Afternoon Tea 12.7.2020 - Another One

Nurse Joy, my Pokémon needs your help.

December 07, 2020

China plants its flag on the moon, Singapore approves bioreactor-produced chicken, Google forced out an AI researcher, and Rudy “Dark Carnival Pokémon” Giuliani tested positive for COVID-19. It’s Monday, December 7th 2020, and this is the Tea.

China plants its on the moon, as lunar probe heads back to Earth (The Guardian) While China has yet to have its first “man on the moon” moment, they have joined the smallest of clubs. Only the USA & Russia have returned successfully with moon rocks.

Stop worrying about Middle East Oil (Responsible Statecraft) When the Cato “Might is Right” Institute and even neoliberal elements are telling us that we don’t need to conduct foreign policy with Oil in mind, we should probably listen.

No-kill, lab-grown meat to go on sale for the first time (The Guardian) Chicken Bites, made from cultured meat, produced in bioreactors, have been approved for human consumption in Singapore.

We read the paper that forced Timnit Gebru out of Google (MIT Technology Review) Last week, a leader in AI ethics research was fired by Google. She was fired after she was told a paper she was hoping to publish was rejected. The paper looked to unearth the environmental costs of processing large quantities of data for ML users. The results were bad enough that it seems Google felt it was worth it to not just prevent the paper from being published, but fire a star AI ethics researcher who was hired specifically for this purpose.

The Littlest Prince (New Republic) David Roth on Trump’s exit. I won’t even try to summarize, just quote:

If Trump seemed confused about where to go with this tantrum, it was likely because his television had not yet told him. Trump uses Fox News like a Human Centipede to generate the furious confusion that powers his politics; his anxieties and curdled impulses simultaneously fuel, and are fueled by, the programming he so hungrily devours. The singular imperative of cable news is less to inform viewers than to keep them twitchy enough to sit through all those commercials for catheters and reverse mortgages for the next hit of outrage. After sufficient immersion in this media dynamic, viewers do not reason through the information they receive so much as respond to changes in tone—to the sour sound of Laura Ingraham’s sneer, say, or the whistling teapot of Tucker Carlson’s stagy perplexity. Trump, like many of his fellow cable news casualties, watches television in the same blank and fulsome way that dogs might be said to listen to music.

After Defying Virus Rules, Bar Manager Drives Car Into Sheriff’s Deputy (NY Times) & More than half in FDNY say they’ll refuse COVID-19 vaccine (NY Post) These two stories are the strongest examples of tribal thinking that I’ve come across in a very long time. I wonder how many #BlueLivesMatter stickers were on the car that hit the deputy sheriff.

Trump lawyer Giuliani in hospital after positive COVID test (Associated Press) The plot arc of our favorite Dark Carnival Pokémon’s final season took a semi-expected turn over the weekend.

Crackpots are buying Faraday cages for routers then bemoaning bad Wi-Fi (Input) For anyone who hasn’t worked in IT, Faraday cages prevent transmission of the exact stuff that ensures your cell phones and home wifi just works. The Amazon reviews for these products oscillate from mildly hilarious to wildly exploitative and sad.

Humans are making so much noise that animals are having to change their calls to communicate, study finds (I News UK) 31 different species have had to modify the way they communicate (pitch, complexity, volume, etc.), to be able to reach others in the Anthropocene Din.

Native Californians got high on hallucinogenic plants and painted rock art, study finds (CNN) & Newly discovered Amazon rock art show the rainforest’s earliest inhabitants living with giant Ice Age animals (Exeter) Not only did our ancestors get super high and draw stuff, we drew a ton of stuff. From the Exeter research press release:

Some are so high, and inaccessible, special ladders crafted from forest resources would have been needed and they would have been obscured from view for anyone visiting the rock shelter. There are drawings of deer, tapirs, alligators, bats, monkeys, turtles, serpents, and porcupines, as well as what appears to be Ice Age megafauna. These now extinct animals are depicted in rock art in Central Brazil, but experts believe these drawings are more realistic. There are depictions of creatures resembling a giant sloth, mastodon, camelids, horses, and three-toe ungulates with trunks. These native animals all became extinct, probably because of a combination of climate change, the loss of their habitat and hunting by humans.

U.S. Marines Won’t Stop Taking LSD (VICE) Speaking of Americans taking LSD, the Pentagon has had to ramp up testing of LSD, a thing that regular drug tests don’t actually test for. Apparently bored soldiers on base were tripping face because LSD didn’t come up in the “SAMHSA 5,” the standard test that is given.

Small Business of the Tea: M!NDJACKET is a masterful selectro and streamer (tonight on Twitch!) one of my favorites for electro, industrial, synth-pop, cyber-goth, occasionally hip hop and all around genres to scare your suburban neighbors with. He’s also got a pretty sweet Tee & Hat shop, Mindjacket Designs, in case you want a “Tired of Winning” T-shirt to wear to Christmas Zoom calls.

Song of the Tea: Duumu’s has evolved from menacing “Anti-Sigur Rios” vibes to a gorgeously rounded and talented producer worthy of the light Monstercat is shining on him. Listen to this loud and smile.

3am talks on Sunday morning With your arms around me, arms around me Wanted to stay here in this moment Tried to stop time until its frozen You had me falling from the first look And now you’ve got me hooked, you’ve got me hooked Never had love before I saw you Never had lust before I loved you When did you learn to run from nothing You could be my extra something 

There will be light and warmth again one day. The festivals celebrating it are right around the corner.Yours,T