Day: August 20, 2020💾

NPR

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Steve Bannon Charged With Misusing Donations For Trump’s Border Wall : NPR

Steve Bannon, President Trump's former political adviser, has been arrested alongside three other people in connection with an online fundraising scheme that federal prosecutors in New York say was responsible for defrauding hundreds of thousands of people.

Bannon and the three other defendants are alleged to have orchestrated a scheme around an online crowdfunding campaign called "We Build the Wall," which has raised over $25 million, according to prosecutors. The campaign was advertised as an effort to build portions of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and support maintenance operations.

Conspiracy Theorists Have a Fundamental Cognitive Problem, Say Scientists

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Conspiracy Theorists Have a Fundamental Cognitive Problem, Say Scientists

The world’s a scary, unpredictable place, and that makes your brain mad. As a predictive organ, the brain is on the constant lookout for patterns that both explain the world and help you thrive in it. That ability helps humans make sense of the world. For example, you probably understand by now that if you see red, that means that you should be on the lookout for danger.

But as scientists report in a 2017 paper published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, sometimes people sense danger even when there is no pattern to recognize — and so their brains create their own. This phenomenon, called illusory pattern perception, they write, is what drives people who believe in conspiracy theories, like climate change deniers, 9/11 truthers, and “Pizzagate” believers.

The study is especially timely; recent polls suggest that nearly 50 percent of ordinary, non-pathological Americans believe in at least one conspiracy theory.

Bicycles 🚲

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Bicycles 🚲

I have a bicycle at home but it’s been sitting along the wall for almost a decade now as I got tired of broken spokes. Ever since I got that bike it was in the shop for spoke repairs – I did some myself but some are quite hard to repair on that bike. A couple other parts and the derailer are broken now. It probably could be rebuilt for not that much money, but I can’t have it being junker that breaks down all of the time.

I should think about getting a bicycle now, especially if I am thinking about going without a car next year. I should see how practical it is to get around town on a bicycle, along with use of public transit. It would save so much money if I could go a few years without a car, and only rent one during vacations. It would improve my health, burn calories and let me learn more about my community. Not to mention really lower my carbon footprint!

I’ve started looking at Facebook at people selling bicycles. Used bicycles aren’t particularly expensive, although I am not sure what kind of bicycle I would want to get. Reliablity has to be top priority, and the ability to mount a basket on it for carrying supplies like groceries home from the store. I don’t mind doing maintenance on my bicycle, but it can’t be regularly breaking down when I’m 10 or 20 miles away from home — especially if it’s my primary way to get around town.

If I can’t get any use out of the old bicycle, I am thinking I could donate it to Troy Bicycle Rescue or some other group that restores bicycles for community use.

Kill Knotweed

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I hope the next president diverts funding from Homeland Security and FEMA to send National Guardsman out in our communities to destroy JAPANESE KNOTWEED. It’s even invading my neighbors backyard and as an INVADER can easily destroy buildings and roadways – and is nearly impossible to KILL.