Read This First 170423, Heuristics 170928, Glossary A-G, Mini Lessons 170827
1. Biome Extinction, 2. Right to be a Guinea Pig, 3. Sick Days, 4. Ban of Faux Natural, 5. Food Security, 6. BioWeapons, 7. Asprin, 8. Spread of Deviance, 9. Doctors vs Nurses, 10. Grief Jumping, 11. Health Forced Migration. <ADDED> 1. Mandatory Vaccine, 2. Texas-Vax 3. 1918 Flu, 4. AIDS Humor, 5. Memorial as Current Event and History, 6. Politics of Fear, 7. Opioid Syndemic, 8. Extinction is the Plan, 9. Antecedents to Day Zero, 10. Just a Little Late, 11. Genetic Hacking, 12. First Atomic Bomb, 13. Why Make a Pox. 14. Food Vault.
Other Topics: BioTrumpism, BioPolitics, Vaccine, Biosphere, Disaster, Humor, Climate Change, Anthropocene, Anthropogenic, Communication, Endangered Species, Ebola, Right to Try, Food Security, Natural News, Quacks, Resilience, Social Contagion, Spontaneous Memorials, Grief, What is Evidence Based, Surge of Walking Well, Texas, Conspiracy Theory, Gun Control, Cuba Sonic Mystery, Agriculture, Science Fiction, Parademic Database, Deduction/ Induction/ Abduction.
-1. Endangered Sumatran Tiger Falls Victim to Brutal Killing Spree. A critically endangered Sumatran tiger was brutally killed in Indonesia on Sunday, the latest victim of a killing spree targeting near extinct species that has alarmed conservationists. Authorities have in recent months found a number of killed animals, including endangered Borneo orangutans, after conflicts with farmers or plantation workers. The tiger had been roaming near a village in North Sumatra for over a month and had injured one person, prompting residents to call on rangers to kill it. We explained to the villagers that the tiger is an endangered animal, but they didn’t like our way of handling this situation – a trap was used to try to capture the cat. An investigation showed it had several parts missing, including its canine teeth, claws, and skin off its face and tail. These body parts can be used in traditional medicines or sold as artefacts. This conflict between human encroachment/ exploitation of the wilds ranges from the local level to the global level where whole regions are endangered (biotopes, habitats, biomes) or have gone extinct. Any anthrome [Slides] represents an endangered or extinct ecology: Deforestation, urbanization, desertfication, loss of bio diversity, lowering of water table, rising of sea level, artificial bodies of water, shipping lanes and ports, roads, walls, megafire areas, drained swamps, agriculture, war zones, mining, trash, contaminated areas, all represent dying ecological systems or ones impacted by an anthrome that may not be visible. In some cases anthromes go extinct after resources from an area are drained, and then reclaimed by nature (though that can take hundreds of years). [CGI].
-‡. Needs of Birds, Wants of Drivers Collide on Unspoiled Beach. World's Largest Ivory Burn Delivered a Strong Message – but Who Received it. Just Conservation Is Where Environmental Issues and Social Justice Commingle. Congress, Act Now. Protect U.S. Investments in Global Health Security.
-1.1. This must have escaped Pruitt’s sabotage, or just squeaked through*. After Decades of Air Pollution, a Louisiana Town Rebels Against a Chemical Giant. The Louisiana facility is the only neoprene manufacturer in the U.S. And, according to an analysis by the EPA's National Air Toxics Assessment, the five census tracts around the plant have the highest cancer risk in the country – more than 700 times the national average in one tract. There was a fundamental problem: No one knew exactly how dangerous the chemical chloroprene was. Until someone established how much was safe for people to breathe, it would virtually impossible to know whether there was danger, and, if so, to act. But definitively assessing the hazards posed by a chemical takes enormous scientific resources – more than the local or even state government could afford, and a fight was brewing over the federal program that could give the information. The EPA is home to one of the most rigorous public chemical hazard assessment programs in the world, called the Integrated Risk Information System, or IRIS. It's a major source of chemical safety information for local and state environmental and health agencies. IRIS values have even been cited in environmental regulations and lawsuits outside the U.S. In 2010, the EPA announced that the long term exposure limit for breathing the chemical was 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter, and classified chloroprene as a likely human carcinogen. Shortly after that, federal and state authorities started monitoring the air in the neighborhoods around the Louisiana plant, and found radically elevated levels of chloroprene. Not everyone is happy with the 0.2 guideline. The company twice petitioned the EPA to change the safety threshold, arguing the IRIS analysis was faulty. The EPA declined both requests. The fight over the chloroprene plant has become a flashpoint in a larger fight playing out in Washington, D.C. Critics see the IRIS program as a poster child for ineffective government bureaucracy, and are pushing for it to be dismantled, or even killed. Going back to its earliest days, IRIS has struggled to produce information quickly. The flip side of being rigorous is that it takes a long time to finish a single analysis. In one case, the program took 25 years to finish analyzing the chemical formaldehyde, only to have the analysis challenged in court by the chemical industry once it was completed. The evaluation process takes so long, other offices within the EPA can't always depend on IRIS to provide information for regulations. In 2014, Congress requested that the program make a handful of changes to the way it analyzes chemicals, and in 2017 the GAO again questioned IRIS's efficiency. Under the Trump administration, some lawmakers have been pushing to kill the IRIS program altogether, pointing to the chloroprene plant in Louisiana as an example of IRIS being used to unjustly regulate the chemical industry. Because the plant is already complying with state pollution permits, they argue, company shouldn't be forced to reduce chloroprene emissions further.
-*. EPA has become notorious for becoming the [Meme]. Scott Pruitt Is Slowly Strangling the EPA. Under Trump, E.P.A. Has Slowed Actions Against Polluters, and Put Limits on Enforcement Officers, Fines Against Polluters Drop Sharply Under Trump EPA, How Trump Is Letting Polluters off the Hook, in One Chart, Trump White House Quietly Issues Report Vindicating Obama Regulations. A selection from the past 30 days of the general malaise of: EPA to States and Cities: This Is Your Job Now. Scott Pruitt Plans to Scrap Rules Meant to Fight America's '2nd Biggest Toxic Threat', EPA Moves to Overhaul Obama Era Safeguards on Coal Ash Waste. After Uproar, EPA’s Pruitt Says He Plans to Fly Coach: ‘There’s a Change Coming’. Trump Picks Dow Chemical Lawyer for Key Role at EPA. EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Says the Bible Teaches Us to 'Harvest' 'Natural Resources' Like Gas, Oil and Coal. 180301-2.3†. Tainted Study Casts Doubt on EPA Plan to Scrap Truck Emissions Rule, Tennessee Tech Withdraws Industry Funded Study Used to Back Controversial EPA Truck Rule. <ADDED 180218-180204-6.4>5. Trump: Gut Funding for Climate Science, Boost Fossil Fuels. Trump Fights Releasing Details on National Monument Decision. Top EPA Science Adviser Has History of Questioning Pollution Research. Critics Blast EPA for Lowering Syngenta Pesticide Fine. Trump Budget Seeks 23 Percent Cut at EPA, Eliminating Dozens of Programs. States, Greens Sue Trump over Obama EPA Water Rule Delay. Black Lung Study Finds Biggest Cluster Ever of Fatal Coal Miners' Disease. California Says it Will Ban Crude from Trump Offshore Drilling Plan. EPA Brings in Billions in Enforcement Fines — but Most Stem from Obama Era. Dems: Did EPA Security Staffer Steer Contract to Associate.
-1.2. Wildlife Conservation in North America May Not Be Science Based after All. Four hallmarks were identified of what is science based management: clear objectives, use of evidence, transparency and external review. After applying these hallmarks to the hunt management systems, they found that 60 per cent of them featured fewer than half of the indicator criteria. In addition, some of the most basic assumptions of scientific management were almost entirely absent. For example, only nine per cent of management systems had an explanation for how quotas were set. Similarly, less than 10 per cent of management systems underwent any form of review, including internal reviews, with fewer than six per cent subjected to external review. By these standards parademic is not evidence based or science. It is closer to that ideal, but still being initial collection and analysis the objectives and application remain unclear. Evidence is skewed due to its sources. It is transparent in terms of sources, bias and self criticism, but even though the standard of external review is questionable, Are Consensus Science “Gold Standard Peer Reviews” Fraudulent BS Science, as far as I know there have been no serious critiques of parademic. 180301-1.2. The Role of Scientists’ Warning in Shifting Policy from Growth to Conservation Economy. Study Questions Science Behind Hunting Plans.
-1.3. Farming Ideology Trumps Evidence. There is often the unstated premise by those advocating radically changing our farming practices. This needs to go along with a large reduction in the human population. They will get their way if a shift away from modern farming results in massive starvation. Meanwhile there are also lots of things we can do to farm more intelligently, without increasing our land use, reducing our productivity, or causing starvation. For example, setting aside wildlife refuges (such as patches of land where local plants are allowed to grow and feed the local wildlife) could reduce the impact of farming. In the end what we need are evidence based solutions based on careful research. We don’t need ideology, the appeal to nature fallacy, or marketing narratives. -180304-7.1↓.
-2. In Tussle over ‘Right to Try,’ Court Presses FDA to Shed Light on Ebola Drug Decisions, and explain why it won’t shed more light on an internal decision to allow at least two Americans who contracted Ebola to take a drug that wasn’t yet approved.
-‡. 180301-2.5†. The Koch Network Uses a Flagrant Falsehood to Defend a Dangerous and Irresponsible Law of right to try. A Better Way to Provide a Right to Try, first, make sure the FDA stays involved. Trump Presses Key Republican to Move on ‘Right to Try’. GOP Eyes Changes to Right to Try Bill. What Is ‘Right to Try,’ and Could it Help. -170514-3>17, <ADDED 180204>, <ADDED 170820>. Right to Try Laws Are Hazardous to Your Health – and Now They're Backed by the Koch Brothers. The Final Push to Pass a Federal Version of the Cruel Sham of “Right to Try” Is under Way. The Koch Brothers and Vice President Mike Pence Back a Final Push to Pass the Cruel Sham Known as “Right to Try”. Koch Backed Groups Launch 'Right to Try' Campaign. How the ‘Right to Try’ Movement Muscled its Way into Washington. <ADDED 170820-170514-3>. Key Republican Lawmaker Releases New Right to Try Legislation. There is also the potential that quacks can use this to justify fake medicine simply by having people sign a legal statement that they understand the risks of an unapproved treatment. How Quacks Sell Dubious Stem Cell Therapies. Herbalist Charged in Death of Diabetic Boy Treated with Oils. -4↓.
-2.1. Judge Delves into Science Behind Roundup Cancer Claim. A federal judge waded into the arcane science behind claims that the widely used weed killer Roundup can cause cancer. The expected weeklong testimony is intended to help him determine whether a jury should hear from doctors who link the product to non Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The issue of courts making legal decisions about science is both ludicrous (political) and reasonable (legal). Darwin on Trial. 180225-5‡.
-‡. Einstein on the Bench: Exposing What Judges Do Not Know About Science and Using Child Abuse Cases to Improve How Courts Evaluate Scientific Evidence. The Evolving Standards of Admissibility of Scientific Evidence. Court 171126-*5.1, 170625-5, 170618-3.1‡, 170528-1.2. German Court Favors Vaccination of Child in Parents' Dispute, Marion County Parents Lose Latest Battle to Not Immunize Their 8 Kids, [Meme], 170430-6.1, Out for Signatures: A California Ballot Initiative by Cheriel Jensen That Sounds as Though it Were Written by Mike Adams, <ADDED 170827-170813-6.1>, 170813-C.1A, 170226-7B, -2↑, -4↓. Round Up 180211-6, 160626-4.4A*.
-3. Number of Paid Sick Days Directly Impacts How Americans Use Preventive Care like Flu Shots. In the first study to measure the link between an employee's number of paid sick leave days and the use of vital preventive health care services like getting a flu shot, researchers found a 26 to 85 percent increase in preventive health care use among those with at least 10 or more paid sick leave days. Though the general impression is that people don’t use all their sick days, just like not using vacation time, could not find a clear statement of that.
-‡. Paid Sick Days: Low Cost, High Reward for Workers, Employers and Communities, New Study Reveals an Unintended Consequences of Not Offering Paid Sick Leave, Don't Offer Paid Sick Leave. Expect Ill Employees to Show up, The High Costs of Not Offering Paid Sick Leave.
-3.1‡↕. VCP News Archive: (Not in VCP). • Australia: Sydney’s Wealthiest Suburbs Have Lower than Average Child Vaccination Rates. Similar cluster pattern seems to happen in US. The parademic hypothesis is that these clusters are not so much economic, religious, political, but are communities who feel buffered or otherwise protected (yet threatened) by outside contamination. This may correspond to those who are more susceptible to dread and fear of outsiders, -6, 180301-1*↓. • Ireland: Can Kids Spot Fake News When it Comes to Health Claims, -4↓. • Philippines: Amid Dengvaxia Uproar, Media Urged Not to ‘Let non Experts Hog the Spotlight’. This is also called Media False Balance, giving equal weight to fringe ideas (The So Called Vaccine Debate: False Balance in The San Diego Union-Tribune, <ADDED 171008-171001-1.1‡>1, Heightening Uncertainty Around Certain Science, Media Coverage, False Balance, and the Autism-Vaccine Controversy, Impartial Journalism Is Laudable. But False Balance Is Dangerous, Anti-Vaccination Activists Should Not Be Given a Say in the Media). Though sometimes motivated by the editorial bias of a publication, it seems to usually based on the need to generate outrage and attracting attention for sales, not valid information sharing, yet still give the appearance of being objective. Measles Outbreaks as Dengvaxia Mess Prompts Anti-Vaccine Backlash. Several measles outbreaks have been traced back to the Philippines, to include the Amish and Disneyland outbreaks [Chart]. (Deadly Measles Outbreak as Philippines Reels from Vaccine Row. Sanofi May Seek U.S. Approval for Dengvaxia Despite Philippines Outrage, Perverted Measles Virus Exposes Itself to Playground Full of Children). • France: Pourquoi La France Refuse Le Vaccin Contre La Dengue Pour Ses Territoires D’outre-Mer, Why France Refuses the Dengue Vaccine for its Overseas Territories. Spill over from the Philippines Dengue problem, 180304-3.1‡, combining (not yet a combound) with a preexisting anti-vax in France 180128-10. • Brazil: As Yellow Fever Spreads Toward Big Cities, Brazil Struggles to Vaccinate Millions, 180304-3.1‡. Let’s see .... known disease carried by mosquitoes, many mosquitoes in country, recent Zika problem .... so why wait to vaccinate from other mosquito borne diseases*. • Pakistan: Health Authorities to Hold Measles Vaccination Drives, and will they be shot at. I’ve wondered why Pakistan chooses door to door. The reasons seem obvious, but so does heavier weights fall faster than lighter ones. This doesn’t cover any detail about the door to door communications aspect, but does mentione that oral vs injection are different difficulties. • USA: Communication Intervention Increases HPV Vaccination in Teens, added support for 180304-3.1‡Denmark 180311-3.1‡, 180225-5‡USA; (Interventions to Improve Adolescent Vaccination (2015), To Increase HPV Vaccinations, Enhance Provider Communications, It Doesn’t Have to Hurt: Strategies to Reduce Vaccine Pain). FDA Did Not Issue New Statement on Vaccines and Autism 4‡↓, Self Declared ‘Health Ranger’ Mike Adams Has Apparently Been Booted from YouTube, 4↓. Why Americans Are Such Easy Targets for Trolls and Bots. American’s are nor more that being susceptible to techniques of persuasion that other people; However, the effects of being mislead can have global consequences if a polarized and powerful society is manipulated in harmful ways, especially when it is willful ignorance.
-*. (Are Perceived Prevalences of Infection Also Biased and How. Lessons from Large Epidemics of Mosquito Borne Diseases in Tropical Regions: The surveys showed that 1) most people greatly overestimated the prevalence of infection by arbovirus, 2) these risk overestimations fell considerably as the actual prevalence of these diseases increased, 3) the better-educated and male participants consistently yielded less inaccurate risk estimates across epidemics, and 4) these biases in the perception of prevalence of these infectious diseases are relatively well predicted by the probability weighting function developed in the field of behavioral decision making. [Chart]).
-3.2. Damn this younger generation. This may also be a HIPPA violation. This Anti-Vax Mom’s Reaction to Her 19 Year Old Getting Vaccinated Is the Most Infuriating Thing You’ll Read All Week. I apologize in advance. I need a place to vent. I just say my daughters after visit summary from the doctor. She is 19. She can make her own decisions. I realize that. Yet Im’ so incredibly disappointed right now. Six vaccines after everything I’ve tried to teach her. Multiple Vaccines Do Not Damage Infant Immune System.
-4. I See … Schadenfreude*. Natural News Banned from YouTube. Over the weekend YouTube deleted the Natural News channel, which is the video arm of Mike Adams' online quackery empire. Adams, not surprisingly is ranting about censorship. it's not. *Schadenfreude [Sign]. -2.1‡. -3.1‡ USA↑. ¶ Dr. Paul Thomas: a Rising Star in the Antivaccine Movement. Of all the antivaccine activists out there, arguably the most damaging to public health are the antivaccine pediatricians.
-‡. <ADDED 170827-170813-6.1>. 170226-7B. After Rare Google Confirmation of on Site Penalty, Natural News Is Back in Google’s Index. Those who support Mike Adams also kicked up a real ruckus, which can be seen in part in the comments of the original post. 170226-C.1A. 170122-2.1. FDA Did Not Issue New Statement on Vaccines and Autism -3.1‡USA↑. Some health websites have misrepresented the fine print on an old vaccine label to falsely claim that the FDA announced that vaccines are causing autism. Yet More Evidence That the Antivaccine Trope of “Too Many Too Soon” Is Nonsense. Study Finds False Stories Travel Way Faster than the Truth, False News Stories Travel Faster and Farther on Twitter than the Truth, False News 70 Percent More Likely to Spread on Twitter, Fiction Spreads Farther than Truth. Can Kids Spot Fake News When it Comes to Health Claims, -3.1‡Ireland↑. Mental Health: the Dangers of the Social Media Diagnosis. How to Think for Yourself When Algorithms Control What You Read. Bad Actors Are Using Social Media Exactly as Designed.
-5. Food Abundance and Violent Conflict in Africa. Scholars debate whether climate change has a consistent effect on the likelihood of armed conflict in Africa. One major pathway by which climatic variability is hypothesized to increase conflict is by decreasing food availability. However, limitations on food access at both the local and national levels in many developing African countries force most armed groups and communities to depend on locally produced food. These actors are therefore likely to use violence to establish control over more food resources or be stationed where more food is available, suggesting that food abundance might also be driving conflict. The present study employs novel data on wheat and maize yields in Africa measured at the very local level to empirically evaluate this hypothesis on a highly disaggregated conflict indicator. To account for the endogenous relationship between conflict and food production, average local levels of drought are used as an instrument. The findings show that, contrary to previous expectations, conflict is driven by higher yields, on average, and not by scarcity. Though phrased as a new discovery this is hardly new, though the data is. It is implied that if have nots attack haves it is because the resource needed is there. Conflict is complex and complicated. Relative power, benefits vs costs, desperation, willingness to defend, if there are alternatives, level of conflict needed to achieve and sustain goals, consequences. In addition it is not always those who need that will start the conflicts. Those who have more are just as likely to start conflicts to secure what they already have. A Global Conflict: Agricultural Production Vs. Biodiversity.
-5.1. Resilience and the Climate Threat. In early February, the administration unveiled Trump's Infrastructure Plan May Ignore Climate Change. Studies indicate that governments around the world under invest in infrastructure resilience by at least 70 percent. But what do we mean when we say resilience. And who benefits from efforts that do exist. An Overview of Resilience and Climate Change. Investing in Resilience Today to Prepare for Tomorrow's Climate Change. Smart Adaptation in an Era of Rising Climate Risks. Sea Level Rise – from My Front Porch. A Resilient Community Is One That Includes and Protects Everyone. Resilience for Power Systems amid a Changing Climate. [Strip, Strip].
-6. Who Killed Frank Olson. A biochemist employed at the US weapons laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland, did not die in an accidental fall from a New York hotel window in 1953, did not take his own life after being administered LSD as the authorities had claimed since 1975, but was in fact executed on orders from his superiors in the CIA. No, They Didn't - Milton Leitenberg. Dulles, Helms, et al. absolutely did not order Frank Olson killed because "he knew too much about US biological warfare during the Korean War" because there was no biological warfare carried out by any agency of the US government during the Korean War, or for that matter by anyone else. 171008-3, 161030-2.1. State Department Determines North Korea Used Chemical Weapons, which credibility is undermined by <ADDED 180304-170827-2.1>6 Computer Scientists May Have Solved the Mystery Behind the ‘Sonic Attacks’ in Cuba, and the Long Suppressed Korean War Report on U.S. Use of Biological Weapons Released at Last. The Allegations of Biological Warfare in the Korean War is a topic weekly notes has followed for years. Can neither prove or disprove if it is real, but again parademic is what people believe is real, not if it is fact -3.1‡↑. The recent Anthrax Antibodies Detected in Blood of North Korean Defector, Raising Biological Weapons Fears is an example as other explanations are possible. Anthrax is endemic wherever there is cattle and agriculture. Given North Korea’s poverty, famine, poor health conditions, it is likely people there are exposed to anthrax.
-A. It doesn’t help that there is mutual suspicion (sadly with cause) among countries about bio/chem weapons, and recent media coverage* of the topic, March 8, 1982 United States Accuses Soviets of Using Poison Gas, Assad Is Still Using Chemical Weapons in Syria, Syria Chemical Weapons Attack Toll Rises to 70 as Russian Narrative Is Dismissed, North Korea Sending Chemical Weapon Supplies to Syria. All the Times Russia Allegedly Carried out Assassinations on British Soil, Kim Jong-Nam Assassinated by North Korea with VX Chemical, US State Department Says, Britain Deploys Specialist Troops in City Where ex Russian Spy Collapsed. #Book, Ominous Biosecurity Trends under Putin, [Cover].
-*. [Google Trends, Chart, Chemical Biological Weapons Feb 9 - Mar 5]
-B. 21 People Treated after Spy Poisoned with Nerve Agent, U.K. Police Say. It is a normal reaction after an incident like this that there will be Worried Well, those who are afraid they were exposed and may have symptoms. This surge of patients who actually are not at risk increases the problems of medical response. This was seen for Ebolaphobia, and the Tokyo Sarin Attack. 1995 Sarin Gas Attack on the Tokyo Subway. Hospitals saw 5,510 patients, seventeen of whom were deemed critical (require immediate life saving intervention), thirty seven severe (mix of victims and responders) and 984 moderately ill with vision problems (mostly responders and hospital staff). More than 4 out of 5 patients were interfering with identifying those who needed help in Tokoyo. The total number of false alarms for Ebola has never been determined, but probably in the ration of thousands for each actual case. | Netflix Documentary Series Recounts Salad Bar Bioterror Attack.
-7. March 6, 1899, Bayer Patents Aspirin. Now the most common drug in household medicine cabinets, acetylsalicylic acid was originally made from a chemical found in the bark of willow trees. In its primitive form, the active ingredient, salicin, was used for centuries in folk medicine, beginning in ancient Greece when Hippocrates used it to relieve pain and fever. Known to doctors since the mid 19th century, it was used sparingly due to its unpleasant taste and tendency to damage the stomach. With the telephone having been patented in 1876, the iconic phrase Nimm zwei Aspirin und ruf mich am Morgen an was first said on March 7.
-8. Trump's Cabinet Scandals: Is Abuse of Office Contagious. Not only does unethical behavior spread, but it mutates into other forms of unethical behavior. This is taking the metaphor of infectious disease too far. Normalization of Deviance is a known behavioral phenomena where people will over time come to rationalize, accept and display behaviors at odds with safety standards and social norms. This increases the longer they are exposed to those who not only are deviants, but are getting away with and being rewarded for being deviant. This is not always bad, just a moving away from accepted norms, such as women’s right to vote 180304-3.3 or women doctors, or a temporary deviance appropriate for a situation, with intent to return to the norm when the situation is recovered from. In this case all the individual’s involved already exhibited a proclivity towards these deviancies, despite protestations of having a high moral code. In a sense they were already part of a herd that did not have sufficient immunity and were immunocompromised and morally deficient (MD) 170312-1.2. 8 Highly Contagious Behaviors, According to Science. The Dangers of Contagious Leadership Behaviors. Behavioral Contagion.
-A. This is also known as copycat behavior, At Least 7 People Have Been Charged with Copycat Threats since the Florida School Shooting, after Florida Shooting, More than 600 Copycat Threats Have Targeted Schools, Crime as a Disease, 180218-2.1*A.
-B. What can become an even more dicey situation is when a behavior that was considered normal is identified as being unhealthy. For example Doctor’s who were not familiar with germ theory did not wash their hands, and when exposed to the concept resisted changing and attacked the theory What You Might Not Realize about the Benefits of Hand Washing, The Dirty History of Doctors’ Hands, [Cartoon]. To accept the idea of germs would also mean accepting that one had killed patients, an intolerable cognitive dissonance and guilt for those in a profession dedicated to preserving life, Ignaz Semmelweis Had Blood on His Hands, in 1850, Ignaz Semmelweis Saved Lives with Three Words: Wash Your Hands. Resistance also happens when a behavior that was a norm is being questioned, (gun ownership being one, 180301-5.5 being another) and is now associated with a deviant behavior, or otherwise is no longer appropriate because of those who violate social norms and social disintermediation – social change resulting from technology, such as laws written when people needed to hunt for food, protection and before there were easily carried and obtainable automatic weapons. This can lead to those who consider themselves normal, uncontaminated to stigmatize and attack victims. Parkland Teens Are Calling out Critics on Social Media, Right Wing Talking Heads Are Smearing the Parkland Survivors, Conservative Commentator Erick Erickson Calls Parkland Shooting Survivor David Hogg a Bully, After Silence on Parkland, NRA Pushes Back Against Law Enforcement, Media, Gun Control Advocates. 180218-2.1C. The False Flag Delusion students from Parkland, Florida have been rewarded by also being accused of being fakes, Fake News Smear Takes Hold among Politicians at All Levels. This is now a regular feature of mass shootings – after the tragedy survivors will be harassed by conspiracy theorists who believe they are part of some government hoax, a false flag operation. Such accusations are nothing new, but they have seemed to reach a new level and are now a regular part of the cultural landscape.
-8.1. There were no examples from Biotrumpism for the last summary period of going to far with an ill informed, thoughtless, disregard for consequences, extreme, simplistic decisions and behavior, that will exacerbate a biodisaster of Biotrumpism. The closest we have are the analogs of Trump’s Gun Plan to Include Encouraging States to Allow Armed School Staff, Trump Admin Looking into Policy Allowing Death Penalty for Drug Dealers. The fear is that he may make a Dunning-Kruger decision that may not be resisted by those who could prevent implementation. The only such direct examples was “stop the flights” during Ebolaphobia [Tweet] from biotrumpism, though he has made decisions that have potential to exacerbate and accelerate current biodiasters. Stop the flights would have seriously damaged the world economy, to include the US. Likely such a measure would have delayed Ebola spread – There were 4 asymptomatic cases that came out of the hotzone of West Africa that infected 11 more, if one counts the 8 infected in Nigeria, and the 3 health care personnel. Worse though is that instead of being contained and controlled in West Africa it would have broken out of the quarantine as people grew more desperate, and then there would have been a global hotzone. -180301-1*↓.
-‡. Following are all from 2014, more example in the Parademic Database: You Probably Don't Want to Think about How President Trump Would Deal with Ebola, but Too Bad, The Evidence on Travel Bans for Diseases like Ebola Is Clear: They Don't Work, Why Airlines and the CDC Oppose Ebola Flight Bans, They May Sound Like a Good Idea, But Travel Bans for Ebola Won’t Work, Experts Oppose Ebola Travel Ban, Saying it Would Cut off Worst Hit Countries, A Case or Two of Ebola Entering the U.S. Isn't Enough for Travel Bans. Ebola Outbreak: Airlines Stop Flights as US Expert Warns Outbreak Will Worsen, Majority of Americans Want Flights Banned from Ebola Countries, presumably they were unaware there were no direct flight from West Africa to the US, and that a like number also supported preventing anyone that could have been exposed to Ebola (like being anywhere on the African continent, or of African decent) were kept out or quarantined.
-8.2. Are Those Who Help the Bad Good or Bad. The Answer Depends on Adaptive Architectures. Game theoreticians say this depends on whether the society adopts individualism or dividualism. People often help others at their own expense without expecting any direct return from the beneficiaries. In order for stable cooperation among people to evolve, the help must be channeled away from exploiters such as defectors who never help others, and directed preferentially towards helpers. This is made possible by a mechanism by which a positive evaluation of the helpful action is shared with others, and the helping person receives a help from a third party at some future time. This mechanism is generally referred to as indirect reciprocity. |
Indirect reciprocity relies on social norms that distinguish the good from the bad. Many game theoretical researches have searched for such norms that cooperation is not directed toward the bad, under the assumption that at most a few norms are shared among people. One conclusion of those researches is that assessing those who help the bad as bad stabilizes cooperation. In reality, however, different people often follow different norms, which lead to different opinions of the same person. Little is theoretically known about the evolution of cooperation in norm ecosystems in which individuals with different norms interact through helping games. | Analysis tells that the norm that assess those who help the bad as bad is stably sustained if people learn their norms based on individualism that gives a view that any person cannot be divided into parts and that a person must be treated as a whole. But the same norm becomes extinct once the society adopts dividualism that provides a view that a person is constructed from independent parts. The term dividual was not in the original research, therefore not defined, and may not actually be a valid concept to apply to parademic concept of cooperation vs competition. Individualism Vs. Collectivism may be closer. This does not apply to biotrumpism, except that there are indications that their belief is that they (as individuals or group) are somehow separate from the larger ecology and consequences of their behavior, and use this sense of identity and separation for popularism to create a collective they control and are individuals from, 180301-2.2. This may be a continuation of Plato on Parts and Wholes.
-‡. Individualism vs. Collectivism: Our Future, Our Choice. Teamwork vs. Individualism. The Individual and the Collective: A Discussion of Identity and Individualism. Understanding Collectivism and Individualism. Collectivism Vs. Individualism. I or We. How Individual or Group Orientation Influences Cultures…and Education.
-Quote: The globalists have no answers to freedom. Let them call you racist. Let them call you xenophobes. Let them call you nativist. Wear it as a badge of honor...The tide of history is with us, and it will compel us to victory. – Steve Bannon to gathering of France's far right National Front party, 180301-3.4G.
-8.3. Melding of Concepts from Different Scientific Fields. How seemingly separate concepts in scientific fields fuse to bec ome universal approaches by developing a new methodology to analyze citations in papers that use similar concepts, and tracked the changes over time. The researcher used ABM (agent based modeling) and IBM (individual based modeling). Collaboration can represent a peak of scientific advancement. The merging of concepts leads to previously unexplored questions and methods, spurring innovation. But disciplinary boundaries limit such development, hindering understanding of key vocabulary or concepts. ABM is used frequently in the computer sciences, while IBM is utilized primarily in ecology. As it turns out, both are based on the same principle, and are used to study complex systems by modeling a single individual and then scaling that behavior up to a larger population. This is inductive reasoning going from specifics to the general, rather than the deductive methods usually used to go from the general hypothesis to the specific case, or abduction when observation does not meet expectations then one seeks why. All three are used in science and conspiracy theory. Parademic likewise uses all three, hopefully in the science vein. It startedwith abductions of observations that could not be explained by what is known or was testable. With data collection it became inductive where finding observations of the phenomena, in part to define what it was or if it was an actual phenomena. Deduction then is used to verify the concept during accelerated biodisasters or analogues to the parademic the accompanies biodisaster. The Sherlock Holmes Conundrum, or The Difference Between Deductive and Inductive Reasoning.
-Quote: Once you eliminate the (what is) impossible (for the specific case), whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth (even if it only a belief). Sherlock Homes – Arthur Conan Doyle (parademic paraphrase). There are a number of variations of this quote.
-9. Indicates that there does not need to be one to one correspondence of language, concepts and language to have desirable outcomes. Algorithm Shows Differences Between Nurse, Doctor Care. Only 26 percent of patient records showed an overlap in terms. On average, only four terms between the professions were related to the same concept. Physicians typically used about 27 terms and nurses about 18 terms. This is the first evidence of its kind that illustrates how the scope of nursing practice runs parallel to, but independent of, doctor's orders. Some of the common terms for doctors were highly technical, including "decreased translucency" and "radiographic examination abnormal," where nursing terms were more likely to focus on symptoms and responses to illness, such as "acute onset of pain". While the researchers did not expect the language across professions to be identical, they were surprised to see such significant differences. The collaboration between nurses and doctors is unique in a modern setting in which multiple nurses work with multiple doctors over the course of the numerous shift changes. [Cartoon, Cartoon, Cartoon, Cartoon].
-10. When Death Rocks Your World, Maybe You Jump out of a Plane. The first episode of this season's Invisibilia podcast explores how people cope when something happens that fundamentally shifts how they view themselves. The author's mother decided to try skydiving. -180304-6, -180304-7.1↓.
-11. Sick Venezuelans Flee to Colombia in Mounting Refugee Crisis. As Venezuela’s economic crisis worsens, rising numbers are fleeing in a burgeoning refugee crisis that is drawing alarm across Latin America. Independent groups estimate that as many as 3 million to 4 million Venezuelans have abandoned their homeland in recent years, with several hundred thousand departing in 2017 alone. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has refused to allow humanitarian aid to enter the struggling nation, denying there is a crisis and contending that permitting international relief could pave the way for foreign intervention. What little data officials have released indicates Venezuelans are facing mounting health challenges. Cases of infant and maternal mortality have risen sharply and long eradicated maladies like diphtheria have reemerged. Biodisaster exacerbated by social disaster.
-‡. 180225-2.1, 171126-3.1B‡, <ADDED 171126-171119-3.1>1, <ADDED 171119-170730-5.2B>8, 171001-1.1‡ -2‡, 170702↕4, <ADDED 170625-170205-T.1A>, 170514-1.1‡, 170220-4.2P, f2 170205-T2 -A, 161002-6, 160814-11, 160529-4.2, Nine Latin American Countries, Including Venezuela, Have Cases of Zika Associated Microcephaly. Precursors were noted in: • 160228-4.2 One Third of Americans Believe this Zika Conspiracy Theory ..... The Real Zika Conspiracy: Are Brazilian Authorities Downplaying the Virus. Venezuela Won't Talk to Colombia About Zika – and That's a Problem. With the concern about various mosquito borne diseases this may begin to circulate again Listerine Mosquito Control. The Dangerous Conspiracy Theories about the Zika Virus. • 160117-3 Will Zika Become the 2016 NTD of the Year ...... Could zika further destabilize fragile nations such as Venezuela. • 130825-9 The legacy of former Venezuela President Hugo Chávez on Health Care does not appear to be an enduring one, but part of the larger context of Socialized Medicine. From what I can gather the Mission Barrio Adentro was apparently successful in improving Health Care access for the poor of the county, but at the cost to public hospitals and lacked a sustainable financial basis and loss of medical personnel. System does not appear to be adaptable to an epidemic, much less a pandemic. • 130623-40 Numbers have gotten to the point that they are conflicting but there has been a steady expansion over the past couple of weeks, Venezuela Reports More H1N1 Cases. This is from a Chinese news service, Venezuela: Government Hiding 400,000 H1N1 Cases. • 130609-65 What’s in a Name, a great deal apparently, Xinhua Goofs about "Bird Flu" in Venezuela.
-11.1. And the completely opposite problem. How to Get People to See a Doctor When They Don't Want to. While providing medical services is important, it's not enough to ensure good health. We also have to deal with belief systems, with world view, with spiritual beliefs. We've got to take a much broader view of health. People who think outside forces (fate or chance) are in charge are less likely to seek out care. They believe that nothing they do will matter, or matters far less than the forces of nature or the whims of others, so why bother. The same kind of thinking in the U.S. keeps people from medical care. Don't just explain the illness, and how a treatment will have an effect. Medical knowledge isn't the answer. Try to get them thinking that it matters to their family that they get treated. We get them thinking about their lives in the future. We ask them about their children's lives five years from now. If you won't do it for yourself, think of the kids. That will not always work. Some groups believe it is better to die is a non sinful state, having a better chance in an afterlife, that to do something considered sinful that will keep one alive but jeopardize the afterlife.
-180304-1>1. Mandatory Flu Vaccines for Healthcare Workers Reduce Absenteeism. Lower rates of absenteeism help ensure hospitals have staff needed to treat patients during viral respiratory season. A multi institutional study shows that mandatory flu vaccines for healthcare workers improve vaccination rates by as much as 30 percent and reduce absenteeism during critical periods by about six percent. Further, vaccinated healthcare workers had a 30 percent reduction in absenteeism compared to non vaccinated healthcare workers overall.
-180304-3>2. Texas: Ground Zero for the Politicization of School Vaccine Mandates. Vaccine policies and school vaccine mandates have traditionally been as close to a nonpartisan issue as there can be in the US. Unfortunately, in Texas antivaccine activists and conservative activists threaten to change that. The antivaccine group Texans for Vaccine Choice [Logo] has formed an unholy alliance with antiregulation conservative activists to attack school vaccine mandates. Anti-Vaccine Movement Focuses Attention on Sarah Davis. Texas Doc: Anti-Vaxxers Risk Measles Time Bombs in 2018. La. Cheerleaders Warned of Possible Mumps Exposure at Texas Competition along with 38 other states. This Is How Many People Have Died from Influenza, Pneumonia in Texas this Flu Season 2,355. 171203-5‡, 170806-9.3, 170716-‡2, 170709-9 -‡, Doctors Worry as Texas Lawmakers OK Vaccine Restrictions, 170416-3.4, 170326-4.1, and if one goes back further and includes Zika, Abortion, Gun Violence, Flooding, Hurricanes, GMO, Ebola, Medicare, ACA, one gets a clear picture of how Texas is portrayed in media in the context of biodisaster. This is a close approximation of the general statistical Texas, making it possible to predict future behavior of a population, but not predictive for each specific case of behavior of individual Texans and Texas communities. In addition a major biodisaster could completely change the statistical Texas, at least for a short time.
-180304-3.3>3. How Historical Disease Detectives Are Solving Mysteries of the 1918 Flu. Armed with data we can reconstruct epidemics of the past. By understanding the epidemiological patterns associated with the 1918 and other pandemics, we hope that public health officials can better prepare for future health disasters. One hundred years ago, death records were not systematically archived and preserved in many areas of the world, particularly in low income countries. In the worst cases, the quality of the material has deteriorated substantially, making it impossible to extract key information. In 1918, death certificates were handwritten, and few deaths were certified by physicians. What’s more, data sometimes disappears entirely – as in Madagascar, where we discovered that precious data on childhood epidemics had been consumed in a fire. ¶ Revealing patterns. The 1918 epidemic poses a few epidemiological puzzles. The virus spread in an unusual way. Early outbreaks were mild and local – reported in a handful of countries around the world in the first half of 1918 – only to turn into uniquely severe infections later that year. A single geographic community would be hit by multiple waves of infection over a short time. For example, the city of Copenhagen experienced three distinct outbreaks between July 1918 and March 1919, as well as a fourth wave in the winter of 1919-20. The pattern of deaths by age was also intriguing. Young adults in their late 20s were at heightened risk. In contrast, influenza infections were frequent among teenagers, but these infections were mild. Senior adults were also less likely than young adults to die from influenza in some but not all countries. Typically, seniors are the age group at highest risk of death from seasonal influenza. Populations that experienced an early and often mild pandemic wave in the first half of 1918 fared better in the deadly autumn wave. Our hypothesis was eventually supported when virologists recovered a pandemic-like virus from preserved lung tissue of U.S. soldiers who died in summer 1918. This suggested that the pathogen responsible for the early waves was the novel pandemic virus. While young adults were at highest risk of dying, the elderly enjoyed a reduced risk of death in well connected locations in the U.S., such as New York City, as well as the U.K. and Denmark – but not in remote settings like Mexico, Colombia and Chile. | Why were older adults spared. One popular explanation is that well connected populations who had seen influenza in the 19th century would be protected upon the return of a similar virus decades later. This is known as the “antigen recycling” hypothesis. This hypothesis gained more traction during the 2009 pandemic, when older populations had higher levels of prior antibodies and therefore were less likely to die than younger populations. Future influenza pandemics will likely hit in their own waves, depending on the weather and the way people come into contact with another. Moreover, patterns of infection and death may depend upon people’s prior immunity, imprinted by circulation of similar viruses within the last century. <ADDED 180218-180121-2A, -‡>6. How Vaccination Is Helping to Prevent Another Flu Pandemic.
-180304-6>4. [Strip, Strip, Strip, Strip, Strip, Strip], Pandemic Humor-8.5, -*1, 2. 161009-9, -10↑. | [Cartoon].
-180304-7.1>5. A Grim Task: Preserving Mementos from the Florida Shooting, [Photo]. Now it's time to collect, archive and preserve the mementos that honor the 17 students and faculty who were killed Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The grim assignment falls to the Parkland city historian, who has already heard from people associated with other mass shootings, telling him to collect the items with "some degree of speed". Objects could fade, get corroded, bug infested. And we want to be able to preserve all this. After these tragic events, archivists face the task of documenting mementos by cleaning, photographing and storing them for future display. 171112-2.1A‡. -10↑. ¶ It may be that disposition of bodies in also taking a more natural, spontaneous form, Tennessee 'Natural' Burial Ground Will Offer a Simpler Farewell – Casket Optional -1.3↑.
-180301-1*>6. Regional Levels of Fear Associated with Trump and Brexit Votes. Regions where voters have more neurotic personality traits were more likely to vote for Donald Trump in the United States or for the Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom, revealing a new trend that could help explain the rise of fearmongering populist political campaigns across the world. It has been noted before that biotrumpism is a global phenomena that began before Trumpism and will likely continue after it is no longer in office. That implies biotrumpism is not sustainable, largely because of it’s autotoxic melange. Unfortunately this noxiousness is not limited to itself. -3.1‡, -8.1↑.
-180218-1>7. America’s Opioid Crisis Has Become an Epidemic of Epidemics. Rising intravenous drug use has created new public health epidemics of Hepatitis C and deadly bacterial infections. Sharp Increase in Opioid Overdoses in ERs Paints Grim Picture of an Ever Worsening Epidemic.
-180211-4.1>8. Millennial movements 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, are a particularly dangerous form of parademic, not only seeing the end of the world but willingness to hasten it along. The Biblical Story the Christian Right Uses to Defend Trump, why evangelicals are calling Trump a modern day Cyrus. Trump Will Start the End of the World, Claim Evangelicals Who Support Him, Apocalyptic Thinking in the Age of Trump, #RaptureAnxiety Calls out Evangelicals' Toxic Obsession with the End Times, from Trump’s Jerusalem decision to Roy Moore’s campaign, this week has triggered many evangelicals’ anxieties about the apocalypse. [Meme, Meme, Meme]. 180304-3.5G.
-Quote: Now I will destroy the whole world. It’s what Bokonists* always say when they are about to commit suicide, Chapter 103. – Kurt Vonnegut, Cats Cradle, *Bokononism
-180204-6.4>9, <ADDED 180225>2. Water Crisis in Cape Town: A Failure in Governance. In 2015, Cape Town was awarded a prize by the C40, a collection of cities focused on climate change worldwide, for its management of water. 3 years later, the city has run dramatically low on water. Why then did it go wrong, and what type of measures can be taken now to avoid day zero?. The causes of the crisis that has crippled Cape Town find their roots in repeated failures from the government to prepare for this eventuality. One of the biggest debates is whether local government is handling the crisis effectively. During the first 2 years of a drought that has hit South Africa for the past 3 years, the national government, which controls the water supply to Cape Town, did not limit water use to farmers and underestimated the size of the problem, thinking that the drought would only be temporary. The steep population rise, agriculture expansion, and drought have not made the situation any better. Cape Town went from 2·4 million inhabitants in 1995 to 4·3 million today. The rapid expansion of agriculture and in particular wine production (which attracts 1·5 million visitors every year) is another reason of concern. If the drought in Cape Town persists into South Africa's winter months (May–August), the city could see the spread of many respiratory infections as well as others transmitted via skin to skin contact. Cape Town May 'Completely' Avert 'Day Zero’ Water Crisis, sounds like when officials claims a disease outbreak is over, they are usually wrong.
-180121-2A>10, <ADDED 180128>1. Medicine’s Long, Thin Supply Chain Threatens Americans. By offshoring its drug and medical supply manufacturing, the US has put patients and hospitals in a frighteningly precarious position.
-171008-5Quote>11, <ADDED 180225>5. Life Hacking Life: The Scary Premise of Annihilation is that life, earthly or alien, has no special purpose – apart from staying alive. It has no morals, it makes no choices based on a predetermined plan. (The fancy word is teleology.) What it does is to find ways to reproduce itself, with an apparent urge that fools us into thinking that there is some sort of ultimate purpose to it. We are now hacking life itself, and will continue to do so with growing efficiency. What would happen if the new life forms we create get out of our control and become more efficient in the game of life than we are. Are we creating our own doom as we try to pry open the secrets of genetic engineering. This will also feed dread about CRISPR, GMO, Cloning and other artificial living things, which paradoxically can also save us from our natural self destruction. Don't Do Drugs and Watch Annihilation.
-170827-5.3A>12, <ADDED 180225>7. New Mexico Residents Aim to Tell Congress about Bomb Fallout. The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium is raising money so its members can travel to Washington, D.C., this summer and testify about the effects of the Trinity Test on generations of Tularosa residents and others who lived near the site. New Mexicans Claim Cancer Is Living Legacy of World’s First Atomic Bomb Test (2015), H Bomb Guinea Pigs. Natives Suffering Decades After New Mexico Tests (2014), Inhabited Desert: The Untold Story of the Trinity Test (2014), Native Americans Bear the Nuclear Burden (2010), First Atomic Bomb Test Exposed U.S. Civilians to Radiation (2007), Nuclear Test Fallout Killed Thousands in US (2002), Radioactive Racism: The History of Targeting Native American Communities with High Level Atomic Waste Dumps (1987). [Map, Map]. Trump Plan Ends Research on Uranium Mining near Grand Canyon.
-170709-8A>13, <ADDED 180225>8. A Critical Analysis of the Scientific and Commercial Rationales for the De Novo Synthesis of Horsepox Virus. This article evaluates the scientific and commercial rationales for the synthesis of horsepox virus. I find that the claimed benefits of using horsepox virus as a smallpox vaccine rest on a weak scientific foundation and an even weaker business case that this project will lead to a licensed medical countermeasure. The combination of questionable benefits and known risks of this dual use research raises serious questions about the wisdom of undertaking research that could be used to recreate variola virus. This analysis also raises important questions about the propriety of a private company sponsoring such dual use research without appropriate oversight and highlights an important gap in US dual use research regulations. This goes beyond cost benefit analysis to risks of profit.
-170521-6A>14, <ADDED 180304>9. Inside the Colorado Vault That Keeps Your Favorite Foods From Going Extinct. From heirloom potatoes to honeybee sperm, this collection works to preserve our invaluable agricultural diversity. It used to be storing food was for the next year, to get people though the last part of Fall and first part of Spring, now it is for generations.
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