DAILY DOSE: CDC greenlights Covid-19 booster despite concerns about lack of human data; Twitter finally does an edit button.

COVID-19 BOOSTER APPROVED WITH CONCERNS.

As expected, the CDC gave the new Covid-19 booster the thumbs up. Per Reuters, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday endorsed updated COVID-19 boosters, opening the way for a fall vaccination campaign that could blunt a winter surge if enough Americans roll up their sleeves. The new boosters targeting today’s most common omicron strains should begin arriving in pharmacies and clinics within days. The decision by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky came shortly after the agency’s advisers voted in favor of the recommendation.” Even though the CDC endorsed the vaccine, there was considerable concern voiced by members regarding the lack of human clinical data. https://reut.rs/3ekPALn

SOMEBODY’S WATCHING YOU… FOR REAL.

If you never heard of Fog Data Science, you’re not alone. But you should be aware of them, especially since they are tracking your mobile phone data, constructing profiles of individuals called “profiles of life” and selling the information to law enforcement agencies and who else knows. Per the Associated Press, “The company was developed by two former high-ranking Department of Homeland Security officials under ex-President George W. Bush. It relies on advertising identification numbers, which Fog officials say are culled from popular cell phone apps such as Waze, Starbucks and hundreds of others that target ads based on a person’s movements and interests, according to police emails. That information is then sold to companies like Fog.” Just another example of how the smartphone has ushered in the privacy dystopia. https://bit.ly/3elE4iV

OLDEST DINOSAUR FOUND IN AFRICA.

One of the oldest known dinosaurs was recently discovered in Africa.  Per Science, “No bigger than a collie, M. raathi is named after Mbire, as the region was called during the 16th century Shona Empire, and a pioneering researcher who found fossils nearby. The dinosaur had a long tail, a smallish head, and small, triangular teeth, suggesting it favored plants… Taken together, the fossils are the strongest evidence yet that the earliest dinosaurs and their relatives were constrained to a temperate climate belt bordered by arid ones.” It is believed that dinosaurs needed very temperate conditions to thrive on the super-continent Pangea. https://bit.ly/3TD6HYP

WORLD, MEET TWITTER’S EDIT BUTTON.

In case you haven’t heard, Twitter is finally providing an “edit” button on their platform. Per Wired, “The company announced today that the edit tweet function is being tested internally, and will shortly be available to those who pay for Twitter Blue, the company’s subscription service. While the ability to edit tweets will be limited to those who pay $5 a month for now, all Twitter users will be able to see tweets that have been edited in their timelines—alongside evidence that they’ve been changed post-publication.” There are concerns that using the new button could lead to an uptick of misinformation and abuse of viral tweets that say negative things only to be “corrected” and using the Oops-excuse. https://bit.ly/3RyZhDY

Thanks for reading. Let’s be careful out there.

IMAGE CREDIT: Governor Tom Wolf.