Category Archives: News to use

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

Michigan is now worst COVID hot spot in nation; hospitals at capacity

“We were hoping that we would be in a better situation this Thanksgiving than we were last year, especially with the availability of the vaccines,” Munkarah said.

“We’ve been watching with … trepidation and worry, the number of COVID cases climb and rise throughout our community and around the state. … The vast majority of the patients continue to be unvaccinated patients. So when we look at general admissions for COVID, 70 to 75% of those patients have been unvaccinated.”..

Source: Michigan is now worst COVID hot spot in nation; hospitals at capacity

‘Superstitious belief kills pangolins’: Q&A with biologist Elisa Panjang

Pangolin scales are made of keratin, a protein, just like rhino horns, or human fingernails and hair. While many people consume the scales or horns in the belief that they have medicinal properties, there is no evidence to back up that keratin is effective in curing or helping any ailments.

“Superstitious belief kills pangolins,” Panjang says.

In 2016, the legitimate international trade in pangolins was banned under CITES, the global convention on the wildlife trade. But the illegal trade persists, and pangolin populations are still declining despite protections in place. In addition to their scales, they are also killed for their meat and their leather.

Elisa Panjang tracks pangolins using a VHF handheld radio and an antenna. Image courtesy of Elisa Panjang.

The COVID-19 pandemic also put a spotlight on the scaly mammal, Panjang says. It was speculated early on that pangolins were a possible transmission source of the coronavirus from other animals to humans. But, to date, there’s no evidence to back up this claim.

Source: ‘Superstitious belief kills pangolins’: Q&A with biologist Elisa Panjang

For Kenyan farmers, organic fertilizer bokashi brings the land back to life

Karungaru village in eastern Kenya’s Tharaka Nithi county is dry — so dry that even the resilient acacia trees have shed their leaves to cope. But amid these arid conditions, Peninah Muthoni is growing amaranth, spinach and other vegetables.

Thanks to agroecological techniques, Muthoni and hundreds of other farmers across the county are coaxing fresh vegetables to grow despite the harsh conditions.

Bokashi has already nourished my soils,” she told Mongabay, “so what I need are cover crops to sustain soil moisture in the ground and keep watering the crops occasionally because it rarely rains in this place.”

Bokashi fertilizer, made by fermenting organic material to quickly create a nutrient-rich compost, is restoring depleted soils. After attending a workshop run by the Resources Oriented Development Initiative (RODI Kenya) in 2019, Muthoni put the techniques it offered to work in three gardens around her home in Tharaka Nithi. Combining sack gardens, sunken basins, and making bokashi, she is growing enough vegetables not just for her three biological and 11 foster children. She says she even has a surplus for others in need…

Source: For Kenyan farmers, organic fertilizer bokashi brings the land back to life

#WhereIsPengshuai? Feminist activists and sports fans campaign for the missing tennis star · Global Voices

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, 35, has not been seen or heard from since accusing former Chinese Communist top leader Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault through Weibo on November 2.

Peng Shuai’s post accusing the former Chinese vice premier of sexually assaulting her twice in the last ten years was taken offline less than 20 minutes after she posted it on her official Weibo account. Since then, all her social media accounts have been suspended; her name has become a sensitive term on the Chinese Internet, meaning any post that mentions it gets removed; and she has remained silent for two weeks.

The incident has caught the attention of the world’s tennis community. On November 14, Steve Simon, the Chair and CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), finally issued a statement demanding a full and transparent investigation into Peng’s allegation…

Source: #WhereIsPengshuai? Feminist activists and sports fans campaign for the missing tennis star · Global Voices

Day 18/67, Five Month GED, radicals, and health — Inspiring Critical Thinking and Community via Books, Lessons, and Story

Would universal health care be radical an idea, like exponents, which are indeed, quite radical?  In the inverse, that is. Day 18 Lesson plan Capitalizing (Use CHROME browser for this site) Exponents, part 2 The Radical Square Root!! Day 18 ExitSlips ( Day 17 … Day 19) Action Prompts: 1.)  Share your thoughts on how […]

Day 18/67, Five Month GED, radicals, and health — Inspiring Critical Thinking and Community via Books, Lessons, and Story

House to vote to censure Gosar, remove him from committee over violent anime video depicting Ocasio-Cortez’s killing – The Washington Post

The House will vote Wednesday on a resolution that both censures Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) and removes him from the Committee on Oversight and Reform, more than one week after Gosar tweeted an altered anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and swinging two swords at President Biden.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that Democrats’ plans to discipline Gosar and remove him from a committee were appropriate because Gosar had made threats about harming a member of Congress.

“That is an … endangerment of that member of Congress, but [also] an insult to the institution of the House of Representatives,” Pelosi said. “We cannot have members joking about murdering each other as well as threatening the president of the United States…”

Source: House to vote to censure Gosar, remove him from committee over violent anime video depicting Ocasio-Cortez’s killing – The Washington Post

The natural environment — pe blog

As we can see in these pictures above, our natural environment is so beautiful. Unfortunately, many factors may harm all of this. On the other hand, some action can be taken to protect it. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments.  Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the […]

The natural environment — pe blog