Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Hadley Freeman: What do you say to a friend who has just lost a child? I should know by now. (The Guardian)
I used to think of babies dying as something the Victorians had to endure, not us. If only.
Josh Marshall: Facebook Still Lying About Its Role in the 2016 Election (TPM)
Facebook was a bad actor by complicity in the entire 2016 election Russian interference campaign. As I've noted in other posts, it's an engine built to maximize engagement for ad sales and data collection which operates with no need to price its negative externalities. To pull that out of jargon into more concrete terms, it's like a factory that is highly profitable in large part because it can dump its toxic waste into the local river. Facebook is designed to do stuff like this. So it's not some shocking or unexpected occurrence that this happened.
Nick Visser: New York Magazine Makes A Case For Impeaching Clarence Thomas (Huffington Post)
"The idea of someone so flagrantly telling untruths to ascend to the highest legal position in the U.S. remains shocking, in addition to its being illegal."
JONATHAN RAUCH AND BENJAMIN WITTES: Boycott the Republican Party (Atlantic)
We're suggesting that in today's situation, people should vote a straight Democratic ticket even if they are not partisan, and despite their policy views. They should vote against Republicans in a spirit that is, if you will, prepartisan and prepolitical. Their attitude should be: The rule of law is a threshold value in American politics, and a party that endangers this value disqualifies itself, period. In other words, under certain peculiar and deeply regrettable circumstances, sophisticated, independent-minded voters need to act as if they were dumb-ass partisans.
Azmia Magane: Florida has a gun problem, and Governor Rick Scott is to blame (Independent)
In 2014, the NRA's Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) praised Scott, stating, 'Rick has signed more pro-gun bills into law in one term than any other governor in Florida history.'
HIDEKI NAKAZAWA: Waiting For the Robot Rembrandt (Nautilus)
What needs to happen for artificial intelligence to make fine art.
CHRISTOPHER MACLEOD: "John Stuart Mill: higher happiness" (Times Literary Supplement)
John Stuart Mill, the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century, is today best remembered as the author of On Liberty. The work is, he notes, a "kind of philosophic textbook of a single truth" - one in which he argues, relentlessly and over the course of around 50,000 words, that there should be no interference with the thought, speech, or action of any individual except on the grounds of the prevention of harm to others.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Useless Wheelchair Ramps
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
BadtotheBoneBob
From the 'Can You Believe This Crap?' File...
From the 'Can You Believe This Crap?' File...
No, this is not from The Onion... Yes, it's a real thing...
Stuffed Bear + American Flag + Trump = Real (Ugly) American
Remember when Bart railed against the "religiously insane"?
This is worse... much worse... Jingo-Political Insanity... (henceforth, "JPI")
... and, remember - They have lots of guns and, additionally, most suffer from the affliction that Bart so eloquently described...
So, here it is, folks... Proof positive that the T-rump zombies have been intellectually lobotomized... This is bad... really bad.
Trumpy Bear Official Website
(Hmmm? I wonder where it's made...)
BadtotheBoneBob
Thanks, B2tBBob!
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
CHRISTIANITY MAKES YOU CRAZY!
"THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE CORNER"
'I JUST DON'T BELIEVE IT'.
WHILE WE'RE ON THE SUBJECT OF IMPEACHMENT...
THE TERMITE.
PLAYING POKER WITH BOB.
DESTROYING A TRUMPSTER.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Windy and cold (for these parts) with a bit of rain.
Worst President
US History
Nearly 200 of America's top political scientists have voted Donald Trump (R-Crooked) the worst president in US history.
According to the 2018 Presidents & Executive Politics Presidential Greatness Survey, Mr Trump ranks even lower than disgraced President Richard Nixon - even among conservatives. Abraham Lincoln, unsurprisingly, takes the top prize. Mr Nixon sits at 33.
The study, conducted every four years, surveys social science researchers from the American Political Science Association's section on presidents and executive politics. It asks the experts to rank each president's greatness on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being great, 50 being average, and 0 being a total failure.
Mr Trump averaged a score of 12.34, bumping James Buchanan - the president who saw the US descend into the Civil War - out of the bottom spot. The result comes just months after Trump finished his first year in office as the most unpopular president in modern history.
Mr Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, jumped 10 places since the survey was last conducted in 2014, to spot number eight. George W Bush also climbs in the rankings, making it five places up to number 30.
US History
Guitar-Maker Fighting For Survival
Gibson
World-famous guitar maker Gibson, whose instruments have been played by the likes of John Lennon and Elvis Presley, is facing serious financial problems that threaten its very existence.
The mythical company -- in Nashville, Tennessee since 1894 -- on Monday brought in a new financial director, Benson Woo, to try to rescue the ailing group.
Gibson Brands, which also sells audio systems for both professionals and the general public, is working with an investment bank to set up a debt refinancing plan, the company said in a statement.
The group has a $375 million debt payment due in early August, the Nashville Post reported.
Gibson produces one of the most prestigious guitar models in the world, the Les Paul.
Gibson
Began In 1965
Anthropocene
On Campbell Island in the Southern Ocean, some 400 miles south of New Zealand, is a single Sitka spruce. More than 170 miles from any other tree, it is often credited as the "world's loneliest tree". Planted in the early 20th century by Lord Ranfurly, governor of New Zealand, the tree's wood has recorded the radiocarbon produced by above ground atomic bomb tests - and its annual layers show a peak in 1965, just after the tests were banned. The tree therefore gives us a potential marker for the start of the Anthropocene.
But why 1965? The 1960s is a decade forever associated with the hippie movement and the birth of the modern environmentalism, a sun-blushed age in which the Apollo moon landings gave us the iconic image of a fragile planet framed against a desolate lunar surface. It was also a time when the world was fast globalising, with rapid industrialisation and economic growth driving population expansion and a massive increase in our impact on the environment.
This postwar period has been called the "Great Acceleration". So the question we're interested in is whether this step change in human activity left an indelible mark on our planet, one which, if we disappeared today, would still leave a permanent signature in the geological record.
The concept of a human-dominated geological epoch has been around since the 19th century, but the idea that we have created an Anthropocene has recently become more popular in the face of long-term global changes in the environment far beyond what may be considered "natural". While humans have long had an impact on the planet at the local and even continental level, the scale of modern change is sufficiently large that geologists are considering the evidence to recognise the Anthropocene officially in the geological timescale. They have set the scientific community a major challenge to find a global-wide environmental marker or "golden spike" that represents this crucial change.
A major contender for defining the start of the Anthropocene Epoch is the peak in radioactive elements produced from above ground thermonuclear bomb tests, the majority of which occurred at the height of the Cold War in the early-1960s. The problem from a geologist's point of view is most of the records of this spike in radioactivity (for example preserved in lake sediments and the annual growth of tree-rings) have been reported from the Northern Hemisphere where the majority of the tests took place. To demonstrate a truly global human impact requires a signal from a remote, pristine location in the Southern Hemisphere that occurs at the same time as the north. This is where our new study comes in.
Anthropocene
Adds Unicorn Marbit
Lucky Charms
Step aside leprechauns, there's a new magical marshmallow coming to your breakfast table.
Two of the most magical things in the world are joining forces - unicorns and marshmallows.
The unicorn is Lucky Charms' first new marshmallow in 10 years.
The General Mills cereal will reportedly continue to have eight lucky charms made up of hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers, blue moons, rainbows, red balloons and now magical unicorns.
Lucky Charms
New York Magazine Makes Case For Impeaching
Slappy
New York Magazine is laying out a case for the possible impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Clarence "Slappy" Thomas.
The cover story, penned by former executive editor of The New York Times Jill Abramson, described Thomas' rise to power and his apparent immunity to scrutiny during the height of the #MeToo movement. Citing conversations with three women who worked with Thomas, Abramson also detailed a history of lies told by the judge, beginning during his confirmation hearing.
His dishonesty, not the allegations of impropriety, "raise the possibility of impeachment."
"Lying is, for lawyers, a cardinal sin. State disciplinary committees regularly institute proceedings against lawyers for knowingly lying in court, with punishments that can include disbarment. Since 1989, three federal judges have been impeached and forced from office for charges that include lying. The idea of someone so flagrantly telling untruths to ascend to the highest legal position in the U.S. remains shocking, in addition to its being illegal," Abramson wrote.
Abramson said Thomas' tenure on the court has been "devastating for women's rights," and highlighted his votes on cases involving equal-pay protections and employers' religious objections to supplying birth control.
Slappy
Circumcision Ban
Iceland
Religious leaders have reacted with outrage to a bill proposed by MPs in Iceland that would criminalise male circumcision.
The bill proposes a six-year prison term for anyone found guilty of "removing sexual organs in whole or in part".
Circumcising girls has been illegal in Iceland since 2005, but there are currently no laws to regulate the practice against boys.
Describing circumcision as a "violation" of young boys' rights, the bill states the only time it should be considered is for "health reasons".
Young men would be given the opportunity to decide for themselves once they reached the age of consent.
Iceland
Chicken Shortage Shuts KFCs
Britain
Fast-food fans were in a flutter Monday after most of the 900 KFC outlets in the U.K. and Ireland were forced to close because of a shortage of chicken.
The company apologized to customers, blaming "teething problems" with its new delivery partner, DHL.
KFC first apologized for the problems on Saturday. In an update Monday, it listed almost 300 stores as open, but did not say when the rest might join them.
DHL, which recently took over the KFC contract from Bidvest Logistics, said that "due to operational issues a number of deliveries in recent days have been incomplete or delayed."
When DHL announced in October that it had won the KFC contract alongside logistics firm QSL, it promised to "re-write the rule book and set a new benchmark for delivering fresh products to KFC in a sustainable way."
Britain
Thumb Stolen From Museum
Terra-Cotta Warriors
The warrior was a symbol of martial strength, molded from terra cotta and buried more than 2,000 years ago with China's first emperor to defend him in the afterlife.
The statue was helpless, however, against a man in a green sweater and a Phillies hat who, authorities say, sneaked into a closed-off area during a party at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in December and stole its thumb.
The man, who was attending the museum's after-hours ugly-sweater party on Dec. 21, entered the terra-cotta warrior exhibition room and used his cellphone's flashlight to view the displays. Then, according to an affidavit by Jacob B. Archer, an FBI special agent, the man put his arm around the statue and took a selfie.
Authorities said the man, later identified as Michael Rohana, then went for a more permanent memento. He grabbed the left hand of the statue, which is valued at $4.5 million, and broke off its thumb. Taking the piece with him, he left with friends for his home in Delaware.
Rohana, 24, was charged last week in Philadelphia with theft of an artwork from a museum, concealment of the artwork and interstate transportation of stolen property. He was released on bail.
Terra-Cotta Warriors
Stopped Turning White For Winter
Snowshoe Hares
Wearing a white coat in the winter will help you blend into the background only if there's enough snow in said background. But with climate change making snowy winters shorter and rarer, white animals have to re-adapt.
Snowshoe hares, like ermines and arctic foxes, famously have two coats. To blend in with the ground in the warmer months, snowshoe hares sport brown fur. In the winter, they turn white to camouflage with the snow. It's harder for predators to spot an animal that matches the background in all seasons.
This technique is a wonder of evolution, but climate change is interrupting this process. With warming temperatures, there's less snow in the winter, and white hares on unusually snow-less ground stick out to predators, like tasty marshmallows on mud.
Research recently published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology explained the new phenomenon. Biologists studying in Pennsylvania and in the colder Yukon compared the habits of their respective snowshoe hare populations, and found the distinct populations act and look very differently. Pennsylvania hares have thinner coats and don't seek out warmer areas. Three of the 70 Pennsylvania hares captured didn't even grow out their winter coats, staying the same color all year long.
The winter coat is not only lighter in color, but also thicker than the summer coat. The researchers suspect that some Pennsylvania hares are bucking the winter-coat trend because they don't need the insulation in increasingly warm winters. Another possibility is that the hares that don't change have an advantage over those that do because they blend in more readily with the ground. The advantage could lead to non-changing Pennsylvania hares living longer, breeding more, and passing their genes of uninterrupted brown-ness to more baby hares.
Snowshoe Hares
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