So yeah, might as well lead withCovid-19 again Misinformation, disinformation, and non-information abounds. Scientific American recently published an article entitled Nine COVID-19 Myths That Just Won’t Go Away. ( https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nine-covid-19-myths-that-just-wont-go-away/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=week-in-science&utm_content=link&utm_term=2020-08-21_featured-this-week&spMailingID=68642724&spUserID=MjQyNTgxMTYyMzE5S0&spJobID=1942734629&spReportId=MTk0MjczNDYyOQS2 ) It's a fairly quick read which is a nice review and refresher, with a relatively short section devoted to each item. One that I thought they could've expanded on more is Myth 7: Spikes in cases are because of increased testing. . I hope that nobody truly believes that tests cause or spread the virus and are probably just echoing the great leader's words. Many, however, have probably bought into the implied fiction that we are detecting cases that would've otherwise gone unnoticed due to our massive testing regime. This is, at best, afactual, and pretty substantially bullshit. Were we going door to door and/or setting up booths in malls and supermarkets, such a hypothesis might become vaguely tenable, but we are not. Far and away the vast majority of those tested are tested because they are symptomatic. They would not have otherwise gone undetected, they are not asymptomatic types that we never would have known about, they are being tested because they are already presumed to be sick. OK, enough of that. Meanwhile, treatment prospects keep appearing Also from Scientific American Costa Rica Readies Horse Antibodies for Trials as an Inexpensive COVID-19 Therapy. ( https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/costa-rica-readies-horse-antibodies-for-trials-as-an-inexpensive-covid-19-therapy/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=week-in-science&utm_content=link&utm_term=2020-08-21_top-stories&spMailingID=68642724&spUserID=MjQyNTgxMTYyMzE5S0&spJobID=1942734629&spReportId=MTk0MjczNDYyOQS2 ) Costa Rica, it seems, has an institute with a lot of experience usng equine antibodies to develop and produce snake bite antivenoms that have been saving lives around the globe for over 50 years. They have also developed antivenoms for scorpions and spiders and treatments for botulism, rabies and diptheria. The general technique may also have promise against H5N1, H7N9, and MERS, the latter of which is a coronavirus. THIS is probably the money paragraph:
To test the efficacy of the equine antibodies, a few vials were shipped to George Mason University’s National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases (NCBID). “We wanted to determine if the SARS-CoV-2 virus could be neutralized by the horse-produced antibodies,” says Charles Bailey, a professor of biology and executive director of the NCBID. “The test we performed on the samples is called a plaque reduction neutralization test, PRNTest. We exposed the antibodies produced in horses, at various dilutions, to the SARS-CoV-2 virus growing on cell culture. The virus was neutralized.” The results of the research are expected to be published in the near future. (my emphasis)
Small scale human trials ae now underway and should be finished by September. This, of course, is a treatment and not a vaccine. It is also cheap and that is a real problem. That may be fine for most of the world, but no US company is likely to get seriously on board for the meagre level of profits to be had unless they can somehow obtain a monopoly allowing them to gouge on a horrific scale, and I don't see how that is at all likely to occur. The FDA could, of course, withhold its blessing because "not invented here" or "not produced here" and wait for Gilead or some osimilar outfit to come out with its own version that it could gouge for, but could you trust it? <>BR
Cop StuffTHE JUNK SCIENCE COPS USE TO DECIDE YOU’RE LYING - https://theintercept.com/2020/08/12/blueleaks-law-enforcement-police-lie-detection/ "exposes" the fact that tons of police and police agencies are learning ascientific "techniques" from assorted quacks and applying them in deciding who is lying when. It explains that these have so scientific basis. In passing, it also takes a quick look at a favorite technique of US cops that is more or less designed to extract false confessions from the innocent. The problem is that there is no solution to the problem. As we know, police and prosecutors aren't really interested in the truth, facts, guilt or innocence, or other such petty concerns. The courts pretty much aren't either. There is nothing in the Constitution or the law requiring police and prosecutors to rely upon science or logic, nothing. So, while this is useful information and yet another reason to never talk to those people, there is really no solution proffered nor any that I can imagine.
Is blockchain counter-productive bullshit, or merely useless bullshit?Blockchain, the amazing solution for almost nothing - Blockchain technology is going to change everything: the shipping industry, the financial system, government … in fact, what won’t it change? But enthusiasm for it mainly stems from a lack of knowledge and understanding. The blockchain is a solution in search of a problem.- .By Jesse Frederick at The Correspondent ( https://thecorrespondent.com/655/blockchain-the-amazing-solution-for-almost-nothing/86649455475-f933fe63?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits ). I've understood for a while that mining a single bitcoin took an obscene and ever growing amount of energy. This is obviously problematic. I know that bitcoin has its advocates, but something dependent both on an infinite supply of energy and on a lot of third party computers as a primary medium of exchange doesn't really make me enthusiastic. Other than that, however, I've mostly ignored blockchain beyond getting a minimal familiarity with what it is. I've certainly never been aware of the massive hype that it will revolutionize everything, and wouldn't have bought that idea anyway because "vast energy consumption". This article is something of a slog, but it clearly lays out, before getting anywhere near the environmental impact of the process, that blockchain really isn't some sort of wonderful tool, that 92% of the 86,000 blockchain based projects that had been started by the end of 2017 had been abandoned by that date. Why? Going right to the source, the article tells us:
Why are they deciding to stop? Enlightened – and thus former – blockchain developer Mark van Cuijk explained: “You could also use a forklift to put a six-pack of beer on your kitchen counter. But it’s just not very efficient.”
Also, the promised anonymity (where promised) isn't real. The security isn't so perfect either, as it is estimated that about 15% of all the bitcoin ever mined had been stolen at some point. Then we get to the environment, talk about using a forklift to handle some beers:
And then there’s the environmental problem. The environmental problem? Aren’t we talking about digital coins? Yes, which makes it even stranger. Solving all those complex puzzles requires a huge amount of energy. So much energy that the two biggest blockchains in the world – bitcoin and Ethereum – are now using up the same amount of electricity as the whole of Austria. Carrying out a payment with Visa requires about 0.002 kilowatt-hours; the same payment with bitcoin uses up 906 kilowatt-hours, more than half a million times as much, and enough to power a two-person household for about three months. And the environmental problem is only going to grow. As miners put more effort into solving the puzzles (ie, building more of those dark server caves in Alaska), the puzzles will automatically become more difficult, requiring more calculation power. It’s an endless, pointless arms race in order to facilitate the same number of transactions with more and more energy.
And for what? Mostly for nothing. Remember, this is just a jumped up database. For most conceivable uses it would be radical overkill. Even with bitcoin, making a simple bookkeeping entry takes vast amounts of energy, but bitcoin is special. But what is it about bitcoin? Its inventor was bothered because banks can just take money from your account if they wish. But do they? How much of a problem is this. More importantly, outside of the USA, which is perverse and corrupt, if you do not use the US Dollar, how much does this happen? The author really pooh poohs this, but in the US it is sadly all too real. If you have dollar accounts the US government can order them to be seized or frozen for a great number of reasons, mostly bogus, and should other than a minor bank fail, well, sorry about that. Bill Clinton's Bank deregulation plus the prohibition of regulations on derivatives of assorted types, plus the 2005 bankruptcy act plus Dodd-Frank mean that you're screwed. Arguably the FDIC will try to pay you the amount of any insured deposits, but beyond that, it serves to liquidate the bank in a prompt and orderly manner and you stand with unsecured creditors. Thanks to the vast exposure today's banks have via rampant speculation and gambling in futures and such, all of which are the highest priority creditors, you will get zip shit. You come after every single gambling debt that they have. Possibly you don't even get your insured deposits, because the FDIC's reserves are pretty puny. The answer, if you use the US Dollar and bank in the US, is to choose small banks, not the big guys. The small banks mostly avoid the gambling and don't have that much in outstanding deposits. I said it is a slog, but I think it is good to read it all the same, it gives one a lot of clarity on a lot of things. Splendid Isolation Ever stumble across a URL that you are curious about or find interesting but you aren't sure that it is safe? You can, I am told, by BoingBoing, isolate it. You just go to this site: https://isolation.site/ which calls itself "ISOlation.SITE", enter the full URL into the box provided for that purpose and click the button that says ISOlate it. It should load, but, I am told, be incapable of transmitting any virus or malware to you. I have tried it in FireFox and Chromium running Ubuntu20.04.1 LTS and tested sites did load and operate normally.
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be well and have a good one. .
It's an open thread, so have at it. The floor is yours .
Cross posted from caucus99percent.com