Canada's National Observor: Whistleblower exposes how AI fuels Big Oil growth
nationalobserver.com/2025/09/0…
#AI #climateemergency #microsoft
"We realized we were basically working for an oil company," said Holly Alpine, a former Microsoft employee who quit her dream job on the company's sustainability team when she realized the company, like most tech companies, is helping fossil fuel com…Canada's National Observer
Companies like Walmart and McDonalds have historically paid minimum wage so that they can get their employees on benefits: it's a type of corporate welfare where the government functionally pays a huge amount of the employee's salary.
Two reasonable guesses:
First, something shifted so that this isn't viable anymore. McDonalds higher ups can't outright tell the franchise stores "yeah this is what's up, the jig's up, pay your employees more or you won't have employees." So they're asking the government to do it.
Second, McDonalds can pay more and is trying to squish notable competition that cannot.
@ceo_of_monoeye_dating "McDonalds" restaurants are usually not owned by the corporation, but are independent franchises. So it's *that* business owner that would need to be able to afford the wage increases.
Anyway, the reason is because their data shows people making less than $100k per year can't afford to eat there anymore.
fortune.com/2025/09/03/mcdonal…
“Particularly with middle- and lower-income consumers, they’re feeling under a lot of pressure right now,” Chris Kempczinski said on CNBC.Nick Lichtenberg (Fortune)
Three, sales are so low that they want to funnel some money back to it's restaurant by having employees buy their stuff while on break.
Seriously you've seen their prices lately?
@NonPlayableClown @ceo_of_monoeye_dating dude we went to Taco Bell a few weeks ago on a whim thinking "this will be cheap and quick, let's suffer the digestive consequences, it can't be that bad"
at the window they're like "your total is $42" and my brain glitched out
but I haven't voluntarily eaten McDonalds since... 2007? I usually get tricked into it by some family members once a year who are like "our shitty kids won't eat anything else, we HAVE to do lunch at McDonalds"
@ceo_of_monoeye_dating @NonPlayableClown I know right!!
I believe it was 8 taco supremes and 2 random things to be adventurous (they sucked, the trash enjoyed them tho)
@NonPlayableClown >Seriously you've seen their prices lately?
I actually have not stepped foot inside a McDonalds for about 7 years, and the last time I did so was to get the Rick and Morty meme sauce for a friend.
>last time I did so was to get the Rick and Morty meme sauce
Not going to lie... that was probably the last time I ever went there. Their food just gives me the worst stomach ache. Practically inedible for me.
But from what coworkers have complained about, everything so fucking expensive than when I was a teen.
A big mac sandwich is more than 7 bucks now.
@NonPlayableClown @ceo_of_monoeye_dating If you lay off the processed foods in general you feel so much better.
last time I got fast food I couldn't move for like an hour man, felt like I swallowed a softball
@fknretardlol @NonPlayableClown @ceo_of_monoeye_dating I can't stand most bread from regular stores.
Id get a bread maker if I had room
My wife is the same way. She can only get certain brand of bread the store.
She despises most white bread, especially wonder bread.
> Reddit: What's the adult equivalent of finding out Santa isn't real?
Finding out the US dollar isn't real
Seen on an audiogames.net forum thread about a new online game:
"Honestly I would prefer to gatekeep this one to keep the game away from blindy drama, but it is what it is." (sic)
I'll spare you from the long rant as much as it pains me to do so, but like... Way to go, us. This it the response we give developers who show interest. We're doing fantastic. Let's gooooo
Finally update the phone OS. Apple tried to sneak in "we'll install updates automatically". Of course the UI is designed by someone who doesn't know consent. And they probably got promoted for that.
(I did that before the irreversible next update show up)
Bueno, acabo de programar mi primera red neuronal. Sabía como funcionaban, pero nunca había escrito una de principio a fin.
Es una mierdecilla de red, con una neurona de entrada, una capa oculta que puedo redimensionar con una constante, y una neurona de salida.
Aun así es capaz de representar funciones aproximadamente. La probé con x^2 (se acerca muuuucho) y sin(2pi*x) (le cuesta más, pero está por el 1%).
@vincentgrahamwildlife shared the text and video below
I found a new newborn Hedgehog and then
#babyanimals #animals #hibernators #funnyvideos
Sarah Michelle Gellar posts masked selfie on set of Buffy
thecanary.co/global/world-anal…
'I will wear a mask in my shower if that means I don't get this again' said Sarah Michelle Gellar after recovering from COVID-19Christopher McDonald (The Canary)
A short tl;dr is that Hollywood and adjacent industry (music) still have strong COVID protocols in effect, but none speak publicly because the fascist have made COVID protection perceived as something bad.
Maybe Hollywood should show the power they have and actually make this a thing. Show the example.
Imagine the lives that could be changed with this much money? If they spent just a fraction of that on education of women and girls, it would have an impact many times greater.
Imagine how much renewable energy could be installed?
Even simple things like providing concrete floors to those whose homes have a dirt floor would have a massive impact.
Instead, it'll trash the environment, waste water, and make people's lives worse.
Fucking criminal.
mastodon.cloud/@slashdot/11516…
OpenAI Says Its Business Will Burn $115 Billion Through 2029 https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/08/1426211/openai-says-its-business-will-burn-115-billion-through-2029?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanonmastodon.cloud
I’ll be spending the week with a bunch of awesome colleagues hacking away at @thunderbird
Honestly, when I look around and see the direction of where this industry is going, I’m so happy to be part of a team that values people and good products, and everyone is proud of their work.
I’m privileged and I know it, and I try to never give it for granted because it could all go away
This isn't my sub-field of astronomy, but someone needs to give this conference 1000 internet bonus points for the best, most geographically relevant acronym, plus their logo is ADORABLE
uwaterloo.ca/astrophysics-cent…
GEESE-ON: Galaxy Evolution and Environment in Southern and Eastern Ontario
An upcoming workshop for Ontario-based astronomers to discuss ongoing and future research in galaxy evolution, hosted by the Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics.uwaterloo.ca
I'm writing this post here today in hopes to bring some attention to something that is near and dear to my heart, and that's an update to the current situation with Nova Launcher, that I worked for and with for nine years up until August of 2024.
For those that haven't seen the news, Kevin Barry, the founder and developer of Nova has left Branch which in turn means he's now no longer involved with Nova Launcher in any way going forward.
teslacoilapps.com/nova/solong.…
For the past year or so Kevin has stated that he was working on the open source version of Nova Launcher so that if/when this time came, it would be out in the open and the community could take it over and contribute to it and have it continue being developed.
However, it seems that Harish Thimmappa and others at Branch had told him to stop working on that effort as they didn't want him to continue doing that for unknown reasons. This is sad news because this was something that former CEO, Alex Austin, had promised both via a contract and publicly that if Kevin were to ever leave Branch, Nova Launcher would become open source. You can find that quote here:
reddit.com/r/Android/comments/…
and another very similar quote with similar conversation here:
reddit.com/r/Android/comments/…
The reason for this post is to try and draw some attention to the folks at Branch, specifically folks like Harish Thimmappa to do the right thing and honor these promises and any writings in the contracts from 2022 and to fully focus on releasing Nova Launcher as an open source app.
The community deserves this more than anything, since that was something that Kevin was very adamant about when he allowed Branch to acquire Nova Launcher back in 2022. Plus, this is just something that Branch should do since it is something that has been promised.
There is currently a petition on Change.org to try and get Branch to do this as well. After only 3 days of it being posted to Change.org, it sits at almost 1,500 signatures, and that's with very little to no press coverage at this time, which is something that would be super useful to bring full attention to this situation. You can find the petition here:
change.org/p/make-nova-launche…
I ask that everyone who sees this post can share it with their followers as I would love to see Branch do the right thing and follow through with their promises that were made back in 2022 when they acquired Nova Launcher and release it fully as an open source app now that Kevin is no longer working for Branch and not involved in Nova Launcher.
I'm going to tag some folks below that I worked with at Branch in hopes of getting this post seen by as many folks there as possible.
#NovaLauncher #Nova #Branch #BranchMetrics #OpenSource #OpenSourceNova #Petition #Android #Apps #Google
Monday.
Despite the phone telling us rain will be coming, the mother-in-law looks at the sky, says she can't see any clouds, and decides to hang out laundry.
Next, a delivery person has clearly just come through a thunderstorm. This is obvious by the fact that they told us they came through a thunderstorm, with supplementary evidence including the fact they're dripping on the doorstep.
finally, she hears thunder in the distance. She decides it was probably something else.
I cannot fathom the sort of mindset this lady has some days. How many clear signs do you need that your nice, clean laundry will almost certainly be drenched shortly?
I took it in before my next work meeting.
A few minutes later, we had a torrential downpour. It's all but stopped, now, but there was enough to cause a re-wash if I hadn't.
Meta hires far-right influencer to help end 'Woke AI'
mashable.com/article/meta-ai-h…
Starbuck has built his reputation by going after companies and individuals embracing inclusivity.Chase DiBenedetto (Mashable)
Do my critically important, value-driven work supporting critical infrastructure and critical service delivery for which I receive an ungodly salary from a five year old laptop bogged down with bloat from IT so badly that it lags when scrolling web pages.
Do my fucking around building stupid shit nobody will ever use and playing stupid games on one of the fastest consumer-oriented desktop specs available.
I'll always find this funny.
Kyberpunková swingers party přináší čtyři delší povídky a v nich očekávatelný děj, jaký si kterýkoli čtenář série s doktorem Koskem nejspíš umí dobře představit.marek (Audiolibrix s.r.o.)
After over 20 years of only buying HP printers (because they work well in Linux) I finally got fed up by their anti-customer policies, their hard push against third parties, their heavily-overpriced, privacy violating ink cartridges and the planned obsolescence.
While not perfect, most certainly a lot better, so I ordered a Brother MFC-J5740DW. Reviews are pretty good, it does duplex, scan to cifs and works with Linux. Looking forward to it, shall write a small "review" in some days..
I have a different brother laser printer here and it generally does pretty well for a few years by now. 👍
(Like, I think the highest praise for a piece of tech you can give is: "Yeah it works, I don't think about it" :D)
@Bubu Yeah, I've read pretty good things about them, I am looking forward to it!
And it has two paper trays, that's a nice upgrade from the current one.
@Bubu
> Yeah it works, I don't think about it
Same here. Bought one of the cheaper brother laser printers (black & white only, with a flatbed scanner), and it works perfect since … years.
JEWS, PLEASE READ THIS
NON-JEWS, PLEASE READ THIS!
Harvard experts warn Diaspora Jews are suffering from ‘traumatic invalidation’ after Oct. 7
"They call it traumatic invalidation, a condition first studied a decade ago for victims of other traumas such as sexual assault who are told it's their fault or they should get over it. For Jews, the same label should apply, the authors found, because it involves what they describe as a stunning mix of silence, denial, blame, gaslighting, whataboutism, and exclusion, such as documenting many cases of Jews being told their grief does not matter because of what's happening in Gaza"
youtube.com/watch?v=JX4dFaIEEw…
Transcript here:
thecjn.ca/news/harvard-experts…
#Podcast #Antisemitism #MentalHealth #Jews #Abuse
The two therapists' worrying study was published in an academic publication in May 2025.North Star (The Canadian Jewish News)
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Ik zat vanochtend net een halve poging te doen om dochterlief naar Linux te helpen. Haar leptop is stuk dus dit is een mooi moment voor verandering.
Maar eigenlijk weet ik niks van Linux. Net zo min als de dochter heb ik veel zin in systeembeheren.
Ik zou wel tips willen welke tweedehands laptop geschikt zou zijn voor een verse Linux-installatie waar een eh, normaal mens ook mee kan werken.
Ik draai al jaren Ubuntu op mijn desktop, en mijn ervaring is dat de hoeveelheid systeembeheren ongeveer net zo veel is als bij Windows. Met als voordeel bij Ubuntu dat iemand het al voor je heeft uitgezocht en je een paar commando's in de commandline plakt die het in orde maken.
Grootste issue zal de software zijn -- als je Windows-only programma's gebruikt dan is het wel echt pielen geblazen. Maar Firefox (en dus ook alles wat via een browser kan) gaat prima.
Question: Are there freely available #GeoJSON files out there for the boundaries of the provinces/states of various Central European nations?
I need them individually, i.e. one for "Bavaria" one for "Tyrol", and so forth.
Canada needs a real environmentalist party not just "conservatives who recycle" with a green label.
A new version of MapComplete is out on mapcomplete.org
It has:
- a brand new theme was created by @RLin about infrastructure. If you like power lines, pipelines, street cabinets, then this map will be for you: mapcomplete.org/infrastructure
- More support for offline use (and even more is in the pipeline)
- various bugfixes
MapComplete is a platform to visualize OpenStreetMap on a specific topic and to easily contribute data back to it.mapcomplete.org
1 October @oscl examines open source and data as the foundation for Digital Sovereignty. A great opportunity to engage with the open source community in Luxembourg!
Register here: conference.opensource.lu/
View the agenda here: conference.opensource.lu/agend…
Goodbye Stranger.
RIP
RIP Rick Davis
Supertramp remain one of my favourite bands.
bbc.com/news/articles/cp98zg2k…
He was behind some of the band's best-known hits including Bloody Well Right and Goodbye Stranger.Ian Youngs (BBC News)
I haven't really gotten into their whole catalog, but "Breakfast in America" is one of my favorites. "Goodbye Stranger" is a 10/10 song, and "Bloody Well Right" off "Crime of the Century" is a favorite of mine as well.
I loved singing along to that one as a kid, cause singing "bloody well right" felt like cursing, but didn't get me in trouble.
LibreOffice Certified Developers LibreOffice Certified Developers are individuals who have proven their ability to master LibreOffice code: to develop new features; provide L3 Support to enterprise users; research and develop solutions to new or unkn…www.documentfoundation.org
Watch the official music video for Boulevard Of Broken Dreams by Green Day from the album American Idiot.🔔 Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com...YouTube
Berlin, 8 September 2025 – The Document Foundation announces the release of LibreOffice 25.2.6, the sixth maintenance release of the LibreOffice 25.2 family, available for download at www.libreoffice.org/download [1]. LibreOffice 25.2.Italo Vignoli (The Document Foundation)
Changes in September temperatures in the #Arctic by decade. The largest warming is co-located with areas of melting sea ice, such as the along the Eurasian coast.
Data from doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7
ERA5 is the fifth generation ECMWF reanalysis for the global climate and weather for the past 8 decades. Data is available from 1940 onwards. ERA5 replaces the ERA-Interim reanalysis.doi.org
John-Mark Gurney
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