The US border thugs make a practice of releasing adult asylum-seekers in minuscule towns just on the US side of the border, which cannot support them.

Florida has passed the bill to make it easy to label protests as "riots" and jail the protesters.

Alongside Facebook and Google, data brokers that buy databases and correlate them are another threat to people's privacy and independence of thought.

This is why I reject most opportunities to let a business have my name. Don't pay digitally — pay cash!

New Zealand is trying to eliminate the practice of smoking tobacco.

I hope this succeeds, but I am concerned that the prohibition will become repressive.

Interviews with Afghans living under Taliban rule.

ACT-Accelerator is Bill Gates's way of infiltrating of the World Health Organization to ensure the triumph of private monopolies over public health.

I am heartened to see the building condemnation of the use of patents to put profit over people's health. It is unfortunate that it uses the term "intellectual property", which is a bad fit for each real issue including this one. The article acknowledges this when it talks about "technology transfer".

My proposal to remedy several problems in medicine is that pharmaceuticals should not be patentable, that the government should run all trials of pharmaceuticals, and pharma companies should make medicines and sell them in a non-monopolistic world.

Attorney General Garland pledged to tackle systemic racism in the practices of US thug departments.

The Tories' lobbying law was intended to restrict lobbying by the charities that help the poor and weak. Corruption continued as before.

US citizens: call on Biden to advocate an increased estate tax.

Businesses exploit workers by putting them into a "work culture" which is based on overwork. That tends to isolate people as a byproduct, leaving them lonely.

My work is also my life — but I'm not working for a company's profit. I'm working for your freedom and mine. And it keeps me going when I am lonely.

50-ish words you can use to show that you care without incriminating yourself.

artificial general intelligence (phrase) - A hypothetical AI god that's probably far off in the future but also maybe imminent. Can be really good or really bad whichever is more rhetorically useful. Obviously you're building the good one. Which is expensive. Therefore, you need more money. See long-term risks.

compliance (n) - The act of following the law. Anything that isn't illegal goes.

for good (ph) - As in "AI for good" or "data for good." An initiative completely tangential to your core business that helps you generate good publicity.

interpretable (adj) -- Description of an AI system whose computation you, the developer, can follow step by step to understand how it arrived at its answer. Actually probably just linear regression. AI sounds better.

long-term risks (n) - Bad things that could have catastrophic effects in the far-off future. Probably will never happen, but more important to study and avoid than the immediate harms of existing AI systems.

privacy trade-off (ph) - The noble sacrifice of individual control over personal information for group benefits like AI-driven health-care advancements, which also happen to be highly profitable.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

A Field Guide To San Francisco's Iconic Street Signs

There have been roughly three eras of street signage in the city by the bay: the pre-automobile era, which featured a wildly inconsistent and much-complained-about mess through the 1800s and early 1900s. Then came a few decades of good standard blue porcelain signs (1920s to late 1940s). And finally the signature black-on-white that appeared in the 1940s and is still with us today. [...]

Fortunately, we live among history today  --  not since 1950 has the city again undertaken a comprehensive sign replacement program. The SFMTA only replaces street signs as needed. So you can find nearly all of the black-on-white variants still in use around the city, easily spotted by walking a few blocks along any street. (The iconic embossed enamel signs eventually rusted beyond usefulness in the field. A small handful of examples were still mounted on poles as of about 2010, and it's possible one or two are out there hiding in plain sight.) [...]

It remains this author's hope that San Francisco will one day wake up from its stupor and re-embrace its signature design legacy, resurrecting the all-caps embossed lettering and rounded corners of the midcentury heyday.

He's also selling a recreation of the 1946 font for $5.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

*Report claiming global temperature rise will top 1.5C by 2030s divides scientists.*

I am not an expert on climate modeling. I hope scientists can figure out what we should really expect.

*Report claiming global temperature rise will top 1.5C by 2030s divides scientists.*

I am not an expert on climate modeling. I hope scientists can figure out what we should really expect.

*Report claiming global temperature rise will top 1.5C by 2030s divides scientists.*

I am not an expert on climate modeling. I hope scientists can figure out what we should really expect.

*Report claiming global temperature rise will top 1.5C by 2030s divides scientists.*

I am not an expert on climate modeling. I hope scientists can figure out what we should really expect.

*Report claiming global temperature rise will top 1.5C by 2030s divides scientists.*

I am not an expert on climate modeling. I hope scientists can figure out what we should really expect.

*Report claiming global temperature rise will top 1.5C by 2030s divides scientists.*

I am not an expert on climate modeling. I hope scientists can figure out what we should really expect.

*Report claiming global temperature rise will top 1.5C by 2030s divides scientists.*

I am not an expert on climate modeling. I hope scientists can figure out what we should really expect.