Kamala Harris's Chances of Winning Presidency

1. Hot Regional News! Eurobodalla shire plastic bag recycling restarted in late June. The waste process involves breaking down the soft plastics in a recycling machine called a pyrolysis plant which converts plastics into oil for use in plastic manufacturing,” Also the generated gas is distributed back into a hybrid generator and used to power the pyrolysis plant. Conflation? This doesn’t mean plastic bags will return to supermarkets as the law bans them. More see https://aboutregional.com.au/soft-plastic-recycling-returns-to-eurobodalla-shire/454187/

2. After Biden’s rapid decline he finally abandoned his bid today (Aus time) for re-election as US prez. Biden has endorsed vice-prez Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination. But Biden out comes late with only 3 and a half months until the 5/6 November 2024 Elections. As at July 22 Harris is hot favourite at 93% converting Sportsbet to be Democratic candidate. Yet she only has a 33% chance of beating Trump at the Election. Trump has a 69% Sportsbet chance of winning the Election. Remote possibilities for Democratic nominee are Michelle Obama at 7% (who so far doesn’t want the job), Gavin Newsom (2%) and Wes Moore (2%). Pete Buttigieg (Harvard graduate, Rhode Scholar (at Oxford), ex-soldier, senior politician) has not put himself in contention. The 3 day Democratic National Convention from 19/20 Aug 2024 needs to confirm Harris as Democrat nominee. 

Meanwhile Trump has claimed that he was only winged by the shooter's bullet because of divine intervention (ie. due to an act of God). Trump later said "I took a bullet for democracy".

3. Australia's Channel Nine TV’s Paris Olympics coverage starts 10.30pm (Aus Eastern Time) this Friday 26 July. But the actual Opening Ceremony starts 4½ hours later at 3am on Saturday morning 27 July. Then coverage will be about 18 hours per day until 11 August. Also Gem (Channels 51 or 81? on your remote) and 9HD (50 or 80?) will cover other Olympics events most of the day).

4. Reported early July. Bill Shorten (the prude) has ruled out any possibility of sex workers, ie. Human Prostitutes, sex toys or, tragically, Tarot card readers for disabled NDIS clients. Rats!

5. Experts write that most men do not phone helplines when they are in crisis. Many struggle with individual therapy and men’s-only group therapy is not readily available. While they are socialised to prioritise independence and stoicism, loneliness is killing men. Without proper support and intervention nothing will change. More at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/22/loneliness-is-killing-men-and-without-proper-support-and-intervention-nothing-will-change

6. In midwinter across southern Australia many dogs are rugged up just like their owners. But should they be? The advice from vets is that most dogs in most circumstances do not need an extra coat, and dressing them up may be more likely to cause them to overheat, poor little pooches! And its discrimination - cats go naked, poor pussycats! Do you overdress your dog? Do you have a Whippet or Saint Bernard? More at https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/jul/20/hot-to-trot-does-your-dog-really-need-a-jacket-in-the-australian-winter

7. What keeps you going in this world of “doom scrolling” bad news?

8. A Generative AI system might use around 33 times more energy than machines running task-specific software, according to a recent study. The world’s data centres are using ever more electricity. In 2022, they gobbled up 460 terawatt hours of electricity, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects this to double in just four years. Data centres could be using a total of 1,000 terawatts hours annually by 2026. “This demand is roughly equivalent to the electricity consumption of Japan,” says the IEA. Japan has a population of 125 million people.

9. Texas based big customer cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike that was at the center of the world’s largest ever IT outage (on Friday) claims it has almost fixed the problem. The Crowdstrike crash “blue screen of death” effected Australia's ABC network badly on Friday.