HEALTH: Dogs become immune to radiation, heavy metals and pollution; what can we learn from this disaster?

Sunday, December 15, 2024

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14174993/dogs-chernobyl-nuclear-disaster-mutated-new-superpower.html

Dogs living near Chernobyl nuclear disaster have mutated to develop new superpower
By ELLYN LAPOINTE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Published: 16:18 EST, 9 December 2024 | Updated: 06:01 EST, 10 December 2024

*** begin quote ***

Dogs living near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster have mutated to develop a new superpower – they are immune to radiation, heavy metals and pollution.

Scientists collected blood samples from 116 stray dogs living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), finding two different populations that were both genetically distinct from other dogs in the surrounding area.

This suggests they have adapted to withstand long-term exposure to this toxic environment and would explain why they have continued to thrive in the wasteland.

*** end quote ***

Hopefully something great can come from this disaster.  Imagine if we learnt how to survive and thrive in hostile environments.  Might be needed for space travel where such exposures are likely.  The “exclusion zone” maybe habitable to humans, but who’d want to live there.  Like Sweden, the Amish, and the California Seventh Day Adventists, we don’t often have such obvious control groups.  We have so much to learn that we can’t afford to be stupid and unobservant.

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TECHNOLOGY: Use Amazon locker delivery for … … surprise gifts

Saturday, December 14, 2024

https://www.makeuseof.com/use-amazon-lockers-maximum-privacy/?user=cmVpbmtlZmpAZ21haWwuY29t&lctg=7e6c3cd411d6a815afa18582d54bd455914c43c5f69df1448b8ec20ee4959f71

Why I Use Amazon Lockers for Maximum Privacy (and So Should You)
By Vinayak Guhanarayan
Published 1 day ago

<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2024-12-10>>

*** begin quote ***

  • The Basics of Amazon Lockers
  • Make Sure Only You Open Your Packages
  • Keep Your Home Address Private
  • Prevent Package Theft
  • Convenience When You’re Away
  • They’re Perfect for Surprise Gifts

One of the perks of shopping on Amazon is that anything you order is delivered right to your doorstep. And while this is an undeniable benefit for many, there are times when doorstep delivery isn’t practical or even feasible. It’s times like these that Amazon Lockers come in handy.

*** and ***

They’re Perfect for Surprise Gifts

When purchasing surprise gifts for my family and friends, I use Amazon’s Archive Order feature for privacy. I also opt for these deliveries to end up at an Amazon Locker. This way, I don’t have to worry about the recipient accidentally opening the package.

This is especially helpful during the holiday season, when most people are likely to order several gifts.

*** end quote ***

I recently had two surprise gifts ruined by delivery at the door.

I really had not considered this option.  (Yeah, I’m old, dumb, and don’t think things through to their logical conclusion.  My bad!)

The use cases the author outlines are prefect for anyone like me who doesn’t want surprise ruined or package theft.

YMMV but I like this idea.

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TECHNOLOGY: What’s the boundary between “backdoor for government surveillance” and crime prevention?

Friday, December 13, 2024

https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/08/apple-sued-over-abandoning-csam-detection-for-icloud/

Apple sued over abandoning CSAM detection for iCloud
Anthony Ha
10:26 AM PST · December 8, 2024

*** begin quote ***

Apple is being sued over its decision not to implement a system that would have scanned iCloud photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

The lawsuit argues that by not doing more to prevent the spread of this material, it’s forcing victims to relive their trauma, according to The New York Times. The suit describes Apple as announcing “a widely touted improved design aimed at protecting children,” then failing to “implement those designs or take any measures to detect and limit” this material.

Apple first announced the system in 2021, explaining that it would use digital signatures from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other groups to detect known CSAM content in users’ iCloud libraries. However, it appeared to abandon those plans after security and privacy advocates suggested they could create a backdoor for government surveillance.

*** end quote ***

In this case, I think the risk of “backdoor for government surveillance” is less valuable than the prevention of Child Abuse.  IMHO.

I’d be pushing the tech companies hard in the war against children’s exploitation.

Maybe even their devices (i.e., iPhone, Android phones, tablets) should use digital signatures from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

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TECHNOLOGY: Free media content from Walmart’s Vizio

Thursday, December 12, 2024

https://cordcuttersnews.com/walmarts-vizio-watchfree-has-a-ton-of-action-holiday-movies-in-december/

As the weather cools, VIZIO brings the heat with a lineup of thrilling action films this December! Whether you’re in the mood for heart-pounding chases, explosive showdowns, or sharp-witted humor, WatchFree+ has something for everyone. Stream these cinematic favorites for free on your VIZIO TV or the VIZIO mobile app—no subscription required, just a free VIZIO account. Cozy up and enjoy these action-packed blockbusters at no cost.

# – # – # – # – #

I’m always up for free content.  You too?

https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus

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RANT: Anyone want to argue that the non-profit NCAA is nothing more than the NFL “farm teams”?

Thursday, December 12, 2024

FROM 1440 https://join1440.com/

*** begin quote ***

College Football Playoffs

The field for the inaugural 12-team college football playoff was revealed yesterday, with Big Ten champion Oregon capturing the top seed. The Ducks are followed by No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Boise State, and No. 4 Arizona State, with each of the top four receiving a first-round bye.

Under the new system, the opening round will have the higher-seeded teams host games on campus: No. 5 Texas will host No. 12 Clemson; No. 6 Penn State will welcome No. 11 SMU; No. 7 Notre Dame faces No. 10 Indiana; and No. 8 Ohio State will take on No. 9 Tennessee. The biggest debate of selection day was SMU, which lost the ACC championship on a last-second field goal, nudging out Alabama.

A significant amount of money is at stake. Roughly $115M will be distributed across the conferences based on which teams advance (see details).

The first round will be held Friday, Dec. 20, and Saturday, Dec. 21. See the full schedule of bowl games here; see a playoff bracket here.

*** end quote ***

Sorry but all this chatter about “non-profit”, “amateur athletes”, and “student athletes” is just a “Barbara Streisand” smoke screen for Gooferment Skrules to rake in big bucks from “We, The Sheeple”.

Time to divest “education” from “entertainment”.

Argh!  Now that “amateur athletes” can make big bucks from “Name, Image, and Likeness”, lets cut the <synonym for excrement> and stop fooling everyone.

This is nothing more than gambling by Gooferment institutions using Taxpayer money and defrauding those same Taxpayers at the same time.

If you use my Tax dollars, then you can’t use them for anything but “education”!  Privatize these “State Actors” away from the font of Taxpayer money.

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: FEMA and Federal flood insurance is a sad joke played upon “We, The Sheeple”

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

FROM TWITTER AKA X

*** begin quote ***

Matt Van Swol
@matt_vanswol
FEMA seems to be very confused about why #WNC residents receiving the “maximum” payout are still upset.

Let me explain:

a) You’re living in your retirement home in Chimney Rock at age 68 with your wife, you both saved up forever for this home.

b) Helene comes in and carries that home down into the lake below, your whole life savings along with it.

c) You barely escape with your life and a few weeks later submit a “housing assistance” form on FEMA’s website.

d) FEMA shows up and takes a look at where your home used to be and says, “Yep, that sucks, you qualify!”

e) You feel lucky, many of your neighbors didn’t qualify so you wait on FEMA to get back to you.

f) A few days later you receive a payout into your bank account of $42,500.

g) You turn to your wife and say… wait a minute, we still have $120,000 left on our mortgage, but we don’t have a house!

h) You call FEMA and say, “Hey, I’m grateful for the $42,500, but I don’t have a home and I still owe 6 figures on the one that doesn’t exist. What do I do now?”

i) FEMA says, totally get it, we can put you up in a hotel for 31 days.

j) You say, I don’t need a hotel, I need a plan to rebuild my home and get my life back together!

k) FEMA says, “Oh right, about that… you can’t actually build on the land your house once existed on because it’s in a flood plain now.”

l) You sit there in silence. Finally you respond, “So my home is in a lake, I only have $42,500 to my name, I owe $120,000 on my mortgage, and the land I currently own, I can’t even build on?”

m) FEMA goes, “That’s correct, here’s a 31 day hotel voucher.

That’s why people are pissed.

*** end quote ***

# – # – # – # – #

Speechless!

Argh!

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POLITICAL: Time to repeaal the 17th Amendment

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/12/trump_should_bring_a_constitutional_gun_to_the_senate_swamp_knife_fight.html

Trump Should Bring a Constitutional Gun to the Senate / Swamp Knife Fight
By Vince Coyner

<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2024-12-04>>

*** begin quote ***

But of course, the leftists eviscerated the Founders’ original intentions about the Senate with the 17th Amendment. As a result, the Senate has become simply a more entrenched version of the House. Therefore, if a cabal of geriatric swamp-loving RINOs wants to try to shanghai the president’s mandate because the close balance of party power in the chamber allows them to do so, to paraphrase Sean Connery in The Untouchables, Trump should bring a constitutional gun to their knife fight and keep them from doing so.

*** end quote ***

Once upon a time, in a place far away, the Dead Old White Guys tried to ensure that “these United States” would have a strong voice in the Federal Gooferment.  Unfortunately, a befuddled “We, The Sheeple” agreed to strip the “these United States” this power.

Talk about getting money out of politics, Senate “campaigns” funded by rich donors create a “dark money” swamp of conflicted interests.  Maybe today’s “Senators” should be like race car drivers and wear the logos of those that “own” them.

Repealing the 17th Amendment would go a long way towards restoring Federalism that the Dead Old White Guys want to restrain tyranny.

Hard to do?  Not so much now as “We, The Sheeple” seem to be fed up with the current system.

“Would you tell me please, Mr. Howard, why should I trade one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away? An elected legislature can trample a man’s rights as easily as a king can.” Mel Gibson as the character Benjamin Martin in the movie The Patriot http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187393/quotes

Well, at least, you can have the petty tyrants close enough to “influence” them or tar ’n’ feather them.  Bringing the selection of Senators back to the local legislature makes more sense than having something that duplicates the House of Representatives.

And, now that we have Zoom meetings, why not keep all the Senators and Representatives “locked up” in the home States?  No need for them to go an conspire with these other drones and parasites.

Argh!

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DISCOURAGING: “A bloke’s been murdered in the street.” — Piers Morgan

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14176379/Piers-Morgan-gleeful-reporter-Taylor-Lorenz-joy-death-UnitedHealthcare-CEO-Brian-Thompson.html

Piers Morgan goes nuclear on gleeful ex-WaPo reporter Taylor Lorenz for saying she felt ‘joy’ after death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
By EMMA RICHTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Published: 01:41 EST, 10 December 2024 | Updated: 07:58 EST, 10 December 2024

*** begin quote ***

Piers Morgan was left in shock after gleeful former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz said she felt ‘joy’ following the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

On Monday night, Lorez joined Morgan on Piers Morgan Uncensored, as the broadcaster questioned her about her controversial social media posts following Thompson being gunned down in Manhattan on Wednesday.

*** and ***

‘Should they all be killed, these healthcare executives? Would that make you even more joyful?,’ he asked.

Lorenz laughed and then said: ‘Uh, no,’ as Morgan asked her ‘Well, why not?’

‘Why are you laughing? You seem to find the whole thing hilarious. A bloke’s been murdered in the street. I don’t find it funny at all.’

*** end quote ***

As a little L libertarian, I don’t often agree with Piers Morgan but from time to time, he is right on target.  

How can you laugh at the murder of anyone?

There are humans who are so broken that it’s hard to feel compassion (i.e., murderer, rapists, genocidal maniacs, the insane).  But we should feel sadness every time an irreplaceable life has been lost.

While some deaths are wither unavoidable or unforeseen, deliberately killing anyone is a very serious matter.  That’s why we have jury trials. 

But as a pro-life little L libertarian, I’m anti-death penalty for anyone. Gooferment can’t be trusted with the power to end someone’s life.  Maybe if a convict is too dangerous to put in prison, then maybe it’s morally justifiable.

Left liberals seem to be the only ones who thing that insurance company executives are so evil as to be joyfully murdered. 

Argh!

Piers is right on this one.  Again, he and I are on the same page.

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TECHNOLOGY: Could everyone get access to the better data?

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/robot-balloons-capture-nyc-sized-areas

12-pound US robot balloons capture NYC-sized areas in jaw-dropping details

  • These autonomous balloons operate at altitudes ranging from 60,000 to 85,000 feet.

Updated: Nov 28, 2024 07:36 AM EST
Mrigakshi Dixit

*** begin quote ***

As per Space.com, a single balloon can capture the same amount of data as 800,000 drones in a single flight.

Moreover, the balloons can map large disaster zones in detail within hours, rather than weeks.

“Many insurance companies are still relying on aerial data collection methods from the 1950s to assess 2024’s climate risks,” said Rema Matevosyan, CEO of Near Space Labs. 

“When you consider that only six percent of the $250 billion in losses from Hurricane Helene may be covered by insurance, it becomes clear that outdated risk assessment methods are creating a domino effect: poor data leads to inadequate policy pricing, which leads to carrier losses, which ultimately forces insurers to abandon entire markets—leaving homeowners stranded and unable to secure mortgages,” Matevosyan added. 

*** end quote ***

While I don’t pity the “poor” insurance companies, it makes sense that better data can help EVERYONE properly assess risk.

My personal experience with “federal flood insurance” is dismal.  

In the case of shore house, I carried the required policy even after the mortgage was paid off.  When there was a flood, I wasn’t covered because it wasn’t my primary residence.  So why did I pay those premiums for all those years?  “You made a mistake” was their response.  Luckily, all I lost was an outside hot water heater; my neighbor’s house, which was 4 inches lower than mine, had a ¼ of a million dollars in repairs.  It literally killed him when he was ripped off by contractors.

In the case of my primary residence, I paid flood insurance for decades.  When the flood hit, my neignborhood was three feet ABOVE the high water mark.  Asking about that was another exercise in stupidity.  “You’re in the flood plain.”  Revise the map.  “No, it’s set by the Federal Government.”  Argh!

So maybe if  had access to better topology, some politicians and bureaucrats could accurately assess my risk,

Argh!  Sure as soon as pigs fly.

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GUNS: “Juveniles” attempt a carjacking; demonstrates several eternal principles

Monday, December 9, 2024

https://www.wcax.com/2024/11/27/14-year-old-accidentally-shoots-16-year-old-accomplice-two-tried-carjack-man-police-say/?tbref=hp&ICID=ref_fark

14-year-old accidentally shoots 16-year-old accomplice as the two tried to carjack a man, police say
By First Alert 4 Staff and Amanda Alvarado
Published: Nov. 27, 2024 at 9:10 AM EST

*** begin quote ***

ST. LOUIS (KMOV/Gray News) – A 14-year-old suspect accidentally shot his 16-year-old accomplice as they tried to carjack a man on Monday.

According to police, the teenagers approached a 73-year-old man who was sitting in a parked car. The teens allegedly pointed a gun at him and demanded his keys. The man threw his keys in a nearby open field.

*** end quote ***

First, gun safety needs to be taught early in life.  Eddie Eagle says: “Don’t touch a gun”,  Clearly, this youth missed class the day they taught that.

“I told you that ‘juvenile delinquent’ is a contradiction in terms. ‘Delinquent’ means ‘failing in duty.’ But duty is an adult virtue—indeed a juvenile becomes an adult when, and only when, he acquires a knowledge of duty and embraces it as dearer than the self-love he was born with. There never was, there cannot be a ‘juvenile delinquent.’ But for every juvenile criminal there are always one or more adult delinquents—people of mature years who either do not know their duty, or who, knowing it, fail.”  ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers    

All I can suggest is that these young men be charged as adults.

Horific, as that sounds, how else can we send a message that we as a society will not tolerate lawlessness by anyone.

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” — Robert A. Heinlein

Obviously, the 73 year old man needs the means to level the playing field.  Time to up the stakes by making “crime” a risky course of action.

“I particularly like unlimited concealed carry. If the criminal regards the general public as sheep to be shorn, then let’s sprinkle in a few “sheepdogs” with big teeth in the flock.

  • Guess which gay to bash? Buzz, wrong, you picked a Pink Pistol and you’re dead!
  • Guess which woman to bash? Buzz, wrong, you picked a Paxton Quigly and you’re dead!
  • Guess which brown person to bash? Buzz, wrong, you picked a Massad Ayoob and you’re dead!”

https://reinkefaceslife.com/2006/11/02/guns-lets-sprinkle-in-a-few-sheepdogs-with-big-teeth-in-the-flock/
GUNS: Let’s sprinkle in a few “sheepdogs” with big teeth in the flock
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006 at 20:26
Ferdinand John Reinke

I still feel this way.

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