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, April 4, 2022

Linkee-poo Monday April 4

"You can watch three worlds practically hug each other in the night sky Monday and Tuesday (April4-5) if you get up a little early… Cloudy Venus, bright Mars and ringed Saturn will all get together again in the southeast predawn sky after forming a celestial triangle in late March." I alway recommend looking up at the night sky, but I admit I'm still confused about the popularity hype around "look, they're close together…" news stories.

"Researchers studying recordings made by microphones on NASA's Perseverance rover found that sound travels much slower on Mars than it does on Earth. In a study published in Nature on Friday, the team said it looked at recordings dating back to February 19, 2021, the day after the rover arrived on the planet." Must be the presence of octiron (yes, that's a joke).

"But not far away, a high-tech pilot plant is seeking to significantly reduce the carbon emissions involved in steel production by switching some of that process away from burning coking coal to burning hydrogen that itself was produced with renewable energy."

"A private water company is asking Trumbull County commissioners to consider selling it the Southeast Public Water System, which supplies water to all or parts of Brookfield, Vienna and Hubbard Township, for $8 million, according to a proposal sent to the county’s sanitary engineer." the privatization of America's water supply continues unabated.

"People infected with Covid-19 face a higher risk of myocarditis and other inflammatory heart conditions than those vaccinated against the disease, according a large study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday." Funny, that.

"On March 11, the Florida Legislature passed a bill that will make it easier for people like White to see their loved ones in health facilities. Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign it in the coming weeks. At least eight states have already passed similar laws, and several others have bills under consideration." I understand this motive very well. But what people don't really get yet, is we are in a transformative period and a time of unique conditions. It sucks as a family member with people in facilities that have had to restrict visitation. But if you all would have gotten the vaccine when asked, wear fucking masks when asked, if that fucking guy hadn't been in the White House and instead we had competent leadership, it wouldn't have been as necessary, or as long.

"Former President Barack Obama will return to the White House on Tuesday for the first time since he left office to promote the Affordable Care Act in an event alongside President Joe Biden, a White House official said."

"Korra Elliott has tried to avoid seeing a doctor while waiting to get on Medicaid. She worries she can't afford more bills without any insurance coverage. But in early March — five months, she said, after applying and with still no decision about her application — a suspected case of the flu sent her blood pressure soaring and landed her in the emergency room."

"The Pew Research Center analyzed Censes Bureau data and found that in 22 of 250 U.S. metropolitan areas, women under the age of 30 earn as much or more than their male counterparts. New York City and Washington, D.C., are among the cities in which young women earn more than young men, the study found… The report also found that earnings parity tends to be greatest in the first years of entering the labor market. The wage gap tends to expand over time."

Of local interest, but maybe helpful to understand the wealth gap. "The median home value in nine Ohio cities tops $350,000, including Pepper Pike and Hudson from the Cleveland area, according to new estimates released in March by the Census Bureau."

"Outspoken Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased a giant stake in Twitter that makes him the largest outside shareholder in the social media stock, not long after criticizing the company for what he said was its failure to uphold the tenets of free speech." Correction, after he hinted at starting his own social media. Which could be seen in this light as an attempt to artificially lower Twitters stock in order to purchase more. Hello, new SEC investigation. He shares are non-voting, which means his ownership of them amounts to diddly-squat.

"Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is trying to stabilise his government after mass protests prompted most of the cabinet to resign… Only the president's brother, the prime minister, Mahinda, stayed on as the government grapples with a major economic crisis."

"The group was made up of fishermen and their supporters, and their rage was sparked by the Indian boats that regularly sail into Sri Lankan waters by the thousands, hauling away valuable sea cucumbers and prawns. Sri Lankan fishermen say they’ve lost business, and some have lost their lives in confrontations with foreign crews."

"Pakistan plunged into political crisis Sunday after the prime minister, Imran Khan, dissolved parliament ahead of a vote on a no-confidence motion in which he was widely expected to lose… The decision to break up the parliamentary session ahead of the vote marked a stunning attempt by Khan to remain in office despite widespread economic and political discontent across Pakistan. A successful no-confidence motion would have likely seen the formation of a new government. Instead, the country looks headed to fresh elections – giving Khan a potential new lease on keeping the job."

"Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, on Sunday evening dubbed his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, one of his opponents, following a landslide election victory for the nationalist leader… Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party won a comfortable majority over the opposition United for Hungary alliance on Sunday, despite expectations for a tight race."

"Russia has been accused by Ukraine of using children as 'human shields' while regrouping its forces, as the first horrifying witness accounts from the newly liberated town of Bucha, near Kyiv, emerge… Ukraine’s attorney general is gathering a dossier of claims about the Russian use of local children to avoid fire when in retreat from around Ukraine’s capital and elsewhere."

"Global reaction Monday to what appears to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine in areas north of Kyiv, the capital, where Russian soldiers have either retreated or been pushed back…"

"President Joe Biden on Monday called for a war crimes trial against Russia President Vladimir Putin and said he’d seek more sanctions after reported atrocities in Ukraine."

"Russian forces have withdrawn from around Ukraine's capital Kyiv, but there has been no celebration in the country. What they've left behind is difficult to comprehend, and even more difficult to see. CBS News warns our readers that the both the video report above and the article below contain disturbing material." Putin must go. I see my Russian friends and their Italian allies, this is what you're working to support. I understand the general ignorance within your movements and for the Russians in their own country. But here you are. You know what is happening. There's no excuse for you now.

"Concerns have been raised about a European Union-funded migrant detention centre near Ukraine’s Lutsk city which appears to continue to hold an unconfirmed number of migrants despite Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country… Located in a pine forest in northwest Ukraine near the Belarusian border, the Volyn region’s Zhuravychi Migrant Accommodation Centre is a former army barracks constructed in 1961 that was converted into a migrant detention centre in 2007 with EU funds."

"The U.S. government seized a mega yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to the Russian president on Monday, the first in the government’s sanctions initiative to 'seize and freeze' giant boats and other pricey assets of Russian elites."

"The JP Morgan chief executive, Jamie Dimon, has warned that the US bank could lose up to $1bn from its exposure to Russia, as he called on the US government to deploy more troops, restructure supply chains and launch a new 'Marshall plan' to ensure energy supply in response to the war in Ukraine." In case you ever wondered if it was about anything other than the money for these assholes. Fuck Jamie Dimon and his aura of inevitable success.

"Accounts of book bannings and attempted book bannings, along with threats against librarians, have soared over the past year and the ALA has included some numbers in its annual State of America’s Libraries Report, released Monday. The association found 729 challenges — affecting nearly 1,600 books — at public schools and libraries in 2021, more than double 2020′s figures and the highest since the ALA began compiling challenges more than 20 years ago."

"As the Biden administration announced on Friday plans to end Covid-related restrictions for undocumented people arriving at the southern border, it guaranteed that irregular immigration will return as even more of a polarizing, point-scoring, policy debate… April 6 marks four years since the Trump administration announced its 'zero tolerance' policy, the mechanism through which it separated almost 4,000 children from their families in what was widely condemned as an inhumane deterrence effort."

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