The new H-1B visa fee to sponsor workers in the US will create a multi-billion-dollar annual burden for the tech industry and likely drive tech innovation shifts to India, Eastern Europe and Latin America as companies redirect investments, according to new research.
A new paper in the journal Nature reveals an astonishing -- and frankly unsettling -- feature of some cancer cells: the ability to physically inject mitochondria into their neighboring cells. These mitochondria are shown to reprogram the targeted cells by modulating the expression of certain genes, thus turning these victim cells into cancer-supporting cells that greatly increase the rate of tumor formation.
Police in a Silicon Valley suburb were flummoxed last weekend after pulling over a self-driving Waymo robo-taxi for making an illegal turn, then finding no driver they could issue with a ticket.
A cheap, inhaled drug may revolutionize treatment for COVID-19 and other deadly lung infections.
A new thinktank report has concluded that though the Pentagon has significantly invested in counter-drone capabilities over the past decade, the level of speed and scale at which it is happening is "insufficient."
@#6 ... British press deserve as little oxygen as possible. ...
Why?
BBC -- Bias and Credibility
mediabiasfactcheck.com
... Overall, we rate the BBC Left-Center biased based on story selection that slightly favors the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information. Although they have failed a fact-check, they appropriately issued a correction. ...
Fox News (foxnews.com) -- Bias and Credibility
mediabiasfactcheck.com
... Overall, we rate Fox News right-biased based on editorial positions that align with the right and Questionable due to the promotion of state propaganda, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, the use of poor sources, and numerous false claims and failed fact checks. While straight news reporting from beat reporters is generally fact-based and accurate, it is typically overshadowed by propagandistic opinions, which earns them a Low factual rating. ...
@#6 ... Most US movies are mostly garbage now, ...
I dunno about the "garbage" aspect, as I am not a big movie fan.
But then there's this ...
The box office is bleak. Here's how local theaters are surviving the downturn (March 2025)
www.latimes.com
... As the year started, movie theater owner Damon Rubio was feeling optimistic.
His six-location theater chain's revenue projections for January and February were tracking ahead of 2024's weak theatrical grosses. Rubio himself was looking forward to films like Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho's "Mickey 17" and Paramount Pictures' comedic Jack Quaid thriller "Novocaine."
But by the end of February, "things kind of dropped out on us," said Rubio, owner and president of D'Place Entertainment, which operates theaters in California cities including in Barstow, Cathedral City and Bonsall. His chain's revenue is still ahead of last year but only "marginally."
"I wouldn't call it apocalyptic, but I would call it abysmal, so I guess it's a step up," he said with a laugh.
Rubio is luckier than many.
Ahead of this week's CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas, where Hollywood studios present footage of their upcoming films to hype theater owners up for the year ahead, the industry is grappling with a brutal start to the year at the box office. ...
... It turns out, however, that the U.S. and Arab nations had agreed to a different version of this peace plan, and then once Trump and Netanyahu met there were additional stipulations added that Israel wanted. ...
So, it seems that the Trump Peace Plan is slanted towards Israel.
And if Hamas does not agree to this Peace Plan, then Pres trump seems to give Israel the OK to continue its apparent genocide?
Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world's leading experts say (September 1, 2025)
www.bbc.com
... The world's leading association of genocide scholars has declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
A resolution passed by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) states that Israel's conduct meets the legal definition as laid out in the UN convention on genocide.
Across a three-page resolution, the IAGS presents a litany of actions undertaken by Israel throughout the 22-month-long war that it recognises as constituting genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The IAGS is the world's largest professional association of genocide scholars and includes a number of Holocaust experts. Out of its 500 members, 28% took part in the vote and 86% of those who voted supported the resolution.
In a summary of Israeli policies and actions, the declaration notes the widespread attacks on both the personnel and facilities needed for survival, including in the healthcare, aid, and educational sectors.
Among many other elements, it notes the 50,000 children killed or injured by Israel, as highlighted by UN aid organisation Unicef, which impacts the ability of Palestinians in Gaza to survive as a group and regenerate. ...
@#31 ... The money trail behind the Steele dossier has been a subject of intense political scrutiny for years. ...
Yup.
Conservative Website First Funded Anti-Trump Research by Firm That Later Produced Dossier (2017)
www.nytimes.com
... The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website funded by a major Republican donor, first hired the research firm that months later produced for Democrats the salacious dossier describing ties between Donald J. Trump and the Russian government, the website said on Friday.
The Free Beacon, funded in large part by the New York hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, hired the firm, Fusion GPS, in 2015 to unearth damaging information about several Republican presidential candidates, including Mr. Trump. But The Free Beacon told the firm to stop doing research on Mr. Trump in May 2016, as Mr. Trump was clinching the Republican nomination.
Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee had begun paying Fusion GPS in April for research that eventually became the basis for the dossier. ...
Billy Bragg - Ideology (1986)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
When one voice rules the nation
Just because they're on top of the pile
Doesn't mean their vision is the clearest
The voices of the people
Are falling on deaf ears
Our politicians all become careerists
They must declare their interests
But not their company cars
Is there more to a seat in parliament
Then sitting on your arse
And the best of all this bad bunch
Are shouting to be heard
Above the sound of ideologies clashing
Outside the patient millions
Who put them into power
Expect a little more back for their taxes
Like school books, beds in hospitals
And peace in our bloody time
All they get is old men grinding axes
Who've built their private fortunes
On the things they can rely
The courts, the secret handshake
The Stock Exchange and the old school tie
For God and Queen and Country
All things they justify
Above the sound of ideologies clashing
God bless the civil service
The nations saving grace
While we expect democracy
They're laughing in our face
And although our cries get louder
Their laughter gets louder still
Above the sound of ideologies clashing
...
@#12 ... watching a flick on the big screen is just fun ...
Even when the person sitting next to you is talking on their cell phone, describing the movie scene by scene to some random person?
Yeah, just fun.