If you haven't see this yet, it got really spicy and is worth the watch.
#[0]
I'll be presenting updates at the XX Network Public Council Meeting Livestream starting @ 1:30pm Eastern, join me here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYFICWVF8ls
#xxnetwork #privacy #crypto
Anyone else going to the MIT bitcoin expo tomorrow? I'll be there around noon!
https://media.nostrgram.co/v/7c/media_7c245b14fe346.mp4
Some of my thoughts on why it would be good to sunset some traditional banking technology in favor of crypto.
Andrew Bustamante (CIA ops guy) and David Chaum (godfather of crypto) are streaming an interview at 1700 UTC tomorrow on youtube, it should be a good watch:
It is particularly bad seeing bitcoin folks dumping on wasabi while claiming to be privacy maxis...
I can't tell if its legitimate ignorance/misunderstanding the power and properties of the tech or its something else.
Many of the variants existed before the vaccines, so NOPE! 🤣
Thats a fundamental misunderstanding of how the biology works. You could argue that vaccines helped put environmental pressures to help omicron, but first versions likely developed absent a vaccine prevalent in the local environment. Not enough people took the vaccine to make that case, imo...
That said, I'm not aware of anyone who has done that analysis but I would be interested in reading it. #[2]
We were able to get these answers because of the unprecedented level of worldwide scientific collaboration aimed at capturing viral sequences from infected individuals to build a public-facing database. Unfortunately, our ability to measure and quantify the viral spread is evaporating due to decreased funding & ability to continuously sequence patient samples. Better records could also answer more questions.
Even worse, Omicron reinfection occurs over an even shorter time frame. In some cases, only a few weeks!
You can ALSO catch omicron more than once. 
Getting COVID doesn’t protect you from getting it again. While a lot of folks believe that catching it does protect you, there is a growing body of evidence that it does not. I recently helped write a peer reviewed analysis in Nature Communications Biology adding to that pile.
You can download the full paper for free here: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04687-4
Omicron, in particular, reinfects people who had non-omicron variants more often than other variants.
Getting COVID doesn’t protect you from getting it again. While a lot of folks believe that catching it does protect you, there is a growing body of evidence that it does not. I recently helped write a peer reviewed analysis in Nature Communications Biology adding to that pile.
You can download the full paper for free here: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04687-4
For xx network libxxdk .NET library users, we just merged some major changes. It now builds on all major architectures and we made some quality of life improvements.
Our plan is expose the rest of the modules and have a nuget package published sometime in May. Any feedback on improvements we can make are welcomed!
My hope is we will see a Wasabi Wallet build or another tool get posted that allows folks to use xx as an option over the summer.
Here is a link to the MR: https://git.xx.network/elixxir/libxxdk/-/merge_requests/1
The bigger problem is that the RESTRICT act, which is supposedly banning tiktok, actually gives the president powers to ban any app (and protocol, like nostr..) they don't like. That's a huge problem. Contact your congresspeople folks!
xx messenger only has small private groups. We built a separate tool for chat rooms called Speakeasy, which is currently in alpha. Here's a link to one of the main chat rooms there:
Harvard Kennedy school posted this great explainer on the fundamental problem with banning tiktok.
More importantly its difficult to make a distinction between what happened in Ukraine from e.g., Iraq.
Obviously its the intentionality and awareness of it all, but its hard to define or set precedent with that because its literally not significantly different unless you've got a trailorf prosecuting and actually punishing offenders, and the US doesn't have that.
Related link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/us/politics/pentagon-war-crimes-hague.html
Its highly useful but I'd recommend most use f-droid. I think its a little safer and their process is a bit better with respect to avoiding broken builds and releases.
The Journal Vaccines published a vaccine mouse study I helped with that targeted breast cancer:
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11030644
It showed statistically significant slowed tumor growth compared to the control group. We believe this is due to a protective T-cell response.
This is all based on our current best understanding of how the disease interacts with the body. In future experiments, we would like to see a demonstration of the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes we think are responsible for the effects on tumor growth. We also would want to take advantage of next-generation sequencing, among other measurements.
#breastcancer #cancer #immunotherapy #vaccine
For any of the parents out there, some guidance on controlling computer and phone use for your kids:
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/23/03/harvard-edcast-how-support-your-childs-digital-life