Category Archives: News to use

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

BioNTech’s Özlem Türeci on the Covid-19 pandemic and the vaccine gap – Vox

…Even though it might have seemed that way, this was not something which was developed overnight, as an immediate reaction. We started in the mid-1990s to experiment with mRNA. In 2012, we treated our first patient. These were long years of preparation.

The next threats are already there — but a sense of urgency is not there yet. It is very important, without already seeing the clear threat, to have a vision which can serve as a North Star. And with this perseverance and grit, to work toward actualizing the potential of the technology and trusting in the science to solve it.

The second most important thing is to understand that we are a global community. We are scientists. It wasn’t too clear to us what nonscientific challenges — geopolitical ones, global ethical ones, societal ones — had to be overcome to make all this feasible. Understanding that those are major hurdles, and starting to fix them early on, is important…

Source: BioNTech’s Özlem Türeci on the Covid-19 pandemic and the vaccine gap – Vox

Rep. Paul Gosar’s censure over a violent video featuring AOC matters – Vox

…Gosar’s censure — the second most severe punishment a House member can receive, after expulsion — is significant for several reasons. In addition to doling out a public rebuke, it sends an important message against violent rhetoric, which in politics is often disproportionately targeted toward women of color. The loss of committee seats in particular is notable: It’s through them that lawmakers are able to weigh in on policy and conduct government oversight — and without them, they have little power.

“We cannot have members joking about murdering each other, as well as threatening the president of the United States,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier this week.

While Democrats have broadly condemned Gosar’s actions, Republican leadership has shied away from issuing any outright criticism. “I called him when I heard about the video, and he made a statement that he doesn’t support violence, and he took the video down,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a CNN interview.

Gosar has removed the video following significant backlash, and issued a statement saying he does not “espouse violence or harm towards any Member of Congress or Mr. Biden,” but he hasn’t apologized.

Democrats hope the censure vote on Wednesday serves as an explicit condemnation of Gosar’s post, and draws a line regarding the type of behavior lawmakers are willing to accept. Violent language by members has become an especially sensitive issue after the January 6 insurrection highlighted how speeches encouraging violence could translate to real-world deaths…

Source: Rep. Paul Gosar’s censure over a violent video featuring AOC matters – Vox

Reconstituirea

ore de drum

San Angelo in Formis, 2019

Cactuși de Barbaria cu fructe rozulii, țepoase, mărginesc șoseaua îngustă, ici-colo câte un măslin răzleț printre smochini sălbatici, rămuroși, întregesc peisajul tipic pentru Magna Graecia.

Am făcut un ocol pe undeva între Capua și Benevento ca să văd un monument semnificativ pentru sudul Italiei, care mă interesa din trei motive:

1.Mitologic, știind că Templul Dianei era cel mai important sanctuar precreștin din regiune, funcțional până în secolul 6.

La fel ca și Artemis din mitologia greacă, zeița vânătorii era și la romani înarmată cu arc și săgeți, încălțată în sandale comode și pusă pe fugă.

Localnicii au rugat-o să intervină în câștigarea unei bătălii și, drept mulțumire pentru victorie, i-au înălțat un templu. Am fost curioasă să intersectez vibrațiile generate de sacralitatea spațiului care, secole în șir, a atras lumea în pelerinaj.

2.Arhitectural, pentru că biserica de azi ocupă exact perimetrul templului, iar…

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Friendship Is Sacred

bluejayblog

The amount of cringe-worthy stuff my true blue friends know about me makes me shudder. This is also true about the things I know about them. We keep these issues away from public knowledge out of mutual trust. True blue friends or BFFs can sense each others’ malarky, call each other out on it, and have a good laugh afterwards. I can count the number of my true blue friends on the fingers of one hand, and that’s OK. Like gold, rarity helps make such friends precious.

I’ve often wondered why society doesn’t have a special holiday for friends as we do for Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day. After all, for great numbers of people, especially those who were raised in dysfunctional families, friends play an important role in personal development and well-being. BFFs are proof that families of choice can be more profound and loving than families of birth…

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Wet’suwet’en update 11/17/2021

LANDBACK Friends

I try to do most of the writing on this blog, rather than sharing tweets and videos. But it is important for those on the frontlines to tell their stories themselves.

Some may wonder why I, a white male in the so-called United States, follows so closely and writes about the Wet’suwet’en. There are several reasons. My whole life I have worked to reduce fossil fuel use. Which has been frustrating because so few people in industrialized societies look beyond their own needs for fossil fuels for transportation, heating, cooking, and all the products made from fossil fuels, such as plastics, etc. Our capitalist economy focuses on these things, completely ignoring the draining of non-renewable fossil fuel supplies and the many damages to Mother Earth.

The situation with the Wet’suwet’en peoples is an example of the global nature of environmental devastation. And their Indigenous leadership is an example of the…

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