What goes through my my mind when I read the news with my morning coffee. …Or for the Simon's Rockers in the group, this is my response journal.
Nick Lyon is accused of failing to alert the public about an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the Flint area
Michigan health chief charged with involuntary manslaughter in Flint water probe – CBS News
charges aren’t a conviction but they are start.
MOULTONBOROUGH, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire’s Loon Preservation Committee says two loons have died after ingesting lead fishing tackle.
2 Loons Die After Ingesting Lead Fishing Tackle | New Hampshire News | US News
hmmmm
Across the nation, farm to school programs are reconnecting students to a better understanding of the food system and where their food comes from. Farm to school programs introduce students to healthier eating habits and help them become familiar with new vegetables and fruits that they and their families will then be more willing to incorporate into their own diets.
The goal of the Farm to School Initiative is to address the supply and demand issues surrounding the purchasing of local food for our State school cafeterias. The Initiative also aims to systematically increase State purchasing of local food for our school menus as well as connect our keiki* with the aina* through their food, using products from the local agricultural community.
Shan S. Tsutsui | Farm to School Initiative
Very cool.
*Hawaiian translation for all you mainlanders*
keiki = children
aina = land
A giant temple to the Aztec god of the wind and a court where the Aztecs played a deadly ball game have been discovered in the heart of Mexico City. Archaeologists unveiled the rare finds Wednesday after extensive excavations, giving journalists a tour of the semi-circular temple of Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl and nearby ball court.
Records indicate that Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes first watched the ritual Aztec ball game at the court in 1528, invited by the last Aztec emperor, Montezuma — the man whose empire he went on to conquer.
Ancient Aztec temple, ball court found in Mexico City
cool
NASA’s astronauts are American heroes and proxies for our hopes and dreams. The best part of each new astronaut class is that we get an entirely fresh crop of people we can live vicariously through, and this year is no exception. Today, NASA announced its 22nd space squad. Although over 18,000 applied, the space agency decided that just 12 had the right stuff.
Here’s Everyone NASA Felt Was Better Than You
cool!
…”The blow to the international political credibility of the United States really cannot be underestimated.”
…Germany [said it] could no longer “completely depend” on the United States and that European leaders “must really take our destiny into our own hands.”
…Macron responded to Trump’s climate decision with a strong statement — delivered live at 10 p.m. in Paris on Thursday night — and sent a mocking tweet that read, “Make Our Planet Great Again.”
France, Italy and Germany released a joint statement on Thursday night saying the Paris deal could not be negotiated, despite Trump’s talk of getting a better deal.
…Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau …tweeted that he was “disappointed” in the U.S.’s decision.
…British Prime Minister Theresa May released a similar statement.
…Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, for instance, called Trump’s decision a “brutal act.”
…“My guess is, in the Kremlin, they are absolutely delighted,” Pifer, a former ambassador to Ukraine, said.
“To the extent that withdrawing from the Paris accord looks like the United States stepping back from an area where the U.S. has been leader, that’s simply music to [Vladimir] Putin’s ears.”
Diplomats said Trump’s tone could exacerbate his problems in dealing with other countries.
Globe heaps scorn on Trump for Paris exit | TheHill
Incompetent boobs destroying the United’s States position as a respected leader because they are too stupid to see the effects of their actions. Heaven help us all make it through the next 3.5 years alive…
Despite announcing plans to pull out of the Paris climate accord, President Donald Trump’s language and that of his EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, seem at odds with the actions he proposes taking.
Trump administration touts innovation, cuts funding for it – CNNPolitics.com
cluster-f
An international team of scientists successfully recovered and analyzed ancient DNA from Egyptian mummies dating from approximately 1400 BCE to 400 CE, including the first genome-wide nuclear data from three individuals, establishing ancient Egyptian mummies as a reliable source for genetic material to study the ancient past.
The First Genome Data from Ancient Egyptian Mummies
Wild!
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef lost nearly a third of its corals in the past year, officials have said.
Barrier reef suffers huge coral loss – BBC News
Agggggggh!
The rising prevalence and cost of Type 2 diabetes has doctors at Geisinger Health System turning to food as a form of medicine. They’re prescribing free, fresh food to low-income patients.
…Over the past year, he and about 180 patients with Type 2 diabetes have been participating in a pilot program aimed at getting them to change their diets and lose weight. They receive free groceries of healthy foods every week.
Shicowich has lost about 45 pounds, and he is now much more active.
The Geisinger Fresh Food Pharmacy is stocked with healthy pantry staples, like oatmeal and peanut butter, as well as fresh produce.
Each week, Shicowich and the other participants come to the food pharmacy. In its new incarnation, it looks more like a grocery, with neatly stocked shelves filled with healthy staples such as whole grain pasta and beans. The refrigerators are full of fresh produce, greens, low-fat dairy, lean meats and fish.
The participants meet one-on-one with a registered dietitian. They’re given recipes and hands-on instruction on how to prepare healthy meals. Then, they go home with a very different kind of prescription: five days’ worth of free, fresh food.
…Shicowich’s health has improved. His blood sugar and blood pressure have dropped so much that if he keeps on track, his doctors say they will reduce his medications.
…the costs associated with diabetes in the U.S. now exceed $240 billion a year.
Once you consider that price tag, Geisinger’s program can look like a bargain. Over the course of a year, the company will spend about $1,000 on each Fresh Food Pharmacy patient. All of the participants in the program are low-income, so the gift of the food eliminated a key obstacle to eating well.
…It’s still early days, and the team plans to fully analyze its first year of data. But here’s what it estimates so far: “A decrease in hemoglobin A1C of 1 point saves us [about] $8,000,” Feinberg says.
And many of the participants have seen a decline in hemoglobin A1C of about 3 points. “So that’s [about] $24,000 we’re saving in health care costs,” Feinberg says. “It’s a really good value.” Geisinger is now in the process of expanding the program to new locations within Pennsylvania.
cool.
Homo sapiens had a rival cousin as recently as 236,000 years ago, according to discoveries made by a team of scientists in South Africa.
…Homo naledi also appear to have engaged in the relatively advanced practice of burying their dead.
…The discoveries have encouraged other scientists to rethink human evolution.
…the discovery should prompt people to question the familiar image of a stooped chimp-like creature evolving into an upright, modern human.
“We’ve had for so long this view that human evolution was a matter of inevitability represented by that march, that progress,” he told the paper. “But now that narrative of human evolution has become one of adaptability. There was a lot of evolution and extinction of populations and lineages that made it through some pretty tough times, and we’re the beneficiary of that.”
Homo nadeli, just discovered in Africa, were walking around with humans
It always boggles the mind that researchers have so much trouble entertaining theories based on what is in front of them, theories that make so much more sense than anything that came before.
The comments come amid uncertainty over whether the US will withdraw from the Paris agreement.
Climate change: China vows to defend Paris agreement – BBC News
Hundreds of workers have been forced to “take cover” after a tunnel in a nuclear finishing plant collapsed in Washington state.
…a manager sent a message to workers telling them to “secure ventilation in your building” and to “refrain from eating or drinking.” The US Department of Energy activated its Emergency Operations Center Tuesday following the collapse. Some workers were reportedly told to evacuate while others were told to shelter-in-place as officials investigated the severity of the situation.
The tunnel reportedly contained highly contaminated materials including nuclear waste trains that are used to transport radioactive fuel rods.
…Before the Tuesday collapse, those tanks were reportedly leaking toxic and radioactive vapours and chemicals that have been linked to cancer, brain damage, and lung damage. There were at least 61 workers exposed to those deadly vapours last year. Experts have called the location “the most toxic place in America” and “an underground Chernobyl waiting to happen.”
WTF????
Interesting idea. Wonder if it works…
A new anti-protest law implicates anyone “found to be a conspirator” with a convicted trespasser, threatening environmental groups with huge fines.
Oklahoma Governor Signs Anti-Protest Law Imposing Huge Fines on “Conspirator” Organizations
hmmmm
The Air Force’s unmanned aircraft, X-37B, landed successfully Sunday morning at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center — but it didn’t come down quietly.
Air Force’s mysterious space plane lands, wakes up Florida – CNN.com
hmmm
“We’re being overwhelmed by our waste.”
The Oceans Are Drowning In Plastic — And No One’s Paying Attention | The Huffington Post
Yup.
The 130,000-year-old remains of a mastodon from a site in California show signs of having been processed by humans, much earlier than scientists had thought hominids were in the Americas.
hmmm
President Donald Trump is all about bucking precedent, and he’s doing it again when it comes to public lands.
Trump is rolling back the actions of 3 presidents – CNNPolitics.com
Agggggh!
In isolation, Trump’s policies seem idiosyncratic. Viewed in context, they reveal a strategy to plunder the government of what is profitable to his family.
…Anyone who lived through the 1960s — or observes China and India today — knows what happens when polluters get a pass.
Donald Trump: 100 Days of Deconstruction — Part 1
Oy!
Private funding isn’t enough to offset the president’s proposed budget cuts, they say.
Scientists Brace for a Lost Generation in American Research – The Atlantic
Arrrrggggghhhhh!
Many of those Searle studies that Gross questioned are now lumped into the data that says aspartame is safe. And though the question of aspartame causing brain tumors has largely been dismissed over the years, there hasn’t been much new data on the subject. In fact, a 1987 General Accounting Office report states that 28 out of 69 scientists said more research was needed in the areas of “neurological functions, brain tumors, seizures, headaches, and adverse effects on children and pregnant women.” Nonetheless, the report added, research was ongoing in all areas except brain tumors. What’s more, the FDA dissuaded the National Toxicology Program (NTP) from doing further cancer research on aspartame. As the founder of the NTP, David Rall, put it, “It’s a wonderful way to ensure that it isn’t tested—discourage the testing group from testing it and then say it’s safe.”
…It’s well established that there is a correlation between being overweight and diet soda consumption, but the question is which way the association works. Do people who are overweight tend to drink diet soda, or is something about the diet soda contributing to weight gain? A 2015 study found that long-term consumption was associated with increased waist circumference. And a 2016 study found that mothers who consumed diet soda while pregnant had babies with a two-fold higher risk of being overweight at age one.
While the question of whether the sweetener causes weight gain, diabetes, or other metabolic disease is unsettled, there are some remarkable correlations.
The Story of How Fake Sugar Got Approved is Scary As Hell – Tonic
hmmm
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