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An alternative headline might have been, "A Dozen Ways to Ruin your Thanksgiving."

I hate to say it so bluntly, but the pattern of COVID has been that infections spike after Thanksgiving in the US and again following the Christmas period internationally.

For this reason, death rates due to COVID were actually higher in 2021 than 2020, following gatherings during the holiday period.

Theoretically, death rates need not spike next year, as we have vaccines that are proven to reduce hospitalization and death.

Despite ample scientific evidence supporting the protective benefits of COVID-19 vaccinations there are still widespread concerns that they cannot be trusted, and doubtless, this will be a topic of dinner tale conversation over the holidays.

If you're pro-vaccines like me, discussing your position can be a tough conversation because it's not always clear on what basis other people object.

In my opinion, a lot of people claim to object on the basis of science, but under scrutiny, most objections are rooted in philosophical differences.

It's not your job to persuade anyone to get vaccinated and, to some degree, we are ethically obliged to accept the decisions of others, so this article isn't necessarily about changing minds.

It's more about restoring balance and vindicating intuitions, because when faith and philosophy become the last refuge for obstinacy rather than debate, it can be so frustrating to oppose them that one loses a sense of perspective and proportion - and it becomes easy to make others wrong.

I wrote this article over the summer of 2021 and never published it because I knew it would be contentious.

But I wrote it for others whom, like me, had spent the previous 18 months debating the merits of COVID vaccinations with their closest family and friends - and even their friends of friends.

I wasn’t always for mRNA vaccinations and did initially distrust them like many others did too.

I was locked in a relentless debate over their merit until I felt like I had grappled with every anti-vaxxer argument there was with my friends and family members.

Now, my opinion is that there is no philosophical or ethical basis to reject the vaccine, except that if you simply do not want it and do not trust it and cannot explain to others exactly why they feel that way.

That is a belief others are welcome to hold, as is one's right, but my position is: "let's not pretend it's a belief based in science, ethics or philosophy."

I’m sympathetic and compassionate towards anyone who fears the unknown, which I feel is the fundamentally human character that the anti-vaxxer philosophical position is rooted in.

However, I do object to COVID-truthers on social media frequently resorting to “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” as the missourian Mark Twain famously said.

People have been dying because of misinformation and, to me, those deaths seem preventable. Providing others with potentially better ways of thinking is the only weapon a writer has, so I am called to fight. 

In this article, I’m going to attempt to explain why the anti-vaxxer arguments seem more persuasive on face value, but also why these arguments against vaccination ultimately crumble under scrutiny.

We’ll get into the problematic cause of death by any disease, why it matters, and what other myths and mistaken beliefs have taken root in the public health debate around the coronavirus pandemic.

I do care whether you get the vaccine as I think it increases your chances of surviving serious illness and death. That said, you are allowed to believe what you want and think what you think, just as I am. That’s your right, just as it is mine. Go us!

Now... let's get started!

In this talk from the TedXStLouis archive, CEO of Juristat and Legal Professional, Andrew Winship speaks about the biases in the legal system.

His first example explains that there is a significant impact based on the race and colour of an accused person in receiving judgement in court.

He also revealed that the blood sugar levels of the judge may also change the decisions by studying the meal breaks of courts and the judgements passed subsequent to them.

As his second example, Andrew explains that the Patent Application process takes 18 months to be reviewed by a patent officer whereas a small company has a probability of 68% and a larger company has a 87% probability of being granted.

He further explains that the patent officer ratios are 1:3 between female and male officers.

His study explains that female officers are two months faster than men in granting patent approvals whereas male officers have a higher probability of approving patent applications.

However, he also explains that there is a significant difference between approval rates of two patent officers.

In conclusion, he explains that the key factors to prevent these biases are proper data driven decisions and having empathy towards the other parties in the legal system with the hope of seeing a more transparent, predictable and equitable patent and legal system.

Check out the video on TedXStLouis.

Brown School offers its students a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with CEOs of leading nonprofits in St Louis.

Through this opportunity, the students will be able to work with top CEOs for 2 semesters.

One semester into the initiative has seen recognition of the practicum as an excellent learning experience for aspiring students and a great opportunity for Top CEOs to understand how talented the new generations are in diverse work environments.

Check out the full story on the WashU blog.

Lewis Sheats, newly appointed Director of the Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship, Saint Louis University is the founder of Interstate Logistics, Co-founder of GPS device firm Securus and part-time chief strategy officer for Raleigh.

He plans to focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and experiential learning.

This collaboration aims to enable students from various disciplines to bring their ideas together to build a strong concept and product. Along with this, he intends to build young entrepreneurs and to groom the talent pipeline in St. Louis.

Check out the full story by Nathan Rubbelke on STL Inno.