News gathered 2024-03-18
(date: 2024-03-18 08:30:53)
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-18, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Read this on Threads. The thing that’s great about this moment is that people are just beginning to get the possibility of not being locked into silos. They don’t know how to parse my posts and screen shots, because I can do something they never thought they’d be permitted to do. Well we’ve got some visionary and lovable techies at Masto and Blueski who want you and I to be able to do that. And we’ve been building on that. And will continue to do so, Murphy-willing.
http://scripting.com/2024/03/18.html#a152042
Donald Trump is unable to make $464 million bond in civil fraud case, his lawyers tell court
date: 2024-03-18, from: San Jose Mercury News
By Kara Scannell | CNN Former President Donald Trump can’t find an insurance company to underwrite his bond to cover the massive judgment against him in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case, his lawyers told a New York appeals court. Trump’s attorneys said he has approached 30 underwriters to back the bond, which […]
UK tech titan Mike Lynch’s US fraud trial begins tody
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
13-year saga continues as jury set to hear claims on both sides of HP’s Autonomy acquisition disaster
British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch’s criminal trial kick off today in San Francisco in a case alleging accounting fraud charges that carry a maximum 20-year sentence.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/autonomy_lynch_us_trial/
The 15 Greatest Documentaries
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/03/the-15-greatest-documentaries
San Jose: DUI arrest after driver fatally hits man on I-280 offramp
date: 2024-03-18, from: San Jose Mercury News
The fatal collision was reported late Friday near Vine Street, according to the CHP.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/18/san-jose-dui-arrest-after-driver-hits-man-on-i-280-offramp/
Jill On Money: Is the labor market turning and are we measuring inflation correctly?
date: 2024-03-18, from: San Jose Mercury News
Credit card debt may be behind the sour outlook of many consumers
Finally, Suzuki Motor USA Brings Its ATV Business Wholly Into the Fold
date: 2024-03-18, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
SMAC, Suzuki’s ATV manufacturing facility, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Suzuki Motor USA.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/711855/suzuki-consolidates-atv-manufacturing-and-sales/
Tesla Roadster won’t really be a car, says Elon Musk
date: 2024-03-18, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made new comments about the upcoming next-gen roadster and went as far as saying that it’s “not even really a car.”
https://electrek.co/2024/03/18/tesla-roadster-wont-be-a-car-says-elon-musk/
QNAP TS-216G is a 2-bay NAS with 2.5 GbE LAN and an NPU for image recognition
date: 2024-03-18, from: Liliputing
Network Attached Storage company QNAP has unveiled a system that it’s positioning as its cheapest dual-bay NAS with a 2.5 GbE port for high-speed data transfer over a local network. The new QNAP TS-216G is also likely to be the company’s cheapest dual-bay model with an integrated NPU (Neural Processing Unit) for hardware-accelerated AI features […]
The post QNAP TS-216G is a 2-bay NAS with 2.5 GbE LAN and an NPU for image recognition appeared first on Liliputing.
How Sahan Journal grew into a vital source of news and information for Minnesota’s immigrant communities
date: 2024-03-18, from: Nieman Journalism Lab
Changes are coming to Sahan Journal — a mark of the award-winning digital newsroom’s success and its lasting impact on the media ecosystem in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Mukhtar Ibrahim, the pioneering founder, is stepping down as founding publisher and CEO. After building a robust, award-winning nonprofit news site covering immigrant communities, Ibrahim announced in…
Oracle Park will have a new voice this season: SF Giants, Renel Brooks-Moon part ways
date: 2024-03-18, from: San Jose Mercury News
After 24 seasons, the Giants and their longtime public address announcer “mutually and amicably” separated.
Five Fascinating Science Projects Using the Total Solar Eclipse to Illuminate New Discoveries
date: 2024-03-18, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The NASA-supported experiments are mobilizing legions of researchers and volunteers to capture wide-ranging observations during totality, from amateur radio operations to elusive solar plumes to unusual animal behavior
Charlie Jane Anders on why she stopped loving Captain Kirk. “Kirk is…
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/03/0044204-charlie-jane-anders-on-wh
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-18, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Blogroll fix. The blogroll was grabbing the up and down-arrow and Return for keyboard navigation, one of my favorite blogroll features. Put the cursor where you want, and arrow through the list. Press Return to expand, and again to collapse. Then down-arrow and repeat. But sometimes you want to use these keys for other functions. So I changed it so you have to click the blogroll to set the focus. Its border turns blueish, and the keys work as described. Press the Tab key or click outside the blogroll to take the focus off the blogroll.
http://scripting.com/2024/03/18.html#a143125
US CHIPS Act set to electrify semiconductor scene with billions
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
National Strategy focuses on four goals for silicon heaven
The US government has dropped details on its National Strategy on Microelectronics Research, outlining top goals and actions for the next five years to boost the semiconductor industry with CHIPS Act investment.…
Former Tesla worker settles discrimination case, ending appeals over lowered $3.2 million verdict
date: 2024-03-18, from: San Jose Mercury News
Tesla and a Black man who worked at the company’s Fremont factory have settled a long-running discrimination case that drew attention to the electric vehicle maker’s treatment of minorities.
A California superbloom is springing to life and the best is yet to come
date: 2024-03-18, from: San Jose Mercury News
California will soon be decorated with a rainbow of wildflowers after drenching winter rain set the stage for a spectacular spring superbloom.
Fisker (FSR) stock falls after failing to make an interest payment, pauses EV production
date: 2024-03-18, from: Electrek Feed
EV startup Fisker (FSR) is pausing EV production for six weeks as its financial struggles worsen. Fisker looks to get its finances in order after failing to make an interest payment. The EV maker did get a commitment for up to $150 million in financing, but will it be enough?
https://electrek.co/2024/03/18/fisker-fsr-pauses-ev-production-missing-interest-payment/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-18, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
I’m
working with developers again, thank goodness. I once thought I could
make server products or toolkits for people I called “poets” – motivated
writers. I have given up on that, at least for the time-being. I think a
properly motivated intelligent writer could get developer-like results,
I’ve seen it happen (Brent Simmons, Dan MacTough). They make really good
developers because they understand the user perspective so well, it
still lives inside them. The problem seems to be motivation, and a poet
knowing that they need to be super-motivated and have the time, to get
anything technical to work. If they knew what was required, my
2024 theory goes, and had studied for it, the way they studied for their
degree, they could not only be successful, but they could contribute to
the developer process. Analogously, we all have to learn a little
cooking just to get through life, but only a few people are chefs.
Julia Child, a
hero of mine, believed she could teach anyone to be a good-enough cook.
But I bet she was frustrated by human reality. 😄
http://scripting.com/2024/03/18.html#a141955
Who’s winning the dollar store wars?
date: 2024-03-18, from: Marketplace Morning Report
As shoppers remain price-conscious, why is one U.S. dollar store chain thriving while another one flounders? Plus, SpaceX builds spy satellites for the Pentagon, and environmental protests impact operations at Tesla’s EV factory in Germany.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/whos-winning-the-dollar-store-wars
Rivian R1X Name Trademarked, Hinting At Possible High-Performance EV
date: 2024-03-18, from: Inside EVs News
Is Rivian working on a new flagship EV based on the R1 platform?
https://insideevs.com/news/712812/rivian-r1x-trademark/
Sorry, Siri: Apple may be eyeing Google Gemini for future iPhones
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Famous for keeping everything in-house, Apple may be carving AI-shaped door in its garden wall
Apple is reportedly working on a deal with Google to bring the Chocolate Factory’s Gemini AI to iDevices, suggesting its own efforts to develop a suitable generative AI model have stalled.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/apple_google_gemini_iphone_reports/
NASA Wallops Offers Career Inspiration to Delmarva Students
date: 2024-03-18, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, partners, and area employers joined forces on a mission to inspire more than 4,500 eighth-grade students seeking answers to all questions “career” at the 2024 Junior Achievement (JA) Inspire event. The annual career-exploration event was held March 12-13 at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center in Salisbury, Maryland, featuring more than […]
Back to the Moon - Part 1
date: 2024-03-18, from: VOA News USA
After the Apollo program ended, the US took a long hiatus from lunar exploration. What happened during this time, and what has NASA been doing? This documentary by the Voice of America’s Russian service explores the multiple attempts to return to the Moon, the space developments that laid the foundation for future concepts, and the birth of the Artemis lunar program.
https://www.voanews.com/a/back-to-the-moon-part-1/7532120.html
VinFast to invest hundreds of millions to implement own global line of branded EV chargers
date: 2024-03-18, from: Electrek Feed
VinFast’s founder has announced a new arm called V-Green to build EV chargers, focused on bolstering global access while prioritizing sessions for VinFast drivers, accelerating the Vietnamese automaker’s expansion into new markets.
Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of Shock Therapy
date: 2024-03-18, from: Quanta Magazine
Electroconvulsive therapy is highly effective in treating major depressive disorder, but no one knows why it works. New research suggests it may restore balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain.The post Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of Shock Therapy first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/brains-background-noise-may-explain-value-of-shock-therapy-20240318/
How to stop ants from repeatedly swarming a cat food bowl in an Inverness home
date: 2024-03-18, from: San Jose Mercury News
Here’s why putting your pet food bowl in a tray of water doesn’t work – and what to try instead.
Blinken Warns Democracy Summit of Dangers of Disinformation
date: 2024-03-18, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/blinken-warns-democracy-summit-of-dangers-of-disinformation/7532171.html
For Car Companies, It’s ‘Damned If You, Damned If You Don’t’ With Investors
date: 2024-03-18, from: Inside EVs News
Plus, car dealers, who never wanted to sell EVs anyway, are extra down on them lately, and Tesla settles a racial discrimination lawsuit.
https://insideevs.com/news/712804/volkswagen-investors-tesla-dealers/
getting started with libcurl
date: 2024-03-18, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog
I am doing another webinar on March 28 2024, introducing newcomers to how to Internet transfers using the libcurl API. Starting at 10am Pacific time. 17:00 UTC. 18:00 CET. Agenda The plan is to spend about 30 minutes going through the topics in the agenda and then take as long as necessary to let the … Continue reading getting started with libcurl
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/03/18/getting-started-with-libcurl/
July trial set for East Bay woman accused of 2021 killing in Fairfield
date: 2024-03-18, from: San Jose Mercury News
Kamaria I. D. Strange, a previously convicted felon, had earlier pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and second-degree robbery for the killing of Michael Vincent Lopretta, 19, of Benicia.
TasteFood: Make minestrone for winter, spring and in between
date: 2024-03-18, from: San Jose Mercury News
This Italian Minestrone is a soup for all seasons.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/18/tastefood-make-minestrone-for-winter-spring-and-in-between/
Travel Troubleshooter: What’s a Delta SkyMile worth in the case of a refund?
date: 2024-03-18, from: San Jose Mercury News
After American Queen Voyages changes Terrance Hardy’s arrival port, the cruise line agrees to cover his additional flight expenses. But more than a year later, there’s still no refund. What’s going on?
Here’s What a Polaris RZR Mounted to Two Jetskis Looks Like Riding the Waves
date: 2024-03-18, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Death? Nah. Fun? Yes.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/712811/heavy-d-sparks-polaris-rzr-jetskis-video/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-18, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Now that I have ChatGPT around, my Lorem Ipsum text for testing can be slightly more interesting.
http://scripting.com/2024/03/18.html#a132657
Here Come the EPA’s New Tailpipe Rules
date: 2024-03-18, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Freeze warnings are in place across many states in the south east • Troplical Cyclone Megan made landfall in Australia • A neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro reportedly recorded a temperature of 144 degrees Fahrenheit as Brazil swelters in an extreme heat wave.
THE TOP FIVE
- EPA’s new tailpipe emissions rules expected this week
The Environmental Protection Agency this week is expected to officially announce new tailpipe emissions rules that will dramatically reshape the transportation sector over the coming years. If carmakers are to meet the EPA’s new rules, electric vehicles would need to make up a much larger share of car and light truck sales by 2030 than they do now. Last year EVs accounted for about one-tenth of sales. The end goal is to see that rise to two-thirds by 2032, but the nearer-term targets have shifted in response to anger and pressure from carmakers and the United Auto Workers union who argued EVs remain too costly and that the transition should be more gradual. Transportation is America’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and the Biden administration sees reducing this pollution as instrumental to the U.S. fulfilling its Paris Agreement commitment of cutting emissions in half by 2030.
Get Heatmap AM directly in your inbox every morning:
- ‘Super Bowl of energy’ conference kicks off in Houston
One of the world’s biggest oil and gas conferences is happening in Houston this week. More than 7,000 people will attend CERAWeek – which has earned the nickname the “Super Bowl of energy” – where industry executives will hear from major producers about market outlooks. The main focus is expected to be energy security, Reuters reported, but “climate concerns are reflected in the conference sessions on carbon sequestration technology and hydrogen fuels, which have become two of the oil industry’s favorite means of addressing global warming.” Natural gas – and President Biden’s pause on new LNG export projects – will be high on the agenda. The Houston Chronicle reported that geothermal is also a “hot topic.” And several sessions will focus on the role of nuclear power going forward. Last Energy, a company that builds micro-scale nuclear power plants, apparently plans to hang one of its “nuclear islands” from a crane outside the venue.
- South Sudan closes all schools, braces for extreme heat wave
South Sudan has shuttered all schools “indefinitely” and told parents to keep kids indoors ahead of a two-week heat wave expected to bring temperatures as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit. The east African country is no stranger to heat, but temperatures have rarely exceeded 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to The Associated Press. “This extreme weather condition poses serious health hazards to children, particularly young learners and adults with underlying health conditions,” said the Ministry of Health. “During the closure of the schools, parents are advised to stop their children from playing outdoors.” South Sudan is one of the five most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, according to the UN Environment Programme, and has over the years seen temperatures rise and floods become more common.
- Ocean temperatures break records for full year
Global sea surface temperatures have been at record highs for at least 365 days now, the Financial Times reported. On Wednesday of last week ocean temperatures set a new all-time high at 21.2 degrees celsius, or 70.16 degrees Fahrenheit. “This exceptional heat has bleak implications,” the FT said. Some ecosystems, including coral reefs, are already showing signs of devastation. And scientists are increasingly worried about a strong upcoming Atlantic hurricane season. On a macro level, there’s “a lot of concern” that a key ocean current conveyor belt known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could slow due to an influx of fresh meltwater, “with unknown consequences for habitable conditions on Earth.”
- China begins construction on major clean energy transmission line
China has reportedly broken ground on an ultra-high-voltage transmission line that will span 664 miles and help the country integrate growing amounts of clean energy. China is the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas emitter, but the country is rapidly expanding its renewable capacity: Last year it installed more new solar panels than the total built by any other country, and its wind installation climbed, as well. Solar installations are expected to rise another 7% this year. But the grid has struggled to keep up. The new $3.9 billion transmission project will serve three provinces, be fed by solar and wind power, and store energy in mountain reservoirs, Bloomberg reported.
THE KICKER
“Kitten season” – the warmer months when cats are most fertile and begin to reproduce – is starting earlier and lasting longer as the climate warms, putting added pressure on animal rescue shelters.
https://heatmap.news/electric-vehicles/epa-tailpipe-rule-ceraweek
Cyberattack gifts esports pros with cheats, forcing Apex Legends to postpone tournament
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Virtual gunslingers forcibly became cheaters via mystery means
Updated Esports pros competing in the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Pro League tournament were forced to abandon their match today due to a suspected cyberattack.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/cyberattack_gifts_esports_pros_with/
Ampler launches sleek new lightweight on and off-road commuter electric bikes
date: 2024-03-18, from: Electrek Feed
Ampler Bikes, an Estonian e-bike company that prides itself on high-quality, local European manufacturing, has announced new e-bike models that expand the brand’s focus past the bike lanes and onto the trails.
Here’s Your Chance To Own The First GMC Hummer EV Pickup EarthCruiser Camper
date: 2024-03-18, from: Inside EVs News
The all-electric pop-up camper was developed in cooperation with GM as the ultimate off-grid, zero-emissions adventure vehicle.
https://insideevs.com/news/712799/gmc-hummer-ev-pickup-earthcruiser-camper-auction/
Watch Pol Tarrés Break Another Guinness World Record on His Yamaha
date: 2024-03-18, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Tarrés put himself into the Guinness Book of World Records for a second day in a row by riding his Tenere 700 to 21,909 feet.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/712171/pol-tarres-breaks-record-tenere-700/
Microsoft reseller Bytes says more than 100 undisclosed share trades linked to ex-CEO
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Surprise resignation of chief exec happened after FCA probe began, claims filing
One of Micrsoft’s largest cloud and tech licensing resellers, Bytes Technology Group (BTG), today gave the London Stock Exchange an update on the investigation surrounding the abrupt resignation of its CEO and an ongoing probe by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/bytes_lse_filing/
NASA Selects Winners of the Wildfire Climate Tech Challenge
date: 2024-03-18, from: NASA breaking news
NASA selected its Wildfire Climate Tech Challenge winners, awarding three teams $100,000 for their diverse, innovative approaches to address the escalating effects of wildfires and climate change. The challenge combined the expertise of Minority Serving Institutions – including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and others – with NASA resources […]
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-18, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
No One Likes the January 6th Rioters.
https://politicalwire.com/2024/03/18/no-one-likes-the-january-6th-rioters/
What Makes Pasadena’s ‘Bungalow Courts’ So Special? A Fan Of Historic Places Explains
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The LAist
The How to LA team visits Gartz Court with Etan Rosenbloom, an Angeleno who documents historic places on social media.
https://laist.com/news/la-history/pasadena-bungalow-courts-historic-places
Book Banning Attempts Are at Record Highs
date: 2024-03-18, from: Smithsonian Magazine
A new report from the American Library Association found that the number of challenged titles increased by 65 percent in 2023
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/book-banning-attempts-are-at-record-highs-180983964/
A video game where the only violence is in the economics
date: 2024-03-18, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Made in Detroit, the interactive video game Dot’s Home takes users through a generations-long cycle of housing discrimination. Plus, Apple is in talks with Google for a potential AI integration.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-18, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Justice Breyer, Off the Bench, Sounds an Alarm Over the Supreme Court’s Direction.
TrueNAS CORE 13 is the end of the FreeBSD version
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Debian-based TrueNAS SCALE is the future primary focus
Bad news from BSD land – the oldest vendor of BSD systems is changing direction away from FreeBSD and toward Linux.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/truenas_abandons_freebsd/
Meet the Raspberry Pi Store’s Tim Stenning | #MagPiMonday
date: 2024-03-18, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
The Raspberry Pi Store is filled with people knowledgeable and passionate about what they do – including Tim, one of the original store employees.
The post Meet the Raspberry Pi Store’s Tim Stenning | #MagPiMonday appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/meet-the-raspberry-pi-stores-tim-stenning-magpimonday/
Drones and the US Air Force
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-14, from: Bruce Schneier blog
Fascinating analysis of the use of drones on a modern battlefield—that is, Ukraine—and the inability of the US Air Force to react to this change.
The F-35A certainly remains an important platform for high-intensity conventional warfare. But the Air Force is planning to buy 1,763 of the aircraft, which will remain in service through the year 2070. These jets, which are wholly unsuited for countering proliferated low-cost enemy drones in the air littoral, present enormous opportunity costs for the service as a whole. In a set of comments posted on LinkedIn…
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/03/drones-and-the-us-air-force.html
Russell Lee’s Coal Survey Exhibit
date: 2024-03-18, from: National Archives, Pieces of History blog
On Saturday a new exhibit opened in the National Archives Building, Power & Light: Russell Lee’s Coal Survey. It will run in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery until July 6, 2025. This exhibit features more than 200 of Russell Lee’s photographs of coal miners and their families. Russell Lee (1903–86) was a photographer who spent … Continue reading Russell Lee’s Coal Survey Exhibit
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2024/03/18/russell-lees-coal-survey-exhibit/
Why you might be charging your EV wrong – and what to do instead
date: 2024-03-18, from: Electrek Feed
Many EV drivers carry over habits from driving gasoline cars when they charge EVs, but that leads to wasted time, inconvenience, and range anxiety, according to a new study.
https://electrek.co/2024/03/18/why-you-might-be-charging-your-ev-wrong-and-what-to-do-instead/
Putin retains Kremlin power
date: 2024-03-18, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: As Western nations condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin’s election win, what does a fifth term of his leadership mean for the country’s economy? Also: Tesla Germany faces eco-protests.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/putin-retains-kremlin-power
Microsoft promises Copilot will be a ‘moneymaker’ in the long term
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Exec tells investors to ‘temper’ expectations as mission to convince customers of price tag continues
Microsoft is asking investors to “temper” expectations for quick financial returns from Copilot amid efforts to convince customers that paying “substantial” sums each month is actually worth it.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/microsoft_copilot_moneymaker/
Which AI should I use? Superpowers and the State of Play
date: 2024-03-18, from: One Useful Thing
And then there were three…
https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/which-ai-should-i-use-superpowers
Giving your app a temporary public URL with VS Code port forwarding
date: 2024-03-18, from: Chris Heilmann
VS Code now has port forwarding. If you want to share what you are working on with the world, open folder in terminal, run your server and forward the port. Set it to public and Bob’s your uncle! This is great for some testing and showing people what you do, but of course should not […]
The last mile’s at risk in our hostile environment. Let’s go the extra mile to fix it
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The web doesn’t work ’cos the vandals used a candle
Opinion Most of us, from time to time, have grievances with our network operators. We complain, we leave bad reviews, we rage-post. But some aren’t content with just whinging verbally. They take it up a notch and cut cables, lift street access covers and pour in petrol, they burn down masts.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/opinion_networks/
Season 6 of the Hello World podcast is here
date: 2024-03-18, from: Raspberry Pi (.org)
Through the Hello World podcast, we help to connect computing educators around the world and share their experiences. In each episode, we expand on a topic from a recent Hello World magazine issue. After 5 seasons, and a break last year, we are back with season 6 today. Episode 1: Do kids still need to…
The post Season 6 of the Hello World podcast is here appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/hello-world-podcast-season-6-computing-education/
Dev Digest 107 – and the OSScar goes to…
date: 2024-03-18, from: Chris Heilmann
Last Friday, I released the 107th edition of WeAreDevelopers DevDigest. It celebrated the 35th birthday of the World Wide Web, we had a video of me interviewing the founders of Daytona about going open source, we covered the news around Devin, the first AI software engineer and went to space in a Yugo. All strapped […]
https://christianheilmann.com/2024/03/18/dev-digest-107-and-the-osscar-goes-to/
Why D.C. Is Hot for Geothermal
date: 2024-03-18, from: Heatmap News
The political coalition that has been assembled in support of advanced geothermal is bipartisan, but uni-regional: If you drew a broad strip from Las Vegas to Albuquerque and then dragged it north to the Canadian border, you would envelop Utah and Idaho (not to mention Arizona and big chunks of Wyoming and Montana). This stretch of John McPhee country includes some of biggest swaths of federal land — and some of the hottest rocks beneath it — in the country.
And so Senators Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mike Lee of Utah, and James Risch of Idaho have found themselves crossing party lines, working together on a bill to encourage more production of geothermal energy, which the unique contours of this area make (potentially) especially abundant.
The Geothermal Energy Optimization Act, introduced last week, is a kind of test case for how a bipartisan energy policy could work. It combines deregulation with support for a non-carbon energy resource that leans heavily on expertise in the oil and gas industry while also not committing to any new spending.
But the bill isn’t just a victory for bipartisanship, it’s also a victory of geology. Thanks to tens of millions of years of plates sliding beneath each other and mountains collapsing, “you have a relatively thin crust before you get to that heat,” as Ben Serrurier, head of government affairs at Fervo, the enhanced geothermal startup, told me. (Fervo has operations in both Nevada and Utah.)
The bill would establish a “categorical exclusion” from environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act for some geothermal activity, including exploration, i.e. the drilling of wells to see whether a particular site is suitable for a geothermal project.
The law would both expand a provision of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which established a categorical exclusion for some oil and gas projects, and write up a new one especially for geothermal. The bill would also require the Bureau of Land Management to have regular geothermal lease sales.
The 2005 bill was written at a time when an oil-industry-friendly White House wanted to make the country more energy self-sufficient, and deregulation oil and gas activities was an obvious way to do so. The GEO Act comes during another period of intense interest in energy policy, but not one in which the paramount goal is smoothing away obstacles to hydrocarbon extraction. Today, the United States is the biggest oil and gas producer in the world (thanks to hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, technology that’s used in “enhanced” geothermal energy projects) and both the White House and the Democratic Party are friendly to non-carbon energy.
But while existing tax credits have been successful in boosting wind and
solar deployment, there is still need for so-called
“clean
firm” technologies, energy resources that can provide power at all
hours of the day, no matter the weather.
By speeding up and adding some certainty to the permitting process, the bill’s provisions would “enable us to raise capital and move forward with more projects on a faster timeline,” explained Serrurier. “We already face challenges trying to raise project finance,” he said. “Then we show them the permitting timeline.”
The bill would also create a “strike team” within the BLM that could advise field offices and staff on how to process and deal with geothermal permits. “The agency needs to implement it — and care about implementing — for it to work out well,” Aidan Mackenzie, a fellow at the Institute for Progress, told me.
The bill is a small-bore example of the biggest yawning gap in post-Inflation Reduction Act energy policy: permitting reform. While it’s often discussed in the context of building new transmission lines necessary to connect IRA-subsidized clean energy projects to energy consumers, permitting reform would also be a boon to emerging energy resources like geothermal.
In an emailed statement, Senator Heinrich touted New Mexico’s geothermal progress. “Accelerating the adoption of geothermal energy nationwide is key to unlock a clean energy independent future, lower costs for working Americans, and create more high-quality jobs that New Mexicans can build their families around,” he said.
In theory, at least, the GEO Act seems like something that could actually pass in this Congress. After all, Republicans tend to support removing regulatory fetters from energy projects, especially energy projects involving drilling, and Republicans in the Mountain West really, really like telling the BLM not to raise too many hackles when it comes to drilling.
“Geothermal has been kinda bipartisan for a while,” Mackenzie said. “Bipartisan in the sense that everyone kinda supports it and no one is willing to take it along.” But that may be starting to change. “Recent news has made it feel a bit more real to folks,” he said. “Like, it’s a real industry that could be in our state.”
https://heatmap.news/politics/geothermal-energy-bill-new-mexico
Rivian R1S And R1T Owners Can Now Charge At Tesla Superchargers
date: 2024-03-18, from: Inside EVs News
Plug & charge works, too, and owners don’t even need the Tesla smartphone app.
https://insideevs.com/news/712748/rivian-r1s-r1t-tesla-supercharger-access-open/
Russian Opposition Activists in Seattle Remember Navalny as Putin Claims Victory
date: 2024-03-18, from: VOA News USA
In Seattle, there were no polling stations for Russian citizens to join the worldwide movement known as “Noon Against Putin,” a symbolic protest of the re-election of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Instead, they commemorated opposition leader Alexey Navalny and wrote letters to the growing list of political prisoners in Russia. Natasha Mozgovaya has the story.
Yes, I did just crash that critical app. And you should thank me for having done so
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Quick thinking turned poor judgement into genius proactivity
Who, Me? Welcome once again, dear reader, to the well-trodden path that is Who, Me? – The Register’s weekly column dedicated to the tales and travails of readers who strayed, but found their way back.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/who_me/
The biggest contrast in the upcoming election (other than democracy vs. “blood in the streets” fascism)
date: 2024-03-18, from: Robert Reich on Substack
Please spread the word
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-biggest-contrast-in-the-upcoming
Infosec teams must be allowed to fail, argues Gartner
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
But failing to recover from incidents is unforgivable because ‘adrenalin does not scale’
Zero tolerance of failure by information security professionals is unrealistic, and makes it harder for cyber security folk to do the essential part of their job: recovering fast from inevitable attacks, according to Gartner analysts Chris Mixter and Dennis Xiu.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/gartner_infosec_failure_advice/
Today in SCV History (March 18)
date: 2024-03-18, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1919 – Fire destroys abandoned second Southern Hotel, built 1878 in Newhall (corner Main and Market). [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-march-18/
Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 with Eye-of-Sauron camera
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Wherever you go, whatever you do, your phone is watching
Qualcomm has unveiled the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, pitched as a more affordable version of its flagship smartphone platform that keeps key features such as the support for on-device generative AI processing, and an always-sensing camera.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/qualcomm_unveils_snapdragon_8s/
Qualcomm launches Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 for (slightly) cheaper flagship phones
date: 2024-03-18, from: Liliputing
Qualcomm is adding a new segment to its Snapdragon 8 line of processors for flagship-class smartphones and tablets. The new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a slightly stripped-down version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip that the company launched in October. It shares many of the same core technologies, but scales back a few features […]
The post Qualcomm launches Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 for (slightly) cheaper flagship phones appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/qualcomm-launches-snapdragon-8s-gen-3-for-slightly-cheaper-flagship-phones/
Filipino police free hundreds of slaves toiling in romance scam operation
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
875 workers liberated after falling for promises of lucrative work, nine arrested
Filipino police rescued 875 “workers” – including 504 foreigners – in a raid late last week on a firm that posed as an online gaming company but in reality operated a forced labor camp that housed romance scam operators.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/phillipines_cyberslavery_gang_busted/
Matadors suffer heartbreak as Tritons come into town
date: 2024-03-18, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
After suffering defeat in San Diego on Thursday night, CSUN (9-10, 0-2 Big West) yet again lost to UC San Diego (11-10, 3-2 Big West) in a reverse sweep, which…
https://sundial.csun.edu/179656/sports/matadors-suffer-heartbreak-as-tritons-come-into-town/
UC Santa Barbara Baseball Sweeps Long Beach State to Open Big West Conference Play
date: 2024-03-18, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Gauchos will travel to Cal poly for the opener of a three-game series on Friday.
The post UC Santa Barbara Baseball Sweeps Long Beach State to Open Big West Conference Play appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
UC Irvine prevails over CSUN in women’s water polo clash
date: 2024-03-18, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
A Big West match between UC Irvine and CSUN on Friday afternoon unfolded. The Anteaters showcased their dominance both offensively and defensively and their command in the pool was palpable,…
https://sundial.csun.edu/179650/sports/uc-irvine-prevails-over-csun-in-womens-water-polo-clash/
People’s CDC COVID-19 Weather Report
date: 2024-03-18, from: Peoples CDC blog
This is the @PeoplesCDC weekly update for March 18, 2024! This Weather Report from the People’s CDC sheds light on the ongoing COVID situation in the US.
https://peoplescdc.org/2024/03/18/peoples-cdc-covid-19-weather-report-71/
Elevating Manufacturing Flexibility: Rapid Prototyping to Large-Scale Production
date: 2024-03-18, from: Elevated Materials, upcycled carbon fiber
In the manufacturing space, agility and adaptability are paramount. Companies need to be able to pivot from rapid prototyping to large-scale production seamlessly, meeting the demands of a dynamic market. Elevated Materials excels in this arena, offering unmatched manufacturing flexibility that sets it apart from the competition. Rapid Prototyping Excellence At Elevated Materials, we understand…
The post Elevating Manufacturing Flexibility: Rapid Prototyping to Large-Scale Production appeared first on Elevated Materials.
Uber Australia to pay $178 million to settle cabbies’ class action
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Nice payday for some, but plenty of Australians still pay extra to help drivers
Uber’s Australian wheel has agreed to pay AU$272 million ($178 million) to settle a class action brought by cab drivers who claimed their incomes were impacted by the rideshare giant’s scofflaw debut down under.…
March 17, 2024
date: 2024-03-18, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
On Friday, journalist Casey Michel, who specializes in the study of kleptocracy, pointed out that reporters had missed an important meeting last week. Michel noted that while reporters covered Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to former president Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, they paid far less attention to the visit Orbán paid to the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Heritage Foundation on Friday, March 8. There, Orbán spoke privately to an audience that included the president of the organization, Kevin Roberts, and, according to a state media printout, “renowned U.S. right-wing politicians, analysts and public personalities.”
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-17-2024
Daily EV Recap: March 17, 2024
date: 2024-03-18, from: Electrek Feed
Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from Electrek. Quick Charge is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn and…
https://electrek.co/2024/03/17/daily-ev-recap-march-17-2024/
ChatGPT side-channel attack has easy fix: token obfuscation
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
ALSO: Roblox-themed infostealer on the prowl, telco insider pleads guilty to swapping SIMs, and some crit vulns
in brief Almost as quickly as a paper came out last week revealing an AI side-channel vulnerability, Cloudflare researchers have figured out how to solve it: just obscure your token size.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/chatgpt_sidechannel_attack_has_easy/
VK One
date: 2024-03-18, from: Om Malik blog
A few days ago, Vinod Khosla got into a war of words with Marc Andreessen. Or was it Elon? It was an argument over OpenAI and “open” AI. It might have felt like a bunch of capitalist leviathans butting their big heads, but for me, this was classic Vinod. Always speaking his mind, and batting …
https://om.co/2024/03/17/vk-one/
First Charter Flight With US Citizens Fleeing Haiti Lands in Miami
date: 2024-03-18, from: VOA News USA
MIAMI — A charter flight carrying dozens of U.S. citizens fleeing spiraling gang violence in Haiti landed Sunday in Miami, U.S. State Department officials said.
More than 30 U.S. citizens were on the government-chartered flight, officials said in a statement. It arrived in the Miami International Airport after the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince earlier this month urged U.S. citizens to leave “as soon as possible” as chaos grips Haiti.
Haiti’s main airport in Port-au-Prince remains closed following gang attacks that have raged through Haiti for weeks, pushing many people to the brink of famine. Government and aid agencies this weekend reported looting of aid supplies as the situation worsened.
The State Department announced Saturday that it would offer limited charter flights for American citizens from the less chaotic northern city of Cap-Haïtien.
Officials said they could not provide ground transportation to Cap-Haïtien and that U.S. citizens should consider the charter flights “only if you think you can reach Cap-Haïtien airport safely.”
“We encourage U.S. citizens still in Haiti who seek to depart to contact the Department of State using the crisis intake form on our website if they have not already done so,” the agency said.
People taking the U.S. government-coordinated flights must sign a promissory bill agreeing to reimburse the government.
The State Department said government officials in Miami were helping the newly arrived evacuees to determine their next steps.
The U.S. military last week flew in additional forces to bolster security at the U.S. Embassy, which is in a neighborhood largely controlled by gangs.
Monday 18 March, 2024
date: 2024-03-18, from: John Naughton’s online diary
Cue Wordsworth… Quote of the Day ”If economists wished to study the horse, they wouldn’t go and look at horses. They’d sit in their studies and say to themselves, ‘What would I do if I were a horse?’” Ely Devons … Continue reading
https://memex.naughtons.org/monday-18-march-2024/39250/
India quickly unwinds requirement for government approval of AIs
date: 2024-03-18, updated: 2024-03-18, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
ALSO: US woos Thailand, Philippines, for tech trade; China’s Fukushima rage glows; Alibaba targets South Korea
India’s government has stepped back from its plan to require government approval for AI services before they come online.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/apac_tech_news_roundup/
SCV celebrates St. Patrick’s Day
date: 2024-03-18, from: The Signal
Santa Clarita Valley residents donned their greenest clothes and celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in venues across the city, including Pocock Brewing Company & Pizzeria, which held its St. Patrick’s Weekend Festival throughout the holiday weekend. “We always do it on St. Patrick’s Day weekend,” said owner Todd Tisdell. “We’ve been doing it since the day […]
The post SCV celebrates St. Patrick’s Day appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/scv-celebrates-st-patricks-day/
SCV Food Pantry hosting bowling event
date: 2024-03-18, from: The Signal
The Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry will host its first-ever bowling event on May 18 at the Santa Clarita Lanes in Saugus from noon to 2 p.m. to further support the organization’s services: alleviating hunger for local Santa Clarita residents. The SCV Food Pantry, the oldest local food bank serving approximately 6,000 local families a […]
The post SCV Food Pantry hosting bowling event appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/scv-food-pantry-hosting-bowling-event/
How to Escape From the Iron Age?
date: 2024-03-18, from: Low-tech magazine
Trapped in the Iron Age
In 1836, Danish antiquarian and curator Christian Jürgensen Thomsen distinguished three prehistorical eras based on the dominant materials used for weapons and cutting implements: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age.1 Thomsen’s classification refers to the past, but according to his criteria, we have never evolved beyond the Iron Age. Even in the 21st century, iron remains the dominant material, not just for weapons and cutting implements but for about every modern technology.
We now use most iron in the form of steel. However, according to Thomsen’s criteria, we cannot speak of a “Steel Age.” First, steel is merely an alloy of iron (>98%) and carbon (<2%). Second, humans have been producing steel since the beginning of the Iron Age. That is a little-known fact in the Western world, where steel production only took off in the nineteenth century with fossil fuels. However, Asian and African metallurgists developed high-quality steels much earlier, and this knowledge eventually allowed Europeans to do the same – on a much larger scale.2
By 2021, the global iron and steel output reached 1,950 million tonnes (Mt). That is 22 times larger than the combined aluminum and copper output (88 Mt). The global iron and steel output corresponds to five times the global plastics output (391 Mt) and dwarfs the worldwide production of silicon (8.5 Mt) and lithium (0.1 Mt).34 Steel is the fundamental material of industrial societies. Without plastics, lithium, or silicon, we would still be in an industrial society. Without iron and steel, we would be thrown back 3,000 years into the Bronze Age.
Where is all that steel?
The massive presence of steel in industrial society is not so obvious.5 At home, we find several steel appliances such as the refrigerator, washing machine, water boiler, bathtub, and cooking, heating, and cooling appliances. However, only 2-3% of total steel production ends up in domestic appliances.678 Outdoors, there’s a lot of steel in the form of vehicles. These are especially passenger cars that use around 10% of all steel globally (20% in rich countries). Busses, trucks, trains, and ships add another 4-5%. Altogether that is still less than 20% of the global steel output.
Most steel is embedded in other materials, located underground, or far away from residential areas.
Most steel is embedded in other materials, located underground, or far away from residential areas. More than half of global steel production goes into construction, which includes buildings (residential, commercial, industrial) and infrastructures (bridges, tunnels, harbors, canals, runways, oil rigs, refineries, pipelines, power plants, transmission lines, railways, subways, and so on). Much of that steel is embedded in concrete. Reinforced concrete is the world’s primary building material, and concrete is the only material that can match the output of steel (1,819 Mt in 2021).
Roughly 15% of global steel production serves to make machinery, including machine tools, industrial equipment, electrical hardware, and construction, mining, and farming machines. Even products made of other materials – such as other metals, plastics, and wood – are shaped by steel tools.5 The final 15% of steel production ends up in a variety of objects, from screws over food packaging to furniture and shipping containers.678
The environmental footprint of the steel industry
Steel is often presented as one of the most sustainable materials. Unlike plastics, steel can be recycled without any loss in quality. The steel industry has made great advances in energy efficiency, more so than many other industries. Making one ton of crude steel now requires roughly 20 gigajoules (GJ) of primary energy on average – three times less than in 1950.9 This compares very favorably to other materials such as aluminum (175 GJ/t), plastics (80-120 GJ/t), or copper (45 GJ/t).7 Unlike plastics, steel is a biodegradable material.10 Finally, iron ore is not in short supply. It makes up 5 percent of the Earth’s crust and is fourth in abundance among the elements.11 For comparison, copper only makes up 0.01%.5
However, despite all these advantages, the global iron and steel industry consumes more energy and produces more carbon emissions than any other industry. The total primary energy use of crude steel production was 39 exajoules (EJ) in 2021, which corresponds to 7% of all energy used worldwide in that year (595 EJ). The greenhouse gas emissions are even higher because around 75% of energy use comes from coal – the fuel with the highest carbon emissions. In 2021, the iron and steel industry produced 3.3 Gt of carbon emissions, roughly 9% of global emissions (36.3 Gt).12 The concrete industry follows closely with 8% of global emissions.
The iron and steel industry consumes more energy and produces more carbon emissions than any other industry.
The estimates above come from the World Steel Association and the International Energy Agency. These data are available for all metals and have been documented over a long period, allowing for historical comparisons. However, they only refer to the smelting of the metal. They do not include the energy use and carbon emissions for mining and transporting iron ore, coal, limestone, scrap, and steel products. Nor do they include the energy and emissions for coke production and ore preparation – all essential to the steel production process.7
Scientific studies that have set wider boundaries for the iron and steel industry conclude that the energy cost of steel production increases by 50% to 100%.13 One report concludes that the methane emissions from metallurgical coal mining alone could increase emissions by 27%. Another study estimates that seaborne transport of iron ore and steel adds 10-15% extra emissions.1415 Iron and steel production also create other environmental problems, such as high water use, solid waste production, and significant air and water pollution.
The carbon footprint of the iron and steel industry is incompatible with current ambitions to eliminate net carbon emissions by 2050, even less so because steel production is very likely to expand further. Steel production grew tenfold since 1950 and doubled between 2000 and 2020, growing faster than many researchers had predicted.16 Furthermore, efficiency gains have decreased, and there is a scientific consensus that current technologies have reached their thermodynamic limits.7917 During the last two decades, the average energy use for the production of 1 ton of steel has remained around 20 GJ/t.918
How to make steel without fossil fuels?
There are two ways to make steel, and one is much more sustainable than the other.19 On the one hand, there is the blast furnace or basic oxygen furnace, in which steel is made from iron ore and coal. This technology is – in its essential form – 2000 years old.2 On the other hand, there is the electric arc furnace, in which steel is made from steel scrap and electricity. The electric arc furnace, which is a relatively new technology, consumes much less energy than the blast furnace, makes use of a recycled resource (no need to mine iron ore), and works without the direct use of coal or other fossil fuels (the electricity can be supplied by solar, wind, or atomic power).
The most energy-efficient electric arc furnaces now consume less than 300 kilowatt-hours of electricity per ton of steel produced.920 Hypothetically, if we had produced all steel in 2021 (1,950 Mt) in such furnaces, the total power consumption of the global iron and steel industry would have been only 585 terawatt-hours (Twh). That corresponds to just one-third of all electricity generated by wind turbines worldwide in the same year (1,848 Twh). Unfortunately, more than 70% of global steel output was made in blast furnaces fed by coal and iron ore.920 A blast furnace consumes twenty times more energy and cannot be operated by electricity because coal is both the fuel source and the chemical reductant. The combustion of coal produces carbon monoxide that reduces the iron from its ore.7
Not enough scrap available
The solution seems obvious: let’s produce all that steel in electric arc furnaces. However, this is impossible. First, there’s not enough scrap available: the continuous growth of the global steel output makes a circular flow of resources impossible.21 It takes decades before most steel becomes available for recycling. For example, there is 543 Mt of steel stocked in ships.22 The scrap available for recycling in 2021 corresponds to the production level of 1965 when global steel production was less than one-quarter of what it is today (450 Mt).9101523 Consequently, the other three quarters need to be produced in blast furnaces using coal and freshly mined iron ore.
Nowadays, China produces roughly half of the steel in the world and does that almost exclusively (+90%) in blast furnaces using coal and iron ore. Many other steelmaking nations have a higher share of electric arc furnaces. However, it makes little sense to point the finger at China. First, the US and Europe have outsourced many of their industries to China since the 2000s, a trend that corresponds neatly with the growing steel output in that country. Furthermore, twenty to forty years ago, China hardly used any steel. Consequently, there is almost no scrap available. China has no other choice than to use blast furnaces.24
Ever higher grades of steel
A second obstacle is the continuous development of higher grades of steel. There are now over 2,500 different types of steel with a variety of properties, such as increased strength, tolerance to high temperatures, or corrosion resistance.792325 Although these higher quality steels can be produced in electric arc furnaces, they are not made from scrap, and they have much higher energy use.
Steel available for recycling forms a mix of steel grades. That mix is suitable for making plain carbon steel but not highly alloyed steels, which require scrap with similar qualities. However, that scrap is not available. For example, stainless steel, the most produced special steel grade, has a recycling rate of only 15%. Almost 60 Mt of stainless steel was produced in 2021, compared to only 4 Mt in 1980.26 The traditional use of stainless steel was in cutlery, surgical tools, and medical and food processing equipment. However, it is now also used in the construction of tunnels and outdoor furniture, wastewater treatment, seawater desalination, nuclear engineering, and the production of biofuels.7
The low recycling rate and the need for the extraction of additional elements such as chrome and nickel make higher grades of steel more energy-intensive to produce. For example, stainless steel production requires almost 80 GJ per ton, four times more than the production of plain carbon steel.723 The continuous development of higher-grade steels is stimulated by environmental legislation (such as the use of lighter steel in cars) and by competition from other materials, mainly aluminum and plastic composites.792325 Ironically, the competition with these materials, which consume even more energy, makes steel less and less sustainable.
Steel and renewable energy
The steel industry is heavily dependent on the energy supply, but the energy supply is also heavily dependent on the steel industry. Almost 10% of the global steel output goes into building and maintaining energy supply infrastructure. That amount corresponds to the entire steel output in 1950. A great share of that steel goes to gas and oil infrastructure.27. Oil and gas mining, production, and transportation require steel for offshore drilling platforms, pipelines, refineries, tankers, and storage tanks. Coal mining depends on steel for cutters, loaders, conveyors, excavators, and trucks.7
Unfortunately, the planned switch to low-carbon energy sources and the electrification of heating and transport technologies will not decrease our dependency on the steel industry – on the contrary. A low-carbon power grid requires much more steel (and other materials) than an infrastructure based on fossil fuels. Wind and solar power are very diffuse power sources compared to fossil fuels. Therefore, it takes much more materials (and land) to produce the same energy. In jargon, wind and solar have low “power density” or high “material intensity.”2829303132
A low-carbon power grid requires much more steel than an infrastructure based on fossil fuels.
The “steel intensity” of thermal gas and coal power plants is between 50 and 60 tonnes of steel per megawatt of installed power.33 Hydroelectric power plants have a lower steel intensity, with 20-30 tonnes of steel per MW.733 Atomic power’s steel intensity is also lower at between 20 and 40 tonnes of steel per installed MW.3334 On the other hand, solar PV requires between 40 and 170 tonnes of steel per installed MW.3335 Although there is little or no steel in the solar panels themselves, it’s the material of choice for the structures that support them.
Steel and wind power
The most steel-intensive power source – by far – is the modern wind turbine. The steel intensity of a wind turbine depends on its size. A single, large wind turbine requires significantly more steel per megawatt of installed power than two smaller wind turbines.36 For example, a 3.6 MW wind turbine with a 100-meter tall tower requires 335 tons of steel (83 tons/MW), while a 5 MW wind turbine with a 150-meter tall tower needs 875 tons of steel (175 tons/MW).37 The trend is towards taller wind turbines and a higher steel intensity.
Steel consumption further increases for offshore wind turbines. Onshore wind power plants rely on reinforced concrete for their foundations, but offshore wind turbines need massive steel structures such as monopiles and jackets.38 The steel intensity for offshore wind turbines is calculated to be around 450 tonnes per MW for a 5 MW turbine – eight times higher than the steel intensity of a thermal power plant.36. As these wind turbines get taller and move into deeper waters, their steel use further increases.
The most popular offshore wind turbine nowadays has a capacity of 7 MW, while the largest ones have a capacity of 14 MW.36 If we make a conservative estimate based on the data above (the steel intensity doubles for every doubling of the power capacity), a 14 MW offshore wind turbine would require 1,300 tons of steel per MW or 18,200 tonnes in total. Such a wind turbine thus consumes 24 times more steel than a coal or gas power plant of the same power capacity.
Shorter life expectancy
The difference between renewable power sources and fossil fuels becomes even larger if the steel intensity is calculated per unit of energy rather than power (MWh instead of MW). In contrast to coal and gas power plants, the output of wind and solar power plants depends on the weather, and they do not always produce their maximum power capacity. Therefore, replacing 1 MW of fossil electricity generation capacity requires the installation of (on average) 4 MW of solar power or 2 MW of wind power.39 A 14 MW offshore wind turbine thus has a steel intensity that is almost 50 times higher than a fossil fuel power plant for every kilowatt-hour of electricity produced.40
A 14 MW offshore wind turbine has a steel intensity that is almost 50 times higher than a fossil fuel power plant for every kilowatt-hour of electricity produced.
Solar and wind power plants also have shorter lifetimes (20-30 years) compared to thermal power plants (30-60 years).31 While this does not affect the steel intensity per MW of power installed, it again increases the steel intensity per unit of energy produced over time. That does not always lead to a doubling of steel use because foundations for offshore wind turbines and structures for solar panels may have longer lifetimes than the power sources they support and could thus be reused.41
Power transmission infrastructure
The data above only include the steel used in the power plants themselves. For fossil fuel power plants, they do not include the steel used in the pipelines, oil rigs, coal excavators, and the like. However, the same goes for the low-carbon power sources. Because they need much more resources than thermal power plants (steel but also other metals and materials), they depend on a global mining and transport infrastructure that is just as steel-intensive as the supply chain for fossil fuels.
Furthermore, because they are more diffuse power sources with intermittent and unpredictable power production, often located far away from energy consumption centers, renewable power plants drive the expansion of transmission infrastructure. That infrastructure is also based on steel – from switchyard equipment over towers to conduction cables.282930313242
Finally, low-carbon power sources also have a high need for special grades of steel, which are more energy-intensive to produce. Steel for off-shore wind turbines should resist corrosion, and stainless steel is increasingly used for solar panel support structures.43 Electrical lamination steel (iron-silicon) is indispensable for transformers in the power network.7 Nuclear power plants may have a relatively low steel intensity but are completely built up of energy-intensive specialty steels. For example, cladding the fuel elements containing fissionable uranium requires zirconium steel, while all structural elements contain austenitic stainless steel.744
Low carbon grid cannot be made from recycled steel
The high steel intensity of low carbon power sources confronts us with a so-called “catch-22”, a situation in which there seems to be no escape from a problem no matter what we do. We need much more steel if we replace thermal power plants with renewable ones. Because there is not enough steel scrap available, we can only produce that extra steel from iron ore in blast furnaces burning fossil fuels. To address climate change, we need to build low-carbon sources quickly and in great numbers. However, to achieve circular material flows and build low-carbon power sources from scrap and renewable electricity, we would have to do the opposite: slow down the development of a low-carbon power grid.
A well-cited study from 2013 concluded that if wind and solar power would supply 25,000 Twh of electricity – which corresponds to total global electricity demand in 2021 – we need about 3,200 Mt of steel to build the power plants alone.3345 Global electricity demand is projected to grow to between 52,000 and 71,000 terawatt-hours in 2050, which would increase the extra steel demand to between 6,400 and 8,960 Mt.46 Spread out over the lifetime of solar panels and wind turbines (25 years), we would have to produce 256 to 358 Mt extra steel per year to make wind turbines and solar panel structures – comparable to the steel demand for passenger cars (195 Mt) and other transportation modes (98 Mt) combined.
That is still a very optimistic estimation. Electricity demand only makes up around 20% of total energy demand. If the total energy demand (177,000 Twh in 2021) would be supplied by wind and solar, we would need 22,400 Mt of steel. That’s an extra 896 Mt steel per year – as much as the global production in the early 2000s. You could argue that electricity can be used more efficiently than fossil fuels, for example, in cars and heating systems. However, at the same time, total energy demand is expected to rise further, countering the gains made by increased energy efficiency.
The high-tech solutions
The steel industry counts on technological solutions to make steel production carbon neutral. One option is to replace coal by gas, an approach that is already common in the Middle East and North America. Gas-based steelmaking results in somewhat lower carbon emissions, but they are still much higher than in the case of the electric arc furnace. Therefore, most attention goes to hydrogen, which can replace purified coal (coke) as a reducing agent in a direct reduction shaft furnace.47 However, hydrogen-based steelmaking does not offer an escape from the catch-22 because it further increases the need for a steel-intensive infrastructure.
The production of hydrogen is energy-intensive. It takes 50-55 kilowatt-hour to make 1 kg of hydrogen and 60 kg of hydrogen to make 1 ton of steel.47 The production of 1 ton of steel from hydrogen thus consumes 3,000 kWh of electricity, which is ten times higher than the electricity use of an electric arc furnace making steel from scrap. Consequently, hydrogen-based steelmaking requires roughly ten times more wind turbines and solar panels than scrap-based steel production – and thus ten times more steel. On top of this comes the steel for building the pipelines and storage tanks that are part of the hydrogen infrastructure.
Carbon capture and storage, in which the carbon emissions of steelmaking plants are captured and then stored underground, faces the same problems. It requires a steel infrastructure and extra energy, thus indirectly raising the use of fossil fuels. Reverting to older, preindustrial steelmaking processes is not the answer either. Today’s blast furnace is essentially still the blast furnace from earlier centuries, only much more energy efficient.7
The low-tech solutions
The picture painted above seems to offer little hope for carbon-neutral steelmaking and power production. However, there is a low-tech solution that could achieve it. We could adjust steel production to the available scrap supply both in quantity and quality. That would allow us to produce all steel from scrap in electric arc furnaces, dramatically reducing energy consumption and eliminating almost all carbon emissions. Of course, the intent should not be to replace steel with plastic composites and aluminum because they are even more energy-intensive to produce. The only solution is to reduce material use overall.
We could adjust steel production to the available scrap supply both in quantity and quality.
Reducing the steel output and using more common steel grades would not bring us back to the Bronze Age. As noted, global end-of-life ferrous scrap availability was approximately 450 Mt in 2021, which would allow us to produce roughly one-quarter of the current steel output. Furthermore, the scrap supply will continue to rise for the next 40 years, enabling us to produce more and more low-emission steel each year. By 2050, scrap availability is expected to rise to about 900 Mt, almost half of today’s global steel production.48 All that extra steel could be invested in expanding the low-carbon power grid without raising emissions first.
There is a lot of room to reduce the steel intensity of modern society. All our basic needs – and more – could be supplied with much less steel involved. For example, we could make cars lighter by making them smaller. That would bring energy savings without the need for energy-intensive high-grade steel. We could replace cars with bicycles and public transportation so that more people share less steel. Such changes would also reduce the need for steel in the road network, the energy infrastructure, and the manufacturing industry. We would need fewer machine tools, shipping containers, and reinforced concrete buildings. Whenever steel intensity is reduced, the advantages cascade throughout the whole system. Preventing corrosion and producing steel more locally from local resources would also reduce energy use and emissions.1014
The continuous growth of the steel output – the increasing steel intensity of human society – makes sustainable steel production impossible. No technology can change that because it’s not a technological problem. Like forestry can only be sustainable if the wood demand does not exceed the wood supply, steel is sustainable or not depending on the balance between (scrap) supply and (steel) demand. We may not be able to escape the Iron Age, but we have an option to escape the catch-22 that inextricably links steel production with fossil fuels.
Steel and war
Another motivation for reducing the steel intensity of modern society is to limit the consequences of geopolitical conflicts. The more steel we produce for peaceful purposes, the more steel becomes available for war and destruction. Remarkably, the production of military equipment is absent from modern steel statistics, and if mentioned, its share is very low. However, in times of war, steelmaking facilities switch to producing steel for military purposes. The steel industry can thus be converted into a weapons industry at any moment, and there is now a lot more steel production capacity available than there has ever been in history.
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Thomsen, Christian Jürgensen. “Cursory View of the Monuments and Antiquities of the North.” Guide to Northern Archaeology by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen (1848): 25-104. See also: Eskildsen, Kasper Risbjerg. “Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (1788–1865): Comparing Prehistoric Antiquities.” History of Humanities 4.2 (2019): 263-267. And: Briggs, C. Stephen. “From Genesis to Prehistory: the archaeological Three Age System and its contested reception in Denmark, Britain, and Ireland. By Peter Rowley-Conwy. 226mm. Pp xix+ 362, 55 b&w ills. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 9780199227747.£ 65 (hbk).” The Antiquaries Journal 88 (2008): 474-478. ↩︎
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Forthcoming article, Kris De Decker, Low-tech Magazine. ↩︎ ↩︎
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Idoine, N. E., et al. “World mineral production 2017-21.” (2023). https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/534316/1/WMP_2017_2021_FINAL.pdf ↩︎
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Katz-Lavigne, Sarah, Saumya Pandey, and Bert Suykens. “Mapping global sand: extraction, research and policy options.” (2022). https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docman/irua/1428b3/183490cc.pdf ↩︎
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Colás, Rafael, and George E. Totten, eds. Encyclopedia of iron, steel, and their alloys (Online version). CRC Press, 2016. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.steelonthenet.com/consumption.html. Meanwhile the data on this page have been updated for 2023. ↩︎ ↩︎
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Smil, Vaclav. Still the iron age: iron and steel in the modern world. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2016. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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“Steel in buildings and infrastructure”, World steel association. https://worldsteel.org/steel-topics/steel-markets/buildings-and-infrastructure/ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Conejo, Alberto N., Jean-Pierre Birat, and Abhishek Dutta. “A review of the current environmental challenges of the steel industry and its value chain.” Journal of environmental management 259 (2020): 109782. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Between 25 and 33% of the annual steel production is destroyed once in service by corrosion. See: Iannuzzi, M., and G. S. Frankel. “The carbon footprint of steel corrosion.” npj Materials Degradation 6.1 (2022): 101. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41529-022-00318-1.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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“Iron”, Encyclopedia Britannica ↩︎
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The potential of hydrogen for decarbonising steel production. European Parliament: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/641552/EPRS_BRI(2020)641552_EN.pdf ↩︎
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Lenzen, Manfred, and Christopher Dey. “Truncation error in embodied energy analyses of basic iron and steel products.” Energy 25.6 (2000): 577-585. & Oda, Junichiro, et al. “International comparisons of energy efficiency in power, steel, and cement industries.” Energy Policy 44 (2012): 118-129. Both found in: Smil, Vaclav. Still the iron age: iron and steel in the modern world. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2016. ↩︎
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“Pedal to the metal”, Caitlin Swalec, Global Energy Monitor, June 2022. https://globalenergymonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/GEM_SteelPlants2022.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎
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Yellishetty, Mohan, P. G. Ranjith, and A. Tharumarajah. “Iron ore and steel production trends and material flows in the world: Is this really sustainable?.” Resources, conservation and recycling 54.12 (2010): 1084-1094. ↩︎ ↩︎
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See, for example: Hatayama, Hiroki, et al. “Outlook of the world steel cycle based on the stock and flow dynamics.” Environmental science & technology 44.16 (2010): 6457-6463. This paper predicted steel demand to reach 1.8 billion tonnes only by around 2025. ↩︎
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De Beer, Jeroen. Potential for industrial energy-efficiency improvement in the long term. Vol. 5. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013. ↩︎
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Wang, R. Q., et al. “Energy saving technologies and mass-thermal network optimization for decarbonized iron and steel industry: A review.” Journal of Cleaner Production 274 (2020): 122997. ↩︎
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About 5% of global steel is produced by a third method: gas-based direct iron reduction. These furnaces use gas instead of coal and have therefore lower carbon emissions. However, emissions are still much higher than in the case of the electric arc furnace. Gas-based steelmaking mainly happens in the Middle East and North America. ↩︎
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He, Kun, and Li Wang. “A review of energy use and energy-efficient technologies for the iron and steel industry.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 70 (2017): 1022-1039. This source gives a value of 1-1.5 GJ/ton of crude steel. ↩︎ ↩︎
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This also holds true for many other materials. See: “How circular is the circular economy?”, Kris De Decker, Low-tech Magazine, November 2018. https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2018/11/how-circular-is-the-circular-economy/ ↩︎
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Kong, Xianghui, et al. “Steel stocks and flows of global merchant fleets as material base of international trade from 1980 to 2050.” Global Environmental Change 73 (2022): 102493. ↩︎
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ODPADKA, PROIZVODNJA JEKLA IZ JEKLENEGA. “Scrap-based steel production and recycling of steel.” Materiali in tehnologije 34.6 (2000): 387. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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In the West, the expansion of steel use happened over a period of 150 years, in tandem with technological evolution. In contrast, China compressed this technological evolution in just a few decades: shipping and railways, electrification, steel buildings, the car and the airplane, the internet, and renewable power technologies. There are still large parts of the world where the steel intensity of society is very low, such as India and Africa. There is thus still a lot of room for the growth of the steel output. Source: Smil, Vaclav. Still the iron age: iron and steel in the modern world. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2016. ↩︎
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AHHS Application Guidelines, WorldAutoSteel. ahssinsights.org/news/intro ↩︎ ↩︎
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Sverdrup, Harald Ulrik, and Anna Hulda Olafsdottir. “Assessing the long-term global sustainability of the production and supply for stainless steel.” BioPhysical Economics and Resource Quality 4 (2019): 1-29. ↩︎
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Conseil, Laplace. “Impacts of energy market developments on the steel industry.” 74th Session of the OECD Steel Committee, Paris, France (2013). Found in: Smil, Vaclav. Still the iron age: iron and steel in the modern world. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2016. ↩︎
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Deetman, Sebastiaan, et al. “Projected material requirements for the global electricity infrastructure–generation, transmission and storage.” Resources, Conservation and Recycling 164 (2021): 105200. ↩︎ ↩︎
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How (Not) to Run a Modern Society on Solar and Wind Power Alone, Kris De Decker, Low-tech Magazine, September 2017. https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2017/09/how-not-to-run-a-modern-society-on-solar-and-wind-power-alone/ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Kleijn, René, et al. “Metal requirements of low-carbon power generation.” Energy 36.9 (2011): 5640-5648. ↩︎ ↩︎
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Weißbach, Daniel, et al. “Energy intensities, EROIs (energy returned on invested), and energy payback times of electricity generating power plants.” Energy 52 (2013): 210-221. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Chen, Zhenyang, Rene Kleijn, and Hai Xiang Lin. “Metal requirements for building electrical grid systems of global wind power and utility-scale solar photovoltaic until 2050.” Environmental Science & Technology 57.2 (2022): 1080-1091. ↩︎ ↩︎
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Vidal, Olivier, Bruno Goffé, and Nicholas Arndt. “Metals for a low-carbon society.” Nature Geoscience 6.11 (2013): 894-896. The data are in the supplementary info: https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo1993#Sec5 ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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“Energy”, American Iron and Steel Institute. https://www.steel.org/steel-markets/energy/ ↩︎
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“Steel is the power behind renewable energy”, Arcelor Mittal. https://constructalia.arcelormittal.com/en/news_center/articles/steel-is-the-power-behind-renewable-energy#:~:text=Steel%3A%20a%20key%20material%20in%20a%20less%20carbon%2Dintensive%20world&text=Without%20steel%2C%20none%20of%20the,Schrijver%2C%20CEO%20of%20ArcelorMittal%20Projects. ↩︎
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Topham, Eva, et al. “Recycling offshore wind farms at decommissioning stage.” Energy policy 129 (2019): 698-709. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Gervásio, Helena, et al. “Comparative life cycle assessment of tubular wind towers and foundations–Part 2: Life cycle analysis.” Engineering structures 74 (2014): 292-299. & Rebelo, Carlos, et al. “Comparative life cycle assessment of tubular wind towers and foundations–Part 1: Structural design.” Engineering structures 74 (2014): 283-291. ↩︎
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Assessing the significance of steel to the global wind industry, S&P Global, Commodity Insights. December 2021. https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/ci/research-analysis/assessing-the-significance-of-steel-to-the-global-wind-industry.html ↩︎
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Bolson, Natanael, Pedro Prieto, and Tadeusz Patzek. “Capacity factors for electrical power generation from renewable and nonrenewable sources.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119.52 (2022): e2205429119. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2205429119 ↩︎
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This result corresponds well with Vidal, Olivier, Bruno Goffé, and Nicholas Arndt. “Metals for a low-carbon society.” Nature Geoscience 6.11 (2013): 894-896. The data are in the supplementary info: https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo1993#Sec5 ↩︎
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For off-shore wind turbines, the lifetime of the foundations is estimated to be 100 years, so in principle they could serve for replacement wind turbines of the same size. On the other hand, it is not self-evident that these steel foundations will eventually be recycled. First, only around 10% of decommissioning costs can be recovered by recycling the metal, meaning that it is not economically and perhaps even energetically interesting to do it. Second, in some cass marine life has flourished around the foundations. The four offshore wind farms that had been decomissioned in 2019 lasted for 15, 18, 20 and 26 years. Source: Topham, Eva, et al. “Recycling offshore wind farms at decommissioning stage.” Energy policy 129 (2019): 698-709. ↩︎
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https://www.fedsteel.com/insights/steels-role-in-the-us-power-infrastructure/ ↩︎
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https://industry.arcelormittal.com/products-solutions/Products_in_the_spotlight/magnelis ↩︎
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Maziasz, Philip J., and Jeremy T. Busby. Properties of austenitic stainless steels for nuclear reactor applications. Oak Ridge National Lab.(ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States), 2012. ↩︎
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Part of this has already been built. The researchers start from the solar and wind power production in 2013, which was 400 Twh, while both power sources produced 2,894 Twh in 2021. ↩︎
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Electricity consumption worldwide from 2000 to 2022, with a forecast for 2030 and 2050, by scenario. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1426308/electricity-consumption-worldwide-forecast-by-scenario/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20recent%20forecast,on%20the%20energy%20transition%20scenario ↩︎
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Bhaskar, Abhinav, et al. “Decarbonizing primary steel production: Techno-economic assessment of a hydrogen based green steel production plant in Norway.” Journal of Cleaner Production 350 (2022): 131339. ↩︎ ↩︎
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Scrap use in the steel industry, World Steel Association. May 2021. https://worldsteel.org/wp-content/uploads/Fact-sheet-on-scrap_2021.pdf ↩︎
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2024/03/how-to-escape-from-the-iron-age/
Foreign Policy
date: 2024-03-17, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Is the Biden administration’s foreign policy dangerous and senseless?
The post Foreign Policy appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/03/17/foreign-policy/
‘Cinderella’ Dances Her Way to Downtown Santa Barbara
date: 2024-03-17, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
State Street Ballet’s production appeals to all ages.
The post ‘Cinderella’ Dances Her Way to Downtown Santa Barbara appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/03/17/cinderella-dances-her-way-to-downtown-santa-barbara/
Hackintosh is (almost) dead
date: 2024-03-17, from: OS News
It’s true that latest macOS 14 (Sonoma) still supports the latest generations of Intel Macs and it’s very likely that at least one or two major versions will still be compatible. But there’s one particular development that is de-facto killing off the Hackintosh scene. In Sonoma, Apple has completely removed all traces of driver support for their oldest WiFi/Bt cards, namely various Broadcom cards that they last used in 2012/13 iMac / MacBook models. Those Mac models are not supported by macOS for few years now thus it’s not surprising the drivers are being removed. Most likely reason is that Apple is moving drivers away from .kext (Kernel Extensions) to .dext (DriverKit) thus cleaning up obsolete and unused code from macOS. They did the same with Ethernet drivers in Ventura. ↫ Aleksandar Vacić Everybody, especially the small but active Hackintosh community itself, knew full well the writing was on the wall the day Apple switched to ARM, and we’re seeing the first signs of the impending end of the community. Sure, enough people will remain who are interested in building Hackintoshes using older, unsupported versions of macOS, kind of like retrocomputing, but the days of running the latest macOS release on non-Apple hardware are coming to an end. As a fun side note, this old OSNews article I wrote in 2009 is one of the most-visited articles on our site of all time. Hackintoshes were way, way more popular than people gave them credit for.
https://www.osnews.com/story/138858/hackintosh-is-almost-dead/
Using ASCII Art to Work Around Content Restrictions in the Top 5 AI Chatbots
date: 2024-03-17, updated: 2024-03-17, from: Daring Fireball
Google adds “real-time, privacy-preserving URL protection” to Chrome
date: 2024-03-17, from: OS News
For more than 15 years, Google Safe Browsing has been protecting users from phishing, malware, unwanted software and more, by identifying and warning users about potentially abusive sites on more than 5 billion devices around the world. As attackers grow more sophisticated, we’ve seen the need for protections that can adapt as quickly as the threats they defend against. That’s why we’re excited to announce a new version of Safe Browsing that will provide real-time, privacy-preserving URL protection for people using the Standard protection mode of Safe Browsing in Chrome. ↫ Jasika Bawa, Xinghui Lu, Jonathan Li, and Alex Wozniak on the Google blog Reading through the description of how this new feature works, it does indeed seem to respect one’s privacy, but there could be so many devils in so many details here that you’d really need to be a specialist in these matters to truly gauge if Google isn’t getting its hands on the URLs you visit through this feature. But even if all that is true, it doesn’t really matter because Google has tons of other ways to collect more than enough data on you to build an exact profile of you are, and what advertisements will work well no you. Any time Google goes out of its way to announce it’s not collecting some type of data – like here, the URLs you type into the Chrome URL bar – it’s not because they care so much about your privacy, but because they simply don’t need this data to begin with.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-17, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Great point of view from an open source maintainer receiving a huge pull request.
https://twitter.com/Captaintobs/status/1769417914745286817
The weird world of altruistic YouTube
date: 2024-03-17, from: Matt Haughey blog
It all started innocently enough. I bought a new lawn mower and searched YouTube to figure out how to use it well. I'd only ever mowed a tiny patch before and figured I should know what real landscaping people do in their jobs so I could replicate it.
https://a.wholelottanothing.org/the-weird-world-of-altruistic-youtube/
‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ No. 1 at Box Office for Second Week
date: 2024-03-17, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/kung-fu-panda-4-no-1-at-box-office-for-second-week/7531459.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-17, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Duke River of News is a FeedLand site.
Motorcyclist dies in Sunnyvale collision
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
Police say they do not believe alcohol and drugs were a factor in the crash.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/17/motorcyclist-dies-in-sunnyvale-collision/
Live Audio Situation, Part II
date: 2024-03-17, from: Chris Coyier blog
This all started here. Where that ended was ordering new gear that seemed better suited to this recurring gig than what I was doing. All that gear has arrived and I’ve used it now, and I’m happy to report it was a good improvement. The setup is: Those five inputs to to a Mackie ProFX12v3 […]
https://chriscoyier.net/2024/03/17/live-audio-situation-part-ii/
Antioch police find burned body
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Antioch Police Department is investigating after a burned body was found at the 2900 block of Melon Court on Saturday evening.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/17/antioch-police-find-burned-body/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-17, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Why people are falling in love with AI chatbots.
https://www.theverge.com/24092638/ai-dating-chatbots-romance-replika-tinder-decoder
Blinken Arrives in South Korea to Attend Democracy Summit
date: 2024-03-17, from: VOA News USA
Seoul, South Korea — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived Sunday in South Korea on the first stop of a brief Asia tour also including the Philippines, as Washington moves to reinforce ties with two key regional allies.
Blinken landed Sunday afternoon ahead of the third Summit for Democracy on Monday, an initiative of U.S. President Joe Biden, which Seoul is hosting this week.
Before arriving in Seoul, Blinken made a brief stop in Bahrain, where he spoke to King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa about efforts to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza.
The summit, which runs from March 18-20 will bring together government officials, NGOs and civil society members.
Seoul is one of Washington’s key regional allies, and the United States has stationed about 27,000 American soldiers in the South, to help protect it against the nuclear-armed North.
Seoul’s conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol has boosted ties with Washington and sought to bury the historical hatchet with former colonial power Japan to better guard against Pyongyang’s threats.
Blinken will meet South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, the ministry said, for discussions that will cover how to boost the alliance, as Washington and Seoul explore how to improve their so-called “extended deterrence” against North Korea.
The democracy summit has attracted some criticism due to its selective invitation list, which excludes countries that consider themselves democratic, such as Thailand and Turkey.
After Seoul, Blinken heads to Manila, a trip that will reaffirm “our unwavering commitment to the Philippine ally,” according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
He will talk with local officials including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — issues with China including disputes over the South China Sea are likely to top the agenda.
The U.S. is redoubling efforts to improve longstanding ties with regional allies such as Manila, in an effort to counterbalance China.
Beijing recently accused Washington of using the Philippines as a “pawn” in the dispute over the South China Sea, after a series of clashes around bitterly-contested islets in the waters.
China claims almost the entire waterway, brushing aside competing claims from a host of Southeast Asian nations and an international ruling that has declared its stance baseless.
The South China Sea is strategically vital for several countries — including China — providing a key route for the import and export of essential fuel, food and other goods.
China has rapidly grown its naval forces in recent years, and snatched vast tracts of maritime territory, hoping to project its military and political power well beyond the country’s shores.
https://www.voanews.com/a/blinken-arrives-in-south-korea-to-attend-democracy-summit/7531428.html
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-17, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
We have a 140-char limit, but offer an effortless way to see more.
http://scripting.com/2024/03/17.html#a202118
As Trump Remarks Ignite New Controversy, Biden Reaches Fundraising Milestone
date: 2024-03-17, from: VOA News USA
U.S. lawmakers reacted to a series of controversial remarks made by Republican presidential Candidate Donald Trump on Saturday. And while Democratic President Joe Biden wasn’t on the campaign trail over the weekend, his reelection bid also made headlines. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias explains.
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-17, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
It’s
so funny, the editor of Wordle on a
podcast on
Friday, 1000th puzzle day, said there are some puzzles that you might
not solve in six moves not because of skill rather because of luck. I
was pretty sure when I took my second guess, but that’s just when the
cursing started. By the third guess I thought she’s screwing with us! I
should not have listened to the podcast.
http://scripting.com/2024/03/17.html#a201646
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-17, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Through it all, news.scripting.com remains my most popular site.
http://scripting.com/2024/03/17.html#a200924
Last day to access Blackboard is June 28, USC announces
date: 2024-03-17, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Brightspace, the new learning management system replacing Blackboard, is available for preview at brightspace.usc.edu.
The post Last day to access Blackboard is June 28, USC announces appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/17/last-day-to-access-blackboard-is-june-28/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-17, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Protests against Putin erupt at polls on last day of Russian election.
https://www.axios.com/2024/03/17/russia-putin-elections-navalny
Spring Break Camp 2024
date: 2024-03-17, from: City of Santa Clarita
Spring Break Camp 2024 By City Manager Ken Striplin Unlike our children who enjoy a week-long spring break, we adults no longer have that luxury. Which means, many parents are searching for an engaging experience for their children during the time off school. The City of Santa Clarita offers just that. Our Spring Break Camp […]
The post Spring Break Camp 2024 appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/03/17/spring-break-camp-2024/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-17, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
On Mastodon: I’ve done this before, starting 25 years ago. Find some new connection I can make because someone was wise enough to add an RSS interface. I get to have an aha! moment and a good laugh at how great this is and then write a freaking blog post about it, and people think man this web thing is pretty cool.
http://scripting.com/2024/03/17.html#a194939
One man shot in Brentwood, suspect arrested
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
One man was shot in Brentwood Saturday night in what police are calling an isolated incident.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/17/one-man-shot-in-brentwood-suspect-arrested/
Kids Need Playtime Outdoors
date: 2024-03-17, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Perhaps every school faces issues with unhappy neighbors who rage against the activity and noise associated with learning, developing, and growing.
The post Kids Need Playtime Outdoors appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/03/17/kids-need-playtime-outdoors/
MsgFiler 4
date: 2024-03-17, from: Michael Tsai
Adam Tow (Mastodon): Since WWDC 2023, I was telling long-time MsgFiler customers that I would look into what I could do to support the product in this new era of Apple Mail sans plug-ins. Honestly, I was a bit bummed because I didn’t see a viable path for the app. […] A deep dive into […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/03/17/msgfiler-4/
Walmart Selling M1 MacBook Air for $699
date: 2024-03-17, from: Michael Tsai
Joe Rossignol: Walmart today announced that it has started selling the MacBook Air with the M1 chip in the U.S., with pricing set at a very reasonable $699. The laptop can be ordered now on Walmart.com, and it will be available soon at select Walmart stores. […] Apple first released the MacBook Air with the […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/03/17/walmart-selling-m1-macbook-air-for-699/
iOS Notarization’s Human Review
date: 2024-03-17, from: Michael Tsai
Apple: Notarization for iOS apps is a baseline review that applies to all apps, regardless of their distribution channel, focused on platform policies for security and privacy and to maintain device integrity. Through a combination of automated checks and human review, Notarization will help ensure apps are free of known malware, viruses, or other security […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/03/17/ios-notarizations-human-review/
Authorities says a suspect has been detained in New Mexico state police officer’s killing
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
A suspect in the shooting death of a state police officer was captured in a confrontation Sunday with law enforcement officers in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico State Police said.
Sonoma County high schools team up to host Best Buddies prom for students with special needs
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
For years, Sonoma County schools with Best Buddies programs have teamed up to put on massive sporting events — soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter and track and field in the spring.
COC International Animation Festival draws in global talent
date: 2024-03-17, from: The Signal
College of the Canyons held its second annual International Animation Festival on Saturday with over 600 student-created animated films submitted from more than 70 countries. The festival also allowed local students interested in an animation career to connect with industry professionals. One hundred and fifty students trickled in and out of the theater rooms on […]
The post COC International Animation Festival draws in global talent appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/coc-international-animation-festival-draws-in-global-talent/
Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote a long piece about how conservative groups have “co-opted…
date: 2024-03-17, updated: 2024-03-17, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/03/0044202-nikole-hannah-jones-wrote
Photos: Dublin’s 40th St. Patrick’s Day Parade
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
Residents and visitors enjoyed the 40th Dublin Lions Club St. Patrick’s Day Parade, on Saturday, March 16, in Downtown Dublin, with the parade route spanning from Dublin Boulevard and Amador Plaza Road to the Dublin Senior Center. Though it was a celebration of Irish folklore and history, many cultures came to celebrate.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/17/photos-dublins-40th-st-patricks-day-parade/
No arrests in stolen vehicle incident
date: 2024-03-17, from: The Signal
No arrests have been made involving a stolen vehicle incident in Val Verde on Saturday night, according to Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials. The incident originated in Val Verde at 8:16 p.m. involving a stolen Toyota Camry, said Johnny Gillespie, watch commander with the SCV Sheriff’s Station. Deputies lost sight of the suspect after […]
The post No arrests in stolen vehicle incident appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/no-arrests-in-stolen-vehicle-incident/
Some Landmarks Change But Stay the Same
date: 2024-03-17, from: The Signal
A common refrain heard throughout the Santa Clarita Valley is: “Everything has changed so much in the last few years.” It is true that the addition of the Vista Canyon and Skyline Ranch projects have dramatically impacted the landscape of the SCV, as well as the countless changes in retail and restaurant businesses. Yet, many […]
The post Some Landmarks Change But Stay the Same appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/some-landmarks-change-but-stay-the-same/
Get Creative with Easter Sweets: Kid-friendly crafts that bring loved ones together
date: 2024-03-17, from: The Signal
Holiday hams and deviled eggs may take center stage at Easter gatherings, but edible crafts offer a reminder of the magic of the season that’s found in moments spent together. Simple recipes that call for a dose of creativity are perfect ways to bring the kids to the kitchen, made even easier when all that […]
The post Get Creative with Easter Sweets: Kid-friendly crafts that bring loved ones together appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
Time to Hit California’s Trails
date: 2024-03-17, from: The Signal
The natural beauty of California is unsurpassed. It’s time to get outside and enjoy California’s dramatic coastline, majestic granite peaks, rushing waterfalls, the world’s tallest trees, sapphire blue lakes and stunning desert oases. Grab a water bottle, a bag of granola and your backpack. Lace up your hiking boots, put on your sunscreen and make […]
The post Time to Hit California’s Trails appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/time-to-hit-californias-trails/
The 2024 Volvo XC90 Recharge PHEV AWD Ultimate SUV
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
What is a XC90? The XC90 is a 3 row midsize luxury SUV built in the Torslanda, Sweden assembly plant and sold worldwide by Volvo. The XC90 is Volvo’s largest and safest vehicle they build, and is a solid and stylish choice in the midsize 3 row luxury SUV class. It seats 7 people inside a well designed, high quality, very nice interior.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/17/the-2024-volvo-xc90-recharge-phev-awd-ultimate-suv/
Misleading “zero emission vehicle” label is here to stay
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
Zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) are commonly understood to be modern vehicles that do not produce tailpipe emissions. The phrase “ZEV mandate” is now used to identify California’s effort to phase out the sale of internal combustion vehicles by 2035, and most people naturally assume that the ambitious new regulations will prohibit the sale of all vehicles powered by gasoline.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/17/misleading-zero-emission-vehicle-label-is-here-to-stay/
US Military Operations Across Sahel at Risk After Niger Ends Cooperation
date: 2024-03-17, from: VOA News USA
DAKAR, Senegal — The United States scrambled on Sunday to assess the future of its counterterrorism operations in the Sahel after Niger’s junta said it was ending its yearslong military cooperation with Washington following a visit by top U.S. officials.
The U.S. military has hundreds of troops stationed at a major airbase in northern Niger that deploys flights over the vast Sahel region — south of the Sahara Desert — where jihadi groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group operate.
Top U.S. envoy Molly Phee returned to the capital, Niamey, this week to meet with senior government officials, accompanied by Marine Gen. Michael Langley, head of the U.S. military’s African Command. She had previously visited in December, while acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland traveled to the country in August.
The State Department said Sunday in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that talks were frank and that it was in touch with the junta. It wasn’t clear whether the U.S. has any leeway left to negotiate a deal to stay in the country.
Niger had been seen as one of the last nations in the restive region that Western nations could partner with to beat back growing jihadi insurgencies. The U.S. and France had more than 2,500 military personnel in the region until recently, and together with other European countries had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance and training.
But that changed in July when mutinous soldiers ousted the country’s democratically elected president and months later asked French forces to leave.
The U.S. military still had some 650 personnel working in Niger in December, according to a White House report to Congress. The Niger base is used for both manned and unmanned surveillance operations. In the Sahel the U.S. also supports ground troops, including accompanying them on missions. However, such accompanied missions have been scaled back since U.S. troops were killed in a joint operation in Niger in 2017.
It’s unclear what prompted the junta’s decision to suspend military ties. On Saturday, the junta’s spokesperson, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane, said U.S. flights over Niger’s territory in recent weeks were illegal. Meanwhile, Insa Garba Saidou, a local activist who assists Niger’s military rulers with their communications, criticized U.S. efforts to force the junta to pick between strategic partners.
“The American bases and civilian personnel cannot stay on Nigerien soil any longer,” he told The Associated Press.
After her trip in December, Phee, the top U.S. envoy, told reporters she had “good discussions” with junta leaders and called on them to set a timeline for elections in return for restoring military and aid ties. But she also said the U.S. had warned Niamey against forging closer ties with Russia.
Neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, which have experienced two coups each since 2020, have turned to Moscow for security support. After the coup in Niger, the military also turned to the Russian mercenary group Wagner for help.
Cameron Hudson, who served with the Central Intelligence Agency and State Department in Africa, said the incident shows the diminution of U.S. leverage in the region and that Niger was angered by Washington’s attempt to pressure the junta to steer clear of Russia. “This is ironic since one mantra of the Biden Administration has been that Africans are free to choose their partners,” he said.
The U.S. delegation visit coincided with the start of Ramadan, a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting and intense prayer for Muslims. Niger’s junta leader, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, refused to meet them. A U.S. press conference at the embassy in Niger was canceled.
The junta spokesperson, speaking on state television, said junta leaders met the U.S. delegation only out of courtesy and described their tone as condescending.
Aneliese Bernard, a former U.S. State Department official who specialized in African affairs and director of Strategic Stabilization Advisors, a risk advisory group, said the recent visit had failed and the U.S. needs to take a critical look at how it’s doing diplomacy not just in Niger but in the whole region.
“What’s going on in Niger and the Sahel cannot be looked at continuously in a vacuum as we always do,” she said. “The United States government tends to operate with blinders on. We can’t deny that our deteriorating relationships in other parts of the world: the Gulf, Israel and others, all have an influential impact on our bilateral relations in countries in West Africa.”
ASU basketball: Hurley’s future, Crow’s master plan, the unsigned contract and the historical standard for success
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
Bobby Hurley’s program struggled this season while his contract extension went unsigned. Is there reason to expect a coaching change?
Nvidia CPU Tech show back in San Jose
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
The autonomous vehicle industry has reduced its speed. Its future is here, but it’s not quite as in focus as the next signpost. Even the most fervent believers have re-evaluated their enthusiasm for the human-free driving mode.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/17/nvidia-cpu-tech-show-back-in-san-jose/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-17, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Note to self, make a Chrome extension for my blogroll.
http://scripting.com/2024/03/17.html#a160400
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-17, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
On this day in 1999. Not much happened in RSS. But I’m going to keep checking for the next couple of weeks.
http://scripting.com/2024/03/17.html#a160105
Technical writing in 2049
date: 2024-03-17, from: Blog by Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti
A month ago, Lana Novikova asked me to imagine the future of software documentation. What will software technical writing look like in, say, 2049, when our profession will be a century old? Will we be writing markup in git repositories or use ÜberDITA in space? Will our job still exist? I’ve put my futurist hat on to picture the shape of our profession 25 years from now. Buckle up!
https://passo.uno/tech-writing-predictions-2049/
Old Tools, New Ideas
date: 2024-03-17, from: Om Malik blog
I have become a big fan of vintage fountain pens. When I saw this lovely Ebonized Pearl WASP Clipper, I immediately fell in love with it. This is quite a rare find. Most collectors won’t even take it out of the cabinet. I don’t buy things to put them in a case. For me, it …
https://om.co/2024/03/17/old-tools-new-ideas/
US military operations across the Sahel are at risk after Niger ends cooperation
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
The United States scrambled on Sunday to assess the future of its counterterrorism operations in the Sahel after Niger’s junta said it was ending its years-long military cooperation with Washington following a visit by top U.S. officials.
Cockney Rebel singer Steve Harley, who had a hit with ‘Make Me Smile,’ dies at 73
date: 2024-03-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
British musician Steve Harley, whose glam-rock band Cockney Rebel had an enduring hit with the song “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me),” has died. He was 73.
RISC OS eXperience – 18th May
date: 2024-03-17, from: RiscOS Story
People in the United Kingdom who use RISC OS have plenty of opportunities to meet up with fellow users, with a number of user groups holding meetings on a regular basis, and a small number of main events – the shows, such as Wakefield and London. But what of our European friends? It’s possible for them to join some of the user group meetings when they’re held online and at a suitable time, as many are, but while doing so is an opportunity not to be missed where possible it’s…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/risc-os-experience-18th-may/
All Tesla Model Y Trims Will Cost $1,000 More On April 1, 2024
date: 2024-03-17, from: Inside EVs News
The company hints at the price increase and adds 5,000 miles of free Supercharging to boost its Q1 sales results.
https://insideevs.com/news/712684/tesla-modely-price-increase-april1-2024/
How to run an LLM on your PC, not in the cloud, in less than 10 minutes
date: 2024-03-17, updated: 2024-03-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Cut through the hype, keep your data private, find out what all the fuss is about
Hands On With all the talk of massive machine-learning training clusters and AI PCs you’d be forgiven for thinking you need some kind of special hardware to play with text-and-code-generating large language models (LLMs) at home.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/17/ai_pc_local_llm/
Fuzzing Ladybird with tools from Google Project Zero
date: 2024-03-17, from: OS News
While Ladybird does an okay job with well-formed web content, I thought it would be useful to throw some security research tools at it and see what kind of issues it might reveal. So today we’ll be using “Domato”, a DOM fuzzer from Google Project Zero, to stress test Ladybird and fix some issues found along the way. The way this works is that Domato generates randomized web pages with lots of mostly-valid but strange HTML, CSS and JavaScript. I then load these pages into a debug build of Ladybird and observe what happens. ↫ Andreas Kling I have high hopes for Ladybird.
https://www.osnews.com/story/138853/fuzzing-ladybird-with-tools-from-google-project-zero/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-17, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Trump warns US will see ‘bloodbath’ if not re-elected.
LEVER WEEKLY: Bad Medicine
date: 2024-03-17, from: The Lever News
Big Pharma is using secret middlemen and corporate Democrats to poison the health care system, and other news from The Lever this week.
https://www.levernews.com/lever-weekly-bad-medicine/
Passing on at ROUGOL – 18th March
date: 2024-03-17, from: RiscOS Story
What will happen to your computer gear when you’re no longer with us? Rather than a guest speaker, the next RISC OS User Group of London (ROUGOL) meeting – which will take place on 18th March (tomorrow) – will take the form of an open discussion, with Bernard Boase chairing the meeting. Inspired by a discussion on the Stardot forum entitled‘What happens to your collection when you pass?’, the aim of the meeting will be to explore the possibilities for what might happen to your computer equipment when you have…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/passing-on-at-rougol-18th-march/
‘I Will Always Love You’
date: 2024-03-17, from: Dan Rather’s Steady
A Reason To Smile
https://steady.substack.com/p/i-will-always-love-you
It’s March Madness, More People Can Legally Bet on Basketball Games
date: 2024-03-17, from: VOA News USA
In the rush to build AI apps, please, please don’t leave security behind
date: 2024-03-17, updated: 2024-03-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Supply-chain attacks are definitely possible and could lead to data theft, system hijacking, and more
Feature While in a rush to understand, build, and ship AI products, developers and data scientists are being urged to be mindful of security and not fall prey to supply-chain attacks.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/17/ai_supply_chain/
Recall: Some 2024 BMW R 1250 RT And K 1600s May Have Front Strut Issue
date: 2024-03-17, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
A small number of ESA front spring struts were not produced to correct specifications and must be replaced according to BMW.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/712170/bmw-r1250rt-k1600-strut-recall/
Usher, Fantasia Barrino, ‘Color Purple’ Honored at 55th NAACP Image Awards
date: 2024-03-17, from: VOA News USA
LOS ANGELES — Usher was named entertainer of the year at the 55th annual NAACP Awards on Saturday night, which highlighted works by entertainers and writers of color.
After Usher accepted his award at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, the superstar R&B singer spoke about being thankful about the journey of his successful career that has lasted three decades.
He reeled off several of his recent big moments including his sold-out residency in Las Vegas, getting married, releasing his ninth studio album “Coming Home” and his Super Bowl halftime performance, which became the most-watched in the game’s history.
Usher beat out Colman Domingo, Fantasia Barrino, Halle Bailey and Keke Palmer.
“I don’t know how many people do that much stuff in one setting,” said the multi-Grammy winner, who was presented the award by Oprah Winfrey. After being surprised by Winfrey’s presence, he thanked those who have supported him throughout the years.
“This is for you, you, my number ones,” the singer said as the audience repeated his words back to him. The final words of his speech were recited lyrics from his popular song “Superstar” from his 2024 album “Confessions,” which has sold more than 10 million units in the U.S.
Earlier in the ceremony, Usher was honored with the President’s Award for the singer’s public service achievements through his New Look Foundation. He thanked the strong women in his life, including his mother and wife Jenn Goicoechea, whom he married after his Super Bowl halftime performance last month.
“The say behind or beside or with every strong man is a stronger woman,” he said.
Queen Latifah hosted the awards ceremony aired live on BET.
“The Color Purple” was awarded best motion picture. The musical film featured star-studded cast including Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Domingo, H.E.R., Danielle Brooks, Corey Hawkins and Bailey.
Barrino, who starred as Celie in the film, won for best actress in a motion picture.
“I didn’t prepare a speech, because I didn’t think I was going to win,” the singer-actor said. “I was afraid to play Celie, but I’m glad I did. Because I kept saying ‘If I don’t win an award, the awards that I will win will come from the people who watched ‘Color Purple’ and the women who will relate to her and feel like Oscars when they walk out.’”
New Edition was inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame. The induction is bestowed on individuals who are viewed as pioneers in their respective fields and whose influence shaped their profession.
“We stand here in brotherhood,” said Michael Bivins while his group members behind him. The Grammy-nominated group includes Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill, Ralph Tresvant, Ronnie DeVoe and Ricky Bell.
“You’ve seen our story. You know what we’ve been through,” said Bivins, who spoke about the group overcoming conflict and tension in their earlier years to now holding a residency in Las Vegas.
“But we call each other every day,” he continued. “We text each other every day. We check on our families. You watched us grow up. We’re still growing.”
Damson Idris won best actor in a drama television series for his role in “Snowfall.” Henson and Domingo took home best supporting roles in “The Color Purple.” Domingo also won best actor in a motion picture for his role in “Rustin.”
David Hegg | Please Control Yourself
date: 2024-03-17, from: The Signal
By David Hegg Aristotle was the first philosopher to assert self-control as a virtue in any meaningful way. He put it this way: I count him braver who conquers his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is the victory over self. I suspect that, were this great philosopher to be […]
The post David Hegg | Please Control Yourself appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/david-hegg-please-control-yourself/
Ron Perry | Reminders for Voters
date: 2024-03-17, from: The Signal
The following letter was written prior to the March 5 Primary Election. I would like to remind every voter of a few things. 1. Your tax dollars are paying for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants. They get California CalFresh cards for food ($291 per month per person!); they mock our legal system, they have […]
The post Ron Perry | <strong><em>Reminders for Voters </em></strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/ron-perry-reminders-for-voters/
Some in Path of Deadly Tornadoes in Central US Face Long Recovery
date: 2024-03-17, from: VOA News USA
Lakeview, Ohio — Residents in a swath of the central United States hit by deadly tornadoes were cleaning up, assessing damage and helping neighbors on Saturday. But it will be a long recovery from the storms that ripped through parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas.
Thursday night’s storms claimed three lives in the Indian Lake area of Ohio’s Logan County, one of the hardest-hit regions, and about 40 people were injured and dozens of homes damaged in one Indiana community. Tornadoes were also reported in Illinois and Missouri.
Samantha Snipes, 33, said that when she first heard the tornado warning, she called her father who lives seven minutes away and told him to take cover. He said he was trying get into the closet in her childhood home and then the phone cut out, she told The Associated Press.
She and her husband attempted to drive down the main road to get to him but couldn’t and had to get through the back way after the tornado passed.
“It looked like out of a movie, like Twister,” she said. “My dad’s garage was leveled. The back of his house is gone. Like everything’s gone.”
They climbed over everything screaming for him. When they found him, he wasn’t injured and he told them to stop crying, she said.
Her father, Joe Baker, had always told his children to hide in the closet if there was ever a tornado.
“We grew up here. Like this is our childhood home,” said Snipes who Saturday was throwing away things and figuring out what could be saved. “And you see it on the news. But you never imagine it’s going to happen to you.”
Steve Wills, a pastor who owns a vacation home down the road on Orchard Island, said Saturday he was bringing a family crew to finish cleaning up and cover a hole in the roof.
“We’re saddened for the families that lost people. There’s three deaths in our community. You know, that breaks our heart,” Wills said. “But it could have been so much more, so much more. Yeah, so I still have faith.”
The community has been really helpful, Snipes said.
The school superintendent was dropping off food, clothes and diapers on Friday. The night of the tornado, neighbors on her dad’s street were going house to house shutting off the gas, she said.
“Everybody on this road is safe. You know neighbors helping neighbors is what it’s been,” Snipes said.
Sunday caption contest: The race is on!
date: 2024-03-17, from: Robert Reich on Substack
And last week’s winner
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-caption-contest-the-race-is
Today in SCV History (March 17)
date: 2024-03-17, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1927 – Newhall telephone exchange, est. 1900, now serves 100 phones. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-march-17/
Biden Jokes About His Opponent’s Age — and His Own — at DC Roast
date: 2024-03-17, from: VOA News USA
washington — The big news this week, U.S. President Joe Biden said at a weekend Washington roast, was that two candidates had clinched their party’s nomination for president. But one was too old, too mentally unfit for the job, he said.
“The other’s me,” Biden quipped.
The digs against Republican Donald Trump kept coming from the president at the annual Gridiron Club and Foundation Dinner, as Biden deflected ongoing criticism that his memory is hazy and he appears confused, instead highlighting moments when the 77-year-old Trump has slipped up, too.
“Don’t tell him, he thinks he’s running against Barack Obama, that’s what he said,” said Biden, 81, who also quipped that he was staying up way past his bedtime.
It was the first time Biden has attended the dinner during his presidency, and comes as the 2024 election looms and the rematch between Biden and Trump heats up. The annual bacchanalia, now in its 139th year, traces its history to 1885 — the year President Grover Cleveland refused to attend. Every president since then has come to at least one Gridiron.
Biden veered quickly into the somber, though, highlighting what he sees as a real threat to democracy should Trump — who continues to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen — return to the White House. The speech had echoes of Biden’s campaign remarks, criticizing Trump as well as too soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We live in an unprecedented moment in democracy,” he said. “An unprecedented moment for history. Democracy and freedom are literally under attack. Putin’s on the march in Europe. My predecessor bows down to him and says to him, ‘do whatever the hell you want.’”
Biden then introduced the Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.
“We will not bow down. They will not bow down, and I will not bow down,” he said.
Biden, dressed in white-tie attire as is the custom, brought his daughter Ashley.
The dinner has a reputation as a night of bipartisan mirth, and was jam-packed with politicians and who’s-who of Washington, including Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, at least eight other Cabinet members, at least five members of Congress, five governors and at least five ambassadors. Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who’s in town for St. Patrick’s Day, also attended.
Also speaking at the dinner were Harris, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and Utah Goveror Spencer Cox, a Republican.
Biden closed out the dinner speaking about the importance of a free press. Although he may not agree with everything the news media prints, he said, he understands the necessity of journalism and said he was still working to bring home journalists Evan Gershkovich and Austin Tice, one held in Russia, the other who disappeared during a reporting trip in Syria.
“Good journalism holds a mirror up to society,” he said. “We need you.”
Biden and Harris were seated at the head table along with other administration officials and the foreign leaders, plus Gridiron president Dan Balz of The Washington Post. Also seated at the table were Balz’s bosses, the Post’s Executive Editor Sally Buzbee and the newspaper’s owner, Jeff Bezos.
The dinner was held at the Grand Hyatt. No photos or TV were allowed.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-jokes-about-his-age-during-washington-event-/7531032.html
March 16, 2024 (Saturday)
date: 2024-03-17, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
I’m posting a different sort of picture tonight from my friend Peter Ralston: a painted sign listing Maine town names. It jumped out to me when he sent it because I am on the road again— in New Orleans tonight— where I have been meeting with dear old friends and special new ones.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-16-2024-saturday
Blobs
date: 2024-03-17, from: Ed Summers blog, Inkdroid
On the one hand, all the models that are available for
download on Hugging Face seem pretty much like programming language
compilers and interpreters that we download and use to write software.
You don’t try to open and read /usr/bin/python3 in your
text editor. You trust that it works. Simon Willison says
these models are like an “opaque blob that can do weird and interesting
things”, and the same analogy seems to hold for the binary executables
we run too.
But the big difference is that, once you get various dependencies assembled correctly, you can build the Python binary. The build depends on other opaque blobs being set up, like gcc, which in turn can be built by bootstrapping using a lower level language. There are layers of abstraction at work that can be tested, and reasoned about, which lead us to having some confidence that things are working correctly. It might get complicated but we can debug them when they don’t work correctly.
This is not true of the opaque blob Large Language Model (LLM). We don’t have access to the source code that was used to create it. Compiling it can require a huge investment in time and resources. There’s no way to debug its logic. If you’re lucky there may be a paper about how it was built, but some don’t because it is deemed too dangerous.
So while it feels the same, it’s really not. I just don’t understand why people would like to integrate LLMs into applications, for generating database queries, or API calls. It seems to me like we would want to be able to reason about these things, and that we lose the ability to do that when using an LLM. Why does anyone think this is a good idea?
And if this style of programming were really to catch on with a new generation of programmers, would we lose our ability to understand SQL or REST? Are these really useless abstractions like Assembler that we want to forget? Won’t our ability to reason about our applications atrophy? The state of software is already kind of bad, and it seems like some people are dreaming up ways of making it even worse.
https://inkdroid.org/2024/03/17/blobs/
A Clean-Sheet Introduction to the Scientific Method
date: 2024-03-17, updated: 2024-03-17, from: Ron Garret
About twenty years ago I inaugurated this blog by writing the following:“I guess I’ll start with the basics: I am a scientist. That is intended to be not so much a description of my profession (though it is that too) as it is a statement about my religious beliefs.”I want to re-visit that inaugural statement in light of what I’ve learned in the twenty years since I first wrote it. In
https://blog.rongarret.info/2024/03/a-clean-sheet-introduction-to.html
Trump is out of his mind and desperate
date: 2024-03-17, from: Robert Reich on Substack
His speech today in Ohio shows it
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trump-is-out-of-his-mind-and-desperate
Full Circle Weekly News 357
date: 2024-03-17, from: Full Circle Magazine
-
NixBSD develops a variant of NixOS with a kernel from FreeBSD:
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Linux Mint develops new chat app after shutting down HexChat:
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Bruce Perens published a draft version of the Post-Open license:
Credits
- Host: @bardictriad, @zaivala
- Bumper: Canonical
- Theme Music: From The Dust - Stardust
- https://soundcloud.com/ftdmusic
- CC BY 4.0
https://fullcirclemagazine.org/podcasts/podcast-357/
WAL-G 3.0.0 released
date: 2024-03-17, from: PostgreSQL News
WAL-G team is happy to announce the release of WAL-G 3.0.0
WAL-G is a tool for archival database restoration for PostgreSQL, GreenplumDB, MySQL/MariaDB, MongoDB, etcd and several other databases.
Noteworthy Changes
- Every database engine can now benefit from failover storage. This technique can save the day if one of the storage systems goes down. However, do not forget to monitor them anyway.
- For Postgres, we have a WAL archiving daemon available. Its primary purpose is to improve the efficiency of parallel archiving.
- Additionally, WAL-G supports the partial restoration of a cluster. If you have large, unnecessary tables, you can exclude them from the restoration process, the Postgres will skip over the WAL records for these tables. See docs for details.
- Greenplum’s PITR (Point-in-Time Recovery) is undergoing its maturation process. Partial restore is supported in a similar way to Postgres. We now have tools to verify the integrity of AOfiles in storage without actually restoring backups.
WAL-G v3.0.0 is available for download on our GitHub releases page.
Have a nice day!
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/wal-g-300-released-2826/