It’s time to take the gloves off during vaccination

Food for thought! Unfortunately, over the past 2-3 decades or so wearing gloves has become sort of a requirement for many daily activities. It is probably excessive and is a form of government paternalism

What are the alternatives to gloves? What about more latex gloves instead of nitrile or vinyl?

Do these gloves have to be disposable!

Example: "If all 18 million health care workers in the U.S. get a flu shot, that equals 36 million gloves, or 108 metric tons of garbage."

Stop wasting gloves during flu vaccination | STAT (behind paywall, sort of) "In most cases, using gloves while administering a vaccine is wasteful and unnecessary"

There is even a color guide for medical gloves (Source)

Tether: a secretive $200 billion crypto currency company

Food for thought! The transition to digital currencies is not easy! Digital currencies provide a once in a lifetime opportunity to privatize money!

Why not privacy for a private company if it so chooses? Just because the company is large by some measure and executes significant transactions does not automatically impose or require more disclosure (as e.g. some journalists may wish).

Does the company break any criminal laws? Often banking and money transactions are more successful and best done discreetly!

"About Tether

Tether was founded by a group of Bitcoin enthusiasts and early adopters, passionate about facilitating the use of fiat currencies in a digital manner.

In 2014, the company launched Tether.to, a blockchain-enabled platform aimed at disrupting the conventional financial system with a more modern approach to money."

"Tether Operations, S.A. de C.V. is an El Salvador-based entity and part of the group of companies that issues and manages the USD₮ stablecoin." (Google Search)

"Tether, which mints the world’s most widely used crypto token, is likely one of the most valuable private companies on earth, with an estimated value of $200 billion, exceeding the total share value of McDonald’s.

The company’s token, known as USDT, is a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar that has become the backbone of a parallel banking system pervading parts of the world.

The token has also become a key tool for money launderers for industrial-scale scam centers, which operate out of grim office complexes across Southeast Asia. Tether’s assistance in law enforcement investigations has become highly sought-after by agencies around the world struggling to address surging crypto crime. ...

But who owns this powerful and controversial firm? The company has never given a full picture publicly. ..."

Tether: a $200 billion crypto company you can’t look inside "Its USDT crypto token underpins a trillion-dollar market, but cryptocurrency giant Tether won’t answer questions about its ownership."

Tether

Privates, digitales Geld, die RealUnit Schweiz AG

Empfehlenswert! Bedenkenswert!

Von Hayeks Denkschrift zur App - Liberales Institut

Want less spoiled kids? Have more kids

Food for thought! This is a very old adage and often repeated news story!

Are single children or one child per family more spoiled and egoistic than children growing up with siblings?

Want less spoiled kids? Have more of them | Blaze Media (behind paywall) "Big families impose something modern parenting desperately needs: limits on how much the household can revolve around any one child."

What happened to pacifism and the non violence principle in the 21st century?

I am afraid the historic lessons of the 20th century with two World Wars, the Cold War and the use of the first nuclear weapons have been unlearned by the end of the first quarter of the 21st century!

This is a sad state of affairs at the beginning of the second quarter of the 21st century! It is certainly a regression/reversal for humanity! What will be the consequences?

'Being nude in public can make one feel better about one's bodies

Food for thought! Some societies are more prudish than others. The research cited in the article below is older.

In Germany, e.g. topless in parks or at public swimming pools or nude at some beaches is common. In the US prudishness is common (except for nudity for sale).

For centuries nudity in public was considered uncivilized/primitive or a moral/religious vice in Western societies.

"In the summer of 2020, Berriman bought herself a bikini to wear during a heatwave. She hadn't worn one in 20 years, having struggled with body dysmorphia (a condition where someone fixates on perceived flaws in their appearance) for most of her life. Around a year later, her husband introduced her to naturism.

"Naturism is engaging in social nudity with no expectation, no presence of sexual stimulation," says Kerem Soylemez, assistant professor of psychology at Regent's University London. ...

A quick history of social nudity [this history appears to be very incomplete]

• Some indigenous cultures and tribes have perhaps the longest history of wearing little to no clothing

• In the Western world, athletes often competed in the nude in ancient Greece's Olympics

• In late 19th-Century British India, modern naturism clubs emerged

• In the US, organised naturism traces its origins to 1929 when three German residents of New York met to discuss founding a nudist association in the Micholob Café

• In 1974, the New York Times reported that social nudity was experiencing a wave of popularity in the US

• In the 1920s and '30s, naturism gains popularity in the UK

..."

From the abstract:

"Body image dissatisfaction is a serious, global problem that negatively affects life satisfaction.

Several claims have been made about the possible psychological benefits of naturist activities, but very little empirical research has investigated these benefits or any plausible explanations for them.

In three studies—one large-scale, cross-sectional study (n = 849), and 2 prospective studies (n = 24, n = 100) this research developed and applied knowledge about the possible benefits of naturist activities.

It was found that more participation in naturist activities predicted greater life satisfaction—a relationship that was mediated by more positive body image, and higher self-esteem (Study 1).

Applying these findings, it was found that participation in actual naturist activities led to an increase in life satisfaction, an effect that was also mediated by improvements in body image and self-esteem (Studies 2 and 3).

The potential benefits of naturism are discussed, as well as possible future research, and implications for the use of naturist activities."

'You're fully accepted': Being nude in public can make us feel better about our bodies "Research suggests that naturism, the practice of non-sexual social nudity, can help people improve their body image. Naturists and experts tell the BBC how it works."

Naked and Unashamed: Investigations and Applications of the Effects of Naturist Activities on Body Image, Self-Esteem, and Life Satisfaction (open access, appeared in the Journal of Happiness Studies in 2017)

Fig. 1 Relationship between naturist activity and life satisfaction, mediated by body-image and self-esteem in Study 1. Note *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

The “ADHD Epidemic” Is Just an Overdiagnosis Epidemic

Food for thought! Possible medical overdiagnosis is a serious issue! Similar to Autism Spectrum Disorder?

ADHD itself is an ambiguous, nebulous disorder!

The more individuals are diagnosed with ADHD, the better for business of doctors and pharma industry!

"The sharp increase in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses—nearly doubling among American children between 1997 and 2022, and more than tripling among adults from 2012 to 2023—has been chalked up to better screening, increased awareness, and the corrosive effects of smartphones and social media on developing brains. None of these factors holds up well under scrutiny. 

The diagnostic category itself has been steadily widened by the institutions that define it and the financial structure that rewards every participant for applying the ADHD label. As we have argued in our Cato Institute analysis of how the American healthcare system rewards psychiatric overdiagnosis, subjective diagnostic criteria interact with a payment system that rewards diagnosis to produce predictable inflation across psychiatric categories. The result is labeling ordinary behavior as pathological. ADHD is among the cleanest case studies of that pattern. ...

The youngest children in any classroom are also more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than their older peers, a finding so robust across studies and countries that it points to ordinary developmental variation rather than disease. ..."

The “ADHD Epidemic” Is Just an Overdiagnosis Epidemic "Screen time gets the blame, but the increase in diagnoses comes more from subjective criteria interacting with financial incentives."

The Perfect Storm for ADHD Overdiagnosis "Screen time gets the blame, but the increase in diagnoses comes more from subjective criteria interacting with financial incentives."

How the American Healthcare System Rewards Psychiatric Overdiagnosis

Ranking the states most and least dependent on the federal government

Food for thought! The progressive erosion of federalism in the US by a bigger and bigger federal government! It has been debated for several decades!

Ranking the states most and least dependent on the federal government "In some states, federal funds make up a modest share of government revenue, while in others they represent 40% of state and local budgets."

Too little history! This chart should go back to at least 1960!

Federal aid as a share of total state revenue

Federal aid as per state capita

Some of the latest research on business cycles: Recession by Tyler Goodspeed. Really!

Food for thought! Is this author offering more than trivia or well known tidbits?

Apparently, the author Tyler Goodspeed does not have an entry on Google Scholar (as of 8/4/2026, see screen shot below). Not a good sign!

That wars or post war periods or periods of great societal upheaval trigger booms or recessions (e.g. Great Depression) is a very old hat in economics!

The author claims "In fact, recessions have relatively little effect on the economy over time". Really! What is communism/socialism all about? Criticizing capitalism and its booms and busts! How many big government laws followed severe busts in industrialized countries to manage and control the economy?

That the author goes back 400 years in history is daring! What economic/statistical data do we really have going this far back in history. The author appears to prefer the unemployment rate for this argument. When were the first unemployment rate data published for industrialized countries? According to Google Search/AI for the UK first in 1888 and Germany in 1903.

The author also makes some very strong assumptions about economies: "several empirically testable and falsifiable hypotheses", which are dubious.

Caveat: I am not familiar with Tyler Goodspeed nor his publications.

"... economic historian Goodspeed discusses what triggers recessions and why war is the most prolific “serial killer” of economic expansions over the last 400 years. ...

Contrary to popular thinking, these “busts” are not the inevitable result of flaws in the economic “booms” that immediately precede them, and they’re not cyclical, or necessary, course correctives. In fact, recessions have relatively little effect [???] on the economy over time compared to periods of growth, says the book’s author, Tyler Goodspeed  ...

In reality, when I analyzed these 132 recessions going back to 1700, all of those hypotheses are rejected by the data [???]. All of them. ..."

Are we headed toward recession? Unpredictable. — Harvard Gazette "Economic historian rebuts various beliefs about cause, concerns around downturns, explains why expansions are more important anyway"

Book cover

Rooftop solar panel tariffs to fall sharply in 2027 in Israel

Food for thought! The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away!

How heavy are rooftop solar panels government subsidized in Western countries? I bet way too much!

Caveat: I did not read the article.

Rooftop solar panel tariffs to fall sharply in 2027 - Globes "The tariff paid to owners of solar roofs - NIS 0.48 to NIS 0.54 per kilowatt-hour - could fall to NIS 0.35 for those who install panels from next year."

New U.S. rules on risky pathogen research draw mixed reviews

Food for thought! No doubt this has been a dangerous grey area for several decades of e.g. dual use!

Remember: Under Anthony Fauci so called gain of function research was funded by the US government at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (a dual use research institute) in China, where the Covid-19 coronavirus may have escaped (lab leak hypothesis). What moron ever had that great idea?

"A new U.S. policy that aims to reduce the risks arising from federally funded research with dangerous pathogens ...

Last year, in response to those concerns, President Donald Trump ordered the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other research funding agencies to pause or review studies that potentially involved so-called dangerous gain-of-function (DGOF) research. Such experiments give pathogens new characteristics, such as the ability to more easily spread or cause death. The White House also tasked agencies with developing the new policy to stop other “high risk life sciences research.”

The 12-page policy—which broadly follows the language in Trump’s executive order—includes several departures from past U.S. attempts to govern similar work. It appears to cover all pathogens, rather than limiting regulation to a specific list, such as only those with “pandemic potential.” It requires researchers and universities to identify any study that might produce a biological agent that would “significantly endanger” people or agriculture. They must thoroughly evaluate its risks and benefits before submitting a funding proposal to the government. ...

In addition, the policy imposes an outright ban—rather than tighter review requirements—on funding for seven kinds of biological research that the policy defines as DGOF. That list of forbidden studies includes projects that could make a pathogen more transmissible, for instance, or better able to evade the human immune system. It also includes efforts to resurrect an extinct pathogen, such as the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic—a project completed in 2012 by a team led by one of NIH’s own scientists.

The policy also bars funding for studies in the nascent field of “mirror life”—engineered microorganisms with reversed molecular building blocks that could theoretically threaten all life on Earth. No governments have so far enacted bans on such research and the issue has divided scientists, with some calling such prohibitions premature. ..."

"... This comprehensive framework prohibits federally supported dangerous gain-of-function (DGOF) research while establishing stronger oversight for life sciences research that could pose significant risks to public health, biosecurity, or national security. The policy fulfills President Trump’s Executive Order aimed at improving the safety and security of biological research, and it ensures that taxpayer-funded research advances scientific discovery and medical innovation without exposing Americans to biological risks. ...

“Today, we are ending federal support for dangerous gain-of-function research and replacing weak oversight with clear, enforceable safeguards. ... ”Specifically, the new policy prohibits federal support for dangerous gain-of-function research conducted in the United States and abroad, establishes rigorous independent review for certain high-risk life sciences research, and restricts federal funding for research conducted in countries or institutions that lack appropriate biosafety, biosecurity, and oversight standards. At the same time, the policy preserves critical biomedical research — including the development of vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other medical countermeasures — under strong safety and security safeguards. ..."

New U.S. rules on risky pathogen research draw mixed reviews | Science | AAAS

Trump Administration Releases New Government-Wide Policy to End Dangerous High-Risk Research

Artificial intelligence (AI) forces a fundamental reform of primary and secondary pedagogy

Does anyone seriously doubt it?

The centuries lasting traditional setup of classrooms with teacher in front and fixed school hours is doomed!

Best of all it may allow personalized/individualized learning! Thus, each student can e.g. learn at their own pace and curiosity.

How about brain computer interfaces?

How will AI extend the human brain?

How much has the reduction in air pollution over the past 50 years or so contributed to warmer climates in industrial countries?

A very pertinent question!

Food for thought!

Unfortunately, the many severely biased and cognitively challenged Western media are not investigating this connection very much!

Similar: The last ice age, e.g. the Little Ice Age ended only around 1800-1850 CE/AD, the urban heat island effect.

Fervo Energy, a geothermal energy company, has drilled its deepest and most complex well yet in Utah

Food for thought!

If geothermal energy were to be implemented at large scale and worldwide, then the environmental and geological consequences could be enormous. Call me skeptical as far as geothermal energy is concerned.

Make no mistake to confuse geothermal energy with so-called renewable energy (wind and solar power)!

"Fervo Energy, a geothermal energy company, has drilled its deepest and most complex well yet, reaching a measured depth of nearly 19,500 feet in just 21 days. The new well, Sawtooth 7, will contribute to a 400-megawatt geothermal power project in Utah scheduled to begin delivering electricity in 2028."

Doomslayer: Progress Roundup - by Malcolm Cochran

Fervo Energy Sets Drilling Record with Sawtooth 7 Well

Fervo Energy sets drilling record with Sawtooth 7 well

Fervo Energy Learning Curve Continues on 3rd Generation Well Design, Boosting Drilling Rates by 143% Since Its First Cape Station Well (original news release) "Sawtooth 7 sets a new drilling pace record, reaching 19,448 feet measured depth with a 7,500-foot lateral in 21 days"

Web page of company. Carbon free??? Really!

Company provided table

An investigation into a hidden gene-editing therapy death of a 6-year old girl in China

Food for thought! Is the Communist Party of the superpower China pushing the envelope too fast in an attempt to stay ahead or just negligent and careless about human lives like other communist parties before? Or was this only a singular, isolated  incident?

Why the rush for this therapy? Perhaps, there would have been even a better therapy available in the near future.

Caveat: I did not read the two articles in their entirety. One of the articles is very long.

"On 24 March 2025, physicians and scientists in China tried to help a 6-year-old girl whose brain wasn’t developing properly because of a genetic mutation. They infused into her spinal fluid trillions of viruses that carried instructions to assemble a so-called base editor customized to fix the faulty gene in her brain cells.

Her condition was not likely to be fatal, but it could bring lifelong disability and serious medical issues. So her parents turned to an academic team, who developed the base editor and showed them evidence that it worked in the brains of mice and monkeys. The parents were told the risks were modest and decided treating their daughter was worth the gamble.

The trial went tragically wrong, however, according to a Science and Retraction Watch investigation written by Brendan Borell. The child, whose parents asked that she be called Mei (Chinese for “beautiful”), developed a fever and then signs of kidney damage. She died within a week after being treated. ..."

"... Doctors hoped to repair that mistake while her brain was still building itself. It would be a clinical trial of one, funded in part by $860,000 the parents had scraped together from their own savings and from relatives. ...

The parents felt they were in good hands. Xinhua Hospital, which is affiliated with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, was acclaimed for its pediatrics department. ...

Although news that base editing saved “Baby KJ” would soon rocket around the world—Science named the feat one of the runners-up for its 2025 Breakthrough of the Year—the story of what happened at Xinhua Hospital has remained hidden. An entry for the study posted to ClinicalTrials.gov has not been updated for more than a year. And when Qiu and his colleagues published proof-of-concept animal studies related to the trial in Nature early this year, they stripped the paper of references to the family and its financial contributions ...

That vague language glossed over tragedy: Seven days after the girl’s medical team infused trillions of viruses carrying the recipe for the base editor into her spinal fluid, she died of a severe immune reaction linked to the therapy, Science and Retraction Watch can now reveal. ..."

Four takeaways from our investigation into a hidden gene-editing death | Science | AAAS "Girl’s death in China raises questions about the safety and cost of gene therapy, China’s biotech push, and scientific publishing practices"

A fatal reaction A cutting-edge gene-editing trial in China went disastrously wrong. A family wants accountability

FBI seized more than 700 illegal drones during FIFA World Cup games near venues

Food for thought! This is only the beginning of the application of drones for civilian purposes!

How crowded with drones will the low altitude airspace get in the near future?

I think, I just saw two drones flying near by our home. Just kidding!

FBI seized more than 700 illegal drones during FIFA World Cup games "The bureau had detected more than 1,600 drones attempting to enter the federal government’s no-drone zones surrounding each venue"

Credits: IEEE USA Smartbrief

The Strange Defeat of Nuclear Deterrence in 2025

Food for thought! How vulnerable have nuclear weapons become in the age of drone warfare?

"In June 2025, Ukraine’s security services staged an audacious strike inside Russia. They infiltrated the country and hid short-range attack drones in cargo trucks near a slew of Russian air bases as far away as the Amur region on the border with China. Most of these bases were home to Russian strategic heavy bombers—aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Using Russia’s mobile phone network, Ukrainian operatives remotely launched the drones, successfully destroying at least ten of the bombers and damaging a total of 41 planes, including some used for nuclear command and control, according to Ukrainian assessments. ..."

The Strange Defeat of Nuclear Deterrence | Foreign Affairs "And the Coming Crisis in Strategic Stability"

Anti-social: Social media's fads/ads/vids, not friends, which now dominate our feeds

Food for thought! Besides social media addiction ... Or when algorithms define your life and activities.

Caveat: I am not an expert on social media since I barely use it.

"... There are ads too – although they look just like the other posts – for a robot-vacuum cleaner, a diet and bed linen (with Morris-inspired designs). But no friends. She has 198 on Instagram but she says "it's completely changed. I practically don’t see any friends' posts anymore." She’s pretty much given up posting herself.  ...

In France, annual official Barometre du numerique 2026 shows 49% of social media users are "active only occasionally".

In the UK, an Ofcom report  published in April showed a year-on-year drop of users who actively post from 61% to 49%.

In the US, a Morning Consult survey of June last year found 28% reported posting less often than the previous year. Just 33% now post daily compared to 57% who use it for entertainment daily. The gap is a lot wider still for Gen Z – 18% active for 74% passive. ...

It was TikTok that helped to pioneer an algorithm that figures out from the moment you start scrolling what you like, and then fills your feed with material calculated to keep you on the app for the longest possible time. ..."

Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate our feeds "Social media platforms used to be about communication between friends – now many are increasingly short video entertainment hubs. The business model is to increase the time people spend on their apps and increase ad revenue. But is there already a consumer backlash?"

France’s parliament adopted an intensely debated right-to-die bill yesterday

Good news! Food for thought!

What e.g. the next day a cure is published for a previously incurable disease?

"France’s parliament adopted an intensely debated right-to-die bill yesterday, supporting assisted dying for adults with incurable illnesses; the bill is slated to undergo review by France’s Constitutional Council before it can take effect."

"... The legislation will, under ‌strict conditions, allow a person to request a lethal substance. The substance could ​be self-administered or, if ‌the person is physically unable to do so, administered by ‌a doctor or nurse. ..."

Global Health NOW: Gradual, Vulnerable Vaccine Gains; and New Alzheimer’s Insights

France’s lower house of parliament adopts final text of landmark right-to-die law "France's National Assembly on Wednesday adopted a bill that will ​create a legal right to assisted dying for adults with incurable illnesses, ​capping ‌years of intense ethical ⁠and political debate. French President Emmanuel Macron, who promised such a law during his re-election campaign, hailed lawmakers' "respectful debate" on the issue following the vote."

Apache County Becomes Third In Arizona To Remove Spanish From Printed Ballots

Food for thought! Neither the US nor Arizona are officially bilingual.

"Apache County has removed the Spanish language from its print ballots. 

Gila and Mohave counties made the same decision ahead of the 2024 general election. 

Apache County officials cited printing costs and election wait times as deciding factors for the decision to limit printed ballots to one language. As support for these justifications, Apache County noted that it will continue to offer Spanish ballot translations on their electronic vote machines. Gila County does as well. ..."

Apache County Becomes Third In Arizona To Remove Spanish From Printed Ballots - AZ FREE NEWS