| Time |
Event |
| 10:45a |
Lawsuit against Tinder
A lawsuit accuses Tinder and some other dating apps of only pretending
to seek to find people good matches; instead, the plaintiff charge, they
are designed to keep people on those apps for as long as possible
through addictive design.
</li>
|
| 10:45a |
UK jailed hundreds of refugees
The UK has jailed hundreds of refugees for traveling to the UK
without prior approval, including victims of trafficking and torture.
Their aim was to ask for asylum.
This is part of a global tendency for countries to make it effectively
impossible for people without plenty of money to ask for asylum there.
</li> |
| 10:45a |
Microplastics in human placentas
A study of human placentas found microplastics in each one.
I have seen a series of results about the presence of microplastics in
various places and various kinds of organisms. All of these address
one side of the crucial question: are we exposed to microplastics?
Whether this is a real problem depends on the other side: how
dangerous are they? We speculate that they may make various medical
problems more likely, but we don't have any firm knowledge about this.
</li> |
| 10:45a |
Special Texas court system for businesses
Texas has set up a special court system for businesses, so right-wing
extremist governor Abbott can personally choose the judges.
He can pick them to defend businesses from accusations of mistreating
customers, employees or people who live in the area. That is part of
his plutocratist politics.
</li> |
| 10:45a |
Product labels of non-dairy substitutes
The UK has a proposal to ban product labels for using variants of
dairy product names to label non-dairy substitutes.
I don't think anyone is likely to think that "I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter"
with butter. However, I did once buy a product with "cheeze" when I wanted a
version that had real cheese. If I had checked carefully, I would have understood the difference, but I didn't realize it might be a mistake.
I would suggest allowing the names that say "not FOO" when the "not"
is large and visible. But a substitute name that differs only a little
from the dairy product name does cause a risk of confusion and should not
be allowed.
</li> |
| 10:45a |
|
| 10:45a |
Tunisia's dictator sentencing opposition to prison
Tunisia's once-elected dictator is sentencing opposition politicians
to prison.
Some of them are safely living in exile, but that doesn't help Tunisia
become free.
</li> |
| 10:45a |
UK canceling people's citizenship for crimes
An appeal has upheld the UK's practice of canceling people's citizenship
for committing crimes.
Going to help PISSI was certainly a crime, but a citizen of country C
should have the right to go home and serve a sentence there, rather than
being exiled.
</li> |
| 10:45a |
|
| 10:45a |
The neighborhood Notting Hill
How the film Notting Hill damaged the neighborhood Notting Hill —
through gentrification.
At that time, I was dating a woman who lived in Notting Hill. I told
her I had enjoyed the film, and she said that she resented it for
forcing her to move to a farther part of London. Indeed,
gentrification is shown right on the screen. I still enjoy it despite
that, perhaps because it's a romantically inept bookish man's perfect
romantic fantasy.
At the end of the first encounter between the two main characters, Ms
Scott steals a kiss from Mr Thacker. Would you call that a "sexual
assault" and comparable to rape? Do you think she should be
prosecuted for that? I can imagine the scene in which Thacker
testifies at Scott's trial and falsely claims to have given verbal
consent in advance, thus sparing her a prison term. After hearing the
verdict, she runs over to him and kisses him, and they arrest her
again.
</li> |
| 10:45a |
Starmer's plans of seizing Labour Party
Starmer planned to seize the Labour Party before the 2019 election.
</li> |
| 10:45a |
|
| 8:46p |
People displaced by climate crisis to testify in first-of-its-kind hearing in US
*People displaced by climate crisis to testify …
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will hear how climate is
driving
forced migration across the Americas.* |
| 8:46p |
We must start preparing the US workforce for the effects of AI – now
AI systems already control many kinds of mistreatment of workers.
This article
starts with some examples.
It ends with a number of recommendations, which seem wise to me.
However, when the article discusses the use of AI to evaluate the
continually monitored work of an employees, I think it focuses too
much on the use of AI for the evaluation, and that the crucial wrong
is in the monitoring itself rather than how it is evaluated.
In its list of real AI systems that really know something about some
domain, the article perhaps includes bullshit generates as well in
some points. The author doesn't distinguish.
|
| 8:46p |
Moldova breakaway region
Putin seems to be using the "my puppets are pleading for my help" game
with Transnistria, a breakaway part of Moldova with a
garrison of
Russian troops.
There is no easy way Putin can send reinforcements to Transnistria:
they would have to fly over Ukraine or cross the Black Sea.
Either way, Ukraine could attack them
But first, surely some of those Russian soldiers would like to get out
of Putin's power. Let's give them a chance and encourage them to take it.
|
| 8:46p |
|
| 8:46p |
Humanitarian workers face deportation from Israel after freeze on visas
Israel is sabotaging humanitarian organizations that aid Palestinians
in the occupied Palestine
by not giving visas to their workers.
|
| 9:16p |
|
| 9:16p |
112 dead in chaotic scenes as Israeli troops open fire near aid trucks
Israeli army firing at a crowd of hungry Palestinians near some aid trucks
caused a
total of 400 casualties.
Israel says its soldiers never shot at the crowd, but witnesses there say
people were shot. The Israeli army has a decades-long
tradition of lying
about such things.
|
| 9:16p |
|
| 9:17p |
|
| 9:17p |
New Zealand online vape seller vows to ignore Australia’s new import ban
Australia is trying to crack down on the importation of vapes.
A foreign seller that ships to
Australia is defying the restriction.
Prohibition of addictive dangerous drugs tends to cause various forms
of harm.
Which can be worse than the harm caused by the drug itself.
However, this prohibition does not criminalize users, so maybe it
will avoid the worst harms that prohibition usually causes.
However, a government that can succeed in blocking vapes being shipped
in could succeed in blocking mifepristone being shipped in.
|