Another Saturday and another news dump…..all the news that few will ever use.

Not much happening locally other than extreme heat and no rain….a typical weather pattern these days.

Sad News….A person that I think is a voice of reason has suffered a stroke….

Linguist, activist, and social critic Noam Chomsky is hospitalized in his wife’s native country of Brazil, recovering from a massive stroke he had a year ago, she confirmed Tuesday. Valeria Chomsky said via email that her 95-year-old husband is in a Sao Paulo hospital, where she took him on an ambulance jet with two nurses once he could more easily travel from the United States following the June 2023 stroke, per the AP. The couple has had a residence there since 2015.

She confirmed the details of a Monday report in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, which said her husband has difficulty speaking and that the right side of his body is affected. He’s visited daily by a neurologist, speech therapist, and lung specialist. Valeria Chomsky also told Folha de S.Paulo that she’s thinking about moving to an apartment near the beach in Rio de Janeiro after reading that living in a sunny place can help stroke patients. Valeria Chomsky told the newspaper that her husband follows the news, and that when he sees images of the war in Gaza, he raises his left arm in a gesture of lament and anger.

Noam Chomsky, seen by many around the world as a symbol of protest and independence, is an influential activist and critic who has frequently challenged US policy on everything from the Middle East to Central America, as well as what he considers a compliant media. His books and essays are read and discussed by millions. Chomsky was a longtime faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Noam Chomsky transformed the study of linguistics with his landmark 1957 book Syntactic Structures, in which he wrote that humans don’t simply learn language but are born with an innate ability that explains how they can formulate and understand sentences never seen or heard before.

News that renowned American linguist, dissident, and author Noam Chomsky is hospitalized in Brazil following a massive stroke he suffered last year was met with an avalanche of accolades and well wishes from members of the international left on Wednesday.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/is-noam-chomsky-ill

The world needs his voice of reason and critical thinking….we have lost too many over the past years.

I want to start today with a feel good story.

It is no secret that I have canine companions and I think they work wonders at least for me….this is a story of a wreck and a rescue…..

A dog has helped his owner get rescued after a car crash in a steep ravine in mountainous northeastern Oregon, authorities said. A man was driving with his four dogs on a remote US Forest Service road on June 2 when he crashed into a ravine below, the Baker County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Facebook. One of the dogs traveled nearly four miles to the campsite where the man was staying with family, which alerted them that something was wrong, the AP reports. His family located his car the following day and called 911 as they couldn’t reach it in the steep terrain. When authorities arrived, they found the man about 100 yards from the car after they heard him yell for help. He had been able to crawl out of the car after the crash, the release said.

US Forest Service employees used chainsaws to clear a path through the vegetation for search and rescue teams, who set up a complex rope system spanning from one side of the ravine to the other. Once they were able to reach the man, authorities put him in a rescue stretcher and hooked it onto the ropes, which were then used as a pulley system to transport him to the other side of the ravine as a stream raged below, photos shared by the sheriff’s office showed. The man was airlifted to a regional hospital, authorities said. His three other dogs were found alive at the scene of the crash.

Buy that pup a very large steak.

As long as we are in Oregon there is more….a shellfish warning….

The Food and Drug Administration says consumers should avoid eating shellfish from Oregon and Washington state, as they may be contaminated with toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning. At least 31 people have been sickened in Oregon so far, according to state health officials. Here’s the situation, per the AP:

• The warning: Avoid oysters and bay clams harvested from Netarts and Tillamook bays in northern Oregon since May 28, as well as shellfish harvested from areas around Willapa Bay in southern Washington since May 26. They may be contaminated with high levels of PSP, a naturally occurring toxin. Shellfish harvested during that period were distributed beyond Oregon and Washington to Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, and New York. The FDA has warned restaurants and retailers in those states not to serve it.
• The outbreak: Elevated levels of toxins were first detected in shellfish on the Oregon coast on May 17, fish and wildlife officials said. The state Health Authority has asked people who have harvested or eaten Oregon shellfish since May 13 to fill out a survey intended to help investigators.
• Shutdowns: Oregon has closed the state’s entire coastline to the harvesting of mussels, razor clams, and bay clams. Three bays, including those named in the FDA advisory, are closed to commercial oyster harvesting. Neighboring Washington has also closed its Pacific coastline to the harvesting of shellfish, including mussels, clams, scallops, and oysters.
• Paralytic shellfish poisoning: PSP is caused by saxitoxin, a naturally occurring toxin produced by algae. Saxitoxin is a neurotoxin, meaning it can damage nerve tissue. People who eat shellfish with high levels of saxitoxins usually start feeling ill within 60 minutes, according to Oregon health officials. Symptoms include numbness of the mouth and lips, vomiting, diarrhea, shortness of breath, and irregular heartbeat. There is no antidote to PSP. Treatment for severe cases may require mechanical ventilators to help with breathing. Cooking or freezing contaminated shellfish doesn’t kill the toxins or make it safe to eat.
• The cause: A large algal bloom has resulted in “unprecedented levels” of PSP toxins along Oregon’s coast, said the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. While the factors that create harmful algal blooms are not well understood, certain ones—resulting from both natural processes and human activities—are believed to play a role, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Studies show that many algal species flourish when wind and water currents are favorable,” the agency says on a webpage. Some blooms stem from “sluggish water circulation, unusually high water temperatures, and extreme weather events like hurricanes, floods, and drought.”

I can sympathize for we get these warnings down here for the oysters harvested in the Mississippi Sound.  Be careful if you live in the Northwest.

I am not one that is into the who;le plamnt-based fad and a new study shows caution is called for when choosing this alternative…

With studies warning of the dangers of highly altered, industrially formulated foods, some consumers might feel inclined to move toward plant-based ultra-processed foods as a better option. There are, after all, numerous health benefits to a plant-based diet. Unfortunately those benefits appear to go out the window when industrial manufacturing gets involved. Researchers say their new study is the first to link plant-based UPFs, ranging from French fries to fruit juices, to a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases. The study published Monday in the Lancet Regional Health-Europe also uncovered a higher risk of early death, per CNN.

“Eating plant-based products can be beneficial, acting as protection against health problems, or it can represent a risk—it all depends on the level of processing of these foods,” says contributing author Renata Levy, a nutrition and health researcher at Brazil’s University of São Paulo. The study utilized UK Biobank data on more than 118,000 people aged 40 to 69 who answered diet-related questions over roughly a decade. It found consuming plant-based UPFs boosted bad cholesterol and hypertension, increased one’s risk of cardiovascular disease by 5%, and increased one’s risk of early death by 13%, per CNN.

Every 10% increase in the consumption of fresh, frozen, or minimally processed plant-based foods lowered one’s risk of coronary heart disease by 8% and one’s risk of dying from heart disease by 13%. This “suggests that there’s something uniquely damaging about ultra-processing that changes a food in a way that can harm a person’s health long term,” per the Washington Post. More than half of the plant-based UPFs consumed were packaged breads, pastries, buns, cakes, and cookies, which analysts note are unhealthy even when not industrially made. Just 0.5% were meat alternatives, making it hard to determine how much risk they carried.

Buyer beware!

After many many decades of conning the people into believing all the hype about diamonds the industry is in a sweat and a panic….

If recent trends are any indication, natural diamonds are losing their sparkle with consumers. CNBC News takes a look at a downturn in the biz that seems existential now that one of the most recognizable names in the industry, De Beers, is losing its parent company. Anglo American plans to divest its De Beers subsidiary and shift toward commodities that support green infrastructure, such as copper. Diamond prices have dropped 5.7% this year and are down 30% from a 2022 peak. “Last year was a much tougher period for the industry as economic challenges, a post-Covid lull in engagements, and a growth in supply of lab-grown diamonds all affected demand conditions,” Anglo American’s Marcelo Esquivel tells CNBC.

Elaborating on those factors: Industry experts say that once pandemic travel restrictions were lifted, money spent on diamonds diverted toward vacations. Fewer marriages, particularly among Gen Z, also is creating less demand for wedding rings, notes Fortune. Falling interest in natural diamonds in the crucial market of China hurts as well. But the biggest threat of all to the industry comes from a surge in popularity of lab-grown diamonds, which can be 85% cheaper than mined ones. Ankur Daga of seller Angara says lab-grown gems are the “core issue” in the industry and predicts prices may drop another 15 to 20% this year. “The diamond industry is in trouble,” he says.

He notes, for example, that half of engagement rings will encase lab-grown diamonds this year, a huge shift from 2018, when they made up only 2% of such sales. But some are doubling down on mined diamonds. Per Glossy, online brand the Clear Cut is joining De Beers in exclusively selling natural diamonds—and to sweeten the pot, they are including a lab-grown diamond with some purchases for wearers to switch out while traveling. Insiders say it’s high time for sellers to start wooing the public again. “The industry has not done large-scale category marketing for almost 20 years,” says Anish Aggarwal of Gemdax. Kyle Simon, CEO of the Clear Cut, agrees: “Storytelling around the origin of a natural diamond is going to be a really big thing.”

In reality diamonds are not in short supply except for the hoarding that the industry does to keep prices high…..there are much better natural stones that are far better in quality and color.

That be it for this Saturday…..

If you are planning a party for Father’s Day then please enjoy yourself but be well and be safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”