Razor Occam
@razoroccam.bsky.social
Soccer dad. Sci-fi fan. Cruciverbalist. Former media exec. Publisher. Author. Tech and New Media investor.
David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland High School shooting who co-founded the progressive youth group Leaders We Deserve, is calling for radical change in the "geriatric" Democratic Party. n.pr/4bmZYNm
Progressive youth leader David Hogg calls for change in 'geriatric' Democratic Party
David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland High School shooting who co-founded the progressive youth group Leaders We Deserve, is calling for radical change in the "geriatric" Democratic Party.
n.pr
After a college student finally found a treatment that worked for his ulcerative colitis, UnitedHealthcare decided it wouldn’t pay for the costly drugs. His fight to get coverage exposed the insurer’s hidden procedures for rejecting claims. (Published Feb. 2023)
UnitedHealthcare Tried to Deny Coverage to a Chronically Ill Patient. He Fought Back, Exposing the Insurer’s Inner Workings.
After a college student finally found a treatment that worked, the insurance giant decided it wouldn’t pay for the costly drugs. His fight to get coverage exposed the insurer’s hidden procedures for r...
propublica.org
Every now and then someone takes a run at me along the lines of "I don't understand why you, a scifi writer, don't appreciate 'AI'," and I'm all, motherfucker, it's *because* I'm a science fiction writer I have the positions I have, how many times do we have to fucking yell "torment nexus," my dude
Columnist Michael Le Page says we will look back at 2026 as a landmark year in medicine, when the first of an entirely new kind of drug was approved – one that could help us treat the untreatable.
A new kind of drug will help fight previously untreatable conditions | New Scientist
newscientist.com
Finally saw The Odyssey, which is the consummate Christopher Nolan film in that it has moments of near-sublime spectacle that make you believe in Big Movies again mixed together with dialogue like, "Our Age of Bronze is ending."
Three years ago, our reporter received an envelope with no return address. Inside was a flash drive containing tens of thousands of files: years of secretly recorded conversations, private militia chat logs and videos sent by a man named John Williams. (Published Jan. 2025)
A Mole Infiltrated the Highest Ranks of American Militias. This Is What He Found.
Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends....
propublica.org
This is the way to go.
M31🍁@m31author.bsky.social · 4d agoFor example, one homeowner in Connecticut took to Reddit to describe how their $600 plug-in solar project generated about $400 worth of electricity in a single year, showing just how quickly a small system can recoup its cost when local power prices are steep apple.news/AZ_IVZ-C4SdG...
No, this isn’t the surface of Mars or the Moon. This crater was left by a Russian cruise missile that flew approximately 100 km into Poland during last night’s mass attack on Ukraine. It struck near the villages of Tarnawa-Kolonia and Tokary in Poland’s Lublin Voivodeship. 🇺🇦🇵🇱
My latest on the Russian missile that landed in Poland, repeated drone incursions into Romania, and why NATO allies are sounding the alarm…
A Russian Missile Landed in Poland in the Latest Escalation Against NATO
Yesterday, Russia launched yet another massive missile and drone attack as cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones tore through homes and residential buildings across Ukraine.
open.substack.com
Premium Newsletter: AI is becoming way too expensive. The 190GW of planned data centers need between $1.62 trillion and $2.92 trillion in annual compute demand that doesn't exist - and every new data center costs way more than the last. www.wheresyoured.at/premium-ai-is-getting-way-too-expensive/
Premium: AI Is Getting Way Too Expensive
A great deal of the discussion of the so-called benefits or problems with AI comes down to the theoretical jobs that are (or are not) lost as a result of things LLMs can (or cannot do), or the equally...
wheresyoured.at
Hard to overstate how much of a threat leaders and public officials who actually govern and serve the people pose to those whose political careers depend on fomenting cynicism and delegitimizing democracy
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 5d agoNow this is the kind of trash talk we can get behind. We’re containerizing neighborhoods by taking trash off our sidewalks and allowing mid-size buildings to trade in their wheelie bins for a bigger, better, cleaner alternative: Empire Bins. It’s time to put a lid on it, New York.
According to our government, Wakanda is now an official trade partner of the U.S. www.bbc.com/news/world-u... no words.
US government lists fictional nation Wakanda as trade partner
Officials say it was an error to add the fictional nation from Black Panther to the list.
bbc.com
Dr. Fauci is one of greatest medical minds of our time. His work has certainly saved millions of lives around the world. During the COVID pandemic, he along with the world’s best doctors and scientists raced to create a vaccine and stop an epidemic.
I often hear that it would be "too expensive" to add bicyclist detection to new vehicles in the US - where new vehicles already average ~$50k But here's a $8,350 kei car in Japan that pulls it off because New Car Assessment has made it effectively standard www.automotiveworld.com/topics/softw...
Daihatsu Smart Assist adds cyclist detection to kei cars | Automotive World
Daihatsu Smart Assist now covers turning scenarios, on a car that costs less than a mid-range family hatchback
automotiveworld.com
If you travel across U.S. borders, give this a read. It is by no means extensive, but unless you like your personal info read by goons, protect yourself as best you can. www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...
A Journalist Security Checklist: Preparing Devices for Travel Through a US Border
We wrote this checklist to help journalists prepare for transit through a U.S. port of entry while preserving the confidentiality of your most sensitive information, such as unpublished reporting mate...
eff.org
"As Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Asia found in a recent investigation, just five US tech giants — Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle — are hiding an estimated $1.65 trillion in debt that doesn’t appear on balance sheets. futurism.com/artificial-i...
AI Companies Are Trying to Hide a Staggering Amount of Debt
AI companies are pouring tens of billions of dollars into enormous data centers. They're being built on top of a mountain of hidden debt.
futurism.com
The former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers who went on strike for 3+ years, only to have the owners sell the paper and fire most of them, have started their own cooperative news org. Important reporting by @maximillianalvarez.bsky.social
Corporate profiteers destroyed journalism. Worker-owned media can save it.
Former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers went on strike for over three years and won. Then, the owners sold the paper and most strikers lost their jobs. Now, they’ve launched “a cooperative news organiz...
therealnews.com
Internal documents and former company executives reveal how Cigna doctors rejected patients’ claims without opening their files. “We literally click and submit,” one former company doctor said. (Published March 2023 w/ @capitolforum.bsky.social)
How Cigna Saves Millions by Having Its Doctors Reject Claims Without Reading Them
Internal documents and former company executives reveal how Cigna doctors reject patients’ claims without opening their files. “We literally click and submit,” one former company doctor said.
propublica.org
Dr. Fauci is a hero. He really is. He helped guide America thru a mass death event. Millions more could have died but they did not, thanks to him. Everyone over 70 owes him a debt. It is disgusting that we live in a country that not only dishonors him but actively smears his good name.
Climate change is affecting the yields and flavour of the traditional Japanese tea matcha, but studying its seedlings' genetic tolerance for heat could future-proof the crop
Matcha is under threat from climate change – can genomics save it? | New Scientist
Climate change is affecting the yields and flavour of the traditional Japanese tea matcha, but studying its seedlings' genetic tolerance for heat could future-proof the crop
newscientist.com
It’s nice to see everyone’s textual analysis of The Odyssey It’s almost like the humanities give you entertainment, feelings, pleasure, and fun/interesting stuff to talk about, as well as lenses into both past and current society
Hello everyone! Many of you likely saw this image recently with the Apple TV+ 'Neuromancer' promotion. Some know, others don't, but this artwork is mine, created alongside actor & post-production artist Milton Menezes, as a personal project and a homage to the original Neuromancer romance
Diary entries..show the former top adviser’s disillusion with Trump in the first year of Covid-19..branding the president “rambling”, “crazy”, “desperate”, “bumbling”, “incompetent”, “an idiot”, “a true embarrassment”, truly an obnoxious adolescent”. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Fauci expressed disillusionment with ‘rambling, crazy’ Trump in journal
Former top US health official wrote about challenging interactions with publicity-fixated Trump during Covid
theguardian.com
Couldn’t agree more. Dr. Fauci is an American hero.
Schweickhart and Bolden and the rest: Thank you. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
‘Our country is the mission’: more than 100 ex-Nasa astronauts launch new voting campaign
Astronauts for America liken effort to instill trust and faith back in constitution’s principles and democratic institutions to ‘making a course correction’
theguardian.com