onfocus

"If the global pool of flu viruses has truly shrunk to this degree, it would be a welcome outcome, flu experts say, making the twice-a-year selection of viruses to be included in flu vaccines for the Northern and Southern hemispheres much easier work."

Our work to keep COVID-19 from spreading may have killed some strains of the flu. [via mefi]

"The incentive structure that has been created is one in which so far we've seen zero accountability for lying and pushing these narratives," Masterson, the former DHS official, said. "We don't see anyone really, truly being held accountable."

With no accountability why would they stop? This looks like a pilot program or practice for invalidating future valid elections.

"One thing you see a lot on here is people pointing out the contradictions in the putative views of Trump’s GOP. COVID is a Chinese plot but also a hoax. The insurrection was antifa but also a tour of patriots."

Twitter thread explaining why the contradictory beliefs of Trumpism are a feature not a bug.

"The social internet promised us deep human connections — the sort that requires nuance and patience for messiness — but instead, it’s just turned us all into brands."

Insightful analysis of The Discourse.

"In future elections, these laws politicizing the administration and certification of elections could enable some state legislatures or partisan election officials to do what they failed to do in 2020: reverse the outcome of a free and fair election. Further, these laws could entrench extended minority rule, violating the basic and longstanding democratic principle that parties that get the most votes should win elections."

This statement signed by dozens of political science professors is an excellent summary of the current threat to voting rights.

"A sense of awe is almost exclusively predicated on our limitations as human beings. It is entirely to do with our audacity as humans to reach beyond our potential."

AI lacks nerve is a fantastic way to put it. [via om]

I'm trying out umami for visitor stats on my site and so far it's easy to install (yay, Docker all the things!) and looks great.

For all your salacious guitar photography needs.

"Even after decades of research, the SETI community has yet to find evidence of aliens, probably for the same reason that extraterrestrial beings, should they exist, would be unlikely to visit our planet—the space between stars, let alone galaxies, is unfathomably vast…[Wright] sees no problem with the desire to better understand our airspace and investigate unexplained phenomena, “but why drag astronomers into it?”"

Spoilsports.

"Bipartisan legislation to establish an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has failed in the Senate, as Republicans staged their first filibuster since President Biden took office to block the plan."

We have a party complicit with a crime. This is like asking defendants to help organize their trial. Of course they derail it at the first opportunity. Democrats need to get past the idea that there are two parties operating in good faith and work to fix this environment on their own.

"I’m seeing probably the worst combination of conditions in my lifetime,” said Derrick DeGroot, a county commissioner in southern Oregon’s Klamath County. “We have an enormous fuel load in the forests, and we are looking at a drought unlike we’ve seen probably in the last 115 years.” Asked how worried he is about the 2021 fire season, DeGroot said: “On a scale of 1 to 10, I’m a 12. Nothing looks good."

Yikes.