part of the motivations for this is undoubtedly the costs, however a cheaper system may turn out to be more expensive. Low Cost, High Volume Services Make up Big Portion of Spending on Unneeded Health Care, a high percentage of unnecessary health spending, adding strain to the health care system. After Missing Deadline for Children’s Insurance, Congress Now Mired in Funding Disputes
-170827-2.1>11. <ADDED 171001>8. Were US Diplomats in Cuba Victims of a Sonic Attack, or Something Else. Most of the reporting on this story so far has talked about some kind of a “sonic weapon” or “sonic attack”, maybe a side effect of a surveillance technology. The problem is, physicists and acousticians don’t know how ultrasound (high frequency) or infrasound (low frequency) could do what the State Department says happened to its people. That leaves two possibilities: a new sci-fi sound gun or something else. Here’s a hypothesis for the something else: poison. US Spies in Havana Hit by Bizarre Health Attacks. This raises a third possibility. The people who were deafened at the US Embassy may themselves have been working in close proximity surveillance equipment against the Cubans or other targets. | Skeptical about this. It could be mass suggestion to anxiety and fear mongering about the “attacks”, similar to all of the pseudo cases of Ebola panic in the US, A Few Visitors to Cuba Claim Symptoms Similar to Attacks, The Power of Mass Suggestion in Society. Still surprising Trump administration has not amplified this more, especially given Trump on Cuba: If Obama Did It, It’s Bad, -170827-2.1↓. A Sonic Attack on Diplomats in Cuba. These Scientists Doubt It. The Flame Challenge: What is Sound (Video), C↑.
-170827-2.1*>12. <ADDED 171001>8. U.S. Interior Dept. Watchdog Launches Investigation into Zinke's Travel, Group Sues Interior Dept. For Lola Zinke Travel Records. Department of Interior Whistleblower Resigns, Calls Ryan Zinke's Leadership a Failure. ¶ Price Wrote Personal Check to U.S. Treasury for Charter Flights Before Resigning. Behind the Scenes: How the Tom Price Story Unfolded. Doctors Lost an Advocate with Price's Downfall. ¶ Dismayed by Trump, Head of Drug Enforcement Administration to Leave. Justice Department Names New Acting Head of Drug Enforcement Agency. Heroin OD Rates Skyrocket as Efforts Against Prescription Opioid Abuse Increase. Unrecognized consequence -171001-1.1‡↑. Thinking in terms of Law Enforcement it would seem logical that cutting off the supply ends the problem, though past experience shows it shifts the problem to other transport channels, new (and worse) drugs, new addicts, changing locations. A Public Health perspective is to find the root cause of the problem, in this case addiction, and use multiple effective means to help addicts recover. Same as alcoholics, addicts are never cured, they remain in chronic constant recovery. Policy change is unlikely at this time as Obama held the Public Health perspective, -170827-2.1↑. How Bad the Opioid Epidemic Really Is in 6 Simple Charts. Drug use is not a biodisaster, unless something like fungus / mold, industrial pollution, or plants start expelling material or gases that cause all animal and sea life to hallucinate, become addled, harm reproduction and damage organs – come to think of they already do. Drugs however are a parademic and could have implications if an opioid is rumored to be a cure, or becomes a habitual way to cope with a biodisaster or social crisis. Opiate, Opioid, Narcotic - What's the Difference. Trump Birth Control Move Could Lead to More Abortions.
-A. Abortion and contraception are not biodisasters. Mass spontaneous miscarriages and sterilization of reproductive systems are biodisasters, and these are building problems. However these two topics are parademic, biopolitical issues that are proxies for gaining power and social disruption agendas. These are indicators of attitudes about health care and access to health care. There may also be a biological component expressed as a cultural act from the biodisaster of overpopulation, potentially exceeding carry capacity. The two mechanisms slow down population growth, and act as a coping mechanism for economic and environmental conditions that make large numbers of off spring impractical and contrary to survival.
-Quote: Technology made large populations possible; large populations now make technology indispensable. – Joseph Krutch, original publication unknown
-170528-3.1>13. <ADDED 171001>14. Why the Head of the EPA Built Himself a Secret Phone Booth. Scott Pruitt sees himself as a wartime general in hostile, occupied territory. Developing a bunker mentality is never a good thing. Developing one about one’s own agency borders on paranoia, though being paranoid does not mean that people are not out to get you. 170618-7 -‡2, 170319-12 8), 170312-2.4, 170220-8.2, 170205-8, 170129-9.1, Bunker Sales Spike as Some Prepare for Worst Amid Uncertainty. The Trump administration has been a boon to his bottom line. Orders for survival shelters have doubled amid political uncertainty. During the Obama administration our sales went up 250 percent. In the Trump administration in the past month our sales probably went up 500 percent. Meet the Doomsday Prepper Making Millions Selling Bomb Shelters to People Afraid of Trump. Bunkers for the 0.003 Percent another perspective that Continuity of Government (COG) is in basic conflict with protection of the population 170220-8.3. Deep in 316 Page E.P.A. Doc, Reporter Finds Hint of Unexpected Turn in History. There it was on Scott Pruitt’s schedule: a meeting with an acquaintance he knew from Oklahoma, a senior regulatory lawyer and lobbyist at Devon Energy 2; EPA's Scott Pruitt Prefers Meeting with Republicans, Just Not on Mondays. Trump Nominates a Coal Lobbyist to Be No. 2 at E.P.A., Trump EPA Pick Defends His Views as Sound Science, EPA to Ease Emission Restrictions on Coal Fired Power Plants, Trump Seen Replacing Obama Power Plant Overhaul with Tuneup*, Friendly Policies Keep US Oil and Coal Afloat Far More than We Thought, [Cartoon], Human Pollution May Be Fertilizing the Oceans. That’s Not a Good Thing. Our iron emissions from coal and steel may be fuelling ocean life, and trapping carbon in the process. At EPA, a Fight over Numbers in Water Protection Rule Reveals a Shift in Ideology. ¶ This may be the next person leaving the Trump administration, Secretary Tillerson** Lauds Global Health Security Agenda; ¿Delivering Bad News? Don't Beat Around the Bush. EPA Inspector General Now Investigating Pruitt’s Use of Military, Private Flights.
-*. This is an example of doublespeak, using a word with positive meaning to cover a negative action, or a negative term for a positive action. Other examples of value laden words are “reform, un-American, patriotic, freedom, great deal(Search↑)†, better, ethnic cleansing, natural, truth”. **Coincidentally this surname may mean Tiller + Son, both a tool and skill handy to have in a ship during a chaotic storm 171001-1.1‡B↑. †Trump Reaches out to Democrats in Bid for ‘Great’ Health Law, [Tweet], Schumer: I Told Trump That ObamaCare Repeal Was Off the Table.. Trump Sabotage Seen on ObamaCare, Trump to Sign Order Rolling Back Health Insurance Regulations. Obamacare Sign up Challenge: Proving the Law Is Not Dead, GOP Senator: ObamaCare Repeal Alive and Well. Trump Hasn’t Killed Obama’s Biggest Policies, but He’s Making Lots of Important Changes.
-170108-11.1>14. <ADDED 170903>. Why Do We Keep Resurrecting the Cautionary Medical Tale. In the nearly three decades since the last Flatliners film [Poster], medicine has moved forward, but our conflicted feelings about it have not. ¶ The history of Western medicine, moreover, is riddled with examples of broad miscalculations rooted in hubris, which may also help explain the tendency of fictional medical narratives to follow these punitive arcs. A variety of obsolete therapies that were once widely promoted (leeches, lobotomies, thalidomide, etc.) invites ongoing uncertainty about medical knowledge in general. The still dominant stereotype of a smugly paternalistic physician contrasts sharply with an oft repeated aphorism in medical school that half of what one learns there will turn out to be wrong within 10 years of graduating. Famous ethical breaches – the withholding of treatment in the Tuskegee syphilis study *‡. Looking forward, emerging technologies like the CRISPR gene editing system are proliferating rapidly, with massively disruptive health implications but no clear guidelines as yet to prevent their misuse. ¶ These doubts and fears, however, are hardly the only forces structuring the popular outlook on biomedicine. At the same time, there persists a marked optimism about collective advancement in science and health. Such confidence has been distilled almost to the point of absurdity. There persists a marked optimism about collective advancement in science and health. Medicine, more so than science at large, seems prone to conflicting attitudes. The long standing association between healing and religion might account for medicine’s distinction from science in this regard. Steady progress toward therapeutic innovation is positioned squarely alongside a veneration of tradition – the ceremonial white coat, the totemic stethoscope, the solemn and temperate Hippocratic oath. This traditionalism can drift into a sort of piety often elicited by the vulnerability of the very sick or the resilience of the unaccountably well. The commonplace language of the hospital indicates that a bit of any clinical outcome, good or bad, can still always be apportioned to heavenly will. Whenever the mysteries of the body can’t be readily explained, medicine’s spiritual imprint encourages us to exalt them instead and at times even to suggest they should remain mysterious. Are 'Flatliners' Really Conscious After Death. What Should Medicine Do When it Can’t Save Your Life. When Life Support Is Really Death Support. <ADDED 170730-170514-3‡1>. This can worsen the situation if resources during a biodisaster are devoted to saving lives that have the least chance of being saved (or maintaining bodies of those who have died), diverting resources from those with the best chance to be saved if helped quickly.
-*‡. How “Aborted Fetal Cells” Contributed to Vaccines Preventing Billions of Cases of Disease and Many Million Deaths. The New Oprah Movie about Henrietta Lacks Reopens a Big Scientific Debate. 170305-14.
-161002-12>15. The Hollywood Star Who Confronted the AIDS Silent Epidemic. Before Rock Hudson announced he was dying of complications caused by HIV-AIDS, he’d never even publicly come out as gay. Hudson’s death, which occurred in 1985, was the first time a well known U.S. celebrity had died of AIDS related complications. In the last period of his life he went public with his diagnosis, which at the time effectively meant coming out as gay, a move he had avoided for his whole career. Pandemic Humor-3.6.2 -10.4.1Quote -10.5 -10.5*1. Oct 2, 1985 Hollywood Icon Rock Hudson Dies of AIDS.
-160911-2>16. Celiac Sufferers May Soon Have Better Bread Options Thanks to Genetically Modified Wheat. You can find plenty of tasty gluten free products on supermarket shelves, but when it comes to bread, there’s no substitute for the real thing. Gluten, the naturally occurring proteins found in wheat, rye and barley, affect the elasticity of dough and help give bread the chewy, delicious texture that is hard to find in gluten free alternatives. Fortunately for people with celiac disease, who experience severe immune reactions to gluten, a better bread option may be on the horizon. Researchers have genetically engineered a strain of wheat that is free of 90 percent of the types of gluten protein that triggers most adverse symptoms.
good work
Posted by: Oman National Day 2017 | 10/07/2017 at 05:15 AM