Technology, Science and the Environment.

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

The US attorney general has ordered charges to be dropped against a doctor accused of destroying Covid-19 vaccines worth $28,000 (£20,742), distributing fake vaccination record cards, and giving children saline shots instead of the vaccine at their parents' request.

Surely it should have been bleach?

[dsr-burnley]

21 hours ago, leicsmac said:

On the topic of vaccines elsewhere:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0w1p0wq87o

 

The US attorney general has ordered charges to be dropped against a doctor accused of destroying Covid-19 vaccines worth $28,000 (£20,742), distributing fake vaccination record cards, and giving children saline shots instead of the vaccine at their parents' request.

Pam Bondi said Dr Michael Kirk Moore Jr. "gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so". He had been indicted by the Justice Department under the Biden administration in 2023.

The plastic surgeon was already on trial in Utah, where he had pleaded not guilty to all charges including conspiracy to defraud the US.

The acting US Attorney for the district of Utah, Felice John Viti, filed to dismiss the charges on Saturday, saying this was "in the interests of justice".

Dr Moore was accused of providing fraudulently completed vaccination certificates for more than 1,900 vaccine doses, the US Attorney's office in Utah said in 2023.

 

It would appear that harmful ignorance is now government approved. 

I don't think it was harmful ignorance, because covid vaccines for children probably did more harm than good. 

 

It was still fraud, which he seems to have got away with, but (however much blind chance and prejudice was involved) he was right that children were better off unvaccinated against covid.

[leicsmac]

7 hours ago, dsr-burnley said:

I don't think it was harmful ignorance, because covid vaccines for children probably did more harm than good. 

 

It was still fraud, which he seems to have got away with, but (however much blind chance and prejudice was involved) he was right that children were better off unvaccinated against covid.

Making the (gargantuan) assumption that this is true, a doctor that would do this would also do it with other vaccines in the future. Ones that would be, shall we say, more consequential to not have. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

Will the King put a rocket up Trumps backside re: the environment when he makes his state visit?

 

It's one of Charles passions (after horse-faced women) so I'd like to think he might, though he's probably under strict instructions not to rock the boat.

[leicsmac]

9 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Will the King put a rocket up Trumps backside re: the environment when he makes his state visit?

 

It's one of Charles passions (after horse-faced women) so I'd like to think he might, though he's probably under strict instructions not to rock the boat.

Well, if there's anyone that Trump's ego might listen to for long enough to consider the topic, then it would likely be His Majesty. Might be worth the effort. 

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79q42y07wpo

 

Air quality alerts are in place across Canada and the northern United States due to smoke from wildfires, with officials warning residents to "limit time outdoors".

Environment Canada issued alerts for much of Ontario, warning that wildfire smoke had significantly degraded air quality. On Monday, Toronto's air quality ranked among the worst in the world.

In the US, officials issued similar alerts for Chicago through Tuesday evening, with additional precautions advised for babies and the elderly.

Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet emergency responders to assess the situation in Ottawa, as fires burning in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and northern Ontario have forced thousands out of their homes.

 

Grim. 

[leicsmac]

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/two-feared-trapped-south-korea-landslide-area-lashed-by-heavy-rain-yonhap-says-2025-07-17/

 

Four people died and more than 1,000 have been evacuated in South Korea after the country was lashed by torrential rain on Thursday, the safety ministry said.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gkygz3vg5o

 

Torrential rains in Pakistan's Punjab province have killed at least 63 people and injured 290 in the 24 hours since downpours started on Wednesday morning.

Most of the victims were crushed by collapsing buildings, while the rest either drowned or were electrocuted, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.

Authorities in the city of Rawalpindi, next to the capital Islamabad, declared Thursday a public holiday to keep people at home, while those living near a swelling river which runs through the city have been asked to evacuate.

The latest deaths take the nationwide toll to nearly 180 since the monsoon started in late June. More than half of them were children.

 

More grim. 

[leicsmac]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/07/18/epa-office-research-development-eliminated/

 

The Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday it was dismantling its scientific research branch, expanding the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the agency.

The move to eliminate the Office of Research and Development, which will prompt the exodus of hundreds of chemists and scientists assigned to conduct independent research on a range of environmental hazards, is part of a push to cut 23 percent of the agency’s staff. Its work, which often underpinned stricter federal regulations, was criticized by chemical manufacturers and other industries.

 

Yep, let the polluters have a free hand. I'm sure that will turn out well. 

[leicsmac]

On 17/07/2025 at 12:59, leicsmac said:

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/two-feared-trapped-south-korea-landslide-area-lashed-by-heavy-rain-yonhap-says-2025-07-17/

 

Four people died and more than 1,000 have been evacuated in South Korea after the country was lashed by torrential rain on Thursday, the safety ministry said.

 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygzxd8g9jo

 

At least 14 people have died in floods and landslides caused by days of torrential rain in South Korea, the country's disaster management office has said.

There are fears the death toll could rise as emergency rescue efforts continue, with 12 people reported missing.

Footage showed people wading through thick mud in the landslide-hit resort town of Gapyeong on Sunday as they made their way across a damaged bridge to evacuation shelters.

Further south, an entire village was covered with earth and debris following a landslide in the central Chungcheong region, according to video footage from Saturday.

Much of the destruction has been in the country's south, with six people killed and seven missing in Sancheong.

Thousands of roads and buildings have been damaged and submerged by raging floodwaters, with reports of damage to farmland and the widespread death of livestock.

Across the region, nearly 10,000 people have evacuated their homes since the downpour began on Wednesday, while more than 41,000 households have temporarily lost power, local media reported.

 

Well, this continues to be horrible.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Found this to be an interesting article...

 

Our body is a mosaic of fungi. Some scientists think they could be influencing our brain - BBC Future

 

https://share.google/j1a3tWMi6ypc2O6Rn

[leicsmac]

Read a short but very accurate saying today that a lot of people ignore at their peril. 

 

"Mother Nature always bats last."

[Free Falling Foxes]

Green technologies impact on the environment.

 

Is the world's race to decarbonise unintentionally stoking another environmental problem?

 

 

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

Green technologies impact on the environment.

 

Is the world's race to decarbonise unintentionally stoking another environmental problem?

 

 

Lithium mining, in particular, is an environmental hazard for all the reasons stated in the article, and measures need to be taken.

 

However, until we come across a better raw material and method for renewable energy storage and distribution (hopefully soon), not lithium mining is much, much worse for far more people and that really should be emphasised.

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

Read a short but very accurate saying today that a lot of people ignore at their peril. 

 

"Mother Nature always bats last."

And wins by an innings, after making humankind follow on.

[leicsmac]

5 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

And wins by an innings, after making humankind follow on.

Quite.

 

It's rather an extraordinary amount of cognitive dissonance that convinces a lot of humans that other humans and human violence represent the biggest direct threat to their lives and health, when the statistics are so heavily in favour of that biggest threat being "natural" consequences (whether human-driven or otherwise).

[blabyboy]

On 20/07/2025 at 15:30, Trav Le Bleu said:

Found this to be an interesting article...

 

Our body is a mosaic of fungi. Some scientists think they could be influencing our brain - BBC Future

 

https://share.google/j1a3tWMi6ypc2O6Rn

Beware Cordyceps!

[blabyboy]

Was in two minds whether to post this in here or the Stocks and Shares topic..

 

https://www.marathonfusion.com

 

Seems like a great way to pay for itself and provide other elements at a much cheaper cost. Could they have the Midas touch at last..

[blabyboy]

On 20/07/2025 at 21:34, leicsmac said:

Quite.

 

It's rather an extraordinary amount of cognitive dissonance that convinces a lot of humans that other humans and human violence represent the biggest direct threat to their lives and health, when the statistics are so heavily in favour of that biggest threat being "natural" consequences (whether human-driven or otherwise).

Globally, 720,000 people died from suicide last year.

Approximately 40,000 - 50,000 people died from natural disasters.

 

The biggest threat to humans is the human mind and the dissonance that its own existence doesn't matter anymore. 

[Wymsey]

1 minute ago, blabyboy said:

Globally, 720,000 people died from suicide last year.

Approximately 40,000 - 50,000 people died from natural disasters.

 

The biggest threat to humans is the human mind and the dissonance that its own existence doesn't matter anymore. 

Was thinking the other day of what the stats were like for this aspect, alone, in the UK over the past few years.

[Trav Le Bleu]

7 hours ago, blabyboy said:

Globally, 720,000 people died from suicide last year.

Approximately 40,000 - 50,000 people died from natural disasters.

 

The biggest threat to humans is the human mind and the dissonance that its own existence doesn't matter anymore. 

It's actually less.

 

However, 167 million people were affected by natural disasters.

 

Without wanting to downplay the tragedy of suicide, even taking into the account the family and friends of suicide victims, it will be considerably less.

[leicsmac]

7 hours ago, blabyboy said:

Globally, 720,000 people died from suicide last year.

Approximately 40,000 - 50,000 people died from natural disasters.

 

The biggest threat to humans is the human mind and the dissonance that its own existence doesn't matter anymore. 

Please bear in mind that both famine and at least some disease are also natural disasters (in that the cause of death requires no direct human agency).

 

One such disease - malaria - caused 608,000 deaths, famine, a toll in the hundreds of thousands, both last year.

 

I stand by what I said. Natural events such as these are a much greater killer than human violence outside the very specific circumstance of nuclear exchange or large-scale orchestrated action like the Holocaust.

[Jon the Hat]

4 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Please bear in mind that both famine and at least some disease are also natural disasters (in that the cause of death requires no direct human agency).

 

One such disease - malaria - caused 608,000 deaths, famine, a toll in the hundreds of thousands, both last year.

 

I stand by what I said. Natural events such as these are a much greater killer than human violence outside the very specific circumstance of nuclear exchange or large-scale orchestrated action like the Holocaust.

Its ok, its not like Trump just cancelled USAID.  Oh.  Bollocks.

[leicsmac]

20 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Its ok, its not like Trump just cancelled USAID.  Oh.  Bollocks.

... and put the money for it right into organisations that directly visit violence upon people. (But they call it "defence" and "securing the border", so that's OK, apparently.)

 

No "war on famine", or "war on malaria", or "war on cancer" (with what appears to be a blank cheque to fight it), even though those, to name but three, are bigger threats to human life and livelihood than direct human acts.

 

Like I said, cognitive dissonance. 

[blabyboy]

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Please bear in mind that both famine and at least some disease are also natural disasters (in that the cause of death requires no direct human agency).

 

One such disease - malaria - caused 608,000 deaths, famine, a toll in the hundreds of thousands, both last year.

 

I stand by what I said. Natural events such as these are a much greater killer than human violence outside the very specific circumstance of nuclear exchange or large-scale orchestrated action like the Holocaust.

I was taking the figures from Our World in Data (https://ourworldindata.org/) and their classifications based on the reports they aggregate.

 

I was surprised by the amount of decrease that has happened both in Natural Disasters and in Malaria that have occurred since the early 2000's alone - in part, due to humans getting better at prediction, prevention and mitigation. One hopes that we can apply the same in other areas in the years to come.

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, blabyboy said:

I was taking the figures from Our World in Data (https://ourworldindata.org/) and their classifications based on the reports they aggregate.

 

I was surprised by the amount of decrease that has happened both in Natural Disasters and in Malaria that have occurred since the early 2000's alone - in part, due to humans getting better at prediction, prevention and mitigation. One hopes that we can apply the same in other areas in the years to come.

That website is a fantastic resource, isn't it?

 

We're certainly getting better at mitigating such things, as is borne out by the numbers, but the fact remains that they still present a bigger threat to life and livelihood than direct human action and there is a distinct lack of focus on them by comparison (last two words being the important part there).

 

We do need to do better, as you imply - the natural pressures that create such problems are only going to increase.