The United Nations’ Task for Force on Water and Climate just met. Climate change is messing with the world’s water, and it’s wreaking havoc.
- Global temperatures in 2023 were 2.43 degrees higher than they were in preindustrial times, changing the behavior of hurricanes and other storms.
- Twenty-five countries, where 25 percent of the world’s population lives, are experiencing annual “water stress” — meaning they don’t have enough water.
- Cholera, a potentially deadly disease once under control, is having a comeback: 30 countries had cholera outbreaks in 2022, 145 percent higher than the previous five-year average.
Artificial intelligence is having another “off” moment: its image creation has been shut down after it generated Black and Asian people in Nazi uniforms.
- Gemini refused to generate images of white people while “over-compensating” for diversity in other images.
- The situation is prompting concerns that AI developers’ efforts to shape Gemini to be more “woke” are leading to inaccuracies.
- India’s prime minister was labelled as “fascist” by Gemini, while Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelenskiy were both described as “complex,” causing outcry by the Hindu country.
Nex Benedict police interview released: Benedict’s account of the fight that preceded the nonbinary 16-year-old’s death indicate that Benedict and the other teens were all inflicting and receiving violence.
- Benedict described to a police officer how they poured water on three younger girls in retaliation for the girls making fun of them.
- Benedict also described how they “threw one of them into a paper towel dispenser” before the girls “beat the shit out of me.”
- At least one legal expert is raising questions about a school resource officer’s comments to Benedict saying he could be charged with assault if he pursued charges against the other students.
- More than 500 people gathered in Oklahoma City Saturday to honor the teen, who died Feb. 8, one day after a fight in the school bathroom. Vigils were also held over the weekend in Iowa City, Sioux City, and in Boston, Minneapolis, New York, Southern California and more.
- An Oklahoma state senator labelled the LGBTQ community “filth” Friday at a meeting of the Tahlequah Area Chamber of Commerce.
- Benedict’s death is causing focus on Oklahoma’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws and comments by public officials including Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters in December.
(cover photo features a Gemini-generated image of a Black Pope, and a depleted stream in Africa courtesy Choonga both through Wikimedia Commons)
