| Time |
Event |
| 3:31p |
Iran agreable to nuclear monitoring
*Iran pledges to restore
monitoring equipment at nuclear sites,
says IAEA.*
So there may indeed be hope of avoiding Iran as a nuclear power,
if Biden wants to make the effort.
|
| 3:31p |
|
| 11:32p |
Gulf of Mexico, oil extraction
*Groups Sue
to Stop Biden From Offering 73 Million Acres to Oil
Drillers in Gulf of Mexico.*
|
| 11:32p |
Child rearing, a study
Same-sex couples
do as well in raising children as different-sex
couples.
|
| 11:32p |
Bakhmut strategy, Ukraine
Zelenskiy said Ukraine will
never abandon Bakhmut.
The policy of "no retreats," or "defend territory at all costs," is
likely to be disastrous in war. Such inflexibility makes an army
vulnerable. Bachmut is worth nothing to Ukraine for the war unless
defending it gives Ukraine a tactical advantage.
|
| 11:32p |
|
| 11:32p |
Political censorship, TX doctors
Doctors in Texas are terrified of the repression around abortions;
they don't dare say the word
to a patient, even when the patient
needs an abortion for medical reasons.
|
| 11:32p |
Blogging as lobbying, FL
Florida Republicans have proposed a law saying that bloggers who are
paid to write about elected officials
must register as lobbyists.
I have a suspicion that registration will require running nonfree
Javascript, and paying likewise. That is definitely an injustice.
However, is it an injustice to require them to register?
I don't think that people who are paid to write articles for or
against an elected official are considered lobbyists if it is
not for their own blogs. If I am right about that, it is unjust
to impose that requirement specificly on individual bloggers.
|
| 11:32p |
Mormon church risk strategy
The Mormon church was fined $5 million for
concealing investments
amounting to around $30 billion.
The concealment lasted over 20 years.
Is this fine large enough to deter such crimes? I doubt it.
Perhaps long-term concealment of data that are supposed to be reported
annually should result in an annual fine. That way, the total fine
would be around $100 million. But that would only 0.3% of the amount
concealed — still too small, I think.
|
| 11:32p |
Rethinking Brexit
Most Britons have recognized that
leaving the EU
was an economic disaster.
Yet neither major party advocates undoing the disaster, which would
be easy enough with a simple agreement. The Tories have accepted making such
an agreement limited to Northern Ireland; since all of the UK would benefit
from that, there is no reason except fantasies to refuse.
Britons should have listed to Corbyn, who stated that a customs union
would be his goal.
An agreement limited to trade won't correct all the problems caused by
leaving the EU. For instance, the Tories are about to
make a human rights disaster
too.
|
| 11:32p |
Evolving the English language
Calling on people to choose carefully
which words to use or avoid.
I was glad to see another that criticizes the use of "appropriate" as
an accusation as a "bludgeon." The term is subjective and vague, so
it lends itself to bullying and harassment by people who try to impose
their views demands on everyone else.
In regard to the expression "you guys", that used to imply aduly men
only. However, since a few decades ago I've often heard it used for
groups of adult women as well. Maybe it is no longer incorrect
for the author's classes.
But we don't have a good base word for names of groups of adults of
various genders. "Person" tends to make the compound words too long
and cumbersome.
How about "mensch", copied from German? How would you feel about
being called a "firemensch"?
|
| 11:32p |
Legalizing abortion, Ohio
The
ballot initiative
to legalize abortion in Ohio has been approved
for a vote.
|
| 11:32p |
Weaponizing brainwave measurability
Monitoring of people's mental states by measuring their brainwaves is
close to the point of threatening cognitive liberty.
We need to defend it.
The threat to cognitive liberty is not new. Brainwashing systems,
such as applied in China (and especially to the Uygurs in Xinjiang)
attack cognitive liberty. The US, Canada
and some other countries set
up brainwashing systems to apply to indigenous children.
Disinformation campaigns existed before computers.
However, supporting brainwashing with monitoring of subjugated
people's individual mental states makes the threat harder to resist.
These systems depend inherently on makng them use nonfree
malware
or else devices that are imposed on them.
|
| 11:46p |
Iran agreeable to nuclear monitoring
*Iran pledges to restore
monitoring equipment at nuclear sites,
says IAEA.*
So there may indeed be hope of avoiding Iran as a nuclear power,
if Biden wants to make the effort.
|
| 11:46p |
|