Dame Maggie Smith and Kris Kristofferson, and so it goes.
"(Helene) Live Updates: 40 fatalities confirmed in Western North Carolina; FEMA arrives in AVL." Note that the conservatives mostly did not vote for the CR that included bumping up FEMA's funds.
"In the next two weeks, a recently discovered comet will almost certainly become bright enough to see without optical aid; just your eyes and a dark site will suffice. It might even briefly brighten so much that you’ll be able to see it during the day… Or it might not. Comets are irritating that way."
"A 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes started producing her own insulin less than three months after receiving a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells1. She is the first person with the disease to be treated using cells that were extracted from her own body."
"On Monday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman outlined his vision for an AI-driven future of tech progress and global prosperity in a new personal blog post titled "The Intelligence Age." The essay paints a picture of human advancement accelerated by AI, with Altman suggesting that superintelligent AI could emerge within the next decade." I remember them saying the same thing when LISP was all the rage… back in the early 90s. Sam's just shaking the money tree here.
"The Guardian reports that the actual emissions made by data centers owned by AI leaders including Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Apple, are about 662 percent higher than what they've officially reported." They must have had AI write the original report.
"However, funding for cutting-edge energy projects like the one in Utah could dry up if Donald Trump is reelected. During Trump’s first term, his administration tried to strip funding from the Loan Programs Office. The agency survived, but lending slowed dramatically. Conservative activists are still pushing to eliminate the office, saying in a policy agenda called Project 2025 that the government shouldn’t back 'risky business ventures or politically preferred commercial enterprises.'"
Your government giving you free COVID tests through the mail. Again.
"South Korea’s government, Western countries and adoption agencies worked in tandem to supply some 200,000 Korean children to parents overseas, despite years of evidence they were being procured through questionable or downright unscrupulous means, an investigation led by The Associated Press found. Those children grew up and searched for their roots — and some realized they are not who they were told."
"Three Mile Island, the power plant near Middletown, Pa., that was the scene of the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history, will reopen to power Microsoft's data centers, which are responsible for powering the tech giant's cloud computing and artificial intelligence programs."
"Tupperware, the brand synonymous with food storage in American homes, has filed for bankruptcy after years of struggling with its business model and debt." Dear TW, we've been trying to get replacement lids for 8 years now. Your current sales model sucks doing the very thing you based your brand on.
"Finally, Dr Newman debunked the popular idea of ‘Blue Zones’ as regions of exceptional longevity and healthy lifestyles. Many, if not most of the centenarians in the ‘Blue Zone’ have turned out to be alive in the government records but were deceased in reality. Using extensive government data and surveys, Dr Newman showed that most of the dietary and lifestyle claims behind the so-called ‘Blue Zone’ regions of high longevity are not supported by any independent data."
"One specific allegation of pricing overreach came to light in an ongoing court hearing that disclosed an email by a Kroger executive. In March, he wrote that the supermarket chain's milk and egg prices were 'significantly higher' than was necessary to account for inflation. Kroger later said the email was 'cherry-picked' from "a specific period" that didn't reflect its pricing approach." The article, while discounting "gouging" as a reason for inflation, does show some statistics on the profit margins of these companies. Tell me how 25%-50% margin is "razor thin." And then there… "The Biden administration has been eager to blame corporate greed. But even a report that the White House put out this year acknowledged that store markups don't fully explain food inflation." This is like the modern take on fact checking where they like to nitpick that "the increase was only 20%, not the 25% this person claimed, so we rate this a pants on fire."
"CarMax partner Exeter Finance makes high-interest loans to people with troubled financial histories. It allows borrowers to skip payments but often adds thousands of dollars in new charges — costs that customers say Exeter didn’t tell them about." Oopsie.
Planet Money podcast with… "This was a famous study by two famous academics. The result stood for over a decade. And it feels good, right? Maybe the rich aren't so much happier than anyone else. But researchers have recently done a complete 180 on this idea. In 2021, psychologist Matt Killingsworth found nearly the opposite: That more money does correlate with more happiness. And that the relationship continues well beyond $75,000 per year." I know, I was shocked too. Also a good story about the scientific process as applied to Economics (note, outside hard science disciplines, the scientific process becomes a little shaky, note the deplorable lack of "reproducibility" in many fields). But that $75k (itself a misnomer) has embedded itself in the public zeitgeist, and it needs to be removed. TL/DR the short story is the original survey didn't actually track happiness, it was more a measure of sadness, so the takeaway should have been, "below $75k/yr, sadness increases." Which, ya know, duh (also it's about $100,000 in today's dollars).
"Social media influencers and content creators with right-leaning followings have descended on Springfield since Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance and former president Donald Trump amplified baseless claims that Haitian immigrants there are eating pets. As they pursue clicks, their sensationalized videos and posts are helping spread the false and racist rumors."
"It's not just Casella's company. Nationwide, immigrants are a vital force in powering the American job machine and keeping the U.S. economy humming. Over the last 12 months, nearly 1.5 million foreign-born workers have joined the labor force — legally or illegally. In the same period the population of U.S.-born workers has shrunk."
"States that passed anti-transgender laws aimed at minors saw suicide attempts by transgender and gender nonconforming teenagers increase by as much as 72% in the following years, a new study by The Trevor Project says." No shit? The conservative intent is the cruelty.
"The Georgia State Election Board approved a controversial rule Friday requiring a hand count of the number of ballots cast on Election Day… Republicans advanced the measure over the opposition of Georgia’s Republican secretary of state and attorney general and dozens of local election officials who said the last-minute change could cause delays and confusion on election night and the days that follow." Note the deadlines for certifying the vote have not changed. Also, they're just counting the ballots to compare to the machine tally. Like counting several thousand pieces of paper by hand is never problematic.
"The editor in chief of Christianity Today is warning that evangelical Christianity is moving too far to the right, to the point that even Jesus’s teachings are considered 'weak' now… Russell Moore resigned from the Southern Baptist Convention in 2021, after years of being at odds with other evangelical leaders. Specifically, Moore openly criticized Donald Trump, whom many evangelical Christians embraced. Moore also criticized the Southern Baptist Convention’s response to a sexual abuse crisis and increasing tolerance for white nationalism in the community." Living in a time of false prophets and miracle workers sure is something. And they will know we are Christians by our Tough Love.
Fourteen common features of fascism.
Here's a story that came and went. "The Letcher County sheriff is being charged with first degree murder after the shooting death of the 47th Judicial District judge. 43-year old Mickey Stines has been charged in the death of 54-year old Kevin Mullins."
Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins on Thursday retracted comments he made about Haitian immigrants in a now-deleted social media post… 'You never want to intentionally hurt someone’s feelings, and that post was intended for Haitian gangs, you understand?' Higgins, a Republican, told reporters. 'The unintended impact that was expressed very sincerely from one of my colleagues very graciously, that touched me as a gentleman.'" Fuck you, you racist piece of trash. "That touched you as a gentleman," enjoy the fires of hell you ignorant asswipe.
On the Media podcast with… "Kamala Harris has come under fire for ignoring interview requests from the press. On this week’s On the Media, the debate over whether giving media access actually helps inform voters. Plus, a guide to understanding election polls, and how they’ve evolved since the failures of 2016 and 2020."
And… "Swift and Eilish stand amid a sea of pop stars, including, among others, Beyonce, Charli xcx, and Cardi B, who have cheered on the Harris campaign — which has felt more like a weeks-long rave than the usual pre-election slog. The soundtrack for the Democratic National Convention was provided by a sunglass-clad DJ Cassidy, while the RNC featured performances by Kid Rock and bands like Sixwire. Politics and music, this year in particular, seem inextricable. For the midweek podcast, host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Mark Clague, a professor of musicology at the University of Michigan, about the role of music in this year's presidential campaigns, the history of political anthems, and the consequences of pop star celebrity culture seeping further into our political sphere."
As well as… "Lies that immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio have inspired dozens of threats against the town, and toward Haitian-Americans across the nation. On this week’s On the Media, hear how public acceptance of political violence has grown. Plus, how January 6 became a recruiting tool for one of the country’s largest militias."
"Police are investigating what appears to be gunfire damage overnight at a Democratic Party-coordinated campaign office for Vice President Kamala Harris… The incident occurred just a few days before Harris is scheduled to visit Arizona as she campaigns for president."
"The private equity firm run by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald J. Trump, has been paid at least $112 million in fees since 2021 by Saudi Arabia and other foreign investors, even though as of July it had not yet returned any profits to the governments largely bankrolling the firm." I'm sure there's a totally legit reason for this company to not have any returns from one of the best bull market runs in 8 years that doesn't include the phrase "embezzlement" or "grift" or "illegal foreign payoffs."
"'After reviewing six months of nationwide member polling and wrapping up nearly a year of rank-and-file roundtable interviews with all major candidates for the presidency, the union was left with few commitments on top Teamsters issues from either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris—and found no definitive support among members for either party’s nominee,' the Teamsters executive board announced Wednesday… An internal poll conducted by phone showed 58% of members supported Trump, compared to 31% backing Harris." Because, ya know, Trump is oh so good for the common working man. Hard side eye. My brother Teamsters (former GCCC union member), what the fuck is wrong with you? Trump makes a goddamn show of how much he hates labor, but you'd vote for that motherfucking face eating leopard party because you don't think they're going to eat your face when you and your coworkers are in the first 10 they'll eat the faces of.
"Once more, a voting tech company has settled its defamation lawsuit over false allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election before the start of trial — in this instance, Smartmatic USA’s suit against the conservative network Newsmax."
Remember when conservatives were all, "if the DoJ can charge Trump, then they can do this to anyone," and the liberal response was, "yes, yes totally, if you're corrupt we want the DoJ to charge you with crimes"? "New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing federal charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting a political contribution from a foreign national, according to an indictment that was unsealed on Thursday — a historic circumstance that comes after a monthslong investigation."
"Congress voted Wednesday evening to approve a stop-gap spending bill to fund government programs through December 20. The bipartisan spending bill postpones the debate on full year funding levels for federal programs until after the election, and avoids a shutdown. Government agencies run out of money on September 30." Turns out Plan B was let the Democrats pass a clean CR. Funny how that always seems to be the Plan B that actually works every damn year.
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Linkee-poo Sept 19th
James Earl Jones, and so it goes.
"The Maori of New Zealand anointed a new monarch on Thursday, officially installing 27-year-old Nga Wai Hono i te Po as their second-ever queen."
"The report, based on an analysis of previously published research, marks the first time a federal agency has determined — 'with moderate confidence' — that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. While the report was not designed to evaluate the health effects of fluoride in drinking water alone, it is a striking acknowledgment of a potential neurological risk from high levels of fluoride." Note that it's at twice the recommended levels, and the IQ lost is between 2 and 5 points.
"National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6 percent. That's a huge reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses regularly increased by double-digit percentages."
"Oklahoma’s education board has revoked the license of a former teacher who drew national attention during surging book-ban efforts across the U.S. in 2022 when she covered part of her classroom bookshelf in red tape with the words 'Books the state didn’t want you to read.'… The decision Thursday went against a judge who had advised the Oklahoma Board of Education not to revoke the license of Summer Boismier, who had also put in her high school classroom a QR code of the Brooklyn Public Library’s catalogue of banned books."
"A fresh wave of explosions in communications devices struck Lebanon on Wednesday, leaving 14 people dead and 450 wounded, according to Lebanese health officials… The new explosions took place barely 24 hours after the near-synchronized pager blasts on Tuesday that left 12 people dead and nearly 3,000 injured in Lebanon and parts of Syria."
"Early in President Trump’s term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, and crimes, and it felt urgent then to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. This election year, with the very real possibility of Trump returning to office, we know it’s important to be reminded of these horrors and to head to the polls in November to avoid experiencing new cruelties, collusions, corruption, and crimes." As you can imagine, it's a long list.
"The Department of Homeland Security launched a failed operation that ensnared hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. protesters in what new documents show was as a sweeping, power-hungry effort before the 2020 election to bolster President Donald Trump’s spurious claims about a “terrorist organization” he accused his Democratic rivals of supporting."
"An indictment filed Wednesday alleges a media company linked to six conservative influencers — including well-known personalities Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson — was secretly funded by Russian state media employees to churn out English-language videos that were 'often consistent' with the Kremlin’s “interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition” to Russian interests, like its war in Ukraine." Yeah, they were "duped." Totally didn't know. I mean, getting paid $400,000 a month to blog and release videos is totally normal. Don't ya know we're all rolling in that sweet sweet internets cash? I mean, it's totally why I'm such a consistent blogger (hard side-eye).
"Federal officials have accused Russia of using unwitting right-wing American influencers in its quest to spread Kremlin propaganda ahead of the 2024 presidential election."
"Federal investigators this week seized phones from New York City’s police commissioner and at least four top deputies to New York Mayor Eric Adams, according to people familiar with the matter." I'm sure it's fine.
"Portage County's sheriff appeared to call for the community to record the addresses of residents who publicly display support for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris." Fuck that guy.
Oh look, election hijinkery… "A Republican-controlled county in Pennsylvania violated state law when election workers refused to tell voters that their mail-in ballot had been rejected and wouldn’t be counted in last April’s primary election, a judge ruled." Oh, it's republicans again. Never mind.
The company you keep, "Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, said that professional women 'choose a path to misery' when they prioritize careers over having children in a September 2021 podcast interview in which he also claimed men in America were 'suppressed' in their masculinity."
"Shortly before Wednesday's failed vote on the government spending stopgap, House Speaker Mike Johnson told senior Republicans in a private meeting that he had a Plan B — but wouldn't tell them what it was." Plan B is letting the Democrats pass a clean CR bill, right?
"Of the $202,126 raised by the Minnesota Republican Party online, $103,607 went to WinRed, with most or all of it passed on to IMGE LLC, based in Alexandria, Virginia, even though that company had little to do with much of the money raised, according to an email from Max Rymer, a Republican National Committee member from Minnesota." It's grifts all the way down.
"The Maori of New Zealand anointed a new monarch on Thursday, officially installing 27-year-old Nga Wai Hono i te Po as their second-ever queen."
"The report, based on an analysis of previously published research, marks the first time a federal agency has determined — 'with moderate confidence' — that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. While the report was not designed to evaluate the health effects of fluoride in drinking water alone, it is a striking acknowledgment of a potential neurological risk from high levels of fluoride." Note that it's at twice the recommended levels, and the IQ lost is between 2 and 5 points.
"National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6 percent. That's a huge reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses regularly increased by double-digit percentages."
"Oklahoma’s education board has revoked the license of a former teacher who drew national attention during surging book-ban efforts across the U.S. in 2022 when she covered part of her classroom bookshelf in red tape with the words 'Books the state didn’t want you to read.'… The decision Thursday went against a judge who had advised the Oklahoma Board of Education not to revoke the license of Summer Boismier, who had also put in her high school classroom a QR code of the Brooklyn Public Library’s catalogue of banned books."
"A fresh wave of explosions in communications devices struck Lebanon on Wednesday, leaving 14 people dead and 450 wounded, according to Lebanese health officials… The new explosions took place barely 24 hours after the near-synchronized pager blasts on Tuesday that left 12 people dead and nearly 3,000 injured in Lebanon and parts of Syria."
"Early in President Trump’s term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, and crimes, and it felt urgent then to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. This election year, with the very real possibility of Trump returning to office, we know it’s important to be reminded of these horrors and to head to the polls in November to avoid experiencing new cruelties, collusions, corruption, and crimes." As you can imagine, it's a long list.
"The Department of Homeland Security launched a failed operation that ensnared hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. protesters in what new documents show was as a sweeping, power-hungry effort before the 2020 election to bolster President Donald Trump’s spurious claims about a “terrorist organization” he accused his Democratic rivals of supporting."
"An indictment filed Wednesday alleges a media company linked to six conservative influencers — including well-known personalities Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson — was secretly funded by Russian state media employees to churn out English-language videos that were 'often consistent' with the Kremlin’s “interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition” to Russian interests, like its war in Ukraine." Yeah, they were "duped." Totally didn't know. I mean, getting paid $400,000 a month to blog and release videos is totally normal. Don't ya know we're all rolling in that sweet sweet internets cash? I mean, it's totally why I'm such a consistent blogger (hard side-eye).
"Federal officials have accused Russia of using unwitting right-wing American influencers in its quest to spread Kremlin propaganda ahead of the 2024 presidential election."
"Federal investigators this week seized phones from New York City’s police commissioner and at least four top deputies to New York Mayor Eric Adams, according to people familiar with the matter." I'm sure it's fine.
"Portage County's sheriff appeared to call for the community to record the addresses of residents who publicly display support for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris." Fuck that guy.
Oh look, election hijinkery… "A Republican-controlled county in Pennsylvania violated state law when election workers refused to tell voters that their mail-in ballot had been rejected and wouldn’t be counted in last April’s primary election, a judge ruled." Oh, it's republicans again. Never mind.
The company you keep, "Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, said that professional women 'choose a path to misery' when they prioritize careers over having children in a September 2021 podcast interview in which he also claimed men in America were 'suppressed' in their masculinity."
"Shortly before Wednesday's failed vote on the government spending stopgap, House Speaker Mike Johnson told senior Republicans in a private meeting that he had a Plan B — but wouldn't tell them what it was." Plan B is letting the Democrats pass a clean CR bill, right?
"Of the $202,126 raised by the Minnesota Republican Party online, $103,607 went to WinRed, with most or all of it passed on to IMGE LLC, based in Alexandria, Virginia, even though that company had little to do with much of the money raised, according to an email from Max Rymer, a Republican National Committee member from Minnesota." It's grifts all the way down.
Friday, August 23, 2024
Linkee-poo Aug 23
Sorry, because of the power interruptions with the storm earlier this month I've been without a desktop computer until yesterday. So still in the process of recovering accounts, etc. But hopefully back to our very irradict publishing schedule.
"Two nights of violent protest in English towns this week, following the knife attack in Southport, reveal how today’s far-right is organising in the UK… A BBC analysis of activity on mainstream social media and in smaller public groups shows a clear pattern of influencers driving a message for people to gather for protests, but there is no single organising force at work."
"The Conservative government left the UK wide open to the far-right violence erupting across parts of the country by ignoring red flags and stoking fires with a culture war agenda, a senior adviser on extremism to Tory prime ministers has said… Dame Sara Khan, who was Rishi Sunak’s independent adviser for social cohesion and resilience until May this year and acted as counter-extremism commissioner under Theresa May and Boris Johnson, said the recent administrations had failed the British people."
"This is the first summer (Phoenix) has offered overnight or evening hours at any of its cooling centers. That timing has proved critical — summer nights have never been hotter. Phoenix has now set a new record for the most nights with low temperatures in the 90s in a year. As of Tuesday, 36 nights this summer have stayed above 90 degrees. And the city could record even more 90-degree nights before the end of August."
"The Food and Drug Administration Thursday gave the green light to two updated COVID-19 vaccines to help people protect themselves from the latest strains of the virus."
"Joe Biden’s administration announced a landmark healthcare negotiation on Thursday in which 10 popular medications will now be available at lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries… The discounts on the 2023 prices ranged from 38% to 79%, according to the figures released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS)." This is what a government that works for people looks like.
"A Georgia couple has filed a lawsuit against an Atlanta hospital after they say hospital staff allegedly misplaced part of the husband’s skull following his brain surgery." I know we had it around here someplace. Did you look in the cushions? Yes, actually this is a case of "incomplete documentation." Welcome to the new healthcare future where the loss of institutional knowledge (trobal knowledge) becomes magnified because of staff turnover.
"Beginning August 26, Subway will sell any footlong sandwich for $6.99 — a steep discount considering that some footlongs can cost as much as $14 in some cities… The deal has a catch: The offer is only available via its app or website with the code '699FL' and ends on September 8… Subway is owned by a private equity firm…" Hey, remember when private equity killed the things you liked?
"Forty-percent of companies said they have posted a fake job listing this year, according to a survey in May of 650 hiring managers from career site Resume Builder. Three in 10 companies currently have fake listings on their sites or on job boards, according to the survey." Mother fuckers.
"The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit on Friday against the real estate software company RealPage, saying its software enabled landlords to collude to raise rents across the United States."
"A dispute between two major Canadian freight railways and their union is expected to come to a close soon as the country’s labor minister has ordered a third party to mediate."
"The largest diamond found in more than a century has been unearthed at a mine in Botswana, and the country's president showed off the fist-sized stone to the world at a viewing ceremony Thursday."
"The full list of investors in X Corp has been unsealed. See them for yourselves." A Bluesky post. Checking my investments to see if Fidelity is in the mix (note, Fidelity runs the 403b at the current paycheck job, and I've already moved my other Fidelity accounts to another servicer).
"Germany’s navy says there was 'no deeper message' in the choice to blast the famed Imperial March — Darth Vader’s theme song in the 'Star Wars' films — from one of its warships as it cruised down the River Thames through London this week." Salutes.
"The U.S. Postal Service wants to save $3 billion annually on changes that reflect its greater reliance on streamlined regional networks — while retaining local mail delivery times of one to three days and allowing customers to track some delivery schedules with greater precision." Fire DeJoy.
A company that sent deceptive calls to New Hampshire voters using artificial intelligence to mimic President Joe Biden’s voice agreed Wednesday to pay a $1 million fine, federal regulators said."
"The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a mixed ruling on a controversial Arizona voting law… The Republican National Committee had asked the court to put a pause on a lower court ruling against the 2022 law. And in a 5-4 decision, the high court granted part of that request, allowing Arizona to enforce — for now — a section that requires election officials to reject state voter registration forms that are submitted without an applicant’s proof of U.S. citizenship. That provision will remain in effect as an appeal proceeds." Papers, please, citizen.
"The hospitality workers’ union UNITE HERE has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, a rejoinder to Republican Donald Trump’s effort to woo restaurant and hotel workers by promising to make their tips tax-free." And here's a thing not stipulated in the article, if you remove tips from taxable income then you're reducing your (hopeful) Social Security benefits. And if it's "not income" then the agreement in minimum wage laws, where tips make up for the lower wage you're paid ($2.65/hr IIRC) and employers need to pay you more if the tips don't bring you above the regular hourly minimum wage (which hardly ever happens) because tips are considered part of the compensation, then employers should be forced to pay tipped workers at the standard minimum wage.
"Two nights of violent protest in English towns this week, following the knife attack in Southport, reveal how today’s far-right is organising in the UK… A BBC analysis of activity on mainstream social media and in smaller public groups shows a clear pattern of influencers driving a message for people to gather for protests, but there is no single organising force at work."
"The Conservative government left the UK wide open to the far-right violence erupting across parts of the country by ignoring red flags and stoking fires with a culture war agenda, a senior adviser on extremism to Tory prime ministers has said… Dame Sara Khan, who was Rishi Sunak’s independent adviser for social cohesion and resilience until May this year and acted as counter-extremism commissioner under Theresa May and Boris Johnson, said the recent administrations had failed the British people."
"This is the first summer (Phoenix) has offered overnight or evening hours at any of its cooling centers. That timing has proved critical — summer nights have never been hotter. Phoenix has now set a new record for the most nights with low temperatures in the 90s in a year. As of Tuesday, 36 nights this summer have stayed above 90 degrees. And the city could record even more 90-degree nights before the end of August."
"The Food and Drug Administration Thursday gave the green light to two updated COVID-19 vaccines to help people protect themselves from the latest strains of the virus."
"Joe Biden’s administration announced a landmark healthcare negotiation on Thursday in which 10 popular medications will now be available at lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries… The discounts on the 2023 prices ranged from 38% to 79%, according to the figures released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS)." This is what a government that works for people looks like.
"A Georgia couple has filed a lawsuit against an Atlanta hospital after they say hospital staff allegedly misplaced part of the husband’s skull following his brain surgery." I know we had it around here someplace. Did you look in the cushions? Yes, actually this is a case of "incomplete documentation." Welcome to the new healthcare future where the loss of institutional knowledge (trobal knowledge) becomes magnified because of staff turnover.
"Beginning August 26, Subway will sell any footlong sandwich for $6.99 — a steep discount considering that some footlongs can cost as much as $14 in some cities… The deal has a catch: The offer is only available via its app or website with the code '699FL' and ends on September 8… Subway is owned by a private equity firm…" Hey, remember when private equity killed the things you liked?
"Forty-percent of companies said they have posted a fake job listing this year, according to a survey in May of 650 hiring managers from career site Resume Builder. Three in 10 companies currently have fake listings on their sites or on job boards, according to the survey." Mother fuckers.
"The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit on Friday against the real estate software company RealPage, saying its software enabled landlords to collude to raise rents across the United States."
"A dispute between two major Canadian freight railways and their union is expected to come to a close soon as the country’s labor minister has ordered a third party to mediate."
"The largest diamond found in more than a century has been unearthed at a mine in Botswana, and the country's president showed off the fist-sized stone to the world at a viewing ceremony Thursday."
"The full list of investors in X Corp has been unsealed. See them for yourselves." A Bluesky post. Checking my investments to see if Fidelity is in the mix (note, Fidelity runs the 403b at the current paycheck job, and I've already moved my other Fidelity accounts to another servicer).
"Germany’s navy says there was 'no deeper message' in the choice to blast the famed Imperial March — Darth Vader’s theme song in the 'Star Wars' films — from one of its warships as it cruised down the River Thames through London this week." Salutes.
"The U.S. Postal Service wants to save $3 billion annually on changes that reflect its greater reliance on streamlined regional networks — while retaining local mail delivery times of one to three days and allowing customers to track some delivery schedules with greater precision." Fire DeJoy.
A company that sent deceptive calls to New Hampshire voters using artificial intelligence to mimic President Joe Biden’s voice agreed Wednesday to pay a $1 million fine, federal regulators said."
"The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a mixed ruling on a controversial Arizona voting law… The Republican National Committee had asked the court to put a pause on a lower court ruling against the 2022 law. And in a 5-4 decision, the high court granted part of that request, allowing Arizona to enforce — for now — a section that requires election officials to reject state voter registration forms that are submitted without an applicant’s proof of U.S. citizenship. That provision will remain in effect as an appeal proceeds." Papers, please, citizen.
"The hospitality workers’ union UNITE HERE has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, a rejoinder to Republican Donald Trump’s effort to woo restaurant and hotel workers by promising to make their tips tax-free." And here's a thing not stipulated in the article, if you remove tips from taxable income then you're reducing your (hopeful) Social Security benefits. And if it's "not income" then the agreement in minimum wage laws, where tips make up for the lower wage you're paid ($2.65/hr IIRC) and employers need to pay you more if the tips don't bring you above the regular hourly minimum wage (which hardly ever happens) because tips are considered part of the compensation, then employers should be forced to pay tipped workers at the standard minimum wage.
Sunday, August 4, 2024
Linkee-poo Aug 4th late night
From the BBC Sunday Aug 4… "We're bringing our coverage of the violence seen in several towns around England to a close now… A riot in Rotherham was followed by violent scenes in Middlesbrough, with chanting between rival groups and one arrest… If you want more on this story…" There are five pages of rolling dispatches.
"Two nights of violent protest in English towns this week, following the knife attack in Southport, reveal how today’s far-right is organising in the UK… A BBC analysis of activity on mainstream social media and in smaller public groups shows a clear pattern of influencers driving a message for people to gather for protests, but there is no single organising force at work."
"Cave discovered on Moon could be home for humans." Wasn't this the plot of Women In the Moon?
"The world's largest renewable energy and transmission project has received key approval from government officials. The Australia-Asia Power Link project will send Australian solar power to Singapore via 4,300 kilometer-long undersea cables."
"A political action committee backed by billionaire Elon Musk is being investigated by the Michigan secretary of state’s office amid efforts to collect voter data." Good. In some states it is explicitly illegal to solicit for voter registrations and then NOT pass on all information and cards gathered to the proper elections board. You may remember several stories where these groups submitted flagrantly mis-filled out cards. It's because they have to. Musk's site appears to be gathering info to register voters, but it's not actually doing that.v
"Two nights of violent protest in English towns this week, following the knife attack in Southport, reveal how today’s far-right is organising in the UK… A BBC analysis of activity on mainstream social media and in smaller public groups shows a clear pattern of influencers driving a message for people to gather for protests, but there is no single organising force at work."
"Cave discovered on Moon could be home for humans." Wasn't this the plot of Women In the Moon?
"The world's largest renewable energy and transmission project has received key approval from government officials. The Australia-Asia Power Link project will send Australian solar power to Singapore via 4,300 kilometer-long undersea cables."
"A political action committee backed by billionaire Elon Musk is being investigated by the Michigan secretary of state’s office amid efforts to collect voter data." Good. In some states it is explicitly illegal to solicit for voter registrations and then NOT pass on all information and cards gathered to the proper elections board. You may remember several stories where these groups submitted flagrantly mis-filled out cards. It's because they have to. Musk's site appears to be gathering info to register voters, but it's not actually doing that.v
Friday, August 2, 2024
Linkee-poo Aug 2
"Bernt’s words are an echo of those commonly cited by wind power’s opponents, with arguments often hinging on the idea that wind developers under-deliver on their promises. Unpicking facts from fiction — and the gray area of people’s personal feelings in between — is difficult. And even some local leaders who can see money flowing into government coffers say they had trouble understanding a complex taxing system at first."
"An Associated Press analysis of county tax data from local governments in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska — states either with many wind farms or a high potential for wind power — found wind companies rank among the biggest taxpayers in many rural communities, with their total tax bills at times outstripping that of large farms, power plants and other major businesses. While that tax income from wind power does not represent a significant percent of counties’ budgets, it totals millions of dollars some local leaders say has translated into meaningful change. But the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, which tallies local opposition to wind power, finds efforts to block wind projects are 'widespread and growing.'"
"Sensor readings seemed to show that oxygen was being made on the seabed 4,000 meters (about 13,100 feet) below the surface, where no light can penetrate. The same thing happened on three subsequent voyages to a region known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone."
"While recent research shows many pervasive health problems, including cancers, heart disease, obesity and depression are linked to UPFs (ultra processed foods), there’s no proof, as yet, that they are caused by them... For example, a recent meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Chicago was presented with an observational study of more than 500,000 people in the US. It found that those who ate the most UPFs had a roughly 10% greater chance of dying early, even accounting for their body-mass index and overall quality of diet."
"End-of-life decisions can be extremely upsetting for surrogates, the people who have to make those calls on behalf of another person, says David Wendler, a bioethicist at the US National Institutes of Health. Wendler and his colleagues have been working on an idea for something that could make things easier: an artificial-intelligence-based tool that can help surrogates predict what patients themselves would want in any given situation." Fuck no.
"Researchers have found that including the words 'artificial intelligence' in product marketing is a major turn-off for consumers, suggesting a growing backlash and disillusionment with the tech — and that startups trying to cram 'AI' into their product are actually making a grave error." AI is the new "connected to the web." It's something manufacturers think they can add and jack up the price all while they try and figure out why anyone would really want to have their dishwasher connected to the internet. "Companies are feverishly trying to stuff what they claim to be AI into every product, from dating apps to automated car salesmen — despite glaring shortcomings that have yet to be solved and mounting, astronomical costs."
"Buchholz is one of the many small sellers overwhelmed with a flood of knockoff and counterfeit versions of their work appearing for sale online. Major platforms allow these fakes to quickly find an audience — he estimates dozens of his work on Facebook alone. And while there are ways to get them taken down, it’s time-consuming to chase down every fake to get it removed, and demoralizing to see ripoffs continue to proliferate across the internet." I'm not as big, but yes this. And it is a game of whack-a-mole.
"The Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP)—a controversial initiative mandated by Congress in the early ’90s and first implemented in Texas in 2005—requires the state to collect money from the estates of people over the age of 55 who received Medicaid. If an individual receives Medicaid for long-term institutional care, in-home services, prescription drugs, or hospitalization costs, the state can 'recover' or 'claw back' (to use agency speak) funds after the individual dies." This is a program that needs to die right now.
You know that line, guns don't kill people? https://www.npr.org/2024/07/26/nx-s1-5023043/sig-sauer-guns-military-new-hampshire-investigation">"The gun that wounded the sergeant is a version of one of the country’s most popular pistols: Sig Sauer’s P320, which is manufactured in New Hampshire. The gun has also been at the center of dozens of lawsuits claiming it has a design or manufacturing flaw that leaves it susceptible to these types of incidents: people being shot by their own gun, without a trigger pull." To be fair, for the weapon to discharge there has to be a round in the chamber, which if you are not about fire the weapon, is a no no.
"A judge on Friday rejected an effort by GOP lawmakers to use the term 'unborn human being' to refer to a fetus in the pamphlet that Arizona voters would use to weigh a ballot measure that would expand abortion access in the state."
"Wisconsin Republicans are asking voters to take away the governor’s power to unilaterally spend federal money, a reaction to the billions of dollars that flowed into the state during the COVID-19 pandemic."
"Hurricane Beryl caused some significant power outages in Houston, and with temperatures in the 90s, it’s a dangerous, miserable situation all around. It’s bad enough that many utility workers came in from out of state to assist with the attempts to restore power across the city. Instead of being greeted by grateful residents expressing their appreciation, though, some utility workers have been threatened, assaulted and even shot at. Things got so bad that Texas Governor Greg Abbott was forced to address it, Click2Houston reports." Ah, this must be that "an armed society is a polite society" I hear about. Also, as just a note, the stress if this situation, which was life and death, was exceedingly high.
"In May, a group of right-wing 'undercover journalists' descended on a hotel in… the city of Dearborn, which has a large Arab population, to infiltrate pro-Palestinian groups. But the effort was derailed on their first day in town when they got drunk and rowdy at their hotel, and the leader of the group was hauled off in handcuffs after he hurled insults and expletives at police officers, according to a police report and bodycam video obtained by NBC News." Ah, those wonderful people at Project Veritas strike again.
"Americans released in Russian prisoner swap are back in the U.S."
"New details emerged Friday on the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, with the Kremlin acknowledging for the first time that some of the Russians held in the West belonged to its security services. Families of freed dissidents, meanwhile, expressed their joy at the surprise release of their loved ones."
"I’m thinking right now about the psychological state of Trump Land, which in a matter of two days has gone from hubristic triumphalism to overwhelming panic and fear… Just last week, their Anointed Savior had, after miraculously dodging a literal bullet, appeared before them to claim his long-ordained nomination to the presidency, which at the moment he seemed overwhelmingly likely to recapture. His opponents were demoralized and desperate; his fortunes were ascending by the hour; the sweet ambrosia of ultimate victory seemed almost close enough to taste… And then everything went very, very wrong."
"John Oliver discusses Donald Trump’s plans for a second term, why it could be much worse than his first term, and what Trump has in common with a hamster."
"Kamala Harris’s campaign has raised more than $200 million since President Biden endorsed her last Sunday and terminated his own presidential bid — with two-thirds of the vice president’s haul coming from first-time donors, according to Harris campaign officials."
"Trump also urged Christians to turn out for him ahead of Election Day, calling it the 'most important election ever.' He added that if elected, Christian-related concerns will be 'fixed' so much so that they would no longer need to be politically engaged... 'You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians,' he said." There is some debate over exactly what he is saying here (because the man is a moron and frankly more than a little dotty) with some people linking this in with Project 2025 and other statements by the conservative fringe about ending elections and some people saying he's only saying that he'll give the "Christians" everything they want (the social conservative movement, which has been called various flavors of "Christian" were really not a voting block until Reagan mobilized them in 1980 to put him over the top and since then conservatives have had to put a lot of energy into keeping the larger block motivated to vote).
"Two former FBI officials settled lawsuits with the Justice Department on Friday, resolving claims that their privacy rights were violated when the department leaked to the news media text messages that they had sent one another that disparaged former President Donald Trump."
"An Associated Press analysis of county tax data from local governments in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska — states either with many wind farms or a high potential for wind power — found wind companies rank among the biggest taxpayers in many rural communities, with their total tax bills at times outstripping that of large farms, power plants and other major businesses. While that tax income from wind power does not represent a significant percent of counties’ budgets, it totals millions of dollars some local leaders say has translated into meaningful change. But the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, which tallies local opposition to wind power, finds efforts to block wind projects are 'widespread and growing.'"
"Sensor readings seemed to show that oxygen was being made on the seabed 4,000 meters (about 13,100 feet) below the surface, where no light can penetrate. The same thing happened on three subsequent voyages to a region known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone."
"While recent research shows many pervasive health problems, including cancers, heart disease, obesity and depression are linked to UPFs (ultra processed foods), there’s no proof, as yet, that they are caused by them... For example, a recent meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Chicago was presented with an observational study of more than 500,000 people in the US. It found that those who ate the most UPFs had a roughly 10% greater chance of dying early, even accounting for their body-mass index and overall quality of diet."
"End-of-life decisions can be extremely upsetting for surrogates, the people who have to make those calls on behalf of another person, says David Wendler, a bioethicist at the US National Institutes of Health. Wendler and his colleagues have been working on an idea for something that could make things easier: an artificial-intelligence-based tool that can help surrogates predict what patients themselves would want in any given situation." Fuck no.
"Researchers have found that including the words 'artificial intelligence' in product marketing is a major turn-off for consumers, suggesting a growing backlash and disillusionment with the tech — and that startups trying to cram 'AI' into their product are actually making a grave error." AI is the new "connected to the web." It's something manufacturers think they can add and jack up the price all while they try and figure out why anyone would really want to have their dishwasher connected to the internet. "Companies are feverishly trying to stuff what they claim to be AI into every product, from dating apps to automated car salesmen — despite glaring shortcomings that have yet to be solved and mounting, astronomical costs."
"Buchholz is one of the many small sellers overwhelmed with a flood of knockoff and counterfeit versions of their work appearing for sale online. Major platforms allow these fakes to quickly find an audience — he estimates dozens of his work on Facebook alone. And while there are ways to get them taken down, it’s time-consuming to chase down every fake to get it removed, and demoralizing to see ripoffs continue to proliferate across the internet." I'm not as big, but yes this. And it is a game of whack-a-mole.
"The Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP)—a controversial initiative mandated by Congress in the early ’90s and first implemented in Texas in 2005—requires the state to collect money from the estates of people over the age of 55 who received Medicaid. If an individual receives Medicaid for long-term institutional care, in-home services, prescription drugs, or hospitalization costs, the state can 'recover' or 'claw back' (to use agency speak) funds after the individual dies." This is a program that needs to die right now.
You know that line, guns don't kill people? https://www.npr.org/2024/07/26/nx-s1-5023043/sig-sauer-guns-military-new-hampshire-investigation">"The gun that wounded the sergeant is a version of one of the country’s most popular pistols: Sig Sauer’s P320, which is manufactured in New Hampshire. The gun has also been at the center of dozens of lawsuits claiming it has a design or manufacturing flaw that leaves it susceptible to these types of incidents: people being shot by their own gun, without a trigger pull." To be fair, for the weapon to discharge there has to be a round in the chamber, which if you are not about fire the weapon, is a no no.
"A judge on Friday rejected an effort by GOP lawmakers to use the term 'unborn human being' to refer to a fetus in the pamphlet that Arizona voters would use to weigh a ballot measure that would expand abortion access in the state."
"Wisconsin Republicans are asking voters to take away the governor’s power to unilaterally spend federal money, a reaction to the billions of dollars that flowed into the state during the COVID-19 pandemic."
"Hurricane Beryl caused some significant power outages in Houston, and with temperatures in the 90s, it’s a dangerous, miserable situation all around. It’s bad enough that many utility workers came in from out of state to assist with the attempts to restore power across the city. Instead of being greeted by grateful residents expressing their appreciation, though, some utility workers have been threatened, assaulted and even shot at. Things got so bad that Texas Governor Greg Abbott was forced to address it, Click2Houston reports." Ah, this must be that "an armed society is a polite society" I hear about. Also, as just a note, the stress if this situation, which was life and death, was exceedingly high.
"In May, a group of right-wing 'undercover journalists' descended on a hotel in… the city of Dearborn, which has a large Arab population, to infiltrate pro-Palestinian groups. But the effort was derailed on their first day in town when they got drunk and rowdy at their hotel, and the leader of the group was hauled off in handcuffs after he hurled insults and expletives at police officers, according to a police report and bodycam video obtained by NBC News." Ah, those wonderful people at Project Veritas strike again.
"Americans released in Russian prisoner swap are back in the U.S."
"New details emerged Friday on the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, with the Kremlin acknowledging for the first time that some of the Russians held in the West belonged to its security services. Families of freed dissidents, meanwhile, expressed their joy at the surprise release of their loved ones."
"I’m thinking right now about the psychological state of Trump Land, which in a matter of two days has gone from hubristic triumphalism to overwhelming panic and fear… Just last week, their Anointed Savior had, after miraculously dodging a literal bullet, appeared before them to claim his long-ordained nomination to the presidency, which at the moment he seemed overwhelmingly likely to recapture. His opponents were demoralized and desperate; his fortunes were ascending by the hour; the sweet ambrosia of ultimate victory seemed almost close enough to taste… And then everything went very, very wrong."
"John Oliver discusses Donald Trump’s plans for a second term, why it could be much worse than his first term, and what Trump has in common with a hamster."
"Kamala Harris’s campaign has raised more than $200 million since President Biden endorsed her last Sunday and terminated his own presidential bid — with two-thirds of the vice president’s haul coming from first-time donors, according to Harris campaign officials."
"Trump also urged Christians to turn out for him ahead of Election Day, calling it the 'most important election ever.' He added that if elected, Christian-related concerns will be 'fixed' so much so that they would no longer need to be politically engaged... 'You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians,' he said." There is some debate over exactly what he is saying here (because the man is a moron and frankly more than a little dotty) with some people linking this in with Project 2025 and other statements by the conservative fringe about ending elections and some people saying he's only saying that he'll give the "Christians" everything they want (the social conservative movement, which has been called various flavors of "Christian" were really not a voting block until Reagan mobilized them in 1980 to put him over the top and since then conservatives have had to put a lot of energy into keeping the larger block motivated to vote).
"Two former FBI officials settled lawsuits with the Justice Department on Friday, resolving claims that their privacy rights were violated when the department leaked to the news media text messages that they had sent one another that disparaged former President Donald Trump."
Sunday, July 14, 2024
Linkee-poo July 14
NPR's coverage and https://apnews.com/live/election-biden-trump-campaign-updates-07-13-2024">AP's coverage of the assassination attempt on Trump. "The man identified as the shooter in the apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump was a 20-year-old from a Pittsburgh suburb not far from the campaign rally where one attendee was killed."
Richard Simmons, Dr Ruth Westheimer, and so it goes.
"The (Colorado) state health department said late Friday afternoon that three new likely human cases of virus infection from avian flu have been identified. The highly pathogenic avian influenza is also called 'H5 bird flu.' The cases are in three poultry workers."
"Lack of a federal ban on tianeptine has meant states have been acting on their own. In 2018, Michigan became the first state to ban sales of the drug, classifying it as a Schedule II controlled substance, the same category as drugs like cocaine and fentanyl. The FDA says at least 12 states have enacted similar bans, which includes products such as Neptune's Fix and prohibits retailers from shipping to those states."
"And yet the dreaded came anyway this June, when monsoon season arrived early and taps in the northern New Mexico community paradoxically nearly went dry. That’s because flash flooding off the 2-year-old burn scar sent toxic debris into the Gallinas River, compromising Las Vegas’ (New Mexico) water treatment plant."
"A fleet of drones patrolling New York City’s beaches for signs of sharks and struggling swimmers is drawing backlash from an aggressive group of seaside residents: local shorebirds."
"So AI really does appear to make people more creative. But there’s a plot twist: When Hauser and Doshi looked at all the stories, they found a different effect... 'Collectively speaking, there was a smaller diversity of novelty in the group that had AI,' Hauser says... In other words, the chatbot made each individual more creative, but it made the group that had AI help less creative... Hauser describes the divergent result as a 'classic social dilemma' — a situation where people benefit individually, but the group suffers."
"But given the litigious nature of environmental law and the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions, particularly one limiting the power of federal agencies, legal experts say one of the election’s most consequential aspects for the climate would be the judicial appointments either candidate makes."
"Voters in Midwestern states are seeing ads railing against President Biden’s gas car ban. But there’s one catch: the Biden administration hasn’t prohibited gas-powered vehicles. That’s not stopping fossil fuel industry groups and former President Donald Trump from targeting swing state voters with warnings of car bans." Since when has the truth stopped political action groups?
Richard Simmons, Dr Ruth Westheimer, and so it goes.
"The (Colorado) state health department said late Friday afternoon that three new likely human cases of virus infection from avian flu have been identified. The highly pathogenic avian influenza is also called 'H5 bird flu.' The cases are in three poultry workers."
"Lack of a federal ban on tianeptine has meant states have been acting on their own. In 2018, Michigan became the first state to ban sales of the drug, classifying it as a Schedule II controlled substance, the same category as drugs like cocaine and fentanyl. The FDA says at least 12 states have enacted similar bans, which includes products such as Neptune's Fix and prohibits retailers from shipping to those states."
"And yet the dreaded came anyway this June, when monsoon season arrived early and taps in the northern New Mexico community paradoxically nearly went dry. That’s because flash flooding off the 2-year-old burn scar sent toxic debris into the Gallinas River, compromising Las Vegas’ (New Mexico) water treatment plant."
"A fleet of drones patrolling New York City’s beaches for signs of sharks and struggling swimmers is drawing backlash from an aggressive group of seaside residents: local shorebirds."
"So AI really does appear to make people more creative. But there’s a plot twist: When Hauser and Doshi looked at all the stories, they found a different effect... 'Collectively speaking, there was a smaller diversity of novelty in the group that had AI,' Hauser says... In other words, the chatbot made each individual more creative, but it made the group that had AI help less creative... Hauser describes the divergent result as a 'classic social dilemma' — a situation where people benefit individually, but the group suffers."
"But given the litigious nature of environmental law and the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions, particularly one limiting the power of federal agencies, legal experts say one of the election’s most consequential aspects for the climate would be the judicial appointments either candidate makes."
"Voters in Midwestern states are seeing ads railing against President Biden’s gas car ban. But there’s one catch: the Biden administration hasn’t prohibited gas-powered vehicles. That’s not stopping fossil fuel industry groups and former President Donald Trump from targeting swing state voters with warnings of car bans." Since when has the truth stopped political action groups?
Saturday, July 13, 2024
Linkee-poo July 13
"Last year was the hottest year on record for the world. The U.S. is warming up at a faster rate than the global average, which means the effects of global warming will be more pronounced... Arizona, California, Oregon and Nevada have all seen record-breaking heat in recent weeks. And while the heat wave is mostly in the West, states across the country like North Carolina and Maryland have also seen temperature records fall this summer." Considering the US was kept cool by unusually weather patterns for more than a decade (which played into the climate denial camp with, "warming, what warming") we're just catching up to the rest of the world.
"People in India and other countries across the Global South have long figured out ways to deal with horrible heat. I'd like to share a few tips I've learned from my elders back home in India. Some of the advice is just what you'd think —- drinking lots of liquids and staying out of the sun. Other strategies might surprise you."
"Researchers have found toxic metals — including arsenic and lead — in over a dozen popular brands of tampons, raising questions about a menstrual hygiene product used by millions of Americans."
"'We’ve been doing this now for well over three years here,' reCOVer Clinic (a part of Cleveland Clinic) Medical Director Dr. William Lago said. 'And we have people that have literally been sick, really, since the pandemic started.'... Lago said patients like Wickert have been searching for answers since the branch facility opened in 2021." I said at the beginning of this that since this was a novel virus to humans, it would change us. This is part of what I was talking about.
"Rudy Giuliani is no longer entitled to bankruptcy protection, a judge decided Friday, making it possible for creditors to immediately pursue his assets within days... The former mayor of New York sought bankruptcy protection after a jury awarded two Georgia election workers $148 million because Giuliani defamed them after the 2020 election. The judge’s decision Friday, to end his bankruptcy, paves the way for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, as well as other creditors, who are trying to collect on the more than $150 million Giuliani owes." Good.
"In a stunning turn of events, a New Mexico judge dismissed Alec Baldwin's 'Rust' case Friday, on day three of his manslaughter trial... The judge granted the defense's motion to dismiss the case, in which they claimed live ammunition that came into the hands of local law enforcement related to the investigation into the deadly on-set shooting was 'concealed' from them."
"One of the top stories was about the space junk strike, and even included a photo of the farmer, Barry Sawchuk, standing next to what looked like the charred, battered hood of a semitruck covered with woven carbon fiber and a few slightly melted aluminum protrusions. My jaw dropped in shock: The object looked exactly like debris that fell in an Australian sheep field in 2022, which the U.S. aerospace company SpaceX later admitted was part of a cargo trunk for its Crew Dragon spacecraft. This “trunk” is actually the size of a small grain silo, and is ejected in orbit well before the spacecraft’s atmospheric reentry, to naturally and chaotically reenter on its own and, supposedly, burn up completely."v "It was hard to foresee that parts of South Texas would become a sacrifice zone for SpaceX's ambitions to send people to Mars, but the company set up an impression of maintaining a 'small, eco-friendly' footprint to get what it wanted. But that hasn't been the reality, according to a new report."
"After the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary released a report accusing the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) of colluding with companies to censor conservative voices online, Elon Musk chimed in. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk wrote that X "has no choice but to file suit against the perpetrators and collaborators" behind an advertiser boycott on his platform… 'Hopefully, some states will consider criminal prosecution,' Musk wrote, leading several X users to suggest that Musk wants it to be illegal for brands to refuse to advertise on X." And here comes the compelled speech defense.
"A World War I veteran is the first person identified from graves filled with more than a hundred victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre that devastated the city’s Black community, the mayor said Friday."
"When Anna Wolfe won the Pulitzer Prize for her dogged reporting on Mississippi’s welfare fraud scandal, she had no inkling she was soon going to have to contend with the possibility of going to jail… But just over a year after she secured journalism’s top award for exposing how $77 million in federal welfare funds went to athletes, cronies and pet projects, she and her editor, Adam Ganucheau, are contemplating what to pack for an extended stay behind bars. Sued for defamation by the state’s former governor — a top subject of their reporting — they have been hit with a court order requiring them to turn over internal files including the names of confidential sources. They say the order is a threat to journalism that they will resist."
"The (SCOTUS) decisions, taken together, offer a perfect representation of the current Supreme Court: Our country is being led by an all-powerful, undemocratic institution that is, in many ways, a complete joke — in addition to being simply corrupt. As Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent on Friday, 'The majority disdains restraint, and grasps for power' — and the justices are 'making a laughing-stock' of long-standing judicial principles." And this article was from before the SCOTUS gave the president unparalleled immunity.
"A conservative think tank that is planning for a complete overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win is suggesting that President Joe Biden might try to hold the White House 'by force' if he loses the November election… The Heritage Foundation’s warning — which goes against Biden’s own public statements — appeared in a report released Thursday that the group said resulted from a role-playing exercise gaming out potential scenarios before and after the 2024 election." This is what's known as "seeding the ground" so that when they lose, they can claim, "it was all rigged from the start."
"A network of ultrawealthy Christian donors is spending nearly $12 million to mobilize Republican-leaning voters and purge more than a million people from the rolls in key swing states, aiming to tilt the 2024 election in favor of former President Donald Trump… These previously unreported plans are the work of a group named Ziklag, a little-known charity whose donors have included some of the wealthiest conservative Christian families in the nation… Recipients of Ziklag’s largesse include Alliance Defending Freedom, which is the Christian legal group that led the overturning of Roe v. Wade, plus the national pro-Trump group Turning Point USA and a constellation of right-of-center advocacy groups."
"(The Press) have become a stampeding herd producing an avalanche of stories suggesting Biden is unfit, will lose and should go away, at a point in the campaign in which replacing him would likely be somewhere between extremely difficult and utterly catastrophic. They do this while ignoring something every scholar and critic of journalism knows well and every journalist should. As Nikole Hannah-Jones put it: 'As media we consistently proclaim that we are just reporting the news when in fact we are driving it. What we cover, how we cover it, determines often what Americans think is important and how they perceive these issues yet we keep pretending it’s not so.' They are not reporting that he is a loser; they are making him one."v "President Joe Biden didn’t entirely stumble at his high-stakes NATO press conference on Thursday — but his performance and continuing defiance to stepping aside has frozen Democrats in place once again over the president’s embattled candidacy against Donald Trump." This whole campaign of "Biden must step down" stinks of an information warfare campaign aided by willful fools who think they have something to gain.
"During a news conference Thursday, when asked why he no longer considered himself a 'bridge' to the next generation of leaders, Biden responded that 'what changed was the gravity of the situation I inherited in terms of the economy, foreign policy, and domestic division... We’ve never been here before,' Biden continued. 'And that’s the other reason why I didn’t, you say, hand off to another generation. I gotta finish the job.'"
"Donald Trump is expected to launch a new legal battle to suppress any damaging evidence from his 2020 election-subversion case from becoming public before the 2024 election, preparing to shut down the potency of any 'mini-trials' where high-profile officials could testify against him."
"The Project 2025 playbook was written by more than 20 officials whom Trump himself appointed during his first term. If he has 'no idea' who they are, he’s showing an alarming cognitive decline… One of the leaders of Project 2025 is Russ Vought. Vought was Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, a key position in the White House. Vought is also drafting Trump’s 2024 GOP platform… Another Project 2025 leader is John McEntee, another of Trump’s top White House aides…Even the national press secretary for Trump’s campaign appears in the Project 2025 recruitment video."
"People in India and other countries across the Global South have long figured out ways to deal with horrible heat. I'd like to share a few tips I've learned from my elders back home in India. Some of the advice is just what you'd think —- drinking lots of liquids and staying out of the sun. Other strategies might surprise you."
"Researchers have found toxic metals — including arsenic and lead — in over a dozen popular brands of tampons, raising questions about a menstrual hygiene product used by millions of Americans."
"'We’ve been doing this now for well over three years here,' reCOVer Clinic (a part of Cleveland Clinic) Medical Director Dr. William Lago said. 'And we have people that have literally been sick, really, since the pandemic started.'... Lago said patients like Wickert have been searching for answers since the branch facility opened in 2021." I said at the beginning of this that since this was a novel virus to humans, it would change us. This is part of what I was talking about.
"Rudy Giuliani is no longer entitled to bankruptcy protection, a judge decided Friday, making it possible for creditors to immediately pursue his assets within days... The former mayor of New York sought bankruptcy protection after a jury awarded two Georgia election workers $148 million because Giuliani defamed them after the 2020 election. The judge’s decision Friday, to end his bankruptcy, paves the way for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, as well as other creditors, who are trying to collect on the more than $150 million Giuliani owes." Good.
"In a stunning turn of events, a New Mexico judge dismissed Alec Baldwin's 'Rust' case Friday, on day three of his manslaughter trial... The judge granted the defense's motion to dismiss the case, in which they claimed live ammunition that came into the hands of local law enforcement related to the investigation into the deadly on-set shooting was 'concealed' from them."
"One of the top stories was about the space junk strike, and even included a photo of the farmer, Barry Sawchuk, standing next to what looked like the charred, battered hood of a semitruck covered with woven carbon fiber and a few slightly melted aluminum protrusions. My jaw dropped in shock: The object looked exactly like debris that fell in an Australian sheep field in 2022, which the U.S. aerospace company SpaceX later admitted was part of a cargo trunk for its Crew Dragon spacecraft. This “trunk” is actually the size of a small grain silo, and is ejected in orbit well before the spacecraft’s atmospheric reentry, to naturally and chaotically reenter on its own and, supposedly, burn up completely."v "It was hard to foresee that parts of South Texas would become a sacrifice zone for SpaceX's ambitions to send people to Mars, but the company set up an impression of maintaining a 'small, eco-friendly' footprint to get what it wanted. But that hasn't been the reality, according to a new report."
"After the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary released a report accusing the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) of colluding with companies to censor conservative voices online, Elon Musk chimed in. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk wrote that X "has no choice but to file suit against the perpetrators and collaborators" behind an advertiser boycott on his platform… 'Hopefully, some states will consider criminal prosecution,' Musk wrote, leading several X users to suggest that Musk wants it to be illegal for brands to refuse to advertise on X." And here comes the compelled speech defense.
"A World War I veteran is the first person identified from graves filled with more than a hundred victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre that devastated the city’s Black community, the mayor said Friday."
"When Anna Wolfe won the Pulitzer Prize for her dogged reporting on Mississippi’s welfare fraud scandal, she had no inkling she was soon going to have to contend with the possibility of going to jail… But just over a year after she secured journalism’s top award for exposing how $77 million in federal welfare funds went to athletes, cronies and pet projects, she and her editor, Adam Ganucheau, are contemplating what to pack for an extended stay behind bars. Sued for defamation by the state’s former governor — a top subject of their reporting — they have been hit with a court order requiring them to turn over internal files including the names of confidential sources. They say the order is a threat to journalism that they will resist."
"The (SCOTUS) decisions, taken together, offer a perfect representation of the current Supreme Court: Our country is being led by an all-powerful, undemocratic institution that is, in many ways, a complete joke — in addition to being simply corrupt. As Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent on Friday, 'The majority disdains restraint, and grasps for power' — and the justices are 'making a laughing-stock' of long-standing judicial principles." And this article was from before the SCOTUS gave the president unparalleled immunity.
"A conservative think tank that is planning for a complete overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win is suggesting that President Joe Biden might try to hold the White House 'by force' if he loses the November election… The Heritage Foundation’s warning — which goes against Biden’s own public statements — appeared in a report released Thursday that the group said resulted from a role-playing exercise gaming out potential scenarios before and after the 2024 election." This is what's known as "seeding the ground" so that when they lose, they can claim, "it was all rigged from the start."
"A network of ultrawealthy Christian donors is spending nearly $12 million to mobilize Republican-leaning voters and purge more than a million people from the rolls in key swing states, aiming to tilt the 2024 election in favor of former President Donald Trump… These previously unreported plans are the work of a group named Ziklag, a little-known charity whose donors have included some of the wealthiest conservative Christian families in the nation… Recipients of Ziklag’s largesse include Alliance Defending Freedom, which is the Christian legal group that led the overturning of Roe v. Wade, plus the national pro-Trump group Turning Point USA and a constellation of right-of-center advocacy groups."
"(The Press) have become a stampeding herd producing an avalanche of stories suggesting Biden is unfit, will lose and should go away, at a point in the campaign in which replacing him would likely be somewhere between extremely difficult and utterly catastrophic. They do this while ignoring something every scholar and critic of journalism knows well and every journalist should. As Nikole Hannah-Jones put it: 'As media we consistently proclaim that we are just reporting the news when in fact we are driving it. What we cover, how we cover it, determines often what Americans think is important and how they perceive these issues yet we keep pretending it’s not so.' They are not reporting that he is a loser; they are making him one."v "President Joe Biden didn’t entirely stumble at his high-stakes NATO press conference on Thursday — but his performance and continuing defiance to stepping aside has frozen Democrats in place once again over the president’s embattled candidacy against Donald Trump." This whole campaign of "Biden must step down" stinks of an information warfare campaign aided by willful fools who think they have something to gain.
"During a news conference Thursday, when asked why he no longer considered himself a 'bridge' to the next generation of leaders, Biden responded that 'what changed was the gravity of the situation I inherited in terms of the economy, foreign policy, and domestic division... We’ve never been here before,' Biden continued. 'And that’s the other reason why I didn’t, you say, hand off to another generation. I gotta finish the job.'"
"Donald Trump is expected to launch a new legal battle to suppress any damaging evidence from his 2020 election-subversion case from becoming public before the 2024 election, preparing to shut down the potency of any 'mini-trials' where high-profile officials could testify against him."
"The Project 2025 playbook was written by more than 20 officials whom Trump himself appointed during his first term. If he has 'no idea' who they are, he’s showing an alarming cognitive decline… One of the leaders of Project 2025 is Russ Vought. Vought was Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, a key position in the White House. Vought is also drafting Trump’s 2024 GOP platform… Another Project 2025 leader is John McEntee, another of Trump’s top White House aides…Even the national press secretary for Trump’s campaign appears in the Project 2025 recruitment video."
Friday, July 5, 2024
Linkee-poo July 5
"After leaving a trail of destruction across the eastern Caribbean and at least nine people dead, Hurricane Beryl weakened as it chugged over open water toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday, going from the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic to Category 2 by the afternoon."
"Beryl has already racked up multiple alarming superlatives. It is the most powerful hurricane ever recorded this early in the Atlantic hurricane season, and also the earliest storm to strengthen so rapidly as it formed. Beryl grew from a relatively weak tropical depression into a full-blown major hurricane in less than two days, sending residents in its path scrambling to evacuate or find suitable shelter... Climate change is playing a crucial and obvious role in Beryl’s development, scientists say."
"Flooding on the Blue Earth River breached the Rapidan Dam Monday morning and it's now in an "imminent failure condition," officials said... Le Sueur County residents in low-lying areas of the Minnesota River Valley are advised to closely monitor the situation and potentially evacuate, according to the county's emergency management office. The agency initially said the dam had failed, but later updated that the dam had been breached."
"Rushing waters from the Blue Earth River have already left a trail of debris and destruction on the edges of a southern Minnesota dam that partially failed last week, but officials acknowledged Tuesday the structure most in danger may be the bridge that looms nearby."
"The melting of Alaska’s Juneau icefield, home to more than 1,000 glaciers, is accelerating. The snow covered area is now shrinking 4.6 times faster than it was in the 1980s, according to a new study."
"As the demand for electricity has soared, the regional power grid has hummed along uneventfully, backed in part by a relatively new source of energy: thousands of solar panels on rooftops, over parking lots, and along highways. It’s not just helping make the grid more reliable, experts said, but proving that non-fossil fuel generated power is finally playing a significant role in the operation of the regional power grid, with even more due to come online from major wind farms and other large-scale resources under development." Why it's almost like solar is better.
"Researchers, including former CDC director Tom Frieden and Anthony Fauci, who led the nation’s response to COVID, cite testing failures as a key reason the U.S. fared so poorly with COVID. Had COVID tests been widely available in early 2020, they say, the U.S. could have detected many cases before they turned into outbreaks that prompted business shutdowns and cost lives." And now the same thing is happening with H5N1.
"Texas lawmakers touted their heartbeat law as an effort to save lives, but the state's near-total ban on abortion appears to have triggered an increase in infant deaths, according to a new study published Monday." Who could have seen that happening, other than everybody.
"Vice President Kamala Harris is using the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade to argue that Donald Trump is 'guilty' of rolling back women’s freedoms and setting off a nationwide health care crisis."
"The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a major case on transgender rights and decide whether states may prohibit the use of puberty blockers and other hormones for teens who suffer from gender distress."
"'I would call the day it went on the market,' she says, 'and the real estate agent would tell me, "Yeah, I can show you that property. But just so you know, it's already got two cash offers on it."'"
"Investigations by nonprofit news outlet ProPublica have found links between Chinese diplomats, Chinese Communist Party-affiliated organizations, local Chinese criminal syndicates and some marijuana operations in the United States... In the operations reported on in this story, NPR found no signs of Chinese state or Asian organized crime involvement. The businesses did attract small-scale, individual investors from China who were eager to invest abroad."
"Amazon workers left unable to work by injuries on the job have resorted to online fundraising campaigns to pay their bills as they fight for compensation and disability benefits… During interviews with the Guardian, they alleged the company ignored workers’ concerns over the strains of warehouse work, denied requests for compensation or benefits after injuries, and put productivity above all else."
"McDonald’s is ditching its drive-through AI ordering system after too many customers wound up with hilarious, wonky orders from the artificial intelligence tech… The fast food giant, which had been testing voice-automated ordering systems at about 100 restaurant drive-throughs since 2021, is now booting it from the menu. It seems to be because AI, at least when it comes to taking orders as people shout them from their car windows, turns out not to be a very good listener." There are so many jokes here, crappy AI, crappy drive-through audio, and modern business'/computer science's inability to actually test something before it's rolled out. And then there is this… "Chains have high hopes about AI, but the ordering systems haven’t been as smooth or accurate as customers would hope." As "customers" would hope. It ain't the customers rolling out the AI, idiots. But rather than saying, "whelp, that didn't work," McDs "says it will wait until competitors bring in AI, too." So once everybody's drive throughs are crappy, ah, then they will match that crappiness and be the best crappy service in the market place. The current technology is a bunch of shit, folks. It ain't intelligent and it's barely artificial. But corporate America is in love, and so they will throw a metric shit-ton of the economy down the AI rabbit hole before they realize it (if they ever will). Most likely we will end up with implementation that mirrors the AI, in that AI is not artificial intelligence, it has no concept of what it is actually doing except that it's making statistically relevant predictions of "tokens" (words or images), but it doesn't have any concept of the human meaning of those tokens. But computer science has been telling us "AI is ALMOST HERE!" for so long they finally just drew the finish line behind where they were standing and declared victory.
An article floating around my social media groups… "I started working as a data scientist in 2019, and by 2021 I had realized that while the field was large, it was also largely fraudulent. Most of the leaders that I was working with clearly had not gotten as far as reading about it for thirty minutes despite insisting that things like, I dunno, the next five years of a ten thousand person non-tech organization should be entirely AI focused. The number of companies launching AI initiatives far outstripped the number of actual use cases. Most of the market was simply grifters and incompetents (sometimes both!) leveraging the hype to inflate their headcount so they could get promoted, or be seen as thought leaders." The first one to figure out how to make it actually work will be remembered in the same way Jack Welch is remembered for Six Sigma and making GE Financial into a powerhouse (but it's overlooked how he took the largest, most technically savvy corporation in the world and drove it into a smoking crater where it no longer makes its signature product, the consumer light bulb).
"General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in penalties to the federal government because 5.9 million of its older vehicles do not comply with emissions and fuel economy standards... The penalty comes after the Environmental Protection Agency said its testing showed the GM pickup trucks and SUVs emit over 10% more carbon dioxide on average than GM’s initial compliance testing claimed."
"The National Black Farmers Association called on Tractor Supply’s president and CEO Tuesday to step down after the rural retailer announced that it would drop most of its corporate diversity and climate advocacy efforts."
"Rishi Sunak has become mired in a row over alleged betting on the general election date after it emerged that a second Conservative candidate and the party’s campaigns director were being looked into by the Gambling Commission… The watchdog is examining bets allegedly placed by Laura Saunders, the Tory candidate in Bristol North West, and her husband, Tony Lee, who is now on leave of absence from his job at party headquarters." Since this article was published I believe a few more have been caught up in the net. This is just so piss poor competence that it has almost come around the bend back into genius. And the kicker is that it's all for such low stakes (like 100 pounds). If not for totally screwing over the UK, the Tories should lose the election just on this.
"The exit poll suggests that the opposition Labour Party is on course to win 410 of the House of Commons’ 650 seats... The Conservatives are set for 131 seats — the lowest number of Conservative lawmakers on record.. The exit poll also forecasts the left-of-center Liberal Democrats will take 61 seats, and the right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK is predicted to take 13. The Green Party is expected to take 2."
"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the U.S. Justice Department that will resolve a long-running legal saga that spanned multiple continents and centered on the publication of a trove of classified documents, according to court papers filed late Monday."
"The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Friday declined to charge Edan On, the 18-year-old accused of attacking pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA in April, citing insufficient evidence and referring the case to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office for misdemeanor filing consideration… On was identified by his mother to CNN as the man in a white hoodie attacking protesters with a long pole in videos distributed across social media. He was arrested on suspicion of felony assault in May." They say they didn't have enough evidence to tie him to the crime. Yet… "CNN was the first to identify On, along with other counterprotesters, through a review of hundreds of hours of video, social media posts and interviews. Video shows the 18-year-old striking a pro-Palestinian protester with a pole and continuing to strike him even when he was down, as fellow counterprotesters piled on." Yeah, I guess all the physical evidence, statements, video, and other physical evidence that places him at the scene of the crime just wasn't enough. What a load of bullshit.
"A federal appeals court Thursday night rejected Steve Bannon’s bid to delay the July 1 start of his criminal contempt-of-Congress prison sentence… Following the ruling from the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals, it is likely the former adviser to former President Donald Trump will seek the intervention of the Supreme Court."
"The scenarios may sound part of an apocalyptic future. But the plain reality of the 6-3 opinion is that it ensures presidents have a wide berth to carry out official acts without fear of being criminally charged and it could embolden Trump, who was impeached twice and faced four separate prosecutions over the last year and a half, as he eyes a return to the White House."
"With a $100,000 grant from the Heritage Foundation, the goal is to post 100 names of government workers to a website this summer to show a potential new administration who might be standing in the way of a second-term Trump agenda — and ripe for scrutiny, reclassifications, reassignments or firings." You know, like totally normal people do. Because creating lists for Stasi purges never goes wrong.
"The leader of a conservative think tank orchestrating plans for a massive overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win said that the country is in the midst of a 'second American Revolution' that will be bloodless 'if the left allows it to be.'" The only appropriate response to this is a hearty, "Fuck you, Kevin Roberts."
"A U.S. bankruptcy court trustee is planning to shut down conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars media platform and liquidate its assets to help pay the $1.5 billion in lawsuit judgments Jones owes for repeatedly calling the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax."
"Beryl has already racked up multiple alarming superlatives. It is the most powerful hurricane ever recorded this early in the Atlantic hurricane season, and also the earliest storm to strengthen so rapidly as it formed. Beryl grew from a relatively weak tropical depression into a full-blown major hurricane in less than two days, sending residents in its path scrambling to evacuate or find suitable shelter... Climate change is playing a crucial and obvious role in Beryl’s development, scientists say."
"Flooding on the Blue Earth River breached the Rapidan Dam Monday morning and it's now in an "imminent failure condition," officials said... Le Sueur County residents in low-lying areas of the Minnesota River Valley are advised to closely monitor the situation and potentially evacuate, according to the county's emergency management office. The agency initially said the dam had failed, but later updated that the dam had been breached."
"Rushing waters from the Blue Earth River have already left a trail of debris and destruction on the edges of a southern Minnesota dam that partially failed last week, but officials acknowledged Tuesday the structure most in danger may be the bridge that looms nearby."
"The melting of Alaska’s Juneau icefield, home to more than 1,000 glaciers, is accelerating. The snow covered area is now shrinking 4.6 times faster than it was in the 1980s, according to a new study."
"As the demand for electricity has soared, the regional power grid has hummed along uneventfully, backed in part by a relatively new source of energy: thousands of solar panels on rooftops, over parking lots, and along highways. It’s not just helping make the grid more reliable, experts said, but proving that non-fossil fuel generated power is finally playing a significant role in the operation of the regional power grid, with even more due to come online from major wind farms and other large-scale resources under development." Why it's almost like solar is better.
"Researchers, including former CDC director Tom Frieden and Anthony Fauci, who led the nation’s response to COVID, cite testing failures as a key reason the U.S. fared so poorly with COVID. Had COVID tests been widely available in early 2020, they say, the U.S. could have detected many cases before they turned into outbreaks that prompted business shutdowns and cost lives." And now the same thing is happening with H5N1.
"Texas lawmakers touted their heartbeat law as an effort to save lives, but the state's near-total ban on abortion appears to have triggered an increase in infant deaths, according to a new study published Monday." Who could have seen that happening, other than everybody.
"Vice President Kamala Harris is using the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade to argue that Donald Trump is 'guilty' of rolling back women’s freedoms and setting off a nationwide health care crisis."
"The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a major case on transgender rights and decide whether states may prohibit the use of puberty blockers and other hormones for teens who suffer from gender distress."
"'I would call the day it went on the market,' she says, 'and the real estate agent would tell me, "Yeah, I can show you that property. But just so you know, it's already got two cash offers on it."'"
"Investigations by nonprofit news outlet ProPublica have found links between Chinese diplomats, Chinese Communist Party-affiliated organizations, local Chinese criminal syndicates and some marijuana operations in the United States... In the operations reported on in this story, NPR found no signs of Chinese state or Asian organized crime involvement. The businesses did attract small-scale, individual investors from China who were eager to invest abroad."
"Amazon workers left unable to work by injuries on the job have resorted to online fundraising campaigns to pay their bills as they fight for compensation and disability benefits… During interviews with the Guardian, they alleged the company ignored workers’ concerns over the strains of warehouse work, denied requests for compensation or benefits after injuries, and put productivity above all else."
"McDonald’s is ditching its drive-through AI ordering system after too many customers wound up with hilarious, wonky orders from the artificial intelligence tech… The fast food giant, which had been testing voice-automated ordering systems at about 100 restaurant drive-throughs since 2021, is now booting it from the menu. It seems to be because AI, at least when it comes to taking orders as people shout them from their car windows, turns out not to be a very good listener." There are so many jokes here, crappy AI, crappy drive-through audio, and modern business'/computer science's inability to actually test something before it's rolled out. And then there is this… "Chains have high hopes about AI, but the ordering systems haven’t been as smooth or accurate as customers would hope." As "customers" would hope. It ain't the customers rolling out the AI, idiots. But rather than saying, "whelp, that didn't work," McDs "says it will wait until competitors bring in AI, too." So once everybody's drive throughs are crappy, ah, then they will match that crappiness and be the best crappy service in the market place. The current technology is a bunch of shit, folks. It ain't intelligent and it's barely artificial. But corporate America is in love, and so they will throw a metric shit-ton of the economy down the AI rabbit hole before they realize it (if they ever will). Most likely we will end up with implementation that mirrors the AI, in that AI is not artificial intelligence, it has no concept of what it is actually doing except that it's making statistically relevant predictions of "tokens" (words or images), but it doesn't have any concept of the human meaning of those tokens. But computer science has been telling us "AI is ALMOST HERE!" for so long they finally just drew the finish line behind where they were standing and declared victory.
An article floating around my social media groups… "I started working as a data scientist in 2019, and by 2021 I had realized that while the field was large, it was also largely fraudulent. Most of the leaders that I was working with clearly had not gotten as far as reading about it for thirty minutes despite insisting that things like, I dunno, the next five years of a ten thousand person non-tech organization should be entirely AI focused. The number of companies launching AI initiatives far outstripped the number of actual use cases. Most of the market was simply grifters and incompetents (sometimes both!) leveraging the hype to inflate their headcount so they could get promoted, or be seen as thought leaders." The first one to figure out how to make it actually work will be remembered in the same way Jack Welch is remembered for Six Sigma and making GE Financial into a powerhouse (but it's overlooked how he took the largest, most technically savvy corporation in the world and drove it into a smoking crater where it no longer makes its signature product, the consumer light bulb).
"General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in penalties to the federal government because 5.9 million of its older vehicles do not comply with emissions and fuel economy standards... The penalty comes after the Environmental Protection Agency said its testing showed the GM pickup trucks and SUVs emit over 10% more carbon dioxide on average than GM’s initial compliance testing claimed."
"The National Black Farmers Association called on Tractor Supply’s president and CEO Tuesday to step down after the rural retailer announced that it would drop most of its corporate diversity and climate advocacy efforts."
"Rishi Sunak has become mired in a row over alleged betting on the general election date after it emerged that a second Conservative candidate and the party’s campaigns director were being looked into by the Gambling Commission… The watchdog is examining bets allegedly placed by Laura Saunders, the Tory candidate in Bristol North West, and her husband, Tony Lee, who is now on leave of absence from his job at party headquarters." Since this article was published I believe a few more have been caught up in the net. This is just so piss poor competence that it has almost come around the bend back into genius. And the kicker is that it's all for such low stakes (like 100 pounds). If not for totally screwing over the UK, the Tories should lose the election just on this.
"The exit poll suggests that the opposition Labour Party is on course to win 410 of the House of Commons’ 650 seats... The Conservatives are set for 131 seats — the lowest number of Conservative lawmakers on record.. The exit poll also forecasts the left-of-center Liberal Democrats will take 61 seats, and the right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK is predicted to take 13. The Green Party is expected to take 2."
"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the U.S. Justice Department that will resolve a long-running legal saga that spanned multiple continents and centered on the publication of a trove of classified documents, according to court papers filed late Monday."
"The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Friday declined to charge Edan On, the 18-year-old accused of attacking pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA in April, citing insufficient evidence and referring the case to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office for misdemeanor filing consideration… On was identified by his mother to CNN as the man in a white hoodie attacking protesters with a long pole in videos distributed across social media. He was arrested on suspicion of felony assault in May." They say they didn't have enough evidence to tie him to the crime. Yet… "CNN was the first to identify On, along with other counterprotesters, through a review of hundreds of hours of video, social media posts and interviews. Video shows the 18-year-old striking a pro-Palestinian protester with a pole and continuing to strike him even when he was down, as fellow counterprotesters piled on." Yeah, I guess all the physical evidence, statements, video, and other physical evidence that places him at the scene of the crime just wasn't enough. What a load of bullshit.
"A federal appeals court Thursday night rejected Steve Bannon’s bid to delay the July 1 start of his criminal contempt-of-Congress prison sentence… Following the ruling from the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals, it is likely the former adviser to former President Donald Trump will seek the intervention of the Supreme Court."
"The scenarios may sound part of an apocalyptic future. But the plain reality of the 6-3 opinion is that it ensures presidents have a wide berth to carry out official acts without fear of being criminally charged and it could embolden Trump, who was impeached twice and faced four separate prosecutions over the last year and a half, as he eyes a return to the White House."
"With a $100,000 grant from the Heritage Foundation, the goal is to post 100 names of government workers to a website this summer to show a potential new administration who might be standing in the way of a second-term Trump agenda — and ripe for scrutiny, reclassifications, reassignments or firings." You know, like totally normal people do. Because creating lists for Stasi purges never goes wrong.
"The leader of a conservative think tank orchestrating plans for a massive overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win said that the country is in the midst of a 'second American Revolution' that will be bloodless 'if the left allows it to be.'" The only appropriate response to this is a hearty, "Fuck you, Kevin Roberts."
"A U.S. bankruptcy court trustee is planning to shut down conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars media platform and liquidate its assets to help pay the $1.5 billion in lawsuit judgments Jones owes for repeatedly calling the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax."
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Linkee-poo June 18
"Astronomers expect that this year you'll be able to see the explosion of a star system in our Milky Way galaxy by simply looking up at the sky."
"The tour was not organized by Reay’s publisher, Harper Muse, an imprint of HarperCollins, which organized its own promotion of the book. Reay footed the bill for the tour herself… This arrangement is far from unique. According to independent events planners, publicists and marketers, more and more authors are seeking out their services to augment the efforts of their publishers’ in-house staff… Depending on who you ask, the trend is a result of surging promotional workloads over decades – or publishers’ disinvestment in staff."
"The websites are tantalizing: 'You can catch conditions before they become crises,' reads one. Another promises to make cancer 'easier to beat' and claims it can detect 'over 500 other conditions in up to 13 organs.' Full-body scans are attracting celebrity promoters, tech mogul investors and long waiting lists of people hoping to identify life-threatening conditions, usually more treatable in early stages." These are scams. I work in radiology, and I have personally suffered the consequences of submitting images for report that show potential pathologies but that don't meet the criteria for quality imaging practices (and yes, two of those were cancer, and I received a "fail" for one comp and a "QC report"/professional reprimand on another). And yes, incidental findings are definitely a thing and many diseases do not show up symptomatically (pain, etc) until it can be too late. However, these full body scans are a scam run by unscrupulous fucks usually using outdated equipment and they don't do anything to help you. Human bodies are full of anomalies (look up sesamoid bones or "lumbar vertebrae L6") that have zero impact on your health BUT could be potentially an indicator of disease. You have cysts, muscle anomalies, calcifications (especially if you're older) and size variants that can be read as a pathology that have no real impact on your health now or in the future. These companies are banking on the latent hypochondria present in American culture. If you have a concern, most certainly talk with a doctor who will take your concerns seriously (this is a whole other very long conversation), but don't get a full body scan unless your real symptoms/family history warrant such a scan.
Why do we need a strong regulatory function in government? "The air throughout south-east Louisiana’s 'Cancer Alley' is probably being poisoned with a highly carcinogenic gas at levels much higher than previously thought, new research reveals… Using cutting-edge equipment that more accurately checks for the gas, ethylene oxide, which is primarily used in plastic production, researchers found levels more than 1,000 times above previous measurements, and about 10 times higher on average than regulators’ modeling."
"A federal judge on Monday ordered BNSF Railway to pay the Swinomish Tribe $395 million for illegally running mile-long oil trains through the tribe’s reservation for nearly a decade… BNSF has permission from the tribe to run two oil trains a day, totaling no more than 50 tanker cars, through its reservation… Instead, BNSF has been running oil trains with 100 or more cars each across the reservation’s northern end up to six times a day." Wow, actual consequences.
And talking about a strong regulatory function of government, from the FTC blog… "Your therapy bots aren’t licensed psychologists, your AI girlfriends are neither girls nor friends, your griefbots have no soul, and your AI copilots are not gods. We’ve warned companies about making false or unsubstantiated claims about AI or algorithms. And we’ve followed up with action, including recent cases against WealthPress, DK Automation, Automators AI, and CRI Genetics. We’ve also repeatedly advised companies – with reference to past cases – not to use automated tools to mislead people about what they’re seeing, hearing, or reading." Someone is about to open a big can of whoop ass.
"As far back as 2006, when Google launched Google Translate, the translation industry has been 'speculating about the potential for AI to replace human translators,' says Bridget Hylak, a representative from the American Translators Association… So, yeah, translators have been grappling with AI for a while. Yet, despite the fact that anyone with a smartphone has long been able to use this machine translation technology for free or at a relatively low cost — there are still a ton of jobs for human translators and interpreters out there."
"President Biden is set to announce Tuesday new executive actions that will offer protection against deportation to an estimated half a million undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens."
"Today, an eight-member jury in West Palm Beach, Florida, found Chiquita Brands International liable for funding a violent Colombian paramilitary organization, the United Self-defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), that was responsible for major human rights atrocities during the 1990s and 2000s. The weeks-long trial featured testimony from the families of the nine victims in the case, the recollections of Colombian military officials and Chiquita executives, expert reports, and a summary of key documentary evidence produced by Michael Evans, director of the National Security Archive’s Colombia documentation project." Unfortunately, though, no one will go to jail over it and their total fines ($35m from this judgement and $25m from having been found to supporting a terrorist organization) of about $60m are a drop in the bucket of their profits.
"A federal judge in Kentucky blocked a new Biden administration Title IX rule Monday in six states that would have banned discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation — not solely sex. The opinion applies to Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia… Chief Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky began his 93-page opinion by writing, 'There are two sexes: male and female.' He concluded by blocking the enforcement of the new rule that would have been implemented in August." As a medical worker and husband of a biologist I can tell you the judge is absolutely fucking wrong here.
"Other states considering wealth tax proposals, like Pennsylvania and Vermont, are taking note of Massachusetts' revenue numbers. The voter-approved surtax here brought in nearly a billion dollars more than the state budgeted for. But officials are still watching for whether the wealthy are leaving in droves; economists say there's not yet enough data to know."
"A federal jury in Delaware has convicted President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, on felony gun charges stemming from his purchase of a Colt revolver in 2018 when he was addicted to crack cocaine."
"Like her husband, Mrs. Alito is unbowed by the criticism and controversy — as she makes clear in comments recorded by liberal documentary filmmaker Lauren Windsor. Windsor, posing as a Christian conservative, spoke at length with Mrs. Alito at a dinner reception hosted by the Supreme Court Historical Society last week. Windsor attended the dinner as a dues-paying member and bought a ticket; a colleague joined her."
"An influential group called the True Texas Project is hosting a conference in July that will actively promote Christian nationalism and the racist 'great replacement theory,' the Texas Tribune reports. The group, which subscribes to the idea of a 'war on white America,' has ties to many Texas GOP officials, the report says, including Senator Ted Cruz and Attorney General Ken Paxton, a major supporter of Donald Trump."
"The Republican-led House of Representatives voted 216 to 207 to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, escalating a tug-of-war over audiotapes of President Biden’s interview with a special prosecutor."
"George E. Norcross III, a powerful executive and political figure in New Jersey for decades, was indicted Monday on racketeering and related charges, the state attorney general announced… The sweeping indictment alleges he led a criminal enterprise that used extortion to promote his vast business and political and philanthropic empire — in the process, illegally securing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits and rights to build developments on the valuable Camden waterfront, across from Philadelphia." Jaw drop. While the impact and focus of this is very local, the bringing of this indictment, IMHO, is even bigger than charging the former president with insurrection.
They're at it again. "Tens of thousands of Columbus-area voters are at risk of seeing their registrations canceled ahead of the upcoming presidential race, but they have about a month to prevent it from happening… By the numbers: A total of 158,857 Ohio voters face cancellation this year, Secretary of State Frank LaRose recently announced. That's around 2% of total registered voters."
"The tour was not organized by Reay’s publisher, Harper Muse, an imprint of HarperCollins, which organized its own promotion of the book. Reay footed the bill for the tour herself… This arrangement is far from unique. According to independent events planners, publicists and marketers, more and more authors are seeking out their services to augment the efforts of their publishers’ in-house staff… Depending on who you ask, the trend is a result of surging promotional workloads over decades – or publishers’ disinvestment in staff."
"The websites are tantalizing: 'You can catch conditions before they become crises,' reads one. Another promises to make cancer 'easier to beat' and claims it can detect 'over 500 other conditions in up to 13 organs.' Full-body scans are attracting celebrity promoters, tech mogul investors and long waiting lists of people hoping to identify life-threatening conditions, usually more treatable in early stages." These are scams. I work in radiology, and I have personally suffered the consequences of submitting images for report that show potential pathologies but that don't meet the criteria for quality imaging practices (and yes, two of those were cancer, and I received a "fail" for one comp and a "QC report"/professional reprimand on another). And yes, incidental findings are definitely a thing and many diseases do not show up symptomatically (pain, etc) until it can be too late. However, these full body scans are a scam run by unscrupulous fucks usually using outdated equipment and they don't do anything to help you. Human bodies are full of anomalies (look up sesamoid bones or "lumbar vertebrae L6") that have zero impact on your health BUT could be potentially an indicator of disease. You have cysts, muscle anomalies, calcifications (especially if you're older) and size variants that can be read as a pathology that have no real impact on your health now or in the future. These companies are banking on the latent hypochondria present in American culture. If you have a concern, most certainly talk with a doctor who will take your concerns seriously (this is a whole other very long conversation), but don't get a full body scan unless your real symptoms/family history warrant such a scan.
Why do we need a strong regulatory function in government? "The air throughout south-east Louisiana’s 'Cancer Alley' is probably being poisoned with a highly carcinogenic gas at levels much higher than previously thought, new research reveals… Using cutting-edge equipment that more accurately checks for the gas, ethylene oxide, which is primarily used in plastic production, researchers found levels more than 1,000 times above previous measurements, and about 10 times higher on average than regulators’ modeling."
"A federal judge on Monday ordered BNSF Railway to pay the Swinomish Tribe $395 million for illegally running mile-long oil trains through the tribe’s reservation for nearly a decade… BNSF has permission from the tribe to run two oil trains a day, totaling no more than 50 tanker cars, through its reservation… Instead, BNSF has been running oil trains with 100 or more cars each across the reservation’s northern end up to six times a day." Wow, actual consequences.
And talking about a strong regulatory function of government, from the FTC blog… "Your therapy bots aren’t licensed psychologists, your AI girlfriends are neither girls nor friends, your griefbots have no soul, and your AI copilots are not gods. We’ve warned companies about making false or unsubstantiated claims about AI or algorithms. And we’ve followed up with action, including recent cases against WealthPress, DK Automation, Automators AI, and CRI Genetics. We’ve also repeatedly advised companies – with reference to past cases – not to use automated tools to mislead people about what they’re seeing, hearing, or reading." Someone is about to open a big can of whoop ass.
"As far back as 2006, when Google launched Google Translate, the translation industry has been 'speculating about the potential for AI to replace human translators,' says Bridget Hylak, a representative from the American Translators Association… So, yeah, translators have been grappling with AI for a while. Yet, despite the fact that anyone with a smartphone has long been able to use this machine translation technology for free or at a relatively low cost — there are still a ton of jobs for human translators and interpreters out there."
"President Biden is set to announce Tuesday new executive actions that will offer protection against deportation to an estimated half a million undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens."
"Today, an eight-member jury in West Palm Beach, Florida, found Chiquita Brands International liable for funding a violent Colombian paramilitary organization, the United Self-defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), that was responsible for major human rights atrocities during the 1990s and 2000s. The weeks-long trial featured testimony from the families of the nine victims in the case, the recollections of Colombian military officials and Chiquita executives, expert reports, and a summary of key documentary evidence produced by Michael Evans, director of the National Security Archive’s Colombia documentation project." Unfortunately, though, no one will go to jail over it and their total fines ($35m from this judgement and $25m from having been found to supporting a terrorist organization) of about $60m are a drop in the bucket of their profits.
"A federal judge in Kentucky blocked a new Biden administration Title IX rule Monday in six states that would have banned discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation — not solely sex. The opinion applies to Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia… Chief Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky began his 93-page opinion by writing, 'There are two sexes: male and female.' He concluded by blocking the enforcement of the new rule that would have been implemented in August." As a medical worker and husband of a biologist I can tell you the judge is absolutely fucking wrong here.
"Other states considering wealth tax proposals, like Pennsylvania and Vermont, are taking note of Massachusetts' revenue numbers. The voter-approved surtax here brought in nearly a billion dollars more than the state budgeted for. But officials are still watching for whether the wealthy are leaving in droves; economists say there's not yet enough data to know."
"A federal jury in Delaware has convicted President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, on felony gun charges stemming from his purchase of a Colt revolver in 2018 when he was addicted to crack cocaine."
"Like her husband, Mrs. Alito is unbowed by the criticism and controversy — as she makes clear in comments recorded by liberal documentary filmmaker Lauren Windsor. Windsor, posing as a Christian conservative, spoke at length with Mrs. Alito at a dinner reception hosted by the Supreme Court Historical Society last week. Windsor attended the dinner as a dues-paying member and bought a ticket; a colleague joined her."
"An influential group called the True Texas Project is hosting a conference in July that will actively promote Christian nationalism and the racist 'great replacement theory,' the Texas Tribune reports. The group, which subscribes to the idea of a 'war on white America,' has ties to many Texas GOP officials, the report says, including Senator Ted Cruz and Attorney General Ken Paxton, a major supporter of Donald Trump."
"The Republican-led House of Representatives voted 216 to 207 to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, escalating a tug-of-war over audiotapes of President Biden’s interview with a special prosecutor."
"George E. Norcross III, a powerful executive and political figure in New Jersey for decades, was indicted Monday on racketeering and related charges, the state attorney general announced… The sweeping indictment alleges he led a criminal enterprise that used extortion to promote his vast business and political and philanthropic empire — in the process, illegally securing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits and rights to build developments on the valuable Camden waterfront, across from Philadelphia." Jaw drop. While the impact and focus of this is very local, the bringing of this indictment, IMHO, is even bigger than charging the former president with insurrection.
They're at it again. "Tens of thousands of Columbus-area voters are at risk of seeing their registrations canceled ahead of the upcoming presidential race, but they have about a month to prevent it from happening… By the numbers: A total of 158,857 Ohio voters face cancellation this year, Secretary of State Frank LaRose recently announced. That's around 2% of total registered voters."
Monday, June 10, 2024
Linkee-poo June 10
So, doing search for t-shirt designs for a general Radiology (instead of the specific topic I'm designing). And I gotta say in the last 4 years the t-shirt biz has produced a lot of good work for Radiology. Part of me is, "hey, that's great, I'm jazzed" and part of me is, "get the fuck off my lawn!"
The Hidden Brain podcast on… "Thinking is a human superpower. On a daily basis, thinking and planning and effort bring us innumerable benefits. But like all aspects of human behavior, you can sometimes get too much of a good thing. This week, we talk with philosopher Ted Slingerland about techniques to prevent overthinking, and how we can cultivate the under-appreciated skill of letting go." And I think this is in part what happened to my writing. In 2009 I was in a good place, I had learned enough and internalized enough that I was able to relax. I could hit the writing equivalent of my designing mind. Since my life was turned upside down in January 2010, I've learned more, but have been trying too hard because I'm 1) running out of time, and 2) need to break out quickly. And so I became like the centipede who was asked how they can walk with all those legs. I'm thinking about the process. Suddenly I couldn't. I would break down. It was too important to let go. I lost the "ease" of writing. Can I still find it? Sure, but not when I'm working on fiction. Instead of flow, my mind is racing, "am I building tension properly, and I including all the Chekov's guns I'll need, and I using the correct homophone?"
"A majority of Americans believe that the economy is in a recession even though it’s not. On this week’s On the Media, hear why there’s a mismatch between facts and feelings about the economy. Plus, how the outlandish claims of AI companies often go unchecked by the press."
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/04/nx-s1-4992305/housing-innovation-showcase-affordability "On the wide open, grassy space on the National Mall, halfway between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, a temporary village has sprouted up in recent days. Several tiny houses line the paths, and workers assemble what looks like an instant log cabin. A few manufactured homes are clustered near the Smithsonian Castle." The problem, I've looked for these solutions, and I can't really find them.
"Enter the 'hospital facility fee': a charge hospitals can add to bills from doctors’ offices, outpatient surgical clinics and diagnostics centers that they own, rebranding them as 'outpatient hospital departments', even if the facility is miles from a hospital campus… 'It’s one of the most egregious examples of hospital financing at the expense of consumers,' said Liz Hagan, director of policy solutions at the United States of Care, a non-profit advocacy group that released a new report on the practice." My own hospital system does this, and it was announced to great fanfare as "what a wonderful thing." No, it's not. And I made my opinion known. It didn't do anything, of course, because the administrators don't think the patients are going to do anything at all about it (unlike me who sees a major reform coming).
"Demoralized doctors and nurses are leaving the field, hospitals are sounding the alarm about workforce shortages and employees are increasingly unionizing and even going on strike in high-profile disputes with their employers." Our hospital system has a 23% turnover rate for healthcare providers. And they think this is "normal" and "sustainable." And it was slightly possible (ignoring the morale and 'tribal knowledge' issues that level brings) when there were so many people graduating from nursing and allied health programs. But what's not mentioned here is that schools have hit the demographic cliff, that is the student population has plummeted. When I went through radiography there was a 2 year wait after you were accepted to the program (this was after 1 full year of pre-req courses which we had to pass before we could even apply to the program). Of the two schools we accept students for clinical experience, there is now no wait times. We may not even have students from one of the schools this Fall. Management has begrudgingly begun to work on this problem, but only on the recruitment side (we now have several "tech assistants", ie. student we pay nominally to lock them into working for the system before they realize all their options). There is zero work on the retention side.
"More than half of patients (60%) diagnosed with advanced forms of lung cancer who took lorlatinib were still alive five years later with no progression in their disease, data presented at the world’s largest cancer conference showed. The rate was 8% in patients treated with a standard drug, the trial found." "Battlefield medicine has come a long way. But that progress could be lost…" And then there was this part… "A Defense Department internal memo obtained by NPR found that outsourcing did not actually save the military money, but it did hurt readiness." Outsourcing government functions always costs more, and does not provide better services.
"Top-line results from two clinical trials were impressively positive, with MDMA therapy in combination with psychotherapy showing statistically significant, clinically meaningful improvements for PTSD symptoms. But, as the discussion dove deeper into the data, the experts identified a damningly large number of trial flaws, including missing data and bias, that threw the validity of those positive results into serious question." This really is on the poor record keeping and mismanagement of the company seeking the approval. Which is a shame, because it appears (except the double-blind portion of the test really wasn't) that it is an effective treatment.
"Now, new disclosures seen by HuffPost shed some light. Just weeks before she issued the ruling, Mizelle had discreetly attended an all-expenses-paid luxury trip from a conservative group whose primary mission is to persuade more federal judges to adopt the use of corpus linguistics. For five days, Mizelle and more than a dozen other federal judges listened to the leading proponents of corpus linguistics in the comfort of The Greenbrier, an ostentatious resort spread out over 11,000 acres of West Virginia hillside." JFC, there's this long running social media thing about, "but the dictionary defines this word to mean…" completely missing both the actual real definition (which is usually multipart) and the connotation of the words. And now we're going to have judges pulling this trolling bullshit. Great.
"Anna Harrold should have been celebrating her victory at the Great West Run in Exeter on Sunday, but instead she faced a barrage of abuse from people online who called her “disgusting”, 'revolting' and a 'disgrace'… The comments were centred on false claims she was born a man." Gee, who could have seen the anti-trans people trying to police women's bodies to see if they're "feminine enough"?
Prepare for eyerolls. No, I'm serious, you might want to stretch first because it's gonna be a big one. "But there are foods, the bullies and the priggish suggest, that alert the world you are gay in a negative way. It’s mostly the stuff of immature oooOOOOOooos and teenage razzing, but studies show men will avoid everything from yogurt to rosé to “products with rounded edges” because they are associated with femininity, and for a man to do a womanly thing could give someone the wrong idea. Because to come off as queer is still the “wrong idea.” The feeling behind the joke is that to be queer is to be lesser, and that you could be perceived that way with the slip of the tongue across a scoop of mint chip." The article does do a good breakdown on gender and how culture perceives it. This week we decorated the workroom with our names of Summer icons, cutouts of watermelon, sandals, icecream cones, etc. There was a brouhaha (not from me) because whomever did the names (it was the students I think) put my name on "pink" flip-flops. Much profuse apologies and a call for making a new item for me. I stopped it. I don't care if my name is on a pink piece of paper I told them to their objections. Seriously, my "maleness" and "manhood" was settled long ago and frankly cannot be affected in the slightest by something exterior to me, especially not by what someone else may say, think, or do. Pink as feminine is a 1950s marketing construct. Most of this bullshit is created by insecure social gatekeepers or by someone trying to sell you something. Don't fall for it.
"The Affordable Connectivity Program, which helped low-income Americans get online, is no more… On (May 31), the US government announced the final closure of the broadly popular federal program, which has helped tens of millions of households afford internet service, after Republicans in Congress ignored calls by consumer advocates and Democratic lawmakers to approve more funding this spring… The program’s lapse threatens to throw nearly 60 million Americans into financial distress, CNN has reported."
"Moreover, retailers’ decision to hike prices in the first place can’t all be attributed to inflation, Lindsay Owens, executive director of economic policy group Groundwork Collaborative, argued. She told the Washington Post that companies actually increased their margins in times of increased operating costs. A March 2024 Federal Trade Commission report found retail revenue for food and beverages increased 7% above total costs in the first three quarters of 2023, indicating that grocery stores’ decision to raise prices wasn’t just a result of inflation, supply-chain disruptions, or the rising prices of commodities." There's another name for this. It's called "price gouging." And some companies are realizing that they went too far, and even with their increased margins were starting to lose overall revenue.
"'When a cop tells you to do something, you fucking do it,' one officer told the shopkeeper… The surveillance video was shared with THE CITY on the condition that the identity of the shopkeeper be protected. The arrest and criminal charge was confirmed by police records… The shopkeeper’s lawyer, Steve Zissou, told THE CITY that the video shows both due process violations and personal civil rights violations." Well, there's a lawsuit waiting to happen. And it might be a class action.
"An off-duty armed security guard shot and killed a teen who he thought had a gun and was about to rob a Renton sporting goods store, detectives said. According to court documents, the teen didn't even have a real gun on him."
"Alex Jones, who spread lies about the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary that killed 26 first-graders and staffers, has dropped efforts to declare bankruptcy and agreed to liquidate his assets in order to finally start paying the nearly $1.5 billion in damages he owes the victims' families." That's a good start.
"Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, must report to prison by July 1 to serve his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol insurrection, a federal judge ruled Thursday." Again, a good start.
"A liberal former neighbor of conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is publicly offering her account of a series of tense interactions she had with Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann, around the time of the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol." You mean the Alitoes lied? Shocked, shocked I am…
"A Manhattan jury on Thursday found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in order to influence the 2016 presidential election. Soon after the verdict was read, right-wing politicians and pundits including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Fox News contributor Guy Benson and far-right conspiracy theorist Ali Alexander shared images of an inverted American flag on social media. Alexander, organizer of the 'Stop the Steal' rally that pushed false claims about the 2020 election, posted the upside-down flag on Telegram with the message: 'No one is coming to save us. We must.'"
"When Donald J. Trump was found guilty on all counts in the hush money trial, some in the press were caught off guard. But the former president and conservative pundits primed for this result with a strategic messaging campaign. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Trump uses Truth Social to disseminate talking points to a web of right-wing influencers."
"Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from Trump’s media company… The benefits have flowed from Trump’s businesses and campaign committees, according to a ProPublica analysis of public disclosures, court records and securities filings. One campaign aide had his average monthly pay double, from $26,000 to $53,500. Another employee got a $2 million severance package barring him from voluntarily cooperating with law enforcement. And one of the campaign’s top officials had her daughter hired onto the campaign staff, where she is now the fourth-highest-paid employee." Criminals gonna criminal.
"The Proud Boys say recruitment is growing and they’re ready to serve again as Donald Trump's unofficial protection force." As long as there have been supposed strong men, there have been toadies. However, the long term prospects of such groups, especially if the "strong man" gets into power, is not a good one. I think the Proud Boys really should look at Operation Hummingbird, or as it's more often called, the Night of the Long Knives.
The Hidden Brain podcast on… "Thinking is a human superpower. On a daily basis, thinking and planning and effort bring us innumerable benefits. But like all aspects of human behavior, you can sometimes get too much of a good thing. This week, we talk with philosopher Ted Slingerland about techniques to prevent overthinking, and how we can cultivate the under-appreciated skill of letting go." And I think this is in part what happened to my writing. In 2009 I was in a good place, I had learned enough and internalized enough that I was able to relax. I could hit the writing equivalent of my designing mind. Since my life was turned upside down in January 2010, I've learned more, but have been trying too hard because I'm 1) running out of time, and 2) need to break out quickly. And so I became like the centipede who was asked how they can walk with all those legs. I'm thinking about the process. Suddenly I couldn't. I would break down. It was too important to let go. I lost the "ease" of writing. Can I still find it? Sure, but not when I'm working on fiction. Instead of flow, my mind is racing, "am I building tension properly, and I including all the Chekov's guns I'll need, and I using the correct homophone?"
"A majority of Americans believe that the economy is in a recession even though it’s not. On this week’s On the Media, hear why there’s a mismatch between facts and feelings about the economy. Plus, how the outlandish claims of AI companies often go unchecked by the press."
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/04/nx-s1-4992305/housing-innovation-showcase-affordability "On the wide open, grassy space on the National Mall, halfway between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, a temporary village has sprouted up in recent days. Several tiny houses line the paths, and workers assemble what looks like an instant log cabin. A few manufactured homes are clustered near the Smithsonian Castle." The problem, I've looked for these solutions, and I can't really find them.
"Enter the 'hospital facility fee': a charge hospitals can add to bills from doctors’ offices, outpatient surgical clinics and diagnostics centers that they own, rebranding them as 'outpatient hospital departments', even if the facility is miles from a hospital campus… 'It’s one of the most egregious examples of hospital financing at the expense of consumers,' said Liz Hagan, director of policy solutions at the United States of Care, a non-profit advocacy group that released a new report on the practice." My own hospital system does this, and it was announced to great fanfare as "what a wonderful thing." No, it's not. And I made my opinion known. It didn't do anything, of course, because the administrators don't think the patients are going to do anything at all about it (unlike me who sees a major reform coming).
"Demoralized doctors and nurses are leaving the field, hospitals are sounding the alarm about workforce shortages and employees are increasingly unionizing and even going on strike in high-profile disputes with their employers." Our hospital system has a 23% turnover rate for healthcare providers. And they think this is "normal" and "sustainable." And it was slightly possible (ignoring the morale and 'tribal knowledge' issues that level brings) when there were so many people graduating from nursing and allied health programs. But what's not mentioned here is that schools have hit the demographic cliff, that is the student population has plummeted. When I went through radiography there was a 2 year wait after you were accepted to the program (this was after 1 full year of pre-req courses which we had to pass before we could even apply to the program). Of the two schools we accept students for clinical experience, there is now no wait times. We may not even have students from one of the schools this Fall. Management has begrudgingly begun to work on this problem, but only on the recruitment side (we now have several "tech assistants", ie. student we pay nominally to lock them into working for the system before they realize all their options). There is zero work on the retention side.
"More than half of patients (60%) diagnosed with advanced forms of lung cancer who took lorlatinib were still alive five years later with no progression in their disease, data presented at the world’s largest cancer conference showed. The rate was 8% in patients treated with a standard drug, the trial found." "Battlefield medicine has come a long way. But that progress could be lost…" And then there was this part… "A Defense Department internal memo obtained by NPR found that outsourcing did not actually save the military money, but it did hurt readiness." Outsourcing government functions always costs more, and does not provide better services.
"Top-line results from two clinical trials were impressively positive, with MDMA therapy in combination with psychotherapy showing statistically significant, clinically meaningful improvements for PTSD symptoms. But, as the discussion dove deeper into the data, the experts identified a damningly large number of trial flaws, including missing data and bias, that threw the validity of those positive results into serious question." This really is on the poor record keeping and mismanagement of the company seeking the approval. Which is a shame, because it appears (except the double-blind portion of the test really wasn't) that it is an effective treatment.
"Now, new disclosures seen by HuffPost shed some light. Just weeks before she issued the ruling, Mizelle had discreetly attended an all-expenses-paid luxury trip from a conservative group whose primary mission is to persuade more federal judges to adopt the use of corpus linguistics. For five days, Mizelle and more than a dozen other federal judges listened to the leading proponents of corpus linguistics in the comfort of The Greenbrier, an ostentatious resort spread out over 11,000 acres of West Virginia hillside." JFC, there's this long running social media thing about, "but the dictionary defines this word to mean…" completely missing both the actual real definition (which is usually multipart) and the connotation of the words. And now we're going to have judges pulling this trolling bullshit. Great.
"Anna Harrold should have been celebrating her victory at the Great West Run in Exeter on Sunday, but instead she faced a barrage of abuse from people online who called her “disgusting”, 'revolting' and a 'disgrace'… The comments were centred on false claims she was born a man." Gee, who could have seen the anti-trans people trying to police women's bodies to see if they're "feminine enough"?
Prepare for eyerolls. No, I'm serious, you might want to stretch first because it's gonna be a big one. "But there are foods, the bullies and the priggish suggest, that alert the world you are gay in a negative way. It’s mostly the stuff of immature oooOOOOOooos and teenage razzing, but studies show men will avoid everything from yogurt to rosé to “products with rounded edges” because they are associated with femininity, and for a man to do a womanly thing could give someone the wrong idea. Because to come off as queer is still the “wrong idea.” The feeling behind the joke is that to be queer is to be lesser, and that you could be perceived that way with the slip of the tongue across a scoop of mint chip." The article does do a good breakdown on gender and how culture perceives it. This week we decorated the workroom with our names of Summer icons, cutouts of watermelon, sandals, icecream cones, etc. There was a brouhaha (not from me) because whomever did the names (it was the students I think) put my name on "pink" flip-flops. Much profuse apologies and a call for making a new item for me. I stopped it. I don't care if my name is on a pink piece of paper I told them to their objections. Seriously, my "maleness" and "manhood" was settled long ago and frankly cannot be affected in the slightest by something exterior to me, especially not by what someone else may say, think, or do. Pink as feminine is a 1950s marketing construct. Most of this bullshit is created by insecure social gatekeepers or by someone trying to sell you something. Don't fall for it.
"The Affordable Connectivity Program, which helped low-income Americans get online, is no more… On (May 31), the US government announced the final closure of the broadly popular federal program, which has helped tens of millions of households afford internet service, after Republicans in Congress ignored calls by consumer advocates and Democratic lawmakers to approve more funding this spring… The program’s lapse threatens to throw nearly 60 million Americans into financial distress, CNN has reported."
"Moreover, retailers’ decision to hike prices in the first place can’t all be attributed to inflation, Lindsay Owens, executive director of economic policy group Groundwork Collaborative, argued. She told the Washington Post that companies actually increased their margins in times of increased operating costs. A March 2024 Federal Trade Commission report found retail revenue for food and beverages increased 7% above total costs in the first three quarters of 2023, indicating that grocery stores’ decision to raise prices wasn’t just a result of inflation, supply-chain disruptions, or the rising prices of commodities." There's another name for this. It's called "price gouging." And some companies are realizing that they went too far, and even with their increased margins were starting to lose overall revenue.
"'When a cop tells you to do something, you fucking do it,' one officer told the shopkeeper… The surveillance video was shared with THE CITY on the condition that the identity of the shopkeeper be protected. The arrest and criminal charge was confirmed by police records… The shopkeeper’s lawyer, Steve Zissou, told THE CITY that the video shows both due process violations and personal civil rights violations." Well, there's a lawsuit waiting to happen. And it might be a class action.
"An off-duty armed security guard shot and killed a teen who he thought had a gun and was about to rob a Renton sporting goods store, detectives said. According to court documents, the teen didn't even have a real gun on him."
"Alex Jones, who spread lies about the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary that killed 26 first-graders and staffers, has dropped efforts to declare bankruptcy and agreed to liquidate his assets in order to finally start paying the nearly $1.5 billion in damages he owes the victims' families." That's a good start.
"Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, must report to prison by July 1 to serve his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol insurrection, a federal judge ruled Thursday." Again, a good start.
"A liberal former neighbor of conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is publicly offering her account of a series of tense interactions she had with Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann, around the time of the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol." You mean the Alitoes lied? Shocked, shocked I am…
"A Manhattan jury on Thursday found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in order to influence the 2016 presidential election. Soon after the verdict was read, right-wing politicians and pundits including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Fox News contributor Guy Benson and far-right conspiracy theorist Ali Alexander shared images of an inverted American flag on social media. Alexander, organizer of the 'Stop the Steal' rally that pushed false claims about the 2020 election, posted the upside-down flag on Telegram with the message: 'No one is coming to save us. We must.'"
"When Donald J. Trump was found guilty on all counts in the hush money trial, some in the press were caught off guard. But the former president and conservative pundits primed for this result with a strategic messaging campaign. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Trump uses Truth Social to disseminate talking points to a web of right-wing influencers."
"Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from Trump’s media company… The benefits have flowed from Trump’s businesses and campaign committees, according to a ProPublica analysis of public disclosures, court records and securities filings. One campaign aide had his average monthly pay double, from $26,000 to $53,500. Another employee got a $2 million severance package barring him from voluntarily cooperating with law enforcement. And one of the campaign’s top officials had her daughter hired onto the campaign staff, where she is now the fourth-highest-paid employee." Criminals gonna criminal.
"The Proud Boys say recruitment is growing and they’re ready to serve again as Donald Trump's unofficial protection force." As long as there have been supposed strong men, there have been toadies. However, the long term prospects of such groups, especially if the "strong man" gets into power, is not a good one. I think the Proud Boys really should look at Operation Hummingbird, or as it's more often called, the Night of the Long Knives.
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