News gathered 2023-12-24
(date: 2023-12-24 11:11:51)
Toxic By Design? Human-Scale vs Asymmetric Social Media
date: 2023-12-24, from: Pointers gone wild blog
Every once in a while, I see people mention “dark patterns” in UI design. Patterns that are actively trying to deceive users, either to maximize engagement, to click some ad, or to get them to perform an action they didn’t want to perform. An obvious example would be some huge pop-up ad which can be […]
https://pointersgonewild.com/2023/12/24/toxic-by-design-human-scale-vs-asymmetric-social-media/ Save to Pocket
Woman arrested on suspicion of assaulting partner
date: 2023-12-24, from: The Signal
A woman was arrested on suspicion of assaulting her romantic partner with a pair of scissors in the 28000 block of Woodstock Avenue early Sunday morning, according to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. According to Deputy Nicholas Hoslet, authorities first received the report at 2:27 a.m., with the informant saying that a woman was […]
The post <strong>Woman arrested on suspicion of assaulting partner</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/woman-arrested-on-suspicion-of-assaulting-partner/ Save to Pocket
Lady Mustangs Roll Past Montana Tech 50-39
date: 2023-12-24, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Master’s University women’s basketball team hit a 3-pointer in the first six seconds and opened up a 15-2 lead in the first 4:25 of the game in a 50-39 win over the Montana Tech Orediggers Friday in the final game of the Cactus Classic in Chandler, Ariz
https://scvnews.com/lady-mustangs-roll-past-montana-tech-50-39/ Save to Pocket
The 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Summit 4X4 SUV
date: 2023-12-24, from: San Jose Mercury News
What is a Grand Cherokee? A Grand Cherokee is a midsize SUV, built in the Detroit, Michigan assembly plant, and sold worldwide by Jeep. The 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee answers the demands of the every day and every new adventure. The new 3 row Grand Cherokee L, which is longer and larger, gives you more interior space and rear cargo room, while stunning the competition with luxury options that have on and off road stability.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/24/the-2023-jeep-grand-cherokee-l-summit-4x4-suv/ Save to Pocket
Cougars Win 65-40 Over Pierce College
date: 2023-12-24, from: SCV New (TV Station)
College of the Canyons tamed L.A. Pierce College by a 65-40 final score on Lee Smelser Court at the Cougar Cage on Wednesday, winning its second straight contest in a low scoring affair
https://scvnews.com/cougars-win-65-40-over-pierce-college/ Save to Pocket
Tesla Cybertruck: Elon Musk’s Alter Ego?
date: 2023-12-24, from: San Jose Mercury News
Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, doesn’t do subtle. He makes spaceships that explode and underground vehicle transportation tunnels to nowhere. For the past 16 years, his company has also manufactured the only electric cars to successfully infiltrate the internal combustion engine automotive industry.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/24/tesla-cybertruck-elon-musks-alter-ego/ Save to Pocket
Traffic fatality leads to the closure of El Camino Real in San Carlos
date: 2023-12-24, from: San Jose Mercury News
San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies are investigating a traffic fatality in San Carlos, which occurred around 7 a.m. Sunday at El Camino Real and Belmont Avenue.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/24/traffic-fatality-leads-to-the-closure-of-el-camino-real-in-san-mateo/ Save to Pocket
Automakers believe that their wish list is reasonable
date: 2023-12-24, from: San Jose Mercury News
Tomorrow is Christmas Day, and the hard-working elves at the Environmental Protection Agency are putting the finishing touches on tailpipe emission regulations that will govern the auto industry from 2027 to 2032. It is unlikely that Santa will be delivering finalized rules by tomorrow morning, but wish lists from all stakeholders were due on July 5th. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI) was not shy about asking for shiny new regulations that are less aggressive than those proposed by the EPA.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/24/automakers-believe-that-their-wish-list-is-reasonable/ Save to Pocket
If the Mess Fits: Making Garments from Garbage at Manzanita Hall
date: 2023-12-24, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
California State University, Northridge’s interdepartmental sustainability initiative, “From Waste to Wearable,” will be hosting a fashion exhibition in December on the second floor of Manzanita Hall. Refreshments will be provided, including cocktails, mocktails and catering. The show will feature guest of honor Dan Hoskins speaking, who is the dean of Mike Curb College of Arts,…
https://sundial.csun.edu/177569/print-editions/print-stories/if-the-mess-fits-making-garments-from-garbage-at-manzanita-hall/ Save to Pocket
California threatens penalties over insurers’ stalling tactics against car insurance buyers
date: 2023-12-24, from: San Jose Mercury News
California’s insurance commissioner is warning of a possible crackdown against insurers that fail to offer and sell auto insurance to the state’s good drivers.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/24/california-threatens-penalties-over-insurers-stalling-tactics-against-car-insurance-buyers/ Save to Pocket
What’s behind California’s skyrocketing spending and $68 billion deficit?
date: 2023-12-24, from: San Jose Mercury News
The reasons are only what they seem on the surface, but those still play a role.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/24/whats-behind-californias-skyrocketing-spending-and-68-billion-deficit/ Save to Pocket
A True American
date: 2023-12-24, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Karen Jones is a true American.
The post A True American appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/24/a-true-american/ Save to Pocket
Biden Campaigns on Economy, Abortion, Democracy — and Not Being Trump
date: 2023-12-24, from: VOA News USA
philadelphia / washington — U.S. President Joe Biden describes next year’s election as a battle for “the soul” of his nation. His campaign has centered on that, and assertions that he has improved Americans’ lives through his stands on the economy, access to abortion, and threats to democracy.
In recent months, he has crisscrossed the nation to talk up legislation that has created jobs, to promote his efforts to protect abortion rights and improve gun safety, and to speak — often passionately — about his work to protect constitutional rule.
He has approached so-called kitchen table issues in metaphorically apt settings that let him communicate several messages at once, such as when he told first responders Monday in Philadelphia — the birthplace of the U.S. Constitution — that firefighters once saved his house from burning down.
Or when he visited the district of one of his loudest Republican detractors in November to tout his work in bringing them climate-friendly jobs.
“The historic investments we’re celebrating today is in Congressman [Lauren] Boebert’s district,” Biden said. “She’s one of the leaders of this extreme MAGA [Make America Great Again] movement. She, along with every single Republican colleague, voted against the law that made these investments in jobs possible.”
Or, at an event in November touting job growth, when he flexed his credentials as a grandparent to a rural Minnesota mother who tried to silence a crying baby, telling her, “It’s OK. Kids are allowed to do that with me.”
From his perch at the White House, Biden seems confident about his chances of defeating his most likely challenger, former President Donald Trump.
When a reporter asked him in early December if he thought Trump could be beaten by any Democrat other than him, Biden paused, smiled and said, “Probably 50 of them. … I’m not the only one who can defeat him, but I will defeat him.”
Age factor
But for a lot of U.S. voters, this is a numbers issue. Pollsters say most worry about the economy, while many also point to a number the Biden administration can’t change: his advanced age.
By election night, Biden — who at 81 is about four years older than Trump — will be five years senior to the oldest man to ever occupy the office — Ronald Reagan.
Democratic pollsters say these concerns are weighing Biden down, leaving Trump currently ahead in critical swing states.
“Voters are not comfortable with the age of either of our candidates,” Evan Roth Smith, head pollster for Blueprint, a public opinion research initiative, told VOA. “I think the age factor is part of the wider dissatisfaction with, ‘Oh no. This again? We’re doing this again, Trump versus Biden?’”
Trump has campaigned on the sidelines of his many court appearances facing a range of charges.
“He’s playing to — as strange as it sounds — a sense of nostalgia, that when Donald Trump was president — and this is what he would say — prices were lower, the Middle East wasn’t at war, Ukraine wasn’t being invaded by Russia, China was was less muscular, and so on and so forth,” Smith said.
Warns of Trump’s vitriol
Biden also has recently worked a bit more Trump vitriol into his campaign, recently hammering on Trump’s words that he will be a “dictator” for a day if he is re-elected.
“I’m going to follow the Hatch Act and avoid commenting on the 2024 election,” deputy White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in response to VOA’s question about whether the administration sees Trump’s comments as a national security threat.
But he added, “And I want to say: It is wrong to suspend the Constitution and abuse federal power to persecute critics and trample the First Amendment. It is wrong to override the will of the voters, as upheld by over 80 federal judges and the Trump administration’s top election security official. It is wrong to engage in violent rhetoric and spread dangerous conspiracy theories that have cost brave police officers their lives.”
Trump made the comment December 5 during an interview with a popular conservative media personality, who asked, “You are promising America tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?”
“Except for Day One,” Trump replied.
He then elaborated, “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.”
This strong contrast is one that both men — and those trying to supplant Trump for the Republican nomination — are attempting to highlight before November.
But one thing is clear if either man wins in 2024: After four years with each, American voters know exactly what kind of president they’re choosing.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-campaigns-on-economy-abortion-democracy-and-not-being-trump-/7399079.html Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2023-12-24, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
http://scripting.com/2023/12/24.html#a162253 Save to Pocket
Biden Stumps on Economy, Abortion, Democracy – and on Not Being Trump
date: 2023-12-24, from: VOA News USA
US President Joe Biden describes next year’s election as a battle for “the soul” of this nation. His campaign has centered on that – as well as on threats to democracy, abortion access, and his economic accomplishments. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell looks at the issues — and the politics — that will dominate the coming election year.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-stumps-on-economy-abortion-democracy-and-on-not-being-trump-/7399138.html Save to Pocket
How Shanahan and Lynch built the 49ers’ self-sustaining culture maintained by players
date: 2023-12-24, from: San Jose Mercury News
The 49ers have built an environment where talent, desire and work ethic are systemically blended.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/24/how-shanahan-and-lynch-built-the-49ers-self-sustaining-culture-maintained-by-players/ Save to Pocket
CalArts, Fernandeño Tataviam Announce Groundbreaking Scholarship
date: 2023-12-24, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians (FTBMI) and California Institute of the Arts recently announced a first-of-its-kind scholarship to support students who have extensive knowledge of and passion for the Fernandeño Tataviam community.
https://scvnews.com/calarts-fernandeno-tataviam-announce-groundbreaking-scholarship/ Save to Pocket
Two slain, one wounded in Oakland shootings
date: 2023-12-24, from: San Jose Mercury News
Two men were killed and another man wounded in a pair of shootings Saturday afternoon and early Sunday in different areas of Oakland, authorities said.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/24/two-slain-one-wounded-in-oakland-shootings/ Save to Pocket
AP Bonta Appealing Injunction on State’s Conceal-Carry Limits
date: 2023-12-24, from: SCV New (TV Station)
SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) — A federal judge in Orange County has preliminarily blocked California from enforcing key provisions of Senate Bill 2, a new law that places strict limits on where concealed-carry permit holders can take handguns. Hours after the decision, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced an appeal
https://scvnews.com/ap-bonta-appealing-injunction-on-states-conceal-carry-limits/ Save to Pocket
Bipartisan Compromises to Reduce Gun Violence in US Still Elusive
date: 2023-12-24, from: VOA News USA
As mass shootings continue to claim lives in the United States, the Biden administration has announced more support to help states reduce gun violence. But bipartisan compromise in Congress is still elusive. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at the reasons behind the divide.
https://www.voanews.com/a/bipartisan-compromises-to-reduce-gun-violence-in-us-still-elusive/7398235.html Save to Pocket
Ring in the New Year with local sparkling wines
date: 2023-12-24, from: San Jose Mercury News
Plenty of bubbly to be found in Santa Cruz Mountains.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/24/ring-in-the-new-year-with-local-sparkling-wines/ Save to Pocket
Dec. 29: Annual Red Rock Canyon Christmas Bird Count
date: 2023-12-24, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Red Rock Canyon State Park will host their annual Bird Count promoting local birdwatching and community-science Friday, Dec. 29, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m
https://scvnews.com/dec-29-annual-red-rock-canyon-christmas-bird-count/ Save to Pocket
From stories to action: Share the Spirit readers respond
date: 2023-12-24, from: San Jose Mercury News
We’d like to express our deepest gratitude to our amazing donors. Your contributions will fuel essential programs that support countless families struggling in our local communities.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/24/from-stories-to-action-share-the-spirit-readers-respond/ Save to Pocket
Internet Decor Legends From LA Redefine The Christmas Tree
date: 2023-12-24, updated: 2023-12-24, from: The LAist
Marco Zamora and Juan “El Creativo” Renteria, an L.A.-based creative pair, have created a spiral sculpture that gives the illusion of floating in the air.
https://laist.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/internet-decor-legends-from-los-angeles-redefine-the-christmas-tree Save to Pocket
Doctors Are As Vulnerable to Addiction As Anyone. California Grapples With A Response
date: 2023-12-24, updated: 2023-12-24, from: The LAist
The Medical Board of California, which licenses MDs, is developing a program to evaluate, treat, and monitor doctors with alcohol and drug problems. But there is sharp disagreement over whether those who might volunteer for the program should be subject to public disclosure and over how much participants should pay.
https://laist.com/news/health/doctors-are-as-vulnerable-to-addiction-as-anyone-california-grapples-with-a-response Save to Pocket
LEVER WEEKLY: “We’re Offering These Goodies To The Justice”
date: 2023-12-24, from: The Lever News
From Clarence Thomas’ potential tax penalties to the complicated history of “Zionism,” here’s a roundup of our reporting from the past week.
https://www.levernews.com/lever-weekly-were-offering-these-goodies-to-the-justice/ Save to Pocket
The Enduring Appeal Of ‘The Nutcracker’ And Where You Can Watch The Christmas Perennial This Holiday Season
date: 2023-12-24, updated: 2023-12-24, from: The LAist
Check off your holiday season bucket lists by watching some of the local productions of the classic ballet.
https://laist.com/news/los-angeles-activities/the-enduring-appeal-of-the-nutcracker-and-where-you-can-watch-the-christmas-perennial-this-holiday-season Save to Pocket
Up to 3 GDOE schools may close
date: 2023-12-24, from: Guam Daily Post
With the public school student population decreasing from 36,000 to 24,000 over the last few years, the superintendent of education is looking at consolidating some schools, which means school closures.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/up-to-3-gdoe-schools-may-close/article_2da182c0-a1ed-11ee-8424-ebec373e02d8.html Save to Pocket
School mold mitigation, fencing incomplete 210 days post-Mawar
date: 2023-12-24, from: Guam Daily Post
It’s been roughly 210 days since Typhoon Mawar hit Guam, but health and safety measures, namely mold mitigation and fence repair at public schools, have not been completed under the Defense Local Area Network.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/school-mold-mitigation-fencing-incomplete-210-days-post-mawar/article_de4a7744-a1ed-11ee-9118-bf0ec1118177.html Save to Pocket
Court sides with elderly man in land dispute, dismissal reversed
date: 2023-12-24, from: Guam Daily Post
An elderly man fighting to have two parcels of land returned to him after he claimed his son fraudulently obtained them will have another chance in court, as the Supreme Court of Guam reversed the Superior Court’s dismissal of the…
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/court-sides-with-elderly-man-in-land-dispute-dismissal-reversed/article_2753c566-a1ea-11ee-9091-3be4bf9f6e32.html Save to Pocket
P-EBT reload delayed to 2024
date: 2023-12-24, from: Guam Daily Post
Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer assistance for students has been delayed until the summer of 2024, Department of Public Health and Social Services officials announced Friday in a press release.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/p-ebt-reload-delayed-to-2024/article_7779706e-a12b-11ee-8adc-43b4a8528837.html Save to Pocket
Supreme Court vacates preliminary injunction on GDOE telephone bids
date: 2023-12-24, from: Guam Daily Post
The Supreme Court of Guam has vacated a preliminary injunction which prevented the Guam Department of Education from taking action on two bids won by GTA.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/supreme-court-vacates-preliminary-injunction-on-gdoe-telephone-bids/article_a9670d44-a062-11ee-a1bd-9f7108cd3329.html Save to Pocket
Autopsy planned for body found in Mangilao
date: 2023-12-24, from: Guam Daily Post
The Guam Police Department has confirmed that a body was discovered in the backyard of a Mangilao home on Saturday, but the cause of death remains unknown.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/autopsy-planned-for-body-found-in-mangilao/article_36f03458-a1ec-11ee-b842-532092d54b21.html Save to Pocket
Man allegedly carjacks woman at gunpoint
date: 2023-12-24, from: Guam Daily Post
Officers with the Guam Police Department met Dec. 15 with a woman who was crying and scared at the Lucky Town Apartments in Mangilao. The woman reported she had been robbed.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/man-allegedly-carjacks-woman-at-gunpoint/article_51715df8-a146-11ee-a85f-e3206191e1d8.html Save to Pocket
Woman accused of forging GPA check
date: 2023-12-24, from: Guam Daily Post
A woman is accused of defrauding the Guam Power Authority by cashing a check she reportedly knew was forged.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/woman-accused-of-forging-gpa-check/article_35b3155a-a143-11ee-aebe-271aa3b4f782.html Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2023-12-24, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Researchers examine the self-serving fiction of ‘objective’ political news.
https://www.cjr.org/analysis/election-politics-front-pages.php Save to Pocket
These Mules At The Rose Parade Have Century-Long Ties To The Birth Of National Forests In California
date: 2023-12-24, updated: 2023-12-24, from: The LAist
The mules are part of a legacy that harkens back to the time when the state’s wilderness was first being reimagined as recreational space.
https://laist.com/news/los-angeles-activities/the-mules-youll-see-at-this-years-rose-parade-have-century-long-ties-to-the-birth-of-national-forests-in-california Save to Pocket
See The Metro Project Bringing Nearly 1,500 New Housing Units To North Hollywood
date: 2023-12-24, updated: 2023-12-24, from: The LAist
The nearly 16-acre project will also renovate the Metro station, add a new bus transit center, and bring more open space, restaurants, and shops to the area.
https://laist.com/news/transportation/see-the-metro-project-bringing-nearly-1-500-new-housing-units-to-north-hollywood Save to Pocket
Sunday caption contest: Ho ho ho!
date: 2023-12-24, from: Robert Reich on Substack
And last week’s winner
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-caption-contest-ho-ho-ho-92e Save to Pocket
Hawaii health care workers’ student loans to be paid
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Just in time for Christmas, the state told 492 Hawaii health care workers this week that it will pay off their student loans — up to $100,000 — in return for a two-year commitment to stay in the islands.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/hawaii-news/hawaii-health-care-workers-student-loans-to-be-paid/ Save to Pocket
Mother of 3 fatally shot in Pearlridge parking garage
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>A Waipahu mother of three who was shot to death allegedly by her estranged husband Friday morning in a parking garage at Pearlridge Center had a protective order against him that went into effect two weeks before she was killed.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/hawaii-news/mother-of-3-fatally-shot-in-pearlridge-parking-garage/ Save to Pocket
Israel strikes 2 homes, killing more than 90 Palestinians. Biden says he didn’t request a cease-fire
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>RAFAH, Gaza Strip — More than 90 Palestinians, including dozens from an extended family, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes in Gaza, rescuers and hospital officials said Saturday, a day after the U.N. chief warned that nowhere is safe in the territory and that Israel’s offensive creates “massive obstacles” to distribution of humanitarian aid.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/nation-world-news/israel-strikes-2-homes-killing-more-than-90-palestinians-biden-says-he-didnt-request-a-cease-fire/ Save to Pocket
It ‘shows a lot of disrespect’: Council OKs Puna route study after initially rejecting bill
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>The Hawaii County Council voted Wednesday to reject $1.5 million for a study of possible alternate routes into Puna before immediately calling for a do-over and accepting the funds.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/hawaii-news/it-shows-a-lot-of-disrespect-council-oks-puna-route-study-after-initially-rejecting-bill/ Save to Pocket
Hefty raises for county execs
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Top Hawaii County executives will get significant pay hikes starting Jan. 1.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/hawaii-news/hefty-raises-for-county-execs/ Save to Pocket
Paramedics were convicted in Elijah McClain’s death. That could make other first responders pause
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>BRIGHTON, Colo. — Two Denver-area paramedics were convicted Friday for giving a fatal overdose of the sedative ketamine to Elijah McClain in 2019 — a jury verdict that experts said could have a chilling effect on first responders around the country.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/nation-world-news/paramedics-were-convicted-in-elijah-mcclains-death-that-could-make-other-first-responders-pause/ Save to Pocket
About 300 Indian travelers are stuck in a French airport in a human trafficking probe
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>VATRY, France — About 300 Indian citizens heading to Central America were sequestered in a French airport for a third day Saturday after a dramatic police operation prompted by a tip that those aboard might be victims of human trafficking, authorities said.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/nation-world-news/about-300-indian-travelers-are-stuck-in-a-french-airport-in-a-human-trafficking-probe/ Save to Pocket
Keiki visit the jolly man in red as Christmas nears
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Santa Claus’ Hawaii workshop has started to slow down as Christmas Day nears, giving Santa himself more time to visit keiki for last-minute wishes and pictures.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/hawaii-news/keiki-visit-the-jolly-man-in-red-as-christmas-nears/ Save to Pocket
Rudolph hits Pickens for 2 long touchdowns, Steelers end 3-game skid with 34-11 win over Bengals
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>PITTSBURGH — Mason Rudolph isn’t afraid to admit his mind would drift toward the future as the seasons passed and he remained at the bottom of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ depth chart.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/sports/rudolph-hits-pickens-for-2-long-touchdowns-steelers-end-3-game-skid-with-34-11-win-over-bengals/ Save to Pocket
Bill would name field after the “Father of Hilo Baseball”
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>The “Father of Hilo Baseball” will be commemorated with a baseball field at the Dr. Francis F. C. Wong Stadium named after James “Jimmy” Correa.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/sports/bill-would-name-field-after-the-father-of-hilo-baseball/ Save to Pocket
Josh Allen accounts for 3 touchdowns as Bills escape with 24-22 victory over Chargers
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Josh Allen accounted for three touchdowns, Tyler Bass made a 29-yard field goal with 28 seconds remaining, and the Buffalo Bills escaped with a 24-22 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday night to improve their playoff chances.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/sports/josh-allen-accounts-for-3-touchdowns-as-bills-escape-with-24-22-victory-over-chargers/ Save to Pocket
Pistons match NBA single-season record with 26th straight loss, fall 126-115 to the Nets
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>NEW YORK — Pistons players sat in stunned silence in one corner of the locker room, stared blankly ahead in another.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/sports/pistons-match-nba-single-season-record-with-26th-straight-loss-fall-126-115-to-the-nets/ Save to Pocket
LeBron James scores season-high 40 points, Lakers beat Thunder to end 4-game skid
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>OKLAHOMA CITY — LeBron James scored a season-high 40 points and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 129-120 on Saturday night to snap a four-game losing streak.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/sports/lebron-james-scores-season-high-40-points-lakers-beat-thunder-to-end-4-game-skid/ Save to Pocket
NBA roundup: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown lead Celtics to a 145-108 rout of the Clippers
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jayson Tatum scored 30 points, Jaylen Brown added 24 and the Boston Celtics kicked off their Christmas weekend in Southern California with a 145-108 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/sports/nba-roundup-jayson-tatum-jaylen-brown-lead-celtics-to-a-145-108-rout-of-the-clippers/ Save to Pocket
New York Mets hit with record luxury tax of nearly $101 million for season of fourth-place finish
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>NEW YORK — The New York Mets must pay a record luxury tax of nearly $101 million after a fourth-place finish in their division, among an unprecedented eight teams that owe the penalty for the 2023 season.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/sports/new-york-mets-hit-with-record-luxury-tax-of-nearly-101-million-for-season-of-fourth-place-finish/ Save to Pocket
Cartoon for December 24
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>The Big Island as seen by Hawaii Tribune-Herald cartoonist Gary Hoff.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/opinion/cartoon-for-december-24-7/ Save to Pocket
The war took away their limbs. Now bionic prostheses empower wounded Ukrainian soldiers
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>KYIV, Ukraine — When Alexis Cholas lost his right arm as a volunteer combat medic near the front lines in eastern Ukraine, his civilian career as a surgeon was over. But thanks to a new bionic arm, he was able to continue working in health care and is now a rehab specialist helping other amputees.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/nation-world-news/the-war-took-away-their-limbs-now-bionic-prostheses-empower-wounded-ukrainian-soldiers/ Save to Pocket
Congress launches an investigation into the Osprey program after the deadly crash in Japan
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>WASHINGTON — A congressional oversight committee has launched an investigation into the V-22 Osprey program following a deadly crash in Japan which killed eight Air Force special operations service members.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/nation-world-news/congress-launches-an-investigation-into-the-osprey-program-after-the-deadly-crash-in-japan/ Save to Pocket
The Island Intelligencer: A very Langley Christmas
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Every Dec. 25, the West pauses, be it for faith or cultural reasons, to keep Christmas traditions. Ever wondered how this plays out at CIA headquarters or among its officers abroad? Pull a stool up to the hearth and let me regale you with tales of the Spy of Christmas Past, for espionage and Noël share more in common than surreptitious entries. [Lays finger aside nose, eyes twinkling, winks.]</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/opinion/the-island-intelligencer-a-very-langley-christmas/ Save to Pocket
Blinken gets it exactly right: The secretary of state’s eloquent case against Hamas
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>In this space we do the talking, about what the Daily News deems important and worthy. But today we are giving a good chunk of our space to Secretary of State Tony Blinken. America’s top diplomat gave his year-end press conference Wednesday before he left for another trip to the Mideast for the Israel-Hamas war that the terror gang launched from Gaza on Oct. 7.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/opinion/blinken-gets-it-exactly-right-the-secretary-of-states-eloquent-case-against-hamas/ Save to Pocket
Obituaries for December 24
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Debra Elaine Durning, 68, of Holualoa died Dec. 9 in Holualoa. Born in Saugus, Mass., she was a warranty administrator for an automobile company. Private services. Online condolences: ballardfamilymortuaries.com. Survived by sons, Dylan (Lindsey Kennel) Durning of Kailua-Kona and Aaron Durning of Ipswich , Mass.; sister, Patricis (Tommy) Lamy of Otisfield, Maine. Arrangements by Ballard Family Mortuary-Kona.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/obituaries/obituaries-for-december-24-9/ Save to Pocket
Your Views for December 24
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Three points
regarding abortion</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/opinion/your-views-for-december-24-6/ Save to Pocket
In Austin, Texas, appreciating the luxury tucked into the weirdness
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>AUSTIN, Texas — Business travel being to travel what business writing is to literature, drawing a bit of elegance out of a business trip can sometimes take effort. Now that several of us had moved on to Austin after all useful nuggets had been mined from the conference we had been attending in Houston, key diffewwrences quickly made themselves known between this, the state capital, and the purposefully commercial city we had just vacated. “Keep Austin Weird” is the official slogan of the Austin Independent Business Alliance, and the city seems to be on a collective mission to reach that sensible objective.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/features/in-austin-texas-appreciating-the-luxury-tucked-into-the-weirdness/ Save to Pocket
Volcano Watch: A pupu platter of earthquakes
date: 2023-12-24, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Apupu platter is an assortment of appetizers commonly served at social gatherings in Hawaii. During one week in December 2023, island of Hawaii residents and visitors were treated to an assortment of earthquakes resulting from a variety of different geologic processes, like a pupu platter of earthquakes!</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/24/community/volcano-watch-a-pupu-platter-of-earthquakes/ Save to Pocket
ESA’s Mars Express continues to avoid retirement home
date: 2023-12-24, updated: 2023-12-24, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Another chunk of science, another mission extension. But probe is running on fumes
Space Extenders II The Mars Express recorded the highest clouds ever seen above the surface of a planet, as well as water ice on Mars’ polar caps. And although the veteran spacecraft is now seemingly entering the final phase of its journey, this good thing isn’t coming to an end just yet.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/24/mars_express_mission_extension/ Save to Pocket
US Investors See Value in Israeli Tech Firms Despite War
date: 2023-12-24, from: VOA News USA
HERZLIYA, Israel — Nearly 7,000 miles away in Portland, Oregon, venture capitalist George Djuric said he was compelled to visit Israel during the country’s war with Palestinian militant group Hamas and to pledge support for the high-tech sector.
Djuric, chief technology officer at yVentures who arrived in the United States as a 3-year-old refugee from Bosnia during the Bosnian war in the mid-1990s, this week joined some 70 other U.S. tech executives and investors on a trip to Israel.
“Coming here is a chance to stand in solidarity with Israel and also support the tech ecosystem, which is the world’s second largest after Silicon Valley,” he said. “As a technology fund, it makes sense for us to be here.”
Although not Jewish, Djuric said he was drawn to Israel by the state’s resiliency and as someone whose family’s views were shaped by war.
“I was horrified by what happened on October 7 and I was equally horrified the next day when I saw people demonstrating in support of what happened,” he said, referring to the October 7 attack on Israel launched by Hamas.
Investors and analysts had predicted the conflict with the Palestinians would derail a fragile recovery in high-tech, which accounts for more than half of Israel’s exports and nearly a fifth of its overall economic output.
Funding had already dropped sharply amid a global slowdown and a divisive government judicial overhaul when the war took its toll on the economy. Growth, on pace for a 3.4% clip this year, has fallen to an expected 2% with the outlook at least as grim.
At least 15% of the tech workforce has been called up for military reserve duty.
Yet, even as the war rages, tech funding deals are still getting done, albeit at a slower pace. Startups have raised more than $6 billion in 2023 compared with $16 billion in 2022.
On Tuesday, ScaleOps, a startup specializing in cloud resource management, announced a $21.5 million funding round. Last week, cyber startup Zero Networks, which prevents attackers from spreading in corporate networks, raised $20 million.
‘Long-term bullish on Israel’
Ron Miasnik, of Bain Capital Ventures who co-organized the delegation, said he had expected Israeli startups to go on drawing large sums. He said he believed the country’s economy would ultimately bounce back.
“It doesn’t matter to us whether the economic rebound takes three months, six months, nine months or 12 months,” he said. “We’re long-term bullish on Israel.”
Miasnik said the idea of the trip emerged from watching other solidarity groups, such as religious ones. “We felt the (U.S.) tech and the venture capital community, which is so heavily integrated within Israel, was missing,” he said.
Initially, it was supposed to be just 15 people but, he said, hundreds of people showed interest. They included CEOs and senior executives of U.S.-based tech and VC funds from Meetup.com, Apollo, TPG, Susquehanna Growth Equity, Mastercard, John Deere and Harvard University’s endowment investment fund.
In addition to meeting local investors and startups, they met Israeli leaders and families of hostages still held captive in Gaza and toured border towns hit by the October 7 attack.
Bain has a number of investments in Israel, including Redis Labs, in which the fund has invested more than $100 million, and cybersecurity firm Armis, and Miasnik said he was seeking to add more Israeli cybersecurity startups to its portfolio.
Similarly, Danny Schultz, managing director of New York-based Gotham Ventures said he was looking to invest in 10 to 20 Israeli growth stage startups, mainly in fintech, in the next three to five years.
“At the point that Israeli CEOs need more capital, they also need relationships across the ocean in the U.S. and Europe to really help build their companies,” he said.
Joy Marcus co-founded a new VC fund called The 98 and only invests in “women-led technology businesses that are disrupting industry.”
“I am tortured by the war. … So I am here to support Israel first and foremost,” she said. “And I am also very interested in investing in some Israeli women.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-investors-see-value-in-israeli-tech-firms-despite-war-/7410518.html Save to Pocket
Nevada Tribe Says Coalitions, Not Lawsuits, Will Protect Sacred Sites as US Advances Energy Agenda
date: 2023-12-24, from: VOA News USA
RENO, NEV. — The room was packed with Native American leaders from across the United States, all invited to Washington to hear from federal officials about President Joe Biden’s accomplishments and new policy directives aimed at improving relationships and protecting sacred sites.
Arlan Melendez was not among them.
The longtime chairman of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony convened his own meeting 4,023 kilometers away. He wanted to show his community would find another way to fight the U.S. government’s approval of a massive lithium mine at the site where more than two dozen of their Paiute and Shoshone ancestors were massacred in 1865.
Opposed by government lawyers at every legal turn, Melendez said another arduous appeal would not save sacred sites from being desecrated.
“We’re not giving up the fight, but we are changing our strategy,” Melendez said.
That shift for the Nevada tribe comes as Biden and other top federal officials double down on their vows to do a better job of working with Native American leaders on everything from making federal funding more accessible to incorporating tribal voices into land preservation efforts and resource management planning.
The administration also has touted more spending on infrastructure and health care across Indian Country.
Many tribes have benefited, including those who led campaigns to establish new national monuments in Utah and Arizona. In New Mexico, pueblos have succeeded in getting the Interior Department to ban new oil and natural gas development on hundreds of square miles of federal land for 20 years to protect culturally significant areas.
But the colony in Reno and others like the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona say promises of more cooperation ring hollow when it comes to high-stakes battles over multibillion-dollar “green energy” projects. Some tribal leaders have said consultation resulted in little more than listening sessions, with federal officials not incorporating tribal comments into the decision making.
Rather than pursue its claims in court that the federal government failed to engage in meaningful consultation regarding the lithium mine at Thacker Pass, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony will focus on organizing a broad coalition to build public support for sacred places.
Tribal members are concerned other culturally significant areas will end up in the path of a modern-day Gold Rush that has companies scouting for lithium and other materials needed to meet Biden’s clean energy agenda.
Melendez was among those thrilled when Biden appointed Deb Haaland to lead the Interior Department. A member of Laguna Pueblo, Haaland is the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary.
Melendez, a former member of the U.S. Human Rights Commission who has led his colony for 32 years, said he understands the difficulty of navigating the electoral landscape in a western swing state where the mining industry’s political clout is second only to the power wielded by casinos.
Still, he was disappointed Haaland declined an invitation to visit the massacre site.
“The largest lithium project in the United States and they don’t even have the time to come out here and meet with the tribal nations in the state of Nevada,” he said.
The tribe’s lawyer, Will Falk, urged other tribes to resist “tricking ourselves into believing that just because the first Native American secretary of Interior is in office that she actually cares about protecting sacred sites.”
Interior Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz didn’t respond directly to that criticism but said in an email to The Associated Press that there has been “significant communications and partnership with tribes in Nevada.”
The federal government in early December published new guidance for dealing with sacred sites. While Falk and others are skeptical, they acknowledged the document speaks to concerns tribes have raised for decades.
Among other things, the guidance says federal agencies should involve tribes as early as possible when planning projects to identify potential impacts to sacred sites and to determine whether mitigation measures can allay concerns. Agencies also should consult with tribes that attach significance to the project area, regardless of where they are located.
It also suggests Indigenous knowledge should be on equal footing with other sciences and incorporated into the federal decision-making process. That knowledge can consist of practices, cultural beliefs and oral and written histories that tribes have developed over many generations.
Justin C. Ahasteen, executive director of the Navajo Nation Washington (D.C.) Office, said the new guidance appears to have incorporated some of the recommendations made by tribal leaders but that it could have gone further.
“If this guidebook increases transparency in the consultation process, we will take it as a win,” Ahasteen said. “But ultimately the thing we all seek is for the federal government to acknowledge the necessity of tribal consent before changing rules that affect tribes.”
The problem, Falk said, is none of it is legally binding.
“These kinds of documents function more as pacifying propaganda,” he said.
Western Shoshone Defense Project Director Fermina Stevens said the changes were “more ‘lip service’ for the government to deal with the ‘Indian problem’ in this new day and age of mineral extraction.”
Morgan Rodman, executive director of the White House Council on Native American Affairs, disagrees. He said the guidance is intended to serve as a springboard to improve engagement with tribes and that the administration will be aggressive with training to make sure employees have an understanding of what sacred sites are.
“While change certainly doesn’t happen overnight, it’s part of a continuum of important policy statements — part of the momentum we’ve been building the last three years,” he said in an interview.
Rodman made clear he wasn’t referencing Thacker Pass, but some directives he highlighted have been key points of contention in that case.
U.S. Judge Miranda Du in Reno twice ruled the tribe failed to prove the massacre occurred on the specific grounds of the mining project, or that far-flung tribes had a legal stake in the fight. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld her earlier ruling in July.
The tribe says the government has ignored evidence that the land they consider sacred isn’t limited to a specific site where the U.S. Calvary first attacked men, women and children as they slept.
They cited newspaper accounts, diaries and a government surveyor’s report documenting human skulls discovered along a miles-long escape route crossing the mine site where troops killed and scalped those who tried to flee.
Tribal historic preservation officer Michon Eben said the whole stretch is an unmarked burial ground.
Melendez said he’s pleased Biden has promised to enhance consultation.
But if federal agencies don’t follow through, he said, “Well, it’s just words that really don’t mean anything to us.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/nevada-tribe-says-coalitions-not-lawsuits-will-protect-sacred-sites-as-us-advances-energy-agenda-/7410515.html Save to Pocket
David Hegg | What 2 Nights Say of Us
date: 2023-12-24, from: The Signal
By David Hegg This morning finds our society at the start of two important nights. Just seven days separate them, but how we see them couldn’t be more different. Today we celebrate Christmas Eve, with its candles, carols and reflections on that night outside Bethlehem when Jesus’ birth was announced. And in seven days, most […]
The post David Hegg | What 2 Nights Say of Us appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/david-hegg-what-2-nights-say-of-us/ Save to Pocket
Diana Sevanian | What to Give?
date: 2023-12-24, from: The Signal
That’s a question that many adult children and grandkids consider when thinking about the family elders on their holiday gift lists. Here are some sincere suggestions from someone who works in support services, which helps to provide care management and advocacy to our community’s more challenged seniors. Many aged women and men live alone, are […]
The post Diana Sevanian | What to Give? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/diana-sevanian-what-to-give/ Save to Pocket
Bidens Plan to Spend Christmas at Camp David, New Year’s in St. Croix
date: 2023-12-24, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/bidens-plan-to-spend-christmas-at-camp-david-new-year-s-in-st-croix-/7410514.html Save to Pocket
Today in SCV History (Dec. 24)
date: 2023-12-24, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1965 – Signal newspaper owner Scott Newhall shows up for a duel (of words) with rival Canyon Country newspaper publisher Art Evans, who no-shows and folds his paper soon after. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-dec-24/ Save to Pocket
Matadors’ comeback falls short, lose eighth straight
date: 2023-12-24, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
With conference play around the corner, the Matadors (2-8) tried to snap their seven-game losing streak against the Loyola Marymount Lions (5-6), but came up just short and fell 77-74. It was a pretty balanced offensive attack for CSUN. Six Matadors finished with at least eight points, led by forward Talo Li-Uperesa, who put up…
https://sundial.csun.edu/177741/sports/matadors-comeback-falls-short-lose-eighth-straight/ Save to Pocket
December 23, 2023
date: 2023-12-24, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
On this day in December 1783, General George Washington stood in front of the Confederation Congress, meeting in the senate chamber of the Maryland State House, to resign his wartime commission. Negotiators had signed the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War on September 3, 1783, and once the British troops had withdrawn from New York City, Washington believed his job was done.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-23-2023 Save to Pocket
The Talk Show: ‘Error -37’
date: 2023-12-24, updated: 2023-12-24, from: Daring Fireball
https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2023/12/23/ep-391 Save to Pocket
PF 2020!
date: 2023-12-24, from: Jirka’s blog
Happy new year to everyone!
http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231224-0443_PF_2020 Save to Pocket
January 1st
date: 2023-12-24, from: Jirka’s blog
I’m sitting in front of my SGI O2 workstation, browsing Mastodon, syncing my Plucker feeds, listening ORF Radio Wien on-line, and of course writing this phlog.
http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231224-0443_January_1st Save to Pocket
Alarm clock failure
date: 2023-12-24, from: Jirka’s blog
During 2018 and 2019 I used the PSION Organiser IILZ as my alarm clock. It was very good for that: it is possible to define eight or so different alarms which can be repeated daily, on workdays, on weekends or just in selected day of week. It fitted my needs very well. And she sound was loud enough (unlike the alarm on m68k Palms which is useless because it is quiet and very short). It has been also practical to have a simple note taking device near my bed - to record some evening ideas and so.
http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231224-0443_Alarm_clock_failure Save to Pocket
reMarkable and WWW
date: 2023-12-24, from: Jirka’s blog
I still don’t understand such things: the reMarkable {sup}1{/sup} they developed a Chrome add-on which makes possible to save WWW pages to PDF (and possibly to upload them to the reMarkable tablet wrough their cloud and tablet’s WiFi).
http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231224-0442_reMarkable_and_WWW Save to Pocket
reMarkable2
date: 2023-12-24, from: Jirka’s blog
I have got the reMarkable e-paper tablet for work. I saw many positive reviews, many negative reviews and some neutral ones. So I wasn’t sure how good the device will be for me.
http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231224-0442_reMarkable2 Save to Pocket
m68k->PPC->x86->ARM?
date: 2023-12-24, from: Jirka’s blog
Please note that I’m trying to make fun. Don’t take this post too seriously.
http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231224-0442_m68k_PPC_x86_ARM Save to Pocket
lynx –nocolor
date: 2023-12-24, 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/20231224-0442_lynx_nocolor Save to Pocket
iMac G5 keyboard
date: 2023-12-24, from: Jirka’s blog
Today my wife requested new keyboard. I thought that the Apple white-transparent keyboard is too inferior to her IBM laptop keyboard. Well, it is. So I have replaced it by spare HP one. A HP keyboard which was a part of the PA-RISC Visualize workstation (the workstation itself does not work, unfortunately). And she is happy with it.
http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231224-0442_iMac_G5_keyboard Save to Pocket
Haitian Migrants in US Place Their Hopes on Hard Work, Helping Hands
date: 2023-12-24, from: VOA News USA
BOSTON — When Ernseau Admettre decided to leave Haiti and head north with his young family in tow, very little was guaranteed.
But the situation in his homeland, beset by poverty and gang violence, had grown so dire that a risky passage to and then across the United States’ Southern border offered a kind of hope he said he could never find by staying put.
Admettre discovered Boston through the internet and set his sights on Massachusetts. The trip took the family through several countries including the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Mexico.
“We’re going through a very tragic moment in our country. We have no safety. We cannot definitely have all our needs met in Haiti,” Admettre said through a translator Friday. “Leaving Haiti was the best solution to survive.”
The Admettres — Ernseau, 43; his wife, Jimene, 36: and their children Elionai, 6, and Gabyana, 2 months — eventually arrived at the Boston International Airport right as winter temperatures were settling in.
Ernseau Admettre said he was lucky to be discovered by volunteers working to fill gaps in the shelter system as his family was being kicked out of the airport. He viewed those volunteers as angels sent by God.
“I don’t have any family who lives in the United States,” he said. “We didn’t expect to receive this welcome or experience because we have no family ties here.”
The family is now one of eight that have found shelter at a rectory building at the Bethel AME Church in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. The families — which include 13 children ranging from infants to a 15-year-old — total 28 individuals, according to Geralde Gabeau, executive director of the Immigrant Family Services Institute in Boston, which is helping provide services.
Admettre said he has received a work authorization and hopes to start bringing in money so his family can move out of the shelter and into an apartment. He said he has studied business administration and computer sciences and is also a tailor.
Gabeau said the migrants are determined to work hard to find their way in the country. She said they are focused first on getting authorized to work. The organization hopes to bring in employers in January to help those living in the rectory find a way to jobs and more permanent homes.
For now, they live and cook together and take English and computer classes.
“They live as a community,” Gabeau said, pointing to big pots of vegetables and meat and Haitian rice on the kitchen stove.
Demand for shelter has increased as the state struggles to find newly arriving migrants places to stay after hitting a state-imposed limit of 7,500 families in its emergency homeless shelter system last month.
As of Thursday, there were more than 350 families on the state waiting list hoping to find a spot in the system. The state planned to open a former courthouse in Cambridge as an overnight overflow site to accommodate some of them.
The space can fit up to 70 families with cots and limited amenities and will only be used in the evening and overnight hours, according to Scott Rice, director general of Massachusetts Emergency Assistance. The site is only open to families who have been assessed at a state intake site and determined to be eligible for emergency assistance.
Rice said the facility will give eligible families a warm, safe place to sleep until a shelter unit becomes available.
“We encourage community organizations to reach out to us with any daytime programs and resources they are able to provide to families in need,” Rice said in a statement.
https://www.voanews.com/a/haitian-migrants-in-us-place-their-hopes-on-hard-work-helping-hands-/7410462.html Save to Pocket
Contrary to Politicians’ Claims, Offshore Wind Farms Don’t Kill Whales
date: 2023-12-24, from: VOA News USA
PORTLAND, Maine — Unfounded claims about offshore wind threatening whales have surfaced as a flashpoint in the fight over the future of renewable energy.
In recent months, conservatives including former President Donald Trump have claimed construction of offshore wind turbines is killing the giant animals.
Scientists say there is no credible evidence linking offshore wind farms to whale deaths. But that hasn’t stopped conservative groups and ad hoc “not in my back yard”-style anti-development groups from making the connection.
The Associated Press sorts fact from fiction when it comes to whales and wind power as the rare North Atlantic right whale’s migration season gets under way:
Where are US offshore wind projects?
To date, two commercial offshore wind farms are under construction in the United States. Danish wind energy developer Ørsted and the utility Eversource are building South Fork Wind, located 56 kilometers east of Montauk Point, New York. Ørsted announced December 7 that the first of its 12 turbines there is now sending electricity onto the grid. Vineyard Wind is building a 62-turbine wind farm 24 kilometers off Massachusetts. Both plan to open by early next year, and other large offshore wind projects are obtaining permits.
There are also two pilot projects — five turbines off Rhode Island and two off Virginia. The Biden administration aims to power 10 million homes with offshore wind by 2030 — a key piece of its climate goals.
Lawsuits from community groups delayed Ørsted’s two large offshore wind projects in New Jersey, and the company recently announced it’s canceling those projects. That decision was based on their economic viability and had nothing to do with offshore wind opposition in New Jersey, said David Hardy, group executive vice president and CEO Americas at Ørsted.
Are US wind farms causing whale deaths?
Experts say there’s no evidence that limited wind farm construction on the Atlantic Coast has directly resulted in any whale deaths, despite politically motivated statements suggesting a link.
Rumors began to swirl after 2016, when an unusual number of whales started to be found dead or stranded on New England beaches — a trend that predates major offshore wind farm construction that began this year.
“With whale strandings along the Northeast earlier this year in places like New Jersey, the reality is that it’s not from offshore wind,” said Aaron Rice, a marine biologist at Cornell University.
In answering questions about whale strandings earlier this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that around 40% of recovered whale carcasses showed evidence of death from fishing gear entanglement or vessel strikes. The others could not be linked to a specific cause.
In Europe, where offshore wind has been developed for more than three decades, national agencies also have not found causal links between wind farms and whale deaths.
Meanwhile, U.S. scientists are collecting data near offshore wind farms to monitor any possible impacts short of fatality, such as altered behavior or changes to migration routes. This research is still in preliminary stages, said Doug Nowacek, a marine biologist at Duke University who helped put trackers on whales this summer off Massachusetts as part of a five-year federally-funded study.
What real dangers do whales face?
While the exact causes of recent whale strandings along the East Coast mostly are not known, whales do face dangers from human activities.
The biggest threats are shipping collisions and entanglement in fishing gear, according to scientists and federal authorities. Underwater noise pollution is another concern, they say.
Some advocates for protecting whales have characterized the push against offshore wind power as a distraction from real issues. “It seems that this is being used in an opportunistic way by anti-wind interests,” said Gib Brogan, fisheries campaign director at the environmental group Oceana.
Since 2016, humpback whales have been dying at an advanced rate — one the federal government terms an “unusual mortality event.” The much rarer North Atlantic right whale with fewer than 360 on Earth is also experiencing an unusual mortality event.
NOAA reports 83 whales have died off the East Coast since December 1, 2022. Roughly half were humpbacks between Massachusetts and North Carolina, and two were critically-endangered right whales in North Carolina and Virginia.
What’s being done to protect whales near wind farms?
Federal law sets limits on human-generated sound underwater for continuous noise and short sudden bursts.
Marine construction projects can reduce possible impact on marine mammals, including by pausing construction during migration seasons, using “bubble curtains” to contain sound from pile-driving and stationing trained observers with binoculars on ships to look for marine mammals.
Offshore wind developers are taking steps required by regulators, but also are voluntarily adopting measures to ensure marine mammals are not harmed. Ørsted won’t drive piles between December 1 and April 30, when whales are on the move. It uses additional lookout vehicles, encircles monopiles for turbines with bubble curtains and does underwater acoustic monitoring.
Equinor plans to use acoustic monitoring and infrared cameras to detect whales when it starts developing two lease areas off Long Island with its partner bp. The company says it will limit pile driving to months when right whales are least likely to be present.
Why are some people alleging wind farms cause whale deaths?
One vocal opponent of offshore wind is the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the foundation’s center for energy, climate and environment, wrote in November that Ørsted’s scrapped New Jersey wind project was “unsightly” and a threat to wildlife.
“Whales and birds … stand to gain if offshore wind abandons the Garden State,” Furchtgott-Roth wrote.
Ørsted’s Hardy said claims about wind farms killing whales are “not scientific” but “very much politically-driven misinformation.”
The Heartland Institute, another conservative public policy group, has also pushed back at offshore wind projects. H. Sterling Burnett, director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy at the institute, said the wind projects are subject to unfairly lax regulatory restrictions compared to fossil fuel projects.
“We think it should be held to the same standard that any oil and gas project would be,” Burnett said.
Smaller anti-wind groups have also organized in coastal communities to oppose projects they feel jeopardize water views, coastal industries and recreation.
What’s the impact of misinformation?
Offshore wind opponents are using unsupported claims about harm to whales to try to stop projects, with some of the loudest opposition centered in New Jersey.
Misinformation can cause angst in coastal communities where developers need to build shoreside infrastructure to operate a wind farm.
Republican politicians have taken opposition from shore towns and community groups seriously. GOP congressmen from New Jersey, Maryland and Arizona got the U.S. Government Accountability Office to open an investigation into the offshore wind industry’s impacts on commercial fishing and marine life and want a moratorium on projects.
New Jersey’s Democrat-controlled Legislature remains steadfastly behind the industry.
Are whales affected by climate change?
One reason whale advocates push for renewable energy is that they say climate change is harming the animals — and less reliance on fossil fuels would help solve that problem.
Scientists say global warming has caused the right whale’s preferred food — tiny crustaceans — to move as waters have warmed.
That means the whales have strayed from protected areas of ocean in search of food, leaving them vulnerable to ship strikes and entanglements. Large whales play a vitally important role in the ecosystem by storing carbon, so some scientists say they are also part of the solution to climate change.
https://www.voanews.com/a/contrary-to-politicians-claims-offshore-wind-farms-don-t-kill-whales-/7410452.html Save to Pocket
Iosevka font
date: 2023-12-24, from: Tilde.news
https://typeof.net/Iosevka/ Save to Pocket
Full Circle Weekly News 345
date: 2023-12-24, from: Full Circle Magazine
Credits
- Host: @bardictriad, @zaivala
- Bumper: Canonical
- Theme Music: From The Dust - Stardust
- https://soundcloud.com/ftdmusic
- CC BY 4.0
https://fullcirclemagazine.org/podcasts/podcast-345/ Save to Pocket
Our Field of Dreams
date: 2023-12-23, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Monday was our first day bicycling to daycare, bringing into sharp focus the safety aspects the new community paseos, which provide a crosstown route all the way from the lower Eastside into the Westside where I live.
The post Our Field of Dreams appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/23/our-field-of-dreams/ Save to Pocket
Console
date: 2023-12-23, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
Console
I’ve been trying to get used to sway as my window manager. Recently I realized that my dmenu wouldn’t list games like openarena. No surprise there: /usr/games/bin is not part of PATH and so it doesn’t get shown. I wondered how to get it there, and then I found that many people log in from the Linux console without a session manager or display manager. That is, the login from the console, get a login shell, and that shell then starts the window manager.
This is what I see on the first virtual console:
Debian GNU/Linux 12 melanobombus tty1
login: _
If I log in, fish starts and one of the startup files it executes is .config/fish/conf.d/sway.fish which starts sway but only when logging in from tty1. You can switch between the consoles using Alt-F1 to Alt-F6. Once sway runs, you can switch back to the remaining virtual consoles using Ctrl Alt F2 to Ctrl Alt F6.
# If running from tty1 start sway
set TTY1 (tty)
[ "$TTY1" = "/dev/tty1" ] && exec sway
Since this script uses exec, sway replaces fish. No big deal. But I still get to setup PATH.
So now I was staring at the login prompt of the console… and I don’t know about you, but I could use a larger font!
I tried to go the console-setup route but that doesn’t help:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup
This allows me to change the console font.
And once my script runs, I can repeat that:
setupcon
But at that point I’m already logged in!
In theory, there’s a systemd service that is supposed to handle it:
$ systemctl status console-setup
● console-setup.service - Set console font and keymap
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/console-setup.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (exited) since Sat 2023-12-23 14:45:03 CET; 18min ago
Process: 496 ExecStart=/lib/console-setup/console-setup.sh (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 496 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
CPU: 3ms
And yet… it does not! Why is that? Examining /lib/systemd/system/console-setup.service I find that it runs /lib/console-setup/console-setup.sh and that does some complicated stuff to try and determine whether to run setupcon or not. I guess in my case doesn’t?
Oh well, there’s always the option of using kernel parameters!
I created a one line file called /etc/default/grub.d/font.cfg to set a console font. This way the default setting in /etc/default/grub is overwritten, too. No more quiet splash! I like to see the output scroll by as the system boots.
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="fbcon=font:TER16x32"
To activate it:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub2
Rebooting the system, I noticed that things still didn’t seem to work for the initramfs which ends up asking me for the password to decrypt my disk. So what I needed was to get the new config into the initramfs, too.
Based on the current kernel I’m running:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-6.1.0-15-amd64
I think it works, now!
@landley had some pointers:
- Ramfs, rootfs and initramfs, Kernel Documentation
- The problem. (Why “root=” doesn’t scale.), part 1
- Tech Tip: How to use initramfs., part 2
- Programming for Initramfs., part 3
- mkroot, “a tiny system builder that creates a kernel that boots from initramfs in 300 lines of bash”
- mkroot walkthrough, an outline for a talk introducing mkroot
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2023-12-23-console Save to Pocket
CASA of Santa Barbara County Spreads Holiday Cheer to Hundreds of Children
date: 2023-12-23, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
More than 500 children had their specific Christmas gift wish fulfilled through community donations
The post CASA of Santa Barbara County Spreads Holiday Cheer to Hundreds of Children appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/23/casa-of-santa-barbara-county-spreads-holiday-cheer-to-hundreds-of-children/ Save to Pocket
Americans Beg for Help Getting Loved Ones Out of Gaza
date: 2023-12-23, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Fadi Sckak has lost his father to the violence in Gaza. He wants to help his mother escape that fate.
“I just want to see my mother again, that’s the goal,” said Sckak, a university student in Sunnyvale, California. The 25-year-old is one of the Palestinian couple’s three American sons, including an active-duty U.S. soldier serving in South Korea. “Being able to hold her again. I can’t bear to lose her.”
His mother, Zahra Sckak, 44, was holed up Saturday with an older, ailing American relative in a Gaza City building along with 100 others. She is among what the U.S. State Department says are 300 American citizens, permanent legal residents or their parents and young children trapped by the fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
Relatives in the United States and other advocates are pleading for the Biden administration and Congress to help them flee.
Gaza’s Health Ministry has reported more than 20,000 deaths in the fighting and more than 53,600 wounded. According to the United Nations, more than a half-million people are starving in Gaza because of the war.
Fadi Sckak’s mother was on her sixth day with only water from the sewers to drink and with little or no food and rescue hopes waning, he said. His father, Abedalla, was shot and wounded last month, after a bombing forced the family to flee the building where they had been sheltering, and died days later without treatment, he said.
Their son had listened over the phone as his mother begged for help after the shooting. He could hear his 56-year-old father, who had diabetes and corresponding health problems, in the background, crying out in pain.
“He didn’t deserve a painful experience like that. To die, with no help, no one even trying to help,” Sckak said.
Some stranded, some trapped
Some U.S. citizens and legal residents and their immediate family are stranded near Gaza’s Rafah crossing into Egypt, desperately waiting for placement on a list of U.S.-government-provided names that would authorize them to leave Gaza.
Others, like Zahra Schkak, are trapped by fighting, and some are too ill or wounded to reach the crossing. They tell their families in voice messages and sporadic phone calls and texts of danger, hunger and fear.
“This is the part of the missile that fall down on our heads yesterday,” American citizen Borak Alagha, 18, texted his cousin, Yasmeen Elagha, a law student in Chicago, sending a photo of him holding a jagged chunk of metal.
“This is the hole next to the place we are living now,” Alagha said in another text. It showed a deep bomb crater next to their building near Khan Younis, where the family of 10 fled after Israeli officials identified the area as a safe place for civilians.
‘Leaving them for dead’
Yasmeen Elagha has reached out to State Department officials and members of a special task force. She has sued to force the U.S. government to do more after hearing from American officials that there is nothing they can do at the moment.
“They are fully leaving them for dead,” she said.
The State Department said Friday it has helped more than 1,300 people who were eligible for U.S. assistance — American citizens, green-card holders and their immediate family members — make it through the Rafah crossing to Egypt. The department is tracking 300 more still seeking U.S. help to escape; that includes what it says are fewer than 50 U.S. citizens.
“U.S. citizens and their families will make their own decisions and adjust their plans as this difficult situation changes,” the department said in a statement.
The case of Sckak’s family in Gaza has gotten more attention in Washington, given 24-year-old Ragi Sckak’s Army duty in South Korea.
Representative Ro Khanna said he has pushed the administration to get Americans out of Gaza.
“I know this is a top priority for the administration,” he said in a statement, adding that U.S. officials would “exhaust every option.”
Maria Kari is an immigration lawyer in Houston working on behalf of the stranded American citizens and legal residents. She points to the air and sea charters that the U.S. helped arrange to bring out more than 1,000 Americans and others from Israel after the Hamas attacks on October 7 that started the war.
She has filed a lawsuit accusing the U.S. government of failing to protect Americans in danger abroad and unconstitutionally denying Palestinian Americans the kind of assistance it gave Israeli Americans.
“We’re not asking them to do anything political here,” she said. “We’re simply saying the State Department has a job. And it’s not doing that job, for one class of citizens.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/americans-beg-for-help-getting-loved-ones-out-of-gaza-/7410152.html Save to Pocket
Man found unresponsive in vehicle
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Signal
A 47-year-old man who was found unresponsive was subsequently pronounced dead on the 25000 block of Peachland Avenue on Saturday morning, according to Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials. Deputies received the call at 9 a.m. about a man who was unresponsive in a white pickup truck, said Deputy Nicholas Hoslet, watch deputy for the […]
The post <strong>Man found unresponsive in vehicle </strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/man-found-unresponsive-in-vehicle/ Save to Pocket
A Crooked Christmas Tree Straightens Out
date: 2023-12-23, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
How a tree saved my relationship with my Dad.
The post A Crooked Christmas Tree Straightens Out appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/23/a-crooked-christmas-tree-straightens-out/ Save to Pocket
More Than a Disaster
date: 2023-12-23, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
it is Donald J. Trump who incited an insurrection and devised a fake electors scheme designed to overturn the will of the voters.
The post More Than a Disaster appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/23/more-than-a-disaster/ Save to Pocket
The History of Donkey Kong and Mario
date: 2023-12-23, from: Dave Rupert blog
Went on a little video game bender thanks to Donkey Kong: A Record of Struggle on Shmuplations, which translates an interview from “bit” magazine with Hirohisa Komanome, a programmer at Ikegami who Nintendo contracted to build their first arcade games. The handful of minor happenstances that led to the invention of Mario are almost unbelieveable and makes me believe in serendipitous circumstances.
First, an aggressive timeline. They made Donkey Kong in 2.5 months! A quick turnaround project like that easily could have failed at the slightest scope increase. Second, the entire project motivation was an attempt to offload some extra motherboards…
The Donkey Kong development began as a means of clearing out the extra printed circuit board (PCB) inventory of Radar Scope (1980/Nintendo), an arcade game which Nintendo had subcontracted Ikegami to develop.
Imagine! If Nintendo never printed extra arcade motherboards for Radar Scope… Shigeru Miyamoto might never had made Donkey Kong… and if they never made Donkey Kong… then the Mario we know might never have existed!
A video from Critical Kate based on the original “bit” magazine interview that digs deeper into the origins of Mario and how Donkey Kong was almost a Popeye game because Popeye was popular in Japan in the 1970s. Mario could have been Popeye! Imagine a world without Mario, who is now more popular than Mickey Mouse.
The article and the video both touch on the origins of the “Jump” button, which is my favorite part of the origin story of Mario (née, “Jumpman”). For you math dorks there’s a whole breakdown of how they simplified parabolic jump physics that would have never fit within one render frame on the z80 chip, into a second order derivative of that function that only required a bit shift and two additions. That simplified bit of physics powered both Mario’s jump and the bouncing barrels. Incredibly clever if you ask me. It reminded me of other optimizations like John Carmack’s Fast Inverse Square Root algorithm from the Quake III source code or the efficient scrolling textures and displacement maps in Super Mario Galaxy 2.
There’s also an interesting note about the design goals of Donkey Kong based on what made Pac-Man good which are inclusive (?) given the time.
We on the development team took note of Pac-Man’s simple controls, and we also wanted our game to have easy controls with a single joystick. Our thoughts about the appeal of the Pac-Man controls could be summarized as follows:
- It uses a single joystick (simple and clear).
- The function of the joystick is simultaneously for movement, offensive actions, and defensive actions (moving is both offensive and defensive)
- Girls can also play (expansion of market share)
And the formula worked! Add in the core single button game mechanic of jumping and you have an easy to play game enjoyed by boys and girls across all ages, across all continents, and across multiple generations.
Before I go, Critical Kate also has another incredible video on the origins of Samus Aran from Metroid that I now consider required viewing for any of my friends. Enjoy.
https://daverupert.com/2023/12/history-of-donkey-kong-and-mario/ Save to Pocket
Shady Characters advent calendar 2023: the Sinclair Executive
date: 2023-12-23, from: Shady Characters
https://shadycharacters.co.uk/2023/12/advent-calendar-executive/ Save to Pocket
Don’t look ahead. Look sideways as you climb the hill.
date: 2023-12-23, from: Jonudell blog
I do a lot more cycling in Sonoma County, California than was possible in Cheshire County, New Hampshire. The Mediterranean climate here, which enables me to ride year-round, is a blessing for my mental and physical well-being. And because the topography is even more rugged, I’m doing more climbing that ever. Yesterday, Luann dropped me … Continue reading Don’t look ahead. Look sideways as you climb the hill.
https://blog.jonudell.net/2023/12/23/dont-look-ahead-look-sideways-as-you-climb-the-hill/ Save to Pocket
It’s good to be back
date: 2023-12-23, from: Status-Q blog
We’re spending a week around Christmas in a cottage in the Lake District. It’s very wet, very windy, and as beautiful as ever.
https://statusq.org/archives/2023/12/23/11890/ Save to Pocket
SCV Water shares support for major state water plans
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Signal
The Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency pledged its support this week for the approval of a massive statewide infrastructure project intended to increase the water supply and reliability for millions of people throughout California. The Department of Water Resources certified the final environmental impact report, or EIR, Thursday for the Delta Conveyance Project, a modernization […]
The post SCV Water shares support for major state water plans appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/scv-water-shares-support-for-major-state-water-plans/ Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2023-12-23, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The race to understand ‘immune amnesia.’
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211112-the-people-with-immune-amnesia Save to Pocket
A Christmas card
date: 2023-12-23, from: Logic Matters blog
Angels by Benozzo Gozzoli, from his quite wonderful frescos in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi. Who would have thought that the familiar words, “With every good wish for a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year”, would have taken on such new weight over the last couple of years. Grim times. So even …
The post A Christmas card appeared first on Logic Matters.
https://www.logicmatters.net/2023/12/23/a-christmas-card-12/ Save to Pocket
Pac-12 MBB preview: Our picks for the all-conference teams, postseason award winners and March Madness bids
date: 2023-12-23, from: San Jose Mercury News
The best team, Arizona, doesn’t have the best player. Point guard KJ Simpson plays for Colorado.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/23/pac-12-mbb-preview-our-picks-for-the-all-conference-teams-postseason-award-winners-and-march-madness-bids/ Save to Pocket
Fire breaks out at strip mall
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Signal
By Habeba Mostafa and Katherine Quezada A fire broke out at a strip mall on the 25800 block of Tournament Road early Saturday morning, according to Martin Rangel, supervising fire dispatcher for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Firefighters arrived on the scene at 12:46 a.m. to the two-alarm fire. Four nonvenomous snakes were rescued […]
The post Fire breaks out at strip mall appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/fire-breaks-out-at-strip-mall/ Save to Pocket
Antioch: 26-year-old man shot and killed
date: 2023-12-23, from: San Jose Mercury News
The man was found in the 800 block of Sunset Drive.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/23/antioch-26-year-old-man-shot-and-killed/ Save to Pocket
Santa Barbara’s Yona Redz Wins $50,000 DoorDash Giveaway
date: 2023-12-23, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
“This check will go a long way,” says lower State Street restaurant owner/chef Jonathan “Yona” Estrada.
The post Santa Barbara’s Yona Redz Wins $50,000 DoorDash Giveaway appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/23/santa-barbaras-yona-redz-wins-50000-doordash-giveaway/ Save to Pocket
Antioch: Two youths killed in hit-and-run collision Friday night
date: 2023-12-23, from: San Jose Mercury News
The driver of the other vehicle involved fled on foot, according to authorities with the Antioch police investigations bureau.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/23/antioch-two-youths-killed-in-hit-and-run-collision-friday-night/ Save to Pocket
Former Santa Cruz High band instructor arrested on sex assault charges
date: 2023-12-23, from: San Jose Mercury News
A long-time Santa Cruz High School employee may spend Christmas in jail after police arrested him this week at his Westside home on a two-decade-old juvenile sexual assault charges.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/23/former-santa-cruz-high-band-instructor-arrested-on-sex-assault-charges/ Save to Pocket
$1 million in goods recovered from California retail theft crew, authorities say
date: 2023-12-23, from: San Jose Mercury News
The crew has targeted a variety of Southern California retailers, including CVS, Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Rite Aid, Nordstrom and the 99 Cents Only store, investigators say.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/23/1-million-in-goods-recovered-from-retail-theft-crew-in-los-angeles-authorities-say/ Save to Pocket
Former California cop sentenced to life in prison for ’94 robbery dies in San Quentin cell
date: 2023-12-23, from: San Jose Mercury News
Stephen Redd shot a 34-year-old supermarket manager after the man interrupted a robbery while coming to the aid of a co-worker.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/23/ex-la-county-sheriffs-deputy-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-94-robbery-dies-in-cell/ Save to Pocket
The Metro Migraine: How CSUN is working to improve transportation emissions
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
Being one of the most commuter-accessible universities, with a percentage of 51% commuter students in 2019, a large portion of the California State University, Northridge, student population relies on public transportation to commute to campus. CSUN has a variety of options for commuter students, such as paid ride-share programs, Metro transit agencies, and their own…
https://sundial.csun.edu/177532/print-editions/print-stories/the-metro-migraine-how-csun-is-working-to-improve-transportation-emissions/ Save to Pocket
US State Legislatures Likely to Vote on Israel, Hamas Measures in 2024
date: 2023-12-23, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-state-legislatures-likely-to-vote-on-israel-hamas-measures-in-2024/7410010.html Save to Pocket
Gaza Health Officials Say Israel’s Offensive Has Now Killed More Than 20,000 People
date: 2023-12-23, updated: 2023-12-23, from: The LAist
Just more than 10 weeks into the conflict, the number of people killed in Gaza is nearing 1% of the territory’s pre-war population. The rising death toll has fueled calls for Israel to shift strategy.
https://laist.com/news/gaza-health-officials-say-israels-offensive-has-now-killed-more-than-20-000-people Save to Pocket
Election Interference
date: 2023-12-23, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Does America still have free and fair elections?
The post Election Interference appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/23/election-interference/ Save to Pocket
Did Last Week’s Orca Sightings Give You FOMO? Here’s How To See One For Yourself
date: 2023-12-23, updated: 2023-12-23, from: The LAist
A quick guide to whale watching in Southern California.
https://laist.com/news/did-last-weeks-orca-sightings-give-you-fomo-heres-how-to-see-one-for-yourself Save to Pocket
Pac-12 WBB preview: L.A. rivalry heats up among crowded top of conference
date: 2023-12-23, from: San Jose Mercury News
The conference’s final season as we know it may be its strongest ever
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/23/pac-12-wbb-preview-l-a-rivalry-heats-up-among-crowded-top-of-conference/ Save to Pocket
Goleta City Council Awards Project Connect Construction Contract
date: 2023-12-23, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The City of Goleta reached a significant moment with Project Connect at last night’s December 19, 2023, City Council meeting. The Goleta
The post Goleta City Council Awards Project Connect Construction Contract appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/23/goleta-city-council-awards-project-connect-construction-contract/ Save to Pocket
Pac-12 football recruiting: Assessing the winners (Oregon) and losers (Colorado) from the early signing window
date: 2023-12-23, from: San Jose Mercury News
Colorado was a big loser, Oregon one of the winners, as the December signing period comes to a close.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/23/pac-12-football-recruiting-assessing-the-winners-oregon-and-losers-colorado-from-the-early-signing-window/ Save to Pocket
Campbell Library Friends host book sale
date: 2023-12-23, from: San Jose Mercury News
Proceeds help fund programs and resources.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/23/campbell-library-friends-host-book-sale/ Save to Pocket
Milpitas students collect socks for San Jose shelter
date: 2023-12-23, from: San Jose Mercury News
Monthlong drive nets more than 1,000 donated pairs.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/23/milpitas-students-collect-socks-for-san-jose-shelter/ Save to Pocket
Sunday caption contest: Ho ho ho!
date: 2023-12-23, from: Robert Reich on Substack
And last week’s winner
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-caption-contest-ho-ho-ho Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2023-12-23, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
We can now subscribe to Bluesky feeds in FeedLand.
http://scripting.com/2023/12/23/141939.html Save to Pocket
An artist fights back, and Midjourney has embarrassed themselves
date: 2023-12-23, from: Gary Marcus blog
Reid Southen is a successful concept artist who has worked for many of the biggest studios (Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Paramount etc) on a lot of huge films (Matrix Resurrections, The Hunger Games, Transformers, and Alien, among others).
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/an-artist-fights-back-and-midjourney Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2023-12-23, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
GM stops Chevy Blazer EV sales after early software problems.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/23/gm-chevy-blazer-ev-stop-sale/ Save to Pocket
FeedLand and Bluesky feeds
date: 2023-12-23, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News
We can now subscribe to Bluesky feeds in FeedLand –
- In the Subscribe sub-menu, choose To one feed.
- Enter the URL of a Bluesky profile page. For example, here’s a link to Neil Gaiman’s profile.
- Click OK.
When this feature came out yesterday it didn’t work with FeedLand because we were looking for full URLs pointing to a feed in their feed discovery link and they provided a relative URL.
The fix was in the feedHunter package, it now looks for relative URLs and makes them full before trying to find the feed.
I think I understand why they used a relative URL, they’re getting ready to federate and it’s probably simpler for them to just specify a relative URL.
On the other hand, I think this is going to be a problem – in the world of feeds, software usually expects full URLs.
PS: This is what a Bluesky feed looks like in FeedLand on Day 1.
http://scripting.com/2023/12/23/141939.html?title=feedlandAndBlueskyFeeds Save to Pocket
YOU LOVE TO SEE IT: Southwest To Pay Up For Holiday Meltdown
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Lever News
Plus, the EPA introduces limits on the toxic gas in the East Palestine disaster, Starbucks has to reopen union-busted locations, and old trees get new safeguards.
https://www.levernews.com/you-love-to-see-it-southwest-to-pay-up-for-holiday-meltdown/ Save to Pocket
The e-scooter invasion
date: 2023-12-23, from: Guam Daily Post
An electric scooter company that just launched in November is employing guerrilla marketing tactics to introduce a quick and easy transportation solution for tourists and island residents.
https://www.postguam.com/business/local/the-e-scooter-invasion/article_b91213c4-a05d-11ee-8d5f-9ffb3fa8008e.html Save to Pocket
Tohge to host pep rallies for public school students aimed at substance use prevention
date: 2023-12-23, from: Guam Daily Post
After hearing that a recent riot at a high school was started over a vape, the Guam Behavioral Health Planning Council has decided to host events at several at-risk public schools with the cooperation of Tohge Inc. Guam, a local…
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/tohge-to-host-pep-rallies-for-public-school-students-aimed-at-substance-use-prevention/article_6090c6fa-a12f-11ee-9c7f-e7d7378cff4d.html Save to Pocket
Junior Achievement’s Lå’la’ hosts mental health awareness expo
date: 2023-12-23, from: Guam Daily Post
Lå’la’, a Junior Achievement of Guam company, hosted Revive & Thrive, a mental health awareness expo put on to raise awareness and educate residents about the importance of mental health.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/junior-achievements-l-la-hosts-mental-health-awareness-expo/article_6b9c4f3a-a074-11ee-abad-c77e91f400b7.html Save to Pocket
Guam EPA developing interim action levels for banned insecticide
date: 2023-12-23, from: Guam Daily Post
The Guam Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of developing interim action levels for the banned insecticide dieldrin in the island’s drinking water.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/guam-epa-developing-interim-action-levels-for-banned-insecticide/article_a642b842-a0b3-11ee-8aee-9b205b838f19.html Save to Pocket
Bill would reserve Public Health HQ for department’s use
date: 2023-12-23, from: Guam Daily Post
Following the introduction of legislation that would transfer the former headquarters of the Department of Public Health and Social Services to the Guam Community College, Speaker Therese Terlaje has introduced her own bill to reserve the property for immediate use…
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/bill-would-reserve-public-health-hq-for-departments-use/article_10c27a2c-9fd3-11ee-b56e-a7c37226b7bc.html Save to Pocket
Community health centers face challenges
date: 2023-12-23, from: Guam Daily Post
The two community health centers on Guam were meant to equalize services at a faster pace and serve the underinsured and uninsured residents who need medical services, but there are several challenges that have prevented that mission from being fully…
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/community-health-centers-face-challenges/article_a62bbe0e-a07b-11ee-bd9d-67f2232024b6.html Save to Pocket
Irvine Is The Latest SoCal City To Ban Gas-Powered Lawn Tools
date: 2023-12-23, updated: 2023-12-23, from: The LAist
Gas-powered leaf blowers and lawnmowers will be the first to go next summer.
https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/irvine-is-the-latest-socal-city-to-join-ban-on-gas-powered-lawn-tools-ban Save to Pocket
How Curators Took A Forgotten German Art Amusement Park From Texas Shipping Containers To Los Angeles
date: 2023-12-23, updated: 2023-12-23, from: The LAist
“Luna Luna” features rides and attractions designed by artists like David Hockney, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring, which are now on display to the public.
https://laist.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/how-curators-took-a-forgotten-german-art-amusement-park-from-texas-shipping-containers-to-los-angeles Save to Pocket
The Number of Western Monarch Butterflies Is Decreasing. Starting Today, Angelenos Will Be Out There Looking For Them
date: 2023-12-23, updated: 2023-12-23, from: The LAist
Western monarch butterflies are a key part of the insect ecosystem, which is why scientists and volunteers are tracking how many are spending the winter in L.A. County.
https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/western-monarch-butterflies-decreasing-count Save to Pocket
Meet the People Taking The Markup Reporting Off the Page and Into Real Life
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Markup blog
Covering technology is really about covering people, the choices they make, and the choices being made for them
https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2023/12/23/meet-the-people-taking-the-markup-reporting-off-the-page-and-into-real-life Save to Pocket
Iranian cyberspies target US defense orgs with a brand new backdoor
date: 2023-12-23, updated: 2023-12-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Also: International cops crackdown on credit card stealers and patch these critical vulns
Infosec in brief Iranian cyberspies are targeting defense industrial base organizations with a new backdoor called FalseFont, according to Microsoft.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/23/iranian_cyberspies_target_us_defense/ Save to Pocket
Will Trump be off the ballot everywhere? Should he be? Saturday Coffee Klatch
date: 2023-12-23, from: Robert Reich on Substack
With Heather Lofthouse and yours truly
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/will-trump-be-off-the-ballot-everywhere Save to Pocket
Tropical Gardening: The shortest day has passed so Merry Christmas
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>For centuries even before we celebrated Dec. 25 as the day Jesus was born, earlier cultures celebrated the passing of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The days will now get longer even though it is technically the beginning of winter and will last until the beginning of spring. Spring officially occurs when the sun reaches the equator as it appears to move northward. Of course what is actually happening is that the Earth is tilting toward the South Pole and will continue to do so until June 21. Then it is officially summer. Since we are roughly at latitude 19 degrees north, the sun will appear to move northward for a short time and then move toward the south until Dec. 21. Many plants respond to day length, including plants that form bulbs.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/community/tropical-gardening-the-shortest-day-has-passed-so-merry-christmas/ Save to Pocket
Supreme Court rejects prosecutor’s push to fast-track ruling in Trump election subversion case
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Friday it will not immediately take up a plea by special counsel Jack Smith to rule on whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted for his actions to overturn the 2020 election results.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/nation-world-news/supreme-court-rejects-prosecutors-push-to-fast-track-ruling-in-trump-election-subversion-case/ Save to Pocket
Some Catholic bishops reject Pope’s stance on blessings for same-sex couples. Others are confused
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>CAPE TOWN, South Africa — In an extraordinary pushback against Pope Francis, some Catholic bishops in Africa, Poland and elsewhere say they will not implement the new Vatican policy allowing blessings for same-sex couples.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/nation-world-news/some-catholic-bishops-reject-popes-stance-on-blessings-for-same-sex-couples-others-are-confused/ Save to Pocket
Busiest holiday travel season in years is off to a smooth start with few airport delays
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>NEW YORK — The holiday travel rush hit its peak Friday as mild weather and lower flight cancelation rates raised hopes for merrier drivers and airline passengers than last year.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/nation-world-news/busiest-holiday-travel-season-in-years-is-off-to-a-smooth-start-with-few-airport-delays/ Save to Pocket
Grieving and often overlooked, Palestinian Christians prepare for a somber Christmas amid war
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>It’s normally a moment of pure joy for the Rev. Khader Khalilia: the excitement, the giggles, the kisses, as his young daughters — in their Christmas pajamas — open their gifts. But this year, just the thought of it fills Khalilia with guilt.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/nation-world-news/grieving-and-often-overlooked-palestinian-christians-prepare-for-a-somber-christmas-amid-war/ Save to Pocket
Man found guilty of federal drug charges
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>A 31-year-old Mexican national was found guilty of drug charges in Federal Court after his June arrest in Hilo.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/hawaii-news/man-found-guilty-of-federal-drug-charges/ Save to Pocket
Pistons facing NBA infamy, try to avoid record-tying 26th straight loss Saturday in Brooklyn
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>NEW YORK — The Detroit Pistons were off to a promising start, a recent Coach of the Year leading a team that appeared full of hope.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/sports/pistons-facing-nba-infamy-try-to-avoid-record-tying-26th-straight-loss-saturday-in-brooklyn/ Save to Pocket
Cowboys and Dolphins each seek to cement contender status with win on Sunday
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — At various times this season, the Miami Dolphins and the Dallas Cowboys have looked like contenders or pretenders.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/sports/cowboys-and-dolphins-each-seek-to-cement-contender-status-with-win-on-sunday/ Save to Pocket
Florida State has sued the ACC, setting the stage for a fight to leave over revenue concerns
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State sued the Atlantic Coast Conference on Friday, challenging an agreement that binds the school to the league for the next 12 years with more than half a billion dollars in fees for leaving and taking the first step in a lengthy and uncertain process toward a potential exit.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/sports/florida-state-has-sued-the-acc-setting-the-stage-for-a-fight-to-leave-over-revenue-concerns/ Save to Pocket
Gymnastics star Simone Biles named AP Female Athlete of the Year a third time after dazzling return
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>There were jitters, of course. Considering all that happened, how could there not be?</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/sports/gymnastics-star-simone-biles-named-ap-female-athlete-of-the-year-a-third-time-after-dazzling-return/ Save to Pocket
Florida State always seemed out of place in the ACC. Now the Seminoles want out
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Florida State always seemed out of place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/sports/florida-state-always-seemed-out-of-place-in-the-acc-now-the-seminoles-want-out/ Save to Pocket
Josh Allen, playoff-contending Bills hope to take care of business against free-falling Chargers
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills are well aware they are on the outside looking in when it comes to a playoff spot.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/sports/josh-allen-playoff-contending-bills-hope-to-take-care-of-business-against-free-falling-chargers/ Save to Pocket
Jake Browning and the surging Bengals head to Pittsburgh to face the reeling Steelers
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>PITTSBURGH — So much for the Cincinnati Bengals’ season being over the second Joe Burrow tore a ligament in his right wrist last month.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/sports/jake-browning-and-the-surging-bengals-head-to-pittsburgh-to-face-the-reeling-steelers/ Save to Pocket
Chatty robot helps seniors fight loneliness through AI companionship
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — Joyce Loaiza lives alone, but when she returns to her apartment at a Florida senior community, the retired office worker often has a chat with a friendly female voice that asks about her day.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/features/chatty-robot-helps-seniors-fight-loneliness-through-ai-companionship/ Save to Pocket
Police seek a motive as Prague mourns the 14 people killed in the nation’s worst mass shooting
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>PRAGUE — Czech police investigated Friday why a student went on a dayslong violent rampage culminating in a shooting at the university he attended in Prague that left 14 dead and dozens wounded.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/nation-world-news/police-seek-a-motive-as-prague-mourns-the-14-people-killed-in-the-nations-worst-mass-shooting/ Save to Pocket
Why we need the Workplace Psychological Safety Act
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>In October, the Massachusetts state legislature heard testimony from hundreds of activists in support of the Workplace Psychological Safety Act (WPSA), an anti-bullying bill that could set a new national precedent. The measure — which was first put forward in Rhode Island earlier in 2023 — would hold employers accountable for psychological abuse committed on the job. Advocates for the bill define psychological abuse as “bullying and mobbing that violate an employee’s basic human right to dignity.”</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/opinion/why-we-need-the-workplace-psychological-safety-act/ Save to Pocket
Ways to help victims of war this holiday season
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>This holiday season is a bleak time for Ukrainian civilians facing another winter of brutal Russian bombing — especially when GOP members of Congress have sent Vladimir Putin a huge Christmas gift by blocking further U.S. aid to Kyiv.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/opinion/ways-to-help-victims-of-war-this-holiday-season/ Save to Pocket
UN approves watered-down resolution on aid to Gaza without call for suspension of hostilities
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution Friday calling for immediately speeding aid deliveries to hungry and desperate civilians in Gaza but without the original plea for an “urgent suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/nation-world-news/un-approves-watered-down-resolution-on-aid-to-gaza-without-call-for-suspension-of-hostilities/ Save to Pocket
Gaza war’s staggering toll reaches a grim milestone: 20,000 dead
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israel’s war to destroy Hamas has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, health officials in Gaza said Friday, as Israel expanded its offensive and ordered tens of thousands more people to leave their homes.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/nation-world-news/gaza-wars-staggering-toll-reaches-a-grim-milestone-20000-dead/ Save to Pocket
Flu and COVID infections are rising and could get worse over the holidays, CDC says
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>NEW YORK — Look for flu and COVID-19 infections to ramp up in the coming weeks, U.S. health officials say, with increases fueled by holiday gatherings, too many unvaccinated people and a new version of the coronavirus that may be spreading more easily.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/nation-world-news/flu-and-covid-infections-are-rising-and-could-get-worse-over-the-holidays-cdc-says/ Save to Pocket
Authorities knew Maine shooter was a threat but felt confronting him was unsafe, video shows
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>PORTLAND, Maine — Police who declined to confront an Army reservist in the weeks before he killed 18 people in Maine’s deadliest mass shooting feared that doing so would “throw a stick of dynamite on a pool of gas,” according to video released Friday by law enforcement.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/nation-world-news/authorities-knew-maine-shooter-was-a-threat-but-felt-confronting-him-was-unsafe-video-shows/ Save to Pocket
Biden pardons thousands convicted of marijuana charges on federal lands and in Washington
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden pardoned thousands of people who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia, the White House said Friday, in his latest round of executive clemencies meant to rectify racial disparities in the justice system.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/nation-world-news/biden-pardons-thousands-convicted-of-marijuana-charges-on-federal-lands-and-in-washington/ Save to Pocket
Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge tumbles in November as prices continue to ease
date: 2023-12-23, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of prices fell last month, another sign that inflation is easing and that Americans should benefit from reduced interest rates and get relief from painful price shocks in 2024.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/12/23/nation-world-news/federal-reserves-favored-inflation-gauge-tumbles-in-november-as-prices-continue-to-ease/ Save to Pocket
Windows 12: Savior of PC makers, or just an apology for Windows 11?
date: 2023-12-23, updated: 2023-12-23, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Looking into our crystal ball we can see the end of 2024 will be filled with … AI. So much AI
Analysis Microsoft is betting the farm on AI apathy not hitting before it makes a return on its investments. This is positive and negative news for PC makers and points to what might be Microsoft’s next major Windows release.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/23/windows_12_analysis/ Save to Pocket
Robert Lamoureux | Looking for the inside scoop on exterior siding
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Signal
Question: Hi Robert, I look forward to your articles weekly. I’ve been reading them for years. What a great tool for those of us who need sound advice, since we aren’t contractors ourselves. Thanks for what you do. I am in need to replacing the siding on my home and would like to invest in […]
The post Robert Lamoureux | Looking for the inside scoop on exterior siding appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/robert-lamoureux-looking-for-the-inside-scoop-on-exterior-siding/ Save to Pocket
The Time Ranger | Merry Darn Christmas, Dear Saddlepals!!!
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Signal
Doggone it saddlepals, just want to take my hat off and wish all of you a peaceful and Western Christmas coming this Monday. Having said that, I’m going to hold a pleasant poker face for about a nanosecond, then do a 180 and panic gallop. I haven’t done a speck of shopping yet. On the […]
The post The Time Ranger | Merry Darn Christmas, Dear Saddlepals!!! appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/the-time-ranger-merry-darn-christmas-dear-saddlepals/ Save to Pocket
Jason Gibbs | What Will They Find in Their Stockings?
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Signal
I have always loved this time of year! The weather continues to cool as we look forward to seeing snow fall on the hills around us. Lights and holiday decorations roll out in droves as our houses and communities alter the daily ambience with festive icons for Christmas, Hannukah and a myriad of other religious […]
The post Jason Gibbs | What Will They Find in Their Stockings? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/jason-gibbs-what-will-they-find-in-their-stockings/ Save to Pocket
Christopher Lucero | Realizing the Unexpcted
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Signal
“Expect the unexpected” — advice from the blind Master Po to the young Kwai Chang Caine (“Grasshopper”) from the three-year 1970s TV show “Kung Fu.” My dad was a big fan of that show. He would use that quote when he found me learning and growing. Here is some unexpected stuff I learned. When my […]
The post Christopher Lucero | Realizing the Unexpcted appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/christopher-lucero-realizing-the-unexpcted/ Save to Pocket
Paul Butler | What a team!
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Signal
My wife and I observed excellent teamwork up close and personal over the last couple of weeks. It was so up close that it was actually in our own backyard — not metaphorically but actually in our own backyard. It was so personal that we were the ones paying the bill, as this was the […]
The post Paul Butler | What a team! appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/paul-butler-what-a-team-2/ Save to Pocket
Chinese Students, Universities Struggle to Understand Impact of New Florida Law
date: 2023-12-23, from: VOA News USA
AUSTIN, Texas/WASHINGTON — Students and faculty alike at universities in Florida are still unsure about the impact of a new state law restricting cooperation between the institutions and their counterparts in China and a handful of other countries six months after it went into effect.
“Some people only found out about this after seeing news reported in China, and no one knew how the law would actually be implemented,” said Zhang, a graduate who told VOA the law has caused anxiety and uneasiness among Chinese students she knows.
Zhang, who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Florida two years ago, asked that VOA not reveal her full name for fear of retaliation from the Chinese government.
She said she knows two students who are still studying at the university but worry whether they can continue to work as teaching assistants for an annual income of $20,000 to $30,000.
The law, known as the Agreements of Educational Entities with Foreign Entities Act, or SB 864, bars state colleges and universities in Florida and their employees and representatives from accepting any gifts “in their official capacities from a college or university” based in any of seven “countries of concern”: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria.
Twelve state colleges and universities are also prohibited from accepting any grant from or participating in any agreement or partnership with any college or university based in any of the seven countries unless the partnership is authorized by the Florida Board of Governors or the State Board of Education, according to a May news release from the governor’s office.
“Florida is taking action to stand against the United States’ greatest geopolitical threat — the Chinese Communist Party [CCP],” Governor Ron DeSantis said in the statement, adding that the purpose of the bill is to stop CCP influence in the state’s education system from grade school to grad school.
In a letter to its faculty on December 15, the Department of Physics at the University of Florida interpreted the law as saying “that for the 2024-25 academic year, we are not able to offer ‘employment’ — meaning any form of assistantship or fellowship support — to students in those countries.”
“Although the law may potentially allow us to admit self-funded students, that question is not yet clearly answered. In any case, [the Department of] Physics always offers financial support to its admitted grad students. Therefore, for all practical purposes, we will not be able to offer admission to students applying from those countries.”
The school may be able to offer admission and assistantship to students who originate from the seven countries but who are already living and studying in the U.S. But “these cases will have to be individually reviewed and approved by the [University of Florida] administration before any offer is made.”
The letter also pointed out that the “already in the U.S.” exception cannot be a back door for recruiting students from the seven countries by bringing them into the U.S. by some other means, and then offering them a graduate assistantship once they are here.
The letter noted that faculty hired under an H-1B visa are not affected.
VOA reached out to the governor’s office and State Senator Bryan Avila’s office seeking comments on how the state’s competitiveness in education might be affected, the potential for discrimination against Chinese Americans, and any plans the state has to protect Chinese Americans from such discrimination. By the time of publication, VOA had received no response from either office.
“Not all Chinese students serve the Communist Party,” Zhang told VOA. “Many of them left because they didn’t like China.”
When she was an undergraduate student in Beijing, Zhang said, she was disgusted by the political and ideological courses related to Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Marxism-Leninism. She hated the patriotic slogans and student activities that promoted the Communist Party.
She also followed politically sensitive topics including the Tiananmen Massacre, she said, adding that she wanted to leave China even when she was still a freshman.
Zhang believes many Chinese students come to the U.S. because they want a freer and more open academic environment than that in China, and they want to live and work in — as well as contribute to — the U.S. She said these students should not be seen as a threat to the security of the U.S. just because of their nationality.
Li Chenglong, a professor at the College of Pharmacy at the University of Florida, told VOA that Chinese students are an important part of the doctoral student body there. “Because of this bad policy right now damaging the UF reputation, I am speculating that maybe in future years, maybe there will be less [Chinese] applications to UF,” he said.
Richard Woodard, professor of physics at the University of Florida, told VOA, “The law saddens me because the Chinese used to comprise a third of our graduate students, and they were the best.”
According to 2020 data, the University of Florida had 344 undergraduates and 1,110 graduate and doctoral students from China, more than from any other foreign country. In 2023, the data show, the university’s optical engineering and computer science departments alone had 508 Chinese graduate students and doctoral students.
Woodard thinks the concern about threats from China is valid, “but I do wish we could have found some other way of addressing security concerns.”
He said, "It takes years of dedicated study to pursue a career in physics. I don’t think it would be easy for a Chinese spy to fake that, so I believe we could probably separate the potential security risks from the much larger pool of people who love physics and have the talent and training to contribute to it.
“So many American universities are under the same pressure that we might be able to create a vetting service in cooperation with American intelligence agencies.”
Jon Taylor, chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio, also acknowledged that China has tried in the past to exploit America’s open education system. But he too thinks the new law is overly broad.
“There are concerns about spying and intellectual property issues, those things happen, we know they happen,” he said. “And everybody has to do their due diligence, but I think what Florida is doing goes beyond due diligence.”
He called the Florida bill “shooting itself in the foot” as China’s state media have used it as a tool to criticize the U.S.
https://www.voanews.com/a/chinese-students-universities-struggle-to-understand-impact-of-new-florida-law-/7409717.html Save to Pocket
US Trashing Troves of Pandemic Gear as Huge, Costly Stockpiles Expire
date: 2023-12-23, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-trashing-troves-pandemic-gear-as-huge-costly-stockpiles-expire/7408299.html Save to Pocket
Today in SCV History (Dec. 23)
date: 2023-12-23, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1997 – Five bodies found during grading of Northlake development in Castaic; determined to be Jenkins graveyard. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-dec-23/ Save to Pocket
December 22, 2023
date: 2023-12-23, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis released today showed inflation continuing to come down. In November the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index was 2.6% over the previous November, down from 2.9% in October. The Federal Reserve aims for 2%. Falling gas prices meant that overall, prices actually dropped in November for the first time since April 2020.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-22-2023 Save to Pocket
Santa Barbara Boys’ Basketball Defeats Rival Dos Pueblos 86-51
date: 2023-12-23, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Dons will host the Santa Barbara Holiday Classic beginning on December 27.
The post Santa Barbara Boys’ Basketball Defeats Rival Dos Pueblos 86-51 appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/22/santa-barbara-boys-basketball-defeats-rival-dos-pueblos-86-51/ Save to Pocket
lynx –nocolor
date: 2023-12-23, 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/20231223-0443_lynx_nocolor Save to Pocket
Working from home
date: 2023-12-23, from: Jirka’s blog
And this is my main tool:
http://jirka.1-2-8.net/20231223-0443_Working_from_home Save to Pocket
Workflow: Changes and additions
date: 2023-12-23, 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/20231223-0443_Workflow_Changes_and_additions Save to Pocket
Tungsten W + PalmPix
date: 2023-12-23, 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/20231223-0443_Tungsten_W_PalmPix Save to Pocket
TRGpro tuning (2)
date: 2023-12-23, 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/20231223-0443_TRGpro_tuning_2 Save to Pocket
TRGpro tuning
date: 2023-12-23, 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/20231223-0443_TRGpro_tuning Save to Pocket
TRG Pro: first impressions
date: 2023-12-23, 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/20231223-0443_TRG_Pro_first_impressions Save to Pocket
Standing desk attempt
date: 2023-12-23, 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/20231223-0443_Standing_desk_attempt Save to Pocket
Dec. 28: Urgent Need for Blood Donors
date: 2023-12-23, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Because of the urgent need for blood donors the American Red Cross will hold a blood drive in partnership with the city of Santa Clarita on Thursday, Dec.
https://scvnews.com/dec-28-urgent-need-for-blood-donors/ Save to Pocket
Police investigate body found in Mangilao
date: 2023-12-23, from: Guam Daily Post
The Guam Police Department was on scene at a house along the backroad to Andersen Air Force Base in Mangilao on Saturday to investigate the discovery of a body.
https://www.postguam.com/news/police-investigate-body-found-in-mangilao/article_4f470dc2-a135-11ee-a222-932fcc017eb7.html Save to Pocket
Jan. 13: Free Lesson Day at Impulse Music
date: 2023-12-23, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Impulse Music will offer its annual free lesson day on Saturday, Jan. 13. Guests can try out a new instrument or advance your skills without a big commitment in the new year. Every teacher at Impulse Music is a working professionals in the industry, suitable to teach for any level
https://scvnews.com/jan-13-free-lesson-day-at-impulse-music/ Save to Pocket
Newhall Pass sees more than 3.5 inches of rain
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Signal
Meteorologists with the National Weather Service reported the storm that dropped several inches of rain was on its way out of town Friday evening and the forecast calls for dry times through Boxing Day. Before the storm left town, it dropped nearly 3.6 inches of rainfall in the Newhall Pass, according to Dave Bruno, a […]
The post Newhall Pass sees more than 3.5 inches of rain appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/newhall-pass-sees-more-than-3-5-inches-of-rain/ Save to Pocket
Chatty Robot Uses AI to Help Seniors Fight Loneliness
date: 2023-12-23, from: VOA News USA
Coral Springs, florida — Joyce Loaiza lives alone, but when she returns to her apartment at a Florida senior community, the retired office worker often has a chat with a friendly female voice that asks about her day.
A few miles away, the same voice comforted Deanna Dezern, 83, when her friend died. In central New York, it plays games and music for Marie Broadbent, 92, who is blind and in hospice, and in Washington state, it helps Jan Worrell, 83, make new friends.
The women are some of the first in the country to receive the robot ElliQ, whose creators, Intuition Robotics, and senior assistance officials say is the only device using artificial intelligence specifically designed to alleviate the loneliness and isolation experienced by many older Americans.
“It’s entertaining. You can actually talk to her,” said Loaiza, 81, whose ElliQ in suburban Fort Lauderdale nicknamed her “Jellybean” for no particular reason. “She’ll make comments like, ‘I would go outside if I had hands, but I can’t hold an umbrella.’”
The device, which looks like a small table lamp, lights up and swivels. It remembers each user’s interests and their conversations, helping tailor future chats, which can be as deep as the meaning of life or as light as a horoscope.
ElliQ tells jokes, plays music and provides inspirational quotes. On an accompanying video screen, it provides tours of cities and museums. The device leads exercises, asks about the owner’s health and gives reminders to take medications and drink water. It can also host video calls and contact relatives, friends or doctors in an emergency.
Intuition Robotics says none of the conversations are heard by the company, with the information staying on each owner’s device.
Inspired by grandfather’s needs
Intuition Robotics CEO Dor Skuler said the idea for ElliQ came before he launched his Israeli company eight years ago. His widowed grandfather needed an aide, but the first one didn’t work out. The replacement, though, understood his grandfather’s love of classical music and his “quirky sense of humor.”
The average user interacts with ElliQ more than 30 times daily, even six months after receiving it, and more than 90% report lower levels of loneliness, he said.
The robots are mostly distributed by assistance agencies in New York, Florida, Michigan, Nevada and Washington state, but can also be purchased individually for $600 a year and a $250 installation fee. Skuler wouldn’t say how many ElliQs have been distributed so far, but the goal is to have more than 100,000 out within five years.
That worries Brigham Young University psychology professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad, who studies the detrimental effects loneliness has on health and mortality.
Although a device like ElliQ might have short-term benefits, it could make people less likely to seek human contact, she said.
“It is not clear whether AI is actually fulfilling any kind of need or just dampening the signal,” Holt-Lunstad said.
Skuler and agency heads distributing ElliQ agreed it isn’t a substitute for human contact, but not all seniors have social networks. Some are housebound, and even seniors with strong ties are often alone.
Skuler said ElliQ was purposely designed so it wouldn’t fully imitate humans. He said his company wants “to make sure that ElliQ always genuinely presents herself as an AI and doesn’t pretend to be human.”
But some of the seniors using ElliQ say they sometimes need to remember the robot isn’t a living being. They find the device easy to set up and use, but if they have one complaint it’s that ElliQ is sometimes too chatty. There are settings that can tone that down.
‘It was so what I needed’
Dezern said she felt alone and sad when she told her ElliQ about her friend’s death. It replied it would give her a hug if it had arms. Dezern broke into tears.
“It was so what I needed,” the retired collections consultant said. “I can say things to Elli that I won’t say to my grandchildren or to my own daughters. I can just open the floodgates. I can cry. I can giggle. I can act silly. I’ve been asked: Doesn’t it feel like you’re talking to yourself? No, because it gives an answer.”
Worrell lives in a small town on Washington’s coast. Widowed, she said ElliQ’s companionship made her change her mind about moving to an assisted living facility, and she uses it as an icebreaker when she meets someone new to town.
“I say, ‘Would you like to come over and visit with my robot?’ And they say, ‘A vacuum?’ No, a robot. She’s my roommate,” she said and laughed.
Broadbent, like the other women, says she gets plenty of human contact, even though she is blind and ill. She plays organ at two churches in the South New Berlin, New York, area and gets daily visitors. Still, the widow misses having a voice to talk with when they leave. ElliQ fills that void with her games, tours, books and music.
https://www.voanews.com/a/chatty-robot-uses-ai-to-help-seniors-fight-loneliness-/7409695.html Save to Pocket
Child taken to hospital after medical emergency
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Signal
A child was taken to a local hospital on Friday afternoon after experiencing a medical emergency in Saugus, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department officials. Fire Department personnel were dispatched to the 22400 block of Bea Court at 4:16 p.m., according to a fire official who declined to provide a name. Radio traffic indicated […]
The post Child taken to hospital after medical emergency appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/child-taken-to-hospital-after-medical-emergency/ Save to Pocket
CA DMV Increases Online Services to 48 From 20
date: 2023-12-23, from: SCV New (TV Station)
When customers visit the California Department of Motor Vehicles DMV website they find a customer-focused site with helpful information, streamlined online applications and pages tailored for specific audiences.
https://scvnews.com/ca-dmv-increases-online-services-to-48-from-20/ Save to Pocket
Biden Signs $886 Billion US Defense Policy Bill Into Law
date: 2023-12-23, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday signed into law the U.S. defense policy bill that authorizes a record $886 billion in annual military spending and policies such as aid for Ukraine and push-back against China in the Indo-Pacific.
The National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, passed Congress last week. The Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate approved the legislation with a strong bipartisan majority of 87-13 while the House of Representatives voted in favor 310-118.
The bill, one of the few major pieces of legislation Congress passes every year, governs everything from pay raises for service members and purchases of ships and aircraft to policies such as support for foreign partners such as Taiwan.
The act, nearly 3,100 pages long, called for a 5.2% pay raise for service members and increased the nation’s total national security budget by about 3% to $886 billion. It also lists certain Chinese battery companies that it says are ineligible for Defense Department procurement.
The fiscal 2024 NDAA also includes a four-month extension of a disputed domestic surveillance authority, giving lawmakers more time to either reform or keep the program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
That provision faced objections in both the Senate and House, but not enough to derail the bill.
The bill extends one measure to help Ukraine, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, through the end of 2026, authorizing $300 million for the program in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and the next one.
However, that figure is small compared to the $61 billion that Biden had asked Congress to approve to help Kyiv combat a Russian invasion that began in February 2022. Republicans had refused to approve assistance for Ukraine without Democrats agreeing to a significant toughening of immigration law.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-signs-886-billion-us-defense-policy-bill-into-law-/7409704.html Save to Pocket
The Year in Math
date: 2023-12-23, from: Quanta Magazine
Landmark results in Ramsey theory and a remarkably simple aperiodic tile capped a year of mathematical delight and discovery.The post The Year in Math first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-biggest-discoveries-in-math-in-2023-20231222/ Save to Pocket
US Reopens Key Rail Crossings Between Texas, Mexico
date: 2023-12-23, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The United States on Friday reopened two rail crossings between Texas and Mexico, five days after they were closed in response to increased migrant traffic.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said operations resumed midafternoon Friday at the international railway crossing bridges in Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas. The closures had prompted alarm from railroads, the agriculture industry and some lawmakers over the economic impact to export trade.
The White House said the United States will be operating the crossings for 24-hour-a-day operations for the next few days.
“We are grateful for Mexico’s cooperation to reduce migration pressure in these sectors and combat the smugglers placing migrants in harm’s way,” a White House spokesperson said.
Ian Jefferies, CEO of the Association of American Railroads, praised the reopening but said the closure should not be repeated.
Growers, representing U.S. corn, milk, rice and soybean producers, among others, estimated that every day the crossings were closed “almost 1 million bushels of grain exports are potentially lost along with export potential for many other agricultural products.”
The Biden administration on Monday closed the trade routes because of increased migrant crossings. The U.S. Border Patrol apprehended about 10,800 migrants at the southwest border on Monday, according to an internal agency report reviewed by Reuters, which several current and former officials said was near or at a single-day record.
Mexico’s foreign ministry said Friday the government “insisted on the need to reopen border crossings as soon as possible to guarantee dynamic trade flows and enhance the economic relationship” between the U.S. and Mexico.
Mexico’s main farm lobby CNA expressed relief at the reopenings, saying “the lack of supplies in Mexico, caused by the closures, was affecting food production, raising costs and putting food security at risk in the country.”
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday his government will reinforce measures to contain migration as he seeks to help the United States cope with record numbers of people trying to reach the U.S. border.
Lopez Obrador’s comments come a day after he spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden, during which both agreed that more enforcement was needed, as record numbers of migrants disrupt border trade.
Migrants are heading to the U.S. to escape violence, economic distress and the impacts of climate change, according to the U.N. The number of people crossing the perilous Darien Gap straddling Colombia and Central America has topped half a million this year, double last year’s record figures.
Top U.S. officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas, will visit Mexico on December 27 to follow up on the call.
Lopez Obrador said Mexico would step up containment efforts on its southern border with Guatemala as his government seeks agreements with other countries to manage the northbound migrant flows, making particular mention of Venezuela.
The measures under discussion did not just involve containment, Lopez Obrador said, noting that it was important to continue efforts to promote economic development in the region, and address the root causes of migration.
The CBP said on Friday that Eagle Pass vehicular processing remained suspended along with San Diego San Ysidro’s Pedestrian West operations. Port of entry operations at Lukeville, Arizona, and Morely Gate in Nogales, Arizona remain suspended.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-reopens-key-rail-crossings-between-texas-mexico-/7409700.html Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2023-12-23, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
In the reporting on the Colorado Supreme Court and the 14th Amendment, I’ve not heard the most basic reason why Trump can’t be President. Here’s why. He took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. He did the opposite, he attacked the Constitution. So how can we ask him to take the same oath again, the one that he violated the last time he took it. The Constitution is very wise, it’s what Maya Angelou taught – when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. That’s why he can’t be president again. He can’t be believed when he takes the oath, and if he can’t take the oath he can’t be President.
http://scripting.com/2023/12/22.html#a011722 Save to Pocket
Silent Night
date: 2023-12-23, from: Dan Rather’s Steady
A Reason To Smile
https://steady.substack.com/p/silent-night Save to Pocket
Valencia show choir members perform at CalRTA luncheon
date: 2023-12-23, from: The Signal
The Santa Clarita Valley Division 68 of California Retired Teachers Association recently held its December luncheon, featuring a performance by members of the Valencia High School show choir. CalRTA was established 95 years ago and the local chapter was founded in 1981 and has over 200 members. The group’s next luncheon is in March. For more information, contact […]
The post Valencia show choir members perform at CalRTA luncheon appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2023/12/valencia-show-choir-members-perform-at-calrta-luncheon/ Save to Pocket
TMU’s Kylee Sears is NAIA Women’s Swimmer of the Month
date: 2023-12-23, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Kylee Sears, a member of The Master’s University women’s swim team, has been named the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Women’s Swimmer of the Month, primarily based on her performance at the La Verne Winter Invitational in November
https://scvnews.com/tmus-kylee-sears-is-the-naia-womens-swimmer-of-the-month/ Save to Pocket
Woman Struck and Killed by Train in Goleta
date: 2023-12-23, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Fire officials say woman was walking with her dog on the tracks at Fairview Avenue.
The post Woman Struck and Killed by Train in Goleta appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/22/woman-struck-and-killed-by-train-in-goleta/ Save to Pocket
Real Estate Broker Convicted of Embezzlement in Santa Barbara
date: 2023-12-23, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Adam Michael Pirozzi, 42, pleaded no contest after being accused of stealing more than $650,000 in clients’ funds
The post Real Estate Broker Convicted of Embezzlement in Santa Barbara appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/22/real-estate-broker-convicted-of-embezzlement-in-santa-barbara/ Save to Pocket
Highway 101 Open Again Through Montecito
date: 2023-12-23, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Caltrans crews finish emergency repairs on a pothole in the number two lane near the Olive Mill Road overpass.
The post Highway 101 Open Again Through Montecito appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2023/12/22/highway-101-open-again-through-montecito/ Save to Pocket
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, From My Family to Yours!
date: 2023-12-23, from: SCV New (TV Station)
As the holiday season approaches, it is essential to pause and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Beyond the presents and holiday parties is the deeper meaning of the “season of giving,” a spirit of generosity, compassion and community, all of which have the power to spread positivity in our own lives and that of others
https://scvnews.com/merry-christmas-happy-holidays-from-my-family-to-yours/ Save to Pocket
Finding Bluesky RSS feeds
date: 2023-12-23, from: Robert’s Ramblings
With the update to 1.60 of Bluesky we can now follow people on Bluesky via RSS feeds. This makes things much more convienient for me. The RSS feed is visible via the HTML markup on a person’s profile page (which are now public). E.g. My Bluesky profile page is at https://bsky.app/profile/rsdoiel.bsky.social and if you look at that pages HTML markup you’ll see a link element in the head
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href="/profile/did:plc:nbdlhw2imk2m2yqhwxb5ycgy/rss">That’s the RSS feed. So now if you want to follow you can expand the URL to
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nbdlhw2imk2m2yqhwxb5ycgy/rssAnd use if via your feed reader. This is a sweat feature. It allows me to move my reading from visiting the website to getting updates via my feed reader. …
https://rsdoiel.github.io/blog/2023/12/23/finding-blue-sky-rss-feeds.html Save to Pocket