Life: Kickstarter

Recently I signed up for Kickstarter. 

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding site for creators and makers of things. Kickstarter lists projects by creators to create something. I surf the site as a potential backer. If I find a project and their promise/product that I like, I back the project and pledge some money. If the creator get enough money to initiate the project (a goal set by themselves) from collective backers by the campaign end date, the money pledged by backers will be transferred by Kickstarter (which works as a mediator and an escrow) to the project creator. Using the fund, the creator will start working on the project to actually make the thing they promised.

Creators show prototype product with pictures and videos, make value propositions, and promise to deliver the product to backers by stated delivery date.

While surfing old projects, I could see a few "failed" projects that did not deliver the goods by due date or at all. To avoid such cases and to not to waste my money, I check their campaign proposal and track record carefully before pledge. It is not like buying a finished product in a shop. After all, making something requires specific knowledge and resource. It is easy to say "I'll make this", but actually make it and deliver it to the backers is entirely different game. Some people do fail in the process.

I surf mainly for wristwatches with features that interest me. So called "microbrands" of wristwatches often use Kickstarter platform to fund project and find customers who like their products. They test the market this way.

I am currently backing two projects. One is already funded. They got my money and they are working on the product they said to deliver by Sept 2021. Another project is still open, but they have achieved their goal already and most likely the project will move forward. I am hoping the second project to reach a stretch goal that makes my favorite color available as free option.

Kickstarter represents consumption with some aspects of investment. I can invest/pledge my money and get return (in case of wristwatch, unique product as they promised in good discount over said retail price). If the project is botched, or if they cannot produce quality goods, I lose. Of course you do not have to use this indie platform, but whole process can be enjoyable and everyone can win.

Incidentally, I have been working on a grant proposal. While preparing for the grant proposal, I couldn't help but noticing similarities between Kickstarter projects and grant application for scientific research.

For grant proposal,  I am on the creator/maker's side. I make a promise to do this research project and deliver the outcomes by the due date. To be "backed" by the granting agency, I need to make an attractive promise with good significance and innovation, and with credible strategy/research plan. I need to convince prospective "backers" (reviewing scientists and others) to fund this project by providing track record, capable team, environment, equipment, etc. 

We need to follow standard format for grant writing. It is not entirely crapshoot. But luck is a factor, too.

As the grant is almost going out next week, I am feeling like I need to work on my grantsmanship. Is Kickstarter giving me a hint? Guess so.

[A photo from the Kickstarter campaign I pledged]

 

Life/Science: 2nd vaccine adverse reaction, Stephenson Cancer Center annual symposium (2/5/2021)

This was what I posted in Facebook yesterday.

"My body's reaction to the second vaccination was rough. It gave me flu-like symptoms and I was down with sores and aches everywhere. 50 hours after administration, finally I am feeling better."

I got the 2nd dose of Moderna vaccine on Tuesday (2/2).  When I woke up Wednesday (20 hours after administration), I felt terrible with sores and aches. I attended a 40 minutes zoom lab meeting on the day, but immediately after the meeting I just collapsed into the bed.

It took about 50 hours after administration until the flu-like symptoms (headache, body aches, fatigue, mild fever) faded. Judging from my own experience and stories of others, 2 days is about the time for the vaccine adverse reactions to run the course and disappear.

The reaction came quick. But in fact, recovery was rather quick and clean too. 

Having experienced adverse reaction of the COVID vaccine, I'd still say, you don't have to be too afraid of the adverse reactions. It may be rough for 2 days, but it's just a drill for your immune system and runs its course. It would still be much better than actual COVID19 with virus circulating in your body, infecting your cells and destroying organs. Even with adverse reactions, my senses of smell and taste were intact. No diarrhea, no pneumonia or anything.

There is an anecdotal saying that after having high fever, some tumors can shrink, possibly due to pathogen-activated immune systems also attacking and clearing tumor. 

[As in this article/link:] 
"Immunity over inability: The spontaneous regression of cancer"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312698/

Perhaps, thanks to this immune system exercise, my body might have become even healthier than before by removing trashes. Then this adverse reaction was not bad at all.

I tried not to take ibuprofen (Advil) or acetaminophen (Tylenol) out of curiosity. I can afford to be curious when I know I am not going to die of adverse reaction and pain was not unbearable. But CDC says it is ok to take painkiller after vaccination. You may get away with less struggle if you choose to take a painkiller.

Anyhow, two days lost. I needed to catch up with some work.

Today 2/5 was a Stephenson Cancer Center Annual Cancer Research symposium. This year, it's the first full virtual meeting.

I was assigned to judge posters in the morning session (10:00-11:30AM). So I spent 1.5 hours last night to check abstracts and posters for all assigned presentations, and pre-filled a part of score sheet. To be honest I wanted to bail after being sick, but work is work. Just do it.

With virtual presentations over zoom, posters are small and I cannot even read them on my PC display during presentation. I had to read beforehand with PDF. In the future, presenters need to consider this size issue and adopt to the format better.

Also, talking fast is not necessarily a good strategy to communicate effectively. More info sometimes just dilute message.

After the virtual poster session, I sent the scores to administrator, and my assignment was done. The rest was checking out talks. I was particularly interested in Gero-oncology session, discussing aging and cancer issue, as the issue concerns my work. 

Geroscience (science on aging) and cancer research have different methodologies and cultures. Geroscience people focus on age-associated events, then try to figure out how they affect cancer development. Cancer researchers think in histopathological cancer (pre-cancerous lesions and histopathological cancer) and signaling pathways that cause them (oncogenes, tumor suppressors). Microenvironment came to the picture in relatively recent years. While cancer researchers hardly test animal's functional aging (cognition-behavior), in geroscience it is a major metric to be measured and presented.

Interdisciplinary science is interesting. Yet, sometimes interdisciplinary project has a hard time to get funded, as neither NIA (National Institute on Aging) or NCI (National Institute of Cancer) see the project as the one in their turf. Can't be helped. We researchers need to find a good home (i.e. funding agency) for a project somehow.

Life: 28 days later; 2nd dose of COVID19 vaccination

Today was the day for scheduled 2nd dose of COVID19 vaccine.

Last time was 1/5/21.  I got Moderna vaccine, which is suggested to be administered 28 days/4 weeks after the first dose.

As I had to join a long line and waited for 1 hour last time, I went 45 minutes earlier than the appointment. 

But this time, there was no line at all and only 2 minutes wait at the room entrance. 

I only got mild reaction from the 1st dose. Some sore at injection site and body ache here and there, but nothing terrible and they faded in 3-4 days. 

They say 2nd dose may come with harsher adverse reactions due to primed immune system. Well, I'll see. Should still be more manageable than the real COVID19.

Pfizer's clinical trial data showed that with 1 dose you may get about 50% protection, and after 2nd dose plus 10-14 days, 95% protection. I'd assume Moderna vaccine would show similar dynamics, considering the same mechanistic (mRNA vaccine) and similar numbers (both reported 94-95% effective). The numbers are pretty good.

Speaking of current status of COVID19 pandemic in this state in the US, daily newsletter from our university has been reporting hospital bed occupancy. In this past 1 week or so it started declining from 30-something percent (upper tier 3) to 20's (lower tier 3). Number of new diagnosis in this state came down from 3000-4000's to 2000's. Although daily death number is still high (30-45 in this state), the number lags from new diagnosis by 1-2 weeks. Thus, certainly there are some signs of relief.

There are metrics you can use to estimate this Coronavirus pandemic. Some are from medical standpoint, such as death number (the US went past 400,000 already. Fail.), new patient number (official diagnosis with PCR+, reduced with vaccine), and rate for severe cases or death (that can be improved by new treatment regimen, procedures, or new medicine). 

The other would be its effects on daily life in general including economy, which will be impacted by lockdown or lifestyle modifications such as mask mandate and travel restrictions.

Economy has been affected very differently by social segments. Some are hit harder than others.

From public health standpoint, sustainability of medical system has been used as one of important metrics. "Once hospitals fail, society and the public will feel the pain. Protect them. Flatten the curve" was the logic of emphasizing hospital conditions. It's not wrong. This pandemic is stress-testing social systems and also people directly.

After about 1 year of pandemic, we have seen and learned a lot, in medical or scientific terms and in political or social science terms. Although there are many questions remaining in medical terms, I am hoping that we will deal with socio-political folly better in the future.

Anyhow, completing 2 doses of COVID19 vaccine is a blessing. I am happy about it.

[02/02/2021]

Life: End of Trump tenure and I am happy about it

 Since last entry (1/5/2021), there were historic events occurred in the US.

One was the Capitol insurrection on 1/6/2021. People gathered to "stop the steal" were incited by Mr. Trump and his people, marched to the Capitol, turned to riots and breached the building with ongoing Congress session to certify Biden's victory. It was a failed coup by Mr. Trump.

The insurrection was a serious offense to American democracy, comparable to 911. There have been consequences, including understandably pissed Congress and Mr. Trump's second impeachment, social platforms (Amazon, Google, Twitter, Apple, Facebook) attempting to stop insurrectionists plotting other violence and domestic terrorism, and tarnished Trump and Republican brand leading to legal battle and reduced money flow to them.

FBI, police and the internet have been working hard to identify the insurrectionists involved. They identified the Trump supporters and insurrectionists as QAnon conspiracy theorists, neo-Nazi, white supremacists, Proud boys, far-right extremists, remnants of Confederate, ... not my kind of people, to be honest.

About 20% of the insurrectionists were former military. 

...... these are narratives I agree with as ugly facts. 

A trait of the Trump tenure was the rise of (a) fantasy feeders, who tell self-serving non-facts, skewed interpretations, and manipulative lies, and (b) recipients, followers, and supporters of the fantasies ("facts don't matter" people and people who cannot/don't distinguish lies from facts and truths). The mix is toxic. The relationship reminds me of drug dealers and addicts, but in information.

We saw insurrectionists. They looked wacky and duck dynasty. They were violent, killed an officer (makes them cop killers. So much for blue lives matter). But tragically, in their heads, they were "good guys", even while committing insurrection. They were living in alternative realities. 

In many cases, war is not fought between good and evil or right and wrong, but between good and good or right and right. By creating alternative realities, the fantasy feeders can manipulate their followers to the war of justice or war of righteous, even if it actually is against US constitution and is totally unpatriotic.

The fact is, Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election by 306-223 electoral college vote (or by 7 million popular vote). Against the fact, he asserted baseless claims (lies) of voter fraud. But even his sympathizers could not find solid evidence for alleged widespread voter fraud. Concede or not, after the insurrection drama, Mr. Trump's time is up. There came the end of Trump presidency. No QAnon day of justice.

Mr. Trump is leaving the official position of power. I am hoping that end of his tenure is going to cut off the lies from the high place and discourage further spreading of his cult.

Fact can be experienced firsthand, or told as hearsay. Fact (and non-fact) is interpreted by the storyteller and by recipients, and given a meaning. It is the meaning that can drive the recipients to action. There are many steps that can go wrong or can be manipulated. 

Lies are easy to produce. Usually, trustworthiness is major asset for any business. Liars don't flourish for a long time, because someone call them. If not, bad information drives out good.

As a person, I can and will pay attention to the quality of information. It is somewhat like watch what I eat or watch out for counterfeit money. But for others who don't or can't watch and pay attention, it will be hard to stop themselves from going to "wrong" paths. 

I can say, "oh, well, no helping. For now, I'll just find friends and be cautious to others. The Trump era certainly gave us ideas about who are friends, did it not?" 

Or, should I develop other measures? Perhaps. I'll figure it out.

 Another historic event was inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Harris on 1/20/2021. I am glad to see sanity is back in power.

 

I liked President Biden's "Unity" speech. Yet, "unity" will not be achieved without managing feeders of misinformation and lies, and the recipients. Otherwise, the war brought by the self-serving and self-righteous will be repeated. In a foreseeable future, war will be fought at information- and platform-level. That will be tough battle.

America is very strong when pissed off, like after 911. I hope the strength is shown soon against fantasy feeders and misinformed domestic terrorists.

[1/20/2021 Inauguration]