News blues
After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration late last month authorized Pfizer /BioNTech’s and Moderna Inc’s updated vaccine to target the more recently circulating Omicron subvariants of the coronavirus, only a third of American adults polled said they either already received the updated shots or plan to get it.That is, around two-thirds of adults in the United States do not plan to get the updated COVID-19 booster shots anytime soon. This, according to a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a health policy nonprofit organization.
Read more >>
On the plus side, the worldwide chaos of Covid, the “2020-2021 flu season was all but canceled.”
The Right Stuff (1:06 mins)
Business as usual, continued….
On the plus side, the worldwide chaos of Covid, the “2020-2021 flu season was all but canceled.”
That meant not just an unprecedented global decrease in the number of people sick with the flu but also a dramatic collapse in the genetic diversity of circulating flu strains. Many subtypes of the virus all but vanished. But most notably, one entire lineage—one of only four flu groups targeted by seasonal influenza vaccines—went completely dark, seemingly extinct.Read more >>
But now, the flu has come roaring back and threatens to cause a particularly nasty season in the Northern Hemisphere. Still, the influenza B/Yamagata lineage remains missing, according to a study published this week in the journal Eurosurveillance. It has not been definitively detected since April 2020. And the question of whether it's truly gone extinct lingers.
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The Lincoln Project:The Right Stuff (1:06 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Everything is bigger in Texas. Well, everything except for penalties for polluting rivers, groundwater, ground, air, plants, people…. Then, “penalties are low enough that companies can often still save money by flouting pollution laws and paying fines instead” (aka, business as usual ….)In a new report by Environment America, a Denver-based nonprofit, Texas ranks first among U.S. states for toxic discharges into streams, rivers and lakes, a title held by Indiana since the organization began analyzing nationwide water pollution in 2009, when Texas ranked fourth.Read more >>
The report drew from data that was self-reported by industrial facilities and logged with the EPA. It tallied 16.7 million pounds of toxic substances released into Texas water in 2020, up from 13.2 million in 2007.
… Nitrate compounds—a common component of fertilizer runoff and industrial waste—account for up to 90 percent of total toxic releases reported by industry nationwide. The rest is made up of heavy metals such as lead; solvents such as tetrachloroethylene, and manganese compounds, methanol and ammonia. It also includes small amounts of potent substances known as “persistent bioaccumulative toxics,” which build up in people and animals, including mercury and dioxin.
Business as usual, continued….
EPA proposes to designate two “forever chemicals” as hazardous, aiming to bolster cleanup.Hmmm. We’ll see…
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to designate two types of “forever chemicals” as hazardous substances, aiming to expand both cleanup and accountability for this pollution.
Read more about the proposal >>
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Six days until Mary undergoes another grueling chemotherapy session.The good news is she rebounded after Day 5 of her last session. We’re hoping for as good as or better rebound next time.
One reason to hope is that Mary and I both have a better understanding of which anti-nausea drugs present the least side effects. That wasn’t true of session one. Mary, generally not a pill popper, elected to forgo all four anti-nausea drugs due to lack of sufficient information on side effects. Turns out she was right. The predominant side effect of the drug “friends” advised was a side effect she most wished to avoid. (No disclosure of the drug nor the side effect, sorry.)
She – we – are better prepared this time. I hope. Best laid plans, etc., etc.
Alas, last night I dreamed that, as I brushed my teeth, my hair fell out and into the bathroom sink. It began as tufts falling as if cut with scissors then progressed into skeins, as if plucked by the handful.
Hmmm, not a dream but a nightmare?
Sunrise: 7:05am
Sunset: 6:51pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:38am
Sunset: 6:00pm
She – we – are better prepared this time. I hope. Best laid plans, etc., etc.
Alas, last night I dreamed that, as I brushed my teeth, my hair fell out and into the bathroom sink. It began as tufts falling as if cut with scissors then progressed into skeins, as if plucked by the handful.
Hmmm, not a dream but a nightmare?
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SF Bay Area: Sunrise: 7:05am
Sunset: 6:51pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:38am
Sunset: 6:00pm
