State of the book publishing business, from the prospect of new writers. "In 1990… the universe of books available for a person to buy or for a store to carry was pretty much defined by 'Books in Print'… At that time, the total was in the mid six figures, not more than 500,000 titles… That means each new book brought out by a publisher was competing against a universe of half-a-million other books… As we begin 2020, Ingram’s Lightning Source has about 18 million titles in its Lightning print-on-demand database, ready to be printed and delivered to you tomorrow. Of course, there are duplicates to consider and some junk in there too, so let’s say that there are actually 15 million discrete titles. There are also more than 750,000 titles in stock in Ingram’s warehouses, most of which are not reflected in the POD database… So each new book brought out by a publisher today may be competing against 15 million other possible titles. The competitive set has grown by as much as 30 times." Fuuuuuuu-ck. The good news is that those titles are not evenly disbursed among genres, but the overall market pressures on publishers (not distributors or sellers) is not a very good development (and is another example of late stage capitalism, where codependent industries have competing interests and don't believe that the survival of the the other parts of the industry that feed content and materials is really any concern of theirs, until they find themselves alone in the supply chain). (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
It's a wave… "Our solar system resides in one of the Milky Way galaxy's spiral arms, and for the first time, astronomers have realized we're close to a giant wave-shaped gaseous structure that connects star nurseries."
"For three decades, Georgia and Florida have been battling over how to share a precious resource: water. Georgia has it, and Florida, which is downstream, says it's not getting its fair share. The dispute is once again headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Florida wants the justices to cap Georgia's water use. But a court-appointed special master recently rejected that idea."
"The Australia wildfires are a countrywide catastrophe, mainly caused by drought and extreme heat, but dozens of people are directly to blame for some of the problem, officials say… Police have charged at least 24 people for intentionally starting bushfires in the state of New South Wales, according to a statement the New South Wales Police released Monday." Fuckers.
"The Silicon Valley-based startup that launched the Impossible Burger in 2016 is tackling another meat. At CES 2020 in Las Vegas on Monday, the company debuted Impossible Pork, a plant-based substitute designed to mimic ground meat from pigs. It'll launch Impossible Sausage later this month with a new Burger King partnership, this time in an Impossible Croissan'wich."
"The writer Ada Calhoun has talked to a lot of Generation X women about the angst they might be feeling as they hit midlife."
"Drugmakers including Pfizer Inc, GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Sanofi SA are planning to hike U.S. list prices on more than 200 drugs in the United States on Wednesday, according to drugmakers and data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors." While the hikes are mostly below 10%, they're all above the rate of inflation (yes, I understand the statistical fallacy I made there). Trump and his Grima Wormtounge (Mitch McConnell) have helped stop legislation meant to lower prescription drug prices. Also, I'm willing to be these increases are mostly this "small" because it's an election year (sort of like how the increase in oil prices should have sent gas over $3/gallon, but didn't). (Grokked from Christopher Moore)
"Cancer death rates in the United States took their sharpest drop on record between 2016 and 2017, according to an analysis by the American Cancer Society… 'It seems to be driven by accelerating declines in lung cancer mortality,' Siegel says. That's 'very encouraging, because lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., causing more deaths than breast, colorectal and prostate cancers combined.'" Don't worry, the vaping craze will help those number bump back up in a decade or two.
"Fueled by influencers peddling extreme diets on social media, Murphy began following a raw diet mostly comprised of fruits and vegetables, and shied away from any situation where she couldn’t control what she ate, even if it meant isolating herself socially." Most eating disorders are really about control. "'(O)rthorexia,' or an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food" is no different.
"It need hardly be said that these fads were and are (at best) a waste of time and (at worst) a set of expensive distractions. But open plan offices are worse. Much worse. Why? Because they decrease rather than increase employee collaboration." As anyone who worked in creative communications (where this "fad" was spearheaded coughOgilvycough) could have told you in the 90s. Seriously. I can work in the most chaotic space because I've learned how to go into my own head as my office space. You could be yelling in my face and if I was listening to something else, or reading something it's like you aren't even there. When I listen to podcasts or audiobooks I often have to rewind because I'll realize that even though I had headphones on, and the volume was loud enough to drown out all other noise, and I haven't processed a single word of it because I was reading something else or focused of design issues. (Grokked from Xopher Halftongue)
"The most buzzed-about company at CES 2020 doesn’t make a gadget you can see or touch. It doesn’t even have a product yet. But for reasons I’m still not entirely sure I grasp, the lead-up to this week’s show in Las Vegas was dominated by discussion of a project called Neon, which has emerged from a previously unknown Samsung subsidiary known as STAR Labs." Vaporware comes to AI, and they're all a buzz about it. I've seen enough tech demos that went absolutely nowhere. Neon has all the same hallmarks.
"The United Methodist Church announced a proposal Friday to split the denomination over what it called 'fundamental differences' regarding its beliefs on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy." So the people who believe gays are icky can still attend a church that supports that belief. Because they realize they were about to lose the majority. It won't work.
How's that "robots will replace workers if they demand $15/hr" thought going? "'In a little over a year, pizza-making robot startup Zume has gone from getting $375 million from SoftBank, to pivoting to food packaging through an acquisition, to raising at a reported $4 billion valuation, to its latest: laying off 80 percent of its employees,' writes Natasha Mascarenhas at news.crunchbase.com." Robots aren't ready, food prep and delivery are not exactly unskilled labor. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
How go the Trade Wars? "Borden Dairy, one of the oldest milk processors in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy on Monday, making it the second large milk seller in nearly two months to restructure amid rising raw milk costs and lackluster consumer demand." Note in these stories there is no mention of how our trade wars with Canada and China have hit the dairy industry hard. (Grokked from Dan)
"California has gone through several difficult fire seasons in recent years. Now, some cities are investing in unconventional fire prevention methods, including goats." It still tickles me pink that goat herders have figured out how to get people to pay them to feed their goats. But there's a lot in there about invasive species management and how the water cycle affects these actions.
"Millions of Taiwanese are preparing for key elections this weekend — and some are even flying back by plane to vote." Because they have to.
Welcome to the new decade! "Disinformation For Hire: How A New Breed Of PR Firms Is Selling Lies Online." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"Facebook says it's banning many types of misleading videos from its site, in a push against deepfake content and online misinformation campaigns." Uh, yeah, Bob. "But Facebook isn't banning all deepfake videos. It will allow the technique to be used in parodies or satire, and it will also allow clips that were edited only to cut out or change the order of words." So, basically they're not (or at least not going to ban the examples we've already seen). Waits for the inevitable sociology experiment showing just what they'll ban and what they won't.
"Did Mike Pompeo declare, 'We will continue to fight these battles. It is a never-ending struggle ... until the Rapture.'" Yes, yes he did, but in the context of changing the social mores of America. Our Secretary of State is a dominionist (or at least sympathetic to their cause).
"An elected official in metro Phoenix resigned Tuesday, months after being charged with running a human smuggling operation that paid pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to give up their babies in the U.S." Guess which party he belongs to. It's no fun unless you guess.
"The Kentucky Republican said Tuesday that he has locked down sufficient backing from his 53-member caucus to pass a blueprint for the trial that leaves the question of seeking witnesses and documents until after opening arguments are made." I wonder if this is within the phillibuster rules? And since it's getting lots of media attention, the argument "'All we’re doing here is saying we’re going to get started in exactly the same way that 100 senators agreed to 20 years ago," as stated by Mitch McConnell is a completely bullshit political argument. If you want to accept this as actual procedure, that Roe v Wade is settled law and has been for 40 years. You're new SCOTUS can't change it, Mr. Speaker.
"The Selective Service question on the FAFSA form caused a stir on social media over the weekend, with students concerned over a potential draft after the U.S. airstrike in Baghdad." Settle down people, it's been the law since the 80s. The government is just making it easier to comply.
"A 2010 UN report on 'targeted killings' said there was a weighty body of scholarship that viewed the self-defence argument as having the right to use force 'against a real and imminent threat when the necessity of that self-defence is instant, overwhelming, and leaving no choice of means, and no moment of deliberation.'" And so far our evidence for such is classified as "weak sauce."
"Iran has launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. military and coalition forces, targeting at least two military bases in Iraq, the U.S. Defense Department announced late Tuesday." Launched from Iran so there was no mistaking the action, and at a distance where Iran would have good targeting control.
"Satellite photos taken Wednesday show that an Iranian missile strike has caused extensive damage at the Ain al-Assad air base in Iraq, which hosts U.S. and coalition troops."
"Yet Wednesday morning's missile strikes against al-Asad airbase and Erbil airport -- both of which play host to US troops -- were clearly not an act designed to kill the most Americans possible." So while much of American Media will probably play this about the even-handedness, clear mind, and "instinctual" calculations of Trump that he could push this far and not all the way into war, my guess is the international media will talk about how the Iranians demonstrated how they are the adults in the room.
"President Trump just finished addressing the nation on the Iran crisis. The President spoke for about 10 minutes and didn't take questions from reporters afterward." He said Iran is backing down, uh, sure, Mr. President. And that he's enacting new, stricter sanctions on Iran. Really, WTF is left to sanction?
"President Donald Trump is planning an Iowa rally in the days before the Democratic caucuses there, according to people familiar with the plans." Because, mumble mumble, Democrats badmouthing the president and that message has to be countered.
"A new book looks at the many untruths on which the Trump administration has been built. It's called 'American Oligarchs: The Kushners, The Trumps And The Marriage Of Money And Power.' Author Andrea Bernstein spoke with our co-host Ailsa Chang." They're criminal organizations, and dismissing their criminality with "everybody does it" and "it was necessary" is an example of privilege and white washing.
"Ivanka Trump’s appearance at a major technology conference in Las Vegas has been met with a backlash from industry figures, who denounced her 'privilege' and lack of tech qualifications." But she was there to talk about the future of jobs, you know, something she knows nothing about having never really held a job that required work. From what I could find her talk was mostly platitudes, buzzwords, and promotional material for her Dad.
"A clear majority of people living outside the U.S. do not trust President Trump to do the right thing in world affairs, with fewer than one-third expressing confidence in him — an opinion also reflected in attitudes toward America generally, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center… However, the metrics have improved somewhat for the president since a similar survey two years ago, increasing to 29% expressing confidence from 22%." I winder what the numbers would show if they repeated the surgery now?
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