Linkee-poo is looking to see if it was you

Just a note that a posted a second set of links late yesterday.

"A Virginia federal court has made a decision that photographers won’t be happy to hear: the court ruled that finding a photo on the Internet and then using it without permission on a commercial website can be considered fair use." Yeah, I don't think that's going to hold up on appeal. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

"Spiders have no wings, but they can take to the air nonetheless. They’ll climb to an exposed point, raise their abdomens to the sky, extrude strands of silk, and float away. This behavior is called ballooning." And it requires using the Earth's electrical fields. The world is weirder than you think.

"Astrophotographer Damian Peach created an animation showing the dramatic effects of the global dust storm that has plunged the Martian surface deep into darkness."

"Three days ago, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration teamed up with NASA in the hopes of finding leftover chunks of a meteorite which slammed into the ocean way back in March. NASA had a pretty good idea of where the space rock impacted the ocean, but actually finding any debris was still a long shot. Now it’s beginning to look like the expedition has paid off."

Just because it's been linked to by lots in my timelines, "A pride of lions ate a group of poachers who broke into a game reserve earlier this week in South Africa to hunt rhinoceroses." Well done, ladies.

"In one recent survey, Wayne Chappelle and Lillian Prince, researchers for the School of Aerospace Medicine at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Fairborn, Ohio, drew on interviews that they and other colleagues conducted with 141 intelligence analysts and officers involved in remote combat operations to assess their emotional reactions to killing. Far from exhibiting a sense of carefree detachment, three-fourths reported feeling grief, remorse and sadness. Many experienced these 'negative, disruptive emotions' for a month or more. According to another recent study conducted by the Air Force, drone analysts in the 'kill chain' are exposed to more graphic violence — seeing 'destroyed homes and villages,' witnessing 'dead bodies or human remains' — than most Special Forces on the ground." Yes Virginia, drone pilots also get PTSD. There is no clean way of killing. And just like other examples of PTSD, some people get it, some don't. While there's been a contemporaneous connection between PTSD and TBI, PTSD was never really about being "shell shocked." As they say, it's a "moral wound." Something that betrayed your inner moral compass either by act, or failure to act. Modern warfare, by design, is cruel and vicious. Part of engaging in war is to break the opposition's spirit for fighting. Tanks were originally designed to be so frightening that opposing troops would immediately surrender. If you have been here a long time you've seen me pontificate that drone warfare is perfect for the "War on Terror" (also note, I strongly disagree with how our drone program has been handled). When done well, while not "surgical" it is precise and it has the elements of shock and surprise. But that psychological impact isn't a precise effect either. Both sides experience the trauma. It's just that hopefully you've trained your side to be accustomed to the kind of warfare you are engaging in. Unfortunately there is very little training you can do to handle killing another person, when you see them as a person, even in self-defense. (Grokked from Sheila)

How go the Trade Wars? "The (Chinese) government said previously it would hit more than 500 US export items — including cars and major agricultural goods such as soybeans and meat — worth the same as the Chinese products targeted by the United States." And then we get to, "But Trump… described the potential escalation to reporters aboard Air Force One: 'Thirty-four, and then you have another 16 in two weeks and then, as you know, we have 200 billion in abeyance and then after the 200 billion we have 300 billion in abeyance. OK?' Trump said. 'So we have 50 plus 200 plus almost 300.'…That amount is higher than an earlier threat from Trump to target as much as $450 billion of Chinese exports. It's also bigger than the $506 billion of goods that the United States imported from China last year." Yeah, so we're going to somehow impose tariffs on more trade products than what we import, let that one sink in a little.

"In 2017 nearly every stock market around the world was up, and the term 'synchronized global growth' was trending among investors. Now with markets around the world teetering on correction levels — from Argentina and Brazil to Germany, India and China — and White House officials saying President Donald Trump will proceed with his trade war regardless of stock market impact, many wealthy investors see the stock market hitting a short-term wall and they are increasing their focus on short-term investments." (Grokked from N. K. Jemisin)

"Before he resigned on Thursday, Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, was facing new questions about whether aides deleted sensitive information about his meetings from his public schedule and potentially violated the law in doing so… Last summer one of his senior schedulers, Madeline G. Morris, was fired by Mr. Pruitt’s former deputy chief of staff, Kevin Chmielewski, who said he let her go because she was questioning the practice of retroactively deleting meetings from the calendar. Mr. Chmielewski has emerged as a harsh critic of Mr. Pruitt after a bitter falling out that led to his departure from the agency as well."

"The economy has now been adding jobs for nearly 8 years — its longest streak on record. The U.S. is considered at near full employment, and the biggest challenge in the job market is the lack of available workers — a record 6.7 million jobs remain unfilled. In many industries, including trucking, construction, and information technology, this labor shortage is becoming increasingly acute."

"Republican lawmakers who went to Russia seeking a thaw in relations received an icy reception from Democrats and Kremlin watchers for spending the Fourth of July in a country that interfered in the U.S. presidential election and continues to deny it." Russian state TV mocked them. On twitter at least two of them tweeted out photos of them at the capital listening to fireworks (no, I'm not kidding). (Grokked from Joshua Parker)

"Records linking children to their parents have disappeared, and in some cases have been destroyed, according to two officials of the Department of Homeland Security, leaving the authorities struggling to identify connections between family members." But it's not their fault, at least according to them. "'Any confusion is due to a broken immigration system and court orders. It’s not here,' (Alex Azar, the secretary of Health and Human Services) said." Nope, Sec. Azar, I'm pretty sure it's your fuckup. Also note, the rank and file workers are stepping up to do the job. You know, the people the GOP vilify as lazy.