Very recommendable!
Thursday, November 25, 2021
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Klimaschau: Eiskernforscher entdecken Ansatzfehler in Klimamodellen
Sehr empfehlenswert! Weniger Aerosole in der Atmosphäre seit 250 Jahren als bislang geschätzt, daher ist die Aufheizung durch CO2 klar überschätzt! Die Bergwälder Afrikas binden vielmehr CO2 als bisher angenommen.
Flippy 2 the Next Generation flipping station robot for quick service restaurants
Amazing stuff!
This is already the second generation robot. The first generation was only released a little more than a year ago.
"... Flippy 2 takes over the work for an entire fry station and performs more than twice as many food preparation tasks compared to the previous version including basket filling, emptying and returning. ..."
The first-ever multilingual model to win WMT, beating out bilingual models
Recommendable! Good news!
"... To build a universal translator, we believe the MT field should shift away from bilingual models and advance toward multilingual translation — where a single model translates many language pairs at once, including both low-resource (e.g., Icelandic to English) and high-resource (e.g., English to German). Multilingual translation is an appealing approach — it’s simpler, more scalable, and better for low-resource languages. ...
Now we’ve achieved an exciting breakthrough: For the first time, a single multilingual model has outperformed the best specially trained bilingual models across 10 out of 14 language pairs to win WMT, a prestigious MT competition. Our single multilingual model provided the best translations for both low- and high-resource languages, showing that the multilingual approach is indeed the future of MT. ..."
From the abstract:
"... Our final submission is an ensemble of dense and sparse Mixture-of-Expert multilingual translation models, followed by finetuning on in-domain news data and noisy channel reranking. Compared to previous year's winning submissions, our multilingual system improved the translation quality on all language directions, with an average improvement of 2.0 BLEU. In the WMT2021 task, our system ranks first in 10 directions based on automatic evaluation. ..."
Everyday robots are coming to your office courtesy of Google
Meet your new colleagues!
"... We are now operating a fleet of more than 100 robot prototypes that are autonomously performing a range of useful tasks around our offices. The same robot that sorts trash can now be equipped with a squeegee to wipe tables and use the same gripper that grasps cups can learn to open doors. ...
Now that we’ve seen signs that creating a general-purpose learning robot is possible, we’ll be moving out of the rapid prototyping environment of X to focus on expanding our pilots to some of Google’s Bay Area campuses."
Now that we’ve seen signs that creating a general-purpose learning robot is possible, we’ll be moving out of the rapid prototyping environment of X to focus on expanding our pilots to some of Google’s Bay Area campuses."
Blind Mole Rats Use Junk DNA to Combat Cancer
Amazing stuff! Cancer is history!
"... The paper describes an important new mechanistic insight into the way one can trigger inflammatory signals in cancer cells to either kill them directly or make them vulnerable to cancer-killing therapies ...
animal’s natural resistance to cancer, mediated by the widespread initiation of cell death among rapidly proliferating precancerous cells. The cell death is triggered by increased production of the inflammatory cytokine interferon beta (IFN-β), but what causes IFN-β to ramp-up was unknown. ...
showed that in cultured human cancer cells, artificially lowering the level of the human DNA methyltransferase DNMT1 or boosting the level of retrotransposons by transfecting in retrotransposon genes could curtail proliferation. This suggests that even though humans have not evolved the same cancer resistance mechanism as blind mole rats, our related cellular machinery could potentially be tweaked to treat cancers ..."
animal’s natural resistance to cancer, mediated by the widespread initiation of cell death among rapidly proliferating precancerous cells. The cell death is triggered by increased production of the inflammatory cytokine interferon beta (IFN-β), but what causes IFN-β to ramp-up was unknown. ...
showed that in cultured human cancer cells, artificially lowering the level of the human DNA methyltransferase DNMT1 or boosting the level of retrotransposons by transfecting in retrotransposon genes could curtail proliferation. This suggests that even though humans have not evolved the same cancer resistance mechanism as blind mole rats, our related cellular machinery could potentially be tweaked to treat cancers ..."
From the abstract:
"Blind mole rats (BMRs) are small rodents, characterized by an exceptionally long lifespan (>21 years) and resistance to both spontaneous and induced tumorigenesis. Here we report that cancer resistance in the BMR is mediated by retrotransposable elements (RTEs). Cells and tissues of BMRs express very low levels of DNA methyltransferase. Following cell hyperplasia, the BMR genome DNA loses methylation, resulting in the activation of RTEs. Upregulated RTEs form cytoplasmic RNA–DNA hybrids, which activate the cGAS–STING pathway to induce cell death. Although this mechanism is enhanced in the BMR, we show that it functions in mice and humans. We propose that RTEs were co-opted to serve as tumor suppressors that monitor cell proliferation and are activated in premalignant cells to trigger cell death via activation of the innate immune response. Activation of RTEs is a double-edged sword, serving as a tumor suppressor but contributing to aging in late life via the induction of sterile inflammation."
Astronomers discover more than 300 possible new exoplanets
Amazing stuff! We are not alone!
"UCLA astronomers have identified 366 new exoplanets, thanks in large part to an algorithm developed by a UCLA postdoctoral scholar. Among their most noteworthy findings is a planetary system that comprises a star and at least two gas giant planets, each roughly the size of Saturn and located unusually close to one another. ...
The number of exoplanets that have been identified by astronomers numbers fewer than 5,000 in all, so the identification of hundreds of new ones is a significant advance. ...
The discovery was made possible by a new planet detection algorithm that Zink developed. One challenge in identifying new planets is that reductions in staller brightness may originate from the instrument or from an alternative astrophysical source that mimics a planetary signature. Teasing out which ones are which requires extra investigation, which traditionally has been extremely time consuming and can only be accomplished through visual inspection. Zink’s algorithm is able to separate which signals indicate planets and which are merely noise. ...
The number of exoplanets that have been identified by astronomers numbers fewer than 5,000 in all, so the identification of hundreds of new ones is a significant advance. ...
The discovery was made possible by a new planet detection algorithm that Zink developed. One challenge in identifying new planets is that reductions in staller brightness may originate from the instrument or from an alternative astrophysical source that mimics a planetary signature. Teasing out which ones are which requires extra investigation, which traditionally has been extremely time consuming and can only be accomplished through visual inspection. Zink’s algorithm is able to separate which signals indicate planets and which are merely noise. ...
Kepler’s original mission came to an unexpected end in 2013 when a mechanical failure left the spacecraft unable to precisely point at the patch of sky it had been observing for years. But astronomers repurposed the telescope for a new mission known as K2, whose objective is to identify exoplanets near distant stars. ..."
From the abstract:
"We provide the first full K2 transiting exoplanet sample, using photometry from Campaigns 1–8 and 10–18, derived through an entirely automated procedure. This homogeneous planet candidate catalog is crucial to perform a robust demographic analysis of transiting exoplanets with K2. We identify 747 unique planet candidates and 57 multiplanet systems. Of these candidates, 366 have not been previously identified, including one resonant multiplanet system and one system with two short-period gas giants. ..."
Scaling K2. IV. A Uniform Planet Sample for Campaigns 1–8 and 10–18 (no public access)
Why improving Vietnam–UK relations matters for the Indo-Pacific
Good news! Brexit keeps on giving!
"Vietnam’s prime minister, Pham Minh Chinh, made a very successful trip to the United Kingdom in early November, putting the rapidly improving relations between the two countries into the spotlight. The visit to the COP26 climate summit took place a year after Britain and Vietnam ‘refreshed’ their 10-year-old strategic partnership with a new set of bilateral commitments. ...
Though the growing relationship between the UK and Vietnam is broad and extensive, there are areas where security cooperation is desirable to both sides. In October, a British warship, HMS Richmond, conducted the Royal Navy’s first ‘passing exercise’ with a Vietnamese counterpart. ..."
Though the growing relationship between the UK and Vietnam is broad and extensive, there are areas where security cooperation is desirable to both sides. In October, a British warship, HMS Richmond, conducted the Royal Navy’s first ‘passing exercise’ with a Vietnamese counterpart. ..."
The wild sex lives of marine creatures
Recommendable! Amazing stuff! This video probably scratches only the surface!
YouTube stopped showing the dislike count for its videos
This is so stupid and infantile! Why then does YouTube show any counts for likes or dislikes anymore! Very annoying!
Plants May One Day Provide Nickel for Your EV Battery
Recommendable! Hyper-accumulator plants for metals! Clean up of polluted soils becomes possible. Extraction of metals from depleted soils of mining operations.
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Why is SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 a relative harmless pandemic?
Alarmism, panic, almost unprecedented widespread and massive government paternalism and authoritarianism has drowned out reason when it comes to this global pandemic!
The reasons are:
- The global death rate is about 0.1% of world population. The official death count may even be inflated. The plagues of the past have killed between 20-60% of the population
- Most children & young adults have little to fear
- Over 250 million people were infected and survived. They all have gained effective natural immunity!
- Between 60-95% of all infected persons have experienced either no or only mild symptoms. This fact has been known since about Spring/Summer 2020, but it is rarely mentioned anymore, which also explains the large range
- The disease is primarily dangerous to a minority of people, those over 65 years old and or with comorbidities and immune compromised people. This is a minority of the population that many governments clearly have failed to protect more even though this was known since Spring of 2020
- Since the end of 2020, about a dozen of different, effective vaccines were developed by various companies and in different countries and they were rapidly mass produced. In 2021, several medications for infected became available. As of 11/23/2021, about 7,4 billion vaccine doses were administered worldwide. This is an enormous historical record! Therefore, the pandemic is well under control!
- SARS-CoV-2 is possibly a misnomer, because the SARS-CoV-1 was far more deadlier and the symptoms were more severe. Thus, the wrong name for this virus may have contributed to the extreme panic and hysteria about the new virus
Turing Bletchley: A Universal Image Language Representation model by Microsoft - Microsoft Research
Recommendable! Very impressive! Cutting edge!
"... Bletchley, a 2.5-billion parameter Universal Image Language Representation model (T-UILR) that can perform image-language tasks in 94 languages. T-Bletchley has an image encoder and a universal language encoder that vectorize input image and text respectively so that semantically similar images and texts align with each other. This model shows uniquely powerful capabilities and a groundbreaking advancement in image language understanding. ..."
SynapseML: A simple, multilingual, and massively parallel machine learning library - Microsoft Research
Good news! Very impressive new service by Microsoft!
"Today [11/17/2021], we’re excited to announce the release of SynapseML (previously MMLSpark), an open-source library that simplifies the creation of massively scalable machine learning (ML) pipelines. Building production-ready distributed ML pipelines ...
SynapseML simplifies this experience by unifying many different ML learning frameworks with a single API that is scalable, data- and language-agnostic, and that works for batch, streaming, and serving applications. ..."
How ultracold, superdense atoms become invisible
Amazing stuff!
"... In their experiments, the physicists observed this effect in a cloud of lithium atoms. As they were made colder and more dense, the atoms scattered less light and became progressively dimmer. The researchers suspect that if they could push the conditions further, to temperatures of absolute zero, the cloud would become entirely invisible. The team’s results, reported today in Science, represent the first observation of Pauli blocking’s effect on light-scattering by atoms. This effect was predicted 30 years ago but not observed until now. ... This is the first clear observation that this effect exists, and it shows a new phenomenon in physics. ..."
From the abstract:
"Pauli blocking occurs when free atoms scatter light elastically and the final external momentum states are already occupied. Suppression of the total rate of light scattering requires a quantum-degenerate Fermi gas with a Fermi energy larger than the photon recoil energy. Pauli blocking was predicted 30 years ago, but the experimental realization was elusive due to the difficulty of prepare cold fermi gas at high density. Here we report the creation of a dense Fermi gas of ultracold lithium atoms and show that at low temperature light scattering is suppressed. We also demonstrated the suppression of inelastic light scattering when two colliding atoms emit light shifted in frequency. Our platform enables future studies of light-matter interaction at high density."
A stealthy way to combat tumors
Good news! Cancer is history, one step at a time!
"... The researchers then analyzed the dendritic cell populations that were present in each of these tumors. One of the main functions of dendritic cells is to take up debris from dying cells, such as cancer cells or cells infected with a pathogen, and then present the protein fragments to T cells, alerting them to the infection or tumor.
The best-known type of dendritic cells required for antitumor immunity are DC1 cells, which interact with T cells that are able to eliminate cancer cells. However, the researchers found that DC1 cells were not needed for tumor regression. Instead, using single-cell RNA sequencing technology, they identified a previously unknown activation state of DC2 cells, a different type of dendritic cell, that was driving T cell activation in the regressing tumors.
The MIT team found that instead of ingesting cellular debris, these dendritic cells swipe proteins called MHC complexes from tumor cells and display them on their own surfaces. When T cells encounter these dendritic cells masquerading as tumor cells, the T cells become strongly activated and begin killing the tumor cells. ..."
The MIT team found that instead of ingesting cellular debris, these dendritic cells swipe proteins called MHC complexes from tumor cells and display them on their own surfaces. When T cells encounter these dendritic cells masquerading as tumor cells, the T cells become strongly activated and begin killing the tumor cells. ..."
From the abstract (difficult to understand for a lay person):
"... Transcriptional profiling of intra-tumoral DCs within regressor tumors revealed an activation state of CD11b+ conventional DCs (DC2s) characterized by expression of interferon (IFN)-stimulated genes (ISGs) (ISG+ DCs). ISG+ DC-activated CD8+ T cells ex vivo comparably to DC1. Unlike cross-presenting DC1, ISG+ DCs acquired and presented intact tumor-derived peptide-major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC class I) complexes. Constitutive type I IFN production by regressor tumors drove the ISG+ DC state, and activation of MHC class I-dressed ISG+ DCs by exogenous IFN-β rescued anti-tumor immunity against progressor tumors in Batf3−/− mice. The ISG+ DC gene signature is detectable in human tumors. Engaging this functional DC state may present an approach for the treatment of human disease."
Type I interferon activates MHC class I-dressed CD11b+ conventional dendritic cells to promote protective anti-tumor CD8+ T cell immunity (no public access)
Thomas Jefferson statue removed from NYC City Hall because former US president, author of Declaration of Independence owned slaves
Eugene Francois Vidocq: The First Modern detective
Recommendable! A very colorful life! Vidocq turned best French police officer from a criminal career. A great criminalist. Founder of one of the first private detective agencies.
Monday, November 22, 2021
The Collapse of the Baltic Tigers: How did Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania escape ruin?
Recommendable! The Baltic states are some of the most free market economies in the world. In response to the Great Recession of 2008, the Baltic states decided to dramatically shrink government, which they did!
Jeff Bezos Donates $100 Million to Obama Foundation
Such a donation to one of the worst U.S. presidents of recent memory before the 46th president? Bezos, what a fool!
"Bezos’ $100 million donation to the Obama Foundation, made in honor of late Rep. John Lewis, is the foundation’s largest individual contribution received to date, the Obama Foundation announced in a Monday Monday press release. ..."
Biden asked China and other countries to release oil reserves to ease prices, boost economic cooperation
The U.S. was energy independent and an exporter of fossil fuels before the November 2020 elections!
Then the demented and senile 78 years old lifetime career politician and chronic liar for decades, the 46th President of the U.S. did everything in his power to stop or severely restrict domestic exploration, extraction, refinement, and transport of fossil fuels!
The 46th President is worse than President Carter! This is so absurd!
A Brief History of Nonwhite Slave Owners in America
Very recommendable! History is much more complicated and complex than what ideologues want us to believe!
Something to keep in mind:
- Slavery in Africa was common at the time like slavery was common in most of human history
- An unknown number of African slaves were slaveholders themselves before they arrived in the Americas
- Former slaves owned slaves in America
- Native peoples were involved too
- The Noble Savage has been recognized to be a myth for a very long time
"... However, free blacks who [bought and] held loved ones [as slaves] bought other slaves to be exploited for profit. To classify these transactions as benevolent would be a mistake. Even though these slaveowners usually demonstrated benevolent behavior towards their slave relations and friends, a commercial and materialistic exchange existed between them and their slaves purchased as investments. In fact, the free blacks who maintained a dual relationship with their slaves had no universal commitment against slavery. To them, slavery was an oppressive institution when it affected a beloved relative or a trusted friend, but beyond that realm, slavery was viewed as a profit-making institution to be exploited. ...
Also, like their white peers, some black slave owners were notorious for their brutality. Ronald E. Hall in his landmark publication An Historical Analysis of Skin Colour Discrimination: Victimism among Victim Group Populations challenges the assumption that black owners were always humane using the example of William Ellison: "William Ellison is prominent for both his wealth and the cruelty toward his black slaves, for which he was known among Southern blacks and whites. ...
Similarly, Native Americans were also players in slavery, and it must be noted that the institution existed before the arrival of Europeans. According to the scholar Joyce Ann Kievit: "Many North American Indian tribes practiced some form of slavery before Europeans arrived in North America. The status of slaves varied from tribe to tribe. Some slaves were exploited for labor, others were used for ritual sacrifice, a few provided for the needs of women whose husbands had been slain in war, and many were adopted into the tribes." However, with the introduction of plantation slavery by European settlers, Native Americans became alert to the financial opportunities that could be gained from this venture. ...
From the late eighteenth century through the end of the U.S. Civil War, Choctaw and Chickasaw men and women held people of African descent in slavery. Like their white Southern counterparts, Indians bought, sold, owned, and exploited black people's labor and reproduction for social and economic gain. ..."FBI And Other Agencies Paid Informants $548 Million In Recent Years With Many Committing Authorized Crimes
Wow! Is this normal business of the FBI and other, federal law enforcement agencies? Sounds a bit shocking! Do the benefits outweigh the costs?
"Federal agencies paid out at least $548 million to informants working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), in recent years, according to government audits.
A few informants became millionaires, with some Amtrak and “parcel” delivery workers making nearly $1 million or more.
Many informants were authorized to commit “crimes” with the permission of their federal handlers. In a four-year period, there were 22,800 crime authorizations (2011-2014).
The FBI paid approximately $294 million (FY2012-2018), the DEA paid at least $237 million (FY2011-2015), and ATF paid approximately $17.2 million total (FY2012-2015) to informants. ..."
Revolution in medicine - BioNTech, mRNA and the Covid-19 vaccine
Very recommendable! What a success story! Two Germans with Turkish background in the city of Mainz, which is close to my hometown Frankfurt am Main.
Of course, I chose Pfizer/Biontech for my vaccination!
Was It a Lab Leak? The Mysterious Origin of COVID-19
Recommendable! The high infectiousness of this virus for humans could be a hint that it leaked from a lab. The timing of this virus could be to interfere with a crucial U.S. presidential election from the viewpoint of the Communist Party of China.
Sunday, November 21, 2021
How a single-celled organism almost wiped out life on Earth
Very recommendable! About cyanobacteria, the Great Oxidation Event, the Huronian Glaciation, Endosymbiosis, mass extinction
COVID antiviral pills: what scientists still want to know
If these new medications have to be given early at the onset of the infection this defeats the purpose to some extent! Since 60-95% of infected experience no or only mild symptoms it would not make much sense to provide them with those new, possibly expensive medications.
Some more fine tuning and more innovative medications are needed, but SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 is essentially under control given the available vaccines and medications. Let's finally and fast return to normal life before the pandemic!
"... Because antiviral drugs often need to be given early in the course of an infection for them to work effectively, Mellors will also be looking for more detail about when the drugs were given in the trials, and at how those timings correlated with efficacy. That information will provide a sense of when the window of opportunity for treatment closes. ...
Researchers are also keen for any clue — including from further clinical trials — as to whether the drugs affect transmission of the coronavirus, or prevent illness in people who have been exposed to it. ...
Paxlovid acts by inhibiting an enzyme that’s needed to process some viral proteins into their final, functional form. But the drug is a combination of an antiviral and another drug, called ritonavir, which helps to prevent enzymes in the liver from breaking down the antiviral before it has a chance to disable the coronavirus. Ritonavir, a component of some HIV treatment cocktails, can affect how some other medications are metabolized by the body. A wide range of drugs should not be given with it, including some that are commonly used to treat heart conditions, suppress the immune system and reduce pain. ...
The targets of molnupiravir and Paxlovid are different, but researchers will still need to show that the drugs work against variants ..."
Researchers are also keen for any clue — including from further clinical trials — as to whether the drugs affect transmission of the coronavirus, or prevent illness in people who have been exposed to it. ...
Molnupiravir acts by introducing mutations into the viral genome during viral replication. A metabolite of the drug is picked up by a viral enzyme called RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and incorporated into the viral genome, eventually causing so many errors that the virus can no longer survive.
Human cells have a DNA, rather than an RNA, genome, but some laboratory experiments have suggested that molnupiravir could cause mutations in human DNA as well.
A full course of treatment with molnupiravir is only five days long. ...Paxlovid acts by inhibiting an enzyme that’s needed to process some viral proteins into their final, functional form. But the drug is a combination of an antiviral and another drug, called ritonavir, which helps to prevent enzymes in the liver from breaking down the antiviral before it has a chance to disable the coronavirus. Ritonavir, a component of some HIV treatment cocktails, can affect how some other medications are metabolized by the body. A wide range of drugs should not be given with it, including some that are commonly used to treat heart conditions, suppress the immune system and reduce pain. ...
The targets of molnupiravir and Paxlovid are different, but researchers will still need to show that the drugs work against variants ..."
The global escalator racket
Escalators were invented about 120 years ago! A few companies, an oligopol, dominate the global escalator market from sales to repair and maintenance.
We urgently need someone to apply some creative destruction in this market! Where is the Jeff Bezo's or Elon Musk?
It is totally astounding that escalators are still such complicated and fragile devices. The technicians that repair and maintain escalators are almost like high priests. When you ask them when an out of order escalator will be operating again, they give you usually a cryptic or an oracle like answer.
How many escalator parts are standardized? Is there even a market for second hand escalators? Etc.
Government is probably to blame too. Too many safety and other burdensome regulations!
Why COVID-19 Probably Killed More People Than We Realize
The Harvard Business School has come out with this sensationalist article by two of its professors!
First some perspective: Only 0.1% of the entire wold population have died related to Covid-19. Compared to plagues of the past, where up to 30-50% of the population died, this is not negligible, but it is no reason for panic and hysteria.
Second, had it been a global outbreak of a influenza pandemic instead of Covid-19 would the numbers be so much different.
Third, equally it can be argued that the official death toll is significantly inflated, because anyone, who came in contact with SARS-CoV-2 and died was counted as killed by the virus no matter what the circumstances.
"... In fact, the number of actual deaths in some countries, like Ecuador and Bolivia, was more than triple the number reported, representing tens of thousands of losses that were never attributed to the pandemic. And the United States saw the highest number of unexplained deaths in 2020: a total of 50,876, the research shows. ..."
How accurate were death statistics for Ecuador and Bolivia before the Covid-19 pandemic?
Exercise releases cannabis-like chemicals that fight and reduce chronic inflammation
Good news! Do we need to smoke more pot now or can we get some pills?Can we get the positive effects of cannabinoids without becoming stoned?
"... found that the patients who exercised reported less pain and had more microbes in their guts that produce anti-inflammatory compounds. They also had lower levels of cytokines, which are molecules that allow your cells to talk to each other, and are crucial for healthy immune system function. Cytokines are often responsible for triggering inflammation in the body, which can be critical to our survival when the body is infected but can cause a ‘pointless’ kind of inflammation when they go overboard.
Exercise also increased the levels of endocannabinoids, which was strongly associated with the changes in the beneficial gut microbes and the anti-inflammatory substances they produce. According to the study published in the journal Gut Microbes, at least a third of the anti-inflammatory effects of the gut microbes were due to endocannabinoids. ..."
Unfortunately, the abstract of this research paper is loaded with minute details unlike what is common practice!
I presume this is the research paper the above article is referring to:
The anti-inflammatory effect of bacterial short chain fatty acids is partially mediated by endocannabinoids (No public access. Courtesy of Semantic Scholar here is the link to the PDF file)
FDA approves first drug for genetic cause of dwarfism
Good news! Unfortunately, it is a once daily injection treatment for children. Hope, this will soon become a more pleasant treatment.
I actually know a lady at work who is afflicted. She is a very nice lady!
"The Food and Drug Administration approved the first treatment for the most common cause of dwarfism Friday, a drug that has proved to increase children’s height but has been polarizing among adults with short stature.
The treatment, developed by BioMarin Pharmaceutical, is a once-daily injection for children with achondroplasia, a rare genetic disorder that results in dwarfism and can lead to serious medical complications. In a pivotal clinical trial, patients who got the drug, called Voxzogo, grew 1.6 centimeters more over the course of a year than those who received placebo. That means patients who take Voxzogo throughout childhood are likely to reach heights similar to their peers who don’t have achondroplasia, according to BioMarin. ..."
COP26, climate change and the Royal Society
Even the prestigious Royal Society is a purveyor of the propaganda and demagoguery of the Global Warming hoax and the Climate Change religion.
The current President of this society and a Oxford University professor is obviously a fool! He is like a terrible communist central planner!
"The immediate deployment of market-ready low carbon technologies is a vital part of the transition to net zero emissions, however, the deployment of existing technologies will not achieve net zero alone and will not even meet our 2030 and 2035 targets. The UK has an ambition to decarbonise our electricity sector by 2035 yet no viable solution to the over 50 TWhs of energy storage which are likely to be needed to make such a system work and keep the lights on.
To reach the target of all electric vehicles by 2035 ...
Targeted investment in research and development will be an essential part of the drive to decarbonise the economy and collaboration between private and public sectors will help accelerate innovation. The commercialisation of new green technologies are needed to produce the wealth necessary to fund mitigation and adaptation."
To reach the target of all electric vehicles by 2035 ...
Targeted investment in research and development will be an essential part of the drive to decarbonise the economy and collaboration between private and public sectors will help accelerate innovation. The commercialisation of new green technologies are needed to produce the wealth necessary to fund mitigation and adaptation."
Here is a recent blog post by the President of the society:
Vice-President of the Royal Society, Professor Peter Bruce, considers what is needed to meet net zero emissions targets.
Saturday, November 20, 2021
History Of Ideas - Romanticism
Recommendable! Meet Werther, the flaneur, Gaugin and more
This video is probably a little wrong about Francisco Goya's famous work The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
Since 2008, Monetary Policy Has Cost American Savers about $4 Trillion
For over a decade monetary policy in Western countries has been irresponsible and reckless with extremely low interest rates. Government debt has grown tremendously. It may have created real estate bubbles etc.
In 2021, we witness price inflation not seen since 30 years ago or so!
"... The Fed has been delivering negative real returns on savings for more than a decade. ..."
Alcoholism treatment drug shows potential with COVID-19
More medications and more vaccinations for SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19!
Latest since Spring 2021 it is overdue to return to normal before the pandemic! The pandemic is relatively harmless compared to plagues of the past and it is essentially under control! The cure is worse than the disease!
For Darwin’s Galapagos finches, beak shape goes beyond evolution
Amazing stuff! Engineers and applied science researchers revisited the famous finches!
"... "Evolution selects from random mutations but how do these random mutations result in specific shapes that can perform specific functions,” ..."
From the abstract:
"Darwin’s finches are a classic example of adaptive radiation, exemplified by their adaptive and functional beak morphologies. To quantify their form, we carry out a morphometric analysis of the three-dimensional beak shapes of all of Darwin’s finches and find that they can be fit by a transverse parabolic shape with a curvature that increases linearly from the base toward the tip of the beak. The morphological variation of beak orientation, aspect ratios, and curvatures allows us to quantify beak function in terms of the elementary theory of machines, consistent with the dietary variations across finches. Finally, to explain the origin of the evolutionary morphometry and the developmental morphogenesis of the finch beak, we propose an experimentally motivated growth law at the cellular level that simplifies to a variant of curvature-driven flow at the tissue level and captures the range of observed beak shapes in terms of a simple morphospace. Altogether, our study illuminates how a minimal combination of geometry and dynamics allows for functional form to develop and evolve."
Geometry and dynamics link form, function, and evolution of finch beaks (no public access. Courtesy of Google Scholar, here is the link to the PDF file)
Georgia governor orders probe into 'sloppy' November 2020 vote counts in Fulton County
The 46th President won Georgia by only about 12.000 votes! The November 2020 presidential election is far from over!
"In a rare act for a state chief executive, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has referred the audited November 2020 election results in the state's largest voting metropolis to the State Election Board after multiple reviews found significant problems with absentee ballot counting that included duplicate tallies, math errors and transposed data.
Kemp referred Fulton County's risk-limiting audit results this week to election regulators, saying he was not asking for any changes to the declaration that Joe Biden beat Donald Trump but was alarmed by the level of sloppy vote counting in the county that includes the city of Atlanta.
The errors could have skewed the audit totals reported to the state by several thousand votes, according to a 36-item summary ...
Kemp's letter ordered the board to force corrections to any vote totals if there were "verified errors" and to "review the audit methodology used in counties across Georgia, and create a prescriptive and uniform set of rules that ensure one process is followed by all counties.""
Kemp's letter ordered the board to force corrections to any vote totals if there were "verified errors" and to "review the audit methodology used in counties across Georgia, and create a prescriptive and uniform set of rules that ensure one process is followed by all counties.""
Polen bekommen britische militärische Unterstützung an der Grenze zu Weißrussland
Bravo Vereinigtes Königreich! Wo bleiben bitteschön die Deutschen, um ihren polnischen Nachbarn und Freund personnel und materiell beizustehen?
Worauf wartet die Bananenrepublik Deutschland mit der SED Kanzlerin Merkel? Wo bleibt die Resolution des deutschen Bundestages? Was tun die 736 Bundestagsabgeordneten in Sachen Polen? Unglaublich! Wir schulden den Polen sehr viel! Vielmehr als nur einen Kniefall des damaligen Bundeskanzlers Brandt! Während die Bananenrepublik im Klimawahn und Coronawahn versinkt, handeln andere Länder und kommen Polen zur Hilfe!
"... Der Sejm, das polnische Parlament, beschloss derweil eine Resolution, in der man sich mit den Grenzschützern und Soldaten solidarisch erklärte: »Generationen unserer Vorfahren haben für ein freies und unabhängiges Polen gekämpft. In Anbetracht ihres Opfers ist es heute unsere Pflicht, Seite an Seite mit den Offizieren des Grenzschutzes und der Polizei, den Soldaten der polnischen Armee, einschließlich der Territorialen Verteidigungskräfte, und den Vertretern anderer Dienste zu stehen, die stolz die polnische Uniform tragen und die Staatsgrenzen sowie die Souveränität unserer Heimat bewachen.« Auch den örtlichen Gemeinschaften und allen, die die staatlichen Einheiten unterstützen, danken die Abgeordneten. ...
Unterdessen werden im Rahmen der NATO zusätzliche britische Soldaten in Polen stationiert. Sie werden Teil einer multinationalen Kampfgruppe, an der rund um die strukturgebenden US-Truppen auch Rumänien und Kroatien beteiligt sind. ...
Die Ankunft der britischen Pionierkompanie, die die Polen beim Grenzschutz unterstützen soll, wird in den nächsten Tagen erwartet. Dann würden polnische Soldaten Seit’ an Seit’ mit britischen Soldaten an der Grenze zu Weißrussland dienen. ..."
Unterdessen werden im Rahmen der NATO zusätzliche britische Soldaten in Polen stationiert. Sie werden Teil einer multinationalen Kampfgruppe, an der rund um die strukturgebenden US-Truppen auch Rumänien und Kroatien beteiligt sind. ...
Die Ankunft der britischen Pionierkompanie, die die Polen beim Grenzschutz unterstützen soll, wird in den nächsten Tagen erwartet. Dann würden polnische Soldaten Seit’ an Seit’ mit britischen Soldaten an der Grenze zu Weißrussland dienen. ..."
NASA spacecraft will slam into asteroid in first planetary-defence test
Good news! If this important experiment is successful, generations of humans can sleep better.
Yes, if an asteroid were to hit earth that would be a real climate crisis, not a manufactured one that our political leaders cared about in Glasgow at COP26.
" ... [after] DART [launched] successfully [November 23, 2021], in late September or early October of next year it will slam headlong into Dimorphos at 6.6 kilometres per second. The impact should shrink Dimorphos’s orbit so that it circles Didymos at least 73 seconds faster than before. (Dimorphos is named after the Greek for ‘having two forms’, to signal NASA's intent to change the asteroid’s orbit.) Astronomers using telescopes on Earth will watch Didymos for signs of that orbital change — which would be evident in the way its brightness changes over time, as Dimorphos passes in front of and behind it. ...
NASA has identified more than 27,000 asteroids with trajectories that bring them close to Earth. The worry is that some new asteroid could appear, headed directly towards the planet — and that it would be large enough to cause serious consequences when it hits, just as with the asteroid that helped to kill off the dinosaurs and other life on Earth 66 million years ago. ..."
NASA has identified more than 27,000 asteroids with trajectories that bring them close to Earth. The worry is that some new asteroid could appear, headed directly towards the planet — and that it would be large enough to cause serious consequences when it hits, just as with the asteroid that helped to kill off the dinosaurs and other life on Earth 66 million years ago. ..."
Friday, November 19, 2021
Inside the operation to rebuild Mosul
Recommendable! Good news! What havoc religious fanaticism wrought on this ancient city!
Candidacy for Presidency: Ronald Reagans announcement of Candidacy for President of U.S. 11/13/79
Very recommendable! He would win again in 2024! E.g. advocated more development of domestic energy sources like fossil fuels!
Wow, he spoke strongly about developing a very close cooperation between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to form a one unified market!
Thursday, November 18, 2021
Goethe-Institut: Cultural Resistance: Visualizing a Nuclear-Free World
This is paid for by German taxpayers and promoted by the German government! So naive, so pathetic! What makes a banana republic!
To conflate nuclear power and nuclear weapons is pure demagoguery! Nuclear power is one of the most viable alternatives to fossil fuel based energy!
"Presented by Beyond Nuclear, Goethe-Institut, and Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung North America. How do we advocate for an end to nuclear power and nuclear weapons?
Beyond research papers and speeches, articles and fact sheets, and protests on the streets, can a painter, a fashion designer, and a creative performance director convey the same urgency about our nuclear peril? ..."
Two Iranians charged with cyber intimidation campaign targeting voters, Republicans in 2020
Did these two Iranian hackers just do this for fun or were they paid for this work? Who paid?
Which other foreigners tried to influence the critical November 2020 presidential election?
Was even the release of the Coronavirus by China intended to interfere with the U.S. presidential election? The timing of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 is suspicious by itself. President Trump was probably seen as the greatest threat to the Communist Party of China since possibly as far back the Korean War!
"... The indictment charged Seyyed Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazemi, 24, and Sajjad Kashian, 27, of obtaining confidential U.S. voter information from at least one state election website; sending threatening email messages to intimidate and interfere with voters, and disseminating a video containing disinformation about purported election infrastructure vulnerabilities.
The victimized state was not identified, though prosecutors said at least 100,000 voters' information was stolen in the scheme. Prosecutors did not allege direct Iranian government involvement but said at least one of the defendants had done work for Tehran's government. ..."
Internet Search Augmented Chat Dialogue Generation
This seems to be a promising approach!
"... How it works: The chatbot comprised two BART models. To train and test the system, the authors built a dataset of roughly 10,000 search-assisted dialogs. One human conversant chose a topic and started the conversation, while another, if necessary, queried a search engine and formulated replies. The authors tracked which statements led to a search, and which statements and searches led to which responses.
The authors trained one BART to take a dialogue-in-progress as input and generate the associated search query. The search engine returned five documents per query.
The authors trained the other BART to generate representations of each document and the dialog in progress, concatenate the representations, and generate the response. ..." (Source)
From the abstract:
"... we propose an approach that learns to generate an internet search query based on the context, and then conditions on the search results to finally generate a response, a method that can employ up-to-the-minute relevant information. We train and evaluate such models on a newly collected dataset of human-human conversations whereby one of the speakers is given access to internet search during knowledge driven discussions in order to ground their responses. We find that search-query based access of the internet in conversation provides superior performance compared to existing approaches that either use no augmentation or FAISS-based retrieval ..."
Baerbock kann ihr Buch nicht retten – Verlag nimmt "Jetzt" aus dem Handel
Typischer Spitzenpolitiker der Bananenrepublik! Aber viele Gärtner Böcke, Gartenzwerge und Schildbürger haben trotzdem die Partei gewählt!
Baerbock fordert die Abschaffung der Gewaltenteilung und eine oberste Klima-Instanz Klimawahn gepaart mit Klimadiktatur! Wenn Baerbock das Vetorecht eines Klimacheckamtes fordert, will sie die gesetzgebende Aufgabe des Parlaments abschaffen oder eine Exekutivgewalt als oberste Kontrollinstanz über das Parlament setzen. Damit wäre die Gewaltenteilung nicht nur aufgehoben, sondern umgekehrt.
Quantum phases of matter on a 256-atom programmable quantum simulator
Apparently, this paper describes one of the latest breakthroughs in quantum computing developed by QuEra Computing launched on November 17, 2021!
From the company's website:
"The QuEra Approach
The company’s hardware uses arrays of neutral atoms where hundreds of atoms are cooled and then arranged by laser fields in a small vacuum chamber. While the chamber’s glass walls are at room temperature, just millimeters away the atoms are laser-cooled to a virtual standstill, reaching one millionth of a degree Kelvin above absolute zero. That is over a million times colder than deep space and over a thousand times colder than the superconducting qubits by other industry participants like IBM and Google. Unlike quantum computers based on trapped ions, which repel in close-packed quarters, QuEra’s system can arrange hundreds of neutral atoms into sub-millimeter arrays. By way of comparison to classical computing, this density is similar to the transistor density on a late 1990s Intel CPU. However, instead of connecting transistors by wires, QuEra connects its neutral-atom qubits by “Rydberg blockade.” In Rydberg blockade, laser flashes drive electrons in selected atoms to an outer orbital which causes the parent atoms to briefly “puff up” – but only on the condition that it is not blocked by another puffed up atom. This blockade forms QuEra's conditional logic gate and can happen in as short of a time period as a few nanoseconds, once again similar to a 1990s Intel CPU. However, unlike a conventional CPU, the computational power of a quantum computer is exponential in the number of qubits. QuEra has completed the construction of their first 256-qubit device which will be soon accessible to customers. ... closing in on "universal quantum computers" with thousands of logical qubits. ..."
The company’s hardware uses arrays of neutral atoms where hundreds of atoms are cooled and then arranged by laser fields in a small vacuum chamber. While the chamber’s glass walls are at room temperature, just millimeters away the atoms are laser-cooled to a virtual standstill, reaching one millionth of a degree Kelvin above absolute zero. That is over a million times colder than deep space and over a thousand times colder than the superconducting qubits by other industry participants like IBM and Google. Unlike quantum computers based on trapped ions, which repel in close-packed quarters, QuEra’s system can arrange hundreds of neutral atoms into sub-millimeter arrays. By way of comparison to classical computing, this density is similar to the transistor density on a late 1990s Intel CPU. However, instead of connecting transistors by wires, QuEra connects its neutral-atom qubits by “Rydberg blockade.” In Rydberg blockade, laser flashes drive electrons in selected atoms to an outer orbital which causes the parent atoms to briefly “puff up” – but only on the condition that it is not blocked by another puffed up atom. This blockade forms QuEra's conditional logic gate and can happen in as short of a time period as a few nanoseconds, once again similar to a 1990s Intel CPU. However, unlike a conventional CPU, the computational power of a quantum computer is exponential in the number of qubits. QuEra has completed the construction of their first 256-qubit device which will be soon accessible to customers. ... closing in on "universal quantum computers" with thousands of logical qubits. ..."
"... Some background: In 2019, Google announced that its 53-qubit machine had achieved quantum supremacy—performing a task not manageable by a convention computer—but IBM challenged the claim. The same year, IBM launched its 53-bit quantum computer. In 2020, IonQ unveiled a 32-qubit system that the company said was the “world’s most powerful quantum computer.” And just this week [46th week 2021] IBM launched its new 127-qubit quantum processor. Now QuEra claims to have made a device with far more qubits than any of those rivals." (Source)
From the abstract:
"... Here we demonstrate a programmable quantum simulator based on deterministically prepared two-dimensional arrays of neutral atoms, featuring strong interactions controlled by coherent atomic excitation into Rydberg states. Using this approach, we realize a quantum spin model with tunable interactions for system sizes ranging from 64 to 256 qubits. We benchmark the system by characterizing high-fidelity antiferromagnetically ordered states and demonstrating quantum critical dynamics consistent with an Ising quantum phase transition in (2 + 1) dimensions13. We then create and study several new quantum phases that arise from the interplay between interactions and coherent laser excitation, experimentally map the phase diagram and investigate the role of quantum fluctuations. Offering a new lens into the study of complex quantum matter, these observations pave the way for investigations of exotic quantum phases, non-equilibrium entanglement dynamics and hardware-efficient realization of quantum algorithms."
Quantum Phases of Matter on a 256-Atom Programmable Quantum Simulator (open access, preprint)
The FDA Blocks a Promising COVID-19 Treatment
For two years, the citizens of Western democracies have been subjected to massive government failure to deal with the pandemic! More about this e.g. here. One of the few exceptions: President Trump's rush to develop a new vaccine and to approve it in record time!
The article below is not specifically about the FDA's latest blunder, but about a historic review of such blunders.
"Last week, the United Kingdom approved a new antiviral pill (molnupiravir). Studies show the drug reduces the risk of hospitalization and death among high‐risk COVID patients by half. U.S. taxpayers funded molnupiravir’s development. Yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration isn’t even meeting to consider approval until Nov. 30.
Molnupiravir is the latest example of the FDA denying patients their most important health care right — the right to make their own health decisions — by prohibiting them from getting drugs that have received approval in other advanced countries. ...
In the 1980s, an HIV-AIDS diagnosis was a death sentence. Patients were dying by the tens of thousands. Yet the FDA infamously denied AIDS patients access to treatments that were available in China, Israel, Japan, Mexico and Sweden. ..."
In the 1980s, an HIV-AIDS diagnosis was a death sentence. Patients were dying by the tens of thousands. Yet the FDA infamously denied AIDS patients access to treatments that were available in China, Israel, Japan, Mexico and Sweden. ..."
Liz Wheeler: Adam Schiff still can’t admit he was wrong
I think, Adam Schiff should be indicted for having been one of the major public perpetrators of the Russian collusion hoax! I bet, this arrogant and condescending jerk knew better!
Why This Lab Is Slicing Human Brains Into Little Pieces
Amazing stuff! Observe hundreds if not thousands of zebra fish from day 5-8 in their lives, because their brains are translucent!
The extended product placement for a certain brand of sunglasses was annoying!
What is the challenge?
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Tucker Carlson calls this the most 'totally evil' thing President Joe Biden has done
In this interview, Tucker mentions that he knows some of the family members of the Biden clan and that some of them were concerned about his presidential candidacy given his cognitive decline. However, did Tucker report this before the 2020 election?
Covid-19: When the cure has been much worse than the disease
SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 will go down in history a fine example for government failure on a very large scale. Or was it a convenient excuse for governments to exploit this pandemic for political ends like Global Warming hoax and Climate Change religion?
The one size fits all draconian measures that were imposed on the citizens for almost two years have turned this fairly harmless disease (compared to the plagues of the past) into a major calamity! Reason was largely replaced by panic and hysteria! Extreme government paternalism reigned in the name of total safety and security!
Latest by about March 2020, it was known that Covid-19 is fairly harmless to the general population, but dangerous to elderly and immune system compromised people.
Effective vaccines, more than a dozen from different sources, were quickly developed. Several medications were quickly available to treat infected and so on. 80-95% of all infected are either asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms. Most adolescents and young adults have little to fear and so on ...
Instead of focusing the efforts on the minority of the truly vulnerable among the population, everybody was treated the same miserable and ineffective way. Why? Perhaps, because ideologies of equality and equity etc. dominate!
The cure caused tremendous negative effects on hundreds of millions of people:
- Many more cases of obesity, depression, mental disorders, suicides, homicides, overdose deaths, domestic violence, child abuse, child self harm, and much more
- Millions of important, necessary medical treatments were postponed
- Millions of businesses closed
- Many millions of children were scared, delayed in their development etc.
- Millions of children and teenagers are now subjected to vaccination although they least need it. They have been made guinea pigs to be injected with the very new vaccine, which is possibly more harmful to them than to adults
- Severe propaganda and demagoguery were used on a daily basis
- Individual liberty was restricted on a scale not seen in several decades
- And much, much more
Meet SenesTech, the Phoenix company making ContraPest birth control for rats
What is next? How about effective birth control for mosquitos, cock roaches ...?
"Controlling rat populations has been a problem for centuries, but inducing infertility offers an alternative way to slow down quick-breeding rats. After years of laying the groundwork, SenesTech recently launched a new marketing campaign as it heads for full commercialization. ..."
Einziehen und renovieren: Wie sich Malariaparasiten in unseren Zellen einnisten
Good news! Malaria is history!
"... Zu diesem Zweck schleust [der Parasit] über 400 Proteine in die roten Blutkörperchen ein, wo sie die Eigenschaften der menschlichen Zellen verändern. Die Funktion vieler dieser Proteine ist noch unbekannt, aber eine Forschungsgruppe der JLU hat in Zusammenarbeit mit Forscherinnen und Forschern der Universität Heidelberg nun einen Durchbruch im Verständnis dieses Prozesses erzielt. „Durch die genetische Veränderung des Parasiten ist es uns gelungen, ein Protein zu identifizieren, das eine Schlüsselrolle in diesem Veränderungsprozess spielt“ ... „Wenn das Schlüsselproteins inaktiviert ist, wird die Fähigkeit des Parasiten, die Wirtszelle zu verändern, gehemmt.“ ... untersuchen dieses Protein bereits seit über zehn Jahren. Dass sie jetzt die entscheidenden Daten gewinnen konnten, liegt an methodischen Fortschritten. „Bislang war es kaum möglich, das Genom des Malaria-Parasiten zu manipulieren“, ... „In den vergangenen Jahren haben [Forscher] weltweit große Fortschritte bei der Entwicklung der Technologie gemacht, die uns diese Entdeckung ermöglicht hat.“ ..."
From the abstract:
"... Here we inactivate the function of one of these exported proteins, PFA66, a member of the J-domain protein family. Although parasites lacking this protein were still able to grow in cell culture, we observed severe defects in normal host cell modification, including aberrant morphology of surface knobs, disrupted presentation of the cytoadherence molecule PfEMP1, and a total lack of cytoadherence, despite the presence of the knob associated protein KAHRP. Complementation assays demonstrate that an intact J-domain is required for recovery to a wild-type phenotype and suggest that PFA66 functions in concert with a HSP70 to carry out host cell modification. Strikingly, this HSP70 is likely to be of host origin. ATPase assays on recombinant protein verify a functional interaction between PFA66 and residual host cell HSP70. Taken together, our data reveal a role for PFA66 in host cell modification, strongly implicate human HSP70s as being essential in this process and uncover a new KAHRP-independent molecular factor required for correct knob biogenesis."
After Patrick Leahy's retirement, Dianne Feinstein could become the first Jew to be 3rd in line for the presidency
Pardon my sarcasm, Dianne Feinstein is a better choice than 2nd in line Kamala Harris!
"Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is the longest-serving member of his party in the U.S. Senate, announced on Monday that he will not run for reelection next year, setting the stage for Dianne Feinstein of California to be the first woman and first Jew to be the Senate’s president pro tempore, the third in line to the U.S. presidency. ..."
SED Kanzlerin Merkels verhandelt mit Putin und Lukaschenko und laesst die Polen im Stich
Wie es sich für eine SED Kanzlerin gehört, hat Merkel anscheinend versucht mit Putin dem Schrecklichen (ehemaligen KGB Offizier) und Lukaschenko zu verhandeln! Unglaublich! Bizarr! Wie vieles andere ihrer Politik!
An Stelle sofortige, deutliche und direkte personelle und materielle Hilfe an unsere polnischen Freunde anzubieten!
Hier ist meine Abrechnung mit der SED Kanzlerin Merkel! Die SED Kanzlerin Merkel war der schlechteste und schlimmste Bundeskanzler seit 1945!
Lieber Gott, vergib der SED Kanzlerin Merkel, denn sie weiß nicht was sie tut!
"Eiskalt ließ Zar Putin die nur noch geschäftsführende deutsche Kanzlerin vor wenigen Tagen abblitzen. Sie bat um Unterstützung, die zynische und menschenfeindliche Situation an der Grenze zwischen Weißrussland und Polen zu beenden. Putin muss, folgt man Merkel, über diesen Anruf erstaunt gewesen sein. ...
Tatsächlich rief, folgsam wie sie bei Ratschlägen aus Moskau ist, Merkel nur zwei Tage später bei Lukaschenko an."
Tatsächlich rief, folgsam wie sie bei Ratschlägen aus Moskau ist, Merkel nur zwei Tage später bei Lukaschenko an."
Von wegen Ruhestand: Merkel sorgt dafür, weiter Macht ausüben zu können
Sehr empfehlenswert! Wer glaubte die Ära der SED Kanzlerin Merkel sei endlich vorüber ...
Der Vergleich mit Deng Xiaoping ist treffend soweit dargestellt, aber auch falsch! Deng war ein wahrer Reformer der Kommunistischen Partei Chinas. Merkel?
Hier ist meine Abrechnung mit der SED Kanzlerin Merkel!
"... Merkels zur Schau gestellte Bescheidenheit in materiellen Fragen ist ein wesentlicher Teil ihrer Herrschaftstaktik. Ihre relative Bescheidenheit in materiellen Dingen macht Merkel nicht nur freier und weniger angreifbar als Politiker wie Schröder oder auch die französischen Ex-Präsidenten Chirac und Sarkozy. Prunksucht erzürnt Medien und Bürger, während die Zurschaustellung der vermeintlichen eigenen Bescheidenheit auf die Regierten besänftigend wirkt.
Ihre Vorliebe für Hausmannskost und langweilige Kleidung belegt scheinbar eine Bodenhaftung, die sie in ihrer Politik tatsächlich längst verloren hat – wenn sie sie denn jemals besaß. Umso wichtiger ist es für Merkel, die als privilegiertes Kind der DDR und dann als Sofort-Spitzenpolitikerin ohne „Ochsentour“ niemals das Leben eines normalen Bürgers führte, sich den Anschein der Bescheidenheit zu geben. Diese zur Schau gestellte Einfachheit ist ein bewährtes Machtinstrument. Napoleon trug stets nur eine Leutnantsuniform, während seine Marschälle goldbestickt stolzierten.
Und die Geschichte bietet auch genug Beispiele von formal abgetretenen Machthabern, die aus dem Hintergrund auch ohne jeglichen offiziellen Posten weiter die Strippen zogen – in China etwa Deng Xiaoping. Für die wirklichen Meister der Macht ist es womöglich sogar fast angenehmer, nicht mehr unter medialer Dauerbeobachtung zu stehen und keinem Parlament oder sonstigem Gremium verantwortlich zu sein. ..."
Sculptor in Venice Creates Giant 12-Meter-Long Violin That Floats Through Grand Canal
People do almost anything for five minutes of fame! Sensationalism!
It actually hurts to see this. This is unusually bad taste for music loving Italians! Just imagine a Stradivari or Amati violin is floating on the water!
Here's how micro-hospitals are shaking up healthcare industry
Good news! Brilliant idea! The health care business needs more, much more competition!
"In July, Cave Creek [Arizona, about 10 miles north of Phoenix] welcomed its first full-service medical facility — and ... entered into a new era of healthcare services: the rise of the micro-hospital.
According to a report by the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy, micro-hospitals are small-scale inpatient facilities, typically between 20,000 square feet and 50,000 square feet and with three to 25 beds, in small community settings. ...
“It has an ER service, operating room and inpatient beds. It is licensed as a full-service hospital — just on a smaller scale. Typically it partners with a larger full-service acute care hospital.” ...
Abrazo soon followed with its first micro-hospital in Mesa in October 2019, and it opened Abrazo Surprise Hospital one year later, in October 2020. ..."
“It has an ER service, operating room and inpatient beds. It is licensed as a full-service hospital — just on a smaller scale. Typically it partners with a larger full-service acute care hospital.” ...
Micro-hospitals are a recent addition to Greater Phoenix. The region’s first such facility, Dignity Health Arizona General Hospital, opened its doors in Laveen in 2015. Part of the Southwest’s Dignity Health system, the 39,000-square-feet hospital features 16 inpatient and 10 ED beds, two operating rooms and much more.
Phoenix ER & Medical Hospital, debuted in Chandler in March 2019. The 14,000-square-foot state-of-the-art independent facility (developed by Texas-based Nutex Health, it is not part of any Valley healthcare system) offers three private inpatient rooms and a full-service ED.
"The fast changing nature of healthcare delivery and patient’s desire for convenience in treatment services has led to the emergence of modern trends such as the urgent care clinics, stand-alone emergency rooms, and now ‘micro-hospitals’. Micro-hospitals constitute a rising trend that shows signs of taking over the healthcare industry in 2017. For example, the Denver, CO based SCL Health has already set out to set up four micro-hospitals in various neighborhood settings. The hospitals are also springing up in states such as Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Arizona. ..."
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