Population cartogram of the United Kingdom
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The danger is clear and present: COVID isn’t merely a respiratory illness; it’s a multi-dimensional threat impacting brain function, attacking almost all of the body’s organs, producing elevated risks of all kinds, and weakening our ability to fight off other diseases. Reinfections are thought to produce cumulative risks, and Long COVID is on the rise. Unfortunately, Long COVID is now being considered a long-term chronic illness — something many people will never fully recover from.
Dr. Phillip Alvelda, a former program manager in DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office that pioneered the synthetic biology industry and the development of mRNA vaccine technology, is the founder of Medio Labs, a COVID diagnostic testing company. He has stepped forward as a strong critic of government COVID management, accusing health agencies of inadequacy and even deception. Alvelda is pushing for accountability and immediate action to tackle Long COVID and fend off future pandemics with stronger public health strategies.
Contrary to public belief, he warns, COVID is not like the flu. New variants evolve much faster, making annual shots inadequate. He believes that if things continue as they are, with new COVID variants emerging and reinfections happening rapidly, the majority of Americans may eventually grapple with some form of Long COVID.
Let’s repeat that: At the current rate of infection, most Americans may get Long COVID.
[...]
LP: A recent JAMA study found that US adults with Long COVID are more prone to depression and anxiety – and they’re struggling to afford treatment. Given the virus’s impact on the brain, I guess the link to mental health issues isn’t surprising.
PA: There are all kinds of weird things going on that could be related to COVID’s cognitive effects. I’ll give you an example. We’ve noticed since the start of the pandemic that accidents are increasing. A report published by TRIP, a transportation research nonprofit, found that traffic fatalities in California increased by 22% from 2019 to 2022. They also found the likelihood of being killed in a traffic crash increased by 28% over that period. Other data, like studies from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, came to similar conclusions, reporting that traffic fatalities hit a 16-year high across the country in 2021. The TRIP report also looked at traffic fatalities on a national level and found that traffic fatalities increased by 19%.
LP: What role might COVID play?
PA: Research points to the various ways COVID attacks the brain. Some people who have been infected have suffered motor control damage, and that could be a factor in car crashes. News is beginning to emerge about other ways COVID impacts driving. For example, in Ireland, a driver’s COVID-related brain fog was linked to a crash that killed an elderly couple.
Damage from COVID could be affecting people who are flying our planes, too. We’ve had pilots that had to quit because they couldn’t control the airplanes anymore. We know that medical events among U.S. military pilots were shown to have risen over 1,700% from 2019 to 2022, which the Pentagon attributes to the virus.
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LP: You’ve criticized the track record of the CDC and the WHO – particularly their stubborn denial that COVID is airborne.
PA: They knew the dangers of airborne transmission but refused to admit it for too long. They were warned repeatedly by scientists who studied aerosols. They instituted protections for themselves and for their kids against airborne transmission, but they didn’t tell the rest of us to do that.
[...]
LP: How would you grade Biden on how he’s handled the pandemic?
PA: I’d give him an F. In some ways, he fails worse than Trump because more people have actually died from COVID on his watch than on Trump’s, though blame has to be shared with Republican governors and legislators who picked ideological fights opposing things like responsible masking, testing, vaccination, and ventilation improvements for partisan reasons. Biden’s administration has continued to promote the false idea that the vaccine is all that is needed, perpetuating the notion that the pandemic is over and you don’t need to do anything about it. Biden stopped the funding for surveillance and he stopped the funding for renewing vaccine advancement research. Trump allowed 400,000 people to die unnecessarily. The Biden administration policies have allowed more than 800,000 to 900,000 and counting.
[...]
LP: The situation with bird flu is certainly getting more concerning with the CDC confirming that a third person in the U.S. has tested positive after being exposed to infected cows.
PA: Unfortunately, we’re repeating many of the same mistakes because we now know that the bird flu has made the jump to several species. The most important one now, of course, is the dairy cows. The dairy farmers have been refusing to let the government come in and inspect and test the cows. A team from Ohio State tested milk from a supermarket and found that 50% of the milk they tested was positive for bird flu viral particles.
[...]
PA: There’s a serious risk now in allowing the virus to freely evolve within the cow population. Each cow acts as a breeding ground for countless genetic mutations, potentially leading to strains capable of jumping to other species. If any of those countless genetic experiments within each cow prove successful in developing a strain transmissible to humans, we could face another pandemic – only this one could have a 58% death rate. Did you see the movie “Contagion?” It was remarkably accurate in its apocalyptic nature. And that virus only had a 20% death rate. If the bird flu makes the jump to human-to-human transition with even half of its current lethality, that would be disastrous.
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You know people assume (and like it's their right to do so, its headcanons, etc etc don't come with pitchforks at me) that Bradley's youth queer experience would be very positive given Mav and the implied icemav of it all
But I think instead of making him more open about his sexuality in adulthood (or just unapologetic), it'd give the opposite result
This is to do with that, although he'd see happy queer people (Mav and Ice) behind closed doors, his childhood, mainly in the 80s and 90s, as well as Mav's and Ice's attitudes toward being open about their relationship, would teach him how cruel the world can be and the typical 'better safe than sorry' attitude being queer outside of typical queer spaces brings to many
He could see Mav and Ice love each other very very much, maybe to the point he'd even base his idea of love on them, but he'd also see how much maneuvering would keeping their relationship from the public cost. Sure, there are friends who supported them (flyboys, Carole, etc), but there were also countless people who would destroy their careers and lives if they ever found out (also if Mav ever adopted/fostered him, just suspicions of him being queer could put Bradley back in the system, the way things worked back in the 90s and also given how many fostering agency, even government employed, are christian-lead...)
In the instances someone would come close to discovering it, not only he'd see how distressing it can be but also how much being discovered would cost - whether this is personal safety, job security, respect, etc. And even if the worst didn't come to it, he'd still be left with the foil remarks and hate 'bullying'
As long as DADT was in place, I think he'd be equally if not more careful in comparison to what he had seen while with Mav and/or Ice
If anything I think Jake would have more of the naivety being openly and unashamedly queer takes (whether this is because he grew up in an environment with no visible queer people ergo never saw actual acts of hate toward them, or because he thinks he left the most hateful environment and nothing can be worse than it OR maybe because he is 100% or nothing kind of guy, no matter to what he commits)
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Quand t’es jaloux du résultat des élections au Royaume-Uni, c’est que vraiment y’a un problème
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“I don’t know why my extreme reactionary political views are harming my social life :(“
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i think that veganism as a political movement has a lot of interesting things to say about how food agriculture has been shaped by consumerism and the way its alienated the average westerner from food production especially around meat. its a cruel cruel industry for everyone involved and it sucks.
unfortunately it also overwelmingly falls victim (like a lot of other socially progressive political movements lol) to a complete inability or perhaps a refusal to engage with rural indigenous communities especially in the global south. which is ironic because (like a lot of other socially progressive political movements) much of their theoretical framework for reforming society Depends on rural indigenous communities especially in the global south ^.^
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I am also a non-Brit so do not accuse me of being English but I think non-Brits significantly underestimate the popularity and impact of Mr Brightside on British culture
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ouhh..... what if the scientists like, also released more prey into the forests or something and the cats became suspicious.... what would the scientists do if one of the clan cats specifically came to them for help for whatever reason?
You have to remember they are researchers. They are interacting with wild animals, and aren't trying to ruin their data with interference like that.
They don't give food gifts, flood the forest with animals (except when other conservation efforts overlap), or attempt to acclimate Clan cats to humans. This fear of people is considered a good thing; it would be very bad for cats to rely on humans or interact with hikers regularly.
(Even SkyClan can end up on thin ice with their willingness to steal and beg.)
So it's unlikely the Clan cats come up to ask for help and that is a positive. If it did happen, they may do the bare minimum (like when a shark asks a human to remove a fishhook), and then write it down in their notes.
But hikers are given a LOT of warnings, and even fined, for bothering the wildlife. Clan cats WILL hurt you if you grab them. You're encouraged to only walk and camp in marked areas.
The cats aren't the only reason for that either!
Sanctuary Lake boasts a sizeable boar population, a red deer herd, over a dozen species of protected songbirds, badgers, otters, foxes, and beavers were (indirectly) re-introduced.
Motor boats are also banned in the lake, to protect water quality. The water is so pure that it's able to host the endangered Freshwater Pearl Mussel, and probably has its own species of endemic fish.
So in a nutshell; no. The Clan cats are not messed with. Interaction is kept distant very purposefully.
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sorry liberals, there's only 2 genders
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watched a vlog about staying in a small town in china and i looked up the small town on wikipedia out of curiosity and 4 million people live there 😳
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There are only a handful of countries in the world more densely populated than the UK.
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Annoying Orange creator nonbinary let's gooooo!!! We got another one
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What I find darkly comedic about this tweet reposted on here is that this anglophone Twitter user somehow reverse-engineered one of THE most common forms of homophobia/biphobia in France!
(Like, even down "le wokisme" being invoked, which is a dogwhistle for purported "American/Anglo" influences on French society. "Le wokisme" is often invoked to derail discourse around the place/role of LGBTQ+ individuals in French society)
"«Un silence nous entoure» : biphobie, la double peine" (2023) by Miren Garaicoechea for the journal La Libération delves into this form that biphobia often takes in French society. Specifically, the ideas that non-heterosexual sexual identities are an anglocentric cultural import, that bisexuality particularly is a cultural import, and that a focus on the struggles experienced by LGBTQ+ individuals is anglocentric frivolity.
Original French text: «Femmes, hommes… Il va falloir choisir !» Nous sommes en 2006, et Jann [Halexander], alors âgé d’une vingtaine d’années, est assis dans un hôpital parisien, une aiguille dans le bras pour une prise de sang. «L’infirmière s’est permis de donner son avis personnel. Sur quoi ? Ma bisexualité, ma vie privée.» Quinze ans plus tard, le chanteur franco-gabonais de 40 ans est toujours agacé d’être perçu comme «une bête curieuse».
English translation (by me): “Women, men… You're going to have to choose!” It's 2006, and Jann [Halexander], then in his twenties, is sitting in a Paris hospital, a needle in his arm for a blood test. “The nurse took the liberty of giving her personal opinion. About what? My bisexuality, my private life.” Fifteen years later, the 40-year-old Franco-Gabonese singer is still annoyed at being perceived as “a curious beast”.
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Sometimes I hate this country I really do.
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