Hijack This Thread

[raison de arizona]

From 2020, but new to me.

A kite-flying festival turned terrifying in Taiwan on Sunday when a 3-year-old girl became entangled in tail of giant kite and sent flying high into the air.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/31/asia/tai ... index.html

[Foggy]

I love happy endings!

[RTH10260]

‘Disturbing’: 25 types of toxic flame retardant found in US breast milk
Research marks first time largely unregulated subclass of flame retardants called bromophenols found in human breast milk

Tom Perkins
Thu 20 Jul 2023 11.00 BST

New peer-reviewed research has identified 25 kinds of toxic flame retardant in human breast milk in the US, and all samples contained at least some level of the dangerous chemicals.

The compounds are part of the brominated flame retardant class, which are commonly used in plastic, televisions, appliances and electronics. The research also marks the first time a largely unregulated subclass of the flame retardants, called bromophenols, have been found in breast milk.

The chemicals are thought to be potent neurotoxins, especially for developing children, and the findings are “disturbing”, said Erika Schreder, a toxicologist with Toxic Free Future and a study co-author.

“The production and use of these compounds continues, and they are likely to impact children’s health until governments require companies to end their use and switch to safer solutions,” the study’s authors wrote.

The researchers, also from Emory University, the University of Washington, and Seattle Children’s Research Institute, checked milk samples from 50 mothers across the US.

Brominated flame retardants are a class of at least 75 chemicals used to prevent combustion in consumer products and electronics. Some older versions of the chemicals were removed from the marketplace in the 1970s because they were so toxic, and newer iterations have raised health concerns.

Among other issues, many of the compounds are linked to memory impairment, increased impulsivity, impaired motor skills, decreased attention and overall lower measures of intelligence in children. Some of the chemicals may also be carcinogenic. Humans are exposed to brominated flame retardants when the chemicals break off from the plastics, get in dust, and are either breathed in or ingested.

In 2007, some states started enacting bans on polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), one commonly used subclass of the flame retardants, prompting some in the industry to stop using or producing them. The new research found concentrations of PBDEs in milk seem to be decreasing over time – median levels in mothers in the Pacific north-west region are about 70% lower than researchers found in a similar study 20 years ago.

The findings show “regulations work for making breast milk safer”, Schreder said, but she added that it highlights how unregulated flame retardants are still a problem.




https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... reast-milk

[raison de arizona]

Great thread, Amira goes in search of the highest number of brothers on a restaurant. The results will surprise you! Maybe. There's a lot of brothers.

[MsDaisy 2]

Here's a four brothers bistro

https://www.fourbrothersbistro.com

[Estiveo]

Here, I'll end the suspense:

► Show Spoiler

21 brothers cafe

[Flatpoint High]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech ... ffled.html

Meet Janus

[AndyinPA]

Interesting. Thanks.

[Flatpoint High]

hey looooooooook!!!!!!!! IT'S FUD
https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-w ... and-2023-7

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Friday that Poland wants to seize Western Ukraine.

"The possibility is obvious," he said in remarks to his Security Council.

Russia has often deflected from its own invasion by claiming Poland has its own imperial ambitions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who last year ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine following the earlier occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea, on Friday warned that Ukraine could be invaded and occupied — by Poland.

In a video address to his national security council, the Russian leader claimed the increased military cooperation between Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania since the Russian invasion could provide an opportunity for Warsaw to settle historical disputes and stake its own claim to Ukrainian territory.

[AndyinPA]

After a day out shopping for new flooring for the house, we went to dinner at a diner we like. While we were eating our meal outside, the server came out and told us that a man had just paid for everyone's dinner. I'm sure he gave her a nice tip, but I gave her $10. She should share in the graciousness of that man, too. She said he does that fairly often.

I've heard of that sort of thing, but I've never been on the receiving end.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Cool! Good move giving the tip!

[neonzx]

Amazon bringing pay-by-palm tech to Whole Foods

https://abc7ny.com/amazon-palm-technolo ... /13529085/

The company announced Thursday that its Amazon One palm recognition system will soon be in more than 500 Whole Foods stores by the end of the year.

Amazon rolled out the technology in 2020, and it is currently available in more than 200 Whole Foods stores nationwide.

Panera Bread, Hudson airport stores, and sports stadiums also offer the technology.

Whole Foods customers who choose to use Amazon One won't need their wallet or a phone to pay, they can simply hover their palm over an Amazon device.

However, not everyone is on board for paying by palm. Some privacy experts have raised concerns about Amazon One and sharing biometric data.

Creeeepy...

[MsDaisy 2]

Amazon bringing pay-by-palm tech to Whole Foods

https://abc7ny.com/amazon-palm-technolo ... /13529085/

Creeeepy...

[RTH10260]

I didn't (yet) try to find out what technology is behind it, so pure speculation, but my first reaction about the technology is something like infrared sensors and being able to detect skin contours similar to a fingerprint reader. I would also think that it is possible to "read" the structure of blood veins, similar to finger oxymeters. So just an extension of already available technology.

[Maybenaut]

Amazon bringing pay-by-palm tech to Whole Foods

https://abc7ny.com/amazon-palm-technolo ... /13529085/

Creeeepy...

My next door neighbor many years ago developed a product called biopay. You signed up by putting your thumb on a reader at a participating store, and the thumbprint and credit card info was transmitted to my neighbor’s company. Then you’d pay with your thumb anywhere that had biopay.

My neighbor sold the company, but as far as I know it’s still around.

[AndyinPA]

No way.

[tek]

My guess is that it is near-infrared vein scanning

[Sequoia32]

Whatever happened to the guy in northern Floriduh who went to prison for his fake grand jury for President Obama's BC?

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

He died in prison leaving his wife almost penniless. His name was Terry Trussell.

[Sequoia32]

Thanks, TRL. I don't remember the died in prison part. I thought he got out first. I do remember the whining about losing everything and poor wifey.

[Maybenaut]

Thanks, TRL. I don't remember the died in prison part. I thought he got out first. I do remember the whining about losing everything and poor wifey.

IIRC he got a fairly long sentence, but only lived a few more years, if that.

[RTH10260]

Want to quickly spot idiots? Here are five foolproof red flags
The governor of Illinois went viral with a speech about seeing idiots in one’s midst. I have a few pointers of my own to offer

Arwa Mahdawi
Sun 23 Jul 2023 11.02 BST

“If you want to be successful in this world, you have to develop your own idiot detection system,” the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, recently told the Northwestern University Class of 2023. Pritzker, a billionaire and self-described “cheugy dad”, clearly knows a thing or two about successful commencement speeches: his talk has gone viral. While the 20-minute speech, which was organized around quotes from characters in The Office series, wasn’t entirely about idiot-spotting, that section of it seemed to resonate the most.

You can see why. We live in a golden age of grifters, bullshitters and scammers. We live in an age where some of the world’s most powerful people threw millions of dollars at Elizabeth Holmes, without doing proper due diligence, because she came from the right background and sounded like she knew what she was talking about. A fantasist like George Santos managed to successfully fib his way into government. And Marjorie Taylor Greene has a seat in US Congress despite routinely going on unhinged rants about, inter alia, the “gazpacho police”. Clearly not enough people have functioning idiot detection systems.

So how do you spot an idiot? Well, says Pritzker, it’s not always easy. “I wish there was a foolproof way to spot idiots, but counterintuitively, some idiots are very smart. They can dazzle you with words and misdirection. They can get promoted above you at work,” Pritzker said. “They can even get elected president.”

That said, there are some major signs to watch out for. The best way to spot an idiot is to “look for the person who is cruel”, Pritzker says. “When someone’s path through this world is marked with acts of cruelty, they have failed the first test of an advanced society. They never forced their animal brain to evolve past its first instinct … Over my many years in politics and business, I have found one thing to be universally true – the kindest person in the room is often the smartest.”



https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ern-speech

[tek]

ms.tek is reading stuff on the internet about the Barbie movie.
She says to me: "who is Ben Shapiro?"

[RTH10260]

[AndyinPA]

Nothing good.