SOFTWARE IS EATING THE WORLD (CONT’D): “Last week Consumer Reports refused to recommend Tesla’s Model 3 because it discovered lengthy braking distances. This week Consumer Reports changed their review to recommend after Tesla improved braking distance by nearly 20 feet with an over the air software update!”

Plus: “It’s quite astounding that Tesla is able to improve something as physical as braking distance with a software update and also astounding that they are able to update so quickly–even pure software firms don’t respond this quickly! Quite the win for Tesla. The larger economic issue is that every durable good is becoming a service. When you buy a car, a refrigerator, a house you will be buying a stream of future services, updates, corrections, improvements. That is going to change the industrial organization of firms and potentially increase monopoly power for two reasons.”

Some related thoughts of mine, in Popular Mechanics.

NUMBER ONE IN POVERTY, CALIFORNIA ISN’T OUR MOST PROGRESSIVE STATE — IT’S OUR MOST RACIST ONE:

Around the world, progressive economies like those of Sweden, France, and Germany, which redistribute wealth through high taxes and generous social welfare policies, boast far less poverty and inequality than other nations.

What gives? And how does California maintain its reputation as a progressive leader given the reality on the ground?

If racism is more than just saying nasty things — if it is, as scholars like James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michelle Alexander and countless others have described, embedded into socioeconomic structures — then California isn’t just the least progressive state. It’s also the most racist.

Real World “Elysium”

In the 2013 science fiction film, “Elysium,” the rich have fled to a luxury satellite orbiting Earth while the poor toil in dangerous conditions below. Life in California today differs in degree, not in kind, from that dystopian vision.

Why are Democrat-monopoly states such cesspits of racism and inequality?

MAYBE THE ANSWER TO THE FERMI PARADOX IS THAT FUTURE HUMANS TRAVELED BACK IN TIME AND KILLED OFF THE ALIENS BEFORE THEY DEVELOPED SPACEFLIGHT: Aliens Are Real, But Humans Will Probably Kill Them All, New Paper Says.

Flashback: Humans, The Orcs of Space.

VERIZON’S HUFFINGTON POST DOXXES WOMAN FOR BEING RETWEETED BY TRUMP:

Okay, let’s talk about decency. Forget namecalling. How about a Verizon owned media group targeting a Twitter user, exposing her full name and location to the terrorists whom she has condemned online because the media group’s reporter doesn’t like the Twitter user.

And, because Trump once retweeted her.

We’re talking about Amy Mek, a prolific Twitter user, who is the subject of a bizarre piece by the Huffington Post’s Luke O’Brien titled, “Trump’s Loudest Anti-Muslim Twitter Troll Is A Shady Vegan Married To An (Ousted) WWE Exec.”

Sub, “@AmyMek anonymously spread hate online for years. She can’t hide anymore.”

So yes, that’s doxxing. And it’s being conducted by a Verizon company. Verizon bought AOL. And AOL bought Arianna Huffington’s cage of trolls and crazies. So the reputational risk is on them.

Luke repeatedly uses the word, “cruel” in his attack on a Twitter user. A more accurate description of “cruelty” would be targeting a Twitter user, making assorted claims about her personal life, getting her husband fired from his job, because he doesn’t like her views.

And naturally, “Soledad O’Brien shares HuffPost dox piece on Trump supporter, calls it ‘worthwhile read.’” O’Brien has nearly 840,000 followers:

Full transparency. This editor cannot and will not defend anything Amy Mek has posted on Twitter.

But watching Soledad O’Brien of ALL people share the HuffPost piece where the Trump supporter and her family were doxxed and harassed with over 800k followers and call it a ‘worthwhile read’ … that’s just damned depressing.

* * * * * * * *

We did read the article.

Which is why we are so disappointed with Soledad for sharing it and calling it worthwhile. We are reminded of when CNN threatened to doxx a man who created a meme of the outlet and Trump … is this what journalism has come to?

Sadly, in 2018, yes. O’Brien is a Time-Warner-CNN-HBO employee after all.

DO YOU WANT MORE TRUMP? BECAUSE THIS IS HOW YOU GET MORE TRUMP: UCLA and the Atlantic think conservatives and populists have nothing to contribute to understanding America.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Four Stars Who Suffered for Their Art (Like Johnny Knoxville).

ON THIS DAY IN 1539: Hernando de Soto claimed Florida for Spain. Then, 461 years later, he published the highly influential book—The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Succeeds in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. No … wait … my mistake. That was a different Hernando de Soto. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t read his book. It’s a classic.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Vermont Law School Plans Faculty Cuts. “McHenry said that, in a process that began last October, all faculty positions are being reviewed for efficiency gains to help the law school recover from the effects of a national downturn in enrollment that hit its nadir a few years ago. McHenry declined to discuss details of the restructuring process, which is expected to be completed in late June, but gave examples of expected outcomes that include shifting some professors to professor emeritus status, reducing the teaching and programmatic load for others, and asking others to take on more responsibilities. Several members of the faculty, including some senior professors with tenure, declined comment.”

A HIGHLY PLAUSIBLE ASSERTION: “The world is full of stupid and angry people, and most of them live in Portland.”

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A B.S. STATISTIC THAT ALMOST THE ENTIRE MEDIA WORLD RAN WITH: Did exactly 4,645 people die in Hurricane Maria? Nope.

In effect, the researchers took one number – 15 deaths identified from a survey of 3,299 households – and extrapolated that to come up with 4,645 deaths across the island. That number came with a very large caveat, clearly identified in the report, but few news media accounts bothered to explain the nuances.

That’s because they’re hacks, and thought it might make Trump look bad. Instead, of course, it just bolsters his “fake news” narrative. Because, you know, it’s basically fake news.

Here’s what they actually found:

Does your study say that 4,645 died? The answer: “No. We provide a 95% confidence interval of 793 to 8,498, and 4,645 falls in the middle of this range.”

Between 793 and 8,498 is a range so broad that it’s basically meaningless. But hey, narrative.

CHINOOK OVER AFGHANISTAN: CH-47 on a mission. Check out the tough terrain below.

REMEMBER, ONLY TRAINED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS CAN BE TRUSTED TO CARRY FIREARMS: FBI agent accidentally shoots bar patron when gun falls out of holster while dancing. “Video obtained by Denver ABC affiliate KMGH shows the agent attempted a back handspring, while surrounded by dozens of onlookers rooting him on, when the gun fell out of his back waistband. He quickly picked the gun up and tucked it back into his waistband, but the gun went off when he retrieved it. After the incident, the agent was taken to Denver Police Headquarters before being released to his supervisor with the FBI.”

The gun went off as he was picking it up; keep your booger-hooks off the bang switch. And don’t do handsprings while carrying; few holsters are designed for that. Also don’t carry when you’re drinking, as this video strongly suggests was the case. And finally, I’ll bet he won’t get the kind of punishment that a civilian with a carry permit would get for the same sort of misconduct.

UPDATE: Flashback: FBI counterterrorism agent gets drunk, has his gun stolen by exotic dancer.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, ADMINISTRATIVE BLOAT EDITION: The Diversity Staff at the University of Michigan Is Nearly 100 Full-Time Employees: There are various reasons for surging education costs, but the primary one is the expansion of university administration in recent decades.

DEREK HUNTER ON ROSEANNE AND SAMANTHA BEE: Liberals (Once Again) Exempt Themselves from the Rules.

Let me suggest, however, that this is the best outcome for the right. Had “Roseanne” come back next season, the odds are high — a near certainty, actually — that liberal pieties would have crept in. (Wanda Sykes was one of the writers, for God’s sake!) “Roseanne” brought a conservative audience that the networks usually don’t reach, and offered them a chance to propagandize that audience with lefty views. (We saw a hint of that already with the Noble Yemeni Refugee Neighbor subplot). Now that chance is lost, and the double standard once again is made clear.

RISE OF THE MACHINES: How The Robot Revolution Is Changing Our Lives.

THE CHILDREN OF MEN: “Every year I look at data and expect it will be the year that birth rates start to tick up, and every year we hit another all-time low.”

LIFE IN THE CRAZY YEARS: Under Title IX, Can Two People Sexually Assault Each Other Simultaneously Without Knowing It?

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HEH: Bill Maher jokes about Roseanne and Samantha Bee: “So much for wanting more female voices.”

OPEN THREAD: Enjoy!

ON THIS DAY IN 1692, Bridget Bishop was convicted of witchcraft. Days later, she was executed, making her the first of 14 women and 6 men to suffer that fate during the witchcraft panic then gripping Salem, Massachusetts. Among other things, Bishop was accused at one point of having three nipples—a sure sign of being in league with the devil.

Thankfully, panics like that don’t happen anymore … except when they do.

MORE GOOD NEWS FOR SICK MICE: Antifungal drug eliminates dormant bowel cancer cells in mice.