2023-12-25

etc

• How a child's accidental call launched NORAD's Santa Tracker

• Constellations are younger than continents

• The Christmas Truce of 1914 - LewRockwell

• How the tech toy century has troubled Santa's sack

Horseshit

• The Medium Is the Menace | City Journal

  If a child learns how to use a touchscreen before reading, the touchscreen’s appeal and speed of reward will make him a less able reader. The child’s neurons will already be wired for an instant reward that no book can provide.

• The Race to Put Brain Implants in People Is Heating Up

• Learning to sleep like a bear could save your life

• Photo of Swansea police arresting drunk man likened to Renaissance art

• There Are Plenty of Family Dynasties in Media. Why Not in Tech?

• No Virginia, "Die Hard" Is Not a Christmas Movie

• Why British chocolate tastes the way it does

celebrity gossip

• Second suspect arrested in theft of Banksy stop sign artwork

• CIA Loses Bid to Throw Out Lawsuit for Violating Rights of Assange's Visitors

Obit

• Laura Lynch, a founding member of the Dixie Chicks, dead at 65

Musk

• Replit CEO: Elon Musk is censoring pro-Palestinian voices on X

• Breakdown of faults by car brand: Tesla has replaced Dacia at the bottom

  • HN comments

Trump / War against the Right / Jan6

• Donald Trump asks appeals court to toss Jan. 6 indictment

• Trump asks appeals court to throw out 2020 election subversion charges

• FBI looking into threats against Colorado justices following Trump ballot ruling - Washington Times

  The Colorado justices have since reported dozens of threats against them, according to a report acquired by NBC News from the nonpartisan research group Advance Democracy. The group tracked “significant violent rhetoric” against the justices online. Many of the posts dug up by the organization saw users pledging to kill or attack the justices.

• GOP state lawmakers, in an act of retribution, seek to bar Joe Biden from state ballots - Washington Times

• Will The Guardians of The Narrative Win? › American Greatness

• Kicking Trump off the ballot won't be easy. Here's why

• Ramaswamy defends Trump, blasts CO court's decision to remove him from ballot: 'Blatant election interference'

• Trump asks appeals court to toss federal election interference case

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• 'Zombie deer disease' epidemic spreads, scientists fear it may jump to humans

• Flu deaths in the US (2017-2023) per week

  • HN comments

  • "Look how effective lockdowns were!"

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• Pro-Israel tech group's 'witch hunt' in US targets critics of Gaza war

• Pope Laments Israel-Hamas War in Christmas Eve Mass

• Hamas Supporters Declare War on Christmas | Frontpage Mag

• Moses’ parting of the Red Sea may not have been a miracle after all

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Pressure on Harvard President Increases, BoD Feels the Squeeze

• Law Firm Said Harvard President Plagiarism Allegations 'Demonstrably False'

Entertainment / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Having a game I'm into makes every day enjoyable

  • HN comments

• The Specialness of 'The Snowman'

• Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has fourth-lowest opening in DCEU franchise history

• We aren't posting on social media as much

• Meta's new Threads, a rival for X, is now Apple's most downloaded app

• GTA V source code was leaked

• T-Mobile introduce fines from Jan 1 for "Code of Conduct" violations

  • Tier 1: $2,000, for phishing, smishing, and social engineering Social Engineering refers to the practice of targeting individuals in a way that manipulates individuals to reveal private information like credit card numbers, or social security numbers.
  • Tier 2: $1,000, for illegal content (included content must be legal in all 50 states and federally) Illegal content includes, but is not limited to, Cannabis, Marijuana, CBD, Illegal Prescriptions, and Solicitation.
  • Tier 3: $500, for all other violations including, but not limited to, SHAFT Please review the T-Mobile Code of Conduct Section 5.2 for a list of all disallowed content

  • HN comments

• The King of Silent Animation

• Whoever Designed TikTok Shop Should Get Coal for Christmas

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• The Era of American Computer Magazines Has Drawn to a Close

• The History of XENIX - by Bradford Morgan White

• Cray-1 vs Raspberry Pi | Hacker News

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• Why AI is a disaster for the climate

• Ask HN: How to square the circle of wanting to share ideas but not train AI? | Hacker News

• What kind of bubble is AI?

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• Two U.S. firms to launch spacecraft to the moon within weeks of each other

• Lagrange Points Could Become Battlegrounds in a New Space Race

Crypto con games

• NYU Student Owns a $6M Crypto Mine

Economicon / Business / Finance

• The Billion-Dollar Industry Between You and FEMA's Flood Insurance

• Everyone expected a recession. The Fed and White House found a way out

• Fast Food Places & Restaurants Open For Christmas Day 2023 | ZeroHedge

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Congress Sure Made a Lot of Noise About Kids' Privacy in 2023–and Not Much Else

• California has lost 25% of income taxes. Now, a new budget reality must set in

• Why are many elected officials resigning in Florida? Form 6 explained

• Facing Housing Shortages, Cities Try Cramming More Units on Lots

  • Allowing more housing as a means of addressing a housing shortage... Radical thinking. Almost as if Government saying "you can't build housing here, or of that kind, or that cheap" might have contributed tot he shortage?

• Lina Khan's Rough Year Running the Federal Trade Commission

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Ex-Tennessee Official Admits Selling 'Hundreds' of Fake Driver's Licenses to Illegal Immigrants with Her Husband - Tennessee Star

• Most people think the U.S. crime rate is rising. They're wrong

  • HN comments

• Illegal Alien Invasion Maps Exposed

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Tanker Ship Off India Hit by Attack Drone 'Fired From Iran,' Pentagon Says

• Biden Reportedly Talked Israel Down From Striking Hezbollah After Hamas Attack

  • President Biden says he did not ask Netanyahu for a cease-fire during their Saturday phone call

• Pentagon Releases First-Ever Policy on Civilian Harm Reduction

  • Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response

• OPEC Influence Wavers as U.S. Shale Roars Back

• US Claims Huge Chunk of Seabed Amid Strategic Push for Resources

• The secret U.S. effort to track, hide and surveil the Chinese spy balloon

  “Before it was spotted publicly, there was the intention to study it and let it pass over and not ever tell anyone about it,” said a former senior U.S. official briefed on the balloon incident. A senior Biden administration denied that there was an effort to keep the balloon secret. “To the extent any of this was kept quiet at all, that was in large part to protect intel equities related to finding and tracking them,” the official said, referring to intelligence gathering. “There was no intention to keep this from Congress at any point.”

• Analysis: Has the US-led Red Sea force calmed shippers amid Houthi attacks?

  • Maersk to Resume Red Sea Shipments as Multinational Force Deploys

World

• Security Increased for Christmas Celebrations in Germany, Austria Amid Attack Concerns

• Why many rules-loving Germans love rogue New Year's fireworks

• Toyota's Daihatsu to halt all vehicle shipments as safety scandal widens

• Mexico is now the 12th largest economy in the world

• Under Argentina's New President, Fuel Is Up 60%, and Diaper Prices Have Doubled

• More than 500k under-35 in UK out-of-work due to long-term illness

• Serbia police fire tear gas as opposition backers demand election annulled

  • Police in Serbia Detain Nearly 40 People as Opposition Plans More Protests

• China's potential new gaming rules will hit smaller developers more

Israel

• Palestinian pastor on war in Gaza: "It feels that even God is silent"

• Israeli strikes kill UN staff, more than 70 of his extended family in Gaza

• IDF troops uncover child-sized suicide vests in Gaza home raid

• Israel's Military Strikes Hezbollah Command Center In Serious Escalation

• At least 68 killed in central Gaza in airstrike, adding to weekend's bloodshed

• Health Officials Say Gaza Airstrike Kills 70

Health / Medicine

• Philips recalls 340 MRI machines because they may explode in an emergency

• Medical schools do not prepare students to care for autistic or disabled people

• Post-apocalyptic life in American health care

  • HN comments

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• New Zealand Officially Recognizes Lobsters, Octopuses, Crabs as Sentient Beings

• Uncontrolled chemical reactions fuel crises at LA County's two largest landfills | Hacker News

• Why Are Alaska's Rivers Turning Orange?

• Genetic engineering was meant to save chestnut trees. Then there was a mistake.

• More than 110 elephants die of thirst in Zimbabwe

• Electricity That’s Too Cheap To Meter – Terence Eden’s Blog

Merry Christmas

• People can have pleasant arguments of the sources and historical meanings of their festivals; be it Christmas, Kwanzaa, Fesitivus or "Billy Bob's Gator Grope"

  What really matters is what it means to you, who celebrate, today.

  Welcome your pagan neighbors and share the roast and the mead and joyous noises. May God bless you all, whatever shape you care to robe that in.

  Argue about "was it a sin to drink that?" and "why is the Nativity donkey on the roof?" tomorrow.