2021-08-15

Cool

• Evidence of Cosmic Impact at Abu Hureyra, Syria, 12500 Years Ago

• The Watts-Strogatz Model and the Small World Effect

Worthy

• (July 2021) THE BULLSHIT - by Walter Kirn - Unbound

  Every morning, there it is, waiting for me on my phone. The bullshit. It resembles, in its use of phrases such as “knowledgeable sources” and “experts differ,” what I used to think of as the news, but it isn’t the news and it hasn’t been for ages. It consists of its decomposed remains in a news-shaped coffin. It does impart information, strictly speaking, but not always information about our world. Or not good information, because it’s so often wrong, particularly on matters of great import and invariably to the advantage of the same interests, which suggests it should be presumed wrong as a rule. The information it imparts, if one bothers to sift through it, is information about itself; about the purposes, beliefs, and loyalties of those who produce it: the informing class. They’re not the ruling class — not quite — but often they’re married to it or share therapists or drink with it at Yale Bowl football games. They’re cozy, these tribal cousins. They cavort. They always have. What has changed is that the press used to maintain certain boundaries in the relationship, observing the incest taboo. It kept its pants zipped, at least in public. It didn’t hire ex-CIA directors, top FBI men, NSA brass, or other past and future sources to sit beside its anchors at spot-lit news-desks that blocked our view of their lower extremities. But it gave in.

• Construction, Efficiency, and Production Systems - by Brian Potter - Construction Physics

• The Respected Scientists Who Pushed for Alcohol Prohibition in 1920

etc

• “San Jose Fire had an impossibly complex incident scene..”

• What’s it like living with a phenomenal memory and can it be learned?

  • "It's a curse." -- Lord Nikon, "Hackers"

• How smallpox claimed its final victim

• Veterans push for medical marijuana in conservative South

Horseshit

• A myth that lingers on: Casual contact with fentanyl causes overdoses

• Asteroid Bennu now has a greater chance of hitting Earth through 2300

• Goodbye gas tax. Hello road user fees. | FierceElectronics

  • Infrastructure bill program will test the feasibility of road usage fees | Hacker News

• The Pandemic Could Be Causing More Shortsightedness in Kids Than Ever Before

• Big Data Turns Pig’s Blood, Century Eggs into Hot Pizza Options

• Can a Covid Mask Protect Me From Wildfire Smoke?

celebrity gossip

• Statue of Jeffrey Epstein mysteriously appears in Albuquerque | KOB 4

• The success of Aubrey de Grey baffles me

  The general consensus is that how dare these women hinder Aubrey de Grey’s progress towards eliminating aging. One problem with that perspective is that no, Aubrey de Grey has never and will never make a significant contribution in gerontology. He’s a hype train that has finally been derailed.

• Ken Burns on Woke Chopping Block - Hollywood in Toto

• MacKenzie Scott’s Money Bombs Are Single Handedly Reshaping America

Culture War / Re segregation / Identdoctrination

• A Guide to Finding Faith

• When It Comes to Gorillas, Google Photos Remains Blind

• Thousands of kindergartners no-show, putting their futures at risk, experts say | Washington Examiner

• California's vaccinated say unvaccinated add risk; strong support for mandates

Media / Many Ministries of Truths / Censorship

• Will the alarmist media coverage of Covid ever end? – The Post

• Coronavirus has created the perfect conditions for a full-scale war on truth - CNN

  "One of our biggest problems as professional journalists is that all over the world, we have been accused as being part of the system and establishment," says Pierre Haski, president of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). "So as populist movements grow and rise up against the establishment, they rise up against us."

  • see also: Why Don’t They Believe Us? - Tablet Magazine

• New tool allows NPR to track source diversity in real time

Economicon

• Pfizer and Moderna Mock Biden, Raise Vaccine Prices

• Disabled Workers Concerned That Proposed Wage Hike May Leave Them Unemployed

• Rise of cryptocurrencies can be traced to Nixon abandoning gold in 1971

Poilitcks

• Byron York's Daily Memo: Humiliation in Afghanistan | Washington Examiner

• Biden braces for brutal defeat in Afghanistan

• Biden's stain: U.S. flees Kabul - Axios

• ‘This is manifestly not Saigon’: Blinken defends US mission in Afghanistan

• (April 2021) Harris says she had key role in Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal decision - POLITICO

Crime / Police

• Man stabbed, reporter attacked at US anti-vaccination protest

  • Man stabbed at anti-vaccination rally in front of City Hall is released from hospital

• Cops fired for guarding ‘defund the police’ Dem Rep. Cori Bush without permission.

Security / Militaria

• 82nd Airborne paratrooper found dead at Fort Bragg; investigation underway

• National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin - August 13, 2021 | Homeland Security

  The Homeland continues to face a diverse and challenging threat environment leading up to and following the 20th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks as well religious holidays we assess could serve as a catalyst for acts of targeted violence. These threats include those posed by domestic terrorists, individuals and groups engaged in grievance-based violence, and those inspired or motivated by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences. These actors are increasingly exploiting online forums to influence and spread violent extremist narratives and promote violent activity. Such threats are also exacerbated by impacts of the ongoing global pandemic, including grievances over public health safety measures and perceived government restrictions.

  Government agencies will provide details about emerging threats as information is identified. The public is encouraged to listen to local authorities and public safety officials.

  If You See Something, Say Something®. Report suspicious activity to local law enforcement or call 911.

  • Note trademark: MTA warns Erie county clerk against using “See something, say something” slogan - New York Daily News

Afghanistan

• American flag comes down as US completes evacuation of embassy

  The American flag at the US embassy in Kabul was taken down Sunday, marking a final step in the evacuation of the diplomatic compound, days earlier than US officials initially projected, according to a source familiar with the situation.

• (Video) Taliban enters presidential palace in Kabul

• Biden seeks to turn debacle in Afghanistan to victory at home

• Afghanistan’s military collapse: Illicit deals and mass desertions

• An Afghan woman in Kabul: ‘Now I have to burn everything I achieved’

• Joint Chiefs Inform Senators Terror Threat From Afghanistan "Moved Up" | ZeroHedge

• Watch: 100s Of US Citizens Scramble Aboard C-17 As Taliban Ready To Declare "Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan" | ZeroHedge

• Afghan President Ghani relinquishes power, Taliban form interim gov't

• Official says Taliban to declare Islamic Emirate

• How the Taliban Overran the Afghan Army, Built by the U.S. over 20 Years

• Crowd in Kabul attempts to climb into USA army air transport

• How America Failed Afghanistan

• A tale of two armies: why Afghan forces proved no match for the Taliban

• Opinion: Biden deserves blame for the debacle in Afghanistan - CNN

• Taliban enter Kabul, await ‘peaceful transfer’ of power

  Taliban negotiators went to the presidential palace Sunday to discuss the transfer, according to an Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity. It’s unclear when that potential transfer could take place.

  Later, Afghan forces at Bagram air base, home to a prison housing 5,000 inmates, surrendered to the Taliban, according to Bagram district chief Darwaish Raufi. The prison at the former U.S. base held both Taliban and Islamic State group fighters.

• Biden orders 1,000 more troops to support airlift of U.S. embassy personnel and allies - Axios

  "Based on the recommendations of our diplomatic, military and intelligence teams, I have authorized the deployment of approximately 5,000 U.S. troops to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance," Biden said in a statement on Saturday.

• B-52 bombers head to Afghanistan

  American B-52H bombers are understood to be conducting an attack on the largest Afghan air force base in order to destroy the aircraft based there.

• U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan Posts Online Job Listing While It’s Being Evacuated

  “Job Opportunity! The U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan seeks a Public Engagement Assistant,” Daybook tweeted. “The incumbent functions in an extremely sensitive political environment in which an ongoing insurgency adds to the urgency of accurate media reporting.”

• Thread by @Rimmy_Downunder on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App

• Afghan president flees the country as Taliban move on Kabul

• Afghanistan on the Brink of Taliban Takeover

• Afghans Need a Humanitarian Intervention

• Taliban and Afghan government are in talks over the country's future

World

• Close-up on Myanmar's growing hunger

• Canada to accept 20k vulnerable Afghans: women leaders, human rights workers

• As Taliban advances, China lays groundwork to accept an awkward reality

• China, the WHO and the power grab that fuelled a pandemic

• Removing Last of Obligatory Covid Rules, Denmark Says Goodbye to Masks

• Western Companies Must Stop Funding Misinformation in Belarus

• Canadian Federal Election Has Been Called for Sept. 20

• Black market fuel depot explodes in Lebanon, killing at least 50

Health / Medicine / COVID

• Do masks work? A review of the evidence

• Affordable naloxone is running out, perfect storm for more overdose deaths

• Fatigue causes: How your 'healthy' lifestyle can be making you tired - CNN

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• A book is feeding climate denial. Its central claim is true, yet irrelevant

• Global Warming Begets More Warming: Paleoclimate Researchers Find “Warming Bias”

• Climate scientists have a message for the world: Don’t give up

• As cargo shipments boom, ship strikes imperil whales worldwide

• Germany ‘set for biggest rise in greenhouse gases for 30 years’

• How this summer is a ‘preview’ of Earth’s coming climate crisis

• ‘How lucky do you feel?’: The awful risks buried in the IPCC report

• Scotland First to Criminalize Environmental Destruction Under MSP Ecocide Laws

• Bottled water is 3,500 times worse for the environment than tap water

• Sea snakes are washing up on New Zealand’s shores

• What Are You Willing to Sacrifice to Stop Climate Change?