HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021: High Pollution Watch

Last day 2020: View of Superstition Mountains from Downtown Mesa

Source: https://www.phoenixvis.net/site.aspx?site=supm1 

Image updated every 5 minutes

More

Links to other air quality sites 

https://www.maricopa.gov/1244/Air-Quality 

https://www.maricopa.gov/1643/Air-Quality-Status-and-Monitoring 

SEE WHERE AIR QUALITY MONITORS ARE LOCATED

http://gisweb.azdeq.gov/arcgis/emaps/?topic=monitors

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Air Quality Hourly Forecast | Phoenix

Updated On: 12/31/2020 - 10:06 AM

Thursday Forecast:

Alert: PM_2.5 High Pollution Advisory in effect for Thursday

 

Friday Forecast:

Alert: PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 High Pollution Advisories in effect for Friday

 

Saturday Forecast:

Alert: PM_2.5 High Pollution Watch in effect for Saturday

 

Forecast Discussion:

We’ve made it to the last day of the year, but we’re not out of the woods yet, in terms of air quality. With calm/light winds and temperatures dropping into the 40s tonight, weather conditions will be favorable for the build-up of PM_2.5 (fine particulates) from holiday-related fireplace usage and fireworks. A PM_2.5 High Pollution Advisory has been issued for today (New Year's Eve) since PM_2.5 is expected to exceed the federal health standard.

HIGH POLLUTION WATCH EXPLAINED

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=22ZkLyyTZRI&feature=youtu.be

Moreover, historically, New Year’s Day sees the highest PM_2.5 levels of the year. Given the calm and cold overnight weather conditions, a PM_2.5 High Pollution Advisory has been issued for tomorrow. PM_2.5 is forecast in the Unhealthy Air Quality Index (AQI) category. This means that “some members of the general public may experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects”(EPA). See the hourly forecast graphs for details in the timing of the highest PM_2.5 levels.

A PM₁₀ High Pollution Advisory has also been issued for New Year’s Day, but it is a mainly related to the anticipated high PM_2.5 levels.

For Saturday, a PM_2.5 High Pollution Watch is in effect. With continued calm and cool overnight weather conditions, there may be a potential for PM_2.5 to exceed the federal health standard again.

By Sunday, calm and cool overnight weather conditions will continue, but PM_2.5 is forecast back in the Moderate AQI category for now. More typical PM_2.5 patterns are expected by Monday again.

- M. Graves
ADEQ Meteorologist

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Air Quality

Posted on: December 30, 2020

High Pollution Advisory issued for Dec. 31 and Jan. 1

PHOENIX (December 30, 2020) – The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is issuing a particulate matter 2.5 (PM_2.5 - smoke) High Pollution Advisory (HPA) for December 31, 2020 and a PM₁₀ (dust)/PM_2.5 HPA for January 1, 2021 for Maricopa County, Arizona. These HPAs have been issued because particle pollutant levels are expected to exceed the federal health standard for PM₁₀ and PM_2.5.

 

The Maricopa County Air Quality Department (MCAQD) has declared a “No Burn Day” in Maricopa County and the following mandatory restrictions are in effect during the HPAs:

• Wood burning in residential fireplaces, chimineas, outdoor fire pits, and similar outdoor fires (including hotels and restaurants and individuals/businesses that have permits for open burning) is prohibited.
• Use of leaf blowers on governmental properties is prohibited. 
• Use of off-road vehicles is prohibited. 

 

People with heart or lung diseases, older adults, and children are most likely to be affected by particle pollution. Particulate matter less than or equal to 2.5 microns (PM_2.5) can travel deeply into the respiratory tract and cause short-term health effects such as eye, nose, throat, and lung irritation, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, and shortness of breath. Exposure to these fine particles can also affect lung function and worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease. 

 

Employers and Travel Reduction Program Transportation Coordinators are advised to activate their HPA Plans immediately. ADEQ further recommends that the general public limit outdoor activity while the HPAs are in effect, especially children and adults with

BACKGROUND

• High Pollution Advisory (HPA): An alert that notifies the public that the level of an air pollutant is expected to exceed the federal health standard.
• Particulate Matter: State and county agencies measure levels of particulate matter (PM) in the air. PM is extremely small solid particles and liquid droplets that circulate in air. PM comes from combustion (cars, industry, wood burning) or dust stirred up into the air. High levels of PM occur when air is especially stagnant or windy. Two types of PM are measured: PM₁₀, commonly called dust, refers to dust particles 10 microns or less, and PM_2.5, or soot particles, are 2.5 microns or less. For perspective, one strand of human hair is 70-100 microns in size.

CONTACTS

ADEQ provides a daily forecast for air quality and issues HPAs or High Pollution Watches when these conditions exist. Please visit azdeq.gov/PHOENIX/Forecast for tomorrow’s forecast or SUBSCRIBE to receive air quality forecasts via email and/or text message.
CONTACT:  ADEQ Public Information Officer - 602-540-8072 cell or pio@azdeq.gov

 

MCAQD’s mission is to improve the air of Maricopa County so customers, residents, and visitors can live, work, and play in a healthy environment. MCAQD is governed by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and follows air quality standards set forth by the federal Clean Air Act. For air quality information and resources, visit CleanAirMakeMore.com.
CONTACT:  Maria Bonilla - 602-506-7856 desk / 602-396-0527 cell or maria.bonilla@maricopa.gov

 
 

Big Ass Fans gets a boost from CDC endorsement

Ducks In Public Viewing: What You See Is What You Get

Two unrelated instances that say something (open to interpretations of course). Both are somewhat quirky in the sense that one largely goes un-noticed installed in a prominent place in front of the Main Street entrance to the City of Mesa's 8-story City Hall building that you can see here > 10 May 2016

New Series: Inter-Active Public Art #4 > QUACKERS @ City Hall



Let's have fun and play this with a straight-face, what you see is what you get or is it more, open to different interpretations?
It is remarkable that out of all the possible selections for a public bronze sculpture in front of Mesa City Hall by the cascading water that harks back to the pre-history origins of irrigation canals hand-dug by the indigenous people Hohokam and later exploited and advanced by the Mormon Pioneers who "founded" this city in 1878, what we get permanently installed in waymaking is this piece-of-work by an artist from Loveland, Colorado dedicated in 2004 . . . not a local artist and with no roots here where irrigation created rich agricultural lands fertile for early economic developments and expansion of suburban sprawl. A small child feeding crackers to two ducks. What are your interpretations of the piece?
Front-handed and back-handed dealings in City Hall antics? Or just what it is?

Here's the word-by-word description from the source indicated below:
This sculpture depicts a small boy holding a cracker toward a duck.
At the same time, the boy is holding a cracker behind his back that is being bitten by a different duck.
The sculpture was inspired by Nathan, the son of sculptor Mike Dwyer, who likes to interact with small animals.

The sculpture was purchased through the City of Mesa's Permanent Sculpture Panel and was dedicated in April 2004.
The sculpture can be visited 24 hours a day on the Northeast corner of Main St. and Center St. in downtown Mesa, AZ.
With this added:
Visit Instructions:
Please upload at least one photo of the sculpture and tell us a little about your impressions of the piece. Additional photos are always appreciated.

BLOGGER NOTE: Installation was made one year before then City Manager Mike Hutchinson chose to retire after 5 years in office.

In January 2006 current City Manager Chris Brady took his place continuing in the job as the city's chief executive officer for more than 15 years.

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And another one that was a public spectable during the confirmation hearings for the nomination of a candidate for a Supreme Court Justice >

Content Moderation Case Study: Understanding Cultural Context To Detect Satire (2020)

Content Moderation

from the she's-a-witch,-burn-her dept

Wed, Dec 30th 2020 3:36pm — Copia Institute

Summary: During the somewhat controversial Senate confirmation hearings for the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, there were a few moments that gained extra attention, including a confrontation between Senator Mazie Hirono and the nominee concerning statements regarding LGBTQ rights that Barrett had made in the past. Hirono, who had separately called the hearings themselves illegitimate, was then criticized by traditionally right-leaning media for what they felt was overly aggressive questioning.

The satirical site The Babylon Bee, which frequently targets Democrats for satirization, published a piece roughly parodying a famous Monty Python sketch in which villagers in a medieval town try to determine if someone is a witch, including by weighing them to see if they weigh the same as a duck. The Babylon Bee took that sketch’s premise and ran a satirical article claiming that Hirono demanded that Barrett be weighed against a duck.

Facebook had the article removed, saying that it was “inciting violence.” The Babylon Bee appealed the decision, only to be told that upon a further “manual” review, Facebook had decided that its original analysis stood, and that the article “incites violence.”

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One take-away is what-you-see is way more than what you get at first glance. . .

Let's dig into it all

"Resolution: As the tweet from The Babylon Bee’s CEO started to go viral, leading to another round of news coverage in traditionally right-wing focused publications, Facebook eventually apologized and said that the moderation decision (and the manual review) were a mistake.

"This was a mistake and we apologize that it happened. Satire can be difficult for our systems to identify, but we've restored the article and their ability to monetize," a Facebook spokesperson told Fox News.

As often happens in these situations, the CEO of the Babylon Bee insisted that this response was implausible, apparently believing that everyone would recognize the cultural references his site’s article was making use of for satire.

"Why did it have to take getting the media involved to fix this? And why did it happen in the first place?" Dillon asked in response to Facebook. "This was not just an algorithm flagging an article in error. Yes, that happened. But then a manual review took place and the ruling to penalize us was upheld. I notice they left that part out."

Originally posted to the Trust & Safety Foundation website.

Filed Under: amy coney barrett, content moderation, mazie hirono, monty python, satire
Companies: babylon bee, facebook

 

 

Matt Taibbi: 2020 in Review: Media and the Left

2020 Year-end Spectacular! Segment 3: The year ahead from The AZ Chamber

4 Pundits - or is it 3 - who appear on  a Zoom Multi-screen talking about all kinds of rapid-fire questions that ignore why the Arizona State House was shut down by what some people call 'The MAGA Trollers' who cloak themselves as Patriots defending liberty and freedom under the guise of their brand of Consitutionalism. They're EVERYWHERE and they use the same tactics to disrupt democracy.

Here's one place they succeeded: The Oregon State Capitol Building December 21, 2020

nfowars host praises violent attempted takeover of Oregon statehouse, rails at police for intervening

Written byJohn Whitehouse & Timothy Johnson

Media Matters for America | Published12/22/20 12:19 PM EST

As far-right protesters stormed the Oregon legislature yesterday, an Infowars host cheered them on and vilified police responding, saying that “a certain number of these officers, they've signed on to the Democrats, folks. They've signed over and they've become the new Nazis.” 

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that the protesters, who were interrupting a special session to consider a COVID-19 relief bill, were calling on legislatures “to reopen the state economy and end the restrictions aimed at curbing the coronavirus,” and some had firearms and bear spray; it also reported that the contingent was organized by the violent far-right group Patriot Prayer, which has ties to white nationalism. Some of the protesters demanded the arrest of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, and there are clips of protesters apparently assaulting journalists:

While guest-hosting the December 21 broadcast of The Alex Jones Show’

OWEN SHROYER (HOST): You know, we are really on the verge of the American Revolution 2.0, 1776 meets 2021 in so many different ways. And the system is rigged against us in all walks of life, many of which you don't even realize until you battle them. Right now, though, in Oregon,  and — do we have a live feed of this, guys? Yes. Is this live right now or is this a replay? OK, so we are live right now, the Oregon State Capitol building, where dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of patriots are trying to take the capitol right now.

Yes, you heard me right. They have the capitol shut down and it looks like either the National Guard or somebody there protecting it. And patriots in Oregon have decided they're taking the capitol building. . . This is incredible. I mean, folks, you're looking at the beginning of an American Revolution right now. 

Do you understand that? We the people will go through you if we have to. We don't want to. We would much rather you just get out of the way or join our ranks. But the Democrats are using these law enforcement officers as a human meat shield. 

And so. Oh, my gosh. This is incredible. And you know what, I don't want any harm to come to these officers, but at the same time, I'm cheering on these patriots to do whatever they have to do. Because this is a battle for America and it's on. 

So let me tell you, whatever happens in Oregon today is going to happen in every single state in the next 30 days. This is huge. We're going to continue to monitor this situation. I stand and I salute these patriots in Oregon. Take your capitol back! Be the voice! Be the leaders!                       

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Magneto-Nuclear Sun, AGU Solar Climate Forcing | S0 News Dec.30.2020

10 Inventions That Are Saving The Planet

Bloomberg Roll-Out

Looks like the distributions of data show a significant spread

Here's the report from Bloomberg today

More Than 5.1 Million Shots Given: Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker

The U.S. has administered 2.32 million doses—the most of any country so far

Updated: December 30, 2020, 3:36 AM EST

The biggest vaccination campaign in history has begun. More than 5.1 million doses in 22 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. Delivering billions more will be one of the greatest logistical challenges ever undertaken.

Vaccinations in the U.S. began Dec. 14 with health-care workers, and so far 2.32 million doses have been administered, according to a state-by-state tally by Bloomberg.

Vaccines Across America

More than 2.32 million shots have been administered

Note: Data gathered from government websites, press conferences, public statements and Bloomberg interviews. Some states haven’t reported vaccination tallies, and it can take several days for counts to be added to local databases. State totals include city-level vaccine jurisdictions.

The U.S. is managing state allocations of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine , as well as Moderna’s shot, with the goal of getting 20 million doses distributed by early January. Both vaccines require two doses taken several weeks apart. The second doses are being held in reserve until they’re ready to be administered.

U.S. Vaccine Campaign

States reported their first inoculations against Covid-19

Note: State totals may not match CDC nationwide numbers because of differences in reporting. Data gathered from government websites, press conferences, public statements and Bloomberg interviews. Some states haven’t reported vaccination tallies. State totals include city-level vaccine jurisdictions. States with asterisks have incomplete data.

Global Effort to Stop Covid

Countries in the EU are beginning vaccinations this week. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has now been approved across North America, Europe and the Middle East. That shot and the vaccine from Moderna were both found to reduce coronavirus infections by 95% in trials of tens of thousands of volunteers.

Follow the Vaccines

• U.S. overtakes China in count of total doses administered
• Three states reach milestone of vaccinating 1% of population
• Click here to find out when you can expect the next vaccines to be approved
• Read Bloomberg’s analysis of how countries are snapping up vaccine supply through more than 90 international vaccine deals

Other countries got a head start on vaccinations. China and Russia authorized their own shots in July and August, before they’d been fully tested. Since then, they’ve vaccinated more than a million people.

The Global Vaccination Campaign

More than 5.1 million shots have been administered around the world

Note: Russia only reports the number of people who have received at least one dose. It doesn’t break down the total number of doses administered, which would be higher. Data gathered from government websites, press conferences, public statements and Bloomberg interviews. Some countries may report national totals separately from their interior jurisdictions, so numbers for countries and their jurisdictions may not always match.

The R&D Timeline

Bloomberg is tracking the development of nine of the globe’s most promising vaccines. A total of seven vaccines are now available for public use, in limited quantities, in dozens of countries.

Nations have poured billions of dollars into developing new vaccine technologies, testing them in thousands of volunteers, scaling up manufacturing, and then bringing them to market in record time.

None of these shots, on its own, is enough to inoculate a global population of some 7.8 billion people. But together they represent humanity’s best chance of ending a scourge that has claimed more than 1.7 million lives and triggered global economic calamity.

When to Expect the Next Vaccine

Progress:

• Trial
• Results expected
• Awaiting approval
• Available to public

• Trial size
• Doses required
• Storage temperature
• Efficacy

Note: Data are based on interviews, company disclosures, news reports and government data. In many countries, vaccines are first coming to market under emergency measures that let them bypass normal regulatory requirements. Because millions of people will get the vaccines under these rules, they are displayed as “available to the public.” Bloomberg will note when the regulatory status changes in the future.

Vaccine Contracts

Desperate for relief from the worst pandemic in a century, countries have struck deals to secure vaccine access. By our count, 8.15 billion doses have already been set aside.

That would be enough to cover more than half the world’s population (most vaccines use two doses), if the shots were distributed evenly. That, however, hasn’t happened. Rich countries have accumulated extensive supply deals, and ultra-cold storage requirements make some vaccines difficult to deliver to far-flung places. Some countries may have to wait until 2022 or later before supplies are widely available.

AstraZeneca Plc’s two-dose shot is the early leader, with pre-purchase agreements that would cover 1.46 billion people—more than twice as many as any other candidate. In total, Bloomberg has identified more than 90 agreements.

Not every vaccine is certain to work. Bloomberg has removed from the tally 51 million doses reserved by Australia for a homegrown vaccine that failed in clinical trials on Dec. 10. A day later, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline Plc announced a delay in their clinical trials after suffering their own setback.

Strategies to secure vaccines varied widely. The U.S. struck unilateral deals for all of its supply. Dozens of countries will get vaccines through Covax, a consortium backed by the World Health Organization to ensure equitable vaccine distribution. An arrangement brokered by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim will deliver cheap vaccines throughout most of Latin America.

Deals were included in Bloomberg’s analysis only if they had information on which company will make the vaccine, how many doses are covered, and which countries are likely to receive it. Billions of vaccines will likely be manufactured outside of such agreements. India, which has deals to manufacture 2.2 billion doses, plans to send vaccines to other countries in its region.

Shots Across the Globe

A global network of publicly disclosed vaccine deals

Note: When country contracts include a range of doses to be purchased, we count the lower number. On Dec. 23, Canada’s contracts were updated to reflect those details verified by the government.The Latin America bloc covers all countries in the region except Brazil. The European Union bloc represents the 27 countries of the European Union. The Covax agreement extends to most countries in the world, including many in Africa that wouldn’t otherwise be covered. Jurisdictions without a population figure, such as Somalia and Syria, have been omitted. The Middle East bloc covers U.A.E., Egypt, Bahrain and Jordan. Partnerships involving local manufacturers are listed under the original vaccine developer.

Coronavirus vaccines are coming to market at a record pace, shaving years off the typical development time. That speed has been financed in part by rich countries like the U.S., whose Operation Warp Speed program helped subsidize development and manufacturing of half a dozen novel vaccines.

Wealth has moved those countries to the front of the line. It’s also allowed some to hedge their bets by securing doses from a variety of manufacturers. Canada, with its population of 38 million, has contracts with at least seven companies to supply enough vaccines for 112 million people—and that doesn’t include vaccines it agreed to buy through the Covax consortium.

Russia and China aren’t striking the same sorts of deals. Instead, they’ll rely on domestically produced vaccines, such as the Sputnik V shots made by Moscow-based Gamaleya Center or those made by China’s state-owned pharmaceutical giant, Sinopharm. While China doesn’t disclose how many doses the government orders from local manufacturers, it’s assumed that those companies will provide as much as the population needs.

• The map below shows vaccine contracts around the world. Some countries have taken a different route by building up their own suppliers. Click here to see Bloomberg’s analysis of pandemic resilience, which includes China’s 1.4 billion doses of annual domestic production capacity. Adding that to foreign contracts is enough to cover 77% of China’s population in 2021.

World Map of Vaccine Contracts

Canada reserved more than three times what’s needed to inoculate its population

Note: When country contracts include a range of doses to be purchased, we count the lower number. On Dec. 23, Canada’s contracts were updated to reflect those details verified by the government. Map only shows publicly disclosed allocations for countries with available population data. Some countries will produce vaccines domestically under terms that haven’t been disclosed. Calculations for population covered take into account the number of doses required by each vaccine.

More Coverage From Bloomberg

• Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter
• Follow the Covid Vaccine Tracker Storythread
• The Covid Resilience Ranking
• Stories about the pandemic from Bloomberg News
• Tracking the U.S. Recession and Recovery
• How the U.K. Will Distribute Pfizer, BioNTech Doses

By: Tom Randall, Cedric Sam, Andre Tartar and Christopher Cannon

Editors: Drew Armstrong and Yue Qiu

With reporting in the U.S. from: Adrianne Appel, Justin Bachman, Tripp Baltz, Dina Bass, Joe Carroll, Keshia Clukey, Vincent Del Giudice, Alex Ebert, Brian Eckhouse, Kelly Gilblom, Henry Goldman, Prashant Gopal, Brenna Goth, Michael Hirtzer, Jordyn Holman, Stephen Joyce, Jennifer Kay, Olga Kharif, Michael McDonald, Stephen Merelman, Margaret Newkirk, Nic Querolo, Catarina Saraiva, Michael Sasso, Mary Schlangenstein, Shruti Singh, Paul Stinson, Brian Sullivan, Chris Yasiejko and Elise Young

With reporting globally from: Andrew Blackman, Jan Bratanic, Derek Decloet, Aaron Eglitis, Zainab Fattah, Veronika Gulyas, Jinshan Hong, Stepan Kravchenko, Ivan Levingston, Joao Lima, Dong Lyu, Adveith Nair, Andrea Navarro, Alisa Odenheimer, Slav Okov, Anne Pollak, Dale Quinn, Sandrine Rastello, Nick Rigillo, Suzi Ring, Flavia Rotondi, Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir and Zoltán Simon

With the assistance of: Alexander McIntyre, Jeff Sutherland, Paul Murray and Mira Rojanasakul

Additional thanks to the Covid Tracking Project’s staff and volunteers for sharing knowledge and advice.

 

SAD STEALTH: WAS THE LOCKHEED MARTIN F-117 NIGHTHAWK RETIRED TOO SOON?

Who said robots can't dance? | Boston Dynamics welcomes the new year

Apple vs Facebook: The Privacy Battle

Section 230 > Injected Into The Ozone of Mixed-Bag DC Politics

In the final days of the Trump Regime it's become a bargaining chip in the game of politics and it has been a subject of posts on this blog for months... let's fast-forward > 

Section 230 Isn't A Subsidy; It's A Rule Of Civil Procedure

Legal Issues

from the make-section-230-boring-again dept

Tue, Dec 29th 2020 3:39pm — Cathy Gellis

The other day Senator Schatz tweeted, "Ask every Senator what Section 230 is. Don’t ask them if they want to repeal it. Ask them to describe it."

Ask every Senator what Section 230 is. Don’t ask them if they want to repeal it. Ask them to describe it.

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) December 28, 2020

It's a very fair point.

Most of the political demands to repeal Section 230 betray a profound ignorance of what Section 230 does, why, or how.

That disconnect between policy understanding and policy demands means that those demands to repeal the law will only create more problems while not actually solving any of the problems currently being complained about. . .One reason we have rules of civil procedure is to help lessen the danger that innocent defendants can be drained dry by unmeritorious litigation against them. And that is exactly what Section 230 is designed to do as well.

An important thing to remember is that most of what people complain about when they complain about Section 230 are things that the First Amendment allows to happen. The First Amendment is likely to insulate platforms from liability in their users' content, and it's also likely to insulate them from liability for their moderation decisions. Section 230 helps drive those points home explicitly for providers of "interactive computer services" (which, it should be noted, include far more than just "big tech" platforms; they also include much smaller and non-commercial ICS providers as well, and even individual people), but even if there were no Section 230 the First Amendment would still be there to do the job of protecting platforms in this way. At least in theory.

In practice, however, defendant platforms would first have to endure an onslaught of litigation and all its incumbent costs before the First Amendment could provide any useful benefit, which will likely be too little, too late for most if not all of them.

The purpose of Section 230 is therefore to make sure those First Amendment rights can be real, and meaningful, and something that every sort of interactive computer service provider can be confident in exercising without having to fear being crushed by unconstitutional litigation if they do.

What people calling for any change to Section 230 need to realize is how these changes will do nothing but open the floodgates to this sort of crushing litigation against so much that the Constitution is otherwise supposed to protect. It is a flood that will inevitably chill platforms by effectively denying them the protection their First Amendment rights were supposed to afford, and in the process also chill all the expressive user activity they currently feel safe to enable. It is not an outcome that any policymaker should be so eager to tempt; rather, it is something to studiously avoid. And the first step to avoiding it is to understand how these proposed changes will do nothing but invite it.

Filed Under: brian schatz, civil procedure, section 230, subsidy

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More

 

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MAJOR Earthquake, Atmospheric Electricity, Super-Flare | S0 News Dec.29....

Liberty on the Land - Ep 16 - Fighting Tyranny for the Small Business - ...

Lives & Livelihood

What are we to make of that "catch-all" phrase?

More > HOW ABOUT THIS:

Lives and Livelihood

An Exit Strategy from Lockdown

Special Articles

Vol. 55, Issue No. 22, 30 May, 2020

Updated on 23 December 2020

Tags: 

COVID-19

Pandemic

Coronavirus

COVID and Livelihoods

A road map for resuming limited economic activities with necessary precautions in certain industries that can lessen economic pain, given the prevailing situation, has been drawn up in this paper. It identifies industries and districts that can start functioning in a limited manner, informed by geographical, occupational, and other industry-specific data.

How do we tackle the marauding COVID-19 virus which has not only spread to every part of the globe but has also claimed millions of lives? The only way humanity seems to be able to fight back is to shut down everything, stop all kinds of activities, and recede to our homes . . .

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HOW ABOUT A BOOK?  HOW TO SAVE LIVES AND LIVELIHOODS 

How about another book?

 

The democratic industrial societies face a deeply-rooted institutional crisis. The accepted ways and means of living lead to frustration and anxiety rather than creativity and joy. The roots of this crisis are political and economic. These societies contain economies that pervert and obstruct the human life process and polities that are subordinate to economic vested interests. Karl Polanyi was a Hungarian emigr�ho witnessed first hand the cataclysms to which this political economic crisis can lead. He created a powerful social economic theory to analyze this institutional impasse and lay the foundation for social reconstruction. This book reviews Polanyi's life and work, his contributions to the methodology of economics, his concepts of social integration, his theory of market capitalism, and his view of freedom in complex industrial societies.

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Weekly Update: Global Coronavirus Impact and Implications

December 24, 2020

|In Insights

|By Peter Richardson 

To receive weekly updates on the COVID-19 situation and our latest research straight to your inbox, click this link to register

Click here for the latest weekly updates on the impact and implication of COVID-19 situation on the Automotive industry.

COVID-19 Week 52 Update

Even as the COVID-19 vaccine distribution drive gathers steam in different parts of the world, a new ‘super-spreader’ strain of the virus has been detected in the UK. According to the country’s government, this new strain is up to 70% more infectious but there is no evidence to suggest that it is more deadly. Following the UK government’s statement, several countries stepped up testing of air passengers arriving from the UK and have already detected a few cases of the new strain.

A study by the Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says the new strain is 56% more transmissible than other strains. “Nevertheless, the increase in transmissibility is likely to lead to a large increase in incidence, with COVID-19 hospitalisations and deaths projected to reach higher levels in 2021 than were observed in 2020, even if regional tiered restrictions implemented before December 19 are maintained,” the study adds. The authors of the study further warn that measures like the national lockdown imposed in England in November are unlikely to reduce infections unless schools and universities are also closed. “We project that large resurgences of the virus are likely to occur following easing of control measures. It may be necessary to greatly accelerate vaccine rollout to have an appreciable impact in suppressing the resulting disease burden,” the authors add