Titanoboa - 60m years ago in what is now northern Colombia. A swamp snake that grew up to 42 feet long and weighed about 2,500 pounds, which means it weighed about 15x more than a modern green anaconda. You would be a mere snack.
"Other health experts noted that the tests deployed by the White House, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, were given emergency clearance by the Food and Drug Administration only for people “within the first seven days of the onset of symptoms.” But they were used incorrectly, to screen people who were not showing any signs of illness. Such off-label use, experts said, further compromised a strategy that presumably was designed to keep leading officials safe from a pandemic that so far has killed more than 210,000 Americans.
“It’s not being used for the intended purpose,” said Syra Madad, an infectious disease epidemiologist based in New York. “So there will be potentially a lot of false negatives and false positives.”
Abbott’s rapid coronavirus tests, called the ID NOW and BinaxNOW, are speedy, portable and easy to operate, delivering results in minutes. But the convenience comes at a cost: The products are less accurate than laboratory tests that use a technique called polymerase chain reaction, or P.C.R., and they more frequently miss infections or mistakenly designate healthy people as infected, as happened to Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio in August.
Nonetheless, shortly after Abbott’s ID NOW test received emergency approval from the F.D.A. in the spring, the White House adopted it as a rapid screening tool for staff members and visitors who came into close contact with the president. Sometime around the end of August or early September, the White House switched to using the BinaxNOW — a similarly quick test that hunts for bits of coronavirus protein rather than viral RNA — according to a senior administration official.
Federal officials recently purchased the BinaxNOW to distribute by the millions to governors and vulnerable communities around the country. Rapid tests have been hailed by some experts as a welcome solution to the lengthy delays that have plagued expensive laboratory tests, although the products come with problems of their own.
People without Covid-19 symptoms have been among those taking the test on White House grounds, where individuals who received negative results were granted swift access to the president and his advisers.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the F.D.A., described these procedures as a misguided attempt at a “zero-fail testing protocol” in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, saying that officials “weren’t taking any precautions beyond testing people who are going to be in contact with the president.”
However, according to the products’ packaging, both Abbott rapid tests are intended for people with Covid-19 symptoms, early on in their illness. When Abbott submitted the tests for emergency authorization from the F.D.A., the company provided data only for people with symptoms. When used appropriately, the company has said, both tests perform about 95 percent as well as P.C.R. But how well the products do in asymptomatic individuals remains murky."
(CNN)Eddie Van Halen, the renowned lead guitarist of iconic rock group Van Halen, has died, according to a social media post by his son. He was 65.
"He was the best father I could ever ask for," his son, Wolf Van Halen, wrote in a note posted to Twitter. "Every moment I've shared with him on and off stage was a gift."
Wolf Van Halen said his father, whose full name was Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, died after a "long and arduous battle with cancer" on Tuesday morning.
"My heart is broken and I don't think I'll ever fully recover from this loss," his son added.
DBD 10-6-2020: my anaconda
Austin TX man arrested for fraudulently ordering/re-selling $1.5m worth of toner over 12 years.
Fire Starkey conspicuously not available for comment.
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/former-austin-public-library-employee-stole-sold-over-1-3m-in-printer-toner-over-12-years-city-reports-says/
Washingtonian boy bikes 2,500+ miles for a good reason.
https://twitter.com/rubydrummr/status/1310287396408299521
What's for lunch?
Elsewhere in college
Today in Covid-19
Columbia
Colombia
OUR GASPING FOR AIR WHILE TRYING TO NOT LOOK WEAK DEMOCRACY
PRO
CAL
SO... the tests the WH has been using aren't even designed to catch asymptomatic people. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/health/covid-white-house-testing.html
"Other health experts noted that the tests deployed by the White House, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, were given emergency clearance by the Food and Drug Administration only for people “within the first seven days of the onset of symptoms.” But they were used incorrectly, to screen people who were not showing any signs of illness. Such off-label use, experts said, further compromised a strategy that presumably was designed to keep leading officials safe from a pandemic that so far has killed more than 210,000 Americans.
“It’s not being used for the intended purpose,” said Syra Madad, an infectious disease epidemiologist based in New York. “So there will be potentially a lot of false negatives and false positives.”
Abbott’s rapid coronavirus tests, called the ID NOW and BinaxNOW, are speedy, portable and easy to operate, delivering results in minutes. But the convenience comes at a cost: The products are less accurate than laboratory tests that use a technique called polymerase chain reaction, or P.C.R., and they more frequently miss infections or mistakenly designate healthy people as infected, as happened to Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio in August.
Nonetheless, shortly after Abbott’s ID NOW test received emergency approval from the F.D.A. in the spring, the White House adopted it as a rapid screening tool for staff members and visitors who came into close contact with the president. Sometime around the end of August or early September, the White House switched to using the BinaxNOW — a similarly quick test that hunts for bits of coronavirus protein rather than viral RNA — according to a senior administration official.
Federal officials recently purchased the BinaxNOW to distribute by the millions to governors and vulnerable communities around the country. Rapid tests have been hailed by some experts as a welcome solution to the lengthy delays that have plagued expensive laboratory tests, although the products come with problems of their own.
People without Covid-19 symptoms have been among those taking the test on White House grounds, where individuals who received negative results were granted swift access to the president and his advisers.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the F.D.A., described these procedures as a misguided attempt at a “zero-fail testing protocol” in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, saying that officials “weren’t taking any precautions beyond testing people who are going to be in contact with the president.”
However, according to the products’ packaging, both Abbott rapid tests are intended for people with Covid-19 symptoms, early on in their illness. When Abbott submitted the tests for emergency authorization from the F.D.A., the company provided data only for people with symptoms. When used appropriately, the company has said, both tests perform about 95 percent as well as P.C.R. But how well the products do in asymptomatic individuals remains murky."
Eddie Van Halen dies at 65 after cancer battle
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/entertainment/eddie-van-halen-dead/index.html
(CNN)Eddie Van Halen, the renowned lead guitarist of iconic rock group Van Halen, has died, according to a social media post by his son. He was 65.
"He was the best father I could ever ask for," his son, Wolf Van Halen, wrote in a note posted to Twitter. "Every moment I've shared with him on and off stage was a gift."
Wolf Van Halen said his father, whose full name was Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, died after a "long and arduous battle with cancer" on Tuesday morning.
"My heart is broken and I don't think I'll ever fully recover from this loss," his son added.
I just learned that Lily Collins' dad is Phil Collins.