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The Short & Long of It

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     Depending on which part of the country you are in, this has been a hotter than normal year.  Scientists credit the larger El Nino effect , the ocean currents slowing and the warmer waters shifting, producing ever-larger hurricanes and typhoons and rains, while drying out other areas with heat and a lack of water (NOAA said it is the strongest El Nino effect since 1950).  Here in the semi-west state of Utah (a desert land similar to Nevada), the high-pressure "heat domes" are keeping our temps near the 100F degree mark day after day, week after week.  There is now little difference between our south and north as nights hover near 80F, and drop to 70F only in the wee hours of the morning for a half hour or so before heading back upwards.  Air conditioning units and water-flowing "swamp" (evaporative) coolers seem to never shut off, that is until the utility bill arrives.  And yet, residents seem willing to pay up and ignore the costs, over...
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Buried Under

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   Photo: Las Vegas Review Journal      Here's something new to me: the number of above ground nuclear tests done in Nevada in the 40 years since 1951.  What number would you guess?  One or two?  Maybe a dozen?  Keep in mind that these were bombs detonated above  ground, powerful enough to light the skies 400 miles away.  So your guess?  Surely by the late-80s we knew the dangers of radiation.  So what do you think?  Maybe 20 or so, as in one test every few years?  Would you have guessed over 100?  And would you have guessed that an additional 900 bombs --most of them larger than those dropped on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki-- were also detonated underground during that same time period?  In Nevada! (and a few in Arizona)  Or that the radiation from those above-ground tests drifted onto the land and water, and thus the grasses that fed cattle, which was how the "downwind" effects of that drifting st...
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Talking Nonsense

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     Talking nonsense can take on so many meanings, from "hearing" a person in shock ramble on, to listening to someone speaking a foreign language.  For some stroke victims, there can be a phase (temporary or permanent) called aphasia , one where your mind is clear but your speech is unintelligible to others (the other form is the opposite, where a person speaking to you sounds jumbled and cannot be understood).  I can vouch for the "shock" version from my teen years, emerging from the ocean after being caught in some rough water, riding back with my roommate some 30 minutes to our apartment and him turning to me to ask what had happened.  I just told you when I got out of the water, I said, as well as the whole drive home.  "You were talking gibberish," he told me.  And yet, to me it sounded normal, clear and organized.      When that happens, who knows what our brains prioritize, basically telling our bodies that it has more impo...
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TB or TBD?

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     So cough, cough.  Not a smoker?  Or feel that you just have allergies?  A bad cold?  Throw in some nights sweats and a fever and you might want to think about having yourself checked out for TB, as in tuberculosis.  Wait, what??  Turns out that tuberculosis has not only climbed to its highest levels in three years in the US, but remains the number one infectious disease killer in the world, reported Dr. Michelle Barron , UC Health’s senior medical director of infection prevention and control: When people think of deadly diseases, they think of COVID-19, malaria, HIV and diarrheal diseases.  Many are surprised to find that TB kills the highest number of people in the world.   As in 10 million each year...still!  And TB can show up in other places besides your lungs (would you believe, your ankles?).  Left undiagnosed, this highly contagious disease could kill you (walk into a room where someone with TB has...
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