University of Texas Researchers Increase Efficiency of Water Desalination
January 1st, 2021Via: University of Texas:
The paper documents an increase in efficiency in the membranes tested by 30%-40%, meaning they can clean more water while using significantly less energy. That could lead to increased access to clean water and lower water bills for individual homes and large users alike.
Wisconsin Pharmacist Arrested on Charges of Sabotaging COVID Vaccine Doses
January 1st, 2021Via: Reuters:
A Wisconsin hospital pharmacist was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of sabotaging more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine by deliberately removing them from refrigeration to spoil, police and medical authorities said.
Is Continuity of Government Planning for Trump Attempt to Remain in Power?
December 31st, 2020In short, Trump might be planning to remain in power and the Raven Rock crowd might be planning to prevent that from happening.
I have no idea if anything significant is going to result from all of this, but I’ll lay out some information I’ve been following and let you decide for yourself.
JANUARY SIXTH, SEE YOU IN DC!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2020
Start by reading this Newsweek piece: Donald Trump’s Martial-Law Talk Has Military on Red Alert:
Pentagon and Washington-area military leaders are on red alert, wary of what President Donald Trump might do in his remaining days in office. Though far-fetched, ranking officers have discussed what they would do if the president declared martial law. And military commands responsible for Washington DC are engaged in secret contingency planning in case the armed forces are called upon to maintain or restore civil order during the inauguration and transition period. According to one officer who spoke to Newsweek on condition of anonymity, the planning is being kept out of sight of the White House and Trump loyalists in the Pentagon for fear that it would be shut down.
“I’ve been associated with the military for over 40 years and I’ve never seen the discussions that are being had right now, the need for such discussions,” says a retired flag officer, currently a defense contractor who has mentored and advised his service’s senior leaders. He was granted anonymity in order to speak without fear of reprisal.
Next, consider Dark Journalist’s analysis of the above article:
Finally, consider these videos by attorney Leigh Dundas, What Is Trump Preparing For? and The Power of the One Who Counts Votes:
The Price of Electric Car Batteries Has Dropped 89% in 10 Years
December 31st, 2020Via: Fast Company:
A decade ago, a lithium-ion battery pack used in an electric car cost around $1,110 per kilowatt-hour. By this year, according to a new survey, the cost had fallen 89%, to $137 per kilowatt-hour. And by 2023, the cost is likely to fall far enough that car companies can make and sell mass-market electric vehicles (EVs) at the same cost as cars running on fossil fuels.
UK Woman Arrested For Filming Inside Empty Hospital
December 31st, 2020Via: Summit News:
A woman in the UK was arrested by police after she filmed a video inside an almost completely empty hospital and posted it online.
The clip shows the woman walking through virtually empty corridors and filming empty wards at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
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According to reports, a 46-year-old woman was subsequently arrested by police for filming the video and has been charged on suspicion of a public order offence.
“The woman has been bailed to return to police on 21 January, with conditions that she cannot enter any NHS premises or the grounds of any such premises, unless in the case of an emergency or to attend a pre-arranged NHS appointment,” said a statement by Gloucestershire Police.
While the footage shows the inside of the hospital to be virtually empty, UK health authorities have continually asserted that the NHS is at risk of being “overwhelmed” as a result of rising COVID-19 infections.
NHS England says that there are now more COVID-19 patients in hospitals than there were during the April peak of the first wave.
However, public data shows that hospitals are indeed emptier than at this time last year, with beds being at 89% occupancy compared to 95% occupancy in December 2019.
In regions across the country, critical care occupancy rates are also lower than the 3 year average.
“Los Angeles Vaccine Recipients Can Put the Proof in Apple Wallet”
December 30th, 2020Here we go.
Via: Bloomberg:
Covid-19 vaccine recipients in Los Angeles County, a major virus hot spot, will be offered a digital record that will help ensure they get a second shot and could, eventually, be used to gain access to concert venues or airline flights.
The offering is being provided starting this week through a partnership with the startup Healthvana. It’s initially geared toward ensuring people receive both doses of the two-shot regimens that have been authorized in the U.S., including through follow-up notifications before a second appointment.
It will also give recipients a way to verify they have been vaccinated, which they can put into an Apple Wallet or competing Google platform “to prove to airlines, to prove to schools, to prove to whoever needs it,” said Healthvana Chief Executive Officer Ramin Bastani.
Social Engineers Use Weaponized Psychology to Push Unproven Vaccines
December 30th, 2020Via: The Daily Bell:
In a recent Gallup poll on Americans’ willingness to submit to a COVID-19 vaccine, a mere half of the respondents said they would be willing to receive the vaccine once it becomes available.
This hesitancy on the part of the American public poses a potentially unforeseen dilemma for pharmaceutical firms and their cronies in government, which have spent billions developing these vaccines at breakneck speed: how best to prod, cajole, shame, or otherwise manipulate the American citizenry into accepting the vaccine once it has achieved FDA approval?
We can already see several strategies at work in this regard; the PR campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccination is now approaching climax.
Humans are hardwired to seek inclusion in social groups. In earlier epochs, our survival depended obviously and heavily on the social groups to which we belonged. Although the material reality of life has changed dramatically for humans since the dawn of civilization, those social imperatives carved deep into our innate psychology have remained.
Social engineers know and understand the basic desire for social inclusion, and use it as a tool.
Humans intuit the in-group/out-group dynamic. We are sensitive to lines drawn between insiders and outsiders and, whether consciously or subconsciously, modify our behavior to fit the mold of the inside group. If atomized outsiders can be convinced that the “insiders” in society get vaccinated, they are more likely to adopt conformative behavior as a result.
You can glimpse this strategy at play in public campaigns to promote vaccination.
The Threat of Authoritarianism in the U.S. is Very Real, and Has Nothing To Do With Trump
December 30th, 2020Via: Glenn Greenwald:
The COVID-driven centralization of economic power and information control in the hands of a few corporate monopolies poses enduring threats to political freedom.
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The hysterical Trump-as-despot script was all melodrama, a ploy for profits and ratings, and, most of all, a potent instrument to distract from the neoliberal ideology that gave rise to Trump in the first place by causing so much wreckage. Positing Trump as a grand aberration from U.S. politics and as the prime author of America’s woes — rather than what he was: a perfectly predictable extension of U.S politics and a symptom of preexisting pathologies — enabled those who have so much blood and economic destruction on their hands not only to evade responsibility for what they did, but to rehabilitate themselves as the guardians of freedom and prosperity and, ultimately, catapult themselves back into power. As of January 20, that is exactly where they will reside.
U.S. Poverty Jumps the Most in 60 Years
December 30th, 2020The pandemic did this. The pandemic did that.
Wrong.
Governments caused this disaster.
Via: CBS:
Of the various measures of the coronavirus pandemic’s comet strike on the U.S. economy, one especially reveals the size of the crater: Over a six-month period, nearly 8 million Americans have tumbled into poverty.
The nation’s poverty rate in November jumped to 11.7%, up 2.4 percentage points from 9.6% in June — the biggest one-year increase in the 60 years that the government has been keeping numbers, according to new research from three universities.
UK: Nano Bug Drone
December 30th, 2020Via: BAE Systems:
The Bug is a nano-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) weighing 196g – similar to the weight of a smartphone – with 40 minute battery life and a 2km range. It boasts a stealthy low visual profile and the ability to fly even in strong winds of more than 50mph. It was the only nano-UAV able to cope with the uncompromising weather during a recent Army Warfighting Experiment (AWE) event hosted by the Ministry of Defence’s Future Capability Group.
