Short Takes – 9-8-25

Florida Decided There Were Too Many Children. TheAtlantic.com article. SARCASM Alert. Pull quote: “Florida is the first state to take the courageous step toward decluttering itself of excess children, but under the inexpert guidance of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., other states may follow. If we lose herd immunity, we will bring back diseases that had formerly been eliminated, and some children who would otherwise have been protected will perish. But no price is too high to pay in this pointless war against decades of lifesaving science. Confusingly, this effort is being taken up at the same time that people are Very Concerned about dropping birth rates, but it makes sense when you understand that they don’t like the children we currently have. They want us to make other ones instead.”

Congress splinters into unlikely factions over looming government shutdown. Politico.com article. Pull quote: “On one side, fiscal hawks are joining with the White House to keep federal agencies running on static funding levels, ideally into January or longer. On the other, Democrats and some top Republicans want to punt no further than November to buy congressional negotiators more time to cut a cross-party compromise on fresh funding totals for federal programs.”

GOP, Democratic leaders look to de-escalate shutdown standoff. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Some Republican senators say it’s possible Trump or Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought could derail the talks with a demand that Democrats find unacceptable.”

GOP Cries Censorship Over Spam Filters That Work. KrebsOnSecurity.com article. Pull quote: “Raymond Dijkxhoorn is the CEO and a founding member of SURBL, a widely-used blocklist that flags domains and IP addresses known to be used in unsolicited messages, phishing and malware distribution. Dijkxhoorn said their spamtrap data mirrors that of Koli-Lõks, and shows that WinRed has consistently been far more aggressive in sending email than ActBlue.”

Trump's sinking of Venezuelan boat sparks fight between VP Vance, Sen. Rand Paul. USAToday.com article. Pull quote: ““Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation??” Paul asked. “What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial.””

‘Highly contagious case’ of bird flu reported in Georgia. WRDW.com article. Pull quote: “A highly contagious case of bird flu has been confirmed in Henry County.” Minimal information.

Antarctic lake microbes have flexible survival strategies. ScienceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The new genomes also produced another surprise: These microbes were the bacterial equivalent of Swiss Army knives. Many of them could grow with or without oxygen. Many could alternate between eating organic carbon such as dead cells and absorbing carbon dioxide to manufacture their own food the way plants do. But rather than using sunlight to power their CO2 absorption, they used other metabolic pathways as energy sources, often oxidizing iron or sulfur from crushed minerals.”

Heart Rate Monitoring Via WiFi. HackaDay.com article. Pull quote: “Before you decide to click away, thinking we’re talking about some heart rate monitor that connects to a display using WiFi, wait! Pulse-Fi is a system that monitors heart rate using the WiFi signal itself as a measuring device. No sensor, no wires, and it works on people up to ten feet away.”