2024-12-23
furry keyboards, autonomous car race fail, diversity and adversity, free minting, Congresswoman found after 6 months, RFK's addictions, FA-18 downed by friendly fire, Syrian gold found, fewer FL oranges
etc
Horseshit
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Train conductor's bilingual morning greeting raises hackles in Belgium
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Startup set to brick $800 kids robot is trying to open source it first - Ars Technica
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A boy in north Georgia went for a walk down the road, lands his mother in jail
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Curbside Classic: 1955 Chevrolet Was GM's All-Time Greatest Hit
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Cat themed fur-wrapped tri-mode keyboard now available for $240
These cat-inspired 65% mechanical keyboards with aluminum frames are currently available to pre-order for $239.00 USD on the official Dry Studio store page, with there being only 14 Calico and 17 Odd-eye-themed units left available at the time of writing. Besides cat-themed fur and key coloring, these keyboards come with three RGB backlighting modes.
- usually they quit working reliably before the fur grows that long
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Giant sloths and mastodons lived with humans for millennia in the Americas
celebrity gossip
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
Bluesky
Musk
Electric / Self Driving cars
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EV startup Canoo places remaining employees on a ‘mandatory unpaid break’ | TechCrunch
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Human versus autonomous car race ends before it begins
The people who run and participate in A2RL are aware of this, and while many organizations have made it a sport of overselling AI, A2RL is up-front about the limitations of the current state of the technology. One example of the technology's current shortcomings: The vehicles can't swerve back and forth to warm up the tires. Giovanni Pau, Team Principal of TII Racing, stated during a press briefing regarding the AI system built for racing, "We don't have human intuition. So basically, that is one of the main challenges to drive this type of car. It's impossible today to do a correct grip estimation. A thing my friend Daniil (Kvyat) can do in a nanosecond."
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The Unlikely Ingredient That Could End U.S. Dependence on Chinese Batteries
Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation
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Research: Why Forming Diverse Teams Is Harder in Uncertain Times
Research involving over 90,000 participants across multiple studies revealed that individuals with reduced control gravitate toward those similar in race, religion, or values, reinforcing predictability but fostering segregation and limiting collaboration. Leaders can mitigate this effect by taking the following steps: 1) Foster psychological safety, 2) establish predictable work routines, 3) encourage cross-functional teams, 4) develop responsive feedback systems, and 5) cultivate individual autonomy.
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
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Doing It Wrong Since the Gilded Age: Why Universities Have Failed Us
- If the goal has been "Taking money and time from those with an excess of both" they have been successful for a long time.
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
TechSuck / Geek Bait
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
Crypto con games
Economicon / Business / Finance
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Amazon pushes back some RTO dates due to insufficient office space
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What Christmas cash scheme from the Great Depression tells us about money
In the winter of 1932 the town of Hawarden in the US state of Iowa began printing and distributing scrip dollars — pieces of paper, shaped and printed like dollar notes from the Federal Reserve, managed and guaranteed by the town. The scrip did not save Hawarden from the Great Depression. But it did make Christmas a little easier. Charles Zylstra, a Dutch-born Maytag salesman, was the architect of Hawarden’s dollar scrip. He didn’t invent the idea. American cities had printed “hard-time money” as early as the Panic of 1837, and Zylstra said he’d discovered it when reading Silvio Gesell, a self-taught German economist. By December, as Santa Claus announced in the Hawarden Independent newspaper that he was still coming to town, other nearby towns began adopting Hawarden’s plan. There was a lot of scrip in a lot of places in the winter of 1932. Zylstra’s succeeded, for a time, because he recognised that money lives on administration. As the historian Rebecca Spang has argued, money doesn’t just have quantities, it has qualities. To say that money is created is to assign it a kind of magic, ignoring the work it takes to keep it moving from hand to hand.
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The Investing Cult Fueling MicroStrategy's Ascent: 'Have Fun Staying Poor'
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California’s Minimum-Wage Hike Has Actually Been Great - The Atlantic
Since California’s new minimum wage came into effect in April, the state’s fast-food sector has actually gained jobs and done so at a faster pace than much of the rest of the country. If anything, it proves that the minimum wage can be raised even higher than experts previously believed without hurting employment. That should be good news. Instead, the policy has been portrayed as a catastrophic failure. That is a testament to how quickly economic misinformation spreads—and how hard it is to combat once it does.
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Africa will have some of the fastest-growing economies in 2025
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
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Congress weighs federal gambling crackdown amid growing concerns
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Where is Congresswoman Kay Granger?
Amid the ongoing drama in D.C. with Congress furiously debating and voting on an interim spending bill a key question has arisen from constituents in Texas Congressional District 12, “Where is Congresswoman Kay Granger?” According to Ms. Granger’s roll call vote page, Grangers last vote was on July 24th, 2024 as she voted No to the “Amendment in the House H.Amdt. 1157 (Miller) to H.R. 8998: To reduce the salary of Ya-Wei (Jake) Li, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pesticide Programs, to $1.”
The Dallas Express attempted to reach her district and D.C. offices but calls went directly to voicemail where a recorded message from Congresswoman Granger plays. “I am sorry we are unable to answer your phone right now. We are really glad you called us. Please leave your name, phone number and a brief message and someone in our office will call you back as soon as possible,” the recorded message says. We then visited her office in person hoping to understand how Congresswoman Granger planned to vote on the continuing resolution this afternoon. Upon arrival, we found the door locked, front door glass window covered, no one inside, and no sign of the office continuing to be occupied.
When we asked employees at the WestBend building where Ms. Granger’s district office is located what happened to Ms. Granger’s office we were told that her team had packed up and closed the office before Thanksgiving. Her office appears to be closed for good (she is retiring at the end of the session) with phone calls going unanswered and voice mails not returned. We then received a tip from a Granger constituent who shared that the Congresswoman has been residing at a local memory care and assisted living home for some time after having been found wandering lost and confused in her former Cultural District/West 7th neighborhood. The Dallas Express team visited the facility to confirm whether Granger was residing there and to inquire about how she planned to vote on the spending bill. Upon arrival, two employees confirmed that Granger is indeed living at the facility. However, we were not permitted to conduct an interview regarding the current spending debate in the House of Representatives and how or if Ms. Granger planned to vote.
Why has Congressional District 12 gone without representation for more than five months? And how has no one in Fort Worth or her larger district, particularly the Fort Worth establishment media, seemed to notice or care? If Ms. Granger is mentally incapacitated why didn’t she simply retire early and allow Congressman-elect Craig Goldman to be appointed in the interim so the district could be represented during this critical vote and transition period?
- Exceptional reporting. They went and verified stuff after reading about it online.
Trump
Democrats / Biden Inc
Left Angst
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Court Order: Unethical for Judges to Discuss Justice Alito's Unethical Behavior
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Dem. Rep. Jasmine Crockett: Hispanic Voters Have “Slave Mentality” and “Can Barely Vote.”
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Videos of an impassioned Democrat lawmaker have circulated across the internet. The woman in question is the 81-year-old Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, a representative from Connecticut who has haunted the halls of power in Washington since 1991.
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Opinion | What Kennedy’s Approach to Addiction Gets Wrong - The New York Times
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and I share the experience of recovering from heroin addiction. Like me, he started the process at a residential rehabilitation facility in the 1980s and participated in a 12-step program based on Alcoholics Anonymous, which promotes abstinence from substances. Unlike me, however, he seems to have remained wedded to this treatment model, despite evidence that it fails many people with drug addictions. This could do enormous harm if he is confirmed as secretary of health and human services. Mr. Kennedy has said very little about highly effective addiction medications, like methadone and buprenorphine, despite the fact that these are the gold standard for opioid addiction treatment. And he has repeatedly expressed opposition to other psychiatric medications, a view that could be particularly harmful.
Mr. Kennedy’s vision for the future looks like the past. He has proposed building a network of organic farms where people with addictions would labor in the fields and be “reparented” (potentially referring to an approach where the therapist and other patients serve as a surrogate family). Presumably they would also attend 12-step groups — as Mr. Kennedy still does and has repeatedly supported. Psychiatric drugs would almost certainly not be used: The farms would also be places for people to go to get off of antidepressants or A.D.H.D. medications, which may mean no anti-addiction medication, either. People would stay for as long as three or four years, eating healthy diets. Phones and other screens would be banned. Mr. Kennedy also favors involuntary treatment. At the premiere of a documentary he made as a presidential candidate, he said that the government must use “tough love” and incarcerate people with addiction if they refuse treatment more than two or three times.
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Trump says he wants to keep TikTok around 'for a little while'
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
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NYC Billed Family of Man Killed During Police Pursuit for Damage to Cop's Car
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Feds raid migrant Tren de Aragua gang house in NYC -- after tracking GPS ankle monitor to hideout
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“As the train pulled into the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim, who was in a seated position at the end of a subway car … and used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds,” Tisch said at a press conference.
A woman died after she was apparently lit on fire in a Brooklyn subway car, and police are investigating her death as a possible homicide, sources said. Harrowing video obtained by the Daily News shows the woman standing near the door of stopped subway car at the Coney-Island-Stillwell Ave. stop, burning alive, while a man sits in a bench on the platform and watches.
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
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US pilots shot down over Red Sea in 'friendly fire'
US Central Command added it also hit multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea. In a statement, US Central Command confirmed a "friendly fire" incident over the Red Sea. "The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18, which was flying off the USS Harry S Truman," the statement said. It is not clear whether the downed aircraft had been involved in the Yemen operation.
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Ukrainian M1 Abrams Commander Talks Tank's Vulnerabilities, Advantages in Combat
World
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Scottish Government bans use of mobile messaging apps for official business
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YouTube says it will start cracking down on videos with clickbait title in India
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Opinion | Germany Doesn’t Feel Like Germany Anymore - The New York Times
Outside Germany, Germany is still a car country, home to a flourishing economy. Outside Germany, Germany is still a prosperous country, where everybody drives a BMW or the like. Outside Germany, Germany is still a well-ordered country, a pleasant place both politically and socially. I smiled back at the agent. But inwardly, I winced. Because in Germany, Germany doesn’t feel like Germany anymore.
On Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence at the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, officially ending his government. It was a formality: The three-party coalition had fallen in early November, when Mr. Scholz dismissed the finance minister, Christian Lindner, prompting his Free Democrats to quit the administration. The move left Mr. Scholz, a Social Democrat, with a minority government alongside the Greens. Rather than stagger on, he decided to call snap elections that will be held on Feb. 23. The no-confidence vote was a final piece of housekeeping. At first glance, the story of the government’s breakdown looks like a rather dull “House of Cards” political thriller, centered on a budget fight. Underneath the noise, however, there’s an existential crisis. The economically prosperous, socially cohesive and politically stable Germany has gone. And this government, ideologically torn and rocked by outside shocks, proved unable to cope. How did we get here?
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Exclusive: Syria retains 26 tons of gold reserves after Assad's fall - sources | Reuters
The vault of Syria's central bank holds nearly 26 tons of gold, the same amount it had at the start of its bloody civil war in 2011, even after the chaotic fall of Bashar al-Assad's despotic regime, four people familiar with the situation told Reuters.
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France's most powerful nuclear reactor connected to grid after 17-year build
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
Health / Medicine
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One Surprising Psychosis Treatment That Works: Learning to Live with the Voices
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Faith-based cost-sharing seemed like a good alternative, until childbirth
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Having Your Tonsils Out as a Child May Have a Drastic Impact on Your Life
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The Risk of Cancer Fades as We Get Older, and We May Know Why
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Stanford Medicine recognises the ketogenic diet as a therapy for mental illness
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Insurers limit coverage of prosthetic limbs, questioning their medical necessity
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As Drugstores Close, Older People Are Left in 'Pharmacy Deserts'
Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp
Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda
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Without them we'd be dead. Why microbes play a major role in climate change
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Heat disproportionately kills the young: Evidence from Mexico
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New Data Reveal Climate Change-Driven Insurance Crisis Is Spreading
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Sour Prospects for Florida and Oranges
But now another hyperactive hurricane season, paired with the dogged persistence of an untreatable tree disease known as greening, has left a once thriving citrus industry on life support. Only 12m boxes of oranges will have been produced in Florida by the end of this year, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts show, the lowest single-year yield in almost a century. The figure is 33% lower than a year ago, and less than 5% of the 2004 harvest of 242m boxes.
- 2 hurricanes this year is not "hyperactive" but they'll report it anyway: Florida's 'record-breaking' hurricane season with 18 named storms