| Time |
Event |
| 3:25a |
More Midwest fires earlier, USA
It is
early
spring, and the US Midwest is already suffering from wildfires.
|
| 4:25a |
|
| 4:55a |
Shoplifting crackdown
The UK proposes to use facial recognition systems on important streets,
including mobile vans, to find people wanted for arrest.
And not only for heinous crimes — even shoplifters
would be sought this way.
|
| 4:55a |
Repression of activism
The UK is erecting a repressive system to crush protests, especially
protests demanding measures to save civilization from climate
disaster. People are imprisoned for
holding protest signs, as in China.
I don't recall that Starmer Labour is any better on this issue than
the Tories.
|
| 4:55a |
|
| 4:55a |
Layan Nasir
Not all Palestinians are Muslims. Israeli soldiers came to arrest
unarmed Christian Palestinian at home, at night, in
the West Bank.
They are planning to hold her in prison indefinitely, with no
official charges and therefore no trial. However, there is suspicion
that she in prison for political organizing.
|
| 5:25a |
|
| 5:25a |
Peer review corruption
There is evidence that peer reviewers are using bullshit generators
(chatbots) to
generate evaluations of submitted papers.
Since those programs don't really understand the articles that are
being reviewed, or the subject that those are about, this is asking
for error.
Please don't call
those programs "AI"!
|
| 5:25a |
Aid not reaching Gaza
Israel promised to allow more aid into Gaza, but it has not
really
done that. Famine has started.
Israel said it would allow aid into Gaza from the north, but instead of doing this using the
existing crossing, it has decided to build a new crossing first. That's as absurd as
extinguishing a life-threatening urban fire by ordering a new fire engine and waiting for it to
arrive.
However, there seems to be other impediments to distributing aid inside Gaza once it gets
across the border.
Perhaps these are not directly Israel's doing, but they are consequences of Israel's actions.
I can imagine that truck owners don't want to risk that their trucks be destroyed by Israeli
drones, and drivers don't want to risk getting killed that way.
|
| 5:25a |
US military drones
Reportedly US military drones have
proved
unreliable in Ukraine, so Ukraine is buying commercial Chinese drones (and spare parts),
which work better.
|
| 5:25a |
CJPA news link tax
Google is testing a response to California's "news link tax", which is to
remove all news links from what users post on Google platforms.
I see this as a counterattack rather than as a compelled reaction.
But it is a fact that nothing can stop Google from retaliating this
way. Whether Google's claims are right that the tax encourages
further concentration and hollowing out of the newspaper business,
I don't know.
The article talks about possible "better alternative" in a vague way,
and I have no idea what Google means to suggest. But I do have a
suggestion.
Adopt a tax on web sites that display advertising and allow users to
post their own messages. The tax should be based on the amount of
usage and/or the amount of advertising. The money should be
distributed to news organizations in a way that does not depend on
who does or does not post links to them. This way, Google and other
platforms could not evade the tax by counterattacking.
|