a little.
Weird Al gets his Hollywood star. "'It's just an honor knowing that my name is going to be walked on, spit on and let's face it, urinated on, for generations to come,' he said." And then he went on to say, "'Please, please don’t pickax my star… I know it’s all the rage these days, but that’s not cool… Unless at some point in the future, I do something unfathomably monstrous and evil in which case, sure, fine, okay, go ahead. But anything short of that, please limit yourself to spitting and urinating, OK? Have some class, people.'"
"Spellbound… Explore the history of magic over eight centuries in this immersive and thought-provoking exhibition. The intriguing objects on display show how our ancestors used magical thinking to cope with the unpredictable world around them." At the Ashmolean at the University of Oxford. Ooo, I would so want to see that. And unfortunately Amazon says the catalog won't be available until Dec 31. I'll have to see how horrendous the shipping is from the museum. (Grokked from S.A. Chakraborty)
"Using more energy on a daily basis increases the chances of a species becoming extinct, with those that are more sluggish and use less energy being more likely to survive, a new study suggests." Survival of the fittest is not some Arnold Schwarzenegger type "alpha-male" dream. It's more correct to say "survival of the sexiest" in terms of preferential mating and those who can reproduce effectively. It also does not affect individual survival, just species survival. This is what's known as "even most 'science' reporters don't know shit about the science they're reporting on."
"The annual outbreak of algae called a brown tide has begun off the coast of western Florida and scientists are hoping it doesn’t meet up with the red tide that they’re already facing." Red tide is already as bad as it's ever been seen.
"Despite the surprise, Calver asked from his hospital bed whether his health insurance would cover all of this, a financial worry that accompanies nearly every American hospital stay. He was concerned because St. David's is out-of-network on his school district health plan. The hospital told him not to worry and that they would accept his insurance, Calver said." Single payer.
"How to tell if a comatose patient is actually conscious." I always assume they are if we have to take an x-ray. I know some of my fellow techs don't, but I always talk to them, introduce myself, and tell them what is happening. Sometimes I get responses, even if it's just their body relaxing as I move them. I've had an "unconscious" patient resist us positioning them and then have them relax when I explain what we are doing (some fake unconsciousness, but not all these patients were faking it).
"A shooting at a video game competition in Florida has left two people dead along with the suspect and prompted calls from gamers for more security at esports tournaments." So is it now time that we can talk about the Las Vegas shootings, since I'm sure it's too early for this one, right?
Who needs regulation? "On average worldwide, air pollution shaves a year off of human life expectancy, scientists report August 22 in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. In more polluted regions of Asia and Africa, lives are shortened by 1.5 to two years on average." During coverage of the Trump's administration rolling back clean air regulations and turning regulatory control back to the states I saw someone with a sign that I never thought I would see again. It was a sign warning about Acid Rain. See, way back in the younger days the state EPAs did have more power. But then we started seeing how pollution doesn't stay in one place, especially air pollution. And because the sources of the pollution weren't suffering the consequences of that pollution (at least not within their state boundaries), their EPAs couldn't do anything (and had no motivation to do anything). And that led to the East Coast suffering from Acid Rain, which killed fisheries, harmed forests, and began dissolving statues and buildings. It was only when Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky started seeing the same problem in their states (initiated by coal plants even farther West) that anything was really done. Because fuck those people in NY (until you decide to vacation there and realize the forests are dying and there are no fish to go fishing for). So that's why the federal EPA became stronger and why we passed clean air and clean water legislation. Because we were literally dying. But hey, that was the 70s and 80s. Nobody remembers that long ago (at least in the US).
Why was the Pope's visit in Ireland a little frosty? Well, it could have to do with the current child abuse scandal, but it could also be that Ireland has already gone through what we in the US haven't processed yet. "But for all these revelations — including this month’s Pennsylvania grand jury report on how the church hid the crimes of hundreds of priests — a darker history… remains all but unknown. It is the history of unrelenting physical and psychological abuse of captive children. Across thousands of miles, across decades, the abuse took eerily similar forms: People who grew up in orphanages said they were made to kneel or stand for hours, sometimes with their arms straight out, sometimes holding their boots or some other item. They were forced to eat their own vomit. They were dangled upside down out windows, over wells, or in laundry chutes. Children were locked in cabinets, in closets, in attics, sometimes for days, sometimes so long they were forgotten. They were told their relatives didn’t want them, or they were permanently separated from their siblings. They were sexually abused. They were mutilated… Darkest of all, it is a history of children who entered orphanages but did not leave them alive." Ireland had similar orphanages and Ireland had the Magdalene Laundries. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
"Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday urged the remaining signatories to its 2015 nuclear agreement to act to save the pact, though France’s leader called again for broader talks on Tehran’s missile program and its role in the Middle East region." If the other signatories of the pact go along, it will effectively isolate the US and deal a huge blow to our diplomatic standing. Note, Russia is another of the signatories. Also Iran is saying they can control the Straits of Hormuz and the US should leave. This is not our first rodeo here.
"North Korean officials have warned in a letter to the United States that denuclearization talks were 'again at stake and may fall apart', CNN reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter." Well, I've got news for you, it's not like the talks really began in the first place.
How go the Trade Wars? "Tariffs on goods from China imported into the United States will cost American consumers roughly $6 billion a year, according to a study commissioned by the National Retail Federation (NRF)… And, no matter what happens with the tariffs, actions already taken by manufacturers will lead to higher prices, according to Gold. He added that 'even if the administration decides not to impose the tariffs, higher prices are already on the horizon for American families.'" Remember all those Walmart Price Rollbacks? Ah, the good old days.
Marketplace answers the trade war question with www.areweinatradewar.com. Short answer: yes.
"The U.S. attorney’s case against (Rep. Duncan) Hunter and his wife, Margaret, alleges the couple used $250,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses and claimed some of them as charitable donations… In one example, the combat veteran-turned-congressman is accused of spending more than $200 at Dick’s Sporting Goods on personal items such as running shoes and marked the expense as a donation to an unspecified wounded warriors’ organization."
Yes, this administration does want to fuck you over and steal all the moneys. "The government’s top official overseeing the $1.5 trillion student loan market resigned in protest on Monday, citing what he says is the White House’s open hostility toward protecting the nation’s millions of student loan borrowers." The generation lost to this White House will devastate our government for the next 20 years. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Federal judges on Monday affirmed their earlier decision striking down North Carolina's congressional districts as unconstitutional because Republicans drew them with excessive partisanship… Acting under an order of the U.S. Supreme Court to re-examine the case, the three-judge panel ruled again in favor of election advocacy groups and Democrats who had sued to challenge the boundaries drawn in 2016."
"A little-noticed court case stemming from the apparent murder of a Columbia University professor six decades ago could keep special counsel Robert Mueller from publishing any information about the Trump campaign and Russia that he obtains through a Washington grand jury." IANAL, but IIRC the law guiding the special counsel requires them to provide all the information that gather along with their recommendations to the DoJ. If the DoJ fails to act on any recommendations, then by law the report is submitted to Congress. While working out two competing laws is the scope of the courts, I think Mueller's report will see the light of day in any case. To try and suppress it would be political suicide.
Tweet of my heart: @cocksailor centrists are conservatives who expect a thank you card (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
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