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Good Still Happens · Stuff Keeps Happening

• 0:00
  Hello. I visited basically every doctor. But
• 0:04
  stuff still happened. So what's a - Lots of ailments
• 0:08
  for your boy recently, one of which was a thing.
• 0:12
  But I went to a doctor and he was like, I'm gonna
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  cut that. Okay, just for fun? Just to take it
• 0:18
  home to the kids? Anyway, I might be fine. Let's
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  talk about what's going on in the world. Before
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  we begin, I just want to say that there's been
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  a lot of bad news recently. A lot of it. Like
• 0:28
  a lot of it. I'm very aware of that, and I'm
• 0:30
  also very aware that a lot of my episodes this
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  year have been nothing but bummers. Now a lot
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  of that is because I feel it's important for
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  people to be aware of what's going on so that
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  we can take action, but also it's important to
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  not just have a relationship with the world that
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  is one of watching it in despair. It's really
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  easy to feel like bad news is global and catastrophic,
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  and good news is local and small. But that's
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  not the case. And I don't mean good news like,
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  this local kid set up a lemonade stand to pay
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  for his mother's cancer treatment. I mean, actually
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  good news. So for today's episode, and for the
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  sake of my mental health and my therapist's mental
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  health, we're gonna talk about good stuff. And
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  so with all of that said, I would like to talk
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  to you about your cervix. To send an invitation
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  to the cervix party, what's up? Cervical cancer.
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  It sucks. It's bad. Cancer sucks, and I don't
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  like it when cancer goes on cervixes. Cervical
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  cancer is a big deal. It's like the eighth most
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  common cancer in the world and the ninth deadliest.
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  It's not fun. It's often caused by HPV, human
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  papillomavirus, which is a thing that anyone
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  can have regardless of presence of a cervix.
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  HPV is the most common STI. It affects men and
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  women and everyone in between and outside. You
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  don't have to be in between. But this is the
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  good news show. Why are we talking about cervical
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  cancer? Because it's going down! Get rekt, cancer.
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  Across the world we're making strides against
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  cervical cancer and a lot of it has to do with
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  the HPV vaccine. Now I want to say, upfront,
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  I am the proud son of a gynecological nurse who
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  pounded into my head as I was a teenager that
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  I should get the HPV vaccine and all the boys
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  that I know should do the same. The reason for
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  that is, again, boys can have... HPV and pass
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  it along to a woman that they truly love, who
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  then gets it and has it far worse. But the HPV
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  vaccine has done so much that Australia is now
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  predicting that they will eradicate cervical
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  cancer by 2035. Another study in the UK found
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  that for women aged 20 to 24, There were exactly
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  zero cervical cancer related deaths in the past
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  five years. While young women are not usually
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  the ones that are going to die from cervical
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  cancer, they can, that the expected number would
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  have been in like the 20 to 30 range for that
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  same time period. But instead it was zero. Because
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  we said fuck you HPV. There's a ton of variations
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  of HPV and it can be all sorts of stuff. It might
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  be like warps on your hand or just bumps somewhere
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  else. Very innocuous, until it's not, because
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  it again, progresses to cancer. for certain people
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  so just remember before you stroke go get the
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  poke let's move on to trees we're getting mangroovy
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  with the mangrove trees they're coming back mangroves
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  they're all over the place in minecraft and in
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  the real world they are those trees with like
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  the wild roots that are like sort of above ground
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  they're all tangly They like to hang out on riverbanks,
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  and they do a lot. They do a lot for us. In addition
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  to looking pretty good when you right -click
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  it with an axe equipped, mangrove trees are really
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  good at storing carbon and retaining riversides.
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  Basically, they make sure that ecosystems...
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  ecosystem... eco -exist... function. Mangrove
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  forest coverage has been on decline for a long
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  time, and it still hasn't really reached local
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  maximums, right? It's still not wonderful. But...
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  While we thought that they were just declining
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  for 40 years straight, a recent study looking
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  over 40 years of satellite data found that they're
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  actually on their way back over the past 10 to
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  15 years. While we haven't recovered completely,
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  the trend is that mangrove forests are returning,
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  and returning pretty strong. It's early, and
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  these are trees, right? Like they have to take
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  root and do well for a while before they're like
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  truly sturdy, but it's a really good direction
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  to be moving. mangrove trees hold an outsized
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  amount of carbon for their size. So as they're
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  growing, they're taking carbon and bringing it
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  down well below the soil, storing it down there.
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  When deforestation happens and all those mangroves
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  are ripped up, that carbon is emitted. And a
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  lot of it isn't even just in the tree's actual
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  biomass. Again, it's brought down underground.
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  So quite literally, mangroves can help prevent
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  climate change. Like, that's how important these
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  twisty boys are. This is great. This is good.
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  It's really amazing that mangrove trees are coming
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  back, and the reason for that is focused conservation
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  efforts. It's not like they're just accidentally
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  coming back. The resurgence is not uniform worldwide.
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  There are some places where conservation efforts
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  are being stifled. For example, Myanmar has been
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  doing a lot of conservation efforts, but is now
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  in a brutal civil war. Kind of hard to focus
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  on the mangroves during that. But Louisiana?
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  The Mississippi River Delta? Probably other places?
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  Man, they're getting groovy. All right. Let's
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  talk about the Supreme Court. This is a good
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  news episode, and I'm doing good news, and the
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  Supreme Court doesn't really jive with good news
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  right now. I'm not going to ignore reality. The
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  Supreme Court of the United States recently put
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  out a ton of extremely detrimental decisions.
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  They range from giving the president a whole
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  bunch of more unchecked power to giving the president
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  a whole bunch of more unchecked power. and hurting
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  trans kids. A lot of really bad shit, and that's
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  real, but I'm going to ignore that for my blood
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  pressure, and we're going to talk about the one
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  ruling they did do that was like, kind of chill?
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  A little bit if you squint? Geofenced warrants
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  is a concept where law enforcement can be like,
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  okay, a crime took place in this area. Hey Google,
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  give me everyone's information who is in that
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  area at this time. I really hope I triggered
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  your Google Assistant with that. So yeah, law
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  enforcement can be like, just give me just everyone.
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  Everyone who is near this crime. I want their
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  location data. Obviously, this can lead to some
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  unfortunate situations, like just claiming that
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  someone who was near a crime was actually the
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  perpetrator. Ah, no. Well, you know, all evidence
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  points to the perpetrator having been in this
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  location at this time. and you were in this location
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  at this time? The Supreme Court has ruled that
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  that data is in fact protected by the Fourth
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  Amendment. What that means is that they actually
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  need to get a warrant to do these now. It's not
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  like they've gotten rid of this process, but
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  they did say if you're going to do that you need
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  a warrant, which means you need an actual concise
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  reason to do so. You can't just say like, I think
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  that I kind of generally want to have information
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  on the people who were sort of around here. You
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  instead have to say, like, we have probable cause
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  to believe that this specific person was in this
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  specific area, and we can prove it if you give
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  us this information that we go through a judge
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  for. The Fourth Amendment is supposed to protect
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  you from unreasonable search and seizure, which
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  it's pretty unreasonable for the government to
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  just silently be able to track where you are
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  at any time. I know a lot of people... fully
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  believe that that is already the case, right?
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  A lot of people believe that once you've given
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  up your location data, that's it. You have no
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  expectation of privacy. And I want to tell you,
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  that was Donald Trump's argument. The argument
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  made by the Trump administration to the Supreme
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  Court about why the law enforcement officers
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  should be able to just mass gather people's data
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  was exactly that. They argued that once people
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  turn on their location data, there is no reasonable
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  expectation of privacy after that. Now, this
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  has actually been a problem for a while, to the
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  point that Google recently updated Google Maps
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  to move the location data history service off
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  of their servers and onto your phone, so that
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  they don't have that data anymore. If law enforcement
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  goes to Google and says, give me all these people's
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  data, and Google says, oh, we don't have that,
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  then there's nothing to give over. This is actually
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  something, and I'm just going to kind of tangent
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  here real quick into a mini technology boy episode.
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  It's actually really smart. to design software
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  to hold as little information as possible. The
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  MO of most big tech companies right now is just
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  inhale as much data as you can, slurp up everything
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  and never let it go. And what do you have when
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  you have all that data? A bunch of very sensitive
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  information. If you didn't want to have to deal
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  with a whole bunch of regulations, just don't
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  have all that data in the first place. It is
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  all entirely optional. Google obviously didn't
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  need to store all that location data on their
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  servers, because they were happy to move it to
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  phones to avoid dealing with law enforcement.
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  Having that data on their servers makes it easier
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  for them to query it to sell ads and whatnot,
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  and they're probably still doing a whole bunch
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  of shady connections and whatnot to make sure
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  that they're still able to do that. But the whole
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  point of not having data is to avoid responsibility.
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  which is entirely at odds with this current surveillance
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  capitalism boom that we're in. But it's interesting,
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  right? Like I myself am currently working on
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  a project, more information on that another time,
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  in which I'm designing it to specifically NOT
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  retain more data than is absolutely necessary
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  to function. It's because I want to respect my
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  users' privacy, and also I don't want to be responsible
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  for that shit. Oh, it's so hard, you have to
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  comply with GDPR and all these other data regulations.
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  You don't have to comply with them. If you don't
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  have a whole bunch of bullshit that you shouldn't
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  have in the first place anyway. Makes it really
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  easy to comply when you've designed your software
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  to not just absorb everyone's entire life story.
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  I'm rambling now. Anyway, fuck the SCOTUS! Like,
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  this is nice, yay, uh, the cops can't arbitrarily
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  just siphon off people's location data. Also,
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  the Supreme Court is a stacked bench full of
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  religious zealots. who are looking to destroy
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  this country due to their open contempt for the
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  constitution that they claim to be scholars of.
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  We have six hyper -conservative religious zealots
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  and three centrists sitting on our Supreme Court
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  making decisions that affect hundreds of millions
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  of people at a time. This is a good news episode.
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  This is a good news episode. This is a good news
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  episode! Doom. Can you run Doom? On a worker's
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  unit. id Software, the developers behind Doom
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  and Quake, have recently unionized. About 165
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  of their 185 or so employees have unionized with
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  CWA, the Communication Workers of America. The
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  union includes developers, artists, QA people,
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  support people, everyone who's basically not
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  a manager. It is a wall -to -wall union, covering
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  a whole bunch of different jobs, and Microsoft,
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  the parent company of id Software, acknowledged
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  the union, like, voluntarily. Way to go, Microsoft,
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  except not really. Not really. You almost got
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  it. Microsoft almost had some good PR. Not through
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  me. Back in 2022, Microsoft wanted to buy Activision
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  Blizzard. And when they were doing that, they
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  needed to make good with a bunch of various regulators.
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  Biden was in office at the time. The regulators
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  were not as actively criminal as they are now.
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  And Microsoft was like, hey, look, OK, if you
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  let us move forward with this deal, we promise
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  not to do union busting. for several years. So
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  they've actually made a signed agreement that
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  basically restricts them from union busting until
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  that agreement expires. So yay, Microsoft did
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  voluntarily recognize this union immediately,
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  but I wouldn't get used to that. The union having
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  actually come together is a big deal. It's a
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  massive first step voting and actually forming
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  the union. And it's part of a larger trend of
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  digital workers unionizing. Even just among Microsoft,
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  you've got Bethesda and Zenimax both unionized.
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  And with ID, they've unionized, but they haven't
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  actually come to their first contract yet, which
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  is the thing that actually matters. Right now,
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  it's just like, yeah, you're a union. We acknowledge
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  that. But nothing's changed. Landing the contract
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  is what would actually get them, you know, benefits.
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  That's going to be the real next step and the
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  big struggle. But there are now thousands of
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  unionized tech workers in America, where just
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  a few years ago, that was essentially unheard
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  of. As the tech industry continues their pivot
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  out of nascent, exciting new industry and into
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  legacy industrial complex, we're watching as
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  workers go from having relatively decent salaries
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  and work -life balance into absolute non -stop
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  grind. Get out if you're mad about it. I can
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  say as someone who was completely ground down
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  and spat out by the tech industry that during
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  my many years in that industry, I didn't meet
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  a single person. who had an optimistic end goal
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  that involved staying in tech. Everyone wants
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  to get out and live in a cabin in the middle
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  of the woods. And so as efforts continue to try
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  to unionize more workplaces, remember, unions
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  are also on the rise in terms of favorability
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  nationwide. 68 % of Americans have positive views
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  of labor unions. That's 90 % of Democrats, 68
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  % of independents, and less than 50 % of Republicans.
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  49? Can I remember stats? 47. I was close. Well,
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  I would love for that number to be at 100 % because
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  it's literally just, do you support workers having
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  a right to demand that they get reasonable compensation?
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  That answer should be yes. But I get it. Misinformation
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  and also just like years of propaganda, stuff
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  like that. Anyway, yay unions, good news. And
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  with that, we're on the lightning round, of which
• 13:45
  I will say it gets a little less perfectly good
• 13:48
  here. So, uh, lightning round. Comcast is planning
• 13:52
  to spin out NBC, Universal, and Sky into their
• 13:55
  own studios, and they're gonna be splitting their
• 13:57
  stock and giving - giving people who are currently
• 13:59
  invested in Comcast stock in all of those companies.
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  Weeks back, Pete Hegseth said that the flu vaccine
• 14:04
  was going to become optional in military recruits,
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  and that was a bad idea. Because shortly after
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  that, there was a flu outbreak, with hundreds
• 14:12
  of service members getting the flu. And they
• 14:14
  rolled back that policy. Weird! Speaking of U
• 14:18
  .S. and war, shocker! It turns out that there's
• 14:20
  a lot more damage that was done to U .S. bases
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  abroad around Iran than was previously reported.
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  And to be clear, this is coming from the Wall
• 14:28
  Street Journal. Like, they looked in to satellite
• 14:31
  imagery to find, holy shit, our bases got blown
• 14:35
  the fuck up. Ford, the auto company, they hired
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  back 350 veteran employees that they previously
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  fired because they were like, we're going to
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  replace you with AI. And finally for today, some
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  dudes in the UK took a bulldozer and used that
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  and a truck to rip an ATM out of a building and
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  take it away. Whoa, it's a bold play. It's a
• 14:58
  bold play. What can I say? My favorite part is
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  that the guy driving the heavy machinery has
• 15:04
  like a ski mask on like, oh, you're not going
• 15:07
  to catch me coppers as I'm in this giant heavy
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  machinery. Thank you so much for listening to
• 15:12
  today's episode of Stuff Keeps Happening. Head
• 15:14
  to skh .news for sources, bonus content, and
• 15:18
  your share of the ATM that I stole. My name is
• 15:21
  Endeavorance. We'll talk again soon. Take care
• 15:23
  and be well.