2024-08-15
etc
Horseshit
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Ford and Mazda tell almost half-a-million car owners to stop driving because of Takata airbags
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Disney wants allergy death suit tossed because of widower's Disney+ subscription
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Disney wants wrongful death suit involving doctor tossed, citing Disney+ terms
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Disney wants wrongful death suit dismissed because widower signed up for Disney+
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Disney World: Cannot sue over wife's death at park as he signed up for Disney+
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Disney claims streaming arbitration clause binding in resort wrongful death suit
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Two year old artist lands deals to sell wallpaper and branded paint
A Bavarian toddler, known already within the art world as Laurent Schwarz, has reportedly just landed himself a hefty brand deal with the German paint manufacturer Relius to create a range of colours, and another, separate deal with a wallpaper company – worth, presumably, thousands – all inspired by his own artwork. Some of Laurent’s acrylic paintings have sold for more than £5,000, with his mother, Lisa, promising that every penny goes into a savings account. Dubbed the “pint-sized Picasso”, Schwarz is said to have a waiting list of hundreds of potential buyers, and has already exhibited his first solo show.
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How conservators got just the right polish on an Alamo cannon | Texas Standard
Texas Standard: Tell us a little bit more about how this cannon may have been used at the Alamo.
Chris Dostal: Well, I’m not an expert on the provenance of the cannon. I know that it’s been in the Alamo care for a number of years now. When it came into the Alamo’s hands, our lab decided to help out with the conservation of it. And so it’s undergone treatment with us now a couple of times.
TS: Well, what was wrong with it that needed to be fixed?
CD: Probably nothing too serious other than the fact that it didn’t look very good. And we wanted to make sure that there were no compounds on the cannon that would cause the metal to corrode over time.
- "The crusty stuff turned out to be our fault" and other examples that history will likely find useful when seeking to assign the blame. I do not think the words "conservation" or "restoration" properly apply to whatever process this interview describes.
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Portal connecting New York City and Dublin to close permanently
celebrity gossip
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
Musk
Electric / Self Driving cars
Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
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Former Maryland dept chair with $19M in grants faked data in 13 papers, feds say
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Bear wanders into California teacher’s classroom.
A teacher at a California school was preparing for the upcoming start of the school year when her classroom was visited by an intellectually curious black bear. Elaine Salmon, a teacher at Peak to Peak Mountain Charter School in Pine Mountain Club, said she left her classroom to make some copies in the office and returned to find a black bear occupying the room. School officials said they are now planning to replace the door handles with more bear-resistant opening mechanisms.
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
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Hackers may have leaked the Social Security Numbers of every American
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Hollywood union strikes deal for advertisers to replicate actors' voices with AI
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There are two kinds of advertising – Chris Coyier
Effectiveness testing data is evidence that contextual ads, sorry, the normal, good, fair type cost less and perform better. And as web developers, we know they are better for performance. And as humans, we know they are more ethical. So what in the smurfing smurf is going on here? It’s a follow-the-money situation. It’s likely as simple as selling snake oil to cure anything that ails ya. It feels good to buy advertising that is directly (and only) toward people you deem the most likely to become a customer and buyers are willing to pay for that, even if it’s about as effective as actual snake oil.
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Mass Market DVDs Are Dead: Long Live Heritage Physical Media
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We are experiencing interruptions in multiple public GitHub services. We suspect the impact is due to a database infrastructure related change that we are working on rolling back
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO
Economicon / Business / Finance
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Mars Nears Roughly $30 Billion Deal for Cheez-It and Eggo Maker Kellanova
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Canada's Housing Bust Pits Real Estate Coaches Against Students
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A U.S. construction boom is sending rents lower and creating perks for renters
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The foods with the highest inflation are also the least healthy
Apples (down 14.5%), frozen fruits and vegetables (-1.7%) and starches like potatoes (-4.7%), rice (-3.7%) and pasta (-2.5%) saw some of the steepest declines in prices from a year ago, according to this morning's CPI report for July. On the other hand, prices for bacon (up 8.5%), pork chops (+7.3%), hot dogs (+9.7%) and vending machine goodies (+5.4%) continue to outpace inflation for the broader food category. Frozen noncarbonated juices and drink prices are up 19.2% over last year. And some staples, like eggs (+19.1%) and butter (+6.1%) — non-negotiables for many — will still hurt to indulge.
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
Harris / TBA 2024 / Democrats Demonstrate "Our Democracy"
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Harris campaign editing news headlines in her favor — without outlets' knowledge: report
Nearly a dozen publishers were swept up in the faux headline campaign, including major companies like the Guardian, Reuters, CBS News, the Associated Press and PBS. Even smaller publications like North Dakota’s WDay Radio also saw their headlines changed. The ads include links to real articles from news outlets, but the headlines and descriptive text had been edited to cast a supportive light on the 59-year-old presidential hopeful.
Biden Inc
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Biden suggests he would attend a Trump inauguration, citing 'good manners'
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Biden harbors lingering frustration at Pelosi, Obama, Schumer - POLITICO
President Joe Biden is frustrated that Barack Obama wouldn’t tell him to his face that he should leave the race. He’s angry with Nancy Pelosi and views her as ruthless for ushering him out the door. And he’s still miffed at the role Chuck Schumer played, too. Biden has told his closest aides and associates that he is coming to terms with his decision to bow out of the presidential race last month, but still harbors some frustration toward the members of his own party he believes pushed him out, according to three people familiar with Biden’s thinking who are not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
Trump / Right / Jan6
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Trump to Musk: Climate change means 'more oceanfront property'
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Why newsrooms haven’t published leaked Trump campaign documents - The Washington Post
Over the past few weeks, reporters at Politico, The Washington Post and the New York Times received emails from a mysterious figure who called himself “Robert,” offering internal Trump campaign documents, most notably a 271-page one listing JD Vance’s potential vulnerabilities as a running mate, apparently compiled well before Trump picked the Republican senator from Ohio. The FBI is now investigating alleged Iranian hacking attempts, which also targeted the Biden-Harris campaign. Longtime Trump friend Roger Stone confirmed to The Post on Monday that his email account had been compromised. All of it — an alleged hacker hiding behind a pseudonym offering internal documents of questionable news value — has echoes of the Russian hacks of Democratic campaign emails in 2016, which were then published by WikiLeaks and eagerly picked over by the press.
Journalists’ primary loyalty is to their audience and to giving them the information they want and need, said Kelly McBride, NPR’s public editor and chair of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at the Poynter Institute. And before 2016, the general thinking was that, even with hacked materials, “if there’s something interesting in there, then of course you’re going to report it.” But with foreign state actors increasingly getting involved, “it just feels dicier for news organizations to make the decision, because you don’t want to be helping another country undermine our democracy,” McBride said. “The motivations don’t have to be pure, but it can’t be to undermine the stability of the entire country,” she added. “That just seems like a bridge too far.”
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
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U.S. Orders Submarine to Middle East Amid Fears of Escalation - The New York Times
In an unusual disclosure, General Ryder said that Mr. Austin had ordered the ballistic-missile submarine Georgia to the Middle East. The Pentagon rarely announces the movements of its submarine fleet, underscoring the seriousness of the regional crisis. General Ryder noted that Mr. Austin had already ordered additional combat aircraft and missile-shooting warships to the region. The orders came in response to threats from Iran and its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen to attack Israel to avenge the assassination of a top Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran on July 31.
who is currently in charge over at the White House? Have we now reached such a post-Constitutional arrangement that that the major decisions of war and peace are being made by a military-intelligence complex beholden to no one?
World
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Japan's prime minister is resigning, under pressure from scandal
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Venezuela moves to shut down dissent after a disputed election
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The Saudi Crown Prince Is Talking About an Assassination. His Own
The Saudi royal has mentioned to members of Congress that he’s putting his life in danger by pursuing a grand bargain with the U.S. and Israel that includes normalizing Saudi-Israeli ties. On at least one occasion, he has invoked Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian leader slain after striking a peace deal with Israel, asking what the U.S. did to protect Sadat. He also has discussed the threats he faces in explaining why any such deal must include a true path to a Palestinian state — especially now that the war in Gaza has heightened Arab fury toward Israel.
The talks were described to me by a former U.S. official briefed on the conversations and two other people with knowledge of them. All of the people, like others quoted in this column, were granted anonymity to describe a high-stakes, sensitive topic. The discussions have been weighty and serious, but one takeaway, the people said, is that the crown prince, often referred to as MBS, appears intent on striking the mega-deal with the U.S. and Israel despite the risks involved. He sees it as crucial to his country’s future.
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Taliban parade US military vehicles, weapons to celebrate 3 years in power, AP reports
Images circulating social media show uniformed troops flying helicopters and parading a convoy of armored trucks through what was once the Bagram Airfield. The hardware had reportedly been left abandoned since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.
Iran / Houthi
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
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Ukraine says its troops are advancing deeper into Russia's Kursk region
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Nord Stream sabotage: Germany issues arrest warrant
German authorities have issued an arrest warrant over the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines nearly two years ago, according to German news outlets ARD, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit. In an investigation published Wednesday, the outlets reported that the suspect is a Ukrainian diving instructor, named only as Volodymyr Z. for privacy reasons. It is alleged he attacked the pipelines in tandem with at least two others, who are also believed to be Ukrainian citizens. The suspect was believed to last be living in Poland, but Polish authorities said they could not act on the warrant because he had left the country.
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Kursk's Next Operational Phase - by Mick Ryan
Option 1 for the Ukrainian OMG-K is to consolidate on the terrain they have seized so far and then defend it until some form of negotiation takes place. This is the highest risk option because, as the maps show, the Ukrainian dispositions feature multiple small salients which would be easily cut off and destroyed by even a semi-competant Russian commander. (Option 2 is hold a smaller area)
The third option for Ukraine would be to fully withdraw back to the international border between Russia and Ukraine. This would permit Ukraine to maximise the political and strategic benefits of operation into Russia while preserving a large body of experienced combat troops that might be employed on subsequent offensive operations in 2024 and 2025. In essence, by choosing this option the Ukrainians would be messaging to the Russian people that “we can invade and hurt your country if we choose, but we have no wish to occupy our neighbours”. The political impact on Putin might be interesting. While the Ukrainian invasion may have proven his point to Russians about the ‘threat from NATO’, he also appears weak because he was not able to punish those who conducted the operation in Kursk.
Ukraine’s operation in Russia might have surprised most observers of the war, and even the governments of their key supporters. But from Ukraine’s perspective, it appears to be a risk that has considerable up side if the operation succeeds. So far, it appears that taking a risk by not reinforcing their forces in the Donbas and using them in Kursk may be paying off for Ukraine. But, like all wars and military campaigns, predicting the future is impossible.
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Russian navy trained to target sites inside Europe with nuclear-capable missiles
Secret presentation for officers reveals plans for overwhelming strikes in early stages of potential war against Nato
- I wonder what the NATO powerpoints for similar plans look like...
Health / Medicine
Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp
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The mpox outbreak never ended in Africa. Now a deadlier strain is spreading.
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WHO declares mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern
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Mpox never stopped in Africa. Now it's a world public health emergency. Again
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University of Minnesota says it’s tracking a ‘summer surge’ of COVID using wastewater.
Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda
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Unprecedented number of heat records broken around world this year
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Scientists Drilled So Deep into the Earth, They Knocked on the Mantle's Door
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The Top Five Climate Science Scandals
That’s where climate science finds itself in 2024. Long time readers here at THB will know that climate change is real and poses risks. At the same time, the climate science community appears to have lost its collective ability to call out bad science and get things back on track. Today, particularly for the many new readers that THB has gained this year, I summarize the top 5 climate science scandals covered here at THB over the past few years.
For more than a decade I have evaluated the so-called “billion dollar disaster” tabulation promoted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I have watched it go from a clever marketing gimmick to NOAA”s leading scientific indicator representing climate change. The “dataset” employs methods that are not public and various versions of the tabulation includes entries and changes that are undocumented. I recently published a peer-reviewed paper documenting problems with the dataset and its complete intransparency. Despite the tabulation’s obvious flaws, it is a good example of bad science that is too big to fail.
Extreme emissions scenarios that map out implausible and even apocalyptic futures are a favorite in climate research and assessment. This space continues to be dominated by a scenario called RCP8.5 — which has coal consumption increasing more than 10x by 2100 (see figure above and all credit to my colleague Justin Ritchie). However, as the community comes to accept the ridiculousness of RCP8.5, efforts are being made to replace it with another extreme scenario — Right now that appears to be SSP3-7.0 which also foresees a massive increase in coal (~6x) and a world of about 13 billion people in 2100, far more than projected by the United Nations.
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The Hidden Forests Inside China’s Deepest Sinkholes Are Unlike Anything on Earth
“This indicates that the plants in the study area have the characteristics of low carbon sequestration, high nutrient accumulation, high growth rate, and low nutrient utilization efficiency,” the study authors added.
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Shattered Wind Blade Puts Nantucket on Frontlines of a Clean-Energy Fight