All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

For Muscogee (Creek) Tribe in Oklahoma, at Long Last Vindication

After decades of betrayals and broken treaties, the Supreme Court ruled that much of Oklahoma is their land, after all.

Senator John Cornyn Claims He Doesn’t Know If Kids Can Get And Transmit COVID-19 | HuffPost

At least one minor has died in Texas after testing positive for the coronavirus.

data shows that at least 550 children in Texas age 9 and under ― 99 of whom are infants under 1 year old ― have contracted COVID-19. Another 1,172 Texans between the ages of 10 and 19 have contracted the disease, and more than 1,300 coronavirus cases have been linked back to child care facilities in the state. Texas’ compilation of completed case investigations does not list any COVID-19 fatalities for minors, but county officials say 17-year-old Jameela Dirrean Emoni Barber died in Lancaster, Texas, in April after testing positive for the virus.

Source: Senator John Cornyn Claims He Doesn’t Know If Kids Can Get And Transmit COVID-19 | HuffPost

Tyson Bets On Robots To Tackle Meat Industry’s Worker Shortage

Meat consumption needs to go way down but this could protect many workers – but will cut employment too. Eat more plants!

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At Tyson’s 26,000-square-foot, multi-million dollar Manufacturing Automation Center near its headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, the company will apply the latest advances in machine learning to meat manufacturing, with the goal of eventually eliminating jobs that can be physically demanding, highly repetitive and at times dangerous. Bloomberg reports: Advances in technology are making it possible to make strides in automation. For example, machine vision is now accurate and speedy enough to apply to meat production, which is highly labor intensive compared with other food manufacturing. Also, a lot of washing and sanitizing occurs in a meat-packing plant, which has traditionally been difficult on robots, but now the machines are built to withstand that. At Tyson’s new facility, a series of laboratories showcase different types of robots. Mechanical arms in glass cases use smart cameras to sort colorful objects or stack items. In another room, a larger machine called a palletizer performs stacking tasks. There’s also a training space.

Many of the types of robots that a meatpacking plant would need are not on the market currently, so the company needs to innovate and collaborate with partners to create them, said Doug Foreman, a director in engineering at Tyson. But the technology is ready. The processing capabilities of cameras are “so advanced even from a few years ago,” Foreman said. “Processing-speed-wise, it’s there now for us.”

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Read more of this story at Slashdot.

bellingcat – Migrants From Another World: Introduction To The Project – bellingcat

Migrants have Facebook and WhatsApp on their phones, and they can report what happens to them along the way. They span networks by nationality, like the one Malians and Senegalese have been building in Brazil and Argentina since the late 1990s. In chat groups, those who have already made it through put them in contact with some migrant protectors — like Luis Guerrero Araya, whom I met in La Cruz, Costa Rica — and they can let others know if there are problems ahead.

Once some find soil to put down roots, they call the others, and those call others. This is what humanity has always done: migrate in clusters.

This long journey is also possible because, although migrants are unwelcome almost everywhere, their money is always welcomed. It flows easily from accounts in Karachi, Pakistan and Douala, Cameroon to Cruzeiro Oeste and Sao Paulo, Brasil or to Apartadó, Colombia, it crosses all borders with very little paperwork, through multiple international instant money transfer services like Western Union or MoneyGram, which are often mentioned.

 

Source: bellingcat – Migrants From Another World: Introduction To The Project – bellingcat

Unemployed New Yorkers Brace For End Of $600 Weekly Federal Help – Gothamist – (US Senate locked down by Mitch McConnell)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declaring as far back as May that program will not be included in another potential stimulus bill to help struggling businesses. McConnell argued that such a program de-incentivizes people to return to work. Congress will be in session on July 20th, but plans to wrap up in August.

Source: Unemployed New Yorkers Brace For End Of $600 Weekly Federal Help – Gothamist