Farmers Are Using Food Waste to Generate Electricity
Measles Death Toll in Samoa Rises to 42 ; The Army Built to Fight 'Medicare for All' ; and More Picks
Measles Death Toll in Samoa Rises to 42 ; The Army Built to Fight 'Medicare for All' ; and More Picks 12/2
Measles Death Toll in Samoa Rises to 42 (Mili)
From the Daily Mail: “Anti-vaxxers have been blamed for a killer measles outbreak in Samoa that has killed 42 people, the majority of whom were children under four. Low vaccination rates have allowed the disease to spread rapidly and infect thousands in a matter of weeks. The number of cases on the Pacific island surged by 213 in a 24-hour period yesterday, taking the total to 3,149.”
Evidence Mishandled by California Deputies in ‘Thousands of Cases,’ Attorney Says (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Disastrous. That’s what one attorney is calling the rapidly growing evidence scandal that has swept the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and that threatens to alter the criminal justice landscape in one of California’s largest counties. The ramifications are real: Orange County’s guilty could go free; the innocent wrongly jailed on convictions built on tainted evidence — or evidence that was never filed at all.”
Why TV Networks May Be Afraid of Investigative Stories (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “As networks have become part of sprawling, publicly held media conglomerates — ABC parent the Walt Disney Co. and NBC parent Comcast have grown significantly in size in recent years — risk management is now a major element of running a news division. ‘There is no question lawyers are more careful now,’ said Rick Kaplan, a veteran TV producer who has worked at ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN. ‘Why are they careful? The finance people are telling them, “If you lose, and we owe millions of dollars on a legal suit, you’re toast.”’ … Network news decision makers insist there has been no diminution of their efforts or pushback from their corporate overlords.”
The Army Built to Fight ‘Medicare for All’ (Chris)
The author writes, “The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future [is] a multimillion-dollar cooperative designed to overwhelm not just the swelling Medicare for All movement, but every single Democratic proposal that would significantly expand the government’s role in health care. … The overarching goal is to create a kind of anti-Medicare for All feedback loop, where the Partnership’s warnings are amplified through so many sources that they become ingrained in the national consciousness and make it feel — in perception, and potentially in reality — like the debate is shifting.”
Physicists Identify a Metal That Conducts Electricity but Not Heat (Chris)
From Science Alert: “Researchers have identified a metal that conducts electricity without conducting heat — an incredibly useful property that defies our current understanding of how conductors work. The metal, found in 2017, contradicts something called the Wiedemann-Franz Law, which basically states that good conductors of electricity will also be proportionally good conductors of heat, which is why things like motors and appliances get so hot when you use them regularly.”
