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Breaking The Line by Patrick Ems  

Breaking The Line by Patrick Ems

Patrick Ems: Photos

 
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pink by Detlef Knapp  

pink by Detlef Knapp

Detlef Knapp: Photos

 
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London by Sunset  

Waterford_Man posted a photo:

Tonight's offerings are late, mainly as I shot close to 100 here tonight.

Thanks for all the views, Please check out my other photos and albums.

 
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r0B0t: Outsourced to robots - Bangkok Post  

Bangkok Post

Outsourced to robots Bangkok Post "As our manufacturing processes and the products we produce become more technologically advanced, automation is playing an increasingly important role in our operations," a Foxconn spokesman told Asia Focus by email. The workers who stayed are those ...

 
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EMBANKMENT PLACE  

www.javierayala-photography.com posted a photo:

© All rights reserved .
© Todos derechos reservados.
© Alle Rechte vorbehalten

London - England

 
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…  

 MattyJC posted a photo:

 
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Violence, vandals and vomit: London's naughtiest tech Tube stations revealed  

Here's what really goes down at Old Street after dark

New figures from Transport for London reveal just how much naughtiness goes on at the Tube stations nearest to London's technology firms.…

 
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Should people over 40 work a three-day week?  
While some work is good for your brain, doing more than 60 hours a week into your 40s is worse than doing nothing, according to a recent survey

Working full-time after the age of 40 is not good for the brain. Doing more than three days a week once you reach this age can damage your ability to think. A paper from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research says that, while working up to 30 hours a week is good for the brains of the over-40s, do any more than that and it goes downhill. If you were to work 60 hours a week, your cognitive ability would be worse than that of someone who didn't work at all. Still, on the plus side, you would have more money than them.

The researchers used data from more than 3,000 men and 3,500 women who completed the national Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (Hilda) survey. The survey tested the ability to read words aloud, recite lists of numbers and match letters and numbers in a speed trial. Testing reading is a measure of the “knowing” part of ability, says lead author Prof Colin McKenzie, while the other two tests capture fluid intelligence the “thinking” part of ability that includes memory, abstract reasoning and executive reasoning.

Continue reading...  
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Fumarole  

Full Text:

Filtered sunlight gives off a blue aura inside a fumarole -- an ice tube formed around a volcanic steam vent -- atop Mount Erebus in Antarctica, the Earth's southernmost active volcano. The National Science Foundation runs the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP). In addition to maintaining three U.S. research stations on the continent, USAP supports research projects in an array of scientific disciplines including, for example, aeronomy and astrophysics, biology and medicine, geology and geophysics, glaciology, and ocean and climate systems. Outreach such as the Antarctic Artists and Writers program and education programs are also supported. For more information about USAP, visit the program's website here.

Image credit: National Science Foundation U.S. Antarctic Program; photo by Aaron Spitzer, Raytheon Polar Services Company (1990)

 
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Study maps hidden water pollution in US coastal areas  

Full Text:

Researchers have uncovered previously hidden sources of ocean pollution along more than 20 percent of America's coastlines. The study offers the first-ever map of underground drainage systems that connect fresh groundwater and seawater, and also pinpoints sites where drinking water is most vulnerable to saltwater intrusion now and in the future. While scientists have long known that fresh water and seawater mix unseen below ground, until now they hadn't been able to pinpoint exactly where it was happening, or how much, except in limited locations.

Image credit: Image courtesy of The Ohio State University

 
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Mayfair Barbers  

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We've Already Used Up Earth's Resources For 2016 -- And It's Only August  
We've failed again.
It's less than eight months into 2016 and the ominous day is already nearly upon us: Earth Overshoot Day, previously known as ...

Read more: Environment, Natural Resources, Ecological Debt Day, Earth Overshoot Day, Green News

 
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City of Blinding Lights  

ShutterJack posted a photo:

"Yeah, the city of blinding lights
The more you know, the less you feel
Some pray for what others steal
Blessing's not just for the ones who kneel, luckily"
-U2

Having to go through old photos... this one from February in NYC

 
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He's in Charge of More Than a Million Jobs. Can He Handle It?  
Suresh Prabhu built a good-guy reputation in a corrupt country. Here's how he oversees the eighth-largest employer on the planet.  
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China's moon rover dies of extreme old age, after two-and-a-half years  

Yutu aka Jade Rabbit ground to a halt years ago, but is now pining for the craters

China never fails in its high-profile scientific endeavours, so news that its Yutu lunar rover has stopped functioning is being spun as a triumph for its space program.…

 
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http://www.npr.org/2016/08/07/489061666/tech-companies-embrace-election-season?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=technology  
Tech Companies Embrace Election Season  

More than ever before, U.S. elections are a business opportunity. Social media companies are capitalizing on attention spent on the candidates.

 
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http://www.npr.org/2016/08/06/489002713/how-the-vcr-began-americas-love-of-on-demand-content?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=technology  
How The VCR Began America's Love Of On-Demand Content  

As the last VCR factory in Japan closes down production, we take a look at the rise and fall of the videocassette recorder and the culture it created.

 
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r0B0t: Xbox One S review a beautiful upgrade, but only for 4K fanatics - The Guardian  

Inquirer

Xbox One S review a beautiful upgrade, but only for 4K fanatics The Guardian Microsoft's first major upgrade to console offers a sleek new chassis and 4K Ultra HD features but do you need them? Xbox One S is 40% smaller than its predecessor and has a striking new 'robot white' colour scheme. Photograph: Microsoft. Keith Stuart. Just Cause 3 revisited: has performance got better or worse?Eurogamer.net Xbox One S 500GB & 1TB bundles coming to the UK in OctoberDevelop Best UK Xbox One deals: Grab an Xbox One S with this week's best dealsAlphr Inquirer -Business Wire (press release) -Polygon -Daily Star all 102 news articles »

 
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River Thames - Sunset  

Nigel Snape posted a photo:

3 shot panorama looking upstream from Tower Bridge

 
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Social Science Sunset  

Photogryphy posted a photo:

Looks like it belongs on corporate literature.

 
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Many Commonly Used Drugs Are Useless  
Some medications are life saving. I am so thankful for the trusty med that tames my atrial fibrillation.

Many meds are helpful -- demonstrating superiority to placebo in ways that are clearly clinically significant and life enhancing.

But many (perhaps most) drugs are probably no more than very expensive placebos. Patients get prescriptions from doctors when their symptoms are most severe and improve with time and positive expectation, not because the med is really effective.

Doctors and patients need independent, objective information on drug efficacy and risks.

The multibillion dollar pharma marketing machine can turn even the most useless and harmful drugs into financial blockbusters. Doctors and patients need independent, objective information on drug efficacy and risks.

This is the first of a series of blogs aimed at setting the record straight. Dick Bijl is President of the International Society Of Drug Bulletins (ISDB), a wonderful organization representing 53 national drug bulletins, each charged with presenting the best available data on the pluses and minuses of different medications. Drug bulletins are a source of truth to help patients and doctors see through the fudged misinformation generated by ubiquitous Pharma propaganda.

Dick writes: "Let's use the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) as a typical example of why and how medication use has become so excessive."

Elderly men often experience problems urinating -- weak or intermittent urinary stream, straining, hesitancy, terminal dribbling, incomplete emptying, urgency, frequency, incontinence, nocturia and/or post-micturition dribbling. These symptoms, so common in aging, provide a lucrative target market for pharma.

In the past, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) was regarded as the most important cause of urinary symptoms. Nowadays, evidence confirming a link between LUTS and prostatic enlargement is regarded as weak. This hasn't prevented approval of many drugs for the treatment of BPH by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The bar for approval is set very low. Drug companies have only to show that their medication has a statistically significant advantage when compared to placebo. The FDA and EMA don't require that the med achieve what is ever so much more important- clinically relevant improvement as evidenced by patients actually also feeling and doing better when taking the drug. Small statistical blips are all it takes to get a drug approved.

There is a huge difference between statistical significance and clinical relevance. For example, the International Prostatic Symptoms Score is often used to quantify the treatment effects of urinary drugs. The IPSS scale goes from 0-35 with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms. A difference of ≥3 points = some effect; ≥5 points = moderate effect; ≥8 pt. = clear effect). In practice, it turns out that patients can't detect improvements if they are less than three points.

The results of clinical trials have shown that most drugs used to treat BPH are statistically more efficacious than placebo, but have no real clinical relevance. Because their improvement was less than three points, patients will not detect any difference between these drugs and placebo.

The same lack of clinical relevance holds for drug combinations. A combination of an alpha blocker and a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor or an alpha blocker and an antimuscarinic drug often results in statistically significant decreases in symptoms compared to placebo or to the individual drugs given alone. But here also, the differences were of such small magnitude that patients will not detect them.

Only in a small minority of clinical trials was the decrease in symptom score more than 3 points.
The lack of efficacy of BPS meds supports a policy of watchful waiting instead of starting drug therapy. The natural course of LUTS is quite favorable and in the majority of patients the severity of the symptoms will not increase.

Most (or all) of the relief patients feel taking the med is probably due to natural improvement or placebo effect, not to the med itself -- but they don't know this and will often misattribute benefit to the drug.

And almost all the drug studies have been performed in secondary and tertiary care. The results of these studies can't simply be generalized to primary care because it is not plausible that these patients have the same characteristics and therefore the same prognosis.

It's not rational to prescribe drugs that do not improve functioning more than placebo. Use of medication for LUTS should be discouraged since it is no better than placebo, but adds the risk of side effects. Counseling and re-assurance should be considered first.

Informed patients will be much less willing to take a drug that carries the risk of side effects, while offering at best only a very slight improvement in symptoms.

Whenever it is decided to start drug therapy, the best choice are alpha blockers. Side effects should be taken into account: fatigue, decreased vision, severe postoperative ophthalmological side effects or complications, orthostatic hypotension leading to headache and dizziness.
5-alpha reductase inhibitors should not be regarded as an alternative because of their small efficacy and side effects like gynecomastia, erection and ejaculation disorders, decreased libido, impotence, and breast cancer.

The antimuscarinics do not have a positive balance of efficacy and they have anticholinergic side effects (e.g., dry mouth, abdominal pain and constipation). Phosphodiesterase inhibitors have been introduced in recent years but studied insufficiently in comparative studied to give them a place. Combination-therapy should not be given because it does not have an added value related to clinical relevance but does add side effects.

We conclude that the natural course of LUTS in men is generally favorable; the pathophysiology of LUTS is not clear; the relation between prostatic volume and urinary complaints is weak; the mechanisms of action of meds is uncertain; and positive effects are small in placebo-controlled studies.

Therefore, primarily counseling and non-drug treatment are indicated and drug-treatment should be discouraged. In case a drug is needed only an alpha blocker is indicated, but this often just a very expensive placebo-therapy."

Thanks Dick for this illuminating analysis. Before considering any med useful, we should subtract placebo effect from reported efficacy- and also consider the considerable risk of med side effects and Pharma's ridiculously high prices.

In a rational world, people would be taking many fewer drugs, for much clearer indications, with benefits always balanced by consideration of risks, and with prices reflecting real value.

Medication use is now much more governed by pharma's commercial interest than by what is best for the patient.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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r0B0t: Best Jobs at the Olympics: Guy with Red Flag at Trap-Shooting Competition  

Nominee: Bearded, seated, red-flag-holding man.

Where to find him: Women's trap shooting final.

Job requirements: Wave a red flag whenever a trap shooter fails to hit the clay target. Sit without fidgeting for long periods of time. Look good in a hat.

Why this might be the best job at the Olympics: You have a very important role. You are the official arbiter of success or failure in trap shooting. There would be no trap-shooting events without you, the guy with the red flag. When a shooter misses the clay target, it's up to you to raise your red flag in a confident yet nonjudgmental manner. Your flag may not be bright red, but it's red enough.

As the guy with the red flag, you will get a lot of screen time. Your friends and family will have ample opportunity to see you on NBC's online trap-shooting livestream. “Look,” they will exclaim, “there he is, my good friend and/or relative, the guy with the red flag who's indicating that the woman with the gun just missed!”

Unlike other Olympic functionaries, the red flag guy is occasionally allowed to show some flair. Here, for example, he gives a slight nod of his head as he lowers his red flag. That's so red flag guy.

If you are lucky enough to be the red flag guy, you get to sit very close to the action, in your own chair, and don't have to worry about whether or not the person sitting next to you smells bad, because there is no one sitting next to you. Look at you, red flag guy, sitting there in the back-right of this clip, your red flag between your legs. You are the boss of trap shooting, in your own chill way.

Also, you get to wear a hat.

Why this might not be the best job at the Olympics: The job is sort of a downer, given that red flag guy springs into action to call out an athlete's failures. It's also fairly repetitive—flag up, flag down; flag up, flag down. Also, you have a lot of responsibility. You can't ever lose focus, or get up to get a Coke, lest you fail to raise your red flag at the appropriate moment. You also have to remember to bring the red flag every morning, and it seems like it would be easy to leave it at home if you are in a rush.

How this could be a better job at the Olympics: The red flag guy should have two flags: the standard red flag to indicate a missed shot, and one that says “good job” that he can wave to indicate a hit. Also, instead of a folding chair, the red flag guy should sit in a recliner.

Verdict: I'll give the job of “red flag guy” 3 out of 3 points for exposure, because it's hard to be more visible than the red flag guy at a trap-shooting competition. 2 out of 3 for enjoyment, because every day is a good day when your job entails sitting in a chair, wearing a cool hat, and waving a colorful flag. 1.5 out of 3 for enviability, because while he's cock of the walk today, at some point in the future the red flag guy will probably be replaced by a red flag robot. And 1 out of 1 in the category of “having a really good view.” 7.5 out of 10 for red flag guy. This is currently the best job at the Olympics.

Read more of Slate's Olympics coverage.

 
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Gathering of Birds and Photographers  

photo fiddler posted a photo:

Semipalmated sandpipers

 
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Capture the moment  

vgallova posted a photo:

 
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Sunset  

Jeppe Toustrup posted a photo:

 
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