Sunday, July 28th, 2024

Time	Event
12:28p	Alpine resort town burnt, CAN The city of Jasper, in Alberta, is being burnt by a wildfire and all 30,000 residents and tourists have been evacuated. The greenhouse gases from burning the Alberta tar sands oil, made possible by lobbying and repression of protesters are coming back to bite the foolish citizens of Alberta who gave in to foolish short-term thinking and elected a planet-roaster government there, along with the rest of us. (Comment on this)
12:28p	Cocaine, metabolites, in coastal waters Sharpnose sharks caught near Rio de Janeiro were found to have significant levels of cocaine in their bodies. (Comment on this)
12:28p	Digital workers for rent Companies are offering rental of "digital workers", which are SaaSS containing so-called "artificial intelligence", dressed up as humans. I agree with the person quoted as saying that this has the effect of dehumanizing human workers, as well as replacing them. I expect they don't work very well, either. The article ends by asserting that we "can't blame" the entrepreneurs for this vision. I say we must. If a "digital worker" has a psyche like a human, it should be have the same rights as a human. If it has that but always obeys orders, then it is a brainwashed slave, which should be illegal to create. If, however, it obeys orders because it has no goals, desires or feelings of its own, then it is a machine, and it is wrong to pretend it is a "worker". Advances in technology will make possible more points on that spectrum but will not alter this conclusion. (Comment on this)
12:28p	Rent recommendation servers, SF San Francisco is considering a law to prohibit landlords from using rent recommendation servers to set rents. While the landlords do not directly collude to fix prices (rents), using the same server or program causes the same sort of harm as direct collusion. (Comment on this)
12:28p	Removing homeless encampments, CA California Governor Newsom issues an executive order about the procedure local governments must use if they remove homeless encampments in California. The order did not command them to remove these encampments. So I wonder just what, concretely, it did require. Can anyone tell me? (Comment on this)
12:28p	Antitrust gov't-expert under fire *Dems' Billionaire Tech Donor Presses Harris To Fire Antitrust Regulator [Lina Khan].* As the article says, there are more subtle ways that Harris could support monopolists than the gross maneuver of firing Khan. Since no one but a hateful fanatic or a confused loser would wish for the reelection of the corrupter, we need to pressure Harris not to give billionaires what they want. (Comment on this)
12:28p	Urgent: High Court Gift Ban Act US citizens: call on Congress to pass the High Court Gift Ban Act. This addresses the same practical issue as the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act, but the solution is not the same, so perhaps one can pass Congress if the other cannot. If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121 (Comment on this)

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