Almost everything we argue about is a substitute for the thing we should be arguing about: the immense wealth & power of an oligarchic class, which captures governments, ruins lives and wrecks the living planet.
This class redirects our rage at scapegoats. To resist its lies is to resist its power.
20 years of pickup truck design progress in one photo
There's a lot of talk about leaving Substack & whether it will be the death-knell of your newsletter. I have been on Beehiiv for 7 months now & @tlpavlich.gay helped me run some numbers. So, was leaving Substack worth it? The answer, for me, has been a resounding "yes."
Here are the hard numbers:
the president of the united states is personally looting the treasury to the tune of literally billions of dollars and that he is not being immediately removed from office and tried for high crimes against this country is a devastating indictment of every part of our political system
#Australia is short 28,000 truck drivers, but the advent of clean, quiet and modern electric #trucks might be the marketing tool needed to recruit the women and young people missing from transport rosters.
The first step in solving a problem is understanding what the problem is.
When it comes to climate change, it basically boils down to phasing out greenhouse gas emissions.
But what gases, exactly? And where do they come from?
Here's the latest data.
OpenAI: We’re burning money like the Joker. A miracle needs to happen for us to turn a profit
Microsoft: Please please use our AI systems, we’re teetering on the edge here
Anthropic: I wonder what’ll kill us first: lawsuits, regulations or model collapse
Media and universities: AI is here to stay
Literally devastating news
And almost certainly even worse because the models don't include the effects of huge volumes of Greenland meltwater pouring into the North Atlantic at a rate of 30 million tonnes AN HOUR
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
France passed a law requiring solar panels on every parking lot with more than 80 spaces.
Equals 10 nuclear reactors
Reduces heat island, shades cars
The US -- 800 million parking spaces. Most of them are uncovered asphalt sitting in direct sunlight.
Why aren't we doing this?
Two new #studies demonstrate that #wind turbines might not be the “bird killing machines” they are often accused of being – and that #birds are good at adapting.
The share of renewables in Australia’s most #coal dependent grid hit 80 per cent for first time, driven largely by #solar, as big batteries hit new gigawatt #milestones.
As an Illinois resident, I say hell no.
"OpenAI is throwing its support behind an Illinois state bill that would shield AI labs from liability in cases where AI models are used to cause serious societal harms."
As the father of a middle schooler I have seen the rebellion against AI forming there — even using “that’s AI, bro,” not indicating something is literally AI, but that something is metaphorically so — it’s sus, it’s bullshit, it’s bad weird
A pair of Powerful Owls roosting together in a Brisbane park. The female, on the left dismissing the myth that males and females can be distinguished by head shape. Males supposedly have flatter, squarer heads, but we've found head shape is more dependent on an owls mood and weather. #birds #wildoz
This kind of thing at Substack (including their Nazi problem and trans hate problem) are why my newsletter is at Ghost.org and always has been. Andrew Tate is a spectacularly vile human being accused of numerous violent crimes against women and hugely corrosive for young male minds.
it'd be great if you could get off Substack
i don’t want my appliances to be smart or connect to the internet. i want them to do one mechanical task for 100 years
**Neo-Luddism intensifies**
Bunnies in a raft pull up next to a spaceship capsule, which has just splashed down and is floating in the open sea. Visible in the capsule, two bunnies wave at the ones in the boat.
Daily bunny no.3285 made it home safely
Astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch in their orange astronaut suits as they sit inside the side of a helicopter after it has landed
LOL, trying to stay offline and do my work, and friends are sending me
"LOOK AT THIS NEW PIC!" texts ....
This one is worth it.
First PoC and first woman to go around another world. Don't stop talking about this point. It's important.
#ArtemisII
As the Integrity crew splashed down TO THE MINUTE of their estimated arrival and hit the BULLSEYE, this is a reminder that Katherine Johnson was an absolute genius. My God. #NASA #ArtemisII
Viral photo from some years back of a man nonchalantly mowing his yard with a tornado on the horizon .
How it feels doing literally any task right now.
Sorry to mention climate change here but we're all scurrying around in a thin film of atmosphere shared between all of us and we shouldn't overheat the thing keeping us alive!!
Neo-Luddism intensifies
The walls have been breached. Just went for walk in my Austin neighborhood and spotted this Chinese BYD EV. Second BYD I’ve seen in a week.
South Australia has spent years patiently constructing one of the world's first big 100% clean grids.
Its reward? Industries are *flocking* there to take advantage. Peak load is expected to double in coming years.
Go green, make green.
Today, MSF is going public with something we've been fighting behind closed doors for months: Gilead will not sell us their new HIV drug, lenacapavir.
The sticking point isn't even price, they just refuse to sell.
Open letter linked + explainer 🧵1/
www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/gilea...
"Lenders who originated data center loans—including the private credit facilities described in Section A—have begun pooling those loans and selling tranches to asset managers and pension funds, spreading risk well beyond the original lending institutions." www.quinnemanuel.com/the-firm/pub...
I really recommend this litigation risk assessment drafted by Quinn Emanuel. Especially parts V and VI. A pretty significant chunk of the AI biz is starting to look like the real estate debt market in 2007. Not to mention the circular contracts between companies.
