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Long Thought Lost To The Deep Silty Riverbed, A Storied Arts & Crafts Typeface… Rises — And Echoes The Words, In A River Cut By Ancient Floods… [Yes, A Tangent]

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I was put in mind of this story, which I saw only last week — by what will likely be the overnight flooding of a certain river, near Nashville, Tennessee — and how the rivers run through… all of us, truly.

So here it is — not life science, per se — but more the history of art… recovered. [Which is, after all — some measure of the life of all of us, recorded for eternity.]

Well over a century ago, now… two partners had a falling out over whether one was being “swindled” by the other, over some small rights-payments, for an enigmatic-but-beautiful leaden typeface the two had designed several decades earlier — in London.

And so, one of them tossed every single tangible, leaded bit of the proprietary face… into the muddy Thames River, near Fleet Street, off the Hammersmith Bridge one night.

While many printed paper books (and even bibles, from the 1910s and 1920s) still preserve what the font looked like when struck, no versions of the molded lead dies remained. It was indeed — thought lost, to the raindrops, under the rocks, from the basement of time — in that ancient riverbed.

Then in 2014 — a century on, an enterprising art historian got to work, sifting the Thames… in just the right spots (do go read it all!):

…With its extra-wide capital letters, diamond shaped punctuation and unique off-kilter dots on the letter “i,” Doves Type became the press’s hallmark, surpassing fussier typographic attempts by their friend and sometime collaborator, William Morris.

The letterforms only existed as a unique 16 pt edition, meaning that when Cobden-Sanderson decided to “bequeath” every single piece of molded lead to the Thames, he effectively destroyed any prospect of the typeface ever being printed again. That might well have been the case, were it not for several individuals and a particularly tenacious graphic designer.

Robert Green first became fascinated with Doves Type in the mid-2000s, scouring printed editions and online facsimiles, to try and faithfully redraw and digitize every line. In 2013, he released the first downloadable version on typespec, but remained dissatisfied. In October 2014, he decided to take to the river to see if he could find any of the original pieces….

And so… as other rivers likely leapt their banks this evening, what treasures lost to pre-civil war Tennessee… might be washed onto the otherwise dry flats? We shall soon possibly… see. Onward, grinning….

नमस्ते

Bill Otis Is 💯 Right: “No Consequences” = BAD!

~ condor ~ 3 Comments

He’s finally offered a major premise (about his fellow Americans) I might 💯 support.

The problem is… he’s entirely fixated… on the wrong Americans.

He writes that a lack of “consequences“, for malign actions, and actors… is ruining the US.

Confidential note to Bill Otis: the most-culpable people who refuse to accept the lawful criminal consequences… for their own malign acts… now lead his party.

In fact, he’s backing a no consequences serial sexual predator, and financial fraudster… for a return stay at 1600 Penn, in 2024.

A man soon to be a multi-count convicted felon.

Yes, Mr. Otis: we do need to get tough on crime.

Especially… white collar crimes committed by a then sitting Commander in Chief.

Man are you… a putz.

Out.

[U] The Audit Guy Was Likely Chosen… As A “Feature” — Not A “BUG”… Auditor Was Fraudster, At “Truth”

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Updated, after hours: The Truth platform will now delay reporting its SEC Form 10-Q, by up to two weeks — claiming the new audit firm will likely need to check the old firm’s prior work. Hilarious!

End update.

I think the below speaks for itself. Dozens of frauds.

NASDAQ stock symbol DJT is now on its what(?) — fourth audit firm in under three years?!

Wow. Just… wow.

These pack-rats… all run… together:

…Effective May 3, 2024, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (the “Company) dismissed BF Borgers CPA PC (“BF Borgers”) as its independent registered public accounting firm. On May 4, 2024, the Company engaged Semple, Marchal & Cooper, LLP (“SMC”) as BF Borgers’ replacement. The decision to change independent registered public accounting firms was made with the recommendation and approval of the Audit Committee of the Company.

BF Borgers’ audit reports on the Company’s consolidated financial statements as of and for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 did not contain an adverse opinion or a disclaimer of opinion and were not qualified or modified as to audit scope or accounting principles.

During the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the subsequent interim period through the date of this report, there were no disagreements, as that term is defined in Item 304(a)(1)(iv) of Regulation S-K, between the Company and BF Borgers on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure, which disagreements, if not resolved to BF Borgers’ satisfaction, would have caused BF Borgers to make reference to such disagreements in its audit reports.

During the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the subsequent interim period through the date of this report, there were no reportable events within the meaning of Item 304(a)(1)(v) of Regulation S-K…

BF Borgers is not currently permitted to appear or practice before the SEC for reasons described in the SEC’s Order Instituting Public Administrative and Cease-and-Desist Proceedings Pursuant to Section 8A of the Securities Act of 1933, Sections 4C and 21C of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 102(e) of the Commission’s Rules of Practice, Making Findings, and Imposing Remedial Sanctions and a Cease-and-Desist Order, dated May 3, 2024….

Now you know. All part of the debauched “brand” — of the new GOP / MAGA.

Damn.

Heady Times: First Patient Receives Vertex’s ~$3 Million Sickle-Cell “Cure” — Six Months After FDA Approval.

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No doubt this is a piece of very good bio-science news: the cure for sickle-cell anemia — a painful and often debilitating disease is now being administered to select patients, in the US. That’s a huge win. [Here is one of several backgrounders we posted, over the years — on it.]

But the patients are “select” precisely because the therapy is priced somewhere between $1.8 million and $3.1 million for a full course of treatment, depending on whom one believes. Do read all the excellent NYT piece has to offer on the topic, this morning:

…For the estimated 20,000 people with sickle cell in the United States who qualify for the treatment, the start of Kendric’s monthslong medical journey may offer hope. But it also signals the difficulties patients face as they seek a pair of new sickle cell treatments.

For a lucky few, like Kendric, the treatment could make possible lives they have longed for. A solemn and shy adolescent, he had learned that ordinary activities — riding a bike, going outside on a cold day, playing soccer — could bring on episodes of searing pain.

“Sickle cell always steals my dreams and interrupts all the things I want to do,” he said. Now he feels as if he has a chance for a normal life….

As I say, do go read it all. It is especially gratifying to finally see life-science efforts aimed (at a very robust scientific level) at a disease that disproportionately afflicts a population other than whyte european descended humans.

That said, I am unconvinced that the treatment should be priced by reference to what a patient without it will incur / cost, over a life-time, in hospital stays and other out of pockets. Perhaps a better metric for the already wildly profitable Vertex (one of the makers of the cure) would be… what it would cost to recover the R&D burden Vertex shouldered over say a 15 year life span for the remaining patents — if X number of patients were granted access to the drug, per year. [If even only about half of the 20,000 potential patients receive it, at $3 million per course of treatment, the companies will have generated added revenue of… $30 BILLION! There is a nearly-zero chance that the R&D cost more than $2 billion. So a 15X return on investment seems… a little too high.] Just a thought. Onward.

नमस्ते

Part Four Of Five: Pfizer’s Q1 2024 Lobby Spending: Pretty High, In An Election Year…

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We will head out shortly, on mountain bikes by the lake… to find our treasured taco trucks — and dine al fresco on some perfect soft pollo tacos with cilantro and lime and avocados. It is the day for it — as above would indicate.

But first, we here post part four of our five parter, on lobby spending — this time, Pfizer’s. Both Merck and Lilly have wildly outperformed much larger Pfizer over the last six or so quarters, on both earnings and the per share trading prices on NYSE. It remains to be seen whether PFE might get its mojo back — but it seems to be banking on a change in administrations, as part of its strategy. Me? I think that’s a… bad bet. In any event, here’s the Pfizer Q1 deets:

…Pandemic Preparedness/PAHPA; Drug Pricing/Inflation Reduction Act: HR7174; Medicare Price Setting…

PBM Transparency and Reform: S1375/HH830 – Help Ensure Lower Patient (HELP) Copays Act; S1542/HR6283 – Delinking Revenue from Unfair Gouging (DRUG) Act; S2973 – Modernizing and Ensuring PBM Accountability Act; S3430 – Better Mental Health Care, Lower Cost Drugs, and Extenders Act; HR5378 – Lower Costs More Transparency Act…

Inflation Reduction Act / Medicare Price Setting; 340B Reform; Cell and Gene Therapy Access Model; HR1458 – Access to Prescription Digital Therapeutics Act of 2023…

VICP Reform and Excise Tax…

International Supply Chain; Global Access to Medicines; Pandemic Preparedness….

Only Amgen left to go now — likely Monday or Tuesday. Onward grinning, ear to ear.

नमस्ते

Q.: Where Will The Next Trans-Species (Mammal to Human) Virus Appear? And… When?

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CU Prof. Sawyer has gained a global reputation as a leader in trans-species viral migrations — having landed contracts from federal governmental agencies, to consult on how to prevent and better respond to pandemics, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

She will kick off a series — in the coming months, here — highlighting Colorado science efforts in various fields of biology. Do go read it all — she’s seen quite a bit, and has much to share with the world at large (or, at least the people of the world who still believe in actual… bio-science):

…H1N1, which originated in waterfowl, killed more than 50 million during the influenza epidemic of 1918. SARS-CoV-2, believed to have originated in bats, continues to drive the COVID-19 pandemic. In all, about 300 viruses are known at present — to be capable of sickening humans. It is lost to history just how many of these resulted from animal viruses that jumped to humans. But in recent decades, many more have.

What will be the next one?

That’s the question that keeps CU Boulder virologist Sara Sawyer up at night.

“There are estimated to be as many as 1 million viruses circulating in animals out there,” said Sawyer, a professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology. “Which ones should we be preparing for next? That’s what I want to know….”

Sawyer has spent the last 14 years gathering hundreds of samples from primate, rodent, bat and other mammalian species to better understand what evolution has taught them about how to live with viruses. Her hunt has taken her from endangered lemur preserves to homes for retired celebrity chimps (including Michael Jackson’s famed Bubbles)….

“There are lots of examples in nature of evolutionary winners — organisms that have figured out how to be resistant,” said Sawyer. “If we can better understand what their immune systems are doing, we may be able to come up with solutions we never thought of before….”

Now you know. Another fine buffalo, in the biological / pandemic sciences.

On to the “revenge of the sixth“, in the morning. Sleep well — grin.

नमस्ते

And, Here Is What Amazon Spent $4.35 Million Lobbying On, In Q1 2024…

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To be certain, here — this is not a complete listing.

Far from it. I’ve decided to focus on the areas we cover here — less about software and cloud computing and cybersecurity, and more about labor, and bioscience and patents and IP (and to those our pharma concerns lobby about). This is, though, about 70 percent of what Bezos’ companies lobbied on:

…Issues related to broadband access and affordability, satellite communications, space safety, spectrum, device accessibility, Section 230 reform, content moderation, and online video, including the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act (S. 4010) and implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58)…

Issues related to intellectual property, including copyright reform and online infringement, counterfeits, including the SHOP Safe Act (S. 3934), music licensing, patent reform, Copyright Office modernization, issues related to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and issues related to intermediary liability…

Issues related to taxes, including renewable energy tax credits, digital goods and services, international and corporate taxation, the American Innovation and Jobs Act (S. 866), the American Innovation and R&D Competitiveness Act (H.R. 2673), Tax Cuts for Working Families Act (H.R. 3936), the Small Business Jobs Act (H.R. 3937), the Build it in America Act (H.R. 3938), the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act (H.R. 7024), and implementation of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (P.L. 115-97)…

Issues related to data protection, encryption, data retention, data breach notification, data security, facial recognition technology, cross border data flows, privacy, law enforcement access, fraud prevention, product safety related to the sale of counterfeit and/or stolen products, including the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (H.R. 895 / S. 140), and cloud computing, including the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (H.R. 8152)…

Issues related to immigration, high-skilled immigration, and non-immigrant visas, including issues related to employment-based visas, green card backlog, the STEM visa exemption provision, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)…

Issues related to technology, procurement, and space policy…

Issues related to USDA SNAP online purchasing, including reauthorization of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-334), Electronic Benefit Transfer, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and food safety…

Issues related to veterans hiring and training, employee compensation and benefits, workplace safety, competition, contracting, and minimum wage, including the AMERICA Act (S. 1073), and a bill to provide that certain discriminatory conduct by covered platforms shall be unlawful, and for other purposes (AICOA) (S. 2033)…

Issues related to STEM education, computer science education, and job training in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (P.L. 117-167), and implementation of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (P.L. 118-31)…

Issues related to health information technology, healthcare and telehealth, including the Telehealth Expansion Act (H.R. 1843 / S. 1001), the Telehealth Benefit Expansion for Workers Act (H.R. 824), the CONNECT for Health Act (S. 2016 / H.R. 4189), the Telehealth Modernization Act (H.R. 7623 / S. 3967), and the Primary Care Enhancement Act (H.R. 3029 / S. 628); and issues related to pharmacy, including the Prescription Information Modernization Act (H.R. 1503) and the Better Mental Health Care, Lower-Cost Drugs, and Extenders Act (S. 3430); and issues related to Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bills…

Issues related to the Equality Act (H.R. 5 / S. 393), the Justice in Policing Act (draft bill – no number), and cannabis reform, including the States Reform Act (H.R. 5977) and the Cannabis Administration & Opportunity Act (S. 4591)…

Issues related to Amazons Climate Pledge, including alternative fuel vehicles, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, renewable electricity data, federal fleet electrification, maritime and shipping decarbonization, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and low-carbon R&D. Issues related to energy and environmental provisions in the Infrastructure and Jobs Investment Act (P.L. 117-58)….

Now you know — we still have Amgen, and Pfizer to cover, next week. Now, onward, to Cinco! G’night one and all, of good will!

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Cannot Understand That Tangerine’s Ads — Containing Racist Lies — Might Violate Social Media Rules…

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Well this is at least… interesting, from John — even though it is pungent, by over twice as much.

Someone let Hinderaker know that a Trump ad mimicking a purported African American male voice, and spouting racist anti-Biden fear mongering lies… had been refused by several social media platforms for “policy violative content”.

John says he can’t figure out why a private business might not want to run such a video ad.

That is — if credited as genuine — an interesting window’s view into John’s mental decline.

He can’t understand how it might turn off the very customers a FB or X-itter or Insta- or YouTube might wish to retain?!

Wow.

His decline… is accelerating, like Tangerine’s — week by week.

Onward. Out.

NASA Highlights A Paper On “Synthetic Life” — That Might Be Engineered In Zero Gravity…

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There are profound ethical questions here. Ones that reasonable people will no doubt disagree about.

And to their credit, NASA scientists are not shying away from grappling with them. Because some of this will ultimately occur in zero gravity, the connection is… obvious — and the paper below has a lead author who works at NASA.

“…Cells are the fundamental units of life, forming the variety of all living things on Earth as individual cells and multi-cellular organisms. To better understand how cells perform the essential functions of life, scientists have begun developing synthetic cells – non-living bits of cellular biochemistry wrapped in a membrane that mimic specific biological processes.

The development of synthetic cells could one day hold the answers to developing new ways to fight disease, supporting long-duration human spaceflight, and better understanding the origins of life on Earth.

In a paper published recently in ACS Synthetic Biology, researchers outline the potential opportunities that synthetic cell development could unlock and what challenges lie ahead in this groundbreaking research. They also present a roadmap to inspire and guide innovation in this intriguing field….”

Here is what the original paper’s authors say, in their abstract:

…The de novo construction of a living organism is a compelling vision. Despite the astonishing technologies developed to modify living cells, building a functioning cell “from scratch” has yet to be accomplished.

The pursuit of this goal alone has — and will — yield scientific insights affecting fields as diverse as cell biology, biotechnology, medicine, and astrobiology. Multiple approaches have aimed to create biochemical systems manifesting common characteristics of life, such as compartmentalization, metabolism, and replication and the derived features, evolution, responsiveness to stimuli, and directed movement. Significant achievements in synthesizing each of these criteria have been made, individually and in limited combinations.

Here, we review these efforts, distinguish different approaches, and highlight bottlenecks in the current research. We look ahead at what work remains to be accomplished and propose a “roadmap” with key milestones to achieve the vision of building cells from molecular parts….

What a time to be… alive. Smile… Forever Young came up just short.

नमस्ते