theDrahos

Shingles (herpes zoster) is a secondary outbreak of the chicken pox virus. It can happen decades after the original infection. It is usually less severe the second time. It may occur for people who have had either chicken pox or the chicken pox vaccination. It is often caused by the vaccine, and people who get the vaccine strain years after a vaccination get a much worse version of shingles. It is an opportunistic virus that will strike whenever the immune system is sufficiently impaired. Those who have never contracted chicken pox are at risk of contracting it from people with … Continue reading →

The homes of many rich, famous people have a secret hidden within them.  Somewhere, in the depths of the home, is a secure room to which the residents can retreat in the event of a home invasion or violent intruder.  A safe room was carved into the original house plan, and many of these are state of the art.  Features might include a bank of monitors for viewing what’s going on outside the room, a small kitchenette, comfortable furnishings, fresh air venting, and a hardened communications system.  These expertly designed rooms can cost tens of thousands of dollars, but you don’t have … Continue reading →

Police Killings Grossly Underreported We previously reported that Americans are 9 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than aterrorist. But it turns out that our numbers were incorrect … This isn’t surprising, given that: “Reliable estimates of the number of justifiable homicides committed by police officers in the United States do not exist.” A study of killings by police from 1999 to 2002 in the Central Florida region found that the national databases included (in Florida) only one-fourth of the number of persons killed by police as reported in the local news media. The Guardian reports … Continue reading →

The recent release of deadly bacteria from Tulane National Primate Research Center 35 miles from New Orleans, and located near a school and a residential area, is yet another high-profile incident involving a government laboratory or a facility funded by the federal government. An investigation conducted by USA Today has determined that “despite weeks of investigation by multiple federal and state agencies, the cause of the release and the extent of the contamination remain unknown.”  This latest incident may have occurred sometime in the fall during research to develop a vaccine against Burkholderia pseudomallei, a potential bioterror agent — the … Continue reading →

We are about to witness what may be one of the strangest trials ever. For one thing, the central narrative we’ve been provided of the Boston Marathon bombing makes little sense. Take the defendant’s past. It provides few clues to suggest that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev might have been inclined to commit any sort of mayhem, much less on a massive scale. Even his now-dead, more aggressive older brother, Tamerlan, doesn’t exactly seem like the sort to prepare and detonate bombs to harm large numbers of innocent fellow Bostonians. Furthermore, neither brother is known to have had the expertise to make the … Continue reading →