Dave T-W @davoloid@qoto.org

Good, but we still need answers as to why they did this?

Roads agency starts to undo its ‘vandalism’ of Victorian bridge
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/14/roads-agency-starts-to-undo-its-vandalism-of-victorian-bridge?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

This will be a major storyline of the next year: how #Ukraine fatigue, or outright opposition to Ukrainian victory, will play a role in the 2024 presidential campaign.

Fighting this ‘Ukraine fatigue’ is one of the reasons The Counteroffensive exists in the first place.

We believe that by writing compelling, human-first stories about people going through the news, we can keep interest and public attention on this terrible conflict.

New initiative:

Instead of saying places aren't accessible I'm going to start just saying I'm not allowed to go there because I'm disabled.

It's the same thing.

Her: do you want to go to the haunted house?

Me: I'm not allowed to go because I'm disabled.

We submitted a letter to the court today in the ongoing lawsuit against our library. We’re fighting for the rights of libraries to use their print collections in the digital age: https://blog.archive.org/2023/08/11/our-fight-is-far-from-over/ #DigitalRightsForLibraries #EmpoweringResearch

Every day since the fall of the Taliban in 2021, there have been at least 2,000 Afghan refugees waiting in Calais, France to cross the English Channel to the U.K.

Nearly all of them qualify for the U.K. government's ARAP Afghan relocation scheme.

Some of them are holding U.K. Home Office letters of acceptance to the scheme in their hands.

None of them have a safe legal route to cross the channel.

#SafeRoutes
#RefugeesWelcome
#UKAsylumPolicy
#ForgottenAfghans

Now the Washington lawyers want to destroy digital collections of scratchy 78rpm records, 70-120 year old, built by dedicated preservationists online since 2006.

Who benefits?

https://www.reuters.com/legal/music-labels-sue-internet-archive-over-digitized-record-collection-2023-08-12/

Police in Marion, Kansas (population 1,852) effectively shut down the town's only newspaper on Friday, raiding it and seizing most of its equipment, including cell phones of its journalists.

The raid took place after the paper received information that a local restaurant owner, who's very politically connected, had been arrested for drunken driving.
https://kansasreflector.com/2023/08/11/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-marion-county-newspaper-seizing-computers-records-and-cellphones/

> That’s why the Montgomery brawl was, on a level, a brilliant deconstruction of the lie behind “Try That in a Small Town”: It effortlessly destroyed the song’s flimsily veiled conceit that the “community” that needs protection is that of innocent white people being besieged by scary Black protesters. https://www.vox.com/culture/2023/8/11/23827919/montgomery-alabama-riverboat-dock-brawl-black-resistance-jason-aldean-try-that-in-a-small-town

We generally think that over-fishing is about fish that humans eat. But around a third of all wild-caught fish are turned into fishmeal, because fishmeal is around 65% protein and therefore in demand for for feeding farmed fish and pigs. It's an almost invisible trade with huge consequences. But it's not an efficient way to make more protein. We need to re-think these links and ask whether it's really worth the damage to the ocean & communities.#ocean #fish #fishmeal

https://hakaimagazine.com/news/the-fervent-fight-over-fish-meal/?omhide=true&utm_source=Hakai+Magazine+Weekly&utm_campaign=f37dd9c2c5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_06_COPY_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0fc1967411-f37dd9c2c5-121628661

1/ Parents of teenagers at Alabuga Polytechnic in Tatarstan say their children are being exploited to work long hours building Shahed kamikaze drones in dangerous conditions. Some parents are rescuing their children from the facility, despite facing large fines for doing so. ⬇️

FINALLY!

#France is raising taxes on flights to pay for trains

Countries affected by #fires should follow this: #Portugal #Spain #Greece #Italy

"If you fly from Paris to Barcelona the #airline not only pays no VAT, but is also exempt from kerosene #tax. If you make the same journey by #train, the rail company will pay an #energy tax and passenger #VAT. This means higher costs for the company which are usually reflected in ticket prices."

#FossilFuelsKill #TaxFlights

https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/08/10/france-is-raising-taxes-on-flights-to-pay-for-trains-should-other-european-countries-do-th

I run two Tor nodes in universities: ephemer in the University of Cambridge and gnosti in University College London (UCL). I’m very pleased to support the EFF and @torproject in their initiative to have more Tor nodes based in universities. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/08/announcing-tor-university-challenge

Born 122 years ago this week, Louis Armstrong's charisma & warmth captivated audiences globally. But, by the 1950s and 1960s, many of his Black Americans perceived him as outdated, out of touch with civil rights, and hesitant to voice his opinions—labeling him an "Uncle Tom." This deeply wounded Armstrong. But he was a far more complex & nuanced man than they knew.

https://youtu.be/WPspHmFoEYs

1/

@blackmastodon@a.gup.pe @BlackMastodon@chirp.social #BlackMastodon #Histodons #History #StillWeRise #BlackHistory
#Music

So what can we do about it? One solution is to increase green cover through urban tree-planting and gardening. Increasing green spaces in cities doesn't just keep them cooler during heatwaves; it also reduces air pollution, promotes mental health, provides flood protection, and takes up carbon too!

In Phoenix, the organization I work with, TNC, is partnering with the city and local communities to empower citizens to advocate for and implement solutions in their neighbourhood through the Urban Heat Leadership Academy. Read: https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/arizona/stories-in-arizona/city-heat-air-quality/

In Louisville, we've been partnering with the university for five years to painstakingly document the health benefits of urban greening for five years as part of the Green Heart Project, hoping to help other cities build their resilience too. See: https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/kentucky/stories-in-kentucky/green-heart-project/

Even smart resilient strategies like these won't be enough, though, if we don't cut heat-trapping gas emissions. As John Holdren said, "We have three choices: mitigation, adaptation, and suffering. We’re going to do some of each. The question is what the mix is going to be. The more mitigation we do, the less adaptation will be required and the less suffering there will be."