Anyone who is 14 or younger today will never be able to purchase cigarettes legally in in New Zealand, according to new legislation expected to pass. The aim is to annually increase the legal smoking age by one year and make tobacco smoking illegal by 2025. — Read the rest
PostgreSQL developer Robert Haas has begun
a blog series on what would be needed to allow database administrators
to safely delegate superuser powers.
Consider, for example, the case of a service provider who would like to support a database with multiple customers as tenants. The customers will naturally want to feel as if they have the powers of a true superuser, with the ability to do things like create new roles, drop old ones, change permissions on objects that they don’t own, and generally enjoy the freedom to bypass permission checks at the SQL level which superusers enjoy. The service provider, who is the true superuser, also wants this, but does not want the customers to be able…
Kellogg is seeking people to work in its factories to replace union workers who are striking for better wages and working conditions—and people on the antiwork subreddit are flooding the company’s job portal website with fake applications in solidarity with those workers. In October, Kellogg’s workers shut down factories in cereal production facilities in Battle Creek, MI, Lancaster, PA, Memphis, TN and Omaha, NE. The striking workers are members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union; they’ve been in negotiations with the company since September, after Kellogg’s proposed pay and benefits cuts while forcing workers to work severe overtime as long as 16-hour-days for seven days a week. Some workers stayed on…
The common “accepted knowledge” these days among many is that the rise of disinformation and conspiracy theories must be driven by social media, and Facebook in particular (with Twitter and YouTube right behind). This theory has always seemed a bit bonkers, and we’ve pointed to multiple detailed, data-driven studies that showed that cable news was a much bigger driver of misinformation than social media. Specifically, it found that conspiracy theories and misinformation and the like didn’t actually “go viral” until after it appeared on cable news.
So, it’s good (but not at all surprising) to find yet another study pointing out the same thing. This one, first highlighted by MediaPost, involved a big survey exploring the spread…
Manifest V3, Google Chrome’s soon-to-be definitive basket of changes to the world of web browser extensions, has been framed by its authors as “a step in the direction of privacy, security, and performance.” But we think these changes are a raw deal for users. We’ve said that since Manifest V3 was announced, and continue to say so as its implementation is now imminent. Like FLoC and Privacy Sandbox before it, Manifest V3 is another example of the inherent conflict of interest that comes from Google controlling both the dominant web browser and one of the largest internet advertising networks.
Manifest V3, or Mv3 for short, is outright harmful to privacy efforts. It will restrict the capabilities of…
On Monday the Chicago Tribune looked at the plight of local drivers stuck in some of the nation’s worst commute traffic, based on the latest congestion study by the transportation analytics firm Inrix.
Streetsblog USA has noted in the past that these annual Inrix traffic reports have been marred by multiple flaws. Issue have included an unrealistic definition of congestion that implies that roads aren’t functioning properly unless its easy for motorists to drive at illegal speeds; exaggerated estimates of the “cost” of congestion to travelers; and a bias against against compact cities with short average travel distances.
But there’s no question that Chicagoland has nightmarish traffic, and choosing to drive to work here when you don’t have…
On December 8, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued an order in Harper v Hall, 413P21, moving the 2022 primary from March 8 to May 17. The Court also closed candidate filing for the district offices. The Supreme Court also instructed the lower state court to rule on the constitutionality of the new U.S. House and legislative districts by January 11, 2022.
As a result of this order, the only 2022 state primary earlier than May is the Texas March primary. There is a fair chance that primary will be postponed as well.
An indirect consequence of the North Carolina order is that independent candidates now have until May 17 to submit their petitions, for 2022. Thanks to…
On December 1, 2021, Jill Stein, Green Party presidential nominee in 2016, filed a Statement of Issues in the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit. She is asking the Court to amend or reverse the Federal Election Commission decision earlier … Continue reading →
2021-12-07Comments Off on Ballot Access News – Jill Stein Files “Statement of Issues” in U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C., Over 2016 Primary Season Matching Funds Repayment Order
PostgreSQL a better option for open source RDBMS, he claims
You’ve collected your leaving card, novelty presents, and perhaps a bottle of wine – what’s next on the list for the departing developer? For one, it’s a blog rubbishing the technology he’s been working on for five years.…
2021-11-09Comments Off on World Socialist Web Site (en) – Washington D.C. transit system recalls over 60 percent of rail fleet after derailment exposes critical flaws
I have been loving the new Chucky TV series, so that inspired me to rewatch all 7 movies. In a row. Yeah I white-knuckled the whole thing in one night and I have no regrets. Ok, here we go:Child’s Play (1988): This is extremely 80s, but holds up pretty well. The end of the first act drags a bit but nobody wastes any time in denial. Once someone sees him walking around they’re all, “Yup, that’s a talking doll. Kill it with fire.” B+.Child’s Play 2 (1990): I like that it just picks right up a couple of weeks after the first movie ends. Mom is in an asylum and the kid is in…
This is the first in a series of commentaries on “The Green New Deal–From Below.” This commentary explains the idea of a Green New Deal from Below and provides an overview of the series. Subsequent commentaries in this series will address dimensions of the Green New Deal from below ranging from energy production to the role of unions to microgrids, coops, anchor institutions, and many others.
Grant’s execution was the first in Oklahoma since 2015 after a series of them went horribly wrong. It proceeded after the US Supreme Court lifted his stay of execution.
2021-10-30Comments Off on World Socialist Web Site (en) – Oklahoma death row prisoner John Grant vomits, convulses in death chamber as state resumes executions
One used mass media to promote his barely-disguised virulent racism and horrific visions of humanity subjugated by incomprehensible, formless entities. The other was H. P. Lovecraft.
“The dormitory’s nine identical residential floors would be organized into eight “houses” with eight “suites” (shown here) with eight bedrooms. | Credit: Courtesy” — The Independent
Charles Munger, a “97-year-old billionaire-investor turned amateur-architect” gave $200 million to the University of California Santa Barbara on one condition: that no one could change his blueprints for a “11-story, 1.68-million-square-foot structure that would house up to 4,500 students, 94 percent of whom would not have windows in their small, single-occupancy bedrooms,” reports The Independent. — Read the rest
Enlarge / This view of Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere from NASA’s Juno spacecraft includes several of the planet’s southern jet streams. (credit: NASA)
Nasa’s Juno mission, the solar-powered robotic explorer of Jupiter, has completed its five-year prime mission to reveal the inner workings of the Solar System’s biggest planet. Since 2016, the spacecraft has flown within a few thousand kilometers of Jupiter’s colorful cloud tops every 53 days, using a carefully selected array of instruments to peer deeper into the planet than ever before.
The most recent findings from these measurements have now been published in a series of papers, revealing the three-dimensional structure of Jupiter’s weather systems—including of its famous Great Red Spot, a…
Contact: Howie Hawkins, howie@howiehawkins.us, 315-200-6046
Virginia Rodino, virginia@howiehawkins.us, 202-465-0918
For Immediate Release
Hawkins on Build Back Better: We Need an Ecosocialist Green New Deal, Not Another Biden Capitulation
The Build Back Better Framework released this morning by President Biden is a total capitulation to conservative Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema.
The $6.1 trillion program Biden announced in his American Jobs and American Families plan has been cut to less than a third of what he proposed. Proposals that are overwhelmingly popular with the public like repealing the Trump tax cuts, paid leave, and Medicare negotiating lower drug prices with Big Pharma have been eliminated. What remains are social programs with lower benefits, privatized administration, and means testing that complicates administration and adds administrative costs. The…
2021-10-29Comments Off on Howie Hawkins for President | Angela Walker for Vice President – RELEASE: Hawkins on Build Back Better: We Need an Ecosocialist Green New Deal, Not Another Biden Capitulation
