| Time |
Event |
| 7:33a |
Indigenous politics, Canada
Indigenous political control of the
Northwest Territories of Canada has opened the door to projects
to give protection to large areas of land.
To preserve the world's ecosystems requires doing this sort of work in
every region. Protecting large areas in Canada won't make up for the
failure to protect the very different ecosystems of other regions.
Perhaps this energetic example can inspire people elsewhere.
However, in this article I also see something that looks like
prejudice. I get the impression that the author admires
"indigenous-led conservation efforts" first of all for putting the
more worthy race in charge, and only secondly for conservation itself.
Protection of biodiversity is important regardless of who is in charge
of it, but I don't like the prejudice. |
| 7:48a |
Political censorship, Youtube
When Youtube cut off RT TV's channel,
it deleted years of past
programs which were not simply Kremlin propaganda.
I disagree with some of the views expressed in that article,
but I trust its factual report. |
| 8:03a |
Culture war, Ukraine
Some Ukrainian nationalists want to close the Mikhail Bulgakov museum
in Kyiv, because he wrote about factions fighting over Kyiv during the
Russian revolution.
Putin's efforts to set up Ukrainian and Russian culture as mutually
exclusive and hostile reflects his totalitarian leanings. It would be
a shame and a disaster for Ukraine to take a similar attitude. |
| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:18a |
Avian health, fireworks
Fireworks may cause harm to migrating birds, especially when there are
fireworks over a wide area on the same night.
There are certain periods of the year in which birds mainly migrate.
It should be easy enough to avoid having more than isolated fireworks
presentations during those periods. |
| 8:18a |
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| 8:33a |
Rape laws, Pakistan
*Anger as Pakistan
court frees rapist after he agrees deal to marry
his victim.*
That law reflects the idea, shocking to us, that a woman is property
— initially property of her father, then later property of her
husband. Rape of an unmarried woman damages her value as property, so
the rapist is required to compensate the father for the damage;
marrying her imposes that responsibility. |
| 8:33a |
Apple competition, EFF
The EFF warns of ways Apple could "permit competing app stores" but
make them useless for independent distribution of software -- or,
perhaps, useless specifically for the Free World.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/heres-how-apple-could-open-its-app-store-without-really-opening-its-app-store
This is an important issue and the warning is important too. Sad to
say, the article shows how little the EFF values users' freedom.
When Apple removes an app store for allegedly failing to meet its
security obligations, it could take a long time to figure out whether
the action was warranted, and during that delay, the suspended app
store’s customers could lose access to the media they’ve purchased,
If you have "purchased media" through an app, why in the world would
you "lose access to it" if that app ceases to function? Is the EFF
assuming that the "media" is covered with digital shackles, so you
can't play said "media" except through a nonfree program that tracks
and restricts you? It looks that way. Even worse, EFF's statement
legitimizes such shackles.
Here we see the values that EFF's position is based on:
In the case of audiobooks, Apple uses its high fees to clear the field
of competitors for its own product, Apple Books, which sells books that
are permanently locked (through Digital Rights Management) to Apple’s
platform.
Incredibly, that’s the best outcome of Apple’s “app tax.” In other
cases, companies simply pass on Apple’s commission to Apple’s customers
by raising prices (since everyone who sells via an iOS app must pay the
app tax, they all raise prices). Even that is better than the worst
outcome, where products and services never come to market because they
can’t be profitable after paying the app tax, and the products won’t
sell if the app tax is added onto their sale price.
The "worst outcome" according to the EFF would be the lack of some
sort of convenience. In the digital world of today, much worse
outcomes are possible, and indeed likely.
The usual outcome of anything digital today is that it offers you all
the convenience you might want, but it snoops on, tracks, and
restricts the users. |
| 9:03a |
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| 9:18a |
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| 11:48p |
Bainimarama continues to threaten Fiji with a coup
Bainimarama continues to threaten Fiji with a coup, having previously
imposed a constitution which authorizes the military to overthrow any
government. |
| 11:48p |
Italy's rules on ships that rescue migrants from boats at sea
Italy's right-wing government has imposed impossible rules
on ships that rescue migrants from small boats at sea.
The point of the rules is to be a monkey wrench in the
ships' engines, so that they can't save very many. |
| 11:48p |
Proposal to prohibit algorithms recommend "harmful" messages
Labour proposes to prohibit discussion platforms from having
recommendation algorithms that promote "harmful" messages — without
actually censoring these messages.
This is the approach I have advocated; I am glad they are considering this
rather than banning such messages. |
| 11:48p |
Lula's foreign policy
*Lula's foreign policy? Encouraging a multipolar world.*
In the long term, I think that is a wise policy, provided it is done
cleverly to avoid a pitfall. The pitfall is that of treating various
rival powers alike, while some of them find ways to take advantage of
Brazil's neutrality to gain advantage over other powers.
In the short term, though, I think this should not extend to countries
that are actually fighting wars of conquest. |
| 11:48p |
Hard to believe, but things are getting better
Robert Reich: *It’s hard to believe, but things are getting
better. They will continue to if we keep up the fight.* |
| 11:48p |
Chinese propaganda around Covid deaths is failing
Chinese propaganda tries and fails to convince the Chinese that Chinese
aren't dying from Covid. |
| 11:48p |
Extinction Rebellion drops "disruptive" protests
Extinction Rebellion in the UK has dropped its practice of
"disruptive" protests in the face of long prison sentences for
nonviolent protest.
I can't criticize the leaders of Extinction Rebellion — but this is a
victory for repression, and planet roasters world-wide will take note. |
| 11:48p |
Social media triggers children to dislike their own bodies
*Social media triggers children to dislike their own bodies, says study.*
Even at age 12, 75% say they dislike their bodies. Half the teenagers
have become withdrawn. |
| 11:48p |
Environmental dangers of low Earth orbit satellites
Tens of thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit pose environmental
dangers: disrupting star-tracking navigation by birds, insects and
seals, and filling the upper atmosphere with sunlight-blocking and
ozone-destroying aluminum oxide. |
| 11:48p |
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