Archive for 2017
August 4, 2017
IT’S CERTAINLY MORE THAN FAST ENOUGH FOR MY TASTES: The Kremlin can’t replace its aging subs fast enough.
BLESS THEIR HEARTS. TV Show DC Legends Of Tomorrow Adds Muslim Superhero Named ‘Isis:’
The executive producer of “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” says that part of the motivation for adding a Muslim superhero to the show was the “political climate” after the 2016 election. He made the comments Wednesday at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills.
“You might have heard there was this election,” said Marc Guggenheim.
“Not to get political*, but something that we all gravitated toward in the writers room was making this character Muslim,” he explained.
The new hero will be introduced in the upcoming third season of the show. She is named Zari Adrianna Tomaz, a Muslim computer hacker from the future. Ironically, and rather unfortunately, the superhero is based on a character already introduced in comic books – named “Isis.”
Even beyond the Jayvee-level gaffe of the name, there can be only one superhero named Isis – accept no substitutes.
* Why do people always say “not to get political” – as a prelude to getting extremely political?
THERE’S A FROOD WHO REALLY KNOWS WHERE HER TOWEL IS: There is Now a Towel Just for Your Boobs.
ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: What is ‘leaky gut’ — and how do you know if you have it?
WHEN SESSIONS ROLLS OUT HIS PLANS TO INVESTIGATE OR CONTROL LEAKS, and the inevitable rending of garments and gnashing of teeth precursors the latest iteration of Trump-as-Hitler, share this refreshingly honest piece from the New York Times: If Donald Trump Targets Journalists, Thank Obama.
GET AMAZON PRIME FOR $5.99 A MONTH: Prime Discounted Monthly Offering.
CHRISTIAN TOTO: The 5 Best Stephen King Book Adaptations.
Not an adaptation, but King’s goofy performance in 1982’s Creepshow is worth a shout-out.
WELL, I REMEMBER RUNWAY ZERO EIGHT, WHERE FOOD POISONING WAS THE PLOT DRIVER: The Surprising Reason Airplane Pilots and Co-Pilots Eat Different Meals.
I BLAME CARBON EMISSIONS: Surprise! New Neptune Storm Appears in a Bizarre Location.
WHY ARE PEOPLE PUNISHING HIM FOR HIS SEXUAL PREFERENCE? ‘Sugardaddy,’ 73, Banned From Beach for Seeking ‘Sugarbaby.’
Seems like a slam-dunk First Amendment/Right of Privacy case.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Lena Dunham Reports Flight Attendants For Saying ‘Transness Is Gross.’
ASKING THE VITALLY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Is Helen Mirren right about ‘useless’ moisturisers?
OH: That Drone Hovering Over Your Home? It’s the Insurance Inspector.
Drones, photo-taking apps and artificial intelligence are accelerating what has long been a clunky, time-consuming experience: the auto or home-insurance claim.
Traditionally, an insurance claim associated with minor home damage or fender-bender auto accidents started with a phone call from a customer and ended days or weeks later with a mailed check. In between the insurer often would send an inspector to investigate the situation in person.
But about four in 10 car insurers no longer use employees to physically inspect damage in some cases, according to a LexisNexis Risk Solutions survey of insurance executives. Claims that rely on greater automation can be handled in two to three days compared with 10 to 15 days for a more traditional approach that involves an in-person visit, according to the survey.
A heads-up would be smart; 12-gauges are popular around here.
Trump’s particular gift is goading the allegedly sane, sensible, responsible establishment into revealing that it is actually none of those things.
OUT ON A LIMB: Jim Acosta is a Knucklehead.
IMPRESSIVE: How Apple Is Putting Voices in Users’ Heads — Literally.
Bahnmueller suffers from hearing loss so severe that a year ago he underwent surgery to install a cochlear implant—an electronic device in the inner ear that replaces the usual hearing mechanism. Around a million patients have undergone this increasingly mainstream form of treatment, and that’s just a fraction of those who could benefit from it. (Of the 360 million people worldwide with hearing loss, about 10 percent would qualify for the surgery.) “For those who reach a point where hearing aids no longer help, this is the only solution,” says Allison Biever, an audiologist in Englewood, CO who works with implant patients. “It’s like restoring a signal in a radio station.”
Cochlear implants bypass the usual hearing process by embedding a device in the inner ear and connecting it via electrodes to the nerve that sends audio signals to the brain. The implant gets sound from an external microphone and sound processor that usually sits behind the ear. Until now, users have had to deal with balky remote controls to adjust the settings. And dealing with smartphones has required a separate piece of equipment that vexes communication thanks to its low quality and annoying lags. But Bahnmueller, a 49-year-old executive in automotive safety, has recently been testing a new solution. The reason I was coming through so clearly is that his over-the-ear device linked to the implant was streaming directly from his iPhone—essentially putting the conversation in his head.
The system he was using came from a collaboration between Apple and Cochlear, a company that has been involved with implant technology since the treatment’s early days. The firms announced last week that the first product based on this approach, Cochlear’s Nucleus 7 sound processor, won FDA approval in June—the first time that the agency has approved such a link between cochlear implants and phones or tablets. Those using the system can not only get phone calls directly routed inside their skulls, but also stream music, podcasts, audio books, movie soundtracks, and even Siri—all straight to the implant.
Only about 10% of those who suffer hearing loss are eligible for Cochlear implants, and of those of course not nearly all will receive one. But for those who do, this is life-changing technology.
WHICH IS A MIXED BLESSING: Automation Is Engineering the Jobs Out of Power Plants. “As maintenance-intensive coal-fired power plants—chock full of rotating equipment and leak-prone pipes and valves, not to mention conveyer belts and coal ash handling equipment—are retired they are being replaced to a large extent by gas-fired units that make full use of sensors, predictive maintenance software, and automated control systems. As a result, the extensive use of analytics and automation within natural gas-fired power plants means that staffing levels can be cut to a fraction of what they were a decade ago.”
ILYA SHAPIRO: Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department goes after affirmative action’s institutional racism.
Admissions programs frustrate accountability because schools wield “holistic review” as a shield to frustrate scrutiny, judicial or otherwise. Holistic review can serve as a cover for the illegitimate use of race.
For example, Princeton professor Thomas Espenshade found that Asian students applying to selective private colleges are six times less likely to be admitted than Hispanic students with the same academic qualifications and 16 times less likely than black students. And despite being the fastest-growing population in America, Asians are admitted at Ivy League schools in remarkably similar numbers and percentages year-to-year.
That’s strong evidence that schools are discriminating based on race. It all hearkens to the less-than-illustrious history of the so-called Harvard Plan, which began as an alternative to explicitly capping the number of Jewish students
Those are the sorts of things that the Justice Department should look into. Government lawyers must open the “holistic” black box and hold administrators’ feet to the constitutional fire. And that’s before we even get into the harm to the beneficiaries of racial preferences!
SLUT-SHAMING IS ONLY BAD WHEN IT’S DONE TO DEMOCRATIC WOMEN: Cenk Uygur goes *there* with ugly attack on Jenna Jameson; Jenna FIRES BACK!