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Clash of intersectionality

Tue, 12 May 2026 04:03:46 +0000

SEATTLE -- A student at the University of Washington in Seattle was found stabbed to death in a campus housing building, Seattle police said, and now authorities are searching for the killer.

The victim -- a 19-year-old transgender woman -- was found in a laundry room at about 10:10 p.m. Sunday, according to Seattle police.

"The circumstances leading up to the murder are under investigation," police said in a statement on Monday.

Police said "officers are actively searching for the suspect" and they described him as a "black male with a beard, 5'6-8" tall, wearing a vest with button up shirt, and blue jeans." The university added the suspect is believed to be between the ages of 25 and 30 with a slim build and black hair.
...
- https://abc7news.com/post/seattle-homici.../19082407/

Why only rich kids and family connected ones can make it in today's music industry

Mon, 11 May 2026 19:21:29 +0000

Elite, privileged backgrounds and lack of authentic personal hardship stories supposedly thus compensated for by lots of social justice posturing and allegorical sermons hinting that "this is what makes me morally superior to you narrow-minded proles in flyover country."
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VIDEO EXCERPT: If you look back historically, bands like The Beatles, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, The Who, The Kinks, Nirvana, Allison Chains, Sound Garden, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, The White Stripes... These are all working class bands that come from very humble beginnings and can tell stories based on their upbringing. Something that rich people frankly can't do.

Rick Beato .... https://youtu.be/sjJrR1OdAIg

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/sjJrR1OdAIg

DIY: The New York Times exposed for anti-white, anti-male discrimination?

Mon, 11 May 2026 19:17:08 +0000

THE HILL
https://youtu.be/HPsBg9O4x3Q

VIDEO EXCERPT: If the races of the involved parties were reversed, I think it would probably strike many people as a slam dunk. Now, the employee, a white male and an editor at the Times, had applied for a more senior position as a deputy real estate editor. He did not get the job despite having extensive relevant experience, including with real estate news. That's according to the lawsuit.

Now, this is not just positive on its own, of course. However, the lawsuit also claims he did not even make it to the final round of interviews. He lost out to the following people.

Quote, "A white female, a Black male, an Asian female, and a multi-racial female." The candidate who did receive the position was the multi-racial female. She did not meet the stated qualifications for the position since she did not actually have experience in real estate journalism. Nevertheless, the hiring manager sent an email to herself signaling an intent to choose that person before even interviewing her.

That's according to the lawsuit. Now, these facts become more concerning in light of the time-stated desire to increase the number of minority and female employees in leadership positions. The lawsuit cites various diversity, equity, and inclusion, that's DEI, plans, as well as the Times 2021 proposal, a call to action, which lamented that "people of color, and particularly women of color, remain notably underrepresented in its leadership."

The proposal explicitly endorsed the idea of gradually replacing existing leadership with women of color to the specific exclusion of white and unspecified ethnicities. Leaders at the Times would be judged "by how well they create pathways for a diverse group of deputies to succeed them according to the proposal".

So basically the Times published a manifesto announcing that hiring managers would face pressure to promote underrepresented minorities. The paper took the position that senior leadership would be evaluated on the basis of their success at hiring Black, Latino, and female applicants.

So then when it came time to hire a deputy real estate editor, the Times did not really consider the white male applicant despite the fact he possessed "considerable experience with real estate news, multiple news platforms, and innovative content". The hiring manager only considered diverse candidates and selected the maximally diverse candidate despite questionable qualifications. Again, that's the contention of the EEOC and the Times denies it...

The New York Times exposed for anti-white, anti-male discrimination? ... https://youtu.be/HPsBg9O4x3Q

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/HPsBg9O4x3Q

Brain-controlled hearing system proves itself in first human studies

Mon, 11 May 2026 17:03:06 +0000

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1127026

INTRO: Scientists at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute have the first direct evidence from human studies that brain-controlled hearing technology can help people single out a voice in a crowd. These early findings suggest that researchers may one day develop a hearing augmentation device that can, among other feats, overcome the problems that conventional hearing aids have with noisy surroundings.

Their research was published online today in Nature Neuroscience.

“We have developed a system that acts as a neural extension of the user, leveraging the brain’s natural ability to filter through all the sounds in a complex environment to dynamically isolate the specific conversation they wish to hear,” said senior author Nima Mesgarani, PhD, a principal investigator at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute and an associate professor of electrical engineering at Columbia’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.

“This science empowers us to think beyond traditional hearing aids, which simply amplify sound, toward a future where technology can restore the sophisticated, selective hearing of the human brain," Dr. Mesgarani added... (MORE - no ads)

On the new upcoming Michael Jackson film

Mon, 11 May 2026 17:01:24 +0000

Whoever is excited about this new Michael Jackson movie coming out, let me just suggest that you please watch this documentary first. Sadly, everything we feared might be going on with Michael and all those boys on his ranch was absolutely true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDIGpVm-5S0

Consciousness: Philosophers & neuroscientists defend physicalism

Mon, 11 May 2026 16:48:58 +0000

MIND IS MATTER
https://youtu.be/QYAdtfRFI3M

INTRO: In this video, leading philosophers and neuroscientists defend the view that the mind purely physical. Starring some of the very experts who anti physicist quote such as Bob Kirk (Zombie argument) and Frank Jackson (Marys room argument) who have now turned to physicalism, as well as the most cited neuroscientists in the world, Karl Friston and other leading scholars such as Ned Block, David Papineau, Richard Brown, Ken Williford, Anil Seth and Marc Solms, we examine the strongest case for physicalism-the view that everything about the mind can ultimately be explained in terms of the physical brain.

We take on some of the most famous anti-physicalist arguments, including: The Hard Problem of Consciousness, Knowledge arguments (e.g., Mary’s Room), Philosophical zombies Dualist intuitions about the self and panpsychism.

Do these arguments really show that consciousness is non-physical-or do they rely on misconceptions about how the brain works? This video breaks down complex ideas into clear, rigorous explanations while challenging some of the most popular objections to physicalism...

https://youtu.be/QYAdtfRFI3M

What’s the oldest river in the world? It’s so old It passed through Pangea

Mon, 11 May 2026 14:21:43 +0000

https://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/...gh-pangea/

EXCERPTS: Rivers are poor archivists of their own past.

They don’t sit still like fossils, or record a single birthdate like volcanic rock. Instead, they wander across floodplains, cut into rock and often move around or even abandon their channels. A river can spend millions of years destroying the very evidence that would prove how long it’s been there.

That makes the question of the world’s oldest river surprisingly difficult. When geologists ask which river is the oldest on Earth, they’re not looking for one ancient thread of water has flowed unchanged since deep time. Rather, they’re looking for local persistence: a drainage corridor that has survived mountain-building, climate upheaval and continental rearrangement while continuing to carry water across the same broad landscape.

It really is tough work.

But geologists are hard workers, and have mapped several candidates. By that standard, the Finke River of central Australia, known to Indigenous people as Larapinta, has become the leading candidate, believed to be a whopping 400 million years old. This is over 150 million years before the dinosaurs appeared. But it’s not the only candidate.

[...] Of course, not every bend of the modern Finke is hundreds of millions of years old. Rivers wander, splice together new reaches and abandon old ones. But it suggests that a drainage system in the same broad corridor has persisted since deep Paleozoic time.

[...] The Finke’s deepest claim to age is that its history may run through the age of Pangaea itself. If parts of its drainage system began 300 million to 400 million years ago, then the river’s ancestors were already at work as the world’s landmasses were gathering into a single supercontinent, long before Australia became the isolated continent it is today, and even before the supercontinent Gondwana (whom we’ll meet in a bit) came to be... (MORE - missing details)

A new explanation for 'Snowball Earth'

Mon, 11 May 2026 14:14:42 +0000

https://seas.harvard.edu/news/new-explan...ball-earth

PRESS RELEASE: A new study by Earth scientists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) offers an explanation for one of Earth’s great climate puzzles: how the Sturtian glaciation, an ancient ice age when the planet was nearly entirely frozen, could have lasted 56 million years – far longer than standard climate models have predicted. This lengthy freeze took place during Earth’s Cryogenian period, roughly 717 to 660 million years ago, predating dinosaurs and complex plant life.

The research is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and led by graduate student Charlotte Minsky, who is advised by co-author Robin Wordsworth, the Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Co-authors are David T. Johnston and Andrew H. Knoll.

Using a coupled model of the ancient climate and the global carbon cycle, the researchers make the case that Earth may not have been locked in a single, unbroken “Snowball Earth” state, or period when the entire planet was frozen. Instead, they find that the planet likely oscillated between fully ice-covered “snowball” conditions and ice-free “hothouse” intervals throughout the Sturtian period.

The team’s simulations suggest that intense weathering of basalt in the Franklin Large Igneous Province, a vast volcanic region located in northern Canada and believed to have erupted just before the onset of the Sturtian glaciation, drew down atmospheric carbon dioxide enough to trigger multiple global glaciations.

As volcanoes and other processes slowly rebuilt atmospheric carbon dioxide, the climate warmed, the ice retreated, and large areas of fresh basalt were again exposed to the atmosphere. Renewed breakdown from weathering then pulled carbon dioxide back down, pushing the climate into another Snowball phase. This repeating cycle of carbon dioxide-driven freezing and thawing, the authors argue, could naturally sustain glacial–interglacial swings over tens of millions of years.

The mechanisms revealed by the Harvard study resolve several longstanding paradoxes, most notably the previously inexplicable length of the Sturtian when compared with physical climate models. The study also matches observed sedimentary patterns from that time period and explains how atmospheric oxygen levels could have remained stable despite extreme climate upheavals.

Repeated returns to warmer, ice-free conditions may have helped prevent a complete collapse of atmospheric oxygen, the study further suggests. “This could help explain how aerobic life persisted through such an extreme interval,” Minsky said.

Learn more: "Repeated Snowball-hothouse cycles within the Neoproterozoic Sturtian glaciation."

The biggest story in climate science in decades has been mostly ignored

Mon, 11 May 2026 14:07:22 +0000

https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/med...-rcp85-rip

EXCERPT: The most substantive mainstream coverage came from the Netherlands — perhaps fittingly, since Detlef van Vuuren, lead author of the ScenarioMIP paper that announced the new scenarios and a fixture across generations of climate scenarios, works at Utrecht University and the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

De Volkskrant, one of the country’s largest outlets, ran the story on its front page on May 4 under the headline: UN Climate Panel Drops Doomsday Scenario. The story notes that a few years ago De Volkskrant did a self-audit of its own climate coverage and identified 54 articles it had published on RCP8.5 studies.

Science journalist Maarten Keulemans, who wrote that story, posted on X: “This is so huge. Mind-blowing. Crazy. The IPCC admits what’s been circulating for a while: the highest doomsday scenario, 8.5, no longer matches reality. ALMOST EVERYTHING YOU READ ABOUT THE CLIMATE FUTURE IS WRONG.”

Van Vuuren was quoted in De Volkskrant and his comments were notable. The consequences of 3.5°C warming are “vervelend genoeg,” bad enough already.

Van Vuuren characterized the new high-end warming in 2100 as 3.5C, which is considerably higher than the ~3C that I estimated from the available data that the ScenarioMIP posted online and using the same climate emulator. Interestingly, Van Vuuren’s framing — centered on the high scenario, rather than the medium “current policy” scenario — misuses the new high end scenario in a manner that the paper he led said to avoid: by using it as a projective reference scenario, rather than an exploratory “what if?” exercise. I am sure we will be seeing more of this sort of misuse of HIGH. Everyone loves the most extreme scenario available.

Van Vuuren attributes the need to retire the upper end scenarios to changes in the real world rather than basic flaws in the scenarios. As THB readers well know, this is just wrong. The high end scenarios were always off target, because they were based on flawed assumptions of a world that was going to dramatically expand coal use. Van Vuuren explained to De Volkskrant: “The world has fortunately developed. Renewable energy has become cheaper quickly. And, even if it is still too little, there is climate policy.”

Credit to Van Vuuren for acknowledging that the elimination of the extreme scenarios will be very disruptive... (MORE - missing details)

New study finds higher dementia risk in insulin-requiring diabetes

Mon, 11 May 2026 03:10:57 +0000

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1126968

INTRO: Individuals with diabetes are at an increased risk of developing dementia but those with insulin-requiring type 2 diabetes and type 1 diabetes have the greatest risk, according to research presented at the 28th European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague. Specifically, these higher-risk individuals were over twice as likely to develop the neurological disease.

The findings suggest that dementia risk is not the same for all types of diabetes and future prevention strategies, such as continuous glucose monitoring, should be implemented in routine diabetes management.

In this study, researchers from Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong and Samsung Medical Center examined over 1.3 million adults in South Korea, aged 40 and older, without dementia, and grouped them according to their diabetes status: no diabetes, type 2 diabetes using oral anti-diabetic medications, type 2 diabetes using insulin and type 1 diabetes. They followed the individuals from 2013 to 2024, or until a diagnosis of dementia, and found that those with diabetes had a higher risk of developing dementia compared to those without diabetes.

In particular, those with type 2 diabetes taking oral anti-diabetic medications were almost 1.3 times more likely to develop dementia, while the rate of dementia onset was 2.1 times as great among those with type 2 diabetes taking insulin and 2.4 times more in those with type 1 diabetes. Similar trends were observed for Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.

“This is surprising because it suggests that not all types of diabetes carries the same risk, and that people with more intensive or insulin-dependent treatment may be particularly vulnerable to cognitive decline,” said lead author, Professor Ji Eun Jun from Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong... (MORE - details)

Almost half of adults worldwide eat out at least once a week—exacerbating the obesity

Mon, 11 May 2026 03:09:25 +0000

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1127398

EXCERPTS: New research to be presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026, Istanbul, Turkey, 12-15 May) suggests that no matter where people live, eating out instead of preparing meals at home is linked to weight gain and obesity.

Using nationally representative surveys in 65 countries, the study led by researchers from Göttingen University and Heidelberg University in Germany, underscores the need to look to the out-of-home food sector for reasons for, and solutions to, the obesity epidemic.

“Our findings suggest that eating away from home is consistently associated with obesity in low- and lower-middle-income countries, likely due to the ongoing nutrition transition in these countries, characterised by increasing accessibility of large portions of energy-dense foods in different food establishments,” explained author Mubarak Sulola from Heidelberg University in Germany. “While eating out appears to be a marker of affluence in low-income countries, it has become the norm in high-income countries.”

Consuming food and drinks prepared away from home (FAFH) by commercial establishments such as fast-food outlets is a key driver of the global obesity pandemic. Food prepared outside the home tends to be more processed and higher in salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats, and is associated with higher energy intake and higher body mass index (BMI).

However, most evidence to date is based on data from high-income countries (HICs), leaving a gap in knowledge for people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where populations are more likely to experience coexisting forms of malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies and overweight or obesity.

To find out more, researchers analysed pooled individual-level data from nationally representative health surveys involving 280,265 adults (aged 18 or older, 51% female) in 65 countries conducted between 2009 and 2021 [2].

[...] Importantly, the researchers also found a robust association between eating out and obesity. For example, respondents in LICs living with obesity had 39% higher rates of FAFH consumption than those with a normal body weight, while those living with overweight had 28% higher levels of FAFH consumption. Similarly, in lower-middle-income countries FAFH consumption frequency was 20% higher in those living with obesity.

Additionally, in LMICs, a distinct wealth gradient was evident, with adults in the highest income quintile more likely to eat out... (MORE - missing details, no ads)

Garlic subdues blood sucking mosquitoes -- not just regular vampires? + Plant trick

Mon, 11 May 2026 03:05:35 +0000

From pantry to pest control: Garlic kills the mood — for mosquitoes, too
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1127590

INTRO: Garlic is not a substance that most people consider an aphrodisiac. It turns out that mosquitoes agree.

In fact, a new Yale study finds that garlic also functions as a de facto birth control for mosquitoes and other winged insects, an insight that could lead to eco-friendly pest control strategies.

According to research by the lab of Yale’s John Carlson, the presence of garlic blocks mating in mosquitoes and a variety of fly species. It’s not the pungent odor that’s a turnoff for these pests, the researchers found, but the taste. And the reason lies in a receptor inside their teeny taste organs. The findings are published in the journal Cell.

“We study flies, including harmless ones like the fruit fly, to try to discover new ways of controlling species that pose danger to humans either by spreading disease or damaging crops,” said Carlson, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “In this study, we started with fruit flies and then moved on to other species. And to our surprise, we found a natural compound in garlic that shuts down the mating process in these flies.”

Their method of finding this compound, which they call a “phytoscreen,” could spur new pest control strategies that are environmentally friendly, widely available, and inexpensive. Phyto is Greek for “plant.”

In a Q&A, Carlson explains the role of an enterprising postdoc in initiating this research, how it started with a “fruit fly buffet,” and why Victorian author Bram Stoker had it right about garlic and bloodthirsty creatures. The interview was edited for length and clarity... (MORE - no ads)

Plants survived the dinosaur-killing asteroid by duplicating genomes
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1126408

INTRO: When an asteroid as big as Mount Everest struck Earth 66 million years ago, it wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs and roughly a third of life on the planet. But many plants survived the devastation.

In a new study publishing May 8 in the Cell Press journal Cell, researchers reveal that the accidental duplications of genomes—a natural phenomenon—might have helped many flowering plants survive some of the most extreme environmental upheavals in Earth’s history. This strategy could help plants adapt to the rapid climate changes unfolding today.

“Whole-genome duplication is often seen as an evolutionary dead end in stable environments,” says author Yves Van de Peer of Ghent University in Belgium. “But in harsh situations, it can provide unexpected advantages.”

Most organisms carry two sets of chromosomes, one from each parent. But in flowering plants, many species carry additional sets as a result of random whole-genome duplication. For example, most cultivated bananas have three sets of chromosomes while wheat plants can have as many as six, a condition known as polyploidy.

Whole-genome duplication occurs relatively frequently in plants, and it can be costly. Larger genomes require more nutrients to maintain, increase the risk of acquiring harmful mutations, and affect fertility. For these reasons, only a small fraction of duplicated genomes are retained and passed down through generations in the wild.

On the other hand, genome duplications can increase genetic variations, and genes can evolve new functions. These changes may help organisms better tolerate stress such as heat or drought... (MORE - no ads)

How much a house costs in Europe (Survival Lilly)

Mon, 11 May 2026 02:47:20 +0000

PREVIOUS INSTALLMENT: Europe shuns prosperity; turnabout on nuclear power too late

SURVIVAL LILLY
https://youtu.be/PWYdD2YfeGk

VIDEO EXCERPTS: Today I want to show you how much it cost to have a house here in Europe, Austria.

Okay, so now if you want to have a house in Austria, it's going to be really expensive. The prices are through the roof. Usually in this area where I live, a house will cost around maybe 450 to €550,000 depending on the size and how it's built. Depending if it's standing alone or if it's touching other buildings.

I bought a house in 2018 when it was not as expensive as it's now. My house is single standing. It has a garden around it.

Many other houses are uh touching each other. We call them row houses and those are a little bit less expensive. So it really depends uh what kind of house you get.

[...] This is uh a quarterly invoice that I have to pay. This is basically coming from my local municipality. And here you can see some fees that I have to pay every 3 months. ... All of these charges and taxes are calculating with the size of the house. So the bigger your house is ... the more expensive this invoice is going to be every quarter.

So first of all, we have the property tax which is €46 every 3 months. Then we got the water fee which is €114 plus €9. And then we got waste charges altogether €91. Then we've got an epidemic prevention fee that's €3.75. And then we have the switch system which is quite expensive at €166.

So altogether it's €469 that I have to pay every three months. But also they are charging 10% value added tax on most of the positions except for the property tax and for the epidemic prevention fee...

How much a house costs in Europe ... https://youtu.be/PWYdD2YfeGk

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/PWYdD2YfeGk

"This is not reality"

Sun, 10 May 2026 22:07:24 +0000

Wow! Could this be any more clear? I've been noticing the feeling when I lie in bed that my bed is lightly vibrating. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. But maybe it's not my bed that's vibrating. Maybe it's me!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/823169216977476

"Red", "White", and "Blue (The Three Colours trilogy)

Sun, 10 May 2026 18:11:22 +0000

I loved this film trilogy! Three very different themes...

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1890884452300387