Appears all my Russian friends are back. Waves to all my Russian friends.
"Americans hoping to connect with other Americans on social media after the deadly school shooting in Florida may find themselves mired in a surge of content from Kremlin-linked accounts… 'It's information war out there and social media increasingly becomes a battlefield of political adversaries ambiguously foreign and domestic,' David Carroll, an associate professor of media design at the New School, said in an email." (Grokked from Katheryn Cramer)
"Each new breaking news situation is an opportunity for trolls to grab attention, provoke emotions, and spread propaganda. The Russian government knows this. Fake-news manufacturing teenagers in Macedonia know this. Twitter bot creators know this. And thanks to data-gathering operations from groups like the Alliance for Securing Democracy and RoBhat Labs, the world knows this." While I'd like to believe the end of that last line, sadly it's not true. Not everyone pays attention to these things. (Grokked from John)
Also, unfortunately, as these tactics become more widely known domestic actors and lobbyists are getting in on the disinformation/chaos champaign.
"A father in Indianapolis last week accused his wife of feeding their child bleach to help cure her autism - something his wife had read about in a Facebook group." People will reach for anything that seems to help, but don't take medical advice from the internet, especially strangers on social media. Snake oil salesmen were slightly better by selling either alcohol or opioid infusions.
"Love is complicated, scientifically speaking. There's no single, specific 'love chemical' that surges through our bodies when we see our beloved, and we can't point to a specific corner of the brain where love resides." A love song about the neurological science.
"Researchers discovered that people who eat more ultra-processed foods have a higher risk of cancer. Such foods are the ones with unrecognizable and unpronounceable words on the list of ingredients — anything from the candy that turns your tongue blue to healthier-sounding canned soups packed with artificial flavors, additives or emulsifiers. Most food is processed to some degree, but ultra-processed foods are typically much more calorie-, sodium- and sugar-packed." Processed foods are bad for you, unfortunately they are cheap and sometimes the only foods people can afford or have access to.
Dan Wells talks about his own involvement in the #MeToo movement. "Recanted accusation or not, I found some stuff I need to work on. Not a long history of abusive behavior, but a tune-up on boundaries, and on thinking before I speak." Yep. Those who are conscious of themselves will look at others and wonder, "Am I doing the same thing?" either for good or bad. Just like some people experience the feeling of getting the best comeback line something like 2 hours after they could have used it, I often review my actions and try to see all sides and how I might be coming off. Sometime I realize I was a dick and didn't mean it (other time I realize I wasn't nearly enough of a dick for the circumstances). And then I adjust my behavior going forward. Again, I'm not perfect. If I'm being a dick for no apparent reason (or if I'm making you uncomfortable) call me on it. If I'm inclined I'll give you my reasons or apologize. Also a note, while probably not in the case, not all "recanted" stories are false. It could be that the barriers and work about reporting just became too much. (Grokked for Dave Klecha)
"Under Title III of the ADA, private businesses must ensure new buildings are accessible and remove barriers in older buildings where it is 'readily achievable'—a standard that considers the cost of the change and the resources of the business. For example, a major hotel chain might need to spend several thousand dollars to make a few of their rooms accessible, but a small business might only be expected to spend a few hundred dollars to grind down a three inch lip into a doorway, or to put a ramp up two stairs. Now a group of businesses led by the owners of large shopping malls have persuaded more than 100 representatives to introduce H.R. 620, the so-called 'ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017.' This legislation would require people with disabilities who encounter access barriers at a business or facility to become legal experts on the code, to provide “notice” to the business of what code they are violating, and to wait six months or longer. And this isn’t even for the business to actually fix the problem—just for the business to make 'substantial progress' towards accessibility." Because why the fuck not. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
"The leader of a white supremacist group said on Thursday that the suspected gunman in one of the deadliest school shootings in modern American history was a member of his group and had participated in paramilitary drills." There is some dispute on this matter, though. (Grokked from John)
Steve Inskeep's (NPR) opinion piece on the Florida shootings.
The National Pipeline Mapping System. (Grokked from Dan)
"More than 130 political appointees working in the Executive Office of the President did not have permanent security clearances as of November 2017, including the president’s daughter, son-in-law and his top legal counsel, according to internal White House documents obtained by NBC News." It doesn't take this long for a security clearance. If they don't have one by now, it means they don't qualify.
"The chiefs were not sure Priebus got the message. 'I caught the eye of several of the others and we exchanged worried expressions,' one Republican in attendance remembered. 'He seemed much too relaxed about being able to navigate a difficult job. I think he struck a lot of us as clueless.' Another was even more blunt about Priebus’s nonchalance: 'He was approaching the job like it was some combination of personal aide and cruise director.'" Priebus gives an interview about his time as Chief of Staff.
"FCC boss Ajit Pai is being investigated by his own agency over potential corruption allegations." While nice I'm not holding my breath even if they find Chairman Pai coordinated his efforts to help Sinclair. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"As an example, Barnet recounted on incident from October at the airport in Atlanta. An individual approached Pruitt with his cell phone recording, yelling at him '"Scott Pruitt, you’re f---ing up the environment," those sort of terms,' Barnet said." Hey, I got an idea, Scott. Stop fucking up the environment and you won't have to worry about it. But seriously, people shouting unpleasant things isn't exactly a security problem, that's a PR problem. (Grokked from Fred Clark)
"LiFT is the only sex education program available in her rural community of Shelton, Wash., she says… But come July, LiFT will be gone. The Trump administration cut off the grant funding for it when the Department of Health and Human Services eliminated the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program." They're going all in for abstinence only programs which have been shown to be non-effective in preventing teen-age pregnancy. Tell me again how both parties are the same and let me laugh in your face. Also, apparently there's an app for sex ed.
"H7N4, a new type of bird flu." The article give a lighthearted but decent description of how flus are categorized and named with a little of how viruses change over time.
"Then the bill came." A case example of profiteering in the medical field where a post-op urine test generated a bill for $17,850. Always ask what test is being performed and (while I hate hate hate this) make sure it's done "in network" for your health insurance (some insurance plans force patients to use a specific lab network which is hardly ever convenient, but then some doctors own labs and make more profit from ordering tests there). But, again, the best way to control costs is enact single-payer insurance.
"In a new paper from the Harvard Law Review called 'Are We Running Out of Trademarks?' NYU law professors Barton Beebe and Jeanne Fromer analyzed millions of trademark applications filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and found that it is becoming increasingly harder to find good names for our companies." This was also a big problem in the 90s. Or in other words, the more things change the more they stay the same. The article also include some top-level tips for choosing a trademarkable name.
"McDougal describes their affair as entirely consensual. But her account provides a detailed look at how Trump and his allies used clandestine hotel-room meetings, payoffs, and complex legal agreements to keep affairs—sometimes multiple affairs he carried out simultaneously—out of the press… On November 4, 2016, four days before the election, the Wall Street Journal reported that American Media, Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, had paid a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for exclusive rights to McDougal’s story, which it never ran. Purchasing a story in order to bury it is a practice that many in the tabloid industry call 'catch and kill.'" (Grokked from Katheryn Cramer)
"As winter settled over Washington, Trump implored senators in mid-January to cut a deal — even if it contained 'things I'm not in love with.' But as senators got to work on a simple agreement to protect Dreamers and boost border security, Trump made new demands. His 'four pillars' — including politically toxic reforms to the diversity lottery and family migration that Democrats could never get behind — became the GOP benchmark." That's the problem with "moving the goal posts" or running government like a business (this is exactly how Trump runs his business and is a standard management practice to get "buy-in" by being general and then switch to your hard-line position once you've obtained that buy-in). "'So, as long as Steve Miller is running the White House and Tom Tancredo is in charge of DHS, we’re going nowhere fast,' Graham said." That too.
"Former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates is reportedly close to finalizing a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller." Shoes are still dropping.
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