12 August 2023

This is big.  Long-term follow-up of those who got vax-related myocarditis,  It was found that in those where a cardiac MRI was obtained, 2/3 were found to have abnormalities, and a year later, 58% of those still had late gadolinium enhancement, which is a sign of myocardial dysfunction, heart failure and sudden cardiac death.  This study was done in Hong Kong, where the Sinovac and Pfier vax products were available, and it is not clear which vax was given to these patients.  Someone should do a similar study here.  This could explain why we are seeing so many sudden deaths.

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You can't drink or smoke marijuana in public.  But fentanyl or meth?  That's OK.

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  • Harboring disdain for Pope Francis.
  • Rejecting the theological precepts of the Second Vatican Council.
  • Criticizing pro-choice advocates on Twitter.
Is this something the FBI needs to be involved in?

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Oregon legalized medical marijuana in 1998, and in 2015 it legalized recreational use, yet policymakers still know relatively little about the impact of the latter. A recent study by Oregon State University researchers and others shows that cannabis use has increased among college-aged Americans in states that legalized recreational use.

Cannabis use disorder (defined as users having difficulty stopping or having marijuana use control their lives) stayed the same among college students – at 10%. But rates increased among non-college participants from 12% to 15%.
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Zoom is crazy.  They reserve rights to train on your sessions, but say they won't without your permission.  However, permission is at the level of agreeing to join the sesssion, or quitting.  In other words, if other if the meeting goes on, someone agreed to give Zoom permission to use the video session.  Better not discuss anything confidential.

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Scientists can use reporter bacteria to detect the presence of tumor DNAAcinetobacter baylyi can perform horizontal gene transfer with foreign DNA that it encounters (like tumor DNA) and incorporates into its own chromosome.  By designing primers for the KRAS gene, with a tetR repressor between the primers, the bacteria performs the transfer with KRAS genes from tumor cells that it encounters.  A CRISPR-Cas effector complex, called Cascade, will degrade unmutated KRAS and the cell will die, but will not touch the mutated KRAS.  Since the tetR repressor is no longer in place, the bacteria activates an output gene, which in this case conferred kanamycin resistance.  Therefore, the appearance of bacteria thriving on kanamycin impregnated petri dishes indicates the presence of the target gene.  Nice!

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Speaking of gene transfer, brain cells can communicate by transferrring mRNA to each other.  Is that crazy, or what?  The special Cre mRNA is enclosed in brain-derived extracellular vesicles (bdEVs).  We're learning more each day.

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In other neuroscience developments, the center for libido in male mice is in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus.  Stimulating it with Substance P really makes them horny. 

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Capitalism works!  Providence nurses score a 26% raise in salary.  Good for them, but hospitals will suffer even more.  It shows you how difficult it is to hire more nurses in Portland.  The situation seems to be different for doctors, however.  They have no political power and are less mobile than nurses, and not as able to just quit and live off their spouses income.  Nearly all are just employees of large organizations, so the most they can usually do is jump from one org to another.

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Texas judge gets the FDA to admit that doctors have the ability to prescribe ivermectin if they feel it is the best for their patients.  This probably won't change anything in blue states just yet.  If you prescribe IVM in Oregon or Washington, you might still get in trouble with the medical boards

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11 August 2023

I can relateThis was me in middle school.  Still had fun with friends, though. 

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I've long suspected that genetics played a role in who got really sick with COVID-19 and who didn't.  Now there seems to be a genetic underpinning as to who gets LongCOVID.  But I do suspect that getting the vax has something to do with the inability to recover. 

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Climate change?  Causing Mesoamerican Kidney Disease?  That's a bit of stretch.  But then, CC gets blamed for all kinds to things, doesn't it?

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Some celebrities are posting links to help fund Maui's recovery efforts, such as this one. But I haven't seen that those celebrities are donating themselves.  Jeff Bezos and his partner just donated $100 million, which will help.  This ronin also donated, but couldn't match Bezos, though.  Oh well.  A lot of celebrities have homes on Maui, and should help with donations as well.
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This amused me in 2004, but today's version just brings me joy.  What a guy!


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10 August 2023

A metaphor for how Portland manages our resourcesTrees Planted by the City in East Portland Two Years Ago Are Dead Because the City Didn’t Water Them.  Federal infrastructure dollars – wasted.  That's the city, folks.

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When you know just enough to be dangerous.  This guy thinks Hawaii should "take the lead" in regulating A.I.  He says: "I’m working with Hawaii state legislators to create a new Office of AI Safety and Regulation."  "The new office would follow the 'precautionary principle' in placing the burden on AI developers to demonstrate that their products are safe for Hawaii before they are allowed to be used in Hawaii."  Is someone going to tell him that:
1.  A.I. is already in Hawaii.  You may just not realize it.
2.  Bigger thinkers than this guy have already acknowledged that there is no clear path to "regulating" A.I. 
3.  Who's going to be on the board making these decisions?  Hawaii politicians?  Is this going to be the new meme? 
4.  Heavy-handed regulation (because you know they'll have to come up with something) will just put Hawaii further behind in the technology arena.  So Hawaii residents won't be able to purchase the new iPhone because Apple hasn't submitted a paper demonstrating that it's safe for the state?  Is that it?

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This, I believeOver half the world's population will have a mental disorder by age 75.  It's seems like that it should be age 20 if you take all the gender craziness and pedophile grooming into account.  But maybe that's just in the U.S.

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About that devastating fire in Lahaina – I've read reports that it's related to climate change (of course).  No, that's a stretch, and they know it.  What probably caused it, is that power line poles on Maui are old and it is credible that they fell in the unusually strong winds.  But also likely, probably more so, is that a fire in a homeless camp spread due to those same winds, and that the dry grasses caught fire.  This is way more credible.  No way to prove or disprove these theories now, though.

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So Seattle would like to implement a special tax on large corporations that make payroll of ≥ $8.1 million annually, and will tax employees of those companies that make over $174,000.  They call it a "JumpStart Tax" and need the money to plug a budget hole.  So if you were a worker at Amazon, why would you want to work there when you could work elsewhere at your salary and not get taxed that amount?  Are companies like Amazon going to stand for this?

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9 August 2023

Hope someone listens.  Healthcare staffing burnout - those interviewed said they would rather administration do something to fix the workplace instead of just offering resilience training and wellness programs.  Heh, I know how that goes.

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Ride the light rail, and you might just have to pitch in, stop a stabbing and prevent a murder.  Part and parcel, as someone said.

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No surprise.  After encampment removals, only 15% go to shelters.  And that's best case scenario.

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Andy Ngo can't get justice.
At what age are you the smartest?  I hesitated to click, but was relieved that there was no clear answer. 

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New bacteria discovered from a stray cat biteGlobicatella.  Gotta remember that one.

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A.I. is ruining the Internet.  From more complicated CAPTCHAs, to more scraped content, to your favorite sites being shut down or cloaked, to avoid A.I. bot stealing their content for training, to "news" sites that don't know if they're hallucinating, to more sophisticated email phishing scams.  The Internet has been invaded and there's little we can do about it now.  Now you all know how the geeks felt when AOL introduced the world to the Internet.

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8 August 2023

Uh-ohYoung Asians don't want to work in factories anymore.  Get ready for higher prices.

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Portland's wealthier taxpayers are fleeing - not just the poorer folk.  Portland's budget is $7.1 billion, so that $1 billion loss will definitely be noticed. 

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Gresham tells Multnomah County to get its act together regarding ambulanes.  Everything is crumbling.  Police response is essentially non-existent.  If people have a choice, why would they want to move to Multnomah County to live and work?

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Shark attacks, earth's rotation slowing down, the southern border breaking down, bad acne - all these things are the fault of man-made climate change.

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7 August 2023

1 million OHP members affected by the zero-day MOVEit exploit.  The state found out about this when the third party contractor PH TECH notified them about this after a security sweep conducted July 25.  That's late, considering that Progress Software, makers of MOVEit, released a security patch by 13 May 2023.  I suspect that their security team didn't get around to installing the upgrades.  Shame.  The Oregon DMV database was breached on 1 June 2023, which is more forgiveable.

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The Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital case has garnered national attention.  I'm reading some details of which I was previously unaware, thanks to the light-on-details reporting of local news outlets.  The hospital still won't allow its guards to have real weapons.  Only stun guns, as if they were worried about being raped.  I'll bet the criminals appreciate having this information.

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Saw this article in the Wash Post about how doctors make on average $350,000 /year.  The question asked was why?  The comments are enlightening.  Then I came across this article, about someone who decided to leave surgical residency.  The article leaves out the reasons that I wanted to know, and mainly thanks all the people she worked with.  Being a good doctor, a really good one, requires a skillset that very few have, and I fear that in the drive to have more doctors (now called "healthcare providers"), we will have to lower the bar to get bodies. And the field is getting to be more complicated – the field definitely needs an overhaul.  One example of what I mean by this is - well, watch this video to get an idea of what I mean. 

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5 August 2023

New Montana bill lets doctors practice how they would like to practice, in terms of not being forced to do things or recommend things they don't want to do or recommend.  Back in the days before Obamacare hit the scene, and physician practices were independent, this was not a big deal.  Now it is, because of stuff like genital mutiliative surgery.  Or having to push what you feel is an inadequately tested mRNA vaccine. 

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Gotta get a Faraday backpackThieves are now scanning cars for Bluetooth signals.  It no longer matter to hide your laptop under some mundane things.  No surprise that this came out of the San Fran chronicle, huh?

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I'm surprised how little coverage this received.  Illegal Chinese biolab in the middle of nowhere with samples of viruses and other dangerous contagion.  Nothing to see here folks?  What's the story behind this?  Why must I read conservative news outlets to even hear about this?  The Fresno Bee is puzzled about this, too.  Who cares about Barbie, already?

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More and more Chinese scientists are leaving the United States to go elsewhere.  Twenty years ago, this would not be serious news, but so many scientific discoveries are done by Chinese scientists now.  Just look at articles in math and the sciences.  So many articles written by authors with Chinese names.  And in the U.S., students are learning about activism, CRT, DEI and LGBT topics.  Advanced teaching is being discontinued because minorities (POC) can't handle it, so let's lower standards so more of them can assume positions of authority and take on mission-critical tasks.  There will be consequences to this.

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People in India can't buy imported computers, laptops, etc, at least not without special authority.  No Apples products for you.  The reason is to promote Indian products.  Well, this well set them back. 

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4 August 2023

Chinese parents are big users of dating apps - for their children.  Indians have matching services organized by their parents.  The Chinese are just using tech to do the same thing.  Americans are left to their own devices.  And just hoping that abortion services are available in their state if there is a pregnancy.  Cultural differences.

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People don't want to travel to China anymore. Don't blame them, actually.  You could get detained.

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Very helpfulWhat to look for in Privacy Policies.  Very good to know.

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Tacoma is losing their landmark aroma.  Paper mill to close. 

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14 year old squished by Seattle Monorail while he was vandalizing.  Interesting to read the commentary.  Comments on Reddit tend to lie along the lines of "he was just 14, he didn't deserve to die" or "these comments are just mean" or "I did stupid stuff when I was young, too".  More stupid are the statements of his mother, who condoned his behavior.  But people with no "inner stops" will do stuff like this when they think they can get away with it.  Parents should be there to tell you not to vandalize.  He may have had an artistic bent, but I bet you 99% of Seattle didn't care to see his excreta plastered everywhere.  FOFA, as they say.
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Climate change is a strange topic.  Many people just believe it, just as they believe stronger gun control is what should be enacted after every school shooting incident, even though more sensible solutions are available.  Everytime the weather gets warm, climate change activists scream.  But when temps are unusually cold, there is silence, and people just seem to forget that.  It gets warm, it gets cold.  Meanwhile, John Kerry and members of the billionaire class live their own lives as before.  So it funny when OPB prints this article relating climate change hooey to political party.  Love it when they use the phrase "science is settled" and declare "human-caused climate change" like it's a real thing.  When you forceably pin them down, it's clear they don't know what they're talking about.  Politicians love climate change, because they don't want to problems that they can solve, they want problems they can promise to solve.
Edit: Even the WSJ admits that despite what the White House tells you, since 2001, climate change isn't setting the world on fire.  There have been less worldwide fires overall.  Give it up, guys.  You're losing what little credibility you have left.

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I came across this posting about NovaMin containing toothpaste.  It's interesting that we have the toothpaste of the future, but the FDA won't let us have it.  Is it really that good?  Seems like it is, and it's available it Canada and Europe, but just not here.  Fortunately there's even a possibly better product, BioMin, that hopefully we can get in the USA soon.  But as with sunscreen products, there are better products available elsewhere that we can't get in the USA because of the FDA.  What's wrong?

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3 August 2023

Credit given.  Oregon Legislature will mandate that kids learn personal finance in high school.  Once in a while, they do the right thing.

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The new graduates are so unskilled.  They come out with degrees, yet can't do the job they're hired to do.  A college degree doesn't mean as much as it used to.  But reading the article, it's clear - the attitudes of the young hires often suck.

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If you go to their website, American Physician Placement, an emergency physician staffing company, still says (as of today) that it's "The Newest and Fastest-Growing Emergency Medicine Management Company".   Well, they're closing at the end of this month.  Some people say it's the first sign of big problems ahead in the physician staffing world.  Lots of blame to go around.  But clearly it's no longer profitable to run a business helping ER doctors find jobs. 

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McDonald's is struggling?  I remember when it was considered a safe investment.  Because no matter how bad the economy was, people still went to McD because it was affordable comfort food, and kids still demanded it.  What's going on now?  The stock market's down because of the Fitch downgrade.  Folks like Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon, and even Camas' Ken Fisher (well, used to be Camas) says not to worry about this.  Well, maybe folks like them don't have to worry, but we do.  It's sad how low the USA is in the ranking of credit ratings, even though we control the world's reserve currency.  We should be at the top, really.  Oh, and guess who was president when S&P downgraded the USA to AA+ status from AAA?  Yeah, it was Obama in 2011.  Coincidence?

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"Just for educational purposes"Simon Willison highlights a chat problem.  Hope this gets fixed.  The world we grew up in no longer exists.
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Nifty.  Scientists create a material five times lighter and four times stronger than steel. But will it crack? Or shatter?

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