Sunday, July 26, 2020

The Space Force motto “Semper Supra” means “always above.”

Before “prestige” TV, the medium was considered the “idiot box.” With new shows like Floor Is Lava, the pendulum is swinging back again

IS THE SIMILARITY TO THE ORIGINAL STARSHIP ENTERPRISELOGO INTENTIONAL? Space Force unveils logo, ‘Semper Supra’ motto.



COLD WAR II: U.S. charges Chinese researcher with lying, as tensions rise. “Federal prosecutors have charged a Chinese cancer researcher at the University of California, Davis, with lying about her ties to the Chinese military and Communist Party when seeking a visa to come to the U.S. The FBI believes she is evading arrest by staying at China’s consulate in San Francisco.”

BRUSSELS – Take a face mask, adorn it with jewels or attach it to a long, flowing neck scarf. What have you got? A pandemic precaution, yes, but also a luxury fashion statement that can cost anywhere from 75 to 160 euros ($87-185).

As mask-wearing becomes part of everyday defenses against the coronavirus, Belgian designers are turning medical masks into chic accessories.

Designer Masks




In the quixotic nature of writing — an art that gently drives its practitioners mad in their endless pursuit of it — lies the secret of Why it matters  

Andrew Sullivan: See You Next Friday

I’ve long tried to figure out a way to have this kind of lively community without endangering my health and sanity. Which is why the Weekly Dish, which launches now, is where I’ve landed. The Weekly Dish will be hosted by Substack, a fantastic company that hosts an increasingly impressive number of individual free thinkers, like Jesse Singal and Matt Taibbi. There is a growing federation of independent thinkers and writers not subject to mainstream media’s increasingly narrow range of acceptable thought.


Democrats (42%), however, are far less likely than Republicans (87%) and voters not affiliated with either major party (63%) to believe most news organizations are politically biased.
Meaning they’re either mind-bogglingly dumb or are pleased with the bias, since it favors how they think
Scientists are trained to be precise and clinical. But emotions — especially the feeling of awe — are at the heart of what they do 


Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend 

By IAN MCAULEY | On 18 July 2020

What people in other forums are saying about public policyContinue reading →


PETER HITCHENS: Face masks turn us into voiceless submissives - and it’s not science forcing us to wear them, it’s politics - Mail Online - Peter Hitchens blog. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Here is a clue. On July 12, Deborah Cohen, the medical correspondent of BBC2’s Newsnight, revealed an astonishing thing. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had reversed its advice on face masks, from ‘don’t wear them’ to ‘do wear them’. But the key fact was that it had not done so because of scientific information – the evidence had not backed the wearing of face coverings – but because of political lobbying.She revealed on Twitter that: ‘We had been told by various sources [that the] WHO committee reviewing the evidence had not backed masks but they recommended them due to political lobbying.’ She said the BBC had then put this to the WHO, which did not deny it. 
In March, the WHO had said: ‘There is currently no evidence that wearing a mask (whether medical or other types) by healthy persons in the wider community setting, including universal community masking, can protect them from infection with respiratory viruses, including Covid-19.’

Unlike the Monkees, I am not a believer.


Twitter to crack down on conspiracy theory group Our FT

Down the rabbit hole: how QAnon conspiracies thrive on Facebook



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