2024-10-02

people are tribal, sand in depth, "psilocybin-induced penile amputation." Play-Doh Stank(TM), dockworkers strike, Harris takes on Big Meat, new Mexican President, Iran strikes Israel

etc

• Status Is Your God - by Robin Hanson - Overcoming Bias

  We not only trust high status people to behave well themselves, we also trust them to regulate and control the lives of others. In orgs, the highest status person tells everyone else what to do. And as we see government as higher status than others, we want it to regulate others, instead of vice versa. We don’t regulate regulators much, as they are high status. People with low status, like the poor, are regulated especially strongly, while high status folks like the rich and well educated tend to be exempt from regulations. Having the right contacts, and knowing the right tricks, lets you get around them.

• Is the World Really Running Out of Sand?

The wide world of sand is complicated, and not in a boring, pedantic kind of way. This simple material touches nearly every part of our lives, and the science and engineering behind it is rich and deep, and to me at least, hard not to become obsessed with. There’s a good chance you’ve seen articles or videos over the past few years with essentially the same story about sand. The “Sand Wars” documentary kind of kicked off the modern discussion, and then Vince Beiser wrote an excellent book on the topic, “The World in a Grain.” Of course, a lot of the book’s best reviews focus on the fact that sand is kind of a topic that’s “taken for granted” or “neglected.” But, at least in civil engineering, it is one of the most glected materials out there.

NC/TN Floods / Helene

• Starlink systems deployed for Hurricane Helene by Biden administration

• Hurricane Helene Will Send Shockwaves Through the Semiconductor Industry

• Looting Erupts After 'Biblical Floods' Devastate Southeast US, Sheriff Urges Residents To 'Carry With Safety Off'   | ZeroHedge

• bodies hanging from trees, no internet, zombie illegals wandering around

• we distributed over $2,000 worth of @WaffleHouse meals

• We were a mountain town, but now we look like a farm town.

• I think we’re legitimately installing more Starlink’s than the federal government is.

• Wild landing: Army airlifting people to Banner Elk

• Starlink to be free in affected areas

• AT&T drops limits

  AT&T is allowing unlimited data, talk, and text to subscribers of any plan in impacted areas of Tennessee from Today through Oct. 27th at no cost.

• excavator mastery in Marion NC

Horseshit

• Franklin expedition captain who died in 1848 was cannibalized by survivors

• Foreign operators may be using Boeing 737s with suspect rudder control parts

  • US officials say 40 airlines may be using Boeing 737s with suspect rudder parts

• Rat birth control could soon roll out in New York City

• Do Animals Understand Death? The Latest Science Might Surprise You

• Forget sports. The hottest Bay Area feud is over Oakland airport's name

• Teen in runaway vehicle saved by crashing into trooper's car

• Man amputates penis with an axe after consuming psilocybin mushrooms

  In an unprecedented case report, doctors in Austria have documented the first known instance of psilocybin-induced penile amputation. After consuming a large quantity of magic mushrooms, a 37-year-old man suffering from depression and alcohol abuse severed his penis with an axe. Fortunately, doctors were able to reattach part of the amputated organ. The unique case is detailed in the Mega Journal of Surgery.

• Hasbro's Trademark for the Smell of Play-Doh

  • the perfume / flavoring version of it also got used in some of the blue ice cream stunt flavors that went around the past few years.

• Amtrak's New Marketing Strategy: It's Not a Train, It's a Hotel on Wheels

celebrity gossip

• President Jimmy Carter becomes the first US president to live to 100 years old

  • Jimmy Carter Turns 100

Obit

• Pete Rose, Baseball's All-Time Hit Leader and Ultimate Pariah, Dies at 83

  • MLB legend Pete Rose, all-time hits leader, dies at 83

  • Pete Rose was banned for life for betting on baseball.

  EVERY SPORTS SHOW covering his death is sponsored by a Gambling site. This is the dumbest time there’s ever been to be alive.

• John Amos, ‘Good Times’ Dad, Dies at 84

Musk

• Due to immediate and excessive use of bold font on 𝕏, it will be removed from view in the main timeline

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Sony Honda becomes first Japanese EV maker to bow to Tesla's charging standard

• Tesla auto drive marketing lawsuit dismissed

• Stellantis recalls 194,000 Jeep plug-in hybrids over fire risks

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• California schools must curb student phone use under new law

• Surveillance Parents Face the Ultimate Firewall: Freshman Year

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Reddit communities will require permission to go private or switch to NSFW

  • Reddit policy changes make sitewide protests nearly impossible

• Spain plans to provide full UHD TV broadcasts by aerial

• Meta will expand production of mixed reality headsets in Vietnam

• Sports Betting Apps Are Even More Toxic Than You Thought

• Beware Hollywood's Digital Demolition

• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre at 50: a brutal yet artful shock horror

• Verizon service returns to 'normal levels' after widespread outage

• A PS5 update that screwed up game backgrounds was just a bug

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• HN Jobs:

  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (October 2024)

  • Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2024)

  • Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (October 2024)

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• YC criticized for backing AI startup that simply cloned another AI startup

• Alaska Is a Model for Taxing AI as an Extracted Natural Resource

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas go on strike

  • HN comments

  • East and Gulf Coast ports strike

  • Port strike freezes shipping on East Coast

  • US East Coast dockworkers strike, halting half the nation's ocean shipping

  • Major Longshoremen Strike Hits East Coast Ports

  • Harold Daggett, the ILA boss who pledged to "cripple" the United States, owns a 76-foot yacht, a Bentley, and gets paid over $900k

  • Port strike could reignite inflation, with larger economic impact

• Amazon wins partial dismissal of US antitrust lawsuit

• Texas Stock Exchange moves closer to launch with leadership team, board

• Spacecraft delivery startup founded by former SpaceX rocket guru raises $150M

• CVS Health to lay off nearly 3k workers in cost-cutting drive

• Samsung to Cut Thousands of Jobs

• Crude oil spikes more 3% after Iran fires missiles at Israel

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• DMV knowledge test no longer required for most drivers 70 and older

• Held Hostage Overseas? The IRS Wants Your Back Taxes

Harris / Democrats

• Kamala Harris says insomnia hit after Biden dropped out, was sleep deprived the day of Walz pick

  Vice President Kamala Harris revealed Monday that she suffered from insomnia after President Biden endorsed her as his successor — and that she was sleep deprived the morning she picked her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

• Tim Walz Said He Was in Hong Kong During the Tiananmen Square Massacre. He Was Home in Nebraska.

• Opinion | A Good Reason for Rural Rage: The Crushing Power of Corporate Meat - The New York Times

  Some 88 percent of rural voters in battleground states say they would be more favorable toward a candidate who supports “cracking down on meat processing monopolies and ensuring local businesses can compete,” according to a poll this year by the Rural Democracy Initiative, a funding collaborative that marshals resources for rural communities. Which brings me to the question of why Kamala Harris isn’t highlighting this administration’s admirable track record of taking on Big Ag. Since President Biden signed an executive order promoting competition in 2021, this administration has done more to level the playing field for chicken farmers than any in recent memory — but you wouldn’t know if from listening to stump speeches.

Trump / Right / Jan6

• Calvinball politics: Big Tech’s Promise Never To Block Access To Politically Embarrassing Content Apparently Only Applies To Democrats | Techdirt

  It probably will not shock you to find out that big tech’s promises to never again suppress embarrassing leaked content about a political figure came with a catch. Apparently, it only applies when that political figure is a Democrat. If it’s a Republican, then of course the content will be suppressed, and the GOP officials who demanded that big tech never ever again suppress such content will look the other way. A week and a half ago, the Senate Intelligence Committee held a hearing about the threat of foreign intelligence efforts to interfere with US elections. Senator Tom Cotton, who believes in using the US military to suppress American protests, used the opportunity to berate Meta and Google for supposedly (but not really) “suppressing” the Hunter Biden laptop story

• We will not be intimidated by MAGA extremists who threaten the American people with violence.

• Vance’s debate opponent Tim Ryan shares thoughts ahead of vice presidential debate : NPR

  • How to watch Tuesday's vice presidential debate between Vance and Walz : NPR

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• 81-year-old man gets 6 months in prison for cloning and breeding giant sheep

  • Rancher Gets 6 Months in Prison for Scheme to Create Giant Sheep Hybrid

  • US man, 81, sentenced to six months for creating giant hybrid sheep for hunting

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• The pipeline of deadly fentanyl into the U.S. may be drying up

World

• UK regulator preparing for 'strong action' against tech giants

• UK workers must keep all customer tips under new law

• Amazon UK pays corporation tax for first time since 2020

• European Postal Services Unveil Their First Cryptostamp

• Germany's monthly exports of goods purportedly to Kyrgyzstan

• The Guardian view on Austria’s election: yet another wake-up call | Editorial | The Guardian

• "Switzerland is as deeply polarized as the USA"

• Preliminary Milei Report Card

  The movement of the twelve-month window of “yearly inflation” now encompasses the worst part of Milei’s predecessors’ inflation, and so looks awful. Meanwhile, during Milei’s predecessors’ administration, the twelve-month window included earlier periods with less inflation, and looked better. So a devious liar could say that “inflation” (meaning yearly inflation, which is admittedly the standard measurement) is “unprecedentedly bad” during Milei’s administration.

• Mexico’s First Female President Takes Office - The New York Times

  Claudia Sheinbaum will take office on Tuesday, the first woman and Jewish person to lead Mexico in the country’s more than 200-year history as an independent nation. A former climate scientist and Mexico City mayor, Ms. Sheinbaum won in a landslide in general elections in June, and is succeeding her mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as president of the world’s largest Spanish-speaking nation — and the United States’ top trading partner. Ms. Sheinbaum, a leftist, campaigned on a vow to continue the legacy of her predecessor, and her win was seen by many as a clear vote of confidence in Mr. López Obrador and the party he started, Morena. In Mexico, a country steeped in machismo where seven in every 10 women have experienced some form of violence, Ms. Sheinbaum’s inauguration is a milestone and a symbol for many of women’s empowerment.

Iran / Houthi

• Iran has launched missiles toward Israel, the Israeli military says

• Iran Launches Missiles at Israel

• Iranian Ballistic Missiles Rain Down on Israel

  Initial reports suggest that at least 100 missiles have been launched toward Israel.

• Iran just launched over 400 ballistic missiles at Israel

• Iran launches missile attack on Israel for Nasrallah killing

  The attack came on the heels of Israel’s deployment of ground forces into south Lebanon, escalating its offensive on Hezbollah, a militant group backed by Iran. “In response to the martyrdom of Martyr Haniyeh, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Martyr Nilforoushan, we have targeted the heart of the occupied territories,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said in a statement after missiles began appearing in the skies over Israel. “Should the Zionist regime respond to Iran’s operation, it will face crushing attack,” said the group, Iran’s paramilitary organization.

  Israel Defense Forces said it had identified about 180 missiles fired toward Israel from Iranian territory. Most of those missiles were intercepted by Israeli defense systems, but there were some reported hits and other damage is being assessed, according to an Israeli security offcial.

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Russia gears up to ban Discord 'in the coming days'

• Evil Corp's deep ties with Russia and NATO member attacks exposed

China

• How the US Lost the Solar Power Race to China

Health / Medicine

• Woman denied a liver transplant after review highlighted alcohol use

• Post-truth medicine: a charade that relies on symbols of evidence-based medicine

• Tablet use by young children linked with more outbursts of anger and frustration

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• Care home nurse 'thought Covid was a conspiracy'

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Botanists identify 33 global 'dark spots' with unknown plants

• EPA Says It Plans to Withdraw Approval for Chevron's Plastic-Based Fuels

• Black plastic in kitchen utensils and toys linked to banned flame retardants

• The UK dug up and burned an average of 3 inches of their country

  • Had they not done so, we would have many fewer people living in a much impoverished world.

• Insurance czar has 'harsh' message about climate: you may just have to move

• EPA to Withdraw Approval for Plastic-Based Fuels That Are Likely to Cause Cancer

• The U.K. "Clean" Power Company Polluting Small Towns Across the U.S.

• Firefly species may blink out as US seeks to list it as endangered