Futurology Today

Summary

Concerns have emerged over Trump's defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, who has criticized the Geneva Conventions and U.S. military rules of engagement as overly restrictive.

Critics, including retired military officers, argue his rhetoric could undermine the military's commitment to lawful conduct and accountability.

Hegseth has supported pardons for service members convicted of war crimes and questioned the application of international laws to extremist adversaries.

While Hegseth claims he does not condone war crimes, experts worry his stance could confuse troops and erode core military principles.

With Zuckerberg going full Musk last week, we can no longer let billionaires control our digital public square.

I think this is a good thing. However, as John Gruber put it:

And with a team of “technical advisors and custodians” that includes both the executive director and the president of the Mozilla Foundation, I suspect this initiative might prove as successful as Firefox.

But still, I hope the recent moves by Muskrat and Fuckster push more people to open-web platforms and help the Fediverse grow. It's time these shitbags lose some control over what people consume.

Summary

The Philippines accused China of escalating aggression in the South China Sea after a Chinese coast guard vessel patrolled near Scarborough Shoal and approached 77 nautical miles from the Philippine coast.

The Philippines denounced this as an "unacceptable" provocation, with officials vowing not to back down and warning of possible new international legal action.

China defended its actions as lawful and warned against further "provocation."

Manila has strengthened alliances with countries like Japan to counter China's defiance of the 2016 Hague ruling invalidating its territorial claims.

Data centers are expected to continue growing at a breakneck pace, doubling their power demand by 2029, according to a new report from JLL.

Summary

Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffett, operates the nation’s dirtiest coal plant fleet, emitting the most nitrogen oxides (NOx) in 2023 despite $41B in renewable energy investments.

The plants lack advanced pollution controls (SCR scrubbers), causing significant health and environmental damage, including up to 260 annual deaths and $3.9B in healthcare costs.

For example, the plants in Iowa reduce air quality in Omaha and surrounding areas, leading to premature deaths, healthcare costs, and lost school days. Omaha’s air quality ranks in the bottom third of U.S. cities.

Berkshire has resisted installing pollution controls, prioritizing cost-effectiveness over environmental responsibility.

BTF 2.0 branded GPUs will come with this new power connector

For Isabel Corro, Donald Trump’s suggestions that the US could use military force to take control of the Panama Canal evokes painful memories.

The 79-year-old vividly recalls rushing her children inside her apartment on 20 December 1989 as US army helicopters and fighter jets screamed over Panama City, turning buildings to piles of rubble with rockets and gunfire.

In Panama, where the scars of conflict with the US are still healing, Trump’s comments have provoked widespread anger.

The incident has strained relations with Panama’s government, which has said sovereignty over the canal is “non-negotiable” and accused Trump of lying about making an offer to buy it.

“The only hands operating the canal are Panamanian and that is how it is going to stay,” said the country’s foreign minister, Javier Martínez-Acha.

Like, would Hephaestus be the god of magnetos, distributors and capacitor discharge ignition systems? Or does that count as lightning and thus be Zeus' problem? Is Oden the god of whiskey because it necessarily must be made in oak barrels, or being booze would that fall under Dionysus? Is Mercury the god of SMS?

Trump’s rhetoric has been denounced by other world leaders but the rationale for this expansionism is being influenced, experts say, by something affecting both Greenland and Panama – rising global temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

Even though the incoming US president has called climate change a “giant hoax”, his son Donald Jr acknowledged the value of mining rare minerals in Greenland that are being uncovered as the ice rapidly retreats from the vast Arctic island. Greenland’s enormous ice sheet is losing an average of 30m tonnes of ice an hour due to the climate crisis, raising sea levels and potentially collapsing vital ocean currents.

As sea ice dwindles in the Arctic Ocean, meanwhile, new shipping routes through the far northern latitudes are becoming more viable. Robert O’Brien, Trump’s former national security adviser, said that Greenland, which has had a US military base since 1941, is key to counter the threat of China and Russia but it is also “very important to the Arctic, which is going to be the critical battleground of the future because as the climate gets warmer, the Arctic is going to be a pathway that maybe cuts down on the usage of the Panama canal”.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/gamedeals by /u/aniruddhdodiya on 2025-01-15 07:01:30+00:00.

This new law would make it harder for the majority of EU members to procure AI chips.