Oregon is one of the states with the lowest per capita COVID-19 infection rates. However, despite our best efforts, we are still seeing about 50 new cases per day (down only a little from a high of about 70 cases per day five weeks ago). Nothing much has changed for the last two or three [...]
Category: Emerging Threats
COVID-19 Leadership Matters – A Tale of Two States
The response to the COVID-19 crisis has varied from state to state depending on the perceived need for aggressive action and depending on political considerations in our divided nation. As a result, the United States offers 50 simultaneous experiments in epidemiological response, often with dramatically different initial conditions, such as the high population density and [...]
Quick COVID-19 Math
Due to the scarcity of tests across the country, hospitals usually only test those cases that they need to admit to the hospital. The hospitals are not testing the majority of people complaining of symptoms, nor the many possibly infected asymptomatic people. We need to keep this fact in mind when looking at the statistics [...]
Planting Pacifies Pandemic Panic
The cognitive disconnect is extreme. Beautiful March sunshine, flowers in bloom, the bees, buzzing in anticipation of a new season. Shuttered businesses, empty grocery shelves, shelter-in-place orders and lock-downs around the country, all in preparation for the onslaught of an invisible enemy. A liar in chief tries to turn a catastrophe to his personal advantage. [...]
The Climate Train Wreck – A Review 2019
After decades of complacency, climate change is rearing its ugly head and people are taking notice. Political will, if not quite yet possible, is nigh, so it is time to make an overall climate assessment. Let's see where we are, where we are going, and what we can do about it. Our global response to [...]
Twinning Intelligence
We have entered the age of "pretty smart" machines. There have been some showpieces in the form of Jeopardy's Watson and recently the game playing AlphaGo and AlphaZero machines that far and away bested the best human players at their game. Notably, unlike previous game playing machines, AlphaZero was never programmed on how to play [...]
States Must Adopt EU Pesticide Regulations to Stop Insect Extinction
The world is in the midst of an insect extinction crisis. We've all heard about the plight of bees, but the plight of all insect fauna is much less widely appreciated. The figure below is from a report in Science a few years ago showing the precipitous decline in insects worldwide.[1] What beekeepers and naturalists [...]
Dynamic Climate is Lesson of Ice Core Records
Made by God, immutable, perfect and constant, our world has always been the way it is now and will always be the same. Perhaps it is a human desire for order and predictability that is at the root of such traditional beliefs. But pesky facts get in the way. Fossils provide evidence for creatures that [...]
Peak Phosphorous
I've just become aware of another malady that industrial society has to worry about. Peak phosphorous is probably not on your radar yet, but it could be as big a problem for society as peak oil or climate change. Phosphorous is an essential element for all life forms. Phosphate is part of the DNA and [...]
Squash Practice 