Interesting Links for 29-11-2025

[andrewducker]

1. Switzerland: Data Protection Officers Impose Broad Cloud Ban for Authorities

(tags:Switzerland dataprotection cloud )

2. Credit Report Shows Meta Keeping $27 Billion Off Its Books Through Advanced Geometry

(tags:satire law accounting Facebook true )

3. I think there's a teeny tiny error in the data here on the Bridget Jones movies

(tags:movies mistake funny )

4. 'They don't have symptoms': CAR-T therapies send autoimmune diseases into remission

(tags:immune_system disease GoodNews viaKenny )

5. How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America (The level at which the US measures poverty is wrong)

(tags:usa poverty economics doom )

Comments

[mountainkiss]

Surely either it’s true or satire but not both?

[andrewducker]

On the original place I saw this I saw various people asking "Surely they aren't actually doing this?" - so I wanted to note that although this is written up in a humorous manner it is nevertheless a real thing which is actually happening.

[rhythmaning]

"The entity is named “Beignet,” presumably because “Off-Balance-Sheet Leverage Vehicle No. 5” tested poorly with focus groups." 😂 😂 😂

[gingicat]

CAR-T is amazing. It cured my mom's thyroid cancer.

[andrewducker]

That's fantastic! Modern medicine is fucking awesome.

[dewline]

There is a new theory arguing that what we currently call Alzheimer's Disease may be an auto-immune disorder. I'd be interested to know if anyone's working up a test project to see if CAR-T might be useful in dealing with that.

[gingicat]

#5 is something I have been experiencing for my children's entire lives. I have been saying over and over again that rather than being angry at people receiving benefits, we should extend them to people earning up to 400% of the poverty level - the cutoff for Federal Advance Premium Tax Credits for having health insurance. And those tax credits were increased in 2020, cut in July 2025 by Republicans as part of the Big Ugly Bill in a way I don't quite understand.

This is very true:
"But most of my readers are now seeing this trap for their children.

"And the system is designed to prevent them from escaping. Every dollar you earn climbing from $40,000 to $100,000 triggers benefit losses that exceed your income gains. You are literally poorer for working harder."

We are now keeping our heads barely above water because MassHealth (what Massachusetts calls Medicaid) agrees that all four of us are disabled and so we pay a small monthly premium to ensure that all of our copays are picked up by MassHealth. And since one of us (actually all of us) has a MassHealth plan that isn't MassHealth Limited and husband's employer-sponsored health insurance meets minimum standards, we get the premiums for that insurance plan reimbursed. Without that... well. We certainly wouldn't have been able to end the dysfunctional roommate situation a few years ago. And even with that extra financial contribution, things were difficult.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, the level of freedom that you get from "I don't have to worry about medical debt" is huge.