Took NyQuil much too late last night. Still fighting off the effects.
"A demonstration of the limited edition Holographic Vinyl Soundtrack to Star Wars The Force Awakens." (Grokked from Rodney)
"As more executives accused of sexual harassment are being ousted from companies around the nation, including NPR, many are rethinking whether human resources departments are willing or able to handle the job of fielding and investigating complaints. Many have grown skeptical, after recent news stories suggesting some HR departments knew of issues, but failed to adequately respond. Many others have lost faith in HR through experiences of their own." I've worked in places where it was known that you never go to HR with a problem, and for places where HR will work for the employees. It also usually came down to what kind of issue was being brought to their attention.
Well, there's Flint and then there's the Navaho Nation. "When she was pregnant, Nez and her children drank from a spring, located on Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona, with uranium levels at least five times greater than safe drinking water standards…" Tell me again how nuclear power doesn't have environmental impact.
"Mattel unveiled its first hijab-wearing Barbie doll on Monday, modeled after fencer Ibtihaj Muhammed, who has broken ground herself as the first U.S. Olympic athlete to compete in the head scarf."
The Hidden Brain podcast Eyes Wide Open Part 2. Sleep as the "Swiss Army Knife" of health. A little on using sleep to process information as well as the connect between sleep deprivation of poor health (including the statement of how getting 1 single night's 4 hours of sleep reduces your immune system's "natural killer" cells - which fight cancer - by 70% the next day). Sleep has been linked to several instances of cancer, and the WHO considers nighttime shift work as a possible carcinogen. Sleep is the most "non-productive" time according to modern culture, except if it weren't necessary evolution would have cut it back a long time ago. I'm screwed.
"Passengers on a morning train on the Tokyo region's Tsukuba Express line might not have noticed anything was amiss Tuesday. But when their train left Minami-Nagareyama station, it did so 20 seconds ahead of schedule — and when the company noticed, it issued an apology to customers." Imagine a travel system that leaves on-time (or just a little early). Image a travel system where the people in charge apologize for any inconvenience you may experience in the timing of the trip.
"On Monday, in a medical first, Brian Madeux received an experimental in-body gene-editing treatment intended to cure him of Mucopolysaccharidoses II, known as MPS II or Hunter syndrome, a rare disorder that causes progressive damage to the body's cells." While I think this method is the first of its kind, but IIRC this isn't the first time we've tried to edit the DNA of a living human. As I remember a while back they tried to "correct" a patient's lungs which had a deadly side-effect and the patient, after showing initial signs of improvement, died of persistent pneumonias.
Once more unto the breach, my friends. Once more. "Senate Republicans now plan to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate as part of a tax overhaul bill." Also as someone who works with the ED (emergency department), you never known when you're going to be in an accident or you might feel incredibly healthy when you go in for something unrelated and get a diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer. I've seen people in the 20s get that diagnosis, you're never too young.
"A Houston-area sheriff said Wednesday he's concerned the driver of a truck displaying an expletive filled message against President Trump and those who voted for him is creating a situation that could lead to confrontations with people offended by the sign." Who's the snowflake?
"There are a lot of anxious graduate students at universities around the country right now… That's because to help pay for more than $1 trillion in tax cuts for U.S. corporations, the House Republican tax plan would raise taxes on grad students in a very big way. These students make very little money to begin with. And many would have to pay about half of their modest student stipends in taxes." This will pretty much end advance degrees for US citizens (unless you're already wealthy - hint, there's a reason this system is in place).
"Richard Cordray, the embattled director of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced Wednesday that he will leave the agency by the end of November." Hello Governor Cordrey. Sad he's leaving, but his term was up next year anyway.
"Magazine publisher Meredith Corp. reportedly is again in talks to acquire Time Inc., this time with financial backing from the billionaire Koch brothers." We're in the midst of another round of media "consolidation" which coincides with the Trump Administration rolling back regulations on how many media outlets into markets any one organization can own. Isn't that fantastic?
"It was initially thought that five people had died in the incident, including Neal. But Johnston said in an update on Wednesday that an additional body had been found — Neal's wife. He said that her body was found under the floor in Neal's home, and that police believe it's 'what started this whole event.'" Funny (not really) how a lot of mass kills start with domestic violence. It's almost like domestic violence was a precursor.
"Republican women who voted for President Trump in North Carolina said during a focus group Wednesday night that they are embarrassed by and exasperated with him." Thanks for coming, please take a seat in the back as the meeting is already under way. Yep, some people are finally coming to realization that Trump is all hat and no cattle. But there's also a lot of "better than the alternative" and "both sides are the same" in there. (Grokked from Dan)
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