Dave T-W @davoloid@qoto.org

I went to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change Future of Britain Conference yesterday, and I wrote about it in my newsletter https://buttondown.email/justenoughinternet/archive/im-looking-for-a-man-in-ai-think-tank-trust-fund/

@rachelcoldicutt Dominic Cummings used to be my go-to example of a yokel taken in by the clownshow of Silicon Valley carnival barkers, but it appears I fogot about Blair.

I'll tell you something that I'd like to see #Starmer's new government do, and which would go some way to convincing me that they actually working for our benefit:

taking #covid19 seriously again.

Can we please bring back proper data collection? Free test kits? Encouraging people to stay at home if they test positive? Proper ventilation for schools and other public enclosed spaces? Mask mandates in healthcare facilities?

These things would collectively make a huge difference.

How many drawers full of dead electronics have you got? I've got boxes of dead drives, USB-TV receivers, digital microscopes, CD drives and minidisks.
So this isn't surprising. But the idea that you could implant miraculous electronics into a person and just walk away…
And this should be a warning about Mr Musk's Neuralink which has got so much hype and funding. It's like the charlatans who sell cures for cancer, AIDS, COVID etc… 
https://mastodon.social/@mhoye/112757964899202368

I read the NYT Front Page, so you don't have to.

As of today I am going to just block the account of every "Biden should step down" post.

Can these people not see they are falling for the con?

Also, everyone should read Stephanie Jone's piece. She says what I have been saying, but better.

https://stephaniejones2.substack.com/p/the-biden-replacement-theory-a-joke?r=4hf2m&triedRedirect=true

Fascinating blog post by my #BartlettSchoolOfArchitecture colleague Prof Sophia Psarra on the configuration of the House of Commons and how Labour's supermajority might change the dynamics of the opposing benches political culture

http://con-figurations.com/2024/07/07/how-will-they-sit-architecture-and-politics-in-the-uk-commons-chamber-elections-2024-special-blog/

#archidons #SpaceSyntax #Architecture #parliament @politicalscience

☝🏻
The book on "Parliament Buildings" includes a short chapter written by me on "Degrees of opposition and cooperation: how seating plans and parliament layouts reflect and give rise to political cultures"

In this, I compare visibility relations in the House of Commons and the German Bundestag, and analyse who sits next to whom in the plenary of the European Parliament in Brussels and how that shapes solidarities and political cultures

#SpaceSyntax #architecture #archidons #parliament

Trump’s tax law cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

What did corporations do with the money saved?

They didn’t invest it or raise wages.

They spent a record $1 trillion on stock buybacks the year after the law went into effect.

Nothing trickled down to workers.

'Stanford, the SIO’s institutional home, denies that it is dismantling the unit and loudly proclaims its commitment to independent research. On the other hand, according to DiResta, the university has run up “huge legal bills” defending SIO researchers from harassment by Republican politicians and conservative conspiracy theorists, and may have decided that enough is enough.'
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/29/closing-the-stanford-internet-observatory-will-edge-the-us-towards-the-end-of-democracy

Fun new video alert https://skepchick.org/2024/07/americas-looming-theocracy/

Economists: Spurring immigration increases growth and wages for natives

Greece: Nah, we'll just work 6 days a week

https://www.npr.org/2024/07/05/nx-s1-5027839/greece-six-day-workweek-law

A new post with comics and ramblings on Civil War (the movie), The Purge, and fun stuff like that.
https://mattbors.substack.com/p/this-is-war