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…
technology
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…
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…
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…
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. Why…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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,…
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…
Thursday Evening Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Alex Boutilier discusses the glaring gap between hype and reality when it comes to tech sector jobs. And Virgina Eubanks writes about…
A Little Lighter Fare
For Luddites and nostalgia buffs everywhere: Recommend this Post
Using Machine Learning and Traffic Cameras to Replace Cops
Mass surveillance is everywhere in modern cities. Cameras are on every corner monitoring all sorts of activities, which led one person to think about using them to see if traffic…
Don’t Give up on Desalination
How we manage local water sources drastically alters how we grow crops and get drinking water. Cape Town is currently experience a water crisis that was in the making for…
EU Launches Urban Mining Project
The European Union’s newest mining project focuses on urban areas throughout the continent. Their ProSUM project built a database of metals, chemicals, and materials brought into the EU market over…
Copernicus Satellite Constellation Shares Big Climate Data
To some people space missions seem like a waste of resources, yet, thanks to many space missions we get scientific benefits. Launched by the European Union, the constellation of satirists…