Neologisms

Now I have no horse in this race but from a logical and philosophical perspective I find this area interesting, albeit a bit confusing. In a recent NEJM paper[1], the authors introduce a plethora of terms that are a bit befuddling to us common folk.  Permit me to introduce them:

 1. Science denialism: I gather it means that science and scientific “facts” exist and are unalterable and that there is some class which denies these facts. The problem of course is that scientific facts oftentimes have a lifetime less than a pi meson.

 2. Transgender and gender-expansive (TGE) people: I get the first part of TGE but the term relating to GE is elusive. I can concatenate the two words but they are still mystifying.

 3. Gender-affirming: I gather this has something to do with stating how one desires to be considered independent of XX and XY chromosome existence. Yet this is somewhat in conflict with the first since XX and XY are scientific and rejecting them would be denial, I think.

 4. Transitioned change their gender expression: I gather this is some action on a gender expression. Now a gender expression seems to be a non-genetic expression of how one desires to be perceived in society.

 The above mentioned article continues in the manner. I guess I can see how many are confused.

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[1] https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2213085?query=featured_secondary

 

Amazon Collapse

 I have been noticing an interesting phenomenon on Amazon of late. Nearly 50% of orders are delayed, lost, missing etc and never arrive on time or at all! One wonders who is running this place. We are just a dozen miles from one of their largest hubs but alas their tracking system is just a total mess! Short the stock???

Golden Turkeys

 I went shopping this AM. Turkeys were selling for $4.50 a pound. This a 20 pound turkey goes for $90! Thank you DC, you have made the holiday the best ever!

Granulomas

 Granulomas are common in many pathogen infections such as TB and sarcoidosis. In cancers, we see TME, tumor micro environments, which have similar characteristics. We examine both extremes and then suggest that such may be the case in disease with recurrence such as COVID and UTIs.

A Mystery and Tragedy

 

Dr Louise Despert was a close friend of my grandmother, a renowned psychiatrist, a brilliant artist, and a well published author describing child behavior. Her offices were on Park Avenue and she prospered well. She was the first to identify autism in children on the 1930s.

Born in France and she died on Long Island. But, and this is the tragic part, she ends up buried in Potters Field, the place for paupers. I knew her well and have her paintings of my grandmother. Louise was a physician of children's minds and my grandmother of infectious diseases but they were life long friends. She was very well off. Thus how does someone like this end up in Potters Fields, a pauper?

There is a mystery here worth exploring. She was not a person to spend excessively, had many colleagues but somehow someone may likely have taken over her wealth, and left her remains to the State. 

This is a true tragedy, one worth examining.

1912 Election Redux

 As we begin the 2024 election process it may behoove the Republicans to remember 1912. Taft, the morbidly obese incumbent, was the Party nominee against an upstart sickly Democrat named Wilson. Wilson was running because no one in New Jersey wanted him for a second term. 

Then along comes the bipolar wild man, Teddy Roosevelt, who believed he was savior to mankind. Taft remained the Party choice but Teddy blustered his way across the country. This interloper allowed Wilson to win. Then we had our first President with was truly a racist, a misogynist, an egotist, and if anyone had checked on the verge of a massive stroke. 

The past is prologue to what we may see today. Now I am not taking sides, after all I am in New Jersey and my vote does not really count. But we have our Teddy, we have our Wilson, but who is Taft? Just a thought for the day for most of those people who have no clue of history.

National Health Care Systems and Cancer

 Cancer treatment demands timely and comprehensive care. Metastasis is deadly, often by definition, and as used in multiple venues "delay is the deadliest form of denial". 

Now look at the UK National Health Service, the NHS. Cancer Research UK states:

Whether it’s ‘Waiting lists for cancer treatment soar’ in the Express, the Mail talking about ‘Record NHS waiting lists’ or the Guardian reporting ‘Waiting times for cancer care in England longest on record’, the pressure on NHS cancer services is hard to miss. But why are cancer waiting times so important? And, looking beyond the news stories, what do they mean for people affected by cancer? ...   Some people face extremely long waits to get diagnosed and begin treatment after referral. These ‘long waiters’ are people who wait more than 104 days (that’s nearly 3 and a half months) to begin treatment after an urgent referral. There is no official target related to long-waiters, but generally waits of this length of time should not occur. This is why clinicians have to review all cases where this happens, to see whether there were any avoidable delays. Worryingly, we’re seeing an increase in the number of long-waiters.Before 2018, the number of long waiters was quite stable at less than 5% of people diagnosed after an urgent referral. But then this started to creep higher. Since 2020, the numbers have increased even more rapidly. We’re now seeing the highest levels of long waiters on record.

Just what does this mean? Well if melanoma is the diagnosis then a log wait is a death sentence, as is ovarian cancer,  and dozens of other. As we saw in the Obama plan, and even more so in Hillary Health, the elite want the norms to be treated by their wishes whereas they get different care. 

The elites praise the NHS, but not for them, just for you.

Gas Powered Machines: Costs

 So let us look at the costs of this NJ legislation. Here we go:

1. There are 1.8 million single family homes, SFHH, in NJ

2. 90% have lawnmowers that cost about $400 each

3. 70% have snowblowers that cost about $500 each

4. 50% have power washers at $400 each

5. 40% have chain saws at $300 each

6. Others we will just avoid now

The weighted average per SFHH are:

1. $360

2. $350

3. $200

4. $120

or a total of $1030 per SFHH

 Or the current investment by SFHH is about $2 billion! The law says we must throw them out. Now we must all buy new ones in the next three years. Needless to say there will be at least a 20% premium, that we must spend another $2.5 billion, assuming they even exist!

One truly wonders where these politicians come from that they can single handedly place a $5 billion tax on SFHH.

And yes, we have not even considered the tens of thousands of small business folks who must do the same. Likely another $4 billion!

For what? One must recharge these and in the field it demands a gas generator! Dumb is a compliment.

More Thoughts on Gas Powered Lawn Equipment

 People who write laws are all too often clueless. Let us return to the fools errand of the NJ Law banning gas powered equipment. The law state:

“Gas-powered lawn equipment” means lawn equipment that has  a two-stroke or four-stroke engine and uses gasoline or a gasoline  and oil blend as fuel.

 “Lawn equipment” means any mechanically powered equipment  or device that is used for, or intended to be used for, 

the mowing of  grass, 

the cutting or chipping of trees, tree roots, or tree branches,  or 

the clearing of leaves or other vegetation from lawns, sidewalks,  public streets or public highways. 

“Lawn equipment” shall include, but not be limited to, 

lawn mowers and 

lawn mower attachments,  

lawn edgers,

leaf blowers, 

leaf vacuums, 

mulchers, 

chippers,  

pruners, 

trimmers, 

chainsaws, 

power washers, and 

snow blowers

 Now there are several issues.

1. Where will the new equipment come from? Billions of dollars of new electric powered equipment must be made available at billions of dollars of new costs. No manufacturer has such a capacity!

2. Billions of dollars of gas equipment must be disposed of adding more billions of disposal costs.

3. Capital to achieve this is generally unavailable to the small lawn companies and home owners. 

4. Take snow blowers for example. There are NO electric battery models to handle such a task. Does that mean we leave sick and elderly stranded. What of highway clearing.

5. There is no delimitation in Senator Bob Smith's bill. So generators used in a hurricane to save lives would also be banished. 

In my opinion and in my experience this is not only a foolish bill but it clearly has the potential to cost many lives. What of the invalid needing power during a storm, a power outage etc! We let them die so as to meet the good Senator's religions mandates?  One must just read the words. The Press just sees leaf blowers. I see what the words mean.

The questions just build up. This is a fools errand driven by the Boston Carpetbagger and his ilk.  

NJ Election Mess

NJ introduced new electronic voting machines. What a MESS! The Boston Carpetbagger must be behind this. We have a right to a secret ballot. BUT with these new machines one gets a tagged, with your name, ballot sheet, used to record your vote. The software in the machine is grossly flawed from a human factors perspective in my opinion and in my experience. The elder folks as well as the work generation spent 10-20 times longer trying to get through the process. My luck is that I have spent years getting through Microsoft software so I can work around anything!

However., it is NJ and my vote is useless anyway. The gerrymandered district insures the election of the State chosen Rep. As I responded to the poll watcher also said: "Thank you for voting" and I said "What difference does it make!" Stalin had a fairer system in my opinion and in my experience!

As the local press notes:

Morris County spent nearly $5 million this year to replace its 20-year-old voting machines. But some of those machines rolled out to local precincts for Election Day are malfunctioning, poll workers say, while another town is struggling to accommodate a large voter turnout with half the complement of voting machines they have received in the past. Chester Township Council President Michael Inganamort, on the ballot this year for mayor, said he was "concerned" about waiting times of more than 90 minutes for District 2 and 3 voting this morning at Town Hall. ... The Morris County Commissioner Board in late 2021 authorized the purchase of 134 ES&S machines at a cost of $4.9 million. But a delay in authorizing the funds resulted in only partial delivery before the June primary, forcing some of the old Dominion machines back into use.

 In my opinion and in my experience these machines are a total disaster.You get to sign in digitally, and thus questions regarding signatures may arise, you get 4 pieces of paper, then escorted to the booth where the instructions make changing the Registry in W11 is trivial. Add to this elderly people totally unaccustomed and you have a mess. It is all too common with any useless political appointee!

 

 

New Jersey is Becoming California

 Well under the Boston Carpetbagger we here in NJ will try to out do California. A Bill states:

a. Beginning three years after the effective date of this  section, no person shall sell, offer for sale, or distribute within the  State any gas-powered lawn equipment for use or operation in the  State.
 b. Beginning five years after the effective date of this section,  no person shall use or operate gas-powered lawn equipment in the  State.
 c. Any person who violates the provisions of subsection a. or b.  of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than  $500 nor more than $1,000 for each offense. State and local law  enforcement shall have exclusive authority to enforce this section  and the penalty imposed shall be collected and  enforced by  summary proceedings under the "Penalty Enforcement Law of  1999," 

This of course will be a tax on all Hispanic workers. It also will be an added load on the electric network. BTW, NJ also bans the back selling of excess power generated by home solar arrays. Only the utility can sell power, at whatever price they deem right.

If you thought California was filled with wackos, NJ is aiming to beat the! 

Does MIT Really Dislike its Alumni?

 It may be easier to get into CIA headquarters than a grad of MIT getting back on campus. The front gates and all others have been locked, shut, closed, unless you have special ID cards. Now I can see this for certain areas such as cancer research but for the general public areas it is nonsense.

Now they announce some compromise that is classic wokeness in the extreme. Get some app then get some QR code then you can get past gate 1 but no further.

Want happy alums? Tell us to go away! Never return. Then ask for money. The logic of the left. 

And it gets worse! I downloaded the app and after all the work it tells me my phone does not work. BUT, it does NOT tell you what phones do. Typical useless techys....

He is following my turn-around rules!

 The NY Times reports on Musk and Twitter. Decades ago I started out doing turn-arounds. Namely a small high tech company was not making it but it had some asset. Also the investors wanted out quickly. So my turn-around rules were simple:

1. Fire half the employees. It makes no difference who, just half. In my case to keep HR happy I fired all Social Security numbers which were even. Mine is odd.

2. Raise the prices. The customers may complain but they are stuck with you until they have a new supplier.

3. Find a buyer real quickly. Your costs are down and revenue is up, for a while. So dump it.

Musk is doing step 1 and 2, will he do 3?