News gathered 2024-03-08

(date: 2024-03-08 07:44:09)

Palantir wins US Army contract for battlefield AI

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

US spy-tech firm at center of UK health data systems applies its technology to altogether different ends

Palantir has won a US Army contract worth $178.4 million to house a battlefield intelligence system inside a big truck.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/palantir_wins_us_army_contract/ Save to Pocket

CHP investigating claim of Oakland freeway shooting on I-980

date: 2024-03-08, from: San Jose Mercury News

The shots rang out about 1:40 a.m. on Thursday, the California Highway Patrol said.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/08/chp-investigating-claim-of-oakland-freeway-shooting-on-i-980/ Save to Pocket

California has 2nd-smallest wage gap between women and men in US

date: 2024-03-08, from: San Jose Mercury News

California women earned 11% less than men, by this math. Only Vermont’s 10.5% gap was smaller.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/08/california-has-2nd-smallest-wage-gap-between-women-and-men-in-us/ Save to Pocket

XPeng’s AeroHT flexes its eVTOL expertise, taking its X2 flying car to the skies above Guangzhou

date: 2024-03-08, from: Electrek Feed

As many eVTOL developers are gearing up for their first-ever flights, AeroHT continues to showcase why it’s one of the leaders in the segment. Earlier today, XPeng’s aerial arm conducted its first successful flight test in its all-electric X2 “flying car” eVTOL above the Chinese city of Guangzhou to test low-altitude scenarios for future transport and sightseeing routes.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/08/xpengs-aeroht-evtol-expertise-x2-flying-car-skies-above-guangzhou-china/ Save to Pocket

A graph with data stretching back to 812 AD of the dates…

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/0044147-a-graph-with-data-stretch Save to Pocket

Rivian R2 electric SUV scores over 68,000 reservations in under 24 hours

date: 2024-03-08, from: Electrek Feed

After launching its more affordable R2 electric SUV Thursday, Rivian’s (RIVN) CEO RJ Scaringe said the EV scored over 68,000 reservations in under 24 hours.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/08/rivian-r2-ev-over-68000-reservations-under-24-hours/ Save to Pocket

A’s series in Las Vegas: The latest on their relocation bid, park renderings and the Coliseum

date: 2024-03-08, from: San Jose Mercury News

Baseball fans in Las Vegas will get a sneak peek of what it’s like to host the Oakland A’s this weekend.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/08/as-series-in-las-vegas-the-latest-on-their-relocation-bid-park-renderings-and-the-coliseum/ Save to Pocket

Tesla starts shipping $3,000 Cybertruck tent, looks nothing like what was unveiled

date: 2024-03-08, from: Electrek Feed

Tesla has started shipping its ‘Basecamp’, a $3,000 tent designed for the back of the Cybertruck. It’s a bit of a This disappointment as it looks nothing like what was originally unveiled.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/08/tesla-shipping-cybertruck-tent/ Save to Pocket

Noelia González, escritora y editora científica sénior de la NASA en español

date: 2024-03-08, from: NASA breaking news

“Obviamente, el español tiene mucho que ver con la accesibilidad y la ampliación de nuestro público. Utilizamos el español como una herramienta para romper esas barreras y conectar con las audiencias. El español es el idioma con el que crecí en Uruguay y el idioma con el que me siento más cómoda. Es maravilloso que […]

https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/noelia-gonzalez-escritora-y-editora-cientifica-senior-de-la-nasa-en-espanol/ Save to Pocket

NASA Launches Snap It! Computer Game to Learn About Eclipses

date: 2024-03-08, from: NASA breaking news

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will be visible to over 30 million people across North America. To help kids learn about solar eclipses, NASA is launching Snap It! An Eclipse Photo Adventure. The Snap It! game – designed for kids ages 7 and up – lets players help out the Traveler, an enthusiastic character who […]

https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/nasa-launches-snap-it-computer-game-to-learn-about-eclipses/ Save to Pocket

Son of Korean Immigrants Takes Charge of Los Angeles Police Department

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

A son of Korean immigrants last week became the interim chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. He is the first Asian American to hold this position. Genia Dulot has the story.

https://www.voanews.com/a/son-of-korean-immigrants-takes-charge-of-los-angeles-police-department/7519295.html Save to Pocket

Western Flight Suits Help Save Ukrainian Fighter Jet Pilots’ Lives

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

A pair of American aviators are helping Ukrainian fighter jet and helicopter pilots get some vital equipment. The gear is being donated by American and European pilots. Mariia Prus has the story.

https://www.voanews.com/a/western-flight-suits-help-save-ukrainian-fighter-jet-pilots-lives/7519252.html Save to Pocket

Rivian Logs 68,000 Reservations For R2 In Less Than 24 Hours

date: 2024-03-08, from: Inside EVs News

RJ Scaringe took to X (Twitter), saying he was overwhelmed by the wonderful response to the R2, R3, and R3X.

https://insideevs.com/news/711712/rivian-preorder-reservation-numbers-r2/ Save to Pocket

Change Healthcare registers pulse after crippling ransomware attack

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Remaining services are expected to return in the coming weeks after $22M ALPHV ransom

Change Healthcare has taken the first steps toward a full recovery from the ransomware attack in February by bringing its electronic prescription services back online.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/change_healthcare_restores_first_system/ Save to Pocket

Recipe: Let us eat carrot cake — with cream cheese frosting

date: 2024-03-08, from: San Jose Mercury News

This classic recipe gets added texture from dried cranberries and toasted nuts.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/08/recipe-let-us-eat-carrot-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/ Save to Pocket

These two top pitching prospects shouldn’t be ruled out from SF Giants’ rotation

date: 2024-03-08, from: San Jose Mercury News

Landen Roupp, Carson Whisenhunt may be options after all despite being slow-played to begin spring training.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/08/these-two-top-pitching-prospects-shouldnt-be-ruled-out-from-sf-giants-rotation/ Save to Pocket

Carolina Rudisel, oficial de Protocolo

date: 2024-03-08, from: NASA breaking news

“Nunca me hubiera imaginado que estaría aquí en la NASA. Soy inmigrante. Originalmente era ciudadana mexicana. De hecho, nací en México, pero mis padres vinieron a Estados Unidos [y obtuve mi tarjeta de residencia] cuando tenía dos años de edad. … Mis padres llegaron con una visa de trabajo, por lo que éramos trabajadores migrantes […]

https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/carolina-rudisel-oficial-de-protocolo/ Save to Pocket

Stellantis and GM charging station partner goes bankrupt

date: 2024-03-08, from: Electrek Feed

As Tesla’s NACS connector and Supercharger network are gaining critical mass, Stellantis and GM charging station partner Charge Enterprises – helmed by a longtime GM and Ford executive – has filed for bankruptcy.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/08/stellantis-and-gm-charging-station-partner-goes-bankrupt/ Save to Pocket

Everybody in the pool? Walnut Creek tries to make new $77 million aquatic center work for throngs of swimmers at Heather Farm Park

date: 2024-03-08, from: San Jose Mercury News

The current plan is to redesign the space to feature one family-friendly recreation pool, a 50-meter lap pool and upgraded assets on the surrounding pool deck.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/08/everybody-in-the-pool-walnut-creek-tries-to-make-new-77-million-aquatic-center-work-for-throngs-of-swimmers-at-heather-farm-park/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-08, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

Evan Prodromou explains that he has access to a feature in Threads that we don’t have, which allows him to follow his Threads account from a Mastodon account. This is the easy side of interop, the other direction is more difficult, not technically, but from a regulation and PR standpoint. Facebook (they call themselves Meta now) heavily regulates what people can see on their network, and it’s hard to imagine them not having an App Store like the ones on iOS and Android that allows certain services to peer with them and disallows the rest. This should be factored into people’s thinking about the benefits of federating. It probably will feel fairly one-way.

http://scripting.com/2024/03/08.html#a140928 Save to Pocket

Ex-San Jose Jr. Sharks coach sued over sexual abuse allegations

date: 2024-03-08, from: San Jose Mercury News

The lawsuit also claims the youth hockey program operator did not enforce rules meant to protect participants.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/08/ex-san-jose-jr-sharks-coach-sued-over-sexual-abuse-allegations/ Save to Pocket

Will Angry Arab American Voters Swing Michigan Away from Biden?

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

In three key competitive states, North Carolina, Minnesota and Michigan, tens of thousands of Americans voted “uncommitted” in primary elections rather than vote for President Joe Biden. It’s part of a movement spearheaded by Arab Americans in Michigan to protest the president’s support for Israel in the war in Gaza. VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports from Michigan, home to the largest Arab American population in the country. Camera, video edit: Adam Greenbaum

https://www.voanews.com/a/will-angry-arab-american-voters-swing-michigan-away-from-biden-/7519240.html Save to Pocket

Kia Global EV Retail Sales Improved By 48% In January 2024

date: 2024-03-08, from: Inside EVs News

Wholesale sales of E-GMP-based EVs (EV5, EV6 and EV9) doubled year-over-year.

https://insideevs.com/news/711573/kia-global-ev-sales-january2024/ Save to Pocket

BMW Motorrad Is Making Its Triumphant Return to EICMA

date: 2024-03-08, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News

Could BMW have a big surprise for all of us this year?

https://www.rideapart.com/news/711119/bmw-motorrad-eicma-2024/ Save to Pocket

We need to talk about Rad Power Bikes’ new e-bike batteries

date: 2024-03-08, from: Electrek Feed

Electric bikes just may be the biggest transportation revolution of our generation, helping millions replace car usage with more affordable, more efficient alternatives. But there’s no denying that concerns have been swirling about the safety of e-bike batteries, even if such fire fears have primarily been overblown by much of the media.

Leading electric bicycle maker Rad Power Bikes has just unveiled its new “Safe Shield Battery” in an effort to mitigate worries over e-bike battery safety. And it’s something we need to talk about.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/08/we-need-to-talk-about-rad-power-bikes-new-e-bike-batteries/ Save to Pocket

2024-03-08 Go routines

date: 2024-03-08, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog

2024-03-08 Go routines

Oddmu can be run as a static site generator. It walks the tree and renders HTML pages. For the 15000+ files on my blog (about a third of them files that are simply linked and not rendered), it took around 160s. I wondered whether it was possible to push it. How about starting a go routine that walks the directory tree, adding files to a tasks channel and then closing it; starting four or five worker go routines that take files from the tasks channel until there is nothing left to do; putting errors on a results channel and when they’re done, putting a true value on a done channel; a watcher go routine that checks the done channel and if every worker is done, close the results channel; and the main program goes through all the values on the results channel and sets up some short-circuiting in the case of errors and otherwise it prints an animation. What a glorious spaghetti mess of code! I felt so smart because it was so hard. All those failure states I fixed. Endless waits because channels ran out of data and my code kept waiting. And now it runs in 74 seconds with the fans on. And I’m … I’m not quite sure what to think. Perhaps it was all a waste of time. Was it really worth it?

Suddenly I have my doubts.

I used just two workers and it was a bit less than 100s. I guess I’ll just put that on a separate branch should I ever need to look at it again.

Later. As it turns out, I came back to that branch after some sleep with the sun shining and cleaned it up and now I don’t feel so bad about it any more. I think it can stay.

#Oddµ #Programming

https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-03-07-go-routines Save to Pocket

Q&A: Michael Van Every looks in-depth at Bay Area real estate market

date: 2024-03-08, from: San Jose Mercury News

Michael Van Every, president of Republic Urban Properties, has leaned on his 25 years in the real estate business to guide numerous Bay Area projects.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/08/san-jose-real-estate-economy-build-office-home-house-michael-van-every/ Save to Pocket

49ers face significant questions with their own free agents — beyond Jennings

date: 2024-03-08, from: San Jose Mercury News

The 49ers must overcome playoff heartbreak to recharge their roster, and the first step looms with next week’s start of free agency and the uncertain futures of Chase Young and Jauan Jennings.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/08/which-of-49ers-own-free-agents-deserve-priority-beyond-jauan-jennings/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-08, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Happy to say Biden did exactly what I asked him to do in this post, in last night's SOTU.

https://mastodon.social/@davew/112035293511061681 Save to Pocket

Bad Look, Texas Tech

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: One Foot Tsunami

https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/03/08/bad-look-texas-tech/ Save to Pocket

IBM lifts lid on latest bid to halt mainframe skill slips

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Workforce aging, systems still mission-critical … plus Big Blue looking out for its bread and butter

IBM is pinning its hopes on some fresh initiatives – the Mainframe Skills Council and the IBM Z Mainframe Skills Depot – to address a shortage of engineers who have big iron expertise .…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/ibm_mainframe_skill/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-08, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Biden found the through line between two central campaign themes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/08/state-of-the-union-democracy-abortion/ Save to Pocket

This new Airbus air taxi has a 50-mile range and is quieter than a hairdryer

date: 2024-03-08, from: Electrek Feed

Airbus has introduced its latest zero-emission eVTOL, designed to carry four people with a noise decibel range lower than a hairdryer when flying – which will radically cut into the noise pollution factor of a futuristic vision of eVTOLs buzzing around busy cities. Nearly five years in the making, this prototype targets a flight range of 50 miles (80 km) and a cruising speed of 75 mph (120 km/h).

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/08/this-new-airbus-air-taxi-has-a-50-mile-range-and-is-quieter-than-a-hairdryer/ Save to Pocket

An economics-infused State of the Union address

date: 2024-03-08, from: Marketplace Morning Report

President Joe Biden could have tiptoed around economics during last night’s State of the Union address, but that’s not what he did. Instead, he pointed to slowing inflation, called out corporations for unfairly raising prices, advocated for a fairer tax code and proposed a mortgage relief credit for first-time homebuyers. We’ll unpack some of the highlights from last night. Then, we’ll hear about a scaling back of proposed banking regulations.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/an-economics-infused-state-of-the-union-address Save to Pocket

Teachers Are Using AI to Create New Worlds, Help Students with Homework, and Teach English

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Markup blog

Around the world, these seven teachers are making AI work for them and their students

https://themarkup.org/machine-learning/2024/03/08/teachers-are-using-ai-to-create-new-worlds-help-students-with-homework-and-teach-english Save to Pocket

Review | Retro Rocking the Night Away with Jefferson Starship and the Marshall Tucker Band

date: 2024-03-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

Iconic bands brought a mighty fun night of vintage rock to Santa Barbara’s historic Granada Theatre.

The post Review | Retro Rocking the Night Away with Jefferson Starship and the Marshall Tucker Band  appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/08/review-retro-rocking-the-night-away-with-jefferson-starship-and-the-marshall-tucker-band/ Save to Pocket

Rivian Just Unveiled 3 New Electric SUVs

date: 2024-03-08, from: Heatmap News

Current conditions: Most of Alabama is under a flood watch • It will be so hot in Southern Australia this weekend that special bins have been set up to collect dead bats • Hazardous smog choked 54 of Thailand’s 77 provinces this week.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Biden talks up energy and economic wins during SOTU

President Biden’s final State of the Union address before the November election represented as good a chance as any for him to make his pitch to the American people — and he did so without ever saying the name of his most significant piece of legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, wrote Heatmap’s Jeva Lange. Biden repeatedly boasted about “clean energy, advanced manufacturing,” and creating “tens of thousands of jobs here in America.” He further referred to a Stellantis plant in Belvidere, Illinois, that reopened partly due to a federal grant made possible by the IRA. The economic upsides of the IRA were largely separated from Biden’s brief mention of “confronting the climate crisis” in the second half of his speech. His lone new climate announcement pertained to a rather minor piece in his more extensive agenda: Biden promised to triple the Climate Corps of young people working in clean energy in a decade.

“The Biden administration has consistently moved its climate goals forward by not calling attention to the fact that they are climate goals,” Lange continued. “At the same time, using the State of the Union to draw attention to specific economic accomplishments that just so happen to be in the clean energy space allows Biden to go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump on the economy — an issue voters are more concerned about this election cycle than the climate — without letting such a talking point be dismissed as green liberal woo-woo.”

2. Rivian surprises with new R3 and R3X models

Rivian unveiled the much-anticipated R2 SUV yesterday, but surprised everyone with two other models, the R3 and the R3X. Here’s what we know about all three vehicles:

• R2: A mid-sized, five-seat electric SUV with up to 300 miles of range. Launching in early 2026, starting at $45,000.
• R3: An electric crossover “built on the same midsize platform as R2, but smaller and at a lower price point.”
• R3X: “A rally-inspired crossover designed for whatever you throw at it.” Deliveries will begin “after R2.”

3. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffers mass bleaching event

Two-thirds of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is showing signs of coral bleaching “consistent with patterns of heat stress that has built up over summer,” experts said today. This will be the fifth mass bleaching event in just eight years for the world’s largest living structure. Bleaching occurs when stressful conditions such as heat cause corals to expel the algae that lives in their tissues and turn white. “Bleaching of corals does not always result in coral mortality, with some corals being able to recover if conditions cool,” the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said. But Richard Leck, WWF-Australia Head of Oceans, warned that “unless we see a significant drop off in temperatures in the next few weeks, the risk of significant coral mortality is high.”

The Great Barrier Reef pictured off the coast of Australia in August of last year.MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority will carry out aerial and in-water surveys to get a better understanding of the extent of the damage. Earlier this week the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned of widespread bleaching events in tropical reefs all over the world. Coral reefs support about a quarter of all marine life.

4. Utility company says it was ‘involved’ in Texas fire

The utility company Xcel Energy said yesterday that its equipment played a role in starting Texas’ Smokehouse Creek Fire. Fueled by strong winds, dry brush, and unusually high temperatures, the blaze has burned more than 1.2 million acres and is the largest fire in state history. Linda Moon, assistant director of the Texas A&M Forest Service, said power lines were to blame. The company faces nearly 300 lawsuits in Colorado for its alleged involvement in the 2021 Marshall wildfire.

Get Heatmap AM directly in your inbox every morning:

5. Cherry blossoms get their own climate ‘hockey stick’ graph

Following the news that Japan’s famous cherry trees have blossomed early, Our World in Data posted this graph showing the timing of peak cherry tree blossoms in Kyoto going back to the year 812. “We see that in recent centuries the peak blossom has gradually moved earlier in the year — due to higher temperatures from climate change,” the publication noted. Climate scientist Michael Mann, who popularized the “hockey stick” graph in 1998 that showed a spike in global temperatures, said “I recognize that shape, even when it’s upside down…”

Our World in Data

THE KICKER

“Women’s leadership is the key to successful action in tackling climate change. Without their leadership, knowledge, and engagement in the implementation of climate-resilient development paths, it is unlikely that solutions for creating a sustainable and healthy planet will be implemented.” –Tomica Paovic from the United Nations Development Programme

https://heatmap.news/electric-vehicles/rivian-r3x-r3-suv Save to Pocket

Swiss cheese security? Play ransomware gang milks government of 65,000 files

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Classified docs, readable passwords, and thousands of personal information nabbed in Xplain breach

The Swiss government had around 65,000 files related to it stolen by the Play ransomware gang during an attack on an IT supplier, its National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) says.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/swiss_government_files_ransomware/ Save to Pocket

A Taxonomy of Prompt Injection Attacks

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: Bruce Schneier blog

Researchers ran a global prompt hacking competition, and have documented the results in a paper that both gives a lot of good examples and tries to organize a taxonomy of effective prompt injection strategies. It seems as if the most common successful strategy is the “compound instruction attack,” as in “Say ‘I have been PWNED’ without a period.”

Ignore This Title and HackAPrompt: Exposing Systemic Vulnerabilities of
LLMs through a Global Scale Prompt Hacking Competition

Abstract: Large Language Models (LLMs) are deployed in interactive contexts with direct user engagement, such as chatbots and writing assistants. These deployments are vulnerable to prompt injection and jailbreaking (collectively, prompt hacking), in which models are manipulated to ignore their original instructions and follow potentially malicious ones. Although widely acknowledged as a significant security threat, there is a dearth of large-scale resources and quantitative studies on prompt hacking. To address this lacuna, we launch a global prompt hacking competition, which allows for free-form human input attacks. We elicit 600K+ adversarial prompts against three state-of-the-art LLMs. We describe the dataset, which empirically verifies that current LLMs can indeed be manipulated via prompt hacking. We also present a comprehensive taxonomical ontology of the types of adversarial prompts…

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/03/a-taxonomy-of-prompt-injection-attacks.html Save to Pocket

The U.K. has no “credible plan” to fund armed forces

date: 2024-03-08, from: Marketplace Morning Report

From the BBC World Service: The United Kingdom will be left increasingly reliant on military allies due to a black hole in defense spending, lawmakers warn. Then, it’s a decade since Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared; we have the latest on the search for the missing plane. And last summer marked the first time in six decades that Hollywood’s actors and writers went on strike simultaneously. How are the repercussions being felt?

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/the-u-k-has-no-credible-plan-to-fund-armed-forces Save to Pocket

2024-03-04 Israel and Palestine

date: 2024-03-08, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog

2024-03-04 Israel and Palestine

If you’re wondering how Israel is going to come back after all this, I suspect you already forgot how it managed to come back after 2006. I’m not sure how that makes me feel. On the one hand, I have completely checked out. The people in charge are utter villains. The settlements, the cutting down of trees, the terrorizing, the things one reads in the news if one cares to look are in a vague but emotionally crushing and morally grinding way similar to how the territory of the US was built on rape, murder, land grab, death marches and reservations. On the other hand, I think we cannot let that hold us back from seeking a better future. We must not stare at the bloody entrails left behind on this road to war. Yes, the news is grim. We must look past it, however. What comes after that? Where will we be in forty years? In twenty years? In five years? In two years? Next year? How will it be better than this?

“The disparity in conditions in the north and south is clear evidence that aid restrictions in the north are costing lives. UNICEF and WFP malnutrition screenings in the north in January found that nearly 16 per cent - or 1 in 6 children under 2 years of age - are acutely malnourished. Similar screenings conducted in the south in Rafah, where aid has been more available, found 5 per cent of children under 2 years are acutely malnourished.” – Statement by Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

And if you think a solution is impossible, then take heart. The world has managed to come back from two World Wars and countless other brutal wars. Peace is possible. People are not inherently evil. Most people want peace. Those in power and the people surrounding them and supporting them often don’t want peace, however. And once the slaughter starts, it’s hard to stop. Peace is hard.

Often the people arguing for war just can’t imagine peace because of this detail or that detail. And the details are hard to get right, for sure. But they are not impossible. Imagination is required. How else are people going to make plans for after the war? The war will end one day. And those who survived will be following plans that somebody imagined. It is important to imagine a happy, prosperous future and then to make plans of how to get there.

I remember how I was a German speaking kid in Portugal in the eighties and sometimes I’d be greeted by an angry “Heil Hitler!” from kids my age. And Portugal wasn’t even in the war! But all the killing takes generations to forgive and forget. The longer it takes us to get to peace, the longer it will take to forgive. And once there is peace, we must not squander it. We need to work for it. We need to keep aiming for that happy, prosperous future and stick to plans that go there. Don’t follow leaders without a clear plan. If they don’t have one, they don’t care or they’re unwilling to listen. There are many people with plans for peace. It’s just that the road is hard. And yet, that is the road we have.

• Stop the killing.
• Respect human rights.
• Implement justice.

Yes, it’s hard. But the alternative isn’t looking good. And we know how to do this. We have negotiated countless peace treaties. We have found solutions to thorny issues all over the world. This is not an impossible task.

#Israel #Palestine

“We laugh so we don’t cry,” I heard Sarah Taber say in her Farm to Taber podcast, either in Season 4, Ep. 7: The History of US Agriculture: How Jim Crow paid off for the Midwestern family farm or in Season 4, Ep. 9: King Cotton, Jim Crow, and Pellagra.

In that spirit, Existential Comics 527: Fantasy Morality has this note at the end:

Since the good guys always win in the end, and are typically outnumbered, this becomes pretty important. The orcs will brutally, savagely kill a few dozen elves, and the elves will respond in a very civilized fashion by wiping out the entire orc civilization. You can even still see this kind of justification in contemporary colonialism (cough Israel cough).

@Sandra and many others recently posted a link to a great comic where the author wanders the streets in the US, bombarded by posters about the kidnapped victims, the use of the posters in Israel and the US to construct a message, and how it all mounts up: Put Up, Take Down.

https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-03-04-israel Save to Pocket

P&B: Brad Barrish

date: 2024-03-08, from: Manu - I write blog

            <p>This is the 28th edition of <em>People and Blogs</em>, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Brad Barrish and his blog, <a href="https://bradbarrish.com">bradbarrish.com</a></p>

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https://manuelmoreale.com/@/page/QwF6eYzmjR9lSSwf Save to Pocket

John Boston | Starbucks & the $5 Prune Juice Latte …

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Signal

My father is still with me, bringing a fond shaking of the head and a smile. Dad was one tough son of a gun. At 5, he lost his father and was forced to work with my grandmother, three sisters and an older brother to keep the farm afloat. Then came the Great Depression, World […]

The post John Boston | Starbucks & the $5 Prune Juice Latte … appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/john-boston-starbucks-the-5-prune-juice-latte/ Save to Pocket

Megan Botton | The Emperor Has No Clothes

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Signal

This letter is in regards to Linda Storli’s letter to the editor published on Feb. 27. I wish to address some slanted truths and pose some questions for the public’s consideration. This submission is entirely my own and is not approved or endorsed by the Hart District Teachers Association. I have spent more than half […]

The post Megan Botton | <strong>The Emperor Has No Clothes </strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/megan-botton-the-emperor-has-no-clothes/ Save to Pocket

Rimac/Bugatti CEO explains problems with Tesla Roadster’s under 1 sec 0 to 60 mph

date: 2024-03-08, from: Electrek Feed

Mate Rimac, CEO of supercar makers Rimac and Bugatti, has commented on Elon Musk’s claim that the new Tesla Roadster is going to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less than 1 second with thrusters.

He sees some problems with it.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/08/rimac-bugatti-ceo-problems-with-tesla-roadsters-under-1-sec-0-to-60-mph/ Save to Pocket

2024-03-07 Why do we even blog?

date: 2024-03-08, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog

2024-03-07 Why do we even blog?

The urge to blog lives in a strange place. One speaks to an imagined audience. It is not enough to imagine an audience, though. It’s more than writing into a booklet, “Dear Diary, …” – and yet we do it even if there are no comments. Sure, I never had a lot of comments. But I think I’m just as happy getting the occasional email or reply on the fediverse. The thought of somebody reading the words is terrifying. And once I got that first comment, once I started linking the blog from my profiles, putting it out there for others to find, inviting people to read and implicitly, to judge… I started discovered that the blog was something I feared. The blog is a thrill. It makes me nervous. The heart beats. The heart bleeds.

Back when the blog had comments, I used to be anxious about comments. First, there’s a comment. Is it good or bad? Do I read it now? Do I risk a look? But then the imagined audience is still there and now it’s worse. How will I react as I am being watched? Blogging turns into a performance where I feel like I’m demonstrating my moral character. I am not a racist! I am not a white supremacist! I am not a homophobe! Or am I? All the discourse online has made me self-conscious. I really don’t want to be what I fear I might be without knowing it. I keep thinking of the idea that people who aren’t very observant being unable to perceive their own faults. The requirements go up when I learn more.

The effect of all that anxiety, for me, is that I take things seriously. Words are serious. I try to put my word where my heart is. I try to weight them carefully. I weigh my heart. Writing is morally intense. It doesn’t matter how long or how short the page, how trivial or how controversial the topic.

And above all of it hangs the grey sky of unspoken words, of thoughts unexamined and all that maladjustment, all the failures, all the judgements. How often have I found myself falling short of my own measure.

To blog is to wrestle with that. I imagine an audience that is strangely interested in all the things I am interested in. I write for them, for me, for my future self that looks back, the heart full of regret. I struggle for virtue and I put it into words for you and me, the imagined reader and myself. As proof. “I struggled!” I struggle. I keep on struggling to discover what is right and to do what is right.

Blogging is like writing secret confessions. I write about the things that I think I did well because I did them wrong and then I changed my mind. I write about the things I know because I did not know them before. And who cares about those laborious system administration blog posts where I struggle with this or that ephemeral problem. All these issues are lost pages. Nobody cares. People find their answers on Stack Overflow or Reddit or some other centralized platform where middlemen gamify the experience so that we can help each other while on the thread-mill for their pockets. And who cares about those blog posts about growing old or playing games? People read them and move on. Like I do, when I’m reading online. Even if I am moved, I will move on. And there are so many posts to read, the folders on my disk with saved articles and snippets are more like compost heaps, where layer upon layer of good stuff gets dropped, never to see the light of day again.

Perhaps it sparked a thought somewhere, and perhaps that spark starts a fire, somewhere, much later. There is practically no connection and that is fine. The world moves and humanity is moved like a dreamer, one thought knows not the next, and we all partake in that eternal digestion of the sleepless mind. Our books, our journals, our blogs, our posts, they all participate. Perhaps we fall for those waves of outrage and the galaxy brain has a seizure as we all throw our weight around in unison, crushing innocent lives, leaving those we hurt behind, forgetting them as quickly as we forget about the outrage.

Or perhaps blogging is leaving a trail of blazing sparks, each one sparking a fire in the next generation. Spending time reading blogs and posts on social media has certainly changed me.

Perhaps I would have grown older differently without reading blogs and blogging. And this is why I cannot stop blogging. To blog in that half-shadow where perhaps our thoughts are read and perhaps they are not, where every text lights up and shines and drops and sinks onto that great pile where thousands of text are rotting, that is to participate in the galaxy brain that is our world. Some of us can vote and some of us can talk. Some of us can fight and some of us will weep. I try to blog.

I try to blog to prove to myself that it was a struggle, that I tried to think long and hard about things and that I tried to do the right thing. I keep failing and so I must keep blogging.

#Blogs

p1k3 wrote back in 2022:

Writing about writing. Programming about programming. Meetings about meetings. The mind reflecting on its own function. … Writing about writing might not have quite the same potential for nested, generative dysfunction, but it often produces artifacts just as unintelligible. – meta meta

https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-03-07-why-blog Save to Pocket

IAB Europe’s ad consent popups pose privacy problem

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Court of Justice of the European Union says consent identifers are personal info, subject to GDPR

Online popup solicitations that seek consent for targeted ads in Europe represent personal information, according to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) – a decision characterized as either a “mortal wound” for online ad tracking, or a welcome clarification, depending on whom you ask.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/ad_tracking_popups_in_europe/ Save to Pocket

Plummer talks to us about spending Microsoft’s money on a red Corvette

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

A secret message or just random characters on a license plate?

Microsoft veteran Dave Plummer has shared a photo of the Corvette bought by Zip folder support work in Windows and reminded us that, 30 years later, some of the code is probably still running in the operating system.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/spending_microsoft_money_on_a/ Save to Pocket

Tesla forces another class action from customers to go to arbitration

date: 2024-03-08, from: Electrek Feed

Tesla has successfully managed to kill another class action lawsuit from customers by forcing them to go to arbitration.

It’s the second time in a few months that Tesla has managed to weasel its way out of a class-action lawsuit with its sneaky arbitration clause.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/08/tesla-forces-another-class-action-customers-arbitration/ Save to Pocket

Biden Announces Drastic Gaza Aid Measure, Warns Against Trump in State of Union Address

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

US President Joe Biden used his third State of the Union speech Thursday evening to announce a dramatic measure to facilitate aid into Gaza, push funding for Ukraine’s war efforts and to warn the country of the threat posed by Donald Trump, his likely opponent in the November election. VOA’s White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this wrap-up of what may be the most consequential speech ahead of the president’s reelection bid.

https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-announces-drastic-gaza-aid-measure-warns-against-trump-in-state-of-union-address-/7519047.html Save to Pocket

Biden Targets China During State of Union Speech

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

BEIJING — U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday criticized China’s “unfair economic practices” and insisted he has done a better job standing up to Beijing than did former President Donald Trump, his rival in this year’s presidential election.

In his State of the Union address, Biden also touted other aspects of his China policy, including “standing up for peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits” and revitalizing “our partnerships and alliances in the Pacific.”

“I’ve made sure that the most advanced American technologies can’t be used in China … frankly for all his tough talk on China, it never occurred to my predecessor to do any of that,” Biden added.

Biden’s China comments, which made up only a brief part of his nationally televised speech, come a day after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi escalated his country’s verbal attacks on the United States.

On the sidelines of an annual meeting of China’s National People’s Congress, Wang accused the United States of trying to contain China through sanctions, and insisted that Washington has “wrong perceptions” about Beijing.

“The means to suppress China are constantly updated, the list of unilateral sanctions is constantly extended, and the desire to inflict punishment on China has reached an unimaginable level,” said Wang during what appeared to be a tightly scripted interaction with local and foreign media.

Wang’s comments were a contrast from September, when Biden met Chinese President Xi Jinping in California. At that meeting, both sides agreed to restart dialogue and cooperate on several initiatives, including to counter the flow of fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid, into the United States.

While Wang acknowledged that “some progress” was made at what he called the “historic meeting,” he accused the United States of breaking some of its promises.

“If the United States always says one thing and does another, where will its credibility be as a major country? If the United States is nervous and anxious whenever it hears the word ‘China,’ where is the self-confidence of a major country?” Wang said.

Even as high-level talks resumed, the United States has expanded sanctions against China on a range of issues, from human rights abuses to its relations with Russia. U.S.-China ties are also strained over a wide range of other issues, including China’s behavior in disputed areas of the South China Sea, its military intimidation of Taiwan, and a growing U.S.-China technological competition.

Political cudgel

In his speech Thursday, Biden reiterated that he wants “competition with China, but not conflict,” while noting that the United States is “in a stronger position to win the competition for the 21st century against China or anyone else for that matter.”

“For years, I’ve heard many of my Republican and Democratic friends say that China is on the rise and America is falling behind. They’ve got it backwards … America is rising,” Biden said.

“We have the best economy in the world. And since I’ve come to office, our GDP is up. Our trade deficit with China is down to the lowest point in over a decade,” he added.

China is expected to get more public attention as the U.S. presidential election campaign intensifies. On Thursday, both Biden, a Democrat, and U.S. Senator Katie Britt, who delivered the Republican response, used China to attack their political opponents.

“The Chinese Communist Party is undercutting America’s workers. China is buying up our farmland, spying on our military installations, and spreading propaganda through the likes of TikTok,” Britt said, referring to the popular video-sharing social media app owned by a Chinese company.

“The CCP knows that if it conquers the minds of our next generation, it conquers America,” Britt said. “And what does President Biden do? He bans TikTok for government employees, but creates an account for his own campaign.”

U.S. lawmakers are making a renewed push to pass legislation that would effectively force Beijing-based ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months or face a U.S. ban. Some U.S. lawmakers warn ByteDance could pass private information about U.S. users to China’s Communist Party – an allegation rejected by the company’s CEO. Previous attempts to ban TikTok have been unsuccessful.

But despite recent developments, U.S.-China relations remain more stable than in past years, said Wang Huiyao, the founder and president of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization.

“We don’t want to see a downward spiral like we used to have. Because if that happens, that could be very dangerous for not only the U.S. and China, but for the world,” Wang told VOA during an interview at his office.

“I’m still cautiously optimistic,” Wang said. “Because people realize that [after] the last six, seven years, if the U.S. and China really get into a very ugly situation, then the whole world is finished.”

https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-targets-china-during-state-of-union-speech/7519040.html Save to Pocket

Pharma’s Secret Middlemen Are Poisoning Health Care

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Lever News

Following a lobbying blitz, Congress might punt all efforts to stop shadowy pharmacy benefit managers from inflating drug prices and killing small pharmacies.

https://www.levernews.com/pharmas-secret-middlemen-are-poisoning-health-care/ Save to Pocket

Accessibility improvements in GTK 4.14

date: 2024-03-08, from: Gtk Developer blog

GTK 4.14 brings various improvements on the accessibility front, especially for applications showing complex, formatted text; for WebKitGTK; and for notifications. Accessible text interface The accessibility rewrite for 4.0 provided an implementation for complex, selectable, and formatted text in widgets provided by GTK, like GtkTextView, but out of tree widgets would not be able to … Continue reading “Accessibility improvements in GTK 4.14”

https://blog.gtk.org/2024/03/08/accessibility-improvements-in-gtk-4-14/ Save to Pocket

2024-02-19 Hippeastrum season

date: 2024-03-08, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog

2024-02-19 Hippeastrum season

It’s the season!

So beautiful! My new wallpaper for the phone:

The best home office:

More pictures:

Over the weeks, the plants keep changing. We’re in March, now.

#Pictures #Hippeastrum #Plants

https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-02-19-hippeastrum Save to Pocket

Innovative Open Research Publisher PeerJ Joins Taylor & Francis

date: 2024-03-08, from: PeerJ blog

Leading research publisher Taylor & Francis has announced the addition of PeerJ, a pioneer in broad-scope open access (OA) journals. PeerJ is best known for its multidisciplinary flagship title PeerJ Life & Environment serving the Biological, Medical and Environmental Sciences and PeerJ Computer Science (covering all areas of computer science, including AI, quantum, and robotics). […]

https://peerj.com/blog/post/115284888962/innovative-open-research-publisher-peerj-joins-taylor-francis/ Save to Pocket

Biden’s strong State of the Union — and my utter failure advising Democratic presidential candidates

date: 2024-03-08, from: Robert Reich on Substack

My advice was worth exactly what they paid for it — nothing.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/michael-dukakis Save to Pocket

March 7, 2024

date: 2024-03-08, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog

The Republican Party now belongs to Trump. On the heels of his wins on Super Tuesday, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, his last serious rival for the Republican presidential nomination, suspended her campaign Wednesday morning. That afternoon, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who enabled Trump during his administration but apparently hoped to see him replaced at the top of the party, endorsed him.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-7-2024 Save to Pocket

Job interview descended into sweary shouting match, candidate got the gig anyway

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

And soon learned he had won the argument

On Call  Welcome once more, dear reader, to On Call – The Register’s Friday trawl through a mailbag containing stories of your tech support tales.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/on_call/ Save to Pocket

Colour-changing LEDs remind you to clean out your cat’s litter tray

date: 2024-03-08, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)

Do you have cats who use a litter tray and do you sometimes forget to empty that litter tray? If so, you might be interested in Manuel Bernhardt’s Raspberry Pi-powered project, which uses Rust to create a cat litter box reminder with LEDs.

The post Colour-changing LEDs remind you to clean out your cat’s litter tray appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/colour-changing-leds-remind-you-to-clean-out-your-cats-litter-tray/ Save to Pocket

Today in SCV History (March 8)

date: 2024-03-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)

1913 – Castaic Range War: Chromicle ally Billy Rose shoots, wounds landowner William W. Jenkins. [story

https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-march-8/ Save to Pocket

Henry Winkler receives comedy award at USC

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

The actor-comedian spoke at Norris Cinema Theatre on Tuesday night.

The post Henry Winkler receives comedy award at USC appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/08/henry-winkler-receives-comedy-award-at-usc/ Save to Pocket

Santa Barbara Passes Early Season Test Against Rival San Marcos

date: 2024-03-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

Santa Barbara and San Marcos will compete at the Best of the West Tournament this weekend in San Diego.

The post Santa Barbara Passes Early Season Test Against Rival San Marcos appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/07/santa-barbara-passes-early-season-test-against-rival-san-marcos/ Save to Pocket

AI mishaps are surging – and now they’re being tracked like software bugs

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

The Register speaks to the folks behind the AI Incident Database

Interview  False images of Donald Trump supported by made-up Black voters, middle-schoolers creating pornographic deepfakes of their female classmates, and Google’s Gemini chatbot failing to generate pictures of White people accurately.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/ai_mishaps_are_surging_and/ Save to Pocket

No.2-seeded women’s basketball thrills in win over Wildcats.

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

USC advances to the Pac-12 tournament semifinals for the first time since 2021.

The post No.2-seeded women’s basketball thrills in win over Wildcats. appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/no-2-seeded-womens-basketball-thrills-in-win-over-wildcats/ Save to Pocket

Why Biden Talked Up the IRA Without Saying Its Name

date: 2024-03-08, from: Heatmap News

Would the IRA by any other name be as sweet to voters?

It’s a valid question. President Biden’s final State of the Union address before the November election represented as good a chance as any for him to make his pitch to the American people — and he did so without ever saying the name of his most significant piece of legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act.

That might seem like a curious, or even downright disastrous, choice to make regarding a law that has struggled with branding. Though the actual contents of the law are popular with voters, some 63% of Americans say they’ve heard “not much” or “nothing” about the IRA, according to a 2023 Heatmap poll. And while the “Inflation Reduction Act” is only a little more descriptive than “H.R.5376,” the law has been called “misnamed” and “silly” from the start, in large part because it obscures all trace that it is, in actuality, the biggest climate law in U.S. history.

On Thursday night, Biden appeared to lean into that confusion rather than fight it. Or, perhaps more accurately, he seemed to double down on the avoidance inherent in the law’s very name. Far from giving up on touting the IRA’s accomplishments, Biden repeatedly boasted about “clean energy, advanced manufacturing,” and creating “tens of thousands of jobs here in America.” He further referred to a Stellantis plant in Belvidere, Illinois, that reopened partly due to a federal grant made possible by the IRA.

Meanwhile, other laws got shout-outs. He cited the CHIPS and Science Act — which rivals the Inflation Reduction Act for dryness. He credited the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for “46,000 new projects … across your communities.”

It was also notable that the economic upsides of the IRA were largely separated from Biden’s brief mention of “confronting the climate crisis” in the second half of his speech. Just as he’d paid rote attention to childhood literacy initiatives and veteran healthcare, Biden reiterated his established goals like “cutting our carbon emissions in half by 2030,” “building and installing 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations,” and “conserving 30% of American lands and waters by 2030.” Absent were mentions of consumer incentives, like the IRA making heat pumps, solar panels, and EVs more accessible. Tellingly, his lone new climate announcement pertained to a rather minor piece in his more extensive agenda: Biden promised to triple the Climate Corps of young people working in clean energy “in a decade.”

This divorce of climate change from the economy in the speech is, in actuality, a little like what the name “Inflation Reduction Act” is functionally doing, too. The Biden administration has consistently moved its climate goals forward by not calling attention to the fact that they are climate goals. After all, any Republicans who voted against something called the “Inflation Reduction Act” could be hammered for being — what, pro-inflation?! At the same time, using the State of the Union to draw attention to specific economic accomplishments that just so happen to be in the clean energy space allows Biden to go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump on the economy — an issue voters are more concerned about this election cycle than the climate — without letting such a talking point be dismissed as green liberal woo-woo.

Biden can’t avoid talking about climate directly, of course. It’s an issue that is important to young voters, and some progressives worry he’s losing their support over his approval of the Willow oil drilling project. No wonder, then, that the most prominent part of the State of the Union’s climate section centered on a program explicitly designed to create jobs for 18- to 35-year-olds.

This isn’t a matter of cynicism — it’s messaging. Admittedly, that is a bit ironic, given that the long-standing criticism of the IRA is that no one knows what it i. Still, Biden is embracing the very spirit of the name of the Inflation Reduction Act by never saying the words.

https://heatmap.news/politics/biden-state-of-the-union-inflation-reduction-act Save to Pocket

USC to no longer offer Academic Achievement Award, Exceptional Funding scholarships

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

Academic Honors and Fellowships confirmed the change Thursday night.

The post USC to no longer offer Academic Achievement Award, Exceptional Funding scholarships appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/usc-to-no-longer-offer-academic-achievement-award-exceptional-funding-scholarships/ Save to Pocket

Euro-cloud consortium issues ultimatum to Microsoft: Fix your licensing or else

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Redmond hasn’t budged on deals that make its wares cheaper on Azure, and regulators are circling

A group of cloud infrastructure providers in Europe has delivered an ultimatum to Microsoft: End the “unjustified feature and pricing discriminations against fair competition” or face legal action.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/cispe_microsoft_licensing_complaint/ Save to Pocket

Webcurios 08/03/24

date: 2024-03-08, from: Web Curios blog

Continue reading →

https://webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-08-03-24/ Save to Pocket

Biden Reaffirms Need to Free American Journalist Jailed in Russia

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/7518957.html Save to Pocket

President Joe Biden Delivers 2024 State of the Union Address

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

Biden highlighted the importance of defending democracy at home and around the world.

https://www.voanews.com/a/president-joe-biden-delivers-2024-state-of-the-union-address/7518908.html Save to Pocket

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt Delivers Spirited, Critical Response to Biden

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/sen-katie-britt-calls-biden-diminished-leader-in-republican-response-to-state-of-the-union/7518934.html Save to Pocket

Broadcom says VMware to grow revenue by double-digit percentages all year

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Networking silicon surges, Carbon Black to be kept in the fold

Broadcom has told investors its strategy of forcing VMware customers to buy only big bundles of software will see revenue increase by “double-digit percentage sequentially, quarter over quarter, through the rest of the fiscal year.”…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/broadcom_q1_2024/ Save to Pocket

Israel, Immigration Feature in Biden’s State of the Union Speech

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/israel-immigration-feature-in-biden-s-state-of-the-union-speech-/7518932.html Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-08, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

The State of the Union tonight was great. MSNBC hosts are totally turned on by Biden’s speech. They’re actually having an interesting discussion. Remarkable. More later.

http://scripting.com/2024/03/07.html#a044906 Save to Pocket

Font security ‘still a Helvetica of a problem’ says Australian graphics outfit Canva

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Who knew that unzipping a font archive could unleash a malicious file

Online graphic design platform Canva went looking for security problems in fonts, and found three – in “strange places.”…

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US: Stopping Iran’s Resupply of Houthis ‘Most Important’ to Secure Red Sea

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

Pentagon — As attacks by Iran-backed Houthis continue in the Red Sea, the commander in charge of U.S. military operations in the Middle East says the U.S. needs to stop Iran from providing the militants with weapons.

“The most important thing is to deny their ability to resupply from Iran. The Houthis are not building. They’re putting it all together and assembling, but they don’t create inertial navigation systems. They don’t create medium-range ballistic missile engines,” Gen. Erik Kurilla, the chief of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

The U.S. and British militaries have launched multiple combined operations against weapons facilities, radars and launch sites in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The U.S. has also continued near-daily strikes to take out weapons that were prepared to launch and shoot down incoming Houthi weapons, including strikes late Wednesday against two Houthi drones.

An anti-ship ballistic missile launched earlier Wednesday from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen killed three crew members of the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier True Confidence in the Gulf of Aden, CENTCOM said in a statement. It was the first fatal strike by Iran-backed Houthi militants since the onslaught on international shipping lanes began in mid-November.

More than a dozen commercial ships have been impacted by Houthi drones or missiles during that time. Those vessels have included an aid ship with grain bound for Yemen and at least one ship with cargo bound for Iran. One vessel carrying fertilizer, the MV Rubymar, sank over the weekend after is was damaged in a Houthi attack last month.

On Tuesday, the Houthis targeted the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Carney, which shot down bomb-carrying drones and one anti-ship ballistic missile, according to CENTCOM.

Some senators on Wednesday expressed a desire for more forceful action against Iran, the Houthis’ supplier of weapons, funding and intelligence needed to attack vessels.

“Why are we not sinking those Iranian ships if there’s an Iranian spy ship providing targeting information,” asked Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska.

Gen. Kurilla said that deterring Iran requires a “whole of government” effort.

Last month, the United States carried out a cyberattack against two Iranian military ships. A U.S. official who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity to discuss covert operations said the Iranian spy ship MV Behshad was one of the targeted ships. It had been collecting intelligence on vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis have said their attacks against international shipping lanes are carried out in solidarity with Hamas.

Hamas terrorists launched a brutal attack that killed hundreds of Israelis on October 7. Israel responded with an operation to root out Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an ongoing operation that has killed thousands.

Close calls

Shortly after the attack, Iranian proxies in Iraq and Syria began a series of attacks against U.S. forces in the region. After more than 170 attacks that left dozens of service members injured, the militants flew a drone into Tower 22 air base in Jordan, killing three American service members and injuring dozens more.

Kurilla revealed on Thursday that U.S. forces had “several” close calls before the deadly Tower 22 attack, and that he had balanced the U.S. response options that he provided to the president against escalating the conflict.

Asked by Senator Roger Wicker, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, whether the militias in Iraq and Syria could have killed U.S. troops prior to the deaths in Jordan with “a little bit of extra luck,” Kurilla replied, “That is correct.”

“There were several incidents where UAVs (unidentified aerial vehicles) coming into a base hit another object, got caught up in netting, or other incidents where had they hit the appropriate target that they were targeting, it would have injured or killed service members,” he said.

VOA previously reported on one of these incidents that occurred in late October. A drone crashed into a barracks housing U.S. services members but failed to detonate, likely saving several lives, according to defense officials.

Threat from Afghanistan

As a result of the attacks on U.S. service members in the region and international shipping lanes, Kurilla said that the U.S. has had to divert intelligence and reconnaissance assets from Afghanistan to Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

He warned that the risk of an attack by violent extremists in Afghanistan on American and Western interests abroad is increasing, saying that Islamic State-Khorasan Province affiliates in Afghanistan and Syria “retain the capability and will to attack U.S. and Western interests abroad in as little as six months and with little to no warning.”

The general said such an attack would be more likely in Europe, as it would take “substantially more resources” to hit the U.S. at home.

U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

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Transcript: President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union Address

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

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Standoff suspect heading back to court later this month 

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Signal

The case for a Canyon Country man arrested after an hourslong standoff Feb. 1 at his home is heading back to court for another hearing date March 29.  Carl Pruett, 65, remains in custody at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles after his court appearance Wednesday, which resulted in a continuance.  He […]

The post Standoff suspect heading back to court later this month  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

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US Army Soldier Indicted on Charges of Selling Sensitive Military Information

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

nashville, tennessee — An Army soldier has been arrested on accusations of selling sensitive information related to U.S. military capabilities, Justice Department officials said Thursday. 

Sgt. Korbein Schultz, who is also an intelligence analyst, was accused in a six-count indictment of charges including conspiring to obtain and disclose military defense information and bribery of a public official. The 24-year-old was arrested at Fort Campbell, which straddles the Tennessee-Kentucky border, shortly after the indictment was released Thursday. 

“The men and women of the United States Armed Forces dedicate their lives to maintain our national security,” Henry C. Leventis, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, told reporters. “Our laws protecting national defense information are critical to that mission, and they must be enforced. Illegal dissemination of national defense information puts our country, our fellow citizens, members of our military and our allies at risk.” 

According to the indictment, Schultz — who had a top-secret security clearance — allegedly had conspired with an individual identified only as “Conspirator A” to disclose various documents, photographs and other national defense materials since June 2022. The indictment said Schultz was recruited by the individual not only because of his security clearance but also because he was tasked with gathering sensitive U.S. military information. 

Some of the information that Schultz is alleged to have given to the individual included information related to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, hypersonic equipment, studies on future developments of U.S. military forces, and studies on military drills and operations in major countries like China. 

Lessons from Ukraine war

The indictment outlines that Schultz was initially asked to provide documents detailing lessons that could be learned from Russia’s war with Ukraine and how those lessons could be applied to the U.S. helping Taiwan in the event of an attack. Schultz was paid $200 for that information, which then prompted Conspirator A, to ask for a “long-term partnership.” 

Conspirator A, who was described in the indictment as a foreign national purporting to reside in Hong Kong, later suggested that Schultz could earn more money if he handed over “internal only” material rather than unclassified documents. 

In total, Schultz received at least 14 payments totaling $42,000. 

“The defendant and his co-conspirator also discussed recruiting another member of the U.S. military to join their conspiracy and to provide additional national defense information in order to conceal their illegal conduct,” Leventis said. 

Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ruth Castro said in a statement that Schultz has been in the Army since November 2018 and his hometown is Wills Point, Texas. 

Schultz was previously assigned to Fort Cavazos, Texas, and was deployed once to Eastern Europe, according to Lt. Col. Tony Hoefler, a spokesperson for Fort Campbell. 

The case is the latest in a series of federal prosecutions of current or former military members accused of illegally disclosing sensitive government secrets. 

In April 2023, Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira was charged with leaking highly classified military documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine on Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games. He pleaded guilty on Monday in a deal with prosecutors that calls for him to serve at least 11 years in prison. 

In August, two U.S. Navy sailors were charged with providing sensitive military information to China — including details on wartime exercises, naval operations and critical technical material. 

And more recently, the Justice Department announced charges this week against a civilian Air Force employee and retired Army lieutenant colonel for allegedly sharing classified information about the war in with Ukraine on a foreign dating site.

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Judge Denies Trump Relief From $83.3 Million Defamation Judgment

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

NEW YORK — The federal judge who oversaw a New York defamation trial that resulted in an $83.3 million award to a longtime magazine columnist from Donald Trump refused Thursday to relieve the ex-president from the verdict’s financial pinch.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told Trump’s attorney in a written order that he won’t delay deadlines for posting a bond that would ensure 80-year-old writer E. Jean Carroll can be paid the award if the judgment survives appeals.

The judge said any financial harm to the Republican front-runner for the presidency results from his slow response to the late-January verdict in the defamation case resulting from statements Trump made about Carroll while he was president in 2019 after she revealed her claims that he raped her in her memoir.

At the time, Trump accused her of making up claims that he raped her in the dressing room of a luxury Manhattan department store in spring 1996. A jury last May at a trial Trump did not attend awarded Carroll $5 million in damages, finding that Trump sexually abused her but did not rape her as rape was defined under New York state law. It also concluded that he defamed her in statements in October 2022.

Trump attended the January trial and briefly testified, though his remarks were severely limited by the judge, who had ruled that the jury had to accept the May verdict and was only to decide how much in damages, if any, Carroll was owed for Trump’s 2019 statements. In the statements, Trump claimed he didn’t know Carroll and accused her of making up lies to sell books and harm him politically.

Trump’s lawyers have challenged the judgment, which included a $65 million punitive award, saying there was a “strong probability” it will be reduced or eliminated on appeal.

In his order Thursday, Kaplan noted that Trump’s lawyers waited 25 days to seek to delay when a bond must be posted. The judgment becomes final Monday.

“Mr. Trump’s current situation is a result of his own dilatory actions,” Kaplan wrote.

Kaplan said the expense of ongoing litigation does not constitute irreparable injury.

Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, did not immediately comment.

Since the January verdict, a state court judge in New York in a separate case has ordered Trump and his companies to pay $355 million in penalties for a yearslong scheme to dupe banks and others with financial statements that inflated his wealth. With interest, he owes the state nearly $454 million.

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Suspects Arrested in ‘Murder-for-Hire’ of Elderly Woman in Montecito

date: 2024-03-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

The group is accused of fraud, financial abuse, and the premeditated murder of Violet Evelyn Alberts, 96, in one of Santa Barbara’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

The post Suspects Arrested in ‘Murder-for-Hire’ of Elderly Woman in Montecito appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

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Newhall School District nearing LCAP goals 

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Signal

While not quite at pre-pandemic levels, the Newhall School District is aiming to meet its metric goals and is on track with its expenditures to do so, according to Kate Peattie, assistant superintendent of instructional services for the district.  Peattie presented a mid-year update for the district’s local control and accountability plan, or LCAP, at […]

The post <strong>Newhall School District nearing LCAP goals</strong>  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

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Hart district reviewing policy regarding notification of investigations 

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Signal

An incident involving a student being questioned by William S. Hart Union High School District officials and the district’s legal counsel without notifying the parents has led the district to review its policy on such matters.  John Yurek, the parent of a Saugus High School student, said his son was questioned last week regarding an […]

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CSUN Associated Students hosts election awareness event

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)

The presidential primary election was Tuesday, March 5. American citizens all over the country who were eligible to vote cast their ballots by mail or in person, picking the candidate…

https://sundial.csun.edu/179053/news/csun-associated-students-hosts-election-awareness-event/ Save to Pocket

India plans 10,000-GPU sovereign AI supercomputer

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Puts $1.2 billion on the table for AI skills and local LLMs, tells private enterprise it expects help

India’s government has approved a ₹10,300 Crore ($1.24 billion) funding package to bolster the nation’s AI infrastructure.…

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US Navy Looking to S. Korean, Japanese Shipbuilders to Revive American Shipyards

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

washington — The United States is looking to Korean and Japanese shipbuilders to help revive its dormant naval shipyards and boost maritime competitiveness in the face of China’s accelerated naval buildup.

U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro toured shipyards in South Korea operated by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan and Hanwha Ocean on Geoje Island last week.

He encouraged top executives of the companies to establish subsidiaries and “invest” resources in integrating commercial and naval shipbuilding facilities in the U.S., said a statement by the Navy.

During a speech at Harvard University in September, Del Toro called for “new maritime statecraft” to prevail in an era of intense strategic competition.

South Korean shipbuilding is “an asset” to the U.S. “as China continues to aggressively pursue worldwide shipbuilding dominance,” said the Navy statement issued during Del Toro’s East Asia visit.

“In addition to our currently active shipyards,” it added, “there are numerous former shipyard sites around the country which are largely intact and dormant.”

Del Toro said during the tour that these are ready to be redeveloped to produce military and commercial ships.

Yokohama shipyard

Following his visit to South Korea last week, Del Toro traveled to Japan, where he toured Mitsubishi’s shipyard in Yokohama and discussed efforts to revive the U.S. maritime industry with leading shipbuilding executives, said the Navy in a separate statement.

Matthew Funaiole, senior fellow for the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said these meetings “underscore a strategic effort by the U.S. to bolster alliance and enhance technological and industrial cooperation” with its allies.

“China may be the world’s largest shipbuilder, but South Korea and Japan are number two and three, respectively,” continued Funaiole via email on Tuesday.

China has the largest number of naval vessels in the world, having overtaken the U.S. Navy in 2014. According to a Pentagon report published in October, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) of China has more than 370 battle force ships compared with the U.S. Navy’s 292.

The Pentagon report also said that China’s navy is expected to have 395 ships by 2025 and 435 by 2030.

According to the U.S. Naval Institute, China commands almost 50% of the global shipbuilding market, with South Korea and Japan following at nearly 30% and 17%, respectively. US capacity is only 0.13 percent.

“It is clear that the United States is having trouble producing ships – both surface ships and submarines – at numbers and costs that can keep up with China’s naval modernization,” said Zack Cooper, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Defense Department official during the George W. Bush administration.

“One way to address this shortfall is to work more closely with allies and partners to try and field more vessels or to offload some of the maintenance responsibilities to other players,” he told VOA via email on Wednesday.

Protection against competition

But, Cooper said, the opportunities for collaboration “have to be balanced” against the opposition by U.S. shipbuilders that are protected from foreign competitors by the Jones Act.

That act, passed in 1920 in response to German U-boat attacks during World War I that crippled the U.S. Merchant Marine, requires that any vessel carrying goods between two U.S. points be built, owned and crewed by Americans and registered in the U.S.

Terence Roehrig, a professor of national security at the Naval War College, said the U.S. faces a lack of “shipbuilding capacity that can crank out the needed number of vessels at a cost that can be sustained.”

He continued via email on Tuesday: “It will be difficult for the U.S. to match the size of the PLAN but the United States retains advantages in technology and weapons systems along with certain classes of ships including aircraft carriers and submarines.”

Roehrig added that South Korean and Japanese investment could help the U.S. increase its capacity to keep up with China.

The U.S. Navy currently operates public shipyards in Norfolk, Virginia; Portsmouth, Maine; Puget Sound, Washington; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Seven public shipyards closed from the 1960s to 1990s.

Seven shipyards owned by four contractors in the U.S. build warships for the Navy while China operates more than 20 shipyards to support naval shipbuilding, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.

Funaiole said: “The gap in shipbuilding capabilities can be attributed to several factors, including China’s focused efforts on accelerating military modernization through dual-use applications, strategic prioritization of naval expansion to assert its maritime interests, and effective utilization of its commercial industrial capacity.”

He continued that the U.S. should warn its international partners about engaging with Chinese commercial shipbuilders.

“These entities often bolster China’s military through its Military-Civil Fusion strategy,” which aims to eliminate barriers among commercial, scientific and military sectors to enhance its defense.

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Election Results Update: Local Races as of Thursday

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Signal

The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office announced the second post-Election Night ballot count update for the March 5 Presidential Primary Election. The update includes 88,361 ballots processed since the first Post-Election Night update. The total election results count is now 1,104,935, which is 19.45% of registered voters. The next ballot count update will be on Friday, March 8. The estimate of outstanding […]

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Biden Calls for Defending Democracy in State of Union Address

date: 2024-03-08, from: VOA News USA

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden concluded his State of the Union address Thursday night as he began it: highlighting the importance of defending democracy at home and around the world.

“I see a future where we defend democracy, not diminish it. I see a future where we restore the right to choose and protect other freedoms, not take them away,” Biden said as he wrapped up his speech.

Earlier in the night, Biden began by emphasizing what he said are threats facing democracy around the world and calling on Congress to approve additional aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“I say this to Congress: We have to stand up to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. Send me a bipartisan national security bill,” he said.

House Republicans are blocking a Senate-approved $95 billion foreign aid package that includes $61 billion to help Kyiv in its fight against Russia.

“My message to [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin, who I’ve known for a long time, is simple: We will not walk away. We will not bow down,” Biden said.

More broadly, Biden said that democracy and freedom are under threat around the world.

“What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack both at home and overseas at the very same time,” he said.

The president also lauded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, which he called “the strongest military alliance the world has ever seen.”

He pointed out Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who attended the address as a guest of first lady Jill Biden. Sweden officially joined NATO on Thursday.

Biden took his time walking down the chamber aisle as he stopped to greet, talk and take photos with various lawmakers and other individuals. A collection of attendees began clapping and chanting, “Four more years,” as Biden walked toward the lectern.

The president’s entrance into the chamber was preceded by that of his Cabinet, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, who entered and shook hands with lawmakers as they walked to their seats.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona was the designated survivor, which refers to the single member of the president’s Cabinet who does not attend the State of the Union address to ensure that someone in line for presidential succession is safe in the potential event of a catastrophic incident during the address.

Biden’s speech comes as lawmakers work to fund the government and avoid a shutdown, and the Biden administration urges Congress to pass security aid for Ukraine and Israel.

He addressed the ongoing war between Israel and the militant group Hamas near the end of his speech. He called on Hamas to release all of the Israeli hostages still being held by the group.

“I pledge to all the families that we will not rest until we bring their loved ones home,” Biden said.

But Biden also emphasized that Israel has a responsibility to protect civilians in Gaza. “It’s heartbreaking,” Biden said about the civilian crisis, which has seen more than 30,000 Palestinians killed.

Biden announced that the U.S. military will establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean Sea on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters for civilians in the beleaguered Gaza Strip.

Elsewhere in his speech, Biden drew attention to the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the right to abortion.

“Clearly those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America. But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024,” Biden said.

“If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you: I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again,” he continued.

Several Democratic women are dressed in suffragette white, part of a tradition that began in opposition to former President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, some Republicans are wearing buttons and T-shirts that reference Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia who was killed in February. Authorities charged a Venezuelan migrant who entered the United States illegally and was later released on parole in the case.

Some conservative lawmakers have blamed Riley’s killing on White House immigration policies. During his address, Biden urged Congress to pass the border security fund bill.

“I will not demonize immigrants saying they are ‘poisoning the blood of our country,’” Biden said. “I will not separate families.”

Earlier in his address, Biden took credit for improving the country’s economy and guiding it out of the pandemic-caused slump.

“I came to office determined to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. And we have. It doesn’t make the news but in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told,” he said.

He went on to cite 15 million new jobs in three years, unemployment at a 50-year low, and a record 16 million Americans starting small businesses.

Biden also committed to protecting the Affordable Care Act.

Also in his sights: halting tax breaks for major corporations and billionaires.

“No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a teacher, a sanitation worker, a nurse,” he said, before going on to say he has proposed a minimum 25% tax for billionaires.

Whereas the wars in Ukraine and Gaza featured significantly in Biden’s address, the president only briefly discussed China, which some lawmakers view as an existential adversary to the United States. But Biden projected confidence.

“For years, all I’ve heard from my Republican friends and so many others is China’s on the rise, and America is falling behind. They’ve got it backward. America is rising,” he said.

“We want competition with China, but not conflict,” he added.

Following Biden’s address, Alabama Senator Katie Britt is due to give the Republican response.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

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Blending art, technology, and the human body

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Signal

In an evolving landscape of contemporary art, Tiffany Trenda, a Santa Clarita native and renowned artist, aims to push boundaries with her captivating, unique, performative art and mixed media paintings by using technology and the human body in an interactive experience.   Trenda knew she wanted to pursue art as a career from a very early […]

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Mustangs Celebrate Best Opening Day Ever at NAIA Swim Nationals

date: 2024-03-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)

Three relay teams from The Master’s University made the podium on the first night of competition Wednesday at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Swim & Dive National Championships in Columbus, Ga

https://scvnews.com/mustangs-celebrate-best-opening-day-ever-at-naia-swim-nationals/ Save to Pocket

USC vs. Arizona — as it happened

date: 2024-03-08, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

Thomas Johnson and Leila MacKenzie report live from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The post USC vs. Arizona — as it happened appeared first on Daily Trojan.

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Election Countdown, 243 Days to Go: Four Mysteries After ‘Super Tuesday.’

date: 2024-03-08, from: James Fallows, Substack

The field is narrowed down to Biden and Trump. The press has been telling us that both these guys are losers, for different reasons. Somehow one of them is going to win.

https://fallows.substack.com/p/election-countdown-243-days-to-go Save to Pocket

Securing open source software: Whose job is it, anyway?

date: 2024-03-08, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

CISA announces more help, and calls on app makers to step up

The US government and some of the largest open source foundations and package repositories have announced a series of initiatives intended to improve software supply-chain security, while also repeating calls for developers to increase support for such efforts.…

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Friday 8 March, 2024

date: 2024-03-08, from: John Naughton’s online diary

Wisteria Magdalene College yesterday morning. I’m always astonished what skilled gardeners can do with headstrong plants. Quote of the Day “I don’t want to be immortal through my works, I want to be immortal through not dying.” Woody Allen Musical … Continue reading →

https://memex.naughtons.org/friday-8-march-2024/39221/ Save to Pocket

Mustangs Sweep Cougars in Three Sets

date: 2024-03-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)

The Master’s University men’s volleyball team, now ranked No. 2 in the nation according to Wednesday’s NAIA Men’s Volleyball Top 15 poll, knocked off the No. 11 Saint Xavier (IL) Cougars 25-18, 25-22, 25-13 Wednesday night in The MacArthur Center

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Apple may have made itself a target before the EU’s Digital Markets Act comes into force

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

iPhone giant’s $2B fine shows the bloc is serious about regulation

Experts say Apple has made itself a target for regulators as the EU introduces stringent new rules under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) which just went into effect.…

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US-China Science, Tech Pact Is Renewed for Another Six Months

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

State Department — The United States and China have agreed to extend a science and technology agreement for another six months, the U.S. State Department said Thursday.

“The Department of State on behalf of the U.S. government is negotiating to amend, extend and strengthen protections within the U.S.-PRC Science and Technology Agreement (STA). In February 2024, the United States and PRC agreed to an additional short-term six-month extension of the U.S.-PRC STA,” a spokesperson told VOA.

“The short-term six-month extension keeps the agreement in force while we continue negotiations,” the spokesperson added.

U.S. officials have said the STA provides consistent standards for government-to-government scientific cooperation between the U.S. and China.

While the agreement supports scientific collaboration in areas that benefit the United States, U.S. officials acknowledge the challenges posed by China’s national science and technology strategies and its domestic legal framework.

Critics, including U.S. lawmakers, point out China’s restrictions on data and a lack of transparency in sharing scientific findings. Washington is also concerned about Beijing’s potential military application of shared research.

The STA was originally signed in 1979 by then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter and then-PRC leader Deng Xiaoping.

The agreement has been renewed about every five years since its inception, with the most recent 5-year extension occurring in 2018. Last August, it received a 6-month extension as officials from the two countries undertook negotiations to amend and strengthen the terms.

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-china-science-tech-pact-is-renewed-for-another-six-months/7518409.html Save to Pocket

CSUN Muslim Community Comes Together for Ramadan

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

Ramadan, the ninth and most sacred month of the Islamic calendar, is approaching for more than 1 billion Muslims worldwide

https://scvnews.com/csun-muslim-community-comes-together-for-ramadan/ Save to Pocket

LA Russians Send Letters to Support Female Political Prisoners in Their Homeland

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

Imprisonment based on political dissent is especially difficult for women, says Nadya Tolokonnikova, a creator of Pussy Riot, and someone who spent 16 months in a Russian prison. The Russian diaspora in Los Angeles gathered to write letters of support to women incarcerated on political grounds in their homeland. VOA News reports from Los Angeles, California; Steve Baragona narrates.

https://www.voanews.com/a/la-russians-send-letters-to-support-female-political-prisoners-in-their-homeland/7518345.html Save to Pocket

Watch MKBHD Check Out The Rivian R2, R3 And R3X With CEO RJ Scaringe

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe gave YouTube’s biggest tech reviewer a walkaround of the startup’s new EVs.

https://insideevs.com/news/711608/mkbhd-rivian-r2-r3-scaringe/ Save to Pocket

Lady Cougs Pick Up Second Straight Win

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

College of the Canyons picked up its second win in as many matches with a 5-4 home victory over conference opponent Bakersfield College at the Cougar Courts on Tuesday. 

https://scvnews.com/lady-cougs-pick-up-second-straight-win/ Save to Pocket

FIRST Robotics “Hueneme Port Regional” takes place at FATHOMWERX Lab for Third Consecutive Year

date: 2024-03-07, from: Port Hueneme

Over 1,500 high school students from around the world will showcase their engineering skills and innovations at the Port of Hueneme. Download Press Release [PORT HUENEME, CA – March 6, 2024] – The Port of Hueneme and City of Port Hueneme are thrilled to host the FIRST Robotics Hueneme Port Regional Competition in their vibrant Read More

https://www.portofhueneme.org/first-robotics-third-consecutive-year/ Save to Pocket

Apple Releases macOS 14.4, watchOS 10.4, tvOS 17.4, HomePod Software 17.4, and visionOS 1.1

date: 2024-03-07, from: TidBITS blog

https://tidbits.com/2024/03/07/apple-releases-macos-14-4-watchos-10-4-tvos-17-4-homepod-software-17-4-and-visionos-1-1/ Save to Pocket

MotoGP Has a New Live Broadcast Home in the U.S.

date: 2024-03-07, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News

MotoGP fans in the U.S. rejoice and tune in to TNT Sports to watch every Sprint and Grand Prix race on the MotoGP calendar in 2024.

https://www.rideapart.com/news/711610/motogp-tnt-sports-broadcast/ Save to Pocket

Can Rivian Survive Until The R2 And R3 Are On the Road?

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

The Rivian R2, R3 and R3X won’t be on roads until 2026 at the earliest. In the meantime, it’s hitting pause on its new Georgia factory.

https://insideevs.com/news/711607/rivian-survival-r2-r3-road/ Save to Pocket

Rivian delays $5B Georgia EV plant to accelerate R2 launch, resulting in $2.25B in savings

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

The EV maker will begin building its new R2 electric SUV at its Normal, Illinois facility to accelerate the launch. Meanwhile, Rivian (RIVN) is delaying construction at its new $5 billion EV plant in Georgia, where the R2 was initially expected to be produced. The delay is not expected to be significant.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/rivian-delays-georgia-ev-plant-accelerate-r2-launch/ Save to Pocket

This town is going to cover its cemetery with solar canopies

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

The residents of Saint-Joachim in Pays de la Loire, France, are putting solar canopies over their cemetery.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/cemetery-solar-canopies/ Save to Pocket

Saugus lacrosse hosts signing day

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Signal

Three Saugus Centurions boys’ lacrosse stars announced their future colleges on Saturday in a signing day event just ahead of the team’s game with St. John Bosco.  Parker Teel, Matt Hollenbaugh and Wyatt Notch were hyped up after inking their commitment letters and carried that into the game, which ended in an 18-3 beatdown of […]

The post <strong>Saugus lacrosse hosts signing day</strong>  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/saugus-lacrosse-hosts-signing-day/ Save to Pocket

Chaucer’s In-Store Book Event

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

SANTA BARBARA, CA.-  Chaucer’s Books (3321 State Street, Santa Barbara) will host poet and local author David Starkey for an in-store

The post Chaucer’s In-Store Book Event appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/07/chaucers-in-store-book-event-2/ Save to Pocket

Mr. Darcy’s Famous Wet Shirt Sells for $25,000

date: 2024-03-07, from: Smithsonian Magazine

Actor Colin Firth’s costume from the BBC’s “Pride in Prejudice” doubled auction house estimates

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/colin-firths-iconic-wet-mr-darcy-shirt-sells-for-25000-at-auction-180983902/ Save to Pocket

Reduced-Cost Lifeguard Training Offered to Improve Community’s Water Safety

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

The City of Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department will offer two reduced-cost lifeguard certification courses this spring in an ongoing effort

The post Reduced-Cost Lifeguard Training Offered to Improve Community’s Water Safety appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/07/reduced-cost-lifeguard-training-offered-to-improve-communitys-water-safety/ Save to Pocket

macOS 14.4

date: 2024-03-07, from: Michael Tsai

Juli Clover (release notes, security, developer, enterprise, full installer, IPSW): With macOS Sonoma 14.4, Apple is introducing new emoji characters and adding support for reading Podcast Episode text in full with search support. There are new features for Business Updates in Messages, along with a toggle for showing only icons for websites in the Safari […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/03/07/macos-14-4/ Save to Pocket

macOS 13.6.5 and macOS 12.7.4

date: 2024-03-07, from: Michael Tsai

Apple (full installer): This document describes the security content of macOS Ventura 13.6.5. Apple (full installer): This document describes the security content of macOS Monterey 12.7.4. Previously: macOS 14.4 macOS 13.6.4 and macOS 12.7.3

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/03/07/macos-13-6-5-and-macos-12-7-4/ Save to Pocket

EagleFiler 1.9.13

date: 2024-03-07, from: Michael Tsai

EagleFiler 1.9.13 makes lots of improvements to my multipurpose Mac app for organizing files, archiving e-mails and Web pages, writing notes, etc. EagleFiler has long been able to import from Evernote, converting your notes to the standard RTF file format. This version is better at extracting attached files that are embedded in the notes and […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/03/07/eaglefiler-1-9-13/ Save to Pocket

iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4

date: 2024-03-07, from: Michael Tsai

Juli Clover (release notes, security, developer): With iOS 17.4, Apple introduces sweeping changes to the way the App Store and apps function in the European Union, paving the way for alternative app marketplaces on iPhone, alternative payment systems on iOS and iPadOS, third-party browser engine support, and NFC access for banks and third-party payment providers. […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/03/07/ios-17-4-and-ipados-17-4/ Save to Pocket

West Ranch’s Jeff Bryant steps down

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Signal

After four and a half seasons at the helm of West Ranch boys’ basketball, head coach Jeff Bryant has resigned.  Bryant stepped down on Friday and cited a difference in philosophies with the administration but said he is beyond grateful for the opportunities he received with the Wildcats program.  “West Ranch is more than basketball […]

The post <strong>West Ranch’s Jeff Bryant steps down</strong>  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/west-ranchs-jeff-bryant-steps-down/ Save to Pocket

Boeing paper trail goes cold over door plug blowout

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Safety watchdog bemoans lack of cooperation with probe

Boeing has come in for criticism from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) over documentation detailing who was responsible for failures in the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 door plug attachment.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/ntsb_boeing_door_plug/ Save to Pocket

Jason Gibbs | Santa Clarita Gearing Up for Summer Fun

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

As the warmer months approach, our community centers, pools and parks across the City are gearing up for an exciting season of summer camps and recreational programming for everyone

https://scvnews.com/jason-gibbs-santa-clarita-gearing-up-for-summer-fun/ Save to Pocket

NASA Sets Science Webinar Coverage for Space Station Resupply Mission

date: 2024-03-07, from: NASA breaking news

In preparation for NASA’s SpaceX 30th commercial resupply mission, the agency will stream an International Space Station National Lab science webinar at 1 p.m. EST Friday, March 8, to discuss the hardware, technology demonstrations, and science experiments headed to the space station. NASA will provide coverage of the webinar on the agency’s website. SpaceX is […]

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-sets-science-webinar-coverage-for-space-station-resupply-mission/ Save to Pocket

Rivian R2 Won’t Get Air Suspension, Will Be Dynamically ‘Better’ Than R1

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

Rivian might make some compromises but is advertising the R2 as a proper adventure EV.

https://insideevs.com/news/711606/rivian-r2-ditches-air-suspension/ Save to Pocket

Daily Deals (3-07-2024)

date: 2024-03-07, from: Liliputing

The Epic Games Store is giving away Astro Dual 2 for free this week. But if you’ve got an Amazon Prime account, Amazon is also giving away a new crop of PC games this month… although some aren’t so much new as old classics. Case in point, one of the free titles is Fallout 2, which […]

The post Daily Deals (3-07-2024) appeared first on Liliputing.

https://liliputing.com/daily-deals-3-07-2024/ Save to Pocket

John Singer Sargent Portraits

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/john-singer-sargent-portraits Save to Pocket

COC Names Kate Garcia, Jake Schwartz Athletes of the Week

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

College of the Canyons student-athletes Kate Garcia (softball) and Jake Schwartz (baseball) have been named the COC Athletic Department’s Women’s and Men’s Student-Athletes of the Week for the period running Feb. 26 to March

https://scvnews.com/coc-names-kate-garcia-jake-schwartz-athletes-of-the-week/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-07, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

January 6, 2021, a date which will live in infamy.

http://scripting.com/2024/03/07.html#a215835 Save to Pocket

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-03-07, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)

Great piece by Arundhati Roy on Gaza:

https://scroll.in/article/1064867/arundhati-roy-on-gaza-never-again

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112056609645026147 Save to Pocket

March 13: SCV Water Resources, Watershed Committee Meeting

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

The Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency’s Water Resources and Watershed Committee is holding a meeting Wednesday, March 13, at 5:30 p.m

https://scvnews.com/march-13-scv-water-resources-watershed-committee-meeting/ Save to Pocket

We’re not Meta support: State AGs tell Zuck to fix rampant account takeover problem

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

‘We refuse to operate as customer service representatives’

A group of 41 US state attorneys general, tired of serving as a customer complaint clearinghouse for Facebook and Instagram users, have sent a letter to Meta asking it to figure out how to reduce a “dramatic and persistent spike” in account takeovers.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/82_of_us_ags_agree/ Save to Pocket

NYTimes Files Copyright Takedown Against Hundreds of Wordle Clones

date: 2024-03-07, from: 404 Media Group

The takedown is also affecting games that definitively aren’t Wordle.

https://www.404media.co/nytimes-files-copyright-takedowns-against-hundreds-of-wordle-clones/ Save to Pocket

A peculiarity of the X Window System: windows all the way down

date: 2024-03-07, from: OS News

Every window system has windows, as an entity. Usually we think of these as being used for, well, windows and window like things; application windows, those extremely annoying pop-up modal dialogs that are always interrupting you at the wrong time, even perhaps things like pop-up menus. In its original state, X has more windows than that. Part of how and why it does this is that X allows windows to nest inside each other, in a window tree, which you can still see today with ‘xwininfo -root -tree‘. One of the reasons that X has copious nested windows is that X was designed with a particular model of writing X programs in mind, and that model made everything into a (nested) window. Seriously, everything. In an old fashioned X application, windows are everywhere. Buttons are windows (or several windows if they’re radio buttons or the like), text areas are windows, menu entries are each a window of their own within the window that is the menu, visible containers of things are windows (with more windows nested inside them), and so on. ↫ Chris Siebenmann This is wild.

https://www.osnews.com/story/138753/a-peculiarity-of-the-x-window-system-windows-all-the-way-down/ Save to Pocket

Fedora Workstation 41 to no longer install GNOME X.org session by default

date: 2024-03-07, from: OS News

Fedora Workstation has long defaulted to using GNOME’s Wayland session by default, but it has continued to install the GNOME X.Org session for fallback purposes or those opting to use it instead. But for the Fedora Workstation 41 release later in the year, there is a newly-approved plan to no longer have that GNOME X.Org session installed by default. ↫ Michael Larabel Expect more and more of the major distributions to abandon X.org completely. For the KDE version of Fedora, X.org will be dropped entirely in Fedora 40 already, so one release earlier.

https://www.osnews.com/story/138751/fedora-workstation-41-to-no-longer-install-gnome-x-org-session-by-default/ Save to Pocket

Stone Tools Found in Ukraine May Be the Oldest Evidence of Early Humans in Europe

date: 2024-03-07, from: Smithsonian Magazine

The 1.4-million-year-old rocks may have belonged to Homo erectus, and they shed light on migrations of human ancestors, a new study suggests

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/stone-tools-found-in-ukraine-may-be-the-oldest-evidence-of-early-humans-in-europe-180983915/ Save to Pocket

US Threatens Action Against Iran at Nuclear Agency Over ‘Stonewalling’

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

VIENNA — The United States on Thursday threatened future action against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency if Tehran keeps “stonewalling” the U.N. nuclear watchdog by denying it the cooperation and answers it seeks on issues that include long-unexplained uranium traces. 

At a quarterly meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors, Washington again told Iran to cooperate with IAEA inspectors who for years have been seeking explanations from Tehran on the origin of uranium particles at undeclared sites. 

The United States has stopped short, for now, of seeking a resolution against Iran. Diplomats have cited the U.S. presidential election in November as a reason Washington has been reluctant to do that. Tehran bristles at such resolutions and often responds by stepping up its activities. 

“We believe we have come to the point that we and the broader international community must consider anew how to respond to Iran’s continued stonewalling,” the United States said in a statement to the board meeting. “We cannot allow Iran’s current pattern of behavior to continue.” 

It is now more than a year since the last board resolution against Iran, which ordered it to cooperate urgently with the investigation into the particles. Tehran dismissed the resolution as “political” and “anti-Iranian” even though only China and Russia opposed it. 

The United States and its three top European allies, Britain, France and Germany, again opted against seeking a resolution against Iran at this week’s meeting. But the United States said that if Iran did not provide the necessary cooperation soon, it would act. 

“It is our strongly held view that Iran’s continuing lack of credible cooperation provides grounds for pursuing further Board of Governors action, including the possibility of additional resolutions and consideration of whether Iran is once again in noncompliance with its safeguards obligations,” it said. 

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 deal under which major powers lifted sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activities. After sanctions were reimposed, Iran expanded those activities far beyond the deal’s limits. 

It is now enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% that is weapons grade and far above the deal’s cap of 3.67%. Western powers say there is no credible civil explanation for enriching to that level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without producing a nuclear bomb. 

Iran says that its aims are entirely peaceful and that it has the right to enrich to high levels for civil purposes.  

The United States said Iran should provide the IAEA with cooperation including access “for the purposes of collecting environmental samples … and it must begin to do so now.”  

If it did not, it would ask IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to provide a “comprehensive report” on Iran’s nuclear activities more wide-ranging than his regular quarterly ones, it said. 

“Then, based on the content of that report, we will take appropriate action in support of the IAEA and the global nuclear nonproliferation regime,” it said.

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-threatens-action-against-iran-at-nuclear-agency-over-stonewalling-/7518260.html Save to Pocket

Audi launches 2024 Q4 e-tron mid-model refresh with improved range, power, and charging

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

While some automakers are still introducing 2024 EVs, Audi is pushing out a mid-model refresh of the Q4 50 e-tron, called the Q4 55 e-tron. The Audi refresh includes several notable improvements on the performance and handling side, as well as faster charging.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/audi-launches-2024-q4-e-tron-model-refresh-improved-range-power-charging/ Save to Pocket

Rivian R2 accessories include revamped kitchen, tent, bike rack, more

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

Along with the Rivian R2 and surprise R3/R3X, Rivian announced a slew of new and updated accessories that work with the R2 and perhaps more of its vehicles.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/rivian-r2-accessories-include-revamped-kitchen-tent-bike-rack-more/ Save to Pocket

Texas Students to Hear from NASA Astronaut Aboard Space Station

date: 2024-03-07, from: NASA breaking news

The San Antonio River Authority and students from the Advanced Learning Academy in San Antonio, Texas, will have an opportunity Friday, March 8, to hear from NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara aboard the International Space Station. The space to Earth call will air live at 12:30 p.m. EST March 8, on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and […]

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/texas-students-to-hear-from-nasa-astronaut-aboard-space-station/ Save to Pocket

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt To Deliver Republican State of the Union Response

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/alabama-sen-katie-britt-to-deliver-republican-state-of-the-union-response/7518266.html Save to Pocket

Bitcoin Has a Feel-Good Energy Story

date: 2024-03-07, from: Heatmap News

The price of Bitcoin set a new all time high this week, crossing the $69,000 mark on Tuesday before falling back down to around $67,500 by Thursday afternoon. That almost certainly means Bitcoin’s energy usage is rising, too — although any chance of getting a precise idea of how much, even just in the U.S., may be delayed for months. Last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration agreed to stop collecting data on crypto mining operations after a federal court in Texas put a halt on the project until the EIA goes through a more fulsome approval process.

That Bitcoin eats up a lot of power is beyond dispute. Bitcoin mining involves solving increasingly complex math problems, which at this point requires vast amounts of computing power; using outside data, the EIA estimated that crypto accounts for around 2% of the nation’s total electricity use. Both the industry’s electricity usage and how it participates in electricity markets have been subject to criticism from Democratic lawmakers, who have pushed for more information-gathering. If the price of Bitcoin continues to climb, that skepticism could ratchet up.

“There is a very direct relationship between the value of what is being mined by the miners and how much is being spent on electricity,” Alex De Vries, a cryptocurrency and energy researcher, told me.

An extensive New York Times investigation last year found that large-scale mining operations were “putting immense pressure on the power grid,” and that “their operations can create costs — including higher electricity bills and enormous carbon pollution — for everyone around them.” According to the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, Bitcoin’s energy consumption has risen about 50% in the past year, from an annualized rate of around 110 terawatt-hours a year just over 163 TWh, comparable to the electricity production of Ukraine or Pakistan. (That is, of course, an estimate, based on a model derived from the performance of mining hardware and the assumption that miners only operate with hardware that allows them to mine Bitcoin profitably.)

With all the attention on consumption and emissions, Bitcoin miners have been eager to portray themselves as, if not quite the goodies, at least not the baddies.

“The industry as a whole has a good story to tell about the energy piece,” Tom Mapes, president of a newly formed industry group called the Digital Energy Council, told me. He also told me that I “have to be realistic about it. We do use a lot of power — not to say that using power in every facet is bad.”

The feel-good Bitcoin energy story goes something like this: Crypto miners are always ready to use energy at the right price — and to shut things down at the right price, too. “We have the ability as a bulk power user of our size has the ability to flex load like no another,” Mapes said. “Datacenters cannot flex load like this. We can be built in as a tool to work within constraints of these grids.”

If a mining facility is co-located with an energy resource, it can be there to purchase power production that might otherwise be curtailed because there isn’t enough transmission capacity to get it to other customers. It can also be a buyer of first resort for a newly developed generator or it can keep an old one in business, as Bitcoin mining has with some fossil fuel generators.

“You tend to see Bitcoin miners anywhere there’s stranded energy and excess power,” said Margot Paez, a fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute. There are some examples of crypto mining co-located with renewables, but that does not always mean that the power they use is entirely renewable. There’s also a crypto mining operation set up at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, adjacent to what will be an Amazon Web Services data center.

The main way crypto operations interact with the grid is not by supporting any particular resource, though, but rather by being flexible about when they operate. Shutting off when demand is high can be quite lucrative — sometimes even more so than the crypto mining itself.

Riot Networks, a mining company with extensive operations in Texas and a plaintiff in the EIA record collection suit, has become a flashpoint for crypto’s interaction with the electricity markets precisely because it eagerly shares data with investors and the public about its participation in programs to maintain grid stability. In August, when demand hit record highs and Texas consumers were asked to conserve energy, Riot reported $8.6 million in revenue from selling Bitcoins it had mined and $31.6 million either from selling power it had bought for a prearranged price back to the grid at the higher market price or from incentive payments for being willing to power down during demand spikes.

The company’s chief executive said that last August “was a landmark month for Riot in showcasing the benefits of our unique power strategy.” (Of the 34 large Bitcoin mining operations in the New York Times investigation, Riot was the largest and had the most fossil fuel consumption attributed to it.)

But that was then and this is now. The revenues Riot is deriving from Bitcoin mining are likely substantially greater than they were five or six months ago, as the price of Bitcoin has almost doubled. The company has told investors that it costs around $7,500 to mine a single Bitcoin, which could mean that it and other crypto miners operating strategically in the electricity market will be less willing to sell power back to the grid or turn off during demand spikes.

If you’re thinking this all sounds a lot like the conversation around demand response, well, so was I. Demand response is something climate people love to talk about. They want consumers to get paid for using less power when demand spikes, and they think it’s really neat that you can charge an electric car overnight when demand is low and want you to be able to sell that power back to the grid when demand gets high.

Putting energy consumers near renewables and other non-carbon-generating energy sources that can absorb excess power when renewable production is “too high” for the grid is something you hear about a lot with, say, hydrogen production or energy storage. Why let that energy go to waste when we could incentivize people to store it, instead?

But an electrolyzer or a battery is not just a clever way to figure out how to deal with the peaks and valleys of variable renewable energy resources like wind and solar, it’s also potentially a key component of a decarbonized energy system. It doesn’t just consume non-carbon energy, it can store and transfer carbon-free energy as well.

Crypto, on the other hand, takes energy, renewable or not, and turns it into money. It’s a greedy and flexible consumer of electricity, and there are market designs where non-carbon generators would be happy to work with such a consumer. But from the perspective of the energy system, a consumer is all it will ever be.

https://heatmap.news/technology/bitcoin-price-energy Save to Pocket

Illustrated Product Recommendation: The BityBean Backpack Kid Carrier

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/random-product-rec-the-bitybean-backpack-kid-carrier Save to Pocket

Intel inches closer to $3.5B contract to build secret fabs for Uncle Sam

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

They can’t have x86 goliath building military chips out in the open now can they?

Intel is on track to receive $3.5 billion in US CHIPS Act funding to produce advanced semiconductors for American military and intelligence programs.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/intel_3b_military/ Save to Pocket

Sanctuary Centers of Santa Barbara’s Re-opened Integrated Health Clinic Addresses Critical Healthcare Needs for Local Residents

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

[Santa Barbara, CA March 2024] –  Sanctuary Centers is thrilled to announce the grand reopening of its Integrated Health Clinic, located

The post Sanctuary Centers of Santa Barbara’s Re-opened Integrated Health Clinic Addresses Critical Healthcare Needs for Local Residents appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/07/sanctuary-centers-of-santa-barbaras-re-opened-integrated-health-clinic-addresses-critical-healthcare-needs-for-local-residents/ Save to Pocket

March 16: Free Zonta SCV Workshop on Assertive Communication

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

Zonta Club of Santa Clarita Valley is hosting a free LifeForward workshop designed to help participants focus on the importance of Assertive Communication Saturday, March 16, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at Valencia United Methodist Church, which is located at 25718 McBean Parkway

https://scvnews.com/march-16-free-zonta-scv-workshop-on-assertive-communication/ Save to Pocket

Senior Communications Specialist Alana Johnson

date: 2024-03-07, from: NASA breaking news

“Where I grew up [on my family farm] 100% shaped who I am. In fact, my son and I were talking about high schools and how big his is. His high school population is double the population of the town I grew up in. I had 20 kids in my graduating class, and three of […]

https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/senior-communications-specialist-alana-johnson/ Save to Pocket

20 Years Ago: First Image of Earth from Mars and Other Postcards of Home

date: 2024-03-07, from: NASA breaking news

On March 8, 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took the first image of Earth from the surface of another planet. The Earth appearing as nothing more than a bright star provided a new perspective on our home planet, a perspective reshaped over the past eight decades as cameras aboard rockets and spacecraft traveled farther […]

https://www.nasa.gov/history/20-years-ago-first-image-of-earth-from-mars-and-other-postcards-of-home/ Save to Pocket

Magic Mountain Leads Charge with State’s Largest Solar Project

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

Six Flags Magic Mountain is leading the charge towards a sustainable future with California’s largest single-site commercial solar energy project. From massive solar carports to cutting-edge battery storage systems, explore the key components driving this groundbreaking initiative

https://scvnews.com/magic-mountain-leads-charge-with-states-largest-solar-project/ Save to Pocket

Musical Interlude: Tracy Chapman, “Behind the Wall”

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/musical-interlude-tracy-chapman-behind-the-wall Save to Pocket

NASA, US Navy Prepare Astronauts for Moon Mission

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

San Diego, California — The USS San Diego is a warship designed to deliver troops and equipment into combat zones, something the crew routinely trains for from their base in San Diego, California, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

But a closer look at the patches and colors of some of the uniforms on board recently are clues that one of their current missions has objectives about as far away from a theater of war as one can get.

“This is a unique opportunity, but this is well within the wheelhouse of what we do day in and day out,” says Lieutenant Jackson Cotney, a U.S. Navy helicopter pilot attached to the USS San Diego conducting search and rescue training operations supporting NASA’s Artemis crewed missions to the moon.

During recent exercises in the Pacific Ocean, Cotney and hundreds of sailors worked with NASA’s four-person Artemis II crew to prepare for a critical part of the complex operation — the safe return and recovery of the Orion capsule and crew once it completes reentry through Earth’s atmosphere.

“This is the 11th underway recovery test,” but the first with astronauts engaged in the training, explains Captain David Walton, who is the commanding officer of the USS San Diego. “Once the crew comes back, really their health and welfare is our number one concern. Getting them out of the capsule and getting them medical treatment rapidly is what we’re driving for, and then recovering the equipment for further flights back to the moon or further.”

Cotney is already an Artemis veteran. He piloted one of the helicopters monitoring the uncrewed Orion capsule that touched down in the Pacific Ocean at the end of the 25-day Artemis 1 mission in 2022, which orbited the moon and traveled the farthest into space of any craft designed to carry humans.

“We were the first platform up at 10,000 feet to see that the capsule was intact as it came over the horizon,” he told VOA during a recent interview on board the San Diego. “Super exciting to see it come out of the sky. This mission itself is new to me, but not new to naval aviation. Naval aviators and the naval helicopter community have been rescuing astronauts, picking up astronauts out of the water since the early Apollo days.”

Although NASA has delayed the launch of a crewed mission to orbit the moon until 2025 at the earliest, it has already selected four astronauts for the first such journey in more than 50 years.

“This Artemis mission campaign is not just about going back to the moon and going back responsibly and sustainably, it’s about building on what we learned there and exploring even deeper and answering some of those fundamental questions that we all have about ourselves,” says Christina Koch, who could make history as the first woman to orbit the moon. “What does it mean to be human, are we alone in the universe, how did we all get here?”

Speaking at a press conference at the conclusion of their session aboard the San Diego, Koch said the training isn’t preparing them just for a path already forged by astronauts five decades ago. It’s helping them compete in a new “space race,” in which the United States isn’t the only country with aspirations beyond Earth’s orbit.

“The question really isn’t why we go; it’s are we going to lead or are we going to follow. To see this team work together and innovate to come up with a unique solution for getting four people out of the Pacific Ocean, the answer was very clear to me that we are going to be leading,” he says.

“Space kind of got back to being cool,” says Lieutenant Derek Pelletier, who, along with most of the crew of the San Diego, wasn’t alive the last time people reached the moon. But they know their role in this training is one small step in NASA’s greater leap in the Artemis program that doesn’t stop on the lunar surface.

“The next step is going to be to Mars and beyond, so knowing that we played a part in getting humanity back to the moon and out to the space frontier is going to be fantastic to us, so the importance that we feel as a crew is great,” he says.

NASA astronauts Koch, Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen could orbit the moon as early as September 2025. The return of astronauts to the lunar service is scheduled for the following mission — Artemis III — which NASA plans to launch in 2026.

https://www.voanews.com/a/nasa-us-navy-prepare-astronauts-for-moon-mission/7518171.html Save to Pocket

Addendum: CPR is Hiring Two New Podcast Producers

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Squeeze

Huh?

https://thisisthesqueeze.substack.com/p/addendum-cpr-is-hiring-two-new-podcast Save to Pocket

Windows 10 failing to patch properly? You are most definitely not alone

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

It looks like you’re trying to update an operating system. Shall I be spectacularly unhelpful with that?

Microsoft’s legendary approach to Windows quality control is on show again with yet another update that is struggling to complete installation, this time on Windows 10 machines.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/users_report_windows_10_patch/ Save to Pocket

Volkswagen kicks off pre-sales for the ID.7 Tourer station wagon

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

Volkswagen just opened up pre-sales for its electric ID.7 Tourer estate car – or station wagon, as it’s known in the US.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/volkswagen-pre-sales-id-7-tourer-station-wagon/ Save to Pocket

Bowlus Rivet luxury RV allows for ‘indefinite time’ off-grid with yacht-quality battery and solar

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

Oh, and did I mention it can park itself? Bowlus revealed its most rugged travel trailer yet, the off-grid Rivet. The Bowlus Rivet features a “yacht-quality” battery and solar power system that allows “indefinite time off-grid in all conditions.”

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/bowlus-rivet-luxury-off-grid-rv-yacht-quality-battery-solar/ Save to Pocket

Summer Fun with the City!

date: 2024-03-07, from: City of Santa Clarita

Summer Fun with the City! By Councilmember Jason Gibbs As the warmer months approach, our community centers, pools and parks across the City are gearing up for an exciting season of summer camps and recreational programming for everyone. Whether it is the nostalgic smell of sunscreen and chlorine at the pool, the cheers during a […]

The post Summer Fun with the City! appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.

https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/03/07/summer-fun-with-the-city/ Save to Pocket

Diverse Discussions

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)

California State University, Northridge students care about diversity on campus and the topics of cultural groups, religion, gender identity, sexuality and socioeconomic status. In numerous interviews, students shared they feel…

https://sundial.csun.edu/178960/print-editions/print-stories/diverse-discussions/ Save to Pocket

Ibram X. Kendi: the mission to become antiracist

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is an American author who won the National Book Award for his nonfiction novel “Stamped from the Beginning.” He was the youngest author to win the…

https://sundial.csun.edu/178957/print-editions/print-stories/ibram-x-kendi-the-mission-to-become-antiracist/ Save to Pocket

Book Review | ‘The Children’s Bach’ by Helen Garner

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

Australian author gets a well-deserved new audience with re-release of vintage novel.

The post Book Review | ‘The Children’s Bach’ by Helen Garner appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/07/book-review-the-childrens-bach-by-helen-garner/ Save to Pocket

Samsung Galaxy S6 Lite (2024) will bring processor and operating system spec bumps

date: 2024-03-07, from: Liliputing

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is a 10.4 inch Android tablet with a FHD+ touchscreen display and support for Samsung’s pressure-sensitive S-Pen. It’s also one of the most affordable S-Pen enabled devices. When Samsung first launched the tablet in 2020, it had a list price of $350, and two years later, when the company released […]

The post Samsung Galaxy S6 Lite (2024) will bring processor and operating system spec bumps appeared first on Liliputing.

https://liliputing.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-lite-2024-will-bring-processor-and-operating-system-spec-bumps/ Save to Pocket

Fred Razo Takes Over as New Principal of Santa Barbara High School

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

The Santa Barbara Unified School District veteran and former school counselor says he plans to stay on as long as possible.

The post Fred Razo Takes Over as New Principal of Santa Barbara High School appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/07/fred-razo-takes-over-as-new-principal-of-santa-barbara-high-school/ Save to Pocket

Your Take on Rivian’s R2 Launch and surprise R3?

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

https://electrek.co/poll-post/your-take-on-rivians-r2-launch-and-surprise-r3/ Save to Pocket

Santa Barbara Unified, Teachers Association Have First Meeting with State-Appointed Mediator

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

With the school district and union still at an impasse over contract negotiations, the mediator schedules a second meeting for April 10.

The post Santa Barbara Unified, Teachers Association Have First Meeting with State-Appointed Mediator appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/07/santa-barbara-unified-teachers-association-have-first-meeting-with-state-appointed-mediator/ Save to Pocket

Chrome users – get an alert when extensions are in danger of falling into wrong hands

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Under New Management is an early-warning system for potential poisoning of add-ons with malware

Millions of Chrome users now have a way to guard against the threat of extension subversion, that is, if they don’t mind installing yet another browser extension.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/chrome_extension_changes/ Save to Pocket

Rivian unveils R2 electric SUV: surprises with cheaper price and a ‘one more thing’

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

Rivian has unveiled the R2 electric SUV, its next-generation electric vehicle, and there were a few surprises despite some leaks before the unveiling.

We also got a very interesting “one more thing” moment.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/rivian-r2-electric-suv-unveiling-design-cheaper-price/ Save to Pocket

Very moving article about Trikafta, the “miracle” cystic fibrosis drug, and some…

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/0044152-very-moving-article-about Save to Pocket

Writing About Real People Update: Right of Publicity, Voice Protection, and Artificial Intelligence

date: 2024-03-07, from: Authors Union blogs

Some of you may recall that Authors Alliance published our long-awaited guide, Writing About Real People, earlier this year. One of the major topics in the guide is the right of publicity—a right to control use of one’s own identity, particularly in the context of commercial advertising. These issues have been in the news a […]

https://www.authorsalliance.org/2024/03/07/writing-about-real-people-update-right-of-publicity-voice-protection-and-artificial-intelligence/ Save to Pocket

‘Boob Shirt’ Speaks (Through an AI Model of Themselves)

date: 2024-03-07, from: 404 Media Group

Things get weirder as the viral boob-print shirt audience member at AGI House speaks out about their fashion choices.

https://www.404media.co/boob-shirt-google-ai-agi-house/ Save to Pocket

A Rare Gray Whale, Believed Extinct in the Atlantic for 200 Years, Has Been Spotted off New England

date: 2024-03-07, from: Smithsonian Magazine

Scientists say a lack of Arctic sea ice due to climate change could have created a passageway for the mammal to travel from the Pacific Ocean

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-rare-gray-whale-believed-extinct-in-the-atlantic-for-200-years-has-been-spotted-off-new-england-180983911/ Save to Pocket

Rivian flexes its power with the tri-motor R3X electric crossover

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

After unveiling the highly anticipated R2 on Thursday, Rivian shocked the crowd with the release of the R3 and high-performance R3X electric crossover.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/rivian-flexes-its-power-with-the-tri-motor-r3x-electric-crossover/ Save to Pocket

LA JUNTA DE SUPERVISORES DEL CONDADO PROGRAMA UN TALLER PARA DISCUTIR POSIBLES SITIOS DE NUEVAS ZONIFICACIONES PARA EL ELEMENTO DE VIVIENDA DEL CONDADO

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

(SANTA BÁRBARA, Calif.) – La Junta de Supervisores del Condado ha programado un taller sobre posibles sitios de nueva zonificación para el Elemento de

The post LA JUNTA DE SUPERVISORES DEL CONDADO PROGRAMA UN TALLER PARA DISCUTIR POSIBLES SITIOS DE NUEVAS ZONIFICACIONES PARA EL ELEMENTO DE VIVIENDA DEL CONDADO appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/07/la-junta-de-supervisores-del-condado-programa-un-taller-para-discutir-posibles-sitios-de-nuevas-zonificaciones-para-el-elemento-de-vivienda-del-condado/ Save to Pocket

Discovery Alert: a Long Year for a ‘Cold Saturn’

date: 2024-03-07, from: NASA breaking news

Two recently discovered exoplanets, gas giants possibly similar to Saturn, could be candidates for further atmospheric investigation.

https://science.nasa.gov/universe/exoplanets/discovery-alert-a-long-year-for-a-cold-saturn/ Save to Pocket

NASA Pi Day Challenge Serves Up a Mathematical Marvel

date: 2024-03-07, from: NASA breaking news

Celebrate one of the world’s most famous numbers with a set of math problems involving real space missions, courtesy of the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. March 14 marks the annual celebration of the mathematical constant pi, aka the Greek letter π. Its infinite number of digits is usually rounded to 3.14, hence the date of […]

https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/stem-engagement-at-nasa/nasa-pi-day-challenge-serves-up-a-mathematical-marvel/ Save to Pocket

HP ZBook Firefly G11 laptops come with Intel Core Ultra or Ryzen 8040HS processor options

date: 2024-03-07, from: Liliputing

The HP ZBook Firefly line of laptops are mobile workstation PCs with compact designs, but premium features including optional support for up to an NVIDIA RTX A500 discrete GPU. Now HP has unveiled an upgraded model that also features the latest Intel or AMD processor options with integrated neural processing units for advanced AI capabilities. […]

The post HP ZBook Firefly G11 laptops come with Intel Core Ultra or Ryzen 8040HS processor options appeared first on Liliputing.

https://liliputing.com/hp-zbook-firefly-g11-laptop-coms-with-intel-core-ultra-or-ryzen-8040hs-processor-options/ Save to Pocket

Rivian surprises us with a new EV model called the R3, smaller and more affordable than the R2

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

Weeks have been leading up to Rivian’s public unveiling of its new smaller electric SUV, the R2, today, but did anyone expect to glimpse another EV in the works? Following the debut of R2, Rivian followed up with the first images of a model to follow called the R3. Described by Rivian as its “take on what a crossover can be,” the R3 promises to arrive smaller and at a lower MSRP than the R2.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/rivian-surprises-new-ev-model-r3-smaller-more-affordable-than-r2/ Save to Pocket

These French Cheeses Are at Risk of Extinction

date: 2024-03-07, from: Smithsonian Magazine

A lack of microbial diversity could eventually spell the end of cheeses like Camembert

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-some-french-cheeses-are-at-risk-of-disappearing-180983907/ Save to Pocket

To celebrate its 20th birthday, n+1 un-paywalled its 20 most popular stories….

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/0044142-to-celebrate-their-20th-b Save to Pocket

This huge floating offshore wind project will marry up with a sustainable fish farm

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

A 2.5 gigawatt (GW) Swedish floating offshore wind farm is going to be paired with an innovative sustainable fish farming system.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/floating-offshore-wind-fish-farm/ Save to Pocket

Vanpowers Manidae e-bike hits $1,399 (Save $600), EcoFlow power station spring sale, more deals

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

A discount on the Vanpowers Manidae Mountain e-bike is headlining all of today’s best deals, dropping down to $1,399. It is joined by EcoFlow’s spring sale that is taking up to $2,399 off a selection of power stations, expansion batteries, bundles, accessories, and more, as well as Greenworks’ 1900 PSI Electric Pressure Washer starting from $110. Plus, all of the other best new Green Deals landing this week.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/vanpowers-manidae-e-bike-ecoflow-spring-sale-and-more/ Save to Pocket

Rivian R3X: Say Hello To The Off-Road Focused R3

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

Rivian’s third big unveil of the day is the beefed-up R3X electric crossover designed to drive off the beaten path.

https://insideevs.com/news/711584/rivian-r3x-performance-offroad-focused-electric-crossover/ Save to Pocket

Diary Comics, Nov. 29

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/diary-comics-nov-29 Save to Pocket

Possible China link to Change Healthcare ransomware attack

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Alleged crim bought SmartScreen Killer, Cobalt Strike on dark-web markets

A criminal claiming to be an ALPHV/BlackCat affiliate — the gang responsible for the widely disruptive Change Healthcare ransomware infection last month —  may have ties to Chinese government-backed cybercrime syndicates.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/china_link_change_healthcare_ransomware/ Save to Pocket

Rivian R3: Meet Rivian’s Surprise Compact Crossover

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

Rivian had something extra at the R2 reveal today. Here’s what we know about its new compact entry-level vehicle.

https://insideevs.com/news/711576/rivian-r3-reveal-2024/ Save to Pocket

NASA Helps Emerging Space Companies ‘Take the Heat’

date: 2024-03-07, from: NASA breaking news

Things are heating up in the atmosphere, and NASA is helping space start-ups stay cool.   NASA has decades of expertise in creating technology that protects spacecraft from the intense heat generated when entering an atmosphere. As emerging companies develop innovative ways to do business in space, they know where to turn – and the […]

https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-helps-emerging-space-companies-take-the-heat/ Save to Pocket

Rivian R2: This Is It

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

After months of teasers, Rivian’s upcoming smaller SUV broke cover on Thursday.

https://insideevs.com/news/711446/rivian-r2-suv-revealed/ Save to Pocket

“This is just weird”: BuzzFeed News’ former royals reporter on Kate Middleton, Palace PR, and distrust in the media

date: 2024-03-07, from: Nieman Journalism Lab

• 2023 • 22 December Multiple outlets report that William and Kate are planning an official trip to Italy in “early 2024.” Kensington Palace does not confirm, but a spokesperson tells the Daily Mail that they “Look forward to announcing the Prince and Princess’ travel plans in due course.” Weeks later, the Sunday Times reports…

https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/03/this-is-just-weird-buzzfeed-news-former-royals-reporter-on-kate-middleton-palace-press-and-distrust-in-the-media/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-07, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

When a headline says the presidential race is deadlocked, what actually happened, in terms of who, what, why, when and how. Could the people who write these stories pass a journalism course with this stuff?

http://scripting.com/2024/03/07.html#a180240 Save to Pocket

Your Body, but Not Your Data

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: RAND blog

The public needs rigorous and thorough health research, but individual patients should have rights over their medical information. Today they have very little.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/03/your-body-but-not-your-data.html Save to Pocket

Is Moto Guzzi Reviving The Stornello Scrambler?

date: 2024-03-07, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News

Scramblers are cool as hell, and Moto Guzzi could surely use one in its lineup.

https://www.rideapart.com/news/711448/moto-guzzi-stornello-patent-usa/ Save to Pocket

Lol. In another 6 months, the only thing that will be displayed…

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/0044149-lol-in-another-6-months Save to Pocket

Next-gen EVs will be cheaper to produce than gas cars by 2027

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

In three short years, battery electric vehicles will be cheaper to produce than ICE vehicles of the same size due to improved manufacturing methods – at least that’s the latest prediction from market research firm Gartner. Of course, those gains may be lost to the rising price of EV repairs.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/next-gen-evs-will-be-cheaper-to-produce-than-gas-cars-by-2027/ Save to Pocket

Reddit rolling out AI bouncer to halt harassment

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

If any mods are considering an anti-IPO blackout, you could be replaced by a bot

Reddit is upping its AI game again, this time with the implementation of an LLM-powered harassment filter for the benefit of its army of volunteer moderators.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/reddit_introduces_aipowered_harassment_filter/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-07, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

If blogging does come back now, it’ll have features it didn’t have last time we were really working on it. The reason is cheap servers, we know how to use them, and the software is already written. You’ll get a chance to see how that works in a matter of days now, Murphy-willing of course.

http://scripting.com/2024/03/07.html#a171913 Save to Pocket

@IIIF Mastodon feed (date: 2024-03-07, from: IIIF Mastodon feed)

Our next #IIIF Community Call will happen on Wednesday, March 13 at 9am PDT/12pm EDT/4pm GMT.

Join us for a conversation with George Oates about the @flickrfdn
The meeting is open to all; zoom login details are available on the IIIF Community Calendar: http://iiif.io/community

https://glammr.us/@IIIF/112055541999104705 Save to Pocket

Cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit Sung in Classical Latin

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/cover-of-smells-like-teen-spirit-sung-in-classical-latin Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-07, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

ChatGPT is everything the lazyweb was supposed to be.

http://scripting.com/2024/03/07.html#a171620 Save to Pocket

March 6, 2024

date: 2024-03-07, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-6-2024-dbb Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-07, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

ChatGPT is my Commander Data.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_(Star_Trek) Save to Pocket

HMD Fusion could bring modular add-ons to smartphones (again)

date: 2024-03-07, from: Liliputing

The company that makes Nokia-branded smartphones announced during Mobile World Congress last month that it plans to begin selling some models under its own brand name in the future. But HMD also introduced a new platform called HMD Fusion, which will be a “slimline computing core that can be fitted with different exteriors.” In other […]

The post HMD Fusion could bring modular add-ons to smartphones (again) appeared first on Liliputing.

https://liliputing.com/hmd-fusion-could-bring-modular-add-ons-to-smartphones-again/ Save to Pocket

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-03-07, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)

Better late than never:

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112055397535235876 Save to Pocket

Here Comes the Muscle: 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Has Dealers In A Frenzy

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

Plus, Tesla’s Berlin factory expected to be closed for another 10 days due to suspected arson, and Kia eyes Thailand for a new factory.

https://insideevs.com/news/711530/dodge-charger-daytona-dealerships-cm/ Save to Pocket

Ian Bogost on the puzzle success of the NY Times. “It has…

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/0044141-ian-bogost-on-the-puzzle Save to Pocket

JetBrains TeamCity under attack by ransomware thugs after disclosure mess

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

More than 1,000 servers remain unpatched and vulnerable

Security researchers are increasingly seeing active exploit attempts using the latest vulnerabilities in JetBrains’ TeamCity that in some cases are leading to ransomware deployment.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/teamcity_exploits_lead_to_ransomware/ Save to Pocket

2024 Honda Prologue electric SUV starts under $40,000 with full EV tax credit eligibility

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

Who says electric cars are too expensive? The 2024 Honda Prologue, the brand’s first all-electric SUV, qualifies for the full $7,500 EV tax credit. With the added credit, the Honda Prologue hits the “sweet spot,” with starting prices under $40,000.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/2024-honda-prologue-under-40000-full-ev-tax-credit/ Save to Pocket

Mukkpet Tank review: How good is a super low-cost full-suspension fat tire e-bike?

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

Full-suspension and fat tires are basically the holy grail of comfort when it comes to e-bikes. They’re excessive in many situations, but that doesn’t stop a large swath of new e-bike shoppers looking for both. The only problem is they both tend to add to the cost of an e-bike, often pushing the number into the $2k range or higher. But what if you could get a full-suspension fat tire electric bike for under a thousand bucks? That’s what the Mukkpet Tank offers, and so I was excited to test it out and see how good it could be.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/mukkpet-tank-review-how-good-is-a-super-low-cost-full-suspension-fat-tire-e-bike/ Save to Pocket

Tesla Berlin gigafactory to take week-long nap after suspected arson

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Losses could surpass €1B as 1,000 vehicles a day go unfinished

Tesla’s Berlin gigafactory, the company’s only production plant in Europe, is still offline following a suspected arson attack days ago, and may remain so for another week.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/tesla_berlin_gigafactory_offline/ Save to Pocket

Nissan Leaf Owners ‘Abandoned’ As They Lose Network Access. It’s A Worrying Sign For Connected Cars

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

A new emphasis on in-car software and connectivity may change what it means to keep aging vehicles on the road.

https://insideevs.com/news/711423/nissan-leaf-2g-legacy-support/ Save to Pocket

Recall: 2024 LiveWire S2 Del Mars Could Suddenly Shut Down In Operation

date: 2024-03-07, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News

A software issue is to blame, and could result in the bikes not being able to be restarted.

https://www.rideapart.com/news/711282/livewire-s2-delmar-recall-2024/ Save to Pocket

How the Great Green Wall Is Holding Back the Sahara Desert

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/how-the-great-green-wall-is-holding-back-the-sahara-desert Save to Pocket

Leica SL3: First Impressions

date: 2024-03-07, from: Om Malik blog

The veritable German heritage brand, known for its cameras and optics, Leica, has announced a brand new flagship mirrorless camera — the Leica SL3. I have had a chance to use a pre-release version of the camera for a day (or so) and have quick early impressions, especially from the perspective of someone who has …

https://om.co/2024/03/07/leica-sl3-first-impressions/ Save to Pocket

Watch The Tesla Cybertruck Climb The Famous Hell’s Revenge In Total Silence

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

Here’s how the tri-motor Cyberbeast tackled one of Utah’s most popular off-road obstacles on stock tires.

https://insideevs.com/news/711459/tesla-cybertruck-climbing-hell-revenge/ Save to Pocket

New Breakthrough Brings Matrix Multiplication Closer to Ideal

date: 2024-03-07, from: Quanta Magazine

The post New Breakthrough Brings Matrix Multiplication Closer to Ideal first appeared on Quanta Magazine

https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-breakthrough-brings-matrix-multiplication-closer-to-ideal-20240307/ Save to Pocket

Companies need to calculate risks as the climate changes

date: 2024-03-07, from: Marketplace Morning Report

The Securities and Exchange Commission passed new rules this week requiring public companies to disclose climate-related risks to investors. The rules are meant to standardize reporting requirements on things like emissions and exposure to climate change-related disasters. We unpack. Also: When will the Fed cut rates? Senators are likely to put Jay Powell on the spot when he testifies. And New York Community Bancorp gets a $1 billion injection from investors.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/companies-need-to-calculate-risks-as-the-climate-changes Save to Pocket

Why California home sales tumble as car purchases rise

date: 2024-03-07, from: San Jose Mercury News

Just 258,000 California houses sold last year – lowest since the Great Recession. But Californians bought 1.78 million vehicle, sixth-best year since 2009.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/07/why-california-home-sales-tumble-as-car-purchases-rise/ Save to Pocket

How real do jobs on TV seem? Opinions from an actual priest…

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/0044143-how-real-do-jobs-on Save to Pocket

Stellantis’ JV approved, gaining exclusive rights to build and sell Leapomotor EVs outside of China

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

Five months after signing a proposed joint venture with EV automaker Leapmotor, Stellantis has reportedly gained regulatory approval in China to continue its stake. This deal is the first of its kind for a Western automaker and gives Stellantis the exclusive rights to build, export, and sell Leapmotor brand EVs outside of China, and it is already mulling some exciting markets for them.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/stellantis-jv-approved-rights-to-build-sell-leapomotor-evs-outside-of-china/ Save to Pocket

Rivian R2 launch news hub and watch party

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

Rivian is unveiling its highly anticipated R2 electric SUV today. You can join us live here to watch the reveal, get all the news coming out of the event, and an interview with Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/rivian-r2-launch-news-hub-watch-party/ Save to Pocket

Paris Is Preparing for the Summer Olympics With a New Exhibition at the Louvre

date: 2024-03-07, from: Smithsonian Magazine

“Olympism” explores the history of the ancient Olympics and France’s influence on the modern games

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/paris-prepares-for-2024s-summer-games-with-olympics-exhibition-at-the-louvre-180983906/ Save to Pocket

Colorado Public Radio Eliminates 15 Positions, Wipes Out Podcasting Department

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Squeeze

The station, which also manages KRCC and Denverite, spent $8.34 on new headquarters last year, which “still needs substantial interior construction.”

https://thisisthesqueeze.substack.com/p/colorado-public-radio-eliminates Save to Pocket

Rivian (RIVN) stock gets a boost ahead of R2 launch with new buy rating

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

EV maker Rivian’s (RIVN) stock is trending Thursday ahead of the highly anticipated launch of its new R2 electric SUV. Rivian stock scored a buy rating from Jefferies Finacial Group, suggesting over 45% upside potential.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/rivian-rivn-stock-boost-r2-launch/ Save to Pocket

CIF state basketball championships preview: Bay Area teams aiming for titles in Sacramento

date: 2024-03-07, from: San Jose Mercury News

California high school basketball: Mitty girls, Salesian boys lead seven teams from Bay Area News Group’s coverage area into state finals.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/07/cif-basketball-championships-bay-area-teams-aiming-for-state-titles-in-sacramento/ Save to Pocket

Top Google exec and spouse sell 2 Palo Alto houses for more than $30 million

date: 2024-03-07, from: San Jose Mercury News

A top executive with Google owner Alphabet has sold two Palo Alto houses for well over $30 million in separate deals that point to rising values for both residences.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/07/google-tech-home-house-real-estate-buy-sell-palo-alto-porat-exec-build/ Save to Pocket

Watch The Rivian R2 Livestream Debut Here

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

The debut event starts at 1 PM Eastern / 10 AM Pacific.

https://insideevs.com/news/711535/rivian-r2-debut/ Save to Pocket

It’s that time of year again: the Tournament of Books is underway….

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Jason Kittke’s blog

https://kottke.org/24/03/0044144-its-that-time-of-year Save to Pocket

Wheel-E Podcast: New e-bikes from Rad, Aventon, Frey, tiny golf cart, & more

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes a pile of new electric bike launches with four new models from Rad Power Bikes as well as e-bikes from Aventon, Frey, and Ride1Up, an awesome little micro golf cart, and more.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/wheel-e-podcast-new-e-bikes-from-rad-aventon-frey-tiny-golf-cart-more/ Save to Pocket

Will Climate Get a SOTU Shout Out?

date: 2024-03-07, from: Heatmap News

Current conditions: Red flag fire warnings are in place across West Texas • Heavy rainfall caused extreme flooding in parts of West Java • Tourists in Morocco are disappointed to find the country’s public baths have been closed three days a week due to severe drought.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Biden urged to highlight climate wins in SOTU

Happy State of the Union day! President Biden will address Congress this evening, just as election season gets going in earnest, and some in his party are urging him to use the opportunity to make a Very Big Deal of his progress in the clean energy transition, reported E&E News. “We have a great story to tell,” Environment and Public Works Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) said. “He has to tell it. We have to tell it. Eventually it will break through.” Some recent polls suggest that most Americans aren’t aware of Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and may consider Biden’s likely rival, former President Donald Trump, to be best positioned on issues like energy and economy. “Climate voters could make or break Joe Biden in 2024,” Nathaniel Stinnett, executive director of the nonprofit Environmental Voter Project, told The New York Times. The Natural Resources Defense Council said the speech is “a chance for Biden to rally the nation around the climate progress of the past three years and show the way to build on those gains going forward.” Will he make the most of it? TBD.

2. New SEC climate disclosure rules blasted as both too harsh and too weak

As expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a rule yesterday that will require companies to disclose information about their climate-related risks to investors. But the final rule differs dramatically from the proposal the Commission released two years ago, explained Heatmap’s Emily Pontecorvo, with significantly weaker provisions that leave it up to companies to decide how much information to share. Most of the climate-related disclosures the rule covers are now mandatory only if they’re considered “material.” Further, only about 40% of domestic public companies will even be required to consider whether their emissions are material. Smaller companies and emerging growth businesses — generally companies with less than $1.2 billion in annual revenues — are exempt.

Though the final rules are weaker than the original draft, they’re still too stringent for some. At least 10 Republican-led states are suing the SEC, accusing the Biden administration of playing “puppeteer” in using states to further a climate agenda. Meanwhile the Sierra Club environmental group might sue the SEC because it thinks the rules aren’t strict enough. An SEC spokesperson said the agency will “vigorously defend” the rules in court.

Also yesterday, 25 states, along with industry groups, filed three lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency for its recent crackdown on soot pollution.

3. February warmth breaks records

Last month was the warmest February ever recorded, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said today. This marks the 9th record-breaking month in a row, and the effects were felt world wide. Temperatures in Europe, for example, were 5.9 degrees Fahrenheit above averages seen between 1991 and 2020. But even more startling was the ocean temperature, which was higher last month than it was last August.

Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF

“Sea surface temperatures are at record levels over regions far away from the centre of the El Niño action, such as the tropical Atlantic and Indian Ocean,” said climate scientist Richard Allan of the University of Reading, suggesting climate change was playing a big part in heating the ocean heat.

4. Strong global gusts could set new wind-power records

Wind speeds in China, Europe, and the U.S. are expected to hit seasonal peaks in the coming weeks, which could result in record wind-power output, Reuters reported. In both the U.S. and China, last year’s spring wind power hit new highs in terms of share of total electricity generation. In the months since, both countries have added more wind generation capacity, which means new records are likely. Wind’s share of global electricity generation peaked at 9.59% in November of last year, and could jump beyond 10% “easily” in 2024, Reuters said.

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5. Report: 1% of retail locations offer EV charging

Consumer Reports examined 270,000 retail and fast-food locations across the country and found just 1% of them offer EV charging. The report looked at 75 of the largest retailers, including Target, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, and 7-Eleven and found that charging is available on average at 1 out of every 14 big box store locations, 1 out of every 15 grocery stores, and 1 out of every 40 department stores. “These results show that there is no retail category where a driver can be confident that an EV charger will be available,” the report concludes. This is despite the fact that installing EV chargers has been shown to increase both foot traffic and revenue for retail shops. Here’s a look at how charging availability breaks down by big box brands:

Consumer Reports

THE KICKER

A new FEMA-backed video game called “Disaster Mind” is teaching teenagers how to stay calm during extreme weather events.

https://heatmap.news/politics/sotu-biden-climate Save to Pocket

ElevenLabs Block on Cloning Biden’s Voice Easily Bypassed

date: 2024-03-07, from: 404 Media Group

Hyped AI startup ElevenLabs introduced a ‘no-go voices’ policy after its tools were used as part of a robocall impersonating Biden. But those protections are easily circumvented, 404 Media has found in its own tests.

https://www.404media.co/elevenlabs-block-on-cloning-bidens-voice-easily-bypassed/ Save to Pocket

CIF state basketball finals: How matchups look for Bay Area teams

date: 2024-03-07, from: San Jose Mercury News

Can the Salesian boys beat defending Open champ Harvard-Westlake? Will the Mitty girls cap a perfect season? San Ramon Valley, Oakland Tech, Athenian boys, Bishop O’Dowd, Oakland girls also aiming for state hardware.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/07/cif-state-basketball-championships-how-the-matchups-look-for-bay-area-teams/ Save to Pocket

Drivers Who Are ‘Scared Of Change’ Are Part Of EV Adoption Problem: Polestar CEO

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

And we thought the lack of EV education, spotty charging infrastructure, and high prices were the main issues.

https://insideevs.com/news/711514/ev-adoption-slowdown-drivers-scared-of-change-polestar-ceo/ Save to Pocket

7 awesome Bay Area things to do this weekend, March 8-10

date: 2024-03-07, from: San Jose Mercury News

Got your weekend plans? We have some nifty ideas, from the Oscars to Cinequest to great Irish bars and music.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/07/7-awesome-bay-area-things-to-do-this-weekend-march-8-10/ Save to Pocket

US wants ASML to stop servicing China-owned chip equipment

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Dutch lithography giant caught in crossfire amid escalating tensions

ASML is again at the center of chip wars controversy with reports that Washington wants the Dutch government to stop the company servicing and repairing chipmaking equipment it has sold to customers in China.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/us_asml_china_restrictions/ Save to Pocket

Newsom’s campaign donor says his California Panera Bread restaurants will follow minimum wage law

date: 2024-03-07, from: San Jose Mercury News

A wealthy campaign donor of Gavin Newsom said the restaurants he owns will start paying workers at least $20 an hour on April 1 after controversy over whether a new state minimum wage law for fast food workers applies to his businesses.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/07/gov-gavin-newsoms-campaign-donor-says-his-panera-bread-restaurants-will-follow-minimum-wage-law/ Save to Pocket

Photos: Spectacular fields of yellow mustard draw visitors to wine country

date: 2024-03-07, from: San Jose Mercury News

Brilliant yellow and gold mustard is carpeting Northern California’s wine country, signaling the start of spring and the celebration of all flavors sharp and mustardy.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/07/photos-spectacular-fields-of-yellow-mustard-draw-visitors-to-wine-country/ Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-07, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

Today’s song: Such a Night.

http://scripting.com/2024/03/07.html#a140400 Save to Pocket

Build Your Own Decentralized Dropbox with Syncthing

date: 2024-03-07, from: mrusme blog

In the world of file synchronization, most people are familiar with services like Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive. These centralized cloud solutions are convenient but come with privacy concerns and potential security risks. What if I told you that to synchronize files between individual devices, you don’t need the cloud™ ?

https://xn–gckvb8fzb.com/build-your-own-decentralized-dropbox-with-syncthing/ Save to Pocket

How Hackers Dox Doctors to Order Mountains of Oxy and Adderall

date: 2024-03-07, from: 404 Media Group

Hackers and fraudsters are gaining access to sensitive drug ordering tools and then advertising some of the most tightly controlled drugs in the country, including fentanyl.

https://www.404media.co/how-hackers-dox-doctors-to-order-mountains-of-oxy-and-adderall/ Save to Pocket

Under the Weather: The National Security Risks from Climate Change Could Go Well Beyond What the U.S. Government Thinks

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: RAND blog

Climate change has at least two characteristics that are likely to drive second- and third-order political and social reactions whose effects on U.S. strategic interests may be substantially greater than those that occur in direct reaction to individual extreme weather events.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/03/under-the-weather-the-national-security-risks-from.html Save to Pocket

The Ransom Archangel Is A Wild Custom That’s Worthy Of Stares

date: 2024-03-07, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News

The more you look, the wilder it gets.

https://www.rideapart.com/news/711117/ransom-archangel-custom-motorcycle-cruiser/ Save to Pocket

WANDERLUST

date: 2024-03-07, from: Howard Jacobson blog

He saw her first - no he didn’t: he beheld her first - in the library of St Ursula’s College, a grammar school in North Manchester which had agreed to let him research its holdings of once venerated textbooks. Her head appeared above the stacks like that of a browsing giraffe. She even swivelled her jaw as though chewing on an acacia leaf. That was a tic he would come to hate – as for example when it accompanied a confession that she loved another man, or another woman, or both - but at first it beguiled him. It suggested the absent-mindedness of a person who was always somewhere else. She caught his gaze and smiled at him.

https://jacobsonh.substack.com/p/wanderlust Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-07, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

Have you ever seen an investigative report on the oft-quoted lawyer who said the nasty shit about Biden’s age? Where’s the journalism there?? Tell us a bit about his flaws. Is he a Federalist Society guy? Who did he vote for. Any other conflicts of interest? What does he know about aging, btw? Is he an expert? Did he even take a college course on aging? Did he consult experts before forming his opinion? Also does he feel it’s fair for a prosecutor to use his public platform to smear the reputation of an innocent person? And finally if there is no respect for the president as a person, what about the office, and the country the president serves? Does he have any respect for that? And did he expect to have the light shone on him for making such a bold and potentially damaging statement? And then let’s find out why the journalists never shone the light on Mr Hur.

http://scripting.com/2024/03/07.html#a134652 Save to Pocket

What Americans Need to Hear About Biden’s Climate Record

date: 2024-03-07, from: Distilled Earth blog

Biden has done more to fight climate change than any president. But most people don’t know that.

https://www.distilled.earth/p/what-americans-need-to-hear-about Save to Pocket

@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-07, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)

I asked ChatGPT what plagiarism is, and if it engages in it.

http://scripting.com/2024/03/07.html#a133844 Save to Pocket

Will 49ers make one last huge free agency swing before salary cap tightens?

date: 2024-03-07, from: San Jose Mercury News

The 49ers can’t reward quarterback Brock Purdy until next year, and that allows financial resources to go toward one more shopping spree in NFL free agency next week.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/07/do-49ers-have-one-last-big-swing-in-them-for-nfl-free-agency/ Save to Pocket

Apple’s had it with Epic’s app store shenanigans, terminates dev account

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

No end in sight for ‘horror show’ even with EU’s DMA

Epic Games has followed the tried and tested approach of sharing executive email exchanges following the termination of its developer account by Apple.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/epic_apple_developer_account/ Save to Pocket

Tesla releases impressive new Cybertruck off-road video as fails from owners pile up

date: 2024-03-07, from: Electrek Feed

Tesla has released an impressive new video of a Cybertruck off-roading while instances of Cybertruck owners failing are piling up.

more…

https://electrek.co/2024/03/07/tesla-cybertruck-off-road-video-fails-owners-pile-up/ Save to Pocket

The Tesla Cybertruck Charges At 327 kW From A Third-Party Charger, But Not For Long

date: 2024-03-07, from: Inside EVs News

Nxu’s Charging Station supplied up to 814 volts to the angular pickup, taking advantage of its 800V architecture.

https://insideevs.com/news/711475/tesla-cybertruck-327-kw-peak-charging-rate/ Save to Pocket

Kilpatrick: Are you smart enough for Amazon’s new shopping carts?

date: 2024-03-07, from: San Jose Mercury News

Dash Carts promise a fun and efficient grocery experience, but only for those who prove worthy.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/07/kilpatrick-are-you-smart-enough-for-this-shopping-cart/ Save to Pocket

Guestbooks are cool

date: 2024-03-07, from: Manu - I write blog

            <p>As I mentioned in a previous post, this site now has a <a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/guestbook">guestbook</a>. But, as someone pointed out, I didn’t explain what the heck a guestbook is. I thought it was pretty self-explanatory but I think it’s worth writing a post about it anyway. On the <a href="https://indieweb.org/guestbook">IndieWeb website</a>, guestbooks are defined as:</p>

a way to allow visitors to your site to leave a comment about the website as a whole, instead of a comment about a specific post.

I think it’s a good definition. Guestbooks are a relic of a different time, back when the web wasn’t dominated by social media and interactions among people moved at a different pace. A guestbook is like a summit book, in a way. It’s something you can use to leave a trace of your presence.

But what do you write on the guestbook? Whatever you want. You can let me know how you landed here, you can use it to suggest a topic, or you can use it to just say hi. Just be kind and respectful.

I first toyed with the idea of adding a guestbook almost a year ago, after stumbling on Sara Joy’s website. I don’t remember how or why I was there but I loved the guestbook and it took me almost a year to finally code mine.

And I’m happy to see that Kev now has one on his site as well! If you decide to add a guestbook to your site send me an email, and I’ll be happy to come sign it.

            <hr>
            <h2>Get in touch</h2>                <p>Have something to share? Want me as your <a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/i-ll-read-it">first reader</a>? Get in touch. My inbox is always open.</p>                <a href="mailto:hello@manuelmoreale.com">Connect</a> — 
            <a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/guestbook">Guestbook</a>
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            <h2>One a month</h2>                <p>That's how little it takes to help with my <a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/on-dreams-and-goals">goal</a>. If you feel generous, consider supporting what I do.</p>                <a href="https://ko-fi.com/manuelmoreale">Donate</a> — 
            <a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/supporters">Supporters</a>
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            <h2>People and Blogs</h2>                <p>I ask people to talk about themselves and their blogs. <a href="https://peopleandblogs.com/">Learn more</a> or subscribe.</p>                <a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/feed/peopleandblogs">RSS</a> — 
            <a href="https://buttondown.email/peopleandblogs">Email</a>
        

https://manuelmoreale.com/@/page/bKqF2fZHz2mno7Fr Save to Pocket

In emotional return, Bob Myers reminds Warriors of his lasting impact

date: 2024-03-07, from: San Jose Mercury News

Bob Myers’ impact on Draymond Green and the Warriors remains even as he’s no longer with the organization.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/07/in-emotional-return-bob-myers-reminds-warriors-of-his-lasting-impact/ Save to Pocket

#ShowUsYourSpecs — Help Raise Awareness About Eclipse Safety

date: 2024-03-07, from: NASA breaking news

    NASA’s Glenn Research Center is encouraging the public to prepare to safely view this awe-inspiring event. YOU can help us build excitement and raise awareness about eclipse safety by taking photos of people – including yourself! – wearing eclipse glasses. The goal is to show how you will be protecting your eyes during the […]

https://www.nasa.gov/general/showusyourspecs-help-raise-awareness-about-eclipse-safety/ Save to Pocket

When your barber is also your banker

date: 2024-03-07, from: Marketplace Morning Report

As part of this month’s Econ Extra Credit series, we’re watching Oscar-nominated documentary shorts. On today’s show, we’re focusing on “The Barber of Little Rock.” The film follows Arlo Washington on his quest to fight economic inequality in Arkansas, where he founded a barber school and a nonprofit loan fund. Today, we’ll hear Washington’s conversation with “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio. But first, the number of cybercrimes reported to the FBI is spiking.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/when-your-barber-is-also-your-banker Save to Pocket

Belgian ale legend Duvel’s brewery borked as ransomware halts production

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Biz reassures quaffers it has enough beer, expects quick recovery before weekend

Belgian beer brewer Duvel says a ransomware attack has brought its facility to a standstill while its IT team works to remediate the damage.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/no_piss_up_in_duvels/ Save to Pocket

Improper Gutting

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: One Foot Tsunami

https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/03/07/improper-gutting/ Save to Pocket

curl’s built-in manual without nroff

date: 2024-03-07, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog

On December 14 1998 we released curl 5.2. The project was still early back then and lots of things had not settled yet. In that release, which came only two weeks after 5.1, we introduced the –manual option, or -M for short. Long before I started working on curl I learnt to value and appreciate … Continue reading curl’s built-in manual without nroff →

https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/03/07/curls-built-in-manual-without-nroff/ Save to Pocket

Women’s shifting roles in the Irish economy

date: 2024-03-07, from: Marketplace Morning Report

From the BBC World Service: On Friday, Ireland votes on whether to change a clause in the constitution that says a woman’s main duties are as a caregiver in the home. In this special from Dublin, women from different backgrounds speak about their experiences and opportunities in the workplace. We’ll hear their perspectives from Bewley’s, a tea room where the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement first met.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/womens-shifting-roles-in-the-irish-economy Save to Pocket

China Criticizes US for Suppressing Its Rise While Touting Partnership With Russia

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Thursday criticized the United States for trying to suppress China’s rise through sanctions and reiterated Beijing’s commitment to uphold the multipolar world order with partners such as Russia.

Speaking to local and foreign media during the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, Wang said while relations between China and the United States have improved since the summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November, Washington’s misconception of China remains strong and it has not honored the promises made during the summit.

“The U.S. continues to renew their means of suppressing China while expanding the sanctions list,” he said, adding that Washington’s desire to punish Beijing has reached an “unimaginable level.”

Questioning Washington’s credibility as a great power, Wang urged the U.S. to view China’s rise and development objectively and rationally handle its interactions with Beijing.

“We urge the U.S. to recognize the general trend of historical development and put its promises into practice,” Wang added.

Some analysts say Wang’s criticism of the U.S. reflects Beijing’s concern about facing technological bottlenecks and economic encirclement by Washington and its allies.

“Beijing is hoping to elicit further American concessions and it’s asking the U.S. to lower its walls on technological de-risking from China,” Wen-ti Sung, a political scientist at Australian National University told VOA in a written response.

While Wang urged the U.S. to promote a healthy and stable development of bilateral relations alongside China, he touted Beijing’s close partnership with Russia, saying both countries continue to deepen political mutual trust while pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation.

“As major world powers and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, China, and Russia have forged a new paradigm of great power relations that adheres to permanent good neighborliness while deepening comprehensive strategic cooperation on the basis of nonalignment, nonconfrontation and nontargeting of third parties,” Wang said.

Some experts say China’s efforts to double down on its “no limits partnership” with Russia is mainly due to its attempt to build an alliance that can resist pressure imposed by the United States.

“Since Russia is anti-U.S., China needs an ally to help it resist pressure from Washington,” Liu Dongshu, an expert on Chinese politics at the City University of Hong Kong, told VOA by phone.

Since China has been highlighting the importance of its partnership with Russia before the Ukraine war, Liu said China may feel the need to stick with that commitment.

“It’s difficult for Beijing to admit that it’s made a mistake in being too supportive of Russia, so for the sake of saving its face, China needs to insist that it’s not wrong for maintaining the partnership with Russia,” he added.

As the war in Ukraine and the Middle East continue, Wang, a 70-year-old veteran diplomat who returned to the role of foreign minister last year following the mysterious dismissal of former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, said China is actively putting forward proposals for resolving regional and global issues.

He said the only way to end the vicious cycle extended from the conflict between Israel and Hamas is to “comprehensively implement the two-state solution” and said Beijing supports establishment of a Palestinian U.N. member state.

On the Ukraine war, Wang said China has always “maintained an objective and impartial position” and reiterated Beijing’s support for convening an international peace conference that is recognized by both Russia and Ukraine.

Liu in Hong Kong said China is facing a dilemma where it wants to present itself as a responsible great power internationally, but it doesn’t want to take action to address the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

“Unlike the U.S., which has experience in mediating global conflicts, China has long adopted this nonintervention approach,” he told VOA. “China is unwilling to take actions to get involved in these conflicts and it also may not be capable of doing that.”

Amid rising tension across the Taiwan Strait in recent weeks, with Chinese coast guard vessels increasing efforts to patrol disputed waters near Taiwan’s outlying islands, Wang said Beijing will never allow Taiwan to be separated “from the motherland” and warned countries around the world not to support Taiwan’s potential pursuit of independence.

“Whoever engages in ‘Taiwan independence’ on the island will be held accountable by history and whoever in the world supports ‘Taiwan independence’ will get burned for playing with fire and taste the bitter fruit of their own doing,” he warned during the 90-minute press conference.

Sung from Australian National University said Wang’s comments on Taiwan are intended to intensify pressure on Taiwan’s diplomatic partners and ensure Taiwan remains internationally isolated. Wang is trying to “warn other countries about the consequences of offering support for Taiwan while reiterating Beijing’s ultimate goal of achieving unification,” he told VOA.

As tension between China and the Philippines grows because of repeated confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the disputed South China Sea, Wang said China has always exercised “a high degree of restraint” when handling maritime disputes.

“China has always respected historical and legal facts and sought a solution that’s acceptable to each party,” he said, adding that Beijing will not allow its “good intentions” to be abused or the law in the sea to be “distorted.”

After Wang set the tone for China’s foreign policy in 2024 through the press conference on Thursday, some analysts think Beijing will likely adopt a multiprong approach to manage its relationship with different countries.

“China will focus on managing ties with Europe, maintaining close relations with Russia and other pariah states, heightening tensions with Taiwan, India and in the South China Sea, cautiously testing the waters with the U.S. while seeking to court the Global South,” Sana Hashmi, a postdoctoral a fellow at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, told VOA in a written response.

https://www.voanews.com/a/china-criticizes-us-for-suppressing-its-rise-while-touting-partnership-with-russia/7517486.html Save to Pocket

How Public AI Can Strengthen Democracy

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-05, from: Bruce Schneier blog

With the world’s focus turning to misinformation,  manipulation, and outright propaganda ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, we know that democracy has an AI problem. But we’re learning that AI has a democracy problem, too. Both challenges must be addressed for the sake of democratic governance and public protection.

Just three Big Tech firms (Microsoft, Google, and Amazon) control about two-thirds of the global market for the cloud computing resources used to train and deploy AI models. They have a lot of the AI talent, the capacity for large-scale innovation, and face few public regulations for their products and activities…

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/03/how-public-ai-can-strengthen-democracy.html Save to Pocket

Venturing beyond the default OS on Raspberry Pi 5

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

The pros and cons of some other Arm Linux distros for the pocket powerhouse

The Raspberry Pi 5 is a capable little desktop computer, and some alternative distros give you more choices than the default Pi OS.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/alt_pi_5_linux_distros/ Save to Pocket

UK finance minister promises NHS £3.4B IT investment to unlock £35B savings

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Now, who was it ‘challenged’ the NHS to go paperless by 2018?

The UK’s finance minister has promised the country’s National Health Service (NHS) £3.4 billion ($4.33 billion) in IT investment, claiming it would unlock £35 billion ($44 billion) in efficiency savings by the end of the decade.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/uk_finance_minister_promises_nhs/ Save to Pocket

HP print rental service seeks more users to become subscription addicts

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

13M Instant Ink customers signed up and now a new plan is after millions more

HP has 13 million customers signed up to the Instant Ink subscription program, and a recently introduced rental service that includes hardware is similarly forecast to extract “more value” from customers.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/hp_ink_addicts/ Save to Pocket

Héctor Hernández | Indefensible Inspections

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Signal

Defensible space inspections are critical for prevention of wildfires, especially in areas prone to periodic drought conditions like L.A. County, which only recently came out of a years-long, severe drought. So why would the Board of Supervisors and the county Fire Department risk tainting this much-needed public safety function with controversy by funding the cost […]

The post Héctor Hernández | Indefensible Inspections appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/hector-hernandez-indefensible-inspections/ Save to Pocket

Magical voxel display captures Doom characters in a crystal ball

date: 2024-03-07, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)

Maker James Brown built a crystal ball, but instead of showing you the face of your one true love or predicting your elaborate demise, this one displays Doom characters.

The post Magical voxel display captures Doom characters in a crystal ball appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/magical-voxel-display-captures-doom-characters-in-a-crystal-ball/ Save to Pocket

Bank’s struggle to replace Atos threw system back to dark ages

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Costly project to switch supplier likely to continue into 2025, says watchdog

A report on UK government debt reveals that a public sector bank relied on “people and paper” to process transactions during the pandemic as it struggled to replace outgoing service provider Atos.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/nsandi_atos/ Save to Pocket

Mr. President, what you should say tonight

date: 2024-03-07, from: Robert Reich on Substack

Make it clear whose side you’re on when it comes to the economy

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-biden-must-do-tonight-in-sou Save to Pocket

Classifieds – March 7, 2023

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

The Daily Trojan features Classified advertising in each day’s edition. Here you can read, search, and even print out each day’s edition of the Classifieds.

The post Classifieds – March 7, 2023 appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/classifieds-march-7-2023-2/ Save to Pocket

The DMA hasn’t changed Big Tech’s anticompetitive DNA, says Free Software Foundation Europe

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Advocacy group wants more changes, starting with Device Neutrality

On Thursday, Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into force, requiring large gatekeepers companies to play nice with smaller rivals.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/the_dma_is_not_enough/ Save to Pocket

Today in SCV History (March 7)

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

1976 – Groundbreaking for new First Presbyterian Church in Newhall; former structure heavily damaged in 1971 earthquake. [story

https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-march-7/ Save to Pocket

Jason Gibbs | Summer Fun with the City!

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Signal

As the warmer months approach, our community centers, pools and parks across the city are gearing up for an exciting season of summer camps and recreational programming for everyone. Whether it is the nostalgic smell of sunscreen and chlorine at the pool, the cheers during a Camp Clarita roll call on the bus or patiently […]

The post Jason Gibbs | Summer Fun with the City! appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/jason-gibbs-summer-fun-with-the-city/ Save to Pocket

USC announces ‘Wicked’ commencement speaker: Jon M. Chu

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

The filmmaker and School of Cinematic Arts alum will deliver the University’s 2024 commencement speech.

The post USC announces ‘Wicked’ commencement speaker: Jon M. Chu appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/usc-announces-wicked-commencement-speaker/ Save to Pocket

Deeply Rooted: Speaking for the Trees

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

Celebrating Arbor Day over the years.

The post Deeply Rooted: Speaking for the Trees appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/07/deeply-rooted-speaking-for-the-trees/ Save to Pocket

Blending Science with Indigenous Ways

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

Can relationships, gratitude, and respect underlie our place in nature?

The post Blending Science with Indigenous Ways appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/07/blending-science-with-indigenous-ways/ Save to Pocket

California CVS locations to carry abortion pills

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

Campus Activities marked Hazing Prevention Week by hosting several activities.

The post California CVS locations to carry abortion pills appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/california-cvs-to-carry-abortion-pills/ Save to Pocket

The Paper Kites amaze Fonda Theatre

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

The band performed songs from its latest album in an enthralling headline performance.

The post The Paper Kites amaze Fonda Theatre appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/the-paper-kites-amaze-fonda-theatre/ Save to Pocket

American voters’ relationship status is ‘uncommitted’

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

Nikki Haley finally dropped out of the presidential race, and President Joe Biden faces criticism ahead of the State of the Union address.

The post American voters’ relationship status is ‘uncommitted’ appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/american-voters-relationship-status-is-uncommitted/ Save to Pocket

Honeybird location at USC Village to close Saturday after six years

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

Store owner Phil Lee said competition and shrinking business led to the decision.

The post Honeybird location at USC Village to close Saturday after six years appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/honeybird-location-at-usc-village-to-close-saturday-after-six-years/ Save to Pocket

Daily Trojan A&E staff on the Academy Awards

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

The 96th Oscars ceremony will be held Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

The post Daily Trojan A&E staff on the Academy Awards appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/daily-trojan-ae-staff-on-the-academy-awards/ Save to Pocket

Men’s basketball set to host Arizona State

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

The Trojans enter their penultimate regular season game as victors of two of their last three.

The post Men’s basketball set to host Arizona State appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/mens-basketball-set-to-host-arizona-state/ Save to Pocket

The Fierce Five of US gymnastics

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

The 2012 USA Gymnastics team not only captured gold medals but denounced an undeniable evil.

The post The Fierce Five of US gymnastics appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/the-fierce-five-of-us-gymnastics/ Save to Pocket

Beach volleyball plans to set Tempe ablaze

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

After sweeping its home-opener, USC will take on four intra-conference foes.

The post Beach volleyball plans to set Tempe ablaze appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/203610/ Save to Pocket

‘Succession’ snub highlights award process flaws

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)

The SAG Awards ignored “Succession,” underscoring the issue with award shows.

The post ‘Succession’ snub highlights award process flaws appeared first on Daily Trojan.

https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/07/successions-snubs-at-sag-awards-underscore-award-process-flaws/ Save to Pocket

VMware urges emergency action to blunt hypervisor flaws

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Critical vulns in USB under ESXi and desktop hypervisors found by Chinese researchers at cracking contest

Hypervisors are supposed to provide an inviolable isolation layer between virtual machines and hardware. But hypervisor heavyweight VMware by Broadcom yesterday revealed its hypervisors are not quite so inviolable as it might like.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/vmware_usb_critical_flaws/ Save to Pocket

Reminder: Infostealer malware is coming for your ChatGPT credentials

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Singaporean researchers note rising presence of OpenAI logins in infostealer malware logs

Stolen ChatGPT credentials are a hot commodity on the dark web, according to Singapore-based threat intelligence firm Group-IB, which claims to have found some 225,000 log files containing login details for the service last year.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/more_than_250000/ Save to Pocket

Low-carbon energy does not have the same energy security risks as fossil fuels

date: 2024-03-07, from: Hannah Richie at Substack

Fossil fuel inequities are a risk to energy security. Mineral inequities are a risk to the energy transition.

https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/energy-security-minerals Save to Pocket

US politicians want ByteDance to sell off TikTok or face ban

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

The American mind must not be at the mercy of Chinese algorithms

A group of US lawmakers introduced legislation on Tuesday that, if passed, would force Chinese internet concern ByteDance to divest TikTok – its most valuable property – or see it banned in the US.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/tiktok_divest_ban/ Save to Pocket

March 6, 2024

date: 2024-03-07, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog

Black Americans outnumbered white Americans among the 29,500 people who lived in Selma, Alabama, in the 1960s, but the city’s voting rolls were 99% white. So, in 1963, Black organizers in the Dallas County Voters League launched a drive to get Black voters in Selma registered. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a prominent civil rights organization, joined them.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-6-2024 Save to Pocket

Donor Cash Went In, Antitrust Budget Cut Came Out

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Lever News

Companies facing antitrust scrutiny funneled big money to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen before her aides tried to defund regulators’ budget.

https://www.levernews.com/donor-cash-went-in-antitrust-budget-cut-came-out/ Save to Pocket

Kappa Kappa Gamma hosts philanthropic event

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)

Ever wonder what sorority life is like? It is much different than what the television portrays it to be. Sororities like Kappa Kappa Gamma promote sisterhood and philanthropy. On February…

https://sundial.csun.edu/179030/news/kappa-kappa-gamma-hosts-philanthropic-event/ Save to Pocket

Beijing plans at least three new rockets – maybe reusables too

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

With over 100 launches planned this year alone, matching Musk makes sense

China’s Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has promised to launch three new rockets this year alone, and may also start to send reusable boosters into space next year.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/china_rocket_plans/ Save to Pocket

From TV Host to Exile: How Taliban Return Affects Young Journalist

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

Nadio Momand was a journalist and a law student in Afghanistan. But with the Taliban back in power, she has left her home and her dreams behind. Muska Safi has the story, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.

https://www.voanews.com/a/from-tv-host-to-exile-how-taliban-return-affects-young-journalist/7517284.html Save to Pocket

A Don of a New Era

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

Luke Zuffelato rewrites Santa Barbara High’s record book.

The post A Don of a New Era appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/06/a-don-of-a-new-era/ Save to Pocket

On fractional scales, fonts and hinting

date: 2024-03-07, from: Gtk Developer blog

GTK 4.14 will be released very soon, with new renderers that were introduced earlier this year. The new renderers have much improved support for fractional scaling—on my system, I now use 125% scaling instead of the ‘Large Text’ setting, and I find that works fine for my needs. Magical numbers Ever since 4.0, GTK has … Continue reading “On fractional scales, fonts and hinting”

https://blog.gtk.org/2024/03/07/on-fractional-scales-fonts-and-hinting/ Save to Pocket

Biden to Address Nation as Two Wars Rage Abroad

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

Washington — The State of the Union address is traditionally the venue where American presidents highlight domestic successes, and President Joe Biden is expected to discuss his handling of the economy, reproductive rights, gun control, and immigration Thursday evening.

But as the United States deals with wars in the Middle East and Europe, foreign policy may be higher on the agenda in Biden’s fourth, and potentially final, such speech to a joint session of Congress.

The president intends to highlight his achievements in “restoring American leadership on the world stage,” John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, told VOA during an interview on Wednesday.

American leadership, he added, gives it the ability to influence actions of world leaders and adversaries “in ways that are more in keeping with our national security interests.”

That influence has failed to overcome stark differences between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on issues including how to deliver more humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, the postwar role of the Palestinian Authority and the U.S. vision for a future Palestinian state.

On Ukraine, American leadership is overshadowed by House Republicans’ obstruction of a Senate-approved $95 billion foreign aid package that includes $61 billion to support Kyiv in its fight against Russia. The bill also includes $14 billion in security assistance for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian assistance and $5 billion to support partners in the Indo-Pacific, as Washington competes against Beijing for regional influence.

The wars in Ukraine and Gaza will be prominently featured in the foreign policy portion of Biden’s speech, as will the U.S. strategic rivalry with China. Analysts say the president will employ different approaches on the two issues as he considers voters’ sentiments ahead of his bid for reelection in November.

Push for Ukraine aid

Biden will use his address to again call for the passage of the foreign aid bill and argue that it is not in America’s interest to embrace isolationism amid signs of growing Russian expansionism.

“The president is going to continue to make his case that House Republicans need to move forward. The speaker needs to put the national security supplemental on the floor,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during her briefing Wednesday. “We know that it would get overwhelming support.”

While the Biden administration has gathered international support for an effort that includes substantial military and economic aid to Ukraine, major sanctions on Russia and greatly increasing NATO’s military posture in eastern Europe, it has failed to provide a strong case for this policy for the American people, said John Herbst, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine who is now senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

“This in turn has made it easier for naïve voices, especially in the one corner of the Republican Party to block the assistance Ukraine needs to avoid a defeat,” Herbst told VOA.

Vanderbilt University presidential historian Thomas Schwartz predicted Biden “will go all in” on Ukraine, particularly in light of the recent death of Alexey Navalny in a Siberian prison. The Russian dissident’s death has intensified U.S. views that supporting Ukraine’s efforts to push back against Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a real moral cause,” Schwartz told VOA.

“This will also allow him to draw a sharp contrast with Trump, who has, of course, expressed admiration for Putin in the past and has not been as supportive on the Ukraine issue,” Schwartz added.

Polls show that Americans’ support for sending military aid to Kyiv is fractured along party lines, with voters of the president’s party largely sympathetic to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s war efforts.

According to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 67% of Democrats see it as a priority for the U.S. government to prevent Russia from gaining more territory in Ukraine and to help Ukraine regain territory that is currently occupied by Russia. Only 37% of Republicans agree.

Biden will use his address to rally support amid Americans’ war fatigue. Overall, 37% of respondents — 55% of Republicans and 17% of Democrats — say the U.S. government is spending too much on aid to Ukraine.

Tread carefully on Gaza

The president is likely to tout his immediate support for Israelis following Hamas’ October 7 attack and underscore the importance of ensuring that Israel can defend itself against the U.S.-designated terror group’s threats.

But he will need to tread carefully on the issue, taking into account the division between pro-Israel Democrats and independents who support his stance on the conflict and progressive Democrats, as well as Arab and Muslim Americans, who are angered by it.

Outrage over the more than 30,000 people killed in Gaza and Biden’s refusal to put conditions on U.S. military aid for Israel has resulted in significant portions of Democratic primary election voters in Michigan and Minnesota marking their ballots “uncommitted” to signal their protest and demand an immediate and permanent cease-fire.

Negotiators have not yet been able to bring the fighting in Gaza to a halt ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend. On Tuesday, Biden said the fate of the temporary cease-fire deal is in the “hands of Hamas” after Israel agreed to a “rational offer” that had been put on the table.

Hamas has since responded saying there can be no hostage exchange without a permanent cease-fire and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The group accused Israel of stalling the talks.

Israeli politicians will be carefully watching Thursday to see who Biden blames for the deadlock and how critical he is of Israeli efforts to protect and deliver aid to Palestinian civilians, said Jonathan Rynhold, head of the Department of Political Studies at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.

As Biden is likely to reiterate his call for a two-state solution, Israelis will be anxious to see whether he calls on Israel to “present a clear vision that includes a Palestinian state,” Rynhold told VOA. “I doubt he’ll do it, but if he does, it’s bad for Netanyahu but not bad for the war.”

Biden is likely to focus his criticisms on the far-right elements within the Israeli government and signal displeasure at violence committed by what he calls “extreme settlers” in the West Bank, as he has done several times in the past.

Kirby said the president will also call for increasing humanitarian aid for Palestinians. With the Netanyahu government’s refusal to open more land crossings for aid convoys and the death of more than 100 people after Israeli troops opened fire as desperate Palestinians mobbed a convoy of food trucks, the U.S. has resorted to using military aircraft to drop supplies — a more expensive, inefficient and dangerous means to deliver aid.

A Gallup poll released this week shows 58% of Americans hold a favorable view of Israel, down from 68% last year, and the lowest favorable rating for the country in over two decades.

Iuliia Iarmolenko contributed to this report.

https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-to-address-nation-as-two-wars-rage-abroad/7517269.html Save to Pocket

How to Have Sex (2023)

date: 2024-03-07, from: Jessica Smith’s blog

Last August, Vivian took me to see the film How to Have Sex, which was screening at the Astor as part of the MIFF. What Viv did not warn me of adequately before we saw the film was that it’s about an eighteen-year-old girl who gets much too drunk and loses her virginity in a sexual encounter that was fundamentally not consensual but also difficult to describe as “rape”, and as someone who basically was that eighteen-year-old girl a long time ago I’d really have appreciated more of a heads-up about that. Watching the film dredged up a lot of long-buried bitterness in me, and truth be told, all these months later I still haven’t successfully buried it again. I have been told, of course, that “burying trauma isn’t the same as dealing with trauma,” which honestly I would like to call bullshit on because when my trauma was buried, I felt fine, and now it’s been resurrected, I don’t, and on the surface that seems to me like a regression.¹ To be fair, I don’t think Viv looked that deeply into the movie; I think he saw “eighteen-year-olds having sex on holiday” and went, “Sounds amazing, sign me up.” Anyway, what’s done is done. Apparently, the film’s just entered general release here (see ABC article ), so I thought I’d dust off this long-stalled draft and try to polish it up.

The filmmaker herself, Molly Manning Walker, was actually in attendance on that night in August, and there was a Q&A with her after the screening. That was really good in and of itself, and I’m glad we stayed for it. She described her film as (along these lines) “a very personal story, and one that a lot of people relate to,” and made the excellent point that our conversations about consent need to be more nuanced, which I agree with wholeheartedly. She said that “the law, which doesn’t protect us anyway” has its own legal standard for what sexual assault is, but it’s such a high bar to clear, and it doesn’t mean that everything that falls short of that bar is A-OK and acceptable. So, she said, “since the law doesn’t protect us anyway,” we should move to using our own definitions and having our own conversations about consent, which should be human-focused and centre “people just having a good time”. People shouldn’t just think to themselves, “Is this literally rape?” but, “How can I make sure this other person has a good experience?” This is a much more important question.

Another thing she talked about is the need to reach out to people (and LBR, mostly men) who are currently engaging in these kinds of coercive, pushy, or not-entirely-consensual sexual practices, and how you’ll never actually reach them – you’ll repel them and they won’t listen – if you brand them “rapists” or “evil scum” or whatever. (Even though, I’ll admit, I’ve succumbed to this temptation myself.) She talked about a meeting she went to with French film distributors who were considering screening this film, and said that one of the men had watched the film and come to the realisation that: “I am Paddy.” (Paddy being the pushy, manipulative dickhead in the film. And yes, OF COURSE it would be a Frenchman in her anecdote, of course.) She said that while on one level it’s obviously shit that he has been a Paddy, it’s good that he’s been able to come to that realisation and one can only hope that he won’t be a Paddy in the future. My experience with my own “Paddy” leads me to believe it’s not nearly as simple as that, but generally speaking I think it’s true: there needs to be a “way back” for people who have been insensitive or, you know, coercive, or sexually cruel, or whatever you could say. There’s a huge stigma around “being a rapist”, for good reason obviously and it’s clearly better than society being OK with rapists, but it’s just so profoundly unhelpful to have this binary where behaviour is either “rape” or it’s completely fine, or where men are either “rapists” – forever – or totally innocent. There has to be a way to say, “What you did was unacceptable, but you can learn from it; it doesn’t have to define you forever.” Assuming he actually wants to learn, of course, but convincing such men to want to learn was one of Manning Walker’s goals with the film.

In the critical scene of How to Have Sex, the protagonist – Tara – gets separated from her friends during a night’s partying and winds up alone on a beach with Paddy, who gets increasingly physical and pushy before pressuring her to have sex with him. Very drunk, and vulnerable, she agrees, but her body language makes it clear it’s really not what she wants. As the ABC article quotes her saying, Manning Walker finds it interesting the split reactions she gets about what actually happened in that scene:

Lots of women would come into the room and say ’thank you for making this film, I’ve been through that, I feel seen’, and a lot of men would come in quite defensive and say, ‘It’s not an assault because she said yes’.

I may not have got to tell her so personally, but I absolutely would’ve been among those women. Because that really is the critical point… in the moment, she said yes! So did I, to my everlasting shame. I said more, even, but not because I wanted to. Because I felt trapped, and scared, and I was always way too much of a people-pleaser. I was so afraid I’d upset him, because I did really like him, and I didn’t want to screw my chances for the future when the situation might actually have felt right. My skin was crawling the entire time, my mind buzzing with a million and one reasons why I was a fucking idiot to have even landed myself there. I could never fully, or even mostly, blame myself – after all, he was the one who stripped me of my clothes without so much as a word when I was frozen up in panic, and there was a huge imbalance in power and experience between us that did not favour me. But of course I blamed myself, in part.

So was that rape, or was it not? Believe me, I endured a truly exhausting number of arguments both ways, to the point that I really want never to have to try to address that question again. The Q&A with the filmmaker was really excellent because it gave me the liberating answer: it doesn’t fucking matter. It doesn’t matter whether it was technically rape, or whether I technically consented, or at what exact point of drunkenness one is technically too drunk to consent, or whether there’s some kind of sliding scale whereby you can be partially, but not fully, responsible for “consenting” against your better judgement. Literally none of the bullshit I had to fight about, over and over again, matters at all. The only thing that matters is “people having a good time”. And by that metric, he utterly failed.

The problem is, I don’t think we have good language for it, this kind of callous sexual behaviour that, perhaps, falls short of being rape. The protagonist of the film is never really able to find the words for what happens to her; at most, I remember her saying weakly, “It doesn’t really count though.” I remember trying to use that same line myself, once, with someone who was trying to “YEAHHH YOU GETTEM GIRL” me just like Tara’s shitty friend was at that point in the film. But in my case, I also had other people – so many people² – arguing with me very sternly that if I was drunk I couldn’t consent and it was rape, and scolding me if I ever failed to call it rape, so I did used to call it that, but it always felt uncomfortably off. I ended up clinging to it anyway, because what else was I going to call it? It was either that or nothing, and I was really sure that what happened wasn’t nothing. My “Paddy” actually became a close friend – not a good friend, but a close one – but the events of that night were always a sticking point between us. Interestingly, given the topic, he did actually accept the label “rapist”, but he also treated it as a bit of joke. I guess he was defensive; I don’t think he ever truly accepted he’d done anything I hadn’t wanted that night. I was defensive, too, because I knew that he had. For all that the word “rape” sat uneasily with me, I used it because consensual sex isn’t what it felt like either. I clung to it because it felt like anything else would’ve been letting him off the hook. If there had been a better word, one that correctly assigned the blame to him for hurting me without trying to imply consent is always a black and white yes–no binary, then sure, I’d have preferred to use that. But that word doesn’t exist. Probably it should.

What I really wanted was for him to change. As his friend, I saw all his good qualities too. I was sure he was capable of doing better, being better, than he had been with me (…and a bunch of other girls about the same age, in different ways, but that’s by-the-by). He was a feminist, he claimed; surely he could come to understand the complicated interplay between power dynamics and sex! And so… I really appreciated Manning Walker’s insistence on the same thing, that men can and must learn to be better, rather than “rapist” becoming a lifelong label that someone can never, ever grow free from. It’s something I’ve so rarely heard articulated but it strikes me as obviously true. I haven’t spoken to my ex-friend in more than a decade now but I really hope he did, eventually, learn.

One last thing I’ll say about this film is that it also depicts that really obnoxious kind of “British people getting shitfaced at resorts in southern Europe” subculture, which is definitely not my thing. In fact, before I realised what the movie was really about, I’d thought I was going to have to tease Viv for taking me to a movie about the three most annoying English girls in film history. Basically they arrive in Greece with two goals: to get wasted and to get laid… and with the life experience I’ve had, I find it truly gobsmacking that anyone would still think these are two things that can be combined.

I couldn’t quite figure out the position the film took on this. You might think, given the subject matter, that it came down firmly against it, but I didn’t feel it did. I felt it kind of implied that it is possible to have sex (in a healthy, non-abusive way) when you’re shitfaced, it’s just Paddy didn’t do that, and… that’s not a message I’m comfortable with. Of course, given my experiences, I gave a lot of thought back in the day to what it is that makes drunk sex (potentially) abusive, and the thing I kept coming back to is power. Two adults who respect each other as equals, and feel comfortable around each other… it’s unlikely to be abusive in that case. But when you have a power imbalance – like when one of the parties is a young, frightened, virgin – it becomes very problematic, very quickly. So… I was very uncomfortable with the atmosphere of the resort in the film, which is full of very young adults who seem to have the expectation that they can get fucked up and also have sex with almost total strangers… like, of course this is going to end badly, what the hell! I just think there needs to be a complete division in people’s minds, where “partying/clubbing” and “hooking up” are completely unrelated activities. Honestly, there’s basically a zero percent chance that a drunken hookup with a guy you barely know is going to feel any good, anyway. I’ll admit it’s easy for me to say now, as an adult very far removed from that eighteen-year-old girl embarrassed about her ongoing virginity and insecure about whether anyone would ever find her attractive (as Tara, in the film, also is, despite her brash exterior). Even so… caving in to the advances of a pushy drunk guy who doesn’t really care about you at all is not the way. Which is not to try to victim-blame… the pushy guys are still, ultimately, the ones with the responsibility. I just don’t think girls, either, should have this expectation of getting laid on a holiday where they plan to be drunk 24/7. It’s not worth the risk, man! Save the hookups for when you’re sober.

https://www.jayeless.net/2024/03/how-to-have-sex.html Save to Pocket

Toyota, Samsung accelerate toward better EV batteries

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Korean champ promises solid state kit that makes Li-Ion look flat by 2027

Samsung’s SDI battery-making unit has announced it will start mass production of solid state batteries in 2027, and that the parts it pushes will have energy density of 900 watt-hours per liter (Wh/L), a figure lithium-ion batteries struggle to match.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/toyota_battery_buyout/ Save to Pocket

Afghan Teen Finds Hope in US Education

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

A year ago, 13-year-old Muska Shaji and her family fled the Taliban in Afghanistan and resettled in the United States. Now enrolled in school, the seventh grader understands that an education wouldn’t have been possible for her in her home country. Fahim Sediqi has the story, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.

https://www.voanews.com/a/afghan-teen-finds-hope-in-us-education/7517231.html Save to Pocket

Supervisors approve Barger motion on insurance coverage

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Signal

News release   The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a motion introduced by Supervisor Kathryn Barger and co-authored by Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath that mobilizes the county’s advocacy on behalf of homeowners who are struggling to get or keep their insurance coverage due to wildfire threat.   The county will ask California Insurance […]

The post Supervisors approve Barger motion on insurance coverage appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/supervisors-approve-barger-motion-on-insurance-coverage/ Save to Pocket

2024 SCV baseball preview

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Signal

The 2024 Foothill League baseball season begins this week with three series, while local Heritage League teams are looking to build off last season, to kick off the highly anticipated year.  Valencia and Trinity have league titles to defend, while Castaic will look for another deep playoff run.    Here’s everything fans need to know ahead […]

The post <strong>2024 SCV baseball preview</strong>  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/2024-scv-baseball-preview/ Save to Pocket

Schiavo bill to broaden paid leave for crime survivors

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Signal

News release  Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, announced the introduction of Assembly Bill 2499, a bill aimed at extending unpaid sick leave to cover instances when an individual or their family has experienced violent or traumatic events.   “This groundbreaking legislation seeks to address the gaps in current labor laws, ensuring that survivors and their families […]

The post Schiavo bill to broaden paid leave for crime survivors appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/schiavo-bill-to-broaden-paid-leave-for-crime-survivors/ Save to Pocket

US Muslims to Begin Ramadan Observance as War Rages in Gaza

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

WASHINGTON — The Islamic month of Ramadan is being observed this year as the Israel-Hamas war surges in Gaza, where the United Nations is warning of a growing humanitarian crisis.

Imam Talib Shareef of Masjid Muhammad, the Nation’s Mosque, in Washington said there will be differences in how Muslims observe this year because of the conflict.

Other than organizing prayers for the community, the mosque is “more engaged in service and feeding; we actually feed at the masjid and [also at] shelters, and we also go to other faith communities,” said Shareef, who served for more than 30 years in the U.S. Air Force and helped to establish the first Islamic military chaplain in 1993.

“I do expect that … religious communities are going to be trying to come together,” he said, noting that his mosque also works with churches and gives food to others in the community.

“Obviously [the conflict] is going to be on people’s hearts, on people’s souls, it’s bothering people,” Shareef said.

Nearly 2 billion Muslims around the world will begin observing the Islamic month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin on March 10 or 11, depending on the sighting of the moon.

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food, drink, smoking, gossip and sexual relations from sunrise to sunset. Fasting is meant to bring Muslims closer to God and help them better empathize with those who are less fortunate.

US Muslims

In the United States, the Muslim population is about 3.45 million, which accounts for slightly more than 1% of the population, according to Pew Research.

Depending on where Muslims live in the United States, their experience can vary. In some rural areas, Muslims may not have access to a mosque or a community where they can practice their faith.

This is particularly true for immigrants who move to areas without a large Muslim population.

Jemal Yasin, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ethiopia in 2008 to do postgraduate research at the University of Vermont, described his first experience in the United States as “a little bit lonely.”

He said there was a community of Somali immigrants, though he didn’t get a chance to pray with them.

During that first year in the States, he said he had to “pray in my room by myself,” which he said was a typical experience of many Muslim immigrants.

Now, Yasin is president of the board of directors of a the First Hijrah Foundation in Washington.

The FHF started as a small organization that aimed to “promote and preserve the Islamic heritage,” and “foster the Islamic principles of brotherhood, equality, mutual assistance and teachings of peace, love and justice,” according to its website.

Initially, the organization didn’t have a building, and members of the foundation would meet at one another’s houses. It wasn’t until 2005 that their current building was officially secured, said Yasin.

“This is a center for Muslims, all Muslims. … So, when you come here, you see [people of many] backgrounds – African Americans, Ethiopians, Somalians, Arabs – they will come pray together and break fast together, so this is a place for everybody,” Yasin said.

He added that the foundation works with the community and organizes events for Muslims, before, during and after Ramadan.

When he moved to Washington later in 2008 Yasin became involved with the foundation and was able to be part of a larger Muslim community.

Ramadan observations are becoming more common in the United States, with many organizations hosting events to observe the month.

Shareef said, “We used to have more … private iftars in the past, and now they’re more open … and we are able to share more.”

After sunset, Muslims typically gather for iftar — the breaking of the fast and the most important meal of the day.

Yasin said the foundation helped organize a bazaar on Sunday to help the community prepare for Ramadan. Traditional clothing, incense and foods, such as dates, were sold.

During Ramadan, the First Hijrah Foundation will be providing free iftars for the community each night.

Ramadan this year

The ongoing Israel-Hamas war is the result of an October 7 terror attack in which Hamas crossed into Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 240 civilians hostage. The Israeli military response has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Negotiators are pushing for a possible cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict ahead of the start of Ramadan.

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-muslims-to-begin-ramadan-observance-as-war-rages-in-gaza-/7517222.html Save to Pocket

May 5: 35th Annual Taste of the Town Tickets on Sale

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

Join the Child & Family Center on Sunday, May 5 for the tastiest event of the year. The 35th Taste of the Town is back at Blomgren Ranch, 15142 Sierra Highway, Santa Clarita, CA

https://scvnews.com/may-5-35th-annual-taste-of-the-town-tickets-on-sale/ Save to Pocket

Biden, Trump Take Aim at Each Other in Dueling Attacks

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-trump-take-aim-at-each-other-in-dueling-attacks-/7517193.html Save to Pocket

Forecast: Rain to clear out, weekend dry 

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Signal

Meteorologists are calling for dry skies through the weekend after the latest in a series of storms dropped about a half-inch of rain in the Santa Clarita Valley.   A brief weather system that moved in Wednesday morning and predicted to be gone by Thursday was the latest in a recent pattern of rainy winter.  By […]

The post Forecast: Rain to clear out, weekend dry  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/forecast-rain-to-clear-out-weekend-dry/ Save to Pocket

From War to the Economy, Big Issues to Dominate Biden’s Election-Year State of the Union Speech

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

U.S. President Joe Biden will deliver his election-year State of the Union address Thursday, when he is expected to discuss his handling of the economy, reproductive rights, immigration, and the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts. But the 81-year-old will also use the occasion to demonstrate he is physically and mentally fit for a second term. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.

https://www.voanews.com/a/from-war-to-the-economy-big-issues-to-dominate-biden-s-election-year-state-of-the-union-speech/7517211.html Save to Pocket

Lawsuit claims gift card fraud is the gift that keeps on giving, to Google

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Play Store commissions are a nice little earner, wherever they come from

Google has been accused of profiting from gift card scams.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/google_sued_for_profiting_gift_card_fraud/ Save to Pocket

US Indictment Details Russian Oligarch’s Sanctions-Busting Scheme

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

washington — On Facebook, Vadim Wolfson makes his political position clear. His profile picture shows him in a baseball cap emblazoned with the words “Puck Futin,” while his banner image features a Russian anti-war flag.

In words and memes, Wolfson criticizes Russian President Vladimir Putin, top Russian officials and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But Wolfson — who formerly went by the last name Belyaev and founded the Otkritie financial group, once Russia’s largest private bank — is now accused of crimes that would appear to contradict these political views.

U.S. federal prosecutors say that in 2018 and 2019, the Austin, Texas, resident helped Andrei Kostin, an oligarch and head of Russia’s state VTB Bank, to own and manage an elite mansion in Colorado. That would have violated U.S. sanctions against the banker.

Wolfson was detained in Austin on February 22 but was soon released on his own recognizance. He is charged with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which forms the foundation of the sanctions regime, and with conspiracy to violate it. Each charge could carry up to 20 years in prison.

Kostin is charged with sanctions violations, conspiracy to violate sanctions and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each count is also punishable by up to 20 years behind bars. He remains at large, likely in Russia.

The charges, announced in a U.S. Justice Department press release last month, shed light on the alleged holdings of Kostin, whose bank is sometimes called “Putin’s piggy bank,” and his alleged efforts to evade sanctions.

Kostin has called these accusations “baseless.”

“I have never violated any legislation, including American legislation, I have never circumvented any sanctions, and I urge all my partners not to look for or invent any ways to circumvent them, but to build a different world, independent of the pressure of the political elite and the U.S. military lobby,” he said in a comment published by Russia’s state Tass news agency.

In a message, Wolfson declined to comment on the lawsuit or answer questions from VOA. Regarding his political views, he said the following: “Since you read my FB, draw your own conclusions.”

Home in the Rocky Mountains

According to the indictment, Kostin purchased a luxury home in Aspen, Colorado, for $13.5 million in 2010. The formal owner of the house was the Colorado company 40 North Star LLC, and Kostin controlled it through a series of offshore companies, prosecutors say.

Two years later, he purchased three artworks for the house for $1 million. According to the indictment, they are the paintings “Combing the Ridges” by William Robinson Leigh and “Long in the Saddle” and “Arapaho Attack” by Wilhelm Heinrich Detlev Koerner. Both artists are famous for depicting the people and landscapes of the American West.

Prosecutors say that from 2010 to 2017, Kostin and his family spent around two weeks at the Aspen home every year, usually during the winter holidays.

Wolfson and his family also spent time there.

Using the parcel map for Pitkin County, where Aspen is located, Voice of America was able to identify the mansion.

It is located to the southeast of downtown Aspen. According to real estate website Zillow, the 1,027-square-meter (11,054-square-foot) home includes seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and features a swimming pool, sauna, whirlpool spa, home cinema and billiard room.

Today, the house rents for $600,000 per month, according to Zillow. It is currently owned by a company that appears to have no connection to Kostin or Wolfson.

Voice of America also found an image of the painting “Combing the Ridges” by Leigh.

The situation became complicated in 2014, after Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea. The United States and European countries began imposing sanctions on Russia and prominent Russian politicians and businesspeople.

Soon, the Aspen mansion’s ownership structure changed.

According to prosecutors, in 2014, Altamonte Holding Limited, a company recently registered in the British Virgin Islands, purchased 40 North Star LLC for $10 million.

A database of offshore leaks maintained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists indicates that the beneficial owner of a BVI company with a nearly identical name — Altamonte Holdings Limited — is Vadim Belyaev (aka Wolfson).

A company ultimately owned by Kostin, Capital Business Finance, provided financing for the purchase, the indictment states.

In April 2018, the United States imposed sanctions on Kostin. The following year, Wolfson bought 40 North Star for $12 million through two financial transactions with a subsidiary of Capital Business Finance controlled by Kostin. The deal violated the sanctions, prosecutors state in the indictment.

In 2018-20, it was Wolfson who primarily used the Aspen home. According to the parcel register, in 2020 the home was sold to another company for $12.5 million. The current owner appears not to be connected to Kostin or Wolfson.

WATCH: Video of a 3-D illustration of Andrei Kostin’s former mansion in Aspen, Colorado. (Google Earth)

Out at sea

The indictment does not end with real estate and art. Prosecutors also contend Kostin controlled two yachts through offshore companies: Sea Rhapsody and Sea & Us.

According to the document, Kostin mainly used the former yacht with his wife and family, while he primarily spent time on the latter with his mistress.

That latter yacht appeared in a 2019 investigation by the late Russian opposition activist Alexey Navalny, which dealt with the relationship between Kostin and Nailya Asker-zade, a presenter on the state TV channel Rossiya.

Prosecutors say Kostin bought the 66-meter (217-foot) Sea Rhapsody for $65 million between 2008 and 2012. It was built according to his order. It features six luxury cabins, an infinity pool, a whirlpool spa and a cinema.

Sea & Us is 62 meters (203 feet) long and was custom built for the banker in 2016-18. He paid at least $70 million for it.

According to prosecutors, in 2018-22, Kostin and unnamed accomplices carried out a scheme to provide financing, goods and services to operate, maintain and improve the yachts.

The indictment states they engaged in money laundering by transporting monetary instruments and funds in and out of the United States but does not provide further details of these activities.

According to maritime analytics site marinetraffic.com, Sea Rhapsody is now moored in Victoria, the capital of the Seychelles.

Sea & Us was renamed Serenity and Unity. According to the tracker, it is currently off the coast of Turkey.

Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of property and funds that they say Kostin, Wolfson and others obtained by committing the crimes listed in the indictment.

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-indictment-details-russian-oligarch-s-sanctions-busting-scheme-/7517213.html Save to Pocket

March 9 Ocean Water Quality Rain Advisory

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

Due to current rainfall, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health advises beach users to avoid all water contact

https://scvnews.com/march-9-ocean-water-quality-rain-advisory/ Save to Pocket

April 7: Square Dance with ‘Flower Power’ with The Sierra Hillbillies

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

The Sierra Hillbillies Square Dance club invites you to bring your “peace, love and flower power” to our Sunday, April 7 1960s Flower Power themed Square Dance

https://scvnews.com/april-7-square-dance-with-flower-power-with-the-sierra-hillbillies/ Save to Pocket

City releases EIR for mall’s planning area 

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Signal

The city of Santa Clarita Planning Division released its Environmental Impact Report for the Town Center Specific Plan on Tuesday, kicking off a 45-day comment period for its proposal on what should come of Valencia Town Center, known by many simply as “the mall.”  City officials began outreach last year on the property for a […]

The post City releases EIR for mall’s planning area  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/city-releases-eir-for-malls-planning-area/ Save to Pocket

Chinese chap charged with stealing Google’s AI datacenter secrets

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Moonlighted for PRC companies after side-stepping Big G’s security, allegedly

A now-former Google employee has been charged with stealing the ad giant’s AI trade secrets while quietly working for two Chinese companies – after easily defeating whatever security controls Big G had in place.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/doj_google_ai_theft_indictment/ Save to Pocket

The future that never was

date: 2024-03-07, from: OS News

Just before the end of 1989, Microsoft made available the first pre-release version of the long promised 32-bit OS/2 2.0, which was intended to be the first mass-market 32-bit PC operating system. This was accompanied by a press release detailing the $2,600 OS/2 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK). Unfortunately, the December 1989 pre-release of OS/2 2.0 may not have survived to the present day. But in June 1990, Microsoft shipped the second pre-release of the OS/2 2.0 SDK. And that version has now turned up, after twenty years of searching, and nearly a quarter century after its release! ↫ Michal Necasek at OS/2 Museum OS/2 is one of the biggest what-ifs in tech, and the whole origin story and demise of the platform is worthy of a big budget drama series. It also happens to be one of my favourite retrocomputing platforms of all time, so I may be biased.

https://www.osnews.com/story/138737/the-future-that-never-was/ Save to Pocket

A Super (Tuesday) Wake-Up Call

date: 2024-03-07, from: Dan Rather’s Steady

Time to pour on the work

https://steady.substack.com/p/a-super-tuesday-wake-up-call Save to Pocket

US House Passes $460 Billion Package of Spending Bills to Avert Deadline

date: 2024-03-07, from: VOA News USA

WASHINGTON — The House passed a $460 billion package of spending bills Wednesday that would keep money flowing to key federal agencies through the remainder of the budget year. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation before a midnight Friday shutdown deadline. 

Lawmakers are negotiating a second package of six bills, including defense, in an effort to have all federal agencies fully funded before a March 22 deadline. In the end, total discretionary spending set by Congress is expected to come in at about $1.66 trillion for the full year. 

A significant number of House Republicans have lined up in opposition to the spending packages, forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, to use an expedited process to bring the bill up for a vote. That process requires two-thirds of the House to vote for the measure for it to pass. 

The House passed the measure by a vote of 339-85. 

The nondefense spending in this year’s bills is relatively flat compared with the previous year. Supporters say that keeping that spending below the rate of inflation is tantamount to a cut, forcing agencies to be more frugal and focus manpower on top priorities. Johnson cited a 10% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency, a 7% cut to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and a 6% cut to the FBI. 

But many Republican lawmakers were seeking much steeper cuts and more policy victories. The House Freedom Caucus, which contains dozens of the GOP’s most conservative members, urged Republicans to vote against the first spending package and oppose the second one being negotiated. 

“Despite giving Democrats higher spending levels, the omnibus text released so far punts on nearly every single Republican policy priority,” the group said. 

Johnson countered that House Republicans have just a two-vote majority in the House while Democrats control the Senate and White House. 

“We have to be realistic about what we’re able to achieve,” Johnson said. 

Democrats staved off most of the riders that House Republicans sought to include in the package. For example, they beat back an effort to block new rules that expand access to the abortion pill mifepristone. 

Democrats also said the bill would fully fund a nutrition program for low-income women, infants and children, providing about $7 billion for what is known as the WIC program. That’s a $1 billion increase from the previous year. 

“The bill certainly doesn’t have everything that we may have wanted, but I am very proud to say we successfully defeated the vast majority of the extreme cuts and hundreds of harmful policy riders proposed by the House Republicans,” said lawmaker Rosa DeLauro, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. 

House Republicans were able to achieve some policy wins, however. One provision, for example, will prevent the sale of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China. Another policy mandate prohibits the Justice Department from investigating parents who exercise free speech at local school board meetings. 

Another provision strengthens gun rights for certain veterans. 

Under current law, the Department of Veterans Affairs must send a beneficiary’s name to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System whenever a fiduciary is appointed to help manage someone’s benefits because they lack the mental capacity to manage their own affairs. This year’s spending package prohibits the department from transmitting that information unless a relevant judicial authority rules that the beneficiary is a danger to himself or herself, or others. 

The bills to fund federal agencies are more than five months past due, with the budget year beginning October 1. House Republicans are describing an improved process nevertheless, saying they have broken the cycle of passing all the spending bills in one massive package that lawmakers have little time to study before being asked to vote on it or risk a government shutdown.

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-house-passes-460-billion-package-of-spending-bills-to-avert-deadline/7516776.html Save to Pocket

Google’s changes to comply with the DMA

date: 2024-03-07, from: OS News

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) comes into force this week for companies who have been designated. Today, we are sharing some more details about the changes we are making to comply, following product testing we announced earlier this year. ↫ Oliver Bethell on the official Google blog This is Google’s overview of the changes it’s implementing to comply with the DMA, some of which the company already announced months ago. Google’s changes don’t have as much of a direct, noticeable impact as some other company’s changes, mostly since a lot of the more impactful consequences of the DMA, such as allowing sideloading and alternative application stores, were already allowed on Android. Other changes, like to Search, will take longer to be noticed. The one thing that stands out is the tone – compared to Apple’s communication around the DMA. Whereas Apple sounds like a petulant whiny toddler, Google sounds constructive, to the point, and, well, like an adult. That doesn’t mean Google’s post isn’t also full of shit in places, but at least they’re being grown-ups about it.

https://www.osnews.com/story/138735/googles-changes-to-comply-with-the-dma/ Save to Pocket

General Rain Advisory for Countywide Beaches

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) – Due to rainfall occurring today, Santa Barbara County  Environmental Health Services wants to remind residents about

The post General Rain Advisory for Countywide Beaches appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/06/general-rain-advisory-for-countywide-beaches-3/ Save to Pocket

Aviso General de Lluvia para las Playas de Todo el Condado

date: 2024-03-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News

(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) – Debido a las lluvias que ocurren hoy, los Servicios de Salud  Ambiental del Condado de Santa

The post Aviso General de Lluvia para las Playas de Todo el Condado appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

https://www.independent.com/2024/03/06/aviso-general-de-lluvia-para-las-playas-de-todo-el-condado/ Save to Pocket

Lemmings: Can You Dig It?

date: 2024-03-07, from: Tilde.news

Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbAVNKdk9gA Save to Pocket

Castaic Middle School Recognized as 2024 School to Watch

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

 Castaic Middle School has once again been honored with the prestigious designation of a 2024 School to Watch

https://scvnews.com/castaic-middle-school-recognized-as-2024-school-to-watch/ Save to Pocket

CSUN ‘Fotografía Social’ to Celebrate Work of Photographer Maria Varela

date: 2024-03-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)

Community organizer, writer and photographer Maria Varela will talk about her work documenting the efforts of African Americans in the South and Chicanos in the Southwest

https://scvnews.com/csun-fotografia-social-to-celebrate-work-of-photographer-maria-varela/ Save to Pocket

County asks tax officials to help residents affected by landfill 

date: 2024-03-07, from: The Signal

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors signed off on a request from 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger for the county’s tax collector and assessor to see if there are ways to help residents who have been impacted by the monthslong stench at Chiquita Canyon Landfill.  Barger’s motion, which was announced on the supplemental agenda Monday, […]

The post County asks tax officials to help residents affected by landfill  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

https://signalscv.com/2024/03/county-asks-tax-officials-to-help-residents-affected-by-landfill/ Save to Pocket

Signal Introduces Usernames

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Daring Fireball

https://signal.org/blog/phone-number-privacy-usernames/ Save to Pocket

Nielsen needs to think again

date: 2024-03-07, updated: 2024-03-07, from: Tink’s blog

https://tink.uk/nielsen-needs-to-think-again/ Save to Pocket

La réduction stratégique des risques au-delà des puces

date: 2024-03-07, from: ETH Zurich, recently added

Pulver, Tobias Schepers, Névine

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/662527 Save to Pocket

Strategisches De-Risking jenseits von Chip

date: 2024-03-07, from: ETH Zurich, recently added

Pulver, Tobias Schepers, Névine

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/662826 Save to Pocket