2023-08-15

etc

• Cruise vehicles cause traffic jam a day after California approves 24-7 robotaxis

• The unpublished preface to Orwell’s Animal Farm

  • Asbestos suggested: HN comments

Horseshit

• Juul seeks authorization on a new vape it says can verify a user’s age

• Why Americans Are So Awful to One Another

  • Because of free speech: HN comments

• The Unexpected Satisfaction of Leaving Behind the American Dream

• Where did all the geniuses go? - Aporia

  • HN comment

Obit

• Central Coast health food pioneer who popularized Apple cider vinegar dead at 94

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• NYT, only a couple days after HN discussed it: Raid of Small Kansas Newspaper Raises Free Press Concerns

  • Kansas police and a small newspaper are at the center of a First Amendment fight

Musk

• Elon Musk versus Mark Zuckerberg beef has reached a new level of absurdity

• Elon Musk’s X is throttling traffic to news and websites he dislikes

• Musk Is Funding Fertility, Population Research in Texas Project

Trump / War against the Right / Jan6

• Something Weird Is Going on in Fulton County, Where Trump Is Expected to Be Indicted – PJ Media

  In a strange turn of events, it appears that the Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney’s office briefly posted a document online that looks like a list of charges levied against Trump in an indictment that has yet to be announced. Or at least that’s what Reuters is claiming.

  • Georgia court website briefly publishes, removes document about potential Trump charges | Reuters

  • Fulton County DA Hands Down 10 Indictments in Trump Case.

  • Trump, Giuliani, Powell, Meadows & 15 Others Indicted On 13 Counts By Atlanta Grand Jury

  • All the bombshell charges against Trump and his allies in Georgia RICO case

  • Alleged computer crimes figure into latest indictment of Trump, allies

• Clown doxxes erratic, pro-DeSantis account @GayPatriot – Twitchy

• Jan. 6 Capitol Hill Security Footage Challenges Key Narratives | ZeroHedge

• More on How to Think About the Costs of the Trump Election Fraud Prosecution | Lawfare

• National Review crashes and burns over "Rich Men North of Richmond"

• U. Chicago report: 30 million Americans believe violence justified to keep Trump from presidency.

Pestilence / Pox / COVID / VaxCult

• New COVID vaccines are on the way as ‘Eris’ variant rises.

Culture War / Tribal / Re segregation

• Tips to become a kid's favorite adult

• Wikimedia announces another million in grants for non-Wikimedia-related projects

  • Wikimedia Foundation gives away about 1 million in grants to counter racial bias

• Report on Anti-Gay Slur Could Put Local News Site Out of Business

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• There’s far more scientific fraud than anyone wants to admit

Media / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Meta’s Twitter rival Threads unravels | Hacker News

• Country Music Industry Confused By Man Actually From Country Making Actual Music

• Internet Archive responds to recording industry lawsuit targeting obsolete media | Hacker News

• Free ad-supported TV streaming services are booming, 1 in 3 U.S. viewers tune in

• Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

  Disney is, from this point forward, not much different than Taylor Swift: sure, there is money to be made (hopefully) in areas like streaming, but the real durable value and outsized profits will come from real life experiences. This is, to be sure, a good business, but it has its limits: it is remarkable that Swift performed six shows in seven nights in Los Angeles, but it was still only six shows; concerts don’t scale like CD sales used to. Disney, similarly, only has so many theme parks, that only accommodate so many people, and operating those theme parks takes significant ongoing resources.

  • HN comments

• ChatGPT fate hangs in the balance as OpenAI reportedly close to bankruptcy

TechSuck

• Show HN: Little Rat – Chrome extension monitors network calls of all extensions | Hacker News

• Dell fined $6.5M after admitting it made overpriced monitors look discounted

Crypto con games

• Sam Bankman-Fried charged with using stolen funds for political donations

  • Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says

    • HN comments

• Sam Bankman-Fried is going to jail | Hacker News

• Missing US crypto king found dead

  Body parts of Christian Peev, 41, who had both US and Bulgarian citizenship, were found by plumbers in a sewer when they were called to clear a blocked drain on Saturday, in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital

Economicon / Business / Finance

• If I understand it correctly, this is a massive bet on a sudden crash "soon"; but without a specified date to that. Michael Burry shorts Major index in sizable bets | Hacker News

  The $1.6 billion Scion spent betting against the market represents 93% of the fund's entire portfolio.

• What happened to the microfinance company Kiva? | Hacker News

• How Fanatics Is Building a Weird Monopoly over Sports Trading Cards

  • HN comments

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Biden’s climate law has led to 86,000 new jobs and $132B in investment

• WH spokesperson botches names, gender of Hawaii Democrat senators.

• Ramaswamy rising: Another poll shows him No. 2, besting DeSantis.

• If Saying An Election Is Stolen Is A Crime, Why Isn’t Stacey Abrams In Prison?

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Not a Parody: Gov't Employees Told To Work From Home Due to Rampant Crime Outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in SF

World

• Dog-Loving, Central-Bank-Hating Economist Upends Argentine Polls

• China Suspends Youth Jobless Data as Economy Signals Sharper Downturn

  • China stops reporting youth unemployment as economic pressures mount

• China Cuts Rate by Most Since 2020 as Economic Woes Deepen

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Russia Hikes Rates To 12% In Emergency Move To Halt Rouble's Collapse

• Russia Discusses Return to Capital Controls to Stem Ruble Slump

• Russia Launches Luna-25, Its First Moon Mission in 47 Years

Health / Medicine

• Fluoride Dangers: Fluoride Abundant in Foods, Beverages, Dental Products; Fluoridation Unnecessary

• FDA Approved 65 Percent of New Drugs in 2022 Based on a Single Study

• Drug makers have tripled the prices of top Medicare drugs

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Judge Rules in Favor of Montana Youths in Landmark Climate Case

  • Montana loses fight against youth climate activists in landmark ruling | Hacker News

• July was hottest month on Earth since at least 1880 'by a longshot,' NASA says

• and everything else Ball milling destroys PFAS in contaminated soil

  • HN comments

• Hawaii wildfires: did scientists expect Maui to burn?