Neighbourhood shocked that Toronto's new subway may run right under their houses - "Residents of a Toronto neighbourhood say they've been blindsided by Metrolinx's plans to build a new subway system beneath their homes. The Yonge North Subway Extension will extend Line 1 of the TTC eight kilometres from Finch up to Richmond Hill... the latest proposal, dubbed Option 3, has enraged homeowners in Royal Orchard, an affluent community on the edge of Markham and Thornhill... According to a Metrolinx press release, Option 3 would be cheaper and built faster than other options by minimizing excavations, in turn "reducing inconveniences to neighbouring communities." But the Royal Orchard community is up in arms. So far, more than 1,100 people have signed a petition started by Markham councillor Keith Irish to stop Option 3 from happening. The Stop Option 3 Committee and the Royal Orchard Ratepayers Assocation has already raised over $13,000 for media campaigns, lobbying and legal fees. There's also a rally planned for May 15 along Yonge Street to raise awareness about the extension. "It felt like a bomb was dropped on our head," says Janice Cardinale, a spokeperson for the residents' committee. "I feel like they’ve invaded our human rights. They had a responsibility to talk to us about it."... Fears about noise, the potential demolition of homes to make way for the subway, and a construction process that is estimated to take seven years at least, has exacerbated concerns about living in the neighbourhood, with fingers pointed at how LRT construction has impacted the livelihoods of residents and businesses along Eglinton. But they're most concerned about the tunneling... According to Metrolinx, they have no intention to move forward with Option 3 without making sure residents aren't affected by noise and vibrations when the extension is up and running. Reinforced concrete tunnels will be at least 14 metres below the surface of the Royal Orchard community, Metrolinx spokeperson Scott Money tells blogTO. "That’s deeper than many sections of existing subway lines in Toronto and deep enough to avoid any direct impacts to homes above, during and after construction""
People demand lots of public transit to service areas which they insist be kept low density - but don't want subways to run under their houses, object to construction and will complain about delays and high costs caused by their protests
Railroaded: Metrolinx plans for Ontario Line trigger mistrust - "Jimmie Simpson truly is at the heart of the community. Now, residents fear a proposed transit expansion will ruin it, as existing rail lines on the west side of the park expand with the addition of the Ontario Line, a rapid-transit route being built by the provincial transit agency Metrolinx. Around six kilometres to the northeast, a very different Toronto community is dealing with similar fears. Thorncliffe Park is a densely populated neighbourhood home to over 30,000 people in just 2.2 square kilometres, most of them in apartment buildings that stretch as high as 42 storeys. Here, residents say they were blindsided in April, when Metrolinx proposed building a massive maintenance and storage facility to house Ontario Line trains in the heart of their neighbourhood. Spanning around 175,000 square meters, or roughly 24 soccer fields, the yard is set to be located just north of a new Thorncliffe Park station on the Ontario Line — displacing a mosque and 26 local businesses, including Iqbal Halal Foods, the only Islamic grocery store in the area. Toronto is desperate for transit. It’s set to add another half-million people to its population by 2030, but its aging subway line can barely serve its current population of 2.95 million people, who must endure regular delays and last-minute shutdowns during their daily commutes. But, despite the urgency for more active and public transit, Toronto’s track record for getting transit projects completed is abysmal. New research from the University of Toronto shows it can take as long as 50 years to get from planning to opening day, and over the past half-century, the city has seen expansion plans scrapped repeatedly, never opening at all. With over 80 per cent of Canadians living in cities, urban environmental solutions like rapid transit play a role in curbing emissions and reaching climate targets. Residents in both Thorncliffe Park and Leslieville-Riverside say they want transit, but as they stare down the Ontario Line, they object to a lack of consultation and straight answers from Metrolinx. They say their public health and community safety concerns have been downplayed and dismissed to the point they no longer trust the provincial agency... In early 2020, Save Jimmie Simpson requested a federal impact assessment of the Ontario Line from Health Canada. In February 2020, the federal department denied the request, citing a lack of jurisdiction. But its response also outlined omissions in Metrolinx’s Environmental Compliance Report for the Ontario Line, a report meant to give a broad scope of the agency’s plans and potential impacts based on regulations. Health Canada wrote that Metrolinx “does not discuss the potential for human health risks” in a number of areas, including “exposure to diesel particulate matter” during construction, “changes in noise from construction and operation activities” as well as “the potential for cumulative effects on human health.” It also said the report “includes only a brief summary of the potential project impacts on environmental and socio-economic conditions and proposed mitigation measures.”... Song filed a complaint with the provincial Ombudsman’s Office, and in February 2021 Metrolinx responded with a letter, saying that studying health impacts was outside of its mandate as a transit agency. It advised that potential air quality, noise and vibration impacts will be part of an eventual environmental assessment, which will likely be released in winter 2022, and that community concern had led to plan adjustments meant to protect the rec centre Save Jimmie Simpson is fundraising to commission an independent health impact assessment. It’s expected to be released early next month, and the group has raised over $14,000 of its $20,000 goal... Hundreds of neighbours have attended rallies, signed petitions and fundraised for Save Jimmie Simpson’s efforts. One of their worries is losing parts of the park."
Most non-Americans want public transit - as long as it doesn't inconvenience them. They think trains magically go into bags of holding after hours
I'm sure high costs and delays have nothing to do with NIMBYs protesting and environmental regulations
Timelines of Transportation Infrastructure Delivery 2000 to 2018 in Toronto, Canada and London, UK - "The cumulative time before start of construction in Toronto was on average 18.8 (STD 16.2) years and in London, 18.4 (STD 10.7) years. As such, in both cities more than half of the preconstruction time was on average spent in political rather than technical processes... this research highlights the need to expand the conception of timeliness of infrastructure delivery to include the lengthy periods of political debate and planning that can span years and build up community expectations about the imminence of a project, even before it has received technical assessment or approval."
Why the West can't build infrastructure: NIMBYs are the top problem with democracy
Jane Espenson on Twitter - "I did it! I did it! I built a Pringles ringle! No glue, just physics."
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Twitter - ".@FrancesHaugen is right – we need a dedicated regulatory agency to hold Facebook and other Big Tech companies accountable for how their algorithms push misinformation and how our data is used and misused for their profit. We need a Data Protection Agency."
RIP First Amendment - if pushing "misinformation" is criminalised. Weird how that is "data protection"
Anger in Greece over pedophilia as a disability | The Star - "Greek disability groups expressed anger Monday at a government decision to expand a list of state-recognized disability categories to include pedophiles, exhibitionists and kleptomaniacs. The National Confederation of Disabled People called the action “incomprehensible,” and said pedophiles are now awarded a higher government disability pay than some people who have received organ transplants. The Labor Ministry said categories added to the expanded list — that also includes pyromaniacs, compulsive gamblers, fetishists and sadomasochists — were included for purposes of medical assessment and used as a gauge for allocating financial assistance. But NCDP leader Yiannis Vardakastanis, who is blind, warned the new list could create new difficulties for disabled Greeks who are already facing benefit cuts due to the country’s financial crisis."
Former camera operator for ABC, NBC, and CNN arrested for threatening to kill Matt Gaetz - "A longtime camera operator for ABC, CNN, NBC, and other outlets was arrested last week for threatening to kill Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and his family days after the January 6 riot at the US Capitol. Meanwhile, another man who recently threatened Rep. Gaetz is still on the streets after the Department of Justice blocked the US Capitol Police’s recommendation for arrest... law enforcement arrested Eugene "Gene" Huelsman, 58"
‘How do I unbake a cake?’ The best questions ever asked on Yahoo Answers - "Established in 2005, the platform was a place people could turn to for help with questions that were too embarrassing to ask in real life, like, “How is babby formed? How girl get pragnent?” Or, that were too complex for your everyday Joe, such as, “Is there a spell to become a mermaid that actually works?” Perhaps more importantly, it also sought to provide explanations for the truly unexplainable: “Why is everything at my grandma’s house moist”; “If batman parents are died, Then how was he born”; and “Why do people with baguettes think they’re better than me?” Even genius Stephen Hawking took to the platform to ask for help with the question “How can the human race survive the next 100 years?” — drawing nearly 16,000 responses within two days... But, like most good things on the internet run by a company, this repository of human intelligence and wisdom is being shuttered for good"
Joel Kotkin: The working classes are a volcano waiting to erupt - "The recent French elections have revealed the comparative irrelevance of many elite concerns, from gender-fluidity and racial injustice to the ever-present “climate catastrophe.” Instead, most voters in France and elsewhere are more concerned about soaring energy, food and housing costs. Many suspect that the cognitive elites, epitomized by President Emmanuel Macron, lack even the ambition to improve their living conditions. The French elections reflect the essential political conflict of our time. On one side, there is a powerful alliance between the corporate oligarchy and the regulatory clerisy. On the other, there are two beleaguered and angry classes — the small-business owners and artisans, and the vast, largely unorganized service class... In the first round of the French elections, a majority voted either for Marine Le Pen and other rightist candidates, or for the old Trotskyist warhorse Jean-Luc Mélenchon and other candidates of the hard left. The establishment parties, like the centre-left Parti Socialiste and the Gaullist Républicains, were left way behind. The ultra-green Parti Socialiste mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, won less than two per cent — a pathetic performance from the onetime ruling party. Intriguingly, voters under 35 went first for Mélenchon and then Le Pen, leaving the technocrat Macron in dismal third place among the young. Macron only won decisively among voters over 60. We may, as Alexis de Tocqueville put it during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, be “sleeping on a volcano.” A still inchoate rebellion from below against the concentration of wealth and power above seems to be gathering momentum. Across the 36 wealthier countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the richest citizens have taken an ever-greater share of national GDP in recent years as the middle class has become smaller. Heavily in debt, mainly because of high housing costs, the middle class “looks increasingly like a boat in rocky waters,” suggests the OECD. One key indicator of the declining middle class is rates of home ownership, which are stagnant or plummeting, particularly among the young, in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. In the United States, the chance of middle-class earners moving up to the top rungs of the earnings ladder has dropped by approximately 20 per cent since the early 1980s. Life expectancy in the U.S. has dropped to the lowest levels in a quarter of a century. This growing class division is a global phenomenon. In 1974, the proportion of global corporate income that went to labour was about 64 per cent. It dropped to 59 per cent by 2012. This pattern has applied not only to wealthy markets in the West, but also to labour-rich markets like China, India and Mexico. In 2017, the Pew Research Center found that poll respondents in France, Britain, Spain, Italy and Germany are even more pessimistic about the next generation than those in the United States. Such sentiments are shared in countries like Japan and India, where many new college graduates fail to find decent employment. Well over two thirds of Mumbai youths are pessimistic about their prospects. This erosion of opportunity sets the stage for a potential combustion of class anger, particularly as the pandemic and now Russia’s invasion threaten to make things worse. The unemployment rate reached 32.5 per cent in South Africa during the pandemic years, with almost two thirds of young people with no job in sight. The story is unfortunately similar elsewhere in Africa, with regional powers such as Kenya and Senegal reporting over 40 per cent unemployment. This is a recipe for chaos. Several Latin American, African and Middle Eastern countries have also defaulted on long-term loans and more may follow. Even China seems poised for an outbreak of class warfare. Since 1978, China’s Gini coefficient, a key measurement of income inequality, has tripled. China has gone from being highly egalitarian to becoming more stratified than Mexico, Brazil or Kenya, as well as the United States and virtually all of Europe. China, notes one observer, is now developing “something resembling a permanent caste system.” China’s class divisions have grown so intense that President Xi Jinping has been forced to respond with a promised drive to spread the wealth and cut the oligarchy down to size. There have even been some strikes and demonstrations and new Marxist study groups have arisen at universities — developments that terrify the current mandarin regime. Chinese Communist Party officials have been put in the awkward position of cracking down on young Marxists at universities, whose working-class advocacy conflicts with the policies of the nominally socialist government. As it was during the Industrial Revolution, today there are key divisions within society — between what economist Thomas Piketty refers to as the “merchant right,” largely in the analogue economy, and the “Brahmin left” of large corporations and investors. In the U.S., this latter group generally backs the Democrats and the environmental and cultural agenda of the progressive left. In contrast, the traditional middle class — comprised of skilled workers, Main Street businesspeople and small property owners — has become the bulwark of the Trumpian Republican party. Similar patterns can be seen in Australia, Canada and the U.K., as “left” parties have all become dominated by highly educated professionals (though they have also cultivated constituencies of the destitute). This strategy has limits and may not even appeal to the young in the long-term. Biden has already lost his majority among young voters — the same troubled generation that helped elect him. Populist and nationalist parties in Sweden, Hungary, Spain, Poland and Slovakia have done particularly well among younger voters. In fact, many of Europe’s right-wing nationalist parties are led by millennials. These parties appear, generally, on the rise in an inflation-rattled, increasingly pessimistic continent. Voters’ anger can sometimes be expressed in crude, even racist, terms. But it reflects real economic distress, made worse by COVID and now the Russian war, stoking inflation to the highest level in 40 years. In the U.K., where incomes have dropped more than at any time in at least 30 years, “non-essential shops” faced long periods of closure during the pandemic. With the ascendancy of online retailers, many have since closed their doors permanently. In Germany, the self-employed were four times more likely to suffer income losses than their wage-earning counterparts during the pandemic. In the U.S., roughly 110,000 restaurants shut down during the lockdowns, and some 200,000 more businesses overall disappeared compared to the usual erosion. It’s no surprise, then, that barely 16 per cent of small-business owners, according to one recent survey, think the U.S. federal government is performing well for them. Stoking class resentment, the pandemic clearly favoured big companies, which could deploy far greater resources to make the necessary transition to the new reality. Big pharma companies have pulled in lucrative profits with vaccine revenue. CEO compensation reached record levels this year, investment bankers on Wall Street enjoyed record bonuses and the giant tech firms now boast a market capitalization greater than the bloated U.S. federal budget. As millions struggle to fill their tanks and pay their rent, sales of business jets to the rising ranks of billionaires have soared to new heights. Perhaps even harder hit have been service workers. As lockdowns and remote work pummelled low-income workers over the past year in the U.S., the top 25 per cent of earners suffered negligible job losses while nearly 30 per cent of workers in the bottom quartile lost much of their income. The pandemic, notes one observer, has created uneven inventories and supply chain disruptions and often difficult conditions in warehouses. With fewer workers, the remaining employees sometimes have no work and sometimes have too much. Despite higher wages, inflation has wiped out any gains. Indeed, a recent study from the Economic Policy Institute shows that wage inequities have worsened since the pandemic. Most people these days are working harder and faster — and often with less job security... The first signs of class unrest are already evident. The beleaguered working and middle classes are taking to the streets, as seen with the Canadian truckers or the gilets jaunes movement in France. There are not a lot of red flags at these demonstrations, which are attended mainly by suburban and exurban independent workers, contractors, artisans and delivery people who work for themselves. These people may have looked to socialists once, but many have now planted themselves firmly on the right... according to Gallup, barely two per cent of Americans consider climate their key concern, while 35 per cent name economic issues first... In some ways, the progressive classes live in a kind of fantasy world. During the initial inflation surge, the Biden administration’s response was to minimize it as temporary and even as a rich person’s problem — the very opposite of the truth. This is not how it was experienced by working-class families and small businesses. Among intellectual progressives, the instinct has been to urge austerity and restraint. The likes of Vox castigate the average worker for being too mindlessly materialistic. Such attitudes help explain how the Biden administration has proven remarkably adept at driving working-class voters, including many minorities, even further from the Democrats. At the same time, conservative parties are burdened by their addiction to market fundamentalism, a pervasive class hauteur, a refusal to tax the rich and a worship of capital’s prerogatives. They may despise the progressive agenda, but conservatives have to offer more than just bromides about the “beauty” of capitalism, which are no longer persuasive in an era of oligarchic control."
Time to call those who are unhappy with the establishment racists and science deniers, lockdown some more and implement more policies to "fight climate change" that make the poor even poorer
Nearly 400 Years Later, the Fork Remains at the Center of American Dining Controversy - "On June 25, 1633, when governor John Winthrop, a founding father of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, took out a fork, then known as a “split spoon,” at the dinner table, the utensil was dubbed “evil” by the clergy. They said that the only thing worthy of touching “God’s food” was fingers, according to Colonial American History Stories – 1215 – 1664: Forgotten and Famous Historical Events by Paul R. Wonning... According to Brown University, forks didn’t appear prolifically in archaeological sites until the early 18th century. When Americans finally started their love affair with the fork, their dining etiquette compared to their international peers became a source of controversy for centuries, whether it’s the way the fork is held, only eating with the fork, or using the “cut-and-switch.“... During the time it took for Americans to widely start using the fork, dining cutlery was evolving in England. Knives changed to have rounded blade ends, since forks had “assumed the function of the pointed blade,” says Deetz. “However, since most knives were made in England, and the fork appeared later in America, this relationship did not prevail in the New World.” It’s for this reason, he says, the American standard of switching the fork with the tines pointing up, rather than the European way of having the tines point down, is still prevalent today"
17 Freaking Pictures That Will Leave You Questioning Everything
The Country Lifestyle At Its Finest - "Cities, suburbs, every place to live in has its own charms. However, no place has the same level of ingenuity as rural areas, also known as the country. The level of creativity and number of life hacks available to them is incredibly interesting. It might make you want to live in the country. Or you might just look at some of the things they do and think they’re funny."
St Kitts: Consumer Affairs says viral peanut butter photo is not local - "The St Kitts and Nevis Consumer Affairs Department initiated an investigation into a photo of peanut butter being sold in a styrofoam container and found that the now viral image is not local... The photo was originally posted on May 28 by a Trinidadian man who claimed that his friend first told him about loose peanut butter being sold at a supermarket in Arima some weeks before... Loose peanut butter used to be a frequent sight for many Trinidadians who purchased supplies at markets or neighbourhood shops. The practice soon lost prominence as people started shopping at large chain supermarkets."
New Zealand denies entry to autistic daughter of immigrant couple - "A 12-year-old autistic girl from the Philippines has been barred from moving to New Zealand with her parents under immigration policies that reject people with disability or illness who may present a high cost to the health system. The rules have been called “discriminatory” and “ableist” by advocates calling for reform. Arianna Alfonzo, 12, has had to remain in the Philippines for the past six years while her father, Allan, works in Christchurch where he has a carpet-laying business. Both he and Arianna’s mother, Gail Alfonzo, have residency status in New Zealand. But Arianna’s applications to come to New Zealand have been denied. The case, first reported by the New Zealand Herald, is one of hundreds rejected under New Zealand’s rules, which set a $41,000 limit over five years on an immigrant’s cost to the health system. The criteria exclude people with a number of “high-cost” conditions including physical disability, intellectual disability, autistic spectrum disorders, brain injury, multiple sclerosis and cancers. Arianna’s mother, Gail Alfonzo, said the family had spent thousands on specialists and lawyers to try to prove their family unit would not be a burden on New Zealand. She wrote in a public plea for support that her husband “is a hardworking person and trustworthy, he is a good citizen and abides by New Zealand law. We are in our early 40s and we are very sure both of us will contribute [to] the growth and economy of New Zealand.”... The Alfonzo family is not the first high-profile case of prospective immigrants being rejected for their disability. Juliana Carvalho was initially rejected on similar grounds – she has lupus and is paraplegic. Carvalho spent seven years challenging the decision, and said it took an enormous toll... it took six years before Carvahlo was approved for residency."
Interestingly, this shows one downside of universal healthcare
New Zealand has merit-based migration which is already inherently “discriminatory” and “ableist”
The Australian-born children the government wants to deport because they have a disability - "If Kayaan Katyal didn't have a disability, he'd likely be an Australian permanent resident by now. But the six-year-old was born with cerebral palsy. For that reason alone, Australia wants to deport him. "The fact that he has an Australian birth certificate but he still doesn't really have any rights in Australia ... that just breaks our heart," his father Varun says... Varun Katyal came to Australia from India 12 years ago to study European cookery, and has been a chef in a restaurant for much of the time since. Priyanka moved here eight years ago, after they married. The pair have paid taxes, passed criminal checks and complied with everything asked of them by the Department of Home Affairs. They were on track to receive permanent residency, and had dreams of opening a restaurant, when Kayaan was born premature at 32 weeks with cerebral palsy. Under Australia's Migration Act, that can be an automatic fail... The Department of Home Affairs makes it clear Kayaan's disability is the only reason the family cannot stay. In a rejection letter sent last month, it said it estimated Kayaan would cost taxpayers $1.23 million over 10 years, which "would be likely to result in a significant, undue cost to the Australian community in the areas of health care and/or community services"... The Migration Act is one of the few pieces of legislation in Australia where it's OK to discriminate against people based on their disability."
New Zealand Cites Obesity In Denying Chef's Work Visa - "Chef Albert Buitenhuis has been declared too fat to live in New Zealand, a country with one of the highest obesity rates in the developed world. Immigration officials recently informed South African Buitenhuis that his work visa would not be renewed because, at 286 pounds, he falls short of what Wellington deems "an acceptable standard of health.""
Too fat for NZ: Mum can't lose weight fast enough for immigration officials - "A woman deemed too fat for New Zealand residency is gutted a country committed to kindness is so brazenly shaming her and penalising her family. Doctors and medical tests are in agreement: Mondelea Bezuidenhout is in good health, despite weighing 128 kilograms."
Woman denied entry to Australia based on weight - "Now for any you struggling with your weight - take heart. It seems you can be declared too skinny to be an Australian. That's according to British woman Helen Evans, who says she's been denied permanent residency on the grounds that she's too thin. Mrs Evans moved from the UK to Brisbane four years ago and married her Australian boyfriend. But since then, she's struggled to pass her medical check to gain permanent residency because immigration officials say that at 37 kilograms, she's just not fat enough to become one of us."
It’s time to ditch Chrome - "Despite a poor reputation for privacy, Google’s Chrome browser continues to dominate. The web browser has around 65 per cent market share and two billion people are regularly using it. Its closest competitor, Apple’s Safari, lags far behind with under 20 per cent market share. That’s a lot of power, even before you consider Chrome’s data collection practices. Is Google too big and powerful, and do you need to ditch Chrome for good? Privacy experts say yes... its market dominance gives it the power to help set new standards across the web. Chrome is one of Google’s most powerful data-gathering tools. Google is currently under fire from privacy campaigners including rival browser makers and regulators for changes in Chrome that will spell the end of third-party cookies, the trackers that follow you as you browse. Although there are no solid plans for Europe yet, Google is planning to replace cookies with its own ‘privacy preserving’ tracking tech called FLoC, which critics say will give the firm even more power at the expense of its competitors due to the sheer scale of Chrome’s user base. Chrome’s hefty data collection practices are another reason to ditch the browser. According to Apple’s iOS privacy labels, Google’s Chrome app can collect data including your location, search and browsing history, user identifiers and product interaction data for “personalisation” purposes. Google says this gives you the ability to enable features such as the option to save your bookmarks and passwords to your Google Account. But unlike rivals Safari, Microsoft’s Edge and Firefox, Chrome links this data to devices and individuals... “If you’re using Chrome to browse the internet, even in private mode, Google is watching everything you do online, all the time. This allows Google to build up a detailed and sophisticated picture about your personality, interests, vulnerabilities and triggers.” When you sync your Google accounts to Chrome, the data slurping doesn’t stop there. Information from other Google-owned products including its email service Gmail and Google search can be combined to form a scarily accurate picture. Chrome data can be added to your geolocation history from Google Maps, the metadata from your Gmail usage, your social graph – who you interact with, both on and offline – the apps you use on your Android phone, and the products you buy with Google Pay. “That creates a very clear picture of who you are and how you live your life”... As well as gathering information about your online and offline purchases, data from Google Pay can be used “in the same way as data from other Google services,” says Fielding. “This is not just what you buy, but also your location, device contacts and information, and the links those details provide so you can be identified and profiled across multiple datasets.” Google’s power goes even further than its own browser market share. Competitor browsers such as Microsoft’s Edge are based on the same engine, Chromium. “So under the hood they are still a form of Chrome”... Google’s massive market share has allowed the internet giant to develop web standards such as AMP in Google mobile search, which publishers must use in order to appear at the top of search results. And more recently, Chrome’s FLoC effectively gives Google control over the ad tracking tech that will replace third-party cookies – although this is being developed in the open and with feedback from other developers. Google’s power allows it to set the direction of the industry, says Wright. “Some of those changes are good, including the move to make HTTPS encryption a default, but others are more self-serving, such as the FLoC proposal.”... "When you are a company that has the majority share of browsers and internet search, you suddenly have a huge amount of power,” says Matthew Gribben, a former GCHQ cybersecurity consultant. “When every web developer and SEO expert in the world needs to pander to these whims, the focus becomes on making sites work well for Google at the expense of everything else.”... “When people’s favourite tools, games and sites only work with Chrome, they are reluctant to switch to an alternative.” In theory, competition and data protection laws should provide the tools to keep Google from getting out of control, says Fielding. But in practice, “that doesn’t seem to be working for various reasons – including disparities of wealth and power between Google and national regulators”. Fielding adds that Google is also useful to many governments and economies and it is tricky to enforce national laws against a global corporation... If you do decide to ditch Chrome, there are plenty of other feature-rich privacy browser options to consider, including Firefox, Brave and DuckDuckGo, which don’t involve giving Google any of your data."
Fishermen In A Netflix Show About 1MDB Draw Criticism For Saying "Najib Can Steal Money" - "the showrunners interviewed a group of fishermen in a poor neighbourhood in Malaysia. In an agitated voice, one fisherman says, "Najib used to give us RM300. Now, Mahathir gives us less.""
Of course, this says nothing about corruption in Malaysia
The Rise of Netflix Competitors Has Pushed Consumers Back Toward Piracy - "Back in 2011, Sandvine stated that BitTorrent accounted for 52.01% of upstream traffic on fixed broadband networks in North America. By 2015, BitTorrent’s share of upstream traffic on these networks had dipped to 26.83 percent, largely thanks to the rise in quality, inexpensive streaming alternatives to piracy. But Sandvine notes that trend is now reversing slightly, with BitTorrent’s traffic share once again growing worldwide. That’s especially true in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, where BitTorrent now accounts for 32% of all upstream network traffic... As more and more companies jump into the streaming race, they’re cordoning off “must have” content into a wider and wider array of exclusivity silos. Disney, for example, will soon be pulling most of its fare from Netflix as it launches its own streaming service this year. Studies have shown that nearly every major broadcaster will have launched their own streaming service by 2022. And these companies are increasingly choosing to keep their own content as in-house exclusives in order to drive subscriptions... The problem: consumers only have so much disposable income, and the growing laundry-list of services users now need to subscribe to if they want to watch all of their favorite movies and shows can not only become confusing, but prohibitively expensive. That’s especially true overseas, where geographical viewing restrictions hamper access to popular U.S. content... Keep in mind that BitTorrent usage numbers are likely higher than Sandvine estimates, given the high number of users that hide their BitTorrent traffic behind proxies and VPNs to not only dodge the prying-eyes of their ISPs, but avoid copyright trolls and industry lawsuits. The content industry spent years trying to battle piracy via all manner of heavy handed-tactics and lawsuits, only to realize that offering users inexpensive, quality, legitimate services was the best solution. Many users flocked to these services because they provided a less-expensive, more flexible alternative to traditional cable. Now, if the industry isn’t careful, it could lose a sizeable chunk of this newfound audience back to piracy by making it overly expensive and cumbersome to access the content subscribers are looking for."
Sam Peak on Twitter - "Voter polarization seems to be the major reason why political leaders are insulated from accountability. We don’t want to hold office holders accountable if we see them as players for the team we’re rooting for, and when our personal identity is wrapped up in that team “winning.”"
OBW on Twitter - "Singaporeans complaining about electricity retailers going bust as oil and gas prices increase and blaming the Govt 🙄
1. Didn’t they get to enjoy the lower tariffs before the retailers went bust?
2. Do they honestly expect a business to be able to continue operating when costs consistently exceed income?
3. Shouldn’t the Govt be credited for having the foresight to retain SP as the retailer of last resort if any of the other open market retailers collapse?
4. Shouldn’t we also blame Greta Thunberg and other Uber-woke climate change activists who unrealistically pressured financial institutions to stop financing fossil fuel operations, as a result of which there is now a production undercapacity that cannot meet demand?
mirax on Twitter - "But the evidence points to this - we are the largest parasites. Singapore is the biggest bully in the region. It is the richest, and the most powerful, and has caused immeasurable damage to community life, survival and to the environment in the region."
"Wait, land reclamation makes Singapore the biggest bully in the region?! An area where there were genocides, army coups, quasi-apartheid ethno-supremacism, largescale destruction of rainforests, ongoing actual fucking imperialism in "Irian Jaya". Google that name you silly bint."
Late capitalism means inventing shit to bitch about and virtue signalling by bashing the natural in group. Anyway as we know success means you're evil and Singapore is the most successful in the region
Meme/a> - "Picasso's self-portrait at ages 18, 25, and 90."
Watch: This guy accidentally found a dead body on Google Maps that had been missing FOR 22 YEARS - "Jerry Nyman was futzing around on Google Maps and stumbled across something that looked like a car in the pond."
Google Maps’s Moat
Tom Elliott on Twitter - ".@JRubinBlogger calls for "rules" that would prohibit media outlets from treating Republicans as "normal""
Pimp Master Broda on Twitter - "Google Play store just gave Minds 24 hours to make tons of changes and self-censor or get pulled from the store. If it isn't obvious yet that big tech platforms are working together to eliminate competition; Wake the fuck up."
Scientists are recreating the smell of 16th-century Europe - "A European street today may smell like coffee, fresh-baked bread and cigarettes. But what did it smell like hundreds of years ago? As part of this three-year-long project called "Odeuropa," the researchers want to find all the old scents of Europe — and even recreate some of this ancient smellscape: from the dry tobacco scents and the earthy medicinal herbs, to the odors of stinky canals. To do this, they will first build artificial intelligence that will be trained to scan historical texts, written in seven different languages, for any descriptions of odors, according to The Guardian. The A.I. will also be trained to detect images of objects in the texts that might be aromatic. The team will then use this information to create an online encyclopedia of smells from Europe's past... The researchers will then work with chemists and perfume makers to recreate past smells and figure out how to display the smells in museums and other historical sites... Foul odors also have history — and our perception of what was pleasant or stinky has changed. For example, body odors only became taboo at the beginning of the 20th century when industrial production made perfume and soap available to lower social classes, Verbeek told Live Science in an email. "Animal manure was glorified by writers around 1900 because it expressed a longing for the countryside but was also a way to express a dismay for the 'odorless' and 'civilized' bourgeoisie"... With current technology, almost every scent can be synthesized, Verbeek said. The more difficult part of the project will be to find descriptions of scents, because people haven't always talked or written about them"
Ex car dealership receptionist wins £23,000 after boss excludes her from pizza order - "A receptionist at a car dealership has won £23,000 after she was excluded from an office pizza order as part of what a tribunal described as a 'campaign of victimisation'. A hearing ruled that Malgorzata Lewicka was deliberately left out by bosses who did not include her in the informal staff lunch... she was made redundant after the company said that the role she performed had to be full time. Judge Bartlett ruled that this amounted to sex discrimination because she was a single mother and received less favourable treatment as a part-time worker as a result."
Before Envelopes, People Protected Messages With Letterlocking - "For more than a decade, Dambrogio has been studying “letterlocking,” the various systems of folds, slits, and wax seals that protected written communication before the invention of the mass-produced envelope. To guard her final missive from prying eyes, the queen used a “butterfly lock”—one of hundreds of techniques catalogued by Dambrogio, collaborator Daniel Starza Smith, and their research team in a fast-growing dictionary of letterlocking. Mary was not the only person of note to lock her letters: Fellow practitioners include Galileo, Machiavelli, Marie Antoinette, the Boston philanthropist Isabella Gardner, and the artist Albrecht Dürer. “Everyone was doing it,” notes Smith, a lecturer in the department of English at King’s College London. “It is something that underlies the history of communication for hundreds of years, and it’s kind of mind-blowing.” To seal a modern-day envelope (on the off chance you’re sealing an envelope at all), it takes a lick or two, at most. Not so for Mary or for Machiavelli. In those days, letters were folded in such a way that they served as their own envelope. Depending on your desired level of security, you might opt for the simple, triangular fold and tuck; if you were particularly ambitious, you might attempt the dagger-trap, a heavily booby-trapped technique disguised as another, less secure, type of lock. The practice of letterlocking in the Western world is roughly bookended by the spread of flexible, foldable paper in the 13th century and the invention of the mass-produced envelope in the 19th century. But it also fits into a 10,000-year history of document security—one that begins with clay tablets in Mesopotamia and extends all the way to today’s passwords and two-step authentication. “We see letterlocking as part of a much broader historical study,” Smith says."
"Gonna say it... Picasso did not age well"
Outdated but still interesting on how Google generates buildings etc on Maps
