The Weekly Whatever: Justified Ancients of MooLoo
This week’s news about the worst site on the Internet
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Facebook’s own research confirms that it’s a hotbed of antivax garbage, and that its detection of same is “bad in English, and basically non-existent elsewhere”.
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Instagram’s own research says “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls”; Instagram’s boss responds by saying “We know that more people die than would otherwise because of car accidents, but by and large cars create way more value in the world than they destroy, and I think social media is similar.”
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Even after the 2016 elections were over, Facebook was pushing Russian troll farm content on over 40% of Americans every month.
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Facebook’s “XCheck” program deliberately lets rich and famous people get away with breaking the site’s terms of service: as internal Facebook documents put it, “these people can violate our standards without any consequences”; Facebook doesn’t even look at 90% of XCheck-protected content that gets reported.
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Political parties told Facebook that its algorithm was pushing them into more extreme positions.
Environment news
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Let’s check in on the 36 nations that signed the 2015 Paris Agreement… Good news! Gambia is on track!
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The waste generated by one Bitcoin transaction is like throwing two iPhones in the trash.
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Aiming to stabilize its electricity grid, China is hunting down illegal cryptocurrency “miners”.
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People keep buying homes in areas that will be ruined by the next decade of environmental disasters — because the government keeps selling them off cheaply.
Science news
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New rainbow-colored Aussie fly named after RuPaul.
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Scientists have potty-trained cows to use a “MooLoo” to reduce environmental pollution.
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Trigger warnings don’t work, and may even be harmful.
Pandemic news
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Trump-supporting clown dies of COVID. (No, this time an actual clown.)
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Self-proclaimed “right-wing religious fanatic” radio host who used to mock AIDS victims provides his best evidence yet that maybe there’s a god.
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Boy is taken to a Florida ER with acute appendicitis. There are no beds free because of all the unvaccinated COVID patients. His appendix bursts.
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The latest random COVID “treatment” antivaxxers are trying instead of something effective: gargling with iodine.
Video game news
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Activision Blizzard accused of committing labor violations to stop employees from talking about labor violations.
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“On September 24th, Margaret Thatcher will rise from her grave. Only you can send her back to Hell.”
Food news
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YouTuber raises pet piglet, delighting 100,000 subscribers for 99 days; then on day 100, shares video of his roast pig dinner, outraging them.
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Ever wonder how many S’mores you could make from the Ghostbusters Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man?
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The woman who sculpts butter into likenesses of dairy pageant finalists at the Minnesota State Fair is retiring after 50 years.
UK news
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Brexit may be causing food shortages, but at least there’s plenty of Marmite ale.
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Police warn about new “beaning” trend, involving teens throwing baked beans over your doorstep.
Political news
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Boris Vishnevsky is gearing up to run in Russia’s elections against two new opponents, Boris Vishnevsky and Boris Vishnevsky.
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EU hopes to mandate encryption backdoors by the end of 2021.
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Pennsylvania school district book ban only bans books by or about people of color, but the school board assures parents that’s a total coincidence.
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Amy Coney Barrett, hypocritically rammed in to the Supreme Court by Mitch McConnell at the end of the Trump administration after getting zero votes from Democrats, is suddenly concerned that the court might be perceived as partisan.
Business news
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How can companies hire diverse talent? Don’t worry, two white guys have raised $50m to try to solve the problem.
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GM to Chevy Bolt owners: Yeah, if you could just park your car at least 50 feet away from any other car in case it suddenly catches fire, that would be great.