Saturday, March 28, 2026

University of Michigan joins research on infectivity of bird flu in the air


Photo and headline: University of Michigan Engineering, 3/27/2026

Jim Lynch reports:
Discovering how the bird flu virus degrades in the air around livestock and how engineering solutions can effect that degradation quickly and efficiently are core aims of a new University of Michigan Engineering-led project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This work could help prevent or mitigate future outbreaks.
Detection of bird flu infection within flocks and herds leads to the mass culling of animals, which disrupts food supply chains. The ongoing outbreak of HPAI H5N1 that began in 2022 in the U.S. has led to the loss of 175 million birds and, as of late 2024, has cost the industry roughly $1.4 billion. 
The $2 million grant from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service aims to answer two fundamental questions about bird flu:\ 
  • How quickly does the virus that causes bird flu lose its infectivity in the air, specifically air found in enclosed livestock environments? 
  • What technologies can effectively reduce bird flu’s infectivity in those environments?

Related posts:
March 26-31: 

March 21-25:

March 16-20:

March 11-15, 2025

March 6-10, 2026.  

March 1-5, 2026

February 20-28,2026
SHOCKER!!  Dead birds found in Ohio gated community.  Bird flu suspected.  (2/21)

February 10-19, 2026
February 1-9, 2026

January 21-31, 2026

January 11-20, 2026
New York tells resident don't touch those dead birds.  (1/17)

January 1-10, 2026
Bird flu strain of avian influenza:  "The picture has grown darker and stranger than most would have imagined".  (1/8)
Bird flu reported on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. (1/8)Dozens of vultures die of bird flu in North Carolina.  (1/8)

December 16-31, 2025

December 1-15, 2025

November 15-30, 2025

November 1-15, 2025

October 2025

September 2025

April-August 2025


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GET ME REWRITE: New York Times thinks voter suppression is more favorable ground for Republicans

 
Where does the Times come up with the ideas for these cockamamie stories?

Poster:  Instagram
Headline:  New York Times, 3/27/2026

Luke Broadwater makes SAVE sound so anodyne:
But even if the bill offers the president little hope of changing policy, it does offer an appealing political calculus: At a time when voters are deeply concerned about high prices amid his war with Iran, the fight over the legislation allows him to try to shift focus to more favorable ground for Republicans. 
At its core, the SAVE America Act, as passed by the House, would require voters to prove their citizenship in person upon registration, ban IDs without a photo at polling places and criminalize failures to enforce such requirements.
 
On the same page (A20) of Saturday's print edition, the Times buries this excerpt at the end of SAVE 'explainer'.  
So it is clear that the bill creates additional requirements for voters to prove their citizenship and identity, barriers that for some would incur additional costs or be insurmountable. Because the bill is vague on many details and would leave states to interpret and adopt some of its provisions, it is difficult to estimate the exact effect, Ms. Sweren-Becker said. 
But she added, “It’s certainly safe to say that the SAVE America Act would block millions of eligible American citizens from voting.”
That's voter suppression in a nutshell.


According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of 'cockamamie', as in RIDICULOUS, INCREDIBLE, occurred in 1962.

Other coinages from the same year include:
  1. artsy-fartsy
  2. buckle up
  3. can of worms
  4. credibility gap
  5. nonconclusion
  6. one-liner
  7. scut work
Related posts:

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Q: What’s the difference between Vietnam and Iran?

 
A:  Trump had a plan to get out of Vietnam!

Bones spurs graphic:  Convergent
Photo credit:  Town & Country


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New York Giants chairperson Steve Tisch in the soup as a result of relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

 
Dictionary definition:  Merriam-Webster
Tisch photo credit: Wikipedia
Illustration courtesy of PhotoFunia
Headline:  New York Times,  3/26/2026

Vimal Patel reports:
At Tufts University, outside Boston, the student newspaper has called on the university to remove the name of Mr. Tisch, an alum and film producer, from campus buildings. Mr. Tisch discussed women with Mr. Epstein, sometimes in crude ways. Mr. Epstein also connected Mr. Tisch with women. 
The newspaper’s editorial board called on the university to distance itself from Mr. Tisch to “preserve the university’s commitment to ethical, honest and principled civic engagement.” It also pointed to recent precedent: In 2019, the university removed the name of the Sackler family from its medical school for its role in the opioid epidemic.

Other souper Epstein relationships:  
2026
Howard Lutnick.  (3/28)
Leslie Wexner.  (3/28)
David Ross.  (3/28)
Leon Black.  (3/25)
Joscha Bach. (3/16)
Casey Wasserman.  (3/10)
Dan Ariely.  (2/28)
Richard Axel.  (2/26)
Peter Attia.  (2/24)
Deepak Chopra.  (2/23)

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Trump Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in the soup as a result of relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

 
Dictionary definition:  Merriam-Webster
Lutnick photo credit: X
Illustration courtesy of PhotoFunia
Headline:  New York Times,  3/26/2026

Vimal Patel reports:
At Haverford College, in Pennsylvania, students have pressured school leaders to change the name of a campus library that bears Mr. Lutnick’s name. Mr. Lutnick, who is the Trump administration’s commerce secretary and a 1983 Haverford graduate, gave the college a $25 million gift in 2014. 
Last year, Mr. Lutnick said in a podcast that he had been so disgusted with Mr. Epstein during a 2005 visit to his townhouse that he never set foot in a room with him again. But after the release of the Justice Department documents, he acknowledged he had taken a trip with his family to Mr. Epstein’s island in 2012, years after Mr. Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.  [emphasis added]

Other souper Epstein relationships:  
2026
Leslie Wexner.  (3/28)
David Ross.  (3/28)
Leon Black.  (3/25)
Joscha Bach. (3/16)
Casey Wasserman.  (3/10)
Dan Ariely.  (2/28)
Richard Axel.  (2/26)
Peter Attia.  (2/24)
Deepak Chopra.  (2/23)

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Former Victoria's Secret mogul Leslie Wexner in the soup as a result of relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

 
Dictionary definition:  Merriam-Webster
Ross photo credit:  CNN
Illustration courtesy of PhotoFunia
Headline:  New York Times,  3/26/2026

Vimal Patel reports:
“Names reflect the values of our institution,” said Kaleb Duarte, who, along with other Ohio State architecture students, recently unfurled a 40-foot banner from a campus building that read “Oust Wexner.” 
Mr. Wexner, an Ohio State alumnus, is listed in government documents as a potential “co-conspirator” and major benefactor of Mr. Epstein. At a deposition last month before a House committee, Mr. Wexner said he had been “conned” by the financier but had done nothing wrong. A spokesman for Mr. Wexner said a U.S. attorney in 2019 told Mr. Wexner’s legal counsel that he was not a co-conspirator or target of any investigation, and said he had cooperated with investigators. 
Mr. Wexner, who made his fortune in retail, is “connected to harm and violence,” Mr. Duarte said.

Other souper Epstein relationships:  
2026
David Ross.  (3/28)
Leon Black.  (3/25)
Joscha Bach. (3/16)
Casey Wasserman.  (3/10)
Dan Ariely.  (2/28)
Richard Axel.  (2/26)
Peter Attia.  (2/24)
Deepak Chopra.  (2/23)

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Art world notable David Ross in the soup as a result of relationship with Jeffrey Epstein


Dictionary definition:  Merriam-Webster
Black photo credit:  Arts Management Ireland
Illustration courtesy of PhotoFunia
Headline:  New York Times,  3/24/2026

Eli Saslow reports:
When the Justice Department released millions of pages of Epstein files earlier this year, it exposed a web of abuse that stretched across decades and continents. But the files also revealed something subtler and more endemic: a vast circle of billionaires, academics and fund-raisers like Ross who had never been accused of participating in Epstein’s crimes or visiting his island but had nonetheless helped sustain him by cashing his checks, hosting him at galas and laundering his reputation with their own. 
As the public reckoned with the weight of their silence, Ross had spent the last months conducting his own accounting. How many times had the two of them had dinner? How many phone calls, galas and dollars raised? He was trying to make sense of not only his relationship to Epstein but also his place inside what others in his life had begun calling the Epstein Class: a global circle of money, power, ego and ambition.

Other souper Epstein relationships:  
2026
Leon Black.  (3/25)
Joscha Bach. (3/16)
Casey Wasserman.  (3/10)
Dan Ariely.  (2/28)
Richard Axel.  (2/26)
Peter Attia.  (2/24)
Deepak Chopra.  (2/23)

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Moving toward acceptance of new bird flu reality

 

Maps:  Nature
Headline: Veterinary Information Network News, 3/26/2026

Ross Kelly reports:
Now known to be present in the U.S. for more than four years, the possibility is solidifying that the outbreak isn't so much an epidemic, defined as a widespread but temporary occurrence of a disease, but endemic, meaning that it has established a consistent presence. The same goes for other places where HPAI isn't already well established, such as in countries throughout Europe and South America. 
Endemic status could have big financial implications for commercial poultry operators, which, in the U.S. alone, already have lost more than 200 million birds since 2022 due to the virus. And it would further test the mental wherewithal of farmworkers and the veterinarians who work alongside them, often by assisting in the culling of millions of birds at any one time to prevent the virus's spread. 
Among wild birds, persistent HPAI could drive to extinction some vulnerable and endangered species, such as whooping cranes, western snowy plovers and Humboldt penguins. And if HPAI is left to circulate in the environment for years, the risk will increase that the virus — which already has infected many other types of animals, among them cats, dogs, cattle, seals and humans — could mutate into something more dangerous to human health. [emphasis added]

Related posts:
March 26-31: 

March 21-25:

March 16-20:

March 11-15, 2025

March 6-10, 2026.  

March 1-5, 2026

February 20-28,2026
SHOCKER!!  Dead birds found in Ohio gated community.  Bird flu suspected.  (2/21)

February 10-19, 2026
February 1-9, 2026

January 21-31, 2026

January 11-20, 2026
New York tells resident don't touch those dead birds.  (1/17)

January 1-10, 2026
Bird flu strain of avian influenza:  "The picture has grown darker and stranger than most would have imagined".  (1/8)
Bird flu reported on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. (1/8)Dozens of vultures die of bird flu in North Carolina.  (1/8)

December 16-31, 2025

December 1-15, 2025

November 15-30, 2025

November 1-15, 2025

October 2025

September 2025

April-August 2025


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