Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Sharpshot Nature .Com 01469-tod-017910 Milkweed

Milkweed
Milkweed

2020-06-11 01469-tod-017910 Milkweed

NIKON D7100 – ƒ/6.3 1/640 105mm ISO200 – Brooklyn Center, MN

Source: Sharpshot Nature .Com 01469-tod-017910 Milkweed

New definition of long COVID aims to offer clarity, direction | CIDRAP

long covid

Igor Vershinsky/iStock

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), in response to a request from the US federal government, has published a new consensus diagnosis for long COVID.

While working groups, national governments, and health organizations have all offered definition of long COVID, no general consensus exists.

“Inconsistencies in definitions have created challenges, and a consensus definition could promote consistency in diagnosis, aid awareness efforts, help patients access appropriate care, services, and benefits, and help harmonize Long COVID research and surveillance,” the authors said.

Inconsistencies in definitions have created challenges.

The definition, which can be applied to both children and adults, reads: “Long COVID (LC) is an infection-associated chronic condition (IACC) that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least 3 months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems…”

Source: New definition of long COVID aims to offer clarity, direction | CIDRAP

🌈Then They Came For Me — 2024 | Filosofa’s Word

I wrote this post last year on the fourth day of Pride Month and it is every bit as relevant this year as it was last year.  I long for the year when I can toss it and say, “well, we woke up, overcame the bigotry & hatred, and we don’t need this reminder anymore!”  Will that day ever come?  Not likely in my lifetime, but hopefully someday …


First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.


No matter how many times I read this poem, written by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, I never fail to be moved by the words.  Niemöller penned this in 1946, at the end of WWII, the end of the Holocaust that took more than 6 million lives.  It is engraved on a plaque at the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts, and is known worldwide.  The poem speaks volumes and should serve as a warning to people all around the world today.

I have shared this poem before, used it in different contexts, for it seems that “they” are always coming for someone.  But today, the fourth day in Pride Month, I am especially moved to share it for it seems many people, groups, politicians, and religious leaders are coming for the LGBTQ community.  Our friends, our neighbors, our family … are being vilified, even threatened with their very lives if they dare to be publicly proud of who they are.

In addition to coming for the LGBTQ community, “they” are coming for women, for people of colour, for Jewish people.  Apparently in “their” eyes, the only people who have a right to be proud are white, Christian, straight males.  The rest of us are the dirt beneath their feet.  If we hide in our closets, wear camouflage in hopes of not being noticed, if we do not speak out against the atrocities being committed against the LGBTQ community and others, then perhaps we will be overlooked and allowed to exist.  For now.  Until someday …

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Source: 🌈Then They Came For Me — 2024 | Filosofa’s Word

दिल मेरा/ My Heart

चुपचाप सा रहता था बेचारा दिल मेरा,  शरीर के किसी एक कोने में… तुमने नाजुक शब्दों से सहला क्या दिया, लगा उछलने शरीर के हर कोने में… 💕💕💕💕💕💕 In a …

दिल मेरा/ My Heart