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Republicans Have Plans for Working People

https://tomdispatch.com/republicans-have-plans-for-working-people/
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 23:31

Recently, you may have noticed that the hot weather is getting ever hotter. Every year the United States swelters under warmer temperatures and longer periods of sustained heat. In fact, each of the last nine months — May 2023 through February 2024 — set a world record for heat. As I’m writing this, March still has a couple of days to go, but likely as not, it, too, will set a record. Such heat poses increasing health hazards for many groups: the old, the very young, those of us who don’t have access to air conditioning. One group, however, is at particular risk: people whose jobs require lengthy exposure to heat. Numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that... Read more

Source: Republicans Have Plans for Working People appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

Darker Still

https://digbysblog.net/2024/04/09/darker-still/
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 23:00
No Confederate flags When the eclipse reached totality Monday afternoon, we looked around and thought this one was much darker than the total eclipse that passed an hour away in 2017. Seven years ago when the celestial light dimmed it was dusky, but not dark. This time we were on the edge of night. What’s up with that? It turns out that the explanation was out there. The geometry of the Earth, Moon and Sun were slightly different this time, making the path of totality wider (Mashable): Setting aside weather conditions, the wider path of totality is also the reason some solar eclipse observers could be treated to a darker sky, Zeiler said, allowing people to see more stars against the backdrop. If a person stood in the center of the narrower path in 2017, then went to the center of the broader 2024 path this April, the sky could appear darker the second time around. The duration of the eclipse and the level of darkness are related. “If you’re in the center, then you’re a farther distance away from sunlight. That’s what it boils down to — how far you are from the edge of the shadow,” he said. So it was near Bloomington, Indiana.

An Excerpt from Eli Burnstein’s Dictionary of Fine Distinctions

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-excerpt-from-eli-burnsteins-dictionary-o…
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 23:00

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Swamp or bog? Guilt or shame? Club soda or sparkling water? From food to fashion, ethics to architecture, there are thousands of words and ideas that we tend to collapse, conflate, or confuse. For hairsplitters and language lovers, Tendency contributor Eli Burnstein’s Dictionary of Fine Distinctions: Nuances, Niceties, and Subtle Shades of Meaning explores the world of the vanishingly small, offering up witty deep dives and lively illustrations by Liana Finck to help sharpen these differences and bring us clarity at last.

Today, we offer a small sample of the many important (and funny) distinctions that can be found in this important (and funny) book.

Nationalekonomi — mer fiktion än vetenskap

https://larspsyll.wordpress.com/2024/04/09/nationalekonomi-mer-fiktion-an-veten…
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 22:51
Den värld vi lever i är i grunden osäker och kvantifierbara sannolikheter är undantaget snarare än regeln. Om ”Gud inte spelar tärning” som Einstein hävdade, skulle jag tillägga ”inte heller människor.” Världen som vi känner den kan endast i begränsad omfattning förstås utifrån antaganden om säker och fullkomlig kunskap. Dess inneboende och nästan obegränsade komplexitet […]

So You’ve Knocked Over a Row of a Motorcycle Gang’s Motorcycles, Again

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/so-youve-knocked-over-a-row-of-a-motorcycle…
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 22:00

From 2006 to 2016, Sarah Walker offered excellent and specific instructions for essential activities of everyday life, like bullfighting and performing tracheotomies. Thanks to her, our standards of living were improved by 100 percent. Today, to help celebrate our twenty-five (and a half) years of online existence, she returns with more valuable advice.

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First, don’t panic.

You’ve been in this exact same situation before, which begs the question: Why? Why did you come back to the lonely roadside diner on a stretch of desert highway that the motorcycle gang frequents? And how, having lived through this nightmare once, did you manage to knock over an entire row of their motorcycles again?

Well, earlier in the afternoon, your mom woke you up and said, “You need to lose your fear of motorcycles, motorcycle gangs, and sometimes Vespas.”

So You’ve Knocked Over a Row of a Motorcyle Gang’s Motorcycles, Again

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/so-youve-knocked-over-a-row-of-a-motorcyle-…
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 22:00

From 2006 to 2016, Sarah Walker offered excellent and specific instructions for essential activities of everyday life, like bullfighting and performing tracheotomies. Thanks to her, our standards of living were improved by 100 percent. Today, to help celebrate our twenty-five (and a half) years of online existence, she returns with more valuable advice.

- - -

First, don’t panic.

You’ve been in this exact same situation before, which begs the question: Why? Why did you come back to the lonely roadside diner on a stretch of desert highway that the motorcycle gang frequents? And how, having lived through this nightmare once, did you manage to knock over an entire row of their motorcycles again?

Well, earlier in the afternoon, your mom woke you up and said, “You need to lose your fear of motorcycles, motorcycle gangs, and sometimes Vespas.”

How Britain Made Paul Robeson a Socialist

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/04/how-britain-made-paul-robeson-a-socialist/
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 19:50

On a cool London day in 1928, the towering African-American actor and singer Paul Robeson sat down for a much-anticipated lunch. Seated with him were his new acquaintances: a Miss Douglas, the Irish playwright Bernard Shaw, and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, the wife of American President Calvin Coolidge. Robeson witnessed a heated debate ensue between Shaw […]

East German history

https://crookedtimber.org/2024/04/09/east-german-history/
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 16:20
I’ve posted a few times over the years about a trip I made with my partner to Leipzig in East Germany back in 1984, and I confess that the now-defunct country retains a kind of fascination for me. My rather banal judgement then and now is that the country, though marked by annoying shortages and […]

The Brilliant Right Wing Ukraine “Plan”

https://digbysblog.net/2024/04/08/the-brilliant-right-wing-ukraine-plan/
Created
Tue, 09/04/2024 - 09:30
So Trump has revealed his secret plan at last: Former president Donald Trump has privately said he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine by pressuring Ukraine to give up some territory, according to people familiar with the plan. Some foreign policy experts said Trump’s idea would reward Russian President Vladimir Putin and condone the violation of internationally recognized borders by force. Trump’s proposal consists of pushing Ukraine to cede Crimea and the Donbas border region to Russia, according to people who discussed it with Trump or his advisers and spoke on the condition of anonymity because those conversations were confidential. That approach, which has not been previously reported, would dramatically reverse President Biden’s policy, which has emphasized curtailing Russian aggression and providing military aid to Ukraine. As he seeks a return to power, the presumptive Republican nominee has frequently boasted that he could negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours if elected, even before taking office.