Jilly_in_VA
Jilly_in_VA's Journal'The lunacy is getting more intense': how Birds Aren't Real took on the conspiracy theorists
In early 2017, Peter McIndoe, now 23, was studying psychology at the University of Arkansas, and visiting friends in Memphis, Tennessee. He tells me this over Zoom from the US west coast, and has the most arresting face – wide-eyed, curious and intense, like the lead singer of an indie band, or a young monk. “This was right after the Donald Trump election, and things were really tense. I remember people walking around saying they felt as if they were in a movie. Things felt so unstable.”
It was the weekend of simultaneous Women’s Marches across the US (indeed, the world), and McIndoe looked out of the window and noticed “counterprotesters, who were older, bigger white men. They were clear aggravators. They were encroaching on something that was not their event, they had no business being there.” Added to that, “it felt like chaos, because the world felt like chaos”.
McIndoe made a placard, and went out to join the march. “It’s not like I sat down and thought I’m going to make a satire. I just thought: ‘I should write a sign that has nothing to do with what is going on.’ An absurdist statement to bring to the equation.”
That statement was “birds aren’t real”. As he stood with the counterprotesters, and they asked what his sign meant, he improvised. He said he was part of a movement that had been around for 50 years, and was originally started to save American birds, but had failed. The “deep state” had destroyed them all, and replaced them with surveillance drones. Every bird you see is actually a tiny feathered robot watching you.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/14/the-lunacy-is-getting-more-intense-how-birds-arent-real-took-on-the-conspiracy-theorists
Herschel Walker Claims to Own Companies That Don't Exist
Former NFL star Herschel Walker has made millions in business ventures since he retired in 1997, and he claims to be worth more than $29 million today.
But despite that success, the Republican Senate hopeful and longtime friend of Donald Trump has, for whatever reason, chosen to dramatically inflate his business record, according to a Daily Beast investigation. In doing so, Walker has established a parallel record of demonstrably false claims, many of which appear to bear no resemblance to reality whatsoever.
While Walker’s business record has been picked over before—including in an Associated Press review of “exaggerated claims of financial success”—The Daily Beast has reviewed documents and other records that shine new light on previously unexamined, and particularly egregious, false claims.
Those claims include running the largest minority-owned food company in the United States; owning multiple chicken plants in another state; and starting and owning an upholstery business which was also, apparently, at one point in his telling, the country’s largest minority-owned apparel company.
While the chasm between Walker’s vision and reality often appears staggering—and applies not just to business but to multiple dimensions of his personal life as well—he might be playing fast and loose with the concept of “ownership.” But it’s unclear whether he transposed this fanciful structure onto his candidate financial disclosure, which claims a net worth of between $29 million and $65 million, and which, according to a Georgia Public Broadcasting report, merits further scrutiny.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/herschel-walker-claims-to-own-companies-that-dont-exist?ref=home
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This guy...
Why jobs are full of inane busywork
When employees are on the clock, most managers expect them to keep busy through the workday. This may mean either completing tasks within their remits, or finding ways to make sure their hands are in some work-related project. Even when workflows deliver some downtime, the message from management is generally clear: find a way to keep working.
If workers appear to twiddle their thumbs, some managers step in with ‘busywork’ to keep their employees occupied. “Busywork is something that doesn't have a purpose,” says leadership and development trainer Randy Clarke, based in Indiana, US. “It doesn't lead towards reaching any goals, it doesn't improve the person, the operation or the culture.”
Examples of busywork might include compiling a pointless report, colour-coding a spreadsheet or proofreading a presentation that has already been checked. One 2016 study of 600 knowledge workers showed they spent just 39% of their workdays doing their actual jobs, with the rest dedicated to meetings, emails and busywork such as writing status reports for managers.
In the office, managers might assign busywork based on a quick visual check of what employees are doing. But the switch to remote work during the pandemic has changed that, as many managers can no longer easily monitor their employees. While studies suggest many remote employees are significantly more productive, they are also working significantly longer hours. Does this mean that managers are assigning more busywork? And would it really be so bad if employees took a break when there was nothing to do?
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220411-the-managerial-obsession-with-busywork
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Reminding you that school was too, until you got to college
Man arrested in Brooklyn subway attack charged with terror
The man arrested Wednesday in the shooting of 10 people on a Brooklyn subway was charged with a federal terrorism offense, a day after the attack on a crowded rush-hour train.
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, announced the charge against Frank R. James, 62, at an afternoon press conference. James was taken into custody in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood shortly beforehand.
Law enforcement located James after police received a tip about his whereabouts.
James is accused in the Tuesday attack in which five people were in critical condition after the morning shooting, but all 10 gunshot victims were expected to survive. The charge against him carries a sentence of up to life in prison and pertains to terrorist or other violent attacks against mass transit systems. There is no indication that James had ties to terror organizations — international or otherwise — and the motive remains unclear, Peace said.
https://apnews.com/article/police-hunt-brooklyn-subway-gunman-8b4e1efee5d08c06050c7b09172829d3
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I said elsewhere this morning that his actions were terroristic and therefore he was a terroist and I actually had people disagree with me
My Son Asked Me How Two Men Have Sex. My Reaction Surprised Me.
As my 10-year-old gets ready to enter middle school next year, he’s been getting increasingly curious about bodies, puberty, and of course, s-e-x. He’s not interested in having sex, he’s quick to inform me ― in fact, the first time I explained the physical machinations of intercourse, his initial response was, “I don’t know, I’d rather play video games.”
But he is interested in understanding sex, a circumstance that has led to a series of increasingly difficult-to-answer queries along the lines of “But what does semen look like?”
We’ve looked at a diagram of the inside of a penis together. We found out that the hole on the tip of the penis is called the “urinary meatus.” I finally convinced him that a man doesn’t pee inside a woman to make a baby. It’s been a wild time.
I try to answer his questions as honestly as is age-appropriate while using the clinical and appropriate terms for body parts and sex acts. Sometimes, I get a little stumped or tongue-tied by questions I didn’t anticipate, like when he asked me how old you have to be to have sex. (I came up with: “There’s no set age, but you want to make sure you’re emotionally mature enough to handle it, that you’ve found someone you trust enough to take that step with, and that you have the necessary information to do it safely. Also, sex should never happen between children and adults.”)
While it’s not always easy or comfortable to have these conversations, I love that my preteen feels comfortable with himself and unashamed to approach me with any and all questions about sex and sexuality. (Although I did have to tell him recently that it’s not necessary to inform me every time he has an erection.)
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gay-lgbtq-inclusive-sex-education_n_624dee6fe4b0d8266ab4a458
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Long and really thoughtful article. Not a question my kids asked me, but.....
Coach Attacks Youth Baseball Umpire, Who's Taken Off Field On A Stretcher
A youth baseball coach in The Colony, Texas, became so enraged by a call at the plate and being ejected that he shoved the umpire to the ground, viral video shows. (Watch it below.)
The Colony police awaited the signing of an arrest warrant for the coach on a charge of misdemeanor assault to cause bodily injury, police spokesperson Rick De La Cruz told HuffPost on Wednesday.
The coach, whose name was being withheld by law enforcement as of Wednesday afternoon, was banned from further tournaments.
“The worst thing was the kids having to see this,” L’Erin Hampton, whose 24 Sports organization ran the competition, told HuffPost on Wednesday.
The umpire, Sam Phelps, told Fox 4 that his neck snapped from the impact. A witness, Ryan Walke, said Phelps was on the ground for 10 to 15 minutes before being taken to the hospital on a stretcher.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/youth-umpire-sam-phelps-shoved-texas_n_6256e5dae4b0723f801412b7
Wave of union victories suggests union-busting consultants may have lost their sway
The nation’s anti-union consultants and lawyers – who have made millions of dollars fighting against union drives – have just been through some of their worst weeks ever as unions racked up wins at Amazon, Starbucks, REI, the New York Times, MIT and other places.
These consultants and lawyers – often called “union busters” – have done so poorly that John Logan, a professor who has studied “union avoidance” efforts for two decades, says their anti-union kryptonite seems to have suddenly lost much of its power. “For decades, the consultants have seemed almost invincible. Many firms have boasted victory rates of over 95%,” said Logan, a professor at San Francisco State. But in Staten Island, “the Amazon Labor Union turned the tables on the company’s anti-union consultants” and showed they may have been “more of a liability than an asset”.
Logan said anti-union consultants are often no longer as effective because workers and their attitudes have changed: workers, especially younger workers, are braver about speaking out, they’re using social media to outmaneuver the consultants, and they’re embracing highly effective strategies, like worker-to-worker organizing and interrupting so-called captive audience meetings, where consultants discuss the supposed evils of unions. Logan said workers often used to be far more scared to stand up to anti-union consultants, and one reason workers are less frightened is that the low jobless rate makes it easier for workers to find another job if they get fired for supporting a union.
“They survived the pandemic, and they’re no longer so fearful,” Logan said. “The pandemic was such a frightening experience that workers have recalibrated their sense of risk about what they’re prepared to do in their lives. They’re more prepared to join a union campaign. They feel they’ve repeatedly been disrespected while their employers were making billions of dollars.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/13/union-victories-busting-consultants-amazon-tactics
Giants' Alyssa Nakken makes MLB history as first female coach on field
Alyssa Nakken made major league history as the first female coach on the field in a regular-season game, and the Giants pounded the San Diego Padres 13-2 on Tuesday night.
The 31-year-old Nakken took over at first base in the third inning after Antoan Richardson got ejected. When she was announced as Richardson’s replacement, Nakken was greeted with a warm ovation from the crowd at Oracle Park. She also received a congratulatory handshake from Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer.
“I think we’re all inspirations doing everything that we do on a day-to-day basis and I think, yes, this carries a little bit more weight because of the visibility, obviously there’s a historical nature to it,” Nakken said. “But again, this is my job.”
San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler said Nakken had “prepared for this moment” while working with Richardson and others.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/apr/13/alyssa-nakken-first-female-coach-san-francisco-giants
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And one more barrier down. Not a Giants fan, but thanks, guys.
Back from the dead? Elusive ivory-billed woodpecker not extinct, researchers say
In terms of elusiveness, it is the Bigfoot or Loch Ness monster of the bird world, so rare and undetectable that the US government declared it extinct last year. But the ivory-billed woodpecker is, in fact, still alive and pecking in the forests of Louisiana, a team of researchers has claimed.
A series of grainy pictures and observations of the bird, which had its last widely accepted sighting in 1944, show that the scrupulously furtive woodpecker is still holding on in the swampy forests of the US south, according to the team’s new research, which is yet to be peer-reviewed.
A three-year quest to find the woodpecker involved scientists trudging through an undisclosed portion of Louisiana woodland to observe the bird and take audio recordings. Unmanned trail cameras, set up to take pictures on a time lapse, and a drone were used to capture photos of the creature.
Steve Latta, the director of conservation at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh who led the effort, said each member of the team had encounters with the ivory-billed woodpecker and often heard its call, which has been described like hearing a child puff into a tin trumpet.
Latta himself saw the bird fly upwards in front of him, showing the distinctive white edges to its wings. “It flew up at an angle and I watched it for about six to eight seconds, which was fairly long for an ivory-billed woodpecker,” he said. “I was surprised. I was visibly shaking afterwards. You realize you’ve seen something special that very few people had the opportunity to see.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/13/ivory-bill-woodpecker-not-extinct-researchers-say
Bolsonaro faces hard scrutiny over military's purchase of penile implants
Further questions have been raised about military spending on impotence treatments under Jair Bolsonaro after allegations Brazil’s defense ministry had approved the purchase of penile implants costing more than half a million pounds.
Those claims followed revelations on Monday that the armed forces had forked out for more than 35,000 Viagra pills in what one leading opposition politician called an erectile “outrage”.
“[We] won’t allow Bolsonaro to turn Brazil into an orgy,” tweeted the leftist congresswoman Vivi Reis as the disclosures sparked an online outpouring of indignation and smirks.
The military insists its acquisitions are above board. The navy and air force claimed they used Viagra to treat pulmonary hypertension. The army alleged it had bought only three silicone penile implants, rather than the 60 reported by the Brazilian media, and had spent far less than the 3.5m reais (£560,900) originally claimed. “The army healthcare system is assigned with treating male patients for various types of ailments that might require surgery for the implantation of such prostheses,” it said in a statement noting that it catered to about 700,000 patients.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/13/brazil-military-penile-implants-purchase-jair-bolsonaro
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Let the puns begin!
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