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That Is Not Where Mountain Lions Go

You really should keep an eye out for them. Also, LAPD with the own goal. COVID origins further explored. School service workers strike, and I gush about a video game for a bit.

That Is Not Where Mountain Lions Go

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LAPD dunked on themselves

Okay, SO; there's a website made by a group of activists who are trying to push back on police surveillance and spying. The website is a big database of pictures, names and ranks of cops who work for LAPD. They got this information by requesting it from LAPD, which LAPD actually responded to with a bunch of data…

…including the photos and real names of undercover cops, totally compromising their cover.

Anyway, the LAPD cops—who are famously horrible even when compared to most other cops—are mad and confused. I think a great solution to this problem would be to dissolve the entirety of their police force, which would certainly help reduce the risk of a cop being exposed.

COVID origins research released

Despite the ongoing (and unsubstantiated) theory of a lab leak being the source of COVID, an international team of researchers has published their findings on the origins of COVID-19.

Here's the short version: they think it was transferred from bats to humans via another species of animal at a market in Wuhan, China. The smoking gun is that there are two ancestral strains which can be mapped back to that location, which indicates that it likely was natural rather than a lab-driven event. For the lab leak theory to hold up, two different lab techs would have had to be infected by two different COVID strains and then both of them would have to have infected other people at that one market.

Granted, this is research done from data released by China's CDC, but still, there is virtually no hard evidence for the lab leak theory. The much more boring "it jumped from bats to something else to humans" theory seems more plausible at this time.

I don't have a joke for this one, its pretty freakin' boring.

NOT BORING: A man was attacked by a mountain lion in a hot tub

The man was in the hot tub, not the mountain lion. Just clarifying that first.

Picture this: you and your partner are hanging out in a hot tub at 10pm some Saturday night at a vacation rental in Colorado. You're chilling. Vibing, even. Then suddenly: mountain lion.

Yeah it just kinda came up behind this dude in a hot tub and went for him. The victim's wife screamed and splashed at the kitty until it ran away. Thankfully the guy is fine, he had a few scratches and was cleaned up by the time emergency services arrived.

LA schools shut down as service staff strikes

While LAPD cops faff about, the school system has shut down as school service workers—ranging from custodial staff to teachers aides—strike against stalled negotiation talks. The strike is to last 3 days.

And because teachers are dope and cool, they are supporting the strike, even joining picket lines despite poor weather conditions. Meanwhile, the Superintendent claims that the union is unwilling to negotiate, which is weird because going on strike isn't something you just do because you're bored, but is instead primarily a tool used to push back on unfair negotiations. CURIOUS.

Outer Wilds is an incredible game with an incredible soundtrack and if you haven't played it yet you should fix that immediately

Content warning: Me gushing about a video game

Hello, I dunno if you play games or not, but Outer Wilds is a very good video game. The reason I'm talking about it today despite its 2019 release is that it's original soundtrack is getting another vinyl release. Yes: the game's soundtrack is so good that it has been released on vinyl multiple times.

If you haven't heard of Outer Wilds or have heard of it but aren't sure what it is: do yourself a favor and do not research the content of the game. It is a mystery exploration game set in a far away planetary system. You play as an alien with a little space ship, and you fly from planet to planet uncovering a mystery.

I will say no more than that, but it is a spectacular achievement in narrative design, not to mention an incredibly unique delivery. I will caution, however, that you will want to be pretty good with a controller to play the game, as the spaceship controls can get a bit hairy sometimes. Also some moments can get a bit spooky, but it is not a horror game by any means (although the expansion pack apparently gets spookier, but I promise the main game is not spooky aside from some like "its dark in here and I don't think that rock was there before" stuff.

God damn, I love this game. At LEAST listen to the main theme if you aren't gonna play it like goddamn. Or if you're really wanting to feel some emotions, check out this one.

(Don't mind me gushing, but amazing lil' tidbit about that theme: the composer took several years to record the soundtrack, and the main theme has two banjo tracks, one being the first track he recorded, and another being the last, so its him playing a duet with himself across multiple years.)

OKAY I SWEAR I'LL STOP NOW.

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Jamie Larson
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