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, May 16, 2022

Linkee-poo Monday May 16

"A white, 18-year-old gunman allegedly carried out a racist attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., on Saturday, killing 10 people and injuring three others, according to authorities. Almost all of the victims were Black. The suspect, who livestreamed the mass shooting, is believed to be the author of a screed posted online detailing his white supremacist ideologies and his plan to target a Black community in New York."

"Born from far-right nationalism, the extremist ideology expounding the view that immigration will ultimately destroy white values and western civilization has found favor not only with media figures, such as the conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson, but a host of elected politicians and others seeking office."

"Authorities are calling Saturday's mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., a racially motivated attack. The suspect allegedly wrote a 180-page document filled with hateful rants about race and ties to the 'Great Replacement.' Here's what you need to know about this particular conspiracy theory."

"It is also the 198th mass shooting in 2022. With just over 19 weeks into the year, this averages out to about 10 such attacks a week."

"Authorities on Monday were investigating a motive behind a deadly shooting at a Southern California church that ended after congregants thwarted the gunman from causing more bloodshed."

"The fate of the vast quantities of oil and gas lodged under the shale, mud and sandstone of American drilling fields will in large part determine whether the world retains a liveable climate. And the US, the world’s largest extractor of oil, is poised to unleash these fossil fuels in spectacular volumes." While this is sensational, and these effects should be avoided, the numbers are if we are able to extract all of the oil and gas from these underground "reserves" and consume it the way we currently do. And while it would be wise to accept that we wouldn't change how we would use these energy reserves, we are currently unable to extract all oil and gas reserves we find and exploit with the technology we have. With those caveats, yes, we shouldn't expand pumping of fossil fuels out of these reserves and instead leave the carbon sequestered.

"China's Zhurong rover has found evidence suggesting that water persisted on Mars for much longer than expected… Zhurong landed in a large plain in Mars' northern hemisphere called Utopia Planitia on May 15, 2021 -- where NASA's Viking 2 lander touched down in 1976."

"Although there are no hard numbers, retiring on a cruise ship is gaining an increasingly higher profile — despite the industry tumult caused by the coronavirus crisis." Cruise ships as retirement homes (note not nursing homes). I've been on 2 cruises, and I've seen these people. It's a very specific demographic, and it's for people who are still mobile and who don't have any major illnesses.

"The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 1 million on Monday, a once-unimaginable figure that only hints at the multitudes of loved ones and friends staggered by grief and frustration."

"Australian researchers say they've identified one potential biomarker for sudden infant death syndrome, known as SIDS, but experts caution that it's just one piece of the puzzle… About 3,400 babies die from SIDS in the US each year. There is no immediate or obvious cause of death, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts don't know which babies are at risk for SIDS or what causes it."

"But even though the study points in a promising direction for future research, it isn’t a panacea, experts say. 'There is nothing definitive about this at all,' said Rachel Moon, a researcher studying sudden infant death syndrome at the University of Virginia, in an email to The Verge. The surge in interest around the study is understandable, she said, but isn’t warranted."

"Disease experts aren’t sure what’s behind these cases (of liver inflammation in children), though several hypotheses have begun to emerge. The leading theory is an adenovirus, which often causes cold- or flu-like symptoms or stomach problems… More than half of the U.S. cases tested positive for adenovirus, the CDC said Wednesday. So did around 72 percent of the cases in the UK and 60 percent across Europe… But it is rare for an adenovirus to impact the liver this severely."

"In a first-of-its-kind three-year study, experts at University College London (UCL) and the University of Sheffield discovered that patients having robot-assisted bladder cancer surgery recovered faster and returned home sooner than patients who had open surgery… Robotic surgery reduced the chance of readmission by half (52%), and led to a 77% reduction in the prevalence of blood clots, when compared with patients who had open surgery. Researchers said the findings challenged the notion that open surgery was the 'gold standard' for major operations." Again you can see some issues with this type of reporting. Note that the study is between robotic assisted surgery (which is a form of laparoscopic surgery where the tools are operated remotely) and "open surgery" (where the patient's body cavities are "opened" to allow a surgeon direct access to the surgery site). This is a promotion of the robots. However, this would be better characterized as "laparoscopic surgery, or less-invasive surgery, (once again) is shown to have faster recovery times, less post surgical pain, and better outcomes than open surgery." That the robots have something to do with that isn't clearly shown in this case.

"Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank erred in waiting to address an inflation problem that has turned into the worst episode since the early 1980s… Bernanke, who guided the Fed through the financial crisis that exploded in 2008 and presided over unprecedented monetary policy expansion, told CNBC that the issue of when action should have been taken to tame inflation is 'complicated.'"

"Under fire from parents and politicians, President Joe Biden is offering formula manufacturers and retailers transportation and logistics support to ease the nationwide shortage of baby formula, as the administration works to bring the largest domestic plant back on line after it was shut down early this year due to safety issues."

How goes Brexit? "The UK government is poised to introduce legislation that would allow ministers in London to override parts of the Brexit deal on Northern Ireland… Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is expected to make a statement on Tuesday… Prime Minister Boris Johnson is currently visiting Northern Ireland to encourage the return of the devolved government… The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is refusing to enter the assembly because of the Northern Ireland Protocol."

"As Israel and the Palestinians wrangle over the investigation into the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, several independent groups have launched their own probes. One open-source research team said its initial findings lent support to Palestinian witnesses who said she was killed by Israeli fire."

"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who led a delegation of Senate Republicans to meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Saturday said he expected the Senate to approve a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine on Wednesday." That great, show us your vaunted ability to line up the votes, then.

"More than three decades after it became the first American fast food restaurant to open in the Soviet Union, McDonald’s said Monday that it has started the process of selling its business in Russia, another symbol of the country’s increasing isolation over its war in Ukraine."

"The European Union’s efforts to impose a new round of sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine appeared to be bogged down on Monday, as a small group of countries opposed a ban on imports of Russian oil."

"The leaders of Finland and Sweden have announced that they back their countries applying to join NATO in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine… The move changes decades of Finnish policy toward the Cold War-era military alliance and it upends more than two centuries of Swedish policy."

"The operator of Texas' power grid asked residents to conserve electricity Friday after six power plants went offline amid soaring temperatures… Brad Jones, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said in a statement that the company had lost roughly 2,900 megawatts of electricity — or enough to power nearly 600,000 homes, the Texas Tribune reported." Too cold, power plants go offline. Too hot, power plants go offline. Hell of a system.

"Texas's law makes it illegal for any social media platform with 50 million or more US monthly users to 'block, ban, remove, deplatform, demonetize, de-boost, restrict, deny equal access or visibility to, or otherwise discriminate against expression.'"

"President Biden has struggled to end a number of hardline immigration restrictions held over from the Trump administration, in large part because Republican-led states have gone to court to keep those policies in place. The states argue that lifting border restrictions will lead to increased health care and other costs… But immigrant advocates say these states are deliberately steering cases to federal judges appointed by former President Trump, where they know they'll get a sympathetic hearing."

"The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Monday sided with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in his challenge to a provision of federal campaign finance law, in a ruling that a dissenting justice said runs the risk of causing 'further disrepute' to American politics."

"Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman is being treated for a stroke at a hospital in Lancaster, but he said he is "on his way to a full recovery" and will not let the episode derail his campaign… In a statement Sunday, Fetterman said he had been hospitalized all weekend after suffering what he described as a stroke caused by a clot from his heart during an episode of atrial fibrillation two days earlier."

"A Washington attorney with ties to the Democratic party goes on trial Monday for allegedly lying to the FBI weeks ahead of the 2016 election, in the first case from Trump-era special counsel John Durham to be heard by a jury… According to the indictment, Sussmann told Baker that he wasn't passing the material along at the behest of any client. But prosecutors say that was a lie, and that Sussmann was in fact acting on behalf of a tech executive, Rodney Joffe, as well as Hilary Clinton's presidential campaign."

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