Category Archives: News to use

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

Nostril swabs still the best way to test for COVID-19, study reveals

…scientists found that nasopharyngeal swabs (where healthcare workers insert a swab far inside the nose) are more effective at detecting COVID than both saliva tests and swabs going just inside the nostril or under the tongue.

Source: Nostril swabs still the best way to test for COVID-19, study reveals

Quebec lifts mask mandate on public transit, but not everyone is on board | CBC News

Masks are still mandatory in hospitals, long-term care homes and other health-care facilities, where it’s more likely that vulnerable people could potentially be exposed to COVID-19. Mental health establishments aren’t included.

But Aaron Ansuini says vulnerable people like him are everywhere, and dropping one of the last remaining health measures is like telling them that they don’t matter.

“This idea of survival of the fittest is pretty disturbing because it implies that, if you can’t survive, you don’t deserve to be alive, and that’s kind of reinforced by the conditions that we presently have,” said the young man who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a multi-systemic connective tissue disorder that often affects his mobility.

 

Source: Quebec lifts mask mandate on public transit, but not everyone is on board | CBC News

The Death of Lady Liberty 🗽

Filosofa's Word

Yesterday marked the 137th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty.  Four years ago, I wrote this post.  At that time, we were in the throes of the former administration and immigrants were ‘personae non grata’ by the government.  I posited that we no longer deserved Lady Liberty, for we had failed to keep our promises.  Today, we have a different president, one who values ALL people, yet we still have a humanitarian crisis at our southern border.  There remains a large contingent of people in this country who would denigrate, expel, and even kill any who don’t look and think just like them.  As a nation, are we any better today, any more deserving of this statue that stands in New York Harbour than we were four years ago? 


One hundred and thirty-three years ago today, the Statue of Liberty came to our shores.  Lady Liberty, a gift of friendship…

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Be yourself!

De malinha pronta

Photo : KaDDD

Be patient, be crazy, be honest, be happy
Be motivated, be outstanding, be healthy

Be silly, be curious, be welcome, be peaceful
Be amazed, be overwhelming, be grateful

Be wise (but not too much!), be amused, be natural
Be loved, be wishful, be generous, be special

Be blessed, be cool, be telorant, be thankful
Be in love, be complete, be human, be worth it

Since you cannot be anyone else…
Just be yourself!

Filipa Moreira da Cruz

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Parashat B’Haalotchah פָּרָשַׁת בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ, & Double Standards

Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

     This week’s Torah portion, Parashat B’Ha’alotchah ( בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ),  is the 36th (36/54 or 52, depending on the year: this year, 5782, we read 54 separate parshiot…) reading in the annual cycle, and the third parashah in the book of B’midbar/Numbers. 

     So, this week, readers of the full reading, aka the Annual Cycle,  will discuss the punishment of Miriam for having gossiped about her brother’s wife.  But she was doing the gossiping with her other brother, Aaron:  so why does he get off scott free?    (and I’m sure there were more creative punishments that would not have rendered him unfit for his ritual duties…)       

    Side comment, on grammar:  I love the derivation of this week’s title of the parashah from Aliyah/Oleh/Olah/LaAlot -to go or lift up, so that the word B’hAalotchah can mean upon your lifting up (… of something…).

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