2021-12-26

Worthy

• Christmas shopping the IBM way: computerized gift selection in 1962

etc

• US church founded in 1800 holds last service

• 1,000 New People Arrive in Texas Every Day. Half Are Newborns.

Horseshit

• 30 Years Ago, the Soviet Union Collapsed, But Socialism Was Worth Saving

• Boxing Day: What is it? Where is it celebrated? And other questions

  Q: What is the point of Boxing Day? A: It’s a day to give to the less fortunate.

  Q: I’m American. Can I still celebrate? A: Of course. Join the fun. No one can stop you from being charitable.

  Q: What do you do on Boxing Day? A: Some people like to go fox hunting or horse racing,

Obit

• Desmond Tutu, anti-apartheid icon, dies at 90

COVID / VaxCult

• More than 900 flights cancelled in U.S. as Covid-19 sidelines staff on Christmas

• Pfizer booster’s ability to prevent symptomatic Covid wanes within weeks

• US Warship Stuck In Port After COVID-19 Outbreak Among "100 Percent Immunized" Crew

  • USS Milwaukee: Covid outbreak takes another Navy ship offline

• The “original antigenic sin” and its relevance for SARS-CoV-2 vaccination

• With Omicron surging in California, here are some tips for a safe Christmas

• EXPLAINER: How will Biden’s COVID-19 test giveaway work

• To Fight COVID-19, Asia Increasingly Turns to Traditional Medicine

• A new drug to treat covid could create a breeding ground for mutant viruses

• NY Dept of Health warns of rise in child COVID hospitalizations

• Governments Wrestling With Omicron Weigh Mitigation Versus Containment

• U.S. airlines scrap nearly 1,000 Christmas Day flights due to Omicron

• Long Covid: 'I have to choose between walking and talking'

• In Sweden, a vaccine passport on a microchip implant

• Pan-Coronavirus “Super” Vaccine

• We’re Locked Down Again in the Netherlands. Here’s a Warning

• Intimate portraits of a hospital Covid unit from a photojournalist-turned-nurse

Culture War / Re segregation / Faith Fights

• NORAD's Christmas Eve Santa Claus tracker needs to end

• Why 'The Matrix' is a trans allegory

• 21 Masks That Capture the Politics of 2021

• As COVID fuelled the drugs crisis, Native Americans hit worst

• (PDF) AMA DocSpeak Guide Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts

  • Old and busted:

    For too many, prospects for good health are limited by where people live, how much money they make, or discrimination they face.

  • New hotness:

    Decisions by landowners and large corporations, increasingly centralizing political and financial power wielded by a few, limit prospects for good health and well-being for many groups.

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• MN School Board Votes for Extra Pay for Non-White Teachers

Media / ShowBiz / Censorship

• Regulate, break up, open up: how to fix Facebook in 2022

TechSuck

• Intel apologizes for banning use of components from Xinjiang | Ars Technica

  China’s nationalist tabloid Global Times accused Intel of “biting the hand that feeds it.” “What we need to do is to make it increasingly expensive for companies to offend China,” it said in an editorial.

• Lickable TV screen that can imitate food flavours

• Fisher Price toy phone can be hacked by anyone and listen in to your kids

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Thirteen New Electric Vehicle Battery Plants Are Planned in the U.S. Within the Next Five Years

• Why Is US Labor Supply So Low? (Milo/Struyven)

• Can crunch impacts small breweries

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• As Prices Rise, Biden Turns to Antitrust Enforcers

World

• One year on, most voters say Brexit has gone badly

• China-Lithuania tension: German firms may have to shut factories in Baltic state

Health / Medicine

• 'Don't Weigh Me' cards aim to reduce stress at the doctor's office

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• The Sound of Silence: A Noise Map of the U.S.

• The rare spots of good news on climate change

• Researchers forecast a hard-to-imagine West – one without snow