Hackers Tied to Russia’s GRU Targeted the US Grid for Years ; Monopoly Board Prices Hold a Dark Secret ; and More Picks 3/3
Hackers Tied to Russia’s GRU Targeted the US Grid for Years (Dana)
From Wired: “For all the nation-state hacker groups that have targeted the United States power grid — and even successfully breached American electric utilities — only the Russian military intelligence group known as Sandworm has been brazen enough to trigger actual blackouts, shutting the lights off in Ukraine in 2015 and 2016. Now one grid-focused security firm is warning that a group with ties to Sandworm’s uniquely dangerous hackers has also been actively targeting the US energy system for years.”
Justice Thomas Is Out of Order on 2020 Election (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “The 2020 election revealed rot in this country’s institutions. … In a direct shot at the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s election as our 46th president, Justice Clarence Thomas made clear that the ‘Big Lie’ about the 2020 election — a major source of institutional decay — has infected the Supreme Court, too. Thomas staked out his Trumpian position in a dissent from the Supreme Court’s dismissal of two election-related lawsuits in Pennsylvania. … Thomas seized the opportunity to rant against the nonexistent dangers of undetectable fraud and to suggest that the 2020 election — the most secure and reliable election in our nation’s history — was clouded by uncertainty that only the U.S. Supreme Court could clarify.”
Environmental Policies Not Always Bad for Business, Study Finds (Mili)
From ScienceDaily: “Critics claim environmental regulations hurt productivity and profits, but the reality is more nuanced, according to an analysis of environmental policies in China by a pair of Cornell economists. The analysis found that, contrary to conventional wisdom, market-based or incentive-based policies may actually benefit regulated firms in the traditional and ‘green’ energy sectors, by spurring innovation and improvements in production processes. Policies that mandate environmental standards and technologies, on the other hand, may broadly harm output and profits.”
The Prices on Your Monopoly Board Hold a Dark Secret (Dan)
The author writes, “Take a good look at a Monopoly board. The most expensive properties, Park Place and Boardwalk, are marked in dark blue. Maybe you’ve drawn a card inviting you to ‘take a walk on the Boardwalk.’ But that invitation wasn’t open to everyone when the game first took on its current form. Even though Black citizens comprised roughly a quarter of Atlantic City’s overall population at the time, the famed Boardwalk and its adjacent beaches were segregated. Jesse Raiford, a realtor in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the early 1930s and a fan of what players then called ‘the monopoly game,’ affixed prices to the properties on his board to reflect the actual real-estate hierarchy at the time. And in Atlantic City, as in so much of the rest of the United States, that hierarchy reflects a bitter legacy of racism and residential segregation.”
Doctor Appears in Court Zoom Call While Performing Surgery (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “The Medical Board of California said it will investigate a plastic surgeon who appeared on a Zoom call for his traffic violation trial while operating on a patient. Dr. Scott Green appeared for his Sacramento Superior Court trial on Thursday from an operating room, The Sacramento Bee reported. He was seen dressed [in] surgical scrubs operating on a patient who was out of the camera’s shot, while beeps from machinery can be heard in the background.”
