Entries tagged with news

Entry tags:

charity,
news

news sources for 2025

In an age of political lies and AI-generated fantasies, trustworthy information is essential. I, like many others, cancelled my WaPo subscription after their owner bent the proverbial knee to the incoming USA president. Here are my choices for the coming year, where I've paid to subscribe to each of them. Where available, I bought digital-only options, since they're cheaper and don't consume as many physical resources.

Click to read my selections and recommendations...

Scientific American
A good source for science information as an easily-readable guide to topics. ($39/year)
Technology Review
Highlights from MIT of up-and-coming technologies. ($80/year, but $60 on sale)
ProPublica
Investigative journalism. We need more of that. (free, but I donated at their minimum suggestion button of $30)
Minnesota Public Radio
Local source of reputable news. (free, but I already donated during Give To The Max day)
Unicorn Riot
Alternative media. Much-needed boots-on-the-ground interviews and stories from people on the proverbial street. (free, but I already donated during Give To The Max day)
Minnesota Post
Local, independent, non-profit journalism. (free, but I donated at their minimum suggestion button of $60)

There are more local and hyper-local sources that I'd like to support, but I'm calling it quits after paying for the sources above. Worthy of attention, though, are MyNorthNews, InsightNews, and Sahan Journal. And, of course, there are the open-source public commons projects. I want to support (and have supported the first two in previous years) Wikipedia, Archive.org, WikiLeaks, LibraryOfLeaks, and even DDOSecrets. Maybe someday I'll have a job that pays so very much that I don't have to notice what I spend it on.

When in doubt, check your source of information at places like MediaFactCheck. I'm interested in the concept of GroundNews, but my spending on it will have to wait for another day.

Entry tags:

news,
volunteer

that could prove interesting

If you're near Oxford in England, there's a study commencing for #LongCovid fatigue. If they solve this particular mitochondrial problem, it could also greatly benefit people with chronic fatigue syndrome. They're looking for more volunteers.

If you're in Washington State of the USA, someone is looking for volunteers for outdoors nature work. You get to work with adorable pygmy rabbits. :)

If you're into feminism, I ran across the website FeralFeminisms.com recently. I've only skimmed a few of their Anthropocene topics. I can't tell yet whether it's brilliant future systems thinking or just pointless navel gazing. Maybe, like Post-Autistic Economics (which I recommend), it's a bit of both simultaneously?

I mentioned potato skins earlier, and now they're making news in relation to prebiotics.

I wish that government tax bills were required to tell you where they spent that money. My county is raising my taxes from $762 to $1,029. I wish I knew why. It seems to be simply that they're assessing the value of my house about 20% higher than last year.

Entry tags:

hello, 2021

confederate flag in U.S. capital during D.C. riots

I warned that last year would be especially bad.

I apologized for writing so much text during the year.

I reminisced about the days when I pondered interesting things instead of writing increasingly shrill political rants.

I reminded that these trends have been a long time growing.

Today, it's clear that the anti-fascists are correct. Listen to your longhair hippie treehuggers.

Be like Wonder Woman. Be Antifa.

Entry tags:

supporting journalism

The truth is a casualty in tough times. I thought I might subscribe to a newspaper, but both local outlets are more expensive than I realized ($200 for Star Tribune and $150 for Pioneer Press), even for online-only subscriptions.

For money like that, I'd rather have access to the USA website where I most often read news articles, the Washington Post. They're within that critical "Most Reliable" section of news trustworthiness. Their left-center rating also suits my typical reading habits. Everybody reviews their sources of news for fact-based reporting, right? Anyway, I lucked out, and they had a special for only $39 instead of $100 for a digital-only subscription. Why is local news so much more expensive? Is it just a matter of scale, so that fewer subscribers means higher cost per subscriber?

In addition, I spent some more of my COVID relief check by donating to local news outlets, MinnPost and North News. I would've donated to Insight News too, but I couldn't figure out how. Still, though, I hope I helped my neighborhood at least a little bit by supporting local journalism.

I know, having enough spare money to contribute any amount to journalism is disgustingly elitist these days. How did we get so bad off that me earning $37K/year puts me better off than 33% of Americans (even before 2020 happened, now is it 50%, or even higher)? Something has gone very, very wrong.

I also want to know how the problem houses on this block always have cars and trucks outside that are so much nicer than my rust bucket? Oh, yeah, it's probably because they're operating tax-free businesses like all the best companies do.

Entry tags:

I was on the news

Over the decades, I've appeared on local news a few times. It happened again today.

KSTP did a piece for their 10pm news today about the citizen patrols within the Jordan community. We are occasionally the worst violent crime neighborhood in all of Minneapolis. We've had recent homicides, and last week we held a community meeting outdoors near the site of one of those homicides. Some of that footage made the news tonight.

Also, they called me a few minutes before the end of my workday today, and they asked me to come to the community office (rented in a local church) to do an additional interview with KSTP reporter Todd Wilson. They included some footage from that piece too.

I still intend to write longer articles about the dark side of Jordan. I'm woken too many nights by gunshots, and we have too many memorials attached to trees on our sidewalks.

I still intend to write longer articles about the potential to be found here too. There are many people who want peace, many people who want to build a future rather than wreck one. There are beautiful old homes, and wonderfully personalized front yards. I hope that my front yard remains one such eccentricity in Jordan.

For tonight, though, on this too-humid and too-hot night (without air conditioning, whew!), the video segment (local archive) will have to suffice.

Entry tags:

news

zombie apocalypse timeline

If anybody asks, you can tell them that the zombie apocalypse started on Saturday, May 26th.

May 26 - Man eats face off victim. Growls at police. Ignores bullets to continue eating. (story)
May 29 - Man carves up his abdomen. Throws skin and intestines at police. (story)
May 30 - Man kills victim. Eats the heart and brain. (story)

Have Americans finally gone off the deep end of psychosis? Be prepared.

I still want out.

Entry tags:

news

followup: green goo

Back in July, I mentioned the report of a 15-mile stretch of green goo in the Arctic ocean near Alaska. I went searching today for any reports on what that stuff really was.

Basically, it was rotting compost that turned all oily and icky on the surface of the water. A phytoplankton researcher with the University of Alaska has two theories on the origin of such a large mass of seaweed:

A severe storm and heavy seas in the area brought up seaweed from the bottom, and it is now decomposing on the surface.
The seasonal ice melt created an infusion of fresh water into the salt water, resulting in reduced oxygen and plant life rising to the surface.

- http://www.soundingsonline.com/news/dispatches/238602/238602

I'm still not having any luck, though, finding recent news on that (potential) volcano in the Pacific ocean near Oregon state.

Entry tags:

civil war,
news

will it be 4 years of this?

Yes, the sky is still falling. It's not a good time to live or work in Dixieland.

A private group called PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, tracks violence against employees who enforce environmental regulations. The group's executive director, Jeff Ruch, said it's hard to know about all of the cases because some agencies don't share data on violence against employees.

From 1996 to 2006, according to the group's most recent data, violent episodes against federal Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service workers soared from 55 to 290.

"Even as illustrated in town hall meetings today, there is a distinct hostility in a large segment of the population toward people who work for their government," Ruch said.

"Feds probe US Census worker hanging in Kentucky"
- http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jbzG_BlkG2Hfc818EPRRn1bBlP6gD9ATHO580

The hanged man had the word "fed" (federal government) written on his chest.

It's like pulling a band-aid off slowly, wondering what new shocking thing will happen each week that proves civility is waning in America.

*sigh*

edit 11:19pm: I learned while watching Rachel Maddow tonight that the original AP news story on which this article is based may have stated details incorrectly. Authorities are being very tight-lipped about explanations. This man died of asphyxiation, yes, and he had rope around his neck that was tied to a tree. He might or might not have been hanged. He might or might not have had "fed" written on his body.

edit 9/26/2009 1:30am: Apparently it's all true as initially stated.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/census-worker-found-gagged-bound-nude/story?id=8677271

Entry tags:

giblets,
news

It happened at Cracker Barrel

The Cracker Barrel corporate website currently has a news release published in regards to the recent beating of a black woman at the front door to one of their restaurants.

September 18, 2009 -- Cracker Barrel believes that what happened on September 9th is reprehensible. It could have happened anywhere and we are dismayed that it happened in the entrance of our building.

Some of us, though, remember the name Cracker Barrel from years past. Another news release of theirs from 1991 provided the kind of language that is welcomed by bigots.

It is inconsistent with our concept and values... to continue to employ individuals in our operating units whose sexual preferences fail to demonstrate normal heterosexual values which have been the foundation of families in our society.

When a company issues statements like that to justify their firing of gay and lesbian employees, observers shouldn't be at all surprised when their customers exhibit violent racist behavior like this.

A public pressure campaign and stockholder votes over 10 years (finally winning 58% shareholder support) eventually moved the company to establish official language of non-discrimination. It appears now, though, that little change occurred in their business relationship with their customers. One reporter questioned in the 2003 February 04 issue of The Advocate how quickly a corporation can change its culture.

While most activists rejoiced at CBRL's announcement, others wondered whether this tiger could really change its stripes so quickly. They point to the company's 2002 annual report, which refers to several lawsuits, including two class actions, one by employees who claim they were required to work without compensation and another by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), alleging that the company has engaged in a "systematic pattern of racial discrimination in employment opportunities." In August 2002, the annual report notes, the Department of Justice launched its own investigation into allegations of racial discrimination at Cracker Barrel. "This [kind of discrimination] has been going on for so long," Summerville says. "I can't see that changing overnight."

Davis says both suits are without merit and adds that a judge denied the NAACP suit class action status in October. She also says the company is cooperating with the federal investigation.

It could have happened anywhere, sure. But it didn't. It happened at Cracker Barrel.

Entry tags:

the beatings have begun

Dismiss me for continuing to be paranoid if you want.

Hill, by all witness accounts, politely asked West to be careful, officials said. ... West threw her to the ground and hit her in the head with his fists and feet, police said. During the exchange, witnesses said West could be heard screaming racial slurs at the victim.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/20940073/detail.html

Meanwhile, one of my relatives on Facebook has asked people to friend Glenn Beck on the site. Yeah, that "news" figure who says (without retraction or correction) that millions of people were at the recent D.C. March because the university of "I don't remember which university" counted that many people from the video footage.

I distrust these people who obviously feel that they no longer hold any (or sufficient) political power. I disbelieve that they will employ peaceful and lawful means of reasserting their (self-perceived) political power.

This journey is leading nowhere that I want to go.

Entry tags:

news

obey God or mommy will kill you

"According to a statement of facts, the cult members stopped feeding the boy when he refused to say "Amen" after a meal. After Javon died, Ramkissoon sat next to his decomposing body and prayed for his resurrection."
- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090331/ap_on_re_us/child_slain_cult

Stuff like this makes me wish that all of humanity would just grow up and go atheist. More than one autistic child has died while being "exorcised" of his demon. I'm tired of all so-called omniscient and omnipotent deities. I like it better when deities have frailties that force humans to rely on their own abilities to survive instead of just giving up all of their authority to a better-qualified imaginary friend.

Monotheism is not my friend today. It's a cult only when it happens to somebody else's denomination.

mod +1: Urge to go walk into the forest and not come back.