Linkee-poo dragged a comb across my head

And more facebook leaking.

Inktober. (Grokked from Elizabeth Shack)

"Emergency crews are still trying to find victims of an earthquake and tsunami that struck Indonesia's island of Sulawesi, killing at least 1,200 people, according to local media citing government officials."

And now the third wave of disaster hits after Florence. "Some of the largest known mosquitoes in the world are creating a buzz across parts of North Carolina, and residents have Hurricane Florence to thank for it." Next up, diseases.

I'm assuming you've seen the video of the kayaker getting hit with an octopus flung from a sea lion. Turns out, sea lions like to play with their food.

"A Latin copy of the Gospel of John, the book was originally called the Stonyhurst Gospel, after its first owner, Stonyhurst College. It acquired its current name because it was found inside the coffin of St. Cuthbert, a hermit monk who died in 687 and whose remains, legend has it, were incorruptible. This supposed miracle inspired a cult that placed offerings around Cuthbert’s tomb. Just when and how the small book made its way into his coffin remains a mystery. It was likely sometime between the 700s and 800s CE, when his body was moved to Durham due to Viking raids." You should not read from the book… Sorry, wrong movie. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

"Tuesday, Oct. 2, marks the one-year anniversary of Tom Petty's death. Members of the prolific musician's family and longtime band have spent much of the past year listening to his early and unreleased recordings." Prince's estate has also released a new album of some early personal recordings as Prince worked out his songs.

The Trump administration's EPA justification for not increasing the cafe standards. We're boned. The long term forecast is for a 7 degree F rise (or 4 degree Celsius). And since there's nothing we can do that will make a difference (in isolation) we might as well do nothing. Understand that our species chance of survival of a 3 degree Celsius increase is below 40% IIRC. At 4 our extinction is almost assured. This report is predicting our extinction, and the Trump administration response is, "oh well." (Grokked from Matt Wallace)

"It’s rare for a tropical depression to hit Arizona, but that’s exactly what’s likely to happen early happen early next week as Hurricane Rosa’s remaining energy tracks across the Desert Southwest, delivering flash flooding risks"

"But following a winter in which more than 80,000 people died from flu-related illnesses in the U.S. — the highest death toll in more than 40 years — infectious disease experts are ramping up efforts to get the word out… 'Flu vaccinations save lives,' Surgeon General Jerome Adams told the crowd at an event to kick off flu vaccine awareness last week at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. 'That's why it's so important for everyone 6 months and older to get a flu vaccine every year.'"

"Last year, flu hospitalizations were the highest they’ve ever been; 106 out of every 100,000 people were hospitalized for the flu in the 2017-18 season, with people over age 65 accounting for 58 percent of those hospitalizations and 180 pediatric deaths."

"Immunologists James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo have won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their pioneering work in the relatively new field of cancer immunotherapy."

"Dangling from a balloon high above Antarctica, a particle detector has spotted something that standard physics is at a loss to explain… Two unusual signals seen by the detector, known as the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, or ANITA, can’t be attributed to any known particles, a team of physicists at Penn State reports online September 25 at arXiv.org." Something new has been added. My guess? They're neutrinos escaping from gate that opens to the homework of the monsters beyond spacetime (Lovecraft reference for those who don't know).

"A video released Thursday and taken by one of the two bouncing rovers currently on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu — over 200 million miles away from Earth — shows you (the surface of an asteroid)."

"When exposed to the sky, the porous polymer PDRC coating reflects sunlight and emits heat to attain significantly cooler temperatures than typical building materials or even the ambient air."

"For the first time, a case of rat hepatitis E has been discovered in a human in Hong Kong." Rhut rho.

"Similar things have happened across the Midwest and Mid-South over the past two years. From Mississippi to Illinois, people have noticed trees or other kinds of wild vegetation that show signs of damage from dicamba. The Environmental Protection Agency now has to decide whether farmers should be allowed to keep using this chemical in quite the same way. The agency's previous approval expires at the end of the year." Better living through chemistry.

"California Governor Jerry Brown signed a state-wide net neutrality bill into law on Sunday, only to be slapped with a Department of Justice lawsuit hours later… The California law would prevent Internet service providers from speeding up or slowing down access to certain types of content, or charging websites and apps to provide faster service. It’s intended to replace federal rules to the same effect that were repealed last December."

How's Jack Welch's legacy going? "General Electric, mired in a deep slump, has ousted CEO John Flannery after barely a year on the job." I guess that focus on the financial services while gutting the manufacturing prowess wasn't a good long term bet.

"Tesla Inc. shares surged in pre-market trading Monday after Elon Musk agreed to settle fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the weekend in a deal that will allow him to remain CEO of the company he founded, even as he is forced to step down as chairman of the board."

"A new online data tool being made public Monday finds a strong correlation between where people are raised and their chances of achieving the American dream."

How go the Trade Wars? "The new pact, which is being called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, is a major step toward completing one of Trump’s signature campaign promises and gives the president a concrete policy win to tout on the campaign trail this fall. It also sets the stage for what is sure to be a high-stakes fight to get the agreement passed by Congress before it can become law." And they're looking to sign the deal by late November… but Congress won't take it up until next year… um, anyone else see the problem here?

"China has canceled a security meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis that had been planned for October, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday, days after a top Chinese official said there was no reason to panic over tensions between the countries." Meanwhile the US Navy is conducting "freedom of navigation" exercises in the South China Sea.

"The US is currently home to close to 13,000 detained migrant children, the largest population ever. Today (Sept. 30), The New York Times reports that in recent weeks a growing number of them have been moved, often in the middle of the night, from foster homes and shelters all over the country and transported to a tent city in Tornillo, Texas, a remote location near the Mexican border." You might call that a "concentration camp."

"Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote — after Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake asked for Kavanaugh's nomination to be delayed on the Senate floor by one week in order to ask for an FBI investigation." There's no promise that McConnell won't schedule a vote without an FBI investigation. There's also no promise the White House will ask for an investigation.

"Graham is elevating the stakes of the Kavanaugh hearing. No longer is this about Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, or what he may have done to her in suburban Maryland in 1982. It’s about beating back the challenge from feminists and people of color demanding a seat at the table; it is about showing that white men in power are not going anywhere — that they will not listen, will not budge, and will not give ground to #MeToo or the Black Lives Matter movement."

"'False in one thing, false in everything…'" A run down on Kavanaugh's testimony. The judge is a liar, and a bad liar at that. And that he would choose to lie about such an obvious and easily explained thing. "We were stupid teen-boys bragging to each other. I grew up." But he hasn't. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)

"Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said underoath that he had 'no connections' to Yale prior to attending, arguing that hard work and ambition were the sole factors leading him to study at the prestigious institution of higher education… However, that statement is verifiably untrue. In fact, Kavanaugh would be classified as a legacy student, because his grandfather Everett Edward Kavanaugh also attended Yale as an undergraduate student, The Intercept reported on Saturday, sharing an image of a 1928 yearbook." Privileged white guy can't recognize his own privilege. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

"Instead of investigating Swetnick's claims, the White House counsel’s office has given the FBI a list of witnesses they are permitted to interview, according to several people who discussed the parameters on the condition of anonymity. They characterized the White House instructions as a significant constraint on the FBI investigation and caution that such a limited scope, while not unusual in normal circumstances, may make it difficult to pursue additional leads in a case in which a Supreme Court nominee has been accused of sexual assault." The original motion was to run a limited investigation, but the parameters being put on the FBI may make it difficult to even do that investigation. It's an attempt to come to the pre-ordained conclusion. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)

"If a man claims to be innocent, but does things—like carefully manipulate words to avoid giving clear answers, or lie about the evidence—that you probably wouldn’t do if you were innocent, then testimony alone can substantially change our confidence in who to believe." (Grokked from Fred Clark)

"New signs emerged Sunday that the administration is taking steps to make sure the probe is narrow and focused -- as Republicans seek to forestall further delays to the confirmation process or another erosion of the judge's position."