Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy, 08/25

[SVPete]

More California girls' high school volleyball teams forfeit to squad with trans athlete

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/more-california-girls-volleyball-teams-forfeit-squad-trans-athlete

A girls' high school volleyball team in California saw two more games on its schedule forfeited amid an ongoing controversy involving a trans athlete on its roster.

Maribel Munoz, the mother of a female player on Jurupa Valley High School's girls' volleyball team, provided Fox News Digital copies of messages sent by the team's coach, Liana Manu, to parents of players, informing them that the team's upcoming games against Rim of the World High School on Aug. 25 and Orange Vista High School on Aug. 29 had been forfeited.
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National attention was thrust back onto Jurupa Valley High School when Riverside Poly High School's girls' volleyball team announced it forfeited an Aug. 15 game in a statement. Multiple parents of Riverside Poly players, and a school board member, told Fox News Digital the forfeit was in response to the trans athlete on Jurupa Valley, AB Hernandez.

That asterisk next to the records of Jurupa Valley High School's girls' volleyball team's record is growing. Riverside and San Bernardino Counties are not San Francisco County or Berserkely or West Hollyweird.

What are the Las Vegas odds that Hernandez became a girl when he realized (or was informed) that he is too mediocre to make the boys' volleyball team?

[SVPete]

Did a Florida School Really Ban the Diary of Anne Frank?

https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/08/25/did-a-florida-school-really-ban-the-diary-of-anne-frank-n3806128

California State Senator Scott Weiner--a man I have labeled "the most dangerous" elected official in the country--is making the same tired claims about conservatives banning a beloved book: The Diary of Anne Frank.

(Embedded X posts)

The claim is, of course, completely false, but it creates a narrative that liberals love. An evil group--in this case, Moms for Liberty--is Nazi-adjacent and trying to hide the brutal reality of the Holocaust.
...

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A high school along Florida’s Atlantic Coast has removed a graphic novel based on the diary of Anne Frank after a leader of a conservative advocacy group challenged it, claiming it minimized the Holocaust.

“Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” was removed from a library at Vero Beach High School after a leader of Moms for Liberty in Indian River County raised an objection. The school’s principal agreed with the objection, and the book was removed last month.

The book at one point shows the protagonist walking in a park, enchanted by female nude statues, and later proposing to a friend that they show each other their breasts.

Now, it's no surprise that Scott Weiner would want that book to remain in the library. It is, after all, promoting the idea that the hero is a lesbian. Weiner, who advocated for decriminalizing gay sex with minor boys, is passionate about such things.

I'll have to wander over to DU to see if DU-folk fell for Wiener's lie (and if so, whether/when a DU-member dared to risk a granite pizza by committing truth).

[SVPete]

America's largest Christian university triumphs over Biden administration's 'coordinated lawfare'

https://justthenews.com/nation/religion/americas-largest-christian-university-triumphs-over-biden-administrations

The Federal Trade Commission gave up the last vestiges of its lawsuit against Grand Canyon University and its President Brian Mueller nearly two years after accusing them of deceptive advertising and illegal telemarketing, putting an end to what the nation's largest Christian university called two years of "coordinated lawfare" by the Biden administration.

The three Republican commissioners, serving without any Democrats while an appeals court determines if President Trump lawfully fired commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, cited a string of court losses for the government and the Department of Education already rescinding its earlier $37.7 million fine for alleged misrepresentation of the cost of its doctoral programs.
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President Biden's Education Secretary Miguel Cardona vowed to shut down GCU but the effort ran into legal roadblocks even before Donald Trump's second election victory.

The only remaining defendant was GCU's "largest service provider," Grand Canyon Education, after a district court twice dismissed GCU itself in 2024 and 2025. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled against Cardona a year ago, finding the department wrongly denied GCU's nonprofit application by "relying on IRS regulations that impose requirements that go well beyond" Higher Education Act requirements.

Cardona and LIEden's other minions targeted GCU because of the "C-Word", Christian.

[enslaved1]

World's first computer that combines human brain with silicon now available

A new type of computer that combines regular silicon-based hardware with human neurons is now available for purchase.

The CL1, released March 2 by Melbourne-based startup Cortical Labs, is "the world’s first code deployable biological computer," according to the company’s website. The shoebox-sized system could find applications in disease modeling and drug discovery, representatives say.

Inside the CL1, a nutrient-rich broth feeds human neurons, which grow across a silicon chip. That chip sends electrical impulses to and from the neurons to train them to exhibit desired behaviors. Using a similar system, Cortical Labs taught DishBrain (a predecessor to the CL1) to play the video game Pong.

A bit old, just came across it, so far it has many limits, including time limits, but qualifies as a disturbing step further into "we can, but should we?" territory.