Sorry for the late links and not a lot of material from today, alligators overboard.
"Green energy advocates may soon be turning blue. A new membrane could unlock the potential of 'blue energy,' which uses chemical differences between fresh- and saltwater to generate electricity. If researchers can scale up the postage stamp–size membrane in an affordable fashion, it could provide carbon-free power to millions of people in coastal nations where freshwater rivers meet the sea." But it's hella expensive right now.
"While this season may peak on the early side, the most unusual aspect is that it's being driven by an influenza B strain. This isn't necessarily good or bad, just unusual."
"America is one of the only developed countries in the world that pays people to donate blood, much of it sold abroad (70% of the world's plasma is of US origin), and as commercial blood donations have soared, blood now accounts for 2% of the country's exports -- more than corn or soya." JFC. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley.
"New Zealand has ordered 1,292 square feet of skin to treat patients injured in Monday's volcanic eruption on White Island, authorities said Wednesday… A total of 47 people were on White Island, off the coast of North Island, when the eruption occurred. Six have been confirmed dead, while 25 people are currently hospitalized in critical condition. Search and recovery operations are continuing for those still missing and presumed dead on the island." That's a lotta skin.
"At least three patients died on Wednesday after hundreds of lawyers besieged a cardiac hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, for hours — attacking doctors, guards and other staff and setting several vehicles ablaze, officials said." Don't piss off the lawyers.
"Within the next few weeks Chrome will roll out a feature that lets you know immediately with a pop-up if you enter a password that's been compromised somewhere, and prompts you to change it everywhere you use it. (Yes, they see you reusing passwords across different sites even though we all know it's data hygiene 101 to never do that.)"
"To counter the growing sophistication of computer attacks, Intel and other chipmakers have built digital vaults into CPUs to segregate sensitive computations and secrets from the main engine computers use. Now, scientists have devised an attack that causes the Software Guard Extensions—Intel's implementation of this secure CPU environment—to divulge cryptographic keys and induce potentially dangerous memory errors." Better shield meet better sword.
"Greta Thunberg is Time's 2019 Person of the Year."
"Documents obtained by NPR shed new light on a bitter fight between defrauded student borrowers and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos." Yes, the Secretary overruled her career staff. Gee, I wonder if her own personal interests got in the way of loan forgiveness? You know, until she was personally sued for that decision.
"After many insurers agreed to sell plans on the Obamacare marketplace, Congress enacted a provision in an appropriations bill… seeking to prevent the government from making most of the payments under the risk corridor program. The question in Maine Community is whether the government is still obligated by the Affordable Care Act’s original promise to make these payments, or whether the rider effectively ended the requirement." A Lanister always pays their debts.
"India could be set to pass a bill that would give Indian citizenship to immigrants from three neighboring countries -- but not if they are Muslim." Bad Idea™.
How go the Trade Wars? "House Democrats and the Trump administration agreed to tweaks on the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, paving the way for its implementation." NAFTA v2. Depending on which side you listen to it's either a major update or just some minor tweaking (for both the changes the Democrats won and for the whole deal). Also, Mexico welcome your new middle-class. I know the provision for cars must mostly be assembled by people making $16/hr is being sold as a "Jobs back to the USA" provision, but paying Mexican workers $16 is still cheaper than paying US workers $16/hr (most unions have higher rates, also there's healthcare and Social Security/Medicare employer contributions).
"A group of doctors seeking to provide detained migrants with free flu vaccinations say they were arrested by federal authorities on Tuesday. They had been protesting outside the Border Patrol's San Diego headquarters over the immigration agency's resistance to their bid… It is unclear what exactly they were detained and cited for." Your tax dollars at work. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"The Pentagon’s inspector general is launching an 'evaluation' of the Trump administration’s military deployments to the U.S.-Mexico border, the watchdog office announced Tuesday."
"A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from using $3.6 billion in funds allocated by Congress for military construction projects to help pay for a wall on the southern border… U.S. District Judge David Briones of El Paso ruled the administration's use of an emergency proclamation last February to divert those funds to the border wall is unlawful." To the Supreme Court we go.
"Parnas had told the Justice Department officials responsible for making arrangements for bail after his October arrest that he and his wife had about $450,000 in total assets and income, prosecutors said in a Manhattan federal court filing Wednesday night. In actuality, prosecutors said, Parnas had more than three times that amount — including a $1 million payment from a Russian bank account in September of 2019." Again, sure a lot of fucking Russians around these days. Article was linked in a tweet from Chris Murphy who states, "Let me decode this for you… The guy Trump was relying on to help him get Ukraine to destroy the Clintons and Bidens was being paid - handsomely - by RUSSIA." (Grokked in a roundabout way from Gabriel Novo)
"Gearing up for an impeachment trial in the Senate, President Donald Trump and his top advisers are considering expanding his legal team and bringing on controversial attorney and professor Alan Dershowitz, multiple sources told ABC News." It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas… (Grokked from Eric VanNewkirk)
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