Good job, all you Americans. We're back to #1. (okay, well, really the Russian numbers fell a little yesterday)
Shop on Amazon? Notice how prices change, sometimes daily? Well, here's a site that tracks the history of those price changes. I haven't done extensive testing, but it looks pretty good so far. (Grokked from Dan)
"Telescopes all over the world and in space were busy on Aug. 17, when scientists made the first-ever observations of both light and gravitational waves from a single cosmic event. Here are some of the stunning images of the event, including some from the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as artists' illustrations that give insight into the complex workings of this energetic collision." That neutron star collision all the cool kids are talking about. "For the first time, scientists have caught two neutron stars in the act of colliding, revealing that these strange smashups are the source of heavy elements such as gold and platinum." But there's not much that can compare to the poetry of two dead stars colliding at a third the speed of light creating 200 Earth masses of gold and about 500 Earth masses of platinum (along with more radioactive materials). And all this happened over 100 million years ago.
"In the event of a dirty bomb or a nuclear meltdown, emergency responders can safely tolerate radiation levels equivalent to thousands of chest X-rays, the Environmental Protection Agency said in new guidelines that ease off on established safety levels… 'It’s really a huge amount of radiation they are saying is safe,' said Daniel Hirsch, the retired director of the University of California, Santa Cruz’s program on environmental and nuclear policy. 'The position taken could readily unravel all radiation protection rules.'" Fuck. Me. Okay, repeat after me kiddies, there is no safe level of radiation. And thousands of chest x-rays… yeah, that's what you get from an extreme CT scan (chest-abdomen-pelvis, with and without contrast with a 5 minute delay). If a doctor says you need it to diagnose a condition, understand that the increased risk from the radiation is balanced by the need of the medical information. I don't work often at the hospital (compared to last year), but at least every week I've challenged a doctor's order for x-rays. After the Chernobyl accident, the Russian military used soldiers to toss fuel rods and radioactive graphite control rods back into the core. They were only allowed to be outside on the roof for less than 5 minutes each and were protected with rubber suits. Rubber does nothing against high-energy radiation (you may help block surface dose from less than 50kvp rays, but that's about it). Many of them died from their exposure. The level of 5 REM (actually, that should be 5 RAD, which is your absorbed dose) per year is what I'm allowed as a radiation worker. More than that and I'm retired (there's a second calculation that you can have greater, but that's based on age, and if you've over 5 REM a year something is seriously wrong where you work). That level, 5 RAD, means that our rate of cancer isn't statistically different than the general population (who receive an average of 300 mRAD, or 0.3 RAD a year). But that's sadistic statistics. Every dose is ticket on the cancer lottery. This is more than dangerous, this is lunacy. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
"'We don’t know what to expect, and we don’t know what kind of crowd numbers to expect,” (Alachua County Sheriff Sadie) Darnell told the Times/Herald. “We all want this to be a non-event. We all want it to go very peacefully. But there is the potential for violence and for widespread property damage.'" So Gov. Rick Scott has declared an emergency because Richard Spencer is speaking at the university. Just as a side note, Spencer has also threatened to sue Ohio State for not allowing him to speak. As the kids say on the twitter, "This asshole."
"In 1940, on the eve of the United States' entrance into World War II, then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Immigration and Naturalization Service wanted to promote tolerance toward immigrants." History may not repeat, but it often rhymes. However Roosevelt instructed INS to create a radio program called I'm An American which highlighted the contributions of (mostly caucasian) immigrants and gave their viewpoint. "At the time, the U.S. was seen as 'America, the melting pot' — and the only country that could defeat fascism." Strength from diversity.
"Now, (Jesus Campos) that many want to honor and who can help bring clarity about the timeline of the shooting has vanished from the public eye, less than two weeks since the Oct. 1 massacre, which left 58 people dead and more than 500 others injured."
So, how's that apocalypse coming along? ISIS is hold up at the stadium in Raqqa. Now's when things get a little more dicey from the twin horns of ISIS going back to a movement (instead of holding territory) and the common enemy of the liberation forces and Assad no longer have their (main) common enemy (there's still the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda and a few other lesser players).
Trigger alert (well, it triggered me to almost throw things at the TV). "President Donald Trump falsely claimed on Monday that former President Barack Obama didn't call the families of fallen service members… 'If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls — a lot of them didn't make calls — I like to make calls when it's appropriate,' Trump said at a press conference in the Rose Garden when asked about why he had not addressed the recent deaths of American troops in Niger." When it's appropriate? Hey, why don't you sign a form letter with your own, personal, rubber stamp. Fucker. You, sir, are unfit for office and should be removed.
"Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) is withdrawing his name from consideration as the nation's drug czar, President Trump announced Tuesday." Gee, he only helped indemnify Big Pharma and hobble the DEA from dealing with their egregious practices that fueled the opioid crisis. But don't worry, he gets to remain a congressman.
"President Donald Trump blamed Senate Republicans, not himself, for the stalled GOP agenda Monday ahead of a crucial White House lunch meeting with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on getting make-or-break tax legislation back on track." Because it's never Donald's fault. It's everyone else that fails him. I mean, he wouldn't be such a successful businessman if he failed as much as he did. Right?
Wait, take a deep breath first. "By slashing corporate tax rates, the Trump administration said Monday, the average U.S. household will get an estimated $4,000 more a year." Hahahahahahahaha. Cause you know, we saw big raises and all those millions of jobs created by the Bush tax cuts. Didn't we? "Outside economists said the income growth projected by Hassett appears to assume that workers appear to bear more than 100 percent of the burden of U.S. corporate taxes — a mathematical impossibility."
2 comments:
I saw in this in the Orlando Sentinel about the University of Florida event: "Scott's executive order will allow local law-enforcement authorities to partner with state and other law-enforcement agencies to provide security for the event. The university has already said it expects to spend $500,000 on security."
So, an extremist threatens to sue you if you don't let him talk (Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati), or if you do agree, the security costs $500,000.
This looks like a back-door way to defund higher education -- universities pay either way, and they have less money left to spend on actual education.
How it this even legal?
It comes from not having or following clear rules. Ohio State, i believe, is deny his request because no recognized student organization has asked him to speak. That will only last for so long, and if they've allowed someone else to speak who wasn't asked by a student organization, they'll lose the case.
What they could try is saying they will not allow private security on campus, and refuse to provide security at his event. But then they're risking the lawsuits from anyone injured.
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