Life Goes On COVID 19 Discussion

Hi guys I am with Bill on this point I like “Life Goes On” for topics other than politics and social systems. Thanks Jakob

6 Likes

I can handle that… twenty times…

4 Likes

Any way, what discussion ?
I want all of you to stay safe and sound, period.

Put a sign up on your lawn: " visitors without a mask will be…" :grin: ( hint @TomC)

4 Likes
NON-CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT FOR INFECTIONS IN CATTLE

Publication number: 20140255352

Abstract: Compositions and methods for treating and/or preventing bacterial infections in animals such as bovines are provided. The compositions and methods utilize the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus to treat and/or prevent infections such as infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK) and bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Use of the bacterium obviates the need for chemotherapeutic measures.

Type: Application

Filed: October 1, 2012

Publication date: September 11, 2014

Inventors: Melanie J. Boileau, Kenneth D. Clinkenbeard, Rinosh Joshua Mani, John J. Iandolo, Huda Mussa

I found that Melanie J. Boileau had lost funding to do further research and I wanted to extend her money to continue her research .
I funded veterinary research .
I wanted to form a business and was partnered with some one who said he owned me because he paid the university for the partnership . I donated the full amount needed for research to researcher Melanie J. Boileau . Year later my attorney found Melanie J. Boileau intended on eventually using money to hire fundraiser . The university canceled the project and my money was refunded .

I have a question for you, SteveU!

Born, brought up and living where tabus are rare I sometimes find the unvillingness to discuss for example politics, religion, sexuality and even health strange.
We’ve been fed Big Mac and Hollywood since Elvis but I guess most of us never realised the complexity of the US society.
I get the feeling it’s not a multi cultural or a religious thing. Political? Maybe.
What’s your take?

Our perspective? We may be somewhat naive.
This is a parody, but not far from the truth.

4 Likes

We were backpacking through the Indonesian archipelago in 91. At the time we were able to avoid meeting another white man in weeks. Wonderful, smiling people dressed in sarongs curiously wanted to touch our skin.
For a moment I was convinced this was paradise on earth. Until one day, in a palm leaf shed in the middle of nowhere. Fresh fruit stacked on the ground for us to buy, but with a big smile the gorgeous young woman brought us cans of Coca-Cola and offered us to pay with Visa or MasterCard.

11 Likes

Ha! It is us stay at home-fires Americans who practice look-away; don’t preach; don’t convert; don’t force to have domestic civility.

Our world hopping travelers . . . . are deferent breeds of cats.

All cultures have a distance between what they project/how they see themselves, versus what they actually are.

Regards
Steve unruh

2 Likes

On July 17, 1932, thousands of World War I veterans converged on Washington, D.C., set up tent camps, and demanded immediate payment of bonuses due to them according to the World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 (the original act made the bonuses initially due no earlier than 1925 and no later than 1945). Walter W. Waters, a former Army sergeant, led this “Bonus Army”. The Bonus Army was encouraged by an appearance from retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler; as a popular military figure of the time. A few days after Butler’s arrival, President Herbert Hoover ordered the marchers removed and U.S. Army cavalry troops destroyed their camps under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

2 Likes

The Works Progress Administration ( WPA ; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration ) was an American New Deal agency, employing millions of job-seekers (mostly unskilled men) to carry out public works projects,[1] including the construction of public buildings and roads. It was established on May 6, 1935, by Executive Order 7034.

The WPA’s initial appropriation in 1935 was for $4.9 billion (about 6.7 percent of the 1935 GDP).[2]

Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA provided jobs and income to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States, while developing infrastructure to support the current and future society.

Above all, the WPA hired workers and craftsmen who were mainly employed in building streets. Thus, under the leadership of the WPA, more than 1 million km of streets and over 10,000 bridges were built, in addition to many airports and much housing.

The largest single project of the WPA was the Tennessee Valley Authority, which provided the impoverished Tennessee Valley with dams and waterworks to create an infrastructure for electrical power and to help prevent floods. Many famous structures were constructed with the help of WPA labor and funds, including Camp David, the presidential estate in Maryland often used for international meetings, and the on-ramp to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

At its peak in 1938, it provided paid jobs for three million unemployed men and women, as well as youth in a separate division, the National Youth Administration. Between 1935 and 1943, when the agency was disbanded, the WPA employed 8.5 million people.[3] Most people who needed a job were eligible for employment in some capacity.[4] Hourly wages were typically set to the prevailing wages in each area.[5]:70 Full employment, which was reached in 1942 and emerged as a long-term national goal around 1944, was not the goal of the WPA; rather, it tried to provide one paid job for all families in which the breadwinner suffered long-term unemployment.[6]:64, 184

1 Like

President of the United States]) [Dwight D. Eisenhower] used the term in his [Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 1961

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction…

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex . The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.

2 Likes

Bacterial predator could help reduce COVID-19 deaths

A type of virus that preys on bacteria could be harnessed to combat bacterial infections in patients whose immune systems have been weakened by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, according to an expert at the University of Birmingham and the Cancer Registry of Norway.

Called bacteriophages, these viruses are harmless to humans and can be used to target and eliminate specific bacteria. They are of interest to scientists as a potential alternative to antibiotic treatments.

In a new systematic review, published in the journal Phage: Therapy, Applications and Research, two strategies are proposed, where bacteriophages could be used to treat bacterial infections in some patients with COVID-19.

In the first approach, bacteriophages would be used to target secondary bacterial nfections in patients’ respiratory systems. These secondary infections are a possible cause of the high mortality rate, particularly among elderly patients. The aim is to use the bacteriophages to reduce the number of bacteria and limit their spread, giving the patients’ immune systems more time to produce antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Dr Marcin Wojewodzic, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow in the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham and now researcher at the Cancer Registry of Norway, is the author of the study. He says: “By introducing bacteriophages, it may be possible to buy precious time for the patients’ immune systems and it also offers a different, or complementary strategy to the standard antibiotic therapies.”

Professor Martha R.J. Clokie, a Professor of Microbiology at the University of Leicester and Editor-in-Chief of PHAGE journal explains why this work is important: “In the same way that we are used to the concept of ‘friendly bacteria’ we can harness ‘friendly viruses’ or ‘phages’ to help us target and kill secondary bacterial infections caused by a weakened immune system following viral attack from viruses such as COVID-19”.

Dr Antal Martinecz, an expert in computational pharmacology at the Arctic University of Norway who advised on the manuscript says: “This is not only a different strategy to the standard antibiotic therapies but, more importantly, it is exciting news relating to the problem of bacterial resistance itself.”

In the second treatment strategy, the researcher suggests that synthetically altered bacteriophages could be used to manufacture antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus which could then be administered to patients via a nasal or oral spray. These bacteriophage-generated antibodies could be produced rapidly and inexpensively using existing technology.

“If this strategy works, it will hopefully buy time to enable a patient to produce their own specific antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and thus reduce the damage caused by an excessive immunological reaction,” says Dr Wojewodzic.

Professor Martha R.J. Clokie’s research focuses on the identification and development of bacteriophages that kill pathogens in an effort to develop new antimicrobials. “We could also exploit our knowledge of phages to engineer them to generate novel and inexpensive antibodies to target COVID-19. This clearly written article covers both aspects of phage biology and outlines how we might use these friendly viruses for good purpose.”

Dr Wojewodzic is calling for clinical trials to test these two approaches.“This pandemic has shown us the power viruses have to cause harm. However, by using beneficial viruses as an indirect weapon against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and other pathogens, we can harness that power for a positive purpose and use it to save lives. The beauty of nature is that while it can kill us, it can also come to our rescue.” adds Dr Wojewodzic.

“It’s clear that no single intervention will eliminate COVID-19. In order to make progress we need to approach the problem from as many different angles and disciplines as possible.” concludes Dr Wojewodzic.

Notes for editors:

Related to Covid-19 shut down effects.
We and all of our adjoining neighbors with children have been keeping the households children separated.
And certainly avoiding taking the children visiting elderly family age weakened.

Some families with a single child have compromised combining with another family with a single child best-friend.

I thought we were mostly doing OK 'cause our two girls are sisters, near enough in age to have each other.

Then a two years older than me library friend got an old horse and saddle to entertain his from SoCal for the summer visiting god-daughter. She even with the horse play got cabin fever, sad and lonely.
He begged me to allow the girls to mingle, play and visit with each other.
My mind said OK if they mask up and pre/post hand sanitize.
OK we will try, he said. His girl, very sensitive could not tolerated any kind of mask. We did offer try three different ones.
And if she did not wear, no way I’d get my two hellions to stay masked up.
So . . . . Ogre, me?
Or let the 12 year old knowledgeable horse-camp gal set up our 5 1/2 and nearly 7 year old girls with horse back rides?
Ha! This 'ol Ogre got swarmed!
Then bush whack playing, Trees climbing. And blue berry picking.
They found free-range chicken hidden eggs.
Discovered a hidden bantee hen eggs sitting.
Got in dog play with our two need-kids dogs.
Got to be, have-fun-kids, using their imaginations. As kids should.

My points are the same as I make with my woodgas advising.
Life IS a balance of dynamic movements. Beyond clear cut calculations.
Take the risks. Only way to truly learn and grow.
Curse those who have become “follow the data” limited. Certainly do not follow their dead end pathways.
And that it is the simple direct see-do systems that uses shake out and matter in the end.
Fools have been over sophisticating, and over complicating mechanical, legal and social systems for millennia to dragged to a stop; systems failures collapse’s.
And damn-you-for-the fool for falling for their "better’ and “ideal” spins.

Do. Enjoy doing. Have fun. Investing always into the true future.
Sometimes a cost of this will come due.
Be willing to pay the dues.
Without risk there can be no successes. No futures pathfound.
Without previous Us’s risking and paying dues you and I would not be here now.
Playing it safe you just put off paying inevitable’s.
Take your lumps early by walking into them. Shake them off. And move on forward.

The NOW we have was our forbearers Future they dues-paid invested into to make happen for us.
We owe this dues-now paying forwards for our children’s futures.
Fears myopic frozen; or random scattering fleeing do not make Futures happen.

Regards
Steve Unruh

9 Likes

Lou Holtz in response to being locked down due to the virus- “Don’t keep me alive by keeping me from living.” He did explain about being sensible about it.
I just liked his quote.

7 Likes

Yep, we don’t need a pencil knight / bureaucrat to tell us what common sense is…

Covid 19 is deadly and contagious, act responsible accordingly…
The crazy thing indeed is, the ignorance for simple basic rules…
If everybody follows that, then no need for real lock down’s

For my friends over there:
Stay vigilant, stay safe and healthy please…

9 Likes

And listen to science, for god’s sake! :smiley:

How did it ever become a “thing” that a good portion of society in north America doesn’t believe in science, or thinks they can pick their own “alternate science facts” at random from the internet or certain public figures? Science is the only thing that has built our modern world and allowed us to multiply to 7.8 billion. Now even the president has had to basically eat his words and start honouring the scientific and medical advice. Note this wasn’t a whim, he was advised elevated mortality in his electoral base and the collapse of the medical intensivel care system in certain states could be disastrous for re election, if not for national security.

2 Likes

Garry; How North Americans don’t believe in science??? The media has lied to us so much that we don’t know what os a lie and what is truth. In our search for truth we have accepted other questionable ‘‘truths’’. TpmC

8 Likes

There is substantial truth in Trump’s observations about the fake news. Remember the marketing of the Iraq war #1, and Iraq war #2? Hill and Knowlton ad agency and the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador acting the role in the hearing, shedding tears about the babies taken from stolen incubators, dying on the cold floor? Or Colin Powell seriously talking about ICBM capability and 6 months to nuclear attack on NYC, mobile anthrax labs in school buses? That was fake news. Virtually the entire US news system failed or was complicit in peddling those idiotic stories. Why? Vast fortunes were made from those “wars”. Corporations made those unprecedented profits, nothing is more profitable for the rich than a war. The mainstream media is part of corporate entities, they sell.

Sadly the same applies to healthcare, unbelievable profits there and a vast failure to deliver services, but profits are the bottom line, so out comes the spin and marketing.

Same applies to the growing climate disaster. Like the old detective shows would say, if you want to make sense of a crime, follow the money. The same marketing and propaganda is being used against the north American population that was used to extend the profits of the tobacco industry.

So no wonder people are left confused about what is true. But here’s the simple way - if 99% of scientists, or doctors, etc agree on a body of facts and recommendations, it’s a pretty safe bet those well studied people are correct.

1 Like

The problem with today’s ‘‘science’’ is computer models that they want to use as concrete facts, so far their track records aren’t very reliable.

6 Likes

But apparently it’s quite respectable when the wealthy toy with the stock markets based on their models, and when they come up short 14 trillion the public bails them out no questions or even public consult? And which models? I seem to recall predictions of ICU being overwhelmed in areas that left public health without direction, and an estimate of 200,000 dead by fall. What’s the tally now?

I will sooner trust epidemiologists and those inviolved in public health as a livelihood to make sound judgements on such issues than politicians acting on personal unqualified whims and notions of liberty.

The rest of the western world aimed to keep fatalities low enough to not exhaust medical care and keep the society going generally. These approaches are only secondarily aimed at individual health outcomes, but better than directing the public against the well established common sense of science.

1 Like

You should definitely be concerned about the accuracy of climate change computer models. Because over the last few decades the inaccuracy you speak of has consistently been overly conservative models on the part of the scientists. The models have consistently proven to underestimate the severity of the problem.
Here are a couple of articles on the topic if you are interested.

From the second article.
The first paper is “Time to refine key climate policy models,” a commentary in Nature Climate Change by Alexander Barron, a former Environmental Protection Agency and congressional staffer (on the Waxman-Markey bill) who is now at Smith College.

He notes that a relatively small set of models — “a handful of computational general equilibrium (CGE) models, sector-specific models, or hybrids like the US Energy Information Administration (EIA)’s National Energy Modeling System (NEMS)” — tends to set expectations and policymaking in the US. And there are reasons to believe those models are systematically underestimating climate change’s economic impacts and overstating the costs of mitigating it.

So yes there are reasons to be concerned about the accuracy of climate models but once you dig into the errors it only make you realize how bad the problem is.

1 Like