2023-01-18

Cool

• US Army Corps of Engineers 2023 Cat Calendar

Worthy

• The Rise of Steel Part II

etc

• A flurry of new studies identifies causes of the Industrial Revolution

• The Art of Knowing When to Quit | Hacker News

Horseshit

• A candle produces roughly the same amount of energy as a resting human

celebrity gossip

• Neil DeGrasse Tyson Please Shut the F*** Up

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, the internet's resident mansplaining science troll, has yet again graced this world with an idiotic take. Coming in hot out of absolutely nowhere for no discernible reason, as is his wont, he's decided to go after Arrival, Denis Villeneuve's staggeringly good 2016 sci-fi movie.

• Porn actor Ron Jeremy found unable to stand trial for rape | AP News

  he is in “incurable neurocognitive decline” from which he is unlikely to recover.

Obit

• The world’s oldest person, a French nun, dies at 118

Musk

• TwitterDev: “Twitter enforcing long-standing API rules; some apps not working”

• Eight car pile up found to be due to Tesla driver assist software

• Elon Musk's Twitter Takeover

• Looming Twitter interest payment leaves Elon Musk with unpalatable options

• Twitter's revenue down 40% year over year

• Whatever you say about Elon's tenure, Twitter does ship now

• Twitter says third-party apps broke “long-standing API rules”

• Twitter hit by 40% revenue drop amid ad squeeze

Trump / War against the Right / Jan6

• Video reveals Twitter team warned of 'shooting in the streets' ahead of Jan 6

  • (PDF) Social media & the January 6 attack – privileged draft report

• Donald Trump prepares for his return to Facebook and Twitter

Culture War / Tribal / Re segregation

• Who is included by “inclusive” language?

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• AI Claude Passes Law and Economics Exam

  The Claude AI from Anthropic earned a marginal pass on a recent GMU law and economics exam!

  • the "best answer" example provided is self-contradicting opinion writing. that passes the bar exam?

• PhD training is no longer fit for purpose – it needs reform now

Media / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Game makers stage mass exodus from Dungeons and Dragons’ “open” license

• Free the nipple: Facebook and Instagram told to overhaul ban on bare breasts

TechSuck

• Looking back at MS-DOS 4.00M, or in the beginning before there was OS/2 | Virtually Fun

• HDD Shipments Almost Halved in 2022

Crypto con games

• What’s the true value of crypto? It lays bare the lies of libertarians

• FTX Executives Expressed Concern over Use of Customer Funds, Documents Show

• FTX says $415M of crypto was hacked

• SBF gaces us with further display: FTX US Balance Update

• FTX Founder Gamed Markets, Crypto Rivals Say

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Microsoft to lay off 11,000 employees

  • HN comments

• Why some cars from the 1990s are soaring in value

• Amazon set to begin new round of layoffs affecting over 18,000 people

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• House GOP lays groundwork for Mayorkas impeachment as moderates balk

• FEC dismisses GOP complaint that Google censored fundraising emails in Gmail

• EXC: Hunter Biden’s China-Linked Company Paid $49,910 In Rent – Identical To Amount Hunter Biden Paid For Joe’s House Where Classified Documents Found, Expense Reports Reveal. – Steve Bannon's War Room: Pandemic

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• TAPES: We Investigated a Suburban LGBTQ Pedophile Ring. Here's What We Found.

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Losing Taiwan Means Losing Japan

• (Mar 2022) "Why shouldn’t Taiwan just join the United States?" The case for Taiwan’s statehood | Notes On Liberty

World

• Davos 2023: Spain says 'close to deal' with Britain on Gibraltar

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Ukraine's Interior Minister Among 16 Killed In Worst Helicopter Disaster Since War's Start

• Russia's war in Ukraine reaches a critical moment

Health / Medicine

• 70% of drugs advertised on TV are of “low therapeutic value,” study finds

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• How Eco-Friendly Is That Product? Here Are Four Ways to Spot Greenwashing

• The surprising environmental benefits of single-use coffee pods

• More than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets are worthless, analysis shows