Linkage

This report provides an assessment of how well public transport is accounted for in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

We can reduce urban emissions and decarbonise people’s daily mobility faster, more reliably and affordably with public transport and active mobility.

Society will benefit from every increase in modal share to public transport, through fewer road fatalities and injuries, more inclusive access to opportunities, reduced congestion, improved air quality and freeing up space in our cities.

The first Global Stocktake (GST) shows we are off track, but what national policies and measures are already in place in NDCs and what are the opportunities for more climate action with public transport over this critical decade?

This report identifies a range of options for more ambitious NDCs, which can form the basis of an outline policy template for public transport and active mobility. Building capacity to support its adoption and implementation can provide the strong foundation necessary to progressively and effectively enhance climate ambition.

This is just staggering.

Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Deborah Di Natale says homelessness has changed dramatically across the country, and families living rough like this in Bendigo are not uncommon.

“What we used to see before was mainly single people,” she says.

“But the trend that is emerging is that we’re seeing families setting up tents in the bush because there is simply nowhere left for them to go.”

As the weather warms up, there’s another pressing concern for these families.

Fire.

“It’s really alarming that some Victorians find themselves sleeping rough in bushland during what’s tipped to be a hot, dry summer,” Sarah Toohey, from the Community Housing Industry Association Victoria, says.

Sorbonne University's open science policy is reflected in its firm stance in negotiations with commercial publishers, its strong support for the HAL open archive and its encouragement of open access to research data. As it is developing open access to publications and research results and enabling its academic  community to regain control over  the results of their own work and opening up science to society, promoting open research information about its publications and scientific output is a priority.

Sorbonne University has therefore decided to discontinue its subscription to the Web of Science database and Clarivate's bibliometric tools in 2024. Furthermore, Sorbonne University has decided to redirect its efforts towards the exploration of open, free and participative tools. This decision is in line with the University’s overall policy of openness, and it is now working to consolidate a sustainable, international alternative, in particular by using OpenAlex.

A partnership agreement will soon be signed between Sorbonne University and OpenAlex to formalize their mutual contributions and commitments to improve the quality of data relating to Sorbonne University and to support developments that will meet the needs of its community, and thus the international research community.

Sorbonne University's choices are in line with those of Leiden's CWTS (The Centre for Science and Technology Studies), which has announced that it is making the openness of research information a priority, and is currently working on a fully transparent and reproducible version of its rankings, based on open data from CrossRef and OpenAlex.

 The ancient Library of Alexandria aimed to create a universal collection of scholarship, indexed using the first library catalog, the Pinakes. We're working toward that same goal, but making it completely open:

• Our data is free and reusable, available via bulk download or API,
• our code is fully open-source, and
• we're governed by a sustainable and transparent nonprofit.

We believe the global research system is one of humankind's most beautiful creations. OpenAlex aims to make that whole beautiful creation available to everyone, everywhere. 

"What is the message we are sending Palestinians if we cannot unite behind a call to halt the relentless bombardment of Gaza?" Deputy UAE U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab asked the council. "Indeed, what is the message we are sending civilians across the world who may find themselves in similar situations?"

[…] 

Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood told the council that the draft resolution was a rushed, imbalanced text "that was divorced from reality, that would not move the needle forward on the ground in any concrete way."

"We do not support this resolution's call for an unsustainable ceasefire that will only plant the seeds for the next war," said Wood.

The U.S. had offered substantial amendments to the draft, including a condemnation of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that Israel says killed 1,200 people and in which 240 people were taken hostage.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said her country abstained because there was no condemnation of Hamas.

"Israel needs to be able to address the threat posed by Hamas and it needs to do so in a manner that abides by international humanitarian law so that such an attack can never be carried out again," she told the council.

Public lecture on 21 November 2023 by Prof Carl Bergstrom from The University of Washington. This lecture was part of the AIMOS 2023 conference (http://aimosconference.com/).

When we started TinEye, we had a simple vision: help users search using images. Today, we are delivering image search solutions to a wide range of businesses where image search is mission critical.

The electric transport revolution is a great chance to rethink how we move through our cities – and whether we even need a car at all.

Cars, after all, often have only one occupant. You’re expending a lot of energy to transport yourself.

By contrast, electric mopeds and bikes use a lot less energy to transport one or two people. They’re also a lot cheaper to buy and run than electric cars.

If you commute on an e-bike 20km a day, five days a week, your charging cost would be about $20 – annually.

 Sen. Bernie Sanders was the lone member of the Senate Democratic caucus to oppose advancing a $110.5 billion supplemental foreign aid measure on Wednesday, expressing opposition to the bill's unconditional military assistance for the Israeli government.

"I voted NO on the foreign aid supplemental bill today for one reason," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. "I do not believe that we should give the right-wing extremist Netanyahu government an additional $10.1 billion with no strings attached to continue their inhumane war against the Palestinian people."

"Israel has the absolute right to defend itself against the Hamas terrorists who attacked them on October 7," Sanders added. "They do not have the legal or moral right to kill thousands of innocent Palestinian men, women, and children." 

“You have to go the way your blood beats,” James Baldwin said in an interview. “If you don’t live the only life you have, you won’t live some other life, you won’t live any life at all.” Belatedly, I’m coming to grips with this. My attempts to cope with gender dissonance have consumed much of my life, taking hours away from each day, isolating me from loved ones, alienating me from my body, leading to bouts of depression, ideations of suicide, and alcohol abuse. It doesn’t go away. In middle age, I’m forced to recognize that nothing short of being who I am will resolve my profound inner conflict. The word “transition” is terrifying but, however catastrophic the process of coming out may be, I’ll not be much good to those I love if I’m burned out, incapacitated, or dead.

Knowledge is power. If I had simply known more, I would have been spared some suffering. The idea that I’ve been converted by the “gender cult” is preposterous. My starting point was my own experience, going back years before I could even articulate it. I simply was what I now call “transgender.” My brain and flesh and bones told me so. And peace could never be mine until I had uncovered its nature and found a way to live with it.

The many bills trying to prevent youth from learning about trans identity trouble me deeply. They seek to condemn another generation to the deathly dysphoria that has burdened me in the belief that people like me are misbegotten or perverted, and that state-imposed ignorance can prevent children from turning out like us.