Presentations for Health

COVID-19: Pandemic Pandemonium

The novel coronavirus outbreak that started late last year has already
shaken up the global economy, caused massive public unrest, and given us
the equal parts funny and dystopian situation with those
face-recognizing drones that yell at people for not wearing masks. But
with so many people talking about the same thing, how do we sort out
what’s real and what’s conspiracy? Is the novel coronavirus a bioweapon?
Are pangolins secretly humanity’s great adversary? Do masks actually
work? Why the heck are we talking about Russia? This talk will begin
with an overview of the latest literature on COVID-19 and highlights of
the outbreak so far. From there we will dissect the various claims made
by private entities, separating fact from fanatical and tracking how
information travels through meatspace.

Human Health and Climate Destabilization

Extreme heat is the result of higher temperatures due to atmospheric heat retention by green house gases.  As temperatures rise, more water evaporates and the concentration of water vapor (humidity) in the air rises.  This means that some places, particularly temperate areas, will receive more rain resulting in more flooding.  Droughts occur sooner in places that do not receive rain because it is hotter.  Tropical storms and hurricanes are powered by the heat energy in ocean water.  As ocean temperatures rise, tropical storms tend to become larger, more powerful, and associated with greater rainfall.  Many of these events are happening now.  This year has seen record heat waves across the U.S., Europe, and Greenland; floods in the U.S. Midwest; and wildfires in Alaska, Siberia, Greenland, Australia, and the Western United States.  In 2017 and 2018 there were unusually powerful and large hurricanes such as Harvey (Houston, TX), Florence (North Carolina), Maria (Puerto Rico), and Irma (Florida and Caribbean).  Lyme Disease and West Nile virus encephalitis have been spreading north from the U.S. into Canada as warmer temperatures make survival easier for ticks and mosquitoes.  As the tropics expand towards the poles, diseases carried by mosquitoes such as Dengue follow.  The Middle East (Southwest Asia) may become too hot for human habitation.  Coastal cities such as Jakarta, Indonesia, Mumbai, India, Shanghai, China, London, U.K., Miami, New Orleans, and New York may become uninhabitable due to sea level rise.  Today’s children are in the crosshairs of climate change.

Online Dating Scams – Low Blows

Over time dating scams have claimed many victims, becoming an immense industry that uses psychological approaches, photographers, graphic designers, call centers, extortion and blackmail, as well as human trafficking. These scams have been around for many years, and they continue to grow and evolve, and the hackers have become much more elaborate and sophisticated with their methodologies, making them even more profitable than ever. We will dissect this dark business and identify its patterns and vulnerabilities, as well as bring awareness to a topic that is not often discussed.

Epstein Faraday didn’t kill himself