2024-06-24
Horseshit
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A Study Says Warp Drives Might Be Real–and We'll Find Them with Lasers
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The First Animal Ever Found That Doesn't Need Oxygen to Survive
In 2020, scientists discovered a jellyfish-like parasite that doesn't have a mitochondrial genome – the first multicellular organism ever found with such an absence. That means it doesn't breathe; in fact, it lives its life completely free of oxygen dependency. This discovery doesn't just change our understanding of how life can work here on Earth – it could also have implications for the search for extraterrestrial life.
- not "first" Hydrogenosome - Wikipedia
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'Cannabis crooks dumped 10 tonnes of soil in my bedroom'
Mr Reeves, a north London homeowner, returned from working abroad to find his family home transformed into a cannabis farm. The criminals, posing as tenants, had dumped 10 tonnes of soil in the property, causing extensive damage and leaving the family devastated. According to experts, rental scams linked to cannabis farms are on the rise, with criminals seemingly exploiting the lengthy eviction process to complete illegal grow operations before disappearing.
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A real life Lord of the Flies: The story of group of teens stranded on an island
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Is America approaching peak tip?
The country’s gratuity madness may soon calm, so long as Donald Trump does not get his way
As with so much these days, Donald Trump has a hand in this. At a recent rally in Las Vegas, he casually inserted a radical proposal about halfway through his speech. “For those hotel workers and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy. Because when I get to office we are going to not charge taxes on tips,” he said. It was, he argued, only right to stop the government from going after the earnings of people who provide good service.
This looks like smart politics. Mr Trump’s pledge appeals to employees in the food industry, about a quarter of whom are Hispanic, a crucial group of voters. The fiscal implications are, however, ominous. In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available, Americans in hospitality jobs and the like reported about $38bn in tipped income. Losing taxes on that—worth some $10bn—would create a noticeable hole in the federal budget.
More worryingly, a tax exemption for tipping would alter incentives. Workers and employees in any tippable job would switch to lower base pay, leaving more to be covered as tips. Service jobs beyond restaurants, from car repairs to dentistry, would probably adopt tip-heavy wage structures.
Electric / Self Driving cars
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
Trump / War against the Right / Jan6
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Maher's mostly liberal audience is caught quiet when Maher and Cuomo start frankly discussing whether or not the trial was helpful for the Trump campaign. “The trial in New York, the one he [Trump] got convicted for, was the greatest fundraising bonanza ever. He was lagging behind Biden, and now he's pulled quite a bit ahead," Maher said to Cuomo during the show. "That trial was the greatest reason people had to send their checks for $5, $10, 2$5, whatever dollars to Donald Trump. So I was always with you [Andrew Cuomo] on the one in New York, the hush money trial. I don't think they should have brought that one," he continues.
To which Cuomo, who was elected as New York State Attorney General in 2006, replied: “That case, the attorney general's case in New York, frankly, should have never been brought." Cuomo continued: "If his name was not Donald Trump and if he wasn't running for president. I'm the former AG in New York. I'm telling you, that case would have never been brought. And that's what is offensive to people. And it should be!” "Because if there's anything left...it's belief in the Justice system!"
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Donald Trump's Immigration Plan Sparks MAGA Fury - Newsweek
Donald Trump has received backlash from a number of supporters after the former president suggested foreign students graduating from U.S. colleges should get a green card.
Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation
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Agence-France Presse estimated at least 1,170 deaths reported by 10 nations during the pilgrimage
- 1,400+ were jilled in a stampede in 1990; the normal cost is a few hundred a year.
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
TechSuck / Geek Bait
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
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AI is exhausting the power grid. Tech firms are seeking a miracle solution.
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Are you 80% angry and 2% sad? Why 'emotional AI' is fraught with problems
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AI models could devour all of the internet's written knowledge by 2026
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California AI bill becomes a lightning rod–for safety advocates and devs alike
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The surprisingly queer history of OpenAI's ChatGPT and other A.I. bots
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Gene Roddenberry foundation offers $1 million to create AI 'used for good'
Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO
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Astronauts stranded in space face further setback to return home
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Two astronauts wait to come home as Boeing races to understand spacecraft issues
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"stranded" is outright bullshit; there's another re-entry capsule available there.
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Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS)
TracSS will be implemented in a phased “crawl, walk, run” development approach. With each phase, more commercial data and commercial SSA services will be integrated as core capabilities over time. This phased transition, coordinated across the U.S. Government, will help ensure there is no disruption in basic SSA safety services.
n Thursday, May 9, the Department of Commerce’s Office of Space Commerce held a TraCSS listening session on “Space Data Standards & Formats: Orbit Comprehensive Message”. The presentation covered a proposal for the Traffic Coordination System for Space to use the Orbit Comprehensive Message (OCM) data standard for satellite ephemeris, maneuver data, and other related information to support spaceflight safety and space traffic coordination.
Economicon / Business / Finance
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
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Is the Debate To Be Biden’s Last Stand?
June 27 — that’s more than two weeks before the Republican National Convention, more than seven weeks before the Democratic National Convention. And almost 10 weeks before Labor Day, the traditional date for the start of a general election presidential campaign. And summer is a time when America is mostly on vacation. Folks are thinking more about beach time, airline schedules and the next hot travel destination. Politics is mostly shoved into the mental attic until the fall. A debate between the two parties’ presidential candidates this early has never happened before. Never.
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Some fundraisers pay >90% of the funds to themselves
A ProPublica investigation has connected Berkenbush to a network of at least 10 of these 527 groups that have raised more than $33 million on the promise of supporting admirable causes, but that have spent little on activities that could be construed as having a political purpose. Most of the money goes to fundraisers who have only been paid by 527s in the group ProPublica identified.
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
World
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
China
Health / Medicine
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Startup Claimed Blood Transfusions Could Reverse Aging. Then, the FDA Stepped In
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It’s Mourning in America | The New Yorker
oday, in the U.S. and the U.K., death is largely banished from the visual landscape. A century ago, approximately eighty-five per cent of Brits died at home; these days, it’s closer to twenty-five per cent, and around thirty per cent in America. Many of those deaths have moved to the hospital, an often sterile environment where, as during the pandemic, loved ones are sometimes restricted from visiting. When individual bodies show up in newspapers, magazines, and social media, they tend to be exoticized, people not like us. When they are familiar, they have “their faces turned away,” as Susan Sontag wrote; their identity is eroded, reduced, until they are more concept than person. We see this form of not quite death so often that one can be forgiven for mistaking, as I did, the curated depiction for the actual event.
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NHS patients affected by cyber-attack may face six-month wait for blood test