Yesterday, Trump imposed tariffs on pretty much all imported goods, the largest tax increase in US history. This will drive up inflation and trigger a recession that will cause high unemployment. Trump is using a tariff authority meant for emergencies that Congress gave Presidents. Republicans could fix this today by passing a law removing the tariffs and removing Trump’s authority to impose them. The Republican party is choosing this huge tax increase and crashing the economy.
Back when only 1/3 of Americans were taken in by propaganda, and that 1/3 were split among different types of crazy. Fox news is the one ring that united them all.
“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” -Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.” -Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism
Measles outbreak in low tax, low government capacity Texas, link
Facilitate Insight by Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation “insight problem solving task while receiving transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the anterior temporal lobes (ATL). Only 20% of participants solved an insight problem with sham stimulation (control), whereas 3 times as many participants did so (p = 0.011) with cathodal stimulation (decreased excitability) of the left ATL together with anodal stimulation (increased excitability) of the right ATL.”
Sterilizing seeds “My recommendation is 10% Calcium hypochloride or 5% Sodium hypochloride for 30 minutes, and for complex surfaces of bigger seeds, it is essential to add 2% Tween 20 as detergent (a small drop for 1mL bleach in an Eppendorf tube with seeds).” “Sodium hypochlorite (1-5%) or 10% Calcium hypochlorite are most common. Mercuric chloride 1% is also probably the best, but use of 3 compounds: Sodium hypochlorite, KMnO4 and H2O2 with washing by water after each one gave best results for nuts and beans.” “Glass container, clean. Place seeds into it and pour hydrogen peroxide 3%. Soak for five minutes. Drain, pour distilled water and soak for five minutes.” Growing Seed Sprouts at Home, link.
Book to read: The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn by Richard Hamming. Known for Hamming codes (checksums).
Since males had dominated these professions for centuries, you would think they would leave slowly, hesitantly or maybe linger at 40%, 35%, 30%, but that’s not what happens. Once the tipping point reaches majority female- the men flee. And boy do they flee! It’s a slippery slope. When the number of women hits 60% the men who are there make a swift exit and other men stop joining.
How responsible is the CEO of health insurance company for the death and suffering caused by the company? Use this handy formula to find out:
deaths x fraction for which the CEO is responsible
Being a corporation, responsibility is best assessed by money. Let’s split responsibility for a company between the management and major shareholders. So here the the formula”
“excess deaths caused by company” x (“CEO salary” / “sum of C-suite salaries” + (“shares owned by CEO” / (“shares owned by major shareholders”) / 2
