Ebola Realities (Updated)

In the video below the fold, Bill Whittle explains the Basic Reproduction Number — and more. Please watch the entire video before commenting:

What If Baghdad Falls?

(If you must discuss Ebola, please scroll down)

Patrick Poole has some thoughts on the matter. The first two points (Please read all links in the excerpt below):

Yet Another Ebola Case In Dallas

Confirmed: another healthcare worker who took care of pathogen-carrying, pathogen-spreading criminal Thomas Eric Duncan has Ebola.

Now there are two cases from an individual index patient. An outbreak is not contained until there are fewer than two additional cases from any one individual index case.

As if the above isn't bad enough...No hospital 'protocols' for Ebola treatment: US nurses' group.

Meanwhile, some 4500 West Africans with visas enter the United States every month. How many new index cases are among them?

Important additional reading...Ebola Preparation ‘Will bankrupt my hospital!’ Director Reacts to CDC Prep Call.

Recommended Reading

See Midnight in Obama's Garden of Good and Evil by Roger L. Simon at PJ Media. Excerpt:

...[C]onsider this: Would the United States today be doing anything at all about the Islamic State — now for the first time waving its black flag above Kobane on the Turkish-Syrian border, on the brink of a massacre of its Kurdish population, while still besieging Baghdad — had ISIS not bothered to behead publicly a few Westerners?...

[...]

Good and evil are difficult concepts for everybody, especially we products of the modernist educational system. But we ignore them at our peril. Otherwise, we really are at Midnight.

Read it all HERE.

Columbus Day 2014

(If you must have contemporary politics, please scroll down)

Unlike the Seattle School Board, I won't replace the Columbus Day holiday with Indigenous Peoples Day. Besides, since 2008, Native American Heritage Day has already been designated as the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Short video about Christopher Columbus:


Why did Columbus set sail in the first place? Not mentioned in the above video:

...Every schoolchild knows, or used to know, that in 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and discovered America while searching for a new, westward sea route to Asia. But why was he searching for a new route to Asia? Because the fall of Constantinople to the Muslims in 1453 closed the trade routes to the East. This was devastating for European tradesmen, who had until then traveled to Asia for spices and other goods by land. Columbus’s voyage was trying to ease the plight of these merchants by bypassing the Muslims altogether and making it possible for Europeans to reach India by sea.

Some poetry for today:

Columbus

BEHIND him lay the gray Azores,
Behind the Gates of Hercules;
Before him not the ghost of shores,
Before him only shoreless seas.
The good mate said: "Now we must pray,
For lo! the very stars are gone.
Brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say?"
"Why, say, 'Sail on! sail on! and on!' "

"My men grow mutinous day by day;
My men grow ghastly wan and weak."
The stout mate thought of home; a spray
Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.
"What shall I say, brave Admiral, say,
If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"
"Why, you shall say at break of day,
'Sail on! sail on! and on!' "

They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,
Until at last the blanched mate said:
"Why, now not even God would know
Should I and all my men fall dead.
These very winds forget their way,
For God from these dead seas is gone.
Now speak, brave Admiral, speak and say" --
He said, "Sail on! sail on! and on!"

They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate:
"This mad sea shows his teeth tonight.
He curls his lip, he lies in wait,
With lifted teeth, as if to bite!
Brave Admiral, say but one good word:
What shall we do when hope is gone?"
The words leapt like a leaping sword:
"Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"

Then pale and worn, he kept his deck,
And peered through darkness. Ah, that night
Of all dark nights! And then a speck --
A light! a light! at last a light!
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!
It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.
He gained a world; he gave that world
Its grandest lesson: "On! sail on!"
— Joaquin Miller

Another Ebola Case in Dallas, Texas (With Addendum)

(Two posts today. Please scroll down. The post below is a musical interlude, a much-needed break from politics)

One of the Texas Presbyterian Hospital nurses who took care of Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, Patient Zero here in the United States, has tested positive on a preliminary test and is in isolation. Thomas Eric Duncan died of Ebola on October 8.

Addendum: The protocols can't be sufficient, if someone following them gets infected despite them.

Musical Interlude

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

Arwen's Vigil by ThePianoGuys:

About Arwen's Vigil

Nincompoopery Poll

(Nincompoopery — and worse — abounds! This edition of "Nincompoopery" offers specific links, and readers have the option of taking a poll as to which story they find the most outrageous. Discussion available in the comments section)

Links to read:

ONE: Department of Homeland Security official took bribes in cash and egg rolls

TWO: Link between Enterovirus D68 and illegal immigrant children? See Polio-like illness claims fifth life in U.S. and Human rhinoviruses and enteroviruses in influenza-like illness in Latin America.

THREE: Chicago pension crisis three times worse than just 10 years ago

FOUR: Teacher's wife phones in bomb threat to get him out of NYC charter-school staff meeting

FIVE: Imam at Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, and other prominent Muslims here in the United States will not condemn ISIS


Please cast your vote in the following poll, which closes on Tuesday:

survey tools

Enterovirus D68

Please adjust the video to begin at time marker 6:07 and continue to watch and listen through at least time marker 12:40.



Related articles:

1. Doctors Target Virus as Link to Solve Polio-Like Illness

2. Human rhinoviruses and enteroviruses in influenza-like illness in Latin America

Your thoughts?

Ebola Quotation Of The Day (With Addendum)

By Aesop, the owner of the blog Raconteur Report:

[T]he hospital in [Madrid] was using BL2 respiratory protection for a BL4 virus, and the nursing union in Madrid sent letters to the authorities months back telling them that if anyone was treated for Ebola in Spain, the hospitals wouldn't be adequately prepared, and that people were going to get infected as a result of inadequate equipment.

Short of hitting them upside the head with a tire iron, the medical workers did everything possible to tell the authorities how badly they were screwing the pooch.

The response from those authorities was to send the dog flowers afterwards, and point out the dog was asking for it.

Are we doing any better here in the United States?

[with a hat tip to FreeThinke for the above graphic]

ADDENDUM: Please read What's Coming Next, also by blogger Aesop.

Another Ebola Case In Texas? (Updated)

In Frisco, Texas, an affluent suburb of Dallas. I think.

There was a massive local response. Details below the fold.

Tales From The Classroom

("Tales from the Classroom" is a feature posted occasionally here at this blog.  All tales are true and present matters about which I have personal knowledge.  Note: If you must have politics or discuss Ebola, please scroll down to other posts)

The video below presents information about autistics who have found a way to communicate via RPM. I have one such student in my class this year and refer to him as "the letter board kid" in casual conversations with my friends. He's brilliant — but different, of course.

I have long stated that my personal hero is Annie Sullivan, so it doesn't surprise those who know me that I like to work with those who have learning differences. Indeed, over the years I have found that those who are different bring something new to the table and often have unique insights.

Please watch the following short video, which clearly shows that not all with autism are hopeless cases:


Ah, the mysterious human brain!

Obama's Ebola Negligence

A team of scientists at Northeastern University in Boston have used air travel information to predict where the deadly Ebola virus could reach in the next three weeks 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2783332/Husband-Spanish-nurse-contracted-Ebola-quarantine-health-authorities-admit-DON-T-KNOW-contracted-virus.html#ixzz3FSXk1EBf
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

From the Daily Mail:

...Professor Alessandro Vespignani of Northeastern University in Boston, who led the research [about Ebola-spread patterns], said: 'This is not a deterministic list, it's about probabilities – but those probabilities are growing for everyone.

'It's just a matter of who gets lucky and who gets unlucky.

'Air traffic is the driver.'...

By not banning incoming flights from the Ebola Hot Zone in Africa, Obama will become Murderer-In-Chief if there is an Ebola pandemic here in the United States.

Information, Please!

Where was that Spanish nurse who just tested positive for Ebola vacationing? Can anybody here ferret out that information? Thank you.

Deadly Dumbing Down

The result of abandoning the proper teaching of geography?

With a hat tip to Barnhardt:

“He said he was from Liberia, not Africa…”

From this thread over at Lucianne.com. Emphases mine.

Reply 29 – Posted by: gone2pot, 10/3/2014 5:50:33 PM (No. 10030644)
It´s us. We are the reason for the panic. We vote for it, educate our kids with it, watch it on TV, “like” and “follow” it, and listen to its music. Here´s anecdotal evidence; my wife´s hospital is caddy corner to Dallas Presby, home of the ebola incident. The docs at her hospital left Presby to start a new, less screwed up system. So, they know Presby and keep in contact with former colleagues. Well, according to the old Presby docs, the thirty-something Dallas Presby nurse´s answer to the CDC was, “He said he was from Liberia, not Africa.” So, next time you want to believe the tin foil hat conspiracy theory answer, remember instead that we ARE that stupid and our stupidity is why we create the cases for panic.

Is the above anecdote true? I don't know, but it could be.  And I don't mean only with regard to the aforementioned nurse!  It's not out of the question that a doctor wouldn't know that Liberia is in Africa.

Sunday Graveyard Humor

With a hat tip to The Last Refuge:

Another graphic below the fold (hat tip to The People's Cube):

Open Thread

So, what's on your mind?

Here is your chance to vent, but please observe the guidelines listed below:

We welcome civil dialogue at Always on Watch. We will delete comments that include any of the following:
1. Any use of profanity or abusive language
2. Off topic comments and spam
3. Use of personal invective
4. We do not respond to anonymous comments
My contributions to this open thread: Leicester KFC customer shocked as he is refused hand-wipe because of branch's halal policy and U.S. tax dollars pay for U.S. mosque security upgrades.

Breaking News For D.C.

(Two posts today. Please scroll down for the earlier post today)

Patient Being Tested for Ebola at D.C.'s Howard University Hospital: Patient had traveled to Nigeria recently; is being isolated and tested

Second patient with Ebola-like symptoms in D.C. region

The Islamic State (ISIS) Vs. The Quran

Click directly on the image to enlarge it:

The above verses are, in essence, from the "new testament" portion of the Quran. See Medinan sura and The Meccan and Medinan Surahs.

The IS is the authentic Islam. Disbelieve that at your own peril.

Deadly Political Correctness? (UPDATED)

What didn't the profile of this Liberian national, visiting family and friends here in the United States (not a business trip or the like) result in immediate quarantine when he first appeared at a hospital in Dallas?

Ebola victim was originally SENT HOME from hospital with antibiotics before the deadly virus was diagnosed after he had mixed with other people for TWO DAYS

Also see A Hospital Sent the US's First Ebola Patient Home for Two Days After He Was Sick. Excerpt from the latter:

"We're trying to identify all the people who may have had contact with people while he could have been infectious," Frieden said. "Once identified, they'll be monitored for 21 days after for Ebola. If they have the fever, the same criteria are used."

How many are quarantined so far in Dallas and elsewhere in the United States?

Why are we allowing into the United States any flights from the Ebola Zone of Africa?

Additional reading:

1. Ebola Virus Symptoms and Prevention Tips

2. EBOLA in America (Mustang's site)

UPDATES

1. Patient in isolation in Hawaii (few details at the time of this posting)

2. ‘Hero’ Ebola Doctor Testimony Confirms Ebola Can Spread By Touch

3. VIDEO: NIH Director Admits Possible Ebola Could Mutate, Go Airborne [possible, but unlikely]

4. White House: No Ebola travel restrictions

5. Extensive report by ABC News, October 2, 2014

6. Ebola Expert Tells CNN We Can’t Ban Flights From Liberia Because Of Slavery