Category: COVID-19

TMI 01/26/2024 – Big Oil Uses IPRB to Miseducate Students, Data Combats the Myth of the Female Shopaholic, Kanter’s Law Gives Hope on the COVID Pandemic and more

The Illinois Petroleum Resource Board (IPRB) has been a gas tax-funded education and outreach program for 25 years, with a particular aim of providing science curriculum and professional development workshops for Illinois teachers. Nevermind that the information given is solely focused on making Big Oil look absolutely indispensable to the future of civilization, or even that Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas have similar petroleum-focused “educational” programs – that under-the-radar status is just what the IPRB likes. We expose them.

Then, we look at the culturally-pervasive myth of the “female shopaholic” and explore how the data and cultural context doesn’t back up this sexist trope at all. Finally, we show how the management concept of Kanter’s Law shows some hope for the ongoing COVID epidemic. All this and more on TMI for Friday, January 26, 2024 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!

BCBSM Blue Cross Blue Shield COVID-19 Cows Episode Gretchen Whitmer Immune System Media Mental Health Tuberculosis Volcanoes WSUM

TMI 11/17/2023 – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan vs. Mental Health Care, How Tuberculosis Used COVID to Soften Us Up, How to Put Sensational Headlines About Volcanoes (and Cows) in Context and more

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the largest health insurer in the state, has successfully stalled legislation that would force it to pay for medically necessary mental health care. We look at who this affects and how Governor Whitmer is closely tied to BCBSM.

Then, the much-derided early reports that COVID could weaken our immune systems and make other diseases far harder to avoid have been vindicated, and tuberculosis is ready to take advantage of our collectively weakened condition. Finally, we look at how the common media loves to scare us over things that are not so bad when in proper context, making it more difficult to discern real issues. All this and more on TMI for Friday, November 17, 2023 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!

CDC Climate Climate Finance COVID-19 Episode Excess Deaths Interest Payments Pandemic WSUM

TMI 07/21/2023 – Climate Change is Not a Debate: the Climate HAS Changed, The CDC Changed How It Calculates “Excess Deaths” to Downplay COVID, Interest Payments Impoverish Billions of People and more

We no longer need to think of the Climate Crisis as something to dread in the future – it is here, now. From heat-based records on land and in the ocean to flooding in Vermont and Kentucky, there is simply no denying that it is upon us – now if only THAT was enough to ensure real action: we discuss.

Then, the CDC has been telling us that “excess deaths”, a key measure in how bad the COVID pandemic is, has dropped tremendously. The thing is, the way they measure those deaths changed, giving the illusion that less people are dying from COVID than actually are. Finally, we talk about how dozens of nations around the world owe so much on loans they had to take out to pay for climate- and COVID-mitigating measures, that paying the INTEREST on them alone makes it so they can’t afford education and health measures for their people. All this and more on TMI for Friday, July 21, 2023 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!

Anthropocene Canada Climate COVID-19 Crawford Lake Endemic Episode Holocene Ontario Pandemic WSUM

TMI 07/14/2023 – How COVID-19 Being Endemic is Far From Safe, Crawford Lake, Ontario Proves Man-Made Environmental Impact and a New Epoch and more

“The Pandemic is over” is being deliberately used to give the deceitful impression that we’ve beaten COVID-19, when the latest outbreak crippling parts of Japan, Ireland and Australia (and likely here) all say otherwise as we tackle what it means for COVID to be “endemic”.

Then, we look at how scientists are able to get proof of man-made climate change as well as evidence for a new epoch in the history of the planet all from the unassuming Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada. Finally, we help Adam McKay and the Lever tell off the “calm down” crowd – maybe a sense of urgency is warranted, eh? All this and more on TMI for Friday, July 14, 2023 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!

Child Labor COVID-19 Episode Foodshare Universal Health Care Work Requirements WSUM

TMI 06/02/2023 – COVID Proves Universal Health Coverage Is Necessary, and The Common Villain Behind Child Labor and Foodshare Work Requirements

There has been a long fight in the United States to bring to the richest nation in the world what so many others have: universal health coverage. When COVID-19 came crashing down on us all, even nations with much less GDP per capita had enormously better outcomes: the USA faced roughly THREE times more dead per capita, with the only real difference being for-profit vs universal health coverage. Exactly what good is being the richest if you die?

Then, we discuss how the work requirements placed into the debt ceiling negotiations have a common backer with the child labor allowances being passed state by state in the last year or so. All this and more on TMI for Friday, June 2, 2023 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!

COVID-19 Episode Loneliness Masks Muppets Parachutes Randomized Controlled Trial Ron DeSantis Science Surgeon General Vivek Murthy WSUM

TMI 05/12/2023 – Surgeon General Says Loneliness Kills, How a Study That Shows How Parachutes Don’t Work Tells Us How Mask Studies Were Skewed, How Muppets Expposed DeSantis’ Virtue Signalling

The likes of Elvis Presley and David Bowie have famously sung about how someone could be so lonely they could die, but Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has recently confirmed it. In a recent advisory, Surgeon General Murthy calls attention to a public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection in our country that can lead to mental health challenges and increase the risk for premature death to levels comparable to smoking daily – we look into this.

Then, remember when certain studies came out saying that masks don’t work at keeping COVID at bay? Turns out they were using the same methodology that shows a parachute is as ineffective as an ordinary backpack at preventing death when falling from an airplane: the randomized controlled trial. While this is the gold standard for testing many medical interventions, it can and often does lead to serious flaws when applied to engineered solutions, such as parachutes and, you guessed it, masks. Finally, we show how the Muppets managed to expose Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ attack on being “woke” for the virtue signalling opportunistic nonsense it is. All this and more on TMI for Friday, May 12, 2023 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!

COVID-19 Dr. Ashish Jha Electric Vehicles Episode Joe Manchin Kyrsten Sinema Science Senate Technology WSUM

TMI 04/29/2022 – Manchinema’s Differences Doom the Dem Senate, COVID Coordinator Dr. Jha May Not Be Best Pick, Science/Technology News-in-Brief: EV Pickups, Speaker Film and Meteor DNA

While supposedly-Democratic Senators Joe Machin and Kyrsten Sinema seem to be such a match made in Hell that they’ve been given the collective nickname “Manchinema”, we discuss how their differences actually spell even MORE trouble than what they have in common. Next, we look at Dr. Jha, the new COVID Coordinator for the Biden Administration and examine his record, noting that he has some major flaws in his history that makes his appointment seem… ill-advised. Finally, we give a quick looksee at new innovations in EV pickup trucks, thin film that can act as a speaker for your audio needs, and how DNA being lodged inside meteors may not be as rare as once thought. All this and more on TMI for Friday, April 29, 2022 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!

Big Oil Climate COVID-19 Episode Population Thwaite Glacier Vaccination WSUM

TMI 04/08/2022 – BEST OF TMI: Thwaite Glacier Can Cause Sea Level to Rise, How the USA Will Monitor Next COVID-19 Surge, How Many Human Beings Have Ever Lived on Earth

REBROADCAST OF APRIL 1, 2022 EPISODE: The Thwaite Glacier in Antarctica is becoming less stable by the day, and its particular positioning makes it a very potent force in the future rise of sea levels. We discuss that, then we go over concerns that are being expressed over how the USA is going to monitor the next surge of COVID-19 infection when we seem to be dismantling the programs that have done just that the last two years. Finally, we take a quick look at precisely how many human beings have ever lived on Earth – given that we are almost to eight billion, the total will surprise you. All this and more on TMI for Friday, April 8, 2022 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!

Big Oil Climate COVID-19 Episode Population Thwaite Glacier Vaccination WSUM

TMI 04/01/2022 – Thwaite Glacier Can Cause Sea Level to Rise, How the USA Will Monitor Next COVID-19 Surge, How Many Human Beings Have Ever Lived on Earth

The Thwaite Glacier in Antarctica is becoming less stable by the day, and its particular positioning makes it a very potent force in the future rise of sea levels. We discuss that, then we go over concerns that are being expressed over how the USA is going to monitor the next surge of COVID-19 infection when we seem to be dismantling the programs that have done just that the last two years. Finally, we take a quick look at precisely how many human beings have ever lived on Earth – given that we are almost to eight billion, the total will surprise you. All this and more on TMI for Friday, April 1, 2022 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!

2021 CDC Climate COVID-19 Democratic Party Episode Gerrymandering GOP Ocean Temperature Omicron WSUM

TMI 01/14/2022 – Is Omicron Really “Milder”, GOP’s One-Party Rule in Wisconsin a Model for Everywhere Else, 2021’s Record Ocean Temps, More

Katherine J. Wu of the Atlantic tells us that virologists don’t mean what WE mean when they say the Omicron variant of COVID is “milder” – that misunderstanding is leading to a lot of poor public health decisions, letting our guard down around a still-fatal pandemic. Then, we look over Ryan Cooper’s piece in the week, entitled “Wisconsin’s One-Party Rule is What the GOP Wants Everywhere” and how, despite having a Democratic governor, virtually all policy in the state is under the thumb of the Republicans. Finally we review the findings that 2021 had the hottest ocean temperatures on record, and what that means for the future. All that and more on TMI for Friday, January 14, 2022 – listen in for YOUR Cure for the Common Media!