We begin our weekend with they ever so popular IST Saturday News Dump…..that event that happens every Saturday kinda akin to the Soup of the Day…..
The weather here has been unusually warm…..yesterday it was 80…..Sue and I are preparing the garden for planting….this year will be beans, okra, tomatoes, radishes, beets, peppers and herbs…..I will be fighting the climate all Summer I fear.
Enough about my mundane existence….let’s move on….
A popular dish down here is crawfish (mud bugs) and because of our drought last season things are looking dim this season….
Amid a crawfish shortage in Louisiana, the nation’s top producer of the crustaceans that are a staple in Gulf Coast seafood boils, Gov. Jeff Landry issued a disaster declaration for the impacted industry Wednesday. Last year’s drought, extreme heat, saltwater intrusion on the Mississippi River, and a hard winter freeze have devastated this year’s crawfish harvest and led to significant price hikes for those purchasing “mudbugs,” the AP reports. Landry says the shortage is not only affecting Louisiana’s economy but also “our way of life.” “All 365,000 crawfish acres in Louisiana have been affected by these conditions,” he said in a statement. “The crawfish industry needs all the support it can get right now.”
Landry’s disaster declaration, which is the legal underpinning that assists in securing federal resources, comes shortly after a request from Louisiana’s congressional delegation seeking to unlock federal aid to help farmers back in their home state. During a typical year, Louisiana generates anywhere from 175 million to 200 million pounds of crawfish— contributing $500 million to the state’s economy annually, according to the governor’s office. However, amid severe drought in 2023 and extreme heat, typically one of the wettest states in the country saw some of its driest conditions. As a result, the weather dried out the soil where crawfish burrow to lay eggs.
My daughter is bummed for they are a favorite of hers.
The strangest story last week was that of a guy arrested for smuggling ‘greenhouse gases’….
A California man was arrested and charged Monday with allegedly smuggling potent, planet-heating greenhouse gases from Mexico, marking the first such prosecution in the US, according to a statement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.
Michael Hart, a 58-year-old man from San Diego, pleaded not guilty to smuggling hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs — commonly used in air conditioning and refrigeration — and selling them for profit, in a federal court hearing Monday.
According to the indictment, Hart allegedly purchased the HFCs in Mexico and smuggled them into the US in the back of his truck, concealed under a tarp and tools. He is then alleged to have sold them for a profit on sites including Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp.
In my little slice of heaven we have four dangerous snakes….Cotton mouth, Rattlesnake, Copperhead and Coral snake and at any given day one may show up on your doorstep. So when I read an article about treatment of snake bite I take notice.
Scientists from Scripps Research have developed a synthetic antibody that’s effective against the lethal venom of four separate snake species. This discovery could be a game-changer in creating a universal antivenom for hundreds of deadly snakes, Science.org, reports, which typically require separate antivenoms manufactured for each type of snake.
What’s the deal with snake venom?
- Found in the toxic saliva of different snake varieties, it’s made up of a complex set of compounds that target nerve cells, blood clotting, or tissue to paralyze or kill prey.
- Venomous snakes kill between 81,000 to 138,000 people every year (and disable 400,000 more), primarily in Africa and Asia, according to Science.org.
What cures exist today?
- Standard antivenoms are composed of antibodies taken from animals immunized through nonlethal doses of a venom, per Phys.org.
- One drawback: people must identify which type of snake bit them to get the correct antivenom—which isn’t always a known factor.
- Most antivenoms target a specific toxin, which requires hundreds of varieties to be medically on hand. Mixed solutions that target several types of snake venoms exist, but can be less effective.
What cures exist today?
- Standard antivenoms are composed of antibodies taken from animals immunized through nonlethal doses of a venom, per Phys.org.
- One drawback: people must identify which type of snake bit them to get the correct antivenom—which isn’t always a known factor.
- Most antivenoms target a specific toxin, which requires hundreds of varieties to be medically on hand. Mixed solutions that target several types of snake venoms exist, but can be less effective.
What’s next?
- Despite its life-saving potential, funding further research on snakebites could be an issue because they typically aren’t a major cause for concern in wealthier nations.
- With proper funding, however, the researchers see potential in developing a “cocktail of antibodies” that protects against all the world’s deadliest snakes. “You’d no longer have to stock hundreds of antivenoms,” says Joseph Jardine, an author on the paper. “You could stock a single universal one
Great research but I bet those people that provide venom may lose a bit of business.
Do you go for an annual check-up?
The Wall Street Journal cuts right to the chase in the first line of its article on the traditional yearly medical check-up: “Is your annual physical a waste of time?” The answer seems to be, it depends. An increasing number of doctors say if you’re young and healthy, you can probably skip it, an opinion bolstered by a recent review in the medical journal JAMA that found no connection between annual physicals and an overall decrease in mortality rates or cardiovascular issues. Another analysis, however, did find a link between yearly checkups and a lower mortality risk, and the JAMA review found that such annual doctor visits are linked to improved detection and treatment of chronic disease.
With that in mind, some offices are focusing less on the traditional aspects of a physical (checking reflexes, a doctor peering into your ears) and more on using the time to get an overall picture of a person’s lifestyle and health: asking about sleep, exercise, nutrition, and mental health, for example. But on the other side, some experts argue that if younger, healthier people skipped the annual check-up, those who need to be seen more urgently wouldn’t have to wait as long to get an appointment amid a shortage of primary care physicians.
See the full article at the Journal.
I will close with a disturbing thought….AI….
Artificial intelligence (AI) may surpass human intelligence by 2027. The revelation comes by way of PhD mathematician Ben Goertzel, who is also the founder of SingularityNET, a company committed to developing “democratic” and decentralized Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) that can carry out engineering and scientific feats at a “superhuman” level.
Speaking at the Beneficial AGI summit, Goertzel said that creating AI with human-level intelligence might be achievable within the next three to eight years. This will be followed by a “radically superhuman AGI” that could easily compete with a human brain. In the years that follow, a single computer could have more power than all of humanity combined.
AI Surpassing Human Intelligence In Three Years According To Expert
Sorry but when I read that all that comes to mind is “Rise of the Machines”…..too much scifi I guess.
Is Skynet on our horizon?
That wraps up this Saturday’s Dump….it is time to venture to the garden and finish what I started a couple of days ago.
I hope everyone has a good weekend and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”