[American Thinker] Throughout my working life, I've had friends introduce me to strangers as "Dr. Pete." The new acquaintance invariably comments, "Oh, so you're a physician?" And then I reply, "No, I'm just a dentist." Should the ensuing conversation veer into science or health care, I make sure to preface all my remarks with "I'm just a dentist, but..."
How dentists became the idiot stepchildren of healthcare, I don't know. Fact is, the first two years of dental school and medical school are identical. And when you're attacking someone's corpus with needles, drills, Novocaine, and narcotics, you'd better have a damn good sense of anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology lest you damage or kill your patient.
So imagine my bewilderment in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic at all the politicians, pundits, and talking heads who've suddenly become experts in infection control — not to mention all the lay people wearing masks of every conceivable design and standing six feet away from others, as if six feet were some magic number. Poor sheeple — they think they're safe, they're following the "science," and far be it from me to disabuse them of their imaginary sense of security.
As I was saying, I'm just a dentist — with forty-five years of studying and practicing infection control — and here's how I see it. We live in a sea of bacteria, viruses, and Spirochetes (Lyme Disease, syphilis), a veritable Grand Central Station of pathogens, all of them vying to take us down. They're on doorknobs and newspapers, in our air and water, and emanating from the mouths (and other orifices!) of our fellow human beings.
One way to protect yourself from these ubiquitous bugs is to raise your immune status. Eat better, exercise more, get your sleep, and manage your stress. Like the USS Enterprise from Star Trek, you want your shields up at full capacity and the warp engines working. Run yourself into the ground with bad habits or bad thoughts, and you get sick.
The other form of protection is infection control. Exactly how do dentists practice infection control, a question not one person has ever asked? This is how.
You enter a treatment room, and after several minutes of witty repartee with your patient, you wash your hands thoroughly with warm water and soap, and long enough to hum the theme song to Gilligan's Island. Then you carefully put on a mask, protective goggles, and gloves. Done right, the patient's protected from you, and you're protected from the patient.
If it's any kind of decent dental office, they'll actually be happy to talk about their infection control protocols, level of disinfection, and sterilization technology.
A really good office will have an entire web page dedicated to that.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/30/2020 18:11 Comments ||
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[Babylon Bee] HEAVEN‐A spokesperson for the Most High God confirmed that God will be ending humanity before any remake of The Princess Bride can be released.
Humanity was forced to acknoweldge that the God of the Bible is good, merciful, and gracious after His spokesangels confirmed he would rather destroy all of humanity than force anyone to live in a universe where The Princess Bride was remade.
"Before The Princess Bride remake can see the light of day, The Lord will flatten all of humanity with fire and brimstone from on high, in His mercy," said a heavenly spokesperson. "Humanity will experience the sweet release of death rather than have to see someone try to remake the only perfect movie ever made."
"Seriously, trying to remake The Princess Bride? What's wrong with you people!"
After the announcement, even atheists were forced to admit that God is truly good to us. "I have finally seen the light," said Richard Dawkins as he repented in tears. "God is not a moral monster -- He is the very standard of goodness, truth, and justice."
Theologians further confirmed that since the invention of acts of mercy, there have only been five that were rated the most gracious, the most merciful. This one left them all behind.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/30/2020 00:00 ||
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My Google Translate may be a bit rusty, but this sure does sound like the Russians are considering a hit-to-kill test of Nudol to demonstrate that it works: https://t.co/2x2xSvAdYk
It is possible that the kinetic interceptor will also be the final stage of the Nudol missile.
Nudol will be a classic dueling version of a long-range intercept missile defense system. There is reason to believe that the following three circumstances were taken into account in the tactical and technical task for the development of a new system.
Firstly, the new system should be capable of non-nuclear interception, since the previously developed anti-missiles were mainly with a special warhead, which sharply reduced the scope of their possible use. The use of a missile with a special charge actually means the beginning of a nuclear war.
Secondly, the system must be transportable, that is, not tied to any object or center. Most likely, Nudol has the ability to transport and deploy in a theater of operations and is located on multi-axle wheeled conveyors.
Thirdly, the system must ensure the interception of a ballistic target or spacecraft at an altitude of at least 500-750 km and at least 700-800 km in range, that is, in near space. In other words, Nudol must have the ability to destroy low-orbit spacecraft.
Posted by: 3dc ||
06/30/2020 01:35 ||
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[FoxBusiness] I’m moving my business headquarters off the West Coast. We tried San Francisco. We tried the Seattle area. Both were wonderful in their own ways, especially in natural beauty and personal friendships. But both have become hostile to the principles and policies that enable people to live abundantly in the broadest sense.
That’s why my company is in the final stages of purchasing office space in Austin, Texas. By the end of the year, I hope to move dozens of employees to the Lone Star State and to be ready to hire hundreds more. While uprooting a big part of a billion-dollar company isn’t easy, the decision to move to Texas wasn’t hard. Our staff and their families will be able to flourish to a much greater extent.
Leaving the West Coast might seem strange for a company focused on tech ventures and related investments. It’s true that the company has benefited greatly from the larger pool of forward thinkers and industry disrupters in the tech hot spots of San Francisco and Seattle. But the best places to be in tech have now become some of the worst places to raise a family, practice a faith, or even think freely. This hurts my team and the business.
These areas are culturally diverse but increasingly monolithic in terms of ideology. In the past few weeks, radical protesters took over a portion of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The mood in the area was that this experiment in anarchy was acceptable and even praiseworthy. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan even issued a statement commending the “First Amendment activities” of the occupiers.
Peter Rex is founder and CEO of Rex Teams, a tech, investment and real-estate firm.
I'll go with this. There is truth in Penguin's comment. Even in Austin, the emigrees from Washington won't be welcomed with open arms (same with those from Silicon Valley). These people are making it difficult to find jobs and housing in Austin for people who have lived there for awhile. Prices/rents/housing are being driven up. Those who have lived in Austin for a long time are moving out to smaller communities 50-60 miles away where housing is affordable.
[JPost] - As data on this renewed wave of coronavirus is starting to be analyzed, it appears that the average ages of people being infected in Israel and around the world are slightly younger than they were in the spring. Experts explain that this is likely because young people are more social and less likely to adhere to recommendations and also because more testing is being carried out.
In Israel, according to Sheba Medical Center’s Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, the average age of people being infected is now around 40.
This trend can also be seen in the United States, as noted by scientists at the World Health Organization. Recent data from Florida, Texas and Arizona — states that continue to have high rates of infection — indicate a sharp rise in patients aged 40 and younger.
In Florida, specifically, the median age for coronavirus patients dropped from 65 at the beginning of March to 36 last week, according to the Florida Department of Health. In South Florida’s Broward County, the median age of infection was even younger, at 33, the Sun Sentinel reported. But it was higher in Miami-Dade (41) and Palm Beach (40).
However, the virus has not changed, scientists told The Jerusalem Post. Rather, the behavior of young people has shifted as restrictions were lifted, and they are putting themselves and the rest of the public at risk.
"The young people are not taking precautions," said Dr. Rivka Abulafia-Lapid, a Hebrew University of Jerusalem expert in microbiology, immunology and viruses. "They are not wearing masks or [being] careful about hygiene and social distancing — and this virus is very contagious."
She said she sees young people in restaurants, cafes and clubs pretending as if the virus has gone away.
...Moreover, Abulafia-Lapid said while in most cases young people are correct that they will not become sick from coronavirus — overall, as many as 80% of people who are infected are asymptomatic or develop only mild symptoms — this is not always the case.
"Younger people can also develop the disease, COVID-19, and have harsh symptoms," she noted. "We don’t always know what [underlying medical conditions] we have in our bodies, and we don’t always know what will happen when the virus enters our bodies."
According to Abulafia-Lapid, around 5% to 10% of people below the age of 55 who contract COVID-19 develop a serious case.
Moreover, recent studies show that there can be aftereffects of even mild cases of coronavirus for months to come. A study released this week by Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center showed that more than half of patients diagnosed with coronavirus exhibit general weakness and respiratory distress several weeks after recovery whether they had a mild, moderate or serious case of the disease. Anybody with two brain cells to shake together would've realized that the Chinese would not lockdown one of their most important industrial centers if CV19 was only dangerous to old people. But, instead, people listened to what they wanted to hear.
Additionally, there have been multiple cases of children and teens in Israel and around the world who require admission to intensive-care units with a multisystem inflammatory condition following recovery from the virus. This phenomenon is now being referred to as pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2, or PIMS-TS in short. Time to get serious. My suggestion is perfectly Libertarian. People shouldn't be forced to wear masks and abide by quarantine rules. They should, instead, sign a waiver: "I give up my rights to medical treatment in case of contacting SARS-CoV-2".
#6
People shouldn't be forced to not smoke tobacco products. They should, instead, sign a waiver: I give up my rights to medical treatment in case of contracting lung cancer.
#8
#3
I remember well the Command Sargent Major's portion of the welcoming address to new arrivals at Camp Casey Korea.
"Don't tell me she gave you the clap. She gave you nothing. You paid for it."
#10
Ref #8: "Don't tell me she gave you the clap. She gave you nothing. You paid for it."
"And a reminder for those headed back to CONUS for Holiday leave or PCS, the Division Surgeon's Office (DSO) advises that your adjusted PCOD is now 30 September."
#18
^So, what is "PCOD"?
"P***** Cut-Off Date", with the first word being everything from a clinical 'Prostitute' to more, *ahh*, common terms. I can think of, off hand, at least five words off hand...
#22
get up each day and take your temperature before leaving the house. Above 99 degrees stay home. If you feel sick stay home and if you think you have COVID get tested and get quarantined.
[PJ] The "last decade," notes James Sinkinson in a perceptive article, has seen a "sea change" in Israel’s ties with "key Arab states."
And that last decade is also the one in which Benjamin Netanyahu (again, after a stint in the 1990s) has been Israel’s prime minister — specifically since March 2009.
True, conditions for enhanced Arab-Israeli ties have been propitious — particularly the behavior of regional bully Iran, a common enemy; the Obama administration’s courting of Iran and signing of a nuclear deal with it that scared the wits out of both Israelis and Arabs; and the Trump administration’s ambivalence about the U.S. role in the Middle East. Sunni radicalism in the form of ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, and others is another common enemy of Israel and Arab states.
Added to that are Israel’s ever-intensifying military activity against Iran, particularly in Syria, which Arab governments watch with approval, along with Israel’s dramatically growing military, economic, technological, and diplomatic clout in general, to the point that in 2019 US News and World Report ranked it — despite how tiny it is — the world’s eighth most powerful country.
But ripe conditions are one thing; the ability to convert them into results is another. And the repeatedly reelected Netanyahu is little less than a diplomatic genius, under whose tenure Israel’s ties have surged not only with Arab states but also with India, China, Russia, as well as East European, African, and South American countries — basically in every niche of the world.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Babylon Bee] HEAVEN‐A spokesperson for the Most High God confirmed that God will be ending humanity before any remake of The Princess Bride can be released.
[PJ] The "last decade," notes James Sinkinson in a perceptive article, has seen a "sea change" in Israel’s ties with "key Arab states."
