| Time |
Event |
| 3:03a |
Parmesan producers fight fakes with micro transponders
Wheels of parmigiano-reggiano cheese are now labeled with RFIDs
saying where
each one was produced.
I don't see anything wrong in labeling wheels of cheese, which are not
a retail product, with something printed. Or even with an RFID, if it
is present only at the wholesale level. But if there is any chance an
RFID can get into something sold to a retail customer, it must come
with directions for how to remove it. Tracking individuals even as a
byproduct is unaccpetable.
If you want to be tracked, move to China!
|
| 3:03a |
The 1973 coup against democratic socialism in Chile
The 1973 coup against President Allende, who tried to combine
socialism with human rights and democracy, was orchestrated and
supported by
Republicans in the US and Tories in Britain.
This taught us to expect violence from supposedly democratic
right-wing parties.
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| 3:03a |
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| 3:03a |
How the Demerara slave revolt led to emancipation
The Demerara slave revolt in British Guiana was brutally crushed, but
ultimately it led to the
abolition of slavery.
|
| 3:03a |
Mountain treelines are rising due to climate crisis, study finds
Tropical mountain treelines are moving uphill at around 3 meters per year,
and
accelerating.
In temperate zones they are moving only 1 meter per year.
|
| 3:17a |
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| 3:17a |
Cambodians who fled genocide and civil war are being sent back
The Cambodians who came to the US decades ago included many children
who came with their families and never knew Cambodia except as a
child. Even if they have committed crimes in the US, it is cruel and
wrong to
deport them to Cambodia now,
When someone immigrates as an adult, perse knows how to live in per
former country. In those circumstances, being deported there is not
inherently disaster. It is inherently disaster for people who only
know life in the US.
The US has done similar things
to people who immigrated as children
(lawfully or not) from
various countries.
This is never right.
|
| 3:17a |
Met wins battle with NHS over not attending mental health calls
The London thug department may soon be thuggish less often, as it has
rejected the responsibility to take most
calls about mental health
emergencies.
The department's motive for this was to focus its effort on crime.
It is interesting to compare this with the US, where the criminal
justice reform movement campaigns to take thugs off the mental health
calls because they sometimes
kill the people they were called to help.
|
| 3:17a |
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| 3:17a |
Unite accuses Labour of ‘currying favor with big business’
*[A large labor union] accuses Labour of "currying favor with big
business"
on workers' rights.*
|
| 9:02a |
Climate activists defy gag orders
*Charge us with contempt too,
say 40 people, if climate activist prosecuted
[for carrying signs suggesting jury nullification].*
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| 9:02a |
Ecuador V. big oil, a win
Ecuadorians
voted to end oil extraction
in the Yasuni national park.
This decision has been a political battle for a long time. President
Correa asked the rich countries to pay Ecuador to keep that territory
unexploited, saying that a poor country like Ecuador should not have
bear the whole of the sacrifice of not selling that oil.
|
| 9:02a |
Global heating as hyperthreat
Bernie Sanders: *The
US and China must unite
to fight the climate crisis, not each other.*
I agree, that is what both should do. If they both agree,
they could both do it. If both agree&hellp;
|
| 9:02a |
Climate justice, some examples
Rich countries are using poor countries' loans
to trap them into
investing in fossil fuel
extraction.
The obvious way to respond is to offer debt forgiveness in exchange
for commitments not to do more fossil fell development. I think we
could do it, if not for the plutocrats trying to prevent it.
|
| 9:02a |
Co2 capture, US
The US government plans to spend
a billion dollars
researching
capture of Co2 from the air.
It is a distant long shot, and not likely to be of real help before it
is too late. On the other hand, it is small compared to what real
decarbonization will cost. So I think it won't make much difference
either way — unless it somehow interferes with serious
decarbonization efforts.
But it could do just that. Planet roaster companies will surely get
involved in these projects and use them for greenwashing, and to lobby
against methods that have a chance of actually reducing fossil fuel consumption.
|
| 9:02a |
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| 9:02a |
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| 9:02a |
Pride-flag murder, CA
Republicans are turning to
murder to silence
disagreement with their views.
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| 9:02a |
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| 9:02a |
WHO aspartame guideline COI
*Revealed:
WHO aspartame safety panel
linked to alleged Coca-Cola front group.*
*Guideline on Diet Coke ingredient by consultants tied to industry is
"obvious conflict of interest" and "not credible".*
If aspartame has a very low probability of causing cancer,
that may not make much practical difference. I would not automatically
presume it does. But I don't have the expertise to judge the question.
Allowing the beverage industry a role in judging it is definitely wrong.
|
| 9:02a |
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| 9:02a |
Meat-eating issues, alternatives
Meat industry lobbying is
blocking the development
of greener alternatives in the US and the EU.
|
| 10:48p |
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| 10:48p |
Corruption of US Christianity by corrupter
The corrupter has corrupted US Christianity so deeply that when
preachers quote Jesus as saying "Turn the other cheek", some supposed
Christians ask, "Where did you get those liberal talking points?"
A decade or two ago I met someone who said that to be a true Christian
one must be a Liberal Democrat — meaning the kind of Liberals who
gave us the New Deal, I could have a high opinion of Christians like
that, but that would not convince me to believe supernatural claims
such as the existence of gods. |
| 10:48p |
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| 10:48p |
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| 10:48p |
Saudi Arabia global charm offensive
*Saudi Arabia is on a global charm offensive. By blocking critical articles,
Vice is helping it.*
Let us not forget that Crown Prince Bone Saw is responsible for
murdering a journalist. |
| 10:48p |
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| 10:48p |
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| 10:48p |
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| 10:48p |
Access to cash distance to local community
The UK says it will require banks to offer access to cash within a
3-mile distance of a depositor's local community.
This is a good policy in principle, but I fear British banks, with their
propensity to close accounts to avoid inconveniences for themselves,
will game the rules by implementing them in reverse,
like this:
"Dear Sir or Madam, we are compelled to close your account on account
of the fact that we have no ATM within 3 miles of the village where
you reside. We regret the inconvenience this may cause."
|
| 10:48p |
Iranian filmmaker Saeed Roustayi
Iranian filmmaker Saeed Roustayi has been sentenced to 5 years isolation
from other cinema professionals, and to take a brainwashing course in
how to make films that embody the regime's propaganda.
It occurs to me that copyright law is what enables the Iranian regime
to use threats to block the showing of Iranian's' films in other
countries. Copyright gives the filmmakers the power to deny
permission for such showings, and thus makes it effective for the
regime to jail them if they don't deny permission.
I can imagine other countries could pass laws to permit showings
of foreign films without authorization of the copyright holder or
any other entity that "owns" some aspect, if a court finds
that a repressive regime compels that entity to deny permission. |
| 10:48p |
|
| 10:48p |
Thugs shot Sestinee Thompson
Thugs in Colorado shot Sestinee Thompson dead as she tried to flee by
car from a confrontation.
They knew she was not the robbery suspect they were searching for, but
they wanted to grab her for completeness' sake. That was surely not
urgent enough to justify the escalation.
That Ms Thompson had children was irrelevant; that she was pregnant
was irrelevant. Her right to life was as valid as yours or mine, no
more and no less.
Her actions, as described by the thugs, were very foolish, and perhaps
illegal, but they were not violent. (We must not presume thugs are telling
the truth — often they do not.)
It is quite possible that the thugs might have treated a white woman
differently. Racism, conscious or unconscious, is not unusual. If
they had done the same thing to a white woman, that would also have
been wrong. We should criticize people for the cases in which they do
wrong, not for those in which they do right.
Racism is not what determines whether their actions in this case were
wrong. It may be tangentially pertinent in explaining Ms Thompson's
over-the-top reaction to being questioned. It may also be
partly to blame for chaotic life.
The reason the thugs' actions were wrong is unrelated to the race of
the victim. It is that shooting at someone for fleeing questioning or
arrest is an dangerous overreaction, with a significant chance of
making things much worse. There is no need and no justification for
life-threatening hurry. |
| 10:48p |
Sellers that don't pay Amazon to ship products
(2023) Amazon's new anti-competitive requirement: sellers who don't pay for
Amazon to ship their products are now required to pay for not doing so. |
| 10:48p |
Vandal attacked tree in Australia
A vandal attacked a tree in Australia designated by indigenous people
SST a "birthing tree". They are fighting a plan to eliminate that
tree to build a road which motorists consider necessary.
In my view, the religious feelings and wishes of indigenous people
should get the same level of consideration as the religious feelings
and wishes of any other people, but not more. Regardless of which group,
such feelings do not outweigh everything else in life.
To treat something as "sacred", and extremely protected, simply
because some sect calls it so is excessive. We would not be shocked
if some neighborhood church, mosque, synagogue, temple or shrine — or
tree — were taken by eminent domain if the purpose is sufficient. On
the other hand, if the religious object is rare and unusual, or
specially old, that would be a stronger reason to preserve it — by
rerouting the road, in this case.
Some information crucial for evaluating this case is not present in
the article. For instance, how many birthing trees are there per
square mile in that region? On the average, how long have they had
the status of birthing trees? And how long has that particular tree
enjoyed that status?
If there are many birthing trees, preserving them all is an
unreasonable demand. If they are few, preserving them is not much to
ask, and surely feasible to do.
If that tree has been a birthing tree for 200 years, that makes it
rather special, which is a good reason to protect it. But if it was
designated 10 years ago, it is reasonable to respond, "Pick another
tree." |
| 10:48p |
|
| 10:48p |
Slow reversal from UK judicial system
Andrew Malkinson was convicted of rape despite strong evidence he was not
the rapist. It took the UK judicial system 17 years to conclude that this
was wrong.
*[Prosecutors] had key DNA evidence 16 years before Andrew Malkinson cleared.*
What I see here is the effect of a presupposition of guilt, and later
a presupposition that a court conviction can't have been wrong. |
| 10:48p |
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| 10:48p |
China's fertility rate low
China's fertility rate has become quite low; this implies the population will
decrease.
If only India, the world's most populous country, could do the same,
it would start to alleviate the danger of overconsumption and pollution
and open the path to rewilding half of the Earth's surface. |
| 10:48p |
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