News gathered 2024-03-20
(date: 2024-03-20 08:30:19)
California’s state Senate is set to hit gender milestone
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
Women make up 41.7% of the California Legislature, making it 11th in the U.S. in terms of female representation.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/20/californias-state-senate-is-set-to-hit-gender-milestone/
Canadian arrested for stealing secret to speedy Tesla battery production, say feds
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Special tech allegedly lets Musk’s assembly lines produce 5-10 times more kit than rivals
Canadian battery exec Klaus Pflugbeil, a 58-year-old who lives in Ningbo, China, was arrested in Long Island yesterday for trying to sell undercover agents “battery assembly trade secrets” so crucial to Tesla’s ops that it spent millions on them.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/tesla_complaint/
Let’s Talk About the Flock Study That Says It Solves Crime
date: 2024-03-20, from: 404 Media Group
A Flock study claims it is “instrumental in solving 10% of reported crime in U.S.” A researcher who oversaw the study is now questioning how it was done.
https://www.404media.co/researcher-who-oversaw-flock-surveillance-study-now-has-concerns-about-it/
Joann fabric and hobby stores enter bankruptcy; post-pandemic craft decline cited
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
One industry analyst noted that Joann has let its “specialist-type service” slide with staffing cuts.
Xiaomi’s New EV Will Let You Add Physical Buttons Below Its Touch Screen
date: 2024-03-20, from: Inside EVs News
The SU7 comes from the factory with an all-touch interface, but you can install buttons yourself.
https://insideevs.com/news/713044/xiaomi-docking-buttons-screen/
Addressing Underrepresentation in Rural New England Community Archives: Documenting the History of Black Lives in Rural New England
date: 2024-03-20, from: Internet Archive Blog
Guest post by Dylan Gaffney, Information Services Associate for Local History & Special Collections, Forbes Library. This post is part of a series written by members of the Community Webs […]
Key Test Drive of Orion on NASA’s Artemis II to Aid Future Missions
date: 2024-03-20, from: NASA breaking news
Astronauts will test drive NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the first time during the agency’s Artemis II test flight next year. While many of the spacecraft’s maneuvers like big propulsive burns are automated, a key test called the proximity operations demonstration will evaluate the manual handling qualities of Orion. During the approximately 70-minute demonstration set to […]
Girls Do Porn Ringleader Pleads Not Guilty
date: 2024-03-20, from: 404 Media Group
Michael Pratt pleaded not guilty to 19 felony counts as his partner was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
https://www.404media.co/michael-pratt-not-guilty-plea-girls-do-porn/
It’s one of those days when I’m thinking about the interactive hot…
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/03/0044210-its-one-of-those-days
Turns out we don’t scream for ice cream
date: 2024-03-20, from: Marketplace Morning Report
The ice cream business is pretty chilly these days. Consumer goods giant Unilever announced this week that it’s going to spin off its ice cream business, which includes familiar names like Ben & Jerry’s, Popsicle and Klondike. The industry is dealing with declining demand, so how does it plan to defrost? Plus, the secret to using AI well at work may involve “more chat and less bot.”
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/turns-out-we-dont-scream-for-ice-cream
Serial extortionist of medical facilities pleads guilty to cybercrime charges
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Robert Purbeck even went as far as threatening a dentist with the sale of his child’s data
A cyberattacker and extortionist of a medical center has pleaded guilty to federal computer fraud and abuse charges in the US.…
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-20, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
An application for AI. Work with a user to get a great bug report. I think I’ve even written about this once before when AI was more of a dream.
http://scripting.com/2024/03/20.html#a142922
Northern California tribe that lost 90% of land during Gold Rush to get site to serve as gateway to redwoods
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Yurok will be the first Native people to manage tribal land with the National Park Service under a historic memorandum of understanding signed Tuesday by the tribe, Redwood National and State Parks and the nonprofit Save the Redwoods League.
Move over Toyota, this Japanese electric pickup takes aim at Ford’s F-150 Lightning
date: 2024-03-20, from: Electrek Feed
A new Japanese all-electric EV pickup is set to hit global markets, and it’s a Toyota. Isuzu will unveil its first 100% electric pickup truck, the D-MAX BEV, later this month. The rugged-looking 4X4 EV will compete with Ford’s F-150 Lightning in overseas markets.
https://electrek.co/2024/03/20/move-over-toyota-japanese-ev-pickup-rival-fords-lightning/
So much for ‘all-electric’ – Fiat 500e may come with a gas engine
date: 2024-03-20, from: Electrek Feed
Stellantis-owned Fiat has had high hopes for its all-electric Fiat 500, available in the US, but now a report says that the company may backtrack due to low demand and add an ICE version to the lineup.
https://electrek.co/2024/03/20/so-much-for-all-electric-fiat-500e-may-come-with-a-gas-engine/
Intel scores $8.5B in government cheddar to supercharge fab builds
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Department of Commerce says it’s the largest such investment in US semiconductor manufacturing
Intel is set to grab up to $8.5 billion in direct funding and up to $11 billion in loans from the US government under the CHIPS and Science Act to help build out its semiconductor manufacturing capacity.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/intel_chips_act_funding/
Ferrari CEO: ‘Our EV Will Not Be Silent’
date: 2024-03-20, from: Inside EVs News
An all-electric prancing horse is expected to launch in the final quarter of 2025.
https://insideevs.com/news/713042/ferrari-ceo-our-ev-will-not-be-silent/
Tesla produces enough battery cells for 1,000 Cybertrucks a week
date: 2024-03-20, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla has confirmed that it has ramped battery cell production enough to 1,000 Cybertrucks a week at Gigafactory Texas.
https://electrek.co/2024/03/20/tesla-produces-enough-battery-cells-for-1000-cybertrucks-a-week/
Delta pilot found drunk before transatlantic flight sentenced to 10 months prison
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
The pilot, 63-year-old American citizen was due to captain a flight from Edinburgh to New York’s JFK airport on the morning of June 16, 2023, but his blood alcohol test exceeded the legal limit. He had two bottles of Jägermeister liqueur in his bag.
West Eyes New Measures After Passage of Hong Kong Security Law
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
Taipei, Taiwan — Hong Kong’s adoption of a second national security law Tuesday is being criticized by foreign governments, while some business figures say the law will hasten foreign businesses’ departure from the city.
The United Nations, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union expressed concern about the ambiguous language in the law and its speedy adoption, which was completed in less than two weeks.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that the vague provisions in the bill, also known as Article 23, could lead to the criminalization of freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and the right to receive and impart information, which are all rights protected under international human rights law.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said passage of Article 23 could accelerate the closing of a once-open society, adding that the U.S. is analyzing the potential impact of the law.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the law has failed to “provide certainty for international organizations, including diplomatic missions” operating in Hong Kong, and it will foster “the culture of self-censorship” that is now dominating the social and political landscape in the city.
Apart from reiterating concerns about the law’s potential impact on Hong Kong people’s basic rights and freedom, the EU said the bill’s increased penalties, extraterritorial reach and partial retroactive applicability are “also deeply worrying.”
Despite the international criticism, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee hailed the passage of Article 23 as “a historic moment for Hong Kong,” while the Chinese government expressed “full support” of the development.
Rights activists call for sanctions
While they welcome the concerns expressed by foreign governments, some human rights activists urged democratic countries to respond with more forceful measures.
“With the enactment of the Article 23 legislation, now is the time to impose sanctions on officials like Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee,” said Benedict Rogers, the CEO of U.K.-based nongovernmental organization Hong Kong Watch.
Since Hong Kong implemented the controversial national security law and detained dozens of pro-democracy activists and politicians in 2020, the U.S. is the only country that has imposed sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials, 24 of them in all.
Rogers said since the U.K. doesn’t want to damage trade relations with China, the British government remains reluctant to impose sanctions on Chinese officials over the deteriorating conditions in Hong Kong.
“[While] they imposed sanctions on some Chinese officials over the human rights violations in Xinjiang, they haven’t done anything similar on Hong Kong,” he told VOA by phone.
While the U.S. has introduced some tools to counter China’s tightening control over Hong Kong — including sanctions, new legislation to ban the export of certain items to Hong Kong and the elimination of Hong Kong’s special status — some observers urged Washington to roll out more forceful measures following the passage of the Article 23.
“There’s a lot that Congress and the administration can do, including issuing additional sanctions against people responsible for the implementation of the two national security laws and advancing other existing legislations related to Hong Kong,” Samuel Bickett, a Washington-based human rights activist, told VOA by phone.
In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Thursday, leaders of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party urged him to consider imposing new sanctions against officials responsible for undermining freedom and rule of law in Hong Kong.
They also vowed to advance the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office Certification Act and the Transnational Repression Policy Act through Congress. Once passed, the two bills would require Hong Kong to shut down its trade offices in the U.S. and allow the U.S. government to impose sanctions against Chinese or Hong Kong officials responsible for launching transnational repression against dissidents in the U.S.
Laws’ effect on immigration, business
Apart from adopting more forceful measures against the Hong Kong and Chinese governments, Bickett and Rogers think democratic countries should introduce new immigration measures to accommodate the growing number of Hong Kong citizens leaving the city. According to statistics from Bloomberg, around 500,000 people have left Hong Kong since 2021.
While the U.K. has introduced an immigration program for holders of British Overseas Passports from Hong Kong, which was recently extended to more young people, Rogers hopes other countries, including the U.S. and those in Europe, can create similar programs tailored for Hong Kongers.
“I would like to see the EU and the U.S. offer some options so Hong Kongers who don’t qualify for the U.K.’s immigration scheme can have alternative options,” he said.
Since the Article 23 legislation uses vague language to define espionage and theft of state secrets, some analysts say foreign businesses may face serious challenges when conducting due diligence investigations or seeking information.
“This could be a big blow to banks and financial institutions, and it will further discourage investors from coming to Hong Kong since access to information is now further restricted,” Eric Lai, an expert on Hong Kong’s legal system at Georgetown Center for Asian Law, told VOA by phone.
Some analysts say the growing uncertainty in the business environment would lead more foreign businesses to consider leaving Hong Kong.
“Article 23 will hasten the departure of international businesses unless the Hong Kong government quickly establishes guard rails constricting the operational boundaries of the new law,” Andrew Collier, managing director of Orient Capital Research, told VOA in a written response.
Trader Joe’s recalls some cashews in California and 15 other states due to salmonella risk
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
The affected 50% Less Salt Roasted and Salted Whole Cashews are sold in 16 states.
Saratoga contracts with AI company to increase transparency
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
Hamlet uses artificial intelligence to compile summaries of council meetings, agendas.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/20/saratoga-contracts-with-ai-company-to-increase-transparency/
Arsonist starts fire in Campbell business
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
Building was occupied, but no injuries reported.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/20/arsonist-starts-fire-in-campbell-business/
A 3-year-old left in a running truck at Northern California gas station was behind the wheel when it hit and killed a 2-year-old
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
The truck’s owner had gone inside the gas station store, police said. While he was inside the store, “the three-year-old got out of their car seat and got into the driver’s seat.
Miramar Open to Change
date: 2024-03-20, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
After seeing the significant changes they made in response to the feedback we shared with them, including removing the third floor near Eucalyptus, I now fully support the plan.
The post Miramar Open to Change appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/03/20/miramar-open-to-change/
The WMO Just Issued a Climate ‘Red Alert’
date: 2024-03-20, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Much of the Northeast will be cold, windy, with a chance of snow today • Rio de Janeiro remains under an excessive heat warning • It is 45 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny in Seoul, South Korea, where the MLB kicked off its regular season.
THE TOP FIVE
- UN agency issues ‘red alert’ on worsening climate crisis
The UN’s World Meteorological Organization is “sounding the Red Alert to the world” on the urgency of the climate crisis after publishing its annual State of the Global Climate report yesterday. The report paints a dire picture of the state of the planet in 2023, with record high greenhouse gas levels, temperatures, and sea level rise. “Climate change is about much more than temperatures,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. “What we witnessed in 2023, especially with the unprecedented ocean warmth, glacier retreat, and Antarctic sea ice loss, is cause for particular concern,” she said. A few key findings:
- More than 90% of the global ocean experienced heatwave conditions at some point in 2023.
- Glacier ice loss was the highest on record and Antarctic sea ice was the lowest on record.
- 2023 was the warmest year in the 174-year instrumental record according to six data sets (seen below).
WMO
The report came on the same day that climatologist Gavin Schmidt, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, penned a commentary in Nature explaining that the planet warmed 0.2 degrees Celsius more last year than climate scientists expected, and nobody knows why. “Many reasons for this discrepancy have been proposed but, as yet, no combination of them has been able to reconcile our theories with what has happened,” Schmidt said. He suggests new regulations on sulfur emissions in the shipping industry could be playing a part, but said “if the anomaly does not stabilize by August … then the world will be in uncharted territory.”
- BYD CEO thinks hybrids and EVs will soon make up half of China’s car
sales
The CEO of Chinese EV maker BYD predicts electric and hybrid vehicle sales could make up 50% of auto sales in China within the next three months, Electrek reported. New energy vehicles (which include fully-electric cars as well as hybrids) hit a 48.2% share last week, “and if it continues at this rate, I estimate that the penetration could cross 50% in the next three months,” Wang Chuanfu said over the weekend. That’s a dramatic shortening of the time frame compared to a month ago, when Wang said the 50% mark could be reached by the end of the year. Last year, NEVs accounted for 35% of China’s auto sales. In the U.S., hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and fully electric vehicles rose to about 18% of total new light-duty vehicle sales in 2023.
- EPA’s new tailpipe rules expected today
The EPA is expected to announce its new tailpipe emissions rules for cars and light-duty trucks “as soon as” today, so be on the lookout for that. The rules have likely been softened to give automakers more time to ramp up electric vehicle sales, but still with the expectation that EVs will make up two-thirds of all new car sales by 2032 (last year EVs accounted for about one-tenth of sales). A similar standard for heavy-duty trucks is expected in the next few weeks, E&E News reported. Yesterday the Energy Department issued a new formula for calculating the fuel efficiency of electric vehicles “that’s meant to better reflect the real world and is likely to further drive sales of emission-free cars,” Bloomberg reported.
- ‘Rice bowl’ of Vietnam faces drought and creeping salt water
A part of Vietnam known as the country’s “rice bowl” is threatened by encroaching salty sea water after an unusually long drought. The rice fields in the Mekong Delta feed the country’s 90 million people, but the lack of rain over the last month has left rice paddies and fruit farms parched. Meanwhile salt water has been creeping into the ground more as sea levels rise. One recent study finds the delta could see crop losses amounting to $3 billion a year because of salinization. Vietnam is the world’s fifth-largest rice producer, and the third largest exporter.
- Environmental groups side-eye Coke’s new ‘recycled’ bottles
Starting this week, 20-ounce Coca-Cola beverages sold in the U.S. will come in plastic bottles made from 100% recycled plastic. The company claims this initiative (which excludes bottle caps and wrappers) will reduce 83 million pounds of plastic from its supply chain, but it hasn’t impressed environmentalists, CNN reported. One watchdog group, Break Free From Plastic, called the new design the “bare minimum.” “Plastic recycling is never going to make a dent in the plastic pollution crisis — plastic was never designed to be recycled, and it cannot be recycled indefinitely,” Emma Priestland from Break Free from Plastic told CNN. “Coca-Cola needs to urgently and dramatically reduce its use of plastic — full stop,” she said. In 2023 the group named Coca-Cola the world’s top plastic polluter for the sixth year in a row.
Coca-Cola
Company
THE KICKER
A new study finds that homes see on average a 1% reduction in value after a wind turbine is constructed within view, but that this drop in value diminishes as the years pass.
https://heatmap.news/climate/red-alert-climate-wmo
Officials Caution US Voters About Election Misinformation, Disinformation
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
Analysts say U.S. voters need to be alert for foreign misinformation and disinformation seeking to disrupt the November presidential election. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at how Americans perceive the so-called “influence operations” threat and what the government and nonprofits are doing to help them fend it off.
Biden to Tout Government Investing $8.5 Billion in Intel’s Computer Chip Plants in Four States
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
Washington — The Biden administration has reached an agreement to provide Intel with up to $8.5 billion in direct funding and $11 billion in loans for computer chip plants in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon.
President Joe Biden plans to talk up the investment on Wednesday as he visits Intel’s campus in Chandler, Arizona, which could be a decisive swing state in November’s election. He has often said that not enough voters know about his economic policies and suggested that more would support him if they did know.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the deal reached through her department would put the United States in a position to produce 20% of the world’s most advanced chips by 2030, up from the current level of zero. The United States designs advanced chips, but its inability to make them domestically has emerged as a national security and economic risk.
“Failure is not an option — leading-edge chips are the core of our innovation system, especially when it comes to advances in artificial intelligence and our military systems,” Raimondo said on a call with reporters. “We can’t just design chips. We have to make them in America.”
The funding announcement comes amid the heat of the 2024 presidential campaign. Biden has been telling voters that his policies have led to a resurgence in U.S. manufacturing and job growth. His message is a direct challenge to former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, who raised tariffs while in the White House and wants to do so again on the promise of protecting U.S. factory jobs from China.
Biden narrowly beat Trump in Arizona in 2020 by a margin of 49.4% to 49.1%.
U.S. adults have dim views of Biden’s economic leadership, with just 34% approving, according to a February poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. The lingering impact of inflation hitting a four-decade high in 2022 has hurt the Democrat, who had a 52% approval on the economy in July 2021.
Intel’s projects would be funded in part through the bipartisan 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which the Biden administration helped shepherd through Congress at a time of concerns after the pandemic that the loss of access to chips made in Asia could plunge the U.S. economy into recession.
When pushing for the investment, lawmakers expressed concern about efforts by China to control Taiwan, which accounts for more than 90% of advanced computer chip production.
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat up for reelection this year, stressed that his state would become “a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing” as Intel would be generating thousands of jobs. Ohio has voted for Trump in the past two presidential elections, and Brown in November will face Republican Bernie Moreno, a Trump-backed businessman from Cleveland.
Wednesday’s announcement is the fourth and largest so far under the chips law, with the government support expected to help enable Intel to make $100 billion in capital investments over five years. About 25% of that total would involve building and land, while roughly 70% would go to equipment, said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel.
“We think of this as a defining moment for the United States, the semiconductor industry and for Intel,” said Gelsinger, who called the CHIPS Act “the most critical industrial policy legislation since World War II.”
The Intel CEO said on a call with reporters that he would like to see a sequel to the 2022 law in order to provide additional funding for the industry.
Biden administration officials say that computer chip companies would not be investing domestically at their expected scale without the government support. Intel funding would lead to a combined 30,000 manufacturing and construction jobs. The company also plans to claim tax credits from the Treasury Department worth up to 25% on qualified investments.
The Santa Clara, California-based company will use the funding in four different states. In Chandler, Arizona, the money will help to build two new chip plants and modernize an existing one. The funding will establish two advanced plants in New Albany, Ohio, which is just outside the state capital of Columbus.
The company will also turn two of its plants in Rio Rancho, New Mexico into advanced packaging facilities. And Intel will also modernize facilities in Hillsboro, Oregon.
The Biden administration has also made workforce training and access to affordable childcare a priority in agreements to support companies. Under the agreement with the Commerce Department, Intel will commit to local training programs as well as increase the reimbursement amount for its childcare program, among other efforts.
The Audi Q6 E-Tron May Also Have To Be Built In America To Satisfy Demand
date: 2024-03-20, from: Inside EVs News
Plus, Stellantis strikes a deal with California it once fought against, and Germany’s lefties and right-wingers are equally mad at Tesla.
https://insideevs.com/news/713055/audi-q6-etron-scout/
Stalkerware usage surging, despite data privacy concerns
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
At least 31,031 people affected last year
Stalkerware has reached “pandemic proportions,” according to Kaspersky, which documented a total of 31,031 people affected by the intrusive software in 2023 – up almost six percent on the prior year.…
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-03-20, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Finally the EU will allow trust and bridges to be rebuilt for struggling couples!
https://spydrill.com/best-keyloggers-android/
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112128187440754266
City of Sunnyvale receives $1 million in federal funding for fire station renovation
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
Fire Station 2 is slated to be rebuilt in late 2025.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
AP, Lenfest Institute open call for Democracy Demo Day presenters.
Why Sharks’ upcoming homestand still holds some intrigue
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
Three questions for the San Jose Sharks as they prepare to host Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks (with Connor Bedard) and Dallas Stars
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/20/why-sharks-upcoming-homestand-still-holds-some-intrigue/
With demand for food assistance sky-high, one Bay Area county is trying to shake a decade-long legacy of failing residents in need
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
In Alameda County and across the Bay Area, food banks say that families’ needs are as high as they have ever been, rivaling the demand seen during the pandemic.
Tesla Cybertruck Has The ‘Worst Panel Gap’ MKBHD Has Ever Seen
date: 2024-03-20, from: Inside EVs News
Musk later confirmed that 15 Cybertrucks have been in service due to a gap caused by an improperly torqued door striker.
https://insideevs.com/news/713112/cybertruck-panel-gap-mkbhd-video/
Podcast: Shrimp Jesus
date: 2024-03-20, from: 404 Media Group
Shrimp Jesus (of course); Pornhub pulling out of Texas; and backdoors in safe locks. That’s all on this week’s episode of the 404 Media Podcast.
https://www.404media.co/404-media-podcast-shrimp-jesus/
NASA Sees Progress on Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef Life Support System
date: 2024-03-20, from: NASA breaking news
A NASA-funded commercial space station, Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef, recently completed testing milestones for its critical life support system as part of the agency’s efforts for new destinations in low Earth orbit. The four milestones are part of a NASA Space Act Agreement originally awarded to Blue Origin in 2021 and focused on the materials […]
Famed Bike Brand Fezzari Rebrands To Ari, Launches New Nebo Peak Electric MTB
date: 2024-03-20, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
A bang-for-buck all-around e-MTB.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/711616/versatile-ari-nebo-peak-emtb-launched/
Intel gets $20 billion in US grants, loans for chip plants
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
President Joe Biden will tour an Intel campus in Phoenix and announce a preliminary agreement with Intel for a major award from the 2022 Chips and Science Act.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/20/intel-gets-20-billion-in-us-grants-loans-for-chip-plants/
49ers offensive depth chart: New faces backing up stars, and big money at receiver
date: 2024-03-20, from: San Jose Mercury News
Coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense will look to carry that momentum forward with a familiar crew, barring a shocking trade or arrival in the coming weeks and months from the 49ers.
Putty-Looking-Ass Whips
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/03/20/putty-looking-ass-whips/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Oprah, Ozempic and Us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/opinion/oprah-ozempic-special-obesity.html
Check which phase the moon was in on a special day with this desktop lunar display
date: 2024-03-20, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Lorraine used a Raspberry Pi Pico W to create a moon phase display for her desk. It might look like it’s just stalled on one particular phase, but it’s much smarter than that.
The post Check which phase the moon was in on a special day with this desktop lunar display appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
Watch How Easy It Is To Charge A Rivian R1T At A Tesla Supercharger
date: 2024-03-20, from: Inside EVs News
The NACS to CCS1 adapter that will be sent for free to R1S and R1T owners is made by Tesla.
https://insideevs.com/news/713111/rivian-r1t-r1s-tesla-supercharger-adapter-charging/
Euclid space telescope needs de-icing
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Warm water and a scraper not an option when you’re 1.5 million kilometers from home
Less than 12 months into its six-year survey mission, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid telescope is experiencing optical issues that require European teams to devise a de-icing procedure.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/euclid_space_telescope_deicing/
Jeep-owner Stellantis and California strike Trump-proof deal on emissions
date: 2024-03-20, from: Electrek Feed
Stellantis – the parent company of Jeep, Chrysler, Fiat, Dodge, and Ram – says that it will comply with California’s stricter emissions policy requiring two-thirds of new cars to be zero-emissions or all-electric by 2030 – and will commit to the deal even if former President Donald Trump makes a return to office and tries to dismantle the policy.
Two men are charged with trying to sell Tesla battery trade secrets
date: 2024-03-20, from: Electrek Feed
Two men have been charged in New York for trying to sell Tesla battery manufacturing trade secrets to undercover agents.
https://electrek.co/2024/03/20/two-men-charged-trying-sell-tesla-battery-trade-secrets/
Britain enters period of mourning as Greggs unable to process payments
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
First they came for McDonald’s and I did not speak out because I have even worse taste in food
A princess is AWOL, the government refuses to admit defeat, and now pastry purveyor Greggs is unable to process card payments. How many more national crises can the Great British public weather before the streets burn?…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/greggs_payments_meltdown/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
America is “sleepwalking toward dictatorship,” she warned.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/19/liz-cheney-trump-biden-election-2024-difference/
About investing in climate resilience
date: 2024-03-20, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Today, we’re bringing you a very ESG-focused podcast. First, Texas is pulling $8.5 billion from the country’s biggest asset manager, BlackRock, which the state’s school fund says is hostile to the fossil fuel industry. It’s a pushback against ESG investing, in which environmental, social and corporate governance issues factor into decision-making. Then, a new paper says climate resilience is an investment opportunity for big-time institutional investors. We delve in.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/about-investing-in-climate-resilience
Cheating Automatic Toll Booths by Obscuring License Plates
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-14, from: Bruce Schneier blog
The Wall Street Journal is reporting on a variety of techniques drivers are using to obscure their license plates so that automatic readers can’t identify them and charge tolls properly.
Some drivers have power-washed paint off their plates or covered them with a range of household items such as leaf-shaped magnets, Bramwell-Stewart said. The Port Authority says officers in 2023 roughly doubled the number of summonses issued for obstructed, missing or fictitious license plates compared with the prior year.
Bramwell-Stewart said one driver from New Jersey repeatedly used what’s known in the streets as a flipper, which lets you remotely swap out a car’s real plate for a bogus one ahead of a toll area. In this instance, the bogus plate corresponded to an actual one registered to a woman who was mystified to receive the tolls. “Why do you keep billing me?” Bramwell-Stewart recalled her asking…
China and Australia’s rocky trading relationship
date: 2024-03-20, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: China’s foreign minister is making his first trip to Australia in seven years. Will the talks bring a bitter three-year trade war to an end? Plus, the Red Sea is used by 30% of the world’s container ships using the Suez Canal, but the journey is being made perilous by drone attacks from Houthi rebels in Yemen. We hear from one of the U.S. warships now patrolling the waters.
Back of the net? Google’s DeepMind is coming for football tactics
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
2026 FIFA World Cup in US could be first to see ML models play a part… and you thought video referees were crap
A team at Google’s DeepMind claim to have demonstrated the efficacy of an AI model in predicting outcomes in soccer football game set pieces, as well as generating on-field tactics.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/googles_deepmind_football/
Michel Talagrand Wins Abel Prize for Work Wrangling Randomness
date: 2024-03-20, from: Quanta Magazine
The French mathematician spent decades developing a set of tools now widely used for taming random processes.The post Michel Talagrand Wins Abel Prize for Work Wrangling Randomness first appeared on Quanta Magazine
KTM Parent Company Says It’s Taking Over MV Agusta
date: 2024-03-20, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Pierer Mobility’s previous timeline had the takeover happening in 2026, so it’s a full two years ahead of plan.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/712862/ktm-mv-agusta-takeover-2024-pierer/
Five Eyes tell critical infra orgs: take these actions now to protect against China’s Volt Typhoon
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Unless you want to be the next Change Healthcare, that is
The Feds and friends yesterday issued yet another warning about China’s Volt Typhoon gang, this time urging critical infrastructure owners and operators to protect their facilities against destructive cyber attacks that may be brewing.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/five_eyes_volt_typhoon/
Larry Moore | Out of Touch with Reality
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Signal
Once again, Gary Horton has outdone himself. For the 460th time, he has penned, yet again, another I-Hate-Trump column (March 13) that, like all the others, is completely out of touch with reality. What he saw during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address and what 95% of the rest of the country saw […]
The post Larry Moore | Out of Touch with Reality appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/larry-moore-out-of-touch-with-reality/
Héctor Hernández | County on Shaky Legal Ground
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Signal
Part 2 of 3. In my previous letter, I wrote about L.A. County’s ill-advised plan to recover defensible space inspection costs through Section 14902 of the California Health and Safety Code. I also wrote that the plan was sneaky at best and illegal at worst. In this letter, I’ll look more closely at the code […]
The post Héctor Hernández | County on Shaky Legal Ground appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/hector-hernandez-county-on-shaky-legal-ground/
Thomas Oatway | You Should Be Terrified of Trump
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Signal
Brian Richards (letters, Feb. 4) took umbrage at my “weekly screed” and irrational fear of Donald Trump being elected president in 2024. I am mystified why any American would not be terrified of that prospect. Recently, Trump suggested that NATO members who do not meet the alliance’s military budget guidelines should be invaded by Russia’s […]
The post Thomas Oatway | You Should Be Terrified of Trump appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/thomas-oatway-you-should-be-terrified-of-trump/
Capitalism Quest: The Sierra Online Story
date: 2024-03-20, from: RIP Corp
RIP Corp is a Charts & Leisure production. Find us at ripcorp.biz, or follow in places @ripcorpdotbiz for all your dead business needs.
To support the show, please consider aligning yourself even more deeply with the brand, via our merch shop: ripcorp.threadless.com
RIP Corp is written and hosted by Ingrid Burrington. Produced by Meghal Janardan and Mike Rugnetta. Associate producer, Taylor Behnke. Original music and sound design from Andrew Atkin and Michael Simonelli. Fact-checking from Matt Giles. Logo design by Beatriz Lozano and illustrations by Megan Mulholland. Executive produced by Jason Oberholtzer.
https://ripcorp.biz/episodes/capitalism-quest-the-sierra-online-story-sn_FsPGV
Brits blissfully unbothered by snail-paced mobile network speeds
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Too busy not using X to notice
Brits are satisfied with the speed of their mobile network, research finds, despite the UK having some of the slowest average 5G download speeds among G7 nations. Twitter is also no longer among the top 10 most used mobile apps.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/brit_mobile_habits/
What the New Rivians Say About the Future of EVs
date: 2024-03-20, from: Heatmap News
Earlier this month, the electric-car maker Rivian announced its new SUV, the R2 — a $45,000 family hauler that will get more than 300 miles in range. It also debuted the R3 and R3X hatchbacks, which entranced online car nerds.
These new Rivian models are sleek and important, but they won’t go on sale until 2026 at the earliest. Can Rivian last that long? We also chat about how electric vehicles’ physical requirements — big batteries, high voltage wires — are changing the design of cars themselves.
In this week’s episode, Rob and Jesse discuss Rivian’s quest to survive, how electrification is creating new vehicle categories, and the coolest EVs coming down the pike.
Subscribe to “Shift Key” and find this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also add the show’s RSS feed to your podcast app to follow us directly.
Here is an excerpt from our conversation:
Robinson Meyer: There’s this term called carcinization in evolutionary biology.
Jesse Jenkins: Ooh.
Meyer: People know this meme, which is that things in the sea tend to evolve into crabs. There’s lots of animals that look like crabs in the sea that are not true crabs, so to speak, because the crab is like a very successful bottom dweller form factor. And so animals that do not start as crabs, once they fill the same ecological niche as crabs, will wind up looking like crabs after you know 10 million, 15 million years.
To remember another guy, I have been thinking also a lot of the — again, if you’re not driving, Google this — the 1990s Toyota Previa, which was a kind of, it was a minivan that was like a half oval. It was kind of pill shaped. And again, the wheels were right at the front and right at the back. It was a more successful car, you’ll see it, it was the iconic 90s Toyota minivan.
And I do feel like, to some degree, the whole car market is undergoing this process of carcinization, where what is actually the vehicle that people want the most, especially families want the most, is a minivan. But minivans are not seen as cool or rugged, and so the whole car market is like trying to generate a vehicle that is as close to the Previa as possible but does not look like a mini— You know, it’s not actually, but to some degree I feel like we keep evolving minivans again and again.
If you think about the history of what the family car has been, where it was a station wagon in the 70s and 80s, then it was a minivan. Now it’s this crossover SUV thing.
Jenkins: Yeah, because they make a lot of sense.
Meyer: Those are, broadly, very similar cars. They’re very similar, right? They let you seat two to three kids and they give you a lot of space in the back. But as fashion changes and what’s cool, we have to keep redesigning that form factor for just what’s trendy at the moment. But we’re just dancing around this common design.
Jenkins: Yeah, it’s really interesting. There’s such a funny love hate relationship out there with minivans. I mean, they are incredibly useful cars, right? But it’s so hard culturally. It’s so hard to be like, Oh, I got a minivan, I gotta drive a minivan now. I turned 40 this year, so I’m right there. I grew up—
Meyer: You’re closer to your midlife crisis than I am here.
Jenkins: —in a household with, originally, when I was first born, they had two Volkswagen bugs. And then as we, my sister and I grew up and we needed more space, both my parents traded in their bugs for Volkswagen minibuses. So we had the Volkswagen bus. And it was like the best family car growing up, right? Because we could all camp in it. Like, you know, we could throw the back seat down and put a mattress there. One of us could sleep on the floor, the middle seats. All my friends would fit inside it for trips to the beach. You know, it was just a super useful vehicle.
And of course that, you know, that sort of design atrophied out in terms of the mass market. People still buy them to convert for campers and things like that, like the Volkswagen California and other kinds of models like that in the van segment. But it’s interesting, the ID.4 Buzz is coming back to the market in the U.S. this year, as well. It’s the sort of rebirth of theVolkswagen microbus, and I’m really curious to see how it does because it’s a cool design. It’s a very retro forward, right? Which is very similar to how the R3 looks, I’d say.
I’ll come back to that in a minute. But I’m really curious to see how it sells. I know my family’s been really interested in it, waiting for it to come out and see what it actually looks like in real life, and maybe test drive it and see if it’s something we might want in the future. But I would love to see more in that category, right? The van.
And you know, the SUV is really just trying to imitate a van with rugged looks that you really don’t need. If you just admit it, you just want a minivan.
This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by…
Advanced Energy United educates, engages, and advocates for policies that allow our member companies to compete to power our economy with 100% clean energy, working with decision makers and energy market regulators to achieve this goal. Together, we are united in our mission to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy in America. Learn more at advancedenergyunited.org/heatmap
KORE Power provides the commercial, industrial, and utility markets with functional solutions that advance the clean energy transition worldwide. KORE Power’s technology and manufacturing capabilities provide direct access to next generation battery cells, energy storage systems that scale to grid+, EV power & infrastructure, and intuitive asset management to unlock energy strategies across a myriad of applications. Explore more at korepower.com.
Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow.
https://heatmap.news/podcast/shift-key-episode-8-rivian-minivans
The Savvy Senior | How to Tap Underutilized Burial Benefits for Veterans
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Signal
Dear Savvy Senior, What types of funeral benefits are available to old veterans? My 83-year-old father, who has Alzheimer’s disease, served during the Vietnam War in the 1960s. — Planning Ahead Dear Planning, Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration actually offers a variety of underutilized burial benefits to veterans as well as their spouses […]
The post The Savvy Senior | How to Tap Underutilized Burial Benefits for Veterans appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
UK awards £1.73M to AI projects to advance net zero goals
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Great! Just ignore the energy needed to train them, process queries, keep the lights on in datacenters …
As the world struggles to keep up with decarbonization pledges, the UK government is dumping £1.73 million ($2.2 million) into a series of AI projects to help it meet 2050 net zero goals.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/uk_awards_173m_to_ai/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
2024 Tesla Cybertruck vs. Rivian R1T vs. Ford F-150 Lightning.
Office Hours: What is the most important thing we should be doing now to ensure that Biden and Harris are elected in November?
date: 2024-03-20, from: Robert Reich on Substack
Friends, Our Office Hours is used to deliberate issues in the open that are quietly being debated but without the advantage of fuller debate. And because this space is reserved for active participants in our community, we can debate even uncomfortable issues freely.
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hours-should-biden-keep-kamala
March 19, 2024
date: 2024-03-20, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
In Florida, Kansas, Ohio, Illinois, and Arizona, Republican voters chose their presidential candidate today. The results highlight the weaknesses former president Trump is bringing to the 2024 presidential contest. Trump, who is the only person still in the Republican race, won all five of today’s Republican races. But the results showed that his support is soft. Results are still coming in, but as I write this, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who has suspended her campaign, received between 13% and 20% of the vote, Florida governor Ron DeSantis—who has also suspended his campaign—picked up votes, and “none of the names shown” got more than 5% in Kansas.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-19-2024
Immigration a Top Issue for Floridians
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
Five U.S. states held presidential primaries Tuesday. The presumptive nominees, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, have achieved enough votes to secure their party nominations. Former President Trump voted in his home state of Florida. That’s where VOA senior Washington correspondent Carolyn Presutti is and tells us where that state stands on a big issue, immigration.
https://www.voanews.com/a/immigration-a-top-issue-for-floridians/7535014.html
Fossil Fuel Cash Is Fracking Democrats’ Climate Support
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Lever News
After Biden paused liquid natural gas exports, fossil fuel-backed Democrats have worked to undo the climate win.
https://www.levernews.com/fossil-fuel-cash-is-fracking-democrats-climate-support/
Classifieds – March 20, 2024
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The Daily Trojan features Classified advertising in each day’s edition. Here you can read, search, and even print out each day’s edition of the Classifieds.
The post Classifieds – March 20, 2024 appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/20/classifieds-march-20-2024/
European Space Agency to measure Earth at millimeter scale
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Awards contracts for spacecraft to bring the IoT to space
The European Space Agency has committed €76.6 million ($83 million) toward the development of Genesis – a flying observatory that will provide positioning services accurate to a single millimeter.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/esa_1_millimeter/
How Texas’ Plans to Arrest Migrants Would Work
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
McALLEN, Texas — A law that would allow Texas law enforcement to arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S. is back on hold.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Tuesday issued an order preventing its enforcement, just hours after the Supreme Court allowed the strict new immigration law to take effect.
The Justice Department is challenging the law, saying Texas is overstepping the federal government’s immigration authority. Texas argues it has a right to take action over what the governor has described as an “invasion” of migrants on the border.
Here’s what to know:
Who can be arrested?
The law would allow any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally. Once in custody, migrants could either agree to a Texas judge’s order to leave the U.S. or be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges of illegal entry. Migrants who don’t leave could face arrest again under more serious felony charges.
Arresting officers must have probable cause, which could include witnessing the illegal entry or seeing it on video.
The law cannot be enforced against people lawfully present in the U.S., including those who were granted asylum or who are enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Critics, including Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, fear the law could lead to racial profiling and family separation.
American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in Texas and some neighboring states issued a travel advisory a day after Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law. The advisory warns of a possible threat to civil and constitutional rights when passing through Texas.
Abbott has rejected concerns over profiling. While signing the bill, he said troopers and National Guard members at the border can see migrants crossing illegally “with their own eyes.”
Where would the law be enforced?
The law can be enforced in any of Texas’ 254 counties, including those hundreds of miles from the border.
But Republican state Rep. David Spiller, the law’s author, has said he expects most arrests would occur within 80 kilometers of the U.S.-Mexico border. Texas’ state police chief has expressed similar expectations.
Some places are off-limits. Arrests cannot be made in public and private schools, places of worship, or hospitals and other health care facilities, including those where sexual assault forensic examinations are conducted.
It is unclear where migrants ordered to leave might go. The law says they are to be sent to ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, even if they are not Mexican citizens. However, Mexico’s government said Tuesday it would not accept the return of any migrants to its territory from the state of Texas.
Is the law constitutional?
The Supreme Court’s decision did not address the constitutionality of the law.
The Justice Department, legal experts and immigrant rights groups have said it is a clear conflict with the U.S. government’s authority to regulate immigration.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, agreed in a 114-page order. He added that the law could hamper U.S. foreign relations and treaty obligations.
Opponents have called the measure the most dramatic attempt by a state to police immigration since a 2010 Arizona law — denounced by critics as the “Show Me Your Papers” bill — that was largely struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Ezra cited the Supreme Court’s 2012 Arizona ruling in his decision.
Texas has argued that the law mirrors federal law instead of conflicting with it.
What is happening on the border?
Arrests for illegal crossings along the southern border fell by half in January from record highs in December. Border Patrol officials attributed the shift to seasonal declines and heightened enforcement by the U.S. and its allies. The federal government has not yet released numbers for February.
Texas has charged thousands of migrants with trespassing on private property under a more limited operation that began in 2021.
Tensions remain between Texas and the Biden administration. In the border city of Eagle Pass, Texas, National Guard members have prevented Border Patrol agents from accessing a riverfront park.
Other Republican governors have expressed support for Abbott, who has said the federal government is not doing enough to enforce immigration laws. Other measures implemented by Texas include a floating barrier in the Rio Grande and razor wire along the border.
https://www.voanews.com/a/how-texas-plans-to-arrest-migrants-would-work/7535016.html
curl turns 26 today
date: 2024-03-20, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog
years++; It feels like it was not very long ago that we had the big curl 25 year celebrations. I still have plenty of fluid left in my 25 year old whiskey from last year and I believe I will treat myself a drink from that tonight. I have worked on curl full-time and spare … Continue reading curl turns 26 today
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/03/20/curl-turns-26-today/
Today in SCV History (March 20)
date: 2024-03-20, from: SCV New (TV Station)
2012 – County supervisors approve 50-year operating agreement for Placerita Canyon State Park. [read
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-march-20/
Court Puts Texas Border Enforcement Law Back on Hold
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/court-puts-texas-border-enforcement-law-back-on-hold/7535010.html
SpectrumSC creates community for LGBTQIA+ students
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The club welcomes students of all identities who have an interest in business to join.
The post SpectrumSC creates community for LGBTQIA+ students appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/20/spectrumsc-creates-community-for-lgbtqia-students/
We all deserve a better advising system
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
USC administration must take accountability for these issues and conduct reforms.
The post We all deserve a better advising system appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/20/we-all-deserve-a-better-advising-system/
Senators call to reinstate AAA
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Funding to provide sexually transmitted infection tests depleted by 78% this spring.
The post Senators call to reinstate AAA appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/20/senators-call-to-reinstate-aaa/
California offers support for disabled students
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Government programs offer disabled students financial help with higher education.
The post California offers support for disabled students appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/20/dor-offers-educational-help-for-disabled-students/
Love all: A competition of tradition
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
In the continued battle for “proper” tennis attire, is it time to give in to tradition? Or keep pushing for stylistic freedom on the court?
The post Love all: A competition of tradition appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/20/love-all-a-competition-of-tradition/
Vapes are out and cigs are in
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
We need to look at the risks and causes of this trend among youth to address it.
The post Vapes are out and cigs are in appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/20/vapes-are-out-cigs-are-in/
Freshman filmmakers craft a vision with ‘We Were Strangers’
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Four students navigated the challenges and triumphs of bringing a short film to life.
The post Freshman filmmakers craft a vision with ‘We Were Strangers’ appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/20/freshman-filmmakers-craft-a-vision-with-we-were-strangers/
Baseball crushes Cardinal on the road
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
USC won its first true-road series of the season as it searches for momentum.
The post Baseball crushes Cardinal on the road appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/20/baseball-crushes-cardinal-on-the-road/
My March Madness predictions
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and I’ve got you prepared for your brackets.
The post My March Madness predictions appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/03/20/my-march-madness-predictions/
China, Not Russia, Still Tops List of Threats to US
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Russia’s war in Ukraine — portrayed by top U.S. officials as posing a danger to the United States itself — still trails China when it comes to long-term threats to America’s security, according to a top Pentagon official.
The warning from Ely Ratner, the Defense Department’s assistant secretary for Indo-Pacific security affairs, comes in testimony prepared for a hearing Wednesday by the House Armed Services Committee on security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] continues to present the most comprehensive and serious challenge to our national security,” Ratner is set to tell lawmakers, according to a copy his opening statement obtained by VOA.
“The PRC remains the only country with the will and increasingly the capability to dominate the Indo-Pacific region and displace the United States,” Ratner warns, adding, “the PRC is pursuing its revisionist goals with increasingly coercive activities in the Taiwan Strait, the South and East China seas, along the Line of Actual Control with India, and beyond.”
This is not the first time Ratner has addressed the growing threat from Beijing.
In October he called out China’s military for what he described as a “sharp increase” in risky behavior in the East and South China seas.
Ratner also cautioned, separately, that China’s leaders were “increasingly turning to the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] as an instrument of coercion.”
Additionally, the Pentagon’s annual China Military Power report said that China’s nuclear arsenal has been growing faster than expected, while Beijing is building out the infrastructure needed for a further expansion of its nuclear forces.
China has responded to such allegations by accusing the U.S. of “hyping up” the threat.
On Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a warning of his own, emphasizing the threat from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The United States stands by Ukraine because it’s the right thing to do,” Austin told a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany. “But we also stand by Ukraine because it’s crucial to our own security.”
“The United States would face grave new perils in a world where aggression and autocracy are on the march and where tyrants are emboldened and where dictators think that they can wipe out democracy off the map,” he said.
U.S. intelligence officials argued recently that the threats from Russia and China are linked, and that Russia’s war has served to embolden China’s leadership.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told lawmakers earlier this month that Beijing has managed to get long-sought concessions from Moscow in exchange for support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
And CIA Director William Burns said Russian success in Ukraine could “stoke the ambitions of the Chinese leadership in contingencies ranging from Taiwan to the South China Sea.”
Ratner is set to tell U.S. lawmakers Wednesday that the Defense Department is working to strengthen key alliances in the Indo-Pacific and develop what he calls a “regional force posture” including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Australia.
He is also set to testify that the Pentagon’s proposed 2025 budget is placing a priority on investments in air, sea and undersea power, as well as in modernizing U.S. nuclear forces with an eye toward Beijing’s own military modernization efforts.
https://www.voanews.com/a/china-not-russia-still-tops-list-of-threats-to-us/7534999.html
How to improve Chinese TV? Better censorship, says top tellie-maker
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Sales are down at home and poor compared to other nations
The founder and chairman of Chinese electronics maker TCL has taken the bold step of suggesting China’s censors “improve” their work, to help his company sell more televisions … and help China succeed at home and abroad.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/tcl_chair_television_content_ideas/
Dos Pueblos High School Celebrates Opening of New Media Center
date: 2024-03-20, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Virgil Elings Media Arts and Communications Center is the new home to the DP News team and other budding journalists and creatives.
The post Dos Pueblos High School Celebrates Opening of New Media Center appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Some tips for road trips
date: 2024-03-20, from: Matt Haughey blog
Since the pandemic began, I've been taking lots of solo road trips around the western US in lieu of flying anywhere. And after 20,000 miles of trips in the last couple years, I thought I'd write up some tips I picked up along the way.
https://a.wholelottanothing.org/road-trip-tips/
Alibaba’s research arm promises server-class RISC-V processor due this year
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
And teases a laptop to show off its current silicon – running the open edition of Huawei’s CentOS spinout
Alibaba’s research arm, the Damo Academy, last week promised to deliver a server-grade RISC-V processor later this year, showed off a RISC-V-powered laptop running the open source cut of Huawei’s CentOS spinout, and talked up a growing community working on the permissively licensed processor architecture.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/alibaba_c930_riscv/
Hart becomes the ‘Hawks’
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Signal
New mascot unveiled, set to replace ‘Indians’ next year Students at Hart High School, get ready to fly: The “Hawk” is coming to Newhall. Hart High and William S. Hart Union High School District officials celebrated on Tuesday the unveiling of the school’s new mascot inside Hart’s auditorium during open house, in the latest step […]
The post Hart becomes the ‘Hawks’ appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/hart-becomes-the-hawks/
India’s competition regulator orders Google Play payment probe
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Choice of alternative payment providers labelled ‘illusory’ – because none existed
India’s competition regulator, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), has ordered an investigation into Google’s in-app billing systems after accusations they levy excessive charges and are discriminatory.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/20/india_google_pay_antitrust_probe/
Biden, Trump Notch Wins; Other Races Offer Hints on National Politics
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As Joe Biden and Donald Trump moved closer to a November rematch, primary voters around the country on Tuesday urged their favored candidate to keep up the fight and worried about what might happen if their side loses this fall.
There was little suspense about Tuesday’s results as both candidates are already their parties’ presumptive nominees. Trump easily won Republican primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. Biden did the same except in Florida, where Democrats had canceled their primary and opted to award all 224 of their delegates to Biden.
Instead, the primaries and key downballot races became a reflection of the national political mood. With many Americans unenthusiastic about 2024’s choice for the White House, both Biden and Trump’s campaigns are working to fire up their bases by tearing into each other and warning of the perils of the opponent.
Those who did turn out to vote Tuesday seemed to hear that.
Pat Shackleford, an 84-year-old caregiver in Mesa, Arizona, said she voted for Trump in Arizona’s primary to send the former president a message.
“I wanted to encourage him that the fight has been worthwhile, that more of us are behind him than maybe the media tells you,” Shackleford said.
Jamie and Cassandra Neal, sisters who both live in Phoenix, said they were unenthusiastic Biden supporters until they saw the vigor the president brought to his State of the Union speech. It fired them up for the coming election.
“Beforehand it was like, ‘Well, he’s the only decent one there,’” said Cassandra Neal, 42. “After his address it was like, ‘OK, let’s do it!’”
Jamie Neal, 45, said Biden had been “way too nice” before and needed to match Trump, whom she described as “vicious.”
“I hate to say it, sometimes you need to equal the lowness to get the person out,” she said. “Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.”
In Ohio’s Republican Senate primary, Trump-backed businessman Bernie Moreno defeated two challengers, Ohio Secretary of State Frank Frank LaRose and Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team.
Moreno and Trump appeared together Saturday at a rally where Trump praised his endorsed candidate as a “warrior” and ramped up his dark rhetoric, saying that were he not to be elected, “it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.” His campaign insists he was referring to the auto industry and not the country as a whole.
In the final days of the campaign, The Associated Press reported on Thursday that in 2008, someone with access to Moreno’s work email account created a profile on an adult website seeking “Men for 1-on-1 sex.” The AP could not definitively confirm that it was created by Moreno himself. Moreno’s lawyer said a former intern created the account and provided a statement from the intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.”
Questions about the profile have circulated in GOP circles for the past month, sparking frustration among senior Republican operatives about Moreno’s potential vulnerability in a general election, according to seven people who are directly familiar with conversations about how to address the matter. They requested anonymity to avoid running afoul of Trump and his allies.
Trump and Biden have for weeks been focused on the general election, aiming their campaigns lately on states that could be competitive in November rather than merely those holding primaries.
Trump, a Florida voter, cast his ballot at a recreation center in Palm Beach on Tuesday and told reporters, “I voted for Donald Trump.”
Trump and Biden are running on their records in office and casting the other as a threat to America. Trump, 77, portrays the 81-year-old Biden as mentally unfit. The president has described his Republican rival as a threat to democracy after his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and his praise of foreign strongmen.
Those themes were evident Tuesday at some polling locations.
“President Biden, I don’t think he knows how to tie his shoes anymore,” said Trump supporter Linda Bennet, a resident of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, not far from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Even as she echoed Trump’s arguments about Biden, she criticized Trump’s rhetoric and “the way he composes himself” as “not presidential at all.” But she said the former president is “a man of his word,” and she said the country, especially the economy, felt stronger to her under Trump’s leadership.
In Columbus, Ohio, Democrat Brenda Woodfolk voted for Biden and shared the president’s framing of the choice this fall.
“It’s scary,” she said of the prospect that Trump could be in the Oval Office again. “Trump wants to be a dictator, talking about making America white again and all this kind of crap. There’s too much hate going on.”
Bennet and Woodfolk agreed that immigration is one of their top concerns, though they offered different takes on why.
“This border thing is out of control,” said Bennet, the Republican voter. “I think it’s the government’s plot or plan to bring these people in to change the whole dynamic for their benefit, so I’m pretty peeved.”
Woodfolk, the Democrat, said she doesn’t mind immigrants “sharing” opportunities in the U.S. but worried it comes at the expense of “people who’ve been here all their lives.”
Trump and Republicans have hammered Biden on the influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, seeking to capitalize on the issue well beyond border states. Biden has ratcheted up a counteroffensive in recent weeks after Senate Republicans killed a migration compromise they had negotiated with the White House, withholding their support only after Trump said he opposed the deal. Biden has used the circumstances to argue that Trump and Republicans have no interest in solving the issue but instead want to inflame voters in an election year.
For the last year, Trump has coupled his campaign with his legal challenges, including dozens of criminal counts and civil cases in which he faces more than $500 million in fines.
His first criminal trial was scheduled to start Monday in New York on allegations he falsified business records to cover up hush money payments. But a judge delayed the trial for 30 days after the recent disclosure of new evidence that Trump’s lawyers said they needed time to review.
Speaking outside his polling place with a voter’s sticker affixed to his lapel, Trump insisted the cases against him were political and defended himself against criticism of his attacks a day earlier on Jewish Democrats, in which he alleged they hate Israel and their own religion. Democratic leaders on Tuesday criticized his comments as promoting antisemitic tropes about having divided loyalties.
Standing next to him was former first lady Melania Trump, who didn’t have on a sticker. She has rarely appeared in public with Trump since he launched his third bid for the White House.
Asked if she would campaign with him, she replied: “Stay tuned.”
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-03-20, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
New constellation episode.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112125852251748170
American Muslim Groups Plan to Boycott White House Ramadan
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
American Muslim leaders outraged by President Joe Biden’s support of Israel say they will not take part in White House Ramadan and Eid celebrations this year as they demand the administration push for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. As White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports, this is not the first time American Muslims’ anger has overshadowed Ramadan at the White House.
https://www.voanews.com/a/american-muslim-groups-plan-to-boycott-white-house-ramadan/7534950.html
White House Pressures Israel on Planned Invasion of Rafah
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
President Biden has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to send a team to Washington to “discuss ways to target Hamas without a major ground operation in Rafah.” Netanyahu insists that going into Rafah is the only way to destroy Hamas. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. Camera: Ricki Rosen.
https://www.voanews.com/a/white-house-pressures-israel-on-planned-invasion-of-rafah/7534944.html
Secretary of Defense: ‘United States Will Not Let Ukraine Fail’
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says the United States remains determined to provide Ukraine with the resources to fight Russian aggression, even as the U.S. Congress has failed to pass supplemental aid for Ukraine. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb traveled to Ramstein Air Base in Germany with the secretary.
https://www.voanews.com/a/secretary-of-defense-united-states-will-not-let-ukraine-fail-/7534943.html
Nvidia Keynote Fills 11,000-Seat SAP Center
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: Daring Fireball
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/nvidia-annual-conference-chips-7692760d
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Amazon.com: Opill Daily Oral Contraceptive, Birth Control Pill, Full Prescription Strength, No Prescription Needed, 84 Count.
https://www.amazon.com/Opill-Contraceptive-Control-Prescription-Strength/dp/B0CJYHQ3CB
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
OTC birth control: Consumers can start ordering Opill online today.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/health/otc-birth-control-opill-online-orders/index.html
On the Ever-Increasing Accuracy of Weather Forecasts
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: Daring Fireball
https://ourworldindata.org/weather-forecasts
Australian techie jailed for accessing museum’s accounting system and buying himself stuff
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Also down under, researchers find security-cleared workers leaking details of their gigs
An Australian IT contractor has been sentenced to 30 months jail for ripping off the National Maritime Museum.…
WiSH hosts first-ever Hart District’s Got Talent
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Signal
There were many moments worthy of the Golden Buzzer last weekend at the Castaic High School Performing Arts building, as students and staff members of the William S. Hart Union High School District took a chance to fulfill their dream and participate in the WiSH Education Foundation’s first-ever Hart District’s Got Talent Variety Showcase. The […]
The post <strong>WiSH hosts first-ever Hart District’s Got Talent</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/wish-hosts-first-ever-hart-districts-got-talent/
Reuters: ‘EU’s Vestager Warns About Apple, Meta Fees, Disparaging Rival Products’
date: 2024-03-20, updated: 2024-03-20, from: Daring Fireball
American Muslim Groups Plan to Boycott White House Ramadan
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — American Muslims outraged by President Joe Biden’s support of Israel say they will not take part in White House Ramadan and Eid celebrations this year as they continue to demand that the administration push for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
Should an invitation come, it’s “widely understood” that American Muslim community leaders and organizations will decline, said Robert McCaw, director of the Government Affairs Department at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR.
“This decision is due to the administration’s failure to address Muslim community demands for an immediate and permanent cease-fire,” McCaw told VOA. “And its refusal to stop supplying manufactured weapons to Israel, which are being used in a genocide against our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Gaza.”
Amid media reports that the administration is considering scaling back Ramadan events at the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said no celebration related to the holy month has been announced.
“We understand that it is a painful time for a number of communities,” she told VOA during her press briefing Monday. Senior White House officials have met with members of the Arab, Muslim and Palestinian communities “to talk about their views, to voice their concerns, and we welcome that,” she added.
The suffering of the Palestinian people “will be front of mind for many” Muslims this Ramadan, President Joe Biden said in a statement marking the beginning of the month. “It is front of mind for me.”
Since taking office, Biden has continued the decadeslong White House tradition of hosting Muslim community leaders that began with President Bill Clinton in 1996. Both Republican and Democratic presidents have hosted iftar dinner during Ramadan or an Eid al Fitr reception to mark the end of fasting after the month.
But this year, in addition to potentially facing the embarrassment of a massive boycott, the White House would likely want to avoid scenes where Biden is shouted at and heckled by pro-Palestinian protesters. Several of them have disrupted his campaign events around the country.
Outrage over Gaza is also affecting Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrated by diaspora groups of varying ethnicity and religious affiliation from countries beyond Iran, including Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Nowruz this year overlaps with Ramadan. And instead of inviting hundreds of people to a reception as the administration has done in the past, this weekend the White House will be hosting a “Nowruz Open House tour.”
“I’m not sure if the president himself would participate,” said Jawaid Kotwal, board member of the Afghan American Foundation. “So it’s way different. A watered-down, downgraded version of the typical Nowruz celebrations that we had in the White House.”
Kotwal told VOA that he personally declined the invitation but his organization will “look for any avenue to continue to have engagement with any occupant of the White House.”
The White House has not responded to requests for further details on its Nowruz or Ramadan plans.
In his statement marking Nowruz, Biden said the war has “inflicted terrible suffering on the Palestinian people,” and vowed to “continue to lead international efforts to get more humanitarian assistance to them.”
Clouded by controversy
This year is not the first time Ramadan at the White House is clouded with controversy. In his first year in office, President Donald Trump, who campaigned on banning Muslims from entering the United States and signed multiple executive orders restricting immigration from Muslim-majority countries, did not host a Ramadan event.
In 2018 and 2019, Trump welcomed diplomats from Muslim-majority nations to the White House for iftar, but American Muslim organizations and lawmakers were not on the guest list. At the time, American Muslim groups said they would have declined had they been invited.
Some American Muslims boycotted Biden’s virtual Eid celebrations in May 2021 as hostilities escalated between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. More than 260 Palestinians were killed in that round of violence, according to the United Nations.
That death toll is a fraction of the more than 31,000 Palestinians killed since Israel launched its military campaign in response to the Hamas October 7 attacks that took at least 1,200 lives in Israel and more than 240 people hostage. The level of anger felt now by American Muslims, Arabs and wide swaths of Biden’s Democratic base is also exponentially higher.
The community, including those who work in the administration, would feel “gaslit” by a White House Ramadan event this year, said Tariq Habash, a Palestinian American and former policy adviser at the Department of Education who resigned in protest in January.
“You can’t in one hand try and show solidarity and understanding and then in the other hand supply an unrestricted amount of weapons and military funding to an extremist government that is intent on the indiscriminate bombing and killing of civilians,” Habash told VOA.
The White House said it has actively engaged with Arab and Muslim Americans since the October 7 Hamas attack. Some in the community have refused to meet with administration officials.
Begum Ersoz, Farhad Pouladi, Anita Powell and Sayed Aziz Rahman contributed to this report.
https://www.voanews.com/a/american-muslim-groups-plan-to-boycott-white-house-ramadan/7534922.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-20, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Media entities have this ludicrous trend of disclosing that they have used “AI” on some article or the other. If that is the case, they should disclose they used Google Docs or Microsoft Office and their built-in “grammar” and “spelling” and other features.
https://om.co/2024/03/19/ai-is-changing-writing-here-is-what-to-do-about-it/
Three local students named semifinalists in Music Center’s Spotlight Program
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Signal
News release The Music Center announced that 114 of Southern California’s most talented high school students — including three from the Santa Clarita Valley — have advanced to become semifinalists in The Music Center’s 36th Annual Spotlight program, a free, nationally acclaimed performing arts competition, scholarship and artistic development program for teens. This year, […]
The post Three local students named semifinalists in Music Center’s Spotlight Program appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
South Africa Accuses US Congress of Adding it to a New ‘Axis of Evil’ Over Israel Genocide Case
date: 2024-03-20, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — South Africa seeks to limit the damage to its relations with Washington caused by its legal challenge to Israel’s assault on Gaza, a South African official said on Tuesday.
Naledi Pandor, who is South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation, is in Washington seeking to sway members of the U.S. Congress from a proposed law that would further strain U.S. ties to Africa’s most vibrant democracy and a major mining, banking and manufacturing hub.
“I think there’s an attempt to take up punitive action against South Africa, this sort of axis of evil notion that’s very much part of the political culture,” Pandor said in response to a question from VOA at South Africa’s embassy in Washington.
In December, South Africa filed an application to institute proceedings against Israel at the United Nations’ top court. Pretoria argues that Israel’s actions in Gaza are “genocidal in character,” and aim to “destroy Palestinians in Gaza.”
In March, South Africa requested further measures from the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of weaponizing starvation by preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the sealed-off exclave.
Israel’s government has denounced the case, and the White House told VOA in January it considers it “meritless.”
The case has since inspired a bipartisan push in the U.S. Congress for legislation mandating a full review of the bilateral relationship with South Africa. The draft bill, filed by Republican Representative John James and Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz, claims that the actions of South Africa’s long-ruling African National Congress “are inconsistent with its publicly stated policy of nonalignment in international affairs.”
“South Africa has been building ties to countries and actors that undermine America’s national security and threaten our way of life through its military and political cooperation with China and Russia and its support of U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hamas,” James said in a statement when he introduced the bill in February. “We must examine our alliances and disentangle from those who remain willing to work with our adversaries.”
Pandor, who also met with think tanks and spoke publicly while in Washington, said she intended to remind members of Congress of the value of South Africa, on its own and as a gateway to the continent.
“We believe that any action to diminish the relationship would be most unwise,” she said, in response to another question from VOA. “Because these are two key democracies in the regions in which we exist.”
She said she believes the relationship between the United States and South Africa can help to promote peace and democracy on the African continent — and to support the agenda of development in Africa — “because I can’t imagine how initiatives directed at greater trade and development would become operational if the institutional capacity of South Africa is not utilized.”
South Africa is also a major beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which offers duty-free U.S. market access to 32 African nations. Congress must vote on whether to extend the program beyond 2025.
VOA asked Pandor whether the high-stakes diplomatic pushback has been worth it.
“What I do know is if there’s a struggle underway, the longer you take to address the demands of a struggle, the more violent and vicious the struggle becomes,” she replied. “So, the sooner you address peace and negotiations, the greater the opportunity for everybody to enjoy peace and security. This is the lesson of South Africa.”
And VOA asked analyst Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, if South Africa’s case had done anything to stop the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“I don’t think South Africa has reframed this conflict. I don’t think South Africa has really changed the direction at this point,” he said. “But it’s a thread that runs through it — this concern that South Africa has history which makes it especially sensitive to issues of discrimination and genocide. … It certainly added an element to conversation that wasn’t there until South Africa pushed it as aggressively as it did.”
Pandor, a veteran member of the long-ruling African National Congress, stressed that Pretoria’s problem is not with the White House. She told VOA she had not sought meetings with President Joe Biden or Secretary of State Antony Blinken during her Washington visit.
“The executive understands [South Africa] far more than Congress,” she said.
When asked what she’d tell Biden, Pandor’s answer was short.
“Cease-fire,” she said. “Now.”
National Animal Poison Prevention Month
date: 2024-03-20, from: SCV New (TV Station)
March is National Animal Poison Prevention Month and the County of Los Angeles Department of Animal Care and Control is dedicated to raising awareness about the risks of pet poisoning and providing essential tips to keep our beloved pets safe
https://scvnews.com/national-animal-poison-prevention-month/
Chamber relaunches small business council
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Signal
News release The Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce has announced the relaunch of its Small Business Council. With a revamped approach, the council will cater specifically to businesses with 50 employees or fewer, delving into the topics essential for small business success in today’s competitive market, according to a news release from the […]
The post Chamber relaunches small business council appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/chamber-relaunches-small-business-council/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-03-20, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Kate Middleton has been spotted in the wild:
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112125228234042646
Castaic Middle School recognized as 2024 School to Watch
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Signal
News release Castaic Middle School has again been honored with the designation of a 2024 School to Watch by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, in collaboration with the California League of Schools, California Department of Education, and California Middle Grades Alliance. The school has a long-standing history of excellence and innovation in education, […]
The post Castaic Middle School recognized as 2024 School to Watch appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/03/castaic-middle-school-recognized-as-2024-school-to-watch/
Wednesday 20 March, 2024
date: 2024-03-20, from: John Naughton’s online diary
Gardener’s world Quote of the Day ”A clothes rack in search of a war zone.” Gavin Jacobson on the faux intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy Musical alternative to the morning’s radio news Samuel Barber | Adagio for Strings, Op.11 | Vienna Philharmonic … Continue reading
https://memex.naughtons.org/wednesday-20-march-2024/39262/
We Welcome the Miramar’s Proposal
date: 2024-03-20, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
My family and I have lived next door to the Miramar hotel for more than 30 years, and we enthusiastically favor their plans to add employee housing, apartments, and shops to the Miramar.
The post We Welcome the Miramar’s Proposal appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/03/19/we-welcome-the-miramars-proposal/
Magic is science: Highlands Elementary students get up-close look at the illusion of science
date: 2024-03-20, from: The Signal
Students at Highlands Elementary School got a visit from a wizard last week. But this wizard wasn’t trying to show off his power of illusion. David Hagerman wanted the students to learn that magic is science, and science is magic. “They’re both the same,” Hagerman said. Hagerman performed his Extreme Science 2.0 assembly at both […]
The post <strong>Magic is science: Highlands Elementary students get up-close look at the illusion of science</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
It’s Raining Airplanes. Three Saves in Two Weeks.
date: 2024-03-19, from: James Fallows, Substack
Aviation has always been risky. Here’s an innovation that makes it safer.
https://fallows.substack.com/p/its-raining-airplanes-three-saves
Big Changes Underway for Hollister Avenue Through Old Town Goleta
date: 2024-03-19, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
“Project Connect” adds two roundabouts, replaces San Jose Creek bridge, and extends Ekwill Street and Fowler Road over next the three years.
The post Big Changes Underway for Hollister Avenue Through Old Town Goleta appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Daily EV Recap: March 19, 2024
date: 2024-03-19, 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/2024/03/19/daily-ev-recap-march-19-2024/
Supes Hear Tax Relief Offered to Homeowners Impacted by Chiquita
date: 2024-03-19, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Treasurer Tax-Collector and the Los Angeles County’s Assessor’s Office have presented property tax relief efforts now in place to support residents impacted by odors from Chiquita Canyon Landfill at the March 19 Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting
https://scvnews.com/supes-hear-tax-relief-offered-to-homeowners-impacted-by-chiquita-canyon/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-03-19, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
The EU regulating Apple is like the bull at the china shop rearranging furniture.
This is a mess:
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112124925444364270
Judge demands social media sites prove they didn’t help radicalize mass shooter
date: 2024-03-19, updated: 2024-03-19, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Section 230 on trial: Plaintiffs contend social media platforms are defective products, not protected message boards
Some of the largest social media platforms in the world will soon try to convince a US court their platforms did not contribute to the radicalization of a mass shooter who killed ten people and injured three more in a New York grocery store in 2022.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/19/social_media_sites_headed_to/
Santa Barbara County Approves Expansion of Tajiguas Landfill
date: 2024-03-19, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Gaviota Coast Conservancy and nearby residents voice opposition over pollution and odor concerns.
The post Santa Barbara County Approves Expansion of Tajiguas Landfill appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/03/19/santa-barbara-county-approves-expansion-of-tajiguas-landfill/
Santa Barbara County Jail Sees Big Spike in Medical Grievances
date: 2024-03-19, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
In 2023, inmates filed 50 percent more complaints than the previous five-year average.
The post Santa Barbara County Jail Sees Big Spike in Medical Grievances appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
The White House to the Big House
date: 2024-03-19, from: Dan Rather’s Steady
Felons present and pardoned in Trump-world
https://steady.substack.com/p/the-white-house-to-the-big-house
SCV Water’s Laboratory Recognized for Early Implementation of System
date: 2024-03-19, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The SCV Water Laboratory has received commendation from the State of California’s Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program for its proactive implementation of the TNI Standard quality management system in February 2023, ahead of the required compliance date of Jan. 1, 2024.
https://scvnews.com/scv-waters-laboratory-recognized-for-early-implementation-of-system/
Flexible printed perovskite solar achieves a record 11% efficiency
date: 2024-03-19, from: Electrek Feed
Researchers led by Australia’s national science agency had an efficiency breakthrough with roll-to-roll flexible printed perovskite solar cells.
https://electrek.co/2024/03/19/printed-flexible-perovskite-solar-achieves-record-efficiency/
‘Every Day Is Precious Now’: California’s Financial Aid Deadline Is Looming. Here’s What Students Should Know
date: 2024-03-19, updated: 2024-03-20, from: The LAist
As the U.S. Department of Education continues to fix its glitchy website, state lawmakers want to give students more time to complete their FAFSA forms.
https://laist.com/news/education/california-financial-aid-deadline-fafsa-april
Back in 2012, some French apiaries were producing blue, green, and brown…
date: 2024-03-19, updated: 2024-03-19, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/03/0044214-back-in-2012-some-french
Matadors softball swept by Cal Poly in first Big West series
date: 2024-03-19, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
CSUN gave up only eight runs in three games against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Most of the time, this would suggest the Matadors won the series, taking at least…
https://sundial.csun.edu/179664/sports/matadors-swept-by-cal-poly-in-first-big-west-series/
Why Weather Forecasts Have Gotten So Good
date: 2024-03-19, updated: 2024-03-19, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/03/why-weather-forecasts-have-gotten-so-good
The Online Local Chronicle
date: 2024-03-19, from: Doc Searls (at Harvard), New Old Blog
After we came to Bloomington in the summer of 2021, we rented an apartment by Prospect Hill, a quiet dome of old houses just west of downtown. There we were surprised to hear, nearly every night, as many police and ambulance sirens as we’d heard in our Manhattan apartment. Helicopters too. Soon we realized why: […]
https://doc.searls.com/2024/03/19/the-online-local-chronicle/
Microsoft hits Inflection point, peels off top personnel to form AI division
date: 2024-03-19, updated: 2024-03-19, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
FYI, FTC: Karén Simonyan, DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman absorbed rather than acquired
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the formation of a new AI division headed by Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan, two of the three founders of AI upstart Inflection.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/19/microsoft_inflection/
Review | Cine-Symphonics Shine at the Santa Barbara Granada
date: 2024-03-19, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara Symphony’s film music homage brightened last week’s concert life.
The post Review | Cine-Symphonics Shine at the Santa Barbara Granada appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/03/19/review-cine-symphonics-shine-at-the-santa-barbara-granada/
Meta Offers to Reduce No-Ads Subscription Fee for Facebook and Instagram in EU, but Critics Want No Fee at All
date: 2024-03-19, updated: 2024-03-20, from: Daring Fireball
BMW’s first quad-motor M Performance EV spotted testing [Video]
date: 2024-03-19, from: Electrek Feed
The first quad-motor EV from BMW M was recently spotted testing in icy conditions, revealing the high-performance electric car’s sporty design.
https://electrek.co/2024/03/19/first-quad-motor-bmw-m-performance-ev-spotted-testing-video/
Glasnow Opens for L.A. Dodgers, Spectrum Expands Access to Games
date: 2024-03-19, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Former Hart High standout Tyler Glasnow will make his first start as a Los Angeles Dodger in the season opener against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday (3 a.m. PT) at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea
https://scvnews.com/glasnow-opens-for-l-a-dodgers-spectrum-expands-access-to-games/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-03-19, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Paul Kedrosky is paying for feeds coming out of Twitter and subscribing to them in Feedly along with his other feeds. This is smart and futuristic. No reason to have two or more social webs, let’s get them all working together.
http://scripting.com/2024/03/19.html#a213619
West African Migrants Find That Struggles Continue After Arriving in New York
date: 2024-03-19, from: VOA News USA
The migrant crisis in New York City, which began nearly two years ago with an influx of Venezuelans and other Latin Americans, has seen a tripling in the number of migrants from West African nations in the past year. Aron Ranen reports from New York City.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-03-19, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
NYS Legal Cannabis map.
OSNews sponsorships
date: 2024-03-19, from: OS News
Did you know we offer sponsorships at OSNews? A weekly sponsorship puts your display ad on our site for a week. We will make an introductory post at the start of the week, and a thank you post at the end of the week, which will both make it to our RSS feed and social accounts. OSNews gets about 450,000 visits per month with more than 32,000 registered users, spread out over North America and Europe. In addition, for any sponsorship you buy, you can opt to give a free weekly sponsorship to any open source and/or small project of your choosing. Does your company make use of an open source project you’d wish to help out? Let us know, and we’ll see if they’re interested in that free weekly sponsorship. Read our Sponsorship page for more information, or contact Thom Holwerda for sponsorship inquiries.
https://www.osnews.com/story/138877/osnews-sponsorships/
Olympic Bronze Medalist Erin Blumert Featured at SBART Women in Sorts Luncheon
date: 2024-03-19, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Hundreds of students athletes gathered at Earl Warren Showgrounds.
The post Olympic Bronze Medalist Erin Blumert Featured at SBART Women in Sorts Luncheon appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Lilbits: More Pixel 8a leaks, Plex exits virtual reality, and the Hackintosh scene’s impending doom
date: 2024-03-19, from: Liliputing