John Scalzi one that Author's Guild salary survey. "But perhaps the immediate lesson one should take from this is that if you’re hoping to be an author, you should probably keep your day job as you do it." John's a smart guy who gives some great commentary and historical framing for what a lot of people are taking from that survey.
"(Canadian poet Christian) Bök has written a poem, 'The Xenotext', which he is inserting into the DNA of a particularly resilient form of bacteria, Deinococcus radiodurans. This extremophile bacterium can survive exposure to cold, dehydration, acid and vacuums, meaning it could live on in outer space should the Earth cease to exist." This was a plot line of a short story I wrote (that was never accepted) as a neophyte author (which I believe was already used in a story by someone else) about panspermia and encoding messages to the descendents in their DNA. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"The FDA is warning consumers to not eat and throw away any Bauer's Candies, covered in chocolate or caramel. The report said a worker at the Lawrenceburg, Kentucky facility tested positive for hepatitis A."
"Seventy million miles (110 million kilometers) away, Earth appears as a white dot in the lower left, with the moon an even smaller dot but still clearly visible."
"The research, published on Jan. 10 in Nature, provides some tantalizing new evidence about the way a black hole evolves once it gobbles up a star. The major takeaway for the team was the the black hole's corona was shrinking."
"One of the premier cameras on the Hubble Space Telescope is no longer working and NASA shut down the camera while the issue is investigated, NASA said on Tuesday."
"Scenes From Underground." (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
"In the medieval ages, nuns also produced the famously laborious and beautiful books. And some of these women must have been very good, if they were using pigment as precious and rare as ultramarine." And some of them were highly sought after for production. I know this from art history. How is it this is "lost" knowledge (except that it's not in the mainstream culture)? There is also the question of how this precious material made it into her mouth. While use of mortar and pestle to grind the rocks was common, so was masticating to achieve a finer grind (and to mix materials). So, yes, it could be from using her tongue, teeth, and spit to bring their brush to a fine point, it's also probably the result of known production processes of illumination materials.
"A team of scientists in Brazil and Ireland have published an opinion paper arguing exactly that point: that new gene editing techniques could make it easier to engineer spicy tomatoes. But they’re after more than just spicy tomato sauce." Well actually what they're looking at doing is using the tomato plant as a bio factory to produce capsaicin in the way we use tobacco to produce pharmaceuticals and other bio-molecules. Note the warning about CRISPR use and then notice how you don't see that caveat in other stories involving the use of CRISPR technology to edit genes.
"For the population to reproduce itself at current numbers, the “total fertility rate” needs to be 2,100 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age over their lifetime, researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in their report, released early Thursday. But the latest data show a current rate of just 1,765.5 per 1,000, or 16 percent below the number needed to keep the population stable without additions through immigration." Oh noes. Unleash the misogynist xenophobes decrying about the loss of white babies (caucasians are the population seeing the greatest delays in child birth). Release the propaganda machines! Note there's no discussion about how reduction of population may actually be a good thing.
"Carmaker Ford has announced plans for a major shake-up of its operations in the UK and mainland Europe… It is expected to lead to thousands of job losses across Europe, including the UK, although cuts at its UK factories are not thought to be imminent." It totally doesn't have anything to do with Brexit.
"U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, who is overseeing (California's PG&E) after a 2010 gas pipeline explosion, said the company should be required to "remove or trim all trees that could fall onto its power lines" and reinspect its grid."
"A federal judge in Iowa says it's no longer a crime to go undercover at factory farms, slaughterhouses and any other ag-related operations. The 2012 law was a clear violation of the First Amendment, the judge said."
"A transgender woman says she was sexually assaulted in a North Carolina bathroom last month, according to police records…Jessica Fowler, 31, and Amber Harrell, 38, have both been charged with sexual battery and second-degree kidnapping in connection with the alleged incident on Dec. 9 at a bar in downtown Raleigh."
The company you keep. "After the 2016 presidential election, teachers across the country reported they were seeing increased name-calling and bullying in their classrooms. Now, research shows that those stories — at least in one state — are confirmed by student surveys." So while the report doesn't connect the bullying to Trump becoming president, they do relate that those counties who voted for Trump also report lots of bullying and intimidation.
"Turkey will go ahead with an offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters in Syria if the United States delays the withdrawal of its troops from the war-torn country, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said." Good thing we're respected around the world or some countries may threaten to kill our troops. Oh, wait…
"One of the very few government-owned tourist attractions that's still open is just a few blocks away, in the clock tower of the historic, 1899-vintage Old Post Office building. Three park rangers are on duty, guiding visitors up two elevators and onto an observation deck that provide dramatic views of downtown Washington… The Old Post Office is owned by the federal government, which leases the building to the Trump International Hotel, itself operated by President Trump's Trump Organization." Nothing to see here, citizen. Move along.
"It's the second death of an adult male at Buck's home in the last couple years. In July 2017 a man identified as Gemmel Moore was determined to have fatally overdosed at the same location, authorities said. Buck, 64, was present at the time of both incidents." It's a political story because Edward Buck is a prominent donor to the Democratic Party.
"On Wednesday morning, Trump complained that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sends billions of dollars to California to fight fires that are the result of poor forest management." Note the federal government owns and manages much of the land where the fires were.
"Last year, the Davos scene was marked by grand entrances and ambitious power politics… A year later, many of the same leaders who preened in 2018 are licking their wounds in a world where the outlook seems a bit darker and economic fears are rising."
"In recent months, thousands of migrants have gathered in Tijuana, hoping for asylum in the United States. Some will be deported before ever stepping foot in the U.S. Others will be detained by U.S. immigration authorities as they wait for their hearings."
"President Trump abruptly halted spending talks at the White House Wednesday, after congressional Democrats again rejected his demand for a $5.7 billion border wall." I don't think Republicans remember what negotiation actually means.
"President Donald Trump is set to travel to the southern border Thursday as he continues to make his case for building a barrier along the southern border amid an ongoing partial government shutdown triggered by the president's demand for a border wall."
"A Washington, D.C., law firm that has represented Russian interests and the Republican Party in a fight over Hillary Clinton's emails now is involved in an effort by a mysterious foreign-owned company to avoid complying with a subpoena believed to be related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, a report Wednesday said."
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