Category Archives: Fail!

PAHO warns of heightened chikungunya, dengue threats | CIDRAP

Since the start of the year countries in the PAHO region have reported almost 850,000 dengue infections, including 470 deaths, PAHO said in a press release. As of Sep 5, the area has reported more than 650,000 chikungunya cases, 37 of them fatal.

Both diseases are spread by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, present in most countries in the Americas.

The group said dengue prevention strategies can be applied to chikungunya, and it recommends beefing up efforts in six ways: patient care, social communication, surveillance, lab capacity, mosquito control, and environmental control.

via PAHO warns of heightened chikungunya, dengue threats | CIDRAP.

Japanese regulator caves to the nuclear industry and government pressure – but still no restart for Sendai | Greenpeace International

The Abe government is desperate to prevent people from grasping that the world’s third largest nuclear reactor program has failed to generate any electricity for 12 months. In that year, there have been no blackouts or brownouts, the trains still run, the lights still turn on, and smart phones are still charged.

Most people in Japan understand that the declared government policy, that nuclear power is an essential and a stable source of energy, is a myth. They will not be fooled.

via Japanese regulator caves to the nuclear industry and government pressure – but still no restart for Sendai | Greenpeace International.

General Mills to Acquire Annie’s – bye bye Annie

{Goodbye Annie’s – was so good to know you}

General Mills Inc. on Sept. 8 announced an agreement to acquire Annie’s Inc., a well-known producer of organic and natural food products, for $820 million. Annie’s had sales of $204 million in its most recent fiscal year, which ended this March.

Annie’s will join several natural or organic brands General Mills has assembled, mostly through acquisition, over the years: Cascadian Farm, Muir Glen, Larabar and Food Should Taste Good.

via General Mills to Acquire Annie’s.

Girl, 4, dies of E. coli infection after Labor Day weekend near Oregon Coast | OregonLive.com

Loved ones clung to her, tucked stuffed toys into her bed and burst into her favorite song at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital during an hours-long goodbye to an outdoors-loving 4-year-old girl who died from complications associated with a virulent strain of E. coli.

via Girl, 4, dies of E. coli infection after Labor Day weekend near Oregon Coast | OregonLive.com.

Humans of New York

“When I was fifteen, I was raped by three boys while competing at a gymnastics tournament. I was so ashamed, that I stood on a train track, and waited for the train to come. At the last moment, I tried to jump away. I woke up after a month. It was the middle of the night, and I could immediately tell that something was missing. I started feeling all over my body, and that’s when I realized that I’d lost my arm. Now I counsel teenagers who have been diagnosed with HIV. I’m normally the first to meet with them after they get their results. I try to explain to them that there’s a way out of even the most impossible situations.”

(Odessa, Ukraine)

via Humans of New York.

Spam/Spin/WhatMeWorry? Oxford study predicts 15 more countries are at risk of Ebola exposure – The Washington Post

{Complicity with spinning ebola story for profit of the newspaper and the university. If Ebola was that likely to move about quickly and to 15 more countries – this story would not be running would it? Ebola would already be a common disease in all these countries – and it is not. Why does it break out from time to time? No one knows and this “Oxford Model” does not tell us that. All you need to do the Oxford study is a map of where the two species of fruit bats live – and guess what? They are not limited to Africa. Something else is at play that triggers an outbreak and it is not greed for covering disasters!}

According to the Oxford model, in addition to the seven countries who have reported Ebola outbreaks in this epidemic and in past outbreaks since the disease was identified 1976, 15 other countries are at risk. There are five known strains of Ebola, and the one currently causing the West African outbreak, Zaire, is the most virulent. The other strains, Sudan, Taï Forest and Bundibugyo, have caused contained outbreaks in Ivory Coast, Sudan, and Uganda in the past. And the Reston species has not caused any known outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization.

via Oxford study predicts 15 more countries are at risk of Ebola exposure – The Washington Post.

Man assaults woman jogging…who turns out to be a federal marshal

After allegedly attacking her by grabbing her behind and pulling down her shorts, Flynn took off running and the victim/federal marshal ran after him, the station said.

That is when victim yelled, “Federal marshal, stop!”

She caught up with him a few blocks away, cornered him, and when he resisted, she kicked him in the crotch, CBS Pittsburgh reported.

Flynn is suspected of lifting up another woman’s skirt earlier that day (a busy Tuesday of sexual assault for this guy!) and now faces charges of aggravated assault, indecent assault, and escape. It’s unfortunate that, in a culture in which harassment like this is disturbingly normalized, it often takes a chance encounter with an law enforcement agent — or dedicated teen girl runner — to bring guys like this to justice. But still, I’m enjoying imagining his face when he heard “Federal marshal, stop.”

via Man assaults woman jogging…who turns out to be a federal marshal.

Somali Al-Shabab threatens US attacks to avenge leader’s death | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

Shongole’s message, which was released over the Internet, threatened further attacks in Kenya and Uganda.

“As you have killed (Godane), many Americans will be killed in New York and Washington. This is real. Men have already been prepared,” he added.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud told state radio he was confident Al-Shabab’s “lifespan is ending,” referring to a campaign launched by African force AMISOM and Somalian forces to drive the militants out of their remaining strongholds.

“We say to the terrorists, your time has ended,” he said.

via Somali Al-Shabab threatens US attacks to avenge leader’s death | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Grizzly Bear Conflicts in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: It’s Time for More Solutions and Less Killing | Christine Wilcox’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

{Just stop welfare cattle grazing on public land and reduce the number of cattle – then the number of Grizzlies will go down – pretty simple except that cattle ranchers and meat industry and politicians they subsidize are too used to being on the welfare roles.}

What we are left with is more grizzly bear deaths and virtually no changes to address the ongoing conflicts with livestock. But there are effective ways to reduce conflicts that are good for livestock and good for bears. Range riders, electric fencing, and guard dogs could be used to protect livestock. Alternative grazing practices like keeping cattle bunched together, and ensuring that mothers and calves stay together, could reduce the chance of bears attacking cattle. Since calves are often targeted when bears attack cattle, eliminating calves on the Upper Green grazing allotments could also prove to be effective in reducing conflicts.

via Grizzly Bear Conflicts in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: It’s Time for More Solutions and Less Killing | Christine Wilcox’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC.

China poultry back on sale as HK grapples with latest food scare – Channel NewsAsia

{Hard to fight centuries of custom and way of doing things. Hong Kong jumped to head of the line in preventing new bird, porcine, and human influenzas by closing live (wet) markets last January. Now with much pressure, the live markets are back and bird flu and new influenzas will not be far behind. Let’s hope that by time Lunar New Year celebrations come, they recover sense and shut the breeding grounds for a new worldwide pandemic.

Like climate change deniers who just don’t want to believe the world has changed – those who have always bought/sold live pigs and poultry at market don’t want to believe that worldwide surge in these markets over last 20 years makes development of a world killer flu even more likely than is the past}

Live poultry from China is back in the wet markets of Hong Kong just in time for the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations after having been banned over a bird flu scare in January.

via China poultry back on sale as HK grapples with latest food scare – Channel NewsAsia.