"A lobsterman made the catch of a lifetime off the coast of Maine last weekend. Bill Coppersmith trapped a 1-in-100 million iridescent lobster, also known as a 'cotton candy' lobster, CBS Boston reports." Cotton candy does not pair well with butter.
"The days are getting shorter and the months are getting colder, which means some are already bracing for an unwelcome holiday hindrance: seasonal depression."
"Richard Kronick, a former federal health policy researcher and a professor at the University of California-San Diego, says his analysis of newly released Medicare Advantage billing data estimates that Medicare overpaid the private health plans by more than $106 billion from 2010 through 2019 because of the way the private plans charge for sicker patients." Privatizing government functions costs us more? You don't say.
"More than 22 million infants across the globe didn't get their first measles vaccine dose last year, according to a joint statement Wednesday from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
"Scientists have evidence that SARS-CoV-2 spreads explosively in white-tailed deer, and the virus is widespread in this deer population across the U.S… Researchers say the findings are quite concerning and could have vast implications for the long-term course of the global pandemic."
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced a recall of about 2 million at-home COVID-19 test kits made by the Australian-based biotech company Ellume… The federal regulatory agency says the test kits may produce 'false positives' due to a manufacturing defect. The company first informed the FDA about the defect in some lots in October."
"A federal judge has ordered a halt to Texas' efforts to ban mask mandates in state schools… U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel ruled in Austin that the ban ordered by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott violated a federal law protecting disabled students' access to public education." It's like watching a tennis match.
"When a U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down a federal eviction moratorium many experts and housing advocates feared a tsunami of evictions would quickly follow. That isn't quite happening, but eviction filings are rising sharply in many parts of the country."
"But the strategy was terrible for the oil industry's bottom line. Drillers repeatedly oversupplied the market, careening debt-riddled companies from one price crash to another. The oil-and-gas sector was easily the stock market's biggest loser in the 2010s… Today, the world is completely different. Gasoline prices have surged to seven-year highs and Wall Street banks are warning that $100 or even $120 oil is on its way. Yet US oil companies are in no rush to come to the rescue, leaving the White House facing pressure from its own party to intervene in energy markets."
"Yet as any American who has bought a carton of milk, a gallon of gas or a used car could tell you, inflation has settled in. And economists are now voicing a more discouraging message: Higher prices will likely last well into next year, if not beyond."
"Oil and gas regulators at the Railroad Commission of Texas cleared the way on Wednesday for $3.4 billion to be paid to natural gas companies by raising bills for ratepayers… The $3.4 billion is part of the debt that gas utilities unexpectedly owed suppliers after gas prices skyrocketed during February's winter storm and blackout. The cost may be included on Texans’ gas bills for up to the next 30 years."
"If you want to honor veterans, then don’t call them heroes. That’s the easy way out… If you want to honor veterans, then live up to the ideals they fought to defend." I've told this story many times. I met a nice Lt Colonel who was a foremost expert on nuclear weapons. He could recite from memory, and quickly do the math, for a number of scenarios regarding "nuclear exchanges" (the nice way of saying we bombed each other with some of the most terrible weapons ever constructed). He could tell you the most probably outcomes of dropping a number of warheads in the various theaters of battle, both the immediate destruction, the long term effects, and the most likely response. After his lecture I asked him how he could stand to fill his head with such things. He told me he had kids, and he wanted to make sure they never had to think about these things. He is also why I will tell you with certainty there is no such thing as a "limited" nuclear exchange and the only way to "win" is to launch everything at once, which will ensure the end of human civilization in some thirty minutes. By now his kids are in the middle of their careers and he, most likely, is retired somewhere. I wonder if anyone else has his job.
"The Biden administration will announce a series of actions Thursday to help veterans who were exposed to burn pits and other contaminants while serving overseas, including making it easier for vets to prove that they were exposed and pushing to find links between exposure and potentially deadly diseases, administration officials said."
"The Chinese Communist Party has passed a "historical resolution", cementing Xi Jinping's status in political history… The document, a summary of the party's 100-year history, addresses its key achievements and future directions."
"The Kenosha County, Wis., judge presiding over Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial clashed with the lead prosecutor several times during the teenager’s cross-examination on Wednesday, while defense attorneys requested a mistrial alleging prosecutorial misconduct."
"Investigators are asking Uber for records as they investigate the theft of more than $700,000 from an 82-year-old Florida woman who apparently fell for a 'grandparent scam.'"
"Prosecutors have brought some of the most serious charges stemming from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol against alleged members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right group that targets law enforcement and military veterans for recruitment. More than 20 suspected members of the Oath Keepers have been arrested, and some are facing charges of conspiracy. Now, an examination of hacked records - purportedly taken from Oath Keeper web servers - shows more defendants may have ties to the group than has been previously known."
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