wader
Well-Known Angler
Psilocybin therapy prompts states to reconsider laws about 'magic mushrooms'
As psilocybin therapy gains traction, states try to change their laws on "magic mushrooms."
the "Headline That Caught My Attention or the WTF" thread
- Thread starter wader
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South Carolina woman dies after being impaled by beach umbrella
Tammy Perreault was at a Garden City beach when the umbrella broke loose from its anchoring in the wind and struck her around 12:40 p.m., Horry County Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard told repor…
nypost.com
My professional opinion on this is when asked to participate, the proper response is NFW to fishing expeditions with your DNA. A specific, limited study is more appropriate, like a specific hereditary disease that may run in your family. Here they're basically asking for all you bank account and credit card numbers, but promising not to leak any of it out...
The Mount Sinai Health System began an effort this week to build a vast database of patient genetic information that can be studied by researchers — and by a large pharmaceutical company.
The goal is to search for treatments for illnesses ranging from schizophrenia to kidney disease, but the effort to gather genetic information for many patients, collected during routine blood draws, could also raise privacy concerns.
The data will be rendered anonymous, and Mount Sinai said it had no intention of sharing it with anyone other than researchers. But consumer or genealogical databases full of genetic information, such as Ancestry.com and GEDmatch, have been used by detectives searching for genetic clues that might help them solve old crimes.
Vast sets of genetic sequences can unlock new insights into many diseases and also pave the way for new treatments, researchers at Mount Sinai say. But the only way to compile those research databases is to first convince huge numbers of people to agree to have their genomes sequenced.
Beyond chasing the next breakthrough drug, researchers hope the database, when paired with patient medical records, will provide new insights into how the interplay between genetic and socio-economic factors — such as poverty or exposure to air pollution — can affect people’s health.
“This is really transformative,” said Alexander Charney, a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who is overseeing the project.
The health system hopes to eventually amass a database of genetic sequences for 1 million patients, which would mean the inclusion of roughly one out of every 10 New York City residents. The effort began this week, a hospital spokeswoman, Karin Eskenazi, said.
This is not Mount Sinai’s first attempt to build a genetics database. For some 15 years, Mount Sinai has been slowly building a bank of biological samples, or biobank, called BioMe, with about 50,000 DNA sequences so far. However, researchers have been frustrated at the slow pace, which they attribute to the cumbersome process they use to gain consent and enroll patients: multiple surveys, and a lengthy one-on-one discussion with a Mount Sinai employee that sometimes runs 20 minutes, according to Dr. Girish Nadkarni of Mount Sinai, who is leading the project along with Dr. Charney.
Most of that consent process is going by the wayside. Mount Sinai has jettisoned the health surveys and boiled down the procedure to watching a short video and providing a signature. This week it began trying to enroll most patients who were receiving blood tests as part of their routine care.
A number of large biobank programs already exist across the country. But the one that Mount Sinai Health System is seeking to build would be the first large-scale one to draw participants primarily from New York City. The program could well mark a shift in how many New Yorkers think about their genetic information, from something private or unknown to something they’ve donated to research.
The project will involve sequencing a huge number of DNA samples, an undertaking that could cost tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars. To avoid that cost, Mount Sinai has partnered with Regeneron, a large pharmaceutical company, that will do the actual sequencing work. In return, the company will gain access to the genetic sequences and partial medical records of each participant, according to Mount Sinai doctors leading the program. Mount Sinai also intends to share data with other researchers as well.
Though Mount Sinai researchers have access to anonymized electronic health records of each patient who participates, the data shared with Regeneron will be more limited, according to Mount Sinai. The company may access diagnoses, lab reports and vital signs.
When paired with health records, large genetic datasets can help researchers search out rare mutations that either have a strong association with a certain disease, or may protect against it.
It remains to be seen if Mount Sinai, among the city’s largest hospital systems, can reach its target of enrolling a million patients in the program, which the hospital is calling the “‘Mount Sinai Million Health Discoveries Program.” If it does, the resulting database will be among the largest in the country, alongside one run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as well as a project run by the National Institutes of Health that has the goal of eventually enrolling 1 million Americans, though it is currently far short.
(Those two government projects involve whole-genome sequencing, which reveal an individual’s complete DNA makeup; the Mount Sinai project will sequence about 1 percent of each individual’s genome, called the exome.)
A health system in northeast Pennsylvania, Geisinger Health System, has also built a database of more than 185,000 DNA sequences, through a partnership with Regeneron. That database played a role in the discovery of mutations that can protect against obesity and fatty liver disease.
Regeneron, which in recent years became widely known for its effective monoclonal antibody treatment for Covid-19, has sequenced and studied the DNA of approximately 2 million “patient volunteers,” mainly through collaborations with health systems and a large biobank in Britain, according to the company.
But the number of patients Mount Sinai hopes to enroll — coupled with their racial and ethnic diversity, and that of New York City generally — would set it apart from most existing databases.
“The scale and the type of discoveries we’ll all be able to make is quite different than what’s possible up until today with smaller studies,” said Dr. Aris Baras, a senior vice president at Regeneron.
People of European ancestry are typically overrepresented in genomic datasets, which means, for example, that genetic tests people get for cancer risk are far more attuned to genetic variants that are common among white cancer patients, Dr. Baras said.
“If you’re not of European ancestry, there is less information about variants and genes and you’re not going to get as good a genetic test as a result of that,” Dr. Baras said.
Mount Sinai Health System, which has seven hospitals in New York City, sees about 1.1 million individual patients a year and handles more than 3 million outpatient visits to doctor’s offices. Dr. Charney estimated that the hospital system was drawing the blood of at least 300,000 patients annually, and he expected many of them to consent to having their blood used for genetic research.
The enrollment rate for such data collection is usually high —around 80 percent, he said. “So the math checks out. We should be able to get to a million.”
Mark Gerstein, a professor of Biomedical Informatics at Yale University, said there was no question that genomic datasets were driving great medical discoveries. But he said he still would not participate in one himself, and he urged people to consider whether adding their DNA to a database might someday affect their grandchildren.
“I tend to be a worrier,” he said.
Our collective knowledge of mutations and what illnesses they are associated with — whether Alzheimer’s or schizophrenia — would only increase in the years ahead, he said. “If the datasets leaked some day, the information might be used to discriminate against the children or grandchildren of current participants,” Dr. Gerstein said. They might be teased or denied insurance, he added.
He noted that even if the data was anonymous and secure today, that could change. “Securing the information over long periods of time gets much harder,” he said, noting that Regeneron might not even exist in 50 years. “The risk of the data being hacked over such a long period of time becomes magnified,” he said.
Other doctors urged participation, noting genetic research offered great hope for developing treatments for a range of maladies. Dr. Charney, who will oversee the effort to amass a million sequences, studies schizophrenia. He has used Mount Sinai’s existing database to search for a particular gene variant associated with psychotic illness.
Of the three patients in the existing Mount Sinai BioMe database with that variant, only one had a severe lifelong psychotic illness. “What is it about the genomes of these other two people that somehow protected them, or maybe it’s their environment that protected them?” he asked.
His team has begun calling those patients in for additional research. The plan is to take samples of their cells and use gene-editing technology to study the effect of various changes to this particular genetic variant. “Essentially what we’re saying is: ‘what is schizophrenia in a dish?’” Trying to answer that question, Dr. Charney said, “can help you hone in on what is the actual disease process.”
Wilbert Gibson, 65, is enrolled in Mount Sinai’s existing genetic database. Healthy until he reached 60, his heart began to fail rapidly, but doctors initially struggled with a diagnosis. At Mount Sinai, he discovered that he suffered from cardiac amyloidosis, in which protein builds up in the heart, reducing its ability to pump blood.
He received a heart transplant. When he was asked if he would share his genome to help research, he was happy to oblige. He was included in genetics research that helped identify a gene variant in people of African descent linked to heart disease. Participating in medical research was the easiest decision he faced at the time.
“When you’re in the situation I’m in and find your heart is failing, and everything is happening so fast, you go and do it,” he said in an interview in which he credited the doctors at Mount Sinai with saving his life.
Hospital and Drugmaker Move to Build Vast Database of New Yorkers’ DNA
Patients will be asked if their genetic sequence can be added to a database — shared with a pharmaceutical company — in a quest to cure a multitude of diseases.The Mount Sinai Health System began an effort this week to build a vast database of patient genetic information that can be studied by researchers — and by a large pharmaceutical company.
The goal is to search for treatments for illnesses ranging from schizophrenia to kidney disease, but the effort to gather genetic information for many patients, collected during routine blood draws, could also raise privacy concerns.
The data will be rendered anonymous, and Mount Sinai said it had no intention of sharing it with anyone other than researchers. But consumer or genealogical databases full of genetic information, such as Ancestry.com and GEDmatch, have been used by detectives searching for genetic clues that might help them solve old crimes.
Vast sets of genetic sequences can unlock new insights into many diseases and also pave the way for new treatments, researchers at Mount Sinai say. But the only way to compile those research databases is to first convince huge numbers of people to agree to have their genomes sequenced.
Beyond chasing the next breakthrough drug, researchers hope the database, when paired with patient medical records, will provide new insights into how the interplay between genetic and socio-economic factors — such as poverty or exposure to air pollution — can affect people’s health.
“This is really transformative,” said Alexander Charney, a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who is overseeing the project.
The health system hopes to eventually amass a database of genetic sequences for 1 million patients, which would mean the inclusion of roughly one out of every 10 New York City residents. The effort began this week, a hospital spokeswoman, Karin Eskenazi, said.
This is not Mount Sinai’s first attempt to build a genetics database. For some 15 years, Mount Sinai has been slowly building a bank of biological samples, or biobank, called BioMe, with about 50,000 DNA sequences so far. However, researchers have been frustrated at the slow pace, which they attribute to the cumbersome process they use to gain consent and enroll patients: multiple surveys, and a lengthy one-on-one discussion with a Mount Sinai employee that sometimes runs 20 minutes, according to Dr. Girish Nadkarni of Mount Sinai, who is leading the project along with Dr. Charney.
Most of that consent process is going by the wayside. Mount Sinai has jettisoned the health surveys and boiled down the procedure to watching a short video and providing a signature. This week it began trying to enroll most patients who were receiving blood tests as part of their routine care.
A number of large biobank programs already exist across the country. But the one that Mount Sinai Health System is seeking to build would be the first large-scale one to draw participants primarily from New York City. The program could well mark a shift in how many New Yorkers think about their genetic information, from something private or unknown to something they’ve donated to research.
The project will involve sequencing a huge number of DNA samples, an undertaking that could cost tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars. To avoid that cost, Mount Sinai has partnered with Regeneron, a large pharmaceutical company, that will do the actual sequencing work. In return, the company will gain access to the genetic sequences and partial medical records of each participant, according to Mount Sinai doctors leading the program. Mount Sinai also intends to share data with other researchers as well.
Though Mount Sinai researchers have access to anonymized electronic health records of each patient who participates, the data shared with Regeneron will be more limited, according to Mount Sinai. The company may access diagnoses, lab reports and vital signs.
When paired with health records, large genetic datasets can help researchers search out rare mutations that either have a strong association with a certain disease, or may protect against it.
It remains to be seen if Mount Sinai, among the city’s largest hospital systems, can reach its target of enrolling a million patients in the program, which the hospital is calling the “‘Mount Sinai Million Health Discoveries Program.” If it does, the resulting database will be among the largest in the country, alongside one run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as well as a project run by the National Institutes of Health that has the goal of eventually enrolling 1 million Americans, though it is currently far short.
(Those two government projects involve whole-genome sequencing, which reveal an individual’s complete DNA makeup; the Mount Sinai project will sequence about 1 percent of each individual’s genome, called the exome.)
A health system in northeast Pennsylvania, Geisinger Health System, has also built a database of more than 185,000 DNA sequences, through a partnership with Regeneron. That database played a role in the discovery of mutations that can protect against obesity and fatty liver disease.
Regeneron, which in recent years became widely known for its effective monoclonal antibody treatment for Covid-19, has sequenced and studied the DNA of approximately 2 million “patient volunteers,” mainly through collaborations with health systems and a large biobank in Britain, according to the company.
But the number of patients Mount Sinai hopes to enroll — coupled with their racial and ethnic diversity, and that of New York City generally — would set it apart from most existing databases.
“The scale and the type of discoveries we’ll all be able to make is quite different than what’s possible up until today with smaller studies,” said Dr. Aris Baras, a senior vice president at Regeneron.
People of European ancestry are typically overrepresented in genomic datasets, which means, for example, that genetic tests people get for cancer risk are far more attuned to genetic variants that are common among white cancer patients, Dr. Baras said.
“If you’re not of European ancestry, there is less information about variants and genes and you’re not going to get as good a genetic test as a result of that,” Dr. Baras said.
Mount Sinai Health System, which has seven hospitals in New York City, sees about 1.1 million individual patients a year and handles more than 3 million outpatient visits to doctor’s offices. Dr. Charney estimated that the hospital system was drawing the blood of at least 300,000 patients annually, and he expected many of them to consent to having their blood used for genetic research.
The enrollment rate for such data collection is usually high —around 80 percent, he said. “So the math checks out. We should be able to get to a million.”
Mark Gerstein, a professor of Biomedical Informatics at Yale University, said there was no question that genomic datasets were driving great medical discoveries. But he said he still would not participate in one himself, and he urged people to consider whether adding their DNA to a database might someday affect their grandchildren.
“I tend to be a worrier,” he said.
Our collective knowledge of mutations and what illnesses they are associated with — whether Alzheimer’s or schizophrenia — would only increase in the years ahead, he said. “If the datasets leaked some day, the information might be used to discriminate against the children or grandchildren of current participants,” Dr. Gerstein said. They might be teased or denied insurance, he added.
He noted that even if the data was anonymous and secure today, that could change. “Securing the information over long periods of time gets much harder,” he said, noting that Regeneron might not even exist in 50 years. “The risk of the data being hacked over such a long period of time becomes magnified,” he said.
Other doctors urged participation, noting genetic research offered great hope for developing treatments for a range of maladies. Dr. Charney, who will oversee the effort to amass a million sequences, studies schizophrenia. He has used Mount Sinai’s existing database to search for a particular gene variant associated with psychotic illness.
Of the three patients in the existing Mount Sinai BioMe database with that variant, only one had a severe lifelong psychotic illness. “What is it about the genomes of these other two people that somehow protected them, or maybe it’s their environment that protected them?” he asked.
His team has begun calling those patients in for additional research. The plan is to take samples of their cells and use gene-editing technology to study the effect of various changes to this particular genetic variant. “Essentially what we’re saying is: ‘what is schizophrenia in a dish?’” Trying to answer that question, Dr. Charney said, “can help you hone in on what is the actual disease process.”
Wilbert Gibson, 65, is enrolled in Mount Sinai’s existing genetic database. Healthy until he reached 60, his heart began to fail rapidly, but doctors initially struggled with a diagnosis. At Mount Sinai, he discovered that he suffered from cardiac amyloidosis, in which protein builds up in the heart, reducing its ability to pump blood.
He received a heart transplant. When he was asked if he would share his genome to help research, he was happy to oblige. He was included in genetics research that helped identify a gene variant in people of African descent linked to heart disease. Participating in medical research was the easiest decision he faced at the time.
“When you’re in the situation I’m in and find your heart is failing, and everything is happening so fast, you go and do it,” he said in an interview in which he credited the doctors at Mount Sinai with saving his life.
wader
Well-Known Angler
A travel company is advertising trips to Ukraine so tourists can see what it's like to live in the middle of a war zone
The site says tourists will see shelled buildings, bomb debris, and destroyed military gear, but could face risks of active land mines and air raids.
- Tourism site, Visit Ukraine, is providing tours of war-torn cities in Ukraine.
- The site says visitors can see shelled buildings, bomb debris, and destroyed military gear.
- Ukraine is currently under a "Level 4: Do not travel" advisory due to the ongoing war with Russia.
WOW, what a blind side, NOT!!!! Have been toying with EV, but driving needs always bounces back to a hybrid for the most used cars. Crap, couldn't even make the monthly schlepp to Boston w/o a charge stop...
A Frustrating Hassle Holding Electric Cars Back: Broken Chargers
Owners of battery-powered cars sometimes struggle to refuel on longer trips because public chargers don’t work or malfunction while cars are plugged in.The federal government is doling out billions of dollars to encourage people to buy electric vehicles. Automakers are building new factories and scouring the world for raw materials. And so many people want them that the waiting lists for battery-powered cars are months long.
The electric vehicle revolution is nearly here, but its arrival is being slowed by a fundamental problem: The chargers where people refuel these cars are often broken. One recent study found that about a quarter of the public charging outlets in the San Francisco Bay Area, where electric cars are commonplace, were not working.
A major effort is underway to build hundreds of thousands of public chargers — the federal government alone is spending $7.5 billion. But drivers of electric cars and analysts said that the companies that install and maintain the stations need to do more to make sure those new chargers and the more than 120,000 that already exist are reliable.
Many sit in parking lots or in front of retail stores where there is often no one to turn to for help when something goes wrong. Problems include broken screens and buggy software. Some stop working midcharge, while others never start in the first place.
Some frustrated drivers say the problems have them second-guessing whether they can fully abandon gas vehicles, especially for longer trips.
“Often, those fast chargers have real maintenance issues,” said Ethan Zuckerman, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has owned a Chevrolet Bolt for several years. “When they do, you very quickly find yourself in pretty dire straits.”
In the winter of 2020, Mr. Zuckerman was commuting about 150 miles each way to a job at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The cold winter weather can reduce the driving range of electric cars, and Mr. Zuckerman found himself needing a charge on the way home.
He checked online and found a station, but when he pulled up to it, the machine was broken. Another across the street was out, too, he said. In desperation, Mr. Zuckerman went to a nearby gas station and persuaded a worker there to run an extension cord to his car.
“I sat there for two and a half hours in the freezing cold, getting enough charge so that I could limp to the town of Lee, Mass., and then use another charger,” he said. “It was not a great night.”
The availability and reliability of public chargers remains a problem even now, he said.
Most electric vehicle owners primarily charge at home, so they use public chargers far less than people with conventional cars use gas stations. Many also report few issues with public charging or are more than willing to look past problems. And most battery-powered vehicles on the road today are made by Tesla, which has a proprietary charging network that analysts and drivers say tends to be reliable.
But all of that is changing. Electric vehicle sales are growing fast as established automakers roll out new models. Some of those cars will be bought by Americans who cannot refuel at home because they lack the ability to install a home charger.
Studies show that public charging is a top concern for people when they consider buying an electric car. The other big concern is the related issue of how far a car can drive on a full charge.
Even those who already own an electric car have such worries. About one-third said broken chargers were at least a “moderate concern,” according to a survey by Plug In America, a nonprofit that promotes these vehicles.
“If we want to see E.V. adoption continue to ramp up, as I do, we need to solve this problem,” said Joel Levin, the executive director of Plug In America.
The urgency isn’t lost on the automotive industry.
Ford Motor recently began sending out contractors it calls “charge angels” to test the charging networks that it works with to provide energy to the people who buy its electric cars and trucks. Unlike Tesla, Ford doesn’t build and operate its own charging stations.
This spring, a member of that team, Nicole Larsen, pulled up to a row of chargers at a mall in Long Island, plugged in her Mustang Mach-E and got to work. Ms. Larsen watched as a laptop recorded a detailed stream of data exchanged between the charger and the vehicle and started taking notes of her own.
The chargers, which were built and operated by Electrify America, a division of Volkswagen, were working well that day. But Ms. Larsen said one had given her an error message the day before. When that happens, Ms. Larsen notifies Ford technicians, who work with the charging company to fix the problem.
Ms. Larsen said problems are uncommon in her experience, but they do come up enough that she can sometimes identify them by sight. “I can tell you ahead of time, this one’s going to give me an error on the screen,” she said.
There are few rigorous studies of charging stations, but one conducted this year by Cool the Earth, an environmental nonprofit in California, and David Rempel, a retired professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, found that 23 percent of 657 public charging stations in the Bay Area were broken. The most common problems were that testers could not get chargers to accept payment or initiate a charge. In other cases, screens went blank, were not responsive or displayed error messages.
“Here we have actual field data, and the results, frankly, were very concerning,” said Carleen Cullen, executive director of Cool the Earth.
Charging companies dispute the findings. Electrify America said there were methodological errors with the study, and EVgo, which operates a charging network, said it could not replicate the study’s results.
Another big charging company, ChargePoint, had a success rate of just 61 percent. The company rarely owns and operates the chargers it installs on behalf of commercial businesses, though it does provide maintenance under warranty. That model is rife with problems, critics said, because it places responsibility on property owners, who may not have the expertise or commitment needed to manage the equipment. ChargePoint did not respond to requests for comment.
EVgo and Electrify America say they take reliability seriously and have employees keep tabs on their stations from centralized control rooms that can quickly dispatch technicians to fix problems.
“These are out in the wild by themselves,” said Rob Barrosa, a senior director of sales, business development and marketing at Electrify America. “You just can’t set it and forget it.”
But not everything is under their control. While those companies test chargers with various electric vehicles, compatibility problems can require changes to chargers or cars.
Even stations that are owned by charging companies like EVgo and Electrify America often sit unattended for long stretches. At most gas stations, a clerk is usually on duty and can see when some problems arise. With chargers, vandalism or other damage can be more difficult to track.
“Where there’s a screen, there’s a baseball bat,” said Jonathan Levy, EVgo’s chief commercial officer.
It’s a problem reminiscent of the early days of the internet, when balky modems and aging phone lines could make using websites and sending emails an infuriating exercise. The auto and charging industries hope they will soon overcome such problems just as the telecom and technology industries made internet access much more reliable.
The climate and energy bill that Congress approved last week includes tax credits for purchases of electric cars and chargers. And last year, lawmakers passed an infrastructure law that authorized $7.5 billion in federal spending to help build public chargers. Just having more chargers available means drivers will be much less likely to become stranded or frustrated if the first one or two they pull up to malfunction.
The money also comes with a requirement that chargers be functional 97 percent of the time and adhere to technical standards for communicating with vehicles. Stations must also have a minimum of four ports that can charge simultaneously and not be limited to any one automotive brand.
Tesla is also expected to open its chargers to cars by other automakers in the United States, which it has already done in a few European countries. Still, auto experts said Tesla’s network works well partly because its chargers are designed for the company’s cars. There’s no guarantee that vehicles made by other automakers will work smoothly from the start with Tesla’s charging equipment.
For now, many car owners say they have little difficulty with public chargers or are so happy with how their battery-powered vehicles drive that they would never consider going back to gasoline models.
Travis Turner is a recruiter for Google in the Bay Area who recently swapped his Tesla Model S for a Rivian R1T pickup truck. The truck doesn’t seem to work well with EVgo chargers, he said, and some stations won’t start charging unless he has closed all of the truck’s doors and trunks.
But Mr. Turner said he’s not too bothered because he has sorted out those issues and finds his Rivian truck to be so much better than any other vehicle he has owned. He’s also confident that the kinks will soon be worked out.
“This is really just the beginning,” he said. “It can only get better from here.”
wader
Well-Known Angler
This Startup Has a Dubious Plan to Resurrect the Extinct Tasmanian Tiger
GettyIt’s been a long, long time since we last saw a living thylacine—a creature more commonly known as a Tasmanian tiger. The animal once thrived as a cornerstone species throughout Tasmania for millions of years before being eradicated with the help of the Australian government, which offered...
It’s been a long, long time since we last saw a living thylacine—a creature more commonly known as a Tasmanian tiger. The animal once thrived as a cornerstone species throughout Tasmania for millions of years before being eradicated with the help of the Australian government, which offered a one pound bounty per dead Tasmanian tiger between 1888 and 1909 to control its population from wreaking havoc on farms.
The Tasmanian tiger population dwindled rapidly. The last official sighting of the creature in the wild occurred in 1930, when it was shot by a farmer for trespassing on his land. When he did so, he inadvertently wiped the last of a species in the wild off the face of the planet forever—or so we thought.
Colossal Biosciences, a biotech and genetic engineering startup co-founded by Harvard geneticist George Church, plans to “de-extinct” the Tasmanian tiger by using gene-editing technology. They hope to reintroduce the creature to its once-native habitats in order to rewild the ecosystems that were damaged after losing the species.
Sucks being young, beautiful and in politics in a foreign country. In the US these types of events make you a real celebrity!!
Prime Minister Sanna Marin of Finland in the city of Kuopio on Thursday.Credit...Matias Honkamaa/Lehtikuva, via Agence France-Presse - Getty Images
HELSINKI — Sometimes a prime minister just wants to have a little fun.
Last December, Sanna Marin, Finland’s 36-year-old leader, was spotted clubbing in Helsinki with friends into the early morning hours without her official phone, on which she had received a message warning her that she had been exposed to the coronavirus.
She publicly apologized after facing criticism for failing to immediately quarantine.
On Thursday, Ms. Marin was facing more scrutiny in media and political circles after videos leaked to social media showing her dancing energetically, striking poses and singing with friends at private parties.
The chatting on the videos left her facing questions about the possible presence of illegal drugs, with one voice saying, “This gives you a great feeling.” But there was no direct evidence that drugs were being used.
Still, that was enough for the opposition leader, Riikka Purra, chair of the Finns Party, perhaps mindful of elections next April, to suggest that Ms. Marin should volunteer to take a drug test.
The dust-up raised the question of whether Ms. Marin, who leads the Social Democratic Party and became one of the world’s youngest prime ministers in December 2019, was being held to a different standard.
In response to the videos, Ms. Marin denied knowledge of any illegal drug use at any party she has attended, telling the Finnish state broadcaster YLE on Thursday that only alcohol was consumed. She said that the parties she has attended were in private residences some weeks ago, and she expressed her displeasure at the latest leak.
“These videos are private,” Ms. Marin said. “They were recorded in private premises. I am displeased that they have been published. What they are about is that I was spending an evening with friends, partying, admittedly boisterously, dancing and singing.”
The parties drew some popular cultural and media personalities, including the singer and songwriter Alma and her sister Anna, the radio personalities Tinni Wikström and Karoliina Tuominen, and Janita Autio, a photographer who took a photo of Ms. Marin at a rock music festival in a leather jacket, shorts and boots that subsequently went viral.
Ms. Marin said that her security officers were on duty when she was at the parties but that they were not inside the residences.
Emilia Palonen, a political scientist at the University of Helsinki, says that it is difficult these days for a prominent politician to have true privacy.
“She surely trusted in the videos not being spread,” Ms. Palonen said. “But one is never free in this day and age. These days videos can be made anywhere and she was clearly aware” that she was being filmed.
That said, in this polarized political climate, Ms. Palonen said, “Her partying can be associated with irresponsibility.”
Indeed, some on social media seized on the videos to suggest it was unbecoming behavior given the problems people are facing today.
Petri Kuittinen, who identified himself on Twitter as a father of four, linked to the leaked video and commented: “Finland is suffering from record high electricity prices, lack of health care & elderly care professionals and this is how our leader is spending her time!”
But Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive of the European Policy Center in Brussels, asked: “Can someone explain to me why it is seen to be in any way a problem that a politician goes to a party and dances (if it doesn’t take place during lockdown that is)?”
Ms. Marin became prime minister after her predecessor had to resign over his handling of a postal workers strike.
Finland’s Prime Minister Parties, but Then Videos Leak
Criticism of the leader, Sanna Marin, 36, over parties she’s attended showed the difficulties of keeping life private in the age of cellphones and social media.
Prime Minister Sanna Marin of Finland in the city of Kuopio on Thursday.Credit...Matias Honkamaa/Lehtikuva, via Agence France-Presse - Getty Images
HELSINKI — Sometimes a prime minister just wants to have a little fun.
Last December, Sanna Marin, Finland’s 36-year-old leader, was spotted clubbing in Helsinki with friends into the early morning hours without her official phone, on which she had received a message warning her that she had been exposed to the coronavirus.
She publicly apologized after facing criticism for failing to immediately quarantine.
On Thursday, Ms. Marin was facing more scrutiny in media and political circles after videos leaked to social media showing her dancing energetically, striking poses and singing with friends at private parties.
The chatting on the videos left her facing questions about the possible presence of illegal drugs, with one voice saying, “This gives you a great feeling.” But there was no direct evidence that drugs were being used.
Still, that was enough for the opposition leader, Riikka Purra, chair of the Finns Party, perhaps mindful of elections next April, to suggest that Ms. Marin should volunteer to take a drug test.
The dust-up raised the question of whether Ms. Marin, who leads the Social Democratic Party and became one of the world’s youngest prime ministers in December 2019, was being held to a different standard.
In response to the videos, Ms. Marin denied knowledge of any illegal drug use at any party she has attended, telling the Finnish state broadcaster YLE on Thursday that only alcohol was consumed. She said that the parties she has attended were in private residences some weeks ago, and she expressed her displeasure at the latest leak.
“These videos are private,” Ms. Marin said. “They were recorded in private premises. I am displeased that they have been published. What they are about is that I was spending an evening with friends, partying, admittedly boisterously, dancing and singing.”
The parties drew some popular cultural and media personalities, including the singer and songwriter Alma and her sister Anna, the radio personalities Tinni Wikström and Karoliina Tuominen, and Janita Autio, a photographer who took a photo of Ms. Marin at a rock music festival in a leather jacket, shorts and boots that subsequently went viral.
Ms. Marin said that her security officers were on duty when she was at the parties but that they were not inside the residences.
Emilia Palonen, a political scientist at the University of Helsinki, says that it is difficult these days for a prominent politician to have true privacy.
“She surely trusted in the videos not being spread,” Ms. Palonen said. “But one is never free in this day and age. These days videos can be made anywhere and she was clearly aware” that she was being filmed.
That said, in this polarized political climate, Ms. Palonen said, “Her partying can be associated with irresponsibility.”
Indeed, some on social media seized on the videos to suggest it was unbecoming behavior given the problems people are facing today.
Petri Kuittinen, who identified himself on Twitter as a father of four, linked to the leaked video and commented: “Finland is suffering from record high electricity prices, lack of health care & elderly care professionals and this is how our leader is spending her time!”
But Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive of the European Policy Center in Brussels, asked: “Can someone explain to me why it is seen to be in any way a problem that a politician goes to a party and dances (if it doesn’t take place during lockdown that is)?”
Ms. Marin became prime minister after her predecessor had to resign over his handling of a postal workers strike.
Monkeypox patient’s nose is rotting after being dismissed as sunburn
The man’s nose began to rot due to a monkeypox infection as well as untreated STIs — in one of the most shocking case studies of the virus so far.
nypost.com
wader
Well-Known Angler
Putin World Declares ‘Our Agent Trump’ Is Irreversibly Screwed
Photo Illustration by Erin O'Flynn/The Daily Beast/GettyConcerns are swirling within the Kremlin and splashing onto the screens of Russia’s tightly controlled state media. Moscow’s grueling invasion of Ukraine and Washington’s potential designation of Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism are...
Nobody puts Baby in an ashen corner...
pressherald.com/2022/08/18/fire-hits-vacant-grossingers-hotel-once-a-catskills-jewel/
Associated Press August 18, 2022
Fire consumes a building at the site of the long-closed Grossinger’s resort, once among the most storied and glamorous hotels in New York’s Catskills, in Liberty, N.Y., on Tuesday. Liberty Fire Chief Mark Johnstone via Associated Press
LIBERTY, N.Y. — A fire consumed a building at the site of the long-closed Grossinger’s resort, once among the most storied and glamorous hotels in New York’s Catskills.
In its heyday after World War II, Grossinger’s drew hundreds of thousands of vacationers a year, many of them Jewish. The resort had a 27-hole golf course, indoor and outdoor pools, a nightclub, two kosher kitchens and a 1,500-seat dining room. It drew crooners like Eddie Fisher and has been cited as an inspiration for the 1987 movie “Dirty Dancing.”
The fire broke out Tuesday evening in a three-and-half story building on the old hotel property. Firefighters who responded to the scene had to cut through a gate and were hampered by overgrowth and concrete barriers. An excavator knocked down the structure after the fire was out, according to a Facebook post by the Liberty Fire Department.
It was not immediately clear what the building had been used for, though Sullivan County Fire Coordinator John Hauschild said the main building was torn down about four years ago.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
The former 812-acre resort is about 80 miles north of New York City.
Fisher not only made his debut at Grossinger’s, but married fellow entertainer Debbie Reynolds there in 1955. Other big names to appear at the resort were Joel Grey and Leslie Uggams, as well as boxers Rocky Marciano and Jack Dempsey.
Grossinger’s operated for nearly 70 years before closing in 1986, suffering the fate of many local hotels after the region’s appeal faded. The site fell into disrepair amid efforts to redevelop it.
Fire hits vacant Grossinger’s resort, cited as inspiration for ‘Dirty Dancing’
pressherald.com/2022/08/18/fire-hits-vacant-grossingers-hotel-once-a-catskills-jewel/Associated Press August 18, 2022
Fire consumes a building at the site of the long-closed Grossinger’s resort, once among the most storied and glamorous hotels in New York’s Catskills, in Liberty, N.Y., on Tuesday. Liberty Fire Chief Mark Johnstone via Associated Press
LIBERTY, N.Y. — A fire consumed a building at the site of the long-closed Grossinger’s resort, once among the most storied and glamorous hotels in New York’s Catskills.
In its heyday after World War II, Grossinger’s drew hundreds of thousands of vacationers a year, many of them Jewish. The resort had a 27-hole golf course, indoor and outdoor pools, a nightclub, two kosher kitchens and a 1,500-seat dining room. It drew crooners like Eddie Fisher and has been cited as an inspiration for the 1987 movie “Dirty Dancing.”
The fire broke out Tuesday evening in a three-and-half story building on the old hotel property. Firefighters who responded to the scene had to cut through a gate and were hampered by overgrowth and concrete barriers. An excavator knocked down the structure after the fire was out, according to a Facebook post by the Liberty Fire Department.
It was not immediately clear what the building had been used for, though Sullivan County Fire Coordinator John Hauschild said the main building was torn down about four years ago.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
The former 812-acre resort is about 80 miles north of New York City.
Fisher not only made his debut at Grossinger’s, but married fellow entertainer Debbie Reynolds there in 1955. Other big names to appear at the resort were Joel Grey and Leslie Uggams, as well as boxers Rocky Marciano and Jack Dempsey.
Grossinger’s operated for nearly 70 years before closing in 1986, suffering the fate of many local hotels after the region’s appeal faded. The site fell into disrepair amid efforts to redevelop it.
wader
Well-Known Angler
Republicans in New Mexico Are Furious Over ‘Breaking Bad’ Statues: ‘We’re Glorifying Meth Makers’
The decision to erect two statues of “Breaking Bad” characters Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) at the Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico is causing an uproar among some of the state’s Republican figures. The statues were unveiled July 30 at a ceremony...
The decision to erect two statues of “Breaking Bad” characters Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) at the Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico is causing an uproar among some of the state’s Republican figures. The statues were unveiled July 30 at a ceremony attended by Cranston, Paul, “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan and Albuquerque mayor Tim Keller.
Gilligan said at the statues’ unveiling that honoring “two fictional, infamous meth dealers” wouldn’t be celebrated by everyone in New Mexico, adding, “In all seriousness, no doubt some folks are going to say, ‘Wow, just what our city needed.’ And I get that. I see two of the finest actors America has ever produced. I see them, in character, as two larger-than-life tragic figures, cautionary tales.”
===================
I mean really. Get a life.
wader
Well-Known Angler
Human foot found floating in Yellowstone National Park hot spring
A Yellowstone National Park employee found what appears to be a partial human foot in a hot spring this week, park officials said.
wader
Well-Known Angler
Low water levels on Danube reveal sunken WW2 German warships
Fedja Grulovic
Fri, August 19, 2022 at 6:48 AM
By Fedja Grulovic
PRAHOVO, Serbia (Reuters) - Europe's worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during World War Two near Serbia's river port town of Prahovo.
The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany's Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels.
However, this year's drought - viewed by scientists as a consequence of global warming - has exposed more than 20 hulks on a stretch of the Danube near Prahovo in eastern Serbia, many of which still contain tonnes of ammunition and explosives and pose a danger to shipping.
"The German flotilla has left behind a big ecological disaster that threatens us, people of Prahovo," said Velimir Trajilovic, 74, a pensioner from Prahovo who wrote a book about the German ships.
Workers in the local fishing industry are also at risk, including from Romania which lies just across the river.
Months of drought and record-high temperatures have snarled river traffic on vital arteries in other parts of Europe, including Germany, Italy and France. In Serbia, the authorities have resorted to dredging to keep navigation lanes on the Danube open.
By Prahovo, some of the hulks have narrowed the navigable section on this stretch of the Danube to just 100 metres (330 feet) from 180 metres.
Strewn across the riverbed, some of the ships still boast turrets, command bridges, broken masts and twisted hulls, while others lie mostly submerged under sand banks.
In March, the Serbian government invited a tender for the salvage of the hulks and removal of ammunition and explosives. The cost of the operation was estimated at 29 million euros ($30 million).
Low water levels on Danube reveal sunken WW2 German warships
Europe's worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during World War Two near Serbia's river port town of Prahovo. The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along...
wader
Well-Known Angler
Overworked elephant rips Thai owner in half
An annoyed elephant has reportedly ripped his owner in half using his tusks in the Thai province of Phang Nga after being forced to work under hot weather. Upon their arrival, authorities were informed that Pom Pam, a 20-year-old male elephant, had ripped apart his owner, 32-year-old Supachai...
An annoyed elephant has reportedly ripped his owner in half using his tusks in the Thai province of Phang Nga after being forced to work under hot weather.
Officers from Takua Thung Police Station responded to a call about the elephant owner’s death at around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday in the Tha Yu subdistrict.
Upon their arrival, authorities were informed that Pom Pam, a 20-year-old male elephant, had ripped apart his owner, 32-year-old Supachai Wongfaed.
Rescue workers, officers and the village chief went to the scene of the incident and saw Wongfaed’s body in the middle of a rubber plantation. They reportedly found his corpse split in half in a pool of blood with Pom Pam standing over it.
During their preliminary investigation, Takua Thung Police Station officers discovered that Pom Pam was forced to carry wood in the rubber plantation prior to the attack. The officers suggested that the hot weather that day made the elephant “go crazy” and attack his owner.
Elephants are typically seen as good-natured animals, but they can potentially hurt humans if they feel unsafe or distressed. One elephant made headlines in June for killing a 70-year-old woman and then crashing her funeral to trample on her corpse.
movetheboat
Well-Known Angler
The Crusades lasted around 200 years. But, considering battle was forbidden on Lent, Fridays, and Saturdays, only 80 days of the year were available for fighting.
Talk about a great idea for a better world...
Hungary Fires Its Top Weather Officials After an Inaccurate Forecast
The National Meteorological Service predicted a severe storm over the weekend, prompting the government to postpone fireworks planned for a national holiday. The weather ended up being calm.
Uh Gene, your math is faulty...
Lent = 40 days
Friday = 52 days
Saturday = 52 days
By virtue of the "Old Math" I learned that means 144 days, leaving 212 for fighting. Even if you left out Sunday in your scholarly analysis, that would still have 160 days for fighting.
Math not one of your strong suits???
And BTW, WTF did a summary of the number of Crusades have to do with headlines in the 21st Century???
wader
Well-Known Angler
Kim Kardashian, Kevin Hart and Sylvester Stallone accused of drought restriction violations
The celebs were among 2,000 Las Virgenes Municipal Water District customers who recently received 'notices of exceedence' for water usage.
Kim Kardashian, Kevin Hart and Sylvester Stallone accused of drought restriction violations
They're among the biggest names in entertainment and sports: Sylvester Stallone, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Hart, Kim and Kourtney Kardashian.
And as Southern California struggles with a third year of punishing drought and unprecedented water restrictions, they may be among the biggest names in water waste in the tony San Fernando Valley enclaves of Calabasas and Hidden Hills, documents obtained by The Times show.
The celebrities were among more than 2,000 customers who recently were issued "notices of exceedance" by the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, indicating that they had surpassed 150% of their monthly water budgets at least four times since the agency declared a drought emergency at the end of last year.
Their properties are now subject to the installation of flow restrictor devices, which can reduce showers to a trickle and silence lawn sprinklers.
"Customers are expected to adhere to the water use reductions and water conservation measures that are in place due to this emergency," the notices read.
Among the addresses that received notices was an $18-million Hidden Hills property, listed under the name of former NBA star Wade, that exceeded its allocated water budget in June by more than 1,400%, or 90,000 gallons. That was an improvement over May, when the property exceeded its budget by 489,000 gallons — more than any other customer.
Also notified for excessive use was an $18-million, 2.26-acre Hidden Hills property owned by Stallone and his wife, model Jennifer Flavin. The property in June used about 533% more than its allocated budget — 230,000 excess gallons. That was an increase from 195,000 excess gallons in May.
Additionally, two properties listed under a trust that The Times has confirmed is associated with Kim Kardashian received notices: her Hidden Hills home and its adjacent lot, which together exceeded their June budget by about 232,000 gallons.
Kourtney Kardashian's 1.86-acre property in nearby Calabasas exceeded its June budget by about 101,000 gallons, the records show.
wader
Well-Known Angler
Missouri school district reinstates spanking as punishment: 'We've had people actually thank us'
The Cassville school board approved a policy this summer to once again use corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure for K-12 students.
Missouri school district reinstates spanking as punishment: 'We've had people actually thank us'
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A school district in Missouri announced it will reinstate spanking this school year – but with a parental caveat.
Cassville School School District superintendent Merlyn Johnson said he did not take the job a year ago with a plan to reinstate corporal punishment – a disciplinary measure the 1,900-student Barry County district abandoned in 2001.
"But it is something that has happened on my watch and I'm OK with it," Johnson said.
Cassville is a small town with a population just under 4,000 people, about 60 miles southwest of Springfield, near the Arkansas border.
Parents were recently notified of a policy approved in June by the school board to once again allow spanking in school – but only as a last resort and with written permission from parents.
Each family will be asked to opt in or out.
Describing Cassville as a "very traditional community in southwest Missouri," Johnson said parents have long expressed frustration that corporal punishment was not allowed in the district.
"Parents have said 'why can't you paddle my student?' and we're like 'We can't paddle your student, our policy does not support that,'" he said. "There had been conversation with parents and there had been requests from parents for us to look into it."
Johnson said families in Cassville have reacted differently than others on social media from outside the area.
"We've had people actually thank us for it," he said. "Surprisingly, those on social media would probably be appalled to hear us say these things but the majority of people that I've run into have been supportive."
He added: "We respect the decision of every parent, whatever decision they make."
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More at the link above
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I went to a Catholic HS run by Franciscan Brothers (St. Anthony's in San Remo/King's Park & a Catholic Grade School run by Dominican Nuns (St. Killian's Farmingdale). We were always getting corporal punishment in one form or another..
In HS we had a dean of discipline who was a 6'4" ex-marine with a crew cut, Brother Barnabus. He would emphasize that you had done something wrong by accenting every word with a semi closed, loosly held fist hit in the chest.
The Dominican Nuns I had in grade school rarely hesitated to whack you one with a yardstick. For really grevious acts it was common practice to make you kneel on the tiled floor with your arms outstreched in front of the class for the remainder of the class. Every time those arms began to drop from exhaustion you'd get whacked with the yardstick on your bum.
Didn't dare report it to dad. Because he felt you probably derserved it & would join in & give you a "love whack" of his own.
"It'll teach you character & respoect for authority" was his take on it.
I never really thought much about it. I just thought that's the way it was.
However my 3 brothers & I were probably some of the most respectful & well behaved kids on the block..
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