Category Archives: News to use

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

Face masks and vaccines: 3 reasons wearing masks indoors is still important – Vox

Experts explain where we still need to keep our masks on, and when we might be able to leave them at home.

1) Lots of people remain vulnerable to infection who can’t get a vaccine yet — including babies and kids. Some of them also can’t wear masks.

2) New variants could put us all at higher risk.

3) When the majority still isn’t vaccinated, masks help others feel safer.

(Me: don’t let deniers and fools bully you about masking up!!!

Source: Face masks and vaccines: 3 reasons wearing masks indoors is still important – Vox

Brazil rejects Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in blow to Moscow’s soft power efforts – The Washington Post

The ruling from Brazil’s Health Regulatory Agency, or Anvisa, cited a range of concerns with the vaccine’s development and production, including what it said was a lack of quality control and efficacy data, as well as little if any information on the shot’s adverse effects. Source: Brazil rejects Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in blow to Moscow’s soft power efforts – The Washington Post

Why Russia is betting on Myanmar’s military junta | East Asia Forum

Moscow’s close ties with Myanmar date back to the 1950s. Given that for most of its modern history the Southeast Asian country has been governed by the military, Russia has developed a working relationship with its uniformed rulers. Incumbent strongman general Min Aung Hlaing has visited Russia on numerous occasions, most recently in June 2020 to attend the Victory Day parade in Moscow, and is known as a champion of Myanmar–Russia ties.

Under Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar–Russia military cooperation has received a boost. After China, Russia is the country’s second largest supplier of arms, being the source of at least 16 per cent of weaponry procured by Myanmar from 2014–2019. Myanmar’s military is now awaiting the delivery of six Su-30 fighter jets ordered in 2019, and in January 2021 the two sides signed contracts for a Russian air defence system and a suite of surveillance drones.

Source: Why Russia is betting on Myanmar’s military junta | East Asia Forum

Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Planes Bomb Kachin Villages

The Myanmar military has been conducting frequent airstrikes on villages in Momauk Township, Kachin State for the past several days, forcing thousands of local residents to flee their homes. The air raids follow fierce fighting between regime troops and a local ethnic armed group, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), in the area.

Fighting has intensified near Myothit and Sihark villages in Momauk Township since the KIA attacked two police outposts and a military base at the Tarpein Bridge on April 11.

“The military has been bombing our villages for four days. Usually they carry out three or four airstrikes a day,” said a local staying near Myothit Village.

Source: Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Planes Bomb Kachin Villages

Avian Flu Diary: CDC Update: COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Cases

While it is undoubtedly a substantial undercount, as of April 20th the CDC has been notified of 7,157 breakthrough cases – a roughly 25% increase over their initial report of April 13th.

This is a reassuringly low number when compared to the nearly100 million fully vaccinated individuals in the country, but it is a reminder that vaccination is not an ironclad guarantee of protection.  Hence the need for vaccinated individuals to continue to observe some of the same social distancing measures as those who remain unvaccinated.

These breakthrough numbers will undoubtedly rise substantially over time.  Even if our current vaccines should prove to be 90% effective in preventing COVID infection – and no one is claiming that – millions of breakthrough infectious would still be expected over the next year or two.

Where COVID vaccines are expected to have their greatest impact is in reducing severe disease, which should manifest itself in lower hospitalizations, and far fewer deaths.  How effective they will be in preventing mild or asymptomatic infection remains to be seen.

Source: Avian Flu Diary: CDC Update: COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Cases

Day 9 of GED in 5 months, salt, trade, and transit

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

So, if salt is so important, how did they get it from one place to another before we had trains?   One of the key details of Phase I of the Four Freedoms movement is public transportation, as important back in time as today, right?

 

Day 9 Lesson Plan
Khan Academy Comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs
optional extra GrammarBook.com activity: Comparatives & Superlatives
Khan Academy Multiplying Fractions
Khan Academy fractions-decimals
Day 9 ExitSlips
 
 

Action Items:

1.) Why is salt important, biologically?

2.) Why was salt traded from place to place?

3.) Share your thoughts on whether salt supplies could have influenced wars.

4.) Write a book, story, blog post or tweet that uses those thoughts, and please tell us about it! If you write a book, once it is published please consider donating a copy to your local public library.

(Day…

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COVID: India to allow Amarnath pilgrimage despite surge in cases | Asia| An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 26.04.2021

A Hindu pilgrim is carried on a palanquin by Kashmiri bearers over a glacier on her way to the sacred Amarnath Cave The local government in India-administered Kashmir is contemplating setting up makeshift shelters and facilities for 600,000 Hindu pilgrims for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, which it intends to host this summer despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The pilgrims will visit the Amarnath cave shrine, perched 3,880-meters (12,730 feet) above sea level in the Himalayas.

The government will set up two base camps — one called Baltal and another called Chandanwari — for the pilgrims, who intend to make the journey on foot. From Baltal, the pilgrims will have to walk a distance of 14 kilometers (9 miles), while those approaching Chandanwari will have to trek 32 kilometers to reach the cave shrine housing the ice stalagmite, referred to by Hindus as the Shiv Lingam (the phallus of Lord Shiva).

Although authorities have temporarily suspended online registration for the pilgrimage in the wake of a spike in daily coronavirus cases, the site still says that the pilgrimage will take place as scheduled from June 28 through August 22.

Recently, hundreds of devotees, including nine top saints, tested positive for COVID-19 in the northern city of Haridwar, where hundreds of thousands of devotees gathered to participate in the Kumbh Mela festival.

Source: COVID: India to allow Amarnath pilgrimage despite surge in cases | Asia| An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 26.04.2021

Coronavirus: Is India counting all COVID deaths? | Asia| An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 26.04.2021

the health expert said. “The actual number of deaths from COVID-19 may be 5 to 10 times the official numbers. Together with under-reporting of cases and the large test positivity ratios we are seeing across the country, the true scale of the pandemic may be far worse than the numbers would suggest.” Source: Coronavirus: Is India counting all COVID deaths? | Asia| An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 26.04.2021