2025-01-21

little lives, upside of fertility collapse, pontification lanes, trans sex slaves now, FAA rockets stops, Trump's first day back, Biden pardons everybody, Peruvian Parliamentary miniskirt ban, longevity scams

etc

• The quiet rebellion of a little life

• Giant Ice Age landforms discovered deep beneath North Sea revealed

• Seven planets are lining up in the sky next month. This is what it means

CA Fires

• Airborne Lead and Chlorine Levels Soared as L.A. Wildfires Raged

• Suspects allegedly posing as firefighters in Palisades had fake fire engine

• Southern California braces for another potentially destructive windstorm

Horseshit

• Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends

• Survey finds 80% of people want to take leftover restaurant food home

• Cattle Gallstones, Worth Twice as Much as Gold, Drive a Global Smuggling Frenzy

• The Coming Population Collapse - by Ugo Bardi

  The fertility collapse is rarely recognized for what it is in a world where the cultural sphere tends to operate according to obsolete perceptions. One is the Malthusian view that we have an “overpopulation problem” that needs to be solved by increasing food production. At the same time, we need more cars, more planes, more homes, more TV sets, and more things of all kinds — it is the meme of economic growth that has driven human society during the past 2-3 centuries. Instead, we will soon face a completely different social and economic situation. It is not that fertility collapse is a good thing, but it could make the problems related to resource depletion and climate change less dramatic than they appear to us now. But note that there are still plenty of chances for exterminations and climate-related disasters as long as the population decline has not started yet. Even when it starts declining, it will bring all sorts of problems, including clashes between populations at different stages in their decline curve. We saw a hint of these possible clashes in the debate during the latest US presidential elections.

• Solar-charging backpacks are helping children in rural Africa to read after dark

• Enshittification isn't caused by venture capital

• Peeing is contagious among chimps

• Should I stay in my lane? - by Scott Sumner

  In a recent conversation about industrial policy, Noah Smith chided me for offering opinions on foreign policy risks, suggesting I was not qualified to opine on that subject. He’s probably right, and he probably “won” the debate. But I think his argument proves too much—no one has the expertise required to construct the sort of industrial policies now being advocated in Washington.

celebrity gossip

• Sci-fi author Alan Dean Foster moves into gaming with Pomme studio for Midworld

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• Facebook, X, YouTube to do more against online hate speech, EU says

TikTok

• Trump proposes US gov acquire half of TikTok, which thanks him, restores service

• Explaining the TikTok Dispute

• German TikTokers more approving of China, Russia – survey

• Trump proposes 50% US ownership of TikTok 'We're going to have a lot of bidders'

• China ever-so slightly softens stance on possible US TikTok sale

Musk

• Elon Musk admits to boosting in Path of Exile 2 and Diablo 4

• French group encourages mass departure from X platform on US Inauguration Day

• Dutch organizations, individuals quit X on day of Trump's inauguration

• Elon Musk complains Tesla is not getting subsidies for electric truck chargers

• X is rolling out a dedicated vertical video feed for US users

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Waymo rear-ended by speeding car in SF, 8 victims in fatal multi-vehicle crash

• Nvidia: Autonomous cars 'not close' to production reality

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• The tech billionaire war on "woke" is targeting workers

• I Met Paul Graham Once – Phill MV

  I’m better at my job than most. I’d be a better startup founder today than I was in 2015. None of that will matter. It feels as if people like pg, or at least people he hangs out with, who once upon a time believed in me, who lifted me up, recognized my talent, would now prefer that I be relegated to the sex slave caste.

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Betting on Homeschooling and Microschooling

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Updates and Third-Party Integration with Bambu Connect

• There is 'hope' that GTA 6 will cost as much as $100

• Ask HN: Is anyone making money selling traditional downloadable software? | Hacker News

• Privacy groups accuse Google of leaking data to China

• Allen Media laying off local TV weather forecasters

• X1Plus: Custom Firmware for Bambu Lab X1 and X1 Carbon 3D Printers

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• FOSDEM '25 Protest

  I would like to emphasize that we are not protesting FOSDEM or its organizers. We are protesting Jack Dorsey and his company, first and foremost, from promoting their business at FOSDEM.

  • This person has failed to become sufficiently famous via their works; so they've decided to promote hatred of others as a route to success. At least he's not recycling slanders about RMS now; but he's burned any credibility about his motives.

• Scenes from the 'Super Bowl for Excel Nerds'

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• 26% of students ages 13-17 are using ChatGPT to help with homework, study finds

• In AI Arms Race America Needs Private Companies, Warns National Security Advisor

• Microsoft eggheads say AI can never be made secure – after testing own products

• Sam Altman tells AI fans to lower their expectations on AI superintelligence

• Authors Seek Meta's Torrent Client Logs and Seeding Data in AI Piracy Probe

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• FAA requires mishap investigation for failed New Glenn landing.

• FAA grounds SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s New Glenn

• NASA still has no plan for how to bring precious Mars rocks to Earth

• Air traffic controllers rushed to divert aircraft after Musk's rocket exploded

• Space Force’s secretive X-37B space plane soars past 1 year in orbit.

Crypto con games

• Melania Trump joins her husband in the meme coin billions business

  • Melania Trump Launches Cryptocurrency

• Donald Trump, Crypto Billionaire

• 'Horrible look': Crypto lobby reels from Trump's 'memecoin'

• No Trump didn't make $50B from his memecoin

• Trump's crypto token tops $10B market cap, Bitcoin hits record high

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Billionaire wealth rises $3T in 2024, a rate 3 times faster than 2023

  • Wealth of billionaires grew by $2T in 2024, report finds

• Hindenburg could face securities fraud charges

• GM faces ban on selling driver data that can be used to raise insurance rates

• Why Big Tech's Remote Work Rules Push Employees to Hide Abroad

• What to know about BRICS and its growing clout

• Moving Out of Parental Homes Is on Hold

• Working from home 'not proper work' – ex-Asda boss

• How hard is it to prevent recurring blackouts in Puerto Rico?

• Equifax to Pay $15M for Improper Investigations of Credit Reporting Errors

• U.S. electricity demand set to explode

• NPR shopped for 96 items at Walmart to track how prices are changing

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Report Reviews CHIPS Act, Suggests Not All Needed Subsidies

• To ensure compliance with trash laws, NYC considers deploying drones

• Executive order calls for cybersecurity review of civil space systems

Trump

• Tech leaders to attend Trump Inauguration

• Trump to suspend security clearances of 51 intelligence officials who falsely implied Hunter Biden laptop was Russian fake

• Trump's Day One Executive Order on 'Male and Female'

• Ramaswamy will Leave DOGE

  • Ramaswamy to leave DOGE to launch bid for Ohio governor

• Trump won't impose tariffs on Canada, other countries right away: reports

• Trump to End Birthright Citizenship, Send Troops to Border in Immigration Executive Orders

  President-elect Donald Trump will sign 10 immigration-related executive orders soon after he is sworn in that would end recognition of automatic birthright citizenship, send troops to the border, declare a national emergency at the border and attempt to end asylum at the border through an immediate removal process, according to incoming White House officials. Officials provided little detail on the executive orders, but taken together, they would dramatically reshape U.S. border polices through executive action. It wasn’t clear how Trump officials would block asylum or use the military. Some of the actions are expected to face legal challenges.

  • Trump to make historic move toward revoking birthright citizenship

• Trump to sign orders ending DEI programs, proclaim there are only two sexes

• Trump Is Sworn in as 47th President

• Read President Trump's full inauguration speech - New York Post

  • FULL TEXT: President Donald Trump's Inauguration Speech

• It's America's 'Manifest Destiny' to Plant a Flag on Mars, Trump Says

• Deportations, tariffs, pardons: what Trump has planned for day one

• Trump signs executive order withdrawing from the World Health Organization

• Trump rescinds AI order by Biden

  • Trump revokes Biden executive order on addressing AI risks

  • Trump revokes Biden executive order regulating AI safety

• Trump Signs Clemency Action for 1500+ J6 ‘Hostages' – HotAir

• Trump Signs Executive Orders, Rescinds Biden Actions in Front of Fired-Up Arena Crowd | National Review

Democrats / Biden Inc

• Biden Pardons Anthony Fauci and Mark Milley

  • Biden Pardons Fauci, Milley, and J6 Committee Members.

  • White House issues pre-emptive pardons for Fauci Milley and Jan 6 committee

  • Anthony Fauci granted preemptive pardon in the last hours of Biden's term

  • Biden Issues Pre-Emptive Pardons on Last Day in Office

  • "I Believe In The Rule Of Law, But..." - Biden Pre-Emptively Pardons Fauci, Schiff, Cheney, Milley & More | ZeroHedge

  • Statement from President Joe Biden | The White House

  Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong—and in fact have done the right thing—and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances.

  That is why I am exercising my authority under the Constitution to pardon General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee.

• Biden pardons family members

  From Jan 1 2014, through the date of this pardon.

• None of the people with pardons should have any objection to fully cooperating with investigators to see who else was complicit in the crimes they furthered... right?

• Why Biden failed - by Nate Silver - Silver Bulletin

  The connections are hard to see unless you take a highly intersectional approach to politics. In a cynical way, the pandemic had actually been a respite from bad news on the climate because the decline in economic activity had temporarily reduced global CO2 output. How the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman had spun, in the middle of this pandemic, into a broader “racial reckoning” is something that you could write an entire book about, meanwhile. Following Floyd’s death, the number of Americans citing racism as the most important problem spiked to 19 percent even among all the other challenges the country had to contend with, its highest level since the late 1960s. But by the time of Biden’s election in November, the racial awakening was reverting to the mean. In the AP exit poll, only 7 percent of voters cited racism as “the most important issue facing the country,” and almost all of them were Democrats:

• Joe Biden was America's first climate president. Did it matter?

• Biden’s FBI director expressed ‘vehement’ opposition to Leonard Peltier commutation

Left Angst

• Did Donald Trump just admit he cheated in Pennsylvania?

• Bannon: Billionaire CEOs have surrendered to Trump

• “Be careful what you wish for, you might get it!”

  • If the Republicans regulate social media companies to discriminate less against “the Right,” hose regulations may someday be used against them.
  • The dwindling of various “safeguards” on rhetoric, as the Woke are dismantled, could end up harming later Republican or right-leaning targets of harmful rhetoric, including from other right-wingers. Some of you may feel this is absurd, but just wait.

  • D'ya think the Left's rules for social media and legal precedents might be used against them? Or are is Republicans' ethical guidelines going to prevent them from using such tools now that they have been provided? "Tit for Tat" means we can dismiss anything bad said about Trump as Russian disinformation, no matter how much evidence we see, right?

• Trump administration will back CHIPS and Science Act hints outgoing Commerce SEC

• How to survive the second Trump era

• Elon Musk's DOGE to be sued within minutes of Trump inauguration

• Welcome to the era of gangster tech regulation

• How MAGA Is Taking Back the Culture: In sports, entertainment and marketing, displays of conservatism are crowding out progressive postures.

• Limp Cheers, Tiny Crowds: March Protesting Against Donald Trump Falls flat.

• Big Tech Mafia Spotted in Church with Trump as New Era of Oligarchy Begins

• Trump paints a grim picture and Pence tries to look ahead in ... - NPR

• they did it in "Star Wars" too omg Did Elon Musk Appear to Sieg Heil at Trump Inauguration?

  • Elon Musk appears to make back-to-back fascist salutes at inauguration rally

• A Trump Party Hosted by Peter Thiel, with All of Silicon Valley

• Broligarchs Vision for Trump Term

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Navy to Simplify Drone Ship Plans, Focus on Containerized Payloads

• Pentagon's shameful effort to draft mentally disabled men to fight in Vietnam

World

• People with working-class accents more likely suspected of committing crimes

• Spain's PM Sanchez floats ban on non-EU citizens buying properties

• Peru: Assassination of an escort leads to miniskirt ban in world’s least popular parliament

  By the time she succumbed to her injuries in intensive care one week later, investigators had begun to unearth a scandal shocking even by the rock-bottom standards of the Andean nation’s ethically-challenged Congress – a prostitution ring allegedly operating within the legislative palace itself. Politicians initially sought to ignore the mushrooming scandal, which Ms Vidal, who was part of the ring, had reportedly been on the point of revealing when she was killed. But public pressure finally forced them to act. Last week, they banned female aides from wearing miniskirts and shorts.

• Bank of Japan poised to raise rates to highest in 17 years

• Denmark to ditch 'parenting competency' tests for Greenlandic families

Iran / Houthi

• Houthis Say US and UK Ships Can Safely Take Red Sea Passage

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• What the North Koreans took into battle against Ukraine

China

• China performs high altitude reusable rocket test with uncertain outcome

Health / Medicine

• More cancer, less death? New alcohol-risk reviews offer conflicting takeaways

• The Trouble with Bryan Johnson

  Right now Longevity influencer Bryan Johnson is speedrunning through that famous Eric Hoffer quote: "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." In a sense, he's just the latest in a long lineage of charlatans making money off the promise to help people live longer, if not forever.

• Why some experts suspect younger generations could lead shorter lives

• Obesity drugs: study highlights new health risks

• Viagra-laced 'erectile honey' is flooding into France, officials warn

• People who only need five hours' sleep

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• 'Dark oxygen' mission to investigate seabed oxygen production

• The next volcanic eruption will cause chaos we are not prepared for

• 3,600-Foot-Tall Undersea Volcano Expected to Blow This Year but Nobody's Worried

• Too many calves are born. We dispose of them like garbage

• Has Trump changed the retirement plans for the country's largest coal plants?

• Invasive green crabs threaten West Coast ecosystems. One solution? Otters

• Hydroelectric Dams in OR Kill Salmon. Congress Says It's Time to Shut Them Down

• Planet-warming carbon dioxide levels rose more than ever in 2024

• The deeper under the Earth's surface, the more species you can find

• France's 2024 Power Grid Was 95% Fossil Free as Nuclear, Renewables Jumped

• Yes, Climate Change Is Probably Going to Kill You