U.S. In Talks To Take Direct Ownership Of Venezuelan Oil Fields. Who didn't see this coming? This is great news for the U.S. and the heavy crude oil of Venezuela will replace the heavy sour crude of Western Canada Select, so Canada is the loser here. And from my reading, U.S. refineries are set up to handle this type of oil. One needs coking units to crack the heavy oil, and only some U.S. refineries have this capability. Venezuela has some refineries, too, but they have been chronically underutiliized, and you can't just wake them up instantly once they've been shut down. Their oil is extra-heavy, and one needs naphtha to dilute them to be transportable, and there's been a shortage of this. But America will be supplying this.
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X claims that it discovered a secret Chinese social media farm that is trying to poison Americans' minds against datacenters. So now, tech leaders are trying the message that you'd love datacenters if not for those sneaky Chinese. One problem is that Americans really don't know much about datacenter construction, and just go by what the scuttlebutt says, much of which is wrong. But the electrical workers union loves datacenters. Truckers love datacenters. And the truth is, America loves the tech that would be impossible without datacenters. So they are going to be built.
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Scientists discover a brain “brake” that can shut down chronic pain. That brake lies in the locus ceruleus, and this is where adrenergic responses from anxiety and stress also originate. Well it turns out the regular meditation modulates signals from the anterior cingulate gyrus to the locus ceruleus, so this suggests another mechanism to decrease chronic pain.
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A startup claims it’s found a drug to make your blood young. What could it be? They don't "own the molecules" – so who does? Is it just not patentable? But the combination might be. I'm curious. What I'm intrigued about is that the people who are taking it already feel more energetic. Usually, longevity drugs have no noticeable impact. You just age slower, but you don't feel any different, so this drug combo is different.
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I Asked 100 Companies for My Data. I Got Deletion Notices Instead. Many companies collect a lot of data from users – way more than people realize. This is why I avoid installing unnecessary apps on my phone, and shield my browser with anti-snoop extensions.
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A ‘second heart’ is located below your knees, and you need to get it pumping. Back in 2022 a researcher in Houston published a discovery that exercising the soleus muscle was important and could help improve metabolic health. He recommended soleus push-ups. It's not a large muscle and I was skeptical. It lies right under the gastrocnemius muscle. But here we are, four years later, and a Mayo Clinic researcher has discovered the same thing. So maybe there is some truth to the importance of flexing your soleus muscle.
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Here's where you can buy a digital camouflage shirt and avoid detection by surveillance cameras. Get it here. Here's another company that sells something similar.
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It's not climate change. Even NPR has to admit that the cause of wildfires is arson. And since Oregon has a lot of crazies, it stands to reason why we are setting the record for wildfires this year. Keep Oregon Weird? Nah. So tired of this crap.
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So if all hell broke loose on earth broke out, where would you go? It turns out the safest place on earth is ... Australia. Really? The deadliest land where everything wants to kill you?
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Terence Tao has identifed a new kind of Simpson's Paradox. That's where a treatment can be beneficial for men, and beneficial for women, but harmful for people as a whole. In this new scenario, AI generates a paper that seems to be reasonably good. And then another comes out – same thing. And so forth. But when you stand back and look at the output as a whole, it's AI slop. I guess he's starting to see a lot of it.
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It's not just microglia that contribute to cognitive decline, it's also oligodendrocyes that deteriorate as you get older. This one I can understand, because the function of these cells is to provide the myelin sheath surrounding neurons. These need to stay intact, for sure.
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I knew some of this, but not all of it. McDonalds in Hawaii is special. You can order all kinds of local stuff that you can't get at chain restaurants elsewhere. It was smart of McDonalds to permit this.
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Well, it looks like Oregon is getting a sales tax after all. It's just not called that. That's what you do when all the wealthy taxpayers and business flee the state. Somebody's gotta feed the Democrats.
And here's Multnomah County – creating their first "climate justice plan" (whatever that is). And yes, there will be taxes. If you Crtl-F for "taxes", you'll get few hits. Instead, Ctrl-F for "funding" – lots of hits!
There are so many needy that will need a piece of this new funding! Yes, there will be money for housing! And money for living assistance ("unrestricted monthly stipends")! And money for schools. And money for preschools! And money for mental health! And money for "marginalized communities".
In other words – it doesn't have to be about climate! It's just whatever!
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