| The shingles vaccine may help prevent dementia |
[Feb. 26th, 2026|03:01 pm]
Obstructionist Husband
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The numbers are very indicative in multiple studies, but the mechanism is unclear.
The current vaccine is two-fold. There's the direct chicken pox vaccine to suppress that particular disease. A second adjuvant is designed to stimulate the immune system to provide a vigorous response if the chicken pox reactivates. It's believed that this adjuvant is acting as a strong anti-inflammatory and this might be reducing people contracting dementia.
The papers cited, from across several countries, all show interesting numbers. I'd like to see a meta-study to try to establish stronger numbers. Interestingly, women show the most benefit from this effect, but also are more likely to contract shingles and are more likely to develop dementia.
I saw another article recently that talked about people who get cancer rarely develop dementia, though I didn't dig into that one as I've had several relatives and friends with both, and it hit a little too close to home.
As always, no vaccine is absolute proof against a disease, these studies show a 5-20%+ reduction in the chance of developing dementia, not absolute resistance. Still, that's encouraging, and if the mechanism can be understood, it could lead to the development of a vaccine to further improve resistance against dementia.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/02/could-a-vaccine-prevent-dementia-shingles-shot-data-only-getting-stronger/ |
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| Naomi Novik's Temeraire stories get the Kickstarter TTRPG treatment! |
[Feb. 24th, 2026|10:44 am]
Obstructionist Husband
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Naomi has licensed her work and it has borne fruit. A tabletop RPG has been produced by Magpie Games and has been released on Kickstarter. And is now fully funded! The campaign has 30 days to go, over 800 backers, and the $50,000 goal has exceeded $111,000!
You can get the digital-only edition for $29.
As a quick description, think the campaign against Napoleon - with dragons. Mainly from the British side. There's a good description on the KS page. The dragons speak and are very intelligent. There are several books in the series, I don't know how many as I kind of fell off the wagon.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magpiegames/temeraire-the-roleplaying-game/ |
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| The Supreme Court blocks the "Emergency" Tariffs! |
[Feb. 20th, 2026|02:44 pm]
Obstructionist Husband
|
That's right, the highest court in the land blocked the tariffs in a 6-3 decision. Opposing the decision were - take a big guess - Alito, Thomas, and Kavanaugh.
There were a few problems. HIS use of tariffs were predicated on using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which a lower court declared did not give him the power to impose tariffs. Specifically, the law that created the act did not include the words "tariffs" or "duties" and that those powers did indeed lie in the House of Representatives and their specific control of the country's purse strings.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the ruling. From the NBC article: "The president asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration and scope," Roberts wrote. But the Trump administration "points to no statute" in which Congress has previously said that the language in IEEPA could apply to tariffs, he added.
As such, "we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs," Roberts wrote.
The 1977 IEEPA has never been previously invoked, so there is no historical precedent to draw from.
To try and throw a bone to the President's supporters, Gorsuch said this:
For those who think it important for the Nation to impose more tariffs, I understand that today’s decision will be disappointing. All I can offer them is that most major decisions affecting the rights and responsibilities of the American people (including the duty to pay taxes and tariffs) are funneled through the legislative process for a reason. Yes, legislating can be hard and take time. And, yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises. But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design. Through that process, the Nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people’s elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man. There, deliberation tempers impulse, and compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions. And because laws must earn such broad support to survive the legislative process, they tend to endure, allowing ordinary people to plan their lives in ways they cannot when the rules shift from day to day."
Now, I think this is a fine thing to say. But I wonder how many of his followers will be able to parse the meaning of it?
In response to the ruling, a hissy fit was thrown, a certain toddler was heard saying that 'I don't need the IEEPA!' and set all tariffs to 10%, which is a great reduction for lots of countries and an increase for some.
Also from the NBC article: "The decision does not affect all of Trump's tariffs, leaving in place ones he imposed on steel and aluminum using different laws, for example. But it upends his tariffs in two categories. One is country-by-country or “reciprocal” tariffs, which range from 34% for China to a 10% baseline for the rest of the world. The other is a 25% tariff Trump imposed on some goods from Canada, China and Mexico for what the administration said was their failure to curb the flow of fentanyl."
It looks like the $175 billion that has been paid by importers could be subject to refunds, we'll see what happens. It's going to be a huge mess trying to pry that money out of the Treasury, regardless.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/supreme-court-blocks-trumps-emergency-tariffs-billions-in-refunds-may-be-owed/
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-strikes-trumps-tariffs-major-blow-president-rcna244827
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supreme-court-tells-trump-no-on-tariff-power-grab_n_6925ab7ae4b063285310b10f |
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| I just finished a very interesting book: Hench, by Natalie Zina Walshchots |
[Feb. 12th, 2026|09:29 pm]
Obstructionist Husband
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I started re-reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld series in December as a distraction, but decided I needed a break. Hench was recommended to Russet a while back, and it sounded interesting. I was fortunate to be able to snag a copy in my ebook sales within the last week or so and read it.
The book follows perhaps about a year in the life of Anna, who at the beginning of the book is getting short-term jobs at a temp agency doing various jobs for supervillains. They're called Henches, doing things like filing, data entry, driving (bonus if you're a certified stunt driver), etc. Muscle roles are handled through a different agency and they are called Meat, and are paid more and get free medical - if you don't mind the medical care being provided by veterinarians and medical school dropouts and doctors who've lost their licenses.
Anna is excellent with spreadsheets and data analysis and lands a pretty good gig that looks like it might go long-term, maybe even permanent!, until a superhero casually back-hands her across a room and her leg gets multiple compound fractures. While she's recovering, she starts thinking about ways to add up the damage and lives lost that the "heroes" cause with such casual and callous disregard - and planning how to make them pay!
It was an excellent read, and I came very close to finishing it in a day. Had I only known that I had about four pages to go....
Anyway, interesting perspective on the hero/villain situation. The book contains a short story titled Meat, and a sequel to Hench is coming out in early May, titled Villain. I'm quite looking forward to it. I haven't pre-purchased it yet, but am thinking about it. The short story distorted the apparent page count of the main story, or I would have finished it in the same day that I started it.
I found it to be well-written and very engaging. She has an excellent style for illustrating area color of The Big East Coast City. Her descriptions of some of the violence, especially Anna's final revenge may be somewhat disturbing, but that's also the point of the book - it's intended to illustrate that full-power superhero/villain fights cause a lot of carnage, and bystanders are injured or killed in gruesome ways.
This is Natalie's first novel. She's previously written two books of poetry, one of which has won a prize. She's a Torontanian. I'd love to see some of her poetry, but those books are not available through the Apple Bookstore, I'll have to check other sources and see if I can get ahold of them.
EDIT: big shout-outs to the book being very inclusive on LGBT and neurodivergency. This is something that the author is very involved in. |
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| "You don't turn the Titanic around overnight." Thus spake the Vice-President. |
[Feb. 11th, 2026|09:33 pm]
Obstructionist Husband
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People think Biden was a gaff-machine. His successor has proven that he's an imbecile, and his standby is little better.
While talking about the economy, a year into their reign, he uttered the above line at a stop in Toledo, Ohio.
Sorry, Captain Mascara. Your first year is largely coasting on the economy inherited from your predecessor. EXCEPT EVEN YOU GUYS MANAGED TO SCREW THAT UP. If your boss and you had done absolutely nothing, the economy would be ticking away quite nicely on all cylinders. Instead, you morons imposed tariffs to "bring back manufacturing" and we've lost 68,000 manufacturing jobs. That worked really well. You promised to lower grocery prices, then had to admit 'That's really hard, don't think we can do that.'
Bunch of utter morons.
But hey! One things going well: presidential graft is at an all-time high!
https://newrepublic.com/post/205567/jd-vance-compares-america-titanic |
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| Moderna says FDA refuses to review its application for experimental flu shot |
[Feb. 11th, 2026|08:51 am]
Obstructionist Husband
|
Moderna developed a new flu vaccine using RNA technology that was going to be the framework for a combined Covid/flu shot - a twofer. Which would be really nice as a lot of people still die from both flu and covid, getting both shots at the same time would literally be a real life-saver.
From the article: "Moderna said the move is inconsistent with previous feedback from the agency from before it submitted the application and started phase three trials on the shot, called mRNA-1010. The drugmaker said it has requested a meeting with the FDA to “understand the path forward.”
Moderna noted that the agency did not identify any specific safety or efficacy issues with the vaccine, but instead objected to the study design, despite previously approving it. The company added that the move won’t impact its 2026 financial guidance. (Moderna stock fell 7% in after-hours trading)
Moderna’s jab showed positive phase three data last year, meeting all of the trial goals. At the time, Moderna said the stand-alone flu shot was key to its efforts to advance a combination vaccine targeting both influenza and Covid-19."
What I absolutely love is that The Orange Idiot launched Project Warp Speed which spearheaded the development of RNA vaccines during Covid and saved untold lives, ignoring the irony of his quack treatment musings on live TV. This is an extension of that. And now people think that RNA vaccines reprogram their genes, and science is being overridden by what these idiots have done to the country.
I expect Moderna will just go to their European branch and have them give it to the EU vaccine review board, and tell the USA 'No vaccine for you!'
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/10/moderna-fda-flu-shot.html
https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/02/11/1219230/moderna-says-fda-refuses-to-review-its-application-for-experimental-flu-shot |
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| Some quotes that I've gathered over the years about politics and stuff in general |
[Feb. 8th, 2026|08:35 pm]
Obstructionist Husband
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I started collecting these decades ago. Amazing how apt many are and from people who have been dead decades, if not centuries.
* * * * *
Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. -Frank Wilhoit
They are dismantling the sleeping middle class. More and more people are becoming poor. We are their cattle. We are being bred for slavery. -They Live (movie), 1989
We are each entitled to our own opinion, but no one is entitled to his own facts. -- Patrick Moynihan
The problem in our country isn't with books being banned, but with people no longer reading. You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them. -- Ray Bradbury
The hands that help are better far than the lips that pray. -- Robert G. Ingersoll
We all live in a state of ambitious poverty. -- Decimus Junius Juvenalis
Many more under the cut...
( Read more...Collapse ) |
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| The Association for Computing Machinery has made their entire publishing library open-access! |
[Feb. 7th, 2026|01:42 pm]
Obstructionist Husband
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This is a really great thing! The ACM is one of the premier organizations for computer science, and for them to open up their publication library to open access is an incredibly huge deal.
In their statement released in mid-December, they announced:
We are pleased to share an important milestone for our field. Beginning January 2026, all ACM publications and related artifacts in the ACM Digital Library will be made open access. This change reflects the long-standing and growing call across the global computing community for research to be more accessible, more discoverable, and more reusable.
By transitioning to open access, ACM is supporting a publishing environment where:
Authors retain the intellectual property to their Work- All ACM authors retain the copyright to their published work while ACM remains committed to defending those Works against copyright and integrity related violations.
Published Work Will Benefit from Broader visibility and impact- Research will be freely available to anyone in the world, increasing readership, citations, and real-world application.
Students, educators, and researchers everywhere benefit- Whether at well-resourced institutions or in emerging research communities, everyone will have direct access to the full breadth of ACM-published work.
Innovation accelerates- Open access fosters collaboration, transparency, and cumulative progress, strengthening the advancement of computing as a discipline.
The world of research publication is tending towards increased lockdown and paywalls, plus corruption by AI slop. The ACM is fighting that by opening their doors and ensuring their authors maintain control of their IP. This is an incredibly cool thing!
There's a cool library tool that we use occasionally called Hathi Trust. They archive old material and they're a great reference place to find stuff. I was looking to borrow a book for one of our instructors, and Hathi had it online! You can download it! ONE PAGE AT A TIME. The book is 90 years old, in the public domain, and I can't find a free copy of it. So I literally started downloading it. One page at a time. I have the free time at work.
It costs $6,000 a year to become a member of Hathi. A YEAR. You have to be a pretty good-sized library to pay that, or have special needs to justify that outlay.
Fortunately my story has two happy endings. I was able to find a physical copy of the book, the United States Department of the Interior Library sent me a copy! But there's an even better ending. I was looking for something in our archive, sitting in the corner, pulling stuff down and buzzing through boxes. I happened to glance down and saw a three-ring binder in an area that I knew didn't contain what I was looking for. but the label on the binder caught my eye.
It was the same name as the book that the instructor had requested!
I pull the binder, and it was a facsimile of the book! So now I'll be able to scan the pages that I hadn't yet downloaded and assemble my own ebook! I had already assembled two sections of what I'd downloaded into ebooks: PDFs combined make HUGE ebooks!
Weirdest luck I've had in a long time. And no, it was not cataloged in our system.
https://dl.acm.org/openaccess
https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/12/19/168225/acm-to-make-its-entire-digital-library-open-access-starting-january-2026 |
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| The ISS is scheduled to be deorbited in '31. A lawmaker wants to push it up to a higher orbit. |
[Feb. 6th, 2026|11:40 pm]
Obstructionist Husband
|
In 2022, the bill that funded NASA extended funding for the International Space Station to 2030, and that was it. NASA started researching ways to end the life of the ISS at that point, and decided that a controlled deorbit was the best bet: lower it to a planned orbit where the increased friction with Earth's atmosphere will eventually cause re-entry and for it to crash into the Pacific Ocean's "space graveyard". That way it's controlled and theoretically won't hit land, potentially causing some really significant damage. The station would be shut-down in 2030 and the deorbit burn would happen in 2031, I'm a little unclear when it would actually re-enter the atmosphere.
Well, that plan might end up being scratched because of an effort being led by California Democratic Representative George Whiteside.
He's on the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (vice-ranking member) and on the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics (according to Wikipedia). His career has involved a lot of the space industry, and he's worked at NASA, but the roles seem to be in management and as a director. His Masters degree is in GIS and remote sensing, not in engineering.
He attached a rider to the new NASA funding bill, currently in committee, for them to study boosting the ISS to a parking orbit rather than deorbiting the thing. He thinks it can have a longer life.
( Read more...Collapse ) |
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| Out shopping this evening, and... |
[Feb. 6th, 2026|10:15 pm]
Obstructionist Husband
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Amongst the things that I was purchasing was a set of replacement heads/brushes for my electric toothbrush.
The cashier rings them up and then, since it popped up on her register screen, ASKS ME IF I WANT THE PROTECTION PLAN FOR THEM.
WTF?!
We were both quite puzzled over that one. What exactly would a protection plan cover? If they wear out, I can get them replaced? THEY'RE EFFING DESIGNED TO WEAR OUT!
When I told it to Russet just now, she said 'Do they offer a protection plan on these paper plates?'
That would make just about as much sense. |
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