#Trump, #Johnson, #Berlusconi, #Bexit: Viruses on OSI Layer 10:

This article sparked something in me. Writing I am.

“Bürgern, die, aus welchen Gründen auch immer, mutlos und ohne Zuversicht sind und die deshalb nach Halt suchen, denen vermag ein Antielitenprojekt wie der Brexit offenkundig wieder ein Stück Würde zu verleihen – sogar wenn sie persönlich Wohlstand und Bewegungsspielräume dabei einbüßen. Identitätsfragen gruppieren sich um Themen wie Zuwanderung oder teuren Wohnraum. So kann Widerstand eine emotionale Rendite abwerfen, selbst wenn diese Haltung ökonomisch objektiv unvernünftig sein mag – ich bin dagegen, also bin ich.”

Reality update: Großbritannien: Der Brexit und die Zukunft der Demokratie – Kolumne – SPIEGEL ONLINE … :

A good read by Frau Sibylle

So korrekt.

https://m.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/hass-gegen-kinder-im-internet-habt-ein-wenig-anstand-kolumne-a-1300015.html

Mithin wirken auch Gespräche – und schon wieder ist die Jugend gefragt. Ruhig und sanft, wie man es mit Angstkranken eben so tut, muss man den Eltern die Sachen mit der Wissenschaft erklären und wiederholen: “Nein, liebe Eltern, es wird nicht wehtun, wenn man sich ein wenig zusammenreißt. Und: “Nein, liebe Erwachsene, die PolitikerInnen, die euch zeigen, wie einfach es ist, gegen Kinder zu hetzen, wollen nicht, dass es euch besser geht. Sie wollen einfach, dass ihre Finanziers weiter ohne Einschränkungen Öl verarbeiten und Kohle abbauen und Geld anhäufen können.”

Afrika is running dry. Victoria Falls without water. WTF?

Victoria Falls dries to a trickle after worst drought in a century | World news | The Guardian

But the worst drought in a century has slowed the waterfalls to a trickle, fuelling fears that climate change could kill one of the region’s biggest tourist attractions.

While they typically slow down during the dry season, officials said this year had brought an unprecedented decline in water levels. 

“In previous years, when it gets dry, it’s not to this extent,” warns UN envoy Dominic Nyambe, a seller of tourist handicrafts in his 30s, said outside his shop in Livingstone, on the Zambian side. “This [is] our first experience of seeing it like this.

(…)

As world leaders gather in Madrid for the COP25 climate change conference to discuss ways to halt catastrophic warming caused by human-driven greenhouse gas emissions, southern Africa is already suffering some of its worst effects – with taps running dry and about 45 million people in need of food aid amid crop failures.

#NSWfires: Australia on fire like never before, but it won’t get better…

Australia fires: blazes ‘too big to put out’ as 140 bushfires rage in NSW and Queensland | Australia news | The Guardian

“We were going out and meeting kangaroos and red neck wallabies that were moving away from the fire,” she said. “A lot of wombats, I’m not sure what they’re going to eat. All of the forest floor, any grass any shrubs, are gone.”

Jones said her rainfall records showed last month to be the driest November in 40 years. The November average is about 100ml but this year it was 18ml. The role of climate change in contributing to Australia’s unusually early and fierce fire season has been the subject of acute political debate.

The federal government has refused to concede that climate change – and in particular Australia’s continued rising carbon emissions and massive fossil fuel exports – have played any role in the current fire crisis.

#MIT #AI able to understand basic laws of physics

Reality update: Helping machines perceive some laws of physics | MIT News … :

Humans have an early understanding of the laws of physical reality. Infants, for instance, hold expectations for how objects should move and interact with each other, and will show surprise when they do something unexpected, such as disappearing in a sleight-of-hand magic trick. Now MIT researchers have designed a model that demonstrates an understanding of some basic “intuitive physics” about how objects should behave. The model could be used to help build smarter artificial intelligence and, in turn, provide information to help scientists understand infant cognition.

#Pylucid

Reality update: pyLucid – a Lucid Interpreter Written in Python

pyLucid – a Lucid Interpreter Written in Python by Bill Wadge I was  feeling energetic so I wrote a Lucid interpreter. I used Python and it turned out pretty well. Lucid has been around for donkey’s years but for a long time there’s been no public implementation. Dataflow’s making a comeback and hopefully Lucid with it. I want it to be possible for interested people to run Lucid programs. Hence pyLucid.

#Bayes – what’s wrong with it.

Reality update: What’s wrong with Bayes « Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science … :

Don’t get me wrong. I still think Bayesian methods are great, and I think the proclivity of Bayesian inferences to tend toward the ridiculous is just fine—as long as we’re willing to take such poor predictions as a reason to improve our models. But Bayesian inference can lead us astray, and we’re better statisticians if we realize that.

#Tokyo2020 – remember my T-Shirt?

#toldyouso. Oh my, how bad. 

Reality update: Radiation hotspots ‘found near Fukushima Olympic site’ | World news | The Guardian … :

The government is keen to use the Olympics to showcase Fukushima’s recovery from the 2011 tsunami. It intends to use J-Village, a sports complex located about 12 miles from the nuclear plant that was damaged in the disaster, as the starting point for the Japan leg of the torch relay taking place in March.

#nopardon: Why Trump needs to be impeached, even if he can’t be removed.

… because he can’t be pardoned if he was impeached. Interesting read… 

Reality update: Trump won’t lose his job – but the impeachment inquiry is still essential | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian … :

Assume that Trump is impeached on grounds that include a raft of federal crimes – bribery, treason, obstruction of justice, election fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements to the federal government, serving as an agent of a foreign government without registering with the justice department, donating funds from foreign nationals, and so on. Regardless of whether a sitting president can be indicted and convicted on such criminal charges, Trump will become liable to them at some point. But could he be pardoned, as Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon 45 years ago? Article II, section 2 of the constitution gives a president the power to pardon anyone who has been convicted of offenses against the United States, with one exception: “in Cases of Impeachment.”

#Brexit, #Trump and the new success of “old” Europe. A good read about American freedom and oligarcy

Reality update: America is not the land of the free but one of monopolies so predatory they imperil the nation | Will Hutton | Opinion | The Guardian … :

Except the latest research demonstrates the reverse is true. Britain is about to make a vast mistake. In the recently published The Great Reversal, leading economist Thomas Philippon of New York University and member of the advisory panel of the New York Federal Reserve, mounts a devastating attack on the conventional wisdom, so perfectly embodied by the witless Boris Johnson. The news is that over the last 20 years per capita EU incomes have grown by 25% while the US’s have grown 21%, with the US growth rate decelerating while Europe’s has held steady – indeed accelerating in parts of Europe. What is going on?

#ClimateEmergency in the EU

European Parliament has declared Climate Emergency. A strong but symbolic act as long as the Merkels, Trumps and Johnsons don’t act appropriately. More On Twitter: European Parliament declares #ClimateEmergency)

The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/27/climate-emergency-world-may-have-crossed-tipping-points

Make yourself heard, start your own petition:

Local government campaigns – Climate Emergency Declaration

Local governments can play a critical role in achieving a nation-wide climate emergency response. Our ultimate aim is a national declaration of climate emergency with its ability to unlock all the required policy changes and funds for a rapid climate emergency mobilisation, but local councils have started the ball rolling by demonstrating successful climate emergency initiatives at the local level.

Study: Our universe may be part of a giant quantum computer

But, the more Yurov and Yurov explored the “many interacting worlds” (MIW) theory that says all quantum functions manifest physically in alternate realities (the cat is dead on one world, alive on another, and dancing the Cha Cha on another, etc.), the more they realized it not only makes sense, but the math and science seem to work out better if you assume everything, the universe included, has quantum features.

https://thenextweb.com/science/2019/11/27/study-our-universe-may-be-part-of-a-giant-quantum-computer/