News roundup, 9 Feb 2024

- The proposed City of Winnipeg budget does not include money for the repair or replacement of the Arlington bridge. This is unfortunate; on the other hand the fact that it also doesn't include money for the widening of Kenaston or the extension of Chief Peguis may turn out to be a good thing in the long run; adding lanes almost never fixes congestion in the long run, due to "induced demand". And maybe the bridge issue will add to the impetus to relocate the rail yards, which would be better for everyone.

- Winnipeg's infamous Balmoral Hotel is now known as the Pimicikamak Wellness Centre; its guest rooms will be used by residents of northern First Nations while in the city for medical reasons. A daycare, walk-in clinic, and pharmacy are expected to be added soon.

- The US economy is doing well, at least by the traditional measures. This is awkward for the Republicans, not that they'll admit it of course. Well, except their leader.

- It will be interesting to see how the conservative judges on the US Supreme Court will be able to rationalize ruling in favour of Trump (if they do so as expected) in the Colorado ballot case. 

- Climate scientist Michael Mann has won a defamation case against two rightwing writers, journalist Mark Steyn (who used to write for the National Post) and policy analyst Rand Simberg, for calling his work "fraudulent" and comparing him to convicted child abuser Jerry Sandusky.

- Yang Hengjun, a Chinese-Australian novelist and blogger, has been sentenced to death by a court in China, albeit with a two year reprieve that could lead to his sentence being commuted. His crime was ostensibly "espionage".

- A man in Palm Beach County, Florida, is accused of murdering his father for getting vaccinated. Not to be confused with the guy in Pennsylvania who allegedly killed his dad for working for the feds.

News roundup, 23 Jan 2024

- A Republican member of the House of Representatives, Andy Biggs, admitted in a TV interview that despite their majority, House Republicans have no actual achievements to point to. And their counterparts in the Senate are worried that enthusiasm for Donald Trump seems to be on the wane, as evidenced by a fairly low turnout for the Iowa caucuses. There has, however, been no loss of enthusiasm on the part of Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Patronis, who has proposed that state funds should be used to pay Trump's legal bills.

- An Israeli biotechnology company has, in cooperation with a Japanese chef, developed lab grown eel meat for the table. This is important, since populations of freshwater eels have been in serious decline due to overfishing and other factors.

- Protesters in Jerusalem blockaded Israel's parliament, the Knesset, calling for Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation and new elections. The protest had initially been allowed by police but was cracked down upon when it turned into a blockade.

- Climate scientist Michael Mann has filed defamation suits against Rand Simberg of the rightwing thinktank Competitive Enterprise Institute and Mark Steyn of the National Review for, among other things, comparing him to a serial child molester.

- A bill currently being debated in the Kentucky legislature would, among other things, allow property owners to use lethal force against residentially challenged folks who they find camping on their property.

- Cameroon has commenced the world's first mass vaccination campaign to combat malaria.

- Researchers at a Google-backed firm, Anthropic, decided to try to train an AI to be evil. They say they succeeded, but were not so successful in then training the AI to change its ways. There has been research done in this field before; a couple of years ago one researcher thought it would be a good idea to use 4chan to train an AI, with disturbingly predictable results. I have to say that this stuff is a far cry from the Three Laws of Robotics.

- Golriz Ghahraman, a Green Party MP in the New Zealand parliament, has resigned after being charged with shoplifting.