Linkee-poo hears the talking of the dj, can't understand, just what does he say

Today was moving day for the office, as in I was moved into a new office. I haven't had an office for almost 3 decades. I don't know if I know how to act in here. But not much new for the links, sorry.

"Using observations from several telescopes, Yale University astronomer Pieter van Dokkum and colleagues studied 10 bright clumps of stars within the galaxy, known as globular clusters, and measured their velocities. The more mass there is in the galaxy, the faster the clusters should move around it. So if dark matter were present, the clusters should cruise at a relatively rapid clip. Instead, the clusters were moving slowly, indicating a dark matter–free zone."

"Authorities in Florida are asking for help in finding a commercial real estate agent who owes more than $500,000 in child support and has mysteriously vanished while paddleboarding on the ocean, according to police and court records." This is like the start of one of those cottage-detective mysteries. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)

"Few except the cognoscenti knew the modernizing language was even there when Congress passed it last Friday. Titled the CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data), the statute was attached to the 2,232-page, $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill."

"'Further, Cosmo targets young girls by placing former Disney stars on its covers, despite the enclosed sexually erotic articles which describe risky sexual acts like public, intoxicated, or anal sex in detail. Customers should not be forced to be exposed to this content when they are trying to check-out at the store.'" And there we get to the heart of it. The corruption of the youth. Those poor kids are getting brainwashed. And I understand, and in some ways I agree that the content can run to the "try these 21 new sexual positions" in bold type (also, there really ain't nothing new, just new to you). The glamor shots for the cover do bend toward the "sex sells" side (and are heavily photoshopped). But frankly, for "morality content" I have a lot more problems with the National Enquirer, the Globe and the like which are often more explicit with their rumor mongering, but have less provocative photography.

Government should not be outsourced. "Some early red flags were raised a few years ago by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO investigated the TEACH grant program and noted that teachers were improperly having their grants taken away. At least 2,252 grants were erroneously converted to loans by the servicer." Gee, I wonder if the loan servicer had a financial interest in converting these grants (which they'd get only a few dollars a month) to loans (which I'm guessing they then get to service for a much better return). Government should not be a profit making enterprise.

"Schools in the UK have been put on lockdown amid a major safety alert after an email threated to 'run down and shoot' children." (Grokked from Emma Audsley)

Let's put up more cameras, let's allow the government to scan our faces at ports of entry, what could possibly go wrong? "Last April, the industrial capital of Shenzhen installed anti-jaywalking cameras that use facial recognition to automatically identify people crossing without a green pedestrian light; jaywalkers are shamed on a public website and their photos are displayed on large screens at the intersection." How's your AR-15 going to help with that? (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

"The Supreme Court justices seemed to grasp the problem of gerrymandering in oral arguments Wednesday and that it will only get worse, as computer-assisted redistricting gets even more refined… But they appeared frustrated with what to do about it — without becoming the constant police officer on the beat." There are now two cases with both parties in the crosshairs (for one of the suits). The arguments for each, however, differ between equal protection and free speech.

"As a cognitive scientist, one of the questions that most fascinates me is whether and how fake news affects people's attitudes and behaviors. This is a question for social science, with a particular role for social and cognitive psychology."