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TITAN—Some surprising information has come out about Thanos’s scheme to obtain the six Infinity Stones and kill half of all life in the universe: The FBI initiated the plot. “We had suspected Thanos might one day be a threat, but we didn’t have anything on him,” explained FBI spokesman Matt Holloway. “That’s why we decided to entrap him with a plot to murder half the universe.” Documents show that it was an undercover agent who first told Thanos about the Infinity Stones. At first Thanos was hesitant on the idea, as he thought killing half of all life to be...

Two recently-released studies examine the efficacy of single coronavirus vaccine doses against the delta variant showed vastly disparate outcomes.The first, a Canadian pre-print study posted on medRxiv earlier this month, concluded that a single dose of the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines provide “good to excellent protection” against the delta variant of coronavirus. But a single dose of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines was shown to have relatively low efficacy combating the variant, according to a U.K. study published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine.“Effectiveness was notably lower after the first vaccine dose among persons with the...

Volcanoes are Earth’s architect Do you know that volcanoes 🌋 are also known as Earth’s architects as their explosive force created mountains and also craters? Volcanoes have created more than 80 per cent of our planet’s surface and laid the foundation that has allowed life. They have created remarkably fertile soils that have allowed civilizations to live happily. Gasses emissions from volcanic eruptions formed the earth’s atmosphereShare it on social media and see some more fun facts about the volcano 🌋 . https://factshungry.com/fun-facts-about-volcano-for-kids/

The United States will purchase 200 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer and BioNTech and has an option to buy additional doses to address virus variants, the companies announced Friday, according to AFP. The additional 200 million doses are expected to be delivered from October 2021 through April 2022...

TOKYO — The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic. The very first match of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament has been canceled because a Czech player tested positive for COVID-19. Markéta Sluková tested positive earlier this week, knocking her and partner Barbora Hermannova out of the Tokyo Games. The Czechs were supposed to be playing a team from the host country that would have been making its Olympic debut. Instead, the Japanese pair of Megumi Murakami and Miki Ishii earned the victory by default. Sluková...

Without thinking twice, Afanasev quickly sprang into action to help save the people who were trapped in the burning car. He told his wife to call 911 and ran out into the flames. Caught on his vehicle’s camera, Afanasev can be seen running into the flames and helping two victims out of a burning car. One victim, a man, is then seen getting out on his own while the officer helps the second victim, a woman, get out. Both victims’ legs were on fire. Upon seeing the crashed car on fire, the seven-year officer said his police training kicked in,...

At least 800 people in Uganda received fake Covid-19 vaccines last month from unapproved people as the country is battling a surge in cases from the ongoing fourth wave. The counterfeit jabs were administered over May and June during a deadly surge of the coronavirus in the East African nation, when new infections soared to record highs of about 1,700 cases per day. The fraudsters targeted people looking to pay for immunisation, including corporate employees, at a time when vaccines were in short supply, said Dr Warren Naamara, the director of a health services monitoring unit under the presidency.

Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama confirmed the publication of a book they’ve written together inspired by their Renegades podcast series. Also titled Renegades: Born in the U.S.A., the “collection of candid, intimate and entertaining conversations” arrives on Oct. 26. A short promo clip shows the pair testing a sports car together. “Over the years, what we’ve found is that we’ve got a shared sensibility. About work, about family and about America," the former president wrote in his introduction. “In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys trying to understand this country that’s given us both so...

At Vanessa’s Bistro in Berkeley, owner Vi Nguyen recently encountered a customer who stood in her kitchen doorway to yell at her after a server made a simple mistake. “Not talk, yell,” Nguyen emphasized, sounding increasingly exasperated as she told the story. “This was the beginning of the reopening, and we had a line of takeout orders. Her husband stood at the doorway and was like, ‘She's hungry! She needs her food right now!’”This wasn’t an isolated incident for Nguyen. Since California’s June 15 reopening of the economy, customers have gotten … a little difficult. Well, a lot difficult. Nguyen...

...Recent studies show vaccines for mumps, pertussis, meningococcal disease, and yellow fever also lose their effectiveness faster than official immunization recommendations suggest. Vaccines have been a crucial public health tool for decades, so it may seem strange that their durability isn't well understood. But vaccines are approved and come to market years before it's clear how long protection lasts. Later, fading protection can go unnoticed because a vaccine in wide use has largely eliminated transmission of the microbes it protects against, making "breakthrough" infections rare. Even if viruses or bacteria are still in circulation, people vaccinated against them will sometimes...

With low labor-force participation, declining immigration levels, and the looming retirement of baby boomers on the horizon, the U.S. labor market is tightening and driving up wages. Over the next decade, the country will experience a labor shortage that will disproportionately affect some industries and professions, predicts an April 2016 report from The Conference Board. “We may see policy or other changes over the next 10 years that could influence us greatly,” says Phil Noftsinger, CPA, the creator of the CBIZ Small Business Employment Index (SBEI), which has tracked small companies’ hiring trends since 2009. He cites pushback on free...

Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a retired general, held a press conference yesterday. The two managed to demonstrate one of two things. Either they are stupid or they believe the American public is stupid. Let’s start with Austin. He assured reporters that Milley “doesn’t have a political bone in his body.” But at the same conference, Milley could not deny that he compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. That’s a political view, and an idiotic one. Austin also stated that he and Milley are committed to having a military...

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the rite of consecration of the restored Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God on the territory of the Theotokos Monastery in the capital city of Tatarstan today. The consecration coincides with the feast of the Appearance of the Kazan Icon in 1579. The cathedral was restored over the course of 5 years, nearly identical to the original form of the cathedral that was blown up by the godless authorities on May 4, 1932. The festivities began last night with the celebration of the All-Night Vigil at...

An electrical engineer from Los Angeles who plotted to steal missile technology and sell it to a Chinese company has been sentenced to more than five years in prison.U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt sentenced Yi-Chi Shih, 66, of Hollywood Hills, to 63 months—or more than five years—in prison for his role in the scheme. He was also ordered to pay $362,698 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the judge fined him $300,000.Shih was arrested in January 2019 after he was found to have been involved in an illegal scheme to obtain monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs)...

Former President Donald Trump blasted the Cleveland Indians Friday over their name change announcement.

New Yorkers under 18 will not be able to get married soon, even if they have permission from parents.Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill on Thursday that raises the age of consent to 18.A previous bill targeting child marriage, signed by Cuomo in 2017, raised the age of consent from 14 to 18 and barred anyone under 17 from getting married.Seventeen-year-olds were still able to get married with consent from parents and a judge. The new measure ends that exception.“Any marriage in which either party is under the age of eighteen years is hereby prohibited,” the bill states, replacing 17...

One of Joe Biden’s notable qualities as he becomes more senescent is his increasing crotchetiness. He can’t stand to be questioned, even by friendly reporters. His repeated snapping at reporters is strategically ill-advised since virtually all of them are on his side, but at this stage of his decline Biden can’t help himself. Also, like others entering their dotage, his pronouncements are often bizarre. Today’s case in point:...There is no point trying to make sense out of Biden’s response. He is a man, never intelligent, who is not in anywhere near full possession of his faculties. This doesn’t bother half...

In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, (9th Cir., July 19, 2021), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a sua sponte request for a rehearing en banc in the case of a high school football coach who insisted on prominently praying at the 50-yard line immediately after football games. A 3-judge panel upheld upheld a Washington state school board's dismissal of the coach. (See prior posting.) The denial of the rehearing however generated six concurring and dissenting opinions and statements spanning 92 pages, reflecting sharp differences. Judge Smith's opinion concurring in the denial of review says in part: Unlike...

A familiar battle is playing out in Marin County between a city and one of its homeless encampments. Novato officials say they’re fighting back after an advocacy group and residents of homeless encampment filed a lawsuit and a federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the city’s new limits on homeless camping. The rules would displace a tent encampment at Lee Gerner Park dubbed Camp Compassion by the some 35 people who have been living there during the pandemic.

A federal court on Friday ruled that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) overstepped its authority by halting evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.The Cincinnati-based U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously agreed (pdf) with a lower court ruling that said the CDC engaged in federal overreach with the eviction moratorium, which the agency has consistently extended for months. Several weeks ago, the CDC announced it would allow the policy, which was passed into law by Congress, to expire at the end of July.“It is not our job as judges to make legislative rules that favor one side...