Linkee-poo if you're ever gonna find a four-leaf clover you gotta get a little dirt on your hands

Apparently Worldcon is asking people to dress more formally for the Hugos. The people aren't taking it well. What a rebellious bunch we are.

"When WAMU photographer Tyrone Turner got the opportunity to travel to Antarctica, he thought he would be fascinated with the continent's wildlife."

"Although the SLS is brand new, the multi-billion-dollar 98m-tall (322 ft) launcher will begin its journey at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a vehicle that is more than 50 years old. And, for the team charged with conveying the rocket the seven kilometres (4.3 miles) to the launchpad, the pressure is on."

They opened it. "Three weeks ago, archaeologists in Egypt found a massive black granite sarcophagus in Alexandria, untouched for 2,000 years - and fleet-footed rumour quickly got to work… it revealed three skeletons and red-brown sewage water, which gave off an unbearable stench." The skeletons were old, but the water was newer and possibly from a leaky sewer. And so far no plagues or blood rain, so I think we're good.

"A federal watchdog is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to strengthen its oversight of state drinking water systems nationally in the wake of the lead crisis in Flint, Michigan. The EPA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) says in a 74-page report that the agency must take steps now to be able to react more quickly in times of public health emergencies." Unfortunately the EPA is being hamstrung and dismantled by the current administration.

"In hospitals around the country, anesthesiologists and other doctors are facing significant shortages of injectable opioids. These drugs, like morphine, Dilaudid and fentanyl are the mainstays of intravenous pain control and are regularly used in critical care settings like surgery, intensive care units and hospital emergency departments."

"So, bacteria and phages (viruses) are locked in an arms race. The bacteria use crispr to defang the phages, and the phages use anti-crisprs to subvert the bacterial defenses. The only problem is that the anti-crisprs shouldn’t work." How do you take a defended beach? You throw more people at the enemy than they can kill. (Grokked from Kelly Swails)

The Airbus BulugaXL. "The jet is capable of taking off with a total weight of 227 tons. Carrying a full load of more than 50 tons, the lumbering plane's maximum range is 4,000 kilometers (about 2,485 miles)."

"A Canadian company is the first marijuana business to complete an initial public offering on a major U.S. stock exchange, raising $153 million to expand its operations as Canada prepares to legalize the drug nationwide."

"The National Football League and the NFL Players Association have agreed to suspend enforcement of new rules requiring players to stand during the pregame rendition of the national anthem, after a report that the Miami Dolphins would fine and/or suspend players for up to four games for violating the policy." Who would have seen that coming? (Everybody raises their hands)

The stock market is not the economy. "U.S. stock index futures declined after President Donald Trump said he is ready to put tariffs on every Chinese good coming to the U.S. if necessary."

"However, when it comes to auto tariffs, the domestic-foreign division doesn’t hold. The line between domestic and foreign auto companies, between who’d benefit and who’d be hurt by tariffs, is now much murkier than in the past."

"Can the yield curve predict recession, or is it a dated model? Planet Money explains." More on the yield curve as a predictor. Note the comments about market watchers saying, "this time is different", and that they've said that before. As of writing this the article is still just audio only. Hopefully they'll have a transcript soon.

"Fears that Brexit negotiators will not manage to reach an agreement before a legal deadline are growing, with regulators, politicians and market players calling for preparations to be stepped up." It's beginning to look like a "hard" Brexit.

Who needs regulations? "One in five working coal miners in central Appalachia who have worked at least 25 years now suffer from the coal miners' disease black lung. That's the finding from the latest study tracking an epidemic of the incurable and fatal sickness."

"A report from the U.S. Department of Labor on job opportunities and labor turnover, or JOLTS, showed there were more reported job opportunities than unemployed people in May. This suggests that the economy is dealing with a labor shortage, but that raises the question of where these workers will come from when current U.S. immigration policy is reducing the amount of immigrant labor." Note how wages, even in a tight labor market, stubbornly refuse to rise (well, that employers refuse to see the necessity of paying people a fair wage).

Dark money groups get darker. We'll no longer require these groups to submit lists of their top donors to the IRS. "Until now, tax-exempt groups under Section 501(c) of the tax code have had to identify donors of $5,000 or more on their annual tax returns." Note how conservatives like to bring up Unions in these discussions, but the majority of benefactors are conservative organizations. (Grokked from Christopher Moore)

"House Republicans claimed a political victory Wednesday after the House voted 244-35 in favor of officially supporting the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a vote intended to force Democrats to take a position amid calls from progressives to abolish the agency." Political stuntsmanship.

"British police examining CCTV footage have reportedly identified multiple Russian suspects believed to have carried out the March nerve-agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter."

"The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, based in Michigan, is running My Pay, My Say as a national campaign. The Freedom Foundation, with headquarters in Washington state, is targeting teachers in Oregon, Washington and California with the slogan, Opt Out Today… Other groups targeting teachers and public employees in specific states include: the Commonwealth Foundation, the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, the Center of the American Experiment, the Center for Union Facts and Americans for Prosperity… According to an analysis of tax filings by the website Conservative Transparency, the top contributors to the Mackinac Center specifically include the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, and the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative (formerly the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation). These are the family foundations of the U.S. education secretary, Betsy DeVos, and her husband's parents." Certainly you can trust anti-union organizations helping you make a decision to leave a union.

"For victims of crime on U.S. soil who are living here illegally, a special visa program encourages them to help solve their cases and catch criminals, and often provides their only clear path to citizenship… But as Republican President Donald Trump’s administration has taken a harder line on immigration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears to be stepping up the detention and deportation of people who have applied for the so-called 'U visa.'"

"But President Trump broke with that tradition, saying in a CNBC interview, 'I'm not thrilled' about the Fed's interest-rate hikes. 'Because we go up and every time you go up they want to raise rates again. I don't really — I am not happy about it. But at the same time I'm letting them do what they feel is best.'" No, Mr. President, you don't get a vote on their policy and that is by design.

"A small crowd that gathered Thursday outside the Los Angeles office of U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, to counter an expected protest by a self-styled militia group burned an American flag taken from the back of a pickup truck. The incident happened after the far-right Oath Keepers group didn't appear at the office after saying it would rally against the congresswoman." I wonder how much longer the right will talk of "civil war" when the realize the left won't be as easy a target as they fantasize?

"As European leaders grappled with the fallout from the Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin summit Thursday, Russian authorities took the opportunity to show off some of the new weaponry Putin boasted in March would render NATO defenses 'completely useless.'" Would be scary if it wasn't mostly fantasy. But it does show that Russia is serious about weapons development.

"This is a White House that prioritizes the scoring of points over the complexities of compromise. Sanders, on behalf of the president she works for—a happy warrior in a culture war… takes for granted an assumption that would be shocking were it not so common in the American culture of the early 21st century: There are things that are more important than truth."

NPR's take on Sarah Sanders' one year anniversary. As of writing this the article is still just audio only. Hopefully they'll have a transcript soon.

"The U.S. Government Accountability Office's report says VA whistleblowers are far more likely than their colleagues to face discipline or removal after reporting misconduct." This is my shocked face.

"Robert Mueller just submitted his list of evidence for the Paul Manafort trial and look whose name is all over the first 30 items… Tad Devine… Bernie Sanders' Chief Strategist." (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)

"Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have blocked a move to subpoena the American translator from the Helsinki summit to testify about the private talks between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin."

"Russian President Vladimir Putin’s request to U.S. President Donald Trump for a joint investigation of former U.S. officials sought by the Kremlin for 'illegal activities,' including a U.S. ambassador to Russia, is just the latest effort in a years-long campaign to undermine a U.S. law that imposes financial sanctions on Putin’s officials." And then there was this, "'We're playing with the bank's money,' Trump told CNBC. 'This is the time.'" Just a reminder, Trump's companies have declared bankruptcy six times.

"At first blush, it just looks like the bust of another Russian human trafficking operation, run by a husband-and-wife team with two kids and a pricey Miami condo… And then you look a little closer and it's a Manhattan Russian criminal enterprise run remotely from Trump Tower III in Miami." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)

"The same Russian intelligence agency charged with hacking Democrats’ emails in 2016 has targeted at least three candidates running for election in 2018, a Microsoft executive said." (Waves to my Russian friends) (Grokked from Joshua Parker)