AstraZeneca sued over jab: could it be down to a misunderstanding of how risk is calculated?

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AstraZeneca sued over jab: could it be down to a misunderstanding of how risk is calculated?     A multi-million-pound landmark “vaccine damage” case is set to take place in London’s High Court. The test case is being pursued by Jamie Scott who suffered a severe brain injury in April 2021 after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The case being brought under the Consumer Protections Act argues that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was less safe than consumers were entitled to expect. A key part of the argument is over the efficacy of the vaccine, which claimants argue was “vastly overstated”. Continued here

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Yellow Butterfly: A Moving Wordless Story About War, Hope, and Keeping the Light Alive     In his little-known correspondence with Freud about war and human nature, Einstein observed that every great moral and spiritual leader in the history of our civilization has shared “the grea… Continued here

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The First Scientist's Guide to Truth: Alhazen on Critical Thinking     Born into a world with no clocks, telescopes, microscopes, or democracy, Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham (c. 965–c. 1040), known in the West as Alhazen, began his life studying religion, but grew quickl… Continued here

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Generative AI Will Change Your Business. Here's How to Adapt.     Generative AI can “generate” text, speech, images, music, video, and especially, code. When that capability is joined with a feed of someone’s own information, used to tailor the when, what, and how of an interaction, then the ease by which someone can get things done, and the broadening accessibility of software, goes up dramatically. The simple input question box that stands at the center of Google and now, of most Generative AI systems, such as in ChatGPT and Dall-e, will power more systems. Continued here

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What Does It Actually Take to Build a Data-Driven Culture?     Building a data driven culture is hard. To capture what it takes to succeed, the authors look at the first two years of a new data program at Kuwait’s Gulf Bank in which they worked to build a culture that embraced data, and offer a few lessons. First, it is important to start building the new culture from day one, even as doing so is not the primary mandate. Second, to change a culture, you need to get everyone involved. Third, give data quality strong consideration as the place to start. Finally, building this new culture takes courage and persistence. Continued here

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The Five Stages of Small-Business Growth     Categorizing the problems and growth patterns of small businesses in a systematic way that is useful to entrepreneurs seems at first glance a hopeless task. Small businesses vary widely in size and capacity for growth. They are characterized by independence of action, differing organizational structures, and varied management styles. Continued here

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The Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Answer     Diversify your product line. Stick to your knitting. Hire a professional manager. Watch fixed costs. Those are some of the suggestions that entrepreneurs sort through as they try to get their ventures off the ground. Why all the conflicting advice? Because in a young company, all decisions are up for grabs. Continued here

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Cope or Quit? Facing a Mid-Career Crisis     Research shows that many people—even those with seemingly enviable careers—grow dissatisfied in their jobs in their mid-40s. They may regret past choices or feel stuck in a rut. But Kieran Setiya thinks the tools of his trade—philosophy—can help. He says sadness about the road not taken can be mitigated by attending to the people and pursuits that we cherish and wouldn’t have without our careers. He notes that we spend much of our work time solving problems and meeting needs, so we should engage in some feel-good activities (inside or outside the office). And he suggests focusing less on projects and more on process, to replace a “What’s next?” mindset with an appreciation for the present. Continued here

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A New Model for Ethical Leadership     Rather than try to follow a set of simple rules (“Don’t lie.” “Don’t cheat.”), leaders and managers seeking to be more ethical should focus on creating the most value for society. This utilitarian view, Bazerman argues, blends philosophical thought with business school pragmatism and can inform a wide variety of managerial decisions in areas including hiring, negotiations, and even time management. Creating value requires that managers confront and overcome the cognitive barriers that prevent them from being as ethical as they would like to be. Just as we rely on System 1 (intuitive) and System 2 (deliberative) thinking, he says, we have parallel systems for ethical decision-making. He proposes strategies for engaging the deliberative one in order to make more-ethical choices. Managers who care about the value they create can influence others throughout the organization by means of the norms and decision-making environment they create. Continued here

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The Founder's Dilemma     The author’s studies indicate that a founder who gives up more equity to attract cofounders, new hires, and investors builds a more valuable company than one who parts with less equity. More often than not, however, those superior returns come from replacing the founder with a professional CEO more experienced with the needs of a growing company. This fundamental tension requires founders to make “rich” versus “king” trade-offs to maximize either their wealth or their control over the company. Continued here

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The Rise of Exit Bans and Hostage-Taking in China     Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.Foreign entities doing business in China are facing increasingly grave risks. On top of the high-level geopolitical and economic risks to consider, the growing incidence of exit bans, which prevent foreign executives from leaving China if their company becomes involved in a dispute, imposes a very individual human risk. While there has been widespread media coverage of a few cases — the exit ban placed on a Singaporean executive from U.S. investigations company Mintz Group and the detention of five of its Chinese employees; the tit-for-tat detention of two Canadian businessmen in retaliation for U.S. fraud charges brought against a Huawei executive arrested in Canada — many companies operating internationally confront the reality of exit bans and commercial hostage-taking in relative obscurity. Continued here

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Can mum-centric talent platforms solve work-family balance?     For most of her professional life, Becky White wouldn't have considered leaving her role as a marketing executive for part-time work. She loved her job, and was proud of the career she'd built. But a couple years ago, when she had her second child – a baby boy, whom she knew would be her last – she had a change of heart.US-based White, who with her husband, has a blended family of four kids, began exploring ways to downshift professionally and spend more time at home. "I was hesitant to hit pause," she recalls. "I had a lot of angst and hesitation about voluntarily stepping out of the workforce. I wanted to maintain my identity and trajectory as a working person.” Continued here

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A brined turkey to 'rival all others'     Sara Calvosa Olson, the author of Chími Nu'am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen, published this past September, is a descendant of the Karuk tribe of Indigenous Americans, the the second largest Native American group in California.With Chími Nu'am (which means "let's eat" in Kanuk), Olson looks to encourage people to start thinking about a decolonised diet, connecting to the land and native ingredients prior to European colonisation. "This is about cooking not just for ourselves, but for our communities," Olson said. "And having people get into a different way of thinking about food and what's around us and where our food comes from." In other words, Chími Nu'am is as much about understanding the history of each recipe – and its ingredients – as it is about the edible end product.   Continued here

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Native American 'slump': puffy dumplings in simmered fruit     Chef Sherry Pocknett, the first Indigenous woman to win a James Beard Foundation Award (she took home the 2023 title for Best Chef: Northeast), doesn't celebrate just one "Thanksgiving." Instead, she celebrates every harvest as a moment to pause, reflect and give thanks. During autumn, Pocknett said, "We're giving thanks to cranberries because cranberries are back." In the summer, Pocknett gives thanks to things like blueberries and strawberries. "Thanksgiving for me is giving thanks to a harvest… all these different things that come back yearly and they're still coming."Pocknett is a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, which has had roots in modern-day Massachusetts and Rhode Island for more than 12,000 years. She owns the restaurant Sly Fox Den Too in Charlestown, Rhode Island. There, she serves food that highlights the indigenous cuisine of the Northeast – dishes like nausamp, a porridge-like dish made of dried corn; Indian pudding, a dessert made of molasses and cornmeal blended together; and blueberry slump, Pocknett's personal favourite. Continued here

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Kanuchi: A nut-based soup to celebrate autumn     Loretta Barrett Oden is 81 years old and just came out with her first cookbook, Corn Dance: Inspired First American Cuisine, this past October. In the book, Oden shares stories and recipes that are intended to educate and enlighten the home cook with a celebration of indigenous foods. "I should have written this book many, many years ago," she said, "but I've just stayed so busy with one project after another, one restaurant after another, that I just now found the time to sit down and write." After years of telling the stories of other chefs and cultures, it was finally time to share her own.Oden was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, a small town 40 minutes by car east of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her paternal grandmother was a descendent of the Mayflower, a card-carrying member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her mother was from a large family of Potawatomi origins, now known as Citizen Potawatomi Nation. The nine different tribes of Potawatomi peoples are mostly from the Great Lakes region of the US and Canada. Oden refers to her tribe as Anishinaabe, a larger group of Indigenous peoples that encompasses Citizen Potawotomi Nation as well the Ojibwe, among others. Continued here

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Three Native American dishes to celebrate fall     Across cultures, fall is a time for celebrating the bounty of hearty food, gathering with family and feasting together. While November is often tied to Thanksgiving in the larger US culture, the fraught narrative that has long fuelled the holiday is a reminder to look deeper. For many of the Indigenous peoples who have generations of roots on this land, Thanksgiving represents something much different than a table full of turkey and pie.Take chef Loretta Barrett Oden, who recently published her first cookbook, Corn Dance: Inspired First American Cuisine. Oden, whose lineage is with the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Oklahoma, grew up celebrating Thanksgiving and still feasts with family on that day. But when she owned a restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she highlighted indigenous ingredients by putting turkey and stuffing on the menu, thereby treating every day like it was Thanksgiving. Here, Oden shares her recipe for kanuchi, a rich, creamy soup made of ground nuts and maple syrup.  Continued here

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Killers of the Flower Moon: How the shocking Osage murders were nearly erased from US history     "They won't remember", Robert De Niro's character says in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. As the real-life William Hale, a cattle baron in 1920s Oklahoma, he is deluded in thinking that the Osage Nation would move past the memory that dozens of their members who had become rich from oil rights were systematically killed for their money. But the line leaps out of the film as a reminder that much of the world did forget, until the events were restored to the mainstream in David Grann's dynamic, deeply researched 2017 bestseller, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, which inspired the film. While he was writing the book and long after, Grann tells BBC Culture, "The most common comment I have received is: 'I can't believe I never learned about this'", adding, "I think that is a reflection to some degree of the underlying force that led to these crimes, which was prejudice."More like this:-       Our verdict on Killers of the Flower Moon-       Why Scorsese fears for the future of cinema-       A shocking moment in Oscars history Continued here

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Coyote vs Acme and the blockbusters that may never be seen     It's the dream of every aspiring director. Not only are you hired to make a film, but you actually manage to see the project through, avoiding the obstacles and averting the disasters, until you have all the footage you need to complete your 90-minute masterpiece. And the nightmare of every aspiring director? To be told, after all those years of work, that audiences will never be allowed to see any of it.More like this: – Are we in the era of the 'flopbuster'? – 12 films to watch in November – Six of the greatest 'lost' movies Continued here

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The Crown: The secrets of how Dominic West transformed into King Charles III     When Dominic West was first cast in The Crown as the then-Prince Charles, now King Charles III, he was nervous, as he knew costume and make-up could only do so much. "I was slightly in despair," he told Still Watching Netflix back in November 2022. "How was I going to get the physicality of this guy right because the only time I really look like Charles is from behind, because the hair is just perfect?"His despair was misplaced: in last year's fifth series, picking up the baton from Josh O'Connor's younger version of Charles, he managed to perfectly capture the mannerisms, posture, speech, cadence and general spirit of the royal. While a lot of credit for his transformation must fall to the actor himself, due praise should also be given to one particular member of the crew: choreographer and movement director Polly Bennett. Continued here

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Amid 'checkout charity' boom, some Americans are more likely to be impulse givers than others     If you live in the United States, chances are that cashiers often ask whether you want to donate to a cause their employer is currently supporting. Organizations like Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America or relief efforts in Ukraine were among the causes retailers championed in 2022.You may be asked if you’d like to round up your total to the nearest dollar, to add on a small amount or to “buy” a shamrock, heart or some other token that will be displayed in the store with your name on it. Sometimes these prompts are delivered by a credit card reader or a website during an online purchase. Continued here

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Mass shootings often put a spotlight on mental illness, but figuring out which conditions should keep someone from having a gun is no easy task     Every time the country is shaken by a tragic mass shooting and the loss of innocent lives, mental illness and its role in the actions of the mass shooter come under scrutiny.Mental illness again became a central theme after the mass shooting in Maine on Oct. 25, 2023, in which records suggest that the shooter had a history of serious mental health issues. Months before the tragedy, the family of gunman Robert Card, as well as Army Reserve staffers, had contacted law enforcement expressing high levels of concern about his mental health and noting his access to guns. Continued here

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Brains have a remarkable ability to rewire themselves following injury - a concussion specialist explains the science behind rehabilitation and recovery     Speech Language Pathologist and Cognitive Rehabilitation Specialist, Marcus Institute for Brain Health; Instructor, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus High-profile sports like football and soccer have brought greater attention in recent years to concussions – the mildest form of traumatic brain injury. Continued here

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How PFAS 'forever chemicals' are getting into Miami's Biscayne Bay, where dolphins, fish and manatees dine     PFAS, the “forever chemicals” that have been raising health concerns across the country, are not just a problem in drinking water. As these chemicals leach out of failing septic systems and landfills and wash off airport runways and farm fields, they can end up in streams that ultimately discharge into ocean ecosystems where fish, dolphins, manatees, sharks and other marine species live.We study the risks from these persistent pollutants in coastal environments as environmental analytical chemists at Florida International University’s Institute of the Environment. Continued here

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Insulin injections could one day be replaced with rock music - new research in mice     More than 37 million people in the U.S. have diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association, 8.4 million Americans needed to take insulin in 2022 to lower their blood sugar. Insulin, however, is tricky to deliver into the body orally because it is a protein easily destroyed in the stomach.Diabetes is a chronic disease that arises when the body fails to make enough insulin or respond to insulin. Insulin is a hormone the pancreas makes in response to the rise in sugar concentration in the blood when the body digests food. This crucial hormone gets those sugars out of the blood and into muscles and tissues where it is used or stored for energy. Continued here