Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Daniel Drenzer reviews Joseph Stiglitz’ People, Power and Profits, while noting the importance of pairing progressive policy ideas with a plan for implementation. And Laura Davison points out how Donald Trump’s massive tax losses which kept him from contributing to the U.S.’ public
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Things Are Good: How to Resist Surveillance Capitalism
Surveillance capitalism is a truly 21st century innovation which is having a major impact on society. Policies around data protection and privacy aren’t strong enough yet and trade deals don’t rightly aim to protect data privacy either. How our data is used and exploited isn’t up to us and it
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – David Ball reports on the movement forming in support of a Canadian Green New Deal. Kyla Tienhaara discusses how it fits into the global push for a just transition away from dirty energy and carbon pollution. And Chris Packham points out the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Sigal Samuel reports on Gary Bloch’s work in prescribing secure incomes to address health problems arising out of poverty. And Murtada Haizer and Stephen Moranis point out the massive social and economic returns on investments in community housing. – D.C. Fraser reports on
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Primitive vs Civilized Societies
As someone born in 1950 and raised and educated in a Eurocentric culture I learned early that civilized societies are intellectually, socially, and technologically superior to primitive societies. This despite the fact that the indigenous peoples of this land I was born on have for centuries had their own distinct
Continue readingThings Are Good: Yellowknife Twitter Bot Spreads Global Warming Knowledge
Yesterday in Yellowknife, the temperature was 7 °C warmer than the historic average.warmer/colder/total days : 57/42/105#ClimateChangeRightNow #ClimateAction — YK Climate Watch (@ykclimatewatch) April 15, 2019 Climate change is occurring at a faster pace with every passing year. The rate of change is hard for us to comprehend and think rationally
Continue readingThings Are Good: Piracy is Good for Companies
Copyright holders of multi-million dollar franchises decry piracy and proclaim it to be a threat to their business. The reality is different. Piracy can spur competition and keep prices lower as a result. Additionally, the amount of piracy isn’t as high as large mega-corporations will have you believe. Meaning that
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: More Ford Cuts: Ban Cell Phones, but Mandate Online Courses
From iPolitics: “On top of the change to class sizes, the government is also mandating that all high school students take four of their 30 credits online. This requirement will take effect in the 2020-21 school year. These e-learning classes will average 35 students per class, according to the government.”
Continue readingsomecanuckchick dot com: Caffeinated & Aggregated: News you may have missed, since February 26th…
Believe it, or not, there are other things happening in Canada and around the world… Here’s a roundup of links to news you may have missed, since February 26th. [This unordered list was generated March 14th and contains 30+ links.] Why Does Daylight Saving Time Start at 2 AM? The
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Yves Engler writes that the Libs’ SNC-Lavalin scandal represents a fully expected consequence of a foreign policy based on acquiescing in corruption: …Trudeau went to bat for SNC after the firm had either been found guilty or was alleged to have greased palms
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: 10 Year Challenge
I posted this challenge on social media recently. This is what we do to be sociable: play online games and forward memes. Discussing the world and screaming into the void to try to shift this tragic path is such a loser thing to do. It’s a balance to stay just
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Gertz’s Nihilism and Technology
I really love this book. First of all, the chapter headings and sub-headings are all clever little in jokes, like “Beyond Google and Evil,” that make anyone with a cursory knowledge of Nietzsche feel like part of the gang. But it’s not just looking at tech through the lens of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Joe Vipond and Noel Keough highlight the gap between the global impetus to avoid climate breakdown and the narrow self-interest of the Alberta oil industry. Michael Bueckert discusses Jason Kenney’s attempt to turn the government apparatus against the exercise of fundamental freedoms through
Continue readingThings Are Good: 30 Minutes of FOMO a Day
We’ve heard that spending too much time on social media is detrimental to our mental health, and every year more evidence confirms that. Simply put, too much time Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. makes us feel bad. But how much time is too much time? It seems that 30 minutes is
Continue readingThings Are Good: Saving Animals Through Mass Surveillance
Readers of this site know that I don’t like mass surveillance of human beings; however, the technology behind the tools used for intrusive observations of our private lives can be used to help animals. Henri Weimerskirch, a French ecologist, is using tons of little sensors on birds to monitor both
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Culture Wars
I just finally got around to Angela Nagle’s Kill All Normies. It’s a comprehensive book outlining the history and categorization of various groups online that have seeped into real life, but, although she mentions numerous scholars in her analysis, with zero endnotes and nary a reference section, it didn’t surprise
Continue readingcmkl: Garmin Vector 3 pedals kept going with baby oil and electrical tape
When my old power meter gave up the ghost, Garmin’s Vector 3 pedals seemed to be the perfect replacement. Little did I know they would be kept working with electrical tape and baby oil. This is a cautionary tale about technology and how to keep from losing all your customers.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Do Robots Deserve Rights?
A deliciously wriggling can of worms this topic is. I lean toward the answer being yes, but having rights in our society isn’t a guarantee of justice or fairness. I would hope that by the time sentient AI becomes a thing, we have our own house in order so we
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