Gaythia Weis @Gaythia@qoto.org

"The board of trustees for the Cypress Fairbanks independent school district in Houston voted 6-1 earlier this month to redact certain chapters in #science textbooks, including those about #vaccines, human growth, diversity, and #ClimateChange."

Apparently, reality is too woke for these people.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/19/us-public-schools-texas-book-bans

A workers’ co-op rises from the remains of a Colorado mushroom farm
https://coloradosun.com/2024/05/19/undocumented-workers-sand-dunes-mushroom-co-op/

'Apple appears to be playing a high-stakes game of chicken with EU regulators, effectively saying, “Yes, you have 500 million citizens, but we have three trillion dollars, so why should we listen to you?”
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/05/big-tech-eu-drop-dead

"The example I like to give is back in the days of Roman numerals, basic multiplication was considered this incredibly technical concept that only official mathematicians could handle"

"But then once Arabic numerals came around, you could actually do arithmetic on paper, and we found that 7-year-olds can understand multiplication. It’s not that multiplication itself was difficult. It was just that the representation of numbers — the interface — was wrong"

I’m so glad public libraries already exist. Coupd you I magine trying to sell the idea of libraries to politicians in 2024?

“You want to build a large public complex on prime real estate that gives away free books & education & community events—paid for by our tax dollars? Are you crazy??”

The Biden Admin's rule limiting credit card late fees was set to begin this past week.

But a Trump-appointed judge blocked it at the request of the Chamber of Commerce — costing families an estimated $27 million a day.

MAGA and corporate interests want to keep ripping you off.

Derelict satellites pass within 1,000 kilometers of each other 1,000 times a year, and any collision would instantly double the amount of space debris. A space rush is filling up orbit with unregulated satellites, mostly from private companies, and we need better protections https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/there-is-too-much-trash-in-space/

The US government keeps telling us that COVID is fine now because “we have the tools.”

Well, they stopped requiring the reporting of COVID hospitalization data and they have ended programs for free tests, free masks, and now free vaccines.

We absolutely DO NOT have the tools.

We have today published the findings and recommendations of our report into bullying and harassment in the fields of astronomy and geophysics.

Read more here: https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/urgent-change-needed-tackle-bullying-astronomy-and-geophysics

Hats off to the Royal Astronomical Society for tackling this issue. "Urgent action is needed to address an insidious and systemic #bullying problem within the world of #astronomy and #geophysics, a damning new report warns."

https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/urgent-change-needed-tackle-bullying-astronomy-and-geophysics

#Academia

The most ridiculous thing about US notions of decorum, is that people are expected to be silent when Black women are attacked.🤷🏿‍♂️

If a Black woman is attacked and no one says anything, it's allowed to slide. But if a Black woman is attacked and people say anything in response, either calmly and politely like AOC did, or with an in-kind response like Crockett did, then all the "neutral" parties come pouring out of the woodwork, worried about "decorum."

Deeply unserious.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/greene-called-bleach-blonde-bad-174434071.html

US Flag Code https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-1996-title36/pdf/USCODE-1996-title36-chap10-sec176.pdf - flag should only be displayed upside-down as a “signal of distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.” “Stop the Seal” used upside-down flags as symbol of protest. SCOTUS code says a justice should not publicly endorse/oppose a candidate for office, engage in “other political activity” & “avoid impropriety, appearance of impropriety in all activities.” Justices “should not engage in behavior that is harassing, abusive, prejudiced or biased"

Taking photos of exoplanets is important for two possible outcomes:

We see earth-like planets or life that inspires us to do space travel.

We don't see anything at all like Earth and sober up about this little oasis on the edge of a volcanic crater.

We are like the desert pupfish. That's why that strange little fish is so fascinating. It's a mirror.

A small welcoming pool ... where we might live for a long time... and around us nothing but death should it dry up and vanish.

Today, Texas Governor Greg Abbott pardoned a convicted murderer and virulent racist who, after writing text messages suggesting he would kill a protester and then claim self-defense, killed a protester and claimed self-defense. I wrote this a year ago:
https://www.findinggravity.net/p/republican-politicians-embrace-another

Ripples from Flovent's discontinuation is killing children with asthma - STAT

https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/16/asthma-medicine-discontinuation-flovent-children/

Tasty wine comes to our table thanks to workers like Juana. She has been working for 17 years and is very experienced. She is carefully selecting and thinning the leaves on the grapevines to allow for a better crop. #WeFeedYou

The Navajo Nation has reached a historic water rights settlement for all of its water rights claims in the State of Arizona, including to the Colorado River upper and lower basins, and the Little Colorado River Basin.
Through the settlement, the Nation will affirm and quantify its enforceable rights to water in Arizona

https://nativenewsonline.net/environment/navajo-nation-agreement-to-settle-all-water-rights-claims-in-arizona

#WaterIsLife #WaterIsHealth #Water #FreshWater #GobalHealth