Weird News Compilation

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Costly short squeeze makes Reddit required reading on Wall Street

Plenty of experts have bet against GameStop, so its stock has been dropping over the last few years. But then reddit users decided to buy it, leading to a big short squeeze, multiplying its value by over factor 100 in a year, and a factor 8 in the last week alone. That's the most prominent example, but many other stocks have changed a lot based on reddit discussions, too.

 

[fresh_42]

I don't know whether this counts as weird, or is only weird in my European ears ...

AUSTIN, Texas — While it could be argued that Texas is better positioned than most states, the idea of it actually seceding and becoming an independent nation probably strikes most people as highly unlikely.

Still, it’s a drum some conservative Texas lawmakers have been beating for a long time, and no one louder than Republican state Rep. Kyle Biedermann.

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/sa...e-biedermann-files--texas-independence--bill-

... but best of all is his name: 'Biedermann' is a German word with which we describe very strait-laced people, which are especially committed to obey all the rules: legal as well as social rules. It is one step prior to denunciator, i.e. has a very bad connotation. cp. Max Frisch's play: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fire_Raisers_(play)

 

[jack action]

is only weird in my European ears

Aren't there similarly weird Europeans? ... Scottish independence, Catalan independence movement
We have at least 2 mainstream independence movements in Canada (Québec, Western provinces).

 

[fresh_42]

Aren't there similarly weird Europeans? ... Scottish independence, Catalan independence movement
We have at least 2 mainstream independence movements in Canada (Québec, Western provinces).

These are all cultural different people, some you may consider as occupied. Do you mean the Texan culture is so different from that of its neighbors? And you can barely speak of an occupation.

 

[jack action]

These are all cultural different people, some you may consider as occupied. Do you mean the Texan culture is so different from that of its neighbors? And you can barely speak of an occupation.

I'm not going to start a discussion on independence with anyone. I live in Québec which had a very strong independence movement for the last 50 years. We are not occupied, we're one of the two provinces who founded Canada! Even better, one of the argument of the 'Wexit' movement is that Québec takes more than its share in the country, and yet, Québec wants to go away!

If you ever meet an independentist Texan (or independentist from anywhere for that matter), I suggest you avoid the subject (Especially telling them they are like the rest of the country).

 

[BillTre]

I don't know whether this counts as weird, or is only weird in my European ears ...

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/sa...e-biedermann-files--texas-independence--bill-

... but best of all is his name: 'Biedermann' is a German word with which we describe very strait-laced people, which are especially committed to obey all the rules: legal as well as social rules. It is one step prior to denunciator, i.e. has a very bad connotation.
cp. Max Frisch's play: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fire_Raisers_(play)

These are all cultural different people, some you may consider as occupied. Do you mean the Texan culture is so different from that of its neighbors? And you can barely speak of an occupation.

I don't think its a particularly Texan thing, more of a Sorthern thing, which has secondarially spread to other areas.
The mystique of Southern Succession (leading to the US Civil war) has been carried into the culture of modern times through slogans like "The South will Rise Again" and continued display of CSA iconology.
This would have started out in former CSA (Confederate States of America) states, but would have spread culturally, by migration out of the South after the civil war, and more recently, by dissemination through mass media.
Also, after the Civil War, the South was occupied (reconstruction).
The former slaves (Blacks) in the former CSA states benefited from the situation (reconstruction), but the Southern Whites were not happy.
Many were forced to move out to neigboring and more westerly locations, due to the war trashed economies of the Former CSA states. Thus increasing the spread of their culture/ideas, by taking it with them as they moved.
More recently, mass media has probably increased the mobility of various cultural ideas.

This independent/rebellious/anti-Fed attitude has (in my opinion) become generalized to a tax independence view, WRT the Federal government.
They don't want to send money to the Federal government (whose policies they might disagree with).
This has been a right wing political theme in several states from time to time.
However, many of these states receive more money from the Feds than they send to the Feds in taxes:

map from here.

 

[nsaspook]

I don't think its a particularly Texan thing, more of a Sorthern thing, which has secondarially spread to other areas.
The mystique of Southern Succession (leading to the US Civil war) has been carried into the culture of modern times through slogans like "The South will Rise Again" and continued display of CSA iconology.
This would have started out in former CSA (Confederate States of America) states, but would have spread culturally, by migration out of the South after the civil war, and more recently, by dissemination through mass media.
Also, after the Civil War, the South was occupied (reconstruction).
The former slaves (Blacks) in the former CSA states benefited from the situation (reconstruction), but the Southern Whites were not happy.
Many were forced to move out to neigboring and more westerly locations, due to the war trashed economies of the Former CSA states. Thus increasing the spread of their culture/ideas, by taking it with them as they moved.
More recently, mass media has probably increased the mobility of various cultural ideas.

This independent/rebellious/anti-Fed attitude has (in my opinion) become generalized to a tax independence view, WRT the Federal government.
They don't want to send money to the Federal government (whose policies they might disagree with).
This has been a right wing political theme in several states from time to time.
However, many of these states receive more money from the Feds than they send to the Feds in taxes:

View attachment 277003
map from here.

I'm a Texan born in the 50's and educated in Texas culture and history. IMO most Texans don't see themselves as southern or really a part of any modern Southern Succession movement. They are uniquely a past nation state ( “Republic of Texas”, a sovereign nation for nine years) that remains culturally isolated in many ways from the classic south and the US in general. (independent power grid for example)

 

[BillTre]

Sounds about right.
I had a Texan roommate once.

 

[fresh_42]

Another funny add-on: As I once discussed the Texan secession with a friend of mine who has been raised in NM, she mentioned that there is a movement, that in such a case, Austin would plan a secession from TX.

 

[mfb]

Like Scotland and Brexit then?

 

[mfb]

The University of Leicester wants to make all its pure mathematics professors redundant, some other fields are affected as well. People are not happy (surprise) and started a petition against it.

If they want to remove redundant things, they should rename themselves to Lester.

 

[Keith_McClary]

Video tour of Putin's Palace? (You can set the captions to auto-translate.)

 

[mfb]

(You can set the captions to auto-translate.)

Hello this mouse so let's go to the palace in gelendzhik!
residence at the cape of the eater graze putin's palace children's camp year-round

The thread is called "weird news", the auto-translation fits in well.

 

[jack action]

China's new coal power plant capacity in 2020 more than three times rest of world's: study

China put 38.4 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power capacity into operation in 2020, according to new international research, more than three times the amount built elsewhere around the world [...]

Including decommissions, China’s coal-fired fleet capacity rose by a net 29.8 GW in 2020, even as the rest of the world made cuts of 17.2 GW [...]

China approved the construction of a further 36.9 GW of coal-fired capacity last year, three times more than a year earlier, bringing the total under construction to 88.1 GW. It now has 247 GW of coal power under development, enough to supply the whole of Germany.

 

[Rive]

China's new coal power plant capacity ...

The weird part is, that this growth is partially fueled by production fleeing from the high prices of 'greener' energy on the western countries.

 

[Keith_McClary]

Tom.schulz

 

[mfb]

Caution: 'Large boulder the size of a large boulder' blocks Colorado road
The article has more backstory, but here is the short summary:
A sheriff wanted to write "Large boulder the size of a small car is completely blocking [road]" a year ago, but accidentally tweeted "Large boulder the size of a small boulder is completely blocking [road]". That tweet went viral. A year later a much larger boulder blocked a road, so they wrote the announcement cited above.

 

[epenguin]

Is this the famous Boulder, Colorado?

 

[Keith_McClary]

Boulder, Colorado?

A boulder the size of Boulder?

ESA / anosmicovni
(That city is not Boulder.)

 

[BillTre]

A boulder the size of Boulder?

ESA / anosmicovni
(That city is not Boulder.)

Nice picture.
Approximate dimensions in km or miles?

 

[Keith_McClary]

https://www.planetary.org/space-images/comet-67p-compared-to-los-angeles

Approximate dimensions in km

Artist's rendering of the 4-kilometer wide Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko compared to the city of Los Angeles.

Here it is in Boulder:

 

[BillTre]

Wow, not so big.
The Chicxulub impactor (dinosaur extinctor) was estimated between 11-80 km and going about 20 km/sec.
Lot of energy to dissipate quickly.
No wonder it made a such a mess.

 

[Astronuc]

Weird, but not necessarily so for Queensland, Australia.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/authorities-found-human-remains-inside-a-13-foot-crocodile-while-searching-for-a-missing-fisherman/ar-BB1dHqBE?li=BBnb7Kz

 

[berkeman]

Krispy Kreme is offering a limited-edition Mars doughnut to celebrate NASA's rover landing

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/16/world/krispy-kreme-mars-doughnut-scn-trnd/index.html

 

[Borg]

Nearest Krispy Kreme is 20 miles from me and there's a snowstorm predicted for that day. Hmm, how badly do I want a free doughnut...

 

[fresh_42]

Nearest Krispy Kreme is 20 miles from me ...

... and don't ask me!

 

[mfb]

... and don't ask me!

You didn't plan a trip to the UK?

~30 countries, but nowhere in the EU.

 

[fresh_42]

You didn't plan a trip to the UK?

Makes no sense. Doughnuts are daily standard here, and especially these days. However we don't make them with a hole and put in jelly instead of it. But as far as I could see, the Mars doughnut doesn't have one either.

 

[DrGreg]

However we don't make them with a hole and put in jelly instead of it.

A Bob Marley doughnut

Spoiler: I don't get it

Wi^(th) jam in

 

[berkeman]

But as far as I could see, the Mars doughnut doesn't have one either.

Yeah, a free doughnut with a hole will have to wait until we send a probe to the Ring Nebula...

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/ring-nebula-full_jpg.jpg