26251 replies to this topic

[todd]

Both nice artist interpretations. But that is what those images are. Renderings based on black and white, blurry, 2D images. Cool look though. Looks like they would make good kitchen scrub brushes.

Also looks like HIV.

While on the topic that It's a Sin series on Amazon is quite the horror.

[Victoria Watcher]

https://www.worldome...country/canada/

 

 

https://www.worldome...rus/country/uk/

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 March 2021 - 06:49 PM.

[tanker]

So this chart aged well. 

 

 

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Edited by tanker, 01 March 2021 - 07:48 PM.

[tanker]

I've done some modelling myself here. We'll see if I beat the government's models. Our only choice is covid camps and triple masks.

Attached Images

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Edited by tanker, 01 March 2021 - 08:59 PM.

[Matt R.]

we will just have to wait slightly longer for the vaccines to have the best effect.  in the end we have done better than anywhere else in canada apart from the maritimes.  
 
i really do not think we will wait much longer than anyone else for theatres and concerts etc. though.
 
the CNE has said they are going ahead this summer let's see what we do with the PNE.
rage against the machine scheduled for june:  https://www.pne.ca/events/
 
stampede (july) appears to be a go:  https://www.calgarystampede.com/
 
our city should prepare for canada day.  why not?  and bc day (not that we do a single thing) and the saanich fair.

I’ve got crazy good seats for that Rage show, fingers crossed!

Matt.

[Mike K.]

You know you’re getting old when you’re stoked about good “seats” at the Rage show.

[Matt R.]

Haha! Yes, I’ve been in the pit at a couple rage shows, and it doesn’t interest me anymore.

Front row, section T!

Matt.

[Victoria Watcher]

Coronavirus live updates: Quebec reports 588 new cases, sets vaccination record

 

The province hit a new high for doses administered in a day while recording the fewest new infections since September.

 

https://montrealgaze...cination-record

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 March 2021 - 08:17 AM.

[dasmo]

The Justice Centre is hiring
Experienced Senior Litigators

 

The Justice Centre is looking to hire four experienced litigators as soon as possible, to work on our Charter court actions against the federal government and several provincial governments. The successful candidates will work on constitutional files across Canada to defend against increasing government infringement of the fundamental Charter freedoms and civil liberties of Canadians.

The ideal candidates will have considerable litigation experience, preferably 10 or more years.  Experience in drafting, cross examinations, and oral argument is a must. Constitutional litigation experience is a benefit but not essential. Successful candidates will be responsible, principled, self-directed, and able and willing to work under the additional pressure of public scrutiny.

 

A willingness to work cooperatively with other lawyers who are part of our team of pro bono counsel is essential. The successful candidate will work from her/his own office in the city of her/his choice; there is no requirement to be based in Calgary where we are headquartered.

 

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms also seeks a full-time Paralegal to assist the Justice Centre’s Litigation Manager and legal team with various research and document-related projects, as well as contributing to the Justice Centre’s mission of defending the constitutional freedoms of Canadians.
 

Please email resumes in confidence to the attention of:
Jay Cameron, Litigation Director.
Please include a cover letter outlining your interest in the position and why you would be a good fit for the Justice Centre.

media@jccf.ca

[Victoria Watcher]

UK - February 23 vs. March 2 (1 week, same reporting day)

 

New DEATHS:  548  > > >  343

New CASES:   8489  > > >   6391

[amor de cosmos]

Whitehorse 1st capital city in Canada to open COVID-19 vaccine clinics to all adults
People ages 18 and older can get vaccinated starting Monday
https://www.cbc.ca/n...horse-1.5932182

Pandemic launches boom in backyard offices, say B.C. builders
100-square-foot spaces are a quiet, private work from home solution, they say
https://www.cbc.ca/n...-home-1.5932932

Units in two Vancouver-area hospitals closed by COVID-19 outbreak
https://www.timescol...reak-1.24288443

Metro Vancouver wastewater carries COVID-19, new app reveals viral load
https://www.timescol...load-1.24288533
 

Law enforcement seizures of drugs, particularly marijuana and methamphetamine, dropped at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, then increased significantly in the following months--exceeding pre-pandemic seizure rates and providing clues about the impact of the crisis on substance use, according to a new study in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
 
The research was conducted as part of the National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS), which uses real-time surveillance to detect early signals of potential drug epidemics. NDEWS is led by a team of researchers at the University of Florida, New York University, and Florida Atlantic University, and is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.
 
Early research about how the pandemic has affected patterns of substance use has yielded mixed results. Some sources suggest that overall drug use has increased, while others point to a drop in use and availability of certain drugs. During the same period, multiple studies show an increase in overdoses.
 
Given conflicting information about changes in drug use, availability, and overdoses after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, NDEWS researchers examined trends in drug seizures recorded in the National High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program's Performance Management Process database to gain additional insight as to how the pandemic and its associated restrictions have shifted drug use.
 
"Although seizure data is not the most robust indicator of the prevalence of drug use, it does serve as an indicator of drug supply and availability," said study author Joseph Palamar, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, an affiliated researcher with the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research (CDUHR) at NYU School of Global Public Health, NDEWS co-investigator and chair of the NDEWS Scientific Advisory Group. "For example, fewer seizures, or lower volumes of drugs seized, can reflect a disruption of drug supply chains."

https://www.eurekale...u-dsp022321.php
 

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology working in collaboration with colleagues at the Kanagawa Institute of Industrial Science and Technology and Nara Medical University in Japan have succeeded in preparing a material called cerium molybdate (γ-Ce2Mo3O13 or CMO), which exhibits high antiviral activity against coronavirus.
 
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the urgency not only of vaccine development and rollout but also of developing innovative materials and technologies with antiviral properties that could play a vital role in helping to contain the spread of the virus.
 
Conventional inorganic antimicrobial materials are often prepared with metals such as copper or photocatalysts such as titanium dioxide. However, metal-based materials can be prone to corrosion, and the effects of photocatalysts are usually limited under dark conditions.
 
Now, a research team led by Akira Nakajima of Tokyo Institute of Technology's Department of Materials Science and Engineering proposes a new type of an antiviral material that can overcome these drawbacks. The team successfully combined a relatively low-cost rare earth element cerium (Ce) with molybdenum (Mo), which is well known for its antibacterial effects, to prepare two types of cerium molybdate (Ce2Mo3O12 and γ-Ce2Mo3O13) in powder form.

Both powders exhibited antiviral activity against bacteriophage Φ6[1]. Notably, γ-Ce2Mo3O13 also exhibited high antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

https://www.eurekale...t-ams030121.php
 

CHICAGO --- Public attitude toward COVID-19 and its treatments is more "infectious" than the disease itself, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze tweets about the virus. Researchers studied the influence of Twitter on COVID-19 health beliefs as well as the competing influence of scientific evidence versus the speeches of politicians.
The study's key findings:

• People's biases are magnified when they read tweets about COVID-19 from other users, and the more times it has been retweeted, the more they tend to believe it and retweet it themselves.
• Scientific events, such as scientific publications, and non-scientific events, such as speeches of politicians, equally influence health belief trends on social media.

"In the pandemic, social media has contributed to much of the information and misinformation and bias of the public's attitude toward the disease, treatment and policy," said corresponding study author Yuan Luo, chief Artificial Intelligence officer at the Institute for Augmented Intelligence in Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
 
"Our study helps people to realize and re-think the personal decisions that they make when facing the pandemic," Luo said. "The study sends an 'alert' to the audience that the information they encounter daily might be right or wrong, and guide them to pick the information endorsed by solid scientific evidence. We also wanted to provide useful insight for scientists or health care providers, so that they can more effectively broadcast their voice to targeted audiences."

The study was published recently in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

https://www.eurekale...u-asp030121.php

Twitter says it will ban users who repeatedly post misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines
https://ca.news.yaho...-215307257.html
 
One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, over 800 million students, more than half the world’s student population, still face significant disruptions to their education, ranging from full school closures in 31 countries to reduced or part-time academic schedules in another 48 countries, according to new data released on UNESCO’s interactive monitoring map.
https://en.unesco.or...covid-19-school

WHO warns it is unrealistic to think the pandemic will be done by end of the year
https://en.mercopres...end-of-the-year

WHO registers growth in global COVID cases for first time in 7 weeks
Reported cases increased in four of WHO’s six regions
https://tass.com/world/1261563
 

A poignant reminder of death stands in Naples, where the old Roman road meets the main college street and the imposing palazzos step back to reveal a sun-drenched plaza.
 
The spire of San Domenico — a stone obelisk topped with a statue of the saint — is one of Europe’s “plague columns.” Such monuments were erected after devastating epidemics in the 17th century to memorialize the religious figures believed to have interceded to stop the spread of disease.
 
Vienna still has the most famous one, though others survive. Of the three columns standing in Naples, only the spire of San Domenico was erected to actually commemorate a plague. As art historian Maria Ann Conelli points out, the column shares its form with a type of temporary funeral monument erected to display the coffin of a prominent citizen in baroque-era Italy.
 
As the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of a global pandemic approaches (and as vaccination programs begin), it might finally be time to consider how our modern age wants to remember this plague.

End-of-plague festival

Pulitzer-winning art critic Christopher Knight recently suggested we should build a new plague column to remember COVID-19 victims. It’s a brilliant idea. But columns take time. The spire of San Domenico, begun two years after the 1656 epidemic took 79 years to complete.
 
The Neapolitan civic officials of 1656 have another lesson to teach about how to remember a plague: they put together a grand celebration to mark the containment of the epidemic and help heal a wounded city. For 10 days (instead of the usual eight), beginning on Dec. 1, 1656, the city was transformed by festivities both solemn and joyous.
 
“After such calamity, and in such a short time,” says a contemporary Jesuit account, the city put together a celebration that was “if not the greatest, as is often said, then at least, no one can deny, one not unequal to those seen in Naples in the midst of its greatest happiness.”
 
This source, a Jesuit text that celebrated miracles performed during the plague, had reason to put things in the best light. Yet it describes events typical of Neapolitan feasts, for which there are many sources.

etc
https://theconversat...covid-19-154774

Russia is likely to develop herd immunity against COVID-19 by August - deputy PM
Earlier, the deputy prime minister said to achieve herd immunity it was necessary to vaccinate some 68.6 mln people in Russia
https://tass.com/society/1261641
 

64% מהרוסים מאמינים: הקורונה - נשק ביולוגי
סקר ברוסיה: רוב האזרחים מאמינים שנגיף הקורונה הוא "סוג חדש של נשק ביולוגי". רק 23% חושבים שהוא התפשט באופן טבעי, "ללא התערבות אדם". 30% בלבד רוצים להתחסן

64% of Russians believe: the corona - a biological weapon
Survey in Russia: Most citizens believe that the corona virus is a "new type of biological weapon". Only 23% think it has spread naturally, "without human intervention." Only 30% want to get vaccinated
https://www.ynet.co....ticle/BkiDtccGu

'Vaccine Centres Can Be Super Spreaders': Videos of Crowds Flocking Indian Hospitals Shock Netizens
https://sputniknews....shock-netizens/

Israeli High Court Limits Shin Bet’s Controversial Surveillance of COVID-19 Carriers
https://sputniknews....id-19-carriers/

Saudi Makes Covid Vaccine Mandatory for All Pilgrims before Performing Hajj to Mecca
https://www.english....om.lb/58573/525

China plans to administer 40 doses of COVID-19 vaccines per 100 people by the end of June, China's top respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan said on Monday.
http://www.ecns.cn/n...hw1113549.shtml

China cooperates with over 10 countries on vaccines R&D
http://www.ecns.cn/n...hw1113970.shtml

Hungarian PM receives injection of China's Sinopharm vaccine against COVID-19
http://www.ecns.cn/n...hw1113600.shtml

Both former U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump received coronavirus vaccine in private before leaving the White House in January, U.S. media reported on Monday, citing an adviser of Trump as the source.
http://www.ecns.cn/n...hw1113512.shtml

Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Rochelle Walensky warned Monday the country is at risk of losing its recent progress in the battle against COVID-19 if states are rolling back health measures.
http://www.ecns.cn/n...hw1113481.shtml
 

Part of the problem now is that there still aren’t enough vaccines to go around. But as Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson ramp up production, other barriers will start to become more obvious. A new tool from the nonprofit Surgo Ventures maps out factors that will make the rollout slower in some parts of the U.S. than others. You can search for your own county here.
 
“We see a need for more precision and how we respond to the pandemic,” says Sema Sgaier, cofounder and CEO of Surgo Ventures and adjunct assistant professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The organization has been rolling out related tools throughout the pandemic, including a map showing where communities are most vulnerable to the virus. “What that means is how do we really understand what are the local barriers at state and county, and therefore, how can we have really customized solutions to those barriers?”
 
The index looks at 28 factors that can influence vaccination, from poverty and unemployment rates to the percentage of people living in an area who don’t have access to the internet or who speak only limited English. More than half of the counties in the country face at least one barrier. “Rural communities are three times more likely than urban communities to really be facing significant barriers,” Sgaier says. In the South, communities are more likely to have less access to healthcare. In many areas in the Western U.S., they’re less likely to go to the doctor regularly.
 
The federal government can use the tool to better understand where we need more resources, either in terms of funding or other support, such as vaccination sites run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. States can also use the data to figure out where to send limited resources, even if they already had some understanding of the barriers.

https://www.fastcomp...-where-you-live

[todd]

With COVID I was looking for something to do so I figured I’d try out one of those new and Health Canada approved self HIV testing kits I found it pretty simple but I’ve had experience with glucose monitors. Negative!

It seems very similar to a séance or something. The company is based out of Richmond. 99.5% accurate.

https://shop.insti.c...i-hiv-self-test. Only $ 34.95!




“...An estimated 34% of infected persons in the heterosexual exposure category do not know their status, while an estimated 20% of those infected in the men who have sex with men exposure category are unaware of their status..”: https://www.canada.c...h-hiv-aids.html

Edited by todd, 02 March 2021 - 11:39 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

now we might have to yank young people off the street and give them this vaccine.

 

maybe drive around in an ice cram truck and give them out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first batch of Canada's supply of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is set to arrive tomorrow — but public health officials still have some distribution issues to sort out before they can deliver those shots.

 

Health Canada approved the AstraZeneca product last Friday. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), the independent panel that sets the guidelines for vaccine deployment, is not recommending that these shots be used in people aged 65 and over.

 

While Health Canada has determined the product is safe to use on all adults, NACI said there isn't enough clinical trial data available to determine how effective this product is in preventing COVID-19 infection among people in this older cohort.

 

Health officials will be under pressure to quickly establish priorities for distribution of the AstraZeneca shots because 300,000 of the 500,000 doses set to arrive this week from the Serum Institute of India will expire in just a month's time.

 

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, said NACI is prepared to update its guidance "as they see more and more real world data accumulating," but for now the AstraZeneca product should be directed at younger Canadians.

 

"Don't read their recommendations as sort of static. But this is what they've recommended at this point," Tam said. "Just watch this space."

 

It's up to the provinces and territories to decide how to put these AstraZeneca shots to use. Some scheduling adjustments will be required because most jurisdictions are focused on vaccinating the elderly at this early stage of the immunization campaign.

 

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...orrow-1.5933603

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 March 2021 - 12:00 PM.

[todd]

I might hold out until we/if have more of a choice in vaccine. Or go to a different country.

[dasmo]

[vortoozo]

I might hold out until we/if have more of a choice in vaccine. Or go to a different country.

 

AstraZeneca, Moderna or Pfizer? Take whichever COVID-19 vaccine you’re offered, experts say - The Globe and Mail

[todd]

AstraZeneca, Moderna or Pfizer? Take whichever COVID-19 vaccine you’re offered, experts say - The Globe and Mail

Yeah but I just figured out I think I’m eligible for dual citizenship down in the states

[Victoria Watcher]

[Victoria Watcher]

News Alert: Texas governor lifts mask mandate

 

Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday he's lifting the mask mandate in Texas, even as health officials warn not to ease safety restrictions.

 

Abbott made the announcement during a Lubbock Chamber of Commerce event where he issued an executive order rescinding most of his earlier executive orders like the mask mandate.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 March 2021 - 12:53 PM.

[spanky123]

AstraZeneca, Moderna or Pfizer? Take whichever COVID-19 vaccine you’re offered, experts say - The Globe and Mail

 

Of course that is what they are saying. The reality is that you will not have a choice. You will show up at your appt and either roll up or sleeve or not.

 

You will get one of the less effective vaccines because the "good stuff" will go to politicians and the elites.