McDonald’s Intel Team Spies on ‘Fight for $15’ Workers ; Stockton’s Basic-Income Experiment Pays Off ; and More Picks 3/9
McDonald’s Secretive Intel Team Spies on ‘Fight for $15’ Workers, Internal Documents Show (Dana)
From Vice: “For years, McDonald’s has internally labeled activists and employees working with the Fight for $15 campaign a security threat and has spied on them, Motherboard has learned. McDonald’s says that this work is designed to identify protests that ‘could put crew and customer safety at risk.’ The fast food giant’s secretive intelligence unit has monitored its own workers’ activities with the movement, which seeks to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour, including by using social media monitoring tools, according to two sources who worked at McDonald’s who had direct knowledge of the surveillance and leaked documents that explain the surveillance strategy and tactics.”
Stockton’s Basic-Income Experiment Pays Off (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “Two years ago, the city of Stockton, California, did something remarkable: It brought back welfare. Using donated funds, the industrial city on the edge of the Bay Area tech economy launched a small demonstration program, sending payments of $500 a month to 125 randomly selected individuals living in neighborhoods with average incomes lower than the city median of $46,000 a year. The recipients were allowed to spend the money however they saw fit, and they were not obligated to complete any drug tests, interviews, means or asset tests, or work requirements. They just got the money, no strings attached.”
How the Brain Processes Sign Language (Mili)
The author writes, “Over 70 million deaf people use sign languages as their preferred communication form. Although they access similar brain structures as spoken languages, it hasn’t been identified the brain regions that process both forms of language equally. Scientists have now discovered that Broca’s area in the left hemisphere, central for spoken languages, is also crucial for sign languages. This is where the grammar and meaning are processed, regardless of whether it is spoken or signed language.”
A ‘Lamborghini’ of Chariots Is Discovered at Pompeii. Archaeologists Are Wowed (Dan)
The author writes, “Calling it an ‘exceptional discovery,’ researchers at Pompeii have announced the uncovering of an intact ceremonial chariot from a villa near the famous Italian archaeological site. The announcement Saturday called the chariot ‘an extraordinary find’ that ‘has no parallel in Italy thus far.’ The chariot is preserved in remarkable detail, officials say, with four iron wheels, metal armrests and backrests, and a seat perched atop that could sit one or two people. Notably, the chariot is adorned with metal medallions depicting satyrs, nymphs and cupids, suggesting the possibility that it may have been used in marriage ceremonies.”
The Strange Story of DC’s Lost AM Radio Station Still Transmitting Inauguration Road Closures From 2013 (Reader Steve)
From the Drive: “Not everyone pays the most attention to AM radio. To some, talk is talk and fuzzy signals are exactly that. Still, it’d be odd if the same broadcast looped continuously for eight years without anyone noticing — but it’s not impossible. As it turns out, that very scenario took place up until this week in Washington D.C. where an AM radio station had been broadcasting the same traffic report since 2013, and nobody seems to know why.”
