Lou Katz @lou@entropyservice.com

"A lesser-known factor has exacerbated the energy crisis this year: In February Israel blew up two gas pipelines in Iran as part of its covert war with the country."

*Well, how Ukrainian of them #fossilfuelwar

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/21/world/middleeast/iran-economy-energy-crisis.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jE4.9nM6.3DmAy0CxDG_J&smid=tw-share

@RickiTarr "Please be patient with me. I'm from the 1900s." 😭

When you think about it, aren't microplastics just fairy dust from the petroleum fairy?

Man, corporations really want to put a stop to libraries:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-library-e-books-queues-1.7414060?cmp=rss

"Depending on the title, public libraries may pay two or three times more for an e-book than they pay for its print edition. In some cases, the e-book may be up to six times the price, librarians told CBC."

"Those publishers ... will often license copies of e-books for just 12 or 24 months. Once that licence expires, libraries must repurchase access to the same book." #canada #cdnpoli #books

Every SCOTUS case in which C (for "Corruption") Thomas cast a deciding vote should be considered tainted and invalid, serving neither as persuasive nor as precident.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/21/us/politics/clarence-thomas-trips-disclosure-investigation.html

it's funny how Neal Stephenson's "In the Beginning... Was the Command Line" he talked about how if Apple made cars they'd have sealed hoods. He said that in 1999, before Apple started selling phones they literally glued together

Presumably on the affected Blue Cross Blue Shield forms there will be a choice:

1) Patient is willing to pay for anesthesia that exceeds specified time periods for surgery
2) Patient is willing to have anesthesia terminated during surgery that exceeds specified time periods, and certifies willingness to instead scream in agony.

In today's Orwellian "Newspeak," the Department of Government Efficiency is
a) Not a department
b) Not trying to improve the efficiency of government, but instead cripple it.

Insurance Company CEOs in meetings right now:

CEO: what should we do to prevent me from being shot next?

Employee: Stop denying so many claims.

Employee: Lower premiums.

Employee: Treat our clients like human beings.

CEO: Bodyguards it is.

News: AWS announces $1 billion cloud credit for AI startups

Experienced AWS IT person: That's equivalent to 3 whole days of usage for inexperienced devs who leave overprovisioned resources up and running, causing higher monthly AWS bills.

Amazon workers: Reading this from the warehouses where they get 2 candies as a bonus for months of overtime work and a bottle to pee in.

people say we need to bring back the guillotine but I say we need to bring back the trebuchet. far more entertaining.

Q: How far are we from fusion power?
A: 1 AU.

Musk didn’t invent Tesla, he bought it
Musk didn’t invent SpaceX, he bought it
Musk didn’t invent Starlink, he bought it
Musk didn’t invent “X,” he bought it
Musk didn’t invent Trump, he bought him

- Nazir Afzal

Murdered Insurance CEO Had Deployed an AI to Automatically Deny Benefits for Sick People
https://futurism.com/neoscope/united-healthcare-claims-algorithm-murder
#insurance #InsuranceCEO #brianthompson #unitedhealthcareceo #unitedhealthcare #healthinsurance #denydefenddepose

I’m reading the book referenced here, “Defying Hitler,” an autobiography by pseudonymous Sebastian Haffner about his experiences as a child in Germany in WWI through the rise of the Nazis, focusing on 1933. It articulates many of my feelings about modern USA. I hear the dehumanizing and violent rhetoric, otherization, and lawful reversal of rights. I see the complacency and mass mindset. Read it! Be prepared for your character tests. Wow.

From: @xankarn
https://mastodon.online/@xankarn/111038554016216188

"Of the more than 75,000 gunfire alerts the city’s #ShotSpotter system has generated since 2015, the New York City Police Department was only able to confirm that 16.57 percent of them were actual gunfire, as opposed to fireworks, construction, or other loud sounds" https://gizmodo.com/the-nypds-fancy-gunshot-detector-is-almost-completely-useless-2000534171

"Of the more than 75,000 gunfire alerts the city’s #ShotSpotter system has generated since 2015, the New York City Police Department was only able to confirm that 16.57 percent of them were actual gunfire, as opposed to fireworks, construction, or other loud sounds" https://gizmodo.com/the-nypds-fancy-gunshot-detector-is-almost-completely-useless-2000534171

“Healthcare provider” is such a bullshit euphemism. Health insurance companies aren’t the providers of care; they’re the obstacles, the parasitic middle-men leeching off the system to the point of widespread breakdown. Brian Thompson’s company didn’t provide shit except returns to investors.

The Canadian #border is sprouting the same #surveillance towers as the Southern border with Mexico. https://vtdigger.org/2024/12/02/eye-in-the-sky-the-feds-have-quietly-built-surveillance-towers-along-the-canadian-border-in-vermont-new-york/