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cbabe
cbabe's Journal
cbabe's Journal
September 17, 2024
The craziest scientific studies of 2024
The Ig Nobel Prize has awarded unusual achievements in research, such as a paper that proves dead trout ‘swim’ like live fish or that scaring a cow affects its milk production
RAÚL LIMÓN
SEP 13, 2024 - 11:03 EDT
A Japanese study that found mammals can breathe through their anus is one of the papers recognized by the Ig Nobel Prize, a satirical prize awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research to the most unusual achievements in scientific research. Other prize winners include a study that shows drunk worms are slower than sober ones, research into the swimming patterns of dead trout, and a paper into how scaring a cow every 10 seconds affects its milk, but having a cat on its back does not.
These are the investigations — published in scientific journals — that were awarded an Ig Noble Prize at a ceremony held Thursday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the presence of five Nobel laureates:
… more …
(Your pick?)
The Ig Nobel Prize: The craziest scientific studies of 2024
https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2024-09-13/mammals-that-breathe-through-their-anus-and-drunk-worms-the-craziest-scientific-studies-of-2024.htmlThe craziest scientific studies of 2024
The Ig Nobel Prize has awarded unusual achievements in research, such as a paper that proves dead trout ‘swim’ like live fish or that scaring a cow affects its milk production
RAÚL LIMÓN
SEP 13, 2024 - 11:03 EDT
A Japanese study that found mammals can breathe through their anus is one of the papers recognized by the Ig Nobel Prize, a satirical prize awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research to the most unusual achievements in scientific research. Other prize winners include a study that shows drunk worms are slower than sober ones, research into the swimming patterns of dead trout, and a paper into how scaring a cow every 10 seconds affects its milk, but having a cat on its back does not.
These are the investigations — published in scientific journals — that were awarded an Ig Noble Prize at a ceremony held Thursday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the presence of five Nobel laureates:
… more …
(Your pick?)
September 15, 2024
Louisiana town the canary in the coalmine as climate effects worsen
Lake Charles has been battered by storms over the past 20 years – and now its most famous landmark lies in ruins
Shannon Sims in Lake Charles, Louisiana
Sun 15 Sep 2024 07.00 EDT
Last week, one south-west Louisiana city in particular was girding itself for Hurricane Francine’s blow: Lake Charles, located about four hours west of New Orleans and two hours east of Houston.
…
The city’s only skyscraper, the Capital One Tower, symbolizes Lake Charles’s unfortunate fate as a city that has embraced Louisiana’s oil and gas industry even as the climate crisis it causes increasingly wreaks havoc on it.
The 310ft metal-and-glass structure has been Lake Charles’s most famous building since its opening in 1983, and the postcard image representing Lake Charles’s power in the oil and gas industry, dwarfing everything else in town.
…
In fact, it was Lake Charles’s version of Windows on the World, the restaurant on the top floor of New York’s World Trade Center, except instead of offering views across the rooftops of Manhattan, the City Club’s windows looked out on to an endless horizon of oil refineries and petrochemical smokestacks.
Through the energy market’s good times and bad times, the tower stood mighty, its blue-hued “hurricane-proof” glass reflecting the water that gave the town its name.
…
But now the tower is gone.
At 8am on 7 September, after years of legal wrangling about what to do with the beat-up structure, the tower was imploded. In a matter of seconds, Lake Charles was marked by a cloud of dust that settled over a place that looked now more like a town rather than a city.
… more …
Iconic Louisiana oil office tower destroyed by climate change
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/15/louisiana-lake-charles-climateLouisiana town the canary in the coalmine as climate effects worsen
Lake Charles has been battered by storms over the past 20 years – and now its most famous landmark lies in ruins
Shannon Sims in Lake Charles, Louisiana
Sun 15 Sep 2024 07.00 EDT
Last week, one south-west Louisiana city in particular was girding itself for Hurricane Francine’s blow: Lake Charles, located about four hours west of New Orleans and two hours east of Houston.
…
The city’s only skyscraper, the Capital One Tower, symbolizes Lake Charles’s unfortunate fate as a city that has embraced Louisiana’s oil and gas industry even as the climate crisis it causes increasingly wreaks havoc on it.
The 310ft metal-and-glass structure has been Lake Charles’s most famous building since its opening in 1983, and the postcard image representing Lake Charles’s power in the oil and gas industry, dwarfing everything else in town.
…
In fact, it was Lake Charles’s version of Windows on the World, the restaurant on the top floor of New York’s World Trade Center, except instead of offering views across the rooftops of Manhattan, the City Club’s windows looked out on to an endless horizon of oil refineries and petrochemical smokestacks.
Through the energy market’s good times and bad times, the tower stood mighty, its blue-hued “hurricane-proof” glass reflecting the water that gave the town its name.
…
But now the tower is gone.
At 8am on 7 September, after years of legal wrangling about what to do with the beat-up structure, the tower was imploded. In a matter of seconds, Lake Charles was marked by a cloud of dust that settled over a place that looked now more like a town rather than a city.
… more …
September 15, 2024
Norway Trip Gives DOC Team Insight Into Amend Program
September 28, 2022
By Robert Johnson (email)
Department of Corrections
The lives of Norway prison staff were
improved by providing humane treatment to the perpetrator of one of the most heinous crimes in the history of Norway.
That may seem counterintuitive or simplistic, but in the Norwegian Correctional Service, the treatment of incarcerated people has a profound and real effect on the total wellness of every person who works in a prison.
…
The Washington delegation was joined by other Amend partners from California, North Dakota and Oregon, that have partnered with Amend. The trip included tours of five prisons and opportunities to see the Norwegian Correctional Service’s approach to working with incarcerated people in restrictive housing units, recreation, meal policies and procedures.
The Norway Correctional Service has seen a drastic reduction in prison violence and recidivism since implementing the person-centered approach in 1998. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the rate of people returning to prison was above 60%, escapes and riots were not uncommon, and two prison officers were killed. Since the shift, corrections staff in Norway are happier, have more job satisfaction, healthier and have longer life expectancy. The Norwegian Correctional Service doesn’t have staffing shortages — instead it has a waiting list for applicants.
… more …
Update with paywall:
https://www.seattletimes.com › seattle-news › wa-prisons-sent-100-staffers-to-norway-the-goal-a-humane-system
WA prisons sent 100 staffers to Norway. The goal: A humane system
TodayWith a tiny prison population of 3,200, Norway has a staff-to-incarcerated-person ratio approaching 1 to 1. Washington,
(As seen in Michael Moore’s film ‘Where to Invade Next’)
Norway Trip Gives DOC Team Insight Into Amend Prison Program
https://doc.wa.gov/news/2022/09282022.htmNorway Trip Gives DOC Team Insight Into Amend Program
September 28, 2022
By Robert Johnson (email)
Department of Corrections
The lives of Norway prison staff were
improved by providing humane treatment to the perpetrator of one of the most heinous crimes in the history of Norway.
That may seem counterintuitive or simplistic, but in the Norwegian Correctional Service, the treatment of incarcerated people has a profound and real effect on the total wellness of every person who works in a prison.
…
The Washington delegation was joined by other Amend partners from California, North Dakota and Oregon, that have partnered with Amend. The trip included tours of five prisons and opportunities to see the Norwegian Correctional Service’s approach to working with incarcerated people in restrictive housing units, recreation, meal policies and procedures.
The Norway Correctional Service has seen a drastic reduction in prison violence and recidivism since implementing the person-centered approach in 1998. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the rate of people returning to prison was above 60%, escapes and riots were not uncommon, and two prison officers were killed. Since the shift, corrections staff in Norway are happier, have more job satisfaction, healthier and have longer life expectancy. The Norwegian Correctional Service doesn’t have staffing shortages — instead it has a waiting list for applicants.
… more …
Update with paywall:
https://www.seattletimes.com › seattle-news › wa-prisons-sent-100-staffers-to-norway-the-goal-a-humane-system
WA prisons sent 100 staffers to Norway. The goal: A humane system
TodayWith a tiny prison population of 3,200, Norway has a staff-to-incarcerated-person ratio approaching 1 to 1. Washington,
(As seen in Michael Moore’s film ‘Where to Invade Next’)
September 14, 2024
‘I wanted to write a suburban Reacher’: Richard Osman talks to Lee Child about class, success and the secret to great crime writing
The two bestselling authors who both started in TV discuss writing as a second career, natural justice – and what they really think of literary fiction
Alex Clark
Sat 14 Sep 2024 05.00 EDT
In the four years since Richard Osman published his first Thursday Murder Club novel he has consistently topped the bestseller lists, and now his quartet of retirement-age detectives will be portrayed on screen by a cast including Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan. Having grown up in Sussex, Osman started out in TV, where he created and co-hosted the gameshow Pointless. His forthcoming novel We Solve Murders – the start of a new series – features a writer billed as the world’s bestselling novelist, “if you don’t count Lee Child”. Child, the creator of former military police officer Jack Reacher, has enjoyed phenomenal popularity since he left his career – also in TV, where he worked on shows including Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown and Cracker – and started writing, with his first novel published in 1997. Raised in Birmingham, he moved to the US in 1998 and now lives between Manhattan and rural Wyoming. He wrote 24 Reacher novels before announcing in 2020 that he would be handing the series to his brother Andrew.
… more …
Richard Osman talks to Lee Child: So I love having a book where the empaths outwit the psychopaths.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/sep/14/i-wanted-to-write-a-suburban-reacher-richard-osman-talks-to-lee-child-about-class-success-and-the-secret-to-great-writing‘I wanted to write a suburban Reacher’: Richard Osman talks to Lee Child about class, success and the secret to great crime writing
The two bestselling authors who both started in TV discuss writing as a second career, natural justice – and what they really think of literary fiction
Alex Clark
Sat 14 Sep 2024 05.00 EDT
In the four years since Richard Osman published his first Thursday Murder Club novel he has consistently topped the bestseller lists, and now his quartet of retirement-age detectives will be portrayed on screen by a cast including Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan. Having grown up in Sussex, Osman started out in TV, where he created and co-hosted the gameshow Pointless. His forthcoming novel We Solve Murders – the start of a new series – features a writer billed as the world’s bestselling novelist, “if you don’t count Lee Child”. Child, the creator of former military police officer Jack Reacher, has enjoyed phenomenal popularity since he left his career – also in TV, where he worked on shows including Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown and Cracker – and started writing, with his first novel published in 1997. Raised in Birmingham, he moved to the US in 1998 and now lives between Manhattan and rural Wyoming. He wrote 24 Reacher novels before announcing in 2020 that he would be handing the series to his brother Andrew.
… more …
September 13, 2024
‘We will never stop fighting’: why Afghan women have risked their lives to attend a summit in Tirana
A conference in the Albanian capital aims to agree how women want the international community to react to the Taliban’s assault on their rights – and fight the erasure of their voices
Annie Kelly in Tirana, Albania
Fri 13 Sep 2024 09.23 EDT
In the garden of a hotel on the outskirts of Tirana, Albania, a group of Afghan women are singing, arms raised or slung around each other’s shoulders. Some are crying as they embrace friends or former colleagues they have not seen since the Taliban swept to power in August 2021 and began systematically stripping away the rights and freedoms of 14 million Afghan women and girls.
…
For most of the that time, Koofi and her co-organisers at Women for Afghanistan struggled to find the summit a home, with successive governments refusing to play host.
“It was really important to us to try to find a Muslim-majority country close to Afghanistan to host this summit and it was very disappointing that so many refused to do so,” says Koofi. Turkey and the UAE were among governments who either refused to host the summit or simply did not respond to Koofi’s request.
…
The past few months has seen a slow creep of normalisation begin to define countries’ diplomatic relations with the Taliban, with women’s voices largely absent from the conversation.
… more …
Afghan women have risked their lives to attend a summit in Tirana
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/sep/13/we-will-never-stop-fighting-why-afghan-women-have-risked-their-lives-to-attend-a-summit-in-tirana‘We will never stop fighting’: why Afghan women have risked their lives to attend a summit in Tirana
A conference in the Albanian capital aims to agree how women want the international community to react to the Taliban’s assault on their rights – and fight the erasure of their voices
Annie Kelly in Tirana, Albania
Fri 13 Sep 2024 09.23 EDT
In the garden of a hotel on the outskirts of Tirana, Albania, a group of Afghan women are singing, arms raised or slung around each other’s shoulders. Some are crying as they embrace friends or former colleagues they have not seen since the Taliban swept to power in August 2021 and began systematically stripping away the rights and freedoms of 14 million Afghan women and girls.
…
For most of the that time, Koofi and her co-organisers at Women for Afghanistan struggled to find the summit a home, with successive governments refusing to play host.
“It was really important to us to try to find a Muslim-majority country close to Afghanistan to host this summit and it was very disappointing that so many refused to do so,” says Koofi. Turkey and the UAE were among governments who either refused to host the summit or simply did not respond to Koofi’s request.
…
The past few months has seen a slow creep of normalisation begin to define countries’ diplomatic relations with the Taliban, with women’s voices largely absent from the conversation.
… more …
September 13, 2024
Entire Earth vibrated for nine days after climate-triggered mega-tsunami
Landslide in Greenland caused unprecedented seismic event that shows impact of global heating, say scientists
Damian Carrington Environment editor
Thu 12 Sep 2024 14.00 EDT
A landslide and mega-tsunami in Greenland in September 2023, triggered by the climate crisis, caused the entire Earth to vibrate for nine days, a scientific investigation has found.
The seismic event was detected by earthquake sensors around the world but was so completely unprecedented that the researchers initially had no idea what had caused it. Having now solved the mystery, the scientists said it showed how global heating was already having planetary-scale impacts and that major landslides were possible in places previously believed to be stable as temperatures rapidly rose.
The collapse of a 1,200-metre-high mountain peak into the remote Dickson fjord happened on 16 September 2023 after the melting glacier below was no longer able to hold up the rock face. It triggered an initial wave 200 metres high and the subsequent sloshing of water back and forth in the twisty fjord sent seismic waves through the planet for more than a week.
The landslide and mega-tsunami were the first recorded in eastern Greenland. Arctic regions are being affected by the most rapid global heating, and similar though seismically smaller events have been seen in western Greenland, Alaska, Canada, Norway and Chile.
… more …
(Is the future here now?)
Entire Earth vibrated for nine days after climate-triggered mega-tsunami
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/12/entire-earth-vibrated-climate-triggered-mega-tsunamiEntire Earth vibrated for nine days after climate-triggered mega-tsunami
Landslide in Greenland caused unprecedented seismic event that shows impact of global heating, say scientists
Damian Carrington Environment editor
Thu 12 Sep 2024 14.00 EDT
A landslide and mega-tsunami in Greenland in September 2023, triggered by the climate crisis, caused the entire Earth to vibrate for nine days, a scientific investigation has found.
The seismic event was detected by earthquake sensors around the world but was so completely unprecedented that the researchers initially had no idea what had caused it. Having now solved the mystery, the scientists said it showed how global heating was already having planetary-scale impacts and that major landslides were possible in places previously believed to be stable as temperatures rapidly rose.
The collapse of a 1,200-metre-high mountain peak into the remote Dickson fjord happened on 16 September 2023 after the melting glacier below was no longer able to hold up the rock face. It triggered an initial wave 200 metres high and the subsequent sloshing of water back and forth in the twisty fjord sent seismic waves through the planet for more than a week.
The landslide and mega-tsunami were the first recorded in eastern Greenland. Arctic regions are being affected by the most rapid global heating, and similar though seismically smaller events have been seen in western Greenland, Alaska, Canada, Norway and Chile.
… more …
(Is the future here now?)
September 13, 2024
'Obvious Conflict of Interest': Report Reveals 50+ US Lawmakers Hold Military Stocks
"It's abjectly terrifying that the personal benefit of any member of Congress is factored into decisions about how to wield and fund the largest military in the world," said one critic.
BRETT WILKINS
Sep 12, 2024
At least 50 U.S. lawmakers or members of their households are financially invested in companies that make military weapons and equipment—even as these firms "receive hundreds of billions of dollars annually from congressionally-crafted Pentagon appropriations legislation," a report published Thursday revealed.
Sludge's David Moore analyzed 2023 financial disclosures and stock trades disclosed in other reports and found that "the total value of the federal lawmakers' defense contractors stock holdings could be as much as $10.9 million."
…
All 13 senators whose households disclosed military stock holdings voted for the most recent National Defense Authorization Act, which, as Common Dreams reported, allocated a record $886.3 billion for the U.S. military while many lawmakers' constituents struggled to meet their basic needs.
"It is an obvious conflict of interest when a member of Congress owns significant stock investments in a company and then votes to award the same company lucrative federal contracts," Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, told Sludge.
… more… Boeing, Honeywell, General Electric… names and holdings…
Ps boeing workers on strike
50+ US Lawmakers Hold Military Stocks
https://www.commondreams.org/news/members-of-congress-who-own-defense-stock'Obvious Conflict of Interest': Report Reveals 50+ US Lawmakers Hold Military Stocks
"It's abjectly terrifying that the personal benefit of any member of Congress is factored into decisions about how to wield and fund the largest military in the world," said one critic.
BRETT WILKINS
Sep 12, 2024
At least 50 U.S. lawmakers or members of their households are financially invested in companies that make military weapons and equipment—even as these firms "receive hundreds of billions of dollars annually from congressionally-crafted Pentagon appropriations legislation," a report published Thursday revealed.
Sludge's David Moore analyzed 2023 financial disclosures and stock trades disclosed in other reports and found that "the total value of the federal lawmakers' defense contractors stock holdings could be as much as $10.9 million."
…
All 13 senators whose households disclosed military stock holdings voted for the most recent National Defense Authorization Act, which, as Common Dreams reported, allocated a record $886.3 billion for the U.S. military while many lawmakers' constituents struggled to meet their basic needs.
"It is an obvious conflict of interest when a member of Congress owns significant stock investments in a company and then votes to award the same company lucrative federal contracts," Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, told Sludge.
… more… Boeing, Honeywell, General Electric… names and holdings…
Ps boeing workers on strike
September 12, 2024
As “Cop Cities” Spread to Nearly Every State, Activists Are Pushing Back
Over the last five years, over 80 multimillion-dollar Cop City-like facilities have quietly rolled out across the US.
By Victoria Valenzuela , WAGINGNONVIOLENCE
Published September 12, 2024
On June 11, a week after a police training facility in Richmond, California, broke ground, organizers from the Stop Cop City Bay Area Coalition marched to the Overaa Construction headquarters in protest. Citing concerns over rising police militarization and repression in the predominantly Black and Latino area, the protesters — joined by local residents — called on Overaa workers to boycott the $30 million construction deal. “By furthering the militarizing and surveillance of our city — and coordinating law enforcement resources across the region, including ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] — they’re actually making our cities into Cop Cities,” said Refilwe Gqajela, a community organizer with the Anti Police-Terror Project in California’s Bay Area.
Gqajela said organizers in Northern California have been working to form the coalition since the facility was announced in August 2023. They’ve expressed their opposition at rallies and town halls, saying the money should instead be put into other programs that would benefit the community.
…
Groups like Stop Cop City Atlanta, Stop Cop City Dallas and Stop Cop City Bay Area have been fighting these new police facilities in their communities by way of canvassing, holding rallies, petitioning and more — similar to the effort in California.
At least seven cities, including Chicago and Baltimore, have allocated over $100 million to their Cop Cities — and many are meant to host international police training programs like the Israeli occupation forces. Activists and scholars have said that Cop Cities are replicated after Israel’s own Cop City, “Little Gaza,” where they “battle-test” violence against Palestinians. This would be an expansion of already existing police training exchange programs that many U.S. states and cities have with Israel.
… more …
Cop Cities Spread to Nearly Every State
https://truthout.org/articles/as-cop-cities-spread-to-nearly-every-state-activists-are-pushing-back/As “Cop Cities” Spread to Nearly Every State, Activists Are Pushing Back
Over the last five years, over 80 multimillion-dollar Cop City-like facilities have quietly rolled out across the US.
By Victoria Valenzuela , WAGINGNONVIOLENCE
Published September 12, 2024
On June 11, a week after a police training facility in Richmond, California, broke ground, organizers from the Stop Cop City Bay Area Coalition marched to the Overaa Construction headquarters in protest. Citing concerns over rising police militarization and repression in the predominantly Black and Latino area, the protesters — joined by local residents — called on Overaa workers to boycott the $30 million construction deal. “By furthering the militarizing and surveillance of our city — and coordinating law enforcement resources across the region, including ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] — they’re actually making our cities into Cop Cities,” said Refilwe Gqajela, a community organizer with the Anti Police-Terror Project in California’s Bay Area.
Gqajela said organizers in Northern California have been working to form the coalition since the facility was announced in August 2023. They’ve expressed their opposition at rallies and town halls, saying the money should instead be put into other programs that would benefit the community.
…
Groups like Stop Cop City Atlanta, Stop Cop City Dallas and Stop Cop City Bay Area have been fighting these new police facilities in their communities by way of canvassing, holding rallies, petitioning and more — similar to the effort in California.
At least seven cities, including Chicago and Baltimore, have allocated over $100 million to their Cop Cities — and many are meant to host international police training programs like the Israeli occupation forces. Activists and scholars have said that Cop Cities are replicated after Israel’s own Cop City, “Little Gaza,” where they “battle-test” violence against Palestinians. This would be an expansion of already existing police training exchange programs that many U.S. states and cities have with Israel.
… more …
September 11, 2024
NPR promotes Nate Silver. Sad.
Tuesday, Sep 10, noon - 1pm
Full hour interview
… He embedded himself within the worlds of Doyle Brunson, Peter Thiel, Sam Bankman Fried, Sam Altman and many others and shares insight into a range of issues that affect everyone, from …
https://www.kbcs.fm/programs/commonwealth-club-of-ca/
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