Sunday - November 02, 2014

your daily ebola: ARMY FUNDS AIRBORNE VACCINE

But they said it didn’t / couldn’t / wouldn’t / shouldn’t spread that way!!

Citing concerns over “aerosol exposure to Ebola,” the Pentagon awarded a $9.5 million contract to a biotechnology company to manufacture an Ebola vaccine.

The company, Profectus BioSciences, announced today that the Pentagon “contracted the manufacture and … preclinical testing of the Profectus trivalent Ebola/Marburg vaccine” which had previously been tested to “confirm protection of non-human primates from aerosol exposure to Ebola and Marburg viruses.”

“In July 2014, Profectus BioSciences and the GNL were awarded a 3 year, $8.5M grant from the DOD/Joint Vaccine Acquisition Program to support development of a lyophilized trivalent VesiculoVax™-vectored vaccine to protect against all major strains of Ebola and Marburg viruses delivered as aerosols,” the press release stated. “The lyophilized trivalent vaccine is being tested in both pre-exposure and post-exposure studies to confirm protection of non-human primates from aerosol exposure to Ebola and Marburg viruses.”

The development of this vaccine stemmed from the Pentagon’s concern over the airborne transmission of filoviruses such as Ebola which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally admitted spreads like the flu through coughing and sneezing.

On Monday, the CDC released a pamphlet warning against the “droplet spread” of Ebola which happens “when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose, or mouth of another person.”

“Is Ebola spread through droplets? Yes,” the pamphlet reads.

But, strangely enough, the CDC’s strict definition of “airborne transmission” is limited to “when a germ floats through the air after a person talks, coughs, or sneezes” and not “when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person,” which are obviously traveling through air as well.

“Note to CDC: 99% of the world doesn’t know the difference, or even care for that matter,” wrote Royce Christyn with Yournewswire.com. “What we want to know is ‘if this person is sick and they sneeze or cough near me, am I going to die?’” [ YES. If IT HITS YOU, IF YOU BREATHE IT, THEN YES YOU ARE. ]

U.S. Army scientists previously demonstrated that the airborne transmission of Ebola was possible “at lower temperature and humidity than that normally present in sub-Saharan Africa” during a 1995 study, and they suggested the high temperatures and humidity present in Africa “may have been a factor limiting aerosol transmission of Ebola virus in the African epidemics.”

So, let me see if I’ve got this right ...

• First of all, this is all from InfoWars, so use your own judgement. They aren’t Official Government News, but OTOH, Big Bother lies to us left and right. Who you gonna trust in the long run?
• The US Army feels Ebola can be transmitted by air. It’s in their medical manual, and has been for years
• The CDC may be using a “depends on your definition of ‘is’ definition” for “airborne” . Maybe the raw stands of virus won’t survive being wafted about by the breezes, but your sneezes will give a moist enough, human enough, mist for them to survive in. For a time, anyway.
• The Army looks at what the CDC calls “droplet spread”, in theory only good for a distance of a meter or there abouts, and says, WTH, it’s in the air as sneeze bits, so it’s airborne. We’re splitting hairs here as far as regular folks are concerned.
• It’s not in this article, but we’ve heard how the virus can survive for at least a short time on non-body tissue surfaces. So I’m guessing, as long as it takes for the sneeze or cough to dry out, the virus can remain nasty?
• That last bit above - the hot and steamy weather conditions in the jungles of Africa might have made it tough for this airborne vector? But over here, where it isn’t so hot, or so moist ... hey, what about that???

On a badness scale of 1 to 10, I’d give this at least a 7.8, a solid Ma Kelly * .

Posted by Drew458     on 11/02/2014 at 01:01 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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   Saturday - November 01, 2014

your daily ebola

Canada And North Korea Join The No-Go List

TORONTO—Canada is following in Australia’s footsteps and has closed its doors, effectively immediately, to people from the West African countries battling Ebola.

In a move that puts Canada at odds with the World Health Organization, the federal government said Friday it is suspending the issuance of visas for residents and nationals of countries with “widespread and persistent-intense transmission” of Ebola virus disease. As well, work on permanent residence applications for people from the affected countries is also being suspended.

The stress on countries with widespread transmission provides an out for the United States, which currently still has at least one active Ebola case within its borders. At present only three countries meet the definition of widespread and persistent Ebola transmission: Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

I respect Canada’s right to decide what “widespread” means to them. Should we have 5 active cases here, I hope they close the door to us in an instant.

PYONGYANG, North Korea – North Korean officials have announced they will quarantine foreigners for 21 days over fears of the spread of the Ebola virus.

An announcement distributed to foreign diplomatic missions in Pyongyang said that, regardless of country or region of origin, all foreigners will be quarantined under medical observation for 21 days.

It said foreigners from affected areas will be quarantined at one set of locations, while those from unaffected areas will be sent to other locations, including hotels. It said the staff of diplomatic missions and international organizations in North Korea will be allowed to stay in their residences.

A copy of the document, dated Wednesday, was obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.

There have been no reported cases of Ebola in North Korea.

That’s not how you do it Kim. This is not an excuse to throw all the foreigners in jail, just for good measure.

North Korea’s frantic response to Ebola, including a broad but so far poorly defined ban on foreign tourism, is also surprising because the notoriously reclusive country admits so few foreigners in the first place.
...
North Korea’s reaction isn’t unprecedented. It closed its borders for several months in 2003 during the scare over SARS.

But that was a much more obvious threat. SARS affected China, and Beijing is where most flights into Pyongyang originate. In the case of Ebola, North Korea’s efforts to defend itself from what appears to be a tiny risk may end up alienating it from foreigners who have been willing to invest here.

Yeah, but this lets mini-Kim put every foreigner in jail. Everybody. Even his ChiCom bosses. OOoooh, the power, the power!!

Posted by Drew458     on 11/01/2014 at 03:52 AM   
Filed Under: • Health-Medicine •  
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Of Course They Are. You Knew It.

CALIFORNIA, Pa. – Five football players from a state university in western Pennsylvania were arrested and suspended from the school after police say they beat and stomped a man outside an off-campus restaurant, then fled yelling “Football strong!” The victim was in intensive care Friday with severe brain trauma.

The California University of Pennsylvania players attacked Lewis Campbell, 30, of West Chester, as he was trying to stop an argument between his girlfriend and a player at about 2 a.m. Thursday, police said.

Witnesses heard the players yelling “Football strong!” as they fled to a car and Campbell lay unconscious, police said.

The university declared later Thursday that its Division II football team would forfeit Saturday’s against Gannon University, jeopardizing its best season in three years.

”Behavior has consequences,” the university’s interim president, Geraldine Jones, said in a statement.

Officers said they arrested the players—Jonathan Barlow, D’Andre Dunkley, Corey Ford, Rodney Gillin Jr. and James Williamson—at practice Thursday afternoon. They are charged with aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, harassment and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.

Online court records didn’t list attorneys for the men, who remained jailed Friday because they were unable to post bail of $500,000 apiece. They face a preliminary hearing Nov. 17.

They ought to have been charged with attempted murder. Aggravated bullshit. They were trying to kill the guy, and laughing about it. “Football strong!” Let them sing “Jailhouse Goatse!” instead. Forever. But who could these late night brawlers be?

Of course.

“My son is up there twitching now. He keeps trying to get out of bed, nurses have to hold him down, because of the irresponsibility of these guys who shouted ‘Football Strong,’” said Lewis Campbell, Jr., the victim’s father.

...

“I hope that as soon as possible, they’ll be at Graterford Prison washing Bubba’s drawers,” the elder Campbell said.

more

Posted by Drew458     on 11/01/2014 at 03:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Racism and race relations • Sports •  
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Middle of the Night posts: Gas is Cheap

Man oh man, you know we’ve been living with over the top prices for too long, when the price of gas finally drops to merely only a dollar a gallon more than what it ought to cost, and the news articles are asking “What does this mean?” Well, to be short, and crude, it means the trickle down has gone down your leg and is forming a puddle on the floor. In terms of world economics.

Around our end of Hunterdon County, and up into Warren County, regular gas, cash price, around $2.69/gal now. That’s down $0.06 since last week, but a month ago it was over $3, and hadn’t been below that since ... forever? Since Bush? Seems like.

( I don’t know about you, but my car runs like crap on milk. )

NEW YORK – The sight is so surprising that Americans are sharing photos of it, along with all those cute Halloween costumes, sweeping vistas and special meals: The gas station sign, with a price of $2-something a gallon. [ really? Those New Yorkers must be visiting New Jersey. NY’s 75¢/gal tax will keep their gas way over $3 for a long time to come. What cracks me up is that if the price really bottoms, and the rest of us are paying $1.50, NY gas will still be >$2, and the people just might realize for once how seriously their state is sticking it to them at the pump; at that price, the state tax is a solid third of the pump price. Add in the fed tax, and we’re looking at just about half. Sucks, huh? ]

“It’s stunning what’s happening here,” says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. “I’m a little bit shocked.”

The national average price of gasoline has fallen 33 cents in October, landing Friday at $3.00, according to AAA. Kloza said the average will fall under $3 by early Saturday morning for the first time in four years.

When the national average crossed above $3 a gallon in December of 2010, drivers weren’t sure they’d ever see $2.99 again. Global demand for oil and gasoline was rising as people in developing countries bought cars by the tens of millions and turmoil was brewing in the oil-rich Middle East.

Now demand isn’t rising as fast as expected, drillers have learned to tap vast new sources of oil, particularly in the U.S., and crude continues to flow out of the Middle East.

Seasonal swings and other factors will likely send gas back over $3 sooner than drivers would like, but the U.S. is on track for the lowest annual average since 2010 — and the 2015 average is expected to be lower even still.

Here are a few things to know about cheap gas:

— Crude prices came off the boil. Oil fell from $107 a barrel in June to near $81 because there’s a lot of supply and weak demand. U.S. output has increased 70 percent since 2008, and supplies from Iraq and Canada have also increased. At the same time, demand is weaker than expected because of a sluggish global economy.

— In the past, a stronger economy in the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer of oil and gasoline, typically meant rising fuel demand. No longer. Americans are driving more efficient vehicles and our driving habits are changing. Michael Sivak of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute calculates that the number of miles traveled per household and gallons of fuel consumed per household peaked in 2004.

The article goes on further, but those first two points cover it:

* Despite all of Obola’s efforts to stop drilling and fracking, US oil companies are tapping into massive quantities of new hydrocarbons. And while this is great, and where the energy stimulus money OUGHT to have gone (new refineries, Keystone XL, etc) to make America stronger, right now Obamanomics (tax and spend, borrow and waste, steal and bloat) is helping flatline the whole world.

* While some of us do have newer, more fuel efficient vehicles, a huge number of us no longer have jobs, or the Big Career job that was worth the Big Commute. The Walmart is right here on the other side of town, within bicycle distance if the weather isn’t too bad. Did you want paper or plastic?

Oh, and milk? Beats me. It’s 4 in the morning. Go read the article. Milk prices suck, having tripled in teh past 5 years I think. She-it, a friggin’ quart here costs $1.99 I think. If I don’t think about it, my brain wants to tell me that milk costs $2.49/gal. And I know that’s a few years out of date.

Gasoline is cheaper than milk again. In September the national average price of milk was $3.73 per gallon. The annual average for milk is on track to be more expensive than the annual average for gasoline for the first time since 2011.

Fine. What-evs. I can remember milk at 79¢/gal, but that’s ancient. I know that $15 used to fill up my 1997 Saturn’s 12 gallon tank at some point, and that was with real gasoline, not this wimped out ethanol added crap. But I’ll get on board here: let’s get gas down to $1.29/gal. And milk back to $1.49. Because honestly, only cheap food, cheap fuel, and lower taxes are going to get the economic fires burning again.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/01/2014 at 02:53 AM   
Filed Under: • Economics • Inflation and High Prices • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
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