Interesting surveillance approach described in this article

Hollerith, Billings, and the 1890 US Census

A note on Hollerith: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Hollerith . Reading it, I learned another connectivity lesson. Hollerith worked for John Shaw Billings, whose name I recognized as someone connected to Hopkins who had worked out Vital Statistics for the US Censuses in the 19^th century. Apparently it was Billings who urged Hollerith to develop the punch card approach for the US Census of 1890. That census report is remarkable in that it apparently no longer exists (due to a fire and perhaps to some neglect). This is too bad because it included questions on disablement of household members and counted those affected by life-long cognitive problems (‘idiots’) and with other problems.

 

https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1996/spring/1890-census-1.html

NYT Editorial: States Show the Way on the Opioid Epidemic

States Show the Way on the Opioid Epidemic

Who will do the state-level analysis that expresses this year’s opioid casualty attack rates as a function of state-level characteristics, including X-terms for what the NYTimes think is making a difference?

Ethnographic research in complement with survey and administrative records research

There is a podcast to listen to, but if you want to view the video of the session, it is here:

https://www.aei.org/events/using-ethnographic-research-to-understand-barriers-to-opportunity/

Features Robert Moffitt, Johns Hopkins professor, among other notables.

Podcast is here:

http://www.aei.org/multimedia/using-ethnographic-research-to-understand-barriers-to-opportunity/

Ethnographic storylet about a path to heroin problems can be heard, starting at about the 48 minute mark as shown on the image below:

Special treat day for Dr. Madhur Chandra

Cocaine Decisions

Lyrics

Performance

Enjoy!

Remember this day!

Extra treat I ran across: Unevaluated anti-drug PSAs that Frank Zappa performed for the Do It Now Foundation.

DIT Foundation also ran a mail service free anonymous drug testing lab.

Mail in specimen with code, anonymously.

They would post code and contents, dosages when possible.

Often showed contaminants.

Australian service of this type was described at CPDD2018

(Program and anstracts book at www.cpdd.org)

Many now are focused on NPS: ‘New Psychoactive Substances.’

[Why not ‘New Psychoactive Drugs’? In a word, politics (not science)].

Fingers crossed Madhur!

Heroin in Africa ?

Link to article

We have been discussing race and ethnicity question in the US Census (as well as citizen questions).

An interesting perspective: link