2024-08-07
etc
-
Carvings at Göbeklitepe could be World's Oldest Calendar - Arkeonews
Dr Martin Sweatman of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, who led the research, said: “It appears the inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe were keen observers of the sky, which is to be expected given their world had been devastated by a comet strike. This event might have triggered civilization by initiating a new religion and by motivating developments in agriculture to cope with the cold climate. Possibly, their attempts to record what they saw are the first steps towards the development of writing millennia later.”
Horseshit
-
'We don't need more concrete': village in Tanzania will use a 3D printer, soil
-
(Jul 16 2024) Can food-waste soup save the world? CommonWealth Kitchen thinks so (Archive)
Faigel has already put CWK’s soup and other products of would-be food waste into approximately 15 of the largest hospitals and universities in the New England region like Brandeis University and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. CWK will continue to expand to places like New York as it furthers relationships with distributor partnerships with giants of the industry like Sodexo in the coming months. A key expansion for CWK will be into public school systems in the fall, where their sustainable fritter — made of ingredients which help soil — is being tested across Boston and Portland, Maine.
-
I was joking when I spoke about "DumpsterDash" combined sanitation / recycling / buffet truck service. Someone else wasn't, I guess. But they're doing this with grants and doing the whole "social justice" thing too.
-
(2022) CommonWealth Kitchen Gets Up to $2M in New Funding | Innovation and Strategies | massnonprofit.org
Last week, CWK announced that it completed the $7 million purchase from the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation of a 36,000-square-foot building to serve as its permanent home. CWK had been the anchor tenant in the former Pearl Meat Packing Company building since 2014. It added that it will launch a capital campaign later this year to support revitalization of the headquarters and program expansion. CWK said it is planning to invest more than $4 million to strengthen the organization’s position for further growth and innovation by CWK and the 50+ diverse small food-based businesses based in the facility. Support for the project included $5.7 million in financing from the City of Boston and HUD, and $2.5 million in financing from MassDevelopment, as well as from private funders, including Eastern Bank, Henry P. Kendall Foundation, and the Cummings Foundation.
As a Boston-based nonprofit small business development organization, CWK empowers diverse entrepreneurs to launch food businesses by building a portfolio of services and resources to help them succeed, including an affordable shared kitchen, accessible food business education, coordinated access to markets and small-batch manufacturing. They currently serve nearly 50 diverse businesses, of which over 75% are BIPOC-owned. Additionally, through their dedicated work, they have managed to transform surplus New England-grown produce into custom products and recipes, which are sold to multiple anchor institutions, including Harvard and MIT. These institutional partnerships open additional sales channels for members to incorporate their products into institutional dining menus and retail spaces. Support from GROWING JUSTICE will help expand administrative operations in order to fulfill the existing demand for their services.
-
-
'Delicate, authentic, charismatic': Dolce and Gabbana launches €99 dog perfume
-
6-year-old denied passport because she's named after 'Game of Thrones' character
Lucy, from South West England, told the BBC that the initial application to get her daughter, Khaleesi, 6, a passport was denied — with officials telling her she needed Warner Brothers’ approval because it owns the name’s trademark.
celebrity gossip
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
Musk
-
Secretaries of State say X's AI shared false election information
-
X filed an antitrust lawsuit against CVS Health, Mars, Orsted and Unilever
-
X files antitrust suit against advertisers over 'systematic illegal boycott'
-
X, Owned by Elon Musk, Brings Antitrust Suit Accusing Advertisers of a Boycott
-
Elon Musk's X sues advertisers over alleged 'massive advertiser boycott'
-
Elon Musk's X sues advertisers over alleged 'massive advertiser boycott'
-
Musk's X accuses advertisers of boycotting platform in new lawsuit
-
Rumble has joined X to sue a cartel of advertisers and ad agencies
-
-
North Carolina investigates Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC after voter data complaint
Electric / Self Driving cars
Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation
-
Reverse Diversity – Dr. Mindle's Musings
“You and everybody are just great, but I sometimes just don’t feel that I belong… Em, just between us, I want to go somewhere that’s more diverse.” Mind you, the two departed engineers are Caucasian. After their departure, my team of 9 – 2 = 7 machine learning engineers were 100% Asian. Don’t ask me why, a few months later after we refilled the two positions, my team of 7 + 2 = 9 machine learning engineers were still 100% Asian. For my all-Asian team, which is technically 100% minority, we need more Caucasians which are technically population majority. This is what I mean by reverse diversity.
-
Pornography should be banned because of its undeniable link to sexual violence
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
-
WordStar 7, the last ever DOS version, re-released for free • The Register
-
CNET to Be Sold to Ziff Davis in Sign of Possible Media Deals to Come
-
Parody site ClownStrike refused to bow to CrowdStrike's bogus DMCA takedown
-
Judge Rules Google Is a Monopolist
Fifteen years after it was first investigated, search giant Google is finally going to be held accountable for unfairly thwarting competition. In this piece, I’m going to discuss the complaint against Google, why it lost, the next steps, and what this case means for American business going forward. Make no mistake, this decision is huge for Google, the web, and the revival of monopolization law against giants across the economy. It’s also a big deal for the BIG community. We’ve been writing about this case, covering antitrust law, filing comments, contacting policymakers and pushing for aggressive enforcement for almost five years. Subscribers to BIG helped finance the special site Big Tech on Trial, where we hired a reporter to cover the case and helped ensure that the judge didn’t keep key evidence behind closed doors.
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO
-
NASA likely to significantly delay the launch of Crew 9 due to Starliner issues
-
Boeing didn't finish the flight software on Starliner
Boeing didn't finish the flight software on Starliner preventing the space capsule from undocking and returning to earth autonomously. This is the reason Boeing hasn't been willing to allow the astronauts to return to Earth on Dragon. They will lose the capsule.
-
NASA pushes back SpaceX Crew-9 mission to NET Sept 24 so Starliner can return
Crypto con games
Economicon / Business / Finance
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
-
Applied Materials denied US CHIPS Act funding - report - DCD
Applied Materials was rejected for funding under the US government’s CHIPS and Science Act. According to a report from Bloomberg, the company applied for funding to support the construction of a $4 billion facility in Sunnyvale, California, but was not successful in its bid. There is no indication that the investigation into Applied Materials’ is linked to the company’s failed bid for CHIPS Act funding.
-
Economists uncover hidden influence of top campaign donors
The researchers also found that the death of a top donor affected a Congress member's legislative agenda. After such a death, the congressperson focused on fewer topics in the bills they sponsored, which implies that they were freer to pursue policies they, rather than the donor, were interested in. Second, the researchers consistently found that a top donor's death reduced the ideological distance between that congressperson and the median in their own party.
- Because "party median" is the highest possible good. Unity Above All, Purpose be Damned. spit
Harris / TBA 2024 / Democrats Demonstrate "Our Democracy"
-
Tim Walz: Kamala Harris picks Minnesota governor for vice president
-
Tim Walz is a perfect choice for Kamala Harris.
He let BLM rioters, arsonists, and looters rampage through his state and she encouraged donations to the bail fund for the few who were arrested.
-
Can Kamala Harris win over Republican voters?
Pennsylvania is the epicenter of the political world, and a group of GOP politicians and activists supporting Kamala Harris say the vice president's campaign will be boosted there by support from other Republicans disillusioned by Donald Trump, who former Rep. Jim Greenwood, R-Pa., described Monday as a "malignant narcissist" and "pathological liar." Greenwood was one of three co-hosts of a "Republicans for Harris" Zoom call that marked the beginning of the group's efforts to deliver the commonwealth for the Democratic nominee. He was joined by former Lancaster County GOP chair Anne Womble and Andrea Kesack, a pathologist and self-described "moderate Republican." All of them agreed that Trump's effect on American politics and democracy far outweighed any policy disagreements they had with Harris.
Biden Inc
-
Joe Biden must bust up the media (Archive)
Monday afternoon a federal judge ruled that Google’s parent company violated U.S. antitrust laws. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in the District of Columbia opens the door to a second trial to determine potential remedies to Google's monopolization of the search market. It is the Justice Department's first victory over a monopoly in more than 20 years. With this victory, Joe Biden now has in front of him a unique and historic opportunity. He can help end divisiveness, increase voter education, score a huge victory for the cause of diversity of thought and do it by correcting a problem created by Ronald Reagan. Biden can bust up the media monopolies and thus fix the biggest communication problem facing our country — he can fix the press.
- (Aug 3) Contrast: Trump warns "bad" Google may be "shut down" ([Archive)(https://archive.ph/wiUmk))
Trump’s less-than-succinct description, possibly referring to Google’s practice of algorithmic search result ranking, which conservatives have blasted as unfair in recent days, was followed with a harsh warning message to the tech giant. “Google has been very bad. They’ve been very irresponsible. And I have a feeling that Google’s going to be close to shut down, because I don’t think Congress is going to take it,” the former president told Bartiromo. “I really don’t think so. Google has to be careful.”
Trump / Right / Jan6
-
Donald Trump says Google ‘has to be careful’ or it will be ‘shut down’ - The Verge
Here at The Verge, we’ve been doing our best not to uncritically publish every random statement and half-cocked idea that comes out of former President Donald Trump’s mouth for several years now. He just says stuff, especially about tech, and most of it doesn’t come to anything. But last week, Trump casually mentioned to Fox’s Maria Bartiromo that “Google has to be careful” because “they’ve been very irresponsible” and that he had “a feeling Google is going to be close to shut down, because I don’t think Congress is going to take it.”
And Thiel-funded Trump running mate JD Vance has appeared at antitrust conferences praising FTC Chair Lina Khan, saying she was “doing a pretty good job” and openly supporting breaking up the big platform companies. “Does Google need to have YouTube? Does Google need to have all these other platforms that are built underneath the Google umbrella? You can make the same argument with Instagram, Facebook, other services of Meta,” he said last month at a Y Combinator event in Washington, DC. So why does Vance feel this way? Well, because, like almost every conservative, Vance is irritated at how the big platforms moderate content.
-
cases from 2020: Prosecutor of Anti-Trump Protesters Allegedly Withheld Evidence and Lied About It
-
Opinion | The ‘Administrative State’ That Keeps Us Safe Could Be at Risk - The New York Times
One night a few weeks ago I went to bed early, bothered by the oppressive heat and dismayed by that week’s political news — President Biden’s lackluster ABC News interview and Donald Trump’s claim earlier that day that he knew “nothing” about Project 2025. I was tired, too, from explaining the recent daily news broadcasts to my two daughters — one 6 and the other one 10 — including what the phrases “hush money” and “porn star” meant. My husband stayed up working, and very early the next morning a bat flew into our bedroom, through a screen door left open by accident. What happened over the next few days restored my faith in the systems in our country that keep us safe
-
Inside Ziklag, the Christian-Right Group Trying to Sway the 2024 Election — ProPublica
A network of ultrawealthy Christian donors is spending nearly $12 million to mobilize Republican-leaning voters and purge more than a million people from the rolls in key swing states, aiming to tilt the 2024 election in favor of former President Donald Trump. These previously unreported plans are the work of a group named Ziklag, a little-known charity whose donors have included some of the wealthiest conservative Christian families in the nation, including the billionaire Uihlein family, who made a fortune in office supplies, the Greens, who run Hobby Lobby, and the Wallers, who own the Jockey apparel corporation. Recipients of Ziklag’s largesse include Alliance Defending Freedom, which is the Christian legal group that led the overturning of Roe v. Wade, plus the national pro-Trump group Turning Point USA and a constellation of right-of-center advocacy groups.
-
US Supreme Court declines to halt Trump's sentencing in hush money case
-
Opinion: Trump’s Appearance With Mini-Me Streamer Adin Ross Was Deeply Weird
-
Trump and His Allies Seize on Market Downturn to Attack Harris - The New York Times
Donald J. Trump didn’t wait for the opening bell before blaming Monday’s market sell-off on Vice President Kamala Harris. What Mr. Trump was engaged in was a calculated attempt at political marketing. By 9:45 a.m. on Monday, less than an hour after U.S. markets opened, Mr. Trump branded what would become a 3 percent decline for the day in the S&P 500 the “Kamala Crash.” By lunchtime, it was official party messaging: The Republican National Committee hyped the “Great Kamala Crash of 2024,” and the Trump campaign had produced and circulated on social media a video tying the vice president to Monday’s dip in the markets. By the afternoon, the Trump forces had turned “KamalaCrash” into a “trending” subject on X. The coordinated effort underscored Mr. Trump’s longstanding fixation on stock indexes as a barometer of economic health and even as a substitute for polls — a measure of his own performance and popularity.
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
World
-
Keir Starmer warns social media firms after Southport misinformation fuels riots
It's a story we've seen before. In the US and Europe during the pandemic lockdowns, far-left rioting and looting in the name of BLM was widely celebrated by the corporate media and protected by government officials. The lockdown mandates were not enforced when it came to progressive unrest. Conservative anti-mandate protesters, on the other hand, were treated as terrorists and governments were quick to censor, suppress and intimidate. A two tier policing system and legal system bubbled to the surface.
Wherever conservative, nationalist or "right wing" protests arise in the west the full force of government power is applied to frighten the public into compliance. It might be to enforce covid mandates or it might be to prevent the populace from questioning open border policies. In the UK The mask has truly come off. The message? You will accept mass immigration from the third world, or else...
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's recent announcement on the government response to British protests are highly revealing. To summarize, indigenous and "right wing" Brits are not allowed to take to the streets (or online) because their ideology is "wrong." Armed Muslim migrant gangs and leftists are apparently free to do whatever they please.
-
At least 24 killed in hotel fire in Bangladesh as tensions remain high amid a power vacuum
-
Venezuela launches investigation into opposition leaders amid election protests
-
Russian-funded environmental organisations shaping EU climate policy
-
Argentina's Milei moves sovereign gold abroad, raising concerns about seizure
Israel
-
Investigation completed: allegations on UNRWA staff participation in the 7 October attacks | UNRWA
“I acknowledge the completion of the investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) into the serious allegations that 19 area UNRWA staff members in Gaza were involved in the abhorrent attacks of 7 October on southern Israel. “In one case, no evidence was obtained by OIOS to support the allegations of the staff member’s involvement. That staff member has rejoined the Agency. “In nine other cases, the evidence obtained by OIOS was insufficient to support the staff members’ involvement and the OIOS investigation of them is now closed. “For the remaining nine cases, the evidence – if authenticated and corroborated – could indicate that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the attacks of 7 October. “I have decided that in the case of these remaining nine staff members, they cannot work for UNRWA. All contracts of these staff members will be terminated in the interest of the Agency.
-
U.N. fires 9 more staffers over potential involvement in Oct. 7 attack on Israel
-
UN fires additional staffers after probe finds potential involvement in Oct. 7 attack on Israel
-
UN investigation: 9 staffers ‘may have’ been involved in October 7 attack
U.N. investigators cleared 10 employees of a Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza accused of taking part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, but nine others were fired because of possible involvement, the United Nations said. The investigators found evidence that the employees “may have been involved” in the attack, which set off the war in the Gaza Strip, the U.N. said. It said they had been fired “in the interests of the agency.” The investigation’s conclusion appeared to bring to a close, for now at least, a controversy that began after Israel leveled the alarming accusations in January against the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA. The allegations led dozens of donor nations to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the agency, threatening to hobble its aid operations in Gaza.
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
China
Health / Medicine
Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda
-
'It made me cry': photos taken 15 years apart show melting Swiss glaciers
-
Is Europe headed towards a new Ice Age as ocean current nears collapse?
-
EPA takes emergency action to stop use of dangerous pesticide - The Washington Post
Tuesday’s emergency order applies to dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, also known as DCPA or Dacthal, an herbicide used on crops such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and onions. When pregnant farmworkers and others are exposed to the pesticide, their babies can experience changes to fetal thyroid hormone levels, which are linked to low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased IQ and impaired motor skills later in life. “DCPA is so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately,” Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said in a statement. “It’s EPA’s job to protect people from exposure to dangerous chemicals. In this case, pregnant women who may never even know they were exposed could give birth to babies that experience irreversible lifelong health problems.” The sole manufacturer of the pesticide, AMVAC, had sought to avoid the emergency action. The company had voluntarily pulled all DCPA products used on turf, reducing the risks to golfers, athletes and workers who maintain turf fields.