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The anti-lab organ?
Evolution News highlights a recently discovered organelle inside cells. A vault is found in nearly all cells, free-living and part of complex animals. Its function is unclear at the moment. Like most recent discoveries, it didn’t require an electron microscope or MRI; it’s visible with a good optical microscope but nobody noticed it before. The…
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Rules are not “souls”
Denyse at MindMatters properly takes down a new project to give AI a “soul”. From the description of the project: With AI increasingly taking up more decision-making roles in our daily lives, along with rising concerns about bias and discrimination in AI, Dr. Poole argues the answer might be in the stuff we tried to…
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Jet activity
Just a note for future reference. For a week I’ve been hearing near-sonic jets flying overhead once or twice a day. I’m under one of the flight paths for the main airport, so I’m accustomed to the sound of ordinary airliners. They emit a steady faint roar, audible for about a minute, fading in and…
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Contracts are deeper than “rights”
The defenders of “free speech” constantly miss the point of press freedom. Greenwald is complaining that Fox News is suppressing Carlson’s “freedom” by enforcing its contract. Nope. Freedom of the press means that a publisher can’t be forced to publish OR retract any items. Contracts are a deeper form of law than any “rights”. Contracts…
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No COs now
Checking today’s dayness as usual, I notice that today is ‘Pause for the Pledge Day’ along with ‘Flag Day’. I figured out a long time ago that the 1950’s loyalty oaths for employees, required by the McCarran Act, were more about sieving and selecting than creating loyalty. A genuine enemy agent would easily and calmly…
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Breaking Parkinson
Discovery Institute, the defender of Intelligent Design, has been drifting into Parkinsonian triviality, making annoying movies and podcasts, and writing pointless arguments. I don’t know the cause, but suspect it’s part of the same trend that is collapsing bitcoin and wokedom. Discovery has a few tech-tyrant patrons whose worldview is not the same as Bezos…
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Narrow truth, full truth
Trump is making two claims right now. = = = = = The first is narrowly and technically true but omits the only important part. “We have a government that’s out of control.” CHUTZPAH! He started with an out-of-control government, grabbed the steering wheel, and drove it straight into the black hole of WORLDWIDE NAZI…
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Not the best idea
There are several of those ‘little library’ kiosks in the neighborhood. I doubt that they get much use, but they’re good follies in the strict sense. On today’s walk I noticed one kiosk repurposed to hold canned food. Probably not a good idea. A closed chamber with glass facing southwest is a solar oven. =…
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Champion silly headline
From StraightArrowNews: Report finds US spy agencies are buying Americans personal data Report finds US customers are buying groceries Report finds dogs are wagging tails Report finds sun is hot Report finds water is wet
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When Harry met Seagully
It’s well known that dogs want to eat what their human friends eat. Dogs get confused and frustrated when offered a human favorite food that tastes awful to the dog, like lemons. What about non-domesticated animals like seagulls, who enjoy stealing human food? Are they influenced by our favorites? A British study says yes, and…
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This is crazy
Both “parties” have fallen into total personality cults. Each side has several credible opponents who can make valid arguments against the Lord Of The Cult. But the opponents never oppose. In real competition, product brands or church denominations or political parties offer SOMETHING DIFFERENT. There is always a dominant brand. Each non-dominant brand offers a…
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Old spell
Reddit is being hit by a boycott for an appropriately obscure and inscrutable reason. The management started charging fees for some app that made Reddit easier to use on iPhones. Or maybe the app made Reddit more inscrutable on iPhones, which was probably the desired goal. In either case, the maker of the app quit…
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Not learning from Lia
Via DailyMail, taken with a block of salt but certainly sounds about right…. DeSantis’s consultants and advisors are training him to be somebody else. He’s basically an introvert, so his efforts to laugh and talk like an extrovert CAN’T POSSIBLY WORK. = = = = = START QUOTE: They are now figuring out ways to…
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Rbird
As an old CW type, I always interpret in Morse. For the last week, one nearby bird (most likely a California quail) has been saying R all day every day. Slight variations in tone, always the same .-. rhythm over and over. I suppose he’s calling CQ to the nearest available broad, or just announcing…
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C and V
Liel Leibovitz writes a wonderful exercise in Constants and Variables. RFK appeared on Jon Stewart’s TV show in 2005 and said the same thing he’s saying now. Stewart had a civilized and well-informed conversation on the subject. Now, of course, all discussion on all scientific topics is Leibovitz goes into the forgotten details of the…
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