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Category: Society (Page 5 of 6)

Monday may have set a global record for the hottest day ever. Tuesday was even hotter. Wednesday may break it again. [Updated]

2023-07-05 /

AP »

The planet’s temperature spiked on Tuesday to its hottest day in at least 44 years and likely much longer, and Wednesday could become the third straight day Earth unofficially marks a record-breaking high, the latest in a series of climate-change extremes that alarm but don’t surprise scientists.

The globe’s average temperature reached 62.9 degrees Fahrenheit (17.18 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday, according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a common tool based on satellite data and computer simulations and used by climate scientists for a glimpse of the world’s condition. On Monday, the average temperature was 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit (17.01 degrees Celsius), breaking a record that lasted only 24 hours.

~~~

For two straight days, the global average temperature spiked into uncharted territory. After scientists talked about Monday’s dramatic heat, Tuesday (July 4th, 2023) temperatures soared 0.17 C hotter, which is a huge temperature jump in terms of global averages and records.

National Observer » Unofficial record for hottest days in human record keeping smashed for two days running

AP | Washington Post | NBC | PBS | The Guardian

The social network everyone wants is available now

2023-07-05 /

The social network everyone wants has no ads, no corporate surveillance, is ethically designed, decentralization, is available now, and won’t sell your data.

Facebook/Instagram/Messenger/WhatsApp/Meta/Threads

Alphabet/Google/YouTube

Twitter

Bluesky

» Mastodon ✅

Regain your independence and protect your privacy. Choose a social network that respects you and puts you in control – not a corporation.

Here is what Eugene Rochko, Founder and CEO of Mastodon, has to say about Threads.

Self-driving cars are “surveillance cameras on wheels”

2023-07-05 /

Bloomberg »

While security cameras are commonplace in American cities, self-driving cars represent a new level of access for law enforcement — and a new method for encroachment on privacy, advocates say. Crisscrossing the city on their routes, self-driving cars capture a wider swath of footage. And it’s easier for law enforcement to turn to one company with a large repository of videos and a dedicated response team than to reach out to all the businesses in a neighborhood with security systems.

“We’ve known for a long time that they are essentially surveillance cameras on wheels,” said Chris Gilliard, a fellow at the Social Science Research Council. “We’re supposed to be able to go about our business in our day-to-day lives without being surveilled unless we are suspected of a crime, and each little bit of this technology strips away that ability.”

Though he lacks Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s showmanship, New Brunswick’s Blaine Higgs has a hard-line conservative record to make right-wing ideologues giddy

2023-07-04 /

The Conversation »

However, Higgs has gone further than his Conservative counterparts in the region. In doing so, he has burned many bridges.

His relationship with the health-care sector is fraught. Emergency rooms have overflowed at times with residents dying in waiting rooms.

When it was reported a woman was unable to get access to a rape kit, Higgs blamed the nurses for “showing a lack of compassion.” He has also limited abortion access within the province.

Higgs has an equally contentious relationship with Indigenous Peoples. In 2021, New Brunswick directed government employees to halt territorial acknowledgements because the province is involved in a series of legal actions and land claims initiated by First Nations.

The province also tore up tax-sharing agreements with the Wolastoqey Nation, which Higgs argued were “unfair.”

Climate » Monday, July 3, 2023 » World’s hottest day ever recorded [Updated]

2023-07-04 /

Reuters »

Monday, July 3, was the hottest day ever recorded globally, according to data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

The average global temperature reached 17.01 degrees Celsius (62.62 Fahrenheit), surpassing the August 2016 record of 16.92C (62.46F) as heatwaves sizzled around the world.

The southern U.S. has been suffering under an intense heat dome in recent weeks. In China, an enduring heatwave continued, with temperatures above 35C (95F). North Africa has seen temperatures near 50C (122F).

BBC | The Hill | AFP via ScienceAlert | The Guardian | France 24

Meanwhile » June was UK’s hottest on record » The Guardian | VoA | France 24

National Geographic lays off it’s remaining staff writers

2023-06-29 /

This should not come as a surprise to anyone who first heard NatGeo had been sold to Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox back in 2015, and then to WDC. For these massive corporations, it’s all about profits and shareholder value over everyone and everything else.

WSJ »

On Wednesday, the Washington-based magazine that has surveyed science and the natural world for 135 years reached another difficult passage when it laid off all of its last remaining staff writers.

The cutback — the latest in a series under owner Walt Disney Co. — involves some 19 editorial staffers in all, who were notified in April that these terminations were coming.

Nigeria raise concerns as Chinese-owned payment apps PalmPay and OPay gain popularity and Huawei dominates installation of 5G equipment in the country

2023-06-28 /

FT »

Nigeria, with about 220mn people, is the continent’s most populous country and its biggest economy. So, when two Chinese-backed fintech companies hatched ambitions to build African versions of Chinese mobile payment giants Alipay or WeChat Pay, they decided to start in Lagos.

…

However, the position that Huawei holds in basic telecoms infrastructure, coupled with the popularity of PalmPay and OPay super apps, has raised concerns among some Nigerian officials over potential future Chinese dominance in digital infrastructure and data.

 

 

Why pedestrian deaths are skyrocketing in US, while European pedestrian deaths have been declining for years [updated]

2023-06-27 /

NY Magazine »

If that estimate sticks, U.S. walkers will have experienced a stunning 77 percent increase in deaths since 2010, rising at a rate more than three times faster than the rest of the traveling public.

Also » NPR

VOX »

The roads were already getting deadlier for pedestrians before 2020, but the pandemic turbocharged the trend. In 2021, 7,624 pedestrians were killed in the United States, a 13 percent increase from the year before, when 6,721 pedestrians were killed. Between 2010 and 2021, the new GHSA report says, pedestrian fatalities increased 77 percent.

 

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