Niagara Falls, formed over 12.500 years ago, are partially frozen due to low temperatures affecting much of the United States (U.S.).
Extreme cold and record-low temperatures continue to be recorded in parts of the U.S.
Drone footage shows thick layers of ice and snow around Niagara Falls, which today forms the border between the U.S. and Canada and are one of the five most attractive tourist destinations in the world.
Niagara Falls consist of a series of massive waterfalls located on the Niagara River in the eastern part of North America.
They are among the seven wonders of the world, and the polar cold has created an icy enclosure around the falls, forming magnificent scenes.
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Fake nurseries and town squares seem to comfort patients. But some experts wonder whether they are patronizing, even infantilizing.
Wilma Rosa, a memory care resident in assisted living at RiverSpring Residences in the Bronx, with a baby doll in the nursery.Credit…James Estrin/The New York Times
The nursery at RiverSpring Residences in the Bronx is a sunny, inviting space outfitted with a bassinet, a crib with a musical mobile, a few toys, bottles, picture books for bedtime reading and a rack of clothing in tiny sizes.
The other morning, Wilma Rosa was there trying to soothe one of its cranky, small charges. “What’s the matter, baby?” she crooned, patting the complainer’s back. “You OK? I want you to go to sleep for a little while.”
Ms. Rosa, 76, a memory care resident in assisted living, visits the nursery daily. She has had plenty of experience with babies.
She was the oldest girl of eight children, so she handled lots of family responsibilities, she told Catherine Dolan, the facility’s director of life enrichment, who was asking questions to help the memories flow. Later in life, Ms. Rosa worked in a bank and a store; the stories emerged as she cuddled the doll.
No actual babies live in this immersive environment, where the fragrance blend includes a talcum scent. Just as no actual sales were taking place at the store down the corridor, another new RiverSpring undertaking.
Amid its wooden shelves of clothing, accessories and tchotchkes, the sales clerks were, like Ms. Dolan, staff members trained to interact effectively with residents with dementia.
“Great choice,” said the cheerful cashier — Andre Ally, the engagement coordinator — to a 91-year-old who had selected a plaid muffler. “Perfect for this weather.”
The shopper handed over a plastic card that residents had been issued, which had no monetary value, and headed out with his walker, pleased about his new scarf. “It’s very warm,” he said. “And a nice size, so you can wear it with any coat.”
Ms. Rosa tried out perfumes at RiverSpring’s clothing store.Credit…James Estrin/The New York Times
David V. Pomeranz, president and chief executive of RiverSpring Living — its campus includes independent and assisted living, memory care, rehab and a nursing home — sees such efforts as ways “to restore normalcy to people who’ve been stripped of so much.” (continued)
It’s February 4. That matters because, as of February 1, the communications freeze at federal agencies, including CDC, FDA, and NIH, was supposed to be lifted. It wasn’t.
Over the weekend, national health data vanished from CDC websites, triggering panic among researchers and public health professionals who rely on this information to track outbreaks, identify health gaps, and protect the American public. Most data have been restored, but not all.
What the hell is going on? This is a great question. Only a handful of people truly know.
But one thing is clear: public health data and communication aren’t just information—they’re a vital resource, as valuable as gold, for protecting American lives. Their power lies in their purity: reliability, accuracy, and accessibility. The longer this instability and information drip-feed continues, the greater the biosecurity risk.
Here’s what’s happening, what I’m looking for very closely, and what this means for you and your community.
Complying with executive orders is complicated
At the heart of this mess is the collision between sweeping executive orders (EOs) and slow-moving federal agencies forced into rapid compliance.
Two EOs require removing so-called “woke” language from all communications and datasets. HHS agencies, like the CDC, had to comply with these orders by Friday at 5 p.m. ET, which is why warning messages popped up all over its website.
Implementing such a massive directive in two days is a draconian task. Federal agencies can’t just “Control+F” their websites and swap out words like “pregnant person” for “pregnant woman” in thousands of documents. Similarly, changing data variables from “gender” to “sex” isn’t always a simple fix. It takes time and can be a logistical nightmare. Researchers depend on clean, unaltered datasets to improve Americans’ health meaningfully instead of throwing spaghetti at a wall. A great example of this happening is the Youth Risk Behavior Survey: (continued)
from Blaine Tamaki, Chair of the UW Board of Regents (thanks to Ed M.)
It is my pleasure to introduce Robert J. Jones, Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, as the next President of the University of Washington. Chancellor Jones is an accomplished, visionary leader who has risen through the faculty at outstanding state universities, and the Board of Regents is thrilled that this summer he will become the UW’s 34th president and the first African American to serve in that role.
The son of sharecroppers from Georgia, Chancellor Jones is a distinguished agronomist with a deep scholarly record. Since 2016, he has served as the 10th Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, one of the nation’s leading research universities and, like the UW, a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities.
At Illinois, his signal achievements include providing a transformative learning experience to students, with a focus on affordability for students of modest means; launching innovative partnerships to catalyze scholarship, discovery and innovation; centering the University’s community and public impact; fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment; and successfully pursuing resources and strategic investments.
Jones has prioritized making education accessible and affordable through the Illinois Commitment, a program that guarantees four years of free tuition to Illinois residents with family incomes less than $75,000. During his chancellorship, the university’s enrollment has grown, setting a record in fall 2024 with more than 59,000 students enrolled.
Under Jones’ leadership, Illinois opened the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the first engineering-based medical school in the world, in partnership with Carle Health. He has launched strategic “radical collaborations” such as the Chicago Quantum Exchange initiative, which is establishing Illinois at the center of quantum sciences and information in the nation, in partnership with the University of Chicago. Another collaboration is the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago, created in partnership with the University of Chicago and Northwestern University — an unprecedented initiative that seeks to redefine how we understand human biology.
Jones was selected by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to serve as co-vice chair of the Innovate Illinois initiative to coordinate the state’s efforts to secure critical federal research investments, which sparked support for the Illinois Fermentation and Agricultural Biomanufacturing Hub. He has built industry partnerships through the university’s Research Park and its EnterpriseWorks incubator, elevated the university’s research and technology transfer capacity through participation in initiatives such as the C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute, and expanded the university’s international reach.
In 2017, Jones and the university launched a $2.25 billion philanthropic campaign that reached its goal fifteen months early, concluding in 2022 after raising $2.7 billion to support university priorities. He also launched and implemented Operational Excellence, a multiyear, comprehensive, university-wide effort to reorganize and reimagine ways to deliver the university’s missions more efficiently and with the most impact.
Prior to his current role, Chancellor Jones served as the 19th President of the University at Albany, State University of New York, part of the largest comprehensive higher education system in the United States. Beginning his presidency in 2013, he initiated the university’s largest academic expansion in half a century, adding academic units and degree-granting programs, expanding opportunities for faculty research and student experiential learning, deepening the university’s community engagement, and raising philanthropic support for this vision.
Chancellor Jones began his career at the University of Minnesota as an assistant professor on the Twin Cities campus in 1978, receiving tenure in 1983 and a full professorship in 1988. He took on his first leadership role in 1986, when the president of the University of Minnesota charged him with creating a mentoring program for high-achieving students of color. He subsequently became an Associate Provost and Assistant Vice President, before becoming Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Personnel from 1997–2002, while concurrently serving as Interim Vice President for Student Development in 2000–01 and Vice President for Campus Life in 2001–02, and Vice President and Executive Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Programs on the Twin Cities campus from 2002–05. In 2004, he became Senior Vice President for Academic Administration for the University of Minnesota system, the senior academic, administrative and operating officer reporting to the system president.
Chancellor Jones is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Association of American Universities Board of Directors, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Council of Presidents, and the Executive Committee of the Big Ten Conference Council of Presidents and Chancellors. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Fort Valley State College, a master’s degree from the University of Georgia and a doctorate from the University of Missouri.
I would like to thank the members of the UW community whose perspectives helped to shape the Leadership Profile, as well as SP&A Executive Search for building an experienced, accomplished and diverse pool of candidates and the members of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee for their participation in a robust, fair and successful search process.
The Board of Regents looks forward to working with this tireless, eminent steward of public higher education to develop a vision to inspire the University of Washington to ever greater, ever more transformative pursuit of its public mission. I know the UW community will join me in welcoming Chancellor Jones and his wife, Dr. Lynn Hassan Jones, a muscular skeletal diagnostic radiologist, as they become part of our University of Washington community!
Yours,
Blaine Tamaki Chair UW Board of Regents
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In some cities, as many as one in four office spaces are vacant. Some start-ups are giving them a second life – as indoor farms growing crops as varied as kale, cucumber and herbs.
Since its 1967 construction, Canada’s “Calgary Tower”, a 190m (623ft) concrete-and-steel observation tower in Calgary, Alberta, has been home to an observation deck, panoramic restaurants and souvenir shops. Last year, it welcomed a different kind of business: a fully functioning indoor farm.
Sprawling across 6,000sq m (65,000 sq ft), the farm, which produces dozens of crops including strawberries, kale and cucumber, is a striking example of the search for city-grown food. But it’s hardly alone. From Japan to Singapore to Dubai, vertical indoor farms – where crops can be grown in climate-controlled environments with hydroponics, aquaponics or aeroponics techniques – have been popping up around the world.
While indoor farming had been on the rise for years, a watershed moment came during the Covid-19 pandemic, when disruptions to the food supply chain underscored the need for local solutions. In 2021, $6bn (£4.8bn) in vertical farming deals were registered globally – the peak year for vertical farming investment. As the global economy entered its post-pandemic phase, some high-profile startups like Fifth Season went out of business, and others including Planted Detroit and AeroFarms running into a period of financial difficulty. Some commentators questioned whether a “vertical farming bubble” had popped. (continued)
The agency has already removed scientific data from public view. More could follow. By Katherine J. Wu(Thanks to Ed M.)
The CDC campus in Atlanta (Smith Collection / Gado / Getty)
Last night, scientists began to hear cryptic and foreboding warnings from colleagues: Go to the CDC website, and download your data now. They were all telling one another the same thing: Data on the website were about to disappear, or be altered, to comply with the Trump administration’s ongoing attempt to scrub federal agencies of any mention of gender, DEI, and accessibility. “I was up until 2 a.m.,” Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan who relies on the CDC’s data to track viral outbreaks, told me. She archived whatever she could.
What they feared quickly came to pass. Already, content from the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which includes data from a national survey, has disappeared; so have parts of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s Social Vulnerability Index and the Environmental Justice Index. The CDC’s landing page for HIV data has also vanished. And the agency’s AtlasPlus tool, which contains nearly 20 years of CDC surveillance data on HIV, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, and tuberculosis, is down. Several scientists I talked with told me they had heard directly from contacts at the CDC that the agency has directed employees to scrub any mention of “gender” from its site and the data that it shares there, replacing it with “sex.”
The full scope of the purge isn’t yet clear. One document obtained by The Atlantic indicated that the government was, as of yesterday evening, intending to target and replace, at a minimum, several “suggested keywords”—including “pregnant people, transgender, binary, non-binary, gender, assigned at birth, binary [sic], non-binary [sic], cisgender, queer, gender identity, gender minority, anything with pronouns”—in CDC content. While these terms are often politicized, some represent demographic variables that researchers collect when tracking the ebb and flow of diseases and health conditions across populations. Should they be reworded, or even removed entirely, from data sets to comply with the executive order, researchers and health-care providers might have a much harder time figuring out how diseases affect specific communities—making it more challenging to serve Americans on the whole.
CDC data’s “explicit purpose” is to guide researchers toward the places and people who most need attention, Patrick Sullivan, an epidemiologist at Emory University and a former CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, told me. As the changes unfold before him, he said, “it’s hard to understand how this benefits health.”
When I contacted the CDC, a spokesperson redirected my requests for comment to the Department of Health and Human Services. After this story was published, an HHS spokesperson said that “all changes to the HHS website and HHS division websites are in accordance with President Trump’s January 20 Executive Orders” on gender and DEI.
The government appears to understand that these changes could have scientific implications: The document directing a review of CDC content suggests that some work could be altered without “changing the meaning or scientific integrity of the content,” and that any such changes should be considered “routine.” Changing other content, according to the document, would require review by an expert precisely because any alterations would risk scientific integrity. But the document does not specify how data would be sorted into those categories, or at whose discretion.
As the Pentagon and the State Department try to cancel Black History Month, our Martin Luther King County (Harborview) Hospital flies the Afro-American Black Liberation flag with the American flag, no longer at half-mast in observation of the inauguration of Donald J. Trump.
Forget Charmin, Cottonelle, or Quilted Northern. In Japan, there’s a new toilet paper roll on shelves, and it’s nothing like the others.
The Shibushi Osaki Roll is the world’s first toilet paper made from recycled diapers — and it’s available to purchase at seven stores in southwest Japan’s Kyushu.
While it may be difficult to wrap one’s head around, the team of local governments and private firms behind the Shibushi Osaki Roll say the toilet paper is perfectly safe to use — and could be a game-changer for the environment.
“Please support this eco-friendly product, which aims to promote a sustainable society by reusing local resources,” said Takumi Obo, a spokesperson for the Osaki municipal government’s SDGs Promotion Council, which is leading the product’s roll-out.
Photo courtesy of Osaki Municipal Government’s SDGs Promotion Council
The project was spearheaded by the city of Shibushi and the town of Osaki in Kagoshima Prefecture. The two municipalities have a joint waste management system and came together to begin recycling disposable diapers.
The two cities collected 98 tons of diapers and other used hygiene products. They were all sterilized, deodorized, and bleached before being shredded into a pulp. From there, the treated materials were mixed with recycled paper at a local Poppy Paper Co. plant and transformed into rolls of toilet paper.
In the first two months of production, 30,000 rolls were created and are now being sold for just 400 yen — or about $2.70 — per dozen.
While it may not be something people think about while doing their business, the traditional pulp toilet paper most of us are used to has a significant environmental impact.
Disposable diapers are also a major waste management issue. In fact, disposable diapers are the third-largest single consumer item in landfills. And they take an estimated 500 years to decompose.
The Shibushi Osaki Roll represents a new frontier for a wood, waste, and water-saving alternative in Japan. And while these two municipalities tackle a small piece of that larger issue, the effort could prove viability on a much larger, global scale
“This initiative could help diversify the ways to secure raw materials,” Satoshi Yoshida from Poppy Paper Co., told The Mainichi, “especially as used paper supplies are expected to decline with the rise of paperless systems and a shrinking population.”
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A recent Senate confirmation hearing revealed RFK Jr.’s secret war against cancer prevention.
by Paul Offit (thanks to Ed M.)
Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cancer. Every year, HPV causes about 20,000 cancers in women and 14,000 in men. For women, HPV is the only known cause of cervical cancer, accounting for about 11,000 cases and 4,000 deaths every year. For men, HPV is a common cause of head, neck, anal, and genital cancers.
Perhaps no vaccine has been subjected to greater scrutiny. Dozens of studies have now shown that the HPV vaccine does not cause autoimmune or neurological diseases. But that hasn’t stopped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from continuing to claim that it does. Since 1986, with the creation of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, claims of vaccine harm must first be filed through the Vaccine Injury Compensation (VICP). The claims are then reviewed by experts and lawyers. If the claims are supported by scientific studies, plaintiffs are compensated. For example, children who got polio from the oral polio vaccine, which was a rare but real consequence, are compensated. Or people who developed a neurological disease called Guillain-Barré Syndrome from the influenza vaccine are compensated. If claims aren’t supported by evidence, plaintiffs aren’t compensated.
The VICP reviewed evidence on HPV vaccine safety and concluded that claims that it caused autoimmune or neurological diseases weren’t credible. They rejected the claims. In response, RFK Jr. and his personal injury lawyer friends took their claims to civil court, where the rules are different. Now all lawyers need to do is find juries who are willing to ignore scientific evidence. Indeed, in the early 1980s, 18 companies made vaccines for American children. After a flood of lawsuits against the whooping cough vaccine that amounted to millions of dollars of settlements, vaccine makers left the business. This migration of vaccine makers occurred even though studies had clearly shown that the pertussis vaccine didn’t cause the harms claimed. By the end of the 1980s, only four vaccine makers remained, the rest driven out by lawsuits.
As a nominee for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), RFK Jr. was asked to report his financial conflicts. The report showed that he had earned more than $2.4 million from the personal injury law firm of Wisner Baum, which was suing Merck in civil court for its HPV vaccine. RFK Jr., who stands to make 10 percent of any fees awarded in cases he referred to the firm, calls Michael Baum “one of my closest friends.” Kennedy has a similar arrangement with Morgan and Morgan, another large, personal injury law firm. On his Facebook page, Kennedy wrote, “If you have been injured by Gardasil, call us.” During the past year, these HPV lawsuits were Kennedy’s primary source of income.
On January 29, 2025, during a Senate confirmation hearing before the Finance Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D, MA) noted that, as head of HHS, RFK Jr. could rig the system in his favor. Warren pointed out that he could use his power to add compensable injuries to the VICP table, change court rules, and alter vaccine labelling. All these changes could benefit RFK Jr. financially. Warren asked, “Would you be willing to forgo a financial stake in all these lawsuits so that the decisions you make will not financially benefit you?” “No,” said Kennedy, “I will not.”
RFK Jr.’s actions, which if successful will make HPV vaccine less affordable and less available, will be a financial boon to him and his personal injury lawyer friends. The biggest loser will be women, who might soon be deprived of the single best way to prevent cancer
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The COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on the deep need that people feel for human touch and connection in hospital settings. Having relatives peering through windows at their loved ones or unable to enter hospitals altogether exacerbated the lack of human intimacy that is all too common in health care settings.
As a medical anthropologist studying how to support people who are facing serious illness, as well as those who care for them, one of my research interests is the intersection of arts and medicine.
These types of clinical benefits are certainly valued. But what people I spoke with shared that was the most transformative for them were the ways art-making allowed them to feel more fully human.
Art therapy reduces the sense of isolation
One example is at the MD Anderson Cancer Centers in Houston. Ian Cion founded the hospital’s arts in medicine program in 2010. In 2014, he worked closely with more than 1,300 MD Anderson patients, their family members and staff to create a life-size paper dragon sculpture – one scale at a time.
Cion built the dragon’s frame in his home out of popsicle sticks, wire and cardboard and then placed the 9-foot frame inside a high-traffic area in the hospital. Young cancer patients, their families and the entire hospital community were invited to create scales, which they filled with their hopes, prayers and favorite images. A row of scales could be finished and placed on the dragon in 45 minutes or less, but it still took months for the project to be completed.
Cion’s goal with such collaborative projects was to pull people out of the isolation of illness and into community, and to celebrate and embrace the unknown.
Cancer patients, their loved ones and hospital personnel contributed to the creation of the paper dragon at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Marlaine Figueroa Gray, CC BY-NC-ND
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Qing Bao, one of the Smithsonian National Zoo’s new Giant Pandas, eats an apple on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. In November 2023, the National Zoo sent its three pandas — Tian Tian and Mei Xiang, who had lived there since 2000, and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — back to China, in advance of the expiration of their loan agreement and amidst rising tensions between the two countries.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU
A panda drought — that has been unbearable for some — is finally over.
Two Giant pandas are now available for public viewing in the nation’s capital.
Bao Li and Qing Bao are out of quarantine and in the spotlight after a three month wait and 8,000 mile trip from China.
Students from the Yu Ying Public Charter School visit the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Giant Pandas after performing at the opening ceremony on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, second from right, claps to the sounds of Crush Funk Brass Band during the opening ceremony celebrating the Smithsonian National Zoo’s new Giant Pandas on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU
Students from the Yu Ying Public Charter School visit the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Giant Pandas after performing at the opening ceremony on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU
They now stand — or clumsily climb or roll around — and are ready to make their public debut at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
Their return, after China recalled earlier furry ambassadors, marks a reboot of Panda diplomacy.
Bao Li, one of the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Giant Pandas, chomps on bamboo on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Washington D.C.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU
Giant Panda supporters flood the Smithsonian’s National Zoo to see the new pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Washington D.C.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU
Giant Panda supporters flood the Smithsonian’s National Zoo to see the new pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Washington D.C.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU
For those who can’t come to D.C., the panoply of panda antics is on digital display via the the Giant Panda Cam.
People were bamboozled by the roly-poly big-eyed cuteness — such clips have drawn in millions of viewers.
Scientists and volunteers observe panda behavior from inside the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Panda House on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Washington D.C.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU
Giant Panda supporters flood the Smithsonian’s National Zoo to see new pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Washington D.C.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU
Giant panda Bao Li traverses a snowy enclosure on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. The pair arrived in Washington D.C. — aboard the fittingly nicknamed “Panda Express” — from China back in October. But, they could only occasionally be glimpsed until this week.
Tyrone Turner/WAMU
China has also loaned two other giant pandas to the U.S., both at the San Diego Zoo. As a gesture of goodwill, it seems panda appeal is pretty black and white.
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Our public health partners are seeking our support on House Bill 1531 re preserving the ability of public officials to address communicable diseases, which will be heard 1/31 at 8:00AM in House Health Care and Wellness and we really needed people to sign in PRO for it.
AN ACT Relating to preserving the ability of public officials to 2 address communicable diseases using scientifically proven measures to 3 control the spread of such diseases; adding a new section to chapter 70.54 RCW; and declaring an emergency.4 5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON: 6 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 70.54 RCW to read as follows:7 8 (1) It is the policy of the state that public health responses to 9 address communicable diseases be guided by the best available science 10 on the safety and efficacy of evidence-based measures to control the 11 spread of such diseases, including immunizations and vaccines. 12 (2) Consistent with the policy in subsection (1) of this section, 13 the state and local health officials must, within available 14 resources, implement and promote evidence-based, appropriate measures 15 to control the spread of communicable diseases, including vaccines. 16 The state and its political subdivisions may not enact statutes, 17 ordinances, rules, or policies that prohibit the implementation and 18 promotion of such measures. Any such statute, ordinance, rule, or 19 policy in place on the effective date of this section is hereby declared null and void.20 H-0719.1 HOUSE BILL 1531 State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session By Representatives Bronoske, Berry, Ramel, Reed, Duerr, Kloba, Macri, Parshley, Peterson, Ormsby, Pollet, Scott, Doglio, Hill, and Simmons Read first time 01/23/25. Referred to Committee on Health Care & Wellness. p. 1 HB 1531 1 NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. This act is necessary for the immediate 2 preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of 3 the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes 4 effect immediately.
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1 of 2 | Fresh lettuce is offered to lion dance performers with the Mak Fai Kung Fu Dragon & Lion Dance Association during the Lunar New Year festival in Seattle on Feb. 3, 2024. (Amanda Ray / The Seattle Times)
JiaYing Grygiel – Special to The Seattle Times (thanks to Marilyn W.)
Jan. 1 has come and gone, but Lunar New Year is right around the corner, celebrated by some 2 billion people around the world.
State Rep. My-Linh Thai, D-Bellevue, a Vietnamese refugee, proposed the bill to recognize and celebrate the Asian American community. “During the pandemic, we took the biggest brunt of hate crimes and continued to be viewed as others, and not as part of the fabric of America,” she said.
Lunar New Year is celebrated in China, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan, across Southeast Asia and anywhere there is a large diaspora community from those countries — like in Seattle. It goes by different names: Chūnjié (or Spring Festival) in China, Tết Nguyên Đán in Vietnam, Seollal in Korea.
For those of Korean heritage, “it’s also called the Korean Thanksgiving,” said Sara Upshaw, owner and head chef of Ohsun Banchan Deli & Cafe in Pioneer Square. “It’s the holiday you celebrate at home with family. A big part of it is paying respect to your elders, even ones that have passed. Everyone’s dressed up in hanbok. There’s a bowing ceremony for the younger people to the elders. And just like Thanksgiving, food is very important.”
Here are some things to know about Lunar New Year. And even if it’s a holiday you grew up celebrating, you might not know the reasons behind some of the traditions. (Guilty.) We reached out to cultural experts to find the answers.
Mak Fai Kung Fu Dragon & Lion Dance Association performs at Pike Place Market, 2024. (JiaYing Grygiel)
What does Lunar New Year celebrate and how did it come about? (continued)
Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons. — “Popular Mechanics,” forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
I think there is a world market for maybe five computers. — Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
This “telephone” has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. — Western Union internal memo, 1876.
The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular? — David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a “C,” the idea must be feasible. — A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.
I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper. — Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in “Gone With The Wind.”
We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. — Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. — Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.
So we went to Atari and said, “Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.” And they said, “No.” So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, “Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.” — Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.
This fellow Charles Lindbergh will never make it. He’s doomed. — Harry Guggenheim, millionaire aviation enthusiast.
Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. — Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value. — Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.
Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances. — Dr. Lee De Forest, inventor of the vacuum tube and father of television.
Everything that can be invented has been invented. — Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
Received from Mikey’s Funnies.
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Eleanor R. Menzin, M.D. in The New England Journal of Medicine
“It’s your fault!” the renowned infectious disease attending told the cluster of students and residents. In the late 1990s, the varicella vaccine was relatively new, and uptake was disappointingly low. “You pediatricians,” he went on, “must correct your wording. Instead of telling parents their child is due for the MMR vaccine and then half-heartedly offering the varicella vaccine, you should include it with the same declarative certainty: ‘Your child is due for varicella and MMR vaccines.’”
Though it has been nearly 30 years, I remember that moment as one of those rare crystalline learning moments when a gifted teacher’s wisdom solidifies in a receptive student’s mind. His advice permanently changed the way I, and in turn my trainees, discuss vaccines. More important, I internalized his conviction that vaccinating patients was a fundamental responsibility of a pediatrician.
Throughout my career, I have seen new vaccines approved: pneumococcus, rotavirus, meningococcus, and human papillomavirus. In each case, I have studied the data, reviewed published recommendations, and adjusted my language to encourage vaccination. I consider the high immunization rate in my patient panel to be one of my greatest professional accomplishments — a quantitative metric of the benefit I provide.
Much of pediatrics advice is more cultural wisdom than science. Does it matter whether an infant consumes green vegetables before orange ones? Unlikely. Some of what we do (antibiotics for acute otitis media) is probably of limited benefit. There are so few things — like car seats or sleeping on the back — for which we have robust data. And the greatest of all these is vaccines.
Every so often, parents will look at me over a smiling infant and tell me they want their child to have only one or two recommended vaccines. Can I choose the most important? I tell them the question is akin to asking me to pick my favorite child — an impossible task.
I replay for them the kaleidoscope of vaccine-preventable illness I’ve seen in my training and practice: a toddler with varicella encephalitis from my medical school days, an apneic infant admitted to the hospital with pertussis during my residency, a 9-year-old with central venous thrombosis after influenza and dehydration when I was a young attending. I also recount stories of adults who live with the ongoing effects of now-avoidable diseases: a wise and beloved radiologist who hung films one-handed (faster than most people could with two) as his polio-affected arm rested by his side, or the college friend who suffered through colposcopy and cancer scares from human papillomavirus infection.
Some will ask, “Can you recommend a good pediatrician who does not believe in vaccines?” No, I say, no more than I can recommend a good physicist who does not believe in gravity.
Beneficence has been the guiding ethical principle of my life in medicine; encouraging vaccines has been my fullest expression of that value. Professionalism, I was taught, meant that religion and politics had no place in medicine. Though I understood how policy affected patients’ lives, I abided by that rule. Privately, I voted for political candidates I thought would help patients who were bogged down by poverty, seeking education, and battling addiction. Publicly, I was quiet.
But now is no time for silence. Politics now threatens to erase the gains of science, reduce access to vaccines, and undermine the vast public health benefit of the vaccines I have spent my career championing. Now is the time to lament loudly, to beat my chest, and to wail.
In this precise moment, beneficence requires more than seeing patients, doing research, or writing erudite journal articles. Today, beneficence requires physicians to step into a public role that may contradict our understanding of our job description. Regardless of our politics, if we are reticent in this moment, harm will come to the patients we seek to help.
Even if patients are skeptical of the alphabet soup of institutions designed to protect and safeguard their health, they still have confidence in the long-standing relationships with their clinicians. To deserve that trust, we are obligated to raise our collective voice in defense of science, health, and vaccines.
Posted inHealth, History|Comments Off on The Pediatrician’s Lament
Ed note: Somehow the Trump cartoons don’t seem funny to me anymore. They reflect the negativity that is now reality and evoke sadness rather than humor. Historian Heather Cox Richardson helps me see the present in an historical context. As you can read below, our history is blemished–only to be resurfaced now unfortuanately.
by Heather Cox Richardson
“I JUST GOT THE NEWS FROM MY LAWYER… I GOT A PARDON BABY! THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!!!” Jacob Chansley, dubbed the QAnon shaman as a reflection of his horned-animal headdress and body paint at the January 6, 2021, riot inside the U.S. Capitol, posted on X shortly after President Donald Trump commuted the sentences of or pardoned all those convicted of crimes related to the events of that day.
“NOW I AM GONNA BY SOME MOTHA FU*KIN GUNS!!! I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!” he continued. “J6ers are getting released & JUSTICE HAS COME… EVERYTHING done in the dark WILL come to light!”
A Scripps News/Ipsos poll conducted in late November, after Trump had won the 2024 presidential election, found that only 30% of Americans supported pardoning the January 6th protesters. In early January, many Republican lawmakers suggested they would not support pardons for those who committed violence against police officers, and on January 12, 2025, then vice president–elect J.D. Vance told Fox News Sunday that “if you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.”
This puts Republican leaders, who claim to defend law and order, on the back foot. When CNN’s chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, asked Republican senators what they thought of the blanket pardons, even MAGA senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) said it was unacceptable to pardon people who assaulted police officers but claimed he “didn’t see it,” although the footage of the violence is widely available. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) both criticized the pardons.
Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD) tried to blame Trump’s pardons on former president Joe Biden, saying he had opened the door to broad pardons, although Biden preemptively pardoned people who had not been convicted of crimes but were in Trump’s crosshairs: people like former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, whom Trump appointed but later accused of “treason” for being unwilling to execute an illegal order. In one of his first moves as president yesterday, Trump had the official portrait of Milley removed from the hall in the Pentagon where portraits of all previous chairs of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are displayed—all, now, except Milley.
The D.C. Police Union expressed its “dismay over the recent pardons,” reiterating its stance that “anyone who assaults a law enforcement officer should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, without exception.” (Continued)
Paul Krugman in Krugman Wonks Out (thanks to Kate B.)
One of the unwritten rules of American politics is that it’s OK to sneer at and smear our big cities and the people who live in them, while it’s an outrageous act of disrespect to suggest that there’s anything wrong with the Heartland. And many people believe the smears; visitors to New York are often shocked to find that one of the safest places in America isn’t the hellscape they were told to expect.
These delusions of dystopia are sometimes funny, but they can have real consequences. As you read this, much of America’s second-largest city is an actual hellscape. But many politicians, from the president-elect on down, are showing zero sympathy, insisting that California — which in its own way gets trash-talked as much as New York —somehow brought this disaster on itself by being too liberal, too woke, or something. And this lack of sympathy may translate into refusal to provide adequate disaster aid.
Somehow I doubt that Florida will get the same treatment when (not if) it has its next big natural disaster. (The Biden administration responded with complete, unconditional support to regions hit by Hurricane Helene and other storms, although that hasn’t stopped Republican politicians, like Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee, from lying and claiming that aid was delayed.)
At a fundamental level the case for helping California get through this is moral: Americans should help Americans in their hour of need. But this also seems like a good time to remind people just how much the Golden State contributes to American greatness.
Before I get there: Yes, California has problems, some of them big. There are pockets of social disorder, although the fact that so many luxury homes are burning tells us that many people who could live anywhere find greater Los Angeles a highly desirable place to be. More important, California suffers terribly from NIMBYism, which has led to grossly inadequate home construction, crippling housing costs and a lot of homelessness.
But California is nonetheless an economic and technological powerhouse; without it America would be a lot poorer and weaker than it is. (continued)
With all the ballots counted and all the races decided, in today’s post, I want to unpack what we already know about how Trump “won” the popular vote.1 I use quotes around the word “won” for two reasons.
First, to keep in full view what I wrote earlier in “Is This What Democracy Looks Like?” – that Trump’s candidacy was only viable because the justices he appointed to the Supreme Court: (1) disabled the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment (which should otherwise have barred him from holding office again) and (2) shielded him from standing trial before the election for trying to overturn the 2020 results or for hoarding classified documents (which would have kept his criminality in full view of the electorate, and possibly rendered his candidacy a non-starter due to a jail sentence or loss of support). In any other country, we would understand that as part of an autocratic takeover, not a democratic victory.
Second, as this post will show, the results are best understood as a vote of no confidence in Democrats, not an embrace of Trump or MAGA.
Ed Note: This is a long, detailed, data driven article that Kate found is the best analysis she’s found yet. Click here for the full article.
Posted inGovernment|Comments Off on How Trump “Won”
