This morning's music as I work
A relatively modern composition of classical music from 1995. This is performed by Croatian Chamber Orchestra and is simply divine.
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Microsoft to invest $10 billion in OpenAI
What a dark omen this feels like for the future of white collar workers, where Microsoft laid off 10,000 people and then makes this sort of investment. Sends a very clear signal to employees.
Four Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy
Laying more groundwork to begin working up the chain further. Hopefully it keeps going up.
"7 people have been killed in 2 related shootings in Half Moon Bay, California"
Just heartbreaking. For a community to suffer through two shootings like this so close together.
If only there was a way to stop this...
Editorial: "Human trafficking is one of the biggest crises of our time. How do we fight It?"
In a speech last year announcing the release of the latest Trafficking In Persons Report, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken cited a startling statistic: right now, nearly 25-million individuals around the world are being forced into labor or the sex trade against their will.
Pause for a moment on that number: 25 million.
It's a staggering sum—too large to visualize except in the abstract, and heartbreaking when considered as an aggregate of real-life mothers, daughters, fathers, and sons. All told, it is more than the populations of New Zealand, Singapore, Kuwait, Uruguay, and the Republic of Congo, combined. Yet the victims of human trafficking aren't isolated to a single country or region. They can be found in every nation and every city in across the globe. As Blinken correctly noted, "the scale of the problem is vast."
It's also deeply alarming, particularly because signs indicate the crisis is worsening.
Kowloon Walled City
Kowloon Walled City was an ungoverned and densely populated de jure Imperial Chinese enclave within the boundaries of Kowloon City, British Hong Kong. Originally a Chinese military fort, the walled city became an enclave after the New Territories were leased to the United Kingdom by China in 1898. Its population increased dramatically following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. By 1990, the walled city contained 50,000 residents within its 2.6-hectare (6.4-acre) borders. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by local triads and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug abuse.
In January 1987, the Hong Kong government announced plans to demolish the walled city. After an arduous eviction process, and the transfer of de jure sovereignty of the enclave from China to Britain, demolition began in March 1993 and was completed in April 1994. Kowloon Walled City Park opened in December 1995 and occupies the area of the former walled city. Some historical artifacts from the walled city, including its yamen building and remnants of its southern gate, have been preserved there.
That post with odds things on Wikipedia reminded me of Kowloon. I loved learning about Kowloon so much that I worked a fantasy version of it into my previous D&D campaign. And, I'm sure I'll do similar again. Just a fascinating bit of world history.
Automated Archives for January, 23rd 2023
This post was automatically generated
Wallabag Additions
These are articles that which I saved today so that I may read them later. Substance and quality will vary drastically.
Chess For the Day
Record: 2-0-1
Net Elo Change: +6
Games Played
Writing Update
I had taken a few days off writing, letting the story percolate in my mind. I had reached a point in the story and couldn't figure out how to proceed forward. I was stuck and needed to figure out what to do. And sometimes, the right answer is not to plow forward. I eventually decided the right course of action was to get delete some stuff I had written and I'm glad I did.
Once I removed the obstacle, I jammed out roughly 3,000 words this evening. The log sheet will only show 2,700ish, but that is because I had deleted the problematic section two nights ago but didn't log it. A session with a negative word count would wreak havoc on the formulas for my tracking sheet. So, instead, I have a slight undertruth in the number for tonight. A fair trade off for avoiding the headache of making it so the sheet can handle the rare negative wordcount session.
Additionally, I'm not killing myself writing this. This isn't NaNoWriMo. I've set myself a very achievable goal of 2,000 words a week on this book. This gives me license to only write a few times a week. Sure, I can do more if I find the time or motivation, but I'm not going to be wracked with guilt if I don't.