June 9, 2016 in 3,494 words

BUBBLES!!!

CAUTION:

From today forward, I will no longer post a cautionary warning regarding inappropriate language in embedded media.

To me, they’re just words.

I have self-flagged my website as appropriate for persons aged 14 and over so that I don’t offend the sensibilities of children.

If you’re in an environment where occasional profanity is frowned upon, don’t play the media or wear headphones.

Better yet, if you’re at work: GET BACK TO WORK YOU LAZY SCHLUB!!!

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JUNE 9TH- THE WORNADO

This Day In History: June 9, 1953

Summer had made an early appearance in central New England. The weather was unseasonably warm, with temperatures hovering near 90 degrees, but on June 8, the temperature dropped over 15 degrees in Worcester, MA. This was due to an unusually cold air mass and cold front arriving from the west.

This weather system wreaked havoc in the towns of Flint and Beecher, spawning tornadoes that killed 116 people. When this system arrived in Worcester, it clashed with warm air from the southern states, a rarity for the New England region.

Meteorologists saw the data and strongly suspected tornadic activity was a possibility in the area but believed making that knowledge public would incite a panic. Instead, they broke out their brand new alert system and released the first severe thunderstorm watch in Massachusetts history. In other words, most people were blindsided when the tornado ripped through the area. …

You Probably Don’t Need to Shower

As we learn more about the relationship between the microbiome and our health, some scientists and journalists have begun weaning themselves from cosmetic products like soap and shampoo. In taking away the bad bacteria, we could be losing too much of the good.

In this episode of If Our Bodies Could Talk—the final in a three-part miniseries on the microbiome—senior editor James Hamblin investigates the health of the microbes on our skin.

Canada is the least xenophobic country in the Western world. Here’s why.

While American politics is currently embroiled in a controversy over a major party’s blatantly racist remarks, Canadian politics has been moving in a somewhat … different direction. Take, for example, this video released by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday afternoon, which shows him breaking the first Ramadan fast with Muslim parliamentarians from his Liberal Party:

It was a pleasure to celebrate Iftar and break the first Ramadan fast with Muslim members of our caucus last night.https://t.co/NUdM8jQwO2

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 7, 2016

This is just normal politics for Trudeau. A little over 1 million Muslims live in Canada, about 3.2 percent of the population. It’s both good politics and a matter of basic respect to celebrate a major holiday for your country’s largest religious minority. (Though the Muslim population is smaller in the US, percentage-wise, American presidents also generally issue official statements on Ramadan.) …

10 Animals That Surprisingly Benefit From Climate Change

Climate change is one of the most pressing problems facing humanity and Earth today. This global problem is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it has occurred a few times in the past. However, the rate at which it’s progressing in modern times is very alarming.

Plenty of scientific evidence shows that climate change, caused by natural and man-made factors, is catastrophic to animals, leading some species to diminish in number. However, there are some studies which indicate that certain groups are able to adapt to climate change and, surprisingly, benefit from it.

10. Cephalopods

For many marine animals, climate change is a catastrophic event, but for a certain group of sea creatures, specifically cephalopods, it’s actually a beneficial phenomenon. Scientists found that over the course of 60 years, cephalopods (the animal group that includes cuttlefish, octopus, and squid) have been increasing in number.

This increase was found by accident. A team of scientists led by Zoe Doubleday of Australia’s Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide were investigating the declining population of giant Australian cuttlefish in South Australia. After reviewing the catch rates of 35 cephalopod species between 1953 and 2013, the researchers found that instead of declining, the population of cephalopods as a whole was actually increasing. In fact, even the giant Australian cuttlefish, which they originally thought was dying, was thriving. …

How Much Will Trump Cost the Republican Party?

^{The GOP needs to broaden its appeal to continue to thrive, but its presumptive nominee is busily alienating the voters it most needs to attract.}

Racial resentment has run like a dark thread through Donald Trump’s presidential campaign literally from its first moments, when he denounced undocumented Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and criminals during his announcement speech. But only now, it seems, are Republican leaders fully confronting the risk that Trump will define the GOP as a party of white racial backlash.

The party uproar over Trump’s charge that Judge Gonzalo Curiel is biased against him because he is “Mexican” dwarfs the unease over any previous Trump comment. (Maybe only his coy refusal to immediately denounce Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke comes close.) The condemnation reached a crescendo this week when House Speaker Paul Ryan excoriated Trump’s remarks as “the textbook definition of a racist comment.”

On both sides, senior party leaders have grumbled about previous primary winners. (Harry Truman was famously skeptical of John F. Kennedy). But it’s difficult to find precedent for this widespread public denunciation of a presumptive nominee. Senator Lindsey Graham still has little company (apart from embattled Illinois Senator Mark Kirk) when he calls for Republicans to rescind their Trump endorsements. Yet all Republican officials this week are undoubtedly recalibrating their posture toward Trump—and few will likely decide the right answer is to embrace him more tightly. …

Desperate GOP considers changing rules to deny Trump: ‘We’re going to get killed with this nominee’

Some Republicans are renewing talks about trying to stage a coup at the GOP convention next month to deny Donald Trump the party’s presidential nomination and field a replacement candidate, according to multiple reports.

The conversations come as Trump continues to face criticism from party leaders and lawmakers over comments he recently made about a federal judge’s ethnicity.

Reacting to the uproar, some anti-Trump conservatives — who have been trying for months to stop the billionaire businessman and former Atlantic City casino mogul — are considering trying to change rules at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland and persuade delegates to vote for someone else, according to a report by Yahoo! News. …

10 Things We Thought We Knew About Dinosaurs

The word “dinosaur” comes from two greek words. The first is deinos, which means “terrible,” “powerful” or “wondrous.” The second is sauros, which means “lizard.” We are always learning new things about dinosaurs from their fossils. There have been many “facts” over the years that were once the general consensus but have since been proven false or have brought much debate. This is a list of 10 “facts” that have changed over time.

10. ‘Dinosaurs Abandoned Their Eggs Like Lizards’

In the past, the general census was that dinosaurs abandoned their eggs after birth like reptiles, but newer findings have shown that many dinosaurs cared for their young, like modern-day birds. Fossilized dinosaur burrows and nests reveal a lot about their behavior. Nests vary from simple pits to complicated constructions with mud rims. They appear in large groups or alone. The nests and the clutches of eggs reveal information about the dinosaur’s nurturing behavior.

Many Maiasaura nests have been found in Montana. Nests, eggs, hatchlings, juveniles, and adults have been found in the same area. The evidence indicates a high level of parental care and a very social dinosaur. The nests were holes scooped out of the ground, 1.8–2.1 meters (6–7 ft) wide and about 1.1 meter (3.5 ft) deep. Newborns were only about 0.3 meters (1 ft) long. Nests were placed about 9 meters (30 ft) apart, the size of an adult Maiasaur. In one area of Montana, a group of of over 40 nests covers 2.5 acres of land. …

UN pledges to end Aids epidemic but plan barely mentions those most at risk

^{• Activists walked out in protest after the resolution was adopted

• Summit criticized for excluding gay and transgender organizations}

UN member states have pledged to end the Aids epidemic by 2030, but campaigners say the strategy adopted by the 193-nation general assembly on Wednesday barely mentions those most at risk of contracting HIV/Aids: men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people and intravenous drug users.

Activists walked out in protest after the resolution was adopted on the first day of the three-day summit, which had already been the subject of intense criticism for excluding gay and transgender organizations. More than 50 countries, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, blocked 22 groups from attending the conference.

“There’s no way we can end this epidemic by 2030 without providing services and, in some countries, acknowledging the existence of these vulnerable communities,” said Amanda Lugg, the director of advocacy at the African Services Committee.

The document adopted on Wednesday is not legally binding, but it is used as a tool, particularly in developing countries, by activists who can point to it to say certain services must be made available. …

Barack Obama, Inequality Fighter

^{A new government report shows that something interesting happened when the U.S. government increased taxes and transfers under Obama: Inequality stopped growing.}

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office on household income since 1979 reaches two stark and significant conclusions. Inequality is growing. But so are government efforts to combat it—and they’re working.

First, the bad news. The distribution of income in the United States has been more unequal under Obama’s presidency than any time since the 1930s, according to the Gini Index, a conventional measure of the inequality. What’s going on here?

It really is a story of the 1 percent and the rest. Look at how market income grew between 1979 and 2013 for the poor (lowest quintile), the broad middle class (middle three quintiles), the fairly rich (81st-99th percentiles), and the truly rich (the top 1 percent). What’s really driving inequality isn’t really the scrum among the “bottom 99.” It’s the 1 percent sprinting away from the rest.

…

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JUNE 9TH- NERO

This Day In History: June 9, 68

On June 9, 68 C.E., the 95 year reign of the Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end, ushering in an era of unrest and civil war. One of Rome’s most ruthless and notorious leaders, who was responsible not only for the deaths of countless innocent subjects and Christians but also his own mother and two of his wives, committed suicide before his own troops could kill him.

Nero was born on December 15, 37 C.E., to Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina. After Nero’s father died in 48 A.D., his mother Agrippina married her uncle, the emperor Claudius. Her powers of persuasion were obviously substantial, since Agrippina convinced Claudius to name Nero as his successor over his own son, Britannicus, and he threw in his daughter Octavia’s hand in marriage to boot.

When Claudius died in 54 C.E., most Romans thought it was with a little help from Agrippina. Nero dutifully appeared before the Senate to eulogize the late emperor, and to be recognized as the new ruler of Rome. …

Trump continues to Violate Campaign Rule No. 1

Unless you are Ronald Reagan running for re-election (“It’s morning again in America”), most competitive presidential campaigns are about a single objective: making the race a referendum on the opponent, particularly if he or she is a long-time politician who has high negatives.

That’s how Barack Obama won a second term. He defined Mitt Romney and ran against that caricature he created (with Romney’s help, of course).

But whether it’s because he really doesn’t understand campaigns, or more likely, that his obvious narcissism makes it impossible for him to see that any topic could be more interesting than himself, Donald Trump continues to make the 2016 election a referendum on his accomplishments, his past statements and his beliefs. …

Elizabeth Warren Rips Into Paul Ryan’s Anti-Poverty Plan

^{“It looks more like an agenda for creating poverty.”}

On Tuesday, Paul Ryan unveiled a new anti-poverty plan in Washington, DC. News coverage of the event largely ignored the contents of Ryan’s proposal, instead focusing on his statement that Donald Trump’s attacks on a Hispanic judge constitute the “textbook definition of a racist comment”—but that he’d still be voting for Trump anyway.

But liberal favorite Elizabeth Warren wanted to make sure Ryan’s policy ideas didn’t go completely unnoticed. The Massachusetts senator took to Facebook later in the day to tear apart Ryan’s plan as a retread of old Republican proposals. “It looks more like an agenda for creating poverty than reducing it,” Warren wrote. “In fact, if you look closely, Paul Ryan’s new plan is just a shiny repackaging of Paul Ryan’s old plan: Keep huge tax breaks and special loopholes open for billionaires and giant corporations, gut the rules on Wall Street, then say there’s no money for Social Security, for Medicare, for education, or anything else that will help struggling working families.” …

6 Ways You Didn’t Realize Ronald Reagan Ruined The Country

Given the nature of this article, it would border on bad taste for me to mention that this past Sunday marked the 12th anniversary of the death of Conservative Republican Godhead Ronald Reagan, but alas, I just did. That said, he’d merit a mention even if I didn’t still have a bunch of decorations to take down, solely on the strength of all the comparisons the Donald Trump candidacy has drawn to that of Reagan’s.

^{Does that slogan look familiar?}

I sincerely hope the comparisons end at the candidate stage for a whole bunch of reasons, but one especially: If you ask me, Ronald Reagan was the worst goddamn president this country has elected to date. I talk about that on this week’s Unpopular Opinion podcast …

… where I’m joined by my Cracked co-workers Alex Schmidt and Tom Reimann. It’s also what I’m talking about in this column today. Here goes!

#6. Statistically Speaking, His Administration Was The Most Corrupt Ever

If we’re talking pure numbers, there really isn’t anything to argue about when it comes to which administration oversaw this country in the shadiest manner. Reagan wins that hands down. During his time in office, an astounding 138 members of his team were investigated, indicted, or convicted for their roles in various scandals. You could argue that merely being investigated shouldn’t count, but that would be a stupid argument. Of course being investigated counts. Plenty of people live their entire lives without being the subject of an investigation of any sort, you know? …

IRS failed to alert 100,000+ taxpayers damaged by massive data breach – inspector general

The Internal Revenue Service missed over 100,000 people whose information was stolen as a result of a data breach, failing to properly assist the affected taxpayers, the federal agency’s inspector general says.
A report released Wednesday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration says that more than 350,000 people had their information compromised in an early 2015 hack, while the IRS only initially counted about 220,000.

The hack targeted the agency’s Get Transcript system, which allows taxpayers to view their records over the internet. By impersonating the actual owners of these accounts, identity thieves managed to get their hands on the sensitive information of countless Americans.

#IRS Commissioner skips his own impeachment hearing [VIDEO] https://t.co/x03OowF6qy @TheResident pic.twitter.com/l5NqTUxypV

— RT America (@RT_America) June 1, 2016

…

MTV’s Role in the LGBT Revolution

^{For Pride month, the network is trying to remind audiences of the political legacy of shows like The Real World.}

In the 2011 book I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, Tom Freston recalls the origin of the first modern reality TV show. “People asked me, ‘How did you come up with The Real World? That is genius.’ It was just because we didn’t have any money.”

It’s true: The MTV of the early ‘90s knew its audience watched soap operas, but the price to script and cast a daytime drama seemed too steep for a network used to getting its programming—music videos—for free. The actorless, writerless solution that was The Real World ended up transforming MTV and the broader television landscape. And it might even have changed American politics by pushing conversations over race, gender, and sexuality to the forefront of popular culture. …

10 Surprising Facts About Magic And Superstition In Ancient Rome

Magic and superstition have been present in human societies since the dawn of our species, and ancient Rome was no exception. Some of us would like to believe that the advancement of education and scientific knowledge should be enough to keep superstitious beliefs in check, but many signs around us tell us that superstition is here to stay. Fortune-tellers, cult leaders, horoscope writers, and casino owners (to name a few) know this very well.

This list is about the powerful effect that magic and superstition had on some of the beliefs of ancient Roman society.

10. Magic, Superstition, And Medicine

Some of the medical knowledge in ancient Rome was strongly linked to magic and superstition. Pliny the Elder records a number of health tips that few of us would take seriously. Here are some examples. Do not try this at home without medical supervision. We take no responsibility for the outcome of the following recipes:

Drinking fresh human blood was believed by some to be an effective treatment for epilepsy:

“It is an appalling sight to see wild animals drink the blood of gladiators in the arena, and yet those who suffer from epilepsy think it is the most effective cure for their disease, to absorb a person’s warm blood while he is still breathing and to draw out his actual living soul.” (Natural History, 28.4) …

A California club bans DJs who use laptops … but why?

^{When DJs started to use CDs, purists were up in arms – and now an even more recent piece of kit has been declared verboten. Yet, like dance music itself, technology moves on – so why not embrace it?}

Outrage among dance music fans on the internet this week – I know, newsflash! – as a club in Glendale, California, has issued a decree forbidding the use of laptops in its DJ booth. Cure and the Cause owner, the magnificently named Kenny Summit, said: “Keep your controller in your crib. Don’t come to work with training wheels.”

Laptops in clubs use software like Ableton, Traktor or Mixxx that algorithmically match beats so you’ll never hear sloppy mixing again – often paired with a physical controller that allows the DJ to be more hands-on when manipulating the audio files. Summit’s intimation is that working with CDJ decks or vinyl, which require you to manually match up the beats, is art – and using controllers like these is mere science. …

How Windows 10 became malware

^{Any software — even a premier operating system — that gets onto computers through stealth means has crossed over to the dark side}

Several weeks ago my wife came fuming into my office.

“Windows 10 just hijacked my computer,” she complained. “Without asking, Microsoft upgraded me from Windows 7, even though I didn’t want Windows 10, and I had to wait for the installation to finish before I could get any work done.”

I asked her whether she had accidentally clicked “OK” on any upgrade notifications, ignored any warnings that she had received or gotten any other notices about the upgrade. No on all counts, she answered before leaving to wrestle with her new operating system.

I admit to having been skeptical. Would Microsoft really take over someone’s computer without warning and install a significant chunk of software without explicit permission? That’s what malware does, I thought, not software from one of the biggest tech firms on the planet with the largest operating system installed base on desktop and laptops PCs.

Turns out, she was right. …

HULK HOGAN, GEORGE FOREMAN, AND A LEAN MEAN FAT-REDUCING MACHINE

One of the most lucrative endorsements ever signed by any sportsman was not for some shoe, line of clothing, or athletic gear- but for a cooking item- The George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine. In fact, the deal is generally thought to have made the former boxing great drastically more money than he ever made fighting in the ring. (And, if you’re curious, see: Why Boxing Rings are Called Rings When They are Square)

According to the grill’s inventor, Michael Boehm, the inspiration for the grill’s unique design came when he was walking around a department store in the late 1980s and he noticed that not a single grill for sale cooked meat on both sides. Boehm, a lifelong inventor and tinkerer, rushed home and sketched an idea for a grill that did exactly that, as well as drained fat away while the item cooked. To test the concept, Boehm bought some cast iron skillets, placed them at an angle and then tried cooking burgers on the contraption, measuring how much of the fat was drained away. …