Today's Wow

"They" have been talking about it for a while, but we're there now - we don't have to wait - it's all but a dead solid certainty that we'll see some deep fake shit going mainstream very soon.

This has been debunked: https://youtu.be/voC0CcwDNUM

Today's Life Lesson

Decoding those job ads.

Competitive salary:

Low pay - not revealed until the 5th interview.

Flexible schedule:

You'll be working Sundays, holidays, double shifts, etc.

Be your own boss:

1099 contractor gig - no perks, no benefits, no nuthin'.

Seeking rockstar:

80-hour work weeks.

Fast-paced environment:

You'll be burned out in 3 months.

We're like a family:

Get out. Run. Run like hell.

Today's Tweet

It's OK if you're the boss

A guy was caught stealing $950 in stuff from Walgreens. It led to 309 news stories.

Walgreens was caught stealing $4.5 million from employees. It led to 1 story.

Wage theft is bigger than all robberies combined but you wouldn't know it watching the newshttps://t.co/9NhxvRarH1

— Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) November 30, 2021

Overheard

Most of the people who are addicted to conspiracy fantasies are driven by an immature self-regard. They think they deserve something better than reality. They think they're entitled to a much more exciting world than the actual one - a world in which they're smart and right.

You want a real world Hydra, so you can be the real world hero who defeats it? Who doesn't? That dream is so much more exciting and addressable than reality, which is mostly long stretches of tedium punctuated by crises in which most of the players are too busy covering their own asses - too busy weaponizing one of their own fuckups in order to deflect your outrage away from themselves and onto any of their preferred targets.

That's the grown up world, not the comic book universe these nonsense-worshippers are trying to make it. There is no SPECTRE, no SMERSH, no Global Jewish Cabal. And actually, the closest we get to a worldwide network of evildoers is the relatively small group of power-mad wannabe-conquerors who the conspiracy-driven meatheads are ultimately serving by chasing every stupid fantasy deeper and deeper into an endless rabbit warren of lies and delusion.

They're fighting the monsters of their own id.

hat tip = @AndyRichter

COVID-19 Update

New variants develop wherever there's a large unvaccinated population.

Three days ago:

And now, WaPo: (freebie)

Warnings omicron could reduce vaccine effectiveness spook global markets

Coronavirus vaccine maker Moderna set off alarm bells in financial markets Tuesday by warning that current vaccines may be less effective at combating the omicron variant compared with previous strains. “I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to … [say] ‘this is not going to be good,’” Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive, told the Financial Times in an interview Tuesday.

U.S. stock benchmarks headed lower at the opening bell Tuesday morning. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.9 percent, shedding over 200 points, and the S&P 500 dropped 0.67 percent while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.4 percent.

Markets in Europe also slumped. U.S. oil prices dropped more than 3 percent and shares of airlines and cruise lines, considered some of the most vulnerable to virus-related disruptions, also took a dive in early trading.

Bancel also said the variant may mean that vaccines will need to be modified next year. Germany’s BioNTech and its partner Pfizer have said they are working to understand what level of protection their vaccines offer and how to adapt them. Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac says it is working with international partners to collect and analyze samples of omicron in an effort to determine how effective its inactivated vaccine, CoronaVac, is against the variant.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which makes the popular antibody cocktail used as a treatment on patients who have contracted covid-19, may be less effective against the omicron variant, its makers also said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, omicron is threatening the U.S. economy’s rebound and growth on a global scale, experts say. The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome H. Powell, warned in remarks prepared for congressional testimony Tuesday that “the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant pose downside risks to employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation.” He added that “greater concerns about the virus” could exacerbate existing problems, such as labor shortages and supply chain struggles.

Here’s what to know

• Although the omicron variant’s mutations have concerned scientists, much remains unknown about its tangible impact: “It’s a complete black box,” one virologist told The Washington Post.
• President Biden called the omicron coronavirus variant a “cause for concern” but “not a cause for panic.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention significantly expanded its recommendations for booster shots, saying that all adults 18 and older should get them.
• South Africa, among the first countries to identify the variant, is preparing for a potential surge in infections. An epidemiologist there warned in a government briefing that the country could top 10,000 cases per day by the end of the week.

Today's Reddit

Close encounter of the dinosaur kind

COVID-19 Update

WaPo: (freebie)

The omicron coronavirus variant has been detected in Canada, the country’s health minister said Sunday, marking the first identification of the variant in North America as cases continue to emerge around the globe.

Two cases in Ontario were confirmed as the omicron variant, which has been called a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said.

What to know about the omicron variant

The variant has also been found in countries ranging from Australia to Israel, Botswana to Britain, since it was first detected in South Africa. Here’s where cases have been detected around the world.

“This clearly demonstrates the pandemic is not over,” Dominic Perrottet, the premier of Australia’s New South Wales state, told reporters Sunday after the variant was detected there. “There are limits to what the state and federal government can do: These variants will get into the country. It is inevitable.”

Here’s what to know

• The Biden administration is focusing on booster shots as the best strategy against the omicron variant in the United States.
• Restrictions meant to curb the spread of the variant are leaving international travelers stranded and angry.
• Officials are pointing to the variant as a product of global vaccine inequities.

Fun With The PDB

I don't know who came up with these, but they're brilliant and I wanna buy them a hot tub or something.

Today's Reddit

Trying this one more time. If the redditors delete it again, then all I can say is fuck you, Reddit.

An Example

The Daddy State Classics

Attempted turnaround
Pretending that science is fixed around policy, instead of policy being informed by science.

Accusation as confession
Saying the left is doing what the right makes a habit of doing.

The left generally makes a real effort to root their positions in fact. What can we deduce from the right's opposition?