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ReHacked vol. 233: Americas richest 10% is responsible for 40% of its planet heating pollution, TikTok fined €345m for breaking EU data law on children’s accounts, Fireball over Iceland and more

<...> students need more textbooks. Physical books are important for student learning. --L.Edholm
ReHacked vol. 233: Americas richest 10% is responsible for 40% of its planet heating pollution, TikTok fined €345m for breaking EU data law on children’s accounts, Fireball over Iceland and more
Fireball over Iceland Image Credit & Copyright: Jennifer Franklin

Income-based U.S. household carbon footprints (1990–2019) offer new insights on emissions inequality and climate finance | PLOS Climate #nature #environment #climate

In 2019, fully 40% of total U.S. emissions were associated with income flows to the highest earning 10% of households. Among the highest earning 1% of households (whose income is linked to 15–17% of national emissions) investment holdings account for 38–43% of their emissions. Even when allowing for a considerable range of investment strategies, passive income accruing to this group is a major factor shaping the U.S. emissions distribution. Results suggest an alternative income or shareholder-based carbon tax, focused on investments, may have equity advantages over traditional consumer-facing cap-and-trade or carbon tax options and be a useful policy tool to encourage decarbonization while raising revenue for climate finance.


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APOD: 2023 September 16 - Fireball over Iceland #space #nature

On September 12, from a location just south of the Arctic Circle, stones of Iceland's modern Arctic Henge point skyward in this startling scene. Entertaining an intrepid group of aurora hunters during a geomagnetic storm, alluring northern lights dance across the darkened sky when a stunning fireball meteor explodes. Awestruck, the camera-equipped skygazers captured video and still images of the boreal bolide, at its peak about as bright as a full moon. Though quickly fading from view, the fireball left a lingering visible trail or persistent train. The wraith-like trail was seen for minutes wafting in the upper atmosphere at altitudes of 60 to 90 kilometers along with the auroral glow.


TikTok fined €345m for breaking EU data law on children’s accounts | TikTok | The Guardian #privacy

TikTok has been fined €345m (£296m) for breaking EU data law in its handling of children’s accounts, including failing to shield underage users’ content from public view.

The Irish data watchdog, which regulates TikTok across the EU, said the Chinese-owned video app had committed multiple breaches of GDPR rules.


The Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection #copyrights #learning #resources #audiobooks

Project Gutenberg, Microsoft, and MIT have worked together to create thousands of free and open audiobooks using new neural text-to-speech technology and Project Gutenberg's large open-access collection of e-books. This proAAject aims to make literature more accessible to (audio)book-lovers everywhere and democratize access to high quality audiobooks. Whether you are learning to read, looking for inclusive reading technology, or about to head out on a long drive, we hope you enjoy this audiobook collection.


The Relativity of Wrong by Isaac Asimov #philosophy #longread

My answer to him was, "John, when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."

The basic trouble, you see, is that people think that "right" and "wrong" are absolute; that everything that isn't perfectly and completely right is totally and equally wrong.


Sweden brings more books and handwriting practice back to its tech-heavy schools | AP News #learning #technology

As young children went back to school across Sweden last month, many of their teachers were putting a new emphasis on printed books, quiet reading time and handwriting practice and devoting less time to tablets, independent online research and keyboarding skills.

The return to more traditional ways of learning is a response to politicians and experts questioning whether the country’s hyper-digitalized approach to education, including the introduction of tablets in nursery schools, had led to a decline in basic skills.

Swedish Minister for Schools Lotta Edholm, who took office 11 months ago as part of a new center-right coalition government, was one of the biggest critics of the all-out embrace of technology.

“Sweden’s students need more textbooks,” Edholm said in March. “Physical books are important for student learning.”


From zero to one hundred in 0.956 seconds | ETH Zurich #engineering #automotive

Stu­dents from ETH Zurich and Lu­cerne Uni­ver­sity of Ap­plied Sci­ences and Arts have broken the pre­vi­ous world re­cord for ac­cel­er­a­tion with their hand-​built elec­tric ra­cing car, mythen. The vehicle ac­cel­er­ated from zero to 100 km/h in 0.956 seconds over a dis­tance of 12.3 metres.


A youtube-dl fork with additional features and fixes #software


Japan launches rocket carrying lunar lander and X-ray telescope to explore origins of universe #space

Japan launched a rocket Thursday carrying an X-ray telescope that will explore the origins of the universe as well as a small lunar lander.

The launch of the HII-A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan was shown on live video by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, known as JAXA.


Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads. Here's what you need to know #privacy #internet

If you don’t want your online activities to be tracked for advertising purposes, there are a few straightforward choices.

By far the most private browsers are specialist non-tracking browsers that prioritise no tracking, such as DuckDuckGo and Brave. But if you don’t want to get that nerdy, Safari and Firefox already have third-party cookies blocked by default.


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