(https://www.pewforum.org/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/)
Categories
Category: Humanity
Categories
The decline of unions
“…the results suggest that the Norse cut down these trees within a few months of each other in 1021.”
“That precision was possible thanks in part to the IntCal20 calibration curve, which is the first radiocarbon calibration curve to break down changes in atmospheric carbon levels into single-year increments.”
“The Norse may have been at the site slightly earlier, but they were definitely there and cutting down trees by 1021.”
(https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/vikings-were-in-north-america-by-1021-ce/)
In 1960, L’Anse aux Meadows was discovered “with the assumed historical age of ca AD 1000”.
In the 1970s and 1980s, charcoal was used for radiocarbon dating.
In 2016, “progress in high-precision calibrations of radiocarbon dates has led to evaluations of earlier research” and concluded that “the calibrated age range of L’Anse aux Meadows is AD 975–1020.”
With this new research, we now have an even more definitive date.
Categories
Partisan divide in media trust
“It’s possible around 50 percent of the published psychological literature fails upon retesting, but no one knows precisely the extent of the instability in the foundations of psychological science.”
(https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22360363/replication-crisis-psychological-science-accelerator)
Categories
Pandemic Poverty in the US
“Poverty in the US will be cut by 45% this year thanks to the massive government intervention during the pandemic, meaning 20 million fewer people are in poverty now than in 2018. The decline in poverty over the last three years is almost 3x the previous record drop.”
“The combined benefits have the largest impact on children, reducing their projected 2021 poverty rate 81 percent relative to what it would be without any benefits (from 30.1 percent to 5.6 percent).”
Credit: Elizabeth C. Turner
“Fossil discovered in northwestern Canada could rewrite the early history of animal life — but some palaeontologists are not convinced it’s real.”
“Most major groups of animals — including arthropods, molluscs and worms — first appear in the fossil record during the Cambrian explosion, 541 million years ago. But according to a paper published today [28 July 2021] in Nature, sponge fossils from northwestern Canada could be 350 million years older, significantly pushing back the date of Earth’s earliest-known animals.”
“It’s such a big claim that you really have to eliminate all the other possibilities.”
“In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.”
(https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx)
“On Nov. 12, the Department of Public Health reported 21 confirmed coronavirus deaths, bringing the total to 10,015.”
“Massachusetts has been one of the hardest hit states in the country in terms of the deadly impact of the coronavirus pandemic, with only New Jersey suffering more COVID deaths per capita.”
“The death count surged in Massachusetts at the outset of the pandemic, peaking during mid-April when the state averaged more than 170 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths per day, with a record daily high of 221 deaths reported on April 22.”
“Since Labor Day, cases have increased by more than 300 percent in Massachusetts, and hospitalizations have increased by 200 percent”
“There’s no argument that’s going to be persuasive enough to shame Senate Republicans to look within themselves and do the right thing.”
“Republicans are also well aware that they’re being hypocrites by violating the precedent they set in 2016 when they refused to consider President Barack Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, during an election year.”
“…she will likely be the deciding vote on the Supreme Court in the case to overturn the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic that has already killed more than 210,000 people in the United States.”
“Given Barrett’s record criticizing the 2012 court decision upholding the law, there can be little doubt about how she would vote. She wrote in 2017 that Roberts “pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute.”
“Any senator who votes for her will be at least partly responsible for more than 20 million people’s losing their health insurance. And they’ll be responsible for insurance companies’ once again being allowed to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.”
danelabonte 