[WaPo, via Dallas Morning News] A summer covid wave - and the accompanying fevers, coughs and general misery - continues to wash over the Americas and parts of Asia and Europe, including the Paris Olympics, offering the latest evidence that the coronavirus moves in ways distinct from other respiratory ailments.
The World Health Organization said this week that the virus is increasing in at least 84 countries despite perceptions that the pathogen is a remnant of the past. Disease trackers sounded alarms that diminished testing and low vaccination rates could provide fertile terrain for more dangerous viral variants to take hold.
At least 40 athletes have tested positive for the coronavirus and other respiratory illnesses, suggesting that the virus may not exhibit the same seasonal patterns as the common cold, flu and respiratory syncytial virus - widely known as RSV - which tend to strike during cold-weather months. So, of the 40 respiratory illnesses, how many are only COVID? How many athletes? Context, context, context. The usual 'journalism'.
"The virus continues to confound me in terms of what it’s doing and how it’s bucking the trends of seasonal patterns of respiratory illness," said Scott Roberts, an infectious-disease physician at Yale School of Medicine.
His Yale profile says he is an assistant professor saddled with administrative duties.
Roberts suggests that a vaccine twice a year to address the surges might be an important step in minimizing summer spread.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/08/2024 11:34 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11137 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
Election Seasonal Virus
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/08/2024 13:24 Comments ||
Top||
#2
As Greg Gutfeld said last night when talking about Walz's role in perpetuating the hoax, COVID was dangerous to a small percentage of elderly people and an annoyance to just about everyone else.
#3
Colds and influenzas spread during the winter because in the higher latitudes that’s when people huddle together inside to keep warm. In the lower latitudes people go inside during the heat of the summer so they can enjoy the air conditioning. Hence the double hump seen back when we were graphing Covid-19 infections, and why reports about a nasty version of Covid going round now should not be surprising.
As for the poor Olympic athletes, among the many horror tales about the housing Paris provided is the fact that in the heat of a Paris summer they were not provided air conditioning — so many teams brought plug-in units. I imagine there’s lots of huddling together to cool off. With, naturally enough, the sharing of infections.
#4
Everyone I know who has flown on a plane recently comes home sick. The ones who get tested say they had covid but the infection clears in a week or so. The ones who don't get tested say they might have had covid but the infection clears in a week or so.
Before I retired, long before covid, my company would send me to different cities from time to time. I got sick from those airplanes on a regular basis. Instead of using fuel to pump fresh air into the cabins, the airlines would recycle the old air. Gross. Now I hear they run the air through some kind of ultraviolet light to kill germs but it doesn't seem to do any good. I'm not flying anywhere these days.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/08/2024 14:09 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Yeah Abu, almost every time I fly I come home with some sort of sinus infection. Luckily it clears up in a couple of days.
I do try to drive to most needed destinations now, unless there's a serious time constraint (or over an ocean). It may not be the cheapest way to travel, but it avoids the chaos and wierd and dodgy fellow travelers.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/08/2024 16:02 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Everyone I know who has flown on a plane recently comes home sick.
Mr. Wife used to get sick every time he went to a new country. Each had its own set of variants of Covid and other things. Until recently that was assumed to be a side effect of jet setting — though I assume it wasn’t much different travelling domestically.
[LawEnforcementToday] Zijie Li, 38, is accused of repeatedly trying to access Trump's Palm Beach resort in the criminal case, according to Florida WPTV. According to court documents, Li was stopped by Secret Service personnel at the gate on the evening of July 19. During his interaction with the federal agents, Li claimed that the government of China was involved in the attempted assassination of Trump a week prior. As one commenter stated... If it's not real, then post the documents for the public to see.
#1
It's only fair. Our government interferes in the affairs of other countries so why should we not expect that other countries try to interfere with us? The worrisome unknown is how much our own government and corporate media cooperate with Chinese interference.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/08/2024 14:15 Comments ||
Top||
The FBI is searching the Delmar home of ex-UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter in connection with a federal investigation.
Any connection to the feds pulling his passport and pulling him off the airplane when he was headed to speak at a conference in Russia in June?
A NewsChannel 13 photographer captured video of agents searching and taking pictures of both cars at the property on Dover Drive.
Agency spokeswoman Sarah Ruane confirmed that they were searching the home, but would not provide details on the investigation — per standard policy.
Ritter was the chief weapons inspector in Iraq. He was found guilty in 2011 of engaging in a sexually explicit web chat with a person in Pennsylvania who was pretending to a be a 15-year-old girl, according to Reuters. Ritter was actually corresponding with a detective for the Barrett Township Police Department.
Fox News mentions that the raid came a day after Ritter posted a photo of himself with independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but surely the FBI wouldn’t be so blatant as to go after him for that. The Times Union adds:
After the agents and officers drove away, Ritter emerged from the home and briefly spoke with news hounds. Dressed in shorts and a T-shirt with an image of the character Inigo Montoya from the 1987 fairy tale comedy "Princess Bride" on it, Ritter said the Sherlocks were there to execute a search warrant "related to concerns apparently the U.S. government has about violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act." That federal law requires individuals and entities that represent foreign interests in the United States to register with the Department of Justice and disclose their activities. *cough* Hunter Biden *cough*
Ritter said the search warrant allowed agents to look for electronic equipment in his home. "They were clearly interested in communications that I’ve had with people related to the work that I do," Ritter said. "That’s all I can say about it. It’s up to them to review it."
Ritter maintains an active online presence, writing articles critical of U.S. foreign policy toward Russia and appearing on podcasts friendly to his views.
He said he has nothing to hide and that he cooperated with Sherlocks.
"There’s no doubt that I’m being targeted because of statements I’ve made about U.S. policy in Ukraine. I’m being targeted because I have made an effort to try and improve relations between the United States and Russia to bring about arms control to bring about peace," Ritter said.
He said he has no ill will toward the agents who carried out the search but that "I do have complaints against the personnel who caused this to happen. This has a chilling effect on free speech, the idea that you have a free speech right in America but when you execute in a manner that the U.S. takes exception to and they launch a search warrant, that’s an intimidation factor.
[KyodoNews] An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit southwestern Japan on Thursday and tsunami advisories were issued for the Pacific coast extending to the western part of the country, sparking concerns that a megaquake may occur in the near future.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued an urgent advisory on the trench-type megaquake for the first time, warning the possibility of the quake happening along the Nankai Trough, stretching from off southwestern to central Japan, is relatively higher than usual.
In consideration of the advisory, Central Japan Railway Co. said it will run the Tokaido Shinkansen Line at a slower pace than usual for about one week, while suspending operations of some expresses in the western part of the nation.
Around a dozen injuries were reported and several buildings were damaged, according to disaster management minister Yoshifumi Matsumura.
Tsunami advisories were issued for Kochi, Ehime, Oita, Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, but the weather agency lifted them all by 10 p.m.
#6
Sheesh, NOT another article on the Japanese Stock Market Meltdown -Next You'll be reporting on another nuclear power plant ba-zongie making Chernobyl look like a small backyard bar-b-que... Oh, why do I read the news...
#7
Pent up pressure from the Hiroshima bomb finally releases.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/08/2024 17:46 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Heriberto Whetle3134 ... ah ... ah .. Well Ukraine's push into Russia appears to be toward a huge atomic reactor that among other things powers a big part of the Russian RR near Ukraine... skip the news and have a nice sleep.
#10
I am definitely the evilist, most evil evildoer you’ll ever meet, Raj. For the record, though, even I don’t know how to delete YouTube from the internet.
Totalitarian dictators gotta dictate — especially when they’re socialists.
[WashingtonPost] Since the July 28 presidential election, security forces have rounded up more than 2,000 people for demonstrating against Maduro or casting doubt on his claims that he won a third term despite strong evidence he lost the vote by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
The spree of detentions — urged on by Maduro himself — is unprecedented and puts Venezuela on pace to easily exceed those jailed during three previous crackdowns against Maduro’s opponents.
Those arrested include journalists, political leaders, campaign staffers and an attorney defending protesters. Others have had their Venezuelan passports annulled.
[10News] A judge ruled that Mexico had not provided concrete evidence that any of six companies’ activities in Massachusetts were connected to suffering caused by guns in Mexico.
A U.S. federal judge in Massachusetts again dismissed a $10 billion Mexican government lawsuit against six U.S. gun manufacturers on Wednesday.
Mexico had argued the companies knew weapons were being sold to traffickers who smuggled them into Mexico and decided to cash in on that market.
Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said Wednesday the ruling would allow the lawsuit to proceed against a seventh manufacturer and a gun wholesaler.
Regarding the dismissal against the others, the department said "Mexico is analyzing its options, among them presenting an appeal."
The case has been a legal rollercoaster.
In early 2022, six companies — not including the seventh manufacturer — filed to dismiss Mexico’s claims based on the broad protection provided to gun manufacturers by a 2005 U.S. law, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA.
The law shields gun manufacturers from damages "resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse" of a firearm. Later in 2022, the federal judge ruled to dismiss the case on those grounds.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/08/2024 08:19 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Narcos
[Quartz] Berkshire has $234.6 billion worth of T-bills
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has $234.6 billion worth of short-term investments in U.S. Treasury bills, the massive conglomerate’s second-quarter earnings report Saturday showed.
With Berkshire buying up $229.5 billion in Treasury bills (also known as T-bills) and fixed maturity securities in the first six months of the year, it surpassed the Federal Reserve in its investment into the bills. The Fed reported last week that it holds $195.3 billion in the bills.
Buffett has always been a fan of T-bills. At the annual Berkshire conference in May, the 93-year-old investor called them “the safest investment there is.”
Treasury bills are short-term securities issued — and backed — by the U.S. government. They are issued in maturities ranging from four weeks to 52 weeks, at a minimum purchase amount of $100. The bills then increase in value to pay off their entire face value at maturity.
Returns on the bills aren’t typically as big as what investors see from more risky investments like stocks. But with the Fed keeping interest rates in the 5.25% to 5.5% range, returns on the bills have risen. As of Aug. 2, three-month bills have a 5.05% return rate; six-month bills are at 4.68%, and 12-month bills bring in 4.18%.
Portland used to have a reputation as being a very business-friendly city. That's how it got the businesses that are leaving or going under.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Portland, Oregon, faces another major blow after two major employers announced huge job cuts - as the progressive city struggles with crime and homelessness.
The city is facing the worst job losses of any major US metropolitan area, new data reveals.
Non-farm employment plummeted by 0.8 percent over the past year - the steepest decline among America's top 50 cities, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The tech sector, once considered Portland's economic powerhouse, is leading the exodus, as reported by wweek, with major companies like Intel and Nike announcing major job cuts.
Intel, the area's largest private employer, announced plans to slash a staggering 15 percent of its workforce - potentially affecting thousands of local jobs.
CEO Pat Gelsinger called the cuts "some of the most consequential changes in our company's history,’ as reported by Bizjournals.
Intel's stock cratered nearly 30 percent following the announcement, wiping out $35 billion in market value - its biggest single-day drop in over 40 years
Nike, another major company in Portland, has already cut its workforce by 5 percent in the past year.
Intel and Nike were named two of the worst performing companies with a 38 percent price drop from the end of 2023 to the market close just before the July 4th holiday.
Oregon Health & Science University, Payments company Block, Target, and video game maker Lost Boys Interactive have all followed suit with significant layoffs.
Jake Procino, a state economist for Oregon, emphasized the alarming trend in an email to Wweek.
"There have been a quite a few public notices and WARN notices showing layoffs, and that volume has been relatively high in the past year, both of which has likely contributed to the year-over-year job loss that we’ve seen in the Portland MSA," he said.
Still, Portland's unemployment rate remains at 4 percent, below its 10-year average.
However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... experts warn this figure may mask the true extent of the city's economic downfall, as tech workers flee the area.
In May 2023, Business owners began fleeing Portland in droves amid a pronounced rise in crime and homelessness.
Public data shows that since the pandemic, more than 2,600 downtown businesses have filed changes of address with the US Postal Service to leave their downtown ZIP codes.
Several big-name employers, such Umpqua Bank, have been among the mass exodus, carried out by owners who have taken issue with the rising crime levels and homelessness - and the city's failure to address it.
#1
Key thing to remember is Musk's origins and his knowledge of where this lefest dogma is taking the country. Elon's father Errol and the Orange Man are two extremely successful peas in a pod.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/08/2024 15:53 Comments ||
Top||
#3
^^^^ Only a sign of things to come, if Cackle Toes & No Balls Walzie are elected into the offices they are seeking... "The Shape of Things to Come" USA are you reading & listening, Huh?
[DM] NASA astronauts stranded due to Boeing's faulty Starliner received horrifying news on Wednesday about their return mission to Earth.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have already been trapped on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than two months, may not come back to Earth until February 2025.
The US space agency revealed a contingency plan that would launch a two-person crew on SpaceX's Crew-9 mission in September, but still wouldn't bring the crew home until months later.
The announcement is another highly embarrassing blow for the embattled Boeing, which is dealing with a spate of issues plaguing its commercial jets.
#10
An embarrassing blow to Boeing? What about NASA? Are they not embarrassed?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/08/2024 14:39 Comments ||
Top||
#11
OK. Item 1: Stop buying manned spacecraft stuff from Boeing. They clearly don't know what they're doing, and are willing to lie to you.
The original version of Starliner flew on automatic. Had to, there was no crew. They left out the software for auto flight on this one, and can't install the software until CrewDragon arrives. Apparently the software comes on 3 1/2" floppies, and they need to send 200 lbs of "update", or some such. So they can safely throw away the Starliner.
Boy, them Boeing engineers make you proud, don't they?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/08/2024 15:40 Comments ||
Top||
#12
What did they do, install the auto software in ROM chips? Or was autopilot done with an auxiliary CPU board that was replaced with life support controls for manned flight?
Posted by: James ||
08/08/2024 17:34 Comments ||
Top||
#13
"We had a box of IBM punchcards in Fortran, but JOE dropped it and now we have to reorder them and punch new ones for ones that got crinkled"
/College memories
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/08/2024 18:22 Comments ||
Top||
#14
^ Bingo & Fortran4 To You - -Good Buddy - Over & Out - CBs is Cricks & Cracking -😂
#16
They left out the software for auto flight on this one,
What the hell kind of engineer thinks like that? "We didn't need the jack and the spare last trip, so let's leave them home."
If I was building a space ship, some autonomous flight capability would be on the list of must-haves. Useful for cargo delivery and a just-in-case for getting the crew back home if they are incapacitated. Or in a situation like this.
[Ynet] Preliminary findings from a study at the Davidoff Center at Rabin Medical Center suggest a novel treatment may eradicate rectal cancer in 65% of patients and reduce the need for surgery.
Led by Prof. Baruch Brenner, head of the Oncology Department and the Gastrointestinal Oncology Unit, the study presents a potential new direction in cancer treatment. "These results suggest a promising new direction," said Prof. Brenner.
Rectal cancer, accounting for about 25% of colorectal cancer cases, is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, requiring complex treatment. Traditional treatment for localized rectal cancer typically involves surgery, which can significantly impact a patient's quality of life, sometimes necessitating the removal of the anus. The new approach combines immunotherapy with chemoradiotherapy, potentially eliminating the need for surgery in many cases.
Conducted with a team of specialists at Rabin Medical Center, the study found that preoperative immunotherapy and chemoradiotherapy substantially improve the likelihood of curing rectal cancer and reducing surgical necessity.
Preliminary results involving 20 out of 29 patients were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Gastrointestinal Tumors Conference in Munich. The combined treatment eradicated tumors in 65% of patients and prevented surgery for most. End genocide - boycott Israeli Products!!!
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
08/08/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
[WaPo, via Dallas Morning News] A summer 
[LawEnforcementToday] 
[10News] A judge ruled that Mexico had not provided concrete evidence that any of six companies’ activities in Massachusetts were connected to suffering caused by guns in Mexico. 
Portland, Oregon, faces another major blow after two major employers announced huge job cuts - as the progressive city struggles with crime and homelessness.
[Ynet] Preliminary findings from a study at the Davidoff Center at Rabin Medical Center suggest a novel treatment may eradicate rectal cancer in 65% of patients and reduce the need for surgery. 
