Thanks, gocomics.com
Tag: concern
Brazilian care home ‘hug tunnel’ so loved ones can embrace
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A care home for elderly people in southern Brazil has come up with a creative way to bring some love to its residents amid the coronavirus pandemic, by creating a “hug tunnel” that allows relatives to safely embrace them…
The facility is home to 28 senior residents who have been in isolation since March 17, with communication with the outside world limited to video calls.
Luciana Brito told CNN the idea for the “hug tunnel” came from a viral video, where a woman in the United States created a plastic curtain in order to hug her mother.
Love is pretty good at overcoming problems.
Majority of folks who lost wages, a job, from Pandemic still support caution on reopening
Click the graphic to read the whole article
Norway Donates US$250 Million to Protect Colombian Rainforests
Norwegian PM Erna Solberg and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos
❝ Colombia’s fight against illegal logging is being extended to 2025 as part of the nation’s pay-for results strategy, Norway’s prime minister announced after donating US$250 million to the project.
As part of the 2015 pact signed between Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway and Colombia, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg confirmed the cooperative battle to save Colombia’s rainforest would be extended by five years…
❝ Colombian Environment Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said that within the next 12 years the government hopes to reduce deforestation to zero.
Norway’s donation represents the first alliance of climate and forest under the Paris Agreement. Prime Minister Solberg hopes the agreement will bring higher standards for inter-institutional collaboration in climate initiatives.
The Paris Agreement is just another one of those historically useful, politically constructive agreements, constructed by smart politicians in modern nations.
So, of course, our fake president withdrew the United States from all provisions of this agreement. And BTW, at minimum projected costs, a donation like this is less than 3 new F35s, the latest toy for our military..
Rat brained humanoid
❝ Researchers can grow stem cells into tiny clumps of cells, called organoids, that display similar activity and structure to human brains…Now, though…several labs have inserted those organoids into rat brains and connected them to blood vessels; some of the organoids have even grown physical links with the rat brains.
The aim of this kind of research is noble: to work out how lab-grown clusters of brain cells could be used to understand or even treat brain diseases or injuries. But while a handful of cells in a rat brain may not be a problem now, and the idea of imbuing animals with human characteristics or consciousness seems distant, the integration…is giving some ethicists cause for concern.
❝ That’s especially the case as the number of organoids placed inside a rat’s head increases. “People are talking about connecting three or four,” says Stanford bioethicist Hank Greely to Stat. “But what if you could connect 1,000? That would be getting close to the number of cells in a mouse brain … At some future point it could be that what you’ve built is entitled to some kind of respect.”
Or you could elect them to Congress – most likely as a fundamentalist conservative – and hardly tell the difference.
Fake President Priorities
In opioid withdrawal – and no help in sight
A patient receives prescription opioids after an accident — and no support from his physicians as he weans himself off.
❝ No one will be surprised to hear that I was angry. Angry at myself, angry at my doctors, angry at the medical community. Just — angry. I had been hit by a van and undergone five surgeries, yet the worst part of the experience was my month in withdrawal hell. How could it be that my doctor’s best tapering advice led to that experience? And how could it be that not one of my more than ten doctors could help?
Sad, but, true. A tale worth reading. Worth understanding what happens in a nation where healthcare is considered privilege rather than right. How priorities are – and aren’t – established.
Thanks, Danny Blanchflower
Cartoon: Congress, Zika
Thanks, gocomics.org
Sweden ranked Top of the World for treatment of elderly
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Sweden is the best place in the world to be old and Afghanistan the worst, according to a UN-backed global study.
The Global AgeWatch Index examined the quality of life of the elderly in 91 countries…It warns that many countries do not have adequate support in place for their ageing populations.
By 2050, older people will outnumber children under 15 for the first time, with most of the elderly in developing countries, it said.
The Global AgeWatch Index was complied by the UN Population Fund and advocacy group HelpAge International, and released to mark the UN’s Day of Older Persons…Researchers used 13 different indicators – including income and employment, health provision, education, and environment – in what they said was the first study of kind to be conducted on a global scale.
The study’s authors say countries across the world face an ongoing challenge from the rapidly ageing global population…
While Sweden came top, and Afghanistan was placed last, the top 20 was dominated by countries from Western Europe and North America, along with Japan, Australia and Chile.
Wealth was not the only factor considered, and countries such as Sri Lanka, Bolivia and Mauritius were ranked above several richer nations.
The shake-out in studies like this most always are confounded by a nation’s expression – or lack thereof – of the value of it’s working population. Not only during productive years; but, as they withdraw from the workforces into retirement. Too many nations that look at the working class as just another cog in the wheel of profit are perfectly willing to cast aside wornout workers just like fully-depreciated machinery.
Download the complete report here.
All creatures, great and small
Feels natural – sharing affection with puppies of all species.
Eideard 