Link. India’s corruption is institutionalized.
Apple’s very expensive App Store security -> scam Bitcoin Wallet
Link. “… app was previously reported at least 12 days ago as a scam but its still up there, #1 search result.”
I hope the EU makes applesauce.
Gluteal pain in discogenic sciatica — role of the “piriformis”?
Link. Why not both?
Biden advice to a boy who stutters – after Trump: “But remember — look at me — you’re smart, you’re handsome, you know what you’re doing.”
Link. Biden’s childhood experience with bullies is helpful here. I hope Trump continues to mock Biden’s stutter. I think it will not serve Trump well.
“High growth and large decline in inequality have combined to eliminate poverty in India for the PPP$ 1.9 poverty line.”
Link. There’s immense poverty still, but it’s not the India I saw in 1982. The world improves.
Tsai: “Neither Apple nor Google has a monopoly, as normally defined, but there’s not enough competition to make them do right by customers and developers.”
Link. When switching costs are prohibitive vendors achieve competition free zones.
Regulators should focus on reducing switching costs. Ex: Photo Library migration with lossless edits managed, metadata preserved.
“Many cartoonists work in a hybrid of old and new: they draw in black ink, scan, and then digitally apply color and lettering.”
Link. Essay based on a book about cartoon art. For cartoonists the big tech breakthrough was not the stylus, it was the scanner.
“national office market lost $664.1 billion in value from 2019 to 2022”
Link. Look for a huge construction boom as fairly new office buildings are demolished to create residential spaces and parks.
CrossFit box on 9th floor? Climbing gym in the elevator?
If the mobster is president: “placing a bad tax bill in the same category as internment camps for undocumented immigrants undermines the case against internment camps”
Link. Organizing a non-violent and persistent national campaign to salvage American democracy. We can do better than Hungary.
Or we can reelect Joe Biden. Which is much better for everyone, including conservatives.
Viktor Orban of Hungary: a primer on how to destroy a democracy.
Link. GOP darling. The voters of Hungary did not love their democracy enough. Orban won the final fair election in Hungary.
I don’t think Americans are much smarter, but even 1% smarter may suffice.
The evolution of mitochondrial and related cellular apoptosis.
Link. Bacteria may commit suicide so their kin can feast on the corpse. Rather like children.
Also mitochondria are likely not only bacterial symbiont in eukaryotic history.
ALS Drug Fails: “patient advocacy groups took victory laps after Relyvrio was approved, and they were a big part of the pressure that made the FDA reverse its initial correct decision”
Link. Desperation does not make good choices.
Roku hacked, data use for fraudulent charges, 2 month notification delay. Never buy Roku.
Link. Don’t buy anything from Roku and never give any TV access to your WiFi.
Fidelity Investments Life Insurance complete data beach via Infosys McCamish
Link. “names, states of residence, Social Security numbers, bank accounts and routing information, and dates of birth were obtained during the breach.”
McCamish is probably how Fidelity outsources risk so their deep pockets are safe. I hope the lawsuits are able to breach that firewall. I look forward to future loss of all assets.
Manage your Mac’s battery for endurance and lifespan
Link. Just let the OS handle it. You can leave it plugged in. BUT stored devices need charging every 6m.
Desktop & Documents Folders in iCloud Drive: evaluation.
Link. Howard didn’t see technical bugs but some of the processes terrify users. He doesn’t mention impact on local network share.
macOS Sonoma 14.4 USB bug: “If you have not installed the 14.4 update yet, you should wait until Apple issues an update to fix this problem”
Link. In a just world Apple would need to give customers a report on how this passed QA.
“aside from chimps and humans, researchers have found clear evidence of menopause in only five species — all of them whales”
Link. For most animals evolution favors dying once eggs stop. In menopause species selection extends life beyond egg failure. Male lifespan extension is presumably a side-effect and they don’t live as long.
“Female elephants … stay fertile into their 60s”
“international network of online groups that have targeted thousands of children with a sadistic form of social media terror”
Link. “seek out children with mental health issues and blackmail them into hurting themselves on camera,”
If 1/100,000 of humanity is this broken that’s 80,000 people worldwide. They have always been with us, but enabling technologies give global reach and relative impunity. The same enabling technologies provide a rich pool of vulnerable people.
EU Carbon tariffs will hit China hard – US seeks other tariffs
Link. Carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). China exports at all time high: “trade surplus in manufactured goods, … largest the world has seen since World War II”
Dating App crunch: Millennials age out and Gen Z won’t pay
Link. Gen Z uses Insta DMs?! Or they just don’t date.
“naval victories have reopened the western Black Sea, allowing Ukraine to again ship grain from Odesa.”
Link. Ukraine has destroyed 1/3 of Black Sea fleet.
CDC isolation guidance for COVID and other respiratory viruses is sensible and thoughtful.
Link. Best summary anywhere.
Trump fuses RNC with his own operation – fires the establishment.
Link. This is excellent news. When Trump loses the GOP can be rebuilt from the ashes.
Wolfram Alpha integration in Kagi search engine.
Link. Kagi downranks ad supported pages. Which is something Google can’t do.
Prompt incantations: “The right answer is to pretend to be in a Star Trek episode or a political thriller, depending on how many math questions you want the AI to answer.”
Link. If you say the prompt incorrectly your soul is forfeit.
Roku locks TV until customers obey: “a huge “fuck you” to their customers”
Link. Life without TV isn’t all bad.
TikTok “ban” rationale – and Trump’s reversal.🆓
Link. Jeff Yass has a 33 billion stake in TikTok and Trump needs money. So Trump works for Xi now.
Which is an ominous sign for Putin.
Mental Health Rx ages 13-24 almost doubles from 2006 to 2020.
Link. Anxiety and depression. We don’t know why increase.
A.L.S. Drug Relyvrio: approved based on weak data, found to have no benefit.
Link. Similar story to an Alzheimer’s drug that was approved and doesn’t work.
NYT speculates that military blast exposure guidance is wrong.
Link. The speculation is plausible but the data seems limited.
“Apple appears to be engaged in refactoring the XNU kernel into a central micro-kernel with its protected exclaves.”
Link. Sifting Sonoma clues.
iCloud Drive in Sonoma: “iCloud Drive saves changed files at the file, not block, level … if one byte is changed in a file, then that whole file is resynced by copying it up to iCloud.”
Link.
GOP base is tired of Woke.
Link. The Woke were easy prey. Boriinnng. But what’s next?!
(Team Lib: We can start teaching history again. But keep your head down until November.)
Female Genital Cutting: “… Somalia, where an estimated 99 percent of women have had their clitoris excised”
Link. Since 2016 30 million more women have been surgically traumatized. Indonesia is 55% of girls.
In confidential surveys 2/3 of men and women in households where a woman was cut oppose the practice. In Djibouti and Sierra Leone more men than women are opposed.
Childhood trauma and adult psychiatric illness in identical twins.
Link. ” …. those who reported one or more trauma in childhood — physical or emotional neglect or abuse, rape, sexual abuse, hate crimes or witnessing domestic violence — were 2.4 times as likely to be diagnosed with a psychiatric illness as those who did not…
… 52 percent [risk increase] for each additional adverse experience.”
I would have bet the effect would be far smaller. This is mind boggling.
Aperture will launch on an M2 Air running Ventura 13.6.3 and will browse an old Aperture Library
Link. It won’t run on Intel Monterey. It never occurred to me it would run on Apple Silicon Ventura.
iOS 17.4 lets budgeting apps access Apple Card, Cash, and Savings data
Link. Maybe one day we can have good personal finance software options. I suspect Intuit will be unhappy.
“Elephants have 29 genes for TP53. Together, they may aggressively quash cancerous cells.”
Link. Big animals have more cells so more cancer so better anti-cancer. Learnings from wooly mammoth re-creation and stem cell experiments.
Haley the heir apparent: “She’s going to drop down to kiss ass when she quits, like she always does.””
Link. I love that quote. It’s so true. She has and she would; she’s a party pro.
But Haley gets money because GOP donors believe Trump is a loser. They hope he falls. Somehow.
“the “Stop Woke Act” prohibits trainings in workplaces, public schools, colleges and universities that could lead someone to feel guilty or ashamed about the historic actions of their race or sex”
Link. Slowly converging on the consensus that “Woke” means truthful history.
NYT analyzes bicycle deaths.
Link. Rise in deaths is mostly increased ridership, but new eBike riders are having fatal crashes without help from vehicles. Right hook by a truck is most dangerous situation overall.
Review of China’s World: “in Chapter 13 he suggests that China escaped the Black Death because of the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine”
Link. A Chinese establishment economist unwittingly exposes the unsavory and often dumb beliefs of China’s elite.
Lower income Americans see higher inflation as well as higher wages.
Link. Food inflation has less effect on wealthy. Even allowing for differential inflation wages win so far.
UN report on pig butchering scams: “… scam industry in one country in the region may be generating between USD7.5 and USD12.5 billion, which is half his country’s gross domestic product (GDP)”
Link. Looked for this based on John Oliver show. The country is not identified in report but Oliver said Cambodia. Their GDP is (only) 30 billion. More 1/3 than 1/2 but still stunning.
Why is SK childless? Dyer blames an ultra-fast technological transformation of a medieval culture.
Link. Specifically intensely Confucianist and patriarchal. It’s a plausible theory.
In the Seoul I saw the baby carriages mostly held lovely and happy doggies. I also saw signs of rebellion against the competitive conformity.
Does Ezekiel Emanuel still plan to refuse medical treatment after 75?
Link. “Emanuel’s partner does not agree with his plan, and “she would like me to consider preventative measures like a flu vaccine . . . We are in discussions,”
via Mark on Mastodon. I was looking for an update! I’m with Ezekiel on this but probably age 78 or 80 rather than 75.
Immigration, wages, and inflation. 🆓
Link. A good critique of a Krugman hypothesis. The claim that wage suppression is limited to immigrant jobs feels absurd. The management claim is interesting.
Pharma monopolies and Senators asking dumb questions.
Link. Given the state of the GOP unwinding the monopoly is best done in the shadows — with periodic public moves.
US using every trade trick to block Chinese EVs.
Link. Feds believe Chinese EVs will crush US auto industry unless stopped. Keeps cost of new cars high.