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."
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Linkee-poo Wednesday Feb 9
"Those new sewers and storm drains will need to withstand rainfall that's becoming more intense in a changing climate. But as cities make plans to tear up streets and pour cement, most have little to no information about how climate change will worsen future storms… Many cities are still building their infrastructure for the climate of the past, using rainfall records that haven't been updated in decades. Those federal precipitation reports, which analyze historical rainfall data to tell cities what kinds of storms to plan for, are only sporadically updated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."
"Deep beneath the ice covering the central Arctic Ocean, an unlikely community thrives off of ancient relics… In order to survive, these largely 300-year-old sponge communities feed off of the fossilized remains of now-extinct animals and fauna. Those creatures likely once relied on the heat and nutrients supplied by the volcanic activity several thousand years ago."
"Elon Musk's SpaceX said it has lost up to 40 Starlink satellites that it launched into orbit last week because of a geomagnetic storm… The aerospace company sent 49 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on Thursday via a Falcon 9 rocket." When a vacuum isn't.
"This map, when fixed against the known pulse of Saturn's radio aurorae, showed that a significant proportion of the planet's aurorae are generated by the swirling pattern of weather in its atmosphere and are responsible for the planet's observed variable rate of rotation."
"Last year was a breakthrough time for UFOs, as a landmark government report prompted the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors to finally be taken seriously by everyone from senators, to a former president, to the Pentagon… 'I’m confident that 2022 is going to be a seismic year for UFOs,' said Nick Pope, who spent the early 1990s investigating UFOs for the British ministry of defence."
"Changing what you eat could add up to 13 years to your life, according to a newly published study, especially if you start when you are young… The study created a model of what might happen to a man or woman's longevity if they replaced a 'typical Western diet' focused on red meat and processed foods with an 'optimized diet' focused on eating less red and processed meat and more fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts."
"Bergquam's testimonial provides new and troubling details about a small group of physicians who are willing to eschew the best COVID-19 treatments and provide alternative therapies made popular by disinformation — for a price." Just another grift.
"The problem Weber said she escalated was a patient safety concern. She explained that two intensive care level Covid-19 patients — one who was intubated and one who required continuous BiPAP (ventilator) support — needed the central monitoring system and transparent doors an ICU room provides… Instead, Weber said the patients in need of critical care had been placed in the medical-surgical unit with opaque doors and without a central monitoring system, making continuous observation difficult." And then her contract was cancelled. All the feels.
"The Justice Department has seized around $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency tied to the 2016 hack of a virtual currency exchange, and arrested a New York couple charged with conspiring to launder billions of dollars' worth of the stolen bitcoin."
"A gunman who allegedly opened fire inside a Washington state grocery store on Monday morning entered the market pushing a cart containing a duffel bag and backpack, authorities said Tuesday."
"The House of Representatives has passed a stopgap bill to avoid a government shutdown and buy Congress more time to strike a deal to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year… The House approved the continuing resolution, 272-162, to fund the government through March 11." Here we go again.
"The Biden administration says it doesn't know whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin will invade Ukraine with the more than 100,000 troops he's amassed near their shared border… But Biden's national security team says a Russian disinformation campaign is already well underway. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby recently outlined what he described as a Russian plan to create a phony video that could be used as a pretext for a Russian invasion."
"The busiest border crossing between Canada and the United States was still partially blocked Wednesday as a major protest against Covid-19 rules spread beyond Ottawa, the Canadian capital, where it has caused havoc for nearly two weeks."
"Hundreds of people protesting vaccine and mask mandates drove in convoy to New Zealand's capital on Tuesday and converged outside Parliament as lawmakers reconvened after a summer break… The mostly unmasked protesters had driven from around the country, and their vehicles clogged the central Wellington streets for hours as they got out to meet and speak on Parliament's forecourt."
"A Jan. 6 rioter who stormed the Capitol while he was out on bail on an attempted first-degree murder charge was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday, more than 10 months after he was first identified by online sleuths."
"Information gathered and posted by a network of online sleuths led to the arrests Tuesday of two men charged separately with storming the U.S. Capitol last year, the FBI said in court filings."
"The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday indefinitely suspended the law licenses of two St. Louis attorneys who waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, but it stayed their suspensions and placed them on probation for a year… The orders came after Missouri’s chief disciplinary counsel last year asked the court to suspend the law licenses of Mark McCloskey and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, in connection with their guilty pleas to misdemeanors stemming from the gun-waving incident."
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leaders have greenlighted a plan to craft legislation that would ban members of Congress from trading stock, CNBC confirmed Wednesday… At Pelosi’s direction, the House Administration Committee is working on drafting the rules, and the legislation is expected to be put up for a vote this year, likely before the November midterm elections." Long past time.
"President Joe Biden on Tuesday took the rare step of weighing in on a controversial Florida bill that would ban certain discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, telling LGBTQ kids that he has their back… 'I want every member of the LGBTQI+ community — especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill — to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are. I have your back, and my Administration will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve,' Biden tweeted Tuesday evening." And the culture wars heat up before the mid-terms.
"In interviews on Monday evening, GOP senators lashed out at their own national party's overwhelming vote to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for working on the House's investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. They warned that alienating a portion of the party for being overly anti-Trump is not a political winner heading into the midterms, a sharp message from sitting members that goes far beyond criticism already aired by a handful of GOP pundits." Damage control. the pushback from the RNC's statement about "legitimate political discourse" was too much to not address in some manner. The RNC will try to split the difference to have it's insurrection cake and eat it too by "apologizing" in such a manner that the whackaloons can still say they won, but hope the general public won't continue to call them out.
"Which is what makes a currently blossoming election conspiracy so strange: The far right is now running a disinformation campaign against one of the best tools that states have to detect and prevent voter fraud… And experts worry voting policy is already starting to suffer as a result." That's because conservatives are all for fraud, if it benefits them. And this tool has been catching conservative voting irregularities.
"Deep beneath the ice covering the central Arctic Ocean, an unlikely community thrives off of ancient relics… In order to survive, these largely 300-year-old sponge communities feed off of the fossilized remains of now-extinct animals and fauna. Those creatures likely once relied on the heat and nutrients supplied by the volcanic activity several thousand years ago."
"Elon Musk's SpaceX said it has lost up to 40 Starlink satellites that it launched into orbit last week because of a geomagnetic storm… The aerospace company sent 49 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on Thursday via a Falcon 9 rocket." When a vacuum isn't.
"This map, when fixed against the known pulse of Saturn's radio aurorae, showed that a significant proportion of the planet's aurorae are generated by the swirling pattern of weather in its atmosphere and are responsible for the planet's observed variable rate of rotation."
"Last year was a breakthrough time for UFOs, as a landmark government report prompted the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors to finally be taken seriously by everyone from senators, to a former president, to the Pentagon… 'I’m confident that 2022 is going to be a seismic year for UFOs,' said Nick Pope, who spent the early 1990s investigating UFOs for the British ministry of defence."
"Changing what you eat could add up to 13 years to your life, according to a newly published study, especially if you start when you are young… The study created a model of what might happen to a man or woman's longevity if they replaced a 'typical Western diet' focused on red meat and processed foods with an 'optimized diet' focused on eating less red and processed meat and more fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts."
"Bergquam's testimonial provides new and troubling details about a small group of physicians who are willing to eschew the best COVID-19 treatments and provide alternative therapies made popular by disinformation — for a price." Just another grift.
"The problem Weber said she escalated was a patient safety concern. She explained that two intensive care level Covid-19 patients — one who was intubated and one who required continuous BiPAP (ventilator) support — needed the central monitoring system and transparent doors an ICU room provides… Instead, Weber said the patients in need of critical care had been placed in the medical-surgical unit with opaque doors and without a central monitoring system, making continuous observation difficult." And then her contract was cancelled. All the feels.
"The Justice Department has seized around $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency tied to the 2016 hack of a virtual currency exchange, and arrested a New York couple charged with conspiring to launder billions of dollars' worth of the stolen bitcoin."
"A gunman who allegedly opened fire inside a Washington state grocery store on Monday morning entered the market pushing a cart containing a duffel bag and backpack, authorities said Tuesday."
"The House of Representatives has passed a stopgap bill to avoid a government shutdown and buy Congress more time to strike a deal to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year… The House approved the continuing resolution, 272-162, to fund the government through March 11." Here we go again.
"The Biden administration says it doesn't know whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin will invade Ukraine with the more than 100,000 troops he's amassed near their shared border… But Biden's national security team says a Russian disinformation campaign is already well underway. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby recently outlined what he described as a Russian plan to create a phony video that could be used as a pretext for a Russian invasion."
"The busiest border crossing between Canada and the United States was still partially blocked Wednesday as a major protest against Covid-19 rules spread beyond Ottawa, the Canadian capital, where it has caused havoc for nearly two weeks."
"Hundreds of people protesting vaccine and mask mandates drove in convoy to New Zealand's capital on Tuesday and converged outside Parliament as lawmakers reconvened after a summer break… The mostly unmasked protesters had driven from around the country, and their vehicles clogged the central Wellington streets for hours as they got out to meet and speak on Parliament's forecourt."
"A Jan. 6 rioter who stormed the Capitol while he was out on bail on an attempted first-degree murder charge was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday, more than 10 months after he was first identified by online sleuths."
"Information gathered and posted by a network of online sleuths led to the arrests Tuesday of two men charged separately with storming the U.S. Capitol last year, the FBI said in court filings."
"The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday indefinitely suspended the law licenses of two St. Louis attorneys who waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, but it stayed their suspensions and placed them on probation for a year… The orders came after Missouri’s chief disciplinary counsel last year asked the court to suspend the law licenses of Mark McCloskey and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, in connection with their guilty pleas to misdemeanors stemming from the gun-waving incident."
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leaders have greenlighted a plan to craft legislation that would ban members of Congress from trading stock, CNBC confirmed Wednesday… At Pelosi’s direction, the House Administration Committee is working on drafting the rules, and the legislation is expected to be put up for a vote this year, likely before the November midterm elections." Long past time.
"President Joe Biden on Tuesday took the rare step of weighing in on a controversial Florida bill that would ban certain discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, telling LGBTQ kids that he has their back… 'I want every member of the LGBTQI+ community — especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill — to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are. I have your back, and my Administration will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve,' Biden tweeted Tuesday evening." And the culture wars heat up before the mid-terms.
"In interviews on Monday evening, GOP senators lashed out at their own national party's overwhelming vote to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for working on the House's investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. They warned that alienating a portion of the party for being overly anti-Trump is not a political winner heading into the midterms, a sharp message from sitting members that goes far beyond criticism already aired by a handful of GOP pundits." Damage control. the pushback from the RNC's statement about "legitimate political discourse" was too much to not address in some manner. The RNC will try to split the difference to have it's insurrection cake and eat it too by "apologizing" in such a manner that the whackaloons can still say they won, but hope the general public won't continue to call them out.
"Which is what makes a currently blossoming election conspiracy so strange: The far right is now running a disinformation campaign against one of the best tools that states have to detect and prevent voter fraud… And experts worry voting policy is already starting to suffer as a result." That's because conservatives are all for fraud, if it benefits them. And this tool has been catching conservative voting irregularities.
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Linkee-poo Tuesday Feb 8
The Tobias Buckell's… "The Kidneystone Relief Bundle." Eight of his e-books for $8, an IndiGoGo fundraiser to cover his medical costs.
"So, after he handwrote his latest story during Christmas break — The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis by Dillon Helbig 'His Self' (as it appears on the cover) — he hatched a plan to slip the book onto the shelves of the local library… From a distance, the 81-page hardbound burgundy notebook looks just enough like a normal library book that Dillon felt he could sneak it in without much hassle. On a recent trip to the library with his grandmother, he put his plan into action."
"Many of the world's largest companies are failing to take significant enough steps to meet their pledges to vastly reduce the impact of their greenhouse gas emissions in the decades ahead… That's the conclusion of a new report by the NewClimate Institute, an environmental organization that works to combat global warming. Its researchers, who examined the actions of 25 companies, concluded that many of them are misleading consumers by using accounting practices that make their environmental goals relatively meaningless or are excluding key parts of their businesses in their calculations." This is my shocked face.
"NASA has selected Lockheed Martin to build a small rocket that will transport samples collected by the Perseverance rover into orbit around Mars… The agency said Feb. 7 it awarded a contract valued at up to $194 million to Lockheed to develop the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), an essential element of the overall Mars Sample Return campaign being developed by NASA and the European Space Agency."
"In November 2019, Alessandra Mascaro was observing a community of chimpanzees in the Loango National Park in Gabon as part of her volunteer service with the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project when she noticed some unusual behavior. A chimp named Suzee was inspecting a wound on the foot of her son, Sia. Suzee suddenly caught an insect from a nearby leaf, put it into her mouth for a moment, and then pressed it to Sia's wound."
"Paradoxical kinesia refers to the sudden ability of a person with Parkinson's to move quickly and fluidly, the way they did before the disease eroded a brain area involved in movement." This is something I've used in my own practice. I had a Parkinson's patient that we needed to get some x-rays on. I was told by the patient, the patient's spouse, and the doctor (that had accompanied the patient) that it might be impossible to get imaging because of his tremors. I found out the patient loved to fly-fish. So I walked them through a guided meditation of sorts and had them imaging being in their favorite river casting flies. Their tremors went away as long as I was talking about fishing, asking them to imagine being there, telling me how the river felt, the line in the water, casting. And when we were done, they were calm for a few minutes before the tremors came back. This is why listening to those small bits of information are worth while.
"A paralysed man with a severed spinal cord has been able to walk again, thanks to an implant developed by a team of Swiss researchers… It is the first time someone who has had a complete cut to their spinal cord has been able to walk freely… The same technology has improved the health of another paralysed patient to the extent that he has been able to become a father."
"But the therapy is expensive, risky and technically demanding. It remains a last resort, to be used when all other treatments have failed. Despite the treatment’s success for Olson, not everyone experiences durable remission of their cancer. In the beginning, only about 25–35% of CAR-T-cell recipients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia experienced a complete remission of their cancer, says Porter. With refinement, that percentage has increased over the years, he says, but some of these initial successes still lead to relapse. Tracking the treatment long-term could reveal clues as to what factors are important for lasting CAR-T-cell success."
"A 17-year-old has been arrested in connection to the search warrant that led to the death of Amir Locke, a 22-year-old who was shot and killed by Minneapolis police officers executing a 'no-knock' search warrant." Shifting blame.
"The auto market is still reeling after the pandemic completely upended the balance of supply and demand… Carmakers have had to cut their output as they struggle to find critical materials such as chips, creating a shortage of vehicles that has caused ripple effects through new and used markets… And it's not just how many vehicles they're producing, but what kinds. Automakers have responded to the shortages by focusing on their most profitable cars, meaning the priciest ones."
"The governor of the Bank of England has sparked serious backlash after telling Britons they should not ask for a pay raise this year, even as the country grapples with its greatest cost of living crisis in decades… British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and workers unions have been among those to decry Andrew Bailey, who last week said that employees should not pressure their bosses into boosting wages as the economy needs time to recalibrate amid soaring inflation."
"Amazon is dramatically increasing salary caps for its US-based technology and corporate workforce, in a nod to how the pandemic has exacerbated an already fierce competition for talent nationwide… The e-commerce and cloud computing giant announced in an internal blog post Monday that the company's maximum base pay in the United States is more than doubling, to $350,000 a year from $160,000."
"SoftBank's record-breaking sale of a prized chip designer to Nvidia has officially been called off… At an initial value of $40 billion, the US chipmaker's acquisition of British design firm ARM would have been the largest semiconductor deal on record."
"Not every hobby needs to be a side hustle. But, if you set out to make money off of yours – congratulations, you're running a business! Now you have to pay attention to finances."
"After protesters hounded Britain's opposition leader Keir Starmer, Prime Minister Boris Johnson came underheavy pressure on Tuesday to withdraw a claim that Starmer had failed to prosecute one of the country's most notorious child abusers… As Johnson apologised to parliament for the parties on Jan. 31, he falsely claimed Starmer had failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile, a late TV star who abused hundreds of children, during his time as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)."
"Dr. Eric Lander, a top science adviser to President Biden, resigned Monday night. His resignation comes hours after White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed he had been investigated over a complaint that he mistreated staff."
"The so-called 'Freedom Convoy' that arrived in Ottawa more than a week ago to protest the Canadian government's vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers has been honking horns, blocking downtown streets and disturbing residential neighborhoods… They faced little pushback from law enforcement until this weekend, when officials in the Canadian capital ramped up their response by ticketing protesters, confiscating their fuel and declaring a state of emergency." So much for the "peaceful protest" myth.
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "CNN calls Freedom Convoy protest 'sedition,' 'threat to democracy'."
"The U.S. Supreme Court further undercut the Voting Rights Act on Monday, blocking for now the creation of a second majority-Black congressional district in Alabama for the 2022 election… The court's action came on an emergency appeal from Alabama, which challenged a decision by a three-judge federal court panel that included two Trump appointees. The lower court concluded that under the Voting Rights Act, Alabama, a state with a population that is more than one-quarter Black, could reasonably, and therefore must, create two majority-Black districts out of seven congressional districts."
"The National Archives and Records Administration NARA said it has retrieved 15 boxes of White House records and other items that were stored at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property instead of at the National Archives… As first reported by The Washington Post, the documents retrieved last month from the Florida property contained important records of communication along with Trump's self-described 'love letters' with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as well as a letter addressed to Trump from his predecessor, former President Barack Obama." Add it to the list.
"So, after he handwrote his latest story during Christmas break — The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis by Dillon Helbig 'His Self' (as it appears on the cover) — he hatched a plan to slip the book onto the shelves of the local library… From a distance, the 81-page hardbound burgundy notebook looks just enough like a normal library book that Dillon felt he could sneak it in without much hassle. On a recent trip to the library with his grandmother, he put his plan into action."
"Many of the world's largest companies are failing to take significant enough steps to meet their pledges to vastly reduce the impact of their greenhouse gas emissions in the decades ahead… That's the conclusion of a new report by the NewClimate Institute, an environmental organization that works to combat global warming. Its researchers, who examined the actions of 25 companies, concluded that many of them are misleading consumers by using accounting practices that make their environmental goals relatively meaningless or are excluding key parts of their businesses in their calculations." This is my shocked face.
"NASA has selected Lockheed Martin to build a small rocket that will transport samples collected by the Perseverance rover into orbit around Mars… The agency said Feb. 7 it awarded a contract valued at up to $194 million to Lockheed to develop the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), an essential element of the overall Mars Sample Return campaign being developed by NASA and the European Space Agency."
"In November 2019, Alessandra Mascaro was observing a community of chimpanzees in the Loango National Park in Gabon as part of her volunteer service with the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project when she noticed some unusual behavior. A chimp named Suzee was inspecting a wound on the foot of her son, Sia. Suzee suddenly caught an insect from a nearby leaf, put it into her mouth for a moment, and then pressed it to Sia's wound."
"Paradoxical kinesia refers to the sudden ability of a person with Parkinson's to move quickly and fluidly, the way they did before the disease eroded a brain area involved in movement." This is something I've used in my own practice. I had a Parkinson's patient that we needed to get some x-rays on. I was told by the patient, the patient's spouse, and the doctor (that had accompanied the patient) that it might be impossible to get imaging because of his tremors. I found out the patient loved to fly-fish. So I walked them through a guided meditation of sorts and had them imaging being in their favorite river casting flies. Their tremors went away as long as I was talking about fishing, asking them to imagine being there, telling me how the river felt, the line in the water, casting. And when we were done, they were calm for a few minutes before the tremors came back. This is why listening to those small bits of information are worth while.
"A paralysed man with a severed spinal cord has been able to walk again, thanks to an implant developed by a team of Swiss researchers… It is the first time someone who has had a complete cut to their spinal cord has been able to walk freely… The same technology has improved the health of another paralysed patient to the extent that he has been able to become a father."
"But the therapy is expensive, risky and technically demanding. It remains a last resort, to be used when all other treatments have failed. Despite the treatment’s success for Olson, not everyone experiences durable remission of their cancer. In the beginning, only about 25–35% of CAR-T-cell recipients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia experienced a complete remission of their cancer, says Porter. With refinement, that percentage has increased over the years, he says, but some of these initial successes still lead to relapse. Tracking the treatment long-term could reveal clues as to what factors are important for lasting CAR-T-cell success."
"A 17-year-old has been arrested in connection to the search warrant that led to the death of Amir Locke, a 22-year-old who was shot and killed by Minneapolis police officers executing a 'no-knock' search warrant." Shifting blame.
"The auto market is still reeling after the pandemic completely upended the balance of supply and demand… Carmakers have had to cut their output as they struggle to find critical materials such as chips, creating a shortage of vehicles that has caused ripple effects through new and used markets… And it's not just how many vehicles they're producing, but what kinds. Automakers have responded to the shortages by focusing on their most profitable cars, meaning the priciest ones."
"The governor of the Bank of England has sparked serious backlash after telling Britons they should not ask for a pay raise this year, even as the country grapples with its greatest cost of living crisis in decades… British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and workers unions have been among those to decry Andrew Bailey, who last week said that employees should not pressure their bosses into boosting wages as the economy needs time to recalibrate amid soaring inflation."
"Amazon is dramatically increasing salary caps for its US-based technology and corporate workforce, in a nod to how the pandemic has exacerbated an already fierce competition for talent nationwide… The e-commerce and cloud computing giant announced in an internal blog post Monday that the company's maximum base pay in the United States is more than doubling, to $350,000 a year from $160,000."
"SoftBank's record-breaking sale of a prized chip designer to Nvidia has officially been called off… At an initial value of $40 billion, the US chipmaker's acquisition of British design firm ARM would have been the largest semiconductor deal on record."
"Not every hobby needs to be a side hustle. But, if you set out to make money off of yours – congratulations, you're running a business! Now you have to pay attention to finances."
"After protesters hounded Britain's opposition leader Keir Starmer, Prime Minister Boris Johnson came underheavy pressure on Tuesday to withdraw a claim that Starmer had failed to prosecute one of the country's most notorious child abusers… As Johnson apologised to parliament for the parties on Jan. 31, he falsely claimed Starmer had failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile, a late TV star who abused hundreds of children, during his time as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)."
"Dr. Eric Lander, a top science adviser to President Biden, resigned Monday night. His resignation comes hours after White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed he had been investigated over a complaint that he mistreated staff."
"The so-called 'Freedom Convoy' that arrived in Ottawa more than a week ago to protest the Canadian government's vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers has been honking horns, blocking downtown streets and disturbing residential neighborhoods… They faced little pushback from law enforcement until this weekend, when officials in the Canadian capital ramped up their response by ticketing protesters, confiscating their fuel and declaring a state of emergency." So much for the "peaceful protest" myth.
Meanwhile, on Bullshit Mountain… "CNN calls Freedom Convoy protest 'sedition,' 'threat to democracy'."
"The U.S. Supreme Court further undercut the Voting Rights Act on Monday, blocking for now the creation of a second majority-Black congressional district in Alabama for the 2022 election… The court's action came on an emergency appeal from Alabama, which challenged a decision by a three-judge federal court panel that included two Trump appointees. The lower court concluded that under the Voting Rights Act, Alabama, a state with a population that is more than one-quarter Black, could reasonably, and therefore must, create two majority-Black districts out of seven congressional districts."
"The National Archives and Records Administration NARA said it has retrieved 15 boxes of White House records and other items that were stored at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property instead of at the National Archives… As first reported by The Washington Post, the documents retrieved last month from the Florida property contained important records of communication along with Trump's self-described 'love letters' with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as well as a letter addressed to Trump from his predecessor, former President Barack Obama." Add it to the list.
Monday, February 7, 2022
Linkee-poo Monday Feb 7
"On Feb. 6, Queen Elizabeth II will become the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, or 70 years on the throne. Plenty of pundits will praise the queen for her perseverance, her commitment to public service and her ability to stay above the fray."
"Scientists have announced the first-ever unambiguous discovery of a free-floating black hole, a rogue wanderer in the void some 5,000 light-years from Earth."
"When you hear the word 'Neanderthal,' you probably picture a mindless, clumsy brute. It’s often used as an insult — even by our president, who last year called anti-maskers “Neanderthals.” But what if we have more in common with our ancestral cousins than we think? On this week’s On the Media, hear how these early humans have been unfairly maligned in science and in popular culture." Rethinking our cousins.
"At first glance, the town of Woodside may look more like a sprawl of mansions built on big-tech billions than crucial habitat for threatened California mountain lions… But town officials might suggest looking again." This is the kind of bullshit that requires public ridicule. Okay, assholes, do the 2 year survey to make the claim. It'll most likely cost you a million or so. How many mountain lions do you have, where do they travel, are they residents or just traversing through? Oh, and then we'll need to allow science parties free range over your properties to help manage the wildlife. Hope you didn't want to build any outbuildings or expand your garages.
"It's been a whirlwind 38 days in space for the James Webb Space Telescope, but its chief scientist says the mission is well on track to uncover the universe soon… Webb needs to be very cold for its infrared instruments to pick up subtleties in galaxies, exoplanets and other objects it is examining, and Mather said individual photons (particles of light) are starting to register in the telescope's detectors."
"The remedy was a new type of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) called 'Stanford neuromodulation therapy.' By adding imaging technology to the treatment and upping the dose of rTMS, scientists have developed an approach that's more effective and works more than eight times faster than the current approved treatment."
"With housing costs rising, tiny homes are spreading as a solution to homelessness in California, Indiana, Missouri, Oregon, and beyond. Arnold Schwarzenegger garnered considerable publicity in December when he donated money for 25 tiny houses for homeless veterans in Los Angeles. It reflects a growing interest in outside-the-box ideas to get unhoused people off the streets, especially during winter in cold climates and amid the covid-19 pandemic."
"In a video posted on his Instagram account, Rogan, who hosts a podcast called 'The Joe Rogan Experience,' said his use of the slurs was the 'most regretful and shameful thing that I've ever had to talk about publicly.' But he said the clips were "taken out of context.'… 'It's not my word to use. I am well aware of that now, but for years I used it in that manner,' he said during the six-minute video on his Instagram account. 'I never used it to be racist because I'm not racist.'" Racist is as racist does, Joe. And you're saying the n-word isn't the only example of your bullshit.
"Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of downtown Minneapolis on Saturday demanding justice in the fatal police shooting of a young Black man, Amir Locke, during a 'no-knock' raid on an apartment earlier this week."
"An audit of FirstEnergy Corporation and its subsidiaries released Friday has found that the company will have to refund customers after improperly accounting for millions of dollars… The audit was completed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission." Privatizing never goes well.
"Delta Air Lines’ CEO Ed Bastian asked the U.S. Department of Justice to put convicted unruly travelers on a national 'no-fly' list, the airline’s latest effort to deter aggressive behavior on flights that have surged during the pandemic." Remember when the no-fly list was only going to be for "terrorists" and "ordinary citizens" didn't have to worry about it? Not that I disagree with the move, but we're far past "scope creep" territory now.
"Last month, the Federal Reserve released a much-anticipated paper, laying out the advantages and disadvantages of a digital currency… The Fed says it's a first step, meant to kickstart an important conversation among policymakers and to gather feedback, from average people to some of the country's largest financial institutions." Well, that's an interesting thought. And while the information gathered could be a problem, that information is already gathered by private corporations where we have less control over its content and dissemination. The system could be set up to hold information for only as long as necessary to secure the transaction. They way requests for federal clearance for firearms purchases are handled now.
"A Moroccan boy who had been trapped in a well since Tuesday has died, according to two media outlets, Morocco's state news agency, Maghreb Arab Press, and SNRT."
On the Media podcast short episode… "In 1951, Grove Press was a tiny, almost-defunct independent publisher, with just three titles in its catalog, including Herman Melville’s The Confidence Man. But then Barney Rosset took over and, with a few choice books, helped push America past its Puritanical roots and into the sexual revolution. He died in 2012 and we are re-airing this interview I did with him many years back, to set up this week’s show in which we’ll be trying to unpack the latest round of book banning in America."
"An old threat has returned to classrooms across the country — and it’s made of pages and ink. On this week’s On the Media, hear what it means to ban a book, and who has the right to choose what kids learn. Plus, meet the student who took his school board all the way to the Supreme Court in the 80s."
"Banning books from classrooms and school libraries is nothing new, but it's recently become a topic of considerable political debate… A Tennessee school district drew national attention after banning Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust. Toni Morrison's 1987 novel Beloved was a central discussion topic in the final weeks of Virginia's gubernatorial race last fall. In October, Texas state Rep. Matt Krause asked schools in his state to confirm if they possessed any books from a list featuring around 850 titles. Krause stated he chose these books because they 'might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.'" Besides the politics of this movement, which is not about the children, it's being fueled mostly by parents who don't want to discuss these things with their kids. It's driven by embarrassment and parental discomfort (because of inability or ignorance), not about the kids. Same as smoking, racism, true history, evolution, climate change and long division.
"A Missouri man who sought to ban several LGBTQ books from schools for depicting sexual content is now facing a felony charge of second-degree child molestation… Ryan Utterback, a 29-year-old parent from a suburb of Kansas City, also faces a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree domestic assault and, in a separate case, a misdemeanor of furnishing or attempting to furnish pornographic material to a minor."
"From the western province of Alberta, moving east to Quebec City, and in cities and towns in between, thousands of Canadians have hit the streets in trucks, tractors, cars and on foot to protest the nation's Covid-19 restrictions… With persistent and noisy horn honking, protesters are demanding governments at all levels lift their health restrictions, including vaccine and mask mandates, lockdowns and restrictions on businesses and gatherings."
"Protesters have shut down downtown Ottawa for the past eight days, with some participants waving Confederate or Nazi flags and some saying they wanted to dissolve Canada’s government."
"A divided North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the state's new maps for congressional and General Assembly seats Friday, declaring that state courts had authority to throw out lines engineered to secure a long-term Republican advantage in an otherwise closely divided state."
"The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection is now in possession of White House records that provide new details about a phone call Donald Trump made to Republican Rep. Jim Jordan on January 6, 2021… Two sources who have reviewed the call records tell CNN that Trump spoke on the phone at the White House residence with Jordan for 10 minutes on the morning of January 6. That afternoon, Jordan took to the House floor to object to the certification of President Joe Biden's Electoral College win, and pro-Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol."
"It has been widely reported that former President Donald Trump had a penchant for tearing apart presidential documents, but new details have emerged about how his aides disposed of potentially important papers… According to The Washington Post, staffers frequently put documents into 'burn bags' to be incinerated at the Pentagon."
"Scientists have announced the first-ever unambiguous discovery of a free-floating black hole, a rogue wanderer in the void some 5,000 light-years from Earth."
"When you hear the word 'Neanderthal,' you probably picture a mindless, clumsy brute. It’s often used as an insult — even by our president, who last year called anti-maskers “Neanderthals.” But what if we have more in common with our ancestral cousins than we think? On this week’s On the Media, hear how these early humans have been unfairly maligned in science and in popular culture." Rethinking our cousins.
"At first glance, the town of Woodside may look more like a sprawl of mansions built on big-tech billions than crucial habitat for threatened California mountain lions… But town officials might suggest looking again." This is the kind of bullshit that requires public ridicule. Okay, assholes, do the 2 year survey to make the claim. It'll most likely cost you a million or so. How many mountain lions do you have, where do they travel, are they residents or just traversing through? Oh, and then we'll need to allow science parties free range over your properties to help manage the wildlife. Hope you didn't want to build any outbuildings or expand your garages.
"It's been a whirlwind 38 days in space for the James Webb Space Telescope, but its chief scientist says the mission is well on track to uncover the universe soon… Webb needs to be very cold for its infrared instruments to pick up subtleties in galaxies, exoplanets and other objects it is examining, and Mather said individual photons (particles of light) are starting to register in the telescope's detectors."
"The remedy was a new type of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) called 'Stanford neuromodulation therapy.' By adding imaging technology to the treatment and upping the dose of rTMS, scientists have developed an approach that's more effective and works more than eight times faster than the current approved treatment."
"With housing costs rising, tiny homes are spreading as a solution to homelessness in California, Indiana, Missouri, Oregon, and beyond. Arnold Schwarzenegger garnered considerable publicity in December when he donated money for 25 tiny houses for homeless veterans in Los Angeles. It reflects a growing interest in outside-the-box ideas to get unhoused people off the streets, especially during winter in cold climates and amid the covid-19 pandemic."
"In a video posted on his Instagram account, Rogan, who hosts a podcast called 'The Joe Rogan Experience,' said his use of the slurs was the 'most regretful and shameful thing that I've ever had to talk about publicly.' But he said the clips were "taken out of context.'… 'It's not my word to use. I am well aware of that now, but for years I used it in that manner,' he said during the six-minute video on his Instagram account. 'I never used it to be racist because I'm not racist.'" Racist is as racist does, Joe. And you're saying the n-word isn't the only example of your bullshit.
"Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of downtown Minneapolis on Saturday demanding justice in the fatal police shooting of a young Black man, Amir Locke, during a 'no-knock' raid on an apartment earlier this week."
"An audit of FirstEnergy Corporation and its subsidiaries released Friday has found that the company will have to refund customers after improperly accounting for millions of dollars… The audit was completed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission." Privatizing never goes well.
"Delta Air Lines’ CEO Ed Bastian asked the U.S. Department of Justice to put convicted unruly travelers on a national 'no-fly' list, the airline’s latest effort to deter aggressive behavior on flights that have surged during the pandemic." Remember when the no-fly list was only going to be for "terrorists" and "ordinary citizens" didn't have to worry about it? Not that I disagree with the move, but we're far past "scope creep" territory now.
"Last month, the Federal Reserve released a much-anticipated paper, laying out the advantages and disadvantages of a digital currency… The Fed says it's a first step, meant to kickstart an important conversation among policymakers and to gather feedback, from average people to some of the country's largest financial institutions." Well, that's an interesting thought. And while the information gathered could be a problem, that information is already gathered by private corporations where we have less control over its content and dissemination. The system could be set up to hold information for only as long as necessary to secure the transaction. They way requests for federal clearance for firearms purchases are handled now.
"A Moroccan boy who had been trapped in a well since Tuesday has died, according to two media outlets, Morocco's state news agency, Maghreb Arab Press, and SNRT."
On the Media podcast short episode… "In 1951, Grove Press was a tiny, almost-defunct independent publisher, with just three titles in its catalog, including Herman Melville’s The Confidence Man. But then Barney Rosset took over and, with a few choice books, helped push America past its Puritanical roots and into the sexual revolution. He died in 2012 and we are re-airing this interview I did with him many years back, to set up this week’s show in which we’ll be trying to unpack the latest round of book banning in America."
"An old threat has returned to classrooms across the country — and it’s made of pages and ink. On this week’s On the Media, hear what it means to ban a book, and who has the right to choose what kids learn. Plus, meet the student who took his school board all the way to the Supreme Court in the 80s."
"Banning books from classrooms and school libraries is nothing new, but it's recently become a topic of considerable political debate… A Tennessee school district drew national attention after banning Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust. Toni Morrison's 1987 novel Beloved was a central discussion topic in the final weeks of Virginia's gubernatorial race last fall. In October, Texas state Rep. Matt Krause asked schools in his state to confirm if they possessed any books from a list featuring around 850 titles. Krause stated he chose these books because they 'might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.'" Besides the politics of this movement, which is not about the children, it's being fueled mostly by parents who don't want to discuss these things with their kids. It's driven by embarrassment and parental discomfort (because of inability or ignorance), not about the kids. Same as smoking, racism, true history, evolution, climate change and long division.
"A Missouri man who sought to ban several LGBTQ books from schools for depicting sexual content is now facing a felony charge of second-degree child molestation… Ryan Utterback, a 29-year-old parent from a suburb of Kansas City, also faces a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree domestic assault and, in a separate case, a misdemeanor of furnishing or attempting to furnish pornographic material to a minor."
"From the western province of Alberta, moving east to Quebec City, and in cities and towns in between, thousands of Canadians have hit the streets in trucks, tractors, cars and on foot to protest the nation's Covid-19 restrictions… With persistent and noisy horn honking, protesters are demanding governments at all levels lift their health restrictions, including vaccine and mask mandates, lockdowns and restrictions on businesses and gatherings."
"Protesters have shut down downtown Ottawa for the past eight days, with some participants waving Confederate or Nazi flags and some saying they wanted to dissolve Canada’s government."
"A divided North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the state's new maps for congressional and General Assembly seats Friday, declaring that state courts had authority to throw out lines engineered to secure a long-term Republican advantage in an otherwise closely divided state."
"The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection is now in possession of White House records that provide new details about a phone call Donald Trump made to Republican Rep. Jim Jordan on January 6, 2021… Two sources who have reviewed the call records tell CNN that Trump spoke on the phone at the White House residence with Jordan for 10 minutes on the morning of January 6. That afternoon, Jordan took to the House floor to object to the certification of President Joe Biden's Electoral College win, and pro-Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol."
"It has been widely reported that former President Donald Trump had a penchant for tearing apart presidential documents, but new details have emerged about how his aides disposed of potentially important papers… According to The Washington Post, staffers frequently put documents into 'burn bags' to be incinerated at the Pentagon."
Friday, February 4, 2022
Linkee-poo Friday Feb 4
"A major winter storm that already cut electric power to about 350,000 homes and businesses from Texas to the Ohio Valley was set to leave Pennsylvania and New England glazed in ice and smothered in snow Friday, forecasters said."
"There's new evidence, collected from orbiting satellites, that oil and gas companies are routinely venting huge amounts of methane into the air… Methane is the main ingredient in natural gas, the fuel. It's also a powerful greenhouse gas, second only to carbon dioxide in its warming impact." We're fucked.
"Authorities in Argentina are advising drug consumers to throw away any cocaine they may have purchased in the last two days after at least 23 people died after ingesting adulterated cocaine in the Greater Buenos Aires area." Yeah, like that's gonna happen.
Whither AI? "Watson Health was supposed to change health care in a lot of important ways, by providing insight to oncologists about care for cancer patients, delivering insight to pharmaceutical companies about drug development, helping to match patients with clinical trials, and more. It sounded revolutionary, but it never really worked. Recently, Watson Health was, essentially, sold for parts: Francisco Partners, a private equity firm, bought some of Watson’s data and analytics products for what Bloomberg News said was more than $1 billion."
"After every shift in his Seattle emergency department, Dr. Matt Beecroft comes away with some new story of how the omicron surge is making his patients sicker… And not just from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19… Instead, it's the delays and disruptions in medical care — a consequence of overcrowded and short-staffed hospitals — that are leading to, at times, life-threatening complications." Ta-da!
"Moroccan rescuers have spent almost three days trying to reach a 5-year-old boy who is trapped in a well in the north of the African country, state media MAP reported Friday."
"When Lois van Baarle, a Dutch artist, scoured the biggest NFT marketplace for her name late last year, she found more than 100 pieces of her art for sale. None of them had been put up by her… The rise in such thefts comes as the market for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, exploded last year, growing to an estimated $22bn, attracting Sotheby’s and Christie’s, and driving multimillion-dollar auctions for these new certificates of ownership of digital assets." On top of this forgeries issue, I wonder when it will become apparent that while it may be impossible to "steal" the block chain entry that forms an NFT, nothing prevents multiple copies of the same art to be sold as an NFT. Also, for the sale of art forgeries, the company that makes the sale is also on the hook for damages.
"The U.S. job market came through January in much better shape than expected despite a winter wave of coronavirus infections… Employers added 467,000 jobs last month, according to a new tally from the Labor Department, far outpacing even the most optimistic forecasts. The gains came despite a surge in COVID-19 cases tied to the omicron variant."
"Amazon is raising the price of its annual Prime subscriptions from $119 to $139 per year in the United States, the company announced along with its earnings report Thursday. The price of a monthly subscription will also increase from $12.99 to $14.99."
"A plan to temporarily dismantle a recently restored historic bridge in the heart of Dutch port city Rotterdam so that a huge yacht, reportedly being built for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, can get to the North Sea is unlikely to be plain sailing." Look, you've got to measure the doorways the appliance has to go through, you know, before you make the purchase.
"Four top aides to Boris Johnson resigned Thursday, marking the latest setback for the British prime minister whose government has been embroiled in scandal in recent days."
"The Biden administration on Thursday accused Moscow of planning a staged mass casualty event on Russia by Ukraine, in order to justify a further Russian invasion of its former Soviet neighbor."
"Across the U.S., educators are being censored for broaching controversial topics. Since January 2021, researcher Jeffrey Sachs says, 35 states have introduced 137 bills limiting what schools can teach with regard to race, American history, politics, sexual orientation and gender identity." Just as an example, it's still controversial to teach evolution in biology classes.
"It was an abrupt move that not many could have foreseen. Despite an impressive three-year showing with the Miami Dolphins, Brian Flores was fired from his position as head coach last month in a surprising end to a contract that was supposed to last for two more years… What's followed could be described as a 'reckoning' for the NFL: Flores filed a class-action lawsuit against the league and its 32 franchises citing racial discrimination, a move that's prompted a closer look at the NFL's hiring practices and the racial makeup of those in power."
"But on Tuesday, voters ousted Moty, handing control of the Shasta county board of supervisors to a group aligned with local militia members. The election followed nearly two years of threats and increasing hostility toward the longtime supervisor and his moderate colleagues in response to pandemic health restrictions… While it’s not yet clear who will replace Moty, the two candidates in the lead attended a celebration on Tuesday with members of an area militia group, the Sacramento Bee reported."
"The select House committee investigating the Capitol riot subpoenaed the phone records of Kelli Ward, the chair of the Republican party in Arizona, and her husband, Michael Ward, according to a lawsuit filed by the couple on Tuesday, Politico reported… Both of the Wards were among those who signed documents that falsely claimed they were the presidential electors for their state in the 2020 election… In July, public records obtained by The Arizona Republic and the Associated Press showed Kelli Ward had pressured officials in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, to stop counting ballots."
"There's new evidence, collected from orbiting satellites, that oil and gas companies are routinely venting huge amounts of methane into the air… Methane is the main ingredient in natural gas, the fuel. It's also a powerful greenhouse gas, second only to carbon dioxide in its warming impact." We're fucked.
"Authorities in Argentina are advising drug consumers to throw away any cocaine they may have purchased in the last two days after at least 23 people died after ingesting adulterated cocaine in the Greater Buenos Aires area." Yeah, like that's gonna happen.
Whither AI? "Watson Health was supposed to change health care in a lot of important ways, by providing insight to oncologists about care for cancer patients, delivering insight to pharmaceutical companies about drug development, helping to match patients with clinical trials, and more. It sounded revolutionary, but it never really worked. Recently, Watson Health was, essentially, sold for parts: Francisco Partners, a private equity firm, bought some of Watson’s data and analytics products for what Bloomberg News said was more than $1 billion."
"After every shift in his Seattle emergency department, Dr. Matt Beecroft comes away with some new story of how the omicron surge is making his patients sicker… And not just from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19… Instead, it's the delays and disruptions in medical care — a consequence of overcrowded and short-staffed hospitals — that are leading to, at times, life-threatening complications." Ta-da!
"Moroccan rescuers have spent almost three days trying to reach a 5-year-old boy who is trapped in a well in the north of the African country, state media MAP reported Friday."
"When Lois van Baarle, a Dutch artist, scoured the biggest NFT marketplace for her name late last year, she found more than 100 pieces of her art for sale. None of them had been put up by her… The rise in such thefts comes as the market for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, exploded last year, growing to an estimated $22bn, attracting Sotheby’s and Christie’s, and driving multimillion-dollar auctions for these new certificates of ownership of digital assets." On top of this forgeries issue, I wonder when it will become apparent that while it may be impossible to "steal" the block chain entry that forms an NFT, nothing prevents multiple copies of the same art to be sold as an NFT. Also, for the sale of art forgeries, the company that makes the sale is also on the hook for damages.
"The U.S. job market came through January in much better shape than expected despite a winter wave of coronavirus infections… Employers added 467,000 jobs last month, according to a new tally from the Labor Department, far outpacing even the most optimistic forecasts. The gains came despite a surge in COVID-19 cases tied to the omicron variant."
"Amazon is raising the price of its annual Prime subscriptions from $119 to $139 per year in the United States, the company announced along with its earnings report Thursday. The price of a monthly subscription will also increase from $12.99 to $14.99."
"A plan to temporarily dismantle a recently restored historic bridge in the heart of Dutch port city Rotterdam so that a huge yacht, reportedly being built for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, can get to the North Sea is unlikely to be plain sailing." Look, you've got to measure the doorways the appliance has to go through, you know, before you make the purchase.
"Four top aides to Boris Johnson resigned Thursday, marking the latest setback for the British prime minister whose government has been embroiled in scandal in recent days."
"The Biden administration on Thursday accused Moscow of planning a staged mass casualty event on Russia by Ukraine, in order to justify a further Russian invasion of its former Soviet neighbor."
"Across the U.S., educators are being censored for broaching controversial topics. Since January 2021, researcher Jeffrey Sachs says, 35 states have introduced 137 bills limiting what schools can teach with regard to race, American history, politics, sexual orientation and gender identity." Just as an example, it's still controversial to teach evolution in biology classes.
"It was an abrupt move that not many could have foreseen. Despite an impressive three-year showing with the Miami Dolphins, Brian Flores was fired from his position as head coach last month in a surprising end to a contract that was supposed to last for two more years… What's followed could be described as a 'reckoning' for the NFL: Flores filed a class-action lawsuit against the league and its 32 franchises citing racial discrimination, a move that's prompted a closer look at the NFL's hiring practices and the racial makeup of those in power."
"But on Tuesday, voters ousted Moty, handing control of the Shasta county board of supervisors to a group aligned with local militia members. The election followed nearly two years of threats and increasing hostility toward the longtime supervisor and his moderate colleagues in response to pandemic health restrictions… While it’s not yet clear who will replace Moty, the two candidates in the lead attended a celebration on Tuesday with members of an area militia group, the Sacramento Bee reported."
"The select House committee investigating the Capitol riot subpoenaed the phone records of Kelli Ward, the chair of the Republican party in Arizona, and her husband, Michael Ward, according to a lawsuit filed by the couple on Tuesday, Politico reported… Both of the Wards were among those who signed documents that falsely claimed they were the presidential electors for their state in the 2020 election… In July, public records obtained by The Arizona Republic and the Associated Press showed Kelli Ward had pressured officials in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, to stop counting ballots."
Thursday, February 3, 2022
Linkee-poo Thursday Feb 3
It's that time of year, again, to vote for the Rock Hall nominees. Damn good list. (Grokked from Dan)
"Dust off your pink, tiger-print jacket -- it's time to celebrate the Lunar New Year… Saying goodbye to the Ox, we enter(ed) the Year of the Tiger on February 1, 2022."
"Residents in the area near a North Carolina fertilizer plant that caught fire Monday night are urged to stay away from their homes for an 'undetermined' amount of time, as a massive amount of ammonium nitrate within the burning facility is at risk of an explosion, officials said Wednesday."
"Thousands of flights have been canceled and more than 63,000 customers in Texas have been left without power in the midst of a fierce winter storm that has put around 108 million people from New Mexico to Maine under winter and flood alerts early Thursday."
"A major winter storm with millions of Americans in its path brought a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow to the central U.S. as airlines canceled thousands of flights, officials urged residents to stay off roads and schools closed campuses."
"With salmon on the brink of extinction in the Pacific Northwest, a team of scientists (launched) an international expedition Tuesday into the remote Pacific Ocean (the Bering straight) which they hope will hold clues to the fish's survival."
"Growing up, my family often relied on tarot when working through tough decisions – we'd draw cards to talk through my brother's breakup, or whether I should drop out of school… I didn't always listen to the readings, but the rituals provided me a space to ruminate on and figure out my own answers to the question that's being asked of the cards. Years later, along with many others, I've returned to the practice as a way of staying grounded during this time of indecision and overwhelm." I Ching, Tarot, the finger bones of your enemies, whatever.
"Two people with leukemia achieved remission over a decade after being infused with CAR-T cells, immune cells that had been modified in a lab, according to a new study. The findings suggest that this approach could be a long-term therapy for leukemia -- and some researchers describe it as a possible cure."
"Taylor's struggles to get a benefit she was in fact qualified for are not uncommon in Missouri or nationally. They stem from extremely outdated technology used by a humongous web of government agencies, from local public health to state-run benefits programs. Matt Salo, the National Association of State Medicaid Directors executive director, calls the need for technology upgrades 'the next great challenge that government has to solve.'" In healthcare, our immediate backup technology is based on the fax machine. And sometimes the fax is used as the frontline technology.
"More than 1.2 million additional people across North America are expected to die of opioid overdoses by 2029 if dramatic interventions are not taken to prevent it, according to a new study published in the Lancet… Overdose deaths from all drugs, including opioids, have increased dramatically in the US and Canada during the Covid-19 pandemic."
"President Biden announced on Wednesday that he is reigniting "Cancer Moonshot," the project he spearheaded as vice president during the Obama administration."
"The White House is ready to 'hit the ground running' to vaccinate children aged six months to 5 years old as soon as Pfizer/BioNTech receives emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine for that age group."
"Teachers are picking up slack for absent colleagues. They're covering for unfilled positions. And 55% of them say they will leave teaching sooner than they had originally planned, according to a poll of its members by the nation's largest teachers union."
"The Omicron variant put a massive speed bump in the road to America's recovery this winter. The first signs of trouble could show up in the January jobs report Friday… The White House on Monday prepared Americans for disappointment about the jobs numbers: Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told CNN the number of jobs added at the start of 2022 could be "unusually low" because of Omicron."
"Initial filings for unemployment claims totaled a bit fewer than expected last week as companies looked to overcome the impact of the omicron spread… Claims for the week ended Jan. 29 were 238,000, a touch lower than the 245,000 Dow Jones estimate, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That was also a decline from the previous week’s upwardly revised 261,000."
"The Bank of England on Thursday imposed back-to-back interest rate hikes for the first time since 2004 and began the process of quantitative tightening."
"US Special Forces killed ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in a counterterrorism mission in northwest Syria Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden announced Thursday morning… Sources on the ground reported multiple fatalities. At least 13 people were killed in clashes that took place during and after the raid -- including six children and four women -- according to the Syrian civil defense group, the White Helmets."
"Boris Johnson's head of policy has resigned over the PM's false claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute serial sex offender Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions… Mr Johnson made the widely debunked accusation on Monday, sparking anger from MPs - including in his own party… The PM backed down on Thursday, saying the Labour leader 'had nothing to do personally with those decisions'."
"Duane Smith and his 11-year-old grandson, Allen Cadwalader, were out on a magnet fishing trip on January 30 in Homestead, a suburb of Miami, Florida, when within five minutes of their arrival, Cadwalader reeled in two sniper rifle receivers and bolt carrier groups wrapped in shrink wrap, Smith told CNN."
"Denounce the Nazi demonstrators in Orlando, Gov. Ron DeSantis. It’s that simple. Say they are abhorrent. Say they are despicable. Say they have no part in this society or this state. But no. Instead, our governor attacked Democrats during a press conference in Palm Beach County on Monday. Dragged in issues like immigration and inflation and crime. Accused unnamed people — Democrats, of course — of trying to 'smear' him. Said he wouldn’t 'play their game.'" This is covered in Public Relations 101. You say you abhor Nazis, but we have free speech. As long as they don't commit a crime, the government must respect the 1st Amendment, no matter how much we disagree with that speech. It's real easy, unless you're a fucking Nazi.(Grokked from Jim Wright)
"The NYPD had informed the CCRB that it was invoking its authority to unilaterally end the cases against most of the officers the civilian agency had charged with misconduct. No disciplinary charges would be brought against them." Dear police, want us to trust you? Stop this shit.
"The butterflies will fly no more — or not in public view, anyway… The National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, has announced that it's closing its doors "for the immediate future" after ongoing harassment directed at employees and the center itself."
"An Oregon church has sued the town where it's located over a new local ordinance that restricts the number of times the church can dole out free meals each week to those in need… St. Timothy's Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon say in a federal lawsuit against the city of Brookings that the ordinance limiting them to two free meal giveaways per week violates their constitutional right to free religious expression."
"'There is no American history without African American history,' said Sara Clarke Kaplan, executive director of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University in Washington, D.C. The Black experience, she said, is embedded in 'everything we think of as "American history."'"
"The threat to the West from the Chinese government is 'more brazen' and damaging than ever before, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Monday night in accusing Beijing of stealing American ideas and innovation and launching massive hacking operations."
"Last summer, when he retired at 50 from the FBI, Scott left the bureau as one of the most storied agents since Joe Pistone, the real-life Donnie Brasco. For two-plus decades, he cracked landmark cases and won every laurel they give to undercovers. Months out of the game, though, he can’t stop brooding over the threat he left behind. He knows better than anyone that it’s later than we think, and that each day brings us closer to the next 9/11 — this one launched by our own children."
"Trump alleged during a rally in Texas over the weekend that Black prosecutors investigating him are 'racist,' and he is again flirting with mob violence, calling for mass protests if they do anything he deems to be 'wrong or illegal.'" Trump says the quiet parts out loud. And in case you're wondering, yes, there are even deeper levels of filth he can descend to.
"'I didn’t do anything, but they changed the party,' Salazar said, adding he noticed, 'when they sent me the new registration.'… He wasn’t the only elderly resident at the public housing to come forward and say the same thing happened to them." I don't understand the logic of this action except for media news releases (which don't mean shit except for bragging) or an attempt to convince the larger donors to give more money because "you're winning." There are some long term hijinks that could be played (getting a ghost candidate nominated on the Democratic side). I don't know, does Florida offer a slate ballot that is tied to your voter registration party preference? (Grokked from Joy Reid)
"Dust off your pink, tiger-print jacket -- it's time to celebrate the Lunar New Year… Saying goodbye to the Ox, we enter(ed) the Year of the Tiger on February 1, 2022."
"Residents in the area near a North Carolina fertilizer plant that caught fire Monday night are urged to stay away from their homes for an 'undetermined' amount of time, as a massive amount of ammonium nitrate within the burning facility is at risk of an explosion, officials said Wednesday."
"Thousands of flights have been canceled and more than 63,000 customers in Texas have been left without power in the midst of a fierce winter storm that has put around 108 million people from New Mexico to Maine under winter and flood alerts early Thursday."
"A major winter storm with millions of Americans in its path brought a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow to the central U.S. as airlines canceled thousands of flights, officials urged residents to stay off roads and schools closed campuses."
"With salmon on the brink of extinction in the Pacific Northwest, a team of scientists (launched) an international expedition Tuesday into the remote Pacific Ocean (the Bering straight) which they hope will hold clues to the fish's survival."
"Growing up, my family often relied on tarot when working through tough decisions – we'd draw cards to talk through my brother's breakup, or whether I should drop out of school… I didn't always listen to the readings, but the rituals provided me a space to ruminate on and figure out my own answers to the question that's being asked of the cards. Years later, along with many others, I've returned to the practice as a way of staying grounded during this time of indecision and overwhelm." I Ching, Tarot, the finger bones of your enemies, whatever.
"Two people with leukemia achieved remission over a decade after being infused with CAR-T cells, immune cells that had been modified in a lab, according to a new study. The findings suggest that this approach could be a long-term therapy for leukemia -- and some researchers describe it as a possible cure."
"Taylor's struggles to get a benefit she was in fact qualified for are not uncommon in Missouri or nationally. They stem from extremely outdated technology used by a humongous web of government agencies, from local public health to state-run benefits programs. Matt Salo, the National Association of State Medicaid Directors executive director, calls the need for technology upgrades 'the next great challenge that government has to solve.'" In healthcare, our immediate backup technology is based on the fax machine. And sometimes the fax is used as the frontline technology.
"More than 1.2 million additional people across North America are expected to die of opioid overdoses by 2029 if dramatic interventions are not taken to prevent it, according to a new study published in the Lancet… Overdose deaths from all drugs, including opioids, have increased dramatically in the US and Canada during the Covid-19 pandemic."
"President Biden announced on Wednesday that he is reigniting "Cancer Moonshot," the project he spearheaded as vice president during the Obama administration."
"The White House is ready to 'hit the ground running' to vaccinate children aged six months to 5 years old as soon as Pfizer/BioNTech receives emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine for that age group."
"Teachers are picking up slack for absent colleagues. They're covering for unfilled positions. And 55% of them say they will leave teaching sooner than they had originally planned, according to a poll of its members by the nation's largest teachers union."
"The Omicron variant put a massive speed bump in the road to America's recovery this winter. The first signs of trouble could show up in the January jobs report Friday… The White House on Monday prepared Americans for disappointment about the jobs numbers: Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told CNN the number of jobs added at the start of 2022 could be "unusually low" because of Omicron."
"Initial filings for unemployment claims totaled a bit fewer than expected last week as companies looked to overcome the impact of the omicron spread… Claims for the week ended Jan. 29 were 238,000, a touch lower than the 245,000 Dow Jones estimate, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That was also a decline from the previous week’s upwardly revised 261,000."
"The Bank of England on Thursday imposed back-to-back interest rate hikes for the first time since 2004 and began the process of quantitative tightening."
"US Special Forces killed ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in a counterterrorism mission in northwest Syria Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden announced Thursday morning… Sources on the ground reported multiple fatalities. At least 13 people were killed in clashes that took place during and after the raid -- including six children and four women -- according to the Syrian civil defense group, the White Helmets."
"Boris Johnson's head of policy has resigned over the PM's false claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute serial sex offender Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions… Mr Johnson made the widely debunked accusation on Monday, sparking anger from MPs - including in his own party… The PM backed down on Thursday, saying the Labour leader 'had nothing to do personally with those decisions'."
"Duane Smith and his 11-year-old grandson, Allen Cadwalader, were out on a magnet fishing trip on January 30 in Homestead, a suburb of Miami, Florida, when within five minutes of their arrival, Cadwalader reeled in two sniper rifle receivers and bolt carrier groups wrapped in shrink wrap, Smith told CNN."
"Denounce the Nazi demonstrators in Orlando, Gov. Ron DeSantis. It’s that simple. Say they are abhorrent. Say they are despicable. Say they have no part in this society or this state. But no. Instead, our governor attacked Democrats during a press conference in Palm Beach County on Monday. Dragged in issues like immigration and inflation and crime. Accused unnamed people — Democrats, of course — of trying to 'smear' him. Said he wouldn’t 'play their game.'" This is covered in Public Relations 101. You say you abhor Nazis, but we have free speech. As long as they don't commit a crime, the government must respect the 1st Amendment, no matter how much we disagree with that speech. It's real easy, unless you're a fucking Nazi.(Grokked from Jim Wright)
"The NYPD had informed the CCRB that it was invoking its authority to unilaterally end the cases against most of the officers the civilian agency had charged with misconduct. No disciplinary charges would be brought against them." Dear police, want us to trust you? Stop this shit.
"The butterflies will fly no more — or not in public view, anyway… The National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, has announced that it's closing its doors "for the immediate future" after ongoing harassment directed at employees and the center itself."
"An Oregon church has sued the town where it's located over a new local ordinance that restricts the number of times the church can dole out free meals each week to those in need… St. Timothy's Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon say in a federal lawsuit against the city of Brookings that the ordinance limiting them to two free meal giveaways per week violates their constitutional right to free religious expression."
"'There is no American history without African American history,' said Sara Clarke Kaplan, executive director of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University in Washington, D.C. The Black experience, she said, is embedded in 'everything we think of as "American history."'"
"The threat to the West from the Chinese government is 'more brazen' and damaging than ever before, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Monday night in accusing Beijing of stealing American ideas and innovation and launching massive hacking operations."
"Last summer, when he retired at 50 from the FBI, Scott left the bureau as one of the most storied agents since Joe Pistone, the real-life Donnie Brasco. For two-plus decades, he cracked landmark cases and won every laurel they give to undercovers. Months out of the game, though, he can’t stop brooding over the threat he left behind. He knows better than anyone that it’s later than we think, and that each day brings us closer to the next 9/11 — this one launched by our own children."
"Trump alleged during a rally in Texas over the weekend that Black prosecutors investigating him are 'racist,' and he is again flirting with mob violence, calling for mass protests if they do anything he deems to be 'wrong or illegal.'" Trump says the quiet parts out loud. And in case you're wondering, yes, there are even deeper levels of filth he can descend to.
"'I didn’t do anything, but they changed the party,' Salazar said, adding he noticed, 'when they sent me the new registration.'… He wasn’t the only elderly resident at the public housing to come forward and say the same thing happened to them." I don't understand the logic of this action except for media news releases (which don't mean shit except for bragging) or an attempt to convince the larger donors to give more money because "you're winning." There are some long term hijinks that could be played (getting a ghost candidate nominated on the Democratic side). I don't know, does Florida offer a slate ballot that is tied to your voter registration party preference? (Grokked from Joy Reid)
Monday, January 31, 2022
Linkee-poo Monday Jan 31
"The Northeast continues to face dangerous cold Monday as it digs out of record snow from a bomb cyclone storm that sapped power to more 100,000 customers in Massachusetts alone and canceled some 5,000 US flights."
"The National Weather Service Miami-South Florida warned the public on Sunday that immobilized iguanas could fall out of trees due to unusually cold temperatures across the region… 'Iguanas are cold-blooded. They slow down or become immobile when temps drop into the 40s (4-9 Celsius). They may fall from trees, but they are not dead,' the service said on Twitter."
"More than 100,000 Americans died from diabetes in 2021, marking the second consecutive year for that grim milestone and spurring a call for a federal mobilization similar to the fight against HIV/AIDS."
"New cases are falling significantly nationwide as the omicron loses steam, but hospitalizations are still near pandemic highs… New infections have fallen more than 30% since mid-January, but Aubrey says it's still a "pretty intense scene" in the places that are just now experiencing their peak… Nearly 18,000 people with COVID-19 are being admitted to hospitals every day, and about 2,300 people are dying a day nationwide."
"More than a year after a bout with COVID-19, Rebekah Hogan still suffers from severe brain fog, pain and fatigue that leave her unable to do her nursing job or handle household activities… Long COVID has her questioning her worth as a wife and mother."
"An Upstate man has been declared inactive on a kidney transplant list after he said he has no plans to receive the COVID-19 vaccine… Jason Wilson, of Easley, has had kidney failure since he was 10 years old."
How it's playing in the conservative media (in this case, Fox News)… "A North Carolina man who said a hospital refused to carry out a kidney transplant because he's unvaccinated against COVID-19 is willing to 'die free' rather than comply with the vaccine requirement."
"Cheslie Kryst, the 2019 winner of the Miss USA pageant and a correspondent for the entertainment news program 'Extra' has died at age 30… Police said Kryst jumped from a Manhattan apartment building and was pronounced dead at the scene Sunday morning."
"We’re in the midst of an energy transition. Renewable power and electric vehicles are getting cheaper, the grid is getting greener, and oil and gas companies are getting nervous… That’s why the fossil fuel giants are looking towards petrochemicals, and plastics in particular, as their next major growth market."
"Prosecutors in the federal hate crime case against the men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery filed notices Sunday that they've made plea deals with two of the three men convicted in the case… Any such agreement would have to be approved by the court, and Arbery's parents would most likely have influence. Prosecutors did not reveal details of the plan, they only served notice that a deal was ready for the U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia, to hear." Dear prosecutors, you have a conviction in the lower court's criminal case. There is no need to work on a plea deal for the federal hate crimes charges unless it's to change their pleas to guilty and to accept the maximum punishment (in that case, the plea deal just saves us the cost of the trial).
"Locals in the city called either Londonderry or Derry, Northern Ireland, are marking 50 years since Bloody Sunday, in which British soldiers fired upon a crowd of protesters in what's now considered one of the most pivotal events of The Troubles."
"The interim findings of an investigation into Covid-19 lockdown-breaking parties at Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office and residence have sharply criticized the culture in Downing Street… The 12-page interim report, published in a redacted form on the government’s website on Monday, makes clear that lockdown parties 'should not have been allowed to take place,' while others 'should not have been allowed to develop as they did.'"
"Russia is willing to risk 'real financial harm' and all-out war to achieve its political objectives in Ukraine, defense analysts have said… Moscow has denied that it plans to invade neighboring Ukraine, a former part of the Soviet Union, despite having assembled around 100,000 troops at the border." Brinksmanship was stupid in the 80s, it's even dumber in the 2020's.
"A Cincinnati-area venue has booted a scheduled rally featuring far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) following a surge of complaints, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Saturday… As for Vance, he has pulled off a transformation, morphing into an avid supporter of Trump, whom he once bashed as 'noxious,' 'reprehensible' and an 'idiot.'" This timeline just keeps getting dumber and dumber.
"Former President Donald Trump on Saturday warned of 'the biggest protest we have ever had' in the United States if prosecutors 'do anything illegal' in their investigations into him and his businesses… Speaking at a rally in Conroe, Texas, on Saturday, Trump spoke about the local and federal probes targeting his businesses and political activities, including lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol."
"The National Weather Service Miami-South Florida warned the public on Sunday that immobilized iguanas could fall out of trees due to unusually cold temperatures across the region… 'Iguanas are cold-blooded. They slow down or become immobile when temps drop into the 40s (4-9 Celsius). They may fall from trees, but they are not dead,' the service said on Twitter."
"More than 100,000 Americans died from diabetes in 2021, marking the second consecutive year for that grim milestone and spurring a call for a federal mobilization similar to the fight against HIV/AIDS."
"New cases are falling significantly nationwide as the omicron loses steam, but hospitalizations are still near pandemic highs… New infections have fallen more than 30% since mid-January, but Aubrey says it's still a "pretty intense scene" in the places that are just now experiencing their peak… Nearly 18,000 people with COVID-19 are being admitted to hospitals every day, and about 2,300 people are dying a day nationwide."
"More than a year after a bout with COVID-19, Rebekah Hogan still suffers from severe brain fog, pain and fatigue that leave her unable to do her nursing job or handle household activities… Long COVID has her questioning her worth as a wife and mother."
"An Upstate man has been declared inactive on a kidney transplant list after he said he has no plans to receive the COVID-19 vaccine… Jason Wilson, of Easley, has had kidney failure since he was 10 years old."
How it's playing in the conservative media (in this case, Fox News)… "A North Carolina man who said a hospital refused to carry out a kidney transplant because he's unvaccinated against COVID-19 is willing to 'die free' rather than comply with the vaccine requirement."
"Cheslie Kryst, the 2019 winner of the Miss USA pageant and a correspondent for the entertainment news program 'Extra' has died at age 30… Police said Kryst jumped from a Manhattan apartment building and was pronounced dead at the scene Sunday morning."
"We’re in the midst of an energy transition. Renewable power and electric vehicles are getting cheaper, the grid is getting greener, and oil and gas companies are getting nervous… That’s why the fossil fuel giants are looking towards petrochemicals, and plastics in particular, as their next major growth market."
"Prosecutors in the federal hate crime case against the men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery filed notices Sunday that they've made plea deals with two of the three men convicted in the case… Any such agreement would have to be approved by the court, and Arbery's parents would most likely have influence. Prosecutors did not reveal details of the plan, they only served notice that a deal was ready for the U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia, to hear." Dear prosecutors, you have a conviction in the lower court's criminal case. There is no need to work on a plea deal for the federal hate crimes charges unless it's to change their pleas to guilty and to accept the maximum punishment (in that case, the plea deal just saves us the cost of the trial).
"Locals in the city called either Londonderry or Derry, Northern Ireland, are marking 50 years since Bloody Sunday, in which British soldiers fired upon a crowd of protesters in what's now considered one of the most pivotal events of The Troubles."
"The interim findings of an investigation into Covid-19 lockdown-breaking parties at Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office and residence have sharply criticized the culture in Downing Street… The 12-page interim report, published in a redacted form on the government’s website on Monday, makes clear that lockdown parties 'should not have been allowed to take place,' while others 'should not have been allowed to develop as they did.'"
"Russia is willing to risk 'real financial harm' and all-out war to achieve its political objectives in Ukraine, defense analysts have said… Moscow has denied that it plans to invade neighboring Ukraine, a former part of the Soviet Union, despite having assembled around 100,000 troops at the border." Brinksmanship was stupid in the 80s, it's even dumber in the 2020's.
"A Cincinnati-area venue has booted a scheduled rally featuring far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) following a surge of complaints, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Saturday… As for Vance, he has pulled off a transformation, morphing into an avid supporter of Trump, whom he once bashed as 'noxious,' 'reprehensible' and an 'idiot.'" This timeline just keeps getting dumber and dumber.
"Former President Donald Trump on Saturday warned of 'the biggest protest we have ever had' in the United States if prosecutors 'do anything illegal' in their investigations into him and his businesses… Speaking at a rally in Conroe, Texas, on Saturday, Trump spoke about the local and federal probes targeting his businesses and political activities, including lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol."
Sunday, January 30, 2022
Linkee-poo Sunday Jan 30
Howard Hesseman, and so it goes.
"People across the Northeast U.S. are spending Sunday digging out from the massive storm that swept across the region beginning on Friday, dropping snow from the Carolinas to Maine."
"Ubisoft’s official foray into the world of Non-Fungible Tokens has not had the best start; the announcement was trashed by fans, and the company’s 'garbage' NFTs were largely ignored upon release. In a new interview with Australian site Finder, though, Ubisoft say the blame for this lies with us, not them." Ah, blame the users. It's a winning strategy. (Grokked from Mur Lafferty)
"When a series of deep pits were discovered near the world heritage site of Stonehenge last year, archaeologists excitedly described it as the largest prehistoric structure ever found in Britain – only for some colleagues to dismiss the pits as mere natural features." (Grokked from Deborah Beale)
"Microglia are amoeba-like cells that scour the brain for injuries and invaders. They help clear dead or impaired brain cells and literally gobble up invading microbes. Without them, we'd be in trouble… In a normal brain, a protein called beta-amyloid is cleared away through our lymphatic system by microglia as molecular junk… But sometimes it builds up. Certain gene mutations are one culprit in this toxic accumulation. Traumatic brain injury is another, and, perhaps, impaired microglial function." Chasing the Alzheimer cause.
About that whole, "Maybe Africa has reached 'herd immunity'" thread… "Of course, whether Africa is truly now in a less dangerous position depends on a "key question," says Emory University biologist Rustom Antia. 'How long does the immunity that protects us from getting ill last?' Antia has been studying what would need to happen for the coronavirus to become endemic."
"Omicron has filled up U.S. hospitals with more COVID-19 patients than any other surge of the pandemic. But there's been a shift in how the illness behaves since the days of delta, with many cases, even hospitalized ones, milder and quicker to treat… As with earlier variants, COVID-19 can still be a dangerous, unforgiving disease for patients who are vulnerable either because of underlying medical problems or because they're not vaccinated. But it's also increasingly clear that omicron is less likely to inflict the same level of damage as the delta variant." But it's still sending people to the hospital, and it's infecting many more people (including those who already had COVID).
"Americans' paychecks continued to rise at the end of 2021. But along with that, so did prices… But, adjusted for rampant pandemic-era inflation, the salary increases don't look as shiny anymore. Inflation-adjusted wages and salaries fell by 1.9% for the 12 months ending in December." Can't win for losing.
"'Exposure is not an accepted form of currency at the bank,' she says. 'I mean, principally it's a mathematical problem. You can't pay your rent; you can't pay your phone bill; you can't get on the subway for exposure.'"
"From coast to coast, young Starbucks baristas are pushing to unionize their cafes, flexing their collective power against the coffee giant in a fight that could change the broader restaurant industry and its workforce." The kids are alright.
"A federal judge on Thursday invalidated a massive oil and gas lease sale for 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico after a coalition of environmental groups sued the Biden administration to stop it… The ruling cancels 1.7 million acres of oil and gas leases from that sale, according to data from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management."
"Some of the nurses and doctors at the biggest hospital in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region are having to beg for food to feed themselves, one of the medics has told the BBC… They have not been paid for eight months, forcing them to find other ways of supporting their families, he said."
"Now, the six men accused of carrying out one of the biggest jewel thefts in history are preparing to go on trial in Germany starting Friday, January 28. But the mystery of what happened to the treasures they are alleged to have stolen endures." The Green Vault heist.
"At least 10 people were injured when a snow-covered bridge in Pittsburgh collapsed early Friday, just hours before President Biden was due to visit the city to highlight his push for infrastructure improvement."
"A proposal aimed at limiting how various race-related concepts are discussed in classrooms and workplace training sessions received initial backing Wednesday in the House, inching forward Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push against critical race theory… The Republican-dominated House Judiciary Committee approved the bill (HB 7) in a 14-7 vote. In part, the proposal seeks to prevent workers or students from being subject to training or instruction that 'compels' them to believe a slew of ideas spelled out in the bill." Just conservatives trying to make sure nobody learns truthful history or engagement with the world they live in.
"A Pulitzer-Prize winning graphic novel about the Holocaust has been banned by a Tennessee school district, prompting blowback from critics who say it's essential to teach children about the genocide… The 10-member McMinn County School Board voted unanimously earlier this month to remove Maus from its curriculum and replace it with an alternative, which hadn't yet been decided at the time of the vote." It's just like the 80s all over again.
"'This is why people don't take these people seriously,' (Fox News commentator and conservative wonk Candice) Owens said. 'They're taking all of these things that nobody was offended by. It's like they have to get rid of them and destroy them because they're bored. You know, they're absolutely bored. They're trying to destroy fabrics of our society, pretending that there's issues.'" What heinous atrocity has the left committed now that is surely bringing apocalypse down upon us? Minnie Mouse is wearing a pantsuit. These fucking people.
"Lansdowne has a message for her senator, Joe Manchin, a Democrat whose strong opposition to extending the enhanced credit for another year was a leading cause of the Senate's failure to pass the party's sweeping spending package last month… 'Go speak to the working class and see how they feel,' she said. 'I will tell you, it helped a lot. And now I'm in a predicament where I can't work because there is no child tax credit to help me with day care.'" Manchin does give a shit.
"People across the Northeast U.S. are spending Sunday digging out from the massive storm that swept across the region beginning on Friday, dropping snow from the Carolinas to Maine."
"Ubisoft’s official foray into the world of Non-Fungible Tokens has not had the best start; the announcement was trashed by fans, and the company’s 'garbage' NFTs were largely ignored upon release. In a new interview with Australian site Finder, though, Ubisoft say the blame for this lies with us, not them." Ah, blame the users. It's a winning strategy. (Grokked from Mur Lafferty)
"When a series of deep pits were discovered near the world heritage site of Stonehenge last year, archaeologists excitedly described it as the largest prehistoric structure ever found in Britain – only for some colleagues to dismiss the pits as mere natural features." (Grokked from Deborah Beale)
"Microglia are amoeba-like cells that scour the brain for injuries and invaders. They help clear dead or impaired brain cells and literally gobble up invading microbes. Without them, we'd be in trouble… In a normal brain, a protein called beta-amyloid is cleared away through our lymphatic system by microglia as molecular junk… But sometimes it builds up. Certain gene mutations are one culprit in this toxic accumulation. Traumatic brain injury is another, and, perhaps, impaired microglial function." Chasing the Alzheimer cause.
About that whole, "Maybe Africa has reached 'herd immunity'" thread… "Of course, whether Africa is truly now in a less dangerous position depends on a "key question," says Emory University biologist Rustom Antia. 'How long does the immunity that protects us from getting ill last?' Antia has been studying what would need to happen for the coronavirus to become endemic."
"Omicron has filled up U.S. hospitals with more COVID-19 patients than any other surge of the pandemic. But there's been a shift in how the illness behaves since the days of delta, with many cases, even hospitalized ones, milder and quicker to treat… As with earlier variants, COVID-19 can still be a dangerous, unforgiving disease for patients who are vulnerable either because of underlying medical problems or because they're not vaccinated. But it's also increasingly clear that omicron is less likely to inflict the same level of damage as the delta variant." But it's still sending people to the hospital, and it's infecting many more people (including those who already had COVID).
"Americans' paychecks continued to rise at the end of 2021. But along with that, so did prices… But, adjusted for rampant pandemic-era inflation, the salary increases don't look as shiny anymore. Inflation-adjusted wages and salaries fell by 1.9% for the 12 months ending in December." Can't win for losing.
"'Exposure is not an accepted form of currency at the bank,' she says. 'I mean, principally it's a mathematical problem. You can't pay your rent; you can't pay your phone bill; you can't get on the subway for exposure.'"
"From coast to coast, young Starbucks baristas are pushing to unionize their cafes, flexing their collective power against the coffee giant in a fight that could change the broader restaurant industry and its workforce." The kids are alright.
"A federal judge on Thursday invalidated a massive oil and gas lease sale for 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico after a coalition of environmental groups sued the Biden administration to stop it… The ruling cancels 1.7 million acres of oil and gas leases from that sale, according to data from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management."
"Some of the nurses and doctors at the biggest hospital in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region are having to beg for food to feed themselves, one of the medics has told the BBC… They have not been paid for eight months, forcing them to find other ways of supporting their families, he said."
"Now, the six men accused of carrying out one of the biggest jewel thefts in history are preparing to go on trial in Germany starting Friday, January 28. But the mystery of what happened to the treasures they are alleged to have stolen endures." The Green Vault heist.
"At least 10 people were injured when a snow-covered bridge in Pittsburgh collapsed early Friday, just hours before President Biden was due to visit the city to highlight his push for infrastructure improvement."
"A proposal aimed at limiting how various race-related concepts are discussed in classrooms and workplace training sessions received initial backing Wednesday in the House, inching forward Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push against critical race theory… The Republican-dominated House Judiciary Committee approved the bill (HB 7) in a 14-7 vote. In part, the proposal seeks to prevent workers or students from being subject to training or instruction that 'compels' them to believe a slew of ideas spelled out in the bill." Just conservatives trying to make sure nobody learns truthful history or engagement with the world they live in.
"A Pulitzer-Prize winning graphic novel about the Holocaust has been banned by a Tennessee school district, prompting blowback from critics who say it's essential to teach children about the genocide… The 10-member McMinn County School Board voted unanimously earlier this month to remove Maus from its curriculum and replace it with an alternative, which hadn't yet been decided at the time of the vote." It's just like the 80s all over again.
"'This is why people don't take these people seriously,' (Fox News commentator and conservative wonk Candice) Owens said. 'They're taking all of these things that nobody was offended by. It's like they have to get rid of them and destroy them because they're bored. You know, they're absolutely bored. They're trying to destroy fabrics of our society, pretending that there's issues.'" What heinous atrocity has the left committed now that is surely bringing apocalypse down upon us? Minnie Mouse is wearing a pantsuit. These fucking people.
"Lansdowne has a message for her senator, Joe Manchin, a Democrat whose strong opposition to extending the enhanced credit for another year was a leading cause of the Senate's failure to pass the party's sweeping spending package last month… 'Go speak to the working class and see how they feel,' she said. 'I will tell you, it helped a lot. And now I'm in a predicament where I can't work because there is no child tax credit to help me with day care.'" Manchin does give a shit.
Thursday, January 27, 2022
Linkee-poo Thursday Jan 27
"A major nor’easter appears to be on the way to southern New England." Again.
"You see the term 'Mid-List' author thrown around a lot, but we don’t ever really talk about what it means, so I thought I’d share my thoughts about it from my perspective. After all, I am a midlist author, so I probably have some insight." (Grokked from John Scalzi)
The Oatmeal with "Eight Marvelous and Melancholy Things I've Learned About Creativity. Heartily endorsed. (Grokked from John Scalzi)
"That amount of anarchy — and the government's inability to stop it — doesn't appear to have passed muster with China's notoriously strict censorship rules, though." I guess it made them anxious.
"Your natural gas cooking stove may leak climate-warming methane even when it is turned off, warns a new Stanford University study… That's important because methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than even carbon dioxide, though it doesn't linger in the atmosphere nearly as long."
"Now, researchers in the United States said Wednesday they were able to trigger the regrowth of an amputated leg in a type of African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), in what they described as a 'step closer to the goal of regenerative medicine.'" While frogs are not normally able to regrow limbs, their DNA can do tricks ours can't. Note the plot twist in Jurassic Park.
"The spinning space object, spotted in March 2018, beamed out radiation three times per hour. In those moments, it became the brightest source of radio waves viewable from Earth, acting like a celestial lighthouse… Astronomers think it might be a remnant of a collapsed star, either a dense neutron star or a dead white dwarf star, with a strong magnetic field -- or it could be something else entirely."
"Now, the Pratchett estate has given Jack Monroe, a writer in the UK, permission to use Vimes’ name for the Vimes Boots Index, a price index that will track the 'insidiously creeping prices of the most basic versions of essential items at the supermarket.'" That's fantastic. Not only because an actual, honest inflation index has long been needed, but that the quote used is exactly in the book that I realized Terry Pratchett had leveled up (again), and I love that quote (note, the quote is from Guards! Guards!, although it may also be in Men at Arms - I haven't gotten that far in my re-read, catch all the books of the Discwold series).
"Last year saw the fastest economic growth since Ronald Reagan was president. But for many people, 2021 felt less like "Morning in America" and more like a restless night, dogged by fitful dreams about the ongoing pandemic… The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the nation's gross domestic product grew 5.7% last year — the biggest increase since 1984. But the growth arrived in fits and starts, with hopes for a steady recovery repeatedly dashed by successive waves of infection."
"U.S. stocks rose Thursday as investors mulled over a better-than-expected fourth-quarter GDP report and an update from the Federal Reserve on its rate hike plan."
"Amazon warehouse workers on Staten Island have enough support for a union election, federal officials have ruled. That could mean the second unionization vote for Amazon this year…The National Labor Relations Board says it has found 'sufficient showing of interest' among Amazon workers at a Staten Island warehouse to set up a vote. The board's ruling on Wednesday comes days before Alabama warehouse workers begin their revote on whether to join a union."
"A maelstrom has spun up around a U.S. Postal Service mailbox that sits in the parking lot of an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala… It's been studied and reviewed, covered in an Amazon-branded tent, then uncovered and moved. Now, as some 6,100 warehouse workers prepare to re-do their high-profile union election by mail, organizers want the mailbox gone."
"McDonald’s on Thursday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that missed analysts’ expectations as higher costs weighed on its profits… Operating costs and expenses rose by 14% in the quarter. Those higher costs include wage hikes by McDonald’s and many of its franchisees to attract and retain workers in a tough labor market. The ingredients for menu staples like its Big Macs and McNuggets are also becoming more expensive." Note they lead with wage hikes, when it's actually the ingredient and production costs that are driving this. Also… "The company’s general and administrative expenses also rose, ticking up 9%, primarily due to higher incentive-based compensation as McDonald’s exceeded its own performance expectations." That's the bonus and higher wages in the executive suites.
"China is demanding the U.S. end 'interference' in the Beijing Winter Olympics, which begin next month, in an apparent reference to a diplomatic boycott imposed by Washington and its allies… The Foreign Ministry said Minister Wang Yi made the demand in a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday Beijing time."
"In 1938, a brilliant young Black scholar at Oxford University wrote a thesis on the economic history of British empire and challenged a claim about slavery that had been defining Britain’s role in the world for more than a century… But when Eric Williams – who would later become the first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago – sought to publish his “mind-blowing” thesis on capitalism and slavery in Britain, he was shunned by publishers and accused of undermining the humanitarian motivation for Britain’s Slavery Abolition Act. It was not until 1964 that the work found a publisher in the UK, but it has been out of print here for decades."
"Henry 'Michael' Williams, 32, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm after authorities say he sold the weapon that Malik Faisal Akram used when he entered Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, on Jan. 15 and held the synagogue's rabbi and three others hostage for hours."
"Britain and other Nato allies are considering a request from the US to deploy hundreds more troops to support member countries in eastern Europe in advance of any Russian invasion or attack on Ukraine… UK defence sources indicated that the US wanted contributions to help reinforce Nato’s eastern flank, from the Baltic states to Romania and Bulgaria in the south, as the Ukraine crisis continues."
"As concern rises that Russia is preparing to attack Ukraine, the United States is not bending to major demands by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday."
One of the more hilarious side stories to this US-Russia tensions is how Fox News went from "Biden can't be tough on the Russians" to "OMG, why is Biden getting us into a war with the Russians, we should just let them have the Ukraine" in the space of a few weeks. Putin has got the GOP and Fox News by the balls.
"In a country (Mexico) whose climate is infamous for being exceedingly hostile toward journalists, a spate of murders has disillusioned an already cynical press corps, prompting journalists to publicly speak out about the dangers they face on the job. Across the country, journalists and human rights advocates demonstrated on Tuesday night in favor of press freedom. They held signs that read "journalism at risk" and paid tribute to their fallen colleagues -- those who have lost their lives for simply reporting the news."
"North Korea on Thursday fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its sixth round of weapons launches this month, South Korea's military said… Experts say North Korea's unusually fast pace in testing activity underscores an intent to pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled negotiations aimed at exchanging a release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against the North and the North's denuclearization steps." Someone's feeling lonely.
"A federal judge appeared unconvinced on Wednesday that Donald Trump should be allowed to testify at a trial of a US Capitol riot defendant who is arguing the former President could be a helpful witness… Judge Reggie Walton said that having Trump and his allies testify would not necessarily help Dustin Thompson's defense, which plans to argue that Trump and others goaded his supporters to storm the Capitol. Thompson is accused of entering the Capitol and stealing a coat rack."
"Justice Stephen Breyer will step down from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term, according to people familiar with his thinking… President Joe Biden and Breyer are scheduled to appear together at the White House Thursday as the Supreme Court justice is set to announce his retirement, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News." Within the political sphere there are two thoughts emerging. The first is the GOP will try to quickly pass whomever Biden selects to keep from energizing the Democratic base right before the mid-terms. The other thought is that they'll have to fight like hell lest their own base think they've gone soft, as well as an attempt to get a moderate liberal (also because Biden is widely believed to appoint a black woman to the court). I'm favoring this second thought more. Say, 70-30.
"A Manhattan restaurant where Sarah Palin was spotted dining indoors while unvaccinated over the weekend confirmed that the former Alaska governor returned to dine outdoors on Wednesday, just a few days after testing positive tor Covid… At issue are current local guidelines that advise people who tested positive to remain in isolation for five days after their positive test." Because of course she wouldn't remain in isolation.
"As a half-dozen voting rights advocates filed into the Lincoln County Board of Elections to deliver a petition that temporarily halted plans to shutter polling places, the tension between them and elections director Lilvender Bolton was nearly palpable… After spending the afternoon anxiously watching the front door for the petitions she knew were coming, going over the events that had brought national scrutiny to the question of voter access in her rural east Georgia county, Bolton gave a defiant stare as she took the thick stack of papers into her tiny office, ending the awkward handoff." This isn't a fight about what the media is portraying. This is a fight about access to the vote for everybody. It's just in most cases it's against the GOP limiting voter access (and representation) in communities of color (which they believe will mostly vote Democratic). On the Democratic side, we want everybody to vote.
"You see the term 'Mid-List' author thrown around a lot, but we don’t ever really talk about what it means, so I thought I’d share my thoughts about it from my perspective. After all, I am a midlist author, so I probably have some insight." (Grokked from John Scalzi)
The Oatmeal with "Eight Marvelous and Melancholy Things I've Learned About Creativity. Heartily endorsed. (Grokked from John Scalzi)
"That amount of anarchy — and the government's inability to stop it — doesn't appear to have passed muster with China's notoriously strict censorship rules, though." I guess it made them anxious.
"Your natural gas cooking stove may leak climate-warming methane even when it is turned off, warns a new Stanford University study… That's important because methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than even carbon dioxide, though it doesn't linger in the atmosphere nearly as long."
"Now, researchers in the United States said Wednesday they were able to trigger the regrowth of an amputated leg in a type of African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), in what they described as a 'step closer to the goal of regenerative medicine.'" While frogs are not normally able to regrow limbs, their DNA can do tricks ours can't. Note the plot twist in Jurassic Park.
"The spinning space object, spotted in March 2018, beamed out radiation three times per hour. In those moments, it became the brightest source of radio waves viewable from Earth, acting like a celestial lighthouse… Astronomers think it might be a remnant of a collapsed star, either a dense neutron star or a dead white dwarf star, with a strong magnetic field -- or it could be something else entirely."
"Now, the Pratchett estate has given Jack Monroe, a writer in the UK, permission to use Vimes’ name for the Vimes Boots Index, a price index that will track the 'insidiously creeping prices of the most basic versions of essential items at the supermarket.'" That's fantastic. Not only because an actual, honest inflation index has long been needed, but that the quote used is exactly in the book that I realized Terry Pratchett had leveled up (again), and I love that quote (note, the quote is from Guards! Guards!, although it may also be in Men at Arms - I haven't gotten that far in my re-read, catch all the books of the Discwold series).
"Last year saw the fastest economic growth since Ronald Reagan was president. But for many people, 2021 felt less like "Morning in America" and more like a restless night, dogged by fitful dreams about the ongoing pandemic… The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the nation's gross domestic product grew 5.7% last year — the biggest increase since 1984. But the growth arrived in fits and starts, with hopes for a steady recovery repeatedly dashed by successive waves of infection."
"U.S. stocks rose Thursday as investors mulled over a better-than-expected fourth-quarter GDP report and an update from the Federal Reserve on its rate hike plan."
"Amazon warehouse workers on Staten Island have enough support for a union election, federal officials have ruled. That could mean the second unionization vote for Amazon this year…The National Labor Relations Board says it has found 'sufficient showing of interest' among Amazon workers at a Staten Island warehouse to set up a vote. The board's ruling on Wednesday comes days before Alabama warehouse workers begin their revote on whether to join a union."
"A maelstrom has spun up around a U.S. Postal Service mailbox that sits in the parking lot of an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala… It's been studied and reviewed, covered in an Amazon-branded tent, then uncovered and moved. Now, as some 6,100 warehouse workers prepare to re-do their high-profile union election by mail, organizers want the mailbox gone."
"McDonald’s on Thursday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that missed analysts’ expectations as higher costs weighed on its profits… Operating costs and expenses rose by 14% in the quarter. Those higher costs include wage hikes by McDonald’s and many of its franchisees to attract and retain workers in a tough labor market. The ingredients for menu staples like its Big Macs and McNuggets are also becoming more expensive." Note they lead with wage hikes, when it's actually the ingredient and production costs that are driving this. Also… "The company’s general and administrative expenses also rose, ticking up 9%, primarily due to higher incentive-based compensation as McDonald’s exceeded its own performance expectations." That's the bonus and higher wages in the executive suites.
"China is demanding the U.S. end 'interference' in the Beijing Winter Olympics, which begin next month, in an apparent reference to a diplomatic boycott imposed by Washington and its allies… The Foreign Ministry said Minister Wang Yi made the demand in a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday Beijing time."
"In 1938, a brilliant young Black scholar at Oxford University wrote a thesis on the economic history of British empire and challenged a claim about slavery that had been defining Britain’s role in the world for more than a century… But when Eric Williams – who would later become the first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago – sought to publish his “mind-blowing” thesis on capitalism and slavery in Britain, he was shunned by publishers and accused of undermining the humanitarian motivation for Britain’s Slavery Abolition Act. It was not until 1964 that the work found a publisher in the UK, but it has been out of print here for decades."
"Henry 'Michael' Williams, 32, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm after authorities say he sold the weapon that Malik Faisal Akram used when he entered Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, on Jan. 15 and held the synagogue's rabbi and three others hostage for hours."
"Britain and other Nato allies are considering a request from the US to deploy hundreds more troops to support member countries in eastern Europe in advance of any Russian invasion or attack on Ukraine… UK defence sources indicated that the US wanted contributions to help reinforce Nato’s eastern flank, from the Baltic states to Romania and Bulgaria in the south, as the Ukraine crisis continues."
"As concern rises that Russia is preparing to attack Ukraine, the United States is not bending to major demands by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday."
One of the more hilarious side stories to this US-Russia tensions is how Fox News went from "Biden can't be tough on the Russians" to "OMG, why is Biden getting us into a war with the Russians, we should just let them have the Ukraine" in the space of a few weeks. Putin has got the GOP and Fox News by the balls.
"In a country (Mexico) whose climate is infamous for being exceedingly hostile toward journalists, a spate of murders has disillusioned an already cynical press corps, prompting journalists to publicly speak out about the dangers they face on the job. Across the country, journalists and human rights advocates demonstrated on Tuesday night in favor of press freedom. They held signs that read "journalism at risk" and paid tribute to their fallen colleagues -- those who have lost their lives for simply reporting the news."
"North Korea on Thursday fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its sixth round of weapons launches this month, South Korea's military said… Experts say North Korea's unusually fast pace in testing activity underscores an intent to pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled negotiations aimed at exchanging a release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against the North and the North's denuclearization steps." Someone's feeling lonely.
"A federal judge appeared unconvinced on Wednesday that Donald Trump should be allowed to testify at a trial of a US Capitol riot defendant who is arguing the former President could be a helpful witness… Judge Reggie Walton said that having Trump and his allies testify would not necessarily help Dustin Thompson's defense, which plans to argue that Trump and others goaded his supporters to storm the Capitol. Thompson is accused of entering the Capitol and stealing a coat rack."
"Justice Stephen Breyer will step down from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term, according to people familiar with his thinking… President Joe Biden and Breyer are scheduled to appear together at the White House Thursday as the Supreme Court justice is set to announce his retirement, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News." Within the political sphere there are two thoughts emerging. The first is the GOP will try to quickly pass whomever Biden selects to keep from energizing the Democratic base right before the mid-terms. The other thought is that they'll have to fight like hell lest their own base think they've gone soft, as well as an attempt to get a moderate liberal (also because Biden is widely believed to appoint a black woman to the court). I'm favoring this second thought more. Say, 70-30.
"A Manhattan restaurant where Sarah Palin was spotted dining indoors while unvaccinated over the weekend confirmed that the former Alaska governor returned to dine outdoors on Wednesday, just a few days after testing positive tor Covid… At issue are current local guidelines that advise people who tested positive to remain in isolation for five days after their positive test." Because of course she wouldn't remain in isolation.
"As a half-dozen voting rights advocates filed into the Lincoln County Board of Elections to deliver a petition that temporarily halted plans to shutter polling places, the tension between them and elections director Lilvender Bolton was nearly palpable… After spending the afternoon anxiously watching the front door for the petitions she knew were coming, going over the events that had brought national scrutiny to the question of voter access in her rural east Georgia county, Bolton gave a defiant stare as she took the thick stack of papers into her tiny office, ending the awkward handoff." This isn't a fight about what the media is portraying. This is a fight about access to the vote for everybody. It's just in most cases it's against the GOP limiting voter access (and representation) in communities of color (which they believe will mostly vote Democratic). On the Democratic side, we want everybody to vote.
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Linkee-poo Wednesday Jan 26
Peter Robbins, and so it goes.
"A SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the moon after spending almost seven years hurtling through space, experts say… The booster was originally launched from Florida in February 2015 as part of an interplanetary mission to send a space weather satellite on a million-mile journey."
"The center of our Milky Way galaxy is home to a multitude of intriguing features -- including nearly a thousand mysterious magnetic strands, according to a new telescope image… The pairs and clusters of strands stretch for nearly 150 light-years in length and are equally spaced. The bizarre structures are a few million years old and vary in appearance. Some of them resemble harp strings, waterfalls or even the rings around Saturn."
"A federal appeals court in Virginia heard a landmark case Tuesday that seeks to hold major fossil fuel companies accountable for their role in climate change. The court's decision in the case will have implications for a raft of similar cases brought by cities, counties and states across the country."
"The study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, found that people who go on to develop long Covid have lower levels of certain antibodies in their blood soon after they are infected with the coronavirus."
"Two-thirds of people recently infected with the Omicron variant say they had already had Covid previously… The findings come from a large, continuing study, React, swab-testing thousands of volunteers in England… More work is needed to know how many are true reinfections - but the results reveal the groups that appear to be more likely to catch Covid again… They include healthcare workers and households with children or lots of members under one roof."
"But the drug is in short supply. The federal government controls distribution. It has shipped around 300,000 doses to health care providers and has ordered 1.2 million doses to date. Around 7 million people in the U.S. could benefit from the drug… The Department of Health and Human Services, which manages the process, did not respond to questions about supply and distribution… The scarcity has forced some doctors to run a lottery to decide who gets it."
"The Federal Reserve is expected to signal at its meeting this week that it is ready to raise interest rates as soon as March and that it will consider other policy tightening, reversing the easy policies it put in place to fight the pandemic."
"Treasury Department officials warned on Monday that this year's tax season will be a challenge once the IRS starts processing returns on January 24. That's largely due to the IRS' sizable backlog of returns from 2021. As of December 23, the agency had 6 million unprocessed individual returns — a significant reduction from a backlog of 30 million in May, but far higher than the 1 million unprocessed returns that is more typical around the start of tax season."
"Here’s how it works: two vehicles position themselves far enough apart to support the container, which is lowered by a crane. The vehicles then use their short- and long-range cameras to navigate the rails. Because each rail vehicle has everything it needs, it doesn’t have to be part of a long train. In theory, one container supported by two Parallel Systems vehicles could move from origin to destination by itself. In reality, though, they’ll likely end up traveling in platoons." Lots of talk about the train, very little about the rail infrastructure. So, again, solving the wrong end of the problem.
"The data allowed him to build a statistical model analyzing the change in reported property crimes in relation to the growth of the camps… 'On average, an increase in the number of tents and structures in (a homeless camp) is not associated with any increases in property crime — very close to zero,' Lanfear says… He's still finalizing his project, which has yet to be published, and he admits people may have trouble accepting his conclusion."
"Shane Lee Brown is suing the police departments in Las Vegas and Henderson, Nev., and several officers after they jailed him for six days, instead of a white man with a similar name who is taller, nearly twice as old and a convicted felon."
"The bill sponsored by Book, a Democrat, gets its first committee hearing Tuesday. It would strengthen Florida's revenge porn law by making it a felony to buy, sell or trade stolen sexually explicit images from someone's phone or other digital devices. It would also make disseminating altered or created sexually explicit images, known as deepfakes, a felony."
"Russia warned Wednesday it would quickly take 'retaliatory measures' if the U.S. and its allies reject its security demands over NATO and Ukraine, raising pressure on the West amid concerns that Moscow is planning to invade its neighbor." That's cute. You really forget how brinksmanship works when you don't do it all the time.
"Russian authorities have added imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny and some of his top allies to the country's registry of terrorists and extremists, the latest move in a multi-pronged crackdown on opposition supporters, independent media and human rights activists." Stay safe, my Russian friends.
"Donald Trump had about $93 million in cash during the final year of his presidency, a sum substantially smaller than he had claimed to have in the bank in previous years, Forbes reported Monday." It's all a giant grift.
"A panel of federal court judges has blocked Alabama's new congressional map, drawn by Republican state lawmakers, from taking effect… In an opinion released late Monday, the judges sided with plaintiffs, including the ACLU of Alabama and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), writing that under the map, 'Black voters have less opportunity than other Alabamians to elect candidates of their choice to Congress.'"
"A SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the moon after spending almost seven years hurtling through space, experts say… The booster was originally launched from Florida in February 2015 as part of an interplanetary mission to send a space weather satellite on a million-mile journey."
"The center of our Milky Way galaxy is home to a multitude of intriguing features -- including nearly a thousand mysterious magnetic strands, according to a new telescope image… The pairs and clusters of strands stretch for nearly 150 light-years in length and are equally spaced. The bizarre structures are a few million years old and vary in appearance. Some of them resemble harp strings, waterfalls or even the rings around Saturn."
"A federal appeals court in Virginia heard a landmark case Tuesday that seeks to hold major fossil fuel companies accountable for their role in climate change. The court's decision in the case will have implications for a raft of similar cases brought by cities, counties and states across the country."
"The study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, found that people who go on to develop long Covid have lower levels of certain antibodies in their blood soon after they are infected with the coronavirus."
"Two-thirds of people recently infected with the Omicron variant say they had already had Covid previously… The findings come from a large, continuing study, React, swab-testing thousands of volunteers in England… More work is needed to know how many are true reinfections - but the results reveal the groups that appear to be more likely to catch Covid again… They include healthcare workers and households with children or lots of members under one roof."
"But the drug is in short supply. The federal government controls distribution. It has shipped around 300,000 doses to health care providers and has ordered 1.2 million doses to date. Around 7 million people in the U.S. could benefit from the drug… The Department of Health and Human Services, which manages the process, did not respond to questions about supply and distribution… The scarcity has forced some doctors to run a lottery to decide who gets it."
"The Federal Reserve is expected to signal at its meeting this week that it is ready to raise interest rates as soon as March and that it will consider other policy tightening, reversing the easy policies it put in place to fight the pandemic."
"Treasury Department officials warned on Monday that this year's tax season will be a challenge once the IRS starts processing returns on January 24. That's largely due to the IRS' sizable backlog of returns from 2021. As of December 23, the agency had 6 million unprocessed individual returns — a significant reduction from a backlog of 30 million in May, but far higher than the 1 million unprocessed returns that is more typical around the start of tax season."
"Here’s how it works: two vehicles position themselves far enough apart to support the container, which is lowered by a crane. The vehicles then use their short- and long-range cameras to navigate the rails. Because each rail vehicle has everything it needs, it doesn’t have to be part of a long train. In theory, one container supported by two Parallel Systems vehicles could move from origin to destination by itself. In reality, though, they’ll likely end up traveling in platoons." Lots of talk about the train, very little about the rail infrastructure. So, again, solving the wrong end of the problem.
"The data allowed him to build a statistical model analyzing the change in reported property crimes in relation to the growth of the camps… 'On average, an increase in the number of tents and structures in (a homeless camp) is not associated with any increases in property crime — very close to zero,' Lanfear says… He's still finalizing his project, which has yet to be published, and he admits people may have trouble accepting his conclusion."
"Shane Lee Brown is suing the police departments in Las Vegas and Henderson, Nev., and several officers after they jailed him for six days, instead of a white man with a similar name who is taller, nearly twice as old and a convicted felon."
"The bill sponsored by Book, a Democrat, gets its first committee hearing Tuesday. It would strengthen Florida's revenge porn law by making it a felony to buy, sell or trade stolen sexually explicit images from someone's phone or other digital devices. It would also make disseminating altered or created sexually explicit images, known as deepfakes, a felony."
"Russia warned Wednesday it would quickly take 'retaliatory measures' if the U.S. and its allies reject its security demands over NATO and Ukraine, raising pressure on the West amid concerns that Moscow is planning to invade its neighbor." That's cute. You really forget how brinksmanship works when you don't do it all the time.
"Russian authorities have added imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny and some of his top allies to the country's registry of terrorists and extremists, the latest move in a multi-pronged crackdown on opposition supporters, independent media and human rights activists." Stay safe, my Russian friends.
"Donald Trump had about $93 million in cash during the final year of his presidency, a sum substantially smaller than he had claimed to have in the bank in previous years, Forbes reported Monday." It's all a giant grift.
"A panel of federal court judges has blocked Alabama's new congressional map, drawn by Republican state lawmakers, from taking effect… In an opinion released late Monday, the judges sided with plaintiffs, including the ACLU of Alabama and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), writing that under the map, 'Black voters have less opportunity than other Alabamians to elect candidates of their choice to Congress.'"
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