Link Roundup November + December 2019

Alphabet’s board of directors is investigating executives over inappropriate relationships

Alphabet shareholders sued the board in January for allegedly covering up sexual misconduct from executives, including former Android co-founder Andy Rubin. The company let go of Rubin and paid him $90 million after an internal investigation found sexual assault claims credible, according to a report in the New York Times. Rubin denied any wrongdoing in statements at the time of the report. The report of Rubin’s payout set off a company-wide walkout by employees last November.

For Sale: SAT-Takers’ Names. Colleges Buy Student Data and Boost Exclusivity

To find more students to solicit, admissions officers can turn to College Board, which sells lists of high-school students’ names, ethnicities, parents’ education and approximate PSAT or SAT scores, at 47 cents a name. Each year, 1,900 schools and scholarship programs buy combinations from among 2 million to 2.5 million names, College Board said, declining to say how many names in total it sells. Schools target combinations of geography, socio-economic class and academic interests. A college could buy a list of, say, soccer-playing Caucasian girls from Colorado, Wyoming and Montana who scored 1,200 to 1,300 on the PSAT, are interested in engineering and whose parents didn’t attend college.

Google workers call on company to adopt aggressive climate plan

The letter, which is addressed to Google’s chief financial officer, Ruth Porat, also calls for zero emissions by 2030 and “zero collaboration with entities enabling the incarceration, surveillance, displacement or oppression of refugees or frontline communities”.

Nasa's Voyager 2 sends back its first message from interstellar space

The heliosphere can be thought of as a cosmic weather front: a distinct boundary where charged particles rushing outwards from the sun at supersonic speed meet a cooler, interstellar wind blowing in from supernovae that exploded millions of years ago. It was once thought that the solar wind faded away gradually with distance, but Voyager 1 confirmed there was a boundary, defined by a sudden drop in temperature and an increase in the density of charged particles, known as plasma.

The Internet Archive Is Making Wikipedia More Reliable

Now, thanks to a new initiative by the Internet Archive, you can click the name of the book and see a two-page preview of the cited work, so long as the citation specifies a page number. You can also borrow a digital copy of the book, so long as no else has checked it out, for two weeks—much the same way you'd borrow a book from your local library. (Some groups of authors and publishers have challenged the archive's practice of allowing users to borrow unauthorized scanned books. The Internet Archive says it seeks to widen access to books in “balanced and respectful ways.”)

U.S. Military Could Collapse Within 20 Years Due to Climate Change, Report Commissioned By Pentagon Says

Senior US defense officials in Washington clearly anticipate a prolonged role for the US military, both abroad and in the homeland, as climate change wreaks havoc on critical food, water and power systems. Apart from causing fundamental damage to our already strained democratic systems, the bigger problem is that the US military is by far a foremost driver of climate change by being the world’s single biggest institutional consumer of fossil fuels.

Amazon blames ‘error’ for blocking Nintendo resellers from listing products

According to an email provided to The Verge from a Nintendo seller on Amazon, the company’s initial message read, “As part of our ongoing efforts to provide the best possible customer experience, we are implementing approval requirements for Nintendo products... Effective on 2019-10-31, you will need approval to list the affected products. If you do not obtain approval to sell these products prior to 2019-10-31, your listings for these products will be removed.” That the policy went into effect the same day the notice was issued, giving sellers no time to prepare, raised reg flags.

Minnesota school threw out hot meals of students with over $15 lunch debt, then apologized

In October, Omar and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also introduced a bill called the Universal School Meals Program Act, which would provide free breakfast, lunch and dinner to every student in America.

Google is scaling back its weekly all-hands meetings after leaks, Sundar Pichai tells staff

Google’s weekly town halls, internally known as “TGIF” meetings, have been emblematic of the company’s professed belief in a transparent corporate culture, giving employees a chance to talk with management about plans for the future. But faced with an ongoing parade of leaks, Google is cutting the meetings back to once a month and shifting the focus away from employees’ political concerns.

GitHub is trying to quell employee anger over its ICE contract. It’s not going well

Brescia’s letter was a second response to an Oct. 9 open letter from employees calling on GitHub to cancel its contract with ICE. The employees behind it said continuing to work with ICE would make the San Francisco-based company “complicit in widespread human rights abuses.” In the company’s initial response, Friedman said that though he disagreed with the immigration policies ICE is enforcing, canceling the contract would not convince the Trump administration to change them. Friedman also said the revenue from the contract — about $200,000 — was not financially material for the company.

Meet the Immigrants Who Took On Amazon

As the sun set, the protesters began marching toward the warehouse, back to the glass doors where Stolz and the other strikers had emerged, so that managers could hear them. As if on cue, several Shakopee Police Department patrol cars rolled up to intercept them, misery lights blazing. Flashes of red and blue strobed through the twilight, illuminating the marchers’ faces and picket signs. The officers called for backup. Squad cars arrived from five other towns—Bloomington, Burnsville, Eden Prairie, Jordan, and Savage—and the Scott County Sheriff’s Office. Within minutes, some 15 vehicles, including an ambulance, had converged on the scene. Armed with pepper spray, police formed a human barricade across the glass doors of the lobby.

Tesla’s Cybertruck Is a Vehicle for the Adult Baby Class War

But when Musk finally revealed the vehicle, which looks like an 80s concept car crossed with some stock sci-fi design tropes, I got it. With every sledgehammer hit, gunshot demo, and finally an embarrassing incident where the Cybertruck's supposedly unbreakable windows uhhh broke, the reason for this truck's existence became clear: it's a vehicle for the class war. But not any class war, the stupid class war. The class war where one side is composed of adult babies who nonetheless can afford at least the promise of military-grade hardware that reminds them of stuff they liked when they were teenagers.

The 2017 College Grad Who Got Attacked by a Horde of YA Authors Had No Idea What She Was Getting Into

Nelson, for her part, emailed me on Thursday night: “In 2017, I was a college junior who joined a committee because I wanted to have a voice in what text was selected for a college reading program. I was only one vote on a large committee of college students, faculty, staff, and community members.” After spending the week deactivating her social media accounts in response to harassment, she had agonized over whether to make any statement at all. She was worried the episode could “torpedo” her career—she’s in graduate school—and she was too skittish to talk to a journalist by phone after her last experience doing so.

This Solar Energy Company Fired Its Construction Crew After They Unionized

In late April, a group of New York City construction workers, inspired by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s vision for a Green New Deal, voted to form one of the first unions in the solar energy industry. On Monday, their employer Bright Power fired its entire in-house construction crew and announced that those workers, in the midst of negotiations for their first contract, would be replaced with subcontractors.

Google employees protested the interrogation of two colleagues by the company’s investigations team, memo says

The memo said Berland’s questioning lasted 2.5 hours and was conducted by Google’s global investigations team, which allegedly told the employees that they were “not decision-makers” but that they would relay the workers’ message “up the chain.”

Chick-fil-A backtracks, won’t pledge to end donations to anti-LGBT charities

A statement on the Chick-fil-A Foundation website said it was “happy and proud” of its 2018 donations, which include Christian organisations that discriminate against LGBT+ people.

Real Estate Opportunity of the Week: A Decommissioned Nuclear Missile Site

What is it? A “BOLD opportunity” to live in a rusting decommissioned nuclear missile silo in the middle of Arizona sitting on more than 12 acres of land, according to the listing. “This property was once one of the most top secret of government assets and is now ready to fulfill a new mission,” the listing says. “That mission is for you to define amongst the limitless scenarios. Secure storage facility? Underground bunker? Remarkable residence—literally living down under?” Titan II missile not included.

‘I want nothing!’ — Trump denies key impeachment witness Gordon Sondland’s claim there was a Ukraine ‘quid pro quo’

Trump, reading off a pad of paper with notes jotted in black marker, said he told Sondland on the call: “I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. Tell [Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy] to do the right thing.”

Many Native Americans Can't Get Clean Water, Report Finds

"We knew the problem was much bigger, but when we went out to look at the data, it didn't exist," said George McGraw, the founder of DigDeep, a nonprofit that has helped build water systems on the Navajo Nation. "No one could tell us, from federal to state agencies to other nonprofits, just how many Americans still don't have running water or a working toilet where they live." So McGraw commissioned experts from around the U.S. to piece together the data they did have and come up with the water gap report. What he found was that race is the strongest predictor of water and sanitation access.

Trump Is Sending Asylum-Seekers To Guatemala. His Administration Privately Admitted It Had No Idea What Would Happen To Them Next.

Guatemala is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere and has the sixth-highest rate of malnutrition in the world. Nearly half of the country suffers from chronic malnutrition, with the prevalence reaching about 70% in some indigenous areas of Guatemala, according to a 2018 report from USAID.

Social Media for Social Movements: Lessons Learned from #GoogleWalkout

Three social media for social movements golden rules: Show and tell, keep up momentum, and remain accessible.

The Hong Kong Protesters Aren’t Driven by Hope

Aren’t you afraid? I asked, gingerly. “We are afraid,” they quickly admitted. They even giggled, but it got serious quickly. This is our last chance, they said very matter-of-factly. If we stand down, nothing will stand between us and mainland China, they said. They talked about Xinjiang, and what China had done to the Uighur minority. I’ve heard about the fate of the Uighurs from so many protesters over the months. China may have wanted to make an example out of the region, but the lesson Hong Kongers took was in the other direction—resist with all your might, because if you lose once, there will be a catastrophe for your people, and the world will ignore it.

Armored ICE Vehicle Sparks Panic In Queens During Firearms Bust

Known as a BearCat, the tactical vehicle is commonly used by the military and in some law enforcement capacities. HSI's Special Response Team in New York—similar to SWAT—has one of those vehicles, according to the ICE spokesperson. The federal agency put out a solicitation last year to purchase an additional 16 BearCats.

Hundreds March In Reenactment Of A Historic, But Long Forgotten Slave Rebellion

But this weekend, amid a startlingly transformed landscape where suburbs and strip malls have replaced plantations, Dread Scott wanted to re-imagine a different outcome through a reenactment that pays tribute to the men and women who protested their enslavement. He says they should be viewed as unsung heroes.

Yale and the Puerto Rican Debt Crisis

Still, pharmaceutical companies continue to play a large role in the Puerto Rican economy, and pharmaceutical products comprise more than 50 percent of Puerto Rican exports. This high level of Puerto Rican exports helps the U.S. minimize drug imports from foreign countries. According to a January 2017 report from Investopedia, the U.S. only imported 25 percent of its pharmaceuticals as of 2017.

Twitter will remove inactive accounts and free up usernames in December

Twitter is sending out emails to owners of inactive accounts with a warning: sign in by December 11th, or your account will be history and its username will be up for grabs again. Any account that hasn’t signed in for more than six months will receive the email alert. [Update: Twitter has announced it’s delaying this process until it can implement a way to memorialize the accounts of people who’ve died.]

Ruthless Quotas at Amazon Are Maiming Employees

Reveal amassed internal injury records from 23 of the company’s 110 fulfillment centers nationwide. Taken together, the rate of serious injuries for those facilities was more than double the national average for the warehousing industry: 9.6 serious injuries per 100 full-time workers in 2018, compared with an industry average that year of 4. While a handful of centers were at or below the industry average, Reveal found that some centers, such as the Eastvale warehouse, were especially dangerous. Dixon’s was one of 422 injuries recorded there last year. Its rate of serious injuries—those requiring job restrictions or days off work—was more than four times the industry average.

'Lobsters and octopuses are back': the Kenyan women leading a reef revival

“The fish have started coming back since the restoration activities began,” says Nasura Ali, of the Wasini Beach Management Unit, which has about 250 members, of whom roughly 150 are women. More than 40 people have been trained in restoration techniques.

Athena, a new anti-Amazon coalition, comes together to fight the e-commerce giant

Over 40 groups said Tuesday they've created a new coalition called Athena to push back against Amazon on a variety of fronts. These groups include the immigrant-focused organizations Make the Road New York and Awood Center in Minnesota, as well as the digital rights group Fight for the Future and the advocacy group Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Anti-trans group admits bathroom predator myth is made up

“Our side concocted the ‘bathroom safety’ male predator argument as a way to avoid an uncomfortable battle over LGBT ideology, and still fire up people’s emotions,” the post read.

Keystone XL: police discussed stopping anti-pipeline activists 'by any means'

A “joint terrorism task force” involving the US attorney’s office and other agencies, along with federal “counterterrorism” officials, said it was prepared to assist in the response to protests and a “critical incident response team” would be available for “domestic terrorism or threats to critical infrastructure”. Authorities have also pre-emptively discussed specific potential felony charges that protesters could face, noting that a “civil disorder” statute was used to prosecute activists at Standing Rock.

How to Tame a Zombie Fungus

Cicadas feed on plant sap—a diet that’s high in sugar, but low in other essential nutrients. The cicadas cope with the help of domesticated bacteria, which live inside their cells. These so-called endosymbionts act like living dietary supplements, providing their insect hosts with the nutrients that are missing from their meals. Most cicadas have two such bacteria: Sulcia and Hodgkinia. But in most of the Japanese species that Matsuura studied, Hodgkinia was missing. He couldn’t find any traces of its DNA.

Hell's Kitchens

Aside from the obvious objection—the only way to “transform” the parking lot into a genuine ecosystem would be to remove the asphalt and let nature take its course—it appears that a core element of their business model is spying or, more in the modern phrase, “surveillance capitalism.” REEF boasts of its ability to gather data using tools like automated License Plate Recognition in hope of providing “invaluable consumer data for landlords to optimize property value.”

New York City MTA's Crackdown on Fare Evasion Is War on the Poor

While there are fines for asking for one, it is legal to offer to swipe someone with your MetroCard on your way out.

'Wow, You're Using The Kitchen Again': The Irritations, Perks Of Longer Airbnb Stays

Many cities are concerned about the growing trend of investors buying up rental units to turn them into full-time Airbnbs, Binzer says, which takes away housing from permanent residents.

Disney produced an unprecedented 80 percent of the top box office hits this year

Disney began the decade with two key purchases: Marvel Entertainment in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012. The combined more than $8 billion investment has exceedingly paid off for Disney; Marvel Studios has made more than $28 billion at the box office alone, while Star Wars is the centerpiece of Disney’s future, Disney+.

The Real Origins of the Religious Right

For nearly two decades, Weyrich, by his own account, had been trying out different issues, hoping one might pique evangelical interest: pornography, prayer in schools, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, even abortion. “I was trying to get these people interested in those issues and I utterly failed,” Weyrich recalled at a conference in 1990.

Google Is Going to War Against Its Own Workers [Update]

Update 12/17/19 1:00 p.m. ET: In addition to a short statement, Google sent a number of points on background that contradicted Spiers’s claims but refused to send this information as a quote attributable to the company itself or send copies of the policies it references. As a result, we declined to include those assertions in our story.

We Tested Ring’s Security. It’s Awful

Motherboard asked Ring a series of specific and detailed questions, such as whether Ring limits the number of login attempts, or blocks an attempt if the connecting IP address is from a country the user is not usually located in. The company responded with a statement nearly identical to its earlier one, saying, "Ring understands what a big decision it is to pick a home security product, and we don’t take that decision lightly. Ring will continue to introduce additional security features to keep Ring accounts and devices secure, and we're working with our customers to ensure they have the knowledge and tools to practice good password habits."

What a 5,700-Year-Old Wad of Chewed Gum Reveals About Ancient People and Their Bacteria

The Danish team identified several species of bacteria that were similar to those hiding in people’s plaque and on the tips of their tongues today. Some included bacteria known to cause gum disease, such as Porphyromonas gingivalis. The birch pitch sample also had traces of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria and Epstein-Barr virus, which provide clues to Lola’s health.

France on strike: Power cuts, schools shut, no Eiffel Tower

French union activists cut electricity to nearly 100,000 homes or offices. Eiffel Tower staff walked off the job. Even Paris opera workers joined in Tuesday’s nationwide protests across France, singing an aria of anger as workers rallied against the government’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64.

U.S. Lobbyists Prepare to Seize “Historic Opportunity” in Tory-Led Brexit to Shred Consumer Safeguards, Raise Drug Prices

At the hearing, Craig Thorn, a lobbyist representing the U.S.’s National Pork Producers Council, told the Trump administration that the proposed U.S.-U.K. deal present a “historic opportunity,” citing his client’s desire to continue trade with the U.K. by evading EU restrictions on certain feed additives and antibiotics used widely on American pork. Similarly, Floyd Gaibler, a representative of the U.S. Grains Council, said that the deal provides a window for American agriculture to avoid the EU restrictions on pesticides that have been or will soon be banned.

How three conspiracy theorists took 'Q' and sparked Qanon

One archived livestream appears to show Rogers logging into the 8chan account of “Q.”The Patriots’ Soapbox feed quickly cuts out after the login attempt. “Sorry, leg cramp,” Rogers says, before the feed reappears seconds later. Users in the associated chatroom begin to wonder if Rogers had accidentally revealed his identity as Q. “How did you post as Q?” one user wrote.

The Blood Pipe Is Still Spewing Blood After Nearly Two Years

After Campbell made his initial videos and reports public in 2017, Dominic LeBlanc, the federal fisheries minister at the time, said that the Fisheries and Oceans “must do more” to protect wild salmon, including making aquaculture companies undergo mandatory tests for PRV, according to CTV News. It seemed like things might change. So when Campbell dove in the same spot more than a year later, four times throughout late October and November, seeing the pipe still gushing blood after all this time was disheartening—and disgusting

What Happened After Chicago Police Cut Down on Busting Drug Possession and Prostitution

The proof of a slowdown lies in the fact that three particular kinds of arrests virtually stopped: drug possession, weapons violations and prostitution. This is important because narcotics, weapons and prostitution arrests are an indicator of a type of policing known as “proactive,” in which officers initiate encounters with citizens without the report of a crime. This can include stopping people based on “suspicious activity” — which can be interpreted as standing on a particular corner or moving away from a police car. Proactive policing is a fraught and controversial practice, as people of color are often disproportionately targeted.

Four ex-Google engineers ask for federal probe of Thanksgiving week firings

Each of the four said they were asked to provide names of other employees who were involved in organizing, a request that they interpreted as a part of an intimidation campaign. Duke said it felt “like McCarthyism.”

George Zimmerman Sues Trayvon Martin's Family For More Than $100 Million

In the lawsuit filed in Florida state court, Zimmerman and Klayman allege defamation by Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump. Their suit also names Martin's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, along with Jeantel and Eugene. Also included: several Florida prosecutors, the state of Florida and its law enforcement department — and HarperCollins, which recently published Open Season, Crump's book about violence toward black people.

Here's how to take Wired's advice and get your own e-scooter, for a fraction of the cost

This strategy is totally legal, and totally toxic to Bird and Lime's business model, and boy do they know it: last year, Bird threatened to sue me for writing about this in a bid to keep the news from spreading. Luckily, we recognized the hollowness of their threat and, with help from our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, we were able to force them to back down and issue an apology (albeit not a very good one).