"Shots were fired Monday morning at the Earle Cabell federal courthouse in downtown Dallas just before 8:50 a.m. Monday morning, officials said. Law enforcement returned fire and the shooter was hit by gunfire." Aw man, and we were this close to being able to talk about gun violence.
Apollo 11 in real time. (Grokked from Dan)
"Most people think of water as existing in only one of three phases: Solid ice, liquid water, or gas vapor. But matter can exist in many different phases—ice, for example, has more than ten known phases, or ways that its atoms can be spatially arranged." Wait, back up the truck.
"The federal government kills thousands of coyotes every year to keep them from preying on livestock and big game. But some wildlife biologists say killing coyotes isn't actually the best way to control them… In fact, some studies show that if you kill off a lot of coyotes, they breed even more." It worked with wolves, didn't it? Whispers, coyotes are more of a problem because we slaughtered so many wolves. It gave the coyotes an opening they exploited. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
"NASA's Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) is currently scheduled to launch on June 24 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket as part of a technology-testing mission dubbed STP-2. GPIM, a small, box-shaped spacecraft powered by green technology, will test out a low-toxicity propellant in space for the first time, according to NASA. The clean propellant, a hydroxyl ammonium nitrate fuel/oxidizer mix called AF-M315E, will serve as an alternative to hydrazine, a highly toxic compound used in rocket fuel to power satellites and spacecraft."
"Have you seen video of that theme park ride that’s been going viral? Not to pop anyone’s balloon, but the video is totally fake. It’s a great computer-generated animation." Who knew the first major "deepfake" (this really isn't one, but just go with me here) of 2019 would be about an amusement park ride. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
"… Genius alleges that Google has been copying its lyrics for years and posting them directly on Google Search, thus preventing visitors from going to its own site. And Genius says it hid a Morse code message within the lyrics to prove Google was doing it." Use of correct apostrophes and foot marks is one of my pet peeves (and one of the things I hate about the internet, I don't use them properly here because I've seen blogger throw errors with their encoding from ASCII).
Ah, our post-racial society. "An African-American Boeing employee has filed a federal lawsuit against the aviation company alleging racial discrimination after he said his coworkers hung a noose over his desk… Curtis Anthony alleges in the lawsuit that his colleagues at the North Charleston, South Carolina, Boeing plant also used the n-word and urinated on his desk. He is suing over discrimination on the basis of race, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violations of the Family Medical Leave Act and breach of contract."
From 2012, but still true. "Want A Better Economy? History Says Vote Democrat!" The article rambles a bit as the author tries to reconcile a lifetime of conservative "free market" indoctrination with reality. Long time readers may remember when I looked at just stock market performance since Truman to settle the question around the statement "business is better with Republicans in charge." No. It's not. (Grokked from Ellen Kushner)
"A former Southern Baptist pastor who supported legislation in Texas that would have criminalized abortions has been arrested on charges of child sex abuse, accused of repeatedly molesting a teenage relative over the course of two years."
"Attorneys for local governments across the country unveiled a plan Friday that they say would move the nation closer to a global settlement of lawsuits stemming from the deadly opioid crisis."
How goes Brexit? "Boris Johnson got a boost in his campaign to replace British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday when one of his former rivals and EU supporter Matt Hancock backed him saying he was almost certain to win the contest."
"A Republican lawmaker recently elected to the California state Senate sparked criticism this week for only appearing to invite Christians to a town hall, Action News Now reported Friday." Because that's totally acceptable for some reason. The organizers say "everyone was invited" in the same way churches will tell you everyone is invited to services. (Grokked from Xopher Halftongue)
"The U.S. military released a video Friday it said showed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded limpet mine from one of the oil tankers targeted near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, suggesting Tehran wanted to hide evidence of its alleged involvement." Or, you know, they wanted to trace the mine back to the owners themselves.
"Iran will break the uranium stockpile limit set by Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in the next 10 days, the spokesman for the country’s atomic agency said Monday while also warning that Iran could enrich uranium up to 20% — just a step away from weapons-grade levels." Good thing we backed out of that agreement, then.
"Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a new settlement in the Golan Heights named after his 'great friend' Donald Trump." He's such a suck-up. And while it's just a sign at this point, the optics of the development on land considered to have been annexed illegally and which will probably be overpriced and inhabited by people who are hated by their neighbors has just the right ring to it.
"President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is cutting ties with some of its own pollsters after leaked internal polling showed the president trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in critical 2020 battleground states, according to a person close to the campaign." So it's fake news, and "ancient" news, but we're going to fire those people who leaked it anyway. IMHO, this was a planned leak meant to tip the scales toward Biden (who has many faults which could be exploited).
Poor little rich boy. "In total, Trump faces at least 15 criminal or civil inquiries by nine federal, state and city agencies into his business, his charity, his campaign, his inaugural committee and his personal finances… As he launches his campaign for a second term on Tuesday, Trump doesn’t plan to avoid talking about the investigations. Unlike most other candidates who face allegations of wrongdoing, he hopes to use them as part of a strategy that he hopes will help win him re-election."
"Trump also claimed over the weekend that he’s presided over one of the best U.S. economies ever. He’s wrong about that, too." Fact checking the president. You know, in 2021 there are going to be a lot of fact checkers out of work. Trump's job program for fact checkers will no longer be necessary.
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