WELL, NO VACCINE IS PERFECT: Israel says the Delta variant is infecting vaccinated people – as many as 50% of cases. But they are less severe.
Note, that’s 50% of cases are in vaccinated people, not that 50% of vaccinated people are getting it. Part of that may just reflect Israel’s high number of vaccinated. And Covid isn’t very severe in most people anyway, so if it’s less severe after vaccinaton. . . . Also, some of these people are only partly vaccinated.
Fight over hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate ends with 153 workers out of a job Ars Technica
Here’s all the data on myocarditis cases linked to COVID-19 vaccines Ars Technica
Ivermectin: Can a Drug Be “Right-Wing”? TK News. Matt Taibbi.
Covid-19 updates: Merkel warns Europe is ‘on thin ice’ as concerns about delta variant growWaPo
Sewage sleuths helped an Arizona town beat back Covid-19. For wastewater epidemiology, that’s just the start Stat
The WHO Didn’t Reverse Its Position on Kids and Covid Vaccines Kaiser Health News
*****
As Delta variant sweeps the West, Asia faces a choice: stick to ‘zero-Covid’ approach or learn to live with it South China Morning Post
Indonesia’s Doctors Got Vaccinated With Sinovac, and Got Sick NYT
‘Health system close to collapse’: Indonesia battling COVID surge Al Jazeera
Delta variant wreaking havoc on viral IndonesiaAsia Times
The G7 Vaccine Charade Project Syndicate. James Galbraith.
Pfizer says COVID vaccine is highly effective against Delta variant Reuters. But see next link. Hard to see how both could be true.
Vaccinated Israelis may need to quarantine because of Delta variant Reuters
Delta Plus Variant: Eight States, UTs Asked to Take Up Immediate Containment Measures The Wire
Covid 19 coronavirus: Singapore’s surprising new plan to ‘live with’ virus NZ Herald: mgl: “no one has a crystal ball…maybe this experiment is some of the way we move forward…”
Brazil’s ‘Covaxingate’ Investigation Closes in on Bolsonaro and Bharat Biotech The Wire
Massive Fires and COVID Have Battered California’s Wineries Capital & Main
ADIOS, GRINGO: a tribute to John McAfee.
John possessed an extraordinary emotional intelligence behind the leathery exterior. He had the soul of a poet and composer. In interviews about his latest crypto or blockchain scheme, he would veer off-topic and talk about, say, the genius of John Lennon. That was ultimately the most fascinating thing about him. It made him truly accessible in the social media age. He regularly conversed with his social media followers and responded to unsolicited podcast appearance requests, genuinely because it seemed he loved putting on a show. He had real charisma. John McAfee also built up an entire myth of himself. What was real? What wasn’t? This made him even more absurdly well-suited to the social media age. He understood the media enough to manipulate it. He once mused on Twitter that ‘A world in which dogs write poetry is more believable than the world as seen through the eyes of the media.’ That’s a great line. As old world media collides and colludes with new tech oligarchs, it has become more and more true.
Science writer Mick West is generally considered the leading voice of the group asserting that the UFOs spotted by the military are likely technology we already understand. In an appearance on CNN last month, he summarized his argument: The images we see in the military UAP videos could easily be the result of mis-calibrated instruments or various camera distortions. While West thinks the videos released so far “can all be explained,” he does support further research on the subject.
“If pilots are reporting things that they can’t identify, then yes we need to figure out what’s going wrong there,” he said. “Is it something new or is it some failure of the system? Is it a failure of personnel or technology? Let’s figure that out.”
What’s Inside the Pentagon’s Long-Awaited UFO Report
|
But the hair dye market
isn't about to implode, there are limits
|
|
The Kentucky Derby -- the world-famous
horse race each spring -- is often called "the fastest two minutes
in sports." Each spring, a field of typically 20 horses takes to
the track at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, with each
thoroughbred and jockey pair aiming to finish the 10 furlongs (2
kilometers) race before the rest of the pack. Despite the days of fanfare
before the main event, the race itself is very short; the winner
crosses the line about two minutes after the starting gate opens.
But horses aren't the only animals involved in the race. Another
creature -- the humans riding the horses notwithstanding -- can be a
critical member of a successful horse's team. These guys:
|
|
|
|
Yeah, the guy on the left. That's a
goat.
Like humans, horses can get nervous. And if you're looking to turn an
expensive thoroughbred into a prizewinner, that's bad; it's difficult
at best to train a skittish horse -- and dangerous for jockey and
trainer alike. There are probably pharmacological solutions to that
problem, but those come with all sorts of side effects. And, it turns
out, a little bit of companionship tends to do the trick.
Just like people tend to soften a bit when playing with dogs, horses
calm down nicely when paired with others. Miniature donkeys, ponies,
and even pigs are common, but it is goats that really help horses the
most. And it's been like that for ages. Bette Gabriel, a
trainer at a central Illinois racecourse, told
the Chicago Tribune that "the practice of keeping a goat in
the stall with a nervous horse has been around for a long time,
probably as long as there have been racehorses." And per Gabriel,
there were some cases " where a horse would become so attached
that its goat would have to be brought along to the paddock every time
the horse raced."
But unlike our relationships with our dogs and cats, this isn't a
situation where the goat is the horse's pet. More accurately, the goats
act as nannies for the nervous Nellies. "Most of the track goats
and horses develop a lifelong friendship," per the Tribune, with
the goat acting as a caretaker of sorts, attending to their
horse-partner whenever the latter seems out of sorts. There are even
some goats that don't wed themselves to a single horse, but rather roam
around looking for one in need. At Churchill Downs, according
to the Courier-Journal, there's a goat named Roxanne that does
exactly that: "Roxanne is good at sniffing out horses that are set
to race that day, almost rotating her calming services around the
barn."
But while the longstanding history of horse-goat pairs is well-known in
racing circles, the reason for the match is something we can only guess
at. According to
the New York Times (where the above photo comes from), "it is
unclear why so many horses have particular goat friends," which no
meaningful efforts underway to better understand their unique
relationship.
|
|
|
|
Shorts Built
For Just About Everything
From land to sea to life. The Banks
Shorts will be your go-to athletic short on all your adventures.
Featuring 4-way stretch versatility, quick-drying properties, and
recycled fabrics — you’ll feel good wherever you are. Check
them out here.
|
|
|
|
Bonus fact: Goats also like people (although not
to the same degree), and particularly, they like happy people.
According to a 2018 study, goats can likely differentiate between happy
human faces and not-so happy human faces, and are more likely to
approach those with the former. Phys.org
explains: "images of happy faces elicited greater interaction
in the goats who looked at the images, approached them and explored
them with their snouts. This was particularly the case when the happy
faces were positioned on the right of the test arena suggesting that
goats use the left hemisphere of their brains to process positive
emotion."
From the Archives: Google's
Lawn Mowing Goats: Who needs lawnmowers when you have
horse-friends?
|
|
|
|
