November 30, 2022

stupid question

how do I delete some - not all- my mail.

November 27, 2022

well the Thanksgiving leftovers

are pretty much gone
made a big bowl of Turkey salad

the rest of the turkey and dressing
and green beans and gravy and
mixed veggies,
have been made into 2 potpies
one for the freezer and one for
the table.

only other thing is the sweet potato casserole
and that is good as a side

November 25, 2022

news about Brittney Griner

a lot of people have said how concerned they are for her. this came up and thought I'd post it.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/new-details-emerge-on-harsh-conditions-brittney-griner-is-facing-in-russian-penal-colony/ar-AA14rthh?OCID=ansmsnnews11

ClutchPoints
ClutchPoints


New details emerge on harsh conditions Brittney Griner is facing in Russian penal colony

A lot has been said about the potentially harsh conditions that WNBA star Brittney Griner could face in a Russian penal colony. Now after her transfer to IK-2 Mordovia, things could actually be much worse for her.

Survivor and activist Nadya Tolokonnikova, who served time in Russian penal colony, called IK-2 the “harshest” in the Russian prison system. According to Tolokonnikova, “Prisoners in IK-2 work in slave-like conditions…Some [prisoners] decide to commit suicide, which is not as easy in penal colony conditions.”

She also narrated the other brutal living conditions that the Phoenix Mercury player could be dealing with right now, including “16 hours work days,” beatings and tortures, as well as heavy physical labor.

Prisoners are also tasked to sew uniforms for the Russian army and police. They also “share barracks with 100 other people, with only 3-5 toilets for all, and no hot water,” and are only allowed to shower once a week.

Unfortunately for Brittney Griner, it doesn’t look like her release is imminent. After she was sentenced to nine years in prison for drug possession and smuggling charges, there have been talks about a potential prisoner exchange.

While Russia said recently there have been significant steps towards a deal getting done, the US government noted that Moscow has actually not negotiated with them seriously.

“We are not going to comment on the specifics of any proposals other than to say that we have made a substantial offer that the Russian Federation has consistently failed to negotiate in good faith,” a State Department spokesperson said of the issue.

“The U.S. Government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with the Russian government. The Russian government’s failure to seriously negotiate on these issues in the established channel, or any other channel for that matter runs counter to its public statements.”

Hopefully, the issue gets resolved soon. With the lack of updates on Griner’s condition, fears about her well-being will only continue to intensify.

November 25, 2022

1000 ways to die in Australia

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbeat/huge-python-drags-boy-5-into-pool-and-coils-around-him-scary/ar-AA14xw3g?OCID=ansmsnnews11

Huge Python Drags Boy, 5, Into Pool and Coils Around Him: 'Scary'

A huge python dragged a 5-year-old boy into a swimming pool in Australia and coiled around him.

Beau Blake had been walking near a pool at his home in Byron Bay, New South Wales, when the 9-foot carpet python slithered from the garden and bit his leg, 9News reported.

The snake, three times the size of the boy, dragged him into the pool and began coiling itself around his leg.

Pythons are non-venomous, meaning bites are not fatal. But their teeth can inflict a painful injury.

"I just started kicking back on the lounge, just started enjoying a tin [can of beer] and all of a sudden it was on," the boy's father Ben Blake told NBN News. "Before he even hit the bottom of the pool it was completely wrapped around the leg... it was from the bite right up to around his knee joint."

The boy's grandfather, 76-year-old Alan Blake, instantly jumped into the pool after his grandson.

Once the boy was out of the pool, the snake was unlatched from his leg. His father told NBN that he grabbed the snake close to the head, "squeezed and pulled."

The incident must have been "scary for the parents," herpetologist Chris Jolly, a postdoctoral research fellow at Charles Sturt University and research associate at the Australian Museum, told Newsweek.

scary for the parents - no kidding

November 24, 2022

united furniture industries fires EVERYONE

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/11/24/united-furniture-industries-fires-workforce-victorville-termination-lay-off/69675245007/

Two days before Thanksgiving, United Furniture Industries executives terminated “all its employees,” including those working at the plant at Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville.

Employees received a message by text or email from the company, instructing them not to report to work on Tuesday because their jobs were being immediately terminated “due to unforeseen business circumstances.”

“At the instruction of the board of directors of United Furniture Industries Inc. and all subsidiaries, we regret to inform you that due to unforeseen business circumstances, the company has been forced to make the difficult decision to terminate the employment of all its employees, effective immediately, on Nov. 21, 2022,” the message said.

A second email told employees that “your layoff from the company is expected to be permanent and all benefits will be terminated immediately without provision of COBRA.”

The company closed out its message by citing the “difficult and unexpected situation” that economic experts say likely includes high gas prices, inflation and the war in Ukraine as key factors.

It’s unclear how many UFI employees were affected by the furniture manufacturer’s decision to terminate its remaining workforce.

Truckers

Over-the-road truck drivers for its furniture delivery division UFI Transportation, who are currently making deliveries, “will be paid for the balance of the week,” the company stated.

The UFI statement directs truckers with loads to “immediately return equipment, inventory and delivery documents for those deliveries that have been completed to one of the following locations: Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Verona, Mississippi; or Victorville, California.”

just DAMN I bet the head office will be OK ....

November 9, 2022

fire at chevrons el-segundo refinery

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fire-breaks-out-at-chevrons-el-segundo-california-refinery-media/ar-AA13TfrO

Reuters) -Crews were working to extinguish a fire that broke out at Chevron's oil refinery in El Segundo, California on Tuesday, KTLA 5 reported on its news website.

Chevron, which operates the 269,000 barrel-per-day refinery, was not immediately available for comment.

November 9, 2022

in Indiana they have already called

Young the winner 7% reporting ... GOP hold .. how do they do that
with only 7% reporting ... RCP

and SC they have Scott as the winner ... 0% reporting ....
WTH ...

October 18, 2022

ok why are we doing this ...

https://www.boston.com/news/health/2022/10/17/boston-university-researchers-hybrid-covid-virus-friction-government/

By Ross Cristantiello
October 17, 2022

Recent research conducted by Boston University scientists involving a hybrid version of the COVID-19 virus is causing a stir in the scientific community. The work seemingly caught one of the research’s primary funding sources off guard, and has generated headlines alleging that the researchers created a more lethal version of COVID-19.

A paper containing this research was published online Friday. This is a preprint, however, meaning that it has not yet been peer-reviewed.

This work, conducted at BU’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, revolves around the creation of a chimeric, or hybrid virus.

Scientists took the spike protein of an omicron variant of the virus and attached it to a virus of the original strain that spread around the world in 2020. The goal was to study why omicron has a lower rate of severe infections.

The new, fused virus was then compared to naturally-occurring omicron virus samples. This was done to determine whether the mutations in the omicron spike protein were what caused omicron’s lower levels of severity and increased ability to evade immunity.

However, the hybrid virus created by BU’s researchers still killed 80% of the lab mice infected with it, making it more deadly than the natural omicron variants. It is crucial to note that the original virus killed 100% of the lab mice exposed to it.

In the end, researchers concluded that the mutations of the omicron spike protein allow the variant to evade immunity, but are not the cause of omicron’s decreased severity.

This research is reportedly causing friction between the scientists conducting it and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped fund the work. Director of NIAID’s Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Emily Erbelding told STAT that the BU group’s original grant applications did not clarify that this specific work would be done. The BU researchers also did not make clear in their progress reports to NIAID that their experiments could enhance a pathogen of pandemic potential, STAT reported.

Asked if the BU researchers should have told NIAID of their desire to do this work, Erbelding reportedly replied “We wish that they would have, yes.”

She also told STAT that NIAID would have “conversations over upcoming days” with the BU team.

NIAID policy dictates that any proposals to conduct research that could produce enhanced pathogens of pandemic potential should be referred to a committee that then analyzes the risks and benefits of such work. This policy is called a P3CO framework, according to STAT.

“What we would have wanted to do is to talk about exactly what they wanted to do in advance, and if it met what the P3CO framework defines as enhanced pathogen of pandemic potential, ePPP, we could have put a package forward for review by the committee that’s convened by HHS, the office of the assistant secretary for preparedness and response. That’s what the framework lays out and that’s what we would have done,” Erbelding told STAT.

BU pushed back against media reports that characterized this work as making COVID-19 more deadly.

“First, this research is not gain-of-function research, meaning it did not amplify the Washington state SARS-COV-2 virus strain (original virus from 2020) or make it more dangerous,” the university said in a statement to The Boston Herald. “In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous.”

so they took the omicron variant which spreads fast but not as deadly
and married it to the original covid which killed lots of people
and they tell us it makes the virus less dangerous ... sure
sorry not a lab worker .. but find that hard to believe
and don't trust any of em ... most of them look at us as lab rats