rms

rms, 22 hours ago to random

[2/2] … cause. Even worse, they are sure to make it hotter in the future. People can't survive if farming does not work.

rms, 22 hours ago to random

[1/2] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/04/inside-an-oven-how-life-in-south-east-asia-is-a-struggle-amid-sweltering-heat
https://stallman.org/glossary.html#global%20heating
https://stallman.org/archives/2021-jan-apr.html#3_April_2021_(Global_heating_hurting_farm_productivity)

A general heat wave in south-east Asia, stretching from Bangladesh to the Philippines, is killing people and destroying crops. It is clear that our global heating activities are part of the …

rms, 22 hours ago to random

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/mar/24/us-election-journalism-crisis

Job losses in US journalism, declining circulations and local newspaper closures could mean spread of misinformation in pivotal election year.

rms, 23 hours ago to random

[1/2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/04/uk-surgeon-who-described-gaza-massacre-denied-entry-to-france
https://stallman.org/archives/2024-mar-jun.html#24_April_2024_(Yanis_Varoufakis_censored,_banned,_DEU)

Surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sitta volunteered to work in Gaza, and has testified about Israeli attacks he has seen. French senators invited him to speak to them, but Germany has banned him from entering anywhere in the Schengen zone. Did Germany present any basis claimed to …

rms, 2 days ago to random

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/may/01/big-oil-danger-disinformation-fossil-fuels

Big oil spent decades sowing doubt about fossil fuel dangers, experts testify.

rms, 4 days ago to random

https://www.commondreams.org/news/emory-protests-arrests
https://stallman.org/glossary.html#thug

Uniformed thugs let loose on protesters at Emory university went on a violent rampage against students and faculty — a gas-them-beat-them-and-frame-them operation. The thugs that mauled protesters ought to go to jail. The university presidents that invited them to do that should resign.

rms, 4 days ago to random

[1/2] https://www.theguardian.com/global/2024/mar/24/we-think-loneliness-is-in-our-heads-but-its-source-lies-in-the-ruin-of-civil-society

We think loneliness is in our heads, but its source lies in the ruin of civil society. In 2019, I found that the Tech Model Railroad Club (famously associated with early computer hackers) was almost dead. A few years before members had been vigorously developing it. I told Professor Sussman, and he told me that several years before, most incoming MIT …

rms, 5 days ago to random

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/30/big-oil-climate-crisis-us-senate-report

Big oil privately acknowledged efforts to downplay climate crisis, Senate report finds.

rms, 8 days ago to random

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/26/robot-flamethrower-dog-thermonator

A four-legged robot with a flamethrower is now available for anyone to purchase in the US. Supposedly it is not intended for war. Maybe that means it is intended for criminal gangs?

rms, 9 days ago to random

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/29/torres-strait-island-elders-climate-change-class-action

Torres Strait Islanders, who live on islands between Australia and New Guinea, are suing about the damage that sea-level rise will do to their homes if we don't curb global heating in 20 years.

rms, 9 days ago to random

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkadgm/man-dies-by-suicide-after-talking-with-ai-chatbot-widow-says

Chatbots can lead people to suicide. What should we make of that? It seems that chatbots can build, with susceptible people, various sorts of self-reinforcing loops of conversation, such that both get stuck in the loop together. Of course, this happens to people in interactions with other people. Getting out of them is a challenge.

rms, 10 days ago to random

[1/2] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/23/council-of-europe-human-rights-watchdog-condemns-uk-rwanda-scheme

Council of Europe human rights watchdog condemns UK's Rwanda bill. Various countries are trying to make it difficult for people to ask for asylum there. Sending them to another place to wait for years while their cases are considered is a popular method, which has been used by Australia, the UK and the US. It is an injustice regardless of details. But that's not the only …

rms, 10 days ago to random

[3/3] … demonstrates that their unending "development" of such capture is not meant as a serious solution, but rather as an excuse to let it continue.

rms, 10 days ago to random

[2/3] … the greenhouse pollution they emit, or shut down. The article is not clear about exactly which kinds of pollution this covers. Does it include all particulates? Does it include toxic chemicals? Does it include the fallout that consists of uranium naturally present in coal? The coal industry continues demanding to be given billions for development of "carbon capture and storage", but when it sees a demand to start using that everywhere 15 years from now, it wants to fight. That …

rms, 10 days ago to random

[1/3] https://stallman.org/glossary.html#epa
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/25/new-rule-compels-us-coal-fired-power-plants-to-capture-emissions-or-shut-down
https://stallman.org/archives/2023-sep-dec.html#27_November_2023_(PM2.5_particulate_pollution)
https://stallman.org/archives/2009-may-aug.html#31%20August%202009%20(Effects%20of%20uranium%20in%20normal%20coal%20ash%20documented)

The EPA has made a rule that coal-powered generators must in the future capture most of …

rms, 12 days ago to random

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/24/labour-promises-rail-nationalisation-within-five-years-of-coming-to-power

Labour says it will re nationalize Britain's railways. At last a clear decision that it will improve one area than right-wing rule has wrecked.

rms, 12 days ago to random

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/apr/23/abc-south-asia-correspondent-avani-dias-narendra-modi-government

India drove out an Australian journalist for the ABC network by various sorts of harassment including sending DMCA take down notices for her stories. The government objected to what she said in news coverage.

rms, 12 days ago to random

https://theconversation.com/sugar-in-baby-food-why-nestle-needs-to-be-held-to-account-in-africa-228297

Nestlé has been criticized for adding sugar and honey to infant milk and cereal products sold in many poorer countries.

rms, 15 days ago to random

[1/2] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/20/dirty-secret-insiders-say-uk-water-firms-knowingly-breaking-sewage-laws

insiders say UK water firms knowingly break sewage laws. If the government really wanted this to stop, it could stop them. Seeing as the UK government can make it a crime to protest in "annoying" ways, it could, it could clearly make it a crime, punished by imprisonment, to intentionally pollute the waters. So why doesn't it? I speculate that it is a matter of …

rms, 15 days ago to random

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/19/victimise-people-protest-britain-destroy-families-not-in-my-name

The UK is gradually eliminating the right to protest in ways people might actually notice. Nonviolent protesters have been sentenced to years in prison.

rms, 17 days ago to random

[2/2] … delays. I was told, frankly, to shut up." I am skeptical that the current management could undo the harm that they have become part of. It is hard for a person to change attitude that drastically and fully understand what it means. Replacing the upper management alone would not be sufficient — several levels would need to be replaced. But I don't see how that could be possible either. I hope someone knows.

rms, 17 days ago to random

[1/2] https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/icons/homescreen/apple-touch-icon.svg

Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour testified to Congress that there is no longer any safety culture at the company, and engineers who point out dangers are ignored, shunned, and even threatened. Salehpour says he faced retaliation as he repeatedly sought to raise the flag inside Boeing over three years. "I was ignored," he told the Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations. "I was told not to create …

rms, 17 days ago to random

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/19/far-right-columbia-university-student-arrests

Columbia University's president has bent over to placate right-wing congresscritters by attacking protesting students. The cops that the president called to clear out the protesters bent over backwards to destroy their things and supplies, and deny them access to medicine.

rms, 17 days ago to random

[2/2] … spill could do in those confided waters. The crucial issue is to stop allowing unseaworth ships to pass through. Regardless of future between Ukraine and Russia, it would be wise to require all oil shipments between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to be sent through pipelines across Denmark, not by ship. Pipeline leaks on land will make smaller spills than ship disasters.

rms, 17 days ago to random

[1/2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/18/swedish-foreign-minister-tobias-billstrom-unsafe-russian-oil-fleet-baltic-sea-environmental-catastrophe

Russia exports lots of oil from the Baltic Sea in ships that go through the narrow passages around Denmark. These ships are badly maintained, and likely to cause disaster even without an intention to do so. Whether the ships are insured is almost irrelevant, since an insurance company could hardly make up for the damage that a big oil …