JohnShirley2023

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

So now they're carrying this flag around:

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

Creepily customized dishes and facial recognition: how might AI change fine dining?

Artificial intelligence could take personalized service a new, possibly sinister level – but can a chatbot replace a chef?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/16/ai-fine-dining-chefs-restaurants

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

Cancer among younger Americans is on the rise

Increases were seen in women and in younger people diagnosed with gastrointestinal and breast cancer

... experts say there are several possible reasons behind the trend, including rising obesity rates and lifestyle factors such as drinking alcohol, smoking, poor sleep and being sedentary. Environmental factors, including exposure to pollutants and carcinogenic chemicals, also likely play a role.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/08/16/young-patients-breast-gastrointestinal-cancer/

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

I'm finding the "not allowed to be able to use hashtags" thing too aggravating. I can type them in but they don't work, because I'm being punished for something that was never explained to me--I also cannot follow people easily now....So how does this migration thing work? You can take your followers and those you follow with you?

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

You know there are two kinds of public wrestling matches. One is the WWF thing, which is enormous fun for people (not so much the wrestlers, as most of them are treated badly by WWF and promoters), and everyone knows that while quite athletic in its way that one is not entirely real, outcomes being scripted and all. And the other one is like Olympics wrestling etc. Why can't someone promote real wrestling that has costumes and some drama, but it's actual wrestling in terms of rules and outcome?

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

Scientists Recreate Pink Floyd Song by Reading Brain Signals

"The audio sounds like it’s being played underwater. Still, it’s a first step toward creating more expressive devices to assist people who can’t speak.

"Scientists have trained a computer to analyze the brain activity of someone listening to music and, based only on those neuronal patterns, recreate the song...scientists hope to build new “speech prosthetics” for people with neurological diseases"

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/15/science/music-brain-pink-floyd.html

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

Addiction affects two-thirds of Americans, survey finds

Two-thirds of those surveyed said either they or a family member have been addicted to alcohol or drugs, been homeless because of an addiction, or overdosed or died from drug use. Moreover, 19% say they themselves have been addicted to drugs or alcohol, had a drug overdose or were homeless because of an addiction.

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2023/08/15/Addiction-affects-two-thirds-of-Americans-survey-finds/6161692109474/

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

If Trump is convicted (and he probably will be on at least two of the crimes he's charged with) and IF it looks like he's going to jail, I think he'll leave the country, making some speech about returning when justice is restored or something. He has his own private jet, for one thing. Would he be so blatant as to flee to Russia? His handlers would surely take him in. He might well go there as being the most secure option. And of course Vlad will want to debrief him more thoroughly this time.

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

Revealing the Smithsonian’s ‘racial brain collection’

The Smithsonian’s human brains collection was led by Ales Hrdlicka, a museum curator in the 1900s who believed that White people were superior.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2023/smithsonian-brains-collection-racial-history-repatriation?itid=hp-top-table-main_p001_f001

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

My newest story collection:

THE FEVERISH STARS

"Byronic gangster John Shirley’s singular work is distinguished by swans and knives of prose; divine menace... The many addicted to Shirley’s stunning work savor it as ground zero of the real deal." Richard Christian Matheson

"One of speculative fiction's wildest and greatest talents." Peter Atkins, best-selling author of Morningstar and screenwriter of Hellraiser 2

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-feverish-stars-new-and-uncollected-stories-john-shirley/17032418?ean=9788831959872

In English and in Italian!

@GustavinoBevilacqua

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

Evangelicals Are Now Rejecting JESUS as TOO LIBERAL (not a joke! Not The Onion!)

"Multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount and...'Where did you get those liberal talking points?'"

"When the pastor would say, 'I'm literally quoting Jesus Christ' ... The response would be, 'Yes, but that doesn't work anymore.' "When we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, we're in a crisis."
https://www.newsweek.com/evangelicals-rejecting-jesus-teachings-liberal-talking-points-pastor-1818706

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

[Did you know there were women Islamic commando teams fighting alongside the USA against the Taliban? There were. ]

She was lucky to escape Afghanistan. Two years later, she’s stuck in limbo.

This former commander of an Afghan military all-female special ops team, Mahnaz Akbari was among the 77,000 U.S. allies successfully evacuated to the United States...her status here still isn't cleared up as Congress has failed to deliver on the promises made to our allies...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/08/afghanistan-withdrawal-allies-afghan-adjustment-act/

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to science

I take it this means there may not be dark matter, or may be less than we'd supposed

Smoking-gun evidence for modified gravity at low acceleration from Gaia observations of wide binary stars

https://phys.org/news/2023-08-smoking-gun-evidence-gravity-gaia-wide.html

#science

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

These damned young people today...

"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets, inflamed with wild notions." - Plato, 4th Century BC

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to jazz

1. Some kind of restrictions have been imposed on me by Mastodon, but it doesn't tell me why, just that it happened and I can appeal. And I clicked their thing and put in my appeal, including "I have no comprehension as to what is going on here". The restrictions that I grasped were, if I follow someone, every time they must approve it before I'm following and also if I go to include hashtag this or that--like #jazz--it no longer works. If I look to see if it made it there, it didn't.

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

Reservation Dogs’ Revisits a Shameful Moment in American History

Third episode of third and final season of FX/Hulu series reveals Deer Lady’s tragic backstory, flashing back to her time at “Indian training school”

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-recaps/reservation-dogs-season-3-indian-training-schools-deer-lady-hulu-1234801699/

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

Many teachers said a principal sexually harassed them. He was promoted.

Educators and others reported Joel Beidleman to Montgomery County Public Schools 18 times in seven years. It made no difference.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/11/joel-beidleman-montgomery-county-principal/

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

This Candy Tasted Like Nothing. Why Do People Miss It?

Flavorless (?) Candy, a convenience store product in Japan, spurred debate over what the “taste of nothingness” tastes like, if anything.

A flavorless candy appeared briefly in Japanese convenience stores and may never be sold again.

It had no taste by design. Even its name, Flavorless (?) Candy — yes, with a question mark — suggested more of an absence than a presence.

• New York Times

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

Fentanyl overdoses kill over 100,000 Americans each year.

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to science

Lauren Schroeder looks beyond natural selection to rethink human evolution

'Additionally, “even though most of it is based in Africa, paleoanthropology is so white,” she says. As a Black African woman, “it was such a lonely place, actually, for a long time.” Schroeder has struggled to publish papers, received sexist reviews on papers and experienced instances of blatant racism.'

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/human-evolution-lauren-schroeder-scientists-to-watch

#blackhistory #science

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

Robbie Robertson, Master Storyteller Who Led the Band, Dead at 80

The Band's guitarist and primary songwriter collaborated with Bob Dylan and penned "The Weight," "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," and "Up on Cripple Creek," among other classics

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/robbie-robertson-the-band-obituary-1234803234/

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

Trump-Appointed Judge orders Southwest Airlines to receive “training” from anti-abortion group

Brantley Starr ordered three attorneys for Southwest Airlines to undergo "religious liberty training" conducted by the Alliance Defending Freedom , a far-right extremist group that opposes abortion. According to Southwest, Carter was terminated on March 14, 2017 for "a two-year grossly offensive campaign to torment Audrey Stone, then-President of Transportation Workers Union"

https://popular.info/p/judge-orders-southwest-airlines-to?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1664&post_id=135847720&isFreemail=false&utm_medium=email

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to scifi

Just for today--$1.99!

Sick of the same old judgement days? How about the alternative apocalypse: THE OTHER END.

The #ebook of my novel THE OTHER END is being offered by the publisher right now, I see, for $1.99. I think this goes on till tomorrow.

“Amazing . . .With this book John Shirley breaks the tape.” —Harlan Ellison

#ebooks #scifi #bookstodon #sff

https://www.amazon.com/Other-End-John-Shirley-ebook/dp/B00J90F7LY

Also available (more expensively) in paperback

JohnShirley2023, 9 months ago to random

[These right-wing Oregon state legislators boycotted votes, to stop Democrats from passing progressive bills. They got away with it for a while. But no more! ]

Oregon Secretary of State Says Republican Senators With 10 Unexcused Absence Ineligible for Re-Election

Ambiguity in the language added to the Oregon Constitution after passage of 113 raised questions.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/08/08/secretary-of-state-says-republican-senators-with-10-unexcused-absence-ineligible-for-re-election/

thanks to @vvandinsky