| Time |
Event |
| 5:33a |
Romanticism
A new form of romanticism is leading young people to reject
rationalism and science, as well as technology.
The specific forms of technology that the article mentions are
oppressive forms: online dis-services and nonfree software. There are
valid rational reasons to reject them -- but if you ignore those
reasons, and give way to a thoughtless reject, that will not lead you
to make good choices.
The person who told us to "listen to the scientists" was Greta
Thunberg, and she was talking specifically about climate scientists
and their modeling of coming global climate catastrophe. We know full
well who wants us not to listen to them, and spends millions of
dollars
to distract
us from them.
Science is not perfect, and individual scientific conclusions can be
wrong, But science, when practiced properly and honestly, is our best
tool for collectively finding and correcting each other's errors and
our own. To reject scientific thinking is not only foolish, it is
asking for trouble, even gigadeaths. It can amount to genocide
against the human race, and millions of other species too.
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| 5:33a |
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| 5:33a |
Decreasing life expectancy
Due to the expensive and inferior US medical system, life expectancy
for non-college-graduates has decreased every year since 2010.
That's because their income has decreased. As often happens, lower
life expectancy measures poverty. It is understandable that they are
dissatisfied and want a change.
Those who think of addressing this by voting for the Republican Party,
which wants to make the medical system even worse and block's Biden's
efforts to improve it, are being self-destructively foolish.
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| 5:33a |
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| 5:33a |
NYPD complaints
*Complaints against
NYPD hit
11-year high under pro-police mayor Adams.* I expected something
like this, since he is an ex-thug and will tend to take the side of
thugs in a dispute.
The proponents of repressive
"broken
windows" policies for the thug department, which were applied in
the 90s in some US cities, took credit for a decrease in crime that
turned out to happen nationwide at that time, regardless of use of
those policies. It was caused by other factors, such as eliminating
lead from gasoline and other parts of the environment.
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| 5:33a |
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| 5:33a |
Nanoplastic experiment
Rotifers eat microplastics, then cannot digest them, but split them up
into enormous numbers of much smaller nanoplastic particles.
The nanoplastic particles can get into smaller organisms, further down
the food chain, which means they go through more levels of
concentration before they reach the sea animals that we eat. If they are
harmful, which no one knows, that would make them more harmful.
It's a world-wide experiment being carried out on all humans and most other
animals, all at once.
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| 5:33a |
Antarctica
Antarctica's climate is teetering on the edge of disaster:
*Study after study showed the breakdown of climate systems taking place
[decades] earlier than foreseen, with potentially catastrophic results.*
It's not just penguins that will be wiped out. It's the geography, too.
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| 5:33a |
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| 5:33a |
Inheritance taxes
Inheritance taxes
are paid
by the rich. or by those who are about to become rich. This makes
them one of the fairest kinds of tax, in a society that has let the
rich grab too much.
Strange that non-rich voters think they will someday have to pay it.
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| 5:33a |
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| 8:48p |
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| 8:48p |
UK made refugees live in rural airbase
The UK has made hundreds of refugees live in a disused rural airbase
from which it is hard to get anywhere. One village is close enough
that they can walk to it. The people there worry that so many
refugees will cause problems for them.
Wethersfield's population is under 1,300. The number of refugees may
be half that. Their club is not designed for hundreds of guests at
once.
If the UK had placed the refugees in a less isolated and more urban
area, where hundreds of thousands live, they would hardly be
noticeable.
</li> |
| 8:48p |
Last bank branch in Peak District
The last bank branch in the Peak District, an important English
tourism area, is closing.
Since it is a rural area and many people don't have cars, going to a
branch elsewhere will be difficult for them. It will be difficult for
businesses, too, to deposit cash and withdraw cash.
</li> |
| 8:48p |
Some Israelis refuse to be drafted
Some Israelis are horrified by what the army does, and refuse to be
drafted. One explains his decision here.
</li> |
| 8:48p |
Nikki Haley and slavery as cause of civil war
Nikki Haley, in a public meeting, persistently refused to recognize
slavery among the causes of the US Civil War.
Dissembling about this is a traditional part of defending the
Confederate side and deflecting criticism of its system of slavery
(and, later, segregation and discrimination).
</li> |
| 8:48p |
Gross repression in Argentina
Argentina's repressive new president has proposed a law of gross
repression: any protest rally of more than three people in a public
place would require applying for a permit in advance.
Some kinds of protests would be harshly punished, as in Hong Kong
Britain.
</li> |
| 8:48p |
UK asylum requests from Hong Kong
A leader of the Hong Kong democracy movement accuses the UK of bending over
backwards to reject requests for asylum from refugees for Hong Kong.
The UK made a trade agreement with China recently. Since China is
rich and the UK is poor by comparison, it makes sense that the Tories
would suck up to China in this way.
However, it could simply be the an instance of the general
incompetence of UK bureaucracy in government and business.
Or a general lack of sense of proportion.
</li> |
| 8:48p |
Annual tracking summaries
Online tracking dis-services, and tethered appliances, are trying to teach
customers to love Big Brother — by sending them summaries of what they did
during the year.
If you'd like a list summarizing the music, movies, food products or
humidifier hours you have used during the year, the free software you use
for this should be able to keep such lists — for your eyes only.
Meanwhile, join me in saying "Out, out, damned Spotify!" and never let
them know anything about you again.
</li> |
| 8:48p |
UK plans to exile Dmitry Lima
The UK plans to exile Dmitry Lima to Portugal, on account of a
sentence for nonviolent crimes. This despite the fact that he was
born in the UK and has never been outside the UK.
I wonder whether Portugal would admit him. Has it got legal grounds
to block the deportation?
Since his parents were/are Portuguese, I suppose he is or at least was
entitled to apply for Portuguese citizenship — but does he actually
have that citizenship? Would it be granted under these circumstances,
if he does apply? What if he (rationally) declines to apply for this
help in deporting him?
Perhaps this is simply yet another example of the UK state's lack of
capacity to implement its own rules reliably.
</li> |
| 8:48p |
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