Favorites December 27th 2021

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

If we see a space war between an eccentric billionaire and a totalitarian techo-empire, you are never again allowed to complain that you didn't get the sci-fi future you were promised

CN Wire @Sino_Market

Chinese citizens slam Musk online after space station near-misses. #SpaceX #China https://t.co/kuRpGdCk15

Isn't this more action thriller than sci-fi?

Pietro Biroli @pietrobiroli

#vaccine not only reduce morbidity, mortality, and the transmission of the virus, but can also provide much needed relief and peace of mind "We estimate that COVID-19 vaccination reduces anxiety and depression symptoms by nearly 30%. " #mentalHealth nber.org/papers/w29593

I bet loved ones getting vaccinated also reduces anxiety.

N 🕯 C O L E @nicoleamurray

Gasoline is the most-consumed petroleum product in the United States, mostly by individual passenger cars carrying one person less than 6 miles. eia.gov/energyexplaine…

If you're trying to lower emissions, it's not about stoves or plastics, it's about cars.

Steven Greenhouse @greenhousenyt

Important > Looks like Biden's National Labor Relations Board may finally be moving toward declaring that Uber & Lyft drivers & DoorDash delivery workers are not independent contractors who can't unionize, but are instead employees with a right to unionize

nlrb.govNLRB Invites Briefs Regarding Independent Contractor StandardIn a notice issued today in The Atlanta Opera, Inc. 371 NLRB No. 45 (2021), the National Labor Relations Board invited parties and amici to submit briefs addressing whether the Board should reconsider its standard for determining the independent contractor status of workers.

I think that the innovation of these systems is centralized dispatch across a large number of drivers. It doesn't seem to me that keeping drivers as contractors is central to the system working. But I guess we might finally find out

Bill Lagakos @CaloriesProper

Interesting. Omicron appears to elicit good protection against Delta (driven largely by vaccinated crowd) secureservercdn.net/50.62.198.70/1…

Well that's some good news, especially if Omicron ends up really being less severe.

The rain continues throughout the bay area.