Futurology Today

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/33477630

[can't believe that it keeps getting worse, but it does]

Abdel Qader Sabbah and Sharif Abdel Kouddous
Jul 21, 2025

Over the past five days alone, more than 550 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to ministry of health figures. The confirmed death toll since the beginning of the war crossed 59,000 on Monday in what is widely acknowledged to be a vast undercount. Over the past two months, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed as they are forced to seek aid in militarized zones in a system mostly overseen by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a shadowy U.S.- and Israeli-backed group.

One of the deadliest days for aid seekers came on Sunday, when over 70 people were killed, at least 67 of them in northern Gaza where Israeli troops opened fire on crowds trying to get food from a World Food Program convoy entering through the Zikim crossing.

“The tank came, surrounded us, and started shooting at us and we kept raising our hands,” Ibrahim Hamada, who was wounded in the leg, told Drop Site as he lay on a hospital gurney wincing in pain. “There were many martyrs, no one was able to retrieve them. I crawled on my stomach just to reach a car to take me to the hospital,” he said. “I went there to eat, because there was no food at home.”

The boy, who was jailed along with his sister and mother, cried every night, a lawyer for the family said.

I'm just some random mid-40s guy that lives in Canada. I have a couple of younger kids, happily married. Live in the suburbs. While I'm a boring professional during the week, I'm also a guy's guy, I like watching hockey, mountain biking, dirtbiking etc. Type 1 diabetic.

AMA

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/technology by /u/rezwenn on 2025-07-23 20:36:39+00:00.

As Harvard’s feud with Trump escalated, so did tensions over an ‘education and Palestine’ issue of a prestigious journal. Scholars blame the ‘Palestine exception’ to academic freedom

A little more than a year later, the scale of destruction in Gaza was exponentially larger. The special issue, which was slated to be published this summer, was just about ready – contracts with most authors were finalized and articles were edited. They covered topics from the annihilation of Gaza’s schools to the challenges of teaching about Israel and Palestine in the US.

But on 9 June, the Harvard Education Publishing Group, the journal’s publisher, abruptly canceled the release. In an email to the issue’s contributors, the publisher cited “a number of complex issues”, shocking authors and editors alike, the Guardian has learned.

US universities have come under intensifying attacks from the Trump administration over accusations of tolerating antisemitism on campuses. Many have responded by restricting protest, punishing students and faculty outspoken about Palestinian rights, and scrutinizing academic programmes home to scholarship about Palestine.

From Billionaire Sean Parker:

The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them, ... was all about: 'How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?'

"And that means that we need to sort of give you a dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever. And that's going to get you to contribute more content, and that's going to get you more likes and more comments."

It's a social-validation feedback loop ... This is exactly the kind of thing that hacker like myself would come up with, because it's exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology. the inventors, creators — me, Mark, Kevin Systrom of Instagram, all of these people — we understood this consciously. And we did it anyway

God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7jar4KgKxs

Sydney (AFP) – More than 80 percent of Pacific nation Tuvalu's population is seeking a landmark climate visa to live in Australia as rising seas lap at its shores, official figures showed Wednesday.

Australia is offering visas to Tuvalu citizens each year under a climate migration deal Canberra has billed as "the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world".

"We received extremely high levels of interest in the ballot with 8,750 registrations, which includes family members of primary registrants," the Australian high commission in Tuvalu said in a statement.

The figure is equal to 82 percent of the country's 10,643 population, according to census figures collected in 2022.

"With 280 visas offered this program year, it means that many will miss out," the commission said.

One of the most climate-threatened corners of the planet, scientists fear Tuvalu will be uninhabitable within the next 80 years.

Two of the archipelago's nine coral atolls have already largely disappeared under the waves.

The figures were released hours before a landmark decision by the world's top court in The Hague laying out what legal obligations countries have to prevent climate change and whether polluters should pay up for the consequences.

The case, which has been brought by Pacific nations, could reshape climate justice, with major impacts on laws around the world.

Australia and Tuvalu signed the groundbreaking Falepili Union in 2024, part of Canberra's efforts to blunt China's expanding reach in the region.

Under that pact, Australia opened a new visa category specially set aside for citizens of Tuvalu who will be selected at random.

"Australia recognises the devastating impact climate change is having on the livelihoods, security, and wellbeing of climate vulnerable countries and people, particularly in the Pacific region," Australia's foreign affairs department told AFP last month.

"This is the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world, providing a pathway for mobility with dignity as climate impacts worsen."

It will also provide Tuvaluans the choice to live, study and work in Australia.

Tuvalu citizens, including those living outside the country, were eligible to be included in the ballot if they are aged over 18 and pay a Aus$25 fee (US$16).

The visa deal has been hailed as a landmark response to the looming challenge of climate-forced migration.

The Falepili pact commits Australia to defending Tuvalu in the face of natural disasters, health pandemics and "military aggression".

"For the first time, there is a country that has committed legally to come to the aid of Tuvalu, upon request, when Tuvalu encounters a major natural disaster, a health pandemic or military aggression," Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo said at the time.

"Again, for the first time there is a country that has committed legally to recognise the future statehood and sovereignty of Tuvalu despite the detrimental impact of climate changed-induced sea level rise."

The agreement also gives Australia a say in any other defence pacts Tuvalu signs with other countries, raising concerns at the time that the Pacific nation was handing over its sovereignty.

Tuvalu is one of just 12 states that still have formal diplomatic relations with Taipei rather than Beijing.

It’s been two decades since the government of Canada passed the Civil Marriage Act — an official nod to approve same-sex marriage in the country.

The act passed July 20, 2005, following the Supreme Court of Canada upholding the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 2003.

Not too many news outlets carrying this story. I can't say I'd heard of Simcoe.com before - but good on them for covering it. Given the surging rise in bigotry around the globe these days, Canada becoming the 4th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage 20 years ago yesterday is something I'm proud of

Source: https://billsaquarium.com/comic/platic-crap/

In recent years, after being impressed by a few local nonprofit BigORG branches (branches of national BigORGs) and finding that they claim to need/want volunteers (even to the point of desperation if you take their appeals seriously), I've approached them to find out about volunteering. As expected, they want to do a background check (almost certainly through the state police - it's cheap and easy here) and want you to release them of liability for physical injury and all that sort of thing. Neither are a big deal to me. But what IS a big deal is my privacy, and I've found a few of these orgs have volunteer waivers such as

"PHOTOGRAPH PERMISSION: I give permission for the BigORG to use, without limitation or obligation, photographs or other media that may include my image or voice to promote or interpret BigORG programs."

and

I hereby grant and convey unto BigORG2 all right, title and interest in any and all photographs and video/audio/electronic recordings of me, including as to my name, image and voice, made by or on behalf of BigORG2 during my Activities with BigORG2, including, but not limited to, the right to use such materials for any purpose and to any royalties, proceeds or other benefits derived from them. I understand that I will not have any ownership interest in or to such photographs, images and/or recordings, I have not been provided or promised any compensation to me, and I hereby waive any rights, privileges or claims based on any right of publicity, privacy, ownership or any other rights arising, relating to or resulting from the photographs, images and/or recordings.

This is highly infuriating. It's mindblowing to me that BigORGs think that for the "privilege" of providing free labor in order to assist them in carrying out their charitable "mission", that volunteers should also allow large quantities of their PII to be captured by the BigORG and exposed to the public in any manner the BigORG may choose, for as long as it may choose, and further, without recourse or compensation of any kind.

In the cases of the two BigORGs I've quoted above, I've tried to negotiate with them, have asked "how about we just strike that one paragraph, the rest of the waiver is fine, and we'll be good to go". The response is a big fat "No" and they show me, a perfectly capable, reliable and generous volunteer, to the door. Only spineless volunteers are needed apparently, ones who will give anything to volunteer at BigORG and won't make even the slightest pro-privacy waves when doing so.

SmallORGs I've volunteered with have not yet reached this level of entitlement, at least not here. Sure they may want to take some pics for social media posts from time to time, but so far have just warned us in advance to get out of the picture (which I have done) and it's all been fine. I don't know how long they will remain well-behaved with regard to PII and public disclosure thereof. I'm not paying for the "opportunity" to volunteer, either with cash or with personal info to be used for marketing, and the more these orgs demand it the less I'll be volunteering.

(I might add that I'm not talking about any kind of community-service mandatory volunteering, though these BigORGs may take that kind of volunteer as well from time to time.)

Tokyo (AFP) – The EU and Japan pledged on Wednesday to work together on championing a "free and fair" trade global system, as US tariffs and disputes with China rattle their economies.

Brussels and Tokyo announced a "competitiveness alliance" to increase bilateral trade, address unfair practices, and boost innovation, at a summit in the Japanese capital.

"In today's world, competitiveness has to be built with trusted partners such as Japan," European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen told journalists after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

"Together, Europe and Japan represent a fifth of global GDP and a market of 600 million people," she added.

"So, we have the scale to shape global rules on trade and tech in line with our values of fairness and openness."

Facing a swirl of speculation over his future following a weekend election debacle, Ishiba said the EU and Japan concurred to work together to strengthen a "stable and predictable rules-based free and fair economic order".

Von der Leyen congratulated the prime minister on his "successful negotiations" to secure a tariff deal with Washington, a feat that has so far escaped the European Commission she leads.

US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday a "massive" trade deal with Japan, as a deadline looms for the EU and other major US trade partners to strike agreements or face steep levies.

Tokyo said the deal would see a tariff on Japanese car cut to 15 percent.

The EU's top trade negotiator Maros Sefcovic is due to speak once again to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later on Wednesday.

Von der Leyen's commission, the EU's top executive body, is in charge of trade policy for the 27-nation bloc.

"In a world of growing uncertainty, we are also stepping up joint efforts to boost economic security and resilience," Antonio Costa told journalists in Tokyo.

Costa heads the European Council representing EU member states.

He said the EU and Japan -- who back Ukraine in its war with Russia -- would push to deepen cooperation between their defence industries.

Costa and von der Leyen will visit Beijing next for talks with China's top leaders on Thursday.

Beijing and Brussels will mark the 50th anniversary of their establishment of diplomatic ties.

But differences over state subsidies, market access and China's support for Russia are set to overshadow the event.

Despite decades of advocacy and grieving, Canada has not done enough to protect Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people. The roadmap is there.

Artist: Sepo | bluesky | pixiv | twitter | danbooru

Full quality: .png 2 MB (1500 × 2059)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/49275255

Are there any custom ROMs for the S23 FE?

I REALLY don't want sam's ung on my phone.

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