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Like most academics these days, I spend a lot of time filling in online forms. Mostly, this is just an annoyance but occasionally I get something out of it. A recent survey in which the higher-ups tried to get an idea of how the workforce was feeling, asked the question “Do you think of the […]

MACQUARIE University’s Widening Participation Unit (WPU) is hosting a Community Science Night in Coffs Harbour on Thursday, 19 September. This free event is for all local schools, students of all ages and their parents/carers, and is aimed at anyone interested in science. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business....

The post Community Science Night in Coffs appeared first on News Of The Area.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Sadly, I can’t say that I was completely surprised by this: Bomb threats on Friday forced the evacuation and closure of public schools and municipal buildings [in Springfield, Ohio] for a second consecutive day, as the city continues to deal with sudden national attention due to false claims involving its Haitian population. Students at Perrin Woods and Snowhill Elementary Schools in Springfield “were evacuated from their buildings to an alternate district location,” school district spokesperson Jenna Leinasars said. […] In addition to those school evacuations, several city commissioners and a municipal employee were the target of an emailed bomb threat, city spokesperson Karen Graves said. […] Local police and FBI agents based in Dayton are working “to determine the origin of these email threats,” the city official said. The city just west of Columbus has been the focal point of a national political firestorm that has included false rumors that Haitian immigrants have been stealing and eating household pets. City officials and police have said there is no credible information to support those outlandish claims.

I thought I would share some good stuff I read this morning with gift links. This article in the NY Times is well worth reading in full. In fact, it’s delicious: Late in the summer of 2003, a team of television producers stepped off the elevator on the 26th floor of Trump Tower eager to survey the set of their next reality show. After years filming “Survivor” in jungles around the world, training cameras on exotic spiders and deadly snakes to evoke danger, they came looking for a different set of sensory clues, the tiny details that would convey wealth and power. Right away, they knew they had a problem. The first thing they noticed was the stench, a musty carpet odor that followed them like an invisible cloud. Then they spotted scores of chips in the finish of the wooden desks and credenzas. The décor felt long out of date, making the space seem like a time capsule from when Donald J. Trump opened the building early in his first rise to fame. The place did not exactly buzz with energy either. Fewer than 50 people worked at Trump Organization headquarters in midtown Manhattan. At the office’s spiritual center, Mr.

The husband had been a conspiracy theorist even before COVID came along. His wife described him as almost “cultlike” in his anti-vax beliefs. It’s clear he had untreated mental illness but the anti-Vax movement sent him into a spiral that resulted in this terrible tragedy. Via The Atavist: Over the course of their marriage, Hu had watched as her now ex-husband, Stephen O’Loughlin, became obsessed with pseudoscience, self-help gurus, and conspiracy theories, spending long nights watching videos online, then sharing the details of fantastical plots with Hu, their friends, and people he barely knew. The COVID-19 pandemic had only made things worse. O’Loughlin huddled for hours at his computer streaming YouTube clips and poring over right-wing websites—what he called “doing research.” One of O’Loughlin’s fixations was vaccines. He believed that Pierce had been damaged by the routine inoculations he received as a baby. O’Loughlin was adamant that the boy be given no more shots—not for COVID-19, when a vaccine was eventually authorized for kids, nor for any other disease.

1. How many of you think the Atlantic Alliance (NATO) needs reformation in some way?

2. How many of you think it is just fine the way it is?

3. How many of you think it should just be abolished?

If you could please limit your answer in the comments to 1, 2 or 3 I would be very appreciative. There will be a ful post for a full discussion of the issue soon. I want to get a sense of how everyone is thinking on this issue before I complete to essay.

Last night, Bill Maher made a joke about Trump and Laura Loomer having an affair. (It was cruder than that but basically that was it.) That theme was all over social media yesterday, starting with the big kahuna. above. Loomer was very, very upset about it: She should know about defamation and character assassination. It’s her entire brand: Uh huh:

Ok. It’s Donald Trump who believes he can change reality simply by saying something over and over again. And for about 46% of voters, it appears that he can. Not even a 3 point lead. Yes, I still think Harris will pull out a narrow win. But what do we do about the 46% of our fellow Americans who think that bigoted conman should run the country? Their willingness to believe his lies (or rationalize them) makes them monsters too, doesn’t it? (Or dangerous fools, if we want to be generous about it.) I knew we had been a racist, violent people. But I thought we had progressed further than this, I really did.

How can people vote again for this clown?

Another family feud over a GOP candidate in AZ Most of us have them, family members who for reasons unfathomable have gone full red-hat. For other unknown reasons a lot of them run for office in Arizona. Six members of Rep. Paul Gosar’s (Ariz.-R) family made a point of asking people not to vote for him. Several appeared in attack ads against him and after Jan. 6 called for his ouster from Congress: “I consider him a traitor to this country. I consider him a traitor to his family,” Gosar’s brother, Dave, a Wyoming attorney, said. “He doesn’t see it. He’s disgraced and dishonored himself.” Now it’s Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter’s turn, reports Mother Jones. Her sister, Pamela, “an activist prayer warrior,” is running for a state house district in suburban Maricopa County. Lynda’s distancing herself: In their quest to hold onto the legislature, Republicans have turned to a member of a famous Arizona family—Pamela Carter, older sister of the original Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter.

Plus, mental health comes for the people, more states fight the big tax scam, and busting union busters makes workers feel good.

Compiled for sharing If you’re in the mood for a breathless summary of superconmisogynisticextrabragadocious Trumpy lowlights, Seth Meyers has you covered. Bookmark it for Thanksgiving. This Zak Kimball guy has a set of explainers on his TikTok page, but this one answers The Donald’s debate challenge to Vice President Kamala Harris about why she hasn’t accomplished the things she proposes in 3-1/2 years in that office. For the civics-challenged. Tom Bonier explains why the polls are so screwed up and why they now overestimate Repunblicans’ support. And for those of you paying attention, voter registration has been way up since Biden handed Harris the baton. Voter registration has been spiked insanely since Harris trounced Trump in the debate and Taylor Swift’s endorsement. Enjoy. Update: Knew Rosenberg had these but could not find them earlier

I Tidningen Näringslivet kunde vi för några år sedan läsa en intervju med ekonomiprofessor Daniel Waldenström, där denne gång på gång bagatelliserade den ökade inkomst- och förmögenhetsklyftan i Sverige under de senaste 40 åren. Enligt Waldenström har efter 00-talet ”inkomstskillnaderna faktiskt inte ökat särskilt mycket alls.” De som påpekar att ojämlikheten de facto ökat kraftigt även […]

With Jodie Whittaker and Jo Martin signing to star in new Doctor Who audio dramas at Big Finish, it's time for their Doctors to team up again.

Konjunkturen vill inte riktigt vända, arbetslösheten ökar, tillväxtprognoserna har redan förbytts i stagnationsprognoser. De närmsta åren kommer med stor sannolikhet att bjuda på en långvarig konjunktursvacka. I detta minst sagt svåra läge har det blivit allt tydligare att penning- och räntepolitiken inte längre är verkningsfull. Men vad regeringen med manisk envishet vägrar inse är att […]

Personally, I would not accept an endorsement from a world-historic war criminal.

The post Do Kamala Harris’s Neocon Supporters Just Hate Trump, or Is There Something More to Her Appeal? appeared first on The Intercept.

Personally, I would not accept an endorsement from a world-historic war criminal.

The post Do Kamala Harris’s Neocon Supporters Just Hate Trump, or Is There Something More to Her Appeal? appeared first on The Intercept.

Cooking time: 30 mins.Preparation time: 20 mins.Main cooking utensils: 3 saucepans For 4 people you need:1 cup ricewatersalt¼ cup flour2 tablespoons butter1¼ cups chicken stock⅔ cup milk2 egg yolks3 tablespoons creamcooked breasts of 2 young chickens or 1 large chicken divided into 4 piecessqueeze lemon juice1 – 1½ cups mushrooms2-4 tablespoons butter Garnish:1 hard-cooked egg […]

by Bruce Wilder

(Ian–this is an elevated comment from my post on Breakout Societal Power. It fills in much of the gap elided to in this phrase “Small groups in competition have the chance, though not the certainty, of fast progress, stuck as they are in a cauldron. It doesn’t always happen…” but does so better than I would have. It’s not just about why some societies in sharp competition don’t make it, however.)