News gathered 2024-04-05
(date: 2024-04-05 08:49:49)
@Chris Coyier blog (date: 2024-04-05, from: Chris Coyier blog)
I just heard about GitButler from a Discord friend. I’m kind of ripe for toying with Git clients I use, as I just switched to GitHub Desktop. I don’t regret the switch, but I don’t love GitHub Desktop so much I couldn’t imagine another switch. Little stuff bugs me. GitButler is free (the FAQ makes […]
https://chriscoyier.net/2024/04/05/11263/
Crazy finish to the Chelsea / Man United match yesterday. “Cold” Palmer…
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044337-crazy-finish-to-the-chels
Podcast: Tesla Q1 results, Model 3 Ludicrous, Silverado EV RST electric pickup, and more
date: 2024-04-05, from: Electrek Feed
On the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Tesla’s Q1 delivery and production results, the upcoming Model 3 Ludicrous, the Silverado EV RST electric pickup, and more.
On college basketball: USC hires Eric Musselman, and everything changes (everywhere)
date: 2024-04-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
Musselman has revitalized Nevada and Arkansas and will raise the competitive bar across the Pacific Time Zone.
Apple cuts hundreds of jobs after ditching the car project and more
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Self-driving to the nearest job center
Apple is to chop more than 600 workers in a move likely related to the cancellation of several projects at the firm, including the company’s self-driving car.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/apple_warn_notices/
A lot of businesses want to use AI to cut staff
date: 2024-04-05, from: Marketplace Morning Report
A survey of corporate executives in the U.S. and elsewhere finds that nearly half expect to employ fewer people because of new artificial intelligence tools — and they expect that change to happen in the next five years. We’ll hear more. Plus, hiring was stronger than expected last month, continuing the Fed’s predicament. And later on the show, an immigrant family in Waterloo, Iowa, reflects on multigenerational living.
New York area earthquake: Live updates
date: 2024-04-05, from: Associated Press, US News
An earthquake shook the densely populated New York City metropolitan area Friday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said, with residents reporting they felt rumbling across the Northeast.
https://apnews.com/live/earthquake-new-york-updates
Pacifica: Police release footage, names of officers involved in fatal shooting
date: 2024-04-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
A portion of the body-worn camera footage released by police appears to show the woman pointing a handgun at two police officers moments before they fatally shoot her.
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-04-05, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Trying to follow more Apple guidelines, colors and surfacing some features in the test UI for the Godot/iPad text editor:
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112219278481632164
Where to get free eclipse glasses in the Bay Area before April 8
date: 2024-04-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
In the Bay Area, the eclipse will peak around 11:13 a.m. Monday, with about 35% of the sun obscured.
Magnitude 4.8 earthquake centered near New York City rattles the Northeast
date: 2024-04-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
Tremors lasting for several seconds were felt over 200 miles away near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/05/earthquake-centered-near-new-york-city-rattles-the-northeast/
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake rattled New Jersey this morning around 10:23am. I…
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044336-a-magnitude-48-earthquake
Whoa, Was That an Earthquake?
date: 2024-04-05, from: Heatmap News
East Coast residents from Philadelphia to Boston all just looked up and went, “Did you just feel that?”
Yes, they did: A 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck about 1 kilometer below Central New Jersey Friday morning — not strong enough to cause severe damage in most cases, and smaller than the 5.8 magnitude quake that struck the Washington, D.C., area in 2011 and rippled up north. But this one was certainly strong enough to feel.
Earlier this year, a tiny, 1.7 magnitude quake hit in New York’s Astoria neighborhood, causing little to no destruction. (Reports of a transformer explosion due to the quake turned out to be unfounded.) Thomas Pratt, a research geophysicist for the U.S. Geological Survey, told The New York Times that actually, New York gets lots of tiny earthquakes each year. Earthquakes of this magnitude, however, are decidedly less common.
By contrast, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan on Wednesday, causing at least nine deaths and more than 1,000 reported injuries. The insurance damages are still being assessed but will no doubt reach into the billions. That quake also sent major shockwaves through the global computing chip supply chain, as the world’s largest chipmaker, TSMC, was forced to halt production and evacuate.
The immediate aftermath of the New Jersey quake produced no reports of severe damage, and New York Metro Weather reported that there was no tsunami risk anticipated. Airports in the region grounded flights to evaluate safety conditions. The event seemed mainly to have given Northeasterners an excuse to log into Twitter again for the first time in months.
For my part, sitting in my apartment in New York and trying to collect my bearings, the light fixture over the dining table suddenly looks askew. But to be honest, it’s probably been that way for a while.
https://heatmap.news/sparks/whoa-was-that-an-earthquake
How the Ancient Art of Eclipse Prediction Became an Exact Science
date: 2024-04-05, from: Quanta Magazine
The timing of the total eclipse on April 8, 2024, will be known to within a second, thousands of years after fearful humans first started trying to anticipate these cosmic events.The post How the Ancient Art of Eclipse Prediction Became an Exact Science first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Tesla Sold 89,000 China-Made EVs In March 2024
date: 2024-04-05, from: Inside EVs News
The company is trying to boost sales in China with a new 0% interest loan offer.
https://insideevs.com/news/714990/tesla-china-ev-wholesale-sales-march2024/
Bolt
date: 2024-04-05, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Where are our husky lovers at? Bolt needs no introduction! This charming pup was rescued as a stray in March
The post Bolt appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/05/bolt-2/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-04-05, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
No no we are not supposed to have earthquakes here.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/05.html#a145604
Lagniappe for April 2024
date: 2024-04-05, from: NASA breaking news
Explore the April 2024 issue featuring: Gator Speaks Picture this. The year is 2044. It is 20 years into the future, and you think to yourself, “Life is all about moments. Sometimes we recognize the moment at hand, and at other times, it passes us by before we notice. I wish I paid attention when […]
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/stennis/lagniappe-for-april-2024/
April 4, 2024
date: 2024-04-05, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-4-2024-16a
The 2025 Placeless A’s
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/04/05/the-2025-placeless-as/
Poll shows majority oppose Silicon Valley billionaire’s ‘California Forever’ development
date: 2024-04-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
A poll of Solano County voters showed that 70 percent would likely note no on California Forever’s initiative measure to amend the Solano County General Plan to create a new community.
US government excoriates Microsoft for ‘avoidable errors’ but keeps paying for its products
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
In what other sphere does a bad supplier not feel pain for its foulups?
Analysis You might think that when a government supplier fails in one of its key duties it would find itself shunned or at least feel financial pain.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/microsoft_government_contracts/
California rent ‘bargains’ are disappearing. Which ones are left?
date: 2024-04-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
Rents in California’s costliest cities grew 11% since 2017 vs. a 35% surge in the more “affordable” locales.
UC Berkeley study confirms that yes, EVs do what they promise to do
date: 2024-04-05, from: Electrek Feed
A new study from UC Berkeley confirms what EV fans already know: EV adoption does, in fact, make the air cleaner. Perhaps even more importantly, the study offers some quantifiable, granular data about how much electric vehicles are impacting emission rates in the here and now, not just in the foreseeable future.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/05/uc-berkeley-study-confirms-that-yes-evs-do-what-they-promise-to-do/
40 Years Ago: STS-41C, the Solar Max Repair Mission
date: 2024-04-05, from: NASA breaking news
On Apr. 6, 1984, space shuttle Challenger took off on its fifth flight, STS-41C. Its five-person crew of Commander Robert L. “Crip” Crippen, Pilot Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, and Mission Specialists Terry J. “TJ” Hart, James D. “Ox” Van Hoften, and George D. “Pinky Nelson flew a seven-day mission that expanded the shuttle’s capabilities. They […]
https://www.nasa.gov/history/40-years-ago-sts-41c-the-solar-max-repair-mission/
US report: 68,000 guns illegally trafficked by unlicensed dealers over 5 years
date: 2024-04-05, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — More than 68,000 illegally trafficked firearms in the United States over a five-year period came through unlicensed dealers who aren’t required to perform background checks, according to new data released Thursday by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
That represents 54% of the illegally trafficked firearms in the U.S. between 2017 and 2021, Justice Department officials said. The guns were used in 368 shooting cases, which are harder to investigate because unlicensed dealers aren’t required to keep records of their sales that could allow federal agents to trace the weapon back to the original buyer, said ATF Director Steve Dettelbach.
The report, ordered by Attorney General Merrick Garland, is the first in-depth analysis of firearm trafficking investigations in more than 20 years. It examined more than 9,700 closed ATF firearm trafficking investigations that began between 2017 and 2021. Firearms trafficking is when guns are purposely moved into the illegal market for a criminal purpose or possession.
The second-highest share of firearm-trafficking cases investigated by ATF was from straw purchases, when someone buys a gun for a person who can’t get it legally themselves.
The report also shows that the recipients of trafficked firearms were people who had previously been convicted of a felony in almost 60% of the cases in which investigators were able to identify the background of the recipient. Furthermore, trafficked firearms were used to commit additional crimes in almost 25% of the cases, Dettelbach said. That includes more than 260 murders and more than 220 attempted murders, according to the report.
“The data shows, therefore, that those who illegally traffic firearms, whether it’s out of a trunk, at a gun show or online, are responsible for real violence in this nation,” Dettelbach said. “In short, you can’t illegally help to arm violent people and not be responsible for the violence that follows.”
The report found the average number of guns trafficked per case was 16. People who got them through unlicensed dealers bought 20 weapons on average, compared with 11 guns for straw buyers, according to the report.
The Biden administration has separately proposed a rule that would require thousands more gun sellers to be licensed and run background checks. The Justice Department says it’s aimed at sellers who are in the business of firearm sales, but the proposal quickly drew protest from gun-rights groups who contend it could ensnare regular people who sometimes sell their own guns.
The rule, which has not yet been finalized, is estimated to affect 24,500 to 328,000 sellers. During the five years documented in the report, 3,400 unlicensed dealers were investigated by the ATF.
BYD and Mercedes-Benz tease new co-branded luxury electric vehicle coming this year
date: 2024-04-05, from: Electrek Feed
A new BYD and Mercedes-Benz co-branded luxury electric vehicle will roll out before the end of the year. Ahead of its official debut, the new Denza EV was spotted testing, grabbing the attention of onlookers.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/05/byd-mercedes-benz-tease-new-co-branded-luxury-electric-vehicle/
Heybike HERO review: The biggest, chunkiest carbon fiber fat tire e-bike you’ve ever seen
date: 2024-04-05, from: Electrek Feed
One of the beautiful things about the state of the electric bicycle industry currently being in the equivalent of the 1920s car market is that you’ve got around a hundred different e-bike companies all trying new and crazy things with sometimes wildly divergent design concepts. The recently-announced Heybike HERO is the purest embodiment of that idea, showcasing what happens when a company says “Let’s build a super lightweight carbon fiber frame but also stuff it full of suspension and heavy, high-power components.”
Angie Harmon’s dog Oliver did bite Instacart driver before being killed, police say
date: 2024-04-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
A new statement from police in the tragic death of Harmon’s dog contradicts her assertion that her pet never threatened the man delivering groceries to her home last weekend.
Friday preps spotlight: Acalanes track/football stars haven’t slowed down
date: 2024-04-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
SHC baseball star keeps on slugging. M-A lacrosse team remains perfect. Monte Vista baseball team heats up. Hillsdale softball standout making case for postseason honors. Plus, much more.
Live in a single-family home? This Bay Area company wants to give you $100,000 for the yard space you’re not using
date: 2024-04-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
BuildCasa helps homeowners take advantage of California’s new lot-splitting law.
Tesla brings back Full Self-Driving transfer as incentive despite Musk’s ‘one-time offer’
date: 2024-04-05, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla is bringing back its Full Self-Driving transfer program as an incentive to buy this quarter despite Elon Musk’s claim that it would be a “one-time offer.”
Borenstein: In tied Bay Area congressional race voters deserve a recount
date: 2024-04-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
The state Legislature has completely failed in its duty to protect the integrity of results in extremely close elections.
bounce
date: 2024-04-05, from: Ayjay blog
J. R. Ackerley, author of that remarkable book My Dog Tulip, worked for the BBC for many years and in that capacity oversaw the production of The Scoop (1931), a detective story written by six authors, each of whom read his or her contribution on-air. Dorothy L. Sayers coordinated the project; she was probably the […]
https://blog.ayjay.org/bounce/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-05, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
2007: Twitter as coral reef.
http://scripting.com/stories/2007/04/28/twitterAsCoralReef.html
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-04-05, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
When I can’t quickly find a good definitive page on Google for a concept, I ask ChatGPT to explain it, and if they got it right, I spawn a new page with their explanation. Just doing my part to tend the commons garden. 😄
http://scripting.com/2024/04/05.html#a134252
US employers added 303,000 jobs in March in sign of economic strength
date: 2024-04-05, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — America’s employers delivered another outpouring of jobs in March, adding a sizzling 303,000 workers to their payrolls and bolstering hopes that the economy can vanquish inflation without succumbing to a recession in the face of high interest rates.
Last month’s job growth was up from a revised 270,000 in February and was far above the 200,000 economists had forecast. By any measure, it amounted to a strong month of hiring, and it reflected the economy’s ability to withstand the pressure of high borrowing costs resulting from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes. With the nation’s consumers continuing to spend, many employers have kept hiring to meet steady customer demand.
Friday’s report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate dipped to 3.8% from 3.9% in February. That rate has now come in below 4% for 26 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s.
Normally, a blockbuster bounty of new jobs would fan worries that the additional spending from those new workers could accelerate inflation. But the March jobs report showed that wage growth was mild last month, which might allay any such fears. Average hourly wages were up 4.1% from a year earlier, the smallest year-over-year increase since mid-2021. But hourly pay rose 0.3% from February to March after increasing 0.2% the month before.
The economy is sure to weigh on Americans’ minds as the November presidential vote nears and they assess President Joe Biden’s reelection bid. Many people still feel squeezed by the inflation surge that erupted in the spring of 2021. Eleven rate increases by the Fed have helped send inflation tumbling from its peak over the past year and a half. But average prices are still about 18% higher than they were in February 2021 — a fact for which Biden might pay a political price.
The Fed’s policymakers are tracking the state of the economy, the job market and inflation to determine when to begin cutting interest rates from their multidecade highs — a move eagerly awaited by Wall Street traders, businesses, homebuyers and people in need of cars, household appliances and other major purchases that are typically financed. Rate cuts by the Fed would likely lead, over time, to lower borrowing rates across the economy.
The central bank’s policymakers started raising rates two years ago to try to tame inflation, which by mid-2022 was running at a four-decade high. Those rate hikes — 11 of them from March 2022 through July 2023 — helped drastically slow inflation. Consumer prices were up 3.2% in February from a year earlier, far below a year-over-year peak of 9.1% in June 2022.
Yet the sharply higher borrowing costs for individuals and companies that resulted from the Fed’s rate hikes were widely expected to trigger a recession, with waves of layoffs and a painful rise in unemployment. Yet to the surprise of just about everyone, the economy has kept growing steadily and employers have kept hiring at a healthy pace. Layoffs remain low.
Some economists believe that a rise in productivity — the amount of output that workers produce per hour — made it easier for companies to hire, raise pay and post bigger profits without having to raise prices. In addition, an influx of immigrants into the job market is believed to have addressed labor shortages and slowed upward pressure on wage growth. This helped allow inflation to cool even as the economy kept growing.
In the meantime, the Fed has signaled that it expects to cut rates three times this year. But it is awaiting more inflation data to gain further confidence that annual price increases are heading toward its 2% target. Some economists have begun to question whether the Fed will need to cut rates anytime soon considering the consistently durable U.S. economy.
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-04-05, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Perhaps Twitter will be like Algol, as in there are algol-like languages, of which one is Algol itself. There will be a mass of twitter-like systems, of which X is one. They really should have tried to keep ownership of the trademark, another one of Musk’s mistakes he’s about to realize he made. Twitter really is on its way to achieving its destiny as a coral reef. More of a concept than a product.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/05.html#a133859
Why Were So Many Renaissance Portraits Multisided?
date: 2024-04-05, from: Smithsonian Magazine
A new exhibition at the Met is the first to examine the tradition of covered 15th- and 16th-century portraits, which were designed to be interactive and often portable
One thing Twitter is good for
date: 2024-04-05, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News
One
thing Twitter is good for — getting support from your cable ISP.
Spectrum’s other ways of providing support are designed to get you to
give up without using too much of their employees’ time. On Twitter,
they pretty much always stay with it to resolution. And on Twitter, they
have real people who have access to network tools, so they can see the
problem from their end, and can give you a clue of what if anything you
can do to fix it.
I’m pretty good at bug reports, and that appears to work with the online support people they have on Twitter. If you try to chat with them or call them on the phone they read from a script which has you completely tear down and rebuild your system before they’ll consider thinking about the data you have. And all this after keeping you on hold listening to their insidious advertising for 15 or more minutes.
I don’t think the other twitter-like systems have any critical mass with support people from ISPs. Not like Twitter.
BTW, support is one place ChatGPT would excel, btw. All kinds. And I don’t think too many people will lose their jobs, because their support systems are so bad because they don’t hire enough people, or give them enough time with customers, or training, to actually help them very much. I know how to completely tear down the network without them instructing me how to do it.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/05/133038.html?title=oneThingTwitterIsGoodFor
VMware customer reaction to Broadcom may set the future of software licensing
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Enterprise tech slingers want to see what Hock Tan can get away with – and replicate it
Opinion Cancel your Netflix account. Delete Season 2 of House of the Dragon from your diary. This year’s must-watch drama will play out in three episodes that will appear in the early weeks of June, September, and December, when Broadcom reveals its results and perhaps also whether its model for software licenses is viable.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/the_world_is_watching_broadcom/
Jedi Knight (Plus, Notes on an Expanded Universe)
date: 2024-04-05, from: Digital Antiquarian
The years from 1991 to 1998 were special ones in which to be a Star Wars fan. For during these years, more so than during any other time in the franchise’s existence, Star Wars truly belonged to its fans. The period just before this one is sometimes called the “Dark Period” or the “Dark Ages” […]
https://www.filfre.net/2024/04/jedi-knight-plus-notes-on-an-expanded-universe/
NIO begins mass production of semi-solid-state batteries, setting the stage for EV use in Q2
date: 2024-04-05, from: Electrek Feed
NIO is celebrating a potentially impactful milestone today. With the help of partner WeLion, NIO has begun mass production of its 150 kWh semi-solid-state batteries. With production now underway in China, we expect to see the safer and more energy-dense cells powering NIO brand EVs as early as this quarter.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/05/nio-begins-mass-production-semi-solid-state-batteriesev-use-q2/
Volvo’s U.S. EV Sales Were Still Pretty Low In Q1 2024
date: 2024-04-05, from: Inside EVs News
Volvo wants to go all-electric, but right now it sells far more plug-in hybrid models.
https://insideevs.com/news/714957/volvo-us-ev-sales-2024q1/
More than 40K Fisker customers have canceled orders of their Oceans
date: 2024-04-05, from: Electrek Feed
Another major blow to California-based startup Fisker, as tens of thousands of customers reportedly have canceled their EV reservations to date – which is some serious bad buzz amid a tumultuous time as the company scrambles for funding to stay alive.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/05/more-than-40k-fisker-customers-have-canceled-orders-of-their-oceans/
Hotel check-in terminal bug spews out access codes for guest rooms
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Attacks could be completed in seconds, compromising customer safety
A self-service check-in terminal used in a German Ibis budget hotel was found leaking hotel room keycodes, and the researcher behind the discovery claims the issue could potentially affect hotels around Europe.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/hotel_checkin_terminal_bug/
Get Ready for an ‘Extremely Active’ Atlantic Hurricane Season
date: 2024-04-05, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Nearly 4,000 schools in the Philippines have suspended in-person classes due to extreme heat • Large parts of the central and southern High Plains are under red flag fire warnings • It will be 57 degrees Fahrenheit and rainy in Baltimore today for President Biden’s visit to the site of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge.
THE TOP FIVE
- Atlantic hurricane season expected to be ‘extremely active’
The coastal United States and Caribbean should prepare for an “extremely active” 2024 hurricane season. That’s the message from Colorado State University researchers, who yesterday released their preseason extended range forecast for the region. They estimate there will be more named hurricanes than usual (11 compared with the 30-year average of 7.2) and that five of them could be major storms. There’s an above-normal chance (62% compared with 43% historical averages) that at least one of these major hurricanes will make landfall somewhere along the continental U.S. coastline. While these are just predictions, the team says they are more confident than in past years in their forecast “given how hurricane-favorable the large-scale conditions appear to be.”
NOAA
forecast for El Niño and La Niña. Black arrow indicates the peak of the
Atlantic hurricane
season.CSU
They’re referring to two factors: Unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic, and an expected transition out of El Niño and into La Niña. Warmer waters provide more energy for storms, and La Niña “typically increases Atlantic hurricane activity through decreases in vertical wind shear.” Ocean temperatures last year were the hottest ever recorded, driven by both El Niño and climate change from burning fossil fuels. “A key area of the Atlantic Ocean where hurricanes form is already abnormally warm,” explained The New York Times, “much warmer than an ideal swimming pool temperature of about 80 degrees and on the cusp of feeling more like warm bathtub water.” The oceans have absorbed 90% of the excessive heat generated by greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations.
- Ford delays some EVs, refocuses on hybrids
Ford is delaying production of its next-generation electric pickup and its long-awaited three-row electric SUV, with the vehicles now set to be available in 2026 and 2027, respectively. In the near-term, the company plans to follow market trends by focusing on hybrids. Sales of hybrids climbed last quarter by 45% in the U.S., compared with 2.7% growth in sales for EVs. And more than half of the Ford Maverick compact pickup trucks sold last quarter had conventional hybrid engines, “a sign of how rapidly hybrids and plug-in hybrids are ascending in the American car market,” says Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer. Ford plans to offer hybrid versions of its entire gas-powered lineup in North America by 2030. “We are committed to scaling a profitable EV business, using capital wisely and bringing to market the right gas, hybrid and fully electric vehicles at the right time,” said Ford president and CEO Jim Farley.
Get Heatmap AM directly in your inbox every morning:
- Alsym raises $78 million for lithium-free batteries
A Boston-based battery startup called Alsym Energy has raised $78 million in a new funding round. The company has created a rechargeable battery that’s lithium- and cobalt-free, which means it’s less flammable and not as vulnerable to supply shortages. As VentureBeat explained: “When it comes to batteries, we’ve put all our eggs in one basket. Non-lithium batteries help diversify the global battery mix so that lithium-ion supply chain disruptions or pricing volatility don’t derail the clean energy transition.” The company will use the new funds to hire more people and build production lines to provide samples to customers, according to TechCrunch.
- Germany debates autobahn speed limits for CO2 cuts
Germany’s transport minister dismissed reports that the country’s autobahn may introduce speed limits in order to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Germany is unique among industrialized countries in that many of its highways have no nationwide speed limits. Studies suggest lowering top speeds to 75mph could cut 6.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year. Germany aims to become carbon neutral by 2045, but the country’s transport sector has been the slowest to cut emissions, reported Reuters. Support for speed limits has been growing, even though Transport Minister Volker Wissing said “people don’t want that,” according to Politico.
- Disneyland’s Autopia ride will get rid of gas-powered cars
Disneyland’s Autopia ride is ditching its gas-powered cars and going electric as part of its plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2030. The attraction, which lets visitors drive around a miniature motorway in small cars, is located at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland in Anaheim, California. When Tomorrowland opened in 1955, Walt Disney called it “a step into the future, with predictions of constructive things to come.” But Autopia’s existing cars are loud and produce noxious fumes, prompting complaints from visitors and climate activists alike. This week Disney announced it will swap them out for electric versions “in the next few years,” though it didn’t say whether the new cars would be fully electric or hybrid. Bob Gurr, who helped Walt design Tomorrowland in the ’50s, told the Los Angeles Times it’s time to “get rid of those God-awful gasoline fumes.”
THE KICKER
“The transition to all-electric buildings is so well underway that legal obstacles thrown up by the fossil fuel industry and its allies won’t be enough to stop it.” –The LA Times editorial board says Berkeley’s decision to abandon its natural gas ban is just a “bump in the road.”
https://heatmap.news/climate/hurricane-season-extremely-active
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-05, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
A cycling newb tries a cargo e-bike: The user-friendly Maven.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/04/a-cycling-newb-tries-a-cargo-e-bike-the-user-friendly-maven/
Blue Origin to fly another 90-year-old into outer space
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Ed Dwight, almost America’s first Black astronaut, will ride New Shepard rocket
Blue Origin has announced the crew flying on its NS-25. Former US Air Force Captain Ed Dwight is among the six aiming to travel aboard the reusable rocket past the Kármán line, the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/blue_origin_ed_dwight/
Checking in on a crew stranded in the Port of Baltimore
date: 2024-04-05, from: Marketplace Morning Report
More than a week after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the crews of eight large cargo ships are stuck in Baltimore’s port indefinitely. Today, we tag along with a port chaplain who’s helping care for the crew members, offering a lifeline of comfort and connection. We’ll also preview March’s jobs numbers and hear about “green bank” government grants to aid the clean energy transition.
OpenBSD 7.5 released
date: 2024-04-05, from: OS News
OpenBSD 7.5 has hit the streets (or servers and workstations), and it comes with a metric ton of improvements and new features. Of course, the kernel has been improved in countless ways, from symmetric multiprocessing improvements to a new font usable as a console font. The graphics drivers have been updated to match Linux 6.6.19, and drivers for the Apple display coprocessor were added. Furthermore, a whole slew of additional ARM boards and SoC are now supported, and new drivers for a variety of networking chips, both wired and wireless, were added as well. Of course, that’s just a selection of the changes, and the full changelog lists them all for those of you with specific wishes.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139171/openbsd-7-5-released/
Maybe the Phone System Surveillance Vulnerabilities Will Be Fixed
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-04, from: Bruce Schneier blog
It seems that the FCC might be fixing the vulnerabilities in SS7 and the Diameter protocol:
On March 27 the commission asked telecommunications providers to weigh in and detail what they are doing to prevent SS7 and Diameter vulnerabilities from being misused to track consumers’ locations.
The FCC has also asked carriers to detail any exploits of the protocols since 2018. The regulator wants to know the date(s) of the incident(s), what happened, which vulnerabilities were exploited and with which techniques, where the location tracking occurred, and if known the attacker’s identity…
Watch These Wild Electric Crosskarts Go Flat Out
date: 2024-04-05, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Watch the folks over at CboysTV have a blast with these electric four-wheelers.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/714573/cboys-tv-sierra-echo-electric-crosskart/
P&B: Matt Stein
date: 2024-04-05, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>This is the 32nd edition of <em>People and Blogs</em>, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Matt Stein and his blog, <a href="https://mattstein.com">mattstein.com</a></p>To follow this series subscribe to the newsletter. A new interview will land in your inbox every Friday. Not a fan of newsletters? No problem! You can read the interviews here on the blog or you can subscribe to the RSS feed.
If you’re enjoying P&B consider supporting on Ko-Fi.
Let's start from the basics: can you introduce yourself?
I’m Matt Stein. I live with my wife and cat-sized dog in Bend, Oregon. Grew up in Ohio, studied graphic design in upstate New York, and I’ve been bouncing around the U.S. ever since.
My design degree led me to a small interactive agency in Seattle where I worked with HTML, CSS, Flash, and a CMS called ExpressionEngine. I taught intro-level HTML and Flash workshops in the design school we shared a building with—a former hat factory downtown built in 1920 that was later swallowed by Amazon expansion. I learned an amazing amount in those few years, and in that environment.
I left with my youthful enthusiasm and surprise knack for coordinating agency work to run a solo gig for twelve years, and learned a lot more about people, technology, business, and unfortunately the minutia of taxes and accounting. Having complete responsibility for my workload and decisions—from triumphant to cringey—was extremely satisfying.
I left that to work as a technical writer with the team behind Craft CMS, a successor to ExpressionEngine I was proficient with and fond of. I moved to Bend, Oregon with that job, lived my first spectacular burnout adventure, and left that in 2022.
I just turned forty and I’m working on whatever act two looks like. I want it to involve using my generalist bag of skills to make the world better in some way that’s focused more on human beings than investors or shareholders.
I tinker with things for work and for fun. Lately it’s been a parade of Astro, Eleventy, Kirby, creative writing, reacquainting myself with the piano, and playing high-adrenaline video games as a thought break. I spend a lot of time reading despite being a fairly slow reader, and that’s ramped up as I’ve started following newsletters and RSS feeds in an attempt to distance myself from algorithms and hype.
What's the story behind your blog?
I got to tech-nerding as soon as my uncle booted up our family’s first MS-DOS computer, so having my own site was more nature running its course than a careful decision. I lucked out and beat a surprising number of Matt Steins to mattstein.com, and the first site I remember having on it was college portfolio. It was an oppressively blue Flash site that heavily relied on a barcode as a design element as if that wasn’t a cliché. I don’t remember if it had a blog, but let’s hope not.
I’ve changed platforms a few times over the years, mostly writing brief notes about books or minor technical breakthroughs and migrating everything from Statamic to Craft CMS to Gatsby and now to Astro. I’ve used it as a place to experiment, always with a custom front end I intend to someday finish. I used Procreate to hand draw favicons for my current site until I finally got to one I liked, and I regularly build little features and ideas I don’t launch. Send help!
My old company’s blog got more attention for a long time, but it’s a retired Gatsby site and I’m back to mattstein.com again with stronger feelings that I need a personal site and I need to be writing more.
I’ve always felt like an internet outsider, I think because I was always an okay visual designer in the midst of either “real” developers and software engineers, or designers that could make you a really kickass band poster. I was quiet in forums, didn’t go to conferences, and offered all the fun and personality of a cardboard cutout. This started to change with the Peers conference and meeting people in the Craft CMS community, which is a wonderful place full of professionals and design agencies that do really cool work.
Writing’s always been a tool for me to sharpen my thinking, and I spent years shortchanging myself being sort of aloof—so I’m working on writing and publishing more and participating in the kind of internet I badly want to thrive. I’m inspired by what so many people choose to write and share, and I want to be part of that. I want to write something that matters to someone, and I need to be publishing for that to have a chance.
So that’s what my blog is to me right now. And I love that if I wake up tomorrow with some other idea, it can support that.
What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging?
It’s generous to call it a “process,” because for me it’s the spontaneous choice to corral half-thoughts, impulses, and rambling into a Markdown file with a title and a publish date.
I rewrite and edit heavily to try and find what I want to say. I wrote obscenely long answers to these questions and had to start over, and I’m one of those serial Discord+Slack edit-after-sending people. I would go broke as a stone engraver.
If we visualized my thought process, it might be a tornado moving through a junkyard while I cling to a lamppost and catalog the various tires and scraps of siding. I use notes, journaling, and outlining to sort things out and pat my hair back down and build something with whatever I’ve collected.
I squirrel bookmarks and notes in Raindrop and Obsidian, and keep a long list of writing ideas in an Obsidian (Markdown) file. Some ideas are just bullets, some link to impossibly cryptic notes, and some link to long drafts too weird or uninteresting to publish. The ones that seem faintly coherent graduate to a Markdown file in my Astro repository where they’ll probably turn into posts. Rare ones hop into Scrivener books because it seems like they want more structure and may go on for a while.
If I get stuck or bored with something, I’ll rewrite it from scratch to approach it from a different angle. If I can’t manage to get words out, I’ll use a mind map to free-associate ideas as fast as I can and then look for opportunities to explore.
Trying to summarize my years as a technical writer was really important to me, for example, and I wrote about it a lot without ever feeling like I said what I wanted. I laughed out loud when I stumbled on Ian Henry’s writing, and I tried channeling that style in another rewrite that I finally liked. (I told Ian I ripped him off and he was fine with it.) I want you to like it too, but the little miracle for me is that I don’t need you to. I rarely get something to that point.
I’m trying to also be better at not reply-guying Mastodon posts, but turning strong feelings or tangents into blog posts. Better thinking for me, one less notification for somebody else rationing finite attention.
I’ll ask specific people to read drafts if I know they’ll be inclined to spot any sketchy or inaccurate details, but usually it’s me going it alone and re-reading with specific people in mind as a way to pretend at a fresh perspective.
If this answer isn’t long enough, I wrote a post about how I write.
Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the physical space influences your creativity?
I’m a sensitive creature and absolutely believe spaces influence my creativity, both physical and psychological.
I process and reflect best in stillness. That means visual and auditory quiet as much as putting away any extraneous thoughts. God forbid I need to write a coherent sentence but I forgot to flip the “clean” magnet on the dishwasher. I write best at my desk in my little cave of a bedroom office, or on the couch piled with blankets and a cup of coffee.
I find new ideas outside the cave, whether that’s reading or talking with people or physically exploring new places.
Taking an idea on a walk or into the shower is usually a good way to clarify it. I keep wondering what a walking shower desk would look like but it all falls apart with conference calls.
A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech stack?
mattstein.com is an Astro site hosted on Cloudflare Pages. My domain registrations are split between Porkbun and Cloudflare Registrar, and this one’s with Cloudflare.
I use Cloudflare R2 (which is like Amazon S3) to store a handful of images, and a self-hosted imgproxy instance that resizes them on the fly. This probably sounds fancier than it is—mostly an experiment related to work projects.
I don’t use a CMS because in this case it might overcomplicate things, but as a chronic replatformer I’ve been looking at Payload CMS and Kirby because what if I overcomplicated it?
Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do anything differently?
What I admire most about bloggers and newsletter writers I follow is that they manage to write.
Anything from interesting blurbs to deep, moving essays. I’ll be impressed or entertained by the format sometimes, but ultimately the magic is the writing. The number of people with crusty, dated-looking blogs still publishing incredible posts is a testament to that.
So I’d liberate myself from my greatest constraints: the fear of putting dumb words next to my name, and excessive platform puttering. I’d pick a low-key domain name that’s not literally the one I was born with, and I’d pick a platform like Blot that lets me tailor the look without rebuilding the whole machine every two years and finding new ways to break my RSS feed. That way I could focus on the writing, or at least have fewer distractions to blame when I’m not writing.
Financial question since the web is obsessed with money: how much does it cost to run your blog? Is it just a cost or does it generate some revenue? And what's your position on people monetising personal blogs?
As hobbies go, I’d probably lose less money maintaining an old boat.
The operating costs are $9.15/year for the domain name, and $22/year for a cheap VPS to run that imgproxy thing I mentioned. Astro is free, as is Cloudflare Pages with my meager traffic. I spend heaps of time on the site that I can’t justify financially.
I have no problem with people monetizing their personal blogs and admire anyone taking it seriously enough to try and make it a sustainable endeavor.
But that’s not what it’s about for me.
I’m anxious about the effect big companies and commerce have had on the internet, and my blog is my little personal space—a tiny world as I’d like it to exist. No ads, no tracking, no referral links, no pressure to subscribe. I want to tell you about some things I’ve bought that I really like, but I don’t want it to even seem like that kind of blog.
I don’t even have a rough idea how many people subscribe to my RSS feed, and I like that. The feed isn’t for me.
The winds of income shifted for me recently, and as I re-evaluated expenses I suddenly noticed how many independent writers and developers and artists seem to put their work before their income. I think that’s a courageous thing to do, and my usually-free-tier patronage didn’t square with that. So now I keep a list of projects and resources and try to do a better job of supporting them when they offer a way to do it. (It’s never enough and I have a lot more to go!)
I know our priorities and circumstances are all different, but I wonder what the internet would look like if we collectively did more of that.
Career-wise I need to figure out what I’m selling and do that, but I’ll keep the selling to some other place because mattstein.com is my place to be a person more than a product.
Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out? And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next?
I’d like to answer this three times.
Answer 1: Dave Rupert.
I’m still working up the confidence to not have a side blog for weirder posts I’m self-conscious about, and Dave’s been over there this whole time, regularly publishing interesting, entertaining, and useful things, but now he’s added self-described shitty science fiction complete with covers! From my point of view this is some wizardly next-level blog stuff.
Answer 2: Sara Joy, who’s playful and inventive and always mentioning parts of the internet where fun is still served. As far as I know, she also invented the term “short thorts” which is endlessly amusing to me. (Sara was the 29th P&B guest)
Answer 3: the folks at Good Enough. I’m only a new fan, but they make and share fun internet projects together that to me epitomize playful, stylish, inventiveness that’s cheerful and not overly commercial.
I’d like to find my inner versions of all these people. And there are many more, because I’m instantly enamored with anyone that chooses to write their own blog and build things for fun.
Final question: is there anything you want to share with us?
I’d say “watch this space” while I figure out what I’m doing, but there’s a nonzero chance I’ll end up pivoting away from tech to work maintenance at a horse therapy ranch or something. But surely I’d write about that.
Thanks for publishing this series and having me as a guest here! And thanks to anyone reading!
This was the 32nd edition of People and Blogs. Hope you enjoyed this interview with Matt. Make sure to follow his blog (RSS) and get in touch with him if you have any questions.
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FFmpeg 7.0 released
date: 2024-04-05, from: OS News
A new major release, FFmpeg 7.0 “Dijkstra”, is now available for download. The most noteworthy changes for most users are a native VVC decoder (currently experimental, until more fuzzing is done), IAMF support, or a multi-threaded ffmpeg CLI tool. This release is not backwards compatible, removing APIs deprecated before 6.0. The biggest change for most library callers will be the removal of the old bitmask-based channel layout API, replaced by the AVChannelLayout API allowing such features as custom channel ordering, or Ambisonics. Certain deprecated ffmpeg CLI options were also removed, and a C11-compliant compiler is now required to build the code. ↫ FFmpeg website I don’t think many of directly interface with FFmpeg, but we’re most likely all using it one way or another. Even Microsoft (here‘s the referenced bug report).
https://www.osnews.com/story/139168/ffmpeg-7-0-released/
McDonald’s to buy back its Israeli restaurants
date: 2024-04-05, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: McDonald’s is buying back all its stores in Israel following global boycotts over the Israel-Hamas War. We discuss the franchisee business model and what customers could make of the move. Then, Argentina is expected to face its worse-ever dengue season yet, and there’s a shortage of insect repellent. Plus, Saudi Arabia has struck a lucrative deal to host the Women’s Tennis Association Finals for three years.
@The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper) (date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper))
The post appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/206837/
404 Day celebrates the internet’s most infamous no-show
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Nothing is forever, not even a web page
Forget chocolate eggs, the only event that really mattered this week was 404 Day.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/404_day/
PCIe 7.0 draft 0.5 spec available: 512 GB/s over PCIe x16 on track for 2025
date: 2024-04-05, from: OS News
PCIe 7.0 is is the next generation interconnect technology for computers that is set to increase data transfer speeds to 128 GT/s per pin, doubling the 64 GT/s of PCIe 6.0 and quadrupling the 32 GT/s of PCIe 5.0. This would allow a 16-lane (x16) connection to support 256 GB/sec of bandwidth in each direction simultaneously, excluding encoding overhead. Such speeds will be handy for future datacenters as well as artificial intelligence and high-performance computing applications that will need even faster data transfer rates, including network data transfer rates. ↫ Anton Shilov at AnandTech PCIe 7.0 won’t hit devices until late 2020s.
Local councils struggle with ill-fitting software despite spending billions with suppliers
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Even when tech crew gets the tweaks approved, vendor lead times are bonkers, says report
UK councils might spend £8 billion ($10.1 billion) on tech each year, yet some find that suppliers don’t have the wares they need and customizations can “incur significant costs.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/local_council_tech_struggles/
Occupational therapy programs promote ‘Lifestyle Redesign’
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The post Occupational therapy programs promote ‘Lifestyle Redesign’ appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/occupational-therapy-programs-promote-lifestyle-redesign/
Therapy dogs relieve college pressures at USC
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The post Therapy dogs relieve college pressures at USC appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/therapy-dogs-relieve-college-pressures-at-usc/
The Happy Hour makes time for mental health
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The post The Happy Hour makes time for mental health appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/the-happy-hour-makes-time-for-mental-health/
USC’s Climbing Club makes it easy to “Climb On!”
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The post USC’s Climbing Club makes it easy to “Climb On!” appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/uscs-climbing-club-makes-it-easy-to-climb-on/
Healthy eating not far from USC campus
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The post Healthy eating not far from USC campus appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/healthy-eating-not-far-from-campus/
Professors discuss mental health in classrooms
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The post Professors discuss mental health in classrooms appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/professors-discuss-mental-health-in-classrooms/
John Boston | Hondo & the Pricey Mystery Meat Tacos …
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Signal
One of the dearest people in my life is my baby sibling-like substance, Hondo Boston-Peters. Simply adore the guy. Hondo is a nickname because his real name is John and you can’t have two people sitting at the table with the same first name because when someone starts a query with, “Hey, John…” we both […]
The post John Boston | Hondo & the Pricey Mystery Meat Tacos … appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/john-boston-hondo-the-pricey-monkey-meat-tacos/
Ron Perry | Cancel Culture Wins Again
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Signal
Once again those minority activists who are destroying our country have won another battle. Why do we continue to let this happen? Where are all those people who once believed in America? I’m talking about the Hart Indians being CANCELED! And all because a few misguided students were told, by someone who we will never […]
The post Ron Perry | Cancel Culture Wins Again appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/ron-perry-cancel-culture-wins-again/
Thomas Oatway | Justice Delayed
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Signal
Recently the un-Supreme Court ruled that they would entertain a motion by Donald Trump that would protect him from prosecution for literally any crime committed while he was in office. Complete immunity is his argument. Then the court scheduled a first hearing 51 days out, putting the court calendar for the Jan. 6 insurrection trial […]
The post Thomas Oatway | Justice Delayed appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/thomas-oatway-justice-delayed/
Microsoft hiring Inflection team triggers interest from EU’s antitrust chief
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
All sorts of levers being pulled to lure AI developers from here, there, everywhere
Amid the scramble to hire developer talent in the field of AI, regulators in the European Union are expressing interest in recent events that saw Microsoft lift and shift most of the team at Inflection.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/ai_talent_wars_craziest_ever_seen/
HATs and bonnets to give your Raspberry Pi 400 a cyberdeck feel
date: 2024-04-05, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Meet Adafruit’s CYBERDECK HAT and CYBERDECK Bonnet, both created with Raspberry Pi 400 in mind.
The post HATs and bonnets to give your Raspberry Pi 400 a cyberdeck feel appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/hats-and-bonnets-to-give-your-raspberry-pi-400-a-cyberdeck-feel/
The man who sacrificed workers to shareholders
date: 2024-04-05, from: Robert Reich on Substack
The Origins of Trumpism, Part 10
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-three-men-who-killed-american
Techie saved the day and was then criticized for the fix
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
You can prove them wrong, but they’ll still get you on a non-technicality
On Call On Call is back from an Easter adventure with another reader-contributed – and perhaps tear-inducing – tale of tech support.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/on_call/
The New War Over Generic Drugs
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Lever News
Why are generic drugmakers fighting a plan to let them make more medicines?
https://www.levernews.com/the-new-war-over-generic-drugs/
Classifieds – April 5, 2024
date: 2024-04-05, 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 5, 2024 appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/classifieds-april-5-2024/
Travis Scott ’FE!N’s for college student clout
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The rapper and producer visited the USC Bookstore on Thursday to promote his new clothing line.
The post Travis Scott ’FE!N’s for college student clout appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/travis-scott-feins-for-college-student-clout/
Hubble Peers at Pair of Closely Interacting Galaxies
date: 2024-04-05, from: NASA breaking news
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features Arp 72, a very selective galaxy group that only includes two galaxies interacting due to gravity: NGC 5996 (the large spiral galaxy) and NGC 5994 (its smaller companion, in the lower left of the image). Both galaxies lie approximately 160 million light-years from Earth, and their […]
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-peers-at-pair-of-closely-interacting-galaxies/
Today in SCV History (April 5)
date: 2024-04-05, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1970, Minutes Before Midnight – The Newhall Incident: four officers murdered in worst-ever CHP slaying. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-april-5/
RFK Jr.’s independent presidential run could have impact in November
date: 2024-04-05, from: VOA News USA
Humans need to photosynthesize, too
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The L.A. sunshine deserves credit for what it’s done for my and others’ moods.
The post Humans need to photosynthesize, too appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/humans-need-to-photosynthesize-too/
USC hires Eric Musselman as men’s basketball head coach
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
All aboard the “muss bus.” A new era of Trojan basketball starts now at Galen Center.
The post USC hires Eric Musselman as men’s basketball head coach appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/usc-hires-eric-musselman-as-mens-basketball-head-coach/
USC launches inaugural Armenian History Month celebrations with opening ceremony
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The event featured speeches and traditional Armenian carpets, songs and dances.
The post USC launches inaugural Armenian History Month celebrations with opening ceremony appeared first on Daily Trojan.
What the heck are the AI ethicists up to?
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
If you’re interested in having a career that is ethically meaningful, technologically inclined, potentially lucrative and intellectually involved, this article is for you!
The post What the heck are the AI ethicists up to? appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/what-the-heck-are-the-ai-ethicists-up-to/
Men’s volleyball looking to bounce back — and back again
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The Trojans hope to end a three-game losing streak this weekend against BYU.
The post Men’s volleyball looking to bounce back — and back again appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/mens-volleyball-looking-to-bounce-back-and-back-again/
Women’s water polo and Stanford meet again
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
USC heads up the coast to face the Cardinal in their second meeting this season.
The post Women’s water polo and Stanford meet again appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/womens-water-polo-and-stanford-meet-again/
Start summer after finals with these films
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Transport to another time by watching these ’80s and ’90s films after exams.
The post Start summer after finals with these films appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/start-summer-after-finals-with-these-films/
‘About Face’ shows symbolism of USC art
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The iconography walking tour demystified popular art installations across campus.
The post ‘About Face’ shows symbolism of USC art appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/05/about-face-shows-symbolism-of-usc-art/
Tough luck, bosses, AI is coming for your job, too
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Algorithms as PHBs – who wouldn’t want that?
Nearly half of US office workers expressed concern that AI might take their jobs in a February survey by investment banking biz Jefferies.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/ai_management_jobs/
Webcurios 05/04/24
date: 2024-04-05, from: Web Curios blog
Reading Time: 37 minutes You know what, everyone? I…I really enjoyed having a week off. I know, I know, I’m supposed to say that I missed all the web and the links and stuff, but in actual fact it was really, really nice not to actually have to read 300 fcuking websites every day. Yes, I know that I…https://webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-05-04-24/
April 4, 2024
date: 2024-04-05, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
Seventy-five years ago today, on April 4, 1949, representatives from twelve countries in Europe and North America—Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States—signed the North Atlantic Treaty, creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO. This defensive security alliance has been a key institution for world stability since World War II.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-4-2024
Academics probe Apple’s privacy settings and get lost and confused
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Just disabling Siri requires visits to five submenus
A study has concluded that Apple’s privacy practices aren’t particularly effective, because default apps on the iPhone and Mac have limited privacy settings and confusing configuration options.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/apple_apps_privacy_study/
Chinese schools testing 10,000 locally made RISC-V-ish PCs
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Today’s lesson covers the potential for Loongson’s made-in-China architecture to hurt Microsoft and Intel
China’s long march towards creation and adoption of its own information technology stack has taken a long stride forward after a school district commenced a trial of 10,000 PCs powered by domestically designed processors.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/china_schools_riscv_pc/
Hart boys’ lacrosse wins ninth straight game
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Signal
The Hart boys’ lacrosse win streak has reached nine straight victories as well as made history for the Indians’ program. Hart defeated West Ranch, 13-7, on Wednesday, March 13, the Indians’ first-ever win over the Wildcats. The win streak hit nine games when Hart beat Saugus, 15-9, on Wednesday, March 27, earning the program’s first […]
The post <strong>Hart boys’ lacrosse wins ninth straight game</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/hart-boys-lacrosse-wins-ninth-straight-game/
Taiwan quake to hit chipmakers’ capex, not chip supply
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Some equipment suffered minor damage, but the silicon show must go on
Wednesday’s earthquake in Taiwan will hit at least one chipmaker in the wallet, but won’t weaken the overall silicon supply chain, according to analyst outfit TrendForce.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/tsmc_earthquake_capex/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-05, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
One thing Twitter is good for — getting support from your cable ISP.
https://twitter.com/davewiner/status/1776089942906622077
Fishing For Free TV Signals
date: 2024-04-05, from: Doc Searls (at Harvard), New Old Blog
I think I will be the last person in Bloomington to try getting free over-the-air TV from what’s left of all the major networks. But that’s just my style, so roll with me while I explain how I’m hoping to do it, with the antenna above, which I’ll need because here is what the Search […]
https://doc.searls.com/2024/04/04/fishing-for-free-tv-signals/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-05, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Blinken warns: Israel risks becoming indistinguishable from Hamas if it doesn't protect Gaza civilians.
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-04-05, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
While I might not have been selected for WWDC, I have reached the same conclusion as the Fox, those grapes were sour.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112216511842443129
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-04-05, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Started to put together a replacement for the Godot Text editing experience, taking some layout ideas from Xcode and Swift Playgrounds:
Left, my iPad UI; Right the existing Godot UI on Mac:
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112216501552145975
Police negotiating with suspect after student’s residence burglarized
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The suspect has broken several windows and may have set some small fires.
The post Police negotiating with suspect after student’s residence burglarized appeared first on Daily Trojan.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-05, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
New York's Pot Legalization 'Disaster' Was Entirely Predictable.
https://reason.com/2024/04/03/new-yorks-pot-legalization-disaster-was-entirely-predictable/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-04-05, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Today we got Doc’s blogroll working on his WordPress blog. This is the first of our blogrolls on WordPress anywhere. It’s been tricky to get the CSS worked out, but we’re getting there. It’s worth the effort.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/04.html#a030028
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-04-05, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Threads: Maybe The Atlantic or New Yorker could write a detailed article about what the great purges in China and Russia were like. How many millions died. Hitler isn’t the only recent model for an authoritarian government. We should be studying this, you can be sure Trump’s government has and is.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/04.html#a025735
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-04-05, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Big praise for SwiftGodot!
https://youtu.be/c2TOIGcmQ7A?si=tajhGe-p7jqV823F&t=743
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112216357647200677
Kansas newspaper publisher files lawsuit over police raid
date: 2024-04-05, from: VOA News USA
Washington — The publisher of a small Kansas newspaper that police raided in August is suing officials involved in the act, accusing them of violating the newspaper’s First Amendment rights.
When police in Marion, Kansas, raided the newsroom of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher, Eric Meyer, the move was met with widespread condemnation from press freedom groups.
Meyer said he wanted to file the lawsuit because the raid on his weekly newspaper has major implications for press freedom across the United States.
“We’re the plaintiffs in this, but really, the plaintiff is American democracy,” Meyer told VOA. “They’re trying to silence criticism — silence anything other than the voice they want to hear. And we just can’t let that stand. We wouldn’t be doing our duty as Americans.”
During the August 11 raid, security footage showed police seizing computers, cell phones, hard drives and other devices from the newsroom. And in the Meyer household, footage reveals Eric’s 98-year-old mother, Joan, co-owner of the newspaper, confronting police during the raid on their home.
The lawsuit, which Meyer filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for Kansas, also alleges that the stress of the raid caused his mother’s death the day after.
After the raid, Joan “repeatedly told her son that her entire life was meaningless if this is what Marion had become,” the lawsuit said.
The nearly 130-page lawsuit, which Meyer said took some time to put together, is the fourth filed by current and former newspaper staffers over the incident.
Police defended the raid, saying they were responding to an identity theft complaint.
Meyer disagrees.
“This was an attempt by people to weaponize the criminal justice system for personal gains,” he said.
The newspaper was investigating the police chief who led the raid. Gideon Cody eventually resigned in October after body camera footage revealed him rifling through files about himself.
“It’s clear as anything that we didn’t do anything wrong,” said Meyer, who estimates the case won’t be resolved until 2026.
https://www.voanews.com/a/kansas-newspaper-publisher-files-lawsuit-over-police-raid/7557808.html
James Foster students set up cereal ‘dominoes’ before donating
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Signal
Imagine large dominoes set up on the blacktop of James Foster Elementary School, where each item, all 466 boxes of cereal, later gets donated to the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry. As a part of James Foster’s “Kindness Week,” spearheaded by school social worker Jenny Ayres, students from each grade competed to have the most […]
The post <strong>James Foster students set up cereal ‘dominoes’ before donating</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/james-foster-students-set-up-cereal-dominoes-before-donating/
World’s second-largest eyeglass lens-maker blinded by infosec incident
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Japan’s Hoya also makes components for chips, displays, and hard disks, and has spent four days groping for a fix
If ever there was an incident that brings the need for good infosec into sharp focus, this is the one: Japan’s Hoya – a maker of eyeglass and contact lenses, plus kit used to make semiconductor manufacturing, flat panel displays, and hard disk drives – has halted some production and sales activity after experiencing an attack on its IT systems.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/hoya_infosec_incident/
How to prepare for Monday’s solar eclipse
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Signal
Looking for something to do on Monday morning? How about a view at a once-a-decade event? Officials with NASA are estimating that between approximately 10:06 and 11:49 a.m. on Monday, the Los Angeles area is expected to be in view of a solar eclipse that will appear as a partial eclipse here, but a total […]
The post <strong>How to prepare for Monday’s solar eclipse</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/how-to-prepare-for-mondays-solar-eclipse/
23 storms predicted for ‘extremely active’ Atlantic hurricane season
date: 2024-04-05, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/7557776.html
Cross-country cause: New Jersey man treks through Santa Clarita as part of MS Run the U.S.
date: 2024-04-05, from: The Signal
Michael Azar woke up at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday as he prepared to trek through the Santa Clarita Valley on his way to Acton. The 27-year-old native of Denville, New Jersey, was selected to run the first segment for MS Run the U.S., an annual ultra relay event with 21 runners stretching 3,260 miles across […]
The post <strong>Cross-country cause: New Jersey man treks through Santa Clarita as part of MS Run the U.S.</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
Are Cars the Answer?
date: 2024-04-05, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Successful malls have been multimodal, rather than pedestrian only, with ample housing in the vicinity.
The post Are Cars the Answer? appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/are-cars-the-answer/
Doin’ It Right
date: 2024-04-05, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Last week a crew from Goleta’s busy Public Works Department established a much-needed crosswalk at Girsh Park along speeder-plagued Pacific Oaks.
The post Doin’ It Right appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/doin-it-right/
I was waiting for this: Tressie McMillan Cottom on Beyoncé’s genre-busting Cowboy…
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044334-i-was-waiting-for-this
Permanent Pandemic Conditions?
date: 2024-04-05, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
We have traveled to many parts of the world recently and none of the beautiful cities we have visited remain in the closed off pandemic environment of State Street.
The post Permanent Pandemic Conditions? appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/permanent-pandemic-conditions/
Toyota is already offering $10k off a lease for its fully electric 2024 bZ4X
date: 2024-04-05, from: Electrek Feed
Toyota has made its fully electric 2024 bZ4X – which only just landed on dealers’ lots – available to lease with a $10,000 discount.
CalArts, Vermont College of Fine Arts Form Long-Term Affiliation
date: 2024-04-05, from: SCV New (TV Station)
California Institute of the Arts and Vermont College of Fine Arts announced Tuesday a formal affiliation that will join CalArts and VCFA together in the ongoing delivery of transformative arts education at the undergraduate and graduate levels
https://scvnews.com/calarts-vermont-college-of-fine-arts-form-long-term-affiliation/
Lambda borrows half a billion bucks to grow its GPU cloud
date: 2024-04-05, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Will buy tens of thousands of Nvidia’s prized accelerators, which will be collateral for the loan
Lambda Labs, operator of a GPU-infused cloud, on Thursday revealed it has secured a $500 million loan to fund the expansion of its accelerators-as-a-service offering.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/lambda_500m_loan/
Marsha McLean | Santa Clarita’s City Hall Ceremonies
date: 2024-04-05, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Springtime, with all its blossoms and lovely weather is a popular time to get married. If you are looking to say “I do” at this picturesque time of year, look no further than City Hall Ceremonies
https://scvnews.com/marsha-mclean-santa-claritas-city-hall-ceremonies/
pgAdmin 4 v8.5 Released
date: 2024-04-05, from: PostgreSQL News
The pgAdmin Development Team is pleased to announce pgAdmin 4 version 8.5. This release of pgAdmin 4 includes 24 bug fixes and new features. For more details please see the release notes.
pgAdmin is the leading Open Source graphical management tool for PostgreSQL. For more information, please see the website.
Notable changes in this release include:
Features:
- Added support for EDB Job Scheduler.
- Added support for viewing Log Based Clusters.
- Added support for UNIX socket in entrypoint.sh for Docker implementation.
- Added support for provider, deterministic, version, and RULES parameters while creating collation.
Bugs/Housekeeping:
- Fixed a remote code execution issue in the validate binary path (CVE-2024-3116).
- Fixed an issue in Schema Diff where Columns with sequences get altered unnecessarily.
- Fixed schema diff wrong query generation for the table, foreign table, and sequence.
- Fixed an issue where the maximize icon is missing from the query tool panel.
- Fix an issue in the editor where the Format SQL shortcut and multiline selection are not working.
- Fix an issue in the editor where the “Use Spaces?” preference of the Editor is not working.
- Fixed an issue where Triggers, Rules, and Indexes were absent from the Schema Diff when comparing views.
- Fixed an issue where taking a backup of a shared server was using the server owner’s user name.
- Fix an issue in the query tool where custom keyboard shortcuts are not working for some.
Builds for Windows and macOS are available now, along with a Python Wheel, Docker Container, RPM, DEB Package, and source code tarball from the tarball area.
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/pgadmin-4-v85-released-2835/
US official talks AUKUS expansion ahead of summit with Japan
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
washington — U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell has suggested that the U.S.-U.K.-Australia trilateral security partnership known as AUKUS may soon be expanded to include other Indo-Pacific nations.
AUKUS was established in 2021 in the face of China’s increasingly assertive presence in the Indo-Pacific. Talks about other countries joining the group or participating in what is called Pillar 2 have been circulating for more than a year.
“It was always believed when AUKUS was launched that, at some point, we would welcome new countries to participate, particularly in Pillar 2,” Campbell said while speaking Wednesday at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).
The first pillar of AUKUS was to provide Australia with a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine fleet, and the second pillar is to collaborate on advanced capabilities such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, advanced network capabilities, hypersonic capabilities, electronic warfare and underwater capabilities.
Campbell added that other countries have expressed interest in participating in AUKUS when the time was right.
“I think you’ll hear that we have something to say about that next week,” he said.
Trilateral summit next
Next week, U.S. President Joe Biden will host a trilateral summit with Japan and the Philippines. Biden will also have a bilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Campbell said the summit with Japan is expected to “historically” upgrade security cooperation relations, including the joint development of defense supplies.
According to Nikkei Asia, Campbell revealed on March 21 that the U.S.-Japan talks are expected to discuss technical cooperation between Japan and AUKUS.
According to the report, Campbell said Japan had made it “very clear” that it had no interest in participating in the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine project. But, he said, “there are clearly areas that Japan could bring substantial capacity to bear in security and technological pursuits that advance common goals in the Indo-Pacific.”
Campbell told Nikkei Asia that those areas include advanced robotics, cyber initiatives and some work in anti-submarine warfare.
At Wednesday’s event, Campbell noted that several countries in the Indo-Pacific region are undertaking critical research and development in areas Pillar 2 focuses on, including hypersonic capabilities, long-range strikes, undersea capabilities and cyber.
AUKUS to JAUKUS?
As China’s provocative actions have escalated in recent years, AUKUS has begun to set its sights on more countries.
During a “2+2” meeting between Japan and Australia in December 2022, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said that AUKUS could involve Japan.
In August 2023, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British House of Commons stated that AUKUS should invite Japan and South Korea to join.
Last November, former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso suggested during a visit to Australia that Japan join the group, which could be named JAUKUS. He said that would help send a unified signal on the Taiwan issue.
Australia and New Zealand also raised the possibility of New Zealand joining the second pillar of AUKUS after a ministerial meeting between the two countries in February.
Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst in defense strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, or ASPI, said the second pillar of AUKUS could draw on the strengths of Japan, New Zealand, Canada and even South Korea, but not necessarily as full members.
“Rather than bringing in these states as full AUKUS members, it’s better to bring them in on a project-by-project basis within pillar two areas of priority — for example, robotics and A.I., autonomous systems, advanced undersea warfare, electronic warfare, quantum technologies, and hypersonics,” Davis told VOA via email.
“It also opens up opportunities to add in some new priority areas — for example, space-related areas, where these states can make a great contribution.”
Bronte Munro, an analyst in the ASPI office in Washington, told VOA that Japan is an increasingly suitable candidate for joining AUKUS, noting major changes in its defense policy in response to the perceived Chinese threat. These include amendments to laws prohibiting the export of lethal weapons.
Munro said Japan’s manufacturing of advance semiconductors is critical for technology leadership, and the inclusion of Japan can help “secure semiconductor supply chains more explicitly for AUKUS partners.”
However, there are doubts in some circles about the wisdom of expanding AUKUS in view of the risks involved in sharing and transferring advanced technologies.
Andrew Hastie, the shadow defense minister of the Australian opposition party, told the U.S. media outlet Breaking Defense on March 28 that AUKUS’ focus should remain with the three countries already involved to ensure a seamless “transfer of the very sensitive secrets and intellectual property that’s involved with the heart of Pillar 1 and Pillar 2.”
When asked at the CNAS event whether Japan has established a security architecture to integrate into the second pillar of AUKUS, Campbell pointed out that the U.S. has been involved in “a series of engagements with Japan both on the intelligence side and in security spheres to encourage Japan to take on increasingly more strenuous activities that protect their intellectual property, that hold government officials accountable for the secrets they are trusted with.”
“It’s fair to say that Japan has taken some of those steps, but not all of them,” he said. “And we believe that ultimately, it is in our interest to share as much information and other technologies … with close partners like Japan to allow for a deeper, more fundamental alliance,” said Campbell.
He announced that “One of the things that I think you’ll see next week are steps, for the first time, that will allow the United States and Japan to work more collaboratively on joint development and potentially co-production of vital military and defense equipment.
“The U.S.-Japan Alliance is the cornerstone of our engagement in the Indo-Pacific.”
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-official-talks-aukus-expansion-ahead-of-summit-with-japan-/7557381.html
Cougars Bring Home Another First Place Finish
date: 2024-04-04, from: SCV New (TV Station)
College of the Canyons continued its triumph in the Western State Conference (WSC) with another first place finish in the books, this time producing its best score of the year at an even par
https://scvnews.com/cougars-bring-home-another-first-place-finish/
Theft reported at Dick’s Sporting Goods
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Signal
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies are investigating reports of a theft that occurred on Thursday afternoon at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Canyon Country, according to station officials. The theft reportedly occurred just after 1 p.m., according to Deputy Kabrina Borbon, spokeswoman for the station. Two men reportedly stole two bags of merchandise before fleeing […]
The post Theft reported at Dick’s Sporting Goods appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/theft-reported-at-dicks-sporting-goods/
Lady Mustangs End Season with Win Against Firebirds
date: 2024-04-04, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Master’s University beach volleyball team closed out the 2024 season with a win Thursday, defeating the No. 6 University of Saint Katherine Firebirds 4-1 at the TMU Beach Volleyball Courts
https://scvnews.com/lady-mustangs-end-season-with-win-against-firebirds/
Friday 5 April, 2024
date: 2024-04-04, from: John Naughton’s online diary
Anyone for truffles? Provence (where else?) Quote of the Day ”A toy car is a projection of a real car, made small enough for a child’s hand and imagination to grasp. A real car is a projection of a toy … Continue reading
https://memex.naughtons.org/friday-5-april-2024/39320/
Daily EV Recap: Fast charging an EV in 10 minutes
date: 2024-04-04, 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/2024/04/04/daily-ev-recap-fast-charging-an-ev-in-10-minutes/
US, Japan, Philippines eye cooperation on South China Sea
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
washington — Planning is already underway for three-nation naval patrols in the South China Sea ahead of a high-profile summit next week among the leaders of the United States, Japan and the Philippines, senior officials have said.
Philippine ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez was quoted by the Financial Times on Wednesday saying that Washington, Tokyo and Manila are finalizing details of an agreement on the patrols, including when to begin and how often they will take place.
The U.S. and the Philippines have conducted joint patrols in the past, but this will be the first time Japan has participated. Both Japan and the Philippines are treaty allies of the United States.
Asked about the plan, Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Martin Meiners told VOA’s Korean Service via email this week that the U.S. has been concerned about “dangerous and destabilizing” actions in the region and is “committed to maintaining deterrence, peace, and stability” with its allies and partners.
Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said the April 11 summit will be an occasion for “an unprecedented trilateral engagement” among the three countries that will lead to closer cooperation in the South China Sea and elsewhere.
He made the remark Wednesday at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security in Washington.
A senior U.S. official said the three leaders will discuss what was described as China’s “increasingly risky behavior” in the South China Sea.
“We are increasingly concerned that the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China’s] behavior in this space could lead us closer to really, unintended consequences,” the official said at a background White House press briefing this week.
“U.S. alliances and partnerships are not about China. … But oftentimes, Chinese action motivates a lot — much of what we talk about,” continued the official.
The most recent flare-up came on March 26 when the Chinese Coast Guard used water cannon to prevent a Philippine vessel from conducting a resupply mission to an outpost on a reef in waters within Manila’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told his Philippine counterpart Eduardo Año on Monday that the U.S. supports the Philippines against China’s “dangerous actions on March 26 obstructing a lawful Philippine resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal.”
Manila claims the shoal in the Spratly Islands as its own territory and has been keeping the BRP Sierra Madre, a World War II-era navy transport ship, grounded on the reef since late 1999.
Patrick Cronin, the Hudson Institute’s Asia-Pacific Security Chair, told VOA via email on Tuesday that the trilateral maritime patrols can provide “both a level of deterrence and a way of blocking Beijing’s efforts to create de facto control over disputed waters and some areas that clearly belong to the Philippines.”
He continued, “China will not desist from its ‘sovereignty enforcement’ efforts, use of white hulls and maritime militia to impose its domestic law on international waters, but it may have to shelve staking further claims in the face of concerted opposition from the three democracies.”
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA via email on Wednesday that “the military cooperation between the relevant countries must not interfere in South China Sea disputes,” and called for the three allies to avoid actions that would “harm China’s territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interests and security interests.”
Liu continued, “The South China Sea issue is a matter between China and some ASEAN countries.”
Among ASEAN member states, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei are official claimants against China, whose claims to virtually all of the resource-rich waters have been rejected by an international tribunal.
Prashanth Parameswaran, a fellow at the Wilson Center and founder of the weekly ASEAN Wonk newsletter, told VOA on Tuesday, that “more patrols by more countries is one of many ways to reinforce presence and prevent the nightmare scenario of the South China Sea becoming a Chinese lake.”
He continued, “In addition to alliance networking, the United States and its partners will have to find ways to work with Southeast Asian states which are not formal allies but are nonetheless critical in addressing China’s assertiveness as well.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-japan-philippines-eye-cooperation-on-south-china-sea-/7557374.html
Canyon Country Farmers Market Hosting Cooking Class Series
date: 2024-04-04, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Are you tired of spending a fortune on dining out and ready to take charge of your meals? Join us for a series of dynamic cooking classes designed to empower you in the kitchen!
https://scvnews.com/canyon-country-farmers-market-hosting-cooking-class-series/
McCarthy Way Parking Structure, McCarthy Way entrance reopened after accident
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
McCarthy Way faced closures through Thursday afternoon as authorities addressed damages to the structure, after a vehicular accident that breached the wall on the third floor.
The post McCarthy Way Parking Structure, McCarthy Way entrance reopened after accident appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/vehicle-crashes-into-wall-of-mccarthy-way-parking-structure/
Deficits and Benefits of Mental-Health Care in Santa Barbara County Jails
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
More than 100 people participated in a workshop to discuss the challenges to improving timely services.
The post Deficits and Benefits of Mental-Health Care in Santa Barbara County Jails appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Police Evacuate Bank of America in Downtown Santa Barbara Following Bomb Threat
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Police advise pedestrians and vehicles to avoid the corner of State and Canon Perdido streets Thursday afternoon as the incident remains under investigation.
The post Police Evacuate Bank of America in Downtown Santa Barbara Following Bomb Threat appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Roku gets patent for injecting ads through HDMI
date: 2024-04-04, from: OS News
Oh boy. Roku has an… Interesting new patent. Thought you could avoid the ads infesting every “smart” TV you buy now by using external devices through HDMI? Disclosed herein are system, apparatus, article of manufacture, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for ad insertion by a display device coupled to a media device via a high-definition media interface (HDMI) connection, where the media device provides media content and/or a control signal. When the media device pauses the media content, the display device can determine that a pause event has occurred and insert an ad shown on the display device. Further, some embodiments include determining the context and/or content of the media content that is paused, and determining an ad that is customized to the determined context and/or content to be displayed on the display device. In some embodiments, the display device can determine additional information from the control signal that may also be used to determine the ad to be displayed on the display device. ↫ Some bullshit patent for a bullshit ‘invention’ My eyes are bleeding. I require medical assistance.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139164/roku-gets-patent-for-injecting-ads-through-hdmi/
The $2 Billion Plan to Electrify American Homes
date: 2024-04-04, from: Heatmap News
Getting fossil fuels out of your home is really hard. You have to find a contractor, ideally one who supports electrification and doesn’t ask why you won’t just stick with natural gas. You have to coordinate between multiple trades — electricians, plumbers, HVAC professionals — as well as lenders and utilities and permitting authorities, most of whom don’t talk to each other. You have to navigate a confusing array of finance options and incentives. You might be left feeling defeated, unable to afford the high up-front costs and unable to secure low-cost loans. And if you’re a renter, all you can do is dream.
These are not easy problems to solve. But a new initiative called Power Forward Communities has a pioneering plan to simplify the process all over the country — and it just got $2 billion to get started.
The money is part of the $20 billion the Biden administration awarded on Thursday via the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program approved as part of the Inflation Reduction Act to provide low-cost financing options for consumers, communities, and businesses to transition to clean energy and adapt to climate change.
Power Forward Communities is made up of five core partner organizations — Rewiring America, Enterprise Community Partners, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Habitat for Humanity, and United Way Worldwide — who will work with communities, government agencies, unions, and housing developers to decarbonize hundreds of thousands of homes and apartments between now and 2031. The coalition has committed to invest at least 75% of the financing in projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
That all starts with a four point plan.
First, reduce friction by creating online tools and providing community-level assistance to help homeowners navigate the decarbonization process. Rewiring America is already part of the way there with its “personal electrification planner,” which provides a rough estimate of the upfront cost, annual bill savings, and expected emissions reductions for any given project. Soon, the group will pair that with another, first-of-its-kind tool: a dataset of every electrification incentive in the country. Eventually you’ll be able to plug in your address and income and get a list of all of the programs available to help you pay for your project.
Second, invest in workforce development and create a “contractor marketplace” where building owners can go to find vetted partners for their project.
Third, create new low-cost financial products to help bridge the gap between existing incentives and project costs. Notably, Power Forward plans to allocate more than half of its loans to projects in multifamily buildings, as these buildings tend to serve renters with lower incomes, and decarbonizing them is much more capital-intensive.
The details of the finance aspect of the program are subject to change, but the group’s application for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund proposes an energy efficiency loan for apartment building owners who want to make minor upgrades, which would offer an average of $30,000 per building with a 10- to 20-year term and 1% to 3% interest rate. As part of this program, Power Forward would also work with the building owner to make a plan to fully decarbonize the building down the line, and issue grants to fund the planning process. A proposed “net-zero rehab permanent loan,” meanwhile, would provide financing for full retrofits at an average of $120,000 per building.
Meanwhile, the finance options for single-family homes could be tied to predetermined “packages” of decarbonization measures that homeowners can choose from. This brings me to the fourth, and what I see as the most interesting and innovative part of the plan: the aggregation of demand.
Part of why electrification is so difficult and expensive is that it’s a bespoke process. Some buildings might need insulation, others might need electrical upgrades. Some might require new ductwork for central heat pumps, while others might be better off installing mini-split heat pumps in every zone of the house. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution.
“How do we unlock economies of scale and create an offering that could serve as many households at once?,” Nicole Staple, the head of market partnerships at Rewiring America, posed rhetorically to me in February. “That has historically been incredibly challenging given there’s so much customization to heat pump design.”
But there are buildings with similar needs. If there were a way to identify them and then group the jobs together, you could start to solve a surprising number of other challenges. “That’s where I think you unlock a lot of speed in [electrifying] full communities,” said Staple.
The most obvious benefit would be lowering the cost of equipment by buying in bulk. You could give suppliers better visibility into demand so they could stock up accordingly. You could help contractors plan ahead and space out jobs so that they have guaranteed work during the shoulder seasons. You could create new markets for union labor, which have historically been shut out from residential work due to the small size of the contracts and high customer acquisition costs. You could pool loans to diversify risk. You could design more effective policies to wind down the natural gas system.
The standardized packages Power Forward plans to offer will enable the group to “pre-define pricing and financial product offers, streamline underwriting and installation, and reduce financing costs,” according to its funding application. It estimates that by aggregating demand, it can reduce the remaining costs of electrification after incentives by as much as 50%.
The application also said the group has obtained letters of commitment from supply chain participants, including Home Depot and Mitsubishi, to lower equipment costs. In return, the coalition will reserve an initial $125 million over the first three years of the program as an insurance pool to guarantee $1 billion in sales volume for select partners.
To unlock all this magical potential, Rewiring America has been working on a large-scale data model to identify homes with similar characteristics, which will in turn help it figure out where there is opportunity to bundle projects in different parts of the country.
The group has also been gathering information and testing out assumptions on what will ultimately lower the costs of equipment and installation in a series of pilot projects, starting with one in the rural, mostly Black community of DeSoto, Georgia, where “107 households survive on a median income of $20,375, grapple with repeated house fires linked to propane gas usage, and strain to pay utility bills,” according to Power Forward’s application.
When I spoke to Staple a couple of months ago, she told me that about 75 households in DeSoto had expressed interest in the program thus far. Each participant would get at least one piece of equipment — a heat pump space heating system or a water heater, for example — fully subsidized. They would also be eligible for electrical upgrades or weatherization improvements as needed.
“Many of the households have not had cooling. Some have had their HVAC systems broken for literally decades,” Staple told me. “There’s lots of dimensions of that community that we think help us understand how carefully we need to manage electrification projects, considering the ways that these communities have been failed.”
Power Forward had initially requested $9.5 billion to implement its plans, so it will have to go back to the drawing board over the next few months to map out what it can achieve with the $2 billion it was given. What could it have accomplished with that additional $7.5 billion?
“Our mission is to create hundreds of DeSotos, and ultimately decarbonize housing across the nation,” the coalition’s application says.
https://heatmap.news/economy/heat-pumps-green-bank
Lilbits: The tiniest “Steam Deck,” Android’s desktop mode gets (a little) better, and would you pay for Google’s AI search features?
date: 2024-04-04, from: Liliputing
AI is the buzziest buzzword in tech right now… although since it’s an abbreviation for two words, maybe it’s a buzzphrase? Anyway, chip makers are slapping so-called Neural Processing Units into their silicon destined for smartphones, tablets, and PCs. Mobile and desktop operating systems are backing AI features into their software. And search, social media, […]
The post Lilbits: The tiniest “Steam Deck,” Android’s desktop mode gets (a little) better, and would you pay for Google’s AI search features? appeared first on Liliputing.
Tesla scouting factory locations in India, and already producing vehicles for imports
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
Local reports in India claim that Tesla is already scouting factory locations in the country and started producing vehicles for imports.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/04/tesla-scouting-factory-locations-in-india-producing-vehicles-imports/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Elon Musk realized he created a badge of shame with blue checks on X.
https://slate.com/technology/2024/04/elon-musk-blue-checks-x-twitter-badge-of-shame.html?via=rss
CalArts Remembers Beloved Teacher Lou Florimonte
date: 2024-04-04, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The California Institute of the Arts community mourns the loss of beloved teacher and alumnus Lou Florimonte (Film/Video MFA 77), who passed away last month
https://scvnews.com/calarts-remembers-beloved-teacher-lou-florimonte/
Santa Barbara Man Who Shot at Teens Near Stevens Park Faces Prison Time, Civil Lawsuit
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Roy Eugene Stephenson Jr., 83, claims he fired a warning shot in self-defense.
The post Santa Barbara Man Who Shot at Teens Near Stevens Park Faces Prison Time, Civil Lawsuit appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Healthy Cooking with Canyon Country Farmers Market
date: 2024-04-04, from: City of Santa Clarita
HEALTHY COOKING WITH CANYON COUNTRY FARMERS MARKET Are you tired of spending a fortune on dining out and ready to take charge of your meals? Join us for a series of dynamic cooking classes designed to empower you in the kitchen! Presented by the Canyon Country Farmers Market in collaboration with the City of Santa […]
The post Healthy Cooking with Canyon Country Farmers Market appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/04/04/healthy-cooking-with-canyon-country-farmers-market/
Blinken urges more aid for Ukraine as NATO increases resourcing efforts
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
state department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that more aid is urgently needed for Ukraine following meetings with NATO foreign ministers, amid growing concerns that Russia is building up its defense industrial base with support from China, North Korea and Iran.
“Based on what I heard today … everyone, including the United States, is going to double back and, as necessary, double down on finding the resources that Ukraine continues to need,” Blinken told reporters after meetings with NATO foreign ministers at the alliance headquarters in Brussels.
While individual NATO members have been providing arms to Ukraine, the organization as a whole has concentrated on providing nonlethal aid for fear of escalating tensions with Russia through a more direct involvement.
“More than 30 countries now have signed or are in the process of negotiating signing bilateral agreements with Ukraine, and we’re ourselves, the United States, working on our own bilateral agreement,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Blinken met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Brussels, where the two discussed the situation on the battlefield and ways to bolster Ukraine’s energy sector in light of continued attacks from Russia.
The United States will host a NATO summit in Washington from July 9 to July 11. Blinken discussed priorities for the meeting with Kuleba as NATO celebrates its 75th anniversary.
“Ukraine will become a member of NATO,” Blinken said. “Our purpose of the summit is to help build a bridge to that membership and to create a clear pathway for Ukraine moving forward.”
During Thursday’s press conference, Blinken also underlined the urgency of the U.S. congressional action to vote on aid for Ukraine.
Congress has yet to approve the Biden administration’s supplementary budget request that would resupply Ukraine’s armed forces and help the country fend off Russian offensives.
President Joe 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.
On Wednesday, the top U.S. diplomat held talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on how to bolster the alliance’s long-term military support for Ukraine.
This week, NATO foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss a proposal for creating a five-year fund, totaling about $108 billion, to support Ukraine’s military.
The plan, put forward by Stoltenberg, includes making NATO more directly involved in coordinating military assistance provided by member countries — a role that has been filled by a U.S.-led coalition of more than 50 countries.
A final decision on the proposal would not come until the NATO summit in July. It requires consensus among its 32 members.
On Thursday, foreign ministers from the security bloc also met with its partners from the Indo-Pacific.
“North Korea, China, Iran are supporting Russia’s war of aggression in different ways, so this demonstrates that security is not regional security, it’s truly global, and therefore it’s important that we work together with our Asia-Pacific partners,” Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.
Qt 6.7, Qt Creator 13 released
date: 2024-04-04, from: OS News
Earlier this week, Qt 6.7 was released with a whole slew of new features and improvements. Reading through the various highlights, there’s further improvements to Qt Graphs, first released with Qt 6.6 and still under active development, better SVG support, variable fonts and icon font support, and much more. There’s also a variety of new examples and demo applications, and of course, Qt 6.7 supports all the latest operating system releases. One feature that truly stood out to me as something that I’m assuming will make Qt developers happy is improved support for embedding native controls into Qt applications. On both desktop and mobile platforms, applications often need to combine UI elements from different technologies and frameworks. Qt uses and integrates tightly with the native technologies on each platform to create basic UI elements such as windows, and it has for a long time been possible to use UI elements from other frameworks within a Qt Widgets application. With Qt 6.7, we are now adding support for embedding native windows into a Qt Quick scene as well. This allows use of native controls such as AppKit’s MapView or a Windows media player inside a Qt Quick UI, with correct positioning and stacking. By layering windows, Qt Quick UI elements can be overlaid on top of the native components as well. ↫ Volker Hilsheimer Alongside Qt 6.7, Qt Creator 13 has also been released, which comes with its own set of improvements and new features.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139161/qt-6-7-qt-creator-13-released/
Carpinteria City Council Amends Live Music Restrictions
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Carpinteria City council answers the pleas of owners, musicians, and patrons to preserve outdoor live music.
The post Carpinteria City Council Amends Live Music Restrictions appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/carpinteria-city-council-amends-live-music-restrictions/
Santa Clarita’s City Hall Ceremonies
date: 2024-04-04, from: City of Santa Clarita
Santa Clarita’s City Hall Ceremonies By Councilwoman Marsha McLean “What greater thing is there for two human souls then to feel that they are joined for life — to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in silent, unspeakable memories at the moment […]
The post Santa Clarita’s City Hall Ceremonies appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/04/04/santa-claritas-city-hall-ceremonies/
AMD unveils their Embedded+ architecture, Ryzen Embedded with Versal together
date: 2024-04-04, from: OS News
One area of AMD’s product portfolio that doesn’t get as much attention as the desktop and server parts is their Embedded platform. AMD’s Embedded series has been important for on-the-edge devices, including industrial, automotive, healthcare, digital gaming machines, and thin client systems. Today, AMD has unveiled their latest Embedded architecture, Embedded+, which combines their Ryzen Embedded processors based on the Zen+ architecture with their Versal adaptive SoCs onto a single board. ↫ Gavin Bonshor at AnandTech Machines with these chips will flood the used market a few years from now, and they’re going to be great buys for all kinds of fun projects – and because the corporate world buys these machines by the truckload, they show up on eBay at impulse prices within years. Sometimes, you can even buy cheap whole lots of these kinds of boxes. They often tend to be a little weird, and come with features and trinkets normal computers don’t come with, which is always good for some weekend fun. Cathode Ray Dude is currently doing a series on these little things on YouTube, and there’s always something weird to discover about what kind of odd features and design choices these machines possess. If there’s interest from you, our lovely readers, I can see if I can snatch up a few weird ones from eBay and write about what kind of fun projects you can do with these. You can usually run Linux on these, the embedded versions of Windows, and if they’re not too weird, they could probably serve as a cheap Haiku box, too.
What’s Behind Low Turnout in Santa Barbara Democratic Primary
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Is the Gaza war already undermining Biden at the ballot box?
The post What’s Behind Low Turnout in Santa Barbara Democratic Primary appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/whats-behind-low-turnout-in-santa-barbara-democratic-primary/
‘Uncle Rufus’ coming to The Main
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Signal
News release The world of theatrical mastery is coming to The Main Old Town Newhall this month with “Uncle Rufus II: Odella’s Revenge,” featuring Mildred Dumas. At 91 years old, Dumas’ career has spanned stage, screen, television and commercials. This show is a sequel to last year’s production, “Uncle Rufus I.” Odella, the maid […]
The post ‘Uncle Rufus’ coming to The Main appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/uncle-rufus-coming-to-the-main/
Polestar 7 to replace Polestar 2 in EV line-up to avoid Volkswagen Golf-like fate
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
A new Polestar electric car is destined to replace the Polestar 2, the EV that started it all. The Polestar 7 will not be a direct successor to the 2 as the brand looks to keep things fresh.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/04/polestar-7-replace-2-ev-line-up-avoid-vw-golf-like-fate/
The Hybrid Ford Maverick Is Suddenly Selling Like Hot Cakes
date: 2024-04-04, from: Heatmap News
Americans might remain tepid on electric vehicles. But they are snapping up conventional hybrids.
More than half of the Ford Maverick compact pickup trucks sold last quarter had conventional hybrid engines, the automaker said on Wednesday, a sign of how rapidly hybrids and plug-in hybrids are ascending in the American car market.
Ford sold nearly 20,000 Maverick hybrids during the first three months of 2024, 77% more than during the first quarter of 2023, the automaker said. Those Mavericks made up the majority of the 38,421 hybrids that Ford sold across its line-up last quarter.
“We listened to our customers and want to offer them freedom of choice,” Jim Baumbick, the vice president of product development and operations at Ford, told me in an exclusive interview. “Customers can do the math — a lot of Maverick customers are very focused on value for money.”
The sales success comes as Ford, the domestic automaker that has been most enthusiastic about EVs, has intensified its focus on conventional and plug-in hybrids. On Thursday, Ford announced that it plans to offer a hybrid version of each of its gasoline-burning vehicles by the end of the decade. The company recently added an additional shift at its Hermosillo, Mexico, factory that makes Maverick trucks, and it doubled the production of full-size F-150 hybrid pickups.
In the same announcement, however, Ford also said it would push back the launch of its next-generation electric vehicle, a new three-row electric SUV, from 2025 to 2027. That suggests that the automaker’s current EV offerings — the Ford Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, and Ford E-Transit delivery van — will remain its flagship electric vehicles for much of the rest of the decade.
“We know the destination: EVs are going to be a much bigger part of our product portfolio in the future,” Baumbick said a day before the announcement. “But we also know the tail on internal combustion-based products is going to be much longer.”
On the one hand, Ford’s sudden success with hybrids is unsurprising. Hybrids are a 20-year-old technology that cuts air pollution, saves on gas costs, and can improve a car’s performance. While hybrids aren’t nearly as good for the climate as purely electric vehicles, they can cut carbon emissions without forcing customers to seek out or install charging stations.
For those reasons, auto experts once predicted that hybrids would
percolate across the marketplace like, say, automatic transmission or
power steering — they were general-purpose features that would improve
any car. But instead they are only now catching on, after the
initial electric vehicle boom. Perhaps that’s because hybrids were long
seen as the green or environmentally premium choice, and only the
arrival of mainstream EVs has defanged hybrids as an option for more
drivers.
In the interview, Baumbick noted that adding a hybrid powertrain to a Maverick or F-150 now adds only an extra $1,500 or so to a truck’s suggested retail price. “Our goal from the getgo on Maverick was to take a different approach, and it was all about the value. When we launched, we were really trying to lean into attracting more customers to hybrids, because we knew from all the research we had done that they were looking for value. It was a bit of a departure from how we approached it before as a premium offering.”
That idea of hybrids as premium persists elsewhere in the automaker’s line-up. A conventional gas-burning Ford Escape plug-in hybrid can be bought for as little as $29,495, for instance, while a plug-in hybrid Escape has a suggested retail price of $40,500.
For what it’s worth, Ford also reported strong EV growth in the year’s first quarter, but its raw EV sales totals are lower than its hybrid sales. The company sold 20,223 electric vehicles during the year’s first three months, an increase of 86% over the same period a year earlier.
The Mustang Mach-E, a family-friendly crossover that has emerged as the automaker’s best-performing EV, made up about half of those deliveries; its sales were up 77% over the year prior. The company also sold 7,743 F-150 Lightning models, 80% more than a year earlier. What’s not yet clear is whether these better sales translated into financial returns. The automaker lost tens of thousands of dollars for every EV that it sold last year, and it slashed the price of its most premium EVs further at the beginning of 2024. Ford will announce its quarterly earnings at the end of April.
Even as it has slowed its rollout of EVs, Ford has insisted that it believes they represent its future. The very first line of its press release on Thursday was: “Ford continues to invest in a broad set of EV programs as it works to build a full EV line-up.” But in our conversation, Baumbick compared the reasons a customer might buy a fully electric versus a hybrid full-size F-150 pickup. “If their usage is best suited to an EV, we’ve got an F-150 Lightning,” he said. But “if you’re towing for higher distances or longer weights, it increases demand on charging. That’s where a hybrid can be a perfect tool for the job.”
Here at Heatmap, we’ve argued that Ford should add a plug-in hybrid Maverick to its lineup, too — after all, the Maverick is built on the same underlying platform as the Escape. A semi-electric compact pickup could be the “forever truck” for many Millennials. So I asked Baumbick: With Ford now expanding its hybrid offerings, is there any chance we’ll see a plug-in hybrid Maverick anytime soon? He told me that the company doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation. Hey — that’s better than a straight-up “no.”
https://heatmap.news/sparks/ford-maverick-hybrid-q1-sales
The Sound of Knitting
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/the-sound-of-knitting
Polestar 7 To Succeed 2 In Brand’s Next-Generation EV Portfolio
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
CEO Thomas Ingenlath said he’s not inclined to follow a VW Golf-like evolution of the Polestar 2 nameplate.
https://insideevs.com/news/714997/polestar-7-to-replace-2-electric-sedan-in-2027/
Travis Scott at USC — as it happened
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The rapper and producer has been promoting his collegiate-branded clothing lineup, a collaboration with sportswear manufacturer Fanatics, with similar appearances at other college campuses.
The post Travis Scott at USC — as it happened appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/travis-scott-at-usc-live-updates/
Can Snakes Recognize Themselves? One Species Has Passed a Modified ‘Mirror Test’ Based on Smell
date: 2024-04-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Eastern garter snakes might recognize their own scents, suggesting the reptiles are more cognitively complex than thought, according to a new study
Retention Rate Among TMU Students Remains Strong
date: 2024-04-04, from: SCV New (TV Station)
One key indicator of student satisfaction is a school’s fall-to-spring retention rate. In other words, what percentage of eligible undergraduate students who enroll in the fall return after winter break
https://scvnews.com/retention-rate-among-tmu-students-remains-strong/
Newtified
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
What’s newt? Our expert outdoorsman expounds on these Santa Barbara creek dwellers.
The post Newtified appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/newtified/
George Carlin A.I. Imitation Case Reaches Settlement
date: 2024-04-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The late comedian’s estate brought a lawsuit against two podcast hosts who used an A.I. voice generator to deliver a fake stand-up routine
Volvo sets a global all-time sales record thanks to EVs
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
Volvo Cars’ global BEV sales are up 43% year-over-year in March – here’s how its monthly and quarterly EV sales break down.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/04/volvo-cars-global-sales-record-march-thanks-to-evs/
Trump loses bid to dismiss documents case on ‘personal records’ claim
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
WordPress.com has Studio, a native app for running WordPress locally, and GitHub Deployments
date: 2024-04-04, from: Chris Coyier blog
(For clarity, this isn’t sponsored, even though Automattic did sponsor me in the past for quite a long time. I just find it fascinating following the products they put out.) For a long time, the message and branding for WordPress.com was “this is the one you use if you want to use WordPress but don’t […]
Rain, possible thunderstorms expected Friday
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Signal
It may be spring but the Santa Clarita Valley is facing showers and thunderstorms and a small chance of hail as this week draws to a close, according to the National Weather Service. A cold late-season storm was to begin moving into the SCV beginning later Thursday and lasting into Friday night. By Thursday afternoon […]
The post <strong>Rain, possible thunderstorms expected Friday </strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/rain-possible-thunderstorms-expected-friday/
This lithium-free battery startup just raised $78M in Series C funding
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
Boston-based Alsym Energy, which is developing a nonflammable rechargeable battery that’s cobalt and lithium-free, has announced a $78 million funding round.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/04/lithium-free-battery-startup-alsym-energy/
NASA Employee Grateful for Opportunities at NASA Stennis
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
Cherie Beech knows full well the opportunity that working at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, affords. Since arriving at the federal city as a contractor 26 years ago, she since has expanded her skillset and grown as a member of the NASA Stennis team. “We are very blessed to have these […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-employee-grateful-for-opportunities-at-nasa-stennis/
Subaru U.S. EV Sales Weakened In Q1 2024
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
The Solterra is getting a new model year version, which might help to boost sales.
https://insideevs.com/news/714946/subaru-ev-sales-2024q1/
They call me El Grandé
date: 2024-04-04, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News
Back in the Valley some of my friends called me El Grandé.
Some still do.
Dave Jacobs has been playing with ChatGPT art, and sent me this one, and I thought it belonged here.
PS: You say the El part softly then pause on the G and add a slightly gutteral H before proceeding with rand and then stretch out the “ay” with a smile and you got it.
PPS: You could roll the R too, for fun, if you’re into it.
PPPS: Guy Kawasaki calls me Beeeeeeg Stuffff.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/04/195321.html?title=theyCallMeElGrand
COC Names Zeniah Ellsworth, Paul Grimonpon Athletes of the Week
date: 2024-04-04, from: SCV New (TV Station)
College of the Canyons student-athletes Zeniah Ellsworth (women’s track and field) and Paul Grimonpon (men’s golf) have been named the COC Athletic Department’s Women’s and Men’s Student-Athletes of the Week for the period running March 25-
https://scvnews.com/coc-names-zeniah-ellsworth-paul-grimonpon-athletes-of-the-week/
Daily Deals (4-04-2024)
date: 2024-04-04, from: Liliputing
The Epic Games Store is giving away The Outer Worlds and Thief for free this week. Amazon Gaming has added a bunch of new games to its list of free titles for Prime members (and plans to give away Fallout 76 on April 11 when the new Fallout TV show premieres). And Marvel is previewing […]
The post Daily Deals (4-04-2024) appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/daily-deals-4-04-2024/
USC hires Eric Musselman as men’s basketball head coach
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
All aboard the “muss bus.” A new era of Trojan basketball starts now at Galen Center.
The post USC hires Eric Musselman as men’s basketball head coach appeared first on Daily Trojan.
A Chevy Silverado EV Just Went 460 Miles On One Charge
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
Chevrolet’s electric pickup beat its already class-leading range figure.
https://insideevs.com/news/714994/chevy-silverado-ev-range-test/
US must care for migrant children in camps, judge says
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Migrant children who wait in makeshift camps along the U.S.-Mexico border for Customs and Border Protection officers to process them are in the agency’s custody and are subject to a long-standing court-supervised agreement that set standards for their treatment, a judge ruled.
The issue of when the children are officially in CPB custody is particularly important because of the 1997 court settlement on how migrant children in U.S. government custody must be treated. Those standards include a time limit on how long the children can be held and services such as toilets, sinks and temperature controls.
Wednesday’s ruling means the Department of Homeland Security must quickly process the children and place them in facilities that are “safe and sanitary.”
The border camps have become a flashpoint between immigrant advocates and the federal government. The U.S. has said smugglers send migrants to the camps and argued that the children are not yet in CPB custody because they haven’t been arrested. Advocates say the U.S. government has a responsibility for the children and that CBP often directs migrants to the camps, sometimes even driving them there.
Children traveling alone must be turned over within 72 hours to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. That agency generally releases them to family in the United States while an immigration judge considers asylum. Asylum-seeking families are typically released in the U.S. while their cases wind through courts.
“This is a tremendous victory for children at open air detention sites, but it remains a tragedy that a court had to direct the government to do what basic human decency and the law clearly require,” Neha Desai, senior director of immigration at the National Center for Youth Law, said in a statement. “We expect CBP to comply with the court’s order swiftly, and we remain committed to holding CBP accountable for meeting the most rudimentary needs of children in their legal custody, including food, shelter, and basic medical care.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee’s decision could have far-reaching implications because of the changing face of who is coming to the United States. Decades ago, the typical person attempting to enter the U.S. was an adult male from Mexico seeking work. Now, families with children are increasingly making perilous journeys to the border seeking a new life. Caring for children puts different stresses on federal agencies more historically more geared toward adults.
The legal challenge focuses on two areas in California: one between two border fences in San Diego and another in a remote mountainous region east of San Diego. Migrants who cross the border illegally wait under open skies or sometimes in tents or structures made of tree branches while short on food and water. When the number of migrants was particularly high last year, they waited for several days for CBP agents to arrest and process them.
Gee ruled that the Customs and Border Protection’s juvenile coordinator must maintain records on minors held in the agency’s custody for more than 72 hours and that includes any time the minors spend in the camps. The agency must make sure that the treatment of minors at open-air sites complies with the 1997 agreement, Gee wrote.
Gee set a May 10 deadline for the juvenile coordinator to file an interim report about the number of minors held in open-air sites and how the agency was complying with the judge’s order.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-must-care-for-migrant-children-in-camps-judge-says/7557139.html
New Jolene Lyrics
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/new-jolene-lyrics
Trove of Viking Combs Sheds Light on English Town’s Medieval History
date: 2024-04-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The hair care items are part of a sprawling collection of artifacts found in Ipswich between 1974 and 1994, which are now the subject of a new book
NASA’s NEOWISE Extends Legacy With Decade of Near-Earth Object Data
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
As the infrared space telescope continues its long-duration survey of the universe, it is creating a unique resource for future astronomers to make new discoveries. NASA’s NEOWISE mission has released its 10th year of infrared data – the latest in a unique long-duration (or “time-domain”) survey that captures how celestial objects change over long periods. […]
Feed Time
date: 2024-04-04, from: Doc Searls (at Harvard), New Old Blog
Two things worth blogging about that happened this morning. One was getting down and dirty trying to make DALL-E 3 work. That turned into giving up trying to find DALL-E (in any version) on the open Web and biting the $20/month bullet for a Pro account with ChatGPT, which for some reason maintains its DALL-E […]
https://doc.searls.com/2024/04/04/feed-time/
Microsoft Exchange breach from 2023 was Microsoft’s fault
date: 2024-04-04, from: OS News
In May and June 2023, a threat actor compromised the Microsoft Exchange Online mailboxes of 22 organizations and over 500 individuals around the world. The actor—known as Storm-0558 and assessed to be affiliated with the People’s Republic of China in pursuit of espionage objectives—accessed the accounts using authentication tokens that were signed by a key Microsoft had created in 2016. This intrusion compromised senior United States government representatives working on national security matters, including the email accounts of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, United States Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China R. Nicholas Burns, and Congressman Don Bacon. The Board finds that this intrusion was preventable and should never have occurred. The Board also concludes that Microsoft’s security culture was inadequate and requires an overhaul, particularly in light of the company’s centrality in the technology ecosystem and the level of trust customers place in the company to protect their data and operations. ↫ Cyber Safety Review Board’s report The Cyber Safety Review Board reviewed the attack on Microsoft Exchange from last year, with Microsoft’s cooperation, and it turns out it was kind of a complete and utter shitshow inside Microsoft – a cascade of failures, as the report calls it – and concludes that it was an entirely preventable attack. The report is not kind to Microsoft, and it’s a very interesting read if you’re into this sort of post mortems of security breaches.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139155/microsoft-exchange-breach-from-2023-was-microsofts-fault/
Tech titans assemble to decide which jobs AI should cut first
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
But don’t worry, if tech takes your job, we’ll retrain you
Of all the tech CEOs touting AI’s potential to empower workers, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has been among the most vocal about its ability to replace them.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/ai_replacement_jobs/
SIROTA’S SIGNALS: Cheeseburgers vs. Water
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Lever News
Plus, a single graph explains Boeing’s crisis, Apple tries to censor its regulator, and Wall Street data debunks the GOP’s anti-ESG crusade.
https://www.levernews.com/sirotas-signals-cheeseburgers-vs-water/
Gaming Psychology: What are the positive and negative benefits of playing video games?
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
Gaming as we know it has evolved in the past few decades. It has become more than just a way for college students to pass time and de-stress amid assignments….
Competing and Team Building: The Activities and Goals of Esport Club
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
The California State University, Northridge esports club is growing with prospects to bring in more students of all levels amidst the rise of competitive gaming. Within the ever growing gaming…
WeRide Robosweeper S1 Claims To Be The World’s First L4 Driverless Sweeper
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
It sweeps, it vacuums, it washes! That’s what its maker claims, at least.
https://insideevs.com/news/714947/weride-robosweeper-s1-l4-sweeper/
Leading in Innovations and Layoffs: The State of the Video Game Industry
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
As the new year begins, some of the gaming industry’s biggest players have already announced layoffs. NPR reported almost 6,500 video game workers have been laid off in the first…
Polestar says Tesla is not the competition but Porsche’s new Macan EV is
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
Polestar is not afraid to voice its opinion. The Swedish EV maker has called out industry leaders for their lack of progress with electric cars. Although often compared to Tesla, Polestar says the EV leader is not its rival. If anything, the new Porsche Macan EV is.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/04/polestar-tesla-not-rival-but-porsches-new-macan-ev-is/
NASA Noise Prediction Tool Supports Users in Air Taxi Industry
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
Several air taxi companies are using a NASA-developed computer software tool to predict aircraft noise and aerodynamic performance. This tool allows manufacturers working in fields related to NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission to see early in the aircraft development process how design elements like propellors or wings would perform. This saves the industry time and […]
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-04-04, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
New app opportunity just dropped:
https://sixcolors.com/link/2024/04/another-app-switches-to-a-subscription-model/
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112214473048168943
This Camera Turns Every Photo Into a Nude
date: 2024-04-04, from: 404 Media Group
NUCA, a 3D printed prototype camera and art project, uses AI to instantly generate a nude of any subject.
https://www.404media.co/nuca-camera-turns-every-photo-into-a-nude/
Intel quietly adds entry-level Core 5 Ultra 115U chip to the Meteor Lake family
date: 2024-04-04, from: Liliputing
Intel launched its first “Core Ultra” line of mobile chips based on Meteor Lake architecture in December, and expanded the lineup in February with vPro-eligible processors, and a few energy-efficient chips optimized for thin, light, and low-power computers. Sometime since then, Intel quietly added one more chip to the lineup. The Intel Core Ultra 5 115U is […]
The post Intel quietly adds entry-level Core 5 Ultra 115U chip to the Meteor Lake family appeared first on Liliputing.
Hybrids, electric vehicles shine at New York auto show
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
The 2024 New York International Auto Show kicked off in Manhattan in late March — and visitors have until April 7 to admire some of the coolest new car technology. Evgeny Maslov has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Michael Eckels.
https://www.voanews.com/a/hybrids-electric-vehicles-shine-at-new-york-auto-show/7556999.html
US presidential candidates court Black voters in Midwestern swing state
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
Joe Biden and Donald Trump won their parties’ presidential primaries in the Midwestern state of Wisconsin this week. With both their nominations secured, the candidates are fighting for a general election win in Wisconsin, which is one of a handful of swing states that could decide the 2024 race. VOA’s Scott Stearns reports the campaigns are working to win the support of Black voters in Wisconsin.
Diary Comics, Dec. 3-5
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/diary-comics-dec-3-5
Google Podcasts Is Gone
date: 2024-04-04, from: Michael Tsai
David Pierce: Google Podcasts is dead. It has been dying for months, since Google announced last fall that it was killing its dedicated podcast app in order to focus all its podcasting efforts on YouTube Music. This is a bad idea and a big downgrade, and I’d be more mad if only I were more […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/04/04/google-podcasts-is-gone/
AV1 Integer Overflow
date: 2024-04-04, from: Michael Tsai
Paul Ducklin (tweet): The security vulnerablities themselves turn out to be a single bug, or at least to be covered by a single bug identifier, CVE-2024-1580, which was found and reported by Nick Galloway, a researcher in Google’s Project Zero bug-hunting team[…] […] We’re guessing, from Apple’s purposeful silence when the first fixes came out […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/04/04/av1-integer-overflow/
New FileVault Recovery Keys and GoFetch
date: 2024-04-04, from: Michael Tsai
Howard Oakley: macOS Sonoma 14.4 and 14.4.1 updates have been prompting some users to create a new FileVault Recovery Key. If you see this as your Mac completes an update, here’s what you should next. […] If your Mac has FileVault turned on, and you opt to use a Recovery Key, check using fdesetup validaterecovery […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/04/04/new-filevault-recovery-keys-and-gofetch/
GoFetch
date: 2024-04-04, from: Michael Tsai
GoFetch (PDF, Hacker News): GoFetch is a microarchitectural side-channel attack that can extract secret keys from constant-time cryptographic implementations via data memory-dependent prefetchers (DMPs). We show that DMPs are present in many Apple CPUs and pose a real threat to multiple cryptographic implementations, allowing us to extract keys from OpenSSL Diffie-Hellman, Go RSA, as well […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/04/04/gofetch/
Feds probe alleged classified US govt data theft and leak
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
State Dept keeps schtum ‘for security reasons’
Updated Uncle Sam is investigating claims that some miscreant stole and leaked classified information from the Pentagon and other national security agencies.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/feds_data_dump/
NASA Will Create a New Time Zone for the Moon, Called Coordinated Lunar Time
date: 2024-04-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
With dozens of lunar missions on the horizon, a standard time-keeping system for the moon will assist with precise navigation, docking and landing
Microsoft Edge will let you control how much RAM it uses soon
date: 2024-04-04, from: OS News
Microsoft is working on a new feature for its Edge browser that will let you limit the amount of RAM it uses. Leopeva64, who is one of the best at finding new Edge features, has spotted a new settings section in test builds of the browser that includes a slider so you can limit how much RAM Edge gets access to. ↫ Tom Warren at The Verge Isn’t it the operating system’s job to manage memory? It seems very archaic to manually set memory limits on an application, or am I totally out of touch?
https://www.osnews.com/story/139153/microsoft-edge-will-let-you-control-how-much-ram-it-uses-soon/
Bombs away?
date: 2024-04-04, from: Robert Reich on Substack
Biden must stand up to Netanyahu
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/bombs-away
Judge rejects Trump free speech challenge to Georgia 2020 election case
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
Washington — A Georgia judge on Thursday rejected Donald Trump’s bid to dismiss criminal charges in the state’s 2020 election interference case against him, which the Republican former U.S. president argued violate his free speech rights.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee found that the indictment alleges statements by Trump and 14 others charged in the case were made “in furtherance of criminal activity” and are not protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Trump and the other defendants have been charged with racketeering and other offenses over their effort to overturn Trump’s defeat in Georgia to Democratic President Joe Biden. They have pleaded not guilty.
The case is one of four criminal prosecutions Trump faces as the November 5 election nears. His first trial, related to hush money payments to a porn star, is due to get underway in New York later this month.
“President Trump and other defendants respectfully disagree with Judge McAfee’s order and will continue to evaluate their options regarding the First Amendment challenges,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead lawyer on the Georgia case, said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.
The Georgia charges focus on attempts to assemble an alternate slate of presidential electors pledged to vote for Trump despite Biden’s win in the state, and Trump’s January 2021 phone call urging the state’s top election official to “find” enough votes to overturn his narrow defeat.
McAfee’s ruling is a signal he will continue moving the case toward trial even as Trump and eight co-defendants continue their efforts to disqualify Fani Willis, the prosecutor overseeing the case. A Georgia appeals court is set to decide whether to take up that issue in the coming weeks.
McAfee said it will be up to a jury to determine if Trump and other defendants, which include his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, acted with criminal intent.
He said the defendants may be able to revive their challenge as additional evidence is revealed.
Trump has other pending challenges to the case, including a claim that he is immune from charges tied to official actions he took as president.
Bad news about beloved Trader Joe’s: The company “outsources inspiration for new…
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044333-bad-news-about-beloved-tr
Nissan U.S. EV Sales Remain Stable At Over 5,000 In Q1 2024
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
Nissan Ariya sales increased, covering the losses of the fading Nissan Leaf sales.
https://insideevs.com/news/714867/nissan-us-ev-sales-2024q1/
EGO Power+ electric mini bike now $100 off, save on EcoFlow power stations, more
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
Spring is in bloom just like today’s green deals – headlined by the all-new EGO Power+ Electric Mini Bike at $1,999. It is joined by EcoFlow’s annual mega sale that is taking up to $2,796 off power stations, bundles, and accessories alike, as well as the popular blue model of Hover-1’s Altai Pro R500 e-bike hitting a new $1,138 all-time low. 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/2024/04/04/ego-electric-mini-bike-ecoflow-mega-sale-and-more/
StoreDot’s EV battery cells achieve 2,000+ consecutive XFC cycles
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
EV battery maker StoreDot says its silicon-dominant battery cells are the world’s first to achieve more than 2,000 consecutive extreme fast charging (XFC) cycles.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/04/storedot-ev-battery-cells-achieve-2000-consecutive-xfc-cycles/
Lennar to Debut New Tesoro Del Valle Model Homes
date: 2024-04-04, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Lennar announced the debut of Tesoro Highlands - a master-planned community nestled in the idyllic hills above Tesoro del Valle in Santa Clarita
https://scvnews.com/lennar-to-debut-new-tesoro-del-valle-model-homes/
Tesla Is Starting To Slip
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
Tesla dominates the EV market, but weakening demand, slashed prices, increased competition and constant drama with CEO Elon Musk are causing it to lose footing.
https://insideevs.com/news/714873/tesla-q1-deliveries-sales/
What Chinese Navy Planners Are Learning from Ukraine’s Use of Unmanned Surface Vessels
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: RAND blog
The continued success of Ukrainian unmanned surface vessel (USV) attacks on Russian naval facilities and warships has kept USVs in the defense analytical spotlight and naval analysts around the world, particularly those in China, are taking note.
Read: Generative AI and Creative Learning
date: 2024-04-04, from: John’s World Wide Wall Display
I just listened to the generated audio rather than read this. Really powerful summary between the instructionist and constructionist approaches to AI in education. Resnick is of course the father of scratch, so is firmly on the constructionist side. There are powerful ideas and examples of the ways AI could support a constructionist approach to […]
https://johnjohnston.info/blog/read-generative-ai-and-creative-learning/
ZPG A1 Unicorn handheld game console is coming soon (Updated)
date: 2024-04-04, 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 console is coming soon (Updated) appeared first on Liliputing.
The instructor of a course for nervous flyers recommends a “breathe and…
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044332-the-instructor-of-a-cours
This Museum Lets Visitors Talk to A.I. Copies of World War II Veterans
date: 2024-04-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Eighteen Americans who participated in the war effort each answered up to 1,000 questions on camera to create their interactive video likenesses
Condemned killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas makes new bid to overturn death sentence
date: 2024-04-04, from: San Jose Mercury News
“If Polly’s killer is somehow able to prevail, this is the tip of the iceberg,” said her father, Marc Klaas.
Sleuths who cracked Zodiac Killer’s cipher thank the crowd
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Fifty-one years of community contributions, software, and clever cryptanalysis contributed
Three men received recognition in December 2020 for cracking the Zodiac Killer’s 340-character cipher (Z340) – but they want to share credit with the community of sleuths who helped with the 51-year code breaking effort.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/zodiac_killer_code/
Disney+ will crack down on password sharing in June
date: 2024-04-04, from: San Jose Mercury News
Disney is curbing password sharing for its Disney+ streaming service as part of a larger effort to boost signups and revenue.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/04/disney-will-crack-down-on-password-sharing-in-june/
Audi U.S. Electric Car Sales Improved 29% In Q1 2024
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
EV share increased to a new record of nearly 13%.
https://insideevs.com/news/714924/audi-us-electric-car-sales-2024q1/
Chance the Rapper and wife Kirsten Corley are divorcing after 5 years of marriage
date: 2024-04-04, from: San Jose Mercury News
The two said they remain committed to co-parenting despite their separation
You Have to See Renault’s EV Jetski and Snowbike
date: 2024-04-04, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
The French automaker is expanding into both land and water mobility solutions.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/714728/renault-new-electric-mobility-solutions/
Come Join Us for a Great Fishing Event
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Neal Taylor Nature Center 27th Annual Fish Derby: The derby is the annual fundraiser for the Neal Taylor Nature
The post Come Join Us for a Great Fishing Event appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/come-join-us-for-a-great-fishing-event-2/
Washington State hires David Riley: The best move the Cougars could have made under the circumstances
date: 2024-04-04, from: San Jose Mercury News
Washington State’s options were limited in the search to replace Kyle Smith, but the nephew of a famous former Pac-12 football coach has a strong resume.
Beautify Goleta Goes Big For Earth Day with Multiple Activities on April 20
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
GOLETA, CA, April 3, 2024 – Celebrate Earth Day with the City of Goleta on Saturday, April 20 for a special Beautify
The post Beautify Goleta Goes Big For Earth Day with Multiple Activities on April 20 appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
College Briefs for April 4
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Signal
Valencia student named to Lincoln University of Missouri’s fall 2023 dean’s list Courtney-Nicole Cooper, of Valencia, was recently named to the dean’s list of Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, for the fall 2023 semester. The Lincoln University dean’s list comprises full-time undergraduate students earning a minimum term GPA of 3.00, excluding grades in courses […]
The post College Briefs for April 4 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/college-briefs-for-april-4/
Quema De Montón Programada Para Esta Semana
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
QUÉ: Quema controlada por montones de 4 a 5 acres tratados de tala de árboles caídos y muertos y maleza
The post Quema De Montón Programada Para Esta Semana appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/quema-de-monton-programada-para-esta-semana/
Scientists have created the largest 3D map of our universe to date…
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/0044331-scientists-have-created-t
Biden heralds 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
White House — President Joe Biden welcomed NATO’s 75th anniversary Thursday, as the security alliance hosted new member Sweden for the first time at a major meeting — and as Ukraine eagerly hopes for an invitation to join the group at an upcoming Washington summit.
In a statement, Biden welcomed the recent addition of new members Finland and Sweden, saying “we must choose to protect this progress and build on it.”
“This is the greatest military alliance in the history of the world,” Biden said. “But it didn’t happen by accident, nor was it inevitable. Generation after generation, the United States and our fellow Allies have chosen to come together to stand up for freedom and push back against aggression — knowing we are stronger, and the world is safer, when we do.”
Biden’s Democratic allies agreed.
“Despite [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s attempts to splinter our alliance with his war against Ukraine, the transatlantic partnership is more united than ever before, thanks to the determined leadership of Joe Biden,” said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “On this monumental anniversary, we reaffirm that America’s commitment to NATO remains bipartisan and ironclad — and that we will never waver in our defense of democracy.”
NATO allies have been increasingly unnerved by the prospect of former Republican President Donald Trump returning to the White House if he defeats Biden in the November 5 U.S. presidential election.
As president, Trump frequently complained that numerous NATO countries were not meeting NATO’s recommendation that they spend 2% of their country’s economic output on defense.
In February, at a campaign rally, Trump recounted what he said was a conversation he had when he was the U.S. leader with the “president of a big country.”
“Well sir, if we don’t pay, and we’re attacked by Russia — will you protect us?” Trump quoted the unnamed leader as saying.
“I said: ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent.’
He said: ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’
’No, I would not protect you.,” said Trump. “In fact, I would encourage them [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay.’”
The NATO countries’ pledge to defend each other has been invoked only once, when al-Qaida terrorists attacked the U.S. in 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.
The U.S. and its allies responded with a two-decade fight against the militants’ training sites and encampments in Afghanistan although Taliban rulers remained in power as Biden pulled out the last U.S. troops in 2021.
Some analysts argue that the alliance remains relevant, citing Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
“Nearly a billion people sleep more soundly at night under NATO’s protective umbrella,” said Robert Benson, a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, in a message sent to VOA.
“Yet a small but vocal minority views the alliance as a relic of the past, an albatross, or a distraction — all this in a world where Russian imperial ambition has once again threatened international peace and security,” he said. “The United States must continue to support Ukraine and to strengthen NATO, not out of charity or moral obligation, but because it makes us safer here at home.”
Sean Monaghan, a foreign affairs analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told VOA that he does not expect NATO to offer Ukraine a formal invitation to join the military alliance when it holds its 75th anniversary summit in Washington in July.
The allies agreed last year at NATO’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, not to invite Ukraine until its war with Russia has ended.
“When the time is right,” Monaghan said, “NATO allies and Ukraine will want to move quickly from invitation to membership to avoid a drawn-out period where Ukraine is at risk of coercion but not protected” by the NATO treaty provision that all countries must defend each other if they are attacked.
“The summit is likely to focus on boosting long-term support for Ukraine, including through NATO auspices,” Monaghan said.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-heralds-75th-anniversary-of-nato-s-founding/7556853.html
Prescribed Pile Burning Scheduled for this Week
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
WHAT: Prescribed burning of 4-5 treated acres of slash from felled dead trees and brush. WHEN: April 4. Additional series
The post Prescribed Pile Burning Scheduled for this Week appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/prescribed-pile-burning-scheduled-for-this-week-2/
Talleres Sobre Presupuestos De La Junta De Supervisores Del Condado 9 y 10 De Abril de 2024
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
(SANTA BÁRBARA, California) – La Junta de Supervisores del Condado de Santa Bárbara llevará a cabo talleres presupuestarios el 9
The post Talleres Sobre Presupuestos De La Junta De Supervisores Del Condado 9 y 10 De Abril de 2024 appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Save-The-Date: DoD-NASA Lidar Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM)
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
Details DoD-NASA Lidar TIM August 13-15, 2024 MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Arlington, VA (Crystal City)241 18th St S, Arlington, VA 22202 MIT Lincoln Laboratory is hosting a TIM between NASA and DoD to facilitate the sharing of lidar knowledge between these institutions and identify potential areas of collaboration that maximally utilizes the strengths from each […]
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/nesc/save-the-date-lidar-tim/
Tesla (TSLA) turns to deep discounts as inventory piles up
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla (TSLA) is turning to deep discounts on new vehicles early in a new quarter as inventory is piling up.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/04/tesla-tsla-turns-deep-discounts-inventory-piles-up/
Rivian R1T is getting a new GoFast Camper and Topper to upgrade your next adventure
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
Your next adventure just got an upgrade. Rivian’s R1T is getting a new GoFast Camper and Topper specifically engineered for the electric pickup. The new R1T accessories are designed to limit the impact on performance and range.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/04/rivian-r1t-electric-truck-gains-new-gofast-camper-topper/
NASA taps trio of companies to build the next generation of lunar rover
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
At $4.6 billion, this Moon malarkey is getting expensive
NASA has selected three companies to develop designs for a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) to transport astronauts around the Moon.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/nasa_lunar_rover/
County Board of Supervisors Budget Workshops April 9 and 10, 2024
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) – The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will hold budget workshops on April 9 and 10,
The post County Board of Supervisors Budget Workshops April 9 and 10, 2024 appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
April 3, 2024
date: 2024-04-04, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-3-2024-00d
DignityMoves to Host Grand Opening of the La Posada Interim Supportive Housing Community on April 12, 2024
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara, CA, April 3, 2024 — On Friday, April 12, 2024 at 5 pm DignityMoves will host the grand opening of its La
The post DignityMoves to Host Grand Opening of the La Posada Interim Supportive Housing Community on April 12, 2024 appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Marsha McLean | Santa Clarita’s City Hall Ceremonies
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Signal
“What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined for life — to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in silent, unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting?” — George Eliot Springtime, with […]
The post Marsha McLean | Santa Clarita’s City Hall Ceremonies appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/marsha-mclean-santa-claritas-city-hall-ceremonies/
Total Eclipse of the Heart, Literal Video Version
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/total-eclipse-of-the-heart-literal-video-version
Tech Today: Synthetic DNA Diagnoses COVID, Cancer
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
NASA-funded molecular research enables better disease detection
2 homicides under investigation in San Leandro include stabbing inside Safeway
date: 2024-04-04, from: San Jose Mercury News
Suspects were being sought in both killings; at this point, police don’t they are believe are related.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/04/two-homicides-under-investigation-in-san-leandro/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-04-04, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
I realized I had not posted this here.
Short version, "AI for Genocide" article:
https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/
Further reporting:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/israel-gaza-ai-database-hamas-airstrikes
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-gaza-hamas-war-ai-b2523039.html
The infographics on how they determine you are an enemy of the state use cute icons:
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112213819944433424
Radxa Zero 2 Pro is now available (Tiny Amlogic AM311D single-board computer)
date: 2024-04-04, from: Liliputing
The Radxa Zero 2 Pro is single-board computer with an Amlogic A311D processor featuring four ARM Cortex-A73 high-performance CPU cores, two Cortex-A53 efficiency cores, Mali-G52 MP4 graphics, and a neural processing unit with up to 5 TOPS of on-device AI performance. It also features a surprising amount of I/O features packed into a really tiny […]
The post Radxa Zero 2 Pro is now available (Tiny Amlogic AM311D single-board computer) appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/radxa-zero-2-pro-is-now-available-tiny-amlogic-am311d-single-board-computer/
Thank the bots, your blue check is back on X
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
If you’re popular enough at Elon’s party, that is
What Elon taketh away, Elon also giveth. Fee-free blue checks on Twitter are back, but only for users with a certain number of followers who pay for X Premium.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/x_blue_checks_twitter/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-04-04, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
I guess my domains moved away from Google Domains, where are we migrating to?
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112213785867052597
BYD Releases Camouflaged Photos Of EV Truck For Global Markets
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
BYD says this truck will be bigger than the Toyota Hilux in size.
https://insideevs.com/news/714879/byd-pickup-truck-ev-camoflauge/
Five things we learned about the SF Giants on their season-opening SoCal trip
date: 2024-04-04, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Giants proved they can hit the ball hard, but their pitching and defense hasn’t lived up the billing.
Around the World in 175 Days, 1924: Department of State Contributions to the U.S. Army Aerial Circumnavigation: Part I
date: 2024-04-04, from: National Archives, Text Message blog
This is the first in an occasional series of blog posts. In September 1924, in an aerial trip reminiscent of the voyage of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet (also known as the “Great White Fleet”) around the world between December 1907 and February 1909, a team of U.S. Army airmen completed the first successful aerial circumnavigation … Continue reading Around the World in 175 Days, 1924: Department of State Contributions to the U.S. Army Aerial Circumnavigation: Part I
Broken Hearted
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Be still our beating hearts, Starshine is back with a new column!
The post Broken Hearted appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/broken-hearted/
NASA Wallops to Launch Three Sounding Rockets During Solar Eclipse
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
Three Black Brant IX sounding rockets for the Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) mission are scheduled to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility launch range in Virginia. The launch window opens April 8, 2024, at 2:40 p.m. EDT. Launching approximately 45 minutes before, during, and after the peak local eclipse, the APEP sounding rockets […]
An Electric Minivan Might Be the Perfect Car
date: 2024-04-04, from: Heatmap News
If you survey Americans who are considering an electric vehicle, some of
their opinions are perfectly predictable. New
polling
released last week by the car publication Edmunds found that U.S. car
shoppers want more range, they want more affordable options, and they
want lots of SUVs and crossovers. Few respondents were excited about
electric pickup trucks. Hardly anybody — just 5% — wanted a minivan
EV.
Poor, poor pitiful minivan. Even as its bigger sibling undergoes a renaissance as the road-tripping influencer’s ride of choice, few people are out there posting thirsty #MinivanLife pics of a Chrysler Town & Country. People are importing vintage Japanese microvans and embracing other oddball shapes to stand out against a world full of Toyota RAV4s. Yet, despite ongoing rumblings about a comeback, the true minivan remains mired in tired stereotypes: It is the dorky dadmobile that appears in your driveway the day you buy a white pair of New Balance sneakers.
The thing is, a minivan is exactly what people want. And in the EV age, it could get even better.
Heatmap’s Shift Key podcast recently compared the biological concept of carcinization — the way everything wants to become a crab — to the convergent evolution of cars. In Robinson Meyer’s metaphor, automotive designs keep coming back to the minivan. After all, it has the primary features most families seek, namely three-row seating and lots of cargo space for kid stuff. But because the minivan is a loathed emblem of domesticity, carmakers continue to disguise its function in other forms.
This has been going on for generations. The bulbous station wagon, effectively a shorter minivan, was once the country’s de facto family car. Its parental uncoolness led to the rise of the minivan — which then became loaded with its own “soccer mom” cultural baggage and fell out of favor. In the 1990s, parents in search of a hipper, rugged alternative embraced the squared-off SUV instead. Three decades later, those boxes on wheels have mostly morphed into the rounded crossovers that dominate the roads today — vehicles that are, fundamentally, just minivans stretched into a shape that shouts, “I am anything but.”
Tastes change, of course. And if Americans are going to switch to electric cars, then it’s imperative the car companies electrify the vehicles they want. The problem with the never-ending SUV-crossover craze is that minivans are objectively better for the lives we actually lead.
A minivan handles better because it generally has a lower center of gravity than high-riding SUVs, which were built as if their owners were going to ford a riverbed on the way to their middle child’s xylophone recital. This is one reason car journalists have continued to praise the minivan over the years even as car buyers have spurned them.
Minivans have a variety of other features that make them better family cars than crossovers are. They’re roomy. They’re easy to get into and out of, especially when you’re loading or unloading children or car seats. The sliding doors prevent your offspring from dinging the next car over in the parking lot.
But because minivans have only a cult following these days and don’t sell big numbers, the electrified options are few. Online discussions about the best EV family car often come back to the plug-in hybrid Chrysler Pacifica because three-row EV crossovers are still rare and the all-electric Volkswagen ID.Buzz, a revival of the old VW bus that would be America’s first mainstream minivan EV, hasn’t arrived yet.
Volkswagen
There are cool concepts like Mercedes-Benz’s and interesting international options like the Volvo EM90, touted as a “living room on wheels” made with a signature clean Scandinavian aesthetic. They are aimed at the Chinese market because of America’s minivan disdain.
Mercedes-Benz
Sadly, it’s looking less and less likely that the startup Canoo’s space-pod people-conveyors, which one would call “vans” for lack of a better term, will ever come to fruition. No fully electric EV minivan is on sale here so far. Google “EV minivan” and you might get sponsored ads for Tesla, Rivian, and Subaru — whose electric offerings are decidedly not vans — as well as Reddit threads that ask why we don’t have more electrified minivan options yet.
Canoo
It’s too bad, because vans are great and could get even better via electrification. A long, heavy battery slung along the bottom of a van will add to its low center of gravity while providing a large number of kilowatt-hours. The voluminous cargo space inside EV minivans (and full-size vans like the electric Sprinter) will give small businesses a way to decarbonize. A fun bonus of EV life is being able to use the battery’s electricity to power the climate control and other accessories without having to run a combustion engine the whole time. That makes it easier to keep the whole family happy even if you’re waiting in the parking lot, and it will make the cabin an enjoyable place to kill time once AI starts doing all the driving. (There is one big problem still to be solved: making a minivan’s fold-flat seats, a game-changing feature, work when there’s a big battery down there.)
As we recently noted, the family-car-sized hole in the EV market is starting to be filled in. The Kia EV9 has introduced a true three-row crossover EV to the U.S., and more like it will soon follow. It stands to reason that, eventually, today’s minivan standards like the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey will electrify alongside everything else, creating a battery-powered offering for the small but growing niche populated by van people.
Still, the minivan deserves better. Perhaps when its EV version finally arrives, drivers will get bored of the conformist crossover and realize that the electric van can.
https://heatmap.news/electric-vehicles/electric-minivan-canoo-volkswagen-id-buzz-volvo-em90
Concord is playing restaurant bingo and so can you
date: 2024-04-04, from: San Jose Mercury News
Love eating? Like bingo? This month, the city of Concord is inviting locals and visitors alike to participate in a restaurant bingo game featuring prizes for committed foodies.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/04/concord-is-playing-restaurant-bingo-and-so-can-you/
Just Watch Shoppers Closely
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/04/04/just-watch-shoppers-closely/
Marine protected areas boost local economies, study finds
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
Washington — Banning fishing and other human activity in marine protected areas (MPAs) has long pitted environmentalists against fishing interests, but a new study shows that nearby fisheries benefit from these areas.
The study comes as the United States considers establishing the world’s largest MPA in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii, waters where “fishing remains a major contributor to food security … and income generation,” according to a review by the science journal BMC Public Health.
Mark Costello, a professor of biosciences and aquaculture at Norway’s Nord University and the study’s author, reviewed 51 studies of MPAs. He found that 39 of them showed increased catch in adjacent fisheries since their MPA designation.
The National Geographic Society estimates that approximately 5,000 MPAs exist worldwide, covering 0.8% of the world’s oceans.
Costello says the study’s data provides economic incentives for the Conference of Parties Global Biodiversity Framework goal set in 2022 of preserving 30% of the ocean by 2030.
“If we think of [MPAs] as a benefit to fisheries, this completely changes the conversation from setting aside 30% that nobody can do anything with to actually 30% that is like having money in the bank,” Costello said in an interview with VOA via Zoom on March 27.
He said traditional Indigenous communities often protect certain areas so fish can spawn because they want to be sure that fish are available “in a time of maybe crisis due to other food supplies not being available.”
Fish in protected areas “grow older, they’ll have more eggs, and they’ll spill over to the adjacent areas. So, you get those benefits,” Costello added.
Last year, the United States took a big step in trying to meet that 30% goal.
In March 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden proposed a marine sanctuary in the remote Pacific islands of nearly 2 million square kilometers, saying it would be “the largest protected ocean area on the planet.”
The Marine Conservation Institute’s Marine Protection Atlas shows the Ross Sea Region MPA as the largest MPA covering 1.9 million square kilometers.
Biden’s proposed MPA is bigger than the 1.5 million-square-kilometer reserve President Barack Obama established in 2016, a sanctuary that dwarfed and included the 300,000-square-kilometer sanctuary established by President George W. Bush in 2009 to protect parts of three remote Pacific island chains that are U.S. possessions.
Biden’s proposal has met with pushback in the Pacific Islands, where residents felt there wasn’t enough time for public input on a permanent change to their fishery access.
“When you are trying to create something in perpetuity … 45 days to take that away from a people is not enough,” said J.D. Tenorio, a resident of Saipan who spoke at a May 18, 2023, public meeting held in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory.
According to the Marine Protection Atlas, two of the three largest MPAs are in the Pacific. They include fishing grounds off the coast of Hawaii, as well as the U.S. territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Marshall Islands.
Costello says not all MPAs are permanent, adding it is important to consider the idea of reviewing the MPA designations.
“Maybe everything should be relooked at in 20 years’ time,” he said. “The next generation should have a say.”
Ray Hilborn is a University of Washington professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences who serves on the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which covers Hawaii, the territories of American Samoa and Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and several Pacific Remote Island Areas.
The council opposes Biden’s proposed sanctuary, and Hilborn says MPAs are not a “silver bullet” for conservation in the Pacific region.
“Most of the MPAs in the world are being created in countries that have good fisheries management, like the United States, like Australia, like New Zealand, like Canada, and those benefits are not going to happen in those places,” he said in a Zoom interview with VOA on March 27.
Hilborn also said MPAs can hurt the fishing industry, especially when implemented in areas where overfishing is not an issue, as is the case for the Biden administration’s sanctuary proposal.
He cites a study published in the May 2020 edition of Marine Policy on the expansion of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in 2016. It concludes that the MPA designation triggered a drop of 7% in catch per unit of effort and a decrease of revenue per fishing trip by 9%, or $3.5 million during the first 16 months after it was enacted in June 2006.
Hilborn said the Costello study supports an “illusion that you’re really protecting” the ocean, but “the real protection comes by action. And those actions are regulating fisheries [and] reducing bycatch” — the fish caught by fleets that crews can’t sell, don’t want or are not allowed to keep.
https://www.voanews.com/a/marine-protected-areas-boost-local-economies-study-finds/7555722.html
New York Inmates Sue to Watch the Total Solar Eclipse
date: 2024-04-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The state’s corrections department has ordered all prisons to lock down on the day of the eclipse, leaving inmates stuck inside. Six men are suing the state, saying viewing the event has religious significance
Six New York Inmates Successfully Sue to Watch the Total Solar Eclipse
date: 2024-04-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The state’s prison agency settled a lawsuit with the incarcerated men, allowing them to watch the eclipse on religious grounds. But for now, the rest of New York’s correctional facilities will remain locked down on April 8
California wildfire: Cartago evacuated, Highway 395 closed
date: 2024-04-04, from: San Jose Mercury News
The fire was reported around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, and an evacuation was quickly called for the community of Cartago and the nearby Crystal Geyser plant.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/04/california-wildfire-cartago-evacuated-highway-395-closed/
Stellantis CEO Wants To Put EVs On A Diet
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
Plus, Tesla looks to India for a new factory and Key Bridge disaster will cost one auto shipper up to $10 million.
https://insideevs.com/news/714876/stellantis-ev-battery-weight-half/
Google ponders making AI search a premium option
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Ad-free search experience might not be on the cards
Google is reportedly considering tweaks to its search engine, including making some AI features subscription-only - an ad-free search experience is seemingly not on the cards.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/google_ponders_making_ai_search/
This Woman Deconstructs 100-Year-Old Books To Restore Them
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: Jason Kittke’s blog
https://kottke.org/24/04/this-woman-deconstructs-100-year-old-books-to-restore-them
700-plus units — all affordable — could sprout in San Jose near tech hubs
date: 2024-04-04, from: San Jose Mercury News
A big affordable housing development could produce well over 700 residences in north San Jose.
Advances in Understanding COPV Structural Life
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
The Structures Technical Discipline Team (TDT) was involved in numerous investigations this past year, but composites, fracture mechanics, and pressure vessels dominate the list. All three of these specialties are important to composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV). One of the TDT’s most important findings this year was the exposure of an inherent vulnerability that underpredicts […]
https://www.nasa.gov/general/advances-in-understanding-copv-structural-life/
Advances in Understanding COPV Structural Life
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
The Structures Technical Discipline Team (TDT) was involved in numerous investigations this past year, but composites, fracture mechanics, and pressure vessels dominate the list. All three of these specialties are important to composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV). One of the TDT’s most important findings this year was the exposure of an inherent vulnerability that underpredicts […]
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/nesc/advances-in-understanding-copv-structural-life/
Ivanti commits to secure-by-design overhaul after vulnerability nightmare
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
CEO addresses whirlwind start to 2024 and how it plans to prevent a repeat
Ivanti has committed to adopting a secure-by-design approach to security as it gears up for an organizational overhaul in response to the multiple vulnerabilities in Connect Secure exploited earlier this year.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/ivanti_secure_by_design/
The Rivian R1T Is The Only Pickup Truck With A Top Safety Pick+ Rating From IIHS
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
There isn’t any other pickup truck, electric or not, to receive the highly-coveted badge.
https://insideevs.com/news/714905/rivian-r1t-top-safety-pick-plus-iihs-safety/
Dark Energy May Be Weakening, Major Astrophysics Study Finds
date: 2024-04-04, from: Quanta Magazine
A generation of physicists has referred to the dark energy that permeates the universe as “the cosmological constant.” Now the largest map of the cosmos to date hints that this mysterious energy has been changing over billions of years.The post Dark Energy May Be Weakening, Major Astrophysics Study Finds first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/dark-energy-may-be-weakening-major-astrophysics-study-finds-20240404/
Harnessing the 2024 Eclipse for Ionospheric Discovery with HamSCI
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
As the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, draws closer, a vibrant community of enthusiastic amateur radio operators, known as “hams,” is gearing up for an exciting project with the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) group. Our goal is clear and ambitious: to use the Moon’s shadow as a natural laboratory to uncover […]
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/2024-eclipse-ionospheric-discovery-with-hamsci/
Larry Magid: Configuring your phone to enhance well-being
date: 2024-04-04, from: San Jose Mercury News
Features can help you reduce stress by creating downtime
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/04/configuring-your-phone-to-enhance-youre-wellbeing/
BRP Shows Sales Growth Despite Warmest Winter On Record In US, Canada
date: 2024-04-04, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
The official quarterly report mentions “unfavorable winter conditions” no less than 10 times.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/714571/skidoo-snowmobile-sales-warm-winter/
The drama of Disney and the activist shareholder
date: 2024-04-04, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Sometimes, annual corporate shareholder meetings are mundane. That was not the case this year at Disney, where there was an unusually bitter and public battle for say in how the company is run. We’ll take a closer examination of the proxy battle and its outcome. Also on the program: expectations of March job gains, the Fed’s no-win situation, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s trip to China and airline responses to Boeing’s production delays.
Understanding AP and RSS
date: 2024-04-04, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News
What does ActivityPub does that RSS doesn’t?
Off the top of my head, it’s not the ability to syndicate, RSS already does that. I can follow anyone on any server.
I think it’s the timeline? And the ability to delete posts. Keeping all that in sync is a lot of work, and presumably a lot of traffic?
Also replies. If I reply to a post when viewing it on another server, the reply should show up under any other view of that post.
What else??
PS: Only thinking about features that are used by Mastodon to federate, not potential future features. If that were the rule, then RSS could do anything AP could do, right – because you can always add the feature. So, just the features that are in use.
PPS: I posted this on Mastodon and may post it elsewhere, if I do I’ll link them in here.
http://scripting.com/2024/04/04/143706.html?title=understandingApAndRss
Microsoft’s playdate in Google’s Privacy Sandbox gets messy
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Targeted ads in Edge may be blocked before they even arrive
Analysis Inspired by Google’s Privacy Sandbox ad tech renovation initiative, Microsoft last month announced plans for a “privacy preserving” mechanism to deliver interest-based ads in its Edge browser.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/microsoft_sandbox_google/
German state ditches Windows, Microsoft Office for Linux and LibreOffice
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
‘Complete digital sovereignty’ … sounds familiar
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany’s most northern state, is starting its switch from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice, and is planning to move from Windows to Linux on the 30,000 PCs it uses for local government functions.…
A ‘Law Firm’ of AI Generated Lawyers Is Sending Fake Threats as an SEO Scam
date: 2024-04-04, from: 404 Media Group
Backlink scams are now leveraging fake, AI-generated ‘lawyers’ and DMCA trolling to try to pressure site owners to link to their ‘clients.’
https://www.404media.co/a-law-firm-of-ai-generated-lawyers-is-sending-fake-threats-as-an-seo-scam/
Ford delays electric three-row SUV with new EV pickup arriving in 2026
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
After EV sales picked up in the first quarter, Ford is scaling back as it delays plans to launch its new three-row electric SUV. Ford is pushing back EV production at its Oakville, Ontario, plant as it shifts to expand its hybrid lineup.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/04/ford-delays-electric-three-row-suv-new-ev-pickup-arriving-2026/
Stickerbombed: Star Labs StarBook Mk VI
date: 2024-04-04, from: mrusme blog
A laptop is not only a tool but also a canvas. I take great pleasure in personalizing my tools to function and look the way I want them to.
https://xn--gckvb8fzb.com/stickerbombed-star-labs-starbook-mk-vi/
Radxa’s SATA HAT makes compact Pi 5 NAS
date: 2024-04-04, from: Jeff Geerling blog
Radxa’s SATA HAT makes compact Pi 5 NAS
<div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Radxa's latest iteration of its <a href="https://radxa.com/products/accessories/penta-sata-hat">Penta SATA HAT</a> has been retooled to work with the Raspberry Pi 5.</p>
The Pi 5 includes a PCIe connector, which allows the SATA hat to interface directly via a JMB585 SATA to PCIe bridge, rather than relying on the older Dual/Quad SATA HAT’s SATA-to-USB-to-PCIe setup.
Does the direct PCIe connection help? Yes.
Is the Pi 5 noticeably faster than the Pi 4 for NAS applications? Yes.
Is the Pi 5 + Penta SATA HAT the ultimate low-power NAS solution? Maybe.
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Jeff Geerling</span></span>
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/radxas-sata-hat-makes-compact-pi-5-nas
Death is a Feature
date: 2024-04-04, from: Doc Searls (at Harvard), New Old Blog
When Parisians got tired of cemeteries during the French Revolution, they conscripted priests to relocate bones of more than six million deceased forebears to empty limestone quarries below the city: a hundred miles of rooms and corridors now called The Catacombes. It was from those quarries that much of the city’s famous structures above—Notre Dame, et. al.—were built […]
https://doc.searls.com/2024/04/04/death-is-a-feature/
Putin’s Embrace of Kim Jong-un Has Its Limits
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: RAND blog
The current trajectory of North Korea–Russia relations is certainly unfavorable for the United States and its allies because it essentially gives the two nations greater wiggle room to continue their bad behavior. But all is not necessarily lost. The strategic partnership between Russia and North Korea is unlikely to be decisive for either side.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/04/putins-embrace-of-kim-jong-un-has-its-limits.html
How NASA’s Roman Telescope Will Measure Ages of Stars
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
Guessing your age might be a popular carnival game, but for astronomers it’s a real challenge to determine the ages of stars. Once a star like our Sun has settled into steady nuclear fusion, or the mature phase of its life, it changes little for billions of years. One exception to that rule is the […]
NASA Achieves Milestone for Engines to Power Future Artemis Missions
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
NASA achieved a major milestone April 3 for production of new RS-25 engines to help power its Artemis campaign to the Moon and beyond with completion of a critical engine certification test series at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The 12-test series represents a key step for lead engines contractor Aerojet […]
Volta Trucks bounces back from bankruptcy, resumes ‘sharpened’ commercial EV business plan
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
Less than six months after a seemingly dooming bankruptcy filing, Volta Trucks has reemerged from the ashes, fresh with redemptive capital and a leaned-down business plan. The commercial EV startup can now resume its work in delivering its electric last-mile trucks to customers this year.
Looking for DALL-E 3 Help
date: 2024-04-04, from: Doc Searls (at Harvard), New Old Blog
I just returned to DALL-E 3 after using its Microsoft version (currently called Copilot | Designer) for a while. But I can’t get in. See how it says “Try in ChatGPT↗︎?” When I do that, it goes to https://chat.openai.com/. After I log in there, it offers no clue about where DALL-E 3 is. So I […]
https://doc.searls.com/2024/04/04/looking-for-dall-e-3-help/
Slashing methane emissions: A quest on land and in space
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
On Earth and in space, efforts are underway to curb emissions of the super-pollutant methane, a greenhouse gas. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at the latest innovations and policies, as the International Energy Agency warns the clock is ticking to win the fight against climate change.
https://www.voanews.com/a/slashing-methane-emissions-a-quest-on-land-and-in-space/7556524.html
Ford Delays EV Pickup And Three-Row Electric SUV To Focus On Hybrids
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
Ford said the delay would allow the company to take advantage of advancements in battery technology.
https://insideevs.com/news/714959/ford-delays-electric-three-row-suv-by-two-years/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
I've been trying to figure out what ActivityPub does that RSS doesn't.
https://mastodon.social/@davew/112213481032208332
Microsoft unbundling Teams is to appease regulators, not give customers a better deal
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Think before you pull the trigger, warn analysts
If you’re planning to save money by cutting out the unbundled Teams product from your Microsoft 365 subscription, the decision might not be as straightforward as you’d think.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/microsoft_teams_unbundling_costs/
2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST Gets 440-Mile Range And Is $10,000 Cheaper
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
The top-spec Silverado EV is now the second-longest-range electric pickup on the market, beating the Tesla Cybertruck AWD by 100 miles.
https://insideevs.com/news/714893/2024-chevrolet-silverado-ev-rst-range-price/
Kia set to export this all-electric SUV at a price that undercuts Tesla
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
South Korean automaker Kia has started production on its all-electric EV5 SUV for export in China, with the first markets targeted being Thailand and Australia, with Australia’s price expected to undercut Tesla’s Model Y, which is the best-selling SUV in the country. A global launch is set for next year, but will that include the US?
The Gardener
date: 2024-04-04, from: Ayjay blog
I am very pleased that my colleague Philip Jenkins has written about Rudyard Kipling’s “The Gardener,” one of the finest short stories in the world. His care not to spoil the story is exemplary, but it’s virtually impossible to say anything meaningful about the story except in light of its conclusion. So you should read […]
https://blog.ayjay.org/the-gardener/
High-End Fashion Meets Real-World Protection in Aether’s Mulholland
date: 2024-04-04, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
We’re not restricted to looking like Power Rangers or like we’re about to summit Everest. The Mulholland proves we can have it all.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/714866/aether-mulholland-motorcycle-jacket-launch/
Google Books Is Indexing AI-Generated Garbage
date: 2024-04-04, from: 404 Media Group
Google said it will continue to evaluate its approach “as the world of book publishing evolves.”
https://www.404media.co/google-books-is-indexing-ai-generated-garbage/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Attract Backyard Birds, Not Backyard Bears.
https://bearwise.org/how-to-attract-birds-not-bears/
BMW Somehow Sold A Brand New i3 In 2024
date: 2024-04-04, from: Inside EVs News
Some dealer had a lone BMW i3 stashed away long enough for some lucky person to nab it up.
https://insideevs.com/news/714818/bmw-i3-sold-q1-2024/
Watch Scott’s Prospect Goggles Bend Light Before Your Eyes
date: 2024-04-04, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Riding from dawn to dusk is a dream for lots of off-roaders. The problem is you’d need a couple of pairs of goggles, but not anymore.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/714539/scott-prospect-light-sensitive-goggles/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-04-04, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
The name of the program is “where’s daddy” in case you were wondering.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112213064153131546
Why Renewables Aren’t Expanding Fast Enough
date: 2024-04-04, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: In Chile, Santiago’s 11-day heatwave has ended • Storm Kathleen could bring gale-force winds to the UK • New York City is littered with downed trees after a strong storm.
THE TOP FIVE
- Biden administration unleashes $20 billion for green banks
Vice President Kamala Harris and EPA administrator Michael Regan are in Charlotte, North Carolina, this morning to announce the award of $20 billion dollars for climate mitigation and adaptation projects. This is the official launch of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion program that was part of the Inflation Reduction Act — in fact, it is the single largest and most flexible program in the IRA, reported Heatmap’s Emily Pontecorvo. The money will go to eight organizations and help “create a national clean financing network for clean energy and climate solutions.” The general idea is to funnel the money into green lending programs, colloquially known as “green banks,” that will offer low-cost loans and other financing options for consumers, community organizations, businesses, and local governments. Projects financed through the fund could do everything from residential electrification, to green public transit, to solar on schools, to storm water management.
- Report finds the world isn’t expanding renewable capacity fast
enough
A big report out today finds that even though the world is breaking records for new renewable energy installations, we’re not adding enough capacity to limit the global temperature increase to below 1.5 degrees Celsius. The findings, which come from Paris-based think tank REN21, show renewable capacity additions shot up by 36% last year, to about 473 gigawatts (GW). This is a record-breaking increase, but well below the 1,000 GW of new capacity needed each year to meet climate commitments. “We aren’t even reaching 50% of what’s needed annually,” said Rana Adib, REN21’s executive secretary. “Governments have committed, but this needs to be followed by action.” The problem is that energy demand is increasing, and the current rate of renewables expansion isn’t keeping pace due to a lack of investment in grid infrastructure. Global investment in renewables needs to total at least $1.3 trillion every year through 2030 – last year it sat at $623 billion. “We have the technology,” Adib said. “But we need the political will.” The report calls for phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and prioritizing financing the energy transition in developing countries.
- Forest loss declines in Brazil and Colombia, but climbs elsewhere
Tropical forest loss in Brazil and Colombia declined significantly last year compared to 2022, according to the World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Review. Brazil’s forest loss dropped by 36% to its lowest level since 2015; Colombia’s plummeted by 49%. Both trends coincide with new leadership, showing that political will can create meaningful change. But “the frontiers of forest loss are shifting,” WRI said. The progress was offset by increases in forest loss elsewhere, especially Bolivia, Laos, and Nicaragua.
Bolivia’s losses came mainly from fires that were initially set by humans but that grew out of control in exceptionally hot and dry conditions. Agriculture expansion is another major driver of losses. Overall, tropical forest loss last year hit 3.7 million hectares, which is like losing 10 soccer fields per minute. This deforestation resulted in 2.4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. For comparison, that’s about half the total annual emissions produced by the entire United States. The report also looks at tree cover outside the tropics, and finds that Canada’s devastating wildfires increased global tree cover loss by 24%.
- Majority of recent CO2 emissions came from 57 big producers
About 80% of carbon dioxide emissions produced since 2016 came from a mix of 57 countries and businesses, according to a new analysis from London-based think tank InfluenceMap. Most fossil fuel companies (and especially state-owned ones) have ramped up production in the years since the Paris Agreement was signed. The top three emitters between 2016 and 2022 were Saudi Aramco, Russia’s Gazprom, and Coal India. “We’e seeing an increase in concentration in terms of a smaller number of producers being linked to an even larger portion of global fossil CO2 emissions,” InfluenceMap’s program manager Daan Van Acker told Axios.
- Stellantis CEO: EV batteries need to be 50% lighter
EV batteries will have to lose about half their weight over the next decade in order to limit their environmental impact, the CEO of automaker Stellantis said yesterday. Speaking at the company’s Freedom of Mobility Forum, Carlos Tavares said battery packs can weigh about 1,000 pounds and require huge amounts of raw materials. This isn’t the first time Tavares has lamented bulky batteries, and the company has said it aims to reduce the weight of its own EV batteries by 50% by 2030. Last year Stellantis invested in Lytten, a company developing lithium-sulfur batteries.
THE KICKER
“They’re essentially livestock.” –Eliza Grames, an entomologist at Binghamton University, says an increase in beehives tended to by well-meaning beekeepers is producing “domesticated” honeybees that threaten North America’s native bee species.
https://heatmap.news/economy/green-banks-biden-renewables
Ex-US Marine explains what drove him to join Ukraine’s fight
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
Thirty-year-old American and ех-Marine from California Wolfgang Hagarty volunteered to join Ukraine’s Armed Forces in the summer of 2022. He participated in the liberation of the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions in 2022 and is currently fighting as a member of an air reconnaissance unit in Donbas. Anna Kosstutschenko met with him. VOA footage and video editing by Pavel Suhodolskiy
https://www.voanews.com/a/ex-us-marine-explains-what-drove-him-to-join-ukraine-fight/7556470.html
UK govt office admits ability to negotiate billions in cloud spending curbed by vendor lock-in
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-05, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
After slew of AWS deals signed under MoUs, CDDO says current approach might weaken its position
Exclusive The UK government has admitted its negotiating power over billions of pounds of cloud infrastructure spending has been inhibited by vendor lock-in.…
Eclipses Near and Far
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
On April 8, 2024, North America will witness its last total solar eclipse for more than twenty years. Other parts of the world will experience the rare celestial event in the coming decade. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and the Earth, blocking its disk from view but […]
https://www.nasa.gov/history/eclipses-near-and-far/
NASA Partnerships Bring 2024 Total Solar Eclipse to Everyone
date: 2024-04-04, from: NASA breaking news
On 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. Eclipses are an important contribution to NASA’s research into the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, and the part […]
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-partnerships-bring-2024-total-solar-eclipse-to-everyone/
2024-04-04 An eye for an eye
date: 2024-04-04, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
2024-04-04 An eye for an eye
I often think about the number of dead killed in an incident and the number of dead killed in the reaction. It’s not really revenge but a sort of “we can strike back so we should” and then people don’t know when to stop.
Personally, I find that “an eye for an eye” is terrible advice.
I have no words for “a hundred eyes for an eye.”
Think about Gaza in 2024: over 30,000 dead in half a year.
As of 5 March 2024, over 31,000 people (30,228 Palestinian and 1,410 Israeli) have been reported as killed in the Israel–Hamas war, including 94 journalists (89 Palestinian, 2 Israeli and 3 Lebanese) and over 136 UNRWA aid workers.
On 7 October 2023, 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 764 civilians, were killed, and 248 persons taken hostage during the initial attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. – Casualties of the Israel Hamas war
30228 Palestinians dead after the original incident killed 1139 is more than 25:1.
I wonder about Iraq, too: 300,000 dead in over 20 years.
Documented civilian deaths from violence: 187,116 – 210,566
Total violent deaths including combatants: 300,000 – Iraq Body Count
And why?
Another justification included the alleged connection between the regime of Saddam Hussein and that of terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda that had attacked the United States during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. – 2003 invasion of Iraq
The original incident:
Excluding the hijackers, the attacks killed 2,977 people, injured thousands more … – September 11 attacks
300,000 dead after the original incident killed 2,977 is more than 100:1.
The two seem somehow related, I just can’t put it into words. High tech weapons against civilians, drones, city warfare, a population that hates the invader, news so terrible I can’t even finish reading the Wikipedia articles.
Oh, and out of curiosity, I had to look up the situation in Ukraine, too.
Ukrainian forces: ~70,000 killed, 100,000–120,000 wounded (US estimates) … Russian forces: ~120,000 killed, 170,000–180,000 wounded (US estimates) … the United Nations confirmed that by 31 January 2024, 10,378 civilians had been killed and 19,632 had been injured, but said they believe the real number is higher. – Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War
#Israel #Palestine #Ukraine #Russia
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-04-04-eye-for-an-eye
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
A billionaire helped bring ‘3-Body Problem’ to Netflix. His business partner ensured he never lived to see its premiere.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/03/china/billionaire-three-body-problem-netflix-intl-hnk/index.html
Claude Monet’s ‘Moulin de Limetz’ Could Fetch $25 Million at Auction
date: 2024-04-04, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The 1888 work depicts a grain mill on the River Epte near the artist’s home in Giverny, France
How (and Why) We Added Right-Aligned Text to The Markup’s Publishing System
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Markup blog
We coded retroactively and it damn near wrecked us
A legacy to protect
date: 2024-04-04, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Thursday marks 56 years since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. On today’s program, we hear how Dr. King’s family is fighting to maintain access to the civiil rights leader’s words, continuing to safeguard his intellectual property, and promoting a legacy of nonviolent social change and racial unity. We’ll also learn more about a decline in the number of women in c-suite positions last year.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/a-legacy-to-protect
Wheel-E Podcast: Gocycle cargo e-bike, massive bike heist, more
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes a new cargo e-bike from Gocycle, a huge heist of over $1M in e-bikes, Harley’s new electric cruiser motorcycle, how e-scooters responded to the Taiwanese earthquake, and more.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/04/wheel-e-podcast-gocycle-cargo-e-bike-massive-bike-heist-more/
Vodafone and Three’s UK merger hits regulatory roadblock
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Watchdog concerns about price hikes and consolidation remain unresolved
Britain’s competition regulator is kicking off a deeper investigation into the potential impact caused by the merger of Vodafone and Three in the UK after neither resolved previously expressed concerns.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/vodafone_three_cma/
Yellen to press China on cheap green tech
date: 2024-04-04, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is to meet officials in China for the second time in less than a year. What exactly can we expect from visit with government officials and business leaders? Then, Kenya’s health care system is in chaos as 4,000 public sector doctors and workers have gone on strike. Also: how is AI changing the next generation of prosthetics for people with disabilities?
Surveillance by the New Microsoft Outlook App
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: Bruce Schneier blog
The ProtonMail people are accusing Microsoft’s new Outlook for Windows app of conducting extensive surveillance on its users. It shares data with advertisers, a lot of data:
…The window informs users that Microsoft and those 801 third parties use their data for a number of purposes, including to:
- Store and/or access information on the user’s device
- Develop and improve products
- Personalize ads and content
- Measure ads and content
- Derive audience insights
- Obtain precise geolocation data
- Identify users through device scanning
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/04/surveillance-by-the-new-microsoft-outlook-app.html
[Updated] Canoo spent twice its annual revenue on CEO’s private jets last year
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
EV startup Canoo paid $1.7 million for CEO Tony Aquila’s private jet bills, twice its total revenue last year. According to its earnings report released this week, Canoo lost $302 million in 2023 – but it’s apparently been champagne and caviar for its top executive.
Watching This Monster Chopper Build Come Together Is So Satisfying
date: 2024-04-04, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Grind Hard Plumbing Co has clearly chosen its name for a reason, and nowhere is that clearer than on this project.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/714544/grind-hard-monster-chopper-build/
Ransomware gang did steal residents’ confidential data, UK city council admits
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
INC Ransom emerges as a growing threat as some ex-LockBit/ALPHV affiliates get new gigs
Leicester City Council is finally admitting its “cyber incident” was carried out by a ransomware gang and that data was stolen, hours after the criminals forced its hand.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/ransomware_gang_did_in_fact/
GroceriesGPT
date: 2024-04-04, from: Paolo Valdemarin’s blog
A friend this morning shared a list of vegetables, noting how hard it is to eat 30 different ones in the same week. I immediately turned to my AI chatbot to ask to create a list of commonly eaten vegetables, and of course I got a very good one. At that point I thought that … Continue reading “GroceriesGPT”
https://val.demar.in/2024/04/groceriesgpt/
65 years ago, America announced the names of its first astronauts
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The Mercury 7: ‘Not one of us knew what he was in for’
Sixty-five years ago this week, NASA introduced its first astronauts, saying they’d be launched into space in the agency’s new capsule. They were immediately dubbed The Mercury 7.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/65_years_ago_mercury_7/
Some suggested reading: AI and dopamine
date: 2024-04-04, from: Status-Q blog
Andrew Curry’s thoughtful newletter ‘Just Two Things’ arrives in my inbox three times a week (which, I confess, is slightly too often for me always to give it the attention it deserves). The two things he talks about today included some gems, though. First, he looks at Ted Gioia’s article, The State of the Continue Reading
https://statusq.org/archives/2024/04/04/11987/
How HashiCorp’s license shakeup seeded a new open source rebel
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
We’re really just getting started, says OpenTofu community member
Interview HashiCorp might be less than impressed with the rise of the Terraform fork, OpenTofu, but where Hashi sees challenges, the maintainers of the open source project see opportunities.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/opentofu_on_forking_terraform/
The Biden Administration Is Unleashing $20 Billion for Green Banks
date: 2024-04-04, from: Heatmap News
Vice President Kamala Harris and EPA administrator Michael Regan are in
Charlotte, North Carolina this morning to announce the award of … wait
for it … $20 billion dollars for climate mitigation
and adaptation projects. This is the official launch of the Greenhouse
Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion program that was part of the Inflation
Reduction Act — in fact, it is the single largest and most flexible
program in the IRA. (The remaining $7 billion is earmarked for
“Solar
for All,” a separate initiative that will launch later this
year.)
The money will go to eight organizations and help “create a national clean financing network for clean energy and climate solutions.” The awardees include:
- The Coalition for Green Capital, a nonprofit that got $5 billion to help leverage a network of green lenders. More than 50% of its work under the grant will be aimed at low-income communities.
- Rewiring America, which will share a $2 billion award with four other housing and community-building groups, including Enterprise Community Partners, LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation), Habitat for Humanity, and United Way to create a national financing program to decarbonize housing. The initiative will focus 75% of its investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
- Community Preservation Corporation, a U.S. Treasury Department-certified community development financial institution and part of an umbrella coalition known as the Climate United Fund. Together with other nonprofit financial institutions, it will receive nearly $7 billion to lend to traditionally underserved populations, including rural and Tribal communities.
The general idea is to funnel the money into green lending programs, colloquially known as “green banks,” that will offer low-cost loans and other financing options for consumers, community organizations, businesses, and local governments. Projects financed through the fund could do everything from residential electrification, to green public transit, to solar on schools, to storm water management.
EPA anticipates the awardees will mobilize $7 of private capital for every $1 of federal funds — a total investment of nearly $150 billion. Each of the winners will get access to their share of the funding in the next six months, and will have until 2031 to use it.
https://heatmap.news/sparks/the-biden-administration-is-unleashing-20-billion-for-green-banks
Careers in computer science: Two perspectives
date: 2024-04-04, from: Raspberry Pi (.org)
As educators, it’s important that we showcase the wide range of career opportunities available in the field of computing, not only to inspire learners, but also to help them feel sure they’re choosing to study a subject that is useful for their future. For example, a survey from the BBC in September 2023 found that…
The post Careers in computer science: Two perspectives appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/careers-in-computer-science-two-perspectives/
Lois Eisenberg | California, Here I’m Staying …
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Signal
This letter to the editor is addressed to the disgruntled people wanting to leave California for various reasons seeking greener pastures, which truly don’t exist. California has maintained its reputation as a new frontier, particularly among young people who have fueled the state with energy, and six in 10 people nationwide feel that California is […]
The post Lois Eisenberg | California, Here I’m Staying … appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/lois-eisenberg-california-here-im-staying/
Arthur Saginian | Literally Everyone Makes Boo-Boos?
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Signal
Wow, Hilmar Rosenast (letters, Jan. 27) really reached back to the past to respond to a letter of mine that was printed about a year ago (Jan. 28, 2023) regarding the ills of religion, and repeated a statement he made to me around that time, that “blaming religion for all of the ills of the […]
The post Arthur Saginian | Literally Everyone Makes Boo-Boos? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/04/arthur-saginian-literally-everyone-makes-boo-boos/
Microsoft thinks bundles are great and customers love them
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Rivals and regulators might disagree, so might users that are paying for software they don’t need
It’s always interesting to see how technology executives crop their marketing messages to suit the audience.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/microsoft_bundles/
This wooden PC’s fan is driven by Raspberry Pi Pico
date: 2024-04-04, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Arnov Sharma needed to cool down his home-made wooden PC so he built a Raspberry Pi Pico-powered fan driver.
The post This wooden PC’s fan is driven by Raspberry Pi Pico appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/this-wooden-pcs-fan-is-driven-by-raspberry-pi-pico/
Chips, Tech, and Steel
date: 2024-04-04, from: Robert Reich on Substack
How to get “American” corporations to act in America’s interest?
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/steel-chips-and-big-tech-the-real
French Second Empire Homes in Santa Barbara? Mais Oui!
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Local examples of Second Empire Homes are few but easy to identify.
The post French Second Empire Homes in Santa Barbara? Mais Oui! appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/french-second-empire-homes-in-santa-barbara-mais-oui/
Can We Save the Planet from Plastics?
date: 2024-04-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Negotiators push for ambitious change for human and planetary health.
The post Can We Save the Planet from Plastics? appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/04/04/can-we-save-the-planet-from-plastics/
Boffins build world’s largest astronomical digital camera to map the heavens
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
3.2 glorious gigapixels to make ‘the greatest movie of all time’
Construction of the LSST Camera, destined for the Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile has been completed at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Silicon Valley.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/lsst_camera_chile/
Classifieds – April 4, 2024
date: 2024-04-04, 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 4, 2024 appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/classifieds-april-4-2024/
Today in SCV History (April 4)
date: 2024-04-04, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1893 – Large earthquake centered in Pico Canyon; locals believed oil drilling caused it. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-april-4/
My parents brought me into a ‘semi-charmed life’
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Listening to ’90s music makes me feel closer to my parents despite the distance between us.
The post My parents brought me into a ‘semi-charmed life’ appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/my-parents-brought-me-into-a-semi-charmed-life/
Supremely misunderstood: realities of the high court
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
There are some less-publicized truths about the Supreme Court you deserve to know.
The post Supremely misunderstood: realities of the high court appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/supremely-misunderstood-realities-of-the-high-court/
Explore the best movie theaters in LA
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Discover the City of Angels’ cinematic destinations that are a movie lover’s paradise.
The post Explore the best movie theaters in LA appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/explore-the-best-movie-theaters-in-la/
Bikers aren’t the issue, safety is up to all of us
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Bikers often face distracted pedestrians, frequent thefts and a lack of infrastructure.
The post Bikers aren’t the issue, safety is up to all of us appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/bikers-arent-the-issue-safety-is-up-to-all-of-us/
Keck-managed resource center teaches signs of elder abuse
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The National Center on Elder Abuse will host webinars to increase awareness throughout June.
The post Keck-managed resource center teaches signs of elder abuse appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/elder-abuse-table/
Women’s golf teed off in Arizona
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
USC ended up in 12th after three days of stroke play at the PING/ASU Invitational.
The post Women’s golf teed off in Arizona appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/womens-golf-teed-off-in-arizona/
Exploring major USC Athletics renovations
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
New DI facilities come at the expense of recreational tennis and pickleball courts.
The post Exploring major USC Athletics renovations appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/exploring-major-usc-athletics-renovations/
Sexual assault awareness month underway
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
April’s events are to educate students on what to do in cases of gender- and power-based violence.
The post Sexual assault awareness month underway appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/sexual-assault-awareness-month/
UConn, NC State headline star-studded Final Fours
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The remaining teams ready for a chance to take home a national championship.
The post UConn, NC State headline star-studded Final Fours appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/uconn-nc-state-headline-star-studded-final-fours/
Preserving languages is a preservation of culture
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
We should all care about language extinction and can work to counteract it.
The post Preserving languages is a preservation of culture appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/04/04/preserving-languages-is-a-preservation-of-culture/
Ethernet advances will end Nvidia’s InfiniBand lead in AI networks
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Desire to build brainboxes will also see optical interconnects go mainstream
Three imminent improvements to the Ethernet standard will make it a better alternative to host AI workloads, and that will see vendors back the tech as an alternative to Nvidia’s InfiniBand kit, which is set to dominate for the next two years.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/gartner_generative_ai_network_trends/
April 3, 2024
date: 2024-04-04, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
The election of 2000 was back in the news this week, when Nate Cohn of the New York Times reminded readers of his newsletter, using a map by data strategist and consultant Matthew C. Isbell, that the unusual butterfly ballot design in Palm Beach County that year siphoned off at least 2,000 votes intended for Democratic candidate Al Gore to far-right candidate Pat Buchanan.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-3-2024
OpenStack pushes its first easy-to-upgrade release out the door
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
‘Caracal’ improves AI capabilities and is pitched as an alternative to VMware
The OpenInfra Foundation has loosed an update of OpenStack on the waiting world and – like everyone else that can spell “virtualization” – has pitched it as fine alternative for those pondering a move away from VMware.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/openstack_caracal_released/
White House shows no indication of restricting weapons for Israel
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/7556210.html
TSMC shrugs off impact of Taiwan earthquake
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Nonetheless DRAM prices may yet feel slight aftershocks
Chip maker TSMC has shrugged off the impact of yesterday’s earthquake on the east coast of Taiwan.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/tsmc_earthquake_fine/
Infosys announces ‘In-Person Collab’ weeks
date: 2024-04-04, updated: 2024-04-04, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Sounds so much cooler than ‘come back to the office or else’
In an effort to get its employees back into the office, Infosys has reportedly instituted mandatory in-person attendance for select roles – but dubbed the program “In-Person Collab” weeks. Because that’s how the young people talk, right?…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/infosys_collaboration_weeks/
CIF Commissioner: Support, Appreciation & History
date: 2024-04-04, from: SCV New (TV Station)
It is anticipated that the three bylaw changes proposed by the CIF Sports Medicine Advisory Committee will pass this coming Friday, April 5 at the State CIF Federated Council meeting
https://scvnews.com/cif-commissioner-support-appreciation-history/
Biden, Trump clash over immigration policy
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
Illegal immigration is the top issue for many voters in this year’s U.S. presidential election. VOA’s Scott Stearns looks at how candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden differ over what to do.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-trump-clash-over-immigration-policy-/7556085.html
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-04-04, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
I wonder if people know that news.scripting.com is a simple UI on top of FeedLand. It’s 98% FeedLand, 2% hiding the power so people will feel more comfortable. I’m thinking of pulling back the curtain. 😄
http://scripting.com/2024/04/03.html#a011349
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-04-04, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
More people than ever are listening to podcasts, but there never should've been a "podcast industry."
https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/04/more-people-than-ever-are-listening-to-podcasts/
White House shows no indication of restricting weapons for Israel
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
washington — U.S. weapons sales to Israel have been under increased scrutiny amid outrage over the reported deaths of tens of thousands of people in Gaza since the start of the war, including seven aid workers killed in an Israeli airstrike this week.
President Joe Biden said in a statement on Tuesday that he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the deaths, his latest stern rebuke of Israel’s war conduct.
Israel said the strike was “unintentional” and promised an investigation.
On Wednesday, Biden ignored questions about whether he would put conditions on U.S. military aid. His aides suggest the administration is unlikely to do so, citing U.S. support for Israel’s right to defend itself against the “still viable threat” from Hamas.
The administration will wait for results of Israel’s investigation, National Security Council communications adviser John Kirby told reporters Wednesday. “I’m not going to get ahead of decisions that haven’t been made yet,” he said.
In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres accused Israel of targeting the group’s food convoy “systematically, car by car.” He said he had established clear communication with the Israeli military about his aid workers’ movements.
Andres is a celebrity chef who is well-known in Washington. That and the fact that the victims included U.S.-Canadian citizen Jacob Flickinger has added a new level of outrage, including among lawmakers of Biden’s own Democratic Party, and renewed demands that the president condition military aid to Israel.
“Israel has killed more than 200 aid workers in 6 months. That’s not an accident. No more aid for Netanyahu’s war machine,” Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders said in a social media post Tuesday.
Weapons transfer
Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. aid, nearly $4 billion a year, most of it in the form of military assistance.
Under U.S. law, the administration must notify Congress of weapons transfers to Israel that are worth more than $25 million.
In December, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved two emergency weapons transfers to Israel, bypassing the congressional review requirement for foreign military sales.
Since the October 7 Hamas attack, two additional transfers have been made public, said Josh Paul, former director at the State Department agency that handles weapons transfers, who resigned in October in protest over the U.S.’s “continued lethal assistance to Israel.”
Those two were made under the direct commercial sales process and Congress was notified, Paul told VOA. “But with less visibility, because there is less information that is provided to the public on direct commercial sales,” he said.
In addition to the four that were made public, since October 7 more than 100 arms transfers to Israel have taken place without informing Congress, mainly because the packages were structured to fall below the notification threshold, according to reporting by The Washington Post, which VOA confirmed with a Department of Defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ari Tolany, director of security assistance, arms trade and technology at the Center for International Policy, said the moves amount to a “deliberate dodge of transparency” by the administration.
“When they are publicly saying that Israel needs to take more steps to protect civilians but privately pushing through hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons, there’s really no credibility,” she told VOA.
The Biden administration refuses to use the most significant source of leverage it has, she said, which is “the massive amount of arms provided to Israel.”
The Post reported that the transfers included billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets in recent weeks, even as the administration publicly criticized Israel’s intention for a ground invasion of Rafah, where 1.5 million displaced Palestinians seek safety.
Unconditional support
Since Harry Truman recognized Israel minutes after its founding in 1948, American presidents have supported the country.
Almost all have done so unconditionally, with the exception of President George H.W. Bush, who in 1991 gave Israel an ultimatum to freeze settlements on Palestinian land in exchange for $10 billion in loan guarantees.
That approach worked. But not all agree that restricting aid will effect change.
“The emotive issue of providing for a country’s means for their own defense can sometimes trigger different responses in different theaters. It’s just been a sort of inexact tool for the U.S in the past,” said Grant Rumley, a senior fellow specializing in military and security affairs at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“I think that’s internalized within this administration right now,” he told VOA. “That, coupled with the president’s long-standing commitment to Israel, is why you haven’t seen any real steps taken on this route.”
There is also the fear that putting conditions on aid may send the wrong signal to Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies, increasing the prospects of opening a second front to the conflict at Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
In March, to meet the Biden administration’s requirement set out in February, Israel provided assurances that American weapons are used in accordance with international and humanitarian law, which the administration accepted.
Those assurances are “not credible,” said Human Rights Watch and Oxfam. The rights groups submitted examples of what they call Israeli violations of international humanitarian law, including “deprivation of services critical to the survival of the civilian population, and arbitrary denial and restrictions of humanitarian aid.”
Eighty Muslim and Arab American organizations sent a similar letter to Biden on Wednesday, objecting to his “administration’s decisions to falsely declare that Israel’s war on Gaza complies with U.S. legal requirements and authorize the continued transfer of U.S.-manufactured weapons.”
The groups cited the attacks on the World Central Kitchen aid workers as the latest example of Israel’s violation of the laws of war.
Deputies investigate battery and robbery charge at Newhall Metrolink Station
date: 2024-04-04, from: The Signal
Deputies received a 9-1-1 call reporting a battery at the Newhall Metrolink Station early Wednesday afternoon, according to Sgt. Joana Warren from Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. According to Warren, it is believed that the suspect and victim knew of each other. The victim called at 12:20 p.m. “The informant was hit by the suspect,” […]
The post <strong>Deputies investigate battery and robbery charge at Newhall Metrolink Station</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-04-04, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
From the other site
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112210242920763158
The GOP’s Costly Abortion Strategy
date: 2024-04-04, from: Dan Rather’s Steady
How Democrats could flip Florida
https://steady.substack.com/p/the-gops-costly-abortion-strategy
Scathing federal report rips Microsoft for response to Chinese hack
date: 2024-04-04, from: VOA News USA
BOSTON — In a scathing indictment of Microsoft corporate security and transparency, a Biden administration-appointed review board issued a report Tuesday saying “a cascade of errors” by the tech giant let state-backed Chinese cyber operators break into email accounts of senior U.S. officials including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The Cyber Safety Review Board, created in 2021 by executive order, describes shoddy cybersecurity practices, a lax corporate culture and a lack of sincerity about the company’s knowledge of the targeted breach, which affected multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China.
It concluded that “Microsoft’s security culture was inadequate and requires an overhaul” given the company’s ubiquity and critical role in the global technology ecosystem. Microsoft products “underpin essential services that support national security, the foundations of our economy, and public health and safety.”
The panel said the intrusion, discovered in June by the State Department and dating to May, “was preventable and should never have occurred,” and it blamed its success on “a cascade of avoidable errors.” What’s more, the board said, Microsoft still doesn’t know how the hackers got in.
The panel made sweeping recommendations, including urging Microsoft to put on hold adding features to its cloud computing environment until “substantial security improvements have been made.”
It said Microsoft’s CEO and board should institute “rapid cultural change,” including publicly sharing “a plan with specific timelines to make fundamental, security-focused reforms across the company and its full suite of products.”
In a statement, Microsoft said it appreciated the board’s investigation and would “continue to harden all our systems against attack and implement even more robust sensors and logs to help us detect and repel the cyber-armies of our adversaries.”
In all, the state-backed Chinese hackers broke into the Microsoft Exchange Online email of 22 organizations and more than 500 individuals around the world — including the U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns — accessing some cloud-based email boxes for at least six weeks and downloading some 60,000 emails from the State Department alone, the 34-page report said. Three think tanks and foreign government entities, including a number of British organizations, were among those compromised, it said.
The board, convened by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in August, accused Microsoft of making inaccurate public statements about the incident — including issuing a statement saying it believed it had determined the likely root cause of the intrusion “when, in fact, it still has not.” Microsoft did not update that misleading blog post, published in September, until mid-March, after the board repeatedly asked if it planned to issue a correction, it said.
Separately, the board expressed concern about a separate hack disclosed by the Redmond, Washington, company in January, this one of email accounts — including those of an undisclosed number of senior Microsoft executives and an undisclosed number of Microsoft customers — and attributed to state-backed Russian hackers.
The board lamented “a corporate culture that deprioritized both enterprise security investments and rigorous risk management.”
The Chinese hack was initially disclosed in July by Microsoft in a blog post and carried out by a group the company calls Storm-0558. That same group, the panel noted, has been engaged in similar intrusions — compromising cloud providers or stealing authentication keys so it can break into accounts — since at least 2009, targeting companies including Google, Yahoo, Adobe, Dow Chemical and Morgan Stanley.
Microsoft noted in its statement that the hackers involved are “well-resourced nation state threat actors who operate continuously and without meaningful deterrence.”
The company said that it recognized that recent events “have demonstrated a need to adopt a new culture of engineering security in our own networks,” and added that it had “mobilized our engineering teams to identify and mitigate legacy infrastructure, improve processes, and enforce security benchmarks.”
Elon Musk’s xAI poaches another engineer from Tesla in a clear conflict of interest
date: 2024-04-04, from: Electrek Feed
Elon Musk’s xAI, an artificial intelligence startup, has poached yet another engineer from Tesla in a clear conflict of interest.
https://electrek.co/2024/04/03/elon-musk-xai-poaches-engineer-tesla-clear-conflict-of-interest/
A training set for bike sharing forecasting
date: 2024-04-04, from: Max Halford Blog
Last night I went to a Toulouse Data Science meetup. The talks were about generative AI and information retrieval, which aren’t topics I’m knowledgeable about. However, one of the speakers was a friend of mine, so I went to support him. Toulouse is my hometown, so I bumped into a few people I knew. It was a nice evening. I chatted with an old office mate from when I interned at INSA Toulouse.
https://maxhalford.github.io/blog/bike-sharing-forecasting-training-set/