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This is a coup. These are idiots.

It's really not that difficult to spot the differences. Armed military deployed domestically to control the populace and ensure power is in the hands of the person giving the orders? Coup. Civilians in stupid costumes with a high likelihood they're intoxicated? Idiots.

Now a feel free to test your understanding at home with these:

Item one
Item two

Oh, by the way, according to the current party in power, the National Guard will be staying in the capitol until at least the fall. And they'll be joined by the active military.

Coincidence, it seems.

I heard this on the Nature weekly podcast. I wanted to make a proper submission for this, but I can't get access to the paper, so all I've got is the abstract and what I heard and remember from the podcast.

Some researchers looked at thousands of recipes from all over the world to see if spicy foods really are more prevalent in hot countries (and specifically, whether they imbue antimicrobial protection from food-borne illnesses, which apparently is one theory for hot countries using hot spices), and they basically said no. The main correlation they found was that spicier spices were more prevalent with lower incomes and that it happens that hotter countries have lower incomes.

Bromham, L., Skeels, A., Schneemann, H. et al. There is little evidence that spicy food in hot countries is an adaptation to reducing infection risk. Nat Hum Behav (2021).
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-01039-8

ABSTRACT:

Spicier food in hot countries has been explained in terms of natural selection on human cultures, with spices with antimicrobial effects considered to be an adaptation to increased risk of foodborne infection. However, correlations between culture and environment are difficult to interpret, because many cultural traits are inherited together from shared ancestors, neighbouring cultures are exposed to similar conditions, and many cultural and environmental variables show strong covariation. Here, using a global dataset of 33,750 recipes from 70 cuisines containing 93 different spices, we demonstrate that variation in spice use is not explained by temperature and that spice use cannot be accounted for by diversity of cultures, plants, crops or naturally occurring spices. Patterns of spice use are not consistent with an infection-mitigation mechanism, but are part of a broader association between spice, health, and poverty. This study highlights the challenges inherent in interpreting patterns of human cultural variation in terms of evolutionary pressures.

The Half-Legal Cannabis Trap

In LA, people are getting arrested for what they think are legit jobs in the pot business. Will “decriminalization” just spread the problem nationwide?

[...] For years, Californians could legally possess medical marijuana, but stores weren’t allowed to sell it—in fact, the whole supply chain bringing it to them was considered illegal. Now, even though the city and the state are licensing cannabis shops, Los Angeles continues to struggle with its legacy of legal confusion and selective enforcement. Businesses can appear legitimate, and even exist for years, without any legal license to operate. Many of the illegal shops are in Black and Latino neighborhoods, with their employees vulnerable to arrest while owners are shielded behind shell companies. So as police and prosecutors attempt to crack down on unlicensed dispensaries, they appear to be reproducing the very social inequalities that legalization was supposed to fix.

Idaho Senate Passes Measure To Block Marijuana Legalization, Even If Voters Approve It On The Ballot

The Idaho Senate on Wednesday approved a resolution to amend the state Constitution to prevent marijuana or other drugs from being legalized.

If the House follows suit, the action could create serious complications for activists who are seeking to put cannabis reform measures on Idaho’s 2022 ballot.

Idaho Medical Marijuana Activists Approved For Signature Gathering Amid Legislative Complications

Idaho marijuana activists have been cleared to begin signature gathering for a 2022 ballot initiative to legalize medical cannabis in the state.

Kind Idaho, the campaign behind the measure, announced on Monday that it had received the official petition from the secretary of state’s office.

But this development also comes amid legislative complications, with lawmakers advancing a resolution to change the state Constitution in a way that would prevent Idaho from enacting legalization through this or a separate proposed recreational marijuana measure that activists also want to put on the midterm ballot.

Another wrinkle in activists’ plans concerns a medical cannabis bill that was recently introduced in a House committee. The legislation, sponsored by a bipartisan duo of representatives, is expected to be seriously restrictive, and its passage could undermine the ballot campaign, giving voters the impression that the state already has an effective cannabis program for patients.

[...] The campaign now has until May 1, 2022 to collect about 65,000 valid signatures to make the ballot this time around.

It must be harder to gather signatures during a pandemic.

On the one hand, if this worked I wouldn't have to put up with women's shit to get laid anymore. On the other hand, I really like boobs. Sigh, boobs win again like always. Curse you, you evil sweater kittens!

Opinion: No one is going to spend Bitcoin on a Tesla

Cryptocurrency fans were thrilled after a major buy-in from Tesla sent Bitcoin prices soaring. DW's Kristie Pladson writes that the hype shows why the digital coin will struggle to be more than an investment tool.

[...] Steadily rising prices make Bitcoin an attractive investment tool. As a means of payment, however, they represent something rather more problematic: deflation. In a report from news agency Reuters, one Bitcoin enthusiast said he regretted using Bitcoin to buy a Tesla in 2016. At the time, the customer paid $130,000 worth of Bitcoin for the vehicle using a Bitcoin payment gateway, a service that allows merchants to accept Bitcoin transactions via a middleman.

The $130,000 he spent on the car would have been worth over $14 million today. The "novelty" of paying with Bitcoin wasn't enough to make up for the lost value, he said.

Previously: Tesla Buys $1.5 Billion in Bitcoin, Plans to Accept it as Payment

The real thing: my battle to beat a 27-year Diet Coke addiction

I have been obsessed with the sugar-free soda since I was four, spending £500 a year on up to seven cans a day. This is what happened when I tried to quit

Got this little tidbit passed to me a few minutes ago, thought I'd share. That sound you just heard? That was the narrative that there were no voting shenanigans and that the courts agreed shattering to tiny little pieces.

Man, third submission rejection in a row due to non-activity.

. . . . . .

Obituary: Paul Crutzen, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Ozone Layer Chemist and Anthropocene Advocate

The Max Planck Institute announced on 28 January the passing of Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen.

Paul J. Crutzen passed away on 28 January 2021 at the age of 87 following several years of illness. Born in the Netherlands, he was Director of the Atmospheric Chemistry Department at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz from 1980 to 2000. “Paul J. Crutzen was a pioneer in many ways," says Martin Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society. "He was the first to show how human activities damage the ozone layer. For his scientific work on the Earth's atmosphere, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995, together with Mario J. Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland. This knowledge about the causes of ozone depletion was the basis for the worldwide ban on ozone-depleting substances - a hitherto unique example of how Nobel Prize-winning basic research can directly lead to a global political decision.

Incidentally, Mario Molina also passed fairly recently.

So, there's this: Oh my ... 64 PERCENT of Republican voters say they'd join a new Trump-led political party, according to a new poll.

You folks are welcome to weigh in on this but I don't have anything in particular to say on the matter. I owe neither Trump nor the Republicans any loyalty, nor do I hate their breathing guts. I really don't care except in the sense of would it be better or worse long-term for the country and I haven't decided which would be more likely yet. It is kind of interesting though.

Have fun.

Intel Fires Back at Apple's M1 Processors With Benchmarks

In November 2020, Apple announced M1. By the end of the year, it announced three devices — the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and the Mac Mini — that ditched Intel's processors.

Those devices received largely positive reviews based on benchmark performance and battery life. But Intel has also released its 11th Gen "Tiger Lake" processors, and after several months of silence, now it's firing back at Apple. Slides from the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker shows how it tested, and why it thinks Windows 10 laptops can beat back Apple's ARM-based solution.

[...] For pure productivity performance, Intel’s testing eschews typical benchmarks. Sure, it used Principled Technologies' WebXPRT 3, but the Microsoft Office 365 tests appear to be based on Intel's internal RUG (real-world usage guideline) tests. Intel claims the 11th-Gen system, an internal whitebox with an Intel Core i7-1185G7 and 16GB of RAM, is 30% faster overall in Chrome and faster in every Office task. This largely goes against what we saw in our 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 review, where benchmarks showed M1 to be largely on the same level, if not better.