Notices by Keith D Johnson (keithdjohnson@sfba.social), page 5

Sample snip of one of McMillan's sketches about the two-sidedness of #statistics.

"Drawing different conclusions from the same data, Don's slide reads, "Statistics: the other side.
When the lottery hit $1.6B, 146 million people bought tickets.
In the 2016 Prez election, 136 million people voted (10M less).
[Thus]
To get more people to vote...
Every election we should pick ONE voter to win $1.6B."
I'd vote for that.☑️

Photo of a sculpture of a child hiding under a school desk, with the caption "This Memorial Day we remember all the school kids who paid the ultimate price so Republicans can continue to get campaign donations from the NRA."

#Sign of the times.
Some, most, political parties, on the other hand, insist on repeating the same mistakes over and over and over and...

@hannu_ikonen Readable without a paywall / adwall at https://archive.ph/v4B7K

#Musk is a free-speech absolutelynotist.
"This is why right-wing #billionaires sue people reporting on them," continued Collins, who previously worked as a reporter for #NBC News covering, among other thing, right-wing disinformation. "They know they can't win these lawsuits. But they also know legal fees will cripple the little guy reporting on their lies & crimes. This is how free speech is actually chilled—vengeful dipshit billionaires.
"This is the latest example of billionaires & pandering politicians abusing the legal system to retaliate against their critics & harm the public's right to know,""
https://www.commondreams.org/news/elon-musk-media-matters-suit

Jenna Orkin, on another platform, shared this image, without comment. I looked into the story. I was 11 at the time.:

"Just 10 "superspreader" users on #Twitter were responsible for more than a third of the misinformation posted over an eight-month period, according to a new report.

In total, 34% of the "low credibility" content posted to the site between January & October of 2020 was created by the 10 users identified by researchers based in the US & UK. More than 70 per cent of posts came from just 1,000 accounts.

This amounted to more than 815,000 tweets." https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-23/twitter-misinformation-x-report/103878248

"As waters rise, wetlands — states' natural barrier against major storms — are in a state of “drowning.” Choked septic systems are failing & threatening to contaminate waterways. Insurance companies are raising rates, limiting policies or even bailing in some places, casting uncertainty over future home values in #flood-prone areas.

Roads increasingly are falling below the highest tides, leaving drivers stuck in repeated delays, or forcing them to slog through salt water to reach homes, schools, work & places of worship. In some communities, researchers & public officials fear, rising waters could periodically cut off some people from essential services such as medical aid."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2024/southern-us-sea-level-rise-risk-cities/? #ClimateChange #ClimateRefugees

NYT takes over Natl Enquirer's catch-&-kill role. The New York Pecker?
"How does The New York Times cover...the biggest presidential scandal in history and a Trump-appointed judge holding the case in her hands—on its front page? It doesn’t." https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/5/22/2242034/-The-New-York-Times-seems-to-be-Trump-s-new-catch-and-kill-outlet?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_2&pm_medium=web

Satellite radar data uncover 'vigorous melting' at #Antarctica's #Thwaites #Glacier

""Thwaites is the most unstable place in the Antarctic and contains the equivalent of 60 centimeters (nearly 24") of sea level rise. The worry is that we are underestimating the speed that the glacier is changing."
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-satellite-radar-uncover-vigorous-antarctica.html?

2/ More at https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2404766121?

"The crucial moment from Rep. Crockett and MTG’s heated exchange you [maybe] didn’t see"
"Rep. #JasmineCrockett joins Charles Coleman Jr., in for Ali Velshi, to discuss the overlooked aspect of her heated exchange with Marjorie Taylor Greene during this week’s Oversight Committee Hearing, specifically the racial double standard and challenges of being a #Black woman in a position of power in the U.S. #Congress." https://youtu.be/mnkOqzYz0jY

I asked a guy, who was tearing up a driveway a couple miles from my place, if I could have the busted "urbanite" for #landscaping, as my site has NO rocks (unless they were brought here). I'm 72 and I really should find some helpers. Every piece gets picked up and set down at least 3 times before coming to rest, not to mention busting up the big pieces and fine shaping the smaller ones. It adds up and my knees let me know they are not thrilled. Oh, well. I think it looks nice & I love the work. Keeps me exercised while wearing me down. Like Life. #urbanite #hardscaping #permaculture #gardening

A colleague in S California built this awesome urbanite hardscape.

#Permaculture starts with a set of ethics: Care for Earth, Care for people, Limit consumption & share surplus.

" It’s the air we breathe, the #water we drink & swim in, it’s the #soil we grow our #food in, the beautiful landscapes we look out on in awe, it’s the peatland & trees & other #ecosystems which help lock up #carbon, the community spaces where we grow food together, it’s the solace from busy lives, it’s the escape we seek, it’s the adventure we crave… the list goes on! Nature is interconnected into everything in our lives whether we live in a hamlet or a large city. The natural world is woven throughout all aspects of policy making too, including transport, health, housing, education, environment, defense & the economy. But when it comes to nature, too often politicians can’t see the wood for the trees."
#climatechange
https://youtu.be/PhlMWK7GysA

We're Watching The Elite Panic in Real Time
by Jessica Wildfire

"The #AvianFlu situation is evolving daily now. Farmers & ranchers are starting to show "bird flu-like symptoms," but they aren't getting tested. Nobody is forcing them, either. The USDA is inspecting ground beef, but only in states with outbreaks in dairy cows, & only because other countries started rejecting our beef. As one epidemiologist told Scientific American, "We don't have a good sense of the spread because testing is voluntary and certainly not being done in a systematic way."

Avian flu has been spreading for months in cattle, & none of our government institutions can tell us anything except, "Don't panic."

It's pathetic.

You can look at nuclear meltdowns, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, & pandemics. Almost every single time, government authorities rush out to calm down the population. ***They censor accurate information.*** They put most of their emphasis on protecting the assets of the rich***."
https://www.okdoomer.io/were-watching-the-elite-panic-in-real-time/

2/ "So, to recap:

Normal people aren't panicking. The politicians are panicking. Their super donors are panicking. The dairy industry is panicking. The beef industry is panicking. They're not panicking about avian flu. They're not worried your cat is going to bring home bird flu. They're not worried your kid is going to drink bird flu milk & die. They're worried about money.

So, they're going to lie as long as they can. They're going to go through this charade of testing cattle, only in places where they absolutely have to. They're going to pretend they don't know that human transmission of bird flu is standing right around the corner, & it might've already started happening. They're going to act like everything is fine, until so many people start getting sick & dying that they have to do something, & what they'll do is mainly manage the panic they project onto us."

2/ snip "It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what's going on. I mean, we know where the money isn't going:

The money isn't going into classrooms. The money isn't going to faculty or staff, not even to reimburse us for all the professional development we pay for. The money isn't going to scholarships or financial aid. The money isn't going into better ventilation, even though the pandemic has taught us the importance of clean air. That would make a difference. That would actually attract students & give them something in return for their tuition.

We know where the money goes:

The money goes to hire new directors of athletics. It goes toward new athletic facilities. It pays for the Starbucks our vice-chancellors love so much. It pays for the sushi bars they think will attract a "high caliber" of student. It pays the inflated salaries of the upper administration, who make healthy six figures even when they're terrible at their jobs."

I'm a Tenured College Professor. I'm Quitting. Here's Why.
by Jessica Wildfire

"Most of my professor friends can't support themselves. That includes the fancy tenured professors, even at nice schools. They have sugar mamas & sugar daddies. They're married to lawyers and bankers, or IT managers. If they're like me, they've got a secret side hustle.

Here's an irony:

My university forces everyone to disclose outside income. So if you have a second job or a side hustle, you're technically supposed to report it. You're supposed to ask them for permission. They can say no.

That's right, the same university that gave me a chocolate bar for a raise also says I can't take on a second job to support my family. They're worried it would distract me from all the free work I'm doing for them." https://www.okdoomer.io/im-a-professor-heres-why-im-walking-away-from-my-tenure/

4/ snip "For a few years, part of my job was to do outreach with high school English teachers. So I drove around all over my state visiting high schools & observing classes. The rich kid schools had tablets & chrome carts. The poor kid schools had textbooks so old they were falling apart.

The rich kid schools had happy, well-rested teachers. The poor kid schools had tired, stressed, overworked teachers.

The same thing happens in higher education.

Hedge fund managers & CEOs have captured the boards of trustees of most public universities. They're funneling all the money to the top, away from smaller satellite schools like mine & away from the arts in general. They're directing all the cash & resources to business schools & STEM programs at their flagships, and they're letting everyone else wither & die. They don't want normal people to get an education, not anymore. They want normal people to do undesirable jobs, at least until the right robot comes along."