Accurate Round-up
Thanks Ant, Neutronbeam, and Max.Stories
- Deciphering Ancient Indus Valley Script Could Earn You $1 Million - The New York Times (free account required).
- How the climate is changing the taste of beer.
- Luka Doncic trade- What factors led to Lakers and Mavericks making the most shocking deal in NBA history- - CBSSports.com.
Science
- The Federal Funding Freeze Will Cause Lasting Damage to Medical Research - WIRED (may require registration or subscription).
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WarPig wrote on Feb 2, 2025, 21:27:jdreyer wrote on Feb 2, 2025, 19:34:
Update on my phone connectivity issues. Neither of my phones supports wifi calling, so it looks like I'm back to the booster to get a good signal.
This probably won't apply to you in the least, but just in case, I have a fairly weird story about mobile connectivity.
Back in 2022, when my old Galaxy-5 got old enough that it wouldn't run most apps, I replaced it with a Pixel 6. I also wanted to replace Verizon because of costs, so I signed up for Mint Mobile, which uses the T-Mobil network. Well, I couldn't get reception at home or at work. It turned out that someone at work had also just bought a Pixel 6 and he was using Google Fi, and it worked fine. We put our phones side by side and it was obvious that Mint Mobile just wasn't working. Here's the weird thing though (to me, anyway)... Google Fi also uses the T-Mobile network, but the difference was night and day. I ended up switching to Google Fi, and have been mostly happy - especially at less than $30 a month.
Anyway, it sounds like you simply live in a "hole" and there's not much you can do about it - my house is at the base of a hill, which is probably why I have fairly crappy service. I'm betting you've already checked out all the different carrier's connectivity maps, or maybe your phone is tied to a certain carrier, but if not, maybe you can ask anyone who comes to your house (including delivery drivers, etc.) whether or not they're getting any service. Maybe you'll get lucky.
Cutter wrote on Feb 2, 2025, 17:15:I get it, they carefully reviewed the list of agencies to be shut down, then used AI to generate the documents. Like the air traffic controllers which has been understaffed for years received notices to take a severance package and look for "productive" jobs. The same day of the crash. Air travel is the safest method of travel in the US. I guess safety will no longer matter in a world based only on productivity.
If you take a look at the programs being frozen - and not just medical - it's long overdue. They're not being canceled, they're being frozen until they get some actual oversight as to the benefit to the taxpayer. Many of these programs overlap, are wasteful, not properly vetted, unnecessary etc. and you're talking about 100s of billions of dollars a year here. And most of this research being done at private universities have endowments large enough to fund their own research. Every taxpayer should want their government to constantly be scrutinizing where their money is going.
jdreyer wrote on Feb 2, 2025, 19:34:
Update on my phone connectivity issues. Neither of my phones supports wifi calling, so it looks like I'm back to the booster to get a good signal.
Richard Smith, a previous editor of The BMJ, wrote recently about clinical trials: “We have now reached a point where those doing systematic reviews must start by assuming that a study is fraudulent until they can have some evidence to the contrary.” When someone as experienced as Smith makes such a statement, it is past time for us to put our house in order.
Jim wrote on Feb 2, 2025, 14:59:
I am guessing the medical research days are over, similar to the way other countries are passing us as technology leaders