| Time |
Event |
| 3:32a |
Monitoring employees minute by minute
Some employers monitor workers minute by minute. Some won't pay for
work that wasn't recorded by the monitoring software.
To prevent competitive advantage (or the belief that there is
competitive advantage) from stampeding all businesses into intrusive
monitoring of workers as if they were machines, we should legislate
rules that limit monitoring. When a business argues that "We will be
at a disadvantage if we don't do this to our workers, we will have two
responses: (1) your competitors can't do this either, and (2) respect
for human beings is more important than how much profit you make". |
| 3:32a |
Environmentalists are suing US Forest Service
Environmentalists are suing the US Forest Service for approving a new
railroad through a protected "roadless area", for the sake of opening
up a new oil field.
The Forest Service paid no attention to the danger
of exacerbating global heating disaster. |
| 3:32a |
High costs of operating nuclear power plants
Amory Lovins argues that most existing nuclear power plants are so
expensive to operate that we would be better off in just a few years
by shutting them down and investing the savings in constructing
renewable electric generation. |
| 3:32a |
When British people mourn the queen
When British people mourn the queen, they may be mourning the safety
of their lives, as they watch Tories destroy the social welfare state
that their lives depend on. |
| 3:32a |
Danger of vague state laws prohibiting abortion
Vague state laws prohibiting abortion, under criteria that are not
entirely clear, can kill patients who need medical care that may be
prohibited, because doctors are afraid to do it. |
| 3:32a |
|
| 3:32a |
Ukraine captured strategic rail junction
Ukraine launched an attack to the east near Kharkiv and has captured
the strategic rail junction of Kupiansk, which the Putin forces have
been using to send supplies to a substantial part of the front.
The Putin forces soldiers who are cut off may have to surrender.
That would be a very good thing — more victory with less bloodshed.
Reportedly Ukraine's army advanced 30 miles along a narrow route.
That exposes them to the danger of counterattack from the flank, but
perhaps the Putin forces are not capable of doing such a thing. |
| 3:32a |
|
| 3:32a |
Urgent: Strengthen protection of North Atlantic right whales
US citizens: call for strengthening the protection of North Atlantic
right whales. |
| 3:32a |
Inexpensive new malaria vaccine
An inexpensive new malaria vaccine is reportedly 80% effective in preventing
malaria.
Although it is comparatively inexpensive, 200 million doses will still
cost 2 billion dollars to make and administer in Africa.
Malaria can't continue to exist in a mosquito for longer than a
mosquito's short life span. If we can prevent it in humans, we can
get rid of it entirely — if we can overcome vaccine denialism.
There is a lot of vagueness in "80% protective," so I don't know whether
this vaccine could eventually eradicate malaria over time. Perhaps in
combination with modern genetic engineering that can greatly reduce the
mosquito population in an area. |
| 3:32a |
Sewer system privatization rejected
Bucks County, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, has rejected an attempt
to privatize the sewer system.
Private ownership of water and sewer systems should be illegal.
No matter how much money the city or county gets for selling one,
it will always lose in the long term. |
| 3:32a |
Not enforcing drug laws against psychedelic drugs
San Francisco has adopted a policy of not enforcing drug laws against psychedelic drugs made from "plants",
which appears to include drugs made from fungi even though fungi are
not plants. (The higher fungi are more closely related to animals.) |
| 3:32a |
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| 3:32a |
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| 3:32a |
Making results of federally-funded research available
Biden has proposed firmer policies for making the results of
federally-funded research, and the experimental data, available to the
public(PDF).
This is a good step in the right direction, but we also need to do
something about the harm done by trade secrecy for science and
engineering that isn't federally funded. This harms medicine and
denies users' right to repair hardware and program free software to
run it.
The proposal has one small problem that is potentially disastrous: the
new systems of publication don't have to take effect until 2025. If a
right-wing government is elected in 2014, it could cancel them before
they even take effect. Yes, that election would cause bigger
disasters — but why enable it to cause another one? |
| 3:32a |
Swapping household roles
A mother writes about swapping household roles with her three children
for five days, seriously, and how her children became more mature and
responsible and developed better relationships with her and each
other. |
| 9:17p |
|
| 9:17p |
Alabama jailing pregnant marijuana users
*Alabama is jailing pregnant marijuana users to "protect" fetuses.*
This also has the effect of preventing them from getting an abortion,
which they ought to do if pregnant and using marijuana.
What about pregnant tobacco users? Pregnant alcohol users?
The same logic applies to them, but tobacco and alcohol are not illegal,
so the state has no basis to arrest them. If the US government legalizes
marijuana, it might protect the victim of this law. |
| 9:17p |
Teaching thugs to be police officers
The London thug department has a new commissioner whose job is to
teach the thugs to be police officers: not to be cruel or racist
towards the public, and to stop protecting elected officials who break
laws. |
| 9:17p |
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| 9:17p |
Princeton University is now gratis
*Princeton University is now [gratis] for families making under $100,000.*
The article said "free", but I've decided to use that word only
in regard to freedom, not in regard to price. |
| 9:17p |
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| 9:17p |
Number of people living in slavery today
The number of people living in slavery today is estimated at 50 million,
including 10 million who have been forced into slavery (including
involuntary marriage) in the past five years. |
| 9:17p |
Last reactor of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant shut down
The Ukrainian operators of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have shut
down the last operating reactor there, as a safety measure.
Is this actually an improvement in safety? I have doubts.
While one reactor was operating, the plant had three options for
obtaining the electricity needed to prevent meltdowns in the shut-down
reactors: electricity generated by the one operating reactor,
electricity obtained by cable from a distance, and the diesel backup
generators.
With all reactors shut down, the first option is gone, and the other
two are no more reliable than before. |