2021-08-19

Cool

• Perseid Meteor Outburst | Spaceweather.com

  On Aug. 14, 2021, night skies over North America filled with meteors. P. Martin of Ottawa, Canada, reported “multiple Perseids per minute with many bursts, sometimes 3-4 in a second.” In San Diego, Robert Lunsford of the International Meteor Organization also witnessed rapidfire streaks, 2 to 3 at a time. “It made me realize something unusual was going on,” Lunsford says, “especially so far from the predicted maximum.”

• Three volcanoes are erupting simultaneously on Alaskan island chain

• Building An Archery Mech Suit To Skip Practice | Hackaday

Worthy

• Controversy over “Facial recognition technology can expose political orientation from naturalistic facial images” « Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science

etc

• Sturgis Attendance Comes Roaring Back

Horseshit

• Trump Sneaks Back on Twitter by Disguising Self as Taliban Spokesperson

• The Week the Left Stopped Caring About Human Rights

• The world must cooperate to avoid a catastrophic space collision | Hacker News

• Setting new expectations for open source maintainers | Opensource.com

celebrity gossip

• Sens. Wicker, King and Hickenlooper announce they have tested positive for coronavirus

• Hong Kong reportedly lets Nicole Kidman skip Covid quarantine

• Navalny: Only action against corruption can solve the world’s biggest problems

  • Navalny Supporters Being Targeted

Culture War / Re segregation / Identdoctrination

• Where the Gay Things Are ❧ Current Affairs

  A little-known dark secret of the gay nonprofit world, which outsiders likely imagine to be composed of Birkenstock-clad, patchouli-scented hippies, is that it’s a cutthroat and brutal sector, where large organizations often serve as fiscal sponsors for smaller ones, maintaining a great deal of control over how money is disbursed to smaller organizations and groups (and no one unironically in Birkenstocks is usually allowed into their ranks). Larger organization leaders did not hesitate to tell the smaller ones to publicly support gay marriage or see a withdrawal of support. It made for some bizarre statements on the websites of organizations, which posted statements in support of gay marriage that stretched credibility in terms of the connections between the work they did and this cause that had nothing to do with them.

• Actually, Wearing a Mask Can Help Your Child Learn

• National Parks Service reinstates mask mandate

• Disney Drops Mask Mandate in Most Outdoor Areas

• Pentagon releases religious exemption guidelines for bypassing mandatory vaccine

• US workers lean in favor of vaccine mandates

• Federal Judge Orders Vaccination as Bail Condition.

• University In Connecticut To Fine, Block Internet Access To Unvaxx'd Students | ZeroHedge

• Judge rules Columbus statue in Philadelphia can remain

• Conspiracy theories aside, there is something fishy about the Great Reset | openDemocracy

• Nick Kristof and the Holy War on Pornhub | The New Republic

Media / Many Ministries of Truths / Censorship

• Facebook: We Show People Completely Random Garbage, Not Nazi Stuff

• Response to Facebook Ban » Security, Cigars & FUDSecurity, Cigars & FUD

• Oversight Board upholds FB decision to keep post calling lockdowns ineffective

• I read Facebook's Widely Viewed Content Report. It's really strange. - Ethan Zuckerman

• Taliban uses sophisticated social media practices that rarely violate the rules

• Congressman: Yes, We Did In Fact Lose Afghanistan Because of Big Tech – Preston Byrne

• Should ABC publish the full, raw video of the Biden-Stephanopoulos interview? – HotAir

• 9to5Mac Writer Paid Source $500 in Bitcoin for Stolen Apple Data

• Nobel scientist's deletion from Wikipedia points to wider bias

  When Canadian scientist Donna Strickland won the Nobel Prize, she didn’t have a Wikipedia page. Turns out her page had been deleted by editors years ago, despite having a notable body of work. A new study says Wikipedia suffers from a problem of deletionism when it comes to women’s biographies.

• Socialist Publication Current Affairs Fires Staff for Doing Socialism

TechSuck

• Instruction Sets: Alder Lake Dumps AVX-512 in a BIG Way - Intel Architecture Day 2021: Alder Lake, Golden Cove, and Gracemont Detailed

  But that all changes with Alder Lake. Both desktop processors and mobile processors will now have AVX-512 disabled in all scenarios. But the silicon will still be physically present in the core, only because Intel uses the same core in its next generation server processors called Sapphire Rapids. One could argue that if the AVX-512 unit was removed from the desktop cores that they would be a lot smaller, however Intel has disagreed on this point in previous launches. What it means is that for the consumer parts we have some extra dark silicon in the design, which ultimately might help thermals, or absorb defects.

  But it does mean that AVX-512 is probably dead for consumers.

• Amazon Plans to Open Large Retail Locations Akin to Department Stores

  • Amazon is reportedly planning to open department stores

• Google introducing tool for under-18s to remove images of them from search

• Can Facebook Make Virtual Reality Happen for Real This Time?

• FTC refiles antitrust case against Facebook

• OnlyFans to Block Sexually Explicit Videos Starting in October

• Google considered coordinated, multinational hostile takeover attempt of Epic

Economicon

• Second largest US mortgage lender will accept crypto payments this year

• Education Department cancels student debt for over 320,000 borrowers

  The debt forgiveness, which will go to borrowers with a total and permanent disability, will be automatically granted using data already available to the Social Security Administration. People should start seeing the relief in September.

• U.S. cannabis insurers get ready to roll as federal legalization nears

• Stock market correction may be right around the corner

• 179 Reasons You Probably Don’t Need to Panic About Inflation

• Start-Up Boom in the Pandemic Is Growing Stronger - The New York Times

  The coronavirus pandemic appears to have unleashed a tidal wave of entrepreneurial activity, breaking the United States — at least temporarily — out of a decades-long start-up slump. Americans filed paperwork to start 4.3 million businesses last year, according to data from the Census Bureau, a 24 percent increase from the year before and by far the most in the decade and a half that the government has kept track. Applications are on a pace to be even higher this year.

• Toyota Slashing September Production By 40%, Sparking Stock Crash And Risk Off Rout | ZeroHedge

  • Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

• The Hidden Costs of Dollar General

• Fed’s Powell: There’s no returning to pre-pandemic economy

• Robinhood says dogecoin accounted for 62% of crypto revenue in Q2

• Dow sheds more than 300 points in second down day as the Fed discusses reducing stimulus this year

• 61% of Americans paid no income taxes in 2020

Poilitcks

• The Afghanistan Debacle Exposed The Moral Bankruptcy Of The West

• U.S. Senate Democrats roll out draft bill to legalize weed

• Georgia elections board takes first step toward taking over Fulton County | Just The News

• Pelosi meets with Biden aides to plot how to push $3.5T budget despite moderate Democrats' warnings | Daily Mail Online

• Biden doubles down on Afghanistan withdrawal

  when Stephanopoulos tried to ask Biden about the horrific scenes of people clinging to and falling from departing US airplanes, the president grew combative. “We’ve all seen the pictures. We’ve seen those hundreds of people packed in a C-17. We’ve seen Afghans falling –“

  “That was four days ago, five days ago!” Biden cut Stephanopoulos, even though the images were taken on Monday.

  “No,” Biden said. “I don’t think it could have been handled in a way that, we’re gonna go back in hindsight and look — but the idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens. I don’t know how that happened.”

  • Full transcript of ABC News' George Stephanopoulos' interview with President Joe Biden

• Biden State Dept Moved to Abolish Crisis Response Bureau Months Before Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan

Crime / Police

• Ohio Resident Pleads Guilty to Operating Darknet-Based Bitcoin ‘Mixer’ That Laundered Over $300 Million | USAO-DC | Department of Justice

• Chicago Pharmacist Arrested for Selling Vaccination Cards for $10

Security / Militaria

• "Update (1420ET): The still-unidentified Capitol (would-be) bomber has surrendered, police can confirm."

• BREAKING: Capitol Police Investigating an 'Active Bomb Threat' – PJ Media

  “Around 9:15 this morning, a man in a black pickup truck drove onto the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress…we responded to a disturbance call,” said Manger. “The driver of the truck told the responding officer on the scene that he had a bomb and what appeared to be a detonator in the man’s hand. So we immediately evacuated nearby buildings.”

  The suspect appears to be broadcasting live on Facebook and says he’s trying to get Joe Biden on the phone.

  “I’m not pulling the trigger on this car. There’s no way I can blow this up. Only you can by shooting a bullet through the window,” he said. “They’re cutting healthcare. I can’t even get shots for my back anymore.” He said the truck is packed with ammonium nitrate. “When the bullet hits this window, that’s when it goes off and it’s not my fault,” he declared. “You thought the South wasn’t coming.” “I’m ready to die for the cause.”

  • Capitol Hill Evacuated Amid "Active Bomb Threat" Near Library Of Congress | ZeroHedge

  • Capitol Police Are Negotiating with Man Who Claims to Have Bomb Near the Capitol

• The new US Air Force secretary wants to ‘scare China’

• An extraordinarily expensive way to fight ISIS

Afghanistan

• The Pentagon is still not filling flights to capacity despite a directive from Biden that he doesn't want to see any empty seats on planes leaving ...

• Great reporting Navy Fighters Are Flying Armed Overwatch Missions Over Kabul

  "There is plenty of fuel sustainment capability at Hamid Karzai [International] Airport," Press Secretary Kirby said in response to a question about whether the U.S. government might be having to buy fuel from the Taliban. "We also have the ability on our own, our logistics ability, to fuel our aircraft as needed." (inline twitter)

  NOTAM for Kabul (Little to no fuel) M0004/21 - DLA ENERGY MIDDLE EAST REQUEST ALL AIRCRAFT TAKE MAX FUEL AT HOMESTATION BEFORE LANDING AT HKIA IN ORDER TO PREVENT REFULING ON THE GROUND DUE TO THE UNKNOWN AND LIMITED REFUELING CAPABILITLY

  "We've made it very clear to the Taliban that any attack upon our people and our operations at the airport will be met with a forceful response," Press Secretary Kirby said.

• Taliban intensify search for Afghans who aided US: report | TheHill

• U.S. has evacuated 7,000 people from Kabul in past week as Afghanistan withdrawal deadline nears

• What I Learned While Eavesdropping on the Taliban

• Planes, guns, night-vision goggles: The Taliban's new U.S.-made war chest

• Dozens Of U.S.-Bought Afghan Air Force Aircraft Are Now Orphaned At An Uzbek Airfield

• The State Department Has Abandoned Its CH-46 Helicopters In Afghanistan

• China calls for the world to judge ‘more rational’ Taliban objectively

• The Taliban may have seized biometric data that can ID US allies in Afghanistan

• 'What was all of this for?': US veterans are at a loss watching Taliban takeover

• Biden sparks fury by saying ‘No one is being killed in Kabul’

  "No one's being killed right now — we got 1,200 out yesterday, a couple thousand today. And it’s increasing. We’re gonna get those people out," Biden said as he knocked on wood next to him.

  • ABC says:

  BIDEN: Oh, there is. But, look, b-- but no one's being killed right now, God forgive me if I'm wrong about that, but no one's being killed right now. People are-- we got 1,000-somewhat, 1,200 out, yesterday, a couple thousand today. And it's increasing. We're gonna get those people out.

• More Protesters Killed By Taliban During Wave Of "Independence Day" Violence As Demonstrations Spread To Kabul | ZeroHedge

• 21st Century Dunkirk: The story of how air traffic controllers used social media DMs to help rescue friends trapped in Afghanistan | War Is Boring

  KP soon learned that the information being relayed to his friends in Afghanistan by their superiors was in stark contrast to the reality of what was actually happening.

  “Yeah,” replied one of the guys stranded in Kabul, who had recently separated from the armed forces to take the ATC job. “I may be on terminal leave, but I definitely don’t count as ‘military taking over approach’. They f***ing lying.”

  “So the pilot of the C-17 holding over Kabul is talking to Kingpin in South Carolina, telling them they need to talk to the CCTs, (Combat Control Teams)” KP told War is Boring. “I’m Kingpin is telling DH this, who then passed the information to me in Japan.”

  Then, KP came up with an idea to get the information to the CCTs.

  "I message my buddies in Kabul with the information and tell them to find a Marine and have those Marines contact the other Marines pulling security at the alternate tower,” KP said. “In order to tell the CCTs to key up the right frequencies.”

• We Failed Afghanistan, Not the Other Way Around - by Matt Taibbi - TK News by Matt Taibbi

• Up to 15,000 Americans remain in Afghanistan after Taliban takeover

• US troops can't escort Afghans to Kabul airport

World

• Earthquake relief arrives in Haiti, gangs kidnap two doctors

• Tensions rise as Iranian dams cut off Iraqi water supplies

Health / Medicine / COVID

• Alabama Doctor watched patients reject Covid vaccine now refuses to treat them

• CDC director says we might not need annual Covid boosters after third shot

• Opinion: It's time to learn to live with Covid – National Post

• Blood clotting may be the root cause of Long Covid syndrome, research shows

• How does COVID-19 affect the brain? A troubling picture emerges.

• CDC Stands Up New Disease Forecasting Center

• Those Anti-Covid Plastic Barriers Probably Don’t Help and May Make Things Worse

• Israel, Once the Model for Beating Covid, Faces New Surge of Infections

• 94% of Adults in England Have Covid-19 Antibodies

• Long Covid Might Be the Manifestation of a Different Virus Reawakened in Body

• Jabbed adults infected with Delta ‘can match virus levels of unvaccinated’

• Does the Covid-19 vaccine affect women's periods? — Quartz

• Covid-19 vaccines may trigger superimmunity in people who had SARS long ago

  • Decades-old SARS virus infection triggers potent response to Covid vaccines

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Polar bears sometimes bludgeon walruses to death with stones or ice

• U.S. Treasury to oppose development bank financing for most fossil fuel projects

• EPA bans use of pesticide chlorpyrifos on food crops

• ‘Green steel’: Swedish company ships first batch made without using coal

• Eco-anxiety: Activists want to shift the conversation from doom, gloom to hope

• It’s time to rethink personal carbon allowances, research suggests

• CFC ban bought us time to fight climate change, say scientists

• A Federal Judge Has Thrown Out Approvals for a Major Oil Project in Alaska

  • Court Blocks a Vast Alaskan Drilling Project, Citing Climate Dangers

• Attack of the Superweeds on American Farms