News gathered 2024-04-03
(date: 2024-04-03 07:58:49)
Attempted carjacking ends in injury shooting near Lake Merritt
date: 2024-04-03, from: San Jose Mercury News
A 66-year-old Stockton man was shot multiple times, police said.
Outlook.com trips over Google’s spam blocking rules
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Microsoft has a workaround but it’s not a great look
Emails from users with Outlook.com country domains may not be reaching Gmail addresses but fear not - Microsoft has a workaround.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/outlookcom_blocked_by_gmail/
Tesla-inspired Chinese semi gets 960kW charging from BorgWarner
date: 2024-04-03, from: Electrek Feed
Global auto supplier BorgWarner is launching a new, ultra-high speed 960kW EV charger that can charge up Windrose’ “Tesla-inspired” electric semi truck in about half an hour.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/03/tesla-inspired-chinese-semi-gets-960kw-charging-from-borgwarner/
Cutting and polishing a morganite stone into a 294 caret gem. It…
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044310-cutting-and-polishing-a-m
April 2, 2024
date: 2024-04-03, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-2-2024-4ff
Native American Artist Tells Tale of Love, Identity
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
An Indigenous graphic artist in the Southwest U.S. state of New Mexico is using a comic book to tell a story about same-sex love and identity on a Native American reservation. Gustavo Martínez Contreras has our story from Albuquerque.
https://www.voanews.com/a/native-american-artist-tells-tale-of-love-identity-/7554938.html
Sunreef Yachts unveils new luxe solar electric Explorer catamaran with over 100 kWh in batteries
date: 2024-04-03, from: Electrek Feed
Sustainable boatbuilder Sunreef Yachts is adding a sleeker, lighter solar electric catamaran to its portfolio. The new Explorer Eco 40m is the company’s smallest electric yacht to date, but debuts with some of the most advanced technology, including Sunreef’s proprietary “solar skin”
https://electrek.co/2024/04/03/sunreef-yachts-unveils-new-solar-electric-explorer-catamaran/
BYD’s affordable Seagull EV poised to arrive as the UK’s cheapest electric car
date: 2024-04-03, from: Electrek Feed
BYD’s most affordable Seagull EV, starting under $10,000 (69,800 yuan), could arrive as the UK’s cheapest electric car. Although BYD has yet to confirm plans, UK leaders see a market for the low-cost “Lamborghini Mini” EV.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/03/byds-affordable-seagull-likely-launch-uks-cheapest-ev/
Cooper-Garrod Vineyards honored for leadership in going green
date: 2024-04-03, from: San Jose Mercury News
Saratoga winery wins award for sustainable winegrowing .
This Cheap Used Tesla Model S With 450,000 Miles Seems Remarkably Good
date: 2024-04-03, from: Inside EVs News
While it’s not the highest-mileage Model S we’ve ever documented, a former taxi right-hand drive example from 2017 looks really solid.
https://insideevs.com/news/714704/cheapest-tesla-model-s-high-mileage/
Microsoft lays out plans, pricing for Windows 10 life support
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Want security updates? It’s gonna cost you
Microsoft has laid out the ground rules for getting Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) as market share figures indicate users are still giving Windows 11 a wide berth.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/windows_10_extended_support/
I want all the information
date: 2024-04-03, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News
I
want all the information about the products I make to be instantly
available to anyone who wants to know, in exactly the form they want it.
Until ChatGPT, that was a totally unattainable dream. But now, for many
topics, it’s reality. For example, if I have a question about CSS, and
believe me, I do – if I can ask the question clearly enough, I can get a
clear and complete explanation of why the browser did the crazy thing
with layout that it did. It means I could do something beautiful and
refined like the blogroll I worked on in February and March, and the UI
stuff I’m working on in March and April.
I can’t wait until ChatGPT can answer all those questions about my stuff. But then people who make music don’t want their songs to be available the same way. As someone who wants to know as much as possible about songs I have always loved but had no idea how they were made, or what they meant to the writer, knowledge about the work is equally valuable as understanding technical topics. I think the big difference is knowing that life is short, and if we want to leave something behind of ourselves, having the information be available is a blessing, not something to fight against. I don’t see why software designers in the future should have to reinvent what my generation has already figured out. I don’t want them to have to. It keeps coming back to this one idea – to solve the problems we have as a species we’re going to have to work together, and part of that means not being so guarded and selfish about sharing what we’ve learned.
We had this problem with music before, with Napster. The users of music, such as myself, found that the ability to program our own music was so liberating. To listen to a song a few times before moving on made a huge difference, or to choose a song to hear because we just thought of it for the first time in 30 years. But we were literally mocked by music promoters and artists. But ultimately, like it or not, the users got the power they wanted. It’s got to happen that way too for ChatGPT et al. I guess some people must’ve felt that search engines were going to rob creative people of control of their creations. I guess this is something we always have to go through.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/03/140003.html?title=iWantAllTheInformation
NASA’s Webb Probes an Extreme Starburst Galaxy
date: 2024-04-03, from: NASA breaking news
Amid a site teeming with new and young stars lies an intricate substructure. A team of astronomers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to survey the starburst galaxy Messier 82 (M82). Located 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, this galaxy is relatively compact in size but hosts a frenzy of star […]
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-probes-an-extreme-starburst-galaxy/
BART service interrupted in East Contra Costa County
date: 2024-04-03, from: San Jose Mercury News
The service stopped about 4:45 a.m., according to BART.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/03/bart-service-interrupted-in-east-contra-costa-county/
Friendship Ended With GOOGLE Now KAGI Is My Best Friend
date: 2024-04-03, from: 404 Media Group
I replaced Google with Kagi, a search engine that has no ads and costs $10 per month.
https://www.404media.co/friendship-ended-with-google-now-kagi-is-my-best-friend/
Blogging for this site has taught me that I’m more of a…
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044303-blogging-for-this-site-ha
2024-04-03 Return to the office? Never!
date: 2024-04-03, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
2024-04-03 Return to the office? Never!
@rdonoghue wondered (mostly ironically, I suspect) about a correlation between the length of the commute and a propensity to favour Return To the Office (RTO) policies.
I used to walk 35min to the office and I still prefer the home office.
Based on what I saw during lockdown and based on what my wife tells me, I think more interesting options are:
- Do you have kids at home and prefer Return To the Office? (if older)
- Do you have parents at home and prefer Return To the Office? (if younger)
- Do you manage a team but don’t talk to team members individually and prefer Return To the Office because you can overhear them talk? (if project manager)
- Do you have a need for sycophants surrounding you and prefer Return To the Office so you keep an eye on them? (ugh)
I’m sure there are more options but those seemed to be the obvious ones.
In all fairness:
- Do you have a hard time with focus and prefer the Home Office so that you’re not exposed to noise, cross-talk and other distractions by coworkers? (me)
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-04-03-rto
Chinese state, social media echo Russian propaganda on concert hall attack
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
Taipei, Taiwan — Specious theories designed to implicate Ukraine and the United States in connection with the late March terror attack in Russia are spreading on China’s state media outlets and on its heavily censored social media platform Weibo.
False claims that paint Kyiv and Washington as masterminds of the attack have fueled debate in Russia even after Islamic State-Khorasan — also known as IS, IS-K, ISIS and Daesh — claimed responsibility for killing at least 143 people and injuring nearly 200 at the Crocus City Hall music venue in suburban Moscow.
In China, an editorial in the state-run Global Times insinuated that “many observers linked the incident to the ‘hybrid war’ form of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”
“Some Western thinkers have begun to speculate whether Washington had played a role in this terrorist attack,” it said without elaborating.
Without citing names or clear attribution, the Global Times repeated Russia’s false accusations that the U.S. failed to share “key intelligence” that could have helped Russian security services prevent the attack.
In fact, the U.S. warned the Russian authorities two weeks before the attack and shared appropriate intelligence, as it would do “for any other country,” John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, told VOA.
“We provided useful, we believe, valuable information about what we thought was an imminent terrorist attack,” Kirby said. “We also warned Americans about staying away from public places like concert halls. So, we were very direct with our Russian counterparts appropriately to make sure that they had as much useful information as possible.”
Addressing a Russian intelligence agency board meeting three days before the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the U.S. warning as “outright blackmail” intended “to intimidate and destabilize our society.”
The Global Times also criticized Washington for being “slow to condemn the incident in a timely manner, which shocked the international community.”
In fact, the United States was among the first nations to condemn the Moscow attack, and on March 30, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy placed flowers at the site.
With the Chinese Communist Party’s tight censorship of online content, contrarian views are quickly taken down, and the lack of independent media leave disinformation spread by state-controlled news outlets unchallenged.
Some, however, have voiced skepticism.
“I personally think it’s unlikely that the United States was behind this terrorist attack,” Jin Canrong, a scholar of international relations with an established “anti-American” reputation, wrote on Weibo.
The comments by Jin, who is a professor at the Renmin University of China, provoked heated reaction, with some Weibo users accusing him of being a U.S. sympathizer.
Since the attack, conspiracy theories echoing Russian propaganda have dominated the narrative on Weibo, typically boosted by anonymous pro-Russian and pro-Chinese influencers with millions of followers.
Weibo influencer Drunk Rabbit posted to his nearly half a million followers: “It is no wonder that the Russian people do not believe that this was done by IS. They all firmly believe that Ukraine and its masters who are at war with Russia planned and carried out this atrocity.”
To prove the point, the user posted two side-by-side video clips showing former U.S. Presidents Barak Obama and Donald Trump.
Drunk Rabbit’s caption read: “Obama: ‘We trained ISIS,’” and “Trump: ‘Obama was the founder of ISIS.’”
“Both former presidents have confirmed that the United States is the creator of ISIS,” Drunk Rabbit continued. “Regarding the terrorist attack on the Moscow Concert Hall in Russia, what other evidence is needed?”
The quotes by Obama and Trump, however, are taken out of context and, in the case of Obama’s remarks, twisted to mean the opposite of what he said.
Trump’s claim has been debunked by fact-checkers and terrorism experts who traced Islamic State’s roots to 2002, six years before Obama was elected president, and Trump himself walked the remark back, calling it “sarcasm.”
It is not out of character for the Chinese state and social media to echo Russian propaganda and disinformation, especially when it targets the United States.
Vote for the April 2004 Plus Post Topic
date: 2024-04-03, from: Computer ads from the Past
If you are a paid subscriber, voting is open for one week
https://computeradsfromthepast.substack.com/p/vote-for-the-april-2004-plus-post
3 new books for cocktail lovers and spirits enthusiasts
date: 2024-04-03, from: San Jose Mercury News
Whether you’re into French 75s, 1940s rum or Pina Colada alternatives, this trio of new cocktail books has something for every taste.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/03/3-new-books-for-cocktail-lovers-and-spirits-enthusiasts/
2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV Discounted By Up To $3,000 For Bolt EV Owners
date: 2024-04-03, from: Inside EVs News
Add the $7,500 tax credit to the mix and we’re talking over $10,000 off the MSRP.
https://insideevs.com/news/714796/chevrolet-equinox-ev-discount-bolt/
Bon Jovi, Billy Eilish, other musicians implore AI devs to think of humanity
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Using copyrighted material to train models affects artists’ livelihoods, says open letter
The Artist Rights Alliance has launched a petition to end the use of AI that infringes upon or devalues the work of humans.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/musicians_ai_open_letter/
Quick Cook: ‘Eggs and Cigars’ may be the BEST name ever for this easy supper
date: 2024-04-03, from: San Jose Mercury News
Whether you call them soldiers or cigars, this is a slightly more fancy version of a classic, with lemony herbed chile butter slathered onto toast strips just before they take the plunge.
This new solid-state battery cell claims to set industry records, could offer over 1,300 mile range
date: 2024-04-03, from: Electrek Feed
A solid-state battery developer in China has unveiled a new cell that could help change the game for electric mobility. Tailan New Energy’s vehicle-grade all-solid-state lithium batteries offer energy density twice that of other cells in the segment, empowering the Chinese battery maker to hail the cells as a record-setter in the industry.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/03/new-solid-state-battery-cell-claims-industry-records-1300-mile-range/
‘Shame isn’t a solution’: California gives out fentanyl test strips amid surge in overdose deaths
date: 2024-04-03, from: San Jose Mercury News
California has spent more than $1 billion fighting the rise of fentanyl in recent years, but deaths keep increasing.
California man admits stealing $1.8 million in luxury items from Beverly Hills hotel, trying to sell them in Miami
date: 2024-04-03, from: San Jose Mercury News
Jobson Marangoni De Castro tricked a hotel employee into giving him a key to the victims’ room and stole all their suitcases while they were at dinner.
Backlight on a Psion 5
date: 2024-04-03, from: Tilde.news
https://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=21343
April’s Slackin’ for Macklin: How soon could the Sharks ‘clinch’ last place?
date: 2024-04-03, from: San Jose Mercury News
NHL: San Jose Sharks are seven points back of the 31st-place Chicago Blackhawks with just over two weeks left
Podcast: The Xz Backdoor and the AI Peer-Review Crisis
date: 2024-04-03, from: 404 Media Group
The fascinating Xz backdoor; a looming AI crisis in peer-review; and news around the infamous Lena image. That’s all on this week’s episode.
https://www.404media.co/404-media-podcast-xz-backdoor/
These Electric Cars Offer Plug & Charge In 2024
date: 2024-04-03, from: Inside EVs News
Only these EVs can simply pull up to a public fast charger, plug in and begin charging. It can be a bit more complicated for other EVs.
https://insideevs.com/news/714654/evs-plug-charge-capable/
Will Biden Make an LNG U-Turn?
date: 2024-04-03, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: India is expecting unusually high temperatures from now through June • A late-season blizzard warning is in place for parts of Michigan • A drought disaster has been declared in Zimbabwe.
THE TOP FIVE
- Tesla’s disappointing quarter rattles investors
Global EV market leaders Tesla and BYD turned in dismal sales for the first three months of the year, sending investors into a panic and prompting speculation about what it all means. Here are a few noteworthy reactions from analysts and insiders:
- “I think both performances in Q1 have been affected by the evolving Chinese EV market, including changing incentives and more competition.” –Fred Lambert at Electrek
- “There may also be a serious demand issue.” –Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner
- “Tesla pioneered mass-market electric cars, but its lineup is aging.” –Auto industry writers Jack Ewing and Neal E. Boudette at The New York Times
- “They need a real sales strategy and can’t rely on cutting price alone.” –Gary Black, managing partner of investment firm Future Fund
- “Any way you put it, it was ugly. Demand is soft. Interest rates are still high. Is Elon’s brand damaging Tesla sales in the U.S.? It’s directionally a negative.” –Gene Munster, managing partner of Deepwater Asset Management
It wasn’t all bad: Other automakers including Rivian, Hyundai, and Toyota reported healthier numbers. Hyundai reported EV sales up more than 60% from the first quarter of 2023. Electric truck maker Rivian modestly surpassed expectations, beating both analysts’ and its own estimates with 13,588 deliveries in the first few months of 2024. Still, Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer says Tesla’s and BYD’s flagging sales may be signaling to investors that a general EV slowdown is coming.
- Report: Biden open to ending LNG pause to get new Ukraine aid
through Congress
The Biden administration is reportedly open to the idea of ending its pause on approvals of new liquified natural gas export terminals if it means the House will green-light an aid package for Ukraine, two White House sources told Reuters. The report follows a Sunday Fox News interview in which House Speaker Mike Johnson hinted that ending the pause might convince his fellow Republicans to support a new aid package. “We want to have natural gas exports that will help unfund Vladimir Putin’s war effort there,” said Johnson. Environmental activists applauded the White House’s January decision to pause new terminal approvals until the Energy Department can study the effect LNG projects have on the climate. A White House spokesman said the Reuters report wasn’t accurate and that the administration wants Republicans to pass the $95 billion bipartisan national security agreement, which includes Ukraine aid. The bill already passed the Senate and would be poised to pass the House, but Johnson has so far refused to bring it to a vote and is now “signaling that a LNG U-turn is table stakes for any Ukraine vote,” explained Politico’s Playbook. The House is back in session next week.
- Researchers test aerosol sprayer for solar geoengineering projects
Engineers in San Francisco yesterday conducted the first outdoor test of a device that could one day be used to cool the planet through solar geoengineering. The Cloud Aerosol Research Instrument, or CARI, is designed to spray sea salt aerosol particles into the air to brighten clouds and reflect some of the sun’s rays. The tool’s first spray test outside a lab took place Tuesday on the flight deck of the Hornet, a decommissioned aircraft carrier that’s been turned into a museum. Solar geoengineering is a contentious topic, and the research team kept this project pretty quiet. The CARI tool will remain on the Hornet for the public to view, and the researchers hope it will “demystify the concept of climate intervention technologies,” according to The New York Times.
- National Weather Service rocked by ill-timed outage
The National Weather Service experienced an outage yesterday morning just as a line of severe storms ripped across the Midwest. The disruption lasted for five hours, during which time about 50 storm alerts, including tornado warnings, were issued across the region. “Meteorologists around the Midwest were without key information that would normally be at their fingertips, and many severe-weather warnings went out to the public late, if at all,” The Washington Post reported. One meteorologist had to rely on a hand-drawn map of tornado warnings from the Weather Service. A spokesman said the agency was working to figure out what went wrong.
- California celebrates ‘average’ snowpack levels
California’s snowpack is registering just above average right now as the precipitation season ends and the warm and dry season begins, state officials announced yesterday. Snowpack is California’s largest source of stored water, so if it’s low in April – as it has been in recent years following historic droughts – residents know they should brace for water shortages in the summer months to come. On the flipside, if the snowpack is way above average, as it was last year, there’s a chance of flooding. But this year, levels are at about 110%, or just above average. Still, Governor Gavin Newsom wants residents to be mindful of their water use because “this time next year, we might be in a different place.” He said the state is preparing for a near-term future in which climate change will make water even more scarce, and is considering options like desalination and water recycling. Here is a look at how 2015 snowpack (top) compares to this year’s snowpack (bottom):
THE KICKER
“There is no guarantee of a just, nourishing, and healthy future for humanity, and hope will not catalyze the change we need.” –The authors of a new paper published in PNAS Nexus, titled “Earth at risk: An urgent call to end the age of destruction and forge a just and sustainable future”
https://heatmap.news/politics/lng-pause-ukraine-aid-house
Security pioneer Ross Anderson dies at 67
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
A man with a list of accolades long enough for several lifetimes, friends remember his brilliance
Obituary Venerable computer scientist and information security expert Ross Anderson has died at the age of 67.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/ross_anderson_obit/
Warriors provide proof of concept with defensive gem against Mavericks
date: 2024-04-03, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Warriors held the Mavericks, one of the best offenses in the NBA, to 100 points.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/03/warriors-defense-mavericks-gem-draymond-green/
In a rush to launch a sub-$22K EV, Renault cranks up work on new Twingo
date: 2024-04-03, from: Electrek Feed
Renault is ramping up development of its upcoming all-electric Twingo, hoping to shave off as much time as possible to launch the car in three years and get an EV for under $22K out to consumers.
The Savvy Senior | Which Cell Phones Are Best for Seniors?
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Signal
Dear Savvy Senior, Can you recommend some good cell phones for seniors? My 79-year-old mother needs to get a new mobile phone and has asked me to help her find one that she would like. — Searching Daughter Dear Searching, For older adults, choosing a cell phone is not a one-size-fits-all […]
The post The Savvy Senior | Which Cell Phones Are Best for Seniors? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/the-savvy-senior-which-cell-phones-are-best-for-seniors/
Kurtenbach: Draymond Green will not let the Warriors go down without a fight
date: 2024-04-03, from: San Jose Mercury News
Vintage Draymond Green is a sight to behold.
As massive earthquake rocks Taiwan and shutters trains, battery-swapping e-scooters rush in
date: 2024-04-03, from: Electrek Feed
The largest earthquake to hit Taiwan this century rattled the entire island overnight, collapsing buildings, damaging roads, and shutting down train and subway services. Gogoro’s electric scooters quickly picked up the slack, providing a key accessible transportation option and offering free rides in the most populated area.
Google bakes new cookie strategy that will leave crooks with a bad taste
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Device Bound Session Credentials said to render cookie theft useless
Google reckons that cookie theft is a problem for users, and is seeking to address it with a mechanism to tie authentication data to a specific device, rendering any stolen cookies useless.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/google_cookie_strategy/
For College Students Living Paycheck To Paycheck, Financial Literacy Is An Investment In The Future
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The LAist
At Los Angeles City College, students turn toward financial literacy to chart a new path.
https://laist.com/news/education/lacc-financial-literacy-understanding-money-community-college
Andy Warhol ‘Mao’ Print Vanishes From a California College’s Vault
date: 2024-04-03, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The 1972 artwork, which the school had never publicly displayed, is worth an estimated $50,000
The financial wisdom of having multiple generations under one roof
date: 2024-04-03, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Multigenerational living arrangements began to decline in the 1950s, thanks to the growth of suburbs, new job opportunities for those willing to move and the rise of senior housing. Yet from 1971 to 2021, the number of people living in multigenerational family households quadrupled. Why? Housing affordability plays a big role. But first: How might Taiwan’s major earthquake impact the global supply chain for semiconductor chips?
How Stability AI’s founder tanked his billion-dollar startup
date: 2024-04-03, from: OS News
It was Stability’s armada of GPUs, the wildly powerful and equally expensive chips undergirding AI, that were so taxing the company’s finances. Hosted by AWS, they had long been one of Mostaque’s bragging points; he often touted them as one of the world’s 10 largest supercomputers. They were responsible for helping Stability’s researchers build and maintain one of the top AI image generators, as well as break important new ground on generative audio, video and 3D models. “Undeniably, Stability has continued to ship a lot of models,” said one former employee. “They may not have profited off of it, but the broader ecosystem benefitted in a huge, huge way.” But the costs associated with so much compute were now threatening to sink the company. According to an internal October financial forecast seen by Forbes, Stability was on track to spend $99 million on compute in 2023. It noted as well that Stability was “underpaying AWS bills for July (by $1M)” and “not planning to pay AWS at the end of October for August usage ($7M).” Then there were the September and October bills, plus $1 million owed to Google Cloud and $600,000 to GPU cloud data center CoreWeave. (Amazon, Google and CoreWeave declined to comment.) ↫ Kenrick Cai and Iain Martin As a Dutch person, I can smell a popping bubble from a mile away, even if tulipmania is most likely anti-Dutch British propaganda. In all seriousness, there’s definitely signs that the insane energy and compute costs of artificial image and video generation in particular are rising at such an insane pace it’s simply unsustainable for the popularity of these tools to just keep rising. Eventually someone’s going to have to pay, and I wonder just how much regular people are willing to pay for this kind of stuff.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139140/139140/
Linux Foundation marshals support for open source alternative to Redis
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Follows the vendor’s decision to overhaul licensing of the popular cache database
Cloud giants AWS, Google, and Oracle have come out in support of a Linux Foundation open source fork of Redis, the popular in-memory database frequently used as a cache, following changes to its licensing.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/open_source_redis_alternative/
RE- POST LEAVE ME ALONE
date: 2024-04-03, from: Howard Jacobson blog
apologies for errors in first post
https://jacobsonh.substack.com/p/re-post-leave-me-alone
Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ checkout system consisted of 1000 people in India watching you shop
date: 2024-04-03, from: OS News
Amazon is phasing out its checkout-less grocery stores with “Just Walk Out” technology, first reported by The Information Tuesday. The company’s senior vice president of grocery stores says they’re moving away from Just Walk Out, which relied on cameras and sensors to track what people were leaving the store with. Just over half of Amazon Fresh stores are equipped with Just Walk Out. The technology allows customers to skip checkout altogether by scanning a QR code when they enter the store. Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. The cashiers were simply moved off-site, and they watched you as you shopped. ↫ Maxwell Zeff Behind every Silicon Valley innovation are underpaid poor people.
Class-Action Lawsuit against Google’s Incognito Mode
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Bruce Schneier blog
The lawsuit has been settled:
Google has agreed to delete “billions of data records” the company collected while users browsed the web using Incognito mode, according to documents filed in federal court in San Francisco on Monday. The agreement, part of a settlement in a class action lawsuit filed in 2020, caps off years of disclosures about Google’s practices that shed light on how much data the tech giant siphons from its users—even when they’re in private-browsing mode.
Under the terms of the settlement, Google must further update the Incognito mode “splash page” that appears anytime you open an Incognito mode Chrome window after …
Total Eclipse of the Sun
date: 2024-04-03, from: National Archives, Pieces of History blog
On Monday, April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Today’s post, an update of Riley Lindheimer’s 2017 piece, looks a solar eclipses past and present. Visit the National Archives website for more information. On April 8, 2024, the continental United States will experience … Continue reading Total Eclipse of the Sun
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2024/04/03/total-eclipse-of-the-sun-2/
Watch a Honda Trail 90 Be Rescued and Then Climb Mountains Like a Proper ADV
date: 2024-04-03, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Why wouldn’t you just point a Trail 90 at the mountains and go?
https://www.rideapart.com/news/714383/honda-trail-90-barn-find-video-off-road-watch/
The rise and fall of 3M’s floppy disk
date: 2024-04-03, from: OS News
Even with that said, those gray-hairs will frequently claim that of the many makers of floppies out there, 3M made the best ones. Given that, I was curious to figure out exactly why 3M became the most memorable brand in data storage during the formative days of computing, and why it abandoned the product. ↫ Ernie Smith I do not remember if I ever held any particular views on which brand of floppy disk (or diskettes, as we called them) was the best. We had a wide variety of brands, and I can’t recall any one of them being better than the other, but then, I’m sure people in professional settings had more experience with the little black squares and thus developed all kinds of feelings about them.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139136/the-rise-and-fall-of-3ms-floppy-disk/
Who should pay to rebuild Gaza?
date: 2024-04-03, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: A joint report from the United Nations and the World Bank suggests it would cost $18 billion to reconstruct infrastructure and buildings in Gaza. We consider where that money might come from. Plus, Taiwan has experienced its most powerful earthquake in 25 years. Then, we take a look at the Chinese-owned online retail platform, Temu. How does it manage to list products so cheaply?
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/who-should-pay-to-rebuild-gaza
LEAVE ME ALONE
date: 2024-04-03, from: Howard Jacobson blog
NO! A brief ejaculation of irritation, for free… High on the list of reasons to loathe the internet are the presumptions of intimacy it facilitates - ‘Hi. Howard, hope this finds you well’ - followed by solicitations for an online review of a service of such small significance you have forgotten it by the time the solicitation for the review arrives.
https://jacobsonh.substack.com/p/leave-me-alone
How this open source LLM chatbot runner hit the gas on x86, Arm CPUs
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Way to whip that LLaMA’s ass
A handy open source tool for packaging up LLMs into single universal chatbot executables that are easy to distribute and run has apparently had a 30 to 500 percent CPU performance boost on x86 and Arm systems.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/llamafile_performance_gains/
PeerJ and Agorà – Società Italiana Di Medicina ad Indirizzo Estetico – to Launch Aesthetic & Regenerative Medicine Hub
date: 2024-04-03, from: PeerJ blog
We are excited to announce a new partnership with Agorà – Società Italiana Di Medicina ad Indirizzo Estetico/Italian Society of Aesthetic Medicine – to develop and launch an Aesthetic & Regenerative Medicine Hub. The Hub will serve as a dynamic platform for researchers and practitioners in the growing field of aesthetic and regenerative medicine. Through […]
The Super Bowl for Meteorologists
date: 2024-04-03, from: Heatmap News
On December 14, 2020, at a little past 1 p.m., meteorologist Matthew Cappucci sat down in the middle of a random field near the Chilean-Argentinian border and cried because it was cloudy.
“To say I was devastated would be an understatement,” he told me.
Cappucci had traveled from his home in Washington, D.C., to Pucón, Chile, to experience a total solar eclipse, only to be denied by an atmospheric river. Under normal circumstances, he could have driven into Argentina, where there were clear skies on the other side of the Andes, but COVID travel restrictions were still in place and the border was closed. His long months of planning and excitement, all dashed by a couple last-minute rain clouds.
All that is to say, Cappucci understands better than most the importance of making an immaculate eclipse-day forecast. In less than a week, millions of Americans will flood the 115-mile-wide, 15-state-long path of totality for the country’s last total solar eclipse until 2044. As they do so, they’ll be relying on the predictions of local and national meteorologists like Cappucci, an atmospheric scientist at MyRadar and the Capitol Weather Gang. “I will say that I’ve never personally been more stressed about an event, nor been looking forward to something as much,” Cappucci told me.
Weather teams across the country have been preparing for April 8, 2024, since as early as 2017, when the last American total solar eclipse occurred. There was a noticeable giddiness among the meteorologists I spoke to; it’s fairly unusual for the public to have a high level of interest in a forecast that isn’t potentially life-threatening. “It’ll be really fun to get to be out there and not have to be in a raincoat or have things flying through the air,” Alex Wilson, an on-air meteorologist at The Weather Channel, joked to me.
But as Cappucci alluded to, there is also an elevated sense of responsibility. Every local weather website in or near the path of totality I checked last week already had information about the eclipse-day forecast on its homepage. National publications like The Washington Post, meanwhile, are publishing new explainers, live maps, and opinion pieces daily in the lead-up to the event. Wilson told me The Weather Channel will have “a bunch of teams” stationed from Texas all the way along the path of totality to Maine; she’ll personally be on hand in Dallas for the station’s Celestron telescope live stream from Love Field.
Cappucci and the rest of the small MyRadar team are also planning to head to Texas for their coverage, which is shaping up to include a live stream and an “Eclipse Week” package that started Monday. (The company has also been giving away MyRadar-branded eclipse glasses in the lead-up to the event.) This time, Cappucci has thought of everything; he even has a StarLink subscription to ensure that the team can maintain internet connectivity if it ends up reporting from a remote corner of the state.
Fox Weather, meanwhile, has 120 meteorologists under its national, regional, and local umbrella, and has been planning its own solar eclipse package since October’s annular eclipse over Texas. The finer details were still coming together last week when I spoke to Fox meteorologist Stephen Morgan, who is based in New York City and will be anchoring from Dallas. But at a minimum, the network plans to have correspondents on air in 10 cities along the path of totality, stretching from Eagle Pass on the Mexican border to Burlington, Vermont. “We’re excited,” Morgan told me, “but I think the elephant in the room is the fact that this is happening in the month of April, which is a very tough month when it comes to forecasting.”
Joe Rao, a longtime television meteorologist and an umbraphile who has seen 13 total solar eclipses, was even more blunt when I asked him what local weather teams would be grappling with this week. “Out of the 12 months of the year, April is probably the worst month to have an eclipse,” he told me.
April is a transitional month in North America, seasonally-speaking. It is a time when severe weather begins to ramp up; it’s the second busiest month for tornadoes. The continent’s three major west-to-east storm paths also become more active. And in places like Texas, which experts said would have the best chance of anywhere in the nation for clear skies on eclipse day, you can still get a south wind that brings moisture off the Gulf of Mexico, giving clouds a chance to develop.
Houston-based Fox meteorologist Aaron Barker is keenly aware of this. He’s been sharing radar models for Central Texas on Twitter and, as of now, the region is looking pretty dicey for cloud cover next week. Like Morgan and Cappucci, though, he said the pressure to get this particular forecast right is intense. “It’s obviously less serious than a hurricane or something like that, but the importance of the forecast for a lot of people is still very, very high,” he told me.
Ironically, that’s also part of the problem; because of the danger of storms like hurricanes and tornadoes, we’ve gotten pretty good at seeing them coming. “The science has improved remarkably over the years trying to hone in on those threats, but cloud cover — my word. That’s a tough one,” Morgan said. Clouds alone aren’t usually a life or death situation. But for people spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to chase a rare celestial phenomenon, the stakes can start to feel that high.
Cappucci gets it: “I’ve done a million kajillion tornadoes, hurricanes, the Northern Lights, the whole nine yards,” he said. “Simply nothing compares to a total solar eclipse.” As he explained, the “most important thing” you can see during an eclipse is the corona — the silvery atmosphere of the sun visible around the moon that “looks like the hairs of an angel because they’re glowing and radiating out into space.” To see it, though, you need clear skies. “Even some high cirrus clouds — yeah, they’re a nuisance, but you can still see some stuff,” Cappucci went on. “But to get overcast rain is really a showstopper.”
Unfortunately, that’s precisely what Barker has been seeing on his radar models for most of Texas, and local meteorology teams in Dallas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas have begun to dampen expectations. Wilson, the Weather Channel meteorologist, admitted that she’s a little “nervous” while cautioning that it’s still early for such predictions. Meanwhile, upstate New York and Vermont, which have the worst records of clear skies this time of year, are shaping up to have the best show in the country.
Rao, the longtime eclipse-chaser, has only been clouded out at two of his 13 experiences. (If you believe in luck, note that he plans to watch this one somewhere upstate.) He has tried to calm some of the panic around the possibility of cloud cover, explaining to me that “it’s not like you’re not going to experience anything” if the sky is overcast on April 8. During one of his cloud-outs, at his first eclipse in Quebec in 1972, he watched the sky go from “battleship gray to weird colorations of saffron and pink. At one point, it was like I was looking at the clouds through the inside of a beer bottle or an iodine bottle.”
Of course, pretty clouds are just consolation; everyone wants perfect viewing conditions. The National Weather Service has even started to post a little jingle alongside its daily cloud-cover updates: “Totality or bust, check the forecast and adjust!” The meteorologists I spoke to universally agreed that they won’t start to put too much stock in the cloud models until Wednesday or Thursday at the earliest.
Wilson said she personally won’t feel confident in the hourly models until at least three or four days out, and even then, you never really know. It was overcast when she was covering the annular eclipse in San Antonio in October and “everybody was kind of freaking out. Then, about 20 minutes before eclipse time, it cleared out.”
That is the annoying truth of modern meteorology: Not even the best computers, radars, almanacs, or atmospheric scientists can predict whether a stray cloud will wander in front of the sun in the minutes before totality.
“I’m just really hoping that April doesn’t do April things and that weather-wise, it cooperates,” Morgan said. “But April is full of surprises — and clouds.”
https://heatmap.news/climate/solar-eclipse-2024-weather
2024-04-01 What’s the plan?
date: 2024-04-03, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
2024-04-01 What’s the plan?
@Shufei asks what we’ll do with all the billionaires if we survive the next decade, the next century. Like I said in that post about Israel and Palestine, it’s worth imagining positive outcomes and then think about the intermediate steps. So, assuming we make it, what happened?
I think the long term change we would need is extremely high taxes as a an explicit redistribution mechanism. We’ll look back and say, “during Late State Capitalism we nearly ended the planet but then we manage to curb inequality and raised inheritance tax to 80%, the max income tax bracket to 90% and the two-digit million wealth tax to 20%.”
The goal would be a society with salaries between 50k and 200k per year and family, and wealth worth one year of salary. Health insurance paid for by taxes. Retirement homes paid for by taxes. Pensions paid for by immediate redistribution (i.e., taxes) instead of investments.
@Shufei commented on this and mentioned land reform:
Rentierism in all facets has virtually no restraints in most of the world. That is sometimes 2⁄3 of capital which a family could have put to family resiliency, instead going to landlords and investment epiphenomina like gentrification. I’m not sure oldschool petite bourgeois distributionism (landed yeomanry) is the big answer there, but under a “permanent jubilee” it might be workable enough to eliminate the scourge of landlordism.
I’m not quite sure what the plan is, though.
For urban planning it seems to be state-sponsored coop housing. As soon as the percentage of sponsored housing goes up, the other rents go down, while still leaving the option of more generous housing being built. This is a lesson that was somewhat forgotten in Zürich for a few decades and that seems to explain a lot about the high rents, here.
For agriculture, what seems to have worked in Switzerland (still not enough but a lot better than in the European Union) is protectionism, direct payment, zoning laws, government fixed pricing on agricultural land, etc. not a single thing but a whole set of interlocking mechanisms. And there is still room for improvement. But I’d defer to groups active in food sovereignty to better answer that question, I guess. Maybe Via Campesina has a plan, for example.
@Sandra just posted two links, one discussing alternatives and one where she looks for the elements of the solution. Let’s talk about them.
Alternatives argues for market socialism, as I read it. In a subsequent comment on fedi she disagreed with this take and said that it was by far the weakest alternative. But I’m not so sure. Planned economy doesn’t work; small nudges is what we have and it doesn’t seem to be working either; and the last option seems to be “utopias and sundry”. That doesn’t sound promising, either. I still think that in the given list, market socialism doesn’t sound bad at all.
Worker-owned cooperatives that trade with each other on a market. That’s it. That’s the whole plan.
Then again, none of the alternatives seem pretty strong.
I’m also not sure how market socialism would work in a global environment. How would we deal with local bad harvests and war? It’s biggest benefit seems to be that it promises incremental improvements. No bloody revolution necessary. And that’s already a plus.
A big upside of this track is that it’s somewhat compatible with the other systems and with present-day market capitalism. This means that it can be implemented piecemeal wherever it make sense and I think that’s awesome.
My best guess at a climate solution is where Sandra ends with a call to regain influence in the media.
Making changes in our own lives is great (eat plants) but ideally we’d want politicians (and their overlords: mass media) to sober up and implement policies to steer industry and the rich.
Here in Switzerland (and elsewhere), the fascists like to complain about left-wing media and fight them and defund them until they have them under their thumb (remember Berlusconi’s media take-over in Italy). So we need to fight them all the way: Decry their meddling and scheming and increase the funding. Demand that they drop the airhead programming and bring back material that helps lift people up, not drag them down. Education and information is key.
I’m not a media person, so I don’t know how to do it. All I can say is that music programs that have interesting discussions surrounding the music work well for me. Podcasts work for me. Series seem to work for some. Just drop the quiz shows and reality-TV and all that order material that only serves to distract.
I guess that in my heart of hearts I feel that humanity’s main problem is sociopaths. These people are always there and they love their person gain and don’t feel other people’s pain. Therefore, the struggle is eternal. There is no solidification, no solution that will hold for generations. Every generation will have to fight this fight. All I can say is that it’s a mistake to let a generation grow up in the belief that politics is not important, that struggle isn’t necessary, or that the end of history has come.
That is never going to be true.
#Economics #Politics #Philosophy
2024-04-03. I should merge a few sentences from this page into my Priorities page.
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-04-01-the-plan
2024-04-03 We need more taxes
date: 2024-04-03, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
2024-04-03 We need more taxes
I recently wondered about our plan for dealing with the rich. A key part is increased taxation.
Whenever I hear talk about the state crumbling (and since my wife works for the federal government in Switzerland I hear plenty of that), the first thing many people think is that the fault lies with the balanced budget amendment (“Schuldenbremse”). And indeed, that is the obvious cause for many of the problems.
Arguing about the balanced budget amendment is doomed, however. Most people don’t understand the difference between household economics and state economics. A much simpler solution exists, one that everybody understands: INCREASE TAXES FFS!
Now I know why countries like Switzerland don’t like to increase taxes: Where would all the oligarchs go? Where would all the great holdings go? And within Switzerland, same thing: as soon as one canton dropped inheritance tax they all feared that the rich would move elsewhere and started dropping their inheritance taxes. And now there is practically none, for descendants. Wealth can stay in the family, like in the good old days of feudalism.
Next up: Fighting tax evasion, fighting the free movement of capital, fighting for a global tax (do not follow the Swiss model of malevolent compliance!), and more. The fighting just never stops, I know. 😩
Progressive taxation is great. The more you own and make, the more you can afford to support the public good. Pay proportionally more!
Taxes are great for redistribution of wealth. We don’t need to argue about Universal Basic Income (I support it!) or new subsidies or anything else like that: We can simply use existing mechanisms to redistribute wealth, reducing that Gini coefficient, increasing happiness, increasing the feeling of living in a fair and just society, increasing the feeling that work can get you to the top.
Taxes are great to fight inflation, too! If the state hands out more money in a time of crisis, that excess money has to be taken back via taxes. This keeps the money flowing (and only money flowing is what counts). Of course you don’t want to bring it back via asocial taxation schemes like a fixed per-head tax, or a VAT, but something like progressive income tax or progressive wealth tax.
This makes sense, even in broken system like ours: COVID money for everybody, everybody is squeezed by landlords and industry, then tax the rich to get the money back. Virtuous cycle!
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-04-03-tax
USG votes to table complaints after hours of debate
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The Undocumented Trojan Success Assembly received approval for incorporation.
The post USG votes to table complaints after hours of debate appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/usg-votes-to-table-complaints-after-hours-of-debate/
Intel’s foundry business bled $7B in 2023 with more to come
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
CEO Gelsinger promises sunny days ahead as he confirms reorg
Revenue at Intel’s foundry business declined in 2023, leading to a $7 billion operating loss, and CEO Pat Gelsinger says this year could produce even nastier numbers as he revealed a reorg to help the chipmaker behave more like its rivals.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/intel_foundry_losses_reorg/
Getting to know Earth’s ionosphere during total solar eclipse
date: 2024-04-03, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
This Raspberry Pi-powered data collection device measures the changes in Earth’s ionosphere particles that happen during partial and total solar eclipse.
The post Getting to know Earth’s ionosphere during total solar eclipse appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/getting-to-know-earths-ionosphere-during-total-solar-eclipse/
AIs as the best of us
date: 2024-04-03, from: Enlightenment Economics
Another book of many out on AI is As If Human: Ethics and Artifical Intelligence by Nigel Shadbolt and Roger Hampson. I found this a very accessible book on AI ethics, possibly because neither author is an academic philosopher (sorry, … Continue reading
http://www.enlightenmenteconomics.com/blog/index.php/2024/04/ais-as-the-best/
Meet Real Madrid’s newest Brazilian superstar
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
As successful as the Brazil to Madrid pipeline has been, the Endrick might just surpass all of his predecessors.
The post Meet Real Madrid’s newest Brazilian superstar appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/meet-real-madrids-newest-brazilian-superstar/
A physicist, philosopher and neuroscientist walk into a bar
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Multiple fields offer explanations for whether or not humans have free will or are bound to a deterministic timeline.
The post A physicist, philosopher and neuroscientist walk into a bar appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/a-physicist-philosopher-and-neuroscientist-walk-into-a-bar/
Stop being ridiculous; Caleb Williams will be the next great one
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Some believe the Heisman-winning quarterback will be a bust for absurd reasons.
The post Stop being ridiculous; Caleb Williams will be the next great one appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/stop-being-ridiculous-caleb-williams-will-be-the-next-great-one/
UK government sets sights on £8B tech procurement overhaul
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Mega framework set to replace earlier deals coming to an end next year
The UK government has launched the procurement of a package of tech deals worth up to £8 billion ($6.36 billion), attempting to consolidate two earlier purchasing arrangements.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/ukgov_8_billion_tech_deals/
Gary Horton | Mike Garcia: The Right Guy, at the Right Time?
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Signal
Sometimes things work out well-timed, all on their own. Just serendipity. We may be experiencing that, within important limitations, with Rep. Mike Garcia. And sometimes, things happen around us – close or far – that may be far more important, far more impactful than we think, due to our disengagement or distance from the […]
The post Gary Horton | Mike Garcia: The Right Guy, at the Right Time? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/gary-horton-mike-garcia-the-right-guy-at-the-right-time/
Barbara Gassner | Dreaming of the Arts
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Signal
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to expand the awareness of art in this community by using the examples of the city of Santa Paula’s Art Museum or the city of Paso Robles’ Artist Center in their town square, where art and music come together for all ages to have the opportunity to view, learn and/or watch […]
The post Barbara Gassner | Dreaming of the Arts appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/barbara-gassner-dreaming-of-the-arts/
Diane Zimmerman | Upholding Indigenous Representation
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Signal
In the wake of the recent William S. Hart Union High School District meeting on March 13, I feel the need to express my gratitude to board member Joe Messina for his unwavering commitment to addressing the Indian mascot issue. Despite encountering resistance from some members, Joe demonstrated admirable persistence in advocating for it to […]
The post Diane Zimmerman | Upholding Indigenous Representation appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/diane-zimmerman-upholding-indigenous-representation/
Eric Anthony Tosses Complete Games Shutout in Santa Barbara’s 3-0 Victory Over St. Bonaventure
date: 2024-04-03, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Dons sit atop the Channel League standings.
The post Eric Anthony Tosses Complete Games Shutout in Santa Barbara’s 3-0 Victory Over St. Bonaventure appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Office hours: Biden’s biggest obstacle?
date: 2024-04-03, from: Robert Reich on Substack
I believe he’ll win, but which potential obstacle deserves most attention?
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hours-bidens-biggest-obstacle
Love unleashed: USC’s ‘Heaven or Hell’ sparks new dating adventures
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The Chinese Graduate Student Association adapted “Single’s Inferno” popular South Korean dating show - into a new kind of dating event for students this Valentine’s Day.
The post Love unleashed: USC’s ‘Heaven or Hell’ sparks new dating adventures appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/love-unleashed-uscs-heaven-or-hell-sparks-new-dating-adventures/
‘Telegraph Road’ forever changed the way I think about music
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
It’s a song about the rise and fall of Detroit. But more so, it’s a song about how art is made, and the road taken to get to a masterpiece.
The post ‘Telegraph Road’ forever changed the way I think about music appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/telegraph-road-forever-changed-the-way-i-think-about-music/
Classifieds – April 3, 2024
date: 2024-04-03, 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 – April 3, 2024 appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/classifieds-april-3-2024/
Turns out AI chatbots are way more persuasive than humans
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Next time you get in a Facebook argument, just let ChatGPT handle it
If you’re scratching your head wondering what’s the use of all these chatbots, here’s an idea: It turns out they’re better at persuading people with arguments. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/ai_chatbots_persuasive/
An open letter to the person watching a movie with recurring sex scenes next to me on the plane
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Humor writer Rachel Kozik finds herself inexplicably bonded to the stranger in seat 17C after pretending not to watch their raunchy historical movie.
The post An open letter to the person watching a movie with recurring sex scenes next to me on the plane appeared first on Daily Trojan.
Today in SCV History (April 3)
date: 2024-04-03, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1917 – Castaic post office established inside Sam Parson’s general store. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-april-3/
Price announces interim dean as Goldman departs
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Genevieve Giuliano will fill Goldman’s position until a permanent dean is found.
The post Price announces interim dean as Goldman departs appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/price-announces-interim-dean-as-goldman-departs/
What ‘coming to terms with death’ really means
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
As we move into adulthood, we should prioritize learning how to properly process grief.
The post What ‘coming to terms with death’ really means appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/what-coming-to-terms-with-death-actually-means/
USC kicks off Earth Month with annual sustainability report
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
USC acknowledges past achievements and looks forward to future goals.
The post USC kicks off Earth Month with annual sustainability report appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/usc-kicks-off-earth-month-with-annual-sustainability-report/
Brazilian icon Caetano Veloso wows LA Music Center
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The renowned bossa singer continued his U.S. farewell tour in excellent fashion.
The post Brazilian icon Caetano Veloso wows LA Music Center appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/brazilian-icon-caetano-veloso-wows-la-music-center/
Community celebrates APIDA culture
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
USC’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month kicked off Tuesday.
The post Community celebrates APIDA culture appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/community-celebrates-apida-culture/
Wear it right, say it right
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Why can we easily pronounce the names of philosophers, but not the brands of clothing we see every day?
The post Wear it right, say it right appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/wear-it-right-say-it-right/
Why do I need mocktails if all I want to do is staff a soup kitchen?
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Recognized student organizations at USC aren’t supposed to be selective. But some service groups extend their membership requirements far beyond University guidelines.
The post Why do I need mocktails if all I want to do is staff a soup kitchen? appeared first on Daily Trojan.
Welcome to AAA: Academic Avoidance Anonymous
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Perfectionism and fears of rejection are the biggest traps to procrastination.
The post Welcome to AAA: Academic Avoidance Anonymous appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/welcome-to-aaa-academic-avoidance-anonymous/
University announces slate of commencement speakers
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The speakers will deliver remarks at places around campus May 10 or earlier.
The post University announces slate of commencement speakers appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/university-announces-slate-of-commencement-speakers/
Advocacy must be inclusive, listening-focused
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Cut scholarships were reinstated, but we must learn from this experience.
The post Advocacy must be inclusive, listening-focused appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/03/community-advocacy-must-be-inclusive-listening-focused/
Meet clickjacking’s slicker cousin, ‘gesture jacking,’ aka ‘cross window forgery’
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Web devs advised to do their part to limit UI redress attacks
Web browsers still struggle to prevent clickjacking, an attack technique first noted in 2008 that repurposes web page interface elements to deceive visitors.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/clickjacking_heir_gesture_jacking/
Egg producing plant shut down after discovery of H5N1 bird flu
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
NATO foreign ministers to discuss proposed military fund for Ukraine
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
STATE DEPARTMENT — NATO foreign ministers meeting Wednesday in Brussels are expected to discuss a proposal to create a $100 billion fund for supporting Ukraine’s military.
The plan, put forward by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, also includes making NATO more directly involved in coordinating military assistance being provided by member countries, a role that has been filled by a U.S.-led coalition of more than 50 countries.
Stoltenberg told reporters Wednesday it is important that support for Ukraine be less dependent on voluntary, short-term offers and more dependent on longer-term NATO commitments. He said Ukrainian commanders would be better able to make battlefield plans with more predictable support.
Stoltenberg said the plan would also send a message to Russia that it cannot win by keeping the war going long enough that Ukraine’s allies tire of providing support.
“Ukraine has urgent needs,” Stoltenberg said. “Any delay in providing support has consequences on the battlefield as we speak.”
A final decision on the proposal would not come until NATO heads of state meet at a summit in July.
Ahead of the Brussels talks, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed calls for the U.S. Congress to release military aid for Ukraine.
“We are at a critical moment where it is absolutely essential to get Ukrainians what they continue to need to defend themselves, particularly when it comes to munitions and air defenses,” Blinken said Tuesday during a visit to a defense facility in Paris with French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
Congress is yet to approve the Biden administration’s supplementary budget request that would provide aid to resupply Ukraine’s armed forces and help the country fend off Russian offensives.
Biden has called on the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives to approve the military and financial aid package. House Republicans have delayed action on it for months, prioritizing domestic issues.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Ukrainian forces will have to retreat “step by step, in small steps,” if Kyiv doesn’t receive the U.S. military aid.
French Foreign Minister Séjourné was in Beijing earlier this week. He said after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that France expects China to convey “clear messages” to its close partner Russia regarding Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
France and China have sought to strengthen ties in recent years. Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning a visit to France in May.
During meetings in Paris in February, Wang told French President Macron that Beijing appreciated his country’s “independent” stance. But Paris has also sought to press Beijing on its close ties with Moscow, which have only grown closer since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. and French officials said they are working closely to effectively prevent the transfer of weapons and materials to Russia from North Korea and China, which could fuel Moscow’s defense industrial base.
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Alibaba signs to explore one-hour rocket deliveries
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Chinese space startup claims it has the tech to make it happen. Yeah, right
Alibaba’s Taobao e-commerce platform is exploring one-hour delivery by – wait for it – rocket.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/taobao_alibaba_rocket_delivery/
Singapore expands regulations for digital payment token service providers
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
More entities will need a license
On Tuesday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) extended digital payment token (DPT) restrictions that seek to prevent money laundering and financing of terrorism.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/singapore_adds_psact/
April 2, 2024
date: 2024-04-03, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
Almost six months have passed since President Joe Biden asked Congress to appropriate money for Ukraine in a national security supplemental bill. At first, House Republicans said they would not pass such a bill without border security. Then, when a bipartisan group of senators actually produced a border security provision for the national security bill, they killed it, under orders from former president Trump.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-2-2024
Israeli military calls airstrike that killed 7 aid workers in Gaza ‘grave mistake’
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
Letter from the Editor: Volume 64 Issue 8
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
From Candy Crush to Skyrim, gaming is a staple in many lives, including those at California State University, Northridge. In the third spring issue, we explore people’s relationships with games…
https://sundial.csun.edu/179955/print-editions/letter-from-the-editor-volume-64-issue-8/
TSMC evacuated fabs after M7.4 earthquake hit Taiwan
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Internet outages recorded as Japan issues tsunami warning
Video A significant earthquake has struck Taiwan, shuttering some of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s chip fabrication plants.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/taiwan_earthquake_tech_impact/
Biden, Xi hold ‘candid and constructive’ call
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
On a call Tuesday, President Joe Biden discussed with Chinese President Xi Jinping a range of high-level issues and reiterated his request that China not use web-based disinformation tools to interfere with the U.S. presidential election. The two leaders also discussed Taiwan – the island China claims – as it prepares to inaugurate a new leader next month. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-xi-hold-candid-and-constructive-call-/7554539.html
Defense drowns CSUN, Matadors suffer fifth consecutive loss
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
The No. 25 Matadors fell to No. 6 Long Beach at the Matador Pool on Saturday afternoon, CSUN’s second-to-last home game before starting their two-game road trip next week. The…
https://sundial.csun.edu/179946/sports/defense-drowns-csun-matadors-suffer-fifth-consecutive-loss/
US ‘outraged’ over Israeli strike that killed 7 aid workers
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
White House national security spokesman John Kirby says the U.S. was “outraged” over the Israeli airstrike that killed seven workers with a Washington-based charity, and he called on Israel to do more to ensure civilians and humanitarian aid workers are protected. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-outraged-over-israeli-strike-that-killed-7-aid-workers/7554529.html
Matadors clinch series win over UC Davis
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
After suffering defeat in the first game of the Friday doubleheader to the Aggies 4-5, CSUN (16-11, 6-3 Big West) bounced back and defeated UC Davis (14-12, 4-5 Big West)…
https://sundial.csun.edu/179937/sports/matadors-clinch-series-win-over-uc-davis/
Matadors upset ranked UC Irvine at home
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
For the first time since 2010, CSUN’s men’s volleyball defeated two top-three-ranked opponents in the same season. Just a week after the Matadors upset two-seed Hawaii in Honolulu, CSUN (11-12,…
https://sundial.csun.edu/179932/sports/matadors-upset-ranked-uc-irvine-at-home/
Microsoft slammed for lax security that led to China’s cyber-raid on Exchange Online
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
CISA calls for ‘fundamental, security-focused reforms’ to happen ASAP, delaying work on other software
A review of the June 2023 attack on Microsoft’s Exchange Online hosted email service – which saw accounts used by senior US officials compromised by a China-linked group called “Storm-0558” – has found that the incident would have been preventable save for Microsoft’s lax infosec culture and sub-par cloud security precautions.…
Simulation reveals all Japanese will have the same surname by 2531
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Konnichiwa, Sato-San
A simulation run by a Japanese professor and released on Monday revealed that by the year 2531, everyone in Japan will have the surname Sato.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/japan_all_sato/
Santa Clarita parks stand the test of time
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Signal
Inheriting a parks deficit upon 1987 incorporation, city has boosted its number of parks by 450% One element that makes Santa Clarita live up to its safe, family-oriented reputation is perhaps its dedication in ensuring that residents of all ages have access to recreational areas and facilities. The city’s parks offerings have grown as the […]
The post <strong>Santa Clarita parks stand the test of time</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/santa-clarita-parks-stand-the-test-of-time/
Exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui must face US fraud indictment
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
new york — A U.S. judge on Tuesday rejected exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui’s bid to dismiss an indictment accusing him of defrauding thousands of investors out of more than $1 billion.
U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan said prosecutors sufficiently alleged that Guo engaged in a pattern of racketeering through four fraud schemes, and that proving it was a matter for trial.
Lawyers for Guo did not immediately respond to requests for comment after business hours.
Guo has pleaded not guilty to 12 criminal charges including securities fraud, wire fraud, unlawful monetary transactions and conspiracy, including for money laundering.
According to the indictment, Guo and his accomplices defrauded investors in a media company, cryptocurrency and other ventures.
The indictment said Guo took advantage of his prolific online presence and hundreds of thousands of followers by promising outsized financial returns and other benefits.
In reality, the scheme allowed the co-conspirators to enrich themselves and family members and fund Guo’s “extravagant lifestyle,” the indictment said.
Two co-defendants face related criminal charges, and one defendant is charged with obstruction.
Also known as Ho Wan Kwok and Miles Kwok, Guo is a critic of China’s Communist Party and a business associate of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s onetime adviser Steve Bannon.
Guo has been jailed in Brooklyn, a borough in New York City, since his March 2023 arrest, with Torres and a federal appeals court rejecting his proposed $25 million bail package last year.
Jury selection in his trial is scheduled to begin on May 20.
Prosecutors also sought the forfeiture of various assets, including bank accounts, a $37 million yacht, a New Jersey mansion, a Bugatti, a Lamborghini and a Rolls Royce.
Guo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Connecticut in February 2022. That case was later combined with the bankruptcies of other companies he controlled. Torres has twice rejected Guo’s bid to stay the bankruptcy proceedings.
COC’s Spring Star Party to return April 12
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Signal
News release The College of the Canyons Canyon Country campus will host its spring 2024 Star Party, a part of its Science Talks series, featuring a presentation by the engineer who oversaw development of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter. The event is scheduled 6:30 to 10 p.m. April 12 at the upper plaza between the new […]
The post COC’s Spring Star Party to return April 12 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/cocs-spring-star-party-to-return-april-12/
Deadly app? West Ranch group becomes national finalist for model linking Snapchat to fentanyl overdoses
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Signal
There may be no high school resumés greater than those of Brandon Chang, Omkar Guha, Kent Gao and Jayden Cho. After being part of a team that was named a finalist in the Modeling the Future Challenge last year, the four West Ranch High School students are at it again as finalists in this year’s […]
The post <strong>Deadly app? West Ranch group becomes national finalist for model linking Snapchat to fentanyl overdoses</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
Service provider for immigrants in detention ordered to pay $811M+ in lawsuit
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
NEW YORK — A company that provides services for immigrants in federal detention was ordered Tuesday to pay more than $811 million in restitution and penalties in a lawsuit alleging it used deceptive and abusive tactics.
Nexus Services must pay roughly $231 million in restitution as well as penalties of $13.8 million to New York, $7.1 million to Virginia and $3.4 million to Massachusetts, according to a judgment filed in federal court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg. The Virginia-based company, its subsidiary Libre by Nexus and its three executives must also each pay more than $111 million in civil penalties.
“This judgment is a victory for thousands of immigrant families who lost their life savings and were targeted and preyed on by Libre,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “Libre exploited vulnerable immigrants and their families to pad its pockets, and that is illegal and unconscionable.”
James joined state attorneys general in Virginia and Massachusetts and the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a 2021 lawsuit that accused the company of violating state and federal consumer protection laws.
The officials said the company promised to secure immigrants’ release on bond while their immigration claims were being processed but concealed and misrepresented the true nature and costs of its services. They said the company collected thousands of dollars in fees above the face value of the bonds and forced immigrants to wear painful ankle monitors.
U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Dillon noted in her decision that the company isn’t a licensed bail bond agent or a surety company certified by the U.S. Treasury but a “service provider that acts as an intermediary between immigration detainees and sureties and their bond agents.”
The company said in a statement that it intends to appeal the judgment, calling it a “shocking departure from normal American jurisprudence” as it was decided “without evidence, without a trial and without a damages hearing.”
“We continue to remain committed to serving our clients — people who suffer and sacrifice for a better life, and who do not deserve to be political pawns in an American legislature or an American courtroom,” the company added.
County gives Cali Lake tenants one year to relocate
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Signal
Residents of Cali Lake RV Resort will have one year before they are forced to find another home after the park was granted a conditional use permit for short-term stays at last week’s hearing in front of the L.A. County Regional Planning Commission. The CUP allows for Stewart Silver, owner of the RV park, to […]
The post County gives Cali Lake tenants one year to relocate appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/county-gives-cali-lake-tenants-one-year-to-relocate/
Hart district chronic absenteeism rate down 9%
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Signal
School districts across the state have seen an uptick in chronic absenteeism since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the California Department of Education, chronic absenteeism rose to 30% in the 2021-22 school year before dropping to 24.9% in 2022-23, which still represents more than double the 12.1% rate from 2018-19. Chronic absenteeism has generally been […]
The post <strong>Hart district chronic absenteeism rate down 9%</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/hart-district-chronic-absenteeism-rate-down-9/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-03, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The Miseducation of Kara Swisher.
https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-miseducation-of-kara-swisher-ongweso
Gas meter struck in Canyon Country collision
date: 2024-04-03, from: The Signal
A gas meter connected to an apartment building was struck on Tuesday afternoon in a traffic collision in Canyon Country, according to officials. According to Giovanni Sanchez, a spokesman for the L.A. County Fire Department, the single-vehicle collision at the 27100 block of Hidaway Avenue was reported at 4:48 p.m. on Tuesday, with units arriving […]
The post <strong>Gas meter struck in Canyon Country collision</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/gas-meter-struck-in-canyon-country-collision/
Blogroll software update
date: 2024-04-03, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News
We’re
starting to test the blogroll software with a few users, but we hit a
problem before we began. The blogroll code includes the CSS for the
Bootstrap Toolkit. I use it as if it were part of the OS, but not
everyone does, and it changes the global values of things. So when you
install it on a page that has its own ideas how things should work, you
can get an unpleasant effect (to put it mildly). So I created a
localized
subset
of Bootstrap’s styles, to be a better guest in other people’s pages.
That is now done. I expect we’ll see more of that kind of thing. Web
plugins are a new area for me. I guess that’s pretty obvious.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/02/005812.html?title=blogrollSoftwareUpdate
Barger Spotlights Availability of Free Parkway Trees During Earth Month
date: 2024-04-03, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Now that Earth Month has arrived, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger wants residents living in Los Angeles County’s unincorporated communities to know they can obtain and plant a parkway tree at no cost.
https://scvnews.com/barger-spotlights-availability-of-free-parkway-trees-during-earth-month/
Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: Daring Fireball
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-reportedly-ditches-just-walk-out-grocery-stores-1851381116
Google to delete billions of records following private browsing settlement
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
Court rulings on abortion could rattle Florida’s November elections
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
June 8: Summer Breeze Concert Series ‘A Night of Motown’
date: 2024-04-03, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Summer Breeze concert series will present “A Night of Motown” on Saturday, June 8, 4-9 p.m. at California Institute of the Arts, 24700 McBean Parkway, Santa Clarita, CA
https://scvnews.com/june-8-summer-breeze-concert-series-a-night-of-motown/
Google to Delete Search Data From Tens of Millions of Users Who Used ‘Incognito’ Mode in Chrome
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: Daring Fireball
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/01/1242019127/google-incognito-mode-settlement-search-history
All State Parks in Big Sur Area Closed Due to Highway 1 Road Slip Out
date: 2024-04-03, from: SCV New (TV Station)
A slip-out of the cliffside underneath Highway 1 in Big Sur has forced the closure of the roadway. California State Parks have announced that due to the road slip out on Highway 1 at Rocky Creek in Monterey County, all state parks in the Big Sur Area are now closed to day use and camping.
https://scvnews.com/all-state-parks-in-big-sur-area-closed-due-to-highway-1-road-slip-out/
Stability AI reportedly ran out of cash to pay its bills for rented cloudy GPUs
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Generative AI darling was on track to pay $99M on compute to generate just $11M in revenues
The massive GPU clusters needed to train Stability AI’s popular text-to-image generation model Stable Diffusion are apparently also at least partially responsible for former CEO Emad Mostaque’s downfall – because he couldn’t find a way to pay for them.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/03/stability_ai_bills/
Yahoo Is Acquiring Artifact, Folding It Into Yahoo News
date: 2024-04-03, updated: 2024-04-03, from: Daring Fireball
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/2/24118436/yahoo-news-artifact-acquisition
Daily EV Recap: Tesla Releases Disastrous Q1 2024 Delivery Results
date: 2024-04-03, 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/2024/04/02/daily-ev-recap-tesla-releases-disastrous-q1-2024-delivery-results/
Crime among leading voter concerns in 2024 election
date: 2024-04-03, from: VOA News USA
Crime in the United States is one of the leading issues on voters’ minds in this year’s US presidential election. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns looks at how Joe Biden and Donald Trump are addressing those concerns.
https://www.voanews.com/a/crime-among-leading-voter-concerns-in-2024-election-/7554110.html
US, Japan eye alliance upgrades during Biden-Kishida meeting
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
seoul, south korea — The United States and Japan are considering ways to strengthen military cooperation, with several reports suggesting the alliance could see one of its biggest structural upgrades in several decades.
The potential changes, meant to better address shared threats such as China and North Korea, will figure prominently when Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets U.S. President Joe Biden during a state visit next week in Washington.
During the visit, U.S. and Japanese officials are expected to agree on a review of the framework that has for decades guided interaction between Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and the approximately 54,000 U.S. troops in Japan.
Specifically, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said, the U.S. military will consider ways to strengthen the functions of its command headquarters in Japan amid concerns that the current arrangement would not allow for adequate coordination during a conflict.
Japan wants the United States to appoint or elevate a four-star commander to oversee U.S. troops in the country. Under the current setup, U.S. Forces Japan is led by a three-star general with little authority over joint operations. That means Japan must coordinate with the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command, located more than 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles) and five time zones away in Hawaii.
The existing arrangement dates to the 1960s, long before China’s massive military buildup and North Korea’s acquisition of nuclear weapons upended Asia’s security dynamic, prompting Japan to take a much more proactive role in world affairs.
It is not clear what changes the United States will propose. When asked by VOA about recent reports on the matter, the White House National Security Council declined to comment. Still, the review is being welcomed by many in Japan’s defense community who have pushed for greater integration between the two countries’ forces.
“This is a very significant step for the alliance,” said Tetsuo Kotani, senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. “By upgrading our command and control relationship, we are actually preparing for war fighting together, so that the two militaries can operate together in a time of crisis.”
More assertive Japan
Until recently, it was difficult to imagine Japan becoming involved in a major conflict. The country has a technically pacifist constitution, which was drafted by the U.S. following Tokyo’s defeat in World War II.
But in recent years, Japan has loosened some of its self-imposed military restraints, allowing it to become a major player in regional and global security.
Most notably, Japan intends to increase its annual defense spending to 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP), up from the traditional 1%, by 2027. This will likely give Japan the world’s third-largest military budget, behind the United States and China.
For the first time, Japan also will deploy missiles that can hit military targets in other countries. In January, Japan signed a deal with the U.S. to purchase up to 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The acquisition has created further urgency for military integration, according to analysts, who note that Japan would rely on the United States for targeting information, damage assessment and escalation management if the missiles were used.
Naoko Aoki, an associate political scientist at the RAND Corporation, said Japan’s increased defense capabilities also necessitate greater cooperation with South Korea, another U.S. ally, which hosts about 28,500 U.S. troops.
“Because if Japan were to use this [counter strike capability] against North Korea, for example, then clearly coordination among the three countries would become very, very important,” she said.
To allow for smoother integration among its own forces, Japan recently announced plans to establish a joint operations headquarters by 2025. The move was also widely discussed as a possible catalyst toward greater integration with U.S. forces.
How to proceed
The U.S. military has not released details about any possible changes to its command structure in Japan. However, media reports point to several possibilities.
Last week, Reuters reported that Washington will consider appointing a four-star commander, as Tokyo has requested, though it is not clear what responsibilities the position would be given.
Some analysts say the appointment of a U.S. four-star general may be too controversial in Japan, because it would be widely seen as a possible precursor to the type of unified command that exists in South Korea, where a U.S. four-star general would control both U.S. and South Korean troops during wartime.
“A four-star general in Japan sounds like too much at this moment,” said Kotani. Instead, he thinks the U.S. could establish some type of joint coordination center to facilitate greater interaction with the Japanese military.
A similar idea was mentioned as a possibility last week by the Financial Times. According to the British newspaper, the task force would be attached to the Hawaii-based U.S. Pacific Fleet but would shift to Japan “over time.”
From Tokyo’s standpoint, such a proposal is “probably better than nothing,” said Jeffrey J. Hall, a Japanese politics specialist at Kanda University of International Studies.
“It does make sense to have decision-making power shifted to a time zone closer to a potential conflict area,” Hall said.
But, Hall said, U.S. officials are likely to proceed cautiously, perhaps wary of big steps that could spark domestic opposition in Japan, where some are uncomfortable with the idea of Japanese troops being controlled by the United States.
Kishida is already in a difficult situation at home. The approval rating of his Cabinet remains near record lows amid long-running economic challenges and a political fundraising scandal in his party.
“For the last year, we’ve been in a situation where Prime Minister Kishida is incredibly unpopular among Japanese voters but loved by the national security folks in Washington,” Hall said.
For Japan, the question is how to achieve greater military integration while maintaining proper levels of independence, given Japan’s constitutional and political restraints, said Aoki. But she maintains that the effort is worthwhile.
“The command and control architecture … hasn’t been changed since the 1960s, but the threat environment has changed greatly,” she said. “So, modernizing this will help the credibility of the alliance and help deterrence in the region.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-japan-eye-alliance-upgrades-during-biden-kishida-meeting-/7554091.html
Wednesday 3 April, 2024
date: 2024-04-02, from: John Naughton’s online diary
In the sticks… In the wilds of Donegal. What estate agents, those masters of euphemism, would call “a development opportunity”. Quote of the Day ”I think that maybe if women and children were in charge we would get somewhere.” James … Continue reading
https://memex.naughtons.org/wednesday-3-april-2024/39312/
a letter from Karl Barth
date: 2024-04-02, from: Ayjay blog
On 7 September 1939, a week after the Wehrmacht invaded Poland and thus began the Second World War, the great theologian Karl Barth wrote, in German, from his home in Switzerland to a woman in England. “You too must be shocked by the events of our day,” he wrote. “But I am happy that this […]
https://blog.ayjay.org/a-letter-from-karl-barth/
Leading with Emotional Agility in the New Workforce Culture – A Panel Discussion sponsored by Antioch University and the SBCC School of Extended Learning.
date: 2024-04-02, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Antioch University Santa Barbara will host a panel discussion in honor of the UN’s International Women’s Day for the April
The post Leading with Emotional Agility in the New Workforce Culture – A Panel Discussion sponsored by Antioch University and the SBCC School of Extended Learning. appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Feds finally decide to do something about years-old SS7 spy holes in phone networks
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
And Diameter, too, for good measure
The FCC appears to finally be stepping up efforts to secure decades-old flaws in American telephone networks that are allegedly being used by foreign governments and surveillance outfits to remotely spy on and monitor wireless devices.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/fcc_ss7_security/
Biden hosts scaled-down Ramadan events amid Gaza outrage
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
washington — President Joe Biden is meeting with American Muslim community leaders on Tuesday amid outrage from Muslim and Arab Americans over his administration’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
“Continuing his tradition of honoring the Muslim community during Ramadan, President Biden will host a meeting with Muslim community leaders to discuss issues of importance to the community,” a White House official said in a statement sent to VOA.
“He will be joined by Vice President [Kamala] Harris, senior Muslim Administration officials and senior members of his National Security team.”
Following the meeting, the official said they will “host a small breaking of the fast, prayer, and Iftar” with “a number” of senior Muslim administration officials.
Unlike in previous years, American Muslim leaders were not included in the White House iftar, or breaking of the fast meal. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the leaders had declined and asked for a “working group meeting” instead.
“They wanted to make sure that there was an opportunity to discuss the issues at hand,” she said during her briefing Tuesday in response to a VOA question. “We listened, we heard, and we adjusted the format to be responsive so that we can get feedback from them.”
Since taking office, Biden has hosted Muslim community leaders at the White House, a tradition that began with President Bill Clinton in 1996. Except for President Donald Trump in 2017, Republican and Democratic presidents have hosted an iftar dinner during Ramadan or an Eid al-Fitr reception to mark the end of the month of fasting.
Past Ramadan and Eid celebrations usually included diplomats from majority-Muslim countries. Embassies that VOA reached out to said they have not received an invitation this year.
Many decline invitation
Even with the meeting-only format, many community leaders declined to attend, and Biden will likely meet with only a handful of them.
In a social media post, Muslim advocacy group Emgage Action said they had asked Biden to “postpone this gathering and to convene a proper policy meeting with representatives of the community’s choosing rather than those selected by the White House.”
The administration “can and should leverage its enormous support for Israel and begin to take demonstrable actions” including to demand an immediate and permanent cease-fire and unfettered access for humanitarian aid,” the group said.
“Without more Palestinian voices and policy experts in the room, we do not believe today’s meeting will provide for such an opportunity.”
Many who have attended White House Ramadan events in the past said they had no idea about the meeting until VOA reached out to them.
“It’s probably hand-picked people who have been vetted and who have been guaranteed not to speak up and be critical of the president’s policies,” said Jawaid Kotwal, board member of the Afghan American Foundation.
Several White House and Biden campaign events around the country have been marred with disruptions by pro-Palestinian protesters. His constituents — including many Muslim and Arab Americans — have signaled their outrage. Hundreds of thousands voted “uncommitted” in Democratic primary elections in various states.
A Pew survey released Tuesday shows that only 36% of American Muslims view Biden positively. The same survey shows that only 6% believe the U.S. is striking the right balance between the Israelis and Palestinians. Sixty percent say Biden favors the Israelis too much.
‘A time of mourning, not celebration’
“The American Muslim community has made it very clear they have no interest in breaking bread with President Biden while his administration is enabling the starvation and slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell told VOA. Mitchell is deputy executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also known as CAIR.
As the death toll in Gaza approaches 33,000 people, it’s clear that many American Muslims are uncomfortable with the thought of celebrating at the White House.
“This is a time of mourning, not celebration, so we’re only accepting iftars that benefit the poor, refugees and the oppressed,” Salam Al-Marayati, founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, told VOA.
CAIR and other Muslim groups and anti-war organizations are hosting a “People’s White House Ceasefire Now Iftar” in front of the White House on Tuesday.
Biden also faces dissent from some administration staff members, particularly those with Arab or Muslim backgrounds, including Tariq Habash, a Palestinian American and former policy adviser at the Department of Education who resigned in protest in January.
The president is “attempting to break bread with Muslim staffers while finalizing the sale of billions of dollars in warplanes to Israel as its extremist government targets humanitarian workers and hospitals,” Habash told VOA.
Biden’s meeting with American Muslims came amid reports that seven aid workers, including at least one dual-nationality American from the NGO World Central Kitchen, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Monday.
The organization, led by celebrity chef Jose Andres, has been leading the efforts to get food to Gaza via a ship from Cyprus.
Iuliia Iarmolenko, Sayed Aziz Rahman, Yuni Salim and Iram Abbasi contributed to this report.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-hosts-scaled-down-ramadan-events-amid-gaza-outrage/7554030.html
Survey Says ‘Meh’: Santa Barbara County Voters Not in Favor of Tax Hike
date: 2024-04-02, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Survey respondents reject idea of putting a sales tax, library tax, or parcel tax on November’s ballot.
The post Survey Says ‘Meh’: Santa Barbara County Voters Not in Favor of Tax Hike appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
UC Santa Barbara Under Federal Discrimination Probe
date: 2024-04-02, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
While the reasons behind the Department of Education’s investigation are still unclear, it comes on the heels of anti-Zionist messages being posted throughout the school’s MultiCultural Center.
The post UC Santa Barbara Under Federal Discrimination Probe appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/02/uc-santa-barbara-under-federal-discrimination-probe/
This ‘spider’ crane enables an offshore wind turbine to virtually build itself
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
Norway’s WindSpider has designed a lightweight crane system that builds offshore wind turbines virtually on its own once the tower is up.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/spider-crane-offshore-wind-turbine/
Microsoft announces prices for the Windows 10 Extended Security Update program
date: 2024-04-02, from: OS News
Windows 10 is reaching end of support on October 14, 2025, so if you’re still using Windows 10 – and let’s face it, if you’re somehow forced to still use Windows, better 10 than 11 – your time is running out. Luckily, end of support is a bit of a nebulous term when it comes to Microsoft products, and many among you, especially those managing larger fleets of systems, will know Microsoft offers something called the Extended Security Update (ESU) program, wherein you get additional security updates even after end of support. Microsoft just unveiled the prices for this program for Windows 10. While there’s several schemes, the one most of you will be interested in is this one: With the 5-by-5 activation method, you’ll download an activation key and apply it to individual Windows 10 devices that you’ve selected for your ESU program. Manage it via scripting or the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT), among other methods. You can use on-premises management tools such as Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) with Configuration Manager to download and apply the updates to your Windows 10 devices. The 5-by-5 activation subscription will establish the Year One list price of ESU for Windows 10. This is the base license and will cost $61 USD per device for Year 1, similar to the Windows 7 ESU Year 1 price. ↫ Jason Leznek Honestly, that’s not an egregious price, but do note that this price doubles every year for three years total, and note that if you want to start using ESU in year two, you’ll have to pay for year one as well. In other words, pricing ramps up fast. Furthermore, this program only includes security updates – no new features or anything like that, and it doesn’t include support either. So, if you’re still using Windows 10 after October 14, 2025, you’ll either have to pay up, have an insecure system, downgrade to Windows 11, or move to a better alternative. Choice’s yours.
Toi, Toi, Toi! Acclaimed Soloists to Dazzle at Choral Society Gala
date: 2024-04-02, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
(Santa Barbara, CA) The Choral Society is thrilled to announce a star-studded lineup of soloists for their highly anticipated opera-themed gala
The post Toi, Toi, Toi! Acclaimed Soloists to Dazzle at Choral Society Gala appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
The annual visit to the Woodburn Tulip Farm
date: 2024-04-02, from: Matt Haughey blog
Every year around late March/early April I check out the Woodburn Tulip Farm website to see what their field report is looking like. For the past few weeks I've been obsessively watching cherry blossoms on trees instead and totally forgot about the tulip farm until I saw
https://a.wholelottanothing.org/the-annual-visit-to-the-woodburn-tulip-farm/
X’s Grok AI is great – if you want to know how to hot wire a car, make drugs, or worse
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Elon controversial? No way
Grok, the edgy generative AI model developed by Elon Musk’s X, has a bit of a problem: With the application of some quite common jail-breaking techniques it’ll readily return instructions on how to commit crimes. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/elon_musk_grok_ai/
Lilbits: This DIY “ITX Laptop” is ridiculous (in the best way possible)
date: 2024-04-02, from: Liliputing
There’s no shortage of DIY projects where people have attempted to build their own laptops. But the ITX Laptop from SFF.NETWORK users APU_enthusiast may be one of the most unusual I’ve ever seen. Basically it’s portable desktop with an ITX (170 x 170mm) motherboard featuring an Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N chip, and a chunky […]
The post Lilbits: This DIY “ITX Laptop” is ridiculous (in the best way possible) appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/lilbits-this-diy-itx-laptop-is-ridiculous-in-the-best-way-possible/
Mayor Cameron Smyth | Buckle Up for the 2024 Cowboy Festival!
date: 2024-04-02, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The aroma of savory barbecue wafting through the air, the joy of line dancing with friends and the chance to travel back in time to the Wild West are all experiences that make the city of Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival so unique.
https://scvnews.com/mayor-cameron-smyth-buckle-up-for-the-2024-cowboy-festival/
Microsoft is working on an Xbox AI chatbot
date: 2024-04-02, from: OS News
Microsoft is currently testing a new AI-powered Xbox chatbot that can be used to automate support tasks. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the software giant has been testing an “embodied AI character” that animates when responding to Xbox support queries. I understand this Xbox AI chatbot is part of a larger effort inside Microsoft to apply AI to its Xbox platform and services. ↫ Tom Warren at The Verge I’m convinced. This is the future. Artificial intelligence, AI, no quotation marks. Please, Microsoft. Train this AI on Xbox voice chat and messages. What could possible go wrong?
https://www.osnews.com/story/139130/microsoft-is-working-on-an-xbox-ai-chatbot/
Hart Senior Selected as Finalist in Prestigious STEM Competition
date: 2024-04-02, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The William S. Hart Union High School District has announced that Zachary Jones, a 12th grade student dually enrolled at Learning Post Academy and Hart High School, has been selected as a finalist in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair
https://scvnews.com/hart-senior-selected-as-finalist-in-prestigious-stem-competition/
65 Years Ago: NASA Selects America’s First Astronauts
date: 2024-04-02, from: NASA breaking news
On Nov. 5, 1958, NASA, newly established to lead America’s civilian space program, formally established the Space Task Group (STG) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to implement one of the nation’s top priorities – to develop a spacecraft capable of sending humans into space and returning them safely to Earth. In January […]
https://www.nasa.gov/history/65-years-ago-nasa-selects-americas-first-astronauts/
Discord turns to ads
date: 2024-04-02, from: OS News
Quests are a way for players to discover games and earn rewards for playing them on Discord. We started experimenting with them over the last year, and millions of you opted in and completed them. We’ve heard great feedback from developers who partnered with us to create them and from many of you who completed one. If you didn’t see firsthand, the “May the 4th” Fortnite Quest is a great example. Now, we’re opening up sponsored Quests to more game developers. ↫ Peter Sellis That’s a lot of fancy, hip words to say Discord is going to show you ads. I have an odd relationship with Discord – it holds a special place in my heart because through Discord is how I met my now-wife and mother of our children, so understandably, the chat platform has a special meaning for us. At the same time, though, Discord has been getting steadily worse and less usable over the years, and while my wife isn’t too bothered by that, I certainly am – and so we moved our instant messaging over to Signal instead. My wife still uses Discord with her friends. Seeing a platform that used to be quite usable, and easily the best way to manage a group of geographically spread-out friends, fall prey to the same kind of bullshit so many other platforms have succumbed to. Discord today is almost unrecognisable to what it was like 6-7 years ago, and now there’s even going to be ads – the final nail in the coffin for the possibility of me ever going back to using it.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139128/discord-turns-to-ads/
GM’s U.S. EV Sales Decreased 21% In Q1 2024 As Bolt EVs Fade
date: 2024-04-02, from: Inside EVs News
The company’s Ultium EVs continued to ramp-up, with Cadillac Lyriq sales surging to almost 6,000 units.
https://insideevs.com/news/714708/gm-us-ev-sales-2024q1/
Toyota’s EV sales continue lagging in the US as Hyundai and Kia plow ahead
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
Toyota’s EV sales were up 9% in the first three months of 2024, but only 1,897 Toyota electric vehicles were handed over in the US. That’s only a fraction of Toyota’s over 486,000 total Q1 US sales.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/toyotas-us-ev-sales-continue-lagging-hyundai-kia-plow-ahead/
@Tomosino’s Mastodon feed (date: 2024-04-02, from: Tomosino’s Mastodon feed)
I got this thingy to hold my book while I’m in bed. it rules.
https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/112203775380808573
‘Beyond the Palette’ Art Exhibit at The MAIN
date: 2024-04-02, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The city of Santa Clarita is proud to announce “Beyond the Palette,” a group exhibition by artists of the LELA (Lantern of the East – Los Angeles) International Artists organization
https://scvnews.com/beyond-the-palette-art-exhibit-at-the-main/
PSA To New Full Self-Driving Testers: Teslas Are Not Autonomous
date: 2024-04-02, from: Inside EVs News
Elon Musk is pushing Tesla’s controversial driver-assistance software harder than ever. Just remember it isn’t actually self-driving.
https://insideevs.com/news/714712/tesla-full-self-driving-trial/
First Human Case of Bird Flu in Texas Confirmed, Following Infections in Cattle—Here’s What to Know
date: 2024-04-02, from: Smithsonian Magazine
This marks only the second time in U.S. history that a human has contracted the H5N1 strain of avian influenza
Amazon to lure upstarts with $500K in AWS AI credits each
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Come on in, drill into Anthropic and Mistral – that’s not the sound of a door slamming shut behind you
Amazon will furnish recent AI startups partnered with Y Combinator with $500k in credits each on Amazon Bedrock to use with third-party models like Anthropic and Mistral AI.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/amazon_ai_credits/
Upcoming new book from Steven Johnson: The Infernal Machine, “a new book…
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044309-upcoming-new-book-from-st
Election Countdown, 217 Days to Go: As ‘Faith’ Curdles Into Cult.
date: 2024-04-02, from: James Fallows, Substack
The most useful advice about religion-and-politics in the time of America’s second Catholic president comes from the first Catholic in the White House, 64 years ago.
https://fallows.substack.com/p/election-countdown-217-days-to-go
Malfunctioning NYC AI Chatbot Still Active Despite Widespread Evidence It’s Encouraging Illegal Behavior
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Markup blog
Mayor Eric Adams said the city is working to fix the problems, and the site now advises visitors to “not use its responses as legal or professional advice”
Santa Ynez Valley Men Who Stole, Burned Pride Flags Ordered to 12-Month Diversion Program
date: 2024-04-02, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The LGBTQ organization that consulted with the DA’s Office on the sentence called it “a small step toward justice.”
The post Santa Ynez Valley Men Who Stole, Burned Pride Flags Ordered to 12-Month Diversion Program appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Why Yahoo bought Artifact’s leftovers
date: 2024-04-02, from: Om Malik blog
TLDR: This is a smart move for Yahoo. It didn’t cost them much. I would say that this was cheaper than the “cheap and cheerful” category. Second, it gives Yahoo News a chance to modernize. ** “A lot of organizations care deeply about news and personalized content and I think they’re looking around and saying …
https://om.co/2024/04/02/why-yahoo-bought-artifact-leftovers/
The Art World Is Reevaluating Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Controversial Partnership
date: 2024-04-02, from: Smithsonian Magazine
“Untitled,” a highlight of the duo’s collaboration in the 1980s, could fetch $18 million at auction
Apple wouldn’t let Jon Stewart interview FTC Chair Lina Khan, TV host claims
date: 2024-04-02, from: OS News
Before the cancellation of The Problem with Jon Stewart on Apple TV+, Apple forbade the inclusion of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan as a guest and steered the show away from confronting issues related to artificial intelligence, according to Jon Stewart. ↫ Samuel Axon at Ars Technica Just when you thought Apple and Tim Cook couldn’t get any more unlikable.
What’s Behind Tesla’s Faceplant?
date: 2024-04-02, from: Heatmap News
The electric vehicle market is anyone’s game.
That’s the takeaway from this year’s first tranche of EV sales data, which saw the two global market leaders — Tesla and BYD — turn in dismal sales for the first three months of the year. Those were in contrast to other automakers including Rivian, Hyundai, and Toyota, all of which reported healthier numbers.
Tesla’s deliveries, which Wall Street uses as a decent proxy for sales, came up well short of analysts’ expectations at 386,810 vehicles for the quarter — down about 9% from the first quarter of 2023. Analysts have consistently cut their estimates for this quarter’s deliveries over the past few weeks, but even so, the real numbers came in well below even the lowest expectations.
“I was a little bit bearish on Tesla for this quarter — and I should’ve been darker,” Corey Cantor, an EV analyst for BloombergNEF, a new-energy research firm, told me.
But despite those meager results, Tesla edged out BYD on sales for the quarter. The Chinese EV giant — whose new $9,000 Seagull hatchback has stunned Western automakers and triggered protectionist impulses around the world — reported far less stunning sales data. BYD sold 300,114 vehicles in the first three months of 2024, down 42% compared to a year before.
That means Tesla is once again the world’s No. 1 seller of electric vehicles, after ceding that title to BYD last year. But little else is going right for Elon Musk’s car company.
Tesla has an aging vehicle line-up, and its newest North American offering, the Cybertruck, has not impressed reviewers. By its own admission, the company is struggling to scale up the Cybertruck’s production as well.
Perhaps most worrying for Musk is that Tesla produced almost 47,000 more vehicles during the first quarter than it sold, suggesting that it is beginning to hit real limits on customer demand for its cars.
“There must be some kind of supply-demand imbalance here,” Cantor said. Tesla has slashed its vehicle prices by thousands of dollars over the past year in order to stimulate demand. Tesla doesn’t break out its sales data by region, which is a shame because that could help clarify what is going on. If Tesla’s sales are flagging in China and Europe, that could be because consumers are flocking to a new set of EV options. A sales decline in the U.S. would indicate that one of the company’s cash cows, the Model Y crossover, is beginning to falter.
“If you look at this, you can see where there are yellow flags here,” Cantor said. “Tesla can explain it however you want but the numbers speak for themselves. Anytime you’re down 9% year on year is a challenge.”
It’s harder to know how to read BYD’s fillip. Other Chinese automakers reported surging March sales. Xiaomi, a Chinese phone maker, has reported almost 90,000 preorders for its first-ever electric car, the SU7. Cantor speculated that the hiccup may be due to Lunar New Year, which tends to depress sales in January and February.
Elsewhere in the car market, other EV makers did better — although few reported surging sales. One exception was Hyundai, which reported EV sales up more than 60% from the first quarter of 2023.
General Motors’ electric vehicle sales fell 20.5% compared to the first quarter of 2023, even as the company’s overall sales of personal-use vehicles rose slightly. It reported higher sales for the Lyriq, its EV SUV, Cantor said.
Toyota says that it sold 206,850 “electrified” cars across North America in the first quarter, a gain of 74% over the year before. “Electrified,” however, is a Toyota term of art — it includes conventional hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. About a third of Toyota’s North American sales now fall in this category.
The electric truck maker Rivian modestly surpassed expectations, beating both analysts’ and its own estimates with 13,588 deliveries in the first few months of 2024. While its total production of 13,980 vehicles for the quarter came in marginally below predictions, Rivian reaffirmed its earlier estimates for full-year production.
Even so, by late afternoon, Rivian’s stock was down 5% for the day. That might be partially explained by the planned weeks-long shutdown of its factory in Normal, Illinois, scheduled to begin at the end of this week. While the pause will allow for renovations designed to reduce costs and increase efficiency, it will also mean that next quarter is guaranteed to be a “wash” for Rivian, Cantor said.
As of last quarter, Rivian was losing about $43,000 on every vehicle it produced. Whether it can stem those losses and get on the “bridge to profitability” executives say is within sight remains, apparently, an open question for shareholders. Rivian is now focused on surviving long enough to sell the R2 SUV. “Every single thing we do within the business is focused on driving costs on this,” RJ Scaringe, Rivian’s CEO, told CNBC last month.
Tesla’s and BYD’s flagging sales may also be signaling to investors that a general EV slowdown is coming. And then, of course, there’s the general malaise that descended over the EV industry in 2023 as the big legacy American automakers reported sluggish sales for their splashy new electric models and planned to scale back production in the coming year. Though the data don’t present as clear a picture as the doomers might suggest, it is undeniable that, as Princeton energy systems professor and Shift Key podcast co-host Jesse Jenkins wrote for Heatmap, “the vibes are bad.”
“The narrative now will be harsh on Tesla and BYD,” Cantor said. “But if you’re another automaker, you should see this as an opportunity. We’re in the early stages here. None of this is written.”
https://heatmap.news/electric-vehicles/tesla-rivian-q1-deliveries
Xiaomi SU7 Comparable To Audis, Makes No Rookie Mistakes: YouTuber
date: 2024-04-02, from: Inside EVs News
Upstarts and legacy carmakers had nightmares while making good EVs, but Xiaomi has knocked it out of the park on the first attempt.
https://insideevs.com/news/714696/xiaomi-su7-review-makes-no-rookie-mistakes/
Redis’ license change and forking are a mess that everybody can feel bad about
date: 2024-04-02, from: OS News
Redis, a tremendously popular tool for storing data in-memory rather than in a database, recently switched its licensing from an open source BSD license to both a Source Available License and a Server Side Public License (SSPL). The software project and company supporting it were fairly clear in why they did this. Redis CEO Rowan Trollope wrote on March 20 that while Redis and volunteers sponsored the bulk of the project’s code development, “the majority of Redis’ commercial sales are channeled through the largest cloud service providers, who commoditize Redis’ investments and its open source community.” Clarifying a bit, “cloud service providers hosting Redis offerings will no longer be permitted to use the source code of Redis free of charge.” This generated a lot of discussion, blowback, and action. The biggest thing was a fork of the Redis project, Valkey, that is backed by The Linux Foundation and, critically, also Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Oracle, Ericsson, and Snap Inc. Valkey is “fully open source,” Linux Foundation execs note, with the kind of BSD-3-Clause license Redis sported until recently. You might note the exception of Microsoft from that list of fork fans. ↫ Kevin Purdy at Ars Technica Moves like this never go down well.
Chevy is offering Bolt EV owners up to $3,000 to buy the new all-electric Equinox
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
If you own (or lease) a 2017 Chevy Bolt EV model or newer, you could be eligible for up to $3,000 off the new fully electric Equinox. Chevy is offering big incentives as it looks to ramp up EV sales in 2024.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/chevy-offering-bolt-ev-owners-cash-buy-new-equinox-ev/
Lawsuit claims Meta hobbled Facebook Watch to help Netflix
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Advertiser antitrust lawsuit says claimed deal with Netflix is anticompetitive
Meta allegedly starved its Facebook Watch video service to appease Netflix and sustain its ad monopoly, advertisers suing the biz have claimed.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/meta_facebook_watch_netflix/
Song Lyrics Have Become Angrier, Simpler and More Repetitive, Scientists Find
date: 2024-04-02, from: Smithsonian Magazine
An analysis of more than 12,000 rap, pop, country, rock and R&B songs from the past 50 years shows more emotional and straightforward lyrics
Switching From Xcode to Neovim
date: 2024-04-02, from: Michael Tsai
Wojciech Kulik: To give you an idea what it means, here is a simple example. Let’s say you want to delete the current line in Xcode. You would probably use the mouse to select the line, then press cmd + x to cut it or backspace to delete it. In Neovim, you can do the […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/04/02/switching-from-xcode-to-neovim/
Where iPad Fits In
date: 2024-04-02, from: Michael Tsai
Matt Birchler: Well, nearly 2 months later and it turns out the Vision Pro replaced precisely zero of my iPad use cases, and every day I find myself thinking, “sure would be nice if I had an iPad right now.”[…]The iPad is not a good replacement for a Mac or an iPhone for me, but […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/04/02/where-ipad-fits-in/
Oregon Passes Right-to-Repair Law
date: 2024-04-02, from: Michael Tsai
Karl Bode (Hacker News, MacRumors): Oregon has officially become the seventh state (behind New York, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Maine, and Minnesota) to pass “right to repair” legislation, making it easier and more affordable for consumers to independently repair their own electronics. […]But it also takes aim at “parts pairing,” or the practice of preventing you […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/04/02/oregon-passes-right-to-repair-law/
AI and the Web Developer Job Market
date: 2024-04-02, from: Michael Tsai
Baldur Bjarnason: We have the worst job environment for tech in over two decades and that’s with the “AI” bubble in full force. If that bubble pops hard before the job market recovers, the repercussions to the tech industry will likely eclipse the dot-com crash. […] Not every CEO is predicting the end of programming […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/04/02/ai-and-the-web-developer-job-market/
Subaru just slashed the cost of leasing a 2023 Solterra by 40%
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
Subaru just announced that it’s leasing its 2023 Solterra Premium for zero down, $241 per month for 36 months, plus tax and license.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/subaru-cuts-solterra-lease-by-40-percent/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Google Podcasts is gone — and YouTube Music can’t replace it.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/2/24118873/google-podcasts-shutdown-graveyard
Why do we do what we know is bad for us? Here’s…
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044315-why-do-we-do-what
SBART Press Luncheon: Maia Holmes and Zeke Adderley Honored as Athletes of the Week
date: 2024-04-02, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Daisy Gemberling received the Phil Womble Ethics in Sports Award.
The post SBART Press Luncheon: Maia Holmes and Zeke Adderley Honored as Athletes of the Week appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
No joke: FTC boss goes on the Daily Show and is told Apple tried to block her
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Land of the Free has lost its way in quest for profits
Comment Generally the head of US government agencies and comedy don’t mix, but on Monday night Lina Khan, boss of the Federal Trade Commission, was on the Daily Show recounting how the agency is going after Amazon, Facebook and others over monopolistic practices. She also got evidence of her persona non grata status with Cook & Co.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/ftc_boss_apple_daily_show/
IndieWeb Carnival: Good enough and the search for perfection
date: 2024-04-02, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>There’s a specific type of beauty that can only be found in the most perfect of creations. Pure shapes, smooth surfaces. Some objects can only be the result of someone not settling for “good enough”.</p>There’s also another type of beauty, the one Japanese call wabi-sabi, the appreciation of things that are imperfect.
I don’t see these two things as being opposite to each other, but rather complementary. Like everything in life, the creation process is an act of balance.
At times I feel trapped between the two. Every day, whether I’m writing, coding or designing, a part of me strives for perfection while another is painfully aware that perfection is a mirage. What looks perfect now won’t look perfect tomorrow. I grow, I evolve, I change and my definition of perfection evolves with me.
This post won’t be perfect but it’s going to be “good enough”. All my posts are. They have to be. Because a perfect post would never get posted. Perfection and the real world are like parallel lines in descriptive geometry whose crossing point can only be found at infinity.
It’s why deadlines are important. It’s why constraints are important. Learning to embrace “good enough” is not easy but it’s a necessary step if you want to achieve anything.
This post was part of April’s IndieWeb Carnival, hosted by Aaron “RisingThumb” Leonard. I look forward to reading your entry.
<hr>
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NASA Aeronautics Monthly STEM Newsletter
date: 2024-04-02, from: NASA breaking news
2024 NASA Aeronautics Monthly STEM Newsletter: Issue 35 NASA Aeronautics Monthly STEM Newsletter: Issue 34 Aeronautics STEM
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-aeronautics-monthly-stem-newsletter/
Demand For EVs Is Still Outpacing Plug-In Hybrids: Report
date: 2024-04-02, from: Inside EVs News
Vehicles from Stellantis made up nearly half of all PHEVs sold in the U.S. during 2023.
https://insideevs.com/news/714684/ev-phev-demand-outpace-report/
New York inmates sue to watch solar eclipse after state orders prisons locked down
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
A Young Sailor’s Remains Have Been Identified Eight Decades After He Died at Pearl Harbor
date: 2024-04-02, from: Smithsonian Magazine
David Walker was a 19-year-old mess attendant aboard the USS “California” when Japan launched its surprise attack
The Supreme Court May Give Us Another 2008 Financial Crisis
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Lever News
A new case could decimate state-level consumer protections against predatory banking practices.
https://www.levernews.com/the-supreme-court-may-give-us-another-2008-financial-crisis/
A Home for Astronauts around the Moon
date: 2024-04-02, from: NASA breaking news
The Gateway space station’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) module, one of two of Gateway’s habitation elements where astronauts will live, conduct science, and prepare for lunar surface missions, is one step closer to launch following welding completion in Turin, Italy. HALO, shown in this image from Oct. 23, 2023, will next undergo a series […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/a-home-for-astronauts-around-the-moon/
Veronica T. Pinnick Put NASA’s PACE Mission through Its Paces
date: 2024-04-02, from: NASA breaking news
To achieve the impossible, Veronica T. Pinnick, who put NASA’s PACE mission through its prelaunch paces, says you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Name: Dr. Veronica T. Pinnick Title: Plankton Aerosol, Cloud and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Integration and Test (I&T) manager Formal Job Classification: Chemist Organization: Integration and Test Branch, Electrical Engineering Division […]
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/pace/veronica-t-pinnick-put-nasas-pace-mission-through-its-paces/
LASD Seeks Public’s Help to Locate Missing Santa Clarita Woman
date: 2024-04-02, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Missing Persons Unit investigators are asking for the public’s help locating at-risk missing person, Margaret Rose Deamborossio
https://scvnews.com/lasd-seeks-publics-help-to-locate-missing-santa-clarita-woman/
NASA Partnerships Bring 2024 Total Solar Eclipse to Everyone
date: 2024-04-02, from: NASA breaking news
On Monday, April 8, NASA and its partners will celebrate the wonders of the total solar eclipse as it passes over North America, with the path of totality in the United States, from Kerrville, Texas, to Houlton, Maine.
https://www.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/2024-eclipse-partnerships/
What if AI produces code not just quickly but also, dunno, securely, DARPA wonders
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
As 70% of boffinry nerve center’s projects involve machine learning
A DARPA leader has revealed that around 70 percent of the US government agency’s programs involve AI in some shape or form, and those projects could have serious ramifications for the future of jobs in software development.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/ai_dominates_at_darpa_and/
Building a Foundation for Strategic Stability with China on AI
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: RAND blog
In an atmosphere of deepening mutual suspicion, trying to engage with China on military uses of artificial intelligence may seem pointless. But if negotiations go somewhere, U.S. security might be palpably improved. It they fail, there is little downside.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/04/building-a-foundation-for-strategic-stability-with.html
US anti-Muslim incidents hit record high in 2023 due to Israel-Gaza war, advocacy group says
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
Washington — Reported discrimination and attacks against Muslims and Palestinians reached a record high in the U.S. in 2023, driven by rising Islamophobia and bias as the Israel-Gaza war raged late in the year, data from an advocacy group showed on Tuesday.
Complaints totaled 8,061 in 2023, a 56% rise from the year before and the highest since the Council on American-Islamic Relations began records nearly 30 years ago. About 3,600 of those incidents occurred from October to December, CAIR said.
Human rights advocates have similarly reported a global rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism since the latest eruption of conflict in the Middle East.
U.S. incidents have included the fatal October stabbing of 6-year-old Palestinian American Wadea Al-Fayoume in Illinois, the November shooting of three students of Palestinian descent in Vermont and the February stabbing of a Palestinian man in Texas.
CAIR’s report said 2023 saw a “resurgence of anti-Muslim hate” after the first ever recorded annual drop in complaints in 2022. In the first nine months of 2023, such incidents averaged around 500 a month before jumping to nearly 1,200 a month in the last quarter.
“The primary force behind this wave of heightened Islamophobia was the escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine in October 2023,” the report said.
The most numerous complaints in 2023 were in the categories of immigration and asylum, employment discrimination, hate crimes and education discrimination, CAIR said.
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent military assault on Hamas-governed Gaza has killed over 32,000 people, according to the local health ministry, displaced nearly all its 2.3 million population, put Gaza on the brink of starvation and led to genocide allegations that Israel denies.
CAIR said it compiled the numbers by reviewing public statements and videos as well as reports from public calls, emails and an online complaint system. It contacted people whose incidents were reported in the media.
Clean California Beautification Project Confronts Illegal Dumping in North L.A. County
date: 2024-04-02, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Caltrans has announced the completion of a $1.3 million Clean California project in north Los Angeles County that features more durable and visually appealing fencing installed along stretches of Interstate 5, Interstate 210 and State Route 118 to fight illegal dumping, improve litter collection and remove graffiti
That Starry Night Sky? It’s Full of Eclipses
date: 2024-04-02, from: NASA breaking news
Our star, the Sun, on occasion joins forces with the Moon to offer us Earthlings a spectacular solar eclipse – like the one that will be visible to parts of the United States, Mexico, and Canada on April 8. But out there, among the other stars, how often can we see similar eclipses? The answer […]
https://science.nasa.gov/universe/exoplanets/that-starry-night-sky-its-full-of-eclipses/
xz Utils Backdoor
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Bruce Schneier blog
The cybersecurity world got really lucky last week. An intentionally placed backdoor in xz Utils, an open-source compression utility, was pretty much accidentally discovered by a Microsoft engineer—weeks before it would have been incorporated into both Debian and Red Hat Linux. From ArsTehnica:
Malicious code added to xz Utils versions 5.6.0 and 5.6.1 modified the way the software functions. The backdoor manipulated sshd, the executable file used to make remote SSH connections. Anyone in possession of a predetermined encryption key could stash any code of their choice in an SSH login certificate, upload it, and execute it on the backdoored device. No one has actually seen code uploaded, so it’s not known what code the attacker planned to run. In theory, the code could allow for just about anything, including stealing encryption keys or installing malware…
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/04/xz-utils-backdoor.html
yubikey-zfs-initramfs: Yubikey two factor authentication for ZFS root filesystem
date: 2024-04-02, from: Tilde.news
https://github.com/tschaefer/yubikey-zfs-initramfs
Free Gun Safety Locks Available in L.A. County
date: 2024-04-02, from: SCV New (TV Station)
To address the public health crisis of gun violence, the Los Angeles County Office of Violence Prevention, housed in the Department of Public Health, has made 60,000 gun safety locks available to the public
https://scvnews.com/free-gun-safety-locks-available-in-l-a-county/
Save $149 on EGO Power+ 56V 21-inch electric mower, BLUETTI power station bundle hits $849, more
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
Leading today’s green deals is the EGO Power+ 56V 21-inch Cordless Electric Select Cut Push Mower with a 7.5Ah battery that has returned to its $500 low. It is joined by BLUETTI’s AC180 Portable Power Station with a 120W Solar Panel for $849, as well as AeroGarden’s Harvest Elite 360 Indoor Garden Hydroponic System for $98. Plus, all of the other best new Green Deals landing this week.
Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/ego-power-56v-21-inch-electric-bluetti-more/
Rivian Improved Production And Deliveries In Q1 2024
date: 2024-04-02, from: Inside EVs News
Both numbers represent solid improvements over Q1 2023, but they aren’t quite as high as Q3 and Q4 of last year.
https://insideevs.com/news/714682/rivian-ev-production-deliveries-2024q1/
OWASP server blunder exposes decade of resumes
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Irony alerts: Open Web Application Security Project Foundation suffers lapse
A misconfigured MediaWiki web server allowed digital snoops to access members’ resumes containing their personal details at the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Foundation.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/owasp_discloses_data_breach/
Mercedes-Benz’s sleek new entry-level CLA EV spotted as a Tesla Model 3 rival [Video]
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
The upcoming entry-level Mercedes-Benz EV dubbed the “one-liter car” for its long-range capabilities, was finally caught out in the wild. In a new video, the electric Mercedes CLA was spotted testing near the Arctic Circle. The new EV is Mercedes-Benz’s answer to the Tesla Model 3.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/mercedes-entry-level-cla-ev-caught-testing-tesla-model-3-rival/
Florida Fish Are Mysteriously Dying After ‘Spinning and Whirling,’ and Scientists Can’t Explain It
date: 2024-04-02, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The abnormal behavior has raised special concerns about the endangered smalltooth sawfish, an odd-looking ray with chainsaw-like teeth, as 28 of them have died
An unending array of jailbreaking attacks could be the death of LLMs
date: 2024-04-02, from: Gary Marcus blog
A couple days ago I reported a survey saying that most IT professional are worried about the security of LLMs. They have every right to be. There seems to be an endless number of ways of attacking them. In my forthcoming book, Taming Silicon Valley, I describe two examples. The first sometimes gets an LLM to disgorge private information:
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/an-unending-array-of-jailbreaking
Blinken urges swift, impartial investigation into Israeli strike that killed aid workers in Gaza
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the United States has urged Israel to promptly investigate an Israeli airstrike in Gaza that resulted in the deaths of seven humanitarian workers. Blinken reiterated the call for Israel to prioritize the protection of civilian lives.
“We’ve spoken directly to the Israeli government about this particular incident. We’ve urged a swift, a thorough and impartial investigation to understand exactly what happened,” Blinken said Tuesday during a press conference in Paris.
Humanitarian workers “have to be protected,” Blinken added. “We shouldn’t have a situation where people who are simply trying to help their fellow human beings are themselves at grave risk.”
Hours before Blinken’s meeting with French Foreign Minister Stephane Séjourné, the charity organization World Central Kitchen, founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres, said that seven of its personnel were killed in the Israeli airstrike in Gaza. The organization declared an immediate halt to its operations in the region.
Séjourné expressed strong condemnation of the airstrike during the joint press conference, saying the situation in Gaza “is disastrous and is worsening day after day. Nothing justifies such a tragedy.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his government will establish a joint situation room with international groups to facilitate the coordination of aid distribution in Gaza alongside Israeli military operations.
On Monday, France introduced a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council aimed at exploring options for U.N. oversight of a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and suggesting ways to help the Palestinian Authority in taking on responsibilities.
Last month, the United States abstained from a vote that permitted the council’s 15 members to demand an immediate cease-fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends next week.
Ukraine
Blinken also renewed calls for the U.S. Congress to release military aid for Ukraine.
“We are at a critical moment where it is absolutely essential to get Ukrainians what they continue to need to defend themselves, particularly when it comes to munitions and air defenses,” Blinken said during a visit to a defense facility in Paris with French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
Congress is yet to approve the Biden administration’s supplementary budget request that would provide aid to resupply Ukraine’s armed forces and help the country fend off Russian offensives.
Biden has called on the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives to approve the military and financial aid package. House Republicans have delayed action on it for months, prioritizing domestic issues.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Ukrainian forces will have to retreat “step by step, in small steps,” if Kyiv doesn’t receive the U.S. military aid.
French Foreign Minister Séjourné was in Beijing earlier this week. He said after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that France expects China to convey “clear messages” to its close partner Russia regarding Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
France and China have sought to strengthen ties in recent years. Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning a visit to France in May.
During meetings in Paris in February, Wang told French President Emmanuel Macron that Beijing appreciated his country’s “independent” stance. But Paris has also sought to press Beijing on its close ties with Moscow, which have only grown closer since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. and French officials said they are working closely to effectively prevent the transfer of weapons and materials to Russia from North Korea and China, which could fuel Moscow’s defense industrial base.
The top U.S. diplomat is also set to express U.S. support for the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as he holds talks with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.
The United States and France have been among Ukraine’s top supporters in the two years since Russia launched the invasion of its neighbor.
The State Department said efforts to bring stability to Haiti would be another topic on the agenda for the meeting of U.S. and French officials.
Blinken will travel from Paris to Brussels for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers as the alliance celebrates its 75th anniversary.
While in Brussels, Blinken is also scheduled to meet with Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.
A three-way meeting of the United States, European Union and Armenia is set for Friday, with the State Department saying the session will focus on “U.S. and EU support for Armenia’s economic resilience as it works to diversify its trade partnerships and address humanitarian needs.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will lead their respective delegations.
Separate U.S.-EU trade and technology talks will close Blinken’s stop in Belgium.
Kia’s 2024 EV9 rebate just jumped to $7,500
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
Kia’s rebate on the 2024 EV9 increased from $5,000 to $7,500 today, the largest discount on the EV model to date, reports CarsDirect.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/kias-2024-ev9-rebate-just-jumped-to-7500/
Drawing Media, an Interview With Jim Behrle
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/drawing-media-an-interview-with-jim-behrle
UK and US to jointly develop AI test suites to tackle risks
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Memorandum of Understanding penned to put models, systems, and agents through their paces
The US and UK governments will collaborate on test suites to promote safety in the fast-paced world of AI development.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/uk_us_ai_test_suites/
Tesla regains BEV global leader crown from BYD amid tough quarter
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla has officially regained the BEV global volume leader crown from BYD in the first quarter despite a tough one.
Could it point to issues in the Chinese EV market?
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/tesla-regains-bev-global-leader-crown-from-byd-amid-tough-quarter/
ZPG A1 Unicorn handheld game is up for pre-order (4 inch square display and MTK Helio G99)
date: 2024-04-02, from: Liliputing
The ZPG A1 Unicorn is a handheld game console with an unusual design, thanks to its compact body built around a 4 inch, 720 x 720 pixel square display. Other features include a MediaTek Helio G99 processor, up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and an Android-based operating system. First unveiled in November, […]
The post ZPG A1 Unicorn handheld game is up for pre-order (4 inch square display and MTK Helio G99) appeared first on Liliputing.
Scientists Use NASA Data to Predict Solar Corona Before Eclipse
date: 2024-04-02, from: NASA breaking news
Our Sun, like many stars, is adorned with a crown. It’s called a corona (Latin for “crown” or “wreath”) and consists of long, thread-like strands of plasma billowing out from the Sun’s surface. The powerful magnetic field of the Sun defines these strands, causing them to ripple and evolve their structures constantly. The strands are […]
Experience the Legendary Mildred Dumas in Action at The MAIN
date: 2024-04-02, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Step into the world of theatrical mastery with “Uncle Rufus II: Odella’s Revenge,” where seasoned talent meets gripping storytelling, including the legendary Mildred Dumas, the heart and soul of the production
https://scvnews.com/experience-the-legendary-mildred-dumas-in-action-at-the-main/
Workshop for Women Considering a Run for Office
date: 2024-04-02, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Did you know that men still comprise three quarters of US governors and senators, and two thirds of representatives in
The post Workshop for Women Considering a Run for Office appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/02/workshop-for-women-considering-a-run-for-office/
CALM’s Proactive Approach During Child Abuse Prevention Month
date: 2024-04-02, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara, CA. April 2024 – CALM is taking a proactive stance during Child Abuse Prevention Month as a leader
The post CALM’s Proactive Approach During Child Abuse Prevention Month appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/02/calms-proactive-approach-during-child-abuse-prevention-month/
Google Bans Face Swap App for Inviting Users to Make Deepfake Porn
date: 2024-04-02, from: 404 Media Group
After 404 Media reporting, Google banned an app that advertised its ability to “Make any porn you want” on a deepfake porn site.
https://www.404media.co/google-bans-face-swap-app-for-advertising-deepfakes-on-porn-sites/
Las Playas Del Condado De Isla Vista Permanecerán Cerradas Del 5 al 7 de Abril
date: 2024-04-02, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) – El Departamento de Servicios Comunitarios del Condado de Santa Bárbara ha anunciado que las playas de
The post Las Playas Del Condado De Isla Vista Permanecerán Cerradas Del 5 al 7 de Abril appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
China Plug-In Car Sales Decreased In February 2024
date: 2024-04-02, from: Inside EVs News
However, the market share of rechargeable cars remains high at 33%.
https://insideevs.com/news/714566/china-plugin-car-sales-february2024/
A list of sports teams named after technology, including the Detroit Pistons,…
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044319-a-list-of-sports-teams
Datacenter outages are on the decline, but when they hit, they hit hard
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Power snafus take limelight in latest downtime diary from Uptime Institute
The frequency and severity of datacenter outages is on the decline, yet when incidents do occur they can be very costly to the organization involved, with power issues leading to the most serious blackouts.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/datacenter_outages_declining/
2024-03-31 iPhone and iPad apps I use
date: 2024-04-02, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
2024-03-31 iPhone and iPad apps I use
Slowly recovering from the cold, I hope. I feel like I can write again.
I really hate the feeling when I am looking for an app to do something and I can’t find a site that isn’t about the top 10 something or other. And then, by chance, somebody mentions a good app on fedi and it’s great. I guess I want to bring recommendation pages back.
I expect to be adding to this page.
What I won’t be adding: The banking apps, the
Switzerland
Now, there are some apps that are only interesting if you’re in Switzerland:
SBB Mobile is for the train tables and for buying tickets online. Basically a must-have if you don’t have a car.
Swisstopo is for the Swiss maps, my the Swiss Federal Office of Topography. ❤️
SwitzerlandMobility is useful because it has the same official maps plus it interfaces with the Swiss Tourism site so all the big hiking tours have descriptions and pictures.
SWIplus is the alternative to visiting the swissinfo site. No real benefit. News for the Swiss abroad, or conversely, for the foreigners staring back.
SRF News is the alternative to visiting the SRF News site. No real benefit, either. News
Play SRF is the alternative to visiting the national TV or Radio sites. Useful if you want to look up older stuff. Or listen to an episode of Sounds! without subscribing to the podcast.
In the same vein, there’s an app for Swiss Jazz, Swiss Classic and Swiss Pop – digital radio stations that just play music, by SRG SSR. That is to say, sponsored by the state.
CH info is the alternative to visiting the CH Info site. No real benefit, again. Learn the absolute basics about Switzerland’s political system, administration and judicial authorities – i.e., the Federal Administration.
VoteInfo is the alternative to reading all the news about all the elections, votes, referendums and initiatives, all in one place. Pretty interesting every handful of months.
Compendium is the alternative to visiting the Compendium site. No real benefit, I guess. Information about all the medication you can get in Switzerland. I hope you don’t need it. @stevegenoud commented to say that he built Dosierungen as an alternative to Compendium.
Travel
OsmAnd Maps Travel & Navigate is the Open Street Map (OSM) app that lets me download maps for offline use. Extremely useful for travelling abroad since Switzerland is not in the European Union and therefore roaming is extremely expensive for us and for foreigners in Switzerland… we need to be part of the European Union roaming regulations. The user interface is complex with different sets of settings depending on what you want to use the app for, and so it can be endlessly confusing at first. My wife hates it. Just be prepared for that.
PeakFinder is an app to identify mountain peaks. The older men here in Switzerland pride themselves in knowing all the peaks and the app is my only way of keeping up.
Audio
iCatcher! is my podcast app. A user interface that’s easy to understand and it removes many ads. Great stuff! ❤️
Doppler MP3 & FLAC Player is a music player for offline use. ❤️
Stylophone is a client for a Music Player Daemon (MPD) server running somewhere on your home network, connected to some speakers. Before this app I used MaximumMPD. ❤️
Animoog is the synthesizer that got me spending a lot of time before going to bed doodling. So entrancing! ❤️
Animoog Z is the follow-up app for the one above, but I haven’t used it as much.
Minimoog Model D Synthesizer is the emulation of a popular synthesizer and it is the one that made me buy actual Moog synthesizer hardware, later. ❤️
All this Moog music app fiddling did pay off for them. I bought a DFAM, Subharmonicon, Matriarch and Theremin from Moog…
Model 15 is the emulation of their modular system, which isn’t Eurorack so I won’t ever buy anything about it. But I did like their tutorial!
Klankwelle is a bare bones looking modular synthesizer. It comes with an online tutorial.
AudioKit Synth One is a synthesizer that doesn’t emulate anything. The people behind this one have a whole range of related apps that I own but don’t actually use that much: Retro Piano, Bass 808, 909 Drums, King of FM, Digital D1, FM Player 2. I think my main issue is that they’re either too simple or too complicated for my use. Also, they make me want to buy a Moog Subsequent 25.
GarageBand is great for the World instruments to doodle before going to bed: Pipa, Erhu, Koto and Guzheng. My favourite is the Erhu. I don’t use any of the gazillion other features.
iVCS3 is an emulator of the VCS3, machine created in 1969 by Peter Zinovieff’s EMS company. Apparently it was the first portable commercially available synthesizer. You can use the original manual to learn how to use it! ❤️
PixiTracker is a tracker that’s intuitive to use: edit patterns, arrange patterns into songs, load different sounds, it all works like a charm, and it looks charming. ❤️
Photos
I used to be all about those weird retro cameras. I should have listened to the few that kept saying that people like me would regret this one day.
These days I just use the regular camera and sometimes I increase exposure or increase contrast and some cropping and that’s it.
Pictures
Procreate seems to be the standard app. Everybody loves it. I don’t know. I never got far with it.
Zen Brush 2 and Zen Brush 3 are the apps that had me spend hours with the Apple pencil, drawing stuff. I love that this app tries really hard to do ink wash paintings or sumi-e and nothing else. ❤️
Art Set was the app that amazed me with the realistic looking oil colours. Amazing! But then I didn’t draw much using the app.
Words
iA Writer is the offline text editor I use when I need one. I rarely do, though.
Japanese
Kanji Teacher is an app to learn Japanese Kanji by a friend of mine. Check out the manual (PDF, EPUB).
Biology
Flora Incognita uses artificial intelligence to identify plants. I love it and take a ton of pictures with it. ❤️
Merlin Bird ID uses artificial intelligence to identify birds by song. I love it and use it a lot when out and about. ❤️
Social Media
Firefox is my browser. ❤️
Firefox Focus is my default browser app so that links from elsewhere always open in there. It also acts as my content blocker for Safari (Settings → Safari → Extensions). ❤️
Gopher is Gopher client. Gopher is the real world wide web precursor. It’s still around, and this is a client for it. I don’t use it often.
Lagrange is a Gemini client. Gemini is a kind of retro alternative to the world wide web. Less features than the web but more features than Gopher. It feels like the very early web. It’s full of nerds and nobody else. I don’t use it often.
Signal is an instant messenger that’s free but tied to your phone number. ❤️
Threema is an instant messenger that isn’t free but gives you random accounts. ❤️
Delta Chat looks like an instant messenger but uses encrypted email in the background. ❤️
Colloquy is an IRC client that I no longer use. These days I have an installation of The Lounge on a server of mine that I use via “Add to Home Screen”. It’s always connected so I never miss a thing.
Toot! is a Mastodon client that works for any fedi server that implements the Mastodon Client Protocol. I use it with my GoToSocial server and it works great. ❤️
Discord is where I find my gaming buddies. I don’t want to like it, but I was unable to find people elsewhere. So Discord it is. I even pay them money.
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-03-31-iphone-apps
NASA Sets Coverage for Astronaut Loral O’Hara, Crewmates Return
date: 2024-04-02, from: NASA breaking news
Three crew members are scheduled to begin their return to Earth on Friday, April 5, from the International Space Station. NASA will provide live coverage of their departure from the orbital complex and landing. NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus will depart from the station’s Rassvet […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-astronaut-loral-ohara-crewmates-return/
Biden tells China’s Xi to stay out of US elections
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
Washington — President Joe Biden again warned Chinese President Xi Jinping against meddling in the November U.S. presidential election during the two leaders’ phone call Tuesday. The call is part of U.S. efforts to maintain “open lines of communication to responsibly manage competition and prevent unintended conflict,” the White House said.
In various engagements, the U.S. has raised its “continual reinforcement of concern” against Chinese election interference, a senior administration official told reporters in a Monday briefing previewing the call.
Biden last raised the issue in his meeting with Xi in Woodside, California, last November. Beijing has repeatedly said it has no interest in meddling in U.S. internal affairs.
“I don’t think we ever really take the Chinese at their word when they say they will or will not do something,” the senior administration official said. “It is about verifying.”
A declassified U.S. intelligence threat assessment released in February warned of Beijing’s “higher degree of sophistication in its influence activity,” including by using generative AI. The report warned of “growing efforts to actively exploit perceived U.S. societal divisions” online.
“Spamouflage, a persistent China-linked influence operation, has weaponized U.S. political, economic, and cultural wedge issues in its campaigns,” said Max Lesser, a senior analyst of Emerging Threats at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Spamouflage leverages specific issues to target Biden, Lesser told VOA. For example, a post sharing an article from Fox news covering a Pro-Palestinian protest was shared by a Spamouflage account with the added commentary “Biden’s defeat is a foregone conclusion.”
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement sent to VOA that China is “committed to the principle of non-interference” and that claims about Beijing influencing U.S. presidential elections are “completely fabricated.”
The leaders also reviewed progress on key issues discussed at the Woodside Summit, including counter-narcotics cooperation to curb fentanyl trafficking and the recently re-established military-to-military communication, addressing AI-related risks, and efforts on climate change and people-to-people exchanges, the White House said in its readout of the call.
US-Japan-Philippines trilateral summit
The Biden-Xi call came as the White House prepares for a trilateral summit where Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. next week.
The first-ever “minilateral” gathering is set to unveil a series of initiatives including increasing maritime cooperation to counter China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea. Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, overlapping claims of the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.
Washington is concerned over the latest flare-up with China stepping up its use of water cannons against Philippine vessels to block a resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal. Since 1999, Philippine soldiers have guarded a wrecked ship left on the shoal to maintain the country’s sovereignty claims over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
The goal is to make clear to Xi that the U.S. “will not stand idly by if this gray zone coercion continues to escalate and potentially leads to the loss of lives of Filipino sailors,” Gregory Polling told VOA during a Center for Strategic and International Studies briefing Tuesday. Polling directs CSIS’ Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
Grey zone tactics refer to activities and actions between peace and war that fall below the threshold of armed conflict. China’s firing of water cannons is an example of a grey zone action as it falls short of triggering the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.
As Taiwan prepares to inaugurate its new president next month, Biden “emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” said the White House. Beijing considers the self-governed island its wayward province, and cross-strait issues have been one of the sharpest sources of tension in U.S.-China rivalry.
Chinese malicious cyber activity is another key concern. Last month, the U.S. sanctioned China-linked hackers for targeting U.S. critical infrastructure. Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company, Limited or Wuhan XRZ is a front company for China’s Ministry of State Security that has “served as cover for multiple malicious cyber operations,” the administration said.
The official highlighted continued diplomatic engagement including a visit to China by U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen in the coming days and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the coming weeks. The U.S. and China are also set to hold a dialogue on AI risk management in coming weeks.
The leaders also discussed other regional and global issues, with Biden raising concerns over Bejing’s “support for Russia’s defense industrial base and its impact on European and transatlantic security,” the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and human rights protection in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
Paris Huang contributed to this report.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-tells-china-xi-to-stay-out-of-us-elections/7553630.html
Declassified NSA Newsletters
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-01, from: Bruce Schneier blog
Through a 2010 FOIA request (yes, it took that long), we have copies of the NSA’s KRYPTOS Society Newsletter, “Tales of the Krypt,” from 1994 to 2003.
There are many interesting things in the 800 pages of newsletter. There are many redactions. And a 1994 review of Applied Cryptography by redacted:
Applied Cryptography, for those who don’t read the internet news, is a book written by Bruce Schneier last year. According to the jacket, Schneier is a data security expert with a master’s degree in computer science. According to his followers, he is a hero who has finally brought together the loose threads of cryptography for the general public to understand. Schneier has gathered academic research, internet gossip, and everything he could find on cryptography into one 600-page jumble…
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/04/declassified-nsa-newsletters.html
Maine’s Snowmobile Registration Hit an 8-Year Low
date: 2024-04-02, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Lackluster snow and the warmest winter on record has depressed Maine’s snowmobile registrations. This ain’t good.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/714540/maine-snowmobile-registration-climate-change/
Experience the Legendary Mildred Dumas in Action at The MAIN
date: 2024-04-02, from: City of Santa Clarita
Experience the Legendary Mildred Dumas in Action at The MAIN Step into the world of theatrical mastery with “Uncle Rufus II: Odella’s Revenge,” where seasoned talent meets gripping storytelling, including the legendary Mildred Dumas, the heart and soul of the production. At 91-years-old, Mildred embodies the epitome of theatrical excellence. With a career spanning stage, […]
The post Experience the Legendary Mildred Dumas in Action at The MAIN appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
The NY Times’ coverage of trans people and issues has been awful….
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044317-the-ny-times-coverage-of
Pandabuy confirms crooks nabbed data on 1.3M punters
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Nothing says ‘sorry’ like 10 percent off shipping for a month
Ecommerce platform Pandabuy has apologized after two cybercriminals were spotted hawking personal data belonging to 1.3 million of its customers.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/pandabuy_admits_to_data_breach/
The BMW i4 Is Now The Cheapest BMW To Lease In The U.S.
date: 2024-04-02, from: Inside EVs News
The i4 has a lower monthly lease payment than even the cheapest car sold by BMW, the 2 Series.
https://insideevs.com/news/714608/bmw-i4-lease-deal-april-2024/
Everything You Need To Know About Indian’s New Scout Lineup
date: 2024-04-02, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Indian has brought the Scout unashamedly into the 21st century while retaining its iconic design. Here’s everything you need to know.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/714570/indian-scout-2025-lineup-motorcycle-specs-price/
Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024) laptop is now available with Intel Meteor Lake and up to a 2.8K display
date: 2024-04-02, from: Liliputing
Dell introduced the Inspiron 14 Plus a few years ago as a premium version of the Inspiron line of laptops with features like Thunderbolt 4, Intel H-series processor options, and optional support for discrete graphics. Now the company has launched an updated model brings new processor and display options while lowering the starting weight by […]
The post Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024) laptop is now available with Intel Meteor Lake and up to a 2.8K display appeared first on Liliputing.
It’s Hard to Get a Tape Measure Around the Sun
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/04/02/it-is-hard-to-get-a-tape-measure-around-the-sun/
Un recurso de ensueño
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
To read this story in the original English, click here. Traducción por Daniela Raymundo. — Las solicitudes de ayuda financiera son importantes, pero también son
The post Un recurso de ensueño appeared first on .
Kia’s new three-row EV9 electric SUV drives US EV sales up 151% in March
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
The first fully electric three-row SUV from Kia, the EV9, sparked a 151% surge in EV sales in March. Kia’s EV9 helped the brand achieve its second-best Q1 sales results.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/kia-ev9-electric-suv-drives-us-ev-sales-up-151-march/
A Graph of Solar Eclipse Coolness: Totality or GTFO
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/a-graph-of-solar-eclipse-coolness-totality-or-gtfo
Celebrating the Centennial of the First Around the World Flight
date: 2024-04-02, from: National Archives, Text Message blog
Fuselage mockup for Round the World Flight
“Beyond the Palette” by LELA International Artists Organization
date: 2024-04-02, from: City of Santa Clarita
“BEYOND THE PALETTE” BY LELA INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS ORGANIZATION Explore Unique Mediums, Unconventional Techniques and Thought-Provoking Concepts The City of Santa Clarita is proud to announce “Beyond the Palette,” a group exhibition by artists of the LELA (Lantern of the East – Los Angeles) International Artists organization. The exhibition will be on display at The MAIN […]
The post “Beyond the Palette” by LELA International Artists Organization appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-04-02, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
We’re
starting to test the blogroll software with a few users, but we hit a
problem before we began. The blogroll code includes the CSS for the
Bootstrap Toolkit. I use it as if it were part of the OS, but not
everyone does, and it changes the global values of things. So when you
install it on a page that has its own ideas how things should work, you
can get an unpleasant effect (to put it mildly). So I created a
localized
subset
of Bootstrap’s styles, to be a better guest in other people’s pages.
That is now done. I expect we’ll see more of that kind of thing. Web
plugins are a new area for me. I guess that’s pretty obvious.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/02.html#a155750
It’s time for our own hero
date: 2024-04-02, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News
I can’t stand to look at images of Trump or his followers. Fed up with it. I want our own heroes.
When I see a picture of Trump, and they are impossible to avoid, I will envision a washed out picture of a dead dictator on a screen and the runner slinging the hammer at the image and it crashing.
She represents life and strength. She is the America I love.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/02/155032.html?title=itsTimeForOurOwnHero
Love and Money
date: 2024-04-02, from: John August blog
John and Craig look at four unbelievable stories in the news and ask, How Would This Be a Movie? Stories include a finance journalist who was scammed out of her savings, men who offer dating bounties, a franken-sheep made of cloned animal parts, and how standardized tests changed one woman’s life. We also reveal which […] The post Love and Money first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2024/love-and-money
Samsung enterprise SSD prices skyrocket thanks to AI’s appetite for storage
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Consumer-grade devices won’t be hit as hard
Samsung intended to raise prices on its enterprise SSDs by 15 percent in the second calendar quarter of 2024, but unrelentingly high demand boosted by AI might push that higher still.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/samsung_enterprise_ssd_prices/
My memories of what life was like before the Internet
date: 2024-04-02, from: Vintage Computing
[Benj’s note — I originally wrote this in 2020 and had it sitting around until now. I still think it might be useful to someone in the future, so I decided to publish it.] Many Americans alive today witnessed one of the most dramatic cultural transitions since the invention of the printing press: The rise […]
Category Theory I — now in paperback
date: 2024-04-02, from: Logic Matters blog
Sound the trumpets! Or at least, let me give a small toot … Category Theory I: A gentle prologue is now available as a print-on-demand paperback. This is Amazon only (sorry, but that’s easiest for me and cheapest for you), with ISBN 1916906389, at £5.99, $8.25, €7.50. Those prices are only trivially rounded up from […]
The post Category Theory I — now in paperback appeared first on Logic Matters.
https://www.logicmatters.net/2024/04/02/category-theory-i-now-in-paperback/
Mila Kunis urges Ashton Kutcher to keep his distance from ‘good friend’ Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs: report
date: 2024-04-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Kutcher’s friendship with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs goes back some 20 years but that has reportedly become challenged since the rapper and music mogul has become embroiled in multiple sex-trafficking allegations and investigations.
The final interview of Brigitte Höss, the daughter of Rudolf Höss, the…
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044311-the-final-interview-of-br
Tesla’s EV growth might be gone, but energy storage is still surging
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
Seemingly to counter disastrous Q1 2024 EV delivery results, Tesla decided to release energy storage deployment early. Tesla’s growth in its electric vehicle business might be on pause right now, but its energy storage business is still surging.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/tesla-ev-growth-gone-but-energy-storage-surging/
Orange Pi 5 Pro is a Raspberry Pi-sized PC with an RK3588S chip, LPDDR5 memory, and a PCIe 2.0 socket
date: 2024-04-02, from: Liliputing
The Orange Pi 5 Pro is a single-board computer that’s the same size as a Raspberry Pi 5, but this model has speedier memory as well as a couple of options that you don’t get from the Raspberry Pi including a built-in M.2 slot for an optional PCIe 2.0 NVMe SSD (no connector cables or […]
The post Orange Pi 5 Pro is a Raspberry Pi-sized PC with an RK3588S chip, LPDDR5 memory, and a PCIe 2.0 socket appeared first on Liliputing.
Hyundai IONIQ 5 sets new US sales record in March as EV sales surge 100%
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 just set a new March and Q1 sales record as EV sales climbed 100% last month. The company had its best-ever first quarter and March sales as demand for its EVs remains high.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/hyundai-ioniq-5-sets-march-us-sales-record-ev-sales-surge/
Car companies have been screwing up e-bikes for longer than you think
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
Believe it or not, there’s nothing new about major automakers and motorcycle companies trying and failing to build and sell electric bicycles. Despite millions upon millions of e-bikes being produced and sold each year by bicycle companies, automotive companies have spent decades failing to convert their design and manufacturing experience into e-bike success.
Microsoft warns deepfake election subversion is disturbingly easy
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Simple stuff like slapping on a logo fools more folks and travels further
As hundreds of millions of voters around the globe prepare to elect their leaders this year, there’s no question that trolls will try to sway the outcomes using AI, according to Clint Watts, general manager of Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/microsoft_election_ai_fakes/
The Left Curve
date: 2024-04-02, from: David Rosenthal’s blog
|
|
@tzedonn |
There is a surprising amount of respect for people who appear to know nothing about the industry. They’re known as the “left curves.”Below the fold I look at the left side of the curve
The nickname comes from a popular meme in crypto that shows a bell curve with investors on the left who know nothing, or very little, and those in the fat middle of the curve who know something about crypto. On the right are investors who seemingly know everything.
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| Source |
For example, a crypto project with pseudonymous co-founders including “Smokey The Bera” and “Dev Bear” has become a unicorn after it raised millions of dollars from institutional investors such as Brevan Howard Digital. Another token with no real utility — only a cute picture of a dog wearing a hat — has increased by more than 1,400 times its value from three months ago. A developer of a sloth-themed memecoin called Slerf claimed they accidentally burned a large amount of the tokens after raising $10 million.
What a great time to be a left curve! In this bull market, forget about highbrow ideas like revamping Wall Street. Give up on dreams of replacing traditional artwork with nonfungible tokens. Instead, don’t overthink it. Just “choose rich.”
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| Source |
How did this happen? How did crypto’s greatest comeback take place so fast, so hilariously and — at times — so stupidly? Why did crypto evangelists give up their dreams? At its core, it’s because the market is still living under the shadows of past catastrophes like FTX’s collapse and TerraUSD’s blowup.The “past catastrophes like FTX’s collapse and TerraUSD’s blowup” may be old news but to their victims they aren’t even close to over. The best FTX’s creditors can hope for is to get back what their HODL-ings were worth before Bitcoin took off moon-wards, and who knows when that might happen.
In the past bull markets, when Bitcoin went up, everything else went up amid small-scale rotations between major and small-cap coins. But in this bull market, the rotation is more severe: As Solana went up in the past month, the price of Ether went down dramatically — a simple piece of evidence that shows there’s less money being thrown at the crypto market today than three years ago.
Kevin T. Dugan’s The Crypto World Has a New Villain starts with the story of one victim of yet another “past catastrophe”:
“I had no idea who Barry Silbert was or anything until after November 16, 2022,” Eric Asquith told me. That date was when he was pretty sure he had lost his family’s savings of $1,052,000.Asquith wasn’t on the Left Curve but just a bit left of the middle:
He didn’t buy bitcoin or other meme tokens. Instead, earlier that year, he moved over cash from his business — just a little at first, then more — and converted it into digital currencies he thought were as good as cash. The digital coins were called GUSD, and each was worth exactly $1 because the company that minted them — Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss’s crypto exchange, Gemini — backed each one with real money and assets.But Asquith’s GUSD were deposited into Gemini’s Earn program to get its 5.5% interest, far more than banks were paying. But Asquith and the other Earn depositors were far enough left on the curve that they didn’t know Earn wasn’t like a bank savings account:
What Asquith did not fully understand was that his money was no longer with Gemini. In one sense, Genesis, a crypto company owned by Barry Silbert had it, but even that wasn’t quite true. Soon-to-collapse hedge funds with names like Three Arrows Capital and Alameda Research — Sam Bankman-Fried’s personal fund — were quietly borrowing from Silbert’s shop. Asquith’s money, and that of tens of thousands of others, was being used by SBF and others to make giant bets on some of the highest-flying, most volatile digital tokens.Then Terra/Luna collapsed and things started to fall apart. Amy Castor and David Gerard reported:
One of Genesis’s biggest customers was Three Arrows Capital (3AC), who they’d lent $2.4 billion. After 3AC blew up in May, DCG assumed $1.2 billion of the liabilities to keep the hit off Genesis’ books. Genesis had been the single largest creditor of 3AC.Gemini tried to get the cash:
Genesis also had money on FTX. As FTX was falling apart, Genesis tweeted on November 8 that they had no exposure, and it was fine. Two days later, Genesis admitted they had “~$175M in locked funds in our FTX trading account,” and they were not fine.
Genesis scrambled to find more capital. Genesis and DCG needed $1 billion in emergency credit by 10 a.m. EST on November 14, but didn’t get it. Even Binance turned them down.
So two days later, Genesis suspended withdrawals,
…
One of Genesis’s biggest customers is Gemini Trust, run by the Winklevoss twins, that operated its own “yield” program, Gemini Earn, for retail investors.
Gemini was supposed to be the safe exchange — but it was exposed to risks via Genesis. There’s now $700 million that Gemini Earn customers can’t withdraw — because it’s stuck on Genesis.
On January 8, Gemini terminated the Master Loan Agreement with Genesis and emailed customers accordingly. This “requires Genesis to return all outstanding assets in the program.” Genesis did not return the funds by the end of January 10 — so they were officially in default on the loan. At this point, Genesis can pull the pin and try to put Gemini into involuntary bankruptcy.They did, and there followed a year of legal wrangling between Gemini, Genesis and Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group, which owns Genesis. The SEC sued both Gemini and Genesis, and so did the New York Attorney General. While the wrangling continued, another of the semi-regular cryptocurrency bull markets took off until in February 2024:
the victims, Silbert’s now-bankrupt crypto-lending operation, the Winklevoss twins, and regulators hammered out a deal to pay everybody back in full. The crypto bull market of 2024 made it possible to pay back Earn customers not some fraction of what they invested but the generally much higher sum of what their holdings would now be worth.Everyone started cele:wbrating;
Except there was Silbert. Earn victims who had been unfamiliar with him would soon learn that he had made his first fortune by studying the ins and outs of the bankruptcy system and using it to his financial advantage. Since February, the billionaire investor has been relying on a controversial interpretation of bankruptcy law to stop Asquith and all the other victims from getting the bigger payout, the one based on current prices. Instead, to simplify a bit, he would prefer to keep that money himself. “DCG cannot support a plan that not only deprives DCG of its corporate governance rights but also violates United States bankruptcy code,” a spokeswoman for the company said.People started talking to the press about Gemini:
The victims have taken to calling it “the Barry Trade”: If Silbert is successful, he would be able to pocket as much as $1 billion in funds that would otherwise be returned to them. At the very least, Silbert may substantially delay the money being returned to Earn customers.
…
Silbert’s legal logic is that the bankruptcy code sets a date to value victims’ claims in U.S. dollars, and in Genesis’ case, it just happened to be around the market’s lows.
Former Gemini employees told The Beast that Gemini Earn’s terms and conditions were highly dubious from the outset. One staffer recalled reading the fine print for the first time, saying, “[We] were like, ‘Holy shit, are you fucking kidding me?’”And Genesis:
Among those terms: Customer assets were loaned out on “an unsecured basis,” which meant that their money would not be safe in the event of a market collapse. The deposits were also not insured, nor were they guaranteed against errors or fraudulent activity.
“Whatever Gemini may or may not have done pales in comparison to what you see at Genesis, which was more than negligent when it came to protecting customer assets and complying with general best practices,” one former employee said. Among those problems, the person said, was not screening clients who were on, say, the Treasury’s blacklists — an allegation that was supported by a separate January suit filed by New York Department of Financial Services.This isn’t a “past catastrophe”. For the victims there is no end in sight:
A ruling isn’t expected until April. Since the settlement announcement, the victims have resigned themselves to an even longer wait as Silbert continues to fight. “A year ago, there was a deal that was proposed. Everyone was celebrating in a very similar way,” Asquith said. “Now, I’ll believe it when it’s in my account.”
This case, like Dickens’
Jarndyce v
Jarndyce, will run and run.
https://blog.dshr.org/2024/04/the-left-curve.html
Stop What You’re Doing And Look At The Honda Monkey Star Wars Edition
date: 2024-04-02, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Which side of the Force will you ride on, the Dark Side or the Light Side?
https://www.rideapart.com/news/714376/honda-monkey-star-wars-edition/
🎵 There’s only wi-fi when it rains… 🎵 “The rain held up…
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044314--theres-only-wi-fi-when
California Rep. Schiff proposes bill to turn government buildings into affordable housing
date: 2024-04-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
It is estimated that the U.S. government owns 45,000 underutilized buildings and Representative Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, wants to see this vast resource repurposed to fight the nation’s affordable housing crisis.
A bond market in a funk
date: 2024-04-02, from: Marketplace Morning Report
The yield on 10-year Treasury notes ticked up sharply to 4.4% this morning, and the thought of extended higher interest rates has stock investors in a cautious mood. We’ll discuss. Then, Google is promising to delete mountains of data following a class-action lawsuit. And it was last call for one of the oldest casinos on the Las Vegas strip this morning. We’ll took a look back at the history of the Tropicana.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/a-bond-market-in-a-funk
The Evolution of Mozart’s Music (From 5 to 35 Years Old)
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/the-evolution-of-mozarts-music-from-5-to-35-years-old
Mountain Winery owners propose boutique hotel, housing on Saratoga property
date: 2024-04-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Of 255 planned housing units, 20 percent would be affordable.
EVs Exceeded 5% Of New Car Sales In 31 Countries In Q4 2023
date: 2024-04-02, from: Inside EVs News
BEV sales reached 5% of the US total in Q4 2021 and the proportion was up to 8.1% in the last quarter of 2023.
https://insideevs.com/news/714598/ev-sales-tipping-point-countries/
Xiaomi’s new electric car boosts its market value by $4 billion
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi seems to have hit the ball out of the park with the launch of its debut EV, the SU7, last week. The launch has pushed its market value up by $4 million, with the company now nearing valuations higher than GM and Ford.
April 1, 2024
date: 2024-04-02, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-1-2024-180
French lawmakers take a swing at cloud monopolies
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Action gathers steam in the EU, US and UK as anti-trust teams collate market feedback
The Cloud Infrastructure Providers In Europe (CISPE) lobby group has welcomed an agreement among French lawmakers that it claims “will enshrine fair software licensing for cloud customers in French law.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/cispe_welcomes_french_law/
After welcoming guests for 67 years, the Tropicana Las Vegas casino gets ready to make way for new A’s ballpark
date: 2024-04-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
The doors to the Las Vegas Strip’s third-oldest casino will be chained shut at noon Tuesday and demolition is slated for October to make room for a $1.5 billion stadium for the Oakland A’s.
Teenagers in tree at Blossom Hill Park heard shouting racial slurs
date: 2024-04-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Several other incidents of juveniles acting ‘aggressive’ reported in Los Gatos.
Suspect steals bag of Crocs from Campbell store
date: 2024-04-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Flees from police in a 2005 Jaguar.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/02/suspect-steals-bag-of-crocs-from-campbell-store/
Overexposure Distorted the Science of Mirror Neurons
date: 2024-04-02, from: Quanta Magazine
After a decade out of the spotlight, the brain cells once alleged to explain empathy, autism and theory of mind are being refined and redefined.The post Overexposure Distorted the Science of Mirror Neurons first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/overexposure-distorted-the-science-of-mirror-neurons-20240402/
Tesla Privately Previews Updated Model 3 Performance Ahead of Official Launch
date: 2024-04-02, from: Inside EVs News
Plus, Americans are buying cheaper cars, and Canoo shares tumbled after it spent double its annual revenue on the CEO’s private jet.
https://insideevs.com/news/714572/cm-tesla-20240402/
NASA Awards Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships for 2024
date: 2024-04-02, from: NASA breaking news
The highly competitive NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) recently named 24 new fellows to its 2024 roster. The program fosters excellence and inclusive leadership in astrophysics by supporting a diverse group of exceptionally promising and innovative early-career astrophysicists. The NHFP enables outstanding postdoctoral scientists to pursue independent research in any area of NASA Astrophysics, using […]
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasa-awards-astrophysics-postdoctoral-fellowships-for-2024/
NASA Engineer Chris Lupo Receives 2024 Federal Engineer Award
date: 2024-04-02, from: NASA breaking news
The National Society of Professional Engineers named Chris Lupo, deputy chief engineer of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, as the agency’s 2024 Federal Engineer of the Year. Sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers in Government, the award recognizes engineers employed in the federal government. Lupo was recognized during an award ceremony at the National […]
Powerball jackpot ratchets up to $1.09 billion after no big winner Monday
date: 2024-04-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Not everyone went home empty handed Monday. Six players scored $1 million prizes and more than 2 million others won prizes at lower award tiers, according to the lottery.
First vessel uses alternate channel to bypass wreckage at Baltimore bridge collapse site
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
Baltimore — A tugboat pushing a fuel barge was the first vessel to use an alternate channel to bypass the wreckage of Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, which had blocked traffic along the vital port’s main shipping channel.
The barge supplying jet fuel to the Department of Defense left late Monday and was destined for Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base, though officials have said the temporary channel is open primarily to vessels that are helping with the cleanup effort. Some barges and tugs that have been stuck in the Port of Baltimore since the collapse are also scheduled to pass through the channel.
Officials said they’re working on a second channel on the southwest side of the main channel that will allow for deeper draft vessels, but they didn’t say when that might open.
Gov. Wes Moore is set Tuesday to visit one of two centers that the Small Business Administration opened in the area to help companies get loans to assist them with losses caused by the disruption of the bridge collapse.
Crews are undertaking the complicated work of removing steel and concrete at the site of the bridge’s deadly collapse after a container ship lost power and crashed into a supporting column. On Sunday, dive teams surveyed parts of the bridge and checked the ship, and workers in lifts used torches to cut above-water parts of the twisted steel superstructure.
Authorities believe six workers plunged to their deaths in the collapse, including two whose bodies were recovered last week. Two other workers survived.
Moore, a Democrat, said at a Monday afternoon news conference that his top priority is recovering the four remaining bodies, followed by reopening shipping channels. He said that he understands the urgency but that the risks are significant. Crews have described the mangled steel girders of the fallen bridge as “chaotic wreckage,” he said.
“What we’re finding is it is more complicated than we hoped for initially,” said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath.
Meanwhile, the ship remains stationary, and its 21 crew members remain on board for now, officials said.
President Joe Biden is expected to visit the collapse site Friday to meet with state and local officials and get at federal response efforts.
The bridge fell as the cargo ship Dali lost power March 26 shortly after leaving Baltimore on its way to Sri Lanka. The ship issued a mayday alert, which allowed just enough time for police to stop traffic, but not enough to save a roadwork crew filling potholes on the bridge.
The Dali is managed by Synergy Marine Group and owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd., both of Singapore. Danish shipping giant Maersk chartered the Dali.
Synergy and Grace Ocean filed a court petition Monday seeking to limit their legal liability, a routine but important procedure for cases litigated under U.S. maritime law. A federal court in Maryland will ultimately decide who is responsible and how much they owe.
The filing seeks to cap the companies’ liability at roughly $43.6 million. It estimates that the vessel itself is valued at up to $90 million and was owed over $1.1 million in income from freight. The estimate also deducts two major expenses: at least $28 million in repair costs and at least $19.5 million in salvage costs.
Officials are trying to determine how to rebuild the major bridge, which was completed in 1977. It carried Interstate 695 around southeast Baltimore and became a symbol of the city’s working-class roots and maritime culture.
Congress is expected to consider aid packages to help people who lose jobs or businesses because of the prolonged closure of the Port of Baltimore. The port handles more cars and farm equipment than any other U.S. facility.
Rivian’s (RIVN) deliveries remain flat in Q1 as EV maker prepares for plant shutdown
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
EV maker Rivian’s (RIVN) Q1 EV deliveries were about flat from the fourth quarter as preparations began at its Normal, IL plant to cut costs. Despite deliveries falling slightly from Q4, Rivian beat Wall Street’s expectations and confirmed full-year production guidance.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/rivians-q1-deliveries-flat-ev-maker-preps-plant-shutdown/
High school baseball rankings April 2, 2024: Bay Area News Group Top 20
date: 2024-04-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Undefeated Granada, Acalanes lead the way. Woodside, Menlo-Atherton enter the rankings.
The bagels that wowed The New York Times arrive in Berkeley
date: 2024-04-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Berkeley’s new Bageltopia shop is making “bagels as good as Brooklyn’s,” according to the Gray Lady.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/02/the-bagels-that-wowed-the-new-york-times-arrive-in-berkeley/
Rubrik files to go public following alliance with Microsoft
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Cloud cyber resilience model could raise $700M despite $278M losses
Cloud security provider Rubrik has filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange following a flurry of similar flotations.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/rubrik_files_for_ipo/
This is America’s best-selling vehicle for 42 years running
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
In Dearborn, Michigan, a new Ford F-150 rolls off the line every 53 seconds
https://www.voanews.com/a/7549251.html
This is America’s best-selling vehicle for 42 years running
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
It’s been the best-selling vehicle in the United States for more than 40 years – and the best-selling truck for nearly 50 years. So, what makes the Ford F-150 truck the most popular vehicle in the country? VOA’s Dora Mekouar visited the Ford Motor Company plant in Dearborn, Michigan, to find out. Camera: Adam Greenbaum.
https://www.voanews.com/a/this-is-america-s-best-selling-vehicle-for-42-years-running-/7552319.html
Tesla Delivered Only 386,810 Vehicles In Q1 2024, Produced 433,371
date: 2024-04-02, from: Inside EVs News
Tesla deliveries fell far short of expectations in Q1 2024.
https://insideevs.com/news/714347/tesla-q1-2024-production-deliveries/
BYD’s premium Denza brand updates, cuts prices of N7 SUV to entice would-be Tesla Model Y buyers
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
A mere eight months after initially launching its N7 SUV in China, BYD sub-brand Denza has followed up with a refreshed version with better technology and significantly lower starting prices. Initially targeting potential Model Y customers, the N7’s sales have yet to reach Denza’s expectations, leading to today’s new demand levers and some new subsidies for switching to the updated model.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/byd-denza-updates-cuts-prices-n7-suv-tesla-model-y-buyers/
Working Wonders: The ‘secret sauce’ is being together
date: 2024-04-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Program for East Bay adults with learning disabilities focuses on work, life experiences, the arts and exercise.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/02/working-wonders-the-secret-sauce-is-being-together/
Tesla (TSLA) releases Q1 2024 deliveries: disastrous results
date: 2024-04-02, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla has released its Q1 2024 delivery and production numbers: confirming the suspicion that it is not growing anymore.
It’s even worse than most people anticipated.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/02/tesla-releases-q1-2024-deliveries-disastrous-results/
ChatGPT Looms Over the Peer-Review Crisis
date: 2024-04-02, from: 404 Media Group
Research shows that academics might be using generative AI tools to cut corners on a fundamental pillar of the scientific process.
https://www.404media.co/chatgpt-looms-over-the-peer-review-crisis/
You Have to Check Out The Time-Traveling Honda Dax 1978 Special Edition
date: 2024-04-02, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Cub House Honda is at it again.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/714279/honda-dax-1978-special-edition/
Starlink clashes with Telecom Italia over frequency data sharing
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Refusal to play ball may result in satellite operator moving investment elsewhere
Starlink is reportedly facing obstructions to its expansion in the Mediterranean from Telecom Italia, which it claims is refusing to share data that would help to avoid interference between the two operators.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/starlink_telecom_italia_dispute/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Google is the one entity you must trust above all. No way around it.
https://this.how/googleAndHttp/#1519491117000
Xiaomi SU7, The Smartphone Maker’s First EV, Sold Out For 2024 In 24 Hours
date: 2024-04-02, from: Inside EVs News
Customers in China are facing wait times as long as seven months to get their cars delivered.
https://insideevs.com/news/714595/xiaomi-su7-ev-sold-out-2024-24-hours/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Google who claims to be looking out for everybody else’s privacy turns out, of course, is the biggest privacy invader that has ever existed.
https://apnews.com/article/google-chrome-privacy-lawsuit-settlement-203cc5063f1a1d4013de1900d9376814
This time, it’s scammers beware
date: 2024-04-02, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Consumers lost more than $1.1 billion to impersonation scams in 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission. This week, a new rule from the FTC went into effect that prohibits people from impersonating government agencies and businesses, and gives the FTC more tools to go after scammers. Plus, the United States and United Kingdom are teaming up to tackle AI safety, and the end of certain internet subsidies threatens telehealth access.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/this-time-its-scammers-beware
Polish officials may face criminal charges in Pegasus spyware probe
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Victims of the powerful surveillance tool will soon find out the truth
Former Polish government officials may face criminal charges following an investigation into their use of the notorious spyware Pegasus to surveil political opponents and others.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/polish_pegasus_inquiry/
Researchers Use Old Newspaper Reports to Identify 137-Year-Old Shipwreck in Lake Michigan
date: 2024-04-02, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The steamship “Milwaukee” sank in a heavy fog off the coast of Holland, Michigan, after colliding with another vessel
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/137-year-old-shipwreck-found-in-lake-michigan-180984058/
What Analysts Expect From Q1 EV Sales
date: 2024-04-02, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: The Ohio and Tennessee Valleys could experience long-track tornadoes today • Gale-force winds killed at least four people in China’s Jiangxi Province • A winter storm watch is in effect across New England.
THE TOP FIVE
- It’s a big week for EV sales numbers
Major U.S. electric vehicle manufacturers including Tesla and Rivian are expected to report on their first-quarter sales and deliveries this week. Expectations for Tesla are pretty low, according to Bloomberg, with analysts forecasting global deliveries of about 449,080 vehicles, down 7%. “Some on Wall Street are even braced for Tesla’s first sales decline since the early days of the pandemic.” But hey, Tesla might win back its title of “biggest EV seller” after Chinese rival BYD reported a 43% drop in quarterly sales. Analysts expect Rivian to deliver 16,608 vehicles, up 18.9% over Q4 of 2023. Stellantis, Ford, Toyota, GM, and Honda will also release Q1 reports this week, so stay tuned.
- Shell fights ‘mother of all climate cases’ in The Hague
Fossil fuel giant Shell is arguing in The Hague this week that a landmark emissions ruling was legally defunct. In 2021, a district court ruled in favor of environmental group Friends of the Earth Netherlands and ordered Shell to cut its greenhouse gas emissions (including scope 3 emissions) by 45% by 2030. “This was the mother of all climate cases against corporations” because it opened the door to copycat cases, Klaas Hendrik Eller, an assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam’s center for transformative private law, told the Financial Times. Shell is appealing, insisting the order lacks legal basis and that companies cannot be held responsible for their clients’ emissions. Friends of the Earth will argue that the scientific evidence shows burning fossil fuels is causing global warming and that “Shell has a responsibility to act in accordance with climate science and international climate agreements.” A ruling is expected in the second half of this year.
Get Heatmap AM directly in your inbox every morning:
- Record number of fires recorded in Venezuela
More than 30,200 fires were detected in Venezuela between January and March, the highest number ever recorded for that three-month period. The region is suffering from intense drought driven by human-caused climate change and the El Niño weather pattern. Researchers are worried these fires are a sign of things to come. “Everything is indicating we’re going to see other events of catastrophic fires – megafires that are huge in size and height,” Manoela Machado, a fire researcher at University of Oxford, told Reuters. More than half of all the fires burning in the Amazon rainforest are located in Venezuela.
- Human case of bird flu found in Texas
A case of avian flu has been detected in a human in Texas, marking the first such case since the virus was recently identified in cows across several states, and only the second case in U.S. history. The current outbreak of H5N1 has decimated bird populations across the world and also spread to mammals, including seals, mink, and now cows. Health experts worry the virus could mutate to become easily transmissible between humans, but so far there is no evidence of that happening. Still, “every single time is a little bit of Russian roulette,” said Ashish Jha, who led the Biden administration’s pandemic response. “You play that game long enough and one of these times it will become fit to spread among humans.” Researchers say climate change is altering birds’ breeding habits and migratory patterns in ways that leave them more vulnerable to bird flu.
- In Europe, solar panels are the new garden fencing
The price of solar panels has dropped so significantly that some households in Europe are using them as fencing in their yards, the Financial Times reported. Skyrocketing production out of China means solar panels are cheap and getting cheaper. But at the same time, installation costs for rooftop solar remain high, prompting some DIY-minded homeowners to roll up their sleeves and install panels as fencing. The panels don’t get quite as much sun as they would on a rooftop, but they still work. No word on what the neighbors have to say about it. Peculiar garden aesthetics aside, the solar glut has “brought Europe’s solar makers to their knees,” Politico reported recently. Manufacturers want the European Commission to step in and help them. In the U.S., the cost of a solar panel is now half of what it was last year, and falling.
THE KICKER
As of yesterday, anyone living in Colorado can get a $450 discount when buying an e-bike thanks to the nation’s first statewide e-bike tax credit.
https://heatmap.news/electric-vehicles/ev-sales-q1-tesla-rivian
India braces for heat waves
date: 2024-04-02, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: India is likely to experience more heat wave days than normal between April and June, potentially hitting agricultural production and hampering government efforts to bring down food inflation. There’s also a worry that soaring temperatures could deter people from voting in the upcoming elections. Also on the program: an agreement tackling the risk of AI, England’s expanded taxpayer-funded child care and the Dutch word for doing nothing
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/india-braces-for-heat-waves
INC Ransom claims to be behind ‘cyber incident’ at UK city council
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
This follows attack on NHS services in Scotland last week
The cyber skids at INC Ransom are claiming responsbility for the ongoing cybersecurity incident at Leicester City Council, according to a post caught by eagle-eyed infosec watchers.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/inc_ransom_leicester_council/
Peugeot Wants To Charge Up Your Commute With The New SPx Concept
date: 2024-04-02, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
It’s apparently inspired by the Peugeot 103 of 1971.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/712003/peugeot-spx-electric-concept/
Digital design
date: 2024-04-02, from: Enlightenment Economics
Over the holiday weekend I read (among other things*) Digital Design: A History by Steven Eskilson. I enjoy reading design books in general – a window into a more glamorous specialism than economics. This one covers a range of aspects, … Continue reading
http://www.enlightenmenteconomics.com/blog/index.php/2024/04/digital-design/
Pilar Schiavo | Chiquita Canyon: An Update on State’s Response
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Signal
By now, you’ve likely heard about the crisis at the Chiquita Canyon Landfill. But with so much information being reported, I wanted to break down for you what happened, what we’re doing in response, and what we can expect going forward. • What is happening at Chiquita Canyon Landfill? Since 2023, an underground heating […]
The post Pilar Schiavo | Chiquita Canyon: An Update on State’s Response appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/pilar-schiavo-chiquita-canyon-an-update-on-states-response/
Microsoft Teams decouples from Office 365 suite globally
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Licenses everywhere can omit collaboration app thanks to EU regulators
For those not keen on Microsoft Teams, help is in hand – European Union requirements to unbundle the software from Office 365 will be implemented globally.…
Richard LaMotte | Thoughts on National Debt
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Signal
Responding to Mr. Gerald Staack’s letter of March 26: I don’t want to go into an explanation on Marxist modern monetary theory, except to say that there are several opinions concerning the national debt, however “borrowing money” (debt) implies repayment, and putting more money into circulation than is supported by national productivity (Gross Domestic Product) […]
The post Richard LaMotte | Thoughts on National Debt appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/richard-lamotte-thoughts-on-national-debt/
Dr. Aakash Ahuja | TikTok and Teens’ Mental Health
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Signal
I wish to draw your attention to the recent passing of a bill by the United States House of Representatives, which aims to ban TikTok — an initiative I wholeheartedly endorse. TikTok’s detrimental impact on our youth, particularly high school students, cannot be overstated. Teenagers, on average, engage with TikTok 19 times daily, underscoring its […]
The post Dr. Aakash Ahuja | TikTok and Teens’ Mental Health appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/dr-aakash-ahuja-tiktok-and-teens-mental-health/
Peltier Cooler for Raspberry Pi 5 | #MagPiMonday
date: 2024-04-02, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
We all know Raspberry Pi is cool but Ivan Kuleshov has created a striking way to keep the tiny computer even cooler.
The post Peltier Cooler for Raspberry Pi 5 | #MagPiMonday appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/peltier-cooler-for-raspberry-pi-5-magpimonday/
Ron Perry | Hello? John Krasinski?
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Signal
Where is John Krasinski when we need him again more than ever. John had a wonderful show that he did from home during the pandemic that he called “Some Good News.” It was for and about children, but it was truly appreciated by adults as well. If there was ever a time we could use […]
The post Ron Perry | Hello? John Krasinski? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/ron-perry-hello-john-krasinski/
New resource to help teachers make Computing culturally relevant
date: 2024-04-02, from: Raspberry Pi (.org)
Here at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, we believe that it’s important that our academic research has a practical application. An important area of research we are engaged in is broadening participation in computing education by investigating how the subject can be made more culturally relevant — we have published several studies in this area. However,…
The post New resource to help teachers make Computing culturally relevant appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/new-resource-to-help-teachers-make-computing-culturally-relevant/
Happy 20th birthday Gmail, you’re mostly grown up – now fix the spam
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Senders of more than 5K messages a day are in the crosshairs
It was 20 years ago on Monday that Google unleashed Gmail on the world, and the chocolate factory is celebrating with new rules that just might, hopefully, cut down on the amount of spam users receive.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/gmail_turns_20/
Ukraine, Gaza on agenda as Blinken visits France
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/ukraine-gaza-on-agenda-as-blinken-visits-france/7553023.html
Fedora change proposal suggests switching the main Fedora Workstation release to KDE Plasma
date: 2024-04-02, from: OS News
Update: the proposal has now been formally announced on the devel mailing list and Fedora Discussions. I have been assured by the main author of the proposal itself that this is very much not an April Fools joke, but of course, there’s still the very real possibility we’re being led on here. Still, I’m taking the risk and treating this as a serious change proposal for Fedora, even though it’s likely to cause some controversy in the wider Fedora community. The proposal is written by Joshua Strobl, the lead developer of Budgie. Yes, this is a change proposal to make KDE the default desktop environment of Fedora Workstation. The reasoning is that KDE is more approachable for new users than GNOME, it supports standards better, the industry seems to be making moves to KDE (see the Steam Deck), and so on. KDE also has more advanced features people have come to expect from a desktop, like HDR, VRR, and more, and it’s the more advanced Wayland desktop. The important note here is that in the highly unlikely event this proposal would be accepted, it’s not like current Fedora GNOME users will be ‘upgraded’ to KDE when Fedora 42 gets released. The idea is to promote the current Fedora Plasma spin to the main Fedora Workstation release, and demote the Fedora GNOME release to a mere Fedora spin, like KDE is now. While I would personally support this change, it’s pretty much 100% unlikely this change proposal will make it through. Red Hat and Fedora are entirely GNOME-first, and no matter how much I believe that’s misguided when looking at the state of the two primary open source desktops today, that’s not going to change. Still, it’s an interesting discussion point, if only to highlight that the frustrations with GNOME run a lot deeper than people seem to think.
Intel courts devs with open arms and exotic hardware
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Is Developer Cloud enough to steal Nvidia’s thunder?
Interview Intel is attempting to woo developers to its cloud with early access to unreleased hardware and a born-again attitude to open source in a bid to differentiate itself from competitors.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/intel_developer_cloud_interview/
How (and why) I post every day
date: 2024-04-02, from: Robert Reich on Substack
Friends, Several of you have asked me how I manage to produce this Substack every day, seven days a week (and sometimes two times a day). Is there just one of you? you ask. Do you get any sleep? Do you have a life? There’s just one of me (except on Saturdays, when Heather Lofthouse joins me for the Coffee Klatch). I
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/how-and-why-i-post-so-much
Megan Thee Stallion, Nike host “hottie walk” at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Nike gave free “Hottie State of Mind” T-shirts and free pairs of its newest walking shoe, the Motiva, to people who participated in the mile and a half-long walk.
The post Megan Thee Stallion, Nike host “hottie walk” at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum appeared first on Daily Trojan.
Students celebrate Arab American Heritage Month
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Olympian Yusra Mardini visited campus and spoke about Arab representation.
The post Students celebrate Arab American Heritage Month appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/02/students-celebrate-arab-american-heritage-month/
Classifieds – April 2, 2024
date: 2024-04-02, 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 – April 2, 2024 appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/02/classifieds-april-2-2024/
Apple’s GoFetch silicon security fail was down to an obsession with speed
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Ye cannae change the laws of physics, but you can change your mind
Opinion Apple is good at security. It’s good at processors. Thus GoFetch, a major security flaw in its processor architecture, is a double whammy.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/apple_gofetch_opinion/
2024-03-27 Sick? Or Hayfever?
date: 2024-04-02, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
2024-03-27 Sick? Or Hayfever?
Back from the trip to Locarno and I’m feeling sick. The nose, the frontal sinus cavity, ouch.
But strangely enough, the birch pollen season has also started. So what is it?
(Zürich is super dark red.)
The report says:
“Eschen und Birken blühen frühzeitig in der gesamten Schweiz, und für deren Pollen werden in den kommenden Tagen im Flachland und in mittleren Lagen mässige bis starke Belastungswerte erwartet.”
Ash and birch are in bloom earlier than usual.
I’ll take one of these Cetirizine-based hayfever pills, drink another cup of herbal infusion and go back to bed. Hopefully at least one of these things will help.
2024-03-28. Ugh. Staying in bed.
2024-03-29. Definitely sick. 🤒
2024-03-30. Still sick, but the fever is gone. Perhaps now it’s just the hayfever?
2024-03-31. Left the house for a walk with Claudia and a friend that lives nearby.
2024-04-01. Actually spent some time at the laptop. I guess turnaround cautiously confirmed?
2024-04-02. Recovery is on track. Falling asleep was hard. Some nose blowing still. Not sure about focus. It’s good enough for an hour or so? Back to bed now. I hope to be back on my feet tomorrow!
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-03-26-sick
Today in SCV History (April 2)
date: 2024-04-02, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1910 – Filming of D.W. Griffith’s “Ramona” with Mary Pickford, first known movie shot in SCV, wraps after two days at Rancho Camulos. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-april-2/
Reflecting on sacrifice and faith this Lent
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
There is so much you can gain by giving something up, regardless of your faith.
The post Reflecting on sacrifice and faith this Lent appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/02/reflecting-on-sacrifice-self-and-faith-this-lent/
Diving into women’s club water polo
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The club excels in the pool while creating friendships outside the water.
The post Diving into women’s club water polo appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/02/usc-womens-water-polo/
USG needs to implement a transgender medical fund
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Gender-affirming care is life-saving, and USG can help make it accessible.
The post USG needs to implement a transgender medical fund appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/02/usg-needs-to-implement-a-transgender-medical-fund/
‘Tall Tales’ tackles grief in futuristic coming-of-age story
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
SCA alumni bridge the gap between dystopia and reality in their short film.
The post ‘Tall Tales’ tackles grief in futuristic coming-of-age story appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/02/tall-tales-tackles-grief-in-futuristic-coming-of-age-story/
Dell Latitude 7350 Detachable is a 2-in-1 business tablet with Intel Meteor Lake
date: 2024-04-02, from: Liliputing
Dell is refreshing its business PC lineup with a new line of Latitude and Precision-branded notebooks, mobile workstations, and desktop computers powered by Intel Meteor Lake processors. And one of the most interesting is the new Dell Latitude 7350 Detachable, which is a 2-in-1 tablet with a 13.3 inch, 2880 x 1920 pixel 3:2 aspect ratio […]
The post Dell Latitude 7350 Detachable is a 2-in-1 business tablet with Intel Meteor Lake appeared first on Liliputing.
Season of celebration finishes for women’s basketball in Elite Eight
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Watkins breaks the NCAA Division I freshman scoring record to end her first year.
The post Season of celebration finishes for women’s basketball in Elite Eight appeared first on Daily Trojan.
VMware by Broadcom plots pair of Cloud Foundation releases that will show off its strategy
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
But unhappy European buyers have called for regulators to step in
Exclusive VMware by Broadcom will deliver a significant update to its flagship Cloud Foundation bundle in the middle of this year and follow it up with a major update early in 2025.…
Huawei’s cloud unit is its current growth vehicle
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Big in China – and a presence elsewhere, but not at a scale to worry global hyperscalers
On Friday, China’s Huawei Technologies released its annual report in which it revealed its cloud computing business was its fastest growing established segment.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/huawei_cloud_unit_growth/
Person is diagnosed with bird flu after being in contact with cows in Texas
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
ATLANTA — A person in Texas has been diagnosed with bird flu, an infection tied to the recent discovery of the virus in dairy cows, health officials said Monday.
The patient was being treated with an antiviral drug and their only reported symptom was eye redness, Texas health officials said. Health officials say the person had been in contact with cows presumed to be infected, and the risk to the public remains low.
It marks the first known instance globally of a person catching this version of bird flu from a mammal, federal health officials said.
However, there’s no evidence of person-to-person spread or that anyone has become infected from milk or meat from livestock, said Dr. Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Genetic tests don’t suggest that the virus suddenly is spreading more easily or that it is causing more severe illness, Shah said. And current antiviral medications still seem to work, he added.
Last week, dairy cows in Texas and Kansas were reported to be infected with bird flu — and federal agriculture officials later confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had recently received cows from Texas. None of the hundreds of affected cows have died, Shah said.
Since 2020, a bird flu virus has been spreading among more animal species – including dogs, cats, skunks, bears and even seals and porpoises – in scores of countries.
However, the detection in U.S. livestock is an “unexpected and problematic twist,” said Dr. Ali Khan, a former CDC outbreak investigator who is now dean of the University of Nebraska’s public health college.
This bird flu was first identified as a threat to people during a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong. More than 460 people have died in the past two decades from bird flu infections, according to the World Health Organization.
Most infected people got it directly from birds, but scientists have been on guard for any sign of spread among people.
Texas officials didn’t identify the newly infected person, nor release any details about what brought them in contact with the cows.
The CDC does not recommend testing for people who have no symptoms. Roughly a dozen people in Texas who did have symptoms were tested in connection with the dairy cow infections, but only the one person came back positive, Shah said.
It’s only the second time a person in the United States has been diagnosed with what’s known as Type A H5N1 virus. In 2022, a prison inmate in a work program picked it up while killing infected birds at a poultry farm in Montrose County, Colorado. His only symptom was fatigue, and he recovered.
Reports and Filters
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Cynthia Kiser’s blog
Most of the heavy lifting for our multitenancy changes is taken care of by our permission patches. But there are still a few places where we need to filter items by site - or remove an explicit site filter.
http://cynthiakiser.com/blog/2024/04/01/reports-and-filters.html
April 1, 2024
date: 2024-04-02, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
On Tuesday, March 26, Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over Trump’s election interference case, put Trump under a gag order to stop his attacks on court staff, prosecutors, jurors, and witnesses. On Wednesday, Trump renewed his attacks on the judge and the judge’s daughter. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton took the unusual step of talking publicly about what threats of violence meant to the rule of law. Walton, who was appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush, told Kaitlan Collins of CNN that threats, especially threats to a judge’s family, undermine the ability of judges to carry out their duties.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-1-2024
Why dumbing down your house could be a smart move
date: 2024-04-02, from: Tilde.news
Overwhelming majority of Ukraine supplemental funding spent inside US
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
The U.S. Congress left Washington for a break without deciding on a supplemental funding bill to arm Ukraine and other allies. Republicans who oppose the funding say Congress should spend its money on domestic concerns, but as VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports, the funding bill hits closer to home than many Americans may realize.
Japan’s moon lander sparks joy by making it through a second lunar night
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Brief awakening brought mixed news and familiar scenery
Japan’s Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) late last week revealed that its Moon lander had – somewhat unexpectedly – mostly survived a second lunar night and was briefly well enough to send home some snaps.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/jaxa_slim_awakens/
Cabo Dhabi
date: 2024-04-02, from: Chris Coyier blog
That was the joke the camel guy made when we went camel riding in Cabo San Lucas on our vacation. The actual camel ride was about 250 seconds long and not something I’d go out of the way to do again, but the dad jokes were impressively thick. Yep — we went to Cabo again! […]
https://chriscoyier.net/2024/04/01/cabo-dhabi/
US, Britain announce partnership on AI safety, testing
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The United States and Britain on Monday announced a new partnership on the science of artificial intelligence safety, amid growing concerns about upcoming next-generation versions.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and British Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington to jointly develop advanced AI model testing, following commitments announced at an AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park in November.
“We all know AI is the defining technology of our generation,” Raimondo said. “This partnership will accelerate both of our institutes work across the full spectrum to address the risks of our national security concerns and the concerns of our broader society.”
Britain and the United States are among countries establishing government-led AI safety institutes.
Britain said in October its institute would examine and test new types of AI, while the United States said in November it was launching its own safety institute to evaluate risks from so-called frontier AI models and is now working with 200 companies and entites.
Under the formal partnership, Britain and the United States plan to perform at least one joint testing exercise on a publicly accessible model and are considering exploring personnel exchanges between the institutes. Both are working to develop similar partnerships with other countries to promote AI safety.
“This is the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world,” Donelan said. “AI is already an extraordinary force for good in our society and has vast potential to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges, but only if we are able to grip those risks.”
Generative AI, which can create text, photos and videos in response to open-ended prompts, has spurred excitement as well as fears it could make some jobs obsolete, upend elections and potentially overpower humans and catastrophic effects.
In a joint interview with Reuters Monday, Raimondo and Donelan urgent joint action was needed to address AI risks.
“Time is of the essence because the next set of models are about to be released, which will be much, much more capable,” Donelan said. “We have a focus one the areas that we are dividing and conquering and really specializing.”
Raimondo said she would raise AI issues at a meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council in Belgium Thursday.
The Biden administration plans to soon announce additions to its AI team, Raimondo said. “We are pulling in the full resources of the U.S. government.”
Both countries plan to share key information on capabilities and risks associated with AI models and systems and technical research on AI safety and security.
In October, Biden signed an executive order that aims to reduce the risks of AI. In January, the Commerce Department said it was proposing to require U.S. cloud companies to determine whether foreign entities are accessing U.S. data centers to train AI models.
Britain said in February it would spend more than 100 million pounds ($125.5 million) to launch nine new research hubs and AI train regulators about the technology.
Raimondo said she was especially concerned about the threat of AI applied to bioterrorism or a nuclear war simulation.
“Those are the things where the consequences could be catastrophic and so we really have to have zero tolerance for some of these models being used for that capability,” she said.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-britain-announce-partnership-on-ai-safety-testing/7552925.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
"Why 1984 won't be like 1984."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfqw8nhUwA
NATO and European security separate Biden, Trump
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
As NATO marks its 75th anniversary this week, the alliance — and America’s role in European security — are issues that separate U.S. presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns has our story.
https://www.voanews.com/a/nato-and-european-security-separate-biden-trump-/7552914.html
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-04-02, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Ken Smith summarizes: “Figure out what kinds of events the press likes to cover, then create that kind of event.” That’s right. Let’s not argue about what the press should cover. We can’t change them. Just give them what they need to do the right thing.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/01.html#a022029
Judge expands gag order after Trump’s social media posts about judge’s daughter
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
NEW YORK — The judge in Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal case expanded the former president’s gag order Monday after the former president assailed the judge’s daughter and made a false claim about her on social media last week.
Judge Juan M. Merchan said his original gag order issued last Tuesday did not include members of his family, but Trump’s subsequent actions warranted including them.
Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, is a Democratic political consultant. Prosecutors had urged Merchan to clarify or expand his gag order after Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Loren Merchan “makes money by working to ‘Get Trump,’” and wrongly accused her of posting a social media photo showing him behind bars.
The trial, which involves allegations Trump falsified payment records in a scheme to cover up negative stories during his 2016 presidential campaign, is scheduled to begin April 15. Trump denies wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Trump’s lawyers had fought the gag order and its expansion, arguing that Trump was engaging in protected political campaign speech.
Meet the Sipeed Tang Primer 25K FPGA
date: 2024-04-02, from: Stephen Smith’s blog
Introduction Last year, I got interested in FPGAs and purchased a Digilent Basys3, which was lots of fun to play with, I even got a minimal RISC-V processor programmed. The Basys3 is their lower end board and doesn’t have any RAM, limiting what you can do, since it has to use logic elements such as […]
https://smist08.wordpress.com/2024/04/01/meet-the-sipeed-tang-primer-25k-fpga/
Trump Media Plunges as Truth Social’s $58 Million Loss Reported
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: Daring Fireball
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/01/truth-social-trump-media-results/
In Search of Understanding
date: 2024-04-02, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
A stable peace will come only when the players involved (that’s all of us, in a way) are willing to make the monumental effort to understand the narratives of both peoples.
The post In Search of Understanding appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/01/in-search-of-understanding/
Senior Center preps for Celebrity Waiter fundraiser
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Signal
News release The Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center is preparing for its annual fundraising event, Celebrity Waiter, with the theme “California Dreamin’” on Saturday, April 27, at the Senior Center at Bella Vida. Table sponsorships are still available and the headliner for the event is “Surfin’” – The Beach Boys Tribute Band that has […]
The post Senior Center preps for Celebrity Waiter fundraiser appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/senior-center-preps-for-celebrity-waiter-fundraiser/
Trump posts $175 million bond in civil fraud case, averting asset seizures
date: 2024-04-02, from: VOA News USA
COC to host Michele Jenkins Team Room dedication ceremony
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Signal
News release The College of the Canyons Athletic Department will host a dedication ceremony to unveil the Michele Jenkins Softball Team Room in honor of the longtime board member and ardent softball program supporter’s nearly 40 years of service to the district. The event is scheduled to be held Tuesday, April 16, prior to the […]
The post COC to host Michele Jenkins Team Room dedication ceremony appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/coc-to-host-michele-jenkins-team-room-dedication-ceremony/
Daily EV Recap: Tesla’s Model 3 Plaid nears release
date: 2024-04-02, 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/2024/04/01/daily-ev-recap-teslas-model-3-plaid-nears-release/
Six banks share customer info to help Singapore fight money laundering
date: 2024-04-02, updated: 2024-04-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Plus: Google Cloud ANZ boss departs; Japan revives airliner ambitions; China-linked attackers target Asian entities
Asia in brief Singapore’s Monetary Authority on Monday launched an application, intuitively named “COllaborative Sharing of Money Laundering/TF Information & Cases” (COSMIC for short, obviously) to target money laundering and terrorism financing.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/02/asia_tech_news_roundup/
SCAA to host Debbie Abshear watercolor demo
date: 2024-04-02, from: The Signal
News release The Santa Clarita Artists Association is inviting the community to its monthly meeting on April 15, featuring a free watercolor demo by artist Debbie Abshear. The event is scheduled 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, April 15t, at Barnes and Noble, 23630 Valencia Blvd., Valencia. Abshear specializes in landscapes, seascapes and abstracts. Her chosen medium […]
The post SCAA to host Debbie Abshear watercolor demo appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/scaa-to-host-debbie-abshear-watercolor-demo/
People’s CDC COVID-19 Weather Report
date: 2024-04-02, from: Peoples CDC blog
This is the @PeoplesCDC weekly update for April 1, 2024! This Weather Report from the People’s CDC sheds light on the ongoing COVID situation in the US.
https://peoplescdc.org/2024/04/01/peoples-cdc-covid-19-weather-report-70/
Ken Striplin | Unlocking Benefits of Recreation, Outdoor Exploration
date: 2024-04-02, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Over the past few months, Santa Clarita has received plenty of rain, making our hillsides green and replenishing our groundwater
https://scvnews.com/ken-striplin-unlocking-benefits-of-recreation-outdoor-exploration/
County Public Health Launches Readiness Champions Initiative
date: 2024-04-02, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced Monday it is launching the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, a campaign aimed to train residents and workers in multiple essential lifesaving skills
https://scvnews.com/county-public-health-launches-readiness-champions-initiative/