Liberal Studies – Ryerson University

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Liberal studies are offered at two levels: the lower, which are normally taken during the first two years of a four-year program, and the upper, which are normally taken during the last two years of a four-year program.

The courses offered at each level are listed under Table A and Table B in theUndergraduate Calendar, opens in new window.

The required number of lower and upper level liberal studies varies according to program. Liberal studies courses always have the designation (LL) or (UL) in their course description. Courses not identified as either (LL) or (UL) arenotLiberal Studies courses and do not meet the Liberal Studies requirement for graduation purposes.

Certain courses listed in Table A and Table B, due to their close relation to the professional fields, cannot be taken for Liberal Studies credit by students in some programs. Please refer to the list of Table A Restrictions, opens in new window and Table B Restrictions, opens in new window in theUndergraduate Calendarfor complete details.

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Liberal Studies - Ryerson University

B.A. Liberal Arts | TAU International | Tel Aviv University

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In case of restrictions connected to the COVID-19 situation, please note that the programhasput in place an alternative of long distance learning. If physical presence is not possible, you will be able to participate in your courses remotely and once permitted, resume them in person without this affecting your ability to complete the program.

The B.A. degree in Liberal Arts is a multidisciplinary program that focuses on the humanities and social sciences. This three-year course of study provides students with a strong liberal arts education while empowering them to succeed in an increasingly complex and fast-changing world.

The programcombines exposure to a broad range of disciplines with an in-depth study of at least one academic field. It aims to provide students with a variety of analytical tools; to develop their intellectual agility, critical thinking skills, and creative power; and to equip them with the ethical sensibilities necessary for living in todays complex societies.

This three-year B.A. program provides students with the foundations of a strong Liberal Arts education while empowering them to succeed in an increasingly diverse, complex, and fast-changing world. It is designed to motivate students to explore beyond the confines of single disciplines, by offering a broad selection of courses in various fields of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Alongside the core liberal arts curriculum and electives in a variety of topics,students choose a major and a minor in Middle Eastern studies, Philosophy, Literature, Israel and Jewish Studies, Psychology and Psychoanalysis, or Communication and Digital Culture.

In addition to coursework, students in this program enjoy the following:

Study trips throughout Israel that deepen understanding of local and international topics

Participation in numerous cultural events, seminars, and lectures arranged on campus each semester

Gaining invaluable intercultural dialogue and communication experiencewith like-minded peers from a kaleidoscope of backgrounds

For more than 25 years, Tel Aviv University's Hebrew-language Multidisciplinary Program in the Humanities has been one of the university's largest and most successful undergraduate programs. Each year its graduates are accepted into top M.A. and Ph.D. programs around the world; in addition, a growing number of public- and private-sector employers have increasingly begun to recognize the practical advantages of hiring graduates of Liberal Arts programs, who are trained to think systematically, communicate effectively, and think outside the box.

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B.A. Liberal Arts | TAU International | Tel Aviv University

Blockchain-Based Smart City Project LImestone Plans for Token Listing – Cointelegraph

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Limestone Network, a Singapore-based blockchain project for building smart cities, has announced on July 23 it will list its native token-LIMEX on Bitrue crypto exchange for trading.

According to the report, LIMEX will integrate an entire smart city's applications such as property management, retail malls, payments, financial services, transportation, parking, F&B and entertainment, to create an intelligent urban ecosystem.

Limestone Network started with a 100-hectare private development project in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. It plans to have 10,000 tenants and a daily population of 190,000 people on board.

Limestone Network has reportedly adopted blockchain technology to enable data collection via residents daily touchpoints and sharing without invading consumers' privacy. They also expect this will give a more in-depth understanding of the city's functions, including road traffic, power and water consumption, resident movements, and more.

The project plans to include third-party partners such as ride-hailing apps, telcos and financial institutions to strengthen the ecosystem later on.

Limestone, a permission-based network, is said to allow consumers to manage consent for their data and usage. Service providers and merchants will be able to verify consumers' identities by requesting the data via private smart contracts. Eddie Lee, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Limestone Network said that: "The beauty of blockchain is the ability to give power back to consumers,"

Secure data portability also removes the need for intermediaries such as agencies between service providers and consumers. These cost savings can then be transferred to consumers.

Limestone also has a mobile app that will be an interface for residents to register for a digital passport. Once their identities are verified after screening against global databases, they gain access to features such as digital payments, building access, applications for microloans and more.

Cointelegraph reported that South Koreas capital plans to launch its own digital currency as part of its bid to transform into a blockchain-based smart city. China has also introduced an independently developed blockchain-based identification system for its smart city infrastructure.

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Blockchain-Based Smart City Project LImestone Plans for Token Listing - Cointelegraph

Top Blockchain Analytics Companies And What They Do – Analytics India Magazine

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Often hackers and web criminals use cryptocurrency due to its pseudonymous nature. Law enforcement, government and investigation agencies now have access to specialised analytics tools that can scan otherwise hard to track the trail of transactional data on public blockchains. Blockchain analytics makes it possible to follow who is buying what and paying for which product and services utilising cryptocurrency.

Many blockchain analysis tech players help to create these insights by turning blockchain raw data into searchable and executable data that individuals and businesses can easily search and build services on top of.

With blockchain analytics, we can have real-time alerts on the highest-risk activity allowing compliance teams to focus on the most urgent cases and report suspicious activity. Further, the transaction graph also enables digging deep into the transaction activity, patterns and trends, all in one clear graphical view.

These companies can analyse public blockchain transactions using traditional data analytics strategies and try to track transactional data for insights. In this article, we list down the leading companies that provide institutional-grade data collection and processing systems of blockchain data across exchanges, assets, markets for analytics queries.

Chainalysis is the worlds leading cryptocurrency and blockchain data analytics and transaction monitoring solutions company. It provides blockchain data and analysis to government agencies, exchanges, and financial institutions across 40 countries. In July 2020, Chainalysis announced it raised an added $13M to expand its Series B round to $49M with an investment from Sound Ventures and Ribbit Capital.

What do they do?

Its blockchain data and investigative product, Chainalysis Reactor, gives insights into how and why people move funds across the world on public blockchain networks and has helped increase revenue from new government customers by almost 400%. The companys compliance offerings, Chainalysis KYT (Know Your Transaction) and Chainalysis Kryptos, are now utilised by over 180 organisations across 44 countries including Europol, Square, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Barclays and many more.

Elliptic is another major analytics company working in crypto-asset risk management solutions for blockchain businesses and financial institutions worldwide. Recognised as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and backed by investors including Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, SBI Group, and Santander Innoventures, Elliptic has assessed risk on transactions worth several trillion dollars, uncovering activities related to money laundering, terrorist fundraising, fraud, and other financial crimes.

What do they do?

Elliptics dataset draws on an extensive number of both public and privately accessible sources of information in order to identify real-world identities on the Bitcoin blockchain. This information is fused with its core graph data engine to provide instant insights that can drive compliance decisions. Elliptical recently came to prominence when it tracked the bitcoin transactions involved in the recent Twitter hack based on on-chain analytics.

CipherTrace was one of the worlds first blockchain analytics firms targeted towards protecting financial institutions from virtual asset laundering risks and crypto-related threats. CipherTrace blockchain analytics de-anonymise funds flow by actively collecting millions of data points every week, and then implementing machine learning to its huge data pool to track flows to legitimate entities and also criminal activities. The firm was founded in 2015 to productise blockchain data analytics through its blockchain intelligence API product. The team at CipherTrace first began tracking illegal activity on Bitcoin in 2011.

What do they do?

CipherTrace develops cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering, cryptocurrency forensics, and blockchain threat intelligence solutions. Big exchanges, banks, regulators and crypto firms utilise CipherTrace to trace transaction flows on public blockchains and comply with regulatory anti-money laundering provisions, thus promoting trust in the cryptocurrency economy. Its quarterly CipherTrace Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering Report has become an authoritative industry data source. The US Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology and DARPA initially funded CipherTrace, and it is supported by leading Silicon Valley venture capital investors.

Home Top Blockchain Analytics Companies And What They Do

Headquartered in New York, Elementus creates insights into blockchain data by providing an enterprise blockchain analytics platform for institutional asset managers, financial service companies, and government agencies.

What do they do?

Elementus gained global prominence by presenting key data for coverage of the Cryptopia hack and QuadrigaCx insolvency in leading financial media publications including Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Fortune. Elementus blockchain index methodology intends to work similarly to how Googles web crawler and index methodology disrupted the search engine marketplace in the late 1990s. Elementus has successfully raised a $3.5M seed round led by Morgan Creek Digital with participation from Avon Ventures, a venture capital fund affiliated with FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, Stage 1 Ventures, Robot Ventures, and other key angel investors.

Coin Metrics provides one of the biggest feeds of aggregate on-chain data for fundamental analysis and trading. It was created in 2017 by Nic Carter and Aleksei Nokhrin as an open-source blockchain network data and analytics project.

What do they do?

Coin Metrics delivers transparent and actionable data to various industry stakeholders, including financial enterprises, funds, media and research outlets, and data/application providers. Coin Metrics data aims to help users and the public to create value, use, and better engage with blockchain-based assets. It has become a crucial industry resource for understanding network data all the operational and economic activity occurring on a public blockchain that can be observed by running a full node.

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Waste Aid to fight plastic pollution with blockchain technology – Resource Magazine

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Blockchain technology will support Waste Aids mission to share low-cost waste management expertise to communities that need it most around the world, in the charitys new partnership with Edinburgh-based cryptocurrency exchange platform Zumo.

Through the partnership, Zumo users will be able to automatically donate funds to Waste Aid whenever they send, exchange, buy or pay with cryptocurrencies through the new Zumo app. Visitors to the Waste Aid website are also able to make a one-off or monthly donation.

The funds raised will support over 1.7 billion adults who do not have access to modern financial services, as well as further support Waste Aids mission to bring waste management services and expertise to communities around the world.

Ceris Turner-Bailes, Chief Executive of WasteAid, adds commented: One in three people globally do not have a waste management service and have to burn or dump their waste, leading to serious health problems and adding to marine litter and climate change.

This partnership with Zumo will mean we can better support the communities that will benefit most from safe and sustainable waste management and together we can help tackle the issues right at the heart of global waste pollution.

Nick Jones, Founder of Zumo, said: Although blockchain technology and waste management appear to speak different purposes, in reality they share a common vision to empower communities and create long-term sustainable livelihoods for people globally.

There is so much that developed markets can learn from the communities that WasteAid supports from the seamless use of digital payments in everyday life that make access to modern financial services inclusive to taking better care for our planet. Our partnership with WasteAid is one of common values and we cant wait to get started.

This is just one of the partnerships through which Waste Aid is extending its international reach, with the charity having recently launched a new initiative to empower green entrepreneurs in South Africa, India and Vietnam to take control of their local waste situations.

Waste Aid aims to tackle marine plastic pollution and reduce carbon emissions in these countries and beyond: the charitys Widening the Net appeal last year raised over 168,000 to help prevent plastic pollution in the Cameroon estuary, while a recycling centre was set up in Kenya to improve the countrys waste management and sanitation situation.

Recently, the charity ran a virtual safari, which took place during the UKs lockdown with the aim of raising funds for waste collectors in Kenya.

The charitys work in Africa is ongoing, with a two-year plastics recycling project currently underway in The Gambia. Similar projects have been run in Kenya, Ghana and Somaliland, with the aim of improving recycling know-how and developing waste management systems.

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Waste Aid to fight plastic pollution with blockchain technology - Resource Magazine

Moderna to receive another $472 million from US for COVID-19 vaccine efforts – ModernHealthcare.com

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Biotech company Moderna Inc. on Sunday announced up to $472 million in additional federal funding for development of a COVID-19 vaccine. This is in addition to $483 million Moderna has already received from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company is believed to be the frontrunner in the race to market a vaccine to combat the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 650,000 people worldwide.

"Following discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and consultations with Operation Warp Speed over the past several months, the company has decided to conduct a significantly larger Phase 3 clinical trial, leaving a gap in BARDA funding that will be closed by this contract modification," a press release on Sunday stated. "Under the terms of the revised contract, BARDA is expanding their support of the company's late stage clinical development of mRNA-1273, including the execution of a 30,000 participant Phase 3 study in the U.S."

Phase 3, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial is expected to include approximately 30,000 participants. The total value of the award is now approximately $955 million, according to the company.

"Encouraged by the Phase 1 data, we believe that our mRNA vaccine may aid in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and preventing future outbreaks," Moderna CEO Stphane Bancel said in a statement.

Moderna shares have soared more than 270% this year.

"Working together with collaborators like NIH, the Company hopes to achieve a shared goal that the participants in the COVE study are representative of the communities at highest risk for COVID-19 and of our diverse society," according to the press release.

The Company remains on track to be able to deliver approximately 500 million doses per year, and possibly up to 1 billion doses per year.

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Moderna to receive another $472 million from US for COVID-19 vaccine efforts - ModernHealthcare.com

20200725 Florida Department of Health Updates New COVID-19 Cases, Announces One Hundred Twenty-Four Deaths Related to COVID-19 – Florida Disaster

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7/26/2020

~409,585 positive cases in Florida residents and 4,926 positive cases in non-Florida residents~

The Florida Department of Health (DOH), in order to provide more comprehensive data, releases a report on COVID-19 cases in Florida once per day. The DOH COVID-19 dashboard is also providing updates once per day. The state also provides a report detailing surveillance data for every Florida county, which is available here.

In order to make the daily COVID-19 report easier to download and more accessible, the daily report will now separate case line data in a separate PDF. Both reports will continue to be updated daily. The case line data report is available here.

Test results for more than 120,600 individuals were reported to DOH as of midnight, on Friday, July 24. Today, as reported at 11 a.m., there are:

On July 24, 11.43 percent of new cases** tested positive.

There are a total of 414,511 Florida cases*** with 5,777 deaths related to COVID-19.

Since July 24, the death of one hundred twenty-four Florida residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have been reported in Alachua, Bay, Broward, Dade, Duval, Gadsden, Hernando, Indian River, Jackson, Lee, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter, Union and Volusia counties.

Florida long-term care facility data:

The antibody COVID-19 test results report will be provided once a week and contains county, race and lab information on antibody COVID-19 tests conducted in Florida. The report for antibody tests conducted by private health care providers is available here and the report for antibody tests conducted at state-supported COVID-19 testing sites is available here.

More information can also be found here.

* Florida residents that are diagnosed with COVID-19 and isolated out of state are not reflected on the Florida map.

**This percentage is the number of people who test positive for the first time divided by all tests, excluding people who have previously tested positive.

***Total cases overview includes positive cases in Florida residents and non-Florida residents tested in Florida.

More Information on COVID-19

To find the most up-to-date information and guidance on COVID-19, please visit the Department of Healths dedicatedCOVID-19 webpage. For information and advisories from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), please visit the CDC COVID-19 website, this website is also available in Spanish and Creole.For more information about current travel advisories issued by the U.S. Department of State, please visit the travel advisory website.

For any other questions related to COVID-19 in Florida, please contact the Departments dedicated COVID-19 Call Center by calling1-866-779-6121.The Call Center is available 24 hours per day.Inquiries may also beemailed toCOVID-19@flhealth.gov.

About the Florida Department of Health

The Florida Department of Health, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @HealthyFla. For more information please visit http://www.FloridaHealth.gov.

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20200725 Florida Department of Health Updates New COVID-19 Cases, Announces One Hundred Twenty-Four Deaths Related to COVID-19 - Florida Disaster

So, how bad is COVID-19 in Houston? A guide to reading the data – Houston Chronicle

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We are near the end of July, and COVID-19 still is spreading uncontrollably in the Houston area. The public is bombarded daily with a slew of metrics: new cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations, deaths.

What do they all mean? Local government reporters Zach Despart and Mike Morris review this public data every day. We asked them to help you understand how to make sense of it all, starting with the question on everyone's mind: How bad is the situation now?

Mike Morris: Well, its not great. Were still adding more cases than public health officials can keep up with, a fifth of all tests conducted for the virus across the region are coming back positive a rate seven times higher than most of May and many local hospitals are under tremendous strain, particularly in their intensive care units.

The good news is that overall COVID hospital admissions finally are falling, with the rate of ICU admissions roughly flat.

Zach Despart: The first thing to keep in mind is that in order to get the full picture, you have to look at several metrics together. And because there sometimes are lags in how the government reports data, resulting in single-day spikes, its best to look at seven-day trends.

Lets start with cases. To see the daily counts, try the city-county COVID dashboard or the related Texas Medical Center chart. Our colleagues also track local and statewide metrics here.

Right now, the seven-day daily average of new cases in Harris County is 1,500. Thats high. To put that in perspective, Houston and Harris County health department contact tracers can handle about 600 cases a day.

Another data point is the number of tests that come back positive, which in the TMC system is at about 18 percent. On June 1, that figure was 5 percent. The governors team set 10 percent as a warning benchmark, which we exceeded a month ago.

Positive tests are called a leading indicator, which researchers can use to project hospitalizations and deaths. But it is an imperfect one; a limited ability for testing means that health experts believe the number of infections may be as much as 10 times greater than the documented figure.

Other metrics are more reliable.

MM: Hospitalizations are the best indicator of the virus spread, in large part because those with mild or no symptoms may never get tested or seek care, and, thus, may never show up in the data.

To gauge how the hospitals are doing, we look at two data sets: One is from the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, also known as SETRAC, which covers the 25-county region anchored by Houston. The other is from the Texas Medical Center, which pulls data from every facility in the region that is affiliated with seven large hospital systems headquartered in the huge medical complex south of downtown. The TMC figures come primarily from Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.

On the SETRAC dashboard, you can see hospital beds in all 25 counties, or select one at a time. In Harris, only about half of the operational general beds are full, but thats not a useful way to measure the strain caused by the virus. The most valuable resource and the most limited one in a pandemic, when a lot of patients are severely ill at once is space in intensive care units. And the data shows ICUs have been near capacity across the county for much of July.

We typically look at the TMC data on this capacity point; while the SETRAC data is interactive and shows a longer-term trend, the TMC data, while not perfect, more clearly spells out ICU capacity. (Here is the explanation of what the phases of surge capacity mean.) The institutions have had a few hiccups in conveying exactly how urgent their capacity challenges are, though.

ZD: Long story short, in late June the TMC executives warned ICU usage was increasing at an alarming rate. Then the CEOs walked back their statements. And then the ICU slides disappeared from the TMCs online deck just after the system hit 100 percent of base capacity for the first time during the pandemic. Understandably, this alarmed some people, and we wrote a story about it. TMC replaced the data a few days later, removed the scary red and orange colors from the charts, and added context.

Does this switcheroo mean the data is untrustworthy, as some have suggested? Of course not. But some of the revised slides are wonky and require some explanation. Here are two we find particularly helpful.

MM: This chart on ICU occupancy is a graphic designers nightmare (spiky green boxes!), but its important. The column on the left shows the raw count of ICU patients (COVID patients and total patients, marked by yellow lines) and which phase of operations the combined count requires. TMC ICUs have been in Phase 2 for most of July, adding staff and equipment to convert normal beds into intensive care beds.

Now, lets look at the ovals listing percentages to the right. For much of July, COVID patients have made up roughly half of all medical center ICU patients (the oval at the bottom left). Thats a significant burden the state and county warning benchmarks consider anything higher than 15 percent a red flag.

What about the lighter blue percentage ovals? Those figures try to convey the wiggle room provided by surge capacity. As of Friday, for instance, if all Phase 2 beds were added, the medical center ICUs would be 85 percent full, with 42 percent of all ICU beds filled with COVID patients.

Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of Houston Methodist, and Dr. Jim McDeavitt, dean of clinical affairs at Baylor College of Medicine, said they know the capacity slides can be hard to interpret.

What were all seeing is people on either extreme trying to use data to prove their more extreme views, whether its somebody looking at that and saying, Theres no problem, look at all these beds, or frankly people looking at, Oh my gosh weve gotten through Phase 1, the sky is falling, Boom said. Both of those are wrong.

If the dark blue of Phase 1 is your favorite restaurant on a Wednesday night, McDeavitt said, the sky blue of Phase 2 is that restaurant on Mothers Day.

When we get up into the light blue zone (Phase 3), thats when we start to deliver care in a way nobody really wants to, like putting two beds in one room or putting beds into places in a hospital where we wouldnt normally put beds, McDeavitt said.

And that gray box at the top? Armageddon, McDeavitt said. We have medical ships showing up in the port of Houston. That scenario, Boom agreed, would be like New York City in March. The gray box, he said, certainly is not meant to reassure people that theres some endless supply of beds.

One last thing to note here is that this ICU capacity data is aggregated from multiple facilities, and that not every hospital has the same ability to add surge beds. For example, Harris Countys public safety net hospitals have regularly reported ICU usage above 100 percent during the pandemic and continue to transfer patients to other facilities due to a lack of space.

A lot of people have focused on this projection slide, but its not a crystal ball. Its a simple calculation: If ICUs continue to be this full, how quickly will the TMC enter its two phases of surge capacity at the current rate of COVID ICU admissions?

Hospitals have some control over one part of that equation: The numbers of non-COVID patients in intensive care, many of whom are there to recover from procedures that can be delayed. We saw this play out this month: TMC ICUs were initially projected to enter Phase 3 (formerly dubbed unsustainable surge capacity) within two weeks, but that date always stayed 12 to 13 days away.

There are two reasons for this: The count of non-COVID patients fell 16 percent between July 2 and July 5 as procedures were postponed, and has not returned to its early-July levels. And that was followed by two weeks during which the 7-day average growth in COVID ICU cases slowed every day.

ZD: And heres a brief primer on the SETRAC data. We primarily look at three data points: COVID cases occupying general beds, those in ICU beds and total ICU usage.

This graph (click here and then click the "Hospital/COVID census" button) shows how many COVID patients are hospitalized in the 25-county region, split between general beds (blue) and the portion of those that are in the ICU (red). There are thousands of general beds available across the region, though that figure still is useful because it helps predict future ICU usage. Why? Because some of those people, unfortunately, get sicker and need intensive care.

The number of ICU patients is of particular concern, because those resources are more limited.

This chart (click here and then click the "ICU Bed Usage" button) shows the total ICU usage in the region (blue) and the share of those patients that are being treated for COVID (green). As you can see, weve been pretty close to using up all the base ICU capacity since early June. And remember, this is an average of dozens of hospitals; some are into their surge capacity while others are below it.

The second marker to watch here is the share of ICUs that are filled with COVID patients. Under the state benchmark, this figure should be no higher than 15 percent; for more than a month it has been above 40 percent. Why is this concerning? COVID patients need to be isolated from others and require more staff attention and supplies, such as PPE, than other ICU cases.

And some of these ICU patients die, bringing us to our last data point.

MM: Whats helpful to understand is that these metrics increase in succession. In June we saw an increase in cases after the state began to reopen. In late June and early July, hospitalizations surged. Mid-July, predictably, has brought an increase in deaths. Harris County has reported 596 fatalities to date, while the state has tallied 4,717. Most have come since June. (You can find these stats in the statewide data dashboard.)

The statewide death rate as a share of total cases, however, is quite low just 1.2 percent, well below the 7.7 percent rate in New York, which was battered by the virus in the spring.

Why is that? Three primary reasons: the Texans who made up the recent case surge often were younger and more capable of fighting off the disease, doctors have gotten better at treating it over the past six months, and many of the patients who are among the recent surge in cases are still fighting the disease it is inevitable that a portion of them will die. Some critics of Texass coronavirus restrictions including a brief stay-at-home order and current mask rules point to the low death rate as evidence those measures were unneeded.

Doctors stress its important to consider that the outcomes of a COVID infection arent binary; that is, life or death. McDeavitt said he is confident that once intensive studies are completed on the lasting damage the virus does to the body, researchers will find non-trivial percentages of patients with permanent lung damage, with cognitive impairments, and with heart attacks, strokes and other maladies caused by blood clots.

ZD: These data sets, while sometimes hard to read, are valuable for us and the public to understand the spread and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic here. Feel free to ask us questions via email or Twitter, and continue to follow the Chronicles coronavirus coverage.

zach.despart@chron.com

mike.morris@chron.com

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So, how bad is COVID-19 in Houston? A guide to reading the data - Houston Chronicle

What if more of us have fought off COVID-19 than we think? – Grand Forks Herald

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So-called serology research looks for antibodies in the blood that fight the illness, and how many of us have them. Other research looks at how long these antibodies last. The latest results from these studies are said to show us two kinds of bad news -- that immunity after exposure to the illness is not such a sure thing, and that the number of us who have been exposed and fought off COVID-19 are fewer than hoped.

This pushes our goal of herd immunity farther into the distance, potentially even calling it into question altogether. But in measuring antibodies for COVID-19, might we have overlooked other blood markers that help fight off the sickness? Is it possible we are under-estimating both how long immunity lasts, and how close to herd immunity we really are?

Consider some recent observations.

COVID-19 cases may be surging across the state and the nation, but in former hotspots for the virus like Wuhan, China; New York; Spain; Sweden and the Lombardy region of Italy, case numbers and deaths have been declining steadily. Lombardy, once the source of a horrific COVID-19 outbreak, recently had two straight days with no deaths linked to the virus.

These declines have come about despite seroprevalence surveys that say just 5, 15 or 20% of the population has had the illness in those locales, and other data suggesting that antibodies fade quickly. For health officials, such big declines, with only small exposure to illness in the population, prove the power of lockdowns, social distancing, masking, handwashing and PPE.

Others have begun to argue something far more hopeful. That while masking, social distancing and handwashing and lockdowns are all powerful tools in reducing the spread of illness, they aren't enough to get the credit for so many hotspots having gone cold. Instead, they say, more of us may be immune than we realize.

"When we get exposed to an infection, two big types of immune responses occur," says Dr. Vincent Rajkumar, an oncologist at Mayo Clinic who conducts research on the type of blood cells that help us fight infection. "One is called antibody-mediated immunity. This is where you make specific proteins called antibodies to fight infections."

"The second type of response is called cell-mediated (or T-cell) immunity. Here you don't make antibodies, but you actually have specific cells that target the offending infection." Serologic studies measure antibodies, but do not measure cell-mediated immunity.

In addition, Rajkkumar says, serologic tests can miss antibodies that are present in lower concentration than the assay can detect, or we may have other antibodies directed at the virus than what a given serologic test is designed to identify.

"The virus has many proteins," he says, "and it is possible that a person is developing antibodies against other parts of the virus that we are not checking."

Some even wonder if recent immunizations in children are what's made them less susceptible to bad outcomes from COVID-19.

"Back in March when we were all thinking out loud," Rajkumar says, "one of the thoughts I had was, why were children relatively protected from being seriously ill with COVID-19? Was it because of the multiple childhood vaccines they receive leading to a more responsive immune system?"

Answering these questions in the lab is no small task.

"We would have to do T-cell assays in a well-defined population to find out how many people have only antibodies, how many have only T-cells responses, and how many have both," he explains. "Then we need adequate follow-up to determine what proportion get COVID-19 in the future. Those studies are hard to do."

Researchers do know some persons appear to have T-cells that are cross-reactive to SARS-Cov-2 from blood samples collected before the pandemic. A recent study from Sweden has shown there are close family contacts who have reactive T-cells after having been exposed to COVID-19 without developing antibodies.

"I think the big decline in new cases we see in many hotspots are partly explained by masks, partly explained by social distancing, and may partly be explained by a larger portion of the population already being exposed."

"All of these observations put together makes us wonder if a greater proportion of the population is not susceptible to COVID-19 than what current sero-prevalence studies suggest," Rajkumar says.

Rajkumar has been sharing these questions on Twitter, and they are the subject of lively interactions between some of the nation's top scientists.

So, if serology studies only show us part of the picture, how many of us are potentially immune to COVID-19?

"I think it's much higher," Rajkumar says. "I think it's at least double what sero-prevalence studies are reporting."

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What if more of us have fought off COVID-19 than we think? - Grand Forks Herald

Chatham Doctor: Beware ‘caution fatigue’ with COVID-19, re-open safely – Morristown Green

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Over 100 days in quarantine have come and gone for New Jerseyans. Yet COVID-19 is rising among young people. Is this worth worrying over?

Stay alert, not anxious, advised Dr. Mikhail Mike Varshavski of Chatham Family Medicine, in a virtual interview hosted Thursday by the Atlantic Health System, parent organization of Morristown Medical Center.

During his half-hour talk, titled Community Conversations: Why COVID-19 Is Increasing Among Young Adults, Varshavski credited an increase in COVID cases to the increased availability of testing.

During a COVID briefing earlier this month, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichelli said New Jersey has seen a 10 percent increase in coronavirus infections in the 18-29 age group since April. Persichelli attributed this to partying.

While acknowledging partying has had an effect, Varshavski said there are multi-variables why young folks are getting this.

One reason for the increase, he said, is that more young people are getting tested.

When the pandemic began, we really urged people to save testing for those who really need it because we were short on supplies.

Since this increase in cases should not be seen as a red flag, according to Varshavski, we absolutely need to return back to normal, but we need to do it smart.

If we just keep America shut down completely, we are now increasing the harms and really getting limited benefit return on that, he said. Isolation for the human mind is toxic.

As the total days in quarantine are stacking up, young folks, a demographic excluding children and those over 40, are experiencing caution fatigue.

We actually have something similar to that in the healthcare space called Alarm Fatigue, he said.

If you have a monitor thats constantly beeping, giving off alarmswhen its doing it too much, our brains stop paying attention to it and thats dangerous.

Therefore, it is imperative for individuals to return back to their routines. Safely, that is.

The main thing that causes anxiety with this pandemic is the break up of our routine,Varshavski said,.

He suggested getting people back to work and reopening schools.

Does that mean theres a one-size-fits-all solution? he asked. Absolutely not.

Varshavski suggests constantly analyzing data from schools to monitor the potential spread of the virus and ensure that it is limited.

At the same time, he said its still vital that people avoid high-risk activities, especially young people.

Asymptomatic or presymptomatic, which describes those not yet showing symptoms, can be spreading this virus rapidly, Varshavski said.

As a young person, you could be the super spreader that gets your grandparents sick, your family members sick, the people around you at your job sick, who may not have a great immune system.

In the meantime, before everything reopens, he said it is important to stay in contact with family and friends. While following social distancing guidelines, of course.

If you are communicating with loved ones virtually during this time, Varshavski continued, it also is wise to recognize the dangers of spreading misinformation on social media.

When viewing a misleading graph posted on Instagram or a fake quote shared on Facebook, you should pause and take care before you share, Varshavski said.

Sometimes, he said, sharing unreliable social media content will cause more anxiety and damage.

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Read more from the original source:

Chatham Doctor: Beware 'caution fatigue' with COVID-19, re-open safely - Morristown Green

Ben Lomond High teacher, victim of COVID-19, remembered as caring educator – Standard-Examiner

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OGDEN Next month, when students, faculty and staff return to Ben Lomond High School following an extended absence caused by the global pandemic, one of their own will be missing.

According to her obituary, on June 23, COVID-19 claimed the life of Darla Checketts, 58, a family and consumer science teacher at the school.

Tammy Brown-Johansen, who also teaches FACS classes at Ben Lomond, has been a friend and neighbor of Checketts for more than two decades. She doubts that the word got out to all the students, so it will be a difficult time when they return to school and Ms. Checketts is nowhere to be found.

Its going to be rough when the students come back and go, Well, where is she?, Brown-Johansen said. Theyll have questions. Some of them, these inner-city kids, bond with these teachers, and this will be hard.

Its a tragedy; its horrible. For the family, its devastating, but for us ... Brown-Johansen said, trailing off.

After Checketts died, Brown-Johansen remembers being at the school one day when she ran into a couple of the student custodians who clean the building over the summer.

One of the custodians was one of Darlas students, Brown-Johansen recalls. I told her Darla passed, and this cute little student contacted all her friends, and they collected money to have a tree planted in the forest in her name.

Some of those students showed up at Checketts viewing.

And then they gave me the $60 left over from their collection for me to give it to the family, Brown-Johansen said.

For these students many from lower-income families that donation represented a lot of money, Brown-Johansen said.

STERLING SCHOLAR

According to her obituary, Darla Jean Payne Checketts was born Jan. 20, 1962, in Ontario, Oregon, the oldest of four children. She grew up in Kaysville, graduating from Davis High School in 1980, and was chosen as the Sterling Scholar in home economics.

Beginning at age 14, Checketts spent nine summers working in West Yellowstone, Montana, with the goal of paying for all her college expenses, according to the obituary. Her plan worked, and she graduated from Utah State University with a bachelors degree in home economics education.

A fan of the Peace Corps, Checketts spent two years teaching home economics at a high school in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She later taught at the high school in Malad City, Idaho, for five years.

In 1989, Checketts married Cameron Checketts in the Logan Temple, and they raised five children at their home in West Point. She was a stay-at-home mother, working at a local preschool when her children were at school.

Brown-Johansen says she and Checketts had a lot in common they lived in the same neighborhood, their daughters were the same age, and the two women had studied the same major in college.

It was Brown-Johansen who approached Checketts about a teaching job at Ben Lomond High.

As her kids got older and her youngest, twin boys were in high school, we were in need of another family and consumer science teacher, Brown-Johansen said. It was a part-time position, and Darla only wanted to work part time. I asked her to please come and work with the students at Ben Lomond.

For five years, Checketts worked with Brown-Johansen and two other teachers in the FACS department at the school. She knew how to help students who were struggling in an academic setting, her colleagues say.

SILENT LEADER

Ben Lomond High Principal Steve Poll remembers Checketts as a quiet but powerful force at the school.

She was not one of those teachers who has a loud, big presence on campus, he said. She was more of a silent leader.

Poll said Checketts chose to teach half-time at the school every other day so she could spend time with family.

She still liked to teach, but she also wanted to be there for her grandkids, Poll said.

Poll praised Checketts strong connection with her students. He said she was one of those dedicated teachers who would sacrifice her own personal time to help her charges.

Makenzie Thompson, who also teaches in the FACS department at Ben Lomond, frequently saw that personal sacrifice in action. In a social media post after Checketts death, Thompson wrote: There were many lunches where she wouldnt take a break because she was busy tutoring or letting students retake tests. ... She worked diligently to empower and teach her students enough so they could make better futures for themselves.

Thompson also praised Checketts organizational skills, calling her the most organized teacher I have ever met.

The poor dear had to share a classroom with me this past year and let me just say that I have kind of embraced the chaos of glitter everywhere and students leaving their stuff in each crevice like its their bedroom, Thompson said. Despite this, Darla just went with the flow and made the best of the situation.

ALL ABOUT FAMILY

Brown-Johansen echoes the organized-yet-laid-back vibe of her friend. She said that although Checketts was incredibly clean and organized, shed let her whole house get messed up playing with the grandkids.

Theyd be making something in the kitchen, and thered be flour all over the place, Brown-Johansen said. But it was OK, because her grandkids were with her.

On the day Thompson posted her social media tribute to the person she called her sweet friend/work mom, she and Brown-Johansen had just gone through Checketts classroom, collecting her personal belongings to return them to her family.

Darla did not have many personal items at the school, Thompson wrote. They all fit in 1 box, but in that single box there were 3 framed pictures of her family.

Thompson says that showed Checketts priorities. She loves her children and husband so much and I know that she will continue to love and watch out for them, she wrote.

However, both Thompson and Brown-Johansen say their friend saw her students as her kids as well.

My only thing Id want people to know is that she really, really, really cared about the kids at school, Brown-Johansen said. Thats the thing about working at Ben Lomond. Its not a job; its a stewardship. If its not about the kids, youre not doing it right. And she knew that, and she did it right.

WHAT HAPPENED?

According to Brown-Johansen, Checketts son had recently returned home from an LDS mission.

He was the first one sick, then she got it, and then her husband got it, she said. I didnt even know she was ill. She was only ill one week.

Brown-Johansen said Checketts had gone to the doctor the night before she died because she wasnt feeling well and said she couldnt breathe.

They knew she had it ... but they sent her home; they didnt think she needed to be hospitalized, Brown-Johansen said.

The next day, her condition worsened. Her son, whod been frequently checking on her, decided to take her back to the hospital.

He went in to get her to take her to the emergency room and she was gone, Brown-Johansen said.

Brown-Johansen remembers the last time she was with her friend. It was June 2, just three weeks before her death, and the teachers in the FACS department were meeting at the school to deep-clean the kitchen in the foods lab at the school. She doesnt specifically remember their final conversation, but shes fairly certain it had to do with either kids or school.

It was always either talking about her children, or my children, or the kids at school, she said. Thats what we mostly talked about.

COVID WAKE-UP CALL

Thompson says shes taken the opportunity of her friends death to refresh her commitment to following the recommended safety guidelines during the pandemic including wearing face masks and maintaining social distance in public.

Even though the percentage of COVID-19 cases compared to the general population may not seem scary to some, please know that the family and friends of that percentage of peoples lives have been altered forever, she writes.

Adds Brown-Johansen: This has been a wake-up call to those who think COVID-19 isnt real.

Poll, the principal at Ben Lomond, said the personal nature of the loss makes it a bit more real for everyone involved.

The thing that makes it seem a little more concerning is that it was somebody that we actually know, Poll said. Its not a news story, its not somebody in New York, its not a number or a statistic its somebody you know.

Poll said he realizes that some educators may be uncomfortable about going back into the classroom this fall, but he said district and school administrators have been attacking the problem for months now.

I can see teachers being more concerned because they havent been in on the day-to-day planning, Poll said. But the administration, weve worked on it all summer long, and we have a good plan.

Still, Poll said Checketts death has been a shock to the entire community.

It definitely hits home, he said.

A viewing for Checketts was held July 10 in Layton; a graveside service followed the next day at the West Point City Cemetery.

Brown-Johansen said she feels empty and cried forever over the loss of her friend.

It was like losing my sister, she said. Honestly, it makes me sad to talk about her, but it also makes me sad not to talk about her.

As for Thompson, she said the family and consumer science department at Ben Lomond High will be forever altered.

Even though Ive only known Darla for 4 years, I feel like its been much longer, she wrote in her online tribute. I dread returning to school without my friend. Our team will not be the same without her.

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Ben Lomond High teacher, victim of COVID-19, remembered as caring educator - Standard-Examiner

They have been married 46 years and just overcame Covid-19, cancer and chemo together – CNN

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Robert and Janice Beecham have been married for 46 years, and this year they are happy to be recovering after a spring full of turmoil.

"It's a blessing to be here because a lot of people didn't make it," Janice told CNN.

Robert Beecham said he and Janice had been following the safety rules but he started to feel symptoms of Covid-19. A week and a half later he still wasn't feeling well so the couple got tested for the virus.

The next day, on March 25, he called his son and agreed to be taken to the hospital.

"He knew me agreeing without a fight meant that I was feeling pretty terrible," he said.

His anniversary was a motive to get home

Robert was admitted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas alone, and found out the next day that he was COVID-19 positive. He was moved to another floor and started his road to recovery, a feat he attributes to his doctor, Satyam Nayak.

"Dr. Nayak and I would open up casual conversations and it would take my mind off the virus," he said.

Robert told the doctor about having two strokes, one in 2012 and 2016, and missing out on an anniversary. He found himself in the same situation this year, so Nayak decided to use that as motivation to get him home.

Nayak came up with a plan where Robert could go home and get the care he needed from his wife. He made it home in time for their April 15 anniversary.

Janice has a positive test of her own

Meanwhile, Janice had just recovered from having surgery in February after finding out about a second battle with breast cancer and a new diagnosis with ovarian cancer. She also tested positive for COVID-19, but luckily, she told CNN, her symptoms were mild.

"Once I got home, and we did the quarantine, I was getting progressively better but Janice still had issues with her health," Robert said.

"We're best friends, it was just tough," Robert told CNN.

Because of her diagnosis, Janice had not yet started the chemo treatments required for her cancer diagnoses.

Now, after surviving two surgeries, two coronavirus diagnoses, chemo and being declared cancer free, the Beechams only have one thing to say.

"It would have been impossible to make it with all the odds against you without God, and he has been our help, all these many years," Robert said.

Janice still has preventative radiation coming up, but the two said they are blessed to be alive and blessed to have celebrated another year together.

Link:

They have been married 46 years and just overcame Covid-19, cancer and chemo together - CNN

Twenty thousand COVID-19 tests still available in surge testing program – WBRZ

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BATON ROUGE There are still 20,000 freeCOVID-19tests available for anyone to take advantage of.

That's out of a total of 60,000 provided by the federal government.

Originally, the goal of the program was to use all the tests in twelve days. But when that didn't happen, Mayor Broome announced the sites willremainopen until supplies last.

We've been very lucky that we've been allowed to keep them open until we exhaust all 60,000 tests, said community testingcoordinator, Kim Hood. Sixty thousand tests over twelve days would have been a pretty big lift for a metropolitan area the size of Baton Rouge.

There are a handful of testing locations. The latest site opened up downtown at the Capitol Park Welcome Center.

We really intended it as a way for folks who live and work downtown be ableto accesstesting as part of their workday. So either on their way into work or on their way home or on their lunch break. Weve seen steady numbers go through there and it's been good, said Hood.

So far, just over 40,000COVID-19testshave been completed. Hood expects the kits to run out during the first week of August.

We just want to make the service available for as long as we can whether it's because someone is symptomatic and they need to come get a test with afive-dayturnaround, or because they are just concerned about theirCOVIDstatus and want to know. Some are getting ready to go back to school, so we're just very happy that we're able to make it available, said Hood.

The testing site locations include:

-HealingPlace Church (closed Sundays)-LSU(Alex Box Stadium)-SouthernUniversity (FGClark)-CortanaMall-LamarDixon Expo

- Capitol Park Welcome Center

The Mayor's office says though residents can simply show up at any of the above sites for a test, itis encouragedthat all who are able pre-register atwww.DoINeedaCovid19Test.com

At the testing sites, residentsshould bepreparedto give medicalpersonneltheir phone number and email address.

Read more here:

Twenty thousand COVID-19 tests still available in surge testing program - WBRZ

COVID-19 Daily Update 7-20-2020 – 5 PM – West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

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TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 5:00 p.m., on July 20,2020, there have been 234,857 total confirmatory laboratory results receivedfor COVID-19, with 5,142 total cases and 100 deaths.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASESPER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour (25/0), Berkeley (549/19), Boone(58/0), Braxton (7/0), Brooke (38/1), Cabell (219/7), Calhoun (5/0), Clay(17/0), Fayette (101/0), Gilmer (13/0), Grant (25/1), Greenbrier (80/0),Hampshire (51/0), Hancock (61/4), Hardy (48/1), Harrison (140/1), Jackson(149/0), Jefferson (269/5), Kanawha (534/12), Lewis (24/1), Lincoln (21/0),Logan (47/0), Marion (136/3), Marshall (82/1), Mason (30/0), McDowell (11/0),Mercer (74/0), Mineral (73/2), Mingo (60/2), Monongalia (748/15), Monroe(16/1), Morgan (21/1), Nicholas (21/1), Ohio (179/0), Pendleton (19/1),Pleasants (5/1), Pocahontas (38/1), Preston (92/22), Putnam (115/1), Raleigh(105/3), Randolph (199/2), Ritchie (3/0), Roane (12/0), Summers (2/0), Taylor(29/1), Tucker (7/0), Tyler (10/0), Upshur (31/2), Wayne (160/2), Webster(2/0), Wetzel (41/0), Wirt (6/0), Wood (203/9), Wyoming (8/0).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.Such is thecase of Boone, Cabell, Fayette, and McDowell counties in this report.

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR.

Please visit thedashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 7-20-2020 - 5 PM - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

The ‘7 Social Sins’ as a Warning and Way Onto a Path Toward Equality and Liberation – The Good Men Project

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Pope Gregory I, in 590 C.E. released a list of the Seven Deadly Sins 1. lust, 2. gluttony, 3. greed, 4. sloth, 5. wrath, 6. envy, and 7. pride to keep Catholics from straying off the path toward God.

An Anglican priest, Frederick Lewis Donaldson, first uttered what he referred to as 7 Deadly Social Evils in a sermon delivered in Westminster Abbey on March 20, 1925.

1. Politics without Principles

2. Wealth without Work

3. Pleasure without Conscience

4. Knowledge without Character

5. Commerce without Morality

6. Science without Humanity

7. Worship without Sacrifice

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi renamed this as the 7 Social Sins and popularized the list for a modern audience in his weekly newspaper Young India on October 22, 1925.

Gandhi published the 7 Social Sins without commentary except that it was given to him by a fair friend and this line:

Naturally, the friend does not want the readers to know these things merely through the intellect but to know them through the heart so as to avoid them.

Unlike the Catholic Churchs list, which was meant as a compact between Christians and their God, Gandhis intent in promoting the list focused on the conduct of the individual within society. Gandhi who preached and practiced non-violence and the interdependence of every individual warned that these 7 Social Sins give examples of selfishness, egoism, and greed winning over the common good.

Gandhi presented the list on a slip of paper to his fifth grandson, Arun Gandhi, in 1947 saying that it contained the seven blunders that human society commits, and that causes all the violence. That was the last day grandfather and grandson would ever meet. Three months later, an assassin murdered Mohandas Gandhi.

The theory of a Social Contract developed as far back as ancient Greece. Though iterated, reiterated, and reformed by numerous philosophers and public figures, the foundations of this social contract stand on the premise that people live together in community with the agreement that establishes moral, ethical, and overarching political rules of behavior between individuals, groups, and their government in the formation of a civil society.

A violation by any of the signatories individuals, groups, governments jeopardizes the very stability of that progress toward a fully civil society.

Within our current Trumpian age, with all the problems and inequities that abound, these 7 Social Sins in the Gandhian sense can help to assist us in the ways we descended to this level of social dystopia and how to rise from it.

The ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, wrote his Politics (Greek: , Politik) whose title means literally the things concerning the polis. A polis (plural: poleis) was the typical organization of a community in the ancient Greek world.

Politics can be defined as the way people living in groups make decisions, and about coming to an agreement so people can live together.

Politics rests on issues of power regarding having control over ones life and influencing others. People and groups holding power in influencing others must follow the axiom that bioethicists and healthcare workers follow: Primum non-nocere (First, do no harm).

Mohandas Gandhi believed that politics without truths and values as the basis for actions generates chaos, which ultimately leads to violence. He defined principle as the expression of perfection, and as imperfect beings like us cannot practice perfection, we devise every moment limits of its compromise in practice.

Gandhi wrote, An unjust law is itself a species of violence. However, he did not believe that violence against unjust laws or actions of the state justifies violence:

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.

The concept of Draconian laws or rules that are terribly harsh or oppressive comes from Draco who created and enforced inordinately strict laws in ancient Athens.

There is nothing intrinsically sinful with inheriting great sums of wealth. Do we, though, as individuals within society have certain responsibilities that come with privilege, unearned as well as earned?

Several extraordinarily privileged individuals and families throughout the generations have signed the social contract by giving of themselves and their material wealth to improve the chances and conditions of people in the world community.

We must ask, however, how much wealth is enough? How much is not enough? In other words, how much is too much when so many have so little?

Wealth without Work describes many people and families in U.S.-Americas top economic 1%. And no, Gandhi would not have considered investments as work.

The effects in our age so-called neo-liberal age of standardization, corporatization, globalization, privatization, and deregulation of the business, banking, and corporate sectors can negatively affect teaching and learning in our schools and diminish workers control and power over their lives in business.

Our schools have become mere sorting machines geared to funneling or allocating potential workers into the corporate sector. Schools drive individuals to fill certain roles or positions, which are not always based on their individual talents or interests.

The tenets of neoliberalism, taken together, claim those who favor neoliberal ideas, will ensure the continual growth of the economy, that wealth will trickle down from the top, while protecting individual autonomy, liberty, and freedom. Neoliberalism rests on the foundation of meritocracy.

Though the neoliberal battle cry of liberty and freedom through personal responsibility sounds wonderful on the surface, what are the costs of this alleged liberty and freedom?

Pope Francis answered that question in his Evangelii Gaudium:

[S]ome people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.

Researchers have charted cultures as falling along a continuum with several variables, including Individualism versus Collectivism: the degree of support for and emphasis on individual goals versus common or collective goals. Most of these same researchers place the U.S. and many other Western nations on the Individual side of the continuum

Ayn Rand, philosopher, novelist, and essayist, contradicts most if not all of Gandhis 7 warnings. She has become the intellectual center for the economic/political/social philosophy of Libertarianism. She constructs a bifurcated world of one-dimensional characters in her novels.

On one side, she presents the noble, rational, intelligent, creative, inventive, self-reliant heroes of industry, of music and the arts, of science, of commerce and banking who wage a noble battle for dignity, integrity, personal and economic freedom for the profits of their labors within an unregulated free market Capitalist system.

On the other side, she portrays the looters represented by the followers, the led, the irrational, the unintelligent, the misguided, the misinformed, the corrupt government bureaucrats who regulate and manipulate the economy to justify nationalizing the means of economic production, who confiscate personal property, who deliver welfare to the unentitled, the lazy, who thereby destroy personal incentive and motivation resulting in dependency.

Welfare Ayn Rand terms unearned rewards, while arguing for a system of laisse-faire Capitalism separating economics and state. In other words, Ayn Rand paints a world in which the evil and misguided takers wage war against the noble and moral makers.

Ayn Rand bristles against some long-held notions of collectivism, of shared sacrifice and shared rewards. Rather, she argues that individuals are not and should not be their brothers and sisters keepers; that one must only do unto oneself; that one must walk only in ones own shoes and not attempt to know the other by metaphorically walking in their shoes; that personal happiness is paramount; the greatest good for you rather than the greatest number of people; it takes the individual to raise a child, not a village.

She titled one of her non-fiction books, The Virtue of Selfishness.

Scientia potentia est (or scientia est potentia or also scientia potestas est), a Latin aphorism, meaning knowledge is power is commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, though no known occurrence has been found in his English or Latin writings.

How one uses this power of knowledge often depends on the character (the underlying values and beliefs) of individuals and groups.

The organization, Character Counts, enumerates its 6 Pillars of Character, as core ethical values that transcend cultural, religious and socioeconomic differences. These Pillars are: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship.

Breaking any of these essential pillars seriously jeopardizes the stability of the entire structure, whether that be the family, the group, the culture, the nation, or the world.

Think about the political leaders who contrived justifications to wage war to benefit their own pollical ends (the so-called wag the dog syndrome).

Think of the political leaders who failed to take actions, again for their own political ends, on intelligence reports that foreign or domestic actors posed security risks to their nation.

Think of the political leaders who failed to mount a reasonable and sustained defensive strategy to limit and ultimately defeat deadly pandemics, and the enablers and colluders (politicians and media outlets) who refused to speak up and speak out.

Morality includes the values and behaviors of right and wrong, good and bad, and the beliefs and actions on the continuum between the poles.

What has been the result of the innumerable damage fossil fuel companies have perpetrated on the worlds environment by knowing the irreversible harm their products cause? What has been the incalculable number of people the tobacco companies have killed even decades ago as they understood tobaccos destructive health effects?

In our information age, technology has improved the lives of many people in significant ways, while connecting the human family as never before on a global scale. Although the possibilities are only limited by our imagination, so too are the dangers for abuse of these technologies by individuals, companies, and nations.

Computer abuse is a form of cyberwarfare, which is the waging of war in cyberspace through the use of electronic means. Individuals, companies, and nations have and continue to sell their snake oil products to unsuspecting and vulnerable populations to embezzle what people have taken a lifetime to accumulate.

Let us look at an example of the notion of science without humanity in the case of race.

Looking back to the historical emergence of the concept of race, critical race theorists remind us that this concept arose concurrently with the advent of European exploration as a justification and rationale for conquest and domination of the globe beginning in the 15th century of the Common Era (CE) and reaching its apex in the early 20th century CE.

Meanwhile, geneticists tell us there is often more variability within a given so-called race of humans than between human races, and that there are no essential genetic markers linked specifically to race. They assert, therefore, that race is socially constructed a historical, scientific, and biological myth. Thus, any of these socially conceived physical racial markers are fictional and are not related to what is beyond or below the surface of the body.

Though biologists and social scientists have proven unequivocally that the concept of race is socially constructed, however, that has not negated the effects (the privileges of some and marginalization and violence against others) on the lives of people.

Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), born Carl Linn (also known as the Father of Scientific Racism), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, developed a system of scientific hierarchical classification.

Within this taxonomy under the label Homo sapiens, (Man), he enumerated five categories based initially on the place of origin and later on skin color: Europeanus, Asiaticus, Americanus, Monstrosus, and Africanus.

Linnaeus asserted that each category was ruled by a different bodily fluid (Humors: moistures), represented by Blood (optimistic), Phlegm (sluggish), Cholor (yellow bile: prone to anger), Melancholy (black bile: prone to sadness).

Linnaeus connected each human category to a respective Humor, thereby constructing the Linnaeus Taxonomy in descending order:

Europeanus: sanguine (blood), pale, muscular, swift, clever, inventive, governed by laws;

Asiaticus: melancholic, yellow, inflexible, severe, avaricious, dark-eyed, governed by opinions;

Americanus (indigenous peoples in the Americas): choleric, copper-colored, straightforward, eager, combative, governed by customs;

Monstrosus (dwarfs of the Alps, the Patagonian giant, the monorchid Hottentot): agile, fainthearted; Africanus: phlegmatic, black, slow, relaxed, negligent, governed by impulse.

In 1883, Sir Francis Galton of England, a cousin of Charles Darwin, coined the term eugenics, from Greek meaning well born, of good origins and breeding. He established a new branch of science to improve qualities of a race by controlling human breeding.

Harry Hamilton Laughlin (1880-1943), U.S. Eugenicist, became superintendent of the Eugenics Record Office from 1910 until 1939. He advocated for mandatory sterilization of the unfit, and he crafted his model sterilization law for the uprooting of inborn defectiveness (Laughlin, 1914, p. 13).

His law included involuntary sterilization for the feeble minded, the insane, criminals, epileptics, alcoholics, blind personal, deaf persons, deformed persons, and indigent persons. Most U.S. states passed sterilization laws, and as late as 1992, 22 states still had these on their books.

Now let us briefly take the example of the social construction of sexual orientation.

The first Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-I) (the APA-sponsored and endorsed handbook of mental disorders) published in 1952 listed homosexuality, for example, as a form of sociopathology. The updated 1968 DSM-II described homosexuality as an Ego-Dystonic Disorder, a mental illness in a similar category with schizophrenia and manic-depressive disorder.

By 1973, the American Psychiatric Association had finally changed its designation of homosexuality, now asserting that it does not constitute a disorder: [H]omosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or general social or vocational capabilities.

The American Psychiatric Association published DSM-III in 1980 listing a diagnosis of gender identity disorder, which the manual imposed upon transgender people. However, the diagnosis has been updated in its DSM-V, published in May 2013. The subcommittee considered its change to gender dysphoria as a more neutral designation, which it views as descriptive rather than diagnostic and pathologizing.

Basically, in the case of the APA, a group of people, primarily men, met together and voted on whether people attracted to their own sex and people who expressed gender diversity would be considered sick or well.

How many people attend their houses of worship on designated occasions without following its basic precepts? How many people talk the talk of their spiritual values, whether within or without an organized religious tradition, without walking the walk?

In worshipping a deity(ies) or humanity in general, one cannot remain active in word while staying inactive in deed. One cannot truly help to improve the world, to help solve inequitable social, political, and economic conditions without some form of sacrifice, whether that be time and energy, economic resources, and/or truly working to disassemble ones own issues of arrogance, pride, and prejudice.

Gandhi always viewed violence negatively. He identified two forms of violence: Passive and Physical.

Passive violence occurs daily and regularly consciously and unconsciously through inaction, collusion, ignorance, denial, fear, and by other means. Passive violence is the fuel sparking physical violence (from the Sanskrit root: himsa, meaning injury).

In the context of violence, to Gandhi, one is blessed with the capacity of nonviolence. During physical violence, Gandhi extolled the practice of nonviolence (ahimsa). With nonviolence amid violence (passive and physical) one needs to understand and practice the notion of tapasya (the willingness to self-sacrifice). This self-sacrifice, as Gandhi himself modeled, comes in many forms.

The 7 Social Sins serve as a warning for the causes of many of the problems, the inequities, and flaws in our communities, nations, and world. They also can be taken as a menu of sorts for transforming and liberating individuals and nations in getting onto a path of repair.

There is a concept in the Jewish tradition known as Tikkun Olam meaning the transformation, healing, and repairing of the world so that it becomes a more just, peaceful, nurturing, and perfect place.

Let us go out into our lives and practice Tikkun Olam and obliterate the 7 Social Sins. Let us transform and liberate our world.

***

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The '7 Social Sins' as a Warning and Way Onto a Path Toward Equality and Liberation - The Good Men Project

The History and Philosophers of Nihilism

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The term nihilism comes from the Latin word nihil which literally means nothing. Many believe that it was originally coined by Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev in his novel Fathers and Sons (1862) but it probably first appeared several decades earlier. Nevertheless, Turgenevs use of the word to describe the views he attributed to young intellectual critics of feudal society generally and the Tsarist regime, in particular, gave the word its widespread popularity.

The basic principles which underlie nihilism existed long before there was a term that attempted to describe them as a coherent whole. Most of the basic principles can be found in the development of ancient skepticism among the ancient Greeks. Perhaps the original nihilist was Gorgias (483 to 378 BCE) who is famous for having said: Nothing exists. If anything did exist it could not be known. If it was known, the knowledge of it would be incommunicable.

Nihilism has been unjustly regarded as a violent and even terroristic philosophy, but it is true that nihilism has been used in support of violence and many early nihilists were violent revolutionaries. Russian Nihilists, for example, rejected that traditional political, ethical, and religious norms had any validity or binding force on them. They were too few in number to pose a threat to the stability of society, but their violence was a threat to the lives of those in power.

Atheism has long been closely associated with nihilism, both for good and for bad reasons, but usually for bad reasons in the writings of critics of both. It is alleged that atheism necessarily leads to nihilism because atheism necessarily results in materialism, scientism, ethical relativism, and a sense of despair that must lead to feelings of suicide. All of these tend to be basic characteristics of nihilistic philosophies.

Many of the most common responses to the basic premises of nihilism come down to despair: despair over the loss of God, despair over the loss of objective and absolute values, and/or despair over the postmodern condition of alienation and dehumanization. That does not, however, exhaust all of the possible responses just as with early Russian Nihilism, there are those who embrace this perspective and rely upon it as a means for further development.

There is a common misconception that the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was a nihilist. You can find this assertion in both popular and academic literature, yet as widespread as it is, it isnt an accurate portrayal of his work. Nietzsche wrote a great deal about nihilism, it is true, but that was because he was concerned about the effects of nihilism on society and culture, not because he advocated nihilism.

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The History and Philosophers of Nihilism

This weeks TV: Corporate humor, dating on the spectrum, and dogs seeking forever homes – The Boston Globe

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Your TV GPS, Globe TV critic Matthew Gilberts look at the week ahead in television, appears every Monday morning on BostonGlobe.com. Todays column covers July 20-26.

WHAT IM WATCHING THIS WEEK

1. The corporate setting can be soul-crushing, as Dilbert, The Office, and Better Off Ted have noted. But Comedy Centrals cheeky Corporate, one of my pet favorites, takes that idea to new blackly comic heights. Matt and Jake (played by co-creators Matt Ingebretson and Jake Weisman) are junior execs in training at the nefarious Hampton DeVille company, a kind of Amazon whose slogan is We make everything. The guys know theyre buying into evil, but their cynicism and passivity keep them in the race. Its nihilism at its most entertaining. The third and final season is starts Wednesday on Comedy Central at 10:30 p.m.

2. COVIDs Hidden Toll, the latest installment of PBSs Frontline, looks into the immigrants and undocumented workers who help maintain Americas food supply during the pandemic. Workers talk about having to choose between their health and their jobs, as well as what they say is a lack of protection from their employers. Its on WGBH 2 on Tuesday at 10 p.m.

3. Exploitation? Explication? Revelation? Love on the Spectrum is a new reality show about the world of dating for young adults on the autism spectrum. It joins Born This Way, The Good Doctor, The A Word, Parenthood, Atypical, and Speechless in bringing special needs into the mainstream. Netflix will make the five hour-long episodes available on Wednesday.

4. Get ready for tears. The Dog House sets up dogs with humans to see if theyre compatible. Each episode shows the arrivals of pets at a rural British rescue organization, tells their stories of abandonment, and looks into the lives of the people who might adopt them. Cameras in the pen record the first meetings between the dogs and their prospective new owners. Its on HBO Max on Thursday.

5. Rage ritual, anyone? Nine strangers, each undergoing stress, attend a wellness retreat in Costa Rica in a new unscripted series called Lost Resort. They work with a team of alternative healers who push them to their limits, with rage rituals and vulnerability circles. Premiering on TBS at 10 p.m. on Thursday, the reality show is from the producers of The Real Housewives of New Jersey and will of course feature hookups and breakups along with all the healing.

CHANNEL SURFING

Fear City: New York vs. the Mafia A limited series about Mafia families in New York in the 1970s and 80s and the feds trying to take them down. Netflix, Wednesday

The Pale Tourist Jim Gaffigan delivers a new stand-up set. Amazon, Friday

Rogue Trip Bob Woodruff and his 27-year-old son, Mack, travel to overlooked destinations. Disney+, Friday

RECENT REVIEWS

I May Destroy You An intense, intricate series about sexual trauma. HBO

Father Soldier Son A complex documentary portrait of a wounded warrior and his young boys. Netflix

P-Valley A compelling drama series about the workers at a Mississippi Delta strip club. Starz

Little Voice A musical rom-com series featuring songs by Sara Bareilles. Apple TV+

Stateless A six-part drama about life in the dirty, bureaucratically impacted limbo of an Australian refugee camp, featuring Cate Blanchett. Netflix

Ill Be Gone in the Dark A docu-series about true-crime author Michelle McNamara and her search for the Golden State Killer. HBO

Perry Mason The legendary attorney, played by Matthew Rhys, gets a backstory in this series, to mixed effect. HBO

Love, Victor A sweet, somewhat simplistic coming-out series aimed at young adults. Hulu

Laurel Canyon A two-part docu-series about the vibrant L.A. music scene in the 60s and 70s. Epix

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at matthew.gilbert@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewGilbert.

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This weeks TV: Corporate humor, dating on the spectrum, and dogs seeking forever homes - The Boston Globe

Afterland review: A thought-provoking tale of life without men – New Scientist

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Lauren Beukes's new speculative novel imagines a world stripped overnight of men. Do women do a better job of running things?

By Sally Adee

Getty Images

Afterland

Lauren Beukes

Michael Joseph (UK) and Mullholland Books (US)

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IF ALL the human cells in your body were to suddenly dematerialise, your outline would briefly persist, in all its exquisite detail, in the form of the billions of bacteria and viruses that colonise your every nook and cranny, still suspended in the shape of the frame your body provided.

Something analogous happens in Lauren Beukess novel Afterland, available in July worldwide and in September in the UK. Over about two years, a pandemic kills nearly every man in the world, leaving its patriarchal systems staffed exclusively by women. Cole, the mother of one of the precious few surviving boys, needs to get him out of the US and back to their home in South Africa. Her sister, meanwhile, wants to sell him. This gives the novel its structure and speed: it is a deceptively simple heist caper, with Cole on the run across the US from both her sister and the Department for the Protection of Males.

The organisation is charged with imprisoning the few males that remain, probing them to find whatever biological quirk has spared them from the plague and using that knowledge to find a vaccine for the virus. Its aim of jump-starting society back to normal will be uncomfortably familiar as we too languish in a pandemic limbo between the Before and the After, hoping for our own vaccine. The misguided waiting game in the novel results in a few temporary accommodations to reality: straight women negotiate awkward first dates with one another, while fake baby bumps become the hottest fashion accessory.

So who gets to maintain civilisation now, and do women run a better society than men? This is where the book shines as one of the best thought experiments of its kind, in which Beukes has stitched together the surprise matriarchy of The Power, the millenarian despair of Children of Men and the deeply intelligent questions of Ursula Le Guins The Left Hand of Darkness.

The Power in which women develop the ability to give electric shocks, ending their status as the weaker sex once and for all concludes that women are just as bad as men when in ultimate control.

Beukess take is more ambiguous. Like Le Guin, she seems to conclude that it doesnt much matter if it is women or men in charge of society, as it is the structures themselves that turn us into monsters. You have to be bigger and meaner as a woman to claim your turf, Coles sister tells herself, negotiating her nephews kidnapping on behalf of the widow of the kingpin she used to work for. The widow has slid into his place, just as easily as the thugs around her have shifted from being vicious beauty queens to vicious enforcers. The Sisters of Sorrow, the religious community in which Cole and her son take refuge, somehow figures out how to make Christianity even more violently misogynistic in a world without men.

There is no guarantee that the once-oppressed will wield power any more judiciously than their oppressors

Yet it isnt all nihilism. Beukes seeds the book with hopeful rumours of matriarchal societies that have sprung up in other countries. There are never many details beyond the promise, like mirages just over the horizon. They say the matriarchal societies have been a lot better about getting rid of the homosexuality laws, promises an email from a friend trying to help them escape across the Atlantic. It is a promise of a better body politic.

Afterland is that rare creature, a ripping tale that neither shies away from big questions nor interesting answers. What happens when the powerless get power? There is no guarantee that the previously oppressed will wield it any more judiciously than those who oppressed them. It isnt about the individuals. It is about the society they need to maintain.

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Afterland review: A thought-provoking tale of life without men - New Scientist

Is The UK Ban On Huawei The Endgame For Free Trade? – Forbes

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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: This picture shows the London offices of "The Economist" 16 February, 2005. ... [+] Figures due to be released on Thursday, while officially still secret, are widely expected to show that the London-based news magazine has exceeded the one million mark for weekly sales worldwide for the very first time. AFP PHOTO/ALESSANDRO ABBONIZIO (Photo credit should read ALESSANDRO ABBONIZIO/AFP via Getty Images)

Britains decision to ban Huawei actually, completely, perhaps irrevocably from the UKs 5G wireless networks seems to have caught some of the medias solid citizens by surprise. The Economist popped a monocle, and spun up a bright red cover story, subliminally hysterical, entitled Trade Without Trust

The Economist goes on to explain, adopting their once-upon-a-time style:

And after tendering the reader anarchy and collapse,the editors push on to their conclusion:

(This verges on economic nihilism. Unworthy of such a venerable journal, I would say. One wonders how much of Chinas nature we are obliged to go along with. Does that include hostage-taking as a negotiation technique (viz., the two Canadians being held by the Chinese state in solitary confinement since 2018, to trade for Huaweis CFO Meng Wanzhou)? Does it waiver the re-education camps in Xinjiang which Huawei may or may not be helping to technologize?)

But as to Huawei first, to recap: They are of course the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world. They are Beijings number 1 national champion. They are deeply invested in the narrative of Chinas Rise. Yes, they have been under siege by various branches of the U.S government but the American campaign was seen by many as mere sound and fury, to be resolved in the end as part of the Really Big Deal on trade between the economic superpowers.On what was this supposition based? Well, last year President Trump himself allowed that it was possible that Huawei would be included in a trade deal. And after all, wed seen this movie already once. Huaweis Chinese rival, ZTE, was accused, threatened, roughed up, dangled over the ledge, and then reprieved and restored to a (somewhat diminished) legitimacy. Yes, it is vexing that Huawei and Beijing havent drawn the obvious lesson. But still, it had seemed inconceivable that the U.S might actually go nuclear on Huawei. The company is too big, too important to China, and too well-established in the market to quash completely. The pressures being applied to our allies were interpreted as the usual pro forma American bluster. As recently as January, it seemed as though the Brits would essentially stand pat on Huawei.

The UK ban transformed a colorful tactical skirmish in the US/China trade spat into a tectonic event. Suddenly (as per The Economist) we are at the endgame. It was noticed that Canada and Singapore have decided in favor of Ericsson and Nokia (even though they have not formally banned Huawei). And the French government, while not endorsing a ban, has advised the operators there to steer clear of Huawei.Germany is wobbly. Merkel hesitates, but members of almost every German political party are pushing for a ban If there were a vote in parliament today, Huawei would lose. Telecom Italia also announced this month that it was excluding Huawei from its 5G tenders in Italy and Brazil. Not a good trend for Huawei.

The Chinese are threatening to retaliate, perhaps by banning or restricting European competitors Ericsson and Nokia. Thus, it seems to some that Huaweis take-down must portend a much larger shift in the global order, a New Cold War.

There is overreaction here (where perhaps there was under-reaction before). The Huawei episode is likely not an end but a beginning, a sign of what will become a long turnabout in world economic affairs.

It is not plausible that the global trade network can operate for long without trust. Finance certainly cant function without trust, and trade wont run without finance. The investment process, the capital markets, are based on trust.We can go all the way back to 1913, to J.P. Morgan himself, called to testify on his business practices before a skeptical Congress. Towards the end of a long interrogation, when he was asked by the chief counsel for the House Banking Committee Is not commercial credit primarily based on money or property? Morgan famously declared,

Morgan spoke of trust as personal matter, rooted in the character of ones counterparty. There were very few institutionalized forms of trust in his day. There were no financial reporting standards (no GAAP, no FASB), no true audited statements, no securities or banking regulators (no SEC, no FDIC).There was no central bank in the U.S. In fact Morgan was the Central Bank CPF .

We have spent the past century laboriously constructing the common framework to support trust in the financial system, systemic, structural trust, trust-worthy institutions, like the Dollar, the Federal Reserve, the stock exchange and all its plumbing, the system of financial regulation, modern accounting standards The commercial contracts that enable the global trade process today rest upon these foundations. This is the framework that gives an investor, or a business executive, the confidence that a transaction here (in New York, say) will be honored in London, or Hong Kong, or Shenzhen, and vice versa. Trust is the name of the game today as much as it was in Morgans time. We have built the whole system to uphold and strengthen it, and to make it more fungible. We have made trust which began as a handshake and an eye-to-eye connection into a commodity, which the world can trade in confidence. It underpins our prosperity.

The Economist will regain its composure. Beijing has some sorting out and reflecting to do. Over time, they will build the same framework of trust that the U.S. has assembled, and for the same reasons.

As for Huawei, their predicament as dire as it seems right now is in principle recoverable, as ZTEs was. Not without a price, and with some obvious adjustments. Their basic problem is in a word a loss of trust. They have been careless with that most intangible, but most valuable, of all corporate assets. Still, recovery is possible. Unlike in Morgans day, the world is well stocked with institutions and mechanisms to create and validate trust and confidence. Trust today can be acquired, almost like any other commodity. Huawei has really only to avail itself of these resources. In the companion piece to this column here I have proposed how this might work.

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Is The UK Ban On Huawei The Endgame For Free Trade? - Forbes

Bitcoin Breakout on July 22? 5 Things to Watch for BTC Price This Week – Cointelegraph

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The price of Bitcoin(BTC) begins a new week, ranging north of $9,000 as it awaits cues from macro markets.What could be in store for the coming days?

Cointelegraph takes a look at the major factors that could impact BTC's price this week.

Equities led a somewhat uneventful start to the weeks trading, with major stocks' futures slightly down on the day by a maximum of 0.6% at press time.

Bitcoin likewise had a quiet weekend, with volatility remaining negligible and a narrow trading corridor continuing to characterize price performance.

On Monday, BTC/USD hovered at around $9,180, having hit local highs of $9,226 earlier its highest since July 15.

As has become standard in recent weeks, coronavirus sentiment and reactions to associated remedial measures from governments and central banks dictate macro action, and Bitcoin remains susceptible to copycat moves.

With calm reigning prior to the opening bell on Wall Street, room for maneuver appeared limited, given the compression in BTC/USD over the past several weeks.

A cycle of higher lows and lower highs, the current compression cycle showed little sign of breaking this month. As Cointelegraph reported, however, the status quo is ripe for change and that should happen this week, say analysts.

This feels like a little World Cup of sorts. #bitcoin could break out on or about the 22nd, Jason Williams, co-founder of crypto hedge fund Morgan Creek Digital, tweeted on Sunday.

Investors should not treat Bitcoin as a safe haven too literally within the current market, says the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

Speaking to Bloomberg on July 20, Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ in cryptocurrency circles, cautioned against considering BTC/USD as having a particular relationship to stocks.

I think people should not take that meaning of 'safe haven assets'too literally there are always multiple factors affecting the price of an asset, he told the network.

If you imagine Bitcoin as the same as a float and theres the Titanic sinking beside it, if theres a rope tying the float to the Titanic, then the float will sink down with the Titanic, even though the float does have floating properties its just not able to sustain that kind of load.

As Cointelegraph reported, quant analysis has suggested that Bitcoin is 95% correlated to the S&P 500.

CZ added, however, that fiat inflation and its impact on investor holdings would ultimately increase Bitcoins safe haven profile over time.

On the topic of safe havens, attention stayed focused on gold over the weekend. Similarly, as a result of coronavirus fallout, the precious metal is now up 19% year to date.

Even in the eyes of mainstream media, appetite exists among investors for an exit from fiat, which has been tarnished by central bank money printing and lower interest rates.

According to Bank of America Securitiescommodities strategist, Michael Widmer, gold may have even more room for growth than its current nine-year highs.

We need a little bit more visibility before gold prices start peaking, he told CNBC.

Data from on-chain monitoring resource Skew, meanwhile, confirms that Bitcoin has firmly beaten golds year-to-date gains:27.7% versus 18.4%.

Bitcoin versus gold 1-year chart. Source: Skew

Binance further reported significant growth in its futures products focused on altcoins, contrasting with a tailing off in activity for Bitcoin.

In July alone, the exchanges altcoin perpetual futures volume grew 150% to $5.1 billion from $2 billion, while daily volume on altcoin futures hit $2 billion.

This, it said in an accompanying blog post, underscores investor attention concentrating on altcoin markets in the wake of uninspiring Bitcoin price action.

The unusual stagnation in Bitcoins price has shifted investors appetite towards altcoins as prices surged to new all-time highs, the blog post stated.

This explosion in Altcoin demand has ushered in an altcoin season, as seen by Bitcoins declining market capitalization dominance.

Bitcoin futures aggregated daily volumes 1-month chart. Source: Skew

Which direction a Bitcoin price breakout could take is open to debate, however. Analysis suggests a pullback of 11%, in line with support as part of the current descending price channel.

At the same time, Bitcoin network fundamentals and miner sentiment remain conspicuously strong. Difficulty is forecast for another 6.3% rise in seven days time, which will constitute its highest level ever. Likewise, the average hash rate remains near its historical all-time highs.

Bitcoin difficulty 2-month average chart. Source: Blockchain

Difficulty refers to the effort required to solve equations on the Bitcoin blockchain, while hash rate is a rough measure of the computing power dedicated to mining.

While both metrics only give an impression of network health, consistent upward growth has previously resulted in a knock-on effect for price action.

Chief among the proponents of the theory that price follows hash rate is Max Keiser, the RT host who continues to be highly bullish on BTC/USD, forecasting a $500,000 price target.

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Bitcoin Breakout on July 22? 5 Things to Watch for BTC Price This Week - Cointelegraph