Escape

Barring a total collapse of civilization, of course…

…this summer's entertainment is scheduled to be…

‘There is stuff’: Enduring mysteries trail US report on UFOs

A report summarizing what the U.S. knows about “unidentified aerial phenomena” — better known as UFOs — is expected to be made public this month.

Carrots in literature

Edward Lear - (English artist, writer; known for his 'literary nonsense' & limericks (1812-1888) - "There was an Old Person in gray, Whose feelings were tinged with dismay; She purchased two parrots, and fed them with carrots, Which pleased that Old Person in gray."

And more, at the World Carrot Museum in our Work Avoidance Hall of Fame.

Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Dr. No (no, I'm kidding about No)…

Bill Gates, Warren Buffett building nuclear reactor in coal-rich Wyoming

…as well as putting chips in all our arms (yes, I'm kidding about that too).

(But not kidding about the nuke.) Oh dear.

Rats too

After Years Of Detecting Land Mines, A Heroic Rat Is Hanging Up His Sniffer

"Although still in good health, he has reached a retirement age and is clearly starting to slow down," the nonprofit APOPO said Thursday.

Assuming it was a ban in the first place, of course

Big-Money Political Groups And Influencers Are Circumventing TikTok’s Ad Ban

The viral video-sharing app is acutely vulnerable to covert disinformation campaigns, a new report warns.

In the trenches of Twitter

Companies Are Using Pride Month to Rainbow-Wash Bombs and Tasers

Take Axon—a $9 billion company that manufactures Tasers, body cameras, and drones—and its June 1 rainbow rebrand in its profile picture and header, with the latter reading "Protect Love."

 

No more annual check-ups; now they'll be called upgrades

Amazon Wants to Eat Health Care Next

Whether it believes its own rhetoric—or just smells another profit opportunity—the tech industry shows little sign of slowing its march into the world of commercialized medicine.

Stand by for Health 14.7.11. 

The national bird is having a moment

Bald eagles kill 54 lambs on Idaho farm

An Idaho farmer has lost 54 of his lambs in a series of bald eagle attacks that began in April, a report said

Alas, time to start calling my war Cold War I

'They are hair on fire': Biden administration mulls cyberattacks against Russian hackers

The Biden administration is moving to treat ransomware attacks as a national security threat, using intelligence agencies to spy on foreign criminals and contemplating offensive cyber operations against hackers inside Russia…

Spring fever, maybe

Seems a little late this year but I don't know what else to call it. Maybe it was the icy cold weekend we had at the beginning of this week. Maybe it was walking through the grocery store a couple of days ago with no mask and feeling…weird.

Whatever it is, it certainly has been. But tomorrow's another day.

Bricked

A whole lot of burgers

If it [meat producer JBS] were to shut down for even one day, the U.S. would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows, according to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University.

[This from an AP story about a ransomware attack on said meat producer.]

From the web site Statista:

Beef has the highest retail sales of any fresh meat in the United States, as of 2017. In that year, over 19 thousand dollars worth of fresh beef were sold per store per week in the United States.

Americans eat around 60 pounds of beef per year, each. 

Finally we get a little blue sky *and*…

…it turns out we have a fair shot at setting both an all-time low (mid 40s) and and all-time high (mid 90s) for this time of year, both, this week,

Imagine the joy. 

Green

Still a little soggy, but brightening up

The birds

 Added to our Work Avoidance Hall of Fame (H/T Sam Guy): The Du Bois Library Falcons at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Worth noticing if you use Amazon devices

Amazon devices will soon automatically share your Internet with neighbors

No doubt, the benefits of Sidewalk for some people will outweigh the risks. But for the many, if not the vast majority of users, there’s little upside and plenty of downside.

Turned on by default (a little sketchy there) but easy enough to turn off (see link, above).