Mountain Pine Beetles are native to the forests of western North America from Mexico to central British Columbia. …
As of May 2013, the Pine Beetle is aggressively devastating forests in all 19 US-American western states and Canada …
These insects are thriving as average temperatures increase. Dead and dying trees make good fuel for fires.
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For the two pandemic years I’ve been working out of my unheated garage world headquarters in Parksville, B.C., I’ve been heading down to the ocean almost evert day at dawn.
Sound boring?
Actually, every dawn has been different. The tides. The weather. The seasons. But I only once saw a bear.
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My Trek Checkpoint bike is still like new.
Today I flipped over the handlebars. First time ever, I believe.
I was wearing my helmet. But — happily — the Gymnastics training kicked in and I pulled off a shoulder safety roll with perfect technique. No damage. Helmet never hit the dirt.
I was on level ground. Easy riding. INSTANT stop.
My fender somehow came loose and wedged behind the tire.
Weird. I’d never heard of this happening before.
It’s still on warranty so I’ll have the dealer fix it.
The Shingles vaccine.
Two zoster vaccines have been approved for use in people over 50 years old.
Shingrix (GSK) is a recombinant subunit vaccine which has been used in many countries since 2017.
Zostavax (Merck) is an attenuated vaccine which consists of a larger-than-normal dose of chickenpox vaccine. …
Shingrix is 2 shots at least 2 month apart. Zostavax only one.
In Canada the cost of Shingrix is about CA$300 for the two doses.
I’ll ask my doctor before making a final decision.
Since 1990 Dan has been living off the land in Oregon.
He’s an artist. A writer. A traveller.
For the last 15 years or so he’s been living in a little Hobbit House only 8ft (2.4m) wall to wall with a roof only 4ft (1.2m) high at the entrance rising to 5ft (1.5m) at the back.
Dan has a website called moonlight chronicles where he documents his simple life.
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Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, a married couple, are both now billionaires.
Financial Times People of the Year for 2020.
In 2008 Özlem co-founded the biotechnology company BioNTech, which in 2020 developed the first messenger RNA-based vaccine approved for use against COVID-19.
How many lives have been saved by their vaccine?
How much illness reduced?
They first heard of Covid on January 8th, 2020. And instantly switched from the Cancer therapy they had been researching for two decades — to Covid.
By March 2020, they had five vaccine candidates ready to test in humans, and by November 2020, results indicated that the vaccine was more than 90% effective.
mRNA could be used for future vaccines even more quickly next time. BUT we should build manufacturing capacity NOW to be ready for the next one.
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Messenger RNA is like magic.
The first mRNA-based vaccines received restricted authorization and were rolled out across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic by Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and Moderna, for example. …
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End of story.
See more Our World in Data smoking charts.
The best commentary on the Big Tobacco lobby was the 2005 film Thank You For Smoking.
I loved how the lobbyist played by Aaron Eckhart doesn’t smoke.
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Until about age-30, I assumed I’d die from nuclear radiation.
Now age-63, I’m still surprised each morning to be enjoying life.
A nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NEMP) weapon is designed to be detonated far above the Earth’s surface.
The explosion releases a blast of gamma rays into the mid-stratosphere, which ionizes as a secondary effect and the resultant energetic free electrons interact with the Earth’s magnetic field to produce a much stronger EMP than is normally produced in the denser air at lower altitudes.
Just one such weapon could kill everything electronic for months or years.
COULD YOU SURVIVE IN A TENT WITHOUT POWER? FEED YOURSELF FROM THE LAND?
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😀 Send me ALL the vaccine passports.
I got dose #1 of “Covishield”, the Indian version of Oxford–AstraZeneca, March 18th. NO — I’m not worried about blood clots.
I was in the first 7.76% of Canadians to get jabbed.
When Alberta started allowing the second dose of AstraZeneca after only 4 weeks, I signed up. Got jab #2 on April 16th.
Sounds like Vaccine Passports are a terrible idea.
But it’s inevitable that something like this will become required for international travel for many months. Or years.
Rick McCharles 