2021-12-03

Cool

• The Largest Comet We've Ever Seen Just Delivered a Curious Surprise

  Digging into readings logged by the Transient Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) between 2018 and 2020, researchers have discovered that BB became active much earlier, and much farther out from the Sun, than was previously thought

  In the case of BB, it's still too far out for water to sublimate. Based on studies of comets at similar distances, it's likely that the emerging fog is driven instead by a slow release of carbon monoxide. Only one active comet has previously been directly observed at a greater distance from the Sun, and it was much smaller than BB.

• Fusion Reaction Has Generated More Energy Than Absorbed by the Fuel

Worthy

• My Worry for America

etc

• Virginia Opossums don't eat ticks

• Secret of tempera’s pleasing properties is how egg yolk interacts with pigment | Ars Technica

• The Church of the Clocked Screws – Lost Art Press

  • HN thread

• Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred

Horseshit

• The Pandemic Is Distorting Our Sense of Time

• A Normie’s Guide to Becoming a Crypto Person

• Woman Breastfeeds Cat on Plane, Refuses to Stop When Asked

• Over $100M in Metaverse Land Sales Last Week

  Metaverse land is the new big hit in the crypto community, as leading virtual worlds recorded upwards of $100 million in NFT land sales in the past week. According to DappRadar data, activity for The Sandbox, Decentraland, CryptoVoxels, and Somnium Space is booming.

  The Sandbox is currently the second most traded NFT collection for the week, according to DappRadar data. Decentraland follows close behind at eighth place. In the meantime, big names in the crypto space like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks are trailing behind, especially in terms of the number of traders interacting with the collections.

  • Real estate has gone meta

• Buried in Infrastructure Bill Is a Mandatory Backdoor Kill Switch for Your Car

  • HN thread

• Can Seven Questions Determine How Wise You Are?

• LEGO has designed a set that can't be taken apart | Brickset: LEGO set guide and database

  • from comments: "There are two types of people in this world. Lego shelf and Lego bucket."

• Can’t Find a Rolex or Patek Philippe? Blame the Reddit Crowd

• Stop Telling Me Trust-Fund Kids Are Financial Wizards

• Alexas are changing their names because of Amazon’s voice assistant

celebrity gossip

• The evidence that Reddit user MaxwellHill is Ghislaine Maxwell

• Epstein visited Clinton White House at least 17 times

• ‘Narcissistic sociopath’: Alec Baldwin says he feels no guilt over the death of Halyna Hutchins – twitchy.com

Obit

• RIP William Cook,Designer of AppleScript

COVID / VaxCult

• Researchers shoot holes in study touted to confirm 'masks work' in curbing Covid

• Increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection associated with Omicron variant

• The Coronavirus in a Tiny Drop

• EMA starts rolling review of Valneva’s Covid-19 vaccine

• Colorado Confirms 3rd US Omicron Case, New York Counts Most New COVID Cases Since January

• Over 42,000 Adverse Reaction Reports Revealed In First Batch Of Pfizer Vax Docs | ZeroHedge

• Omicron and Delta Coronavirus Variants Could Emerge as Twin Outbreaks

• S-gene PCR may now resolve Omicron-signal in UK

• (Sep 29 2021) Connection between coronavirus disease-19 and exposure to wireless communication

• Norway reports omicron cases linked to company party

• Setbacks on Vaccine Mandates

• How Well Masks Protect

• (Nov 2020) We Can Stop the Spread of Covid-19 by Christmas Archive link

  Widespread and frequent rapid antigen testing (public health screening to suppress outbreaks) is the best possible tool we have at our disposal today—and we are not using it

• Logistics and lack of testing stymied finding the Omicron variant in the U.S.

• Leadership in crisis: Responding to the Covid outbreak and future challenges

• How Bad Is Omicron?

• Covid-19 Mortality Risk Correlates Inversely with Vitamin D3 Status

• A note on sampling biases in the Bangladesh mask trial

• Covid: Pfizer and Moderna jabs give best overall boost, UK trial finds

• Covid-19 boosters are safe and increase immunity when given after two doses

• Up to 300K people facing heart-related illnesses due to post-pandemic stress

• How can scientists update coronavirus vaccines for omicron?

• The origin of omicron is a mystery. Here's why we need to crack the case

• Pfizer vs. Moderna: Harvard study compares the two mRNA Covid vaccines

• Isolation and Quarantine Strike Team Consultants – State of Washington

  The duty station for this position is in Centralia, WA at our State Isolation and Quarantine Facility. The facility is staffed 24 hours per day and 7 days per week. Staff may work any or all of the three shifts and may work overtime as needed to ensure adequate staffing of the facility.

• How do you pronounce ‘Omicron’?

• Google delays mandatory return to office beyond Jan. 10

• (PDF) Increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection associated with emergence of Omicron

• Scientists discover link between AstraZeneca vaccine and lethal blood clots

• Dutch say “large majority” of 62 flight passengers with Covid were vaccinated

• Booster jabs 'massively' strengthen the body’s defenses against Covid

• Netherlands, Belgium, Germany had Omicron cases a week before S.Africa identified the Coronavirus variant, World News | wionews.com

• ‘Patience is crucial’: Why we won’t know for weeks how dangerous Omicron is | Science | AAAS

• Man tries to dodge Covid vaccine wearing fake arm

• UK study finds mRNA Covid-19 vaccines provide biggest booster impact

• Fewer Than Half of Americans Say COVID ‘Most Urgent’ Health Problem.

• World Health Organization Says "No Evidence" Booster Jabs Would Offer "Greater Protection" To The Healthy

  Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s emergencies program, questioned the logic behind this decision. “Right now, there is no evidence that I’m aware of that would suggest that boosting the entire population would necessarily provide any greater protection for otherwise healthy individuals against hospitalization and death,” he said.

• Severe Covid infection doubles chances of dying in following year, study finds

• OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY IN TALKS TO MAKE MASK MANDATES PERMANENT

• GSK says antibody cocktail appears to be effective against Omicron variant.

• Three Teens Who Escaped From Aussie COVID Camp All Have One Thing in Common, and It's Not the Virus – PJ Media

Culture War / Re segregation / Faith Fights

• Is techno-clutter ruining your life?

• Human geneticists curb use of the term ‘race’ in their papers

• California voters in a new poll say society will completely break down

• Morality is Scary - LessWrong

• A 13-year-old boy made and trafficked ‘ghost guns,’ killed his sister with one

• Someone is hacking receipt printers with 'antiwork' messages

  • Hackers Are Spamming Businesses’ Receipt Printers with ‘Antiwork’ Manifestos

• Abortions could require 200-mile trips if Roe is overturned

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• College students in declining mental, physical health one year into COVID-19, study shows.

• An alarming trend in K-12 math education: a guest post and an open letter

  • HN thread

• A drama professor told students they got their feelings hurt too easily

Media / ShowBiz / Censorship

• BuzzFeed Suffers Wave of SPAC Investor Withdrawals Before Going Public

• Ask HN: What the fuck is going on with Reddit?

Twitter

• Twitter’s new privacy policy could clash with journalism

• Twitter's New 'Privacy' Policy Destroys Its Value for Decentralized Journalism

• If you lost Twitter followers today, then you're not alone

Facebook

• Strengthening Our Efforts Against the Spread of Non-Consensual Intimate Images

• Facebook sold ads comparing vaccine to Holocaust

• (PDF) November 2021 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report

TechSuck

• The FTC is suing to block Nvidia’s $40B purchase of Arm

  • FTC Sues to Block Nvidia’s Takeover of Arm

  • FTC Sues to Block $40B Semiconductor Chip Merger

  • HN thread

• Nvidia Urges US to Exempt Graphics Cards from Trump-Era Tariffs

• Windows urges users to use Bing same way as urgent security warnings

• A mysterious threat actor is running hundreds of malicious Tor relays

• Russia attempts to block Tor

• Apple AirTags being used by thieves to track high-end cars to steal

• How the Coming Privacy Layer Will Fix the Broken Web

• Blender 3.0

  • HN thread

Economicon / Business / Finance

• The explosion in stablecoins revives a debate around “free banking”

• Uber to test audio recording safety feature in the U.S.

• NatGas 'Widowmaker' Spread Collapses, European Arb Explodes | ZeroHedge

• Cowed by Chinese regulators, Didi plans New York delisting and Hong Kong debut

  + [With Its Exit, Didi Sends a Signal: China No Longer Needs Wall
  Street](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/02/business/china-didi-delisting.html)
  

  • Tech stocks slump as Didi prepares for US delisting

• DocuSign is no longer a $50B company

• Who's Hiring And Who's Firing In November: More Head-Scratchers | ZeroHedge

  Health care employment was about unchanged in November (+2,000). Within the industry, employment in ambulatory health care services continued to trend up (+17,000), while nursing and residential care facilities lost 11,000 jobs.

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Biden caught cold, voice sounds different in speech

• Court Dumps Texas's Social Media Moderation Law as Clearly Unconstitutional

• Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Military Budget Proposal to Guard Florida’s Future

  establish the Florida State Guard, a civilian volunteer force that will assist the National Guard in state-specific emergencies.

  • Ron DeSantis plans Florida paramilitary force outside federal control

• Biden jokes Fauci is real president as he shares COVID plan

• Betrayed enviros plan 12 days of Biden protests | Washington Examiner

• Stacey Abrams tells Rachel Maddow she ‘did not challenge the outcome’ of 2018 election

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Smash-and-grab robberies: 14 arrested in 11 incidents, all released on CA's zero-bail

• Thefts, Always an Issue for Retailers, Become More Brazen, Goods Sold Online

• Columbia University PhD Candidate Dies in Stabbing Near Campus

• U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Pentagon: 7 in 10 Youths Would Fail to Qualify for Military Service

• "You must leave China now. China is not safe. America will destroy it completely and I will not be able to help you out"

• ‘Enemy combatant’ held at Guantánamo petitions for release because war is over

• Havana Syndrome Mystery: Review Finds No Answers Archive link

  There have now been 750 official reports of possible anomalous health incidents, according to people briefed on the cases, but about three-quarters are no longer being investigated as likely cases of Havana syndrome.

  But of the approximately 200 cases of mysterious incidents still under active examination, the Biden administration does not think they were caused by functional illness or other psychosomatic reactions. In those cases, a U.S. official said, multiple explanations remain possible, including directed energy, sonic devices or other medical explanations.

  Some officials inside the government are convinced Russia is responsible for at least some of the incidents, and has deliberately targeted American military personnel and C.I.A. operatives. In a trip this month to Moscow, Mr. Burns told Russian officials that any sort of operation that caused severe brain injuries for U.S. personnel was out of bounds for Russia’s spy services, and that there would be consequences if Russia is shown to be responsible,

• Space Debris: Space Station Avoids Collision

World

• US "Deeply Concerned" Over Reports Taliban "Disappearing" Ex-Afghan Officials | ZeroHedge

• Enemies of the Press? - by Simon Carne - Irregular Thoughts

• Netherlands to ban live boiling of lobsters, crabs

• Germany: New government plans 'right to encryption'

Health / Medicine

• Sex ratio of babies linked to pollution and poverty indicators

• What are pros and cons of whole-genome sequencing for every UK baby?

• Blood or saliva THC levels found to be poor sign of driving impairment

• Interesting: The placebo effect in the United States has become a lot stronger over time

• Physician assistants want to be called physician associates, doctors cry foul

• Pregnancy risks increase with age but there’s no reason to believe risks “jump”

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• US Should Create Strategy by End of '22 to Reduce Increasing Ocean Plastic Waste

• Early winter heat shatters records in U.S., Canada

• David Attenborough’s Unending Mission to Save Our Planet

• Growing carbon footprint of plastics

• An Ecologist Who Works for God (and Against Lawns)

• Ruggedize Your Life. - by Alex Steffen - The Snap Forward

  No place on Earth will escape climate and ecological upheaval — no place is, in that sense, safe. But some threats are not as grave as others. Some dangers are muffled by geography and historical advantage. Some governments and economies are better prepared than others. Some places are better able to manage in the face of discontinuity. Being totally safe is not an available option. Being safer than you’d be elsewhere and being more able to cope with crisis is — that is an option that still exists, in places.

• Global Climate Trend Since Dec. 1 1978: +0.14 C Per Decade

• The Green Party (UK) is being bad at being Green