Blood is a common sample source for metagenomics next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in clinical practice. In this study, we aimed to detect the diagnostic value of blood mNGS in a large real-world cohorts.

Blood mNGS results of 1,046 cases were collected and analyzed along with other laboratory tests. The capabilities and accuracy of blood mNGS were compared with other conventional approaches.

Both the surgical department and the intensive care unit had a positive rate of over 80% in blood mNGS. The positive rate of mNGS was consistent with clinical manifestations. Among the 739 positive samples, 532 were detected as mixed infections. Compared to pathogen cultures, the negative predictive value of blood mNGS for bacteria and fungi detection was 98.9% [95%CI, 96.9%-100%], with an accuracy rate of 89.39%. When compared with polymer chain reaction, the consistency rates of blood mNGS for virus identification were remarkably high.

Blood mNGS have significant advantages in detecting difficult-to-cultivate bacteria or fungi, viruses, and mixed infections, which benefits patients of surgery department the most. Samples other than blood are recommended for mNGS test if a specific infection is suspected. The reporting threshold and reporting criteria of blood mNGS need to be optimized.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2023.1268281 Save to Pocket

Intrinsic factors driving mosquito vector competence and viral evolution: a review

date: 2023-12-21, from: Frontiers in Cellar and Infection Microbiology

Mosquitoes are responsible for the transmission of numerous viruses of global health significance. The term “vector competence” describes the intrinsic ability of an arthropod vector to transmit an infectious agent. Prior to transmission, the mosquito itself presents a complex and hostile environment through which a virus must transit to ensure propagation and transmission to the next host. Viruses imbibed in an infectious blood meal must pass in and out of the mosquito midgut, traffic through the body cavity or hemocoel, invade the salivary glands, and be expelled with the saliva when the vector takes a subsequent blood meal. Viruses encounter physical, cellular, microbial, and immunological barriers, which are influenced by the genetic background of the mosquito vector as well as environmental conditions. Collectively, these factors place significant selective pressure on the virus that impact its evolution and transmission. Here, we provide an overview of the current state of the field in understanding the mosquito-specific factors that underpin vector competence and how each of these mechanisms may influence virus evolution.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2023.1330600 Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Scripting News: They're letting us have RSS.

http://scripting.com/2023/12/20/152127.html Save to Pocket

Modesto man arrested on suspicion of domestic assault 

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

A 32-year-old Modesto man was arrested on suspicion of domestic assault on Tuesday, according to Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials.  Deputies responded to the 31700 of The Old Road regarding a possible domestic violence situation, according to Deputy Kabrina Borbon, a spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station. Deputies learned upon arrival that a verbal […]

The post Modesto man arrested on suspicion of domestic assault  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/modesto-man-arrested-on-suspicion-of-domestic-assault/ Save to Pocket

Something nasty injected login-stealing JavaScript into 50K online banking sessions

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Why keeping your PC secure and free of malware remains paramount

IBM Security has dissected some JavaScript code that was injected into people’s online banking pages to steal their login credentials, saying 50,000 user sessions with more than 40 banks worldwide were compromised by the malicious software in 2023.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/credentialstealing_malware_infects_50k_banking/ Save to Pocket

US Vehicles Set Fuel Economy Record in 2022 as EV Sales Climb

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

Washington — U.S. new vehicles set a record high for fuel economy in 2022, with the biggest yearly improvement in nine years to an average of 11 kilometers per liter (26 miles per gallon) as electric vehicle sales jumped, but the Detroit Three automakers continued to lag rivals.

Vehicles were up 0.2 kp/l (0.6 mpg) over 2021 after being unchanged versus 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency said, noting electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles improved the average fuel economy by 0.5 kp/l (1.2 mpg) in 2022. Fuel economy is forecast to increase to 11.4 kp/l (26.9 mpg) in 2023, the EPA said.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the report “highlights the historic progress made so far by the industry to reduce climate pollution and other harmful emissions.”

The report showed Tesla sold additional emissions credits and General Motors and Mercedes-Benz purchased credits in 2022. Automakers use credits to meet requirements.

Stellantis had the lowest fuel economy of major automakers, followed by GM and Ford, while Tesla is the most efficient followed by Hyundai and Honda. Horsepower, vehicle weight and size all hit new records in 2022 — and are projected to hit again record levels in 2023.

The EPA said EVs, plug-in hybrid and fuel-cell production rose to 7% in 2022 and are projected to hit 12% in 2023. The average range of EVs rose to a new high of 490 kilometers (305 miles) — more than four times the 2011 range.

The report showed Americans kept moving away from cars and are buying more SUVs. Sedans and wagons fell to just 27% of vehicles sold in 2022, while SUVs rose to 54%.

Dave Cooke, senior vehicles analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the report showed emissions from gas-powered vehicles have barely moved since 2015.

“Automakers are lagging in their efforts to clean up conventional gasoline vehicles, which are still the vast majority of new vehicles sold and will be on the road for years to come,” Cooke said.

The EPA in April proposed sweeping emissions cuts for new vehicles through 2032, including a 56% reduction in projected fleet average emissions over 2026 requirements that it says would result in 67% of new vehicles by 2032 being electric.

Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transport Campaign, said the EPA should finalize even tougher rules, while automakers and the United Auto Workers union want the EPA to soften its proposal set to be finalized.

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-vehicles-set-fuel-economy-record-in-2022-as-ev-sales-climb/7406311.html Save to Pocket

Comcast Xfinity Discloses Data Breach Affecting Over 35 Million People

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: Daring Fireball

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/xfinity-discloses-data-breach-affecting-over-35-million-people/ Save to Pocket

US Defense Secretary Austin Makes Unannounced Visit to USS Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier Defending Israel

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

ABOARD THE USS GERALD R. FORD — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin flew out to the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier Wednesday to meet with the sailors he has ordered to remain at sea to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spilling over into a deadlier regional conflict.

Austin was in the region to press Israel to shift its bombardment of Gaza to a more limited campaign and more quickly transition to address Palestinian civilians’ dire humanitarian needs.

At the same time, the U.S. has been concerned that Israel will launch a similar military operation along its northern border with Lebanon to expel Hezbollah militants there, potentially opening a second front and widening the war.

At a news conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, Austin didn’t say whether U.S. troops might be further extended to defend Israel if its campaign expands into Lebanon, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant seemed to tone down recent rhetoric that a northern front was imminent, deferring to diplomatic efforts first.

Still, that leaves incredible uncertainty for the Ford and its crew, which Austin ordered to the Eastern Mediterranean to be closer to Israel the day after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7. The aircraft carrier’s more than 4,000 sailors and the accompanying warships were supposed to be home in early November.

Using the public address system of the Ford, which is sailing a few hundred miles off the coast of Israel, Austin thanked the sailors and their families for giving up spending the holidays together because of the mission.

“Sometimes our greatest achievements are the bad things we stop from happening,” Austin told the crew. “In a moment of huge tension in the region, you all have been the linchpin of preventing a wider regional conflict.”

The defense secretary met with a group of sailors in the Ford’s hangar bay to talk about the various dangers in the region that the carrier, the destroyers and the cruisers deployed along with it have been watching.

He thanked them for keeping attention on cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and later told reporters traveling with him that if Israel transitions away from major combat operations in Gaza, it could possibly ease some of the regional tension that has kept the Ford in place.

The Ford’s commanding officer, Navy Captain Rick Burgess, said one of the Ford’s main contributions has been to stay close enough to Israel that it can send its aircraft in to provide support, if needed. While the Ford’s fighter and surveillance aircraft are not contributing to the surveillance needs of Israel’s operations in Gaza, other ships in its strike group are, Burgess said.

The Ford is one of two U.S. carrier strike groups bracketing the conflict. The other, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, has recently patrolled near the Gulf of Aden, at the mouth of the Red Sea waterway where so many commercial vessels have come under attack in recent weeks.

Iranian-backed Houthis in nearby Yemen have vowed to continue striking commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea with ballistic missiles and drones until Israel ceases its devastating bombardment of Gaza, which has now killed more than 19,000 Palestinians.

To counter the ship attacks, Austin announced a new international maritime mission Tuesday to get countries to send their warships and other assets to the southern Red Sea, to protect the roughly 400 commercial vessels that transit the waterway daily.

Since it left Norfolk in the first week of May, the Ford’s fighter aircraft and surveillance planes have conducted more than 8,000 missions. The crew, Austin noted, has been moving at full speed — consuming more than 100,000 Monster energy drinks and 155,000 Red Bulls along the way.

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-defense-secretary-austin-makes-unannounced-visit-to-uss-gerald-r-ford-aircraft-carrier-defending-israel-/7406321.html Save to Pocket

Is This Rainstorm Enough To Help Us Catch Up?

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-21, from: The LAist

It’s been quite dry until now.

https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/is-this-rainstorm-enough-to-help-us-catch-up Save to Pocket

Coastal Commission Rejects UC Santa Barbara’s Request for Artificial Turf at Baseball Stadium

date: 2023-12-20, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

State Commission requires natural turf at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, putting the fate of spring training and baseball season up in the air.

The post Coastal Commission Rejects UC Santa Barbara’s Request for Artificial Turf at Baseball Stadium appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2023/12/20/coastal-commission-rejects-uc-santa-barbaras-request-for-artificial-turf-at-baseball-stadium/ Save to Pocket

City, Burrtec offer tree recycling options

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

News release   Burrtec Waste Industries has partnered with the city of Santa Clarita to establish four convenient locations for residents to recycle their Christmas trees this holiday season. The locations offer residents an additional way to safely and quickly dispose of holiday trees, in addition to utilizing curbside pickup services.  Beginning Tuesday, Dec. 26, […]

The post City, Burrtec offer tree recycling options appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/city-offers-tree-recycling-options/ Save to Pocket

Joanna Stern Goes to Prison

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-21, from: Daring Fireball

https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/he-stole-hundreds-of-iphones-and-looted-peoples-life-savings-he-told-us-how-fbd81ab5 Save to Pocket

Major Storm to Impact Santa Barbara County

date: 2023-12-20, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) – Heavy rain is expected countywide Wednesday, December 20 through early Friday, December 22, 2023. Impacts are

The post Major Storm to Impact Santa Barbara County appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2023/12/20/major-storm-to-impact-santa-barbara-county-3/ Save to Pocket

NASA Leadership Participates in Vice President-Chaired National Space Council Meeting

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted the importance of international partnerships and the societal benefits of space exploration, including NASA’s Earth science missions and the agency’s efforts to build a responsible, sustainable human presence in space during the Biden-Harris Administration’s third National Space Council meeting Wednesday, held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington.  “For […]

https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-leadership-participates-in-vice-president-chaired-national-space-council-meeting/ Save to Pocket

Integrating Android applications into GNOME and KDE on mobile using Sailfish OS’ aliendalvik

date: 2023-12-20, from: OS News

Plasma 6 is coming together nicely on the desktop! Coming back from hiatus, I was pleasantly greeted by a much more working session than when I last saw it in May; I have now completely switched over to it on my main machine! On the other hand, there is still a lot of work to do on mobile to prepare it for the Plasma 6 release in February. I will outline the current situation and the work I have done in the past few months in order to make Plasma 6 a possibility for Plasma Mobile. ↫ Devin at espi.dev The linked blog post provides a great overview of the work that is being done and needs to be done on Plasma Mobile for Plasma 6, and I have to say that it’s definitely looking good and I’m quite interested is somehow giving Plasma Mobile a go. The problem, however, is one that’s all too familiar to anyone who’s tried to run anything but Android or iOS as their main mobile operating system over the past 15 years or so: the lack of the kind of applications that you need to be a part of modern society. I don’t like it, but without my banking applications, identity applications I need in Sweden, things like WhatsApp, Signal, Discord – my phone would basically be a curious toy instead of a useful tool. Add needing the best possible smartphone camera to the equation – I have two small kids – and using anything but iOS and Android is simply out of the question. One alternative smartphone operating system knew this, and implemented fairly transparent Android application compatibility – Sailfish – through their Aliendalvik tool. It seems Jonas Dreßler, who works on GNOME Shell for mobile, was curious, and decided to take a closer look at Aliendalvik, to see if there’s anything there that the teams working on bringing KDE and GNOME to smartphones can make something of it. Sadly, Aliendalvik is not open source, so some reverse-engineering was required. The interesting thing here is that due to the fairly standard userspace Sailfish is using, the Android integration is mostly using standard freedesktop APIs to integrate with the host OS: Running Android apps are exposed as individual Wayland surfaces/windows, notifications from Android appear as org.freedesktop.Notification messages on DBus, music player controls are exposed using MPRIS, and even text input for android apps can be provided using the Wayland text input protocol. This means that basically Aliendalvik should work just as well on a standard Linux distribution like Fedora, Arch Linux, or Debian. The Android container can be started using standard linux container tooling and the host integration binaries are compiled for ARM64 and mostly link to various open source Qt libraries. ↫ Jonas Dreßler After a few days of reverse-engineering, hacking, and lots of other hard work, Dreßler managed to get Aliendalvik to work on GNOME Shell running on Arch on a smartphone, with all the integration between the Android applicatins and the underlying Arch installation working, and the code and instructions are up on Github. He also posted a video showing it working, and it’s indeed as impressive as it sounds. Sadly, the elephant in the room here is, of course, the fact that Aliendalvik is not open source. Jolla could potentially offer it for purchase on non-Sailfish Linux-based smartphones, or perhaps even release it as open source entirely, but I’m not entirely sure if Jolla would be interested in any of that. The company is… In a bit of an odd state, and I feel like it’s mostly been in limbo with not as much progress as they once hoped they’d make. Releasing one of their crown jewels as open source seems unlikely. My personal conviction is that if we ever want a Linux smartphone that is somewhat viable but isn’t Android, it’s going to have to be either Plasma Mobile or GNOME Shell on mobile, running on one of the popular, mainstream distributions that already run on ARM, are interested in mobile, and have a huge community to power the whole thing. Things like Sailfish or even Ubuntu Touch, as interesting and impressive as they are, just don’t seem viable to me in the long term when the entirety of the KDE and GNOME communities are working on their own projects.

https://www.osnews.com/story/138101/integrating-android-applications-into-gnome-and-kde-on-mobile-using-sailfish-os-aliendalvik/ Save to Pocket

The Marshall Star for December 20, 2023

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

Crew-6 Connects with Marshall Team Members During Visit By Celine Smith One week after the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 visited the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center to share their experience during Expedition 69. The event was held Dec. 14 in Building 4316. Expedition 69 began March 2 with Crew-6 […]

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/marshall/the-marshall-star-for-december-20-2023/ Save to Pocket

Kathryn Barger | Staying Safe from Debris, Mudflow

date: 2023-12-20, from: SCV New (TV Station)

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose Fifth District includes Santa Clarita Valley, issued the following statement Wednesday, reacting to Los Angeles County Public Works’ updated forecast of potential debris and mudflow in portions of North County

https://scvnews.com/kathryn-barger-staying-safe-from-debris-mudflow/ Save to Pocket

NASA to Cover Northrop Grumman Cygnus Departure from Space Station

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

Northrop Grumman’s uncrewed Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to depart the International Space Station on Friday, Dec. 22, four months after delivering more than 8,200 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo to the orbiting laboratory for NASA and its international partners. Live coverage of the spacecraft’s departure will begin at 7:45 […]

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-cover-northrop-grumman-cygnus-departure-from-space-station-2/ Save to Pocket

Cybercrooks book a stay in hotel email inboxes to trick staff into spilling credentials

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Research highlights how major attacks like those exploiting Booking.com are executed

Cybercriminals are preying on the inherent helpfulness of hotel staff during the sector’s busy holiday season.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/hotel_cybercrime_research/ Save to Pocket

Multivehicle collision in Valencia results in no transports 

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

A multivehicle traffic collision at the intersection of Avenue Stanford and Avenue Scott in Valencia on Wednesday morning resulted in no significant injuries, according to officials and reports from the scene.  According to Deputy Robert Jensen with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, deputies were dispatched at 10:10 a.m. to the 25000 block of Avenue […]

The post <strong>Multivehicle collision in Valencia results in no transports</strong>  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/multivehicle-collision-in-valencia-results-in-no-transports/ Save to Pocket

Humans May Have Driven Twice as Many Bird Species to Extinction as Previously Thought

date: 2023-12-20, from: Smithsonian Magazine

Statistical modeling of undiscovered extinctions suggests 1,430 bird species have disappeared during modern human history

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/humans-may-have-driven-twice-as-many-bird-species-to-extinction-as-previously-thought-180983485/ Save to Pocket

Stadiatool lets you flash firmware on Google’s Stadia Controller without using Google’s web app

date: 2023-12-20, from: Liliputing

Google killed its Stadia game streaming service earlier this year. But the company also released a tool that allowed anyone with a Stadia Controller to convert it from a WiFi-only tool for cloud gaming to a Bluetooth controller that could be used with just about any device. At the time Google said its web-based tool […]

The post Stadiatool lets you flash firmware on Google’s Stadia Controller without using Google’s web app appeared first on Liliputing.

https://liliputing.com/stadiatool-lets-you-flash-firmware-on-googles-stadia-controller-without-using-googles-web-app/ Save to Pocket

Perpetual Stew. Last summer, some folks kept a stew going for 60…

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/23/12/0043659-perpetual-stew-last-summe Save to Pocket

Here’s how Android app sideloading & third-party billing will change following settlement

date: 2023-12-20, from: OS News

One of the changes Google is forced to make because of the antitrust trial vs. Epic concerns how sideloading works on Android. Right now, sideloading an app on Android requires users to open an APK and, if the source app is not already approved, follow a link to settings where that option can be enabled before they can return to the installation process. Following the changes outlined in this settlement, Android will be required to simplify this process by condensing it down to one screen. Android will still be able to outline the risks of sideloading on this screen, but it will be a one-step process. The new screen will say: ↫ Ben Schoon at 9to5Google I’m not sure if this is a better approach. The way I have sideloading set up on my Android devices is that only File, Google’s file manager for Android, is allowed to install any APK, so even if, for some reason, I download a harmful APK accidentally through a phishing email or my browser, it will just sit inert in my downloads folder until I were to actively open Files and install said APK. It’s safeguard I most likely don’t need, but I do like having installing APKs limited to just the Google file manager for my own peace of mind. This change would, if I’m reading things correctly, make it so that any application can more easily be given the permission to install APKs, which seems like it’s not going to encourage many more people to intentionally sideload, but will perhaps make people accidentally grant random applications the permission to do so. It’s an odd change, for sure, and I hope there’s some way to disable this if Google implements this outside of the US as well.

https://www.osnews.com/story/138099/heres-how-android-app-sideloading-third-party-billing-will-change-following-settlement/ Save to Pocket

First Section of Mexico’s Controversial Maya Train Opens

date: 2023-12-20, from: Smithsonian Magazine

The rail system, built to connect tourist destinations, has been criticized for endangering archaeological and environmental sites

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/first-section-of-mexico-controversial-maya-train-opens-180983479/ Save to Pocket

Microsoft deprecates legacy console feature

date: 2023-12-20, from: OS News

The culling of Windows features you’ve never heard of but that will affect hundreds of thousands of people because Windows is just that popular so even an unknown feature is used by gobs of people continues. The legacy console mode is deprecated and no longer being updated. In future Windows releases, it will be available as an optional Feature on Demand. This feature won’t be installed by default. ↫ Microsoft’s “Deprecated features for Windows client” page Basically, with legacy console mode you could revert to an older version of the Windows console in case some program wasn’t working correctly in the latest version installed with your copy of Windows.

https://www.osnews.com/story/138096/microsoft-deprecates-legacy-console-feature/ Save to Pocket

NASA Glenn, Langley Award Administrative Support Contract

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

NASA has awarded the Glenn-Langley Administrative Support Services (GLASS) contract to PBG FedSync JV LLC of McLean, Virginia, to provide administrative support services to various organizations, programs, and projects at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. GLASS is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract that includes a 60-day phase-in […]

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-glenn-langley-award-administrative-support-contract/ Save to Pocket

See the James Webb Telescope’s Stunning New Image of Uranus With Its Rings and Moons Clearer Than Ever

date: 2023-12-20, from: Smithsonian Magazine

The gleaming ice giant could soon become a top priority for exploration

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-james-webb-telescopes-new-image-of-uranus-with-its-rings-and-moons-180983488/ Save to Pocket

CSUN Men’s Basketball Stuns UCLA 76-72

date: 2023-12-20, from: SCV New (TV Station)

Behind five in double figures, California State University, Northridge men’s basketball stunned UCLA 76-72 on Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion

https://scvnews.com/csun-mens-basketball-stuns-ucla-76-72/ Save to Pocket

SEC charges ex-medtech CEO with fraud for selling plastic fake implants

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Sure, bogus blood tests are bad, but have you considered tricking doctors into embedded useless tubes?

The CEO of a now-bankrupt medical technology supplier has been charged for a second time with crimes connected to the development of a “non-functional piece of plastic” implanted in patients to keep up the appearance of profitability.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/sec_charges_exmedtech_ceo_with/ Save to Pocket

Biden Administration Makes High-Stakes Prisoner Swap With Venezuela

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-administration-makes-high-stakes-prisoner-swap-with-venezuela-/7406095.html Save to Pocket

Models for Facilitating Government-Funded Activities in the Post-ISS LEO Ecosystem

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

In September 2022, the National Space Council directed NASA to “develop a plan for the next generation microgravity national lab in a commercial space station world.” NASA has been working to develop this strategy, to include considerations for establishing robust international partner pathways outlined in a report from NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy […]

https://www.nasa.gov/organizations/otps/models-for-facilitating-government-funded-activities-in-the-post-iss-leo-ecosystem/ Save to Pocket

Christopher Nolan on John August’s Script Notes Podcast

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: Daring Fireball

https://johnaugust.com/2023/the-one-with-christopher-nolan Save to Pocket

Stanford’s HackLab Course

date: 2023-12-20, from: Peter Warden

As many of you know, I’m an old geezer working on a CS PhD at Stanford and part of that involves me taking some classes. The requirements are involved, but this quarter I ended up taking “Hack Lab: Introduction to Cybersecurity“. I was initially attracted to it because it focuses on the legal as well […]

https://petewarden.com/2023/12/20/stanfords-hacklab-course/ Save to Pocket

Microsoft prescribes command-line surgery for HP Smart app malady

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Printer names messed up? Debug It Yourself

Microsoft has issued a fix for the mysterious HP Smart app issue and Windows subsequently renaming printers, and it’s anything but simple.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/microsoft_fix_hp_smart/ Save to Pocket

Daily Deals (12-20-2023)

date: 2023-12-20, from: Liliputing

EBay is running a sale that lets you save an extra 20% on eligible tech, fashion, sporting, and home products, among other things, when you use the coupon SHOPTWENTY at checkout. Some of the best tech deals I found were on mini PCs, laptops, and tablets. For example, you can pick up a Chuwi LarkBox X […]

The post Daily Deals (12-20-2023) appeared first on Liliputing.

https://liliputing.com/daily-deals-12-20-2023/ Save to Pocket

‘Inclement Weather’ Prompts Closure of Magic Mountain

date: 2023-12-20, from: SCV New (TV Station)

Officials from Six Flags Magic Mountain announced the theme park would be closed Wednesday, Dec. 20, due to inclement weather. e park closure maybe extended depending on weather conditions

https://scvnews.com/inclement-weather-prompts-closure-of-magic-mountain-2/ Save to Pocket

Poll: The Americans Who Worry Least About Climate Change

date: 2023-12-20, from: Heatmap News

When Canadian wildfire smoke descended on my hometown in Indiana this summer, I was distraught. I live in London now, but much of my family remains in the Midwest, and as an orange haze blanketed the landscape and the air quality plummeted, I worried about their health. “Smoke everywhere!” my dad texted, alongside a photo of the fields near my childhood home, shrouded in smog. “Guess I better stay inside when I get home.”

The effects of climate change will vary from region to region, but everyone’s life will be affected in some way, eventually. Even though I know this to be true, I had selfishly and naively hoped that the Midwest would be insulated from the worst of it. I fretted about my friends on the East Coast and my mom in California. But for my relatives in the middle of the country, I was never that worried.

And it seems I’m not alone. A recent Heatmap News poll found that, compared to people in the South, Northeast, and West, Midwesterners were consistently blasé about climate change. The poll tried presenting this question in different ways: Do you worry about what climate change means for you personally? Do you worry that extreme weather events will happen in your area more frequently? Do you worry about what climate change means for your kids? Over and over, Midwesterners registered the lowest level of alarm.

On the topics of wildfires, drought, flooding, and extreme heat, the Midwest has the highest share of respondents who say they are not concerned. Fifty-two percent of Midwesterners say climate change poses little or no risk to their region — no other region comes anywhere near that level of confidence in their own safety. In fact, all other parts of the country think the Midwest is at greater risk from a planet on fire than Midwesterners themselves do.

It would be easy to dismiss this phenomenon as politically fueled, but that would be too simple. It’s true that Pew surveys show the majority of voters in the Midwest lean conservative, and there’s no doubt Republicans are historically less likely to believe that climate change is a serious problem. But in Heatmap’s polling, at least, respondents in the Midwest largely identified as moderates and independents. Plus, the poll doesn’t show that Midwesterners doubt climate change is real. They just don’t think it affects them all that much.

And in some respects, they’re right. By virtue of its location, separated by hundreds or thousands of miles from the flood-prone coasts and the fire-prone regions to the south and west, the Midwest has so far been spared some of the scariest, most extreme weather events of recent years. No hurricanes decimating neighborhoods. No major wildfires scorching the landscape.

“We up to now haven’t suffered the loss and damage a lot of coastal or mountain areas have,” said Dr. Gabriel Filippelli, professor of Earth sciences at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and executive director of the Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute. But climate change is happening here. It’s just happening more slowly.

Take flooding, for instance. While warming oceans and sea level rise are imminent threats to America’s coasts, climate change is gradually making extreme precipitation more likely in the Midwest. “Our 100-year floods are no longer 100-year floods,” said Filippelli. “Now they happen every 10 to 15 years.” Last year heavy rain brought devastating deluges to states including Illinois and Missouri; 2019 was the Midwest’s wettest calendar year since 1895, causing at least $6.2 billion in damage.

Dangerous heat and “flash droughts,” extremely dry periods that come on quickly and with little warning, are also creeping risks. Research from the nonprofit First Street Foundation shows the Midwest is part of a growing “extreme heat belt” that will, over the next 30 years, experience more days when the heat index – what the temperature feels like to the human body, factoring in humidity – hits 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat like that can kill not only humans, but also farm animals and crops. The Natural Resources Defense Council says extreme heat and drought could wilt crops across “America’s Breadbasket,” “potentially causing ripples to food supplies across the world.”

Why aren’t Midwestern farmers sounding the alarm, then? Because many “believe that this is a cycle that we’re going to get through,” said Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and 2023 recipient of the Climate Breakthrough Award for her work in blocking the Keystone XL oil pipeline. “They’ve been through difficult times, whether it’s the Dust Bowl or the Depression or World Wars, and those generational lines are still threaded through families,” Kleeb said. “There’s a huge value in hard work in rural communities, and in the idea that as a community, we’re going to get through it together. I think that’s how they view climate change.”

In other words, Midwestern farming families are used to doing the Very American Thing of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and getting on with it. The federal government’s Crop Insurance program makes it easier to keep on believing in the power of pure gumption — the government pays if crops fail due to “ natural causes,” which means that rarely do farmers feel the full effect of climate change on their pocketbooks.

There are plenty of other effects of climate change the federal government won’t help with — a rise in tick- and mosquito-borne illnesses, for one. The federal government’s most recent National Climate Assessment projects that the Ohio Valley could see more than 200 cases of West Nile virus every year by 2050. Lyme disease is already endemic to the region.

There’s also the secondary risk of an influx of climate migrants seeking safety, which will affect not just rural and industrial communities but also population centers like Minneapolis and Kansas City. “It’s anecdotal at best,” said Filippelli, “but we have evidence there are people leaving the coasts because of fire danger as well as the water issues.” These people may come not just from the U.S., but also around the world.

And then there’s that wildfire smoke. The National Climate Assessment predicts that drifting haze will become a regular nuisance in the Midwest. Hoosiers were annoyed by the smoke this year, Filippelli said, but “they didn’t always link it to climate change.” That comes across in the polling: Sixty-three percent of Midwestern respondents said — in November of this year, a few months after their summer of smoke — that their areas have not been affected by climate change.

To Kleeb, bridging this disconnect is the project. Messaging matters, and climate advocates and policymakers would do well to know their audience. Extolling veganism or focusing on the environmental hazards of methane produced by cow burps probably isn’t going to land well with farmers and ranchers.

“Rural folks get very defensive because you’re essentially blaming their grandpa, their father, their husband or wife who is currently farming and, from their perspective, providing food not only for America, but for the world — and you’re saying they’re bad,” Kleeb said. “When people say they don’t believe in climate change, it’s because they feel they’re being blamed for something they’re not responsible for.”

Instead, Kleeb wants to see more emphasis put on how rural Midwesterners can be part of the solutions, from introducing regenerative farming to providing the land needed to build out renewable energy infrastructure. “If anything, they know the land,” Kleeb says. “They know every hill, every blade of grass. They know where it floods when they get heavy rains. So really acknowledging that local knowledge in asking them to be partners at the table is absolutely critical.”

One thing many don’t appreciate about the Midwest is how much sky there is — any weather that’s on its way you can see from miles out. The smoke hovered over my hometown for a few days. During that time, I hardly slept. I kept checking the weather obsessively, hoping for some sign of relief. I even sent my dad links to articles about how to build your own air purifier. Finally, on the third day, he texted me an update: A strong weather front was approaching Indiana from the west, expected to sweep away the wildfire smoke as it passed over the state.

“Rain!” the text read. “Beautiful rain!”

https://heatmap.news/climate/midwest-climate-change-poll Save to Pocket

Colorado Barring Trump From 2024 Ballot Sets Up Likely Supreme Court Challenge

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/colorado-barring-trump-from-2024-ballot-sets-up-likely-supreme-court-challenge/7405978.html Save to Pocket

Pluralistic: 2024’s public domain is a banger (20 Dec 2023)

date: 2023-12-20, from: Cory Doctorow’s blog

Today’s links 2024’s public domain is a banger: How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2013, 2018, 2022 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading 2024’s public domain is a banger (permalink) They stole something from you. For decades, they stole it. That thing they stole? Your entire culture. For all of human history, works created in living memory entered the public domain every year. 40 years ago, that stopped. First in 1976, and then again in 1998, Congress retroactively extended copyright’s duration by 20 years, for all works, including works whose authors were unknown and long dead, whose proper successors could not be located. Many of these authors were permanently erased from history as every known copy of their works disappeared before they could be brought back into our culture through reproduction, adaptation and re-use (copyright is “strict liability,” meaning that even if you pay to clear the rights to a work from someone who has good reason to believe they control those rights, if they’re wrong, you are on the hook as an infringer, and the statutory damages run to six figures). Works that are still in our cultural currents 50 or 70 or 90 years after their creation are an infinitesimal fraction of all the works we create as a species. But these works are – by definition – extraordinarily important to our culture. The creators who made these works were able to plunder a rich public domain of still-current works as inputs to their own enduring creations. The slow-motion arson attack on the public domain meant that two generations of creators were denied the public domain that every other creator in the history of the human race had enjoyed. As 2019 drew nearer, the copyright resistance who had fought over this grew nervous, then…elated. Was Congress actually going to heed the evidence of a decades-long failed experiment and decline to extend copyright again? https://archive.org/details/MarybethPetersFormerUsRegisterOfCopyrightsOnTermsBeingTooLong I had pitched email debates with comrades over this. Michael S Hart, visionary founder of the Project Gutenberg, was certain it wouldn’t happen (he didn’t live to see it). But then, miraculously, astoundingly, 2019 rolled around and we got new works in the public domain! https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2019/ For decades, Jennifer Jenkins from the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain published an annual lament for the public domain works we weren’t getting that year. Jenkins painstakingly cataloged the materials that the public would be denied, though their creators had been only too happy to release them with the belief that the copyright would be 40 years shorter than it turned out. Starting in 2019, those laments turned into celebrations, starter pistols for a generation of creators discovering a living public domain for the first time since the Carter administration. The 1923 works that entered the public domain in 2019 were mostly curiosities, but with each successive year, the public domain’s new arrivals get ever more vibrant. The public domain shipment that arrived on January 1, 2023 was a banger: we got some Virginia Woolf, some Hemingway, some Kafka, some Faulkner, some Agatha Christie and Edith Wharton, as well as Proust and Hesse: https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/20/free-for-2023/#oy-canada All of Sherlock Holmes came home to the public domain last year. We also got “Ol’ Man River,” “Puttin’ On the Ritz” and “Mississippi Mud.” What we didn’t get 2023? Sound recordings. The Music Modernization Act froze all sound recordings in copyright until 2024 – that is, until 11 days hence. Those old 78RPM recordings exist in an odd superposition. On the one hand, they have real cultural value and bring great joy to many listeners. On the other hand, they produce either zero (in the case of out-of-print recordings) or very little revenue for labels. The Internet Archive, a public library, has preserved over 400,000 of these recordings through its Great 78 Project. Like every library with a sound recording collection, the Archive lends out access to these recordings to people with library cards: https://great78.archive.org/ But the record industry has decided to attack the library and its founder. In a lawsuit that could shut down the Internet Archive and bankrupt its founder, they claim that internet-based libraries can’t do what their physical counterparts have done since literal time immemorial: https://blog.archive.org/2023/08/14/internet-archive-responds-to-recording-industry-lawsuit-targeting-obsolete-media/ The Big Three labels (Universal, Sony and Warner) who bought out all their rivals until three companies ended up owning 70% of all in-copyright sound recordings do not take their responsibility to preserve the recording history they bought and now would exercise eternal dominance over. Even as they attack independent efforts to preserve our culture, they fail grotesquely to preserve it on their own: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/magazine/universal-fire-master-recordings.html January 1 won’t change any of that: come this year’s public domain day, the record labels will still own the vast majority of all the music in the world, and they’ll still be indifferently preserving it, and they’ll still be trying to kill the Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine, and they’ll still be trying to eviscerate Brewster Kahle. But at least we’ll get some music in the public domain again this year. Indeed, this year’s public domain is shaping up to be an even bigger banger than 2023: https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2024/ The majority of works entering the public domain this year are from 1928, six years before the Hays Code – a regime of self-censorship overseen by the motion picture cartel that banned sex, radical politics, queerness, and everything else good in this world for generations – came into effect. 1928 was the year that the “Magna Charta” of the movie cartel was adopted – a set of voluntary guidelines that were roundly ignored by the studios: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_Code#Pre-Code:%22Don’ts%22_and%22Be_Carefuls%22,_as_proposed_in_1927 The late 1920s were super horny. This year’s public domain time-capsule from 1928 includes DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Cole Porter’s Let’s Do It, Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, Khan and Donaldson’s Makin’ Whoopee, and, horniest of all, Milne’s House at Pooh Corner, featuring the first appearance of literature’s greatest perennial sex-pest: Tigger. Getting all this sexy stuff from 1928 in 2024 – when panicked bigots are waging war on sex in popular culture – is quite timely. These pietist prigs keep acting like sex in popular culture, “where the children can see it,” was invented five years ago by Scholastic editors with purple hair, neopronouns and septum piercings. Earth to Moms For Liberty: the “good old days,” free from sex in culture, ended 2 billion years ago when horny eukaryotes invented fucking. But 1928 wasn’t all flappers doing the horizontal Charleston with college men in the backs of jalopies. Our newly liberated cultural forebears found time to create the Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers, Brecht’s Threepenny Opera (including Mack the Knife), and Agatha Christie’s The Mystery of the Blue Train. WEB Dubois’s Dark Princess comes home to the public domain on Jan 1. So do Robert Frost’s West-Running Brook and Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman. We’re getting Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus and Leni’s The Man Who Laughs, which Bob Kane plundered to create The Joker. You can record Sonny Boy, I Can’t Give You Anything But Love or I Wanna Be Loved By You. In addition to all the compositions entering the public domain in a few days, there’s the first shipment of recordings in two years: the Charleston, Yes, We Have No Bananas, and Satchmo singing with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band on Dipper Mouth Blues and Froggie More. Also noteworthy: the works of MC Escher are starting to enter the public domain. The records are fragmentary, but Tower Of Babel is yours for the taking on Jan 1 (this is especially satisfying given that the estate is a noteworthy bully that has sent me baseless threats). There’s a lot of other visual art that may be entering the public domain in 2024, but because the registration records are so poorly organized, it’s hard to tell. A lot of that art may not have been registered or renewed, and already be in the public domain. 80% of the books published between 1924 and 1963 are in the public domain on this basis! https://www.crummy.com/2019/07/22/0 Among those works that are Secretly Public Domain? HP Lovecraft’s Call of Cthulhu, which has been public domain since 1956 (the Lovecraft estate is another one of those bullying monsters who will be put out of business soon, thanks to the reawakened public domain). The main event, of course, is Mickey Mouse, who enters the public domain along with his first two short cartoon appearances: Plane Crazy and Steamboat Willie. Though there’s been a lot of FUD about trademark keeping Mickey out of the public domain, it’s a lie. He’s all yours (mostly): https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/15/mouse-liberation-front/#free-mickey It’s wonderful to see the public domain growing again, but spare a thought for the orphan works whose copyright caging outlasted the works themselves. This year saw several silent films entering the public domain – but some of those films no longer exist in their entirety, or at all. They were set afire in the slow-motion arson attack on our culture the monopolistic entertainment industry began 40+ years ago. Today, the world’s worst people remain in charge of that culture, and they’re still destroying it. David Zaslav, the loathsome villain of this year’s writers’ strike and actors’ strike, has pioneered the permanent erasure of beloved movies and TV shows as a cheap way of getting tax credits for the bloated post-merger behemoth of that is Discovery-Warner: https://insidethemagic.net/2023/04/warner-bros-under-fire-for-destroying-history-af1/ The purpose of a system is what it does. It’s not that the media execs who demanded copyright extensions in the seventies and nineties failed to foresee that this was a mass cultural extinction event. It’s that they didn’t care. David Zaslav burning down his own company’s vault is part of a multigenerational tradition in his industry. Those media execs know exactly what they’re doing. They just don’t care. Hey look at this (permalink) Search Tweaks http://searchtweaks.com/ Reversing Reagan: Is Wall Street Giving Up on Consolidation? https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/reversing-reagan-is-wall-street-giving Command Line Interface Guidelines https://clig.dev Volkswagen will reintroduce buttons to dashboards because everyone hates the touch controls https://boingboing.net/2023/12/19/volkswagen-will-reintroduce-buttons-to-dashboards-because-everyone-hates-the-touch-controls.html This day in history (permalink) #10yrsago Kansas Universities can fire faculty for tweets that are “contrary to best interest of the University” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2013/12/19/kansas-board-of-regents-restricts-free-speech-for-academics/ #10yrsago Judge throws out Libyan rendered by UK spooks & CIA to Gaddafi for torture, because “it might embarrass America” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/20/libyan-rendition-claim-uk-interests #10yrsago NSA and GCHQ targeted NGOs, charities, EU chief, Israeli defense minister for deep surveillance https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/20/gchq-targeted-aid-agencies-german-government-eu-commissioner #10yrsago Oklahoma City cops charge Keystone XL protesters with “terrorism hoax” because their banner shed some glitter https://www.vice.com/en/article/xd5dxa/two-environmentalists-were-charged-with-terrorism-hoax-for-too-much-glitter-on-their-banner #10yrsago Mother of three boys’ funny review for Kleenex multipacks https://www.amazon.com/review/RFWM0CFO0UMWY/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&tag=downandoutint-20#RFWM0CFO0UMWY #10yrsago Deriving cryptographic keys by listening to CPUs’ “coil whine” https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/new-attack-steals-e-mail-decryption-keys-by-capturing-computer-sounds/ #10yrsago Chief cable lobbyist: data caps were never about network congestion, always about profit https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Cable-Industry-Finally-Admits-Caps-Not-About-Congestion-122791 #5yrsago The audiophile MQA format really doesn’t have DRM, but that doesn’t mean it’s not on the toxic rainbow of locked tech https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/12/closed-proprietary-felonious-toxic-rainbow-locked-technology #5yrsago The latest Facebook scandal might explain why Amazon wrongfully banned book-reviewers https://gizmodo.com/amazon-and-facebook-reportedly-had-a-secret-data-sharin-1831192148 #5yrsago Inside the funny accounting that lets the money-losing fracking industry claim to be profitable https://www.desmog.com/2018/12/18/fracking-finances-record-oil-production-fuzzy-math/ #5yrsago Regulating Airbnb drives down local rents (as well as house prices) https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/short-term-rentals-and-housing-market-quasi-experimental-evidence-airbnb-los-angeles #5yrsago How Amazon’s crackdown on dirty sellers has made it easier for dirty sellers to kill good sellers’ accounts https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/19/18140799/amazon-marketplace-scams-seller-court-appeal-reinstatement #5yrsago Not all “screen time” is created equal https://www.wired.com/story/year-in-review-tech-addiction-debate-all-wrong/ #5yrsago Master list of Facebook’s 2018 scandals https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-scandals-2018/ #5yrsago 760 flights diverted from Gatwick airport after drone scare, affecting 110,000 passengers https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-46623754 #1yrago 2023’s public domain is a banger https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/20/free-for-2023/#oy-canada Colophon (permalink) Today’s top sources: Currently writing: A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING Picks and Shovels, a Martin Hench noir thriller about the heroic era of the PC. FORTHCOMING TOR BOOKS JAN 2025 The Bezzle, a Martin Hench noir thriller novel about the prison-tech industry. FORTHCOMING TOR BOOKS FEB 2024 Vigilant, Little Brother short story about remote invigilation. FORTHCOMING ON TOR.COM Spill, a Little Brother short story about pipeline protests. FORTHCOMING ON TOR.COM Latest podcast: The Internet’s Original Sin https://craphound.com/news/2023/12/17/the-internets-original-sin/) Upcoming appearances: Internet Con (Peculiar Book Club), Jan 11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5UvzuJ1R4I Recent appearances: Enshittification: A Monopoly Story (Macro n Cheese) https://realprogressives.org/podcast_episode/episode-255-enshittification-a-monopoly-story-with-cory-doctorow Science Fiction and the Future of Science https://council.science/podcast/science-fiction/ AI needs to work with humans — not replace us (CBC IDEAS) https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/artificial-intelligence-provocation-ideas-festival-1.7046841 Latest books: “The Lost Cause:” a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). Signed, personalized copies at Dark Delicacies (https://www.darkdel.com/store/p3007/Pre-Order_Signed_Copies%3A_The_Lost_Cause_HB.html#/) “The Internet Con”: A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). “Red Team Blues”: “A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before.” Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. Signed copies at Dark Delicacies (US): and Forbidden Planet (UK): https://forbiddenplanet.com/385004-red-team-blues-signed-edition-hardcover/. “Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin”, on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com “Attack Surface”: The third Little Brother novel, a standalone technothriller for adults. The Washington Post called it “a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance.” Order signed, personalized copies from Dark Delicacies https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html “How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism”: an anti-monopoly pamphlet analyzing the true harms of surveillance capitalism and proposing a solution. https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59?sk=f6cd10e54e20a07d4c6d0f3ac011af6b) (signed copies: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2024/Available_Now%3A__How_to_Destroy_Surveillance_Capitalism.html) “Little Brother/Homeland”: A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583; personalized/signed copies here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1750/July%3A_Little_Brother%26_Homeland.html “Poesy the Monster Slayer” a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627. Get a personalized, signed copy here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2682/Corey_Doctorow%3A_Poesy_the_Monster_Slayer_HB.html#/. Upcoming books: The Bezzle: a sequel to “Red Team Blues,” about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books, February 2024 Picks and Shovels: a sequel to “Red Team Blues,” about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books, February 2025 Unauthorized Bread: a graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2025 This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Twitter (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://twitter.com/doctorow Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic “When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla” -Joey “Accordion Guy” DeVilla

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/20/em-oh-you-ess-ee/ Save to Pocket

Aston Martin and Porsche Preview Next-Gen CarPlay Interfaces

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: Daring Fireball

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a46188510/apple-carplay-next-gen-interface/ Save to Pocket

Big Wins and Setbacks in 2023 For Biden’s Green Agenda

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

Injecting billions of dollars into green solutions to fight climate change has been a top priority of the Biden administration in 2023. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at this year’s achievements and setbacks in the president’s environmental agenda.

https://www.voanews.com/a/big-wins-and-setbacks-in-2023-for-biden-s-green-agenda-/7384878.html Save to Pocket

This could still wing its way to you, if you have the dosh: One Concorde engine seeks new home

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-21, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

That’ll make a lot of expensive ashtrays

Good news, everyone! Earlier this week, it looked as though your opportunity to snap up a piece of aviation history in the form of a Concorde engine might have gone. However, if your pockets are deep enough, it appears there’s still a chance you could buy your very own Olympus Turbojet.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/concorde_engine_auction/ Save to Pocket

Dock Talk Year End Newsletter 2023

date: 2023-12-20, from: Port Hueneme

The Dock Talk 2023 Year End Newsletter is now online. (Download as PDF) In this issue: Message from Jess Herrera, President, Board of Harbor Commissioners Message from Kristin Decas, CEO & Port Director FIRST Robotics Competition Brings the Excitement of Sport and Rigor of Science and Tech to the Port of Hueneme Port of Hueneme Read More

https://www.portofhueneme.org/dock-talk-2023/ Save to Pocket

Everyone gets an AI agent

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

In the near future, every content consumer, creator, and newsroom will have an AI agent that works for them. This will change the way we find and interact with information, and therefore how we publish and monetize it. An agent is a software program that acts on behalf of a person or a party. The…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/everyone-gets-an-ai-agent/ Save to Pocket

We’ll build open systems to improve and monetize news

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

“Initially, AI-driven platforms enticed us with attractive perks…However, as time passed, we were at the mercy of ever-shifting algorithms…leading to diminished income…” The scenario described above, initially written about ride-hailing apps like Uber and their drivers, could easily apply to social/search platforms and content creators — or to advertising networks and digital publishers. On a…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/well-build-open-systems-to-improve-and-monetize-news/ Save to Pocket

Missteps in Gaza coverage spur push for a global code of media ethics

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

At the end of 2023, international media finds itself at an inflection point. The coverage of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which has been characterized by UN experts as “a genocide in the making,” has been roundly criticized for its dehumanizing portrayal of Palestinians and valorization of official narratives justifying the slaughter. The questions and…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/missteps-in-gaza-coverage-spur-push-for-a-global-code-of-media-ethics/ Save to Pocket

Make journalism awards contingent on treatment of the marginalized

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

Should we really hand out awards to newsrooms that fail to provide adequate and fair coverage of traditionally marginalized communities? We do. All the time. And I predict that this won’t change in the coming year. But if we want to change how newsrooms operate on behalf of these populations, cutting off access to journalism…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/make-journalism-awards-contingent-on-treatment-of-the-marginalized/ Save to Pocket

We navigate deep uncertainty with community

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

Looking at the ongoing climate crisis, a recent article at The New York Times pointed out that we’re living in a time of systemic uncertainty: In June, the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine published a paper cautioning that the world at large was facing “a psychological condition of ‘systemic uncertainty,’” in which “difficult emotions…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/we-navigate-deep-uncertainty-with-community/ Save to Pocket

Journalism grapples with the promise and pitfalls of AI-assisted reporting

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

🎧 Listen to the audio version of this post. Welcome to 2024, where the constant noise around AI in journalism is almost loud enough to drown out the existential dread. Despite the recent turmoil in the board rooms of prominent AI companies, the hype machine is still working overtime. The hordes of insufferable blue-check grifters…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/journalism-grapples-with-the-promise-and-pitfalls-of-ai-assisted-reporting/ Save to Pocket

Behold, the journarator

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

“Artificial intelligence? We prefer to call it alternative intelligence.” — Tech mogul Andy Ronson, played by Clive Owen, in A Murder at the End of the World FADE IN: INT. LIVING ROOM – EARLY EVENING A cosy living room in Istanbul, dimly lit, the soft glow of the TV illuminating the faces of DELARA, 41,…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/behold-the-journarator/ Save to Pocket

Publishers wake up to serving younger audiences

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

Younger audiences have not been shy about telling news publishers what they want. The challenge is for news publishers to accept that the next generation has a different style of gathering information and provide the news in new forms. Until now, news publishers have tried slightly different approaches without making fundamental changes. Efforts like media…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/publishers-wake-up-to-serving-younger-audiences/ Save to Pocket

Report Warns of Attempt to ‘Criminalize’ Newsgathering in the US

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

WASHINGTON — At least a dozen journalists faced arrest or charges related to their newsgathering across the U.S. in 2023, with most working for local media outlets.

The incidents and their impact on the ability of journalists to cover the news are detailed in a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

Based in New York, the Tracker has documented what it sees as press freedom violations inside the U.S. since 2017.

According to the Tracker, many of the cases this year involved attempts to prevent journalists from engaging in regular reporting practices — from asking questions to investigating public officials. It cited around 30 cases of journalists or media outlets being summoned and asked to identify a source or hand over reporting materials.

“What was interesting this year was an apparent criminalization of general newsgathering,” said Stephanie Sugars, the report’s author.

The number of cases of journalists arrested is lower than previous years, when the Tracker documented dozens of cases as media covered unrest and large-scale protests. Still, the findings are a concern, the nonpartisan group said.

In one case from October, police arrested a small-town Alabama newspaper publisher and a reporter for publishing an article that authorities said contained confidential grand jury evidence.

While leaking information may be illegal, it is not a crime for news outlets to publish that information, so long as the reporters are not involved in illegally obtaining the materials, press experts say.

In another case, a reporter at an Illinois newspaper was cited for asking city officials too many questions about flooding in October.

“That is normal newsgathering,” Sugars told VOA from New York.

In the Illinois case, the charges were dropped.

In a separate incident in Ohio, NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert was ordered to stop a live broadcast while Governor Mike DeWine was giving a press briefing in February. Officers then forced Lambert to the ground and arrested him.

The governor expressed concern and said he was not aware of the incident at the time it occurred.

Lambert filed a lawsuit in November over the incident.

Meanwhile, an Arizona judge in April granted a restraining order against a local reporter after the journalist looked into a state senator’s residency claims. Another judge later rejected the restraining order. And in July, two California reporters were accused by a local police union of stalking for trying to contact a police officer at her home.

“Attempts to criminalize routine journalistic activities, such as contacting public officials or the subjects of stories, send a chill through the heart of newsgathering,” Sugars wrote in the report.

It’s unclear whether police and officials in these incidents were unaware of what constitutes normal newsgathering or whether they just didn’t care, Sugars said.

But, she added, that distinction also misses the point.

“Whether they know that it is general, basic newsgathering or not is less important than the fact that they just don’t like it and are using the tools at their disposal to retaliate,” Sugars said.

Another factor that links many of the cases in the Press Freedom Tracker’s report is that most incidents took place at the local level, affecting smaller or regional publications.

That’s likely a byproduct of the decline of local news coverage, according to Sugars.

The U.S. has lost more than one fourth of its newspapers since 2005 and is set to lose one third of all its roughly 6,000 remaining print newspapers — mostly weeklies — by 2025, according to a report by Northwestern University’s Local News Initiative.

“That lack of constant scrutiny has created an atmosphere where local officials feel like they are no longer responsible for answering questions,” Sugars said.

First Amendment experts say such violations make it harder for journalists to do their jobs.

“If you’ve got these instances of law enforcement overreach, again, it impairs the press’s watchdog role,” said Gabe Rottman of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, or RCFP.

Rottman, who is director of the RCFP’s Technology and Press Freedom Project, said that it is important for government officials to understand the role journalists play in their community.

Fewer journalists were arrested or charged in the United States in 2023 than in the past few years, the Tracker report found.

But other violations — such as the police raid on the Marion County Record in Kansas — indicate that the First Amendment still faces its fair share of assaults, analysts say.

Since the Press Freedom Tracker began monitoring violations in 2017, the worst years for arrests were 2017, 2020 and 2021, all of which featured large-scale protests.

Covering protests is regularly the most dangerous assignment for journalists in the United States, according to Sugars.

She said that arrests or legal action against media in the U.S. should concern everyone— even if the journalists are thousands of miles away — because press freedom violations in one corner of the country risk emboldening would-be perpetrators elsewhere.

“Every single violation can be a steppingstone for the next,” Sugars said.

With the U.S. headed for elections in 2024, Sugars said, the Tracker will be closely monitoring for press freedom violations.

https://www.voanews.com/a/report-warns-of-attempt-to-criminalize-newsgathering-in-the-us/7405813.html Save to Pocket

How the Silk Dress cryptogram was cracked after a decade of effort….

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/23/12/0043658-how-the-silk-dress-crypto Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

You can tell Doc is a blogger because he has a post from 2007 where he lists all the cars he's ever owned. I do not have such a page myself, btw. Not sure what that says about me. 😀

https://doc.searls.com/2007/10/07/all-my-rides/ Save to Pocket

The 10 most expensive reported home sales in Los Gatos the week of Dec. 4

date: 2023-12-20, from: San Jose Mercury News

A house in Monte Sereno that sold for $11.8 million tops the list of the most expensive residential real estate sales in Los Gatos in the past two weeks.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/20/the-10-most-expensive-reported-home-sales-in-los-gatos-the-week-of-dec-4-2/ Save to Pocket

Study uncovers presence of CSAM in popular AI training dataset

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

LAION-5B contains 1,008 verifiable instances of illegal pictures of children, likely lots more, say researchers

A massive public dataset that served as training data for popular AI image generators including Stable Diffusion has been found to contain thousands of instances of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/csam_laion_dataset/ Save to Pocket

Negotiations Over US Aid to Ukraine Expected to Stretch Past Christmas

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

Capitol Hill — U.S. lawmakers will work into the Christmas holiday next week, seeking to negotiate a deal on border security in return for Republican votes to send more aid to Ukraine.

“Challenging issues remain, but we are committed to addressing needs at the southern border and to helping allies and partners confront serious threats in Israel, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific. The Senate will not let these national security challenges go unanswered,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a joint statement late Tuesday.

“As negotiators work through remaining issues, it is our hope that their efforts will allow the Senate to take swift action on the national security supplemental early in the new year,” the statement continued.

Schumer told reporters earlier Tuesday that while he is optimistic about the progress of negotiations, lawmakers need more time.

“The details in this matter immensely, because this is not a topic that Congress has tackled in many years. We know that this is going to be not easy to do,” said the Senate’s top Democrat. “But we know too, that we must get it done. And while we’ve made important progress over the past week on border security, everyone agrees on both sides that it takes more time.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also acknowledged the difficulties, noting the last major piece of legislation on immigration and border security became law in the late 1980s.

“We haven’t passed a significant immigration bill since Reagan’s second term. This is not easy. But we’re working hard to get an outcome because the country needs it, and the country needs it soon,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday, referring to former president Ronald Reagan who served in the 1980s.

The United States has already dedicated more than $100 billion to arming and supporting Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and President Joe Biden has asked Congress to approve another $60 billion. Republicans in Congress have become increasingly skeptical about the need to continue underwriting Ukraine’s defense.

In recent weeks, Republicans in the Senate have conditioned approval of any additional money for Ukraine on the simultaneous strengthening of immigration rules aimed at reducing the number of people illegally entering the United States at its southern border and expelling some who are already in the country.

The White House has warned there is only enough for one more military aid package to Ukraine before funding runs out at year’s end.

“The United States has done the preponderance of military support,” Colin Cleary, an adjunct professor at the George Washington University and a veteran of the Foreign Service who served in Ukraine, told VOA.

“The crisis really would be on the military side if aid didn’t happen. And in those two dimensions — the positional warfare that requires a lot of ammunition and supplies, and also the protection of the civilian infrastructure through air defense,” he said.

Even if an agreement passes in the Senate, it might not survive in the House, where Republicans hold a very narrow majority. A significant group of Republican House members opposes additional aid to Ukraine, and the party recently voted out a speaker who partnered with Democrats to pass legislation.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who took over after predecessor Kevin McCarthy was ousted, has said that more funding for the border is essential to any Ukrainian aid package; however, he also wants more conditions placed on the aid.

“What the Biden administration seems to be asking for is billions of additional dollars with no appropriate oversight, no clear strategy to win, and none of the answers that I think the American people are owed,” he said last week.

International reaction

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly celebrated the fact that Ukraine appears to be losing support in the West.

“Ukraine today produces nearly nothing; they are trying to preserve something, but they don’t produce practically anything themselves and bring everything in for free,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “But the freebies may end at some point and apparently it’s coming to an end little by little.”

While opponents of aid to Ukraine often denigrate aid packages as being a “blank check” handed over to the Ukrainian government, most of the aid is in the form of military hardware. The dollar figures in the aid packages mostly represent money spent in the U.S. to pay arms manufacturers for the equipment the U.S. ships to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he was confident the U.S. would not “betray” his country by withholding crucial wartime funding as it fights off a Russian invasion.

“We are working very hard on this, and I am certain the United States of America will not betray us, and that on which we agreed in the United States will be fulfilled completely,” Zelenskyy said during a televised news briefing in Kyiv.

https://www.voanews.com/a/negotiations-over-us-aid-to-ukraine-expected-to-stretch-past-christmas-/7405783.html Save to Pocket

This cheap Acer laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c chip can run mainline Linux software (mostly)

date: 2023-12-20, from: Liliputing

The Acer Aspire 1 (A114-61) is a cheap laptop with a 14 inch full HD display, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 1 processor, it launched in 2021 as a budget notebook running Windows 10 in S Mode software. But developers have been working to add mainline […]

The post This cheap Acer laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c chip can run mainline Linux software (mostly) appeared first on Liliputing.

https://liliputing.com/this-cheap-acer-laptop-with-a-qualcomm-snapdragon-7c-chip-can-run-mainline-linux-software-mostly/ Save to Pocket

Defend Earth from the Chronites in TIMERUN from AMCOG Games

date: 2023-12-20, from: RiscOS Story

Adding to an ever growing list, the latest title from AMCOG Games is TIMERUN, and it had its first public release at the recent MUG RISC OS Xmas Market, and is now available to buy from !Store, priced at £9.99. The game couldn’t be simpler to describe than “it’s a shoot ’em up” – but it should be described in a more complicated way because, well, there’s a little more to it than that. Like one of the most famous shoot ’em ups there is, the all-time classic Space Invaders,…

https://www.riscository.com/2023/timerun-from-amcog-games/ Save to Pocket

A challenging travel quiz for globetrotters and armchair travelers alike

date: 2023-12-20, from: San Jose Mercury News

Whether you’re a full blown globetrotter or someone who just dreams of faraway places, the 20 questions in this travel quiz are sure to challenge and entertain.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/20/a-challenging-travel-quiz-for-globetrotters-and-armchair-travelers-alike/ Save to Pocket

An Alameda brewery day trip takes in sea haggis, plum beer

date: 2023-12-20, from: San Jose Mercury News

This month, my brewery-based travels around the Bay Area took me on a second trip to the island of Alameda.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/20/an-alameda-brewery-day-trip-takes-in-sea-haggis-plum-beer/ Save to Pocket

Electric cars are California’s future

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)

An executive order to eliminate the sales of all gas-powered vehicles in California by 2035 was enacted by Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 23, 2020. It was intended to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and clear up the pollution in California with the ultimate goal of fighting climate change, but it will not be as…

https://sundial.csun.edu/177579/print-editions/print-stories/electric-cars-are-californias-future/ Save to Pocket

NASA’s 3D-printed Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine Test a Success

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

NASA has achieved a new benchmark in developing an innovative propulsion system called the Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE). Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, successfully tested a novel, 3D-printed RDRE for 251 seconds (or longer than four minutes), producing more than 5,800 pounds of thrust. That kind of sustained burn […]

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/marshall/nasas-3d-printed-rotating-detonation-rocket-engine-test-a-success/ Save to Pocket

US Charges Alleged Hezbollah Member Over 1994 Argentina Bombing

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

NEW YORK — A U.S. court on Wednesday unsealed an indictment charging an alleged senior Hezbollah operative with terrorism charges, in part for coordinating a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. 

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Samuel Salman El Reda, 58, had coordinated Hezbollah’s activities in South America, Asia and Lebanon since 1993. The Iran-backed, heavily armed Shiite group is part of Lebanon’s coalition government.  

Prosecutors said El Reda is based in Lebanon and remains at large. The U.S. State Department in 2019 sanctioned El Reda and offered a $7 million reward for information on his whereabouts.  

Argentina also blames Hezbollah for a 1992 attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people.

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-charges-alleged-hezbollah-member-over-1994-argentina-bombing-/7405781.html Save to Pocket

From the Depths of Wikipedia: none of the phrasing from the 2003…

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/23/12/0043657-from-the-depths-of-wikipe Save to Pocket

Woman found dead inside stolen vehicle in Oakland had been shot

date: 2023-12-20, from: San Jose Mercury News

An autopsy determined that a woman found dead Saturday morning in a stolen vehicle in West Oakland had been shot.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/20/woman-found-dead-inside-stolen-vehicle-in-oakland-had-been-shot/ Save to Pocket

Bay Area rainfall chart: Three-day total exceeds 6 inches at wettest sites

date: 2023-12-20, from: San Jose Mercury News

Another band of rain moved into the Bay Area before dawn Wednesday.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/20/bay-area-rainfall-chart-three-day-totals-exceed-6-inches-at-some-spots/ Save to Pocket

Chinese telecom giant Huawei pushes forward with ambitious plan to dethrone Android

date: 2023-12-20, from: OS News

Hundreds of technical experts from many of China’s biggest state-owned and private companies, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Telecom, Meituan, and Baidu, all gathered in Beijing last month. The purpose behind the meeting was for their staff to receive training so they could be certified as developers on Huawei’s Harmony Operation System (OS). While most observers were looking the other way, Huawei has been quietly building an independent Chinese operating system that isn’t subject to U.S. sanctions. In the four years after the telecom giant was banned from using Google apps, the Shenzhen-based company has been making significant strides toward achieving its long-term goal: To dethrone Android and make its HarmonyOS the default operating system in China. ↫ Nina Xiang for Forbes Asia HarmonyOS is poised to succeed in beating iOS and Android where others have failed, if only because the Chinese state is pushing homegrown solutions hard. It’s already hit 10% market share in China, closing in on iOS’ 17%, but still kilometres away from Android’s 72%. However, with both local governments and the government in Beijing enacting all kinds of laws and guidelines to force companies, institutions, and people to switch to homegrown solutions, it wouldn’t surprise me to see this market share climb fast. And that’s actually okay! Setting aside the fact the Chinese government is a genocidal totalitarian surveillance nightmare apparatus, I think it’s entirely understandable, reasonable, and a good investment to have homegrown technology solutions and platforms. I wish the European Union did something similar, but that ship has probably sailed after we let Microsoft gut whatever was left of Nokia after Apple was done with it.

https://www.osnews.com/story/138088/chinese-telecom-giant-huawei-pushes-forward-with-ambitious-plan-to-dethrone-android/ Save to Pocket

New Episode of Stuck@Om: The Reality of Self-Driving Dreams

date: 2023-12-20, from: Om Malik blog

When we look back at 2023, we quickly realize that this was the year when the hype and reality of self-driving cars collided head-on. This pivotal year marked the convergence of hopes, fears, and excitement surrounding the autonomous revolution, setting the stage for an intriguing decade ahead. From Cruise’s challenges to the marvels of Waymo, …

https://om.co/2023/12/20/new-episode-of-stuckom-the-reality-of-self-driving-dreams/ Save to Pocket

NASA makes purrrr-fect deep space transmission of cat vid

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Tabby footage crosses millions of miles and was still faster than most folks’ home broadband

From the department of “what must the aliens think of us?” comes news that NASA has demonstrated its Deep Space Optical Communications experiment through the medium of a cat video.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/nasa_psyche_cat_video/ Save to Pocket

ASRock NUC Ultra 100 motherboards are 4×4 boards with Meteor Lake-H chips

date: 2023-12-20, from: Liliputing

Just a few days after introducing some of the first 4×4 mini PCs powered by Intel’s 14th-gen Intel Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” processors, ASRock Industrial has unveiled an option for folks that want a little more flexibility (and possibly less convenience). The new ASRock NUC Ultra 100 Motherboard Series are a line of 104 x 102 […]

The post ASRock NUC Ultra 100 motherboards are 4×4 boards with Meteor Lake-H chips appeared first on Liliputing.

https://liliputing.com/asrock-nuc-ultra-100-motherboards-are-4x4-boards-with-meteor-lake-h-chips/ Save to Pocket

The Paris Métro is set to expand in a big way with…

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/23/12/0043626-the-paris-metro-is-set Save to Pocket

Man fatally shot in East Oakland

date: 2023-12-20, from: San Jose Mercury News

The killing is the 122nd homicide investigated by Oakland police this year. Last year at this time, police had investigated 116 homicides in the city.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/20/man-fatally-shot-in-east-oakland-58/ Save to Pocket

Japan Court Orders Okinawa to Approve Modified Plan to Build Runways for US Marine Corps

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

TOKYO — A Japanese court on Wednesday ordered the governor of Okinawa to approve the central government’s modified plan for landfill work at the planned relocation site of a key U.S. military base on the southern island despite persistent opposition and protests by residents. 

The decision will move forward the suspended construction at a time Okinawa’s strategic importance is becoming key for the Japan-U.S. military alliance in the face of growing tensions with China. Japan also rapidly seeks to build up its military in the southwestern region. 

The ruling by the Fukuoka High Court Naha branch allows the Land and Transport Ministry to order the modification work designed to reinforce extremely soft ground at the designated relocation site for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, overriding Gov. Denny Tamaki’s disapproval. The ruling ordered Tamaki to issue the approval within three working days. 

Tamaki said it was unjust that the will of the residents is crushed by the central government. 

Tamaki, noting the spirit of local government autonomy and democracy, said in a statement that the ruling that allows the government’s forcible execution of its planned construction of a new military base is “absolutely unacceptable.” 

If completed, the new site will serve a key Marine Corps facility for the region and also will be home to MV-22 Ospreys that are currently deployed at Futenma. 

Tamaki can still appeal to the Supreme Court, but the local government at this point has no power to stop the work unless the top court overturns the decision. 

Okinawa and the central government have long tussled over the relocation of the Futenma base. 

The Japanese and U.S. governments initially agreed in 1996 to close the Futenma air station a year after the rape of a schoolgirl by three U.S. military personnel led to a massive anti-base movement. But persistent protests and lawsuits between Okinawa and Tokyo have held up the plan for nearly 30 years. 

Japan’s central government began the reclamation work off Henoko Bay on the eastern coast of Okinawa in 2018 to pave the way for the relocation of the Futenma base from its crowded neighborhood on the island. 

The central government later found out that large areas of the designated reclamation site are on soft ground, which some experts described “as soft as mayonnaise,” and submitted a revision to the original plan with additional land improvement. But Okinawa’s prefectural government rejected the revision plan and suspended the reclamation work. 

The ground improvement plan requires tens of thousands of pillars and massive amounts of soil, which opponents say would damage the environment. It is expected to cost 930 billion yen ($6.5 billion), 2.5 times the initial estimate, and take 12 years to finish, according to the Defense Ministry. 

The Supreme Court in September turned down Okinawa’s appeal in another lawsuit that ordered the prefecture to withdraw its rejection of the modified landfill plan. 

Tamaki has called for a significant reduction of the U.S. military on the island, which is home to more than half of 50,000 American troops based in Japan under the bilateral security pact. Tamaki also has demanded the immediate closure of Futenma base and the scrapping of the base construction at Henoko. Okinawa accounts for just 0.6% of Japanese land. 

Tokyo and Washington say the relocation within Okinawa, instead of moving it elsewhere as demanded by many Okinawans, is the only solution. 

“We believe that action should be taken promptly in line with this ruling,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said. He pledged that the government will continue to make effort for the return of the Futenma air station as soon as possible to reduce the burden from the base.

https://www.voanews.com/a/japan-court-orders-okinawa-to-approve-modified-plan-to-build-runways-for-us-marine-corps-/7405688.html Save to Pocket

NASA’s Fermi Mission Creates 14-Year Time-Lapse of the Gamma-Ray Sky

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

The cosmos comes alive in an all-sky time-lapse movie made from 14 years of data acquired by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Our Sun, occasionally flaring into prominence, serenely traces a path through the sky against the backdrop of high-energy sources within our galaxy and beyond. “The bright, steady gamma-ray glow of the Milky Way […]

https://science.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/goddard/nasas-fermi-mission-creates-14-year-time-lapse-of-the-gamma-ray-sky/ Save to Pocket

The US has released an ally of Venezuela’s president in a swap for jailed Americans, including Bay Area businessman, the AP learns

date: 2023-12-20, from: San Jose Mercury News

Alex Saab, who was arrested on a U.S. warrant for money laundering in 2020, was released from custody Wednesday. In exchange, Maduro will free some, if not all, of the roughly dozen U.S. citizens who remain imprisoned in Venezuela.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/20/the-us-has-released-an-ally-of-venezuelas-president-in-a-swap-for-jailed-americans-the-ap-learns/ Save to Pocket

Around $1 billion in IRS penalties waived

date: 2023-12-20, from: Marketplace Morning Report

With the new year, the IRS will resume sending reminder letters to taxpayers with old debts to the federal government, which were paused during the pandemic. But to avoid causing sticker shock when people receive reminders, the IRS is waiving the penalties it usually charges for back taxes. We dig in. And later, a boost in U.S. oil production spoils OPEC’s effort to prop up prices.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/around-1-billion-in-irs-penalties-waived Save to Pocket

Big landlords just 28% of California’s rental market

date: 2023-12-20, from: San Jose Mercury News

Large complexes held just 28% of the Golden State’s 6 million renting households.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/20/big-landlords-just-38-of-californias-rental-market/ Save to Pocket

FTC bans Rite Aid from using AI facial recognition in stores for 5 years

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-21, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Among the mistakes, an 11-year-old girl was misidentified as a shoplifter and searched

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has banned American drugstore chain Rite Aid from using AI facial recognition technology for surveillance purposes for five years.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/rite_aid_facial_recognition/ Save to Pocket

As seen on TV: LA’s iconic ‘General Hospital’ to become hotel, housing

date: 2023-12-20, from: San Jose Mercury News

The shuttered, 19-story, Art Deco structure, completed in December of 1933, hasn’t seen a patient in about two decades. It was featured in the opening credits of the long-running TV soap opera “General Hospital.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/20/la-county-choses-developer-to-turn-iconic-general-hospital-into-housing-retail/ Save to Pocket

They’re letting us have RSS

date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News

Assume that FB doesn’t really want to interop, so that’s why there’s a year timeline on developing AP functionality. No rush. Let’s keep growing and later on we can have an app store that only lets certain sites into our world, subject to our turning them off at any time.

Assuming this is true, RSS is their worst nightmare. It’s implemented in a week, if you’re really careful and there are good toolkits for every platform, and lots of developers know what to do with it, and even worse, there already is a huge installed base of such apps and they all have vociferous users who would be thrilled to be heard, because they largely feel like they’re pissing in the wind. I am doing CSS coding far in advance of my previous capability, when I know something is possible, but I haven’t the slightest idea how to specify it.

Remember they said RSS is Dead. I always felt that was aimed at me, but it was aimed at them too, even more so.

The thing to do, build – intelligently, slowly, showing interop at every step. Watch out for people who take stuff out with out putting back.

http://scripting.com/2023/12/20/152127.html?title=theyreLettingUsHaveRss Save to Pocket

Prompt-Brush is a non-AI generative model. If you suggest an image prompt,…

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/23/12/0043652-prompt-brush-is-a-non-gen Save to Pocket

Rite Aid’s ‘reckless’ use of facial recognition got it banned from using the technology in stores for 5 years

date: 2023-12-20, from: San Jose Mercury News

The FTC said that some customers were “erroneously accused by employees of wrongdoing” because Rite Aid’s technology “falsely flagged the consumers as matching someone who had previously been identified as a shoplifter or other troublemaker.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/20/rite-aids-reckless-use-of-facial-recognition-got-it-banned-from-using-the-technology-in-stores-for-5-years/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

I asked ChatGPT for a list of Motown songs with a strong fast beat good for dancing. Now I want to play the list in Amazon music. Is there a way to do this?

http://scripting.com/2023/12/20.html#a150701 Save to Pocket

3D Bioprinting

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

Science in Space: December 2023 Imagine someone needs a heart transplant and scientists take cells from that person to create an entire new heart for them. Research on the International Space Station is helping to bring that dream closer to reality. The process of 3D printing (also known as additive manufacturing) enables the design and […]

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/iss-research/3d-bioprinting/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

If we had met in the late 80s and early 90s and we were talking about where technology should go next, I would have talked endlessly about creating apps out of apps. It means being able to write scripts that use an application as a scriptable toolbox, going behind the user interface. I was developing a product around that idea called Frontier. It all happened, and played a big role in making the Mac the ideal development platform for the web when it came along, in the early-late 90s. Unfortunately Apple’s top people didn’t get this, and wiped out the whole developer community in one press conference. The ideas were still useful and we’re using them every day, but not really aware of it. End of speech.

http://scripting.com/2023/12/20.html#a150230 Save to Pocket

NASA Sets Coverage for White House National Space Council Meeting

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

NASA is participating in a meeting of the National Space Council on Wednesday, Dec. 20, in Washington. The meeting, chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, will focus on international partnerships and is the third council meeting held by the Biden-Harris Administration. NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and Artemis II and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut […]

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-white-house-national-space-council-meeting/ Save to Pocket

Road to Cheburnet - Are you ready to destroy the free internet?

date: 2023-12-20, from: Tilde.news

New game available for both Android and iOS, where you have to censor and destroy the free internet.

iOS version: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/road-to-cheburnet/id6473683285

        <p><a href="https://tilde.news/s/skpeoe/road_cheburnet_are_you_ready_destroy_free">Comments</a></p>

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=games.noesis.chebureng Save to Pocket

NASA’s Hubble Presents a Holiday Globe of Stars

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

The billion stars in galaxy UGC 8091 resemble a sparkling snow globe in this festive Hubble Space Telescope image from NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). The dwarf galaxy is approximately 7 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. It is considered an “irregular galaxy” because it does not have an orderly spiral or […]

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-presents-a-holiday-globe-of-stars/ Save to Pocket

Federal Judge Allows Removal of Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery

date: 2023-12-20, from: Smithsonian Magazine

The Defense Department had mandated that the monument be dismantled by January 1, 2024

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/federal-judge-allows-removal-confederate-memorial-arlington-national-cemetery-180983480/ Save to Pocket

Danish techies claim they can predict your next move (and your last)

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Life’s a vector, then you die

Just as language models can predict what phrase might come next in a sentence, Danish researchers claim to have shown human life events can be predicted using similar statistical techniques.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/life2vec/ Save to Pocket

Steady, Heavy Rain Prompts Flood Warnings

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The LAist

The National Weather Service has issued flood watches for portions of Southern California.

https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/la-weather-report-december-20-showers-thunderstorms-flood-watch Save to Pocket

Modi Says India Will Examine Any Information on Assassination Plot in US

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/modi-says-india-will-examine-any-information-on-assassination-plot-in-us/7405526.html Save to Pocket

This Pico-powered snowman lights up when you enter the room

date: 2023-12-20, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)

element14’s Katie made a Raspberry Pi Pico-powered snowman that festively lights up its twinkly NeoPixels when you enter the room.

The post This Pico-powered snowman lights up when you enter the room appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/this-pico-powered-snowman-lights-up-when-you-enter-the-room/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

Technical note: I’ve observed that GMail is refusing to show the images on my nightly emails, when viewed on my iPad, both in the Safari browser and in the iOS GMail app. I’d like to know if this is happening for other people, and then run an experiment to see if we can figure out what it is they don’t like about the images. Here’s a place to comment.

http://scripting.com/2023/12/20.html#a141008 Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

If journalism wants to help inform the populace of the stakes, I’d like them to stop using the term neo-Nazi. There’s nothing new about being a Nazi. It adds a tiny bit of confusion at exactly the point where you want zero confusion. It took journalism a long time to use the term insurrection about the January 6 events, that hurt us too. Understand where the path we’re on leads, and don’t give people a reason to hope that it’s not as serious as it is.

http://scripting.com/2023/12/20.html#a140529 Save to Pocket

Gary Horton | No War on Christmas? Who Won?

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

I missed the War on Christmas.   Where did this annual wringing of conservative hands go? Did COVID wipe out the War on Christmas, too? Until just these past few years you could count on talking head War on Christmas teeth gnashing every bit as much as count on Christmas itself.   I moseyed over […]

The post Gary Horton | No War on Christmas? Who Won? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/gary-horton-no-war-on-christmas-who-won/ Save to Pocket

Suspect admits to stealing copper wire from federal property in 2019

date: 2023-12-20, from: Guam Daily Post

A man faces a maximum of five years in federal prison for conspiring to steal copper wire from federal property in 2019.

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/suspect-admits-to-stealing-copper-wire-from-federal-property-in-2019/article_07a96c12-9edd-11ee-8ac4-7bee67d40966.html Save to Pocket

Suspect accused of kidnapping woman, assaulting her with machete, golf club

date: 2023-12-20, from: Guam Daily Post

A 34-year-old man on pretrial release was accused of assaulting a woman several times after he allegedly kidnapped her.

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/suspect-accused-of-kidnapping-woman-assaulting-her-with-machete-golf-club/article_b635c3d4-9ec9-11ee-9230-5bca2ed9edc7.html Save to Pocket

AG referred to ethics counsel

date: 2023-12-20, from: Guam Daily Post

The Supreme Court of Guam has referred Attorney General Douglas Moylan to the Judiciary’s Office of Regulation Counsel, which is responsible for investigating ethics complaints.

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/ag-referred-to-ethics-counsel/article_dce60c0e-9ecf-11ee-8cf9-cfbb7789b552.html Save to Pocket

Arriola lambastes Moylan, says AG violated professional conduct

date: 2023-12-20, from: Guam Daily Post

Attorneys Joaquin “Jay” Arriola Jr. and Anita Arriola have responded to Attorney General Douglas Moylan’s letter regarding their firm’s representation of Department of Public Works Director Vince Arriola, stating that the AG’s letter was “replete” with “clear violations” of rules…

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/arriola-lambastes-moylan-says-ag-violated-professional-conduct/article_575fb412-9ee4-11ee-a18a-57e7efd59c01.html Save to Pocket

Clock ticking to avoid potential trash rate hike

date: 2023-12-20, from: Guam Daily Post

March 2024 is the cutoff date for any movement or decision on initiatives that could positively impact the Guam Solid Waste Authority’s financial situation, or the agency may have to decide to push forward with a $5 residential rate increase…

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/clock-ticking-to-avoid-potential-trash-rate-hike/article_a0069ece-9ed0-11ee-8c86-8759fd7a55e0.html Save to Pocket

Woman denies attempted murder charge

date: 2023-12-20, from: Guam Daily Post

A woman denied attempted murder charges related to allegedly stabbing a man in the neck while he was sleeping.

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/woman-denies-attempted-murder-charge/article_60e30560-9ee0-11ee-ae3b-e36b3777c965.html Save to Pocket

Gingerbread workshops hosted by Dusit Thani

date: 2023-12-20, from: Guam Daily Post

There’s nothing like smelling fresh gingerbread during the holiday season. This Christmastime, kids on island are invited to decorate their own gingerbread cookies by the Dusit Thani Guam Resort.

https://www.postguam.com/entertainment/food/gingerbread-workshops-hosted-by-dusit-thani/article_4f48cee0-9d44-11ee-8849-3f875090f8ca.html Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

After all the disappointments in our country’s response to Homegrown Hitler from Queens, a personality I recognize from the neighborhood I grew up in which is just four miles from where Trump grew up, what a nice unexpected surprise that one holiday season Tuesday night, I’d turn on the news on MSNBC at the exact moment the host says “Hold on, breaking news” (I sighed, no it’s not) only to learn yes, it was. The state of Colorado had decided to use one of the guardrail buttons to extinguish the candidacy of HH, just like that. This morning I woke with a smile on my face and thought, hey it could happen, it should happen. If the Supreme Court doesn’t want to become the Nazi-style ratifier of a holocaust, this is their moment to act. It’s possible they’ll decide that the Constitution applies to every officer of the United States government except the president and vice-president, I’d love to hear the reason, and if they do, we’ll know that we’ve already lost.

http://scripting.com/2023/12/20.html#a135341 Save to Pocket

Microsoft offers rollback for those affected by Windows wireless futility

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

See, it wasn’t just you

Microsoft has finally acknowldged that Windows does have a Wi-Fi problem and offered a resolution for those affected: Known Issue Rollback.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/microsoft_confirms_wifi_issue/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

The US has the tools to defend itself from enemies like Trump, and finally we're starting to use them.

http://scripting.com/2023/12/19/011124.html Save to Pocket

New NASA Glenn Exhibit Spotlights Microgravity Research

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

The Fluids and Combustion Facility, or FCF, on the International Space Station was designed and built at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and has been supporting microgravity research for over a decade. A new exhibit at the NASA Glenn Visitor Center, located in the Great Lakes Science Center, brings that research down to Earth […]

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/glenn/new-nasa-glenn-exhibit-spotlights-microgravity-research/ Save to Pocket

The fence will be tested

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

“That’s right, but they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses, systematically. They remember.” — Robert Muldoon, game warden, Jurassic Park (1993) If we learned anything from the blockbuster film Jurassic Park, other than we all had a crush on Jeff Goldblum, it’s that threats thrive if given the…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/the-fence-will-be-tested/ Save to Pocket

A different sort of reckoning

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

When I look toward 2024 through the prism of diversity, I see two futures in journalism. Neither is rosy, but one is decidedly bleaker than the other. I’m hoping for better days and bracing for bleak. Journalism took another economic and spiritual beating in the year behind us. More than 2,600 news jobs were cut,…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/a-different-sort-of-reckoning/ Save to Pocket

The obsession with “trust” will end

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

My prediction for 2024 is that journalists will realize that “trust” is a useless metric of their work. Okay, I’m kidding. I have no expectation that the news media will cease its pointless obsession with trust surveys. It’s not only a distraction but actually harmful. As Nobel Prize winner Maria Ressa has pointed out, authoritarian…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/the-obsession-with-trust-will-end/ Save to Pocket

At A University, The Question ‘Who’s In Charge Here?’ Comes With A Lot Of Answers

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The LAist

Conflicts this year at CSU Fullerton and Cal Poly Pomona show divisions between administration and faculty members.

https://laist.com/news/education/who-runs-university-college-what-is-shared-governance Save to Pocket

Tired Of The Waiting Lists For California’s Public Universities, Nursing Students Increasingly Turn To Expensive Private Programs

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The LAist

The number of nursing students enrolling in high-priced private programs has nearly doubled over the past 10 years as the state’s public universities have stagnated in growth.

https://laist.com/news/education/waiting-lists-for-californias-public-universities-nursing-students Save to Pocket

Mental health efforts become a globally connected movement

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

The mental health of journalists has been steadily deteriorating since the pandemic. Many people feel overwhelmed due to a broken business model and rapid digitalization, which adds to the emotional difficulty of the content we cover. Most newsrooms have become unhealthy places to work, with record levels of burnout, anxiety, depression, and post traumatic stress…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/mental-health-efforts-become-a-globally-connected-movement/ Save to Pocket

How the candy cane gets made

date: 2023-12-20, from: Marketplace Morning Report

What can a beloved, sugary holiday treat teach us about trade protectionism, overseas farm subsidies, inflation and inelastic demand? Turns out, quite a bit. Today, we trace how sugarcane from Louisiana becomes a hand-spun, red-and-white-striped delight at a New Jersey candy shop — and learn a thing or two about economics along the way. But first: The Senate leaves for a holiday recess without any approved aid for Ukraine or Israel.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/candy-cane-global-economics Save to Pocket

‘Ready To Work’: Hollywood Artists Hopeful New Year Will Bring Employment After Dual Strikes

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The LAist

Some experts caution that the recovery will not bounce back to the ‘peak TV’ production frenzy of recent years.

https://laist.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/ready-to-work-hollywood-artists-hopeful-new-year-will-bring-employment-after-dual-strikes Save to Pocket

California Looks To The Health System To Sustain Mental Health Funds In Schools

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The LAist

To create an education system that has stable funds for mental health, California educators and leaders are turning to the health system and launching a statewide behavioral health initiative to fill funding gaps in fluctuating, sometimes unpredictable school budgets.

https://laist.com/news/education/california-looks-to-health-system-to-sustain-mental-health-funds-in-schools Save to Pocket

Journalism investment comes to Los Angeles

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

There are almost 10 million people in Los Angeles County — the most populous county in the United States. But unlike in other major metro areas of the U.S., a serious investment in local news from funders and policymakers has yet to materialize in L.A. The next decade in Los Angeles needs not only more…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/journalism-investment-comes-to-los-angeles/ Save to Pocket

Journalism’s identity crisis intensifies, and decentralization ensues

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

Journalism outlets have always had to carve their own niche on many continuums — between business and service, content generators and technology platforms, entertainment providers and information mongers, bite-sized content and long-form experiences, ephemeral productions and evergreen products, and so on. In the rapidly evolving landscape, the only constant for media companies is an identity…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/journalisms-identity-crisis-intensifies-and-decentralization-ensues/ Save to Pocket

Capturing press releases for local media revenue

date: 2023-12-20, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

It’s no surprise then that the future of our industry is uncertain. Over the past 20 years, productivity tools have made thousands of teams in industries like tech and finance more efficient and able to focus on higher value work. Why isn’t the media industry, especially local news, embracing the same change? A recent report…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/capturing-press-releases-for-local-media-revenue/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

NASA Streams Cat Video From Deep, Deep Space.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/science/nasa-cat-video.html Save to Pocket

AM Briefing: Bird Files for Bankruptcy

date: 2023-12-20, from: Heatmap News

Current conditions: Southern California is bracing for heavy rain • China’s bitter cold is complicating earthquake rescue efforts • Iceland’s capital of Reykjavik could be hit by pollution from a volcanic eruption.

THE TOP FIVE

1. E-scooter company Bird files for bankruptcy

E-scooter company Bird, which “put electric scooters onto the sidewalks of major cities,” is filing for bankruptcy in the U.S. Just five years ago the company reached “unicorn” status with a $1 billion valuation faster than any startup ever before. But “Bird grew too quickly — it launched in too many cities before it had a viable model,” one former employee told the Financial Times. “It was losing money on every ride, so the more cities and more rides it was doing the more money it lost.” The company went public in 2021 but its stock plummeted quickly and never really recovered. Other micromobility startups are facing similar financial challenges, and some cities are cracking down on e-scooters.

Bird

2. Biden moves to protect ‘old growth’ forests

President Biden issued a proposal yesterday to protect some of the oldest trees in America’s national forests from commercial logging. The move has climate ramifications because older trees are natural carbon sinks, so keeping them alive prevents that carbon from being released into the atmosphere and contributing to global warming. “Older forests provide the most above-ground carbon storage potential on Earth, with mature forests and larger trees driving most accumulation of forest carbon in the critical next few decades,” a group of scientists wrote in a letter to Biden last year. “Left vulnerable to logging, though, they cannot fulfill these vital functions.” The proposal doesn’t protect “mature” trees, which aren’t quite as ancient as “old growth” trees. This concession is “a middle ground between environmentalists and the timber industry,” says Lauren Aratani at The Guardian. The ban is set to come into place in 2025 and comes as part of an executive order, so whether it goes ahead could depend on the outcome of the 2024 election.

3. California will start turning wastewater into drinking water

California officials yesterday approved regulations allowing wastewater from toilets and showers to be recycled into drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. “As we look to make our communities more resilient to drought, to climate change, this is really going to be an important part of that solution,” Heather Cooley, director of research at water think tank Pacific Institute, tells the Los Angeles Times. Colorado has similar rules in place already, and Arizona and Florida could soon follow suit. The wastewater recycling process has undergone extensive review by scientists and engineers who insist it is clean and safe. The water is filtered, decontaminated, disinfected, and monitored, making it “purer than many drinking water sources we now rely on,” says E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the state’s water resources board.

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4. British Museum gets £50 million in funding from BP

The British Museum, one of the most popular museums in the world, came under fire this week for accepting £50 million (about $63 million) in new funding from oil giant BP. The deal will last for 10 years and the money is expected to help pay for museum upgrades and refurbishments. The sponsorship isn’t new: BP has partnered with the museum since 1996. But it comes at a time when cultural institutions in Britain and elsewhere are under pressure from climate activists to cut ties with fossil fuel companies. One activist group has threatened legal action in response to the move, and Greenpeace called it “brazen greenwashing.” But, as the Times of London points out, most of Britain’s museums charge nothing for entrance and rely heavily on philanthropy and sponsorship. “Money needs to come from somewhere,” the paper says.

5. VW will use Tesla’s EV charging plug

Tesla’s EV plug, the North American Charging Standard (NACS), is one step closer to dominating the industry entirely with the announcement that Volkswagen Group has committed to using the connector starting in 2025. VW says customers will now have access to 15,000 Supercharger locations across North America. The last remaining NACS holdout is Stellantis, but it’s probably only a matter of time before the automaker “bends the knee.”

THE KICKER

Five gray wolves were released in Colorado this week as part of a wild wolf restoration project.

https://heatmap.news/climate/am-briefing-bird-files-for-bankruptcy Save to Pocket

Airbnb fined for its dollar dilemma down under

date: 2023-12-20, from: Marketplace Morning Report

From the BBC World Service: Airbnb has been ordered to pay up to $20 million in fines and compensation after misleading customers in Australia. Some bookings there were listed in U.S. dollars rather than Australian dollars, making them look cheaper than they actually were. Plus, we look at the delisting of Toshiba in Japan. And later: Inflation can even affect candy canes.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/airbnb-fined-for-its-dollar-dilemma-down-under Save to Pocket

LEFT WONDERING: How Can You Invest In An Ethical Fashion?

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Lever News

Plus, the best books for an introduction to politics.

https://www.levernews.com/left-wondering-how-can-you-invest-in-an-ethical-fashion/ Save to Pocket

Penguins get their Wayland with Firefox 121

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Latest version of Mozilla’s web browser brings something different depending on your machine

Version 121 of Mozilla’s Firefox web browser, released yesterday, has changes that affect Linux, Windows, and Mac users differently.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/firefox_121_released/ Save to Pocket

Nice, Minnesota

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: One Foot Tsunami

https://onefoottsunami.com/2023/12/20/nice-minnesota/ Save to Pocket

GCHQ Christmas Codebreaking Challenge

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-18, from: Bruce Schneier blog

Looks like fun.

Details here.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2023/12/gchq-christmas-codebreaking-challenge.html Save to Pocket

Largest Dataset Powering AI Images Removed After Discovery of Child Sexual Abuse Material

date: 2023-12-20, from: 404 Media Group

The model is a massive part of the AI-ecosystem, used by Stable Diffusion and other major generative AI products. The removal follows discoveries made by Stanford researchers, who found thousands instances of suspected child sexual abuse material in the dataset.

https://www.404media.co/laion-datasets-removed-stanford-csam-child-abuse/ Save to Pocket

55 Years Ago: Seven Months Before the Moon Landing

date: 2023-12-20, from: NASA breaking news

December 1968 ended a year more turbulent than most. For the American space program, however, it brought the Moon landing one giant step closer. The successful first lunar orbital flight by Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William A. Anders proved the space worthiness of the Apollo Command and Service Modules (CSM) […]

https://www.nasa.gov/history/55-years-ago-seven-months-before-the-moon-landing/ Save to Pocket

@Ayjay blog (date: 2023-12-20, from: Ayjay blog)

The Morgan Beatus Manuscript

https://blog.ayjay.org/45811-2/ Save to Pocket

UK officials caught napping ahead of 2G and 3G doomsday

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Parking meters and trash collection face disruption as networks switch off

A worrying number of UK authorities are still unaware of the impending switch-off of 2G and 3G mobile networks, according to Local Government Association (LGA) figures.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/uk_2g_3g_switchoff/ Save to Pocket

Office Hours: Will Republicans pay a price for giving Putin a victory in Ukraine?

date: 2023-12-20, from: Robert Reich on Substack

Their demands for draconian nativist policies at America’s southern border are playing into Trump’s and Putin’s hands

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hours-will-republicans-pay Save to Pocket

Alice Brotherton | My Christmas Miracle

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

It was Friday afternoon and the Christmas rush had begun.  I was delivering gifts and stopped by Ralphs (in Granary Square on McBean Parkway) to pick up a few things. I ran into the store thinking of many things I had on my “to do” list.  When I left the store, I felt a panic […]

The post Alice Brotherton | My Christmas Miracle appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/alice-brotherton-my-christmas-miracle/ Save to Pocket

Gary Curtis | Two States for Two Peoples?

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

Upon the recent release of some of the Oct. 7 Hamas hostages from Gaza, President Joe Biden spoke about ending “this cycle of violence in the Middle East.” He added, “We renew our resolve to pursue this two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can one day live side by side in a two-state solution with […]

The post Gary Curtis | Two States for Two Peoples? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/gary-curtis-two-states-for-two-peoples/ Save to Pocket

Manchester’s finest drowning in paperwork as Freedom of Information requests pile up

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Enforcement notice issued months after data regulator schooled police force

Updated  Greater Manchester Police (GMP) must clear the backlog of hundreds of Freedom of Information (FOI) Act requests – some years old – or find itself in contempt of court.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/greater_manchester_police_foi/ Save to Pocket

KSH, Hilo soccer teams face off

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Kamehameha Schools - Hawai&#8216;i and Hilo High&#8217;s boys and girls soccer teams faced off Monday at Pai&#8216;ea Stadium.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/sports/ksh-hilo-soccer-teams-face-off/ Save to Pocket

Stephen Tsai: Chang keeps it real with UH football recruits

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>On every University of Hawaii-sponsored recruiting trip, a must stop for football prospects is the Ching Complex on the school&#8217;s lower campus.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/sports/stephen-tsai-chang-keeps-it-real-with-uh-football-recruits/ Save to Pocket

Hilo boys basketball defeats St. Joseph 67-9

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Hilo High&#8217;s boys varsity basketball team handled business with ease, crushing St. Joseph School 67-9 on Monday night at UH-Hilo&#8217;s Vulcan Gymnasium.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/sports/hilo-boys-basketball-defeats-st-joseph-67-9/ Save to Pocket

NEWS: County announces 2024 keiki track and field meets

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Hawai&#8216;i County Department of Parks and Recreation announced the following 2024 keiki track and field meets for Hilo and Kona on Tuesday:</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/sports/news-county-announces-2024-keiki-track-and-field-meets/ Save to Pocket

Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa is opting out of the Music City Bowl against Auburn

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>COLLEGE PARK, Md. &#8212; Taulia Tagovailoa is skipping Maryland&#8217;s bowl game, closing the book on a record-setting career in which he helped the Terrapins return to respectability under coach Michael Locksley. </p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/sports/maryland-qb-taulia-tagovailoa-is-opting-out-of-the-music-city-bowl-against-auburn/ Save to Pocket

Colorado Supreme Court, in landmark ruling, bans Trump from state’s ballot under insurrection clause

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>DENVER &#8212; A divided Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday declared former President Donald Trump ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution&#8217;s insurrection clause and removed him from the state&#8217;s presidential primary ballot, setting up a likely showdown in the nation&#8217;s highest court to decide whether the front-runner for the GOP nomination can remain in the race.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/colorado-supreme-court-in-landmark-ruling-bans-trump-from-states-ballot-under-insurrection-clause/ Save to Pocket

As climate warms, that perfect Christmas tree may depend on growers’ ability to adapt

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>CHICAGO &#8212; Christmas tree breeder Jim Rockis knows what it looks like when one dies long before it can reach a buyer.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/as-climate-warms-that-perfect-christmas-tree-may-depend-on-growers-ability-to-adapt/ Save to Pocket

Probation, community service in shooting of horse

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>A 25-year-old Pahoa man was sentenced to a year of probation and 100 hours of community service Tuesday for fatally shooting a Honomu couple&#8217;s pet horse.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/hawaii-news/probation-community-service-in-shooting-of-horse/ Save to Pocket

Suspect sought in assault investigation

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Police are seeking the public&#8217;s assistance in locating 68-year-old David Manuel Clark of Waimea, who&#8217;s a suspect in an assault investigation.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/hawaii-news/suspect-sought-in-assault-investigation/ Save to Pocket

Google to pay $700 million to US states, consumers in app store settlement

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Google has agreed to pay $700 million and make several other concessions to settle allegations that it had been stifling competition against its Android app store &#8212; the same issue that went to trial in another case that could result in even bigger changes.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/hawaii-news/google-to-pay-700-million-to-us-states-consumers-in-app-store-settlement/ Save to Pocket

Repairs to former Hilo Memorial could start next year

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Renovations to the former Hilo Memorial Hospital should begin next year thanks to a $13 million federal grant.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/hawaii-news/repairs-to-former-hilo-memorial-could-start-next-year/ Save to Pocket

Sandra Day O’Connor called a pioneer and ‘iconic jurist’ as she is memorialized by Biden, Roberts

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>WASHINGTON &#8212; Justice Sandra Day O&#8217;Connor, the Arizona rancher&#8217;s daughter who became a voice of moderate conservatism as the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, was memorialized by President Joe Biden on Tuesday as a pioneer in the legal world who inspired generations of women.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/sandra-day-oconnor-called-a-pioneer-and-iconic-jurist-as-she-is-memorialized-by-biden-roberts/ Save to Pocket

These kids want to go to school. The main obstacle? Paperwork

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>It&#8217;s unclear to Tameka how &#8212; or even when &#8212; her children became unenrolled from Atlanta Public Schools. But it was traumatic when, in fall 2021, they figured out it had happened.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/these-kids-want-to-go-to-school-the-main-obstacle-paperwork/ Save to Pocket

Illegal crossings surge in remote areas as Congress, White House weigh major asylum limits

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>LUKEVILLE, Ariz. &#8212; Hundreds of dates are written on concrete-filled steel columns erected along the U.S. border with Mexico to memorialize when the Border Patrol has repaired illicit openings in the would-be barriers. Yet no sooner are fixes made than another column is sawed, torched and chiseled for large groups of migrants to enter, usually with no agents in sight.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/illegal-crossings-surge-in-remote-areas-as-congress-white-house-weigh-major-asylum-limits/ Save to Pocket

Biden administration moves to protect old-growth forests as climate change brings fires, pests

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>BILLINGS, Mont. &#8212; The Biden administration moved on Tuesday to conserve groves of old-growth trees on national forests across the U.S. and limit logging as climate change amplifies the threats they face from wildfires, insects and disease.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/biden-administration-moves-to-protect-old-growth-forests-as-climate-change-brings-fires-pests/ Save to Pocket

US baby boomers over 70 hold more than 30% of country’s wealth

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Most don&#8217;t work anymore, but Americans age 70 and older have seen their share of collective wealth surge during the pandemic. As a group, these older baby boomers have accumulated more than $14 trillion in additional net worth since the end 2019, based on Federal Reserve data. Their share of the country&#8217;s wealth has jumped to a record 30% last quarter, even though they account for 11% of the population. The aging population helps explain some the gains: There are about 2.3 million more people over 70 in the country than in 2019. But one major driver was the surge in home values and stocks during the pandemic, which benefited older generations most likely to own a house &#8212; or two &#8212; and hold equities or mutual funds.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/us-baby-boomers-over-70-hold-more-than-30-of-countrys-wealth/ Save to Pocket

Will the eruption of the volcano in Iceland affect flights and how serious is it?

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>LONDON &#8212; Scientists anticipated the eruption of a volcano in southwestern Iceland for weeks, so when it happened on Monday night, it was no surprise. The region had been active for more than two years and thousands of small earthquakes rattled the area in recent weeks.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/will-the-eruption-of-the-volcano-in-iceland-affect-flights-and-how-serious-is-it/ Save to Pocket

Retailers are improving their delivery speeds, meaning good news for late holiday shoppers

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>NEW YORK &#8212; Haven&#8217;t ordered any of your holiday gifts yet?</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/retailers-are-improving-their-delivery-speeds-meaning-good-news-for-late-holiday-shoppers/ Save to Pocket

Herzog says Israel ready to pause fight in exchange for hostages

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Israeli President Isaac Herzog told ambassadors from around the world the country is prepared to agree to a second humanitarian pause in fighting in exchange for the return of more hostages held by Hamas. Hamas, the Islamic militant group considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union, still holds about 129 of the initial 240 or more people it abducted from Israel during its deadly attack on Oct. 7.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/herzog-says-israel-ready-to-pause-fight-in-exchange-for-hostages/ Save to Pocket

Drought-prone California OKs new rules for turning wastewater directly into drinking water

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. &#8212; When a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: An ice skating rink near Disneyland, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the Central Valley.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/drought-prone-california-oks-new-rules-for-turning-wastewater-directly-into-drinking-water/ Save to Pocket

Obituaries for December 20

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Mary Elizabeth Nahale, 87, of Holualoa died Nov. 23 at Hilo Medical Center. Born in Kohala, she was a housekeeper and member of Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce. Services at a later date. Survived by sons, Charles Nahale of Lahaina, Maui, Dudley Nahale and William Nahale of Holualoa; eight grandchildren and a great-grandchild. Arrangements by Dodo Mortuary.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/obituaries/obituaries-for-december-20-11/ Save to Pocket

Zelenskyy says Ukraine not at risk of losing war with Russia

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his military isn&#8217;t at risk of losing the war with Russia and expressed confidence the U.S. will deliver on its $61 billion in aid held up by a political standoff. &#8220;I&#8217;m certain the U.S. won&#8217;t betray us &#8212; and what has been agreed upon will be fulfilled,&#8221; Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv at a wide-ranging press conference organized to close out the year. Ukraine&#8217;s campaign against the Russian invasion has ground to a standstill as the war-battered nation approaches its third year of conflict, with more than $110 billion in financial aid from Kyiv&#8217;s main allies entangled in political infighting in Washington and Brussels.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/zelenskyy-says-ukraine-not-at-risk-of-losing-war-with-russia/ Save to Pocket

Elf Bar and other e-cigarette makers dodged US customs and taxes after China’s ban on vaping flavors

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>WASHINGTON &#8212; In only two years, a small, colorful vaping device called Elf Bar has become the most popular disposable e-cigarette in the world, generating billions in sales and quickly emerging as the overwhelming favorite of underage U.S. teens who vape.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/nation-world-news/elf-bar-and-other-e-cigarette-makers-dodged-us-customs-and-taxes-after-chinas-ban-on-vaping-flavors/ Save to Pocket

Don’t surrender on immigration: Aid Ukraine without undermining welcoming newcomers

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>In trying to win support from recalcitrant Republicans to reform a badly broken immigration system, the Biden administration has reportedly indicated it&#8217;d be open to indefinite authorities to expel asylum seekers and a huge expansion of our already largely unaccountable detention system.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/opinion/dont-surrender-on-immigration-aid-ukraine-without-undermining-welcoming-newcomers/ Save to Pocket

Rodgers’ return will come next season with Jets out of playoff hunt and QB not 100% healthy

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Aaron Rodgers&#8217; quest to make an improbable return this season for the New York Jets appears over. </p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/sports/rodgers-return-will-come-next-season-with-jets-out-of-playoff-hunt-and-qb-not-100-healthy/ Save to Pocket

Analysis: Eagles have bigger problems than a 3-game losing streak

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>The Philadelphia Eagles have bigger problems than a three-game losing streak. </p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/sports/analysis-eagles-have-bigger-problems-than-a-3-game-losing-streak/ Save to Pocket

Your Views for December 20

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Council urged to support Bill 102</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/opinion/your-views-for-december-20-6/ Save to Pocket

Christmas gift-giving turbocharges our trash problem. This is how I cope

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Every time I rip open a lovingly wrapped gift (and plenty of us will be doing a lot of that soon), one thing pops into my mind: trash.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/opinion/christmas-gift-giving-turbocharges-our-trash-problem-this-is-how-i-cope/ Save to Pocket

Messiah Sing-Along to honor longtime chorus leader, conductor

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>The 14th annual Handel&#8217;s Messiah Sing-Along is returning with a special honor for the longtime conductor and founder of Hilo&#8217;s holiday tradition.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/entertainment/messiah-sing-along-to-honor-longtime-chorus-leader-conductor/ Save to Pocket

More than 50 to take the stage for The Nutcracker

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>The Christmas spirit will be in full force as more than 55 local dancers from West Hawaii Dance Theatre and Academy perform The Nutcracker ballet in Waimea on Saturday.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/entertainment/more-than-50-to-take-the-stage-for-the-nutcracker/ Save to Pocket

Washington’s Kalen DeBoer is the AP coach of the year after leading undefeated Huskies to the CFP

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>SEATTLE &#8212; Kalen DeBoer landing the job at Washington two years ago seemed to be an unheralded transaction at the time.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/sports/washingtons-kalen-deboer-is-the-ap-coach-of-the-year-after-leading-undefeated-huskies-to-the-cfp/ Save to Pocket

Large shipment of illegal fireworks seized in Honolulu

date: 2023-12-20, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold

            <p>Approximately 16 tons of illegal fireworks were seized in a shipping container late last week in Honolulu, the state Department of Law Enforcement announced today.</p>
        

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/20/hawaii-news/large-shipment-of-illegal-fireworks-seized-in-honolulu/ Save to Pocket

Women in IT are on a 283-year march to parity, BCS warns

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Chartered institute highlights lack of progress in tech role equality

It will take 283 years for female representation in IT to make up an equal share of the tech workforce in the UK, according to a report from the British Computer Society, the chartered institute for IT (BCS).…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/gender_gap_it_employment/ Save to Pocket

SSH shaken, not stirred by Terrapin vulnerability

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

No need to panic, but grab those updates or mitigations anyway just to be safe

A vulnerability in the SSH protocol can be exploited by a well-placed adversary to weaken the security of people’s connections, if conditions are right.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/terrapin_attack_ssh/ Save to Pocket

Today in SCV History (Dec. 20)

date: 2023-12-20, from: SCV New (TV Station)

1892– Benjamin Harrison establishes 555,520-acre San Gabriel Timberland Reserve (Angeles National Forest). First forest reserve in California, second in U.S. [story

https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-dec-20/ Save to Pocket

The Savvy Senior | What Is the Retirement Saver’s Credit and How Does It Work?

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

Dear Savvy Senior,  Can you explain to me how the retirement saver’s tax credit works? My wife and I are in our fifties and are looking for creative ways to boost our retirement savings beyond our 401(k). Is this something we may be eligible for?  — Struggling to Save  Dear Struggling,  If your income is […]

The post The Savvy Senior | What Is the Retirement Saver’s Credit and How Does It Work? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/the-savvy-senior-what-is-the-retirement-savers-credit-and-how-does-it-work/ Save to Pocket

December 19, 2023

date: 2023-12-20, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog

This evening, by a vote of 4–3, the Colorado Supreme Court decided that former president Donald Trump is disqualified from holding office and should be removed from the 2024 ballot in the state, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-19-2023 Save to Pocket

Man who self-surrendered arrested on suspicion of attempted murder

date: 2023-12-20, from: Guam Daily Post

The man who turned himself in to police on Wednesday morning was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

https://www.postguam.com/news/man-who-self-surrendered-arrested-on-suspicion-of-attempted-murder/article_73fa9840-9f06-11ee-9424-7f65cc48934a.html Save to Pocket

Long-delayed Ariane 6 rocket is ‘ready to go’ – hopefully – says European Space Agency

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Latest launch sim went off without a hitch. An upper stage test, not so much

The European Space Agency (ESA) has declared its Ariane 6 rocket is “ready to go” – at least in terms of its ability to launch the long - delayed rocket. But some concerns remain about the performance of its upper stage.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/esa_ariane_6_ready/ Save to Pocket

China’s GPU contender Moore Threads reveals card that can cope with Nvidia’s CUDA

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

MTT S4000 GPU isn’t super-fast, but the ‘kilocard cluster’ design supporting it looks interesting

Moore Threads, a Chinese purveyor of GPUs, has unveiled its mightiest model to date – and it may even give market leader Nvidia a little to worry about.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/moore_threads_mtt_s4000_gpu/ Save to Pocket

Hex time

date: 2023-12-20, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog

Hex time

My wife left to spend the day in a spa with a friend of hers and I am listening to Louis Armstrong recordings from the 1930s.

I read a discussion between @munroe and @Da_Gut about hex sizes for a hexcrawl. My personal take is to think of hexes as distances one can travel in a certain time.

Think about the diversity of the landscape one can see in a day of travel. Arable lands and a forest. Two regions? Arable lands, a forest, hills, a plateau. Four? That is the number of hexes per day. And nobody cares about the miles.

In my case, I think that “one hex is one day of walking” makes the most sense. In the morning, you’re leaving one hex and in the afternoon you’re arriving in the next hex. This assumes an uncharted wilderness. When I try to leave the forest trails in the hills around Zürich or in the Swiss mountains, I feel that progress is really slow. Super slow. Extremely slow. Sure, I can walk as far as the horizon in some cases, but that’s on gravel roads prepared by industrial machines and maintained by a state that is fed by all the tax evading billionaires and conglomerates of the whole planet. So out there in Fantasy land, it’s more like me trying to find a shortcut in the Swiss mountains and forests.

And sure, if people have horses and mules to carry their stuff, they can travel faster. Twice as fast makes it easy to move the little token around on the map. And roads also speed things up. Like, twice as fast? With horses and mules to carry stuff, on a flat road: 4 hexes per day. If you want to read up on ancient rows, see historic roads and trails on Wikipedia.

Regular exploration of the wilderness where the players are strangers, intruders, colonizers, potential murderers, belonging to the wannabe-conquerors, then surely it’s going to be 1 hex per day. This is the equivalent of slow and careful dungeon exploration speed. Avoid getting lost in the bogs, crossing the rivers and creeks without losing your stuff, without getting ambushed in gullies and canyons, without getting lost in forests, without slipping into ravines, spraining angles or scraping your knees, keeping dry, finding good camping sites, digging a latrine, digging a fire pit, washing clothes, maintaining equipment, baking bread, and on and on. This is the speed you can maintain for long expeditions.

Now, you can get into all the nitty-gritty of it all. Luckily, @settembrini already did all that and wrote Inch by inch it’s all a cinch, by the yard it’s hard. It’s a long article and not an easy read. But here’s one of the things I can put into my gamer notes:

1 hour’s walk = 1 league = 3 miles = 3000 double paces = 15 000 feet= 5000 yards.

So let’s go back to my example. Using the above equivalences, 8 hours of walking takes you 24 miles out in the open, on a road or well kept and straight trail. At the same time, I said that 1 day of walking is 2 hexes in my world, without mules or horses. So now we know: one day of walking is 24 miles and 2 hexes. Therefore my hexes should be 12 miles across, if you really need to know.

But of course you don’t because nothing happens “per mile” in the game. All the things happen “per unit of time”. The most important one of these is “how many random encounters per day?” Or “per 4 hour watch?”

I’m serious about one thing, however: It’s better if you don’t think about the miles per hex. If you do, you’ll keep thinking about all the other things, too. How far was your hike last summer? Did you have to set up camp? How heavy was your backpack? Did you wear armour? Is travelling by horse really faster than walking by foot if you can’t switch horses? How fast are you if you have two horses per person? How fast is a wagon. The questions are endless and somehow I find them all very boring questions. These are not good questions.

It’s better if you think about what’s important in the game for you and the table and go from there. Is the world dangerous because of random encounters? Start with the question of how often you want to roll for random encounters as the party travels from landmark to landmark. Think about the distances between settlements. Traditionally, that would be about a day’s march by foot in arable land: half a day out and do a bit of work and half a day back is the limit.

So let’s say you answered the above with “I’m going to roll once for random encounters per day of travel”. And every landmark has something: either it’s arable land so there are people living there, a camp, a hamlet, a village, or it’s dangerous because of a monster lair, or because of a natural hazard like mountains, swamps, deep forest, or something else that’s similarly inhospitable.

If you follow this train of thought then you’ll arrive at my setup: the slowest speed is one hex per day, and then there are ways to speed things up with transporation methods and infrastructure. Take a boat downriver or along the coast: 8 hexes per day? More? What about taking a boat upriver? Just as slow as walking but you can unlimited supplies? How far can the flying carpet go? All these questions need settling, eventually. All I am concerned about right now, however, is that they can be answered in principle: a certain multiple of the slowest speed is good enough.

The only good argument for switching things up that I can think of is wanting to present more variety to your players. No problem. If the land is full of stuff, a river ford, a tower ruin, then up onto the plateau and into the moors until you reach the cairns of Arguable, you can scale it up. Multiply it all by two or three or four and you’re good to go. I find that this leads to a lot more mapping and so I don’t do it, but if you feel like it, you have my blessings.

If you are like me and prefer more diversity in theory but cannot be bothered to map in practice, I have a suggestion: start with the sparse map and keep adding. Using the example above, there’s a hex with a settlement, and the next hex is hills, and there’s a river between the two. You can improvise a story about the fields giving way to brushland, the river winding its way between the willows and the ford with the poles of King Borgobob who raised them in the times of your grandfather, and then there’s that plateau. If the players don’t look for the tower, it does not show up. But if the players know about the old tower you add a tower symbol to the hill hex and presto, one more landmark in the same hex. They know about the cairn, too? Then it’s a tower and a cairn. You can even number the sides of a hex: 1 is north, 2 is south-east, 3 is south-west, and so on. Then your notes can say “1: cairn, 4: old tower” and depending on how the party crosses the hexes, you’ll know whether they pass by the thing or wether they can spot it from a distance or whether they’ll have to search for it.

I also like to label geographic features. Label settlements, forests, mountains, swamps, rivers, trails. I feel that adds so much.

Down below is a snapshot of the player map in my German Greyhawk campaign where I run the Elredd region on the Wild Coast. How long does it take to travel from Elredd to Moorwies along the Miesbohlenweg? 1 hex/day in the wilderness, 2 hexes/day on the road: From Elredd to Brackmühl is a day, from Brackmühl to Kreuzdorf is a day, and from Kreuzdorf to Moorwies is half a day, or perhaps the swamp slows things down and the road is shit so it’s a full day. So three days total. If you had horses, then it’s one day from Elredd to Kreuzdorf, and then the shit trackway into the swamp… a second day? Or maybe you can travel right through Moorwies and out of the swamp on the other side. But my players don’t know what lies to the west…

OK, but now I have a different problem. @settembrini says that each hex is 10 km across. Now what? Let’s take those equivalences again and add a rough conversion to kilometers. 3 miles × 1½ km/mi = 4½ km or 5000 years × 9/10 m/yard = 4500 m = 4½ km. Let’s round that to 5 km – or in keeping with this blog post: a 10 km hex takes 2 h to walk through and in 8 h you can walk through 4 hexes, if you’re on a road, 2 hexes cross-country, 8 hexes if you ride on a good road. Speed is sort-of doubled because 12 mi × 1½ km/mi = 18 km which is nearly twice as much as 10 km.

So bow how long does it take to travel from Elredd to Moorwies along the Miesbohlen way? 1 day from Elredd to Kreuzdorf. Plus 2 h on the next day.

1 hour’s walk = 1 league = 3 miles = 3000 double paces = 15 000 feet= 5000 yards = 5 km

My point with all of this: keep in mind how the map relates to events in your hexcrawl procedure. With the “new” ruling handed down to me regarding my map, I keep the idea that there is a single encounter check to be made during the day (and one to be made during the night if the party is camping out in the open).

(Map generated using Text Mapper with the Bright library)

#RPG #Maps #Hex #Sandbox

@Yora writes:

the best way to avoid introducing fractions again would be to simply switch from a 6-mile hex grid to a 3-mile hex grid. The old hexes per day become hexes per shift and the players can either move two or three shifts in a day. – My Overland Travel Rules adapted for Dragonbane

https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2023-12-15-hex-time Save to Pocket

Trinity hoops breaks eight-year drought against SCCS

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

For the first time in eight seasons, the tides have turned in Santa Clarita’s Heritage League boys’ basketball rivalry.   The Trinity Knights defeated the Santa Clarita Christian Cardinals, 69-49, snapping a 10-game losing streak against its league rival on Monday at the Newhall Church of the Nazarene.  “It’s a big deal,” said Knights coach Daniel […]

The post <strong>Trinity hoops breaks eight-year drought against SCCS </strong>  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/trinity-hoops-breaks-eight-year-drought-against-sccs/ Save to Pocket

Singapore wants datacenters, clouds, regulated like critical infrastructure

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Even systems located outside city-state could be considered ‘foundational’ and face performance demands

Singapore’s government has proposed amendments to its 2018-era Cybersecurity Bill that would extend the oversight of its cyber security agency to cloud service providers and datacenter operators.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/singapore_proposes_treating_data_centers/ Save to Pocket

Trump Defends Comments About Immigrants ‘Poisoning the Blood’ of America

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

WATERLOO, Iowa — Former U.S.  President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his comments about migrants crossing the southern border “poisoning the blood” of America, and he reinforced the message while denying any similarities to fascist writings others had noted.

“I never read ‘Mein Kampf,’” Trump said at a campaign rally in Waterloo, Iowa, referencing Adolf Hitler’s fascist manifesto.

Immigrants in the U.S. illegally, Trump said Tuesday, are “destroying the blood of our country, they’re destroying the fabric of our country.”

In the speech to more than 1,000 supporters from a podium flanked by Christmas trees in red MAGA hats, Trump responded to mounting criticism about his anti-immigrant “blood” purity rhetoric over the weekend.

Several politicians and extremism experts have noted his language echoed writings from Hitler about the “purity” of Aryan blood, which underpinned Nazi Germany’s systematic murder of millions of Jews and other “undesirables” before and during World War II.

As illegal border crossings surge, topping 10,000 some days in December, Trump continued to blast Biden for allowing migrants to “pour into our country.” He alleged, without offering evidence, that they bring crime and potential disease with them.

“They come from Africa, they come from Asia, they come from South America,” he said, lamenting what he said was a “border catastrophe.”

Trump made no mention of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to disqualify him from the state’s ballot under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause, though his campaign blasted out a fundraising email about it during his speech.

The former president has long used inflammatory language about immigrants coming to the United States, dating back to his campaign launch in 2015, when he said immigrants from Mexico are “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists.”

But Trump has espoused increasingly authoritarian messages in his third campaign, vowing to renew and add to his effort to bar citizens from certain Muslim-majority countries, and to expand " ideological screening " for people immigrating to the U.S. He said he would be a dictator on “day one” only, in order to close the border and increase drilling.

In Waterloo on Tuesday, Trump’s supporters in the crowd said his border policies were effective and necessary, even if he doesn’t always say the right thing.

“I don’t know if he says the right words all of the time,” said 63-year-old Marylee Geist, adding that just because “you’re not fortunate enough to be born in this country,” doesn’t mean “you don’t get to come here.”

“But it should all be done legally,” she added.

It’s about the volume of border crossings and national security, said her husband, John Geist, 68.

“America is the land of opportunity, however, the influx — it needs to be kept to a certain level,” he said. “The amount of undocumented immigrants that come through and you don’t know what you’re getting, things aren’t regulated properly.”

Alex Litterer and her dad, Tom, of Charles City said they were concerned about migrants crossing the southern border, especially because the U.S. doesn’t have the resources to support that influx. But the 22-year-old said she didn’t agree with Trump’s comments, adding that immigrants who come to the country legally contribute to the country’s character and bring different perspectives.

Polling shows most Americans agree, with two-thirds saying the country’s diverse population makes the U.S. stronger.

But Trump’s “blood” purity message might resonate with some voters.

About a third of Americans overall worry that more immigration is causing U.S.-born Americans to lose their economic, political and cultural influence, according to a late 2021 poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Jackie Malecek, 50, of Waterloo said she likes Trump for the reasons that many people don’t — how outspoken he is and “that he’s a little bit of a loose cannon.” But she thought Trump saying immigrants are “poisoning the blood” took it a little too far.

“I’m very much for cutting off what’s happening at the border now. There’s too many people pouring in here right now, I watch it every single day,” Malecek said. “But that wording is not what I would have chosen to say.”

Malecek said she supports allowing legal immigration and accepting refugees, but she is concerned about the waves of migrants crossing the border who are not being vetted.

Sen. JD Vance, a Republican from Ohio, lashed out at a reporter asking about Trump’s “poisoning the blood” comments, defending them as a reference to overdoses from fentanyl smuggled over the border.

“You just framed your question implicitly assuming that Donald Trump is talking about Adolf Hitler. It’s absurd,” Vance said. “It is obvious that he was talking about the very clear fact that the blood of Americans is being poisoned by a drug epidemic.”

At a congressional hearing July 12, James Mandryck, a Customs and Border Protection deputy assistant commissioner, said 73% of fentanyl seizures at the border since the previous October were smuggling attempts carried out by U.S. citizens, with the rest being done by Mexican citizens.

Extremism experts say Trump’s rhetoric resembles the language that white supremacist shooters have used to justify mass killings.

Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, pointed to the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooter and this year’s Texas mall shooter, who he said used similar language in writings before their attacks.

“Call it what it is,” said Lewis. “This is fascism. This is white supremacy. This is dehumanizing language that would not be out of place in a white supremacist Signal or Telegram chat.”

Asked about Trump’s “poisoning the blood” comments, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell replied with a quip about his own wife, an immigrant, who was an appointee in Trump’s administration.

“Well, it strikes me that didn’t bother him when he appointed Elaine Chao secretary of transportation,” McConnell said.

Trump currently leads other candidates, by far, in polls of likely Republican voters in Iowa and nationwide. Trump’s campaign is hoping for a knockout performance in the caucuses that will deny his rivals momentum and allow him to quickly lock up the nomination. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has staked his campaign on Iowa, raising expectations for him there.

“I will not guarantee it,” Trump said of winning Iowa next month, “but I pretty much guarantee it.”

https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-defends-comments-about-immigrants-poisoning-the-blood-of-america/7405198.html Save to Pocket

lynx –nocolor

date: 2023-12-20, from: Jirka’s blog

I really dislike how the Lynx WWW browser looks on some modern systems. On my SGI it was OK - it simply respected IRIS terminal colors. On modern systems in seems to be full of colors with gray background. Text colors are quite nice but I have disliked the gray background. I have wished to have or black one or transparent one (it a terminal emulator supports transparency).

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231220-0443_lynx_nocolor Save to Pocket

Working from home

date: 2023-12-20, from: Jirka’s blog

And this is my main tool:

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231220-0443_Working_from_home Save to Pocket

Workflow: Changes and additions

date: 2023-12-20, from: Jirka’s blog

Things are continuously developing or at least changing. For example, my gVim on my GPD Pocket (Ubuntu MATE 18.04) has issues with text encoding. If I create a new file then I everything is OK. But when I save it and re-open it then it en-codes local language characters incorrectly. It is strange because I have been using the same .vimrc/.gvimrc for ages on several Linux machines and I never encountered such behaviour.

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231220-0443_Workflow_Changes_and_additions Save to Pocket

Tungsten W + PalmPix

date: 2023-12-20, from: Jirka’s blog

As you may know I do have a Palm Tungsten W. And I als othave the KODAK PalmPix for m5xx devices. So I have almost modern smarphone (jsut 17 years old!) with the (detachable camera).

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231220-0443_Tungsten_W_PalmPix Save to Pocket

TRGpro tuning (2)

date: 2023-12-20, from: Jirka’s blog

Just a tiny update this time. I only replaced the broken battery door by unused one (which I have borrowed them from my Palm IIIe).

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231220-0443_TRGpro_tuning_2 Save to Pocket

TRGpro tuning

date: 2023-12-20, from: Jirka’s blog

The PILOT Pentopia Chameleon stylus for Palm III and VI {sup}1{/sup} arrived today. It is a stylus with integrated reset pin and - last but not least - an actual pen. The pen refill is thin and it is labelled “Pilot” but I assume that a thin (non-pressurized) Fischer refill will fit here. This stylus has a bit different shape than the original Palm III pen and its tip is a bit harder but it is usable (I am writing this post with it). It is also little thicker than the original which is actually a plus - it sits more reliable in stylus housing of my heavily used Palms - I lost several styli from my old IIIxe and almost lost one of my TRGpro recently. The {sup}1{/sup} says that it is better for writing than the original stylus but I don’t think so. I see no improvement.

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231220-0443_TRGpro_tuning Save to Pocket

TRG Pro: first impressions

date: 2023-12-20, from: Jirka’s blog

The title is all wrong because I extensively used the TRG Pro in the past. But the last time when I synced the TRG was in 2/2016 and then I have been using the original Palm III devices (IIIx + IIIxe) instead of the TRG. I have not wanted to damage or lost my only TRG Pro (which is pretty rare as you may know). Now I have two TRGs so I can use one of them on daily basis, I think.

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231220-0443_TRG_Pro_first_impressions Save to Pocket

Standing desk attempt

date: 2023-12-20, from: Jirka’s blog

I’m trying to set up a standing desk in my office. I found a (less or more) space, two older LCDs (the ViewSonic vp171s), then prepared the keyboard and mouse.

http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231220-0443_Standing_desk_attempt Save to Pocket

Lanes closed on Lyons Avenue due to SoCal Edison project

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

Multiple lanes were closed in both directions on Lyons Avenue near Wiley Canyon Road on Tuesday as construction workers were digging up parts of the street. According to Conrad Reynado, a senior district manager with Southern California Edison, construction workers were ensuring that sealant that was put in place as part of a previously announced […]

The post Lanes closed on Lyons Avenue due to SoCal Edison project  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/lanes-closed-on-lyons-avenue-due-to-socal-edison-project/ Save to Pocket

US Plan to Empower Palestinian Authority in Gaza Faces Israeli Opposition

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-plan-to-empower-palestinian-authority-in-gaza-faces-israeli-opposition/7405175.html Save to Pocket

Storli Elected Hart School Board’s 2024 President

date: 2023-12-20, from: SCV New (TV Station)

Linda Storli was elected president of the William S. Hart Union School Governing Board during its annual organizational meeting on Dec. 

https://scvnews.com/storli-elected-hart-school-boards-2024-president/ Save to Pocket

CHP holding maximum enforcement period during holiday weekend 

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

The California Highway Patrol’s Newhall-area office will be holding a maximum enforcement period from Friday at 6 p.m. until Monday at midnight, according to officials.  According to Officer Josh Greengard, spokesman for the CHP’s Newhall office, a maximum enforcement period entails having all available officers deployed on roadways to ensure that motorists continue to move. […]

The post CHP holding maximum enforcement period during holiday weekend  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/chp-holding-maximum-enforcement-period-during-holiday-weekend/ Save to Pocket

County OKs battery storage in Acton

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

The LA County Board of Supervisors signed off Tuesday on a 400-megawatt battery energy storage system, or BESS, facility for Acton over the objections of a group of mostly longtime area residents there who sported black “Don’t BESS with Acton” shirts at the meeting. Proponents mentioned how the project will help the state move toward […]

The post County OKs battery storage in Acton  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/county-oks-battery-storage-in-acton/ Save to Pocket

Supervisors seek new complaint process for school resource deputies 

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion at Tuesday’s meeting that will see an ordinance be drafted that provides the Probation Oversight Commission with the authority to receive complaints related to school law enforcement services within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.  The proposed ordinance is set to be brought back to […]

The post <strong>Supervisors seek new complaint process for school resource deputies</strong>  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/supervisors-seek-new-complaint-process-for-school-resource-deputies/ Save to Pocket

@Ayjay blog (date: 2023-12-20, from: Ayjay blog)

Brian Eno, from a 1995 diary entry: Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit – all these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided.  It’s the sound […]

https://blog.ayjay.org/45817-2/ Save to Pocket

India builds massive tech infrastructure to support finance sector

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

ERP for 63,000 small rural lenders, software for 1,800 banks, and better-than-hyperscale cloud for the rest

India is building massive technology infrastructure to support its financial services sector.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/india_financial_services_infrastructure_build/ Save to Pocket

Thank you Santa Barbara COMMUNITY, REALTORS®, and AFFILIATES

date: 2023-12-20, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

By Todd Shea2023 PresidentSanta Barbara Association of Realtors If you are like me, once you are coming close to finishing

The post Thank you Santa Barbara COMMUNITY, REALTORS®, and AFFILIATES appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2023/12/19/thank-you-santa-barbara-community-realtors-and-affiliates/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Elon Musk: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=0hhkuJXd1-D6TZhf&v=Eo3zORUGCbM&feature=youtu.be Save to Pocket

Blue Origin Returns to Space After Year-long Hiatus

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin launched its first rocket in more than a year on Tuesday, reviving the U.S. company’s fortunes with a successful return to space following an uncrewed crash in 2022.

Though mission NS-24 carried a payload of science experiments, not people, it paves the way for Jeff Bezos’ aerospace enterprise to resume taking wealthy thrill-seekers to the final frontier.

The New Shepard suborbital rocket blasted off from the pad at Launch Site One, near Van Horn, Texas, at 10:42 a.m.

After separating from the booster, the gumdrop-shaped capsule attained a peak altitude of 107 kilometers above sea level, well above the internationally recognized boundary of space known as the Karman line, which is 100 kilometers high.

The booster then successfully landed vertically on the launchpad, against the majestic backdrop of the Sierra Diablo mountains, followed a few minutes later by the capsule floating to the desert floor on three giant parachutes.

All in all, the mission lasted 10 minutes and 13 seconds.

“Demand for New Shepard flights continues to grow, and we’re looking forward to increasing our flight cadence in 2024,” said Phil Joyce, the company’s senior vice president.

The science experiments onboard included one to demonstrate the operation of hydrogen fuel cell technology in microgravity, and another showing how water and gas move in a weightless environment.

Future applications could include monitoring water quality for astronauts in space.

On Sept. 12, 2022, a Blue Origin rocket became engulfed in flames shortly after launch. The capsule, fixed to the top of the rocket, successfully initiated an emergency separation sequence and floated safely to the ground on parachutes.

The accident prompted a year-long probe by the Federal Aviation Administration, which found it was caused by the failure of an engine nozzle that experienced higher-than-expected operating temperatures.

The regulator issued a set of corrective actions for Blue Origin to undertake before it could resume flying, including the redesign of certain engine parts. It confirmed Sunday that it had approved Blue Origin’s application to fly again.

In all, Blue Origin has carried out six crewed flights — some passengers were paying customers and others were guests — since July 2021, when Bezos himself took part in the first.

While Blue Origin has been grounded, rival Virgin Galactic — the company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson — has pressed on, with five commercial flights this year.

The two companies compete in the emerging space tourism sector, operating in suborbital space.

While Blue Origin launches a small rocket vertically, Virgin Galactic uses a large carrier plane to gain altitude and then drop off a smaller, rocket-powered spaceplane that completes the journey to space.

In both cases, passengers enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness and can view the curvature of the Earth through large windows.

Virgin Galactic tickets were sold for between $200,000 to $450,000; Blue Origin does not publicly disclose its ticket prices.

Blue Origin can boast the fact that nearly all of its rocket platform is reused, including the booster, capsule, engine, landing gear and parachutes.

Its engine, meanwhile, is fueled by liquid oxygen and hydrogen, meaning the only byproduct during flight is water vapor, with no carbon emissions.

Blue Origin is also developing a heavy rocket for commercial purposes called New Glenn, with the maiden flight planned for next year.

This rocket, which measures 98 meters high, is designed to carry payloads of as much as 45 metric tons into low Earth orbit.

https://www.voanews.com/a/blue-origin-returns-to-space-after-year-long-hiatus/7405145.html Save to Pocket

Man wanted in two investigations turns himself in to police

date: 2023-12-20, from: Guam Daily Post

A man sought by police self-surrendered on Wednesday morning.

https://www.postguam.com/news/man-wanted-in-two-investigations-turns-himself-in-to-police/article_82537832-9ecd-11ee-846f-73da6542cfcb.html Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

What New Upgrades Mean for East Coast Skiing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/travel/ski-resorts-east-us-snow-making.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HE0.PUZr.HCQt0ht-0niY&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare Save to Pocket

There’s actual news tonight

date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News

I’ve been watching the news tonight, when there’s some actual news, and it’s good news.

What they’re not saying is that the US has the tools to defend itself from enemies like Trump, and finally we’re starting to use them. Not impotent tools, like congressional hearings or impeachment, but the actual guardrail meant to serve as a last resort to keep a nightmare out of the government. An insurrectionist should be dealt with a lot more swiftly than Trump has and the penalty should be harsh to warn off other would-be coup plotters. But – better late than never.

And if they want to have a civil war, okay – better to do it when the military is under constitutional control, at least theoretically. Tell the Republicans to try again, now before any primary votes have been cast. This candidate is prohibited from being president, as if he were born outside the United States. Not qualified.

http://scripting.com/2023/12/19/011124.html?title=theresActualNewsTonight Save to Pocket

CalArtians to Screen Films at Sundance

date: 2023-12-20, from: SCV New (TV Station)

The Sundance Institute has announced the 53 short films and the 40th Edition Celebration Screenings that will screen at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, from Jan. 18-28.

https://scvnews.com/calartians-to-screen-films-at-sundance/ Save to Pocket

Why Hezbollah And Israel Haven’t Plunged Into All-Out War

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The LAist

The Iran-backed Lebanese militia and Israeli forces have been fighting across their border since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, but analysts say they want to avoid a war.

https://laist.com/news/why-hezbollah-and-israel-havent-plunged-into-all-out-war Save to Pocket

Drought-Prone California OKs New Rules for Turning Wastewater Directly Into Drinking Water

date: 2023-12-20, from: VOA News USA

SACRAMENTO, California — When a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: an ice skating rink in Ontario, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the Central Valley.

And — coming soon — kitchen faucets.

California regulators on Tuesday approved new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses.

It’s a big step for a state that has struggled for decades to secure reliable sources of drinking water for its more than 39 million residents. And it signals a shift in public opinion on a subject that as recently as two decades ago prompted backlash that scuttled similar projects.

Since then, California has been through multiple extreme droughts, including the most recent one that scientists say was the driest three-year period on record and left the state’s reservoirs at dangerously low levels.

“Water is so precious in California. It is important that we use it more than once,” said Jennifer West, managing director of WateReuse California, a group advocating for recycled water.

California has been using recycled wastewater for decades. The Ontario Reign minor league hockey team has used it to make ice for its rink in Southern California. Soda Springs Ski Resort near Lake Tahoe has used it to make snow. And farmers in the Central Valley, where much of the nation’s vegetables, fruits and nuts are grown, use it to water their crops.

But it hasn’t been used directly for drinking water. Orange County operates a large water purification system that recycles wastewater and then uses it to refill underground aquifers. The water mingles with the groundwater for months before being pumped up and used for drinking water again.

California’s new rules would let — but not require — water agencies take wastewater, treat it and then put it right back into the drinking water system. California would be just the second state to allow this, following Colorado.

It’s taken regulators more than 10 years to develop these rules, a process that included multiple reviews by independent panels of scientists. A state law required the California Water Resources Control Board to approve these regulations by December 31 — a deadline met with just days to spare.

The vote was heralded by some of the state’s biggest water agencies, which all have plans to build huge water recycling plants in the coming years. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves 19 million people, aims to produce up to 570 million liters (150 million gallons) per day of both direct and indirect recycled water. A project in San Diego is aiming to account for nearly half of the city’s water by 2035.

Water agencies will need public support to complete these projects — which means convincing customers that not only is recycled water safe to drink, but it’s not icky.

California’s new rules require the wastewater to be treated for all pathogens and viruses, even if the pathogens and viruses aren’t in the wastewater. That’s different from regular water treatment rules, which require treatment only for known pathogens, said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the division of drinking water for the California Water Resources Control Board.

In fact, the treatment is so stringent it removes all of the minerals that make fresh drinking water taste good — meaning they have to be added back at the end of the process.

“It’s at the same drinking water quality, and probably better in many instances,” Polhemus said.

It’s expensive and time-consuming to build these treatment facilities, so Polhemus said it will only be an option for bigger, well-funded cities — at least initially.

In San Jose, local officials have opened the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center for public tours “so that people can see that this is a very high-tech process that ensures the water is super clean,” said Kirsten Struve, assistant officer for the water supply division at the Santa Clara Valley Water District.

Right now, the agency uses the water for things like irrigating parks and playing fields. But they plan to use it for drinking water in the future.

“We live in California where the drought happens all the time. And with climate change, it will only get worse,” Struve said. “And this is a drought-resistant supply that we will need in the future to meet the demands of our communities.”

Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the Water Resources Control Board that approved the new rules on Tuesday, noted that most people are already drinking recycled water anyway. Most wastewater treatment plants put their treated water back into rivers and streams, which then flow down to the next town so they can drink it.

“Anyone out there taking drinking water downstream from a wastewater treatment plant discharge — which, I promise you, you’re all doing — is already drinking toilet to tap,” Esquivel said. “All water is recycled. What we have here are standards, science and — importantly — monitoring that allow us to have the faith that it is pure water.”

https://www.voanews.com/a/drought-prone-california-oks-new-rules-for-turning-wastewater-directly-into-drinking-water-/7404746.html Save to Pocket

There’s No Christmas In Bethlehem This Year. With War In Gaza, Festivities Are Off

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The LAist

In a city synonymous with the birth of Jesus, Christmas is typically a time when Bethlehem is full of visitors. But with war raging, the city’s Christian leaders have canceled public celebrations.

https://laist.com/news/theres-no-christmas-in-bethlehem-this-year-with-war-in-gaza-festivities-are-off Save to Pocket

Saugus district’s Relay for Life team a regional winner

date: 2023-12-20, from: The Signal

News release  Saugus Union School District announced that its district team, “SUSD: Let’s Teach Cancer a Lesson,” was selected as the regional winner for the Pat Flynn Spirit of Relay Team Award for the 2023 American Cancer Society Relay for Life.   The region includes teams in California, Guam and Hawaii. The SUSD team will […]

The post Saugus district’s Relay for Life team a regional winner appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2023/12/saugus-districts-relay-for-life-team-a-regional-winner/ Save to Pocket

Santa Barbara Unified Students Walk Out to Raise Teacher Wages

date: 2023-12-20, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

Bitter salary dispute leads to a soft strike and student protests.

The post Santa Barbara Unified Students Walk Out to Raise Teacher Wages  appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2023/12/19/santa-barbara-unified-students-walk-out-to-raise-teacher-wages/ Save to Pocket

At OC Supervisors Meeting, Renewed Calls For Investigation Into Millions Routed By Andrew Do To His Daughter’s Nonprofit

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The LAist

“The public’s trust is being eroded by people who abuse the process,” Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento told LAist.

https://laist.com/news/politics/orange-county-supervisors-vote-ethics-reforms-taxpayer-money-andrew-do-viet-america-society-warner-wellness Save to Pocket

Los Angeles County is Ready for Storm Season, Offers Tips for the Public

date: 2023-12-20, from: SCV New (TV Station)

As the first significant storm of the winter season approaches, Los Angeles County is collaborating with agencies across the region to protect the public from flood danger and to capture as much stormwater as possible to become future drinking water

https://scvnews.com/los-angeles-county-is-ready-for-storm-season-offers-tips-for-the-public/ Save to Pocket

Philippines, South Korea, Interpol cuff 3,500 suspected cyber scammers, seize $300M

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Alleged crims used AI to pose as friends, family, romantic partners – and sold dodgy NFTs

A transnational police operation has resulted in the arrest of 3,500 alleged cybercriminals and the seizure of $300 million in cash and digital assets.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/interpol_haechi_iv/ Save to Pocket

Wednesday 20 December, 2023

date: 2023-12-20, from: John Naughton’s online diary

Bagel-Land I’ve never liked bagels. On the other hand, I’ve never seen ones like these. Still, I gave them a miss. Seen in central London, last week. Quote of the Day From Politico: ”British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and German … Continue reading →

https://memex.naughtons.org/wednesday-20-december-2023/38925/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2023-12-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Trump Is Disqualified From the 2024 Ballot, Colorado Supreme Court Rules.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/us/politics/trump-colorado-ballot-14th-amendment.html?smtyp=cur&smid=bsky-nytimes Save to Pocket

Keith Richards at 80

date: 2023-12-20, updated: 2023-12-20, from: Daring Fireball

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/keith-richards-at-80 Save to Pocket

Trump disqualified in Colorado

date: 2023-12-20, from: Robert Reich on Substack

Now on to the Supreme Court. Will Thomas recuse himself?

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trump-disqualified-in-colorado Save to Pocket

WARC’in the crawler

date: 2023-12-20, from: Marginallia log

The Marginalia Crawler has seen improvements! A long term problem with the crawler design is that if for whatever reason the crawler shuts down, then it needs to re-start fetching whatever domains it was currently traversing during the termination from zero. This isn’t fantastic, since not only does crawling a website take a fair bit of time, it’s a nuisance for the server admins to re-crawl stuff that was already fetched, and a real liability for ending up in robots.

https://www.marginalia.nu/log/94_warc_warc/ Save to Pocket

Inferring Implicit 3D Representations from Human Figures on Pictorial Maps

date: 2023-12-20, from: ETH Zurich, recently added

Schnürer, Raimund

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/648445 Save to Pocket

Dynamical alterations of brain function and gut microbiome in weight loss

date: 2023-12-20, from: Frontiers in Cellar and Infection Microbiology