2021-12-20

Worthy

• My Values, Howled into the Wind

• What's the Deal With All the Perverted Behavior at CNN? | RealClearMarkets

etc

• Radio Telescope Reveals How Lightning Begins | Quanta Magazine

  The key role of ice crystals dovetails with recent findings that lightning activity dropped by more than 10% during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers attribute this drop to lockdowns, which led to fewer pollutants in the air, and thus fewer nucleation sites for ice crystals.

• Doughnuts: The fried treat that conquered the modern world

Horseshit

• I’m 22 & stuck in the body of an 8-year-old – only creeps want to date me

• Airlines Brace for Flight Restrictions in 5G Standoff

• Think Santa Is Busy? Ham Sniffers Are Pushing Their Noses to the Limit

celebrity gossip

• Elon Musk says he’ll pay over $11B in taxes this year

COVID / VaxCult

• (PDF) Evidence for a mouse origin of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

• How severe are Omicron Infections?

• Omicron’s Going to Be Worse Than You Probably Think

• It Would Cost $50B to Vaccinate the World, OECD Says

• Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

• Chewing Gum Could Reduce the Spread of Covid-19 by Cutting the Virus in Saliva

• As Omicron Hits, Covid-19 Case Counts Don't Mean What They Used To

• Omicron Variant and Vaccine Efficacy

• CDC Panel: Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis in Age 5-11 After Pfizer Covid Vaccine

• The Fickle ‘Science’ of Lockdowns

• Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

• Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker test positive for COVID; omicron makes up nearly 3% of US cases: Live updates

• New Zealand links 26-year-old’s death to Pfizer’s COVID-19 jab, reports say

• Baggy mask isn't going to cut it against Omicron, epidemiologist warns

• FDA finds 3 COVID-19 tests that fail to detect the omicron variant | MedTech Dive

  Following a preliminary review, FDA announced in late November that it expected PCR and rapid antigen tests used in the U.S. to be able to detect the omicron variant. However, the agency now says three diagnostics are "expected to fail to detect the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant" and they should not be used until the issues are resolved.

• Breakthrough Infections with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Despite Booster Dose of mRNA Vaccine

  “This series proves that even three doses of mRNA vaccines may not be sufficient to prevent infection and symptomatic disease with the Omicron variant.”

• Omicron is causing more infections but fewer hospital admissions in SA

• Epidemiological characterisation of 785 Omicron variant cases in Denmark

• Physics - Altering Airflows and Stopping Drops

  The team found that single-ply masks were more likely than three-ply masks to atomize a drop. Their results also showed that, for both sets of masks, the masks became significantly better at blocking drops as they became wetter.

• Troops find religious exemption for COVID-19 vaccines unattainable

• Omicron Is Not Normal

  The balance of the evidence is that Omicron leaked from a lab engaged in SARS-2 vaccine research. There are many possibilities: It might represent a live, attenuated virus vaccine used informally among researchers, that mutated back to virulence and escaped; it might have been released accidentally; it could even be an attempt to develop a self-spreading vaccine to immunise animals or third world populations.

• 48 Test positive for Covid on biggest cruise ship

• New Zealand okays euthanasia for Covid patients

• Is original antigenic sin starting to dominate Covid?

• 'I have Covid,' Jim Cramer says. He says he's been triple vaccinated and has a mild case

• Israel moves to ban travel to US due to omicron variant concerns

• Ban ‘idiot’ anti-vaxxers from flying, says Ryanair boss

• Immune imprinting and SARS-CoV-2 vaccine design

• Kidney disorders as serious adverse drug reactions of remdesivir in Covid-19

Culture War / Re segregation / Faith Fights

• Archbishop Vigano’s startling warning to the American people - American Thinker

• US ‘closer to civil war’ than most would like to believe, new book says

• ‘Q’ Has Been Quiet, but QAnon Lives On

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Why the Fuck Do You Trust Harvard? - Freddie deBoer

• School Board Member Becomes UNHINGED When Plan To Force-Vax All Kids In LA Schools Backfires | Not the Bee

• Burn the Universities and Salt the Earth

Media / ShowBiz / Censorship

• Lead Stories' Response to BMJ Open Letter Objecting to a Lead Stories Fact Check

  • Hoist on the petard of their own arrogance, they can't see why the world doesn't praise their Elevated Perspective.

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Sky-High Lumber Prices Are Back

• Chicken Price-Fixing Case Ends in Mistrial After Seven Weeks

• The World's Most Profitable Traffic Jam

• Wall Street predicts expensive, bumpy 2022

• Adobe, Cloudflare lead plunge in cloud stocks after JPMorgan issues downgrades

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Why Trump appears deeply unnerved as Capitol attack investigation closes in

  • Rep. Adam Kinzinger says Jan. 6 committee will determine if Trump committed a crime

• Meet Ray Epps, Part 2: Damning New Details Emerge Exposing Massive Web Of Unindicted Operators At The Heart Of January 6 - Revolver

• The Democrats Go Full Götterdämmerung as Manchin Makes DOA of BBB Official; Omicron Undermines Scapegoating the Unvaxxed | naked capitalism

• The speed limit is America’s most broken law. Why can’t we fix it?

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• S.F. Mayor Breed declares state of emergency in the Tenderloin

• Retailers say thefts are at crisis level. The numbers say otherwise

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Harassment of Navy Destroyers by Drone Swarms Off CA Went on for Weeks

• US Prosecutors Went After Professors Working with China. Now Cases Are Faltering

World

• European Energy Crisis: price per MWh now above 300 EUR in many countries

• China to introduce new 'patriotism', 'morality' guidelines for arts, culture

• Chinese spies have penetrated Taiwan's military, case documents reveal

• China Wants “Universal Suffrage” for Hong Kong After Sham Election's Low Turnout

• North Korea has banned laughing, drinking, shopping for 11 days

• ESSAY: THE POLITICS OF BLASPHEMY AND LYNCHING - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

  Laws cannot, and should not, be made to correct entire communities or their ideological orientation. In the instant case, the vast majority, tacitly or otherwise, believes that “blasphemers must be beheaded.” Those who accused Kumara of blasphemy might have some personal grudges, but the hundreds of Muslims on the roads were religiously motivated.

• Ukraine blames Germany for ‘blocking’ NATO weapons supply

Health / Medicine

• The US making plans to replace all of its lead water pipes from coast to coast

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Climate change: Carbon emissions from rich countries rose rapidly in 2021

• Honey bees, Varroa mites and unintended consequences

• The first octopus farm – should it go ahead?

• Car's emissions cut in USA from 2008 to 2017 saved 8k lifes and $270B

• New York has a huge rat problem. These vigilantes with dogs think they can fix it

• How will our warming climate stabilize? Scientists look to the distant past

• Snowless Winters Are Already Here

• Billionaire Space Flights Are a Carbon Bomb That Will Destroy the Planet

• How Is ‘Dune’ So Prescient About Climate Change?