"Barbara Remington, the illustrator who created the most widely recognized covers for J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Hobbit” — which she quickly executed before she even had the chance to read the books — died on Jan. 23 in Susquehanna, Pa. She was 90."
"Another 70 cases of the coronavirus infection have been confirmed aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, currently quarantined in Japan, according to Japanese health officials… Approximately 400 U.S. citizens are aboard the Diamond Princess. According to Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 44 Americans on the cruise ship have been infected, though not all are sick."
It's Spring which means *checks notes* it's time for the flooding. "With the waters in the Pearl River continuing to rise in and around Mississippi’s capital city and more rain on the way this week, the governor warned residents that it would be days before flood waters start to recede."
"In love, timing is everything, the saying goes. The same is true for fruit and nut orchards in California's Central Valley, which depend on a synchronized springtime bloom for pollination. But as winters warm with climate change, that seasonal cycle is being thrown off." The same thing is true for the maple syrup industry.
"The noise of shipping vessels traveling through northern Canadian waters is causing Arctic cod to sacrifice much of their foraging and feeding in order to flee the area until ships move away, researchers report." May not seem like much, until our food supply is jeopardized.
"Efforts to stem the tide of teen vaping seem to be a step behind the market. By the time Juul pulled most of its flavored pods from the market in October of 2019, many teens had already moved on to an array of newer, disposable vape products."
"One of the strongest storms in modern history is pummeling the North Atlantic and western Europe with massive waves and hurricane force winds. The system's name is Dennis and it comes less than a week after storm Ciara helped power a British Airways flight to a new trans-Atlantic speed record over 800 mph."
"In November, the WHO launched a pilot program to boost the availability of insulin worldwide. The idea is to work with insulin manufacturers to increase the global supply — and in the process, potentially drive down the price of the treatment. Since then, seven pharmaceutical companies have shown interest in participating in the program."
"But as this (Indiana) city of 4,100 recovers (from it's HIV output), much of the rest of the country fails to apply its lessons. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deemed 220 U.S. counties vulnerable to similar outbreaks because of overdose death rates, the volume of prescription opioid sales and other statistics tied to injecting drugs… Yet a Kaiser Health News analysis shows that fewer than a third of them have working syringe exchanges." The failure of Mike Pence continues to affect lives. And I'll just point this part out because it's important. "Austin had no addiction treatment centers and just one doctor. Dwindling government funding in 2013 led Planned Parenthood in nearby Scottsburg to close after years of providing HIV testing and education."
"A black student at Eastern Illinois University returning from an out-of-state tournament with his teammates and coaches said several police officers handcuffed him, pointed a gun at his head and threatened to blow his head off in what turned out to be their search for a wanted suspect." Post-racial society my ass. (Grokked from Michele)
"The Facebook founder stated that despite the rise in disinformation, 'we have been able to improve defence at a faster rate than the adversaries have improved the offence'." Well, Mark, that's because you 1) started from zero and 2) haven't really forced your "adversaries" into a position where they've had to change. Or to put it another way, all this hard work you're doing (or supposedly doing) isn't having an appreciable effect. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Welcome to Coffeyville, Kansas, where the judge has no law degree, debt collectors get a cut of the bail, and Americans are watching their lives — and liberty — disappear in the pursuit of medical debt collection." Medical debtors prison, and people killing themselves rather than suffer it's indignities. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
The continuing politicization of the DoJ. "According to a person familiar with the discussions, Barr personally spearheaded an effort last year to negotiate a settlement with the bank that would have allowed it to sidestep an indictment after Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pressed Trump in a bid to avoid charges. Berman, however, insisted on criminal prosecution, according to the people familiar with the matter." (Grokked from Michele)
"More than 1,110 former Justice Department officials who served in Republican as well as Democratic administrations posted a statement Sunday calling on Attorney General Bill Barr to resign." It's time to fall on that sword, Bill.
"Bernie Sanders won New Hampshire’s Democrat primary with just over one-quarter of the vote… So why are many center-left Democrats worried that the self-described democratic socialist is the favorite to win the nomination?" So you're (or supposedly we are) worried that the process is working as designed? Look, democracy is messy. It's supposed to be messy. That's the whole point.
"Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for New York bail reforms to be given a shot and urged people to 'slow down a bit' on criticizing the changes as she launched her 2020 re-election bid."
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