Mitch's Blog

ME: “Get out of the way so I can get an artsy photo of those rocks.” DOG: (gets out of the way … eventually)

While walking the dog this morning, we saw this excruciatingly artistically arranged bicycle and other objects.

Mandela Goes From Hero to Scapegoat as South Africa Struggles. “Nelson Mandela is revered worldwide…. But at home, a younger generation is disillusioned with the country, his party and the anti-apartheid leader, too.” nytimes.com

Rands in Repose reviews Bear 2.0. Don’t tempt me! randsinrepose.com/archives/…

On covid, California’s supreme court just said the quiet part out loud ko-fi.com/post/On-c…

Robert Kuciemba, a woodworker in San Francisco, was infected by covid in 2020 after his company, Victory Woodworks, based in Nevada, transferred sick workers to the San Francisco site for a few months.

Nate Bear writes:

Through the proceedings of the case it turns out that the employer knew some employees might be sick but they transferred them anyway and ignored a San Francisco ordinance in place at the time to quarantine suspected covid cases.

Kuciemba was subsequently infected and he then infected his wife, who ended up in ICU on a ventilator.

The California Supreme Court just ruled against Kuciemba on the basis that a victory, while, in the court’s words, “morally” the right thing to do, would create “dire financial consequences for employers” and cause a “dramatic expansion of liability” to stop the spread of covid.

… the court agreed that there is no doubt the company had ignored the San Francisco health ordinance. In other words, they accepted the company had broken the law. And then concluded “yeah, but, capitalism.”

…

This ruling essentially helps codify workplace mass infection and justifies it as necessary for the smooth functioning of capitalism.

Privatized profit, socialized loss. Companies get to reap the financial benefit of spreading infection, and the cost of that infection is borne by employees and taxpayers.

Via www.ianwelsh.net

ChatGPT makes bad writers good and good writers better, according to a study. www.technologyreview.com/2023/07/1…

I make very little use of ChatGPT in my own work. However, I rely on two other AI products: Otter.ai for transcription and Grammarly for grammar, punctuation and tightening up verbiage.

There Will Never Be Another Second Life. (Wagner James Au / The Atlantic) The OG metaverse found a niche where it has been able to thrive for 20 years.

Texas ranks dead last in livability, and Florida is in the bottom 10 of the 50 states, due to poor healthcare, education standards and culture wars. Texas has the highest percentage of people living without health insurance, the state has the 13th highest violent crime rate, and is in the bottom third of US states for licensed childcare facilities per capita.

And Texas is targeting LGBTQ residents for persecution and restricting voting and reproductive rights.

boingboing.net/2023/07/1…

RFK Jr bares his inner Nazi boingboing.net/2023/07/1…

Chick Tracts (99% Invisible). Jack Chick was the Leni Riefenstahl of comics. Chick devoted his life to using comics to witness to non-Christians. His gorgeous, kitschy art, combined with messaging that was often homophobic and Islamophobic, makes the tiny comics simultaneously masterpieces of pop culture and terrible hate speech.

Study: Cities with Expensive Housing Have Highest Rates of Homelessness timesofsandiego.com/business/…

I’m trying to swear less, but I’ve got to say “no shit Sherlock.”

Do kids in New York still play stickball, skelly, and hopscotch? Or has that gone the way of rolling a hoop with a stick?

Plausible Sentence Generators. Cory Doctorow finds an AI chatbot is an excellent tool for helping to draft scary threatening lawyer letters.

Louis Vuitton is fighting a trademark application by a maker of garden tools because the fashion company claims it’s trademarked the letters L and V. (Techdirt)

No Relief: Temps Reach 122 Degrees as Heat Bakes Mexicali, Border Communities (Reuters / Times of San Diego)

Tiny Awards, a celebration of the small, playful, and heartfelt web (waxy.org)

Elon is paying far-right influencers, including Andrew Tate, to post on Twitter (Taylor Lorenz / The Washington Post). Paying a guy who was charged with rape and human trafficking seems like not the best way to make your service attractive to advertisers.

More than 100 people were stuck at Agatha Christie’s house for seven hours _(Devon Live) And then there were 99….