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Thursday, December 1st, 2022

    Time Event
    8:02a
    Green Capitalism and global heating

    "Green Capitalism" sounds promising, but is it really capable of preventing global climate disaster? A book argues that it is not: that measuring the value of each thing in the world in monetary terms just won't do the job.

    A committee came up with an estimate of the monetary value of a great whale. One can question whether the monetary value captures the importance of continued existence of whales, but maybe the result would be adequate.

    But what about the continued existence of a rare, endangered species of small animals? If people calculate that without adding a term to represent the value of simple existence of a distinct species, they might get a minuscule number.

    How endangered species preserved are worth one living whale? It's hard to make that question meaningful, It's like asking how much money a human life is worth. Insurance needs to answer that question, but is that the right way to decide who lives and who dies?

    If you buy the book, please do not get it from Amazon.

    12:03p
    Putin bans talking about same-sex relationships

    Putin has banned any public mention of same-sex or same-gender relationships. Like DeMentis, his law prohibits this only under certain conditions, but when his followers interpret the conditions, there is nothing that is safe to say.

    12:32p
    The psychology of power

    Brains learn to predict other people's likely behavior and to save the unconscious effort of figuring about concerns that never arise for them. As a result, powerful people learn to be ruthless and not to concern themselves with the feelings of the obedient people around them;

    2:32p
    (satire) Turkeys who've lost loved ones to Thanksgiving

    (satire) *Biden Meets With Turkeys Who've Lost Loved Ones To Thanksgiving.*

    3:17p
    Tories plan to insulate homes

    The Tories have heard the voice of Insulate Britain and proposed a plan to insulate the homes of middle-class Britons.

    It's a good idea, but middle-class homeowners could afford to pay back this support out of the savings they will have. The government should lend the money for middle-class homes, and give the money for insulating poor people's homes.

    3:17p
    Twitter as a surveillance capitalism tool

    Yanis Varoufakis conjectures that Musk wants to turn Twitter into a platform for surveillance capitalism, and that everything he said about freedom of speech was a red herring.

    3:17p
    (satire) Subway food

    (satire) *Cash-Strapped Subway Threatens To Reveal Identities Of Customers Who Eat Subway [food] If They Don’t Pay [ransom].*

    3:17p
    Vaccine disinformation grows measles threat

    Vaccine disinformation has convinced many to refuse measles vaccination, and that is creating a completely unnecessary threat of measles.

    3:17p
    Fascism still in the air

    Watch out for a false sense of security. The US is still in danger of being taken over by fascism.

    The Republicans, by a margin of one seat in the House of Representatives, seem to have succeeded in ensuring that the federal government can't do anything before the 2024 elections to ensure our elections are not rigged then.

    3:17p
    Tens of thousands of homes in the UK are not safe

    The UK governmen admits that tens of thousands of homes in the UK are not safe for people to live in.

    This, together with various other issues including the Grenfell fire shows that the UK has lost its ability to enforce regulations on businesses that are meant to protect public safety and well-being.

    It can't even run railroads well, because it has privatized them.

    I am not sure what the causes are. I've seen "croyism" sugested as a cause for some, but I suspect that another cause is catering excessively to the wealthy and business. The companies that run the privatized railroads get more importance than the passengers.

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