2021-12-08

Cool

• A method for indoor cultivation of black morel mushrooms is finally developed

  a method for controlled indoor cultivation of black morel mushrooms all-year-round under well defined conditions in climate chambers. We are able to produce 4.2 kilos of first-class morels per square metre within a total cultivation period of 22 weeks,

Worthy

• (2009) The Economics of Pinball | Cheap Talk

etc

• Latest Earthquakes: the “monster of the Cascadian Basin” is making its move

• If cats were people, they'd be psychopaths, scientists say

• Flight 17 – Discovering Limits - NASA Mars

• NASA returns Hubble to full science operations

• Mountaineer awarded half the jewels he found at 1966 Air India crash site

Horseshit

• After Another Blunder, the World Chess Championship Is Off the Rails

• 5G now means some flights won’t be able to land when pilots can’t see the runway

• Carmakers see big bucks from in-car software subscriptions

• Dozens of camels barred from Saudi beauty contest over Botox

  • Dammit, with a headline like that we need pictures of camels in swimsuits. Their absence clearly shows this article is published by an ab-human conglomeration of bots as an act of journalistic malpractice.

• John Paul I was pope for just 33 days. The story of his death is still evolving

• One arrest after Christmas tree set on fire outside News Corp. building in NYC

• Oakland’s Jack London Square Christmas tree torched

• Christmas tree goes up in flames, volunteers robbed while decorating homes in Chicago

• ‘We’re losing IQ points’: the lead poisoning crisis unfolding among US children

• Getting Married in the Metaverse

• TikTok Tics: A Pandemic Within a Pandemic

celebrity gossip

• Elon Musk says civilization will crumble if more people don't have more children

  • I’m saving humanity by having more babies, says Elon Musk

• Elon Musk: CEO is a ‘made-up title,’ so he’s Tesla’s ‘Technoking’ instead

• James Brown said the CIA spied on him. The CIA won't say - CNN

COVID / VaxCult

• Sweden to reintroduce many Covid-19 measures as cases rise

• Canada Ditches Moderna Booster For Pfizer Over Myocarditis Risk In Young Men

• WHO Advises Against Convalescent Plasma for Treating COVID-19

• The Atlantic mocked for revising headline asking if it's 'safe' to hang out with the 'unboosted' | Fox News

  The Atlantic was ribbed after it changed an article originally titled, "Is it Safe to Hang Out with the Unboosted"’ to "How to Socialize Safely in the Booster Era," in a piece focused on how to deal with Americans who haven't had their coronavirus booster shots.

• Beyond Omicron: what’s next for Covid’s viral evolution

• Omicron variant found in nearly one-third of U.S. states

• Diseasonality - by Scott Alexander - Astral Codex Ten

• Mom Says Her Son Got Vaccinated for Pizza Without Her Consent

• Downing Street party: No 10 staff joked about party amid lockdown restrictions - BBC News

• The Tangled History of mRNA Vaccines

• Willfully unvaccinated should pay 100% of Covid hospital bills, lawmaker says

• Mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 Evolution Revealing Vaccine-Resistant Mutations

  By tracking the evolutionary trajectories of vaccine-resistant mutations in more than 2.2 million SARS-CoV-2 genomes, we reveal that the occurrence and frequency of vaccine-resistant mutations correlate strongly with the vaccination rates in Europe and America. We anticipate that as a complementary transmission pathway, vaccine-breakthrough or antibody-resistant mutations, like those in Omicron, will become a dominating mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 evolution when most of the world's population is either vaccinated or infected.

• Pfizer update: Three doses recommended for omicron variant

  • HN thread

• Omicron: We're Getting (Some) Answers

  But a report from one of these hospitals provided more context about individual hospitalizations over the weekend. Among a sample of 42 COVID patients in the hospital on Dec. 2, most were hospitalized “with COVID19” not “for COVID19.” Among the 42 patients, 9 (21%) had a diagnosis of COVID19 pneumonia. Among the 9 pneumonia patients, 8 were unvaccinated and 1 was a child. There were 4 patients in high care and 1 in the ICU.

  This is a very important on-the-ground perspective. But it is still a very small piece of the puzzle. It is far too early to conclude that Omicron is mild

  There’s a good chance Omicron will outcompete Delta in the United States. This coupled this with the high unvaccinated rate and lab data showing partial vaccine immunity will result in a substantial Winter wave. The rate of breakthrough cases will be higher, but I’m hopeful that boosters will largely keep people out of the hospital.

  • Also: Yes, antigen tests work against Omicron. They test for another part of the virus—they do not test against the spike protein. They still work, so please use them.

  • It's almost as if "Have Faith in Booster shots! Despite the data! Fear the Severe rate! Despite the data!" is obligatory, isn't it?

• Vaccination Surveys Fell Victim to the “Big Data Paradox"

• Omicron deaths still zero despite spreading twice as fast as deadly Delta

• Early Data on Omicron: There's Good News and Bad News

• Omicron: Here We Go Again

• Protection and waning of natural and hybrid Covid-19 immunity

• What we know about Omicron and workplaces

• Healthcare Chief Says Omicron "May Signal The End Of COVID-19" | ZeroHedge

• Explosion in New Heart Conditions Explained as “Post Pandemic Stress Disorder” – Summit News

• Vaccination strengthens antibodies in people who have had COVID-19.

• Omicron Covid genetic-variation Sub-lineage described as 'Omicron like'

• Differences between Covid's 'Omicron variant' and 'Omicron Like' strain

• Democrats are souring on vaccine mandates

• Omicron: The response is making it worse

Culture War / Re segregation / Faith Fights

• Jussie Smollett: Funniest Trial Ever | National Review

• There are six main narratives of globalisation, all flawed

• How Can Something Be Racist but Not Racist at the Same Time?

• Is the Political Slant of Psychology Research Related to Replicability?

• Young Dems more likely to despise the other party

  • HN thread

• Federal Intervention, Conflict, and Drought in the American West

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• District Tells Students To Cast Spells On People Who Say 'All Lives Matter'

  “Hexing people is an important way to get out anger and frustration.” It becomes increasingly deranged, suggesting that those who say “all lives matter” or commit “microaggressions,” should be targeted. “Write your own hex poem, cursing that person,” it instructs.

• These universities are paying for menstrual products in men’s bathrooms.

• Schools Are Closing Classrooms on Fridays. Parents Are Furious

Media / ShowBiz / Censorship

• Three tech giants control half of advertising outside China Archive link

• Twitter Suspension - The Free Press Report

  • Twitter suspends account tracking Maxwell trial without explanation | Hacker News

• Twitter has bought chat platform Quill.

  No, we do not allow the export of Direct Messages. On 1pm PST, Saturday, December 11th 2021 we will delete all user data, whether or not you've exported it.

• Roku settles YouTube dispute and locks down apps in ‘multi-year’ deal

  • Google agreement saves Roku from heading the same way as Windows Phone

• Discord’s new Premium Memberships let creators monetize servers - The Verge

• So vague, it invites abuse: how Twitter’s new privacy policy helps the far right

• Why Aren't Thousands of Gigabytes of Abusive Images Removed from the Web?

Facebook

• Meta has a ‘moral obligation’ to make its mental health research transparent

• Facebook’s head of Messenger leaving company as executive exodus continues

• Facebook Launches 'Professional Mode'

• Frances Haugen Warns of Congress 'Inaction' on Facebook

TechSuck

• Nvidia’s deal for ARM is dead – how long until CEO Jensen Huang admits it?

• 3yo chip, 2x the RAM as last release! Nvidia launches GeForce RTX 2060 12GB, a perfect card for crypto miners

• Intel plans to take self-driving car unit public in the U.S. in mid-2022

• AMD FX-6300 Hits 8 GHz, Scoring a Minor Overclocking Record

• Apple CEO Tim Cook Secretly Signed $275 Billion Deal With China in 2016

• Alibaba teases a breakthrough chip, merging processor and memory

• Amazon packages pile up after AWS outage spawns delivery havoc | Hacker News

• Amazon’s search results are full of ads ‘unlawfully deceiving’ consumers

• Intel updates mysterious ‘software-defined silicon’ code in the Linux kernel

• Responding to Tor Censorship in Russia

• Alexa.com is shutting down after 25 years

Economicon / Business / Finance

• The CIA Is Deep into Cryptocurrency, Director Reveals

• How the Supply Chain Crisis Unfolded

• Kellogg to hire replacements for 1400 striking employees

• 20 year study of global wealth demolishes the myth of ‘trickle-down’

  • HN thread

• Where Are All the Gig Workers and What Are They Doing?

• Real Estate and Oil Tycoons Avoided Paying Taxes for Years

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• White House quietly tries to reshape economic coverage

  The White House, not happy with the news media's coverage of the supply chain and economy, has been working behind the scenes trying to reshape coverage in its favor. Senior White House and admin officials — including NEC Deputy Directors David Kamin and Bharat Ramamurti, along with Ports Envoy John Porcari — have been briefing major newsrooms over the past week, a source tells me.

• Watch: Psaki Snaps When Pressed On Hunter Biden's 'Laptop From Hell'  | ZeroHedge

  New York Post's Steven Nelson asked: "My colleague Miranda Devine has a new book out called 'The Laptop From Hell', and I was hoping that you could confirm that the laptop is indeed authentic and not Russian disinformation as you seemed to suggest on Twitter last year." An irate Psaki shot back: "The president’s son is not an employee of the federal government. So I’d point you to his representatives."

• Jessica Rosenworcel confirmed by Senate to lead the FCC

• Trump's blood oxygen levels were at a 'dangerously low level' during 2020

• Actually, Vice President Kamala Harris Is Right. Bluetooth Is a Risk

• Crypto lobbying is going ballistic

  • HN thread

• Biden’s ‘Summit for Democracy’ includes countries that hardly seem to qualify

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• More Than $100K Seized After K-9 Officer At Dallas Love Field Airport Sniffs Out Bag

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• The U.S. Air Force Has Doubts About the F-35

  • HN thread

• Congress Tells Pentagon and Intelligence Community: UFOs Are Serious Business!

World

• A citizen journalist who shined a light on Wuhan's plight may die in prison

• Diesel Engine Fluid / Urea What is AdBlue and why could an international shortage bring Australia's economy to its knees? - ABC News

• Pope blasts ‘Nazi dictatorship’ EU

  it all feels a bit 1530 in Europe at the moment. The latest Renaissance throwback has been the octogenarian Pope Francis coming out swinging against the European Union for its efforts to ban the word 'Christmas' among Brussels bureaucrats.

• Saudi Arabia Running Out of Patriot Missiles in Its Conflict with the Houthis

• Putin: Would Be "Criminal" To Stand By & "Spinelessly Watch" Ukraine Join NATO | ZeroHedge

Health / Medicine

• Psychedelics Alter Metaphysical Beliefs

• Surgeon General Warns of Youth Mental Health Crisis

• A daily dose of yoghurt could be the go-to food to manage high blood pressure

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• What humanity should eat to stay healthy and save the planet

• A black box to record events that lead to downfall of civilization

  • Australians to create climate 'black box'

• Embracing a Wetter Future, the Dutch Turn to Floating Homes

• National Trust to fell at least 30k trees hit by ash dieback

• (2016) Modern life is rubbish: we don't need all this packaging

• California’s water supplies in trouble as climate change worsens dry spells

• Assessing the U.S. Climate in November 2021; 3rd-Warmest Autumn on Record

• The U.S. and China Should Compete on Climate Progress

• Reduce Your Website’s Environmental Impact with a Carbon Budget

• Indonesia's Mount Semeru volcanic eruption was triggered by rain. This could happen more - CNN

  The role of rain in this case has raised questions around whether climate change could bring more frequent eruptions of this kind. That's a concern, because eruptions caused by lava-dome collapse tend to be stronger and more destructive than other types, scientists told CNN