Rob

Map: Governors Public Health Alliance * Guam is also a member of the alliance Updated October 15, 2025 Map: @luckytran • Created with Datawrapper

15 US states and territories have formed a new Public Health Alliance, which will counter the absence of federal leadership by tracking outbreaks, issuing guidance, buying vaccines and more.

Members of the new alliance include CA, CO, CT, DE, GU, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OR, RI, WA.

Cool and interesting experiment

I don’t know if I understand the philosophical part, but I’ve heard most brains work by reducing how much information needs to be processed

Our mind assumes everything is the same until our attention is drawn to the changes

I wish people trusted AI as much as we trusted early Wikipedia

Sometimes being an activist can feel defeating.

But then I remember that humpback whales were considered so endangered that an entire Star Trek movie was made about them in the 80s.

Now, because of the work of thousands, humpbacks are now a classified as a ‘species of least concern’.

Another reason why the wedge issues hurt Conservatives. It encourages strategic voting, helping the Liberals and pushing out the NDP

Conservatives pandering to their “base” has seriously hurt Canadian politics. But you’re right, maybe the next guy will change it up

If Conservatives focused on Canadians instead of wedge issues, they’d have a chance

Agree to the contract or don't have a job isn't much of a choice

I can't believe this was legal to begin with. Trapping people with debt is the kind of thing human traffickers do

Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world,... I feel like I can't take it. And my heart is just going to cave in.

Life imitates metaphor

I realized I’m really starting to hate the phrase “all you have to do”

Especially when someone on tik tok is explaining a 20 step process and they say “all you have to do” after every single step

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed Scientists say they have developed the world’s first blood test to diagnose myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). There is no currently no test for the condition and patients tend to be diagnosed based on symptoms, which means many can go undiagnosed for years. Continue reading...

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome

"but if people didn't HAVE to work, we'd have no innovation or progress"

yet here I am watching all my furloughed colleagues who legally cannot work resting, making art, working on side projects, being productive in other ways that matter...

The worst part is that he looks like a cop

Jess Waters recycling the same guy over and over to represent “former” different enemies

Maybe he should worry more about being a premier instead of misusing that power to be a mayor

Clients of lobby firms connected to premier, his nephew given tens of millions in training funds Groups represented by a lobbying firm owned by the premier’s campaign manager got more than $100 million in grant money, a Trillium analysis has found

NEW: Clients of lobby firms connected to the premier and his nephew were given tens of millions from the Skills Development Fund.

Clients of Rubicon — a lobbying firm owned by the premier’s campaign manager — got more than $100M, records show.

www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...

Ford says he'll yank Crown Royal from LCBO shelves if Diageo closes Ontario plant | CBC News Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he will pull Crown Royal off the shelves of the province's liquor stores should Diageo, the global company that produces the iconic Canadian whisky, go through with its ...

Living in Ontario is just an endless groundhog day with two press cycles:

1. Free the cars
2. Booze

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

What could possibly go wrong…

That's fair, gender bias pops up all over the place and it is definitely a problem. And gender-neutral language can help

But ignoring gender or being gender-blind is also problematic. The way we apply gender to machines is a reflection of our society more than some inherent problem with gender

Vehicles registered to Ford cabinet ministers caught by speed cameras more than 20 times | Globalnews.ca Documents obtained by Global News reveal that, over three years, vehicles registered to Ford’s cabinet minister received more than $3,300 in fines for speeding.

NEW: Vehicles registered to Doug Ford's cabinet ministers have been caught by automated speed cameras more than 20 times.

In one case, they were driving 70 in a 40 zone. On average, they were 17 over the limit. #OnPoli
globalnews.ca/news/1146373...

They wouldn’t have a gender identity, how they see themselves, but they can still have a gender expression, how the rest of the world sees them

Their gender expression is given to them

It’s like a talking doll. You can still understand their meaning even if there is no intention behind it

Personally, I’d rather highlight that it’s a machine, than try to be gender blind when it comes to robots. The word clanker might be a decent alternative.

In any case, I appreciate you explaining your side. #NoFate

That doesn't mean gender isn't there though. It just helps blur the lines between real and fake because society puts so much weight on fitting into the gender binary

Ironically, in a more progressive society, it wouldn't matter if machines had gendered characteristics or not

ENGLISH IS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Banner in front of Toronto city hall

English is a foreign language.

📍Toronto City Hall

A smart speaker has no physically characteristics relating to sex. But the default voice is feminine. The makers say people prefer that

That preference has nothing to do with the machinery and everything to do with people’s socially driven concept of feminity

I don’t know the larger context of your post. My understanding is that sexism and transphobia are socially driven (gender), and not driven by physiology (sex).

If anything, when people project those ideas onto machines, it should highlight how socially driven those ideas really are

They can have gender, they don’t have sex

Nice August weather we’re having