Earth is losing its memory.
The post The Great Forgetting appeared first on Nautilus.
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In 1993 the World Bank allowed people to seek recourse for harm resulting from the projects it finances in developing countries. Within a decade of the World Bank Inspection Panel, the other Multilateral Development Banks, including the World Bank Group, the Asian, African and Inter-American Development Banks and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development would create similar accountability mechanisms. These accountability mechanisms embody a norm of ‘accountability as justice’ that seeks to provide recourse for environmentally and socially damaging behaviour through a formal sanctioning process. The norm has now spread to other development financiers. Until now, no explanation has been provided for their creation, how they function, and whether they hold the Banks to account. My book The Good Hegemon: US Power, Accountability as Justice, and the Multilateral Development Banks answers these questions with three central arguments: the US pushed for the norm, the Banks tried to resist, but the norm has become entrenched as a corrective to Bank actions rather than pre-emptive justice norm.
Patrick Lin, professor of philosophy at California Polytechnic State University and director of the university’s Ethics and Emerging Sciences Group, has been selected as a member of National Space Council’s Users Advisory Group (UAG). According to an announcement from the White House, the UAG “will provide the National Space Council advice and recommendations on matters related to space policy and strategy, including but not limited to, government policies, laws, regulations, treaties, international instruments, programs, and practices across the civil, commercial, international, and national security space sectors.” The National Space Council, chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, “is charged with providing objective advice to the President on the formulation and implementation of space policy and strategy.” The UAG includes people in the aerospace and defense industries, various researchers and educators, and others. It is headed by retired U.S. Air Force General Lester Lyles. You can see the full list of UAG members here.
Gene is on Substack! And he's reviving the legendary Style Invitational. You can read all about it here.
Comic book writer, screenwriter and novelist Tony Lee is returning to comic books in 2023, after turning to becoming a successful novelist over the
I was wrong (and so was everyone)
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s November 2022 SCE Labor Market Survey shows a rise in the average reservation wage—the lowest wage respondents would be willing to accept for a new job—to $73,667, its highest level since the series began in 2014. Respondents’ satisfaction with wage compensation, non-wage benefits, and promotion opportunities at their current job all improved in November compared to July. Regarding expectations, the average expected wage offer (conditional on receiving one) also increased and reached a new high.
The $11,500 toilet with Alexa inside can now be put inside your home In a word, no: Have you ever sat on the toilet, pondering your day, using your phone even though that’s kind of gross to do on the...
Iguana causes power outage in Florida town for third time this year (Thanks to Ralph) The worst part is, every time it's the same damn iguana.
'Ghost train' spotted chugging along abandoned railway line leaving locals gobsmacked Shocking "twist" explanation that is like something out of an M. Night Shyamalan movie: ...the track is occasionally used by freight trains when they need to reverse, which probably...
According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), Wu Yanan, a philosophy lecturer at Nankai University in Tianjin, China, was taken by authorities under false pretenses and confined in a psychiatric institution for supporting anti-lockdown protestors. The officials reportedly claimed that they were taking Wu to get a COVID-19 test. However, RFA reports, she had on social media “accused the university authorities of betraying the ideals of its founder Zhang Boling by clamping down on the widespread protests” by students against strict, government-imposed lockdowns. RFA reports: Wang Qiang, a person familiar with the incident, said Wu had been a vocal supporter of the “white paper” protests. “There were some spontaneous memorials activities and blank paper protests on our university campus after the Urumqi fire [a fatal lockdown fire in Xinjiang’s regional capital Urumqi whose victimes were unable to escape the blaze because they had been locked into their own apartment building] and students who took part were hauled in to ‘drink tea’,” a euphemism for being questioned by the authorities, Wang said.
Four cows have been captured in a small Quebec town after months on the loose (Thanks to EricY)
Skateboarding Fleetwood Mac TikTok Star Arrested for Marijuana Possession (Thanks to Noah Spicker)
The Twitter C.E.O. wrested the title from Donald J. Trump, who had won the honor every year from 2016 to 2021.
Kansas universities may scrap algebra requirement because too many students fail it (Thanks to Noah Spicker)
Yesterday was Keith Richards' 238th birthday. (Thanks to Jeff Meyerson)
The Extraordinary Reason Why Animals Keep Turning Into Crustaceans (Thanks to Steve)
Hanukkah menorah in Tel Aviv breaks world record for largest menorah built of Legos (Thanks to John Lobert and Asher Scheiner) And happy Hanukkah to everyone, regardless of how you spell it.
Imagine that if you chose no physical object could affect you. Bullets don’t work, fists don’t work, no one can grab you or put you in handcuffs, and that’s true of everyone.
The second was:
What if you didn’t need to eat or drink and you cold and heat didn’t bother you or harm you and you didn’t get sick? You might still want shelter or a home or objects like books or computers, and objects like cosmetics would exist, but not medicine. But you would need nothing.
I didn’t write very much about these because I wanted people to think it thru on their own first. If you haven’t done so, please spend some time thinking about it now before you proceed.
After a two year process, the NUJ Executive have finally rejected the renewal of my NUJ membership based on social media posts I allegedly made which they refuse to show me and of content and subject of which I genuinely have not a clue. But apparently these social media posts make me not a fit […]
The post Not a Fit and Proper Person appeared first on Craig Murray.
Brian Latham reports on why human rights violations in Rwanda mean the Government's deportation plans put vulnerable people at risk