Douglas Trumbull, and so it goes. I just can't begin to sum up how much of my SF visual head cannon is due to his genius.
"A wild crocodile with a used motorcycle tire stuck around its neck for six years has finally been freed by an Indonesian bird catcher in a tireless effort that wildlife conservation officials hailed as a milestone Wednesday."
"European scientists say they have made a major breakthrough in their quest to develop practical nuclear fusion - the energy process that powers the stars… The UK-based JET laboratory has smashed its own world record for the amount of energy it can extract by squeezing together two forms of hydrogen."
"NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has taken its first visible light images of the surface of Venus from space… Smothered in thick clouds, Venus’ surface is usually shrouded from sight. But in two recent flybys of the planet, Parker used its Wide-Field Imager, or WISPR, to image the entire nightside in wavelengths of the visible spectrum – the type of light that the human eye can see – and extending into the near-infrared."
"Astronomers have found evidence for a new planet circling Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the sun… The alien world is only a quarter of the mass of Earth and orbits extremely close to its parent star, at one tenth of the distance between the sun and Mercury, the solar system’s innermost planet."
"Some 150 million years later, the skeletal remains of that unfortunate beast, nicknamed 'Dolly,' represent the first-known dinosaur with evidence of respiratory illness - abnormal growths resembling fossilized broccoli on three neck bones that formed in response to an infection in air sacs linked to its lungs."
"A statewide public pre-K program, taught by licensed teachers, housed in public schools, had a measurable and statistically significant negative effect on the children in this study." The problem isn't the pre-school concept, but how it's implemented. "Farran points out that families of means tend to choose play-based preschool programs with art, movement, music and nature. Children are asked open-ended questions, and they are listened to… This is not what Farran is seeing in classrooms full of kids in poverty, where 'teachers talk a lot, but they seldom listen to children.'" We're trying to do it on the cheap, and because it's poorly designed, it begins to fail the very people it's meant to help. So maybe, instead, we need to actually invest well, and rebuild and rethink our schools.
"'The authorities have determined that Bob passed from head trauma,' the Saget family said in a statement published by People. 'They have concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it and went to sleep. No drugs or alcohol were involved.'" If you hit your head you should get checked out, especially if it was hard enough to see stars.
"A research study published in peer-reviewed JAMA Internal Medicine has found that increasing the number of hours you sleep could help you reduce your weight by cutting your calorie intake… The 80 participants selected for the study had to fit a few criteria. They had to be 21 to 40 years old and get less than 6½ hours of sleep a night… They were then randomly placed in one of two groups. The first one was a control that maintained the same sleeping habits. The second group was asked to increase their sleep to 8.5 hours." So, no, increasing the number of hours you sleep will not cause you to lose weight. Getting enough sleep usually will decrease your caloric intake. Six and a half hours is sleep deprived. As someone who is sleep deprived, I could have told you this.
"A case of highly pathogenic avian flu has been confirmed in a turkey flock in Indiana, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. This is the first confirmed case of the virus found in U.S. commercial poultry since 2020. The USDA stressed that no cases of the virus have since been detected in humans and said there is no immediate public health concern."
"When Republican-led states balked at expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's administration tossed them a carrot — allowing several to charge monthly premiums to newly eligible enrollees… Republicans pushed for the fees to give Medicaid recipients 'skin in the game' — the idea they would value their coverage more — and to make the government program resemble employer-based insurance… But with studies showing that the fees led to fewer low-income adults signing up for coverage and fewer reenrolling, the Biden administration is moving to eliminate them." Slowly fixing what has been broken.
"The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review… Risk of new heart problems much higher after COVID recovery…"
"Hundreds of students in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Wednesday chanted slogans and blocked roads in protest of a hijab ban in the southern state of Karnataka, as a row over wearing the head covering in schools intensifies."
"Not only is the 'Freedom Convoy' protest still happening in Canada, bringing chaos to the capital and traffic on its busiest crossing with the United States to a halt, but its influence has also reached across the border with officials warning that a trucker convoy could disrupt the Super Bowl this weekend near Los Angeles, before making its way to Washington, D.C. The warning was issued in a Department of Homeland Security bulletin obtained by NBC News… Meanwhile, copycat convoys have also formed in New Zealand, Australia, France and elsewhere. Meanwhile, organizers online have said a demonstration planned for Monday in Belgium's capital, Brussels, will see convoys merge from countries across Europe." Also a little more on the intimidation and violence surrounding the convoy.
"President Biden's first year in the White House has ushered in record job gains, unprecedented wage gains for low-income workers and GDP growth not seen in decades… But polls show Americans remain deeply cynical about how the president is handling the economy — and that's a problem for Biden and Democratic lawmakers heading into November's midterm elections."
"From restaurant meals to apartment rents, consumer prices have been climbing at the fastest pace in 40 years, meaning younger adults are witnessing the highest inflation of their lifetimes… The Labor Department said Thursday that January prices were 7.5% higher than a year ago — the largest increase since 1982. Higher costs for food, shelter, and electricity were among the biggest drivers of inflation last month."
"Experts tell the Midwest Newsroom that shortcomings in the way Iowa’s quiet title law is written include vague language that defines how someone can argue that the property belongs to them. Another is the way people are notified – or, as in Natalia’s case, are not notified – that there’s a dispute involving ownership of their property."
"Between calculus and European history classes at a West Virginia public high school, 16-year-old Cameron Mays and his classmates were told by their teacher to go to an evangelical Christian revival assembly… When students arrived at the event in the school's auditorium, they were instructed to close their eyes and raise their arms in prayer, Mays said. The teens were asked to give their lives over to Jesus to find purpose and salvation. Those who did not follow the Bible would go to hell when they died, they were told." And this is why you don't do this shit during school hours. Note, after or before school, sure. You're allowed to have voluntary groups meet. But during school hours it's easy to mix voluntary with mandatory.
"Dollywood Parks & Resorts announced Tuesday it will cover 100% of tuition, fees and books for any employee… The significant investment in employee education will be made through Herschend’s GROW U., a new program, piloted by Herschend Enterprises, Dolly Parton’s operating partner in Dollywood. The program makes it exponentially easier for employees or hosts as they are known at Dollywood—at all levels to pursue their personal and professional dreams through education. The program officially launches Feb. 24, for all seasonal, part-time, and full-time employees at Dollywood Parks & Resorts. Hosts can enroll in the program on their first day of employment." It's way past time to make Dolly Parton a living saint.
"A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday announced that they had reached an agreement on a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, after months of negotiations in the chamber… The legislation offers resources for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence."
"The nonprofit Patriot Freedom Project became one of the most prominent groups supporting the "political prisoners" criminally charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Now - after facing criticism from some on the pro-Trump right, family members of defendants and experts in charity law - the controversial group has announced it is replacing members of its board of trustees and "revamping" its website." It's grifts all the way down.
"About one in five applicants to white supremacist group Patriot Front claim to have current or former military status, according to archives of the group's private chats released by nonprofit media organization Unicorn Riot… The white supremacist group published 87 applications to Patriot Front on open-source chat platform Rocket Chat. Out of those applications, 18 said they were current or former members of the U.S. military. One applicant said he currently worked for the Department of Homeland Security."
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