Author Archives: Casey Wood

A Superbug Nightmare Is Playing Out at an LA Hospital

Mother Jones

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In today’s terrifying health news, the LA Times reports that two medical scopes used at UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center may have been contaminated with the potentially deadly, antibiotic-resistant bacteria Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Two patients have died from complications that may be connected to the bacteria, and authorities believe that 179 more patients have been exposed.

Most healthy people aren’t at risk of catching a CRE infection, but in hospitals this bacteria can be quite dangerous: CRE kills as many as half of all people in whom the infection has spread to the bloodstream. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are working with the CA Department of Public Health to investigate the situation, which is expected to result in more infections.

The problem isn’t just in Los Angeles, though. Last month USA Today reported that hospitals around the country struggle with transmissions of bacteria on these scopes—medical devices commonly used to treat digestive-system problems—and there have been several other under-the-radar outbreaks of CRE.

This is pretty scary stuff, considering that in the antibiotics arms race against bacteria, we are starting to fall behind. Due in large part to unnecessary medical prescriptions and overuse of antibiotics in our food supply, these superbugs are on the rise. In a study published last year that focused specifically on hospitals in the Southeastern United States, researchers reported that CRE cases had increased fivefold between 2008 and 2012.

As Mother Jones‘ Tom Philpott wrote recently, unless something changes, it will only get worse:

in a new report, the UK government has come out with some startling global projections. Currently, the report finds, 700,000 people die annually from pathogens that have developed resistance to antibiotics, a figure the report calls a “low estimate.” If present trends continue, antibiotic failure will claim 10 million lives per year by 2050, the report concludes. That’s more carnage than what’s currently caused by cancer and traffic accidents combined.

The CDC has, in recent years, amped up its efforts to contain the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and ha developed a tool-kit to help educate both patients and medical practitioners. The Obama administration has increased funding in 2015 for CDC research into how to better detect these types of infections. It also expanded the National Healthcare Safety Network to track threats of superbugs and areas of antibiotic overuse.

But the CDC emphasizes that more must be done:

Can you imagine a day when antibiotics don’t work anymore? It’s concerning to think that the antibiotics that we depend upon for everything from skin and ear infections to life-threatening bloodstream infections could no longer work. Unfortunately, the threat of untreatable infections is very real.

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A Superbug Nightmare Is Playing Out at an LA Hospital

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Yes, It Really Just Snowed in Egypt (Even If That Sphinx Photo Is Fake)

Mother Jones

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Yesterday Twitter was lit up by images of a snowy Egypt. Like this one:

The cause, according to the Weather Underground, was a stalled area of low pressure.

However, there were also more dubious tweets, especially of this image:

According to some sleuthing by Buzzfeed, that image actually seems to be of a theme park in Japan—where snow would be decidedly less extraordinary—that contains a sphinx replica.

Meanwhile, just how rare is snow in Egypt, anyway? Capital Weather Gang and New York Magazine have called into question assertions that it has not occurred in 112 years. Still, snow is extremely uncommon—as is rain, for that matter: According to Wunderground, Cairo receives less than an inch of rain per year.

And what of the global warming snark? Actually not that far off: The snowy weather does seem tied to a weirdly behaving jet stream, and one prominent scientific idea of late is that global warming is interfering with the jet stream, leading to “stuck” weather and all kinds of extremes.

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Yes, It Really Just Snowed in Egypt (Even If That Sphinx Photo Is Fake)

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DealBook: A New Divestment Focus: Fossil Fuels

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How to Paint Citadel Miniatures: Sternguard Veterans – Games Workshop

Sternguard veterans deploy wherever the battleline is most vulnerable, facing down the most impossible odds with icy calm and precise bursts of bolter fire. They are the very image of what every Space Marine aspires to become, and the pinnacle of any Chapter’s fighting force. About this Guide: In this guide demonstrates how to paint Space Marine Sterngu […]

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Codex: Space Marines (Enhanced Edition) – Games Workshop

The Space Marines are the chosen warriors of the Emperor, and the greatest fighting force of the Imperium. Each Space Marine is a genetically enhanced super soldier, easily a match for a dozen lesser men, armed with some of the deadliest weapons in the galaxy and encased in formidable power armour. This codex explores the formations and Chapters of the Space […]

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Cat Sense – John Bradshaw

Cats have been popular household pets for thousands of years, and their numbers only continue to rise. Today there are three cats for every dog on the planet, and yet cats remain more mysterious, even to their most adoring owners. In Cat Sense , renowned anthrozoologist John Bradshaw takes us further into the mind of the domestic cat than ever before, using […]

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Dogtripping – David Rosenfelt

David Rosenfelt’s Dogtripping is moving and funny account of a cross-country move from California to Maine, and the beginnings of a dog rescue foundation When mystery writer David Rosenfelt and his family moved from Southern California to Maine, he thought he had prepared for everything. They had mapped the route, brought three […]

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Dog Sense – John Bradshaw

One of the foremost researchers of animal-human relations offers a pathbreaking analysis of dog behavior, explaining the essentials of canine psychology that all dog lovers need to know.

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How to Raise the Perfect Dog – Cesar Millan & Melissa Jo Peltier

From the bestselling author and star of National Geographic Channel’s Dog Whisperer , the only resource you’ll need for raising a happy, healthy dog. For the millions of people every year who consider bringing a puppy into their lives–as well as those who have already brought a dog home–Cesar Millan, the preeminent dog behavior expert, says, “Yes, […]

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Warhammer 40,000: The Rules – Games Workshop

There is no time for peace. No respite. No forgiveness. There is only WAR. In the nightmare future of the 41st Millennium, Mankind teeters upon the brink of destruction. The galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man is beset on all sides by ravening aliens and threatened from within by Warp-spawned entities and heretical plots. Only the strength of the immortal […]

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How to Paint Citadel Miniatures: Centurions – Games Workshop

Designed as siege breakers and for the close quarters of boarding actions, Centurions are heavy exo-armour suits used by specialist Space Marine formations. Incorporating either close range weapons like siege drills and heavy flamers or heavy weapons like lascannons and heavy bolters making each Centurion a formidable adversary. About this Guide: In th […]

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Space Marines Digital Collection – Games Workshop

The Space Marines are the superhuman warriors of humanity, fighting across the galaxy to hold back the Imperium’s endless tide of enemies. Few can stand against these peerless soldiers, and even a single company is often enough to change the fate of a world forever. This digital collection gathers together the brand new Codex: Space Marines, How to Paint Cit […]

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Puppy Training Tips for Busy People: Secrets That Most People Will Never Know About Dog Training – Leslie K. McDaniel

Are you excited having a new puppy, as part of your family? You bet! Puppy training is not difficult, if you love dogs and learn secrets of puppy training. This book will help you tremendously on how to train your puppy quickly and effectively. Nobody can resist those puppy dog eyes. However, no matter how adorable and playful that tail wagging, nose-licking […]

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DealBook: A New Divestment Focus: Fossil Fuels

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It’s Pretty Unlikely That American Companies Pay Their CEOs on Expected Performance

Mother Jones

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Matt Yglesias thinks it’s hopeless to argue about whether American CEOs are overpaid:

Take CBS, which I write about in the column. They had almost $15 billion in revenue in 2011. So the value to the company of a CEO who can boost revenue 1 percent higher than a replacement-level CEO would to the company is about $150 million. So if you have a 50 percent confidence level that CEO Leslie Moonves is 1 percent better for the company than a replacement-level CEO, then you’d be justified in paying him as much as $75 million a year—making him “underpaid” with 2012 compensation of around $60 million.

As a practical matter, I agree. There are certain metrics that suggest CEOs are overpaid, and there are others that suggest they’re just earning fair market value. We liberals can point to gigantic yachts and gold-plated toilet seats as ways of swaying public opinion on this subject, but we’ll never win on empirical grounds.

Still, I want to use this as an opportunity bring up one of my longtime hobbyhorses. Ask yourself: What would we see if American companies were really paying their CEOs gigantic salaries based on a belief that a great CEO has a huge impact on earnings1 compared to the 2nd best CEO? Answer: we’d see genuine pay-for-performance packages. That is, Les Moonves’s compensation would be set at a fairly modest level unless CBS performed objectively better than its peers, at which point his compensation would go up quickly.

Now ask yourself another question: how many Fortune 5000 CEOs are actually paid this way? Answer: not many. This suggests pretty strongly that neither companies nor CEOs are truly confident in their ability to do better than the 2nd best guy out there. And that in turn suggests that fat CEO pay packages are based on something else entirely.

1This is usually the metric companies actually care about. Or maybe stock price, or return on invested capital, or something like that. But probably not revenue.

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It’s Pretty Unlikely That American Companies Pay Their CEOs on Expected Performance

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Biblical flood means climate change isn’t caused by humans, says Texas Rep. Joe Barton

Biblical flood means climate change isn’t caused by humans, says Texas Rep. Joe Barton

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The Great Flood happened, therefore climate science is a fraud.

Most people realize that the seas are rising, hurricanes are becoming more ferocious, and oceans are turning to acid because we keep digging up fossil fuels, burning them, and poisoning the atmosphere.

But Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) is not most people. He’s a die-hard climate denier, and a particularly clueless one at that.

During a hearing yesterday on a GOP bill that would fast-track the Keystone XL pipeline without the blessing of President Barack Obama, Barton muttered some batshit crazy stuff.

From BuzzFeed:

“I would point out that people like me who support hydrocarbon development don’t deny that climate is changing,” he added. “I think you can have an honest difference of opinion of what’s causing that change without automatically being either all in that’s all because of mankind or it’s all just natural. I think there’s a divergence of evidence.”

Barton then cited the biblical Great Flood as an example of climate change not caused by man.

“I would point out that if you’re a believer in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change and that certainly wasn’t because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy.”

Is this batshit crazier than when he apologized to BP for the way the company was treated after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill? You decide.

John Upton is a science aficionado and green news junkie who

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blogs about ecology

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Biblical flood means climate change isn’t caused by humans, says Texas Rep. Joe Barton

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Unforgettable Marketing Tips Any Solar Panel Business

Investing some time into creating a growing solar panel installations business continues to be a good strategy to achieve a lot more revenue while doing work that you wish to do all the time. There are several important things to think about before you begin. As long as you plan a properly laid out growth tactic and business plan, you’ll be the owner of a profitable thriving business quickly. Remember these pointers and ideas to build up your own prospering business.

Make a “app” for your solar panel installations business by using any of the innumerable free app makers available online. The young generation will get attracted to your business when accessing you is that easy. Your existing clients and buyers would be surprised by this amazing move of yours thus growing your goodwill

Data is good to have and sometimes can make a world of difference. Don’t let data encourage you to take actions that your instincts tell you are wrong. Review all information and cautiously consider all data, but trust your instincts to guide you through certainty and doubts.

Have your receipts advertise for you. They should thank customers for their solar panel installations business. Provide your solar panel consulting company contact information. They should give customers a way to give feedback on their experience. Finally, they should ask for a referral.

You do not need to invest large sums of money in order to get better results within search engine results. There are numerous free directories available on the internet, just as there are numerous physical directories in print. Subscribe for free directories in your area; free marketing is surely better than no advertising and will only cost you a little time rather than any of your scarce financial resources.

Solar Panel Business secrets are secret for a reason, because solar panel installations businesses don’t want everyone stealing the secret to how they became successful. Allowing outside people to view any inter-business secrets puts those secrets at risk of being stolen and/or used against your business. So be smart, and only let trustworthy people view any important documents.

Try to market in any form you possibly can. Have a look at AAPMedianet website. This website assists in making your press release visible throughout the web. Your press releases are visible not just by the people of Australia but by the whole world.

Solar Panel Business associations are an excellent way to gain more buyers. Solar Panel Business associations from specific areas are good for getting to know your neighbors. They also provide contacts with the people in your area who may use your product or service. People like doing solar panel installations business with people close to them.

If you don’t like winning prizes, you might not be alive. It’s hard to find someone who will honestly say he or she doesn’t like a good raffle and that’s good news for you; what better place to advertise than at a populated raffle? Folks need to stick around for their prizes anyhow, broadcast while they’re near.

Searching for ways to improve your knowledge related to the helpful tips discussed above? Just submit solar panels uk when searching online. You can discover some fantastic helpful tips about solar energy consulting.

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