I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Friday, September 24, 2021

Linkee-poo Friday Sept 24

"Hurricane Sam formed in the Atlantic overnight and is expected to strengthen into a Category 4 storm, forecasters said Friday morning."

"In December, NASA will launch the most powerful telescope ever put into space. The James Webb Space Telescope will be able to study planets outside our solar system with unparalleled detail — including checking to see if their atmospheres give any indication that a planet is home to life as we know it."

"Fossilized footprints discovered in New Mexico indicate that early humans were walking across North America around 23,000 years ago, researchers reported Thursday… The first footprints were found in a dry lake bed in White Sands National Park in 2009. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey recently analyzed seeds stuck in the footprints to determine their approximate age, ranging from around 22,800 and 21,130 years ago." (Grokked from Dan)

"It's neither a bird nor a plane, but a winged microchip as small as a grain of sand that can be carried by the wind as it monitors such things as pollution levels or the spread of airborne diseases." But does it work, and can it actually gather and transmit data?

"Consumed by conspiracy theories claiming that doctors are preventing unvaccinated patients from receiving miracle cures or are even killing them on purpose, some people in anti-vaccine and pro-ivermectin Facebook groups are telling those with Covid-19 to stay away from hospitals and instead try increasingly dangerous at-home treatments, according to posts seen by NBC News over the past few weeks." JFC. I just can't. (Grokked from John Scalzi)

"Hospitals and nursing homes in New York are bracing for the possibility that a statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers could lead to staff shortages when it takes effect Monday."

"Two people in New Mexico are suspected to have died as a result of taking ivermectin, a medicine not proven to treat COVID-19, according to state health officials."

"As an infectious diseases physician and scientist, I have been working to find new treatments for patients since the pandemic's beginning. Here's a look at some of them, with one caveat: While these medications might help many patients, none substitute for the vaccine, which is still the best defense against the virus." Kinda click-bait type article, but with some good information on both the progression of COVID-19 and when to use different treatments.

"The falling water levels at Lake Powell, the second-largest man-made reservoir in the US, could make the dam's hydroelectric power generation impossible as soon as next year, according to new projections released Wednesday by the US Bureau of Reclamation… The new modeling shows a 3% chance that Lake Powell, which is located on the Colorado River from northern Arizona to southern Utah, could drop below the minimum level needed to allow the lake's Glen Canyon Dam to generate hydroelectricity next year… In 2023, the chance of a shutdown grows to 34%, according to the projection." Wut?

How goes Brexit? "A big factor behind the problems is a lack of truck drivers. The U.K. is short tens of thousands of hauliers, as factors including Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic converge to create a supply-chain crunch."

"Tens of thousands of Black girls and women go missing every year. Last year, that figure was nearly 100,000. Yet their cases hardly ever grab national headlines… A journalist in California is doing what she can to try to change that, by telling as many of their stories as she can — and hopefully helping them get the justice they deserve."

"A Republican state lawmaker in Florida is proposing a bill that would ban most abortions as early as around six weeks, allow members of the public to sue anyone who helps end a pregnancy beyond that point and fine physicians $10,000 for each abortion they perform later in pregnancy." Because of course they are.

"A former Louisiana State Police trooper has been charged with a civil rights violation for pummeling a Black motorist 18 times with a flashlight — the first criminal case to emerge from federal investigations into troopers' beatings of at least three Black men."

"A months long hand recount of Maricopa County’s 2020 vote confirmed that President Joe Biden won and the election was not 'stolen' from former President Donald Trump, according to early versions of a report prepared for the Arizona Senate… The three-volume report by the Cyber Ninjas, the Senate’s lead contractor, includes results that show Trump lost by a wider margin than the county’s official election results… The draft audit report says, however, the election results are inconclusive."

"The one ironclad rule of friendship with Donald Trump is this: Eventually, he will turn on you… That time came on Thursday for South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has sacrificed much over the past four years to ingratiate himself with Trump, in the wake of the release of 'Peril,' a book on Trump's final year in office." Because that is the truth of autocrats, everyone is on the chopping block eventually.

Tweet of my heart: @jackcalifano "When rich people can’t get everything they want at Whole Foods instantly it’s called 'supply chain issues' but when the working class people in Flint can’t take a shower for five years it’s an 'unfortunate reality'" (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)

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