Associate Prof of Private Law at Amsterdam Law School. Teaches EU consumer law, worries about climate catastrophe, sometimes writes at the intersection of these two - but also gets distracted more often than not.
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Trigger warning. “In crashes, SUVs are more likely to strike vital organs in the core of adults’ bodies & heads of children. Hitting pedestrians above their center of gravity means they’re more likely to be knocked forward & down and then be driven over.” Plus more likely to hit in the 1st place.
This is not the AI boom creating a new type of work, this is a classic example of managers using automation to deskill old ones. Creative workers who once made a higher wage creating original art and writing are now paid in piecework to edit automated output. Bosses are using AI to cut labor costs.
"Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)". Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, genocide scholars' association says - www.reuters.com/world/middle...
Germany opposes @kajakallas.bsky.social proposal to exclude the Israel from the EU's Horizon programme declaring that it supports civilian research only. This is untrue, and they should know it. See this thread by @naomiohreally.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/naom...
Another watershed moment. In the past news agencies would inform Israel of the locations of their teams to protect them from attacks. Now they do not inform Israel of the location of their teams. www.spiegel.de/ausland/isra...
Fossil fuel and mining companies have launched a record number of lawsuits against governments, demanding billions for lost profits due to green policies. This year alone, they’ve filed a record number of 22 claims. Critics warn this pressures governments to dilute climate action.
Conservatives now control federal research funding. The next step: actually manipulating research. A conservative law firm is demanding Brown retract research showing connections between anti-wind groups and the fossil fuel industry. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...
Joke’s on us.
A vessel of the NGO “SOS Mediterranee” was targeted in the sea between Libya and Italy while carrying 87 rescued migrants to safety. The attack seems to have been carried out by the so-called “Libyan coastguard”, who allegedly fired shots from a boat donated by Italy www.euronews.com/2025/08/25/l...
“A law firm representing opponents of offshore wind farms is demanding that Brown University retract research that details links between the fossil fuel industry and anti-wind groups.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...
The 'bubble' is definitely the wrong metaphor for this whole thing. Even if the stock values slide, the hype dissipates and the headlines vanish, there will still be a massive energy hunger locked in, along with a swathe of new fossil infrastructure projects that'll stick around for decades
If only these people’s parents had given them money to go to therapy instead of private schools to prep for Ivies, we would be spared so much obnoxiousness and wasteful tech that nobody sane would ever want.
Misschien is dit een goed weekend om massaal deze te gaan delen: wijwerkenhiernietaanmee.nl
Lol, we need the "AI" that is killing the environment and guzzling untold amounts of resources to save the environment. This is 1984 type of marketing, like "ministry of peace" that is actually the war department.
Instructure (Canvas) has been changing private equity hands for years. It's exemplary of the edtech biz model of the past decade - monetize student data, lock in institutions to long-term contracts, promise automated teaching, raise valuation, rinse and repeat onedtech.philhillaa.com/p/sale-of-in...
This is honestly really well done work - apart from the contortions of the former minister. For lawyers, and especially private lawyers, an insightful @europeanlawopen.bsky.social piece from a couple of years ago also highlighted the unequal impacts of online abuse www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
... is what e.g. was mobilised to hold that "gender-critical" views were a protected belief. I would say if *that* was a protected belief, Weller's lawyers should well be able to pull this off as well! But again the context of that case was employment... interesting story!
... which is funny because, as a matter of precedent, it makes the case hinge on human rights and the qualification of genocide being a matter "genuinely held" belief rather than "opinion or viewpoint based on the present state of information available" (other than e.g. slander). Which...
Sorry, I sleepy-read :). So that would be covered by section 4 of the Equality Act 2010? That one lists: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation. Indeed he speaks of "philosophical belief"...
Apart from him being 💯 on the underlying issues - what is Irish law like? Does it really contemplate such broad non-discrimination principles in contractual relations?
During the past month, there has been no visible improvement on the ground. Presented as a great diplomatic breakthrough EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas' so-called “deal” has proven to be little more than a symbolic gesture and a way for Israel to buy more time, when there is no time left.
This is a great example of the need for us to collectively develop critical water media analysis: a) Why was this segment produced b) why now c) who came up with the idea d) who is the “bad guy” in this take e) who does that make the “good guy” (extra points if the answer is same as c)
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The certainty with which this all gets spouted, on the basis of what exactly - maddening.
NOS correctly reports not on fail of plastic treaty negotiations but win of fossil industry. Our drive towards self-destruction unmistakably fuelled by the interest of the few.
Factcheck: Trump’s climate report includes more than 100 false or misleading claims #Climate
Shameful to the core.
Comes, obviously, at huge environmental cost.
Sorry just larger than Maryland! Anyway the trick for the overall result is seeds - massive R&D and sales to producers worldwide, see WaPo for want of better sources www.washingtonpost.com/business/int...
The Netherlands, a rainy and cloudy country smaller than Maryland, is the world’s second-largest agrifood exporter - and in particular the world’s second-largest exporter of TOMATOES.
'Modernity' here doesn't really mean 'living on a planet that doesn't cook us alive' or 'fair access to cheap, clean power' or 'communities not choked by coal and gas export' it means landlords and homeowners with EVs in the driveway, battery systems in the garage and solar panels on the roof
AI literacy be like we burn a lamb on Tuesdays and cow on Thursdays - which is by the way probably still less joules than it would take to operate the query, only we can’t know!
In a somewhat unexpected but certainly carefully weighted move, two Italian ministers express stark criticism of Israel’s plans to occupy the Gaza strip. Crosetto, Meloni’s long-term ally, goes as far as to compare Bibi’s “methods” to Putin’s. Also outlets - Messaggero and Stampa - interesting.
Shocking. Almost as if these people had been doing nothing wrong in the first place?
An entire news crew working for Al Jazeera was killed by Israel as they sought to bring the world firsthand reporting from #Gaza. Among them was prominent journalist Anas Al-Sharif, who had been previously smeared and threatened by the IDF. #NotATarget Full statement: cpj.org/2025/08/isra...
Perfetto, a ciascuno il professionalismo che si aspetta. Il titolo della BBC per comparazione. Buona giornata.
Wow how shameful even by Bild standards…
"The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled to learn of the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif, alongside Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, by Israeli forces in Gaza." - CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg
… un’uccisione mirata di un appartenente a una categoria protetta, uno in particolare di cui il CPJ aveva chiesto settimane fa la protezione, il titolo a mio parere fondamentalmente non fa il suo lavoro. Ovviamente lei può non essere d’accordo, ma spero di aver chiarito a sufficienza.
Buongiorno. Aver effettivamente letto l’articolo la colloca in una (meritevole!) piccola minoranza degli utenti. Quasi tutti si fermano al titolo per farsi un’impressione della notizia. Poiché la vera novità è che Israele neanche cerca più di negare/invocare un errore ma direttamente rivendica/1
It’s institutional, professional, intellectual failure - not “just” moral. There is no rigor to whitewashing the actions of an unhinged, genocidal occupation force.
The deliberate killing of five Al Jazeera staff has brought the total number of journalists killed by Israel since the start of the war to 237, according to Gaza's Government Media Office. 🔴 LIVE updates:
Notice that if you are a journalist you will almost by default make and receive a lot of phone calls to/from politically sensitive subjects, and yes even criminals! But other citizens should be left alone too.
No, cinque giornalisti di Al Jazeera sono stati deliberatamente uccisi da Israele col pretesto (già abbondantemente criticato da ONG mesi da) che uno dei cinque avesse legami con Hamas. Che imbarazzo questo titolo @ilpost.it.
Media blackout on the eve of an invasion the whole world has condemned, by a state that’s been willing to do a genocide on livestream. What do you think comes next? Hearing reports of intensive bombardment. They’re leveling whatever is left.
Barely an hour ago, Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif warned us all: “If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.” Israel just killed him.
Ofer Cassif, Jewish member of Israel's parliament, calls for international sanctions against Israel and continues to remind us that those who stay silent are actively deciding to be complicit in the genocide.
I truly needed to read this in order to stop doomscrolling and get on with my day!
The insanity the world summarised in a headline on Canada: Wildfires threaten Canadian oil sands www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/glo...
What a disgrace
SIGH. A lot of frustrated people are asking the question “why not putting this money somewhere else”. The trains that cross the strait belong squarely to the 20th century; improving the ferry+train in the South would make a huge difference
Overpumping of groundwater accounts for 44‰ of global sea level rise—versus 37% from Greenland + 19% from Antarctica. Because after water is put to human use, it escapes into the ocean. And groundwater is a finite resource. In some areas, so much has already been drained, aquifers have collapsed
‘A million calls an hour’: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians
There is a new Chotiner interview that really underscores what is unique about Israel's genocide in Gaza: it would be very easy for the world to stop it if only a few countries wanted to.
Culture warriors di seconda mano, che tristezza. Pensassero alle liste d’attesa e ai medici esausti che vedono colleghi andare uno dopo l’altro in pensione senza essere sostituiti…
Would be interesting to know more about this - who are the passengers who travel super light and do not need overhead compartment luggage? Why do they travel, and why so light? We should fly less but that doesn’t mean flying should be miserable- doesn’t seem to work as deterrent anyway!
Israeli media reports that the cabinet is gearing up to instruct the IDF to occupy all parts of the Gaza Strip. The implications are a severe escalation of the carnage, starvation, and ethnic cleansing. UK+EU sanctions should preempt this catastrophe - not respond to it belatedly.
"Petrostates are holding #PlasticsTreaty talks hostage. A minority threatens to block final negotiations. Countries should invoke their right to vote to ensure an ambitious agreement is reached." 👇 Read more
The terrorist who shot beloved Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen earlier this week gets released from home arrest as a judge claims he shot “in self-defense” (while trespassing!) and that causal link between him shooting and Awdah dying is not sufficiently proven.
NEW: i spoke to nine (!) scientists across several disciplines whose work was cited in the new Department of Energy report that downplays the severity of climate change. all of them say their work was misrepresented, cherry picked, and/or lacked context —
"Moisture lost to evaporation and drought, plus runoff from pumped groundwater, now outpaces the melting of glaciers and the ice sheets of either Antarctica or Greenland as the largest contributor of water to the oceans." www.propublica.org/article/wate...
Awdah was also a guide to foreigners, many of them Jewish, who come to learn about the occupation. I met him in 2018 and, as others have said, he had the grace & welcoming nature totally beyond what he had suffered & was facing. Today a settler murders him & then the military invades his village.
This settler murdered activist and journalist Awdah Hathaleen today in Umm al-Kheir, Masafer Yatta. I've visited the village many times over the past years and met Awdah as the kind and courageous person he was. They are killing colleagues and friends in broad daylight - with near-total impunity.
Imagine introducing on the market a product that is several times more fatal for children. That wouldn't work in most sectors, but it barely raises an eyebrow in the car market. And soon most cars on European roads will be SUVs.
Violent or destructive left wing protest is framed as delegitimising the protesters' stated cause. Violent or destructive right wing protest is framed as emphasing the need for urgent action on the protesters' stated cause. As always, right wing men are treated as elemental forces without agency.
It’s really quite simple: Our students were right. Major national and international media were wrong. The students are getting expelled or worse. Those in major national and international media who bayed for this crackdown get to keep their jobs and will keep finding ways to help fascism win the day
You see glasses, I see a certain type of dude behind them. Something’s 💯 up though!
Great conversation about relationship btw AI, data centers, and precarious life for the vast majority of humans. @danmcquillan.bsky.social invites us to work w/ idea "de-computing." Not abandoning technology, but redirecting it toward human ends, re-learning solidarity with each other
DB notifications are the most unnecessarily anxiety-inducing bit of customer care *ever* - TMI as method! Dude I see this real-time info seems exciting but nobody, ever. needs to know every single time that your system updates ETAs. Chill.
Infuriating that it’s how it is, I know, but adding -AI to my searches is sparing me a lot of unnecessary triggering of late.
The circularity is near
Voorpagina Trouw vandaag #wirhabenesgewusst
Vrijheid en democratie, tenzij het effe niet uitkomt
The Home Office could allow them in with a click of their fingers (as they did with Ukrainian and Afghan visas) but they’re refusing, write to your local MP now. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
pretty telling comment here. Britain and America absolutely did feed and clothe Nazi and Japanese POWs during WWII. and they provided food and supplies to occupied territories as the war was won. the Hunger Plan by contrast was a Nazi thing
Thing is, a lot of authoritarian stuff is preposterous to the point that it’s hilarious- but it remains authoritarian! That this happens under a PM who was framed (not only) by critics as “human rights lawyer” tells unfortunately more about the sad state of the world than about Starmer’s many issues
Why is it still getting EU grant money?
This happens every single day now, as all other sources of maintenance have been annihilated. And only last week the EU council has refused to sanction the state inflicting this on a population with no way out of the escalating sufferings. The same on all of us.
For the first time, wildfires surpassed logging or agriculture-driven deforestation as the biggest factor lowering forests’ carbon-capturing ability. In recent years, they’ve absorbed just a quarter of the carbon dioxide they did in the beginning of the 21st century, data shows.
“The social impact of starvation means an aggressor can use food controls to create a dynamic that de Waal describes as ‘genocidal humanitarianism’, where just enough calories are provided to prevent mass death, but extreme hunger ‘destroys the meaning of their life as a group’.”
AI is a very accurate reflection of the overconfident mediocre white men who have created it.
There will come a day when everyone will have always been against this.
Sorry 43,5 but still…
46k households for 53k people, unless they are all digital nomads drawn by the sea views and low prices, seems a more likely data point to go and look for Reform support explanations? I feel lonely at the bare thought of this!
Israël voert de genocide uit, Amerika financiert hem, en Europa kijkt toe en helpt een handje.
This is disgraceful. Students in Gaza accepted to many universities (not just Cambridge or Oxford!) being blocked by the UK Home Office's unreasonable and inflexible demands. www.thetimes.com/world/middle...
Trump is closing all four climate observatory stations in Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa, and Antartica. Because you can't have high CO2 levels if you don't *measure* CO2 levels. roll_safe.gif
The Olin Foundation used elite universities to introduce "right-wing propaganda into the American mainstream." They "bankrolled projects and careers for conservatives" - and fabricated ideas about critical race theory in order to turn white people against an obscure piece of legal theory. 1/n
Ahem
Looks like I was just provided a perfectly plausible set of reasons to retroactively justify and rationalize years of loathing Canvas.
“Je kunt niet tegelijkertijd willen dat de Holocaust een moreel ijkpunt blijft, en gaan steigeren als mensen het [.]als ijkpunt gebruiken. Door voor Israël een uitzondering te eisen, maken verdedigers van de Israëlische regering de Holocaust onbruikbaar en het internationaal recht [.] betekenisloos.
Fascinating. Microsoft emailed me to say it was raising the price of Microsoft 365, but when i went to cancel it offered me me the old price — without all the AI bullshit. It’s forcing AI on everyone and making them pay more for it, then only telling them they don’t have to if they try to cancel.
Now we would only need to agree on what “dark patterns” and “addictive design” mean - stroll in the park!
Cutting "red tape" (aka public protections), as Reeves is doing, does not save money. Instead, it transfers costs from the rich to the poor. Other people pay for financial recklessness, filthy rivers, air pollution, lax building standards and consumer rip-offs. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
And this before we start discussing issues with street safety in the city (children being often invisible for SUV drivers), oversized occupation of parking spaces, problems with relatively small streets… a most obvious example of glorified overconsumption.
