Thursday, December 2

Opdivo Day At UT

Today, was Opdivo day...  with a 7:30 am arrival time that forced me to leave home no later than 6:30 am and an alarm setting of 5:50 am which to me is no different than 6:00 am but those extra 10 minutes gives me an opportunity not to feel like I m rushed and make a cup of coffee before I leave.

I see the Oncologist every other month and this appointment was set with the doctor so he could review the results of my CT scan that I had on Monday.  My results were good however there were a couple of spots that around a millimeter of growth which is almost insignificant...  but, for me, growth is growth.

My Oncologist did not appear to be too worried with the results and said that we were going to proceed as we have in the past....  in other words, there will be no changes in my treatments.

However, when I asked about the discoloring on both of my forearms and if that was caused by the treatment, he first comment was, "they aren't bruises?", to which I replied NO.  So, after examining them further, he was concerned about why there was blood just under the skin and wanted me to see a Dermatologist.

After 13 years of treatment and going into my 14th year in 2022, I am grateful that my recent test results are extremely positive and hope that this positive rhythm will follow me forward.

The Wheel of Time

 

Transform


 

Journalists Surveillance in China








The Chinese province of Henan is building a surveillance system with face-scanning technology that can detect journalists and other "people of concern".


Documents seen by BBC News describe a system that classifies journalists into a "traffic-light" system - green, amber and red.


Journalists in the "red" category would be "dealt with accordingly", they say.The Henan Public Security Bureau has not responded to a request for comment.


The documents, discovered by the surveillance analyst firm IPVM, also outline plans to surveil other "people of concern", including foreign students and migrant women.


Human Rights Watch said: "This is not a government that needs more power to track more people... especially those who might be trying to peacefully hold it accountable."


'Thematic libraries'

The documents, published on 29 July, are part of a tendering process, encouraging Chinese companies to bid for a contract to build the new system, won, on 17 September, by NeuSoft.


NeuSoft has not responded to BBC News request for comment.The system includes facial-recognition technology linked to thousands of cameras in Henan, to alert authorities when a "person of concern" is located. READ MORE...

Scary Yard


 

Mr. Freedom


SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES


Outspoken professional basketball player Enes Kanter has legally changed his name to Enes Kanter Freedom to celebrate becoming a US citizen.The Swiss-born, Turkish-raised Mr Kanter, 29, tweeted a video of his citizenship ceremony on Monday. He recited the oath using his new name.


He has repeatedly condemned human rights violations in China and Turkey.The NBA star has said his Turkish passport was revoked by authorities in 2017.In an interview with CNN, Mr Kanter, who plays with the Boston Celtics, said the name change will reflect his "fight" for freedom throughout his life.


"Here [in the US] there is freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of the press," he said. "I didn't have any of those with Turkey."In his remarks, Mr Kanter said that "freedom is the greatest thing a human being can have"."That's why I wanted to make that word a part of me, and carry it wherever I go," he added.


Mr Kanter's manager told the AP news agency that the name change would take place at the same time as his naturalisation ceremony on Monday.During the ceremony, the judge addressed him by his new name, and he himself used it to swear his oath of allegiance to the United States.


He waved a miniature flag in the air after the oath and said "Freedom - that's it" while signing his naturalisation documentThe name 'Freedom' will be on his jersey when the Celtics face off against the Philadelphia 76ers later this week. Mr Kanter has said his team-mates already call him by that name.  READ MORE...

Marley


 

Female Prime Minister Returns


SOURCE,REUTERS...MPs voted again to elect Swedish Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson on Monday


Sweden's first female prime minister has been reappointed to the top job after political turmoil forced her to resign within hours of taking the post last week.


MPs backed Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson by a narrow margin in a new vote on Monday.


She will attempt to lead a one-party government until an election in September next year.


She stood down as PM last Wednesday after her coalition collapsed.


Just hours earlier, Ms Andersson had been elected as Sweden's first female prime minister by a single vote in parliament.


But the 54-year-old economist's plan for forming a new coalition government with the Green Party was thrown into disarray when her budget proposal failed to pass.


Sweden's first female PM resigns hours after appointment


Instead, parliament voted for a budget drawn up by a group of opposition parties, including the far-right Sweden Democrats.


The Green Party said it would not accept a budget drafted by the far-right and walked away from the government, leading to its demise.


By convention, the prime minister in Sweden is expected to resign if a coalition party leaves government.  READ MORE...

Too Hot


 

Wednesday, December 1

Old Timers


Pre-School Test

   

I already knew I was dumber than the fifth graders...

But now it's thepreschoolers!! A PRE-SCHOOL TEST FOR YOU.

Which Way is the bus below traveling? To the left or to the right?



Can't make up your mind?

Look carefully at the picture again. Still don't know?

Pre-schoolers all over the United States

were shown this picture and asked the same question.

92% of the preschoolers gave this answer.

"The bus is traveling to the left."

When asked, "Why do you think the bus is traveling to the left?"

They answered:



"Because you can't see the door to get on the bus."

How do you feel now???

I know, me too.

Have a nice day!



Personally, I think the reason why us older people answer incorrectly is WE WALKED TO SCHOOL !

China's Warning to the World

 

Snowing



 

Underwater Kites


SOURCE,MINESTO...The energy-generating kites "fly" under the water, tethered to the seabed



A pair of sleek, winged machines are "flying" - or at least swimming - beneath the dark waters of the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic.


Known as "sea dragons" or "tidal kites", they look like aircraft, but these are in fact high-tech tidal turbines, generating electricity from the power of the ocean.


The two kites - with a five-metre (16ft) wingspan - move underwater in a figure-of-eight pattern, absorbing energy from the running tide. They are tethered to the fjord seabed by 40-metre metal cables.


Their movement is generated by the lift exerted by the water flow - just as a plane flies by the force of air flowing over its wings.


Other forms of tidal power use technology similar to terrestrial wind turbines but the kites are something different.


The moving "flight path" allows the kite to sweep a larger area at a speed several times greater than that of the underwater current. This, in turn, enables the machines to amplify the amount of energy generated by the water alone.  READ MORE...

Singing


 

Calling From Boats



A local support group gives out breakfast at a migrant camp west of Dunkirk



Just outside Grande-Synthe to the west of Dunkirk lies the encampment. Scores of tents straddle a railway track and curve around by a canal, wedged in between a main road and an industrial estate.


People have come from all over the world to be here - searching for a way to cross the Channel and start a new life in the UK.


There is a whole community of people whose lives are bound up with these migrants on their doorstep.


Eve-Marie Dubiez, a local to the area, is one of half a dozen volunteers doling out sandwiches and hot chocolate on Friday morning. Her group provides breakfast here twice a week, armed also with rain ponchos, socks, and sometimes shoes, when they can get them.


She is confident there will be a solution to the migrant crisis in northern France. "But these are the ones paying the price for the moment," she says, gesturing to the people collecting food from her colleagues.


Eve-Marie has spent the last 15 years working in camps like these. She says police regularly move people on, demolishing camps or pushing people further along the coast. "Everybody wants to get rid of them one way or the other," she says.  READ MORE..

Getting On Horse


 

Iran Nuclear Deal


IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERSImage caption,
Iran's chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani says the West "needs to pay a price" for its actions



Critical talks with Iran to prevent the collapse of a nuclear deal have resumed in Vienna after a five-month pause.


Officials are discussing the possible return of the US to the 2015 accord, which limited Iran's nuclear activities in return for the lifting of sanctions.


Iran has violated key commitments since then-President Donald Trump pulled out in 2018 and reinstated US sanctions.


Joe Biden is willing to lift them if Iran reverses the breaches. But Iran wants the US to make the first move.


Western diplomats have warned that time is running out to negotiate a solution because of the significant advances Iran has made in its uranium enrichment programme, which is a possible pathway to a nuclear bomb.


Iran insists that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.


ANALYSIS: Could Iran talks succeed?
ANALYSIS: Threat of Israeli strike on Iran nuclear sites grows
BACKGROUND: Iran nuclear deal: What it all means


Diplomats from Iran and the five countries still party to what is known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK - met at a hotel in the Austrian capital on Monday afternoon, with US representatives participating indirectly.  READ MORE...

Just Friends