'I think I’m leaning toward Trump'

There wasnt even blood

A post shared on social media purportedly shows that President Joe Biden ignored a Black woman in the audience when he was greeting attendees at his rally. Verdict: False The full video shows Biden exchanging a handshake and hug with the woman. Fact Check: The White House announced recently that Biden has contracted Covid-19 and the […]

Scientists have developed a way to dramatically reduce the cost of recycling certain electronic waste by using whey protein. Their method allows for the easy recovery of gold from circuit boards at a cost of energy and materials amounting to 50 times less than the price of the gold they recover—these are the numbers that […] The post Eco-Friendly Sponges Made of Dairy Byproduct Can Extract Gold from Old Computer Parts appeared first on Good News Network.

Books Young Adult Spotlight Most Anticipated Young Adult SFF/H for July & August 2024 Horror, romantasy, and of course, VAMPIRES! Check out the best upcoming YA titles. By Alex Brown | Published on July 19, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share Some interesting things happening in the young adult speculative market this summer. Horror is still alive and kicking, and the stories just keep getting wilder. On the other hand, pretty much all fantasy is now being marketed as “romantasy,” so good luck to anyone trying to define that genre label into anything useful. If you were hoping for some sci-fi, the best I can offer you are a couple of genre-benders and some superheroes. On the plus side: vampires are back, baby!  Vampire Chronicles The Ones Who Come Back Hungry by Amelinda BérubéJo’s sister Audrey is the star of the family, until she dies suddenly. And just as suddenly, she’s back from the grave, with an oozing autopsy wound and an insatiable hunger for blood. As Jo steps into Audrey’s recently vacated role—joining her friend group and flirting with her ex-boyfriend—she also tries to find a cure to her sister’s increasingly bloodthirsty situation. Toxic family relationships with a vampire twist. (Sourcebooks Fire; July 2, 2024) Castle of the Cursed by Romina GarberEstela is the lone survivor from a terrible, unexplained event that killed her parents. After a stint in a mental hospital, she’s sent to live in her aunt’s ancestral family home, a castle in the Spanish countryside. There she meets the enigmatic Sebastián. There she encounters strange happenings and dark secrets. There she realizes that discovering the truth of what happened to her parents may turn out to be worse than not knowing. (Wednesday Books; July 30, 2024) This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings (This Ravenous Fate #1)The first in a duology from a debut author, this book tweaks the vampire mythos. It’s 1926 and Harlem is brimming with Jazz Age magic and mayhem. Elise, recently returned from Paris, is the heir to a mob empire that makes cash hand over fist hunting reapers. Layla, one of said reapers, is still nursing a grudge over Elise’s role in her getting turned. A series of murders forces the two young women to work together, turning enemies into lovers. (Sourcebooks Fire; August 6, 2024) Genre-benders The Second Chance of Darius Logan by David F. WalkerSixteen year old Darius has spent much of his life bouncing around between shelters and foster homes. Years ago, Earth was attacked by aliens, and although the planet was saved by the superhero team Super Justice Force, his parents died in the invasion. After he gets caught selling drugs, Captain Freedom, the leader of the supes, offers him a trade: instead of jail, he must join a rehab program working with the Force. Can he make something new with his life now that he has a second chance? (Scholastic Press; July 2, 2024) Grief in the Fourth Dimension by Jennifer YuKenny Zhou and Caroline Davison are dead. But also still alive? Kinda? The two high school seniors wake up in a white room with almost nothing in it but a giant television. They’re also not alone. Something or someone seems to be watching them. When they realize they can influence the world of the living, they decide to use their powers to help their families. Although Kenny and Caroline couldn’t be more different, the strange circumstances pull them together. (Amulet Books; July 16, 2024) Gallows Humor Here Lies a Vengeful Bitch by Codie CrowleyAnnie Lane isn’t well liked in her home town. Too crass, too rough, too bad. Until one day she wakes up dead in a river on Resurrection Peak. Her best friend is also missing. Ghosts haunt her town, and a team of fellow spirited misfits join her to help her figure out whodunit. Annie wants revenge, and she’ll get it even if it takes her entire Afterlife. This is giving me Lisa Frankenstein meets Undead Girl Gang vibes. Into it. (Disney Hyperion; August 6, 2024) Helga by Catherine YuWhen her father created her, Helga was supposed to be a docile, compliant automaton. Instead, she’s a curious, excitable, eager young woman chafing under his rule. As soon as he leaves for a two week work trip, Helga escapes her minder and heads into the teeming, tumultuous Amaris City. A tempestuous relationship with a boy who isn’t who he seems is balanced by new friends ready to show Helga the world, but an impending volcanic implosion puts a damper on things. A little bit Frankenstein, a little bit Poor Things, a little bit seminal 1997 disaster movie Volcano. (Page Street YA; August 20, 2024) Thrills & Chills Portrait of a Shadow by Meriam MetouiWhen her sister Inez vanishes without a trace, Mae sets out to find her. At her Brooklyn apartment, she discovers an unsettling painting, all white except for a peeling corner. Why did Inez have this strange thing? And what is underneath the white paint? Dev, the boy next door, offers to assist Mae in tracking down Inez, but there’s something off about him, something Mae can’t quite put her finger on. (Henry Holt & Company; July 16, 2024) The Dark We Know by Wen-yi LeeArt student Isadora left home at sixteen to escape her isolated hometown and abusive father. Now that he’s dead, she plans to return just long enough to collect her inheritance and polish her portfolio. Mason, a friend she abandoned when she left, convinces her to help him investigate the disappearance and deaths of other kids they grew up with. Something wicked is lurking in Isa’s hometown, and whatever it is, it has a connection to her. (Gillian Flynn Books; August 13, 2024) Hocus Pocus A Magic Fierce and Bright by Hemant NayakFour hundred years in the future, technomancer Adya is caught between colonizer forces and family struggles. Her sister, Priya, left home to use her magic to help defeat the invading British army, but when she gets into trouble, Adya makes some risky decisions to try and save her. A new ally, who has plans of his own, helps her escape the clutches of a local crime lord. To stop the colonization of her homeland, Adya must use her rare magic in ways she never imagined. (Simon & Schuster BYR; July 9, 2024) So Witches We Became by Jill BaguchinskyNell is looking forward to spending the final spring break of high school with her friends on a private island in Florida, but the secrets from her painful past follow her. Tensions flare as personalities clash, made worse when a sinister mist surrounds the island. Something hunts the teens from within the mist, and the things Nell desperately wants to forget are clawing their way out of her. (Little, Brown BYR; July 23, 2024) Anthologies The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power by edited by Terry J. Benton-WalkerI don’t need to know a single thing more about this anthology beyond the title. Sold. Here’s my money. But in case you, for whatever reason, need more enticement, this is a collection of stories where, instead of the trope of a character of color dying first in a horror movie, this time it’s the white guy. YA social horror is having quite the moment. Authors include: Adiba Jaigirdar, Alexis Henderson, Chloe Gong, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, H. E. Edgmon, Kalynn Bayron, Karen Strong, Kendare Blake, Lamar Giles, Mark Oshiro, Naseem Jamnia, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Terry J. Benton-Walker. (Tor Teen; July 16, 2024) The House Where Death Lives by edited by Alex BrownThis is a book about a house. Not just any house, but one filled with magic dark and strange. Each of the sixteen stories are set in a different room. Spanning different genres and themes, this haunted house anthology will leave you cowering under the covers. Authors include: Alex Brown, Nova Ren Suma, Gina Chen, Traci Chee, Linsey Miller, Rosiee Thor, Courtney Gould, Kay Costales, Liz Hull, Shelly Page, Justine Pucella Winans, Sandra Proudman, C.L. McCollum, Nora Elghazzawi, Tori Bovalino, and g. haron davis. (Page Street YA; August 6, 2024) Magic with a Twist The Lost Souls of Benzaiten by Kelly MurashigeAfter her friends drop her, Machi stops speaking. Her therapist sends the lonely teen to a Shinto shrine where she makes a wish to be turned into a robot vacuum cleaner. Why be human when it sucks so much? Benzaiten, a god of fortune, takes pity on Machi. The two head out into the world of the living and the dead to help Machi rediscover her faith in humanity and herself. (Soho Teen; July 23, 2024) The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe ChowPrincess Ying Yue was prepared for an arranged marriage. What she didn’t expect was a prince who was indifferent to her at best, hostile at worst. Locked away in her chambers with only a maid and her reflection to keep her company, she spends the days leading up to her wedding fretting over the fates of the seven previous brides who were never heard from again. The night before the big day, she’s sucked into the mirror. The Mirror Prince is everything his counterpart is not, but this new world holds dangerous secrets. (Delacorte Press; August 6, 2024) The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan IfuekoWith no family and no friends, Small Sade is alone in the bustling metropolis of Oluwan. She has vitiligo and uses a cane, disabilities that others may see as a sign of weakness but that she has learned to survive with in a world that doesn’t accommodate her. She also has the magical power to destroy curses. That ability that lands her a job in the estate of the Crocodile God who is suffering under an unbreakable curse. This is a standalone story set in the same world as the Raybearer series. (Amulet Books; August 13, 2024) Ghost Stories Trespass Against Us by Leon KempTwo years ago, four teens snuck into Saint Dominic Savio’s School for Troubled Youth, an abandoned reform school with a brutal past. Only three made it back out. Riley, Colton, and Vee are scarred, literally and psychologically. A documentary filmmaker and ghost hunter pays them to return to the scene of the crime, and things go even worse the second time around. Whatever is haunting the school has been waiting for them all this time. (Harperteen; July 16, 2024) Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C. ParkerFive years ago, Fern, Jaq, and Mallory found refuge in their little queer found family. One night while taking a break from the outside world in an abandoned house, Mal vanishes. Neither Fern nor Jaq have any memories of that night…until now. While at a high school graduation party in the woods, the two closeted teens encounter a spirit who looks an awful lot like Mal. Something terrible happened all those years ago, and it’s about to happen again. (G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR; August 27, 2024) [end-mark] The post Most Anticipated Young Adult SFF/H for July & August 2024 appeared first on Reactor.

Government workers are reportedly in a state of panic over the prospect of former President Donald Trump winning another term in office, according to E&E News. Bureaucrats up and down the federal hierarchy are concerned that a second Trump administration could cost them their jobs and put an end to liberal programs they worked to implement under President Joe Biden, E&E News reported. Trump has, if elected, pledged to implement reforms that would allow him to fire up to 50,000 civil servants at will, with the former president singling out workers who are incompetent, unnecessary or undermine his democratic mandate. “The first rendition of the Trump administration was really, really difficult, and we saw a mass exodus of employees retiring,” a National Park Service employee told E&E News. “If we do have an administration shift, other employees will also reconsider their positions and move to the private sector. I don’t know what I’ll end up doing.” Of the civil servants that didn’t exit during Trump’s first term, many worked internally to deliberately obstruct his agenda, according to Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff in the Department of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019 and admitted to engaging in such behavior. Bureaucrats are worried that Trump may seek to appoint administrators who agree with his agenda this time around. “He’s going to get people in place that are more intelligent and are more loyal to him,” a park service employee said. “Now I think he could do a lot of damage.” To replace large numbers of federal employees, Trump would reclassify them as Schedule F employees, allowing him to fire them at will. The Biden administration finalized a rule in April that would prevent their status from being changed involuntarily, however, allies of the former president have shrugged off the rule by pointing out that a Trump administration could simply reverse it, according to The New York Times. Amid fear that Trump’s plans may come to fruition, bureaucrats are making moves to ensure the Biden administration’s policies are as hard to repeal as possible, a senior employee at the Interior Department told E&E News. “The concern hasn’t been focused on who the Democratic nominee is as much as concerns about Trump winning and what that would mean,” they said. “From everyone’s perspective it is get as much done as possible. Also trying to bury into the agency programs [like environmental justice] so they can survive a Trump administration.” Conservatives are increasingly optimistic about Trump’s chances of defeating Biden in November as the president lags behind Trump in the polls and the Democratic Party grapples with internal disputes regarding whether or not he should be their nominee. “The mood is somber and incredulous,” one long-time employee of the Department of the Interior told E&E News. “The hope is we will not suffer through another term with the prior leadership, but the fear [is] that if we do, they will target employees they don’t like, make things up to justify whatever punishment they want and just cripple the good work we are doing.” Staff at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), meanwhile, are also upset and agitated, the president of a union representing some of the agency’s employees told E&E News. “So many of our members lived through the absolutely disastrous first Trump administration and his attempted dismantling of EPA,” she said. Originally published by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The post ‘Really, Really Difficult’: Bureaucrats Worry Behind Closed Doors They’ll Be Sent Packing Under Trump appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Thoughts on the Convention and Donald Trump

Cephalopods are always full of surprises that push the boundaries of what we think we know about animal life – and few are more fascinating than the octopus squid (Octopoteuthis deletron), a deep-sea loner with removable limbs and a strong tendency towards same-sex behavior. Most squids have a total of 10 appendages, consisting of eight arms and two long tentacles. However, as octopus squid mature, their two feeding tentacles are reabsorbed into their bodies, leaving them with just eight appendages.Some individual octopus squid have even fewer arms, though. They are one of the only known squids to purposefully lose one of their arms as a way to escape a predator, a bit like how lizards can ditch their tail if it's been grabbed by a bird. They’re also capable of regenerating the lost limb, a remarkable trait that only a few animal groups possess.A 2012 study observed 84 individual O. deletron using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and found that 17 (27 percent) of them had at least one partially missing arm. The researchers even directly witnessed this behavior, called autotomy, when the squids made contact with their ROV and shed their limbs in a panic.   An octopus squid (Octopoteuthis deletron) observed by MBARI's remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Doc Ricketts in Monterey Canyon at a depth of approximately 540 meters (1,772 feet).Image courtesy of MBARI; © 2019 MBARIThey’re typically seen in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington to Baja California. Per the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), the species lives at depths of up to 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) in the twilight (mesopelagic) zone during the daytime. When the sun goes down, they rise to the surface at depths of 500 meters (1,600 feet) to feed.Like many deep-sea inhabitants, there’s plenty we don’t know about octopus squid, such as their diet. It’s evident, however, that the species is preyed upon by a host of different animals, including whales, sharks, and even seabirds.To avoid becoming someone else’s dinner, O. deletron can change color, a behavior that’s common in cephalopods that live in shallow waters, but not so typical in deep-dwelling species. They achieve this through specialized cells in their skin called chromatophores, which contain sacs of pigment that can be expanded or contracted by the action of surrounding muscle cells, allowing rapid changes in color and pattern. Cephalopods can also shift their appearance using cells called iridophores, which reflect light to produce iridescent colors through structural interference, as well as leucophores, which scatter light and increase their brightness.                     Another trick up their sleeve is a light-producing organ that sits at the end of each arm, used to bedazzle prey, illuminate their surroundings, or perhaps woo potential mates.Speaking of mating, their solitary lives lead them to develop some fairly fascinating sexual behavior. O. deletron is particularly unique because it exhibits same-sex behavior as commonly as opposite-sex sexual behavior, according to a 2011 study.To reproduce, the squid uses a modified arm to effectively shoot a packet of sperm into the flesh of the partner, where it remains until the female can fertilize its eggs. However, it appears that the octopus squid is indiscriminate with who it attempts to inseminate and will often fire a sperm packet at fellow males. In the lonely depths of the ocean, you can’t miss your shot.“This is a solitary species that is not very abundant; it lives in deep, dark waters where opportunities for reproduction are few and far between. In response to that challenge, this reproductive strategy ensures that no opportunity for successful mating is lost. It’s kind of like buying a Lotto ticket, except the odds are much better," Bruce Robison, a co-author of the study and deep-sea ecologist at MBARI, said in a statement.

Ever been out walking and spotted a pair of sneakers slung over a power line? It’s not an uncommon sight, and with good reason. Shoe tossing – or shoefiti – is done all over the globe and for all sorts of reasons, so let’s dive into some of the most common theories behind this seemingly counterintuitive behavior.MemorialHumans have been memorializing the dead for millennia, with graves and burial sites dating back as far as the Neanderthals (though some of that may have been the work of bees). Since then, we’ve come up with all sorts of ways to remember lost loved ones, from Memento Mori to hanging shoes on powerlines.The practice has the potential to backfire, however, particularly in the case of a TikTokker who angered people after posting a now-deleted video where they cut down hanging shoes to sell. The stunt was criticized online for being “insensitive” after the user said, “When you see shoes on power lines, you might think of gang territory, but what I think of is profits,” tapping into a common legend about shoe tossing.TerritoryOne of the more dramatic theories behind shoe tossing is that it’s a marker of “gang activity”, marking territory or communicating messages, such as where people can buy drugs. Our old debunking pals at Snopes have labeled this theory a Legend, because, simply, there’s no one answer as to why people toss shoes over power lines.However, just because something isn’t a universal sign of gang activity doesn’t mean that’s never the case. As WBEZ Chicago found out when they spoke to Missouri state prison inmate Patrick Starr, once a high-ranking member of the Bloods gang. “To us in Kansas City it was about your crew and y’all marking your neighborhood.” According to Starr, other inmates from Chicago and St Louis “said that represented guys who were killed from each neighborhood.”It seems unless you’re there in the moment, it's unlikely you'll ever know the true motivation behind shoefiti. There is, however, one explanation that most of us can relate to.TauntingIf you’re old enough to have endured high school, this one likely won’t be surprising. In the United States, the standard utility pole is around 10 meters (35 feet) tall, making them a great place to toss someone’s sneakers if you really want to piss them off, being both too high to reach, as well as really dangerous.Wearing rubber gloves or rubber-soled shoes can’t protect you from electrocution from powerlines, according to Austin Energy. So, if some dumbass tosses your shoes over a power line, do not try to get them back.Wayward sneakers can hold all kinds of meaning and information, and in the case of marine forensics, those found sailing with human feet still inside can have a lot to say...All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text, images, and links may be edited, removed, or added to at a later date to keep information current.

Donald Trump has a lot of things to celebrate this week, but a foregone conclusion in November isn’t one of them. Joe Biden is down in the polls and losing the unwinnable war against time’s toll. But he’s nothing if not tenacious, and the president has a trick ready to turn Trump’s latest triumph — over an assassin’s bullet — into a political defeat. In his Oval Office remarks Sunday, Biden tied the attempt on Trump’s life to a litany of other acts of political violence, including the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. He was returning to a winning theme from 2020, when the summer of rage following the death of George Floyd gave Democrats an opening to identify Trump with chaos. The Biden campaign’s next move is obvious enough — blame Trump and the GOP themselves for the assassination attempt by linking it to their position on guns. Just why 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to murder Trump isn’t clear. But how he tried to do it is significant enough for Biden’s purposes: Crooks used a rifle, and whatever his ideological interests may have been, he’s confirmed to have been a firearms enthusiast. He tried out for his high school’s shooting team, belonged to a gun club, and died wearing the T-shirt of a pro-gun YouTube channel, Demolition Ranch. A vote for Trump, Democrats will say, is a vote for political instability and putting deadly weapons in the hands of unstable individuals like Crooks. Republicans, meanwhile, have already sprung a trap on themselves. To score cheap political points, or because they’re simply victims of their own groupthink, Trump supporters have started echoing a Democratic theme. They think they’re turning the tables on progressives by holding them accountable for creating a climate of violence with their extreme anti-Trump rhetoric. Trump even appears as Adolf Hitler on a recent New Republic cover. Isn’t that an incitement to murder the man? When President Biden himself talks about putting Trump in a bull’s-eye, isn’t that language likely to lead to someone like Crooks actually putting him in the crosshairs? Republicans never thought so before, whenever they used such "targeting" metaphors, and progressives were the ones accusing them of inspiring violence. It shouldn’t take an exceptional degree of self-awareness for supporters of Donald Trump to recognize how hyping the dangers of intemperate language might backfire. Any comparison of Trump to Hitler is moronic, but it’s not an instigation. And if rude rhetoric were the deciding issue of the campaign, voters would be quick to send Trump into retirement — not only for the things he says but for the deranged utterances he elicits from his enemies’ mouths. Democrats are only too happy to wage a campaign on these terms. Their strategy calls for getting voters to see Biden, once again, as a force for calm and unity and Trump as a source of endless controversy, anger and upheaval. Trump, on the other hand, has to court moderates without repudiating the right, if he wants to match or surpass his 2016 victory. He needs the Republican base, including gun owners and pro-lifers, to turn out in full strength — but the no-compromise policies conservatives hope for are what many swing voters fear most. Trump was the president who built the Supreme Court majority that overturned Roe v. Wade. But he’s seen how referendums on abortion have turned out since then, and he’s determined not to let his campaign become one. Democrats are doing their utmost to turn it into just that. Biden’s no moderate when it comes to guns or abortion, or almost anything else, but moderation is a message he’ll exploit to the fullest. He wants to be the no-drama candidate — a steady, mature hand at the wheel, even if one that’s a bit too mature. Trump at his best is an inimitable mixture of humor, optimism, urgency and outrage. He takes the stage to opera, disco and the Rolling Stones — drama is his element. He must, however, be seen to master the whirlwind, as he did when he rose to his feet and raised his fist defiantly after the assassin missed his shot. Biden seeks to turn his own mediocrity into a strength. It worked last time. Republicans shouldn’t help him do it — either by becoming complacent about their chances in November or by adopting the Democrats’ framework on rhetoric and violence. Daniel McCarthy is the editor of Modern Age: A Conservative Review. To read more by Daniel McCarthy, visit www.creators.com.