…a vaccine that prevents you from getting COVID-19.
…no risk at all of causing the disease.
…we are going to end this pandemic— Bill Gates
Gates has a personal connection to Microsoft Bob -- more than it being just another product launched on his watch -- as his wife [at the time], Melinda French Gates, was a marketing manager on the Bob project.
“There is perhaps no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive. Even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.”
― Benjamin Franklin
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
- Steve Jobs
The most irritating of pop-ups if you choose to be logged out of your google account.
But if you remain logged into your account and want to stop the prompts to “Use your Google Account to sign in to...”
Open your Google Account.
Choose Security.
Scroll down to "Signing in to other sites" and choose Signing in with Google.
Toggle Off
Everything's on loan here
…The increasing density of masks due to biofouling results in their sinking within 1 month in seawater, which is a crucial event that delivers the masks to different layers of the ocean and dramatically increases the polluted area. In addition, the biofilm formed by microbials on masks made them a niche plastisphere environment that could dramatically influence the microbial community and aging process of masks. With nutrients and marine organisms on their surfaces, masks could be eaten by mistake by marine animals such as fishes, birds, or even mammals like whales, which has already been reported in news and surveys.
...billions of used facemasks have been released into oceans.
…The results demonstrated that the masks in seawater aged significantly after 30-days exposure in seawater. Fouling organisms developed on mask surfaces and resulted in the negative buoyance of the masks. Masks could act as carriers of potential pathogenic bacteria in marine environment.
…The consumption of PPE in healthcare facilities and households pollutes the environment in the form of plastic waste and MP/MF contamination. In 2020 alone, approximately 1.5 billion masks were washed out into the seas, and the amount is equal to 200 tons of additional plastic waste, thus threatening the aquatic and terrestrial biota.
…Huge amounts of plastic waste from PPE have been produced worldwide due to improper disposal, landfilling, and incineration techniques, and they pollute aquatic ecosystems. Consequently, the amount of PPE waste reaching the marine environment increases and will even progress.
Nanoplastics and other harmful pollutants found in disposable face masks
…research reveals high levels of pollutants, including lead, antimony, and copper, within the silicon-based and plastic fibres of common disposable face masks.
…The findings reveal significant levels of pollutants in all the masks tested -- with micro/nano particles and heavy metals released into the water during all tests. Researchers conclude this will have a substantial environmental impact and, in addition, raise the question of the potential damage to public health -- warning that repeated exposure could be hazardous as the substances found have known links to cell death, genotoxicity and cancer formation.
…DFMs are widely used for the control of the virus spreading. DFMs produced from non-degradable petrochemicals are hazardous medical wastes. The alarming rise in facemask usage causes a huge task for disposal this wastes. Recent studies prove the release of MPs from DFMs in aquatic environment, which will induce severe threats and pollution.
…the panic of the public. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) are widely utilized for frontline health workers to face the ongoing epidemic, especially disposable face masks (DFMs) to prevent airborne transmission of coronavirus. The overproduction and massive utilization of DFMs seriously challenge the management of plastic wastes. A huge amount of DFMs are discharged into environment, potentially induced the generation of microplastics (MPs) owing to physicochemical destruction. The MPs release will pose severe contamination burden on environment and human. In this review, environmental threats of DFMs regarding to DFMs fate in environment and DFMs threats to aquatic and terrestrial species were surveyed.
…Approximate 1.56 billion facemasks were discharge into the marine area in 2020
..Each face mask released over one billion of Microplastics. The particles were irregularly-shaped with size from 5 nm to 600 μm, and most of them were nanoscale.
[doing the math… 1.56 quintillion microplastic particles from masks in 2020.]
the Ocean Plastic Pollution Problem
…COVID-19 triggered an estimated global use of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves every month. If we stitched together all of the masks manufactured already, and projected to be produced, we’d be able to cover the entire landmass of Switzerland.
…The practical problems with gloves and masks finding their way into our rivers and oceans is that they can easily be mistaken for jellyfish, a favorite food of sea turtles. Because of their elastic components, masks also have increased risks of entanglement for a wide variety of fish, animals and birds.
