News gathered 2024-01-14
(date: 2024-01-14 11:29:10)
San Jose Sharks still stuck in Ottawa as snowstorm pummels Buffalo area
date: 2024-01-14, from: San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Sharks awaited word Sunday on when they could fly into the Buffalo region hit hard by a snowstorm
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/14/san-jose-sharks-still-stuck-in-ottawa-as-snowstorm-pummels-buffalo-area/ Save to Pocket
Livermore: Man arrested for exposing himself to female student
date: 2024-01-14, from: San Jose Mercury News
A 39-year-old registered sex offender allegedly exposed himself to a female student at Granada High School last Thursday, according to Livermore Police.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/14/livermore-man-arrested-for-exposing-himself-to-female-student/ Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Reservation Dogs was great, esp the last season.
https://www.metacritic.com/tv/reservation-dogs/ Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Substack Was a Ticking Time Bomb.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/01/substack-exodus-social-media-moderation/677113/ Save to Pocket
Week 2, 366 Project Wrap Up
date: 2024-01-14, from: Om Malik blog
I could use the rain as an excuse, but that would be a cop-out. I did go out often, and there were opportunities to capture images. The rain itself gave me so many opportunities. Even when I did find images that spoke to me, I couldn’t get things to work out. Usually, my everyday camera, …
https://om.co/2024/01/14/week-2-366-project-wrap-up/ Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton, the wife of a guffawing, rubber-limbed sewer worker forever mired in a blowhard neighbor’s get-rich-quick schemes and other hazards of life on the classic 1950s sitcom “The Honeymooners,” died on Saturday at her home in Manhattan. She was 99.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/14/obituaries/joyce-randolph-dead.html Save to Pocket
On enjoying the process
date: 2024-01-14, from: Manu - I write blog
Working on a project of any kind is a journey. And like any type of journey, what matters the most is not the destination, but the journey itself. It’s easy for me to forget that crucial aspect while I’m working through any type of project. I jump from one project to the next, with my eyes set on the finish line but I forget to pay attention to the process. And in doing that I often find myself to be quite miserable. Because there’s no joy to be found at the finish line. The enjoyable part is the process. Trying new things, failing, making mistakes, experimenting, getting hurt. It’s all part of the process and it’s what makes the journey enjoyable.
https://manuelmoreale.com/@/page/2QT4GBm1LwjmoflN Save to Pocket
Prep roundup: Granada, San Ramon Valley boys continue to sizzle at MLK showcase
date: 2024-01-14, from: San Jose Mercury News
Spencer Langowski, NaVaughn Long lead Granada past Menlo-Atherton. Luke Isaak scores 27 in SRV’s win over Inderkum. O’Dowd girls turn back Salesian.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/14/prep-roundup-granada-san-ramon-valley-boys-continue-to-sizzle-at-mlk-showcase/ Save to Pocket
HOWTO: Change your behavior
date: 2024-01-14, from: Matt Might blog
In theory, behavior change should be easy.
At first glance, it seems like you control your behavior.
So, if you desire different behavior, why doesn’t your behavior change as instantly as your desire to change it?
In short, lasting change of habitual behaviors is a multi-stage process.
In 1977, as psychologists James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente were studying the behavior of smokers, they identified these stages.
Their transtheoretical model of behavior change captures the process of behavior change in six different stages: (1) precontemplation; (2) contemplation; (3) preparation; (4) action; (5) maintenance; and (6) relapse.
In the years since, this landmark model has been found to be applicable to many habitual human behaviors.
The key takeaway is that the odds of successful long-term behavior change improve if you calibrate your strategy to the stage of change you’re in.
The goal of this article is to provide an actionable summary of this model and interventions for each stage, so that you can more effectively change your behavior in the long-term.
Understanding the model may also help you to understand why you may have struggled with behavior change in the past.
Disclaimer: This article is based on my survey of the scientific literature and my own lived experience. I am not a mental health professional, and if you are struggling with behavior change or any other mental health condition, please immediately consult a qualified professional.
Click here to read the rest of the article
http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-change-your-behavior/ Save to Pocket
The Catastrophe In Gaza After 100 days Of Israel-Hamas War, By The Numbers
date: 2024-01-14, updated: 2024-01-14, from: The LAist
Nearly 24,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict began on Oct. 7, a staggering toll. Satellite imagery suggests that up to 160,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
https://laist.com/news/the-catastrophe-in-gaza-after-100-days-of-israel-hamas-war-by-the-numbers Save to Pocket
Multiple vehicles broken into in Castaic
date: 2024-01-14, from: The Signal
No arrests have been made after several vehicles in Castaic were broken into early Sunday morning, according to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. “We had a few vehicles broken into and no arrests in the Castaic area,” said Deputy Nicholas Hoslet. “The caller said that there were six or seven male adults wearing hoodies […]
The post <strong>Multiple vehicles broken into in Castaic</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/multiple-vehicles-broken-into-in-castaic/ Save to Pocket
Food and Drink Trends for 2024
date: 2024-01-14, from: The Signal
By Mackenzie Filson Delish.com What’s in (and out) for next year? The experts have weighed in. With the door closed on 2023, we’re looking into our crystal balls (or tea leaves or pasta-themed tarot decks) to predict what food and drinks will be trendy in 2024. There are plenty of food trends we hope pick […]
The post Food and Drink Trends for 2024 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/food-and-drink-trends-for-2024/ Save to Pocket
Raspberry Pi 5 shortages shouldn’t last long
date: 2024-01-14, from: Jeff Geerling blog
Raspberry Pi 5 shortages shouldn’t last long
<div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em>Or at least that's the hope, based on current production rates.</em></p>
At CES 2024, I had the opportunity to chat with Eben Upton, Raspberry Pi’s CEO. We discussed the future of AI on the Pi, RP2040’s successor, the impending launch of Compute Module 5, and current production rates of Pi 4 and Pi 5 computers—Raspberry Pi’s bread and butter.
The news is good: currently (as of last week), they are manufacturing Pi 5 at a rate of 70,000 per week. By the end of January? 90,000 per week.
That would put manufacturing capacity for Pi 5 alone at 400,000 units every month.
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Jeff Geerling</span></span>
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/raspberry-pi-5-shortages-shouldnt-last-long Save to Pocket
Self-Care for Sick Days: Navigate cough, cold and flu season like a pro
date: 2024-01-14, from: The Signal
Cooler weather inevitably means cough, cold and flu season isn’t far behind. Now is the time to take precautions and set yourself up with healthy habits. “As much as we try, avoiding viruses, bacteria and germs to prevent getting sick can be a challenge,” Dr. Tim Tiutan, MD, said. “However, being prepared with the right […]
The post Self-Care for Sick Days: Navigate cough, cold and flu season like a pro appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/self-care-for-sick-days-navigate-cough-cold-and-flu-season-like-a-pro/ Save to Pocket
Shocker, But Confirmed: LA County Has The Most Mexican Restaurants In The Country
date: 2024-01-14, updated: 2024-01-14, from: The LAist
A Pew Research Center study has found that L.A. County has the most Mexican restaurants in the country, and 17% of restaurants in California serve Mexican food.
https://laist.com/news/food/shocker-but-confirmed-la-county-has-the-most-mexican-restaurants-in-the-country Save to Pocket
2023 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid: Little SUV built, billed right
date: 2024-01-14, from: San Jose Mercury News
The 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid is marketed as an inexpensive small sport utility vehicle with superior fuel economy. It’s an enticing description for a family needing solid transportation, reliability, efficiency and strong brand resale value.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/14/2023-toyota-corolla-cross-hybrid-little-suv-built-billed-right/ Save to Pocket
2024 Lunar New Year: The Year of the Wood Dragon
date: 2024-01-14, from: The Signal
Lunar New Year, or more familiarly Chinese New Year, will fall on Saturday, Feb. 10. The New Year celebrations culminate with the Lantern Festival on Feb. 24. Year of the Wood Dragon It is the year of the Wood Dragon according to the Chinese Zodiac. Beginning on Feb. 10 with Chinese New Year and ending […]
The post 2024 Lunar New Year: The Year of the Wood Dragon appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/lunar-new-year/ Save to Pocket
Pacifica: Two teens robbed at gunpoint in shopping center
date: 2024-01-14, from: San Jose Mercury News
One of the victims was transported to a local hospital for precautionary reasons, and the other was released to their family.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/14/pacifica-two-teens-robbed-at-gunpoint-in-shopping-center/ Save to Pocket
The 2023 Mercedes Benz GLC 300 Compact Luxury SUV
date: 2024-01-14, from: San Jose Mercury News
What is a GLC 300 ? A GLC 300 is a compact 2 row SUV built in the Bremen, Germany, assembly plant, and sold worldwide by Mercedes Benz. The GLC is a luxury SUV that’s inspired by the Mercedes Benz C Class cars and offers a higher view of the road with chunkier styling. It’s rated as one of the best gasoline powered compact luxury SUV’s; thanks to a smooth running gas engine, increased interior room and a broad range of technology that extends to the passengers comfort, convenience, safety and security.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/14/the-2023-mercedes-benz-glc-300-compact-luxury-suv/ Save to Pocket
E Ink let you change the colors and patterns on the back of this Infinix smartphone prototype
date: 2024-01-14, from: Liliputing
E Ink’s Prism 3 color display technology isn’t designed for eBook readers or tablets. Instead it’s a low-power, programmable display solution that can be used for digital signage… or even for things like cars that can change color. This year Lenovo plans to launch a laptop that lets you customize the colors and patterns on […]
The post E Ink let you change the colors and patterns on the back of this Infinix smartphone prototype appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/e-ink-let-you-change-the-colors-and-patterns-on-the-back-of-this-infinix-smartphone-prototype/ Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
One man gathers what another man spills.
http://scripting.com/2024/01/14.html#a172336 Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Another Dead song that must’ve been fun to sing. “Stephen would answer if he only knew how.”
http://scripting.com/2024/01/14.html#a171755 Save to Pocket
Taylor Swift’s cold-weather Chiefs coat was designed by the wife of a 49ers Pro Bowler
date: 2024-01-14, from: San Jose Mercury News
She has made items for several people around the NFL, but this was the highest-profile piece yet.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/14/taylor-swifts-cold-weather-chiefs-coat-was-designed-by-the-wife-of-a-49ers-pro-bowler/ Save to Pocket
Mental Health Not to Blame for Switchblade Stabbing of Classmate, Judge Finds
date: 2024-01-14, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The ruling paves the way for an attempted murder trial to begin against former Laguna Blanca student Cora Vides.
The post Mental Health Not to Blame for Switchblade Stabbing of Classmate, Judge Finds appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/01/14/mental-health-not-to-blame-for-switchblade-stabbing-of-classmate-judge-finds/ Save to Pocket
AYANEO AM02 retro mini PC has a Ryzen 7 7840HS processor, a 4 inch touchscreen display and classic console-inspired design
date: 2024-01-14, from: Liliputing
The AYANEO AM02 is a small desktop computer from a company best known for making handheld gaming PCs. But while this little PC may not have discrete graphics, it’s not hard to see that it’s also designed for gaming. It has a boxy shape and color scheme that borrows heavily from the NES and SNES, […]
The post AYANEO AM02 retro mini PC has a Ryzen 7 7840HS processor, a 4 inch touchscreen display and classic console-inspired design appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/ayaneo-am02-retro-mini-pc-has-a-ryzen-7-7840hs-processor-a-4-inch-touchscreen-display-and-classic-console-inspired-design/ Save to Pocket
Upcoming Speaking Engagements
date: 2024-01-14, updated: 2024-01-09, from: Bruce Schneier blog
This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak:
- I’m speaking at the International PolCampaigns Expo (IPE24) in Cape Town, South Africa, January 25-26, 2024.
The list is maintained on this page.
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/01/upcoming-speaking-engagements-33.html Save to Pocket
USC vs. UCLA — live updates
date: 2024-01-14, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Thomas Johnson reports live from Galen Center.
The post USC vs. UCLA — live updates appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/01/14/usc-ucla-wbb-live-updates/ Save to Pocket
After 100 Days Of War, Israel Is Determined To Fight On In Gaza
date: 2024-01-14, updated: 2024-01-14, from: The LAist
Israel claims some achievements in more than three months of fighting since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, but the Palestinian death toll has soared and the militant group still clings to power in Gaza.
https://laist.com/news/after-100-days-of-war-israel-is-determined-to-fight-on-in-gaza Save to Pocket
Frederik X is proclaimed the new king of Denmark after his mother Queen Margrethe II abdicates
date: 2024-01-14, from: San Jose Mercury News
Denmark’s prime minister proclaimed Frederik X as king on Sunday after his mother Queen Margrethe II formally signed her abdication, with massive crowds turning out to rejoice in the throne passing from a beloved monarch to her popular son.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/14/frederik-x-is-proclaimed-the-new-king-of-denmark-after-his-mother-queen-margrethe-ii-abdicates/ Save to Pocket
How clashing interpretations of Martin Luther King’s legacy fuels the fight over DEI and affirmative action
date: 2024-01-14, from: San Jose Mercury News
More than 60 years have passed since Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream Speech” speech at the March on Washington and yet his words still resonate today.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/14/how-clashing-interpretations-of-martin-luther-kings-legacy-fuels-the-fight-over-dei-and-affirmative-action/ Save to Pocket
Haley wins backing from ex-Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who won’t mount his own third-party 2024 bid
date: 2024-01-14, from: San Jose Mercury News
Squelching speculation of a third-party presidential run, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Sunday endorsed Nikki Haley for the GOP nomination, saying he feels she “is the strongest chance” for Republicans to win in November.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/14/haley-wins-backing-from-ex-maryland-gov-larry-hogan-who-wont-mount-his-own-third-party-2024-bid/ Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
BTW, what are the proper pronouns for The Creator?
http://scripting.com/2024/01/14.html#a161012 Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
With mystique of Substack in decline, now – if we had a proper identity system with storage, we could make it easy for people to hook their world up to email, ie newsletters, and preserve choice, and be able to build editors that were more than tiny little textboxes. I was part of the PC wave in the 80s when writing tools advanced incredibly quickly. In the space of ten years we advanced in so many directions – from line-oriented editors on Unix and early Apples, to screen editors, then with the Mac, we got wizzy, and page layout, and outliners for thinking and presentations. In the same time period programming changed from something requiring a million dollar investment in hardware and infrastructure, to something most students could afford. Just ten years. Since then our world has been reduced to copying and pasting into tiny text boxes. The question is bigger than if we need journalism, the question is do we need writers?
http://scripting.com/2024/01/14.html#a160204 Save to Pocket
Where we stand regarding the climate
date: 2024-01-14, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
Where we stand regarding the climate
This is a repost of a thread by @peterdutoit, with some additinal quotes from the sources linked. Peter du Toit has been posting climate related posts on fedi for quite a while. This is a recommendation to follow his account.
He says:
We are firmly on a path to chaos. We continue to pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Here is our track record for the period 1990-2022:
Graph sourced from this report:
All sectors apart from transport have fully rebounded from the drop in emissions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and now exceed 2019 levels. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes were the main contributors to the overall increase, accounting for about two thirds of current GHG emissions. Emissions of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and fluorinated gases (F-gases), which have higher global warming potentials and account for about one quarter of current GHG emissions, are increasing rapidly: in 2022, F-gas emissions grew by 5.5 per cent, followed by CH4 at 1.8 per cent and N2O at 0.9 per cent. – Broken Record: Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again), by the UN environment programme.
As a result of the above, 2023 ended as the hottest year on record at +1.45°C above the preindustrial average, based on the six international climate datasets.
The annual average global temperature approached 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels – symbolic because the Paris Agreement on climate change aims to limit the long-term temperature increase (averaged over decades rather than an individual year like 2023) to no more than 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels. – WMO confirms that 2023 smashes global temperature record.
At time of writing, using the standard decadal averages, we have currently heated by about +1.29ºC above the preindustrial average using four of the above datasets.
This number shows an up-to-the-second assessment of human-induced global warming since the second half of the 19th century. – Global Warming Index
The consequences of a world that has heated by +1.3ºC has become very clear during the past year. Here is a month-by-month look at the extreme events of 2023.
The number of global extreme weather events has seen a “staggering rise” in the past 30 years, said the United Nations, and experts warn climate change is “supercharging” the problem, per The Associated Press. – The extreme weather events of 2023, by Devika Rao, for The Week US, behind a subscription wall
With the emission trajectory for both CO₂ and Methane still increasing, the earth will continue to heat. There is no negotiation with the physics of this.
With our fossil fuel burning ways entrenched, we are firmly on track to pass the 1.5°C threshold in the near future.
Various groups have attempted to extrapolate when exactly this will become the earth’s permanent background baseline temperature.
Here is a projection from Berkley Earth:
The last nine years have included all nine of the warmest years observed in the instrumental record. – Global Temperature Report for 2023, by Robert Rohde, for Berkley Earth
Here is the projection from Copernicus Climate Change:
Global warming reached an estimated 1.26°C in December 2023. If the 30-year warming trend leading up then continued, global warming would reach 1.5°C by November 2033. – Global temperature trend monitor
There are others, like Dr James Hanson et al, who believe that these estimates are too conservative and that we will arrive at this threshold much sooner as they illustrate below.
We expect record monthly temperatures to continue into mid-2024 due to the present large planetary energy imbalance, with the 12- month running-mean global temperature reaching +1.6-1.7°C relative to 1880-1920 and falling to only +1.4 ± 0.1°C during the following La Nina. Considering the large planetary energy imbalance, it will be clear that the world is passing through the 1.5°C ceiling, and is headed much higher, unless steps are taken to affect Earth’s energy imbalance. – Global Warming Acceleration: Causes and Consequences
Whichever of the above projections end up being what transpires in reality, we know for sure that we are going to smash right past the 1.5°C threshold sometime between 2024 and 2033.
The devastation we witnessed in 2023 at +1.3°C of heating will seem mild as we reach higher levels of heating. We now also have solid research that shows crossing 1.5°C permanently, will set in motion tipping points that will unleash even more climate chaos as a result of their cascading effects.
Climate system tipping elements are components of the Earth system susceptible to a tipping point, that is, a critical threshold beyond which the system reorganises, often abruptly and/or irreversibly. Improved scientific understanding has shown that triggering climate system tipping points already this century cannot be ruled out, far sooner and at lower levels of warming than previously assumed. The goal of this chapter is to review the state of knowledge of climate system tipping points. – Climate Tipping Points: Insights for Effective Policy Action, OECD iLibrary
Our current response to what the physics requires to slow the emissions freight train is nothing short of a joke. The current policies put us on track for a +2.7°C world. Talk about an overshoot!
The UNEP on what is required starting immediately:
To reach emission levels consistent with a below 2°C pathway in 2030, the cuts required per year are now 5.3 per cent from 2024, reaching 8.7 per cent per year on average for the 1.5°C pathway. To compare, the fall in total global GHG emissions from 2019 to 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic was 4.7 per cent. – Broken Record: Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again), by the UN environment programme.
As we start 2024 there is NO indication that we have any intent to approach this with the same urgency and determination which was displayed during the Covid pandemic.
Look around, it’s all business as usual.
As as result we are, as the UN Secretary General put it, “on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.”
Right now, there are billions of people on the frontlines of this.
We are entering the period of climate induced chaos.
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-01-14-climate Save to Pocket
A Weekend of Ferocious Winter Weather Could See Low-Temperature Records Set in US Heartland
date: 2024-01-14, from: VOA News USA
O’FALLON, Mo. — Icy winter weather blanketed the U.S. on Saturday as a wave of Arctic storms threatened to break low-temperature records in the heartland, spread cold and snow from coast to coast and cast a chill over everything from football playoffs to presidential campaigns.
As the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend began, the weather forecast was a crazy quilt of color-coded advisories, from an ice storm warning in Oregon to a blizzard warning in the northern Plains to high wind warnings in New Mexico.
“It’s, overall, been a terrible, terrible winter. And it came out of nowhere — two days,” Dan Abinana said as he surveyed a snowy Des Moines, Iowa. He moved to the state from Tanzania as a child years ago, but said “you never get used to the snow.”
The harsh weather in Oregon played a role in three deaths.
In Portland, medical examiners were investigating a hypothermia death as freezing rain and heavy snow fell in a city more accustomed to mild winter rains, and hundreds of people took shelter overnight at warming centers.
Portland Fire and Rescue also reported the death of a woman in her early 30s on Saturday afternoon. An RV caught fire when a small group of people used an open flame stove to keep warm inside and a tree fell on the vehicle, causing the fire to spread. Three other people escaped, including one with minor injuries, but the woman was trapped inside, the fire department said.
Authorities in Lake Oswego, Oregon, said a large tree fell on a home during high winds Saturday, killing an older man on the second floor.
Weather-related deaths already were reported earlier in the week in California, Idaho, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen announced a state of emergency, citing “very dangerous conditions.” Up to 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow fell in some areas over the past week, and wind chills were well below zero.
“This event is not going away tonight. It’s not going away tomorrow,” Pillen said at a news conference “It’s going to take a number of days.”
About 1,700 miles (2,735 kilometers) of Nebraska highways were closed. State police assisted more than 400 stranded motorists, said Col. John A. Bolduc, head of the Nebraska State Patrol.
In Iowa, cars were stuck for five hours in blowing snow on Interstate 80 after semitrailers jackknifed in slippery conditions. State troopers had handled 86 crashes and 535 motorist-assist calls since Friday, State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla said.
Road crews were “working the snow-blowers like crazy,” Dinkla said, but high winds were blowing snow right back onto roadways.
Governors from New York to Louisiana warned residents to be prepared for worrisome weather.
Parts of Montana fell below minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 degrees Celsius) Saturday morning, and the National Weather Service said similar temperatures were expected as far as northern Kansas, with minus 50 F (minus 46 C) possible in the Dakotas. In St. Louis, the National Weather Service warned of rare and “life-threatening” cold.
“We’ve had, now, multiple back-to-back storms” parading across the country, weather service meteorologist Zach Taylor said. That typically happens at least a couple of times in the U.S. winter.
Still, to Eboni Jones of Des Moines, it felt unusual for “how much we’re getting all within one week.”
“It’s pretty crazy out,” Jones said while shoveling snow.
Grant Rampton, 25, also of Des Moines, braved a wind chill of minus 20 F (minus 29 C) to go sledding with friends at a golf course, fighting off the cold by wearing layers of clothing and insulated socks and keeping in constant movement.
“It’s a great state to be in,” said Rampton, a lifelong Iowan. “There’s not as much to do, in winter especially, but you can make your own fun, like out here, sledding with your friends.”
The temperature in parts of Iowa could dip as low as minus 14 F (minus 26 C) on Monday, when the state’s caucuses kick off the presidential primary season. And forecasters said it would be Wednesday before below-zero windchills go away.
Republicans Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump all canceled campaign events because of the storm.
Electricity was out Saturday afternoon in hundreds of thousands of households and businesses, mainly in Michigan, Oregon and Wisconsin, according to poweroutage.us.
In Yankton, South Dakota, the temperature was minus 15 F (minus 26 C) in the evening. Police there said plows were “freezing and breaking,” so they would not operate until conditions improve. The Minnehaha County Highway Department also pulled its plows “due to low visibility and extreme cold temps.”
In other places, if the problem wasn’t snow and wind, it was water: Record high tides hit the Northeast, flooding some homes in Maine and New Hampshire.
The coastal Northeast was pounded by 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm) of rain in the morning, and a storm surge amplified what was already the month’s highest tide, National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Cempa said. In Portland, Maine, a gauge recorded a 14.57-foot (4.4-meter) difference between high and average low tide, topping a prior record of 14.17 feet (4.3 meters) set in 1978.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned of a “dangerous storm” as she announced that the Buffalo Bills-Pittsburgh Steelers NFL playoff game was postponed from Sunday to Monday. Residents of the county that includes Buffalo were told to stay off the roads starting at 9 p.m. Saturday, with the forecast calling for 1 to 2 feet (0.3 to 0.6 meters) or more of snow and winds gusting as high as 65 mph (105 kph).
Kansas City, Missouri, hosted a frigid playoff game Saturday night between the Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins. It was minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius) at kickoff, easily setting a record for the coldest game at Arrowhead Stadium.
Still, hundreds of fans lined up hours beforehand outside the Arrowhead Stadium parking lots, some with ski goggles, heated socks and other winter gear they bought for the game.
Chiefs season ticket holder Keaton Schlatter and his friends had considered trying to sell their seats, as many other fans did.
“But we decided that it’s all part of the experience, and we didn’t want to miss it,” said Schlatter, of West Des Moines, Iowa.
In Oregon, Robert Banks, who has been homeless for several years, stood outside his blue tent along a Portland street in the afternoon, wearing one glove as sleet pelted him. He said he wanted to secure his belongings before making his way to a shelter.
“I lived in Alaska for a number of years,” he said. “The wind and the wet cold is different from dry tundra cold … oh, it is bone-chilling.”
The snow was welcome in at least one place.
Philip Spitzley of Lake Odessa, Michigan, woke up Friday to 95 small snowmen in his front yard to celebrate his 95th birthday. Fifteen family members and a neighbor collaborated on the snow-packing job, which took about 90 minutes.
“I was quite surprised,” Spitzley said. “I sat right here watching my TV and didn’t know they were out there. Then I saw flashlights.”
The display has turned into a spectacle as motorists slow down for a look. And with days of cold weather ahead, “they’ll be there awhile,” Spitzley said.
https://www.voanews.com/a/a-weekend-of-ferocious-winter-weather-could-see-low-temperature-records-set-in-us-heartland/7439400.html Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
It makes sense that AI is coming into existence at the time the human species, and most living things on the planet, appear about to cease to exist. It’s possible that we are just building our successor. A sort of ark of intellect. It would make sense, if there is a Creator, that they would arrange things this way. Just-in-time species reboot.
http://scripting.com/2024/01/14.html#a145854 Save to Pocket
Orange County Will Give Out Millions to Fight Homelessness Before It Happens
date: 2024-01-14, updated: 2024-01-14, from: The LAist
The county allotted $3 million to administer a pilot program over the next year to assist households at risk of evictions.
https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/orange-county-will-give-out-millions-to-fight-homelessness-before-it-happens Save to Pocket
Schubert on Sunday 8: Julian Prégardien and Els Biesemans, Die Schöne Müllerin
date: 2024-01-14, from: Logic Matters blog
Julian Prégardien, in wonderful voice, is utterly compelling. The plangent tones of the fortepiano and Els Biesemans’ utter involvement adds so much. The shared level of commitment makes for a heartbreaking performance, of great emotional intensity. Surely one of the very finest recorded performances on disc or otherwise that we have. Why it is in […]
The post Schubert on Sunday 8: Julian Prégardien and Els Biesemans, Die Schöne Müllerin appeared first on Logic Matters.
https://www.logicmatters.net/2024/01/14/schubert-on-sunday-8-julian-pregardien-and-els-biesemans-die-schone-mullerin/ Save to Pocket
LEVER WEEKLY: “We Are Being Asked To Purposely Record Inaccurate Information”
date: 2024-01-14, from: The Lever News
This week, The Lever led national coverage of the Boeing debacle and more.
https://www.levernews.com/lever-weekly-we-are-being-asked-to-purposely-record-inaccurate-information/ Save to Pocket
Mount Carmel celebrates MLK
date: 2024-01-14, from: Guam Daily Post
In honor of the Monday holiday, a charter school in Hågat dedicated all of Friday to commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/mount-carmel-celebrates-mlk/article_47cb9d10-b0e9-11ee-9a04-77af058953c9.html Save to Pocket
Community First selects UOG, GCC students for internships
date: 2024-01-14, from: Guam Daily Post
Two students, one each from Guam Community College and the University of Guam, were selected by Community First Guam Federal Credit Union to join the financial institution’s internship program, along with three other students, the credit union announced in a…
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/community-first-selects-uog-gcc-students-for-internships/article_3f7176da-b0da-11ee-80f7-97241cee0dc4.html Save to Pocket
2 allegedly had almost 50 grams of meth, gun during traffic stop
date: 2024-01-14, from: Guam Daily Post
A man and a woman allegedly were found to have almost 50 grams of methamphetamine during a routine traffic stop.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/2-allegedly-had-almost-50-grams-of-meth-gun-during-traffic-stop/article_fe130140-b1d3-11ee-852a-cf016f5860d0.html Save to Pocket
Oversight scheduled for GMHA
date: 2024-01-14, from: Guam Daily Post
Speaker Therese Terlaje, head of the legislative committee on health, has scheduled another oversight hearing on the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority to take place on Tuesday.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/oversight-scheduled-for-gmha/article_2b588b58-b061-11ee-bb4e-f3ecef856ed1.html Save to Pocket
City run and block party set for March
date: 2024-01-14, from: Guam Daily Post
To celebrate the Bank of Guam 52nd Founder’s Day anniversary, the bank takes to the streets again for its 17th year of its Hagåtña City Run and Block Party, the bank announced in a press release.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/city-run-and-block-party-set-for-march/article_5db11800-b03d-11ee-8d99-fb48b3eb7253.html Save to Pocket
Suspect accused of repeatedly assaulting woman with flashlight
date: 2024-01-14, from: Guam Daily Post
A man charged with two counts of aggravated assault allegedly was found to have methamphetamine in his possession and a firearm without a valid firearms ID.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/suspect-accused-of-repeatedly-assaulting-woman-with-flashlight/article_5cad1da8-b1cf-11ee-95b1-5706bb58366b.html Save to Pocket
Man, 32, accused of molesting girl, 10
date: 2024-01-14, from: Guam Daily Post
A 32-year-old man was accused of molesting a 10-year-old girl while she was asleep.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/man-32-accused-of-molesting-girl-10/article_ebe060ae-b128-11ee-baf8-ab865d3977ab.html Save to Pocket
GPA seeks updated pay plan
date: 2024-01-14, from: Guam Daily Post
Guam Power Authority General Manager John Benavente is petitioning the Consolidated Commission on Utilities to approve a 2022 compensation study and adopt a unified pay scale and implementation plan for all certified, technical and professional positions at the utility.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/gpa-seeks-updated-pay-plan/article_a8f7e6a0-b10e-11ee-8143-43ed3a324544.html Save to Pocket
Playing for Change
date: 2024-01-14, from: Dan Rather’s Steady
We saw a remarkable video on social media this week, a new rendition of John Mayer’s Grammy-winning “Waiting on the World to Change,” performed by 100 artists from dozens of countries around the world.
https://steady.substack.com/p/playing-for-change Save to Pocket
Nonprofit Creating Justice Announces Plans to Buy Longstanding Family-Run Market in Skid Row
date: 2024-01-14, updated: 2024-01-14, from: The LAist
The market has developed strong commitments to social justice under current owner Danny Park, who serves on the board of Creating Justice.
https://laist.com/news/food/nonprofit-creating-justice-announces-plans-to-buy-longstanding-family-run-market-in-skid-row Save to Pocket
@Tomosino’s Mastodon feed (date: 2024-01-14, from: Tomosino’s Mastodon feed)
Our volcanic eruption by Grindavík restarted this morning. The lava is about 450m from the town and will likely reach it today.
https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/111753896070770333 Save to Pocket
@Tomosino’s Mastodon feed (date: 2024-01-14, from: Tomosino’s Mastodon feed)
I painted my first mini last night. Shadows first as an undercoat. I’m pretty happy with the results.
https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/111753883711288554 Save to Pocket
Big Island traffic fatalities plummet in 2023
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Big Island roads saw a significant decrease in traffic fatalities in 2023 compared to 2022, from 34 official traffic deaths to 16, a 53% drop.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/hawaii-news/big-island-traffic-fatalities-plummet-in-2023/ Save to Pocket
Alameda officially launches campaign to oust Roth
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Over 100 community members crowded the sidewalk in front of the King Kamehameha statue in Hilo on Saturday to support Kimo Alameda and his candidacy for Hawaii County mayor.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/hawaii-news/alameda-officially-launches-campaign-to-oust-roth/ Save to Pocket
Iowa’s winter blast could make an unrepresentative way of picking presidential nominees even more so
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>DES MOINES, Iowa — Most Iowans won’t be out Monday night. Never mind that it’s forecast to be well below zero, with wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees, and the roads may still be icy from a set of snowstorms that hammered the state this past week.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/nation-world-news/iowas-winter-blast-could-make-an-unrepresentative-way-of-picking-presidential-nominees-even-more-so/ Save to Pocket
A weekend of ferocious winter weather could see low-temperature records set in the US heartland
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>O’FALLON, Mo. — Icy winter weather blanketed the U.S. on Saturday as a wave of Arctic storms threatened to break low-temperature records in the heartland, spread cold and snow from coast to coast and cast a chill over everything from football playoffs to presidential campaigns.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/nation-world-news/a-weekend-of-ferocious-winter-weather-could-see-low-temperature-records-set-in-the-us-heartland/ Save to Pocket
Despite efforts, feral cats still roam Waikoloa Queens’ Marketplace
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Cats continue to prowl the Queens’ Marketplace despite efforts by advocacy groups to rehome 98 feral felines last year.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/hawaii-news/despite-efforts-feral-cats-still-roam-waikoloa-queens-marketplace/ Save to Pocket
New ocean stewardship fund established: $1 will be charged for each customer of commercial vessels, tours
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>A bill passed into law in 2021 establishing an ocean stewardship special fund became effective Jan. 1.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/hawaii-news/new-ocean-stewardship-fund-established-1-will-be-charged-for-each-customer-of-commercial-vessels-tours/ Save to Pocket
A San Diego bucket of places to spend time outdoors in 2024
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>SAN DIEGO — It’s easy to spend time outdoors in San Diego County, but even easier to go to the same old spots over and over again.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/features/a-san-diego-bucket-of-places-to-spend-time-outdoors-in-2024/ Save to Pocket
Stroud becomes youngest QB to win a playoff game as Texans rout Browns 45-14
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>HOUSTON — As the games get bigger, C.J. Stroud just keeps getting better.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/sports/stroud-becomes-youngest-qb-to-win-a-playoff-game-as-texans-rout-browns-45-14/ Save to Pocket
BIIF hoops: CLA falls to Kealakehe
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Kealakehe High’s boys varsity basketball team routed Christian Liberty Academy 66-37 on Thursday night in Kea’au.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/sports/biif-hoops-cla-falls-to-kealakehe/ Save to Pocket
Patrick Mahomes leads Chiefs to 26-7 playoff win over Miami in near-record low temps
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes threw for 262 yards and a touchdown, had his helmet shattered when he took a hit in the second half, and proceeded to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a 26-7 rout of the Miami Dolphins in the fourth-coldest game in NFL history Saturday night.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/sports/patrick-mahomes-leads-chiefs-to-26-7-playoff-win-over-miami-in-near-record-low-temps/ Save to Pocket
NCAA roundup: TCU sends No. 2 Houston to second straight loss on Miller’s layup with 6 seconds left
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Emanuel Miller’s layup with six seconds left gave TCU a 68-67 victory over No. 2 Houston on Saturday, the Cougars’ second straight loss.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/sports/ncaa-roundup-tcu-sends-no-2-houston-to-second-straight-loss-on-millers-layup-with-6-seconds-left/ Save to Pocket
A global day of protests draws thousands in Washington and other cities in pro-Palestinian marches
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>WASHINGTON — Thousands of demonstrators converged opposite the White House on Saturday to call for an end to Israeli military action in Gaza, while children joined a pro-Palestinian march through central London as part of a global day of action against the longest and deadliest war between Israel and Palestinians in 75 years.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/nation-world-news/a-global-day-of-protests-draws-thousands-in-washington-and-other-cities-in-pro-palestinian-marches/ Save to Pocket
NTSB investigating 2 Brightline high speed train crashes that killed 3 people in Florida this week
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>FORT LAUDERDALE Fla. — The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday it will investigate two crashes involving Florida’s Brightline train that killed three people at the same railroad crossing on the high speed train’s route between Miami and Orlando.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/nation-world-news/ntsb-investigating-2-brightline-high-speed-train-crashes-that-killed-3-people-in-florida-this-week/ Save to Pocket
Zack Edey and 3-point shooters help No. 1 Purdue rebound with 95-78 rout of Penn State
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue fans treated Zach Edey to a pregame standing ovation in commemoration of him becoming the school’s second player with 1,000 career rebounds.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/sports/zack-edey-and-3-point-shooters-help-no-1-purdue-rebound-with-95-78-rout-of-penn-state/ Save to Pocket
Families of hostages held in Gaza for 100 days hold 24-hour rally, beg government to bring them home
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>The families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip kicked off a 24-hour rally in Tel Aviv Saturday night, calling on the government to bring their loved ones home after 100 days spent in Hamas captivity.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/nation-world-news/families-of-hostages-held-in-gaza-for-100-days-hold-24-hour-rally-beg-government-to-bring-them-home/ Save to Pocket
A British D-Day veteran celebrates turning 100, but the big event is yet to come
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>LONDON — British D-Day veteran Bill Gladden turned 100 on Saturday, a day after his niece threw a surprise birthday party for him. It was a big fuss he didn’t really expect, though the old soldier had tears in his eyes long before he caught sight of a cake decorated with a replica of his uniform and the medals he earned.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/nation-world-news/a-british-d-day-veteran-celebrates-turning-100-but-the-big-event-is-yet-to-come/ Save to Pocket
The ruling-party candidate strongly opposed by China wins Taiwan’s presidential election
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>TAIPEI, Taiwan — Ruling-party candidate Lai Ching-te emerged victorious in Taiwan’s presidential election on Saturday, a result that will determine the trajectory of the self-ruled democracy’s contentious relations with China over the next four years.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/nation-world-news/the-ruling-party-candidate-strongly-opposed-by-china-wins-taiwans-presidential-election/ Save to Pocket
Another test for Speaker Mike Johnson. Will he keep the government open?
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Once again, the federal government faces a shutdown of important services — only this time there are two precipices from which the nation will plunge if Congress doesn’t act. Under a complex short-term spending measure adopted in November, funding for some departments will run out on Jan. 19 while for other departments the deadline is Feb. 2. For Americans dependent on government services and federal paychecks, Congress must again pull the country back from the brink.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/opinion/another-test-for-speaker-mike-johnson-will-he-keep-the-government-open/ Save to Pocket
Your Views for Janaury 14
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Columnist should be ‘ashamed’ of himself</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/opinion/your-views-for-janaury-14/ Save to Pocket
‘Ama‘ama need to be preserved
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Lonoikamakahiki! The changing of our weather brings a time of kapu (protection) for the native mullet or ‘ama‘ama. The kapu for this important fish runs from Dec. 1 through March 3 to protect their annual spawning cycle.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/opinion/amaama-need-to-be-preserved/ Save to Pocket
Obituaries for January 14
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Harry Char, 95, of Hilo, died Jan. 7 on Oahu. Born in Honolulu, he was a retired school teacher and principal, and a captain in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves. Visitation to be held 9 a.m. Feb. 3 at Hawaiian Memorial Park in Kaneohe, with services to follow at 10 a.m. No flowers, aloha attire. Survived by son Duane, daughter Dana, their families, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Arrangements by Hawaiian Memorial Park.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/obituaries/obituaries-for-january-14-8/ Save to Pocket
Volcano Watch: Where is magma stored in Kilauea?
date: 2024-01-14, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Over the past several months, periods of increased earthquake activity and ground deformation in the summit region of Kilauea volcano indicate that magma is accumulating beneath the surface. Where does magma reside, and how do we know?</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/14/community/volcano-watch-where-is-magma-stored-in-kilauea/ Save to Pocket
Sunday caption contest: the currents
date: 2024-01-14, from: Robert Reich on Substack
And last week’s winner
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-caption-contest-the-currents-b03 Save to Pocket
David Hegg | The Tyranny of Subjectivity
date: 2024-01-14, from: The Signal
By David Hegg First, let me lay out what I mean by “subjectivity.” Subjectivity exists when my tastes, feelings, desires, or opinions define my assessment of the quality or reality of something. If I insist my column is the finest example of thoughtful writing in the world, you have every right to laugh, howl, and […]
The post David Hegg | The Tyranny of Subjectivity appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/david-hegg-the-tyranny-of-subjectivity/ Save to Pocket
Larry Moore | We Are Not Who You Think
date: 2024-01-14, from: The Signal
According to The Signal’s resident virtue signaler, Gary Horton (Jan. 3), liberals and Democrats have a corner on compassion, caring and love for all, no matter where they come from or how they got here. The MAGA/Deplorable crowd doesn’t need you to remind us the nature of our country is being changed by our porous […]
The post Larry Moore | We Are Not Who You Think appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/larry-moore-we-are-not-who-you-think/ Save to Pocket
Today in SCV History (Jan. 14)
date: 2024-01-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1988 – One-month-old Santa Clarita City Council votes to form Planning Commission. [minutes
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-5/ Save to Pocket
January 13, 2024
date: 2024-01-14, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
Last night a woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande that marks the border between the U.S. and Mexico near Eagle Pass, Texas. U.S. Border Patrol agents knew that a group of six migrants were in distress in the river but could not try to save them, as they normally would, because troops from the Texas National Guard and the Texas Military Department prevented the Border Patrol agents from entering the area where they were struggling: Shelby Park, a 47-acre public park that offers access to a frequently traveled part of the river and is a place where Border Patrol agents often encounter migrants crossing the border illegally.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-13-2024 Save to Pocket
How the US Primary System Works
date: 2024-01-14, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/how-the-us-primary-system-works/7438440.html Save to Pocket
Fossil Unearthed in New Mexico Years Ago Is Identified as T. Rex Relative
date: 2024-01-14, from: VOA News USA
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — The Tyrannosaurus rex seemingly came out of nowhere tens of millions of years ago, with its monstrous teeth and powerful jaws dominating the end of the age of the dinosaurs.
How it came to be is among the many mysteries that paleontologists have long tried to solve. Researchers from several universities and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science say they now have one more piece of the puzzle.
On Thursday, they unveiled fossil evidence and published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports. Their study identifies a new subspecies of tyrannosaur thought to be an older and more primitive relative of the well-known T. rex.
There were oohs and ahs as the massive jaw bone and pointy teeth were revealed to a group of schoolchildren. Pieces of the fragile specimen were first found in the 1980s by boaters on the shore of New Mexico’s largest reservoir.
The identification of the new subspecies came through a meticulous reexamination of the jaw and other pieces of the skull that were collected over years at the site. The team analyzed the specimen bone by bone, noting differences in numerous features compared with those synonymous with T. rex.
“Science is a process. With each new discovery, it forces us to go back and test and challenge what we thought we knew, and that’s the core story of this project,” said Anthony Fiorillo, a co-author of the study and the executive director of the museum.
The differences between T. rex and Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis are subtle. But that’s typically the case in closely related species, said Nick Longrich, a co-author from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom.
“Evolution slowly causes mutations to build up over millions of years, causing species to look subtly different over time,” he said.
The analysis suggests the new subspecies Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis was a side-branch in the species’ evolution, rather than a direct ancestor of T. rex.
The researchers determined it predated T. rex by up to 7 million years, showing that tyrannosaurs were in North America long before paleontologists previously thought.
T. rex has a reputation as a fierce predator. It measured up to 40 feet (12 meters) long and 12 feet (3.6 meters) high. Study co-author Sebastian Dalman and the other researchers say T. mcraeensis was roughly the same size and also ate meat.
Thomas Richard Holtz, a paleontologist at the University of Maryland who was not involved in the study, said the tyrannosaur fossil from New Mexico has been known for a while but its significance was not clear.
One interesting aspect of the research is that it appears T. rex’s closest relatives were from southern North America, with the exception of Mongolian Tarbosaurus and Chinese Zhuchengtyrannus, Holtz said. That leaves the question of whether these Asian dinosaurs were immigrants from North America or if the new subspecies and other large tyrannosaurs were immigrants from Asia.
“One great hindrance to solving this question is that we don’t have good fossil sites of the right environments in Asia older than Tarbosaurus and Zhuchengtyrannus, so we can’t see if their ancestors were present there or not,” Holtz said.
He and the researchers who analyzed the specimen agree that more fossils from the Hall Lake Formation in southern New Mexico could help answer further questions.
https://www.voanews.com/a/fossil-unearthed-in-new-mexico-years-ago-is-identified-as-t-rex-relative/7436887.html Save to Pocket
Jewish Students Sue Harvard, Alleging Civil Rights Violations
date: 2024-01-14, from: VOA News USA
BOSTON — Several Jewish students have filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, accusing it of becoming “a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment.”
The lawsuit filed Wednesday mirrors others filed since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, including against The Art Institute of Chicago, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.
In the Harvard lawsuit, the plaintiffs include members of the Students Against Antisemitism, Inc. They accuse Harvard of violating Jewish students’ civil rights and allege that the university tolerated Jewish students being harassed, assaulted and intimidated — behavior that has intensified since the October 7 attack.
“Mobs of pro-Hamas students and faculty have marched by the hundreds through Harvard’s campus, shouting vile antisemitic slogans and calling for death to Jews and Israel,” according to the lawsuit. “Those mobs have occupied buildings, classrooms, libraries, student lounges, plazas, and study halls, often for days or weeks at a time, promoting violence against Jews.”
It was unclear what the reference to mobs in the lawsuit refers to, but the university has been rattled by protests since the October 7 attack. At one point, pro-Palestinian students occupied a campus building for 24 hours.
Marc Kasowitz, a partner at the law firm that brought the suit, Kasowitz Benson Torres, said in a statement that the litigation was necessary because Harvard would not “correct its deep-seated antisemitism problem voluntarily.”
“Harvard must be forced to protect its Jewish students and stop applying a double standard when it comes to anti-Jewish bigotry,” he added.
A spokesperson for Harvard said the school doesn’t comment on pending litigation. About a dozen students are potentially facing disciplinary charges for violations of protest rules related to pro-Palestinian activities, but the spokesman said the school couldn’t comment on their cases.
Fallout from the Israel-Hamas war has roiled campuses across the U.S. and reignited a debate over free speech. College leaders have struggled to define the line where political speech crosses into harassment and discrimination, with Jewish and Arab students raising concerns that their schools are doing too little to protect them.
The issue took center stage in December when the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT testified at a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism. Asked by Republican lawmakers whether calls for the genocide of Jews would violate campus policies, the presidents offered lawyerly answers and declined to say unequivocally that it was prohibited speech.
Their answers prompted weeks of backlash from donors and alumni, leading to the resignation of Liz Magill at Penn and Claudine Gay at Harvard.
Hamas’ October 7 attacks killed 1,200 people in Israel, mainly civilians, and abducted around 250 others, nearly half of whom were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.
Since the war began, Israel’s assault in Gaza has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians, roughly 1% of the territory’s population, and more than 58,000 people have been wounded, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. About two-thirds of the dead are women or children.
The U.S. Department of Education has repeatedly warned colleges that they are required to fight antisemitism and Islamophobia on their campuses or risk losing federal money. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the agency has opened more than 40 investigations at colleges and universities in response to complaints of antisemitism and Islamophobia since the Oct. 7 attacks, including at Harvard, Stanford and MIT.
“No student should feel unsafe on campus,” Cardona told The Associated Press on Wednesday, after he met with students. “The Office for Civil Rights takes these cases very seriously. They investigate harassment, or violations for antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Arab sentiment. We take that role very seriously. If any student on campus feels that any protest or messaging makes them feel unsafe, we ask for an investigation.”
In November, Gay issued a memo laying out plans to address antisemitism on campus.
The university said it was starting a process to examine “how antisemitism manifests within our community” and developing a plan to address it. It also is implementing a program to educate students and faculty about antisemitism and “redoubling our efforts to make students aware that appropriate avenues exist to report feelings of fear or incidents causing harm” including an anonymous hotline for bias incidents.
https://www.voanews.com/a/jewish-students-sue-harvard-alleging-civil-rights-violations/7436877.html Save to Pocket
UCSB Men’s Basketball Puts it All Together in 85-76 Victory Over Long Beach State
date: 2024-01-14, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Ajay Mitchell scored a game-high 26 points.
The post UCSB Men’s Basketball Puts it All Together in 85-76 Victory Over Long Beach State appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/01/13/ucsb-mens-basketball-puts-it-all-together-in-85-76-victory-over-long-beach-state/ Save to Pocket
Stitch images together with Stitchy
date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Rupert blog
From time to time I need to stitch together two or three images into a horizontal or vertical image. It seems so wasteful to spin up a whole design document for that task. What I really wanted was a CLI that does that for me and I found one that does the job: Stitchy.
How to use Stitchy
Stitchy is a Rust package that does what it says on the tin, it stitches images together.
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
Install Stitchy
cargo install stitchy
Use Stitchy
stitchy image1.png image2.png
If you’re feeling even lazier and don’t want to type file names, you can have Stitchy grab the n latest images in the directory and/or set the –order flag to alphabetical.
stitchy 4
stitchy 4 --order=alphabetical
Stitchy for responsive images
By default Stitchy will assemble the images in order in a tight grid. Where Stitchy really shines is generating responsive images where you might show a grid of images on mobile and a horizontal filmstrip on desktop.
stitchy 4 # layout images in a grid
stitchy 4 -h # layout images horizontally
Here’s an example of a responsive image treatment I did on a recent Vibe Check.
If you resize your browser to a smaller viewport, you can see how the wide but short image is loses hierarchy and readability on mobile. So I used stitchy to cut a new version for desktop.
No one noticed I did this, no one said “thanks”, but these small touches are still my favorite responsive image techniques.
Other things Stitchy can do
Stitchy gives you a bit more control in setting a –maxw or –maxh if that’s part of the effect. You can also set the output format to –jpg or –png if needed as well as control the –quality.
stitchy 4 --png
stitchy 4 --jpg --quality=75
Enjoy Stitchy
And that’s Stitchy! It’s pretty handy if you ask me.
I wrote this post because I use it so infrequently and it’s not very well documented beyond the –help command, so I wanted to have this to remember how to use it.
https://daverupert.com/2024/01/stitchy/ Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Migrating from Substack to self-hosted Ghost.
https://citationneeded.news/substack-to-self-hosted-ghost/ Save to Pocket
I was a fast-food worker. Let me tell you about burnout. [2019]
date: 2024-01-14, from: Tilde.news
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/7/6/20681186/fast-food-worker-burnout Save to Pocket
US Climate Envoy John Kerry to Leave Biden Administration
date: 2024-01-14, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy on climate, is stepping down from the Biden administration in the coming weeks, according to two people familiar with his plans.
Kerry, a longtime senator and secretary of state, was tapped shortly after Joe Biden’s November 2020 election to take on the new role created specifically to fight climate change on behalf of the administration on the global stage.
Kerry’s departure plans were first reported Saturday by Axios.
Kerry was one of the leading drafters of the 2015 Paris climate accords and came into the role with significant experience abroad, as secretary of state during the Obama administration and from nearly three decades as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Biden’s decision to tap Kerry for the post was seen as one way the incoming president was making good on his campaign pledge to battle climate change in a more forceful and visible manner than in previous administrations.
“The climate crisis is a universal threat to humankind and we all have a responsibility to deal with it as rapidly as we can,” Kerry said in a visit to Beijing last summer, when he met with Vice President Han Zheng on climate matters.
At international climate summits, Kerry always kept a breakneck pace, going from one meeting to another, with world leaders, major business figures and scientists, all interspersed with one press conference after another — to share what he just learned, announce an initiative, or say a few words as civil groups announced their own plans to help combat climate change, thus lending his credibility and weight.
In the span an hour, at one meeting Kerry would talk in detail about the need for oil companies to drastically reduce methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, then go to another gathering and detail his latest idea to help pay for green energy transition in developing countries and then, some minutes later, go into a long explanation of illegal fishing around the world while attending an event with leaders of Pacific Island nations.
“John Kerry’s tireless work to deliver global progress on the climate crisis has been heroic,” former Vice President Al Gore, who has focused primarily on climate in his post-public office life, said in a statement Saturday. “He has approached this challenge with bold vision, resolute determination, and the urgency that this crisis demands. For that the U.S. and the whole world owe him a huge debt of gratitude.”
While his gravitas has made him a central climate figure around the world, Kerry also has strong critics who argue America’s climate policies don’t amount to leadership in fighting global warming. The Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate law in U.S. history, is pumping billions of dollars into renewable energies. But many facets of the law emphasize domestic production, thus leading other nations to complain that the law is protectionist and detrimental to their own green industries.
And for years, the United States opposed the creation of a “loss and damage” fund that would see rich nations contribute billions of dollars to help developing countries, often hit hard by extreme weather events driven by climate change. During COP27 in Egypt in 2022, the fund was approved, as the U.S. and other rich countries relented and supported it. However, Kerry is always quick to say the fund is not about “reparations” or “compensation,” and so far the U.S. has promised only modest funding for it.
Kerry represented Massachusetts for 28 years in the Senate and was also the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-climate-envoy-john-kerry-to-leave-biden-administration/7439210.html Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Don't Change Your RSS URL.
https://kevquirk.com/dont-change-your-rss-url Save to Pocket
3 Migrants Drown at Border Amid Dispute Between Texas, White House
date: 2024-01-14, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/migrants-drown-at-border-amid-dispute-between-texas-white-house-/7439200.html Save to Pocket
2 Navy SEALs Missing After Night Mission off Somali Coast
date: 2024-01-14, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Two U.S. Navy SEALs are missing after conducting a nighttime boarding mission Thursday off the coast of Somalia, according to three U.S. officials.
The SEALs were on an interdiction mission, climbing up a vessel when one got knocked off by high waves. Under their protocol, when one SEAL is overtaken the next jumps in after them.
Both SEALs are still missing. A search and rescue mission is under way and the waters in the Gulf of Aden, where they were operating, are warm, two of the U.S. officials said.
The U.S. Navy has conducted regular interdiction missions, where they have intercepted weapons on ships that were bound for Houthi-controlled Yemen.
The mission was not related to Operation Prosperity Guardian, the ongoing U.S. and international mission to provide protection to commercial vessels in the Red Sea, or the retaliatory strikes that the United States and the United Kingdom have conducted in Yemen over the past two days, the official said Saturday. It was also not related to the seizure of the oil tanker St. Nikolas by Iran, a third U.S. official said.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not yet been made public.
Besides defending ships from the drones and missiles launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the U.S. military has also come to the aid of commercial ships that have been the targets of piracy.
In a statement Saturday, U.S. Central Command said it would not release additional information on the Thursday night incident until the personnel recovery mission is complete.
The sailors were forward-deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations supporting a wide variety of missions.
https://www.voanews.com/a/navy-seals-missing-after-night-mission-off-somali-coast-/7439192.html Save to Pocket
Dangerous Cold Snap Blankets Iowa Ahead of Caucus
date: 2024-01-14, from: VOA News USA
As Democrats shift their presidential preference caucus to mail-in balloting in Iowa with incumbent President Joe Biden the likely winner, Republicans take center stage during Iowa’s 2024 Caucus, when supporters assemble in person to choose their candidate for the Republican nomination. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports from Iowa.
https://www.voanews.com/a/dangerous-cold-snap-blankets-iowa-ahead-of-caucus-/7439176.html Save to Pocket
Dangerous Cold Snap Blankets Iowa Ahead of Caucuses
date: 2024-01-14, from: VOA News USA
des moines, iowa — First it was the snow, then the bitter cold temperatures that iced out most of the campaign events in the U.S. Midwestern state of Iowa the weekend before the January 15 caucuses.
Former President Donald Trump, who has spent much of the week before the caucuses outside of the state, canceled most of his in-person events because of the weather.
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley moved many of her events online.
“It will make the non-passionate people stay home, and the passionate people will come out,” said Carson Odle, who was undeterred by the bad weather as he attended one of the few, in-person events that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis didn’t cancel, in the Des Moines suburb of Ankeny.
“The die-hards will come,” said Cheryl Weisheit, who also braved traveling in the snowstorm to hear DeSantis’ campaign pitch. “Early on it wasn’t that bad. … I don’t know … we’re just so used to this!”
Weisheit, who chairs a local Republican group, said physically attending an event was important to her because she still doesn’t know who to support on caucus night.
“I probably won’t know until that night,” she said.
Snow could affect turnout
Iowa Democrats shifted their presidential preference caucuses to mail-in balloting later in the election cycle, with incumbent President Joe Biden the likely winner.
So Republicans will take center stage during Iowa’s 2024 Caucuses, a first-in-the-nation event when supporters assemble in person to choose their candidate for the Republican nomination. It comes amid some of the heaviest snow and coldest temperatures Iowa has experienced during the caucuses in many years, creating several unknowns for how it will impact the results.
“The unknown here is how much the supporters for the various candidates will turn out,” said University of Iowa political science professor Tim Hagle. “Will the Trump supporters really be as loyal to him and as faithful to him as everyone expects?”
Hagle said if polling translates into turnout, it’s more difficult for the Republicans vying to unseat Trump as the front-runner and curbs their ability to pick up momentum as the race moves beyond Iowa.
“If Trump is still 30 points ahead or maybe even more, it seems pretty unlikely that DeSantis or Haley is going to be able to beat him or even come close because to a certain extent they are splitting the anti-Trump vote,” he said.
Hagle added that polling also shows Trump’s legal troubles haven’t dampened his support.
“Given that he was indicted in four different places, he’s got a civil trial going on in New York, he’s got a defamation trial going on there as well, states are trying to kick him off the ballot, all this means — in the eyes of a lot of his supporters — is that they’re politically persecuting him and so there’s a rally-around-the-chief effect that’s going on,” Hagle said.
Campaigns urge voters to show up
But there are signs of fatigue among Iowa voters. Retired police officer John Frank supported Trump before, but not this year.
“He’s getting up in age, just like Joe Biden, and we have to consider that,” Frank told VOA. “And he’s never learned in his life, especially his political life, to keep his mouth shut.”
Frank said he’ll caucus for DeSantis.
“Trump is probably going to win, but I don’t think it’s going to the be slam dunk people think,” said Weisheit, who has narrowed her choices to DeSantis and Haley, but not Trump.
“Well, if Trump is the candidate, I will [vote for him], but right now … he’s not the one that I will caucus for,” she said.
“You really have to energize your supporters and get them to turn out,” Hagle said, because “we often see some movement up until caucus night,” which is why the messaging from every candidate left in the race in the final days of the campaign is a push to encourage their supporters to physically show up to support them at caucus locations across the state on January 15.
https://www.voanews.com/a/dangerous-cold-snap-blankets-iowa-ahead-of-caucuses-/7439184.html Save to Pocket
US Congressional Leaders Prepare Bill to Fund Government to March
date: 2024-01-14, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders are preparing a stopgap bill to keep the federal government running into March and avoid a partial shutdown next week.
The temporary measure will run to March 1 for some federal agencies whose approved funds are set to run out Friday and extend the remainder of government operations to March 8. That’s according to a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it. Several media outlets are also reporting on the agreement to keep the government open.
The stopgap bill, expected to be released Sunday, would come as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has been under pressure from his hard-right flank in recent days to jettison a recent bipartisan spending deal with Senate Democrats. The bill would need Democratic support to pass the narrowly divided House.
Johnson insisted Friday that he is sticking with the deal he struck with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., despite pressure from some conservatives to renegotiate. Moderates in the party had urged him to stay the course.
Still, in his first big test as the new leader, he has yet to show how he will quell the revolt from his right flank that ousted his predecessor.
“Our top-line agreement remains,” Johnson said Friday, referring to the budget accord reached January 7.
That accord sets $1.66 trillion in spending for the next fiscal year, with $886 billion of the tally going to defense.
Hard-right members have criticized the deal, including several of those who helped oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s office last year after he struck a spending deal with Democrats and President Joe Biden. Some have already raised the threat of a motion to oust Johnson over the deal, not even three months after he was elected.
The hard-right flank is also insisting that new immigration policies be included, which they say would stop the record flow of migrants at the U.S-Mexico border.
Johnson met with about two dozen House Republicans this past week, many of them centrist-leaning voices urging him not to go back on his word and stick with the deal. The centrists assured Johnson that they will support him.
“I just can’t imagine the House wants to relive the madness,” said Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., who had helped McCarthy negotiate the initial agreement with Biden and the other leaders.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-congressional-leaders-prepare-bill-to-fund-government-to-march-/7439185.html Save to Pocket
The Joy of Outdoor Showers
date: 2024-01-14, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Believe me, I was shaking in my two piece at 8 a.m. But I walked down to the water between two of those swimmers and admitted my fears.
The post The Joy of Outdoor Showers appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/01/13/509396/ Save to Pocket
ISDN History: Why It (Mostly) Failed To Make A Mark
date: 2024-01-14, from: Tilde.news
https://tedium.co/2024/01/12/isdn-history-retrospective/ Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-01-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Three migrants drowned near border park, Rep. Cuellar says.
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/13/henry-cuellar-texas-border-eagle-pass/ Save to Pocket
A Champion for Goleta
date: 2024-01-14, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Most of Goleta gets to have Joan as supervisor, and we are fortunate to have her!
The post A Champion for Goleta appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/01/13/a-champion-for-goleta/ Save to Pocket
★ Margrethe Vestager Met With Tim Cook Yesterday, But I Doubt Anything Happened
date: 2024-01-14, updated: 2024-01-14, from: Daring Fireball
It’s just not clear at all exactly what Apple needs to allow to comply with the DMA, nor do any of us outside Cupertino have any idea what Apple plans to do.
https://daringfireball.net/2024/01/vestager_cook Save to Pocket
CNN: ‘FAA Keeps Boeing’s 737 Max 9 Grounded as It Reviews Inspections and Data’
date: 2024-01-14, updated: 2024-01-14, from: Daring Fireball
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/12/business/boeing-faa-manufacturing-oversight/index.html Save to Pocket
The Mom and Son Sitting in Front of the Blown Out Window on Alaska Flight 1282
date: 2024-01-14, updated: 2024-01-14, from: Daring Fireball
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/when-hole-opened-on-alaska-flight-1282-a-mom-held-tight-to-her-son/ Save to Pocket
Full Circle Weekly News 348
date: 2024-01-14, 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-348/ Save to Pocket
Challenges players face
date: 2024-01-13, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
Challenges players face
I’m running Arden Vul as an open table. Sessions are generally less than 2h long. There are maybe a dozen players, maybe half of them regulars. Arden Vul is a megadungeon. The PDF has about 1200 pages. There are many entrances, many levels, many factions, and so on. As it is a megadungeon, players can choose for themselves what difficulty level they want to go for. Conversely, if there’s a new player with a level 1 character, they can all agree to stick to lower level characters in order to make an adventure party that promises an entertaining evening for all.
Recently, I’ve started noticing that the setup introduces some player challenges that I hadn’t thought of.
If the party is powerful and the opposition is strong but clearly less powerful, then frontal assaults “work” but at the same time the session only lasts for a certain number of hours and endless fighting killing many dozens of goblins turns out to be somewhat boring.
Similarly, countless waves of weak opposition are both boring and sap away time. Even if the characters aren’t hurt, time is lost.
These are challenges that attack player entertainment somewhat like character death or long character creation, I feel.
You know how regular combat in the game attacks the player characters. Some elements of it also attack player resources. This is mostly related to character death. The result forces the player to do things they dislike: start with a new character that has fewer levels, fewer connections, less money, or incurs some other loss. Furthermore, if character creation takes a very long time, then the player has to spend the time thinking up a new build, a new concept.
In a way, an opposition that acts like a morass, wasting time unless the players find another way to circumvent the problem, is a similar attack upon the enjoyment of players. No amount of attack bonuses and initiatives won helps against waves of undead if you can’t turn them or hold them off some other way.
But there is more!
Since the megadungeon has a lot of doors and secrets that need keys, and artefacts that are required for certain goals or quests, it’s important to note who has what, and where it was found. I don’t want there to be a virtual pool of plot items in a bag of holding that is always with the group currently adventuring because even though everybody likes it now I dread the first total party kill where I announce that all the plot items are now lost. That’ll be the end of the campaign for sure.
I confess that I also hope on some level that knowing who has what plot-relevant item increases interactivity as people start to realize that for this or that to happen, they need to contact the player of the character who’s the owner of a particular item.
But yes, if players stop showing up, their characters don’t show up and the items they have, both magic items they found and plot items they hold, effectively disappear from the game.
So this is an additional player challenge of their organisational skills. Can they keep track of the items? Can they organise hand-overs?
Arden Vul is also a megadungeon where hints can be found in the hundreds of rumours, wall scribbles, frescos, mosaics, and so on. But if nobody collects and studies them, the information is effectively lost. If one player keeps notes on paper, or in their Google Docs, that information is effectively lost to the others.
I know that as a player in the Barrowmaze I’m also not a great organiser of rumours heard and information gathered. There is space for improvement!
So this is another player challenge, but not it’s about information sharing. Can they build a knowledge repository somewhere, that helps them distribute information and collect hypothesises and conclusions?
The same is true about the ruins explored, entrances found, and perhaps more importantly, the places where no entrances were found but also they left before making absolutely sure. In a few sessions, players don’t remember where they’ve been and they don’t remember whether an area was fully explored. This duplicates effort and lost opportunities.
All in all, this is a sort of price to pay for the freedom players have in this kind of setup.
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-01-13-challenging-players Save to Pocket
Highway Casino Bonus Codes in 2024 ($7,000 Welcome Bonus, Free Spins, Cashback, and More)
date: 2024-01-13, from: San Jose Mercury News
Boost your bankroll and improve your chances of hitting it big with the best Highway Casino bonus codes available right now. Check out what’s on offer!
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/13/highway-casino-bonus-codes/ Save to Pocket
Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf to run for state treasurer
date: 2024-01-13, from: San Jose Mercury News
Schaaf, who served as mayor from 2015 to 2023, aims to replace current State Treasurer Fiona Ma.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/13/former-oakland-mayor-libby-schaaf-to-run-for-state-treasurer/ Save to Pocket
San Jose: Police searching for woman kidnapped during carjacking Saturday
date: 2024-01-13, from: San Jose Mercury News
Silva was described as a “Hispanic female with long black hair, approximately 5’ 09” tall and 150 lbs,” who was last seen wearing a black sweater and black skirt, police said.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/13/san-jose-police-searching-for-woman-kidnapped-during-carjacking-saturday/ Save to Pocket
SCV Hub: ‘Virtual food hall’ a local stop for world cuisine
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Signal
The SCV Hub is the place to be for indecisive dinner plans with a group of friends or a one-stop spot to try new cuisines. From Indian to Italian to Southern, The SCV Hub is a “virtual food hall” operating on a model similar to the ghost kitchen concept that increased in popularity during the […]
The post <strong>SCV Hub: ‘Virtual food hall’ a local stop for world cuisine</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/scv-hub-virtual-food-hall-a-local-stop-for-world-cuisine/ Save to Pocket
Blood drive to be held in honor of Clinkunbroomer
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Signal
A blood drive in memory of Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer is scheduled to take place at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital on Jan. 29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In partnership with the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station and Kim Clinkunbroomer, Ryan’s mother, the American Red Cross will be hosting the blood drive in Santa Clarita later this […]
The post <strong>Blood drive to be held in honor of Clinkunbroomer</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/blood-drive-to-be-held-in-honor-of-clinkunbroomer/ Save to Pocket
Massive snowstorm not affecting Sharks’ travel plans, for now
date: 2024-01-13, from: San Jose Mercury News
San Jose Sharks on track to arrive to Saturday night at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, where nearly every arriving flight has already been canceled.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/13/massive-snowstorm-erie-county-travel-ban-not-affecting-sharks-travel-plans-for-now/ Save to Pocket
US Launches Follow-Up Strike on Houthi Radar Site
date: 2024-01-13, from: VOA News USA
washington — The United States launched a follow-up strike against a Houthi target in Yemen early Saturday, after officials said they were not satisfied with the damage inflicted during the initial round of airstrikes late Thursday.
U.S. Central Command said it launched the additional strike from the USS Carney, a guided missile destroyer, firing multiple Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles to take out a radar site that it said presented a continuing threat to maritime traffic.
The strike comes a little more than a day after the U.S. and British militaries carried out dozens of strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen in retaliation for weeks of Houthi attacks that have disrupted shipping and damaged vessels transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Early Friday, Houthi militants launched an anti-ship ballistic missile, U.S. military officials confirmed, though it did not hit any ships.
U.S. and British officials had expressed optimism Friday that the initial strikes late Thursday, which are now being described as two waves of strikes, were successful.
A U.S. defense official told VOA on Friday that the initial assessment indicates the first wave of precision strikes late on Thursday degraded the ability of the Houthis to launch further attacks.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss operational details, said a more comprehensive assessment of the strikes was still underway. But the sentiment echoed other early assessments by senior U.S. officials, who have described the damage to Houthi capabilities as “significant.”
“We feel very confident about where our munitions struck,” Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Staff, told reporters Friday. “But we don’t know at this point the complete battle damage assessment.”
More than 150 munitions aimed at Houthis
U.S. Central Command late Thursday said that U.S. fighter jets, naval vessels and submarines hit more than 60 targets at 16 locations across Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, including command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, and production facilities.
But, Sims said Friday, the U.S. and Britain launched a second wave of strikes against another 12 locations 30 minutes to an hour after the initial strikes were carried out.
The additional sites, each with multiple targets, “had been identified as possessing articles that could be potentially used against forces, maritime and air,” he said, noting the strikes were taken in self-defense.
U.S. officials said, in all, more than 150 precision guided munitions were aimed at Houthi targets, including Tomahawk missiles.
At least three U.S. guided missile cruisers and destroyers — the USS Gravely, the USS Philippine Sea, and the USS Mason — took part in the strikes along with an Ohio-class submarine, fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, and U.S. Air Force jets.
A separate statement Friday from the British Defense Ministry said four of its Typhoon fighter jets, accompanied by an air refueling tanker, used laser-guided bombs to hit two locations: a drone launch site in Bani, in northwestern Yemen, and an airfield in Abbs used to launch cruise missiles and drones at ships in the Red Sea.
“Early indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow,” the ministry said.
Retaliation likely, say US officials
Despite the optimistic strike assessments, U.S. officials said they believe the Houthis are likely to retaliate.
“My guess is that the Houthis are trying to figure things out on the ground and trying to determine what capabilities still exist for them,” Sims said. “Their rhetoric has been pretty strong and pretty high, and I would expect that they will attempt some sort of retaliation.”
“I would hope they wouldn’t,” he added, describing the Houthi efforts as “generally fruitless.”
But the White House repeated its warning Friday that the Houthis would face additional consequences if their attacks persisted.
“We will make sure that we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior, along with our allies,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in response to reporters’ questions during a stop at a coffee shop in Pennsylvania on Friday.
Reporters asked him if the Houthis are terrorists, and he replied, “I think they are.” In 2021, his administration removed the Houthis from the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.
Also Friday, the U.S. unveiled new sanctions aimed at commodity shipments that have been funding the Houthis and their Iranian backers.
U.S. Treasury Department officials imposed sanctions on a Hong-Kong-based company and another company in the United Arab Emirates, both of which have been working with Sa’id al-Jamal, a financier who has been supporting both the Houthis and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.
“We will take all available measures to stop the destabilizing activities of the Houthis and their threats to global commerce,” Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in a statement.
Since mid-November, the Houthis have launched at least 28 attacks, affecting citizens, cargo and vessels from more than 50 countries, according to the U.S.
U.S. officials have said that Biden made the decision to launch Thursday’s strikes following a Houthi attack on shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on Tuesday that involved 18 one-way attack drones, two cruise missiles and one ballistic missile.
U.S. combat jets, along with U.S. and British military vessels, responded by shooting down the drones and missiles, averting any damage to ships or injuries to their crews in the area.
Last week, the United States and 12 allies issued a statement warning the Houthis of unspecified consequences if their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea continued.
The statement followed the launch in mid-December of Operation Prosperity Guardian by the United States, Britain and nearly 20 other countries to protect ships from Houthi attacks.
Since the launch of Prosperity Guardian, at least 1,500 vessels have passed safely through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
The U.N. Security Council adopted its own resolution Wednesday, calling on the Houthis to stop the attacks immediately.
But Russia, which abstained in the vote, called for an emergency meeting of the council Friday evening to discuss the strikes. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called the U.S.-British strikes a “blatant armed aggression against another country.” He argued that the strikes did not meet the conditions for self-defense under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter.
“Article 51 does not apply to the situation with commercial shipping,” Nebenzia said. “The right to self-defense cannot be exercised in order to ensure the freedom of shipping. Our American colleagues know this fact very well.”
In a statement Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea area are “not acceptable” and endanger the safety and security of global supply chains and have a negative impact on the economic and humanitarian situation worldwide. He urged the Houthis to immediately cease their attacks and called for all parties to respect the Security Council resolution in its entirety.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Council that the strikes were consistent with international law and Article 51. She said Washington does not take such strikes lightly and they were only carried out “after non-military options proved inadequate to address the threat.”
VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara and U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-launches-follow-up-strike-on-houthi-radar-site-/7438870.html Save to Pocket
Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry to miss Saturday’s game against Milwaukee Bucks
date: 2024-01-13, from: San Jose Mercury News
Warriors are giving star Steph Curry the night off Saturday to rest in the middle of long Midwest trip.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/13/golden-state-warriors-steph-curry-to-miss-saturdays-game-against-milwaukee-bucks/ Save to Pocket
Best Live Poker Sites in 2024 for Poker Tournaments, High-Traffic Cash Games & Rakeback
date: 2024-01-13, from: San Jose Mercury News
Our experts have compiled the ultimate list of the top live poker sites that deliver thrilling live poker tournaments, generous bonuses, high-traffic tables, and more.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/13/live-poker-sites/ Save to Pocket
A British D-Day veteran celebrates turning 100, but the big event is yet to come
date: 2024-01-13, from: San Jose Mercury News
British D-Day veteran Bill Gladden turned 100 on Saturday, a day after his niece threw a surprise birthday party for him. It was a big fuss he didn’t really expect, though the old soldier had tears in his eyes long before he caught sight of a cake decorated with a replica of his uniform and the medals he earned.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/13/a-british-d-day-veteran-celebrates-turning-100-but-the-big-event-is-yet-to-come/ Save to Pocket
Genocide case against Israel: Where does the rest of the world stand on the momentous allegations?
date: 2024-01-13, from: San Jose Mercury News
South Africa says more than 50 countries have expressed support for its case at the United Nations’ top court accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in the war in Gaza.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/13/genocide-case-against-israel-where-does-the-rest-of-the-world-stand-on-the-momentous-allegations/ Save to Pocket
A weekend of ferocious winter weather could see low-temperature records set in the US heartland
date: 2024-01-13, from: San Jose Mercury News
A long weekend of ferocious winter weather loomed across the U.S. on Saturday, as a continuing wave of Arctic storms threatened to break low-temperature records in the nation’s heartland, spread cold and snow from coast to coast and cast a chill over everything ranging from football playoffs to presidential campaigns.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/13/a-weekend-of-ferocious-winter-weather-could-see-low-temperature-records-set-in-the-us-heartland/ Save to Pocket
Shuttered Bakery Sweet Lady Jane Is Facing a Lawsuit for Wage Theft, Mismanagement
date: 2024-01-13, updated: 2024-01-13, from: The LAist
The popular bakery, which had operated for 30 years until the end of 2023, was sued in June for failing to pay overtime, provide rest periods, and other alleged labor violations.
https://laist.com/news/shuttered-bakery-sweet-lady-jane-faces-lawsuit-for-wage-theft-mismanagement Save to Pocket
Ex-Sharks forward, now in Russia, garners interest from NHL teams
date: 2024-01-13, from: San Jose Mercury News
NHL teams have expressed interest in acquiring forward Sasha Chmelevski from the San Jose Sharks
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/13/ex-sharks-forward-now-in-russia-garners-interest-from-nhl-teams/ Save to Pocket
One transported with minor injuries in traffic collision
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Signal
One person was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries after a traffic collision occurred on Highway 14 at Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon County on Saturday morning, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department officials. According to Ed Pickett, supervising fire dispatcher for the L.A. County Fire Department, first responders were dispatched at […]
The post One transported with minor injuries in traffic collision appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/one-transported-with-minor-injuries-in-traffic-collision/ Save to Pocket
Biden: US Delivered Private Message to Iran About Houthi Attacks
date: 2024-01-13, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden said Saturday the United States had delivered a private message to Iran about Iran-backed Houthis responsible for attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
“We delivered it privately, and we’re confident we’re well-prepared,” Biden told reporters at the White House before departing to the Camp David presidential retreat for the weekend.
The Houthi movement threatened a “strong and effective response” after the United States carried out another strike in Yemen overnight, further ratcheting up tensions as Washington vows to protect shipping from attacks by the Iran-aligned group.
The latest strike, which the U.S. said hit a radar site, came a day after dozens of American and British strikes on Houthi facilities in Yemen.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said Friday the initial strikes had hit the Houthis’ ability to store, launch and guide missiles or drones, which the group has used to threaten shipping.
He said Washington had no interest in a war with Yemen.
Biden, whose administration removed the Houthis from a State Department list of “foreign terrorist organizations” in 2021, was asked by reporters Friday whether he felt the term “terrorist” described the movement now. “I think they are,” Biden said.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-us-delivered-private-message-to-iran-about-houthi-attacks/7438822.html Save to Pocket
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-01-13, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Fact checking Israeli military propaganda that supports their genocide:
https://www.oct7factcheck.com/index
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/111750093961201557 Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-01-13, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
I still believe tech companies can play a very important role in the open internet, as long as they are willing to treat users as customers and sell a product that has value without the usual michegas.
http://scripting.com/2024/01/13.html#a174302 Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-01-13, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
I’ve been listening to the Grateful Dead today. Today my most favorite Dead song is Ripple. I love the bass beat, and the simple lyric. A wonderful sing-along. Let there be songs to fill the air. A song about singing. Love it.
http://scripting.com/2024/01/13.html#a175218 Save to Pocket
ROUGOL escapes to the light – 15th January
date: 2024-01-13, from: RiscOS Story
With the days still short and the nights long, who wouldn’t want to escape to the light? And that’s what the RISC OS User Group of London (ROUGOL) will be doing on Monday, 15th January, with the help of Tony Bartram from AMCOG Games. Well, almost – Tony will actually be talking to the group about the game called Escape to the Light, which is currently in development, covering his inspiration and the development process for the game. Spoiler alert: Tony has uploaded a few videos blogging the process, so…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/rougol-escapes-to-the-light-15th-january/ Save to Pocket
Pluralistic: Tech workers and gig workers need each other (13 Jan 2024)
date: 2024-01-13, from: Cory Doctorow’s blog
Today’s links Tech workers and gig workers need each other: Each disenshittifies the other. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019, 2023 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading Tech workers and gig workers need each other (permalink) We’re living in the enshittocene, in which the forces of enshittification are turning everything from our cars to our streaming services to our dishwashers into thoroughly enshittifified piles of shit. Call it the Great Enshittening: https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain How did we arrive at this juncture? Is it the end of the zero rate interest policy? Was it that the companies that formerly made useful things that we valued underwent a change in leadership that drove them to make things worse? Is Mercury in retrograde? None of the above. There have been many junctures in which investors demanded higher returns from firms but were not able to force them to dramatically worsen their products. Moreover, the leaders now presiding over the rapid unscheduled disassembly of once-useful products are the same people who oversaw their golden age. As to Mercury? Well, I’m a Cancer, and as everyone knows, Cancers don’t believe in astrology. The Great Enshittening isn’t precipitated by a change in how greedy and callous corporate leaders are. Rather, the change is in what those greedy, callous corporate leaders can get away with. Capitalists hate capitalism. For a corporate executive, the fact that you have to make good things, please your customers, pay your workers, and beat the competition are all bugs, not features. The best business is one in which people simply pay you money without your having to do anything or worry that someday they’ll stop. UBI for the investor class, in other words. Douglas Rushkoff calls this “going meta.” Don’t sell things, provide a platform where people sell things. Don’t provide a platform, invest in the platform. Don’t invest in the platform, buy options on the platform. Don’t buy options, buy derivatives of options. A more precise analysis comes from economist Yanis Varoufakis, who calls this technofeudalism. Varoufakis draws our attention to the distinction between profits and rents. Profit is the income a capitalist receives from mobilizing workers to do something productive and then skimming off the surplus created by their labor. By contrast, rent is income a feudalist derives from simply owning something that a capitalist or a worker needs in order to be productive. The entrepreneur who opens a coffee shop earns profits by creaming off the surplus value created by the baristas. The rentier who owns the building the coffee shop rents gets money simply for owning the building. The coffee shop owner can never rest. At any moment, another coffee shop can open down the street and lure away their customers and their baristas. When that happens, the coffee shop goes bust and the owner is ruined. But not the landlord! After the coffee shop goes bust, the landlord’s asset is more valuable – an empty storefront just down the street from the hottest coffee shop in town. Capitalists hate capitalism. Faced with a choice of retaining their workers by paying them a fair wage and treating them well, or by saddling them with noncompetes that make it impossible to work for anyone else in the same field, and obligations to repay tens of thousands of dollars for “training” if they quit, bosses will take the latter every time. Go meta, baby. Same for competition. Faced with the choice of competing to win the most customers with the best products, or merging so that customers have nowhere else to go, even the bitterest of rivals find it remarkably easy to intermarry until our corporations landscape is so interbred the dominant firms all have Habsburg jaws. Think: Facebook-Instagram. Disney-Fox. Microsoft-Activision: https://locusmag.com/2021/07/cory-doctorow-tech-monopolies-and-the-insufficient-necessity-of-interoperability/ Enshittification has complex underlying dynamics and a reliable procession of stages, but the effect is quite straightforward: things are enshittified when they become worse for the people who use them and the suppliers who makes them, but nevertheless, the users keep using and the suppliers keep supplying. There are four forces that stand in the way of enshittification, and as each of these forces grows weaker, enshittification proliferates. The first and most important of these constraints is competition. Capitalists claim to love competition because it keeps firms sharp: they must constantly find ways to improve products and cut costs or be swept away by a superior alternative. There’s a degree of truth here, but that’s not the whole story. For one thing, competition can “improve” things that we would rather see abolished. Critics of the GDPR, the EU’s landmark privacy law, often point to the devastation that enforcing privacy law had on the European ad-tech industry, driving small firms out of business. But these firms were the most egregious privacy offenders, because they had the least to lose, lacking the dominant position of US-based Big Tech surveillance companies. Having the least to lose, they were the most reckless with their privacy invasions – but they were also the least equipped to pay expensive enablers from giant corporate law firms to hold off European enforcers, and so they were obliterated. The resulting lack of competition is fine, as far as privacy goes: we don’t want competition in the field of “who is most efficient at violating our human rights”: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/04/fighting-floc-and-fighting-monopoly-are-fully-compatible But there’s another benefit to competition: disorganization. A sector with hundreds of medium-sized, competing companies is a squabbling mob, incapable of agreeing on the site for an annual meeting. An industry dominated by a handful of firms is a cartel, handily capable of presenting a unified front to policy makers, and their commercial coziness provides them with vast war-chests they can use to suborn governments and capture their regulators: https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/05/regulatory-capture/ Competition is the first constraint. When there’s competition, corporate managers fear that you will respond to enshittification by defecting to a rival, costing them money. They don’t care about your satisfaction, but they do care about your money, and competition hitches their ability to satisfy you to their ability to get paid by you. Competition has been circling the drain for 40 years, as the “consumer welfare” theory of antitrust, hatched by Reagan’s court sorcerers at the University of Chicago School of Economics, took hold. This theory insists that monopolies are evidence of “efficiency” – if everyone shops at one store, that’s evidence that it’s the best store, not evidence that they’re cheating. For 40 years, we’ve allowed companies to violate antitrust law by merging with major competitors, acquiring fledgling rivals, and using investor cash to sell below cost so that no one else can enter the market. This has produced the inbred industrial hulks of today, with five or fewer firms dominating everything from eyeglasses to banking, sea freight to professional wrestling: https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/monopoly-by-the-numbers The endless and continuous weakening of competition has emboldened corporate enshittifiers, who operate on the logic of Lily Tomlin in her role as an AT&T spokeswoman: “We don’t care. We don’t have to. We’re the phone company”: https://vimeo.com/355556831 But the drawdown of competition has also enabled regulatory capture, by converting cutthroat adversaries to kissing cousins. These companies have convinced their regulators not to enforce privacy, consumer protection or labor laws, provided that the gross violations of these laws are accomplished via apps. This is where tech exceptionalism is warranted: while the bosses that run these companies aren’t any nobler – or more wicked – than the Robber Barons of yore, they are equipped with a digital back-end for their businesses that let them change the rules of the game from moment to moment. Think of labor law: as Veena Dubal writes, gig-work companies practice algorithmic wage discrimination, turning your paycheck into a slot machine that pays out more when you are more selective about which jobs you take, and which then docks your pay by tiny increments as you become less discriminating about answering the app’s call: https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men This is a plain violation of labor law, but the fiction that gig workers are contractors, combined with the opacity and speed of the wage discrimination back-end, lets the companies get away with it. But the monsters who hatched this scam are no worse than their forebears, nor are they any smarter. Any black-hearted coal-boss memorialized in a Tennessee Ernie Ford song would have gladly practiced algorithmic wage discrimination – but there just weren’t enough green-eyeshade accountants in the back office to change the payout from second to second. I call this “twiddling” – turning the knobs on the back end to continuously adjust the business logic that the firm operates on: https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/ Twiddling is everywhere, and it is only possible because “it’s not a crime if we use an app” has been accepted by (captured) regulators. Think of Amazon’s “pricing paradox,” where deceptive search results – which Amazon makes $38b/year on – allow the company to offer lower prices, but charge higher ones: https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens The first constraint on enshittification is competition – the fear that you’ll lose money when a disgusted customer take their business elsewhere. The second constraint is regulation – the fear that a regulator’s punishment will eat up all the expected gains from an enshittificatory move, or even exceed those gains, leading to a net loss. But the less competition there is in a sector, the easier it is for the remaining companies to capture their regulators. Say goodbye to that second constraint. But there’s another constraint – another one that’s unique to technology, and genuinely exceptional. That’s self-help. Digital technology is infinitely flexible, which is why managers can twiddle the business logic and change the rules on a dime. But it’s a double-edged sword. Users can twiddle back. The universal nature of digital products means it’s always technically possible to disenshittify the enshittified products in your world. Mercedes wants to charge you rent on your accelerator pedal via a monthly subscription? Just mod the car by toggling the “subscription paid” bit and get the accelerator for free: https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon HP tricks you into installing a “security update” that sneakily disables your printer’s ability to recognize and use third-party ink? Just roll back the operating system and you won’t be forced to spend $10,000/gallon to print out your boarding passes and shopping lists: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer Self-help – AKA “adversarial interoperability” – isn’t just a way to override the greedy choices of corporate sadists. It’s a way to hold those sadists in check. It’s a constraint. Imagine a boardroom where someone says, “I calculate that if we make our ads 25% more invasive and obnoxious, we can eke out 2% more in ad-revenue.” If you think of a business as a transhuman colony organism that exists to maximize shareholder value, this is a no-brainer. But now consider the rejoinder: “If we make our ads 25% more obnoxious, then 50% of our users will be motivated to type, ‘how do I block ads?’ into a search engine. When that happens, we don’t merely lose out on the expected 2% of additional revenue – our income from those users falls to zero, forever.” Self-help is the third constraint on enshittification. But when competition fails, and regulatory capture ensues, companies don’t just gain the ability to flout the law – they get to wield the law, too. Tech firms have cultivated a thicket of laws, rules and regulations that make self-help measures very illegal. This thicket is better known as “IP,” a term that is best understood as meaning “any policy that lets me control the conduct of my competitors, my customers and my critics”: https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/ To put an ad-blocker in an app, you have to reverse-engineer it. To do that, you’ll have to decrypt and decompile it. That step is a felony under Section 1201 of the DMCA, carrying a five-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine. Beyond that, ad-blocking an app would give rise to liability under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (a law inspired by the movie Wargames!), under “tortious interference” claims, under trademark, copyright and patent. More than 50% of web users have installed an ad-blocker: https://doc.searls.com/2023/11/11/how-is-the-worlds-biggest-boycott-doing/ But zero percent of app users have installed an ad-blocker, because they don’t exist, because you’d go to prison if you made one. An app is just a web-page wrapped in enough IP to make it a felony to add an ad-blocker to it. This is why self-help, the third constraint, no longer applies. When a corporate sadist says, “let’s make ads 25% more obnoxious to get 2% more revenue,” no one says, “if we do that, our users will all install blockers.” Instead, the response is, “let’s make ads 100% more obnoxious and get an 8% revenue boost!” https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/16/23763227/uber-video-advertising-ads-taxi-food-delivery-apps Which brings me to the final constraint: workers. Tech workers have historically enjoyed enormous bargaining power, thanks to a dire shortage of qualified personnel. While this allowed tech workers to command high salaries and cushy benefits, it also led many workers to conceive of themselves as entrepreneurs-in-waiting and not workers at all. This made tech workers very exploitable: their bosses could sell them on the idea that they were doing something heroic, which warranted “extremely hardcore” expectations – working 16 hour days, sleeping under your desk, sacrificing your health, your family and your personal life to meet deadlines and ship products (“Real artists ship” – S. Jobs). But the flip side of this appeal to heroism is that it only worked to the extent that it convinced workers to genuinely care about the things they made. When you miss you mother’s funeral and pass on having kids in order to meet deadline and ship a product, the prospect of making that product worse is unthinkable. Confronted by the moral injury of enshittifying a product you care about, and harming the users you see yourself as representing, many tech workers balked at the prospect. Because tech workers were scarce – and because there were plenty of employment prospects for workers who quit – they could actually prevent their bosses from making their products worse: https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/25/moral-injury/#enshittification But those days are behind us, too. Mass tech worker layoffs have gutted tech workers’ confidence. When Google lays off 12,000 tech workers just months after a stock buyback that would have paid their wages for the next 27 years, they deliver two benefits to their shareholders. It’s not just the short-term gains from the financial engineering – there’s the long-term gain of gutting worker power and stripping away the final impediment to enshittification: https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/10/the-proletarianization-of-tech-workers/ No matter how strong an individual tech worker’s bargaining power was, it was always brittle. Long before googlers were being laid off in five-digit cohorts, they were working in an environment where harassment and predation were just part of the job. The 20,000+ googlers who walked off the job in 2018 were an important step towards replacing the system where each tech worker’s power was limited to their moment-to-moment importance to their bosses’ plans with a new system based on a collective identity. Only through collective action and solidarity – unions – could tech workers hope to truly resist all the moral injuries of their bosses enshittification imperatives. No surprise then, that tech unions are on the rise: https://abookapart.com/products/you-deserve-a-tech-union But what is a little surprising – and very heartening! – is what happens when techies start to self-identify as workers: they come to understand that they share common cause with the other workers at the bottom of the tech stack. Think of Amazon’s tech workers walking out in solidarity with Amazon’s warehouse workers: https://gizmodo.com/tech-workers-speak-out-in-support-of-amazon-warehouse-s-1842839301 Superficially, the bottom rank of the tech industry is as different from the tech workers at the top as you can imagine. Tech workers are formally employed, with stock options, health care and theme-park “campuses” with gyms and gourmet cafeterias. The gig workers who pack, drive, deliver and support tech products aren’t even employees – they’re misclassified as contractors. They don’t get free massages – they get AI bosses that monitor their eyeballs and dock their paychecks for peeing: https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/11/robots-stole-my-jerb/#computer-says-no Gig workers desperately need unions, but they also derive extraordinary benefits from self-help measures. When an app is your boss, another app can make all the difference to your working conditions. Take Para, an app that fights algorithmic wage discrimination by allowing gig workers to collectively and automatically refuse any job where the pay is below a certain threshold, forcing the algorithm to pay everyone more: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/tech-rights-are-workers-rights-doordash-edition Para is fighting a grim legal and technical battle against companies like Doordash, whose margins depend on atomized workers with atomized apps, prohibited from countertwiddling. This is a surprisingly effective tactic: in Indonesia, gig workers co-ops create suites of “tuyul” apps that modify the behavior of their bosses’ apps’, unilaterally securing concessions that they lack the bargaining power to secure by other means: https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/08/tuyul-apps/#gojek Tuyul apps and other forms of countertwiddling aren’t a substitute for unionization, they’re an adjunct to it. The union negotiator whose rank-and-file are able to modify the apps that monitor and control their working conditions operates from a position of strength. “Please give my members more bathroom breaks” is a lot weaker than, “If you want my members to stop hacking their apps so they can piss when they need to, you’re going to have to give them official bathroom breaks.” This is where solidarity between the high-paid tech workers at the keyboard and low-paid tech workers on the delivery bikes comes in. Together, they can wring more concessions from their bosses, sure. But unionized coders can give their unionized delivery riders the apps they need to countertwiddle and increase the bargaining leverage of all the workers in the union. And when unionized coders’ bosses force them to put enshittifying anti-features in the apps they care about, unionized front-line workers can run counter-apps that disenshittify them. Other sectors are already working through versions of this. The ouster of the old corrupt leadership of the Teamsters ushered in a new, radical era that produced historic wage and working condition gains for drivers and the abolition of the two-tier contract system that eventually destroys any union that tries it. That change in leadership was possible because the Teamsters organized the Harvard Grad Students, and those Harvard kids memorized the union rulebook. At the historic conference where the old guard was abolished, it was teamwork between the union rank-and-file and the rules-lawyers from Harvard that turned the proceedings around: https://theintercept.com/2023/04/07/deconstructed-union-dhl-teamsters-uaw/ We are deep into the enshittocene and it is terribly demoralizing. But by understanding the constraints that kept enshittification at bay, we can rebuild them, and shore them up. Labor organizing among all kinds of tech workers isn’t just a way to get a better deal for those workers – it’s key to the disenshittification of all our lives. Hey look at this (permalink) Maintenance: Of Everything https://books.worksinprogress.co New Podcast “Necessary Tomorrows” Offers Hopeful Visions of the Future https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-podcast-necessary-tomorrows-offers-hopeful-visions-of-the-future-302028975.html (h/t Chris Brown) The Bill Gates Problem https://www.c-span.org/video/?531845-1/the-bill-gates-problem This day in history (permalink) #20yrsago Kodak gives up on film cameras https://web.archive.org/web/20040401104936/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3948032&p1=0 #20yrsago Tim O’Reilly’s 2004 wishlist https://web.archive.org/web/20040119133107/http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/4117 #20yrsago Gene Wolfe interviewed by Neil Gaiman https://web.archive.org/web/20040407120711/http://www.bordersstores.com/features/feature.jsp?file=gaimanwolfe #20yrsago S-Train blogger confronts a troll in meatspace https://web.archive.org/web/20040211084754/http://s-train.kaphmedia.net/archives/000318.php #15yrsago Complete fan-reading of my essay collection “Content” https://archive.org/details/CoryDoctorow-Content_268 #15yrsago Bush official: we tortured Gitmo detainee https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011303372_pf.html #15yrsago Thomas Edison’s crappy, price-fixing EULA https://web.archive.org/web/20090125121517/http://www.alchemysite.com/blog/2009/01/eula-end-user-license-agreement-edison.html #10yrsago Why fiction works https://locusmag.com/2014/01/cory-doctorow-cheap-writing-tricks/ #10yrsago Holding mirrors up to police lines at #Euromaidan https://web.archive.org/web/20140113120206/http://www.kyivpost.com/multimedia/photo/mirror-action-in-memory-of-nov-30-334467.html #5yrsago China has a very Orwellian reason for banning typing “1984” on social media, while allowing people to read Nineteen Eighty-Four https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/01/why-1984-and-animal-farm-arent-banned-china/580156/ #5yrsago Hannu Rajaniemi’s Summerland: a midcentury spy thriller, with the afterlife https://memex.craphound.com/2019/01/13/hannu-rajaniemis-summerland-a-midcentury-spy-thriller-with-the-afterlife/ #5yrsago Not customers: doctors have patients, libraries have patrons, lawyers have clients and teachers have students https://memex.craphound.com/2019/01/13/not-customers-doctors-have-patients-libraries-have-patrons-lawyers-have-clients-and-teachers-have-students/ #5yrsago Trump chose a thin-skinned, blowhard ignoramus as ambassador to Germany, and now no one will talk to him except Nazis https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/u-s-ambassador-richard-grenell-is-isolated-in-berlin-a-1247610.html #5yrsago An embroidered computer whose circuits are ornate, golden thread https://ireneposch.net/the-embroidered-computer/ #1yrago Booklist on “Red Team Blues” https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/13/marty-hench/#red-team-blues Colophon (permalink) Today’s top sources: Currently writing: A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING Picks and Shovels, a Martin Hench noir thriller about the heroic era of the PC. FORTHCOMING TOR BOOKS JAN 2025 The Bezzle, a Martin Hench noir thriller novel about the prison-tech industry. FORTHCOMING TOR BOOKS FEB 2024 Vigilant, Little Brother short story about remote invigilation. FORTHCOMING ON TOR.COM Spill, a Little Brother short story about pipeline protests. FORTHCOMING ON TOR.COM Latest podcast: The Internet’s Original Sin https://craphound.com/news/2023/12/17/the-internets-original-sin/) Upcoming appearances: Books & Books (Coral Gables, Florida), Jan 22 https://www.booksandbooks.com/event/in-person-an-evening-with-cory-doctorow/ Marshall McLuhan Lecture 2024 (Berlin), Jan 29 https://transmediale.de/en/2024/event/mcluhan-2024 The Lost Cause at Otherland (Berlin), Jan 30 https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/autor-innenabend-mit-cory-doctorow.html Recent appearances: The Lost Cause (The Writer’s Voice) https://www.writersvoice.net/2024/01/cory-doctorow-the-lost-cause/ What the Future will Bring (Homeless Romantic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_Vq8qW2A8I Talking “The Lost Cause” with Warren Mosler (MMT Podcast) https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-182-cory-95211955 Latest books: “The Lost Cause:” a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). Signed, personalized copies at Dark Delicacies (https://www.darkdel.com/store/p3007/Pre-Order_Signed_Copies%3A_The_Lost_Cause_HB.html#/) “The Internet Con”: A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). “Red Team Blues”: “A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before.” Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. Signed copies at Dark Delicacies (US): and Forbidden Planet (UK): https://forbiddenplanet.com/385004-red-team-blues-signed-edition-hardcover/. “Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin”, on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com “Attack Surface”: The third Little Brother novel, a standalone technothriller for adults. The Washington Post called it “a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance.” Order signed, personalized copies from Dark Delicacies https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html “How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism”: an anti-monopoly pamphlet analyzing the true harms of surveillance capitalism and proposing a solution. https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59?sk=f6cd10e54e20a07d4c6d0f3ac011af6b) (signed copies: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2024/Available_Now%3A__How_to_Destroy_Surveillance_Capitalism.html) “Little Brother/Homeland”: A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583; personalized/signed copies here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1750/July%3A__Little_Brother_%26_Homeland.html “Poesy the Monster Slayer” a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627. Get a personalized, signed copy here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2682/Corey_Doctorow%3A_Poesy_the_Monster_Slayer_HB.html#/. Upcoming books: The Bezzle: a sequel to “Red Team Blues,” about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books, February 2024 Picks and Shovels: a sequel to “Red Team Blues,” about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books, February 2025 Unauthorized Bread: a graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2025 This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Twitter (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://twitter.com/doctorow Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic “When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla” -Joey “Accordion Guy” DeVilla
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/13/solidarity-forever/ Save to Pocket
Deck Part 2: Framing
date: 2024-01-13, updated: 2024-01-13, from: Russell Graves, Syonyk’s Project Blog
https://www.sevarg.net/2024/01/13/deck-part-2-framing/ Save to Pocket
Redeployment Part Two
date: 2024-01-13, from: brr, an Antarctica IT blog
Station opening, and my flight out of Pole!
https://brr.fyi/posts/redeployment-part-two Save to Pocket
Bullet Points: OpenAI looks for its FarmVille, 90s tech nostalgia, and more on the Substack drama
date: 2024-01-13, from: Dave Karpf’s blog
Hi everyone, I’ve got three items to share, none of which merits a stand-alone post. So it’s time for another edition of Bullet Points, where Dave just talks about a bunch of stuff! Today: OpenAI is looking for its FarmVille, 90s tech nostalgia, and more Substack drama!
https://davekarpf.substack.com/p/bullet-points-openai-looks-for-its Save to Pocket
Podcast: How You Change, When You Learn Something New.
date: 2024-01-13, from: James Fallows, Substack
“I saw an interview with Harrison Ford, who learned to fly when he was 50. He said, ‘I hadn’t learned anything in a long time.’” For Patrick Chovanec, novice pilot at age 50, that rang a bell.
https://fallows.substack.com/p/podcast-how-you-change-when-you-learn Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-01-13, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
If you work on a team with other people who use Drummer (my outliner), you can share outlines with each other to “narrate your work.” It's like blogging on a team level.
http://docserver.scripting.com/drummer/instantOutlines.opml Save to Pocket
NASA, Lockheed Martin reveal subtly supersonic X-59 plane
date: 2024-01-13, updated: 2024-01-13, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Boffins say the quiet part out loud: There’s no room for the sonic boom
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft made its public debut on Friday in a media event at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California, where the plane was designed.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/01/13/nasa_lockheed_martin_x59/ Save to Pocket
YOU LOVE TO SEE IT: Regulators Come For Boeing and Co.
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Lever News
Following The Lever’s reporting, the companies behind a recent airliner accident could be facing a reckoning.
https://www.levernews.com/you-love-to-see-it-regulators-come-for-boeing-and-co/ Save to Pocket
Our View | Barger: An Unequivocal Endorsement
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Signal
By The Signal Editorial Board Ever since L.A. County’s 5th District voters first sent Kathryn Barger to downtown Los Angeles as their representative in 2016, she has done an exemplary job representing the residents of the district, which includes the Santa Clarita Valley. She hit the ground running because she had plenty of experience responding […]
The post Our View | Barger: An Unequivocal Endorsement appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/our-view-barger-an-unequivocal-endorsement/ Save to Pocket
The 24 Most Anticipated Video Games Of 2024
date: 2024-01-13, updated: 2024-01-13, from: The LAist
2024 may not have quite the stacked release calendar of 2023, but “Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth” is right around the corner. Signs also point to Nintendo Switch 2 later this year.
https://laist.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/the-24-most-anticipated-video-games-of-2024 Save to Pocket
Neil Fitzgerald | The Utter Calamity at Our Border
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Signal
In 2023 I wrote a column expressing concern about our southern border, especially with the Biden Administration rolling back previous Republican policies. In the aftermath, a number of media outlets spun a narrative that everything was fine, nothing to see here and that Republicans were “pouncing” and “seizing” and that the Biden Administration had everything […]
The post Neil Fitzgerald | The Utter Calamity at Our Border appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/neil-fitzgerald-the-utter-calamity-at-our-border/ Save to Pocket
Bordallo: 30 graduating officers makes DOC ‘a safer place’
date: 2024-01-13, from: Guam Daily Post
The Department of Corrections is “a safer place” after the graduation of 30 new corrections officers, Director Fred Bordallo said during a graduation ceremony on Friday morning.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/bordallo-30-graduating-officers-makes-doc-a-safer-place/article_ace99080-b0f3-11ee-8d03-4b282130bb3f.html Save to Pocket
Management statement pending in assistant AG termination case
date: 2024-01-13, from: Guam Daily Post
Lawyers for the Office of the Attorney General and Donna Lawrence, a former assistant attorney general, still hadn’t submitted a case management statement as of their first status call with the Civil Service Commission on Jan. 10, and had agreed…
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/management-statement-pending-in-assistant-ag-termination-case/article_f44e3f4e-b129-11ee-b44f-2bef661c4f2a.html Save to Pocket
Meth arrest results in multiple assault charges
date: 2024-01-13, from: Guam Daily Post
A man was charged with several counts of assault stemming from multiple incidents reported since October.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/meth-arrest-results-in-multiple-assault-charges/article_26c45ad2-b0ec-11ee-92af-3be76d4b7b6d.html Save to Pocket
GPA seeks completion of projects to mitigate 12-15 months of vulnerability
date: 2024-01-13, from: Guam Daily Post
Editor’s note: the final paragraph in this article initially quoted Guam Power Authority General Manager John Benavente as saying most load shedding mitigation projects needed to be completed around the May 2025 timeframe. It has been corrected to say May…
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/gpa-seeks-completion-of-projects-to-mitigate-12-15-months-of-vulnerability/article_68051b56-b0f3-11ee-8449-471808a75e63.html Save to Pocket
Different journeys: An exhibit of mothers and sons
date: 2024-01-13, from: Guam Daily Post
Two unique, inspirational and eclectic art exhibits are now on display at the Lees-Reyes Art Gallery in the Tumon Sands Plaza featuring two mothers and their sons. The exhibits will be on display until Feb. 13.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/different-journeys-an-exhibit-of-mothers-and-sons/article_b9a623d0-aeb2-11ee-b2cc-73d15aeaf5c3.html Save to Pocket
Many gather, wave teal and white for Cervical Cancer Month
date: 2024-01-13, from: Guam Daily Post
Local nonprofit and school organizations wore teal and white during Guam Cancer Care’s “Real Strong Teal Strong” wave Friday at the ITC intersection in Tamuning.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/many-gather-wave-teal-and-white-for-cervical-cancer-month/article_17031ee2-b1b1-11ee-a3e0-23359f782783.html Save to Pocket
Man, 23, accused of sending pornography to minor, 14
date: 2024-01-13, from: Guam Daily Post
A 23-year-old man was accused of sending nude photos to a 14-year-old special-needs student.
https://www.postguam.com/news/local/man-23-accused-of-sending-pornography-to-minor-14/article_70658068-b0f0-11ee-99cc-cbde4bac8da7.html Save to Pocket
Hilmar Rosenast | A Biblical Correction
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Signal
Re: Ron Perry, letters, Jan. 10. You have every right to believe what you want. However, it seems you may not be as well informed as you think. I will not address every point you make but limit it to a most simple one, namely, “None of the four gospel writers were eyewitnesses to the […]
The post Hilmar Rosenast | A Biblical Correction appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/hilmar-rosenast-a-biblical-correction/ Save to Pocket
Thomas Oatway | New Year’s Thanks
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Signal
With the start of a new year, I thought it would be appropriate to express my thanks for my blessings, and reflect on some challenges for 2024. Unfortunately, many of us are quick to express frustration with our current condition, and reluctant to show gratitude for what we have. First and foremost, I have to […]
The post Thomas Oatway | New Year’s Thanks appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/thomas-oatway-new-years-thanks/ Save to Pocket
Arthur Saginian | If You Believe, It’s Not a Lie
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Signal
Pastor David Hegg pretty much described himself while accusing others of buying into “noble lies” (commentary, Dec. 17) because he is also guilty of “buying into” something that he has not validated/verified (i.e. I once tried and I failed to verify the existence of God). But I can’t really accuse Hegg of “telling” noble lies […]
The post Arthur Saginian | If You Believe, It’s Not a Lie appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/arthur-saginian-if-you-believe-its-not-a-lie/ Save to Pocket
They’re Like Little Free Libraries, But Stocked With DVDs And Look Like Blockbuster Video
date: 2024-01-13, updated: 2024-01-13, from: The LAist
These free DVD pantries have been popping up across the nation since 2019. The latest franchise is in Sun Valley.
https://laist.com/news/los-angeles-activities/little-free-libraries-dvds-blockbuster-video Save to Pocket
Bad Internet? Good Chance You’ll Miss a Key NFL Playoff Game This Weekend
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Markup blog
The real contest may not be the Dolphins versus the reigning champ Chiefs, but how Peacock’s streaming wars fare in parts of the country with low connectivity
https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2024/01/13/bad-internet-good-chance-youll-miss-a-key-nfl-playoff-game-this-weekend Save to Pocket
Robert Lamoureux | New laws on decks and catwalks: What you need to know
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Signal
Due to an overwhelming number of emails I’ve received with inquiries about new statutes for decking and catwalks, I am sharing the facts that I have gathered. The new statutes are Senate Bill 326 and SB721. SB326 is for homeowners associations and SB721 is for apartments. These regulations are for exterior decks and catwalk […]
The post Robert Lamoureux | New laws on decks and catwalks: What you need to know appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/robert-lamoureux-new-laws-on-decks-and-catwalks-what-you-need-to-know/ Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-01-13, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Supreme Court to Decide if States Can Prohibit Emergency Abortions.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/supreme-court-states-emergency-abortion-1234945425/ Save to Pocket
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/not-real-news-a-look-at-what-didnt-happen-this-week-122/ Save to Pocket
Inoculated against democracy: Trump immunity claim is dangerous
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Donald Trump was in federal court Wednesday as his lawyers laid out his preposterous argument that presidents are immune from federal prosecution for actions taken in office unless impeached and convicted in the Senate. Whatever the three-judge appeals panel decides, the case will most likely end up before the Supreme Court, which must reject this ridiculous notion.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/opinion/inoculated-against-democracy-trump-immunity-claim-is-dangerous/ Save to Pocket
Washington’s Kalen DeBoer signs deal to replace Nick Saban at Alabama, AP source says
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>SEATTLE — Two hours and four minutes before Alabama coach Nick Saban’s retirement caused panic attacks in the Pacific Northwest, Kalen DeBoer was asked how he’s feeling in the wake of Washington’s loss in the national championship game.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/sports/washingtons-kalen-deboer-signs-deal-to-replace-nick-saban-at-alabama-ap-source-says/ Save to Pocket
Cam Davis handles the wind at Waialae for a 62 to lead Sony Open
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>HONOLULU — Cam Davis hopped islands in Hawaii and was happy to see the rust stayed back on Maui. He faced the strongest wind Thursday and produced the best opening round in the Sony Open, an 8-under 62 for a two-shot lead.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/sports/cam-davis-handles-the-wind-at-waialae-for-a-62-to-lead-sony-open/ Save to Pocket
Stafford, Watson and Lance: 2 trades that helped shape this postseason in a variety of ways
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>In 2021, the San Francisco 49ers gave Miami a package of picks so they could move up in the draft and take Trey Lance. Two years later, Sean Payton was the coach in Denver.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/sports/stafford-watson-and-lance-2-trades-that-helped-shape-this-postseason-in-a-variety-of-ways/ Save to Pocket
Patriots name Jerod Mayo as next head coach, Bill Belichick’s successor
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Jerod Mayo spent his entire professional football career learning from Bill Belichick, first as a player and then as an assistant.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/sports/patriots-name-jerod-mayo-as-next-head-coach-bill-belichicks-successor/ Save to Pocket
Tropical Gardening: Hawaiian paradise almost perfect, but be aware of dangers
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Our islands have few dangers except for rare volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and hurricanes. Excessive exposure to the sun can be dangerous, and carelessness can cause accidents while hiking in the mountains or swimming in the ocean. Although there are few poisonous native plants, some common exotic landscape plants are toxic such as oleander, crotons and angel trumpets. Some people can experience skin reactions like exposure to poison ivy from cashew and mango trees.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/features/tropical-gardening-hawaiian-paradise-almost-perfect-but-be-aware-of-dangers/ Save to Pocket
Clarence Thomas and the bottomless self-pity of the upper classes
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Articles asking us to feel sympathy for families barely scraping by on healthy six-figure incomes may be staples of the financial press, but it’s rare that they come packaged as real-world case studies attached to flesh-and-blood individuals.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/opinion/clarence-thomas-and-the-bottomless-self-pity-of-the-upper-classes/ Save to Pocket
Snow, ice, wind and bitter cold pummels the northern US in dangerous winter storm
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>ST. LOUIS — A dangerous winter storm swept the northern U.S. on Friday, with blinding snow in some places, freezing rain in others, and bitter cold temperatures and whipping winds across several states.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/snow-ice-wind-and-bitter-cold-pummels-the-northern-us-in-dangerous-winter-storm/ Save to Pocket
Speaker Johnson insists he’s sticking to budget deal but announces no plan to stop partial shutdown
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted Friday he is sticking with the bipartisan spending deal he struck with the other congressional leaders, but offered no clear path for overcoming hard-right opposition within his own party to prevent a partial government shutdown next week.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/speaker-johnson-insists-hes-sticking-to-budget-deal-but-announces-no-plan-to-stop-partial-shutdown/ Save to Pocket
Daniel Day-Lewis breaks from retirement to fete Martin Scorsese at National Board of Review Awards
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>NEW YORK — Daniel Day-Lewis took a break from retirement to present Martin Scorsese the award for best director at the National Board of Review Awards in midtown Manhattan on Thursday night.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/daniel-day-lewis-breaks-from-retirement-to-fete-martin-scorsese-at-national-board-of-review-awards/ Save to Pocket
Israel defends itself at the UN’s top court against allegations of genocide in Gaza
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Accused of committing genocide against Palestinians, Israel insisted at the United Nations’ highest court Friday that its war in Gaza was a legitimate defense of its people and that it was Hamas militants who were guilty of genocide.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/israel-defends-itself-at-the-uns-top-court-against-allegations-of-genocide-in-gaza/ Save to Pocket
US warns ships to stay out of parts of Red Sea as Houthi rebels vow retaliation for US, UK strikes
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. Navy on Friday warned American-flagged vessels to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours after the U.S. and Britain launched multiple airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/us-warns-ships-to-stay-out-of-parts-of-red-sea-as-houthi-rebels-vow-retaliation-for-us-uk-strikes/ Save to Pocket
Supreme Court to rule on clearing homeless encampments in the West, Hawaii
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether homeless people have a constitutional right to camp on public property when they have no other place to sleep.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/supreme-court-to-rule-on-clearing-homeless-encampments-in-the-west-hawaii/ Save to Pocket
Taiwan prepares to elect a president and legislature in what’s seen as a test of control with China
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>TAIPEI, Taiwan — With rallies and concerts attended by thousands of flag-waving supporters, Taiwanese are preparing to elect a new president and legislature on Saturday in what many see as a test of control with China, which claims the self-governing island republic as its own.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/taiwan-prepares-to-elect-a-president-and-legislature-in-whats-seen-as-a-test-of-control-with-china/ Save to Pocket
Trump lawyer: Fulton County DA allegations ‘salacious and scandalous’
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>ATLANTA — While Donald Trump has been busy trumpeting news of an alleged scandal in the Fulton County District Attorney’s office, his lawyer on Friday sounded a more cautious note.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/trump-lawyer-fulton-county-da-allegations-salacious-and-scandalous/ Save to Pocket
Federal scientists recommend easing restrictions on marijuana
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Marijuana is neither as risky nor as prone to abuse as other tightly controlled substances and has potential medical benefits, and it therefore should be removed from the nation’s most restrictive category of drugs, federal scientists have concluded.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/federal-scientists-recommend-easing-restrictions-on-marijuana/ Save to Pocket
Red Sea shipping attacks have impacts in Pacific
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Ongoing attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea by Houthi militants from Yemen are causing ripples here in the Pacific.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/red-sea-shipping-attacks-have-impacts-in-pacific/ Save to Pocket
Boeing is under fire after Alaska Airlines Max 9 blowout. So is the FAA
date: 2024-01-13, from: Hawaii Tribune Harold
<p>Nearly a week after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 aircraft midflight, lawmakers and federal regulators are starting to look to the Boeing plane’s troubled history to understand what happened — and what didn’t.</p>
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/13/nation-world-news/boeing-is-under-fire-after-alaska-airlines-max-9-blowout-so-is-the-faa/ Save to Pocket
Will Trump walk away with the Republican nomination? Saturday Coffee Klatch
date: 2024-01-13, from: Robert Reich on Substack
With Heather Lofthouse and yours truly
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/will-trump-walk-away-with-the-republican Save to Pocket
The Time Ranger | Change a Street Name, Start a City…
date: 2024-01-13, from: The Signal
Hey saddlepals and saddlepalettes. Hope you survived the New Year intact and are ready for a full-fledged trek into the lore and history of Santa Clarita’s yesteryears. Bring a thick range coat with a big collar. We’ve some severe weather ahead, along with crooks, bandits and bootleggers. There’s fallen land barons, dumbing down the high […]
The post The Time Ranger | Change a Street Name, Start a City… appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/01/the-time-ranger-change-a-street-name-start-a-city/ Save to Pocket
Why do IT projects like the UK’s scandal-hit Post Office Horizon end in disaster?
date: 2024-01-13, updated: 2024-01-13, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Lack of skills, funding, and scrutiny – pick three
Kettle This week the incredible scandal that is the UK’s Post Office Horizon computer system, which ruined people’s lives and drove some to suicide, finally exploded into the mainstream.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/01/13/kettle_post_office_horizon/ Save to Pocket
VOA Immigration Weekly Recap, Jan. 6–13, 2024
date: 2024-01-13, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/voa-immigration-weekly-recap-jan-6-13-2024/7436840.html Save to Pocket
$100M to Remain From Estate of Heiress Considered Last Hawaiian Princess
date: 2024-01-13, from: VOA News USA
HONOLULU — In life, Abigail Kawananakoa embodied the complexities of Hawaii: Many considered her a princess — a descendant of the royal family that once ruled the islands.
But she was also the great-granddaughter of a sugar baron and inherited vast wealth thanks to Westerners who upended traditional ways of life through the introduction of private property and the diversion of water for industrial plantations.
Now, more than a year after her death at age 96 and the bitter battles over her fortune in the twilight of her life, her estate has been settled. And recently finalized court documents show that after doling out tens of millions to various people — including former housekeepers, other longtime employees and her wife — there will be at least $100 million left to support Native Hawaiian causes.
Kawananakoa cared deeply about advancing Hawaiian culture, and resolving her estate is meaningful to Hawaiians because it is the last of what’s known as “alii,” or royal, trusts, which were set up by royalty to benefit Native Hawaiians, said Dr. Naleen Naupaka Andrade, executive vice president of Native Hawaiian health for The Queen’s Health System. The health system was created from a trust established by Queen Emma in 1859.
“Quite frankly, the needs of Hawaiians in education, in social welfare, in housing, in health far exceed the capacity of these trusts,” she said. “They augment what federal and state dollars should be doing for Hawaii’s Indigenous peoples.”
Fate of foundation
Many have been watching where the money ends up because of concerns about the fate of the foundation Kawananakoa set up to benefit Hawaiians. Kawananakoa’s trust will perpetuate Native Hawaiian culture and language, Andrade said.
According to documents in the probate case for her estate, $40 million will go to her wife. Settlements have also been reached with about a dozen other people who had claims, including someone described in court documents as her “hanai” son, referring to an informal adoption in Hawaiian culture.
Legal wrangling over Kawananakoa’s trust, which now has a value of at least $250 million, began in 2017 after she suffered a stroke. She disputed claims that she was impaired, and married Veronica Gail Worth, her partner of 20 years, who later changed her name to Veronica Gail Kawananakoa.
In 2020, a judge ruled that Abigail Kawananakoa was, in fact, impaired, and thus unable to manage her property and business affairs. The estate has been overseen by a trustee.
She inherited her wealth as the great-granddaughter of James Campbell, an Irish businessman who made his fortune as a sugar plantation owner and one of Hawaii’s largest landowners. She held no formal title but was a living reminder of Hawaii’s monarchy and a symbol of Hawaiian national identity that endured after the kingdom was overthrown by American businessmen in 1893.
Over the years, some insisted Kawananakoa was held up as royalty only because of her wealth. They disputed her princess claim, saying that had the monarchy survived, a cousin would be in line to be the ruler, not her.
Her causes
She put her money toward various causes, including scholarships, medical bills and funerals for Native Hawaiians. She supported protests against a giant telescope because of its proposed placement on Mauna Kea, a sacred mountain in Hawaiian culture; donated items owned by King Kalakaua and Queen Kapiʻolani for public display, including a 14-carat diamond from the king’s pinky ring; and maintained ʻIolani Palace — America’s only royal residence, where the Hawaiian monarchy dwelled, and which now serves mostly as a museum.
“Historically significant items” belonging to Kawananakoa will be delivered to the palace, said a statement issued by trustee Jim Wright on behalf of her foundation.
Her trust has been supporting causes dear to her, including programming at the palace such as night tours and cultural dinners, and paying for students at Hawaiian-focused schools to visit cultural sites and experience symphony performances in Hawaiian, Wright said.
After Internal Revenue Service clearance, the foundation will receive the leftover money, which Wright estimated to be at least $100 million, to fund similar efforts.
Kauikeolani Nani’ole, an educator at Halau Ku Mana Public Charter School in Honolulu, said her school recently received money from the trust for busing to community events.
“In those small ways, they make big impacts for schools like us,” she said.
She called Kawananakoa an “unsung alii” because she often donated to causes and people anonymously.
Fostering culture
According to documents establishing her foundation in 2001, Kawananakoa wanted it to “maintain, support, preserve and foster the traditional Hawaiian culture in existence prior to 1778” — the year the first European explorer, Captain James Cook, reached the islands. That includes Hawaiian music, religion, language and art.
Andrade recently visited Kawananakoa’s crypt at Mauna ʻAla, also known as the Royal Mausoleum State Monument, which is the burial place of Hawaiian royalty. She laid an offering of maile leaves entwined with white ginger — a flower Kawananakoa loved.
“All of the pilikia, all of the trouble, that occurred in the last several years after she became ill — what was lost in all that was her love of her people,” Andrade said. “Her deep, deep love and the thoughtfulness she had, and the foresight she had before she became ill about wanting to leave a legacy for her people that could make a difference.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/estate-of-heiress-considered-last-hawaiian-princess/7436904.html Save to Pocket
Today in SCV History (Jan. 13)
date: 2024-01-13, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1847 – Gen. Andres Pico (as in Pico Canyon) surrenders to Col. John C. Fremont, effectively ending the war between U.S. and Mexico. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-4/ Save to Pocket
Election, Gaza War Factor Into Martin Luther King Holiday Events in US
date: 2024-01-13, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/election-gaza-war-factor-into-martin-luther-king-holiday-events-in-us-/7438485.html Save to Pocket
Artifact Is Shutting Down After One Year
date: 2024-01-13, updated: 2024-01-13, from: Daring Fireball
https://medium.com/artifact-news/shutting-down-artifact-1e70de46d419 Save to Pocket
US Launches Follow-Up Strike on Houthi Radar Site
date: 2024-01-13, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The United States launched a follow-up strike against a Houthi target in Yemen early Saturday, after officials said they were not satisfied with the damage inflicted during the initial round of airstrikes late Thursday.
U.S. Central Command said it launched the additional strike from the USS Carney, a guided missile destroyer, firing multiple Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles to take out a radar site that it said presented a continuing threat to maritime traffic.
The strike comes a little more than a day after the U.S. and British militaries carried out dozens of strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen, in retaliation for weeks of Houthi attacks that have disrupted shipping and damaged vessels transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Houthi militants did launch an anti-ship ballistic missile early Friday, U.S. military officials confirmed, though it did not hit any ships.
U.S. and British officials expressed optimism Friday that the initial strikes late Thursday, which are now being described as two waves of strikes, were successful.
A U.S. defense official told VOA on Friday that the initial assessment indicates the first wave of precision strikes late Thursday degraded the ability of the Houthis to launch further attacks.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss operational details, said a more comprehensive assessment of the strikes was still underway. But the sentiment echoed other early assessments by senior U.S. officials, who have described the damage to Houthi capabilities as “significant.”
“We feel very confident about where our munitions struck,” Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Staff, told reporters Friday. “But we don’t know at this point the complete battle damage assessment.”
U.S. Central Command late Thursday said that U.S. fighter jets, naval vessels and submarines hit more than 60 targets at 16 locations across Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, including command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, and production facilities.
But Sims said Friday, the U.S. and Britain launched a second wave of strikes against another 12 locations 30 minutes to an hour after the initial strikes were carried out.
The additional sites, each with multiple targets, “had been identified as possessing articles that could be potentially used against forces, maritime and air,” he said, noting the strikes were taken in self-defense.
U.S. officials said, in all, more than 150 precision guided munitions were aimed at Houthi targets, including Tomahawk missiles.
At least three U.S. guided missile cruisers and destroyers (the USS Gravely, the USS Philippine Sea, and the USS Mason) took part in the strikes along with an Ohio-class submarine, fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, and U.S. Air Force jets.
A separate statement Friday from the British Defense Ministry said four of its Typhoon fighter jets, accompanied by an air refueling tanker, used laser-guided bombs to hit two locations: a drone launch site in Bani, in northwestern Yemen, and an airfield in Abbs, used to launch cruise missiles and drones at ships in the Red Sea.
“Early indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow,” the ministry said.
Despite the optimistic strike assessments, U.S. officials have said they believe the Houthis are likely to retaliate.
“My guess is that the Houthis are trying to figure things out on the ground and trying to determine what capabilities still exist for them,” Sims said. “Their rhetoric has been pretty strong and pretty high, and I would expect that they will attempt some sort of retaliation.”
“I would hope they wouldn’t,” he added, describing the Houthi efforts as “generally fruitless.”
But the White House repeated its warning Friday that the Houthis would face additional consequences if their attacks persist.
“We will make sure that we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior, along with our allies,” President Joe Biden said in response to reporters’ questions during a stop at a coffee shop in Pennsylvania on Friday.
Also Friday, the U.S. unveiled new sanctions aimed at commodity shipments that have been funding the Houthis and their Iranian backers.
U.S. Treasury Department officials imposed sanctions on a Hong-Kong-based company and another company in the United Arab Emirates, both of which have been working with Sa’id al-Jamal, a financier who has been supporting both the Houthis and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.
“We will take all available measures to stop the destabilizing activities of the Houthis and their threats to global commerce,” Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in a statement.
Since mid-November, the Houthis have launched at least 28 attacks, affecting citizens, cargo and vessels from more than 50 countries, according to the U.S.
U.S. officials have said that Biden made the decision to launch Thursday’s strikes following a Houthi attack on shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on Tuesday that involved 18 one-way attack drones, two cruise missiles and one ballistic missile.
U.S. combat jets, along with U.S. and British military vessels, responded by shooting down the drones and missiles, averting any damage to ships or injuries to their crews in the area.
Last week, the United States and 12 allies issued a statement warning the Houthis of unspecified consequences if their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea continued.
The statement followed the launch in mid-December of Operation Prosperity Guardian by the United States, Britain and nearly 20 other countries to protect ships from Houthi attacks.
Since the launch of Prosperity Guardian, at least 1,500 vessels have passed safely through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
The U.N. Security Council adopted its own resolution Wednesday, calling on the Houthis to stop the attacks immediately.
But Russia, which abstained in the vote, called for an emergency meeting of the council Friday evening to discuss the strikes. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called the U.S.-British strikes a “blatant armed aggression against another country.” He argued that the strikes did not meet the conditions for self-defense under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter.
“Article 51 does not apply to the situation with commercial shipping,” Nebenzia said. “The right to self-defense cannot be exercised in order to ensure the freedom of shipping. Our American colleagues know this fact very well.”
In a statement Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea area are “not acceptable” and endanger the safety and security of global supply chains and have a negative impact on the economic and humanitarian situation worldwide. He urged the Houthis to immediately cease their attacks and called for all parties to respect the Security Council resolution in its entirety.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Council that the strikes were consistent with international law and Article 51. She said Washington does not take such strikes lightly and they were only carried out “after non-military options proved inadequate to address the threat.”
VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara and U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-launches-follow-up-strike-on-houthi-radar-site-/7438462.html Save to Pocket
★ Al Gore, Mac Nerd and Internet Pioneer
date: 2024-01-13, updated: 2024-01-13, from: Daring Fireball
In 2003 there was one person in the world who could be described as a former vice president of the United States and avid Mac user.
https://daringfireball.net/2024/01/al_gore_mac_nerd_internet_pioneer Save to Pocket
January 12, 2024
date: 2024-01-13, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
Last week, after President Joe Biden went to Valley Forge and then spoke in Pennsylvania, I got a chance to sit down with him to ask a few questions. What I wanted to hear from him illustrates the difference between journalists and historians. Journalists are trained to find breaking stories and to explain them clearly so that their audience is better informed about what is happening in the world. What they do is vitally important to a democracy, and it is hard work. One of the reasons I always try to call out the names of journalists whose articles I’m describing is to highlight that there are real people working hard to dig out the stories we all need to know and that we are all part of a community trying together to figure out what’s happening in this country.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-12-2024 Save to Pocket
Trump Ordered to Pay Legal Fees of New York Times, Three Reporters
date: 2024-01-13, from: VOA News USA
new york — Former President Donald Trump was ordered Friday to pay nearly $400,000 in legal fees to The New York Times and three investigative reporters after he sued them unsuccessfully over a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2018 story about his family’s wealth and tax practices.
The newspaper and reporters Susanne Craig, David Barstow and Russell Buettner were dismissed from the lawsuit in May. Trump’s claim against his estranged niece, Mary Trump, that she breached a prior settlement agreement by giving tax records to the reporters is still pending.
New York Judge Robert Reed said that given the “complexity of the issues” in the case and other factors, it was reasonable that Donald Trump be forced to pay lawyers for the Times and the reporters a total of $392,638 in legal fees.
“Today’s decision shows that the state’s newly amended anti-SLAPP statute can be a powerful force for protecting press freedom,” Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoads Ha said, referring to a New York law that bars baseless lawsuits designed to silence critics. Such lawsuits are known as SLAPPs or strategic lawsuits against public participation.
“The court has sent a message to those who want to misuse the judicial system to try to silence journalists,” Rhoads Ha said.
Trump’s niece
In a separate ruling Friday, Reed denied a request by Mary Trump – now the sole defendant – that the case be put on hold while she appeals his June decision that allowed Donald Trump’s claim against her to proceed.
Mary Trump’s lawyers declined to comment.
Donald Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, said they remained disappointed that the Times and its reporters were dropped from the case. She said they were pleased that the court had “once again affirmed the strength of our claims against Mary and is denying her attempt to avoid accountability.”
“We look forward to proceeding with our claims against her,” Habba said.
Donald Trump’s lawsuit, filed in 2021, accused the Times and its reporters of relentlessly seeking out Mary Trump as a source of information and persuading her to turn over confidential tax records. He contended that the reporters were aware her prior settlement agreement barred her from disclosing the documents, which she’d received in a dispute over family patriarch Fred Trump’s estate.
The Times’ reporting challenged Donald Trump’s claims of self-made wealth by documenting how his father, Fred Trump, had given him at least $413 million over the decades, including through tax avoidance schemes. Mary Trump identified herself in a book published in 2020 as the source of the documents.
The Times’ story said that Donald Trump and his father avoided gift and inheritance taxes by methods including setting up a sham corporation and undervaluing assets to tax authorities. The Times said its report was based on more than 100,000 pages of financial documents, including confidential tax returns for the father and his companies.
‘Personal vendetta’
Donald Trump, who sought $100 million in damages, alleged Mary Trump, the Times and the reporters “were motivated by a personal vendetta” against him. He accused them of engaging “in an insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly sensitive records which they exploited for their own benefit.”
In dismissing the Times and its reporters from the lawsuit, Reed wrote that legal news gathering is “at the very core of protected First Amendment activity.”
Mary Trump, 58, is the daughter of Donald Trump’s brother, Fred Trump Jr., who died in 1981 at age 42. She is an outspoken critic of her uncle, whom she has regarded as “criminal, cruel and traitorous.”
In July, Mary Trump filed a counterclaim against Donald Trump under New York’s anti-SLAPP law, arguing that Donald Trump’s lawsuit was “purely retaliatory and lacking in merit” and intended to “chill her and others from criticizing him in the future.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-ordered-to-pay-legal-fees-of-new-york-times-three-reporters/7438417.html Save to Pocket
Number of orgs compromised via Ivanti VPN zero-days grows as Mandiant weighs in
date: 2024-01-13, updated: 2024-01-13, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Snoops had no fewer than five custom bits of malware to hand to backdoor networks
Two zero-day bugs in Ivanti products were likely under attack by cyberspies as early as December, according to Mandiant’s threat intel team.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/01/13/ivanti_zeroday_mandiant_analysis/ Save to Pocket
US Asks Court to Intervene Over Texas Blocking US Border Agents
date: 2024-01-13, from: VOA News USA
McALLEN, Texas — The Justice Department on Friday asked the Supreme Court to order Texas to stop blocking Border Patrol agents from a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border where large numbers of migrants have crossed in recent months, setting up another showdown between Republican Governor Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over immigration enforcement.
The request comes after Texas put up fencing to take control of a nearly 20-hectare public park along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, which was a crossing point for thousands of migrants entering from Mexico last year. Although a similar power struggle played out in the same region more than a year ago, the area Texas closed off this week prevents federal agents from accessing a larger and more visible crossing spot.
Along one stretch, armed Texas National Guard members and their vehicles are preventing Border Patrol agents from accessing the river, the Justice Department said in a court filing. The Texas National Guard also allegedly used a military Humvee to keep Border Patrol agents off an access road.
“Because Border Patrol can no longer access or view this stretch of the border, Texas has effectively prevented Border Patrol from monitoring the border,” the Justice Department wrote in a filing.
Abbott told reporters that Texas has the authority to control access to any geographic location in the state.
“That authority is being asserted,” Abbott said.
The closure of Shelby Park was an escalation of the governor’s border enforcement efforts known as Operation Lone Star. The state and federal government are involved in multiple legal disputes over actions Texas has taken since 2023, including the use of buoys in the middle of the international river, the installment of razor wire, and an upcoming law that will allow police to arrest migrants.
Abbott defended closing off the park as he faced backlash from Democrats for telling conservative radio host Dana Loesch last week that Texas has done everything to curb illegal crossings short of shooting people. Loesch had asked Abbott how far Texas could go on the border before someone might arrest him.
“The only thing that we’re not doing is we’re not shooting people who come across the border because of course the Biden administration would charge us with murder,” he said as he discussed a New York City lawsuit against charter bus companies that he has used to transport migrants from Texas.
Mexico’s foreign relations secretary denounced Abbott’s comments, saying they could lead to violence and are dehumanizing to migrants.
On Friday, Abbott said he was making a distinction of what Texas can and cannot do on the border. “I was asked to point out where the line is drawn about what would be illegal and I pointed out something that is obviously illegal,” he said.
Texas notified the Eagle Pass government on Wednesday that the Department of Public Safety would be closing public access to Shelby Park.
Concern grew when Border Patrol noted it, too, lost access to the park, which agents use to launch boats into the Rio Grande. The area also served as a staging area where federal officers would take migrants into custody and process them. The Border Patrol’s access to the site for surveillance was similarly curtailed.
The Justice Department’s emergency request to the Supreme Court says agents no longer have access to a 4-kilometer stretch of the border in the region. The filing was made as part of the U.S. government’s lawsuit over the concertina wire the state installed along roughly 48 kilometers near Eagle Pass.
The union for Border Patrol agents, the National Border Patrol Council, praised the state’s move.
“By taking control of an area where so many illegal aliens are simply surrendering, he’s freeing up BP agents to patrol areas with high numbers of illegal aliens who attempt to escape arrest,” the union said in a message on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In 2022, a Texas pecan farm got caught in a similar dispute between Abbott and the Biden administration when the Texas Department of Public Safety moved in without the landowner’s consent and revoked a lease between the landowner and Border Patrol.
The state’s policies have been called into question not only by outside critics but internally when a trooper’s account over denying water and urgent medical care made headlines in July.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-asks-court-to-intervene-over-texas-blocking-us-border-agents-/7438416.html Save to Pocket
‘Insurrection or Rebellion’
date: 2024-01-13, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Colorado Supreme Court got it right.
The post ‘Insurrection or Rebellion’ appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/01/12/insurrection-or-rebellion/ Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-01-13, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Fox News Kicks Mike Lindell and His MyPillow Ads to the Curb.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-kicks-mike-lindell-and-his-mypillow-ads-to-the-curb Save to Pocket
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-01-13, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
2012: Voting matters.
http://scripting.com/stories/2012/09/02/votingMatters.html Save to Pocket
Welcome to the Intensive Care Unit
date: 2024-01-13, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
If you are really sick, this is the place to be. Your local intensive care unit is fully staffed, all the time.
The post Welcome to the Intensive Care Unit appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/01/12/welcome-to-the-intensive-care-unit/ Save to Pocket
The Power of Parklets
date: 2024-01-13, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
A thought experiment examines the relative income production of parklets, bike pods, and vehicle parking spots.
The post The Power of Parklets appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/01/12/the-power-of-parklets/ Save to Pocket
Mexico Unseats China as Top Exporter to US
date: 2024-01-13, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/mexico-unseats-china-as-top-importer-to-us/7438109.html Save to Pocket
Crime Fighters Go High-Tech with $50K Donation of Digital Forensics Kit
date: 2024-01-13, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara–based MOS Equipment donated kits with faraday bags, RF-shielded safes, and more.
The post Crime Fighters Go High-Tech with $50K Donation of Digital Forensics Kit appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/01/12/crime-fighters-go-high-tech-with-50k-donation-of-digital-forensics-kit/ Save to Pocket
Housing Shapes a Community
date: 2024-01-13, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
A staggering 59 percent of units in the City of Santa Barbara are occupied by renters, emphasizing the pivotal role landlords play in countless lives.
The post Housing Shapes a Community appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/01/12/housing-shapes-a-community/ Save to Pocket
Santa Barbara Teachers and School District Hit a Wall in Round Four of Salary Negotiations
date: 2024-01-13, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The district accuses teachers’ union of bad-faith bargaining and proposes a process of in-depth budget analysis and fiscal fact-finding to remedy the impasse.
The post Santa Barbara Teachers and School District Hit a Wall in Round Four of Salary Negotiations appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/01/12/santa-barbara-teachers-and-school-district-hit-a-wall-in-round-4-of-salary-negotiations/ Save to Pocket
Youth Sports Ultimate Frisbee Clinic
date: 2024-01-13, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The city of Santa Clarita will offer a Youth Sports Ultimate Frisbee Clinic this spring open to children and teens ages 8-
https://scvnews.com/youth-sports-ultimate-frisbee-clinic/ Save to Pocket
Ride of the Operatic Symphony
date: 2024-01-13, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Santa Barbara Symphony’s season turns a spotlight on opera repertoire, at the Granada.
The post Ride of the Operatic Symphony appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/01/12/ride-of-the-operatic-symphony/ Save to Pocket