'Good riddance,' China says as Germany leaves UN Security Council
The Virus Isn’t Changing Us, It’s Speeding Up What Was Already Happening
“There are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen,” Vladimir Lenin supposedly observed. It can sound profound and ominous when you read it the first time, but when three books on the coronavirus crisis all quote the same line, it reflects something between an intellectual consensus and a lack of imagination. Still, in the authors’ telling, the crisis didn’t just compress decades of history into 2020; it was also decades in the making.” – Washington Post
Infrared Images Capture the Mass Destruction of the Amazon Rainforest Vice
Winter Storm Gail wallops NYC New York Post and Snow storm heads toward the Northeast CNN
The AI Girlfriend Seducing China’s Lonely MenSixth Tone
Seven presents that say ‘You’re dumped‘ Daily Mash
Man Is Jailed After Taking Jet Ski Across Irish Sea to See Girlfriend New York Times
Unique prediction of ‘modified gravity’ challenges dark matter theory PhysOrg
The Desperate Last Days of Local News New Republic
The story of Duffel Blog (and why we moved to an email newsletter) Duffel Blog (BC). In the third para. Looks like the author is so cowed he won’t call out FB directly with respect to Duffel Blog:
But this year has been awful. Everyone has had a rough time…Because sometimes (or often) Facebook throttled their content and only served it to a small audience even though those properties worked hard to grow those audiences of loyal readers.
“Everyone Is Tired of Always Staying Silent”: Inside a Worker Rebellion in the Central Valley Mother Jones
It’s Been Six Months, And Australian Arts Organizations Still Haven’t Gotten Any Rescue Fund Money
“The $250m rescue package to arts and cultural organisations affected by Covid was announced in June, … [yet] in October it emerged in budget estimates that still no emergency funding had been disbursed.” Now the government says that some money has been designated for specific organizations, but those groups say no cash has actually arrived. – The Guardian
Performers Angry As One Of Australia’s Fringe Festivals Adds Non-Disparagement ‘Gag Order’ To Contracts
“Perth’s Fringe World, which opens on 15 January, attracted criticism and protests earlier this year over its longstanding sponsorship by fossil fuel giant Woodside. In a bid to head off disruption of next month’s event, the organisers – not-for-profit company Artrage – have included in the festival’s main contract the stipulation that ‘the presenter and the venue operator must use its best endeavours to not do any act or omit to do any act that would prejudice any of Fringe World’s sponsorship arrangements’. … [Performers] said the clause effectively amounted to a gag order, curtailing comment on anything from climate change to local politics.” – The Guardian