safr

Rather than lobby for better laws governing access and ownership of fire arms, invasive and error-prone facial recognition software is being offered to US school districts, at no cost, to monitor students and staff and ostensibly improve school security.
It’s such a tragedy and disgrace that young children are already inculcated to holding drills in case there’s an intruder with a gun, they deserve far, far better and should not also be inured into a surveillance state where their identity and whereabouts can be telegraphed (and preserved for later) to health insurance providers, debt-collectors or immigration officials.

8x8

constructive-destructive axis: insightful career advice from Steve Jobs

empathy does not equal endorsement: an anthology of presentations on hatred and seeing others as multidimensional beings

life in plastic, it’s fantastic: Barbie presents some sophisticated, inspiring vignettes

badekultur: German photographer Stephan Zirwes showcases public pools from above to reinforce the value of facilities open to all

we are not amused: the Queen telegraphs her feelings through her choice of jewellery (previously)

pure salvage: the 1905 shipwreck of a lost Russian cruiser has been located, purportedly with a cargo of hundreds of tonnes in gold—via Slashdot

hunky dunky: a Spanish digital illustration studio’s refreshing summer diary

garbage in/gorgeous out: aspire to be value-added in all you do 

a fine-tuned machine

Pressed for an answer by his ministry of propaganda, the piece of filth Trump reaffirmed his lack of commitment to the North Atlantic Treat Organisation—despite taking credit for “fixing” the institution after last week’s summit by expressing doubts in the pact’s provision of collective defence—that an attack on one member is an attack on all members, offering up Montenegro as the first concession to Russia. “Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. They are an aggressive people,” Trump said, having shoved the prime minister of the south eastern European republic, formerly part of Yugoslavia, Duško Marković aside to get the best spot for a group photograph at a conference. “They may get aggressive and congratulations, you are in World War III.” Jesus wept.

sophisti-pop

I picked up on the term for a musical sub-genre that resonated with me encountered on a podcast, applied to second wave 80s songs from the UK that integrate soul and jazz elements, often performed with synthesisers and saxophone interludes. Artist classified as sophisti-pop include Swing Out Sister, Sade, Simply Red, Level 42 and the Blow Monkeys.