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| 8:03a |
Urgent: Phone congresscritters to never cut Social Security or Medicare
US citizens: phone your congresscritter and ask per to pledge
never to cut Social Security or Medicare.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are
+1-202-224-3121,
+1-888-818-6641 and
+1-888-355-3588.
If you phone, please spread the word!
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
Cockatoos can use tools
Goffin's cockatoos learn to use multiple tools together and to anticipate
which tool or tools a given fruit requires to open it.
According to Wikipedia, they can practice self-control, keeping a
treat uneaten for over a minute in order to exchange it for an even
better treat. They can learn to unlock a cage by watching a human do
it.
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
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| 8:03a |
False right-wing accusations
A right-wing group that supports Israel's occupation policies has
accused a Lebanese professor of "discrimination", saying that she
discriminated by refusing to accept their definition of antisemitism.
If her actions fit that description, that does not make them wrong.
What does or does not constitute discrimination is an objective
question and we must keep it objective.
People of any group can well tell us about the forms that
discrimination against that group takes, and what the experience feels
like to them. The former is a matter of specific events which they
saw, and the second is a subjective matter of their feelings.
However, no group in a free socirty can have the power to decide what
does or does not constitute discrimination against that group, because
in a society which prohibits discrimination in some situations, that
power would be dictatorial power. The specific criterion for
discrimination, where to draw the line, is a crucial moral question
which affects everyone's rights. Setting line too far to either side
can cause injustice; indeed, setting it too far to either side can
cause injustice _to you_. (You are part of some groups and you
interact with people in other groups.)
The positioning of that line affects everyone's rights, so everyone
must have a say in it. We must abstract that definition from specific
groups so as to make a fair definition that is not biased towards or
against certain specific groups.
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| 8:03a |
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| 2:03p |
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| 2:03p |
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| 2:03p |
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| 2:03p |
Costly hydrogen production
One difficulty with producing large amounts of hydrogen by
electrolysis is that it needs to use
large amounts of fresh water.
That won't be possible in an arid place such as the one California is
becoming.
This problem is real, but not insurmountable with abundant renewable
electric generation -- plus desalination plants powered by that
electricity.
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| 2:03p |
LNG export costly to US buyers
*Radical [right-wing]
Legislation Would Eliminate All Federal
Oversight
of Natural Gas Exports.*
Raising the price of gas in the US is just the start of the problems
that would cause. Big Oil will want to get that gas by fracking,
which poisons water sources. And once Big Oil gets to build the wells
and the pipelines and the export terminals, it will demand to keep
running them for decades.
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| 2:03p |
Earthquake preparedness deceit, Turkey
Turkey is arresting the builders of buildings that collapsed
due to the earthquake.
It may be true that Erdoğan is trying to distract attention from how
badly he has handled emergency aid for the survivors. However, this
is not a mere distraction. Turkey is earthquake-prone, so any given
building has a substantial chance of suffering an earthquake sooner or
later. Strict enforcements of building codes is crucial for public
safety. Better late than never.
However,
this isn't the first time that Erdoğan promised
better enforcement of building codes,
after a deadly earthquake. The real challenge will be to carry out
the promise.
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| 2:03p |
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