tobychev @tobychev@qoto.org

Here is an image of last night's aurora over N. America as seen from space.

The image was taken by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer (VIIRS) instrument onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite, using its Day Night Band sensor (DNB).

The VIIRS DNB images in wavelengths between 0.5 – 0.9 µm (visible and some near-infrared). It is able to image at very low levels of light at night and is uniquely capable of imaging Auroras.

https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/archives/59112
24/n

All 12 universities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed & ~250 teachers & 5000 students killed.

Why is anyone surprised students globally want their universities to divest from corporations building the bombs destroying Gaza’s universities & killing their students & teachers?

On what moral grounds can a university administration claim to care about higher education while actively funding the violent destruction of universities in another part of the world? It’s absurd this is even a debate.

Jewish faculty on here - please consider signing & sharing this letter asking Biden & Congress not to enshrine into law a definition of antisemitism that equates all criticism of Israel with antisemitism! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lButpIiajBJ3vYIykA-mj5gV35btDhwfczfFUoXQRMQ/edit

Shell has sold millions of ‘phantom’ carbon credits based on emissions savings that never happened, according to a new investigation.

Shell made more than $200 million dollars selling the credits from its flagship carbon capture facility called 'Quest'.

Canadian taxpayers covered 93% of the costs of building the 'Quest' carbon capture project. #ClimateChange

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/05/07/false-promises-and-phantom-emissions-how-was-shell-able-to-double-its-carbon-credits-in-ca

Venezuela has lost its last remaining glacier after it shrunk so much that scientists reclassified it as an ice field.

It is thought Venezuela is the first country to have lost all its glaciers in modern times. #ClimateChange

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/08/venezuela-loses-its-last-glacier-as-it-shrinks-down-to-an-ice-field?CMP=share_btn_url

Today's distressing reminder that atrocities are happening in many places, yet news coverage in the US is focussed on just a few - like Gaza or Ukraine:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/09/darfur-atrocities-ethnic-cleansing-human-rights-watch-report-rsf-sudan?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

And I feel quite helpless in the face of what appears to be global indifference to these crises. Yes, these are complex problems, with no easy solutions. BUt is that really a reason to let these crises propagate?

The new eco-modernism. Zero-car. Zero survivors. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68945445

Mike Johnson saying American universities are hostile to Jews, Biden saying Jews need Israel to be safe anywhere in the world, Trump saying Jews must be loyal to Israel. Seriously fuck you all. We're privileged, safe, fucking Americans and we really don't need you to kill Gazan babies to protect us

Un estudio de la Universidad Federal de Rio Grande do Sul afirma que la inundación de Porto Alegre no bajará en al menos un mes. Solo una de las ocho depuradoras de agua potable de la ciudad funcionan y más de un millón de personas no tienen qué beber en la mayor ciudad del estado

https://g1.globo.com/rs/rio-grande-do-sul/noticia/2024/05/07/projecao-guaiba-abaixo-dos-3-metros-iph.ghtml

With Vladimir Putin now sworn into office, the old Russian government has been disbanded and a new one will need to be established. Here’s what changes Kremlin insiders are expecting:
https://t.co/L2bZnhjs8V

The arrival in Nalmö of That Song Contest is heralded by the appearance on local public transport of public service announcements reminding people that buying sex is illegal here, and that is telling me something I did not know or expect about the audience for thid thing

Your institution (department/university) probably does not love you, and that's not its role. Instead of demanding they make political statements you agree with, insist on the freedom to make your own statements without repercussion. Academic freedom is the gift that keeps on giving. #highered

@pluralistic
If you haven't seen it, this article in IEEE Spectrum is just nuts. https://spectrum.ieee.org/unicorn-startup Just like Amazon's grab and go stores, the whole company is smoke and mirrors hiding a team of Filipino workers who do the actual work. The author, Benjamin Shestakofsky, has writing a book "Behind the Startup" about his experience embedded there. https://bookshop.org/p/books/behind-the-startup-how-venture-capital-shapes-work-innovation-and-inequality-benjamin-shestakofsky/20685145?ean=9780520395039

This company is going to be enshittified in record time. I bet it's claiming AI drives it's matching to VCs.

Canadian police have arrested three members of an alleged hit squad they believe was ordered by the government of India to kill Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver last year. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nijjar-killing-arrests-made-1.7192807