From a recent JAMA study:
Between 1959 and 2016, US life expectancy increased from 69.9 years to 78.9 years but declined for 3 consecutive years after 2014.
The recent decrease in US life expectancy culminated a period of increasing cause-specific mortality among adults aged 25 to 64 years that began in the 1990s, ultimately producing an increase in all-cause mortality that began in 2010.
During 2010-2017, midlife all-cause mortality rates increased from 328.5 deaths/100 000 to 348.2 deaths/100 000.
By 2014, midlife mortality was increasing across all racial groups, caused by drug overdoses, alcohol abuse, suicides, and a diverse list of organ system diseases.
The largest relative increases in midlife mortality rates occurred in New England (New Hampshire, 23.3%; Maine, 20.7%; Vermont, 19.9%) and the Ohio Valley (West Virginia, 23.0%; Ohio, 21.6%; Indiana, 14.8%; Kentucky, 14.7%). The increase in midlife mortality during 2010-2017 was associated with an estimated 33 307 excess US deaths, 32.8% of which occurred in 4 Ohio Valley states.
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Friday, November 29, 2019
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Contract for the Web
Tim Berners-Lee is still active for the web. Over the past year he has worked with activists, academics, companies, governments and citizens from across the world to make sure our online world is safe, empowering and genuinely for everyone.
They have developed the Contract for the Web, which is based on nine principles:
Government
Ensure everyone can connect to the internet
Keep all of the internet available, all of the time
Respect and protect people’s fundamental online privacy and data rights
Companies
Make the internet affordable and accessible to everyone
Respect and protect people’s privacy and personal data to build online trust
Develop technologies that support the best in humanity and challenge the worst
Citizens
Be creators and collaborators on the Web
Build strong communities that respect civil discourse and human dignity
Fight for the Web
They have developed the Contract for the Web, which is based on nine principles:
Government
Ensure everyone can connect to the internet
Keep all of the internet available, all of the time
Respect and protect people’s fundamental online privacy and data rights
Companies
Make the internet affordable and accessible to everyone
Respect and protect people’s privacy and personal data to build online trust
Develop technologies that support the best in humanity and challenge the worst
Citizens
Be creators and collaborators on the Web
Build strong communities that respect civil discourse and human dignity
Fight for the Web
Do you want to be a judge?
Move to South Carolina and become friendly with a politician. You don't have to be a lawyer or even have a law degree to preside at a magistrate court. Magistrates include construction workers, insurance agents, pharmacists — even an underwear distributor. You will have to take a training course, but the course is shorter than those for barbers, masseuses and nail salon technicians. You'll rule on cases involving petty thefts, drunken driving, domestic violence, assaults and disorderly conduct. You'll issue arrest warrants, set bail, preside over trials and conduct preliminary hearings to assess if there is sufficient probable cause to support felony charges such as murder, rape and robbery.
Here's what ProPublica discovered about these courts:
Nearly three-quarters of the state’s magistrates lack a legal degree and couldn’t represent someone in a court of law.
A loophole in state law has allowed a quarter of South Carolina’s magistrates to remain on the bench after their terms expired, letting them escape the scrutiny of a reappointment process. One controversial magistrate continues to hold court two decades after her four-year term ended.
In 12 of the state’s 46 counties, magistrate appointments are decided by a single senator who can stock the courts with hand-picked candidates.
More than a dozen sitting magistrates have been disciplined for misconduct by the state’s judicial watchdog, but they aren’t required to disclose their offenses when seeking a new term. Even the governor, who is supposed to act as a check on nominees, is kept in the dark before signing off on their reappointments.
Here's what ProPublica discovered about these courts:
Nearly three-quarters of the state’s magistrates lack a legal degree and couldn’t represent someone in a court of law.
A loophole in state law has allowed a quarter of South Carolina’s magistrates to remain on the bench after their terms expired, letting them escape the scrutiny of a reappointment process. One controversial magistrate continues to hold court two decades after her four-year term ended.
In 12 of the state’s 46 counties, magistrate appointments are decided by a single senator who can stock the courts with hand-picked candidates.
More than a dozen sitting magistrates have been disciplined for misconduct by the state’s judicial watchdog, but they aren’t required to disclose their offenses when seeking a new term. Even the governor, who is supposed to act as a check on nominees, is kept in the dark before signing off on their reappointments.
We have to really move now
Let's talk less about Trump and act re climate change.
A quote from the annual Emissions Gap report from the U.N. Environmental Program (UNEP):
“It is evident that incremental changes will not be enough and there is a need for rapid and transformational action. By necessity, this will see profound change in how energy, food, and other material-intensive services are demanded and provided by governments, businesses, and markets.”
We have to act now as the report states that greenhouse gas emissions must begin falling 7.6 percent annually by 2020 to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C by 2030. This report backs up a recent report from the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) that levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2018.
A quote from the annual Emissions Gap report from the U.N. Environmental Program (UNEP):
“It is evident that incremental changes will not be enough and there is a need for rapid and transformational action. By necessity, this will see profound change in how energy, food, and other material-intensive services are demanded and provided by governments, businesses, and markets.”
We have to act now as the report states that greenhouse gas emissions must begin falling 7.6 percent annually by 2020 to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C by 2030. This report backs up a recent report from the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) that levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2018.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Saturday, November 23, 2019
What Susan Rice Has Learned From The Hearings
Her conclusions as reported in the NY Times:
1. Trump withheld an important Oval Office meeting and nearly $400 million in urgently needed military assistance from Ukraine to compel Mr. Zelensky to open, or at least announce, two investigations.
2. The hearings have amply demonstrated the extraordinary caliber and character of our nonpartisan career Foreign Service officers, civil servants and uniformed military personnel.
3. It is now abundantly apparent that most Republicans in Congress have abandoned all semblance of serving the national interest.
4. The primary beneficiary of our domestic dysfunction and divisions is President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
1. Trump withheld an important Oval Office meeting and nearly $400 million in urgently needed military assistance from Ukraine to compel Mr. Zelensky to open, or at least announce, two investigations.
2. The hearings have amply demonstrated the extraordinary caliber and character of our nonpartisan career Foreign Service officers, civil servants and uniformed military personnel.
3. It is now abundantly apparent that most Republicans in Congress have abandoned all semblance of serving the national interest.
4. The primary beneficiary of our domestic dysfunction and divisions is President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
What kind of plant is this?
It's not a plant. It's a thin sheet of ice crystals on the windshield of a car in Maine.
Courtesy of a Duncaster resident
Courtesy of a Duncaster resident
Friday, November 22, 2019
Another leader indicted
This time it's Israel. They've had a tough year politically - two elections and three attempts at forming a government since April. Now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a set of long-running corruption cases. Supposedly, he gave or offered lucrative official favors to several media tycoons in exchange for favorable news coverage or gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Mosquitos and history
I had never given any thought to the mosquito in a historical sense. But that was before I read a review of "The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator" by Timothy Winegard.
Malaria may have changed history in many ways:
Alexander the Great died from it as he was on his way to conquer Arabia and North Africa.
Alaric conquered Rome and then died before moving on Italy.
Otto II, a Holy Roman Emperor, died before consolidating Germanic tribes
Oliver Cromwell, Dante, Lord Byron died from it.
The book also argues that mosquitos affected the Hellenistic world, the Roman Empire’s rise and fall, the Crusades, the Mongol conquests of Genghis Khan, the European colonization of the Americas, the enslavement of Africans, the coalescence of Great Britain, the American Revolution, the formative collision between the United States and Mexico in the 1840s, the American Civil War.
Malaria may have changed history in many ways:
Alexander the Great died from it as he was on his way to conquer Arabia and North Africa.
Alaric conquered Rome and then died before moving on Italy.
Otto II, a Holy Roman Emperor, died before consolidating Germanic tribes
Oliver Cromwell, Dante, Lord Byron died from it.
The book also argues that mosquitos affected the Hellenistic world, the Roman Empire’s rise and fall, the Crusades, the Mongol conquests of Genghis Khan, the European colonization of the Americas, the enslavement of Africans, the coalescence of Great Britain, the American Revolution, the formative collision between the United States and Mexico in the 1840s, the American Civil War.
Monday, November 18, 2019
A few days, a few murders
Last week, a shooter at a high school in California killed two people and injured three others. Over the weekend, a shooter at a party in Fresno, California, killed four and wounded six more. Today, a shooting outside a Walmart in Duncan, Oklahoma, reportedly killed three people.
There have been more than 370 mass shootings in the US so far in 2019. What are we doing about it?
Some comparisons:
There have been more than 370 mass shootings in the US so far in 2019. What are we doing about it?
Some comparisons:
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