He's not feeling well

Seed Vault

We like drugs

Do you think he has a little ego?

There was no issue of Time that had this cover that year.

Wise Words

From Winston Churchill:

Let us learn our lessons. Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The Statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Antiquated War Offices, weak, incompetent or arrogant Commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant Fortune, ugly surprises, awful miscalculations all take their seats at the Council Board on the morrow of a declaration of war. Always remember, however sure you are that you can easily win, that there would not be a war if the other man did not think he also had a chance.

The Judge is not a Lawyer

In the New York legal system there is a position known as town and village justice. There are 2,000 of these justices operating in villages and small towns. They are not required to be lawyers or to have any formal legal training. Nearly three-quarters of them are not lawyers, and many — truck drivers, sewer workers or laborers — have scant grasp of the most basic legal principles. Some never got through high school, and at least one went no further than grade school. And their courtrooms could be tiny offices or basement rooms without a judge’s bench or jury box. Sometimes the public is not admitted, witnesses are not sworn to tell the truth, and there is no word-for-word record of the proceedings.

The  New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct oversees all the judges in the state. 70 percent of the disciplinary cases heard by the Commission involve these justices. Some charges: a justice removed for drunk driving; another for physically abusing a colleague; another who, while not a lawyer himself, had nonetheless intervened in a friend’s case in another court by appearing as the friend’s lawyer.

Clean Water?

Supervisory Stress Test

The test is conducted by the Federal Reserve. It looks at what would happen to the 34 largest banks should we go into a deep recession. The Fed projects losses of $493 billion. But there is a total  of 5,856 FDIC insured banks. And the federal deposit insurance fund as of March 31, 2017 had on hand only $84.9 billion to bail out all banks that go under. So, who do you think will come to the rescue? You and me!

Note that the projected losses are based on one day's activity (January 3, 2017). Would not the projections be more reliable if they were based on the average for several days?

What is in the bill?

Changing the quality of science at the EPA

For many, many years the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has relied on its Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) to review and advise EPA’s internal research departments on their scientific methodology. There were thirty-eight members of  BOSC when Trump was sworn in. Soon, there will be eleven. They will be replaced with more scientists from regulated industries. Since the new administration seems to take a very long time filling positions, the BOSC will likely be unable to function for quite a while.

The former BOSC Chairperson Deb Swackhamer notes "Science is the bedrock of EPA policy, and external independent advice by BOSC to guide and continually improve the research at EPA is critical to its mission. I am concerned that this will also impact the competitiveness of EPA science and the high regard it has in the world."

Thinking Time

This is tampering with the vote

Would result be different.....

if Andrea Constand dressed differently?

UConn challengers

Courtesy of our Brooklyn, NY correspondent

The proposed GOP health plan

How to make $81,000,000

Forest or Desert

Afghanistan is not exactly a forest dreamland. Only 2.1 percent of the country’s total land area is covered with forest, the rest is mainly desert. Yet, we spent $94,000,000 to buy “woodland pattern” uniforms for the Afghan National Army. We could have supplied regular uniforms for free, but the Afghan defense minister liked the pattern. The fellow, Dr. Tim O'Neill, who created the camouflage pattern which served as the basis for the Army Combat Uniform, says, "DESERT DESIGNS DON’T WORK WELL IN WOODLAND AREAS AND WOODLAND PATTERNS PERFORM POORLY IN THE DESERT." Changing the uniforms used by Afghan troops “could save U.S. taxpayers between $68.61 million and $72.21 million over the next 10 years,” the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan says.

While there is not much news about Afghanistan, we are spending $3.1 billion a month there. Firther, we have committed $66 billion to equipping and supporting Afghan security forces, supplying them with fuel, ammunition and weapons to fight Taliban insurgents. 

Spelling the correct word

Today is the day of the summer solstice. And this sundial located in Southern France tells us so. It will also tell us the days of the winter solstice and the equinoxes.

Thanks to a Duncaster scientist.

Social Progress Index

The following is taken from the site of the Social Progress Initiative:

We created the Social Progress Index to broaden how country success is measured, beyond economic indicators like GDP per capita. Social progress is about meeting everyone’s basic needs for food, clean water, shelter, and security. It is about living healthy, long lives, and protecting the environment. It is about education, freedom, and opportunity.

I've tried to find out who "We" is but the site is not the clearest in the world when it comes to saying who they are unless one is willing to spend a lot of time on the issue. The site lists a number of foundations that fund it and thanks a raft of people. Yet, it's hard to judge the accuracy of its work. 

The index is based on three major areas: 
1. Basic Human Needs, which are defined as Nutrition and Basic Medical Care, Water and Sanitation, Shelter Personal Safety.
2. Foundations of Wellbeing,  which are defined as Access to Basic Knowledge, Access to Information and Communications, Health and Wellness, Environmental Quality
3. Opportunity, which is defined as Personal Rights, Personal Freedom and Choice, Tolerance and Inclusion, Access to Advanced Education.

The report covers 128 countries.  We did not do very well; we ranked 18.

Combine Aleve and Nexium and you get Vimovo

Horizon Pharma, an Irish drug company, bought Vimovo from Astra Zeneca in 2013. They have done well with it, sales have exceeded $450 million. It sounds bizarre ,since Vivomo consists of two drugs that comprise the over-the-counter medicines, Aleve and Nexium. The Aleve handles your pain, and the Nexium helps with the upset stomach that’s sometimes caused by the pain reliever. The basic pitch is that it’s easier to take one pill than two.

The cost of a month's supply of Aleve and Nexium is about $40. For Vimovo, it's $3,252. Since Horizon has done so well with Vimovo , it has introduced  Duexis, a similar convenience drug that combines ibuprofen and famotidine, aka Advil and Pepsid.

25 kids die from bullet wounds in a typical week in America

That's what some researchers concluded after analyzing data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. Gunshots are the second leading cause of injury-related death in children, exceeded only by car accidents. Also, they found that there were 5,790 nonfatal injuries a year from gunshots, most due to assault. Most children who died of unintentional gun injuries were shot by another child of about the same age, most often while playing with a gun or showing it to others. 

We're getting fatter

The New England Journal of Medicine has just published the results of an extensive study of obesity in the world. The study is the largest systematic analysis of obesity data ever done, with researchers combing the medical literature and crunching thousands of data sets on obesity in adults and children covering 195 countries.  What did they find?

More than 10 percent of the world's population — 107.7 million children and 603.7 adults — is now obese. This obesity contributed to 4 million deaths globally — or 7 percent of the deaths from any cause — in 2015. Most of those deaths were caused by cardiovascular disease, with diabetes following closely behind, along with kidney disease and cancers. 4 million is a big number. It is higher than the deaths caused by traffic accidents, Alzheimer’s, or other deadly issues that get a lot of airtime, like terrorism, combined.

Much of the blame for this rise is based on cheap fast food, such as that found at places like McDonalds where the food is cheap, calorie-dense and the drinks lacking in nutrients. And we're also simply eating more calories per person: Portion sizes have gone up, and eating outside of the home often means heavier, unhealthier foods, and sugary drinks to wash them down.

Of the 20 largest countries in the world, the US had the worst rate of childhood obesity, with 13 percent of children now obese. Egypt had the highest adult obesity prevalence, where 35 percent of adults are now obese.

Some sobering data

From Save The Children 

HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF CHILDREN WORLDWIDE ARE MISSING OUT ON CHILDHOOD

263 MILLION children are out of school.

168 MILLION children are involved in child labor. Half (85 million) are doing hazardous work.

NEARLY 28 MILLION children have been forced to flee their homes (11 million are refugees and asylum-seekers; 17 million are internally displaced).

AROUND 8 MILLION boys and girls aged 0-19 die each year; 75% (6 million) are children under age 5.

ROUGHLY 16 MILLION girls between the ages of 15 and 19 – and 1 million girls under age 15 – give birth each year. 75,000+ boys and girls under the age of 20 were murdered in 2015.

156 MILLION children under age 5 have stunted growth.

ABOUT 40 MILLION girls (aged 15-19) are currently married or in union. 15 million are married as children each year (under age 18) and 4 million of those are married under age 15.

Where the money is

Tour the national forests in the Pacific Northwest

Two heads, one porpoise

It was caught in the North Sea last month. Unfortunately, it died shortly after birth, or so the experts say. This condition is very, very rare; this was only the ninth case of which scientists are aware.

A rare operation

Erin and Abby were born last July connected at their heads. This week their heads were separated in an 11-hour operation in Philadelphia. It took thirty people to perform the surgery. The lead doctor said, "Separating conjoined twins is a very complex surgery followed by a long and complicated recovery, but we are very hopeful for a positive outcome." Connection by heads is the least common type of conjoined twins, which, itself, is quite rare. It was only the 23rd time the hospital has separated conjoined twins over the past 60 years and the first involving a craniopagus, or separation of children joined at the top of their heads.

An upside down rainbow on the Vineyard?

What Can Be Done By The Government

This is a repeat of something I wrote five years ago. It's worth remembering, given Trump's intent to cut the budget.

The Center for American Progress has looked at some of the results of successful investments by the federal government. It is truly astounding.

Department of Energy labs: 1943–present The optical digital recording technology behind all music, video, and data storage; fluorescent lights; communications and observation satellites; advanced batteries now used in electric cars; modern water-purification techniques that make drinking water safe for millions; supercomputers used by government, industry, and consumers every day; more resilient passenger jets; better cancer therapies; and the confirmation that it was an asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

National Science Foundation: 1950–present Google, which was started by a couple of students working on a research project supported by the National Science Foundation, is today worth an estimated $250 billion and employs 54,000 people. This alone would pay for nearly all the program’s costs reaching back to its inception, but funding has also been instrumental in the development of new technologies and companies in nearly every major industry, including advanced electronics, computing, digital communications, environmental resource management, lasers, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and higher education.

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA: 1958–present The team that would go on to pioneer technologies that brought us the Internet, the Global Positioning System, and Siri.

The Apollo Space Program: 1961–1969 Massive technological advancement and the start of huge opportunities for technology transfer, leading to more than 1,500 successful spinoffs related to areas as disparate as heart monitors, solar panels, and cordless innovation. More recently, we’ve seen a fledgling private-sector American space industry with real growth potential, which in 2012 completed its first cargo delivery to the international space station.

Human Genome Project: 1988–2003 Critical tools to help identify, treat, and prevent causes of disease—and huge opportunities for the high-growth American biotechnology industry, which accounts for more than three-quarters of $1 trillion in economic output, or 5.4 percent of GDP, in 2010, and now depends heavily on these advances in genetics.

Side Effects

The number of ads on tv for prescription drugs is mind-numbing. I wonder if anyone pays attention to the listing of possible side effects. I don't, but I do marvel at the pleasant scenes that are shown as the list is read. It turns out that the FDA does not expend much effort on side effects either. In 2015, the Government Accountability Office reported that the “FDA lacks reliable, readily accessible data” needed for systematic oversight and to ensure that drug companies comply with agreements to track safety after a drug comes to market.

The main way the FDA uses to tell us of possible side effects is with the label on the bottle. STAT has an interesting article about this with regard to a popular drug for rheumatoid arthritis, Actemra. It is used by more than 760,000 patients globally and generated sales of $1.7 billion last year, making it Roche’s fifth highest-grossing drug. Studies have shown that Actemra patients experienced an unusually large number of serious side effects that don’t appear on the drug’s warning label.

Actemra is not alone when it comes to warning labels.  As Dr. Vinay Prasad, an oncologist and medical ethicist at the Oregon Health and Science University, says,. “We’ve done a very good job of making it easier to approve drugs, often based on very preliminary evidence. But we haven’t ramped up the standards of post-marketing surveillance to make sure that what’s been out there for several years is safe and effective. The system is broken, and all the financial incentives are lined up to keep it broken.”

Analyzing the F-35

He's happy

Paying the price

You probably recall the water crisis a few years ago in Flint, Mi. The city moved its water supply from Detroit to the local river. Unfortunately, they did not do much checking of the Flint River. Had they done so, they would have discovered that the water was contaminated due to lead from old plumbing. Many residents, young and old, developed Legionnaires' disease. Now, the head of the state's health department has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. He is accused of failing to alert the public about the outbreak of Legionnaires' disease. 

Global Growth Forecast

Climate Change and the Drought

Two water scientists have published a paper which argues that about one-third of the decline in the country's two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, was likely due to higher temperatures in the Colorado River’s Upper Basin, which result from climate change. Lake Mead on the Arizona/Nevada border and Lake Powell on the Arizona/Utah border, were brim full in the year 2000. Four years later, they had lost enough water to supply California its legally apportioned share of Colorado River water. Now, 17 years later, they still have not recovered. This threatens water supplies in major Western cities, such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, as well as some of the most productive agricultural lands anywhere in the world. The scientists attribute the decline to more than one cause - overuse, an ongoing drought, which started in 2000 and has led to substantial reductions in river flows, and  higher temperatures in the Colorado River’s Upper Basin, which result from climate change.

The study showed that from 2000 to 2014 annual flows in the Colorado River averaged 19 percent below the 20th-century average. During this period temperatures in the Upper Basin, where most of the runoff that feeds the Colorado River is produced, were 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 20th-century average. High temperatures continued in 2015 and 2016, as did less-than-average flows. Runoff in 2017 is expected to be above average, but this will only modestly improve reservoir volumes.

How do high temperatures affect river levels? Coupled with earlier snow melt, they lead to a longer growing season, which means more days of water demand from plants. Higher temperatures also increase daily plant water use and evaporation from water bodies and soils. In sum, as it warms, the atmosphere draws more water, up to 4 percent more per degree Fahrenheit from all available sources, so less water flows into the river. These findings also apply to all semi-arid rivers in the American Southwest, especially the Rio Grande.

Famine - a weapon of war

A bee invasion

The kids are on board

It's good that a 7-year-old bully has a team of strong admirers.

Why?

Assassinating the Leader

There is quite a bit of commotion about the production of the play Julius Caesar currently running in New York. The commotion results from the fact that this version of the play is set in Washington, DC, and the actor playing Caesar looks like Trump. Some sponsors, including Delta Airlines, have withdrawn. Yet, the same play was produced in 2012 and 2013 with a Caesar looking like Obama and there was no furor.

Rainbow on Martha's Vineyard

What are the odds?

Memory starts failing as you age

WATCH: Donald Trump demand a loyalty pledge... by sarahburris

A perfect gift

You can buy the above dress for $3,050. It is not a gimmick, it is made up of straw hats. Eight straw hats have been stitched together and black ribbons are used as straps. 

Who do you believe?

The New Jim Crow?

The America's Cup Race is not easy

AVR?

OECD June Report

Bingo!

Fentanyl and people under 50

The New York Times has a fairly extensive article on deaths by fentanyl. The writer acknowledges that their data is not as good as he would like, but the article does include a section describing the data collection process. And it's reasonable.

The estimate is that 62,500 people overdosed on drugs in 2016, most of whom died from fentanyl and similar drugs. Death from drugs is thought to be the largest cause of death for those under 50 years old. 

The article also estimates that "Over two million Americans are estimated to be dependent on opioids, and an additional 95 million used prescription painkillers in the past year — more than used tobacco".

The lawn needs mowing

Why We Lie

From National Geographic

Looking at Religious Intolerance

Unthinkable?

Wall Street on Parade usually talks about the world of finance. Yesterday, it expanded its scope in an article entitled "The Unthinkable is Happening to America". It's devastating. Rather than extract portions of it, here is the complete article:

The unthinkable is happening so fast to America that there is a serious, growing threat that U.S. citizens are becoming desensitized to the chilling reality of our nation’s precipitous decline in respect and credibility around the world. The reflex action is to either deny it’s happening or pull the covers over one’s head.

Two weeks before President Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, Der Spiegel, one of the most influential and widely read news magazines in Europe, published a breathtaking assessment of the sitting President of the United States. Written by its Executive Editor, Klaus Brinkbäumer, the editorial was brutal and came from a publication known for its investigative acumen. Brinkbäumer made the following observations:

“Donald Trump has transformed the United States into a laughing stock and he is a danger to the world. He must be removed from the White House before things get even worse…

“Donald Trump is not fit to be president of the United States. He does not possess the requisite intellect and does not understand the significance of the office he holds nor the tasks associated with it. He doesn’t read. He doesn’t bother to peruse important files and intelligence reports and knows little about the issues that he has identified as his priorities. His decisions are capricious and they are delivered in the form of tyrannical decrees…

“Crises, including those in Syria and Libya, are escalating, but no longer being discussed. And who should they be discussed with? Phone calls and emails to the U.S. State Department go unanswered. Nothing is regulated, nothing is stable and the trans-Atlantic relationship hardly exists anymore…”

You may not agree with the harshness of this assessment, but it matters that a widely circulated and respected news magazine holds this view of America’s sitting President. Days later, the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, reinforced the growing isolation of America in a speech with the comment that after spending a few days with President Trump, Europe “really must take our fate into our own hands.”

It’s also critical to consider the backdrop under which the President of the United States withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord yesterday – invoking more ridicule on the front pages of foreign and domestic newspapers and rebukes from the heads of some of the most famous corporate brands in America.

President Trump is tied up in court for a widely condemned travel ban directed at Muslims. His administration is under investigation by Senate and House Intelligence Committees, the FBI, a Special Counsel at the Justice Department and the Government Accountability Office for potentially illegal interactions with Russians.

The President has refused to place his business interests in a blind trust and has thumbed his nose at public sensibilities regarding nepotism by bringing his daughter and son-in-law into his administration.

While his campaign was under an investigation headed by FBI Director James Comey, the President fired Comey and then disparaged him to the Russian Foreign Minister and Russian Ambassador as a “nut job” while simultaneously providing the pair with classified information.

The reaction to all of this by Trump supporters is to dismiss it as a bogus propaganda war by disgruntled Hillary supporters. But those charges certainly can’t apply to Wall Street On Parade which throughout 2016 provided our readers with evidence that both Clinton and Trump were deeply flawed candidates and that America deserved much better.

Now Trump has earned the animosity of some of the most important brand names in America with Tweets going out against his climate accord action yesterday from the likes of Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Disney CEO Bob Iger, General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt and dozens of others.

If the world views America as a loose cannon, our nation could experience not only diplomatic backlash but there could be boycotts of our biggest brand names in foreign markets, thus hurting our critical need to expand our export markets and boost job growth at home.

This is a time for all Americans to put aside politics and come to grips with the hard cold reality of the situation in the White House. (My emphasis)

Some quotes from the military re climate change

“The nature and pace of climate changes being observed today . . . are grave and pose equally grave implications for our national security,” says a 2007 report by the Military Advisory Board, an elite group of retired three- and four-star flag and general officers from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. “It is important that the U.S. military begin planning to address these potentially devastating effects.”

“climate change will affect the Department of Defense’s ability to defend the nation and poses immediate risks to U.S. national security.”

“threat multiplier.”

“Climate change poses strategically significant risks to U.S. national security, directly impacting our critical infrastructure and increasing the likelihood of humanitarian disasters, state failure and conflict,”.

Selling weapons

Ah, Youth

What grade would you give this marketing statement?

In response to a Washington Post article about Trump cutting down staffers with insults, Hope Hicks, a White House spokesperson, issued the following statement: 

President Trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him. He has an unparalleled ability to communicate with people, whether he is speaking to a room of three or an arena of 30,000. He has built great relationships throughout his life and treats everyone with respect. He is brilliant with a great sense of humor … and an amazing ability to make people feel special and aspire to be more than even they thought possible.

Comments on Climate Change

While I do believe that climate change is a reality, I keep wondering if there is another Galileo among the naysayers.