Post by mhbruin on Jan 2, 2022 9:03:04 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 508 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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Does North Korea Really Want Anyone Dumb Enough To Want to Live There?
A South Korean citizen has crossed the heavily fortified border into North Korea in an apparent defection, South Korea's military says.
The person was able to evade detection for several hours despite a search operation by South Korean troops.
Military chiefs in Seoul said they did not know if the person was still alive, but had sent a message to the North asking for them to be protected.
North Korea has implemented a shoot-on-sight policy during the pandemic.
--------------
Dumb Headline of the Day
"The pop culture moments of 2021 we couldn't forget"
If We Can't Forget Them, Why Do We Need a Story to Remind Us About Them?
--------------
Why Is This Surge Different From All Other Surges?
The US kicked off 2022 amid a massive Covid-19 case spike -- driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant -- that some experts warn will be different than any other time in the pandemic.
"What we have to understand is that our health system is at a very different place than we were in previous surges," professor of emergency medicine Dr. Esther Choo told CNN on Saturday. "We have extremely high numbers of just lost health care workers, we've lost at least 20% of our health care workforce, probably more."
"This strain is so infectious," Choo added, "that I think all of us know many, many colleagues who are currently infected or have symptoms and are under quarantine."
The high number of health care staff out with the virus will also have an impact on Americans' doctors appointments and could make for dangerous circumstances when people are hospitalized with Covid-19, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of Baylor University's National School of Tropical Medicine, said Friday.
"That's a different type of one-two punch: people going into the hospitals ... and all of the health care workers are out of the workforce," he told CNN.
But the latest variant isn't just shrinking health care staff numbers. As the virus spreads like wildfire across American communities, staffing problems are already altering parts of daily life.
--------------
This is Like Only Fixing One Hole in a Leaky Roof
Twitter has permanently suspended Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Twitter account @mtgreenee, the company confirmed to CNN Sunday morning.
A Twitter spokesperson said the company "permanently suspended" the account "for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy."
Greene most frequently tweeted from the handle @mtgreenee. She still has access to and can tweet from her official congressional account @repmtg.
--------------
Do Facebook, Google and Amazon Want to See Your Poop?
“Every time an infected person uses the toilet, they’re flushing this information down the toilet, where it’s collecting and aggregating and mixing with poop from thousands of other people,” said Newsha Ghaeli, a co-founder and the president of Biobot Analytics, a wastewater epidemiology company based in Massachusetts.
“Even if you can’t access a test, you’re still pooping,” Ghaeli said. “It doesn’t depend on you having access to health care or health insurance.”
Recent wastewater analysis from a variety of sources across the country indicates an unprecedented surge in infections at a time when millions of people are forced to reconsider travel and holiday plans.
According to Biobot Analytic's wastewater dashboard, Covid-19 levels detected in sewage samples across the country are higher now than at any previous point in the pandemic.
The Poop Report Is Here
"The Poop Report" is Not a New Fox News Show, Even If the Network is a Cesspool.
--------------
Studying Poop & Road Kill. What's Next?
Humans have infected wild deer with Covid-19 in a handful of U.S. states and there’s evidence the virus has been spreading between deer, according to recent studies, which outline findings that could complicate the path out of the pandemic.
Scientists swabbed the nostrils of white-tailed deer in Ohio and found evidence of at least six separate times that humans spread the coronavirus to deer, according to a study published last week in Nature.
About one-third of the deer sampled had an active or recent infection, the study says. Similar research in Iowa of tissue from roadkill and hunted deer found widespread evidence of the virus.
--------------
Another Dumb Headline: "Adhara Pérez, 10, has a higher IQ than Einstein and Hawking."
Adhara Pérez started her life out by being bullied. At around 3, doctors told her mother she was on the autism spectrum, making life at school for the now-10-year-old a nightmare.
Kids called her “weirdo,” and “oddball,” and her teachers said she fell asleep in class and acted as if she didn’t want to be there. The little girl fell into a deep depression. But Pérez’s mother knew her daughter was special.
“At home, I saw that she knew the periodic table of elements and she knew algebra. I think she felt bored,” Pérez’s mother Nalley Sánchez tells Infobae.
Sánchez decided to take her daughter to therapy, and it wasn’t long before the psychiatrist recommended Pérez go to the Center for Attention to Talent (CEDAT), a school for gifted children.
Sánchez quickly learned that her daughter wasn’t simply gifted, she was a certifiable genius with an IQ of 162—higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
The Sánchez family comes from Tláhuac, Mexico, one of the 16 boroughs into which Mexico City is divided. It’s one of the poorest in the city.
When she was just 5, Pérez finished elementary school. At 6 she finished middle school, and at 8 she finished high school. Today, she’s studying two careers online—Industrial engineering in mathematics at UNITEC and systems engineering at CNCI. The University of Arizona has offered her a scholarship.
There Is NO WAY It Makes Sense to Compare a 10-Year-Old To Einstein and Hawking. It's Like Calling a 7th-Grader "The Next Michael Jordan".
--------------
If You Want to Read About a REAL Hero, ...
This is quite a story
We Throw the Word "Hero" Around Very Loosely.
--------------
If Death Sentence Wants to Get Rid of His Wife, He Could Just Divorce Her.
DeSantis attended an event sponsored by a Christianist worship leader whose events have been linked to numerous superspreaders. Never mind that his wife is presently at really high risk for COVID-19, even if she’s vaccinated.
In response to criticism from state and national Democrats about his apparent absence in the wake of record-breaking case counts in Florida, DeSantis—through his spokesmen—said that at the time, he was with his wife while she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
A DeSantis spokesperson said the governor accompanied wife Casey to cancer treatment Dec. 29, the day several left-wing critics accused the governor of "missing."
DeSantis' announced in October that his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer, telling Fox News at the time that as "the mother of three young children, Casey is the centerpiece of our family and has made an impact on the lives of countless Floridians through her initiatives as first lady."
But later on Friday, Tampa NBC affiliate WFLA revealed that DeSantis was going to be on hand for the Orange Bowl that night—his first public appearance in two weeks. Before that night, he’d only been seen in public twice in the latter half of December—a press conference on Dec. 17, and an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Dec. 19.
That was problematic in and of itself, considering that as a cancer patient, Casey DeSantis is at particularly high risk for breaking bad if she catches COVID. But what DeSantis did next is particularly incomprehensible. It turned out that when DeSantis left Hard Rock Stadium, he and Casey headed over to Lifted Church (formerly Miami Baptist Church), where Christianist worship leader Sean Feucht was holding one of his “Let Us Worship” events.
Divorce Was Not a Good Look for Someone Who Wants to Be President, But Look At Previous Guy (and Reagan).
--------------
A Poll Tells Us The Obvious. QOP Members Live in an Alternate Reality (Which Isn't Really a Reality, But a Fantasy).
Nearly a year after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a strong majority of Americans condemn it and believe former President Donald Trump is at least partially to blame. But partisan splits have hardened over time, with Republicans still largely backing Trump's version of events, a new ABC/Ipsos poll finds.
An overwhelming majority (72%) of Americans believe the people involved in the attack on the Capitol were "threatening democracy," while 1 in 4 Americans believes that the individuals involved were "protecting democracy." Broken down by party identification, Democrats are nearly unanimous (96%) in believing that those involved in the attacks were threatening democracy. Republicans are more split, with 45% saying it was a threat and 52% saying those involved in the riot were "protecting democracy."
The poll also shows strongly aligned views among Democrats regarding Trump's responsibility for the attack, with 91% believing Trump bears either "a great deal" or "a good amount" of responsibility for it. On the other hand, a strong majority (78%) of Republicans believe the former president bears "just some" or no responsibility for the day's events.
These figures are strikingly consistent with polling taken in the immediate aftermath of Jan. 6, despite efforts by Trump to recast the narrative and block the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack from obtaining records from his administration.
--------------
Poop, Road Kill, and Now Car Exhaust
Thefts of the exhaust emission control devices have jumped over the past two years as prices for the precious metals they contain have skyrocketed. Thieves can expect to get anywhere from $50 to $300 if they sell the converters to scrap yards, which then sell them to recycling facilities to reclaim the precious metals inside, including platinum, palladium and rhodium.
For victims, the costs of replacing a stolen catalytic converter can easily top $1,000 and make their vehicle undrivable for days or weeks as the part is ordered and installed. It can also leave owners feeling vulnerable.
--------------
TheWurthering Heights of Charity
The story of the discovery and recovery of a treasure chest of letters, diaries, poems and manuscripts, penned in the tiny meticulous handwriting by the beloved, pathfinding, canonical English writers, the incredible Brontë sisters, reads like … what?
An over-the-top Victorian novel, or a BBC costume drama, loosely based upon it.
The literary trove virtually disappeared from sight. For most of a century, it went dark.
Then it went on sale. And Brontë fans were aghast. And the nation rallied.
Who saved this material, the rarest of the rare, from auction to private collectors?
Why, the richest men in Britain saved it. Sir Leonard Blavatnik, the American-British-Ukrainian petrochemical-finance-entertainment mogul, put up half the money to buy it for the public a few weeks ago — with a little help from Prince Charles and thousands of small donations.
They saved the collection from public auction and dispersal by raising $20 million to buy the whole library, which will soon be placed in institutions like the British Library and literary houses such as the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
--------------
CDC doesn't do a good job of reporting around holidays.
Doses Administered 7-Day Average | Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses | Number of People 2 or More Doses | New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | |
| Jan 1 | No Data | ||||
| Dec 31 | No Data | ||||
| Dec 30 | 1,234,917 | 243,527,564 | 205,811,394 | ||
| Dec 29 | 1,042,911 | 243,182,423 | 205,638,307 | 316,277 | 1,100 |
| Dec 28 | 1,091,279 | 242,813,374 | 205,420,745 | 277,241 | 1,085 |
| Dec 27 | 1,034,442 | 242,433,620 | 205,196,973 | 240,408 | 1,096 |
| Dec 26 | No Data | 206,577 | 1,041 | ||
| Dec 25 | No Data | 196,511 | 1,053 | ||
| Dec 24 | No Data | 195,713 | 1,108 | ||
| Dec 23 | 1,189,954 | 241,520,561 | 204,740,321 | 192,453 | 1,199 |
| Dec 22 | 1,283,244 | 241,583,543 | 204,818,717 | 176,097 | 1,213 |
| Dec 21 | 1,542,936 | 241,132,288 | 204,578,725 | 161,261 | 1,223 |
| Dec 20 | 1,554,261 | 241,881,712 | 204,098,982 | 149,331 | 1,188 |
| Dec 19 | 1,558,720 | 241,571,084 | 203,926,479 | 132,659 | 1,169 |
| Dec 18 | 1,562,366 | 241,205,528 | 203,727,446 | 127,445 | 1,182 |
| Dec 17 | 2,065,555 | 240,775,382 | 203,479,206 | 125,775 | 1,182 |
| Dec 16 | 2,043,207 | 240,321,022 | 203,159,327 | 122,296 | 1,179 |
| Dec 15 | 1,795,384 | 239,975,167 | 202,748,005 | 119,546 | 1,187 |
| Dec 14 | 1,904,464 | 239,553,956 | 202,504,037 | 117,950 | 1,143 |
| Dec 13 | 1,951,329 | 239,274,656 | 202,246,698 | 117,890 | 1,147 |
| Dec 12 | 1,984,721 | 239,008,166 | 201,975,235 | 116,742 | 1,131 |
| Dec 11 | 2,020,853 | 238,679,707 | 201,688,550 | 116,893 | 1,131 |
| Dec 10 | 1,721,570 | 238,143,066 | 201,279,582 | 118,575 | 1,146 |
| Dec 9 | 1,583,662 | 237,468,725 | 200,717,387 | 118,052 | 1,089 |
| Dec 8 | 1,611,831 | 237,087,380 | 200,400,533 | 118,515 | 1,092 |
| Dec 7 | 1,781,389 | 236,363,835 | 199,687,439 | 117,488 | 1,097 |
| Dec 6 | 1,780,807 | 236,018,871 | 199,313,022 | 117,179 | 1,117 |
| Dec 5 | 2,264,301 | 235,698,738 | 198,962,520 | 103,823 | 1,154 |
| Dec 4 | 2,009,864 | 235,297,964 | 198,592,167 | 105,554 | 1,150 |
| Dec 3 | 1,700,056 | 234,743,864 | 198,211,641 | 106,132 | 1,110 |
| Dec 2 | 1,428,263 | 234,269,053 | 197,838,728 | 96,425 | 975 |
| Dec 1 | 1,116,587 | 233,590,555 | 197,363,116 | 86,412 | 859 |
| Nov 30 | 1,152,647 | 233,207,582 | 197,058,988 | 82,846 | 816 |
| Nov 29 | 937,113 | 232,792,508 | 196,806,194 | 80,178 | 804 |
| Feb 16 | 1,716,311 | 39,670,551 | 15,015,434 | 78,292 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | % of Vaccinated W/ Boosters | |
| % of Total Population | 73.3% | 62.0% | 33.4% |
| % of Population 5+ | 78.0% | 65.9% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 83.5% | 71.1% | 36.3% |
| % of Population 18+ | 85.5% | 72.8% | 48.2% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 87.6% | 58.2% |
--------------
Does North Korea Really Want Anyone Dumb Enough To Want to Live There?
A South Korean citizen has crossed the heavily fortified border into North Korea in an apparent defection, South Korea's military says.
The person was able to evade detection for several hours despite a search operation by South Korean troops.
Military chiefs in Seoul said they did not know if the person was still alive, but had sent a message to the North asking for them to be protected.
North Korea has implemented a shoot-on-sight policy during the pandemic.
--------------
Dumb Headline of the Day
"The pop culture moments of 2021 we couldn't forget"
If We Can't Forget Them, Why Do We Need a Story to Remind Us About Them?
--------------
Why Is This Surge Different From All Other Surges?
The US kicked off 2022 amid a massive Covid-19 case spike -- driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant -- that some experts warn will be different than any other time in the pandemic.
"What we have to understand is that our health system is at a very different place than we were in previous surges," professor of emergency medicine Dr. Esther Choo told CNN on Saturday. "We have extremely high numbers of just lost health care workers, we've lost at least 20% of our health care workforce, probably more."
"This strain is so infectious," Choo added, "that I think all of us know many, many colleagues who are currently infected or have symptoms and are under quarantine."
The high number of health care staff out with the virus will also have an impact on Americans' doctors appointments and could make for dangerous circumstances when people are hospitalized with Covid-19, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of Baylor University's National School of Tropical Medicine, said Friday.
"That's a different type of one-two punch: people going into the hospitals ... and all of the health care workers are out of the workforce," he told CNN.
But the latest variant isn't just shrinking health care staff numbers. As the virus spreads like wildfire across American communities, staffing problems are already altering parts of daily life.
--------------
This is Like Only Fixing One Hole in a Leaky Roof
Twitter has permanently suspended Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Twitter account @mtgreenee, the company confirmed to CNN Sunday morning.
A Twitter spokesperson said the company "permanently suspended" the account "for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy."
Greene most frequently tweeted from the handle @mtgreenee. She still has access to and can tweet from her official congressional account @repmtg.
--------------
Do Facebook, Google and Amazon Want to See Your Poop?
“Every time an infected person uses the toilet, they’re flushing this information down the toilet, where it’s collecting and aggregating and mixing with poop from thousands of other people,” said Newsha Ghaeli, a co-founder and the president of Biobot Analytics, a wastewater epidemiology company based in Massachusetts.
“Even if you can’t access a test, you’re still pooping,” Ghaeli said. “It doesn’t depend on you having access to health care or health insurance.”
Recent wastewater analysis from a variety of sources across the country indicates an unprecedented surge in infections at a time when millions of people are forced to reconsider travel and holiday plans.
According to Biobot Analytic's wastewater dashboard, Covid-19 levels detected in sewage samples across the country are higher now than at any previous point in the pandemic.
The Poop Report Is Here
"The Poop Report" is Not a New Fox News Show, Even If the Network is a Cesspool.
--------------
Studying Poop & Road Kill. What's Next?
Humans have infected wild deer with Covid-19 in a handful of U.S. states and there’s evidence the virus has been spreading between deer, according to recent studies, which outline findings that could complicate the path out of the pandemic.
Scientists swabbed the nostrils of white-tailed deer in Ohio and found evidence of at least six separate times that humans spread the coronavirus to deer, according to a study published last week in Nature.
About one-third of the deer sampled had an active or recent infection, the study says. Similar research in Iowa of tissue from roadkill and hunted deer found widespread evidence of the virus.
--------------
Another Dumb Headline: "Adhara Pérez, 10, has a higher IQ than Einstein and Hawking."
Adhara Pérez started her life out by being bullied. At around 3, doctors told her mother she was on the autism spectrum, making life at school for the now-10-year-old a nightmare.
Kids called her “weirdo,” and “oddball,” and her teachers said she fell asleep in class and acted as if she didn’t want to be there. The little girl fell into a deep depression. But Pérez’s mother knew her daughter was special.
“At home, I saw that she knew the periodic table of elements and she knew algebra. I think she felt bored,” Pérez’s mother Nalley Sánchez tells Infobae.
Sánchez decided to take her daughter to therapy, and it wasn’t long before the psychiatrist recommended Pérez go to the Center for Attention to Talent (CEDAT), a school for gifted children.
Sánchez quickly learned that her daughter wasn’t simply gifted, she was a certifiable genius with an IQ of 162—higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
The Sánchez family comes from Tláhuac, Mexico, one of the 16 boroughs into which Mexico City is divided. It’s one of the poorest in the city.
When she was just 5, Pérez finished elementary school. At 6 she finished middle school, and at 8 she finished high school. Today, she’s studying two careers online—Industrial engineering in mathematics at UNITEC and systems engineering at CNCI. The University of Arizona has offered her a scholarship.
There Is NO WAY It Makes Sense to Compare a 10-Year-Old To Einstein and Hawking. It's Like Calling a 7th-Grader "The Next Michael Jordan".
--------------
If You Want to Read About a REAL Hero, ...
This is quite a story
We Throw the Word "Hero" Around Very Loosely.
--------------
If Death Sentence Wants to Get Rid of His Wife, He Could Just Divorce Her.
DeSantis attended an event sponsored by a Christianist worship leader whose events have been linked to numerous superspreaders. Never mind that his wife is presently at really high risk for COVID-19, even if she’s vaccinated.
In response to criticism from state and national Democrats about his apparent absence in the wake of record-breaking case counts in Florida, DeSantis—through his spokesmen—said that at the time, he was with his wife while she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
A DeSantis spokesperson said the governor accompanied wife Casey to cancer treatment Dec. 29, the day several left-wing critics accused the governor of "missing."
DeSantis' announced in October that his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer, telling Fox News at the time that as "the mother of three young children, Casey is the centerpiece of our family and has made an impact on the lives of countless Floridians through her initiatives as first lady."
But later on Friday, Tampa NBC affiliate WFLA revealed that DeSantis was going to be on hand for the Orange Bowl that night—his first public appearance in two weeks. Before that night, he’d only been seen in public twice in the latter half of December—a press conference on Dec. 17, and an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Dec. 19.
That was problematic in and of itself, considering that as a cancer patient, Casey DeSantis is at particularly high risk for breaking bad if she catches COVID. But what DeSantis did next is particularly incomprehensible. It turned out that when DeSantis left Hard Rock Stadium, he and Casey headed over to Lifted Church (formerly Miami Baptist Church), where Christianist worship leader Sean Feucht was holding one of his “Let Us Worship” events.
Divorce Was Not a Good Look for Someone Who Wants to Be President, But Look At Previous Guy (and Reagan).
--------------
A Poll Tells Us The Obvious. QOP Members Live in an Alternate Reality (Which Isn't Really a Reality, But a Fantasy).
Nearly a year after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a strong majority of Americans condemn it and believe former President Donald Trump is at least partially to blame. But partisan splits have hardened over time, with Republicans still largely backing Trump's version of events, a new ABC/Ipsos poll finds.
An overwhelming majority (72%) of Americans believe the people involved in the attack on the Capitol were "threatening democracy," while 1 in 4 Americans believes that the individuals involved were "protecting democracy." Broken down by party identification, Democrats are nearly unanimous (96%) in believing that those involved in the attacks were threatening democracy. Republicans are more split, with 45% saying it was a threat and 52% saying those involved in the riot were "protecting democracy."
The poll also shows strongly aligned views among Democrats regarding Trump's responsibility for the attack, with 91% believing Trump bears either "a great deal" or "a good amount" of responsibility for it. On the other hand, a strong majority (78%) of Republicans believe the former president bears "just some" or no responsibility for the day's events.
These figures are strikingly consistent with polling taken in the immediate aftermath of Jan. 6, despite efforts by Trump to recast the narrative and block the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack from obtaining records from his administration.
--------------
Poop, Road Kill, and Now Car Exhaust
Thefts of the exhaust emission control devices have jumped over the past two years as prices for the precious metals they contain have skyrocketed. Thieves can expect to get anywhere from $50 to $300 if they sell the converters to scrap yards, which then sell them to recycling facilities to reclaim the precious metals inside, including platinum, palladium and rhodium.
For victims, the costs of replacing a stolen catalytic converter can easily top $1,000 and make their vehicle undrivable for days or weeks as the part is ordered and installed. It can also leave owners feeling vulnerable.
--------------
The
The story of the discovery and recovery of a treasure chest of letters, diaries, poems and manuscripts, penned in the tiny meticulous handwriting by the beloved, pathfinding, canonical English writers, the incredible Brontë sisters, reads like … what?
An over-the-top Victorian novel, or a BBC costume drama, loosely based upon it.
The literary trove virtually disappeared from sight. For most of a century, it went dark.
Then it went on sale. And Brontë fans were aghast. And the nation rallied.
Who saved this material, the rarest of the rare, from auction to private collectors?
Why, the richest men in Britain saved it. Sir Leonard Blavatnik, the American-British-Ukrainian petrochemical-finance-entertainment mogul, put up half the money to buy it for the public a few weeks ago — with a little help from Prince Charles and thousands of small donations.
They saved the collection from public auction and dispersal by raising $20 million to buy the whole library, which will soon be placed in institutions like the British Library and literary houses such as the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
--------------