cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/23013381

As cities heat up, reflective roofs could lower energy bills and help the climate. But dark roofing manufacturers are waging a quiet campaign to block new rules

archived (Wayback Machine)

Fake Work provides a theoretically rich and often amusing picture of the banalities and absurdities of certain types of work. And those who have labored in such environments are likely to feel that she gets a lot right in her descriptions of those sorts of workplaces. Unfortunately, almost everything that Fake Work has to say about Y2K is either sorely lacking in historical and technical context, or is simply wrong.

In fairness, Fake Work isn’t really about Y2K. It’s about capitalism. But the book’s thoughtful and amusing critiques of capitalism are consistently undermined by the way this book misrepresents and oversimplifies Y2K. In talking not just about work but about Y2K, the book throws the term “fake” around a lot, and for those who are interested in a historically accurate consideration of Y2K that creates something of a very real problem.

The Coriolis Effect is definitely real. It drives ocean currents and weather patterns. But does it make toilets flush and tubs drain the opposite direction when you cross the equator? No.

Let me lay some science on you. And if that doesn't convince you, I'm the Toilet Guru and I have experienced toilet flushes in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. I can report that flush direction is a random mix everywhere. Keep reading for the details and pictures.

Teasing the public with fraudulent or self-deluded promises of aliens used to mean something. It took work. It meant slapping together ropes and planks of wood and trampling miles of barley in the dead of night, hundreds of times, over 13 years. It meant riveting 1/8th sheet steel into a 3 m-high monolith and depositing it in the Utah desert. Even theoretical works used to require huge leaps of logic and real effort: to turn 1I/’Oumuamua — a building-sized chunk of nitrogen ice — into a defunct solar sail from a network of interstellar buoys emplaced by a Galaxy-spanning civilization, or to misinterpret common seafloor iron-rich spherules as “steel-titanium alloys” likely from an “alien gadget”. In contrast, the latest release from Avi Loeb and collaborators — that maybe the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is alien technology — feels phoned in, like they’re just going through the motions. Where, I ask, is the dedication to the craft?

cross-posted from: https://quokk.au/post/128459

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and long COVID affect large numbers of people, and constitute a substantial burden to the U.S. and global economies. The article by Eckey et al., in this issue of PNAS (1), adds to the growing evidence that the two illnesses have much in common. Moreover, the illnesses may represent just two examples of an even larger, recently recognized class of illness: post-acute infection syndromes (PAIS) (2).

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/32845817

A bit usa centric at points, but similar things happened here and the commentry on the flaws in/breakdown of the IRBO is good.

The Australian government sends weaponry to Israel while insisting that supplying parts for a gun and gun maintenance components isn't sending weapons powers city with eyerolling.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/24351016

At first, Ziz LaSota seemed much like any other philosophically inclined young tech aspirant. Now, she and her followers are in jail, six people are dead, and Rationalists are examining whether their ideas played a role.

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/44939407

I haven't checked in with this blog in a while. This last post is from almost a year ago.

3 articles on the topic:

Why are young liberals so depressed?

There's a neglected dimension beyond gender in America's troubled youth

https://www.slowboring.com/p/why-are-young-liberals-so-depressed

Don't be a doomer

Flamboyant pessimism serves no useful purpose.

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/dont-be-a-doomer

No, Teen Suicide Isn’t Rising Because Life Got Objectively Worse

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/02/teen-suicide-depression-girls-social-media.html

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30952448

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30443525

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/44902144

Our latest annual inequality report, “Takers Not Makers” explores how most billionaire wealth is taken, not earned - with 60% coming from either inheritance, cronyism or monopoly power. Furthermore, our deeply unequal world remains colonial in many ways. There is a long history of colonial domination which has largely benefited the richest people. This system still extracts wealth from the Global South to the super-rich 1% in the Global North at a rate of $30million an hour. This must be reversed.

To contribute to meaningful systemic change, governments must:

• Radically reduce inequality – setting global and national goals to do so.
• Repair the wounds of historical colonialism through apology and reparations
• End systems of modern-day colonialism.
• Tax the richest to end extreme wealth.
• Promote South-South cooperation and solidarity.
• End ongoing formal colonialism in all forms.