SamsLair: 05/01/2021

Friday, May 28, 2021

Covid: What Is EUA Authorization For Vaccinations?

It is far safer to be vaccinated than not. Indeed, despite widespread misinformation, FDA declared the vaccines to be safe when they allowed their use. Unfortunately, this permission was granted under the title “emergency use” which has a strongly negative connotation. What the use of the term ‘Emergency Use Authorization’ (EUA) doesn’t automatically tell you is that the only thing left to be done before giving the vaccines full FDA approval is determining how long before a booster shot is needed (efficacy).

Note: The booster shot vaccines will tailored to protect against Covid variants — and the approval process will start over with EUA authorization again necessarily preceding full approval.

https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/vaccines/emergency-use-authorization-vaccines-explained

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

COVID-19: Vaccine Myths Debunked

“While all three COVID-19 vaccines have emergency use authorization rather than full FDA approval, it’s not because the FDA is worried they’re unsafe... the only real difference was in length of follow-up during their clinical trials. Typically, you like to see efficacy (length and degree of effectiveness) for a year or two.

In other words, the FDA normally waits to approve a vaccine until they’ve determined how long it remains effective. But considering the daily infection and death rates during the current pandemic, it would have been ill-advised to wait another year or two before distributing an effective vaccine that could help us reach herd immunity—even if we don’t yet know how long the vaccine's full protection lasts.

But authorities didn’t cut corners when it came to determining the vaccines’ safety. Even long-term side effects of vaccines usually appear somewhere between two weeks and two months after inoculation. Trial participants were monitored for adverse effects throughout that window, and the FDA didn’t give vaccines the green light until after it had passed... what vaccine has ever been shown to cause a long-term side effect that was not picked up in the first two months.”

Four more myths are debunked in the same article:

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/646841/covid-19-vaccine-myths-debunked

Six Myths Debunked:

https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/6-myths-about-covid-19-vaccines-debunked

Sunday, May 23, 2021

World of Demographics

If you have a basic grasp of a group’s demographics, then you better appreciate their situation.

Search beginning with:

Demographics

World of Demographics

Examples of results —

World’s Demographics:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/tag/demographics/

Mapped: The Median Age of the Population on Every Continent

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-the-median-age-of-every-continent/

Note: “Mean, median, and mode are three kinds of "averages". There are many "averages" in statistics, but these are, I think, the three most common, and are certainly the three you are most likely to encounter in your pre-statistics courses, if the topic comes up at all.

The "mean" is the "average" you're used to, where you add up all the numbers and then divide by the number of numbers. The "median" is the "middle" value in the list of numbers. To find the median, your numbers have to be listed in numerical order from smallest to largest, so you may have to rewrite your list before you can find the median. The "mode" is the value that occurs most often. If no number in the list is repeated, then there is no mode for the list.”

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Human Evolution: Shaped by Changing Landscape and Climate Change

Many eons ago, geologic forces in east Africa thrust up a north-south mountainous barrier in the rift zone that separated "Proconsul" into two groups. Those to the west evolved into apes while those to the east evolved into the first hominids that had access to the seashore and sea foods rich in amino acids essential to brain development. Primitive tool use coincided with increased procurement levels of these and other protein rich foods. Thusly, hominids became our ancestors.

Changing Landscape and Climate Change Shaped Human Evolution:

https://theconversation.com/how-a-changing-landscape-and-climate-shaped-early-humans-19862

Question: Where is the dividing line between the animal kingdom and the human kingdom?

Friday, May 21, 2021

Abortion: Texas’ Heartbeat Bill

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signs fetal "heartbeat" bill, prohibiting most abortions after a heartbeat can be detected; could ban the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy...

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/18/texas-heartbeat-bill-abortions-law/

My Comment: With Texas’ new abortion law, the fetus is declared to be human when there’s a detectable heartbeat at about six weeks of age. Now the real work begins — or shall we say, “it’s where the rubber meets the road”.

For example:

Exceptions to the rule will have to be worked out thru the courts because some special case pregnancies will have to be terminated.

Dramatically increased public support for contraception will need to be forthcoming.

Holding absent fathers accountable will have to be ramped up.

Social and financial services for children will need to be proportionately increased, et al.

Without humane and responsible ‘follow through’, the new law would become a testimony to ‘heart’lessness and then, itself, need to be terminated.

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Covid: “The Gift That Keeps On Giving”

The pandemic is a global wake up call. We are all connected in many ways and on many levels. Lessons yet to be learned are only just now being revealed.

For example:

It’s obvious that we, as a nation, will not be able to quickly build herd immunity via vaccinations despite the current availability of vaccines because a large percentage of people are not willing to be vaccinated. This means that herd immunity will be achieved the old fashioned way. And with the more highly contagious variants spreading throughout the world and nation, this will occur sooner rather than later. The term ‘long hauler’ designates those who suffer long term effects from Covid and is something that all too many of the unvaccinated will become familiar with.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-long-term-effects/art-20490351

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Conspiracy Theories Fulfill A Basic Human Need

“...research has shown that many irrational beliefs are attempts to protect mental health by responding to the human need for control, understanding and belonging...”

“...there is a powerful drive for causal understanding. In a novel situation, people need a causal map to navigate the environment. They may settle for an explanation before they have all the relevant information, because uncertainty is hard to tolerate. In a pandemic scenario, the explanation may be filling a gap caused by doubt and division among experts. This is definitely the case with COVID-19...”

“Seeing the event(s) as planned rather than accidental allows people to maintain a sense of control over a reality that is confusing and unpredictable. If there is someone to blame, we can restore some kind of balance to the universe by seeking to punish the culprits for their evil conduct. Also, we can prevent them from harming us next time. This illusion of control contributes to our optimism about the future and helps us cope effectively with adversity.”

https://theconversation.com/conspiracy-theories-may-seem-irrational-but-they-fulfill-a-basic-human-need-151324

“TheConversation.com” is rated very high on factual reporting and is gauged as being ‘least biased’.

https://theconversation.com/us

Note: Conspiracy theories such as those of Q-Anon distract us from real dangers.

Saturday, May 15, 2021

COVID: Why the Vaccinated Wear Masks

Even though I’m fully vaccinated against Covid-19, I still wear a face mask when I’m around people who may be unvaccinated. If I breathe in the Covid virus from them, even if it’s the strain that I’m immunized against, I can still possibly experience some minor symptoms as my body fights off the infection — and during this time, I can breath out the virus. If it’s a variant, then it becomes more problematic for me and for others. [In short, I’ll be routinely wearing my face mask for a long time yet.]

Note: Because of our widespread use of face masks, this past year’s flu season was very mild.

Set Vaccine Myths Aside:

https://abc7.com/covid-vaccine-side-effects-myths-modern-pfizer/10563248/

Video, using infrared, shows spread of cold, flu and Covid viruses as we talk and breathe:

https://youtu.be/xEp-Sdgl9AU

Friday, May 14, 2021

Covid: The Plight of the Willingly Unvaccinated

The unvaccinated person who has not yet contracted Covid and does not wear a mask in appropriate situations is quite dependent for their safety upon the good will of the unvaccinated who do faithfully wear their face masks. The unvaccinated are, also, becoming increasingly ‘dependent’ upon those who are being vaccinated. The single greatest danger to the unvaccinated are others like themselves.

Note: Those Texans ignoring social distancing guidelines? They’re probably not vaccinated:

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/14/texas-covid-19-guidelines-masks/

Herd immunity appears unlikely for COVID-19, but CDC says vaccinated people can ditch masks in most settings:

https://theconversation.com/herd-immunity-appears-unlikely-for-covid-19-but-cdc-says-vaccinated-people-can-ditch-masks-in-most-settings-160228

Addendum (May 18, 2021):

Texas Governor Abbott was vaccinated against Covid in December. Now, today, he’s mandated against face masks in the schools (where large groups of unvaccinated kids meet for prolonged periods of time indoors). This should get interesting when the students transmit Covid variants home to those parents who are unvaccinated and other unvaccinated extended family members of voting age.

Thursday, May 13, 2021

Three of the Biggest Truths

God is Everlasting.

God is the Source of All.

God is All-in-All.

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Three of the Biggest Lies

“Bipartisan usually means that a larger-than-usual deception is being carried out.”

https://images.app.goo.gl/MKeE6TCvudfrQ1RE9

The single biggest bipartisan lie is that the federal deficit / national debt is not a major danger to our national security. The biggest conservative lie is that global climate change doesn’t pose a serious threat. The biggest liberal lie is that we can afford unchecked illegal immigration while simultaneously expanding social programs. Bring these three lies and their corollaries together and you’ve got the ‘perfect storm’ brewing. Meanwhile, the misdirection instigated by misinformation can only make it worse.

News Bias:

https://samslair.blogspot.com/search?q=News+bias&max-results=20&by-date=true&m=1

News Sources (English)

World newspapers, magazines, and news sites in English, sorted by country and region:

http://www.world-newspapers.com

Monday, May 3, 2021

AGW: Stating the Obvious About Global Warming

Over seventy years ago, there were those who indicated that, based on a growing coal and oil based international economy, Chicago’s climate would very likely someday be semitropical. This was based on the discovery in 1862 that certain gases (water and carbon dioxide) help trap heat in air. Later, in 1895, the infrared-absorbing properties of carbon dioxide and water vapor molecules was observed. Then in the 1980s, oil companies themselves were warning us about the greenhouse effect and global warming. Now, we’re at the point where global temperatures are steadily rising in lockstep with greenhouse gas levels as ocean currents and jet streams are beginning to shift. Ocean life is suffering, and we are beginning to. Record droughts, high and low temperature records, as well as the frequency of unusual weather events are increasing in frequency.

Why we know about the greenhouse effect:

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/why-we-know-about-the-greenhouse-gas-effect/

Why CO2 has outsized influence on climate:

https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-why-carbon-dioxide-has-such-outsized-influence-on-earths-climate-123064

CO2 absorbs and re-emits heat:

https://scied.ucar.edu/carbon-dioxide-absorbs-and-re-emits-infrared-radiation

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