Dr. Flowers @AlliFlowers@talkedabout.social

Happy 2024. Live forever.

A lifelong friend and very wise neighbor has told me for years that "holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die". I have plenty of life and business goals this year, but my #1 personal goal is to not drink the poison.

I've been joking that this year I strive to be less of a hater. I've spent a lot of time over the last few years focused on being more of the person I want to be, this year though I'd also like to focus on being less of who I don't want to be.

America is 'full,' Lindsey Graham says - POLITICO https://apple.news/ApVIZNE66SImaZmOWMklu9w If we’re so full why are right wingers insisting we all make babies? Oh, white babies. That sounds more like them. Vote Blue

Every single high-risk person should be prescribed Paxlovid to have on hand, for when they test positive for Covid.

It turns out that #COVID19 increased premature birth rates during the pandemic. And then the right wonders why so many women get abortions. Vaccination decreases that rate. https://www.wpr.org/study-covid-19-increased-premature-birth-rate-during-height-pandemic

California father and 10-year-old son arrested after the child shot and killed another boy, deputies say

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/31/us/sacramento-child-shooting

@AlliFlowers It’s a painful lesson when we realize a parent is a jerk. A necessary one, though.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/01/millennials-keep-living-at-home/

Even if #millenials can afford to buy a house, the fact that the big #insurance companies -- at least in #California -- aren't writing homeowner policies make such an investment really risky. I wish this article had mentioned these 2 things: 1) the fact that #StateFarm, #AllState, #Farmers, and #USAA are "putting a pause on these policies" (words used by agent) because of 2) #ClimateChange.

A polar bear found dead on Alaska’s North Slope is the first of the species known to have been killed by the highly pathogenic♦️ avian influenza ♦️that is circulating among animal populations around the world.
The polar bear was found dead in October near Utqiagvik, the nation’s northernmost community, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation reported.

“This is the first polar bear case reported, for anywhere,” said Dr. Bob Gerlach, Alaska’s state veterinarian.

As such, it was reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health and has gotten attention in other Arctic nations that have polar bears, he said.

This was also the first Endangered Species Act-listed animal in Alaska known to fall victim to the disease.
Polar bears, dependent on sea ice that is diminishing because of climate change, were listed as threatened in 2008.

While polar bears normally eat seals they hunt from the sea ice, it appears likely that this bear was scavenging on dead birds and ingested the influenza virus that way, Gerlach said.

Numerous birds on the North Slope of various species have died from this avian influenza, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
#birdflu #avianinfluenza #polarbear
#WHO #WOAH #crossspecies
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/wildlife/2023/12/31/avian-influenza-death-of-alaska-polar-bear-is-a-global-first-and-a-sign-of-the-virus-persistence/