tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75888890748795823482024-03-27T15:29:07.472-04:00Bernie's BlazarIt is my well-meaning intention to develop this blog to facilitate communication within a network of friends and other netizens, and discuss almost any subject, topical or otherwise, away from the rants and sarcastic remarks seen on most media Websites. Please feel free to either comment or suggest subject matter.Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.comBlogger288125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-63506986796020584782024-03-27T13:34:00.000-04:002024-03-27T13:34:13.863-04:00XB-1 Flight Marks Buildup To Supersonic Test Campaign<p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTe_3CbvSohJpMqYc714Zd-bzGWNfDAyIaloNtASR8b48yp1MUWKSdzx-dyqpJRpihFND5Bwq49bchvOouEIK7VuS_lMnEiiy9oYx2zxR6v12QlIzudGbq49K-y4Uc9EVqZgzbQdXsTGgk0Kq9W8sdiD89vDTJdkToUFnc8jnyN5m9qXZo5-TA3PkIWho" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="595" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTe_3CbvSohJpMqYc714Zd-bzGWNfDAyIaloNtASR8b48yp1MUWKSdzx-dyqpJRpihFND5Bwq49bchvOouEIK7VuS_lMnEiiy9oYx2zxR6v12QlIzudGbq49K-y4Uc9EVqZgzbQdXsTGgk0Kq9W8sdiD89vDTJdkToUFnc8jnyN5m9qXZo5-TA3PkIWho" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">Boom’s ambitious plan to develop a 21st-century supersonic airliner took one step closer to reality on March 22 with the successful first flight of the company’s XB-1 demonstrator—the world’s first privately developed faster-than-sound civil aircraft—at Mojave Air & Space Port, California. <span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>Aviation Week & Space Technology</i></span></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: left;"><br /></p><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">Spiritually, I have tried to avoid the use of the word ‘hate’, therefore, I shall just say that I feel an intense dislike for this new US experiment.<br /><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">Fifty-five years ago, in 1969, the first flight of the British Aircraft Corporation Concorde took place, capable of a supersonic speed of Mach 2.04 (1,350 mph). <span class="Apple-converted-space"> <br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: x-small;"><i>(Note; A British HP-115 experimental demonstrator, similar to the XB-1, flew even earlier in 1961.)</i></span></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">It is well known that Concorde flew for British Airways and Air France, also, Braniff International Airways, and Singapore Airlines.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Orders for more than 100 Concordes were made by about 16 airlines (Including Air Canada).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But, later, destroyed by US public pressure because of perceived noise. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> <br /></span><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggFHdCbAnoxWm_ctTOZD5hsMTCUycX4Q3sRaQeg97BXWAA5gxKqmNtKepso7LHN3aKrfG7cSispkBBMOPWrndcCRcKbYHQ1NAQKD5avHrU5ywcoj-JliVVYFqQRn_mSPuBO6n1DbDbn_jdOGrcNJtWiZSUnsrcIA6hL4lv7uhaxVZpbk5qMgJS_qu0XJA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="199" data-original-width="300" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggFHdCbAnoxWm_ctTOZD5hsMTCUycX4Q3sRaQeg97BXWAA5gxKqmNtKepso7LHN3aKrfG7cSispkBBMOPWrndcCRcKbYHQ1NAQKD5avHrU5ywcoj-JliVVYFqQRn_mSPuBO6n1DbDbn_jdOGrcNJtWiZSUnsrcIA6hL4lv7uhaxVZpbk5qMgJS_qu0XJA" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>During that period, my home was on the final approach into Heathrow and, even as an experienced aviation enthusiast, of all the aircraft on that path there was nothing so heart-stopping as the bright white Concorde.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And, thus, my intense dislike of US aviation today … unable to build, e.g., a B-737. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> <br /></span><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">Just imagine what the Concorde would be today after numerous twenty-first century improvements … notwithstanding the if's and but's of the US aerospace industry swamp. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /><br /></span></div>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-54405935693315836892024-01-28T17:19:00.048-05:002024-02-01T16:45:11.933-05:00Consciousness<p><span style="font-size: large;"> <b style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.6px;">Scientists Believe They’ve Unlocked Consciousness—and It Connects to the Entire Universe</b></span></p>
<blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="color: #646568; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; letter-spacing: -0.5px;"><b>It’s just a simple quantum wave that can interact with everything that’s ever existed.</b></span></p></blockquote></blockquote><p style="color: #646568; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; letter-spacing: -0.5px;"><b>Susan Lahey</b></span></p><p style="color: #646568; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; letter-spacing: -0.5px;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="color: #646568; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzJovj_t83xZPlbNKZ9rfk9Yq-djlI6n5HV0rWUUoh2vqovJ7Z50Hc92Y4B-ZNPuQ5CGo-YW4sFqXQ-TKbfsPHhth9t7fG-PBr5h3y-dwIzSdWhOMDob9LC995ApKSw4GCur_ETZU6Ml-twwvenQNl2656F8QruQIWmK-Ye2oCgRjszAkeC_J0lexTFxQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1080" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzJovj_t83xZPlbNKZ9rfk9Yq-djlI6n5HV0rWUUoh2vqovJ7Z50Hc92Y4B-ZNPuQ5CGo-YW4sFqXQ-TKbfsPHhth9t7fG-PBr5h3y-dwIzSdWhOMDob9LC995ApKSw4GCur_ETZU6Ml-twwvenQNl2656F8QruQIWmK-Ye2oCgRjszAkeC_J0lexTFxQ=w410-h226" width="410" /></a></div><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; letter-spacing: -0.5px;"><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p style="color: #646568; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; letter-spacing: -0.5px;"><b></b></span></p><p style="color: #646568; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; letter-spacing: -0.5px;"><b><br /></b></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><b>WHEN PEOPLE TALK</b> about consciousness, or the mind, the context almost always seems a bit nebulous. Whether we create consciousness in our brain as a function of our neurons firing or it exists independently of us, there’s no universally accepted scientific explanation for where consciousness comes from or where it lives. However, new research on the physics, anatomy, and geometry of this mysterious notion has begun to reveal its possible form. In other words, we may soon be able to identify a true architecture of consciousness.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The new work builds upon a theory that Nobel Prize–winning physicist Roger Penrose, PhD, and anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff, MD, first posited in the 1990s, known as the Orchestrated Objective Reduction theory, or Orch OR. Broadly, it claims that consciousness is a quantum process facilitated by microtubules in the brain’s nerve cells.</p>
<blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: times;">KNOW YOUR TERMS: MICROTUBULES</span></b></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: times;">These are tubes made of protein lattices, and they form part of the cell’s </span></b><b><span style="font-family: times;">cytoskeleton,</span></b><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: times;">which is its structural network.</span></b><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Penrose and Hameroff suggested that consciousness is a quantum wave that passes through these microtubules. And that like every quantum wave, it has properties like superposition (the ability to be in many places at the same time) and entanglement (the potential for two particles that are very far away to be connected).</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Plenty of experts have questioned the validity of the Orch OR theory. This is the story of the scientists working to revive it.</p>
<blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="color: #e93730; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">ACROSS THE UNIVERSE</span></b></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">To explain quantum consciousness, Hameroff recently said that it doesn’t have a defined physical size. He compared it to a fractal—a never-ending pattern that can be very tiny or very huge and still maintain the same properties at any scale. Normal states of consciousness might be what we consider quite ordinary—knowing you exist, for example. But when you have a heightened state of consciousness, Hameroff explains, it’s because you’re dealing with quantum-level consciousness that is capable of being in all places at the same time. That means your consciousness can connect or entangle with quantum particles outside of your brain—anywhere in the universe, theoretically.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Until recently, scientists could easily discard this theory. Efforts to recreate quantum coherence—keeping quantum particles as part of a wave instead of breaking down into discrete and measurable particles—worked only in very cold, controlled environments. When quantum particles were taken out of that environment, the wave broke down, leaving behind isolated particles. The brain isn’t cold and controlled; it’s quite warm and wet and mushy. Therefore, the thinking went, consciousness couldn’t remain in superposition in the brain. Particles in the brain couldn’t connect with the universe.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">But then came discoveries in quantum biology. As it turns out, living things use quantum properties even though they’re not cold and controlled.</p>
<blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: times;">KNOW YOUR TERMS: QUANTUM BIOLOGY</span></b></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: times;">This is the study of quantum processes in living organisms, like superposition and quantum entanglement, that actually facilitate biological processes beyond the subatomic level. </span></b></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">In photosynthesis, for example, plants use chlorophyll in a process that stores the energy from a photon, or a quantum particle of light. The light hitting the plant causes the formation of something called an exciton, which carries the energy to where it is stored in the plant’s reaction center. But to get there, it has to navigate structures in the plant—sort of like navigating an unfamiliar neighborhood en route to a dentist appointment—and it has to complete the trip before it burns all the energy it’s carrying. To find the correct path, scientists now say the exciton tries all possible paths simultaneously. That’s superposition.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">New evidence suggests that microtubules in our brain may be even better than chlorophyll at maintaining this quantum coherence. One of the scientists who worked with the Orch OR team, physicist and oncology professor Jack Tuszynski, PhD, recently conducted an experiment with a computational model of a microtubule. His team simulated shining a light into a microtubule, sort of like a photon sending an exciton through a plant structure. If the light lasted long enough before being emitted—a fraction of a second was enough—it would indicate quantum coherence.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Specifically, Tuszynski’s team simulated sending tryptophan fluorescence, or ultraviolet light photons that are not visible to the human eye, into microtubules. After conducting the experiment 22 times, Tuszynski reported that the excitations from the tryptophan created quantum reactions that lasted up to five nanoseconds. That is thousands of times longer than some had expected coherence to last in a microtubule. It’s also more than long enough to perform the biological functions required. “So we are actually confident that this process is longer lasting in tubulin than…in chlorophyll,” he says. The team published their findings in the journal <i>ACS Central Science</i> earlier this year.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Tuszynski draws on similar experiments performed by scientists at the University of Central Florida, who have been illuminating microtubules with visible light. In those experiments, Tuszynski says, researchers observed re-emission of this light over hundreds of milliseconds to seconds—a typical human response time to stimulus. Shining the light into microtubules and measuring how long the microtubules take to emit that light “is a proxy for the stability of certain…postulated quantum states,” he says. “That is kind of key to the theory that these microtubules may be having coherent quantum superpositions that may be associated with mind or consciousness.” Put simply, the brain may not be too warm or wet for consciousness to exist as a wave that connects with the universe.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">While these experiments are a long way from proving the Orch OR theory, they do offer significant and promising data. Meanwhile, Penrose and Hameroff continue to push the boundaries of the theory, partnering with people such as author and influencer Deepak Chopra to explore expressions of consciousness in the universe that they might be able to identify in the lab using their microtubule experiments. This sort of thing makes many scientists very uncomfortable.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Still, other researchers are exploring what the architecture of such a universal consciousness might look like. One of the more compelling ideas comes from the study of weather.</p>
<blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="color: #e93724; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The Architecture of Universal Consciousness</b></span></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Timothy Palmer, PhD, is a mathematical physicist at Oxford who specializes in chaos theory and the climate. (He’s also a big fan of Roger Penrose.) Palmer believes that the laws of physics must be fundamentally geometric, and he uses the Invariant Set Theory to explain how the quantum world works. Among other things, it suggests that quantum consciousness is the result of the universe operating in a particular fractal geometry “state space.” State space, essentially, represents the possible configurations in any system.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">That’s a lot to digest, but it roughly means we’re stuck in a lane or route of a cosmic fractal shape that is shared by other realities that are also stuck in their trajectories. This notion appears in the final chapter of Palmer’s book <i>The Primacy of Doubt: How the Science of Uncertainty Can Help Us Understand Our Chaotic World</i>. In it, he suggests the possibility that our experience of free will—of having the option to choose our life, as well as our perception that there is a consciousness outside ourself—is the result of awareness of other universes that share our state space.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">The idea starts with a special geometry called a strange attractor. You may have heard of the butterfly effect, the idea that the flap of a butterfly’s wing in one part of the world could affect a hurricane in another part of the world. The term actually refers to a more complex concept developed by the mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz in 1963. Lorenz was trying to simplify the equations used to predict how a particular climate condition might evolve. He narrowed it down to three differential equations that could be used to identify the “state space” of a particular weather system. For example, if you had a particular temperature, wind direction, and humidity level, what would happen next? He began to plot the trajectory of weather systems by plugging in different initial conditions into the equations.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWyZ3w6aBdsseUIC6xj3kztuI0AEZo4RfxOiB2K_Ft5tPGMqtR7QzBQmQym7U60n_7hQoiLWqARvQEtMcuowQtf88cuOzidHK_4RBLBqQB4Q0DhupcIaDytvaVNhH0xxgSfTyZPN8kpqRaKQCySWiQhhQTIr3xrZ6zd-88QKtAa_LKO5BxJ-xgeHLKiPg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="769" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWyZ3w6aBdsseUIC6xj3kztuI0AEZo4RfxOiB2K_Ft5tPGMqtR7QzBQmQym7U60n_7hQoiLWqARvQEtMcuowQtf88cuOzidHK_4RBLBqQB4Q0DhupcIaDytvaVNhH0xxgSfTyZPN8kpqRaKQCySWiQhhQTIr3xrZ6zd-88QKtAa_LKO5BxJ-xgeHLKiPg" width="301" /></a></div><p></p>
<p style="color: #797979; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Lorenz attractor is a set of chaotic solutions of the Lorenz system that, when plotted, resemble a butterfly or figure eight. Most people know it as the butterfly effect, and it’s one way to help explain chaos.</p><p style="color: #797979; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">He found that if initial conditions were different by a hundredth of a percent, if the humidity were just a fraction higher, or the temperature a hair lower, the trajectories—what happens next—could be wildly different. In the graph, one trajectory might shoot off in one direction, forming loops and spins seemingly at random, while another creates completely different shapes in the opposite direction. But once Lorenz started to plot them, he found that many of the trajectories wound up circulating within the boundaries of a particular geometric shape known as a strange attractor. It was as if they were cars on a track: The cars might go in any number of directions so long as they didn’t drive it the same way twice and they stayed on the track. The plot, now called the Lorenz attractor, actually looks like a pair of butterfly wings.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">P almer believes that our universe may be just one trajectory, one car, on a cosmological state space like the Lorenz attractor. When we imagine “what if” scenarios, we’re actually getting information about versions of ourselves in other universes who are also navigating the same strange attractor—others’ “cars” on the track, he explains. This also accounts for our sense of consciousness, of free will, and of being connected with a greater universe.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">“I would at least hypothesize that it may well be the case that it’s evolving on very special fractal subsets of all conceivable states in state space,” Palmer tells <i>Popular Mechanics</i>. If his ideas are correct, he says, “then we need to look at the structure of the universe on its very largest scales, because these attractors are really telling us about a kind of holistic geometry for the universe.”</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Tuszynksi’s experiment and Palmer’s theory still don’t tell us what consciousness is, but perhaps they tell us where consciousness lives—what kind of a structure houses it. That means it’s not just an ethereal, disembodied concept. If consciousness is housed somewhere, even if that somewhere is a complicated state space, we can find it. And that’s a start. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: right;"><i style="text-align: left;">Popular Mechanics</i></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: right;"><i style="text-align: left;"><br /></i></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-61479880061016876182023-12-28T11:00:00.001-05:002023-12-28T11:09:08.328-05:00Canada's F-35 fighter Jets Could Be Delayed <p> <b style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.8px;">Edited</b></p><p class="p4" style="background-color: white; color: #094679; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;"><b></b><br /></p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; color: #434343; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 9.8px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Author of the article:</p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; color: #434343; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 9.8px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/author/davidpugliese2"><b>David Pugliese</b></a><b> </b> • Ottawa Citizen</p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; color: #434343; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 9.8px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Published Dec 27, 2023 • Last updated 19 hours ago • 3 minute read</p><p class="p6" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">A top U.S. military officer has warned that the delivery of F-35 aircraft ordered by Canada and other allies could be delayed because of ongoing technical problems.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">If that happens, depending on the length of the delay, Canadian taxpayers could have to spend between $400 million and $700 million <span class="s1" style="text-decoration-line: underline;">extra</span> for the stealth fighters.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">“As with any developmental program, there are challenges in software and hardware production, testing and certification,” National Defence spokesman Andrew McKelvey said. “Canada is aware of the potential delivery delays; however, at this time Canada’s delivery of the initial aircraft in 2026 remains on track.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="s2" style="color: #e6000e; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>Ha, ha !!</b></span></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">“Should there be delays in the delivery of these fighter jets for whatever reason, if there’s a slippage by a year, that would increase costs [by] about $400 million,” he told reporters on Nov. 2. “Or should there be a two-year slippage, the increase in costs should be about $700 million.”</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin has informed U.S. media outlets Defense News and Forbes that some Block 4 components are in different stages of development and will be delivered incrementally.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="s3" style="color: #fb0207; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>i.e., the engines may be delivered without the airframe !!</b></span></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><span class="s3" style="color: #fb0207; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCOXJMoSIvvQfIdto1SQMs1u8tp4Ot0Ie27i2jsFgBv84mdUvEFU4QhmsMZME4cNx5yIbjI1bObv7I98QsutTS9bhfd83rbL7VwVDBC1rzont6-Gdpovc8G-fe2PLkmlAhtP7cXAdd4y-AwLDclXrOVxW0nICffGvIbb9gZes4ppD3U1CyZGOkm98jdDY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="156" data-original-width="322" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCOXJMoSIvvQfIdto1SQMs1u8tp4Ot0Ie27i2jsFgBv84mdUvEFU4QhmsMZME4cNx5yIbjI1bObv7I98QsutTS9bhfd83rbL7VwVDBC1rzont6-Gdpovc8G-fe2PLkmlAhtP7cXAdd4y-AwLDclXrOVxW0nICffGvIbb9gZes4ppD3U1CyZGOkm98jdDY=w400-h194" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">In early January, Canada announced it was purchasing 88 F-35s in a deal valued at $19 billion.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">Another $6 billion will be spent on weapons for the aircraft.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">During the 2015 election campaign, Justin Trudeau vowed that his government would never purchase the F-35.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">As prime minister, Trudeau continued to point out the Canadian military had no need for the F-35. “Canadians know full well that, for 10 years, the Conservatives completely missed the boat when it came to delivering to Canadians and their armed forces the equipment they needed,” Trudeau said in June 2016. “They clung to an aircraft (the F-35) that does not work and is far from working.”</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">But in announcing the purchase on Jan. 9, Anand said the F-35 was needed to protect Canada and fulfill the country’s obligations to allies.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">More than 780 F-35s have already been delivered to the U.S. military and allies, but the stealth fighter is still plagued with technical problems.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">At a technical briefing held by the Canadian government on Jan. 9, 2023, a senior official claimed that the problems dogging the F-35 are “historical.”</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">That, however, isn’t true.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">In April 2022, the U.S. government watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, reported more delays in operational testing that is needed to be completed so full-rate production of the F-35 can begin. There are still hundreds of problems left to solve on the aircraft, and companies are redesigning and replacing equipment on the planes that have already been delivered. “The more aircraft produced and delivered prior to resolving deficiencies, the greater the likelihood that the program will have to retrofit aircraft, at the expense of the government,” the Government Accountability Office report stated.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">Canada is a partner in the F-35 program and has contributed more than $600 million U.S. in funding for the aircraft’s development over the years.</p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></p><p class="p9" style="background-color: white; color: #fb0207; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><b>If anyone mentions the phrase, “There was no alternative.” I shall … explode !!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-47994348302315248582023-11-06T11:07:00.009-05:002023-12-28T11:24:20.871-05:00Buffy Sainte Marie<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2yB7_m0LO4zo1AeY9BtdPchBIyOA86WH4J3AX3pAI15eT_i1gFkV91_Jc7VXGQchXztamOW-lLqOSL4S7OwXXhOwuuyQWiHVwKKY7UeCqbVxJPKlf0QtuhsCKxp6NKi6eMqmMKYG694fKF62P9eNpRU9RSbI9ylMeNpDAmWO-BqhoaC3rsKToERZky0s" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="176" data-original-width="286" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2yB7_m0LO4zo1AeY9BtdPchBIyOA86WH4J3AX3pAI15eT_i1gFkV91_Jc7VXGQchXztamOW-lLqOSL4S7OwXXhOwuuyQWiHVwKKY7UeCqbVxJPKlf0QtuhsCKxp6NKi6eMqmMKYG694fKF62P9eNpRU9RSbI9ylMeNpDAmWO-BqhoaC3rsKToERZky0s=w489-h301" width="489" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Indigenous musician - singer - songwriter - composer - record producer</div><div style="text-align: center;">visual artist - educator - social activist - actress - humanitarian</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><p></p><ul style="background-color: #f8f9fa; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></ul>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-66621665717513411492023-04-30T17:36:00.005-04:002023-10-01T21:52:12.115-04:00Brief Introduction to Falun Dafa<p> </p><h1 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #d1a577; font-family: GoudyTrajan-Medium, Georgia, "Palatino Linotype", "Book Antiqua", Palatino, serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px; padding: 20px 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">Brief Introduction to Falun Dafa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiI3dMDE3qFKLJkxB2e3Yk45-FTGxQuT9CoZuemMQeSAjYLGWgjbXdRKiCyKXDDHU-Z-7wwZXJantCmjUy-kFg0iHqKgbjHnKQdxjgCosof_fzx02zC-eYfiywpHNpBVhqwKctzkuYqcu4HiFF5fXG7IxuMedM2x_KDNk-CT_ltJIU9c3Pv5NuqYa3z" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="960" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiI3dMDE3qFKLJkxB2e3Yk45-FTGxQuT9CoZuemMQeSAjYLGWgjbXdRKiCyKXDDHU-Z-7wwZXJantCmjUy-kFg0iHqKgbjHnKQdxjgCosof_fzx02zC-eYfiywpHNpBVhqwKctzkuYqcu4HiFF5fXG7IxuMedM2x_KDNk-CT_ltJIU9c3Pv5NuqYa3z=w476-h183" width="476" /></a></div><br /></h1><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #707070; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong,</strong> is a spiritual practice that millions around the world have made a part of their lives. Rooted in Buddhist tradition, it consists of two main components: self-improvement through the study of teachings, and gentle exercises and meditation.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #707070; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">The belief system of Falun Dafa offers the possibility of spiritual growth through disciplined practice. Its teachings encourage learners to let go of unhealthy attachments as they strive to attune their lives to the underlying qualities of the universe: Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #707070; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">People who practice Falun Dafa often find it to be life-changing. Many experience dramatic health benefits as well as newfound energy, mental clarity, and stress relief. More importantly, many feel that in Falun Dafa they have found a deeply rewarding spiritual path.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #707070; font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Book Antiqua", Palatino, serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #707070; font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Book Antiqua", Palatino, serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiERvv_-4WaMUcWWiXRlpGjHGg14nlOM9l5EuWYwTqCQKYnOn2Hdv1QdaR-olVEMAiVO6GYuk5BCF1R-gkSOpPChQ1nuKa64tqwbSJpwUncP77nchy8J990cm15iuWnRjlGIfKjJ4PzqehcHH9dhLBQzor5rsK3cfSQIeJWk12DfPvBPZo8y6BrIZkd" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="115" data-original-width="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiERvv_-4WaMUcWWiXRlpGjHGg14nlOM9l5EuWYwTqCQKYnOn2Hdv1QdaR-olVEMAiVO6GYuk5BCF1R-gkSOpPChQ1nuKa64tqwbSJpwUncP77nchy8J990cm15iuWnRjlGIfKjJ4PzqehcHH9dhLBQzor5rsK3cfSQIeJWk12DfPvBPZo8y6BrIZkd=s16000" /></a></span></div><span><div style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-small;">Falun Dafa Exercises Video: <span style="color: #2b00fe;">https://www.falondafa.org</span></span><br /><br /><br /></span><p></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-65877580793394314422023-04-24T12:52:00.000-04:002023-04-24T12:52:27.283-04:00Canadians Do Not Want Charles As King<p> </p><p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">Today, a copy of the CBC “Morning Brief” appeared in my eMail describing a new woke survey published by Reuters (Dan Kitwood).</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">This did not surprise me because, if one searches well enough, a poll may be discovered somewhere indicating a “truth” fitting any narrative</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">—</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">but I was somewhat annoyed that Reuters did not choose to value my, or any of my associates, opinion on the matter (“Opinion” only). </span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After all, the King of England is, firstly, the choice of English people (More later) and other countries of the Commonwealth however, choose to accept his position as they wish (Technically, not accurate, but you know what I mean).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>My point here is that Canadians are, or should be, not part of the decision-making process. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The title of this article states that 60% of Canadians do not recognize the King while,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a few paragraphs later, they become simply respondents. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I have written before on the controversial question actually defining a Canadian, and the simple answer is someone qualified to carry a Canadian passport, i.e., not random respondents (Contrary to the whim of our current P.M.). <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Therefore, unlike countries of Communist dictators, and the probability that the banana-republic Canada will become controlled by the CCP … we still have a King, thus immigrants, both legal and illegal, and refugees, real or not, should sit quietly in their government-subsidized apartments … until, if necessary, deported. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Past readers of Bernie's Blazar will be aware of my deliberately controversial tone, in order to cause discussion … I look forward to the spore.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-11982878654727822952022-09-08T12:09:00.007-04:002024-01-29T11:47:28.581-05:00Snippet 21 -- Deceptive Education<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-weight: normal;">What could be said of a blog renamed : </span> </p><h4 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">"The Piece, Bit, Excerpt, Snippet Quarterly"</span> ?</h4><p>Not much, I guess. Therefore, welcome once again to Bernie's Blazar. </p><p>This occasion is the result of an excellent article by Dr. Julie Ponesse* in the Epoch Times from which I have extracted, with respect, a morsel of her higher comprehensive perception. </p><p>Quote</p><p><b><span style="color: #800180;">We live in an era of pseudo intellectuals, pseudo students, and pseudo education.</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: Caveat; font-size: x-large;">Dear class of 2026</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Caveat; font-size: x-large;">Welcome to the beginning of the rest of your life ! Ahead of you is four years of a lacklustre education which will saddle you with a debt from which you may never emerge. Your professors will teach you not how to think but what to think, and their invitation to question will be just a pretence. Before you leave today, you can register for courses on critical thinking and free will, but make sure to stop at the vaccine clinic on the way out to get your mandated COVID booster. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">* Dr. Julie Ponesse is a professor of ethics </span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: right;">who has taught at Ontario's Huron University College for 20 years. </div><div style="text-align: right;">She was placed on leave and banned from accessing her campus </div></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">due to the vaccine mandate. </span><span style="font-family: Caveat; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Caveat; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-2234379351082919382022-07-03T16:27:00.003-04:002024-01-29T11:50:18.384-05:00Snippet 20 -- Gene Therapy<p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> "<em style="background: repeat rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Acta; letter-spacing: 0.15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333;">Not a vaccine in the medical definition, the COVID-19 ‘vaccine’ is really an experimental </span><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/t-gene-therapy" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">gene therapy</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"> that does not render immunity or prevent infection or transmission of the disease."</span></em></span></p><p><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Caveat;"><span style="background: repeat rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">( Well, who would have guessed ? )</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Caveat; font-size: medium;"><em style="background: repeat rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; letter-spacing: 0.15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Caveat; font-size: medium;"><em style="background: repeat rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; letter-spacing: 0.15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></em></span></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-90798613090897583732022-07-03T09:20:00.000-04:002022-07-03T09:20:56.613-04:00 WORDS OF WISDOM<p> </p><table role="presentation" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Futura-Medium; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 600px; min-width: 320px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-indent: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto; width: 600px; word-break: break-word;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" style="padding: 20px 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.4;">''It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but <br />also for what we do not do.''<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRr-zeikFJVPjwrqQuydWTwZjRqL7OLmArvHm0vTg2chUkCSDMfqZ64GFVND1ypW6ws186CcMhBUzNhU4oxF45IzhBBLV900gbkCeCYixgGudwxrXK03shD7wJo0oc1ACxgYKJodsWu6Oh6sIAv3i7mr9faGJjipKm0WaI_7nOZUWptMYKHc-GVlrE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="142" data-original-width="354" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRr-zeikFJVPjwrqQuydWTwZjRqL7OLmArvHm0vTg2chUkCSDMfqZ64GFVND1ypW6ws186CcMhBUzNhU4oxF45IzhBBLV900gbkCeCYixgGudwxrXK03shD7wJo0oc1ACxgYKJodsWu6Oh6sIAv3i7mr9faGJjipKm0WaI_7nOZUWptMYKHc-GVlrE=w487-h195" width="487" /></a></div><br /></span></td></tr><tr><td align="left" style="padding: 16px 0px 20px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><b>Moliere</b></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-43909056193744711102022-07-01T13:40:00.003-04:002024-01-29T11:56:55.670-05:00Snippet 19 -- The Desperation of Trump-haters<p><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Caveat;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Caveat;">When is a snippet a small piece</span> <span style="font-family: Caveat;">? A small piece of Ukraine illustrates an item of Earth-shattering proportion. Another example is Apple Books, 'Read, listen, discover -- All in one place'. Well, really, that's just a short advertising statement, snipped ignorantly. So, now, as I absorb the studied words of Conrad Black's latest lengthy article about the desperation of Trump-haters, do I copy every agreeable word, change most of the adjectives with similes, and claim it as my own ... and, still, risk plagiarism, or do I resort to a snippet (again). </span></span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Acta, Vollkorn, Georgia, Palatino; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Peggy Noonan and I [Conrad Black] have recently confirmed that our political disagreements absolutely won’t stand in the way of our long friendship.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Acta, Vollkorn, Georgia, Palatino; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">This is timely, as in her latest pronouncement upon the ever-shifting and more desperate perspective of civilized Trump-hate (defined here as making some effort at analysis, no matter how nonsensical, and not just primal scream therapy like most Trump-haters) in her column in The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/january-6-trump-voters-election-fraud-lies-2024-presidential-candidate-hillary-clinton-11655415629?mod=trending_now_opn_3" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #551a8b; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>on June 16, she presented the most delusional version of the Trump-cancellation argument that has yet been made by any otherwise serious person still capable of rational comment on the subject.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Acta, Vollkorn, Georgia, Palatino; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">The five thin and vibrating tent poles holding up the porous canvas of Trump-denial now, according to Noonan, are: 2020 was a pristine election incapable of serious doubt; Trump was trying to overturn the election result by intimidation on Jan. 6, 2021; there’s no merit in the Trumpism-without-Trump argument—his administration was a complete failure in every policy area; his scores of millions of supporters don’t really support him and they’re deserting him; and all those who turned themselves inside-out—and in some cases violated election and vote-counting statutes—to bring Trump down have no responsibility whatsoever for the almost indescribable catastrophe of the present administration.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Acta, Vollkorn, Georgia, Palatino; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> 👀 </span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Acta, Vollkorn, Georgia, Palatino; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: white; text-size-adjust: auto;">Barring terrible tactical errors, of which he’s capable, Trump will be back, and will return much wiser and more formidable than we remember him.</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Acta, Vollkorn, Georgia, Palatino; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: white; text-size-adjust: auto;">Conrad Black (The Epoch Times)</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Acta, Vollkorn, Georgia, Palatino; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: white; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></span></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-42996862493169450232022-04-02T14:45:00.009-04:002022-04-02T14:59:02.004-04:00Choose Your Fighter: The F-35 Saga<h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Caveat;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Caveat;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Caveat;">I am much too dismayed, alarmed, angry, by this news, that I have become afflicted by the syndrome of 'word-block', such that there is an urgency to publish it ... anywhere. </span></h4><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="center" role="presentation" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-indent: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="center" style="margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px;"><br /></td></tr><tr><td align="center" class="center" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">"After years of delays, Canada is upgrading its air force and replacing its fleet of aging CF-18 fighters with<span style="color: #2b00fe;"> (88 of)</span> the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II — a jet the Liberals once vowed they would never buy. The stealth fighter jet has long been touted as the future of aerial warfare, but the debate over buying<span style="color: #2b00fe;"> (at $19 billion) </span>a fleet has dragged on for more than a decade, <span style="color: #2b00fe;">(... maybe another decade before entering service)</span> starting under the Harper government."<br /><br />"On the campaign trail in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the F-35 would be a "nightmare" for Canadian taxpayers. "<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Maclean's</span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></div>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-33925450205614600382021-09-18T14:27:00.000-04:002021-09-18T14:27:24.212-04:00Imitative Writing<p> With the introductory statement that almost any subject could be included in this Blog, I have decide to share part of a conversation with an overseas senior student about T.E.S.L., and encourage, perhaps, controversial comment. </p><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Hi;</span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;">I knew that it would be hard to change the subject from “Teaching”. But I’ve been reading through earlier comments and this one escaped my reply,:</span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #2c1376;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;">“</span><span style="font-family: ArialMT;">I focus on writing in my class. I usually ask my students to write short passages, like<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="background-color: white;">imitative writing</b>. They like to do it and they gradually become more confident in English. I think it works well. And the class becomes not so tiring for me.</span><span style="font-family: "Chalkboard SE";">?</span><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;">”</span></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #2c1376;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;">Note: (a). The British have been teaching English for hundreds of years. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>(b) I studied T.E.S.L. at a Canadian college. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>(c). I’m wearing my boring teacher's hat instead of my humorous penpal hat. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;">Imitative writing is just copying … a chimpanzee can do that. Write in early Egyptian hieroglyphs and they can do that equally well, but they’ll not become fluent in Arabic … only how to copy meaningful characters, without understanding the meaning. Of course, “they like to do it”. They’re just kids.</span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;">Also, thousands of books have been written on this subject, and most end up with concern for fluency. In China, those books are published by the Propaganda Department of the CCP and do not contribute to a fluent use of the language. Even the renowned Oxford University Press is based in Hong Kong! Did you know that? </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;">There was an English Language Competition on CCTV whose hosts were British/Chinese from BBC TV, together with a Canadian called Dashan (I think). They were the only Chinese, that I ever knew who were “fluent”. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;">[<span style="color: #351c75;">My friend</span>], don’t be annoyed. I am very (very) aware that you are just following the “book”. It must be extremely frustrating. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;"><br /></span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;">I’ll finish, as I often do, with a humorous example. Imagine the U.S. removing all the Chinese teachers of Chinese, ruling that Chinese must be taught by American teachers. [<span style="color: #351c75;">China has, in fact, dismissed all foreign teachers</span>]. Take this idea to Europe and rule that the French language must be taught by German teachers, etcetera. I may be displaying humour, but it’s very (very) serious humour. </span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Chalkboard SE;">Bernie</span></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></div>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-49437678672010385212021-08-17T13:12:00.000-04:002021-08-17T13:19:04.250-04:00Snippet 18 -- Education<p> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Oregon [State] Governor Signs Bill Letting </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">[High School] Students Graduate Without Proving </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">They Can Read, Write, or Do Math</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: xx-small;">ZACHARY STIEBER -- THE EPOCH TIMES -- 12-8-2021</span></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-25611279954652676282021-08-02T20:28:00.022-04:002021-08-04T14:12:01.792-04:00Alain Ducasse -- Pandemic Accelerated French Cuisine <p> </p><p><br /></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #3c3c39; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 26px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Alain Ducasse says the pandemic accelerated the evolution of French cuisine. But some are in no hurry to abandon the generations-old rituals that define the Gallic art of eating.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #3c3c39; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 26px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #3c3c39; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 26px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBAcUNXigLyhvvR48m4xJh3KB3YWeRcHIAYTDiq9okmqKECxUNxo4DLIWwP8fLhN5L9y5R_KFc1di_BRPCiz4d3ZXIL_sWve7qGew93Pr0jbSwNFp63z9i9wQZ_6z4GupjaWBlNbzxCcg/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="290" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBAcUNXigLyhvvR48m4xJh3KB3YWeRcHIAYTDiq9okmqKECxUNxo4DLIWwP8fLhN5L9y5R_KFc1di_BRPCiz4d3ZXIL_sWve7qGew93Pr0jbSwNFp63z9i9wQZ_6z4GupjaWBlNbzxCcg/w425-h239/download.jpg" width="425" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"French cuisine has always been in a state of movement," said famed French chef Alain Ducasse, taking a sip of crimson-hued sparkling wine, surrounded by the empty wooden tables of his Paris restaurant <a href="https://www.auxlyonnais.com/en"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">Aux Lyonnais</span></a>. It was a warm day in March 2021. A soft breeze floated into the restaurant through the takeaway window, sunbeams illuminating the empty burgundy leather booths. The maitre d', dressed in a suit, glided between the kitchen and the curb, brown paper bags brimming with plant-based fare ready to hand off for delivery. The crinkling of the bags in motion was the loudest sound in the room.</p><p class="p4" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 27px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>French cuisine has always been in a state of movement</i></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Things are different now. After months of lockdown measures, curfews and restaurant closures, Paris is slowly beginning to resemble its former self. The packed tables of cafe terrasses spill off pavements and onto boulevards, waiters once again balancing glasses of rosé on silver platters and cigarette smoke lingering in a never-fading cloud. The chirping birds along the Boulevard Saint-Germain have been replaced by the constant drone of revving engines.</p><p class="p6" style="background-color: white; color: #575757; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">But according to Ducasse – currently the world's most Michelin-starred chef and emblematic figure of French gastronomy, often nicknamed the "godfather" of French cuisine – gastronomy had been quietly evolving behind the doors of shuttered kitchens during the pandemic's darkest days. He says Covid-19 accelerated the next "re-evolution" of French gastronomy.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">In March 2020, the order to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51892477"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">shut down restaurants</span></a> due to the pandemic sent chefs into a tailspin. After getting the news on a Saturday evening with a room full of diners, Ducasse learned he would need to close at midnight, without any foresight as to when they might reopen. </p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">"We lost a lot of merchandise, and gave a lot of merchandise to employees," he said. "It was too fast." France's dining scene ground to a halt.</p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ducasse took a sip of wine. Behind him, an antique clock sat atop a mirror in the back corner of the restaurant. It was stuck on 06:43. He put a paper napkin on his lap. "The French are very strongly rooted in tradition," he said, laying out bamboo cutlery with concentration.</p><p class="p6" style="background-color: white; color: #575757; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">In 2010, Unesco inscribed the <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/gastronomic-meal-of-the-french-00437"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">gastronomic meal of the French</span></a> onto its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, permanently enshrining the French meal under its protection. However, the designation isn't just about the food. It emphasises all the traditional elements that comprise a gastronomic meal in France, from the notion of conviviality – the idea of gathering together in a warm-hearted atmosphere – to the thoughtful selection of high-quality local produce. Other elements in the designation include table setting, food and wine pairings and a fixed meal structure. </p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">The designation underscores the importance of dining as a process, which has even been enshrined into French law: until the pandemic, for example, it had been <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p096gb9c"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">illegal</span></a> for employees in France to eat lunch at their desks.</p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fast-forward to 2020 amid continued restaurant closures, where delivery drivers sped down deserted Parisian streets, shuttling Michelin-starred cuisine ready to be plated up against the backdrop of the latest Netflix series.</p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 27px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>The re-evolution in cuisine is freedom</i></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">But Ducasse didn't see this pandemic shift as a threat to French gastronomy. It was an opportunity.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">"The re-evolution in cuisine is freedom," he said. In France, such progressions aren't new. The last momentous evolution of French food – Nouvelle Cuisine, spearheaded by Paul Bocuse in the 1970s – was in large part driven by the desire by chefs to create cuisine for which they themselves would be recognised, breaking from traditional dishes to make lighter, healthier and hyper-personalised dishes that challenged some of the rules of classic French cooking.</p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yet the traditional ritual around the meal remained rigid. A mere few years ago, the topic of the "doggy-bag" – bringing leftover food home from a restaurant – sparked <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/world/europe/brushing-off-a-french-stigma-that-doggie-bags-are-for-beggars-.html"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">national debate</span></a>. Now, it's mandatory for restaurants to provide takeaway materials to diners in an effort to cut food waste, prompting the Ministry of Agriculture to rebrand the practice as the sexier"gourmet bag".</p><p class="p6" style="background-color: white; color: #575757; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">Ducasse is not a figure that one would traditionally associate with takeaway, paper napkins or cheap food. But in April 2020, Ducasse, who had never offered a takeaway or delivery service before – or even considered it – launched <a href="https://www.ducasse-chezmoi.com/"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">Ducasse Chez Moi</span></a>, an online delivery platform featuring a selection of dishes from his Paris restaurants including <a href="https://www.restaurant-champeaux.com/en"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">Champeaux</span></a> and <a href="https://www.spoon-restaurant.com/en/"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">Spoon</span></a>. As part of the shift, he also launched <a href="https://www.naturaliste-paris.com/"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">Naturaliste</span></a>, an inexpensive, plant-forward delivery and takeaway restaurant in the kitchen of Aux Lyonnais, behind its shuttered dining room. Essentially, a ghost kitchen.</p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"We would have never dared to do it if we didn't have to. It was an opportunity. Restaurants were closed, so we said we're going to try food differently," he explained. "It would be accessible; a food that we could deliver, and a food specially edited for delivery."</p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 27px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>The new consumer is curious… Unfaithful. You have to seduce them</i></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">When I spoke with Ducasse in March, he didn't seem fazed by the transition to delivery. He was sitting up straight in his wooden chair, gesticulating with enthusiasm as he talked about his ideas for the future. The maitre d' was busy greeting customers at the takeaway window, taking orders for Naturaliste.</p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For Ducasse, Covid-19 sped up France's next gastronomical evolution, which he says is marked by a profound desire for human contact, an interplay between global influence and local produce, the growing role of plant-based cuisine and a rapidly evolving consumer. "The new consumer is curious… Unfaithful. You have to seduce them," he said. "You have to take them on a journey."</p><p class="p6" style="background-color: white; color: #575757; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWBQ7svLSrdKNnHZAjpM0AgTL0zSH2G24eOJ0WWohwk6peoDJCaAKRXWGK2aC4zXb1kBP2gtuf8G381uLFHul7jy7LlaoLbq1r53TOA62fjajYZUC4KdW0TLWmFYcaknexvlN0RwIy38/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="175" data-original-width="289" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWBQ7svLSrdKNnHZAjpM0AgTL0zSH2G24eOJ0WWohwk6peoDJCaAKRXWGK2aC4zXb1kBP2gtuf8G381uLFHul7jy7LlaoLbq1r53TOA62fjajYZUC4KdW0TLWmFYcaknexvlN0RwIy38/w400-h243/images-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Maryann Tebben, author of <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo70563942.html"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">Savoir-Faire: A History of Food in France</span></a><i>, </i>expands on the notion of a changing consumer, reflecting on how "they hear about it, they're reading about it, they're careful about the ecological footprint that they have, and they're more savvy than their parents or grandparents were about what food does for the environment."<p></p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">When I think of French cuisine, plant-based cooking isn't the first thing that comes to mind. I think of meat, of Toulouse sausage, foie gras and calf brains. But, Ducasse points out, the growing emphasis on plant-based dishes didn't happen overnight; in recent years, vegetable-forward menus have been growing in the nation's top kitchens. And at Ducasse's restaurants, this focus goes back even further.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">In 1987, he introduced plant-based menu Jardins de Provence to his three-Michelin-starred <a href="https://www.ducasse-paris.com/en/addresses/louis-xv-alain-ducasse-hotel-paris"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">Le Louis XV</span></a> restaurant in Monaco. Now, "30-40% of clients choose this 100% vegetarian menu," he explained.</p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">Patrick Rambourg, a researcher specialising in French gastronomy and the author of <a href="http://patrickrambourg.unblog.fr/2012/07/16/histoire-de-la-cuisine-et-de-la-gastronomie-francaises/"><span class="s1" style="color: black;">Histoire de la cuisine et de la gastronomie françaises</span></a> (History of French cuisine and gastronomy),has also been observing the transition to more sustainable cuisine in recent years. He agrees that France is in the midst of its next culinary evolution; and in his view, it wasn't catalysed by the pandemic. Instead, the movement has been slow and profound, he believes, growing due to an interplay between changing consumer demands and the eagerness of chefs to embrace the challenge of transforming vegetables into the star of a dish. </p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">"The chefs are aware of a changing consumer that cares about where products come from. There are also people that want to eat high-end cuisine, gastronomy, but don't want to eat something unhealthy," he said. "There's a change in consciousness around cuisine. Kitchens don't have a choice but to adapt."</p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">However it has come about, Ducasse is embracing the shift toward sustainable, vegetable-forward cuisine. In September, Naturaliste will transform into Sapid, a more permanent plant-based restaurant centred around conviviality on Rue Paradis in Paris's 10th arrondissement. It will feature a refectory-setup with communal tables, encouraging the social contact that people lacked during the past year.</p><p></p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="color: #343434;">Back at Aux Lyonnais, the maitre d' reappeared and placed two cardboard boxes on the table. I peeked</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="color: #343434;"> </span><span style="color: #343434;">inside. The dishes – roasted cabbage with avocado and smoked eel, and braised seasonal vegetables with sauteed mushrooms and quinoa – were the creations of young Peruvian chef Marvic Medina Matos, who has worked in the kitchens of three Michelin-starred </span><a href="https://www.alainducasse-plazaathenee.com/fr" style="color: #343434;">Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée</a><span style="color: #343434;"> and </span><span style="color: #4c1130;"><a href="https://www.alainducasse-meurice.com/en">Le Meurice Alain Ducasse</a>.</span></p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">Her dishes emphasise local produce and sustainability. "We work with respect to the seasons, and our menu changes according to the season," she told me. "I love putting the producers and ingredients forward."</p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjgOKS0f7kaWBZJ005D7qk3MoaGs8pY1qg2gyZMHuHCCUkSe2K_n-T6ks_uAyvoTClV_miLL7l75H1LaF47Psd_xTEF1hrJh7pjcIVrogcsD1SaeIvB4E_A9eEYz_iPUJg7cq3jj89tuY/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="169" data-original-width="298" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjgOKS0f7kaWBZJ005D7qk3MoaGs8pY1qg2gyZMHuHCCUkSe2K_n-T6ks_uAyvoTClV_miLL7l75H1LaF47Psd_xTEF1hrJh7pjcIVrogcsD1SaeIvB4E_A9eEYz_iPUJg7cq3jj89tuY/w515-h292/images.jpg" width="515" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">Ducasse frames this next re-evolution of French cuisine as "local in production, global in the vision" with careful attention to the quality of ingredients, recalling Unesco's insistence on "the balance between human beings and the products of nature".</p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">Human beings, however, are not as malleable as farm-grown asparagus or the country's hundreds of varieties of cheese. Evolution is shaped as much by resistance as by change, and some are in no hurry to abandon the generations-old rituals that define the Gallic art of eating.<br /><br />France's cultural rituals have endured wars and revolutions. Ultimately, amid a year of stay-at-home orders and delivery-bound gastronomy, have the French changed their habits?</p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">Ducasse looked down at his glass. "They've kept the bad habits," he said with a grin, taking another sip of sparkling wine.</p><p class="p9" style="color: #393939; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><b><i>Huge apreciation to </i></b><span class="s2" style="background-color: white;"><b><i>Lily Radziemski (BBC)</i></b></span></p><p class="p10" style="background-color: white; color: #393939; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-align: right;"><b><i></i></b><br /></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-67537427382625691912021-07-18T13:05:00.000-04:002021-07-18T13:05:29.296-04:00Poll -- Flooding<p>Today, we may read about hundreds of dead Europeans from extraordinary floods. </p><p>Many more are giving opinions (Educated guess) about global warming for the catastrophe, and many others have not heard of the moon's "Wobble". </p><p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/moon-wobble-climate-change-flooding-nasa-study-1.6105756" target="_blank">https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/moon-wobble-climate-change-flooding-nasa-study-1.6105756</a><br /></p><p>I shall ere towards the wobble theory for greater effect. Please give us your opinion: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Moon 'wobble' ✅</li><li>Global warming ✅</li><li>Both ✅</li><li>Other (Please state) .... </li></ul><div><b><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">BMc.</span></b></div><div><b><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><p></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-19120627166457632412021-07-06T17:26:00.000-04:002021-07-06T17:26:57.657-04:00Wonderful News -- 30th Governor General of Canada<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><b> Wonderful News</b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLNo0aBWyE1os-fHmx1a1k9zqS0Jfn6b8IMtLbc9x-XD_hhBckPwk_2hWJunxjV2jC1CSJYdYoNGMyeyZiEwyLmPFtnwPb_wkTGN61xNjihLOkiwA6obYyuWMXiIC7-_3Tsrrqw7Me2Y/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLNo0aBWyE1os-fHmx1a1k9zqS0Jfn6b8IMtLbc9x-XD_hhBckPwk_2hWJunxjV2jC1CSJYdYoNGMyeyZiEwyLmPFtnwPb_wkTGN61xNjihLOkiwA6obYyuWMXiIC7-_3Tsrrqw7Me2Y/" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17.5px; text-align: left;">Mary J. May Simon</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17.5px; text-align: left;"> </span><span class="noexcerpt nowraplinks" style="color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14.875px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Canada" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="Order of Canada">OC</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Order_of_Quebec" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="National Order of Quebec">OQ</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: lavender; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; font-weight: 700;">30th </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_General_of_Canada" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0645ad; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Governor General of Canada">Governor General of Canad</a>a</div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17.5px; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;"> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuktitut" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Inuktitut">Inuktitut</a>: <b>Ningiukadluk</b>; born August 21, 1947) is a Canadian broadcaster and diplomat who is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_General_of_Canada#Appointment" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="">Governor General-designate of Canada</a>. A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_fellow" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Research fellow">fellow</a> with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Institute_of_North_America" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Arctic Institute of North America">Arctic Institute of North America</a>, she was a producer and announcer for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBC_North" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="CBC North">CBC North</a>, and later entered public service as secretary of the board for the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Quebec_Inuit_Association" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Northern Quebec Inuit Association">Northern Quebec Inuit Association</a>, playing a key role in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meech_Lake_Accord" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="">Meech Lake Accord</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlottetown_Accord" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Charlottetown Accord">Charlottetown Accord</a> negotiations. Simon was Canada's first Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs, and was a lead negotiator for the creation of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Council" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Arctic Council">Arctic Council</a>. She also concurrently served as Chancellor of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_University" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Trent University">Trent University</a> and, later, as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassador" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Ambassador">ambassador</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Denmark">Denmark</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 17.5px; margin: 0.5em 0px; text-align: justify;">On July 6, 2021, Simon's appointment as Canada's 30th <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_General_of_Canada" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Governor General of Canada">Governor General</a> was announced. She will succeed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wagner_(judge)" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Meech Lake Accord">Richard Wagner</a>, who as Chief Justice of Canada holds the title of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrator_of_the_Government_of_Canada" style="background: none; color: #0645ad; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Administrator of the Government of Canada">Administrator of the Government of Canada</a>.</p></div><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bm7M_mardohshXiLWxZokpqkKBLeM1jIY8R_QfMfE1mz-UfY02B_QzoBHIlDEkh95ipxec8A_fIrLVenLsKW3Kqau118ER-3YdEZ2dt_-3cnjww9K74C57jLT0yUH3RLp24nFFwYMQM/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="85" data-original-width="122" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bm7M_mardohshXiLWxZokpqkKBLeM1jIY8R_QfMfE1mz-UfY02B_QzoBHIlDEkh95ipxec8A_fIrLVenLsKW3Kqau118ER-3YdEZ2dt_-3cnjww9K74C57jLT0yUH3RLp24nFFwYMQM/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-14523392253313405192021-06-26T14:57:00.003-04:002021-06-26T15:08:43.256-04:00Snippets 17 (a), (b), (c) and (d)<p><span style="font-family: Caveat; font-size: medium;"> <b style="background-color: #fefdf9; color: #0b5394;">When there appears to be more than one item of serious interest each day, it seemed that this format is suitable -- I hope that you agree, and follow with comments.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>(a) Deadly Child Labour</b></p><div style="text-align: left;">A class-action lawsuit on behalf of a group of mothers and children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) against five U.S.-based Big Tech giants may short-circuit President Biden's plans to electrify American transportation.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Apple Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc., Dell Technologies Inc., Microsoft Inc., and Tesla Inc., are knowingly benefiting from and aiding and abetting the cruel and brutal use of young children in cobalt mines.</div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>(b) Canadian Minister "Not Concerned"</b></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said that he is not worried that a Beijing-linked (CCP) visa application company that Ottawa has a contract with, will result in the personal data of applicants falling into the hands of Chinese authorities.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">"That office functions entirely within the control of the Chinese intelligence services" said Ward Elcock, former CSIS director.</span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>(c) NATO Toughens Stance on Chinese Regime</b></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"> The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will confront the Chinese regime's growing military ambition for the first time, the 30-nation Western alliance said on June 14, describing Beijing as presenting "systemic challenges" to the global order.</span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>(d) France, U.K. Back Australia Against Beijing</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">European leaders stated "We stand by your side." as they announced their backing against Beijing's ongoing economic coercion campaign and its increased belligerence in the Indo-Pacific region.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-4255099887590465022021-06-13T16:23:00.002-04:002021-06-15T13:18:01.397-04:00Developing Vaccines to Wage War on Variants<p> </p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">This post is my personal non-professional record of the of the coronavirus saga, with an intention to access in a few years time from now.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The style purely reflects my present laziness towards an original narrative, and my thanks go to Adam Millar of CBC, and some learned scientists, for some of the quoted content.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">“Experts state that u</span><span class="s1" style="background-color: white;">nvaccinated Canadians are a 'tinderbox' that threatens Canada more than virus variants.”</span></p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">In my view, this is a calculated guess that doesn’t study the various reasons why some people refuse, or avoid, vaccination.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBWy1F19-YX-DgfSJSJvyccHI0bwm-E336rvoa0OkC9AagrWuQk975X_M8BUX5l0l7xLVUV6r_L6tBIjh60faakJ6-DSSKJ8w0FX4-M8gFmMMZm3hVk4etMkunOU_heFnPhGQ7BMOxu_I/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBWy1F19-YX-DgfSJSJvyccHI0bwm-E336rvoa0OkC9AagrWuQk975X_M8BUX5l0l7xLVUV6r_L6tBIjh60faakJ6-DSSKJ8w0FX4-M8gFmMMZm3hVk4etMkunOU_heFnPhGQ7BMOxu_I/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Daily COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-cases-drop-vaccine-supply-surges-1.6062444">dropped dramatically</a> across the country to levels not seen since the fall, while shipments of vaccines are set to grow substantially — with <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-cases-drop-vaccine-supply-surges-1.6062444">more than 5.3 million doses</a> arriving next week alone. </p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To date, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/track-how-many-people-have-been-given-the-covid-19-vaccine-across-canada-1.5870573">more than 28 million vaccine doses</a> have been administered across Canada, about <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/track-how-many-people-have-been-given-the-covid-19-vaccine-across-canada-1.5870573">72 per cent</a> of eligible Canadians have at least one shot and close to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/track-how-many-people-have-been-given-the-covid-19-vaccine-across-canada-1.5870573">12 per cent</a> have two.”</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">This is all good news … and I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>look forward to getting my haircut, soon.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Yet there have been growing concerns over the spread of variants that have raised doubts about whether we can safely reopen society in Canada's hardest hit regions, particularly as the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/variants-uk-surge-1.6050132">United Kingdom grapples with the variant known as delta, or B.1.617</a>."</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Despite the many uncertainties that lie ahead, experts say that early data from the U.K. and a new study just released in British Columbia point to the same way forward — getting as many shot in arms as soon as possible.” </p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">Viruses spread —<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that’s what they do.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Be concerned, but let’s not build hurdles against safely re-opening society.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Focus, specifically, on any hard hit regions, but let’s vaccinate diligently and, now, permit businesses to re-open and serve patio lunches to entertain us once more.</p><p class="p8" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyC2CJ8oXVI9aqMWpTf7FYXQ9hyphenhyphenKjbNOIHK3AW2SGE9lfQGkWDsSZWH_v1pOqvWJi7gBz-cnIdjBQ5m7Zdh_3Cti_LtL89uttbFY6S6lIGO2xyaA7s2d9mzL65G5PKAIt-rlHgma6OVsI/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="284" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyC2CJ8oXVI9aqMWpTf7FYXQ9hyphenhyphenKjbNOIHK3AW2SGE9lfQGkWDsSZWH_v1pOqvWJi7gBz-cnIdjBQ5m7Zdh_3Cti_LtL89uttbFY6S6lIGO2xyaA7s2d9mzL65G5PKAIt-rlHgma6OVsI/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/vaccines-highly-effective-against-b-1-617-2-variant-after-2-doses">A recent study from Public Health England (PHE)</a> looked at just how effective the first dose is against the delta variant.”</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“The study found the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 88 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the delta variant two weeks after the second dose, compared to 93 per cent against the B.1.1.7 variant, also known as alpha.”</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">Very little has been<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>mentioned about those of us who may be asymptomatic.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Are we?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Perhaps, the antibodies that were<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>strengthened<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>from an earlier ‘flu’ shot<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>could have saved us (The focus of the anti-vaccers). <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Have we been tested?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>How many examples of today’s negative tests become positive tomorrow.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But we are told not to argue with science.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Two doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford shot were found to be just 60 per cent effective against COVID-19 symptoms from delta, compared to 66 per cent against alpha.”</p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="background-color: white;">“</span>And a single dose of Pfizer and AstraZeneca were each only about <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/vaccines-highly-effective-against-b-1-617-2-variant-after-2-doses">33 per cent effective</a> against delta.”</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">No surprises here.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Experts say it's important to remember that the study looked at the vaccine's ability to prevent COVID-19 symptoms, which can range from mild to severe, and the early estimates on vaccine effectiveness against the variants don't tell the whole story.” </p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">Really?</p><p class="p9" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"One dose of the vaccine, whether it was Pfizer or AstraZeneca, still actually provided quite a bit of protection against severe illness and certainly against hospitalization," said Prof. Jason Kindrachuk, an assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba.”</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"Yes we still need to get two doses, but you know what? Even with a single dose these vaccines work amazingly well.”</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">But you “need” two doses.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Really.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Kindrachuk says that while delta reinforces the need to fully vaccinate high-risk individuals, like older Canadians and the immunocompromised, getting shots into as many arms as possible will continue to lower community transmission and the spread of variants overall.” </p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">My studies indicate that people in all age groups are dying.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It is easy to highlight “older” Canadians, while forgetting how vulnerable they are,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>packed into long-term facilities will additional illnesses other than a coronavirus</p><p class="p10" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"The best thing that we can do is stick to a vaccination plan and keep going with it until our entire population is covered by not just one, but two doses. That's going to be the most effective strategy — not trying to get too caught up in the drama of a new variant." </p><p class="p11" style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p class="p12" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">As the abbot, who asked the novice, pointing to the sky, said,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“What do you see?”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Your finger, Oh Master.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>excited reply.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p11" style="background-color: white; color: #424242; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“New Canadian research from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) also underscored the effectiveness of even just one dose of mRNA vaccines against the variants and provided new insight into the <a href="https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/">gamma variant</a>, also known as P.1, for the first time.” </p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">Could this be the moment when someone shouts, “STOP THE PRESSES!”</p><p class="p9" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.07.21258332v1">The preprint study</a>, which has not yet been peer reviewed, found that a single dose of either Pfizer or Moderna cut the risk of COVID-19 for older adults by about two-thirds during the peak of the spring wave in B.C.”</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“The observational study looked at close to 17,000 people aged 70 and older between April 4 and May 1 — a critical time when both the alpha and gamma made up about 70 per cent of cases circulating in the province.” </p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">If only people aged 70 and older were studied, how was this test defined — was there , or will there be, studies of those people aged 69 and younger …<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>or, for the moment, are we just guessing?</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Skowronski says the study provides the world's first vaccine effectiveness estimate against the gamma variant and was made possible due to the unique position B.C. found itself in, with multiple variants circulating at the same time unlike anywhere else in the world.”</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"We were able to derive and show that protection was maintained against P.1, which remained an open question globally," Skowronski said. "So we have addressed that question and shown comparable protections to B.1.1.7." </p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">This is quite encouraging.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"Of course we want everybody to get the second dose but I still am very optimistic." </p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">Oh dear, here we go again!</p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZgAIZfCQOyLvqs5dXssFHYq5H7zILIjOqiudnM4JOYm3UosvycvQ8qjDIUFbPNTMbZdyQDLAlC8Ss4wI-fLC5QhN37O-Zrs_RM7I7oTUnX0HqyhnMdnYECH0c0BIuXmhJJiA0YcI126Y/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZgAIZfCQOyLvqs5dXssFHYq5H7zILIjOqiudnM4JOYm3UosvycvQ8qjDIUFbPNTMbZdyQDLAlC8Ss4wI-fLC5QhN37O-Zrs_RM7I7oTUnX0HqyhnMdnYECH0c0BIuXmhJJiA0YcI126Y/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“But Skowronski cautions Canadians not to draw too many conclusions from the data emerging from the U.K. on the delta variant, or any one study, due to the fact that it's largely observational and needs to be backed up by real-world immunogenicity research, which measures the immune responses that a vaccine generates.”<b> </b></p><p class="p13" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><b></b><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><b>“Immunogenicity”, now, there’s a nice word to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>encourage<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a research grant increase.</b></p><p class="p13" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><b></b><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Experts agree the biggest threat to Canadians at the moment isn't variants — despite the dizzying pace of research being released worldwide — it's not being vaccinated at all.” </p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">They’ll not give up, will they.</p><p class="p9" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"What we can all do is get vaccinated and try to reduce our contacts to reduce the opportunity for the virus to mutate — that's going to be the biggest role that we can play in controlling variants." </p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">That, is a very good point.</p><p class="p9" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"Vaccinations are going to keep getting out and once we hit that threshold, things are going to change very, very quickly. I think they already are, but I think they're going to change substantially in the next few weeks.”</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">“Weeks”?</p><p class="p9" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="p9" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="p9" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20px; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7cxXD_r3xUQYs-QdxpI9Y8M_FoE-URVky10fmBCj718PHpRKRvOTdgWPTUfHj_q2QmaTRd_1oGPjzcgqrTa4PNLzblJbxGk9CTZE7joUKNaVY3Ooz6VWb6W64ugyysbK0MPqvoF_rpCE/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7cxXD_r3xUQYs-QdxpI9Y8M_FoE-URVky10fmBCj718PHpRKRvOTdgWPTUfHj_q2QmaTRd_1oGPjzcgqrTa4PNLzblJbxGk9CTZE7joUKNaVY3Ooz6VWb6W64ugyysbK0MPqvoF_rpCE/" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p class="p14" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Conclusion</p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">May I remind you that I collated this information for a personal reason, using my Blog as the vehicle.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Additionally, it should reveal my belief against the <span class="s3" style="text-decoration-line: underline;">Second</span> vaccination because there is no crystal ball or proof that my asymptomatic body is quite fine and wishes to avoid any possible, dangerous, side effects.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But my planned vacation will require proof of <span class="s3" style="text-decoration-line: underline;">Full</span> vaccination. Ho-hum.</p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="color: blue; font-family: "Chalkboard SE"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><br /></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-57971785500976333052021-06-06T15:59:00.000-04:002021-06-06T15:59:04.519-04:00Coronavirus -- Unanswered Questions<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Develop a Vaccine and Vaccinate"</span></h3><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div>Said and done -- by the previous administration and continued by the present illegitimate administration (More later, probably). But there were always questions and, some, still remain. </div><div><br /></div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Wear face masks and maintain two-metre distancing. Sufficiently done, but with much complaining.</li><li>Close all public venues, i.e., stores and restaurants ... and hair salons, except grocery stores. Sufficiently done, and physical fighting developing. </li><li>Distribute vaccines ... months behind schedule, with uncertainty of second doses.</li><li>And politically-inspired conspiracy theories :</li></ol></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Bats in and out of a wet-market near to the Wuhan laboratory ... proven unlikely.</li></ul></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li> Bungling, incompetent scientists at the Wuhan laboratory ... highly likely. </li></ul></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li> A coronavirus being "weaponized" and, now, proven to be highly efficient.</li></ul></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Funded by the US government (See Dr. Fauci). </li></ul></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li> "Why on Earth would China weaponize a virus within their own country liable to kill their own people?" (Dr. Fauci) Obvious answer, long-range cruise missiles, etc. </li></ul></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li> Note; All staff at the Wuhan laboratory are PLA personnel supervising civil scientists from China, US, and Europe. </li></ul></div></div></blockquote><p> Let us pray. 🙏 </p><p><br /></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-3846269776940093972021-05-26T11:17:00.001-04:002021-05-26T11:33:35.377-04:00A World Order<p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">There are signs of a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel for the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>mysterious coronavirus pandemic, and some amongst us are redirecting our thoughts to the increasing threat of Chinese world dominance. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This morning, I found myself moving my viewpoint.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I remembered studies of the global population rate of growth — to be more accurate, the decreasing rate of growth.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Global demographic trends indicate a serious change in world order by the 22nd century.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I know … dust to dust, etc.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Thus, perhaps, the Chinese world dominance idea needs to be rethought. There is a very obvious decline in the rate of population growth in China … certainly, if we ignore the rape of Uyghur women by Han Chinese [<i>Sorry, I couldn’t resist that</i>].<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But, I don’t wish to focus on the human rights issue, at this moment.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A serious declining rate of population growth is well documented, not only in China, but also in Japan … and many countries globally.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>There is just one exception — Islamic countries.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Muslim birth rates are exceeding forecasts by unusual numbers for religious and political reasons.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The extraordinary picture that I wish to share with you, now, is one where an Islamic muezzin can be seen screaming from the rooftops of Buddhist temples, and also from the steeples of Christian cathedrals.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Yes, a change in the world order — religious and political — that we haven’t really envisaged.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-51623963136392812021-04-09T12:51:00.000-04:002021-04-09T12:51:57.041-04:00Japanese Sexism<p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial;">Why Japan can't shake sexism</span></b></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A short while ago, Yoshiro Mori, the Tokyo Olympic boss, made global headlines when he stated at a Japanese Olympic Committee meeting that women talked too much.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A week later, he resigned, and was replaced by a, younger, female executive. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Companies criticised Mr Mori’s comments, but some of them have less than 1% female board members — something that needs to change — but to what affect.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Could this be just the tip of the iceberg. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #343434;">The topic of gender equality keeps making headlines in Japan, for all the wrong reasons. Indeed, just a few days after Mori resigned, the ruling party hit the news again by announcing that, while it was willing to allow women to attend its all-male board meetings, </span><span class="s1" style="font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #343434;">they would not be allowed to speak. </span> </span></p><p class="p6" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">These incidents coincide with a steady drop by Japan in global gender equality rankings; the World Economic Forum describes <span class="s1" style="font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">the country’s gender gap as the largest amongst advanced economies. </span></p><p class="p6" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">An entrenched division of labour has impacted population growth. Some women, faced with the prospect of giving up work or stepping off the career track when they have children, are having fewer children, or none at all. Japan’s birth rate is currently at a <span class="s1" style="font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">record low. Its marriage rate is also plummeting – one factor </span>there is that men worry they can’t support a family on just their salary. </p><p class="p7" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">Japanese society’s unspoken etiquette: in general, people don’t get into arguments, particularly with their elders. Japan is a country where people find it difficult to speak out regardless of your age or gender, it is said, If you do, you could be seen as selfish.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">It’s the Japanese concept of “reading the air” – <i>kuuki o yomu</i><span class="s1" style="font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span> in Japanese. Even if you find someone’s remarks sexist, many choose not to confront the issue, so that the situation doesn’t become awkward. In the past, even if these leaders were criticised, they were able to apologise.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">I must close, for the moment, with a related comment that is not discussed or debated.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The Japanese ancient culture is quite unique and, in my view, should be preserved.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Dropping Japanese demographics will introduce, so-called, multiculturalism.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Should there be some concern that within a few more generations, the clam, serene, Buddhist temple culture will be replaced by the amplified voice of a muezzin.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">Have you noticed how the unaddressed subject of immigration appears everywhere.</p><p class="p8" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><br /></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-467167900041909562021-03-27T13:51:00.012-04:002021-04-09T12:53:50.051-04:00My Personal Virus Pandemic<p><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Graphik; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How far back in time do we need to go to see a picture of my personal story of vaccination.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It is interesting what one remembers about World War II.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Dad was in Germany, or was it Belgium, probably both.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mum was at home juggling the coupons in the ration books, and I was playing with our white terrier dog — interestingly, I can’t remember that we ever went for a walk.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Food was grown in the garden, and there was a milk and a butcher’s shop.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I remember rabbits hanging from the ceiling, and the butcher saying that it was easier if the rabbits were alive when he skinned them, at least that’s what he told me.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Later, the milk was delivered by a man wearing a blue and white apron that he wore in the shop, sometimes he had a battery-powered van … the milk was topped with cream in those days.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Graphik; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Vaccinations were commonplace then.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Supposedly, there were good reasons for vaccination;<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>measles, smallpox, polio — all with blunt needles, unlike today.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Even when I joined the Royal Air Force it continued … there were more overseas appointments at that time.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Graphik; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Wow, have I digressed (again).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Graphik; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Later, when teaching in China (PRC) in 2002,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>there was an epidemic of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>There was very little panic — we were confined to campus for one week, and I don’t remember face masks.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In fact, I had forgotten about it until CoviD-19 arrived in Canada.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #1f4c7e; font-family: Graphik; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: medium; letter-spacing: -0.6px;"><b>My Covid-19 Theory</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Graphik; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I have a theory.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>As someone who always takes advantage of the yearly influenza vaccination, I believe that each time the body’s immune system develops protection from disease, although a specific disease is the purpose of the vaccine, the immune system, to a lesser degree,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>can effect other diseases.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Therefore, although the flu is a coronavirus-like disease, vaccination against it may have a protectional ability with the CoviD-19 disease.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I don’t have access to the data, but it would interest me what percentage of those who died had a current flu vaccination — not to mention the overall health of the victim.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Graphik; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My theory becomes important when there is further examination of the vaccines — not the manufacturer, <i>per se</i>, but in comparison by disease.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Specifically, in my experience, the flu vaccine.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In 2020, my pharmacist said that he was giving me the 2019 vaccine because the 2020 variant had run out.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>This must, importantly, cause a question of immediate efficacy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Being healthy, it seemed to have been effective for me.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>BUT</b> the flu virus is fairly stable in comparison to Covid-19.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>There are minor differences in the molecular composition of each vaccine, and these differences will become less in the future (An example of the expedited research and development).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Nevertheless, already the virus has morphed into other forms that complicate efficacy (To be continued).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Graphik; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Therefore, face masks become part of long-term care … for everyone.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Graphik; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><br /></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-17035023124282504342021-02-20T14:10:00.000-05:002021-02-20T14:10:03.212-05:00China -- America's True Enemy Within<p> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>"China maintains controlling interest in over 2,400 American companies, including some of the very largest."</b></span></p><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-23513659170864639022021-01-16T16:26:00.011-05:002021-06-26T15:16:01.386-04:00 Snippets 16 (a), (b) & (c) <p><span style="font-family: Caveat; font-size: large;"> </span><b style="background-color: #fefdf9; color: #0b5394; font-family: Caveat; font-size: large;">When there appears to be more than one item of serious interest each day, it seemed that this format is suitable -- I hope that you agree, and follow with comments.</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwNTpH6H-ZLGLNmQbAHprL-VY2Rr1J90xoZznkI7r3SnHLEdd6SQM54n-IgcYsKDF5dTJlFnHHr-YfI3hHV_Ac1d0jQTT-ICcpwUqHuwiImdBN_H1xxdLqkjs5__M2oI39mxb_czO6bvs/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="174" data-original-width="290" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwNTpH6H-ZLGLNmQbAHprL-VY2Rr1J90xoZznkI7r3SnHLEdd6SQM54n-IgcYsKDF5dTJlFnHHr-YfI3hHV_Ac1d0jQTT-ICcpwUqHuwiImdBN_H1xxdLqkjs5__M2oI39mxb_czO6bvs/w370-h223/download.jpg" title="Secretary of State - Michael Pompeo" width="370" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">U.S. Secretary of State - Michael R. Pompeo</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="p2" style="background-color: #fefdf9; color: #262626; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 13px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: #fefdf9; color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 13px;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">(a)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>U.S. capitals on edge for armed protests as Trump presidency nears end.</span></b></p><p class="p4" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">“The FBI warned police agencies of possible <b>armed protests</b> outside all 50 state capitol buildings starting Saturday through President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, <b>fueled by supporters of President Donald Trump who believe his false claims of electoral fraud.”</b></span></p><p class="p5" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b></b><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>“</b>The scramble followed the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington by a mix of extremists <b>and Trump supporters …. “</b></span></p><p class="p6" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Toronto Sun</span></i></p><p class="p7" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i></i><br /></span></p><p class="p8" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">[Linking “armed protests” to President Trump is fake news.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Writing that the peaceful protesters were “armed” instead of saying “extremists” is, again, fake news.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The President’s claims of a conspiracy of electoral fraud are absolutely not false.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Finally, “extremists” deliberately wearing MAGA hats, until proven, are not “supporters.”]</span></p><p class="p9" style="color: #118dff; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b></b><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">(b)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Pompeo: The “True Face” of the CCP Has Been Exposed.</span></b></p><p class="p5" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">“We took our eyes off this enormous threat and now — it’s now upon us, it’s now inside the gates, the Chinese Communist Party is here in America.”</span></p><p class="p6" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Epoch Times</span></i></p><p class="p5" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">(c)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Over 432,000 Votes Removed From Trump in Pennsyvania, Data Scientists Say.</span></b></p><p class="p4" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">“We did not see the same type of negative decrements to any of the candidates that we saw with President Trump’s tallies, and they happened repeatedly with no explanation.”</span></p><p class="p6" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Data Integrity Group</span></i></p><p class="p5" style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7588889074879582348.post-54668386256125750592021-01-10T09:49:00.000-05:002021-01-10T12:23:14.452-05:00Donald J. Trump -- My View<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: #960905; font-family: Copperplate; font-size: 38px;">Donald J. Trump</b></p><h4 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">President of The United States of America 2016 -- 2020</span></h4><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIpFc0Q7Qvp9kF1UOE8526dpaNpPiJpgE7W0AJP6MM6tptJqRyJrWlrUUUPpoox3C0_dJdSyKdOXxVY7bCWtslIoBzajZbBLOqJgN0MdaXLc2B-StTMuH4AD1DqoSDP-_41JrBpLA9i90/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIpFc0Q7Qvp9kF1UOE8526dpaNpPiJpgE7W0AJP6MM6tptJqRyJrWlrUUUPpoox3C0_dJdSyKdOXxVY7bCWtslIoBzajZbBLOqJgN0MdaXLc2B-StTMuH4AD1DqoSDP-_41JrBpLA9i90/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">It is pitch black outside -- every lamp has been switched on -- people (if there are any) must be wondering why I've illuminated the whole street outside -- there may be a few Antifa zombies about, but they're invisible. I have been awake all night and it is 5:00 <i>anti meridiem</i> (I looked it up ... I'm biding for time) but it will be be midday before I'm satisfied, although satisfaction may, perhaps, be left for the Comments section.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Let me be controversial, immediately. Donald Trump has been one of the best presidents in United States history. Once the smoke has cleared in a month or two ... probably, a year or two, when the criminally, despicable, Biden Family and their cohorts, Obama, Clinton, Pelosi, et al, are revealed, there will be a realization why more than half of the balloted population needed Donald Trump to establish a second term. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Allow me to provide an example. All during his tenure, he held popular rallies where hundreds of thousands of followers crowded to take part -- some wore MAGA hats, some didn't, and it was noticeable how peaceful they were -- yes, noisy, but peaceful. Last week, a pre-arranged Trump March was held and, outside the White House, after keeping a peaceful crowd patiently waiting for more than an hour, he congratulated them and wished them well (An action that he will regret for the rest of his life) not realizing the terrible events that were to follow. What followed, was how the crowd changed into baton-carying, helmeted, body-armour, rent-a-thug, Antifa, Chinese funded hooligans, very noticeable by their increasingly extensive use of MAGA hats. Of course, the media were nowhere to be seen but, unfortunately for them, and fortunately for history, public cameras were everywhere.</p><p style="text-align: left;">During the next four years of America's non-democratic, liberal, social, communism, the Peoples Republic of China will further establish their planned global power ... and our children and grandchildren shall never forgive us.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Bernie's Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01617926803184935763noreply@blogger.com2