April 22, 2021 Thursday
I unexpectedly revisited my list of philosophical bird feeder dilemmas this week. Last spring, I wrestled with my egalitarian inclinations in the face of the inter-species power politics at the feeder (big pushes out little), concerns about exploiting the birds (by feeding them for my enjoyment), and my bias against squirrels.
I put out the bird feeder at our new house this past weekend. As of day four, outside my office window, and with many birds in the trees, I have seen no birds use the feeder. I wonder if the birds in my new neighborhood are on to the "oppression of the feeder‽" I should probably be happy to live amongst birds of principle. Or maybe I need a better seed blend.
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CDC National Hospitalization trend data
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#hospitalizations
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=casesf
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Vaccine Tracker
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends
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Phase 3 data from the J&J vaccine trial was released this week. Overall, it is very comforting from both efficacy and safety.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2101544?query=featured_home
Commentary
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1384975362203918337
While Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding often feels a bit alarmist, his information is not factually incorrect. His discussion about new variants, concerns about breakthrough infections, and the need for monitoring is worth reading.
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1384901020732596224
More antibody-based therapeutics. This announcement about an NIH trial of human polyclonal antibodies is another sign of how our toolbox is growing.
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/large-nih-clinical-trial-will-test-polyclonal-antibody-therapeutic-covid-19
India is having an awful time with COVID. Many stories like this - US-based physicians getting calls from family and friends they can only help with words.
https://twitter.com/PSampathkumarMD/status/1385004989421133829
Drs. Prasad and Gandhi did a video podcast on Dr. Gandhi's ongoing optimism about the pandemic.
https://twitter.com/VPrasadMDMPH/status/1384950302504275970
Infographic of the day: Fake Flavors
https://twitter.com/cenmag/status/1384137341346877446/photo/1
I'm not sure if artificial grape flavor sounds more or less appealing than methyl anthranilate. Perhaps the answer is D. None of the above?
----Bonus Round - Careers you could have had
I came across these two stories about selling fake detectors to the schools and the military. It is a way to make some short-term income, with a fair bit of risk. One wonders about the growth strategy of such businesses, however.
Read the story of Advanced Tactical Security & Communications, who sold metal antennas attached to handgrips (later described as glorified dowsing rods) to find explosives, human bodies, and banknotes. The Iraqi military spent millions of dollars on these. I wish I could have sat through the sales pitch claiming the rod used "nuclear quadrapole resonance" as its underlying mechanism. Moreover, Popular Mechanics (in which this article appears) attempts to pivot the story into one about the history of dowsing. This article is a glorious layer cake of bad ideas and logical fallacies.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a21678/dowsing-iraq-bomb-detectors/
In the 1990s, a South Carolina company sold a "Positive Molecular Locator" called the Quadro Tracker to police departments and schools throughout the U.S. for $4000-$8000 per device. The tracker claimed to detect drugs, weapons, explosives, golf balls, alcohol, precious metal, dead pets, or wild game animals. And it could locate specific people from photographs and fingerprints. Unfortunately, it was an empty plastic case with a metal rod—a great example of physical tools supporting confirmation bias (amongst other things).
https://reason.com/1996/11/01/box-of-dreams/
more
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadro_Tracker
Clean hands and sharp minds, team
Adam
I'll be back on Monday.
I unexpectedly revisited my list of philosophical bird feeder dilemmas this week. Last spring, I wrestled with my egalitarian inclinations in the face of the inter-species power politics at the feeder (big pushes out little), concerns about exploiting the birds (by feeding them for my enjoyment), and my bias against squirrels.
I put out the bird feeder at our new house this past weekend. As of day four, outside my office window, and with many birds in the trees, I have seen no birds use the feeder. I wonder if the birds in my new neighborhood are on to the "oppression of the feeder‽" I should probably be happy to live amongst birds of principle. Or maybe I need a better seed blend.
---
CDC National Hospitalization trend data
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#hospitalizations
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=casesf
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Vaccine Tracker
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends
-----
Phase 3 data from the J&J vaccine trial was released this week. Overall, it is very comforting from both efficacy and safety.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2101544?query=featured_home
Commentary
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1384975362203918337
While Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding often feels a bit alarmist, his information is not factually incorrect. His discussion about new variants, concerns about breakthrough infections, and the need for monitoring is worth reading.
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1384901020732596224
More antibody-based therapeutics. This announcement about an NIH trial of human polyclonal antibodies is another sign of how our toolbox is growing.
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/large-nih-clinical-trial-will-test-polyclonal-antibody-therapeutic-covid-19
India is having an awful time with COVID. Many stories like this - US-based physicians getting calls from family and friends they can only help with words.
https://twitter.com/PSampathkumarMD/status/1385004989421133829
Drs. Prasad and Gandhi did a video podcast on Dr. Gandhi's ongoing optimism about the pandemic.
https://twitter.com/VPrasadMDMPH/status/1384950302504275970
Infographic of the day: Fake Flavors
https://twitter.com/cenmag/status/1384137341346877446/photo/1
I'm not sure if artificial grape flavor sounds more or less appealing than methyl anthranilate. Perhaps the answer is D. None of the above?
----Bonus Round - Careers you could have had
I came across these two stories about selling fake detectors to the schools and the military. It is a way to make some short-term income, with a fair bit of risk. One wonders about the growth strategy of such businesses, however.
Read the story of Advanced Tactical Security & Communications, who sold metal antennas attached to handgrips (later described as glorified dowsing rods) to find explosives, human bodies, and banknotes. The Iraqi military spent millions of dollars on these. I wish I could have sat through the sales pitch claiming the rod used "nuclear quadrapole resonance" as its underlying mechanism. Moreover, Popular Mechanics (in which this article appears) attempts to pivot the story into one about the history of dowsing. This article is a glorious layer cake of bad ideas and logical fallacies.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a21678/dowsing-iraq-bomb-detectors/
In the 1990s, a South Carolina company sold a "Positive Molecular Locator" called the Quadro Tracker to police departments and schools throughout the U.S. for $4000-$8000 per device. The tracker claimed to detect drugs, weapons, explosives, golf balls, alcohol, precious metal, dead pets, or wild game animals. And it could locate specific people from photographs and fingerprints. Unfortunately, it was an empty plastic case with a metal rod—a great example of physical tools supporting confirmation bias (amongst other things).
https://reason.com/1996/11/01/box-of-dreams/
more
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadro_Tracker
Clean hands and sharp minds, team
Adam
I'll be back on Monday.
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