TheVat

(POST ABOVE MAY HAVE HACKED OR DEFECTIVE LINK) 10 Questions to Determine Whether Your Partner Is a Spy Here’s how to make sure you aren’t being honeypotted. By Alexandra Petri https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/11/jensen-huang-partner-quiz-spy/689448/?gift=43H6YzEv1tnFbOn4MRsWYnorlDXZVJiowTE0aDz1i1Q&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

A good case for promoting media literacy, and for outlets that are not corporate owned. Guardian, Mother Jones, 404 Media, ProPublica, Prism, et al. I did. Being a registered, card-carrying Cretaceous Period dinosaur I would also enter a plea for revitalizing the role of print/text news, given the evidence that brains forced to decode little chicken scratches can retain and reflect on information better. I liked also the takedown of the faux-objectif aggregators out there. Yes! Or I would put it, "There is no good journalism without someone's perspective." (Whether or not that's a bias, in the pejorative sense, is what the reader/viewer must determine - as your video goes into)

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/11/jensen-huang-partner-quiz-spy/689448/?gift=43H6YzEv1tnFbOn4MRsWYtPbvuXZZObk26zzWqgYfuE&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share 10 Questions to Determine Whether Your Partner Is a SpyHere’s how to make sure you aren’t being honeypotted. By Alexandra Petri

All this as Microsoft struggles to recover from its major outtage that started yesterday. Lots of sent emails that were all jammed up on the Internet highways. (AP) A global Microsoft outage this week disrupted email and other workplace tools, plunging business chatter and everyday services into disarray worldwide and highlighting the risks of depending on one of just a few major providers of essential technology. Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Teams and AI assistant Copilot, were interrupted. As the outage entered its second day Friday, Microsoft said it saw “encouraging recovery progress.” But the company also warned that “intermittent access issues or delayed email delivery” may persist for some users. (end clip) No idea if this has any relation to the ground stoppage, but I'm sure people are looking into that. Probably not directly connected, as ATC centers are still linked with old school landlines, but hard not to wonder if some indirect cascades are possible. Happy Friday the thirteenth. (my partner had sort of a "snow day"' thanks to the email crashes)

On that socialism thing.... https://theconversation.com/debate-in-new-york-city-over-city-run-groceries-is-not-just-about-food-but-something-bigger-291749 (...) Municipal grocery stores would offer New Yorkers a similar choice alongside private retailers. But as a public option, they would create a visible alternative against which shoppers can judge privately owned stores, setting a benchmark for food prices and service quality. They would also demonstrate how public investment can be used to make an essential good more affordable. (...)That is why the five grocery stores carry a broader significance, in my view. They offer a different model of public investment that makes the government much more visible in providing an essential service – and more accountable for its results. New Yorkers will get an opportunity to judge that contribution directly. (...)Municipal grocery stores would offer New Yorkers a similar choice alongside private retailers. But as a public option, they would create a visible alternative against which shoppers can judge privately owned stores, setting a benchmark for food prices and service quality. They would also demonstrate how public investment can be used to make an essential good more affordable. (...) In 1934, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s administration began selling discounted milk to low-income families, but the initiative drew complaints from grocers about unfair competition. Independent merchants similarly protested the city’s efforts to subsidize a new Pathmark supermarket in East Harlem in the 1990s, warning that it would put local grocers out of business. A more recent example is the city’s Food Retail Expansion to Support Health program, known as FRESH. Since 2009, it has offered supermarket developers and operators long-term tax breaks and zoning incentives to build or expand dozens of stores in underserved neighborhoods. These incentives have helped increase grocery retail space, but shoppers don’t see the public support behind them. FRESH is just one example of an approach toward supermarket financing that gained momentum in the 1990s, when governments sought to address social problems by encouraging private investment. Food insecurity was blamed on a scarcity of neighborhood supermarkets, not on prices being beyond reach for local shoppers. Subsidizing new stores promised better nutrition and economic development without confronting poverty or inequality, and FRESH reflects that approach. Participating supermarkets must devote space to perishable foods, but they’re not required to offer affordable prices. That may be one reason why researchers have found that adding supermarkets to low-income neighborhoods, by itself, doesn’t substantially improve residents’ diets. (...) This hidden government role is hardly confined to grocery stores. Much of what government does for Americans is delivered indirectly, through tax credits, subsidies and private institutions. Because the public contribution is obscured, people often give credit to private markets for the benefits provided by public policy, from student loans to healthcare. This invisibility is a consequence of policy design and influences how citizens understand government, a phenomenon that political scientist Suzanne Mettler described as “the submerged state.”(article continues)

I've seen physics noobs trip over "massive particles." More disturbing on the American political spectrum are those who don't actually know what analysis is, as a tool used in discourse. They don't fear the light, they believe they are casting the light via pithy slogans or aphorisms that arrive in the guise of common sense. Hey, it's common sense like grandpa had, we don't need no stinkin' analysis. We'll just utter the magical words and let the mic drop.

If it goes back 5K years it could be Platycodon grandiflorus or licorice root, but I'd guess he means a modern derived opiate like DEX or hydrocodone. (Platycodon isn't actually related to codeine, in spite of the suffix, but I've seen herbalist types draw that conclusion).

The only time I recall (not personally, I was pre-zygotic) the US trying for all-out socialism was when Truman tried to nationalize the steel industry during the Korean War. A war situation was seen as the only basis for such a move. The Supremes rejected his attempt, and I don't think the Left was too happy, either, since his socialist moment was kind of stained by the fact that he was trying to bust the humps of United Steelworkers union. 🙄 While there might have been some legitimate worry that a union strike could affect war production, Congress clenched more over socialism than it did over a hypothetical dip in steel production. And, let the record show, there are other members here who would never mistake @sethoflagos for a tankie. Even his probiotic experiments seem to show a lack of zeal for totalitarian control. 😉

Wishing you recovery, also, @Ken Fabian . Agree with Exchem that your postings add much to the forum, especially on green issues. My father, thinking his non-inhaling and quite moderate pipe habit might have somewhat spared his lungs, got PF due to long exposure to fumes from printer's ink. The doctor thought it might have been early days in his career, when some press rooms were not well-ventilated or isolated from the newsroom. I may have dodged at least one bullet, being the nonsmoking family member. But lung disease has so many vectors, in terms of breathing awful stuff. Just living in an American city at any part of one's life, is to take onboard a lot of diesel particles and other nasties, so clean living is no guarantee.

Yes, "chemical reactions in the dinobrains" put it well. I suspect that the term "progressive" was popularized partly to disentangle community-affirming policies and advancing social renovations from some of the more emotionally charged terms. What American dinobrain doesn't like "progress"?

I've heard scratching noises. Bernie sure isn't a democratic socialist but probably fits with the social Democrat rubric in his ideal world. In the US, it's seemed to me that Bernie defines himself largely in terms of restraining the oligarchy, with a lot of reform configurations that hearken back to the New Deal. Bernie wants to do some of what Harry Truman wanted to do post WW2 and at the start of the 1950s but couldn't when he was hamstrung by a conservative Congress. So, reform capitalism while also dropping in a few morsels of blended socialism where a federal government funds national healthcare and undergraduate higher ed. Sanders iirc sometimes has alluded to worker cooperatives, which might be his foot in the door to socialism, but which he can pull back at his convenience and just stay with vague references to strong unions and workplace democracy. If he were given the reins and a friendly Congress, he would probably try for a nationalized public power grid. At best he would get something that's a state/private hybrid like some Euros (and UK?)have. I would not be surprised if a 100 million would sign a petition that regulated energy prices and brought some sanity to the national grid. Nebraska, a red state, established public power decades ago. Socialism is a spectrum, not an omega point.

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Charmed, as always. Thanks for stopping by, oh wise master.

I'm a Bernie Bro, so have been privileged to listen to a deeply wise man make sense for a couple decades. I was reminded, when he spoke of a wealth tax, of Thomas Paine: "All accumulation of personal property, beyond what a man's own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came." -- Thomas Paine, "Agrarian Justice" 1797 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrarian_Justice Vive le Bern! Uncertain where to start with your assertions. I wonder if your news feed has acquainted you with some of the fallout from current admin policies - some of which were mentioned in this thread. To be honest, for me, someone saying policy reform is dangerous now is rather like saying the Allied invasion of Nazi Germany and liberation of camp survivors was a bad idea and we should have let Hitler's policies play out. Have you really paid attention to what US foreign policy has done to our standing as a nation, and to the global economy and security in the past two years? Have you noticed the decline in services and availability of basic healthcare to millions of people? Have you seen the fear and, often, hiding from public life, by people of Latino and Haitian backgrounds in the past two years as they see Gestapo like tactics from ICE, with indiscriminate sweeps snatching up legal residents? Or even murdering them? Did you happen to hear of the rise in farm bankruptcies and farmer suicides, due to pointless tariffs and reprisals, diesel and fertilizer prices soaring, and allowing market dumping of SA meat? Did you hear about rising electricity costs and rents, driven by MAGA policies and failures, forcing people into deeper poverty and sometimes homelessness? How about changes in federal health leadership under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Oz leading to curtailed research funding, withheld grants, and public health setbacks, including measles outbreaks? How about cutbacks in scientific research critical to our ability to handle extreme weather or protect our shores, our water supplies, our food crops, and a dozen other things I don't have time to list? We need to fix these policy problems now. People's lives and quality of life depend on it. There is danger only in sitting here meekly with our hands folded and waiting for the next insane executive order to drop on us.

That's who he is. The policies were also bad. You can't save bad policy by a good implementation. Of course it does. It helped get out the vote which process threw some of the bums out. It created a Congressional majority which can return to putting brakes on presidential abuses of power and craft legislation which restricts misallocation of our tax money. It allows the potential for removing corrupt and criminal administration members from office by due process in Congress. It also allows transparent and public fact-finding on the president's role in Jeffrey Epstein's sexual trafficking ring and the possibility of justice for its victims, some of them girls as young as age 14. It also allows transparent and public fact finding on the president's using his powers of office for self-enrichment schemes with crypto and insider trading, a gross violation of his duties and a crime not protected by the Supreme Court immunity ruling.

I canardly wait! Heh. Is possible is possible.

Having rewatched last night, I agree. It is a funny nit though - they can send a "nucleonic beam" through Enterprise's sophisticated shields and pinpoint Picard's relevant brain areas with neurotech that exceeds 23rd century Federation tech, but their planetary communication system seems to be some kind of telegraph network equivalent to Earth late 19th century. ("We can send a message in the morning.") My daughter was so moved by the episode, especially the consideration of mortality and how these people could be remembered, she called me right up and, after regaining coherent speech, drilled me at length about bits of family history where we hadn't sufficiently filled her in. It did seem, at some point, that a nucleonic mind ray had gone from my mother to her, skipping my generation, carrying a whole cluster of personality traits and ways of reacting.

In Kremlin is night for drink vodka direct from bottle, tovarich.

Some highlights from AP News...(Incoherent gurgles of joy in the background at the Vat residence) Voters absolutely punished Trump’s allies almost everywhere. Democrats won in swing states like Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire and North Carolina and in Republican strongholds of Iowa, Kansas, Texas and even South Carolina. Trump’s controversial mid-decade redistricting plan appeared to backfire. And Republican losses allowed Democrats to make history in Georgia, where Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history, while in Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa will become its first Latina governor. In the House, Democrats flipped districts that voted for Trump by as much as 18 points in 2024. Democrats won at least seven Senate seats in ruby-red states and battlegrounds alike: Kansas, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator in nearly a century, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina. (And for some comedy... On Tuesday night, Trump posted on social media that Abbott [Texas governor] was to blame for his loss, calling him a “RINO” — a Republican in name only.)(For our overseas friends - calling MAGA monstrosity Greg Abbott a RINO is like saying Mussolini wasn't really a Fascist, a FINO perhaps) Trump was also dealt twin defeats in two Midwestern states that had borne the brunt of high diesel prices and his tariff war. Democrat Adam Hamilton defeated Republican Roger Marshall in Kansas, while Republican Ashley Hinson lost to Democrat Josh Turek. Me: A bad day for fascists! And I think some karma might be coming your way, Herr President. Bear in mind that the Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity only applies to actions taken in the performance of official duties. Aaaannnnddddd I don't think gaming the system for your personal crypto schemes, or raping 14 year olds, are official duties of the POTUS, hmm?

Yes, and who would consent to living 40 years of another man's life? (Maybe a xenoanthropologist of great dedication?) @MigL remarks on the need for visceral lessons seems relevant - did the doomed aliens feel that it was so important to tell their story in that way, that it was necessary to cross ethical boundaries? Or did they have a different ethical philosophy in that respect? (I really need to rewatch the episode, because I wonder if this was addressed in some way and I've forgotten it, e.g. did Picard somehow agree to it at some subconscious level?)

Aiee! Not this stupid thread again. No, YOU mentioned it. The OP was written by you. In all its idiotic bullshit splendor. No that is not what those films were expressing, not remotely. In fact, some of those films underscore how tenuous and conditional are many of the friendships in a criminal organization. Next time your brain needs to fart, try stepping outside or stand next to a fume hood.

(Full disclosure - VSauce seems like a nice guy, but his videos always get on my nerves because he is keeping the tone folksy and entertaining - it's like interacting with someone who thinks your mind is going to wander at any moment so they are obliged to tickle you.) Watched a few minutes...

A favorite here, too. The concept is brilliant - instead of just sending a historical text or recording, the doomed race can encode a person's memories so that another may live those memories. (Also raises interesting ethical issues over the involuntary manner in which the memories of the iron weaver are delivered). Of course we know that if anyone would be open to such an experience it is Picard. After, he is a deeper person, plus flute skills. I also note the theme is an inversion of the alien probe encounter in STOS, in which Uhura's mind is wiped of all memories. A much lesser episode which skips past many conceptual holes. For me, The Inner Light sort of "repairs" that previous pothole.

Will watch tomorrow - bit of a crunch this evening. Loopk forward to it - I sensed maybe I was being too glib about the puzzle's ease, so this will be interesting. Also (rusty memory of philosophy class)...ponens is affirming the if part, right? And tollens is denying the then part?) NM, I'll watch. 😀

No subtlety. Just a torturer who wants Picard to submit to his version of reality (much like the torturer of Winston Smith in 1984).