News Miscellany

[Miisa]

Originally Posted by JoeP

This is massive. I'm kind of surprised they don't have redundant connections to the power grid to cope with this kind of thing.

Or at least backup generators. It might mean closing all non-essential power drains such as the shops, moving walkways and screens, but could keep the airport open for a day or two on low power.

[JoeP]

White House inadvertently texted top-secret Yemen war plans to journalist | Trump administration | The Guardian

In an extraordinary blunder, key figures in the Trump administration ... used the commercial chat app Signal to convene and discuss plans – while also including a prominent journalist in the group.

ROFL.

Make America Competent Again!

[ceptimus]

Originally Posted by Miisa

Or at least backup generators. It might mean closing all non-essential power drains such as the shops, moving walkways and screens, but could keep the airport open for a day or two on low power.

They're saying now, that there are three separate sub-stations that feed into the airport, and any one of those provides sufficient power to run the whole thing. That must be at least partly true, as there's no way they fixed the burnt out one in twenty four hours.

People with an anti-green agenda have alleged that the diesel backup generators were decommissioned as part of the airport's quest to look greener. That sounds suspicious to me, as backup generators, by their nature, don't produce any emissions when they're standing by. I suppose they're run up for a few minutes every few months to prove they're still working. Compared to the total emissions from a busy airport, it would be a drop in a bucket.

Incompetence and bad management look like the causes of the shutdown. I wonder if any well paid executives will be sacked as a result?

[LarsMac]

I just ran across this in my reading, today:

March 28, 2025
Expert Panel Advises Against Common Spine Treatments for Chronic Back Pain
Samantha Anderer
Article Information
JAMA. Published online March 28, 2025. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.2575
Chronic back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting 1 in 5 adults aged 20 to 59 years. But an analysis of randomized trials and observational studies led a panel of experts to strongly advise against the spine interventions commonly used for chronic axial and radicular back pain in a new clinical guideline. The panel found that the treatments offered little or no relief compared with placebos.

The review of 81 trials, published in The BMJ, found no high-certainty evidence showing nerve ablation procedures or injections of local anesthetic or steroids resulted in pain relief. Because these treatments are costly, can burden patients, and provide a small risk of harm, an international group of clinicians, research methodologists, and patients concluded that people with back pain unrelated to cancer, infection, or inflammatory arthritis should not receive them.

Despite their lack of efficacy, the treatments have become an entrenched part of common practice. The author of a linked editorial noted that the use of spinal interventions will likely continue into the near future, but “the more the evidence fails to support the widespread use of these injections, the less inclined health care systems will be to fund them.”

So, all these years, it took them to figure this out.

Margo used to work an Federal Workers Comp, and there were hundreds of claims related to back injuries and such.

I had to change career paths after a bad neck injury.

The Docs that were treating my problem wanted to cut and redesign my spinal column, but Margo was telling me about folks she worked with all the time who were suffering from repair work that as often made folks worse than fixing them.
We dicided to take another route and went to a clinic where the job was "Pain Management", rather than trying to "Cure the problem"

That was - shit - 40 some years ago.
So, they're just now beginning t officially recognize that cutting and patching may not be the way to resolve debilitating spinal injuries.

in that 40 years, I've managed to deal with it, work around it, and keep my head, while a lot of folks I knew that took the knife are now, assuming they still live, Dragging through lives of failed surgeries, and constant fucking Pain.

Isn't Medical Science Amazing?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Looking more and more like everyone on the right wing is a rapist.

Russell Brand Charged With Rape & Sexual Assault

[Ensign Steve]

You know how in the death pool thread sometimes we're like "oh wow i could have sworn they were dead already"?

[ceptimus]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Looking more and more like everyone on the right wing is a rapist.

Russell Brand Charged With Rape & Sexual Assault

Left wingers too!

MP Dan Norris arrested on suspicion of child sex offences and rape

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

People in power!

Ah, I see they suspended him. Contemporary GOP would make him Ambassador to the Vatican.

[LarsMac]

A new twist in the Story of the US in Afghanistan.

US ending Protected status for former Afghan Allies.

So, this seems to be a bit Cold.
"These Afghans helped the US during the occupation and were rewarded with tickets to America."
With a catch, of sorts. They spent the last decade hanging out in the US, building new lives, and all that crap after US offered them TPS, (Temporary Protection Status) that allowed them to hang out, and make a living, while keeping their Official status as Afghan Citizens.
Well, now, in it's infinite Wisdom, the New Administration has decided it's time for them to "shit or get off the Pot."
Like a lot of Cubans who came over back in the days of Castro, They remained "Exiled Citizens" of a Foreign Country, Hoping that some day their country will join the new world, and embrace Democracy and Reason, and they could go home to their newly enlightened Nation to take their rightful place in the World.
Well, the clock is running out, and the Taliban seems to still be in charge over there, and The Donald has probably forgot all about Afghanistan.
They could find themselves being offered new digs in El Salvador.
Tune in next month for the sequel.

[LarsMac]

In other news,
Florida universities’ campus police to partner with ICE on immigration enforcement

[LarsMac]

In other news,
US judge to question Trump officials’ refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia


Trump says he wants to imprison US citizens in El Salvador.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Infamous fiasco Fyre Festival relaunches — and is already sold out

Fyre Festival 2 Postponed- MSN

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

MyPillow guy made the news again.

Federal judge affirms MyPillow's Mike Lindell must pay $5M in election data dispute | AP News

I mean, it's no $1.3 billion, but not chump change.

He’s broke

[LarsMac]

I was just a kid in my twenties back when all this went down, but it was glorious.

https://library.georgetown.edu/exhib...d-may-day-1971

May be time to do it again.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Fyre Festival 2 Postponed- MSN

Billy From Fyre Fest Says He Just Can't Do it Anymore

[Stephen Maturin]

Who's gonna look after his Heisman Trophies and Nobel Prizes?

[JoeP]

Valerie the dachshund is found safe and well after 529 days on the run on South Australian island | Valerie the dachshund | The Guardian

No word on whether she wanted to be rescued, but it sounds like she was doing pretty well fending for herself.

[JoeP]

Snake on a train line: Japan’s busiest bullet train route brought to a halt | Japan | The Guardian

Japan’s busiest bullet train line was brought to a halt on Wednesday after a metre-long snake wrapped itself around a power line, shorting the electricity supply and stranding hundreds of passengers.

[Crumb]

Poor snake...

[specious_reasons]

Ketchup on a hot dog is now a sin.

(The new pope Leo.. whatever.. was born in Chicago.)

[Miss Shelby]

American pontiff, stay away from mee-hee
American pontiff, daddy let me bee-hee

[vremya]

He went to Villanova - I can see the Class Note in the Almuni Bulletin now:

Robert Francis Prevost, Class of 1977, reports he was elected Pope. He is now residing in Vatican City.

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by Miss Shelby

American pontiff, stay away from mee-hee
American pontiff, daddy let me bee-hee

Hard same.

[It's Me!]

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

Ketchup on a hot dog is now a sin.

(The new pope Leo.. whatever.. was born in Chicago.)

As it should be.

[Miisa]

So this is how the great wars start.