2021-10-19

Cool

• A Microwave Frequency Doubler

• Did the Earth tip on its side 84 million years ago?

  Kirschvink and colleagues found, as the true polar wander hypothesis predicted, the Italian data indicate an ~12˚ tilt of the planet 84 million years ago. The team also found that Earth appears to have corrected itself—after tipping on its side, Earth reversed course and rotated right back, for a total excursion of nearly 25˚ of arc in about five million years.

Worthy

• Journalism shouldn't be so professionalized - by Branko - Machine Learning Everything

etc

• Cellphone data show people navigate by keeping destinations in front of them

• Why soda bottles have gaps in their threads (2000)

• New Research Suggests Human-Like Footprints in Crete Date to 6.05 Mln Years Ago

• The 432Hz 'God' Note: Why Fringe Audiophiles Want to Topple Standard Tuning

• Posion Ivy doesnt work like that, tho... Make TeleMedicine Permanent

  . I used telemedicine multiple times during the pandemic and it was great–telemedicine saved me at least an hour each visit and I think my medical care was as good as if I had been in person. I already knew I had poison ivy! No need for the doctor to get it also.

• Drone operator will try to rescue dogs from Spanish volcano

Horseshit

• Unfreezing the ice age: the truth about humanity’s deep past

• Human History Gets a Rewrite

• Flying vehicle to be used 'like cars'

• It’s Time to Stop Talking About “Generations”

celebrity gossip

• Environmentalists: Peter Thiel’s luxury NZ lodge will ‘destroy’ lake landscape

• "History of the World, Part 2" Mel Brooks Announces Sequel to One of His Most Beloved Works

COVID / VaxCult

• Australian researchers discover new way to predict Covid-19 severity

• (PDF) The Long Shadow of Infection: Covid-19 and Performance at Work (Soccer Players)

• A Study Is Going Viral Among Anti-Vaxxers. The Author Says They Are All Wrong

  At first glance, the title of Subramanian’s paper, “Increases in COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination across 68 countries and 2947 counties in the United States,” looks like it could be arguing against vaccine effectiveness. Indeed, the paper initially came onto my radar from a concerned tipster who worried an unscrupulous Harvard researcher was working to leverage the university’s name in the service of right-wing political aims.

• Deaths of vaccinated people like Colin Powell don't mean vaccines are ineffective, medical expert explains

• Miami private school makes bogus claims about vaccines while ordering pupils who get a shot to stay home for 30 days

  CNN has reached out to Centner Academy requesting a copy of the email sent to families. The CDC, on its page dedicated to Myths and Facts about vaccines, says: "Vaccine shedding is the term used to describe the release or discharge of any of the vaccine components in or outside of the body. Vaccine shedding can only occur when a vaccine contains a weakened version of the virus. None of the vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. contain a live virus."

  • Anti-vaccine school in Florida tells kids to stay home if they get a Covid shot

• Southwest drops plan to put unvaccinated staff on unpaid leave in December

• Doctors Can Prescribe Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine Off-Label For COVID-19: Nebraska AG

• FDA relents on mix and match for third dose

• Renewal of Determination That A Public Health Emergency Exists

  I, Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, pursuant to the authority vested in me under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, do hereby renew, effective October 18, 2021, the January 31, 2020, determination by former Secretary Alex M. Azar II, that he previously renewed on April 21, 2020, July 23, 2020, October 2, 2020, and January 7, 2021, and that I renewed on April 15, 2021 and July 19, 2021, that a public health emergency exists and has existed since January 27, 2020, nationwide.

• Tuberculosis, Like Covid, Spreads in Aerosols, Scientists Report

• Why didn’t Powell’s vaccine work?

• A Data Sleuth Challenged a Powerful Covid Scientist. Then He Came After Her

  The legal threat against Bik came at a highly vulnerable time for her. Two years ago, she quit her biotech industry job to be a full-time scientific misconduct investigator, piecing together a living from consulting, speaking fees, and Patreon donations. Within the scientific community, where fact-checking almost universally happens on one’s own time and dime, Raoult’s move to press charges was a clear warning.

• There May Be People Who Are Genetically Resistant to Covid-19, Scientists Say

Culture War / Re segregation / Identdoctrination

• David Zucker reflects on "Airplane!" in 2021 | Hacker News

• Why longtermism is the world’s most dangerous secular credo

  To summarise these ideas so far, humanity has a ‘potential’ of its own, one that transcends the potentials of each individual person, and failing to realise this potential would be extremely bad – indeed, as we will see, a moral catastrophe of literally cosmic proportions. This is the central dogma of longtermism: nothing matters more, ethically speaking, than fulfilling our potential as a species of ‘Earth-originating intelligent life’. It matters so much that longtermists have even coined the scary-sounding term ‘existential risk’ for any possibility of our potential being destroyed, and ‘existential catastrophe’ for any event that actually destroys this potential.

  Why do I think this ideology is so dangerous? The short answer is that elevating the fulfilment of humanity’s supposed potential above all else could nontrivially increase the probability that actual people – those alive today and in the near future – suffer extreme harms, even death. Consider that, as I noted elsewhere, the longtermist ideology inclines its adherents to take an insouciant attitude towards climate change. Why? Because even if climate change causes island nations to disappear, triggers mass migrations and kills millions of people, it probably isn’t going to compromise our longterm potential over the coming trillions of years. If one takes a cosmic view of the situation, even a climate catastrophe that cuts the human population by 75 per cent for the next two millennia will, in the grand scheme of things, be nothing more than a small blip – the equivalent of a 90-year-old man having stubbed his toe when he was two.

• Why America Imploded: Americans Still Don’t Understand Why Their Society Failed

  that is what happened to Americans. A huge, huge portion of them turned to the fascism Trump sold them. Many turned to fundamentalist religion — another hallmark of social collapse. Plenty grew addicted to drugs — the now infamous “opioid epidemic,” which, curiously, barely exists, just across the Canadian border. Suicide and depression skyrocketed. The social fabric tore itself apart. Today, Americans will literally carry guns to Starbucks. No, not all of them — but it’s hardly unusual. Think about that mentality for a second. What does it really say? I don’t trust anyone. I want to kill everyone. It speaks of a kind of inchoate, desperate, insatiable rage, the degraded becoming the degrader in turn.

• Germany’s Promising Plan to Bring Conspiracy Theorists Back from the Brink

• New York City to remove Thomas Jefferson statue from legislative chamber by year’s end

Edumacationalizing

• More than half of millennials with student debt say their loans weren’t worth it

• Parents outraged at Virginia school superintendent’s handling of two sexual assault cases

• U.S. Census Bureau Data Reveal Decline in School Enrollment For All Age Groups

• Equity through mediocrity: Why elimination of gifted programs should worry us

Media / Many Ministries of Truths / Censorship

• Multi-audio tracks and descriptive audio feeds on YouTube

• Disinformation guru “Hacker X” names his employer: NaturalNews.com | Ars Technica

• YouTube Sued over Animal Abuse Videos, Accused of Not Enforcing Ban

• Social Media Isn't to Blame for the Deadly Stabbing of a British MP

Facebook

• How Facebook Hides How Terrible It Is with Hate Speech

• What apps to use if you decide to leave Facebook

• Recovering locked Facebook accounts is a nightmare. That’s on purpose

• Facebook’s digital wallet finally launches without Diem cryptocurrency

  • Facebook Chooses Coinbase As "Custody Partner" For Digital Wallet Ahead Of Stablecoin Launch

• Facebook 'Ready to Engage on Substance'

• Facebook Settles with U.S. Gov over Improperly Reserving Jobs for Immigrants

TechSuck

• Stepping out of the firehose — Benedict Evans

• United Nations event on open source

• Why your app or gadget may stop working Sunday: A gpsd bug • The Register

• Exclusive: Here's how you'll know which games will run on Valve's Steam Deck | Rock Paper Shotgun

• Energous Granted FCC Approval for Unlimited Distance Over-the-Air Wireless Charging :: Energous Corporation (WATT)

  announced that its 900MHz 1W Active Energy Harvesting transmitter technology has received U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Part 15 grant of equipment authorization for wireless power transfer at any distance.

• IBM will offer free COBOL training to address overloaded unemployment systems

• Thanks to a nasty GPSD bug, real-life time travel trouble arrives this weekend

Economicon

• SEC praises equity market structure, absolves short sellers in GameStop report

• High schoolers are training to drive 18-wheelers amid shortage of truck drivers

• Zillow slams the brakes on home buying as it struggles to manage its backlog

• The average new Chevrolet costs 39% more today than one year ago

• How bad does a supply chain crisis have to be for Dunkin Donuts to be out of Donuts?? | Not the Bee

• In North Carolina, poultry workers are quitting in large numbers after an unknown chemical was introduced at their plant

• Is the world economy entering a wage-price spiral?

• BITO, The first US Bitcoin ETF started trading today

  • Bitcoin Futures ETF Demand Surges During U.S. Trading Premiere

• The Great Supply-Chain Massacre

• 100k workers take action as 'Striketober' hits the US

• Jen Psaki Says Empty Shelves And Rising Prices Are Due To "Increasing Demand" | ZeroHedge

• The SEC Is Baffled by GameStop Too Archive link

• Parts Shortage Stalls US Auto Repair Business.

• We won’t forget WeWork’s meltdown

Poilitcks

• Donald Trump Jr. Is Going Full QAnon

• Lawmakers Question If Amazon Executives Misled Congress

• Missouri state government wrestles with computer shortcomings

• Biden secretly flying underage migrants into NY in dead of night.

  • Biden Secretly Flying In Underage Migrants To NY, Spreading Border Crisis Across US | ZeroHedge

Law / Crime / Police

• Train riders held up phones as woman was raped, police say

• Mob Smashes Through Downtown Portland

• FBI Raids D.C. Home Of Russian Billionaire Energy Tycoon Known For Putin Ties | ZeroHedge

Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Treasury Warns That Digital Currencies Could Weaken U.S. Sanctions

• China’s Claim That Its Fractional Orbital Bombardment System Was A Spaceplane Test Doesn’t Add Up (Updated)

• Notorious Haitian Gang Demands $17 Million Ransom For Kidnapped Missionaries

World

• Yakuza Struggle to Enter Honest Work as Japanese Mob Weakens

• UK PM urged to enact ‘David’s law’ to end online anonymity after Amess’s death

• Brexit-voting pig farmer says: 'I didn't vote for this'

• North Korea has fired at least one ballistic missile from country's east coast

  • N. Korea tests apparent sub-launched ballistic missile for first time since 2019

• China GDP disappoints, third-quarter growth slows to 4.9%

• Xi Jinping Faces Resistance to China's Property-Tax Plan

• Russia Signals Europe Won’t Get Extra Gas Without Nord Stream 2

Health / Medicine

• First federal grant for psychedelic treatment research in 50 years

• Patients say telehealth is OK, but most prefer to see their doctor in person

• The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Global Fuel Crisis Could Thwart Shift to Renewable Energy

• More than 99.9% of studies agree: Humans caused climate change

• Electric sheep: Grazing in solar arrays supports economy, climate

• ‘SELF-SERVING GARBAGE.’ Wildfire experts escalate fight over saving California forests

• Climate change triggers food insecurity, poverty and displacement in Africa

• Who are the world’s biggest climate polluters? Satellites sweep for culprits

• Satellites reveal the secrets of water-guzzling farms in California

• Climate scientists: concept of net zero is a dangerous trap