The New York Times heralded the Soviet Unionâ(TM)s Five Year Plan (which was supposed to be run by âoescienceâ) as a great success even though the New York Timeâ(TM)s USSR bureau chief, Walter Duranty, was aware of the millions who were starving. This is especially poignant today as millions died in the Ukraine while the Times covered it up. The Times got a Pulitzer for Durantyâ(TM)s reporting though now there are calls to recall the Pulitzer even though the Times still stands by it.

During WWII, the Times denied the Holocaust calling it just âoesalacious rumorsâ. When it became clear that the Holocaust was actually occurring, it didnâ(TM)t make front page news articles covering the Holocaust were relegated to below the fold or internal pages. The Times didnâ(TM)t want to lose their German investments in the same way corporations are afraid to lose their Chinese investments by speaking out for the Uighurs. (NBC just built a 1B theme park in China. They wonâ(TM)t risk that for a news story.)

Iâ(TM)m no fan of the Times even though Iâ(TM)m related to the owners and have gone to dinner with them.

Iâ(TM)m a revolutionary move, Apple Computer announced the reintroduction of Peeks and Pokes to its products. This will enable users to drastically change the behavior of their iPhone devices. The update which will be pushed out to users Friday night is simply called âoe][âoe

Ted Talks are simply intellectual pornography. Models stand up on stage and pitch ideas that give the listener the illusion of having learned something important but in reality, it is just a shadow of the real thing. I once met a former top executive of NPR at a wine festival. He said that all NPR was was a giant âoecircle jerkâ (his words) where all the listeners got off on telling each other that they were part of some inner circle and had knowledge that made them special. Ted Talks are the same thing.

Ted Talks are simply intellectual pornography. Models stand up on stage and pitch ideas that give the listener the illusion of having learned something important but in reality, it is just a shadow of the real thing. I once met a former top executive of NPR at a wine festival. He said that all NPR was was a giant âoecircle jerkâ (his words) where all the listeners got off on telling each other that they were part of some inner circle and had knowledge that made them special. Ted Talks add the same thing.

No. Again. More people have died in 2021 than in 2020. People who have been vaxed are still dying of Covid. People who have been Vaxed and Boostered are still dying of Covid. People who have been vaxed, boostered, and who have natural immunity are dying of Covid. Covid is everywhere and arguably more places than in 2020 too so your chances of getting it are higher. So the need to lock down everyone is / was greater in 2021 than in 2020. But they donâ(TM)t. Why? People arenâ(TM)t willing to be locked down for a virus that most people will survive. Or another way of phrasing it: politics.

There have been more Covid deaths in 2021 than in 2020. Yet we arenâ(TM)t experiencing any lockdowns. If the lockdowns that turned our lives and world economy into a crapper were truly based on âoescienceâ then we would be locked down today since the risk of dying from Covid today is greater this year than last.

Iâ(TM)m in a phase three trial for the same eye drops but made by a different company. Speaking from experience, they work. Amazingly well. The first time I tried it, I put the drops in and then a few minutes later, Iâ(TM)m thinking what nice fonts the web page is using because they are so readable. I know there is another company that is also running their stuff through a phase three trial so there will be at least three companies making it. Iâ(TM)d imagine this stuff will be as cheap as eye drops in the future. One downside is at least the stuff Iâ(TM)m trying needs to be refrigerated. Not sure on the other companies.

Iâ(TM)m really wondering how Microsoft is planning on tackling the problem of road rage.

The WII example is a good one. Also, during WWII, the New York Times labeled the holocaust as all rumor and conjecture and argued it wasn't real. Then when it became apparent it was real, they put the articles about it deep within the paper rather than on the front page as they should have been. There are a number of books on this if you are interested.

Then there was, of course, Walter Duranty who was one of the New York Times top reporters and the Soviet bureau chief. He received a Pulitzer for his reporting on the Five Year Plan and he argued it was a resounding success. Meanwhile, millions starved to death especially in the Ukraine. News of the starvations was branded as "fake news" and suppressed. There have been a number of attempts to get his Pulitzer revoked, one fairly recently. The book to read on this is "Walter Duranty, Stalin's Apologist." There is a great movie about this as well: "Mr. Jones" which is about the reporter from Wales who ultimately broke the story against the wishes of Duranty.

I want the late 80â(TM)s - Early 90â(TM)s Internet back. Pre-AOL building their bridge. When that happened, a good portion of the âoeInternetâ predicted that that was the end of the Internet as we knew if. They were right.

I’m curious, in your opinion, what would be the best approach to reward well thought out comments and disincentivize trolls, general meanness, and spammy comments?

Correct. People should spend a little time thinking about what reporting all transactions to the IRS really means. Do you want to buy a firearm? The IRS will know. Do you want to donate to a political party? The IRS will know and know which party you donated to. Do you want to go to the doctor? The IRS will know. Do you want to go see a psychologist or psychiatrist? The IRS will know. Do you want to visit a drug treatment center? The IRS will know.

Whatâ(TM)s more, what if you pay for a drug treatment center for a friend or spouse? It will look like it was for you. What if your employer is the US Military or government contractor? You know theyâ(TM)ll data mine it all. And how hard will it be for the IRS to crank out a list of all the people who donated to a specific party or cause?

In the United States we have an expectation of privacy (Roe vs Wade) and more importantly we have the 4th Amendment which states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This is akin to having a standing warrant on every citizen of the United States. It wasnâ(TM)t long ago where the Supreme Court said that the police can not force people to unlock their phones because everyoneâ(TM)s private data is on their phone. Your bank account deserves no less.

I used to know someone who lost his sight due to a directed energy weapon. He worked in an office building in Washington DC. Then he started getting really bad headaches after which he lost his sight. Turns out the Russians were testing a directed energy weapon from their embassy. As âoesettlementâ for the whole thing, the Federal Government paid for all of his living expenses for the rest of his life. Heâ(TM)s passed away but a good friend is still friends with his daughter.

Tasers aren't as effective as a firearm to getting a perpetrator to stop. They shoot two projectiles either of which can miss, get deflected, get caught in clothing, get damaged (broken wires / needles), etc. If the offender's clothes are wet, that can provide an additional avenue for the electricity to flow. Some people aren't affected by tasers either and it just pisses them off making the encounter more dangerous not less. In addition, the company who makes Tasers in their newer tasers have reduced the amount of power so they have been less effective in police encounters according to recent studies.

As usual, first it is "For the Children" but it won't be long before it is "For the Politicians".

I have a friend who works for Apple who deals with this sort of stuff and he outright acknowledges that they have kiddie porn on their servers and so technically they are in possession and Apple as a company is in violation of the law. This, of course, probably holds for just about any company that has a repository of user supplied content.