DSmith_Tucson @DSmith_Tucson@mastodon.tucsonsentinel.com

COVID-19 defemitely not created in a lab: New study: “Our paper recognizes that there are different possible origins, but the evidence towards zoonosis is overwhelming,” says co-author Danielle Anderson, a virologist at the University of Melbourne. The report, which includes an analysis that found the peer-reviewed literature overwhelmingly supports the zoonotic hypotheses, appeared in PNAS, October 2022. https://www.science.org/content/article/evidence-suggests-pandemic-came-nature-not-lab-panel-says?et_rid=49233188&et_cid=4500062 #covid #science

Feel like I've spent the day talking about bummer shit, so here is something amazing:

An Internet Archive collection of Curio Catalogs from the 30s/40s. Every single page is a banger. An incredible capture of a moment in time and kick-ass visual reference.

https://archive.org/details/iapsop_curio_catalogs

If only there had been signs…
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RT @dandrezner
“[Sunak’s] predecessors were able to promote Brexit as a blow for British sovereignty or as a curb against uncontrolled immigration. Now, it is being judged on its economic impact — and being found sorely wanting.” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/world/europe/uk-brexit-regret.html
https://twitter.com/dandrezner/status/1595268204938817536

I'm seeing a lot of folks talk about deleting their Twitter accounts, and I get it. But I'd caution against that for at least one reason: verification.

As long as your preexisting Twitter account remains, you can have it point to your Mastodon account, proving you are who you say you are over here. You don't need to continue using the account. You can even hide your posts. Just add your fediverse details to your bio.

But if you delete your Twitter account, then someone else can claim your handle, easily impersonating you on Twitter, and potentially linking from there to a fake account over here.

Hard to imagine advertisers don’t want to put ads on a platform whose unpredictable owner continuously posts insults and explicit memes, where the entire brand protection team has quit or been fired and where “freedom of speech” means bringing back offensive and dangerous accounts despite advertiser warnings that doing so kills their trust in Twitter’s commitment to safety and inclusion
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/22/twitter-advertiser-exodus-musk/

The NIH finally got their SARS2 self-reporting tool off the ground. The data will be passed off to public health systems, which means case rates will likely reflect results reported through their system.

BOOST. SHARE. REPORT RESULTS.

https://makemytestcount.org/

Abe Hamadeh files lawsuit challenging Az election results, citing Maricopa County problems https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/112222_hamadeh_election_suit/abe-hamadeh-files-lawsuit-challenging-az-election-results-citing-maricopa-county-problems/
Abe Hamadeh, the Republican nominee for attorney general, filed a lawsuit late Tuesday alleging that Maricopa County officials bungled Election Day so severely that it cost him a victory in the race, which he lost by just 510 votes.

Pima County warns of rise in RSV, COVID & flu cases ahead of holiday weekend https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/112222_pima_rsv_holidays/pima-county-warns-rise-rsv-covid-flu-cases-ahead-holiday-weekend/
Respiratory viruses such as RSV, COVID-19 and the flu are spreading at higher rates than normal for this time of year, and people be cautious during Thanksgiving weekend, Pima County health officials said.

Cissy Suyat Marshall, wife of the late Thurgood Marshall, has passed at 92. Filipino American from Hawaii, she was an NAACP legal secretary and a key advisor and supporter of Justice Marshall and mother of his two children.

At 4’11” Cissy was often teased by her 6’2” husband: “How’s the weather down there?” Her answer: “Same as up there, I don’t care how tall you are. I can still beat you up—I’ll get on a chair.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/22/cissy-marshall-thurgood-dead/

A blockbuster investigation from *The Markup* and *The Verge* reveals that major tax-prep services illegally embedded the Facebook tracking pixel in their sites, configured so that it transmitted as much data as possible to the surveillance giant.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/22/23471842/facebook-hr-block-taxact-taxslayer-info-sharing

In their defense, the companies say that they didn't know that they were sending all this data to Facebook, and that they were using Facebook's #surveillance pixel to "deliver a more personalized customer experience."

2/

I’m glad to see officials from within the Biden administration calling out the bullshit.
Mayor Pete: “If you’re a politician or media figure who sets up the LGBTQ community to be hated and feared - not because any of us ever harmed you but because you find it useful - then don’t you dare act surprised when this kind of violence follows.
Don’t you dare act surprised.”

Veteran stopped Club Q shooter. Per NYT
It was Mr. Fierro’s first time at a drag show, and he was digging it. He had spent 15 years in the Army, and now relished his role as a civilian and a father, watching one of his daughter’s old high-school friends perform.
“These kids want to live that way, want to have a good time, have at it,” he said as he described the night. “I’m happy about it because that is what I fought for, so they can do whatever they hell they want.”

https://baratun.de/3i3h89V

The AP fired James LaPorta, the investigative reporter responsible for the retracted story claiming Russian missiles crossed into Poland that relied upon a single unnamed government source https://www.thedailybeast.com/ap-fires-reporter-behind-retracted-russian-missiles-story

It took me all day to find some more words to throw at this evil in Colorado Springs.

I waited because I wanted to be careful. I wanted to be a good reporter and not saying anything I didn't know for sure.

We can't wait forever though. At a certain point, you have to call a hate crime a hate crime.

https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/the-frustrations-of-careful-reporting-on-the-colorodo-springs-massacre