2024-01-07

• Our Jan6 Journal is up! Extracts from personal logs for the week of Jan 6 2021; the prequel to these Daily News pages.

etc

• Someone from Portland is giving away a 2000sqft model train layout

• The Parisian Cafe for Subversives and Whistleblowers

  Siddiqui has rebuilt his life in France to the best of his ability, and continues to write for international publications including the Guardian and the New York Times. In March, he published the graphic novel Dissident Club: Chronicles of a Pakistani Journalist in Exile, where he talks about freedom of expression and of the press – topics he also raises in regular talks at schools.

• The Modern Miracle of Cheap Aluminum Foil

Horseshit

• Alaska Airlines grounds 737 Max 9 planes after section blows out mid-air

  • Alaska Airlines grounds 737 Max 9 planes after window blows out mid-air

  • Alaska Airlines grounds Boeing 737 Max 9 planes after mid-air window blowout

  • HN comments

  • Alaska Airlines is grounding all Boeing 737-9 aircraft after window blowout

  • FAA orders grounding of 171 Boeing planes

• FAA orders temporary grounding of 737 Max 9 aircraft

• FAA orders grounding of more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s

  • HN comments

• The Dubious Economics of Deep-Sea Mining

  Some opponents of deep-sea mining now argue that it wouldn’t just be ecologically catastrophic, a testament to how no part of Earth’s surface will be left unscarred by industrial appetites. They say it’s a bad investment, too.

  • "Deep Sea Mining" and specifically "Manganese nodules" were horseshit inserted into the "Law of the Sea" UN treaty in the 1980s as cover material for CIA submarine retrieval missions. No one ever cleaned up the mess afterwards. see Glomar Explorer - Wikipedia

• GM robotaxi unit Cruise offers $75,000 to resolve crash probe

• Radio reporter fired over jokes is reinstated after arbitrator finds them funny

  • Fired Comedian Ordered to Get Day Job Back After Jokes Ruled 'Simply Funny'

    The arbitrator also found that his comedy clips, which covered topics including 9/11, Israel, and oral sex, could violate Philadelphia-based NPR member station WHYY’s social media policy and must be removed. The reporter, Jad Sleiman, said this raises concerns about the boundaries of remote work.

• Swearing is becoming more widely acceptable, linguistics experts claim

celebrity gossip

• A Visit to Belmarsh Prison, Where Julian Assange Awaits

• Jodie Foster says generation Z can be 'annoying' to work with with

• Vin Diesel, Tommy Lee, Jermaine Jackson hit with sex abuse lawsuits under California's accountability law

Obit

• Cindy Morgan, star of 'Tron' and 'Caddyshack,' dies at 69

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• Israel's War on Gaza Has Exposed the Conformism of the Western Media

  • Which "conformism" they're all in favor of for subjects like the 2020 (but no other) elections, COVID "vaccines", etc.

• Read This, Not That: The Hidden Cost of Nutrition Misinformation

Musk

• Musk's X.com delivering worse experience for many Canadians, says polling

• Short sellers lost more betting against Tesla than any other company last year

  • HN comments

• Elon Musk Has Used Illegal Drugs, Worrying Leaders at Tesla and SpaceX

Trump / War against the Right / Jan6

• (Dec 2022) Bipartisan Congressional Report on the Jan 6th Attack on the United States

• $30 million suit filed over Jan. 6 protester Ashli Babbitt’s death.

• Tech Automated the January 6 Investigations

• Insurrection and Treason: What Did The Words of the 14th Amendment Mean in the 1860s? + Free January 6 Documentary, Today Only

• MSNBC host fights back tears during Jan. 6 segment: ‘I’m going to try to get through this’

  • MSNBC Host Gets Emotional Thanking Former D.C. Police Officer On Jan. 6 Anniversary

  • MSNBC Host Tearfully Thanks Ex-Officer Who Was Attacked on Jan. 6

  • MSNBC host gets emotional in interview with former DC officer on Jan. 6 anniversary

• Trump Says 'J6 Hostages' Have 'Suffered Enough' On Anniversary Of Deadly Capitol Attack

  • Trump Downplays Jan. 6 Capitol Siege, Calls Jailed Rioters 'Hostages'

• Trump barely mentions Jan. 6 on third anniversary of assault on the Capitol

• Esper dubs Trump a ‘threat to democracy’ on Capitol riot anniversary

• 3 Jan. 6 fugitives arrested on third anniversary of Capitol assault

  • FBI arrests trio of Jan. 6 fugitives in Florida on 3rd anniversary of attack

  • FBI Arrests Three Jan. 6 Fugitives on Capitol Riots’ Third Anniversary

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• "It's One Of The Great Mysteries," Why COVID Spares Children | ZeroHedge

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• Largest archive of online books about religion, mythology, folklore and more

  • HN comments

  • I note it appears to lack: Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

• Sam Altman says Muslims in tech world fear retaliation in speaking up

  • HN comments

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Shapiro: Learning From My Lived Experience With Academic Intolerance

• Alan Sokal’s Joke Is on Us as Postmoderism Comes to Science - WSJ

  He asserted, among other things that “physical ‘reality,’ no less than social ‘reality,’ is at bottom a social and linguistic construct” and that “the scientific community . . . cannot assert a privileged epistemological status with respect to counter-hegemonic narratives emanating from dissident or marginalized communities.”

  Mr. Sokal’s paper was a hoax, designed to demonstrate that postmodernism was nonsense. But today postmodern cultural theory is being infused into the very institutions one might expect to be scientific gatekeepers. Hard-science journals publish the same sort of bunk with no hint of irony:

• Academic integrity: turning point in its defence?

• Universities Are Not on the Level - by Josh Barro

  I personally have also developed a more negative view of colleges and universities over the last decade, and my reason is simple: I increasingly find these institutions to be dishonest. A lot of the research coming out of them does not aim at truth, whether because it is politicized or for more venal reasons. The social justice messaging they wrap themselves in is often insincere. Their public accountings of the reasons for their internal actions are often implausible. They lie about the role that race plays in their admissions and hiring practices. And sometimes, especially at the graduate level, they confer degrees whose value they know will not justify the time and money that students invest to get them.

• The Language of Astronomy Is Needlessly Violent and Inaccurate

• Parents flocked to charter schools, public schools hemorrhage students over past 4 years: report

Gay Hahvahd

• Attorney for Carol Swain Sends Letter to Harvard Corporation Demanding Answers for Plagiarism by Disgraced President - Tennessee Star

  Swain requires answers about what Harvard considers “duplicative language,” which is what the university has acknowledged Gay committed in several of her academic works. Writer and activist Christopher Rufo in December raised allegations that the former Harvard president plagiarized material from Swain’s work for her 1997 Ph.D. thesis. Swain is a former political science professor at Vanderbilt and a graduate of both the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Yale University.

• Wife of Investor Who Pushed for Harvard President’s Exit Is Accused of Plagiarism

  • Wife of financier who called for Harvard head’s exit faces plagiarism allegations

  • Wife of donor who called for Harvard president's firing faces plagiarism accusations

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• The DOJ is reportedly prepared to file a broad antitrust lawsuit against Apple

• How to Be More Anonymous Online

• The fall of Firefox: Mozilla's once-popular web browser slides into irrelevance

• Google shares update on next step toward phasing out third-party cookies

  • HN comments

• The web is yours | James' Coffee Blog

• Ask HN: Experience Starting a Blog | Hacker News

• (Dec 2023) End of an Era: Google Groups to Drop Usenet Support

  “Starting on February 22, 2024, you can no longer use Google Groups (at groups.google.com) to post content to Usenet groups, subscribe to Usenet groups, or view new Usenet content,” the post advises. “You can continue to view and search for historical Usenet content posted before February 22, 2024 on Google Groups.”

• Does vinyl actually sound better? As sales in Britain hit a record high, experts reveal how records really stack up against digital | Daily Mail Online

• NFL accounted for 93 of 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in 2023

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• Discontinued and unreleased Microsoft peripherals revived by licensing deal

  • They list the products to be brought back; the "MS Trackball Explorer" is not among them. My replacement for that tool is the Elecom Huge M-HT1UR; if you need an "index finger" trackball, I cannot recommend anything more highly. Back when I used up my last MS Trackball, there were still a few on ebay for $600+. They were the equivalent of the IBM Model M keyboard in fitness for purpose.

• MSI's Project Zero Motherboard: Moving all ports to the back

• An Ode to Deluxe Paint | datagubbe.se

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• AI Is Already Killing Books

• ChatGPT Has Been Given a Face and It's Super Weird

• Signs and Portents: Some hints about what the next year of AI looks like

Crypto con games

• U.S. Nears First Approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs After Final Talks

• X users fed up with constant stream of malicious crypto ads

• Yesterday, someone sent over $1M in Bitcoin to Satoshi Nakamoto

Economicon / Business / Finance

• $270B in Trade Rests on Finding a Fix to the Panama Canal

• Has The Global Food Inflation Crisis Been Averted? | ZeroHedge

  The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of globally traded food commodities, averaged around 118.51 at the end of 2023, down 10% from the previous year.

• US unemployment has been under 4% for the longest streak since the Vietnam War

  • HN comments

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• (Podcast) A Pathway to Save the American Constitutional Republic with Erik Prince

• Civil Disobedience in Illinois As Gun Owners Defy Registration Mandate.

• Obama, worried about Trump, urges Biden circle to bolster campaign

• Assistant TSA director and accomplice caught in elderly exploitation and forgery case

• Sales of sugary drinks fell in cities with soda taxes

  • I suspect they also rose in neighboring jurisdictions without the taxes.

• Joe Biden Expected To Deliver State Of The Union Speech On March 7

• Michigan GOP Head Refuses to Leave After Vote for Her Ouster

  • Michigan Republicans Hold Disputed Vote to Remove Party Leader

  • Election denier Kristina Karamo voted out as Michigan Republican party chair

• American oligarchy: The fight for democracy is just the first step

• Trump ramps up attacks on 'globalist' Nikki Haley

• Missouri official threatens to remove Biden from 2024 presidential ballot

  • Missouri's Secretary of State is threatening to remove Joe Biden from the ballot

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Big Gov't Raids Small Amish Farmer Who Refuses To Participate In The Industrial Meat/Milk Complex | ZeroHedge

• Ransomware payment ban: Wrong idea at the wrong time

• Google Search Technique Used by Police Draws New Legal Challenge

• Glynn Simmons: Freedom 'exhilarating' for man exonerated after 48 years

  Mr Simmons was released from prison in July 2023. In December he was declared innocent in the 1974 murder of Carolyn Sue Rogers. His is the longest known wrongful conviction in the US.

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• SecDef Hospitalized; Press Protests Lack Of Info To Public.

  • A Pentagon mystery: Why was Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospital stay kept secret for days?

  • Hospitalized Pentagon Chief Was in Intensive Care Unit.

  • Lloyd Austin: White House not told for days defence secretary in hospital

  • US defence secretary says he takes ‘full responsibility’ for secret hospitalisation

  • Lloyd Austin’s Disappearing Act

  • US Defense Secretary Takes Responsibility for Secrecy About His Hospitalization

  • Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized for elective surgery complications

  • A Pentagon Mystery: Why Was Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's Hospital stay kept scerte?

  • White House wasn't notified of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's hospitilization

  • Defense Secretary Breaks Silence on His Secret Hospitalization

  • Hospitalized Pentagon Chief Was in Intensive Care Unit

• Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (Xluuv) Asset Delivered to US Navy

World

• Royal Navy forced to recruit for top job on social media

• Bangladesh counts votes in low-turnout election boycotted by opposition

  • Bangladesh Counts Votes after Election Without Opposition

Iran / Houthi / Red Sea / Mediterranean

• US Warship Downs Houthi Drone Over Red Sea "In Self-Defense" | ZeroHedge

Israel

• War on Gaza: Israeli cabinet meeting on soldiers’ conduct ends abruptly after row | Middle East Eye

• Hezbollah Fires Rocket Barrage Into Israel as Blinken Mounts New De-Escalation Push

• Is Israel Winning the War in Gaza?

• Art and war: Israeli and Palestinian artists reflect on Oct.7 and the crisis in Gaza

• Human remains scattered as Israeli drone targets West Bank city of Jenin

• Israel signals bombardment of northern Gaza set to end

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• How the Russian and Ukrainian War Efforts Compare, in 10 Charts

China

• China Doesn't Want You to Say 'Tibet' Anymore

• US Intelligence Shows Flawed China Missiles Led Xi Jinping to Purge Military - Bloomberg

  The US assessments cited several examples of the impact of graft, including missiles filled with water instead of fuel and vast fields of missile silos in western China with lids that don’t function in a way that would allow the missiles to launch effectively, one of the people said.

Health / Medicine

• Sudden infant death syndrome: Docs uncover potential cause in breakthrough study

• FDA finds Chromium, a second metal contaminant, in applesauce pouches

  • At the grocery store yesterday I was unable to find any applesauce in old fashioned jars. All pouches and cups. Individual serving packages are so much more profitable and popular, apparently... Or is this a case of the options being whittled away? I used to buy "MacIntosh Applesauce" in jars faithfully until it was discontinued years ago.

• Fresh insights into egg usage, donation and disposal after egg freezing

  "The number of frozen eggs in storage continues to greatly outpace those that are used in treatment or relinquished from storage—either to be discarded or donated. This has implications for fertility clinics who will need new strategies to avoid an unsustainable build-up of stored frozen eggs," Dr. Johnston said.

• Lancet journal retracts article on hearing aids and dementia after prodding

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Can $500M Save This Glacier?

• Biocouture: Are Aquatic Plants the Future of Sustainable Fashion?

• It Turns Out Paper Straws Might Pose a Serious Problem Too

• Brazil's Pesticide Problem