2022-03-16

Worthy

Deliberately Optimizing for Harm | Science | AAAS

It would not surprise me if this modeling work uncovered a number of nondisclosed structures that have been quietly looked at in the past. It seems clear that there's a lot more structure-activity space in this area than has ever been declassified (the appearance of the "Novichok" compounds is one example of this).
- HN thread
(2020) Why Don’t We Use Chemical Weapons Anymore?
How to Set Prices for Handmade Goods | Workshop Magazine

etc

Horseshit

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing

The Red State Murder Problem – Third Way

We found that murder rates are, on average, 40% higher in the 25 states Donald Trump won in the last presidential election compared to those that voted for Joe Biden. In addition, murder rates in many of these red states dwarf those in blue states like New York, California, and Massachusetts. And finally, many of the states with the worst murder rates—like Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, and Arkansas—are ones that few would describe as urban. Only 2 of America’s top 100 cities in population are located in these high murder rate states. And not a single one of the top 10 murder states registers in the top 15 for population density.
The Superpower Of Admitting the Obvious – Ian Welsh

COVID / VaxCult

Millennials experienced an 84% increase in excess mortality
JP Morgan Lifts Ban On Hiring Unvaccinated Workers
We're going around in circles on Covid (updated)

Now that Covid is but a distant memory, much like the slogan “The most trusted name in news,” it's time to reveal the truth: everything we told you about Covid was wrong. The spike protein in SARS-CoV-2 really does nuke the immune system. The virus really can get reverse-transcribed into your DNA (at least in cultured liver cells.[1]) Lockdowns only reduce infection by a few percent, masks barely work, and the virus really could have been made in a lab.
KFC-owner Yum sales plunge as China Covid cases surge
Shares in China fall, amid strongest Covid-19 lock-down yet
A ‘stealth’ Omicron subvariant is now spreading, worrying experts
Assessing the effect of Covid-19 vaccines on mortality

Flawed analyses disregarding these confounding factors have been used to build the false narrative that COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective at protecting against death from COVID-19. These analyses commonly compared crude death counts without factoring in the extent of vaccine coverage in the population. In contrast, more rigorous scientific analyses that account for the effect of confounding factors showed that COVID-19 vaccines significantly reduce the odds of vaccinated people dying from the disease compared to unvaccinated individuals.
Global powers inch closer to agreement to waive Covid vaccine patents
Europe Thought it was Done with Covid-19 – But the Virus isn't done with Europe
What Rising Covid-19 Infections in the UK and Europe could-mean for the U.S.
Florida health official put on 2-month leave after urging staff to get vaccine
Antigenic evolution will lead to new SARS-CoV-2 variants with unpredictable severity
US unprepared for rise in Covid cases, warns White House
People, Not Science, Decide When a Pandemic Is Over
Two years of Covid-19: What's next for the pandemic?
U.S. Senate votes to overturn transit mask mandate; Biden vows veto
Covid Doctor: The One Thing I Refuse to Do as We 'Get Back to Normal.'

So I am taking this moment, here and now, to say loud and clear that while there are many things I will be doing as we “get back to normal” ― including continuing to advocate for vaccine equity, pushing for access to therapeutics for everyone, pushing to prioritize the immunocompromised and most vulnerable in this effort to reopen ― there is one thing I refuse to do: stay in my own lane. Clinicians don’t have the luxury of staying in our lane anymore after politicians have rammed their way into ours. Politicians have inserted themselves into our clinic rooms, violating that sacred space between clinician and patient, and we must act and react accordingly.
White House Wants $22.5 Billion for More Covid Funding.
Canada lifting pre-arrival COVID-19 testing requirement as of April 1

Culture War / Tribal / Re segregation

What would it take to make computing anti-racist?
New England Journal of Medicine: A Call for Antiracist Action

Health care providers must acknowledge how racism has contributed to unequal health outcomes; redress the damage by providing restitution to the population that has been harmed, which involves offering pathways for access to services and care that have historically been denied; and facilitate closure, achieving reconciliation with the community that has been harmed by the health care system and reaching agreement that the harm has been redressed.
For the first time, architecture's top award goes to a Black architect
Period product company that referred to ‘bleeders’ in an Instagram post is accused of ‘erasing women’ with ‘dehumanising and insulting’ language
A Wall Street Lifer’s Quixotic Quest to Build a Nonracist Bank

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

Why we stopped making Einsteins - by Erik Hoel

Think about the advent of the internet long enough and it seems impossible to not start throwing away preconceptions about how genius is produced. If genius were just a matter of genetic ability, then in the past century, as the world’s population increased dramatically, and as mass education skyrocketed, and as racial and gender barriers came thundering down across the globe, and particularly in the last few decades as free information saturated our society, we should have seen a genius boom—an efflorescence of the best mathematicians, the greatest scientists, the most awe-inspiring artists. If a renaissance be too grand for you, will you at least admit we should have expected some sort of a bump?
- HN thread