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

Monday, October 25, 2021

Linkee-poo Monday Oct 25

"When The Electric Company debuted in October, 1971, television hadn't seen anything quite like it. Psychedelic graphics, wildly creative animation, mod outfits, over-the-top characters and sketch comedy all functioned to serve the same goal: teaching kids to read."

"'This is a big moment for crabs.'" Ah, high school. Oh, wait, no, this story is about the crab found in amber. Nevermind.

"The World Meteorological Organization reported Monday that greenhouse gas concentrations hit a new record high last year and increased at a faster rate than the annual average for the last decade despite a temporary reduction during pandemic-related lockdowns." We're boned.

"A powerful storm referred to as a 'bomb cyclone' and 'atmospheric river' walloped Northern California late Sunday into Monday morning, causing flooding, power outages and mudslides."

"Once again, the threat of flu infections overlaps with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, creating the possibility of a 'twindemic' of two distinct, dangerous illnesses that cause (among other things) respiratory distress, hospitalizations and death for millions of people. Nationwide lockdowns that kept people distanced, mixed with the annual flu shot, largely helped dodge the double blast of infections last year. While the US saw a steep rise in coronavirus infections in the winter, the spread of influenza was uncommonly light." Also, and more importantly, more people were wearing masks last year.

"Long-term COVID-19 side effects could include memory loss and other cognitive dysfunctions, commonly labelled as "brain fog," according to a study released on Friday that looked at 740 patients in the Mount Sinai Health System… The study, which was published in the peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Network Open, analyzed patients who contracted COVID-19, not people who only received the COVID-19 vaccine." Getting the vaccine does not cause Long Covid.

"Florida's top health official was asked to leave a meeting after refusing to wear a mask at the office of a state senator who told him she had a serious medical condition, officials have confirmed."

"Across the country, hospitals desperate for nurses — especially in acute care —are trying to address intense burnout among health care workers and accelerated nurse retirements by hiring new graduates. They're offering jobs to students even before they graduate, and in many cases offering bonuses and loan repayment as financial incentives… Yet — paradoxically — becoming a nurse has become more difficult, narrowing the pipeline for new nurses coming through the system."

"If you're working (or job searching), you probably have a stack of questions you'd like to float to the HR department ... anonymously… We asked two Life Kit experts to answer those anonymous questions for you: Kimberly B. Cummings, a career and leadership expert and author of Next Move, Best Move, and Lorrissa Horton, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Webex Calling and Strategy."

"The Biden administration wants to require banks to provide the Internal Revenue Service with information about how much money flows in and out of individual accounts each year… It's part of a plan to catch people who might be cheating on their taxes and to raise badly needed revenue to help finance the Biden agenda. But Republicans are fighting back hard, calling the move an invasion of privacy, while banks object to the increased monitoring."

"The documents, some of which have been the subject of extensive reporting by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, detail company research showing that toxic and divisive content is prevalent in posts boosted by Facebook and shared widely by users." Again, you say that like it's a bug instead of a feature of Facebook.

"A joint Chinese and Russian naval exercise, in which a flotilla of 10 warships completed a near circle around Japan's main island, has been touted by the two countries as a means of ensuring stability in a volatile region… But analysts say the drills are likely to have the opposite effect, potentially reigniting regional tensions and enhancing claims by the Japanese government that it needs to increase military spending to counter Chinese aggression."

"Nobelium, the Russian hacking group responsible for breaching SolarWinds, is still at it… The Russian hackers behind that successful 2020 breach of US federal agencies compromised as many as 14 technology firms since May as part of another apparent espionage campaign, Microsoft said Monday."

"Robert Bierenbaum, a former plastic surgeon who was convicted of murdering his wife in 2000, confessed to killing her and throwing her body out of an airplane after more than three decades of maintaining his innocence." The National Domestic Violence Hotline number is 1-800-779-7233.

"The skeletal remains of a child and three surviving siblings who appear to have been abandoned have been found inside an apartment in the Houston area of Texas, US… One of the children, a 15-year-old, called the Harris county sheriff’s office on Sunday afternoon and told authorities that his nine-year-old brother had been dead for a year and the body was inside the apartment, the office said in a statement."

"Pivotal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin appears to be on board with White House proposals for new taxes on billionaires and certain corporations to help pay for President Joe Biden’s scaled-back social services and climate change package." Oh, well, that's good then that he can get onboard with something 80% of the public agrees with. Dick.

And speaking of dicks… "Donald Trump Jr has begun selling merchandise that mocks Alec Baldwin, who fatally shot a cinematographer during an on-set incident last week… One of the latest stories showed a T-shirt with the words: 'Guns don’t kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people'. The Instagram story had a link to Mr Trump’s online website, where the T-shirt is being sold for $27.99 (£20.34)."

"Rolling Stone separately confirmed a third person involved in the main Jan. 6 rally in D.C. has communicated with the committee. This is the first report that the committee is hearing major new allegations from potential cooperating witnesses. While there have been prior indications that members of Congress were involved, this is also the first account detailing their purported role and its scope. The two sources also claim they interacted with members of Trump’s team, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who they describe as having had an opportunity to prevent the violence." If this story proves out, this is a very serious allegation against specific members of Congress (named in the story are Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Mo Brooks, Madison Cawthorn, Andy Biggs, and Louie Gohmert) who should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Why do I say if it's proved out, well… "Of course, with their other legal issues and the House investigation, both of these sources have clear motivation to cooperate with investigators and turn on their former allies. And both of their accounts paint them in a decidedly favorable light compared with their former allies."

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