There is an interesting discussion on the America Media site of the Vatican document, "Antiqua et Nova", regarding artificial intelligence:
New Vatican document on A.I. warns against ‘creating a substitute for God’ | America Magazine
The article discusses both the immense potential and the ethical and anthropological challenges of AI.
You will find more infographics at StatistaWe just finished up a truly remarkable few days on the road. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and I held five rallies in three states in three days. And the response was incredible.
North Las Vegas, Nevada
We began in Las Vegas on Thursday where we were joined by Congressman Steve Horsford — a former member of the Culinary Workers Union and past Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. The last time Donald Trump was in Las Vegas, in January of this year, 2,000 people came out to his event. 3,200 people joined ours. It was the largest event I have ever held in the city.Our job in the days, weeks and months ahead is to energize and organize.
We need to hold meetings and rallies in all 50 states, and then do it again and again and again. And when those rallies are over, we need to organize the people who attend to mobilize in their communities and fight back in every way we can.
We need progressives to run for office at all levels. I am talking about school boards, city councils, state legislatures and the races that are not in the news but make a tremendous difference in local communities. I’m talking about races for governor, U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
But it’s not just running for office. At a time when many of our people feel lonely and isolated, we need to build community and bring people together. In the deepest sense we need to care for each other and give each other strength.
You will find more infographics at Statista
Some good news, for a change. The two NASA astronauts, who have been on the International Space Station since last summer after equipment issues turned an expected eight day stay into nine months, returned to earth safely on Tuesday, March 18th. There was even a pod of dolphins which greeted their space capsule.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are 59 and 62, respectively. Which is older than typical astronauts, and hopefully they won't suffer any permanent health damage from their time in space. They are both married, and Wilmore has two teenage daughters. I imagine it would be like any military family, reuniting after a long deployment. An adjustment to make, even though they would be overjoyed to be back together again.
I said prayers of thanksgiving because there were so many things that could have gone wrong. The journey in the space capsule to return to earth took 17 hours. I have never taken space travel for granted, and can't imagine what it would have been like to be up there for nine months. I have borderline claustrophobia, and I'm afraid I would have gone nuts or killed somebody if I were confined in a space not much bigger than a trailer house bathroom with three other people for that long. Plus, there is the cold dark emptiness of space to contend with.
Not everyone would feel that way. One of my sisters said she wished Grandma could have seen this. Our maternal grandmother was always interested in space travel, and followed closely the space missions of NASA.
Here is a good summary from NPR:
Two NASA astronauts return to Earth after an unexpectedly long mission : NPR
Covid 19 Ranks Among Deadliest Disease Outbreaks in History
Five years after the virus was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2025, worldwide deaths from Covid-19 are estimated at 19-36 million by sources like the World Health Organization and The Economist. This death count places the coronavirus among the deadliest disease outbreaks in recorded history. Epidemics and pandemics have taken their toll on humanity throughout the centuries and even though much has changed in the modern age, the devastation from the loss of life in disease outbreaks has remained the same.
Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, published data on the seven deadliest disease outbreaks in history in 2021 and even then, estimates of the extrapolated Covid-19 death toll already placed the pandemic among them. While Covid-19 might be more similar from an outbreak perspective to the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1920, another one is actually closer in time to it: The HIV/AIDS pandemic. First reported in 1981, the disease spread rapidly around the world and peaked at 1.6 million annual deaths in 2004. Since then this number has halved and experts believe that the pandemic as a public health threat can be ended by 2030 due to advanced medications and public health campaigns limiting the disease's spread. While fewer people die of AIDS today, the disease has claimed 27-48 million lives globally.
The outbreak on the list that claimed the most lives is the so-called Black Death plague epidemic that took place in Europe, North Africa and Asia in the Middle Ages, from around 1334 to 1353. The outbreak is estimated to have killed up to 200 million people, decimating the European population by 30 to 60 percent. There are actually three outbreaks of the plague, a bacterial disease, among the deadliest pandemics and epidemics in the world, also including the Plague of the Justinian in late antiquity (541-549) as well as a third outbreak of the disease in the 19th and 20th century, killing 12 million people mostly in India and China.
The latter was - together with the less deadly cholera and influenza outbreaks of the 19th century - the first pandemic that reached the entire world, while previous outbreaks were also often classified as Old World pandemics. The New World smallpox epidemic is an abnormality in this context, as it ravaged native American populations that did not have a built-up tolerance to the disease, killing 25 to 55 million people in the 1500s and 1600s. Finally, the Spanish flu is often called the first true pandemic as with the increased connectedness of the world in the 20th century came the faster spread of disease.
The words epidemic and pandemic refer to a sudden increase of the spread of an infectious disease, in a limited area or all around the (connected) world at the time. While some diseases can theoretically be eradicated, most can only be limited in their spread and are poised to keep existing, especially if they can be re-transmitted to humans from the environment. Five years after being declared as such, Covid 19 is still referred to as a pandemic by the WHO, but is not considered a global health emergency anymore
