Patrick Lawrence: Sins of Silence
Australia warns that scams “selling” nonexistent farm equipment are up 20%
Everything you should fix on a senior’s phone Washington Post
Washington Post: “Next time you see your parents in person (and really, you should visit more often) do everyone a favor. Take 30 minutes to borrow their phone and clean house.
A little maintenance now can prevent future problems with security, scams, confusion or misinformation. You are going to clear out old junk, fix any small problems and customize it so everything is a little easier for them to see and understand. This is advice for adult children whose parents or other older relatives use a smartphone, but anyone can attempt these maintenance tasks on their own devices…”
It was one of those minor stories that seemed to have taken on a life of its own: The New York Times1 reported last week about an adjunct Organic Chemistry professor at NYU who was fired after students complained his tests were too hard. I would have missed it, but for J.V Last discussing it at The Bulwark.2
Both discussions touched on what a gut course org chem is; how many aspiring doctors see their career hopes dashed by the class. The debate veered into whether colleges are credential factories, or public utilities, or just businesses selling a product trying to satisfy their consumers. JVL wrote, “The course exists for only two purposes: (1) to cull the number of attractive medical school applicants, and (2) to prepare a handful of students for a future in biochemical research.”
Framing, Context, Asking (not answering) Questions Big Picture On the low level of doctors in the US.
665 FBI employees left agency after misconduct investigations: whistleblower disclosure The HIll
Inmate in Georgia’s maximum security prison accused of impersonating billionaires to steal millions Atlanta Journal-Constitution
People in Poland Are Burning Trash to Stay Warm This Winter Bloomberg
Inside the Thatcher Larp London Review of Books. “Until Liz Truss, no one had ever thought to try Larping as a system of government.”
Julian Assange’s Judge and Her Husband’s Links to the British Military Establishment Exposed by Wikileaks Declassified UK
Jennifer-Ruth Green, the Republican candidate in the race to represent Indiana’s 1st Congressional District, is livid after Politico published details about her sexual assault while in the military, without her permission, and blames her opponent for “illegally” obtaining the information.
The Guardian – “An artificial intelligence tool that scans eyes can accurately predict a person’s risk of heart disease in less than a minute, researchers say.The breakthrough could enable ophthalmologists and other health workers to carry out cardiovascular screening on the high street using a camera – without the need for blood tests or blood pressure checks – according to the world’s largest study of its kind.
Researchers found AI-enabled imaging of the retina’s veins and arteries can specify the risk of cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular death and stroke. They say the results could open the door to a highly effective, non-invasive test becoming available for people at medium to high risk of heart disease that does not have to be done in a clinic.
Their findings were published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology….“In a linked editorial, Dr Ify Mordi and Prof Emanuele Trucco, of the University of Dundee, who were not involved with the study, said the idea of AI eye checks for heart health was “certainly attractive and intuitive”. They added: “The results strengthen the evidence from several similar studies that the retina can be a useful and potentially disruptive source of information for CVD risk in personalised medicine.”
AI eye checks can predict heart disease risk in less than minute, finds study The Guardian
Mutual entrapment aeon
What Is It Like to Have a Brain?: On Patrick House’s “Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness” Los Angeles Review of Books