The unimportant news thread

[Todd]

Directly from the CFPB: CFPB Orders Wells Fargo to Pay $3.7 Billion for Widespread Mismanagement of Auto Loans, Mortgages, and Deposit Accounts

I have attached the text of the news alert email from the fabled The New York Times, the newspaper of record, where they got the amount wrong.  Maybe editors are all on vacation this week.  Fortunately, the other news sources I rely on got it right in their email blasts.

[Karl Henning]

The Naysayers are Wrong. Fusion Will Change the World.

[drogulus]

The Naysayers are Wrong. Fusion Will Change the World.

    For a fraction of a second you get more energy out than energy in.

"The fusion breakthrough shows that America still leads the world in innovation, and that what the government does best is basic research, not picking winners and losers."


    The government is choosing to win whether that involves chosen winners or not. Trust the WSJ to slather on the crankery at every opportunity.

The Journal's editorial was accompanied by a photo of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at the press conference. Somehow, I suspect that if this success had been achieved while Donald Trump was president and Rick Perry was secretary of energy, the Journal would have chastised all the naysayers who claimed that no good could come from his presidency and hailed the potential benefits to the globe, which include solving climate change, obliterating the power of fossil fuel dictatorships like Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Venezuela, permitting desalination of sea water wherever fresh water is scarce around the globe (including southern California and other US locations), vertical farming, reducing poverty, and much more. Instead, they are minimizing the accomplishment under the title "Hold the Nuclear Fusion Hype."

    The tit-for tat editorializing is well done here, but I don't give much of a shit about it. I just want the eggs.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Obama's choice, music, books and movies in 2022.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/23/politics/barack-obama-favorite-books-movies-2022/index.html

[geralmar]

Figure of Trump in Texas wax museum removed because visitors kept punching it in the face.

https://www.thewrap.com/trump-wax-figure-san-antonio-remove-punch/

[Spotted Horses]

The Naysayers are Wrong. Fusion Will Change the World.

The Naysayers are right.

I remember a conversation with a leading theoretical physicist working on fusion. I asked it if he thought it would ever be a practical power source. His response, "Of course not." I asked him why he works on it? He replied, "it's such an interesting problem," followed by a maniacal giggle. Now he's the head scientist on one of the big fusion projects, so I shouldn't name him.

[Todd]

Figure of Trump in Texas wax museum removed because visitors kept punching it in the face.

TDS is real.

[Todd]

Bill Cosby Plans to Tour in 2023

[SimonNZ]

TDS is real.

Only clinical psychologists and psychiatrists can offer actual mental health diagnoses.

The article also says that the Obama figure is repeatedly vandalized.

In your psych-qualified opinion would this be evidence of ODS?

[Todd]

Apparently, the very, very, very prestigious American (?) university Stanford published a lengthy list of naughty words and phrases to be phased out in the IT department as part of its Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative (EHLI).  Some examples are listed below.

The full list link: https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/stanfordlanguage.pdf

The Stanford folks (using their preferred term!) felt compelled to respond to the criticism they received:

Stanford response: https://itcommunity.stanford.edu/news/update-elimination-harmful-language-initiative-stanfords-it-community


Examples:
Bad: American
Good: US Citizen

Bad: Blind study
Good: Masked study

Bad: Walk-in
Good: Drop-in

Bad: Senile
Good: Person suffering from senility

Bad: Seminal
Good: Groundbreaking

Bad: Rule of thumb
Good: Standard rule

Bad: African-American
Good: Black

Bad: tarball
Good: tar archive


Academicians are smart.

[Florestan]

They forgot to include a few others.

Bad: Manchester
Good: Personchester

Bad: The Isle of Man
Good: The Isle of Person

Bad: Man-of-war
Good: Person-of-war

Anyway, my favorite is Philippine Islands.

[Karl Henning]

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Actually important news. One meal, rather than 3 meals, a day could be better for your well-being.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220412-should-we-be-eating-three-meals-a-day

[Todd]

Intermittent fasting is an old idea, and one with its own drawbacks.

[greg]

The article also says that the Obama figure is repeatedly vandalized.

In your psych-qualified opinion would this be evidence of ODS?

I'm not Todd, but IMO, yes. People are crazy.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

CNN: After a lifetime believing I was a basic White American, I learned that was only half true.


https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/dna-ancestry-trail-to-find-birth-family-morocco/index.html

[Karl Henning]

CNN: After a lifetime believing I was a basic White American, I learned that was only half true.


https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/dna-ancestry-trail-to-find-birth-family-morocco/index.html

You're still you, which is what really matters.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

You're still you, which is what really matters.

That's right!
The news reminded me of the movie below. The white protagonist pretends to be black to get a scholarship for African Americans.
Suddenly, the people who used to be friendly to him treats him totally different, the easy thing to do is not easy any more, etc.

[Todd]

Authorization of Ulysses S. Grant's posthumous promotion to General of the Armies of the United States becomes law

And then there were three.

[Karl Henning]

What  fun! Ozawa on What's My Line?