Reading

Created
Fri, 30/12/2022 - 04:38
I can (barely) remember when if your flights got cancelled they'd rebook you on another airline, or bus the whole planeload to a hotel for the night. The point with the latter isn't just *the cost* - though of course it's that - it's that they took care of it for you. Just another layer of worry for everyone all the time now.

I'm old but it wasn't *that long ago*. A better world is possible!
Created
Fri, 30/12/2022 - 03:22
I don't even really want to pick on Paul here, but the DOT does have lots of unused authority and some people complaining know that! I don't expect Elaine Chao to do anything good, but I do expect her Dem successor to go into office learning what good he can do!

Created
Fri, 30/12/2022 - 03:20

Our 6th most-read article of the 2022.

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Originally published July 29, 2022.

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Thank you for calling the perimenopause hotline. Our phone lines are flooded with an unexpected gush of calls right now, but we assure you that our specialists are working hard to absorb this heavy flow and someone should be with you in a hot flash.

While you wait, please enjoy this informative recording of some of our most frequently asked questions.

Q: What exactly is perimenopause?
Although women the world over experience perimenopause, the resources available to help them understand this completely natural period of transition are spotty at best. But there’s no reason for the process to be shrouded in euphemisms and superstitions.

Created
Fri, 30/12/2022 - 03:07
Retraction Watch reports: “A Russian philosophy journal has retracted a paper about lesbian fashion magazines, citing a newly passed law that bans ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences.'” The journal is Logos (not to be confused with Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought & Culture or with Logos, the undergraduate philosophy journal at Cornell University), the author is Reina Lewis, a professor of Cultural Studies at the London College of Fashion at University of the Arts London, and the paper is, “Looking Good: The Lesbian Gaze and Fashion Imagery.” The paper is still online, but, Retraction Watch reports: an entry on the Russian database eLIBRARY indicates it was retracted for being “in violation of standards.” The notice continued: “The retraction was issued by the decision of the editorial board due to the presence of signs that fall under the scope of Law No.
Created
Fri, 30/12/2022 - 02:49
Today, I make available a video session that I recorded in Japan while I was working there in the latter part of this year. It sets out a range of interesting topics that form, in part, the research program that my colleagues and I at Kyoto University have mapped out to work on in the coming year. I hope that by the end of 2023 we will have advanced this program and perhaps will be able to stage some sort of event (Covid permitting) in Japan later next year to spread the knowledge....
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Japan and the World Economy through the lens of MMT – video presentation
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Created
Fri, 30/12/2022 - 02:30
Piston-powered drones fly ahead of cruise missiles It took a lot of chutzpah for Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to issue an ultimatum to Ukraine late Monday: “The point is simple: fulfil [Russian demands] for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army.” That’s rich, especially considering The Washington Post’s lead story this morning, headlined, Inside the Ukrainian counteroffensive that shocked Putin and reshaped the war. It is not that Russia does not still maintain the capacity to inflict damage on Ukraine, the way stinging insects raise painful welts. But Lavrov’s boast about the Russian army appears to be just that. The Kremlin’s troops are badly depleted. Conscripts are fleeing the country. So much so that a Kazakh chocolate company created a pointed ad about it. When Moscow diverted troops south to defend the Russian-held regional capital of Kherson, Ukraine advanced toward and retook Kharkiv: In early September, Ukrainian forces would steamroll across hundreds of square miles, routing the Russians and surprising themselves.
Created
Fri, 30/12/2022 - 01:00
George Santos is evidence Congressman-Elect George Santos, scheduled to be sworn into Congress in days, is under investigation by a New York prosecutor (NBC News): “The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning. The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in a statement about her fellow Republican on Wednesday. “No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.” Santos, who made history last month as the first openly LGBTQ non-incumbent Republican to be elected to Congress, was the subject of a bombshell investigation The New York Times published this month, which found much of Santos’ background appeared to have been manufactured, including claims that he had worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and had graduated from Baruch College. Daily Beast has reporting on the mysterious source of the $700k Santos lent his campaign from his Devolder Organization.
Created
Fri, 30/12/2022 - 00:49
A man with a desire to become a dog has fulfilled his lifelong dream after purchasing a £12,480 human-sized collie costume - but worries his friends will think it's a peculiar habit (Thanks to pharmaross and John Lobert, who says...
Created
Fri, 30/12/2022 - 00:19
Penelope Mackie, a philosopher at the University of Nottingham, has died. The following obituary was provided by Mark Jago (Nottingham). It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our friend and colleague, Penelope Mackie, following a period of illness. Penelope was born into an academic family. Her paternal grandfather Alexander was professor of education at the University of Sydney, and her father was the philosopher J.L. Mackie (whose philosophical papers she co-edited). She went to Somerville College, Oxford, in 1971, where she took the BPhil in Philosophy with a thesis, Identity and Continuity, in 1978, and later the DPhil in 1987, with a thesis, How Things Might Have Been: A Study in Essentialism. After her DPhil, Penelope moved to the US, first as a visiting lecturer at the University of Maryland (1986–1987) and then as Assistant Professor of philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University (1987–1990). She then returned to Oxford, this time as a fellow of New College (1990–1994), before moving to Birmingham in 1994 and then to Nottingham in 2004, where she worked until her death.