tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65022614560647921372024-03-12T22:59:02.406-05:00Things and stuffcoolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-73706596818197777332020-07-21T19:42:00.003-05:002020-07-21T19:48:06.209-05:00Masks don't make you rebreathe all your air: a simple at home experimentMasks don't make you rebreathe all your expired carbon dioxided air.* The air you breathe out comes out the sides and top and bottom in a typical mask because this is the path of least resistance. This is why glasses fog when you wear a mask: because it's directing your humidified expired air straight up into your glasses instead of in front of you. Masks with a good seal across the bridge of the nose still let air out the sides and bottom. Masks with a good seal all around like an N95 let out the air directly through the mask material (or a valve, if your mask has one). This is because you inhale and exhale a higher volume than is in that little dead space between the mask and your face.<br />
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This would probably be better done with a TikTok or something but the only thing worse than taking selfies of myself would be taking a video of myself, so here's a blog post instead. If someone sees this and wants to video themselves doing this with their more beautiful face please do.<br />
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Anyway, here's the best picture in this whole post, of the supplies that are getting some nice, natural light coming through the window:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l--D4V6QFmQ/Xxd97gR0xKI/AAAAAAAAAko/_tUKQtV8VWASAQLN-YZw0e3zrgWszdeRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0169.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l--D4V6QFmQ/Xxd97gR0xKI/AAAAAAAAAko/_tUKQtV8VWASAQLN-YZw0e3zrgWszdeRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_0169.HEIC" width="640" /></a></div>
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So first I exhaled as normally as possible into a sandwich sized ziplock bag. It's hard to breathe normally when you're thinking about breathing, and it's really easy to try to blow up your bag like a balloon. I chose a ziplock instead of a balloon because they have very low resistance to being filled with air, unlike balloons which require a bit of force to stretch. I didn't want to breathe through a straw and affect the flow of exhaled air that way, so I unzipped a small area in the corner of the bag and sealed my mouth under the overhang above the zipper. I wanted to underestimate how much I was exhaling rather than overestimate.</div>
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So here's my beautiful face doing that:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1V48DJz5Yds/XxeAoJ0roqI/AAAAAAAAAk0/vzpo_3rcXIAvei3qwRretw7bFqcM6HPLACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0171.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1203" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1V48DJz5Yds/XxeAoJ0roqI/AAAAAAAAAk0/vzpo_3rcXIAvei3qwRretw7bFqcM6HPLACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0171.HEIC" width="300" /></a></div>
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Here's the bag completely deflated to start:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E9u9_-tTk3Q/XxeAs14bQiI/AAAAAAAAAlA/3HSrFjKMGy8mx6yqeyh_S6bleKGD3fQyACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0170.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E9u9_-tTk3Q/XxeAs14bQiI/AAAAAAAAAlA/3HSrFjKMGy8mx6yqeyh_S6bleKGD3fQyACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0170.HEIC" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here it is inflated by one exhale:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bWCi3Bp8DSQ/XxeAoXxekkI/AAAAAAAAAk4/V8O1pGDUVxw5nkIfnfkQzRkRBuJppf9HACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0173.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bWCi3Bp8DSQ/XxeAoXxekkI/AAAAAAAAAk4/V8O1pGDUVxw5nkIfnfkQzRkRBuJppf9HACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0173.HEIC" width="400" /></a></div>
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It doesn't look very inflated and it isn't! But it does have air in it:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tI_0wXEQCJA/XxeAoYMXXEI/AAAAAAAAAk8/b1zGp4efnCkRBQH5LOD0cz2BKCM5Fs4ugCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0174.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tI_0wXEQCJA/XxeAoYMXXEI/AAAAAAAAAk8/b1zGp4efnCkRBQH5LOD0cz2BKCM5Fs4ugCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0174.HEIC" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then I folded the baggie to try to fit its entire volume fit under the mask, like what would happen if all your air got trapped behind it:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NlAw8gOE1u0/XxeEWD_s-6I/AAAAAAAAAlc/YsBzIg8UpP0bdey4vLQ4AL5GyXNtOhhvACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0176.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1203" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NlAw8gOE1u0/XxeEWD_s-6I/AAAAAAAAAlc/YsBzIg8UpP0bdey4vLQ4AL5GyXNtOhhvACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0176.HEIC" width="300" /></a></div>
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So here's what that looks like:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GlZXcpLJ4gg/XxeFCDJ-b2I/AAAAAAAAAl0/ERXZBXw6iTIC43rV0u-1Qd0CPn4bEu1gwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0177.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1203" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GlZXcpLJ4gg/XxeFCDJ-b2I/AAAAAAAAAl0/ERXZBXw6iTIC43rV0u-1Qd0CPn4bEu1gwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0177.HEIC" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vWNeUbVdUhw/XxeFCCFK8rI/AAAAAAAAAl4/8TNpJ8CpvCYo1mEQeoYjVTe_sfRUoSzFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0178.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1203" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vWNeUbVdUhw/XxeFCCFK8rI/AAAAAAAAAl4/8TNpJ8CpvCYo1mEQeoYjVTe_sfRUoSzFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0178.HEIC" width="300" /></a></div>
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It's hard to even fit the whole bag behind the mask. And here's what wearing a mask normally looks like, for comparison:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HHL0NL4J1LY/XxeEIBuBu8I/AAAAAAAAAlY/QlAh_NU9j9wsKTMzqlcusx4Gh9tjkw8QwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0175.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1203" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HHL0NL4J1LY/XxeEIBuBu8I/AAAAAAAAAlY/QlAh_NU9j9wsKTMzqlcusx4Gh9tjkw8QwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0175.HEIC" width="300" /></a></div>
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And here's with my cloth mask, which is a little bigger, but still has parts-of-the-bag-sticking-out-the-sides problem. And the lower ties are much looser than how I usually wear them, with the edge of the mask in front of my chin instead of tucked slightly under it:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0cbLM44w8ts/XxeFTYEYqiI/AAAAAAAAAmI/azT-Vj5jCHodg8adOhqPC3gDnn5JvPd3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0179.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1203" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0cbLM44w8ts/XxeFTYEYqiI/AAAAAAAAAmI/azT-Vj5jCHodg8adOhqPC3gDnn5JvPd3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0179.HEIC" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iNrvK-esm6o/XxeFTS5xI3I/AAAAAAAAAmM/0WjjS_SNF9UkDxn6ZKgTe24CsZlvK9CSACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0181.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1203" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iNrvK-esm6o/XxeFTS5xI3I/AAAAAAAAAmM/0WjjS_SNF9UkDxn6ZKgTe24CsZlvK9CSACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0181.HEIC" width="300" /></a></div>
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And here I am wearing it normally, without an actually-suffocating bag of plastic in the way. I even got to tie the lower ties tighter without the bag in the way:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B0HOibmPZxk/XxeEH9vMSeI/AAAAAAAAAlU/VtN58-8CSHwIa6iLq4lSsAPV29xWsankgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0182.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1203" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B0HOibmPZxk/XxeEH9vMSeI/AAAAAAAAAlU/VtN58-8CSHwIa6iLq4lSsAPV29xWsankgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_0182.HEIC" width="300" /></a></div>
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Anyway, I promise that when you inhale/exhale you're exchanging air from around the outside of your mask.<br />
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*Inhaled AND exhaled air is actually mostly nitrogen, and exhaled air is still 16% oxygen, which is why you actually can breathe your own exhaled air for a short time, and why mouth to mouth resuscitation provides oxygen during CPR. But this is a tangent.coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-69631073272167232142019-01-19T00:48:00.000-06:002019-01-19T00:55:49.579-06:00I mean really, why are men allowed to be in charge of anything?Y'all.<br />
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I cannot with the NYT article <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/18/business/bezos-divorce-amazon-stock.html">Why Jeff Bezos' Divorce Should Worry Amazon Investors</a>. And also most of the media's breathless anticipation of a public argument over the divorcing couple's money.<br />
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It's not that I don't believe that there could be a bad situation in which a successful businessperson who created a profitable company could lose control of said company and then less business savvy people could take control of the company and run it into the ground with bad decisions. It's just that the (female) ex spouse of the majority shareholder obtaining half of "his" shares is unlikely to be that situation.<br />
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A good example is the one used in the NYT article for the company that is allegedly crippled because of its founders' divorce:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cxEhGtaDMjI/XEKou9XdpnI/AAAAAAAAAfk/KN0l-SuaexMNJLYGgUX0XkZn_f624f7ywCLcBGAs/s1600/sample.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="632" height="393" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cxEhGtaDMjI/XEKou9XdpnI/AAAAAAAAAfk/KN0l-SuaexMNJLYGgUX0XkZn_f624f7ywCLcBGAs/s400/sample.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Indeed, let's look at the history of those shares since 2014 (not sure why this date is important since the divorce happened in 2010):<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WpMzm_skeGQ/XEKpL8JardI/AAAAAAAAAfs/xTwRfsSITjowmy4wuflTCZQLg298kUdUgCLcBGAs/s1600/Las%2BVegas%2BSands%2BCorp..jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="663" height="168" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WpMzm_skeGQ/XEKpL8JardI/AAAAAAAAAfs/xTwRfsSITjowmy4wuflTCZQLg298kUdUgCLcBGAs/s400/Las%2BVegas%2BSands%2BCorp..jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Ah yes, the shares have dropped by pretty much half since 2014 and look at that big dip (after a brief continued rise) when Mr. Wynn steps down as chief executive. It's clear that this divorce really hurt those shares.<br />
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(Papers shuffling, coughs) Oh gosh you guys, I'm sorry. That's the wrong chart: it's the stock prices of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., another company similar to Wynn Resorts. Here we go with the real chart:<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a9Cb96KWP_k/XEKq39Ra6dI/AAAAAAAAAf4/p02GJWazu74Fwt7jJ_8IVq10C8HIFFhSQCLcBGAs/s1600/melco%2Bresorts%2B%2526%2Bentertainment%2BLtd.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="669" height="165" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a9Cb96KWP_k/XEKq39Ra6dI/AAAAAAAAAf4/p02GJWazu74Fwt7jJ_8IVq10C8HIFFhSQCLcBGAs/s400/melco%2Bresorts%2B%2526%2Bentertainment%2BLtd.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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There you go, I mean this undoubtedly shows that investors should really, really care about...<br />
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(Fidgeting, sweating) Oh em gee, so. You are not going to believe this, because--it's actually pretty funny--but this isn't Wynn Resorts either, it's Melco Resorts & Entertainment, another company in the casino field of business. Just give me one moment to get to the real one here:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0P1cmC-h7dk/XEKuEhHTEvI/AAAAAAAAAgE/G-XTGm_s9IwHq8vIgCMsxxsCDz6Mt_kxQCLcBGAs/s1600/Caesars%2BEntertainment.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="663" height="167" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0P1cmC-h7dk/XEKuEhHTEvI/AAAAAAAAAgE/G-XTGm_s9IwHq8vIgCMsxxsCDz6Mt_kxQCLcBGAs/s400/Caesars%2BEntertainment.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I mean you can't argue with that clear drop since 2014, the stock has only gone down since Mr. Wynn left, clearly his lack of influence in the company lead to...<br />
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(Brief hyperventilation) Um, ahem, again, so, so sorry, but that last one was actually Caesars Entertainment Corporation. I know what you're thinking, how could I get those last graphs confused when we are <b>clearly</b> looking for the graph of a company <i>whose founders got divorced and split their shares between them</i>. A graph that shows investors, those super-smart intellectuals, the risks of investing in a company affected by divorce. Investors who shouldn't be picking a very diverse assortment of stocks in order to decrease risk. Investors who should be looking critically at a majority shareholder's prenup in case a...<i>woman</i> he marries becomes a major shareholder in her own right with her own...<i>decision making capacity</i> separate from their marriage. That's the sort of thing that's really going to make you the big bucks. I mean, what if women are bad at business, and insist on having a say in the company despite not knowing what they're doing? We all know women love stoking their egos more than they love money. What if they purposefully tank a business out of spite? We all know that women love spite more than money. What if they take all of their shares of a successful company and sell them to an <i>activist investor</i>? We all know women love giving warehouse employees bathroom breaks more than they love money.* Anyway, here's the real graph with a label so you know I'm not lying this time:<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XJ6fu0KkdgM/XEK5SgCfkhI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/u1Hwm2rcUMQJfxFqA8MH-fRwatrSQqkMACLcBGAs/s1600/Wynn%2BResorts%252C%2BLimited.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="655" height="261" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XJ6fu0KkdgM/XEK5SgCfkhI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/u1Hwm2rcUMQJfxFqA8MH-fRwatrSQqkMACLcBGAs/s400/Wynn%2BResorts%252C%2BLimited.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And here's a history of the shares that includes 2010, a point from which the stocks have improved, probably because that was peak financial crisis:<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3UMRVxvhs7s/XEK6GDgyaxI/AAAAAAAAAgY/Y9L1eELJkx0OPGtuf1DD6BEoKF-qVtOgwCLcBGAs/s1600/wynn%2Bfinal.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="667" height="258" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3UMRVxvhs7s/XEK6GDgyaxI/AAAAAAAAAgY/Y9L1eELJkx0OPGtuf1DD6BEoKF-qVtOgwCLcBGAs/s400/wynn%2Bfinal.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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It's almost like regulating the banking system is more important to stock prices than whether your founder<b>S</b> are controlling the company as a united married front or separately because one of them (the male one) is abusing employees.<br />
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There are more arbitrary ways to come into a large share of a company than getting divorced after supporting your partner through its founding--like receiving an inheritance as the child of wealthy parents, or just being lucky. Most people want to keep making money, and the idea that a divorced woman is some chaotic threat to investment is ridiculous. If (IF) MacKenzie Bezos gets half of Jeff Bezos's shares, she's most likely to do what she's done for the past 25 years--whatever makes her (and therefore investors) the most money.<br />
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*I don't really know what an activist investor would be, I assumed this would be it.coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-85776638400460633142018-05-23T23:23:00.000-05:002018-05-24T08:10:15.794-05:00Fall into the Gaps<h4>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">God of the Gaps</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Here is Neil deGrass Tyson explaining "God of the Gaps,"and his opinion that this can be both limiting to one's faith as well as scientific progress:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HooeZrC76s0?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"The day you stop looking because you're content God did it, I don't need you in the lab."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"Science" of the Gaps</span></h4>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lately it seems that there are a lot of defenders of sexism and racism who claim that they're simply pr<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">omoting scientific inquiry and advancement. </span></span></span><br />
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<div class="css-1cy1v93 e2kc3sl0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.6rem; margin-bottom: 1rem; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Here are some things that you will hear when you sit down to dinner with the vanguard of the Intellectual Dark Web: There are fundamental biological differences between men and women. Free speech is under siege. Identity politics is a toxic ideology that is tearing American society apart. And we’re in a dangerous place if these ideas are considered “dark.” --Bari Weiss, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/opinion/intellectual-dark-web.html">Meet The Renegades Of The Intellectual Dark Web</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #111111;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;">My own brilliant conclusion: Group differences in IQ are indeed explicable through both environmental and genetic factors and we don’t yetknow quite what the balance is. -- Andrew Sullivan, <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/denying-genetics-isnt-shutting-down-racism-its-fueling-it.html">Denying Genetics Isn't Shutting Down Racism, It's Fueling It</a></span></span><a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/denying-genetics-isnt-shutting-down-racism-its-fueling-it.html"> </a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Evolution does not necessarily reward the intelligent. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left the intelligent an endangered species.--<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwZ0ZUy7P3E">Idiocracy</a>, which I know is fiction but so many people refer to as "totally so true!" despite the fact. That. It. Is. Literally. Eugenics.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The big question is, "Why is there inequality?" And for many people, the answer is "Because it's meant to be this way, because some people are inferior (weaker, dumber, lazier) to others." </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And to paraphrase Neil DeGrass Tyson, they are so content in that answer, that they no longer had curiosity to learn how it happened.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Of course there are biological differences between men and women, and intelligence is heritable. But why is there inequality? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Blackwell">first woman</a> to graduate from medical school in the United States was told that she was denied admission because women were intellectually inferior. In 1970 less than 10% of women were physicians, while today it is over 30%, and women make up 50% of medical school students. A <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2593255">recent study</a> suggested that women physicians are not only equal to their male counterparts, they may have lower mortality and readmission rates.*</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So now <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-pernicious-science-of-james-damores-google-memo/">when someone writes a memo</a> declaring that there are intellectual differences in men and women that account for, say, the uneven distribution of genders in tech, they should probably make sure they're not making the mistake of medical school admissions offices of the 1800s. It's not that talking about differences between sexes and races is completely verboten, <a href="http://crookedtimber.org/2018/05/23/neo-marxism/">but that declaring a group inferior has implications</a> that is just not an innocent discussion of controversial scientific research. It creates at best <a href="https://medium.com/@yonatanzunger/so-about-this-googlers-manifesto-1e3773ed1788">a hostile work environment</a> and at worst, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/4/10/17182692/bell-curve-charles-murray-policy-wrong">promotes ideas</a> that get pretty freakin dark.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Believing that you can know who is inferior and that that inferiority is intrinsic is an excuse to not look any further into actual scientific biological differences between people and find actual environmental differences between populations. It is a fake science of the gap that explains inequality and allows people to stop progress. These are literally ideas that supported the Holocaust and slavery, and looking at intergenerational poverty/lower education/other status and declaring it to be Fate Written By Your Genes is making the same mistake, even if the end result is not mass murder</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">*I owe a lot of this paragraph to <a href="https://medium.com/thrive-global/bias-bravery-and-burnout-the-journey-of-women-in-medicine-29bcac820822">this article</a>.</span>coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-25711273991894892862018-03-11T15:04:00.002-05:002018-03-11T15:04:34.018-05:00Most people are good but...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Listed in order of likelihood to make you say "Oh No!" out loud while reading:</div>
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<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/04/our-time-com-con-man/554057/"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="854" height="168" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aRyEod4URR8/WqWKoypxGOI/AAAAAAAAAe8/vNyfLQHayWo2B0UqU-XcTjctEXs8XPeqQCLcBGAs/s640/atlantic.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/jamison-bachman-worst-roommate-ever.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="823" height="123" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qMWcy1aL56A/WqWKo5s9qdI/AAAAAAAAAfE/AmiZt2gmLCgkE_UU0WG0Iiw1qDD-9lKawCLcBGAs/s640/roommate.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-dirty-john/"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="858" height="355" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1aHCg5s0NAM/WqWKo6JkXhI/AAAAAAAAAfA/I6Bgqqt3Rj0X0L8dtBoiHm7KUy8lX-aMQCLcBGAs/s640/dirty%2Bjohn.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-60350312191222947182018-03-03T15:20:00.001-06:002018-03-03T16:31:18.860-06:00The AR in AR-15 stands for "annihilating rabbits" and if you know anything about guns you know that it has the exact capabilities of your grandfather's rabbit-hunting gun<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
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The “AR” in AR-15 actually stands for Ayn Rand, and the 15 is for the age you should realize her philosophy is poison</div>
— Nate Patrin (@natepatrin) <a href="https://twitter.com/natepatrin/status/969249058824118273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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sorry you dumb libs, but the AR in AR-15 stands for "a revolver," the type of gun it is<br />
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and the 15 is a misprint; it was supposed to be 51 in honor of the Guam statehood movement, but six guns had already been made when they caught the typo so there was nothing they could do</div>
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SimonMaloy/status/969217563279396864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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the AR in AR-15 stands for Atheist Religion, in a nod to <a href="https://twitter.com/NRA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NRA</a> founder adolf hitler</div>
— DougExeter (@DougExeter) <a href="https://twitter.com/DougExeter/status/969238568454389760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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“AR” in AR-15 actually stands for “Ariana gRande”</div>
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) <a href="https://twitter.com/swin24/status/969254751811571712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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"AR" stands for "Al dente Ravioli"</div>
— foe sure (@EdgarAllanFoe) <a href="https://twitter.com/EdgarAllanFoe/status/969650371181334528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The "AR" in AR-15 stands for American Revolution, which means it's covered by the second amendment.</div>
— Eric Wagner (@NotEricWagner) <a href="https://twitter.com/NotEricWagner/status/969756746821591041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The "AR" in AR-15 doesn't stand for Assault Rifle. "A" stands for the Air, the Holy Fool of creation. "R" refers to the Solar Wheel, the Perfected Self that dieth not, just as the sun does not die when it dippeth below the horizon.<br />
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15 is the number of the Alchymical Marriage.</div>
— G. R. Dubbs (@GRDubbs) <a href="https://twitter.com/GRDubbs/status/970038290375233537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Not sure if you knew this, but the "AR" in AR-15 actually stands for "Al Roker." <a href="https://t.co/OOhvBnvsql">pic.twitter.com/OOhvBnvsql</a></div>
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) <a href="https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/969234149369315328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The AR in AR-15 actually stands for Agamemnon's Revenge and it's what you get when you eat 15 gyros.</div>
— 1.21 JJ Watts (@Chigurh_Crash) <a href="https://twitter.com/Chigurh_Crash/status/970027299197411328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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AR does NOT STAND for "ASSAULT RIFLE." It stands for "ALRIGHT RIGATONI," and is a pre-made, microwaveable pasta of the UTMOST QUALITY.<br />
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How are we supposed to talk Italian Cuisine when you DONT KNOW WHAT YOURE TALKING ABOUT.</div>
— Danger Manhattan (@Carlo_Ren16) <a href="https://twitter.com/Carlo_Ren16/status/970021479864766466?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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actually the AR in AR-15 stands for acceleration times resistance, and the 15 is a unitless offset</div>
— internet dot com (@ex_lion_tamer) <a href="https://twitter.com/ex_lion_tamer/status/970015599027019777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The "AR" in AR15 actually stands for (Oh she really came THAT way?) AwRight <a href="https://t.co/Tb8NIH4zKS">pic.twitter.com/Tb8NIH4zKS</a></div>
— The Gay Burn Book (@SouthernHomo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SouthernHomo/status/969638560113545216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Hey Lefties, “AR” does NOT stand for “assault rifle.” It stands for “Axl Rose.” You want to take us down to Paradise City but you don’t know jack about Paradise City. See the problem?</div>
— Bucky Isotope (@BuckyIsotope) <a href="https://twitter.com/BuckyIsotope/status/969390854715539456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The AR in AR-15 stands for ARRRRRR like a pirate.</div>
— Sk8r boi (@wasp_kid) <a href="https://twitter.com/wasp_kid/status/969912719590805504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Lot of people think AR-15 stands for “Assault Rifle” which is absolutely false. It really stands for “Anime is Real”</div>
— Estephan (@estabrawn) <a href="https://twitter.com/estabrawn/status/969860413683679232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The AR in AR-15 stands for Alternative Rock</div>
— Tim Shermer (@timshermer) <a href="https://twitter.com/timshermer/status/969319143915819009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The AR in AR-15 actually stands for Amnat Ruenroeng and the 15 commemorates the prison stretch he served <a href="https://t.co/0nuDiCsVBj">pic.twitter.com/0nuDiCsVBj</a></div>
— DICK HERCULES (@RatCatcherMpls) <a href="https://twitter.com/RatCatcherMpls/status/969580432621756416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
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listen up liberals. I’m a firearms expert. The “AR” in “AR-15” stands for Arthur Reed, the aardvark protagonist of the hit cartoon television program, “Arthur.” The “15” commemorates the critically acclaimed 15th season, when Arthur drops out of 3rd grade to become a drone pilot</div>
— stockton g (@stockton_ag) <a href="https://twitter.com/stockton_ag/status/969341599665795072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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You're all wrong.<br />
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The AR stands for Antonio bandeRas.</div>
— Emily G (On the Babylonian Video Box) (@EmilyGorcenski) <a href="https://twitter.com/EmilyGorcenski/status/969258517755453440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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the AR in AR-15 stands for ARe you ever going to stop doing this joke</div>
— 🔥H E L L D U D E🔥 (@muhmentions) <a href="https://twitter.com/muhmentions/status/969976639408001024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-78990335767700476792018-02-11T15:55:00.003-06:002018-02-11T15:56:46.045-06:00I bought the new Kesha album<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v-Dur3uXXCQ?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Keeping the "high note" an octave or two lower when covering the song or singing it live is smart, and it still sounds pretty good:<br />
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My favorite Ke$ha performance is probably this one, where the audience didn't react as expected to the American flag cape and she keeps going with the performance and actually kind of recovers some energy from the room. As much as you can recover during a song about being out all night partying with astronauts as your back-up dancers. A lot of people hypothesize that this is evidence of a record company making an artist be weird on purpose, trying to imitate Lady Gaga. But I think the weirdness may actually be Kesha's thing, and it's the partying in the club persona that was put on for fame. *Deep thoughts.*<br />
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Either way, I like her new album's weirdness with songs like this one:<br />
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coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-26653300030471975162018-02-02T00:00:00.000-06:002018-02-02T00:00:00.246-06:00Politics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This article came out shortly before 9/11, and I kept a paper copy of it around because it seemed ironic that soon after it was written we were in land wars in Asia. To be fair, the point was not that we would never wage war in literally the part of the world affected by the Medieval crusades*, but that American politics proceeds peacefully within the country, which was and is still true. This article makes me nostalgic for a time when politics did really seem low stakes, while also reminding me to be grateful that things are not much, much worse. </div>
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<a href="http://www.newsweek.com/america-doesnt-need-crusades-154535" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="112" data-original-width="701" height="100" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BNGWbrgpnXk/WnJGkkpZTfI/AAAAAAAAAek/BSgRBUUQpHQk8S7775o3HC3b3vLVoIRpgCLcBGAs/s640/fareed%2Bzakaria.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Politics seems to get more and more divisive, but this video also helps to remind me of what's really important. (There's lots of cussing.)<br />
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*Well, technically a little further east. Or a lot further east, if you consider hundreds or thousands of miles to be "a lot."<br />
<br />coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-68028173859023496852018-01-19T00:00:00.001-06:002018-01-19T00:00:00.225-06:00Sea Turtles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
First, you should watch Planet Earth II, the Cities episode, starting at about 41 minutes in (Or, you could watch the entire season all the way through to the end of the last episode):</div>
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Then, be reassured by the fact that the wayward baby sea turtles that could be were collected and returned to the ocean:<br />
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Every turtle that was seen or filmed by the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PlanetEarth2?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PlanetEarth2</a> crew was collected and put back into the sea.</div>
— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCEarth/status/808050367195938817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Sea World has a Saturday morning PR campaign where they followed people saving sea turtles from unusually cold weather:<br />
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And the NYT reports on a study that studied baby turtles' stamina (important if they're crawling off in the wrong direction):<br />
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And <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/the-case-against-eating-fish/">this</a> article is going around recently (although it was written almost a year ago), if you wanted to have ecological anxiety about sea creatures that we eat.<br />
<br />coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-36054182517690664062018-01-12T00:00:00.000-06:002018-01-12T00:00:33.859-06:00Star Wars Music Youtube Party<iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" gesture="media" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bX_kKA6gXCg?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
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coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-29656830749393197262018-01-05T00:00:00.000-06:002018-01-05T00:00:09.638-06:00A collection of Cletus Safaris<a href="https://twitter.com/tcraggs22/status/829741368113319938">The origin of the title. </a> <a href="https://deadspin.com/the-politico-goes-on-a-cletus-safari-finds-two-angry-n-1820254886">Where I heard about the title.</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/chris-arnade">The inspiration for the title.</a><br />
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There was this idea that went around about a decade ago, from places like <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2009/09/20/food-inc-who-knows-a-farmer-an/">Food, Inc</a>. and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dilemma-Natural-History-Meals/dp/0143038583">Michael Pollan's</a> visits to chicken farms where chickens are treated very well. The idea was that bad practices have infected the entire agricultural industry while no one was paying attention, and the reason that this has happened now, in the new millennium, is that <i>there aren't enough farmer acquaintances</i>. Sequestered in an urban bubble separate from the machinations of wheat growing and pig raising, "everyone" is not a farmer nor friends with a farmer.*<br />
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It's not not true that Monsanto's biggest interest is in their profits and not the well-being of farmers, or that food animals frequently live short claustrophobic lives rather than grazing on acres of sunny fertile land, or that most of us don't know the exact process by which processed food makes it to the grocery shelves. But it's a little weird to blame not having a farmer in your social circle as a major contributor to our current food situation. Especially if you, like me, actually know a farmer? Which is not to say I know anything about farming, or food processing, in the same way I know people who work in insurance but I don't know much about that either. I know a lawyer too, but if you hear me talk about law there's a 25%** chance that I'm wrong. Being friends with someone in a field (pun intended) doesn't make you particularly knowledgeable about it.***<br />
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Also weird is this attempt to Explain The Trump Voter To People Who Don't Know Any. Especially as someone, again, who knows Trump voters. I know a lot of Trump voters. I know people who were happy to vote for him. I know people who reluctantly voted for him. And I know I'm not the only non-Trump voter who knows Trump voters, because there was a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/11/22/can-family-trump-trump-how-to-survive-political-disagreements-with-relatives-this-thanksgiving/?utm_term=.1c135b56a1f3">bunch</a> of <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/divided-we-stand/">advice</a> <a href="https://mic.com/articles/159451/here-s-how-to-talk-to-your-trump-supporting-relatives-this-thanksgiving#.5NAM6S09r">given</a> for <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2016/11/how_to_do_thanksgiving_with_trump_voting_relatives.html">surviving</a> The Holidays (especially in 2016) in families with political differences. There are a lot of us, the liberals hanging on in red states, or coexisting as peacefully as possible in purple states, or running wild in coastal blue states but with family back in red states. And...we're not political savants. Just like knowing a farmer doesn't really give you much insight on making our food system safer/healthier/more ethical, knowing Trump supporters doesn't import some secret knowledge that would have helped Hillary get elected. And if you actually don't know <i>anyone</i> who voted for Trump, you won't have any answers after reading 1000 words on other people talk to Trump supporters. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/on-safari-in-trumps-america/543288/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="209" data-original-width="619" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XQjZfCokVS8/Whj46uEAVtI/AAAAAAAAAa4/4sGLNIG645063bTkybIKT1ShHBBhxeEjwCLcBGAs/s640/cletus%2Bsafari%2B3.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<a href="https://splinternews.com/a-weekend-of-nazi-dress-up-fun-in-the-heart-of-trump-co-1796456025"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="699" height="270" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B7_guw7wFmQ/Whj6VGI-lfI/AAAAAAAAAbE/mwaHi5Ll47UfgQuzlEEXQii7woyWwTL_wCLcBGAs/s640/cletus%2Bsafari%2B4.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/131936/lost-trumplandia"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="726" height="638" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yycxycwmrn0/Whj8Jmt4BhI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/1aJMgoqd1x8qms2VX0Sm6hG_qmLmoqxrACLcBGAs/s640/cletus%2Bsafari%2B5.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://billmoyers.com/story/chatting-trump-supporters/"><img border="0" data-original-height="209" data-original-width="711" height="188" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uj46lhKgfxY/WhkCqU-5jYI/AAAAAAAAAcI/Ny1DCNys6rktsZN4HZIJuXHgDUPC5WyRQCLcBGAs/s640/cletus%2Bsafari%2B11.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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*Not knowing a farmer was never said to be the <i>only</i> reason for problems with our supply of food, and there were good points made in both Food, Inc. and Omnivore's Dilemma, but this one I had a problem with. </div>
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**It's really 75%, I regret almost every time I try to have an opinion about law.</div>
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***There's another problem I have with the "no one knows a farmer" argument. The lament that "modern" life has brought on this separation from what we're buying and how it's made may be technically true, but the Industrial Revolution--the thing that caused our society to make the rural to urban shift--happened a long time ago. The Jungle was written in 1906 and relied pretty heavily on the majority of people not knowing how pork was treated before it was sold. This has nothing to do with Cletus Safaris but I couldn't let this bone go without picking it.</div>
coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-65610271752430748322017-12-29T00:00:00.000-06:002018-01-01T18:40:56.576-06:00A brief history of anti-vaccinationismVaccination is taking a "dead" or "deactivated" virus and exposing a person to it in order to achieve immunity. Before there was vaccination, there was inoculation*. Inoculation is exposing someone to a live disease in an effort to cause a mild form of the disease, which would hopefully induce immunity but be less destructive than the full-blown disease.<br />
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People inoculated children for smallpox by placing infectious pox scrapings into small skin cuts. This more commonly resulted in a milder case of the illness than acquiring it naturally, although it did carry a risk that the illness could become severe and fatal (there was a ~2% risk of death after inoculation vs ~20% after natural infection). Some argued that the lower risk of dying did not justify the possible risk of causing a fatal illness by inoculation. Benjamin Franklin's son died of smallpox before he could be inoculated in 1736, and he later wrote about inoculation:<br />
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In 1796, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/jenner_edward.shtml">Edward Jenner</a> vaccinated a boy with cowpox and then exposed him multiple times to smallpox, proving that this provided protection from the disease without having to cause the disease itself. Vaccination with cowpox became recommended over inoculation as the cowpox disease was much less severe in humans and did not carry a 2% mortality rate.<br />
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This is a cartoon from 1802 by James Gillray criticizing Jenner's method of vaccination. <a href="https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/history-anti-vaccination-movements#Source 3">Some critics</a> of vaccination argued that the science wasn't correct--at the time the germ theory of disease was not universally accepted, and so the reasons vaccination would work were suspect. Some argued that the practice could spread syphilis, or that it did not work as well as it needed to. Others believed that vaccination circumvented the "natural" order and that suffering from smallpox would be morally superior to avoiding that fate. Complicating the issue of whether everyone <i>should</i> be vaccinated was mandatory vaccination programs that started in the late 1800s, which led some to argue that for the sake of personal freedom it shouldn't be the case that everyone <i>must</i> be vaccinated. Because of its efficacy and safety compared to the prior option of inoculation, vaccination did become very widely used during this time, although many mandatory programs were made voluntary.<br />
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In 1974, a small case study of 36 children who developed neurological disorders (seizures, coma) after the DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis combined) vaccine <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1648839/pdf/archdisch00857-0052.pdf">was published</a>. Concern developed that the vaccination, especially the pertussis component, was responsible for severe permanent neurological reactions. <a href="https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/history-anti-vaccination-movements#Source 11">Documentaries</a> and <a href="https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/history-anti-vaccination-movements#Source 12">books</a> were published declaring the vaccine unsafe. Large scale studies were performed which <a href="https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/a-shot-in-the-dark-revisited/">did not bear this out</a>; however, public opinion against the vaccine turned. Nonpermanent reactions like swelling at the injection site or even scary febrile seizures were associated with vaccination, and so an effort was made to make the vaccine safer by using parts of the pertussis bacteria (an acellular vaccine) instead of the whole bacteria. In the 1990s an <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3328021/">acellular pertussis vaccine</a> was developed, and today the vaccines commonly used in the U.S. are DTaP or TdaP, which produce fewer minor reactions of which the whole cell pertussis vaccine was guilty.<br />
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In 1998, just in time for the DTP anxiety to blow over, Andrew Wakefield published a study claiming a link between the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine and autism. It eventually <a href="http://briandeer.com/mmr/lancet-deer-1.htm">came out</a> that he had acquired his study subjects unethically, <a href="http://briandeer.com/solved/st-fixed-data.htm">made up much of his data</a>, and had a financial incentive to obtain results that would show vaccines harmed children. His study was retracted from the medical journal that originally published it.<br />
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In 2005, <a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/olmsted.html">Dan Olmsted wrote</a> an article claiming that the Amish community did not vaccinate and that they were never diagnosed with autism. <a href="https://www.snopes.com/the-amish-dont-get-autism/">As it turns out</a>, the Amish do vaccinate their children and sometimes are diagnosed with autism.<br />
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Also in 2005, <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/deadly-immunity-20110209">Robert F Kennedy Jr wrote </a>an article for Rolling Stone outlining the government's conspiracy to hide findings that thimerosal, a preservative and ingredient in vaccines, had caused autism. The article <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-robert-f-kennedy-jr-distorted-vaccine-science1/">misrepresented the removal of thimerosal from vaccines</a> in 2001, an action taken to improve public support for vaccines because thimerosal contains mercury. Although no evidence showed that the thimerosal containing vaccines had caused harm, it was thought that concerns would be allayed by removing this preservative from all pediatric vaccinations except for some flu vaccines. Instead, this action was treated as evidence that vaccines caused harm and needed to be changed to become safer.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In case you thought criticism of vaccines left the cartoon medium two centuries ago, <br />
here is the illustration that accompanies RFK Jr's article in Rolling Stone by Ed Sorel.<br />
Click on the picture to see it full-size on the website.</td></tr>
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In 2007, Jenny McCarthy announced on Oprah that her son had been diagnosed with autism and that she believed vaccines had triggered the condition. She became an advocate for finding treatments for autism, including some therapies that were much more likely to cause harm than benefit, like <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/autism-spectrum-disorder/expert-answers/autism-treatment/faq-20057933">chelation therapy</a> for presumed mercury poisoning.<br />
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Also in 2007, Dr. Bob Sears published <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vaccine-Book-Decision-Parenting-Library/dp/0316180521">The Vaccine Book</a>, which suggested an "alternative vaccine schedule" based on the fear that some people had that vaccines were given "too many, too soon." The schedule was <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/123/1/e164">not in any way </a>based on <a href="https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/cashing-in-on-fear-the-danger-of-dr-sears/">science or studies</a> suggesting the alternative schedule would be safer, and was more likely to leave kids unprotected from vaccine-preventable diseases.<br />
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There are other articles, interviews, celebrities, etc. that likely reached a wide audience and influenced thousands of people to be suspicious of vaccines, but these are the biggest ones that I am aware of.<br />
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I've heard people blame mainly Wakefield and McCarthy for being the originators of the current anti-vaccine movement, but anti-vaccination feelings have been around for two centuries (longer if you count anti-inoculation sentiments). Without their superstars anti-vaccinationism would likely still have legs--there's just something that bothers people about it. For two hundred years people have argued that vaccination was unnatural, unsafe, and unscientific. And for almost two hundred years it has been large governments and organizations--those who have the power to do great things and also, the power to limit freedoms and take advantage of the public--who organize mass vaccinations. <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jill-stein-may-not-be-anti-vax-but-shes-pushing-a-dangerous-anti-vax-theory_us_579f885ce4b0693164c1fab4">Arguments against vaccination</a> <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/trumps-dangerous-support-for-conspiracies-about-autism-and-vaccines">will likely continue</a> regardless of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/may/24/andrew-wakefield-struck-off-gmc">who has their medical license revoked</a>.<br />
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Here is a pet peeve of mine: McCarthy's prior employment as a Playboy model is frequently cited as proof that she is dumb and uneducated, and many people claim that they would never be as dumb and uneducated as to follow her. However, in speaking about her son she comes across as a very caring mother who wants the best for her child, and gets her point across very clearly in every interview. In the discussion section of the 1974 article about complications after the DTP vaccine, the authors state, "It could be argued that any illness in infancy will bear a temporal relation coincidentally to such events as teething and inoculation," and this temporal relation in early childhood of developmental or health problems being diagnosed after vaccination is cited over and over in current anti-vaccination stories. Patting yourself on the back because you don't believe someone who once took naked pictures doesn't make you smart, it makes you a snob, and it makes you vulnerable for making the same mistake everyone else does when it's not a Playboy model but non-Playboy model Ms. Smith giving the same story. Jenny McCarthy isn't wrong because she took naked pictures, she's wrong because noticing symptoms of a neurological problem after vaccination does not prove causation. <a href="http://antiantivax.flurf.net/">The</a> <a href="https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/mercury-in-vaccines-and-autism-a-failed-hypothesis/">evidence</a> <a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jun/06-why-does-vaccine-autism-controversy-live-on/">shows</a> <a href="https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/its-just-a-theory/">vaccination</a> <a href="https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-increase-in-autism-diagnoses-two-hypotheses/">is</a> <a href="https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/cashing-in-on-fear-the-danger-of-dr-sears/">safe</a>.<br />
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*Nowadays, people use "inoculate" to mean "inject," so the terms can be a little interchangeable.coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-74904444454536934962017-12-22T00:00:00.000-06:002017-12-27T15:28:05.887-06:002017 Christmas cookies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">OK, look, here's the thing. I read food blogs. I know you're supposed to take a beautiful picture of your food, talk about some special memory you have of eating that food, and then post the recipe. But my best camera is currently on my iPhone, and it's the middle of winter so the "golden hour" happens for about 5 minutes at 3 PM or something? My food pictures more closely resemble <a href="http://dimlylitmealsforone.tumblr.com/">dimly lit meals for one</a> than aspirational designs. You know the ones that make you think, "I could cook that, then invite all my friends, and we would have a charming and festive soiree!" I can't take pictures like that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">My second this-can't-be-a-food-blog problem is that I don't think I can adequately describe the fun time we have every year with good friends we've been baking cookies with for the past decade. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So anyway, here are the cookies we made this year. They're all vegan because our friends are vegan. I increase the amount of vanilla extract from the original amount used in any recipe. I didn't feel like dealing with fancy salt this year so I skipped sprinkling fancy salt on top of any cookies. And I usually mix the dough one day a few weeks to a month out from cookie o'clock, and then freeze everything, and then on the day of cookie baking I thaw the dough for making cut-out sugar cookies in the fridge but cook the other cookies from frozen. I usually hover around the oven during the duration of cooking, so I don't have good times for how long the cookies should really stay in. For all the cookies, you probably need more than ten minutes, but less than twenty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> <a href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015819-chocolate-chip-cookies">NYT Chocolate Chip Cookies</a> but vegan and various shortcuts</span></h3>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RkMviAfSzg4/WjhF05UkMNI/AAAAAAAAAdg/2C5NWCm94Xc_Qw-YjP3Je5UWI-7CPp5nACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8764.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RkMviAfSzg4/WjhF05UkMNI/AAAAAAAAAdg/2C5NWCm94Xc_Qw-YjP3Je5UWI-7CPp5nACLcBGAs/s400/IMG_8764.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) vegan margarine (I used Earth Balance this year)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">6 Tbsp applesauce</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">1 Tbsp natural vanilla extract</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">1 1/4 pounds chocolate chips (I usually just add chocolate chips until it seems an appropriate amount of chips are in the cookie dough, which I think is close to this amount recommended by the original recipe.)</span></div>
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Whisk flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream margarine and sugars together until everything turns a lighter color, about 5 minutes. Add applesauce. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add chocolate chips. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours. (This is the point at which I usually freeze the cookies, but if you don't the refrigeration step is supposed to be important in how the cookies turn out.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">These cookies spread out as they bake into regular flat cookie shapes (as in picture above), so they can really be placed on the cookie sheet in any lump and they'll cook pretty well. I usually use a large spoon to measure out a spoon-sized lump of cookie dough, which is smaller than the 3.5 oz mounds that are recommended by the original recipe. Some of my cookie sheets are smaller, and I tend to put even smaller cookies on these, to avoid losing cookie off the edge of the sheet during spreading. If the cookies spread out and run into each other though, they are still tasty. This recipe makes a lot of cookies--I usually get at least three or four dozen. I would check on them at ten minutes and then every 1-2 minutes after until they're just barely turning brown on the edges. The original instructions, for those who would like to follow them, are below:</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><b>Yield</b>: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/chocolate-pistachio-sables">Bon Appetite's Chocolate-Pistachio Sables</a> but vegan<br />and extra salt makes these better</span></h3>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UIWg2iCsO7I/WjhOvXDy4UI/AAAAAAAAAd0/OeCaxUoMp9Q78rI4lfdHXsouO6uC4TC3ACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8763.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UIWg2iCsO7I/WjhOvXDy4UI/AAAAAAAAAd0/OeCaxUoMp9Q78rI4lfdHXsouO6uC4TC3ACLcBGAs/s400/IMG_8763.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">3/4 tsp salt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">1/4 tsp baking soda</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) vegan margarine</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">1 1/4 cups light brown sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">2 tsp vanilla extract</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">2 Tbsp applesauce</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">5 oz chocolate chips</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">1 cup chopped pistachios, usually originating from shelled salted and roasted pistachios meant for snacking, which are really annoying to de-shell and then chop, but this job is made better if you buy enough pistachios so you know you can eat a bunch during de-shelling and still have enough for cookies.</span></div>
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Whisk flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat margarine and brown sugar until everything turns a lighter color, about 5 minutes. Add vanilla. Add applesauce. Reduce speed to low and gradually add dry ingredients. Mix just to combine. Fold in chocolate and pistachios.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a log, pushing dough together if it feels crumbly. Wrap in cling wrap and chill until firm, at least 4 hours. (This is where I usually freeze the dough.)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut logs into rounds and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1/2" apart. (These cookies do not do a lot of spreading, and look basically like they do when done as they do when you place them on the baking sheet. The original instructions recommend 1/4" thick rounds but mine are thicker. The original instructions also say to use a serrated knife to cut them--I used a dull table knife, which is probably why my rounds are a little flattened.)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bake cookies until set around edges and centers look dry, 10-12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool. (The pistachio chocolate cookies are the hardest because they are already dark, so I usually waited until they seemed to have *just* turned solid in the middle. If they're still jiggly in the middle, it's too early. If you can poke the middle of the cookie without worrying you're going to get hot dough stuck to your finger, then they're done. Sometimes I tried to put chocolate chip cookies and pistachio chocolate cookies in at the same time, so I could time the dark cookies by the ones that change color, but the cook times weren't exactly the same.)</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">The original recipe says this will make 8 dozen cookies, but I usually get closer to 4 dozen, probably because I cut them a little thicker than recommended.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookies--my own recipe, although unknown better bakers than me invented cut out cookies </span>in the first place</span></h4>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qxr40wNm0d0/WjhUnpGmnEI/AAAAAAAAAeE/kfcDsPsI1cQPm4xZ0ja6WhYmR2RpVFF6ACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8762.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qxr40wNm0d0/WjhUnpGmnEI/AAAAAAAAAeE/kfcDsPsI1cQPm4xZ0ja6WhYmR2RpVFF6ACLcBGAs/s400/IMG_8762.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">It's hard to find a good cut-out sugar cookie recipe, because the recipes that have cookies that hold their shape well usually don't taste very good, and the cookies that taste very good usually spread during baking and don't hold a shape very well. This recipe is based off a few recipes that I combined and then veganized. It makes a cookie dough that is easy to cut-out, holds its shape very well when baking, and also tastes good. I'm pretty proud of it. I wish I could link to the original recipes I borrowed from, but I wrote them down without labeling where they were from. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">3 cups all purpose flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">1 tsp baking powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">1/2 tsp salt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">1 cup (2 sticks) vegan margarine</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">1 cup sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">4 tbsp applesauce</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">1 tbsp vanilla extract</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">2 tsp almond extract</span></div>
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Using electric mixer, beat margarine and sugar until everything turns a lighter color, about 5 minutes. Add applesauce, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Beat in dry ingredients until just combined. Divide dough in half. Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour. (This is when I usually freeze the dough. In order to roll the dough out later, I put it in the refrigerator the night before using to thaw.)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Sprinkle work surface and top of dough with a small amount of flour. Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out cookies with cookie cutters. Transfer to prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Gather scraps and roll out on floured surface, and cut out more cookies. Repeat until all dough is used. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bake cookies, about 10-12 minutes. I tried to catch them just before turning golden, when they seem pretty solid but are a nice even beige color even on the tips of stars, although they taste pretty good even when they turn a bit darker on the edges. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely.</span></span></li>
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coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-1728460296321800712017-12-15T00:00:00.000-06:002017-12-15T00:00:08.080-06:00YouTube party, Christmas editionI can't stop laughing at the Navy band playing a song by "The Drifters."
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fCNvZqpa-7Q?rel=0" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-48979966352080024202017-12-08T00:00:00.000-06:002017-12-08T00:00:35.310-06:00Some videos of people who do not approve of being gay<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y4yBvvGi_2A" width="560"></iframe>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MOpMsuz_uK4" width="560"></iframe>coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-14913335506166516512017-12-01T00:00:00.000-06:002017-12-02T16:35:10.897-06:00Things spilled in roads<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
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I-84 MP 253 EB blocked semi non-injury rollover Yes, those are potatoes 🥔 <a href="https://t.co/8nwsNJjLbg">https://t.co/8nwsNJjLbg</a> for updates on opening <a href="https://t.co/XGhbVZsG85">pic.twitter.com/XGhbVZsG85</a></div>
— Oregon State Police (@ORStatePolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/ORStatePolice/status/922613792583827456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Thanks <a href="https://twitter.com/OregonDOT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OregonDOT</a> <a href="https://t.co/SmwHtWLeQ3">pic.twitter.com/SmwHtWLeQ3</a></div>
— Depoe Bay Fire Dist. (@DepoeBayFire) <a href="https://twitter.com/DepoeBayFire/status/885603223221936130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Pulaski Co I-30 & Mabelvale: Despite the involvement of a few 'Tombstones' we are glad the driver & overpass are okay. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/artraffic?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#artraffic</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/arnews?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#arnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/9hVsA3y897">pic.twitter.com/9hVsA3y897</a></div>
— Arkansas DOT (@myARDOT) <a href="https://twitter.com/myARDOT/status/895357793007534080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Hundreds of nails spilled on I-10 in Metairie yesterday. Drivers said it looked “like glitter across the roadway.” <a href="https://t.co/P5mO4WHKA4">https://t.co/P5mO4WHKA4</a> <a href="https://t.co/0y6vGkFdu7">pic.twitter.com/0y6vGkFdu7</a></div>
— Carlie Kollath Wells (@carlie_kollath) <a href="https://twitter.com/carlie_kollath/status/912999509743013889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2017</a></blockquote>
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coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-39136231734592699472017-11-24T21:43:00.000-06:002017-11-24T21:46:04.807-06:00Stories about people looking for enough of the remains of their loved ones to have a funeral.<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/07/magazine/the-lost-ones.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="713" height="268" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VQEPoh4S9J0/Wg-oRqBwGDI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/uR1F2ZCFEHEcBmS5R8iaLEx7w_1NH-eWwCLcBGAs/s640/japan%2Btitle.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/02/global-images-of-widows-india-bosnia-uganda-discrimination-exile/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="202" data-original-width="779" height="164" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gW2GYiy8nh4/Whjk1gbPghI/AAAAAAAAAaI/eJar9mwYKf47neYl1EQzzLIctuAM58EfQCLcBGAs/s640/bosnia.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's the second story on the page--you either have to scroll to it or read the first story.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Nostalgia-for-the-Light/70139557?strackid=63d2953774c0672a_1_acomplete"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="803" height="332" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pIr0ARVgMhw/WhjmAaFvXlI/AAAAAAAAAaU/lKHTgIX42EUJ_0Jlr0fyvivXsgV3Scu-ACLcBGAs/s640/nftl.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502261456064792137.post-88633657949656336922017-11-17T00:00:00.000-06:002017-11-27T20:32:07.922-06:00Herd Immunity<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Herd immunity is cool. It's like, <i>science</i>, but it's also an intuitive theory that you can understand without performing Bayesian estimations.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, epidemiologists like to study the spread of disease. They noticed that some diseases spread more easily than others. (Forgive me for channeling Contagion.) By looking at how fast diseases spread in a population, you can estimate how many people the average sick individual infects--this number is called R<sub>0</sub> (pronounced "R-naught" by normal people and "Arrg-naut" by pirates). That means that, on average, a sick person is capable of infecting </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">R<sub>0</sub></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> people during their illness. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">R<sub>0</sub></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is different for every microbe, based on the microbe's properties. The more and easier ways a microbe can be spread, the higher the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">R<sub>0</sub></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. For instance, if an illness can only be spread by a child sneezing directly into your mouth from less than six inches away, it will probably have a lower </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">R<sub>0</sub></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> than one that will spread to anyone touching a doorknob after the infected person for the next 12 hours.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zPL_sFA1kfM/UAMXCvKCwaI/AAAAAAAAAMI/HGsMX_4Wl20/s1600/kate+winslett.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zPL_sFA1kfM/UAMXCvKCwaI/AAAAAAAAAMI/HGsMX_4Wl20/s1600/kate+winslett.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Kate Winslet explaining R-nought in Contagion.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">People hypothesized that if a proportion of the population were immune to a disease, transmission and then incidence would decrease. If R<sub>0</sub> is the number of people on average infected by an individual, it makes sense that if (R<sub>0</sub>-1)/R<sub>0</sub> of the population were immune, the effective transmission rate would decrease to less than one person per sick person, and incidence of the disease would decrease as a result. So if you on average infected four people with a cold (R<sub>0</sub>=4), then if at least (4-1)/4 or 3/4 or 75% of the population were immune, you would transmit your cold to <i>fewer</i> than one person on average.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v-It4J4XPh0/UAMdV9x8THI/AAAAAAAAAMU/amPXVMlEi6w/s1600/R0=2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v-It4J4XPh0/UAMdV9x8THI/AAAAAAAAAMU/amPXVMlEi6w/s400/R0=2.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With no one in a population immune and the R0>1, infections occur exponentially. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is usually what happens when an <b>epidemic</b> occurs--a large percentage of the population is susceptible to a disease, so the disease can spread rapidly through the population. One example is the flu--because the virus mutates every year, the entire population is susceptible to it every year. Its R<sub>0</sub> is slightly above 1.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T8hNN4Scg7I/UAMg5hJOhaI/AAAAAAAAAMg/dbiO5Ponrls/s1600/50%25+immune.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T8hNN4Scg7I/UAMg5hJOhaI/AAAAAAAAAMg/dbiO5Ponrls/s400/50%25+immune.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With 50% of the population immune, or [(R0-1)/R0=(2-1)/2], the effective R0 becomes 1. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Only one person is infected by each sick person, and the transmission rate drops. The incidence (number of people with a disease at any one time) of the disease also drops--instead of having eight sick people by the fourth generation, there is only one sick person. The disease will still persist in the population at a stable level. This is usually what happens when an <b>endemic</b> disease is present--the percentage of immune people in the population prevent the disease from spreading exponentially, but a susceptible population continuously transmits the disease so it persists in the population. Many childhood diseases act this way--while adults have often achieved immunity by, well, getting the disease as children, newer members of humanity continue to enter the world non immune and susceptible to infection. Adults who escaped infection as children are often protected by the immunity of other adults until they become schoolteachers or start hanging out with their own children.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OwWtedKOq-c/UAMqYfWeLDI/AAAAAAAAAMs/_3z6Kbtp2UE/s1600/51%25+immune.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OwWtedKOq-c/UAMqYfWeLDI/AAAAAAAAAMs/_3z6Kbtp2UE/s400/51%25+immune.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With slightly more than 50% of the population immune, R0 is less than 1, and herd immunity is achieved. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">If slightly less than one person is infected by each sick person, transmission will eventually stop and the incidence of the disease will decrease until it reaches zero: basically, the disease will die out of the population. This doesn't mean that transmission can't happen at all--a few unlucky susceptible people can still be infected before the disease reaches a host that does not pass it on--but it does mean that it will fail to become either epidemic or endemic. The population (herd) as a whole will not support the disease.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">One way to achieve herd immunity is through vaccinations. If you need >(R<sub>0</sub>-1)/R<sub>0</sub> of the population immune, and a vaccine successfully immunizes E proportion of people who receive it, then the amount of people who need to be vaccinated is greater than:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9T6OlSPZWnc/UAM3vwnxpMI/AAAAAAAAAM4/2mjdkQv2WWU/s1600/equation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9T6OlSPZWnc/UAM3vwnxpMI/AAAAAAAAAM4/2mjdkQv2WWU/s1600/equation.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ta-da!</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">So, if a vaccine immunizes 90% of the people who receive it, and R<sub>0</sub> is 2, then the number of people who need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity is ((2-1)/2)/.9=0.55, or >55% of the population.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Or, if you'd prefer a real-world example to my hypothetical illness, measles has an R<sub>0</sub>=12-18. If both an initial and booster dose of the MMR vaccine is given, the effectiveness of the vaccine is 99%. So,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">((12-1)/12)/.99 or ((18-1)/18)/.99 = 92-95% of the population needs to be fully vaccinated to achieve herd immunity against measles.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Fine, P., Eames, K., Heymann, D. "'Herd Immunity': A Rough Guide," Vaccines. (2011) <b>52</b>:911-916</span></div>
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coolkatiedidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196745428611820852noreply@blogger.com0