Politics, as I never tire of saying, is for social and emotional misfits, handicapped folk, those with a grudge. The purpose of politics is to help them overcome these feelings of inferiority and compensate for their personal inadequacies in the pursuit of power.
Ethics Case Studies Collection Continues to Grow
Looking for free, concise, and current ethics case studies? (more…)
This Year’s Kennedy Center Honorees
The Kennedy Center Honorsannounced today that the lifetime artistic achievement recipients for its 43rd ceremony will be choreographer and actress Debbie Allen; folk singer-songwriter Joan Baez; country singer-songwriter Garth Brooks; violinist Midori; and actor Dick Van Dyke. – New York Magazine
Unlocking The Technology Of Relationships
What does it look like when a small-scale, long-term community effort in Detroit is connected to a small-scale, long-term community effort in Seattle or Dallas? What is there to learn and exchange in that story being shared? In a national or federal approach to storytelling, you lose so much texture, so much detail, because in an effort to make stories accessible to more people, to build power on a bigger scale, stories get reduced. – Howlround
How Murdoch, Abeles twisted the arm of the Hawke Government to help Ansett at the expense of Qantas. (Edited and reposted from 1.1.2019))
Rupert Murdoch repeatedly says that he has never asked a prime minister for anything. That is quite brazen. I know, from personal experience, that this claim is just not true.
Cell Phone Location Privacy Bruce Schneier
Apple’s iPhone 13 Could Ditch the Lightning Port, Feature Next-Gen Vapor Chamber Cooling and In-Screen Fingerprint Sensor Apple Insider. Fingerprint sensor? Kill me now.
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Red flags for the future found in reports of past public service snafus |
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Clearing
out the home office for the new year always makes for an uncomfortable trip
down memory lane. |
The Atlantic – Cloth masks are better than nothing, but they were supposed to be a stopgap measure. “If you’re like most Americans, there’s a good chance you’re going to wear a cloth mask today. Doing so makes sense. It remains the official recommendation in the United States, and it is something we’ve both advocated since the beginning of the pandemic. Both of us wrote articles as far back as March urging people to wear homemade cloth masks. We’re also the authors (along with 17 other experts) of a paper titled “An Evidence Review of Face Masks Against COVID,” which was just published in peer-reviewed form in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But it’s past time for better solutions to be available to the public. We first released the paper as a preprint back in April, and it took nine months to go through peer review. We’re happy that it’s published but, to be honest, we’re also deeply disappointed that it’s still relevant. We’d hoped that by 2021 supply chains would have ramped up enough to ensure that everyone had better masks. Cloth masks, especially homemade ones, were supposed to be a stopgap measure. Why are so many of us still wearing them? Don’t get us wrong; everything we said about the efficacy of cloth masks stands the test of time. Wearing them is much better than wearing nothing. They definitely help reduce transmission of the coronavirus from the wearer and likely protect the wearer to some degree as well. But we know that not all masks are equal, and early on in the pandemic, there was a dire shortage of higher-grade masks for medical workers. During those emergency conditions, something was much better than nothing. There are better possibilities now, but they require action and guidance by the authorities. Even all cloth masks are not equal. Construction, materials, and fit matter, and these can’t be tracked or certified with homemade masks. Unlike cloth masks, medical-grade masks (also called respirators) that adhere to standards such as N95 (in the U.S.), FFP2 (in the European Union), and KN95 (in China) do a much better job of protecting the wearer and dampening transmission. Ideally, they should also come with instructions on how to wear them and ensure that they fit properly…”
Harvard Business Review - How to Hold Social Media Accountable for Undermining Democracy: “The problem with social media isn’t just what users post — it’s what the platforms decide to do with that content. Far from being neutral, social media companies are constantly making decisions about which content to amplify, elevate, and suggest to other users. Given their business model, which promotes scale above all, they’ve often actively amplified extreme, divisive content — including dangerous conspiracy theories and misinformation. It’s time for regulators to step in. A good place to start would be clarifying who should benefit from Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which has been vastly over-interpreted to provide blanket immunity to all internet companies — or “internet intermediaries” — for any third-party content they host. Specifically, it’s time to redefine what an “internet intermediary” means and create a more accurate category to reflect what these companies truly are, such as “digital curators” whose algorithms decide what content to boost, what to amplify, how to curate our content…”
Switching to Signal? Turn on these settings now for greater privacy and security
ZDNet - – “Many people are making the switch from WhatsApp to Signal. Many are switching because of the increased privacy and security that Signal offers. But with a few simple tweaks, did you know that you can make Signal even more secure? There are a few settings I suggest you enable. There are some cosmetic differences between the iOS and Android versions of Signal, but these tips apply to both platforms. The first place you should head over to is the Settings screen. To get there, tap on your initials in the top-left corner of the screen (on Android you can also tap the three dots on the top-left and then Settings). There are three settings on iOS and four on Android I recommend turning on, and a few others worth taking a look at…”
Operating in the dark': A year since Australia's first public COVID-19 concerns
Exactly one year ago we heard concerns from Australian health authorities for the first time about a new illness emerging from China. There was a lot we didn't know.
Everything We Know About The Mysterious Dark Helicopters That Have Been Circling Los Angeles The Drive
Here Are 4 Better Responses to the Capitol Riot Than Expanding “Domestic Terror” Crackdowns Jacobin
A New Film Details the FBI’s Relentless Pursuit of Martin Luther King Jr. Smithsonian
Caffeine and caffeine-containing pharmaceuticals as promising inhibitors for 3-chymotrypsin-like protease of SARS-CoV-2
Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics. From the Abstract: “To
our knowledge, this in silico study shows for the first time very
inexpensive drugs available in large quantities that can be potential
inhibitors against 3CLpro. In particular, the repurposing of
linagliptin, and caffeine are recommended for COVID-19 treatment after
in vitro, in vivo and clinical trial validation.” From the Results and
Discussion: “caffeine and theophylline are naturally available in many
plant species such as cocoa beans, kola nuts, tea leaves and coffee
beans (Petimar et al., 2019; Risner, 2008). Consequently, it is easy to
make it available to a large number of patients, regardless of their
whereabouts or living standards, which is difficult or impossible-like
for some other medications such as Remdesivir.” I sought reassurance on
this to comprensate for my twin biases toward off-patent and natural,
and toward caffeine [sips], which I received.