Interesting News, Articles & Stuff

[vapviking]

Brilliant. Maybe even some Syrians will sell them a jeep?
Ukraine Offering Up To $1 Million To Russian Defectors With Jet Or Warship

Ukraine Offering Up To $1 Million To Russian Defectors With Jet Or Warship

They'll get up to $500,000 for a helicopter, according to the new law, which will offer a significant "incentive" to demoralized troops to surrender.

www.huffpost.com

...and equally creative, Follow the letter of the law, Florida!
(Spoiler alert, there's an actual lesson in here about gender-specific pronouns!)

Memo Circulated To Florida Teachers Lays Out Clever Sabotage Of 'Don't Say Gay' Law

Memo Circulated To Florida Teachers Lays Out Clever Sabotage Of 'Don't Say Gay' Law

Every student should now use "they" and "them" pronouns to avoid obvious gender identifiers like "he" and "she," indicates a letter reportedly circulating in the state.

www.huffpost.com

 

[florduh]

Memo Circulated To Florida Teachers Lays Out Clever Sabotage Of 'Don't Say Gay' Law

Memo Circulated To Florida Teachers Lays Out Clever Sabotage Of 'Don't Say Gay' Law

Every student should now use "they" and "them" pronouns to avoid obvious gender identifiers like "he" and "she," indicates a letter reportedly circulating in the state.

www.huffpost.com

 

[Babylon Drifter]

Brilliant. Maybe even some Syrians will sell them a jeep?
Ukraine Offering Up To $1 Million To Russian Defectors With Jet Or Warship

Ukraine Offering Up To $1 Million To Russian Defectors With Jet Or Warship

They'll get up to $500,000 for a helicopter, according to the new law, which will offer a significant "incentive" to demoralized troops to surrender.

www.huffpost.com

...and equally creative, Follow the letter of the law, Florida!
(Spoiler alert, there's an actual lesson in here about gender-specific pronouns!)

Memo Circulated To Florida Teachers Lays Out Clever Sabotage Of 'Don't Say Gay' Law

Memo Circulated To Florida Teachers Lays Out Clever Sabotage Of 'Don't Say Gay' Law

Every student should now use "they" and "them" pronouns to avoid obvious gender identifiers like "he" and "she," indicates a letter reportedly circulating in the state.

www.huffpost.com

Well, they dunno about them but when they told them to only use they and them to confuse them they dunno who is most confused anymore, perhaps it's them or they or maybe its just they who is confused.

All they know is theys head hurts after typing that and they needs to get higher.


Filing a polkce report will be a blast. They report said tbey saw them. So a couple od people saw a couple of people? Or 1 person saw another person, or did tbey see a group of them? Or did a group of theys see a single them?

 

[DillGaff]

Ukrainian MiG-29 Pilot's Front-Line Account Of The Air War Against Russia

A MiG-29 pilot talks tactics and tribulations in the desperate fight to keep Ukraine’s skies free from Russian domination.

www.thedrive.com

 

[macbill]

The Real Yacht Rock: Inside the Lavish, Top-Secret World of Private Gigs

Musicians from Beyoncé to Mark McGrath are making big money playing private gigs. Experts say the trend is just getting started.

www.rollingstone.com

 

[Planck]

"Misery as an economic commodity

 

[shredder]

"Misery as an economic commodity

That's pretty timely and explains a lot.

 

[vapviking]

"Misery as an economic commodity

Interesting part at the end that makes comparison to the way we do it -- by enabling drug companies to distribute their addictive bullshit to the masses.
****************************

Other interesting story;
I'm not wishing the EU get 'uncomfortable' by limiting Russian fuels, but, this is a disturbing comparison.
EU contributes 1 billion to Ukraine for war effort to date.
EU gives Russia 1 billion PER DAY for "energy", or 35 billion since start of war.

€1bn for Ukraine, €35bn for Russian energy: top EU diplomat calls out funding gap

EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urges bloc to send more arms to Ukraine to help end the war

www.theguardian.com

 

[florduh]

Other interesting story;
I'm not wishing the EU get 'uncomfortable' by limiting Russian fuels, but, this is a disturbing comparison.
EU contributes 1 billion to Ukraine for war effort to date.
EU gives Russia 1 billion PER DAY for "energy", or 35 billion since start of war.

Russia has long supported nuclear energy at home so they can export their oil and exert control on global fuel markets. Looks like that strategy is paying off. Shitty for everyone else though.

I remember when I was a teenager during the 9/11 hysteria thinking, "well, at least this is a wake up call that we need to diversify our energy sources and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels." 20 years later, we've learned nothing.

This didn't even make a blip on the news.

Climate change: IPCC scientists say it's 'now or never' to limit warming

Staving off the worst impacts of climate change is possible, say scientists, but immediate action is needed.

www.bbc.com

First, the bad news - even if all the policies to cut carbon that governments had put in place by the end of 2020 were fully implemented, the world will still warm by 3.2C this century.

3.2 degrees is an actual HellWorld. Kiss most coastline goodbye. I remember there were stories about the Ukraine situation causing food shortages. What happens when half the crops on earth fail due to changing weather patterns? Sure, we can move our agriculture operations to more stable areas. But that takes time and a whole lot of people will die in the meantime.

There's also no real limiter here. No reason we'd stop at 3 degrees.

 

[vapviking]

@florduh, always the Debbie Downer... but with good reason and intent, I know.

I remember when I was a teenager during the 9/11 hysteria thinking, "well, at least this is a wake up call that we need to diversify our energy sources and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels." 20 years later, we've learned nothing.

In the mid 1970's (I was mid-twenties) there were gas "shortages". Nationwide rationing, odd/even days (according to calendar and your plate#) and we often waited in long lines. At the time we tended to blame the dependence on foreign oil, but it really was/is the same fossil fuel dependence we live today; 50 years later, we've learned nothing, except just how fucked we really are.

 

[florduh]

@florduh, always the Debbie Downer... but with good reason and intent, I know.

LOL. Everything is quite depressing, but I think I have a good attitude about it. Because it's also so absurd that you just gotta laugh.

50 years later, we've learned nothing, except just how fucked we really are.

Oil companies knew at least 50 years ago that we won't be able to pump billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere forever without it eventually fucking up the climate. Anyone who doesn't believe that needs to explain why Venus is warmer than Mercury. But those companies suppressed the research, just like cigarette companies before them. Then they hired the same exact "scientists" who tried to convince Americans that cigarettes are healthy to spread doubt about climate change.

American oil companies could drill more right now to bring down gas prices. But they like getting more profit for less work. They also see the writing on the wall for fossil fuels. The party is coming to an end. The goal for the wealthy corporate elite is to extract as much wealth as possible before that so they and their descendants will hopefully be shielded from the worst effects of the coming horrors.

 

[macbill]

peaplA fully unearthed statue of an Easter Island Moai that was carved by the Rapa Nui people people .

Recent excavations in Easter Island are revealing new discoveries about Moai monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people between the years 1250 and 1500. Image © Easter Island Statue Project According to new theory the recently found bodies of Moai monolithic statues, were buried as a...

daisuki.mn

 

[macbill]

 

[florduh]

I must've missed this. Apparently all of our bodies are infested with microplastics?

Microplastics are confirmed in human blood for the first time

Everything from baby bottles to a dip in the ocean can potentially introduce toxic microplastics into the human body. And the health effects could be dire.

interestingengineering.com

Hopefully this brings people back down to earth when discussing things like vaporizer material safety. We swim in a sea of poison every single day. And it's not like you can even go off grid and grow your own food to get away from it.

In laboratory experiments, microplastics damaged human cells, and it's well-known that air pollution particles entering the body are linked to millions of death every year. Significant amounts of plastic waste are spread in the global environment, with microplastics abundant throughout the world, from the tallest mountain to the abyssal depths of the Pacific Ocean.

Cool. SO even if you get a plot of land in rural Montana, the food you grow will still be infested with poison. Maybe we can also cut all the bullshit surrounding cannabis prohibition. "Protect the children", lol. Babies are infested with microplastics after being on this planet for like a week.

This is also why I didn't get all the hysteria around a certain new controversial drug that became popular over the past two years. You already "ate the bugs and live in a pod". We eat like several credit cards worth of plastic every day. The "don't put poison in my body" ship sailed decades ago.
Same thing with all the organic LA crystal mommies I know. Go spend my monthly mortgage payment at Whole Foods every week, Harmony. Your blood will still eventually be replaced with molten plastic, just like the rest of us.

 

[vapirtoo]

Remember the film, The Graduate?
The old guy said, "Plastic"
its the future of investments.

 

[cybrguy]

I must've missed this. Apparently all of our bodies are infested with microplastics?

Microplastics are confirmed in human blood for the first time

Everything from baby bottles to a dip in the ocean can potentially introduce toxic microplastics into the human body. And the health effects could be dire.

interestingengineering.com

Hopefully this brings people back down to earth when discussing things like vaporizer material safety. We swim in a sea of poison every single day. And it's not like you can even go off grid and grow your own food to get away from it.



Cool. SO even if you get a plot of land in rural Montana, the food you grow will still be infested with poison. Maybe we can also cut all the bullshit surrounding cannabis prohibition. "Protect the children", lol. Babies are infested with microplastics after being on this planet for like a week.

This is also why I didn't get all the hysteria around a certain new controversial drug that became popular over the past two years. You already "ate the bugs and live in a pod". We eat like several credit cards worth of plastic every day. The "don't put poison in my body" ship sailed decades ago.
Same thing with all the organic LA crystal mommies I know. Go spend my monthly mortgage payment at Whole Foods every week, Harmony. Your blood will still eventually be replaced with molten plastic, just like the rest of us.

None of that suggests that your behavior doesn't matter and there is no value in doing what you can to reduce the pollutants you consume. That's like saying it's fine to live on Big Macs and Twinkies because you are gonna die anyway. No, it may be way past time for any of our bodies to be truly devoid of synthetic, unnatural, man made garbage, but being careful of what you consume intentionally will certainly reduce the pollution that makes it's way inside. And it may extend your life or reduce your chance of developing cancer or other cellular attack.

 

[florduh]

None of that suggests that your behavior doesn't matter and there is no value in doing what you can to reduce the pollutants you consume.

I wouldn't say NO value. But the value is in my opinion, a tad overblown. Like, on average we're consuming a credit card of plastic per week. Maybe making intentional food choices choices can get you down to eating half a credit card a week. Maybe that makes a difference over the long term. But you're still swimming in a sea of poison if microplastics infest even the remotest regions of the earth.

I don't think the takeaway is to say fuck it and eat Big Macs till your heart explodes. What you eat still matters, especially in how you feel. But people obsessed with "eating clean" and avoiding toxins at all costs are almost certainly doing more damage to their bodies by stressing over it than it's worth.

 

[florduh]

Corporate profit is at a level well beyond what we have ever seen, and it's expected to keep growing

The level of profit that large corporations experienced in 2021 was unparalleled in American history, as consumers faced the worst price inflation the U.S....

www.marketwatch.com

The level of profit that large corporations experienced in 2021 was unparalleled in American history, as consumers faced the worst price inflation the U.S. has seen in decades

I wonder.... Do you think "unparalleled levels of corporate profit" and "the worst inflation consumers have seen in decades" are connected in any way?

Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows that there are no historical parallels to that type of profitability from corporations before 1999, either. Records dating back to the late 1940s show that after-tax corporate profits in relation to gross domestic product are at all-time highs.

The most charitable explanation for these obscene levels of profit are that inflation costs haven't really hit corporate balance sheets yet. Let's see if that makes any sense.

If this were a temporary effect caused by a rebound from COVID woes and a delay in rising costs companies expect, it would logically follow that profit margins would be forecast to decline ahead. That is not happening, though, at least not beyond the round of financial reports that are beginning to land. Analysts’ current average estimates for 2023 and 2024 suggest both will have higher profit margins than 2021 — 12.98% and 13.38%, respectively

2021 saw the highest rate of after cost profit for corporations, ever. Analysts are expecting even higher profit rates going forward. To me, it sure looks like these people are just "taking price" because they can. In no small part because their partners in the corporate media provide cover by blaming inflation on poor people getting a meager stimmy check, and Putin.

 

[Carrera3.0]

America’s Highest Earners And Their Taxes Revealed

Secret IRS files reveal the top US income-earners and how their tax rates vary more than their incomes. Tech titans, hedge fund managers and heirs dominate the list, while the likes of Taylor Swift and LeBron James didn’t even make the top 400.

projects.propublica.org

 

[florduh]

America’s Highest Earners And Their Taxes Revealed

Secret IRS files reveal the top US income-earners and how their tax rates vary more than their incomes. Tech titans, hedge fund managers and heirs dominate the list, while the likes of Taylor Swift and LeBron James didn’t even make the top 400.

projects.propublica.org

I like that most of that top 400 list is redacted. At least under feudalism they didn't allow anonymous nobles.

 

[macbill]

A Gatekeeping Protein Offers a Way to Finally Cure Seizures

Scientists are uncovering the molecular mysteries of this ancient human disease.

www.thedailybeast.com

Russia Admits Its Missile Flagship Has Sunk

The warship, famous for being told by Ukrainian guards to “go fuck yourself,” was ultimately felled by bad weather rather than a missile strike, Russia’s Defense Ministry insisted.

www.thedailybeast.com

 

[macbill]

MIT Scientists Develop New Regenerative Drug That Reverses Hearing Loss

MIT spinout Frequency Therapeutics’ drug candidate stimulates the growth of hair cells in the inner ear. Frequency Therapeutics, a biotechnology company, is working to repair hearing loss using a novel kind of regenerative treatment rather than hearing aids or implants. The company programs proge

scitechdaily.com

 

[MinnBobber]

That list is sick, #11

 

[macbill]

I don't know these musicians. The Torch has passed.

Coachella 2022 YouTube Livestream Schedule & Details Announced

Here’s when to catch Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, the Weeknd, Arcade Fire, Phoebe Bridgers, Megan Thee Stallion, and more

pitchfork.com

 

[shredder]

I don't know these musicians. The Torch has passed.

Coachella 2022 YouTube Livestream Schedule & Details Announced

Here’s when to catch Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, the Weeknd, Arcade Fire, Phoebe Bridgers, Megan Thee Stallion, and more

pitchfork.com

I hear ya bro. My musical tastes peaked in the 70's. Fifty something years ago, lol.