Why we fight about Iran - Vox

Why we fight about Iran - Vox:

"The Iranian nuclear program is not really what opponents and proponents of the recent deal are arguing about," Jeremy Shapiro, of Brookings, wrote nearly a year ago, and it's still true. It's never been about nukes or boats or prisoners but rather whether America should deal with Iran at all. Is this, to paraphrase Margaret Thatcher's famous quote about Mikhail Gorbachev, a country that we can do business with? And that question itself hits on divisions in US foreign policy that go way beyond this one county and are much older than this one issue.

Iran has become the subject of America's most heated and divisive foreign policy debate in perhaps a decade. But the vitriol is driven not just by competing readings of Iran, or even by partisanship, but by a confluence of deep and long-running disagreements over fundamental questions of America's place in the world.

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Cult Leaders Indicted for Forcing Almost Daily Sex Rituals With Underage Girls, Said God Would Destroy Their Families if They Refused

Mormon Cult Leaders Indicted for Forcing Almost Daily Sex Rituals With Underage Girls, Said God Would Destroy Their Families if They Refused:

A group of Mormon cult leaders is being charged with organizing sexual religious rituals with underage girls and threatening them with damnation if they did not participate, according to court documents filed in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday.

Defendants Warren Jeffs, Lyle Jeffs, Seth Jeffs and Wendell Leroy Nielsen are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), an offshoot of the Mormon Church that still practices polygamy over a hundred years after the mainstream Mormon Church abandoned it. The Southern Poverty Law Center has described the group as a white supremacist, antigovernment, totalitarian cult.

According to the court documents filed Wednesday, girls between the ages of eight and 14 were forced to participate in sex acts that were filmed by members of the church. The practice came to the attention of the authorities after one of the girls came forward.

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A Letter to Jamie Dimon – Chain

(updated link: https://adam.mirror.xyz/Q-HIDLBN0lRy1ezLFI-Qj5JhLzHWRUgXF4cqwieQWXQ)

A Letter to Jamie Dimon – Chain: "there’s a lot of noise. But there is also signal. To find it, we need to start by defining cryptocurrency [ie bitcoin or other blockchain currencies].

Without a working definition we are lost.



Most people arguing about cryptocurrencies are talking past each other because they don’t stop to ask the other side what they think cryptocurrencies are for.

Here’s my definition: cryptocurrencies are a new asset class that enable decentralized applications. 



 If this is true, your point of view on cryptocurrencies has very little to do with what you think about them in comparison to traditional currencies or securities, and everything to do with your opinion of decentralized applications and their value relative to current software models."



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BostonBlackCat comments on Neurosurgeon stabbed 14 times at work, calls for better hospital security.

BostonBlackCat comments on Neurosurgeon stabbed 14 times at work, calls for better hospital security.:

Two years ago, my hospital went on lock down. We came to find out that cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. ­Michael Davidson, one of the top in his field, had been shot and killed on his clinic floor. He was a father of young children and his wife was pregnant, avid in community work, and by all accounts a wonderful human being.

He was shot by a man who was angry that his 86 year old pack a day smoker mother had died while under the care of Dr. Davidson, who he blamed for her death.

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My month with chemtrails conspiracy theorists | Environment | The Guardian

My month with chemtrails conspiracy theorists | Environment | The Guardian:

Tammi and her boyfriend, Rob Neuhauser, are among the estimated 5% of Americans who believe that various global powers, including the US government, run clandestine and harmful chemical-spraying programs.

Versions of the chemtrails (or “covert geoengineering”) theory abound, and Tammi’s goes roughly like this: to mitigate global warming, mysterious airplanes spray chemicals into the atmosphere to form sun-blocking artificial cloud cover. This is done in secret, because these chemicals wreak havoc on environmental and human health, causing “Alzheimer’s, all sorts of brain problems, cancer”, she says.

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Thought some of you would like this photo - here's to 2018 : Military

Thought some of you would like this photo - here's to 2018 : Military:




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IASC: The Hedgehog Review - Volume 19, No. 3 (Fall 2017) - On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality -

IASC: The Hedgehog Review - Volume 19, No. 3 (Fall 2017) - On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality -:

As the geographer James Shortridge puts it, “The Middle West came to symbolize the nation…to be seen as the most American part of America.”23 Nor is average Americanness quite the same as average Russianness or average Scandinavianness, for the United States has always understood itself, however self-flatteringly, as an experiment on behalf of humanity. Thus, Midwestern averageness, whatever form it may take, has consequences for the entire world; what we make here sets the world’s template.



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Let's talk about that mirror scene! : StarWars

Let's talk about that mirror scene! : StarWars:



When she is first meditating, she feels all the light, the motion, the life. The balance of things. It makes her see that she's part of something bigger. But in the cave, the only thing there is her. There is nothing and no one. The dark side is about shutting out others and focusing on just yourself."

Some people might find that empowering, in a Nietzschean will-to-power kind of way. The dark side offers you control in a chaotic universe. It tells not only that you matter, but that you are all that matters.

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rirez comments on What is something you cannot believe people still think is true?

rirez comments on What is something you cannot believe people still think is true?:

The whole vaccination thing can be blamed partially on simple, primal anger on behalf of the parents.

For some parents, having a "not normal" kid (as they would say it) is an extremely stressful realization. There are some parents who need to go through more therapy than their kids do, because they simply can't accept that their child isn't the perfect bundle of joy they expected.

We've seen it tear families apart, fathers blaming mothers, in-laws blaming each other, "you ate wrong while pregnant", "I told you not to watch TV", "you didn't sleep enough", "you should have drunk more/less coffee".

And here's where the vaccination fear jumps in. It's a convenient scapegoat.

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi finally proves that the Jedi suck - Polygon

Star Wars: The Last Jedi finally proves that the Jedi suck - Polygon: "The Force is changed in a lot of ways, from the powers it grants people to how it works, but most importantly, it’s finally freed of its connections with religious orders and old texts. It’s freed of the Jedi, who interpreted it so strictly that it resulted in the fall of the Republic, and it was abused by the Sith, who only wanted its raw power. In The Last Jedi, it’s finally found a gray area where it has room to evolve. And if the Jedi cannot evolve along with it, then, as Luke says, it’s time for them to end.

"



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Xconomy: Former GE CEO Immelt Talks Uber, A.I., and a Rejected Bid for Epic

Xconomy: Former GE CEO Immelt Talks Uber, A.I., and a Rejected Bid for Epic:

Immelt said his shortest meeting ever was in 1996 with Judy Faulkner, founder and CEO of Epic, the electronic medical records software company. Immelt was in charge of GE Healthcare at the time, and he drove from his office in the Milwaukee area to Epic’s headquarters near Madison, WI, about 90 minutes west.

Immelt suggested GE and Epic work together, and perhaps GE could acquire parts of Epic’s business, Immelt recalled saying. (GE makes X-ray machines and other medical equipment, but it also sells electronic medical records software.)

“She just said, ‘No, no interest,’” Immelt said. “It was a five-minute meeting.”

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Why the Post Office Makes America Great - The New York Times

Why the Post Office Makes America Great - The New York Times:

I noticed that Americans were a particularly patriotic bunch: So many of them had red flags on their mailboxes. Sometimes they would put those flags up. I presumed it was to celebrate national holidays I did not yet know about. But why did some people have their flags up while others did not? And why weren’t they American flags anyway? As in Istanbul, where I grew up, I assumed patriotism had different interpretations and expressions.

"The mystery was solved when I noticed a letter carrier emptying a mailbox. I was slightly unnerved: Was the mail being stolen? He then went over to another mailbox with the flag up, and emptied that box, too. I got my hint when he skipped the mailbox with the flag down.

Yes, I was told, in the United States, mail gets picked up from your house, six days a week, free of charge."

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Three Months After Maria, Roughly Half of Puerto Ricans Still Without Power - The New York Times

Three Months After Maria, Roughly Half of Puerto Ricans Still Without Power - The New York Times: "In its statement on Friday, the authorities said power restoration has been slow because of the sheer scale and complexity of the damage. Much of the island’s 2,400 miles off transmission lines, 30,000 miles of distribution lines and 342 substations were damaged in the storm, they said. Carlos D. Torres, the system’s restoration coordinator, said workers were finding “unexpected damage” in some areas even as they make repairs in others.

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The Problem With ‘Problematic’ | by Francine Prose | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books

The Problem With ‘Problematic’ | by Francine Prose | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books: "After receiving more online criticism from readers, not all of whom seemed to have actually read the book, Kirkus removed the star from its American Heart review—a major demotion given that we have been trained from kindergarten to want stars, a reflex reinforced each time we’re invited to rate (with stars) everything from a Lyft ride to a haircut. The Kirkus review was reposted, in a revised and less enthusiastic form: “Sarah Mary’s ignorance is an effective world-building device, but it is problematic that Sadaf is seen only through the white protagonist’s filter.”

"



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The Lies of ‘The Crown’ and ‘The Post’ - WSJ

The Lies of ‘The Crown’ and ‘The Post’ - WSJ:

Why does all this matter? Because we are losing history. It is not the fault of Hollywood, as they used to call it, but Hollywood is a contributor to it.

When people care enough about history to study and read it, it’s a small sin to lie and mislead in dramas. But when people get their history through entertainment, when they absorb the story of their times only through screens, then the tendency to fabricate is more damaging.

Those who make movies and television dramas should start caring about this.

It is wrong in an age of lies to add to their sum total. It’s not right. It will do harm.

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Silicon Valley Techies Still Think They're the Good Guys. They're Not. | WIRED

Silicon Valley Techies Still Think They're the Good Guys. They're Not. | WIRED: "But even if things stay the same inside the Silicon Valley bubble, change is coming from the outside. Critics from the government, the media, and watchdog groups are calling for regulation, be it antitrust, compliance, or transparency around advertising. Some execs are beginning to acknowledge their personal roles in the shift. But for a lot of them, it’s business as usual. They are still preparing their apocalypse bunkers. They’re still privately wondering if the sexual harassment accusations are turning into a witch hunt. They’re still hiring models to fill their holiday parties. They’re still one-upping one another at Burning Man. They’re still asking if it’s possible to do something, and not whether they should.

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The Most Expensive Mile of Subway Track on Earth - The New York Times

The Most Expensive Mile of Subway Track on Earth - The New York Times:

But the contractors said the other issues cited by the M.T.A. were challenges that all transit systems face. Density is the norm in cities where subway projects occur. Regulations are similar everywhere. All projects use the same equipment at the same prices. Land and other types of construction do not cost dramatically more in New York. Insurance costs more but is only a fraction of the budget. The M.T.A.’s stations have not been bigger (nor deeper) than is typical.

“Those sound like cop-outs,” said Rob Muley, an executive at the John Holland engineering firm who has worked in Hong Kong and Singapore and visited the East Side Access project, after hearing Mr. Lhota’s reasons.

In Paris, which has famously powerful unions, the review found the lower costs were the result of efficient staffing, fierce vendor competition and scant use of consultants.

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What’s more important: a college degree or being born rich? – MattBruenig | Politics

What’s more important: a college degree or being born rich? – MattBruenig | Politics: "So, you are 2.5x more likely to be a rich adult if you were born rich and never bothered to go to college than if you were born poor and, against all odds, went to college and graduated. The disparity in the outcomes of rich and poor kids persists, not only when you control for college attainment, but even when you compare non-degreed rich kids to degreed poor kids!

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We Asked 615 Men About How They Conduct Themselves at Work - The New York Times

We Asked 615 Men About How They Conduct Themselves at Work - The New York Times:

The victims of sexual harassment who have recently come forward are far from alone: Nearly half of women say they have experienced some form of it at work at least once in their careers. But there has been little research about those responsible.

In a new survey, about a third of men said they had done something at work within the past year that would qualify as objectionable behavior or sexual harassment.

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Navigation Apps Are Turning Quiet Neighborhoods Into Traffic Nightmares - The New York Times

Navigation Apps Are Turning Quiet Neighborhoods Into Traffic Nightmares - The New York Times: "“Without question, the game changer has been the navigation apps,” said Tom Rowe, Leonia’s police chief. “In the morning, if I sign onto my Waze account, I find there are 250,000 ‘Wazers’ in the area. When the primary roads become congested, it directs vehicles into Leonia and pushes them onto secondary and tertiary roads. We have had days when people can’t get out of their driveways.”

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