2023-10-20
Worthy
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Dismantle The Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Westminster Declaration
As the Twitter Files revealed, tech companies often perform censorial ‘content moderation’ in coordination with government agencies and civil society. Soon, the European Union’s Digital Services Act will formalise this relationship by giving platform data to ‘vetted researchers’ from NGOs and academia, relegating our speech rights to the discretion of these unelected and unaccountable entities. Some politicians and NGOs[9] are even aiming to target end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram.[10] If end-to-end encryption is broken, we will have no remaining avenues for authentic private conversations in the digital sphere.
We recognize that words can sometimes cause offence, but we reject the idea that hurt feelings and discomfort, even if acute, are grounds for censorship. Open discourse is the central pillar of a free society, and is essential for holding governments accountable, empowering vulnerable groups, and reducing the risk of tyranny. Speech protections are not just for views we agree with; we must strenuously protect speech for the views that we most strongly oppose. Only in the public square can these views be heard and properly challenged.
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long, deep, and wide Fertility Roundup 2 - by Zvi Mowshowitz
The world is slowly waking up to the fertility crisis. There is more acknowledgement of the problem, and there is more talk of potential practical solutions.
the point of Barbie is that the most important thing is kids and everything else is meaningless without them.
The place I most disagree is that Hanson envisions endowing children with debt owed to their parents, as a means of tempting people to have children. This completely misunderstands the mind of people considering having children. It would do me exactly zero good to be able to endow my children with debt to me. I work hard so my children can have a better future, not so I can steal part of theirs for myself.
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It's easy to screw up on breaking news. But you have to admit when you do
In case you can’t see that image, the headline reads: “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinian Officials Say.” Almost every word of that first clause is now disputed. The Israeli Defense Forces said that the blast was the result of a misfire from a Hamas rocket, and President Biden, citing Department of Defense evidence, has backed that claim. Also, the explosion appears to have hit a parking lot adjacent to the hospital, not the hospital itself. And it remains unclear what the death toll was — but forensic evidence doesn’t seem to be particularly consistent with a three-figure number. I’m sure you can find better summaries of the various claims and counterclaims elsewhere; I’m deliberately trying to be circumspect as I make a broader point about the news business.
In a business section article, the Times later addressed the controversy in disingenuous fashion. The headline, framed in the passive voice, tells you pretty much all you need to know: “After Hospital Blast, Headlines Shift With Changing Claims.” There is no admission of error whatsoever:
The news changed quickly over a couple of hours. Many Western news organizations, including The New York Times, reported the Gazan claims in prominent headlines and articles. They adjusted the coverage after the Israeli military issued a statement urging “caution” about the Gazan allegation. The news organizations then reported the Israeli military’s assertion that the blast was the result of a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an armed group aligned with Hamas.
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part 2 The Long, Sad History of American Attempts to Build High-Speed Rail
Funding is a perennial issue because it's very difficult for a high-speed rail line to pay for itself. Around the world, only two high-speed rail lines (Paris-Lyon and Tokyo-Osaka) earn enough money from fares to pay back their infrastructure costs and operating costs, and many can’t even cover their operating costs without government assistance.
Horseshit
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San Francisco's Brand Is in Trouble. Can a New Ad Campaign Fix It?
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EU Commissioner as double agent of foreign interference
To set a precedent, US stakeholders apparently want to push through indiscriminate screening of our private messages and photos in Europe, which is not law in the US itself.
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Stanford scientist, after decades of study, concludes: We don't have free will
celebrity gossip
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
Musk
Trump / War against the Right / Jan6
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The Trump Gag Order - Dave Busiek on Media
After listening to arguments from federal prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers, Chutkan correctly interpreted the law, writing “Under binding Supreme Court precedent, this court ‘must take such steps by rule and regulation that will protect [its] processes from prejudicial outside interferences.’ The First Amendment does not override that obligation.” She is rightly concerned that Trump’s comments outside court will cause court staff and witnesses to be threatened or intimidated by those who like to attack anyone who stands up to Trump. For proof of how scary it can be to be targeted by Trump, look no further than the two poll workers in Georgia who had to move out of their house because of threats to their safety.
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Meme Artist Is Sentenced to Seven Months in Prison for Voting Meme
Pestilence / Pox / COVID / VaxCult
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
Entertainment / ShowBiz / Advertising
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Please Pay For a Year of Nothing
price increase of my Disney+ subscription from $79.99 to $109.99. It took me all of 10 seconds to think about it, but I canceled my subscription. It’s not really about the $30 price increase, which is outrageous, but mostly because there won’t 12 months of TV show and movies to watch, in no small part thanks to the actions of Disney’s CEO.
TechSuck / Geek Bait
Space / UFO / Boomy Zoomers
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Explaining All The Weird UFO ‘Aliens’ - by Robin Hanson
So let me return again to the topic of matching UFO data and theory. Specifically to the task of finding the most believable way to explain UFO data via real things (not hallucinations or hoaxes) with amazing abilities cause by “aliens”.
We must thus conclude that either no part of them has any inclination whatsoever in that direction, or that their civ has coordinated around an anti-colonization “rule” that prevents such activity. (Such a coordination seems much harder to achieve if “they” are composed of many independent parts, suggesting “they” act as an unified whole re this issue.)
And that’s it, my best guess way to explain UFOs as real amazing things arising from “aliens”, be they from planets, the deep, the future, or other dimensions. The fact that they visit but don’t colonize suggests that they collectively enforce a rule against colonization, and are here to get us to follow it, via domesticating us. If we accept them as the most impressive peaceful creatures around, we might follow their lead.
Crypto con games
Economicon / Business / Finance
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September home sales drop to the lowest level since the foreclosure crisis.
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Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer | Hacker News
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Americans Must Earn $114,000 a Year to Afford a Typical Home
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Powell: Inflation is still too high and lower economic growth is likely needed
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10-year Treasury yield rises to 5%, highest level for the key rate in 16 years
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Downtown San Francisco Luxury Apartment Tower Loses Half Its Value
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As mortgage rates hit 8%, home affordability is incredibly difficult
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
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Over against all the moral huffing and puffing, the liberation of individual self-interest and the pursuit of happiness did not lead to civilizational Sodom and Gomorrah. It turns out that ordinary folk did not need their social superiors, priests, or government officials to tell them anymore how to live productive, peaceful, and virtuous lives. Shockingly, to some at least, they could figure that out for themselves. The moral laws of nature would punish them when they got it wrong and reward them when they got it right. Because eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Americans respected reason and were given the freedom to think, they quickly figured out how to live good, prosperous, and morally virtuous lives.
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Watch Live: Biden Delivers Prime-Time Oval Office Address On Israel, Ukraine | ZeroHedge
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Why do you think California just made it illegal to count ballots by hand?
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Senators question NIH director nominee on drug costs, research ethics, COVID-19.
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Biden seeks $105B for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, border security
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
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FBI says North Korea deployed thousands of IT workers to get remote jobs in US
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Did Violent Crime Go Up or Down Last Year? Yes, It Did. - Council on Criminal Justice
Earlier this week, the FBI released 2022 UCR data that showed a drop in the nation’s violent crime rate. There is little doubt that murder declined last year, but NCVS data released in September showed that total violent crime victimization rose in 2022. The divergence between the nation’s two crime measures makes it uncertain whether violent crime actually went up or down in 2022.
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Cops Are Suing a Teen for Invasion of Privacy After False Arrest Vid Goes Viral
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San Francisco Homeless Encampments: Tensions Boil over on One of Busiest Streets
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
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State Department advises all Americans overseas 'to exercise increased caution'
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USS Carney Shoots Down Missiles, Drones Fired From Yemen | The Drive
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Marines Test Fire Robot Dog Armed with Rocket Launcher | Hacker News
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DoD Releases Declassified Images, Videos of Coercive and Risky PLA Op. Behavior
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$20 below current price Biden Plans To Buy 6 Million Barrels Of Oil For The SPR At $79 | ZeroHedge
World
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Canada Will Legalize Medically Assisted Dying for People Addicted to Drugs
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British Policewoman Raped At Knifepoint Near Eiffel Tower
The woman went behind a bush to go to the toilet when the man jumped on her. When she tried to push him away he took out a knife and threatened her. She then stopped fighting back and he raped her,
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Brazil police arrest two intel agents for alleged illegal surveillance
Israel
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Video shows rocket fired from Gaza make sharp turn back before blast seen at hospital.
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Israeli girl, 12, seen in viral ‘Harry Potter’ photo found dead with grandma in Gaza.
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US single handedly blocks UN call for humanitarian pause and corridors into Gaza
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(Jan 2010) Nakatomi Space – BLDGBLOG
Weizman—an Israeli architect and prominent critic of that nation’s territorial policy—documents many of the emerging spatial techniques used by the Israeli Defense Forces in their high-tech, legally dubious 2002 invasion of Nablus. During that battle, Weizman writes, “soldiers moved within the city across hundred-meter-long ‘overground-tunnels’ carved through a dense and contiguous urban fabric.” Their movements were thus almost entirely camouflaged, with troop movements hidden from above by virtue of always remaining inside buildings. “Although several thousand soldiers and several hundred Palestinian guerrilla fighters were maneuvering simultaneously in the city,” Weizman adds, “they were so ‘saturated’ within its fabric that very few would have been visible from an aerial perspective at any given moment.”
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Impact of Escalating GPS Jamming on Airlines Amid Israel-Hamas Conflict
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
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all the agitprop output switched over to Israel so smoothly. Someone should send Ukraine some chocolates and a note that says "we'll call you sometime"
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Scoop: U.S. to send Israel artillery shells initially destined for Ukraine