Americans in particular, but everyone in general, please follow best practices to avoid the tripdemic this season: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140894415/what-to-know-about-the-fears-of-a-tripledemic-this-holiday-season

#npr #flu #covid #covid-19 #rsv #tripdemic #fluseason #publichealth

Chinese black hat, criminal hackers have stolen millions of dollars of COVID-19 relief money from the United States: https://www.reuters.com/technology/chinese-hackers-stole-millions-worth-us-covid-relief-money-secret-service-says-2022-12-05/

#reuters #covid #covid19 #covidrelief #hacking #hackers #theft #china #peoplesrepublicofchina #mainlandchina #apt41

@barbaraedelman Okay, I can accept that. I appreciate you asking nonetheless. Have you also investigated non-Latin languages? I cannot seem to learn German or Dutch to save my life, even being West Germanic languages. :/

@barbaraedelman Marry me.

@barbaraedelman Barbara, I _love_ Romance languages and the utility of Spanish in the United States is pretty hi. My Spanish skills are so-so, but I am also always looking to learn more. What kind of resources have you used to learn the language?

@Fatback65 But were I a conspiracy theorist, I would suspect these are not domestic, but Russian terrorists pinging our emergency response and grid stability.

@barbaraedelman Yes, all cultures (even Swiss!) are dynamic. As an anglo-American, I recognize that I was born with enormous privilege when it comes to language, but there really is no better prospect at having a universal language than English. The nice thing about language (moreso than, say, nationality or religion or citizenship) is that having dual affiliation is not inherently difficult or a problem and in fact, multilingualism is common and a good thing.

There is a national conversation in Switzerland about the increasing use of English as a lingua franca: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/english-as-a-common-language-in-switzerland--a-positive-or-a-problem-/46494332

#switzerland #english #swissinfo #thomasstephens #multilingualism

Vandals shot out power substations in North Carolina: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/04/1140647869/power-substations-north-carolina-gunfire-vandalism

Not mentioned in this article is a similar attack in rural California that occurred a few years back.

#npr #northcarolina #power #grid #electricalgrid #vandalism #terrorism #giuliaheyward #emergency

In a completely normal, very legal, and very cool move from a very stable stable genius, a former president of the United States has asked for the Constitution to be terminated and he be installed as führer: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63851751

He also coincidentally just had dinner with a white supremacist and an anti-Semite.

#bbc #bbcnews #45 #democracy #authoritarianism #constitutionalism #fascism #twitter #matttaibi #twitterfiles #truthsocial #trothcentral #antisemitism #holocaustdenial #whitesupremacy

Iran are disbanding the morality police: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63850656

#iran #peoplepower #democracy #goodnews #bbc #bbcnews #theocracy #police #policing #authoritarianism #siavashardalan #maritamoloney

Protesters are supporting labor in South Korea: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/03/1140548204/thousands-protest-in-south-korea-in-support-of-truckers

#solidarity #labor #latestagecapitalism #southkorea #trucking #npr #korea #protest #protests #strike #striking

Mainland China are regulating fonts: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1010091/china-to-hunt-down-incorrect-and-non-standard-fonts

#china #mainlandchina #peoplesrepublicofchina #fonts #typography #sixthtone #wupeiyue

As someone who is very hesitant about electoralism (2020 changed my mind in some measure), a democracy needs citizens to be engaged _between_ elections, via activism and organization: https://newrepublic.com/article/168802/expanding-citizen-power-beyond-ballot-box

Everyday democracy requires changes to our workplaces, schools, religious organizations, and all other institutions in society, not just the state.

#thenewrepublic #newrepublic #organizing #activism #democracy #astrataylor

@HeartOfChina Thanks for your perspective on this. I have recently read stories about the dozens of purported Chinese police stations operating out of Western embassies and I have no clue if this is nonsense or a real cause for concern, but Canada seem to be worried: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/01/canada-china-police-stations-cease-and-desist-warning

I find it hard to tease out what is alarmism and what is rational concern.

Tom Whitwell is back again with 52 things he learned this year: https://medium.com/magnetic/52-things-i-learned-in-2022-db5fcd4aea6e

#medium #tomwhitwell #2022inreview #learning #trivia

@Coctaanatis Exactly. The conservative forces in Indonesia are really pushing back to the autocracy days.

A criminal code revision expected to pass in Indonesia any day now will illegalize sex outside of marriage and offending the president: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/02/indonesia-set-to-make-sex-outside-marriage-punishable-by-jail

#sex #authoritarianism #indonesia #conservatism #islamism #guardian #theguardian #lesemajeste #lese-majeste

Three full years into COVID-19 pandemic (patient zero was infected in December 2019, died in January 2020), there have been c. 20 million excess deaths, 6.5 million confirmed deaths, and 650 million confirmed infections across every state/country/dependency in the world except Tokelau: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/excess-deaths-cumulative-economist-single-entity

I cannot recommend this piece on obesity interventions enough: https://www.grid.news/story/science/2022/09/14/why-arent-medical-breakthroughs-in-obesity-a-bigger-deal/

In short, there is a perfect storm of reasons why the first real break-thrus for obesity treatment are not understood and trumpeted and it is killing Americans. As someone who has been prescribed semaglutide and cannot afford $900 a month, this piece resonates.

#matthewyglesias #grid #gridnews #obesity #hormones #bariatricsurgery #fatacceptance #sciencereporting #publichealth #insurance #dietculture #diets