The solution to the pandemic no one is listening to

 Huge props to this man, who has been right all along.And there's more to this story that's not being told, that makes me very disappointed in my country and in the university that employs ...

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Mohammed Shawkat Salameh

Column by Gershon Baskin, which I won't post on Facebook, but want to bookmark:There is a moral code in Judaism that states: hakam l’horgkha hashkem l’horgo – roughly translated means “kill or be killed.” If Salameh had been killed immediately by the Border Police by their first shots while fending him off from Elmaliah and protecting themselves and others from being stabbed, we would not have...

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Gilgamesh and the Bible

Sometime during 2020 when I was spending my time holed up at home, avoiding COVID by watching random YouTube videos, I discovered Peter Pringle, a musician who recreates ancient instruments and languages (making best guesses as far as pronunciation, I'm assuming). He did a stunning piece, from the Epic of Gilgamesh in Sumerian. There's something very captivating about this, and the comment are...

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Tom Bihn Organic Cotton Truck Review

Here is a review of the Tom Bihn Truck, made, for the first time, in "domestic organic cotton canvas — grown, woven, and dyed right here in the U.S.A."  I was provided a review copy of this bag for free, in exchange for my feedback.It is currently offered in Natural (undyed), Santa Cruz (electric purple-blue), and Talus (dark grey/pastel black). I requested the "natural", and somehow thought...

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Patterns

Two virus-worthy stories in this week's news:Feeling a sense of deja-vu in the rush to cancel flights. We went through this in early 2020 (by the first flight cancellation, SARS-CoV-2 was already spreading by community transmission throughout the US), again for the delta variant, and now B.1.1.529.* It's hard to see a country-specific flight ban having any effect, but it doesn't seem like a bad idea...

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A “universal” flu vaccine could bring one of the world’s longest pandemics to an end

 Fascinating New Yorker article about developing a better flu vaccine, by Matthew Hutson:Some viruses are siloed within a single species. But the flu migrates easily among several species, and this adds to its recombinatory range. “There are hundreds of warm-blooded animals that are routinely infected with flu virus,” Taubenberger, who is the chief of the Viral Pathogenesis and Evolution...

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Tray Bien Review

A review of the Tray Bien, which was provided to me by Tom Bihn for free in return for my feedback.It's a tray, covered in fabric. Simple, but useful. It was designed "to hold and display Organizer Pouches in our Seattle Factory Showroom — and visitors to the Showroom always asked if they could purchase the tray itself. Now they can: the Tray Bien is at home as a desk or drawer organizer."The...

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My Very Long Review of Tom Bihn's Old School Carry-All

I've been a customer of the Tom Bihn company for quite a while, and one of the more fascinating parts of following their product line is seeing the creativity of new designs (or re-imagined vintage ones). In the category of small totes/bags, there have been quite a few fun products, including the OSCA, or Old School Carry-All. I was provided a review copy of this bag for free, in exchange for my feedback.To...

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