2024-01-04

• Of note: Local Mirror of 943 page PDF Jeffery Epstein Case File Release

Cool

• The Quadrantid meteor shower 2024 peaks tonight alongside a bright moon

• Mont Saint-Michel, Setting Sun

etc

• Everyone Could Have Died in the Tokyo Airport Crash. Here's Why They Didn't

  • How Japan Airlines crew led 367 passengers to safety from a burning plane

• At least 84 dead, 79 missing in Japan earthquake as 72-hour rescue window closes

  • Japanese rescuers race to find survivors as quake death toll rises to 78

• Everything will be alright in Iceland - by Yakko

  Icelanders are possibly better prepared than most of us to deal with life. Because the Icelandic antifragility built up from generations of living in an island that seems to not want you there should not be mistaken as something applicable only in their little island. It has made Icelanders well-prepared to deal with an inevitable part of all of our lives — crisis.

  By contrast, Brazilians love to mention how we have no natural disasters. We don't get earthquakes, have no active volcanoes, no hurricanes, nothing. Yet every year thousands of homes are lost, people die, and infrastructure is damaged just from the repercussions of the comparatively predictable rainy season. I'm sure that both for our country, but also our personal lives, we have a lot to learn.

Horseshit

• Farnborough airport's biggest critic silenced as expansion plans continue

• Humanoid robots are getting to work

• Not a single person living in the moment | Hacker News

• How Crowded Are the Oceans?

• Is Rolling Back the Inheritance Tax Break Making the Housing Crisis Worse in SF?

• Italy divided over new pineapple pizza

• Ghosts are in vogue. Perhaps we believe in them more than we care to admit

• Meet the newest breed to join the American Kennel Club, a little dog with a big smile

  • The Lancashire heeler, gritty and smart, is the latest American Kennel Club breed

• Electric Vehicles Just Became More Affordable

celebrity gossip

• Britney Spears says she 'will never return to the music industry'

• 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad's' Robert Kiyosaki Says He's $1.2B in Debt

• Salman Rushdie stabbing trial delayed over upcoming book

Epstein

• Naming Names: Infamous 'Epstein List' Set For Wednesday Release

• Jeffrey Epstein: US court releases list of people connected to financier

  The BBC is currently reviewing the 943 pages of documents, which were released on Wednesday evening.

• Jeffrey Epstein docs have been unsealed: here’s how to access them.

  • IP thread

• First working mirror i seen, 10pmCST. actual Jeffrey Epstein court docs (PDF) Giuffre vs. Maxwell, Case No. 15-CV-7433-LAP

  • local mirror

• Jeffrey Epstein's dirt on Trump and Clinton would ruin both: brother

• Jeffrey Epstein: documents linking associates to sex offender unsealed

• The Epstein Files - John Does Identified - by Techno Fog

  not all the “John Does” are alleged to have committed wrongdoing. Today’s documents included “John Does” who were doctors to the victims, friends of the victims, and family members of the victims. It’s been unfortunate - and rather sad - to see the media and various morons with large platforms on social media (the list is long and distinguished) lump those innocent people in with the predatory John Does, as if all the names to be released were part of “Epstein’s List.” (If there is a positive to all of that, we guess it’s that you can really tell who doesn’t do the reading.)

• Here are all the famous people Jeffrey Epstein was connected to

• Pat McAfee apologizes after Aaron Rodgers' claim that Jimmy Kimmel may be named in docs

  • Viral Image Of Jimmy Kimmel’s Name In Epstein Court Documents Is Completely Fake

  • Why Aaron Rodgers is beefing with Jimmy Kimmel over Jeffrey Epstein

  • ESPN’s Pat McAfee Apologizes for Rodgers Saying Kimmel Is on Epstein List

  • Jimmy Kimmel threatens Aaron Rodgers over "reckless" Epstein allegations

  • Jimmy Kimmel hits back at NFL's Aaron Rodgers for 'reckless' suggestion

  • Here’s A Breakdown Of The Drama Between Jimmy Kimmel And Aaron Rodgers

• Initial tranche of nearly 950 Epstein court documents released

• These Are the Men Named in the New Epstein Documents

• Court documents reveal names of powerful men allegedly linked to Jeffrey

• Unsealed court records offer new detail on old sex abuse allegations against Jeffrey Epstein

• Jeffrey Epstein: What we learned from newly released court documents

• Unsealed Records Offer New Detail on Jeffrey Epstein Sex Abuse Allegations

• Jeffrey Epstein: Prince Andrew and Clinton named in Epstein court files

• Who was Jeffrey Epstein and what are the court documents about?

Obit

• Niklaus Wirth has died

  • HN comments

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• Substack faces user revolt over anti-censorship stance on neo-Nazis

• In 2024, billions of people will vote under the shadow of misinformation

  • HN comments

• A FOIA Story: The State Department Pleads Not Guilty to "Brainwashing"

  The Global Engagement Center obliterates the "fine line" between doing its job, diplomacy, and crossing into prohibited domestic propaganda

• Did Chinese Communist Party astroturfers sabotage a hacktivist's Wikipedia page?

Musk

• Tesla new car registrations in Sweden rose 9% in Dec

• Starlink launches first cellphone towers in space for use with LTE phones

  • HN comments

• SpaceX illegally fired workers critical of Elon Musk, US labor agency says

  • HN comments

  • SpaceX charged with illegally firing workers behind anti-Musk open letter

• DEI discriminates on the basis of race, gender; it is immoral and illegal

Trump / War against the Right / Jan6

• The FBI-Tainted Whitmer ‘Kidnap Plot’ You’ve Heard Next to Nothing About.

  the defense uncovered hundreds of communications between the agents and informants that showed how they guided the plot every step of the way. One text suggests that the FBI and Chappel attempted to lure a disabled Vietnam War veteran named “Frank” into initiating a similar plan against Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. “Mission is to kill the governor specifically,” Chappel’s FBI handler texted him in August 2020.

• Trump's lies about 2020 election undermine US democracy in 2024

• Brace yourselves: The left will roil the country if Trump wins again

• Voter Confronts DeSantis Over Trump: 'Why Haven't You Gone Directly After Him?'

  • DeSantis Keeps Getting Asked: Why Won’t He Directly Criticize Trump?

  • Voter confronts DeSantis on Trump approach: 'Why haven't you gone directly after him?'

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• More Evidence Emerges Confirming Covid Lab-Leak Theory, But Corporate Media Stay Silent.

• How the press manufactured consent for never-ending Covid reinfections

  A little over two years ago, on November 16, 2021, CNBC reported on Dr. Fauci’s assessment of what successfully ‘living with the virus’ would look like: “Covid cases must fall below 10,000 a day for U.S. to get to 'degree of normality'”. He went on to say that truly getting the virus under control would probably mean no more than 3,300 cases a day- this would be a reasonable rate that wouldn’t create major disruptions to overall social functioning. He made this projection, notably, nearly a year after the initial vaccine rollout. As of December 18, 2023, the infectious disease modeler’s projection of new daily cases in the US? 964,184 new cases per day. This is, quite factually, not the ‘new normal’ anyone was promised.

• Florida surgeon general calls for halt on Covid vaccines, citing debunked claim (Archive)

  Florida’s top health official called for a halt to using mRNA coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday, contending that the shots could contaminate patients’ DNA — a claim that has been roundly debunked by public health experts, federal officials and the vaccine companies.

  • Florida Surgeon General Declares Covid Jabs ‘Not Appropriate’ For Any ‘Human Beings’ Over DNA Fragment Concerns.

  • The True Danger of Florida Surgeon General’s Bogus mRNA Claims

• More US Hospitals Requiring Masks as Flu, COVID-19 Cases Surge

• Hospitals dealing with influx of kids with respiratory illnesses

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• From crucifying Kavanaugh to defending Hamas: The Left’s hypocrisy about sexual violence.

• Imam in critical condition after being shot outside Newark mosque

  • US Imam Shot Outside New Jersey Mosque Dies

• Trans model shouldn’t represent British women, UN told

• Protesters block entrance to Portland airport | kgw.com

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Most states start school too early in the morning

  • HN comments

Gay Hahvahd

• Claudine Gay Was Forced To Resign, But She Will Thrive Personally And Professionally. It’s The New, Ugly American Way.

• Claudine Gay Has Gone Away - by Glenn Harlan Reynolds

• Harvard president quits: Claudine Gay resignation highlights new conservative weapon | AP News

  Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who helped orchestrate the effort against Gay, celebrated her departure as a win in his campaign against elite institutions of higher education. On X, formerly Twitter, he wrote “SCALPED,” as if Gay was a trophy of violence, invoking a gruesome practice taken up by white colonists who sought to eradicate Native Americans.

  • The "eradicate Native Americans" link is a story about an outright Native American propaganda film. History is whatever it needs to be for today's propaganda.

  • Desperation: Panicked Gay Defenders Claim ‘Scalping’ Used by White People to Keep the Red Man Down

  • AP: Christopher Rufo 'Invoked a Practice Taken Up by White Colonists' by Tweeting 'SCALPED' – Twitchy

• Althouse: Did the case of Claudine Gay give new energy to the conservative campaign against left-wing academia?

• Claudine Gay Resignation Overdue

• Claudine Gay resignation highlights the trouble with regulating academic writing

• The campaign that removed the President of Harvard was about DEI, not plagiarism

• Michelle Wu blames ‘racial bias’ for Claudine Gay’s downfall as Harvard president: ‘I’m just really saddened.’

• Black Harvard Professor Demoted Under Claudine Gay Responds

• What’s Bad for Harvard Is Good for America - Bloomberg

• Sympathy for Claudine Gay.

• Column: On Harvard, plagiarism, and the racist right-wing attack on university education

• Elise Stefanik took credit for Claudine Gay's resignation, but it was in large part due to a Gen Z reporter who says liberals should care about this story too

• Activists troll disgraced former Harvard president with 'moving day' sign, U-Haul trucks outside campus home

• Defiant Ex-Harvard Prez Says Campaign Against Her ‘Trafficked in Lies’

• Does A.P. Really Think Conservatives Invented Plagiarism Accusations?

• ‘Racist, vicious’: academics decry rightwing attacks on Claudine Gay

• The Real Harvard Scandal

• House education chair says campus antisemitism probe will continue after Harvard president resignation

• Media rush to defend ex-Harvard President Claudine Gay, downplay plagiarism and blame 'racist' conservatives

• Billionaire Goes on 4,000-Word DEI Rant After Harvard Prez Resignation

• Associated Press calls plagiarism ‘new conservative weapon’ after Harvard president scandal

• Claudine Gay's resignation highlights the trouble with regulating academic writing

• Harvard's president resigning means more drama for other universities

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Wickr Is Dead

  The app was a privacy-championing startup, before becoming an app of choice for drug traffickers and being acquired by Amazon Web Services. Near the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2023, AWS shut down the free version of Wickr for good.

• Revealed: Almost half of British teens feel addicted to social media, study says

• FTC Continues to Wade into Copyright Issues in AI Without Understanding Anything

• Amazon Prime Video to Have Ads in UK from February

• Pornhub blocks Montana, North Carolina as age verification laws take effect

• British police probe VIRTUAL rape in metaverse

• Museum World Hit by Cyberattack on Widely Used Software - The New York Times

• Best Buy is removing all physical media from their stores as of today

• Twitch to Streamers: Pretending to Be Nude Is No Longer Allowed | PCMag

  “This update is in response to a recent meta [trend] on Twitch in which streamers use black censor bars or other items to block their bodies or clothing, or position the camera frame such that the viewer is led to believe that the streamer is fully or partially nude.”

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• Software archivist discovers and uploads a primordial version of 86-DOS

• Consumer printers put "invisible tracking dots" on all their output. Had someone tell me "never heard of it" today... well, now they have, and so have you: Machine Identification Code - Wikipedia

• 25 Years Since the First Real 'Slashdot Effect'

• Felonies make for employment difficulties... Ask HN: Who is hiring justice-impacted engineers? | Hacker News

• Ext4 data corruption in stable kernels

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• New York Times newshounds will not derail the AI copycats

  • HN comments

• The I in LLM stands for Intelligence.

• Can Midjourney CEO David Holz Stop a Storm of Fake Election Images in 2024?

• Microsoft is adding a new key to PC keyboards since 1994

• AI Comes for the Journalists

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• A commander's lament on the loss of a historic SpaceX rocket

• 12 times scientists penetrated the secrets of asteroids in 2023

  • IP thread

• Everything we're looking forward to in the space industry in 2024

Crypto con games

• The Everything Token

  Community formation around shared interests has been happening forever, of course. But NFTs turn it up to eleven because of what we call their embedded network superpower:…becoming the owner of an NFT is to some degree an act of affiliation with the brand. Yet NFT ownership doesn’t just connect you with the brand itself, but also with the entire network of individuals who are similarly affiliated….The holders of a given NFT comprise a network of brand enthusiasts just waiting to be activated.

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Why the so-called soft landing is just the calm before the storm

  An unprecedented gap emerged between real gross domestic product growth, which signalled a soft landing had been successfully engineered by the United States Federal Reserve , and real gross domestic income growth, which provided support to the minority view that a recession had arrived .

• Xerox to cut 15% of its workforce

  • Xerox to lay off 15% of workforce as it reorganizes

  • Xerox to cut 15% of workers in strategy it calls a "reinvention"

• Ryanair Sees Sales Shortfall as Online Travel Agents Cut Flights

• Amazon marketplace crackdown has sellers searching for legal help

• US Becomes Top LNG Exporter (Archive)

• Cigna Nears Deal to Offload Medicare Business

• Job openings nudged down in November, down to lowest in more than two years

  • Job openings nudged lower in November, down to 1.4 per available worker

  • U.S. job openings dropped by 62,000 to 8.8 million in November

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Biden Welcomes 2024 With More Lies About His Flailing Economy.

• Biden Ends 2023 With 39% Job Approval

• U.S. cities opt to ditch their off-street parking minimums

  • HN comments

• California’s Sweeping Gun-Carry Restrictions Go Into Effect Despite Court Ruling Them Unconstitutional.

• The 5 Strangest Features Of The Modern Left | ZeroHedge

• Sun-burned Biden departs St. Croix after 7-day island vacation 

  The sun’s rays apparently battered Biden, who was beet-red from his forehead to his neck — exposed by the deep V of his unbuttoned collar.

• House speaker criticizes Biden immigration policies during border trip

  • illegals cross the Rio Grande into Texas within 50 yards of Congressional tour

• Unusual Whales has the full rundown of the “unusually timed trades” that made members of Congress rich in 2023 .

• US House majority whip Tom Emmer endorses Trump for president

• Tom Cotton Cites ‘Invasion’ at Border in Finally Endorsing Trump

• House Republicans Set Long-Awaited Mayorkas Impeachment Hearing

• Justice Department Sues Texas, Says Immigration Law Unconstitutional

  • White House asks supreme court to allow cutting of Texas’s border fencing

• Biden campaign previews Jan. 6-focused speech with new TV ad

  • Biden’s January 6th speech is bigger than the ‘horserace’. Can the media say that? | Margaret Sullivan

  • Biden to give speech marking 3 years since Jan. 6 riot

• Kennedy Announces He Is on the Ballot in Utah

  • Robert F Kennedy Jr qualifies for first presidential ballot in Utah

• Anti-Trump Republicans say Nikki Haley is their 'only hope.' But is her surge coming too late?

• The Next Government Shutdown Is Going To Be About Immigration

  • Congressional leaders see new hope for a spending deal to prevent a shutdown

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• NYPD faces backlash as it prepares to encrypt radio communications

• Video shows felon lunging over bench to attack Nevada judge during sentencing

• FBI dismisses wave of bomb threats across multiple state capitol buildings as hoax

  • Bomb threats cause evacuations at multiple US statehouses

  • At least nine US state capitol buildings evacuated after bomb threats

  • String Of State Capitols Evacuated In Response To Reports Of Bomb Threats

  • 2024 Kicks Off With Insane Number of Bomb Threats at State Capitols

  • Several State Capitol Buildings Evacuated After Bomb Threats

  • Several state capitols evacuated after bomb threats

• U.N. Wants to Halt Planned Nitrogen Gas Execution in Alabama

  • U.N. human rights agency decries Alabama's use of nitrogen hypoxia in execution

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Pentagon's 'Extremism In Our Ranks' Propaganda Debunked By Their Own Study | ZeroHedge

• "I think I found the location of the Baltic Jammer. In Kaliningrad"

World

• India widens regulatory grip over tech firms

• UK Post Office workers wrongly accused of stealing still awaiting payouts

• Cheers and sadness on junior NHS doctors' picket line

  • Doctors in England start longest strike in NHS’s history

  • Thousands of Doctors in Britain Walk Off the Job in their Longest-Ever Strike

• Britain's Economy Is 'Not Working.' Here Are 2 Key Reasons.

• Italian hospitals on the verge of collapse

• British Warship Arrives in Guyana, Amid Ongoing Border Dispute with Venezuela.

Iran / Houthi / Red Sea / Mediterranean

• Deadly explosions kill more than 100 at event honoring Iranian general killed by US.

• Biden Admin Says US, Israel Not Behind Iran Blast As Death Toll Surpasses 100

• Houthis Claim Another Container Ship Attack As Middle East Turmoil Worsens

• Iran Holds Day of Mourning for Those Killed at Suleimani Memorial

• A dozen nations join U.S. in condemning Houthi attacks

  • US led coalition warns Houthis of ‘consequences’ after Red Sea attacks

  • U.S.-led Coalition Warns Houthis to Stop Ship Attacks

Israel

• Israeli Drone Strike Takes Out Multiple Hamas Leaders Who Were Meeting in Lebanon.

• Nasrallah Says Hezbollah Prepared To Wage 'No Limit' War On Israel

• Israel says Hamas deployed more than 170 children to the frontlines while terrorists ‘hide in shelters’.

• Israeli military strikes south Lebanon stoking fears of widening conflict

• Killing of Hamas Leader Further Heightens Middle East Tensions

• UN Top Court to Hear Genocide Case Against Israel Next Week

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• NATO-Ukraine Council to Meet on Russian Drone, Missile Attacks

• Ukraine and Russia Turn To Sabotage Plots As The War Drags On

• Russia and Ukraine Exchange Record Number of P.O.W.s

  • Russia and Ukraine exchange hundreds of prisoners of war

China

• Four more Chinese balloons cross over Taiwan Strait

Health / Medicine

• Should Patients Be Allowed to Die from Anorexia?

• Perverse Incentives Behind Schizophrenia Treatment Coverage Gaps

• Six countries knock out 'neglected' diseases

• Older Americans say they feel trapped in Medicare Advantage plans

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Study shows Joro spiders 'here to stay,' spreading fast

• The Snowiest Place Is Starting to Melt

• They're changing rules to start "the season" later regardless of snow depth. Then they say that the season being later proves that climate change is a crisis. Ski resorts battle for a future as snow declines in climate crisis

  Scarce snow has been defined as the poorest coverage seen on average every five years between 1961 and 1990.If the world were to hit 4C of heating, 98% of the resorts would be at very high risk of scarce snow cover.Another study has revealed the way in which snow cover in the Alps has had an “unprecedented” decline over the past 600 years, with the duration of the cover now shorter by 36 days.

  This year 500 professional winter sports athletes published a letter calling for greater climate action by International Ski Federation (FIS) . They highlighted a competition schedule that forced skiers to take air flights backwards and forwards over the Atlantic from week to week, creating unnecessarily large carbon footprints, and called on the federation to open the season later and end it earlier to respect the changing climate.

• How the “No Kill” Movement Betrays Its Name | The New Yorker

  By keeping cats outdoors, trap-neuter-release policies have troubling consequences for city residents, local wildlife—and even the cats themselves.

• We Can Already Stop Climate Change If We Want To

• Sinking US cities already face 'real impacts'

• Why Vaclav Smil Is Fed Up with Climate Activism

• UK use of gas and coal for electricity at lowest since 1957

• You can finally use a reusable cup on most Starbucks orders

  • Starbucks customers can drive up to the window with their reusable cups now

  • You now have the option at the Starbucks drive-thru to BYOC — bring your own cup

  • Starbucks rolls out re-usable cup option in move to cut waste