Sugoi & Yokunai

New Montana bill lets doctors practice how they would like to practice, in terms of not being forced to do things or recommend things they don't want to do or recommend.  Back in the days before Obamacare hit the scene, and physician practices were independent, this was not a big deal.  Now it is, because of stuff like genital mutiliative surgery.  Or having to push what you feel is an inadequately tested mRNA vaccine. 

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Gotta get a Faraday backpack.  Thieves are now scanning cars for Bluetooth signals.  It no longer matter to hide your laptop under some mundane things.  No surprise that this came out of the San Fran chronicle, huh?

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I'm surprised how little coverage this received.  Illegal Chinese biolab in the middle of nowhere with samples of viruses and other dangerous contagion.  Nothing to see here folks?  What's the story behind this?  Why must I read conservative news outlets to even hear about this?  The Fresno Bee is puzzled about this, too.  Who cares about Barbie, already?

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More and more Chinese scientists are leaving the United States to go elsewhere.  Twenty years ago, this would not be serious news, but so many scientific discoveries are done by Chinese scientists now.  Just look at articles in math and the sciences.  So many articles written by authors with Chinese names.  And in the U.S., students are learning about activism, CRT, DEI and LGBT topics.  Advanced teaching is being discontinued because minorities (POC) can't handle it, so let's lower standards so more of them can assume positions of authority and take on mission-critical tasks.  There will be consequences to this.

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People in India can't buy imported computers, laptops, etc, at least not without special authority.  No Apples products for you.  The reason is to promote Indian products.  Well, this well set them back. 

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Chinese parents are big users of dating apps - for their children.  Indians have matching services organized by their parents.  The Chinese are just using tech to do the same thing.  Americans are left to their own devices.  And just hoping that abortion services are available in their state if there is a pregnancy.  Cultural differences.

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People don't want to travel to China anymore. Don't blame them, actually.  You could get detained.

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Very helpful.  What to look for in Privacy Policies.  Very good to know.

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Tacoma is losing their landmark aroma.  Paper mill to close. 

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14 year old squished by Seattle Monorail while he was vandalizing.  Interesting to read the commentary.  Comments on Reddit tend to lie along the lines of "he was just 14, he didn't deserve to die" or "these comments are just mean" or "I did stupid stuff when I was young, too".  More stupid are the statements of his mother, who condoned his behavior.  But people with no "inner stops" will do stuff like this when they think they can get away with it.  Parents should be there to tell you not to vandalize.  He may have had an artistic bent, but I bet you 99% of Seattle didn't care to see his excreta plastered everywhere.  FOFA, as they say.

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Climate change is a strange topic.  Many people just believe it, just as they believe stronger gun control is what should be enacted after every school shooting incident, even though more sensible solutions are available.  Everytime the weather gets warm, climate change activists scream.  But when temps are unusually cold, there is silence, and people just seem to forget that.  It gets warm, it gets cold.  Meanwhile, John Kerry and members of the billionaire class live their own lives as before.  So it funny when OPB prints this article relating climate change hooey to political party.  Love it when they use the phrase "science is settled" and declare "human-caused climate change" like it's a real thing.  When you forceably pin them down, it's clear they don't know what they're talking about.  Politicians love climate change, because they don't want to problems that they can solve, they want problems they can promise to solve.
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I came across this posting about NovaMin containing toothpaste.  It's interesting that we have the toothpaste of the future, but the FDA won't let us have it.  Is it really that good?  Seems like it is, and it's available it Canada and Europe, but just not here.  Fortunately there's even a possibly better product, BioMin, that hopefully we can get in the USA soon.  But as with sunscreen products, there are better products available elsewhere that we can't get in the USA because of the FDA.  What's wrong?

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Credit given.  Oregon Legislature will mandate that kids learn personal finance in high school.  Once in a while, they do the right thing.

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The new graduates are so unskilled.  They come out with degrees, yet can't do the job they're hired to do.  A college degree doesn't mean as much as it used to.  But reading the article, it's clear - the attitudes of the young hires often suck.

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If you go to their website, American Physician Placement, an emergency physician staffing company, still says (as of today) that it's "The Newest and Fastest-Growing Emergency Medicine Management Company".   Well, they're closing at the end of this month.  Some people say it's the first sign of big problems ahead in the physician staffing world.  Lots of blame to go around.  But clearly it's no longer profitable to run a business helping ER doctors find jobs. 

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McDonald's is struggling?  I remember when it was considered a safe investment.  Because no matter how bad the economy was, people still went to McD because it was affordable comfort food, and kids still demanded it.  What's going on now?  The stock market's down because of the Fitch downgrade.  Folks like Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon, and even Camas' Ken Fisher (well, used to be Camas) says not to worry about this.  Well, maybe folks like them don't have to worry, but we do.  It's sad how low the USA is in the ranking of credit ratings, even though we control the world's reserve currency.  We should be at the top, really.  Oh, and guess who was president when S&P downgraded the USA to AA+ status from AAA?  Yeah, it was Obama in 2011.  Coincidence?

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"Just for educational purposes".  Simon Willison highlights a chat problem.  Hope this gets fixed.  The world we grew up in no longer exists.

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Nifty.  Scientists create a material five times lighter and four times stronger than steel. But will it crack? Or shatter?

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Far-reaching, I'd say.  Meta breaks down and hands over data disclosing identity of a user who thought he/she was anonymous.  This actually may be a good thing.  As sage Mike Tyson said:  ""Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it."  He's right, you know.

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The Ultra-rich are staying in California.  "...some of her friends have come to regret leaving the area".  On the face of it, you might ask why.  Some, like those in the UC system have exorbitant compensation deals that they would never be able to get anywhere else.  Other ultra-rich have influence over the government.  Yeah, I can understand why some ultra-rich would not want to leave.  As long as there is an adequate supply of poors to service them, why leave?

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We look like our names.  Heh.  Gotta love science.

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Marijuana addiction is real.  What's out there ain't your grandfather's Maui Wowee.  I was trained to think that cannabis was safer than alcohol.  Maybe in one way.  But it has its own dangers.  Oregon's downfall started the year they legalized this drug.

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America's Fitch rating dropped, and yet Biden still wants to add to inflation by forgiving student loans.  Geez, guy, give it up already.  The people knowing took the deal.  Too bad no one wants to buy what they have to sell. 

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Yes!  Pfizer profits plummet as vax sales evaoprate.  However, like at Anheuser-Busch, nothing will happen to the guy at the top. 

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Why not?  Japan is using Meta to get the hikkikomoris back into society.  They're already online anyway, right?

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Program director at Scripps gets Long Covid and decries the lack of urgency in finding better ways to treat it.  Well this important and revealing study came out, but there's not been much news about it.  Is it really Long-Covid?  Or did the vax have something to do with it?  All but one of these study subjects got jabbed.  But what's the enthusiasm for a jabbed scientist to investigate why the mRNA persists for many months?

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Doctor gets knocked unconscious near Providence Park.  Random dude comes out of nowhere, decks her, then runs.  This is all too common, and it's not just happening to people living near encampments. This lady's lucky.  Something worse would likely have happened to her if her boyfriend were not with her.

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Portland makes national news again - for the same reason.  The city's getting such publicity, this time in the New York Times.  The problem is that none of it is good.  Takeaway quotes:

Come to Portland, his sister said. It’s green and beautiful, people are friendly and there are plenty of jobs.

Mr. Hollenbeck, who is a believer in progressive approaches, said the city can only truly solve the problem by providing more affordable housing and mental health services.

Just as Portland has attracted college-educated transplants, it has also offered respite to people from around the country who are living on the margins.

The couple had hoped to find a sense of community in the encampments.  She was stabbed six times in the torso and hands, according to the police report, and was “fainting” shortly after officers arrived on the scene.  They planned to head back to Tennessee last month. Portland “is definitely not what I expected,” Irida said.

Let's just face the cold hard facts:  If you have mental issues, you should just stay away from Portland.  The city has enough already, and they aren't going to help you.  You come to Portland to get robbed or stabbed, shot or beaten, raped or imprisoned. 

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No amount of money is enticing teachers and superintendents to stay in Oregon.  Could it be the "progressive values"?

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Time wasters.  As this ronin gets older, he has less time for B.S. like this.  You'll know it when you see it.

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Speaking of time wasters.  Apparently some Oregon Dems were thinking we needed a state bank.  Good grief.  Glad some saner minds prevailed.

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Portland makes national news again.  Who would want to come to Portland?  Criddlers from nearby homeless camps are ready to assault you. 

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K-mart fire lawsuits begin.  Seems like low-hanging fruit to me.  Maybe this is what it will take to get people off their butts.

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Over at Portland Dissent, they think this issue is going to be big.  Maybe Kotek won't be able to stay in office.  If so, our new guv could be Sec State Lavonne Griffin-Valade.  There's not much about her politics that I can read.  We'll have to see how this plays out.

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Well, well.  Fauci may not be able to enjoy his retirement after all.  Glad to see some action being taken. 

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The Socio Political Demography of Happiness.  Conservatives are happier than liberals.  That's obvious.  Liberals are always angry.  Outraged.  Aggrieved.  Affronted.  Never grateful for anything.  Who could stay happy?

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Sick.  Biden administration finds out minority kids like Japanese manga.  So what do they do?  Create some American manga, fulls of LGBT and transgender material, genital-focused stories, disability kink.  R-rated and X-rated stuff, of course.  Stay out of our art-form!  Absolutely disgusting.

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I've occasionally wondered about this myself.  “Why were some periods and places (in history) so astonishingly more productive than the rest?”  Whatever it was, I am doubtful that the conditions can be readily re-created.  These events just happen organically.  Being large-scale stupid is far easier, and in fact, we're living in those conditions right now.

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This is cool. NASA will be launching their own streaming service, NASA+, so people can watch space events.

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Yokunai, desu.  Older Japanese men with no sexual interest in women at risk of earlier death.  Perhaps it's depression.  Maybe it's an epiphenomenon - an underlying sign of something that causes both events.  Whatever it is, libido deficiency seems to be a real problem in Japan.  And those with some libido are pursuing A.I. girlfriends.  Unhealthy. 

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The Oregon legislature passes laws to address the affordable housing shortage, apparently thinking that it's going to solve homelessness. The West Coast doesn't really have an affordable housing shortage so much as it has an illegal camping out on the streets problem.  These are different.  Many of the illegal campers aren't interested in a house.  They just want to be left alone to do drugs and be supported by the government, with free money and drug supplies (which is only too easily being supplied).  This is why things aren't getting better. This is a UK-based report but I predict we'll see more of it here in the blue cities. 

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Yamanaka factors.  Scientists make progress in reversing aging - not just halting it.  Great news.

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An old antihistamine can reverse multiple sclerosis?  The answer has been around all along?

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Very sad.  The Cochrane UK lost its NIH funding, and so only has enough to operate until March 2024.  The Cochrane Database has been a great way to evaluate science progress.  This ronin has used it now and then.  They will try to find alternate funding in the meantime, but if they aren't successful, they'll have to shut down.  Everyone's having to tighten their belts.  (Except Zelensky, maybe.)

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This is major and getting very little attention.  A paper shows that in healthcare workers getting their booster COVID-19 jab, the incidence of myocarditis is far more common that appreciated – seen in 3.7% of women and 0.8% of men.  More in women than men, opposite of what the adolescent data had suggested.  They investigators were comforted that no cardiac events happened in the ensuing 30 days, but who knows?  Why risk this for something as mild as the common cold now?

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Portland Public Schools still focusing on fixing the numbers so that a higher graduation rate is seen as an accomplishment.  But

“historically underserved” students continue to lag about 40% behind white students in English Language Arts (ELA) and math

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Sounds like bad science.  Scientists figure out how to make hangover end more quickly by adding FGF21 (fibroblast growth factor-21) to synthetic alcohol.  Adding hormones?  Just to shorten a hangover?  Why not just not abuse alcohol?  No thanks.

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This is nuts.  Voter initiatives are NOT tested for legality before being put on the ballot.  And so we waste time and money with court challenges.  So dumb.

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Not making the same mistake.  Beaverton School District will retain armed guards. 

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Eugene withdraws ban on natural gas stoves.  Sanity prevails yet again. 

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No ambulances in Portland.  So an injured federal officer had to be taken to the hospital by his colleagues.  Welcome to Portland, where infrastructure is broken. 😳

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Oregon is the 8th most expensive state in the nation.  Why is that?  We're just Oregon, not New York or Hawaii.  Why can Idaho keep costs down and we can't?  Oh yeah, Democrats are in charge, that's why.

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Yup, Worldcoin is worse than it looks.  Exploitation of the poor, on top of that.  The techies will do anything to get rich.   And they like it when most of the public are too ignorant to know the dangers.

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ChatGPT broke the Turing test.  It was time to develop a better test anyway.  Alan Turing probably didn't think a machine could get close to doing what it's doing today, without being really human.  Machines need to initial conversation and human interaction, it has to have a memory that lasts more than several days, and it needs to have a working world model, where it can convey understanding of how physics determines how objects in the world interact and behave.  And it has to react to external events with emotional context. 

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An example of insanity from Washington state:

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We need a guy like this for Oregon!

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Why are we paying taxes?  No money for summer school.  Plenty for illegals.

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Seattle police stand by, watching illegal street racing.  Soon, there are gunshots.

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