M.N. proposed? Good for her!

Martina Navratilova proposed at US Open today, Good on her! I hope that this pair bonding lasts a good while.

I never really discuss my views on LGBTH(the "H" is for hetero) issues. I s'pose it just never occurs me to comment on such issues. If two--or more--humans are of the age of consent, and these humans wish to bring it to the level of matrimony, I am good with that. Of course being a materialistic human with a bent towards an anarchistic political view, it is too natural a fit for me not to don.

I am not much of a sports fan, but Martina N. really transcends the whole sports legend title. She seems such a fine human being.

That said, I adored watching M.N and Steffi Graf battle in the late 1980s. They are giants.

In ebola news, the NYT has an editorial that distills just what I have gone on about this summer.. and adds "Given the W.H.O.’s weaknesses, the White House ought to consider whether the United States should take the lead."

Here is some speculation as to why the US has yet to lead on this issue. Obama is now an embattled president. I feel pretty confident in stating that Obama would like to lead on this issue, but cannot at present. There are essentially two reasons why he will not lead until perhaps later this year. Half of the answer can be divined from the last sentence.

As much as it only makes perfect sense for the US to lead on this issue, things are not likely to change until after the mid-term elections.

The apple cart is on three wheels as it is, and who knows what would happen if Obama was to do something more regarding the West African ebola outbreak? That this is even a potential issue, is truly a shame.

The other part of equation is inexorably linked to that which was just stated. If Obama moved forward with real zeal regarding the West African ebola outbreak, one can almost be certain that skin color would rear its fucking ugly heed. Oh, it would not be shouted, but racial undertones would almost certainly be spawned by those petty minded fools that we have for pundits.

Really, Obama's second term has almost all been about race when one removes the chaff. I cannot figure out why people do not seem to care for the ACA. Okay, if one sets aside stupidity, incestuous coupling, and not having any command whatever about the real facts, THEN I only know of one reason why people are upset about the ACA. It is a color issue.

I do not know if it has even been brought up but everything wrong with Iraq--from IEDs to ISIS--are squarely braindead Bush's deals.

That Obama's polling numbers are so low are only due to some kind of weird collective amnesia. There seem to be no limits to the paths to stupidity, but few to the light of knowledge.

I cannot fathom why today's GOP holds Reagan is such regard. Ronald Reagan was very likely the worst president of the 20th century. I can do it by the numbers if I must. It just gets really ugly for Saint Ronnie when I do so.

Shit! A mostly political rant.

Sorry 'bout that. I am off to hang my head in the corner. Honestly, I am sorry.

We are still No. 1!

In obesity rates in the Western world.

Does this really surprise anyone? The sheer oddity of television programming..."Man Vs. Food" and an entire network dedicated to rich foods are but two mainstream examples of the celebration of caloric excess.

one would think that the "heartland"(honestly, the pun was unintentional) would have lower rates of obesity due to the still ongoing meth epidemic. It would be funny if it was not true..that is another tragedy.

Kidding aside, I see no reason for the US to be the tubbiest country. The medical costs must be absolutely huge.

I have things to say about tobacco proucts, spirits, and the lack of universal motorcycle laws, but I really do not want to show my authoritarian side.

The US needs to lighten up..literally.

News cases of ebola confirmed in Nigeria, approx. 400 being monitored

If there has been a worse handling of an ebola case in this outbreak I will become incensed.

Here is a bit from the article:

...After having contact with an Ebola patient and before his own death on Aug. 22, the Port Harcourt doctor, named by local authorities as Iyke Enemuo, carried on treating patients and met scores of friends, relatives and medics, leaving about 60 of them at high risk of infection, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

The doctor's wife, who is also a physician, and a patient in the same hospital have been infected with Ebola, the WHO said.

"Everything about this doctor was in secrecy, he violated our public health laws by treating a patient with a highly pathogenic agent who revealed to him that he had contact with Ebola and didn't want to be treated in Lagos because he might be put in isolation," Nasidi said.

"He treated him in secrecy outside hospital premises. When he became ill he did not reveal to his colleagues that he had contact with someone who contracted Ebola. He was taken to General Hospital, a private hospital that sees everybody.

"That is the only case that effectively escaped our surveillance network. We are paying now for it," Nasidi said.

He spoke on the sidelines of a two-day WHO experts meeting aimed at speeding development of Ebola drugs and vaccines.

That is almost a textbook definition of insanity. *shakes head*

The above practice had better not be happening on any scale, or West Africa will not get this outbreak under control.

More about Lyme..which is now Borreliosis.

I am really going to have to go with what many are now calling Lyme illness: Borreliosis. After all, The WHO has finally awoken to the fact there are almost certainly several different Borrelia "serotypes" that present in roughly the same way.

There is some potentially good news surrounding Borreliosis.

On 17 Sept. Lyme activists will be speaking "Out at NY Times with Silence Against Silence".

The medico-insurance complex is way behind the ball on Borreliosis. I should really blockquote the whole article. Screw it, I am going top simply do just that.

New York, NY—On Wednesday, September 17, 2014, Lyme disease patients from around the U.S. will unite at the headquarters of the New York Times to call for greater coverage of the Lyme disease pandemic.

Lyme patients are using the NY Times as a symbol for the media as a whole to bring attention to the general underreporting of this public health crisis. By holding a silent vigil, Lyme patients are speaking out with silence against the silence.

“Increased media coverage will mean the difference between crippling debilitation and a normal life for hundreds of thousands of people. Greater public awareness can lead to prevention and increased funding for research, and that’s our goal with this event,” says Jill Auerbach, Chairperson of the Hudson Valley Lyme Disease Association.

Butoh dancers from the Vangeline Theater in Brooklyn will be performing at the vigil in support of raising awareness. Dancers will be dressed in white and will perform in silence, as an expression of the silent suffering of Lyme patients.

In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that rather than 30,000 new Lyme cases annually, there’s an estimated 300,000.

But other Lyme disease experts estimate that there are likely 1 to 2 million new cases per year.

Despite the rapidly escalating rates, the media has given Lyme significantly less coverage than other diseases that are less prevalent in the U.S.

A Google news archives search shows 12,100 results for “Lyme disease” in contrast to 117,000 for “HIV.”

Annual rates of Lyme disease far exceed annual rates of HIV in the United States by sixfold. Dr. Marc Conant, who was at the forefront of the AIDS movement, says that we are repeating past mistakes made handling the AIDS epidemic with Lyme disease: “In the early days of the AIDS crisis, there was little effort made to do public awareness and consequently the epidemic escalated to disastrous proportions.”

Dr. Jane Marke, M.D. believes that Lyme disease is the new AIDS epidemic in New York: “I encounter so many people here who either have Lyme disease or have a family member afflicted with the disease. It’s become a serious problem but nobody is talking about it.”

Unlike the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s where many able-bodied people took to the streets on behalf of sick AIDS patients, those struggling with Lyme disease have been primarily waging this battle alone.

Many Lyme patients are so debilitated that they’re having to engage in a new kind of activism—activism from a homebound or bedbound state.

Sick Lyme patients are fighting a David and Goliath war against the CDC and HMOs who assert that a 2- to 4-week course of antibiotics cures all patients. But people like 34-year-old Josh Cutler, who is still severely ill after taking the recommended treatment, insist that a short course of antibiotics does not work for many: “We’re dealing with an all profit, no care attitude by HMOs and it’s having a serious impact on families and our economy.”

Attorney Lorraine Johnson, Executive Director for LymeDisease.org, describes the financial impact of Lyme disease: “Eighty-four percent [of Lyme patients] are not diagnosed within 4 months; 65% of those with chronic Lyme have had to cut back on or quit work or school. . . . One thing that is certain is that ignoring this problem is costly and grows more costly every day that we fail to intervene.”

Dr. Richard Horowitz explains the long-term consequences on future generations: “We’re talking about a worldwide epidemic that is affecting the future generations of this country, dumbing down America. This lowers down your IQ, it affects your memory and concentration . . . These organisms will get into pregnant women and get into children . . . There’s got to be an awakening soon because this epidemic is spreading.”

In related news....

Drs. are blowing off the accepted protocols and treating Lyme victims far longer than a month. YAY!

and the CDC offers that perhaps as many as 1.5 million..in the US alone.

I should update my own tale of Borreliosis..I have no symptoms whatever, so 34 days of 400mg/day doxycycline worked for my stage 1 Borreliosis. My two 'house guests' AKA tenants both have had Borreliosis treated successfully as well. There are but three of us in this abode, and we have all had confirmed Borreliosis.

As I have stated before, I will not leave all of my healthcare decisions to those that are motivated by profit, not results.

Ebola death toll passes 1,900 per WHO

More than 1,900 people have now died of Ebola in West Africa, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, warning the world’s worst-ever outbreak of the virus is still gathering pace.

There are now more than 3,500 confirmed cases since the West African outbreak began in December of 2013.

Ofttimes being correct is not a very nice place. I again post my chart from 08.25.2014:

I have no ability in forecasting anything. I just extended the trendlines; and the trend will stay in place until the contagion level and death toll undergo some transformation. Extending the graph until 1 October will be very sobering indeed. I will do so after I get back from a show on 09.06.2014 or 09.07.2014..it is a two day event, and it is out of doors. The weather forecast for 09.06.2014 is very much up in the air at this juncture. I will post pics of one of my other lives.

Warning: Quasi-political post below! Hey, it has to do with that Duck guy...

At any rate, I have no idea if the Duck guy--one Phil Robertson--is intelligent or not. There is no evidence to support a hypothesis that he plays chess against Deep Blue for fun, or trades academic barbs against that Hawking fellow.

The guy has demonstrably deep seated issues with reality.

In addition to his "fire and brimstone" sermonizing, his latest attempt to stay in the spotlight is by bloviating to Sean Hannity that ISIS members should be converted or killed.

Thoughtful Phil Isn't going to Iraq to do battle with the evil-doers, but he would seemingly send others to do the converting..or killing. Or whatever.

Thoughtful Phil also laughably states that "You think about it, most of the wars we've fought, they were not asymmetrical like this one." Uhh, what? EVERY war since the one where the US gained independence have been lopsided affairs*. That is, "asymmetrical."

Thoughtful Phil should go to Iraq and lead his army--with no weapons save for the Holy book--and do this deed for the country that still gives a public arena with which to spout his progressive views. For if he truly believes in The Holy Bible, righteous Phil cannot be harmed.

Barring his crusading pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the dude should just keep his trap closed. He really makes the rest of us seem like fools. Really. I wonder if Thoughtful Phil knows the meaning of narcissism?

* WWII was really both won by the Russians, and lost by Hitler; and his methamphetamine addled brain deciding to fight the war on two fronts. Good try, though.

Good Morning America mentions ebola!

Stop the universe from expanding! Just this AM, the awful morning "news"(??) television program gave few precious minutes of airtime to the West African ebola epidemic. Of course the sub-text is that l'épidémie most likely only got some airtime because..you guessed it..another American doctor has tested positive for ebola. Yes, a US citizen. GMA is the only TV news that I watch; and that is only because it what the television is tuned to during my morning wake-up coffee. At least the epidemic was acknowledged.

It is very sobering that my updated ebola case and fatality graph has proven to be eerily accurate.

I was going to link to an article that states what is abundantly clear to anyone following the outbreak in West Afice; that ebola cases are "likely increase in the coming weeks." I do not think that necessary.

However, I have found a new source of interesting data--at least potentially--related to all of the ebola outbreaks to date. This one too, is sobering. Africa: Banning Bushmeat to Stem Ebola Outbreaks Is Unworkable, Expert Says. A fascinating read. One need be wary of the "parinet zero" claim in the article. To the best of my knowledge, the 2 year old toddler has not been definitively identified as "patient zero," but was, at least certainly was among the first to break with ebola.

Both linked articles have some nebulous data on ebola's circulation in nature, and while bats--especially fruit bats--are almost certainly a primary source as ebola virus antibodies have been found in fruit bats, it may be that there are other hosts as well. Fruit bats are a confirmed natural host. The bushmeat piece is my ebola addition for this entry. The other stuff is all filler.

iCloud may have been hacked by ancient trick

According to reports A simple brute force attack seems the likely culprit at this point in the investigation. That'is simply inexcusable. The basics of a brute force attack are repeated password guessing until the attacking program and computer hit upon the correct password. It's really only a matter of time if no lock-outs are issued after say..three tries. That's a pretty standard number of attempts before an account lock-out is issued. The iCloud HAD no such measure in place.

I remember discussing this kind of simple attack 15 years ago with a then 13 year old programmer from across the country. 15 YEARS AGO! He wanted me to write a password generator for him to break into a single not for profit website of no real substance. Of course I did not even give him a hint as to where to start, but he ultimately hacked the forums of the site. The lad was so proud. Kids..Sheesh!

BTW, I have no idea who Dam Kaminsky--chief scientist for Whiteops.com--is, but whatever he is smoking, I would give it a trial.

The iCloud hole was an airplane hangar door. The simplest answer is most often the correct one. No desktop compromise was needed. None is indicated. Ockham's Razor applied to computer forensics. Hackers being hacked? Nahhhh!

If it turns out that this Kaminsky bloke is correct, I will eat my hat, your hat, and anyone else that wants a hat consumed.

In humorous and related news Apple stock was actually up a bit last I checked. Oh what delicious irony.

"Man, those are some frigid bitches"

On the lighter side* it is being reported that famous Russian geckos sent into orbit to do "the nasty" have all returned freeze-dried. Some headlines are, or course, better than others. My favorite bit of journalistic hooliganism is this: Russia in Mourning over the Death of Its Space Love Geckos. Unsurprisingly to me, fruit flies..you know it just has to be Drosophila melanogaster...on the same flight did not expire. I had to breed those little bio-markers of evolution many a time, and the only time I was able to extinguish them was when I knocked them out with ether prior to sorting for traits and forgot about my brood over a weekend. Other than that, even my sorting damaged nary a one.

Fear not gentle reader, I still got top marks(98%?) in that biology class. I do not recall what I told the teacher about my fruit fly disaster, but it must have been a sound lie.

* I adore all forms of life. Okay, a lot fewer ticks and brain eating amoebae. I could also do without ebola virus which really is not alive on its own--so the side is only lighter as to being less dire than most of my posts as of late. I trust that this honest disclosure will restore my nearly universal adoration and awe of all things natural.

Yes. We suck at science, but money is not the fix Plus more on ebola and social issues

While this piece makes one of basic claims about science--that the US needs to invest in basic research--it also will not likely get basic research re-funded. Why? Because our lawmakers are largely scientifically illiterate, and cannot seem to simply fund basic research for they are in constant re-election mode, and have no sense of awe and wonder it instills to those that choose career paths in basic research.

Behind saving the habitabilty of the planet for future generations of H. sapiens, this is my number two issue.

We are not raising kids on the whole with anything remotely like the scientific and mathematic abilities to even have a real shot at a science major at even the undergrad level at a really fine school. No, political science does not count as science.

It does start at home. Parents cannot tell a child why the sky appears blue, so unless a child goes in search of real answers to these kinds of questions, they are given false answers at best, and at worst 'blown off' by their parents. I grew up in a household where one parent rejoiced in my constant questioning, whilst the other only appreciated manual labor and other provincial pursuits. Yes. I was a precocious pain in the ass. But I keep asking questions 50 years later.

Today's ebola message..

Okay, so it is not aboout ebola per se, but concerns itself with West African countries suffering food shortages due to panic buying and other factors. In some of the poorest countries on earth, supply and demand still reign supreme. At this point it looks much like other price spikes wherein the costs increase in advance of unknown future supplies. *sigh*

I could put more down about health workers stricken with ebola--as well as their families--but you can find these things out for yourselves.

Opinions and data...on ebola.

I found two Op-Ed pieces today. One is spot-on accurate, and illustatrates the sociology involved in a thoughtful, lucid manner. An excellent read.

The other Op-Ed is penned by two 'infectious disease physicians,' and is somewhat more speculative, whilst illuminating a real disconnect between "Western Medicine" and that which is being dispensed in the ebola epidemic today.

I confirmed the CFR for Marburg in sub-Saharan Africa. Data here.

It is claimed by some(not by this author) than H. sapiens is an intelligent species. If we grant that, then we must also grant that altruistic behavior is most certainly not a universal given in the species. Sad, but I think that statement will stand up to close scrutiny.

Upload nude pics., and you're 'exposing' yourself...Der.

If you upload risque photos of yourself you may get burned. Sure, Apple has some explaining to do regarding iCloud security, but if people had less ego issues, this would not be an issue. Even if the paaswords to all these 'exposed' people were gleaned from different websites..and this is specious, Apple should use a combination of hardware authentication, as well as at least double authentication protocols. Making things simple for users also makes things simple for those that would like access to your data.

I do not like to promote software as I am developer, but using LastPass and having your passwords automatically changed every two weeks--or less frequently if you visit the site less frequently--is not a bad idea.

I am not terribly paranoid, but I now use the longest passwords a site will allow and if I lose my LastPass password, I would be pretty well screwed. Oh, my Lastpass password is updated on a 14 day schedule as well.

All public clouds are just that. Apple and others should use a three tries and lock the MAC address of the device attempting access out. There are lots of other ways to verify user credentials, but people want simplicity. This is not a good thing for security. The linked article does seem to excuse Apple, but that is foolishly premature. As of early this AM, Apple had yet to comment.

I do not know how the iCloud was compromised, and neither does the author of the article.

Remember kids, do not post nudies anywhere where they might be compromised.

On Edit: According to this ZDNet piece, Apple has patched a security flaw in the too aptly named "Find My iPhone" service. Henceforth to be known as "Find Anything About Me Via My iPhone" service.

I should offer full disclosure: I have an Android phone running KitKat, but I have everything Google related set to "Ask Me" or NFW. My Google Drive acct. has three utterly useless docs enclosed, and I don't take photos with a cell phone. I have a DSLR and two CMOS pocket cams with which to take pictures....Picasa has no privileges. I KNOW Google knows lots about me, but for now I can tolerate their draconian terms of service agreement. 'Tis a sad day when Microsoft has by far the best ToS agreement.

Oh great..an open atheist is running for US Congress

I long for the good old days when being an atheist automatically excluded excluded one from even bothering to seek a high office in the US. In all seriousness it has always bothered me that a person that suffers from harboring one less god-belief than others was excluded from holding office in many states. As a demogrsaphic, atheists have exceedingly low rates of the kinds of social ailments that plague theists. Not believing in anything that does not pass muster in the realm of scientific scrutiny should be lauded. Thankfully, there are less theocratic societies where this is indeed the case.

I fail to see the need to label one a non-believer in any realm where science has said: "Well mebbe, but there ain't no evidence for such a belief."

All labels do is divide us at an absolutely critical time in history when we must be united in order to move forward on leaving the planet habitable for future generations of humans.

One will see that I squarely place science deniers into the 'magical thinking' camp. I have yet to meet a denier of scientific findings that is not biased by fore-determined conclusions. I always ask them the quantify their unbeleif in the findings of science, and I have never gotten even one equation out of any of them--and their numbers are not small. Living in New Hampshire with out 'first in the nation presidential primary' gives me terrific opportunities every four years to grill candidates and their surrogates regarding science literacy. In the past it was worse than I could imagine, but now I have resigned science literacy to the level of simply awful.

It really is nonsense that people that likely hold less magical thinking are pretty much excluded from being elected to high office. Oh well.

Even more ebola...

Now that Senegal has had its first confirmed ebola patient, that brings the number of the West African countries that have had at least one confirmed case to five. I should note that the Senegalese patient likely was infected in Guinea whist attending a funeral there and in assisted in taking care of two relatives with ebola.

Things are really getting out of control in many places as rioting in Guinea erupted after a rumor had spread that "we had sprayed the market[with Ebola virus] in order to transmit the virus to locals."

In The Gambia--where there have no confirmed cases of ebola as of this moment-- the WHO has sent material support to aid in suveillance of suspected ebola cases. The news is quite sparse at this juncture, but given The Gambia's size, a thorough examination of persons entering and leaving via roads and waterways does not seem unlikely. Well, ask and sometimes you get confirmation of your suspicions. The Gambia seems pretty well locked down. This is a very positive thing that was done prior to the WHO's new commitment to The Gambia.*

*I use "The Gambia" as that is the true name of the country. "Gambia" is probably acceptable--and when I was there in 1995 the natives did call it simply "Gambia," but I will go with current naming conventions.