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Tuesday, May 9th, 2023

    Time Event
    6:46a
    Covid emergency officially over

    WHO declared an end to the "emergency" about Covid-19, but that really means only acknowledging that millions of people are not taking the well-known precautions.

    We can prevent most Covid-19 infections by wearing masks, and prevent most cases of the flu as well.

    6:46a
    Academic publishing vs profits

    The editorial board of the journal Neuroimage resigned as a body in protest of how much Elsevier charges to publish a paper.

    There should be a standard charge to the authors for publishing a paper, which research grants should cover; for authors that don't have such grants, the journal should waive the charge.

    6:46a
    Labour seconds bank expert into parliament

    A Labour shadow minister gave representatives of two giant banks access to Parliament so they can lobby as they like.

    It might help the party win the next election, but it does not help make that party honestly serve the country supposing it does win.

    6:46a
    Invasive species: horses in AU

    Feral horses in Australia threaten the survival of six native species.

    This will be a sensitive topic because many Australians love the feral horses. But the issue is very simple: feral horses in Australia are a dangerous intrusive species and it is important to keep their numbers down.

    6:46a
    PFAS testing: pesticides

    *US food pesticides contaminated with toxic [PFAS], testing finds.*

    The pesticides may degrade and become harmless, but the PFAS accompanying them will not.

    6:46a
    Social housing

    Vienna demonstrates that a city (or a country) can provide good quality social housing that working people and middle class people are content living on together.

    6:46a
    Protester intolerance, UK

    The coronation of Charles III was an occasion for repression such as one would have expected from an old-time monarch, if the monarch was lacking in regal magnanimity.

    About 20 Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested for wearing t-shirts and carrying small flags, which they planned to respectively expose and wave. Another 20 antimonarchists were arrested for taking nonviolence training in another city.

    In all, 52 protesters and would-be protesters were arrested. A minister said this was justified because the UK's show had to look good.

    In my view, those arrests showed off what's bad and getting worse in the UK: uniformed thugs have been authorized to draw the boundaries of lawful and unlawful protest.

    6:46a
    Big food profits vs starving

    To end global hunger, we need to stop treating food as a set of commodities for giant companies to corner the market on.

    6:46a
    Technoscientific-innovation warning from the fine arts

    The book _Frankenstein_ — not the movie — carries a warning about applying science without attention to what it means to be a human being.

    6:46a
    Non-destructive DNA extraction

    Scientists Extract Human and Deer DNA from Paleolithic Pendant Found in Denisova Cave.

    Research like this is possible because Russia has nothing like the NAGPRA law. If NAGPRA existed there, it would require "returning" ancient human bones and artifacts to someone or other, and we would not have had the chance to learn from them about the evolution of our species -- for instance, we would not know that nearly all of us humans have Neanderthals among our ancestors.

    As for the Denisovans, another strain of humans also known from things found in Denisova cave, we wouldn't know they existed at all.

    6:46a
    Old monetary policy vs new realies

    *Central banks raising interest rates makes it harder to fight the climate crisis.*

    Beyond the short term, high interest rates cannot produce stability, because instability is an inherent result of the developing climate crisis. To have less future instability, we need to decarbonize faster.

    *To Solve the Climate Crisis, It's Time to Talk About Canceling Debt.*

    6:46a
    Unprecedented action on PFAS

    *EPA has ordered chemical company Chemours to stop discharging high levels of [PFAS] into the Ohio River.*

    6:46a
    Urgent: Plastic pusher, Whole Foods

    Everyone: call on Whole Foods to take single-use plastic packaging off its shelves.

    7:01a
    Big food profits vs the starvations

    To end global hunger, we need to stop treating food as a set of commodities for giant companies to corner the market on.

    7:01a
    (Satire) Mayor guts social services, is killed for it

    (satire) *Eric Adams Killed By Vigilante After Acting Erratic As Mayor.*

    7:16a
    Big food profits vs world hunger

    To end global hunger, we need to stop treating food as a set of commodities for giant companies to corner the market on.

    7:16a
    Old monetary policy vs new realities

    *Central banks raising interest rates makes it harder to fight the climate crisis.*

    Beyond the short term, high interest rates cannot produce stability, because instability is an inherent result of the developing climate crisis. To have less future instability, we need to decarbonize faster.

    *To Solve the Climate Crisis, It's Time to Talk About Canceling Debt.*

    8:16p
    Artists in Russia

    Putin's growing authoritarianism started driving the leading artists of Russian culture out of Russia even before he started attacking Ukraine. Now the only major artists that remain in Russia are those who wish to flaunt their support for Putin's regime.

    Recall how Putin used to mock the idea that other Russians could run against him in elections? It wasn't enough for him that he was popular and would win even a free election. It wasn't enough for him to make victory for his opponents impossible. He went out of his way to rig elections blatantly (for instance, against Kasparov) so as to disparage the very idea of democracy.

    8:16p
    Right-wing fanatic drove car into immigrants

    A right-wing fanatic drove his car into a crowd of immigrants standing around a shelter where they were getting assistance, murdering 8 of them.

    More about the fanatic's stated political views.

    [Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<p?>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

    <p> A right-wing fanatic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/08/brownsville-texas-car-crash-deaths-migrant-shelter">drove his car into a crowd of immigrants</a> standing around a shelter where they were getting assistance, murdering 8 of them. <p> More about the fanatic's <a href="https://boingboing.net/2023/05/07/texas-mall-shooter-was-wearing-right-wing-death-squad-patch.html">stated political views</a>. <p? *The Real <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/right-wing-death-squad-allen-texas">'Right Wing Death Squad' /> Is the Cowardly Republican Party.*
    8:16p
    Labour and Tories' anti-protest laws

    Labour has become so right-wing that it refuses to commit to repealing the Tories' new anti-protest laws.

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