2021-12-18

Cool

• Satellite detects large mass of water in Mars canyon

• Massive 683-pound blue sapphire will be auctioned off | TheHill

• Perl Turns 34 Today

Worthy

• Doesn’t Matter, Warm Fuzzies | Melting Asphalt

• The End Of The Electromechanical Era

• On the Artist/Craftsman Divide - Resident Contrarian

  If you want to avoid your table ending up being a giant egg with legs that you crawl inside so you can eat while a small water-pistol sprays you with sriracha sauce in an attempt to make a subtle commentary on the mindset of atheist nuns in Guam, the Craftsman is still your choice; only with the artist is this a serious threat.

etc

• The only Christmas tradition I care about is Sweden’s arson goat

• Group of Monkeys Kill over 250 Dogs for 'Revenge' in Indian Town

Horseshit

• Amazon Threatened Driver’s Job for Leaving Route During Tornado

  "How about for my own personal safety, I'm going to head back," said the driver. "Having alarms going off next to me and nothing but locked building[s] around me isn't sheltering in place. That's wanting to turn this van into a casket. Hour left of delivery time. And if you look at the radar, the worst of the storm is going to be right on top of me in 30 minutes."

  "If you decided to come back, that choice is yours," replied the dispatcher. "But I can tell you it won't be viewed as for your own safety. The safest practice is to stay exactly where you are. If you decide to return with your packages, it will be viewed as you refusing your route, which will ultimately end with you not having a job come tomorrow morning. The sirens are just a warning."

• Ransomware may have stolen Christmas across the US

• CNN is selling public domain images as NFTs

• Hershey Goes on a Threat Blitz Against a Bunch of Independent Breweries

• Amazon Removed Reviews of Xi Jinping's Book on Orders from Beijing: Report

celebrity gossip

• Jack Dorsey and the Unlikely Revolutionaries Who Want to Reboot the Internet

COVID / VaxCult

• Pfizer to test third-dose of Covid mRNA Vaccine on Infants and young Children

• Is the Market ignoring risks of Omicron shutdowns?

• BuzzFeed NYC Holiday Party Becomes Superspreader Event

• It’s time to abolish ‘emergency’ Covid-19 powers

• Prelim lab data hint at what makes Omicron most superspreading variant yet

• Over 91% Democrats vaccinated, while only 60% Republicans have taken one shot

• NYC Covid inspector booted from bar for failing to show own proof of vaccination

• ‘No evidence’ Omicron less severe than Delta, say UK researchers

  • No evidence that Covid Omicron variant is less severe than Delta, UK study says

• Possible systematic miscategorisation of vax status: concerns re: effectiveness

• Growing Number Of Companies And Organizations Are Walking Back Vaccination Requirements

• About 75% of the 800k Americans who died of Covid-19 were over 65 years old

• Omicron may be less severe in South Africa: That may not be the case for the US

• Hard lockdown likely around the corner in the Netherlands

• New York Hits Covid-19 Case Record as Omicron Looms

• South Africa Hospitalization Rate Plunges in Omicron Wave

• NY Bears the Brunt of Omicron on Top of Delta

• More than 10k new Omicron cases confirmed in UK

• Immune senescence, Christian theology, and the Spike protein | Josh Mitteldorf

  • (from comments, by the author)

  Michael – I wrote about the evidence for a lab origin in two posts back in April, 2020. The quick summary is (1) There is no credible animal source, since pieces of several animal viruses from different locations are included in the genome. (2) No other coronavirus has ever evolved a furin cleavage site. (3) There are published articles (from UNC, WIV, NIAID) describing how to turn a bat coronavirus into a human pathogen. (4) There have been meetings held in the last dozen years in which simulations of a coronavirus pandemic were rehearsed. These meetings were connected to the same people funding the lab experiments in GoF.

• WHO lists 9th Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use with aim to increase access

• Thoughts on Sixth Circuit OSHA Vax-or-Test Mandate Stay Decision

Culture War / Re segregation / Faith Fights

• Portland in Decline: Political Failure, Social Breakdown | National Review

• The world as we know it is ending. Why are we still at work?

• The end of Victorian culture, part II: people and history

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• CCPA Scam November 2021 from Princeton University - Free Radical Blog

  At no time did I consent to participate in this human research study conducted by Princeton. I am beyond livid that I was subject to a stressful situation, and one that very easily could have caused me to hire a lawyer and incur legal costs. I demand to be removed from this study and others like it, and I strongly suggest that this study be halted immediately.

  • I Was Part of a Human Subject Research Study Without My Consent - Xe

• University ordered to pay almost $2 million after students win religious freedom lawsuit.

Media / ShowBiz / Censorship

• YouTube TV loses ESPN, ABC and other Disney channels in fee dispute

TechSuck

• Rocket Report: SpaceX plans a Falcon 9 flurry, Bill Gates buys into rockets

• On commercial forks FOSS projects

• Third High Severity CVE in Log4j Is Published

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Dow tumbles as volatility returns to Wall Street

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• GOP blows off Trump’s bid to oust McConnell

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• San Francisco Declares State of Emergency to Fight ‘Nasty Streets’

• Colorado truck driver was sentenced to 110 years for a deadly crash

• Man Dies After He Is Shot by the Police with a Stun Gun and Catches Fire Archive link

  At some point, Mr. Jones began to douse himself with hand sanitizer, Mr. Stanzione said. “For what reason, we don’t know,” he said. “That’s part of the investigation.” When the officers deployed the stun gun to subdue Mr. Jones, he caught fire, Mr. Luibrand said.

• Seattle police ‘Unavailable’ list grows, city an emergency event away from catastrophe

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• The Marines' Amphibious Assault Vehicles Just Got Banned From Going In The Water Indefinitely

• 7 Signs That War With Russia Just Got Even Closer | ZeroHedge

World

• Settler attacks on Palestinians soar. Challenge for Israeli coalition.

• U.N. talks adjourn without deal to regulate 'killer robots'

Health / Medicine

• Will We All Soon Live in Cancerland?

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Melting glaciers may produce thousands of kilometers of new salmon habitat

• Lithium in Nevada is pitting climate and environmental groups against each other