On September 16th, 1919, the already world-famous physicist, Albert Einstein, was conducting a seminar with graduate students at Princeton University in the United States. Suddenly one of his colleagues in the Physics Department burst into the room brandishing a telegram. It was from the Royal Society in London, from his friend and fellow physicist, Hendrik Continue reading »
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Why do American Christian evangelists support Israel’s genocide in Gaza? At this time of year many Christians express ‘tidings of comfort and joy’ toward their friends, family and even complete strangers. Good for them. No doubt it’s just what we need in these increasingly troubled times. There are some noteworthy exceptions to this upsurge of Continue reading »
The below is an excerpt from my essay, “The Sin of Cosmocide,” for Renovatio, the literary magazine of Zaytuna, the Muslim liberal arts college in Berkeley, Ca. It underlines how both Jewish and Muslim spiritual teachings forbid the killing of innocents who are guilty of no crime, and equate this deed to killing all humankind — Continue reading »
I just attended a wonderful Christmas concert at St Mary of the Angels in Wellington – the Bach Choir, the Chiesa Ensemble and excellent soloists sent a thrill through my body. The final piece, Gloria by Antonio Vivaldi, triggered these thoughts. The Gloria, of course, is a traditional element of the Catholic mass, and the Continue reading »
After having spent the last five weeks listening to Muslim representatives from across Australia, Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, exclusively and frankly shares his initial reflections. My scope of work and first priority I assumed the role of Australia’s first-ever Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia on Monday 14 October. It emerged against the Continue reading »
This Christmas, we can give to all planetary life. The loving intent must be to stop carbon emissions as soon as possible. The transition to renewables is obviously complex but ‘loving our neighbours as ourselves’ includes those on islands in the Pacific who know the consequences of global warming and need us to focus unambiguously Continue reading »
It goes almost without saying that much of the ordinary economic commentary ahead of the election, whether in the Murdoch media, the Fairfax media and the ABC, as well as among the senior bureaucracy and the business community (including Reserve Bank governors), will proceed on the assumption that any money spent on subsidies, tax breaks Continue reading »
December 5, 2024. On the eve of Christmas as thousands of Americans file towards the White House to watch the Christmas tree lights turned on, Christians come together to witness for Peace against the horror currently taking place in Gaza and the West Bank. Palestine. A captive nation which has lived under Israeli occupation for Continue reading »
2024 will mark the hottest year in recorded history as global production of fossil fuels reaches record highs. Climate-related natural disasters continue to devastate the planet in the form of unprecedented floods, droughts, hurricanes, and wildfires, with marginalised and Indigenous communities, situated in the Global South, exposed to its worst impacts. Global North countries have contributed the most Continue reading »
“I’m Dreaming of a Light Sickness”
“All I Want for Christmas Is You… to Acknowledge Receipt of the Referral I’ve Sent in Fourteen Damn Times Now”
“I Saw Mommy Charged Five Grand for Gauze”
“Halve Your Wealth to Repair Your Meniscus”
“God Rest Ye Weary New Mother (For Twenty-Four Hours, Then Please Vacate the Maternity Ward)”
“Grandma Got Screwed Over on Her Claim, Dear”
“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Open Enrollment Runs From November 4 to 6)”
“Here We Come, a-Copaying”
“All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth to Be Covered by Regular Health Insurance and Not Considered Special Entities Only Covered by Separate Insurance; They’re Part of My Body, WTF”
“Mary, Did You Know? Your Baby Boy’s a Pre-Existing Condition”
“Have a Blue Christmas (Brought to You by Your Health Partners at Blue Cross Blue Shield)”
“I Want a HIPAA Law to Fix This Business”
Trump’s on a new crusade to seize territory One of the more annoying conceits of the MAGA cult is its insistence that Donald Trump is some kind of religious figure dedicated to bringing world peace and mutual understanding among all of humankind. They even insist that he’s been cheated out of a well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize. That anyone could believe that about the most hostile, aggressively insulting, vengeance seeking, demagogue this country has ever elected to high office is enough to make you wonder if there are hallucinogens in the water supply. Setting aside his promises to wreak revenge on his political opponents and round up and deport mass numbers of people, including American children, there is the simple fact that his first term did not feature no war or death at the the hands of the US military as he and his acolytes so often claim. Despite his promise to end the “forever war” in Afghanistan it continued under his watch. It was left to President Biden to do the difficult task of ending it and take the heat that he was too cowardly to take. And naturally Trump criticized him for it.
Doctor Who Christmas Special "Joy to the World" is back to "Joy to the Worlds" in a new key art poster; Ncuti Gatwa tackles fans' questions.
The internal EU document may strip European foreign ministers of “plausible deniability” in Israeli war crimes in Gaza, experts said.
The post EU Officials Will Claim Ignorance of Israel’s War Crimes. This Leaked Document Shows What They Knew. appeared first on The Intercept.
Were we born under a bad sign? The Ink and Adam M. Lowenstein this morning consult with a researcher on “the internet and social media shape the intersection of politics, propaganda, and people.” Renée DiResta, an associate research professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown has assembled some of her conclusions in “Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality.” DiResta’s and colleagues’ work for the Stanford Internet Observatory pissed off House Republicans enough that Stanford pulled the plug on the research after five years. Let that be a lesson to libtards everywhere: The shutdown comes amid a sustained and increasingly successful campaign among Republicans to discredit research institutions and discourage academics from investigating political speech and influence campaigns. SIO and its researchers have been sued three times by conservative groups alleging that its researchers colluded illegally with the federal government to censor speech, forcing Stanford to spend millions of dollars to defend its staff and students. (I just grabbed the audiobook.
The New York Times deleted a video of violence in Amsterdam it published, once it realized that the perpetrators were Israelis, and not an anti-Semitic mob. Why did they do this, rather than inform viewers of what really happened?
The post Worthy Victims: Why the New York Times Deleted Israeli Fan Rampage Video appeared first on MintPress News.
The first Pop Idol winner – and Byline Times supporter – speaks to Josiah Mortimer about the pressures of fame and the stories he believes are still to come to light about the reality TV music world
George Bailey saves Bedford Falls—again! This blog reimagines the bank run with a deeper dive into the monetary system, as George uses his newfound financial savvy to outwit Mr. Potter, keep the town afloat, and still make it to his honeymoon.
Obeying in advance by US and British media means they cannot combat the march of the hard right Broligarchs
There is a genre of population decline doomerism. An example:
Three terrifying charts about Japan’s demographics.
1) Japan’s population is shrinking. It decreased by 850,000 last year. pic.twitter.com/HOKijFWRdx
— S.L. Kanthan (@Kanthan2030) December 21, 2024
Here’s the thing, Japan imports about sixty percent of its food. Japan is, by any reasonable measure, over-populated.
If you can’t feed your population and if there is no reasonable prospect that you could feed your population, perhaps you have too many people?
Another country for which this is true is Britain, which imports about 80% of its food. Yet the British have also been importing over a million people a year.
. Entertaining and informative at the same time. Great! In case you know some Python you could try this little code snippet that yours truly wrote to simulate and plot a special kind of random walk called ‘Brownian motion.’