Peter Straub, and so it goes.
"Queen Elizabeth II is under medical supervision at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after her doctors became worried about her health… Members of the royal family are already by the queen's bedside in Balmoral — and others are on their way — after her doctors placed her under medical supervision Thursday, the British media, including the BBC and The Guardian, reported."
"A record-setting heat wave made life miserable in much of the West on Tuesday, with California stretching into its second week of excessive heat that taxed the state's power supply and threatened power shortages that could prompt blackouts while people were desperately trying to stay cool."
"A glacier in Antarctica the size of Florida that could dramatically raise global sea levels is disintegrating faster than previously predicted, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience." I'm sure it's fine. We're all fine.
"Lobster nets and pots have become such a threat to the survival of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales that the crustaceans have been 'red-listed' as seafood to avoid by a major fish sustainability guide… Fewer than 340 of these whales exist today, including only 80 breeding females. The population is estimated to have dwindled by 28% over the past decade."
"The 31,000-year-old skeleton of a young adult found in a cave in Indonesia that is missing its left foot and part of its left leg reveal the oldest known evidence of an amputation, according to a new study… Scientists say the amputation was performed when the person was a child — and that the "patient" went on to live for years as an amputee." No, our ancestors weren't ignorant brutes.
"AI image generation is here in a big way. A newly released open source image synthesis model called Stable Diffusion allows anyone with a PC and a decent GPU to conjure up almost any visual reality they can imagine. It can imitate virtually any visual style, and if you feed it a descriptive phrase, the results appear on your screen like magic." Computer art, it's a coming thing. I have a lot of thinky thoughts about this, including how the deep learning happens and the nature of copyright. And while AI rendering has grown by leaps and bounds this past year, there are still things it can't do.
"Julie Chin, of the NBC affiliate news station KJRH, said she first began losing vision in part of her eye, then her hand and arm went numb. Then, while she was doing a segment on NASA's delayed Artemis launch, she began having difficulty reading the teleprompter."
"Some homeowners are losing wealth as high mortgage rates weigh on home values, at least on paper, as the once red-hot housing market cools quickly… Sales have been slowing down for several months, with mortgage rates now double what they were at the start of this year." Note at this point that "loss" is mostly "unrealized gain," but some markets are seeing house price declines.
"The European Central Bank hiked interest rates by a record three-quarters of a percentage point on Thursday and promised more to come as it scrambles to contain the inflationary fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis."
"The man who fatally fell from a New York City building on Friday was identified as Bed Bath & Beyond chief financial officer and executive vice president Gustavo Arnal, a New York Police Department spokesman confirmed to TODAY… The 52-year-old Arnal's death has been ruled a suicide, the New York City medical examiner's office confirmed to CNBC."
You may remember an article I pointed to earlier where they claimed the "average EV was $60,000" and I rightly called it bullshit? "General Motors wants to be the biggest seller of electric vehicles in the world, and the new 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV is intended to play a major role in that effort. Built on GM’s Ultium platform, the midsize SUV will get up to 300 miles of range and will start at 'around $30,000' — an affordable price point that’s intended to drive broader EV adoption." While there's many a slip between cup and lip, that $30,000 price point is a good one. While it's not my price range (and to be fair, I have a higher price range than most), it's very damn close. Is it "for everyone"? No, but a large percentage of people could afford it. And, IIRC, Chevy offers to cover home electrical work for purchasers of their other EVs.
"A Northern California school district is testing out a novel solution to its housing shortage for teachers: asking community members to rent them rooms… The Milpitas Unified School District put out the call to families in late August in response to staff losses and sky-high housing costs that have made it difficult for educators to live near where they work." When you don't pay the people who service the community enough to live in that community. I love how the school system has explored a lot of options, except to pay their teachers a living wage for the community.
"A 19-year-old man was arrested Wednesday after livestreaming part of a shooting rampage that left four people dead and three others injured and upended life throughout Memphis as residents were urged to shelter in place, police said… The hours-long rampage -- which also led to the suspension of public bus and trolley service -- left the city's mayor enraged over the wanton violence and came less than a week after the high-profile kidnapping and killing of a school teacher who was out jogging."
"North Korea is apparently moving to sell millions of rockets and artillery shells — many of them likely from its old stock — to its Cold War ally Russia… Russia has called a U.S. intelligence report on the purchasing plan 'fake.' But U.S. officials say it shows Russia's desperation with the war in Ukraine and that Moscow could buy additional military hardware from North Korea."
"A federal judge in Texas ruled on Wednesday that a mandate requiring most health insurance companies to cover medicine that prevents HIV infection violates the religious freedom of certain businesses… The ruling from U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor partially resolves a lawsuit brought by Braidwood Management Inc., a Christian for-profit corporation owned by Republican mega-donor Steven Hotze that employs about 70 people… Hotze claimed that forcing his company to cover pre-exposure prophylaxis drugs, more commonly known as PrEP, under the Affordable Care Act would make the company 'facilitate and encourage homosexual behavior.'" What complete and utter bullshit.
"A conservative Texas-based phone company is planning a takeover of political offices in the US state, starting with public schools… Patriot Mobile, which calls itself “America’s only Christian conservative wireless provider”, has been fueling an extremist conservative movement taking over curriculum in public schools across Texas." Dominionism is on the march.
"District Court Judge Francis Mathew ruled that Couy Griffin, an Otero County commissioner, is now disqualified from holding public office because he violated Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment by participating in the Jan. 6 siege." He's blaming everyone but himself, saying it is a "liberal hit job." No, it's the law, the actual Constitution. That's one.
"A pregnant Black activist serving four years in prison for her behavior at racial justice protests will have her sentence reconsidered as she struggles to reach her due date behind bars… Raising questions about free speech and equal justice, Brittany Martin, 34, was found guilty this spring of breaching the peace in a high and aggravated manner over comments she made to police."
"Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles was arrested on suspicion of murder Wednesday evening in the fatal stabbing of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German, whose investigation of the politician contributed to his primary election loss in June."
"Steve Bannon, who managed Donald Trump's successful 2016 campaign for the presidency and served his administration as a White House adviser, surrendered Thursday morning to New York state authorities on charges that he laundered money by diverting funds donated to the We Build the Wall organization." Grifters all the way down.
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