2023-09-05

Worthy

• Dilemna of the broke audiophile

etc

• Burning Man festival exodus begins through drying mud | Reuters

  • The Burning Man Fiasco Is the Ultimate Tech Culture Clash

  • Burning Man Attendees Told to Conserve MDMA

• United Airlines issues nationwide ground stop due to computer issue

  • FAA issues nationwide ground stop for United Airlines flights

Horseshit

• The Great Disruption Has Begun — Paul Gilding

• Is it time for the Revenge of the Normies?

• Let me show you some proof that US culture is trending quickly to the right | Not the Bee

Obit

• Steve Harwell, Former Smash Mouth Lead Singer, Dies at 56

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• (Nov 2022) The American Nations and the Geography of Covid-19 Vaccinations – Nationhood Lab

• When “Punch a Nazi” Goes Wrong

  the sentiment that some beliefs are so egregious they should be met with on-the-spot violence is increasingly the consensus in online leftist subcultures. But idle talk is one thing, and it’s not unreasonable to treat most tough talk on the internet as just that. What caught my eye about this situation in particular was the widespread consensus that a specific, named individual absolutely deserved to be assaulted, complete with tips for destroying evidence and exhortations to bail out the assailant after his arrest.

  In the end, I pursued this story for a simple reason: nobody else would. If people are to become outcasts among outcasts, to have their names and faces forever tied to allegations of behavior and beliefs so heinous they justify ostracization and physical assault, the least they deserve is someone willing to tell their story.

• The new age of agitprop: The mainstream media have abandoned the pursuit of objectivity and truth.

• Claims That Social Media Endangers Democracy Are Mostly Misinformation

Musk

• Musk blames Anti-Defamation League for 10-50% of X revenue loss

  • Elon Musk Takes Aim at Anti-Defamation League, Threatens Lawsuit

  • Musk blames Anti-Defamation League for X’s low ad revenue and threatens lawsuit.

• Rachel Bonn:8-months pregnant woman with 9-month baby laid off from Twitter

Trump / War against the Right / Jan6

• a friend of ours was raided by the feds over J6

• Turnabout Is Fair Play And Also Both Fun And Essential.

• Overt Acts and Predicate Acts, Explained - by Ken White

  In my view, the Georgia RICO indictment is gratuitous, self-indulgent, and careless of the appearance of legitimacy. Yes, under current law protected speech acts can be overt acts. But that doesn’t mean a prosecutor should gratuitously include such acts. There are so many arguable crimes that serve as both overt acts and racketeering acts, and so many communications that expressly incorporate fraud and deceit, that it would have been easy to draft an indictment to leave out tweets and speeches and the like. Putting them in seems like leaning into the pro-Trump talking points and accepting accusations of overt political bias.

  In a perfect world, fans of Fani Willis would think about how this approach works when applied to people who aren’t famous or rich or conservative. For instance, how many people can defend themselves if Fani Willis decides to add them to a 28-count indictment for RICO where jury selection alone has taken eight months? Can she - can any DA — be trusted to wield the RICO statute fairly, or will they inevitably resort to using it to strongarm court reporters for using the wrong font to make more money? In that same perfect world, Trump supporters (or anti-anti-Trump folks) would have an epiphany — holy shit, if they can do this to Trump and his crew, what are they doing to regular folks? Is my trust in police and prosecutors misplaced?

Pestilence / Pox / COVID / VaxCult

• First lady Jill Biden tests positive for Covid-19 - CNN

• The Delights of the Pfizer/Moderna Catfight ⋆ Brownstone Institute

Culture War / Tribal / Re segregation

• ‘I just assumed it would happen’: the unspoken grief of childless men

• Help boys aspire to ‘heroic masculinity.’

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• The new economics of higher ed make going to college a risky bet

Media / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Someone bought the deluxe PR job: Starfield’s 1k Planets May Be One Giant Leap for Game Design

• Rockstar is selling cracked game copies on Steam | Hacker News

• Meta employees are back in the office three days a week as part of mandate

TechSuck

• A currently maintained fork of SSHFS | Hacker News

• Oscilloscope watch ships after 10 years on Kickstarter | Hacker News

• Asus announces first NUCs after taking over brand from Intel

Crypto con games

• The unexpected chain of events after SBF acquired our crypto exchange

• SEC chair Gary Gensler's court losses are piling up in crypto

• Wyoming’s Crypto-Friendly Aspirations Are Colliding with Economic Reality

Economicon / Business / Finance

• The $53,000 Connection: The High Cost of High-Speed Internet for Everyone

• Credit card and car loan defaults hit 10-year high as inflation squeezes families.

• Economists typically rely on bogus population data | Hacker News

• Bosses mean it this time: Return to the office or get a new job

• SoftBank's Arm aims for over $52B valuation in biggest US IPO of the year

• Believe it or not, real estate affordability has not changed much in forty years

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Biden gets low marks on economy and major concerns about his age

• Biden touts his middle class roots in Labor Day speech.

• DeSantis super PAC strategist says he’s been spreading negative press about Ramaswamy: report.

• When tech says ‘no’

  • HN comments

• Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko is joining the Biden administration

• A Threat to the U.S. Budget Has Receded, and No One Is Sure Why

• The Federal Helium reserve is for sale

  • HN comments

• Ask HN: I’m an FCC Commissioner proposing regulation of IoT security updates | Hacker News

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Drunk Drivers Causing Parental Deaths Now Liable For Child Support In Texas

• Over 60% of ‘active shooters’ stopped by ‘good guy with a gun.’

World

• Greece wildfires: 79 people arrested for arson

• Taiwan presidential hopeful offers pets in push to boost birth rate

• Birmingham City Council 'effectively bankrupt'

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Russia Is Using Tires to Protect Its Bombers from Aerial Attack

  • Russia covering aircraft with car tires, potentially protect them from drones

• Ukrainian drone attacks lead Russia to reinvent Moscow air defense

Health / Medicine

• Young people, pregnant women and drivers should avoid cannabis – study

• If You Need Pain Pills, Politicians Want To Monitor Your Body Chemistry.

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Tidal energy is not renewable

  • HN comments

• The EU is preparing to push for a global phase out of fossil fuels at the COP28 climate summit.

• Farms that create habitat key to food security and biodiversity | Hacker News

• What Your Insurer Is Trying to Tell You About Climate Change

• Can a New Genre of Eco-Thrillers Inspire Climate Action?

• I Left Out the Full Truth to Get My Climate Change Paper Published

• Climate Change Is Killing the Sun-Seeking Summer Vacation