Protecting Olympic Participants from Covid-19 — The Urgent Need for a Risk-Management Approach | NEJM

When the IOC postponed the Tokyo Olympics in March 2020, Japan had 865 active cases of Covid-19 against a global backdrop of 385,000 active cases. It was assumed that the pandemic would be controlled in 2021 or that vaccination would be widespread by then. Fourteen months later, Japan is in a state of emergency, with 70,000 active cases. Globally, there are 19 million active cases. Variants of concern, which may be more transmissible and more virulent than the original strain of SARS-CoV-2, are circulating widely. Vaccines are available in some countries, but less than 5% of Japan’s population is vaccinated, the lowest rate among all Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development countries.

Pfizer and BioNTech have offered to donate vaccines for all Olympic athletes, but this offer does not ensure that all athletes will receive vaccines before the Olympics, since vaccine authorization and availability are lacking in more than 100 countries. Moreover, some athletes may choose not to be vaccinated because of worries about the effects of vaccination on their performance or ethical concerns about being prioritized ahead of health care workers and vulnerable people. Although several countries have vaccinated their athletes, adolescents between 15 and 17 years of age cannot be vaccinated in most countries, and children younger than 15 can be vaccinated in even fewer countries. As a result, few teenage athletes, including gymnasts, swimmers, and divers as young as 12, will be vaccinated. In the absence of regular testing, participants may become infected during the Olympics and pose a risk when they return home to more than 200 countries.

We believe the IOC’s determination to proceed with the Olympic Games is not informed by the best scientific evidence. 

Source: Protecting Olympic Participants from Covid-19 — The Urgent Need for a Risk-Management Approach | NEJM

Alphabet soup for the soul – “V”

Words from Walden

V is for Vision

If your not being defined by a vision of the future, then your left with the old memories of the past

-Dr. Joe Dispenza-

Do you have a vision for your future? 

If not, now might be the time to start thinking about it.  Where do you see yourself in 1, 5 or 10 years?  How about 20 or 30 years?

The important thing to note is that those milestones will happen no matter what. It is up to you whether or not you have a say in how they happen.

Since you have the power to choose and create your future, you might as well make a conscious choice of what you wish to become before it’s too late (if your reading this than its not too late).

One of the smartest people I ever knew said make a list of what you…

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Surrenders in the Pacific | Pacific Paratrooper

Once the Emperor gave his speech for peace, the Japanese gave their surrenders across the Pacific, but not all went as smoothly as the one held on the USS Missouri. As late as 31 August, according to U.S. Intelligence reports, the Japanese refused to believe the surrender reports and ambushed a SRD party and three of the Japanese were killed.

Source: Surrenders in the Pacific | Pacific Paratrooper

U.S. Navy SEAL Teams: Origins and Evolution 1942-1962 | Defense Media Network

UDT Small Submersible Navy SEALs trace their capability origins back to four formidable legacy units formed during World War II. They were the Amphibious Scouts and Raiders, formed in August 1942 for amphibious reconnaissance and commando operations in Europe and the South Pacific; Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs), assault demolitioneers formed in June 1943 and trained almost exclusively for beach obstacle-clearance operations at Normandy and Southern France; Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs), combat swimmers formed in December 1944 to conduct hydrographic reconnaissance and demolition of obstacles before amphibious landings throughout the Pacific; and the maritime operators of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Source: U.S. Navy SEAL Teams: Origins and Evolution 1942-1962 | Defense Media Network

Marine Raider Battalions: 70 Years Ahead of Their Time | Defense Media Network

U.S. Marine Raiders February 2012 is the 70th anniversary of the Marine Raider Battalions, a brief but glorious episode in the long history of the Corps. Because they existed only two years, one might downplay their influence on the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) U.S. special operations forces (SOF). However, as we look back on the Marine Raiders seven decades later, one can see that they were simply a good idea whose time had not yet come. Their story is a compelling one that deserves to be told.

Source: Marine Raider Battalions: 70 Years Ahead of Their Time | Defense Media Network

Heroes To The Left….Heroes To The Right

In Saner Thought

Memorial Day weekend and we here in the US celebrate the ‘heroes’ that gave their all for their country….

We all have our idea of who were the heroes this country should celebrate….some are not as heroic as you might think and then there are heroes that you probably never heard of at any time….

The label ‘hero’ is overused these days….

And there is where I pick up the meat of this post…..

We begin this lesson on heroics with Hugh Thompson…..

Hugh Clowers Thompson, Jr. (1943 – 2006), was part Cherokee, descended from survivors of the Trail of Tears. Raised in Georgia, Thompson was a Boy Scout from a religious family whose children were taught discipline and integrity. In their corner of the segregated South, the Thompsons stood out for their opposition to racism, and for standing up for and helping people of color. In his youth…

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What really happens to your plastic recycling?

Wibble

Many of us spend time carefully sorting our recycling. But what actually happens to the plastic waste we put out for collection? Greenpeace UK enlightened me on this subject a short while ago. There’s no WordPress ‘reblog’ button on their site, so, after checking with them it was OK to recycle their words, I had to do it the old-fashioned way….

Take action on plastic pollution

Tell Boris Johnson:
Fix the UK’s plastic waste crisis – stop dumping our plastic waste on other countries; cut the UK’s single use plastic by 50% by 2025; and roll out a Bottle Return Scheme.

(The original page that I copied this from has a widget, at its foot, that invites you to sign the Greenpeace UK petition to the UK’s Prime Minister — I don’t know why it’s at the foot of the page, it’s easily missed there; in fact, I had missed…

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Choose your battles wisely (especially when transcribing)

Wibble

When I wibbled about machine transcription a few days ago, I concluded that it was perhaps still too much in its infancy to be of any use. However, I thought I would give it a second chance, as I’ve no doubt that I will want to transcribe content from videos in the future, as I have done in the past. And I’m glad that I did, because my second test revealed that my decision to ignore the advice given me by Sonix (the transcription software I used) was, uh, shall we say, “unwise.”

Transcript: Ah, ah, Aaah, Aaagh, Aaaaagh, AAAAAAGH.
FX: *THUD* … *wind scattering ashes*
“He chose… poorly.”

Why I take the time to transcribe content

In my first attempt at machine translation, I made several mistakes, and they led me to a bad result — and a worse conclusion. Allow me to begin again, from the top (or…

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