Proper tldr;

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Queensland, Australia, has implemented a new policy prohibiting visitors from cuddling koalas. This decision was made in response to concerns raised by animal welfare advocates and experts about the stress and potential harm cuddling may cause to the koalas. The sanctuary’s management aims to prioritize the well-being and natural behavior of the koalas while still allowing visitors to interact with them in other ways that are less intrusive.

More:

Koalas are naturally solitary animals and are sensitive to stress from various sources, including human interaction. When koalas are cuddled or held by visitors, it can cause stress due to several reasons:

-Koalas are wild animals and may find being handled or restrained uncomfortable or frightening. This can lead to stress responses such as increased heart rate, elevated cortisol levels (stress hormone), and defensive behaviors.

-Koalas spend most of their time sleeping and resting in trees, and they are not accustomed to being picked up or held. Being cuddled can disrupt their natural behavior patterns and routines.

-Improper handling or sudden movements by visitors can potentially cause physical harm to the koalas, such as scratches or other injuries.

-Close contact with humans can also pose health risks, such as the transmission of diseases or parasites between koalas and visitors.

-With koalas already facing threats in the wild, such as habitat loss and disease, minimizing stress and ensuring their well-being in captivity is crucial for their long-term conservation.

This article doesn’t cover it (specifically) so I went digging to see if this might compete with weight loss drugs as well:

Victoza (liraglutide) is also used to treat obesity. While it was originally approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, it has also been approved under the brand name Saxenda for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or who are overweight with at least one weight-related condition such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, or dyslipidemia. Saxenda and Victoza contain the same active ingredient, liraglutide, but they are marketed and dosed differently depending on the indication.

Google said:

As of April 2024, the list price for a 30-day supply of Saxenda (liraglutide) is around $1,350, but the actual cost can range from $1,590 to $1,656 without insurance or discounts.

I liked the movie. The activity itself is as boring as baseball.

I already provided the reasoning. Where does it say, “because they’re communist”?

(Let me know if you have a processing deficiency)

Really?

Cuba has long had good relations with Russia. It was a key ally to the former Soviet Union during the Cold War that briefly hosted nuclear missiles at Moscow’s behest during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/12/americas/russian-navy-cuba-intl/index.html

Also…

Again on October 19, 1960, almost two years after the Cuban Revolution had led to the deposition of the Batista regime, the U.S. placed an embargo on exports to Cuba except for food and medicine after Cuba nationalized the US-owned Cuban oil refineries without compensation. On February 7, 1962, the embargo was extended to include almost all exports.

I would argue the original reasoning was very valid. Helps to know the history though, I guess.

This is the plastic bag reference. LIDAR cannot determine mass. A lot of cars were jamming on the brakes several years ago every time a plastic bag floated in front of their field of view. The algorithms were then tweaked in an attempt to prevent a 20 car pileup because the car freaked out about 1 oz of air-filled plastic. Humans make assessments like this on the fly based on our knowledge of physics, an understanding of real-time conditions, and some level estimation. We may even choose to ignore road markings and normal driving rules if we deem the risk too great vs. the risk of causing a secondary incident (pileup, attention of police, etc). This is not to say meat sacks are exactly perfect in these types of analyses either… This is the tweaking the ML engineers are trying to perfect, for all possible scenarios. A difficult undertaking for humans and machines alike.

The update corrects an error in the software that “assigned a low damage score” to the telephone pole

[…]

Waymo vehicle was driving to a passenger pickup location through an alley that was lined on both sides by wooden telephone poles. The poles were not up on a curb but level with the road and surrounded with longitudinal yellow striping to define the viable path for vehicles. As it was pulling over, the Waymo vehicle struck one of the poles at a speed of 8mph

It seems the vehicle treated the polls as road debris, etc. This is the plastic bag dilemma. Do you treat something you don’t recognize as a sacred object that must be avoided, or drive through it. This comes up a lot with machine learning based identification of objects - everything is given a percentage of assurance of its identity and nothing is ever 100% guaranteed. That’s a statistical property. Also, every item must have a closely related set of images to model that object in that situation. In this case, a bunch of telephone polls with yellow striping around them seem to have confused the car.

Humans are prone to violence. The only differences now are: Our tribes are bigger and our sticks and stones have rockets and explodey bits.

And yet Trump canceled all the forward progress. Coincidence?

🎶 The world, the world, the world is on fire. 🎶

I’m still sullen about napster. It didn’t change anything about music sharing- other than to take music sharing into the spotlight. I.e., they got greedy and gained the attention of the media.

By extension of this philosophy, we shouldn’t bury people, since worms will desecrate their deceased flesh. It seems to me then that shrunken heads might be a good way to save space.

I’m okay with it. Unless we start putting them on keychains. That might be taking it too far.

Uh. This is not a good picture my journalism dudes. It’s strap-on; what kind of tasks are we talking about here?

Ukraine’s effort heavily relies on artillery, which accounts for a substantial portion of battlefield casualties. Ukrainian forces require around 75,000 artillery shells per month just to hold their current positions, and potentially double that amount for offensive operations. In contrast, Russia is capable of firing approximately 300,000 shells monthly, supported by both domestic production and imports from North Korea.

Interestingly, South Korea has also become a key player in supplying artillery ammo, agreeing to transfer 300,000 155mm shells to the U.S., which in turn helped replenish stocks sent to Ukraine in 2023.

Can South Korean 105-Millimeter Ammunition Rescue Ukraine?.

How weapons from Western allies are strengthening Ukraine’s defence against Russia.

Spoken like a Russian agent or a petulant child. I can’t tell which, but I don’t actually care. Sewing discontent, pointing to yourself as a victim. You might as well be sitting there with your arms crossed and your tongue out.

Now I see why my original response riled you up so much- you took it personally. You are the problem.

Your sarcastic response is reductive and dismissive of a serious issue. Political polarization isn’t about excusing harmful behaviors; it’s about recognizing that extreme divisions are tearing society apart. Simply mocking the idea of understanding the widening chasm between “both sides” ignores the reality that effective solutions come from constructive dialogue, not from deepening the divide.

Political issues are complex and often involve legitimate concerns from multiple perspectives. In s normally functioning society, there aren’t two sides; free thought leads to a continuum of beliefs. Dismissing these concerns with sarcasm doesn’t help. Instead, it perpetuates the very polarization you’re deriding. Real progress comes from engaging with these issues thoughtfully, not from trivializing them with inflammatory rhetoric.

If you genuinely cared about reducing harm and making society better, you would consider how your words either contribute to the problem or help solve it. If you can’t contribute constructively, perhaps consider that you don’t need to contribute at all?

Yup you got me. That’s my quote.

Okay. If you don’t think polarization leads to tribalism and is a first step to civil war, then perhaps you should pick up a history book or two.

Edit: You’re even showing it your response. Us v. “them”.

Fix global warming. Fix political polarization, bigotry, hate, etc. The economy isn’t the only reason this generation is holding back from bringing children into the picture.

Any way, maybe a smaller population on our limited resource rock ain’t too bad an idea?

This is one way to get males of earth to take interest in the environment.