Random stuff worth reading on the internet thread

[Northwestcoug]

Chutzpah? Is there a better word for this?

For many cooks, waiters and bartenders, it is an annoying entrance fee to the food-service business: Before starting a new job, they pay around $15 to a company called ServSafe for an online class in food safety...

But in taking the class, the workers — largely unbeknown to them — are also helping to fund a nationwide lobbying campaign to keep their own wages from increasing.

The company they are paying, ServSafe, doubles as a fund-raising arm of the National Restaurant Association — the largest lobbying group for the food-service industry, claiming to represent more than 500,000 restaurant businesses. The association has spent decades fighting increases to the minimum wage at the federal and state levels, as well as the subminimum wage paid to tipped workers like waiters.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/17/u...-lobbying.html

[Bo Diddley]

Cargo ships can now deploy a kite to help with propulsion.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/watch-this-cargo-ship-fly-a-giant-kite-to-save-fuel-and-cut-emissions/

Retrofitted onto the front of any container ship, this massive “parafoil” can generate 20% of the vessel’s total propulsion.

[All-American]

Cargo ships can now deploy a kite to help with propulsion.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/watc...cut-emissions/

Wow, sea vessels moving through wind power. Wonder why we’ve never seen that before.

[Northwestcoug]

Aging Japanese mobsters looking to stay out of trouble (sort of) by joining a softball league. Interesting read:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/w...mid=tw-nytimes

[Jeff Lebowski]

Aging Japanese mobsters looking to stay out of trouble (sort of) by joining a softball league. Interesting read:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/w...mid=tw-nytimes

One of the apartments in my mission was next door to the local yakuza headquarters. They used to ask us to come play softball with them all the time. It was tempting, but no...

[Northwestcoug]

One of the apartments in my mission was next door to the local yakuza headquarters. They used to ask us to come play softball with them all the time. It was tempting, but no...

Aw man. That would have made for a great memoir. Mormons and the mafia!

[Northwestcoug]

This is quite the courtroom story. Ex-Fugees star at the center of a multinational multibillion dollar scam. Leo DiCaprio, Scorsese, Obama, Trump, presidential pardons, requests to extradite Chinese nationals, it has it all!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/26/pras-michel-fugees-rapper-guilty/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

[Donuthole]

This is quite the courtroom story. Ex-Fugees star at the center of a multinational multibillion dollar scam. Leo DiCaprio, Scorsese, Obama, Trump, presidential pardons, requests to extradite Chinese nationals, it has it all!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md...source=twitter

Interesting topic, but that was a boring-ass read. 2/10, do not recommend.

[Northwestcoug]

A Chicago circuit court judge barred the use of ballistics testing in a trial, which will probably reverberate nationally. This looong article explains the 'science' of ballistics firearm testing, how it is incorrectly viewed by both courtroom and lay people, and why in most cases it should be thrown out. At the very least if you read it, you will be convinced to lawyer up if there is ballistics evidence when you're a defendant in a trial:

https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/devil-in-the-grooves-the-case-against

[Bo Diddley]

A Chicago circuit court judge barred the use of ballistics testing in a trial, which will probably reverberate nationally. This looong article explains the 'science' of ballistics firearm testing, how it is incorrectly viewed by both courtroom and lay people, and why in most cases it should be thrown out. At the very least if you read it, you will be convinced to lawyer up if there is ballistics evidence when you're a defendant in a trial:

https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/d...e-case-against

Whoa. The whole field could face scrutiny.

Makes you wonder how many challenges are forthcoming from those already convicted.

[Pelado]

A Chicago circuit court judge barred the use of ballistics testing in a trial, which will probably reverberate nationally. This looong article explains the 'science' of ballistics firearm testing, how it is incorrectly viewed by both courtroom and lay people, and why in most cases it should be thrown out. At the very least if you read it, you will be convinced to lawyer up if there is ballistics evidence when you're a defendant in a trial:

https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/d...e-case-against

Thanks - very interesting read. Kind of shocking, really.

[Northwestcoug]

Thanks - very interesting read. Kind of shocking, really.

I’ve probably said this before, but Radley Balko is an excellent journalist. A sensible non-crazy libertarian-lite who has made police and judicial misconduct reporting his life’s work.

[Scott R Nelson]

A Chicago circuit court judge barred the use of ballistics testing in a trial, which will probably reverberate nationally. This looong article explains the 'science' of ballistics firearm testing, how it is incorrectly viewed by both courtroom and lay people, and why in most cases it should be thrown out. At the very least if you read it, you will be convinced to lawyer up if there is ballistics evidence when you're a defendant in a trial:

https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/d...e-case-against

Okay, that was interesting.

I'm wondering if the defense could somehow test the person comparing two bullets to find out their error rate. I was thinking to gather 100 9mm pistols, maybe from the army or a large police department. Fire one bullet from each into some clay or something, then carefully retrieve it and stick it in a snack size ziplock bag. Do the same with the ejected cartridge. Put a 4-digit random number on each bag then note those in an Excel spreadsheet matching up with the gun serial number. To make it more interesting, don't save the bullets from about five of the tests and fire five other guns a second time to get the 100 bullets for testing. Then hand a box of bagged bullets, a box of bagged cartridges, and the pile of guns to the expert so see how many they can match. Include three boxes of the exact same ammuntion to simplify that part. That would produce some great percentage numbers for correct match, incorrect match, and inconclusive. I'm curious how long that would take the expert to do.

Since I don't own any firearms I'm guessing that I ought to be safe from having to worry about a wrongful conviction from bullet matching.

[Bo Diddley]

Since I don't own any firearms I'm guessing that I ought to be safe from having to worry about a wrongful conviction from bullet matching.

I took it to mean all sorts of pattern matching is suspect--not just ballistics.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Seems like a dumb ruling.