News gathered 2024-05-07
(date: 2024-05-07 13:56:22)
Kurtenbach: Klay Thompson is flirting with other teams. The Warriors can’t pretend he’s bluffing
date: 2024-05-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
Would Klay really leave the Warriors? You better believe it.
Crucial’s LPCAMM2 LPDDR5X memory modules are now available for purchase
date: 2024-05-07, from: Liliputing
In recent years PC makers had two choices when it came to laptop memory. They could include SODIMM slots with support for user-replaceable DDR memory or LPDDR memory which typically uses less power and takes up less space, effectively trading repairability and upgradeability for longer battery life and/or more compact designs. Now LPCAMM2 has arrived […]
The post Crucial’s LPCAMM2 LPDDR5X memory modules are now available for purchase appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/crucials-lpcamm2-lpddr5x-memory-modules-are-now-available-for-purchase/
Michelin adds 5 SoCal restaurants to its California guide as ‘new discoveries’
date: 2024-05-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
Will these additions become Bib Gourmands or get elevated to stars?
East Bay pedestrian dead in suspected DUI crash
date: 2024-05-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
The crash was the first fatal one this year that Fremont police have investigated.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/07/east-bay-pedestrian-dead-in-suspected-dui-crash/
Alain Delon, Big Screened
date: 2024-05-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Riviera Theatre screens 4K restoration of neo-noir classic ‘Le Samouraï,’ adds a microfest of Alain Delon films.
The post Alain Delon, Big Screened appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/07/alain-delon-big-screened/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-07, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Top New York Times Editor Offers Stunning Defense of Coverage of Trump.
https://newrepublic.com/article/181353/new-york-times-editor-joe-kahn-defense-coverage-trump
IBM says these back-office, network edge Power 10 servers would be sweet for – yes, you guessed it – AI
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Short on cores, big on threads and matrix math
Not to be left out of the AI infrastructure game, on Tuesday IBM unveiled a pair of tiny Power 10 servers designed to preprocess data at the network edge.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/ibm_ai_edge/
San Jose: Bicyclist killed by truck driver at major intersection, police say
date: 2024-05-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
A pickup truck driver reportedly tried to flee after the major collision Tuesday morning at Senter Road and East Capitol Expressway.
ULI Round 7 Awards
date: 2024-05-07, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate solicited for a seventh round of University Leadership Initiative proposals in November 2022. The ULI Round 7 selections were announced in February 2024. Stress Testing and Hardening the NAS for Safe, Efficient, and Resilient Growth Principal Investigator: Mark Hansen (University of California – Berkeley) Co-Investigators: Raja Sengupta (UC Berkeley), Alexander Estes and […]
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/armd/tacp/armd-tacp-ui/armd-tacp-ui-uli/uli-round-7/
Why adult children are finding benefits to traveling with their parents
date: 2024-05-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
Adults taking trips with their parents is a growing trend. According to Meghan Hayes, an independent travel adviser, adult children traveling with their parents has grown to be nearly 25% of her business.
Folk Music Goes Orchestral, the Continuing Saga
date: 2024-05-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The unique Folk Orchestra of Santa Barbara, led by Adam Phillips, wraps up the current season with “Favorites!”
The post Folk Music Goes Orchestral, the Continuing Saga appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/07/folk-music-goes-orchestral-the-continuing-saga/
How Much Does A Lucid Cost?
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
The electric Air sedan costs $71,400 for 2024, and the Gravity SUV will cost around $80,000.
https://insideevs.com/news/718656/lucid-air-gravity-price/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-07, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Colorado River Indian Tribes sign historic water rights settlement.
What Happens in Texas When Summer Comes Early
date: 2024-05-07, from: Heatmap News
It’s getting hot in Texas. Forecast highs for Tuesday are 89 degrees Fahrenheit in Houston, 92 in San Antonio, and 90 in Dallas. ERCOT, which operates the energy market that covers around 90% of the state, issued an “extreme hot weather event” warning and a “weather watch” due to “unseasonably high temperatures” — and “high levels of expected maintenance outages.”
The whole country, but particularly Texas, is playing chicken with its existing fleet of natural gas-powered electricity infrastructure. While the weather-dependence of solar and wind are both obvious and well-known, gas, too, can be susceptible to nature’s fluctuations. High temperatures mean high demand, while very low temperatures can literally freeze whole gas production, distribution, and generation system, with catastrophic consequences.
Natural gas powers around 60% of Texas’ electricity. While Tuesday’s is far from the hottest weather the state will face this year, it comes at what can be a fragile time for the grid. This is the end of the spring maintenance season, when power plant operators have a window to schedule outages necessary to perform maintenance after winter and ahead of summer, when electricity demand spikes again — what ERCOT calls the “shoulder seasons.”
But weather increasingly does not conform to the plans of market regulators, with temperatures rising earlier in the year and falling later, impinging on that shoulder space. In April, ERCOT had to ask power plants to delay outages they had already planned due to high temperatures in parts of the state.
Shutting down a natural gas power plant can be fraught in Texas, where
authorities are wary of destabilizing the grid. Other than 2021’s Winter
Storm Uri, which caused days of blackouts and hundreds of deaths, one of
the state’s worst-ever
blackouts
happened in April 2006, when high temperatures coincided with —
you guessed it — planned outages for maintenance. Texas is not the only
place that gets hot in the summer, of course, but its grid is both
isolated from the rest of the country and is dealing with substantial
growth in power demand, which means it’s more likely to bump up against
its limits.
“We’ve had a couple of pretty hot days and have more hot weather this week,” University of Texas professor Hugh Daigle told me. “What’s happening is that we’ve been operating close to the limit of available supply at peak demand.”
While the grid in Texas has remained stable so far this spring — albeit with some wild price spikes at times — delaying planned outages risks future unplanned power failures if operators fall behind on maintenance. Those failures are most likely to occur during the summer months, when high demand from air conditioning adds to stresses caused by the heat and ERCOT is less likely to allow the plants to come offline. In the best case scenario, a strained grid “only” results in electricity prices spiking. In the worst, it leads to blackouts and deaths from extreme heat.
Along with three of his University of Texas colleagues, Joshua Rhodes,
Aidan Pyrcz, and Michael Webber, Daigle recently published a paper
showing that
as
Texas warms, the times when it’s “safe” to have a large number of
planned outages may shrink.
Average temperatures in the state rose 0.8 degrees Celsius from 1895 to 2021, and are projected to go up another whole degree by 2036. While that may sound like a small change, this would increase the number of 100 degree Fahrenheit days — which often mean record-breaking electricity usage — by some 40%.
While it may seem like a warming trend could have a symmetric and offsetting effect on the grid — hotter summer days that lead to record air conditioning demand but also warmer winter days that create less strain on electric heat — the researchers found that instead, the shoulder seasons were getting impinged on both sides. Compared to the 1950s, mild spring weather has been starting and ending earlier. At mid-century, spring started near the beginning of March; now it’s closer to the beginning of February. The start of fall, meanwhile, slid from the beginning of November later toward the middle of the month.
If maintenance in the spring shoulder season can just occur just from March to May, “maintenance periods will no longer coincide with periods of low expected demand,” Daigle told me. And if it’s just in the fall season, which could shrink to October and November, “it may be unreasonable to expect power plants to be able to forgo spring maintenance.”
“If you look at climate models and how average temperatures change,” Daigle said, “those two periods” — before the cold of winter and the heat of summer — “could merge into a single period in December and January.”
Just one shoulder season introduces extreme risks, Daigle explained. “We still do get winter storms. It’s December and January and you have a lot of stuff down for planned maintenance, and something like Uri comes through — we’re up a creek.”
https://heatmap.news/climate/texas-grid-summer-heat
May 15: SCV Chamber After Hours Mixer at Chronic Tacos
date: 2024-05-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Join the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, May 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., for the monthly After Hours Mixer, an evening of networking and fun at Chronic Tacos
https://scvnews.com/may-15-scv-chamber-after-hours-mixer-at-chronic-tacos/
Jeannie Epper dies at 83; ‘greatest stuntwoman who ever lived’ did Lynda Carter’s stunts on ‘Wonder Woman’
date: 2024-05-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
She did the stunts on many TV shows and films in the 1970s and ’80s, including “Bionic Woman,” “Romancing the Stone” and “Dynasty.” Her 70-year career began when she was 9.
Apple Unveils New iPad Air, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil Pro, and Magic Keyboard
date: 2024-05-07, from: TidBITS blog
Everyone expected iPad announcements from Apple’s Let Loose event, and the company didn’t disappoint. It introduced new 11-inch and 13-inch models of the iPad Air and iPad Pro, alongside a new Apple Pencil Pro and redesigned Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro.
Rivian (RIVN) Q1 results – revenue beat, earnings miss, Q4 profit reaffirmed
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
Rivian has released its Q1 2024 results, slightly beating analyst estimates on revenue, which grew sharply year-over-year, but with wider losses than expected and only slight gross margin improvement as it still hopes to turn some quarterly profit by the end of the year.
NASA Challenge Gives Artemis Generation Coders a Chance to Shine
date: 2024-05-07, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement selected seven student teams to participate in a culminating event for the 2024 App Development Challenge (ADC), one of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston from April 15-18, 2024. The coding challenge, celebrating its fifth year and a part of NASA’s Next Generation STEM […]
Woman arrested after allegedly stabbing her husband in Pleasanton
date: 2024-05-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
Police said that the woman called them about 12:30 a.m. Monday and said she had stabbed her husband during an altercation.
New Proposals to Help NASA Advance Knowledge of Our Changing Climate
date: 2024-05-07, from: NASA breaking news
NASA has selected four proposals for concept studies of missions to help us better understand Earth science key focus areas for the benefit of all including greenhouse gases, the ozone layer, ocean surface currents, and changes in ice and glaciers around the world. These four investigations are part of the agency’s new Earth System Explorers […]
Oakland McDonald’s employees hold rally over rat invasion
date: 2024-05-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
“I have seen rat excrement in the paper that we use to wrap food, by the nuggets and in the sauce-packet containers by the drive through,” says a worker in a Cal/OSHA complaint.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/07/oakland-mcdonalds-employees-hold-rally-over-rat-invasion/
Second tornado in 5 weeks batters rural Oklahoma
date: 2024-05-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
First responders rescued about 25 people, including children, from heavily damaged homes where buildings had collapsed on or around them, Kelley said. About a half dozen people suffered injuries, including a firefighter who was taken to a hospital with chest pains, he said.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/07/second-tornado-in-5-weeks-batters-rural-oklahoma/
A Canaletto Masterpiece Stowed in a Mine During World War II Returns to Wales
date: 2024-05-07, from: Smithsonian Magazine
“The Stonemason’s Yard” was one of many paintings that officials took from the National Gallery in London and moved underground to keep safe from Nazi forces
Toronto police investigate shooting outside Drake’s mansion
date: 2024-05-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
Toronto Police Inspector Paul Krawczyk said video of the shooting had been recovered and the guard who was wounded remains hospitalized.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/07/toronto-police-investigate-shooting-outside-drakes-mansion/
PhotoDesk manual updated for version 3.23
date: 2024-05-07, from: RiscOS Story
PhotoDesk is a comprehensive photo editing package dating back to the 1990s, when it was first released by Spacetech. These days, the software is in the hands of Netherlands-based X-Ample Technology (XAT) with R-Comp handling sales and updates. The latest version of the software is 3.23b, and R-Comp has now made a new version of the manual available to download – if you visit the PhotoDesk page on the R-Comp website, you’l find it along with a few other useful resources for the software. The new edition of the manual…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/photodesk-manual-3-23/
TrainTimes 2.05 released
date: 2024-05-07, from: RiscOS Story
Kevin Wells has updated another of his handy applications – this time TrainTimes, which now stands at version 2.05. This version of the application adds a couple of user interface improvements – one a small visual indicator, and the other an additional way to access some information. The visual indicator is that the mouse pointer now changes to a menu when it passes over a menu icon in the main and future station time table window. The new access method is on the station info window, where you can now…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/traintimes-2-05-released/
CISA’s early-warning system helped critical orgs close 852 ransomware holes
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
In the first year alone, that’s saved us all a lot of money and woe
RSAC As ransomware gangs step up their attacks against healthcare, schools, and other US critical infrastructure, CISA is ramping up a program to help these organizations fix flaws exploited by extortionists in the first place.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/cisas_ransomware_warnings/
Light Gate lands in !Store
date: 2024-05-07, from: RiscOS Story
Originally given the working title Escape to the Light, with some of its inspiration coming from a strange recording found in a charity shop, the latest AMCOG Games title – Light Gate – is now available to purchase from !Store. When AMCOG’s Tony Bartram picked up the tape and went on to give it a listen, he could potentially have released demons and other malevolent spirits into our world, demonic possessions of those around him, in turn leading to a gory nightmare made real. That didn’t happen, though, and instead…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/light-gate-lands-in-store/
Lucid’s Upcoming Midsize Car Targets $48,000 Price, CEO Says
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
The mysterious smaller Lucid is slated to start production in late 2026.
https://insideevs.com/news/718837/lucid-motors-midsize-price-48000/
US-Iran sanctions swap deemed symbolic, ineffective by some analysts
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
May 9: Free Small Business Summit at Mission College
date: 2024-05-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Get ready to level up your small business game. The next Los Angeles Region Small Business Summit will be held Thursday, May 9 and features Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, Los Angeles County Team Department of Economic Opportuntiy, city of Los Angeles and partners at Mission College in Sylmar.
https://scvnews.com/may-9-free-small-business-summit-at-mission-college/
French Bakers Set a New World Record by Making a 461-Foot-Long Baguette
date: 2024-05-07, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The previous world record was set by a group of bakers in Italy in 2019
Tesla Sales May Fall This Year, Analyst Says
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
If Q2 is as bad as it’s looking, Tesla could be in for its first year-over-year sales decline since the Model S launch in 2012.
https://insideevs.com/news/718825/tesla-deliveries-2024-forecast/
Connecting with Amanda Gorman at the Arlington
date: 2024-05-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The young poet inspired the audience to take stock and say “no” sometimes.
The post Connecting with Amanda Gorman at the Arlington appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/07/connecting-with-amanda-gorman-at-the-arlington/
Turkey poised to step in as analysts warn of US pullout of Syria
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
The US and Turkey have resumed security cooperation talks, and analysts say Turkish forces are poised to fill a vacuum should American forces pull out of Syria. Pentagon officials say there are no plans for a withdrawal, but analysts point to signs it may happen. Meanwhile, the speculation is causing concern among Kurdish forces in Syria. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
Apple unveils M4 chip with neural engine capable of 38 TOPS, and some other kit
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Oh, right – there’s new iPad Pro and Air models, a pencil and some other stuff
Apple held its anticipated iPad event today, and the most attention-grabbing news wasn’t the new device models or the refreshed iPad Air lineup - it was the unveiling of Apple’s homegrown M4 chip with a surprisingly powerful neural processing unit (NPU). …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/apple_m4_ipad/
COC Men’s Golf Wins SoCal Title, Advances to State Championship
date: 2024-05-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)
College of the Canyons has captured the 3C2A Southern California Regional Championship, the ninth in program history, after turning its opening round lead into a four-stroke advantage over runner-up Cypress College on Monday, May 6 at Rio Bravo Country Club
https://scvnews.com/coc-mens-golf-wins-socal-title-advances-to-state-championship/
Google Pixel 8a launches for $499 and up
date: 2024-05-07, from: Liliputing
The Google Pixel 8a is official, and it’s… pretty much exactly what we were expecting. Google’s new mid-range phone is virtually identical to the Pixel 8 in most respects, but Google cut a few corners in order to keep the starting price at $499, making the list price for the Pixel 8a $200 lower than the […]
The post Google Pixel 8a launches for $499 and up appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/google-pixel-8a-launches-for-499-and-up/
SBART Press Luncheon: SBCC Swimming Takes Center Stage After Capturing State Championship
date: 2024-05-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Shams Jahangir-Arshad and Lily Carrick were honored as SBART Athletes of the week.
The post SBART Press Luncheon: SBCC Swimming Takes Center Stage After Capturing State Championship appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
BYD’s home city in China now has more supercharging plugs than gas pumps
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
Shenzhen, the home of Chinese EV giant BYD, says it’s become the first in China to have more supercharging plugs than gas pumps.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/07/byd-home-city-in-china-supercharging-shenzhen/
Ellen Ochoa, Former NASA Astronaut and First Hispanic Woman in Space, Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
date: 2024-05-07, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The former Johnson Space Center director logged four space shuttle flights and 1,000 hours in orbit over her 30-year career
TikTok sues America to undo divest-or-die law
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Nothing like folks in Beijing lecturing us on the Constitution
TikTok and its China-based parent ByteDance sued the US government today to prevent the forced sale or shutdown of the video-sharing giant.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/tiktok_bytedance_sue_usa/
Ten Thousand Steps in the Right Direction
date: 2024-05-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Alma Rosa’s annual “Peace of Mind” fundraiser brings critical dollars to mental health nonprofits.
The post Ten Thousand Steps in the Right Direction appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/07/ten-thousand-steps-in-the-right-direction/
Biden hosts Romanian leader at the White House to celebrate NATO partnership
date: 2024-05-07, from: Associated Press, World News
President Joe Biden has hosted Klaus Iohannis, the president of Romania, at the White House. The two leaders on Tuesday celebrated their joint cooperation on issues including international security, the economy and continued support for Ukraine.
May is Trauma Awareness Month, Blood, Platelet Donors Needed
date: 2024-05-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)
When every second counts, blood products can provide lifesaving care. The American Red Cross asks the public to give blood or platelets during Trauma Awareness Month in May to keep hospitals prepared for all transfusion needs, including emergencies.
https://scvnews.com/may-is-trauma-awareness-month-blood-platelet-donors-needed/
Despite Elon Musk’s foolishness, auto industry shouldn’t give up on NACS
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is causing chaos in the EV industry by firing Tesla’s entire charging team, which may lead some automakers to reconsider their plans to adopt the NACS plug. But NACS is just a better standard, and the industry should move forward on it, even if Tesla waffles with its commitment.
Legacy Art Santa Barbara’s Familial Roots
date: 2024-05-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Downtown space celebrates local artists, including the legacy of owner Crispin Barrymore’s family.
The post Legacy Art Santa Barbara’s Familial Roots appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/07/legacy-art-santa-barbaras-familial-roots/
Windows Insiders to fly solo while Copilot rollout frozen
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Perhaps just make sure the stuff that is already there works properly?
Microsoft will temporarily halt the rollout of Copilot features based on feedback from Windows Insiders.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/microsoft_copilot_windows_insiders/
CSUN Softball storms back from behind to sweep the Tritons on Senior Night
date: 2024-05-07, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
In a game of immense importance, CSUN staged a comeback in their final home game of the season on senior night, securing a significant victory over the Tritons of UC…
TikTok sues US to block potential ban
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/tiktok-sues-us-to-block-potential-ban/7601671.html
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot
date: 2024-05-07, from: NASA breaking news
This April 1, 2018, enhanced-color image of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The image is a combination of three separate images taken as Juno performed its 12th close flyby of the planet. The Great Red Spot, a swirling oval of clouds twice as wide as Earth, has been observed on […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/jupiters-great-red-spot-2/
Jeep Gladiator 4xe Plug-In Hybrid Coming In 2025
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
The plug-in pickup will likely use the same powertrain as its Wrangler 4xe sibling, which is America’s best-selling PHEV.
https://insideevs.com/news/718781/jeep-gladiator-4xe-plug-in-hybrid-confirmed-2025/
Save extra $100 on Juiced e-bikes, Jackery flash sale, 1-day Greenworks pressure washer sale, and more
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
Headlining today’s Green Deals is Juiced Bikes’ Mother’s Day sale that is taking $100 off purchases over $500, including most e-bikes, like the RipRacer Fun-Sized Fat-Tire e-bike for $1,049. It is joined by a limited-time Jackery flash sale that is taking up to 42% off power stations, bundles, and accessories starting from $100, as well as a 1-day sale on the Greenworks 3,000 PSI Electric Pressure Washer Combo Kit at $429. Plus, more hangover Green Deals still alive and well.
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.
America’s first hydrogen garbage truck arrives in Las Vegas
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
New Way Trucks and the hydrogen fuel cell experts at Hyzon just revealed North America’s first hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric refuse truck at Waste Expo in Las Vegas.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/07/americas-first-hydrogen-garbage-truck-arrives-in-las-vegas/
Tesla announces 4-day shutdown of Gigafactory Berlin due to protests
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla announced that it will be shutting down Gigafactory Berlin for four days, but it is unclear if it has to or if it wants to.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/07/tesla-4-day-shutdown-gigafactory-berlin-protests/
Norbert E. Moniz Sr.: A life of service, leadership, and inspiration, dies at 93
date: 2024-05-07, from: The Signal
Norbert E. Moniz, a longtime resident and former president of the Optimist Club in Canyon Country, has died at 93. Norbert had a wonderful, large and loving family, said a […]
The post Norbert E. Moniz Sr.: A life of service, leadership, and inspiration, dies at 93 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
Scholarships Awarded to Graduating Seniors of Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Student Advisory Council
date: 2024-05-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CA – Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Susan Salcido awarded $5,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors who
The post Scholarships Awarded to Graduating Seniors of Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Student Advisory Council appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Supporting Mothers
date: 2024-05-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Victoria Project invites the Santa Barbara community to donate on the May 12 holiday.
The post Supporting Mothers appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/07/supporting-mothers/
21st Annual Student Art Show Celebrates Students’ Connection to the Santa Barbara Channel
date: 2024-05-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara, CA—On May 2, the community gathered at Jodi House Gallery to honor inspiring young artists at a reception
The post 21st Annual Student Art Show Celebrates Students’ Connection to the Santa Barbara Channel appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Infineon trims financial forecast amid order slowdown
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Chipmaker outlines plans to save hundreds of millions and, hey presto, share price magically jumps
Infineon, maker of chips for the automotive and industrial sectors, told investors that it is embarking on a cost purge after lowering revenue estimates for the full financial year amid weakened demand.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/infineon_cost_cutting/
Russian hacker sanctioned by UK, US, Australia
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/russian-hacker-sanctioned-by-uk-us-australia/7601605.html
You Can Now Reserve Eli’s $11,900 Electric Microcar
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
It’s classified as a neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV), which means it’s limited to 25 mph. But it can go up to 90 miles on a charge.
https://insideevs.com/news/718822/eli-zero-usa-reservations/
When Were Blue Jeans Invented? These Paintings Suggest the Fashion Trend Dates Back to the 1600s
date: 2024-05-07, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Ten paintings attributed to the “Master of the Blue Jeans” depict Italian peasants wearing the storied fabric
Paul Willis Strikes ‘Losing Streak’ with New Collection
date: 2024-05-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The former Santa Barbara Poet Laureate discusses his latest collection of work and will do an appearance at Chaucer’s Books on May 15.
The post Paul Willis Strikes ‘Losing Streak’ with New Collection appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/07/paul-willis-strikes-losing-streak-with-new-collection/
Arrested US soldier to be held for two months in Russia on theft charges
date: 2024-05-07, from: Associated Press, World News
Staff Sgt. Gordon Black flew to Russia to see his girlfriend, according to U.S. officials, and the Army confirmed that he had not sought clearance for international travel.
https://apnews.com/article/soldier-arrested-russia-korea-596c4e4601e0cf6679b9ff1a880d8678
May 6, 2024
date: 2024-05-07, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-6-2024-c2b
KTM Is Finally Bringing Back a Street Superbike With the 990 RC R
date: 2024-05-07, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
This is not a drill, people!
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718821/2025-ktm-990-rc-r-superbike-street-legal/
May 8: Bouquet Canyon Park Pickleball Courts Closed for Maintenance
date: 2024-05-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The city of Santa Clarita has announced the pickleball courts at Bouquet Canyon Park will be closed on Wednesday, May 8, for necessary maintenance on the windscreens
https://scvnews.com/may-8-bouquet-canyon-park-pickleball-courts-closed-for-maintenance/
International SWOT Mission Can Improve Flood Prediction
date: 2024-05-07, from: NASA breaking news
A partnership between NASA and the French space agency, the satellite is poised to help improve forecasts of where and when flooding will occur in Earth’s rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. Rivers, lakes, and reservoirs are like our planet’s arteries, carrying life-sustaining water in interconnected networks. When Earth’s water cycle runs too fast, flooding can result, […]
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/swot/international-swot-mission-can-improve-flood-prediction/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-07, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
1994: Apple vs Carl Sagan.
https://business.time.com/2013/07/10/isued-apples-greatest-legal-battles/slide/apple-vs-carl-sagan/
This Tesla Employee Got Their Work Visa a Month Ago. Then They Were Laid Off
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
Ex-Tesla engineer sheds light on production challenges and how international workers walk a tightrope between work visas.
https://insideevs.com/news/718815/production-teams-will-be-overburdened-tesla-employee/
Lightweight Dillo browser springs back to life, still doesn’t care about JavaScript
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
First new version in almost a decade now boasts TLS
The Dillo web browser has returned with a new release, version 3.1. It’s nearly nine years after version 3.05 appeared on the last day of June 2015.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/dillo_browser_v3_1/
LAUSD’s School Board Is Remaking Its Website, And Wants Public Input
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The LAist
The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education is getting a new website and wants the public’s help to shape it.
Medieval Squirrels and Humans May Have Spread Leprosy Back and Forth
date: 2024-05-07, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Archaeologists uncovered evidence of leprosy in a medieval red squirrel in England, and DNA evidence revealed the strain was similar to what was circulating in humans at the time
Russia bans US-funded rights group Freedom House
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
Moscow — Russia on Tuesday said it had declared U.S.-funded rights group Freedom House an “undesirable organization”, effectively banning anyone from working for or having links with the group.
Authorities in Russia have declared dozens of media outlets, think tanks and non-profit organizations “undesirable” since 2015, a label rights groups say is designed to deter dissent.
In a statement, Russia’s Prosecutor General said Freedom House had called for “comprehensive assistance to Ukraine to defeat Russia” and had “discredited” the Russian army.
“The organization provides information, financial, legal and other support to Russian opposition structures, pro-Western and LGBT activists, communities defending their interests, and persons convicted of terrorist crimes,” it said.
Freedom House says it supports and provides funding to local democracy activists and civil liberty groups in more than 30 countries, receiving much of its financing from the U.S. State Department.
It is best known for its “Freedom in the World” index that measures each country’s civil liberties and labels them “Free” or “Not Free”. Russia is labelled “Not Free”.
Since launching its offensive in Ukraine, Moscow has waged an unprecedented crackdown on dissent that rights groups have likened to Soviet-era mass repression.
Among other organizations labelled as “undesirable” in Russia are the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, Transparency International and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-bans-us-funded-rights-group-freedom-house/7601524.html
June 1: Inaugural California Adopt-a-Pet Day
date: 2024-05-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The California Animal Welfare Association, the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have announced the inaugural California Adopt-a-Pet Day will take place on Saturday, June
https://scvnews.com/june-1-inaugural-california-adopt-a-pet-day/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-07, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Can the ICC Actually Arrest Netanyahu?
https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/05/07/icc-arrest-warrant-israel-netanyahu-gaza/
Tesla China-Made EV Sales Decreased 18% In April 2024
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
Tesla appears to be losing steam in China this year.
https://insideevs.com/news/718737/tesla-china-ev-sales-april2024/
How Resellers Are Transferring Billie Eilish’s ‘Untransferable’ Tickets
date: 2024-05-07, from: 404 Media Group
Ticketmaster’s untransferable tickets can be—and are—transferred by ticket brokers all the time.
Apple doesn’t sell iPads with Home buttons, Lightning ports or headphone jacks anymore
date: 2024-05-07, from: Liliputing
Apple has dropped the price for the 10th-gen iPad Pro by $100, bringing the starting price for this 10.9 inch tablet with an Apple A14 Bionic processor down to $349. First launched in the fall of 2022, the tablet was the first model in Apple’s entry-level iPad family to ship without a Home button and […]
The post Apple doesn’t sell iPads with Home buttons, Lightning ports or headphone jacks anymore appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/apple-doesnt-sell-ipads-with-home-buttons-or-lightning-ports-anymore/
Why do left and right have political meaning?
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
The divide between left and right is one of the most fundamental markers in politics. But have you ever stopped to think about why we use those directional terms to describe ideological camps? It may surprise you to learn that this terminology traces back to the seating arrangements of French revolutionaries over 200 years ago.
https://www.voanews.com/a/why-do-left-and-right-have-political-meaning-/7601468.html
Tesla Semi is getting into the hands of two more big customers
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla Semi is getting into the hands of two more big customers as the program finally appears to be ramping up.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/07/tesla-semi-hands-two-more-big-customers/
US State Department launches cyber and digital policy strategy
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Part of the race with Beijing to set standards and advance norms
RSAC The US State Department’s latest cybersecurity strategy will not be wildly different from current stances, but offers an alternative path to those presented by the country’s adversaries.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/us_cyber_strategy/
White Sands Propulsion Team Tests 3D-Printed Orion Engine Component
date: 2024-05-07, from: NASA breaking news
When the Orion spacecraft carries the first Artemis crews to the Moon and back, it will rely on the European Service Module contributed by ESA (European Space Agency) to make the journey. The service module provides electrical power generation, propulsion, temperature control, and consumable storage for Orion, up to the moment it separates from the […]
Met Gala AI Images of Katy Perry and Rihanna Show Relentless Spread of AI Junk
date: 2024-05-07, from: 404 Media Group
AI-generated images of Katy Perry and Rihanna show them in beautiful gowns at the Gala, which they both did not attend.
https://www.404media.co/generative-ai-stuns-and-fools-viewers-at-met-gala/
Porn actress Stormy Daniels describes 2006 sexual liaison with Trump
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
Republican Bill To End EV Tax Credits Gets Almost No Support From Carmaking States
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
A new Senate bill would end the federal EV tax credit. Not signing on: states that actually manufacture cars.
https://insideevs.com/news/718806/gop-tax-credit-bill-wyoming/
Order in the Court! – Records of Courthouses in the National Register of Historic Places
date: 2024-05-07, from: National Archives, Text Message blog
There are more than thirty five thousand records with the search term “courthouse” in the National Register of Historic Places records, including both the United States Supreme Court Building (National Archives Identifier 117691883), and the Oklahoma Cherokee Supreme Court Building (National Archives Identifier 86510854). “The Supreme Court Building, 1st and East Capitol Streets, NE, in … Continue reading Order in the Court! – Records of Courthouses in the National Register of Historic Places
Ken Carpenter: Ensuring Top-Tier Science from Moon to Stars
date: 2024-05-07, from: NASA breaking news
Today, Ken Carpenter is a scientist for NASA’s Hubble and Roman space telescopes, but in 1967 he was just a teenager at his local library out to fact-check a “Star Trek” episode. Name: Kenneth G. CarpenterTitle: Operations Project Scientist for Hubble Space Telescope; Ground System Scientist for Roman Space Telescope; and a NASA Innovative Advanced […]
The new iPad Air with Apple M2 comes in 11 and 13 inch sizes
date: 2024-05-07, from: Liliputing
Apple’s new iPad Air comes in two sizes for the first time. In addition to updating its mid-range tablet lineup with a new processor and twice as much memory for entry-level configurations, Apple is now offering iPad Air models with a choice of 11 inch or 13 inch displays Prices start at $599 and $799 […]
The post The new iPad Air with Apple M2 comes in 11 and 13 inch sizes appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/the-new-ipad-air-with-apple-m2-comes-in-11-and-13-inch-sizes/
Tesla layoff circus runs into fourth week with another round of cuts
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Musk continues quest to make Tesla leaner, meaner, more profitable
Another week, another round of layoffs at Tesla to report, and this time engineers are caught up in the mix. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/tesla_layoffs_continue/
It’s Brutal Out Here
date: 2024-05-07, from: John August blog
Why are things so rough in Hollywood right now? John and Craig look at the industry’s current contraction, its historical analogues, and offer suggestions for what might fix it. We also follow up on streaming ad breaks and New York accents, before answering listener questions on being paralyzed, whether it’s by your second draft or […] The post It’s Brutal Out Here first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2024/its-brutal-out-here
Fisker Ocean Production Halt Means 500 Magna Workers Laid Off
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
Plus, new rumors about Rivian and the Apple Car, and NHTSA is demanding Autopilot data from Tesla.
https://insideevs.com/news/718792/apple-car-rivian-rumors-cm/
Apple M4
date: 2024-05-07, from: Michael Tsai
Apple (Hacker News): Built using second-generation 3-nanometer technology, M4 is a system on a chip (SoC) that advances the industry-leading power efficiency of Apple silicon and enables the incredibly thin design of iPad Pro. It also features an entirely new display engine to drive the stunning precision, color, and brightness of the breakthrough Ultra Retina […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/07/apple-m4/
Final Cut Pro 2 and Logic Pro 2 for iPad
date: 2024-05-07, from: Michael Tsai
Apple (Hacker News): Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 transforms iPad into a multicam production studio with Live Multicam, giving users the power to speed up their shoot by allowing them to connect and preview up to four cameras all at once, all in one place. To support Live Multicam, Final Cut Camera — an […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/07/final-cut-pro-2-and-logic-pro-2-for-ipad/
Apple Pencil Pro
date: 2024-05-07, from: Michael Tsai
Apple (MacRumors): A new sensor in the barrel can sense a user’s squeeze, bringing up a tool palette to quickly switch tools, line weights, and colors, all without interrupting the creative process. A custom haptic engine delivers a light tap that provides confirmation when users squeeze, use double-tap, or snap to a Smart Shape for […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/07/apple-pencil-pro/
iPad Pro (M4, 7th Generation)
date: 2024-05-07, from: Michael Tsai
Apple (MacRumors, keyboard, Hacker News, Slashdot): Available in silver and space black finishes, the new iPad Pro comes in two sizes: an expansive 13-inch model and a super-portable 11-inch model. Both sizes feature the world’s most advanced display — a new breakthrough Ultra Retina XDR display with state-of-the-art tandem OLED technology — providing a remarkable […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/07/ipad-pro-7th-generation/
iPad Air (6th Generation)
date: 2024-05-07, from: Michael Tsai
Apple (MacRumors, Hacker News): Apple today announced the redesigned 11-inch and all-new 13-inch iPad Air, supercharged by the M2 chip. Now available in two sizes for the first time, the 11-inch iPad Air is super-portable, and the 13-inch model provides an even larger display for more room to work, learn, and play. […] The front-facing […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/07/ipad-air-6th-generation/
Cops finally unmask ‘LockBit kingpin’ after two-month tease
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev’s $10M question is answered at last
Updated Police have finally named who they firmly believe is the kingpin of the LockBit ransomware ring: Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev.…
A $175,000 CyberTrailer Camper That Can Charge Your EV Is In The Works
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
Made by California-based Living Vehicle, the Cybertruck-inspired trailer will be ready next year.
https://insideevs.com/news/718763/cybertrailer-camper-ev-charging/
Stack Overflow signs deal with OpenAI, bans users trying to alter answers
date: 2024-05-07, from: OS News
We’re all aware of Stack Overflow – it’s a place where programmers and regular users can ask technical questions, and get answers from anyone who thinks they know the answer. Stack Overflow has become so ubiquitous among programmers and developers, the concept of “I just copied the code off Stack Overflow” has become a consistent meme to indicate you don’t fully grasp how something works, but at least it works. If you’ve ever contributed answers to Stack Overflow, you might want to consider deleting them, altering them, or perhaps even go as far as request a GDPR removal if you’re in the European Union, because Stack Overflow has just announced a close partnership with “AI” company OpenAI (or, more accurately, “Open” “AI”). Stripped of marketing speak, the gist is exactly as you’d expect: OpenAI will absorb the questions and answers on Stack Overflow into its models, whether their respective authors like it or not. As much as you may want to try and delete your answers if you’re not interesting in having your work generate profit for OpenAI, deleting popular questions and answers is not possible on Stack Overflow. The other option is altering your answers to render them useless, but it seems Stack Overflow is not going to allow you to do this, either. Ben Humphreys tried to alter his highest-rated answers, and Stack Overflow just reverted them back, and proceeded to ban him from the platform. Stack Overflow does not let you delete questions that have accepted answers and many upvotes because it would remove knowledge from the community. So instead I changed my highest-rated answers to a protest message. Within an hour mods had changed the questions back and suspended my account for 7 days. ↫ Ben Humphreys Now that they’ve made what is most likely an incredibly lucrative deal with OpenAI that’s going to net Stack Overflow’s owners boatloads of money, they obviously can’t let users delete or alter their answers to lower the monetary value of Stack Overflow’s content. Measures to prevent deletion or alteration are probably one of the clauses in the agreement between Stack Overflow and OpenAI. So there’s likely not much you can do to not have your answers sucked into OpenAI, but you should at least be aware it’s happening in case of future answers you might want to contribute.
Apple’s new iPad Pro is the first device with an M4 chip
date: 2024-05-07, from: Liliputing
Since Apple transitioned its laptop and desktop computers from Intel to Apple Silicon a few years ago, the company has typically taken a PC-first approach toward launching new processors. But in a break from that tradition, the first device powered by Apple’s new M4 processor is an iPad. The 2024 iPad Pro lineup includes 11 […]
The post Apple’s new iPad Pro is the first device with an M4 chip appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/apples-new-ipad-pro-is-the-first-device-with-an-m4-chip/
Breaking the Scaling Limits: New Ultralow-noise Superconducting Camera for Exoplanet Searches
date: 2024-05-07, from: NASA breaking news
When imaging faint objects such as distant stars or exoplanets, capturing every last bit of light is crucial to get the most out of a scientific mission. These cameras must be extremely low-noise, and be able to detect the smallest quantities of light—single photons. Superconducting cameras excel in both of these criteria, but have historically […]
Tesla is finally going to release everything we want to know about Autopilot/FSD as NHTSA forces it
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla is finally going to release everything we always wanted to know about Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD), but it’s because NHTSA is forcing the automaker to do it.
Dogged Dark Matter Hunters Find New Hiding Places to Check
date: 2024-05-07, from: Quanta Magazine
Perhaps dark matter is made of an entirely different kind of particle than the ones physicists have been searching for. New experiments are springing up to look for these ultra-lightweight phantoms.The post Dogged Dark Matter Hunters Find New Hiding Places to Check first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/dogged-dark-matter-hunters-find-new-hiding-places-to-check-20240507/
This Tool Shows Some Telegram Users’ Approximate Physical Location
date: 2024-05-07, from: 404 Media Group
The tool relies on Telegram’s opt-in “Find People Nearby” feature, but allows searches for Telegram users globally.
https://www.404media.co/this-tool-shows-some-telegram-users-approximate-physical-location/
VMware waves goodbye to AWS middleman as Broadcom takes the reins
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Customers brace for bumpy ride
Updated Broadcom has ended the right of Amazon Web Services to resell VMware Cloud on AWS, meaning customers will now have a direct relationship only with VMware by Broadcom, casting doubt over the long-term future of the product.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/broadcom_vmware_aws/
@IIIF Mastodon feed (date: 2024-05-07, from: IIIF Mastodon feed)
Just ONE week left to register for the #IIIF Annual Conference.
A link to register, full program, and travel details available at https://bit.ly/iiif-LA
https://glammr.us/@IIIF/112400233924562679
MINISFORUM AtomMan X7 Ti is a mini PC with Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, OCuLink, 5 Gbit Ethernet, and a 4 inch touchscreen display
date: 2024-05-07, from: Liliputing
The MINISFORUM AtomMan X7 Ti is a mini PC that pushes the boundaries of what you can expect from a small form-factor desktop. Not only is it MINISFORUM’s first mini PC with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H Meteor Lake processor, but this little PC also features a small touchscreen display on the cover, a built-in mic […]
The post MINISFORUM AtomMan X7 Ti is a mini PC with Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, OCuLink, 5 Gbit Ethernet, and a 4 inch touchscreen display appeared first on Liliputing.
US repatriates 11 citizens from camp for relatives of Islamic State militants
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
BEIRUT — The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.
The repatriation was the largest Washington has carried out from the camps to date, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Five of the 11 citizens brought back were children, and one non-U.S. citizen child — the 9-year-old sibling of one of the other children — was also brought with them.
As part of the same operation, the U.S. facilitated the repatriation of 11 other camp residents, eight of them children, to Canada, the Netherlands and Finland, the statement said.
Although the pace of repatriations has picked up — neighboring Iraq recently returned hundreds of its citizens — many countries remain reluctant to bring back citizens from the al Hol and al Roj camps, which now hold about 30,000 people from more than 60 countries, most of them children.
The camps are run by local authorities affiliated with the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The SDF and its allies, including U.S.-led coalition forces, defeated the Islamic State group in Syria in 2019, ending its self-proclaimed Islamic “caliphate” that had ruled over a large swath of territory straddling Iraq and Syria.
Human rights groups have regularly reported on what they describe as inhumane living conditions and abuses in the camps and in detention centers where suspected Islamic State members are housed.
“The only durable solution to the humanitarian and security crisis” in the facilities “is for countries to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate, and where appropriate, ensure accountability for wrongdoing,” Blinken said in the statement.
Ryvid Outset launched as $5,995 US-built electric motorcycle
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
Ryvid, the Southern California-based manufacturer of the popular Ryvid Anthem electric motorcycle, has just launched its second model based on the same platform. The new Ryvid Outset, priced at just $5,995, is set to become the most affordable highway-capable electric motorcycle in the US.
At the same time, the company announced a major price drop, lowering the Ryvid Anthem to just US $6,495 after moving into a new scaled-up production facility in San Bernadino, California.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/07/ryvid-outset-launched-as-5995-us-built-electric-motorcycle/
How political fundraisers increase contributions without going over the legal limit
date: 2024-05-07, from: Marketplace Morning Report
How “joint fundraising committees” bring in hefty political donations without technically running afoul of contribution limits; plus, checking in on the Biden administration’s multi-billion-dollar plan to remove lead pipes — and improve drinking water safety — across the country.
Valve vexation: Boeing’s Starliner grounded again
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Problems with Centaur rocket keeps first crewed flight on terra firma
Boeing’s long-delayed Starliner crewed launch, which was scheduled for today, has been postponed yet again, this time due to a valve problem on the Centaur upper stage. Managers pushed back the next attempt to no earlier than May 10.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/boeing_starliner_delay/
How NASA’s Roman Mission Will Hunt for Primordial Black Holes
date: 2024-05-07, from: NASA breaking news
Astronomers have discovered black holes ranging from a few times the Sun’s mass to tens of billions. Now a group of scientists has predicted that NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could find a class of “featherweight” black holes that has so far eluded detection. Today, black holes form either when a massive star collapses […]
What Happens To The Federal Money Tesla Won For Superchargers
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
Tesla is backing off from the Supercharging business after winning millions in government funding. We explain what happens next.
https://insideevs.com/news/718664/tesla-supercharger-nevi-charger-funding/
Nikola (NKLA) Q1 2024 by the numbers: Production and revenue down amid a keen focus on hydrogen
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
Nikola Corporation has posted its Q1 2024 financial report ahead of a call with investors this morning, and the numbers detail a commercial vehicle developer growing amid setbacks that arose last year. Today’s update mainly focuses on hydrogen as Nikola looks to execute deliveries while making good on issues with its BEV trucks.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/07/nikola-nkla-q1-2024-numbers-production-revenue-down-hydrogen-bev/
Palantir’s CEO calls ‘woke’ a ‘central risk to Palantir, America and the world’
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Oh, and Alex Karp’s forecasts disappoint the market after strong revenue growth
Analytics platform biz Palantir saw its share price dip yesterday despite posting on-the-nose revenue growth of 21 percent year-over-year to reach $634 million in the first calendar quarter.…
You Can Put A Wet Towel On A Tesla Supercharger Handle To Get Faster Charging Speeds
date: 2024-05-07, from: Inside EVs News
The trick is most useful on older, V2 Supercharger stalls, but it can also come in handy on the newer V3 units.
https://insideevs.com/news/718718/tesla-supercharger-wet-towel-improve-charging-speed/
TSMC fully booked on advanced packaging until 2025
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
TrendForce warns of ‘potential crowding out effects on HBM’
TSMC’s advanced packaging capacity is fully booked for the next two years, thanks to Nvidia and AMD needs, according to reports that echo an earlier earnings call.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/tsmc_advance_packaging/
Running NetBSD on OmniOS using bhyve
date: 2024-05-07, from: OS News
I want to run GoToSocial on some *BSD system. Because I am who I am, I went for using NetBSD 10.0 . And because my hypervisor is running bhyve on OmniOS , you get the title of this blog post. Don’t get too anxious, it is quite straightforward. So let the journey begin. ↫ Joel Carnat Bhyve is a hypervisor originating from FreeBSD, while OmniOS is a distribution of illumos, a continuation of the last open source Solaris release from Oracle. GoToSocial, meanwhile, is an ActivityPub social network server, so it belongs in the same family as Mastodon, Glitch, Akkoma, and countless others. This guide makes this whole process look like a piece of cake, so if you’ve ever been interested in running your own ActivityPub server – read on. On a slightly related sidenote, there’s no OSNews AT instance, partly because I don’t want to deal with the moderation and costs, and partly because I’m incredibly happy being a member of Exquisite, a Glitch instance running on OpenBSD, managed by OpenBSD enthusiasts. Never say never, of course, but the odds of seeing an OSNews AT instance in the future are very slim.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139596/running-netbsd-on-omnios-using-bhyve/
After TikTok, Lawmakers Want to Ban Action Camera Company DJI
date: 2024-05-07, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Kiss all your drones goodbye.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718674/dji-action-camera-government-ban-tiktok/
Raspberry Pi Connect
date: 2024-05-07, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
We’re pleased to introduce the beta version of Raspberry Pi Connect: a secure and easy-to-use way to access your Raspberry Pi remotely, from anywhere on the planet, using just a web browser.
The post Raspberry Pi Connect appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/raspberry-pi-connect/
Steven H. Baron | Who’s Anti-America?
date: 2024-05-07, from: The Signal
Could someone ask Gary Horton and Thomas Oatway and Lois Eisenberg if they counted the number of MAGA Republicans participating in the anti-Israel, anti-America, pro-Hamas rallies at multiple college campuses […]
The post Steven H. Baron | Who’s Anti-America? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/steven-h-baron-whos-anti-america/
Stephen Maseda | Does He See the Irony?
date: 2024-05-07, from: The Signal
It seems a little rich for Mr. Gary Horton to criticize Pastor David Hegg (letters, April 23) for assertedly telling us what to think and how to act, given that […]
The post Stephen Maseda | Does He See the Irony? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/stephen-maseda-does-he-see-the-irony/
Arthur Saginian | The Mind of a True Believer
date: 2024-05-07, from: The Signal
To Messrs. (Hilmar) Rosenast, (Peter) Beers, and (Stephen) Maseda, and those who feel likewise: What impresses me most is not your apparent knowledge of scriptural passages and their “proper” interpretations, […]
The post Arthur Saginian | The Mind of a True Believer appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/arthur-saginian-the-mind-of-a-true-believer/
Spanish startups say ‘no más’ to Microsoft cloud dominance
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Group alleges anticompetitive behavior
Updated Microsoft is facing a complaint over alleged anticompetitive practices in the Spanish cloud market.…
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-05-07, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Good morning fellow Strict Concurrency lovers.
Rethought my model and we are at 38 warnings down from 30,000.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112399796172895082
No One Knows Whether To Love or Hate the New MotoGP Regulations
date: 2024-05-07, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
They do agree, however, that water is wet. Though the sky’s color is still up for debate.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718662/motogp-2027-regulations-changes-motorcycle-racing/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-07, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
I was asked on Threads what NY restaurant I miss the most. There are lots. But Ratner's is #1. Their food was fantastic, the ambience even better, and the waiters were wonderfully NY-grouchy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratner%27s
Mash Goes Big with Retro-Inspired FR750 Motorcycle
date: 2024-05-07, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
A bargain option in the neo-retro segment in Europe.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718528/mash-fr750-launch-europe/
Ukraine says it foiled Russian plot to assassinate Zelenskyy
date: 2024-05-07, from: Associated Press, World News
Ukrainian counterintelligence investigators say they have foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top military and political figures.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-07, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Ozempic Is Repairing a Hole in Our Diets Created by Processed Foods.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/07/opinion/ozempic-weight-loss-drugs.html?smid=tw-share
Will 2024 Be Hotter Than 2023?
date: 2024-05-07, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Tornadoes terrorized Oklahoma overnight • Flash floods killed two people in China’s Guangxi region • It is 75 degrees Fahrenheit and clear in Rafah, where Israeli troops have seized the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt.
THE TOP FIVE
- April broke heat records, but wild temperatures could moderate
slightly soon
Temperature data for last month is rolling in, and the takeaway is that it was the hottest April on record for planet Earth. That marks 11 straight months of record heat, and researchers are starting to do some informed analysis on whether 2024 will displace 2023 as the hottest year. El Niño’s retreat could bring slightly cooler temperatures, and the data suggests that, while temperature records are still being broken, they’re not being absolutely shattered, which I suppose is good news? For example, September last year was 0.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the previest hottest September. Last month was only 0.1 or 0.2 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous hottest April. “If 2024 continues to follow its expected trajectory, global temperatures will fall out of record territory in the next month or two,” wrote climate scientist Zeke Hausfather. Still, he puts the chances that this year will be hotter than last at about 66%. “If the latter half of 2024 ends up similar to 2023, we may end up closer to 1.6C for the year as a whole.”
- China and U.S. climate envoys to meet in Washington
Coming up this week: Climate envoys for China and the U.S. will meet in Washington Wednesday and Thursday to discuss solutions for “accelerating concrete climate actions this decade,” the State Department announced. Liu Zhenmin and John Podesta will discuss topics like the energy transition, methane emissions, resource efficiency, and deforestation. The U.S. and China are the world’s top two greenhouse gas emitters, and the sit-down marks the envoys’ “first formal face-to-face summit before global negotiations in Azerbaijan this November,” Bloomberg reported. China’s dominance in cheap green technology manufacturing will no doubt loom large over the talks, as well. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has criticized the country’s excessive output of products like solar panels, and recently called for “constructive” discussions to encourage China to reduce its manufacturing subsidies.
Get Heatmap AM directly in your inbox every morning:
- World Bank recommends rich nations stop subsidizing livestock
farming
The World Bank published a new report this week examining how countries can cut emissions from their food sectors. “Simply changing how middle-income countries use land, such as forests and ecosystems, for food production can cut agrifood emissions by a third by 2030,” said World Bank Senior Managing Director Axel van Trotsenburg. One recommendation, spotted by Bloomberg, is that high-income countries stop subsidizing livestock farming and shift that financial support over to more environmentally friendly foods like fruits, vegetables, and poultry. “Globally, one-third of agricultural subsidies were directed toward meat and milk products in 2016,” the report said. But subsidies mask the true costs (environmental or otherwise) of these products. Cutting them could “lead to significant changes in consumption patterns and large emissions reductions.”
World
Bank/Recipe for a Livable Planet report
Investment in overhauling agrifood will need to rise by $260 billion annually to halve emissions by 2030, the World Bank report said. But the cost benefits in terms of health, economic, and environmental outcomes are projected to surpass $4 trillion in 2030, which the report noted is a 16-to-1 return on investment costs.
- Lula calls for national climate disaster plan after floods devastate
Brazil
The flooding in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state has prompted President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to call for a national plan to be put into place for preventing and dealing with climate disasters, The Washington Post reported. He instructed top environmental lieutenant Marina Silva to start putting together a strategy. “We have to stop just running after disaster,” Lula told the Post. “We have to start preparing for what can happen from disasters. … We and the world need to prepare every day with more plans and resources to deal with extreme climate occurrences.” At least 83 people are known to have died in the floods but the death toll is likely to climb. More than 20,000 people have lost their homes. Hospitals are without power. Inmates have been released from flooded prisons. Looting has begun. “This is war; that is the word,” said journalist Kelly Matos. “It’s hopelessness, civil unrest. … The tsunami is here.”
A
flooded hospital entrance in Porto
Alegre
Max Peixoto/Getty Images
- Texas grid begins drawing power from new large solar and storage
facility
A large solar farm capable of powering 41,600 homes has been completed in Texas. The Zier facility in Brackettville, developed by Cypress Creek Renewables, has 208-megawatts of solar capacity and 80 megawatt hours of storage, and it’s already connected to and being used by the Texas grid “to ease supply strain in a time of increased demand,” Cypress Creek said in a news release. The company has 24 projects in construction or development in the state, one of which is a 100 megawatt hour battery storage facility that should be up and running next month.
Cypress
Creek Renewables
THE KICKER
“The worst thing for the energy transition is that it is perceived as being done by and for the elites.” –Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency
https://heatmap.news/climate/2024-warmest-year-2023
The truth about KEV: CISA’s vuln deadlines good influence on private-sector patching
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
More work to do as most deadlines are missed and worst bugs still take months to fix
The deadlines associated with CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog only apply to federal agencies, but fresh research shows they’re having a positive impact on private organizations too.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/cisas_vulnerability_deadlines/
The economic — and personal — impacts of paid sick leave
date: 2024-05-07, from: Marketplace Morning Report
In the absence of federal paid sick leave, some states work to fill the gap. Plus, a new report on the looming Social Security and Medicare budget shortfalls, and what to expect from Reddit’s first earnings report since its March IPO.
Milei defends radical austerity plan
date: 2024-05-07, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Argentina’s president has cut public sector jobs, reduced energy and transport subsidies and devalued the country’s currency in the five months since he became leader — but Javier Milei denies ordinary Argentines are paying for the stringent measures. Also: What does a butter-free croissant say about France’s changing food and agriculture industries?
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/milei-defends-radical-austerity-plan
Roman-Era Ship Was Carrying Jugs Full of Fish Sauce When It Sank 1,700 Years Ago
date: 2024-05-07, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Discovered in the summer of 2019, the Ses Fontanelles wreck likely ran aground sometime during the fourth century
EV-maker Eli launches its $11,900 electric micro ‘car’ in the US
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
Eli Electric, the manufacturer of the popular Eli ZERO electric microcar, announced this morning the opening of reservations in the US.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/07/ev-maker-eli-launches-its-11900-electric-micro-car-in-the-us/
KC HiLiTES’ New Gravity Titan Light Pod Bar Are Here To Destroy the Night
date: 2024-05-07, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Thee are banished, night!
https://www.rideapart.com/news/716482/kc-hilites-gravity-titan-light-pod-lightbar/
Gaza protesters face speech restraints and legal consequences
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/gaza-protesters-face-speech-restraints-and-legal-consequences/7600983.html
Brit security guard biz exposes 1.2M files via unprotected database
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Thousands of ID cards plus CCTV snaps of suspects found online
Exclusive A UK-based physical security business let its guard down, exposing nearly 1.3 million documents via a public-facing database, according to an infosec researcher.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/uk_security_company_breach/
AI Whitewashing
date: 2024-05-07, from: Status-Q blog
Yesterday, I asked: Here’s a question, O Internet: If I buy full-fat milk and dilute it 50/50 with water, do I effectively have semi-skimmed milk, or is there something more sophisticated about the skimming process? And if I then dilute it again, do I get skimmed milk… for one quarter of the price? Now, the Continue Reading
https://statusq.org/archives/2024/05/07/12062/
A tale of two Chinas: Our tech governance isn’t perfect, but we still get to say no
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Too many folks who should know better saying info-slurping tactics of Big Tech are just as bad
Opinion Which China do you want? The innovative good global citizen, adding to the storehouse of knowledge while making better products and services? Or the autocracy, determined to advance the interests of the leadership through any and all means, untrammeled by legal safeguards within its borders and, wherever possible, outside them?…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/opinion_china_tech/
First 9front release of the year is called DO NOT INSTALL
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Possibly its most helpful codename yet
9front, the most active project continuing development of the sequel to Unix, Plan 9 from Bell Labs, emitted a new version. We did not follow its advice.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/9front_do_not_install/
Stand up to Trump and Bibi
date: 2024-05-07, from: Robert Reich on Substack
Judge Merchan must jail Trump, Biden must stop sending weapons to Netanyahu
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/standing-up-to-trump-and-bibi
Council claims database pain forced it to drop apostrophes from street names
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
What next, trouble at tmill?
A row in the UK has locals and council members at odds over apostrophes, and yes – this does actually have a tech angle. …
May 6, 2024
date: 2024-05-07, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
In the New York Times today, Amy Qin and Patricia Mazzei reported on the new Florida law that prohibits many Chinese citizens from buying property in Florida, especially near important infrastructure like airports, refineries, and military installations. Qin and Mazzei note that more than three dozen states either have enacted or are crafting laws to restrict the purchase of land, businesses, or housing by Chinese nationals, even if they have legal residence in the United States. The justification for the laws is that Chinese investment in the U.S. is a national security risk, although Chinese nationals own less than 400,000 acres in the United States.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-6-2024
Today in SCV History (May 7)
date: 2024-05-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1861 – Andres Pico and partners granted state franchise to build toll road and cut 50-foot-deep cleft through (Newhall) Pass; they failed; Beale later succeeded. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-may-7/
Report: Apple mulling potential partnership with Rivian
date: 2024-05-07, from: Electrek Feed
Earlier this year, Apple canceled its decade-long Project Titan electric car initiative, but a new report from DigiTimes says that Apple’s electric vehicle ambitions might not be over. According to the story, Apple is “assessing the possibility of teaming up with a certain US EV startup, and Rivian is a very likely candidate.”
https://9to5mac.com/2024/05/06/apple-rivian-partnership-report/
Daisy Bates, Johnny Cash statues represent Arkansas in Statuary Hall
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
Pro-Palestinian protesters break through barricades to retake MIT encampment
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
NEW YORK — Pro-Palestinian protesters who had been blocked by police from accessing an encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday broke through fencing, linked arms and encircled tents that remained there, as Columbia University canceled its university-wide commencement ceremony following weeks of pro-Palestinian protests.
Sam Ihns, a graduate student at MIT studying mechanical engineering and a member of MIT Jews for a Ceasefire, said the group has been at the encampment for the past two weeks and that they were calling for an end to the killing of thousands of people in Gaza.
“Specifically, our encampment is protesting MIT’s direct research ties to the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” he said.
Protesters also sat in the middle of Massachusetts Avenue, blocking the street during rush hour in the Boston area.
The demonstrations at Columbia have roiled its campus and officials said Monday that while it won’t hold it’s main ceremony, students will be able to celebrate at a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies this week and next.
The decision comes as universities around the country wrangle with how to handle commencements for students whose high school graduations were derailed by COVID-19 in 2020. Another campus shaken by protests, Emory University, announced Monday that it would move its commencement from its Atlanta campus to a suburban arena. Others, including the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Northeastern, have pulled off ceremonies with few disruptions.
Columbia’s decision to cancel its main ceremonies scheduled for May 15 saves its president, Minouche Shafik, from having to deliver a commencement address in the same part of campus where police dismantled a protest encampment last week. The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan said it made the decision after discussions with students.
“Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families,” officials said.
Most of the ceremonies that had been scheduled for the south lawn of the main campus, where encampments were taken down last week, will take place about 8 kilometers (5 miles) north at Columbia’s sports complex, officials said.
Speakers at some of Columbia’s still-scheduled graduation ceremonies include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames and Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Columbia had already canceled in-person classes. More than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia’s green or occupied an academic building were arrested in recent weeks.
Similar encampments sprouted up elsewhere as universities struggled with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.
The University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony. Students abandoned their camp at USC on Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.
Other universities have held graduation ceremonies with beefed-up security. The University of Michigan’s ceremony was interrupted by chanting a few times Saturday. In Boston on Sunday, some students waved small Palestinian or Israeli flags at Northeastern University’s commencement in Fenway Park.
Emory’s ceremonies scheduled for May 13 will be held at the GasSouth Arena and Convocation Center in Duluth, almost 20 miles (30 kilometers) northeast of the university’s Atlanta campus, President Gregory Fenves said in an open letter.
“Please know that this decision was not taken lightly,” Fenves wrote. “It was made in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisors and other agencies — each of which advised against holding commencement events on our campuses.”
The 16,000-student university is one of many that has seen repeated protests stemming from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Student protesters are calling on their schools to divest from companies that do business with Israel or otherwise contribute to the war effort.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.
Hamas on Monday announced its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its “core demands” and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
“Cease-fires are temporary,” said Selina Al-Shihabi, a Georgetown University sophomore who was taking part in a protest at George Washington. “There can be a cease-fire, but the U.S. government will continue to arm the Israeli military. We plan to be here until the university divests or until they drag us out of here.”
At the University of California, San Diego, police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 64 people, including 40 students.
The University of California, Los Angeles, moved all classes online for the entire week due to ongoing disruptions following the dismantling of an encampment last week. The university police force reported 44 arrests but there were no specific details, UCLA spokesperson Eddie North-Hager said in an email to The Associated Press.
Schools are trying various tactics from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action to get protestors to take down encampments or move to campus areas where demonstrations would be less intrusive.
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago said in a Facebook post Sunday that it offered protesters “amnesty from academic sanction and trespassing charges” if they moved.
“Many protesters left the premises of their own accord after being notified by the police that they were trespassing and subject to arrest,” the school said. “Those that remained were arrested after multiple warnings to leave, including some of whom we recognized as SAIC students.”
A group of faculty and staff members at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked the administration for amnesty for any students who were arrested and suspended during recent protests. UNC Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine said in a media advisory that it would deliver a letter on behalf of more than 500 faculty who support the student activists.
Other universities took a different approach.
Harvard University’s interim president, Alan Garber, warned students that those participating in a pro-Palestinian encampment in Harvard Yard could face “involuntary leave.” That means they would not be allowed on campus, could lose their student housing and may not be able to take exams, Garber said.
Ransomware crooks now SIM swap executives’ kids to pressure their parents
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Extortionists turning to ‘psychological attacks’, Mandiant CTO says
RSAC Ransomware infections have morphed into “a psychological attack against the victim organization,” as criminals use increasingly personal and aggressive tactics to force victims to pay up, according to Google-owned Mandiant.…
Local elementary student signs copies of her book, donates proceeds back to school
date: 2024-05-07, from: The Signal
While most students at Pico Canyon Elementary were showing off their campus to their families or enjoying the food trucks at open house last week, 11-year-old Ruby Jiang was hard […]
The post Local elementary student signs copies of her book, donates proceeds back to school appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
Saugus school district set to approve final list of classified employee layoffs
date: 2024-05-07, from: The Signal
The final list of classified employees within the Saugus Union School District who are set to be laid off at the end of the school year is expected to be […]
The post <strong>Saugus school district set to approve final list of classified employee layoffs</strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
Met Gala in full bloom with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling among stars
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
New York — It’s Met Gala time and the fashion parade of A-listers Monday included a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet surrounded by foliage. Jennifer Lopez went for silver leaves in a second-skin goddess gown and Zendaya was all vamp and fantasy.
Both are co-chairs of the annual fundraiser at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. And both received cheers from the crowd of fashion enthusiasts packed behind barriers outside.
Flowers were everywhere, in line with this year’s theme: “The Garden of Time.” Lopez (in Schiaparelli) was all va-va-voom in a near-naked gown that hugged like a second skin. She’s got the Meta Gala down: It’s her 14th.
This year’s theme is inspired by J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story of the same name.
Zendaya put on her fashion face in hues of blue and green, with a head piece to match and leaf accents.
It’s been five years since Zendaya last attended the Met Gala. Her look, in peacock colors, was by Maison Margiela. Lopez went with Tiffany & Co. diamonds, including a stunning bird motif necklace with a diamond of over 20 carats at its center.
Mindy Kaling is sure to make the best-dressed lists in sand-colored swirls that towered over her head at the back. No worries about dinner. The back was removable. Her look was by Indian couturier Gaurav Gupta.
Fashion kings and queens … and a good witch
Gigi Hadid brought the drama in a look by the drama king himself, Thom Browne. her white look was adorned with 2.8 million microbeads with yellow flowers and green thorns. She was high glam in a wavy bob and crimson lips.
If there’s a queen of the Met Gala besides the evening’s mastermind, Anna Wintour, it’s Sarah Jessica Parker. The long-time attendee takes each year’s theme seriously, researching every detail. This year she was in an Alice in Wonderland dress with a lavender overlay and a Philip Treacy topper on her head. The dress was by Richard Quinn. Her long hair tumbled behind her back in beachy waves, a look that built into a beauty trend of the evening.
Serena Williams took metallic gold to another level in a shining one-shoulder statement look. Ariana Grande was all Glinda the Good Witch, making the most of her pale-colored strapless look with 3D eyelashes at the side of each eye. She arrived with her “Wicked” co-star Cynthia Erivo, dressed in black with pink petals in a darker, edgy look.
Cardi B., who has THE most fun at the Met Gala, struck a pose or three in statement black with a huge tulle train. She paired the look with green jewels and a high black turban. She needed multiple helpers to move her dress up the stairs
Channeling Sleeping Beauty and the garden
Penelope Cruz, meanwhile, went goth in black by Chanel. It had a bustier top and a Sleeping Beauty-like off-shoulder silhouette. There was another Sleeping Beauty-ish guest: Kendall Jenner in a Givenchy look done by Alexander McQueen in 1999.
Kendall’s sister, Kylie Jenner, was more Old Hollywood than storybook in a chic low-cut strapless look, a white bloom in her clicked-back updo and a train behind. Oddly, older sister Kim Kardashian tightly covered up her gorgeous silver corset look with a leaf motif by Maison Margiela with a lumpy gray sweater.
Dua Lipa was a whole different kind of princess. She went full rock ‘n’ roll in black by Marc Jacobs, who accompanied her.
The princess vibes were in apparent reference to the Met’s spring exhibition that the gala kicks off. It’s called “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” While it doesn’t actually have to do with Disney, or even princesses, some of the 400 guests went there.
Demi Moore stuck to the garden in a Harris Reed look with huge wings encircled by arrows and handpainted with pink and white blooms.
Diesel broke through on the gala red carpet on Dove Cameron. It was about as unlike Diesel as it gets, also going for the garden. The look had sleeves attached to her train.
Finding deeper meaning in the theme
Lily Gladstone went for black by Gabriela Hearst.
“We wanted me to feel draped in the power of my ancestors,” she said. “For Kiowa and Blackfeet, our ancestors are the stars, that’s where we come from. … I feel like it’s so long overdue that we have so much Indigenous representation and this sort of upper echelon world of high luxury fashion, because that is our aesthetic, you know, Natives have always loved luxury.”
Floral looks and a special plus-1
Colman Domingo donned a white jacket with a cape and extra-wide trousers, holding a bouquet of white calla lilies, while Tyla chose a gown made to look like sand using actual sand on the fabric. She needed help with the hourglass she held as she made her way up the museum stairs. Domingo’s designer was Willy Chavarria.
Sam Smith wore silver and gold metal roses tucked into the waist of a jacket, and Jack Harlow also channeled florals, but subtly with a silver and pearl floral boutonniere.
Wintour wore a black coat adorned with multicolored flowers. Her fellow co-chair Bad Bunny donned all black. A pregnant Lea Michele wore Rodarte, inspired by the brand’s 2012 spring/summer collection.
“I’m honored to be here and bring my baby with me,” Michele said. ““I don’t think I was allowed a plus one, but I’m bringing” one, she said with a laugh. “I’m so grateful. I feel really beautiful, you know, in this pregnancy.”
Looking to follow along? Here’s a quick primer on what you need to know about the palooza of A-list celebrities from film, fashion, music, sports, politics and social media.
Among those who had way BIG fun with the nature and garden theme was Lana Del Rey. She walked up the museum steps as an actual tree, her face shrouded by fabric held up by her branches.
How to watch the Met Gala
That’s tricky. Vogue has the exclusive livestream, which starts at 6 p.m. Eastern at Vogue.com. The feed will also be available on Vogue’s digital platforms, including TikTok and YouTube.
Tons of other media will be on site, too. Catch the action on E!, also starting at 6 p.m., with livestreams on X, TikTok, Instagram and Peacock.
The Associated Press will be live outside the Mark Hotel, where many celebs get ready before heading to The Metropolitan Museum of Art for their walk up the grand staircase. That livestream will begin at 4:45 p.m. Eastern and will be available on YouTube and APNews.com.
Only the event’s stacked red carpet is watchable — the gala’s cocktail hour and dinner are notoriously private events.
What’s the point of the Met Gala?
It’s a party, for sure, with cocktails and dinner for about invited 400 guests, but it’s also a huge fundraiser for the Met’s Costume Institute, the only department at the museum required to pay for itself. Last year, the gala raised about $22 million. Wintour, a Met trustee for whom part of the institute has been renamed, organizes the whole shebang. No phones are allowed, adding to the allure.
It also promotes the museum’s exhibit, which this year is called “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” It includes 250 items from The Costume Institute’s permanent collection, including some garments very rarely seen in public and so fragile they need to be under glass. Curators wanted to engage all the senses, including smell.
The exhibit opens to the public Friday and runs through Sept. 2.
Washington urges Gaza cease-fire deal amid Israeli plans for Rafah assault
date: 2024-05-07, from: VOA News USA
Reports of possible progress on a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas are happening against the backdrop of Israel’s plan for a military incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah. In Washington, President Joe Biden lunched with Jordan’s king and spoke to Israel’s leader by phone in an apparent effort to soothe tensions. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
Daily EV Recap: Tesla Consolidates Leadership
date: 2024-05-07, 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/2024/05/06/daily-ev-recap-tesla-consolidates-leadership/
Google, Meta, Spotify break Apple’s device fingerprinting rules – new claim
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
And the iOS titan doesn’t seem that bothered with data leaking out
Last week, Apple began requiring iOS developers justify the use of a specific set of APIs that could be used for device fingerprinting. Yet the iGiant doesn’t appear to be making much effort to ensure that Google, Meta, and Spotify comply with the rules, it’s claimed.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/apple_fingerprinting_rules/
MotoGP Postpones Grand Prix Of Kazakhstan Due To Heavy Flooding
date: 2024-05-07, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Severe flooding has displaced thousands of residents causing a national weather emergency.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718678/motogp-kazakhstan-postponed-weather-crisis/
Dear Stack Overflow denizens, thanks for helping train OpenAI’s billion-dollar LLMs
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Microsoft-backed super-lab gets direct access to answers – and code forum gets its own AI
Stack Overflow, a community-driven Q&A site, and OpenAI, maker of AI models, have agreed to work to improve each other’s products, the latest deal in a series of tie-ups to feed machine learning models’ thirst for data.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/07/stack_overflow_openai/
Judge tops prosecutor request in fentanyl sentence
date: 2024-05-07, from: The Signal
In the first Santa Clarita Valley case from the Sheriff’s Department’s Opioid Overdose Response Task Force to go to trial, a federal judge Monday meted out a 188-month sentence, more […]
The post Judge tops prosecutor request in fentanyl sentence appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/judge-tops-prosecutor-request-in-fentanyl-sentence/
Former water official dies at 92
date: 2024-05-07, from: The Signal
Former local water official Ed Dunn Jr., who served on the governing board for both the former Newhall County Water District and the now-defunct Castaic Lake Water Agency — and […]
The post Former water official dies at 92 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/former-water-official-dies-at-92/
Radically Open Security Donates 1 Million Euro to NLnet
date: 2024-05-07, updated: 2024-05-07, from: nlnet feed
https://nlnet.nl/news/2024/20240507-ROS-10y.html
Fed-run LockBit site back from the dead and vows to really spill the beans on gang
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
After very boring first reveal, this could be the real deal
Updated Cops around the world have relaunched LockBit’s website after they shut it down in February – and it’s now counting down the hours to reveal documents that could unmask the ransomware group.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/lockbit_website_police/
Fisker Is Closing Its California Headquarters: Report
date: 2024-05-06, from: Inside EVs News
The automaker recently warned of layoffs and the potential of bankruptcy.
https://insideevs.com/news/718677/fisker-closing-california-headquarters-report/
The VGA attribute controller is weird
date: 2024-05-06, from: OS News
The grabber in Windows 3.1 was improved to save and restore the index register as well, but it does not attempt to restore the flip-flop state, which is significant. The problem with the VGA emulation was that it erroneously applied the flip-flop state to reads from port 3C0h, and Windows 3.1 would save the wrong index register value… but only the second time through, because the flip-flop state was different at that point. That is to say, the Windows 3.1 standard mode grabber read from port 3C0h to query the attribute controller index register state, but the emulation returned the currently selected data register contents instead. And then, when restoring the attribute controller index register the next time around, the register would be restored to the wrong value which didn’t have bit 5 set, causing the screen to go blank. ↫ Michal Necasek It’s not every day that you learn how an aspect of the workings of VGA causes a blank screen under very specific circumstances when running Windows 3.1 in Standard mode under emulation, and that this specific aspect of the workings of VGA was implemented to maintain backwards compatibility with EGA. Absolutely bonkers.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139591/the-vga-attribute-controller-is-weird/
PowerPC 40x processor support to be dropped from the Linux kernel
date: 2024-05-06, from: OS News
In addition to Linux 6.10 expected to drop support for very old DEC Alpha processors (EV5 and earlier), it looks like the PowerPC 40x (early PowerPC 400 series) processor and platform support will be retired too. Back in 2020 was a proposal for dropping PowerPC 40x support from the Linux kernel given that the code was orphaned for a long time with no apparent users. The PowerPC 40x processors were found in thin clients, set-top boxes, and other devices during the 90’s. Finally now it looks like that the PowerPC 40x removal is set to happen. ↫ Michael Larabel Spring cleaning in the hardware support department. I wonder what has more users – Windows on ARM, or Linux on PowerPC 40x.
US, most of EU boycott Putin inauguration
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-most-of-eu-boycotts-putin-inauguration-/7600408.html
Biden, Trump have 6 months left to convince voters
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
There are six months left in the U.S. presidential race between Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican candidate Donald Trump. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns looks at what is ahead for the campaigns in the run-up to Election Day.]
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-trump-have-6-months-left-to-convince-voters-/7600393.html
Lady Mustangs Add Leah Burke to Soccer Roster
date: 2024-05-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Gilbert, Arizona’s Leah Burke has signed her National Letter of Intent to play soccer at The Master’s University
https://scvnews.com/lady-mustangs-add-leah-burke-to-soccer-roster/
First-generation Windows on ARM PCs will not be able to run Windows 11 24H2
date: 2024-05-06, from: OS News
Windows 11 supports a variety of ARM processors from Qualcomm. According to the official documentation, you need a computer with the Snapdragon 850 processor inside or newer to run the current operating system officially. However, customers with PCs powered by the Snapdragon 835, the original Windows on ARM chip from 2016, can bypass hardware requirements and install Windows 11 at their own risk. Sadly, those days will be ending soon. Starting with Windows 11 version 24H2, Microsoft’s operating system requires ARM v8.1 to run. An attempt to boot it from a device with an ARM v8.0-based processor results in system crashes. For reference, the Snapdragon 835 from 2016 is a chip with Kryo 280 cores, which are derivative of ARM’s Cortex-A73 cores. ↫ Taras Buria at Neowin I’m sure all three Windows on ARM users are devastated.
US Senator Bernie Sanders, 82, to run for reelection
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-senator-bernie-sanders-82-to-run-for-reelection-/7600391.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-06, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Tesla Pullback Puts Onus on Others to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers.
The State of Emulation - 2024
date: 2024-05-06, from: Tilde.news
https://shonumi.github.io/articles/art34.html
WattEV opens US’ first megawatt charge station with 1.2MW speeds and solar
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
WattEV has just opened the first electric truck charging depot in the US to use the new Megawatt Charge System, capable of delivering up to 1.2 megawatts of power, currently the highest-speed charger available in the US, along with solar and battery backup on-site and a unique partially grid-islanded setup.
Going All in on MagSafe for the iPhone in the Office, Bedroom, and Car
date: 2024-05-06, from: TidBITS blog
Since upgrading to an iPhone 15 Pro last year, Adam Engst has been working to incorporate MagSafe charging into his tech life, adding mounts and chargers that make it easier to use and charge the iPhone in different aspects of his life.
https://tidbits.com/2024/05/06/going-all-in-on-magsafe-for-the-iphone-in-the-office-bedroom-and-car/
Whitewashing?
date: 2024-05-06, from: Status-Q blog
Here’s a question, O Internet: If I buy full-fat milk and dilute it 50/50 with water, do I effectively have semi-skimmed milk, or is there something more sophisticated about the skimming process? And if I then dilute it again, do I get skimmed milk… for one quarter of the price?
https://statusq.org/archives/2024/05/06/12058/
Mustangs Drop NAIA Championship Game
date: 2024-05-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The Master’s University struggled against a high-energy Georgetown (KY) Tigers squad, losing in straight sets 23-25, 18-25, 20-25 in the championship match of the 2024 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Men’s Volleyball Championships
https://scvnews.com/mustangs-drop-naia-championship-game/
Lucid (LCID) shares Q1 2024 numbers: Deliveries and revenue are up year-over-year
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Ahead of its call with investors this afternoon, Lucid Motors has posted its Q1 2024 financial results. The numbers aren’t mind-blowing, but the American automaker is making slow improvements in EV deliveries and revenue as it gears up to launch its second model later this year.
COC Names Nichole Muro, Owen Crockett Athletes of the Week
date: 2024-05-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
College of the Canyons student-athletes Nichole Muro (softball) and Owen Crockett (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 April 29 to May
https://scvnews.com/coc-names-nichole-muro-owen-crockett-athletes-of-the-week/
Semiconductor digital twins to sip $285M from America’s CHIPS Act funding pool
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Fake it until you make it, literally
The US government on Monday earmarked $285 million in CHIPS Act funding for the development of semiconductor digital twins.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/chips_digital_twin/
Lucid Is Still Losing Money Fast: Q1 2024 Earnings Report
date: 2024-05-06, from: Inside EVs News
Deliveries are considerably up at Lucid, but the automaker still lost $598 million last quarter.
https://insideevs.com/news/718672/lucid-q1-2024-earnings/
Pulitzer Prizes in journalism awarded to The New York Times, The Washington Post, AP and others
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
new york —
The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded three Pulitzer Prizes apiece on Monday for work in 2023 that dealt with everything from the war in Gaza to gun violence, and The Associated Press won in the feature photography category for coverage of global migration to the U.S.
Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the aftermath produced work that resulted in two Pulitzers and a special citation. The Times won for text coverage that the Pulitzer board described as “wide-ranging and revelatory,” while the Reuters news service won for its photography. The citation went to journalists and other writers covering the war in Gaza.
The prestigious public service award went to ProPublica for reporting that “pierced the thick wall of secrecy” around the U.S. Supreme Court to show how billionaires gave expensive gifts to justices and paid for luxury travel.Reporters Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Alex Mierjeski and Kirsten Berg were honored for their work.
The Pulitzers honored the best in journalism from 2023 in 15 categories, as well as eight arts categories focused on books, music and theater. The public service winner receives a gold medal. All other winners receive $15,000.
The 15 photos in AP’s winning entry were taken across Latin America and along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas and California in a year when immigration was one of the world’s biggest stories. They were shot by AP staffers Greg Bull, Eric Gay, Fernando Llano, Marco Ugarte and Eduardo Verdugo, and longtime AP freelancers Christian Chavez, Felix Marquez and Ivan Valencia.
“These raw and emotional images came about through day-to-day coverage of a historic moment in multiple countries documenting migrants at every step of their treacherous journeys,” said Julie Pace, the AP’s senior vice president and executive editor.
The United States has seen more than 10 million border arrivals in the last five years, with migrants arriving from a wide range of new locations like Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti and Africa, in contrast with earlier eras.
The AP has won 59 Pulitzer Prizes, including 36 for photography. The news cooperative was named a finalist for the national reporting Pulitzer on Monday for its coverage of hundreds of thousands of children who disappeared from public schools during the pandemic.
In citing The Times for its work in Israel and Gaza, the Pulitzer board mentioned its coverage of the country’s intelligence failures, along with the attack and Israel’s military response.
The award comes even as The Times has faced some controversy about its coverage; last month a group of journalism professors called on the publication to address questions about an investigation into gender-based violence during the Hamas attack on Israel.
The Times’ Hannah Dreier won a Pulitzer in investigative reporting for her stories on migrant child labor across the United States. Contributing writer Katie Engelhart won the newspaper’s third Pulitzer, in feature writing, for her portrait of a family struggling with a matriarch’s dementia.
The Washington Post staff won in national reporting for its “sobering examination” of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which came with some gut-wrenching photos.
“We were eager to find a way to cover it differently and change the conversation about mass shootings,” Peter Walstein, The Post’s senior national enterprise editor, said in the newspaper.
The Post’s David E. Hoffman won in editorial writing for a “compelling and well-researched” series on how authoritarian regimes repress dissent in the digital age. Its third award went to contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza, for commentaries written from a Russian prison cell.
The New Yorker magazine won two Pulitzers. Sarah Stillman won in explanatory reporting for her report on the legal system’s reliance on felony murder charges. Contributor Medar de la Cruz won in illustrated reporting and commentary for his story humanizing inmates in the Rikers Island jail in New York City.
The staff of Lookout Santa Cruz in California won in the breaking news category for what the prize board called “nimble community-minded coverage” of flooding and mudslides. On its website Monday, Lookout Santa Cruz said that it made its coverage free at a time of crisis in the community, and also used text messages to reach people without power.
“In short, we did our jobs,” the staff said in an unsigned article, “and we heard so many thanks for it. The Pulitzer is icing on that cake.”
The Pulitzers gave a second award in national reporting to the Reuters staff for an “eye-opening” series that probed Elon Musk’s automobile and aerospace businesses.
In local reporting, Sarah Conway of City Bureau and Trina Reynolds-Tyler of the Invisible Institute won for an investigative series on missing Black girls and women in Chicago, which showed how racism and the police contributed to the problem.
The Pulitzer in criticism went to Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times for evocative and genre-spanning coverage of movies. The Pulitzer board’s second special citation went to the late hip-hop critic Greg Tate.
The Pulitzers are administered by Columbia University in New York, which itself has been in the news for student demonstrations against the war in Gaza. The Pulitzer board met away from Columbia this past weekend to deliberate on its winners.
For the first time, the Pulitzers opened eligibility to broadcast and audio companies that also operate digital news sites, such as CNN, NPR and the broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC. None of these companies won, however.
The Columbia Journalism School also administers the duPont-Columbia Awards, which recognize audio and visual journalism and are presented in the winter.
The Pulitzers also announced that five of the 45 finalists this year used artificial intelligence in research and reporting of their submissions. It was the first time the board required applicants for the award to disclose use of AI.
The prizes were established in the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer and first awarded in 1917.
Chicago Museum Unveils the ‘Most Important Fossil Ever Discovered’: the Feathered Dinosaur Archaeopteryx
date: 2024-05-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Archaeopteryx provided the missing link between dinosaurs and the avians of today, serving as critical evidence for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution
Volvo Global EV Sales Almost Doubled In April 2024 Thanks To EX30’s Surge
date: 2024-05-06, from: Inside EVs News
The new model emerged as the company’s best-selling model in Europe.
https://insideevs.com/news/718646/volvo-global-ev-sales-april2024/
Bumblebee Nests May Be Overheating With Rising Global Temperatures, Study Finds
date: 2024-05-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Across various species and regions, bumblebee nests thrive between 82 and 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit—and climate change could make it harder to find habitats in that range
Is Tesla’s reputation ruined? It depends on who you ask
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Conversations around Tesla’s reputation leaned toward the negative throughout 2023, but it depends on who you’re talking to, reports YouGov.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/06/tesla-reputation-ruined-it-depends-on-who-you-ask/
American soldier arrested in Russia, accused of stealing, US officials say
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — An American soldier has been arrested in Russia and accused of stealing, according to two U.S. officials.
U.S. officials said the soldier, Staff Sergeant Gordon Black, 34, was stationed in South Korea and was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos in Texas. Instead, officials said he traveled to Russia.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel details.
Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith confirmed that a soldier was detained on Thursday in Vladivostok, a major military and commercial Pacific port, on charges of criminal misconduct. She said Russia notified the U.S., and the Army told the soldier’s family.
“The U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia,” Smith said.
It was unclear Monday if the soldier is considered absent without leave, or AWOL.
The arrest comes less than a year after American soldier Travis King sprinted into North Korea across the heavily fortified border between the Koreas. North Korea later announced that it would expel King, who was returned to the U.S. He was eventually charged with desertion.
Russia is known to be holding a number of Americans in its jails, including corporate security executive Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The U.S. government has designated both as wrongfully detained and has been trying to negotiate for their release.
Others detained include Travis Leake, a musician who had been living in Russia for years and was arrested last year on drug-related charges; Marc Fogel, a teacher in Moscow, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges; and dual nationals Alsu Kurmasheva and Ksenia Khavana.
The soldier’s arrest in Russia was first reported by NBC News.
Tesla releases new Optimus humanoid robot video that creates controversy
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla has released a new video of a prototype of Optimus, its humanoid robot, and it created some controversy as some disagree about how impressive it is.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/06/tesla-optimus-humanoid-robot-video-creates-controversy/
Turns Out, NET Power Hasn’t Delivered Net Power
date: 2024-05-06, from: Heatmap News
NET Power’s power plants are an oil exec’s fantasy, an
environmentalist’s nightmare, and an energy expert’s object of
fascination. The company builds natural gas-burning power plants that,
due to the inherent design of the system, don’t release carbon dioxide
or other health-harming pollutants. If the tech can scale, it could be a
key contender to complement solar and wind energy on the grid, with the
ability to dispatch carbon-free power when it’s needed and run for as
long as necessary, unconstrained by the weather.
The company is especially well-positioned now that the Environmental Protection Agency has finalized emissions standards for new natural gas plants that require them to reduce their emissions by 90% by 2032 — part of what landed NET Power a spot on our list of 10 make-or-break new energy projects in the U.S. In checking in on how things were going at the company, however, we learned NET Power hadn’t made quite as much progress as we thought.
NET Power’s leadership has said its process is so efficient that when built at scale, it will produce cheaper power than a conventional natural gas plant. Today’s plants combust methane with air to heat up water and produce steam, which spins a turbine to generate electricity. NET Power’s system instead combusts methane with pure oxygen, producing extremely hot CO2 that can drive a specially designed turbine. By replacing air, which is about 78% nitrogen, with oxygen, the CO2 produced is very pure. The system recovers most of the gas and uses it to generate more electricity, but the small amount that is not recovered is easier (and cheaper) to capture and store than the mix of gases that comes out of a typical power plant.
The company, whose backers include Occidental Petroleum, Constellation Energy, and Baker Hughes, broke ground on a demonstration project in La Porte, Texas in 2016, and began testing the equipment in 2018. In November 2021, it made waves among clean energy wonks when it announced a major milestone: The plant had successfully “synchronized” with the Texas grid, delivering enough electricity to power about 1,000 homes.
“This is a Wright-brothers-first-flight kind of breakthrough for energy,” NET Power’s then-CEO Ron DeGregorio said at the time. “Zero-emission, low-cost electricity delivered to the grid from natural gas-fueled technology.”
But the breakthrough wasn’t exactly what it seemed. In reports filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission as recently as last month, under a section titled “Risk Factors,” the company noted that its La Porte demonstration plant has “not yet overcome all power loads to provide net positive power delivery to the commercial grid during its operation.”
In other words, despite having successfully delivered power to the Texas grid, NET Power’s plant did not — and still hasn’t — generated more power than it consumes. Here is the rest of the explanation from the filing:
Our Demonstration Plant successfully generated electric power while synchronized to the grid, but it has not yet overcome all facility auxiliary power loads (pumps, compressors, etc.) to provide net positive power delivery to the commercial grid during its operation. If initial commercial power plants are unable to efficiently provide net power output to the commercial grid using the NET Power Cycle, this could harm our business, results of operation and reputation.
The company told me this was all according to plan. “NET Power’s La Porte Demonstration Facility was designed and built for one goal — to prove the technical viability of the NET Power Cycle, which it did,” NET Power said in an emailed statement. “Given its small scale” — just 25 megawatts — “and the design considerations required for a flexible test facility, La Porte was not intended to provide net positive power to the grid.” It added that Project Permian, the company’s first utility-scale project, “is intended to generate and deliver net positive power,” and is expected to be operational in late 2027, or early 2028.
Though NET Power never said anything to the contrary, several energy experts I reached out to said this was news to them. “It’s sort of surprising that they didn’t report it before, because obviously that would have been known at the time,” Sara Hastings-Simon, a physicist who researches the energy transition at the University of Calgary. The excitement around NET Power is rooted in its potential to be cheaper than a typical carbon capture project, which adds a big cost to power generation. “The challenge is now, it’s really hard to know until it gets there whether there is truth to that statement or not,” said Hastings-Simon.
Chris Bataille, a research fellow at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy who sees a lot of promise in the company’s technology, said he saw this as a red flag. “I don’t think it sinks it,” he told me. “I don’t think suddenly it has crashed and burned. But it does say that they’re less advanced.”
But Joshua Rhodes, an energy systems researcher at the University of Texas, was unfazed when I asked whether it mattered that the company still hadn’t passed this milestone after nearly three years. “I’m sure they would have liked to pass it by now and I don’t know if there are any factors that are hindering them,” he said in an email. “That said, it is a new technology that, if it can be shown to work, could be huge.”
https://heatmap.news/sparks/net-power-sec
SteerMouse 5.7
date: 2024-05-06, from: Michael Tsai
Plentycom Systems: SteerMouse is a utility that lets you freely customize buttons, wheels and cursor speed. Both USB and Bluetooth mice are supported. […] You can assign a function to combinations of a button and modifier keys ( command shift option control ). In addition to it, you can assign a function to combinations of […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/06/steermouse-5-7/
iOS 17 Calendar Search Failures
date: 2024-05-06, from: Michael Tsai
keldwink (via Ric Ford): Updated my 15pro to 17.0.2 and I can no longer search in the calendar app. No matter what I search for, it comes up with “no results” The replies list various potential fixes. It’s not clear to me whether something is specifically broken with iOS 17 or this is just typical […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/06/ios-17-calendar-search-failures/
Apple’s Third-Party SDK List for Privacy Manifests
date: 2024-05-06, from: Michael Tsai
Apple: Starting May 1, 2024, new or updated apps that have a newly added third-party SDK that‘s on the list of commonly used third-party SDKs will need all of the following to be submitted in App Store Connect: Required reasons for each listed API Privacy manifests Valid signatures when the SDK is added as a binary dependency […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/06/apples-third-party-sdk-list-for-privacy-manifests/
Swift’s Native Clocks Are Very Inefficient
date: 2024-05-06, from: Michael Tsai
Wade Tregaskis (Hacker News): In a nutshell, the problem is that Swift’s Clock protocol has significant overheads by design. If you look at a time profile of code like this, you’ll see things like[…]That’s a lot of time wasted in function calls and struct initialisation and type conversion and protocol witnesses and all that guff. […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/06/swifts-native-clocks-are-very-inefficient/
First crewed test flight of new spacecraft to service International Space Station scrubbed
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/nasa-historic-boeing-flight-set-to-launch/7600246.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-06, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The Case for Letting Mortgages Move With Us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/06/opinion/portable-mortgage-loans-housing.html
Russia announces nuclear drills in response to perceived Western threats
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
Fisker Ocean Totaled Because Body Shops Couldn’t Find Parts To Fix Tiny Door Ding
date: 2024-05-06, from: Inside EVs News
Parts are scarce, and with Magna discontinuing manufacturing, it’s unlikely to get any better.
https://insideevs.com/news/718647/fisker-ocean-door-ding-parts/
Mastodon delays firm fix for link previews DDoSing sites
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Decentralization is great until everyone wants to grab data from your web server
Updated Mastodon has pushed back an update that’s expected to fully address the issue of link previews sparking accidental distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/mastodon_delays_fix_ddos/
Spain’s Prado Museum Will Showcase a Lost Caravaggio That Nearly Sold for Under $2,000
date: 2024-05-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The rediscovered painting is one of 60 known pieces by the Italian artist and “one of the most valuable old master artworks in the world”
Tesla Cybertruck Gets Sideswiped At High Speed, Suffers Minimal Damage
date: 2024-05-06, from: Inside EVs News
The car that caused the incident took a lot more damage than the Cybertruck.
https://insideevs.com/news/718661/tesla-cybertruck-sideswiped-highway-speed/
Astronaut Suni Williams Prepares for Crew Flight Test
date: 2024-05-06, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronaut Suni Williams gives a thumbs up during a mission dress rehearsal on Friday, April 26, 2024, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Williams was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1998 and has been aboard the International Space Station twice. She is set to return to […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/astronaut-suni-williams-prepares-for-crew-flight-test/
Online Messaging Systems of Yesteryear
date: 2024-05-06, from: TidBITS blog
Want to wax nostalgic? This history of online messaging system is sure to trigger some memories of when the Internet was a smaller, kinder place.
https://tidbits.com/2024/05/06/online-messaging-systems-of-yesteryear/
Warren Buffett voices AI fears, likens tech to atom bomb
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
‘Used in a pro-social way, it’s got terrific benefits to society. But, I don’t know how you make sure that happens’
Video You can add Berkshire Hathaway chief Warren Buffett to the list of folks worried about the implications of artificial intelligence on society.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/warren_buffet_ai_fears/
Google Pixel 8a leaks paint a picture of a cheaper Pixel 8 with only a few small compromises
date: 2024-05-06, from: Liliputing
The upcoming Google Pixel 8a is expected to launch soon as a cheaper alternative to the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro that hit the streets last fall. With prices expected to start at around $499, the phone has the same processor, memory, and storage as the Pixel 8, which starts at $699. The screen […]
The post Google Pixel 8a leaks paint a picture of a cheaper Pixel 8 with only a few small compromises appeared first on Liliputing.
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 Trim You Actually Want Is Just $272 A Month Right Now
date: 2024-05-06, from: Inside EVs News
And that’s with $0 down. If you’d prefer an SUV, the Ioniq 5 has a solid lease deal, too.
https://insideevs.com/news/718652/hyundai-ioniq-6-lease-april-2024/
Texas goes big on solar + storage that can power 41,000+ homes
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
A 208-megawatt (MW) solar farm with 80 megawatt hours (MWh) of storage has come online west of San Antonio, Texas.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/06/texas-goes-big-on-solar-storage-that-can-power-41000-homes/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-06, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
NY Times Buries The Lede As It Buries Itself.
https://warnercrocker.com/2024/05/06/ny-times-buries-the-lede-as-it-buries-itself/
Cybertruck will be another casualty of Tesla’s Supercharger pullback
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla’s hot new flagship vehicle, the Cybertruck, comes with some big charging improvements. But those improvements are incompatible with most of Tesla’s existing Supercharger network, and now that Tesla is pulling back on its Supercharger rollout, it may leave Cybertruck out in the cold.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/06/cybertruck-will-be-another-casualty-of-teslas-supercharger-pullback/
Stellantis: new hydrogen Ram Trucks will be made in Mexico
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Stellantis will soon begin offering hydrogen-powered versions of its biggest RAM Trucks in North America — and they’ll be coming from Mexico.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/06/stellantis-new-hydrogen-ram-trucks-will-be-made-in-mexico/
Save up to $483 on Lectric e-bike bundles starting from $999, Hover-1 Altai Pro R500 e-bike $820, and more deals
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Kicking off this week’s Green Deals is Lectric eBikes’ newly launched Mother’s Day sale that is taking up to $483 off e-bike bundles starting from $999. It is joined by the popular Hover-1 Altai Pro R500 e-bike dropping to a new $820 low, as well as Goal Zero’s Yeti 200X Portable Power Station hitting a new $161 low. Plus, all of the other green deals that have dropped today or are still hanging on from last 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.
Aptera begins offering the public an opportunity to invest in its solar tech via self-directed IRA
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Solar EV startup Aptera Motors has announced a clever new demand lever to get more of the public to invest in its technology en route to initial vehicle production later this year. Starting today, you can now invest in Aptera through a self-directed IRA. If you don’t know what a self-directed IRA is or do not have one yet, no worries; Aptera has the steps in place to walk you through it.
Meet Shanidar Z, a Neanderthal Woman Who Walked the Earth 75,000 Years Ago
date: 2024-05-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
After carefully piecing her skull back together, archaeologists and paleoartists have created a lifelike 3D reconstruction of the woman’s face
This Ancient Building May Have Served as a Rest Stop for an Egyptian Pharaoh’s Army
date: 2024-05-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Found in the northern Sinai Peninsula, the multi-room structure may have housed Thutmose III’s troops over three and a half millennia ago
Cheyenne supercomputer sells at auction for just $480K
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
And you thought consumer electronics suffered from depreciation
The Cheyenne Supercomputer, a 5.34 peak PFLOPS behemoth that was once one of the fastest systems in the world, has just been sold at auction for $480,085. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/cheyenne_supercomputer_sold/
Scientists Discover 27,500 Asteroids in Old Telescope Images Using A.I.
date: 2024-05-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
While most of the team’s new finds are located in the main asteroid belt, about 100 are near-Earth asteroids that pass close to our planet’s orbit
May 5, 2024
date: 2024-05-06, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-5-2024-9ca
Consultant charged over $1.5M extortion scheme against IT giant
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Accused of stealing data after losing his job
A cybersecurity expert could face a 20-year prison sentence after being accused of trying to extort a multinational IT infrastructure services biz to the tune of $1.5 million.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/consultant_extortion_charges/
Daily Deals (5-06-2024)
date: 2024-05-06, from: Liliputing
Amazon is running a Mother’s Day sale on devices including Fire tablets, Fire TV media streamers, Echo smart speakers and displays, and Kindle eReaders. Prefer a non-Amazon device for reading eBooks? Kobo is also offering its Kobo Sage and Elipsa 2E eReaders at discounted prices. They’re still not as cheap as their Amazon counterparts, but […]
The post Daily Deals (5-06-2024) appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/daily-deals-5-06-2024/
More Than 1,000 Sea Lions Gather at San Francisco’s Pier 39, the Largest Group in 15 Years
date: 2024-05-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The pinnipeds came to the area to feed on anchovies and herring as they prepare for breeding season
Let’s go surfin’ – LA Waves
date: 2024-05-06, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
Whether you’re a beginner bracing the whitewater or a semi-pro doing aerials off the wave lip, here’s an easy breakdown for anyone looking to surf around Southern California. 1. Surfrider,…
https://sundial.csun.edu/181583/arts-entertainment/lets-go-surfin-la-waves/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-06, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Scripting News: Cross-posting in 2024.
http://scripting.com/2024/05/06/135847.html
Media Nitpicking: Which tragedy is worse?
date: 2024-05-06, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
America. Home of the brave, land of the free, or something along those lines. Our country, while it has had many great attributions over the years, has suffered many tragedies….
https://sundial.csun.edu/181580/opinions/media-nitpicking-which-tragedy-is-worse/
The Make-or-Break Projects of the Energy Transition
date: 2024-05-06, from: Heatmap News
The energy transition happens one project at a time. Cutting carbon
emissions is not simply a matter of shutting down coal plants or
switching to electric cars. It calls for a vast number of individual
construction projects to coalesce into a whole new energy system, one
that can generate, transmit, and distribute new forms of clean power.
Even with the right architecture of regulations and subsidies in place,
each project must still conquer a series of obstacles that can require
years of planning, fundraising, and cajoling, followed
by exhaustive review before they can begin building, let alone
operating.
These 10 projects represent the
spectrum of
solutions that could enable a transition to a
carbon-free energy system. The list includes vastly scaled up versions
of mature technologies like wind and
solar power alongside the traditional energy
infrastructure necessary to move that power
around. Many of the most experimental or
first-of-a-kind projects on this list are competing to play the role of
“clean firm” power on the grid of the future. Form’s
batteries, Fervo’s
geothermal plants, NET Power’s natural gas with
carbon capture, and TerraPower’s molten salt
nuclear reactor could each — in theory — dispatch
power when it’s needed and run for as long as necessary, unconstrained
by the weather. Others, like Project Cypress, are geared at solving more
distant problems, like cleaning up the legacy
carbon in the atmosphere.
But they do not all have a clear path to success. Each one has already
faced challenges, and many of them are likely to face a great number
more. We call these the make-or-break energy projects because it’s still
unclear what the clean energy system of the future is going to look
like, but the projects from this list are likely to play a big part in
it — if, that is, they get there.
1. Easley
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images
Type of project: Solar farm
Developer: Intersect Power
Location: Desert Center, Riverside County,
California.
Size: 400 megawatts of generation and
650 megawatts of storage
Operation date: Possibly
2025
Cost: $990 million
Why it matters: Facing opposition from local retirees angered by the large number of projects popping up in the area, as well as from conservation-focused groups — such as Basin and Range Watch, which opposes many utility-scale energy projects in desert areas — Easley will be a test of whether California’s reforms to limit the timeframe of appeals to the state’s environmental reviews can actually work in getting a project approved and online faster.
The early signs are promising. A nearby solar project by the same developer, Intersect Power, recently went into operation after getting approved by the Bureau of Land Management in January 2022. Easley could be operational “as early as late 2025,” according to a Plan of Development prepared for Intersect Power.
Easley is also an example of what’s increasingly becoming standard in
California, at both the residential and utility-scale level: pairing
solar with storage. The California grid increasingly relies on batteries
to keep the lights on as solar ramps up and down in the mornings and,
especially, the evenings. The state has procured a massive amount of
storage and has adjusted how utilities pay for rooftop solar in a way
that encourages pairing battery systems with rooftop solar panels. This
both stabilizes the grid and helps further decarbonize it, as batteries
that are physically close to intermittent renewables are more likely to
abate carbon emissions.
2. Cambridge Energy Storage Project
Heatmap Illustration/Form Energy
Type: Energy storage
Developer:
Form Energy and Great River Energy
Location:
Cambridge, Minnesota
Size: 150 megawatt hours
Operation date: End of 2025
Cost:
Unknown; Goal of less than 1/10th cost of utility-scale lithium-ion
batteries per megawatt hour
Why it matters: Form Energy first made waves in 2020 when it announced a contract with Great River Energy, a Minnesota electric utility, to build a battery that could store 100 hours’ worth of electricity, which was simply unheard of. Other energy storage companies were just trying to break the 4-hour limitation of lithium-ion, aiming for 8 hours or, at most, 12. Days-long energy storage would be a game changer for maintaining reliability during extreme weather events, storing renewable energy for stretches of cloudy days or windless nights or kicking in when demand peaks. At first, Form’s project was shrouded in mystery. How, exactly, would it do this? But a year later, the company revealed the secret chemistry behind its breakthrough: iron and oxygen. The batteries are filled with iron pellets that, when exposed to oxygen, rust, releasing electrons to the grid. They “charge” by running in reverse, using the electrical current from the grid to convert the rust back to iron.
Since then, the hype has continued to build. Form has raised nearly $1 billion from venture capital and been awarded tens of millions more ingovernment grants. It has signed contracts with six utilities to deploy projects in California, New York, Virginia, Georgia, and Colorado, in addition to Minnesota. All this, despite not having completed a single project yet.
The Great River Energy Project is set to be the first to come online.
Originally, the company said it would be operating by the end of 2023;
now it’s expected to start construction later this year and begin
operating in early 2025, Vice President of Communications Sarah Bray
told Heatmap. First, the company has to complete construction of its
first factory in Weirton, West Virginia, where it will be producing all
of the batteries. Bray said it expects to start high-volume production
later this year.
3. SunZia Wind
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images
Type: Onshore wind
Developer:
Pattern Energy
Location: Lincoln,
Torrance, and San Miguel Counties, New Mexico, with transmission into
Arizona
Size: 3,500 megawatts
Operation date: 2026
Cost: The
project’s developer, Pattern Energy, has secured $11 billion in
financing for the wind and associated transmission project. The cost of
the project is estimated to be $8 billion.
Why it matters: This would be the biggest wind project in the country and a test case for a variety of energy policy objectives at both the state and federal level. For California, it would be a key step in decarbonizing its grid, as the state right now imports a large amount of its power, not all of which is carbon-free. For the federal government, it meets several goals — using public lands for carbon-free energy development, plus long-distance transmission to spur energy development across the country and link clean power resources in rural areas to major load centers.
It would also mean an ambitious project could overcome long and
concerted opposition. The project was first proposed in 2006, and its
transmission line cleared environmental review back in 2015, but it has
been mired in lawsuit after lawsuit. Most recently, a coalition of
conservation groups and Indian tribes sued to halt construction on the
power line portion of the project in Arizona’s San Pedro Valley,
claiming that their cultural rights had not been adequately respected.
In April, a judge allowed construction to continue, ruling that those
claims were barred by the existing federal approvals, which had taken
years to attain.
4. Empire Wind
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images
Type: Offshore wind
Developer:
Equinor
Location: South of Long Island, New
York
Size: 810 megawatts
Operation
date: 2026
Cost: Not available, but an
earlier estimate for developing two wind farms was $3 billion. Costs
have since risen, but the second farm, Empire Wind 2, is no longer under
contract.
Why it matters: The Northeast, and especially New York State, have aggressive aims for decarbonization, with a goal of 70% of the state’s electricity coming from renewables by 2030. The Biden administration also has a specific goal for 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030, and New York has a goal of 9 gigawatts by 2035. These types of high-capacity projects will be essential for the Northeast to decarbonize. The windy coast of the Atlantic Ocean is the most potent large-scale renewable resource in the region, and many of the region’s large load centers, such as New York City and Boston, are on the coast.
Offshore wind, while expensive, can present less permitting hassle and
local opposition than onshore wind or utility-scale solar. Empire Wind 1
(along with Sunrise Wind) matters tremendously for New York’s offshore
wind program, which has been in development for years but has faced
escalating costs and project cancellations. Only one offshore wind
project is actually operational in the state, South Fork Wind, which was
contracted outside the NYSERDA process and has around 130 megawatts of
capacity. If Empire manages to get steel in the water and electrons
flowing to the coast, it will be a sign that the Northeast’s — and thus
the country’s — decarbonization goals are at least somewhat
attainable.
5. Champlain Hudson Power Express
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images
Type: Transmission
Developers:
Transmission Developers, which is owned by the Blackstone
Group
Size: 339 miles / 1,250 megawatts
Operation date: 2026
Cost: $6
billion
Why it matters: The Champlain Hudson Power Express, often referred to as CHPE (affectionately pronounced “chippy”) will deliver 1,250 megawatts of hydropower from Quebec into the New York City grid, which is currently about 90% powered by fossil fuels. It is “the most powerful project you’ll never see,” according to its developers, as it is the largest transmission line in the country to be installed entirely underground and underwater.
The project is essential to New York’s goal to build a zero-emission electricity system by 2040. The line will supply an always-available source of clean power to supplement intermittent wind and solar generation and maintain a reliable grid. It has already overcome a number of barriers, including nearly a decade of environmental reviews, uncertainty over whether New York would buy its power, and opposition from conservation advocates concerned about the negative impacts of hydroelectric dams on the environment and on Native communities in Canada.
When it begins operating, New Yorkers won’t just get cleaner power —
they should also see air quality benefits almost immediately. The new
line is expected to cut air pollution equivalent to that released by 15
of the city’s 16 fossil fuel-fired peaker plants.
6. Cape Station
Heatmap Illustration/Fervo
Developer: Fervo
Type:
Geothermal
Location: Beaver County,
Utah
Size: 400 megawatts
Operation
date: 2026, although the project isn’t expected to be finished
until 2028
Cost: Not disclosed, but Fervo raised
$244 million and said that the cash “will support Fervo’s continued
operations at Cape Station.”
Why it matters: This enhanced geothermal project is not the first one for Fervo. The company’s Nevada site, Project Red, began providing power for Google data centers in Nevada in November 2023. This planned site, however, will be far bigger: Fervo currently has authorization from the Bureau of Land Management for up to 29 exploratory wells, while the Project Red site had just two. Cape Station broke ground in September 2023, and in the first six months of drilling, Fervo said it reduced costs from drilling by 70% compared to its Project Red wells.
As the grid decarbonizes and major power consumers like technology companies insist on having clean power for their operations, there will be massive and growing demand for so-called “clean firm” power, carbon-free power that is available all the time. Conventional wind and solar is intermittent, and existing battery technology only allows for limited output over time. Fervo’s “enhanced geothermal” technology uses techniques borrowed from the oil and gas industry to be able to produce geothermal power essentially anywhere where there are hot enough rocks underneath the surface of the Earth, as opposed to conventional geothermal, which depends on locating hot enough fluid or stream.
If Fervo can demonstrate that it can produce power at scale at costs
comparable to existing conventional geothermal projects, it can expect a
massive market for it and demand for more projects.
7. Natrium Reactor
Heatmap Illustration/TerraPower
Type: Nuclear
Developer:
TerraPower
Location: Kemmerrer,
Wyoming
Size: 345 megawatts
Operation
date: Not available, but the company said in 2021 that it plans
to be operational “in the next seven years.” Updated to the 2024
application, that would put it on track for a 2030 completion date.
Cost: Not available, but TerraPower has raised around
$1 billion and the federal government has pledged around $2 billion to
support the project, which TerraPower has said it will “match … dollar
for dollar.”
Why it matters: TerraPower is just one of many companies flogging designs for advanced nuclear reactors, which are smaller and promise to be cheaper to build than America’s existing light-water nuclear reactor fleet. The construction permit application the company submitted in March was a first for a commercial advanced reactor. TerraPower matters as much for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as it does for anyone else, as it’s a test of whether the NRC can meet Congress and the White House’s preference for a more accelerated approval process for advanced nuclear power.
TerraPower’s design, if successful, would be a landmark for the American nuclear industry. The reactor design calls for cooling with liquid sodium instead of the standard water-cooling of American nuclear plants. This technique promises eventual lower construction costs because it requires less pressure than water (meaning less need for expensive safety systems) and can also store heat, turning the reactor into both a generator and an energy storage system.
While there are a number of existing advanced nuclear designs, several
of which involve liquid sodium, Natrium could potentially play well with
a renewable-heavy grid by providing steady, unchanging output like a
current nuclear reactor as well as discharging stored energy in response
to renewables falling off the grid.
8. Mississippi Clean Hydrogen Hub
Heatmap Illustration/Hy Stor
Type: Hydrogen
Developer:
Hy Stor
Location: Project components
located throughout Mississippi, with some in Eastern Louisiana
Size: Goal of 340,000 metric tons per year (phase
one)
Operation date: 2027
Cost:
Initially reported as
$3
billion; recently reported as
more
than $10 billion. (In response to an inquiry from Heatmap, the
company replied that it “will be in the multiple billions of dollars.”
Why it matters: Truly carbon-free hydrogen could unlock big emissions reductions across the economy, from fertilizer production, to steelmaking, to marine shipping. But few companies are going to the lengths that Hy Stor is gto ensure its product is really clean. The company is building the first off-grid hydrogen production facility powered entirely by wind and solar. That means Hy Stor will have no problem claiming the new hydrogen production tax credit, which requires companies to match their operations with clean energy sources by the hour — a provision that’s been contested by large portions of the hydrogen industry.
For a company that has never built anything before, the scale of Hy Stor’s Mississippi project is ambitious. The company has acquired about 70,000 acres across Mississippi and Louisiana, along with 10 underground salt domes — mounds of salt buried beneath the Earth’s surface that can be dissolved to form cavernous, skyscraper-sized storage facilities for hydrogen. Those salt domes are the key to Hy Stor’s approach, and what enables the company to rely on intermittent renewables. By storing vast amounts of hydrogen, the company will be able to deliver a steady supply to customers and will also have a backup source of energy for its own operations when wind and solar are less available.
Chief Commercial Officer Claire Behar told Heatmap the company has
obtained many of the necessary permits, including for its salt caverns
and the plant’s water use. It plans to begin construction at the
beginning of 2025, and to have the first phase of the project “in
service at scale” by 2027. Hy Stor recently announced
a
deal to purchase its electrolyzers, devices that split water
molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, from a Norwegian company called Nel
Hydrogen. It has also signed up a few customers, including a
local
port and a
green
steel company.
9. Project Cypress
Heatmap Illustration/Project Cypress
Type: Carbon removal
Developers:
Climeworks, Heirloom, and Battelle
Location:
Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana
Size: Goal of
capturing 1 million metric tons per year
Operation
date: About 2030
Cost: Total project cost
unknown; eligible for up to $600 million from the Department of Energy
for its Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs Program.
Why it matters: Project Cypress might be the most ambitious project to remove carbon from the atmosphere under development in the world. It is a collaboration by two leading direct air capture companies, Heirloom Carbon Technologies and Climeworks, which were among the first to demonstrate their ability to capture carbon directly from the air and store it at commercial scale. Now, the two will be attempting to scale up exponentially, from capturing a few thousands tons per year to a combined million.
Last August, the Department of Energy selected Project Cypress to be one of four direct air capture hubs it will support with $3.5 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In March, the project was awarded its first infusion of $50 million, but the developers will have to do extensive community engagement to continue receiving funding. Battelle, the project developer, told Heatmap the project has also received an additional $31 million in private investment.
Between financing, permitting challenges, renewable energy sourcing, and
community opposition, the project is sure to face a bumpy road ahead.
The project and its developers have no ties to the oil and gas industry,
but that hasn’t done much to win over the support of environmental
justice advocates, who see the project as a dangerous distraction from
cutting emissions and pollution in Louisiana. But if Project Cypress is
successful, it will show the world what direct air capture looks like at
climate-relevant scales.
10. Project Permian
Heatmap Illustration/NET Power
Type: Carbon capture
Developer:
NET Power
Location: Ector County,
Texas
Size: 300 megawatts
Operation
date: Late 2027 or early 2028
Cost:
About $1 billion
Why it matters: Oil and gas CEOs love to say that the problem is not fossil fuels, the problem is emissions. NET Power’s technology — a natural gas power plant with zero emissions, carbon or otherwise — could prove to be the ultimate vindication of that statement. In short, NET Power’s system recycles most of the CO2 it produces and uses it to generate more energy. It also utilizes pure oxygen, unlike typical natural gas plants that take in regular air, which is mostly nitrogen. This means that any remaining CO2 not recycled in the plant is relatively pure and easy to capture.
NET Power opened a 50 megawatt demonstration plant in La Porte, Texas, in 2018, and is developing a 300 megawatt commercial plant in Ector County, Texas, in partnership with Occidental Petroleum, Baker Hughes, and Constellation Energy. On a recent earnings call, CEO Danny Rice said the project was “expected to have a lower levelized cost per kilowatt hour than new nuclear, new geothermal, and new hydro.”
The company generated a lot of excitement among energy experts in the fall of 2021 when it announced that its La Porte project had successfully delivered power to the Texas grid. It also raised a lot of money when it went public last summer. But things have been somewhat rocky since. During a December earnings call, NET Power’s president told investors that its first commercial plant would be delayed by at least a year due to supply chain challenges. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company also applied for funding from the Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations last year, but was not selected. It has not yet found any third parties to license its technology or offtakers to buy energy from the Ector County plant, and noted in its recent filings that while the La Porte pilot project delivered electricity to the grid, it did not, in fact, deliver “net” power — meaning that it used more power than it generated.
A spokesperson for the company told Heatmap the La Porte facility was solely intended to “prove the technical viability of the NET Power Cycle” and not intended to produce net power. So everything’s now riding on Project Permian.
https://heatmap.news/economy/make-or-break-clean-energy
“From the Sweet Flypaper of Life” Art Exhibition at the Old Town Newhall Library Branch
date: 2024-05-06, from: City of Santa Clarita
Explore Photography That Answers: “What Makes a Home, Home?” The City of Santa Clarita is excited to announce the upcoming exhibition, “From the Sweet Flypaper of Life,” featuring the remarkable works of high school students enrolled in the CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP) Photography Lab Program. This exhibition will be on display at the Old […]
The post “From the Sweet Flypaper of Life” Art Exhibition at the Old Town Newhall Library Branch appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
Lilium (LILM) receives firm order from UrbanLink to put 20 eVTOL jets into service in Florida
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) developer Lilium has announced a new partnership with advanced air mobility (AAM) operator UrbanLink that includes the purchase of at least 20 all-electric eVTOL jets. The aircraft will be operated around Florida as UrbanLink looks to become the first US airline fully committed to the nascent technology.
Eyeing the Future: Harkness Eye Institute’s Ophthalmology Journals Preserved at Internet Archive
date: 2024-05-06, from: Internet Archive Blog
When the decision was made to move the Harkness Eye Institute in New York City from its home of nearly 90 years, no one knew what to do with its […]
Tesla (TSLA) launches another round of layoffs
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla (TSLA) launched another round of layoffs this weekend, with employees in wide-ranging roles getting their pink slip amid broader layoffs over the last 3 weeks.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/06/tesla-tsla-launches-another-round-layoffs/
Authors Alliance Submits Amicus Brief in Tiger King Fair Use Case
date: 2024-05-06, from: Authors Union blogs
By Dave Hansen Have you ever used a photograph to illustrate a historical event in your writing? Or quoted, say from a letter, to point out some fact that the author conveyed in their writing? According to the 10th Circuit, these aren’t the kinds of uses that fair use supports. On Thursday, Authors Alliance joined […]
Three years on from Biden infosec EO, and we’re still trying to check all the boxes
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
It’s taking time, but isn’t a dead issue, US Government Accountability Office security director Marisol Cruz Cain says
interview It’s been several years since President Biden signed an executive order to improve America’s cybersecurity. The US Government Accountability Office said recently there’s still a number of critical goals stemming from that order to accomplish.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/biden_infosec_eo_update/
Microsoft and OpenAI’s increasingly complicated relationship
date: 2024-05-06, from: Gary Marcus blog
An AI Soap Opera in the making?
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/microsoft-and-openais-increasingly
‘Kendrick’s Pool:’ People Are Tagging Drake’s House With Insults on Google Maps
date: 2024-05-06, from: 404 Media Group
The Drake versus Kendrick beef enters the Google Maps arena.
https://www.404media.co/kendrick-drake-google-maps-toronto/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-05-06, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Update: successfully gamed Duolingo this week
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112394695021016585
Biden administration announces $100 million in initiatives to ease the transition to EVs
date: 2024-05-06, from: Marketplace Morning Report
The Biden administration announces new initiatives to ease the transition to EVs — particularly in swing states like Michigan. Plus, Sweden sees growing economic inequality, and markets guess at the timeline for interest rate cuts.
An Ancient Maya Practice Could Be the Key to Growing Vegetables on Mars
date: 2024-05-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Researchers are exploring whether intercropping—a technique of growing different types of plants in close proximity to one another—could be the secret to agriculture on the Red Planet
Snikket: this week’s sponsor
date: 2024-05-06, from: OS News
Snikket is a FOSS project for creating private chat spaces for small groups, such as families, friends, or clubs. It doesn’t depend on a phone number, doesn’t upload address books anywhere, and doesn’t sell data to advertisers. It supports all the features you expect, including media and voice messages, audio and video calls, end-to-end encryption, group messaging, and more. Use it from multiple devices at once with the official apps, or even with unofficial, third-party apps. Snikket is easy to self-host, and professional managed hosting is also available. Our previous sponsor, JMP, opted to donate a free week’s sponsorship to Snikket, which any paying OSNews sponsor can opt to do. This is our very small way of giving something back to the countless open source and/or smaller projects out there. Thank you Snikket for sponsoring OSNews!
https://www.osnews.com/story/139582/snikket-this-weeks-sponsor/
With PowerPC, Windows CE and the WiiN-PAD slate, everyone’s a WiiN-er (except Data General)
date: 2024-05-06, from: OS News
That’s right: it’s PowerPC, the most unloved of the architectures CE ever ran on — in fact, this is the first PowerPC Windows CE device I’ve ever found, and I’m the self-described biggest pro-PowerPC bigot in the world. Here’s an unusual form factor Windows CE device, running on the operating system’s least used CPU, from a storied computer company near the end of its run, intended for medical applications, produced in very small numbers and cancelled within months. What are we going to do with it? Well, what do you think we’re gonna do with it? We’re going to program it, so that we can finally have some software! And, of course, since this wacky thing was there at the bitter end, we’ll talk more about the last days of Data General and what happened next. ↫ Cameron Kaiser I knew Windows CE supported PowerPC, but I never knew any PowerPC-based Windows CE devices ever actually shipped and made it to market. Only Windows CE 2.0 seems to have supported the architecture, and it seems to have been eliminated in 3.0 and 4.0, so it’s not surprising there weren’t many PowerPC Windows CE devices out there. The device that’s the subject of this article, too, only lasted on the market for a few months, so it’s definitely a rarity.
A Rosetta Stone for Mathematics
date: 2024-05-06, from: Quanta Magazine
In 1940 André Weil wrote a letter to his sister, Simone, outlining his vision for translating between three distinct areas of mathematics. Eighty years later, it still animates many of the most exciting developments in the field.The post A Rosetta Stone for Mathematics first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-rosetta-stone-for-mathematics-20240506/
San Jose real estate war at BART site may need jury as mediation fails
date: 2024-05-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
A battle over a key downtown San Jose property needed for a future BART station may head to a jury trial.
Palm OS gets a TOTP application
date: 2024-05-06, from: OS News
Still rocking your Palm OS device, but mutter under your breath every time you need to log into a website or service with two-factor authentication? Sick of carrying around an Android or iOS device just so you can log in on your Palm PDA? Worry no more, your prayers have been answered, you can finally throw that Android or iOS garbage into the sun. Get your 2-factor codes on your Palm, just like Google Authenticator. Unlike Hotpants (an old port of a J2ME phone app), this version takes up much less space and supports all Palm OS versions. ↫ Nathan Korth You can now generate 2FA codes on your Palm device. This is wild, and I absolutely love it. I might if set it up on one of my dozens of Palm OS devices and just put it next to my keyboard for easy access. There’s no cooler way to handle 2FA than this.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139577/palm-os-gets-a-totp-application/
Geely-owned EV brand ZEEKR sits on cusp of a US IPO seeking valuation of $5.13 billion
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Young EV-centric brand ZEEKR is continuing its efforts to become a globally recognized name in the space as it gears up for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) this week. The Geely-owned sub-brand will go public later this week and seeks a valuation of over 5 billion dollars.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/06/zeekr-sits-on-cusp-of-a-us-ipo-seeking-valuation-of-5-13-billion/
CSUN’s Model United Nations team wins Outstanding Delegation Award at New York conference
date: 2024-05-06, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
California State University, Northridge’s Model United Nations won first place at the Model United Nations conference in New York, earning the Outstanding Delegation Award as Guinea Bissau and Honorable Mention…
‘Detached From Reality’: Welcome To The Tesla vs. $TSLA Showdown
date: 2024-05-06, from: Inside EVs News
Also on tap for today’s roundup: a look at Toyota’s challenges despite massive profits, and a prediction for Lucid’s Q1 report.
https://insideevs.com/news/718592/tesla-reality-critical-materials/
Amazon Driver Saves Woman’s Life, Rewarded With Pizza Party and Laptop
date: 2024-05-06, from: 404 Media Group
“It’s always ‘An Amazon Driver’ when they do something good, and ‘a third party Amazon driver’ when it’s bad.”
https://www.404media.co/amazon-driver-saves-womans-life-rewarded-with-pizza-party-and-laptop/
Columbia University cancels main commencement after protests that roiled campus for weeks
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
New York — Columbia University is canceling its large university-wide commencement ceremony amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests but will hold smaller school-based ceremonies this week and next, the university announced Monday.
“Based on feedback from our students, we have decided to focus attention on our Class Days and school-level graduation ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, and to forego the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15,” Columbia officials said in a statement.
The protests stem from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.
The University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony while allowing other commencement activities to continue.
CISA says ‘no more’ to decades-old directory traversal bugs
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Recent attacks on healthcare thrust infosec agency into alert mode
CISA is calling on the software industry to stamp out directory traversal vulnerabilities following recent high-profile exploits of the 20-year-old class of bugs.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/cisa_alert_dt_bugs/
Sierra Nevada site records snowiest day of the season. Yes, in May.
date: 2024-05-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
“Did anyone have the snowiest day of the 2023/2024 season being in May on their winter bingo card?” the University of California’s Central Sierra Snow Lab asked.
This Ship Mysteriously Vanished 115 Years Ago. Now, It’s Been Found at the Bottom of Lake Superior
date: 2024-05-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Nobody knew what happened to the “Adella Shores,” which disappeared with 14 crew members aboard in 1909
Asian grilling inspiration — yakitori, satays and more — unleash dazzling flavors
date: 2024-05-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
Here’s how to make Chicken and Green Onion Yakitori, Chicken Satay wth Peanut Sauce, Grilled Asian Eggplants and Beef Skewers with Green Apple Salad.
Wish You Were Here: Visiting one of the most remote places on Earth
date: 2024-05-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
Made famous by the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, Pitcairn Island is the most remote inhabited island in the world. A Sunnyvale retiree recently went there.
The sublime and deeply therapeutic joys of karaoke in the Bay Area
date: 2024-05-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
Some people wave off karaoke as a silly hobby. They couldn’t be more wrong.
Sing your heart out at these East Bay and South Bay karaoke bars
date: 2024-05-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
Whether you prefer to shine in the spotlight or simply sit back for the show, check out this selection of local karaoke bars for Bay Area music lovers.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/06/sing-your-heart-out-at-these-east-and-south-bay-karaoke-bars/
TasteFood: A seasonal asparagus-quinoa salad for spring
date: 2024-05-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
This easy Lemony Asparagus Salad is served on a bed of quinoa.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/06/tastefood-a-seasonal-asparagus-quinoa-salad-for-spring/
Did a Southern California rattlesnake hitch a ride to Walnut Creek?
date: 2024-05-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
Plus: a reader wonders about birdbaths and mosquito season.
Budget car rental cleaning fee problem: That’s not my vehicle!
date: 2024-05-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
After Budget finds animal hairs in Bernard Sia’s rental car, it charges him a $125 cleaning fee. But Sia doesn’t have a pet – and that’s not the only problem.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/06/budget-car-rental-cleaning-fee-problem-thats-not-my-vehicle/
Pornhub’s Biggest Star Is Promoting an AI Nonconsensual ‘Nudify’ App
date: 2024-05-06, from: 404 Media Group
Sweetie Fox, Pornhub’s top adult content creator, made a sponsored video for a well-known nonconsensual “nudify” app.
https://www.404media.co/pornhubs-biggest-star-is-promoting-an-ai-nonconsensual-nudify-app/
Oddly Unappealing
date: 2024-05-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
It has become tiresome, hearing pundits on the Left and Right, oddly and in unison proclaiming criminal defendant Trump is scoring points with voters (which voters?) by attempting to undermine The Rule of Law.
The post Oddly Unappealing appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/06/oddly-unappealing/
Concord is nearly $40 million in the hole for Naval Weapons Station project. Here’s how they plan to get it back.
date: 2024-05-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
The city of Concord has paid 38 vendors and consultants since Oct. 2005.
Elon Musk’s no.2 at Tesla goes back to China as the CEO isolates himself at the top
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Elon Musk’s no.2 at Tesla, Tom Zhu, is going back to his responsibilities as VP of China as the CEO isolates himself at the top.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/06/elon-musk-no-2-tesla-goes-back-to-china-ceo-isolates-himself-top/
Now’s Your Chance To Own This Ultra-Rare Ducati 750 Imola Desmo
date: 2024-05-06, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
It’s one of seven surviving examples of this iconic racing machine.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718489/1972-ducati-750-imola-desmo-auction/
The Tesla Cybertruck Is Just ‘Ok’ Compared To The Competition
date: 2024-05-06, from: Inside EVs News
One of the “most controversial new vehicles you can buy” isn’t as interesting as it looks.
https://insideevs.com/news/718523/tesla-cybertruck-design-cromulent-adequate/
How to change DPI when docking with XFCE and systemd
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-06, from: Peter Molnar blog
DPI change on docking with XFCE and systemd on Manjaro
https://petermolnar.net/article/xfce-dpi-change-xquery-profile/
Banana Pi BPI-F3 is a single-board PC with an 8-core RISC-V processor, dual Ethernet and PCIe 2.1
date: 2024-05-06, from: Liliputing
Most of Banana Pi’s single-board computers are powered by ARM-based processors. But the upcoming Banana Pi BPI-F3 has a RISC-V processor instead. The company says the SpacemiT RISC-V K1 processor selected for this board is a 64-bit, 8-core chip with single-core performance comparable to what you’d expect from a 1.3 GHz ARM Cortex-A55 processor. So the […]
The post Banana Pi BPI-F3 is a single-board PC with an 8-core RISC-V processor, dual Ethernet and PCIe 2.1 appeared first on Liliputing.
Hubble Views a Galaxy with a Voracious Black Hole
date: 2024-05-06, from: NASA breaking news
Bright, starry spiral arms surround an active galactic center in this new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy NGC 4951. Located in the Virgo constellation, NGC 4951 is located roughly 50 million light-years away from Earth. It’s classified as a Seyfert galaxy, which means that it’s an extremely energetic type of galaxy with […]
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-views-a-galaxy-with-a-voracious-black-hole/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-06, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Ben Smith asks the editor of the NYT an easy question: "Why doesn’t the executive editor see it as his job to help Joe Biden win?" Because it's not my job, he might say.
https://www.semafor.com/article/05/05/2024/joe-kahn-the-newsroom-is-not-a-safe-space
Leading e-bike maker Yadea reveals UFO S e-bike at the world’s largest bike show
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Yadea, the largest e-bike and e-scooter maker in the world, recently showed off a new small-format folding e-bike at China Cycle 2024, also known as the China International Bike Fair.
Radxa ROCK 5 ITX is now available (ITX motherboard with RK3588 processor and LPDDR5 memory)
date: 2024-05-06, from: Liliputing
The Radxa ROCK 5 ITX takes the guts of the Radxa ROCK 5 line of single-board computers and puts them on a slightly larger board with faster memory and support for up to four SATA drives. First announced in March, the ROCK 5 ITX is a 170 x 170mm (6.7″ x 6.7″) motherboard that should fit […]
The post Radxa ROCK 5 ITX is now available (ITX motherboard with RK3588 processor and LPDDR5 memory) appeared first on Liliputing.
Sea-Doo’s 325HP Rotax Ace Engine Is So Good, It Won an Award
date: 2024-05-06, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
This engine made me question my very purpose in life. And now it’s won an innovation award.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718298/sea-doo-innovation-award-rotax/
Retirement anxiety is on the rise
date: 2024-05-06, from: Marketplace Morning Report
A growing number of Americans are worried they won’t have enough money to live on once they reach retirement. Plus, a $79 million fine for selling “phantom flights” at Qantas, succession plans at Berkshire Hathaway, new health care access for DACA recipients, and Boeing preps for a spacecraft launch.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/retirement-anxiety-is-on-the-rise
UPDATE: GoPro Files Complaint Alleging Insta360 Infringed On Several Patents
date: 2024-05-06, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
The California-based company is calling on the US International Trade Commission to make Insta360 stop selling its cameras here.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718438/gopro-insta360-patent-itc-battle/
‘No Further Production’ Of Fisker Ocean Planned By Magna International
date: 2024-05-06, from: Inside EVs News
The company contracted to build the Fisker Ocean says in its Q1 2024 financial report that it assumes no more will be built.
https://insideevs.com/news/718548/magna-ends-fisker-ocean-production/
D-Day veteran spreads message of peace ahead of 80th anniversary
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
Has Windows 11 really lost marketshare to Windows 10?
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Users continue to give Microsoft’s latest and greatest a wide berth
According to market share figures from Statcounter, the gap between Windows 11 and Windows 10 usage is slightly growing, and not in a way we imagine Microsoft wants.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/windows_11_market_share/
BMW’s New Automated Shift Assistant Kills Motorcycle Clutch Levers
date: 2024-05-06, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
I haven’t met anyone who prefers having no clutch lever whatsoever. But BMW obviously knows something I don’t.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718434/bmw-automated-shift-assistant-asa/
President Xi visits Europe
date: 2024-05-06, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: China’s President Xi Jinping visits Europe for the first time in five years, and trade tensions look likely to be high on the agenda. Has Sweden become a paradise for the superrich? It’s had a reputation for championing social equality, but there’s been a rapid boom in the number of Swedish multimillionaires and billionaires in recent years. The actor Will Ferrell is the latest Hollywood megastar to invest in English soccer club Leeds United — following in the footsteps of Russell Crowe.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/president-xi-visits-europe
From Texas to Brazil, a Look at Extreme Weather Events Unfolding Right Now
date: 2024-05-06, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: The Sierra Nevada received more than two feet of snow, marking the region’s snowiest day of the season • Tropical Cyclone Hidaya lost strength over the weekend • It will be about 80 degrees Fahrenheit and clear in Cape Canaveral for the launch of Boeing’s Starliner space capsule.
THE TOP FIVE
- A severe weather roundup
It feels appropriate today to begin by acknowledging the extreme weather events happening around the world right now. There are so many that spotlighting only one risks ignoring the underlying reality that climate-driven natural disasters of all kinds are becoming more frequent and severe.
Houston’s floods – More than 400 people in and around Houston, Texas, evacuated their homes over the weekend due to flooding. At least one person, a child, was killed. In one nearby county, more than 21 inches of rain fell over five days last week. The rain has tapered off but the cleanup has just begun.
Brazil’s rain – In Brazil’s southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, days of intense rain caused the Guaiba River to overflow and flood more than 340 cities, including the region’s capital of Porto Alegre. At least 78 people are dead and more than 115,000 have been forced to evacuate. One climatologist called the catastrophe “a disastrous cocktail” of climate change and the El Niño effect. “It looks like a scene out of a war,” said Rio Grande do Sul governor Eduardo Leite.
An
aerial view of Porto
AlegreRamiro
Sanchez/Getty Images
Chile’s fires – Fires in Chile’s Valparaiso region, fueled by an intense heat wave and enduring drought, have killed at least 51 people and burned more than 64,000 acres.
Kenya’s deluge – Flooding and landslides in Kenya from unrelenting rainfall have killed more than 200 people. It is still raining and the weather is forecast to worsen throughout the month of May.
Southeast Asia’s heat wave – A lengthy heat wave has shattered temperature records across Southeast Asia, forcing many schools to close. One weather historian called the heat wave “the most extreme event in world climatic history.”
- Central states brace for week of intense storms
Meanwhile, forecasters are getting nervous about a large weather system making its way across Central states that could bring severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and giant hail starting today and lasting through Wednesday. “After enduring severe thunderstorms, including tornadoes last week, this forecast is not a welcome sight for residents of Kansas and Oklahoma especially,” wrote Andrew Freedman at Axios.
- Study links gas stove fumes to 50,000 childhood asthma cases
New research published in Science Advances finds that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution from gas and propane stoves could be responsible for 50,000 U.S. cases of childhood asthma and up to 19,000 adult deaths each year. For the study, scientists from Stanford University, Harvard University, and the Central California Asthma Collaborative measured NO2 levels in more than 100 homes and created an air quality index that pulled in other data sets including cooking habits, ventilation, and home size. Their results show that NO2 pollution spreads throughout the home, and people living in spaces that are less than 800 square feet in size have four times more long-term NO2 exposure than people in homes that are larger than 3,000 square feet. Indigenous, Alaska Native, Hispanic and Black households have the highest exposure to NO2.
- Republicans move to repeal EV tax credits
In case you missed it last week, Senate Republicans put forward a bill called the “ELITE” Vehicles Act that would repeal the electric vehicle tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act. Wyoming GOP Sen. John Barrasso, who introduced the bill, claims the EV tax credit “benefits the wealthiest of Americans.” Jameson Dow at Electrek noted that Barrasso has received $526,425 from the oil and gas industry in this election cycle. The bill stands little chance in the Senate but “puts the Biden administration on notice that the credit is at risk if the GOP wins control of Congress and the White House in November,” wrote James Bikales at E&E News.
- Philanthropic heavyweights to fund research into climate change and
diseases
Three of the world’s biggest charitable groups – the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – have teamed up to fund research into the overlapping crises of climate change, infectious disease, malnutrition, and antimicrobial resistance. The $300 million, three-year initiative aims to “break down barriers between often isolated areas of research,” said Novo Nordisk Foundation CEO Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. It looks like the climate research will focus on finding “novel” solutions through better climate data, sustainable agriculture, and more resilient food systems. The partnership is specifically focused on improving outcomes for low- and middle-income countries, which are disproportionately affected by climate change. The organizations will be looking for public and private partners to expand the research project.
THE KICKER
New research suggests climate change will force some venomous snakes to migrate into new, unprepared territories.
https://heatmap.news/texas-flood-extreme-weather-climate
I survived curl up 2024
date: 2024-05-06, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog
On Friday May 3, 2024 I had several of my curl friends over for dinner in my house. An unusually warm and sunny spring day with a temperature reaching twenty degrees centigrade. The curl up 2024 weekend started excellently and the following morning we all squeezed ourselves into a conference room in downtown Stockholm. I … Continue reading I survived curl up 2024
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/05/06/i-survived-curl-up-2024/
Your Apps Are Helping The Government Spy On You
date: 2024-05-06, from: The Lever News
In this bonus episode of Lever Time, journalist Byron Tau explains the history of the modern surveillance state.
https://www.levernews.com/your-apps-are-helping-the-government-spy-on-you/
Most Accessible Protests – Solidarity with Palestine
date: 2024-05-06, from: Peoples CDC blog
When demonstrating, use our new Guide to More Accessible Protests
https://peoplescdc.org/2024/05/06/more-accessible-protests/
In 2023, investment in clean energy manufacturing shot up 70% from 2022
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Booming investment in solar and battery manufacturing is rapidly becoming a powerful global economic driver, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
https://electrek.co/2024/05/06/2023-investment-clean-energy-manufacturing-iea/
Blinken to travel to Guatemala for regional migration conference
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
Undersea bit-barn biz offers 90-day trial of submerged server system
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Testing platform for those ‘unfamiliar with the subsea environment’
Subsea Cloud is offering potential customers the chance to try out its underwater datacenter facilities for up to 90 days before making any further commitments, in a bid to attract new customers to the project.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/undersea_datacenter/
Russia plans nuclear weapon drills after angry exchange with Western officials
date: 2024-05-06, from: Associated Press, World News
It was the first time that Russia has publicly announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, though its strategic nuclear forces regularly hold exercises.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-nuclear-drills-b007cffdc4fc57922042a35fbe47907f
Stock buybacks are lethal, literally
date: 2024-05-06, from: Robert Reich on Substack
And they’re widening inequality. Here’s what to do about them
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/stock-buybacks-are-lethal-literally
Techie’s enthusiasm for decluttering fails to spark joy
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Thankfully, luck – and a handy greybeard – came to the rescue
Who, me? Welcome once again, dear readerfolk, to the sanctuary of Who, Me? in which Register readers can recount the times when their technical skills abandoned them, even if momentarily, without fear of judgment.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/who_me/
Today in SCV History (May 6)
date: 2024-05-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1971 – Fort Tejon added to National Register of Historic Places. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-may-6/
UC Santa Barbara Baseball Routs UC San Diego 12-3 to Remain Undefeated at Home
date: 2024-05-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Gauchos are 20-0 at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium this season.
The post UC Santa Barbara Baseball Routs UC San Diego 12-3 to Remain Undefeated at Home appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Gallup report: US ahead of China in global leadership approval
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/gallup-report-us-ahead-of-china-in-global-leadership-approval/7599330.html
May 5, 2024
date: 2024-05-06, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
In 1776, as British colonists in North America were contemplating how to construct a new nation, Massachusetts lawyer John Adams famously wrote to friends about the relationship between government and the law. A republic, he wrote, “is an Empire of Laws and not of Men: and therefore…that particular Arrangement…which is best calculated to Secure an exact and impartial Execution of the Laws, is the best Republic.”
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-5-2024
Biden to host Jordan’s King Abdullah for White House talks
date: 2024-05-06, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-to-host-jordan-s-king-abdullah-for-white-house-talks/7599310.html
Germany points finger at Fancy Bear for widespread 2023 hacks, DDoS attacks
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Also: Microsoft promises to git gud on cybersecurity; unqualified attackers are targeting your water systems, and more
Infosec in brief It was just around a year ago that a spate of allegedly Russian-orchestrated cyberattacks hit government agencies in Germany, and now German officials claim to know for a fact who did it: APT28, or Fancy Bear, a Russian threat actor linked to the GRU intelligence service.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/infosec_in_brief/
Daily EV Recap: 10,000 ton electric container ship
date: 2024-05-06, 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/2024/05/05/daily-ev-recap-10000-ton-electric-container-ship/
Google to relocate some US jobs to India and Mexico
date: 2024-05-06, updated: 2024-05-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Plus: Taiwan’s subsea cables, Paytm says goodbye to its CEO, China uses WhatsApp despite roadblocks, and more.
Asia in brief Google announced the layoff of 200 of its core team professionals last week while moving some roles to India and Mexico, according to reports.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/06/apac_in_brief/
Shell casings found after reports of shooting
date: 2024-05-06, from: The Signal
Shell casings were found at the scene of a reported shooting on Valle Del Oro and Via Canon in Newhall on Sunday evening, according to Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials. Deputies responded to reports of a shooting incident involving a “male Hispanic pointing a firearm and shot approximately four to five times and then […]
The post <strong>Shell casings found after reports of shooting </strong> appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/shell-casings-found-after-reports-of-shooting/
Both Palestine and Israel Should Be Free
date: 2024-05-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Students can be “social change trailblazers,” but not if their teachers encourage a direction for that trail that exacerbates toxic polarization.
The post Both Palestine and Israel Should Be Free appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/05/both-palestine-and-israel-should-be-free/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-06, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Poll: "Is Twitter is still the place of record?"
https://twitter.com/davewiner/status/1787284072349258158
Review | Willie Nelson’s Still Got a Show to Play at Age 91
date: 2024-05-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Singing “Don’t Bury Me, I’ve Got a Show to Play” at the Santa Barbara Bowl, the American icon plays on.
The post Review | Willie Nelson’s Still Got a Show to Play at Age 91 appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/05/review-willie-nelsons-still-got-a-show-to-play-at-age-91/
Republicans introduce bill that would hand EV lead to China
date: 2024-05-06, from: Electrek Feed
Republicans have introduced a bill to eliminate the US EV tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act, with the effect of slowing US progress on EV manufacturing, thus handing the lead in EV manufacturing to China.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/05/republicans-introduce-bill-that-would-hand-us-ev-lead-to-china/