2022-05-16

etc

• Is an unknown, extraordinarily ancient civilisation buried under eastern Turkey?

From several sites archaeologists have found statues of leopards apparently mounting, riding or even ‘raping’ humans, paws over the human eyes. Meanwhile, Aslan tells me how archaeologists at Gobekli have also, more recently, found tantalising evidence of alcohol: huge troughs with the chemical residue of fermentation, indicating mighty ritual feasts, maybe.

Another unnerving oddity is the curious number of carvings which show people with six fingers. Is this symbolic, or an actual deformity? Perhaps the mark of a strange tribe?

• Stop playing with endangered 'penis plants,' government says

• Space Has Invisible Walls Created by Mysterious 'Symmetrons,' Scientists Propose

Horseshit

• The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• The First-Ever Map Showing Wildfire Risk to American Homes

  • Tens of Millions of U.S. Properties Face Wildfire Risk, New Study Says

  • Property-level wildfire risk information now available on Risk Factor

• Liz Cheney says Republican leadership has ‘enabled white supremacy’

• When Not Tending to War Wounded, Ukraine Rock Star Jams With Bono, Sheeran

Musk / Twitter

• Elon Musk claims Twitter legal team accused him of violating NDA

  • Elon Musk 'violated' Twitter NDA over bot-check sample size

• Musk’s black hole Twitter: 20 percent turned out to be fake

• Trump partially restricts himself from using Twitter

• Twitter Stock Extends Slide as Elon Musk Reveals Spat with Legal Team

• 19.42% of Active Twitter Accounts Are Fake or Spam

  • HN comments

• Twitter CEO: “Let’s talk about spam, with the benefit of data, facts, context”

• Twitter Deal Still Happening? Musk Says 'Not Out Of The Question' But At Lower Price | ZeroHedge

Abortion

• Our Daughter Lied to Us and Went to a Pro-Life Rally

• Study tracks the lasting effect of having an abortion – or being denied one

• Online data could be used against people seeking abortions if Roe vs. Wade falls

• Liberal Yale Professor: Roe Was Bad Law and the Alito Draft Is Constitutionally Sound.

COVID / VaxCult

• The Covid Capitulation – By Eric Topol

• Evaluating Compulsory Covid-19 Vaccination Mandates

• Recent influenza vaccination may reduce risk of Covid-19 infection and severity

• Not a Single Car Was Sold in Shanghai Last Month

  • HN comments

• Fauci says he will resign if Trump retakes the presidency in 2024

Culture War / Tribal / Re segregation

• What Do Female Incels Want?

• Doubts about viewpoint diversity - Wyclif's Dust

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Population booms overwhelm schools in the West

TechSuck

• The very weird Hewlett Packard FreeDOS option – Interesting things

  When ordering a HP machine with FreeDOS what you are getting is the following:

  • A Linux installation on the “bare metal” which boots a VM
  • This VM boots either an old version of FreeDOS or
  • An old version of Linux in a kiosk mode

• iPhone Users Got Alerts About Strangers’ AirTags. The Trackers Were Never Found

• Google Is Sharing Our Data at a Startling Scale

• Google Chrome is getting built-in virtual credit cards

Crypto con games

• Terra’s Crypto Meltdown Was Inevitable

• ‘The Guilt Is Unbearable’: UST-Luna Investors Discuss the 99.99% Crypto Crash

• Alpacas, Crypto, and a 5 Million Dollar Pair of Socks

  At the peak price of Bitcoin last November, the proceeds from one pair of Grass Hill Alpaca socks sold in February 2011 would be worth over 5 million dollars, meaning David Foster is likely the only American farmer in history to have profited a single dollar from the sale of Alpaca fiber. First imported from South America in 1984, the only profitable product Alpacas in the United States have ever been capable of producing are more Alpacas.

• FTX CEO says Bitcoin has no future as a payments network

• Collapse of Luna cryptocurrency leads to $11M exploit on Venus Protocol

• Terra $45B Face Plant Creates Crowd of Crypto Losers

• Luna Foundation Sold 80,000 Bitcoin Amid UST Crash | ZeroHedge

  • $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

• $7.6bn of ‘stablecoin’ tether redeemed since start of crypto crisis

• Q&A: the collapse of terra and what it could mean beyond crypto

Economicon / Business / Finance

• America’s Oil and Gas Boom Didn’t Deliver True Energy Security

• PayPal to increase fees next month

• Job interviews that go too far

• Your Guide to Why the Stock Market Has Turned into a Horror Movie

• Bad Times Are Coming for Startups

• 2022 economy, financial markets like the year 2000 all over again

• JetBlue launches hostile takeover bid for Spirit Airlines

• Warren Buffett Spends Big as Stock Market Sells Off

• They Signed Contracts for Their Homes. Now Their Borrowing Costs Are Ballooning

• Walmart Anticipates a Store Manager Shortage Despite $200k-a-Year Pay

• Has the Stock Market Bottomed Yet?

• The Trump SPAC Is in Business

• Microsoft Doubles Salary Budget to Retain Staff as Cost of Living Rises

Shortages

• India bans wheat exports as heat wave hurts crop, domestic prices soar

• Looking around, May 15: the true story behind the US baby formula shortage; Ukraine liberates Kharkiv, wins Eurovision | Spin, strangeness, and charm

• Amid a Worsening Formula Shortage, Mothers Are Asked: ‘Why Not Breastfeed?’

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• LOL! The Biden Team Spent Six Months Coming Up With The Term "Ultra MAGA" To Deride Trump And His Supporters | Not the Bee

  Biden's attempt to appropriate the "MAGA" brand as a political attack was hardly accidental. It arose from a six-month research project to find the best way to target Republicans, helmed by Biden adviser Anita Dunn and by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a liberal group.

• UFOs go to Congress: Five questions that need answering

  • First Public UFO Hearing in over 50 Years to Be Held by Congress Next Week

• CDC looks to rebuild trust after sweeping review.

• The Little Red Boxes Making a Mockery of Campaign Finance Laws Archive link

• “It only took 15 months to go from ‘Build Back Better’ to ‘there will be a baby formula shortage.'”

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• US cops kick back against facial recognition bans

World

• Sweden Declares NATO Membership Bid Hours After Neighboring Finland

  • Sweden will apply for NATO membership, Finnish parliament vote pending

  • Sweden to Apply for NATO Membership | Hacker News

• In applying to NATO, Finland and Sweden give the lie to Putin’s claims

• Putin: Finland joining NATO not a threat

• China's economy skids as lockdowns hit factories, retailers

• A Ruling Family on the Run as Sri Lanka Plunges into Economic Ruin

• Russian rouble near 5-year highs

Health / Medicine

• (PDF) A Simple and Convenient Synthesis of Pseudoephedrine from N-Methylamphetamine

• Fascia: The long-overlooked tissue that shapes your health

• FDA sends warning after 100 adverse events from copy-cat foods containing THC

• FDA approves underwear to protect against STDs during oral sex.

• Smart pacifier developed to monitor infant health in the hospital

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• The Modern World Can't Exist Without Fossil Fuels

• Delhi sizzles at 49C (120F) as heatwave sweeps India

• Circular cities experience more rain than square or triangular ones

• California regulator rejects desalination plant despite historic drought

Ukraine War

• Putin’s Ukraine War Fail: The Ukrainian Military Is at the Russian Border

  • HN comments

etc

• Russian Fighter Jets Found with GPS Taped to Dashboards: UK

• Ukraine blows up Russian helicopter on Snake Island

• Ukraine Crisis Reveals the Folly of Organic Farming

• "De-Arched": McDonald's Plans To Sell Russian Stores

  • McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

  • HN comments

  • McDonald's is leaving Russia altogether

• Russian Lawmaker Says Poland Next In Line For 'De-Nazification'

• French carmaker Renault sells Russian assets to Moscow

• Why 'the Russian army just isn't good'

• Russia likely to have lost third of its Ukraine invasion force, says UK

• A French satellite operator helps keep Russia’s TV propaganda online

• Growing evidence of a military disaster on the Donets pierces a pro-Russian bubble.