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But the agency's term ended in 2024, and in April 2025, the Indonesian government confirmed it would not extend its mandate…

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After the worst wildfires in history occurred in 2015, the Indonesian government introduced a series of remedial measures, including the establishment in 2016 of a dedicated peatland and mangrove restoration agency (BRGM). Starting in 2021, BRGM's mandate was further expanded …

as many as 74% of fire hotspots in the Kalimantan region fell within corporate concession areas, of which 10,739 hotspots were located within palm oil plantation permits (HGU), 7,880 hotspots were in mining concession areas, and 6,905 hotspots fell within forest utilization permits (PBPH).

Once these peatlands catch fire, they can smolder underground for weeks or even months, making them difficult to fully extinguish. Since the 1990s, Indonesia has dug large-scale drainage canals to convert peatlands into plantations for palm oil, pulpwood, and other cash crops…

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Indonesia holds about 36% of the world's tropical peatlands. Natural peatlands remain waterlogged year-round and do not easily burn; but drainage projects lower the water table, drying out the peat and increasing fire risk.

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about 13,500 people received treatment for respiratory infections, while on the two islands of Borneo and Sumatra, about 5.5 million people were directly exposed to the thick smoke. BBC reported on September 23 that more than 40,000 cases occurred in young children…

Faced with this "disaster that happens every year," a group of Indigenous organizations and civil society groups chose to no longer remain silent—they took Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and provincial governors and other officials to court…

more than 200,000 hectares of forest and land across the country were consumed by fire. The satellite monitoring platform "Nusantara Atlas" pointed out that from January to August this year, nearly 900,000 hectares of land had been burned across Indonesia.

this year's fires have already been burning for more than two months, and according to Reuters, they may be the worst in 11 years. As of October 9, at least 11 fire sites were still not extinguished, covering an area of 85,000 hectares,

When you hear people talking about Gavin Newsom as a potential Democratic presidential candidate, just remember that he helped push through the deal that allowed one right-wing family to gain ownership of all of these media channels. prospect.org/2026/10/08/d...

A tree diagram branching rightward from a large black dot labelled "Skydance" at left centre. Thin grey curved lines fan out to six smaller black dots, each of which branches again to a list of names under a bold category heading. Every name has a coloured dot beside it: teal or orange. At top left, a key reads: "Select Skydance properties that were previously part of Paramount Skydance or Warner Bros. Discovery", with "Paramount Skydance" in teal and "Warner Bros. Discovery" in orange.

Movie studios: Paramount Pictures (teal); Warner Bros. Pictures (orange).

TV studios: CBS Studios, Paramount Television Studios (teal); Warner Bros. Television (orange).

Streaming platforms: Paramount+, Pluto TV (teal); Discovery+, HBO Max (orange).

Cable networks: BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, TV Land (teal); Discovery Channel, HGTV, TBS, TNT, TLC (orange).

News properties: CBS News, The Free Press (teal); CNN (orange).

Franchises: CSI, The Godfather, Mission: Impossible, NCIS, Yellowstone (teal); DC Comics, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings (orange).

Text at bottom left: "Sources: the companies. Nate Rattner/WSJ"

(ALT Text by Claude AI)

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So while I was still able to appreciate the many worthwhile aspects of the novel that accounted for Saramago's Nobel Prize and found myself reading the book late into the night, I was unable to surrender myself fully to the novel in the way I was with his Baltasar and Blimunda (which I loved).

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I'm also not very comfortable with novels that graphically depict sexual violence to make allegorical points, something this book did as well.

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I was disappointed to read that Saramago was quite dismissive of disability activists who criticized the story when the film adaptation came out. (I haven't seen the film version yet.) It isn't just that it is offensive (which it is), but it also makes for an unconvincing narrative.

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I recently finished reading Saramago's "Blindness." As an allegory, the novel feels even more urgent now than when it was written, but the use of blindness as a metaphor falls flat because of the way it disregards the lived experience of blind people.

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I Quit OpenAI Because Its Culture Is Broken

When our governments, our institutions, our corporations are not aligned with human values, how can we expect the tools they produce to be?

theatlantic.com

The industry’s approach to safety will guarantee more failures unless something changes.

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The latest OpenAI employee to quit over concerns with the industry wrote this: "This question of “alignment”—or how AI can be trained to adhere to human values—may sound touchy-feely, but the practical stakes could not be higher." What if the problem isn't a lack of alignment but a surfeit of it?

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This article is also important for the way it talks about US influence in the Brazilian politics. I see some similarities with China's interventions in Taiwan. The fact that China is Brazil's largest trading partner makes the comparison all the more relevant.

How to watch Brazil this month

"One way to understand the class alliance that has coalesced around this project is to think of it as the meeting of those who have given up waiting for the promises of modernization to be realized, and those who have stopped pretending that the promises they made were real."

northsouthnotes.org

Four illustrious guides to a crucial cycle

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Reposted by Kerim Friedman 傅可恩

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

One crazy thing about this new outpouring of racism against South Asians and calls for expulsion or forced assimilation is it was kicked off by some brown skinned students at a Texas game wearing cowboy hats and excitedly celebrating their football team — ie some guys very assimilated to America.

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Reposted by Kerim Friedman 傅可恩

Justin Fox @byjustinfox.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

What the Trump administration has been doing to the federal government, in one chart. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Nondefense agences with 2,000+ employment decline since Jan. 2025
Department, agency or subagency Employment change Percent change
Internal Revenue Service -29,985 -29.4%
Veterans Health Administration -26,347 -6.2%
Social Security Administration -7,934 -13.8%
Forest Service (since July 2024) -7,268 -17.8%
Transportation Security Administration -6,481 -9.8%
Federal Emergency Management Agency -5,759 -22.1%
Bureau of Land Management (since July 2024) -5,274 -47.6%
Veterans Benefits Administration -5,198 -15.0%
National Institutes of Health -5,052 -23.5%
Agency For International Development -4,739 -95.4%
Food and Drug Administration -4,700 -22.4%
Army Corps of Engineers -4,563 -11.8%
Environmental Protection Agency -4,476 -26.4%
Department of Energy -3,976 -24.8%
Centers For Disease Control and Prevention -3,649 -28.6%
Small Business Administration -3,480 -40.6%
National Park Service (since July 2024) -3,469 -15.4%
Department of State -3,158 -21.8%
Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA) -3,002 -25.3%
Fish and Wildlife Service (since July 2024) -2,803 -30.8%
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin. -2,575 -20.8%
Geological Survey -2,572 -30.5%
Citizenship and Immigration Services -2,514 -11.0%
Public Buildings Service (GSA) -2,452 -43.8%
Census Bureau -2,436 -18.3%
Agricultural Research Service -2,325 -32.7%
Bureau of Reclamation -2,207 -38.0%
Bureau of Prisons/Federal Prison System -2,175 -6.0%

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Reposted by Kerim Friedman 傅可恩

Matt Bors @mattbors.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

It was exactly ten years ago today, on my 33rd birthday, that I posted this comic online.

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Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 14/09/2026

Not in Taiwan. At least not so far. I still get pretty good service there.

Or perhaps it is the stance that they take towards their product?

It isn't a lack of empathy that I object to, but a lack of concern with the quality of their product. The attitude seems to be that if enough people are willing to pay it doesn't matter if it is full of mistakes. I blame AI.

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Now, however, they are more likely to say something along the lines of, "If you don't like it, you can get a refund." They just don't seem to care about fixing anything anymore.

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12/09/2026

I've noticed a real change in the kinds of replies I get from customer support these days. It used to be that they would send a polite reply thanking me for the feedback and promise to look into it.

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Reposted by Kerim Friedman 傅可恩

The US President's new proposal to tax international students has been approved by the White House for release this week. It's an unprecedented $100,000 tax on int'l grads who stay to work after graduation on Optional Practical Training (most grads do), a crucial bridge to remaining by any channel.

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Reposted by Kerim Friedman 傅可恩

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The Trump administration has deported someone using the Alien Terrorist Removal Court — the first time that’s ever happened. Read on at Law Dork: www.lawdork.com/p/the-first-...

The Trump administration chose the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks to announce the first deportation carried out through use of a secretive pre-9/11 court that had never been used until this summer.
It did so in the most apt way, announcing that the case had concluded weeks earlier, and the public was only being informed about it on Friday — because that's when the administration wanted to tell the public.

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Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 12/09/2026

"Twilight fans are trying to rectify the lack of financial compensation by raising funds for the Quileute Tribe’s Move to Higher Ground Project through varied creative means." A sweet story about how a shitposting FB Twilight fan group is doing some good.

ictnews.org

Twilight fandom helps fund Quileute Tribe’s move to higher ground - ICT

Fans of the 2000s pop-culture phenomena are using online communities to fundraise for the tribe that says they never saw a cent after having their likeness used.

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Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 12/09/2026

I'm so glad there is a good audio book for this, and that it is available from @libro.fm. Will definitely listen!

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Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 10/09/2026

There is something rather amusing about the makers of plagiarism machines accusing China of plagiarizing their work. And aren't these US companies also copying each other's work as well?

arstechnica.com

Six Chinese AI firms accused of aggressively copying US frontier models

US urges AI firms to ID, then secretly switch, Chinese users to less-capable models.

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Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 09/09/2026

‘These records are priceless’: 3 National Archives locations set to close without tribal consultation The Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco National Archives contain incredibly important Bureau of Indian Affairs documents and are reportedly closing as soon as Oct. 1

ictnews.org

‘These records are priceless’: 3 National Archives locations set to close without tribal consultation - ICT

The Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco National Archives contain incredibly important Bureau of Indian Affairs documents and are reportedly closing as soon as Oct. 1

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Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 08/09/2026

Read the whole thing - the title revelation only scratches the surface; it goes deeply into the failed negotiations that preceded the violence. archive.ph/2LLJH#select...

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Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 07/09/2026

Unfortunately memory is short. College-age students today grew up taking democracy for granted. That worries me. They don't even remember the Sunflower movement ...

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Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 07/09/2026

Tested this. Works great! Even if you have a thread. Don't know why @support.bsky.team can't implement this as well?