Nice image! I was caught off-guard last night and just got a blurry pic from my phone.

Coward.

Capitalism took cancer research, funded by taxpayers and performed by graduate students and post docs for no profit, slapped a hefty price tag on it for the public, then called it “innovation” to justify the insane amount of money they were able to extract from the masses (the same masses that originally funded that research).

You made a huge mistake. :)

Less than a month, I can’t wait. Nynaeve and Moghedien in the Panarch’s Palace incoming!!

This is gonna be so good. Just the first 15 seconds of the trailer and I am already blown away. The visuals of that battle in the Hall of the Sitters is pure art, just wow.

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Just watched a speech from Ibrahim Traore for the first time earlier today. It was very powerful. The four Sahel states are showing great fortitude and bravery as they stand up to NATO imperialism and the collaborators (i.e., traitors) in ECOWAS. Seeing the Burkinabe PM speak at the recent Sandinista celebration was fantastic too!

Thanks for helping me learn more about the other Sahel states and their united efforts.

The Coup

You’re totally right, the US government and business elite were content to make money from both sides of the conflict right up until Dec 7, 1941 and the subsequent DoWs from Germany and Italy (once the US declared on Japan). They may have favored Britain and France in trade/indirect support somewhat before that, but that was more a result of historical diplomatic and economic ties, rather than any issue with the German political system.

The US government is not (and has never been) against fascism for ideological reasons. Fascism and American-style democracy go hand in hand quite well. Our government fought a war against fascists because they disrupted the global trade status quo and threatened US economic prosperity and that of our primary trade partners.

Happy to help! And sure, if you can call this an insight I’ll share it.

My biggest takeaway from this incident, so far, has been that since southern California is hotter, drier, and windier than any time in living memory - undeniably because of human-made climate change - this was inevitable. And once this round is over, it will happen again, and probably soon.

Local authorities need to have the guts to attack this problem head on before then. Climate change is here to stay, so while global efforts to mitigate the effects must switch into high gear yesterday, locally they need to start planning now for at least a 3-tiered approach to the problem.

First, engineer away as much of the risk as possible. This means burying every power line they can. Those that must remain above ground should be under constant upkeep to prevent spark-producing events and the forest from growing close to the lines themselves. Sure campfires and other individual actions (like setting off fireworks) can also cause fires, but the state already pushes hard to keep those under control and can easily ramp up educational campaigns and enforcement.

Second, more practices that effectively reduce the abundance of tinder-like fuel sources (in this case, dry brush) need to be implemented. Indigenous people from the region (Chumash and Tong-va tribes, for instance) have a long history of successful forest management and those practices should be studied and used to enhance what is currently being done (the indigenous tribes should be given a leadership role in this, if they want it, IMO).

Finally, it’s not that easy (as far as I know) to make sure buildings and infrastructure are both fire- and earthquake-resistant in the region. And even if it is straightforward, it’s not practical to retrofit every structure for fire on the scale needed, much like retrofitting for earthquakes has been a thing for 50 years and is still not complete. So what is to be done in the near term? Things like having industrial scale, automated fire suppression systems installed to douse homes and other infrastructure on the edge of communities near fire-prone areas could buy valuable time for firefighters and residents. Creating a low-fuel buffer zone along those edges and controlling land use in it could be a valuable addition to that approach.

But yeah, I am pessimistic that any large-scale, coordinated project like I just described would ever make it through our dysfunctional government processes intact. The track record is abysmal (see high speed rail and the unhoused crisis, for example). It’ll probably end up being a patchwork of half- and quarter-measures implemented here and there, with poorer communities getting no preventative support whatsoever. I’d love to be proven wrong.

You’re right - a red flag warning (which does cover almost the entire county) is not an evacuation warning. Red flag warnings in this context indicate that conditions in the area are favorable for fires. Evacuation warnings mean be ready to evacuate at any time, and if you have mobility issues and/or animals, start evacuating now.

Source: CERT training and 8 years in the health, safety, and emergency management field. Plus fire.ca.gov

DMT, psilocybin, and LSD?

Are you Larry David?

I know of a hospital where the local university sends tracers with F-18 for PET scans in much the same way. Half-life of 110 minutes.

100% spot on, sadly. The level of misogyny and other types of bigotry was the most surprising, when taken relative to the university environment in general.

American Giant. Expensive, but they have a great warranty and the craftsmanship is top notch.

Rod Farva level of stupid.

Good. If the regents and their lackeys had their way, everyone at the UC would be working for the military industrial complex and the executive leadership would keep raking in their bloated, obscene salaries.

The faculty and students make the university, and without them it’s just another grift. I don’t know if this charge will have an effect, but it must be tried.