Saturday, March 6, 2021

And another day of passing bills, increased willingness, infectious variants, burning masks, big paychecks, cease-and-desist letters, bisexual partners, ‘epic trophy’ wives, AI-powered subtitles, and no one should force students to turn on their cameras for class comes to a close:

“Not a single Republican senator voted for the COVID relief bill.” — Kyle Griffin

“With Republicans in Congress any bipartisanship will never be enough. They want capitulation.” — Andrea Chalupa

Deaths

US: 537,119 (+1556)

World: 2,600,023 (+7938)

Cases

US: 29,653,891 (+60,187)

World: 117,078,583 (+408,478)

Senate approves sweeping coronavirus measure in partisan vote. — Republicans are not interested in compromise or bipartisan politics.

Cellphone records tie Proud Boys member to someone in Trump White House.

Americans showing increased willingness to get the vaccine; majority now want it.

Europe staggers as infectious variants power virus surge. “This demonstrates that the virus has a sort of intelligence. ... We can put up all the barriers in the world and imagine that they work, but in the end, it adapts and penetrates them.” Bollate was the first city in Lombardy, the northern region that has been the epicenter in each of Italy’s three surges, to be sealed off from neighbors because of virus variants that the World Health Organization says are powering another uptick in infections across Europe. The variants also include versions first identified in South Africa and Brazil...“The spread of the variants is driving the increase, but not only,” said Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, citing “also the opening of society, when it is not done in a safe and a controlled manner.” -- Guess we’ll see what happens in Texas and Mississippi.

Demonstrators burn masks in front of Idaho state Capitol. The events come as calls have increased throughout Idaho and across the country against mask mandates and lockdown orders, with some arguing that the restrictions violate personal freedoms...Multiple studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health agencies have shown that wearing masks helps protect the wearer and others from the virus that causes COVID-19.

Why the U.S. needs a $15 minimum wage. — A lot of information here.

When a California city gave people a guaranteed income, they worked more — not less. Stockton’s experiment shows what $500 per month in “free money” can do for employment, mental health, and more.

Big Paychecks Pay Off in Self-Confidence, Study Finds. They found that higher income predicted whether people felt good about themselves, including feelings of confidence, pride and determination...But lower income predicted negative feelings toward oneself, including sadness, fear and shame.

Three Alabama professors on leave over racially insensitive Halloween pictures. The pictures were taken at a campus Halloween party in 2014, according to a petition created by USA students, multiple agencies reported. Then-dean of the Mitchell College of Business and current finance professor Bob Wood dressed in a Confederate uniform while professors Alex Sharland and Teresa Weldy posed with a whip and a noose.

Trump sends cease-and-desist letters to GOP campaign committees. Attorneys for former President Donald Trump sent cease-and-desist letters Friday to three Republican organizations asking them to stop using the former president's name and likeness in fundraising appeals and merchandise.

Bisexual women with straight male partners least likely to be out, study finds. Bisexual women in relationships with cisgender lesbian women, bisexual cisgender women partners, and bisexual cisgender men partners were more likely to be out than those partnered with heterosexual men.

Requiring students to let you inside their homes and private spaces can be culturally insensitive and ultimately racist, sexist, gendered and classist, write Margaret Finders and Joaquin Muñoz...Consciously or unconsciously, the need to have cameras on -- while considered by many instructors as pedagogically sound -- is actually indicative of an attitude toward teaching that positions students as docile bodies in need of constant surveillance...Requesting or requiring students to let you inside their homes and private spaces can be culturally insensitive and ultimately racist. Students have the right to control their presentations of self and their intimate spaces. Demanding cameras on protects white racial privileges and traditional Western hierarchies of culture.

Missouri pastor slammed for suggesting women should strive to look like "epic trophy wife" Melania Trump. Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark of Missouri's Malden First General Baptist Church said in his Sunday sermon that women should look to maintain their figures and lose weight in order to keep their husband's attention. He also used a photo of former first Lady Melania Trump as an example of what women should aspire to. "Now look, I'm not saying every woman can be the epic, epic trophy wife of all time like Melania Trump. I'm not saying that at all," Clark said as a photo of Trump was displayed on screen. "Most women can't be trophy wives, but you know, maybe you're a participation trophy. I don't know, but all I can say is not everybody looks like that. Amen! Not everybody looks like that. But you don't need to look like a butch either."

AI-Powered Chrome Extension Automatically Turns on YouTube Subtitles While You Eat Noisy Snacks. According to the designers, the extension was created by recording 178 hours of people from all over the world munching on potato chips, and that data was then used to train an AI model using machine learning techniques. When installed and given access to a Chrome tab playing a YouTube video, the extension automatically turns on the optional Subtitles/closed captioning (cc) if available.

On this day in 1983: The First Cell Phone Made Available for Sale Commercially. DynaTAC was an abbreviation of Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage. The 8000x weighed about 1.75 pounds, stood 13 inches high, stored 30 numbers, took 10 hours to recharge for just 30 minutes of talk time or 8 hours of standby and cost $3,995 (which equates to over $9000 today with inflation). Despite the steep price and the inconvenient size that certainly didn’t fit in anybody’s pocket, there were actually waiting lists of those eager to get this revolutionary technology which was both a symbol of wealth and futurism.

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.