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A quarter of all deaths previously attributed to COVID-19 in Alameda County weren’t actually caused by the coronavirus, the Alameda County Public Health Department announced today. That puts the county’s new official COVID-19 death toll at 1,223, down from 1,634. The 25% decrease—or 411 cases—is due to the fact that COVID “wasn’t a direct cause” of death in these cases, according to county health officials.

Jon Rahm was rolling in dominant fashion to his second consecutive Memorial Tournament win after an unbelievable 64 on Saturday at Muirfield Village. Things took a devastating turn post-round, however, as he was alerted by the PGA Tour that he tested positive for COVID-19 and would be forced to withdraw from the tournament after three rounds. Rahm was informed by the PGA Tour on Monday that he was in contact tracing protocol as he was in close proximity to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Rahm tested negative throughout the week but a positive test popped up on Saturday while...

Yet another study finds that “whole of life” carbon footprint of electric cars is little different to conventional cars: April 14th 2021, Jefferies published a research note entitled “Are EVs as ‘Green’ as They Appear?” in which they conclude an electric vehicle must be driven 200,000 km (or 124,000 miles) before its “whole of life” carbon emissions equals that of an internal combustion engine. Their analysis is very similar to ours and details the tremendous amount of energy (and by extension CO2) needed to manufacture a lithium-ion battery. Moreover, they point out that a typical EV is on average 50%...

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ON A GOOD DAY Our worth is tested every day. We are given the choice of being nice to people or uncharitable. We are given the choice of doing our work as well as we can or of goofing off. Some days it seems the tests are harder than on others, but every day brings with it some kind of test. Even the really good days! To have everything go wonderfully for us, to feel like a million dollars, to have one of those days when nothing and nobody can upset us, they are days when we might think...

UMBRA. In the annals of intelligence, no word is more associated with secret government intelligence reports, especially those produced for policy-makers based on raw intelligence. UFO reports in the 1950s. The most brittle reporting on Soviet leadership intentions. Intercepted phone calls between Chinese and Pakistani nuclear officials. Way back when — at least since middle of the 1950s — the intelligence community used the UMBRA code word to inform the reader of a certain report that the original source for the intelligence was of the most sensitive category. At the NSA, back then, there were three levels of source sensitivity....

Nearly a half-century after a teenage girl was viciously stabbed to death in a Chicago suburb, genetic genealogy has led to an arrest. Barry Lee Whelpley, 76, was arrested Wednesday at his home in Minnesota for the 1972 murder of Julie Ann Hanson, 15, who died of multiple stab wounds in Naperville, Illinois, according to the Naperville Police Department. The police identified the suspect through his DNA left at the crime scene, using genetic genealogy. Since 2018, the technique has been used by police to identify more than 150 suspects in cold cases. The technique allows police to search family...

But to believe some of the claims from Trump and Republicans one would have to imagine that President Barack Obama in 2014 helped seed money into bat research, which within several years would result in a global virus that escaped from a lab — either as a bioweapon or by accident — and spread around the globe. One would have to come to the firm conclusion that not only was the virus developed in a lab — something experts have said is nearly impossible given the virus's features — but that Americans helped cover that up, and that President Biden...

Their normal human sympathies have atrophied. They live in the desert of their own inhuman politics. They are cold and apparently lack a spiritual life. Desperate to look down on other people, they take fatuity to a new level. David Atkins, recently elected as a California member of the Democratic National Committee, mused on Twitter (Nov. 21, 2020): "How do you deprogram 75 million people who would literally die to stick it to the domestic enemies the teevee and youtube conspiracy vids told them to hate? No, seriously...how DO you deprogram 75 million people? Where do you start? Fox? Facebook?...

For a majority of people alive today, the COVID-19 pandemic has been the longest-lasting traumatic event of their lives, leaving them with post-traumatic stress. Kenny noted that the duration of a traumatic event is critical because the feeling of there being no end in sight can amplify anxiety. At any given time, Kenny said about one in eight people are suffering from an anxiety disorder, and the pandemic likely pushed some who were already close to the edge, over it. He estimated that 5-10% of people had their system shocked so much that they likely flipped into a panic disorder...

While the focus has been largely on vaccines, you might have also heard Pfizer is trialing a pill to treat COVID-19. It almost sounds too good to be true. Indeed, the results are very preliminary — but it’s a promising approach. Where most antiviral agents we’ve tried to treat COVID-19 target the inflammatory and immune response resulting from infection, Pfizer’s pill directly targets SARS-CoV-2 — the virus itself. Mounting our defense against the virus Much of the illness associated with COVID-19 is due to the intense inflammatory and immune response that can occur with an infection. The most successful treatments...

Many Filipinos enjoy Jollibee's fried chicken but one woman found no joy in her meal. On Wednesday (June 2), Alique Perez took to Facebook to express her disgust when the Chickenjoy meal she had ordered via a food delivery app turned out to be something else. Perez was trying to give her son a bite when she found it hard to slice the piece of fried chicken. When she tried to open it up with her hands, she discovered — much to her surprise — that it was a deep-friend towel. "This is really disturbing... How the hell do you...

We have been looking at the prophecies about Jacob and Esau, as the starting point for understanding the current struggle in the Middle East between Israel and her enemies. The Bible lays it all out perfectly and everything it says about the very last conflict and deliverance of Israel is being put into motion. In the difficult pregnancy of Isaac's wife, Rebecca, we are told that Esau would become one of two distinct nations, sometimes stronger than his brother Jacob, but would be subservient to Him. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two...

The Apostle Paul tells us that he was taken up into the third heaven and saw things to glorious for words. Then he relates to us that least he should be exalted above measure a “thorn in the flesh” was given him by the Lord. Many scholars debate exactly what that “thorn in the flesh” may have been but regardless, he prayed for the Lord to deliver him from it, but the Lord told him that “My grace (free and undeserved favor) is sufficient for you”. Daily, the grace of God is supplied to meet all of our needs, for...

Explanation: The weathered and layered face of Mount Mercou looms in the foreground of this mosaic from the Curiosity Mars rover's Mast Camera. Made up of 21 individual images the scene was recorded just after sunset on March 19, the 3,063rd martian day of Curiosity's on going exploration of the Red Planet. In the martian twilight high altitude clouds still shine above, reflecting the light from the Sun below the local horizon like the noctilucent clouds of planet Earth. Though water ice clouds drift through the thin martian atmosphere, these wispy clouds are also at extreme altitudes and could be...

COVID-19 continues to claim lives around the world and is infecting millions more. Although several vaccines have recently become available, making significant strides towards preventing COVID-19, what about the treatment of those who already have the infection? Vaccines aren't 100% effective, highlighting the need—now more than ever—for effective antiviral therapeutics. Moreover, some people can't receive vaccines due to health issues, and new variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, that can penetrate vaccine-conferred immunity, are being reported, indicating that we need to think beyond prevention. Given this need, a team of researchers based in Japan, the US, and the...

(Singapore) A 16-year-old boy was wrongly given the first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine on Thursday (June 3), but he is not expected to suffer any safety issues. The mistake was discovered at Kolam Ayer Community Club vaccination centre when its staff identified that the boy was under 18 years of age after he had been given the shot. In a joint statement, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that vaccination centre staff should have checked his age during registration, and apologised for the inconvenience and anxiety caused. "As an additional precaution, he was...

Twitter has restored the account of ICAN after suspending them twice within 24 hours over their publicisation of Anthony Fauci’s emails following National File’s reports.The Informed Consent Action Network, an organization dedicated to increasing informed consent regarding vaccinations, was locked out of their Twitter account twice in 24 hours after they publicized that they had acquired 2,957 emails sent from Anthony Fauci between February and May of last year. As National File reported: The Big Tech platform locked ICAN out of their account due to alleged violations of their misinformation policy regarding COVID-19, despite the fact that their tweet seemingly...

Hunter Biden: Failson: While living with Dead Brother Beau’s Wife, he Seduced Stripper in DC, impregnated Lunden Roberts, then claims he can’t remember her, and has her removed from his work insurance. She has to sue him for Child Support in Arkansas and he finally agrees to give her support, although he didn’t cooperate with the court for net worth, claiming no job. Hunter was given $3.5M Moscow, $160,000 monthly Ukraine, among many other international fees, including working with supposed $1 billion Chinese loan for his board position on a Chinese private-equity firm—he does hold a stake in the firm....

Most Americans don’t think we can dump Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer until the 2022 mid-term election. That simply is not so. The leadership of the Republican Party at the national level, the state level, and even the county level, have a rarely used option. As a matter of fact, even individual citizens can initiate an effort to exercise this option. It is simple and it is so easy to do. As a matter of fact, it is so easy and so obvious that a lot of people will smack themselves in the forehead and wonder why they didn’t think...