Undue...

 

What made us happy?  

Aristotle proposed eudaimonia—of leading a virtuous life—as the pinnacle of happiness. The notion of living a meaningful and fulfilling life (e.g., making genuine social connections, excelling in one’s capabilities, being morally sound, etc.) bodes well with the positive psychology movement that emerged at the turn of the 21st century, giving rise to concepts such as flow, flourishing, and eudemonic well-being.

 While the significant role that eudaimonia plays in happiness, the pendulum has swung too far in this direction when it comes to determining what “should” make people happy.

Too many people today , young and old, are under constant pressure to build a successful and prosperous career, do well in school, be a good parent (or child), make meaningful social relationships, or exert positive social influence.  The problem is that these “virtues” have become so synonymous with achieving happiness that they are placing undue burden on individuals.

Ask Not...

 

Deal...

 

I do this to every one, I am Italian. But Italian don't do that.  Just a thought.

Purge...

 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has launched a purge of agency heads and other officials appointed by her disgraced predecessor Andrew Cuomo with at least nine bureaucrats either resigning or being told they’ll be out of a job within the next few days, sources told The Post on Friday night.

Topping the list of departures is Michael Hein, the former Ulster County Executive who was tapped by Cuomo in 2019 to oversee the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. 

 Zucker, who had been in his position since 2015, was accused by critics of helping Cuomo minimize and disguise the terrible toll of COVID-19 in nursing homes across the state. It was he who issued the infamous March 2020 order that required nursing homes to accept coronavirus-positive residents returning from hospitals, provided they were not critically ill. Zucker also barred nursing homes from testing the returning residents for the virus.

Just a thought.

beach...

 

Skyscraper...

 

Tim Snelson, of the design consultancy Arup, has just blown a hole in any claim they might have had to be environmentally sustainable. Writing in this month’s issue of the architecture magazine Domus, he points out that a typical skyscraper will have at least double the carbon footprint of a 10-storey building of the same floor area.

He is talking about the resources that go into building it, what is called its “embodied” energy. Tall buildings are more structurally demanding than lower ones – it takes a lot of effort, for example, to stop them swaying – and so require more steel and concrete. 

 Snelson mentions “in-use” energy consumption and carbon emissions – what is needed to cool and heat and run lifts, which he says are typically 20% more for tall than medium-height buildings.

If all this might seem pretty obvious, it’s good to have calculations to attach to a hunch. And tall buildings are still sold on the basis that they are good for the environment. Mostly the argument is about density – if you pile a lot of homes or workplaces high on one spot, it is said, then you can use land and public transport more efficiently.  

The pollitician keeps talking about Climate change, but rezone different area for more dense building. This is how the donation come from.  Just a thought.

Indictment...

 

More than half a dozen contractors were indicted for trying to score lucrative contracts by bribing supervisors at public housing developments in Brooklyn and Queens, officials announced Monday.

“The residents of NYCHA often live in conditions that are deplorable,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez at a press conference, referring to the embattled New York City Housing Authority. “This kind of brazen bribery cannot be accepted. This cannot be the way business is done. The residents of NYCHA deserve so much better.” 

The DA and the city’s Department of Investigation announced at the joint press conference the takedown of nine contractors — Lakhwinder Kumar, Charanjit Singh, Satbir Singh, Davinder Singh, Nishan Singh, Surinder Singh, Guriqbal Singh, Jaswant Banga Singh and Bakhshish Chand.

Where does the tax money go? NYC budget of a 100 Billion Dollars ends up evaporated. Still the Democrats want to tax people some more. NYSHA, Homeless, MTA, Sewer, roads, ..etc

Just a thought

Muscles...

 

Loss of muscle mass and function (sarcopenia) may result from both acute and chronic diseases and, as in a vicious cycle, deeply impacts short- and long-term clinical outcomes. 

 Coronavirus disease 19, severely affects elderly people with chronic diseases such as arterial hypertension, overweight/obesity and type 2 diabetes. 

These chronic conditions are often associated with sarcopenia in older individuals. It is therefore possible that sarcopenia itself is a risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection and critical illness. 

It should also be highlighted that COVID-19, especially in its severe forms, involves marked elevation in inflammatory cytokines and prolonged immobilization, and is in fact associated with clinically significant weight loss.  

Thus, sarcopenia may be a risk factor for COVID-19, while at the same time, COVID-19 infection and subsequent hospitalization may be an underestimated driver of cachexia and sarcopenia. Despite the potential clinical relevance of sarcopenia in COVID-19, little evidence is available in the literature to date.

Disparity...

 

The latest study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, evaluated the real-world effectiveness of the vaccines at preventing symptomatic illness in about 5,000 health care workers in 25 states. The study found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had an effectiveness of 88.8 percent, compared with Moderna’s 96.3 percent.

Research published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against hospitalization fell from 91 percent to 77 percent after a four-month period following the second shot. The Moderna vaccine showed no decline over the same period.

If the efficacy gap continues to widen, it may have implications for the debate on booster shots.  

Scientists who were initially skeptical of the reported differences between the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have slowly become convinced that the disparity is small but real.

“Our baseline assumption is that the mRNA vaccines are functioning similarly, but then you start to see a separation,” said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at Emory University in Atlanta. “It’s not a huge difference, but at least it’s consistent.”

The discrepancy is not small and the real-world consequences uncertain, because both vaccines are still highly effective at preventing severe illness and hospitalization, she and others cautioned.

The question is where is Moderna and why is not approved? Just a thought.

Badder...

 

This is the first time I realized that the whole Contry of USA in the hand of we don't know who? Who is making the decision for this Country and this President. Just a thought.