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The Club PUBlication  03/01/2021

3/1/2021

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​FDA approves Johnson & Johnson shot

Third vaccine option in the U.S. works with just one dose instead of two.

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MATTHEW PERRONE

Associated Press

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MARK MULLIGAN • Houston Chronicle via AP Cars lined up in a parking lot in Houston on Wednesday as people waited to be vaccinated at a federally supported supersite.
The U.S. is getting a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, as the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two.

Health experts had been anxiously awaiting a one-and-done option to help speed vaccinations, as they race against a virus that already has killed more than 510,000 people in the U.S. and is mutating in increasingly worrisome ways.

The FDA said J&J’s vaccine offers strong protection against what matters most: serious illness, hospitalizations and death. One dose was 85% protective against the most severe COVID-19 illness, in a massive study that spanned three continents — protection that remained strong even in countries such as South Africa, where the variants of most concern are spreading.

“This is really good news,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told the Associated Press Saturday. “The most important thing we can do right now is to get as many shots in as many arms as we can.”

Shipments of a few million doses to be divided among states could begin as early as Monday. By the end of March, J&J has said it expects to deliver 20 million doses to the U.S., and 100 million by summer.

J&J also is seeking authorization for emergency use of its vaccine in Europe and from the World Health Organization. Worldwide, the company aims to produce about 1 billion doses globally by the end of the year. On Thursday, the island nation of Bahrain became the first to clear its use.

On Sunday, a U.S. advisory committee will meet to recommend how to prioritize use of the single-dose vaccine. And one big challenge is what the public wants to know: Which kind of vaccine is better?

“In this environment, whatever you can get — get,” said Dr. Arnold Monto of the University of Michigan, who chaired an FDA advisory panel that unanimously voted Friday that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh its risks.

Data is mixed on how well all the vaccines being used around the world work, prompting reports in some countries of people refusing one kind to wait for another.

In the U.S., the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna shots were 95% protective against symptomatic COVID-19. J&J’s one-dose effectiveness of 85% against severe COVID-19 dropped to 66% when moderate cases were rolled in. But there’s no apples-to-apples comparison because of differences in when and where each company conducted its studies, with the Pfizer and Moderna research finished before concerning variants began spreading.

NIH’s Collins said the evidence of effectiveness shows no reason to favor one vaccine over another.

“What people I think are mostly interested in is, is it going to keep me from getting really sick?” said NIH’s Collins. “Will it keep me from dying from this terrible disease? The good news is all of these say yes to that.”
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Also, J&J is testing two doses of its vaccine in a separate large study. Collins said if a second dose eventually is deemed better, people who got one earlier would be offered another.

The FDA cautioned that it’s too early to tell if someone who gets a mild or asymptomatic infection despite vaccination still could spread the virus.

There are clear advantages aside from the convenience of one shot. Local health officials are looking to use the J&J option in mobile vaccination clinics, homeless shelters, even with sailors who are spending months on fishing vessels — communities where it’s hard to be sure someone will come back in three to four weeks for a second vaccination.

The J&J vaccine also is easier to handle, lasting three months in the refrigerator compared to the Pfizer and Moderna options, which must be frozen.

“We’re chomping at the bit to get more supply. That’s the limiting factor for us right now,” said Dr. Matt Anderson of UW Health in Madison, Wis., where staffers were readying electronic health records, staffing and vaccine storage in anticipation of offering J&J shots soon.

The FDA said studies detected no serious side effects. Like other COVID-19 vaccines, the main side effects of the J&J shot are pain at the injection site and flu-like fever, fatigue and headache.

The FDA said there is “a remote chance” that people may experience a severe allergic reaction to the shot, a rare risk seen with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

The vaccine has been authorized for emergency use in adults 18 and older for now. But like other vaccine makers, J&J is about to begin a study of its vaccine in teens before moving to younger children later in the year, and also plans a study in pregnant women.

All COVID-19 vaccines train the body to recognize the new coronavirus, usually by spotting the spiky protein that coats it. But they’re made in very different ways.

J&J’s shot uses a cold virus like a Trojan horse to carry the spike gene into the body, where cells make harmless copies of the protein to prime the immune system in case the real virus comes along. It’s the same technology the company used in making an Ebola vaccine, and similar to COVID-19 vaccines made by Astra Zeneca and China’s Can-Sino Biologics.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are made with a different technology, a piece of genetic code called messenger RNA that spurs cells to make those harmless spike copies.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, already used in Britain and numerous other countries, is finishing a large U.S. study needed for FDA clearance.

Also in the pipeline, Novavax uses a still different technology, made with lab-grown copies of the spike protein, and has reported preliminary findings from a British study suggesting strong protection.

Still other countries are using “inactivated vaccines,” made with killed coronavirus by Chinese companies Sinovac and Sinopharm.

“The big question mark still is, how long does protection last?” Dr. Johan Van Hoof, global head of vaccine research and development at Janssen Pharmaceuticals

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The Club PUBlication  02/22/2021

2/22/2021

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Trump incites his base

Meet the Proud Boys!

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Watch as the Proud Boys storm the capitol.

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Trump's Response
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The Club PUBlication  02/15/2021

2/15/2021

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Trial stitched together story of a chilling day

By PETER BAKER and SABRINA TAVERNISE •

​ New York Times



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ERIN SCHAFF • New York Times Lead House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin of Maryland, whose son died recently, was overcome with emotion at the conclusion of Trump’s second trial.
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KENT NISHIMURA • Los Angeles Times Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, voted to convict. His “guilty” vote at Trump’s initial impeachment trial last year made him the first senator ever to vote to convict a president of the same party.
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MANUEL BALCE CENETA • Associated Press House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was joined by impeachment managers David Cicilline of Rhode Island and Joaquin Castro of Texas at a news conference after the Senate voted to acquit Donald Trump.
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ALEX BRANDON • Associated Press Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina was one of seven Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting to convict, but the 57-43 vote was far from the two-thirds threshold required.
The pure savagery of the mob that rampaged through the Capitol on Jan 6th was breathtaking, as cataloged by the injuries inflicted on those who tried to guard the nation’s elected lawmakers. One police officer lost an eye, another the tip of his finger. Still another was shocked so many times with a Taser gun that he had a heart attack.

They suffered cracked ribs, two smashed spinal disks and multiple concussions. At least 81 members of the Capitol force and 65 members of the Metropolitan Police Department were injured, not even counting the officer killed that day or two others who later died by suicide. Some officers described it as worse than when they served in combat in Iraq.

And through it all, then-President Donald Trump served as the inspiration if not the catalyst. Even as he addressed a rally beforehand, supporters could be heard on the video responding to him by shouting, “Take the Capitol!” Then they talked about calling the president at the White House to report on what they had done. And at least one of his supporters read over a bullhorn one of the president’s angry tweets

“It was so obvious that only President Trump could end this. He was the only one.”  
Sen. Mitch McConnell

If nothing else, the Senate impeachment trial has served at least one purpose: It stitched together the most comprehensive and chilling account to date of last month’s deadly assault on the Capitol, shedding light on the biggest explosion of violence in the seat of Congress in two centuries. In the new details it revealed and the methodical, minute-by-minute assembly of known facts it presented, the trial proved revelatory for many Americans — even for some who lived through the events.

There were close calls and near misses as the invaders, some wearing military-style tactical gear, some carrying baseball bats or flagpoles or shields seized from the police, came just several dozen steps from the vice president and members of Congress. There was almost medieval-level physical combat captured in bodycam footage and the panicked voices of officers on police dispatch tapes calling for help. There were more overt signs about the coming violence from social media in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 than many lawmakers had understood.

“Until we were preparing for this trial, I didn’t know the extent of many of these facts,” Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., one of the managers, told senators on Saturday. “I witnessed the horror, but I didn’t know. I didn’t know how deliberate the president’s planning was, how he had invested in it, how many times he incited his supporters with these lies, how carefully and consistently he incited them to violence on January the 6th.”

Yet for all the heart-pounding narrative of that day and the weeks leading up to it presented on the Senate floor, what was also striking after it was all over was how many questions remained unanswered on issues like the financing and leadership of the mob, the extent of the coordination with extremist groups, the breakdown in security and the failure in various quarters of the government to heed intelligence warnings of pending violence.

And then, most especially, what the president was doing in the hours that the Capitol was being ransacked, a point that briefly blew up the trial on Saturday.

The House managers were able to introduce a statement from a Republican congresswoman, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, describing what she was told about a profanity-laden telephone call that Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California had with Trump in the middle of the attack.

Herrera Beutler said McCarthy, the House Republican leader, had told her that when he pleaded with the president for help , Trump seemed to side with the rioters disrupting the counting of the Electoral College votes ratifying his defeat. “I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump told Mc Carthy in this telling.

The Trump camp has never provided an official account of the former president’s knowledge or actions during the attack. But advisers speaking on the condition of anonymity have told reporters that he was initially pleased, not disturbed, that his supporters had disrupted the election count and that he never reached out to Vice President Mike Pence to check on his safety even after Pence was evacuated from the Senate chamber.

Resisting pleas from Republican allies like McCarthy to explicitly call off the attack, Trump delivered a mixed message that day, embracing the rioters and endorsing their cause even as he called for peace and told them to go home. While one of his lawyers told the Senate on Friday that “at no point” was Trump informed that the vice president was in danger, that was contradicted by a phone call described by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.

Despite conflicting and sometimes fragmentary accounts, the House decided to proceed with impeachment and the trial without conducting a real investigation or calling witnesses .

The managers concluded that the available record was compelling enough to make a judgment, but they have conceded gaps in their knowledge. “There’s a lot we don’t know yet about what happened that day,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, acknowledged at one point during the presentations.

The Trump defense team has sought to use that against the managers, arguing that they irresponsibly relied on unverified news reports and social media postings. “The House managers did zero investigation,” Michael van der Veen, one of the former president’s lawyers, said.

But the Trump lawyers evidently did little if any inquiry into their own client either, given that they were unable to respond to specific questions from senators about what the president knew and did during the rampage. And Trump rebuffed an invitation from the House managers to testify and clear up any confusion.

Even so, the presentations over the past five days clarified and framed the events of Jan. 6. The managers played Capitol security camera footage and police dispatch recordings while harvesting the enormous volume of videos and photographs posted on social media and other accounts by reporters, police officers, rioters, and members of Congress and their staffs.

Some of the senators learned for the first time just how close the attackers came to them.

Perhaps the most searing new details were audio and video recordings from police officers trying — and failing — to protect the Capitol. The radio communication became increasingly frantic, with one officer saying over a din in the background: “We have been outflanked and we’ve lost the line!” Another said: “They’re throwing metal poles at us!” They were attacked with bear spray and some sort of fireworks. One officer was dragged down a set of stairs; another was beaten after falling to the ground.

Managers documented as well the sheer scale of the desecration of the building itself. One worker had to clean feces off a wall. Another had to wipe up blood. And it was the sounds of that day that some remembered most vividly: the pounding on the door of the building, the crash as glass was smashed, the whispers of staff aides hiding from the crowd.

How much Trump was to blame for the onslaught was left to the Senate to decide. The defense team decried the House managers prosecuting the case for inflaming the senator-jurors with “manipulated video” that it argued proved only that the rioters committed crimes, not that the former president did.
Even then, the managers’ presentation brought home in emphatic fashion just how much some of the rioters thought they were acting on Trump’s behalf or even instruction, whether he knew it or not.

But what really struck some senators, particularly the handful of Republicans open to conviction, is what Trump did next — or what he did not do. Despite pleas from Mc Carthy, other allies, key aides and his daughter Ivanka Trump, the president was still more focused on pressing his effort to block the election than coming to the aid of his vice president and Congress.

When he called Tuberville, according to the House managers, he was not checking to see if he could help, but to re iterate his objections to the election vote process.
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Until the trial, “I didn’t know … how many times [Trump] incited his supporters with these lies.” Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., one of the House impeachment managers



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The Club PUBlication  02/08/2021

2/8/2021

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QAnon[a] (/ˌkjuːəˈnɒn/) is a disproven and discredited far-right conspiracy theory[1] alleging that a secret cabal of ​Satan-worshipping, cannibalistic[2][3][4]pedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotted against former U.S. president Donald Trump while he was in office.[5] According to U.S. prosecutors, QAnon is commonly called a cult.[6]


Question
;

Are Hillary Clinton, Tom Hanks and Oprah eating children to live longer?  Here's everything you need to know about QAnnon Conspiracy theories.
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by Trevor Noah


Bonus
Get to know Marjorie Taylor Greene
Trevor Noah

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The Club PUBlication  02/01/2021

2/1/2021

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Get to know
THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!
-Alex Jones-

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​THE UNITED STATES OF CONSPIRACY     

(JULY 28, 2020)
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The Club PUBlication  01/25/2021

1/25/2021

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KEEPING UP WITH BOOMERS’ AGING JOINTS Replacements have evolved as people stay active for longer.

By JOHN HANC • New York Times ​


​In the first joint replacement surgery in 1890, German Themistocles Gluck implanted “carved and machined pieces of ivory” into joints diseased by tuberculosis, said medical historian and author Dr. David Schneider.
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The implants used today, as well as those doing the implanting, are radically different. 
​In thousands of such procedures, robots are assisting surgeons to ensure an optimum fit. Although many doctors still perform the procedures successfully without their assistance, the robots’ ability to help achieve more precise implant positioning — often determined through 3-D computerized modeling of the patient’s joint — makes their role likely to grow over the next decade as the implants become more individualized and such technologies as augmented reality are integrated into the operating room.

Over the past century, the replacement have evolved to include metal, plastic and ceramics, and are now made of titanium, cobalt chrome and specially reinforced plastics.

Something else has also changed: the psychology of the patients, specifically, baby boomers. Now in their 50s, 60s and 70s, they represent about half of the patients for the most common knee and hip replacements. “This is the first generation that is trying to stay active on an aging frame,” said Dr. Nicholas DiNubile, an orthopedic surgeon in Havertown, Penn. , who coined the term “boomeritis.”

This change in attitude is a striking difference in the patient population, and some say it has helped drive the advances in orthopedic surgery and has transformed the operating theater.

Today, of a bone implant can be superimposed on a 3-D model of a patient’s joint, said Robert Cohen, president of digital, robotics and enabling technologies for Stryker’s orthopedic joint replacement division in Mahwah, N.J. “This information is imported directly into the robot in the OR.”

About 1,000 robots manufactured by his company, Cohen said , help perform about 15,000 joint replacement procedures a month in over 850 hospitals . That number is expected to increase.
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DiNubile said, “I think arthritis and joint deterioration are here to stay.”
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The Club PUBlication  01/18/2121

1/18/2021

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​Attack could fuel extremist recruiting

By NEIL MACFARQUHAR, JACK HEALY, MIKE BAKER and SERGE F. KOVALESKI • New York Time

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Law officers outside the U.S. Capitol hours after it was stormed by a mob of pro-Trump rioters. At least 13 off-duty law enforcement officials are suspected of taking part.

​Overthrowing the government. Igniting a second Civil War. Banishing racial minorities, immigrants and Jews. Or simply sowing chaos in the streets.

The ragged camps of far-right groups and white nationalists emboldened under President Donald Trump have long nursed an overlapping list of hatreds and goals. But now they have been galvanized by the outgoing president’s false claims that the election was stolen from him — and by the violent attack on the nation’s Capitol that hundreds of them led in his name.

“The politicians who have lied, betrayed and sold out the American people for decades were forced to cower in fear and scatter like rats,” one group, known for pushing the worst anti-Semitic tropes, commented on Twitter the day after the attack.

The Capitol riots served as a propaganda coup for the far-right, and those who track hate groups say the attack is likely to join an extremist lexicon with Waco, Ruby Ridge and the Bundy occupation of an Oregon wildlife preserve in fueling recruitment and violence for years to come.

Even as dozens of rioters have been arrested, chat rooms and messaging apps where the far-right congregates are filled with celebrations and plans. An ideological jumble of hate groups and far-right agitators — the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, the Boogaloo movement and neo-Nazis among them — are now discussing how to expand their rosters and whether to take to the streets again this week to oppose the inauguration of Joe Biden.

Some, enraged by their failure to overturn the presidential election, have posted manuals on waging guerrilla warfare and building explosive devices.

Law enforcement officials have responded by beefing up security at airports and creating a militarized “green zone” in downtown Washington. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued an urgent warning that attackers could target federal buildings and public officials in the coming days, and at least 10 states have activated National Guard troops in their capital cities. Some states have canceled legislative activities this week because of the possibility of violence.

Purging extremist groups from mainstream social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter may have succeeded in disrupting their organizing, experts say, but such efforts have pushed them into tougher-to-track forms of communication including encrypted apps that will make it harder to trace extremist activities.

“Destroying the platforms could lead to more violence,” said Mike Morris, the Colorado-based founder of Three Percent United Patriots, one of dozens of so-called “patriot” paramilitary groups. Morris said he does not support violence but warned that other groups might find more freedom to plot on encrypted platforms.

Since last week, dozens of new channels on secure-messaging apps have popped up devoted to QAnon, the far-right conspiracy theory that says Trump is fighting a cabal of Satanists and pedophiles. Many militias have found thousands of new followers in darker corners of the internet, such as one Telegram channel run by the Proud Boys, a violent far-right group, which more than doubled its followers, to more than 34,000 from 16,000.

“People saw what we can do. They know what’s up. They want in,” boasted one message on a Proud Boys Telegram channel last week.

Far-right groups were buoyed after Trump spoke of “very fine people on both sides” of the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., where a white supremacist fatally ran over a peaceful counterprotester with his car. They saw a signal of support when Trump, during a presidential debate, told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”

The attack on the Capitol was likely to become “a significant driver of violence for a diverse set of domestic violent extremists,” an array of government agencies said in a joint intelligence bulletin issued Jan. 13.

The storming of the building, several analysts said, could fuel a dangerous pushback against the incoming Biden administration and its agenda on gun control, racial justice, public lands and other issues by extremists who are not afraid to use violence to get their way.

But the backlash to the Capitol riot could also diminish them. After Charlottesville, alt-right leaders fractured amid a torrent of condemnation, infighting and legal action.

The immediate aftermath of the Capitol attack has led to arguing among extremists over whether to hold another round of violent rallies or lie low and wait out the arrests, investigations and throngs of police and National Guard troops dispatched to protect statehouses and the Capitol before the inauguration.

Enrique Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys, who was arrested in Washington several days before the Capitol attack on charges of carrying illegal ammunition clips and burning a Black Lives Matter banner, now calls the attack on the Capitol a mistake. But he said the far-right movement galvanized by Trump would outlast his presidency.
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“He has created this movement that I don’t think anybody can stop,” Tarrio said. “They can try to silence. They can try to de-platform. It’s just going to make it louder.”
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The Club PUBlication  01/11/2021

1/11/2021

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A one-man evangelist for hydrogen battery power

Mike Strizki is using his retirement to spread the word on the planet-saving advantages of hydrogen.

By ROY FURCHGOTT New York Times

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Photos by KAT SLOOTSKY • New York Times Mike Strizki is seen with his 9-year-old granddaughter as he fills one of his Toyota Mirais with hydrogen fuel that he produces at his home in Ringoes, N.J.
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Because the Mirai doesn’t carry 1,200 pounds of batteries, it has a performance edge, Strizki says. Above, the hydrogen fuel cell of one of his Mirais.

In December, the California Fuel Cell Partnership tallied 8,890 electric cars and 48 electric buses running on hydrogen batteries, which are refillable in minutes at any of 42 stations there. On the East Coast, the number of people who own and drive a hydrogen electric car is somewhat lower. In fact, there is just one. His name is Mike Strizki. He is so devoted to hydrogen fuel-cell energy that he drives a Toyota Mirai even though it requires him to refine hydrogen fuel in his yard himself.

“Yeah I love it,” Strizki said of his 2017 Mirai. “This car is powerful, there’s no shifting, plus I’m not carrying all of that weight of the batteries,” he said in a not-so-subtle swipe at the world’s most notable hydrogen naysayer, Elon Musk.

Strizki favors fuel-cell cars for the same reasons as most proponents. You can make fuel using water and solar power, as he does. The byproduct of making hydrogen is oxygen, and the byproduct of burning it is water. Hydrogen is among the most plentiful elements on earth, so you don’t have to go to adversarial countries or engage in environmentally destructive extraction to get it. The car is as quiet to drive as any other electric and it requires little maintenance .

His infatuation with hydrogen began with cars, but it didn’t end there. In 2006 he made the first house in the United States to be powered entirely by hydrogen produced on site using solar power.

Strizki is using his retirement to evangelize for the planet-saving advantages of hydrogen batteries. He has faced opposition from the electric, oil and battery industries, he said, as well as his sometimes supporter, the Energy Department. Then there is the ghost of the 1937 Hindenburg explosion, which hovers over all things hydrogen. The financial crash of the high-flying hydrogen truck manufacturer Nikola has not advanced his case.

Strizki’s expertise has made him a cult figure in hydrogen circles, where he has consulted on notable projects for two decades. He has worked on high school science projects as well as a new $150,000-ish hydrogen hyper-car that claims to get 1,000 miles per fill-up.

“Oh, I know Mike Strizki very well, very well,” said Angelo Kafantaris, chief executive of Hyperion, the company that makes that Hypercar, the XP-1. Using a federal-standard dynamometer test, the XP-1, which claims a 0-to-60-mph time of 2.2 seconds and a top speed of 221 mph, is said to achieve a range of 1,016 miles on a single tank. “I think Mike is an integral part of everything we do at Hyperion,” Kafantaris said.

Strizki, 64, discovered hydrogen power while working at the New Jersey Transportation Department’s Office of Research and Technology. Batteries that powered electric message signs didn’t hold a charge in severe cold. Strizki was tasked with finding a solution. He turned to hydrogen fuel cells such as those NASA used in space.

He left his state job for the private sector where he worked on Peugeot’s hydrogen concept car, a mini fire engine and then a Chrysler hydrogen minivan, the Natrium, which was a modified Town & Country and went zero to 60 in a glacial 16 seconds.

Bringing hydrogen vehicles into wide use on the East Coast strained even Strizki’s talent for invention. For instance, hydrogen is not authorized to travel via bridges and tunnels.

“We wouldn’t want to put out a vehicle that you couldn’t drive into Manhattan,” said Gil Castillo, who tracks regulations at Hyundai Motor North America.
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Ever since Musk called fuel cells “staggeringly dumb,” there has been a fierce rivalry between lithium-ion and hydrogen backers. Cooler heads see a place for each. Electric is suitable for people with a garage who travel limited distances and can charge overnight. But for long-haul trucks, hydrogen doesn’t add weight or reduce cargo space the way batteries do. Furthermore, hydrogen tanks can be refueled in minutes.

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The Club PUBlication  01/04/2121

1/4/2021

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AGING IN PLACE NEEDS A PLAN

By CARLA FRIED • Rate.com

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Best Places to Retire lists are great conversation starters, but the vast majority of Americans have no intention of making a move in retirement. They want to age in place.
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Best Places to Retire lists are great conversation starters, but the vast majority of Americans have no intention of making a move in retirement. They want to age in place.
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​That is a blind spot that can drag down multiple generations within a family. The 60-somethings who refuse to game out the best moves to make now for their 80- and 90-year-old future selves are (unconsciously) transferring those hard decisions onto their children and grandchildren.

If you think contemplating a move in your 60s is difficult, the hurdle will be physically and emotionally higher later on. That can lead to the kids scrambling to bring services into your home, a move that often requires them to bear some of the cost. Even more costly is the decision more and more adult children (mostly women) make to quit their jobs to care for an elderly parent. That puts their own household’s future retirement security at risk.

That can trickle down to the grandkids, as well. Not just in a tighter college budget, but the increased risk that their parents will not be set up well to afford retirement.

So while in your 50s or 60s and in good health, take a clear-eyed look at what you might consider doing now to make sure your retirement works for your entire family. That should include discussing this with your adult children.

Can you really afford to stay put? The goal should be that you can cover basic living expenses from guaranteed retirement income: Social Security and a pension if you have one, and any required minimum distributions from traditional 401(k)s and IRAs.

Even if you own your home and have the mortgage paid off, don’t lose sight of property tax and maintenance. If you don’t live in a region that offers property tax breaks to older homeowners, you also need to bake in that your property tax bill will continue to climb over a long retirement.

No idea how to scope out the future cost of staying put? There are plenty of certified financial planners you can hire on an hourly or project basis to help you crunch the numbers.

Is it safe to stay put? The vast majority of homes do not have a layout that works well for seniors. Too many stairs. No bedroom/bath on the entry level. A shower that requires stepping into a tub. The time to make those age-in-place renovations is in your 50s and 60s.

And consider the psychological safety of where you live. Do you and your friends need to travel a long distance — on busy roads — to see each other? Is there a big stair climb into your home? These can become obstacles to social connections later on.

Can you help your kids by moving close(r)? Maybe not into their house, but out back perhaps? Converting a garage into a small home or building a separate small unit brings you all close while maintaining some healthy distance. Some communities are becoming open to allowing homeowners to build accessory dwelling units.

If you are game for a bigger retirement relocation, focus on future needs, not just today’s wants. Warm weather is a popular criterion for Best Places lists, but a nonprofit consortium that tracks each state’s level of support and services for long-term care needs found Florida’s overall at the bottom. The states with the highest scores across five broad categories (cost of care, support for family caregivers, etc.) were Minnesota, Washington and Wisconsin. 
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The Club PUBlication  12/28/2020

12/28/2020

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​Rise of the robots: How pandemic led to faster automation

By OLIVIA ROCKEMAN, JAMES ATTWOOD and JOE DEAUX Bloomberg News

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NINA RIGGIO • Bloomberg A health care worker received groceries delivered with a Starship Technologies robot in Mountain View, Calif.


​For decades, the attitude of unions and their advocates to increased automation could be summed up in one word: no. They feared that every time a machine was put into the workflow, a laborer lost a job.

The pandemic has forced a shift in that calculation. Because human contact spreads the disease, some machines are now viewed not exclusively as the workers’ enemy but also as their protector. That has accelerated the use of robots this year in a way no one expects to stop.

“If you keep me 6 feet away from the other worker and you have a robot in between, it’s now safe,” said Richard Freeman, a professor of economics at Harvard University. “The unions aren’t going to say, ‘No, you should have the workers standing next to each other so they get sick.’ ”

The result is the spread of windshield-mounted toll detectors, automated floor cleaners at factories, salad-chopping machines in grocery stores, mechanical butlers at hotels and electronic receipts for road pavers. What remains less clear is where the men and women who used to do some of those jobs will work.

The impact of technology on employment has been a topic of anxiety and study for generations. Cars didn’t kill trains, television didn’t end radio. When banks installed ATMs, they hired more people, not fewer, because the variety of their services grew. Still, machines have eliminated many jobs, and the current wave is likely to be no exception. “When we come out of this crisis and labor is cheap again, firms will not necessarily roll back these inventions,” said David Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “These are kind of one-way transitions.”

That’s what worries union leaders. “In the auto industry, we see COVID accelerating transformation toward digitization,” said Georg Leutert, who heads the automotive and aerospace industries at Geneva-based IndustriALL Global Union. While the transition is unavoidable, workers are nervous and need help with up-skilling and re-skilling, he said.

Mark Lauritsen of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union in North America said that in order to avoid the kind of disruption in the meat industry caused by the virus, automation will clearly continue but warned, “If automation is unbridled it’s going to be a threat.”

With office workers at home communicating via remote tools, a knock-on effect is also being felt: Bus drivers, sandwich stall owners and janitors are in trouble as their jobs, which support in-office work, diminish. Jobs in administrative support, which includes roles in office buildings, are down about 700,000 since last year, according to November data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The World Economic Forum reported in October that 43% of businesses surveyed are set to reduce their workforce due to technology integration while 34% plan to expand their workforce for the same reason.

Some argue that turning over repetitive jobs to robots will free up workers to take on new roles. But Marcus Casey, an economist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said that while some high-skilled workers will be retrained, many low-skilled ones — like toll collectors — won’t, exacerbating inequality.
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