A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
Showing posts with label Associated Press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Associated Press. Show all posts
Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX launched four space tourists into orbit from Kennedy Space Center in Florida reaching a new milestone for the space tourism industry. NBC News Correspondent Cal Perry joins MSNBC's Brian Williams to discuss the history-making moment.
Leading the flight is Jared Isaacman, 38, who made his fortune with a payment-processing company he started in his teens...Isaacman is the third billionaire to launch this summer, following the brief space-skimming flights by Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson and Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos in July.
Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski, and Sian Proctor joined Issacman on the flight. Together, they form the first all-tourist crew in orbit with no professional astronauts. While it comes off as a bit of a stunt, I still think that making space profitable, including space tourism, is a good thing for space exploration and exploitation.
SpaceX has launched four amateurs on a private flight to circle Earth for three days. It's the first time a rocket has streaked toward orbit with no professional astronauts on board. Former astronaut Garrett Resiman, who is also a senior advisor at SpaceX and a professor of astronautical engineering at USC, joins CBSN's Lana Zak to describe the launch.
The launch went well, so here's to a safe flight and landing.
People of color are seeing the biggest drop, with Black Americans and Hispanics now having a life expectancy roughly three years lower than in 2019. Hispanic males saw the biggest drop, at 3.7 years.
New government data shows life expectancy in the U.S. has reached the lowest level since 2003, with people living on average just over 77 years. The biggest culprit? COVID deaths. CBS2's Jessica Layton reports.
For even more detail, I turn to the Associated Press in the Detroit News.
The drop spelled out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic, which health officials said is responsible for close to 74% of the overall life expectancy decline. More than 3.3 million Americans died last year, far more than any other year in U.S. history, with COVID-19 accounting for about 11% of those deaths.
Just because the pandemic is responsible for most of the drop, other causes, like the opioid epidemic and systemic racism making the pandemic worse for minorities, played roles in lowering life expectancy.
Killers other than COVID-19 played a role. Drug overdoses pushed life expectancy down, particularly for whites. And rising homicides were a small but significant reason for the decline for Black Americans, said Elizabeth Arias, the report's lead author.
Other problems affected Black and Hispanic people, including lack of access to quality health care, more crowded living conditions, and a greater share of the population in lower-paying jobs that required them to keep working when the pandemic was at its worst, experts said.
More than 100,000 children in the U.S. have lost at least one parent from the COVID-19 pandemic. The news comes as the U.S. saw its largest drop in life expectancy since World War II. Mireya Villarreal shares more.
Loss of parents from the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on minorities as well. That's another reason why returning to the pre-pandemic normal isn't good enough.
CGTN America presented a good narrated summary. The Associated Press went with a different approaching, letting the participants in the debate speak for themselves in House approves DC statehood, Senate opposed.
The Democratic-controlled House approved a bill Friday to make the District of Columbia the 51st state, but the bill faces insurmountable opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate.
This is encouraging, as this is the first time the House of Representatives voted in favor of D.C. statehood. However, Mitch McConnell calls statehood for both Puerto Rico and D.C. "socialism" and vows not to even bring it up for a vote. Even if he did, it would almost certainly lose in the Senate. Sigh. Still, progress. Until then, I'm repeating what I wrote last week.
This series will return on June 2, 2020, when the District of Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Dakota will hold their presidential nominating primaries for a final mini-Super Tuesday. Watch for the Pennsylvania drum corps, if nothing else.
Voters and campaigns alike will be asked to navigate curfews in place amid protests of George Floyd's killing, coronavirus concerns and a sharp increase in mail balloting as voting takes place from Maryland to Montana.
Many political groups are focusing on Pennsylvania, which represents a high-profile test case for the November general election.
So am I, because that's where the most drum corps are.
Before I begin the musical portion of this post, I am noting that Joe Biden needs to win 89% of all delegates at stake on today to clinch the Democratic nomination for President. Even though I've been writing "Enjoy the music as you're awaiting the results, even if they don't mean much anymore" on these entries since Marching Music for the Alaska Democratic Primary two months ago, that's not really the case. Tonight's results do mean something!
Vic Firth takes you BEYOND the lot with THE CADETS as they perform their 2019 production "Behold" during finals week in Indianapolis, IN! EIGHT HD cameras you WON'T see anywhere else!
Follow over the jump for the rest of the drum corps and marching bands from today's primary states.
I concluded My Saturn Award votes and predictions for 2018 by telling my readers "That's it for the Saturn Awards from me until July 2nd when I plan on covering the winners. Stay tuned." Today is July 2nd, so it's time for me to follow through with the winners from Variety.
Disney-Marvel’s blockbuster “Black Panther” reigned at the Saturn Awards with five wins, followed by “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” with three.
...
“Black Panther” was named best comic-to-film, along with best director (Ryan Coogler), best supporting actress (Danai Gurira), best production design (Hannah Beachler), and best makeup (Ken Diaz and Joel Harlow)...“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” won for best writer (Rian Johnson), best editor (Bob Ducsay), and best actor (Mark Hamill).
I thought it might be a big night for "Black Panther" and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," and it was, although not as big as I expected nor with the awards I expected. For example, I thought "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" would win Best Science Fiction Film. Instead, that went to "Blade Runner 2049," which was more of an entertainment professional's choice than a fan favorite. I also forecast that Carrie Fisher would win Best Supporting Actress, but I found myself pleasantly surprised that Danai Gurira won it instead. On the other hand, I was expecting Mark Hamill to win Best Actor in a Film and "Black Panter" to win Best Comic to Motion Picture Release. Both did.
Speaking at the Saturn Awards in California, actor Mark Hamill says playing a jaded, world-weary Luke Skywalker in "The Last Jedi" was tough as he had always been "the most idealistic character."
The rest of the winners only won one award each, including most of the genre movie winners. Best Fantasy Film went to The Shape of Water. Get Out earned Best Horror Film. "The Greatest Showman" won Best Action/Adventure Film. Best Thriller Film went to "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." The Best Independent Film was awarded to "Wonder."
"Baahubali 2: The Conclusion" winning Best International Film made the biggest splash of any of the single award winners, as the news spawned several videos for the Indian audience. Most of them were in Telegu or Tamil, but one of them was in English: ‘Baahubali: The Conclusion’ won the best International Film of the year award.
Variety listed the remaining acting winners as "Gal Gadot for best actress in 'Wonder Woman,' Patrick Stewart for best supporting actor in 'Logan,' and Tom Holland for best younger performer in 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'" The remaining technical film awards went to "Beauty and the Beast" for Best Film Costumes and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" for Best Special Effects.
Follow over the jump for how the movie winners compared to my votes and predictions.
Yara Shahidi, Ashleigh Murray, Gigi Gorgeous and Grant Gustin react to the violent events in Charlottesville, as they arrive for the Teen Choice Awards.
I found Shahidi and Murray to be very articulate and insightful about the event, while Gorgeous was merely adequate and Gustin a bit disappointing, if properly appalled. Then again, his character Barry Allen never fought Nazis during the Golden Age; that was the province of Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash. If John Wesley Shipp, who plays Garrick on "The Flash," had made such an inarticulate response, I'd have been really disappointed.
The Detroit Red Wings are condemning the use of the team's logo by white nationalists during a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va. on Saturday.
I hope the Red Wings and NFL find the person responsible for infringing on the logo and punish him to the full extent allowed under civil law, which means (probably) he will be bankrupted. That's a small thing compared to the one death and 19 injuries, but it will be something. Speaking of which, WXYZ has more on the vehicle (murder weapon) in How metro Detroit is connected to deadly white nationalist rally in Vi[r]ginia.
The white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va. that is being linked to three deaths has two metro Detroit connections. A woman from Canton Was at the rally this afternoon an[d] captured video of the crash on Facebook Live, moments after the car ran into protestors.
Yes, the car used to belong to someone in Michigan. If the Detroit media find any connection to Detroit or Michigan in a story, they'll promote it. At least the former owner is not responsible, while the driver is from over the state line in Toledo, Ohio.
Finally, I called the incident a Weimar moment earlier. That's because it's another step up in violence from 1968 has arrived with a Weimar moment in San Jose. There, the political violence was relatively disorganized, partisan mob on partisan mob. Here, the organized attacks and counter-attacks and the first stage of uniformed political militias (logos on shields passed out to the alt-right demonstrators, along with helmets and batons) reached the stage I first described in The torches and pitchforks came out for Trump last night, complete with actual Nazis.
The counter-protesters weren't that organized, but they were more organized and ready for violence than I had seen them since Trump declared he was running. I think we've gone beyond 1968 to something the U.S. hasn't seen since the Silver Shirts were active in the 1930s. That's frightening.
Volvo plans for all new models from 2019 to be either fully electric or hybrid, the company announced Wednesday. But will other car makers follow, and what does this mean for the industry?
Carmaker Volvo announced that all its cars will have electric motors by 2019. Darren Jukes of accounting firm PwC says car manufacturers are responding to increased demand for electric vehicles.
Sometimes, it feels like the universe is speaking to me. Of course, it's just my newsfeed, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't listen. Today, what it's telling me is that climatechange is becoming more of a risk. Here are the videos about climate change that appeared on my subscription page just today, beginning with WatchMojo's Top 10 Signs Climate Change Is Worse Than Ever.
Climate change is taking a serious toll on the planet earth, and whether is man-made or as a result of natural causes, there's no denying that it's worse then ever. WatchMojo presents the top 10 signs that climate change is worse than ever. Severe wildfires, melting glaciers and extreme weather rank amongst the top of these foreboding signs. ... 00:32 #10. Rising Sea Levels 01:19 #9. Oceans Are Becoming More Acidic 02:08 #8. Marine Wildlife Is Rapidly Declining 02:57 #7. Weather Conditions are Shifting 03:49 #6. Temperatures Around the World are Increasing 04:32 #5. CO2 Emissions Have Permanently Crossed a Threshold 05:26 #4. Arctic Ice Is Disappearing 06:11 #3, #2, #1 ???
That's the overview. Follow over the jump for more videos about specific examples.
After traveling 1.8 billion miles over five years, NASA's Juno spacecraft has reached Jupiter. Juno is the first spacecraft in more than a decade to orbit the planet.
A NASA solar-powered spacecraft has entered orbit around Jupiter on Monday to explore the giant planet. Ground controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory erupted in applause when the solar-powered Juno spacecraft beamed home news.
For more, read Juno probe enters into orbit around Jupiter from the BBC. In particular, note that the spacecraft is not yet in its final orbit. That will happen in mid-October, when the spacecraft adjusts its orbit from its current very elongated one that takes 53 days to a less eccentric one that takes only 14. As the BBC says, that's when the real science will begin. Stay tuned.
As for the plane's next stop, The Daily Mail reported "The solar-powered plane, which stores energy in batteries for when the sun is not shining, will make several stops across the United States, although the team is still examining potential destinations." In other words, they don't know yet. Stay tuned.
While I was looking elsewhere, the Solar Impulse team decided on their next stops. First, Solar Impulse 2 arrives in Tulsa from May 13th.
Solar powered plane travels from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Dayton, Ohio overnight to land at the city that is proud to be the hometown of the Wright Brothers.
USA Today also pointed out the significance of the location, but also of the date, pointing out that it was the 89th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh landing in Paris after his solo trans-Atlantic flight.
As for the next stage, AFP via Phys.org reported two more stops in the U.S. before flying over the Atlantic.
It may next fly to Pennsylvania as early as Tuesday, the team said. Its final destination in the United States is New York.
It could leave the day after tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Paul W.:Stop trying to make him happen, Republicans, Rubio is not gonna happen.
ME: As for "Little Marco," I predict he'll lose Florida and then drop out. If Kasich wins Ohio, then he'll have the establishment/moderate vote all to himself from here on out.
Marco Rubio drops out of the presidential race after losing his home state of Florida to Donald Trump. He warned his party not to play on people's frustrations.
All that establishment support may have earned Rubio wins in Minnesota and D.C. and higher placements in a few states, especially South Carolina, but that's it.
Now look at the endorsements for the remaining candidates in both parties, again from FiveThirtyEight.
Hey, look, the Agenda 21 conspiracy theorist is number one--the establishment's worst nightmare! At least I can be reassured that being an establishment candidate has not done any Republican candidate much good this year. On the other hand, it's still working for Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side, but that's a story for another entry.
Follow over the jump for the reactions from Cruz and Kasich, plus a farewell toast to Marco.
Scientists behind a “Doomsday Clock” that measures the likelihood of a global cataclysm say the world is still under grave threat. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced on Tuesday that the minute hand was at three minutes-to-midnight. (Jan. 26)
The good news is that they didn't advance the minute hand. The bad news is that they didn't set it back, either.
Former New York Gov. George Pataki is telling supporters he's ready to drop his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Yeah, George, I have faith that the American people will elect the right person, too, but it won't be any of your fellow Republicans.
That's the unfiltered farewell, which is an ad for the other establishment-oriented candidates. ABC News has some of the story behind he announcement in George Pataki Drops Out of 2016 Presidential Race.
Pataki announced his candidacy this past May. "Our system is broken," he said in his announcement video. "Washington has grown too big, too powerful, too expensive and too intrusive. This is exactly what the founding fathers feared."
But he failed to gain traction in the polls, averaging 1 percent. He did not make it onto the main stage for any of the GOP debates, and was eliminated from the Fox Business Network undercard debate.
Financially, Pataki's campaign was struggling, spending more than he was taking in. The most recent financial disclosure showed him raising $134,000, but spending $348,000.
So, he had essentially no support, he was going to be cut off from free exposure, and he was out of money.* All three of those are good reasons to get out of the contest. Honestly, he lasted longer than a lot of people thought. I expected him to drop out when Bobby Jindal left. He managed to last an extra two months past that.
So, who benefits from Pataki leaving and who drops out next? The answer to the first question is the most moderate GOP candidate left, which is Chris Christie. It won't be much, but it might bring him third place and another delegate in New Hampshire.
As for who is dropping out next, look at this photo from the second debate.
All of them are now gone except Santorum. I've said farewell, Frothy before. I'll be happy to say it again.
*Pataki was so broke that he used up his equal time from NBC for Trump appearing on Saturday Night Live to air his departure announcement. Well, it was use it or lose it, so he used it on his way out. Speaking of using things, Pataki's drink selections can be reused for Trump and Clinton, who are both New Yorkers. Yes, I'm a good environmentalist; I recycle.
The Washington Post via TeleSUR showed that Sanders didn't just beat the Democrats on Google.
“What's more,” Washington Post added, “Sanders actually overpowered the long-term king of Google, Donald Trump. During the debate, Sanders continually attracted more Google interest than Trump."
Sanders beating Trump on Google is having an effect, but I'll save it for a future post.
Sanders may have beat Trump on Google, but he didn't beat The Penguin Donald on Twitter, as the following graphic shows.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has a new target for his barbs: Democratic contender Bernie Sanders. Trump went after the senator while speaking in front of about 5,000 people at a rally in Virginia Wednesday evening.
Tell us what you really think, Penguin, and don't mince words. As for whether or not Sanders really is the right enemy for Trump, we'll see.
Carl Apple of the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids talks about Pope Francis' recent stance on climate change.
I'm not surprised, as one of the answers to Where the Catholic Church stands on science and the environment, was that Francis's first act as Pope was to say that Catholics should protect the environment, the weak, and the poor. I liked that message. If you do, too, then today is your opportunity to do something about the environment, as it's Congressional Climate Message Day. Here is a letter to the editor of the Fresno Bee describing today's action.
Are you concerned about climate change but don’t know what you can do about it?
On June 23, Citizens’ Climate Lobby will send almost 900 volunteers to Capitol Hill to lobby for legislation to put a price on carbon pollution. You can support them by letting your members of Congress know that you want them to take action on climate change.
On June 22, the day before CCL lobbies on the Hill, there will be a Congressional Climate Message Day (online link: citizensclimatelobby.org/ccmd/). Constituents will contact their members of Congress by phone and social media to register their support for legislation that will put a price on carbon. For information about this proposed legislation, go to citizensclimatelobby.org. A Regional Economic Models Inc. (online link: www.remi.com) study shows that pricing carbon would reduce carbon emissions, save lives, create jobs and increase the GDP.
Please mark your calendars for June 22 to take this action. To find your representatives and their contact information, go to congress.gov/members. The few minutes it takes to call, tweet or text your representatives will have a huge impact in our efforts to fight climate change.
Congressional Republicans are shrugging off Pope Francis' call for urgent action on climate change and dismissing his attempt to frame global warming as a moral issue.
I remember when the liberals in the church were the ones being called "Cafeteria Catholics." The conservatives are now just as guilty, if not more so.
Michigan on Monday said Canadian geese in the state tested positive for a lethal strain of bird flu, bringing the worst outbreak of the disease in U.S. history to a 21st state. According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, three young geese collected in Sterling Heights, Michigan, about 20 miles north of Detroit, were infected with the highly pathogenic H5N2 flu strain. Director Keith Creagh said the state is now focusing on preventing the spread of the disease to poultry. According to the department, Michigan is the 21st state to confirm a case of bird flu since late 2014 and the sixth to detect it only in wild or free-ranging birds.
Nationwide, more than 46 million chickens and turkeys have been killed by the disease or culled to prevent its spread. Most are in Iowa, the top U.S. egg-producing state, and Minnesota, the nation's top turkey-producing state.
Follow over the jump for the responses to this discovery.
I lot has happened since I wrote Predictions about Ebola coming true, among them that Ebola has arrived in the U.S. I was greeted at the start of my evening class with that news, which I confirmed once I finished my lecture. Here's the story from Reuters from last night: Traveler from Liberia is first Ebola patient diagnosed in U.S. By Julie Steenhuysen and Sharon Begley on Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:11pm EDT.
A man who flew from Liberia to Texas has become the first patient infected with the deadly Ebola virus to be diagnosed in the United States, health officials said on Tuesday, a sign the outbreak ravaging West Africa may spread globally.
The patient sought treatment six days after arriving in Texas on Sept. 20, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters. He was admitted two days later to an isolation room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
U.S. health officials and lawmakers have been bracing for the eventuality that a patient would arrive on U.S. shores undetected, testing the preparedness of the nation's healthcare system. On Tuesday, Frieden and other health authorities said they were taking every step possible to ensure the virus did not spread widely.
"It is certainly possible someone who had contact with this individual could develop Ebola in the coming weeks," Frieden told a news conference. "I have no doubt we will stop this in its tracks in the United States."
I told my students that not only would the patient be isolated, but those he came in contact with would likely be quarantined. ABC News shows that to be the case, beginning with EMTs and the ambulance in which they all drove in Health Officials on High Alert After First US Ebola Case.
CDC dispatches a team of disease detectives to Dallas after patient is diagnosed with deadly virus.
The CDC is not playing.
This case has prompted a flurry of follow up stories. Follow over the jump for the videos that have passed through my YouTube feed during the past eight hours.
In the five years since Lehman Brothers collapsed, triggering a global financial crisis and shattering confidence worldwide, a new attitude has emerged when it comes to personal finances, and frugality is king.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Environmental officials and scientists warned Friday that Puerto Rico is dangerously vulnerable to the effects of global climate change and urged it to prepare by better-regulated coastal development, and perhaps even by building artificial reefs.
The storm-caused floods and erosion that have always affected the U.S. Caribbean territory are expected to grow worse as temperatures and seas rise, perhaps by 22 inches (57 centimeters) by 2060, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study.
That's not all. Rolling Stone has a great expose of the effects of climate change just a little bit farther north in Goodbye, Miami.
By century's end, rising sea levels will turn the nation's urban fantasyland into an American Atlantis. But long before the city is completely underwater, chaos will begin.
The most egregious myths, misconceptions and flat-out lies about the future of the planet.
I hope people read those and actually do something. Otherwise, they'll be like the families in the public service announcements that CNN FEMA portrays in Humorous disaster preparedness campaign.*
Does your family have a plan in the event of an emergency? Do you know who will pack supplies and how you'll contact each other if you aren't all at home? No? Neither does the family in this humorous video by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "We couldn't be any less prepared — I'm proud of you guys," says the father. September is FEMA's National Preparedness month and this year's effort to get the message across is choosing humor over high drama. Through a partnership with the Ad Council, the 30-second video is part of a series to help families be better prepared for emergency situations. "Winging it is not an emergency plan," it says. True enough. Watch the video, and if the spirit moves you, make a plan of your own.
May we not be these people.
*The caption for the CNN video I originally had here read "Kelly Wallace explores a poignant and funny new ad campaign that encourages families to prepare for disasters." I like this one better. Besides, CNN took down the original.
On the way out the door from from work, I noticed that there had been a flash crash of all three U.S. stock indices. Joe.My.God captured the 140+ point drop in the Dow shown below.
I was afraid it was a computer trading glitch like the 2010 Flash Crash, but it turned out that it was the traders responding to a tweet from the hacked AP account, as CNN reported.
The shocking tweet came from the Associated Press earlier this afternoon: "Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured."
The AP's communications team quickly tweeted from its own account that the main AP Twitter was compromised, but investors had already panicked. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) immediately plunged by more than 140 points.
And there it is: After years of hacks that typically involved little more than obscene language, Twitter's subpar security measures have now caused serious real-world consequences.
Tech Feed then reported that the Syrian Electronic Army, a
"cybermilitia" (actually a bunch of hackers and script kiddies) loyal to the Assad government took credit. Here is their video report: Who Hacked the AP Twitter Account?
This morning a tweet was sent from the official Associated Press account that read, "Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured." Although the tweet was bogus (the account had been hacked), it had a very noticeable effect on the stock market, as Annie explains. She also takes a look at the Syrian Electronic Army, who have taken credit for the hack.
Second, another Facebook friend shared Salon's report that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was an Alex Jones fan. Jones immediately claimed that the news was evidence of a plot against him.
UPDATE: Sure enough, within minutes of the AP story breaking, Jones told BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray that it’s all a conspiracy against him:
“I’ve seen this before,” Jones said. “The federal government trying to connect me to tragedies. That’s the media and the government’s own conspiracy theories.” Jones compared the situation to when Richard Andrew Poplawski, a Pittsburgh man who killed three police officers in 2009, was shown to be a conspiracy theorist who frequently visited the Infowars website. “It’s standard for them to talk to people, go through computers, and any time someone’s done something bad they connect it to us,” Jone[s] said.
Shorter Jones, courtesy of Ambassador Vreenak.
And so we come full circle, starting with a fake AP story and ending with claims of another fake AP story. Jones' protests to the contrary, I think that final AP story is real, although I'm motivated to do so. After all, it means that the U.S. Right now has to disclaim Tsarnaev, as the Infowars association makes him one of them. Excuse me while I suppress a wicked snicker.
