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Featured Editorials

Strange Bedfellows: Frackers and AntiWar Activists

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 04/06/2020 - 1:55pm

Saudi Arabia has committed countless war crimes in Yemen with American planes and bombs.
Not only does the Trump Administration not care about this, they seem proud of it.
But the Trump Administration does care about mass layoffs in Texas during an election year, and by a strange twist of fate Frackers and AntiWar Activists have wound up on the same side of an issue.

Why Not an Aggressive Strategy to Covid-19?

Submitted by Steven D on Mon, 04/06/2020 - 9:33am

This is a paper my brother Trace Searls wrote. Trace has a PhD in Statistics and over 20 years working in the pharmaceutical industry (Full credentials at end of his post).

I'm posting this here on his behalf to stimulate debate on how we should respond to the pandemic and whether a different approach might be better. All opinions expressed are his and not mine. Trace opener.png

Mask Safety.

Submitted by Pricknick on Sun, 04/05/2020 - 1:20pm

I'm seeing a lot more people using masks. That's good. Unfortunately, I'm also seeing a lot that are using masks that only protect the wearer but not those who may come in contact with someone infected who is wearing one.
Notice the valve on this mask. It allows unfiltered breath and coughs to be expelled by the wearer.

The Weekly Watch

Submitted by Lookout on Sun, 04/05/2020 - 7:43am

To Our Good Health

We are likely to get COVID-19 (I've heard estimates of 70 to 80% of us). Fortunately, most people have mild to no symptoms. The severity of the disease is primarily dependent on the strength of our immune system and the initial viral load at infection. About 70% of the severe cases are in people with some level of obesity. We can influence these factors folks. Wearing a mask, even a homemade one, will reduce the initial infection load. Obesity is a result of poor (misinformed) dietary choices and is really pretty easy to correct. The truth is that we blame people for being overweight and sick, but it’s not their fault. Our taste buds, hormones, and brain chemistry have been hijacked by the food industry. Stress is also a complicating factor, as is poor sleep and lack of rest. The concurrent economic collapse coupled with worry about family and friends add to our susceptibility. Perhaps some of us will manage to avoid infection until there is a vaccine. That appears to be a year to 18 months away. That's a long time to be isolated using good antiseptic measures. So this week I thought we should focus on maximizing our own healthy immune system and reviewing protective techniques to minimize infection. Let's try to do more than just survive, but to thrive... and come out of this seismic event better, more thoughtful, and kinder people.


7 minutes

Captain Crozier, a dialogue begins (update #5 - Apr 7)

Submitted by Marie on Sat, 04/04/2020 - 2:04pm

And what a beginning. An OpEd at the NYTimes (not blocked) by Tweed Roosevelt, the great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt who has personal knowledge of a precedent to Captain Crozier. There are undoubtedly many more precedents and hopefully we'll soon hear about many of them.

Predictions for social changes post Covid,

Submitted by wouldsman on Sat, 04/04/2020 - 12:12pm

In particular, social changes that may have a long term drag on our economy.
Greetings all, I was seeing on an economics blog several points about how there will be long term economic ramifications from this Covid crisis. Lower GDP, productivity loss, bankruptcy, etc. But what I want to focus on here is this:

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