Chelsea Manning will be released from jail after a federal judge determined that her testimony was no longer necessary against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The grand jury investigating the anti-secrecy group is no longer active, federal judge Anthony J. Trenga of the Eastern District of Virginia said.
“Ms. Manning’s appearance before the grand jury is no longer needed,” he wrote. “Her detention no longer serves any coercive purpose.”
My gutter cleaning appears to have come at the right time. Previous owner probably never cleaned them and we have two tall oak trees that constantly dump leaves. So not only were they filled with leaves, but a rich brown muck from years of decaying leaves. All are unclogged now and flowing great. Also toured my attic today and confirmed the recent roof repairs were successful and found zero leaks. Bring on the downpours!
Everyone at my company has spent the better part of the past two hours talking nonstop about coronavirus and now I don't have the focus to be productive.
College World Series too. NCAA has cancelled all championships for the academic year. That suggests someone has good reason to suspect this may not only be bad, but hang around for a while.
Just got a notice from our IT dept, apparently someone is using the johns hopkins spread map as part of their fishing attempt/malware attempts.
"The public’s demand for accurate information about the Corona Virus has created a vulnerability that malicious actors have quickly taken advantage of by spreading malware disguised as a “CoronaVirus map.” Various websites on the internet are pretending to be a live map for “Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by Johns Hopkins University.” Visiting the website has the potential to infect the computer. The new malware activates a strain of malicious software known as AZORult. AZORult is an information stealer. It is used to steal browsing history, cookies, ID/passwords, cryptocurrency and more. "
You know what's terrible? I knew this (roughly) would happen sometime in mid-February and I didn't even THINK about shorting the stock market; could have made a killing (sorry, morbid I know).
I found 3 bottles of half-full hand sanitizer and a tiny plastic coin purse filled with goldfish crackers. It was across the street from where the moms drop off their kids to be picked up by the school bus. Some mom's loss, but my gain.
I'm still surprised that the local schools haven't closed yet. They did send something around that said only essential personnels can attend the baseball games. So umpire, coaches and that's it. No scorekeeper, parents, etc.
#BREAKING: Jersey City announces curfew for businesses carrying liquor licenses in an effort to reduce large uncontrolled crowd turnout as preventative measure to reduce exposing public to COVID-19
By the way, with everything being canceled. I really have no excuse but to concentrate on work. If I was ever going to do something equivalent to Newton inventing calculus (I'll settle for something much much less impactful), this next month is apparently the time.
I haven't talked to my brother yet but did talk to my sister who has talked to him. Brother transited home from Cambodia via Hong Kong. He got pulled out of line in HK because initially he had a low fever. They gave him an under the armpit thermometer test and it was OK so let him go. After they got home his wife had a fever one day and went to the doc where they shuffled her out the back door and told her to go home. She's fine now. I don't know if there was any further medical contact or not.
I think it's more that my parents are in their 70s, and while currently fine, have had several major health scares in the last few years. If I were to fly home from Bangkok (Thailand is #71 on the global Covid-19 countries!) I would need to transit through HK, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, or Manila - and who knows who else is on those planes. The worry isn't so much about me and Corona Virus - although I've heard it's a really ugly flu - but then risk to my parents. So I'm going to continue to hangout in Bangkok eating noodles I guess.
I'm wondering if some staff at EBMWU will be told to work from home. There are positions that are strictly desk jockeys - I would imagine those folks are the most likely candidates for wfh.
Field staff in my division are critical: when the system breaks it needs to be repaired. You can't just let leaks go unrepaired.
One of the partners has always been a germaphobe (sends out firm-wide passive aggressive emails every time anyone coughs or sneezes) so I'm actually surprised this decision is taking them as much time as it has
i have missed out on last few days, but here is the report from the New Rochelle containment zone.
we live just outside the 1 mi boundary from the "epicenter".
they closed the HS and the middle school our kids go to, but not the other schools in the district that are outside the zone.
it is a strange thing, because most people ask me if people are allowed to leave house, etc.
the only restrictions inside the zone for 2 wks are
- schools closed
- no large gatherings, ie church, temple etc.
you are still allowed to come and go as you please, assuming you are not among the 100's of household quarantined to your house.
businesses and restaurants are all still open.
also there is the business about the National Guard.
basically they didnt want to close schools because 70-80% of kids get school meals. but they seemed to have negotiated that NY would send national guard to get food to those kids if they closed schools
aside from that the national guard is passing out lots of hand sanitizer to local businesses so they can stay open.
I've gone to Target a few times for other stuff and notice that the Lysol and the hand sanitizers are always out. I wonder if I just need to get there right when it opens. Where are people finding hand sanitizer. At Target I heard an employee tell someone that they're even out of rubbing alcohol and aloe, presumably for people to make their own.
I went to Target and Walmart in the past two days to buy other things. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to get a large jug of liquid soap for refilling. However, I was also try to buy some air freshener (because there was a water leak at my place last week and my place is not well ventilated) and proceeded to accidentally spray it right in face. Right after I sneezed uncontrollably 3-4 times, the 4-5 other people in the same aisle had all conveniently disappeared. I guess they were just taking precautions.
As it turns out, you can use other papers as TP. It's less pleasant, but it'll do the job. I learned this in Budapest during my junior year abroad, prior to when we somebody on the program finally figured out that TP was sold in the paper store, not the grocery store.
I emailed a neighbor after I was at the store. He's an attorney at the Justice Dept. He replied he had plenty of court decisions and plaintiff's briefs he could use. Also mentioned his retirement account statements.
yeah it's ridiculous. I have a small one I had bought last year. I guess I'll just wash my hands more when I'm out. I did go wash my hands between games at basketball last night. There were fewer people there than usual.
We used AIM for a while, but not often and then it went away. I've convinced them to use Gchat for now, but everyone seems to forget to log in. The office isn't that big and I could walk over easily, but IMing is so useful.
Trump speech. Oh man. That was hard to listen to. I must have started and rage-stopped playing his speech like a dozen times. It was horrible. Like "oh my God, he's trying to make political cover, not manage a problem".
I can't tell what percentage is him being a bad reader, having bad vision, being hopped up on cold medicine/drugs, age, and stupidity.
Not to mention he literally got a bunch of stuff wrong. For example, not all travel is restricted from Europe. If you're an American citizen or legal resident you can still return.
I didn’t see it but my friends were saying he looked ill? Dude, death rate for folks in their 70s is 8%, and you gotta figure that’s higher for him given how out of shape he is
I only look at this in mobile (iPhone). When there is a long string the comments keep going rightwards until they disappear. Is that just me? I can kind of see it by turning my phone to landscape but it is then painful to respond in landscape
Completed and filed my taxes 8 days ago. I've already received refunds from both the feds and the State of California.
They were small refunds, so not a big deal. I'm actually thankful for that. It means that I don't have a big chunk of money that I'm lending the feds or the state for free.
Last night, my mindset went from "it's almost here" to "it's here and it's going to be bad". I have now self-quarantined after having that meeting with my coworker who came back from SF with a fever. Average incubation is less than 5 days, so I should know by Saturday if I have it.
How can the MLB keep playing when NBA has cancelled games. Maybe as long as no one has tested positive but I don't see how they can play, even with empty stadiums.
now that spring training has been suspended, I'm guessing they'll have to have a 2nd, abbreviated spring training. Pitchers, I would think, will keep throwing bullpens so you won't need as long a 2nd spring training. And I had tickets for Giants Dodgers Apr 4.
Well, MLB doesn't start for two weeks yet. It could be that MLB is trying to determine IF they can go forward with the season and under what conditions.
MSwim: I think it was under-publicized how big a deal it was for Cal to win the Men's Swimming National Championship. Texas was #1 and riding a four year streak of national championships. And not just win - they handily beat the Longhorns. It is also marks a full decade that David Durden has brought home either a national championship or the runner-up spot.
Chelsea Manning ordered released from jail
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/chelsea-manning-ordered-released-from-jail/2020/03/12/0ee56efc-6478-11ea-845d-e35b0234b136_story.html
Excerpted from the article -
Chelsea Manning will be released from jail after a federal judge determined that her testimony was no longer necessary against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The grand jury investigating the anti-secrecy group is no longer active, federal judge Anthony J. Trenga of the Eastern District of Virginia said.
“Ms. Manning’s appearance before the grand jury is no longer needed,” he wrote. “Her detention no longer serves any coercive purpose.”
The rain outside is too pretty for me to be productive at work.
My gutter cleaning appears to have come at the right time. Previous owner probably never cleaned them and we have two tall oak trees that constantly dump leaves. So not only were they filled with leaves, but a rich brown muck from years of decaying leaves. All are unclogged now and flowing great. Also toured my attic today and confirmed the recent roof repairs were successful and found zero leaks. Bring on the downpours!
Everyone at my company has spent the better part of the past two hours talking nonstop about coronavirus and now I don't have the focus to be productive.
Disneyland is closing
They'd been putting that off for as long as they could. It's officially a crisis now.
Kennedy Center cancels all public events through March 31.
March Madness bites the dust
College World Series too. NCAA has cancelled all championships for the academic year. That suggests someone has good reason to suspect this may not only be bad, but hang around for a while.
Not surprised at all.
Elsewhere in college sports
Kansas and Dook have suspended all athletics, effectively pulling out of March Madness.
In North Carolina, that's like calling off Christmas.
https://twitter.com/YahooSports/status/1238165145089540097
Big Give. Donate to Cal! https://biggive.berkeley.edu/
Pac 12 Tourney cancelled. SUCK IT, FURD
I assume March Madness is going to be cancelled, but I guess the automatic bid goes to the regular season champs this year.
...and Cal finished with a win. Well done, BEARS!
PAC-12 CHAMPIONS!
Co-champions, I guess.
Better than what Furd can say
They will just inflate their score and claim to be winners, as they so often do.
Going out on a win!
Corona virus update
Just got a notice from our IT dept, apparently someone is using the johns hopkins spread map as part of their fishing attempt/malware attempts.
"The public’s demand for accurate information about the Corona Virus has created a vulnerability that malicious actors have quickly taken advantage of by spreading malware disguised as a “CoronaVirus map.” Various websites on the internet are pretending to be a live map for “Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by Johns Hopkins University.” Visiting the website has the potential to infect the computer. The new malware activates a strain of malicious software known as AZORult. AZORult is an information stealer. It is used to steal browsing history, cookies, ID/passwords, cryptocurrency and more. "
When you think humanity couldn't sink lower...
You know what's terrible? I knew this (roughly) would happen sometime in mid-February and I didn't even THINK about shorting the stock market; could have made a killing (sorry, morbid I know).
I feel ya.
did you stock up on hand sanitizer for Sat?
uh... no, but there's plenty of soap and water
I found 3 bottles of half-full hand sanitizer and a tiny plastic coin purse filled with goldfish crackers. It was across the street from where the moms drop off their kids to be picked up by the school bus. Some mom's loss, but my gain.
Maryland closing schools for 2 weeks
https://twitter.com/mcps/status/1238201896894152707?s=21
I'm still surprised that the local schools haven't closed yet. They did send something around that said only essential personnels can attend the baseball games. So umpire, coaches and that's it. No scorekeeper, parents, etc.
My teacher friends tell me that Monday and Tuesday are 'student-free' days. They still have to go in to work though.
#BREAKING: Jersey City announces curfew for businesses carrying liquor licenses in an effort to reduce large uncontrolled crowd turnout as preventative measure to reduce exposing public to COVID-19
https://twitter.com/NBCNewYork/status/1238154192331640832
By the way, with everything being canceled. I really have no excuse but to concentrate on work. If I was ever going to do something equivalent to Newton inventing calculus (I'll settle for something much much less impactful), this next month is apparently the time.
getting my taxes done, and maybe spring yard work would be groovy.
My parents one week ago: WHY DON'T YOU COME HOME
My parents yesterday: STAY WHERE YOU ARE
I haven't talked to my brother yet but did talk to my sister who has talked to him. Brother transited home from Cambodia via Hong Kong. He got pulled out of line in HK because initially he had a low fever. They gave him an under the armpit thermometer test and it was OK so let him go. After they got home his wife had a fever one day and went to the doc where they shuffled her out the back door and told her to go home. She's fine now. I don't know if there was any further medical contact or not.
I think it's more that my parents are in their 70s, and while currently fine, have had several major health scares in the last few years. If I were to fly home from Bangkok (Thailand is #71 on the global Covid-19 countries!) I would need to transit through HK, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, or Manila - and who knows who else is on those planes. The worry isn't so much about me and Corona Virus - although I've heard it's a really ugly flu - but then risk to my parents. So I'm going to continue to hangout in Bangkok eating noodles I guess.
I'm wondering if some staff at EBMWU will be told to work from home. There are positions that are strictly desk jockeys - I would imagine those folks are the most likely candidates for wfh.
Field staff in my division are critical: when the system breaks it needs to be repaired. You can't just let leaks go unrepaired.
With everyone staying home and actually spending time with family, I hereby predict a mini baby boom next winter across the globe.
Divorces and domestic violence also spiked in China
Which reminds me, I gotta go to the liquor store.
"SGBear went out for a pack of cigarettes 9 years ago . . .we're still waiting for him to return"
puresilence news
Probably! My friends in DC conceived their first kid during a govt shutdown
I should really start working from home
You can go for a no pants edict!
I've been trying to talk work into making that the official mandate for the office. Wish me luck.
Tell them PEOPLE WILL DIE
pretty sure my customers would have to think about that against the sure benefit of being able to keep an eye on us
One of the partners has always been a germaphobe (sends out firm-wide passive aggressive emails every time anyone coughs or sneezes) so I'm actually surprised this decision is taking them as much time as it has
SUCCESS! Well, at least a minor victory: we're all working remotely next week to see if it's feasible.
so, more imalasmax on the dbd?
Also, my auto-correct doesn't recognize germaphobe as a word and tries to change it to geographer
Better add it to your dictionary...
i have missed out on last few days, but here is the report from the New Rochelle containment zone.
we live just outside the 1 mi boundary from the "epicenter".
they closed the HS and the middle school our kids go to, but not the other schools in the district that are outside the zone.
it is a strange thing, because most people ask me if people are allowed to leave house, etc.
the only restrictions inside the zone for 2 wks are
- schools closed
- no large gatherings, ie church, temple etc.
you are still allowed to come and go as you please, assuming you are not among the 100's of household quarantined to your house.
businesses and restaurants are all still open.
also there is the business about the National Guard.
basically they didnt want to close schools because 70-80% of kids get school meals. but they seemed to have negotiated that NY would send national guard to get food to those kids if they closed schools
aside from that the national guard is passing out lots of hand sanitizer to local businesses so they can stay open.
I've gone to Target a few times for other stuff and notice that the Lysol and the hand sanitizers are always out. I wonder if I just need to get there right when it opens. Where are people finding hand sanitizer. At Target I heard an employee tell someone that they're even out of rubbing alcohol and aloe, presumably for people to make their own.
Soap is really better than hand sanitizer.
for home sure.
I went to Target and Walmart in the past two days to buy other things. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to get a large jug of liquid soap for refilling. However, I was also try to buy some air freshener (because there was a water leak at my place last week and my place is not well ventilated) and proceeded to accidentally spray it right in face. Right after I sneezed uncontrollably 3-4 times, the 4-5 other people in the same aisle had all conveniently disappeared. I guess they were just taking precautions.
LOL
When I was at Safeway last evening all the TP was gone.
Perhaps I'm totally wrong, but I'm more concerned about running out of toilet paper due to hysteria and hoarders than direct effects of the virus.
As it turns out, you can use other papers as TP. It's less pleasant, but it'll do the job. I learned this in Budapest during my junior year abroad, prior to when we somebody on the program finally figured out that TP was sold in the paper store, not the grocery store.
[spoiler text] Ordered my Tushy last night! [spoiler text]
I emailed a neighbor after I was at the store. He's an attorney at the Justice Dept. He replied he had plenty of court decisions and plaintiff's briefs he could use. Also mentioned his retirement account statements.
I saw a few packs at Target. I have to go to Costco for gas so maybe I'll walk on in and check what they have.
coworkers just reported that they have not seen any TP at costco all week (it's on their way home, so they've been checking regularly).
Our Costco says they restock nightly but are sold out within 15 minutes of opening.
if it is gone already i suspect you will have a hard time getting some unless you know when they are restocking and getting a new shipment.
i didnt even see any in DC last week.
it sells for $90 on Amazon i hear ...
People buying hand sanitizer to resell for profit on Amazon should be shot in the fucking face
yeah it's ridiculous. I have a small one I had bought last year. I guess I'll just wash my hands more when I'm out. I did go wash my hands between games at basketball last night. There were fewer people there than usual.
After a month of shortages here in Bangkok, facemasks and hand sanitizer is pretty easily purchased.
Joke via Reddit:
This just in: Due to panic buying, Walmart has decided to open up a 2nd register.
Thai monkeys rampage due to lack of tourists feeding them.
https://twitter.com/MailOnline/status/1238012197537755136
Is this Terence's fault?
Perhaps. DON'T FEED THE MONKEYS
Great, now I'm worried about that happening with the dang pigeons.
Just chillin'
Slack
not particularly a fan but desperately trying to convince our customer to adopt MSFT teams because anything would be better than the wall of email
never used it. My current instant messaging thing is to text people's work cells, then walk over to where they are and get an answer in person.
Never used it, but I hear good things.
We used AIM for a while, but not often and then it went away. I've convinced them to use Gchat for now, but everyone seems to forget to log in. The office isn't that big and I could walk over easily, but IMing is so useful.
Slack is overrated.
i have 4-5 slack groups i am in
- work
- alumni group from last job
- teaching gig
- some company i do free consulting for
- an astronomy research group that my friend runs
i am generally a fan despite it not being perfect
I've found I have to work extra hard to be in multiple slack orgs on mobile, but otherwise I've found it to be a great tool
I wish my company would allow us to use it over Microsoft Teams
Discovery Channel's "Coal Rolling" personalities gets hit with a $2m fine, $0.85m being undischargeable by bankruptcy.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/32533/diesel-brothers-hit-with-850000-fine-for-tampering-with-truck-emissions
Good. Screw those jagoffs.
Accumulating fines to own the libs.
Our Crumbling Democracy
Trump speech. Oh man. That was hard to listen to. I must have started and rage-stopped playing his speech like a dozen times. It was horrible. Like "oh my God, he's trying to make political cover, not manage a problem".
I can't tell what percentage is him being a bad reader, having bad vision, being hopped up on cold medicine/drugs, age, and stupidity.
Here's the text:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-address-nation/
TL;DR:
* no flights to Europe, except countries where I have resorts
* it's a foreign disease invasion
* $8.3b to CDC to develop vaccine. They are moving very very quickly.
* $50b to SBA (to those who feel like starting up a new business during a Pandemic)
* $200b to people and organizations (didn't say who)
* stop visiting nana
* we're doing an amazing, unprecedented, fast, great work - but if it all goes to shit, we gotta stick together and not blame anybody
Not to mention he literally got a bunch of stuff wrong. For example, not all travel is restricted from Europe. If you're an American citizen or legal resident you can still return.
HE GOT THREE MAJOR THINGS WRONG ON A READ SPEECH
I listen to the speech on the radio. It wasn't good, it was dumb, it was Trumpy, but the "sickly hostage speech" vibe didn't come through.
I didn’t see it but my friends were saying he looked ill? Dude, death rate for folks in their 70s is 8%, and you gotta figure that’s higher for him given how out of shape he is
Go Bears
Among the things that we should ask Substack to do...is to highlight the comments with high number of "hearts".
Wait. What happened? Just now, I no longer have to opt out of subscription (ie, get spam emails) everytime I post. Nice job, WFC-peeps and Substack.
I only look at this in mobile (iPhone). When there is a long string the comments keep going rightwards until they disappear. Is that just me? I can kind of see it by turning my phone to landscape but it is then painful to respond in landscape
It's not just you
Berkeley Big Give
Timing comes at a bad time. Did my taxes and it was way higher than I expected. I am working for the government for the next few months.
Completed and filed my taxes 8 days ago. I've already received refunds from both the feds and the State of California.
They were small refunds, so not a big deal. I'm actually thankful for that. It means that I don't have a big chunk of money that I'm lending the feds or the state for free.
FWIW, the State of California took so long processing my refund last year that they paid me interest on it.
Although, tbh, I only noticed the interest amount when CA sent me a 1099-INT this year for it.
I really need to file my taxes.
Ditto. Maybe when they finally quarantine us and I have nothing better to do...
We'll still find some way to procrastinate.
It's 50/50 my wife's work gets canceled next week, if that happens our schedules will finally link up and we can get them done together.
Maybe that way will be to fix the comments on here! (Not me; I don't know how to do that.)
True. I do have many books I need to read. Also, TV to catch up on
So do I. And usually I finish mine in under 30 min.
Jesus what a week.
it's only Wednesday Lemon
Things that happened yesterday:
Trump's Speech
NBA Suspension of season
Various NCAA announcements
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
This thread 😂😂😂:
https://twitter.com/MCWarburton/status/1237953591035310080
Last night, my mindset went from "it's almost here" to "it's here and it's going to be bad". I have now self-quarantined after having that meeting with my coworker who came back from SF with a fever. Average incubation is less than 5 days, so I should know by Saturday if I have it.
Yup, crazy times
Pro
MLS suspends season.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/03/12/major-league-soccer-suspends-season-30-days-impact-coronavirus
NHL Season suspended
https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1238156904473530368
How can the MLB keep playing when NBA has cancelled games. Maybe as long as no one has tested positive but I don't see how they can play, even with empty stadiums.
now that spring training has been suspended, I'm guessing they'll have to have a 2nd, abbreviated spring training. Pitchers, I would think, will keep throwing bullpens so you won't need as long a 2nd spring training. And I had tickets for Giants Dodgers Apr 4.
Rob Manfred? He doesn't know how to suspend anything.
pqtm
Ken Rosenthal tweeting that MLB is having a conf. call with all teams and suspension of games expected shortly thereafter.
They are stopping everything now...effective this afternoon (rather than in the middle of spring training games)
A colleague drove out to AZ this morning for spring training and they announced 10 mins after he got there.
Well, MLB doesn't start for two weeks yet. It could be that MLB is trying to determine IF they can go forward with the season and under what conditions.
[AndThereItIs.Gif]
MLB preseason cancelled. Start of regular season delayed.
https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/03/12/mlb-delays-season-coronavirus-outbreak?xid=socialflow_twitter_si&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=sinow&utm_medium=social&__twitter_impression=true
Cal
GO BEARS!
Inject Cal Shout Out into my veins.
"Cold Pursuit"
An ice-covered bear coming out of hibernation.
https://paulnicklen.com/pn/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/MM7989-10082010-004814_KBG_BW-1920x1210.jpg
Artist: Paul Nicklen
See some of his other work here:
https://www.instagram.com/paulnicklen/
He's a great follow
MSwim: I think it was under-publicized how big a deal it was for Cal to win the Men's Swimming National Championship. Texas was #1 and riding a four year streak of national championships. And not just win - they handily beat the Longhorns. It is also marks a full decade that David Durden has brought home either a national championship or the runner-up spot.
https://www.ncaa.com/history/swimming-men/d1
Not to mention how much of an edge Texas got from diving...I do wonder if they will still hold this meet in two weeks
I don't see how they can. Unless they're going to make everyone swim on scuba gear and hold their breath for the entire race.
ICYMI: Cal Bears continue tradition of beating 'furd 63-51. Weenies did a remarkable bricklaying job.
https://calbears.com/news/2020/3/11/mens-basketball-staying-in-vegas.aspx