Link. Great story.
Monthly Archives: February 2022
“The thing that will bring down the Russian economy in the long term is the exact same thing that will fight climate change in the long term — shift from fossil fuels to renewables and electric vehicle”
Link. Inspiring Putin exit.
Jane Brody’s alleged last Personal Health column.
Link. Retired — she says. Retrospective on health advice since she started at NYT … in 1965.
“The two largest placebo-controlled trials of [psychedelic] microdosing were published last year, and they both suggest that the benefits people experience are from the placebo effect”
Link.
Fiona Hill on Putin: “Russian World means re-gathering all the Russian-speakers in different places that belonged at some point to the Russian tsardom.”
Link. Must read.
COVID: “one in every 168 American Indian or Alaska Native children, one in every 310 Black children, one in every 412 Hispanic children, and one in every 612 Asian children had lost a caregiver, compared with one in 753 white children.”
Link. The native numbers are insane. Would like deeper dive there.
Pfizer Shot Is Far Less Effective for infection prevention in 5- to 11-Year-Olds Than in Older Kids.
Link. Dose is likely too low. Protects against severe illness.
30% US “Asian” experience COVID discrimination.
Link. Presumably Han appearing Asian. Does not break down abusers by ethnicity or race.
SK Omicron “surge”: “112 deaths in a 24-hour period”
Link. That’s much smaller than US numbers even when adjust for population. Should fall quickly. Amazing vaccine rate.
Big tech is betting that offices are still the future.
Link. Most don’t build robust relationships remotely. Without those bonds small fissures grow.
Dr. Bronner’s, the (privately held) Psychedelic Soap Company.
Link. Private companies are more fun. Definitely read.
Putin was idol of many, not just American GOP.
Link. Really didn’t get much US attention. He was very popular.
Reflecting on decades of dismal progress in mental health.
Link. Genomics was a huge disappointment. Neurosciences not quite as bad, but far from good. Big bets that didn’t work.
“In 2015, Brazil amended a 15-year-old federal law to extend protections for disabled people to those who are overweight, entitling them to preferential seats on public transportation and priority in certain places like banks.”
Link. I’m surprised.
Car rental: “targeting the most possible rentals — effectively competing by offering lower prices — is “not how you maximize profit,” Brian Choi, its chief financial officer, said on the call.”
Link. Years of consolidation allows coordinated price increases.
PS4 wifi can’t connect to eero 6.
Link. An older TV has same issue. Can’t handle the frequency negotiation.
Petraeus on Russia’s ability to occupy Ukraine.
Link. He is cautious, but probably Russia can’t hold Ukraine post invasion.
A couple was in Ukraine to adopt a child. As troops closed in and flights got scarce, they narrowly escaped.
Link. That is commitment. Also courage. And love.
“Jackson’s 8.9 years of prior judicial experience is more than four of the justices currently on the court—Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Elena Kagan, and Amy Coney Barrett—had combined. “
Link.
“you can now delete or move an app from Search”
Link. And create aliases?!
Do You Need Cellular in Your Apple Watch?
Link. No.
Impressions of the Eero 6 mesh wifi
Link. Mediocre app but the hardware is impressive.
Curbsiders Digest #14: “skipping surgery in managing partial meniscus tears, according to a new study in Denmark comparing exercise therapy with surgery in young adults”
Link. This 62yo ignored imaging and just went with exercise. Astonished how well that went.
The fake science industry is healthy and growing.
Link. Scam apps make Apple a lot of money. Same deal.
Finland: “43 percent of Finnish voters support joining Nato, if the president and the prime minister considered membership in the alliance to be in Finland’s best interests.”
Link. Finnish date format is unfamiliar.
Denmark: “Instead of 90% of all Covid-positive deaths being caused by Covid-19, it’s now more like 30% – and the absolute number of deaths has not been going up.”
Link. That’s a handy metric going forward.
“if you’re not infected with E.B.V., your risk of M.S. is virtually zero,”
Link. 90% of us shed EBV in our saliva.
Florida’s surgeon general is a crackpot.
Link. Immense self-confidence.
“longer interval between doses can increase vaccine effectiveness and reduce the risk of a serious but uncommon side effect called myocarditis,”
Link. “Young men between the age of 12 and 39 are especially encouraged to wait eight weeks before the second dose.”
QAnon: “16 percent of Americans, or roughly 41 million people, believed last year in the three key tenets of the conspiracy theory”
Link. Religion.
Oral meds 54% U.S. Abortions
Link. Expected to be at least 80% in a few years.
“It’s telling, and not in a good way, that Italy wants luxury goods … excluded from any sanctions package.”
Link. “hidden foreign wealth of rich Russians amounted to around 85 percent of Russia’s G.D.P.”
DYMO Label Printer RFID DRM.
Link. Sadness.
“Cognitive impairment is a debilitating and widespread comorbidity of MS”
Link. Putin rumored to have MS.
Russian analysts: “Everything that we believed turned out to be wrong,” … “I don’t understand the motivations, the goals or the possible results,” said another. “What is happening is very strange.”
Link. I like the Putin multiple sclerosis encephalopathy explanation.
Ukraine has very limited defense abilities.
Link. Russia does not need large numbers of soldiers.
Path Finder Subscription: “29.95/year”
Link. Most subscription plans are huge price jumps.
“Vladimir Putin is 69 and rumours last year suggested he’d been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis”
Link. I hadn’t heard that. Would explain a lot. Some variants have a dementia component.
A brief history of Ukraine.
Link. In 1812 the US invaded proto-Canada for unclear reasons. Closest analogy I can think of.
Truth Social: “Trump Media will gain access to nearly $1.3 billion in cash, which will help build its social media business.”
Link. I bet he succeeds.
Pollution negates brain benefits of exercise?
Link. That’s surprising and the rat studies are also worrisome. Needs more research.
“the officer who sent the bullet off target yelled out “Kid!” to the others as soon as he saw the young face in the back seat, Unified police said in the statement. Officers did not fire any shots in return.”
Link. Kudos due.
Atlanta police injustice motivated by point system incentives.
Link. Goldring was jailed for nearly six months. Do other countries use point systems like this?
“Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, one of the advisors, was wearing a watch showing that the event was recorded five hours before, thus placing it before the “governments” of the regions asked for recognition.”
Link. They really are like Trump people.
Tales of antivaxx: ECMO and pregnancy.
Link. There’s a kicker at the end.
WaPo editorial on cost of vaccine lies.
Link. There was money to be made telling lies and Fox made it for Lachlan.
“One proposal to help clear the streets is to give city authorities more authority to take people who cannot take care of themselves off the street, the legal process of conservatorship.”
Link. This. Everywhere.
Why licensure compacts fail: “The Minnesota Nurses Association considers the bill a way to let out-of-state nurses replace its members. It was described by the union Monday as a thinly veiled plan to diminish collective bargaining rights.”
Link. Red vs blue
“bizarre DRM system for the DVB digital TV standard (called CPCM)”
Link. Cory says this was not implemented but it’s much like Apple FairPlay family sharing. I have receipts. Worse in some ways, there’s no useful support.
“the SARS coronavirus, which killed nearly 800 people in a 2003 epidemic in Asia. In people exposed to that virus, T cells have lasted more than 17 years.”
Link. We may not need new boosters. (Those of us who had 3 boosters and then Omicron — we squeak in the face of COVID)