Promotions and added responsibilities at Tor and Forge books. Congrats everybody. And thanks for all the fabulous reading. (Grokked from about everybody in the SF/F universe)
"In the middle of every March, the SXSW Music Festival fills Austin, Texas, with thousands of musicians from around the world. It's a marathon so daunting — it's a marathon and a sprint, really — that even longtime SXSW veterans need a hand winnowing the festival's countless discoveries down to digestible doses." The NPR Austin 100 songs.
"What's more, that cosmic chill may have come from previously unknown interactions between normal matter and mysterious, so-called dark matter, according to two new reports in the journal Nature." The early universe appears colder than first thought.
"The same is true for the theoretical Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter black hole we are visiting. The accelerating expansion of the universe essentially ‘cancels’ the time dilation experienced while falling into the black hole under certain conditions. This would, in theory, allow an observer to pass through the Cauchy horizon and exist in a non-deterministic world where their past no longer determines their future. For all intents and purposes, crossing this threshold obliterates the observer’s past by opening up an infinite number of possible futures." Of course this is only true for a charged, non-rotating black hole and it would still be impossible to return to normal space-time once you pass the Cauchy horizon (ooo, I smell the next new SF catchword). So while it's possible to exist, it's not probable to exist (and could only be studied from the outside through the use of mathematics). And, if I'm reading this correctly, once past the Cauchy horizon you would exist in this state with all of the other people who may have crossed that horizon at any time in the past or in the future. My brain hurts. (Grokked from Dan)
"The back-and-forth came days after (West Virginia Gov. Jim) Justice reached a tentative pay deal with union leaders that provides for a 5% pay raise the first year. The agreement was designed to end the strike and send teachers back into the classroom, but the bill has stalled in the state Legislature." So back to the picket lines.
Remember when the right was all upset that then candidate Obama said, "They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations"? Yeah, about that. "Hundreds of crown-wearing worshipers clutching AR-15 rifles drank holy wine and exchanged or renewed wedding vows in a commitment ceremony at a Pennsylvania church on Wednesday, prompting a nearby school to cancel classes. With state police and a smattering of protesters standing watch outside the church, brides clad in white and grooms in dark suits brought dozens of unloaded AR-15s into World Peace and Unification Sanctuary for a religious event that doubled as an advertisement for the Second Amendment." Now we can argue that because the ceremony was lead my one of Rev. Moon's children that the third and fourth claim of the quote don't apply here, but that's just nitpicking. (Grokked from Laura J. Mixon)
"For decades, social scientists and other researchers have pointed to a profound, and purposeful, lack of federal funding for gun research and a lack of federal data-gathering on guns as enormous impediments to studying gun violence. The federal government has spent much less on research into gun violence than on similarly lethal issues, such as motor vehicle crashes, liver disease and sepsis." The result of the Dickey Amendment. It's time to end the inclusion of that amendment into spending bills.
"Plans for a speedy Senate vote on gun legislation crumbled Thursday as Senate leaders announced plans to move on to long-planned banking legislation, while congressional Republicans struggle to make sense of President Trump's wishes on guns."
Of only we could stop all those leakers who are bad, bad people (narrator voice, "Nobody really wants to stop leakers"). "Senate Intelligence Committee leaders have accused Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee—led by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA)—of leaking private text messages from Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the New York Times reports." So it's a leak of a leak about leaking (makes pee-pee tape joke here). Rep. Nunes is not a trustworthy source nor should he hold office. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Scientists say diabetes is five separate diseases, and treatment could be tailored to each form." Well it's that they found 5 types of patients and reasons why they had diabetes (split between Type 1 and Type 2) and the potential prognosis of each group was a little different. And again, this is a preliminary study conducted on a very small group of people from a homogenous source. "The study was only on Scandinavians and the risk of diabetes varies considerably around the world, such as the increased risk in South Asians."
"(Stand-alone surgery centers) started nearly 50 years ago as low-cost alternatives for minor surgeries. They now outnumber hospitals as federal regulators have signed off on an ever-widening array of outpatient procedures in an effort to cut federal health care costs… Thousands of times each year, these centers call 911 as patients experience complications ranging from minor to fatal. Yet no one knows how many people die as a result, because no national authority tracks the tragic outcomes." Sometimes attempting to cut costs is putting patients at risk. Now the vast majority of surgeries at these centers do not have complications, but the centers are getting approved for more complex surgeries which carry higher risks.
"A bipartisan group of senators and House members has been working since last summer toward measures to keep prices from rising out of control and undermining the individual market—the market that serves people who don't get insurance through work or through the government. Members hope to attach a package of fixes to what should be the year's final temporary spending bill, due late this month." Yeah, I'm not holding my breath either.
"Early Friday, Trump took to Twitter to defend himself: 'When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don't trade anymore-we win big. It's easy!'" He really is stupid. There are some bad actors, and if you want to stop them your tariffs have to be more targeted. On the other hand, that's one way to bring up revenues to pay for the tax cuts. Unfortunately most modern nations have found they can't fund themselves through import and export tariffs (that went out in the 19th Century). But steel and aluminum production are strategic resources and we need to maintain a strong domestic production capability. However, this move coming from someone who bragged about using Chinese steel in his own building projects is a little disingenuous. Also, nobody wins a trade war (that's a lesson we learned in the mid 20th Century).
"Cybercriminals exposed millions more people's personal information in the Equifax hack than the company reported last September." This is my shocked face.
"A French official in Paris confirmed that an assault against the embassy was under way, as well as against the Burkina Faso army headquarters."
"President Trump promised steel and aluminum executives Thursday that he will levy tariffs on imports of their products in coming weeks. He said the imported steel will face tariffs of 25 percent, while aluminum will face tariffs of 10 percent." Yeah, I'm sure this time it'll work.
"Republican U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin on Thursday blamed former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for not stopping Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election -- even though she held no government office at the time." The Republicans are singing their favorite song, "Blame Clinton." (Grokked from Katheryn Cramer)
We don't need our elected officials to divest for their business dealings. "US counterintelligence officials are scrutinizing one of Ivanka Trump's international business deals, according to two sources familiar with the matter." Dear Trump administration officials, besides putting distance between yourself and any damaging optics and ethics, you can also avoid every business dealing being gone over with a fine tooth comb. (Grokked from Katheryn Cramer)
"A prominent Kremlin-linked Russian politician has methodically cultivated ties with leaders of the National Rifle Association, and documented efforts in real time over six years to leverage those connections and gain access deeper into American politics… These revelations come amid news that the FBI is investigating whether Torshin, the deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to assist the Trump campaign in 2016, McClatchy reported in January."
Take a deep breath, you're gonna need it. "The U.S. Navy corrected a Fox News contributor on Thursday who said that Navy SEALs were unable to breach prototypes for the proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall in test scenarios… No Navy SEALs were involved in the testing of prototypes for the border wall, a spokesperson for Naval Special Warfare Command told the San Diego Union-Tribune." Hahahahahahaha… (See, I told you you'd need it).
"So the weather is something to keep an eye on, and since 1870 what's now known as the National Weather Service has been doing that. But for the last several years, it's been doing so with serious staff shortages… Now, it faces the prospect of permanent job losses… The Trump administration wants to eliminate 355 jobs, and $75 million from the Weather Service budget." What could possibly go wrong? Not enough FBI agents, not enough IRS employees, not enough State Department employees… Government is not a business, it can't be "run" like one (also note how many businesses fail every year).
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