M Is FOR MASHUP - November 29th, 2017
NO Actual Column
By DJ Useo
Hey Y'all - Sorry to say I'm taking a pass on this week's article.
There's a large problem with mashup hosting occurring across the scene, so I'm not going to post another article with dead links again.
Many of us home producers are also concerned the repeal of net neutrality will allow the blocking of our sites.
Wish us luck, & I'll keep you updated. - DJ Konrad Useo
ps. I do have a cool new psychedelic long mix available.
Stream or d/l the disc length long mix "The Psychedelia of November" here
( www.bmbx.org/2017/11/the-psychedelia-of-november/ )
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Biggest Tax Scam in History (NY Times Column)
Republicans try to create a safe place for political double-talk.
Paul Krugman: Choice and the Insurance Mandate (NY Times Blog)
Spending less on needy families actually hurts them. Who knew?
Simon Usborne: At what point do we give up on books? Big data has the answer (The Guardian)
Information gleaned from when users stop listening to audiobooks and from kindle readers' behaviour offer unique insight into how we consume books - neither bode well for Craig Oliver's Brexit memoirs.
Jonathan Jones: "All the Da Vincis in the world: rated" (The Guardian)
As Salvator Mundi, his potent depiction of Christ, becomes the most expensive artwork ever, here's our guide to every Leonardo painting in existence, from the masterpieces to the less-than-perfects.
Lydia O'Connor: Another Attempt To Discredit The Washington Post's Reports about Roy Moore Backfires (Huffington Post)
The sting attempt apparently led by Project Veritas was "the essence of a scheme to deceive and embarrass us," a Post editor said.
Elyse Wanshel: "'Lady Bird' Becomes Best-Reviewed Movie In Rotten Tomatoes' History"(Huffington Post)
That's hella tight.
Jacob Hamberger: The Closing of the American Mind (The Point)
Allan Bloom was an elitist. He saw himself as a champion of excellence in an age of vulgarity. While a professor at the University of Chicago between 1979 and 1992, he sought to immerse his students in only the most classic works of philosophy and literature. Someone looking to define the "Western canon" could do worse than to dig up his course syllabi. In his personal style, he embodied high culture nearly to the point of caricature.
Michele Hanson: Energy suppliers are a rip-off, no matter where you go (The Guardian)
I was convinced to switch companies, but I was a fool to think I would get a fairly priced product anywhere from anyone.
Michele Hanson: Shirley Porter on stage is a warning to us all. I hope it's a sell-out (The Guardian)
But why should councils be scared of treating the poor like rubbish? Porter's "mean and nasty" policy was not harshly punished. Of the £26.5m the House of Lords ordered her to repay, she coughed up only £12.3m, and that took her more than a decade and a half. Now look at what Tesco is up to: paying some Christmas temps via prepaid cards that cost 50p for each withdrawal (they say it's only when there is no alternative means of payment).
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
said:
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Contribution
cartoon for bartcop e
Republicans love to berate empty chairs! Lol!
DJ Useo
Thanks, Konrad!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
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
FASCISM TAKES A FOOTHOLD.
"RATFUCKER" IN CHIEF.
THE BUMS RUSH!
DON'T HEAL THE SICK. KILL AND GOUGE THE SICK!
BUYING NOTHING!
'BACK TO THE FUTURE'.
3200 PHAETHON IS COMING TO THE SKY NEAR YOU.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warmer than seasonal.
To Be Released On Vinyl
'Voyager Golden Record'
A "mix-tape for aliens" created by Nasa and launched into space in 1977 is to be produced on vinyl and released to the general public for the first time.
The phonograph album, the "Voyager Golden Record", features music by J.S. Bach and Chuck Berry as well as sounds from humpback whales and greetings in 55 languages.
Nasa launched two copies of the album into space in 1977 on its Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts in the hope that it would be picked up by extraterrestrials.
Until recently, the album was only accessible to donors of a Kickstarter campaign by Ozma Records, which raised nearly $1.4 million to issue a limited number of copies on vinyl.
On the back of its success, the record label has decided to release the album to the general public and will be producing a vinyl edition at the end of January 2018.
'Voyager Golden Record'
Delegate Slams T-rump
Navajo Nation
Members of the Navajo Nation are excoriating Donald Trump (R-Pendejo) for mockingly referring to a political adversary as "Pocahontas" during a White House event.
During an event honouring Navajo code talkers, who drew on their native language to help the US military send coded communications during World War II, Mr Trump referenced a "representative in Congress…they call her "Pocahontas"."
The President has turned the name "Pocahontas" into an insulting nickname for Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who has faced pushback for referencing her slight Native American ancestry. His decision to derisively invoke a celebrated Native American at an event honouring Native Americans swiftly drew condemnations from Navajo people.
Navajo National Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty blasted the President's remarks as "the latest example of systemic, deep-rooted ignorance of Native Americans".
"The reckless appropriation of this term is deeply offensive and dangerous to the sovereignty and identity of our peoples", she said, adding that "The Navajo Code Talkers are not pawns to advance a personal grudge, or promote false narratives".
Navajo Nation
Retiring From Political Commentary
Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann, who had dedicated a video series to his scathing analysis of President Donald Trump, announced Monday night that he was retiring from political commentary entirely.
"I am confident now, even more so than I have been throughout the last year, that this nightmare presidency of Donald John Trump will end prematurely and end soon, and I am thus also confident that this it the correct moment to end this series of commentaries," he said during his latest episode of GQ's "The Resistance."
Olbermann said that he did the GQ series "for free and for charity," but he did not enjoy it.
"It has been pain, revulsion and horror," he said. "I'd like to go back and enjoy some of my life again, and I'm going to. No illness, no scandal, no firing - just, I've said what I had to say."
"Trump's an ex-president waiting to happen - imminently," he wrote. "So tonight's will be the last episode of #TheResistanceGQ and I'm retiring from political commentary."
Keith Olbermann
Attempt To Discredit Backfires
Washington Post
For weeks, Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore (R-Pervy) and supporters of his Alabama campaign have attacked the journalistic integrity of The Washington Post for publishing what they say are false allegations that Moore sexually harassed teenage girls when he was in his 30s.
But in a display of poetic justice Monday, a sting operation attempting to discredit the Post's reporting backfired and instead demonstrated that its staff takes extensive measures to verify sources' claims.
Earlier this month, a woman named Jaime T. Phillips approached the paper with allegations that Moore, in his 40s at the time, had impregnated her when she was 15. After about two weeks of interviews with her, the Post confronted her about inconsistencies in her story and about a GoFundMe page under her name announcing a new job working "in the conservative media movement to combat the lies and deceipt [sic] of the liberal MSM," or mainstream media.
Phillips ceased contact with the Post after being confronted with its findings, and on Monday, Post staffers spotted Phillips walking into the New York offices of Project Veritas, a group infamous for its attempts to target the media and left-leaning groups through undercover operations. Its hope is that news outlets will fall for its false information and prove Project Veritas' claim that the mainstream media can't be trusted.
In 2015, President Donald Trump's (R-Corrupt) charity donated $10,000 to the organization.
Washington Post
Breitbart Editor Defends
Roy Moore
In what may be the most ludicrous defense to date of Roy Moore, the Republican Senate nominee who is accused of child sexual harassment, a senior Breitbart News editor cited a Ringo Starr song.
Joel Pollak, senior editor-at-large of Breitbart, cited Starr's "You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful and You're Mine)" - a cover of a 1960 Johnny Burnette song written by the Sherman Brothers - as he sought to defend Moore's alleged behavior in an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo on Monday.
"You know, in 1973, Ringo Starr hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts with the song ['You're Sixteen']" Pollak told Cuomo. "It was a remake of an earlier song. He was 30-something at the time, singing about a 16-year-old. You want to take away Ringo Starr's achievement?"
An incredulous Cuomo cut in. "You can't be serious," the CNN anchor repeated twice. "You think that Ringo Starr's song is supposed to be a nod towards allowing 30-year-old men to prey on teenagers? You don't believe that, Joel. You're a parent. You don't believe that."
Instead of responding directly, Pollak went on to say that as a parent he worries about the "risks our sons face today," namely being "exposed to accusations that may or may not be true."
Roy Moore
Repeal Of Carbon Rule Criticized
Coal Country
Health groups, environmentalists and a former coal miner criticized the Trump administration's proposal to dismantle an Obama-era rule to slash carbon emissions from power plants at a public hearing held in the heart of coal country on Tuesday.
The hearing also heard from many coal supporters who said that the plan would cost utilities billion of dollars, which would likely result in mining job cuts.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hosted the two-day hearing in West Virginia on its proposal to axe the Clean Power Plan (CPP), the centerpiece of former President Barack Obama's strategy on climate change. It was the only meeting scheduled on the rule, which President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Crooked) has said would devastate the coal industry.
Stanley Sturgill, a 72-year-old retired coal miner from Kentucky who has black lung disease, urged the EPA to "stop listening to the corrupting power" of the fossil fuel industry and to start doing everything possible to protect human health and the climate.
Robert Murray (R-Blood on his hands), the CEO of private coal mining company Murray Energy who was the first party to file a lawsuit against the CPP, referred to the rules as the "no power plan." If it is not repealed American consumers would face massive costs, said Murray, who was accompanied by about 20 miners in hard hats from Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Coal Country
Doesn't Use Computer
Dr. Anna Konopka
A New Hampshire judge has denied an 84-year-old doctor's request to regain her license to practice, which she had surrendered partly over her inability to use a computer.
The state challenged Dr. Anna Konopka's record keeping, prescribing practices and medical decision making. It said her limited computer skills prevent her from using the state's mandatory electronic drug monitoring program, which requires prescribers of opioids to register in an effort to reduce overdoses.
Konopka surrendered her license in October, but later requested permission to continue her practice. New Hampshire Public Radio reported Monday that Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger ruled Nov. 15 that she failed to show she was forced to give up her license as she alleged.
Konopka doesn't have a computer in her office and doesn't know how to use one. Two file cabinets in a tiny waiting room inside a 160-year-old clapboard house hold most of her patient records. The only sign of technology in the waiting room is a landline telephone on her desk.
Konopka has built a loyal following in New London, population 4,400, and surrounding towns because she brings a personal touch that is attractive to patients weary of battling big hospitals and inattentive doctors. She often attracts patients who have run out of options, many with complicated conditions, such as chronic pain. She also draws patients who have no insurance and little means to pay. She takes anyone willing to pay her $50 in cash -- making it difficult for her to afford a nurse, secretary or a lawyer to handle her case, she said.
Dr. Anna Konopka
New Tests At Presumed Tomb
Jesus
Scientific testing at what is believed to be Jesus's tomb dates material there to the fourth century, supporting traditional beliefs surrounding the site, an expert involved in the study said Tuesday.
The study offers no further evidence whether or not Jesus was actually buried at the site in Jerusalem, but was consistent with the historical belief that the Romans built a monument there some 300 years after his death.
It is the first time such testing has been carried out at the site, located at what is now the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and encased in an elaborate shrine, or edicule.
The tests on mortar at the site were done in connection with recent restoration work, which saw the cave where Jesus is believed to have been buried opened for the first time in centuries.
Antonia Moropoulou, chief scientific coordinator of the restoration works, said the testing was consistent with historical beliefs that the Romans built a monument at the presumed tomb during the era of Constantine the Great, circa 326.
Jesus
Right Under Our Noses
Extraterrestrial Life
Science fiction has taught us to expect our first contact with alien life to be a momentous event, with radio signals from another civilization filling our airwaves and perhaps even the arrival of an alien spaceship or two. Reality is somewhat less exciting, and scientists have long expected our first discovery of extraterrestrial life to be on the microscopic scale. Now, the Russian space agency claims they may have stumbled upon just that, and it may have been hiding under our noses the entire time.
Russian cosmonauts have reportedly discovered tiny bacteria on a swab collected from outside the International Space Station, and they're confident that the organisms didn't originate on our planet. If the discovery can be confirmed, it would be the very first concrete evidence of extraterrestrial life. That's a pretty big deal.
The swabs, which were collected years ago but seemingly overlooked, contained living bacteria which may have come from outer space. "Somehow these swabs reveal bacteria that were absent during the launch of the ISS module," Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov explains. "That is, they have come from outer space and settled along the external surface. They are being studied so far and it seems that they pose no danger."
Along with the purported alien bacteria, other bacteria thought to have originated on Earth was also found on the swabs. Surviving in the vacuum of space is no easy feat, and intense temperature fluctuations failed to kill the bacteria over the course of three years, which is mighty impressive. It's unclear exactly how the researchers were able to differentiate between terrestrial bacteria and the alien bacteria that appeared within the same samples.
The bacteria was brought back to Earth on the swabs and is now being studied, though the Russian space agency says it shouldn't be considered dangerous. The group apparently didn't actually know the bacteria was present on the swab samples until it was returned to Earth for closer examination.
Extraterrestrial Life
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