Linkee-poo, every drunk must have his drink

Melissa Ann Singer tweet storm on why she rejects things. (Grokked from Catherine Asaro)

"Jane! Stop this crazy thing! A jet-powered merry-go-round. You know, for all that prep that's an awfully short ride. (Grokked from John Scalzi)

So SETI finally finds a signal. No word on if there is modulation (and if there is a pattern to that modulation) or any content embedded in the signal, but strong enough to be deliberate and not from any known source (although it could be lensing caused by the star they think it's coming from). Now we can expect to see hundreds of papers on natural phenomenon that could cause such a signal. (Grokked from Rae Carson)

You may remember earlier whinging about how medical science often isn't… and most likely does not study material on a wide range of subjects (mostly white, male, 18 to 25 year olds). Why is that a problem? "Scientists have discovered that a common cause of sudden heart death has been misunderstood because researchers didn't appropriately account for racial differences in their studies." Also pointed to in case you still might think medicine knows everything (or is even competent in the things we think we know). There are some things we can point to as fact, but much of it is highly subjective.

"When should police be able to deactivate your social media account?"

Why Skynet is a long way off. "Earlier this year, Facebook denied criticisms that its Trending feature was surfacing news stories that were biased against conservatives. But in an abrupt reversal, the company fired all the human editors for Trending on Friday afternoon, replacing them with an algorithm that promotes stories based entirely on what Facebook users are talking about. Within 72 hours, according to the Washington Post, the top story on Trending was about how Fox News icon Megyn Kelly was a pro-Clinton 'traitor' who had been fired… but she wasn't." So, how's that intelligent automation working out for you? (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)

The EU finds that the sweetheart tax deal Apple made with Ireland wasn't kosher and orders them to pay $14.5 Billion in back taxes. And they ain't the only ones. So much for how attractive other places are. I'm sure they'll negotiate/appeal it downward.

Case example number one on why outsourcing government functions to private industry is always a bad choice. "The audits from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show that all but two of the 37 health plans audited for 2007 were overpaid — typically several hundred thousand dollars too much — for the sample of 201 patients examined at each plan." And many of those plans are becoming too expensive for seniors on fixed budgets. Also, there's a lot in there about how these companies are getting away with it as Medicare/Medicaid is unable or unwilling to step up audits as required by Obamacare.

"Donald Trump is eschewing traditional methods of preparation for the upcoming presidential debates, favoring lunch meetings at golf clubs over mock debates or briefing books, according to a Washington Post report out Saturday." If I had to bet money on this, I'd go with classic attempt at disinformation. It really would be too good to be true. If this is actually the case, even if the campaign low-balls expectations Trumpster will have his ass served to him by Hillary. He's making two classic mistakes, believing his strategy can be the same as the primary campaign and thinking he can best Hillary with bombast.