3 November 2023

How embarrassing. Okta is an identity security company, yet it had to announce that 5,000 of its own staff had their data accessed in a third-party breach. Can you trust a company that can't even protect itself?

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Nurses and doctors would be advised on getting this app. It may come in handy for those times when you are called. I've often wondered if radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians answer the call of "Is there a doctor in the house?" 

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What would happen if the Earth had rings like Saturn? Wonder no more.


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Maybe we could get this guy to run Portland. You know, if he isn't able to run for re-election in El Salvador.
Before Bukele took office, El Salvador had one of the highest murder rates in the world, posting 103 murders per 100,000 people in 2015, according to government statistics. This was mainly due to the rampant MS-13 gang problems in the countryside, where corrupt officials allowed these gangs to take root and harass local citizens and tourists. Those numbers have fallen drastically during Bukele’s tenure, as the president built a mega-prison to hold criminals and deployed the nation’s military to crack down on gang activity.

In 2022, El Salvador’s murder rate dropped to 8 per 100,000, which is less than a third of what Mexico posted in the same period and down 92% from when Bukele took office, making it one of the safest countries in Latin America. With this shocking data, it appears safer to travel to San Salvador than Los Angeles, California.

Bukele’s popularity goes beyond the safety, however, as he’s built highways and hydroelectric dams, cleaned up litter and trash around the famous beach tourist attraction, Surf City, and changed the country’s official currency to the U.S. Dollar, also adopting Bitcoin as a second currency to make tech-friendly commerce easier. He’s also put forth initiatives where technology companies pay zero taxes to incentivize businesses to come to El Salvador.  

However, the liberal American media has tried to diminish Bukele’s accomplishments, calling him “authoritarian” and saying his re-election campaign is “raising concern.” The same mainstream media outlets have called his efforts to clean up El Salvador “human rights violations” as he has had publicly harsh displays of what happens to criminals, including posting a video of the Salvadoran National Guard dragging a convicted pedophile into his prison cell, where soldiers forced the criminal to cower on the concrete floor.
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The City of Portland is considering a sales tax. Great, that will accelerate the move out of the city. Now you can't be certain that you can use the streets anymore, because protestors may be blocking the road or someone may be street-sliding. And the City wastes what money they have because they're so disorganized.

I'll bet high taxes are the main reason why Jeff Bezos is moving out of Washington to Florida, where the tax rate is low.  Washington loses the third richest guy in the world. Oh well, huh?
And now many of those thought to be wealthy because they lived in lavish estates are not feeling so rich.  Robert Kiyosaki was right. Cashflow is what matters. If you don't have that, you are in trouble.

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Strike Nation! Portland teachers continue to strike, and Oregon legislators have signaled that there is no money to meet their demands. And today Yamhill County employees are striking, too.  Everybody wants more money! Strike!  And now hospitalists at Legacy Healthcare facilities are unionizing, joining their Providence colleagues.
Unions don't always deliver. They should be reminded that union activities can bring destruction and grief, and the members are left to pay for it.

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Here's a map of the state of democracy around the world. In some places, the local people and culture wouldn't be able to handle democracy, and only a strongman authoritarian can maintain a semblance of structure and societal stability. In other places, it is just unfortunate that the system allowed a takeover by a power-hungry minority.  Northern Europe looks great, but as the migrant population increases, this will likely change.

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Amazing that a penthouse in today's downtown Portland is considered worth $9 million, when a nice, peaceful, secure and clean lakefront home in Lake Oswego is worth $10.5 million.

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2 November 2023

Dot wants to be your smart best friend.  Built by an Apple alum, it is an app that you can share your life with, converse with, get information from. And it has a memory, so it remembers things from session to session, like a "living history of your life". I would be really concerned about privacy, since all the storage and computations are done on the cloud. Intriguing concept, but I'd rather have everything run and stores on my local device, something that will not happen for a while. Right now, it seems creepy.

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But X/Twitter has agreed to allow PragerU to run an ad for a documentary discussing de-transitioning, which apparently is garnering more interest. Good on Elon Musk.

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California ranks near bottom for high schools offering computer science classes. 11th from bottom actually. You'll never guess the top state - it's Arkansas.  Things have gotten better since Sarah Huckabee-Sanders became governor.  Good on her. Oregon is in the middle, surprisingly, and surprisingly, Washington state is 13th from bottom. 

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I came across this interesting study, that water can evaporate with light only, and that heat is not necessary for evaporation to take place. I wonder how much water vapor is produced just due to light, and not heat? Because water vapor is the most predominant greenhouse gas. Could it be that the reason why we have more global warming is because there has been an increase in water vapor production due to increased global lighting? Well in Boulder, CO, at least, there has indeed been an increase in water vapor over the years.

But here's a graph that shows that water vapor concentrations have increased over the oceans as well.

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Portland Metro is in 51st Place in the Urban Land Institute's rankings of metro areas with real estate development potential.  It used to be 56th place.  And to think that in 2017 Portland was in 3rd place. How far it has fallen.  Remember, Ted Wheeler took office in 2017. This is your legacy, Ted.
And guess which city has the highest cancer rates in Oregon? Yup, it's Portland.

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Mobile phone use may affect semen quality. Doesn't matter where you keep your phone. The study was done on Swiss men at military recruitment centers. Men who used their phones more had less sperm that those who didn't. But it was done in 2005 - 2018 when there was 2G service, and they didn't specify what kind of phones were used. The effect was lessened in the time period when 4G networks were available. So many questions. Was this a real effect, or just happenstance - epiphenomenon.

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Improving deep sleep may prevent or delay dementia. Makes sense.

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Imaging with A.I. may obviate the need for biopsies in some cases. I'd be nervous about recommending treatment based on what an A.I. model said. A lot is riding on the correct diagnosis being made. Histology from a biopsy is still necessary in most cases, but I suppose that in those cases where biopsy is impossible or too hazardous, it could help. Like deep within a scarred lung, where percutaneous biopsy would be fraught with danger.

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Why do doctors in American earn so much?  It's supply and demand, and the article asserts that the supply is restricted because medical schools are like cartels. So we're going to see more nurse practitioners and physician assistants, and also foreign graduates. I think that some clinical tasks could be handled by those with less training, but medicine is getting complicated, and the reason why there are fewer medical school graduates is that the curriculum is getting to be more challenging. The article doesn't acknowledge this, and focuses more on the expense of a medical education, and the willingness to make the monetary and time investment.
But many people won't see their doctor until they first consult with Google. Yes it's true that the higher ranking articles are not the most accurate.

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Racist hiring practices seem to be alive and well with respect to University of Washington faculty hiring, according to the report. And it's not the kind of racism you might be thinking.

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1 November 2023

Vigorous running causes your body to look for energy sources, and so it taps into the fat-containing myelin in the brain. Seems scary, but apparently things go back to the way they were (at least on MRI scans) by two weeks. I wished it tapped into other fat stores first.

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This really reminds me of the dotcom craziness of 1999. Remember when it seemed like money came out of the air? When the San Francisco offices had all kinds of crazy game rooms and amenities to attract and entertain the instant-millionaire techies? Seemed like it was to good to be true, didn't it?  Well, a company called Expensify opened a lounge in downtown SF where techies could go to hang out, work, chill, socialize, whatever. That was borne out of the COVID restrictions, and now that we're over COVID (or should be), that effort has shut down. But Expensify has opened a somewhat similar thing in downtown Portland, called the Midtown Beer Garden. It's not exactly the hub of the Portland techweenie crowd, but it's where a food cart center is located, and the local hipsters are invited, too. It's near Expensify's Portland headquarters, in case you were wondering.

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Kamala Harris opened up an A.I. summit meeting in London earlier today. No snide jokes, folks. But the part that struck me was the negative tone of her comments. Stressing all the potential harms that could come from A.I., and how she called for all the attendees to work with government to control and contain it. She said all the expected buzzwords, like how we need "legislation that strengthens AI safety without stifling innovation" and that we must "reject the false choice" as to "either protecting the public or to advance innovation".  It reminds me of how the the government messed things up all the hard work of the Ghostbusters' crew because they couldn't understand and only sensed that there was some potential danger involved. Perfect analogy. 
Meta's Yann LeCun warns about some of A.I.'s leaders trying to take over the technology and seize power, calling it the real doomsday scenario. 
Edit:
Ignorance.ai has a nice write-up of Biden's recent executive order.  To me, it really looks like the military and Homeland Security played a major role in drafting the document. Their influence is clear in reading the Immediate Actions and Future Planning sections. I groaned at mention of the creation of Chief A.I. Officers everywhere, and the establishment of A.I. research institutes, which will likely compete with startups, and provide an extra impediment to those that are thinking of starting something soon. Talent will get sucked up so quickly, and the government will provide more money than the startups can dream about.

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Some used to joke that if the Republicans liked water, the Democrats would ban it and advocate for deserts. Now the Republicans want to fund Israel with money that would have gone to the IRS, and suddenly the Democrats love the IRS.  You can't make this up.

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Sad. Things seemed to have been going well, but the second pig heart transplant patient has died after rejection-preventing drugs were withdrawn. He was a courageous pioneer.

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31 October 2023

Every time the DST transition takes place, we get articles about its eradication. Here's one recently, about why it's not happening. It requires Congress to vote, and the issue just never gets taken up on the floor. But it's been tried twice before, and supposedly it got changed back quickly. I can't believe the people wanted it changed back, but I was too young to remember what happened then.
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The Suzuki Go! is a nifty-looking mobility scooter for the elderly. It's too small for many of the morbidly obese folks I see using the American variety, so it probably won't catch on in America. They'll need a more open, less confining design. Oh well.

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Those Boston Dynamic dogs are getting closer to their Black Mirror counterparts. They seem cordial and accommodating, but I'd hate to piss-off one of them.

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China took Israel off Baidu Maps today. Not good. Sides are being taken. 

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How to Avoid a Presidential Succession Nightmare. Yeah, the Speaker of the House shouldn't be third in line of succession to the Presidency. I didn't realize that this was determined in 1947 - I thought it was drafted back in 1776. But it wouldn't be good for separation of powers to have the Speaker be the President. Especially not some of the Speakers we've had. But we haven't had great Cabinet members either.  The real problem is that our forefathers probably never dreamed that there would be professional politicians. I think they figured people would do the work and go back home to their businesses. The priority becomes one of staying in office with the most power, rather than doing what's best for the country when they become private citizens again.

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You know about the third rail.  Here's another one. The author thinks that colleges are encouraging students to believe that being exposed to controversial topics is harmful, and that one needs "reverse Cognitive Behavioral Therapy".  This could explain why they place so much importance to empty gestures, such as symbols (rainbow flag, LGBT flag, yard signs, bumper stickers, etc), renaming building, taking down statues, wearing certain clothing or body adornments. All empty symbols. But of importance to them.

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30 October 2023

Not another one! 23andMe suffers another data breach. More sensitive info leaked. For most people, the leaked data is "who cares"? But there might be some for which the information might be a good thing for the public to know.

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The 2030 Problem.  It's coming up soon. This ronin hopes he's ready. But who knows?

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CRISPR technology cures 3 people of HIV.  Yes, it had to be something like CRISPR to eradicate a retroviral infection such as HIV. Glad it was a success. Congrats to the scientists and the patients.

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First in human ImmunoPET scans.  A novel imaging modality is here. I can see it opening up whole new fields of investigations, just like immunohistochemistry. Very nice.

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A wild consumer spending boom just happened (did you feel it?). But it was based on credit. Not healthy. Somewhat related to this, Japan is reporting a sharp increase in bear attacks as they run out of food, and must move into populated areas. What will humans do when they run out of food?

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Have you noticed? Portland traffic fatalities increasing at record pace. This ronin has noticed. Portland is going to break a record soon. What could be the cause? Legalized mind-altering drugs, especially marijuana? Or is it from sudden cardiovascular events from having been jabbed?

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Biden to Issue First Regulations on Artificial Intelligence Systems. They plan to see if any A.I. system can be used to develop weapons.

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79% of surveyed tech developers are interested in another type of job. Maybe they are seeing the future in the world of A.I. Related: NYT tech workers are striking today, but mainly over being told they needed to return to the office. Can't blame them – would you want to walk in downtown NYC?

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The Google Incognito Mode lawsuit is still ongoing. It shouldn't have been called Incognito Mode. More like clear your own computer of traces of website surfing. Because you are not incognito to the outside web. It only prevents cookies, local DOM storage and service workers from staying on your computer, and lingering in your browser history. That's all. What you did while you surfed is still visible to the outside.

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That's why it's called the liver. The liver can live to over 100 years if you take care of it.  They found this out by tracking transplanted livers.  But having the right kind of gut microbiome is also essential. That includes viruses as well as bacteria. And it was found that the gut microbiome of centenarians produced a lot of hydrogen sulfide. That's right - the gas that makes farts smell bad. So there you go.

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29 October 2023

Sad. Japanese research is no longer world class.  How far Japan has fallen. Why did this happen? The authors of the article cite decreased research spending and that researchers are burdened with more outside obligations, such as teaching and clinical duties. But it's hard to miss that China and India are producing the bulk of the world's research papers. This is especially true in artificial intelligence and data science. C'mon, Japan, you're losing it.

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Interesting article on colonoscopies. Is it true that European gastroenterologist don't perform it much on Europeans, and rely more on fecal blood tests? I have no basis for contention, and was under the assumption that this matter was settled. It would be helpful to get the viewpoint of a European gastroenterologist, because American physicians aren't likely to be fully objective on this topic. Do Americans just have more adenomas and need to have them removed more often because of obesity?  Are the stool-based molecular tests adequate then? (Although insurance may not cover them.)

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OpenAI added PDF chat now, so you can query your PDF documents with a Chat interface. Could be cool, and will check it out.

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Daylight Confusion Time. The lack of coordination of DST around the world is insanity.  We should get rid of DST.  It doesn't make sense anymore.

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28 October 2023

Cool. Scientists say they have successfully simulated a method of backward time travel that allowed them to change an event after the fact one out of four times. Amazing, if really true. Oh, it's just a simulation. Sigh.

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Watch what doctors name you click on. Google is making note and keeping track. Yup, a judge made it legal.

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Sugar on the butthole?  You mean there's a medical reason to do this?  Who knew?

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Well, they're only human after all.  Oncologists more likely to provide low-value care after receiving pharma money, study finds. It's probably not the pharma money, but in the teaching and encouragement that a treatment is not of low value, but actually does some good. Doctors are not likely to get the sales job without a dinner or something else. It might be just the same if they attended a lecture where an authority figure recommended a treatment. But wait!  The study looked at the prescribing of denosumab for prostate cancer, which they considered low value, and compares this to giving Abraxane, which is for a different condition and indication. And the amount of money we're taking here is about $63, so about the cost of a dinner and wine, and not like bribery or illegal activity.  This is a nothing study, after all.

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What will it take to end health care worker burnout?  Well, it's not meditation sessions or taking a day off.  No, it's not burnout prevention training, digital mental health apps, counseling session or peer group support programs.  Sheesh, what idiots come up with solutions like this?  Fix that damned system!  Hire more staff and decrease stress points in the workflow.  That's what's going to decrease burnout.  Don't treat physicians and nurses like plug-and-play employees.  I know one physician who was sick of having to wrangle with lazy support staff who didn't want to help him with insurance issues.  Managers were more interested in making sure everyone adhered to policy than making sure physicians and nurses were doing their job efficiently.

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This is how you know the economy is hurting – when the remittances go down. Wow.

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Lead in Portland’s drinking water called ‘worse than Flint’.  And this is not something that's new. It's been around for some time.

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27 October 2023

Cool. University of Exeter in the UK is offering a major in witchcraft, ritual (not stage) magic and and occult science. 

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Every trick Microsoft pulled to make you browse Edge instead of Chrome. After a while, it stops being helpful, and becomes an annoyance to use.

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No thanks. Elon Musk wants X/Twitter to be everyone's financial platform, starting in 2024.

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Why is this coming out only now? Governments discover that using Meta/Facebook is addictive to kids. Wow, what took you guys so long? Meta is powerful now. It's not just dangerous to kids. Adults, too. Ehh, they'll just buy out key officials and this lawsuit will likely go nowhere.

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Japanese Scientists Develop Groundbreaking Drug That Grows New Teeth.  No more implants! 

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Some deaf children in China can hear after gene treatment. This is truly amazing. It's only for those with otoferlin defects, however, not for other causes of deafness. But it's a start, for sure.

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Many chocolate brands have significantly high lead and cadmium levels. Good thing I like Lindt chocolates. There are many to avoid, though.

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Seriously? The Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence at Case Western Reserve University will award Dr. Anthony Fauci with its Inamori Ethics Prize.

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65 hospitals nationwide have or will close. This includes PeaceHealth hospital in Eugene, the city's only hospital and emergency department. Just another sign of the Biden era. Seattle Kaiser hospital workers are expected to strike, too. Maybe they'll have to close, who knows?

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Strike Nation! As Portland Public school teachers get ready for a strike, they are asking parents not to pick up Chromebooks for their kids, otherwise they might be able to get education during the strike period, and this would subvert strike efforts.  Yeah, sure, Teach.

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Seattle apartment owners could see their property tank by 30%. If you haven't sold your rental property in Seattle, yet, it's probably too late.

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He actually said this:  "I had absolutely no idea how they worked. I just knew they were things you could trade." Some people say he's going for the pity strategy – just the dumb little geek who didn't know anything, and so go easy. Such B.S.

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$9125 Leica camera offers a way to prevent photos taken with it from being hijacked by A.I. I personally think it's a lost cause. There will be ways to defeat stuff like this.

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25 October 2023

I think we'll be seeing more of this.  Pilot Who Tried to Kill Flight’s Engines Told Cops He’d Taken Shrooms, Feds Say.  Oregon should make its own version of the SNL skit Bad Idea Jeans.
And it appears that pilots are like healthcare professionals. They avoid getting help for mental health issues. So they turn to self-medication to get help.

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Just in time for the 2024 election, I'll bet. Chinese scientists discover EIGHT never-before-seen viruses... and now they plan to experiment with them.

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Parents like private school vouchers so much that demand is exceeding budgets in some states. Guess more parents are taking matters into their own hands. They want their kids to have real education, not to serve as the gratification object of their pedophile teachers.  But Washington state is ready to sue META/Facebook, because the state thinks that's the cause of kids' mental health crisis.

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