Thank you for accelerating homelessness, profiteering, and general being evil .. An Open Letter to Airbnb. The pitchforks are coming | by Jared A. Brock | Surviving Tomorrow

https://survivingtomorrow.org/an-open-letter-to-airbnb-8b1b58b4ad33

I write to you today in the hope that you will radically re-structure your company before it starts a class war in which you will almost certainly lose the lion’s share of your wealth, your moral conscience, your place in history as innovators instead of oppressors, and you and your family’s physical safety. To be clear, this isn’t a threat—I am a pacifist who never condones violence including war, but I’m also a DNA relative of Marie Antoinette and understand what happens to elites who forget about the masses — so this is a plea to do the right thing before more people, yourselves included, inevitably get hurt by the raging masses who you are making homeless by the millions.
Brian, Joe, Nathan; you started Airbnb with the best of intentions. You couldn’t afford to make rent on your San Francisco apartment, so you bought some air mattresses and served breakfast to your guests. Brilliant.
But things have changed since then. Now you control an $80 billion company that has devoured millions of housing units, evicted countless families, and turned their homes into full-time clerkless hotels, with a promise in your IPO documents to fight democracies in court for as long as you can afford to do so.

Why Not Combat Carbon Emissions With Baby Trees that Emit More Carbon For The First 20 Years, You Cretins

Bored Waitrose weasels with gran stand about as a geography student plants a tiny teeny baby tree that will be a teeny tiny snack tonight for some nearby deer, who are licking their lips as they watch from the bushes

“Scientists have debated whether tree planting should be used as a way of combatting carbon emissions, but Mr Waters said there was an urgent need to try new initiatives and the benefits of tree planting go beyond capturing carbon.

“He said: “We are in a climate emergency and that word emergency is really important. We can’t wait for a perfect solution and we have got to try stuff and we’ve got to do it fast.

“”We know trees help deal with flooding, they help your well-being, there’s very good evidence that being around trees reduces your stress and your blood pressure. There’s evidence to show that areas with lots of trees have a lower crime rate.”

“Lee Waters said Wales “cannot wait for the perfect solution” to combat climate change.”

A man standing in a field pausing to recall some more half-read and totally misunderstood bollocks from a spad briefing he fell asleep during.

“There’s evidence to show that areas with lots of trees have a lower crime rate.” Cretinous logic. Maybe he’s right. There’s very little car theft in the Amazon rainforests, very little burglary.

What the idiot doesn’t know is that baby trees are net producers of carbon until they get to their twenties; then they get a job and settle down or something, and make less nasty carbon than they sequester.

FFS

For Forest’s Sake

If you actually care about the planet and yours or other people’s kiddies, this science bloke tells you exactly why it’s a counterproductive crock of shite

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59220669

THE ORIGINAL DRIVEL FROM THE BBC…

Climate change: Free tree offered to every Welsh household
Published6 December 2021

Every household in Wales will be offered a free tree to plant in an effort to help tackle climate change.

People will have a choice of native species to plant in their gardens or have added to woodland on their behalf.

About 1.3 million trees will be made available by the Welsh government, in a scheme which will cost £2m.

Deputy climate change minister Lee Waters said the scheme could help, but there still needed to be a greater increase in planting trees.

“To meet our climate change targets, we have to plant 86 million trees by the end of this decade,” he said.

Every household in Wales will be offered a free tree to plant at home or in a woodland
“That’s an increase every year of 15-fold. So it’s a hell of a challenge, as well as a climate emergency.”

Scientists have debated whether tree planting should be used as a way of combatting carbon emissions, but Mr Waters said there was an urgent need to try new initiatives and the benefits of tree planting go beyond capturing carbon.

He said: “We are in a climate emergency and that word emergency is really important. We can’t wait for a perfect solution and we have got to try stuff and we’ve got to do it fast.

“We know trees help deal with flooding, they help your well-being, there’s very good evidence that being around trees reduces your stress and your blood pressure. There’s evidence to show that areas with lots of trees have a lower crime rate.”

Lee Waters said Wales “cannot wait for the perfect solution” to combat climate change.

Jerry Langford, of Coed Cadw – the Woodland Trust in Wales – said he was confident people would succeed in nurturing trees in their gardens.

“Trees are tough actually,” he said, “you’ve got to treat them pretty badly to kill a tree. So just a bit of tender loving care and it will be fine.

“They need a supply of water and they need to need to make sure they don’t get swamped by competing vegetation.”

The trees will be available from five hubs from March, with a further 20 in the autumn of 2022.

Coed Cadw will plant the trees which people opt not to have in their gardens.

Facebook patents reveal how it intends to cash in on metaverse | Financial Times

i don’t need to comment on this. Just read Daniel F. Galouye’s Counterfeit World…

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacron-3

https://www.ft.com/content/76d40aac-034e-4e0b-95eb-c5d34146f647

Facebook patents reveal how it intends to cash in on metaverse
Meta hopes to use tiny human expressions to create virtual world of personalised ads

Hannah Murphy in San Francisco JANUARY 18 2022

Pupil movements, body poses and nose scrunching are among the flickers of human expression that Meta wants to harvest in building its metaverse, according to an analysis of dozens of patents recently granted to Facebook’s parent company.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to spend $10bn a year over the next decade into the nebulous and much-hyped concept denoting an immersive virtual world filled with avatars. Rivals such as Apple and Microsoft are also pursuing similar aims that Big Tech executives describe as part of the next evolution of the internet.

The Financial Times has reviewed hundreds of applications to the US Patent and Trademark Office, many of which were granted this month. They reveal that Meta has patented multiple technologies that wield users’ biometric data in order to help power what the user sees and ensure their digital avatars are animated realistically.

But the patents also indicate how the Silicon Valley group intends to cash in on its virtual world, with hyper-targeted advertising and sponsored content that mirrors its existing $85bn-a-year ad-based business model.

This includes proposals for a “virtual store” where users can buy digital goods, or items that correspond with real-world goods that have been sponsored by brands.

“For us, the business model in the metaverse is commerce-led,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s head of global affairs told the FT during a recent interview. “Clearly ads play a part in that.”

The patents do not mean that Meta will definitely build the technology, but they offer the clearest indication yet of how the company aims to make its immersive world into a reality.

Meta patent filing showing a ‘wearable magnetic sensor system’. Sketch gives example of a soldier in sword and armour appearing in a virtual world © Meta patent

Some of the patents relate to eye and face tracking technology, typically collected in a headset via tiny cameras or sensors, which may be used to enhance a user’s virtual or augmented reality experience. For example, a person will be shown brighter graphics where their gaze falls, or ensuring their avatar mirrors what they are doing in real life.

One Meta patent, granted on January 4, lays out a system for tracking a user’s facial expressions through a headset that will then “adapt media content” based on those responses.

There is a “wearable magnetic sensor system” to be placed around a torso for “body pose tracking”. The patent includes sketches of a user wearing the device but appearing in virtual reality as a soldier complete with a sword and armour.

Nick Clegg’s first interview in the metaverse
Another patent proposes an “avatar personalisation engine” that can create three dimensional avatars based on a user’s photos, using tools including a so-called skin replicator.

“Meta aims to be able to simulate you down to every skin pore, every strand of hair, every micromovement,” said Noelle Martin, a legal reformer who has spent more than a year researching Meta’s human-monitoring ambitions with the University of Western Australia.

“The objective is to create 3D replicas of people, places and things, so hyper-realistic and tactile that they’re indistinguishable from what’s real, and then to intermediate any range of services . . . in truth, they’re undertaking a global human-cloning programme.”

Meta patent application image showing an ‘avatar personalisation engine’ that can create 3D avatars based on a user’s photos using tools such as a so-called skin replicator © Meta patent application
The project has allowed the company, which in recent times has been stung by other scandals over moderation and privacy, to attract engineers from rivals such as Microsoft amid a fierce battle for talent between the world’s biggest technology companies.

Since changing its name from Facebook to Meta in late October in a corporate rebranding, the company’s share price has risen about 5 per cent to $329.21.

Critics remain sceptical of the vision, suggesting the effort is a distraction from recent scrutiny after whistleblower Frances Haugen last year publicly accused the company of prioritising profit over safety*.

“What are they going to do with more data and how are they going to make sure it is secure?” said Celia Hodent, former director of user experience at Epic Games who now works as an independent consultant.

Zuckerberg has indicated the company plans to keep the prices of its headsets low, but instead draw revenues in its metaverse from advertising, and by supporting sales of digital goods and services in its virtual world.

One patent explores how to present users with personalised advertising in augmented reality, based on age, gender, interest and “how the users interact with a social media platform”, including their likes and comments.

Another seeks to allow third parties to “sponsor the appearance of an object” in a virtual store that mirrors the layout of a retail store, through a bidding process similar to the company’s existing advertising auction process.

The patents indicate how Meta could offer ads in its immersive world that are even more personalised than what is possible within its existing web-based products.

Research shows that eye gaze direction and pupil activity may implicitly contain information about a user’s interests and emotional state, for example, if a user’s eyes linger over an image, this may indicate they like it.

“Clearly, you could do something similar [to existing ad targeting systems] in the metaverse — where you’re not selling eye-tracking data to advertisers, but in order to understand whether people engage with an advertisement or not, you need to be able to use data to know,” Clegg said.

Brittan Heller, a technology lawyer at Foley Hoag, said: “My nightmare scenario is that targeted advertising based on our involuntary biological reactions to stimuli is going to start showing up in the metaverse . . . most people don’t realise how valuable that could be. Right now there are no legal constraints on that.”

Meta said: “While we don’t comment on specific coverage of our patents or our reasons for filing them, it’s important to note that our patents don’t necessarily cover the technology used in our products and services.”

Additional reporting by Henry Mance in London

*This story has been amended since initial publication to clarify that Haugen had accused Facebook of prioritising profit over safety.

Fix the Konnections, don’t try to fix the Nodes!—an insight from NK network theory

for Ben Taylor and Rory Heap. Rory, it’s a completely inaccessible photo of an article about women in the workplace and confidence and be the best you you can never be you go girl etceteraah…

Let’s see if Bill Gateses’s MagicEye can read that ..

He’s losing control.

Mainly Hes, and increasing numbers of Shes.

Control.

The ancients believed that they had angered the gods when there was a natural disaster.

Managers believe that they have angered the shareholders when things outside of their control occur. They call them ‘failure’ and search for a chain of causation, a process that is essentially entrail reading.

Fantasies of control.

Consequences of fantasies.

Wonderbread and Cheez Wiz strategy

Watch “Why You Need A Good Internal BS Meter” on YouTube

Rick Beato is a musician and educator.

This is the best statement on the need for Bullshit Detector since Postman and Weingartner wrote Teaching As A Subversive Activity, the whole text of which is around on the web, and is a must read.

BTW, I hate videos. Just give me the feckin’ words and the odd diagram. But there’s always an exception to every rule.

How the states have become “Laboratories of Autocracy” — and why it’s worse than you think | Salon.com

Coming to the UK as soon as the Electoral Reform Act is passed next week while you’re all whining and laughing abot BYOB Spaffel…

Former Ohio Democratic Party head David Pepper has a dire warning: Rigged state legislatures are destroying America
— Read on www.salon.com/2022/01/15/how-the-states-have-become-laboratories-of-autocracy–and-why-its-worse-than-you-think/

Profiting from human kindness: morality-free shit coffee, who else but Sharkfuqs

A TikToker broke a 23-car ‘pay-it-forward’ streak at the Starbucks drive-thru because the car behind him had a $46 bill, sparking a debate.
— Read on www.dailydot.com/irl/man-breaks-starbucks-pay-it-forward-streak-tiktok/

Are you making me do emotional labour outside my boundaries, or am I using psychopiffle to evade? You decide…

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/14/emotional-labour-term-people-boundaries

i think what is like to say about this is:

you need to understand the original meaning of the term in its original context, not just the way it’s now used in everyday conversation.

you know when you are protecting yourself, or when you are just bunking off from dealing with something that actually is your concern. So be honest with yourself.

read on…

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/14/emotional-labour-term-people-boundaries

Where is the edge? There is only one way to find it: you have to go a tiny bit too far…

Beautiful wise observation…

As the girl receded farther along the walkway, I wondered how far she would go. As a boy, we often roamed just beyond the limits that our parents had imposed. When I was this girl’s age, we were expected to stay on our street, but often stepped just beyond that limit, hearts pounding. That’s where the adventure was and it called us despite our parents’ admonitions. For instance, there was a new house being constructed one street over. How could we resist the lure of a partially constructed house? Today, it would be called an “attractive nuisance,” but as a kid, these unfenced sites were impromptu playgrounds. The best places always seemed to be just beyond the limits.

There is a point where the greenbelt walkway turns. Would the girl take the corner? If she did, she would have been out of sight. When she got to there, however, she stopped, waited for the dog to relieve itself, then started heading back. It was at this moment that her father emerged. He stepped cautiously from the door, craning to look along the walkway, peering toward his daughter. Then suddenly he hopped back out of sight, obviously not wanting her to see him.

Now click the link to understand what’s going on here…

teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2022/01/just-beyond-limits.html

Starmer Starmer Karma Chameleon: BDS or BS?

https://bernardspiegal.com/2022/01/08/palestine-israel-and-the-labour-party-is-it-racism-that-i-see-2/

The forensic Bernard Spiegal, who is, I suspect, proud to be called ‘a Jew that hates Israel’ one of Mark Regev’s favourite slurs, not that I’ve asked, I digress. He is my #1 source of the facts about Israel and Palestine, and he just wrote this about ‘Sir Keith’:

Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, struck the right tone in his tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu who died on the 26 December 2021. He described Tutu as:

‘a tower of a man and a leader of moral activism’ who ‘dedicated his life to tackling injustice and standing up for the oppressed…’His impact on the world crosses borders and echoes through generations’.

But his words ring hollow. Starmer’s encomium to the Archbishop sits ill with positions the Labour Party leader has taken on a cause close to the Archbishop’s heart: Palestine.

As is well known, Tutu was a consistent advocate for justice for Palestinians, and a critic of Israel’s repressive policies towards them. Tutu also drew parallels between Apartheid South Africa and the Israeli state. Here’s the archbishop:

‘I have witnessed the systemic humiliation of Palestinian men, women and children by members of the Israeli security forces…Their humiliation is familiar to all black South Africans who were corralled and harassed and insulted and assaulted by the security forces of the apartheid government.’

The Archbishop was equally explicit on the need and justification for boycotts and sanctions against Israel as non-violent means to persuade/compel Israel to change its policies in respect of Palestine/Palestinians.

‘In South Africa, we could not have achieved our democracy without the help of people around the world, who through the use of non-violent means, such as boycotts and divestment, encouraged their governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the apartheid regime’

The same issues of inequality and injustice today motivate the divestment movement trying to end Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory and the unfair and prejudicial treatment of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government ruling over them’.

Starmer’s position

Will be revealed when you click the link…

https://bernardspiegal.com/2022/01/08/palestine-israel-and-the-labour-party-is-it-racism-that-i-see-2/

We always knew Tory rewilding subsidies would destroy poor Welsh farmers, here’s how…

“As with the debate about rewilding, Glyn fears that carbon offsetting will accelerate a move away from food production and traditional livelihoods in Wales. He doesn’t want to sell carbon credits from planting trees or sequestered carbon in his soils if it replaces rearing sheep and cattle.”

““It would be interesting if the world did come to that, but whether it’s right is another thing. Agriculture is just the recycling of carbon, isn’t it? Whereas the companies that are buying carbon credits are just burning fossil fuels, aren’t they, which is just a one-way system.””

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/28/agriculture-recycling-carbon-farmers-reframe-rewilding-debate

TOXIC OPTICS: the management of appearance and the appearance of management

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/02/labour-conservatives-racism-stephen-lawrence-inquiry-rightwing-press?utm_term=61d32b9266b6cc8675b701951d3c014f&utm_campaign=BestOfGuardianOpinionUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=opinionuk_email

“But there is a kicker to the story, and in it we see how the cynicism of self-preservation prevailed at the expense of doing something long-term and substantive about race relations. Shortly before Macpherson published his report, Straw proposed a follow-up – an ambitious strategy that would prioritise race equality considerations in policymaking across government bodies. Yet taking on racial justice in such a direct manner was just too risky, too destabilising to the government. “A regulation nightmare,” said Blair. Angus Lapsley, an official in Blair’s private office, decided not to back a proposal that racist police officers should be dismissed (government was “cool” towards this suggestion, he said), not because the policy would be wrong, but because of how rightwing papers would react to it. Here is where the decibel level rises. “This could easily become a ‘Telegraph cause celebre’ if taken too far,” said Lapsley. Blair agreed, saying: “We do not want to go OTT on this.” The proposal was killed. There is a sort of sickening relief in seeing those sentiments – expressed behind closed doors – spelled out so matter of factly; in knowing for certain that concerns about racial injustice aren’t taken seriously not because they’re not believed but because they rock the boat. Indeed, the smothering of a broad, progressive race policy 20 years ago tells us much about where we are today, with a government proudly hostile to interrogating the true state of race relations”