Well, the whole country is shoveling today. The West Coast is shoveling mud, the Midwest is shoveling snow, the Northeast is shoveling slush, and you know what they're shoveling in Washington. Hint: It's not shinola. By the way, our first item is an entire rundown of how that offal gets shoveled. Pay attention.
The billionaire takeover of civil society
These organisations constantly cite each other’s work, recycle the same personnel and fund, ‘support’ and ‘partner with’ each other’s projects on multiple different levels. Moreover, perhaps the most startling thing for me in conducting this impromptu investigation was how many people I knew who were on the boards, steering committees or staff of these organisations. And I don’t mean know of. I mean, personally, know. Because that’s how far-reaching and yet incestuous this sector is. It’s virtually impossible to be politically active without running into them, yet they stick together like a highly-funded clan.
I hate to break it to you, but deplatforming conservatives from any meaningful place online was the last step, not the first. Act accordingly.
A woman did her regular aerobics class in a public park, blissfully unaware that she was filming a military coup in the background.
The shirtless fellow with the Flintstones lodge helmet presiding over our impromptu congress has nothing on this woman
SpaceX to Launch Inspiration4 Mission to Orbit
The Inspiration4 crew will receive commercial astronaut training by SpaceX on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft, orbital mechanics, operating in microgravity, zero gravity, and other forms of stress testing. They will go through emergency preparedness training, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises, as well as partial and full mission simulations.
It's impolitic to say so, but America's trips to the moon were just stunts. Yeah, yeah, we got Tang and Velcro, and showed up the Soviets, but the moon is just a really boring Disneyland with a very expensive ticket. Well, pretty soon, you can buy tickets, too.
Google LLC, US Department of Labor settlement resolves alleged pay, hiring discrimination at California, Washington State locations
During a routine compliance evaluation, the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs identified pay disparities affecting female employees in software engineering positions at its facilities in Mountain View, and in Seattle and Kirkland, Washington. The agency also identified hiring rate differences that disadvantaged female and Asian applicants for software engineering positions at Google’s locations in San Francisco and Sunnyvale, and in Kirkland.
Recent attempts to unionize at Google are superfluous. Apparently everybody's got to be paid the same already. Or else.
Ford, Google form 'strategic partnership' on cloud services, Android operating system
Ford Motor Co. and Google on Monday said they have formed a six-year "strategic partnership" under which the automaker will introduce the Android operating system into millions of vehicles and use Google technology for everything from in-vehicle connected services to manufacturing processes.
Ford and Google Cloud? I don't know why, but I'm reminded that two drunks often lean on each other to keep upright. Have fun with your new Woke dashboard.
Reconstructing the Menu of a Pub in Ancient Pompeii
To recreate a meal that comes close to what may have been served here, one can begin by looking at the archaeological remains found inside. This includes the imagery in the frescoes painted on the service counter and the contents of the amphorae and the dolia. One dolium contained the bones of duck, swine, goat, and fish, as well as shells from land snails. The duck bones in particular correspond to the fresco of two mallards painted on the front of the counter, perhaps as a pictorial menu for the illiterate majority at the time.
Pretty interesting, but if you're prone to telling the truth, the counter of the excavated food joint in Pompeii looks exactly like a Subway sandwich shop.
Why this famed Anglo-Saxon ship burial was likely the last of its kind
The warrior interred with the ship is thought to have been an Anglo-Saxon king, perhaps Rædwald of East Anglia, who ruled a kingdom that included Suffolk between about 599 and 624. Dates on coins buried at the site coincide with his reign, and the quality and value of the grave goods suggest a person of extreme influence.
Two women meet at the mall.
-Hello Gladys, it's nice to see you. I was sorry to hear that your husband passed away.
-Yes, he was a good man, always looking out for me, even in death.
-Really? What do you mean?
-On his death bed, he told me not to spend more than $10,000 on the stone.
The widow then holds out her hand with a giant diamond ring on it.
-How did I do?
U.S. Cuts $231 Million Deal To Provide 15-Minute COVID-19 At-Home Tests
In a press release, the company said its contract, with the U.S. Defense Department, will help fund construction of Ellume's first manufacturing plant in the U.S. Once completed, it will produce more than 500,000 tests per day, according to the company. The test uses a relatively short nasal swab to collect a sample. The sample is put into a digital analyzer linked to a smartphone app. In December, the company told NPR that the test would be available for about $30.
It'll be fun to sneeze on your phone instead of just cursing at it.
Naked shorting: The curious incident of the shares that didn't exist
Simpson is CEO of OTC bulletin board company Zann Corp, a provider of advanced technology products for niche markets, and has experienced an inexplicable excess shares situation over the past two-and-a-half years. Since November 2003, Zann's stock price has plummeted over 98%. This, Simpson claims, makes no sense since his company has performed relatively well. The reason for this extreme underperformance, Simpson believes, is that his company has been subject to severe naked short selling – where stocks are short sold without having been borrowed before the time of settlement, if at all.
Those crazy kids at Wall Street Bets have stumbled onto a real nest of snakes. They'll eventually be broken on the Wall Street wheel, of course, and blame the wrong people for their troubles, and the problem won't get fixed, but think of the demagoguery and additional taxes we can look forward to from all this!
Spotify wants to suggest songs based on your emotions
The patent, which was filed in 2018 and granted on 12 January, would allow the streaming giant to "make observations" about a user's environment and emotions using speech recognition technology. Spotify could then play music reflecting their mood or even their social setting - "e.g. alone, small group, party," according to the patent.
Why does Spotify keep playing Rage Against the Machine songs over and over? I went as far as saying I liked disco and Wayne Newton, but it saw right through that ruse.
You Forgot The Short Pants
How to write an AC/DC song. Yeah, it’s glorious, Yeah, it’s right on the money.
And Spotify will play it over and over and over and over...
