Was Cameron Robbins killed by a SHARK after he jumped off cruise ship? - "Cameron Robbins, 18, jumped off the Blackbeard's Revenge sunset cruise ship while celebrating his high school graduation near Athol Island, in the Bahamas last Wednesday. The search for the missing teen was called off two days later. Footage shows Robbins swimming in the water as a life preserver is thrown out to him and classmates tell him to grab on. But the teenager seems to be fixated on a shadowy shape which appears in the water and immediately begins swimming away. The video has sparked speculation online that Robbins may have met his end after a shark went after him. People have claimed they can clearly see a shark in the video. Providing an update yesterday, Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF) Commodore Raymond King confirmed that the area where Robbins went overboard is 'really shark infested.'... The Bahamas is home to highly aggressive sharks including tiger and bull sharks. Witnesses claimed Robbins was acting on a dare when he jumped overboard at 11.30pm from the Blackbeard's Revenge sunset cruise ship."
Meme - "UnlimitedErections.com. We "GET IT" Up...It "STAYS" Up!!!"
Meme - Knight: "Hey! Putrid maggot! FOUL BEAST! RELEASE THE PRINCESS OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!"
Dragon: *snarl*
Princess: "WHAT DOES HE LOOK LIKE?"
Dragon: "Old... nasty, very rude and full of himself. I don't know, I don't think so..."
Princess: *declines*
Dragon: *breathes fire* "YOU FOOL! I SEE YOUR HEART, THERE IS NOTHING THERE BUT LUST FOR GOLD AND GLORY! LET THE WHOLE KINGDOM KNOW! ONLY A YOUNG, PURE-HEARTED ADVENTURER WOULD BE CAPABLE OF TAKING THE PRINCESS AWAY FROM ME!!!"
Dragon: "Here's hoping, Betty"
Princess: "Thanks, Wendy"
Do We Live in a Simulation? Chances Are about 50–50 - Scientific American - "For Owhadi, the most promising way to look for potential paradoxes created by such computing shortcuts is through quantum physics experiments. Quantum systems can exist in a superposition of states, and this superposition is described by a mathematical abstraction called the wave function. In standard quantum mechanics, the act of observation causes this wave function to randomly collapse to one of many possible states. Physicists are divided over whether the process of collapse is something real or just reflects a change in our knowledge about the system. “If it is just a pure simulation, there is no collapse,” Owhadi says. “Everything is decided when you look at it. The rest is just simulation, like when you’re playing these video games.”... Kipping, despite his own study, worries that further work on the simulation hypothesis is on thin ice. “It’s arguably not testable as to whether we live in a simulation or not,” he says. “If it’s not falsifiable, then how can you claim it’s really science?” For him, there is a more obvious answer: Occam’s razor, which says that in the absence of other evidence, the simplest explanation is more likely to be correct. The simulation hypothesis is elaborate, presuming realities nested upon realities, as well as simulated entities that can never tell that they are inside a simulation. “Because it is such an overly complicated, elaborate model in the first place, by Occam’s razor, it really should be disfavored, compared to the simple natural explanation,” Kipping says."
Marcus McDilda - Wikipedia - "Lieutenant Marcus McDilda was an American P-51 fighter pilot who was shot down over Osaka and captured by the Japanese on 8 August 1945, two days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima... McDilda, who knew nothing about the atomic bomb nor the Manhattan Project, initially admitted that he knew nothing about the atomic bombs, but, after a Japanese officer threatened to kill him, McDilda "confessed" that the U.S. had 100 atomic bombs that would be dropped on Tokyo and Kyoto, the only Japanese cities he knew the names of, within "the next few days""
Koran row imam suggested Muslims could be punished for celebrating Christmas - "An imam involved in the row over a damaged Koran that led to a 14-year-old schoolboy receiving death threats, spoke about punishing Muslims for celebrating Christmas, The Telegraph can reveal. Imam Hafiz Muhammad Mateen Anwar, of the Jamia Masjid Swafia mosque in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, warned worshippers not to wish others a merry Christmas, described homosexuality as “barbaric” and music as “toxic”, and also made sectarian remarks about more liberal followers of Islam. The revelations came just days after he hosted a community meeting at the mosque alongside police and council leaders with the mother of an autistic Year 10 schoolboy who pleaded for forgiveness for her son after he brought a Koran into Kettlethorpe High School as a forfeit for losing a Call of Duty video game... Imam Anwar appeared on a panel with Chief Insp Andy Thornton and Insp Glen Costello of West Yorkshire Police, two teachers and the boy’s mother, where he told the meeting: “When it comes to the honour of the Koran we will stand and defend the honour of the Koran no matter what it takes.” However, sources alarmed at what they described as “a session for ritual humiliation and threatening language” have now shared with The Telegraph evidence that they said showed the imam had preached “harsh social separatism”. Experts have also criticised the police for failing to do their “due diligence” in researching the imam’s comments. The evidence bundle reveals that in a sermon three days before Christmas last year, Imam Anwar said that in an Islamic state, Muslims would be punished for taking part in the festivities of another religion. “It is very important who you conform to, whose lifestyle you adopt,” he said. “If you conform to them you are becoming part of them.” Quoting a Muslim scholar, he added: “The one who conforms with the disbelievers on the days of their celebrations should be given "tazir", a punishment... Anyone from the religion of Islam, claims to follow Islam, anyone who begins to take part in the celebration of disbelievers, that person should be punished.” He said that he lived in the UK, where there was not Sharia law, but said: “What I’m trying to explain to you is how important these scholars took the subject of copying the disbelievers, of following their celebrations. One who congratulates a non-believer on the day of their celebration is also to be punished.” Imam Anwar said that Christmas was not religious and told the congregation not to take part in Christian traditions, saying: “The disbelievers, in reality we can’t really call them Christians anymore because they don’t even follow the actual religion of Christianity. Christmas is a festivity, there is no link to it with religion. Having a family meal is perfectly fine, feed people, spread peace, but to call it a Christmas dinner on Christmas Day, don’t go snapping away [on] Instagram to show people that you are multicultural. Who are you trying to impress?” He added that Muslims “should have no link with Christmas trees or Christmas lights either” and said that those who rarely gave food to neighbours but did so on Christmas Day were “acknowledging their celebration”, saying: “You are not permitted to do that.” Imam Anwar also said that parents should not allow children to sit on Santa’s lap, not to be part of nativity shows... In another sermon, he urged Muslims to remember hatred, saying: “Your love and your hate should be for the sake of Allah.” In a similar talk he used the word “rafidhis” for Shia Muslims, a derogatory term meaning rejectors and popular with hardline scholars, and also criticised “closet Shias” for “destroying our aqeedah [creed]”. He has also described music as “toxic” saying it “messes with your mind” and urged Muslims not to listen to it. He also described “the rise of homosexuality” as “barbaric”... “If these words are damaging for Imam Anwar and Swafia Mosque, they raise very troubling questions about West Yorkshire Police, two of whose officers were seen chumming up to the mosque in videos that have circulated worldwide... Home Secretary Suella Braverman is set to launch a crackdown on police needlessly recording non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) such as those used by police in the wake of the row over the Koran. She will also tell police to remove from their records any such incidents that do not meet that strict threshold to prevent them showing up in future enhanced police checks... the College of Policing, the police professional standards body, changed its guidance to stop officers recording incidents that do not amount to a crime and fail to meet the criminal threshold. Despite this, West Yorkshire Police officers recorded what happened at the school as an NCHI."
Video: Only Store Not Looted in South African Shopping Mall is the Book Shop - " After showing electronics and clothing stores that have been completely cleaned out, the video cuts to a book shop that looks totally pristine. “The bookstore is completely untouched, this is ridiculous, I’m not even making this up,” the woman remarks... As Chris Menahan documents, citizen vigilante groups have now formed in huge numbers to fight off looters who have been running rampage for days... The bedlam began after supporters of Jacob Zuma reacted with rampant criminality to the former president’s arrest for corruption."
Racial implications of the narcissistic personality inventory reinterpreting popular depictions of narcissism trends - "Table 1 shows that young people, males, African Americans, and, to a lesser extent, other minorities have higher prevalence of lifetime NPD than do older people, females, and non-Hispanic whites, respectively. African Americans’ narcissism scores averaged 2.3 times higher than for whites. Hispanic, Native, and Asian Americans also scored higher than whites. Poorer respondents (those with household incomes below $35,000 per year) also showed higher NPD prevalence than wealthier ones (not shown)."
Racial differences in narcissistic tendencies - "Black individuals have been found to report the highest levels of self-esteem of any racial group in the United States. The purpose of the present research was to examine whether Black individuals also report higher levels of narcissism than White individuals. Study 1 (N = 367) found that Black individuals reported higher levels of narcissism than White individuals even when controlling for gender, self-esteem level, and socially desirable response tendencies. Study 2 (N = 967) and Study 3 (N = 315) found similar results such that Black individuals reported higher levels of narcissism than White individuals on the narcissism measures that captured less pathological facets of this construct. Study 3 also included indicators of psychological adjustment and found that the pathological aspects of narcissism were more strongly associated with maladjustment for Black individuals than for White individuals. The implications of these results for understanding the Black self-esteem advantage are discussed."
There is No Benefit to Having Self-Esteem. Here's What Children Should Be Learning, Instead. - " According to Roy F. Baumeister et al.'s 2003 meta-analysis, Does High Self-Esteem Cause Better Performance, Interpersonal Success, Happiness or Healthier Lifestyles, No. There is no relationship between high self-worth and achievement. In fact, high self-regard is commonly found in narcissists, bullies and sociopaths. People with high, unwarranted self-esteem often have an inflated sense of popularity and likability. They get hostile when criticized or rejected. They alienate others... parents and teachers should explicitly teach children to self-regulate. This is almost the opposite of teaching self-esteem"
STREAM COOL GIRL on Twitter - "Honestly you’re never gonna convince me that my trauma made me stronger. Most of the behavior I learned to protect myself has been detrimental to many of my relationships and the process of unlearning it seems impossible."
Punggol Temporary Bus Interchange - Wikipedia - "Punggol Temporary Bus Interchange is a temporary bus interchange in Punggol New Town, Singapore, located adjacent to the Punggol MRT/LRT station. It was built to allow for easy dismantling when the site is redeveloped as part of a major commercial development when Punggol New Town is more developed. The bus interchange was officially opened on 30 November 2003."
20 years!
Meme - Erik Shipt: "I just saw how a girl pees for the first time. It's kind of disgusting , I don't even know how to explain it, It's nothing like how a boy pees , Which is completely normal. But basically there's this gaping hole that comes out but it also sort of takes shape of like a ancient water snake , And then she just like pushes down on the area above it, And then it starts just going insane and pulsating , like a Human gasping for air almost. Idk man, It's insane.."
Walgreens debuts new 'anti-theft' store with just two aisles where customers shop for themselves - "A Chicago branch of Walgreens has been redesigned with just two aisles where customers may shop for themselves, the rest must be done via a kiosk. The new 'anti-theft' store at at 2 East Roosevelt in downtown Chicago will trust shoppers to pick up 'essentials' for themselves in the two free aisles, but everything else must be ordered and picked up via a counter... One shopper told WBBM Newsradio their experience was positive: 'It is nice that, for the essentials, you no longer have to call security to get them to open the glass case.'... The National Retail Federation said that the scourge of shoplifting - which grew worse during the pandemic - cost the industry almost $100billion in 2022. Recent videos of brazen shoplifters have gone viral online, as residents become increasingly frustrated about rising crime. Surveillance footage shows a gang of crooks wearing masks wheeling shopping carts loaded with valuable products out of a Home Depot store in New York. Another clip showed shoplifters loading up duffel bags and backpacks with perfumes and colognes from a Ross store in Colorado. One Ross Dress for Less manager has said that thieves are targeting her Colorado store up to four times a day. Footage captured at the location shows a number of thieves storming through the store filling bags with items before casually leaving... 'It's company policy; we're not allowed to touch them, follow them or we are putting our job in jeopardy. 'We don't even intimidate them at this point -- they just come in here, get what they want, then they leave. 'We can't touch them, can't grab anything from their hands, can't put ourselves in jeopardy.'"
Thread by @wesyang on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "`We take for granted a high degree of implicit trust to enable the world as we know it. We allowed that trust, which obtained for the entire history of the United States, to unravel in three years. That trust unraveled because a dysfunctional memeplex warped the minds of those entrusted to sustain the complex web of social obligation that makes daily life livable. What has unraveled will not be rebuilt easily or perhaps at all. Idea viruses have consequences"
One-Minute Time Machine - The Short Film that (probably) helped Rick & Morty win an Emmy - YouTube
Surprising number of people in Forbes 30 under 30 list have run into trouble with the law - "Caroline Ellison, the former co-CEO of Alameda Research, pleaded guilty to seven criminal charges carrying a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison. The guilty plea arrived exactly one year after Ellison was named to Forbes’ annual 30 under 30 list. Ellison was charged alongside Zixiao Wang, the former Chief Technology Officer of FTX Trading Ltd., for their roles in defrauding investors in the crypto trading platform. That same month Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX founder, was arrested and extradited from the Bahamas to the U.S. on charges that included wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. Like Ellison, Bankman-Fried was named to the 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 list, where he described himself as an “effective altruist.” Bankman-Fried was also on the cover of the “ Forbes 400 ” issue that same year. Other notable names to make the annual list only to end up with criminal charges include “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, who made the 2012 list and became infamous three years later for upping the price of a single pill of prescription medication Daraprim from US$13.50 to $750 . Shkreli was later sentenced to seven years in prison for securities fraud. More recently, tech CEO Charlie Javice was named to the list in 2019 for her work on Frank, a financial aid startup for students. On the back of its success, including reportedly serving 5 million students, Frank was acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2021 for $175 million . Earlier this month, Javice was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice for “falsely and dramatically inflating the number of customers of her company, Frank, in order to fraudulently induce J.P. Morgan Chase.”... “The Forbes 30 Under 30 have collectively raised $5.3B in funding,” he tweeted earlier this month . “The Forbes 30 Under 30 have also been arrested for frauds and scams worth over $18.5B. Incredible track record.”... In addition to the 30 under list, Forbes also hosts an annual 30 Under 30 Summit. In 2015, one of the headline speakers was Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and former CEO of health technology company Theranos. Last November, Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for defrauding investors. The problem isn’t exactly Forbes, writes The Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi but “the vision of success that we’ve been sold and the fetishizing of youth.” “The pressure can lead certain ambitious people to take shortcuts”"
Woman with $12,000 library fines goes viral on TikTok after hoarding books for years - "A woman has been left with fines of nearly $12,000 in library fines after checking out books from the library for her dissertation years in advance and then hoarding them at home... One TikTok user named historyhan, a PhD student in Medieval History, was left mortified when she got an email from her library claiming that she owed $11,900 after losing 119 books. However, Hannah hadn’t actually lost the books, she was hoarding them in her home until she’d finished her dissertation... “As it stands, your library account has $11,900 owed for 119 lost books,” the email read. “It becomes “lost” in our system after 30 days overdue. Lost books incur a flat rate of $100.”... One person commented: “You mean to tell me that I cannot steal books they intended me to borrow? Unbelievable.” Hannah replied to the comment: “They’re not stolen, they’re still in use.”"
The Dangerous Lure of Political Violence - "protesters recently built a guillotine. No necks were harmed that night; it wasn't fully functional. But they did it in front of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' house, and the message was clear: While we aren't going to do violence to you personally right now, we want you to know that we think capitalist billionaires like you are so terrible that some violence may, in fact, be justified. Another iteration of the guillotine had popped up a couple of weeks earlier in front of the White House, with similar implications for the president and his allies... The best-case scenario is that what we are seeing in the streets is essentially LARPing... Like the guillotinesmiths of Kalorama, the lefty protesters of Seattle and Portland—dressed in activist goth chic and ostentatiously practicing maneuvers with shields—are looking to trigger disgust and panic in those who disagree with their aims or tactics, and boy is it working. The same is true of the Unite the Right marchers who turned up in Charlottesville three years ago and later in the Pacific Northwest to provoke fear and intimidate their opponents while wearing matching polo shirts and wielding tiki torches. "So far, this revolutionary playacting has been more annoying than terrifying," Cathy Young writes in this month's cover story, an account of the events leading up to France's Reign of Terror with an eye toward the parallels to the present day (page 18). "It's about trolling, not killing, the enemy. But it still signals an embrace of bloodthirsty rhetoric—and of ideological homage to one of history's bloodier leftist dictatorships." There are reasons to believe the situation in American cities could take a more deadly turn, however. For one thing, it did in Charlottesville, when counterprotester Heather Heyer was killed. And it already has in Portland, where Reason contributor Nancy Rommelmann has covered the monthslong conflict between the antifa "black bloc" and the various right-leaning factions that oppose it... The more extreme someone's political views, the more likely they are to believe violence is justified to achieve them. Among those who identify as "very liberal," 26 percent said there would be "a great deal" of justification for violence if the Democratic candidate loses the presidency. Among the "very conservative," that figure is 16 percent if the Republican candidate loses... polarization seems to be directly connected to dehumanization... Recall that one of this spring's most outrageous instances of cancel culture at work was indirectly about the question of tolerance for political violence as well: A Civis Analytics researcher lost his job after tweeting out an academic study by Princeton's Omar Wasow about how violent protesters may undermine the electoral goals of their allies. He was accused of "concern trolling" and "minimizing black grief and rage" and subsequently fired in what appeared to be a direct response to the tweet. Not only are people more willing to condone violence across the board, but at the extremes some are also less willing to even entertain talk about why such violence might be a bad idea. There is one additional complicating factor here: The meaning of the word violence is in flux. Speech is increasingly described as violence. Sometimes silence is also violence, especially in conversations about race. In certain circles, conversely, it's now up for debate whether property destruction counts as violence, with activists pushing back on the idea that the damage to homes and businesses in the wake of this summer's Black Lives Matter protests should be taken into consideration at all. It's a mistake to conflate bad tweets with revolutionary violence, but it is worth pointing out that in the waning days of the election season, Bhaskar Sunkara, a co-founder of the aptly named Jacobin magazine, tweeted: "I think killing little Romanov children was justified. But it's not surprising why these views are controversial given most people's ethical and moral frameworks.""
Vancouver rodents celebrate rat poison ban with massive street party - "One possible explanation for this west coast rodent explosion is that the province recently banned the use of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides – rat poison – after concerns that local wildlife, including owls, were falling sick or dying after eating dead rats. The permanent ban came into effect on Jan. 21, following an 18-month temporary ban. “Essential” services such as hospitals and food production facilities are exempt but need to hire a licensed pest control company, draw up a pest-management plan, and record use of poison. Meanwhile, New York City has stepped up its own war on rats by announcing its first-ever “rat czar,” Kathleen Corradi, a former teacher whose official title is “citywide director of rodent mitigation.” She previously oversaw rat mitigation efforts in the city’s public schools... Mayor Eric Adams, who has often expressed a deep hatred for rats, posted the job last year, seeking someone “somewhat bloodthirsty” with a “general aura of badassery,” and offering an annual salary between US$120,000 and US$170,000. The size of the city’s rat population is unknown. A 2014 study put the figure at around 2 million, or one for every four residents. New York recently edged out Los Angeles for the second-place ranking of America’s rattiest cities , with Chicago topping the list."
Ducklings swim in a line behind their mother to reduce drag and propel themselves forwards - "The findings not only shed light on duckling behaviour, but could also help to revolutionise shipping"
What’s The Difference Between Oranges, Mandarins, Satsumas, Clementines, Tangerines? - "Oranges are second in size to the grapefruit. This citrus fruit has a thick skin, is round in shape, and has a tart flavor. Mandarins are a type of orange and the overarching category that Tangerines, Clementines, and Satsumas fall into. They are generally smaller and sweeter than oranges, a little flatter in shape, and they and have a thinner, looser skin that makes them easier to peel. Tangerines are a specific type of mandarin orange. They are a bright orange color, slightly tougher skins, and their flavor is a little less sweet and a bit more tart. Clementines are the smallest type of mandarin orange. They are super sweet, seedless, and have red-orange skins that are smooth and shiny. The mandarins you see in grocery stores called Cuties and Sweeties are Clementines. They are easier to peel than tangerines, but not as easy to peel as Satsumas. Satsuma Mandarins are a specific type of mandarin orange, originating in Japan more than 700 years ago. They are a lighter orange, sweet, juicy, and seedless. They are also the easiest variety to peel. The most tender, easily damaged type of mandarin, Satsuma mandarin oranges are harder to find fresh in stores."
One Company’s Trick to Getting 95,000 Hours Back? Canceling Meetings - WSJ - "When Reynolds American Inc. was preparing to update staff on its restructuring plans in January, it scrapped plans for a 90-minute town hall meeting. Instead, it posted a 10-minute video for employees to watch... Since announcing a temporary purge of some kinds of meetings in early January, Shopify has deleted 12,000 events from staffers’ calendars, freeing up some 95,000 hours... Long-winded and excessive confabs have long been the bane of worklife. In the past, employers have tried standing meetings and even walk-and-talks to make the gatherings shorter and more productive... Shopify canceled recurring group meetings, banned most Wednesday meetings and now requires that gatherings with 50 or more people happen only in a 6-hour window on Thursdays... One result of all those extra meetings? More work at night... "The worst kind of meeting is where you’re there for no particular reason,” said Brian Frye, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law and a visiting professor at Tulane Law School. In academia, he said, “you’re often expected to be there but you don’t have any interest in what’s taking place or any contribution to make. Everyone complains about it but the complainers are as bad offenders as everyone else.”"