4 October 2023

That Kaiser strike is the largest healtcare strike in the nation's history. So it's big and things are going to have to change. In the meantime, don't get sick. Ah, Biden's America – everything's falling apart.

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Portland Criddlers is back on Reddit.  Whatever moderator issue they had has been resolved. Another place to go to get my daily outrage.

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Really?  Portland safety commissioner asks residents not to call 911

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3 October 2023

Strike Nation? Try Strike World. Doctors across Europe are now striking. It's the same old thing.  They're tired and overworked, and they can't find enough qualified help.

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Opium dens are back! We haven't learned and must get instructed again. Scottish officials create safe drug consumption room. Idiots.

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Barcelona's Sagrada Familia is finally near completion, after all these years. Just in time for the migrants to vandalize it.

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Should be interesting, if true. Northern lights could become intense over the next 18 months.  Would be nice to see it in Portland. Been fooled so many times.

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Another one bites the dust. Allouette is closing. Too bad.

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2 October 2023

Strike Nation. Now Kaiser pharmacists are going on strikeNurses and EMTs, too. Things are just breaking down all over.  When everyone demands higher pay for less work, and struggling employers can't pay it without cutting corners and taking away services and the nice things we used to enjoy, we all suffer.

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Back in 2012, the ILWU encouraged workers to do a work slow-down to protest a squabble with ICTSI that is detailed here.  I guess the union thought that the opposing party would cave, because that's what happens when union workers unite, right?  Now the ILWU is bankrupt from all those legal fees. No winners here, except the lawyers.

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1 October 2023

Portland’s small businesses are struggling. When will our leaders step up?  Don't hold your breath.

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One of the four horsemen of the apocalypse is going to hit Oregon harder.  "The 540,000 Oregonians with federal student loan debt owe more than $20 billion in all, according to the U.S. Department of Education."  Wait, what?  Oregon alone owes $20 billion?  How much is it for the whole nation?  $1.77 trillion, that's how much.  And Biden wanted to just forgive it all just like that? 
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30 September 2023

Cpl Klinger was right. The kid that assaulted the girl at Hazelwood School was arrested. "We understand the trauma and outrage" they say, but do they really? I suspect that most Americans have had enough of this crap, and the rampant mental illness we see in our society.

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Ceftobiprole is active against MRSA. Great, another option to choose from.  

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Strike fever! Now Legacy doctors and nurse practitioners are striking. This is a consequence of Obamacare, which ended up ruining independent physician practices and making most doctors employees of some larger organization. So it makes sense for them to unionize. But I wonder what will happen when they don't get their way. Are they going to strike? What leverage do they really have?

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"Republicans shut down the government" The media always allows blame to fall on Republicans for any responsible behavior. Like why don't they just go along with giveaways, right? Oregon would probably have more money if it didn't go overseas to Ukraine. Why not ask for that money. We've already spent more than we should. More illegals to support, too. Not enough money for WIC and SNAP food assistance programs? Gee, maybe you shouldn't have allowed Oregon's economy to be trashed.

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Who's paying the legal fees for the homeless to sue Portland? Taxpayer money pays for most of it. How nice that we pay for people to demand the right to take advantage of us.

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It's pretty unhealthy when the financial health of your university depends so heavily on success of your football program. Didn't realize that Oregon State was such a jock school.

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29 September 2023

List of major retailers that have closed Portland stores in the last year.  @Ted Wheeler and @Jessica Vega Pederson – what are you going to do to gin up the tax base?  Raise the tax rate?

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Can't believe Harvard let them release thisDuration of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine persistence and factors associated with cardiac involvement in recently vaccinated patients.  How is this allowed to continue?  The authors only conclude that their study "provides a map of the biodistribution and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines in human tissues".  Is that all you can say?  How about "This is a serious concern and warrants immediate cessation of the the vaccine until safety can be determined?
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Sad. Oregon's Board of Education will allow Kate Brown's lowered school standards to stand for at least another year

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28 September 2023

Is Amazon no longer what it used to be?  I haven't noticed a lot of change – it's been subtle to me.  But then I haven't shopped for a purple wig. Still, others have complained, and perhaps it's a manifestation of Andy Jassy's leadership.  Amazon needs to listen to this and get back on track. 

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Don’t Blame AI. Plagiarism Is Turning Digital News into Hot Garbage.  Can't blame the computer.  Can only blame the editors.  This technology is still in it's infancy.  Hard to believe that it's only been 10 months since people started using ChatGPT. But a lot of companies are adding chat into their product lineup – who will take responsibility?
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Everybody's striking, it seemsStrike culture!  It's the new wave of 2023.  Everyone wants more for less.  Hard work and putting in the effort is so passé.  Makes you look like a chump. Strike!  With the Dems in charge, you'll probably win.

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Living to 120 now seems to be a real possibility. Maybe the last thing Japan wants to hear though.

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27 September 2023

Neat idea.  Get more from hydroelectric power - by using something else besides water.  This proprietary ultra-cheap liquid promises to generate the same power with less of a height differential.  Could it really be all that easy?

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COVID-19 vax products can cause unexpected vaginal bleeding, even in post-menopausal females. And the response of the European Medicines Agency is just – to list it as a side-effect.  Problem addressed?  Is anyone looking into this? What's going on?

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5 tests to Oregon's economy this fallDeposits are already decreasing at Oregon banks. Most people are poorer than before, for sure.  Four factors are coming together to make Q4 really bad.

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Doctors outperform A.I.  Details – we need details.  What A.I. platform was used?  How was it trained?  Without these, articles such as this are meaningless.  I could build an A.I. model that performs poorly. So what? 

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26 September 2023

Longevity research continues apace.  The question will be, who will have access to it? Progressives will want everyone to have it. They'll declare it a human right.  Should be an interesting debate.

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I’m an ER doctor: Here’s what AI startups get wrong about “ChatGPT for telehealth.  I've always thought that telehealth should be a stopgap, not a paradigm shift. So much potential for errors. The world that a techie imagines is not the same as reality.

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Being a doctor is hard. Being a surgeon can be especially grueling. Doctors need to figure out how to deal with this before it's too late.  There needs to be more physicians willing to do the work, for one thing.  And doctors need to be back in control, instead of being at the mercy of hospitals or other employers.

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"Learn to code," they said. Now with the advent of A.I., that may not be enough. It should be learn to code machine learning models.

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Why aren’t more people being sacked? the Economist asks. Controlling inflation with decreased spending, increased interest rates and  a cooling of the labor market is supposed to lead to more unemployment.  But there are already staffing shortages, even though businesses are hurting and can't pay their workers enough.  That's why people aren't being sacked.  

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Another Portland lossTarget to close 3 stores in Portland.  Too much crime. Chalk up another one to Ted Wheeler's legacy.
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Up there with the big boys.  Oregon ranks 3rd in the population density of homeless critters.  Noice.
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