School Administrator living by the Golden Rule. Edlightenment: education of economics, environment, and education. UCSD/BA Communication LUC/MBA International
Joined July 2010
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Esther Gillette retweeted
With everything we are hearing right now about ticks this seems like good information to share.
“Here’s what I’ve learned after more ticks than I care to count.
First, whatever your uncle told you, forget it. No matches. No nail polish. No Vaseline. No soap on a cotton ball. All of those do the same terrible thing, they stress the tick out, and a stressed tick empties its gut back into the bite before letting go. Which, if you think about what that actually means for a second, is literally how Lyme and the rest get transmitted so you’re not speeding up its exit. You’re making it throw up into you.
Fine-tipped tweezers. Grip right where the mouthparts enter the skin, not the body, the head. Pull straight up, steady, no twisting, no jerking. It’ll feel like it’s resisting because it is, the mouthparts are barbed. Just keep the pressure on and it lets go in a few seconds. If a piece breaks off in the skin, leave it alone. Your body pushes splinters out. Digging around with a needle does more damage then the fragment ever would.
Clean it with alcohol or soap. Wash your hands.
Now here’s the part most people skip: don’t flush the tick.
Tape it to an index card. Clear packing tape right over the body, write the date and where on your body it was, and stick the card in a drawer. If you come down with anything weird in the next 30 days, rash, fever, joint pain, that flu-that-isn’t-flu feeling, that tick goes with you to the doctor. Some labs will test the tick itself, which is faster and often more reliable than waiting for antibodies to show up in your own blood. A dated tick taped to a card is one of the most useful things you can hand a doctor who’s trying to figure out what’s wrong with you.
The other thing worth saying out loud: if the tick was engorged when you pulled it, and you can’t swear it was off your body within 24 hours, call your doctor that same day. Don’t wait for a rash. Fewer than three out of four Lyme cases even produce the classic bullseye. A single preventive dose of doxycycline within 72 hours of a deer tick bite cuts the Lyme odds way down, and most docs in tick country will write that prescription without giving you a hard time, especially if you walk in with the tick taped to a card and a clear timeline.”
Esther Gillette retweeted
One man in San Francisco has personally returned the California pipevine swallowtail to the city.
Tim Wong is an aquarium biologist who noticed the butterfly had pretty much completely vanished from the area. The caterpillars can only eat one plant: the California pipevine, which was also disappearing.
So he got cuttings from the botanical garden, propagated his own pipevine plants, built a backyard butterfly enclosure, and started with 20 caterpillars in 2012.
He's now raised thousands. Every year since, more California pipevine swallowtails have been seen flying free in San Francisco. The population is recovering because of one guy and his back yard.
Conservation at this scale doesn't always require a million-dollar foundation and government action. Sometimes it's just one person, one host plant, one species, one yard.
What butterfly host plant are you growing this summer?
Esther Gillette retweeted
MY SON, GEOLOGIST DANIEL ROBINSON, WENT MISSING IN THE SONORAN DESERT OF ARIZONA. I AM STILL SEARCHING FOR HIM. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION TO HELP BRING HIM HOME, CONTACT 803.200.7994 OR TIPLINE: 844.602.0660. YOU CAN REMAIN ANONYMOUS. I WON'T STOP! THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Esther Gillette retweeted
Woman who lives only 1.6 miles from the META Data Center in Wisconsin speaks out
She says their water system has been completely destroyed
She says there is discharge that turns the entire river white like milk. She paid for testing and found extremely high heavy metal levels
“I live on a horse farm and I am an educator. I, for almost four 50 years, a natural creek has flowed through my property. It's 20 feet wide, up to four feet deep. It has persisted through drought, flood, seasonal change. It's part of a connected system. Groundwater, tributaries, watersheds, aquifers ultimately flowing into Beaver Dam Lake. Until construction began upstream on the data center, its behavior was stable and predictable
After construction started, all of that changed. Here in Beaver Dam, the creek began to stop flowing entirely without rainfall. It would abruptly return off in cloudy and opaque like milk, with enough force to cause drastic erosion and damage — Water testing on my property shows elevated strontium, a very dangerous metal, and other indicators consistent with deep groundwater influence”
1000% support! With our bees in such peril we should also be growing what we can and sharing with neighbors. 🐝
The city of Andernach, Germany planted 101 varieties of tomatoes in the town center and told everyone to take whatever they wanted.
It was such a hit they did beans the next year, then added onions, fruit trees, lettuce, zucchini, berries, and herbs. All free to the public and maintained by the city.
Andernach is now known as the "edible city."
Philadelphia has been doing a version of this since 2007. The Philadelphia Orchard Project has helped establish 67 sites across the city with thousands of food-bearing trees.
Baltimore is planting fruit trees on sidewalks. Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, and Asheville all have public urban orchards.
A mature apple tree produces 400-500 pounds of fruit per year. A mature pear tree can produce for 75 years.
We've decided our cities should have trees. We just haven't decided those trees should feed people.
Would you support urban fruit trees and vegetables in your city?
Esther Gillette retweeted
Even if you stopped wearing masks a while ago, now is a good time to consider doing it again. Covid and other respiratory infections are on the rise and hospital admissions are up.
A well-fitted N95, KN95 or other respirator grade mask can reduce transmission of airborne disease.
3M Aura N95s can pass a fit test on most, but not all, adults and are a good mask to try. Available at Home Depot and many other retailers.
Fit is individual, so you may need to try more than one model of mask to find one that seals well on you.
California is continuing to see high levels of COVID-19 and increased hospitalizations. If you’re feeling sick, take these steps to protect yourself and others.
📲 Learn more: cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCD…
ALT A man resting on a couch and coughing. "Stay home and rest"
ALT Two people sitting close to each other and holding mugs. "Avoid contact with others as much as possible."
ALT A person wearing a mask in an airport. "Wear a mask if you must be around others."
ALT An image of hands covered in soap. "Wash your hands often."
Esther Gillette retweeted
Today in 1945, George Orwell published a devastating critique of Communism.
Animal Farm reveals why every communist revolution follows the same tragic pattern: liberation to corruption to oppression.
Here are 10 truths from Animal Farm Orwell warned us never to forget 🧵👇🏼
Esther Gillette retweeted
The CDC has literally been gutted today.
There’s no need for “April Fools” when reality is a nightmare for every human on this planet.
Thousand of scientists fired.
Entire departments erased.
1/
Esther Gillette retweeted
Pale Blue Dot is a photo of Earth that was taken by the Voyager 1 space probe in 1990 from a distance of about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) as it was leaving our solar system. This is what Carl Sagan said about the photo:
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor, and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
I’m sorry Mr. Upchurch, but I beg to differ. No one is free until everyone is free. There is too much work to be done in this world - too much inequity, too much hunger, and way too much hate. Let’s do better. #MLK had a dream, but we are not there yet.
"Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last." ~#MLK #leadership
A study found honeybee venom destroyed 2 types of hard to treat breast cancer cells. Melittin on its own reduced cancer cell growth & can be produced synthetically. One venom concentration killed cancer cells within 1 hour with minimal harm to other cells buff.ly/2YU9IcD
I believe love is the reason we were put on this earth in the first place. Let’s all do better…
Esther Gillette retweeted
As human beings we are all fundamentally compassionate. We have to build a world founded on human values—a world no longer dependent on the use of weapons. When people fight and die, their minds are not at peace, but we can imagine building a world based on compassion.
Please keep encouraging vaccines and masks!
Catching the virus elevates your risk of memory problems by 77%. It elevates your risk of stroke by 55%. It elevates your risk of seizures by 80%. That’s because Covid attacks the lining of your blood vessels, and it attacks your brain cells.
open.substack.com/pub/jessic…
With you ~
I had the honor of being interviewed by @thewiesuite—they asked me about how I'm reacting to this moment in time, and my decision to run for local office. How awesome to get to converse with this amazing community of women. Read my whole interview here: thewiesuite.com/post/julie-l…
Esther Gillette retweeted
The past is past; nothing can change it. But the future depends on the present; we still have the opportunity to shape it. This is not a matter of employing technology or spending more money, it's a question of developing a sense of concern for others' well-being
