News for Today (2/18/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

Nothing for today.

In The News

Report: Photos appear to show cartel members readying for war in post-‘El Chapo’ power struggle So many of them carry radios. I wonder how hard it is to take advantage of that? Or what kind of power they have that they are not worrying about government forces taking advantage of that.

Emmanuel Macron loses lead in French election polls after remarks on colonial Algeria and gay marriage spark outrage

Murder rates in 50 American cities

Vitamin D ‘proved to cut risk of colds and flu’

When the earth liquifies.

Storm to dump heavy rain and snow on U.S. West

Pharma industry shuns Trump push for radical shift at FDA

Not In The News But Should Be

In 2009, I helped sketch out a marketing campaign for an internet personality and blogger named Tucker Max. With a very limited advertising budget available for the independent movie he had written and produced, we had few options for getting the word out.

Entertainment of the Day

News for Today (2/16/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

We Used Terrible Science to Justify Smoking Bans. This article just points out a history of bogus stories.

In The News

Flu vaccine is 48% effective this season, CDC says

Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser ‘turns president down amid concern at obvious dysfunctionality’

Hackers demand $3.6m bitcoin ransom to unlock Los Angeles hospital medical records

IRS won’t withhold tax refunds if Americans ignore ACA insurance requirement

The enormous scale of the erosion problem at the Oroville Dam site

Workers at Boeing’s South Carolina plant reject union

Not In The News But Should Be

Schools in the US Are Beginning to Push Back Their Start Times

Entertainment of the Day

Nothing for today.

News for Today (2/15/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

Nothing for Today

In The News

Wegmans Food Markets is the latest retailer to face political pressure for carrying products connected to President Donald Trump

BREAKING: Federal Judge Rules Against Presidential Debate Commission

Vitamin D supplements may prevent millions of winter infections

California Schools Cut Meat, Cheese From Lunches To Fight Global Warming. Only Okland schools really. Still child abuse what they are feeding them.

North Korean leader’s brother Kim Jong-nam killed at Malaysia airport

This is the worst I have seen’: California’s roads are in dire shape, says former Caltrans director

CA State Senator admits half of family under deportation threat

Huge Gas Finds Can Keep Europe Warm If the Arguing Stops

Not In The News But Should Be

Nothing for Today

Entertainment of the Day

The first successful Delta force rescue. A reminder of how easy these things can go haywire even when they are “easy”. The last 45 minutes are darkness.

News for Today (2/14/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

The Empire Strikes Back. This is the type of historical stuff being put on on conservative media. The part that makes this article bogus is all the blame on the “Deep State.” But nobody stuck a gun to Trump’s head and made him accept Flynn’s resignation. Nobody who wants to make Flynn out to be martyr seems to be paying attention to his own words where he says…..

Unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology.

I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out what this means.

In The News

For the First Time, Wind on the Plains Supplied More Than Half Region’s Power

The Disruptive Career of Michael Flynn, Trump’s National-Security Adviser. Old, but a useful reminder of the man’s reputation.

Conflict Over Trump Forces Out an Opinion Editor at The Wall Street Journal

Xiao’s eight female bodyguards, in this case, offered no meaningful protection.

Not In The News But Should Be

More Coptic Christians Murdered the Past Two Months Than Admitted as Refugees During Obama’s Presidency

Entertainment of the Day

Old school urban warfare tactics. I don’t thing modern guys could move as fast. Too burden down with equipment.

News for Today (2/13/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

Nothing for today.

In The News

Not sure what to make of the below video clip. But the pictures helped me visualize what is going on.

Too much water: How Oroville Dam problems became a crisis . This is a more official view.

Oroville Dam: Thousands evacuated in California after plans for emergency spillway fail

Four of Iceland’s main volcanoes all preparing for eruption

Feisty, Protectionist Populism? New Zealand Tried That

Hundreds of ancient earthworks resembling Stonehenge found in Amazon rainforest

Thieves steal £2m of rare books by abseiling into warehouse

Chicken Breasts May Have More Fat & Less Protein Than You Think

So much of social science is in this paragraph

Not In The News But Should Be

India’s militant rhino protectors are challenging traditional views of how conservation works. This article talks about some downsides to conservation that are not normally brought up. I wish there was more of that.

Entertainment of the Day

I have heard a lot of good things about a mod for civ 4 called Fall from Heaven 2. Might be worth checking out sometime.

News for Today (2/12/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

Sidney Blumenthal taken in by Fred Trump campaign ads that appear to be fake

In The News

France’s Bumbling Search for a Candidate to Stop Le Pen.

Here is the thing, it currently seems that Emmanuel Macron is now the front runner to stop Le Penn. Here is a quote from Wikipedia about this young man.

Macron is married to Brigitte Trogneux, who is 24 years his senior, and was his former teacher in La Providence high school, Amiens. The pair first met when he was a student in her class, aged 15, but were only officially a couple once he was 18 years of age.

His parents initially attempted to split the couple by sending him away to Paris to finish the final year of his schooling, as they felt his youth made this relationship inappropriate, but the couple stayed together after he graduated, and were married in 2007.

The couple lives with Trogneux’s three children from her previous marriage.

I don’t know how it is in France, but in America his now wife would be considered guilty of statutory rape.

Iran and Russia Are Apparently Fighting Each Other in Syria

Military Pilot Retention Too Low

Experiment Reaffirms Quantum Weirdness
CIA files reveal how US used psychics to spy on Iran

Prof. Michael McConnell: ‘A flawed restraining of a flawed order’

Not In The News But Should Be

A Truth So Glaring Even Vox Can See It

Entertainment of the Day

Everything sucked about the first game this guy did except for the story. But the story was so good I slogged most of the way through it anyway. If the Game play is a little more bearable and the story is half as good, I am sure I will play this one all the way through.

News for Today (2/7/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

The media botched this Trump story last week — and that’s bad for everyone. Even when they admit that they get things wrong, it is still Trumps fault for not being chummy enough with them.

In The News

The Reign of the Kaibil. This story would make for a good movie.

Grounded: Nearly two-thirds of US Navy’s strike fighters can’t fly

Executive Power Run Amok. I think this article is hypocritical on a number of different levels. That said, this is how reasonable people would criticize Trump if they were all not going insane.

Comcast Gives Employees Time Off to Protest Trump Travel Ban

Astronomers spot a strange, supersonic space cloud screeching through our galaxy

Not In The News But Should Be

The Dangers of Pakistan’s Tactical Nuclear Weapons. A bunch of thugs who like to turn woman into sex slaves makes for more salacious (and thus better selling) press. But it is things like this that tend to fade into the background that will rack up the real body count one day.

Entertainment of the Day

Nothing for today.

News for Today (2/6/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

People Are Canceling Tesla Orders Because Elon Musk Is Advising Trump. Time to short the stock. Oh, wait. How many people did you say canceled their orders? And you made a headline out of that?

In The News

This 3,500-Year-Old Greek Tomb Upended What We Thought We Knew About the Roots of Western Civilization

Belarus Prepares for Hybrid War as ‘Europe’s Last Dictator’ Knocks Russia

The High Cost of a Home Is Turning American Millennials Into the New Serfs. My sympathy is dented by the fact that millennials are most likely to support policies that make their problems worse (i.e. restrictions on house building and the like). Also, as a group, they are awful picky about the types of jobs that they will do. This plays in to their lower incomes although it is not the only factor (another not often noted contributors is that rich people have few to no kids so millennials are more likely to be a from poor broken homes then previous generations).

Britain has changed since 1998. Back then, it only took workers about three years to save enough money for a down-payment on a house. Now it takes 20 years, on average, according to the Resolution Foundation, which published a landmark report on income, housing, and inequality in Britain last week. . One thing about being part of the EU is that it allowed lots of people from other countries to buy house in the UK (and London in particular). Of course, the UK is also famously restrictive on allowing new construction so you can’t blame it all on the Russian Plutocrats and American Movies Stars.

How to Do the Shortest Workout Possible

Gangsters and ‘slaves’: The people cleaning up Fukushima. Remember things like this when you here about how low crime Japan is. It is true. The Gangsters are so above board they have their own offices and you can contact them to do business for you.

Japan readies package for Trump to help create 700,000 U.S. jobs. It is obvious that Japan knows how to deal with Gangsters.

Studies Link Some Stomach Drugs to Possible Alzheimer’s Disease and Kidney Problems

Not In The News But Should Be

Federal Court Basically Says It’s Okay To Copyright Parts Of Our Laws. This has always irritated me immensely because most of the laws that effect me professionally are Copyrighted and you have to spend big bucks to get copies of them. Of course, it is my employer that has to pay, but it still bugs me.

Entertainment of the Day

Hobbyist made video that I am re-purposing to be a morality play about February. Not really all that good but it seems to fit.

News for Today (2/5/17)

Bogus News Story Of The Day

The Three Most Believed Fake News Stories of the Election (Tested by Stanford) Favored Hillary. For what it is worth and it is not worth much.

In The News

Not ‘Lone Wolves’ After All: How ISIS Guides World’s Terror Plots From Afar. I remember when only extreme right wing people said things that the New York Times is now saying.

The FBI Is Building A National Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees. I am glad Trump is in power. That means it is respectable to worry about such things. Before, he would be someone who was trying to protect pedophiles.

Berkeley and Hitler. Milo having become the conservatives great white hope sickens me. Still, it a country that pretends to be ruled by law, everyone should be against the type of things they are doing to keep him from speaking.

Scientists Now Know Exactly How Lead Got Into Flint’s Water. Treating drinking water is like making sausage. The more you know about it, the less you want to drink it.

Russian tech exec sues Buzzfeed for publishing unverified Trump dossier.

Saudi Failures Spurred Al Qaeda in Yemen to Sharpen Its Battle Tactics

Deadly new wheat disease threatens Europe’s crops

How One Family Found Out Their Home Was Infested With Rattlesnakes

Venezuela Is So Broke It Can’t Even Export Oil

Not In The News But Should Be

Delaying kindergarten enrollment for one year shows significant mental health benefits for children, according to a recent study. Shout it from the roof tops. Granted, these sort of studies tend to be dubious. But this is so much common sense it is hard to see how it cannot be true.

Entertainment of the Day

In the days before CGI, it took 17 thousands Russian soldiers to to make scenes like this. A reasonable historical account of what this clip is trying to depict is here.