Tuesday, April 5
Sweden - 4th Covid Shot
The new guideline drops the age from an earlier recommendation for a fourth shot to people 80 and older.
The recommendation also includes fourth shots for those between 18 and 64 years of age, with moderate to severe immune deficiency, Sweden's Public Health Agency said in a statement.
“The goal is just as before to prevent serious illness and death from COVID-19,” Agency chief Karin Tegmark Wisell said.
Tegmark Wisell added that it's “justified" to provide a second booster shot to a wider age range because infections in Sweden and other countries continue to significantly multiply and vaccine protection is starting to decline for older age groups.
“For people aged 65 and over, it is now four months since the previous vaccine dose, and the vaccine’s protective effect diminishes over time,” she said.
For most of the pandemic, Sweden has stood out among European nations for its comparatively hands-off response. It never went into lockdown or closed businesses, largely relying instead on individual responsibility to control infections. READ MORE...
Germany Roadblock for Russian Sanctions
His comment comes after Prime Minister Viktor Orban won a national election on Sunday after facing criticism over an insufficiently tough stance on Russian aggression in Ukraine.
"We have to see that, regardless of how we approach Hungary, this is the fourth such win and we have to respect democratic elections ... it's Germany that is the main roadblock on sanctions. Hungary is for the sanctions," Morawiecki said.
FRANKFURT/BRUSSELS, March 8 (Reuters) - Russia has warned it may shut off its main Nord Stream gas pipeline to Germany after Berlin halted approval of a second line across the Baltic Sea in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. read more
The comment, from Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak, reflects escalating tensions that have already sent European gas prices to record levels.
Russia is Germany's top supplier, delivering Europe's largest economy with just under a third of its gas.
Here are key details about Germany's gas sector.
GAS IMPORTS
Germany imported 142 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas in 2021, down 6.4% from 2020, according to foreign trade statistics office BAFA, which does not identify the origin of imports.
Domestic gas usage was 100 bcm in 2021, utility industry group BDEW said.
Russian piped gas led imports in December at 32% of supply followed by Norway at 20% and Netherlands at 12%, data from Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS) showed. READ MORE...
Friends in High Places
In both Hungary and Serbia, openly pro-Russian parties comfortably won legislative elections, providing Putin with a welcome reminder that despite the international community's firm and largely united response to the invasion, he does have some friends to his west.
The most significant victory came in the form of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his nationalist Fidesz party winning a landslide. Hungary is a member of both the European Union and NATO, meaning Putin can claim to have a friend with seats at the top table of two of his most-hated institutions.
On Sunday night, during his victory speech, Orban goaded not only the EU but Ukraine.
"We have such a victory it can be seen from the moon, but it's sure that it can be seen from Brussels," he said, adding that Fidesz "will remember this victory until the end of our lives because we had to fight against a huge amount of opponents." Included in that list of opponents were Brussels bureaucrats, international media and, pointedly, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky has directly criticized Orban for failing to support Ukraine as enthusiastically as many of his European counterparts have over the past weeks. READ MORE...
Monday, April 4
Wind and Solar
Wind and solar generated 10% of global electricity for the first time in 2021, a new analysis shows.
Fifty countries get more than a tenth of their power from wind and solar sources, according to research from Ember, a climate and energy think tank.
As the world's economies rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, demand for energy soared.
Demand for electricity grew at a record pace. This saw a surge in coal power, rising at the fastest rate since 1985.
The research shows the growth in the need for electricity last year was the equivalent of adding a new India to the world's grid.
GETTY IMAGES - Wind turbine blades being made ready for export from ChinaSolar and wind and other clean sources generated 38% of the world's electricity in 2021. For the first time wind turbines and solar panels generated 10% of the total.
The share coming from wind and sun has doubled since 2015, when the Paris climate agreement was signed.
The fastest switching to wind and solar took place in the Netherlands, Australia, and Vietnam. All three have moved a tenth of their electricity demand from fossil fuels to green sources in the last two years. READ MORE...
Union at Amazon
Amazon Labor Union leader Christian Smalls celebrates the landmark win
A team of Amazon workers has forced the technology giant to recognise a trade union in the US for the first time.
Workers at a New York warehouse voted 55% in favour of joining the Amazon Labor Union.
The group is led by former Amazon worker Chris Smalls, who made his name protesting against safety conditions at the retail giant during the pandemic.
Mr Smalls' victory marks a major defeat for Amazon, which had fiercely fought against unionisation.
However, in Alabama, where Amazon was facing a separate union drive, the company appeared to have fended off activists in a tight contest in which challenged ballots could yet overturn that result.
Together, the two elections mark a milestone for activists, who have long decried labour practices at Amazon, the country's second largest employer.
Mr Smalls emerged from the vote count looking tired but jubilant, and popped open a bottle of champagne he was handed by supporters.
"We did whatever it took to connect with these workers," he told the crowd, recounting an against-the-odds campaign that started with "two tables, two chairs and a tent" and relied on an online fundraiser for money. READ MORE...
No Longer Grading Students
Starting in elementary school, teachers rate student work – sometimes with stars and checkmarks, sometimes with actual grades. Usually by middle school, when most students are about 11, a system of grading is firmly in place. In the U.S., the most common system is an “A” for superior work, through “F” for failure, with “E” almost always skipped.
This system was widely adopted only in the 1940s, and even now, some schools, colleges and universities use other means of assessing students. But the practice of grading, and ranking, students is so widespread as to seem necessary, even though many researchers say it is highly inequitable.
For example, students who come into a course with little prior knowledge earn lower grades at the start, which means they get a lower final average, even if they ultimately master the material. Grades have other problems: They are demotivating, they don’t actually measure learning and they increase students’ stress.
During the pandemic, many instructors and even whole institutions offered pass/fail options or mandated pass/fail grading. They did so both to reduce the stress of remote education and because they saw that the emergency, disruptive to everyone, was disproportionately challenging for students of color. Many, however, later resumed grading, not acknowledging the ways that traditional assessments can both perpetuate inequity and impede learning. READ MORE...
During the pandemic, many instructors and even whole institutions offered pass/fail options or mandated pass/fail grading. They did so both to reduce the stress of remote education and because they saw that the emergency, disruptive to everyone, was disproportionately challenging for students of color. Many, however, later resumed grading, not acknowledging the ways that traditional assessments can both perpetuate inequity and impede learning. READ MORE...
Sunday, April 3
From the Back Porch
I am reminded when I watch Fox News in the mornings just how stupid, Democrats pretend to be when they try to ignore or bury the truth from the American public... personally, I don't much give a shit anymore... other than recognizing that it is happening because this present world no longer really belongs to my generation... and, while some of us are still working because we either can't stand not to be working or we want to earn as much money as we can before death... most of us have retired and just look at the rest of the world with pity...
I say pity because there are really no other words that fit this particular situation that we have in America where some of us:
- no longer want the truth
- no longer want the rule of law
- no longer want to stop crime and violence
- no longer want to stop illegal drugs
- no longer want to provide a quality education
- no longer want to be free
Janis Joplin said it best... "...you don't know what you've lost until it is gone..."
My parents are dead. My brother and sister have no desire to listen to my concerns. My daughter has become an expat in China... she does not live there to get away from me, she lives there to get away from the USA... and, I respect her decision especially since CHINA is going to one day be superior to the USA... see the Joplin comment above...
My problem with the USA is not the items that I listed above but all the wealthy people who are desperate to control the rest of us because they control the money... WEALTH IS KING and it will always be that way... and, once you are wealthy, you all of a sudden become this person who knows what is best for everyone else... even when they ae smart enough to realize that we all have different personalities and therefore different demands and desires...
Being wealthy does not make you smart... and, if you were already smarter, it does not make you smarter than everyone else....
The strange thing about being wealthy is that you are automatically in the HAVE category of society and everyone else is in the HAVE NOT...
They say that history always repeats itself... and throughout history, the HAVE NOTS have always revolted against the HAVES...
Early Evening Affirmations... of a sort...
Each morning I ruin my day by watching FOX News and hearing about all the crazy shit that is going on in the US of A... And, I don't blame FOX, I blame the frigging Democrats and Socialists and all the wealthy bastards that support them for trying to turn our country upside down without adding any pineapples from Hawaii...
What pisses me off more than anything else, is that the damn President and all his ass-kissers want to blame everybody else for the problem without admitting that they frigging caused it to happen. You don't just take a dump on the oil industry on the morning of your first day in office and then blame high gas prices on former President Trump because during his administration we were energy independent... and, now that we aren't anymore... it is still his fault that we were... that kind of logic confuses the socialists sometimes...
Personally, I don't give a damn about ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS because we need those people to take all the jobs that Americans refuse to accept... I mean somebody has got to work... and, believe it or not, they actually came here to work and not to get handouts. And that is going to bite the DEMS in the ass when it comes time for these illegals to vote after being given citizenship...
These illegals also don't believe in abortion which is the second thing that is going to bite the DEMS in the ass. Most, if not all, of these illegals, are CATHOLIC... and, Catholics, according to the POPE don't believe in abortion...
Inflation don't bother me none neither... and, why might that be? Because I don't need half the shit I got, so having less money means I will just be forced to buy less shit... this is gonna come in real handy when I leave my house and move into a retirement apt... plus, eating too much food is what made me fat... so, having less money, I will buy less food... and, I will be less fat... these are good things...
...
But, I will tell the DEMS this... and this can happen any day of the week, and the sooner the better... COME AND GET MY GUNS... They are yours... They are yours because I don't have any... don't want any... and, don't plan to buy any... so, you can take them away from me any damn time you want to. I fired a weapon when I was in the military and once I left, I told myself... NEVER AGAIN... and, to that promise, I have remained true...
Well, it appears that I be all out of affirming... so, I will calls it a night and wish you all well... stay safe and healthy... and, please don't visit Myrtle Beach in June because that is when I am going.
Questions About Electric Cars
In less than eight years, the government plans to ban the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars and vans and as part of this shift is promising to expand the network of public charging points to 300,000.
This means, in order to help the UK meet its 2050 net zero target, electric vehicles (EVs ) will soon become the most common option for anyone wanting to buy a brand new car.
Among the 35 million cars driving around on UK roads just 1.3% were EVs in 2020 but that figure is starting to climb. Battery electric and hybrid cars accounted for nearly a third of new cars leaving dealerships last month, according to The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. (SMMT).
But would-be buyers still have a lot of reservations.
BBC Radio 5's The Big Green Money Show asked listeners to send in their questions, here are their top five:
Why are electric cars so expensive?
Electric cars usually cost thousands of pounds more than their petrol, or diesel, counterparts. This is because EV batteries are expensive to make and a high level of investment is needed to transform existing factory production lines to manufacture the new technology.
However, costs are expected to come down in the near future: The SMMT forecasts electric and internal combustion engine cars should cost roughly the same "by the end of this decade."
Meanwhile, experts say you should also consider the total spend over the car's lifetime.
The cost of the electricity used to power your EV has been rising sharply recently and will vary according to your household tariff, but it is still cheaper than petrol or diesel fuel per mile.
Melanie Shufflebotham is the co-founder of Zap Map, which maps the UK's charging points. She says if an EV is charged at home "the average price people are paying is roughly 5p per mile". This compares she says, to a cost of between 15-25 pence per mile for petrol or diesel cars. READ MORE...
Matching Drugs to DNA
Some drugs are completely ineffective or become deadly because of subtle differences in how our bodies function.
The British Pharmacological Society and the Royal College of Physicians say a genetic test can predict how well drugs work in your body.
The tests could be available on the NHS next year.
Your genetic code or DNA is an instruction manual for how your body operates. The field of matching drugs to your DNA is known as pharmacogenomics.
It would have helped Jane Burns, from Liverpool, who lost two-thirds of her skin when she reacted badly to a new epilepsy drug.
She was put on carbamazepine when she was 19. Two weeks later, she developed a rash and her parents took her to A&E when she had a raging fever and began hallucinating.
The skin damage started the next morning. Jane told the BBC: "I remember waking up and I was just covered in blisters, it was like something out of a horror film, it was like I'd been on fire."
Her epilepsy medicine caused Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which affects the skin and is far more likely to happen in people who are born with specific mutations in their genetic code.
Mrs. Burns says she was "extremely, extremely lucky" and said she supports pharmacogenomic tests.
"If it saves your life, then it's a fantastic thing." READ MORE...
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