Freethinkers of UTA

Thank you Janeé Harteau and others who have tried so hard to reform the police. Unfortunately the whole system is so toxic that police abolition is probably our only option left. Let's start by re-allocating money to social services. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/05/minneapolis-police-union-bob-kroll-us?

Hopeful that Minneapolis policing will change? Meet the police union's chief ... Bob Kroll, who described George Floyd as a ‘violent criminal’, has a history of resisting any reform of a department with a history of racial abuse

It has been known that police have been infiltrated by white supremacists. Bush wanted the FBI back in 2006 to investigate police forces because the FBI was telling the administration back then that there might be several white supremacists joining the police force. Obviously, Republicans shut it down.

The FBI Has Quietly Investigated White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement Bureau policies have been crafted to take into account the active presence of domestic extremists in U.S. police departments.

Name the new Rover! Got 3 days to vote! https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/name-the-rover/?

Name the Rover Contest Tell us your favorite name for NASA's next Mars rover.

PSA: The first transgender su***de hotline is now up and running in the U.S. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860

Take the survey and be counted! https://www.secularsurvey.org/survey?

Take the Survey — U.S. Secular Survey We want to hear from you! If you are an atheist, agnostic, humanist, freethinker, skeptic, or non-religious American, please click the button below to go to the survey website.

"The team’s biggest finding was that these Schwann cells can sense pain. The discovery was made using optogenetics, which involved the researchers genetically modifying mice so Schwann cells in the skin of their feet produced a protein that could absorb light.

When light is shone on the cells, this protein changes, affecting the membrane and producing a shift in the cells’ electrical charge – in other words, the cells are stimulated.

When light was shone on these cells, the mice lifted their feet. They also showed behaviour including licking, shaking and guarding of their paws – signs that stimulating these Schwann cells caused pain."

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/aug/15/scientists-discover-new-pain-sensing-organ?

Scientists discover new pain-sensing organ Octopus-like Schwann cells that engulf nerves in skin can sense pain, experiments show

"If China doesn’t take plastic, ... that waste has to go somewhere...

The present dumping ground of choice is Malaysia... In May, the Malaysian government began turning back container ships, citing public health concerns. Thailand and India have announced bans on the import of foreign plastic waste. But still the rubbish flows...

Towards the end of the line is the machine that Smith hopes will change that...Max [is] a US-made, artificially intelligent sorting machine... “He’s looking for plastic bottles first,” Smith says. “He does 60 picks a minute. Humans will pick between 20 and 40, on a good day.” The machine is intended not to replace humans, but to augment them... In fact, the robot has created a new human job to maintain it: this is done by Danielle, whom the crew refer to as “Max’s mum”. The benefits of automation, Smith says, are twofold: more material to sell and less waste that the company needs to pay to have burned afterwards. Margins are thin and landfill tax is £91 a tonne...

In December 2018, the UK government published a comprehensive new waste strategy, partly in response to National Sword. Among its proposals: a tax on plastic packaging containing less than 30% recycled material; a simplified labelling system; and means to force companies to take responsibility for the plastic packaging they produce...

Perhaps there is [another] alternative. A dying trade is having a resurgence in Britain: the milkman. More of us are choosing to have milk bottles delivered, collected and re-used. Similar models are springing up: zero-waste shops that require you to bring your own containers; the boom in refillable cups and bottles. It is as if we have remembered that the old environmental slogan “Reduce, re-use, recycle” wasn’t only catchy, but listed in order of preference...

That is what needs to change. It is tempting to see plastic piled up in Malaysian landfills and assume recycling is a waste of time, but that isn’t true. In the UK, recycling is largely a success story, and the alternatives – burning our waste or burying it – are worse. Instead of giving up on recycling, Szaky says, we should all use less, re-use what we can and treat our waste like the waste industry sees it: as a resource."

'Plastic recycling is a myth': what really happens to your rubbish? You sort your recycling, leave it to be collected – and then what? From councils burning the lot to foreign landfill sites overflowing with British rubbish, Oliver Franklin-Wallis reports on a global waste crisis

Just as a quick reminder: the Freethinkers of UTA has been disbanded and has no activity on campus. The current secular group at UTA is not associated with the former Freethinkers group or this page

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/secular-churches-rethink-their-sales-pitch/594109/?

They Tried to Start a Church Without God. For a While, It Worked. Secular organizers started their own congregations. But to succeed, they need to do a better job of imitating religion.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2019/jul/19/mercury-13-the-forgotten-women-of-the-space-race-science-weekly-podcast

Mercury 13: the forgotten women of the space race - Science Weekly podcast As the space race heated up in the 1960s, 13 aviators passed the same tests as Nasa’s first astronauts, later going on to be called the Mercury 13. But because they were women, Nasa wouldn’t even consider them. One of those women was Wally Funk, who joins Nicola Davis and author Sue Nelson this ...

“It’s not that bariatric surgery seems to be compromising healthy marriages, but rather it seems like it’s helping people get out of unhealthy relationships,” https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/17/bariatric-divorce-why-extreme-weight-loss-leads-to-break-ups?

Bariatric divorce: why extreme weight loss leads to break ups For people struggling with their weight, surgery can be a source of help and hope. But it often has an unexpected effect on romantic relationships