Monday, January 30, 2023

And another day of more people disciplined, DeSantis following Hungarian authoritarianism playbook, ending Covid emergencies, record high absences from work, Valley Fever, music-making AI, and the Vagina Museum needs a new home comes to a close:

“The only minority group to be afraid of *is* the Republican Party.” — Snide Sally

“We fund what we value. We police what we don't.” — Ahmed Ali

“Florida is basically 1930’s Germany with theme parks.” — William Buecker

Covid Deaths

US: 1,132,719

World: 6,760,868

Covid Cases

US: 104,183,562

World: 675,032,978

71 Commands in 13 Minutes: When Tyre Nichols Couldn't Comply With Impossible Orders, Police Assaulted Him. Police officers unleashed a barrage of commands that were confusing, conflicting and sometimes even impossible to obey, a New York Times analysis of footage from Tyre Nichols’ fatal traffic stop found. When Nichols could not comply — and even when he managed to — the officers responded with escalating force…Officers commanded Nichols to show his hands even as they were holding his hands. They told him to get on the ground even when he was on the ground. And they ordered him to reposition himself even when they had control of his body. Experts say the actions of the Memphis police officers were an egregious example of a long-standing problem in policing in which officers physically punish civilians for perceived disrespect or disobedience — sometimes called “contempt of cop.” The practice was notoriously prevalent decades ago. — Like politics, many people who go into law enforcement are horrible people.

7th Memphis officer disciplined, EMTs fired in Nichols death. Two more Memphis police officers have been disciplined and three emergency responders fired in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols, officials said Monday, widening the circle of punishment for the shocking display of police brutality after video showed many more people failed to help him beyond the five officers accused of beating him to death.

Ron DeSantis is following a trail blazed by a Hungarian authoritarian. The Florida governor isn’t doing “competent Trumpism.” He’s inventing American Orbánism. When I asked DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw about a possible connection, she initially denied knowing of Hungarian inspiration for Florida’s law. After I showed her the quote from Dreher, she did not respond further. Dreher did not reply to two requests for comment.

Florida GOP leaders want to get rid of gun permits. Saying gun owners don’t need a government permission slip to protect their God-given rights, Florida’s House speaker proposed legislation Monday to eliminate concealed weapons permits, a move Democrats argue would make a state with a history of horrific mass shootings less safe. Republican leaders, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, have expressed support for the idea, so the bill should not have a problem passing in a legislature with a GOP a super-majority.

At least 10 people wounded in Lakeland, Florida, shooting, police say. At least 10 people were wounded Monday afternoon in a drive-by shooting in Lakeland, Florida, police said, and two are in critical condition.

President Biden to end COVID-19 emergencies on May 11. President Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared.

Absence from work at record high as Americans feel strain from Covid. About 1.5 million Americans missed work because of sickness in December. Each month, more than a million people have called out sick for the past three years. About 7% of Americans currently have long Covid, which can affect productivity and ability to work, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)…Last year, the trend accelerated rather than returning to normal. In 2022, workers had the most sickness-related absences of the pandemic, and the highest number since record-keeping began in 1976. — Yeah, no matter how much so many of you want it to be true, we are not “back to normal.”

West Virginia advances school mandate on ‘In God We Trust’. Public schools in West Virginia may soon be required to display the phrase “In God We Trust” in every building if a bill passed by the state Senate on Monday becomes law. The bill was introduced by Republican Sen. Mike Azinger, who said he wants to give kids in schools something to look up to and let them know it’s OK to “say God” in school.

Valley fever, historically found only in the Southwest, is spreading. It can have devastating consequences. The fungus is endemic to the hot, dry soils of the Southwest; 97% of all U.S. cases of Valley fever are reported in Arizona and California, according to the California Department of Public Health. But that could change: Fungal infections, including Valley fever, are increasingly being diagnosed outside of their usual ranges. One study in the journal GeoHealth projected that, due to climate change, the range of Valley fever could spread east, through the Great Plains and north, to the Canadian border, before the end of the century.

Namibia reports record level of rhino poaching. The number of endangered rhinos poached in Namibia last year was the highest on record and almost twice as many as the year before, officials say. A total of 87 rhinos were killed compared with 45 in 2021, official government data show.

Google has developed a music-making AI bot. It's also not surprising that tech giant Google would be the first major player on the scene. The company is reportedly building an AI bot that can create "original" music(Opens in a new window) from both text and sound prompts — users would be able to type in increasingly specific prompts noting genres and styles or even build songs based on a hummed or whistled melody, according to reports. The future app is known in-house as MusicLM.

World's first Vagina Museum set to close as property scheme ends. The Vagina Museum opened at the site in Bethnal Green in March last year, having moved from Camden Market. It was using the space in Victoria Park Square alongside entertainment venue Enter under a property guardianship scheme. A spokesperson said it was sad news it had to close so soon and appealed for help in finding new premises…"As a property guardianship, we have always been aware that we may be asked to leave at very short notice," Florence Schechter, the museum's director, said. "We are disappointed that this notice to vacate has come so soon."…"In our time at Bethnal Green, we've once again demonstrated just how much the world needs and wants a Vagina Museum.”

Hockey Hall of Famer and Stanley Cup champion Bobby Hull has died at 84. 

RIP Cindy Williams. She was 75. And god damn she was funny. Thank you for all the laughs.

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

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

Friday, January 27, 2023

And another day where “just trying to go home” as a black man will get you killed by police, where videos of hammer swings are released, where Auschwitz gets remembered, and where deleting social media will improve your mental health comes to a close:

“I’m just trying to go home.” -- Tyre Nichols

Covid Deaths

US: 1,132,236

World: 6,756,817

Covid Cases

US: 104,106,912

World: 674,537,373

Memphis authorities release video in Tyre Nichols’ death. Memphis authorities released more than an hour of footage Friday of the violent beating of Tyre Nichols in which officers held the Black motorist down and struck him repeatedly as he screamed for his mother...The footage shows police savagely beating the 29-year-old FedEx worker for three minutes while screaming profanities at him throughout the attack.

“If they say “get on the ground”’and you get on the ground, say ‘I’m on the ground’ and you STILL get tased and pepper sprayed. What else are you supposed to do but run? So much for that whole “if he only he had complied” narrative.” -- Michael Harriot

“Cops think they have the right to straight-up murder you, if you embarrass them or hurt their feelings.” -- Mistress Matisse

“What are the odds that NONE of the five officers who showed up was one of the “good cops” we keep hearing about? I’m sure it’s a fluke.” -- Michael Harriot

“The way they are prepping mayors and police departments across the country for this Tyre Nichols is gross. They should be prepping them on how to treat their Black citizens like human beings instead of how to quench their righteous anger.” -- Exavier Pope

Tyre Nichols remembered as beautiful soul with creative eye. On most weekends, Tyre Nichols would head to the city park, train his camera on the sky and wait for the sun to set. “Photography helps me look at the world in a more creative way. It expresses me in ways I cannot write down for people,” he wrote on his website. He preferred landscapes and loved the glow of sunsets most, his family has said. “My vision is to bring my viewers deep into what I am seeing through my eye and out through my lens,” Nichols wrote. “People have a story to tell, why not capture it.”

Pelosi attack video shows struggle and savage hammer swing. Video released Friday shows the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi struggling with his assailant for control of a hammer moments before he was struck in the head during a brutal attack in the couple’s San Francisco home last year.

Auschwitz anniversary marked as peace again shattered by war. Auschwitz-Birkenau survivors and other mourners commemorated the 78th anniversary Friday of the Nazi German death camp’s liberation, some expressing horror that war has again shattered peace in Europe and the lesson of Never Again is being forgotten.

House GOP seeks new restrictions on use of US oil stockpile. For the second time this month, House Republicans have advanced a measure to restrict presidential use of the nation’s emergency oil stockpile — a proposal that has already drawn a White House veto threat. A GOP bill approved Friday would require the government to offset any non-emergency withdrawals from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with new drilling on public lands and oceans. Republicans accuse President Joe Biden of abusing the reserve for political reasons to keep gas prices low, while Biden says tapping the reserve was needed last year in response to a ban on Russian oil imports following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. -- Weren’t Republicans demanding, not too long ago, that the US should be tapping their reserves? They don’t like that Biden has managed to lower gas prices. Never, ever vote Republican.

What to Know About TurboTax Before You File Your Taxes This Year. A government-run tax filing system, often known as return-free filing, is already a reality in many countries around the world. With a return-free filing system, the government fills out the tax forms with the information it already has, and taxpayers simply have to review the forms for accuracy. This is not the case in the U.S. Switching to such a system would devastate tax prep company profits. That’s why Intuit and other members of the industry spent millions through the years lobbying to preserve the Free File agreement, particularly the part that restricts the IRS from creating its own free filing system.

Young people in England and Wales twice as likely to identify as LGB+. Young people’s openness with sexuality has been revealed in unprecedented census data showing people aged 16 to 24 are more than twice as likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another minority sexual orientation (LGB+) than the overall population.

Twitter vows to take ‘less severe actions’ against rule-breaking accounts. Twitter is promising that it’ll take “less severe actions” when disciplining accounts that break its rules; it’ll only suspend Twitter accounts that engage in “severe or ongoing, repeat violations” of its rules. The company also says it’ll be letting anyone appeal suspensions starting February 1st, and that those doing so will be judged using updated standards. What will Twitter do instead of suspending your account? The “less severe actions” are things that Twitter has been doing for years, such as limiting visibility of a tweet, or telling a user to remove a tweet before they can get back onto the site. Today’s change is that Twitter is promising to reach for those tools more often, instead of going straight for the ban button.

These People Deleted Social Media For Their Mental Health And Yes, It Helped. But some people are choosing to deactivate and walk away. We asked people why and whether it was just a short-term break or a new, social media-free way of living. From the 145 responses we received at BuzzFeed News, most people said they were deactivating and not returning, despite the FOMO.

Green comet zooming our way, last visited 50,000 years ago. The dirty snowball last visited during Neanderthal times, according to NASA. It will come within 26 million miles (42 million kilometers) of Earth Wednesday before speeding away again, unlikely to return for millions of years.

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

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

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

And another day of inching closer to total annihilation, America’s mass shootings epidemic, House committees, librarians threatened with jail for stocking books, Senators grilling Ticketmaster, ‘Rick and Morty,’ and teaching in the age of AI comes to a close:

“Hey, kids! It's your old buddy Steve King telling you that if they ban a book in your school, haul your ass to the nearest bookstore or library ASAP and find out what they don't want you to read.” -- Stephen King

Covid Deaths

US: 1,129,618

World: 6,749,490

Covid Cases

US: 103,907,433

World: 673,709,318

The Doomsday Clock reveals how close we are to total annihilation. The Doomsday Clock has been ticking for 76 years. But it’s no ordinary clock. It attempts to gauge how close humanity is to destroying the world. On Tuesday, the clock was set at 90 seconds until midnight — the closest to the hour it has ever been, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which created the clock in 1947. Midnight represents the moment at which we will have made Earth uninhabitable for humanity. From 2020 to 2022, the clock was set at 100 seconds to midnight.

New year brings a grim wave of mass killings across America. A year ago, the U.S. marked its first deadly gun rampage of the year on Jan. 23. By the same date this year, there have been six mass killings that have claimed 39 lives, leaving communities nationwide reeling from the onslaught of violence. Eleven people killed as they welcomed the Lunar New Year at a dance hall popular with older Asian Americans. Seven Chinese and Latino farmworkers killed amid the serene beauty of California’s Half Moon Bay. A teen mother and her baby shot dead in an attack that killed six people across five generations of her family. “In the end, there are simply too many guns in this country. And there has to be a change. This is not an acceptable way for a modern society to live and conduct its affairs.”

No end in sight for America’s everywhere epidemic of mass shootings. It’s that quintessential American quirk – the split second, instinctive glance around a Walmart, a place of worship, a supermarket or a workplace for an escape route should the worst happen. A never-ending roll of mass shootings reflects the reality that while hundreds of millions of citizens go about their daily business safely, no one and nowhere is immune from the possibility of a sudden eruption of violence...But at the same time, the regularity of people being gunned down as they work, shop and play is raising growing questions about the extent to which one person’s freedom to bear arms suppresses another’s rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Many gun rights advocates are not willing to even entertain this issue. The same applies to the perennial debate whether constitutional guarantees necessarily mean people should be able to buy high-powered weapons of war for personal use...All of this explains why there’s little reason to hope that the mass shootings that rock America week after week, year after year, will abate. “No, I can’t believe it happened to us. But yes, I can believe it happened because it is happening in every community across the country.”

Suspect found dead after 'random' shooting that killed 3 in Washington state. A suspect was found dead Tuesday hours after three people were killed in a "random" shooting in Yakima, Washington, authorities said.

These Republicans will serve on panels to probe COVID-19, ‘weaponization’ of government. The subcommittee will be led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who was a close supporter of McCarthy during his speaker bid and who serves as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. McCarthy previously said earlier this month that Jordan will chair the subcommittee. The other GOP members of the committee will be Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Chris Stewart (Utah), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), Mike Johnson (La.), Chip Roy (Texas), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.), Greg Steube (Fla.), Dan Bishop (N.C.), Kat Cammack (Fla.) and Harriet Hageman (Wyo.).

McCarthy officially denies Schiff and Swalwell seats on House Intelligence Committee. “I appreciate the loyalty you have to your Democrat colleagues, and I acknowledge your efforts to have two Members of Congress reinstated to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,” McCarthy wrote in a letter to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that he posted on Twitter Tuesday night. “But I cannot put partisan loyalty ahead of national security, and I cannot simply recognize years of service as the sole criteria for membership on this essential committee. Integrity matters more.” McCarthy has cited a “new standard” from Democrats for why he would strip Schiff and Swalwell, both of California, of their committee assignments, after the Democrat-led House in 2021 removed GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona from their committees for inflammatory rhetoric and posts.

Librarians threatened with jail if they stock LGBTQ+ books in North Dakota. Librarians in the US state of North Dakota could face jail for stocking books containing depictions of sexual or gender identity – which is considered “sexually explicit” under legislation currently under consideration by state lawmakers. — Yeah, this for public libraries. There is no freedom without the freedom to read.

Classified documents at Pence’s home, too, his lawyer says. Documents with classified markings were discovered in former Vice President Mike Pence ’s Indiana residence last week, his lawyer says, the latest in a string of recoveries of papers meant to be treated with utmost sensitivity from the homes of current and former top U.S. officials. -- Obama’s turn? Bush’s? Dick Cheney’s? Dan Quayle’s? Bill Clinton’s?

Justice Dept. sues Google over digital advertising dominance. The Justice Department and eight states filed an antitrust suit against Google on Tuesday, seeking to shatter its alleged monopoly on the entire ecosystem of online advertising as a hurtful burden to advertisers, consumers and even the U.S. government.

Oscars: Michelle Yeoh Makes History as First Asian Best Actress Nominee. It took 59 years for Michelle Yeoh to land her first lead role in a Hollywood film. And it’s taken 95 years for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize a woman who identifies as Asian in its best actress category.

Disney World closed Splash Mountain after allegations of racism. Not everyone's happy. The closure of the 30-year-old ride...follows a years-long call for change because it features several characters from Disney's 1946 film "Song of the South," which featured racist stereotypes.

Promising gene therapy delivers treatment directly to brain. When Rylae-Ann Poulin was a year old, she didn’t crawl or babble like other kids her age. A rare genetic disorder kept her from even lifting her head. Her parents took turns holding her upright at night just so she could breathe comfortably and sleep. Then, months later, doctors delivered gene therapy directly to her brain. Now the 4-year-old is walking, running, swimming, reading and riding horses — “just doing so many amazing things that doctors once said were impossible,” said her mother, Judy Wei. Rylae-Ann, who lives with her family in Bangkok, was among the first to benefit from a new way of delivering gene therapy — attacking diseases inside the brain — that experts believe holds great promise for treating a host of brain disorders.

Teaching In The Age Of AI Means Getting Creative. Indeed, ChatGPT and similar AI systems are being used in realms beyond education, but classrooms seem to be where fears about the bot’s misuse — and ideas to adapt alongside evolving technology — are playing out first. The realities of ChatGPT are forcing professors to take a long look at today’s teaching methods and what they actually offer to students. Current types of assessment, including the basic essays ChatGPT can mimic, may become obsolete. But instead of branding the AI as a gimmick or threat, some educators say this chatbot could end up recalibrating the way they teach, what they teach and why they teach it.

Adult Swim dumps 'Rick and Morty' co-creator and star Justin Roiland after domestic violence charges. In addition to co-creating and executive producing Rick and Morty, Roiland has provided the voice for both title characters for all six seasons of the show thus far. A spokesperson for Adult Swim's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has said these roles will now be recast(Opens in a new window).

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley wants to ban TikTok nationwide. U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican and China hawk, said on Tuesday that he would introduce a bill to ban the short video app TikTok in the United States.

Senators grill Ticketmaster after Taylor Swift fiasco. Senators grilled Ticketmaster Tuesday, questioning whether the company’s dominance in the ticketing industry led to its spectacular breakdown last year during a sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets. Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee also debated possible action, including making tickets non-transferable to cut down on scalping and requiring more transparency in ticket fees. Some suggested it may also be necessary to split Ticketmaster and Beverly Hills, California-based concert promoter Live Nation, which merged in 2010.

‘Everything Everywhere’ tops Oscar nominations with 11. Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” landed a leading 11 nominations on Tuesday, including nods for Michelle Yeoh and comeback kid Ke Huy Quan, the former child star of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” Released back in March, the A24 film has proven an unlikely Oscar heavyweight against the expectations of even its makers. Yeoh became the first Asian actor nominated for best actress.

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

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

Monday, January 23, 2023

And another day with more shootings, seditious conspiracy, the far-right defunding the police, more on FL’s rejection of Black history, FL teachers told to remove books from classrooms, physical activity protecting the brain, M&M's, and ChatGPT passes MBA exam comes to a close:

“Don’t let the GOP tell you they care about women or children or vets or the homeless or the hungry or education or healthcare or infrastructure or absolutely anything other than harming folks they don’t like. The proof is in the pudding. They don’t give a shit.” — Jess Piper

Covid Deaths

US: 1,129,145

World: 6,748,110

Covid Cases

US: 103,888,296

World: 673,506,825

Seven people dead, suspect in custody in Half Moon Bay shooting. A suspect is in custody in connection to separate shootings that left seven people dead and one in critical condition in Half Moon Bay on Monday afternoon.

Police: Man, 18, charged in Des Moines school shooting. An 18-year-old man was charged with murder in Monday’s killing of two teenagers at an alternative educational program for at-risk youth in Des Moines.

“We live in a country so trifling we stop silly cartoon characters from selling candy but not military assault rifles from killing civilians.” — Mrs. Betty Bowers

Four Oath Keepers convicted of Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy. Four members of the Oath Keepers were convicted Monday of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack in the second major trial of far-right extremists accused of plotting to forcibly keep President Donald Trump in power.

How the Freedom Caucus Hopes to Defund the Police. In the caucus’s opening bid to McCarthy last July, it outlined some of the concessions its members would require in exchange for their support for his speakership bid in a new House majority. One of these concessions was the reinstatement of a little-known House procedure called the Holman Rule. McCarthy accepted this and other demands shortly before the House cast the first of our fifteen speaker ballots. So what is the Holman Rule, and why is it so important to hard-right MAGA conservatives?…This creates a mechanism for legislators to, in effect, fire individual federal employees with appropriations riders on must-pass government funding bills. This may sound innocuous enough, but it is important to understand why the Freedom Caucus wanted the rule reinstated so badly. To this end there are two important points to consider: The first has to do with the history of the civil service, the second with Donald Trump.

Florida’s rejection of Black history course stirs debate. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reiterated Monday the state’s rejection of a proposed nationwide advanced African American studies course, saying it pushes a political agenda — something three authors cited in the state’s criticism accused him of doing in return.

DeSantis says Florida rejected new AP course on African American Studies for imposing ‘political agenda’. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday that the state is blocking a new Advanced Placement course on African American Studies because it included the study of “queer theory” and political movements that advocated for “abolishing prisons.”...Many of the objections were tied to the inclusion of texts from modern Black thought leaders and history teachers, whose writings the DeSantis administration believes violate state laws. Florida, under DeSantis, banned the teaching of Critical Race Theory and passed new legislation last year barring instruction that suggests anyone is privileged or oppressed based on their race or skin color. -- DeSantis is showing how much he benefits from white fucking privilege. What a prick. Which is an insult to pricks. Pricks can be useful. DeSantis? Not so much.

Florida teachers told to remove books from classroom libraries or risk felony prosecution. The new policy is part of an effort to comply with new laws and regulations championed by Governor Ron DeSantis (R). It is based on the premise, promoted by right-wing advocacy groups, that teachers and librarians are using books to "groom" students or indoctrinate them with leftist ideologies. — The only indoctrination that is happening is the far-right forcing their hatred of those who are different from them onto children. There is no freedom without the freedom to read.

M&M’s replaces cartoon ‘spokescandies’ with Maya Rudolph after ‘woke’ backlash from Fox News. M&M’s "spokescandies" have provoked the ire of right-wing outlets like Fox News in recent weeks after the company announced a new “Flip the Status Quo” campaign. The campaign, which raised money to support women in creative industries, featured limited-edition candy bags with the three female "spokescandies." -- Fuck Tucker Carlson. Fuck Fox News. Fuck all the hateful people. All of them. Don’t leave any of them out. Fuck them all for being such horrible people.

US proposes once-a-year COVID shots for most Americans. The proposal comes as boosters have become a hard sell. While more than 80% of the U.S. population has had at least one vaccine dose, only 16% of those eligible have received the latest boosters authorized in August. The FDA will ask its panel of outside vaccine experts to weigh in at a meeting Thursday. The agency is expected to take their advice into consideration while deciding future vaccine requirements for manufacturers.

Jewish Law Above All: Recordings Reveal Far-right Knesset Member’s Plan to Turn Israel Into a Theocracy. Deputy Minister Avi Maoz is establishing a government agency that aims to eradicate Israel’s secular identity. Dozens of recordings, speeches and articles by Maoz and his mentor, Rabbi Zvi Thau, reveal their plan to bring Israel ‘closer to redemption’. — Hmmm. Just like the GOP is trying to turn the US into a theocracy. 

Eight in 10 people in China caught Covid since early December, say officials. The figure, which equates to about 1.2 billion people, prompted some pandemic experts to estimate that more than 1 million may have died – far more than the government’s official tally of about 72,000.

Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes. As more businesses adopt digital payment methods, customers are automatically being prompted to leave a gratuity — many times as high as 30% — at places they normally wouldn’t. And some say it has become more frustrating as the price of items has skyrocketed due to inflation, which eased to 6.5% in December but still remains painfully high.

Twitter to launch ad-free subscription tier, Elon Musk says. Elon Musk has targeted an increase in subscription revenue as a key part of the social media platform’s business plan under his ownership.

One type of physical activity protects the brain more than others, study finds. Moderate physical activity is typically defined as brisk walking or bicycling or running up and down stairs. Vigorous movement, such as aerobic dancing, jogging, running, swimming and biking up a hill, will boost your heart rate and breathing. The study, published Monday in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, found doing just under 10 minutes of moderate to vigorous exertion each day improved study participants’ working memory but had its biggest impact on executive processes such as planning and organization.

The US Just Greenlit High-Tech Alternatives to Animal Testing. Animal testing has long been necessary for a drug to gain approval by the US Food and Drug Administration—but it may be on its way out. A new law seeks to replace some lab animal use with high-tech alternatives.

ChatGPT passes MBA exam given by a Wharton professor. Professor Christian Terwiesch, who authored the research paper "Would Chat GPT3 Get a Wharton MBA? A Prediction Based on Its Performance in the Operations Management Course," said that the bot scored between a B- and B on the exam. The bot's score, Terwiesch wrote, shows its "remarkable ability to automate some of the skills of highly compensated knowledge workers in general and specifically the knowledge workers in the jobs held by MBA graduates including analysts, managers, and consultants." The bot did an "amazing job at basic operations management and process analysis questions including those that are based on case studies," Terwiesch wrote in the paper, which was published on Jan. 17. He also said the bot's explanations were "excellent."

RIP Lloyd N. Morrisett. He was 93. 

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

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

Sunday, January 22, 2023

And another day of mass shootings, abortion activism 50 years after Roe, barring insurrectionists from holding office, losing tiny organisms, getting over cheating fears, and FL’s fight against African American AP class comes to a close:

“The Republican Party is post-ideological and post-conservative, and while it retains the political branding of the old GOP, it is now a dangerous and destructive movement.” — The Lincoln Project

“You know life isn’t fair when Republicans get to keep George Santos, but Democrats had to give up Al Franken.” — Mayo

“I hope you understand by now that this Republican Party cannot change, cannot be reformed, cannot be saved.” — Joe Walsh

Covid Deaths

US: 1,128,807

World: 6,746,377

Covid Cases

US: 103,856,217

World: 673,326,984

LA mass shooting suspect kills 10 near Lunar New Year fest. A gunman killed 10 people and wounded 10 others at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club following a Lunar New Year celebration, setting off a manhunt for the suspect in the fifth mass killing in the U.S. this month.

Sheriff: Suspect in dance club shooting killed self in van. The hunt for a gunman who killed 10 people at a ballroom dance club during Lunar New Year celebrations ended Sunday when authorities found him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the van he used to flee after people thwarted his attempt at a second shooting.

Baton Rouge nightclub shooting injures 12. Police are categorizing the shooting as a “targeted attack.” “This was not just a random act of someone showing up and randomly shooting citizens of Baton Rouge.”

‘Republicans don’t care about mass shootings. As long as their stocks are doing well; their bank accts stay fat; and they can maintain power. As long as they can kiss their children goodnight. They will sacrifice us all & tweet thoughts and prayers.” — Lana Quest

‘Here again’: Abortion activists rally 50 years after Roe. From beach cities to snow-covered streets, abortion supporters rallied by the thousands on Sunday to demand protections for reproductive rights and mark the 50th anniversary of the now-overturned Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that established federal protections for the procedure. The reversal of Roe in June unleashed a flurry of legislation in the states, dividing them between those that have restricted or banned abortion and those that have sought to defend access. The Women’s March, galvanized during Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration in 2017 amid a national reckoning over sexual assaults, said it has refocused on state activism after Roe was tossed.

Lawmakers seek to bar insurrectionists from holding office. Democratic lawmakers in a handful of states are trying to send a message two years after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol: Those who engage in an attempted overthrow of the government shouldn’t be allowed to run it.

Florida says AP class teaches critical race theory. Here's what's really in the course. Florida's Department of Education has rejected an Advanced Placement course covering African American Studies — saying the class indoctrinates students to "a political agenda.”…The purpose of the class is to introduce students to the experiences and contributions of African Americans through a variety of lenses.

“The term ‘woke’ was created by Black folk referring to being alert to systemic racial injustices. DeSantis has made a mockery of the meaning as he partakes in the creation of the oppressive system. Ron DeSantis’ anti-woke campaign is anti-Black. — Lana Quest

Youth pastor, hospital director among 46 men arrested in North Texas sex trafficking cases. Forty-six men who included a high school football coach, a youth pastor and a director of operations at a hospital were recently arrested during a multi-agency operation targeting the demand for commercial sex in North Texas, a federal agency announced on Friday...Federal authorities noted that sex trafficking involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of commercial act in exchange for something of value, or if the person performing the commercial sex act is under 18 years of age. -- You know, upstanding men, pillars of society. Fucking assholes.

Thousands join rightist rally against Spanish government. Thousands of people packed into central Madrid on Saturday to protest against the Socialist government and accuse it of undermining the constitution, in a rally backed by rightist parties…Speakers attacked the government for a string of policies and decisions, ranging from the release of Catalan independence campaigners to its pacts with regional separatist parties. Around 30,000 people took part, according to local government estimates.

Canada reaches $2.8bn settlement with Indigenous peoples. Starting in the early 19th century, the Canadian government forcibly removed Indigenous children from their families to take them to residential institutions under the church's administration. The schools were meant to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Christian society, effectively stripping them of their identity, culture and language. The last school only shut down in the late 1990s.

Loss of tiny organisms hurts ocean, fishing, scientists say. The warming of the waters off the East Coast has come at an invisible, but very steep cost — the loss of microscopic organisms that make up the base of the ocean’s food chain.

Huge waves bring Hawaii surf contest The Eddie after hiatus. One of the world’s most prestigious and storied surfing contests went forward Sunday in Hawaii for the first time in seven years with towering wave faces and a swell that will grow into the late afternoon. And this year female surfers are competing alongside the men for the first time in the 39-year history of The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational.

The CEO Behind ChatGPT Says Schools Need to Get Over Their Cheating Fears. Some Experts Agree. “Generative text is something we all need to adapt to,” Altman said in a recent interview, as reported in Insider. “We adapted to calculators and changed what we tested for in math class, I imagine. This is a more extreme version of that, no doubt, but also the benefits of it are more extreme, as well.”

'Avatar: The Way of Water' is the third James Cameron movie to gross $2 billion. Only five other films have hit this metric — the original “Avatar,” “Avengers: Endgame,” Cameron’s “Titanic,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” -- And as of today, I haven’t seen any of the three Cameron movies on this list.

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

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