| Time |
Event |
| 2:49a |
Corporate corruption
In 1971, plutocratist extremist Lewis Powell proposed that the
American business community use political power "aggressively and with
determination — without embarrassment and without the reluctance."
Nixon started this plan, and it has been gradually corrupting the US
government ever since.
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| 2:49a |
Brazil climate disaster
Climate disaster is hitting Brazil sharply. Three of the six biomes
of Brazil are suffering unprecedented droughts unprecedented and
fires. Life-shortening wood smoke has covered more than half of the
country.
This is an example of what many other countries will experience in a
few decades. (The US has had a small taste.)
If we don't overcome the planet roasters now, their activity is likely
to bring civilization to an end.
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| 2:49a |
Climate mayhem
G20 countries previously agreed to transition away from fossil fuels,
but the pledges they are now writing omit that crucial point.
If we don't do this, and fast, the mayhem of the early stages of
global heating disaster will create what is euphemistically called
"unrest" all around the world. People who can't peacefully find safe
places to live or safe food to eat are likely to turn to violence
before they die, and climate mayhem will dump plenty of people into
that situation -- and new ones every year.
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| 2:49a |
Ciés islands visitor limit
The limit on number of daily visitors to the Ciés islands seems like a
wise policy,
but I suspect that the implementation is unjust. I suspect that getting
a visit ticket requires identifying oneself and running nonfree software.
Is anyone from Galicia reading this? If so, would you like to find
out if there is a way around that?
I don't intend to visit those islands myself -- rather, I am concerned
about government requirements that impose fundamentally unjust technology.
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| 2:49a |
Hotel surveillance
Virgin Australia fired a flight cabin employee for using Grindr to
arrange a sexual encounter when regulations said he needed to sleep.
(He asserts that the sexual encounter enabled him to fall asleep.)
What shocks me is that the company was able to obtain the hotel's
"security camera" recordings to track the employee's actions.
What laws or regulations are there to stop hotels from showing these
recordings to all and sundry? Evidently they are not adequate to protect
hotel guests' privacy.
But I suspect that the problem goes deeper than that. I suspect that
the hotel has a surveillance video system (which stores videos in an
easily accessible online system) rather than a classic security
camera which stores them solely in a local recording device that
requires a physical visit to look at them.
For explanation, see How Much Surveillance Can Democracy Endure.
|
| 2:49a |
Gaza aid backlog
There is plenty of humanitarian aid trucks, waiting in Egypt for
Israeli troops to let them into Gaza. But Israel allows too few to
enter there.
Israel allows in enough aid that people don't immediately die of starvation.
But that is not enough for them to remain healthy for long.
I would be delighted to see the US Army, with Egypt's cooperation,
establish a bridgehead into Gaza, and allow aid in. I don't think the
Israeli army or Netanyahu would dare to try to stop this.
|
| 2:49a |
Navalny lawyers on trial
*Three Navalny lawyers go on trial in Russia […] accused of passing
messages between jailed opposition leader and allies.*
Since Navalny practiced peaceful political opposition, there were no
grounds to stop him from communicating with his followers, and no just
grounds to accuse anyone who may have transmitted such messages.
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| 2:49a |
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| 2:49a |
Ford snooping
Ford has scandalously applied for a patent on the malfeature of
snooping on the conversations of people in the car and using that to
decide what ads to play for them.
That a company has a patent on some vicious software malfeature does
not imply that a company will actually implement that malfeature.
Contrariwise, not having a patent on that malfeature (or abandoning
a patent application for one) does not in general imply that the
company won't implement that malfeature.
What could stop companies from implementing a malfeature is to pass
a law against implementing it. That's what we should demand.
I think we should have laws to prohibit the sale, leasing or
importation of cars that implement any of a wide range of malfeatures.
One of many that ought to be prohibited is the malfeature of noticing,
recording or transmitting any audio signal captured by the car's
systems unless the driver or a passenger has explicitly activated the
malfeature of listening to sound.
We should also pass a law so that software, or its use, is never
limited by patent law.
Because when a feature is good, no one should be forbidden to implement
it in software. At least, not in free software.
Side issue: note how the response from Ford used the propaganda term
"intellectual property". That term was and
is promoted so as to inculcate the idea that companies deserve various
unrelated kinds of monopoly, patents being just one.
In 2004 I recognized the harm that use of that term does to society, so
I decided never to use it. And I mean never — I have not used that
term since. You can help overcome that propaganda campaign by never
using the term yourself.
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| 2:49a |
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| 2:49a |
Giving homeless places to live
A British city has imitated Finland's approach to ending homelessness: first give the person a place to live. The mayor said that this approach has the secondary benefit of saving
public money.
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| 2:49a |
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| 2:49a |
Easter Island's population
Genetic analysis indicates that the population of Easter Island did
not collapse until Europeans contacted them in the 1700s.
It also shows that they mated with South Americans before Columbus.
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| 2:49a |
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| 7:38a |
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| 7:38a |
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| 7:38a |
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| 7:38a |
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| 7:38a |
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| 7:38a |
Britain’s pandemic
The cuts made by Tories to the NHS made Britain
especially vulnerable
to Covid-19.
I've long been convinced that the Tory strategy was to gradually cut
back the NHS as a means of gradually eliminating it.
|
| 7:38a |
Chemical regulations
*Scientists tied to chemical industry plan to derail
PFAS rule on
drinking water.*
PFAS are worrisome because they accumulate in the environment and in
human bodies, but it is hard to get real evidence about how harmful
they are. It might seem like a fine solution to wait a few decades
until we know.
However, we have no feasible way to remove them from the environment.
If after decades of waiting we find that they are harmful, we will
have screwed ourselves. It behooves us to take action now to avoid
exposing people to them.
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| 7:39a |
Hate crimes bill
Australia has chosen to protect freedom of speech rather than embark on
the course of
prohibiting harsh words.
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| 7:39a |
Europe's extreme right-wing party
Europe's extreme right-wing parties pretend to care about workers'
well-being,
but don't really do so.
This conclusion comes from analysis of how they vote when elected.
|
| 7:39a |
ABC Network debate
The fact-checking in the Harris-Trump debate was effective and clear.
The bullshitter did not get
away with bullshitting.
I wonder: does anyone do real-time fact-checking of the bullshitter's rallies?
People watching streams of them, and even people attending them, could find
it interesting to watch that fact-checking if it is available.
|
| 7:39a |
Border controls tightening in EU, DEU
Germany's government has panicked and totally suspended the Schengen area freedom of movement in an
attempt
to
pre-empt parties that demand less immigration.
This will only make the government look weak.
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| 7:39a |
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| 7:39a |
Pressure for Gaza aid, UK, AUS
*[Australia's] foreign minister Penny Wong says she "welcomes" the British move [to cut off shipping
some kinds of weapons to Israel], and
Palestinian
civilians "cannot pay the price" of defeating Hamas.*
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| 7:39a |
School bombed, many UNRWA aids die, ISR
Israel attacked a school in Gaza
where
thousands of refugees were staying. It killed six employees of UNRWA and 12 other people.
Supposedly some of them were HAMAS fighters.
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