October 2-3 Safe Tech International News and Notes
Reset and the Rescue Events, Brain Cancer, Helene and Quartz, Dangers of Deep Sea Mining Event.
Many prayers to everyone/everything impacted by recent events involving the planet’s waters.
We published news about the possible effects of the flooding on the tech industry due to proximal quartz mining, courtesy research by Sarah Aminoff, here on October 1.
Two years ago, Safe Tech International began sounding the alarm about the Internet of Underwater Things, IOuT. Kate Kheel coined the phrase “Techno-ecocide: the systematic destruction of our ecosystem by the exploitive use of technology” and with Amber Yang, created a beautiful educational video (7 minutes.)
See the upcoming event about deep-sea mining at the bottom of the email, hosted by the Collaborative for Health and the Environment.
Two inspirational gatherings were held the last weekend in September. Links are listed under INSPIRATION. In the UK, Derrick Broze hosted the People’s Reset in the UNESCO heritage site town of Bath, which is also the site of a 5G trial. In the U.S., “Journalist and former Rolling Stone reported Matt Taibbi spoke at a "Rescue the Republic" event held in Washington, D.C with speakers from both sides of the political divide. He noted, “The end game is not controlling speech. They’re already doing that. The endgame is getting us to forget we ever had anything to say.”
I see ‘forgetting’ happening in communities and individuals experiencing defeats over smart meters, cell towers, utility scale installations, etc. and I understand why it happens. But on the other hand, one of the factors that helps increase resilience and counteract hopelessness is the presence of helping witnesses, who may not be directly affected but who validate that harm is occurring, and recognize that it is wrong.
Another factor that helps is knowing that another wave is building, and its bigger. The striking longshoremen follow the smart meter readers who lost their jobs a decade ago, with ignored warnings that surveillance was hiding under the guise of sustainability, and clear evidence that wireless technology was causing profound harm to health, (in addition to cost, security, fire, privacy, green washing, safety, planned obsolescence, and hacking concerns.)
At the U.S. gathering, Matt Tabbi noted, “I grew up a liberal Democrat and can’t remember having even most of the same beliefs as my friends. Now, millions of alleged intellectuals claim identical beliefs about vast ranges of issues and this ludicrous mass delusion is the precondition for “disinformation studies,” really the highly unscientific science of punishing deviation from the uniform belief set — what another excommunicated liberal, my friend Thomas Frank, calls the “Utopia of Scolding.
WE IGNORE LAWS. It’s what America does. With this in mind, our government has moved past censorship to the larger project of changing the American personality. They want a more obedient, timorous, fearful citizen. Their tool is the Internet, a vast machine for doling out reward and punishment through likes and views, shaming or deamplification. The mechanics are complicated but the core concept is simple: you’re upranked for accepting authority, downranked for questioning it, with questions of any kind increasingly viewed as a form of disinformation. - Matt Taibbi
For example, the FCC continues to ignore the court remand regarding its exposure guidelines, which have never been tested. See Expert Update on Historic Legal Case on Wireless Radiation Limits EHT et al v. FCC
In addition to ignoring ‘laws’ within the legal framework, America is ignoring the Laws of Nature, the Laws the govern the hydrological cycle, and the Laws that govern Human Health. This is going to change.
Wherever you are holding, I appreciate your being here.
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THE CIRCADIAN CLASSROOM 19 Circadian Principles To Improve Your Life They work, regardless of age or circumstance 11. Exclusively use firelight after sunset
NEWS AND NOTES
AI: 'A lot of money is going to get wasted': MIT economist sounds the alarm on AI hype MIT economist warns AI infrastructure investments may not meet investor profit expectation. Only 5% of jobs are likely to be significantly impacted by AI in the next decade, according to the economist. "A lot of money is going to get wasted," MIT's Daron Acemoglu told Bloomberg. Acemoglu ultimately sees three potential scenarios for the AI story, and none are particularly bullish. 1. The most optimistic scenario, according to Acemoglue, is that AI hype cools and some applications of the technology take hold. 2. The AI frenzy continues into 2025 and ultimately leads to a crash in technology stocks, similar to what happened in the dot-com bubble. In such a scenario, investors and tech executives would become disenchanted with AI, leading to a "AI spring followed by AI winter."3. The AI frenzy lasts for many more years, leading to companies replacing human jobs with AI technologies "without understanding what they're going to do with it." Technology companies will scramble to rehire workers when they eventually realize the technology doesn't work. MSN
AI; LABOR: Dockworkers are waging a battle against automation. The rest of us may want to take notes The dockworkers striking up and down the East Coast are, culturally and geographically, a world apart from the Hollywood actors and writers who staged a four-month walkout last year. But their protests share a common core principle: They don’t want bots taking their jobs. The dockworkers’ concerns are legit. Automation won’t end the need for human labor completely, but it will significantly reduce the number of bodies needed on payroll, just as it has done in many industries, including auto manufacturing and mining. One report from the Economic Roundtable found that automation eliminated 572 full-time roles at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in 2020 and 2021. The longshoremen’s union is demanding a $5-an-hour increase in pay in each of the six years over the course of the next contract and “airtight” language that the ports won’t introduce automation “or semi-automation.” Over the summer, a survey of large US firms found that more than 60% plan to use AI within the next year to automate tasks previously done by employees. “This is all happening in an environment where, it’s not like CEOs and shareholders are losing — they can keep getting compensated … all of the the risk is being borne by other workers and the company,” Fazili told me. “And I think it’s interesting that people are saying ‘no’ more and trying to test out collective bargaining and worker organizing as a way to have that voice.” Bottom line: The bots come for all of us, which is why the outcome of the port strike is particularly important to watch. As Washington Post columnist Heather Long wrote Tuesday, the strike is “an early battle of well-paid workers against advanced automation. There will be many more to come.” MSN
AI: Sam Altman Just Pitched The Biden Administration On A Massive Build Out Of AI Data Centers ZERO HEDGE
AI: OpenAI as we knew it is dead The maker of ChatGPT promised to share its profits with the public. But Sam Altman just sold you out. If OpenAI does away with the profit cap, it would be redirecting a huge amount of money — prospective billions of dollars in the future — from the nonprofit to investors. Because the nonprofit is there to represent the public, this would effectively mean shifting billions away from people like you and me. As some are noting, it feels a lot like theft. “If OpenAI were to retroactively remove profit caps from investments, this would in effect transfer billions in value from a non-profit to for-profit investors,” Jacob Hilton, a former employee of OpenAI who joined before it transitioned from a nonprofit to a capped-profit structure. “Unless the non-profit were appropriately compensated, this would be a money grab. In my view, such a thing would be incompatible with OpenAI’s charter, which states that OpenAI’s primary fiduciary duty is to humanity, and I do not understand how the law could permit it.” But because OpenAI’s structure is so unprecedented, the legality of such a shift might seem confusing to some. And that may be exactly what the company is counting on. VOX
AI: There’s a Problem WIth AI Programming Assistants: They’re Inserting Far More Errors Into Code AI tools may actually create more work for coders, not less FUTURISM
CELLPHONES: OPEN ACCESS New IARC book highlights Interphone Study's methods to strengthen inferences re: cell phone use & brain cancer Statistical Methods in Cancer Research Volume V: Bias Assessment in Case–Control and Cohort Studies for Hazard Identification IARC. Statistical Methods in Cancer Research Volume V: Bias Assessment in Case–Control and Cohort Studies for Hazard Identification.IARC Scientific Publication No. 171.Eds.Berrington de González A, Richardson DB, Schubauer-Berigan MK.2024.ISBN-13978-92-832-2228-6 Example 1.1. Evaluation of radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) radiation by the IARC Monographs (p. 13) Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, as generated in mobile phone use, were evaluated in IARC Monographs Volume 102 as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), on the basis of limited evidence for cancer in humans and limited evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals (IARC, 2013). The Working Group noted in their rationale that the human epidemiological evidence was mixed. Some small case–control studies, several studies of occupational exposure, and a large cohort study, all investigating brain tumours (particularly gliomas) were regarded as uninformative because of several potential sources of exposure misclassification and insufficient control for possible confounding. The bulk of the evidence came from reports of the Interphone study – a very large international, multicentre case–control study – and a separate large case–control study in Sweden on acoustic neuroma and glioma and meningioma of the brain. Both studies showed an association between mobile phone use and glioma and acoustic neuroma. However, each study presented non-negligible limitations. In the Interphone study, an increased risk of glioma was found only for the highest levels of estimated cumulative exposure (cumulative call time). However, differential participation rates between participants in the case and control groups – compounded with lower participation rates of control participants who were non-regular mobile phone users than of control participants who were regular users – could have resulted in a lower estimated risk of brain cancer among regular mobile phone users than the true risk for the participating centres. This is one of the reasons given that chance and bias could not be excluded as possible explanations for the increased risk at the highest levels of exposure. The study in Sweden revealed an increased risk of glioma, with a gradient with increasing cumulative call time. The sequential approach, using a self-administered questionnaire followed by a phone interview to collect exposure and confounder information, raised the possibility of information bias, with validation studies not having been carried out in the pertinent population. There were also concerns about recall bias, which were somewhat tempered by the specificity of the positive associations for two tumour subtypes (glioma and acoustic neuroma) but not others. The limitations of the two studies led the Working Group to the evaluation that there was limited evidence for cancer in humans; it appears that the reviewers had made full use of the published results in the main and ancillary publications of all studies, and especially of the Interphone study and the study in Sweden, to probe the existence and direction of biases without, however, formally estimating the overall impact of biases for each study. Side Box 5.5. The population-based case–control study Interphone (p. 133) Within the four main themes considered in this book to illustrate the concepts of interest (red meat consumption, opium consumption, radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) radiation, and night shift work), examples are often drawn from the Interphone study of RF-EMF radiation exposures (Cardis et al., 2010). This carefully conducted multicentre study included several ancillary and detailed analyses to rule out potential biases. While the study is cited here for illustrative purposes, this should not be considered as a judgement on the quality of the study but, rather, reflects the extensive attention given to methodological issues in the study. Therefore, the study represents a model of careful consideration and discussion of such issues. Most published studies do not report this level of information relevant to selection bias. In this situation, one is usually left with other tools for assessing selection bias, for example through the use of negative control exposures or negative control outcomes (see Section 5.4.2) or hypothetical sensitivity analyses (see Section 5.4.4). Example 7.11. Case–case analyses to quantify recall bias (p. 190) Cardis et al. (2011) used a subset of data from the Interphone study to examine the associations between exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) radiation from mobile phone use and the risk of brain tumours. In that study, case–case analyses were conducted in which mobile phone use was compared between case participants with tumours of the brain in areas highly exposed to RF-EMF radiation and case participants with tumours in other parts of the brain with lower exposure. The case–case analysis showed increased odds ratios for tumours in the most exposed part of the brain in individuals with ≥ 10 years of mobile phone use (OR, 2.80; 95% CI, 1.13–6.94 for glioma), compared with other areas among long-term users, but no increased odds ratios for individuals who had started using a mobile phone more recently. Open access book: https://publications.iarc.who.int/634
NEWS AND NOTES
AI: NEW TECH THE VERGE NOTEPAD: If, like me, you’re wondering where Copilot heads next, Microsoft’s new AI CEO has some grand ideas. “Over time it’ll adapt to your mannerisms and develop capabilities built around your preferences and needs. We are not creating a static tool so much as establishing a dynamic, emergent, and evolving interaction,” says Suleyman. “It’ll accompany you to that doctor’s appointment, taking notes and following up at the right time. It’ll share the load of planning and preparing for your child’s birthday party. And it’ll be there at the end of the day to help you think through a tricky life decision.” https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/1/24259187/microsoft-copilot-redesign-vision-voice-features-inflection-ai
AI GARY MARCUS: Sorry, GenAI is NOT going to 10x computer programming We spent 18 months hearing about how Generative AI was going to “10x” coding, improving programmer productivity by a factor of 10. The data are coming in – and it’s not. []The tracks here are pointing to modest improvements, with some potentials costs for security and technical debt, not 10x improvement. 10x-ing requires deep conceptual understanding – exactly what GenAI lacks. Writing lines of code without that understanding can only help so much. Use it to type faster, not as a substitute for clear thinking about algorithms + data structures. And, as ever, don’t believe the hype, SUBSTACK
AUTOMOBILES: Tesla and Elon Musk won a big Autopilot lawsuit Tesla and CEO Elon Musk got a big win in court when the automaker won the dismissal of a shareholder lawsuit that alleged misleading statements about the capabilities of self-driving were said to prop up its stock price. While this is certainly a win, Tesla and Musk can’t breathe too big of a sign of relief yet. The company still faces a number of other complaints and regulatory investigations into its marketing. MSN
BIG TECH; A tiny town just got slammed by Helene. It could massively disrupt the tech industry A tiny town in North Carolina that’s just been devastated by hurricane Helene could end up severely disrupting the global supply chain for microchips and solar panels.Nestled in the Appalachian mountains, the community of Spruce Pine, population 2,194, is known for its hiking, local artists and as America’s sole source of high-purity quartz. Helene dumped more than 2 feet of rain on the town, destroying roads, shops and cutting power and water. Semiconductors are the brains of every computer-chip-enabled device, and solar panels are a key part of the global push to combat climate change. To make both semiconductors and solar panels, companies need crucibles and other equipment that both can withstand extraordinarily high heat and be kept absolutely clean. One material fits the bill: quartz. Pure quartz. Quartz that comes, overwhelmingly, from Spruce Pine. https://www.npr.org/2024/09/30/nx-s1-5133462/hurricane-helene-quartz-microchips-solar-panels-spruce-pine see also: The Ultra-Pure, Super-Secret Sand That Makes Your Phone Possible The processor that makes your laptop or cell phone work was fabricated using quartz from this obscure Appalachian backwater. (2010) WIRED COURTESY SARAH
SEE ALSO: AUTOMOBILES MINING: Car industry faces choke point as US hurricane shuts down critical microchip mine MSN
BIG TECH: Microsoft's new Copilot can watch what you do on the web, and chat with you in real time while you do it MSN
BIG TECH: Microsoft Halts Windows 11 Update Rollout Due to Critical Issues MSN
CELLPHONES CATHERINE PRICE: Meet Yondr founder & CEO, Graham Dugoni You know those lockable phone bags that are being used to create phone-free environments at schools and concerts? Those are Yondr pouches. Join me as I speak with their inventor. https://catherineprice.substack.com/p/meet-yondr-founder-and-ceo-graham 1 HOUR
CELLPHONES: Apple's Satellite Messaging Feature Emerges As Lifeline After Hurricane Helene Leaves Thousands Without Cell Phone Service: Here's How You Can Use It Introduced via the iOS 18 update, the Messages via Satellite feature for iPhone 14 and later models allows users to stay connected even when they’re off the grid without cellular or Wi-Fi coverage. Users on social media have praised the utility of this feature during the crisis. MSN
CELLULAR TELECOM: SpaceX's Cellular Starlink Faces Lawsuit Threat From European Telcos A group of European telecommunication companies is threatening to sue if SpaceX’s cellular Starlink system for phones is allowed to operate beyond normal radio emission limits. On Monday, seven companies—including Vodafone, Telefonica, and Orange—sent a letter to the FCC, urging the US regulator to reject loosening its radio emission rules for SpaceX. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/spacex-s-cellular-starlink-faces-lawsuit-threat-from-european-telcos/ar-AA1rx5V0
CHILDREN SCHOOLS: MA4SAETECH: Sept. Recap: 1-2-3 for Safe Tech in Schools! RESOURCES: Sept. Recap: 1-2-3 for Safe Tech in Schools! (campaign-archive.com)
CHILDREN SCREENAGERS: Uniting Families to Delay Smartphones and Social Media https://www.screenagersmovie.com/blog/uniting-families
CHILDREN Social media and teen suicide: If you’re going to discuss the “other side,” can you at least get the facts right? A New Yorker article beautifully tells the stories of grieving families, but misrepresents the research on mental health JEAN TWENGE SUBSTACK
CHILDREN: Has Social Media Fueled a Teen-Suicide Crisis? Mental-health struggles have risen sharply among young Americans, and parents and lawmakers alike are scrutinizing life online for answers. NEW YORKER is the article critiqued by Jean above
CHILDREN Be ScreenStrong Substack : 5 Reasons to Uninstall the Video Games (Yes, Really) Binge gaming, even if the homework and chores are done, is never healthy. Here’s why. SCREENSTRONG
CONSUMER PRODUCTS; Companies keep selling harmful products – but history shows consumers can win in the end When people think of epidemics, they might think they’re caused only by viruses or other germs. But as public health experts, we know that’s just part of the story. Commerce can cause epidemics, too. That’s why our team coined the phrase in a recent study because you can’t solve a problem without naming it. Market-driven epidemics follow a familiar script. First, companies start selling an appealing, often addictive product. As more and more people start using it, the health harms become clearer. Yet even as evidence of damage grows and deaths pile up, sales continue to rise as companies resist efforts by health authorities, consumer groups and others to control them. We see this pattern with many products today, including social media platforms, firearms, sugar-sweetened beverages, ultra-processed foods, opioids, nicotine products, infant formula and alcohol. Collectively, their harm contributes to more than 1 million deaths in the U.S. each year. How to fight a commercial epidemic In our study, we asked two critical questions: Is it possible to combat such epidemics by changing the consumption patterns of millions of people? And if so, what does it take? THE CONSERVATION
DATA CENTERS WATER ACCESS MEXICO: Mexico: Data centre industry led by big tech raises concerns over water access to communities, incl. co. comments A datacentre is, in essence, a warehouse filled with computers working around the clock. The servers require vast amounts of electricity, and some combination of air and water to keep them cool. Querétaro was already a hub for datacentres in Mexico, but this year Amazon, Google and Microsoft announced or launched their own installations there. From the industry’s perspective, Querétaro offers safety and seismic stability close to Mexico City. Del Prete denies that the state government has provided public land or fiscal incentives to attract datacentre providers. But what datacentres need most is reliable access to two essential elements: electricity and water. And water, in particular, is a tense issue in Querétaro. []Amazon, Google and Microsoft declined to answer specific questions about the electricity and water needs of their planned datacentres in Querétaro, instead referring to company-wide plans to reduce their energy and water use. Microsoft did not respond to requests for an interview or comment.A Google spokesperson alleged that its “Google Cloud region” in Querétaro supports the company’s broader goal of operating on 24/7 carbon-free energy in every grid where it operates and aligning with its global goal of 100% renewable energy consumption. The company has not commented on water consumption. Google also said its investments in Querétaro are expected to contribute $11.2bn to the country’s GDP and create over 117,000 jobs by 2030. BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
ELECTRICITY GRID: Virtual power plants and time-varying rates: The next big power move for a smarter grid https://www.utilitydive.com/spons/virtual-power-plants-and-time-varying-rates-the-next-big-power-move-for-a/728144/ COURTESY M
EMF Update from Arthur F. of Cellular Phone Task Force, author the Invisible Rainbow: My Health and My Next Book Dear Subscribers, I have been extremely ill for 6 weeks. I am putting all my energy into making sure The Earth and I, my important book about the environmental crisis, is released shortly. Originally scheduled for release on October 1, there has been a delay due to problems creating the index. This is being remedied, and the book should be ready to go to print in about a week. It should be ready for shipping from Amazon and other booksellers sometime in November. My thanks to those of you who have preordered the book.. The Earth and I: Firstenberg, Arthur: 9781510781832: Amazon.com: Books
ENERGY ELECTRICTY UK: Net Zero is becoming synonymous with economic suicide Both industries have been sacrificed on the altar of Net Zero. Coal-fired power plants don’t fit in with targets to have the grid running a hundred per cent on renewable energy by the end of this decade, while the Government has decided that Port Talbot should focus on ‘green steel’ even though it means losing thousands of jobs, and valuable skills. And yet, there are four big problems with that. First, we are moving far faster than other countries. Even Germany, with the Greens part of the coalition government, isn’t completely closing coal power generation (in fact, it has been increasing it), and neither has any other major country. They quite rightly recognise that you can’t switch off one source of power without making sure they had something to replace it with. By contrast, we are recklessly gambling that renewables will come on stream to save us. [] Next, we are crippling our industries. We already have some of the most expensive power in the world, with industrial electricity prices now 74 per cent higher than in the US, and 34 per cent higher than in France. Thirdly, we are closing industries that are critical both to self-dependence, and on which every form of construction and manufacturing depends. Finally, all we are really doing is offshoring carbon emissions. We will import energy and steel from countries that are still living in the real world, but sacrificing jobs and tax revenues in the process. TELEGRAM ON MSN
5G; Your phone’s ‘5G’ icon and signal bars are lying to you “5G” might just mean 5G networks are around you somewhere. The number of bars you see is a best guess and not a precise measurement of the strength of your phone’s connection. WASHINGTON POST COURTESY TOM
5G: Marines Tap Mobile 5G for Deeper Battlefield Awareness Marines Tap Mobile 5G for Deeper Battlefield Awareness As Marines fought across training ranges during a recent desert exercise, unit commanders and exercise controllers tracked their movements and actions – all in real-time. That was the plan in using an ad hoc 5G mobile network set up in true Marine Corps fashion, with a pair of discounted trucks repurposed from the Army and retrofitted with 5G cellular towers. Each Fifth Generation Cell-n Light Truck, or COLT, provided a 5G bubble that collected, received and relayed data into the wider enterprise network as the Marines maneuvered through the scrubby, hilly terrain at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., during Service Level Training Exercise 5-24 that ran July 13 to Sept. 11. All that digital information fed into a common operating picture, expanding situational awareness for the exercise controllers and unit commanders of what was happening, as it was happening, officials said. It marked the first time the Marine Corps created a mobile 5G network in an experiment. Exercise and training officials with the service’s Training and Education Command see advancing technologies, including 5G networks, as critical to support home-station training, predeployment exercises and operational demands in the all-domain environment. Marines Tap Mobile 5G for Deeper Battlefield Awareness - USNI News
5G; Verizon persuades court to throw out $847m 5G patent infringement verdict US judge grants retrial as jury’s verdict is ‘against the great weight of the evidence’ Telecommunications giant Verizon has successfully convinced a Texan court to grant a retrial after a jury in June ordered it to pay a patent holding company $847m for patent infringement. The jury had originally found that Verizon had infringed two patents owned by patent holding company General Access Solutions and relating to wireless access devices in 5G technology. Verizon had asserted that it did not infringe any of the asserted claims and that all asserted claims were invalid as lacking sufficient written description and enablement. The court has set a date for the new jury trial for 6 December this year. HERE
HEALTH RESEARCH Earthing (Grounding) the Human Body Reduces Blood Viscosity—a Major Factor in Cardiovascular Disease 2013 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3576907/pdf/acm.2011.0820.pdf
HEALTH AND MORE (ALTERNATIVE, controversial views): Blue Lights, Decentralized Medicine | Jack Kruse | Assembly 2023 (youtube.com) Dr. Jack Kruse is a neurosurgeon and advocate for decentralized medicine. Often at odds with mainstream medical practices, he challenges established norms and promotes a holistic approach to healthcare. In this captivating talk, Dr. Jack Kruse, a neurosurgeon known for his unconventional views, discusses his experiences and thought-provoking topics on medicine and technology. Sharing anecdotes from his career, Dr. Kruse delves into topics like [] MK Ultra and CIA experiments on modern technology. He emphasizes the importance of decentralized medicine and medical freedom to protect public health and individual liberties. 43 MINUTES Decentralized Medicine | Jack Kruse | Assembly 2023 (youtube.com) COURTESY A.O.
HEALTH: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Nearsightedness Has Become a Global Health Issue | Scientific American Why this matters: More severe cases of myopia are associated with long-term eye health issues like premature cataracts, glaucoma, retinal tears and detachments and myopic macular degeneration. Plus, children with impaired vision struggle with learning and may lack quality eye healthcare to help resolve any vision problems. What the experts say: Rates of myopia may be rising because children spend far less time outside. Studies have shown that natural light is protective for myopia onset and development, though more research is needed on how varying wavelengths of light affect eyesight. What about electronic devices? The few studies on the issue show inconclusive findings for how screen time impacts vision. Nearsightedness Has Become a Global Health Issue | Scientific American
INSPIRATION UK: The Freedom Cell Network and Free Humanity presented: The People's Reset: UK From 27 to 29 September, 2024, The People's Reset: UK took place in Bath, UK as we gather to promote solutions for our rapidly changing world. On part 2 of Day 1 we are focused on the theme, Permaculture & Food Independence. Our 4 speakers will highlight solutions for growing food, permaculture, and food independence. TheGreaterReset.org and link to more of the historical work. https://odysee.com/@TheGreaterReset:4/tpruk-permaculture:6 (The group asks for a donation to help support the work.) The next gathering is in Mexico in January 2025.
INSPIRATION USA: Journalist Matt Tabbi’s speech at the Rescue the Republic: My Speech in Washington: "Rescue the Republic" Freedom of speech isn't just a legal right, but a way of life. On its history
Rescue the Republic | LIVE from Washington DC | Sep 29th 12pm-7pm ET Rescue the Republic | LIVE from Washington DC | Sep 29th 12pm-7pm ET (youtube.com) 7 hours video; Key speakers Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Brett Weinstein, LTC Tulsi Gabbard, Russel Brand, Matt Taibbi, Lara Logan, Col. Douglas Mac Gregor, Dr. Pierre Kory, Dr. Robert Malone, Dr. Heather Heying, Attorney Mary Holland, Human Garage, Jimmy Dore, Corey DeAngelis, PhD. Musical performers include Skillet, Zuby, Tennessee Jet, Five Times August, DPAK, Struggle Jennings, and The Defiant.
Matt Taibbi, Walter Kirn and Other Key Speeches from Rescue the Republic individual videos HERE
PEERS NEWS: POLITICS SCIENCE; This week we've summarized key news articles on: the Environmental Protection Agency's retaliation against scientists who raised safety concerns about toxic chemicals, how the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup and emulsifiers into the food supply appears related to increasing rates of colon cancer, MORE EPA Retaliated Against Scientists (wanttoknow.info)
SMART GLASSES: Welcome to Meta’s future, where everyone wears camerasAll around Meta’s Menlo Park campus, cameras stared at me. I’m not talking about security cameras or my fellow reporters’ DSLRs. I’m not even talking about smartphones. I mean Ray-Ban and Meta’s smart glasses, which Meta hopes we’ll all — one day, in some form — wear.I visited Meta for this year’s Connect conference, where just about every hardware product involved cameras. They’re on the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses that got a software update, the new Quest 3S virtual reality headset, and Meta’s prototype Orion AR glasses. Orion is what Meta calls a “time machine”: a functioning example of what full-fledged AR could look like, years before it will be consumer-ready. But on Meta’s campus, at least, the Ray-Bans were already everywhere. It was a different kind of time machine: a glimpse into CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s future world where glasses are the new phones. [] This light flashes when a user is taking photos and videos, and it’s generally visible even in sunlight. In theory, that should have put my mind at ease: if the light wasn’t on, I could trust nobody was capturing footage of me tucking into some lunch before my meetings. But as I talked with people around campus, I was always slightly on edge. I found myself keenly aware of those circles, checking to see if somebody was filming me when I wasn’t paying attention. The mere potential of a recording would distract me from conversations, inserting a low hum of background anxiety. MSN
SPACE: Elon Musk's Starlink brings internet — and politics — to storm-ravaged areas Starlink, the satellite internet service from SpaceX, is poised to become a crucial lifeline in parts of southern Appalachia that were devastated by Hurricane Helene. The Biden administration has announced it is planning to deploy dozens of ground-based Starlink devices that connect with satellites to provide internet services to remote areas. And the company has said approximately 500 Starlink kits are being deployed by private individuals and organizations to help with the recovery efforts. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said the company is waiving costs in affected areas. MSN
SPACE WEATHER; Space Weather News for Oct. 2, 2024 https://spaceweather.com X7-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: An Earth-facing sunspot exploded on Oct 1st (2220 UT), producing the second-strongest solar flare of Solar Cycle 25. The X7.1-category blast caused a shortwave radio blackout over Hawaii and hurled a CME into space. The CME could reach Earth and cause geomagnetic storms later this week. Updates @ Spaceweather.com.
SPACE WEATHER: A Colossal Solar Flare Just Triggered a Radio Blackout on Earth The Sun is just getting started. The event, which saw a huge amount of electromagnetic radiation being slung our way by the Sun, clocked in as a powerful X-level solar flare and was deemed by experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to be the second-strongest of the year so far. The radio blackouts occurred over Hawaii and other areas of the Pacific. Communications were only briefly lost, but the powerful event serves as a potent reminder of the cosmic forces that can have a direct influence on life on our home planet. [] That plasma now seems to be heading in our direction and is due to collide with our atmosphere on October 5. NOAA has since issued a "minor-strong" geomagnetic storm warning as a result. FUTURISM
SURVEILLANCE MUCKROCK: The cost of surveillance cameras in Chicago: The city of Chicago has spent an estimated $279 million since 2003 on surveillance cameras, reports Madison Hopkins from Illinois Answers and Joe Mahr from the Chicago Tribune. The investigation found that after filing more than 100 open records requests and analyzing more than a dozen datasets, “police rarely credit these cameras with helping solve cases.”
WARFARE MILITARY US DEPT OF DEFENSE: DoD Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Strategy 2020 - Objective 5.3: Promote Policies That Support DoD EMS Capabilities and Operations DoD must develop, advocate, harmonize, and provide oversight of spectrum policies that minimize constraints to DoD global operations. Domestically, EMS Enterprise governance will ensure policies allow DoD to conduct R&D, testing, training, exercises, and homeland defense operations. As forces deploy globally, international spectrum policies are also a priority due to their potential impact on basing and operations of U.S. forces abroad. Policies must balance important U.S. economic development objectives, while preserving military capabilities and limiting constraints to the use of those capabilities. As spectrum demands continue to increase, policies that promote more efficient use of spectrum through sharing technologies are vital. As the Department is only authoritative regarding its own spectrum policies, DoD must work with partners across the U.S. Government (including NTIA and FCC) and internationally to shape favorable outcomes. [] To cope with these challenges and achieve the vision of Freedom of Action in the Electromagnetic Spectrum, the DoD will actively pursue the areas outlined herein. DoD will enhance the ability to plan, sense, manage, and control military operations with advanced EMS technologies to ensure EMS superiority. The Department will also proactively engage with spectrum policymakers and partners to ensure spectrum policies support U.S. capability requirements. DoD will perform the governance functions needed to ensure our efforts are aligned and coordinated to maximize the results of our efforts.DoD Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Strategy 2020 -ELECTROMAGNETIC_SPECTRUM_SUPERIORITY_STRATEGY.PDF https://media.defense.gov/2020/Oct/29/2002525927/-1/-1/0/ELECTROMAGNETIC_SPECTRUM_SUPERIORITY_STRATEGY.PDF COURTESY M.M.
WARFARE: The US Army Is Testing Killer Robot Dogs With AI-Powered Rifles in the Middle East Well, that's terrifying. The Department of Defense has, according to Military.com, been incorporating more and more robot dogs into its combat formations every year for everything from explosive disposal and perimeter security to surveillance and intelligence-gathering. As the University of Michigan notes, these robots are often equipped with cameras and other sensors that can, like IRL canines, see and hear better than humans. It's unclear exactly how AI plays into the gun's specs, but it appears that the technology is used to control the gun's turret mount, per comparisons to another military test that used similar robot dogs, to shoot drones out of the sky. FUTURISM
EVENTS:
Next Tuesday, October 8 at 10am PT/1pm ET Collaborative for Health and the Environment CHE Alaska will host a discussion on The Dangers of Deep-Sea Mining. With the transition to green technology, the demand for “critical” minerals is surging. In response, industry is turning to deep-sea mining, the process of extracting minerals (such as cobalt, manganese, nickel, gold, and rare earth elements) from the ocean floor. In this webinar, Farah Obaidullah will discuss the current state of deep-sea mining and its potential environmental impacts, including potentially devastating impacts on fragile marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Deep-sea mining is a very new industry, and much is still unknown about its full consequences. As research continues to reveal more about the risks, we are at a critical juncture where decisions made now will shape the health of our oceans for generations to come. RSVP here.