Links

Read: How we can “Curb…Pandemics”

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Read: “We can curb potential pandemics by investing in prevention tactics | TheHill”

Ultimately, the most effective way to curb a potential pandemic is to invest in prevention tactics. We know what works: CDC investments in stronger surveillance systems, laboratory networks, and bio-containment capabilities helped West Africa stem Ebola in 2014. The World Bank says a severe pandemic could cost up to $3 trillion. Preparedness costs, on the other hand, are roughly $4.5 billion annually — globally, that is just 65 cents per person per year.

Source: We can curb potential pandemics by investing in prevention tactics | TheHill

guns to stop government

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This is why these gun nuts say we should all want guns, to be able to stop the gov’t. This didn’t work too well for the Bundy Gang

Per The Oregonian:

FBI tactical teams had quietly moved into the refuge compound Tuesday night, entering the buildings undetected by the occupiers. They apparently were in the buildings through the day Wednesday before agents moved against the encampment.

FBI agents then moved in on Wednesday night after spotting one of the occupiers leaving the militia’s encampment in an ATV. Law enforcement approached the ATV, which then quickly returned to camp. The FBI then surrounded the occupiers’ camp in armored vehicles and set up barricades.

the right to bear arms is not and has never been an effective check on the government . It’s just a way of intimidating neighbors.

“Thousands of Philly students still without permanent teachers” by @newskag

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The private contractor hired to find subs at minimum wage has failed. (h/t Atrios)

Seven weeks into the school year, thousands of Philadelphia school children have yet to be assigned permanent teachers.On top of a substitute-teaching predicament that leaves hundreds of jobs unfilled every day, the Philadelphia School District – with 190 vacancies – has created a crisis, “either through neglect or incompetence,” union president Jerry Jordan said Monday.

Source: Thousands of Philly students still without permanent teachers

Undervalued in Hollywood

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[Piedomont Media Research’s Josh] Lynn: I would say that from all the movies that we’ve looked at, the one actor that comes to mind is Denzel Washington. Every movie that we’ve run with his name in it has increased the score of that film as a concept by anywhere from 30 percent to 40 percent. Didn’t matter what it was.

Source: Podcast: The Guy Who Predicts Whether A Movie Will Bomb, Months Before It’s Made

heard on Denzel Washington is the Greatest Actor All Time Period Podcast

flight pattern coordination sounds like a problem for

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The “pre-departure clearance” computer software designed to automate the filing and amending of flight plans and the delivery of departure clearances isn’t capable of flagging or identifying multiple plans that have been filed for the same flight, the letters said. This can result in a controller clearing a flight for departure based on an outdated plan, and the pilots flying a route not anticipated or planned for by the controller.To try to catch the problem, controllers have to go through the time-consuming process of reviewing flights plans, calling pilots and searching through paper strips that are passed among controllers and marked to track a plane’s progress from taxing to takeoff. Then they compare the information on the paper strips to data displayed on computers.

Source: Whistleblowers Expose Problem That Could Cause Plane Collisions

Sounds like this is an application needed for this “Silicon Valley* for Government” startup that Obama has built 140 deep and wants to grow to 500. I hope they have a whistle blower’s queue: here’s what’s wrong or repetitive busy work in my agency, please fix it.

*note: silicon valley growth was pushed along by government investment.

talk bots

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Out of 70,572 hosts, 70,529 were female and only 43 were male. So we can say for sure that roughly zero percent of bots on Ashley Madison are male. The bots also tended to have ashleymadison.com email addresses, though other popular addresses included things like passthecake@hotmail.com, kimmakesprofiles@hotmail.com, and digital-romeo@hotmail.com. And finally, tens of thousands of the bots had IP addresses that suggested the accounts had been made by people working at the Ashley Madison office.

Source: Ashley Madison Code Shows More Women, and More Bots

Her is real.

Lies all around us

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“Lies my Teacher Told Me” is a good book to start folks down the path of doubting the myths, fairy tales and fiction fed to us as history. James W. Loewen, the author of that book, reminds us of the lies in the Washington Post….

For example, South Carolina’s monument at Gettysburg, dedicated in 1963, claims to explain why the state seceded: “Abiding faith in the sacredness of states rights provided their creed here.” This tells us nothing about 1863, when abiding opposition to states’ rights provided the Palmetto State’s creed.

Source: Why do people believe myths about the Confederacy? Because our textbooks and monuments are wrong. – The Washington Post via Hunter at DailyKos