"Scientists have recorded the thunderous sound of 1.5 million fish mating in Mexico. One of the loudest noises produced by any underwater animal, the Gulf corvina’s machine-gun mating call can deafen dolphins and sealions." Because SCIENCE! The article, while it has a video, the video isn't about the sound. Because apparently nobody would actually want to hear the sound, or I'm assuming that's the logic in the Newsweek editors meetings.
"From A-list celebrities to teachers, doctors, lawyers, and journalists — there are social norms that govern our decisions, whether we realize it or not." The Hidden Brain podcast with social clues and how those who are in remain in. Also a lot on signaling.
"There’s an old joke that there are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who know binary, those who don’t, and those who didn’t see a base three joke coming." Building trenary computers. (Grokked from Dan)
Racism does hurt. "According to the most recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for every 1,000 live births, 4.8 white infants die in the first year of life. For black babies, that number is 11.7."
"As more and more of our lives play out online, so do crimes. This has prompted major tech companies to start growing internal crime-fighting cyber teams, often staffing them with former law enforcement agents." Go West, young man.
"The White House has said it will be shutting down its website for petitions from midnight on Tuesday until a new one is set up in late January." It's coming "real soon now."
"Three different agency employees, in different jobs, from three different cities, but each encountered a similar outcome: Federal records show that within a matter of days, requests were submitted for copies of emails written by them that mentioned either Mr. Pruitt or President Trump, or any communication with Democrats in Congress that might have been critical of the agency." The beatings will continue until moral improves.
"Republican lawmakers hoped to put the bill over the goal line a day earlier but hit a procedural hurdle after the House claimed victory on a 227-203 vote Tuesday afternoon. The Senate passed the bill with some slight tweaks in the early hours of Wednesday morning on a party-line vote, 51-48." Because the House Leadership doesn't know the rules (ie. they don't know how to actually govern), they'll have to vote on it again today. "The GOP has long sought a big overhaul of the tax code to simplify it by eliminating complex tax breaks and lowering rates, but in the end, the tax bill did not do much to actually simplify the code." Of course it didn't. This is a tax cut for companies and the rich. No need to simplify in that case.
So here I'm going to make my economic prediction. Without the tax bill chances are we will see a recession (two quarters of negative GDP growth) in 2018. With the tax bill, that recession will be deeper than it would have been. I predict a rapid growth of automation (software and robotics) sending many people to the unemployment line beginning in August or October (the tax bill actually makes this advantageous with it's one-year depreciation of capital expenditures). Congress will say to tame the deficit we need to reduce Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid even though none of those programs contribute to the deficit (and are paid for by taxes other than the income tax).
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