jwz: Ignaz Semmelweis:

The doctor who discovered that hand-washing saved lives, especially in obstetrics care, was ridiculed and discredited, and it looks 30 years from that discovery before it was really accepted as maybe a good idea.

jwz: Trump Betrayed by His Diet Coke Valet:

When FBI agents first interviewed Nauta, he denied any role in moving boxes or sensitive documents, the people familiar with the situation said in interviews before Nauta's name became public. But as investigators gathered more evidence, they questioned him a second time and he told a starkly different story -- that Trump instructed him to move the boxes, these people said.

Chef kiss

In Contra Chrome, Leah carefully charts this road and its terrain in a funny and easily accessible way. In webcomic form, she documents how over the last decade, Google’s browser has become a threat to user privacy and the democratic process itself.

With her meticulous rearrangement of Scott McCloud‘s Google-commissioned Chrome comic from 2008, she delivers what she calls „a much-needed update“. Laying bare the inner workings of the controversial browser, she creates the ultimate guide to one of the world‘s most widely used surveillance tools:

Contra Chrome – a webcomic – How Google’s browser became a threat to privacy and democracy

Exploring the military industrial complex of the Ultimate post-9/11 Avengers comic | Boing Boing:

I've been really enjoying the new season of Collective Action Comics, a new-ish podcast that closely examines superhero comics from a radical leftist perspective. While the first season looked at DC Comics' Justice League International storyline from the late 80s, Season 2 explores a comic book that's much closer to my own heart: The Ultimates, Marvel's re-imagined version of the Avengers from the turn of the millennium. Written by Mark Millar with art by Bryan Hitch, the smash-hit Ultimates would go on to serve as a major blueprint for the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of the Avengers — all the way down to the introduction of a new version of Nick Fury specifically drawn to look like Samuel L. Jackson.

It’s a shame this podcast is Sticher hosted - I do my best to avoid things there as opposed to real podcasts. It sounds like it would be fascinating to listen through.

I’ll probably update this post over time as I do more work with both…

I’ve loved MarsEdit for years as the best blog editor, through generational shifts in what blogging meant and how it fit into the landscape. It is, however, a Mac only tool, which in itself isn’t bad but it doesn’t include iPad or iPhone… And it doesn’t expose it’s moving parts to be extended (I’d love to know how to make emacs the external editor for marsedit for example.)

org2blog as an extension of orgmode makes it unique, as it leverages a format and style I adore, and uses barely marked up plaintext… So I’ll be seeing if I can make Shortcuts which can take a subtree or orgmode file and post to Wordpress out of band from emacs itself.

Most folks I know have suffered my evangalism for org-mode and emacs… So it should be no surprise that I’m excited to try a blogging workflow that puts together my tools of choice with Wordpress.

We’ll see how it all goes!

Trans Eighth Grader Was ‘Shaking and Distressed’ As Texas Agency Pulled Him Out of Class for Investigation:

If you think the 2nd amendment was intended as a political tool, Greg Abbott is the kind of tyrant it would have been intended for.

Earlier this year, when Texas Governor Greg Abbott directed the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate instances of “child abuse” in families who’ve provided gender-affirming care for their trans children, people were rightly, extremely alarmed. Not only is gender-affirming care not child abuse, the lack of it is actually associated with risks of depression and suicide in trans children and teens. LGBTQ advocacy groups, public health experts, and health associations feared this bigoted and authoritarian directive would harm trans youth. They were right.

via Boing Boing

Lisa Loab - Penny Arcade:

Gabe has been more careful than anyone I know, he's still retained many talismanic practices I have softened on, at least in my own neighborhood - but one of the ways your world is trash is that kids at school will bully you if you wear a mask until you take it off and get COVID. And then your dad takes care of you, and he gets it. At home! At fucking home. In the end, he got it at home.

This is BS. People are still dying from other people being deliberate assholes… May Gabe at PA recover swiftly, and may the POS people who minimize the impact and threaten the rest of us all fuck off and die in a fire.

The Steve Jobs Archive:

From: Steve Jobs, sjobs@apple.com

To: Steve Jobs, sjobs@apple.com

Date: Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 11:08PM

I grow little of the food I eat, and of the little I do grow I did not breed or perfect the seeds.

I do not make any of my own clothing.

I speak a language I did not invent or refine.

I did not discover the mathematics I use.

I am protected by freedoms and laws I did not conceive of or legislate, and do not enforce or adjudicate.

I am moved by music I did not create myself.

When I needed medical attention, I was helpless to help myself survive.

I did not invent the transistor, the microprocessor, object oriented programming, or most of the technology I work with.

I love and admire my species, living and dead, and am totally dependent on them for my life and well being.

Sent from my iPad

Steve Jobs is one of my heroes… Not a saint by any means, but someone who really, truly, worked to make it easier for everyone to create and inspire others. I look forward to exploring the archives more.

Is COVID-19 winding down? Scientists say no. | MPR News:

At any given point, if we actually were vaccinated, wore masks, and stayed the fuck home, we could have actually ended it. We still could.

The U.S. diet is deadly. Here are 7 ideas to get Americans eating healthier | MPR News:

The data are stark: the typical American diet is shortening the lives of many Americans. Diet-related deaths outrank deaths from smoking, and about half of U.S. deaths from heart disease – nearly 900 deaths a day – are linked to poor diet. The pandemic highlighted the problem, with much worse outcomes for people with obesity and other diet-related diseases.

“We’re really in a nutrition crisis in this country.” says Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University

jwz: CDC’s updated guidelines for living with the zombie apocalypse:

Great news! The zombie war is over! You can come out of your bunkers now!

Did we win? No. We did something even better than winning: We suddenly became aware of the passage of time! Wars can end lots of ways – by winning, by surrendering, by a negotiated settlement, by simply deciding in our minds that they are over with or without consulting the facts on the ground.

Why are there new guidelines if nothing has changed?

Look, it is hard, and everyone’s trying! That’s the takeaway here! We’ve all learned and grown, and it’s time to move on!

But is the zombie war over?

Well, the fighting-zombies phase of the zombie war is over!

The way you phrased that made it sounds like the zombies are not … gone.

Yes, technically, in the most literal sense, the zombies are still among us, but much as we would like to be living in a totally zombie-free world, that was never the goal, except for a brief time when we were way too optimistic about what people were capable of.

Look, some people decided that the effort of eradicating the zombies wasn’t worth the inconvenience. Imagine having to bring a heavy, metal bat with you every time you go out! Imagine living like that! Well, because some people couldn’t do that for a limited time, now other people will have the opportunity to do that forever.

Long Covid is affecting millions of Americans and the consequences are devastating | Boing Boing:

If anyone wonders why I keep masking and avoiding indoor gatherings, it's not because I think I'm going to die of COVID. It's because of long COVID, and because I don't want to be complicit in spreading COVID around to anyone else.

For me, it’s all about not killing anyone I care about, given that at least one or two of the VERY few people I do interact with are immunocompromosed or have co-morbidities which would make an infection more dangerous…

In-app browsers that act as keyloggers – Six Colors:

Krause’s tool lets anyone investigate what might be leaking through in-app browsers. Apps that use Apple’s SafariViewController are all pretty safe, but apps like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and Facebook are using their own in-app browsers that modify pages with JavaScript.

TikTok, in particular, is monitoring all keyboard inputs and taps. “From a technical perspective, this is the equivalent of installing a keylogger on third party websites,” Krause writes.

Any program that forces me to use the in-app browser gets deleted by me.

via Six Colors

What’s new in tabletop gaming | Boing Boing:

Dungeons & Dragons: Journeys Through The Radiant Citadel (Wizards of the Coast, $30)

If there’s one compelling reason to buy this book it’s because of the racist reactions it has inflamed. It was written by people of color (and marketed as such). And it contains cultures and ideas not commonly found in Western fantasy literature and games like D&D. So, of course, that’s enraged snowflakey conservative players. I, for one, embrace our inclusive gaming future and especially appreciate the introduction of different cultures and mythologies to the game. The adventures in this anthology draw from Asian, African, Native American, Arab, Hindu influences. But, all great intentions aside, buying the book wouldn’t be more than a vote for greater inclusiveness if the content wasn’t good. It is. It all hangs around the Radiant Citadel, a hub-world on the ethereal plane that’s a crossroads and melting pot for diverse cultures from throughout the multiverse. It acts as a jumping off point for the other adventures in the book. There are 13 adventures in all, for levels 1-14, that are designed to be dropped into any adventure, or as a campaign setting. “From glittering night markets to undersea cities, from curse-afflicted villages to angel-ruled city-states—each adventure in this anthology takes inspiration from the writer’s personal connection to real-world mythologies and cultures, creating a rich tapestry of never-before-seen lands and stories for you to explore.” I haven’t played any of it, but reading through the handsome book, it’s definitely an excellent anthology and collection of usable content worthy of your support. And, for every copy sold, a Proud Boy gamer fails all of his saving throws.

Good enough reason for me!

Really - I haven’t delved into D&D at all during it’s recent revival, or any tabletop gaming really given the whole

GLOBAL PANDEMIC

but Wizards seems to be holding a cultural stride that I can’t help but love.

CDC drops quarantine, distancing recommendations for COVID | AP News:

This reads to me like an admission of defeat - Like as a culture we’ve accepted a certain level of death and long-term repercussions because people couldn’t be bothered to follow guidelines when we still had a chance of controlling things.

What this means for me, and those around me, is that we have to remain hyper-vigilant pretty much forever because we can’t trust that anyone else will do even the barest preventative measures.

Reference CDC page: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volu…

New Google site begs Apple for mercy in messaging war | Ars Technica:

Google's version of RCS—the one promoted on the website with Google-exclusive features like optional encryption—is definitely proprietary, by the way. If this is supposed to be a standard, there's no way for a third-party to use Google's RCS APIs right now. Some messaging apps, like Beeper, have asked Google about integrating RCS and were told there's no public RCS API and no plans to build one. Google has an RCS API already, but only Samsung is allowed to use it because Samsung signed some kind of partnership deal.

If you want to implement RCS, you’ll need to run the messages through some kind of service, and who provides that server? It will probably be Google. Google bought Jibe, the leading RCS server provider, in 2015. Today it has a whole sales pitch about how Google Jibe can “help carriers quickly scale RCS services, iterate in short cycles, and benefit from improvements immediately.” So the pitch for Apple to adopt RCS isn’t just this public-good nonsense about making texts with Android users better; it’s also about running Apple’s messages through Google servers. Google profits in both server fees and data acquisition.

Finally, RCS as a messaging platform just isn't that good. The end result of a 2008 standard with a bunch of extra features slapped onto it is still sub-par compared to platforms like iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram. Other than Google being desperate for one of the few messaging solutions it hasn't exhausted with mismanagement, there's no clear argument for why RCS is worth this effort. In the dreamworld utopia where Apple wants to work with Google and Samsung on a message standard, those three companies working together could do much better than a neglected carrier messaging standard.

Talented Couple Performs a Gracefully Alluring Tango Set to the Eminem Song ‘Lose Yourself’:

Dancers Sara Grdan and Ivan Terrazas of Feral Tango performed an incredibly alluring tango set to the unlikely soundtrack of the classic Eminem song “Lose Yourself”. The pair, who are married, combined their choreographic skill with a certain grace and seductiveness that sent the crowd

Dancers Sara Grdan and Ivan Terrazas of Feral Tango performed an incredibly alluring tango set to the unlikely soundtrack of the classic Eminem song “Lose Yourself”. The pair, who are married, combined their choreographic skill with a certain grace and seductiveness that sent the crowd wild at the 2016 Belgrade Tango Encuentro in Serbia.

Nova Open Infuriates Hobbyists With Their Policies:

tl;dr - Nova Open cares about it’s attendees more than the venue, and some people are really angry about it.

youtube.com/watch

This is gold…

Alex Jones may finally be the downfall of his boy band of traitors.

Monkeypox explained: How to protect yourself and what to watch out for | MPR News:

What exactly is monkeypox? Besides the reference to wildlife, the only similarity between monkeypox and chickenpox is that they're a virus. Instead, monkeypox is most similar to smallpox, which was eradicated through global vaccination efforts in 1980.

The two viruses are from the orthopoxvirus family. Monkeypox is not as transmissible or fatal as smallpox. However, some researchers worry that monkeypox could mutate and become a greater threat to humans.

One study published in 2008 warned that if monkeypox were to be introduced to an unvaccinated population, the virus could capitalize on the situation and become an epidemic.

Learn you some for great win… Though it’s not like we as a nation can be bothered to moderate ourselves if it might be an inconvenience.

Herd immunity was never going to end the covid pandemic:

In the early days of covid’s global march, when vaccines were still said to be well over a year away and social distancing was the only way to slow transmission, the country needed a goal, a way to conceptualize the pandemic’s end. Herd immunity became that finish line, as experts including Anthony Fauci, now President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, communicated a common refrain: Once enough people became immune — either via (catastrophic) mass infection or widespread vaccination — the virus would be starved of new hosts, its rampant spread would stop and normal life would resume.

The details of when and how this seemingly magical threshold would be crossed were fuzzy. Some scientists who study viruses thought only 20-some percent of the population needed to be immune; others estimated it’d be closer to 90. A minority of experts wanted to reach herd immunity as quickly as possible by letting the virus rip through the population rather than wait for vaccines to become available. But no matter the number or method, the concept of herd immunity represented a framework through which public officials and the media (including me) could understand what it would take for the threat to end.

It’s time to update that framework. For this virus, herd immunity was probably never a realistic end goal, said Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard University. “Frankly, I wish it had not entered the public consciousness in the way that it has,” he said. “It’s a lot more complicated than people make it out to be.”

The Apple Store Time Machine:

It’s where you bought your first iPod. It’s where you camped at 5 a.m. It’s where the iPhone came to life. It’s where the magic of technology made your world glow a bit brighter, if only for a moment.

There is magic involved here, time travel… None of “my” stores are here, but they’re close enough to feel like home in a way I couldn’t have imagined.

via Daring Fireball

jwz: There Is No Constitutional Right to Eat Dinner:

Antonin Scalia relied upon this time period in his majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, as did Justice Samuel Alito in his majority opinion in Dobbs. There is surely no better way to decide the scope of rights enjoyed by Americans living in 2022 than by surveying the works of legal thinkers from a different country, most of whom died well before the first shot was fired at Lexington and Concord.

In medieval England, Parliament occasionally passed what are known as “sumptuary laws” to regulate private consumption of goods and services. […] “But, as to excess in diet, there still remains one ancient statute unrepealed, which ordains that no man shall be served at dinner or supper, with more than two courses; except upon some great holy days there specified, in which he may be served with three,” he wrote. Kavanaugh himself conceded that the supposed right to dinner did not extend to every course by allegedly skipping out on dessert.

Not linking to the original New Republic article - It’s read-count paywalled.

“I Love Ginni,” the classic sitcom about the wacky Thomas family | Boing Boing:

Sigh. The worst part of the current judges that I have to tag jokes abouty them as politics. If you don’t understand why that’s a problem, you’re part of the problem.