Numlock News: March 8, 2024 • Sharks, Trikafta, Dog Unemployment

Mar 08, 2024

By Walt Hickey

Have an excellent weekend!

Unemployment

Last year, voters in Ohio voted to legalize marijuana, which means that all the 400 drug-sniffing dogs that have been trained in the detection of marijuana as well as other still illegal drugs will need to retire, because they’re not able to be retrained and any alert they give can be challenged in court with an “it was just legal marijuana smell” defense. This onslaught of retirements has led to a pair of legislators crafting bipartisan legislation to provide $20,000 in funding to law enforcement agencies for new narcotics dogs that are not trained to smell dank pot. The incoming dogs can range in price from $7,500 to $11,000, and many of the existing dogs will be sold to their handlers for $1 each.

Patrick Orsagos and Bruce Shipkowski, The Associated Press

North Korea

A new report based on satellite imagery found that North Korea is beefing up security on its border with China, which had been an avenue of escape for many attempting to flee the regime. Authorities have constructed 482 kilometers of new fencing on top of the 260 kilometers that existed back in 2019, and has increased the number of security facilities with guard posts up from 38 such border sites to 6,500 of them. It’s also led to an effective end to any informal cross-border trade with China.

Michael Sheils McNamee, BBC News

Sharks

Sharks are hunted for their livers, from which shark liver oil can be extracted, which is a source of squalene, an ingredient in some skin care items, dietary supplements and vaccinations for its emollient, antioxidant and immune response properties. As it stands, that demand — as well as demand for other shark parts and meat — means that one out of seven shark species is in danger of extinction, and deepwater sharks, which have slow growth rates and don’t reproduce as fast as shallow-dwelling cousins, are in serious danger specifically. They tend to have higher levels of liver oil, and a third of the 60 known species of threatened deep-sea sharks are being targeted in fisheries for oil.

David Shiffman, Scientific American

Dealers

A new survey conducted by Harris Poll found that while most Americans have not actually had negative experiences at car dealerships, nevertheless they perceive and expect car dealerships to be dishonest or deceptive. All told, 34 percent have been pressured to buy add-ons, 30 percent found hidden fees upon signing, and 28 percent have felt like they were tricked into a deal, which listen, aren’t great numbers, but isn’t actually as bad as the perception. In that case, 76 percent didn’t trust that the dealership is being honest about pricing, and 86 percent are concerned about hidden fees.

Andy Kalmowitz, Jalopnik

Hydropower

Last year hydroelectric power generation took a major hit as weather and drought led to shortfalls of production that were responsible for a large chunk of the emissions increase. Overall, energy-related carbon emissions were up 1.1 percent worldwide in 2023, and the hydropower shortfalls accounted for 40 percent of the increase according to the International Energy Agency. Hydropower is a particularly useful form of generation for the grid, as it can be turned on and off amid demand while solar and wind are subject to the vicissitudes of nature. That makes it all the more difficult when the hydro turbines can’t be turned on, as it means that gas or coal or oil’s got to go on instead.

Casey Crownhart, MIT Technology Review

Vivy: Fluoride Eye’s Song

As it stands, 73 percent of the U.S. population with public water access is getting drinking water with fluoride levels adjusted to 0.7 milligrams per liter, a move to adjust the level of the naturally-occurring mineral that began following World War II in order to address tooth decay. It’s been a major public heath achievement, as fluoridation decreases tooth decay by 25 percent, but it’s also a somewhat notorious bailiwick of a reliable class of crackpot that, obviously, has achieved remarkable levels of representation within this nation’s state legislative bodies. As it stands, lawmakers in three states — Georgia, Kentucky and Nebraska — have pushed bills to reverse longstanding mandates that large communities fluoridate their water.

Robbie Sequeira, Stateline

Cystic Fibrosis

A new three-part drug called Trikafta has been miraculous for people with cystic fibrosis, effectively treating an affliction that was fatal on a long enough timespan, a reversal of fate so rare that many can only cite the emergence of HIV treatments in the 1990s as another example of overturning a medical death sentence. It works within hours, and cystic fibrosis patients are now not just surviving but in some cases running marathons. In the 1930s most babies with it died in infancy; in the 1950s that life expectancy increased to five years, in the 1970s to 10, and the 2000s just 35. For a patient who starts taking Trikafta in adolescence, a study projects that they can expect to live to 82.5. It’s such a miracle that the Make-A-Wish Foundation has announced that children with CF are no longer automatically eligible because of the improved outlook.

Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic

This week in a podcast version of the Sunday edition open to all, I spoke to Ed Zitron, author of the excellent newsletter Where’s Your Ed At and the new podcast Better Offline . Ed’s a really incisive voice when it comes to the ways that companies have made their products worse, their user experiences more exploitative, and their business models more unsound than ever in the pursuit of more and more growth regardless of what else happens. We spoke about consolidation in the tech industry, the growth-at-all-costs economy, and the future of social media. Zitron can be found at Better Offline and Where’s Your Ed At.

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