The truth about nuclear fusion power - new breakthroughs

Very recommendable! I think, the host skipped a few milestones or failed to provide more insights into some of the pursued technologies and their advances, but it is overall a very good overview given the brevity!

Why are we not spending much more on this almost endless resource of of carbon free energy? Why are we wasting so much money on so called renewable energy, such a boondoggle!

Do We Need Patents? A Look at Biological Innovations in 19th Century America

Recommendable! You find many critical articles about intellectual property rights on my blog (just click on the label)!

In my opinion, we ought to try the experiment of eliminating all intellectual property rights for new intangible assets! Second best solution, a dramatic reduction in scope and duration of intellectual property rights!

Innovators can stay ahead of the competition, because they are the experts and they have other advantages over mere copycats. They can also use business secret as a temporary protection!

"... seed breeders rather “sought long-run reputations” to build trust in their products. This is akin to the brand recognition argument highlighted by critics of patents. They also bundled their services with other commercial endeavors such as “selling fertilizers or publishing farm journals” in order to increase their profitability. Anyone who wanted to match the profitability of the innovators would have had to copy the entire bundle of goods. This essentially raised copying costs (especially when the different activities in the bundle were complementary). ..."

"The Antebellum American South experienced rapid biological innovation centered around an active market for new cotton seed varieties, despite the absence of intellectual property rights. Contemporaries complained new seed was initially offered at high prices, which subsequently collapsed. Using local newspaper evidence, this paper documents this market’s operation. It then rationalizes the price movements given the potential of improved seed to multiply at finite rates. The initial prices were sufficiently high to provide meaningful incentives to innovate. This study also identifies information problems affecting the cotton seed market, leading observers to claim too many new varieties were released, not too few."

Do We Need Patents? A Look at Biological Innovations in 19th Century America – AIER

Biological Innovation without Intellectual Property Rights: Cottonseed Markets in the Antebellum American South (open access)

Salk Institute: The aging puzzle comes together

Very recommendable! Nice, very readable, and long overview article by the Salk Institute covering lots of ground! From inflammation, mitochondria, telomeres, circadian optimization, cellular garbage disposal ...

I would estimate or even bet, the puzzle will be much closer to be solved in the next 10-30 years to the point were longevity is accompanied by good health to the end! Not least due to greatly improved artificial intelligence and machine learning!

 

The aging puzzle comes together |

Universities That Should Lose Their government Accreditation Immediately

Recommendable! I think, the author of this article is on to something!

Let's start with Harvard University, MIT, UC Berkeley ...

"A university should immediately lose accreditation if it:

1. employs more administrators than full-time faculty with some measure of job security.
2. mandates masks for anyone this fall.
3. mandates Covid vaccines for students.
4. is in an NCAA division that it clearly doesn’t merit due to its size and/or the size of its major enrollment catchment areas.
5. has policies that suggest that professors who do not publish can be “great teachers.”
6. employs faculty in any department who claim that 2+2=4 is racist.
7. ...
   
8. ...
9. claims that it is committed to diversity but fails to maintain even a semblance of intellectual diversity. ..."

Universities That Should Lose Their Accreditation Immediately – AIER

MIT book review: One nation under insurance contract

This MIT book review is lousy as it is written from the ideology of racism and other leftist pet narratives! The author of the book is probably leftist leaning too!

"... “One way to turn the tide of public opinion away from expansion of the welfare state was to associate public insurance programs with dependency, and private programs with autonomy, freedom, and individual responsibility,” Horan says. “That rhetoric started in the late 1930s, and has been incredibly successful, and it’s still with us.” ..."

The 1930s was also the time when the United States federal government leapt forward towards communism and socialism under the most socialist President of all times FDR!

"... More subtly, perhaps, insurance companies and industry groups started a wide variety of seemingly public-minded campaigns to get Americans to live healthier, more balanced lives — distributing materials to schools and libraries about health and weight, and launching driver-training programs. However, Horan notes, those efforts had the effect of shifting responsibility for healthy living to individuals (as opposed to, say, environmental drivers of health outcomes). ..."

This book author is pathetic! So it must be OK when big government tells citizens in no subtle terms you need to live healthier?

"“You have this attachment of individual responsibility to insurance itself,” Horan says. “People who end up being classified as a good risk by insurance companies feel they have deserved that designation, while [thinking] the people who end up being classified as bad risks also deserve that designation. [It creates] this perpetuation of already existing inequalities.”"

What a nonsense! Anybodies risk assessment can change for the better or worse with time and effort or negligence!

This book review contains more of such dubious examples!

One nation under contract | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT historian Caley Horan’s new book chronicles the development of the insurance business into a U.S. behemoth

Picozoans Are Algae After All

Amazing stuff! Only discovered in 2007! Science is full of human mistakes and follies!

"Picozoans have puzzled scientists ever since their surprising discovery almost 15 years ago. These common, globally distributed microbes are barely bigger than bacteria, yet they’re members of the same domain as animals, fungi, and plants, and everything from what they eat to where they fit into the eukaryotic tree of life has proven difficult to pin down.  ...
No one thought that there were major lineages of algae awaiting discovery in the 21st century, he says. Yet, there these organisms were—overlooked because they slipped right through the three-micron filters often used to separate larger eukaryotic microbes such as algae and zooplankton from bacteria. ..."

"... The position of Picozoa in the eukaryotic tree represents the first known case of a plastid-lacking lineage closely related to one of the main archaeplastid branches. The implications of these findings for our understanding of plastid evolution are unprecedented, and can either be interpreted as the first report of complete plastid loss in a free-living taxon, or as an indication that red algae and rhodelphids obtained their plastids independently of other archaeplastids. ..."

Picozoans Are Algae After All: Study | The Scientist Magazine®

Picozoa are archaeplastids without plastid (open access)

Israeli rescue team joins the desperate search for survivors in Florida building collapse

Amazing stuff! Bravo, Israel! Perhaps, there are also Jewish victims in the rubble ...

"In one of the first international efforts from the newly installed government in Jerusalem, search and rescue specialists from Israel are working alongside their American counterparts — many of whom they trained ...
The 10-member delegation arrived on Sunday in Florida, along with Israel's new Diaspora Affairs Minister, Nachman Shai.
"I was instructed by the prime minister to check what the needs are and tell you that we are here and ready," Shai told Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. "There are no limits to what we are ready to offer. We brought you our best people." ..."

Israeli rescue team joins the desperate search for survivors in Florida building collapse | Just The News Some of the American first responders on scene trained two years ago in Israel.

On the huge Waste in Federal Pandemic Spending

Hundreds of billions of $$$ were wasted by federal, state, and local governments on a fairly harmless disease!

Unfortunately, all this happened in the critical election year 2020! If the Chinese communists are behind the release of the SARS-CoV-2, then their timing was impeccable!

"All told, Congress has authorized about $5.9 trillion in spending to address the social and economic fallout from the pandemic, of which $4.1 trillion has been disbursed or committed through the present ... results bode poorly for proponents of “big government.”

Take, for example, the plight of the Small Business Administration, which operates two marquee pandemic programs. The first is the $813 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), involving federal loan guarantees, set at a low interest rate (1 percent), which could be forgiven if the borrower spends a certain percentage (about two‐​thirds) on payroll. The second is the $367 billion Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, which entails loans on favorable terms that are disbursed directly by the government. ... these programs has jeopardized more than $260 billion in taxpayer money.

Next, consider $500 billion in state bailouts. The purpose of this spending was to head off a collapse in state budgets due to an expected decline in consumption, which in turn was supposed to cause a sharp decrease in state tax revenues. The bailout came in two phases. The first phase—$150 billion provided by the CARES Act—occurred at the outset of the pandemic, when there was true uncertainty about how the economy would endure lockdowns. But by the second phase of spending—$350 billion in the American Rescue Plan of 2021—it was clear that state revenues were doing far better than initially expected ..."

Getting a Grip on Eyepopping Waste in Federal Pandemic Spending | Cato at Liberty Blog

Fernbahntunnel ist Jahrhundertprojekt für Frankfurt

Ist das nicht ein Infrastruktur-Großprojekt aus dem 20igsten Jahrhundert! Wir sind im Zeitalter von autonomen Fahrzeugen, Drohnen, virtueller Realität u.v.m. angekommen! Ist so ein Projekt überhaupt noch zeitgemäß

Was kostet das? Was sind die Alternativen (z.B. umfahren von FFM)? Wie lange wird der Bau dauern? Etc.

Wollen wir noch abhängiger werden von der Gewerkschaft der Lokführer (GdL)?

Fernbahntunnel ist Jahrhundertprojekt für Frankfurt Noch ist es nur eine Idee, einen Fernbahntunnel unter der Stadt Frankfurt zu bauen. Doch eine Machbarkeitsstudie zeigt auf, dass ein solcher Tunnel Engpässe im Schienennetz auflösen und Reisezeiten verkürzen würde. Für die Stadt wäre das ein Jahrhundertprojekt.

Pseudoscience: Black scientist network celebrates successes

The prestigious Nature journal is a purveyor of tribalism! It promotes propaganda and demagoguery! It uses Marxist symbols of violence and power! Horrible!

"In the wake of global protests against anti-Black racism last year, a movement emerged to celebrate Black scientists and fight systemic oppression in academia. Researchers in fields across science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) worldwide, but especially in the United States, rallied around social-media hashtags and attended online community events. A year later, they are celebrating all that they have accomplished with the movement now known collectively as Black in X — but also highlight the challenges they still face in fighting racism in science, including the need for more institutional support and funding. ..."

Black scientist network celebrates successes — but calls for more support A year after the first ‘Black in X’ campaigns debuted, organizers reflect on their fight against racism in academia, and the challenges ahead.

The 19th Century Musicians That Became Mass-Loved Superstars

Very recommendable! Beethoven, Schuhmann, Rossini, Schubert, Paganini, Liszt ...

Study of pregnant male rats stirs controversy

Apparently, it will be possible in the foreseeable future that men may have babies! However, would it be possible for gestation to happen entirely outside of the human body?

Please remember the poor rats used in these experiments for science sake! Say a prayer for all the animals sacrificed daily for science!

"... Here, we constructed a rat model of male pregnancy by a four-step strategy: a heterosexual parabiotic pair was firstly produced by surgically joining a castrated male rat and a female rat. Uterus transplantation (UTx) was then performed on the male parabiont 8 weeks later. After recovery, blastocyst-stage embryos were transplanted to the grafted uterus of male parabiont and the native uterus of female parabiont. Caesarean section was performed at embryonic day (ED) 21.5. The success rate of modeling was only 3.68%, but 10 pups could still be delivered from male parabionts and developed. ..."

Study that Impregnated Male Rats Stirs Controversy | The Scientist Magazine® A combination of approaches, including uterus transplantation and the joining of two animals’ circulatory systems, allowed males to bear pups, according to a preprint. But some experts say the experiments were not justified.  

A rat model of male pregnancy

Unerwünschte Wahrheiten zum Klimawandel

Sehr empfehlenswert! Genau, die letzte Eiszeit endete ungefähr 1850! Die Prognosen der Klimamodelle sind schrott u.v.m.

Exposing the failures of the country’s top general Gen. Mark Milley

Very recommendable! 

Why President Trump did not fire this fool of a politicized general was a big mistake! I suspect, this top general was hiding his strange opinions from President Trump or worse he camouflaged it by telling President Trump what the president wanted to hear!

Singapore is being 'run by smarter people' amid response to pandemic

Recommendable! Singapore will henceforth treat Covid-19 like influenza! I second to that decision by the authorities!

The incessant scaremongering and hysteria surrounding this fairly harmless disease for almost 1.5 years has been extraordinary!

John Adams: American Founder and Second President

Very recommendable! The narrator forgot to mention that John Adams together with Thomas Jefferson died on the same day, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And one of them wrote to the other, are you still alive when this letter finds you?

Die lasche Methode Laschet

Ja, mit dem dementen U.S. Präsidenten könnte die lasche Lusche Laschet sicherlich konkurrieren!

Deutschland braucht einen Trump mehr als eine Lusche!

Die Methode Laschet Der Machtkampf in der Union ist vorüber, die Reihen sind geschlossen. Das hat mit der unaufgeregten Art des Kanzlerkandidaten zu tun.

Reiche Kinder erhalten von ihren Eltern drei Mal mehr Geld als arme Demagogie

Was ist das bitte wieder für billige, schäbige, und linke Propaganda und Demagogie von der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung!

Diese Gegenüberstellung von Reich und Arm ist aller billigste Propaganda & Demagogie! Völlig abwegig und gefährlich und wenig hilfreich! Schürt Neid auf die Reichen? Verteufelt die Reichen? Missgunst?

Reiche Kinder erhalten drei Mal mehr Geld als arme Brisante Zahlen des Statistischen Bundesamts zeigen: Reiche Eltern geben für ihre Kinder drei Mal so viel Geld aus wie arme. Besonders krass sind die Unterschiede in der Gesundheitspflege und der Bildung.

Verfassungsumsturz in Europa oder Dexit

Sehr empfehlenswert! Ein langer Artikel, der es in sich hat!

Die Sache ist sehr ernst und bedenklich! Ein Dexit sollte unter Umständen erwogen werden!

"Die EU-Kommission hat ein „Vertragsverletzungsverfahren“ gegen Deutschland eingeleitet. Aber es geht gar nicht um einen Verstoß gegen einen bestimmten Artikel des EU-Vertrages von Lissabon, sondern um einen allgemeinen Machtanspruch: Die EU-Kommission will feststellen lassen, dass der Gerichtshof der EU (EuGH) die oberste Instanz in allen Rechtsfragen in EU-Europa ist. Demnach wären die Verfassungen der EU-Mitgliedsstaaten den EU-Verträgen unterstellt. Sie wären damit als Verfassungen praktisch außer Kraft gesetzt. Es sind aber die Mitgliedsstaaten die konstituierenden Vertragsparteien der EU. ...
Das wäre ein Verfassungsumsturz in EU-Europa. Es wäre wirklich ein Umsturz, denn das Ganze würde nicht etwa als demokratischer Gründungsakt durch eine repräsentative, verfassungsgebende Versammlung vollzogen, sondern durch die Hintertür von Strafverfahren und Gerichtsurteilen gegen einzelne EU-Mitgliedsstaaten. ...
EU-Organe handeln „ultra vires“ ... Die europäischen Verträge schließen die Finanzierung von Mitgliedsstaaten durch gemeinschaftliche Organe der EU ausdrücklich aus. Die Staatsanleihen-Ankaufsprogramme der Europäischen Zentralbank (EZB) stellen eine solche Staatsfinanzierung dar. Hätte man bei Abschluss des Vertrags von Lissabon (und zuvor von Maastricht) erklärt, dass damit solche Ankaufsprogramme in der EU legalisiert würden, wären diese Verträge nie unterschrieben worden. Doch im Zuge der Rechtsprechung des Gerichtshofes der EU (EuGH) wurde in den vergangenen Jahren das, was ausdrücklich ausgeschlossen war, durch einen Akt der Vertragsinterpretation für Recht erklärt – es wurde also keine Veränderung des geschriebenen Rechts (der Verträge) versucht, sondern das geschriebene Recht nachträglich umgedeutet. Dagegen hat das deutsche Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG) in seinem Urteil vom 5.5.2020 auf der Position der Europäischen Verträge bestanden und festgestellt, dass die Anleihen-Kaufprogramme der EZB und deren Billigung durch den EuGH außerhalb des rechtlichen Rahmens, in dem sich die EU bewegt, erfolgt sind. Das BVerfG hat die Handlungen von EZB und EuGH in dieser Sache als sogenannte „Ultra-Vires-Akte“ bewertet – als Akte, die die Grenzen des bestehenden Rechts überschreiten. Das EuGH-Urteil wurde vom BVerfG als „schlechterdings nicht mehr nachvollziehbar“ und „objektiv willkürlich“ eingestuft. ...
Ein irreführender Gebrauch des Worts „europäisches Recht“ ... Damit wird der Eindruck erweckt, es gäbe so etwas wie einen einheitlichen Gesamtkorpus von Recht, der identisch ist mit dem Regulationsrecht der EU-Organe und vom EuGH in Luxemburg letztinstanzlich ausgelegt würde. In Wirklichkeit ist das Regulationsrecht der EU-Organe nachgeordnetes Recht, weil es sich aus den EU-Verträgen ergibt, deren Träger die nationalen Verfassungsstaaten sind. ...
Es gibt ja die europäischen Verträge, insbesondere den Vertrag von Lissabon. Dieser Vertrag ist geschlossen worden, nachdem ein Versuch, eine EU-Verfassung zu schaffen, ausdrücklich durch demokratische Voten zurückgewiesen wurde: Im Jahr 2005 ist die Vorlage einer EU-Verfassung in Referenden in Frankreich und in den Niederlanden mit eindeutiger Mehrheit abgelehnt worden. ..."

Verfassungsumsturz in Europa Mit dem „Vertragsverletzungsverfahren“ gegen Deutschland will die EU-Kommission ein für allemal durchsetzen, dass die EU der Souverän ist – und nicht die vertragsschließenden Mitgliedsstaaten der EU.

Embryos appear to reverse their biological clock early in development

Amazing stuff!

"... [Scientists] once thought that germline cells might be ageless — somehow protected from the passage of time (SN: 3/10/04). But studies have shown signs of aging in eggs and sperm, dispelling that idea. ...

In a new study, scientists describe evidence that supports that rejuvenation hypothesis. Both mouse and human germline cells appear to reset their biological age in the early stages of an embryo’s development. A rejuvenation period that takes place after an embryo has attached to the uterus sets the growing embryo at its youngest biological age, dubbed “ground zero,” researchers report June 25 in Science Advances.  ..."

"The notion that the germ line does not age goes back to the 19th-century ideas of August Weismann. However, being metabolically active, the germ line accumulates damage and other changes over time, i.e., it ages. ...
We further found that pluripotent stem cells do not age even after extensive passaging and that the examined epigenetic age dynamics is conserved across species. Overall, this study uncovers a natural rejuvenation event during embryogenesis and suggests that the minimal biological age (ground zero) marks the beginning of organismal aging."

Embryos appear to reverse their biological clock early in development | Science News In mice, a ‘rejuvenation event’ wipes out genetic signs of aging days after fertilization

Epigenetic clocks reveal a rejuvenation event during embryogenesis followed by aging

Advocates for female inmates push back as transgender prisoner transfers ramp up in California

If I was a criminal with a long sentence, I might think about becoming transgender too to transfer into the prison with female inmates! Just for the fun of it! 😄

Advocates for female inmates push back as transgender prisoner transfers ramp up in California | Just The News Even transgender inmates are worried male prisoners will fake gender dysphoria to get transferred to women's facilities.

Judith Beheading Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi

Very recommendable! Well done this video! One of the greatest known female painters of the Baroque age! An amazing painter! She became notorious for accusing her teacher and a painter of raping her and going to trial for it. Perhaps, one of the earliest recorded rape trial where a woman accused a man of rape. The accused was found guilty, but the sentence to be exiled from Rome was not carried out. "At the trial, Artemisia was tortured with thumbscrews with the intention of verifying her testimony."

Climate Models: Worse Than Nothing?

Recommendable! About the pseudoscience of climate model forecasts!

Indeed, most climate models are not much better than garbage when used as long-term forecasting tools (or still continue to be exercises in human futility) for the simple reason that we still know very little about the enormous and complex phenomenon of climate! Weather forecasts are still very inaccurate beyond 48 hours! 

Climate models are a great pretense of knowledge! Unfortunately, the citizens of the world have been mislead and abused many times by so called climate model forecasts of up to 100 years! What an absurdity!

The input to these climate models, e.g. historical, global climate data of all kinds, are themselves wrought with measurement errors and they are dubious for various reasons! In some cases, the data was even manipulated to fit the narrative!

In a similar vain, after several decades of intense modeling, economists can still not model economies and delivery accurate forecasts of economic growth, cycles etc.

Climate Models: Worse Than Nothing? – AIER

Goodbye multifocals! DeepOptics changes focus via software

Good news! However, it is high time and overdue that we are able to correct eye vision issues without glasses or contact lenses etc. We need to go beyond ASAP!

"DeepOptics has developed a proprietary lens technology that seamlessly switches between far and near vision by reorienting the pixels in the glass. ... the touch-sensitive side of the thick black sunglasses frame ... I swipe my finger back and forth, ... swapping close for distance and back again. "

Goodbye multifocals! DeepOptics changes focus via software - ISRAEL21c For this long-time wearer of progressive lenses, DeepOptics’ 32°N sunglasses are nothing short of an addictive, adaptive miracle.

13 Adam Smith Quotes on Government Greed and the Marvels of the Market

Very recommendable! It is a petty that the wise words of the Scottish Adam Smith are so unknown to most people!

What a momentous coincidence in history: The Wealth of Nations was published in the same year as the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776.

“No human wisdom or knowledge could ever be sufficient [for] the duty of superintending the industry of private people … towards the employment most suitable to the interest of the society.”

“Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.”

13 Adam Smith Quotes on Government Greed and the Marvels of the Market - Foundation for Economic Education

FDP-Chef Christian Lindner: „Staatsfinanzen nicht Grünen überlassen“

Wie lange noch müssen die Bürger den unsäglichen Christian Lindner noch ertragen! Seit vielen, vielen Jahren hat die FDP keine besseren Politiker anzubieten! Schauerlich! 

Ein Sprücheklopfer und Hans Dampf in allen Ecken! Ein so typischer, lebenslanger Berufspolitiker, der noch nie was geleistet hat!

Ob er als Bundesfinanzminister etwas taugt ist fraglich!

"Was sagt der Liberale Lindner zu den Bestrebungen, eine globale Mindestbesteuerung einzuführen?

Der Satz von 15 Prozent würde den internationalen Steuerwettbewerb nicht aushebeln. [Was für ein Dummkopf und Schwätzer mit wenig Ahnung!] Die disziplinierende Wirkung des Steuerwettbewerbs verkenne ich nicht, aber es muss fair zugehen."

FDP-Chef Christian Lindner: „Staatsfinanzen nicht Grünen überlassen“ Wer will, dass die Union ihre finanziellen Versprechen einhält, muss die FDP an der Regierung beteiligen – so die selbstbewusste Botschaft des FDP-Chefs im F.A.Z.-Gespräch. Schwarz-Grün sei „Lakritz mit Spinat“.

Ach, wie der Mann isch in Pose gesetzt hat!

Britney Spears testimony about her conservatorship raises serious questions

Had it not been for this pop music star, the issue of conservatorship would probably not have gotten the public attention it deserves. A conservatorship is a very serious restriction on the freedom and life of an individual human being.

How was it possible that this forced conservatorship was in effect for about 13 years for this young woman?

How often and how did the courts review this conservatorship in the best interest of the conservatee?

How easy is it for e.g. a conservator to abuse such a court-appointed conservatorship?

How many people in the United States live under such a conservatorship? 

Here are some excerpts from Time magazine article "How Britney Spears' Case Could Change the Future of Conservatorship" about this subject: 

1. "There is limited data on conservatorships, but a National Council on Disability report estimates that at least 1.3 million Americans are under guardianship. Once people are under a conservatorship, there can be periodic reviews, but the process varies by state and there is little oversight."
2. "Conservatees don’t have to lose all of their freedom. In California, for example, where Spears’ case is located, the system is supposed to favor limited conservatorships and give the conservator only those powers that a judge determines are truly necessary. ... However, the National Council on Disability has found that most guardianships for people with disabilities go way beyond that and give all of the conservatee’s rights to the appointed conservator. ..."
3. "In 1927, the Supreme Court ruled in Buck v. Bell that it was constitutional for the state of Virginia to forcibly sterilize a “feeble minded woman” for the “welfare of society,” and this kind of practice continued for decades. States have stopped allowing this kind of sterilization, and most have extra protections before someone under conservatorship can be sterilized, but Crane argues that Spears’ forced IUD constitutes reproductive coercion and should fall under that category as well."
4. "Increasingly, advocates are promoting the model of “supported decision making” instead of conservatorship. Since then, 12 states and Washington, D.C. have recognized supported decision making as an alternative to guardianship, and there are movements in most states to bolster the model, ..."

English for trippers: A telltale tall tale of a nailed tail

I admit this sounds contrived! However, it is curious why the word nail and tail are so similar in the English language, while these two words are very dissimilar e.g. in the German or French language.

What are the telltale signs of a tall tale?

It certainly telltales you something about the English language! 😄

Tumors find many ways to evade groundbreaking cancer drug

We still have to do more research to defeat cancer! However, every setback means we learn more about the foe cancer!

"Researchers were ecstatic 2 years ago when, after decades of effort, they devised drugs that could block a tumor-promoting protein in cancer patients called KRAS, which previously seemed impervious to treatment. But many of these KRAS inhibitors—the first of which was approved by U.S. regulators in May ... like other targeted cancer drugs: Most patients’ tumors resumed growing after a few months, as their cancer cells became resistant to the inhibitors ...

Now, a study finds that the roots of this resistance are surprisingly complex, with tumors using an array of escape routes to evade the attack on KRAS.

“There appears to be huge variation” in drug resistance mechanisms ...
... the complexity of KRAS resistance mechanisms suggests researchers may need to try several different drug combinations to overcome the problem—some of these are already in trials ..."

Tumors find many ways to evade groundbreaking cancer drug | Science | AAAS

Smart Carts Make Shopping Easier and More Efficient

The world around you is fast becoming smarter! Even a shopping cart can be smartified! Another gadget you can add to your smart car, smart watch, and smart phone

"Grocery carts use artificial intelligence and machine learning to track items and tabulate customer purchases on the fly, eliminating the need for shoppers to stand in the checkout line. Data collected also provides retailers with information about consumer behavior, product placement, and inventory. ...
The Easy Shopper® Intelligent Cart, designed by MetroClick and faytech, is already deployed in European grocery stores and is breaking into the North American market. The cart is outfitted with artificial intelligence (AI), a scale, cameras, and sensors, plus an arm that holds a barcode scanner and a camera above the basket. ...
The Easy Shopper cart has integrated WiFi, cellular, and GPS capabilities that enable communication with the main hub and cart tracking inside and outside the store. The system connects to a phone app, so customers can sync grocery lists or scan items for additional information. ...
These systems can navigate customers to specific products and suggest products based on past or current selections. Customers can be offered discounts to build brand awareness or loyalty. The carts also protect against retail theft: ..."

Smart Carts Make Shopping Easier and More Efficient

The Forgotten Ancient City of Persepolis

Very recommendable! The Achaemenid Empire, one of the earliest and greatest empires the world has ever known!

How do most lobsters stay cancer-free for up to 100 years?

Amazing stuff! Perhaps one day we will be able to transplant or adopt some useful genes from the lobster to humans?

"... the American lobster—a bottom-dwelling crustacean that lives up to 100 years in the wild. ... Lobsters do not grow weaker with age and only rarely suffer from cancers. Now, researchers have published the first high-quality draft of the lobster genome, yielding surprising insights about the animal’s immune system and genomic stability that may one day help answer fundamental questions about aging—not only in lobsters, but also in humans. ...
American lobsters (Homarus americanus) seem to only get better with passing years. They do not lose strength, experience large shifts in metabolism, or lose fertility with age. They also spend their whole lives growing bigger and bigger. ...

researchers at the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute (GMGI) launched a project to sequence the animal’s entire genome in 2015. But by 2017, the team had sequenced less than half of the genome using standard “short-read” technology, which could only process very small fragments of the lobster genome at a time. ...

By 2019, GMGI’s work had yielded the most complete lobster genome to date—capturing an estimated 72% of the entire sequence ...
The researchers were surprised to find that, compared with mammals and fruit flies, the lobster has few genes that activate programmed cell death. In most animals, that process inhibits tumors and gets rid of diseased cells. ..."

"... Here, we report a high-quality draft assembly of the H. americanus genome with 25,284 predicted gene models. Analysis of the neural gene complement revealed extraordinary development of the chemosensory machinery, including a profound diversification of ligand-gated ion channels and secretory molecules. The discovery of a novel class of chimeric receptors coupling pattern recognition and neurotransmitter binding suggests a deep integration between the neural and immune systems. A robust repertoire of genes involved in innate immunity, genome stability, cell survival, chemical defense, and cuticle formation represents a diversity of defense mechanisms essential to thrive in the benthic marine environment. ..."

How do most lobsters stay cancer-free? Newly sequenced genome could reveal their secrets | Science | AAAS

Here is the underlying research article:

The American lobster genome reveals insights on longevity, neural, and immune adaptations (open access)

Ancient Siberian cave hosted Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans—possibly at the same time

Amazing stuff! What else we may discover in the vast wilderness of Siberia? Basically, Siberia is largely terra incognita as far as scientific research is concerned thanks e.g. to the former Soviet Union. 

"A decade ago, anthropologists shocked the world when they discovered a fossil pinkie bone from a then-unknown group of extinct humans in Siberia’s Denisova Cave. The group was named “Denisovans” in its honor. Now, an extensive analysis of DNA in the cave’s soils reveals it also hosted modern humans—who arrived early enough that they may have once lived there alongside Denisovans and Neanderthals. ...
Humans—including Neanderthals and Denisovans—are known to have occupied Denisova Cave for at least 300,000 years. ... The cave also contains sophisticated stone tools and jewelry at higher, later levels. ...
Researchers have been studying DNA isolated from soils for more than 40 years, including sequencing DNA from permafrost, but only in the past 4 years has anyone found DNA from extinct humans in ancient soils. ..."

Ancient Siberian cave hosted Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans—possibly at the same time | Science | AAAS

The story of slavery in Canadian history

This article by the Canadian Museum of Human Rights is highly dubious and questionable!

Did you know that Slavery was abolished in state of Vermont, USA in 1777?

Or that slaves from Canada ran away across border to Vermont, USA?

Samples of dubious and questionable excerpts:

1. "... Slavery in what is now Canada predates the arrival of Europeans, with some Indigenous peoples enslaving prisoners taken in war. Europeans brought a different kind of slavery to North America, however. Unlike Indigenous people, Europeans saw enslaved people less as human beings and more as property that could be bought and sold. ..."
   Of course, when indigenous peoples take slaves that is so different from slavery by Europeans! Sounds like the Noble Savage? What a nonsense!
2. "... Europeans viewed slavery in racial terms, with Indigenous and African people serving and white people ruling as masters ..."
   What a rubbish and nonsense! And indigenous peoples or African peoples?
   
3. "The transatlantic slave trade helped shape the presence and role of slavery in Canadian history. ... European merchants ... In Africa, they would exchange their goods for enslaved people and then transport them to the Americas, often in cramped and inhumane conditions ... Slavers saw their trade from a purely economic standpoint and viewed enslaved people as just another set of “goods” they could transport and sell. With this mentality, slavers denied the fundamental human rights ..."
   What about all the Africans who were involved selling other Africans as slaves? What about the involvement of Muslims/Arabs? What a baloney! Somebody was trying hard to make some artificial distinctions about slavery and to demonize the Europeans!

"... The practice of slavery among Indigenous groups in Canada varied from one group to another. ...
... the Code noir (Black Code), a slavery rulebook from 1743 brought from France to Canada. Although there is no evidence the Code Noir was formally proclaimed in New France, it appears to have been used as customary law. ...
The colony of New France, founded in the early 1600s, was the first major settlement in what is now Canada. Slavery was a common practice in the territory. When New France was conquered by the British in 1759, records revealed that approximately 3,600 enslaved people had lived in the settlement since its beginnings. The vast majority of them were Indigenous (often called Panis), but Black enslaved people were also present because of the transatlantic slave trade. ...
Slavery continued after the British conquest of New France in 1763. The territory was eventually renamed British North America, and Black enslaved people came to replace Indigenous enslaved people. Compared to the United States, enslaved people made up a much smaller proportion of the population in British North America. This means that some of the worst traits of slavery in America, such as the employment of overseers and the horrible practice of forcing enslaved people to reproduce, did not happen in what is now Canada. [Was the author trying to say there were no plantations in Canada?] ...
Most wills [in Canada] from the time treated enslaved people as nothing more than property, passing on ownership of human beings the same as they would furniture, cattle or land. Defiant or troublesome enslaved people were often severely punished. Physical and sexual abuse was always a very real threat. [Ah, in the U.S. they were forced to reproduce, but in Canada there was only a threat of sexual abuse.] ...
Enslaved people often resisted the institution of slavery. They fought back in many different ways: by asserting their humanity in the face of a system that wished to deny it to them, by running away from masters or by assisting other runaways. In fact, in 1777, a number of enslaved people escaped from British North America into the state of Vermont, which had abolished slavery in that same year. ...
In British North America, if Black enslaved people were freed, they often still had to work as indentured servants for several years. ...
By the late 1700s, attitudes to slavery among the free population of British North America were beginning to change. On March 25, 1807, the slave trade was abolished throughout the British Empire – of which British North America was a part – making it illegal to buy or sell human beings and ending much of the transatlantic trade. Slavery itself was abolished everywhere in the British Empire in 1834. ...
Some Canadian jurisdictions had already taken measures to restrict or end slavery by that time. In 1793 Upper Canada (now Ontario) passed the Anti‐slavery Act. The law freed enslaved people aged 25 and over and made it illegal to bring enslaved people into Upper Canada. On Prince Edward Island, the complete abolition of slavery was pronounced by the legislature on 1825 ..."

The story of slavery in Canadian history | CMHR It happened here, too. When Canadians talk about slavery, we often point with pride to the role our country played in the mid‐1800s as a safe haven for Americans escaping captivity via the Underground Railroad. This, however, is only half the story.

English for trippers: Rabid rabbit contracted rabies

Let this sink in for a moment! Rabid and rabies are actually related, but the rabbit did not know that! How fast can you speak this sentence without a tongue twister? 😄

Tom Cotton: Our military needs to focus on real wars not culture wars

This joint Chief of Staff Mark A. Milley should be fired instantly!

U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) Urges Americans To Recall Thomas Paine's Words On Our Fight For Freedom This July 4th

Very recommendable! A tribute to Thomas Paine! It was none other than Benjamin Franklin who discovered the talents of this great man!

Arizona Governor Ducey to sign major income tax cut legislation

Bravo! Tax cuts & deregulation should be applied to spur economic growth!

The demented 46th President of the United States does the opposite and cause other severe harm to the U.S. economy!

"Arizona lawmakers have passed legislation that gradually cuts the state’s income tax rate to 2.5% over three years.

The bill — passed 31-29 on Thursday [6/24/2021] in the House along partisan lines ..."

Ducey eager to sign major income tax cut after it passes Legislature - Phoenix Business Journal

English for trippers: Striving for strife

Just caught myself confusing these two words! Striving tends to generate strife! No strife, no striving!

What strife are you in currently? Did you strive to have that strife?

AI Real-time Solution to Detect Fire Disasters at Scale

Smarter and faster wildfire detection is coming finally!

However, if forest management is neglected e.g. for stupid political reasons, the fuel build up will make more wildfires inevitable! 

"... South Korean company Alchera trained a computer vision system to monitor more than 800 fire-spotting cameras in Sonoma County, California, the local news channel ABC7 reported. ..."

Real-time Solution to Detect Fire Disasters at Scale | aiir

Deep Learning AI: The Batch

Amazon Web Services Announces AWS BugBust

Good news! Software bugs are everywhere. It has been a plague for decades!

There can never be enough bug busters or bug busting activity given all the vulnerabilities in critical software applications that are discovered daily! Yes, it will also help to prevent cyber attacks!

"... Today, we are excited to announce AWS BugBust, the world’s first global competition for Java and Python developers to collectively fix 1 million bugs. Eliminate software errors and save millions of dollars using Amazon CodeGuru, and win prizes and glory in the first annual AWS BugBust Challenge. Let the bug busting begin! ..."

AWS Announces AWS BugBust

Katalanen, wir lieben euch! Spaniens Regierung will versöhnen und begnadigt neun inhaftierte Separatisten

Das scheint ein Schritt in die richtige Richtung zu sein! Bravo!

Katalonien: Sánchez will versöhnen und begnadigt Separatisten Der spanische Ministerpräsident Pedro Sánchez will den Katalonien-Konflikt entschärfen und begnadigt dazu neun inhaftierte Unabhängigkeitsbefürworter. Viele Katalanen sind skeptisch. Denn ein Referendum über die Zukunft der Region liegt noch immer in weiter Ferne.

GEZ-Boykotteur Georg Thiel - „Im Gefängnis hab ich wenigstens meine Ruhe“

Wenigstens ein Bürger, der der Bananenrepublik Deutschland unter der SED Kanzlerin Merkel die Stirn bietet!

Die GEZ gehörte schon vor mehreren Jahrzehnten ersatzlos abgeschafft! Wenn der Staat den staatliche Medien möchte, dann sollte das bitte schön mit allgemeinen Steuereinnahmen finanziert werden, wenn überhaupt!

Das es eigentlich seit 1945 viel zu viel staatliche Medien gibt ist ein anderes Thema!

Wer kann sich z.B. noch an die GEZ Schnüffler erinnern, die zu deiner Wohnungstür kamen, um herauszufinden ob du Radio oder TV benutzt. Die GEZ ist ein bizarres Kapitel deutscher Geschichte nach 1945!

GEZ-Boykotteur Georg Thiel - „Im Gefängnis hab ich wenigstens meine Ruhe“ | Cicero Online Weil er keinen Rundfunkbeitrag zahlte und sich weigerte, seine Vermögensverhältnisse offen zu legen, sitzt Georg Thiel seit 118 Tagen in Haft. Er sagt, er wolle seine Popularität nutzen, um auf eine Reform des Rundfunkstaatsvertrags drängen. Aber ist das wirklich der Grund?

Lacron oder Maschet? Der Kanzlerkandidat der Union und der französische Präsident teilen eine Leidenschaft für forcierte EU-Integration

Mehr Zentralisation bei der EU Kommission? Nein Danke! 

Empire building? Nein, Danke!

Mehr Brexit? Ja, Bitte! Die Warnung wurde anscheinend nicht verstanden von unseren lebenslangen, weltfremden Berufspolitikern! Nexit? IExit? ...

Die EU sollte erstmal eine erfolgreiche und freiwillige Confederation bilden!
In der Vielfalt liegt historisch die Stärke Europas! Mit Gottes Hilfe erhaltet es!

«Lacron» oder «Maschet»? Der Kanzlerkandidat der Union und der französische Präsident teilen eine Leidenschaft für forcierte EU-Integration

Regenbogennation Deutschland? Warum die Fussball-Kampagne gegen Ungarn kurzsichtig und selbstgerecht ist

Wie die Bananenrepublik Deutschland unter SED Kanzlerin Merkel gedeiht!

Habe hier zu dem Zirkus LGBTQ gebloggt (in english)!

EM 2021: Die verlogenen Retter des Regenbogens (behind paywall) Die Deutschen nutzen die EM, um Ungarn als homophob vorzuführen. Das hilft nur ihrem Ego – und Viktor Orban.

Will password authentication finally become extinct?

The earlier, the better! Why is e.g. biometric based authentication still in its infancy? Or authentication via your smartphone etc. etc.?

The article below does not give the answer! It is mostly about startup companies in Israel receiving new, huge funding in this area. However, this may be the beginning of the end of password authentication in the near future! :-)

Israeli Tech Companies Are Getting Ready To Help You Throw Out Your Passwords

AfD: Dieses Haus ist nur noch ein potemkinisches Dorf!

Sehr empfehlenswert! Jedoch, die dynamische Anpassung der Löhne an die Inflation ist eine ziemliche dumme Idee der AfD, heizt nur die Inflation weiter an! Jeder Ökonom weiß das!

The Evolution of Human Physical Activity - A Human Genetic Mechanism for Endurance Running

Very recommendable! Amazing stuff!

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham Questions FBI Director On Biden's Crime Prevention Strategy

This FBI Director does not sound very convincing and he appears to be very nervous under questioning!

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham Asks Defense Secretary If Surge Of Border Crossings Is National Security Threat

The U.S. Secretary of Defense also seems to be quite a fool!

L.T.D.: Stranger

Enjoy! Another great song by Jeffrey Osborne!

I had nobody to care after me ... Last night I loved a stranger ... Is it right to love a stranger ... Tonight, there will be no stranger ... So much better than a fantasy ... Now you are back ... 

P.S. L.T.D. stands for Love, Togetherness, and Devotion, an American R & B and funk band of the 1970s

U.S. Senator John Kennedy: Imagine how people are going to feel when they can't find a cop

At least one U.S. Senator with common sense although he did not object to the new Juneteenth National Independence holiday! This of course was a serious lapse and failure of judgment by this U.S. Senator!

Greg Kelly: Trump impersonator on making America laugh again

Enjoy! The louder majority! So much enthusiasm for President Trump!

U.S. Senator John Kennedy Presses DoE Secretary Granholm: What If We Don't Get Cooperation With China And India On Climate Efforts?

Very recommendable! U.S. Senator John Kennedy is tough and smart! He exposed the DoE Secretary Jennifer Granholm to be an utter and clueless fool! Totally unfit for the job!

E.g. the Secretary does have the slightest clue what it would cost the U.S. to become carbon neutral in the near future!
Bravo! 

6 Key Things to Know About Arizona’s Election Audit

Recommendable!

Today is 6/23/2021 and the election integrity of the November 20th general election in most battleground states/counties still has not been verified by audit, better forensic audit!

6 Key Things to Know About Arizona’s Election Audit

The solar neutrino problem

Very recommendable! 

How do you know what's true? Rashomon effect

Recommendable! However, this effect also known as the blind men and the elephant is not necessary and sufficient to argue that truth is merely relativistic or that there is no objective truth!

Yes, eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable, but often sufficient truth can be distilled from their collected testimony.  

Axolotls snack on each other (but don't die)

Very recommendable! Amazing stuff! These animals are e.g. resistant to cancer and much more!

White House Won't Say Whether a 15-Week Unborn Baby Is "Human"

The press secretary Jen Psaki of the 46th President is really lousy! Just watch the first 15 seconds of this video! Such arrogance and ignorance! It is deeply appalling!

After we learnt that not women but "birthers" give birth to new human life!

Sha'Carri Richardson, now America's fastest woman wins Olympic Trials final

Amazing how this petite lady (only 1.55 meters) pulls ahead of her competitors! As if her very long finger nails give her the advantage (just kidding)! 

The lineup was all black female athletes! A sign of black supremacy! Why is nobody complaining about the obvious lack of diversity and inclusion! Strange! (Caution: Irony)

Notice that the fastest female athletes are about 1 second or more slower than the fastest male athletes in the 100m dash race!

When will the first transgender Usain Bolt compete in the 100m or 200m dash race? Transgender athletes need to compete separately against each other!

Who is Ibram X. Kendi?

Foremost, he is a horrible race baiter! He, also known as Ibram Henry Rogers, is a phony scholar at Boston University. 

When he talks in public almost every sentence contains the word racism/antiracism or its derivatives at least once (I may slightly exaggerate). To listen to him is quite boring and very predictable! He is like a one trick pony!

Five out of his six books published between 2012-2021 feature titles containing the word racism!

"Kendi was included in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020."

Ridiculous!

Ibram X. Kendi - Wikipedia

The goal of the 46th President of the United States

The demented and frail president is driven by a zeal to become as fast as possible one of the worst and most socialist presidents ever right up there with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Sic semper tyrannis! Give me liberty or give me death! A republic if you can keep it!

Tucker Carlson: Brace yourselves, climate lockdowns are coming

Recommendable, but horrible prospects!

Sic semper tyrannis! Give me liberty or give me death! A republic if you can keep it!

Roboterauto von VW kommt bis 2030: Computer als Fahrer

2030???? Wie bitte!!! Bis dahin ist die nicht schlafende Konkurrenz längst davon gefahren! Ich schätze mal wir haben die ersten realistischen Roboterautos in etwa 5 Jahren auf der Strasse!

Roboterauto von VW kommt bis 2030: Computer als Fahrer (paid access) Bis 2030 soll das erste Roboterauto von VW vom Band rollen. VW-Markenchef Ralf Brandstätter und Software-Chef Dirk Hilgenberg erklären im Interview, warum sie sicher sind, dass bald niemand mehr auf den Computer als Fahrer verzichten will.

Texas fast-food chain paying teenagers $50,000 salaries to manage restaurants amid labor shortage

That is why we love capitalism! It is very flexible without force and it creates unlimited opportunities and untold many entrepreneurs! Why the chief business of the American people is business (President Calvin Coolidge) serving other people! Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!

They say, they wear Ten-Gallon-Hats in Texas!

"A Texas fast-food chain is shelling out $50,000 salaries for teenagers and those in their early 20s to manage its restaurants as executives struggle to find qualified workers amid a nationwide labor shortage.

Garrett Reed, CEO of Layne’s Chicken Fingers, said a downturn in the labor market stymied his company’s growth and forced him to dish out large salaries for workers who would make about $12 hourly in entry-level roles after promoting them to managerial positions. ..."

Texas fast-food chain paying teenagers $50,000 salaries to manage restaurants amid labor shortage | Populist Press 2021 ©

National Geographic: The Big Topic: Where Planting Trees Is A Radical Act

National Geographic is a purveyor of the Global Warming Hoax and Climate Change religion! They use cheap propaganda and demagoguery!

"Last Thursday [June 17, 2021], as we were publishing our July cover package on the challenge of extreme heat amplified by climate change, the temperature in Phoenix hit 118°F—four degrees hotter than the previous record for the day. Records fell across the American West last week, as more than 40 million people endured temperatures above 100. According to the calendar, it was technically still spring. ..."

Daily records are almost irrelevant, if not useless! Summer starts on June 21 (Summer Solstice), OK! The last, Little Ice Age ended around 1850 AD! We are still coming out of this last ice age! Before that we had the Medieval Warm Period from about 950 to 1250 AD! Nobody knows how hot it was back then in the area of Phoenix, AZ. There are most likely no exact temperature records for that period. What about the urban Heat Island Effect (see my blog post here) that messes up historical temperature records?

By the way, this Spring 2021 in Phoenix was actually unusually cool! So was the Spring in the rest of the country. See e.g. June 2021 U.S. climate outlook: Wetter- and cooler-than-average start to summer for the Southeast and Gulf Coast

Where does National Geographic wants us to plant trees:

"That same fault line between rich and poor is visible in U.S. cities too, when it comes to the first defense against heat: Shade. Los Angeles ... is battling the reality that “poorer, Blacker, and browner parts of the city” typically have far, far fewer shade trees than whiter, more affluent ones."

Could it be that poorer white people also have less tree shade? Perhaps, Los Angeles is special in this respect too! Why don't we plant more trees in general to increase carbon capture?

National Geographic | Breaking News

No more 'bar' mitzvah: Synagogues changing ways to support LGBTQ youth

The circus of LGBTQ continues to infiltrate the Jewish community!

Yes, indeed think again about this propaganda and demagoguery! Well, if there is no LGBTQ youth perhaps it suggests you need to convert at least one youth to LGBTQ, right? (Caution: Irony)!

No more 'bar' mitzvah: Synagogues changing ways to support LGBTQ youth - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Keshet staff doing an LGBTQ sensitivity and inclusion training session in a New York synagogue

Pseudoscience: Why we need to simulate the entire U.S. health system

The U.S. healthcare is far too complex that it can be modeled with existing means unless the healthcare sector will be more socialized then it already is. The author of that opinion piece may suffer from megalomania!

Only totalitarians and central planners would even make such a stupid request! What a hubris of the experts! What a pretense of knowledge! Beware of the masters of the universe!

Opinion: Why we need to simulate the entire U.S. health system authored by "Gopal Sarma [has authored less than 15 papers and is cited only 239 times] is a physician-scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he leads strategy and operations for its Machine Learning for Health initiative."

Pseudoscience: Algorithms used in health care nationwide are rife with bias

This pseudoscience is rife with ideological bias and orthodoxy! It amounts to unnecessary propaganda and demagoguery! It is scaremongering for no good reason!

If AI algorithms and models work to the benefit of at least 80-90% of all patients to which this new technology is applied, then this new, major innovation in health care is doing a great job! Pseudoscientists usually omit this inconvenient fact!

It is well known, that medical datasets or most datasets used to train AI algorithms or models are deficient or incomplete in some respects. They are being constantly improved on! Most researchers strive to use the best datasets available to train their models. This has very little to with bias!

Only pseudoscientists have been busying themselves claiming that e.g. a lack of diversity is causing bias etc. 

"... Researchers [pseudoscientists] at the University of Chicago found that pervasive algorithmic bias is infecting countless daily decisions about how patients are treated by hospitals, insurers, and other businesses. Their report points to a gaping hole in oversight that is allowing deeply flawed products to seep into care with little or no vetting, in some cases perpetuating inequitable treatment for more than a decade before being discovered. ..."

From the playbook below:
" ... —success stories—that demonstrate how bias can be mitigated, transforming flawed algorithms into tools that fight injustice. ...
But before we ever touch the data, we need to articulate the ideal target for the algorithm. That ideal target embodies our value system: what do we want the algorithm to learn? ..."

"... All of these proxy variables are distorted, biased versions of the ideal target, and similar problems—and solutions—apply. ..." This is well known for several decades, but the benefits exceed and corrections make this much less a problem!

From the abstract of the research paper below: "The disproportionate burden of COVID-19 among communities of color, together with a necessary renewed attention to racial inequalities, have lent new urgency to concerns that algorithmic decision-making can lead to unintentional discrimination against members of historically marginalized groups. ..." Sounds strongly like ideological bias has crept in!

‘Nobody is catching it’: Algorithms used in health care nationwide are rife with bias

Algorithmic Bias Playbook

This is the first linked research paper in the playbook above published only as a preprint in the Social Science Research Network in August 2020:
Algorithmic Discrimination and Input Accountability under the Civil Rights Acts

British court rules that haredi Orthodox couple's 2-year-old daughter must be taken off life support

Faith versus the courts and the medical profession! When to end  a human life? Why would the parents not be able to move their child to a hospital in Jerusalem?

"Alta Fixler of Manchester is gravely ill due to natal complications and has been on life support since birth. On May 28, the High Court of London ruled that ending Alta’s life is in her best interest, as medical experts do not believe she has a chance of recovering or feeling pleasure ...

Her parents said that taking their daughter off life support would contradict their Jewish faith. Judaism commands the preservation of human life and generally forbids actions to end it ...

In the ruling, Justice Alistair MacDonald rejected a petition by the girl’s parents, who are haredi Orthodox, to have her moved to a hospital in Jerusalem.

More than 40,000 people have signed a petition urging British authorities not to stop life support. ..."

British court rules that haredi Orthodox couple's 2-year-old daughter must be taken off life support - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

US Should Close the Door to Ukrainian Membership in NATO! Why?

I think, the Ukraine is a wonderful example why NATO needs to be replaced by a very different collective, mutual defense organisation among the free countries of the world!

The argument that a conflict with Putin the Terrible would be more likely is phony! How much longer will this despot be in power? Will the next president of Russia be as awful as Putin the Terrible?

"Last week President Joe Biden attended the latest NATO summit but achieved nothing of note, other than reaffirming America’s promise to defend Europe even if the Europeans won’t do so themselves. However, he did reject the attempt by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to [join NATO]

Adding Ukraine as a defense dependent would be against America’s interest by making conflict with Russia more likely. ..."

US Should Close the Door to Ukrainian Membership in NATO | Cato Institute Through no fault of their own, some nations end up in bad neighborhoods.