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NDCS TBC
In the fun world of international climate negotiations at this point, everything is a bit quieter. The final big news was the COP29 conference in Azerbaijan in November. This was a huge success for a fossil fuel company promoting bystanders' products. Donald Trump then returned to the White House as President of the United States. He immediately ordered the country to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, which governs international climate action. Negotiators can make excuses that they are a bit shell shocked.
Nevertheless, the wheels of the climatic bureaucracy are crushed. This year, signers of the Paris contract must submit renewals Nationally determined contributions (NDC). This is essentially a list of promises to take action to address climate change. The deadline is February 10th, and most countries missed it. Climate strategist Ed King He's getting attention Newsletter “Three small hill countries with many sheep” (UK, New Zealand and Switzerland) managed to submit theirs, but “we will have to wait until the second half of 2025 for China, India and the EU ”.
No one is in a hurry. It will take time. It's not like half of Los Angeles got burned to the ground. Drink tea, lift your legs and live your best life. It will be done when it is complete.
V-word
Reporter Matthew Spark draws our attention to one experience David Burchwho discussed savings accounts online with virgin money and asked the chatbot: The chatbot responded: “Don't use such words. If you use that language, I won't be able to continue chatting.”
Online assistants appear to have been programmed to avoid certain words and phrases that were considered discriminatory or offensive, including “virgin.” After Birch I posted it angrily There were a few things about this on LinkedIn Media reporting and virgin money I apologized I've taken down the chatbot (it was an outdated model anyway).
This was yet another example of a recurring problem with online discussions. Context is important. It is certainly possible to use it to insult the string virgin, but it is also the name of a multinational corporation. Tools that simply filter specific strings are obligated to block many harmless messages, but also lack the obvious slur-independent abuse.
The issue dates back at least to 1996 when AOL refused to allow residents of Scunthorpe, UK, to create accounts. The town's name contains a string that many people find offensive.Scunthorpe problem“For such a technical disaster.
The “virgin” incident is just the latest example. The Wikipedia page for Scunthorpe questions is a treasure trove of careless toilet humor and, more importantly, surprises. Perhaps we can speculate on the problems faced by certain mushroom promoters with Japanese names, but why is the New Zealand town of Facatane, a similar context-blinded foul, similar? Ignore the reader to predict whether the situation has become blinded. control.
Readers are welcome to submit their stories, but feedback cannot guarantee that email filters will pass through them.
Is it finally happening?
January 26th, website Daily Express The newspaper issued a big warning:Yellowstone warning as Survercano “preparing for an explosion”“. Good gravy, we thought. Will the Super Orcano under Yellowstone stop that perennial rumble and eventually tear it and cover North America with ashes and suck the sun?
In a thorough examination, the story merely reported the existence of a short YouTube document. What happens if the Yellowstone volcano erupts tomorrow? It was released in March 2020 on a channel called What. Feedback may be felt and readers may agree. ExpressHeadline.
Still, I’ll fill out the page. Found Feedback a Half a dozen article This theme has been featured in early January with headlines like “”.Yellowstone Crater movements create fear of boss explosion as scientists assess the risk“This noted that some scientists discovered “movement deep within the crater” and that this was on alert. paper in Nature It used new imaging techniques to determine that the volcano was not contained close to the magma sufficient to erupt. Others said this study:New debate about when and where it will spurt“This is certainly one way to interpret research that an eruption is not imminent.
Going back further back in time: On July 23rd last year, there was a small hydrothermal explosion in the Biscuit Basin area of Yellowstone, essentially trapped steam escaped the ground and escaped. Queue the headlines”Is Yellowstone going to erupt?“This was answered to an affordable answer by geophysicists. Geophysicists only say that the volcano erupts when there is “enough magma and pressure that can be erupted,” and that “either state is in yellowstone He explained that it will only erupt if it is not present.
We tried to go back further, but after the 50th post with almost the same headline, the feedback brain broke. At this point there were so many stories that declared the Yellowstone eruption imminent. When we see it off on live TV, we don't know if we believe it or not.
Have you talked about feedback?
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