2021-02-19

Cool

• Collections: The Universal Warrior, Part III: The Cult of the Badass – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry

  I am of the opinion that truth is an absolute defense in such matters; the universe contains a great many facts which are frustratingly inconvenient, yet as historians we have to deal with the world as it is rather than as we wish it to be (or wish it to have been). Consequently, before I could complain about the ideology, it was necessary to determine if the historical theory was true, or even remotely plausible.

  ‘Cult of the Badass.’ Bob Case – the author of that video – expresses its central tenant through what he calls (Robert A.) ‘Heinlein’s Premise,’ namely that “Violence is the supreme authority from which all other authority is derived,” to which I think needs to be added, in order that our definition is complete, what we may call ‘Pressfield’s corollary,’ that ‘the capacity to produce violence is therefore the highest human virtue‘ though of course the latter is not a direct quote (thus the single inverted-commas rather than doubles) but rather an extrapolation from the system of values presented. That said, Pressfield’s Corollary is a fairly accurate summation of what we see of Spartiate values and Pressfield does idolize Sparta, so I don’t think I am being excessively unfair here.

• Mars landing: Photo shows Perseverance about to touch down - BBC News

• Mars becomes the 2nd planet that has more computers running Linux than Windows

  • "The flight software and embedded systems framework for the Ingenuity helicopter is called F' (pronounced F Prime) and is open source." GitHub - nasa/fprime: F' - A flight software and embedded systems framework

• Preliminary Snowfall total map for the February 17, 2021 Winter Storm

Worthy

• Grey Lady Steel Man - Model Citizen

  Reporting is a hard job devoted in large measure to ferreting out truths that the subjects of the story you are writing are actively trying to conceal. I think it’s important to emphasize that there is simply no sense — none! — in which people who like to talk about epistemology on the Internet are more committed to objectivity and truth than experienced reporters who, in the service of truth, navigate mazes of lies, gaslighting, spin, bullshit and threats for a living.

  hahahahahah

  Well, the most interesting things about Slate Star Codex, from an outside perspective, are (1) that it’s influential in Silicon Valley, and its enthusiastic fans include incredibly rich and powerful people whose technologies and businesses affect all our lives; (2) one day Siskind burnt it all down and summoned a vengeful horde to attack an innocent reporter and assail America’s best newspaper.

etc

• U.S. life expectancy fell by a year in the first half of 2020, CDC report finds

• Explaining the Texas storm and other bizarrely cold weather this week | Popular Science

• Longest-serving juvenile ‘lifer,’ now 83, is finally free

Horseshit

• Non, merci: French village rejects Elon Musk and his satellite internet antenna

  Saint-Senier-de-Beuvron, population 350, is none too thrilled to have been picked as a ground station for Musk’s Starlink project for broadband from space. “This project is totally new. We don’t have any idea of the impact of these signals,” said Noemie Brault, deputy mayor of the village

  “As a precaution the municipal council said no,” she explained.

• Gates Foundation behind effort to end white supremacy in math instruction

  The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the only donor listed on a website for a group dedicated to eliminating racism from the nation’s math curriculum, which would be accomplished, in part, by eliminating the need for students to show their work after solving a math problem.

• Should we criminalise those who spread misinformation about vaccines?

• East Bay school board's hot mic moment: 'They want their babysitters back'

• Outages Morph Into Outrage As Texans Slapped With "Mind-Blowing" Power Bills   | ZeroHedge

• Why does every advert look the same? Blame Corporate Memphis | WIRED UK

• Why private jet travel is booming in Hollywood during the pandemic

• Coca-Cola accused of telling employees to ‘be less white’ in training course

TechSuck

• Facebook has 'tentatively friended' us again, Australia says

• Google fires top AI ethics researcher Margaret Mitchell | TechCrunch

• Social Network Gab Goes Offline, Disappears From Twitter

• Facebook reported fake numbers to advertisers

• WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

• Shadowbanning: The secret censoring by social media

• Facebook’s ban on sharing Australian news stories hurting publisher traffic

• Analysis: Carmakers wake up to new pecking order as chip crunch intensifies

Economicon

• Sequoia Capital says it was hacked

• House Releases Text Of $1.9 Trillion Stimulus - Which Includes $15 Hourly Minimum Wage Hike | ZeroHedge

• Organized DoorDash Drivers’ DeclineNow Strategy Is Driving Up Their Pay

Politickles

• U.S. Capitol Police Suggest Leaving Razor Wire Fences Up Until Fall: Report | The Daily Wire

• Six Capitol Police Officers Suspended Without Pay As Feds Investigate Roles In Jan 6 Breach | ZeroHedge

  • Capitol Police suspends 6 officers, investigates dozens more in probe of Jan. 6 riot

• 'This Crap Means More to Him Than My Life’: When QAnon Invades American Homes

• More migrants are crossing into the US, driven by hopes for change under Biden

• Manhattan DA bolsters team probing possible fraud claims against Trump

• Biden Muscles Out Chicago Prosecutor Hot on the Heels of Powerful Dems - Washington Free Beacon

• The Trump Campaign’s Law Firm Admits It Was Hacked

• Erik Prince, Trump Ally, Violated Libya Arms Embargo, U.N. Report Says

World

• UK Supreme Court, employed in UK Uber drivers are workers not self-employed, Supreme Court rules - BBC News

• Malaysia 5 Reader Comments Just Cost a News Website $124,000

• It's Final: Harry and Meghan Won't Return as Working Royals

• President asks Mexicans to ration power as Texas limits fuel

• France to ban far-right group Generation Identity

Health / Medicine / COVID

• 1,300 COVID vaccine doses tossed in Memphis during bad weather

• Tests find no coronavirus on London’s Tubes or buses

• Widely shared vitamin D-COVID-19 preprint removed from Lancet server – Retraction Watch

• Study in Israel shows Pfizer vaccine 85% effective after first dose

• White House working with Facebook and Twitter to tackle anti-vaxxers

• The coronavirus is here to stay – here’s what that means

• Wuhan Lab Was Cause Of COVID-19, Claims Award-Winning Scientist in New Study Citing 600 Pieces of Evidence.

• Why all the world's coronavirus would fit in a can of cola

  • and it would still taste better than "Tab"

Climate / Green Propaganda

• US rejoins Paris accord: Biden's first act sets tone for ambitious approach

• Facebook announces UK trial to tackle climate misinformation

• How the Fossil Fuel Industry Convinced Americans to Love Gas Stoves

• Is it time to upend the idea that land is private property? | Aeon Essays

  Private land ownership is a beautiful dream gone badly wrong. It’s time to reinstate the forgotten ideal of the commons

• Google’s Sky News Australia team-up will promote climate misinformation

Obit

• Bruce Meyers, the Man Who Created the Dune Buggy Industry, Is Dead at 94