The furniture designer turned photographer was drawn to the colourful geometry of a multistorey car park in Japan
Takeshi Aruga was en route from hospital back to his home in Okegawa, Japan, when he took this photograph. He’d had a consultation with a dermatologist, and while his house was a couple of miles away, good weather encouraged him to walk. Along the way, he passed PAPA Ageo, a sizeable shopping centre popular with locals. This blue sign board outside the multistorey car park caught his eye.
“On the side visible to drivers coming down, it usually displays a message like ‘Thank you for visiting’ along with directions for turning left or right to avoid traffic congestion,” Aruga says. “Just behind is a red box, likely for a fire extinguisher.”
Continue reading...Now fighting is over, the question is how Iran’s government will behave. Early clues point to more authoritarianism and prioritising relations with China
The precise ideological lessons that Iran’s new leadership draws from the 110-day war may prove to be the overriding factor in determining whether negotiations with the US culminate in an agreement that verifiably prevents the country from developing a nuclear weapon – an outcome that could usher in a new era for the Iranian economy while also reshaping the Middle East.
Does this rapidly assembled leadership team, forged in the fire of war, still represent an Islamic ideological crusade – a description coined by Henry Kissinger – or does the acceptance of the memorandum of understanding, in the words of JD Vance, denote a desire for pragmatism?
Continue reading...Updates from the match at the Rose Bowl
Start time in Southampton is 10.30am local/7.30pm AEST
Any thoughts? Send Megan an email
There’s a significant amount of orange in the crowd today – the Dutch will have some great support as they take on the formidable Australian team.
A couple of changes for Australia, with Ash Gardner recovering from her ankle injury to return to the side, replacing Grace Harris, and Lucy Hamilton coming in for Megan Schutt.
Continue reading...A burgeoning genre of fictional AI doomsday scenarios says lagging behind on the technology could threaten the continent’s sovereignty
It’s 2031 and the US and China are about to tear Europe into pieces.
The US ploughed vast sums into datacentres and the EU did not. China built robots and Europe did not. American companies “restructured” their workflows around AI and fired people, while EU workers went on long lunch breaks and handed over administrative tasks to the AI model Claude.
Continue reading...
Twee weken geleden werd Robin van Persie ontslagen als trainer van Feyenoord. Het clubicoon heeft nog altijd nergens van zich laten horen. Ondertussen rijst de vraag waar de toekomst ligt van Shaqueel van Persie, zijn talentvolle zoon. Dévy Rigaux sprak nog niet met hem. "Hij weet dat hij zijn eigen carrière moet bepalen."
Miniworld Rotterdam aan het Weena is weer open. Sinds zaterdagochtend is de Rotterdamse attractie weer te bezoeken.
Miniworld Rotterdam aan het Weena is weer open. Sinds zaterdagochtend is de Rotterdamse attractie weer te bezoeken.
Three Amazon employees have filed a civil-rights complaint alleging the company retaliated against them for publicly supporting Seattle regulations on data centers. "The complaint was filed on the workers' behalf by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, an independent group of corporate employees at Amazon that since 2018 has organized around climate issues," reports The New York Times. "It said the company started investigations and told the employees that they could face discipline, in one case up to potential termination, in an act of intimidation that violated the city's civil rights protections against discrimination for political beliefs." Amazon says it launched the internal investigations to determine whether the employees appeared to be speaking on the company's behalf rather than as private citizens. "As we looked more closely at how these employees represented themselves, and how their comments were received by others, it became clear that they may have been speaking in their capacity as Amazonians and not as private citizens," said an Amazon spokesperson. They said that the company does not allow retaliatory behavior and that when the investigation is concluded, Amazon "may or may not take action based on what we find." The New York Times reports: Five Amazon tech workers affiliated with Amazon Employees for Climate Justice testified at several different hearings before the Seattle City Council and two of its committees. Their testimony in the company's hometown drew national attention, and it put the tech giant in the awkward position of responding to public criticism of data centers and artificial intelligence from its own employees. Patrick Schloesser, who has worked as a software engineer at Amazon Web Services since 2020, said in an interview with The New York Times that Amazon told him he was under investigation last week, when he was called into a meeting with no notice. He had testified at two City Council hearings in early June. "I had this rising sense of anger that Amazon is attempting to infringe on my rights to speak out politically in my city," he said. "If we allow corporations to decide which speech is or is not allowed, that absolutely hurts democracy." [...]
[...] The Amazon employees testified that Seattle should consider conditions on allowing new data centers, such as requiring new renewable energy sources of power, banning the use of nondisclosure agreements between the city and developers, and limiting public subsidies. They offered to help create new rules based on their experience as tech workers. "Seattle needs to set the terms so the way any new data centers get built here actually moves us closer to the future we want," Darius Irani, who has worked as a software engineer in Amazon's grocery business since 2021, said at a June 3 hearing before the Council's Parks and City Light Committee. He suggested requiring public reporting of water and power use, banning shell companies and harnessing the heat emitted from the chips in data centers to warm nearby buildings.
Amazon told news organizations at the time that it respected 'our colleagues' right to voice their opinions and that the company did not have plans to build data centers within the city limits. On June 9, the Council unanimously voted for a one-year moratorium on new, large data centers in order to give it time to develop regulations. The next day, an Amazon employee relations staff member met the three workers in individual meetings and told them that they were under investigation for their testimony, according to the complaint. Mr. Irani said he was repeatedly questioned about his testimony and who else at Amazon was present at the hearings. "It feels like they say one thing publicly and try to silence and intimidate me privately, which I think is wrong," Mr. Irani said.
[...] The Amazon employees testified that Seattle should consider conditions on allowing new data centers, such as requiring new renewable energy sources of power, banning the use of nondisclosure agreements between the city and developers, and limiting public subsidies. They offered to help create new rules based on their experience as tech workers. "Seattle needs to set the terms so the way any new data centers get built here actually moves us closer to the future we want," Darius Irani, who has worked as a software engineer in Amazon's grocery business since 2021, said at a June 3 hearing before the Council's Parks and City Light Committee. He suggested requiring public reporting of water and power use, banning shell companies and harnessing the heat emitted from the chips in data centers to warm nearby buildings.
Amazon told news organizations at the time that it respected 'our colleagues' right to voice their opinions and that the company did not have plans to build data centers within the city limits. On June 9, the Council unanimously voted for a one-year moratorium on new, large data centers in order to give it time to develop regulations. The next day, an Amazon employee relations staff member met the three workers in individual meetings and told them that they were under investigation for their testimony, according to the complaint. Mr. Irani said he was repeatedly questioned about his testimony and who else at Amazon was present at the hearings. "It feels like they say one thing publicly and try to silence and intimidate me privately, which I think is wrong," Mr. Irani said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.