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I was busy working (scrolling Instagram) when an ad for this product caught my eye. The promo page contained an alarming amount of content about a fictional merger (“THE MERGER”) between Peanut Butter Group and Chocolatey Corp to create a company playfully nicknamed “PBC.”

The website included a timeline of the two businesses, bios about the CEOs (one of whom was played by Gerri from Succession in a tiny movie that accompanied the text), even a twenty-three-slide PowerPoint presentation, which I admit I downloaded but only glanced at, because I draw the line at performing labor for peanut butter under late capitalism.

Clearly, Jif’s marketing department understood the assignment and really, really committed to the bit. But corporations skew evil and the characters on Succession were soulless greed goblins. And while that made for some excellent prestige TV, why would comparing the creation of choco-fied peanut butter to a corporate acquisition make me want to eat it?

As the climate changes, how much should we intervene to save species?

I ran across an article on a century old collection of grain seeds. Seems that saving them may turn out to be important:

A UK-Chinese collaboration has sequenced the DNA of all the 827 kinds of wheat, assembled by Watkins, that have been nurtured at the John Innes Centre near Norwich for most of the past century.

In doing so, scientists have created a genetic goldmine by pinpointing previously unknown genes that are now being used to create hardy varieties with improved yields that could help feed Earth’s swelling population.

This is what an old lesbian looks like: the huge, joyful project capturing queer elder women’s stories before they’re lost

- by Aeon Video

Watch at Aeon

The tide has turned – evidence shows ordinary citizens in the Western world are now richer and more equal than ever before

- by Daniel Waldenström

Read at Aeon

Why did such a keen proponent of reason turn to the Eleusinian Mysteries to explain his ideas about knowledge?

- by Sam Woodward

Read at Psyche

Anjem Choudary was not a Muslim cleric as the media loved to present him, but the media’s cleric, a rent-a-gob, drinker and playboy turned cosplay Mullah. 

Presidents tend to resist the checks put in place after Vietnam, but in the past Harris and Walz asserted Congress’s authority over war-making.

The post A Presidential Ticket That Supports the War Powers Act? appeared first on The Intercept.

Vania Esady Monetary policy actions transmit to inflation and real activity with ‘long and variable’ lags. However, it is not obvious how the effectiveness of monetary policy varies across economic states (for instance pace of economic growth). The academic literature suggests the possibility effects of monetary policy being state dependent. For example, Tenreyro and Thwaites … Continue reading State-dependent effects of UK monetary policy →

Today (August 15, 2024), the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the latest – Labour Force, Australia – for July 2024, which shows that the labour outlook continues to remain positive. Employment growth was relatively strong and biased towards full-time jobs. The unemployment rose by 0.1 point to 4.2 per cent but only because the participation…

Representatives of two key blue collar unions were featured panel members at a 1 August film screening on Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide to build this year’s Rising Tide blockade of the Newcastle coal port.

The post SA union leaders join discussion on climate action and Rising Tide’s Newcastle blockade first appeared on Solidarity Online.

This food timeline started as a way to explore the revolution in Australian food that has occurred during the baby-boomers’ lifetime, but has since expanded to include more about the previous decades (and century) as well. Also included are overseas events and trends that had an impact here. The entries are brief, but there are lots of links if you want more information.

… at least in the “Anglosphere” One of the striking features of the racist riots in Britain has been the wide spread of ages among those (nearly all men) convicted so far[1]. This is unusual, since criminal violence of all kinds is most commonly associated with young men. And it’s a counter-example to what has […]

As requested by a couple of commenters, I’ve created a separate thread to discuss the issues raised by commenter “closet conservative” in response to my post on US academia. I’ll moderate, but not participate

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

“A former Yale Law School classmate and friend [of J. D. Vance] has shared about 90 of their emails and text messages… the emails add to an existing body of evidence showing how Mr. Vance pivoted from a strong opponent of former President Donald J. Trump to his running mate. They also provide an insight into a cultural willingness by Mr. Vance to accept his classmate, Sofia Nelson, who is transgender.” — New York Times

Amid all the headlines, I wanted to come forward and say that I’m sorry if my past behavior made me seem like a good person.

Emails between me and a trans friend have been circulating, and photos have surfaced allegedly showing me wearing drag. I wanted to get ahead of it and apologize if I ever came across as kindhearted or welcoming to anyone.

I was a young college student, and I was naïve to believe that all people deserve basic decency. Anyone who knows me today would agree: that’s not me.

There are some intriguing polls about Florida the past few days. I’m not suggesting that it’s in play. But it’s certainly not as red as it has been. Vice President Kamala Harris has erased half of former President Donald Trump’s lead in Florida, a statewide poll released Wednesday found. The Florida Atlantic University poll shows Trump leading Harris 50% to 47% among likely voters in the state. Just 2% said they were undecided and 1% said they’d vote for another candidate. The 3-point Trump advantage is half the lead he had in June, the last time FAU polled in the state. Trump had a 6-point advantage among likely voters, 49% to 43%, when President Joe Biden was the Democratic candidate two months ago. The execrable Ric Scott is only up by 4 points and Miami Harris is actually up in Miami. The execrable Ric Scott is only ahead by 4 points. The terrific Bolts.com has a fascinating story today about one of the prosecutors DeSantis suspended a couple of years ago because he was using prosecutorial discretion that DeSantis didn’t care for: Andrew Warren is running to win back his old job as Tampa’s top prosecutor.

The post The Stuff of Legend Audio Drama appeared first on Doctor Who Magazine.

The post The Great Beyond Audio Drama appeared first on Doctor Who Magazine.