#Human resource manager California

[evmarkio]

Streamline Your Payroll with the Best Online Payroll Services for Small Business

Looking for the best payroll providers for small businesses? Simplify your payroll management with the best online payroll services for small business at Evmark.io.

Managing payroll can be a daunting task for small business owners. Ensuring that all employees are paid accurately and on time while complying with tax regulations is crucial, but it can also be time-consuming and complex. This is where online payroll services come in handy. At Evmark, we provide the best online payroll services for small businesses, simplifying payroll management and allowing you to focus on growing your business.

Why Choose Online Payroll Services?

Online payroll services offer a range of benefits for small businesses, making them an essential tool for efficient business operations. Here are some reasons why you should consider using online payroll services:

Time-Saving: Automating payroll processes saves significant time, reducing the burden on your administrative staff and allowing them to focus on other critical tasks.

Accuracy: Online payroll services minimize the risk of errors in calculations and tax filings, ensuring your employees are paid correctly and on time.

Compliance: Staying compliant with federal and state payroll regulations can be challenging. Online payroll services keep you up-to-date with the latest laws and ensure your business meets all compliance requirements.

Accessibility: With online payroll services, you can manage your payroll from anywhere, at any time. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for small business owners who are always on the go.

Cost-Effective: Outsourcing payroll can be more cost-effective than hiring in-house staff to handle payroll tasks, especially for small businesses with limited resources.

Features of the Best Online Payroll Services

When choosing an online payroll service provider, it's essential to look for specific features that cater to the unique needs of small businesses. Here are some key features offered by Evmark's online payroll services:

Automated Payroll Processing: Our system automates the entire payroll process, from calculating wages and taxes to generating paychecks and direct deposits.

Tax Management: We handle all aspects of tax management, including calculating payroll taxes, filing tax returns, and managing tax payments. This ensures compliance and reduces the risk of penalties.

Employee Self-Service Portal: Our user-friendly portal allows employees to access their pay stubs, tax forms, and personal information, reducing the administrative burden on your HR team.

Customizable Payroll Reports: Generate detailed payroll reports to gain insights into your payroll expenses, employee compensation, and tax liabilities. These reports are customizable to meet your specific business needs.

Direct Deposit and Check Printing: Offer your employees the convenience of direct deposit or printed paychecks. Our system supports both options to accommodate your preferences.

Integration with Accounting Software: Seamlessly integrate our payroll services with your existing accounting software for streamlined financial management.

Why Evmark is the Best Choice for Small Business Payroll Services

At Evmark, we understand the unique challenges faced by small businesses when it comes to payroll management. Our online payroll services are designed to simplify the process, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and efficiency. Here’s why Evmark stands out as the best payroll provider for small businesses:

Expertise: With years of experience in payroll management, our team of experts is well-versed in the complexities of payroll processing and compliance.

Personalized Support: We offer personalized support to our clients, ensuring that you receive the assistance you need when you need it. Our dedicated customer service team is always ready to help.

Affordable Pricing: We offer competitive pricing plans tailored to the needs of small businesses, making our services accessible without compromising on quality.

Scalable Solutions: As your business grows, our payroll services can scale with you, ensuring that your payroll management remains efficient and effective.

User-Friendly Interface: Our intuitive platform is easy to use, allowing you to manage your payroll with minimal training and effort.

Conclusion

Efficient payroll management is crucial for the success of any small business. By choosing Evmark's online payroll services, you can streamline your payroll processes, ensure compliance, and focus on what matters most – growing your business. Explore the benefits of our online payroll services today and see why we are the best payroll provider for small businesses.

Simplify your payroll management with the best online payroll services for small business at Evmark. Visit Evmark.io to learn more and get started today!

Location: 25101 The Old Rd #155, Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381

Phone: (747) 444-0449

[modernhr]

7 Steps to Becoming a Pet-Friendly Workplace

People love their pets, and they love being allowed to bring their pets to work! When someone brings their pet to work, their stress levels drop right away. Petting a cat or dog, playing with them, feeding them or taking them for a walk can induce a sense of well-being. Additionally, pet guardians love to talk about their pets, and this can help employees to socialize with each other. Even people who don’t have pets can get the benefit of petting or playing with a pet in a pet-friendly workplace.

The disadvantage of a pet-friendly workplace is that it can get dirty pretty quickly. Pets might track in mud, leave a lot of hair on the furniture, relieve themselves in places where they’re not supposed to etc. Plus, if you have staff members who are allergic to pets, then a pet-friendly workplace might not work for them.

Making Your Workplace Pet-Friendly

If you want to become a pet-friendly workplace, make sure that everyone who brings their pets to works understands the rules.

Noise Level: Make sure everyone knows not to bring very loud and aggressive dogs to the workplace as this will disturb everybody.

Potty Training: You can make it a rule to bring only potty-trained dogs and cats to the workplace to make sure that they don’t relieve themselves where they’re not supposed to.

Separate Areas for Pets: Consider separating the office into two areas—one in which pets are allowed and one in which pets are not allowed. This way, people who are allergic to pets can sit in the pet-free area.

Dogs vs. Cats: If you’re going to allow both, dogs and cats, into the workplace, then you might also need to separate the office into a dog area and a cat area, unless the dogs and cats in question are able to get along.

Pledges/Applications: The Washington Post also suggests that you get pet guardians to sign a pet pledge or application to indicate that they’ll follow the rules surrounding pets in the workplace. This can get rid of liability issues.

Walking Dogs: It’s also important to make sure that there’s somewhere where dog guardians can take their dogs for walks, close to the office.

Vaccinations: You’ll need to make sure that all pets have had their vaccinations, to make sure that they’re safe for people in the office to play with.

Once you’ve covered the basics, there are so many things you can do to create a pet-friendly workplace. Make sure you keep some pet food and pet toys. You can get scratching posts and cat litter for cats. Also keep some cleaning supplies on hand in case the pet ends up making a mess after all.

About Modern HR Modern HR works with many different industries all over the country. We are proud to say that we have been doing what we love for more than 34 years!

Modern HR brings clarity and simplification to the art of human resources, enhancing our Clients’ culture and allowing them to focus on business growth and prosperity.

Modern HR works with many different industries all over the country. We are proud to say that we have been doing what we love for more than 35 years! Our Services

SO MUCH TO DO, SO LITTLE TIME! sound familiar? This is a common theme that we hear frequently from all business owners. Whether it is payroll, benefits, recruiting or training, the administration of HR Outsourcing Los Angeles                                can take up a lot of your time and distract you from building your business. At Modern HR, it is our business to help you focus on your business. We can develop a customized package of Human Resources California that will meet the needs of everyone in your organization. We offer solutions to a wide variety of the day-to-day challenges you face.

Connected Workforce

Access real time metrics on your workforce and rapid access to the talent your company needs when time is of the essence

Customizable Workflow

CA Human Resource Management are designed around our client’s specific needs from sourcing through to human resources management.

Convenient Engagement

Reduce compliance risk and financial implications associated with leveraging multiple vendors.

[outsourcinghr]

Why Do You Need To Hire HR Consulting Firms California?

In a dynamic work culture, developing HR policies complying government norms and supporting business and employees rights could be a daunting task. One needs to have precise knowledge of updated regulations and industry conditions. But, while working on the other segments developing HR policies could be overwhelming, especially when it's a startup. Therefore, HR consulting firms California step into your shoes and craft HR policing serving as a guiding framework for management, stakeholders, employees and more. 

Here we have highlighted more reasons to choose an HR consulting services company for your business. 

Identify Your Business Needs: Embracing the HR policies development journey provides you with guidance for recruitment, onboarding, performance management, employee engagement, and more services, efficiently. 

Research Applicable Laws and Regulations: Professional HR consulting firm keeps your business up-to-date with the changing industry and market norms. 

Determine Policy Framework: Experts help businesses to decide the structure and layout of the policies that contain clarity and are easy to understand. Our Professionals defined policies include purpose, scope, responsibilities, procedures, and legal references. 

Customize Policies: HR consulting firms develop tailor-made policies that reflect business goals, cultures and more. We formulate such policies, you need expert guidance and ready-to-use templates. 

Regularly Review and Update: HR policies should not be static documents but must be modified with changing laws, regulations, and organizational needs. To understand the need of an hour, we help businesses to define their goals using a tailor-made human-centric approach.  

Communicate and Train: Once the HR policies are developed, on clients' demand we plan to introduce these policies to employees. Based on business or platform needs, we conduct training sessions and address employee issues. 

Get in touch with our experts now to match the specific details you want to highlight about the HR consulting firm in California.

[recentupdates]

Human Resource Management System: Streamline Your HR Operations

In today's fast-paced business environment, managing human resources efficiently is crucial for the success of any organization. Human Resource Management (HRM) plays a vital role in the effective functioning of a company. To simplify and automate various HR processes, many organizations opt for Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS). This article delves into the significance of HRMS, the benefits it offers, and the importance of payroll service providers and HR consulting services in California.

What is a Human Resource Management System (HRMS)?

A Human Resource Management System (HRMS) is a software solution designed to streamline and automate various HR functions within an organization. It acts as a central repository for employee data, enabling HR professionals to manage employee information, track performance, streamline recruitment, and ensure compliance with employment laws.

Benefits of Using an HRMS

Implementing an HRMS offers several benefits to organizations, including:

Streamlining Employee Data Management

With an HRMS, companies can efficiently manage employee data, including personal information, employment history, performance reviews, and training records. This centralization eliminates the need for manual record-keeping, reduces paperwork, and ensures data accuracy.

Enhancing Recruitment and Onboarding Processes

An HRMS simplifies the recruitment and onboarding processes by automating tasks such as job posting, applicant tracking, resume screening, and background checks. It enables HR teams to find the right candidates quickly and seamlessly onboard them, improving the overall efficiency of the hiring process.

Simplifying Time and Attendance Tracking

Tracking employee attendance, leaves, and work hours can be time-consuming. An HRMS simplifies this task by providing automated time and attendance tracking features. Employees can clock in and out electronically, and managers can easily monitor attendance records and generate accurate timesheets.

Managing Employee Benefits and Compensation

HRMS software streamlines the administration of employee benefits, such as health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off. It ensures accurate benefit calculations, automates enrollment processes, and enables employees to access their benefit information conveniently.

Ensuring Compliance with Employment Laws

Compliance with employment laws and regulations is crucial for every organization. An HRMS helps ensure adherence to legal requirements by automating compliance-related tasks, generating reports, and tracking important dates, such as contract renewals and performance evaluations.

Improving Performance Management and Training

An HRMS facilitates effective performance management by providing tools to set goals, track progress, and conduct performance evaluations. It also simplifies the training and development process by offering training modules, tracking employee training records, and identifying skill gaps.

Effective Succession Planning and Talent Management

Succession planning and talent management are essential for organizational continuity. An HRMS aids in identifying high-potential employees, tracking their career progression, and creating development plans. It ensures a smooth transition during leadership changes and nurtures talent within the organization.

Role of Payroll Service Providers in California

Payroll management is a critical aspect of HR operations. California businesses often seek the assistance of payroll service providers to handle payroll processing, tax compliance, and other related tasks. These providers have the expertise and knowledge to manage payroll efficiently, ensuring accurate and timely payment to employees.

The Advantages of Outsourcing Payroll Services

Outsourcing payroll services to specialized providers offers several advantages to California businesses:

Cost Savings: Outsourcing payroll eliminates the need for in-house payroll staff and associated infrastructure costs. It allows businesses to focus on core activities while reducing expenses.

Time Efficiency: Payroll service providers handle all payroll-related tasks, such as calculating wages, deductions, and taxes. This frees up HR professionals’ time, enabling them to concentrate on strategic HR functions.

Expertise and Compliance: Payroll service providers stay updated with the latest tax laws and regulations. By outsourcing payroll, businesses ensure compliance and minimize the risk of errors or penalties.

Data Security: Payroll service providers employ robust security measures to protect sensitive employee data, reducing the risk of data breaches or identity theft.

Scalability: Payroll service providers can easily accommodate changes in employee numbers, ensuring a seamless payroll process during periods of growth or downsizing.

HR Consulting Services in California: A Strategic Approach

Human Resource outsourcing consultant California offer specialized expertise and guidance to businesses in managing their human resources effectively. These services assist organizations in aligning HR practices with business objectives and implementing strategic HR initiatives.

Leveraging HR Consulting Services for Organizational Growth

By engaging HR consulting services, California businesses can experience the following benefits:

Strategic Planning: HR consultants help organizations develop HR strategies aligned with their long-term goals. They analyze workforce needs, assess skill gaps, and create plans to attract, develop, and retain talent.

Policy Development: HR consultants assist in developing comprehensive HR policies and procedures that comply with local and federal regulations. These policies promote fairness, inclusivity, and transparency within the organization.

Change Management: During periods of organizational change, such as mergers or restructuring, HR consultants provide guidance on managing the human aspect of change. They ensure smooth transitions, minimize resistance, and foster employee engagement.

Employee Engagement and Retention: HR consultants help create a positive work environment by implementing strategies to enhance employee engagement and satisfaction. This leads to increased productivity, reduced turnover, and improved organizational performance.

Training and Development: HR consultants identify skill gaps and design training programs to enhance employees’ capabilities. They provide guidance on implementing performance management systems and conducting effective employee assessments.

A Human Resource Management System (HRMS) is a powerful tool that enables organizations to streamline HR processes, enhance efficiency, and improve overall workforce management. Alongside HRMS, payroll service providers in California offer valuable assistance in managing payroll operations, ensuring accuracy and compliance. Additionally, HR consulting services play a pivotal role in aligning HR strategies with business objectives, nurturing employee engagement, and fostering organizational growth.

source: https://medium.com/@arinageorge123/human-resource-management-system-streamline-your-hr-operations-ef59222ae6cd

[nasa]

Moon Mountain Named After Melba Roy Mouton, NASA Mathematician

Award-winning NASA mathematician and computer programmer Melba Mouton is being honored with the naming of a mountain at the Moon’s South Pole. Mouton joined NASA in 1959, just a year after the space agency was established. She was the leader of a team that coded computer programs to calculate spacecraft trajectories and locations. Her contributions were instrumental to landing the first humans on the Moon.

She also led the group of "human computers," who tracked the Echo satellites. Roy and her team's computations helped produce the orbital element timetables by which millions could view the satellite from Earth as it passed overhead.

The towering lunar landmark now known as “Mons Mouton” stands at a height greater than 19,000 feet. The mountain was created over billions of years by lunar impacts. Huge craters lie around its base—some with cliff-like edges that descend into areas of permanent darkness. Mons Mouton is the future landing site of VIPER, our first robotic Moon rover. The rover will explore the Moon’s surface to help gain a better understanding of the origin of lunar water. Here are things to know:

Mons Mouton is a wide, relatively flat-topped mountain that stretches roughly 2,700 square miles

The mountain is the highest spot at the Moon’s South Pole and can be seen from Earth with a telescope

Our VIPER Moon rover will explore Mons Mouton over the course of its 100-day mission

VIPER will map potential resources which will help inform future landing sites under our Artemis program

The VIPER mission is managed by our Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The approximately 1,000-pound rover will be delivered to the Moon by a commercial vendor as part of our Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, delivering science and technology payloads to and near the Moon.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[mariacallous]

It’s almost that magical time of year that the Humane Society of America likens to a “natural disaster.” Kitten season.

“The level of emotions for months on end is so draining,” said Ann Dunn, director of Oakland Animal Services, a city-run shelter in the San Francisco Bay Area. “And every year we just know it’s going to get harder.”

Across the United States, summer is the height of “kitten season,” typically defined as the warm-weather months between spring and fall during which a cat becomes most fertile. For over a decade, animal shelters across the country have noted kitten season starting earlier and lasting longer. Some experts say the effects of climate change, such as milder winters and an earlier start to spring, may be to blame for the uptick in feline birth rates.

This past February, Dunn’s shelter held a clinic for spaying and neutering outdoor cats. Although kitten season in Northern California doesn’t typically kick off until May, organizers found that over half of the female cats were already pregnant. “It’s terrifying,” Dunn said. “It just keeps getting earlier and going later.”

Cats reproduce when females begin estrus, more commonly known as “going into heat,” during which hormones and behavior changes signal she’s ready to mate. Cats can go into heat several times a year, with each cycle lasting up to two weeks. But births typically go up between the months of April and October. While it’s well established that lengthening daylight triggers a cat’s estrus, the effect of rising temperatures on kitten season isn’t yet understood.

One theory is that milder winters may mean cats have the resources to begin mating sooner. “No animal is going to breed unless they can survive,” said Christopher Lepczyk, an ecologist at Auburn University and prominent researcher of free-ranging cats. Outdoor cats’ food supply may also be increasing, as some prey, such as small rodents, may have population booms in warmer weather themselves. Kittens may also be more likely to survive as winters become less harsh. “I would argue that temperature really matters,” he said.

Others, like Peter J. Wolf, a senior strategist at the Best Friends Animal Society, think the increase comes down to visibility rather than anything biological. As the weather warms, Wolf says, people may be getting out more and noticing kittens earlier in the year than before. Then they bring them into shelters, resulting in rescue groups feeling like kitten season is starting earlier.

Regardless of the exact mechanism, having a large number of feral cats around means trouble for more than just animal shelters. Cats are apex predators that can wreak havoc on local biodiversity. Research shows that outdoor cats on islands have already caused or contributed to the extinction of an estimated 33 species. Wild cats pose an outsized threat to birds, which make up half their diet. In Hawaii, known as a bird extinction capital of the world, cats are the most devastating predators of wildlife. “We know that cats are an invasive, environmental threat,” said Lepczyk, who has published papers proposing management policies for outdoor cats.

Scientists, conservationists, and cat advocates all agree that unchecked outdoor cat populations are a problem, but they remain deeply divided on solutions. While some conservationists propose the targeted killing of cats, known as culling, cat populations have been observed to bounce back quickly, and a single female cat and her offspring can produce at least 100 descendants, if not thousands, in just seven years.

Although sterilization protocols such as “trap, neuter, and release” are favored by many cat rescue organizations, Lepczyk said it’s almost impossible to do it effectively, in part because of how freely the animals roam and how quickly they procreate. Without homes or sanctuaries after sterilization, returning cats outside means they may have a low quality of life, spread disease, and continue to harm wildlife. “No matter what technique you use, if you don’t stop the flow of new cats into the landscape, it’s not gonna matter,” said Lepczyk.

Rescue shelters, already under strain from resource and veterinary shortages, are scrambling to confront their new reality. While some release materials to help the community identify when outdoor kittens need intervention, others focus on recruiting for foster volunteer programs, which become essential caring for kittens who need around-the-clock care.

“As the population continues to explode, how do we address all these little lives that need our help?” Dunn said. “We’re giving this everything we have.”

[kaibacorpintern]

tips and tricks on writing the kaibacorp environment

yes, this is pedantic. but more than that, YES i love small background details that lend a greater sense of accuracy and structure to a fictional world. this is not a complete or exhaustive list. (you are, of course, free to ignore and do whatever you want.)

Kaiba Corporation does not have "clients" - Kaiba doesn't do project work for hire; he's not an attorney or a consultant or an architect, he doesn't do billable hours. his meetings are most likely with his investors or business partners like Pegasus, with his board or c-suite executives (e.g., his chief technology officer, his chief legal officer, his chief human resources officer, etc.), various departmental meetings he might find interesting, and so on. Kaiba Corporation does have customers (the people who BUY the duel disk)/consumers (the people who USE the duel disk) but people who go to Kaiba Land will probably be referred to as visitors or guests. his primary responsibility, as the CEO of a publicly-traded corporation, is creating (financial) value for his shareholders and investors. (whether or not he gives a fuck about this responsibility is up to you.) .

Unless it's something he is responsible for, like quarterly earnings calls and shareholder calls, Kaiba doesn't have to finish or work on reports; he has very few deadlines he himself has to meet; he is not reviewing anything except the most important documents. Even then, as the CEO/president, someone is probably writing the most important documents FOR him and then handing it over for him to present or read off later - which he might revise/adjust as he likes. Kaiba's workdays most likely consist mainly of meetings where people report on how things are going to him, setting business strategy with the c-suite, meeting with the more heavy-hitting investors (for the drama: 'we will withdraw our investments unless you do X,') and writing a bajillion emails. .

Kaiba and Mokuba do not do any hiring or interviewing except for c-suite positions, because those are the people they work with most directly every day, and the people they most need to know are capable, qualified, and competent. they are way too busy to sit down with each one of the 38783 entry-level candidates Kaiba Corp combs through every day. for positions like their executive assistants or chief of staff, who might manage day-to-day schedules and do things like order lunch, an HR manager narrows the field to several qualified candidates and THEN Kaiba would make the final decision on who he wants to hire. .

No one is getting past the front desk at a place like Kaiba Corp without an appointment or a badge. Any given visitor X has to check in at the front desk - the front desk receptionist will look them up in the appointment register, give them a badge, and then let them through. For the c-suite level, or anywhere Kaiba takes his most important/official meetings (like his own office), there might be a second lobby/second desk controlling access. .

Some important dates on Kaiba's and Mokuba's calendars, when the pressure is on and they might be working much harder than usual (for the stress and the drama): - end of quarter/EOQ (4x a year) - end of fiscal year/EOFY. may not be aligned with calendar year - for example, the end of fiscal year might be march 30 - quarterly earnings call (4x a year) - yearly earnings call. Kaiba himself, or someone very high up, like a c-suite exec or a VP, will lead these calls - for things like duel disks, the months leading up to the holiday retail season (when they're preparing for greater demand on consumer product goods) and the holiday retail season itself - for things like Kaiba Land, the summer vacation season, but largely dependent on where their parks ARE (southern california when the weather is nice year-round? tokyo when you have colder weather in the winter and slightly lower attendance? etc.) .

VERY IMPORTANT: Kaiba has an office minifridge. imagine whatever you want in here. his executive assistants or office managers will keep this well-stocked. .

Kaiba, or Mokuba, might lead the quarterly "all-hands meeting" - which is an internal meeting for all employees. for a place like kaibacorp, which KT said has ~2,000 employees, this might be held in a large hall/auditorium. things that might happen at the all-hands meeting: hiring updates (we hired 300 new people in the EMEA region), new mission statements, reiteration of core company values, sharing the company's progress on various OKRs/objectives & key results or key targets (duel disk 2.0 released this year to great acclaim and we made 34.5 billion dollars! suck it nintendo!), public (and potentially anonymous) question-and-answer session at the end, where Kaiba or Mokuba might field employee questions. .

Kaiba or Mokuba might also be responsible for a weekly or monthly all-staff email keeping the entire company apprised of announcements, new partnerships, new business ventures, progress on whatever, new investments, etc. again, someone else (like a marketing manager) might write this for them and send it over for their review/adjustments, but the email officially comes from them. i personally like to imagine Kaiba writes some absolutely bonkers staff emails

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Truthout:

Rural La Paz County, Arizona, positioned on the Colorado River across from California, is at the center of a growing fight over water in the American Southwest. At the heart of the battle is a question: Should water be treated as a human right, to be allocated by governments with the priority of sustaining life? Or is it a commodity to be bought, sold and invested in for the greatest profits?

As the West suffers its worst megadrought in 1,200 years, investors have increasingly eyed water as a valuable asset and a resource to be exploited. For years, investment firms have bought up farmland throughout the Southwest, drilling to new depths for their water-hungry crops and causing nearby wells to run dry. Now, new players have entered the scene: “Water management companies” are purchasing up thousands of acres of farmland, with the intention of selling the water rights at a profit to cities and suburbs elsewhere in the state. Some argue that treating water as a commodity can efficiently get it where it is needed most. But others fear that water markets open the door to profiteering and hoarding, leaving poorer communities in the dust.

In 2013 and 2014, GSC Farm, a subsidiary of a water management company called Greenstone Resource Partners, which is backed by MassMutual, bought nearly 500 acres of farmland in Cibola, a tiny town in Arizona’s La Paz County, for just under $10 million. The farmland comes with the rights to more than 2,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water a year. (An acre-foot is the amount of water it takes to cover one acre with one foot of water.) Then in 2018, Greenstone sold the water rights, in perpetuity, to Queen Creek, a rapidly growing suburb of Phoenix nearly 200 miles away, for $24 million.

The transfer marked the first time a water management company sold Colorado River water rights. La Paz and two other counties sued to block the transfer, arguing that the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that oversees water resource management, had conducted an insufficient environmental review before signing off. The counties’ request for a preliminary injunction was denied in April 2023 by a federal judge, and three months later the water began flowing down the Central Arizona Project, a 336-mile canal. Then, the judge seemingly backtracked in February 2024, ordering a more thorough environmental review.

“In the meantime, they’re still allowing for the water to flow, which we argued should have been stopped completely until the complete environmental studies have been done,” Holly Irwin, a La Paz County supervisor, told Truthout. “It’s really frustrating, not only for myself, but for the other leaders and elected officials in what we refer to as the river communities.”

The ultimate results of the lawsuit could affect how easily water management companies are able to transfer river water rights for profit in the future.

“I’ve had people already contacting me, asking, ‘Hey, look, I’m looking to buy this piece of property. It’s got water rights. Can it be transferred off the Colorado River?’” said Irwin. “Which is what we knew was going to happen. They just opened up Pandora’s box.”

Companies like Greenstone are betting that the price of water will increase. Western states generally allocate water through a “prior appropriation” policy of “first in time, first in right.” In times of shortage, those with the most senior water claims — often farmers and ranchers whose ancestors claimed Native land — are allotted their full share of water first. Now, companies like Greenstone are lining up to buy those increasingly valuable water rights.

The Colorado River provides drinking water to 40 million people across seven U.S. states, two Mexican states, and multiple tribal lands. Since 1922, its water has been allocated among the states through a framework created by the Colorado River Compact. But river volume has decreased 20 percent since the beginning of the century, leading to tense renegotiations, with the three “lower basin” states — California, Arizona and Nevada — agreeing to reduce their water shares.

Compared to Colorado River water, groundwater tends to be less regulated. Major investment banks have spent hundreds of millions buying up farms with claims to the groundwater beneath them — part of a larger movement by investors into physical assets like lumber, buildings and infrastructure.

Once pumped, groundwater aquifers in warm, dry places can take thousands of years to replenish. In an effort to conserve water basins, Arizona passed the 1980 Groundwater Management Act, heavily restricting groundwater pumping in several urban “active-management areas” (AMAs), including the Phoenix and Tucson areas. It also mandated that developers obtain a state Certificate of Assured Water Supply, demonstrating their new projects have enough water for 100 years. The law is credited as a success for protecting water levels in urban areas. But its lack of restrictions on groundwater removal from rural basins has become a concern as the state population swells and rural wells run dry.

[stevenbasic]

Growing into the Job, Post 376: Back Together, p2 (Third Round of New Hires)

“Y-you've interviewed all these people, gone through all their resumes?” he asked, sidled up next to Melissa. This was his Office Manager/Girlfriend and the young woman who - along with her hive of worker bees - was handling so much of the practice’s expansion for him. “You must have been busy…”

Dr J, geriatrician and former owner of the medical practice the two of them now sat in while finishing up a dinner of take-out Thai food, was suddenly not feeling quite as confident as he had throughout the day. Melissa had been showing him the new women that they’d hired, girls who were set to work in the two new wings of the building. 

Far Horizons was about to become a full-on health-care complex, complements of funding by Evolution Pharmaceuticals and his ex-wife Sheryl. It all opened for business on Monday, after some early ceremonies and a news piece that was supposed to air at the end of the week. Rather than feeling excitement for the growth of his (former)  business he was instead starting to squirm. His mouth filled with something that tasted like dread. 

“Yep, We've been very busy!” she chirped, pulling up the application and pictures of another girl on the tablet. This one was someone who’d be working behind the desk in the (it still made him shudder) Regression Clinic. In truth, the interviews Melissa had with these girls had been brief, quick introductions more than anything, and they were done over the computer. The girls were mostly all still out in California or Mexico or wherever. 

Dr. J tried to relax about the whole thing, but it was hard. It was all just so crazy, and was quickly becoming a reality. “So the, uh, 50’s housewife look is really coming back, huh?” he pondered aloud, looking at the dress on a pretty young brunette and having a strong recollection of a recent dream. The flashback made him temporarily dizzy. He was becoming confused. For one thing, these images weren’t the amateur selfies that the new girls on his current staff had sent him, back in the last couple waves of hiring. These seemed more professional, and he daresay more clinically crafted to highlight the women’s, umm, best features.

These girls are all insanely gorgeous, he marveled. Like the staff he now had surrounding him day-to-day, it was nearly unbelievable. What the actual fuck - where are they growing these people?!? “It’s kinda, uh, ‘Stepford Wife’-ish,” he commented, unsure she would get the reference.

“You know…I just ordered a few new dresses myself,” Melissa replied as Jay stared at the tablet, no longer paying enough attention to her. She could feel it. She could tell as he went through the tablet preloaded by Evolution with 'applications' that he was feeling more nervous and agitated. Maybe the effects of Katarina’s milk were wearing off, or maybe this was just too upsetting for him. She understood, it could be overwhelming, tripling your staff and facing the prospect of being surrounded by more than three times the women in the office every single day. It was a lot, and she could tell he had some questions.

“So, what’s up with the, uh ‘subject number’ on all of them?” he began in a mumble, “Or this blacked-out space on all of them?”

Melissa paused; she knew she had to have answers. She didn’t want to lie if she didn’t have to, but more importantly she didn’t want to upset him. “The Col-…uh, Evolution actually helped out, found us a lot of girls, doing most of the hiring and human resources for now, until we have our own girl for it - she’s this one here, with the red hair!” She showed him a particularly bosomy picture, hoping to distract him.

“And what does ‘program’ mean? And what’s ‘Coronado’?”

“Oh uh I dunno?” She hated having to lie to him. “Maybe they have some sort of, like, employment…outreach?…program? In…Coronado?” oooOooo I just want to blast him with perfumes, make him believe me! But I promised myself I wouldn’t do that as much. Unless he…unless he wanted me to do it. Ooo nnnnhh that’d be…..oooo…

“So…how many of these new people are there?”

“Including the men?”

He’d forgotten about those. The guys they were hiring, for maintenance, groundskeeping, some gruntwork data entry. The ones they were keeping housed in the basement.  “Uh, no, just the uh-“

“The girls?" she said with a knowing giggle. 

He nodded, grunted his assent: “uh, yeah.”

"Well, at first, It looks like we’ll have about sixty new girls,” Melissa replied, knowing it was a bit more than that, “some on our payroll, some on Evolution’s, but I’ll be managing them all.” The prospect made her warm and wet between the thighs. “And I think eventually we’ll need more.” 

He shivered, and his voice cracked. “a-And how many do we have now? Already working?”

“Thirty. Including me.”

“Jesus.” The scale of it was staggering to him. The scale, and the fact that they’d been able to grow so quickly, filling all these positions in so short a time. “Wow, why? What’s so attractive about these jobs? It can’t be just the pay,” he asked. The pay is ridiculous, though. I don’t know how it’s all feasible. 

“Oh getting girls for these applications was easy!” Melissa replied, “And all of them were hired before your video came out. Now? After this weekend? That video made us very popular! Soooo many people want jobs here now! Girls willing to move from all over! Just to work for us! The applications just keep coming in! Even now!”

“T-that’s insane…” 

“Why is it so crazy? We now have streams of you and your-”

‘Harem’, she wants to say ‘harem’. 

“…staff, all over the internet. Girls just want to be part of it.”

“It makes no sense!” he exclaimed, then paused. His voice dropped as he descended into thought. “The world is…twisted.”

“Oh, sweetie, it’s really not,” she purred, closing the space between them as she leaned in towards him. She’d already begun releasing pheromones subconsciously: 0001.55.6009.xx, 0001.55.6388.dd, and, though she’d promised herself she wouldn’t, 0001.55.6022.cd. “Honey, It makes perfect sense. The world is just…changing. Girls want what they want, and it’s different than before. You have to know that you being so perfectly vulni will bring in girls wanting to join us. They want to join us and grow into something better.”

Dr. J sighed, pondering his place in all this.

“We've been swimming in candidates” Melissa commented, her voice a near-whisper, secretly having begun to shiver herself. All this talk of growing, gathering more girls around herself was getting her excited. She recognized the feeling and it was continuing to make her warm up between her powerful thighs. I want another hundred of them, a thousand. Millions…

“S-swimming..?” Dr. J stammered the fear creeping into his voice.

And now you’re drowning in them. Melissa smiled. She knew it wasn’t just seeing Jay’s shrunken flagellations on livestream that was attracting all the outside attention, from both men and women. Her own influence was growing. They were watching her and her girls, and the world was starting to gravitate toward them. Toward HER. Randi had said something to her recently about it, and it struck her: ‘They’re all, all your followers, all these viewers, starting to see you as something more than themselves, something more perfect, and they like it’. The memory excited Melissa even more, and set her mind reeling. 

“Wanna see some more girls?” Melissa offered, pulling herself from her thoughts and smushing herself into him even closer. She slid her chair until it was practically on top of his. “They’re all so pretty, don’t you think?” Again on her tablet she started swiping through girls, applications, photos, a blur of beautiful girls, attractive women, each one another member of her little beehive. “All our new roommates…” 

“r-roommates?” he stammered, as she’d settled on a particularly athletic looking brunette. Jesus this one could kick my ass. Look at those arms.

“Well, more like housemates.” Melissa corrected. She could tell that he was growing even more nervous, less relaxed by the minute. His thoughts? She could taste them almost as clearly as she did her Tom Yum Goong: they’re all so beautiful, and there are so many of them.

“They’re all going to be living together in the barr-...the dorms and apartments upstairs,” she continued, “those new spaces are pretty much ready to go.” She reached out, pushed an errant lock of hair from his forehead. She could sense his pulse quickening, and saw his eyes flit to her big chest. Where all this talk of new girls - a huger hive of honeybees - made him uneasy, it was thrilling to her. Every new face seemed to make Melissa feel bigger.  And, these days, I like being big. 

“We put a rush on the new girls’ suites since they all need a place. Most are coming from so far away. Mine and the current girls’ won’t be ready for another little bit.”

“And I’ll be staying-”

“With me.”

I can’t wait to put you in your room.

Suddenly he looked even more nervous, especially as he thought  about moving in with her. Maybe it was too much? 

Jay couldn't comprehend what he was feeling in all honesty as he felt himself shift away from her. “uh…could we, like, maybe do this another time?” he asked abruptly, “Maybe just, I dunno, we could talk about something else? Do something else together?”

She knew him well enough by now to know what his little plea meant. She needed to change course with him and protect his weak male ego. You can be so fragile. “Oh,  so you want to spend time just with me?” she asked with a girlish giggle, tucking her tablet under her arm...

“Well, yeah…” 

She sensed he was getting more agitated. Was Katarina’s milk wearing off, or was this all just too much for him now? She knew that she could just calm him down with some of her body’s own perfumes, and did allow a little more 0001.55.6022.cd to ebb off her skin. Despite it, she still felt him wanting to back away some more. As he retreated she caught his eyes  roaming her chest again in a quick furtive pass. He just couldn't help it. I know what the poor thing needs, even if he doesn’t know it himself. 

“Whoa whoa whoa mister,” Melissa laughed, reaching out her strong  arm toward his remarkably thin shoulder, “You’re not going anywhere." She felt him squirm underneath her grip as he tried to get away; it was like restraining a small puppy. “No you are not.”  She took a moment to turn off her tablet and place it on the table. Then, she sat up nice and straight. “C’mere,” she directed him, “Come sit on my lap.”

He gave her a look she didn’t necessarily like. He was having thoughts, getting a bit too fussy for her liking. She knew she needed to exert her will a bit. He needed to calm down. 

“I said.  On. my. Lap. ”

He stayed frozen in place. Was she going to have to release more pheromones? 

“Dear? This is not me asking you. On my lap, NOW.”

Her voice. Something had changed in her voice. It’s not that it was, well, loud - though she had increased its volume - but it had made the windows rattle. It carried with it authority, a terrible, acute authority that made him feel small.

And it made him listen. 

He half stood, turned, and brought himself towards her. On her little breakroom chair she spread her thighs a bit, letting him in to sit. She urged him to hop up onto her right leg and smiled as he sat. 

“That’s it. You said you want my attention?” she purred, enjoying the weight of his little body on her lap, “Well, now you have it.” Snaking her perfectly toned left leg around him, Melissa carefully locked him into place as she gave him a comforting smile and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. 

He tried to move, but his legs may as well have been shackled by steel. His skin prickled in a blend of fear and excitement as he became once again intimately familiar with the phenomenal strength of  her body. Her formidable thighs held him tight while, at the same time, he felt the soft, comforting mass of her right breast pressing into his side. But even surrounded by the soft feminine weight of Melissa’s body, he was still agitated. 

Oh, my fussy little boy.

At first, Melissa was amused by the feeling of his futile half-struggles against her. Then, those feeling changed, She was not only reminded her just how weak he was, but the sensation, the thought of her being so much stronger than him made her feel powerful. Aroused. Hot. She felt herself now getting wetter with each passing second. Tiny thrills fluttered her increasingly superhuman heart as she felt him struggle against her. with all his adorable, meager little might. 

Gotta control yourself, Missy. Deep breaths, in and out, just like you’ve learned. You can't…you can’t…

She felt her breathing pick up, in pace.

…you can't what? You can't enjoy yourself? You can't be yourself around your boyfriend?

A simple but very reckless question began to form in her mind: ‘Why?’ Why can't I just be myself?

She smiled.

“What do we have here?” she began again, unable to keep the husky arousal out of her chuckle, “A poor little bunny, struggling to escape my trap?”

“haha I, uh…”

Though he was sitting on her thigh, his head was still lower than hers. She looked down into his face and read his eyes, his expressions, his emotions and thoughts. She somehow knew what he was thinking, how he’d noticed things seemed physically weird today. Like, didn’t his shoes - new since yesterday - fit better this morning?

“What’s wrong?” she asked, though knowing exactly what was now bothering him. He was feeling so physically inferior, especially now that she was enveloping him in herself. It made her tingle again. She knew he was comparing them: comparing their heights, their sizes, and just how small he was pushed up against her chest. I am, she silently answered his thoughts, I am so much bigger than you. 

“I’m…I’m just a little nervous about all these new people, because…because…” he offered. He knew he didn’t even have to explain what made him so anxious about them, that she could already guess his next unspoken words: it’s because they’re…strangers. 

“Oh, sweetie, give them some time,” she purred, consoling him with a voice she knew he liked, “they’ll become family too. Just like all my other friends have.”

His next thoughts were plain as day to her too: Yeah but why do I feel like, with all these new women around, I’m going to seem even smaller? And then, as he squirmed a bit in her embrace: Why am I suddenly craving milk? he thought, Should I…ask for it?

“I’ll get you some milk later,” she answered, making him gasp. She giggled, and knew she had to reassure him. “I heard your tummy rumble,” she explained. I hear Katarina left some in the fridge. “I’ll get you some, when we’re done here, and then we’ll play at home.” You’re fun to play with when you’re so relaxed

“H-home?”

The poor thing was confused again. 

“You are staying with me again tonight, right?” she asked.

He fidgeted anew. “I was, I’m…actually thinking of staying at my place?”

“Nope,” she answered, “They’re still fixing it up. It’s not ready yet.”

”huh okay,” he replied, completely unaware that he’d just agreed to come home with her again. “But I thought it was just cleaning, patching a few holes in the walls, fixing some cabinet doors?” he enjoined, “And do we know who did it yet?” His eyes glanced down the top of her blouse.

Hm yeah that’s right. ”uh, no,” Melissa answered. I have to ask about that. I’m sure the girls have reviewed the security footage.

“okay, but maybe I can stay on the cot in my office?”

This little man is being a little difficult. We still don’t know who’s ransacked his room, and he thinks he can stay here all by himself?  Maybe he needs to be shown who’s in charge a little more convincingly. 

“Here, stand up,” she instructed, removing her large left leg from where it lay over his thighs.and hips. She took him under the armpits and hoisted him from her lap...

“Wh-what are you doing?” he asked, as she stood him between her legs and leaned in towards him.

She didn't answer. She didn't need to. In just a moment she had the drawstring of his scrubs untied, and had stripped his pants and briefs off him. He was hard. 

Of course. He’s always hard for me. But he’s worried. We’re at the office, in the breakroom. He’s thinking ‘what if…’

“I promise you we’re alone,” she assured him. The windows didn’t have any shades, they were basically on the ground level. But whatever.

She looked down and saw that he wasn’t tall enough to reach what she wanted him to, so she reached down toward his bare, bony hips and lifted him up with her hands, bringing her legs together and him down to kneel on her lap nearly eye-to-eye, his hips at the level of her chest. 

“I noticed you’ve been looking at my chest all night,” she said, her voice now dripping serious with barely contained arousal, sounding deeper, “Why don’t we bring you in for a little visit?”

With that, Melissa used her two hands to part the button-gap of her yellow silk blouse, between the second and third button. She’d opened up a slit, a window of an entry for him, right at the level of his huge, solid, nine-and-a-half inches of dick.

“Slide it in,” she said, and immediately he groaned. She smiled.  She could  almost see the blood rushing from his brain into the second most amazing thing about him, her most valuable ally, that incredible cock of his. It guided him to comply, and with both feeble-looking hands (yes, he needed both hands, both hands, to have the strength to control his own erection) he pushed it down and slid it in-

NNNNnnnnghhhh!!! ohmygodohmygod….

- into the opening between the buttons of her blouse, into the warm, dark passage which led in between her breasts and deep into her cleavage. He felt every millimeter of movement: the cool smooth satin of her shirt sliding around his shaft, and the soft kiss of her breasts as he began to part her softness. He slid into the velvety cave and felt like he was being embraced by heaven itself. Her breasts were held aloft, tautly pressed together by the support of her bra, but he had no trouble sliding in between them. Though he was so big, so long, her cleavage was deep enough to take him in, straight on in full, to the root. It was like they were made for each other, his cock and her tits. His sac pressed against the cool fabric of her blouse.

“Ooooooooooo…” Melissa cooed, looking deep into his eyes as they rolled back in his head, “How does that feel?” she used her arms to gently press her massive breasts together, squashing herself around him even more firmly, as she  wrapped her hands around his little butt and began to push, in and out, her chest into him. His weak body had started to shake and quiver in her embrace, and it was only with her help and encouragement that he was able to begin to pump.

“There we go, there we go,” she purred, helping him move his meager hips in and out, in and out, slowly, sliding in through her slick satin shirt, her smooth skin, and then out of the warm grip of her dark, hidden cleavage. She was going to gift him with a clothed titfuck that she knew would melt his little male-mind. Men are so funny.

His words were nearly gone, but he managed some clumsy form of praise. “Mmm….mmm…oh my god…M-Melissa….oh my god…”

“Shhh, honey, shhhh….it’s okay,” she cooed, now gently rocking her chest forward, her shoulders back in time with each pump, to guide him through a rhythm, to help him along. “You just enjoy it baby, you just enjoy it in there.”

Now his voice had totally failed him, and he fell to grunts. It had been all day - all day! - since he’d climaxed, since he’d come. His body had grown used to orgasming several times a day, if not more, over and over. Whether at his own hand or hers, he’d become accustomed to it, he basically needed it. The milk had helped to distract,  had given him focus, had allowed him to forget his needs until now. But, here now, he was suddenly pent-up beyond belief and ready to blow.

“C’mon, honey, c’mon…go ahead,” Melissa encouraged him, as she felt his scrawny frame start to shiver differently, tense up. He was close, and she knew he had a whole day’s worth to share. A whole day of blissful orgasms, and they were all going to come out in just one moment. She watched, was happy. In and out, in and out of her clothed chest he thrust, thrust, thrust. Trust, trust. He trusted her. She felt it in him, she did. He let himself be like this, he let himself be weak around her. He let himself be enveloped by her, be surrounded by her, be consumed by her, and she loved it. She loved holding him, engulfing and cocooning him and she wanted to do it more more more. If she could pull him fully in there, into her blouse, in between her tits she would. She would trap him, and keep him there. Encapsulate him, insulate him, enwomb him.  “I hope this brings you lots of pleasure…” 

Fuck my chest little man. 

“Oh goddddd….” he finally groaned, finally finding his voice, finally surrendering, his love into the unseen depths of her warm chest. Under her shirt, beneath her blouse, into the satiny confines of her top and bra and skin he let loose a load that drained him, drained his stress, drained his day away. She let him go, she let him empty himself into her, and felt his warm life bubble and goop and stickily slicken his shaft as he continued to thrust and thrust and thrust in his trust of her. She would hold him, she would support him, she would keep him and let him die his little death here, kneeling on her lap and emptying his mess into her top. A whole day’s worth, a trove of his treasure.

“Good baby, good boy,” she allowed herself, the feelings of love and care and affection for him now overwhelming everything else. She hugged his hips to her big bosom, held his smaller body to her larger one. He’d had his hands on her shoulders, and now he let his arms drape behind her. He collapsed, his head falling to rest on hers.

“Melissa, I love you,” he murmured, mouth full of her thick, dark hair.

“I love you too, sweetie…I love you too...” she said, and felt him fall asleep.

==============================================

lots of thanks to ElephantPorn for the AI images in the animation, and to RiF for editing in the copy

[handsblccdy]

CAMERON MILLER   :   is  the  twenty-seven  year  old  survivor  that  joined  the  crescent  apartments safezone  six months ago.  when  the  infected  swarmed  the  streets  the  first  night,  cammy  managed to survive  on their own because of how  quick-witted  +  resourceful  they  were.  however,  when they joined up with the group,  it  became  clear  just  how  blunt  +  mistrustful  they  are too.  now, they've  established  themselves  as  a  scavenger  within  the  group,  thriving  at  the  job  because  of  their  being good at finding things and her bow and arrow. 

full name: cameron marie miller nickname(s): cam, cammy pet name(s): cameleon (brother only) gender: female age: 27 sexual orientation: homosexual, homoromantic birthplace: san francisco, california occupation: scavenger

-         cameron was on a trip in san diego with her family when the outbreak happened, but the infection took her mother early on and she was forced to kill her father a few weeks later when he agreed to trade her and her younger brother to bandits to keep their supplies. from then on, it was just the two of them as they attempted to trek back home on foot after her brother lost the car keys. it had taken many weeks, but they finally managed to make it to san francisco in one piece. until they were separated by a horde of infected only a few days after arriving. it’s been a month since then, but cameron hasn’t stopped looking for her brother and returned to crescent apartment because it was her home before the outbreak. she's owned the apartment for six months but technically has only been home for a month.

-         despite living in crescent where she can have a permanent place to lay her head and food that’s within reach, cameron learned on the journey home that she prefers being on the outside and searching for whatever she needs to survive. she loves to challenge herself when she’s out there to push past her limits to prevent her from getting soft. she often leaves because of this and to continue searching for signs of her brother, which can keep her away from the community for days on end. however, she usually tries to return with places to scavenge or supplies to make up for her time away.

-         she doesn’t mind being around the infected and fears them much less than most humans. however, cameron’s aware that they’re extremely dangerous and does her best to avoid them as much as she can when she’s on the outside. she just feels that they’re truer to their nature and more predictable than humans are. since all they can do is kill her, she feels that’s a kinder fate than what she knows other humans do to each other.

-         cameron’s very independent and doesn’t like asking other people for help often. while she’ll do it if she absolutely must since she knows not everything can be done by herself, most times she prefers to deal with whatever problem she has on her own unless she absolutely trusts someone. however, she doesn’t let this get in the way when it comes to her job. she’s more than capable of working together with others if she needs too, whether on a supply run or helping around the apartment building.

-         she’s never seen without her dog, danger. he’s a large german shepard that she adopted a couple years ago, and he has been her loyal companion since then. with him being all she has left, cameron is very protective of him and only trusts those who have earned hers with him. these feelings are mutual for danger. he’s become far more aggressive towards strangers and won’t hesitate to attack if cameron is threatened. however, he’s very friendly, gentle, and lovable to familiar faces and those who cameron trusts. he also accompanies her on the outside, assisting her in finding her brother, killing infected, or finding new items on supply runs.

-         she tends to be blunt and finds sugarcoating the truth to be disrespectful as well as insulting. cameron prefers to be brutally honest with others and hopes they do the same since she believes honesty is the best policy. unfortunately, she doesn’t realize her words hurt sometimes because she’s still learning to readjust to socializing after all the trauma she’s suffered. most times she’ll have no problem apologizing if it’s brought to her attention that she’s hurt someone unless she feels they deserved it.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

her younger brother

people patient enough to get closer to her

someone(s) who earned her trust already

an eventual adopted family

[androgynouspenguinexpert]

babe wake up androgynouspenguinexpert posted another character analysis from the train during her finals week because she's banned herself from drawing anything new

its time to tackle vega, because he's cool.

all of the characters carry a unique narrative theme or motif - the importance of self worth for gavin, impostor syndrome for asher, consent and control for marcus, etc. vega's theme is one of, if not my favourite: nature vs nurture, learned behaviour, and the morality of necessary evil.

vega doesn't start out as a moustache-twirling villain, but he's certainly hurting people for selfish reasons. however - the line between right and wrong starts to blur even across vega's first few appearances. as he points out himself later, vega has essentially created a closed loop of suffering to feed from. yeah, he got someone roofied and kidnapped, which is bad, but he's limited his victims to two people. ivan and baby. there's even a case to be made about baby's safety - ivan is volatile and incredibly dangerous (breaking either glass or ceramic with his bare hands???), but we never see him physically harm baby other than restraining them.

vega's age (pin this) has granted him an incredible level of experience and therefore intellect. he's probably the smartest piece on the board right now, save maybe for brachium (but he's sort of on a board of his own anyway). vega knows exactly what he is. he feeds on suffering and agony, and there's nothing that can change that. equipped with this knowledge, vega has managed to streamline the production of agony without really getting his hands dirty, and basically guaranteed the survival of both people involved.

then in comes caelum. he accidentally discovers vega's operation, and immediately runs to freelancer for help. vega proceeds to kick the shit out of caelum for snitching, and almost kills him. again, this is bad. i'm definitely not defending vega's actions here - but think of it from his point of view: he's set up a way of passively producing agony and is minding his own business. a daemon who is 24 (at time of writing) stumbles across this, and immediately threatens to shut it down as well as get him arrested. that's like a toddler walking in on a meth lab and running to the cops. vega probably could drop everything and relocate to avoid the department, but that would take a lot more time and effort than just soccer kicking the toddler over a fence. so he tries, and fails, because gavin steps in. gavin being able to overpower vega - despite being potentially hundreds of thousands of years younger - speaks to the inefficiency of vega's agony system, and he's smart enough to be well aware of that. agony (in a relatively nice part of california, anyway) isn't really a renewable resource like lust or joy are. harming someone, whether physically or otherwise, enough to fuel vega for any significant amount of time would either permanently damage or kill that person. that's not sustainable.

and then vega gets arrested. the human government asks a being probably older than civilisation to pinkie promise he'll stay in a little concrete box for a while. vega explains later that he doesn't believe in unnecessary violence - unless he decides that it is necessary, i guess - so he probably went along with his arrest fairly peacefully. there's another analysis in here somewhere about where (or from whom...?) the department learned its containment methods, considering they haven't really figured out aria yet.

but anyway - vega gets tossed into maximum security. and even from behind the ward, he's finding subtle (and less subtle) ways to stir the pot, especially with his new department-assigned therapist (another quick aside that's too good for the tags; did anyone else find it super fucking funny that vega's first real friend on elegy is his therapist?). i think vega feels neutral about elegy, leaning ever so slightly towards liking it, but he knows what he is. a demon. vega never was, and never will be, human. that's why he never audibly speaks (which is a fantastic detail) - he's rejecting the most basic form of modern human communication. language. yes, he knows english, but he's probably never spoken a single word out loud. vega's fear of daemons growing away from their roots is also why he starts testing for cracks in the warden's façade - he's worried that daemons are starting to assimilate a little too much. they're losing their identity as a separate species, and losing sight of the sacrifices made during the cacophony. and he's right - the cacophony has entirely faded into myth. his suffering and loss has now been turned into a fable; a cautionary tale about dealing with forces beyond our control.

next is the escape, which is both interesting and sick as hell. vega proves that he's not a fan of violence for the sake of violence by mincing some solitaires, tossing an unconscious warden over his shoulder, and escaping the detention facility. this is vega's first real selfless action. he definitely could have left the warden to the solitaires, but chooses to save them because of their compassion towards him. this shows a little of vega's internal struggle - he's never been around unconditional like, let alone love, because he doesn't need to. he needs to be unlikeable. manipulative. cutthroat. these are the things that keep him safe, but more importantly fed. we know from his imperium counterpart (who will eventually be getting a post of his own) that vega wants to be wanted. as much as he denies it and dodges the topic when it's brought up, vega is not intrigued by the warden because he can toy with them. he's drawn to them because they're willing to understand. they're hesitant, but for now they're giving vega the benefit of the doubt. he's never been given that before.

he also starts to wear down the warden's already fragile sense of morality with the kidnapped department officer. although his methods are very questionable, vega is correct again when he explains that he doesn't really have a choice. he won't hurt the guard, and the guard can't hurt him or the warden, but will keep spewing out hate that vega can feed on for the forseeable future. he's killing two birds with one stone as well - the warden is an inchoate. it's far easier for vega to track down (read: kidnap) one racist than to juggle the emotional intake of two people.

i don't think vega is just trying to break the warden out of their department mould for the sake of shenanigans, nor does he want to return to the glory days - vega knows that humanity and daemonkind are now inseperable after the imprisonment of the sovereigns.

he just doesn't want daemons - genuinely good people trying to make the best of a not fantastic situation - to lose sight of what they are. what they used to be. not anarchists, or pawns for the department. starchildren.

forgive me. i tend to wax poetic.

[cbc-bb]

(laying on the bed with my chin in my hands) I want to hear about urban planning and rewilding

WELL! (cute)

urban planning: cities are just the most beautiful thing to me. they’re a bit like a garden: you can plan them out and come to them with your own ideas, but they’re going to grow on their own regardless. it’s the urban planner’s job to play gardener, imo, to prune here and there, to keep everything watered and devoid of unwanted pests.

cities to me mean density, which means efficient land and resource use. they’re environmentally friendly because of that! and they’re fun, they’re lively, and they tend to be full of interesting people. you might say that cities are loud, but they’re only loud because of all the fucking cars, driven by people who live outside of the city because “cities are too loud.” (whenever there are holiday weekends in NYC, the cars tend to go away and it gets oh so quiet).

anyway, urban planning is all about cities working better, making them more human for the people who live in them. how do we get around? how do we mix housing with shops and restaurants and office space?

rewilding: this is almost the same as urban planning to me, spiritually. humans have carved up much of the earth’s surface and that’s been largely bad for life on earth (including us).

rewilding is the process of restoring things back to a somewhat natural state. leaving things the fuck alone is one way to do this, and nature will rewild itself, but we can also speed this up with conscious human effort.

there’s a concept i like called “half earth” which says that humans should occupy at most half of the land area of earth, leaving the other half to nature (ideally in big chunks). this would let ecosystems rewild and restore, and would still leave ample space for humans to live (densely, mostly in cities) while also still having plenty of space for agriculture. there’s a book by E.O. Wilson that introduced the concept, one about a potential socialist half-earth future, and a novel by Kim Stanley Robinson that explores the concept (among others). there’s also a great book about indigenous sovereignty / land management that explores rewilding as well. here’s an excellent youtube video if that’s more your speed (but you should read a book too)

the state of california already has a “30 by 30” program in place (30% of land by 2030) and they’re working towards a “50 by 50” plan too, which is so encouraging

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims at Popular Information:

Former President Donald Trump has promised that he will start mass deportations if he wins in November. The promise has become a central selling point of his 2024 campaign. At a campaign rally in Michigan this summer, Trump vowed, “As soon as I take the oath of office, we will begin the largest deportation operation in the history of our country.”  In April, during an interview with TIME, Trump laid out his plan for mass deportations, stating that he will use “local law enforcement” and “the National Guard.” Trump also said he would “not rule out” building new migrant detention facilities and that he would use the military “if necessary.” When TIME told Trump that deploying the military against civilians is prohibited under the Posse Comitatus Act, Trump responded, “Well, these aren’t civilians. These are people that aren’t legally in our country.”

Trump has promised that one of his first targets will be Springfield, Ohio, where Trump and his allies have, on numerous occasions, falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants are eating neighborhood pets. “[W]e will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio. Large deportations. We’re gonna get these people out,” Trump said last week at a press conference in California. (The Haitian immigrants that Trump and his allies are targeting are in the country legally.) Trump also promised to prioritize deportations from Aurora, Colorado, where Trump has falsely claimed that Venezuelan immigrants are “taking over the whole town.” [...]

The human capacity problem

The scale required to orchestrate Trump’s proposed policy is far beyond the capacity of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Trump’s solution is to use local law enforcement. In an interview on Fox News, Trump said that he would give local police “immunity” to do “the job they have to do,” and that “the officers understand who the migrants are.” Using local law enforcement would result in police officers having less time to perform their other duties. A March report by the Center for Migration Studies of New York cited research that found putting local police officers in charge of immigration responsibilities would make “local communities less safe” and immigrants, fearing deportation, “less likely to report crimes or cooperate with police.”

[...]

The enormous price tag

ICE acknowledges that each deportation is costly and difficult. In its 2023 annual report, the agency stated, “Removal management is a complex process that requires careful planning and coordination with a wide range of domestic and foreign partners and uses significant ERO resources.” According to that report, ICE deported 142,580 non-citizens from the U.S. in 2023. Its budget for removals and transportation last year was over $420 million, meaning that it cost nearly $3,000 to remove each person from the country. If Trump successfully deported the estimated 11 million non-citizens currently in the U.S., it would cost $33 billion just to transport people out of the U.S. — more than triple ICE’s total budget in 2023. But the cost of actually moving a person off U.S. soil is only one part of the equation. It also costs ICE money to track people down and keep them in custody before their deportation. NBC reported that ICE currently has about 40,000 beds in detention centers which each cost $57,378 a year to maintain. If Trump enacted his mass deportation plan of 11 million people, ICE would need to expand its detention capacity drastically.

[...]

The nationwide civil rights violation

Trump’s promise of mass deportations would cause major civil rights violations. The policy would effectively result in local law enforcement engaging in a mass racial profiling campaign, as there is no objective way to identify undocumented immigrants. According to a report by the Center for Migration Studies of New York, “[i]mmigration ‘sweeps’... often lead to profiling, usually on racial or ethnic grounds.” The report argues that this would lead to U.S. citizens and legal immigrants being “unjustly detained and even deported,” and give them “little opportunity to legally respond to their arrest and detention.” In a memo released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in response to Trump’s proposed immigration policies, the group warns that Trump’s plan could also lead to violations of “constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure, including arrests and detentions without a specific reason to detain a certain individual.”  

The massive detention camps

Once the Trump administration identifies undocumented immigrants, it would need to detain them somewhere before deporting them. Trump has suggested that massive detention centers would need to be built in order to keep up with the number of deportations being processed. Aside from the economic cost, detention centers have been the sites of numerous human rights abuses. Undocumented immigrants in detention centers have been denied urgent medical care, sexually abused, and kept in chain-link pens.

The damage to the economy

[...]

The U.S. is already facing a labor shortage, and removing 11 million undocumented workers (about 5% of the total workforce) would only make the problem worse, pushing up prices on goods and services. Mass deportation would also impact the housing market, putting many of the 1.3 million mortgages of mixed-status households in danger, and cut tax revenue to the government and Social Security. 

Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy is a quagmire if it ever gets implemented, because it is a grave insult to civil liberties, police resources, and the economy.

Vote Kamala Harris to protect civil liberties!

[fatehbaz]

Driven by utilitarian concerns with scarcity and fears of cascading environmental degradation, colonial officials implemented tree-planting programs of all sorts -- seed farms, erosion control projects, school forests and so on. [...] Imperial forestry describes a shared set of practices, convictions and institutions that bound Japanese forestry professionals into a network that spanned the Japanese empire itself. [...] Japanese woodsmen (with a venerable forestry tradition all their own) came to terms with Western notions of natural resource management and "scientific forestry." [...] Japanese foresters tailored European ideas about ecology, sustainability, and industrial development to the particular needs of the Japanese empire and the different biomes it encompassed. [...] Japan has played an outsized role in the management and control of Asia's forests. To understand how Japan has maintained such verdant hillsides at home, [...] we need to more fully appreciate its control of sylvan landscapes abroad -- be they in the colonial empire before 1945 or in Southeast Asia thereafter. [...] [W]e ought to place tenant farmers in colonial Korea and shifting cultivators in Kalimantan in the same analytical frame. [...]

---

The most obvious legacies are material: flora introduced during colonial occupation that still grow in Korea today. [...] As part of a campaign to supposedly "beautify" the Korean landscape [...], Japanese settlers planted [...] cherry blossoms along streets, in squares, and within parks across Korea. [...] Another impact can be found in the forestry institutions founded during colonial rule. The flagship Forestry Research Station established by the colonial government, for example, only grew after liberation, becoming a hub of agro-forestry research that underpinned South Korea's economic take-off under Park Chung-hee. Many of the architects of South Korea's so-called "forest miracle" -- the wildly successful project of reforestation in the 1960s and 70s -- were trained in colonial scientific institutions. This is not to suggest that the dense forests that today blanket South Korea are somehow due to colonial rule. Reforestation under Park was born of markedly different circumstances -- its Cold War context, authoritarian rule and energy portfolio. But that doesn't mean that foresters on either side of 1945 weren't united by the same sets of anxieties and aspirations. [...] [A] set of abiding concerns [...] have animated forest conservation measures across the full sweep of the tumultuous twentieth century in Korea. [...]

---

[R]eferences to the ondol (the radiant heated floors conventional to Korean dwellings) are everywhere in the forester's archive. Japanese woodsmen quickly marked the ondol and its associated lifestyle as ground zero of deforestation. By the 1920s, forestry officials had launched an ambitious campaign to gain control over the energy consumption patterns of the home -- a crusade on caloric inefficiency that furthered the reach of the colonial state into the domestic sphere. In this sense, the ondol provides an illuminating lens through which to examine how forestry touched the lived, even bodily, experience of colonial rule in a sometimes bitterly cold environment. This is especially true of the civilian experience of the Asia-Pacific War in Korea, a period of fuel scarcity that resulted in draconian programs of caloric control. [...]

[W]e have much to gain by looking beyond the boundaries of the islands of Japan to write its environmental history. Understanding the tree-smothered hillsides of the so-called "green archipelago" requires that we pay close attention to its material linkages with the rest of Asia. It demands that we track commodity chains, supply lines, and resource politics across the Pacific.

---

All words above are the words of David Feldman. As interviewed and transcribed by Office of the Dean, School of Humanities at University of California, Irvine. Transcript titled “Seeing the forest for the trees.” Published online in the News section of UCI School of Humanities. 21 May 2020. [Some paragraph breaks and contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The FBI on Thursday arrested a businessman at the center of the scandal that led to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s historic impeachment, a move that came amid new questions about the men’s dealings raised by financial records the Republican’s lawyers made public to try to clear him of bribery allegations.

Nate Paul, 36, was taken into custody by federal agents and booked into an Austin jail in the afternoon, according to Travis County Sheriff’s Office records. It was not immediately clear what charges led to his arrest, but the records showed he was being held on a federal detainer for a felony.

Paul’s arrest followed a yearslong federal investigation into the Austin real estate developer — a probe that Paxton involved his office in, setting off a chain of events that ultimately led to his impeachment last month.

Lawyers for Paul did not immediately respond to requests for comment. One of Paxton’s defense attorneys, Dan Cogdell, said he had no additional information on the arrest. The FBI declined to comment, and a spokesman for federal prosecutors in West Texas did not respond to inquiries.

FBI agents examining Paul’s troubled real estate empire searched his Austin offices and palatial home in 2019. The next year, eight of Paxton’s top deputies reported the attorney general to the FBI on allegations of bribery and abusing his office to help Paul, including by hiring an outside lawyer to examine the developer’s claims of wrongdoing by federal agents.

The allegations by Paxton’s staff prompted an FBI investigation, which remains ongoing, and are central to articles of impeachment overwhelmingly approved by the GOP-led state House of Representatives.

On Wednesday, Paxton’s defense team showed a packed room of journalists a bank statement that included a 2020 wire transfer purportedly showing him, and not a donor, paying more than $120,000 for a home renovation.

The wire transfer was dated Oct. 1, 2020 — the same day Paxton’s deputies signed a letter informing the head of human resources at the Texas attorney general’s office that they had reported Paxton to the FBI.

The $121,000 payment was to Cupertino Builders, whose manager was an associate of Paul, state corporation and court records show.

The company did not incorporate as a business in Texas until more than three weeks after the transaction took place. A company of the same name was formed in Delaware in April of that year, although public filings there do not make clear who is behind it.

Last year a court-appointed overseer for some of Paul’s companies wrote in a report that Cupertino Builders was used for “fraudulent transfers” from his business to Narsimha Raju Sagiraju, who was convicted of fraud in California in 2016. The report described Sagiraju as Paul’s “friend.”

Paul, who also employed a woman with whom Paxton acknowledged having an extramarital affair, has denied bribing Paxton. In a deposition, Paul described Sagiraju as an “independent contractor” and said he didn’t remember how they first met.

The timing of the payment — and the identity of who was paid for renovations at Paxton’s home in Austin — was not publicly known before his new legal team held a news conference Wednesday in which they put financial documents on a projector screen while criticizing the impeachment. They were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Tony Buzbee, a prominent Houston attorney who was hired by Paxton over the weekend and led the news conference, said by email Thursday that receipts “clearly demonstrate” Paxton paid for the repairs. He did not address questions about the timing of the payments or Cupertino Builders.

“Without any evidence the politicians leading this sham impeachment falsely accused General Paxton of not paying for the repairs to his home. That is a lie,” Buzbee said.

Since becoming just the third sitting official in Texas history to be impeached, Paxton has attacked the proceedings as politically motivated and rushed, saying he was never given the chance to rebut the accusations in the state House.

“We have the receipts,” Buzbee told reporters Wednesday as the documents flashed onscreen. “This is the type of evidence we tried to offer them once we found out this foolishness was going on.”

Paxton is temporarily suspended from office pending the outcome of a trial in the Texas Senate that is set to begin no later than Aug. 28. The jury will be the members of the 31-seat Senate; one of them, Paxton’s wife, Sen. Angela Paxton, has not said whether she will recuse herself.

The Paxtons purchased the Austin house in 2018. When it was remodeled two years later, Paxton’s former staff alleged in court documents, Paul “was involved in” the work.

Among the 20 articles of impeachment are accusations that Paxton used the power of his office to help Paul over unproven claims of an elaborate conspiracy to steal $200 million of the developer’s properties. The FBI searched Paul’s home in 2019, but he has not been charged and his attorneys have denied wrongdoing.

The city has no record of building permits from the time of the renovations. A different Austin contractor — not Cupertino Builders — received a federal grand jury subpoena in 2021 for records related to work on Paxton’s home that started in January 2020.

Cupertino Builders was formed in October 2020 and dissolved less than two years later, according to Texas corporation records. Its manager was Sagiraju, who said in a deposition for an unrelated case that he did “consulting” work for Paul’s business and had an email address with Paul’s company.

Sagiraju acknowledged that he served prison time for securities fraud and grand theft in California before moving to Austin, according to a transcript of the deposition. He said he was first introduced to Paul by a mutual friend before his prison term and they later did “a few projects” together.

A lawyer for Sagiraju did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Paxton was separately indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015, though he has yet to stand trial.

[mariacallous]

It’s been hard recently to think about anything other than the wars and humanitarian crises raging around the world. Climate change has left its mark in what was almost certainly the hottest year in human history—there were unprecedented heat waves, intensified forest fires, torrential rain, and floods like those in Libya that caused devastation after two dams burst.

But this has not stopped scientists, innovators, and decisionmakers from working on solutions to our biggest societal challenges—with success. Here is a collection of uplifting news to come out of 2023.

A powerful laser veered lightning strikes off their path

In an instant, millions of volts can damage buildings, spark fires, and harm people—unless the lightning can be redirected. An experiment with a laser beam suggests this is possible. The scientists behind it must now demonstrate that their multimillion-dollar laser would actually work better at critical sites such as airports and rocket launchpads than widely used, cheap lightning rods. Read more at Science.

Asteroid rocks and dust were brought to Earth

The first US mission to collect an asteroid sample, OSIRIS-REx, successfully returned a capsule containing granules and dust from the asteroid Bennu. Early analyses back at NASA’s lab suggest the sample is rich in carbon and water-laden minerals, the building blocks of life on Earth. Read more at WIRED.

Scientists grew mouse embryos for the first time ever in space

What would make humans a truly spacefaring species? If we could reproduce and grow outside of Earth’s atmosphere. It may be that this is possible, an experiment with mice suggests. Scientists managed to grow mouse embryos aboard the International Space Station and return them safely to Earth. Their initial growth appeared to be unaffected by the low gravity and high radiation. Read more at New Scientist.

A rare egg-laying mammal was rediscovered after decades

A species with the spines of a hedgehog, the snout of an anteater, and the feet of a mole seems hard to miss. But the long-beaked echidna Zaglossus attenboroughi—named after British naturalist David Attenborough—had remained hidden until caught on camera for the first time since it was scientifically recorded in 1961. This egg-laying mammal is known to only live in the Cyclops Mountains in the Indonesian province of Papua. Read more at Mongabay.

Countries signed a landmark treaty to protect the high seas

After almost 20 years of negotiations, members of the United Nations agreed to protect marine life in international waters—the two-thirds of the world’s oceans that lie outside of national boundaries. This legal framework enables, for example, the creation of vast marine protected areas (MPAs). It also states that “genetic resources,” such as materials from animals and plants discovered for use in pharmaceuticals or foods, should benefit society as a whole. Read more at The Guardian.

California national park bounces back after wildfire

Two years after California’s largest single wildfire burned almost 70 percent of Lassen Volcanic National Park, the ecosystem remains viable. Shrubs and grasses are growing in burned areas while fungi and insects are decomposing dead tree trunks, leading to a slow recovery. Read more at The Guardian.

Brazil’s top court rules for Indigenous rights in landmark case

A powerful agribusiness lobby tried to place time limits on Indigenous peoples’ right to land. They would have to prove they lived on the land in 1988, when Brazil’s current constitution was ratified. But many Indigenous peoples were expelled from their ancestral lands during the country’s military dictatorship, which lasted from from the 1960s to the 1980s. The Supreme Court in Brazil squashed the proposed time limit for land claims. Read more at AP News.

There could be a large reserve of hydrogen deep beneath the French ground

Hydrogen could power factories, trucks, ships, and airplanes in the future—but producing it requires a lot of energy and is expensive. But the gas also occurs naturally deep in the Earth’s crust, and researchers in France have accidentally stumbled on a potentially large deposit. Next year they plan to begin drilling to collect gas samples from depths of up to 1.8 miles. Read more at the Conversation.

The world may have crossed a solar power tipping point

A new study suggests that solar is on track to become the main source of the world’s energy by 2050—even without more ambitious climate policies being introduced. Renewables are already cheaper than fossil fuels. But in the case of solar energy, obstacles such as integration into electricity grids and financing in developing countries still need to be overcome in order for it to continue to grow as it has in recent years. Read more at the Conversation.

A new type of geothermal power plant is making the internet a little greener

A pilot plant is now helping to power Google data centers in Nevada by harnessing the Earth’s heat deep beneath it. Engineers drilled two boreholes down 7,000 feet, and then connected them by fracking, a technique that’s conventionally used in the oil and gas industry. Water sent down one borehole moves through the fracked rocks below and returns to the surface heated up via the other drilled hole. Read more at WIRED.

World’s first container ship powered by methanol completed its maiden voyage

Laura Maersk, the world’s first methanol-fueled ship, arrived in England in September—a milestone for the shipping industry, which is responsible for about 3 percent of worldwide emissions and struggling to decarbonize. Methanol can be made from food waste at landfills. Read more at the BBC.

A cheap and effective vaccine against malaria got approval

There’s now a second malaria jab that could be produced even quicker than the first and rolled out to more children. It got the thumbs up from the World Health Organization in October, two years after the first one. Malaria is the leading cause of death among children in sub-Saharan Africa. Read more at Stat News.

The largest study of migraine sufferers promises new treatment pathways

In the largest genetic study of migraines to date, researchers have identified more than three times the number of genetic risk factors previously known. This will help to better understand the biological basis of migraines and their subtypes and could speed up the search for new treatments. Read more at Science Daily.

Scientists made breakthrough in cervical cancer treatment

In a UK trial of 500 women, half received existing, cheap drugs before standard radiotherapy. The results showed that with the combined therapy, women’s risk of death or relapse fell by 35 percent. According to the researchers, this is the biggest improvement in treating this disease in over 20 years. Read more in the Independent.

Gene therapy showed early promise for children

Scientists in China reported that some children who were born deaf could hear after a gene therapy trial. Meanwhile, experiments are underway in the USA and France aimed at children with a rare form of genetic deafness. Read more at WIRED.

An implant restored walking ability for Parkinson’s patient

A man with advanced Parkinson’s disease can walk several miles again thanks to a special implant. Positioned in the lumbar region of the spinal cord, the implant sends electrical signals to his leg muscles. The scientists behind the innovation plan to carry out further trials with other patients in the coming year. Read more at SWI swissinfo.ch.

DeepMind’s new AI can predict whether a genetic mutation is likely to cause disease

Researchers at DeepMind, Google's AI company, have trained an AI model to detect DNA mutations, which could speed up the diagnosis of rare diseases. Similar to language models like ChatGPT, this model knows the sequences of amino acids in proteins and can detect anomalies. Read more at WIRED.

AI-powered prediction helped Chileans evacuate from floods

A forecasting tool from Google can predict floods in South America and other regions using a little data on the water flow of rivers, with impressive accuracy. This August, many people in Chile were able to evacuate safely and with their belongings thanks to a warning sent out two days before the flooding. Read more at Fast Company.

The Hollywood actors’ and writers’ battle against AI ended—for now

Generative AI has made it to Hollywood, and after months of strikes, both the writers and actors unions managed to negotiate guardrails on how the technology can be used in film and TV projects. AI cannot, for example, be used to write or rewrite scripts, and studios are not allowed to use scripts to train AI models without the writers’ permission. Read more at WIRED.

Lego bricks are teaching kids Braille

The iconic studs on the Lego bricks allow them to be stacked on top of each other. And now you can learn a new language while you’re at it. The company has started selling bricks with modified amounts of studs that teach the Braille alphabet. The corresponding letter or number represented by a brick’s studs are printed on each brick so that children can learn the code. Read more at TechCrunch.