All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Enya’s greatest songs – ranked! | Music | The Guardian

Caribbean Blue

This month, the Irish singer turned 60 – and her popularity belies how radical her Celtic futurism really is

Source: Enya’s greatest songs – ranked! | Music | The Guardian

COVID-19 patients are leaving hospitals in ‘worse physical condition’ than they arrived – Study Finds

 It’s safe to say most people can agree hospitals are places where people go to feel better. During the coronavirus pandemic however, a new study reveals about half of all COVID patients are actually leaving hospitals in worse shape than when they entered. In another case of COVID “long-hauler” side-effects, a team from Michigan Medicine says around 45 percent of patients who survive the virus exit the hospital with significantly less physical function.

“Rehabilitation needs were really, really common for these patients,” says pediatric physiatrist Alecia K. Daunter, M.D., in a university release. “They survived, but these people left the hospital in worse physical condition than they started. If they needed outpatient therapy or are now walking with a cane, something happened that impacted their discharge plan.”

Source: COVID-19 patients are leaving hospitals in ‘worse physical condition’ than they arrived – Study Finds

The Time Has Come to Rein In the Global Scourge of Palm Oil – Yale E360

the Sri Lankan president announced that his government would ban all imports of palm oil, with immediate effect, and ordered the country’s plantation companies to begin uprooting their oil-palm monocultures and replacing them with more environmentally friendly crops. Citing concerns about soil erosion, water scarcity, and threats to biodiversity and public health, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa explained that his aim was to “make the country free from oil palm plantations and palm oil consumption.”

That’s a pretty radical move, and, as someone who’s spent the past few years writing a book about the global palm oil industry, one I fully support. Worldwide, production of palm oil has skyrocketed in recent decades — oil-palm plantations now cover an area larger than New Zealand — but the boom has meant devastation for the planet. The oil palm plant, Elaeis guineensis, thrives at 10 degrees to the north and south of the equator, a swath that corresponds with our tropical rainforests. Though they cover just 10 percent of Earth’s land surface, these ecosystems support more than half of all biodiversity. In Indonesia, the world’s number-one producer of palm oil, habitat loss due largely to industrial agriculture has meant that such iconic species as the Sumatran elephant, orangutan, rhinoceros, and tiger — in addition to various species of hornbill — have been pushed to the brink of extinction. Indigenous peoples who for generations have sourced their food, building materials, and everything else from the archipelago’s forests and rivers have been reduced to eking out existences under donated plastic tarps and begging by the side of the road.

Source: The Time Has Come to Rein In the Global Scourge of Palm Oil – Yale E360

Vaccine Mandate Unleashes a Mob in a Small Polish Town – The New York Times (Me: being dumb about health is pandemic too)

Wlodzimierz Lipa, a 71-year-old pensioner who got his second Pfizer shot last week in Walbrzych, said that people attacking the mayor as a Nazi “have a screw loose.” He added that, as a former patient in the local hospital’s cardiac ward, he trusts Dr. Szelemej on health matters far more than he does the doctor’s critics: “Thanks to him I am alive,” he said.

Still, the anti-vaccination cause in Walbrzych and elsewhere, galvanized by false information and conspiracy theories on the internet, has found wide traction.

Russia Rejects Some Flight Plans, as Belarus Grows More Isolated – The New York Times

Protonmail, a Swiss email provider whose service the Belarusian authorities said was used in sending the bomb threat, on Thursday countered Mr. Lukashenko’s version. The email in question, the company said, was sent after the plane had already been diverted by Belarusian air traffic controllers to Minsk.

The revelation backed up the widely held view that the claim of a bomb threat was a ruse to capture Mr. Protasevich, who had been living in exile since 2019.

“We can confirm that the message in question was sent after the plane was redirected,” Protonmail said in a statement. “We have not seen credible evidence that the Belarusian claims are true, and we will support European authorities in their investigations upon receiving a legal request.”

Pașii lui Picasso în azur

Google translation of introduction: On the Cote d’Azur, but not on the coast. Tourists, especially northerners, come here on holiday to enjoy peace and harmony, away from the big cities.

ore de drum

Mougins, 2019

Pe Coasta de Azur, dar nu pe țărmul mării.

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Turiștii, mai ales nordici, vin aici în vacanță ca să se bucure de liniște și armonie,

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departe de marile orașe.

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Artiștii ajung, poate, în căutare de inspirație

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sau pentru a se lasa în voia ei.

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Așa a făcut Picasso, care și-a petrecut ultimii doisprezece ani din viață în această mică așezare de unde, în zare, vezi Mediterana.

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Vila unde a locuit se află la șase kilometri de sat, într-o izolare desăvârșită.

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Pe vremea romanilor, Mougins era doar o stație de poștă pe faimoasa via Aurelia.

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De aici a pornit, în zilele noastre, unul din marii exploratori ai Africii, comandantul Lamy, fondatorul capitalei statului Chad, născut într-o casă impozantă.

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Ca să intri în zona istorică, urmezi indicatorul Vieux Village, unde găsești mai multe parcări gratuite și ascensor care te urcă direct în centrul satului,

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lângă Muzeul de artă clasică, un…

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