App-connected toothbrushes bring new privacy concerns to the bathroom. read more
Depression and cognitive symptoms worsen in the years following hospitalization for Covid-19, according to a new study into the long-term effects of the disease. read more
Some of L.A.'s poorest families received cash assistance of $1,000 a month as part of a 12-month pilot project launched nearly three years ago. There were no strings attached and they could use the money however they saw fit. read more
A potentially deadly heat wave is expanding from the Central U.S. to both coasts, with nearly 150 million people under heat warnings and advisories on Thursday morning. read more
Look at the individual swing staes on the right side of the page. I had not seen so much blue there previously.
Another fun tune (apropos?, you decide....)
Julie Brown - I Like 'Em Big and Stupid (1984)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt...
...
When I need something to help me unwind
I find a six-foot baby with a one-track mind
Smart guys are nowhere, they make demands
Give me a moron with talented hands
I go bar-hopping and they say "last call"
I start shopping for a Neanderthal
...
The MAGA theme song?
@#5
One view...
www.pbs.org
Declaration of Israel's Independence, 1948
... The land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world.
Exiled from Palestine, the Jewish people remained faithful to it in all the countries of their dispersion, never ceasing to pray and hope for their return and the restoration of their national freedom.
Impelled by this historic association, Jews strove throughout the centuries to go back to the land of their fathers and regain their statehood. In recent decades they returned in masses. They reclaimed the wilderness, revived their language, built cities and villages and established a vigorous and ever-growing community with its own economic and cultural life. They sought peace yet were ever prepared to defend themselves. They brought the blessing of progress to all inhabitants of the country.
In the year 1897 the First Zionist Congress, inspired by Theodor Herzl's vision of the Jewish State, proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national revival in their own country.
This right was acknowledged by the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, and re-affirmed by the Mandate of the League of Nations, which gave explicit international recognition to the historic connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and their right to reconstitute their National Home.
The Nazi holocaust, which engulfed millions of Jews in Europe, proved anew the urgency of the re-establishment of the Jewish state, which would solve the problem of Jewish homelessness by opening the gates to all Jews and lifting the Jewish people to equality in the family of nations.
The survivors of the European catastrophe, as well as Jews from other lands, proclaiming their right to a life of dignity, freedom and labor, and undeterred by hazards, hardships and obstacles, have tried unceasingly to enter Palestine.
In the Second World War the Jewish people in Palestine made a full contribution in the struggle of the freedom-loving nations against the Nazi evil. The sacrifices of their soldiers and the efforts of their workers gained them title to rank with the peoples who founded the United Nations.
On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a Resolution for the establishment of an independent Jewish State in Palestine, and called upon the inhabitants of the country to take such steps as may be necessary on their part to put the plan into effect.
This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their Independent State may not be revoked. It is, moreover, the self-evident right of the Jewish people to be a nation, as all other nations, in its own Sovereign State.
ACCORDINGLY, WE, the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in Palestine and the Zionist movement of the world, met together in solemn assembly today, the day of the termination of the British mandate for Palestine, by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish and of the Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations,
HEREBY PROCLAIM the establishment of the Jewish State in Palestine, to be called ISRAEL.
WE HEREBY DECLARE that as from the termination of the Mandate at midnight, this night of the 14th and 15th May, 1948, and until the setting up of the duly elected bodies of the State in accordance with a Constitution, to be drawn up by a Constituent Assembly not later than the first day of October, 1948, the present National Council shall act as the provisional administration, shall constitute the Provisional Government of the State of Israel.
... continued...
A fun tune...
Edelweiss - Bring Me Edelweiss (Extended Tourist Version) (1988)
www.youtube.com
Swiss yodeling rappers?
wow.
How unique is that?
What your car knows about you (2017)
www.detroitnews.com
... You probably know that you should delete all the data off your phone before you give it away and wipe the hard drive on your computer before you sell it.
But have you considered all the data stored on your car, and what you should do with it when you get rid of the vehicle?
Tony Aquila, CEO of Solera Holdings, a company that collects and analyzes data from cars, thinks you ought to be focusing on the privacy threat your car represents.
"You can learn more about you from your car than you can from your house," Aquila said.
As Aquila and others note, cars have become mobile computers. Not only do they have numerous processors within them, they also have sophisticated arrays of sensors and many now can be connected to data networks or the internet. Cars these days are constantly collecting data and in many cases are transmitting it to car manufacturers and others. ...
That was from 2017.
Seven years ago.
How has the data collection technology advanced since then?
@#1 ... the brushing data is uploaded to the cloud ...
A major privacy red-flag.
Where does that data then go?
To dental insurance companies?
Such behavior is not a new thing...
Automakers Are Sharing Consumers' Driving Behavior With Insurance Companies
www.nytimes.com
... LexisNexis, which generates consumer risk profiles for the insurers, knew about every trip G.M. drivers had taken in their cars, including when they sped, braked too hard or accelerated rapidly. ...
Kenn Dahl says he has always been a careful driver. The owner of a software company near Seattle, he drives a leased Chevrolet Bolt. He's never been responsible for an accident.
So Mr. Dahl, 65, was surprised in 2022 when the cost of his car insurance jumped by 21 percent. Quotes from other insurance companies were also high. One insurance agent told him his LexisNexis report was a factor.
LexisNexis is a New York-based global data broker with a "Risk Solutions" division that caters to the auto insurance industry and has traditionally kept tabs on car accidents and tickets. Upon Mr. Dahl's request, LexisNexis sent him a 258-page "consumer disclosure report," which it must provide per the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
What it contained stunned him: more than 130 pages detailing each time he or his wife had driven the Bolt over the previous six months. It included the dates of 640 trips, their start and end times, the distance driven and an accounting of any speeding, hard braking or sharp accelerations. The only thing it didn't have is where they had driven the car. ...
... Harris Victory Would End Chance for Proud Boys Pardons ...
It would end the chance for a pardon of all those convicted under Federal rule.
Political fealty, not Constitutional law.
That seems to be what fmr Pres Trump has offered.
Donald Trump says again he would 'absolutely' pardon Jan. 6 rioters (Updated July 31, 2024, 6:55 PM EDT)
www.nbcnews.com
... Former President Donald Trump said once again Wednesday that he would pardon Jan. 6 rioters if he wins the election, repeatedly lying about what happened during the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, which injured more than 140 police officers.
"Oh, absolutely, I would. If they're innocent, I would pardon them," Trump said during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists. "They were convicted by a very tough system."
More than 1,400 people have been charged in connection with the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and prosecutors have secured more than 1,000 convictions on charges ranging from unlawful parading to seditious conspiracy. Hundreds of cases remain pending, and more arrests are expected before the five-year statute of limitations runs out in early 2026, but all the Jan. 6 cases could theoretically be brought to an end if Trump wins and his appointees take over the Justice Department.
Trump has referred to Jan. 6 rioters as warriors, "unbelievable patriots," political prisoners and "hostages." Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan and has overseen numerous Capitol attack trials, has expressed shock at the "preposterous" rhetoric about convicted criminals that Republicans regularly use about Jan. 6 rioters. "In my thirty-seven years on the bench, I cannot recall a time when such meritless justifications of criminal activity hav ...
As I have noted in my prior comments...
The GOP no longer seems to be the party of Law & Order.
But more of a cult that revels in adulation of their Supreme Leader... fmr Pres Trump.
Related...
Antarctic temperatures rise 10C above average in near record heatwave
www.theguardian.com