Giving Government Vast Snooping Authority Is One Thing Democrats and Republicans Both Like
November 20th, 2019“Have fun with that.” haha Exactly.
Via: Reason:
Are you thoroughly invested in the impeachment drama? Do you thrill to the clash of good guys and villains in the ring of democracy, with the fate of the republic as the prize?
Have fun with that. There’s a good case to be made that all this political heat and light is little more than professional wrestling for flabby people. If Democrats really feared Donald Trump’s exercise of the powers of the presidency, why would they propose extending the surveillance powers of the controversial Patriot Act?
Buried on the next-to-last page of the Continuing Appropriations Act, meant to keep the government’s lights on and dated yesterday, is the following language:
Section 102(b)(1) of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (50 U.S.C. 101805 note) is amended by striking “December 15, 2019” and inserting “March 15, 2020”.
This relatively innocuous language pushes back the sunset provision of the Patriot Act by three months, leaving its vast powers in the hands of a president who Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden charges with “failure to uphold basic democratic principles,” who House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has accused of “alarming connections and conduct with Russia” and, joined by Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer, says is making an attempt to “shred the Constitution.”
Many Democrats flat-out call Trump a “traitor.”
If you take those comments seriously, that’s a hell of a guy to trust with the powers granted by the Patriot Act. And frightening powers they are.
Millennials Seeing Health Decline Faster Than Gen X
November 20th, 2019More vaccines.
More profits generated from the victims seeking treatments from the people who poisoned them in the first place.
Mission accomplished.
Via: Yahoo Finance:
The declining health of the millennial generation could have a serious impact on the U.S. health care system, according to experts.
“Millennials are seeing their health decline faster than the previous generation as they age,” a Moody’s Analytics report analyzing Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Index data stated. “Without intervention, millennials could feasibly see mortality rates climb up by more than 40% compared to Gen-Xers at the same age.” (Pew Research defines millennials as Americans born between 1981 and 1996.)
These declines will lead to greater demand for treatment, which could have a serious financial impact on the cost of health care.
Association Between History of Dental Amalgam Fillings and Risk of Parkinson’s Disease
November 20th, 2019Via: PubMed:
The patients exposed to dental amalgam fillings were 1.583 times more likely to have PD afterward compared to their non-exposed counterparts after adjusting for comorbidities and CCI scores.
Neural Correlates of the DMT Experience Assessed with Multivariate EEG
November 20th, 2019Via: Nature:
N, N, Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a naturally-occurring serotonergic psychedelic capable of producing experiences that, in intensity, surpass those associated with standard doses of most orally administered psychedelics and indeed most other categories of psychoactive drugs. The subjective effects of intravenous DMT have a rapid onset and are characterized by unusually vivid visual imagery and somatic effects, which arise within seconds of the injection. At high doses, the experience rapidly progresses into a deep and profound immersion – sometimes described as a ‘breakthrough’. This experience is often characterized by a sense of entering into an entirely ‘other’ but no less ‘real’ world or dimension. It is not uncommon for people to describe encounters with sentient ‘entities’ or ‘presences’ within this perceived other world and for the experience to subsequently challenge beliefs about the nature of reality and consciousness.
NATO Intends to Make Space an ‘Operational Domain’
November 20th, 2019Via: Bloomberg:
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization plans to widen its remit to include outer space as the alliance anticipates new security threats.
NATO intends to make space an “operational domain” along with air, land, sea and cyber, according to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The move, to be approved at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday, would bring all five areas within the scope of the alliance’s collective-defense commitment and comes as member countries seek to address fresh internal political splits.
“Space is of great importance for our civilian societies and for any military operation,” Stoltenberg told reporters Tuesday in Brussels. “It’s about communications, it’s about navigation, it’s about data imagery. Space is essential for almost everything we do.”
‘Insect Apocalypse’ Poses Risk to All Life on Earth, Conservationists Warn
November 20th, 2019Via: Guardian:
The planet is at the start of a sixth mass extinction in its history, with huge losses already reported in larger animals that are easier to study. But insects are by far the most varied and abundant animals, outweighing humanity by 17 times.
Insect population collapses have been reported in Germany and Puerto Rico, and the first global scientific review, published in February, said widespread declines threaten a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”.
Insects can be helped to recover by “rewilding” urban gardens and parks, Goulson said. “There is potential for a huge network of insect-friendly habitats right across the country. Already a lot of people are buying into the idea that they can make their gardens more wildlife friendly by letting go of control a bit. There are also quite a lot of councils going pesticide free.”
But he said: “The bigger challenge is farming – 70% of Britain is farmland. No matter how many gardens we make wildlife friendly, if 70% of the countryside remains largely hostile to life, then we are not going to turn around insect decline.”
Billionaires Seek Secure Storage Facilities for Possessions
November 20th, 2019Via: Bloomberg:
A few blocks from Grosvenor Square in Mayfair, 46 Park Lane resembles a private club with wood-paneled walls and an ornate fireplace dating back to Britain’s Victorian era.
But down a flight of stairs is one of the most secure rooms in London. Built by IBV International Vaults, the steel-walled stronghold is scheduled to open next month and will cater to billionaires looking for a place to stash their most prized possessions.
“We’re getting calls every week about a room available for 2.5 million pounds ($3.2 million) a year,” said Sean Hoey, managing director of IBV London, referring to an apartment-size space. The firm, which also has 550 safe-deposit boxes on site and room for about 450 more, is betting on London’s reputation as a “safe haven,” even with Brexit.
Humans Put In Suspended Animation for First Time
November 20th, 2019Via: New Scientist:
Doctors have placed humans in suspended animation for the first time, as part of a trial in the US that aims to make it possible to fix traumatic injuries that would otherwise cause death.
Samuel Tisherman, at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told New Scientist that his team of medics had placed at least one patient in suspended animation, calling it “a little surreal” when they first did it. He wouldn’t reveal how many people had survived as a result.
The technique, officially called emergency preservation and resuscitation (EPR), is being carried out on people who arrive at the University of Maryland Medical Centre in Baltimore with an acute trauma – such as a gunshot or stab wound – and have had a cardiac arrest. Their heart will have stopped beating and they will have lost more than half their blood. There are only minutes to operate, with a less than 5 per cent chance that they would normally survive.
EPR involves rapidly cooling a person to around 10 to 15°C by replacing all of their blood with ice-cold saline. The patient’s brain activity almost completely stops. They are then disconnected from the cooling system and their body – which would otherwise be classified as dead – is moved to the operating theatre.
A surgical team then has 2 hours to fix the person’s injuries before they are warmed up and their heart restarted. Tisherman says he hopes to be able to announce the full results of the trial by the end of 2020.
Too Much Screen Time May Be Stunting Toddlers’ Brains
November 19th, 2019Via: U.S. News:
Toddlers who spend loads of time looking at tablets, smartphones or TVs may be changing their brains, and not for the better.
A new study using brain scans showed that the white matter in the brains of children who spent hours in front of screens wasn’t developing as fast as it was in the brains of kids who didn’t.
It’s in the white matter of the brain where language, other literacy skills, and the process of mental control and self-regulation develop, researchers say.
“What we think happens is that the development of these skills really depends on the quality of the experience, such as interaction with people, interaction with the world and playing,” explained lead researcher Dr. John Hutton. He is director of the Reading and Literacy Discovery Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
Astronomers Despair As SpaceX Starlink Train Ruins Observation Of Nearby Galaxies
November 19th, 2019That’s just the first 120 Starlink satellites out of tens of thousands that will go up in next few years.
Via: Fortune:
In the early hours of the morning today, Monday, November 18, two astronomers checked in on their remotely operated telescope in Chile, expecting to see images of distant stars and galaxies. Instead, they saw a train of SpaceX satellites crossing the night sky, a worrying sign of what might be to come for astronomy.
“Here we were, we had a second half of the night observing, and then we kind of just see all of these streaks,” says Cliff Johnson from Northwestern University in Chicago, one of the two astronomers. “We put two and two together and it was like oh yeah, it’s the train of all the Starlink satellites.”
Starlink is SpaceX’s impending mega constellation of up to 42,000 satellites that will beam high-speed internet around the world. SpaceX, along with its competitors such as OneWeb and Amazon, has touted the benefits of bringing the internet to all, including the estimated three billion without internet access.
However, with just 3,000 active satellites orbiting earth today, many astronomers have expressed concerns that this dramatic increase will create many more artificial points of light in the night sky. For a science that relies on dark skies, having multiple satellites constantly visible could pose significant problems.
