There's battle lines being drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speaking their minds
getting so much resistance from behind

Friday, August 13, 2021

Linkee-poo Friday August 13

"The six were on the sand at Orchard Beach in the Bronx when they were struck during a fast-moving storm shortly after 5 p.m., according to the parks department and the fire department."

"Climate change, drought and high demand are expected to force the first-ever mandatory cuts to a water supply that 40 million people across the American West depend on — the Colorado River. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s projection next week will spare cities and tribes but hit Arizona farmers hard." Guess where much of our winter produce comes from.

"An excessive heat warning from the weather service remained in effect Thursday for much of western Oregon, except for some locations at the coast, and officials warned that 'heat can kill' in recorded messages sent out to residents Wednesday morning."

"To get a sense of how to do that and what to look for, NPR's All Things Considered spoke with Kristina Dahl, a senior climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, about which groups are most at risk, the early symptoms of heat-related illness and what cities and individuals can do to mitigate the risks."

"A new international study counters the common belief that our metabolism inevitably declines during our adult lives. Well, not until we’re in our 60s, anyway… Researchers found that metabolism peaks around age 1, when babies burn calories 50 percent faster than adults, and then gradually declines roughly 3 percent a year until around age 20. From there, metabolism plateaus until about age 60, when it starts to slowly decline again, by less than 1 percent annually, according to findings published Thursday in the journal Science." Note, this study doesn't directly measure metabolism, and it's not saying your body doesn't change over time, but just infers that your resting metabolic rate doesn't change much between 20 and 60 (on average). YMMV.

"More than 600 in-person students and staffers tested positive for COVID-19 in the first week of the academic year in Gwinnett County Public Schools… Of the 607 new cases, 539 were students and 68 were staff, according to the school system’s daily reports." Who could have known this would happen (except everybody with half a brain)?

"The divide between the vaccinated and unvaccinated when it comes to Covid-19 is likely to become even deeper, with officials in the U.S. and Europe planning, or introducing, an increasing number of restrictions on people who haven’t gotten a Covid shot… Almost all governments around the world have so far resisted making Covid vaccination mandatory for their citizens, although many have introduced forms of Covid vaccination certificates, passes or passports that allow the immunized bearer more freedoms and work opportunities than unvaccinated people." Wait until these people find out about how their credit scores and social media use also do the same thing. It's what's known as "consequences for actions (or inaction)." Listen COVID Chad, get the goddamn shot. (I originally used "COVID Karen", but thought a change was needed.)

"Twenty-seven people sailing on Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Vista ship have tested positive for COVID-19. Of those who tested positive, 26 are crew members and one person is a passenger, according to a news release from the Belize Tourism Board Wednesday."

"U.S. consumer sentiment dropped sharply in early August to its lowest level in a decade, in a worrying sign for the economy as Americans gave faltering outlooks on everything from personal finances to inflation and employment, a survey showed on Friday."

"Nearly all of the $600 million stolen in one of the biggest cryptocurrency heists ever has now been returned by hackers, according to the platform targeted in the hack… Poly Network said Thursday that all of the funds except $33 million worth of the tether digital coin have been transferred back." Piracy for the LOLs.

"'The one thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that whenever you spend cryptocurrencies to buy a cup of coffee, or any type of consumer item, that triggers a capital gains event,' said Shehan Chandrasekera, a CPA and head of tax strategy at CoinTracker.io, a digital currency tax software company that helps clients track their crypto across virtual wallet addresses and manage their corresponding tax obligations." Oopsie.

"The Taliban captured another three provincial capitals in southern Afghanistan on Friday, including in Helmand, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the past two decades, as the insurgents press a lightning offensive that is gradually encircling the capital, Kabul."

"A gunman in southwest England killed five people, including a young girl, before turning his weapon on himself, police say. It's the deadliest mass shooting in Britain in more than 10 years."

"When students in Newberg Public Schools show up for the first day of school next month, they may not see Pride flags, or flags reading 'Black Lives Matter.'… The school board voted Tuesday evening, four to three, to enact a ban on those flags, and any broadly 'political' signs, clothing and other items, with the board’s three-member policy committee set to outline what constitutes 'political.'" Can't wait for the inevitable "School Pride" versus "Political" discussions to come.

"'I didn't take it personally at all,' said Burns, speaking during PBS' portion of the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, touting his upcoming four-part series on boxing champion Muhammad Ali . 'We will take this on and we will figure out how to make it right and do a better job. I personally commit to that. ... How could you possible take umbrage at the idea there could be more empowerment, there could be more representation, there could be more stories told?'"

"The move, a significant escalation in the holdout, came a day after officers of the Texas House of Representatives served civil arrests warrants to the offices of more than 50 Democrats who have not retuned to the Capitol since fleeing for Washington, D.C., on July 12. Some have returned to Texas but remain absent from the state House of Representatives. "

"No racial or ethnic group dominates for those under age 18, and white people declined in numbers for the first time on record in the overall U.S. population as the Hispanic and Asian populations boomed this past decade, according to the 2020 census data."

It's the Daily Beast, but… "If you’re dismissing this as fear-mongering or click-bait, you probably missed Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House and renowned adulterer, espousing replacement theory rhetoric on Fox News earlier this week while talking to host Maria Baritromo, who always has time to offer a platform to dangerous conspiracy peddling. Speaking about Mexican immigrants coming to America during the pandemic, Gingrich said the 'radical left' wants to 'get rid of the rest of us” and would “love to drown traditional, classic Americans with as many people as they can who know nothing of American history, nothing of American tradition, nothing of the rule of law.'"

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