(2) Paris’s plan to ditch ACs and expand urban cooling system • FRANCE 24 English – YouTube

Around the world, record-shattering temperatures are feeding demand for air conditioning. 135 million individual ACs are sold every year, a figure set to triple by 2050 according to the International Energy Agency. This rush to cool air could in turn become a major driver of electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In Paris, a little-known network of underground water pipes aims to cool down buildings, without resorting to polluting AC units.

La più difficile da trattare | le pagine dei nostri libri

“Un ragazzo è, di tutte le bestie selvagge, la più difficile da trattare.”

                Platone

 

Platone (Atene 428 o 427 a. C. – Atene 348 o 347) è stato un filosofo, scrittore e politico greco antico. Considerato uno dei personaggi più influenti della storia, insieme al suo maestro Socrate ed al suo allievo Aristotele, ha posto le basi del pensiero filosofico occidentale.

Source: La più difficile da trattare | le pagine dei nostri libri

Open Thread | Former Vice President Dick Cheney Will Be Voting For Vice President Harris | 3CHICSPOLITICO


Liz Cheney on ABC yesterday:

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) posted at 8:16 AM on Sun, Sep 08, 2024:

Liz Cheney on ABC: “I’ve been voting for 40 years. My first vote was for Ronald Reagan in 1984. I’ve never voted for a Democrat. It tells you the stakes in this election. Donald Trump presents a challenge and threat fundamentally to the republic. We see it on a daily basis. Somebody who was willing to use violence in order to attempt to seize power, to stay in power … we have to do everything possible to ensure he’s not reelected. Given how close this race is, in my view it’s not enough — you have many Republicans out there who are saying, ‘Well, we’re not gonna vote for him but we’ll write someone else in’ — I think this time around that’s not enough, that it’s important to actually cast a vote for Vice President Harris.”

https://t.co/gTV5iTOe5q
(https://x.com/atrupar/status/1832769943005167920?t=Zy8rBP8m-oBwBY2-UD21cQ&s=03)

Source: Open Thread | Former Vice President Dick Cheney Will Be Voting For Vice President Harris | 3CHICSPOLITICO

For Your Enjoyment | Dawn Pisturino’s Blog

(Unpublished poem – Created on Canva by Dawn Pisturino)

When I checked last night, Haiku for the Midnight Hour was still holding its own at in Amazon Hot New Releases in Japanese Poetry & Haiku. The book faced some tough competition. I was happy and excited when it reached Amazon New Release status in three categories for a couple of days.

Sonnet to the Moon

Somehow, I always miss the yellow moon

That shines somewhere at the end of summer.

I see the stars on their velvet bed, soon

To be lost to the milky-white winter,

But Moon, I only see thee in autumn,

When the air is sweet and pungent with Death.

Then my senses ‘waken from their doldrum,

And I long to cling, with icy-white breath,

To thy big, round fulness frozen brightly

In the eastern sky. Then I want to touch

Thy silky-smooth face gazing down nightly;

I want to raise my open hands and clutch

The silvery-white glow falling softly,

Like a satin gown, all around thee.

from Ariel’s Song: Published Poems, 1987 – 2023

~

Owls

owls hoot-hoot in tree

an old autumn lullaby

babies fast asleep

Autumn Wind

bustling wind across
cemetery blows flowers
into open grave

from Lunar Gazing Haiku

~

Goldilocks

goldilocks moved in

kicked the bears from their bedrooms

and locked the front door

Jack and the Giant

jack climbed the beanstalk

with curious intention

a giant backlash

from Haiku for the Midnight Hour

~

September Haiku

september — autumn

gold returns, nights grow cooler,

harvest labor done

Electric Wait

plug the car in and

wait. . . wait. . . wait. . . for many hours

to get out of town

Source: For Your Enjoyment | Dawn Pisturino’s Blog

Washington Post: Behind the Russian Effort to Sow Division in the U.S. | Diane Ravitch’s blog

The Russian government’s covert efforts to sway the 2024 presidential election are more advanced than in recent years, and the most active foreign threat this political season, U.S. intelligence officials said Friday.

Russia’s activities “are more sophisticated than in prior election cycles,” said a senior official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in a briefing with reporters, noting the use of “authentic U.S. voices” to “launder” Russian government propaganda and spread socially divisive narratives through major social media, as well as on sham websites that pose as legitimate American media organizations.

Moscow is targeting U.S. swing states in particular, the official said, and using artificial intelligence to more quickly and convincingly create fake content to shape the outcome in favor of former president Donald Trump.

That is “consistent with Moscow’s broader foreign policy goals of weakening the United States and undermining Washington’s support for Ukraine,” the ODNI official said, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the agency….

This week, the U.S. government announced a sweeping set of actions to counter Russian influence campaigns, including an indictment of two Russian employees of the state-run news site RT for allegedly paying an American media company to spread English-language videos on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and X.

Prosecutors also seized 32 Russian-controlled internet domains that were used in a state-led influence effort called “Doppelganger” to undermine international support for Ukraine. In addition, the Treasury and State departments announced sanctions on Russian individuals and entities that are accused of disseminating propaganda.

RT has cultivated networks to disseminate narratives friendly to Moscow, while trying to mask the content as authentic Americans’ free speech, ODNI said in an election security update Friday.

Two things place “Russia at the top of the list” of foreign governments seeking to influence the election, the ODNI official said. “They’re fairly robust and quite practiced at doing this type of activity. Also the scope and the scale of their activities are quite significant.”

“Russia is working up- and down-ballot races,” the official said. They are using artificial intelligence “to more quickly and convincingly create synthetic content” and influence-for-hire firms that leverage marketing, public relations and other expertise to complicate attribution. 

Source: Washington Post: Behind the Russian Effort to Sow Division in the U.S. | Diane Ravitch’s blog

Masks again in use as West Virginia endures latest surge of COVID-19 | West Virginia Business News | wvnews.com

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — A full year after the federal government called an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States still sees yearly spikes in infection rates each summer.

West Virginia hospitals have implemented protective procedures to ensure the safety of hospital staff and patients amid this year’s surge in cases, including the reintroduction of masks for units that see outbreaks…

Source: Masks again in use as West Virginia endures latest surge of COVID-19 | West Virginia Business News | wvnews.com