This week I received this message from Google about my blog: Dear Publisher, Due to the war in Ukraine, we will pause monetization of content that exploits, dismisses, or condones the war. Please note, we have already been enforcing on claims related to the war in Ukraine when they violated existing policies (for instance, the Dangerous or DerogatoryContinue reading “Statement from Google on my Blog and Ukraine”
Author Archives: CSI without Dead Bodies
Recent Musings: Florence and Ben
I know that I have been slow in posting lately. Sometimes life is so draining that it’s hard to find inspiration. COVID numbers have been dying down. I’m still waiting for the County Health Rankings numbers. I did show this video from Drunk History about Florence Nightingale to my classes. Many of my students wereContinue reading “Recent Musings: Florence and Ben”
New Hate Group Estimates Are Out for the U.S.
The County Health Rankings number will not be released until April 27. I do have new numbers from the Southern Poverty Law Center for hate groups for each state in the U.S. The current map is displayed above. They are currently tracking 733 groups in the U.S. The graph at the left shows that the numberContinue reading “New Hate Group Estimates Are Out for the U.S.”
The Appalachian Studies Association Conference and Other Upcoming Events
The Appalachian Studies Association will be having its 45th annual conference in Morgantown, WV this week from March 17-20. The theme is Making, Creating, and Encoding: Crafting Possibilities in Appalachia. I will be presenting Using County Health Rankings to See what Ails Your Area at on Saturday the 19th with a panel discussion fromContinue reading “The Appalachian Studies Association Conference and Other Upcoming Events”
Iraq and Ukraine: A Contrast in Superpowers
The news has been good locally with COVID case numbers coming down. Unfortunately, the news overseas has has dampened these good feelings. Watching the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold I cannot help but think of parallels and differences between what is happening now and what was happening 19 years ago when the U.S. invaded Iraq.Continue reading “Iraq and Ukraine: A Contrast in Superpowers”
Russia and Dependency Theory
The unthinkable has happened. Russia has invaded Ukraine. I was clinging to the hope that their actions would not go beyond saber rattling. Unlike they were in Iraq, U.S. leaders were right in warning about the threat posed by an outsider nationContinue reading “Russia and Dependency Theory”
A Corona Virus Update: Cases and Hospitalizations Lower but Vaccinations also Lower
I stayed away from the Coronavirus as long as I could. The news in Cambria County has recently been mostly good. The height of the omicron surge was January 16 when the 7 day average for new cases was 337.29 cases per day. Today it is 43.14 per day, the lowest it has been sinceContinue reading “A Corona Virus Update: Cases and Hospitalizations Lower but Vaccinations also Lower”
Maus Censorship, JAHA, My Book and Me
Maus by Art Spiegelman was the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer prize. It tells the story of the Holocaust with the Jews depicted as mice and the Nazis depicted as cats. The news that a school board in Tennessee has banned the book (summarized by David Corn in MotherJones) has made me think of myContinue reading “Maus Censorship, JAHA, My Book and Me”
PA County Factors that Predict Full COVID Vaccination Rates
Last month I posted on which county health ranking variables were most strongly correlated with COVID case mortality rates. Granted these posts were made just as the omicron variant was arriving on the scene. This month, I thought I would take a look at which variables were the best predictors of full vaccination rates. FullContinue reading “PA County Factors that Predict Full COVID Vaccination Rates”
Changes in How Cases and Deaths in PA are Reported Due to the Omicron Variant
This week Anthony Fauci reported on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulus that cases were not as important as hospitalizations and deaths in measuring the severity of the coronavirus pandemic under the omicron variant. This is because new Omicron variance of COVID-19 is believed to be more contagious but less severe. With the adventContinue reading “Changes in How Cases and Deaths in PA are Reported Due to the Omicron Variant”