Thoughtworthy (History Primary Sources, New Episodes & More!)

Thoughtworthy (History Primary Sources, New Episodes & More!) | Afterthoughts

source: https://afterthoughtsblog.net/2020/07/thoughtworthy-history-primary-sources-new-episodes-more.html/

This post contains affiliate links.

:: 1 ::

This new Thoughtworthy graphic made me laugh. You may be wondering if there will be unexpectedly deep thoughts this week, but I think it will just be like usual. (Sorry to disappoint.)

I was on Homeschool Conversations over at Humility and Doxology and and that felt deep, so that’s something. Click here to go listen!

:: 2 ::

I ordered a copy of The Patriot’s History Reader this week. I have a similar book but decided to go ahead and splurge because I realized this had all the documents I need (and want!) for high school American history and having them all in one place will be nice, especially once I have more than one high schooler again.

It has the basics you’d expect, like The Mayflower Compact or The Constitution, and it also has famous speeches and a number of Supreme Court decisions. I was required to read a number of decisions in high school and I consider that a very formative part of my own education. I didn’t really pass that on to my oldest and while I think I gave him something worthwhile, I’m trying to remedy that with the younger set.

This book is entirely primary sources (well, with brief introductions explaining context). Something I appreciate is that they updated the antiquated spelling in some places. (I have one child who gets hung up about spelling.)

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The first of the two summer Scholé Sisters episodes is out today!

It’s short but sweet and to the point. (Possibly makes up for the looooonnnng previous episode?)

:: 4 ::

This month in 2016:

This starts off with advice in the first paragraph that I didn’t follow this year and I’m feeling the pain for that already. The part about pre-transcripts, which I forgot I wrote, is right now. It really did work out perfectly doing it that way.

:: 5 ::

Podcast episode of the week:

The Tom Woods Show: Ep. 1668 The Ethics of Anarcho-CapitalismI don’t totally buy it, but it was interesting.Religion is a better foundation for ethics than economics.

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This week’s links collection:

US National Debt ClockNot an article, but if you want to freak yourself out for kicks, just watch the national debt going up by thousands in a blink of an eye. It’s frightening.Weird thing: the credit card debt is moving backwards. Huh.The world is finally uniting against China’s bully tactics from New York PostTime will tell us whether this is for real.“The sight of the 7.3 million free people of Hong Kong being crushed under the heel of the Communist boot is one the world will not easily forget.” Have you been seeing this? Our own country is so noisy I fear we are missing important things happening elsewhere.Looking at Deep Red Light for Just Minutes a Day Significantly Improves Declining Eyesight from Sci Tech DailyI don’t talk much about my eyesight, but I’ve been legally blind since I was a teenager. Lately, I realized my night vision is declining. My dad owns an infrared/far red light box and I think I’m going to take it for a test drive.The study said no effects were shown in persons under 40. But I’m over that, so here’s hoping.

:: 7 ::

Corona reads:

Use of Surgical Face Masks to Reduce the Incidence of the Common Cold Among Health Care Workers in Japan: A Randomized Controlled Trial from American Journal of Infection ControlI’ll apologize now that you can’t read the whole study; only the abstract is available without payment or subscription.The biggest weakness in this study was sample size (only 32 participants).The results were predictable: the masks didn’t make a difference. What is interesting about this study is the other observations. Namely, those wearing masks were more likely to get a headache.Also this: “Subjects living with children were more likely to have high cold severity scores over the course of the study.” Hmmm… thoughts on this?Effectiveness of N95 respirators versus surgical masks against influenza: A systematic review and meta‐analysis from Journal of Evidence Based MedicineThis had a wonderful sample size: 9,171. But … this isn’t one single study; it’s a meta-analysis. Always good to keep such things in mind.The results were not, in my opinion, predictable: the N95 respirators didn’t make a difference in influenza transmission when compared to surgical masks. This actually surprised me because N95s are presumed superior.Technically,they are superior in some ways: “Meta‐analysis with fixed‐effects model revealed that compared with surgical masks, N95 respirators significantly reduced bacterial colonization in hospitals.” This might be explained by the difference in size; viruses tend to be much smaller than bacteria.Immunization with SARS Coronavirus Vaccines Leads to Pulmonary Immunopathology on Challenge with the SARS Virus from PLOS OnePlease remember this is an animal study.So this is a big reason to be concerned about a Covid vaccines. The link above details the results of the vaccine challenge stage for SARS (and obviously Covid is a derivative of SARS). The problem? Well, the results imply, first, that all the exposed animals were infected upon challenge (meaning the vaccine didn’t work) and, second, that they hyper-responded to the infection. The interesting thing is at least some of the vaccines did initiate antibody production (proving, once again, that antibody production does not equal immunity).We already knew that respiratory virus vaccination could cause hyper-sensitivity to those viruses. That’s what happened in the (human) RSV trial, which is referenced in this study. (You can read this, for example, on what is called “vaccine-enhanced disease.”)Which is why the researchers concluded with this concern: “This combined experience provides concern for trials with SARS-CoV vaccines in humans. Clinical trials with SARS coronavirus vaccines have been conducted and reported to induce antibody responses and to be ‘safe’… However, the evidence for safety is for a short period of observation. The concern arising from the present report is for an immunopathologic reaction occurring among vaccinated individuals on exposure to infectious SARS-CoV, the basis for developing a vaccine for SARS. Additional safety concerns relate to effectiveness and safety against antigenic variants of SARS-CoV and for safety of vaccinated persons exposed to other coronaviruses, particularly those of the type 2 group.”So possibly the hyper-senstivity would be induced not just to the virus in the vaccine, but to other viruses with enough cross reactivity to initiate T-cell response.And yet Fauci keeps telling us our one great hope is a vaccine. I’m pretty sure a better scenario is the fact that viruses like this mutate so much and so fast that they tend to play themselves out in about two years’ time.

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Extinguish the Small Fire While Ye May (Plutarch Commentaries) | Afterthoughts

This is the first post in what I intend to write as a long, drawn-out series. Many of you know that teaching Plutarch is one of the great loves of my life. There are countless wisdom gems in Plutarch, and I hope this series will be a sort of vault where I can store them away for future reflection.

Thoughtworthy (Cooking Magazines, Ornament Kits, ADHD Treatments & More!) | Afterthoughts

This post contains affiliate links. :: 1 :: My children seem more interested in cooking and baking if we receive cooking magazines. We did Cook's Illustrated for a while. They enjoy flipping through, looking at the photos, and eventually feel inspired to try something. Any recommendations?

Thoughtworthy (Big Project Unveiled, Recommended Reading & More!) | Afterthoughts

1 :: This week, my husband finished a project that was many years in the making!! I read the proof copy and offered some final corrections last week and now ... it's up on Amazon already. I'm so excited for him. Funny story: the plot of this book started out as a very exciting dream.

Thoughtworthy (More School Planning, Governor Recall & More!) | Afterthoughts

1 :: How's your school planning coming along? I'm halfway done. I finished 8th grade and 5th grade; I still have 10th grade and Circle Time. Plus printing All The Things. That is the secret third half of school planning, amiright?

Thoughtworthy (Theology Book, School Planning, Big Kids & More!) | Afterthoughts

This post contains affiliate links. :: 1 :: While I had heard good things about it, I put off ordering The Wonderful Works of God because it's over $40.

Extinguish the Small Fire While Ye May (Plutarch Commentaries) | Afterthoughts

Thoughtworthy (Cooking Magazines, Ornament Kits, ADHD Treatments & More!) | Afterthoughts

Thoughtworthy (Big Project Unveiled, Recommended Reading & More!) | Afterthoughts

Thoughtworthy (More School Planning, Governor Recall & More!) | Afterthoughts

Thoughtworthy (Theology Book, School Planning, Big Kids & More!) | Afterthoughts

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