News gathered 2024-05-10
(date: 2024-05-10 15:41:51)
Traffic Advisory Lane and Road Closures for Copper Hill Bridge Widening Project
date: 2024-05-10, from: City of Santa Clarita
Construction to Begin May 13 Starting Monday, May 13, crews will begin construction to widen the Copper Hill Bridge located at Copper Hill Drive over the San Francisquito Creek between McBean Parkway and Avenida Rancho Tesoro. This developer-led project will expand the north side of the bridge, facilitating three lanes of traffic in each direction, […]
The post Traffic Advisory Lane and Road Closures for Copper Hill Bridge Widening Project appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
S. Africa again asks the world court to restrain Israel in Gaza
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
The U.N. says northern Gaza is already in a state of “full-blown famine.”
Biden rumored to announce quadrupling of tariffs on Chinese EVs, up to 100%
date: 2024-05-10, from: Electrek Feed
The US government is reportedly set to announce wider tariffs on several categories of Chinese goods, including various green products like solar panels and batteries, medical goods, and in particular an increase of tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
May 18: Rancho Camulos Archives Tour, Presentation
date: 2024-05-10, from: SCV New (TV Station)
A presentation and tour will be held Saturday, May 18, 1-3 p.m. at the Rancho Camulos Museum Marie Wren Library and Archives to highlight the Del Valle/Rubel collection’s new archival system.
https://scvnews.com/may-18-rancho-camulos-archives-tour-presentation/
Tesla accused of union buster bluster at Buffalo factory
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Musk’s motor biz? Monitoring labor activists? Surely not!
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is taking Tesla back to the hearing chamber, this time to settle whether it interfered with the organizing rights of employees at its factory in Buffalo, New York.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/tesla_suppressed_union_nlrb/
Saturday: Wine sale fundraiser planned for shuttered Fremont gastropub
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
Supporters of Ambrose Butchery, a Fremont gastropub, are seeking funds to help the business owners avoid debt after the lease was not renewed and the business closed.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/10/saturday-fundraiser-planned-for-shuttered-fremont-gastropub/
This Week in the IndieWeb
date: 2024-05-10, from: This week in Indie Web
May 3-10, 2024
Recent Events
From events.indieweb.org/archive:
A brand new exclusively (and extremely) online (virtual) single-day single-track conference dedicated to Web Development and the Eleventy static site generator that included several IndieWeb related talks, especially Digital Frontiers, IndieWeb Cowboys, and A Place Online To Call Your Own.
Join us online in Zoom for demos of personal sites, recent breakthroughs, discussions about the independent web, and meet IndieWeb community members! Homebrew Website club is for all levels and areas of IndieWeb interest, whether curious, creative, a coder, or all the above.
Join us online in Zoom for demos of personal sites, recent breakthroughs, discussions about the independent web, and meet IndieWeb community members! Homebrew Website club is for all levels and areas of IndieWeb interest, whether curious, creative, a coder, or all the above.
- FÜRTH, Bayern: Fab Lab Region Nürnberg e.V.
HWC Nuremberg is a in-person meeting for everybody who is interested in setting up a personal website and talk about web-related issues.
Front End Study Hall #002 was enjoyable. We worked on trying to see if we could use the functionality the [popover] attribute gives to create a mobile hamburger menu (mixed results but we learned a lot!) and discussed other techniques including using a checkbox to preserve state. We also looked at navigating inside developer tools, dark mode, and used grid and media queries to create a responsive CV. Add the Frontend tag to your calendar to subscribe to Front End Study Hall events.
Upcoming Events
From events.indieweb.org:
- DÜSSELDORF, Nordrhein-Westfalen: Düsseldorf city libraries
IndieWebCamp Düsseldorf 2024 is scheduled for 2024-05-11…12, the weekend before btconf Düsseldorf 2024, at The City Library on Saturday, and Organizers have a Create Day lobbycon backup plan but are looking for local suggestions for a Sunday venue!
Tickets are now available, grab one and book your travel arrangements!
Join us online in Zoom for demos of personal sites, recent breakthroughs, discussions about the independent web, and meet IndieWeb community members! Homebrew Website club is for all levels and areas of IndieWeb interest, whether curious, creative, a coder, or all the above.
Join us online in Zoom for demos of personal sites, recent breakthroughs, discussions about the independent web, and meet IndieWeb community members! Homebrew Website club is for all levels and areas of IndieWeb interest, whether curious, creative, a coder, or all the above.
Front End Study Hall is an HTML + CSS focused group meeting, held on Zoom to learn from each other about how to make code do what we want.
Come prepared to teach and learn!
Join us online in Zoom for demos of personal sites, recent breakthroughs, discussions about the independent web, and meet IndieWeb community members! Homebrew Website club is for all levels and areas of IndieWeb interest, whether curious, creative, a coder, or all the above.
Join us online in Zoom for demos of personal sites, recent breakthroughs, discussions about the independent web, and meet IndieWeb community members! Homebrew Website club is for all levels and areas of IndieWeb interest, whether curious, creative, a coder, or all the above.
- FÜRTH, Bayern: Fab Lab Region Nürnberg e.V.
HWC Nuremberg is a in-person meeting for everybody who is interested in setting up a personal website and talk about web-related issues.
- NÜRNBERG, Bayern: Technische Hochschule Georg Simon Ohm
HWC Nuremberg is a in-person meeting for everybody who is interested in setting up a personal website and talk about web-related issues.
What We’re Reading
From news.indieweb.org:
New Community Members
From IndieWeb Wiki: New User Pages:
User:Reillyspitzfaden.com
Reilly Spitzfaden (photo) Pronouns: they/them Reilly Spitzfaden is a composer, electronic musician, and programmer living in Rochester, New York. https://reillyspitzfaden.com Chat Nickname: reillypascal Elsewhere: @reillypascal@hachyderm.io Contact: reillypascal@gmail.com
Created by Reillyspitzfaden.com on Friday and edited 7 more times
Top New Wiki Pages
From IndieWeb Wiki: New Pages:
x-apple-data-detectors
x-apple-data-detectors is a URL scheme seen in an error message after clicking on auto-linked text in an Apple Notes app text note, that was errantly copied as a link from one note to a shared note, which when clicked in MacOS does not resolve due to a proprietary scheme and path ID dependent on source context; avoid such anti-patterns in auto-link functions.
Created by [tantek] on Monday with 7 more edits by tantek.com and loqi.me
2024/Düsseldorf/Schedule
The IndieWebCamp Düsseldorf 2024 schedule is where you will find informal Friday evening social gatherings, Saturday BarCamp-like sessions, and Sunday’s Create Day.
Created by Tantek.com on Monday and edited 3 more times
2024/Düsseldorf/Planning/tito-email
Created by Tantek.com on Monday and edited 1 more time
New Event Notes
From IndieWeb Wiki: New Pages:
Homebrew Website Club - Pacific: 2024-05-08
Front End Study Hall #002: 2024-05-07
Homebrew Website Club (Global Edition): 2024-05-09
Homebrew Website Club London / Europe 2024-05-08: 2024-05-08
Top Edited Wiki Pages
From IndieWeb Wiki: Recent Changes:
- 2024/Düsseldorf 9 edits by tantek.com, david.shanske.com, jkphl.is, paulrobertlloyd.com, and notiz.blog
- to-do 7 edits by tantek.com
- grid 5 edits by artlung.com
- Front End Study Hall 5 edits by artlung.com and gregorlove.com
- personal library 4 edits by loqi.me, lifeofpablo.com, www.ciccarello.me, and jamesg.blog
- flexbox 4 edits by gregorlove.com, artlung.com, and loqi.me
- File:2024-05-09-11ty-henry-talk-poster.jpeg 3 edits by tantek.com
- page 3 edits by loqi.me
- chat-names 2 edits by tantek.com and reillyspitzfaden.com
- WebRTC 2 edits by tantek.com
https://indieweb.org/this-week/2024-05-10.html
Bookends 15.0.2
date: 2024-05-10, from: TidBITS blog
https://tidbits.com/watchlist/bookends-15-0-2/
Mactracker 7.12.15
date: 2024-05-10, from: TidBITS blog
https://tidbits.com/watchlist/mactracker-7-12-15/
Fantastical 3.8.16
date: 2024-05-10, from: TidBITS blog
https://tidbits.com/watchlist/fantastical-3-8-16/
BusyCal 2024.2.2
date: 2024-05-10, from: TidBITS blog
https://tidbits.com/watchlist/busycal-2024-2-2/
Look to the skies this weekend as solar storms strike Earth
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Northern Lights may be visible way further south than usual thanks to outbursts from our Sun
Video The US National Weather Service has issued a warning that a G4 solar storm will lash Earth from Friday until Sunday.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/g4class_solar_storm/
GM demos its new Energy products by running a mansion off a Silverado EV
date: 2024-05-10, from: Electrek Feed
GM has a new suite of energy products that allow you to share power between your car and your home, and we got to see them in action.
🦄 #200 - Aaaaaaand why should I care?
date: 2024-05-10, from: Interesting, a blog on writing
What makes something special?
https://inneresting.substack.com/p/200-aaaaaaand-why-should-i-care
May 23: VIA After Five Mixer at 360 Executive Suites
date: 2024-05-10, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Connect with other businesses and attend the Valley Industry Association After Five networking mixer on Thursday, May 23, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at 350 Executive Suites SCV, 25101 The Old Road, Stevenon Ranch, CA 91381.
https://scvnews.com/may-23-via-after-five-mixer-at-360-executive-suites/
Children’s Creative Project returns to Mission Santa Barbara with the 38th annual I Madonnari Street Painting Festival
date: 2024-05-10, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CA—Art enthusiasts from near and far are invited to the 38th I Madonnari Street Painting Festival at
The post Children’s Creative Project returns to Mission Santa Barbara with the 38th annual I Madonnari Street Painting Festival appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
SF Giants trade away two pitchers with strong Bay Area ties in separate deals
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
Rodolfo Nolasco, a minor-league outfielder, will be joining the Giants in exchange.
Introducing Laura Branch, the 2025 Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year
date: 2024-05-10, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CA – Laura Branch, a science teacher at Ernest Righetti High School (ERHS) in Santa Maria for the
The post Introducing Laura Branch, the 2025 Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Newsom eyes $1 billion in cuts to affordable housing programs
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
To balance $27 billion shortfall, the state could chop funds for homelessness housing and office conversions.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/10/newsom-eyes-1-billion-in-cuts-to-affordable-housing-programs/
Trump’s former political fixer set to testify against Trump Monday
date: 2024-05-10, from: VOA News USA
Iran most likely to launch destructive cyber-attack against US – ex-Air Force intel analyst
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
But China’s the most technologically advanced
Interview China remains the biggest cyber threat to the US government, America’s critical infrastructure, and its private-sector networks, the nation’s intelligence community has assessed.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/iran_intel_analysis/
I put snow tires on my VW ID.4 this winter – here’s how it went
date: 2024-05-10, from: Electrek Feed
I drive a 2023 Volkswagen ID.4 AWD Pro S in Vermont, and while I didn’t put snow tires on it last year, I put Bridgestone Blizzak LM005s on it this year. Here’s how it went.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/10/snow-tires-vw-id-4/
NASA Invites Media to Expedition 70 Crew Visit at Marshall
date: 2024-05-10, from: NASA breaking news
NASA will host four astronauts at 10 a.m. CDT Tuesday, May 14, for a media opportunity at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa served as part of Expedition 70 […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-invites-media-to-expedition-70-crew-visit-at-marshall/
Apple Apologizes for Tone-Deaf “Crush!” iPad Pro Ad
date: 2024-05-10, from: TidBITS blog
After significant backlash, Apple has apologized for and pulled its “Crush!” ad showing creative and cultural objects pulverized by an industrial press. Was the ad just an ill-considered effort to shock or an all-too-accurate metaphor for today’s tech industry?
https://tidbits.com/2024/05/10/apple-apologizes-for-tone-deaf-crush-ipad-pro-ad/
China’s Zeekr Is Now A Public Company. Its Path To U.S. Sales Is Less Clear
date: 2024-05-10, from: Inside EVs News
Is this hot-selling Geely Group newcomer headed to American shores after a big debut on Wall Street?
https://insideevs.com/news/719313/zeekr-us-ipo-traded-nyse/
College of the Canyons Employment Center held its bi-annal job fair.
date: 2024-05-10, from: The Canyons News (COC student paper)
With hundreds of job seekers in attendance, they had the opportunity to…
The post College of the Canyons Employment Center held its bi-annal job fair. appeared first on Canyons News.
https://canyonsnews.com/college-of-the-canyons-employment-center-held-its-bi-annal-job-fair/
New public health center to come to Gilroy, expanding services to southern Santa Clara County
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
A new public health center is coming to Gilroy next year, offering a slate of free services, including wellness classes and assistance applying for insurance, to a historically underserved region of Santa Clara County.
Sols 4182-4183: We Reached the South Side of Pinnacle Ridge… What’s Next?
date: 2024-05-10, from: NASA breaking news
We planned quite a drive on Wednesday, with lots of twists and turns over very bumpy terrain, so the team was delighted to learn everything completed as planned when we received our downlink at ~4 am Pacific Time this morning!
Grand jury transcripts offer details on infamous Los Gatos teen parties allegedly organized by parent
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
Shannon O’Connor was indicted last fall on charges she endangered teens by hosting liquor-fueled parties where she goaded them into sex.
May 14: Council to Consider Roads, Bridge Maintenance, Animal Control Contracts
date: 2024-05-10, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita City Council will hold a regular meeting on Tuesday, April 23 at 6 p.m. Prior to the public session the council will meet in closed session for a special meeting at 5:15 p.m. The council will meet at City Hall
https://scvnews.com/may-14-council-to-consider-contracts-for-roads-animal-control/
US Senator Bob Menendez set to face federal corruption trial
date: 2024-05-10, from: VOA News USA
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez — the former head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee — is set to go on trial next week for allegedly using his position for personal gain. Jury selection in the federal corruption case is expected to begin in New York on Monday. Aron Ranen has more from New York.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-senator-bob-menendez-set-to-face-federal-corruption-trial/7606546.html
Storms continue to wallop parts of Florida, Mississippi
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
Other parts of the South were cleaning up from storm damage inflicted earlier in the week. In the rural farming community of Vidalia, Georgia, and surrounding Toombs County, officials said a tornado left a path of destruction along roughly 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) Thursday afternoon.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/10/storms-continue-to-wallop-parts-of-florida-mississippi/
NASA Awards Expand Research Capabilities at Institutions Nationwide
date: 2024-05-10, from: NASA breaking news
NASA is awarding approximately $45 million to 21 higher-education institutions to help build capacity for research. The awards were made possible through the Minority University Research and Education Project Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO) and Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) grants, which are funded by the agency’s Office of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) […]
USC Faculty Censured Their President, UCLA Faculty Might Too. What Does That Mean?
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The LAist
Faculty have been frustrated with how university administrators have handled campus issues that stem from the Israel-Hamas War.
https://laist.com/news/education/usc-academic-senate-censure-carol-folt-ucla-gene-block
Confederate names restored to two schools in Virginia
date: 2024-05-10, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/confederate-names-restored-to-two-schools-in-virginia/7606533.html
City of Santa Barbara Considers Ballot Measure for Half-Cent Sales-Tax Increase
date: 2024-05-10, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Increase could net $15.6 million a year to fund public services if approved by voters in November.
The post City of Santa Barbara Considers Ballot Measure for Half-Cent Sales-Tax Increase appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Climate Activists Chip the Case Protecting the Magna Carta
date: 2024-05-10, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The two protesters, who are both in their 80s, held up a sign that read, “The government is breaking the law”
Temporary Closure of Northbound Gaviota Rest Area Starting Friday, May 10
date: 2024-05-10, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY – The northbound Gaviota Rest Area, located south of the Gaviota Tunnel on US 101, will be
The post Temporary Closure of Northbound Gaviota Rest Area Starting Friday, May 10 appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Latest figures show AMD chipping away at Intel’s CPU dominance
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
That other processor company is gaining ground, says Mercury Research
Intel continues to rule the roost in the PC chip market, but AMD is gaining ground in server, desktop, and mobile, according to the latest figures from Mercury Research.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/amd_gains_on_intel/
Santa Ynez Valley Embraces Fifth Year of Juneteenth Celebration with “Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball & Art Show”
date: 2024-05-10, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Ynez Valley, CA (May 8, 2024) – Prepare for an enchanting evening as the Santa Ynez Valley proudly presents its
The post Santa Ynez Valley Embraces Fifth Year of Juneteenth Celebration with “Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball & Art Show” appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Spotlighting Santa Barbara County’s 2024 Classified School Employees of the Year
date: 2024-05-10, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CA – The Santa Barbara County Education Office is proud to introduce four outstanding employees recently selected to
The post Spotlighting Santa Barbara County’s 2024 Classified School Employees of the Year appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Community Environmental Council Releases Critical Report on Impact of Climate Action
date: 2024-05-10, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA, Calif (May 9, 2024) – The Community Environmental Council (CEC) has just released its 2023 Impact Report, which shares key highlights
The post Community Environmental Council Releases Critical Report on Impact of Climate Action appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-10, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
All mentions of yours truly in Esther Dyson's newsletter from the 80s.
https://archive.org/details/release-1.0?tab=collection&query=Winer&sin=TXT
Academy at Method Charter Offers Dual COC Enrollment
date: 2024-05-10, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Academy at Method Schools has announced the launch of its innovative online independent study dual enrollment charter school in partnership with College of the Canyons
https://scvnews.com/academy-of-method-charter-school-offers-dual-coc-enrollment/
49ers’ Nick Sorensen demands ‘speed, violence, finish’ as new defensive coordinator
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
Nick Sorensen spoke to reporters at Friday’s rookie minicamp for the first time since his promotion as 49ers defensive coordinator.
Want To Chat EVs? Come Hang With Us In Boston On May 19
date: 2024-05-10, from: Inside EVs News
We’ll be at the Natick Mall Cars and Coffee on Sunday, May 19, before chatting EV stuff at Lucid’s Boston Seaport store.
https://insideevs.com/news/719305/state-of-evs-forum-boston/
‘Good man’ or ‘danger to the community’? Dueling views presented for Pasadena radiologist in Devil’s Slide crash
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
Dharmesh Patel is seeking admission into a program that would see all of his criminal charges dismissed if he successfully completes two years of mental health treatment.
49ers add Terrell Owens’ son, plus other undrafted prospects at quarterback, running back
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
After selecting eight players in the NFL Draft, the 49ers filled out their roster with a small crop of undrafted players.
Water-safety message accompanies rising Bay Area temperatures
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
Higher temperatures may lead many people to rivers or streams near the Sierra Nevada and surrounding foothills for recreation just as cold, fast water is moving toward them.
Homatics Pocket TV is a portable Google TV device made for RayNeo XR glasses
date: 2024-05-10, from: Liliputing
Google TV is an Android-based operating system designed to let you stream content from the internet, play games, or run apps on a TV. And most devices that ship with Google TV software are either smart TVs or small boxes designed to be plugged into your TV. The Homatics Pocket TV is something a little […]
The post Homatics Pocket TV is a portable Google TV device made for RayNeo XR glasses appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/homatics-pocket-tv-is-a-portable-google-tv-device-made-for-rayneo-xr-glasses/
Samsung sole winner as US smartphone market hits sixth quarterly decline in a row
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Industry looks towards genAI, interest rate cuts for reprieve as America hangs onto its old phones
The US smartphone market registered yet another year-over-year decline in shipments in the first calendar quarter, this time down eight percent compared to Q1 2023.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/us_smartphone_sales/
Who’s Killing Your Independent Pharmacy?
date: 2024-05-10, from: The Lever News
As corporate pharmacy middlemen slash reimbursement fees to independent drugstores, local Illinois pharmacists push for legislative change.
https://www.levernews.com/whos-killing-your-independent-pharmacy/
Podcast: Tesla Supercharger update, is battery swap going to be a thing?, Ford goes back on BEV, and more
date: 2024-05-10, from: Electrek Feed
On the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss what’s happening with the Tesla Supercharger network, is battery swap going to be a thing?, Ford goes back on BEV, and more.
Sponsored by SplitVolt: The Splitvolt Splitter Switch automatically shares power from your existing 240V dryer socket with your Level 2 EV charger. Learn more here.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/10/podcast-tesla-supercharger-update-battery-swap-ford-goes-back-on-bev/
May 18: Gear Up, ‘Hit the Trail’ Free Cycling Event
date: 2024-05-10, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Hop on your bicycle, get to pedaling and explore the city of Santa Clarita’s sprawling bike trail network during the 2024 “Hit the Trail” Community Bike Ride on Saturday, May 18, from 8 a.m. to noon
https://scvnews.com/may-18-gear-up-hit-the-trail-free-cycling-event/
Biden administration won’t conclude Israel violated US weapons deals, AP sources say
date: 2024-05-10, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — A soon-to-be-released Biden administration review of Israel’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in its war in Gaza does not conclude that Israel has violated the terms for their use, according to three people who have been briefed on the matter.
The report is expected to be sharply critical of Israel, even though it doesn’t conclude that Israel violated terms of U.S.-Israel weapons agreements, according to one U.S. official.
The administration’s findings on its close ally’s conduct of the war, a first-of-its-kind assessment that was compelled by President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats in Congress, comes after seven months of airstrikes, ground fighting and aid restrictions that have claimed the lives of nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Biden has tried to walk an ever-finer line in his support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war against Hamas. He has faced growing rancor at home and abroad over the soaring Palestinian death toll and the onset of famine, caused in large part by Israeli restrictions on the movement of food and aid into Gaza. Tensions have been heightened further in recent weeks by Netanyahu’s pledge to expand the Israeli military’s offensive in the crowded southern city of Rafah, despite Biden’s adamant opposition.
Biden faces demands from many Democrats that he cut the flow of offensive weapons to Israel and denunciation from Republicans who accuse him of wavering on support for Israel at its time of need.
Two U.S. officials and a third person briefed on the findings of the national security memorandum to be submitted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Congress discussed the findings before the report’s release. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not yet public.
A senior Biden administration official said the memorandum is expected to be released later Friday but declined to comment on its conclusions.
Axios first reported on the memorandum’s findings.
The Democratic administration took one of the first steps toward conditioning military aid to Israel in recent days when it paused a shipment of 3,500 bombs out of concern over Israel’s threatened offensive on Rafah, a southern city crowded with more than a million Palestinians, a senior administration official said.
The presidential directive, agreed to in February, obligated the Defense and State departments to conduct “an assessment of any credible reports or allegations that such defense articles and, as appropriate, defense services, have been used in a manner not consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law.”
The agreement also obligated them to tell Congress whether they deemed that Israel has acted “arbitrarily to deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly,” delivery of any U.S.-supported humanitarian aid into Gaza for starving civilians there.
Lawmakers and others who advocated for the review said Biden and previous American leaders have followed a double standard when enforcing U.S. laws governing how foreign militaries use U.S. support, an accusation the Biden administration denies.
They had urged the administration to make a straightforward legal determination of whether there was credible evidence that specific Israeli airstrikes on schools, crowded neighborhoods, medical workers, aid convoys and other targets, and restrictions on aid shipments into Gaza, violated the laws of war and human rights.
Their opponents argued that a U.S. finding against Israel would weaken it at a time it is battling Hamas and other Iran-backed groups. Any sharply critical findings on Israel are sure to add to pressure on Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to Israel’s military and further heighten tensions with Netanyahu’s hard-right government over its conduct of the war against Hamas.
Any finding against Israel also could endanger Biden’s support in this year’s presidential elections from some voters who keenly support Israel. Former president Donald Trump is the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee facing off against Biden.
At the time the White House agreed to the review, it was working to head off moves from Democratic lawmakers and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont to start restricting shipments of weapons to Israel.
Israel launched its offensive after an October 7 terror attack by Hamas into Israel killed about 1,200 people. Two-thirds of the Palestinians killed since then have been women and children, according to local health officials. U.S. and U.N. officials say Israeli restrictions on food shipments since October 7 have brought on full-fledged famine in northern Gaza.
Human rights groups long have accused Israeli security forces of committing abuses against Palestinians and have accused Israeli leaders of failing to hold those responsible to account. In January, in a case brought by South Africa, the top U.N. court ordered Israel to do all it could to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but the panel stopped short of ordering an end to the military offensive.
Israel says it is following all U.S. and international law, that it investigates allegations of abuse by its security forces and that its campaign in Gaza is proportional to the existential threat it says is posed by Hamas.
Biden in December said “indiscriminate bombing” was costing Israel international backing. After Israeli forces targeted and killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen in April, the Biden administration for the first time signaled it might cut military aid to Israel if it didn’t change its handling of the war and humanitarian aid.
Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, in the 1980s and early 1990s, were the last presidents to openly hold back weapons or military financing to try to push Israel to change its actions in the region or toward Palestinians.
A report to the Biden administration by an unofficial, self-formed panel including military experts, academics and former State Department officials detailed Israeli strikes on aid convoys, journalists, hospitals, schools and refugee centers and other sites. They argued that the civilian death toll in those strikes — such as an October 31 strike on an apartment building reported to have killed 106 civilians — was disproportionate to the blow against any military target.
Helping students with their mental wellness
date: 2024-05-10, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
Walk into the Oasis Center and be greeted by calming music and a soothing indoor waterfall. It’s ideal for relieving academic-related stress, giving students a place to take a nap,…
https://sundial.csun.edu/181806/news/helping-students-with-their-mental-wellness/
Global Plug-In Car Sales Increased 19% In March 2024 To 1.3 Million
date: 2024-05-10, from: Inside EVs News
Almost one in five new cars was rechargeable, while plugless hybrids surged to a new record.
https://insideevs.com/news/719240/global-plugin-car-sales-march2024/
Gear Up and “Hit the Trail” on May 18
date: 2024-05-10, from: City of Santa Clarita
Explore Santa Clarita’s Scenic Bike Trail System During This Free, Self-Guided Cycling Event Hop on your bicycle, get to pedaling and explore the City of Santa Clarita’s sprawling bike trail network during the 2024 “Hit the Trail” Community Bike Ride on Saturday, May 18, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. This free, self-guided bicycle riding […]
The post Gear Up and “Hit the Trail” on May 18 appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/05/10/gear-up-and-hit-the-trail-on-may-18/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-10, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Apple shouldn't have apologized for its iPad Pro 'Crush' ad. #amen
https://www.macworld.com/article/2328855/ipad-ad-harmless-fun.html
Scientists Imaged and Mapped a Tiny Piece of Human Brain. Here’s What They Found
date: 2024-05-10, from: Smithsonian Magazine
With the help of an artificial intelligence algorithm, the researchers produced 1.4 million gigabytes of data from a cubic millimeter of brain tissue
Appeals court upholds Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction
date: 2024-05-10, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court panel on Friday upheld the criminal conviction of Donald Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Bannon’s challenges to his contempt of Congress conviction for which he was sentenced in 2022 to four months in prison. The judge overseeing the case has allowed him to remain free while he pursues his appeal.
Bannon’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. His lawyers could ask the full appeals court to hear the matter.
Bannon was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition and the other for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Bannon had initially argued that his testimony was protected by Trump’s claim of executive privilege. But the House panel and the Justice Department contended such a claim was dubious because Trump had fired Bannon from the White House in 2017 and Bannon was thus a private citizen when he was consulting with the then-president in the run-up to the riot.
Bannon’s lawyers argued at trial that he wasn’t acting in bad faith but was trying to avoid running afoul of executive privilege objections Trump had raised. The onetime presidential adviser said he wanted to have a Trump lawyer in the room for his appearance, but the committee wouldn’t allow it.
Bannon’s lawyers told the appeals court that the conviction should be overturned because, among other reasons, they said the committee’s subpoena was invalid. Bannon also argued that the judge that oversaw the trial wrongly quashed subpoenas seeking testimony and records from the committee’s own members, staffers and counsel his lawyers argued could have bolstered his defense.
The appeals court said all of his challenges lacked merit.
“We conclude that none of the information sought in the trial subpoenas was relevant to the elements of the contempt offense, nor to any affirmative defense Bannon was entitled to present at trial,” the judges wrote.
A second Trump aide, trade adviser Peter Navarro, was also convicted of contempt of Congress and reported to prison in March to serve his four-month sentence. Navarro has maintained that he couldn’t cooperate with the committee because Trump had invoked executive privilege. But courts have rejected that argument, finding Navarro couldn’t prove Trump had actually invoked it.
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
date: 2024-05-10, from: Associated Press, World News
Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: France did not send troops to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Black Camera.app Screen and Broken Shutter Button
date: 2024-05-10, from: Michael Tsai
YoungCraxy: This is about to drive me crazy, whenever I capture a snapshot, when I press the camera, sometimes a black screen pops up and this doesn’t go away, I can’t shoot anything, I have to go in and out of the camera again. There are two really annoying iOS camera bugs, which I’ve been […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/10/black-camera-app-screen-and-broken-shutter-button/
Swift Proposal: Objective-C Implementations in Swift
date: 2024-05-10, from: Michael Tsai
SE-0436 (via Becca Royal-Gordon): Swift has always had a mechanism that allows Objective-C code to use Swift types: the @objc attribute. When a class is marked with @objc (or, more typically, inherits from an @objc or imported Objective-C class), Swift generates sufficient Objective-C metadata to allow it to be used through the Objective-C runtime, and […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/10/swift-proposal-objective-c-implementations-in-swift/
FDA Recalls Defective Insulin Pump App
date: 2024-05-10, from: Michael Tsai
Jess Weatherbed (Hacker News): At least 224 people with diabetes have reported injuries linked to a defective iOS app that caused their insulin pumps to shut down prematurely, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On Wednesday, the agency announced that California-based medical device manufacturer Tandem Diabetes Care has issued a recall for […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/10/fda-recalls-defective-insulin-pump-app/
ZTE Xiaoyao is an Android tablet that’s also a thin client for a Windows “cloud computer”
date: 2024-05-10, from: Liliputing
The ZTE Xiaoyao is a tablet with a 10.95 inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel 90 Hz display, a Unisoc T760 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and support for WiFi, Bluetooth, and 5G networking. The tablet also comes with a detachable keyboard. But the most unusual thing about this tablet for the Chinese market is that […]
The post ZTE Xiaoyao is an Android tablet that’s also a thin client for a Windows “cloud computer” appeared first on Liliputing.
A customized version of Canoo’s electric delivery van for the USPS has been spotted in the wild
date: 2024-05-10, from: Electrek Feed
Commercial EV startup Canoo looks to have delivered at least one electric delivery van to one of its newest customers, the United States Postal Service (USPS). The recently posted images show a customized Canoo LDV 190 donning USPS badging and a design slightly different from the original renderings.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/10/customized-canoo-electric-delivery-van-usps-spotted-in-wild-ev/
Through Newly Installed ‘Portals,’ New Yorkers and Dubliners Can Wave, Dance and Inappropriately Gesture to Each Other in Real Time
date: 2024-05-10, from: Smithsonian Magazine
New art installations connect the two cities through continuous silent video feeds
Apple Apologizes for iPad “Crush” Ad
date: 2024-05-10, from: Michael Tsai
Emma Roth (Hacker News): Apple has apologized after a commercial meant to showcase its brand-new iPad Pro drew widespread criticism among the creative community. In a statement provided to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple’s vice president of marketing, said the company “missed the mark.”“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/10/apple-apologizes-for-ipad-crush-ad/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-10, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Tesla Superchargers Can Charge Non-Tesla Electric Vehicles.
That’s Refreshing
date: 2024-05-10, from: NASA breaking news
An American flamingo takes a moment to drink water in the Indian River at Haulover Canal on Merritt Island on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. American Flamingos are more common in Mexico and Cuba but the winds from Hurricane Idalia relocated them to Florida in September 2023. The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is northwest of […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/thats-refreshing/
Cybercriminals hit jackpot as 500k+ Ohio Lottery lovers lose out on their personal data
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Not a lotto luck for these powerball hunters
More than half a million gamblers with a penchant for powerballs will be receiving some fairly unwelcome news very soon, if not already, as cybercriminals have made off with their personal data.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/cybercriminals_hit_jackpot_as_over/
Valencia High Jazz Choir Captures ‘DownBeat’ Award
date: 2024-05-10, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The 2022-2023 Valencia High School Jazz Choir Two ’n Four has been named the 2024 Winner High School Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble in the 47th Annual Downbeat Magazine Music Awards
https://scvnews.com/valenica-high-jazz-choir-captures-downbeat-award/
Jailed journalist Kurmasheva recognized for her courage
date: 2024-05-10, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/jailed-journalist-kurmasheva-recognized-for-her-courage-/7606357.html
Save $1,695 on Super73 RX Electric Motorbike at $2,000, Best Buy 3-day EV sale, Broil King pellet grill, and more deals
date: 2024-05-10, from: Electrek Feed
Its another day of Green Deals tailored for summer fun, headlined by the Super73 RX Electric Motorbike hitting a new $2,000 low. It is joined by Best Buy’s 3-day Mother’s Day sale that runs through the weekend and is taking up to $400 off a collection of EVs, like the Segway Max G2 Electric Kick Scooter for $900. Then there’s the Broil King Crown Pellet 500 Pellet Grill that just dropped to $632, the lowest price since 2022. 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.
The Automotive Cold War Is Officially Underway
date: 2024-05-10, from: Inside EVs News
The White House plans to slap 100% tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, according to The Wall Street Journal.
https://insideevs.com/news/719283/chinese-ev-tariffs-biden-quadruple/
Stellantis is about to test the first-ever production-line lithium-sulfur batteries
date: 2024-05-10, from: Electrek Feed
In a milestone, supermaterials trailblazer Lyten has shipped lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries to Stellantis and other US and EU OEMs for testing.
A Modified Psychedelic Toad Toxin Reduces Signs of Depression and Anxiety in Mice, Study Suggests
date: 2024-05-10, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Colorado River toads produce a psychoactive toxin that some have claimed has medical benefits. The new research suggests these benefits could be achieved without hallucinations
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-10, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Ghost is implementing ActivityPub in an experimental way, so far. Also I don’t know what he means about RSS being one-way.
https://activitypub.ghost.org/day-0/
Saturday’s detonation should free the ship that hit the Key Bridge. What’s next?
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
If all goes as planned, the detonation of Key Bridge debris Saturday on the Dali’s bow will sound like fireworks and look like puffs of smoke.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/10/dali-demolition-refloat-port-baltimore/
Flight attendants praised for breaking up a fistfight on San Francisco-bound EVA Air flight
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
The plane’s captain contacted San Francisco police mid-flight, and the two combative passengers were taken in for questioning on arrival, according to EVA.
Bizarre murder case: An Oakland man was shot dead while allegedly hurling concrete at cars outside home filled with squatters and stray dogs
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
Robert Greer, 47, was allegedly using a sledgehammer to break chunks of concrete and throw them at cars, when a man allegedly exited an abandoned home, retrieved a revolver, and killed Greer.
Should you be worried about bird flu? Here are 5 things to know about the virus
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
There have been major outbreaks around the world in the recent past, including four from 2014 to 2017.
Biden set to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, sources say
date: 2024-05-10, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON AND SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. President Joe Biden is set to announce new tariffs on China as soon as next week, targeting strategic sectors, including electric vehicles, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The full announcement, which could take place as soon as Tuesday, is expected to largely maintain existing levies, according to one of the people. An announcement could also be pushed back, the person said.
The tariffs were also set to include semiconductors and solar equipment, according to one of the people.
Details on the precise value or categories of tariffs that would be imposed were sketchy, but the administration was said to have zeroed in on areas of interest within strategic competitive and national security areas, one of the people said.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office made its recommendations to the White House weeks ago, but a final announcement was delayed as the package was debated internally, according to one of the sources and an additional person familiar with the matter.
Biden, a Democrat seeking reelection in November, is looking to contrast his approach with that of Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has proposed across-the-board tariffs that White House officials see as too blunt and prone to spark inflation.
The White House and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative declined to comment. Bloomberg News first reported the story.
The measures could invite retaliation from China at a time of heightened tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump’s broader imposition of tariffs during his presidency prompted China to retaliate with its own levies.
Biden has said he does not want a trade war with China even as he has said the countries have entered a new paradigm of competition.
Both 2024 presidential candidates have sharply departed from the free-trade consensus that once reigned in Washington, a period capped by China’s joining the World Trade Organization in 2001.
In 2022, Biden launched a review of the Trump-era policy under Section 301 of the U.S. trade law. Last month, he called for sharply higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese metal products, but the targeted products were narrow in range, estimated at more than $1 billion of steel and aluminum products, a U.S. official said.
Biden also announced launching an investigation into Chinese trade practices across the shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors, a process that could lead to more tariffs.
The Biden administration has also been pressuring neighboring Mexico to prohibit China from selling its metal products to the United States indirectly from there.
China has said the tariff measures are counterproductive and inflict harm on the U.S. and global economy.
Single-family house sells for $2.3 million in Los Gatos
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
The historic property located in the 200 block of Caldwell Avenue in Los Gatos was sold on April 26, 2024 for $2,335,000, or $2,209 per square foot. The house, built in 1926, has an interior space of 1,057 square feet.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/10/single-family-house-sells-for-2-3-million-in-los-gatos/
Tesla’s $25,000 Car Could Be ‘A Slimmed Down Model Y’: Report
date: 2024-05-10, from: Inside EVs News
And it was a conceptual presentation for Tesla’s robotaxi concept that almost killed it.
https://insideevs.com/news/719274/tesla-cheap-car-model-y/
Review: Meet the most underrated band in Bay Area rock music history
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
We can thank Will Ferrell for helping reignite career of Pablo Cruise, the yacht rock act that is still wowing fans 50 years after getting its start.
June 6: Music Tribute to 80th Anniversary of D-Day
date: 2024-05-10, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The MAIN in Old Town Newhall will host “A Night of Narrative Song: A Music Tribute to the 80th Anniversary of D-Day” on Thursday, June 6 at 7 p.m
https://scvnews.com/june-6-music-tribute-to-80th-anniversary-of-d-day/
Carnegie Mellon University joins AIMs program to make “open” more accessible
date: 2024-05-10, from: PeerJ blog
We are pleased to announce that Carnegie Mellon University has joined the Annual Institutional Membership (AIMs) program, reflecting Carnegie Mellon’s commitment to promoting open access publishing and empowering its research community to share their findings with the world. As part of PeerJ’s AIMs program, Carnegie Mellon University authors can publish in any of PeerJ’s journals […]
Dream Chaser mini-shuttle set to take flight at last
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Spaceplane to be shipped to Kennedy Space Center for launch on a Vulcan Centaur
Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane is finally set to launch in 2024 after completing its latest set of tests at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/dream_chaser_set_to_take/
NASA Invites Media to Annual Lunabotics Competition
date: 2024-05-10, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s 2024 Lunabotics Challenge offers more than 40 college teams from across the country the chance to design, build, and operate their own lunar robots, with the top 10 teams advancing to the final demonstrations phase. Media are invited to attend the finals on May 16-17 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-invites-media-to-annual-lunabotics-competition/
As Lake Oroville nears capacity, DWR says no need to fear spill overs
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
Visitors to Oroville Dam may also notice minor amounts of water flowing from drains built into the emergency spillway. Both conditions are normal and expected given the emergency spillway design.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/10/dwr-lake-oroville-wont-spill-over/
NASA’s New Mobile Launcher Stacks Up for Future Artemis Missions
date: 2024-05-10, from: NASA breaking news
The foundation is set at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launching crewed missions aboard the agency’s larger and more powerful SLS (Space Launch System) Block 1B rocket in support of Artemis IV and future missions. On May 9, 2024, teams with NASA’s EGS (Exploration Ground Systems) Program and contractor Bechtel National Inc. transferred […]
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-10, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The New York Times Protests Too Much.
https://www.findinggravity.net/p/the-new-york-times-protests-too-much
Bounty hunter suspected of murder in fatal East Bay shooting
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
The fatal shooting happened March 19 in Newark.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/10/bounty-hunter-suspected-of-murder-in-fatal-east-bay-shooting/
Will Space Weather Blow Out My Solar Panels?
date: 2024-05-10, from: Heatmap News
You have probably heard by now that there’s a big solar storm on its way toward us. (If not, sign up for Heatmap AM, our daily roundup of climate and energy news.) On Wednesday, the sun started ejecting massive columns of geomagnetic activity out into space in Earth’s direction. That geomagnetism is due to arrive around 11p.m. ET on Friday, triggering huge fluctuations in the Earth’s geomagnetic field.
Those fluctuations can actually generate their own electric current. And too much of that current can wreak havoc on the electrical grid.
The last time we got a heads up like this about a geomagnetic surge of this magnitude was in 2005, when coal generation was close to its peak in the U.S. and renewables were providing less than half the energy they do now. So how does that changing energy mix affect the risk to the grid this time around?
Not too much, said representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization on Friday morning. The other thing that’s happened since 2005 is that we’ve started paying a lot more attention to space weather — which, despite its name, bears little resemblance to Earth weather — which means grid operators are a lot better prepared to deal with it.
“We’ve been working with the power distribution community over the past decade to help them better understand space weather,” Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist with NOAA, said in a press briefing. “And their engineers have taken that information and used it to build systems that can protect the power lines more rapidly than they could before. So we’ve seen improvements in technology on the grid that get triggered by these events, and then work to protect the different assets.”
Grid operators can also respond in lower tech ways, such as by deferring maintenance or taking systems offline. And to be clear, if there are any grid effects, those will happen just to long-distance transmission lines. Transformers and any wires connecting to your house should be totally fine.
Will the solar storm affect solar panels? According to NOAA, any panels here on Earth should be totally fine since they’re protected by the planet’s atmosphere. Solar panels in space, e.g. those powering satellites, are at more risk depending on the height of their orbit, particularly if they’re outside the reach of the Earth’s magnet field.
The magnetic field will also determine how bad the storm gets here. Earth’s magnetic field points northward. (That’s why compasses work.) If the the solar storm’s magnetic field is oriented in the same direction, its effects will be dampened. “Think of a magnet,” said Shawn Dahl, another of NOAA’s space weather forecasters. “If you take two negative magnets and you try to put them together, they don’t connect, right? Same thing here.” That magnetic orientation can change in the course of a single storm, however, and if suddenly those two poles start drawing together, the effects can intensify.
As of now, NOAA has classified the situation as a severe geomagnetic storm — G4, on a scale that goes up to G5 — of which several have hit Earth since 2005, including one in late March. Those were weaker than the one barreling toward us at the moment, however, although we won’t know how severe this one will be until it passes satellites stationed about a million miles out in space — that is, at most 45 minutes before it hits.
So, is NOAA concerned? “Yeah, we’re a little concerned,” Dahl said, adding that in addition to coordinating with utilities and other operators of critical infrastructure, NOAA is also briefing the Federal Emergency Management Agency. GPS and other satellite-dependent technologies could experience disruptions. Will those be debilitating to society? Probably not.
There’s also one big upside: “The biggest manifestation of space weather is the aurora,” Steenburgh said, a.k.a. the Northern Lights, which could be visible as far south as Alabama. Even if you can’t see anything with the naked eye, it’s worth pointing your cell phone at the sky and snapping a pic, said Brent Gordon, another NOAA space scientist.
“Cell phones are much better than our eyes and capturing light,” Gordon explained. “Just just go out your back door and take a picture with a newer cellphone and you’d be amazed at what is what you see in that picture versus what you see with your eyes.”
https://heatmap.news/sparks/solar-storm-energy-grid
Man shot near Highway 280 in San Jose
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
The victim is in critical but stable condition.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/10/man-shot-near-highway-280-in-san-jose/
Meghan Markle secretly flew into unfriendly U.K. before taking Nigeria ‘by storm’
date: 2024-05-10, from: San Jose Mercury News
Meghan skipped Harry’s visit to London but met up with him at Heathrow Airport to catch a flight to Nigeria, where they were greeted by rapturous crowds at a school in the African capital.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-10, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Scripting News: The NYT runs on freedom and apparently they don't know that.
http://scripting.com/2024/05/10/152411.html
Batteries Are the Least Popular Part of a Carbon-Free Grid
date: 2024-05-10, from: Heatmap News
Here’s a shocker: Americans aren’t exactly unified in their takes on the energy transition. In a new Heatmap poll conducted by Embold Research, about a third of the more than 2,000 adults surveyed agreed that “renewable energy offers many significant benefits, with few downsides,” while about half that number said renewables have “many significant downsides, with few benefits.” Go figure.
Dig beneath the surface, however, and some fascinating fault lines begin to emerge. Often, these divides cut across class, gender, and even party affiliation.
Take the public’s opinion on batteries, for instance. Of all the possible sources of zero-carbon power we asked people about, battery storage scored the lowest, with just 23% saying they strongly supported adding them to the energy mix in their state. By comparison, 51% said they strongly supported rooftop solar, and 36% said they strongly supported nuclear, typically a controversial energy source. Only coal and “methane gas” scored lower (although when we called it “natural gas,” it polled much higher).
What’s the problem with batteries? One possibility is that even though utility-scale battery storage system fires are rare — the Electric Power Research Institute database of battery-related “failure events” lists just 15 last year, though one was a multi-day fire in a storage system in Idaho — people may group them together with far more common lithium-ion battery fires with scooters and e-bikes.
“Lithium ion battery fires are rarities when considered in the context of widespread deployment,” Lakshmi Srinivasan and Stephanie Shaw, who both work on battery storage policy and research at EPRI, co-signed in an email. “There are also important differences between grid-scale storage and electric micro-mobility devices like bikes and scooters” — namely that grid-scale batters are subject to regulations and testing requirements that your e-bike’s battery is not, which reduces the risk of fires.
As with any major piece of energy infrastructure, the prospect of grid-scale batteries can also spark the public’s generic aversion to new construction and the sight of industrial equipment. California — which leads the country in battery storage procurement and deployment — has not been free from local backlash to utility-scale battery storage projects. A long-planned project in San Diego County has faced persistent opposition from nearby residents, even after it was scaled down by 20%, while a project north of San Francisco was rejected entirely due to concerns about safety.
Besides the fire and visual concerns, many people don’t understand that
battery storage projects fall under the category of clean energy,
especially in California where they’re most prevalent. When asked to
identify which types of power generation they considered “clean,” only
19% picked out battery storage, compared to 78% for solar — which is
increasingly co-located with battery storage — 76% for wind, and even
37% for natural gas. The only forms of power that ranked below battery
storage were, again, “methane gas” and coal.
While solar and wind — which battery systems can support — are well
known to just about everyone, widespread deployment of battery storage
is still fairly new. While Heatmap’s survey showed relatively high
disapproval for battery storage, it also was the third most “not sure”
energy source behind hydrogen and geothermal, two technologies that have
yet to reach mass adoption in the U.S. “All new technologies are a bit
of a black box until education is provided,” the two EPRI researchers
said.
That education might also include how people might benefit. “Storage is a key driver of grid resilience and reliability,” Srinivasan and Shaw explained. That means fewer service interruptions for any reason, and particularly during severe weather, when back-up energy may be necessary to keep food cold and shelters warm. “All that said,” they added, “another important benefit of storage is that it supports extensive use of renewables technologies, so the most use can be made of those as well as making the electricity grid cleaner for everyone.”
It’s true that not all battery storage systems necessarily lead to lower carbon emissions. And yet batteries are absolutely essential to a decarbonized electric grid — and to keeping grids with high levels of weather-dependent resources like wind and solar stable. It’s no coincidence that two states with large amounts of renewable power on the grid, California and Texas, are also leaders in battery storage deployment.
“While many members of the public prioritize implementing renewable energy, NIMBY concerns can be strong in some instances, often based on misinformation,” Srinivasan and Shaw told me. “Support for renewable technologies is often dependent on the tangible local benefits of the facility, rather than broader decarbonization impacts.”
The Heatmap poll of 2,094 American adults was conducted by Embold Research via online responses from April 5 to 11, 2024. The survey included interviews with Americans in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.
https://heatmap.news/climate/battery-support-survey
Behind the Blog: Killing Stories and Copyright Hypocrisy
date: 2024-05-10, from: 404 Media Group
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss killing stories, CEO saying wild things, how the OpenAI copyright story came together, and tech-powered shortcuts out of discomfort.
https://www.404media.co/behind-the-blog-killing-stories-openai/
System76 launches Darter Pro Linux Laptop with Intel Meteor Lake processor options
date: 2024-05-10, from: Liliputing
The System76 Darter Pro is a thin and light laptop from Linux PC maker System76, which has been offering versions of the Darter Pro since 2019. System76 is now taking pre-orders for the 2024 model… or I should say models, because the laptop now comes in two sizes: 14 inches or 16 inches. Prices start at […]
The post System76 launches Darter Pro Linux Laptop with Intel Meteor Lake processor options appeared first on Liliputing.
Fedora Asahi Remix 40 served on Apple Silicon
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
First big update of the go-to Linux for newer Macs
Lagging the mainstream edition by a couple of weeks, the Asahi-flavored version of Fedora 40 is here – redolent with KDE Plasma 6.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/fedora_asahi_remix_40/
Belugas May Communicate by Changing the Shape of Their Squishy Foreheads
date: 2024-05-10, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Scientists documented five different melon shapes among the marine mammals living in captivity: push, flat, lift, shake and press
2024 Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD Gets 3.5 Miles/kWh EPA Energy Consumption
date: 2024-05-10, from: Inside EVs News
The new Long Range RWD version might even be a bit better.
https://insideevs.com/news/719143/2024-tesla-modely-epa-range-consumption/
How to document your JavaScript package
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: Deno blog
Writing good JSDocs for your JavaScript package is critical to its success. Here are some best practices for creating docs that helps your users be successful.
https://deno.com/blog/document-javascript-package
Shark Tank for Matadors comes to CSUN
date: 2024-05-10, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
The ninth annual Jeff Marine Bull Ring New Venture Competition on April 24 was a Shark Tank-style event where students from different majors and backgrounds showcased their businesses. The teams…
https://sundial.csun.edu/181835/uncategorized/shark-tank-for-matadors-comes-to-csun/
Shark Tank for Matadors comes to CSUN
date: 2024-05-10, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
The ninth annual Jeff Marine Bull Ring New Venture Competition on April 24 was a Shark Tank-style event where students from different majors and backgrounds showcased their businesses. The teams…
https://sundial.csun.edu/181835/news/shark-tank-for-matadors-comes-to-csun/
VinFast to offer VF 8 customers access to over 2,000 movies through Sony’s RIDEVU service
date: 2024-05-10, from: Electrek Feed
Vietnamese EV automaker VinFast has announced it will be the world’s first automaker to offer its drivers access to Sony’s new RIDEVU in-car streaming service. VF 8 customers in the US will gain access to Sony’s library of over 2,000 movies with the opportunity to rent and purchase premium content.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/10/vinfast-vf-8-customers-access-movies-sony-ridevu-service/
May 9, 2024
date: 2024-05-10, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-9-2024-d33
Spellbinding Cover Art for ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ Could Break Auction Record
date: 2024-05-10, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The original watercolor illustration of a young wizard boarding the Hogwarts Express was artist Thomas Taylor’s first professional commission
Elon Musk says Tesla is spending $500 million on Superchargers this year after firing entire team
date: 2024-05-10, from: Electrek Feed
Elon Musk says Tesla is going to spend over $500 million on expanding the Supercharger network this year after firing the entire charging team.
It says a lot about the reason behind the firing.
Economy is top issue for US voters
date: 2024-05-10, from: VOA News USA
The U.S. economy is one of the biggest issues for voters in the 2024 presidential contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Biden campaigned this week on new tech investments. Trump says he will roll back Biden infrastructure spending and increase oil drilling. VOA’s Scott Stearns has the story.
https://www.voanews.com/a/economy-is-top-issue-for-us-voters/7606028.html
Microsoft’s Brad Smith summoned by Homeland Security committee over ‘cascade’ of infosec failures
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Major intrusions by both China and Russia leave a lot to be answered for
The US government wants to make Microsoft’s vice chair and president, Brad Smith, the latest tech figurehead to field questions from a House committee on its recent cybersecurity failings.…
Asna Tabassum: Class of 2024 commencement address
date: 2024-05-10, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The Class of 2024 valedictorian shared the speech she hoped to deliver during the now-canceled May 10 Commencement Ceremony with Annenberg Media and the Daily Trojan.
The post Asna Tabassum: Class of 2024 commencement address appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/05/10/2024-commencement-address/
Tesla Model 3 After 6 Years And 144,000 Miles: Owner Breaks Down All The Costs
date: 2024-05-10, from: Inside EVs News
The car was bought brand new in 2018 for $54,000. Since then, the owner saved roughly $20,000 in fuel expenses.
https://insideevs.com/news/719238/tesla-model-3-cost-breakdown-6-years/
Is a Texas bullet train a magic bullet for rail?
date: 2024-05-10, from: Marketplace Morning Report
To get between Dallas and Houston, it’s an bogged down 240-mile roadtrip that can sometimes take five hours. Amtrak wants a bullet train to get the job done in 90 minutes and says it could be built within a decade — if federal funding comes through. Plus, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on who will pay to rebuild after the Baltimore bridge collapse and a preview of next week’s retail sales figures.
Support our nonprofit newsroom today and pick up a fun thank-you gift like our new Shrinkflation mini tote bag or the fan favorite KaiPA pint glass!
AOKZOE A2 Ultra is an Intel Meteor Lake-powered handheld gaming PC
date: 2024-05-10, from: Liliputing
Most of the handheld gaming PCs launched over the past few years have been powered by AMD’s Ryzen processors. But with Intel’s new Meteor Lake chips for mobile devices promising big gains in graphics performance, we’re starting to see companies opt for Intel chips in select models. Earlier this year the MSI Claw became the […]
The post AOKZOE A2 Ultra is an Intel Meteor Lake-powered handheld gaming PC appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/aokzoe-a2-ultra-is-an-intel-meteor-lake-powered-handheld-gaming-pc/
US announces a new $400 million package of weapons for Ukraine to try to hold off Russian advances
date: 2024-05-10, from: Associated Press, World News
The U.S. has announced a new $400 million package of military aid for Ukraine. It includes a wide array of missiles for air defense systems and other munitions along with armored vehicles, boats and other weapons.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-military-weapons-2a4762c405424b464598e2231f1de21a
MINISFORUM S100 pocket-sized Alder Lake-N computer is now available
date: 2024-05-10, from: Liliputing
The MINISFORUM S100 is a desktop computer that’s smaller than most smartphones. But with an Intel N100 quad-core processor based on Intel Alder Lake-N architecture, it’s a full-fledged PC with USB Type-C and Type-A ports, HDMI 2.0 and 2.5 GbE Ethernet, and support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. First unveiled during CES in January, the […]
The post MINISFORUM S100 pocket-sized Alder Lake-N computer is now available appeared first on Liliputing.
US trademark filings hint at what Lucid Motors might name its upcoming ‘Mid-Size’ EVs
date: 2024-05-10, from: Electrek Feed
Have you heard of the Lucid Earth? What about the Lucid Space or Palos? Some of these trademark filings submitted by Lucid Motors have already been submitted and abandoned, but some still appear very much in play. Could one end up being the official name of Lucid’s upcoming “Mid-Size” EVs?
https://electrek.co/2024/05/10/us-trademark-filings-hint-what-lucid-motors-might-name-mid-size-evs/
GhostStripe attack haunts self-driving cars by making them ignore road signs
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Cameras tested are specced for Baidu’s Apollo
Six boffins mostly hailing from Singapore-based universities say they can prove it’s possible to interfere with autonomous vehicles by exploiting the machines’ reliance on camera-based computer vision and cause them to not recognize road signs.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/baidu_apollo_hack/
Acura ZDX’s EPA Rating Reveals 2.6-2.7 Miles/kWh Energy Consumption
date: 2024-05-10, from: Inside EVs News
The A-Spec versions have over 300 miles of EPA range, the Type S is under 300 miles.
https://insideevs.com/news/719127/acura-zdx-epa-range-consumption/
Hubble Celebrates the 15th Anniversary of Servicing Mission 4
date: 2024-05-10, from: NASA breaking news
Fifteen years ago, human hands touched NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope for the last time. As astronauts performed finishing tasks on the telescope during its final servicing mission in May 2009, they knew they had successfully concluded one of the most challenging and ambitious series of spacewalks ever conducted. But they couldn’t have known at the […]
Inside Honda’s Plans To Phase Out Internal Combustion By 2040
date: 2024-05-10, from: Inside EVs News
Plus, Elon Musk changes his tune on Tesla Supercharging after laying everyone off, and one of Geely’s brands makes its Wall Street debut.
https://insideevs.com/news/719247/honda-tesla-zeekr-cm/
John Boston | My Major League Inter-Dimensional Newhall Team
date: 2024-05-10, from: The Signal
Over the centuries, scientists and philosophers have pondered Heaven and Hell, other dimensions. The Vikings had Valhalla, a laughably violent realm where warriors battled all day and hacked each other […]
The post John Boston | My Major League Inter-Dimensional Newhall Team appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/john-boston-my-major-league-inter-dimensional-newhall-team/
China’s SMIC sounds alarm on price wars from silicon surplus
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Competition heats up while profits cool down
Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) is the latest to warn of a potential oversupply in the global market, saying there is an increasingly fierce price war for less advanced silicon in its domestic arena.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/smic_chip_price_war/
Feds have ‘significant safety concerns’ about Ford fuel leak recall and demand answers about the fix
date: 2024-05-10, from: VOA News USA
DETROIT — Federal investigators say they have “significant safety concerns” about a Ford SUV recall repair that doesn’t fix gasoline leaks that can cause engine fires.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is demanding volumes of information from the automaker as it investigates the fix in a March 8 recall of nearly 43,000 Bronco Sport SUVs from the 2022 and 2023 model years, and Escape SUVs from 2022. All have 1.5-liter engines.
Ford says the SUVs have fuel injectors that will crack, allowing gas or vapor to leak near hot engine parts that can cause fires, fuel odors and an increased risk of injuries.
In an April 25 letter to Ford released Thursday, the agency’s Office of Defects Investigation wrote that based on its review of the recall repairs, it “believes that the remedy program does not address the root cause of the issue and does not proactively call for the replacement of defective fuel injectors prior to their failure.”
Ford’s remedy for the leaks is to add a drain tube to send the gas away from hot surfaces, and a software update to detect a pressure drop in the fuel injection system. If that happens, the software will disable the high-pressure fuel pump, reduce engine power and cut temperatures in the engine compartment. Owners also will get a “seek service” message.
But in the 11-page letter to the automaker, the agency asks Ford to detail any testing it did to verify the remedy resolved the problem and whether hardware repairs are needed. It also asks the company to explain any other remedies that were considered and any cost-benefit analysis the company did when it picked the fix.
Safety advocates have said Ford is trying to avoid the cost of replacing the fuel injectors and instead go with a cheaper fix that drains gasoline to the ground.
Ford said Thursday that it is working with the NHTSA during its investigation.
NHTSA also is asking ford to detail how the software will detect a fuel pressure drop, how much time elapses between cracking and detection, and what messages will be sent to the driver. It also asks what effect disabling the high-pressure fuel pump has on other fuel system parts, and how the SUVs will perform when the pump is disabled.
The agency also wants to know how much fuel will leak and whether the amount complies with federal environmental and safety standards. And it wants to hear Ford’s take on “its obligations (legal, ethical, environmental and other) to prevent and/or limit fuel leakage onto the roadway at any point during a vehicle’s lifespan.”
Ford has to provide information to the agency by June 21, the letter said. Depending on the results of its investigation, the agency can seek additional repairs that fix the fuel leaks.
The company has said in documents that it has reports of five under-hood fires and 14 warranty replacements of fuel injectors, but no reports of crashes or injuries.
In a previous email, Ford said it is not replacing fuel injectors because it is confident the recall repairs “will prevent the failure from occurring and protect the customer.” The new software triggers a dashboard warning light and allows customers to drive to a safe location, stop the vehicle and arrange for service, the company said. NHTSA documents filed by Ford say the problem happens only in about 1% of the SUVs.
The company also said it will extend warranty coverage for cracked fuel injectors, so owners who experience the problem will get replacements. Repairs are already available, and details of the extended warranty will be available in June, Ford said.
The recall is an extension of a 2022 recall for the same problem, according to Ford. The repair has already been tested on vehicles involved in the previous recall, and Ford said it’s not aware of any problems.
The company also said it isn’t recommending that the SUVs be parked only outdoors because there’s no evidence that fires happen when vehicles are parked, and the engines are off.
NHTSA said in documents that in the 2022 recall, which covered nearly 522,000 Bronco Sports and Escapes, Ford had the same remedy as the latest recall.
Play retro games on this giant magic mirror
date: 2024-05-10, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
This gigantic magic mirror is powered by Raspberry Pi 5. It shows you all kinds of handy info, and you can even play retro games on it.
The post Play retro games on this giant magic mirror appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/play-retro-games-on-this-giant-magic-mirror/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-10, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
WordCamp Europe 2024 – Torino, Italy | 13 – 15 June 2024.
https://europe.wordcamp.org/2024/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-10, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
SanDisk Desk Drive Review - High Capacity SSD.
https://blog.lon.tv/2024/05/10/sandisk-desk-drive-review-high-capacity-ssd/
‘Four horsemen of cyber’ look back on 2008 DoD IT breach that led to US Cyber Command
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
’This was a no sh*tter’
RSAC A malware-laced USB stick, inserted into a military laptop at a base in Afghanistan in 2008, led to what has been called the worst military breach in US history, and to the creation of the US Cyber Command.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/dod_usb_attack/
Chinese Mobile Game Asks 70 Year Olds to Use Facial Recognition to Prove They Aren’t Children
date: 2024-05-10, from: 404 Media Group
Eggy Party had to explain that it was scanning the faces of older players to prevent minors from bypassing China’s anti-addiction regulations.
Lucid’s $48,000 Midsize EV Might Be Called ‘Earth,’ Trademark Reveals
date: 2024-05-10, from: Inside EVs News
The Earth would come after the Air and the Gravity in Lucid’s lineup.
https://insideevs.com/news/719236/lucid-earth-name-trademark/
Over 18,000 Riders Rolled Out For The Ducati ‘We Ride As One’ Tour
date: 2024-05-10, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
It’s only the third year ever that Ducati groups worldwide have participated in this event, but the numbers keep growing.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/719129/ducati-we-ride-one-2024/
Maria Gutzeit | Mother’s Day: The Barbie Edition
date: 2024-05-10, from: The Signal
Many years ago, I was trying to balance bicycle racing at a national championships level, an engineering career, and a desire to contribute to the community. Frustrated that I couldn’t […]
The post Maria Gutzeit | Mother’s Day: The Barbie Edition appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/maria-gutzeit-mothers-day-the-barbie-edition/
TikTok becomes first platform to require watermaking of AI content
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The deepfake dystopia we’ve been waiting for has already arrived
TikTok intends to begin labelling AI-generated images and videos uploaded to its video-sharing service.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/tiktok_ai_watermarks/
What to Know About the Rare Severe Solar Storm Watch
date: 2024-05-10, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Central Florida could see severe storms today • The cicadas are out in St. Louis • Kenya’s president declared today a public holiday to mourn the 238 people who have died in recent flooding.
THE TOP FIVE
- NOAA issues rare severe solar storm watch
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a rare “severe geomagnetic storm watch” due to intense explosions on the sun that are spewing solar material toward Earth. This week a “large sunspot cluster” that’s about 16 times the diameter of Earth has produced at least five mass coronal ejections, huge bursts of plasma and magnetic fields that can damage satellites and disrupt electrical grids. They will start to hit Earth today and could continue to do so through the weekend. NOAA is advising operators of satellites and grids to prepare. On the plus side, the event could mean people as far south as Alabama will be able to see the Northern Lights.
NOAA
NOAA
- Biden slated to announce China tariffs on EVs and other tech
Looking ahead to next week: On Tuesday, President Biden is expected to announce new China tariffs targeting “strategic sectors” including electric vehicles, batteries, and solar cells, according to Bloomberg. Existing levies will remain in place. Biden wants to “contrast his approach” with that of former President Trump heading into the November election, Reuters added. Trump has proposed sweeping tariff hikes on China that some analysts say would boost inflation. But both candidates no doubt want to be seen as tough on China, which largely dominates in global EV sales and is a major producer of cheap solar and battery tech. The Biden administration is worried “that Chinese dominance of the global market for these essential technologies would harm the U.S. economy and national security,” as Somini Sengupta explained for The New York Times.
Earlier this week, climate envoy John Podesta sat down with his Chinese counterpart Liu Zhenmin to discuss climate issues ahead of COP29 later this year. No word yet about what came out of those talks…
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- Trump reportedly asked Big Oil execs for $1 billion to boost his
presidential campaign
And speaking of Trump, a bombshell Washington Post report details the goings on at a Mar-a-Lago dinner where the former president rubbed shoulders with oil executives and lobbyists last month. Unnamed sources say Trump told the wealthy attendees to raise $1 billion to help him take back the White House, and in return, he promised to:
- reverse the pause on LNG export terminal permits on “the first day”
- increase auctions for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and green light Alaskan oil drilling
- ditch emissions targets for car manufacturers that are projected to spur on the EV transition
Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa told the Post that “Donald Trump is selling out working families to Big Oil for campaign checks. It’s that simple.”
Heatmap’s Jeva Lange reported recently on how allies of Big Oil pumped more than $6.4 million into Trump’s joint fundraising committee in just the first three months of 2024 — on pace to surpass the $6.9 million the industry contributed in all of 2023.
- LNG producers push for priority in Panama Canal as drought eases
Water levels are rising in the lake that supplies the Panama Canal, and authorities say they expect the passage to be back to its full operating capacity by early 2025. The canal is one of the world’s biggest shipping routes, moving some $270 billion worth of cargo every year. But a record prolonged drought in the region has reduced the number of daily crossings over the last year or so. Increased rainfall means the drought is beginning to ease, and authorities will start slowly permitting more traffic over the coming months.
As Reuters reported, U.S. liquified natural gas exporters are jostling for some of those additional slots, and the canal’s administrator Ricaurte Vasquez is exploring how to reasonably accommodate them. “They have very big aspirations in which they would like to have a canal dedicated to them,” Vasquez said, “but that is not possible, since this is a canal that should be open to every type of commerce internationally.”
The canal authorities have been exploring ways to safeguard against future droughts brought by a warming climate. One suggestion involves creating a “dry canal” that would move cargo using existing infrastructure like roadways, railways, and ports. The president-elect Jose Raul Mulino this week said he would speed up permitting for building new water reservoirs by 2030.
- Atmospheric CO2 concentration sees record jump
The amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere jumped in March, marking the biggest year-over-year increase ever recorded. According to UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the global average concentration of CO2 in March was 4.7 parts per million (ppm) higher than in March last year, which is a greater leap than the previous highest increase of 4.1 ppm recorded in 2016. “We sadly continue to break records in the CO2 rise rate,” said Ralph Keeling, director of the CO2 program at the institute. “The ultimate reason is continued global growth in the consumption of fossil fuels.”
The unusual jump is due partly to the El Niño event and an “unusual dip” in March 2023. But the records show that the rate of growth is generally increasing as we continue to burn fossil fuels. Keeling added that a very high growth rate could continue for several more months. “This recent surge shows how far we still need to go to stabilize the climate system,” he said. “Stabilization will require that CO2 levels start to fall. Instead, CO2 is rising faster than ever.” Back in 2022, NOAA confirmed that modern CO2 concentration levels match those not seen since 4 million years ago, when “sea levels were between 5 and 25 meters higher than today, high enough to drown many of the world’s largest modern cities.”
THE KICKER
“Now that I’ve seen a glimpse of what’s going on in China, the Western manufacturers, particularly the American ones, don’t seem like they’re trying at all.” –Kevin Williams writing for Inside EVs about his trip to the Beijing Auto Show, where he realized just how advanced China’s EVs really are.
https://heatmap.news/climate/solar-storm-watch-noaa
MotoGP’s Riders Are Split Over the New Rules, Too
date: 2024-05-10, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
They’ve decided the sky is blue, but water might not be wet.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/719116/motogp-2027-rule-changes-motorcycle-racing-riders/
NASA Glenn Looking to Lease Facilities
date: 2024-05-10, from: NASA breaking news
As NASA advances its aviation and spaceflight missions, its facilities and infrastructure need to evolve along with them. NASA centers, including Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, must find ways to reduce the cost of maintaining assets they aren’t currently using. Toward this goal, NASA Glenn is offering opportunities to lease assets it no longer uses. […]
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-glenn-looking-to-lease-facilities/
Father of SQL says yes to NoSQL
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Sometimes your own invention just isn’t enough anymore
Interview The co-author of SQL, the standardized query language for relational databases, has come out in support of the NoSQL database movement that seeks to escape the tabular confines of the RDBMS.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/sql_cocreator_nosql/
Mail Carrier Drives for Five Hours to Hand Deliver Lost World War II-Era Letters
date: 2024-05-10, from: Smithsonian Magazine
When Alvin Gauthier found several letters written by a veteran in the 1940s, he went on a mission to return them
Chicago Is Considering Lowering Speed Limits, But Should It?
date: 2024-05-10, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Research shows that lower speed limits in dense urban areas save lives, but it’s more than just changing street signs.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/719119/chicago-considers-lowering-speed-limit/
What are airline points worth? Transportation Secretary Buttigieg wants to know.
date: 2024-05-10, from: Marketplace Morning Report
If you save up your miles or credit card points for vacations, you may be treating them a bit like savings. But unlike money in your savings account, a company can change the value of those points. Today, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joins Marketplace’s David Brancaccio to make the case for greater transparency in airline and credit card rewards programs. Also: the San Francisco Fed President on the future of interest rates.
Support our nonprofit newsroom today and pick up a fun thank-you gift like our new Shrinkflation mini tote bag or the fan favorite KaiPA pint glass!
Why Does America Provide So Much Support To Israel?
date: 2024-05-10, from: The Lever News
This week on Lever Time, we look at the forces inside the White House steering Biden’s Israel policy and hear how the war has played out on the ground in Israel and Gaza.
https://www.levernews.com/why-does-america-provide-so-much-support-to-israel/
Hubble Glimpses a Star-Forming Factory
date: 2024-05-10, from: NASA breaking news
The celestial object showcased in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is the spiral galaxy UGC 9684, which lies around 240 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Boötes. This image shows an impressive example of several classic galactic features, including a clear bar in the galaxy’s center, and a halo surrounding its […]
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-glimpses-a-star-forming-factory/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-10, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Cass Elliot’s Death Spawned a Horrible Myth. She Deserves Better.
Apple crushes creativity and its reputation in new iPad ad
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Someone in marketing may be getting fired for this
Comment “This is who we are, this is what we stand for,” said Apple co-founder Steve Jobs shortly before he relaunched the company in 1997 with its iconic Think Different marketing campaign. This week, the consumer tech giant showed the world its true colors and some were not impressed.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/apple_ipad_ad_bombs/
U.S. set to bring in China EV tariffs
date: 2024-05-10, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Shares in major Chinese electric carmakers have fallen following reports that the U.S. is preparing to bring additional tariffs against Chinese companies, specifically aimed at EVs and other sectors. Then, rat remains have been found in sliced bread in Japan, triggering recalls. And the Eurovision Song Contest, watched by 200,000,000 people worldwide, has faced controversy over Israel’s inclusion in the show.
Support our nonprofit newsroom today and pick up a fun thank-you gift like our new Shrinkflation mini tote bag or the fan favorite KaiPA pint glass!
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/u-s-set-to-bring-in-china-ev-tariffs
Segway Powersports’ Massive Growth Should Make Other Brands Worried
date: 2024-05-10, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
How does a 343-percent retail sales increase sound?
https://www.rideapart.com/news/719021/segway-q1-2024-sales-growth/
P&B: Riccardo Mori
date: 2024-05-10, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>This is the 37th edition of <em>People and Blogs</em>, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Riccardo Mori and his blog, <a href="https://morrick.me/">morrick.me</a></p>To follow this series subscribe to the newsletter. A new interview will land in your inbox every Friday. Not a fan of newsletters? No problem! You can read the interviews here on the blog or you can subscribe to the RSS feed.
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Let’s start from the basics: can you introduce yourself?
Hi everyone, I’m Riccardo Mori. When it’s time to introduce myself, I rarely deviate from what you can read in the About Me page on my website, mostly because I did my best there to condense so much information in a few paragraphs. Anyway, I’m from Italy but I permanently relocated to Spain almost 20 years ago. I’m a writer — I write about technology, design, user interfaces and usability, but I also write fiction. While I wish writing were my one and only job, the daily bread is currently provided by my work as freelance translator and localisation specialist.
My educational background is rooted in the liberal arts. During my university years, I focused on philology, Italian and English literature, and art history. While I was in uni I also did some theatre, both as an actor and also as a dramatist, but that was a brief experience. Something that lasted a bit longer were reading performances, where I used to read some of my poetry in front of a live audience. There were also specific pieces I wrote for specific performances where I was accompanied by jazz musicians. I also did some book designing work and I even worked at an advertising agency for a relatively brief period of time.
How did I end up doing what I do today? Well, my fascination with computers started at a young age, in the early 1980s (yeah, this is sort of an age reveal, haha), and towards the end of that decade I was involved with DTP (Desktop Publishing) and the Macintosh as my primary platform. I had been wanting an Apple computer for a long time, but back then those machines were really out of my and my family’s budget. Having the opportunity to use them for work was a blast. My first workstation was a Macintosh SE with a laser printer and a handheld black-and-white scanner. But I had to wait until 1993 to finally be able to have a Mac all for myself. Up until then, it was essentially PC at home, and Mac at work. Which actually was kind of cool, because I was learning a lot of things about both platforms.
So, as my technical experience grew during the 1990s, I started doing some freelance work as ‘tech support guy’ and consultant. At the same time, I was equally busy on the literary side: between the late 1980s and early 1990s I wrote a lot of poetry and short stories, and in 1993 I started Laboratorio Quillink (The Quillink Workshop), later renamed Quillink Press, a sort of small design & print centre aimed at publishing and distributing my own and other people’s works, which soon became the official brand for all my self-published material.
Since I had been studying English since the age of 4, by this time I was quite proficient and fluent in it, so I did some literary translations as well. Then I was commissioned a few technical translations for computer magazines, and eventually I started freelancing as technical translator (this was late 2000-early 2001). I was a collaborator of Macworld Italia magazine for the better part of the 2000s. Another thing I’m proud of is that in the years 2001-2010, I translated into Italian Bruce Schneier’s Crypto-Gram, free monthly newsletter providing summaries, analyses, insights, and commentary on security. By the way, I strongly recommend subscribing to it and following Schneier’s work if you care about cybersecurity and security in general (and in today’s world, you definitely should care about this stuff).
After relocating to Spain and learning Spanish, I extended my translation services to include Spanish as well. For the past 8 years or so, my translation work has for the most part shifted towards localisation, which means providing translations for software applications and interfaces; and this has its own set of challenges, as you don’t simply translate text from a language to another. You often have to work with UI constraints, and you have to translate following a specific context with its own rules, which may change from project to project.
I really hope this doesn’t come across as me bragging about all the things I’ve done… The truth is, there are people who, right from the start, have a clear idea of what they will do in their lives, and they work relentlessly towards that goal. I’m not one of those people. Sure, I knew I wanted to be a writer, and I worked hard to be a good writer, but I soon realised that writing was simply not enough to make a living. I’ve always been a curious person, obsessed with learning stuff and expanding my knowledge. All the things I’ve mentioned here — and, believe me, I left out a lot of other stuff — just reflect this kind of hunger, and also the need to find my path in life.
When you have so many interests, you end up having a lot of hobbies too, but since this is getting long already, I’ll just briefly mention photography, vintage technology and devices, typography, watches and horology in general, music and gaming. Of course I don’t have enough time to be a real nerd in any of these sectors (apart maybe from photography, which is something I cultivated since the 1980s, in film and digital format), so I’ll typically go through these in a sort of rotation, with periods where I’m more into typography, or watches, or old computers, etc. You get the idea.
What’s the story behind your blog?
I started writing online in 1998, but at first my contributions were limited to mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups. In 2001 I opened an account on LiveJournal, and kept a sort of hybrid between blog and journal for many years there. In its early years, LiveJournal was a fantastic social network, deeper and more meaningful than anything that came after, like Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr. I have ‘met’ people there I still correspond with after all these years; people whom I consider good personal friends and not just Internet acquaintances.
The years between circa 2000 and 2007 saw a real boom for the blog as a form of personal expression, and I was fascinated. So much quality writing, so many interesting subjects, so many interesting people, especially in the tech sphere. But before WordPress came about, having a personal blog meant doing almost everything by hand. Registering a domain, paying for Web hosting, and knowing your HTML (and later CSS and JavaScript) to craft your own website. I didn’t have that expertise, and I didn’t know where to begin. When Apple launched iTools — the first iteration of what would become MobileMe and then iCloud — one of the service’s features was giving each user a small personal Web space (HomePage) to publish online. My first official tech blog was published there using a mediocre Mac application called BlogWave Studio. This was around late 2004-early 2005. It was mostly in Italian.
It was bare-bones, slow to load, clunky to publish. When WordPress arrived in 2006 (if I remember well), that changed everything. I opened an account on WordPress.com (the free blogging service) and published my ‘proper’ tech blog in Italian there from late 2005 to 2010. It was called Autoritratto con mele (“Self-portrait with apples”) to mean it was about tech from the perspective of an Apple user.
To reach a wider audience, and taking advantage of how easy publishing with WordPress was, I started a tech blog in English around 2007, called The Quillink Observer. Having two separate blogs seemed a good idea at the time. I could provide articles and insights for both my Italian audience, and the wider English-speaking audience at large.
But then I started yet another blog in 2008, to specifically talk about my passion for vintage Macs, vintage software and technology in general. It was aptly called System Folder. It’s still accessible, but sadly these past years I’ve only had very little time to update it.
At this point, however, properly maintaining three main blogs was becoming a little too much work. So in 2011 I finally decided to merge Autoritratto con mele and The Quillink Observer into one website featuring articles in both English and Italian. I also decided it was time to own my identity, so I launched morrick.me by registering and paying for the domain and for the Web hosting, and using WordPress as content management system because it was the one I was most familiar with, and still one of the most flexible.
When I was ready to launch my website/blog, I tried hard to find a name that could be catchy and also could really encapsulate my identity. But the few decent names I came up with just weren’t good enough, so my blog’s title is simply my name.
As for the writing style and my main source of inspiration: it was John Gruber and his Daring Fireball blog, initially. He has certainly inspired a lot of tech bloggers and writers over the years, and I have enjoyed his production for a long time. Lately, however, I feel he has lost a lot of his initial objectivity and what I call ‘critical grip’ by being a bit too close to Apple.
At the time of writing, my main blog is 13 years old, and it has gone through three major visual redesigns. Every time I changed its look, it was mostly due to strictly technical reasons: the blog’s WordPress theme was no longer supported, the theme creator couldn’t keep up with WordPress’ updates, and things started to break. At first I tried salvaging the whole theme structure by heavily editing chunks of CSS myself, but it was too cumbersome, and ultimately too fragile. Switching to a better-maintained WordPress theme was more efficient. The one I’m currently using is a paid theme by a small company called ElmaStudio, it’s still maintained, and it’s simple enough to not interfere too much with the platform updates WordPress routinely puts out.
You can see how my blog looked in 2011, and read about other trivia (like the evolution of my identity logo) in an article I published in 2021, 10 years of morrick.me.
What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging?
I remember one tech blogger writing, many years ago, that the secret of a successful blog was to ‘show up every day, no matter what’. I appreciate those who do, those who indeed publish daily or almost daily on their blogs. But it’s just not my style. It’s not bad advice, but to me it feels like business advice. And for me, having a blog isn’t a business endeavour. I have a blog because I want to share knowledge and perspectives. It’s because I want to communicate whenever I feel I have something to say. Consequently, I only publish when I have something to say. As I wrote in a past article, for something to appear on my blog, three main conditions have to be fulfilled:
- I have something to talk about, something to say.
- I feel I have something useful to add to the conversation.
- I have time and will to commit to writing and publishing a piece.
I typically apply these rules/conditions strictly, that’s why I generally update my blog 1-3 times per month, sometimes less.
Ideas for articles may come from what’s currently being debated in tech; some important product or innovation that’s been introduced; some product I discovered and I’m satisfied with, which I feel I should review to let more people know about it; some particular user interface that’s worth talking about or criticising (be it the UI of an app, of an operating system, of an appliance, etc.); more general themes regarding technology and its impact on our lives; things like these. And I tend to do my homework before speaking. I don’t like to just talk about something because I feel I have to have an opinion on everything — like a lot of people do today, sadly.
As for the writing and the tools, my workflow is rather simple:
- The draft happens in iA Writer, where I write in Markdown. I don’t usually write a first draft, then a second, then a third and so forth. There is just one draft. I usually start writing and adjusting my sentences as I write. Then I reach a point where I feel I should leave the draft and go back to it later. Then there’s more writing and adjusting as I write. Then I re-read the whole piece, proofread, perform minor adjustments, have the Text-to-Speech voice in Mac OS read the piece aloud, make more small adjustments so that the article has a good flow, read the article again another couple of times, and when it’s in its final state…
- The article is then exported to HTML. I open it with BBEdit and remove all the superfluous markup.
- The final step is copying the article’s text with the necessary HTML entities and pasting it into MarsEdit. From there, I add categories, tags, an excerpt, and publish the piece.
Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the physical space influences your creativity?
Not really. Whenever I’m writing an article I want to publish on my blog, I typically have a clear idea of what I want to talk about and how I want to talk about it. I’ve written pretty much everywhere — though I will admit I prefer to have a quiet environment around me. I write best at home, at dead of night.
Also, the tools I favour for writing are pen and paper, and traditional computers — sometimes even vintage computers, like one of my old ThinkPads, or my 2008 black MacBook running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. These are less distracting environments than iPads and iPhones for me.
A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech stack?
Both the process of registering the website and providing Web hosting were handled by a dear friend of mine on my behalf. So I don’t exactly know where the domain is registered. Web hosting is provided by bluehost.com, which I would say it’s a pretty reliable service. I only experienced a couple of hiccups in thirteen years. And as mentioned above, I use WordPress as CMS.
Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do anything differently?
No, not really. Maybe the only thing I would do differently would be to avoid free solutions and avoid publishing on Web spaces I don’t own. I would start immediately with having a personal website, hosting, etc. Which is the exact piece of advice I would give to anyone who wants to start seriously blogging today. Use free solutions if you just want to publish something online occasionally and don’t care much about owning your identity. I still think WordPress is the best option because the company has reached a ‘too big to fail’ level by now.
Financial question since the web is obsessed with money: how much does it cost to run your blog? Is it just a cost or does it generate some revenue? And what’s your position on people monetising personal blogs?
I currently have to pay for two registered domains, and the Web hosting (which is shared between the two). The whole operation costs me about €100-120 annually. My blog doesn’t generate revenue, apart from the occasional donation, and what little I make by selling my two books of short stories (advertised in the footer of my website). Since I have a job, I don’t need to monetise my blog. Some people told me I should do it anyway, because ‘you never know’, but I currently see no way to monetise it apart from resorting to a) advertising, and b) putting some content behind a paywall. And I hate both options.
I hate what advertising has become online. I hate that today if you want a great browsing experience, you need to install all kinds of ad-blockers. And I don’t want to subject my readers to all that crap. You can visit my website with all blockers and trackers disabled, there’s pretty much nothing going on in the background apart from some basic WordPress analytics.
And since my blog is not a news outlet and I don’t have to pay anyone, putting what I write behind a paywall makes no sense to me. I don’t want to divide my audience into a privileged tier and a free-for-all tier. Nor do I want to create special content for ‘patrons’ that is invisible to everyone else.
Time ago I tried a new spin on a consolidated formula, and I called that the Small Fish sponsorship. As I mention on the relevant page of my website:
…The spirit behind this is simple: I’m (still) a small fish compared to other prominent tech-oriented blogs and websites, and I can’t offer their kind of traffic or visibility. Thus what I ask in return is relatively modest compared to those blogs. [€450 for a week-long slot] Still, if a sponsor has a particularly compelling product to offer, what I can provide is potentially more than just a mention and a thank you.
It hasn’t had much of a success, so far, but I’m not complaining. I thought it was an option worth offering. For now, I’m happy with the way things are: I provide free content, and if you really appreciate something I wrote, or you found it particularly useful or illuminating, you can send a donation or purchase my books — they’re only $1.99 each.
Do I like people monetising their blogs and content? I guess it depends on how they do it, what they offer, the quality of such content, and so forth. As a reader, I tend to favour those creators who find a way to monetise their content that doesn’t influence the content itself. I mean, finding sponsors is great, but when your production is constantly sponsored, I start wondering about your objectivity. I generally appreciate those creators who manage to monetise what they do, what they write, by clearly separating the content from the money. An easy example: those who offer cool merchandise as a way to support them. Perhaps it’s not the greatest way to make money, but if you write tech reviews and you have a little e-store with t-shirts, mugs, desk accessories, etc., it’s very likely that I won’t question your integrity when I read the stuff you publish.
Another way to monetise content that’s quite popular today is to use Patreon. It’s not a bad idea, but again, it depends on how the creator embeds it in their production. Some people use it in its simplest form: Support me on Patreon. There are no particular perks, just different tiers for support, from the bare minimum to fan-level support. Others do the same, but also offer some perks if you pick higher tiers of patronage. I’m fine with these options. What I don’t like is using Patreon as a way to basically paywall your content. Like those ‘free’ apps you download from the App Store, which are barely functional in their free default state, and start being useful when you either make an in-app purchase or, worse, activate a subscription.
If 90% of what you offer is a ‘secret’ unless people become patrons, I can’t even evaluate how good (or bad) your stuff is without at least paying you once (by becoming a patron for one month, then cancelling in case I don’t like what I see).
There isn’t anyone in particular I’m supporting in the blog community on a regular basis. But I have shown support for different people in different ways at different times. By purchasing something via an affiliate link. By purchasing an app if the blogger in question is also a developer. By sending donations in difficult moments when the blogger specifically asked for it. By purchasing some merchandise. You get the idea.
Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out? And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next?
Over the years, I’ve become increasingly selective with whom I read. There are a few prominent names in this short list, and chances are you already know them or they’ve already been mentioned by people you’ve previously interviewed. Anyway, here goes:
- Nick Heer’s Pixel Envy is a great read. I’ve been following Nick for a long time now. While at first his blog and style resembled John Gruber’s a bit too closely, over time he has found his voice, and the overall quality of his blog has kept increasing. Very good tech commentary.
- Michael Tsai’s blog is another must-read. He has perfected the art of presenting tech news and assembling several different quotes from other writers as a way to offer you all these perspectives and points of view on any given subject. Sometimes he’ll chime in, too, but not always. This way you have a general idea of how the debate is shaping up, and you can make up your own mind without being influenced or pushed towards a particular point of view.
Other blogs I enjoy:
- Mike Rockwell’s Initial Charge. No bells and whistles, just straight honest thoughts.
- SchwarzTech by Eric Schwarz, another tech veteran.
- Howard Oakley’s The Eclectic Light Company. I’ve been reading Mr Oakley since the days of computer magazines; he used to write articles for MacUser UK, Personal Computer World, Mac Format. His blog has two main subjects: art, and the Mac platform. His articles usually tackle technical (sometimes very technical) aspects of Mac OS and are quite informative.
- Jesper’s Take blog. He is such a private person, and his blog has no personal info about him, so I only know him as Jesper. But his blog is always a refreshing read. I’ve been reading him for years and I can’t remember a time when I disagreed with anything he said.
- Revert to Saved, by Craig Grannell. A prolific tech writer who contributes to sites such as Wired, TechRadar, Stuff, Wireframe. Another enjoyable read.
- Inessential by Brent Simmons. Brent is the developer of NetNewsWire, the best RSS feed reader for Mac. He doesn’t post often on his blog, but I always like when he does.
- Joe Cieplinski’s blog. Joe is a developer and a musician, and a great guy. He used to write more on his blog and I always loved to read his insights and points of view on Apple and tech in general. I still think his blog is worth bookmarking despite the scarce updates.
- The only blog in Italian I’m currently reading on a fairly regular basis is QuickLoox by my friend Lucio Bragagnolo. And I don’t just read him because he’s a friend, but because he’s a very smart person and I enjoy reading his insights.
Picking a person from this list for your next interview is hard, as I’m tempted to just tell you to try contacting them all. I’d give precedence to Nick Heer, Michael Tsai and Lucio Bragagnolo if you haven’t interviewed them already. They’re all busy people, but they’re also approachable and amiable, so perhaps they’ll play along.
Final question: is there anything you want to share with us?
I’ll start with a little shameless self-promotion: I’ve written two books of short stories, which I call ‘Minigrooves’. They’re available on Apple’s Books Store and on the Amazon Kindle Store.
I’m currently working on a science-fiction novel called Low Fidelity, a project I started so many years ago. I’ve been working on it for a long time, not because it’s a particularly monumental work (although it’ll be comprised of more than one book), but because I’ve alternated periods of intense inspiration and periods of low tide where life and my main job took extreme precedence over it. You can read a bit more about Low Fidelity on this page at the Crosslines/Low Fidelity website. (That website is a bit old and may contain outdated information, so navigate the rest of it at your risk, haha).
With all this out of the way, here’s a brief list of books I recommend. I won’t add any commentary, because otherwise this interview would never end. It’s enough to say that these are all good food for the mind.
Fiction:
- I’d recommend anything by Neal Stephenson, but I have a soft spot for his early works, like Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, and Cryptonomicon.
- Truman Capote, The Complete Stories. Penguin Books have recently published this collection of short stories, and I loved it. Usually Capote gets recommended for his most famous works, like In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, or maybe Other Voices, Other Rooms. But with these short stories you really feel how good of a storyteller he was.
Non-fiction:
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan
- Jaron Lanier, You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto
- George Orwell, Essays
- Neal Stephenson, In the Beginning… Was the Command Line
- Rick Edwards & Dr Michael Brooks, Hollywood Wants to Kill You – The Peculiar Science of Death in the Movies (Despite the grim title, this is a really entertaining, smart, and nerdy book).
While I may listen to specific podcast episodes if they come strongly recommended, I’m currently not subscribed to any podcast. To be honest, I don’t particularly like the medium, but it’s mostly a ‘me’ problem. There are people who are capable of listening to podcasts while doing something else. I can do that with music, but with the spoken word, it gets complicated, especially for someone like me who has to read and write a lot for work.
To properly enjoy a podcast, I would have to just sit and listen to it. And many podcasts — particularly tech-oriented ones — are made of episodes lasting well over one hour and a half each. I just don’t have the time. I also think that it’s a bit disrespectful to commandeer the audience’s time by producing extremely long podcast episodes.
I shall end my response and this interview with a short list of games that I’ve found to be unique in one way or another. Everyone’s taste in games is different, so I’ll just offer their titles and people can check them out on their preferred platform (Steam, Epic Games, etc.). Not all of these are available for the Mac, unfortunately:
- Half-Life 2 (an oldie but an evergreen title)
- The BioShock franchise
- The Dishonored franchise
- The Long Dark
- INFRA↘︎
- Disco Elysium
- SIGNALIS
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Pacific Drive
- All the Rusty Lake puzzle games
- Alien: Isolation
Thank you, Manuel, for contacting me and giving me the opportunity to talk about myself and share all this information. All the best, and let’s keep in touch!
This was the 37th edition of People and Blogs. Hope you enjoyed this interview with Riccardo. Make sure to follow his blog (RSS) and get in touch with him if you have any questions.
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Polaris Just Patented a UTV Tank And You’re Gonna Want to See It
date: 2024-05-10, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/719125/polaris-utv-tank-tracked-side-by-side-patent/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-10, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
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https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/10/24153421/openai-chatgpt-google-search-competitor-service-io
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For those who think a Honda Gold Wing is just too small.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/719020/gwm-8cylinder-boxer-tourer/
Did IBM make a $6.4 billion blunder by buying HashiCorp?
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
HashiCorp’s programs are ideal fit for IBM/Red Hat’s software lines, but why buy the company when the software’s free and open?
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https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/opinion_column_ibm_hashicorp/
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One, two, three, four is all you need to pass that door
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https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/ncsc_entry_code/
Trump’s price for selling the planet: $1 billion
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Bribery
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/with-trump-everythings-for-sale
I told Halle Berry where to go during a programming gig in LA
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https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/on_call/
Ford Mustang Mach-E Owner After 25,000 Miles: No Issues Except For Winter Range Drop
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https://insideevs.com/news/719174/ford-mustang-mach-e-25000-miles-owner-review-video/
Today in SCV History (May 10)
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https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-may-10/
Italy’s climate super computer, Cassandra, to combine HPC with AI
date: 2024-05-10, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
CPU-heavy big iron boasts Intel’s HBM-packed Xeons and a tiny complement of Nvidia H100s
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https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/10/italian_climate_supercomputer/
Webcurios 10/05/24
date: 2024-05-10, from: Web Curios blog
Reading Time: 36 minutes SUMMER HAS COME TO LONDON! Or, more accurately, it is not currently raining and that is good enough for me. I would imagine that you’re all excitedly preparing your spangly pants and protest songs in anticipation of Eurovision, so I will keep this intro short and encourage you to dive right in, as otherwise there’s…https://webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-10-05-24/
May 9, 2024
date: 2024-05-10, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
Last night, 163 Democratic representatives joined 196 Republicans to stop far-right Republicans from removing House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene led the effort to remove Johnson, but her motion received only 43 votes: 32 Democrats and 11 Republicans. Twenty-eight representatives either did not vote or voted present.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-9-2024
Scores of sick, starving pelicans found along California coast
date: 2024-05-10, from: VOA News USA
NEWPORT BEACH, California — Scores of sick and starving pelicans have been found in coastal California communities in recent weeks and many others have died.
Lifeguards spotted a cluster of two dozen sick pelicans earlier this week on a pier in coastal Newport Beach and called in wildlife experts to assist.
Debbie McGuire, executive director of the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, said the birds are the latest group that they’ve tried to save after taking in more than 100 other pelicans that were anemic, dehydrated and weighing only half of what they should.
“They are starving to death and if we don’t get them into care, they will die,” McGuire said. “It really is a crisis.”
It is not immediately clear what is sickening the birds. Some wildlife experts noted the pelicans are malnourished even though marine life abounds off the Pacific Coast.
Bird Rescue, which runs two wildlife centers in Northern and Southern California, reported 110 sick pelicans in the past three weeks, many entangled in fishing line or hooks. A similar event occurred in 2022, the group said.
Wildlife organizations are focused on caring for the birds until they can be released back into the wild.
Lithuania holds a presidential vote as anxieties rise in the Baltics over Russia and war in Ukraine
date: 2024-05-10, from: Associated Press, World News
Lithuania is holding a presidential election on Sunday at a time when Russian gains on the battlefield in Ukraine are fueling greater fears across all of Europe about Moscow’s intentions.
Other uses of a car
date: 2024-05-10, from: Ed Summers blog, Inkdroid
He had come from a country where mathematics and mechanics are natural traits. Cars were never destroyed. Parts of them were carried across a village and readapted into a sewing machine or water pump. The backseat of a Ford was reupholstered and became a sofa. Most people in his village were more likely to carry a spanner or screwdriver than a pencil. A car’s irrelevant parts thus entered a grandfather clock or irrigation pulley or the spinning mechanism of an office chair. Antidotes to mechanized disaster were easily found. One cooled an overheating car engine not with new rubber hoses but by scooping up cow shit and patting it around the condenser. What he saw in England was a surfeit of parts that would keep the continent of India going for two hundred years. (Ondaatje, 1993, p. 188)
This description of the uses of a car, apart from transportation, really spoke to me about how objects can overcome their intended use, and have an unexpected second (or third) act, when you add human care and ingenuity into the mix. Necessity is the mother of reinvention.
For no easy to articulate reason I’ve found myself rereading Michael Ondaatje recently. His work was very important to me in my 20s, I think because it was in vogue at the time, after he won the Booker Prize for The English Patient, and it was turned into a film (which won 9 Oscars).
He was born in Sri Lanka, spent his teenage years in England, and moved to Toronto to study, where he finally settled. I was kind of wandering in my 20s too, and I’m sure his writing appealed to me because it spoke to that keen awareness of new places, being uprooted, and putting down roots as best you could.
I’ve also found myself listening to some interviews with him that are available on the web. In many ways these feel like a luxury now, the web was still busy being born in the early 1990s. Hearing him speak, and read from his work, lends a great deal of richness and depth to his texts.
I think the thing I most appreciate about his novels are their poetic quality (he’s an accomplished poet as well). You can read them slowly. The chapters are sized perfectly, often being broken up into shorter segments, that then divide into the paragraphs within. I’m not in rush to finish, or get to The End.
His stories are told in intense, fluid detail, but in fragments that get stuck together like a collage, with intentional gaps between them. These narrative gaps invite you in to connect them–to participate in the telling of the story. Ondaatje talks about the importance of collage in some of his interviews. He famously starts with a very specific scene or moment, and then grows the larger structure from it, like a generative seed.
Another thing that came across in his interviews is how important archival research is to his writing. He goes deep learning about a particular topic, time, place of profession, which then infuses his story. This of course appeals more to me now, after I’ve had a career working in libraries and archives. Ondaatje texts have a way of communicating this strange characteristic of surviving documents, and even fragments of documents, to transport and change us (Harris, 2002 ; Levy, 2001). But somehow he doesn’t do this by talking about documents explicitly. He enacts them, and puts them to work, instead.
I lost track of him after 2000, maybe because I started reading less fiction then, and became absorbed with work, which is something I regret a bit. Note: keep fiction in your life. I did read Anil’s Ghost recently, and I’ve got The Cat’s Table waiting on the top of the pile on my bedside table. Anil’s Ghost is/was amazing. The central character is a forensic pathologist. It’s about evidence, and political violence, and love, and work, and … so many things.
References
https://inkdroid.org/2024/05/10/repair/
Cate Boys Basketball Head Coach Andy Gil Resigns
date: 2024-05-10, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Andy Gil led the Cate basketball program to the CIF playoffs seven times.
The post Cate Boys Basketball Head Coach Andy Gil Resigns appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/cate-boys-basketball-coach-andy-gil-resigns/
The Anti-Defamation League and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law file complaint against Occidental, alleging antisemitism
date: 2024-05-10, from: The Occidental News (Occidental College Student Newspaper)
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (Brandeis Center) announced they filed a complaint with the U.S. Dept of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against Occidental College in a May 9 press release. The complaint claims that Occidental violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act […]
The post The Anti-Defamation League and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law file complaint against Occidental, alleging antisemitism appeared first on The Occidental.
US Senate passes bill improving air safety, customer service
date: 2024-05-10, from: VOA News USA
washington — The Senate has passed a $105 billion bill designed to improve air safety and customer service for air travelers, a day before the law governing the Federal Aviation Administration expires.
The bipartisan bill, which comes after a series of close calls between planes at the nation’s airports, would boost the number of air traffic controllers, improve safety standards and make it easier for customers to get refunds after flights are delayed or canceled.
The bill passed the Senate 88-4. The legislation now goes to the House, which is out of session until next week. The Senate is considering a one-week extension that would give the House time to pass the bill while ensuring the FAA isn’t forced to furlough around 3,600 FAA employees.
The bill stalled for several days this week after senators from Virginia and Maryland objected to a provision that would allow an additional 10 flights a day to and from the heavily trafficked Reagan Washington National Airport. Other senators have tried to add unrelated provisions, as well, seeing it as a prime chance to enact their legislative priorities.
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called a vote Thursday evening after it became clear that senators would not be able to agree on amendments to the bill before it expires. After the bill passed, leaders in both parties were still working out how to pass an extension and ensure the law does not expire on Friday. The House passed a one-week extension earlier this week.
The FAA has been under scrutiny since it approved Boeing jets that were involved in two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019. The Senate legislation would govern FAA operations for the next five years and put several new safety standards in place.
The bill would increase the number of air traffic controllers and require the FAA to use new technology designed to prevent collisions between planes on runways. It would require new airline planes to have cockpit voice recorders capable of saving 25 hours of audio, up from the current two hours, to help investigators.
It would also try to improve customer service for travelers by requiring airlines to pay a refund to customers for flight delays — three hours for a domestic flight and six for an international one.
In addition, the bill would prohibit airlines from charging extra for families to sit together and triple the maximum fines for airlines that violate consumer laws. And it would require the Transportation Department to create a “dashboard” so consumers can compare seat sizes on different airlines.
The FAA says that if the law expires on Friday, the 3,600 employees would be furloughed without a guarantee of back pay starting at midnight. The agency would also be unable to collect daily airport fees that help pay for operations, and ongoing airport improvements would come to a halt.
No one in “safety critical” positions — such as air traffic controllers — would be affected if the deadline is missed, the FAA says, and the safety of the flying public would not be at risk.
Apple (like big tech is) primed to stumble.
date: 2024-05-10, from: Om Malik blog
This past week, Apple released an ad to support the new iPads and highlight their extreme thinness. The advertisement showed creativity being crushed into the iPad. The ad, called Crush, was universally panned by everyone on social media. Apple eventually apologized. The Crush-ad masked the actual product announcement, and the company found itself on the back foot instead. The backlash highlighted Apple’s dilemma, succinctly summed up …
https://om.co/2024/05/09/apple-is-primed-to-stumble/
Saugus High’s Caitlyn Park Named 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholar
date: 2024-05-10, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The William S. Hart Union High School District is thrilled to announce that Caitlyn Park, a senior at Saugus High School, has been named a 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholar
https://scvnews.com/saugus-highs-caitlyn-park-named-2024-u-s-presidential-scholar/
Marsha McLean | Igniting Change with Bike to Work Challenge
date: 2024-05-10, from: SCV New (TV Station)
As spring blooms, it brings with it a renewed sense of opportunity to embrace the fresh air and physical activity that comes with the season
https://scvnews.com/marsha-mclean-igniting-change-with-bike-to-work-challenge/
Haiku isn’t a BeOS successor anymore
date: 2024-05-10, from: OS News
So I got accepted into GSoC again! I’m going to be working on WebKit2. But what is WebKit2, or even WebKit, for that matter? Well, WebPositive uses WebKit to render its web pages. Currently, we use the WebKitLegacy API to communicate with WebKit. It would be nice to switch to the newer version: WebKit2. However, our port of WebKit2 still needs work. At present, it has lost its ability to even render any webpage at all! So, getting WebKit2 to work will be the primary goal of my GSoC project. If there’s time left, I might be able to integrate it into WebPositive. The advantages WebKit2 has for WebPositive will be mostly invisible to end-users. The code will hopefully be more maintainable than the deprecated WebKitLegacy and we’ll get access to several newer APIs such as the ad-blocking API. Perhaps the most visible change: problems in one part of the code should be less likely to crash the whole browser. ↫ Zardshard on the Haiku website The current state of WebPositive, the only native Haiku web browser, is emblematic of why I have personally lost all interest in the successor to what is still my favourite operating system of all time. Haiku OS supports several browsers, and if you read any forum post about which browser to use, or watch any of the enthusiastic Haiku videos by the insanely awesome Action Retro, they’ll all advise you to use any of the non-native Qt or GTK browsers instead – because WebPositive just can’t compete with the ported, non-native browsers. Since everybody using Haiku is opting to use the better ported browsers, WebPositive has fallen even more by the wayside; now it has to play catch-up, and by the time WebKit2 has been properly ported and bug-tested, and has been integrated into WebPositive, which then has to be bug-tested as well, we’re going to be months, if not years, down the line. In the meantime, the ported browsers will have been regularly updated with newer, better versions. Unless the focus for the single most important application of any general purpose desktop operating system is placed solely on WebPositive, it simply won’t be able to keep up with the ported browsers. Why even work on WebPositive at all at that point? It’s not like anyone is using it, so why bother? And this highlights a problem for people like me, who prefer to have native Haiku applications instead of ports of software I can already run elsewhere. As a former BeOS user, I am not interested in a vessel for running Qt applications that I can, in all likelihood, run better on Linux. Why would I go through the trouble of assembling a machine with hardware Haiku supports, only to then run the same applications I’m already running on Fedora or OpenBSD, but worse? If you browse through Haiku Depot today, it feels like the vast majority of modern, maintained, and working software are ports of Qt (and GTK) software we already know and love from other, more mature, more stable, more usable, and more feature-rich platforms. Haiku has chosen to pour a lot of energy and manpower into becoming an operating system designed to run ported, often Qt, applications, but the downside to that is that new and maintained native Haiku applications, that play to the strengths of the platform, are few and far between. A Haiku developer once told me that real people use Haiku every day, and they need real applications, and ported applications make it possible for not only Haiku developers themselves, but also normal users, to run and use Haiku every day. This is a valid argument that I fully understand and agree with – it just means Haiku isn’t for me. And while that’s sad for me, it’s entirely fine. Haiku’s developers have chosen to focus on building a daily-drivable operating system with tons of ported applications, instead of an ideologically pure operating system you can’t really use because it only has like 4 native applications and nothing else. And that’s a valid, smart, and practical choice that I fully respect and understand, even if it means Haiku isn’t really a BeOS successor anymore.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139634/haiku-isnt-a-beos-successor-anymore/
‘Deja Vu All Over Again’
date: 2024-05-10, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Thousands of students demonstrating in support of Palestinians is in many ways a painful reminder of the 1960s and ’70s.
The post ‘Deja Vu All Over Again’ appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/deja-vu-all-over-again/
Building Lagrange on Raspberry Pi OS
date: 2024-05-10, from: Robert’s Ramblings
These are my quick notes on building the Lagrange Gemini browser on Raspberry Pi OS. They are based on instructions I found at <gemini://home.gegeweb.org/install_lagrange_linux.gmi>. These are in French and I don’t speak or read French. My loss. The author kindly provided the specific command sequence in shell that I could read those. That was all I needed. When I read the site today I had to click through an expired certificate. That’s why I think it is a good idea to capture the instructions here for the next time I need them. I made single change to his instructions. I have cloned the repository from https://github.com/skyjake/lagrange.
- Install the programs and libraries in Raspberry Pi OS to build Lagrange
- Create a directory to hold the repository, then change into it
- Clone the repository
- Add a “build” directory to the repository and change into it
- Run “cmake” to build the release
- Run “make” in the build directory and install
- Test it out.
When you clone the repository you want to clone recursively and get the release branch. Below is a transcript of the commands I typed in my shell to build Lagrange on my Raspberry Pi 4.
sudo apt install build-essential cmake \
libsdl2-dev libssl-dev libpcre3-dev \
zlib1g-dev libunistring-dev git
mkdir -p src/github.com/skyjake && cd src/github.com/skyjake
git clone --recursive --branch release git@github.com:skyjake/lagrange.git
mkdir -p lagrange/build && lagrange/build
cmake ../ -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
sudo make install
lagrange &That’s about it. It worked without a hitch. I’d like to thank Gérald Niel who I think created the page on gegeweb.org. I attempted to leave a thank you via the web form but couldn’t get past the spam screener since I didn’t understand the instructions. C’est la vie. …
https://rsdoiel.github.io/blog/2024/05/10/building-lagrange-on-pi-os.html
A quick review of Raspberry Pi Connect
date: 2024-05-10, from: Robert’s Ramblings
The Raspberry Pi company has created a nice way to share a Pi Desktop. It is called Raspberry Pi Connect. It is built on the peer-to-peer capability of modern web browsers using WebRTC. The connect service requires a Raspberry Pi 4, Raspberry Pi 400 or Raspberry Pi 5 running the Wayland display server and Bookworm release of Raspberry Pi OS.
When I read the announcement I wondered, why create Raspberry Pi Connect? RealVNC has works fine. RealVNC even has a service to manage your RealVNC setups.
I think the answer has three parts. First it gives us another option for sharing a Pi Desktop. Second it is a chance to make things easier to use. Third if you can share a desktop using WebRTC then you can also provide additional services.
For me the real motivator is ease of use. In the past when I’ve used RealVNC between two private networks I’ve had to setup SSH tunneling. Not unmanageable but certainly not trivial. I think this is where Raspberry Pi Connect shines. Setting up sharing is a three step process.
- Start up your Pi desktop, install the software
- Create a Raspberry Pi Connect account and register your Pi with the service
- On another machine point your web browser at the URL for Raspberry Pi connect and press the connect button …
https://rsdoiel.github.io/blog/2024/05/10/quick-review-rpi-connect.html
Close Encounter with a Grey Whale at Santa Barbara Harbor
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
‘This guy was so cool,’ said Quincy Briscoe of meeting a big whale in a small boat.
The post Close Encounter with a Grey Whale at Santa Barbara Harbor appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/close-encounter-with-a-grey-whale-at-santa-barbara-harbor/
Gender in a Changing World
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Learn more about the unique and individual meanings of gender with Pacific Pride Foundation at its first “Understanding Gender and Pronouns” training on May 13.
The post Gender in a Changing World appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/gender-in-a-changing-world/
SCV Water Announces 2024 Gladbach Scholarship Recipient
date: 2024-05-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
SCV Water, in partnership with the Association of California Water Agencies, is proud to announce that the 2024 Edward G. “Jerry” Gladbach Scholarship has been awarded to California State University, San Marcos student Krisha Pedraza.
https://scvnews.com/scv-water-announces-2024-gladbach-scholarship-recipient/
BP Wants To Snag Abandoned Tesla Supercharger Sites
date: 2024-05-09, from: Inside EVs News
Tesla suddenly scaled back its EV charging efforts. The competition is swooping in.
https://insideevs.com/news/719147/bp-charging-tesla-supercharger-locations/
President Biden cheers Las Vegas Aces and women’s basketball
date: 2024-05-09, from: VOA News USA
washington — President Joe Biden welcomed the reigning WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces to the White House on Thursday, celebrating what he called a “banner year” for women’s basketball.
“It matters to girls and women, finally seeing themselves represented,” Biden said during the celebration held in the East Room of the White House. “It matters to all Americans. That’s why as a nation, we need to support women’s sports.”
Both he and Vice President Kamala Harris were given the customary jerseys from the winning team. As he held his up, Biden yelled, “Put me in Coach, I’m ready to play!”
In her own remarks, Harris praised the team for playing with “such joy” and being role models both on and off the basketball court.
“You simply inspire people across our nation and around the world,” Harris said.
The Las Vegas Aces defeated the New York Liberty in the WNBA championship last October to win their second consecutive WNBA title. As he began his remarks, Biden made a not-so-veiled reference to his own reelection prospects, noting, “I kind of like that back-to-back stuff.”
Rare ‘Geomagnetic Storm’ Could Affect Communications and Power Grid Starting Friday, NOAA Warns
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The severe storm is also expected to create “spectacular displays of aurora,” the National Weather Service states.
The post Rare ‘Geomagnetic Storm’ Could Affect Communications and Power Grid Starting Friday, NOAA Warns appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Abortion debate flares up ahead of election
date: 2024-05-09, from: VOA News USA
While both the Biden and Trump campaigns share their messaging on abortion, VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports on how the issue of reproductive rights is faring in the minds of citizens and lawmakers ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
https://www.voanews.com/a/abortion-debate-flares-up-ahead-of-election/7605087.html
Spencer Frey Streamlines the Sponsorship Process
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
UC Santa Barbara alum is at the helm of sponsorship sales platform SponsorPitch.
The post Spencer Frey Streamlines the Sponsorship Process appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/spencer-frey-streamlines-the-sponsorship-process/
SCV Community Leaders Awarded Nextdoor Foundation Microgrants
date: 2024-05-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Nextdoor Kind Foundation announced Thursday the recipients of 100 microgrants awarded to community leaders in Los Angeles County, including four from Santa Clarita, to fund initiatives that uplift their neighborhoods
https://scvnews.com/scv-community-leaders-awarded-nextdoor-foundation-microgrants/
And it begins. OpenAI mulls NSFW AI model output
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
That’s a new twist on open, then
OpenAI released model safety guidance on Wednesday while acknowledging that it’s looking into how to support the creation of content that’s NSFW, or “not safe for work.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/openai_model_nsfw/
Sheriff’s Office Congratulates the 54th Annual Guerry Award Recipients
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara, Calif. – The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office would like to congratulate two Sheriff’s employees who were among
The post Sheriff’s Office Congratulates the 54th Annual Guerry Award Recipients appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Isla Vista Community Services District to Host Parking & Transportation Town Hall
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Isla Vista, CA – Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD) is hosting a Parking & Transportation Town Hall on Wednesday,
The post Isla Vista Community Services District to Host Parking & Transportation Town Hall appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Las ovejas de pastoreo regresan a los parques de Santa Bárbara antes de la temporada de incendios forestales
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA, CA – 9 de mayo de 2024 Los Departamentos de Parques y Actividades Recreativas y de Bomberos de
The post Las ovejas de pastoreo regresan a los parques de Santa Bárbara antes de la temporada de incendios forestales appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Grazing Sheep Return to Santa Barbara Parks Ahead of Wildfire Season
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA, CA – May 9, 2024 The City of Santa Barbara’s Parks and Recreation and Fire Departments are deploying
The post Grazing Sheep Return to Santa Barbara Parks Ahead of Wildfire Season appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Stack Overflow simply bans folks who don’t want their advice used to train AI
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Give us an opt-out button or give us (temporary) account death!
Stack Overflow users are revolting against the Q&A site’s partnership with OpenAI, announcing they’d rather remove their posts and sacrifice their reputation scores than have their submissions used to train ChatGPT. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/stack_overflow_banning_users_who/
ASG elections are bridging the gap between students and the student body
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Canyons News (COC student paper)
The time for election season kicks in as new candidates for College…
The post ASG elections are bridging the gap between students and the student body appeared first on Canyons News.
https://canyonsnews.com/asg-elections-are-bridging-the-gap-between-students-and-the-student-body/
May 16: SCV Water Public Outreach, Legislation Committee Meeting
date: 2024-05-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency’s Public Outreach and Legislation Committee is holding an in-person meeting Thursday, May 16, at 5:30 p.m
https://scvnews.com/may-16-scv-water-public-outreach-legislation-committee-meeting-2/
Locks of Beethoven’s Hair Are Unraveling the Mysteries of His Deafness and Illnesses
date: 2024-05-09, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Researchers found high levels of lead, mercury and arsenic in the German composer’s hair, which may help explain some of his many ailments
The Anxiety Behind America’s New Economic Order
date: 2024-05-09, from: Heatmap News
The Scene
On Thursday, the top climate diplomats from the world’s two most polluting countries are meeting in Washington, D.C. John Podesta, America’s climate envoy, and Liu Zhenmin, China’s climate envoy, will hold their first formal session and lay the groundwork for the United Nations climate conference in Azerbaijan later this year. They will discuss, among other topics, boosting climate finance and making further cuts to methane emissions, according to Axios.
Both men are new to their posts, with their predecessors John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua having each stepped down in the past year. That could prove important. Kerry and Xie could draw on their long personal relationship in their negotiations: During the UN climate conference in Glasgow in 2021, their friendliness seemed to hold the talks together.
Now, Liu and Podesta, who is also overseeing the Inflation Reduction Act’s implementation, must forge a new bond. And they must do so in an environment where vastly every climate-related issue — electric vehicles, coal power, industrial potency, and trade — has gotten caught up in the deteriorating relationship between the two superpowers.
The Backdrop
Does it make sense to talk about the economy, climate change, and national security as separate issues anymore? Some of the same issues that have complicated America and China’s political and economic relationship — the former’s rising tariffs, the latter’s alleged “overcapacity” — are inextricable from their climate policies. In a way, the questions that Podesta and Liu will confront all come down to one idea: What kind of world can we all live in?
I recently attended the Hewlett Foundation’s Common Sense conference outside San Francisco, a gathering of thinkers, scholars, and journalists from the right and left who are trying to find a “post-neoliberal” ideology, something to replace the dogma of free trade and unfettered markets that has reigned since the days of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
Rana Foroohar of the FT noted last year that the Hewlett conference aims to become a kind of post-neoliberal “Mount Pelerin Society,” the midcentury ensemble of economists, philosophers, historians, and business leaders who first plotted what later became neoliberalism. I’m not sure about that — there weren’t too many business leaders in California last month, and not every attendee adhered to the post-neoliberal school of thought — but it was a fascinating few days of discussion, and some big names, including Rep. Ro Khanna and Sen. Chris Murphy, appeared onstage. (I was there to moderate a climate policy panel.)
I agree with the central thesis, though: Look around and you can see a new school of political and economic thought come into view. At its best, this post-neoliberal ideology sees markets as one tool of many to organize prosperity and human effort. Its adherents believe that markets are created and organized by governments — and that, therefore, governments have a right to shape markets to achieve more societally harmonious ends.
Under Biden, the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department have investigated tech companies and blocked high-profile corporate mergers, a trend that could continue under Trump. There is an emerging bipartisan interest in industrial policy, even if Democrats and Republicans can’t always agree on how it should be used. Biden is the most pro-labor president in a generation, and even a few Republicans now sympathize with unions. (Perhaps most importantly, last month the United Auto Workers successfully organized a Volkswagen factory in the right-to-work South.) Lawmakers and officials talk about the economy not as a self-balancing marvel, but as a set of interlaced supply chains and industrial processes, which can sometimes be managed at the source. The government can distribute vaccines, subsidize solar panels, and contract for the production of heat pumps.
But at its worst, this new ideology seeks to seed the economy with protectionist institutions in the name of political expediency. Unconstrained, such a tendency could, for instance, degrade the American car industry, filling the roads with bloated and expensive gas guzzlers. It could make housing and healthcare even more expensive for Americans while justifying new patronage networks, autarky, and the politicized persecution of companies or industries.
Whether good or bad, though, something is coming. “I believe we’re in the seventh inning stretch of consolidating a successor to neoliberalism,” Jennifer Harris, a former White House official who now runs the Hewlett Foundation’s Economy and Society program, said at the conference’s opening. Innings one through three were just about “jumping up and down and saying the word neoliberalism a lot,” she added, but now a more complete ideology is forming. Call it a liberalism that builds, productivism, or something else: Policymakers are approaching the economy in a new way.
And, well, cheers for that — not three, though. Maybe two. Here at Heatmap, we try to cover that new way of thinking about economics and society in part because climate change is a big force driving that change in the first place. The challenge of decarbonization is leading policymakers to think about the real economy in new ways. You can see this in Biden’s approach to remaking the American economy: He has rejected the old climate orthodoxy that governments should price carbon and let the market do the rest in favor of a more experimental, sector-by-sector scheme of tax credits, grant programs, and public investments.
But I can only go so far in saluting this new paradigm, because the other factor driving the change is the deteriorating geopolitical environment. If the United States government is taking the reins of its economy, that is because it fears what the Chinese government might do in the near future. This anxiety, too, you can see across economic policy. Under Biden, the government’s most forceful bipartisan intervention in the economy — the CHIPS Act — stemmed from anxieties over a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Even the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has been justified by citing the Chinese threat. Senator Joe Manchin’s decisive support of the Inflation Reduction Act, too, was rooted in the fear — now partly realized — that China would dominate the clean-energy future.
That must lend an air of melancholy to our post-neoliberal moment: If economic policy is getting better, it’s because the world is getting worse.
The Stage
One more thought to complicate the Podesta-Liu talks: The two forces driving this phenomenon — the urgency of decarbonization and the rise of a menacing Sino-American relationship — coexist with great difficulty in U.S. policy. But in China, they fit more easily.
Over the past few months, the American and European press have come to terms with just how exceptional China’s electric-vehicle and battery industries have become. This advantage is due in part to China’s large consumer market and its pre-existing proficiency at making electronics of all kinds. (China’s top EV battery maker, CATL, was spun off of a Hong Kong-based company ATL, which manufactured iPhone batteries.)
But policy has played a decisive role, too. China has subsidized its EV industry far more generously than the U.S. or Europe, and its officials have cracked down on internal-combustion vehicles to a degree not seen in the West. Why have China’s leaders leaned so much into EVs? And why has China become so skilled at manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, grid-scale batteries, and other essential decarbonization tech?
The answer lies, in part, in its national security prerogatives. China’s economy depends on oil, of which it has almost no domestic reserves to speak of. It imports more than 10 million barrels of oil a day, and in a hypothetical Sino-American conflict, the U.S. would move to cut off China’s access. So it behooves China to invest in technologies that reduce its dependence on oil and fossil fuels.
Now, is energy security the only reason that China has embraced the energy transition? Of course not. Its political and corporate leaders know that decarbonization presents a massive global market opportunity. They know, too, that climate action is the humanitarianism of the 21st century: It is one of the few things that a country can do that seems to redound to every other country’s benefit.
But note that decarbonization plays virtually the opposite role in the U.S. At least for now, we have vast fossil fuel reserves, while we have to rely on imported minerals and materials to make EVs, many of them from China. Decarbonizing, in other words, does little for our energy security in the short-term — at least until sufficient mining and refining capacity opens in North America.
This is just some of what Podesta must weigh as he sits down with Liu. And it’s a good reminder: During the free trade era, climate was a side issue that could be shunted to its own UN session. Now, in more ways than one, it’s life and death.
https://heatmap.news/economy/china-us-post-neoliberalism
Asus ROG Ally X handheld gaming PC will bring battery, memory, storage, and port improvements
date: 2024-05-09, from: Liliputing
The next handheld gaming PC from Asus is coming soon, but don’t call it a next-gen Asus ROG Ally. That’s because the upcoming Asus ROG Ally X will have the same 7 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel, 120 Hz display with a variable refresh rate and the same AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor as the […]
The post Asus ROG Ally X handheld gaming PC will bring battery, memory, storage, and port improvements appeared first on Liliputing.
Une interview de Bill Atkinson sur HyperCard (1988)
date: 2024-05-09, from: Tilde.news
https://blog.aventure-apple.com/2019/10/03/une-interview-de-bill-atkinson-sur-hypercard/
Ex-White House election threat hunter weighs in on what to expect in November
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Spoiler alert: We’re gonna talk about AI
Interview Mick Baccio, global security advisor at Splunk, has watched the evolution of election security threats in real time.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/exwhite_house_election_threat_hunter/
NASA Invites Social Creators for Launch of NOAA Weather Satellite
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
Registration is open for digital content creators to attend the launch of NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) satellite, a mission to help improve weather observing and environmental monitoring capabilities on Earth, as well as improve space weather observations. NASA and SpaceX are targeting a two-hour launch window opening […]
EnviroSpark just got $50M, and it’s ready to hire Tesla Supercharger team talent
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
Thanks to a new $50 million investment, Atlanta-based EV charging company EnviroSpark wants to hire as many of the Tesla Supercharger team as possible.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/09/envirospark-50m-and-it-wants-to-hire-tesla-supercharger-folks/
Astronomers Discover an Atmosphere on a Hot, Rocky Exoplanet With an Ocean of Magma
date: 2024-05-09, from: Smithsonian Magazine
It’s the best evidence yet of an atmosphere on a rocky planet outside our solar system, researchers say, and studying the distant world could provide insight into Earth’s early days
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-09, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Apple apologizes for iPad Pro ‘Crush’ ad.
IBM sued again for alleged discrimination – this time against White males
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Top Trump lieutenant Stephen Miller hopes to skewer Big Blue’s Linux slinger on behalf of ex-director
IBM-owned Red Hat has been sued for allegedly discriminating against a White male employee. The legal team behind the suit is led by Stephen Miller, a key anti-immigration advisor to Donald Trump during his presidency.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/ibm_red_hat_discrimination_lawsuit/
NASA Invites Media to NOAA’s Advanced Weather Satellite Launch
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
NASA is preparing to launch NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U), a mission to help improve weather observing and environmental monitoring capabilities on Earth, as well as advance space weather observations. NASA and SpaceX are targeting a two-hour launch window opening at 5:16 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 25. The […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-invites-media-to-noaas-advanced-weather-satellite-launch/
Report: US flags risks from illicit transfers of Iranian oil off Malaysia
date: 2024-05-09, from: VOA News USA
KUALA LUMPUR — A U.S. treasury official warned of environmental risks from illicit transfers of Iranian oil off Malaysia, news portal Malaysiakini reported on Thursday, as the United States narrows its focus on financing for militant groups routed through Southeast Asia.
The United States sees Iran’s capacity to move its oil as being reliant on service providers based in Malaysia, a senior U.S. treasury official said this week.
The official also said the U.S. was attempting to prevent Malaysia from becoming a jurisdiction where the Palestinian militant group Hamas could raise and transfer funds.
Brian Nelson, U.S. Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said one of the main ways Iran raised money was through the sale of illicit oil to buyers in East Asia, Malaysiakini reported.
“Many of these shipments traverse the waters around Malaysia and are loaded onto vessels of questionable legitimacy that may also pose major environmental and safety risks,” he was reported as saying.
Nelson expressed concern for any parties providing “ship-to-ship” transfers of illicit oil as such maneuvers could lead to accidents or oil spills that could threaten Malaysia’s coasts.
The U.S. Treasury has also seen an uptick in attempts by Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, to raise and move money in Southeast Asia, Nelson added.
He urged those who wish to support humanitarian assistance to Gaza to donate to reputable charities to ensure the funds were not diverted elsewhere.
Nelson and Neil MacBride, Treasury general counsel, are on a visit to Singapore and Malaysia this week to advance efforts in countering financing and revenue generation by Iran and its proxies.
The office of Malaysia’s prime minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he conveyed the country’s stance regarding sanctions to Nelson during a meeting on Thursday. Saifuddin said Malaysia would comply with United Nations sanctions but would not recognize unilaterally applied sanctions.
He told reporters he also informed Nelson that Malaysia had investigated and taken action against an organization with suspected links to Palestinians. He did not name the organization.
May 10: Central Park Parking Lots to Close for Country Music Festival
date: 2024-05-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The city of Santa Clarita announced all parking lots at Central Park will be closed Friday, May 10, due to the Boots in the Park Country Music Festival
https://scvnews.com/may-10-central-park-parking-lots-to-close-for-country-music-festival/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-09, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
An Interview With Jack Dorsey.
https://www.piratewires.com/p/interview-with-jack-dorsey-mike-solana
OpenAI, Mass Scraper of Copyrighted Work, Claims Copyright Over Subreddit’s Logo
date: 2024-05-09, from: 404 Media Group
“It does not seem wise for OpenAI to start enforcing copyright claims,” one Redditor wrote.
https://www.404media.co/openai-files-copyright-claim-against-chatgpt-subreddit/
The Isle of Man TT Is Coming, So Here’s a Reminder How Fast These Motorcycles Go
date: 2024-05-09, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
I suspect the riders use “the Force”.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/719134/isle-of-man-tt-bmw-m-1000-rr-fastest-lap-ever/
The webs
date: 2024-05-09, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>We’re all familiar with the idea of the web, the www, the global network we pretty much all use daily. When we say “the web” we mean the whole thing, from the biggest of social platforms to the smallest of personal blogs. The web is cluttered, minimalistic, loud, and also quiet. It’s a cacophony, a hotchpotch of styles, ideas, and cultures. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1BneeJTDcU">Bo described it well</a>:</p>A little bit of everything
All of the time
And in this eclectic mix, different people have tried to carve out niches, in an attempt to separate some of that content from the rest: the small web, the cozy web, the personal web, the slow web, the quiet web. I find it interesting that all these have one thing in common and that is the very humane scale of the vision. The bigger the web becomes, and the more power we’re given, the more some people feel the need to get back to a more intimate space, a space where things move slower, where connections and interactions are given time to develop.
Or maybe I’m just projecting. Maybe it’s because that’s what I’m trying to find here in this weird digital space I created for myself.
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https://manuelmoreale.com/@/page/eJyAyJFmqTDaPmad
I got a rare look behind the scenes at Ananda’s e-bike systems factory in China
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
I recently took a trip to China in order to see for myself how many of the e-bike drive systems and components we use daily in the West were originally designed and produced. And no journey to view the origins of the most popular e-bike components would be complete without a visit to Ananda, one of the largest and most advanced OEMs in the industry.
Scaling Statewide Credit for Industry Credentials: Lessons Learned from Ohio
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: RAND blog
For decades, community colleges and universities have awarded credit for learning that takes place outside of the classroom. Lessons from Ohio offer a roadmap as states scale programs that give college credit for industry credentials.
NASA Field Geology Training Prepares Artemis Mission Support Teams
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
NASA engineers, managers, and flight directors recently traded their cubicles and conference rooms for an ancient volcanic field in the northern Arizona desert to participate in a field geology course aimed at arming them with first-hand experience in what Artemis astronauts will do when they explore the Moon. The two-and-a-half-day exercise for Artemis mission support […]
BP tells property owners left in the dark by Elon Musk firing Tesla charging team to call them
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
BP pulse, the fossil fuel giant’s EV charging division, is asking property owners left in the dark by Elon Musk firing Tesla’s charging team to give them a call as it plans to scoop up some of the sites.
L.A. County Homeless Mortality Rate Plateaus
date: 2024-05-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has released its fifth annual report on mortality among people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County
https://scvnews.com/l-a-county-homeless-mortality-rate-plateaus/
Spend the Night in the Musée d’Orsay’s Clock Room on the Evening of the Olympics Opening Ceremony
date: 2024-05-09, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Airbnb will allow two travelers to book a one-night stay in the storied Paris museum, where they will watch the ceremony from a balcony overlooking the Seine
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/airbnb-musee-dorsay-opening-ceremony-olympics-180984297/
I Am Artemis: Lauren Fisher
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s Lauren Fisher, lead engineer for the thermal protection systems on Artemis III’s LVSA, discusses how her unusual background in music performance and education makes her a stronger engineer.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/i-am-artemis-lauren-fisher/
History in the Making
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
“Holy Hell” was worth the read.
The post History in the Making appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/history-in-the-making/
US faith-based healthcare org Ascension says ‘cybersecurity event’ disrupted clinical ops
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Sources claim ransomware is to blame
Healthcare organization Ascension is the latest of its kind in the US to say its network has been affected by what it believes to be a “cybersecurity event.”…
This new Texas power company’s electricity comes with a home battery
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
Base Power just became the only licensed electricity provider in Texas to offer customers an all-in-one monthly energy service, home battery, and installation, and solar isn’t required.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/09/texas-power-company-home-battery-base/
Bird flu is bad for poultry and dairy cows. It’s not a dire threat for most of us — yet
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
What scientists fear most is if the virus were to spread efficiently from person to person. That hasn’t happened and might not.
CSUN alumnus makes history by becoming the youngest Hispanic presidential campaign manager
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
In American Samoa, Super Tuesday is not a popular event. Although Democratic presidential candidate Jason Palmer has never been to American Samoa, he has hosted town hall events through Zoom…
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara Find That a New Mother’s Immune Status Varies with Her Feeding Strategy
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
New study offers a rare deep look at immunity from the postpartum mother’s perspective.
The post Researchers at UC Santa Barbara Find That a New Mother’s Immune Status Varies with Her Feeding Strategy appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Former Santa Clara County sheriff candidate convicted of perjury
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Anh Colton falsely declared on candidate forms that she had mandated law-enforcement experience and credentials to run for office.
Daily Deals (5-09-2024)
date: 2024-05-09, from: Liliputing
The next season of Doctor Who debuts on Disney+ this Friday. But you can also score a whole bunch of Doctor Who content from Humble Bundle thanks to a deal that lets you snag 61 digital comics for $25. Here are some of the day’s best deals. Downloads & Streaming Circus Electrique PC game for […]
The post Daily Deals (5-09-2024) appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/daily-deals-5-09-2024/
Subscriptions are hard to cancel and easy to forget — by design
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
A 2022 study by brand insights agency C+R research found 42% of consumers have forgotten they were still paying for a service they no longer use.
Apple Platform Security Guide (May 2024)
date: 2024-05-09, from: Michael Tsai
Apple (PDF, via Ivan Krstić): Unless otherwise noted, this documentation covers the following operating system versions: iOS 17.3, iPadOS 17.3, macOS 14.3, tvOS 17.3, and watchOS 10.3. Apple: Topics added:Cryptex1 Image4 Manifest Hash (spih)Cryptex1 Generation (stng)BlastDoor for Messages and IDSLockdown Mode securityAbout App Store securityWidgetKit security I thought I must have missed last year’s update, […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/09/apple-platform-security-guide-may-2024/
Cuckoo Malware
date: 2024-05-09, from: Michael Tsai
Adam Kohler and Christopher Lopez: The downloaded DMG contains an application bundle. Normally, macOS applications instruct the user to drag such apps into the /Applications folder. But in this case, it tells the user to right-click on it and click Open. […] Looking into the upd file in the original bundle, we found that it […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/09/cuckoo-malware/
Root Privilege Escalation via diskutil
date: 2024-05-09, from: Michael Tsai
Eswar: A new local privilege escalation vulnerability has been discovered in macOS which could allow any user to escalate their privileges to root by mounting filesystems using “diskutil” command line utility. This new vulnerability has been assigned with CVE-2023-42931 and the severity is yet to be categorized.[…]If a user has mount privileges on the macOS, […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/09/root-privilege-escalation-via-diskutil/
Why In-App Purchases Don’t Work for the Enterprise
date: 2024-05-09, from: Michael Tsai
Caleb Basinger: We don’t buy apps through the App Store. Rather, we purchase licenses in bulk—one for every employee or device—through Apple’s Apps and Books program, part of Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager.[…]The only problem is that Apps and Books doesn’t support in-app purchases or in-app subscriptions. That means we can’t access the […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/09/why-in-app-purchases-dont-work-for-the-enterprise/
Alleged motive in Mexico surfer slayings: ‘They had a lot of money, devices and the pickup’
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Australian brothers and their California friend were ambushed at a remote Baja California campsite in a robbery, according to evidence presented in court Wednesday.
Palmdale Amphitheater unveils summer concert lineup
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
News release The city of Palmdale has announced the lineup of summer concerts to celebrate the Palmdale Amphitheater’s 20th season. The concert series kicks off on July 4 with Queen […]
The post Palmdale Amphitheater unveils summer concert lineup appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/palmdale-amphitheater-unveils-summer-concert-lineup/
Russia to ramp up missile production in ‘response to US actions’
date: 2024-05-09, from: VOA News USA
In mid-April, the United States deployed a Tomahawk missile system to the Philippines, a move condemned by both Russia and China. The medium-range launcher can reach targets up to 1,600 kilometers away. Now, Russia says it plans to ramp up its production of similar missile systems. Kateryna Besedina has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-to-begin-missile-production-in-response-to-us-actions-/7604818.html
Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie reuniting for new reality TV show
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
While details are being kept under wraps for now, the show is presumably going to be a comedy like “The Simple Life.”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/09/paris-hilton-nicole-richie-reuniting-for-new-reality-tv-show/
Barron Trump praised as ‘freaking stud’ and dad’s true political heir in new report
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
With 18-year-old Barron reportedly set to serve as a delegate at the Republican National Convention, he also knows he will become ‘fair game’ for his father’s critics and the media.
‘The Office’ spinoff coming to Peacock
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
“The documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch is in search of a new subject.”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/09/the-office-spinoff-coming-to-peacock/
FCC slams banhammer on 5G fast lanes with final net neutrality text
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Any way you network slice it, you can’t favor an app, says US watchdog
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released the final text of its net neutrality order, adding changes that appear to rule out so-called “fast lanes” for applications that some advocates feared would undermine it.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/fcc_slams_banhammer_on_5g/
Super Jazz at the Ranch returns May 18
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
News release Super Jazz at the Ranch, a daylong jazz festival hosted by West Ranch High School, is happening Saturday, May 18. Music will fill the air as performers from […]
The post Super Jazz at the Ranch returns May 18 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/super-jazz-at-the-ranch-returns-may-18/
Year 2023 Graduate Steps into Executive Director Role at Santa Barbara’s Arts Fund
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Ceilidh Birkhahn, 23, plans to rebuild the Teen Mentorship program as they take on the leadership role at the Arts fund.
The post Year 2023 Graduate Steps into Executive Director Role at Santa Barbara’s Arts Fund appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-09, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
How Bushmaster Made the AR-15 into the U.S.’ Best-Selling Rifle.
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-bushmaster-made-ar-15-into-best-selling-rifle-us
Wife charged in Pleasanton after she allegedly ran over husband with car, stabbed him in back
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Assault with a deadly weapon and corporal injury to a relationship partner have been filed against a Pleasanton woman in a domestic violence related attack on her husband who was hit by a car and stabbed, authorities said.
FN60G mini PC features a Mac Studio-inspired design, Intel LGA1700 socket and discrete graphics
date: 2024-05-09, from: Liliputing
Chinese PC makers have begun selling a mini PC that looks a lot like a Mac Studio, but it’s even smaller than Apple’s little powerhouse. Meanwhile, it offers far more options for customization: the FN60G features an LGA1700 socket with support for 12th, 13th, and 14th-gen Intel Core processors and optional support for discrete graphics. […]
The post FN60G mini PC features a Mac Studio-inspired design, Intel LGA1700 socket and discrete graphics appeared first on Liliputing.
Jimmy Johnson, legendary 49ers cornerback and Hall of Famer, dies at 86
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Hall of Fame cornerback Jimmy Johnson, who played for the 49ers from 1961-79, has passed away at age 86
Would-be intruder detained at Drake’s Toronto mansion 1 day after shooting
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
The failed intruder was detained by security personnel at the scene and eventually held by Toronto police under Canada’s Mental Health Act, according to The Canadian Press.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-09, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
I like the new Apple ad. I laughed out loud through the whole thing. People think too much. It’s physical comedy. It’s always the funniest.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ntjkwIXWtrc
Tesla loses another manager to layoffs – but this one quit due to morale
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
The Tesla layoff saga continues, with a manager leaving the company after 7 years. But this time, the manager wasn’t laid off, but rather left on his own volition due to the effect that layoffs had on morale.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-09, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Rick Carlisle ripped for benching TJ McConnell in loss to Knicks.
Free Will Astrology
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Week of May 16.
The post Free Will Astrology appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/free-will-astrology-211/
Dice Snakes Fake Their Own Deaths With Gory, Poop-Filled Theatrics
date: 2024-05-09, from: Smithsonian Magazine
When attacked by a predator, the reptiles can play dead with convincing detail, employing blood and feces for the show
Save $300 on Rad Power e-bikes with free extra battery promos starting from $1,399, Husqvarna 24-inch Hedge Master, and more
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
All work and no play definitely makes summer dull, and today’s Green Deals are here to both help speed up the necessities so you can jump into the fun and go! Leading the pack is the Rad Power Mother’s Day sale that is offering up to $300 off e-bikes, as well as free extra batteries, and even discounts on a particular accessory for your smaller passengers – starting from $1,399. It is joined by both the return of the Husqvarna 24-inch Hedge Master Cordless Electric Trimmer to $240, as well as the Rachio 3rd Gen Smart 4-Zone Sprinkler Controller to $99. 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.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/09/rad-power-e-bikes-husqvarna-24-inch-hedge-master-and-more/
Spitzer Space Telescope Captures Galactic Snack
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
This image, released on May 9, 2024, from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope shows streams of dust flowing toward the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Andromeda Galaxy. These dust streams can help explain how black holes billions of times the mass of our Sun can satiate their big appetites but remain “quiet” […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/spitzer-space-telescope-captures-galactic-snack/
The Master’s University hosts 97th Annual Commencement
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
It’s that time of year again where students are finishing their final assignments and getting their graduation caps ready for a milestone accomplished and a celebration to commemorate it. Leading […]
The post The Master’s University hosts 97th Annual Commencement appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/the-masters-university-hosts-97th-annual-commencement/
Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) brings a better stylus, more RAM and wireless charging
date: 2024-05-09, from: Liliputing
The Moto G Stylus 5G is a mid-range smartphone with stylus support that costs a lot less than some other stylus-enabled phones. And this year’s model brings a few key upgrades over the 2023 version. Motorola says the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) features an updated stylus experience with “reduced latency for a smoother experience, simplified […]
The post Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) brings a better stylus, more RAM and wireless charging appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/moto-g-stylus-5g-2024-brings-a-better-stylus-more-ram-and-wireless-charging/
Arizona, New York Students to Hear from NASA Astronauts Aboard Station
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
Students from Arizona and New York will have separate opportunities next week to hear from astronauts aboard the International Space Station. At 12:10 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 14, NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps and Tracy C. Dyson will answer prerecorded student questions from Sunnyside Unified School District in Tucson, Arizona, in partnership with the TRiO […]
Dell customer order database of ‘49M records’ stolen, now up for sale on dark web
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
IT giant tries to downplay leak as just names, addresses, info about kit
Dell has confirmed information about its customers and their orders has been stolen from one of its portals. Though the thief claimed to have swiped 49 million records, which are now up for sale on the dark web, the IT giant declined to say how many people may be affected.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/dell_data_stolen/
COC film instructor to attend Marche du Film at Cannes Film Festival
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
News release College of the Canyons film instructor Bavand Karim will attend Marche du Film — one of the largest film markets in the world — at the Cannes Film […]
The post COC film instructor to attend Marche du Film at Cannes Film Festival appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/coc-film-instructor-to-attend-marche-du-film-at-cannes-film-festival/
SCCS baseball beats Cal Lutheran, advances to QFs
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
Santa Clarita Christian baseball is rolling in the 2024 postseason. The Cardinals will now advance to the CIF Southern Section quarterfinals, after beating the California Lutheran C-Hawks, 8-0 on Tuesday […]
The post SCCS baseball beats Cal Lutheran, advances to QFs appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/sccs-baseball-beats-cal-lutheran-advances-to-qfs/
Sunrun sets a record in California with the US’s largest virtual power plant
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
Sunrun (Nasdaq: RUN) has networked more than 16,200 customers’ solar + storage systems to support California’s electrical grid during the summer months.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/09/sunrun-california-us-largest-virtual-power-plant/
America’s enemies targeting US critical infrastructure should be ‘wake-up call’
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Having China, Russia, and Iran routinely rummaging around is cause for concern, says ex-NSA man
RSAC Digital intruders from China, Russia, and Iran breaking into US water systems this year should be a “wake-up call,” according to former National Security Agency cyber boss Rob Joyce.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/china_russia_iran_infrastructure/
Big Willy style! Will Smith is the latest team owner to join the E1 electric boat racing series
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
Young electric boat racing series E1 continues to garner star power as it continues its inaugural UIM World Championship season. Actor, producer, and musician Will Smith and his team, Westbrook Racing, have joined E1 to compete against several other big names in sports and entertainment.
Distracted Driving Sweep in Goleta Nets 142
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Handheld cell phone use is a much-violated rule of the road.
The post Distracted Driving Sweep in Goleta Nets 142 appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/distracted-driving-sweep-in-goleta-nets-142/
COC Launching 8-Week Focused Classes
date: 2024-05-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Students enrolling in the College of the Canyons Fall 2024 semester will notice a new course type featured in the class schedule: Focused Classes.
https://scvnews.com/coc-launching-8-week-focused-classes/
COC Launching Eight-Week Focused Classes
date: 2024-05-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Students enrolling in the College of the Canyons Fall 2024 semester will notice a new course type featured in the class schedule: Focused Classes.
https://scvnews.com/coc-launching-eight-week-focused-classes/
Summer Breeze concert series presents ‘A Night of Motown’
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
News release The Summer Breeze concert series is presenting an evening of the Motown sound featuring Terell Edwards starting at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at California Institute of the […]
The post Summer Breeze concert series presents ‘A Night of Motown’ appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/summer-breeze-concert-series-presents-a-night-of-motown/
6 Unhoused People In LA Died On Average Each Day In 2022 — A Record High
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The LAist
In 2022, more than 2,370 unhoused Angelenos died on the streets, according to a county report
https://laist.com/news/health/6-unhoused-people-in-la-died-on-average-each-day-in-2022
NASA Invites Media to Arizona Simulated Artemis Moonwalking Site
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
Media are invited to interact with the NASA team members practicing Artemis moonwalking operations Saturday, May 18, in the San Francisco Volcanic Fields near Flagstaff, Arizona. NASA’s in-person only event includes an opportunity to speak with subject matter experts and view various hardware stations. The activities are the fifth in a series since April 2022 […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-invites-media-to-arizona-simulated-artemis-moonwalking-site/
Trump reportedly told oil execs he’ll end electric car incentives for $1 billion in donations
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
Donald Trump has reportedly told oil executives that he will end electric car incentives if they contribute $1 billion to his election campaign.
A moment in time: Castaic Middle School unearths time capsule
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
Twenty-five years ago, Castaic Middle School students filled up a box with different timely objects such as a Walkman, a cassette tape, a newspaper with the headline, “Clinton Impeached,” and […]
The post A moment in time: Castaic Middle School unearths time capsule appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/a-moment-in-time-castaic-middle-school-unearths-time-capsule/
Pay it Forward Collective hosts first-ever fundraiser
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
The Pay it Forward Collective, made up of a group of local parents, held their first cornhole game tournament fundraiser aimed to raise money to financially assist and support students […]
The post Pay it Forward Collective hosts first-ever fundraiser appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/pay-it-forward-collective-hosts-first-ever-fundraiser-2/
Volkswagen Wants More PHEVs As EV Demand Reaches ‘Plateau’: CEO
date: 2024-05-09, from: Inside EVs News
The German carmaker currently sells exactly zero plug-in hybrids in the United States, but that may change.
https://insideevs.com/news/719046/volkswagen-more-phevs-ev-demand-plateau/
ON the Beat | Tale of Two Societies
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The venerable Santa Barbara Blues Society and the Santa Barbara Choral Society do it up this weekend.
The post ON the Beat | Tale of Two Societies appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/on-the-beat-tale-of-two-societies/
Brain-sensing threads slip from gray matter in first human Neuralink trial
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Oh well – next!
The first human to get a Neuralink implant may be doing fine now, but that’s after a good deal of work to address post-surgical trouble that saw its performance significantly degrade.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/neuralink_trial_update/
NIO rolls 500,000th production vehicle off assembly line as the premium EV leader in China
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
Chinese premium EV developer NIO celebrated a production milestone this week, rolling its 500,000th passenger vehicle off its assembly line at its F2 plant in Hefei. The company held a ceremony attended by NIO founder, chairman, and CEO William Li as it continues its reign as a leader in its given segment in China while simultaneously expanding globally.
LASD Deputies Receive State’s Medal of Valor
date: 2024-05-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies Shane Seacord, Grant Roth and Sergeant Eric Lee of LASD Emergency Services Detail, Air Rescue 5 crew received the California State Medal of Valor award Wednesday.
https://scvnews.com/lasd-deputies-receive-states-medal-of-valor/
College Briefs for May 9
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
2 local students named to Westminster College dean’s list Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, recently named 397 students to the dean’s list for the fall 2023 semester, including two […]
The post College Briefs for May 9 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/college-briefs-for-may-9/
Igniting Change with the Bike to Work Challenge
date: 2024-05-09, from: City of Santa Clarita
By Councilwoman Marsha McLean “Two wheels move the soul and the world forward. Embrace the journey, pedal by pedal, and let your commute ignite the change you wish to see.” – Unknown As spring blooms, it brings with it a renewed sense of opportunity to embrace the fresh air and physical activity that comes with […]
The post Igniting Change with the Bike to Work Challenge appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/05/09/igniting-change-with-the-bike-to-work-challenge/
Antisemitism?
date: 2024-05-09, from: Robert Reich on Substack
Thoughts on demonstrations, free speech, Joe Biden, and hypocritical Republicans
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/antisemitism
Foodbank Partners with Letter Carriers for the Return of the Annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
(Santa Barbara, CA) —The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County will benefit from the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) annual
The post Foodbank Partners with Letter Carriers for the Return of the Annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Let the Music Play — Santa Barbara Bowl Season 2024
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Our favorite outdoor amphitheater is moving and grooving with the new season already in swing. Up next: Cody Jinks, Natalie Merchant, Queens of the Stone Age, and more.
The post Let the Music Play — Santa Barbara Bowl Season 2024 appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/let-the-music-play-santa-barbara-bowl-season-2024/
City of Santa Barbara Completes Olive Mill Roundabout
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA, CA – May 8, 2024 The City of Santa Barbara is pleased to announce the completion of the
The post City of Santa Barbara Completes Olive Mill Roundabout appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/city-of-santa-barbara-completes-olive-mill-roundabout/
Huawei’s latest smartphone features mostly made-in-China components
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
New-ish Kirin SoC performance doesn’t impress, however
A teardown of Huawei’s Pura 70 Pro reveals that the China tech company’s latest smartphone is mostly made in China, with one notable exception.…
Tesla’s Biggest Problem Is Still That Justice Department Investigation
date: 2024-05-09, from: Inside EVs News
The investigation aims to determine whether Tesla lied to customers and investors about its vehicles’ autonomous driving capability.
https://insideevs.com/news/719084/tesla-investigation-wire-securities-fraud/
NASA Images Help Explain Eating Habits of Massive Black Hole
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
Data from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope has given scientists new insights into why some supermassive black holes shine differently than others. In images from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope, streams of dust thousands of light-years long flow toward the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Andromeda galaxy. It turns out these streams […]
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-images-help-explain-eating-habits-of-massive-black-hole/
MAF EAP – Trauma-Informed Workplace
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
Trauma-Informed Workplace Organized by Health 4 Life. In today’s dynamic professional landscape, understanding and addressing the impacts of trauma is essential for fostering a supportive and inclusive work culture. Join us as we explore the principles of trauma-informed care and their practical applications within organizational settings. We will share strategies for recognizing signs of trauma, […]
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/michoud/maf-eap/trauma-informed-workplace/
Barron Trump, 18, to make political debut as Florida delegate to Republican convention
date: 2024-05-09, from: VOA News USA
Miami, Florida — Former President Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump, has been chosen to serve as a Florida delegate to the Republican National Convention, the state party chairman said Wednesday.
Republican Party of Florida chairman Evan Power said the 18-year-old high school senior will serve as one of 41 at-large delegates from Florida to the national gathering, where the GOP is set to officially nominate his father as its presidential candidate for the November general election. NBC News first reported the choice of Barron Trump as a delegate.
Barron Trump has been largely kept out of the public eye, but he turned 18 on March and is graduating from high school next week. The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York said there would be no court on May 17 so that Trump could attend his son’s graduation.
Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany, are also part of the Florida delegation to the convention taking place in Milwaukee from July 15 to July 18.
“We are fortunate to have a great group of grassroots leaders, elected officials, and members of the Trump family working together as part of the Florida delegation to the 2024 Republican National Convention,” Power said in an emailed statement.
May 8, 2024
date: 2024-05-09, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-8-2024-2e9
Hallucinogenic Plant Unearthed Beneath an Ancient Maya Ball Court
date: 2024-05-09, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Researchers have found evidence of a nearly 2,000-year-old ceremonial offering at the site in present-day Mexico
Ford backtracks on BEV commitments in Europe and may sell ICE models beyond 2030
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
Ford Europe is reportedly flirting with the idea of adjusting its electrification strategy in the region as BEV sales have been slow to take off. Originally, the European arm of Ford Motor Company said it would only sell battery-electric models by 2030, but that commitment could soon change.
Baidu’s PR head has a PR problem after workaholic social media posts
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Praising 996 culture is so Jack Ma 2019
Updated The vice president and public relations head of Chinese search engine giant Baidu stirred up controversy this week by promoting workaholic behaviors on a personal social media account.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/baidu_pr_chief/
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says Russia has the initiative in the east but new Western aid is on the way
date: 2024-05-09, from: Associated Press, World News
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country’s army is facing “a really difficult situation” in eastern regions.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-25cb09f4b860e3d79f106beb65eab3c7
Tesla Removes Most Job Posts In North America After ‘Hardcore’ Layoffs
date: 2024-05-09, from: Inside EVs News
We also discuss a potential “extreme action” against Chinese cars by U.S. regulators and Ford rethinking its plan to go all-electric in Europe by 2030.
https://insideevs.com/news/719111/tesla-hiring-freeze-layoffs-critical-materials/
Larry Magid: For kids, summertime doesn’t have to mean more screen time
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Helping teens and children put down their phones and enjoy their summer break
2024 Tesla Model 3 Gets Outstanding 3.9 Miles/kWh EPA Energy Consumption
date: 2024-05-09, from: Inside EVs News
The EPA driving range of the model exceeds 340 miles, but one configuration gets less than 250 miles.
https://insideevs.com/news/719013/2024-tesla-model3-epa-range-consumption/
San Leandro man fired repeatedly as victim lay on the ground begging for help, then buried him in a shallow grave, police say
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Andres Sanchez also allegedly threatened a witness after shooting Miguel Estrada numerous times.
How weight loss drugs are transforming the weight loss industry
date: 2024-05-09, from: Marketplace Morning Report
A new class of weight loss drugs known as GLP-1s, like Wegovy and Zepbound, helped grow the weight loss industry to nearly $90 billion last year. Now, weight loss companies, apps and fitness companies are adapting their to programs include the drugs, as well. Also, allegations of serious fraud threaten a big U.S.-U.K. soccer deal, and China’s latest trade data showed a return to growth in April.
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Wondering when AI will turn up at your work? Microsoft says look behind you
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Research lands weeks after the Copilot company said it was still trying to convince customers of benefits
Microsoft’s 2024 Work Trend Index makes grand claims about the benefits of AI, but might make disturbing reading for administrators worrying about shadow IT.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/microsoft_work_trend_index_ai/
COSMIC improves its application store, display mirroring, and more
date: 2024-05-09, from: OS News
As its first alpha release is closing in, we have another monthly update about COSMIC, System76’s new Linux desktop environment written in Rust. This month, they’ve further polished and shored up their application store, imaginatively named COSMIC App Store, and it’s supposedly incredibly fast – something I can’t say for its GNOME and KDE counterparts, which tend to be so slow I’ve always just defaulted to updating through the command line, mostly. The file manager now has support for GVfs (GNOME Virtual file system) for making external storage like USB drives work properly, and Greeter login screen, Edit text editor, drag and drop, and copy/paste have been improved in various ways as well. Theming has seen a lot of work this month, with support for icon themes added to the App Library, fixed applet sizes, and more tweaks, while light themes have been disabled for now to fix a number of issues with colour selection being too dark. There’s also display mirroring now, which even works when the individual displays have different resolutions, orientations, and refresh rates. Pop!_OS is now also being built for ARM64, which makes sense because System76 is now also selling ARM servers. There’s also a bunch of work being done by the community as the alpha release nears.
One of Monet’s Late Haystack Paintings Could Sell for More Than $30 Million
date: 2024-05-09, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The sale of “Meules à Giverny” (1893) will coincide with the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris
U9 supercars from BYD’s new Yangwang brand are en route to the UK to compete at Goodwood
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
BYD’s young performance EV brand Yangwang wants to turn some heads in Europe by debuting its U9 supercar at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed. The annual event hasn’t seen many Chinese entrants, but Yangwang has at least two cars on their way to the UK to show performance enthusiasts the potential of its e⁴ platform technology.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/09/u9-supercar-byd-yangwang-en-route-uk-compete-goodwood-ev/
Stormy Daniels holds to her claim of 2006 sexual encounter with Trump
date: 2024-05-09, from: VOA News USA
Tesla is about to remove steering wheel nag with new Full Self-Driving update
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
Tesla is planning to remove the steering wheel nag, which alerts drivers to apply torque on the steering wheel, with a new Supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) update coming next week.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/09/tesla-remove-steering-wheel-nag-full-self-driving-update/
Opening windows in Linux with sockets, bare hands and 200 lines of C
date: 2024-05-09, from: OS News
X Server is slowly being deprecated in the Linux world and being replaced Wayland. Still X11 is an interesting protocol to look at from the perspective of binary communication and management of resource which require fast speeds. In this post I tried to cover basic information and create a simple but working app that is simple, defined in single file and easily compiles. No external code except libc was used. I find it fascinating when you can open black boxes and see how gears move each other. ↫ Hereket As much as the time of X has come and is now finally in the process of going, it’s still an incredibly powerful set of tools that even in a bare state can do way, way more than you think. X has come with its own window manager – twm – for decades, and it includes several basic applications like xedit, xclock, xterm, xeyes. Twm is actually pretty cool, and includes some features, like iconify to desktop, that I wish still existed in modern desktop environments. It’s quite bare-bones, though, and I doubt there’s anyone out there unironically using it today. As the linked article notes, even without advanced, complex libraries, toolkits, desktop environments, and so on, it’s entirely possible to create fully functional windows and applications with X. Of course, this makes perfect sense and shouldn’t be surprising – it’s the X Window System, after all – but you so rarely hear or read about it that you’d almost forget and just assume something like GNOME or KDE is an absolute requirement to use X.
Pac-12 recruiting: Washington’s new QB, Stanford nets safeties, Oregon turns defensive and ASU stays hot
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Washington collected vital quarterback depth this week while a former UW QB pledged to UCLA and Oregon landed an elite edge rusher.
NASA’s Chandra Notices the Galactic Center is Venting
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
These images show evidence for an exhaust vent attached to a chimney releasing hot gas from a region around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, as reported in our latest press release. In the main image of this graphic, X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) have been combined with radio data from the MeerKAT telescope (red). Previously, astronomers had […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-chandra-notices-the-galactic-center-is-venting/
History made: How James Lick’s baseball team became the pride of East San Jose community and won its first league title since 1971
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Lick shortstop Enrique Mendez: “We never took a day for granted and our hard work has us where we are right now.”
Investment analyst accuses Palantir of AI washing
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Stick to data pipelines and ontology, says expert after share price dip
Spy-tech biz Palantir has overstated its claim to be a generative AI company, according to one investment analyst who thinks this might explain its recent slowdown in growth from commercial markets.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/palantir_analyst_critic/
Mercedes CEO Says EV Transition ‘Might Take Longer Than Expected’
date: 2024-05-09, from: Inside EVs News
Mercedes-Benz will keep making gas-powered cars “well into the 2030s” if buyers want them.
https://insideevs.com/news/719012/mercedes-ev-gas-car-sales/
Net neutrality restored as FCC votes to regulate internet providers
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
The measure passed Thursday on a 3-2 vote split along party lines, with Democratic commissioners in favor and Republicans opposed.
NASA Administrator to Engage Officials in Italy, Vatican, Saudi Arabia
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
Continuing his engagement to deepen international collaboration and the peaceful use of space, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will travel to Italy and Vatican City, followed by Saudi Arabia, beginning Thursday. Nelson will meet with key government and space officials in each country. Italy is a longstanding partner in human spaceflight and Earth science. Nelson will […]
Game Theory Can Make AI More Correct and Efficient
date: 2024-05-09, from: Quanta Magazine
Researchers are drawing on ideas from game theory to improve large language models and make them more consistent.The post Game Theory Can Make AI More Correct and Efficient first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/game-theory-can-make-ai-more-correct-and-efficient-20240509/
PeerJ Award Winners at AABA 2024
date: 2024-05-09, from: PeerJ blog
The American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA) held its 93rd annual meeting in Los Angeles, California, in March of 2024. Participants gathered from 37 different countries spanning North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. With over 1,400 attendees at this past conference, AABA hosts the largest gathering of scientists investigating human […]
https://peerj.com/blog/post/115284889204/peerj-award-winners-at-aaba-2024/
ChromeOS App Mall unifies app discovery for Chromebooks
date: 2024-05-09, from: OS News
We’ve been on the lookout for the arrival of the ChromeOS App Mall for a few months now. First discovered back in March, the new App Mall is arriving to do one, simple task: put the apps users want in one place to be found a Chromebook. While we have access to web apps, PWAs, Android apps and Linux apps on Chromebooks, it’s not always clear how to go about finding them. Should you install the web version or the Play Store version? Which Play Store apps install a PWA versus an Android app? Where should you go to find the right one for you? ↫ Robby Payne at Chrome Unboxed ChromeOS definitely needs a more unified, single place to find applications, and this seems like exactly what’s happening here.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139627/chromeos-app-mall-unifies-app-discovery-for-chromebooks/
MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ is a modest upgrade with faster single-core performance
date: 2024-05-09, from: Liliputing
MediaTek’s newest chip for flagship phones and tablets is… a lot like the company’s previous flagship processor. But it’s a little faster. The new MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ is virtually identical to the Dimensity 9300 that launched in late 2023 in most respects. The key difference is that its most powerful CPU core has a top speed that’s slightly […]
The post MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ is a modest upgrade with faster single-core performance appeared first on Liliputing.
7 terrific Bay Area things do this weekend, May 10-12
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Any weekend that has Elvis Presley, Pablo Cruise and award-winning beer in it is a good weekend. Here’s where to go and what to do to fully embrace the fun.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/09/7-terrific-bay-area-things-do-to-this-weekend-may-10-12/
Roblox Community Protests ‘Communism’ Update
date: 2024-05-09, from: 404 Media Group
Welcome to Bloxburg players are holding “Anti Communism” signs and throwing boxes of pizza into the ocean to protest an attempt to create income equality.
https://www.404media.co/roblox-community-protests-communism-update/
68 tech names sign CISA’s secure-by-design pledge
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Security’s an uphill battle … does this latest move have teeth?
RSAC Some of the biggest names in tech – including AWS, Microsoft, Google, Cisco and IBM – have signed up to a US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency-led effort and promised to take a series of actions within a year to make their products more secure.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/68_tech_firms_sign_cisas/
Next-Gen Chevrolet Bolt EUV Will Be Built At Old Chevy Malibu Plant In Kansas
date: 2024-05-09, from: Inside EVs News
Chevy’s last sedan retires to make way for a new wave of affordable EVs.
https://insideevs.com/news/719038/next-gen-chevrolet-bolt-ev-kansas-plant/
2 young siblings die after being swept away by fast-flowing California creek
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
The tragedy occurred Tuesday when a mother took her 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son to spend the afternoon at Thurman Flat picnic area on Highway 38 near Mill Creek, the San Bernardino Count Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.
Tensions over bicycle safety, advocacy have reached a boiling point in this East Bay town
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Months of disagreements over the role of the town’s Bicycle Advocacy Commission recently boiled over into threats from elected officials to dissolve the volunteer body entirely.
LiveWire Is Moving Its HQ To Milwaukee, But It’s Definitely Not a Harley-Davidson
date: 2024-05-09, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
The electric motorcycle company will be moving back in with mom and dad on Juneau Avenue later this year.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/719017/livewire-moves-to-harley-headquarters/
Teachers v. District Impasse
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The current impasse between the S.B. Unified School District and the teachers will not end well.
The post Teachers v. District Impasse appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/teachers-v-district-impasse/
UC Santa Cruz Palestine solidarity encampment marks one week
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
After forming just more than a week ago, The Palestine solidarity encampment in Quarry Plaza on the campus of UC Santa Cruz, has steadily grown, with tents popping up around the camps original perimeter.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/09/uc-santa-cruz-palestine-solidarity-encampment-marks-one-week/
Flexing financial muscles, Arm aims to elbow into Windows PC market
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Despite record revenues, Wall Street doesn’t expect growth to last
Chip designer Arm predicts that PCs based on its architecture will account for a significant share of the Windows market within three years as the company claims record revenues for the quarter just ended.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/arm_q4_2024/
Will Better Superconductors Transform the World?
date: 2024-05-09, from: Quanta Magazine
Scientists are pursuing materials that can conduct electricity with perfect efficiency under ambient conditions. In this episode, the physicist Siddharth Shanker Saxena tells co-host Janna Levin about what makes this hunt so difficult and consequential.The post Will Better Superconductors Transform the World? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/will-better-superconductors-transform-the-world-20240509/
Drone Company Zipline Dictates Mayor’s Quote on How ‘Normal’ Zipline Is
date: 2024-05-09, from: 404 Media Group
Emails obtained by 404 Media show that a quote attributed to a mayor praising Zipline was in large part written and conceived by the company itself.
https://www.404media.co/drone-company-zipline-dictates-mayors-quote-on-how-normal-zipline-is/
Mad Hatter Luncheon Raises Funds for Transition House
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Nonprofit breaks poverty cycle for homeless families.
The post Mad Hatter Luncheon Raises Funds for Transition House appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/mad-hatter-luncheon-raises-funds-for-transition-house/
Do you know a young person who could enter this year’s Coolest Projects?
date: 2024-05-09, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
The Coolest Projects showcase from the Raspberry Pi Foundation is back for 2024, and there’s still time to enter projects.
The post Do you know a young person who could enter this year’s Coolest Projects? appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
TikTok to start labeling AI-generated content as technology becomes more universal
date: 2024-05-09, from: VOA News USA
New York — TikTok will begin labeling content created using artificial intelligence when it’s uploaded from certain platforms.
TikTok says its efforts are an attempt to combat misinformation from being spread on its social media platform.
The announcement came on ABCs “Good Morning America” on Thursday.
“Our users and our creators are so excited about AI and what it can do for their creativity and their ability to connect with audiences.” Adam Presser, TikTok’s Head of Operations & Trust and Safety told ABC News. “And at the same time, we want to make sure that people have that ability to understand what fact is and what is fiction.”
TikTok’s policy in the past has been to encourage users to label content that has been generated or significantly edited by AI. It also requires users to label all AI-generated content where it contains realistic images, audio, and video.
10 Regions Where the DOE Wants to Boost Power Transmission
date: 2024-05-09, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Severe overnight storms in Central states killed at least three people • London is gearing up for a “mini heat wave” • Residents in California’s San Bernardino County are being told to stay away from Silverwood Lake due to a toxic algal bloom.
THE TOP FIVE
- DOE proposes 10 electric transmission corridors
The Department of Energy yesterday announced the 10 “corridors” where new power transmission infrastructure could be expanded quickly in order to bolster the U.S. electrical grid. The potential National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (or NIETCs) have been identified by the DOE as areas where “consumers are harmed, now or in the future, by a lack of transmission,” and new transmission projects could improve grid reliability and reduce costs for locals. Federal funds and special permitting options will be available to help build them out quickly.
DOE
The 10 corridors range from 12 miles to 780 miles in length. The public will have 45 days to have their say on the proposals, and then the DOE will narrow the list further. “In order to reach our clean energy and climate goals, we’ve got to build out transmission as fast as possible to get clean power from where it’s produced to where it’s needed,” said John Podesta, senior advisor to the president for international climate policy. “The Biden-Harris administration is committed to using every tool at our disposal to accelerate progress on transmission permitting and financing and build a clean energy future.”
- Climeworks opens new direct air capture plant
In case you missed it: Climeworks opened its newest commercial direct air capture plant yesterday. The Iceland-based facility, named Mammoth, is not yet operating at full capacity, with only 12 of its planned 72 capturing and filtering units installed. When the plant is fully operational — which Climeworks says should be sometime next year — it will pull up to 36,000 metric tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere annually. For scale, that’s about 1/28,000th of a gigaton. To get to net zero emissions, we’ll have to remove multiple gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere every year. “So in the context of where we need to go, Mammoth is almost nothing,” wrote Heatmap’s new climate tech reporter Katie Brigham. “But in the context of our current reality, it’s nine times the size of the next largest DAC facility: another Iceland-based Climeworks plant called Orca. And it’s a major stepping stone towards the company’s ultimate goal of capturing a million metric tons of CO2 yearly by 2030 and a billion by 2050.”
- Xprize unveils finalists in carbon removal competition
And speaking of carbon removal, the Elon Musk-backed Xprize yesterday unveiled a shortlist of 20 finalists in its $100 million global competition to discover and develop breakthroughs in the field. The list is broken up into categories: air, rocks, land, and ocean. U.S.-based finalists include:
- Heirloom (uses limestone to absorb CO2)
- Lithos Carbon (spreads basalt rock on farmland to induce “enhanced rock weathering”)
- Vaulted Deep (stores organic waste underground)
- Climate Robotics (developing mobile technology that converts crop residues into biochar)
- Captura (pulls carbon out of the ocean so the ocean can … store more carbon)
- Ebb (speeds up ocean alkalinity process to remove CO2)
What’s next? The companies will need to remove 1,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide over one year in order to move ahead in the competition. They’ll also have to prove scalability.
- Flooded Brazil braces for more rain
The death toll from flooding in Brazil climbed to 100, and the rain is expected to continue through the weekend. Before-and-after satellite images show the extent of the disaster. Here is a crude screenshot from Google Earth, showing Porto Alegre in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, prior to the floods, followed by an image of roughly the same region, captured by Copernicus, that speaks for itself:
Google
Earth
European
Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery
- Study links human-caused climate change to rising risk of diseases
Human activity is rapidly changing the natural environment, and this is fueling the rise of dangerous diseases, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. The research pulls together findings from nearly 1,000 previous studies on environmental damage to paint a more complete picture of how humanity’s disruption to nature is enabling the spread of pathogens – for humans, yes, but also for animals and plants. It concludes that biodiversity loss, toxic chemicals, the introduction of invasive species, and of course, human-caused climate change, are all associated with “increases in disease-related end points or harm.” Biodiversity loss was found to be particularly dangerous, because it likely drives pathogens to evolve to target new and more abundant hosts.
One biologist who wasn’t involved in the research called it “one of the strongest pieces of evidence that I think has been published that shows how important it is health systems start getting ready to exist in a world with climate change, with biodiversity loss.”
THE KICKER
Florida is likely to make it illegal to release balloons into the air outdoors.
https://heatmap.news/electric-transmission-corridors-doe
Off-Road Suzuki Hayabusa Finally Conquers Moab’s Hell’s Gate
date: 2024-05-09, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Enduro rider Matt Spears returns with a vengeance.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/719016/off-road-suzuki-hayabusa-moab-hells-gate-video/
Opinion: Congressional recount attorneys say California should stop favoring wealthy candidates
date: 2024-05-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Tie-breaking second tally in Bay Area race shows why state should make second count automatic
VMware security advisories now behind bureaucratic Broadcom barricade
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-10, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
If it ain’t broke, make it less accessible
Updated Much to the chagrin of security pros, VMware security advisories are now only viewable if users sign up for a Broadcom Support account first.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/vmware_security_advisory_change/
Would You Do A Joint Ducati and Porsche Track Experience For $1,300?
date: 2024-05-09, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
Who wouldn’t want to try each brands new offerings?
https://www.rideapart.com/news/719011/ducati-porsche-experience-center-program/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-09, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday delayed Donald Trump’s criminal case in that state, agreeing to hear an appeal from the former president that may foreclose a trial taking place this year.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/08/trump-wins-delay-in-georgia-criminal-cases-00156791
NASA Licenses 3D-Printable Superalloy to Benefit US Economy
date: 2024-05-09, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s investment in a breakthrough superalloy developed for the extreme temperatures and harsh conditions of air and spaceflight is on the threshold of paying commercial dividends. The agency is licensing its invention, dubbed “GRX-810,” to four American companies, a practice that benefits the United States economy as a return on investment of taxpayer dollars. GRX-810 […]
When AI Gets It Wrong, Will It Be Held Accountable?
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: RAND blog
RAND researchers fielded their survey to provide the first nationally representative look at what people will actually do when faced with an unfair AI outcome.
Driver Who Killed 7 Motorcyclists Wants His Driver’s License Back
date: 2024-05-09, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
A history of offenses, however, preceded the event.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718987/volodymyr-zhukovskyy-drivers-license-acquittal/
Hypothetical TSMC invasion ‘absolutely devastating’ says Raimondo
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
No it’s not happened, but officials want readiness in the South China Sea
The US Secretary of Commerce says it would be “absolutely devastating” if China seized Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and locked down the South China Sea.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/hypothetical_tsmc_takeover_by_china/
SIROTA’S SIGNALS: Why Hasn’t Biden Closed This Tax Loophole?
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Lever News
Plus, the real cost of Trump’s tax cuts, a Big Tech ad that’s a little too on the nose, and the Fed admits economic inequality is dangerous.
https://www.levernews.com/sirotas-signals-why-hasnt-biden-closed-this-tax-loophole/
Turn Your MotoGP Dreams Into Reality With Aprilia’s Pro Experience
date: 2024-05-09, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
It’s a rare opportunity to gain track-riding tutelage from MotoGP legends.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718858/aprilia-pro-exprience-2024/
Gen Z is starting out with more debt
date: 2024-05-09, from: Marketplace Morning Report
A recent TransUnion report shows borrowers aged 22 to 24 are carrying an average of roughly $2,800 in credit card debt — adjusted for inflation, that’s more than millennials in the same age range a decade ago. Then, an ad for Apple’s latest iPad has gone viral … for the wrong reasons. And what might America’s next economy look like? We discuss what achieving an economic framework that works for everyone might entail.
Support our nonprofit newsroom today and pick up a fun thank-you gift like our new Shrinkflation mini tote bag or the fan favorite KaiPA pint glass!
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/gen-z-is-starting-out-with-more-debt
Would You Pay Nearly $10K For An Audi Electric MTB?
date: 2024-05-09, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
It does come equipped with a full Öhlins suspension, but that’s still a whole lot of $$$.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718988/audi-fantic-emtb-limited-edition/
Israel objects to US decision to pause some arms shipments
date: 2024-05-09, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-withholds-weapons-as-israel-launches-operation-in-rafah/7604206.html
How frozen Russian assets could fund Ukraine’s war effort
date: 2024-05-09, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: The European Union plans to use profits from frozen Russian assets to fund arms to Ukraine, which could be worth around $3 billion a year. Plus, the head of public relations at China’s biggest search engine, Baidu, apologized after glorifying a work-till-you-drop culture. And as China’s President Xi Jinping concludes his European tour in Hungary, we look at the country’s growing EV battery industry.
Support our nonprofit newsroom today and pick up a fun thank-you gift like our new Shrinkflation mini tote bag or the fan favorite KaiPA pint glass!
UniSuper Google Cloud outage caused by an unfortunate series of events
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Duplication across geographies no defense against the ‘one-of-a-kind’ accidental deletion
Google’s Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian has weighed in on the UniSuper fiasco and confirmed that UniSuper’s Private Cloud subscription was accidentally deleted.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/unisuper_google_cloud_outage_caused/
Husqvarna’s 2025 Dirt Bike Lineup Is Ready To Rip
date: 2024-05-09, from: Ride Apart, Electric Motorcycle News
A wide selection of two- and four-stroke models all feature refinements to the frame and suspension settings.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/718855/2025-husqvarna-dirt-bike-lineup-launch/
What A Fracking CEO’s Text Messages Tell Us About Inflation
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Lever News
Monopoly expert Matt Stoller details his bombshell reporting on how an alleged oil price-fixing scheme between U.S. oil producers and Saudi Arabia fueled inflation.
https://www.levernews.com/what-a-fracking-ceos-text-messages-tell-us-about-inflation/
ML suggests all that relaxing whale song might just be human-esque gossiping
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Now this is our kind of click bait
A study into whale language using machine learning has uncovered a complex phonetic system, implying the cetaceans may speak to each other much like humans do.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/ai_whale_language/
Experimental remix finally brings the former Unity 8 back to Ubuntu
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Ubuntu Unity 24.04 arrives along with new little sibling, Ubuntu Lomiri
Ubuntu Unity Noble Numbat is out, and alongside it, a very much not long-term-supported new variant of the distro: Ubuntu Lomiri.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/ubuntu_unity_2404_plus_lomiri/
Oracle ULA audits are a license to bill
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Customers can be pushed into renewing agreements for fear of the unknown, but there are cheaper options
Oracle is threatening software audits as customers seek to exit Unlimited License Agreements (ULAs).…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/oracle_audit_ula/
Marsha McLean | Igniting Change with the Bike to Work Challenge
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
“Two wheels move the soul and the world forward. Embrace the journey, pedal by pedal, and let your commute ignite the change you wish to see.” – Unknown As spring […]
The post Marsha McLean | Igniting Change with the Bike to Work Challenge appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/marsha-mclean-igniting-change-with-the-bike-to-work-challenge/
Jim de Bree | A Pending Crisis That’s Not on Our Radar
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
I recently travelled to Cincinnati to celebrate my sister’s 90th birthday. I always thought that living to 90 is quite an accomplishment. It truly is, but as people live longer, health […]
The post Jim de Bree | A Pending Crisis That’s Not on Our Radar appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/jim-de-bree-a-pending-crisis-thats-not-on-our-radar/
Brian Richards | Short-Term Memory on the Left
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
No limits to the hypocrisy! Leftists have a short memory, assuming they have any memory anyway. In early 2020, deranged leftists in Congress impeached President Donald Trump and a trial […]
The post Brian Richards | Short-Term Memory on the Left appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/brian-richards-short-term-memory-on-the-left/
Lois Eisenberg | War Aid a Good Day for World Peace
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
The $95 billion war aid measure that President Joe Biden just signed is a good day for world peace, after a long battle with the Republican Congress in approving the […]
The post Lois Eisenberg | War Aid a Good Day for World Peace appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/lois-eisenberg-war-aid-a-good-day-for-world-peace/
A Home for a War Hero’s Family
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
This prime example of Craftsman architecture holds history within its walls.
The post A Home for a War Hero’s Family appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/a-home-for-a-war-heros-family/
Big brains divided over training AI with more AI: Is model collapse inevitable?
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Gosh, here’s us thinking recursion was a solved problem
AI model collapse – the degradation of quality expected from machine learning models that recursively train on their own output – is not inevitable, at least according to 14 academics.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/ai_model_collapse/
Today in SCV History (May 9)
date: 2024-05-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1990 – Gene Autry’s elderly horse, Champion, put to sleep; buried at Melody Ranch. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-may-9/
Changing Transportation and Housing Patterns
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Biking, small businesses, and social housing are preserving the charm of Paris.
The post Changing Transportation and Housing Patterns appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/09/changing-transportation-and-housing-patterns/
The world has (probably) passed peak pollution
date: 2024-05-09, from: Hannah Richie at Substack
Millions die prematurely from local air pollution, but we can reduce this number significantly.
https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/peak-pollution
Dos Pueblos Drops Heartbreaker to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 12-10 in CIF-SS Division 3 Semifinals
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Chargers led 10-7 going into the fourth quarter.
The post Dos Pueblos Drops Heartbreaker to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 12-10 in CIF-SS Division 3 Semifinals appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
FTX will return money to most customers less than 2 years after catastrophic crypto collapse
date: 2024-05-09, from: VOA News USA
From chips to cloud, tech titans continue to splash cash across APAC
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Intel and pals automate manufacturing in Japan while AWS pledges billions to Singapore
Tech giants including Intel and AWS joined Microsoft and others this week in announcing investments in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region to build out infrastructure - cloud services, datacenters, and chipmaking facilities - in anticipation of growing AI demand.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/apac_infrastructure_tuesday/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-09, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Vintage Photos Of Wyoming’s Snow King 'Chairlift Of Death.'
Down the Rabbit Hole
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
“Santa Barbara Independent” reporter Callie Fausey takes a psychedelic trip into the world of ketamine therapy.
The post Down the Rabbit Hole appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/08/down-the-rabbit-hole/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-05-09, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Mhm, maybe I should add built-in support for breakpoint flags directly to Runestone. That way I could make the text label be aware, and draw with the right color.
A small patch to maintain, but I think it might be worth it.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112408881930855309
May 8, 2024
date: 2024-05-09, from: Heather Cox Richardson blog
Today, in Racine, Wisconsin, President Joe Biden announced that Microsoft is investing $3.3 billion dollars to build a new data center that will help operate one of the most powerful artificial intelligence systems in the world. It is expected to create 2,300 union construction jobs and employ 2,000 permanent workers.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-8-2024
US urges other countries to repatriate citizens held in Syria
date: 2024-05-09, from: VOA News USA
Asia’s hyperscalers hustle for juice as datacenters drain grid
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Power shortages are driving the industry to once-unthinkable places
Southeast Asia’s hyperscalers face plenty of challenges – from securing talent, property, and keeping construction costs down – but these hurdles pale in comparison to the task of banking enough power.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/asia_hyperscaler_power_shortages/
June 2: Sierra Hillbillies Disney Themed Dance
date: 2024-05-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
he Sierra Hillbillies Square and Round Dance club invites you to make your “Wishes Come True”. Romney Tannehill will be our enthusiastic caller on Sunday, June 2nd from 2 - 4:30pm. He will be calling SSD and Tip at the breaks
https://scvnews.com/june-2-the-sierra-hillbillies-make-wishes-come-true-with-disney-themed-dance/
DeepMind spinoff Isomorphic claims AlphaFold 3 predicts bio-matter down to the DNA
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
AI may help drug discovery, but not US drug affordability
Google and DeepMind spinoff Isomorphic Labs has developed an AI model called AlphaFold 3 that can, it’s claimed, predict the structure of molecules more accurately than existing tools.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/09/google_deepmind_alphafold3_model/
Amazon puts first electric semi trucks into ocean freight operation
date: 2024-05-09, from: Electrek Feed
Southern California truck spotters will have plenty of electric semi trucks to watch out for as Amazon adds fifty Class 8 EVs to its commercial fleet.
https://electrek.co/2024/05/08/amazon-puts-first-electric-semi-trucks-into-ocean-freight-operation/
Supervisor Williams Reflects on Indonesian Roots for AAPI Heritage Month
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Santa Barbara County Supervisors declare May Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, prompting a “remembrance” of grandfather who served in WWII.
The post Supervisor Williams Reflects on Indonesian Roots for AAPI Heritage Month appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Santa Barbara Unified Lays Off 15, Demotes 8 on National Teachers’ Day
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Dozens speak out over cuts that will save the district just over $1.9 million.
The post Santa Barbara Unified Lays Off 15, Demotes 8 on National Teachers’ Day appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Homelessness Spikes Sharply In Orange County, According To Latest Count
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The LAist
O.C. officials announced the latest homeless count found that 7,322 people are experiencing homelessness.
https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/homelessness-spikes-orange-county
Project Connect: Bringing Old Town Back as the Cultural Heart of Goleta
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Project Connect will lead to a more vibrant, safe, and accessible neighborhood for Goleta residents, businesses, and visitors while preserving and enhancing Old Town’s unique character.
The post Project Connect: Bringing Old Town Back as the Cultural Heart of Goleta appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
US withholds weapons as Israel launches operation in Rafah
date: 2024-05-09, from: VOA News USA
In a sharp escalation of pressure on Israel’s war conduct, the Biden administration has paused the shipment of weapons to Israel amid mounting concern about its plan to expand a military operation in Rafah that the United States does not support. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this story.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-withholds-weapons-as-israel-launches-operation-in-rafah-/7603957.html
Housing Insecurity Among Community College Students Is More Than Double Rate Of UC, CSU Students, Audit Finds
date: 2024-05-09, updated: 2024-05-09, from: The LAist
A new state report signals that the rates far exceed those at public universities.
Photos: Faces
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Signal
The Santa Clarita Artists Association held its opening reception of the exhibition, “Faces,” at the SCAA Gallery in Old Town Newhall on Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m. While the […]
The post Photos: Faces appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/photos-faces/
Academic Senate votes to censure Folt, Guzman over handling of Gaza war controversies
date: 2024-05-09, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The resolution, approved 21-7 with six abstentions, also “endorses the immediate creation of a task force” that would produce a public report investigating USC’s handling of controversies related to Israel’s war in Gaza.
The post Academic Senate votes to censure Folt, Guzman over handling of Gaza war controversies appeared first on Daily Trojan.
Inclusive Sans (2023)
date: 2024-05-09, from: Tilde.news
https://www.oliviaking.com/inclusive-sans
Sour Pickle Award
date: 2024-05-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara should have an annual award honoring the shameful ones who work against our solid community and our spirit of well-being.
The post Sour Pickle Award appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/08/sour-pickle-award/
PostgreSQL 16.3, 15.7, 14.12, 13.15, and 12.19 Released!
date: 2024-05-09, from: PostgreSQL News
The PostgreSQL Global Development Group has released an update to all supported versions of PostgreSQL, including 16.3, 15.7, 14.12, 13.15, and 12.19. This release fixes one security vulnerability and over 55 bugs reported over the last several months.
A security vulnerability was found in the system views
pg_stats_ext
and
pg_stats_ext_exprs,
potentially allowing authenticated database users to see data they don’t
have sufficient privileges to view. The fix for this vulnerability only
fixes fresh PostgreSQL installations, namely those that are created with
the
initdb
utility after this fix is applied. If you have a current PostgreSQL
installation and are concerned about this issue, please follow the
instructions in the “Updating” section for remediation steps.
For the full list of changes, please review the release notes.
PostgreSQL 12 EOL Notice
PostgreSQL 12 will stop receiving fixes on November 14, 2024. If you are running PostgreSQL 12 in a production environment, we suggest that you make plans to upgrade to a newer, supported version of PostgreSQL. Please see our versioning policy for more information.
Security Issues
CVE-2024-4317:
Restrict visibility of pg_stats_ext and
pg_stats_ext_exprs entries to the table owner
CVSS v3.1 Base Score: 3.1
Supported, Vulnerable Versions: 14 - 16.
Missing authorization in PostgreSQL built-in views
pg_stats_ext
and
pg_stats_ext_exprs
allows an unprivileged database user to read most common values and
other statistics from
CREATE
STATISTICS commands of other users. The most common values
may reveal column values the eavesdropper could not otherwise read or
results of functions they cannot execute.
This fix only fixes fresh PostgreSQL installations, namely those that
are created with the
initdb
utility after this fix is applied. If you have a current PostgreSQL
installation and are concerned about this issue, please follow the
instructions in the “Updating” section for remediation steps.
The PostgreSQL project thanks Lukas Fittl for reporting this problem.
Bug Fixes and Improvements
This update fixes over 55 bugs that were reported in the last several months. The issues listed below affect PostgreSQL 16. Some of these issues may also affect other supported versions of PostgreSQL.
-
Fix issue with
INSERTwith a multi-rowVALUESclause where a target column is a domain over an array or composite type. -
Require the
SELECT
privilege on the target table when using
MERGEwhen usingMERGE … DO NOTHING. -
Per the SQL standard, throw an error if a target row in
MERGEjoins to more than one source row during a modification. -
Fix incorrect pruning of
NULLpartition when a table is partitioned on a boolean column and the query has a booleanIS NOTclause. -
Make
ALTER FOREIGN TABLE … SET SCHEMAmove any owned sequences into the new schema. -
CREATE DATABASEnow recognizesSTRATEGYkeywords case-insensitively. - Fix how EXPLAIN counts heap pages during bitmap heap scan to show all counted pages, not just ones with visible tuples.
- Avoid deadlock during removal of orphaned temporary tables.
-
Several fixes for
VACUUM, including one that can reduce unnecessary I/O. - Several query planner fixes.
- Add optimization for certain operations where an installation has thousands of roles.
- Fix confusion for SQL-language procedures that return a single composite-type column.
-
Fix incorrect rounding and overflow hazards in
date_bin(). - Detect integer overflow when adding or subtracting an interval to/from a timestamp.
- Fix several race conditions with logical replication, including determining if a table sync operation is required.
- Disconnect if a new server session’s client socket cannot be put into non-blocking mode.
-
initdb -cnow matches parameter names case-insensitively. -
Fix how PL/pgSQL parses of
single-line
comments (
– style comments) following expression.
Updating
All PostgreSQL update releases are cumulative. As with other minor
releases, users are not required to dump and reload their database or
use pg_upgrade in order to apply this update release; you
may simply shutdown PostgreSQL and update its binaries.
For existing installations that are impacted by CVE-2024-4317 that wish to remediate the issue, you will have to perform the following steps:
-
Find the SQL script
fix-CVE-2024-4317.sqlin thesharedirectory of your PostgreSQL installation (e.g. in/usr/share/postgresql/), or download it from the PostgreSQL git repository from one of the URLs below. You will need to use the script that matches your major version: -
PostgreSQL 16: https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git;a=blob;f=src/backend/catalog/fix-CVE-2024-4317.sql;hb=refs/heads/REL_16_STABLE
- PostgreSQL 15: https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git;a=blob;f=src/backend/catalog/fix-CVE-2024-4317.sql;hb=refs/heads/REL_15_STABLE
- PostgreSQL 14: https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git;a=blob;f=src/backend/catalog/fix-CVE-2024-4317.sql;hb=refs/heads/REL_14_STABLE
From the above URLs, you can click the URL that says “raw” to download a version that you can copy and paste.
Be sure to use the script appropriate to your PostgreSQL major version. If you do not see this file, either your version is not vulnerable (only PostgreSQL 14, 15, and 16 are affected) or your minor version is too old to have the fix.
-
In each database of the cluster, run the
fix-CVE-2024-4317.sqlscript as a database superuser. For example, inpsql, with the file located in/usr/share/postgresql/, this command would look like:
/usr/share/postgresql/fix-CVE-2024-4317.sql
-
You must also execute this script in the
template0andtemplate1databases, or the vulnerability will still exist in databases you create later. To fixtemplate0, you’ll need to temporarily allow it accept connections. You can do this with the following command:
ALTER DATABASE template0 WITH ALLOW_CONNECTIONS true;
After executing the fix-CVE-2024-4317.sql script in
template0 and template1, you should revoke the
ability for template0 to accept connections. You can do
this with the following command:
ALTER DATABASE template0 WITH ALLOW_CONNECTIONS false;
Users who have skipped one or more update releases may need to run additional post-update steps; please see the release notes from earlier versions for details.
For more details, please see the release notes.
Links
- Download
- Release Notes
- Security
- Versioning Policy
- PostgreSQL 16 Release Announcement
- Follow @postgresql on X/Twitter
- Donate
If you have corrections or suggestions for this release announcement, please send them to the pgsql-www@lists.postgresql.org public mailing list.
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-163-157-1412-1315-and-1219-released-2858/
Integrity of the Scholarly Record (ISR): what do research institutions think?
date: 2024-05-09, from: Crossref Blog
Earlier this year, we reported on the roundtable discussion event that we had organised in Frankfurt on the heels of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2023. This event was the second in the series of roundtable events that we are holding with our community to hear from you how we can all work together to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record - you can read more about insights from these events and about ISR in this series of blogs.
Research institutions are one of the most important stakeholders in the endeavour of research integrity, and any conversation around ISR is incomplete without the views of this key community. This fact was acknowledged at the second ISR roundtable event, and one of the main takeaways from the discussions was to make more focused efforts to hear the viewpoints of researchers and academics.
As the first step in this direction, we organised an online discussion on the integrity of the scholarly record, to which we invited: researchers and academics, research integrity experts based at academic institutions, Crossref members, as well as other organisations working on this topic such as COPE and Digital Science. The primary objective of this event was to hear from this community their perspectives on preserving and leveraging the integrity of the scholarly record and to identify opportunities for collaboration in this area. To ensure common ground, we also wanted to share information about Crossref metadata, the Research Nexus vision, and our position and role in the integrity of the scholarly record.
To facilitate this, the event started with an introduction by Kora Korzec, Head of Community Engagement and Communication at Crossref, to our mission and vision and the importance of capturing the relationships between the objects, people and places involved in research through the Research Nexus. Amanda Bartell, Head of Member Experience, was next and she spoke about the scholarly record and the role that Crossref plays in preserving the record’s integrity. In her presentation, Amanda emphasised that Crossref’s role is not to assess the quality of content deposited by the members but rather to provide infrastructure that enables the community to provide and use metadata about the scholarly content produced by members. It’s important not to put up barriers to entry, but to work with all publishers to encourage best practices.
Dominika Tkaczyk, Head of Strategic Initiatives, shared details of a few Crossref projects that focus on monitoring and improving metadata completeness, thereby supporting ISR. These projects include improving the Participation Reports, using metadata matching to discover new relationships (e.g., preprint published as work, work supported by funder, etc), and importing more retractions and other updates from the Retraction Watch database that was acquired and made openly available by Crossref. Dominika used these examples to highlight the ways in which open and complete metadata can help in uncovering large scale trends and systemic concerns. The final speaker was Amanda French, ROR Technical Community Manager, who introduced the audience to the Research Organization Registry, or ROR.
To accomplish the primary aim of the event, which was to hear the community’s viewpoints, the participants were divided into breakout groups for discussions and given three prompts to answer. The rest of the blog is a summary of what we heard from the participants.
- Is Crossref’s role what you expected? What surprised you? What are
we missing?
An overarching sentiment from the academics in the audience was that Crossref does so much more than is known to researchers! They were surprised by the range of activities underway at Crossref. At the same time, there were calls for Crossref to play a bigger role. Suggestions included playing a leadership role in deciding which metadata elements are a priority, providing guidance on the main metadata components important for signalling trust, playing a greater role in connecting various identifiers to ensure that relationships between different content types are preserved well, and to coordinate the efforts being taken by institutions, publishers and service providers around research integrity, by virtue of Crossref’s unique position in the community. There was a broad agreement that by providing the essential infrastructure, Crossref acts as the base upon which other actors in the scholarly community can build.
- What metadata elements do you consider important for signalling
trust?
Many participants spoke about the various ways in which author identity and affiliation are important as trust signals. Being able to identify when an author has changed institutions, or being able to make a distinction between authors who have the same name is important. Author affiliations that are authentic and verified would go a long way in establishing trust.
Multiple assertions, e.g. for affiliations, would be welcome. The use cases for this could be when research starts at one institution and is carried over to another, or when researchers affiliated with an institution may perform part of the research overseas. Some of the participants, who actively investigate research data, shared that abstracts are valuable because they can be used for large scale analyses related to research integrity.
Other metadata elements that came up during this discussion were data on peer review, ethics approval, patient and donor consent in medical research, editorial boards (especially of special issues), pre-registration, funding metadata, datasets and programming scripts.
- What value do you see in the integrity and completeness of the
scholarly record in the way you operate? How do you contribute to it?
How can it support you to achieve your own goals?
Participants acknowledged that integrity of the metadata and the scholarly record is essential. Ensuring this integrity is a dynamic process, much akin to the concept of organised scepticism which is the notion that all scientific work should be trusted subject to its verification. Several ideas were shared on how to progress the integrity and completeness of the scholarly record. One recommendation was to use multiple metadata trust markers as that can make it harder for bad actors to game the system, but this may run the risk of making things complicated. Another suggestion was to make metadata part of the onboarding procedure- by gathering staff ORCID iDs during the onboarding process and sharing the institutional ROR ID with staff to promote its use, institutions can ensure that this information is routinely made available. The metadata deposited with Crossref should be integrated with downstream workflows to better facilitate the use of this rich metadata. An example of this is to integrate Crossmark with other research tools such as reference management software.
The participants acknowledged that this discussion underlined for them the fact that having identifiers in itself is not an indicator of quality and that the underlying metadata records and wider context is key to understanding trustworthiness of the content.
This event was a good first step towards engaging researchers and academics in the conversation about ISR. It connected folks working in different parts of the world who are united by their interest in research integrity. There was good engagement among all and commitment to continue these conversations in the future, with many participants planning to connect at the World Conference on Research Integrity in June (I’ll be attending as well, for anyone who wants to continue the conversation - along with my colleagues Fabienne and Evans).
At Crossref, we plan on continuing these conversations with all segments of the community to understand their needs and perceptions around metadata. The greater the awareness about the importance of metadata and its applications, including for research integrity, the richer the metadata that we are able to collect together. This will lead to building a comprehensive Research Nexus and emergence of more relationships therein. Please write in response to this post on our Community Forum if you have any thoughts on this as we’d love to hear from you.
List of participants
| Manu Goyal | International Journal of Cancer | |
| Panagiotis Kavouras | University of Oslo | |
| Dorothy Bishop | University of Oxford | |
| Zhesi (Phil) Shen | Centre of Scientometrics, National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences | |
| Wouter Vandevelde | KU Leuven | |
| Leslie McIntosh | Digital Science | |
| Elizabeth Noonan | University College Cork | |
| Queensland University of Technology | ||
| London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine | ||
| Masaryk University Press | ||
| Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Library | ||
| Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) | ||
| Ginny Hendricks | Director of Community, Crossref | |
| Korna Korzec | Head of Community Engagement and Communication, Crossref | |
| Amanda Bartell | Head of Member Experience, Crossref | |
| Dominika Tkaczyk | Head of Strategic Initiatives, Crossref | |
| Amanda French | ROR Technical Community Manager, Crossref | |
| Madhura Amdekar | Community Engagement Manager, Crossref |
https://www.crossref.org/blog/isr-online-event-with-research-institutions-2024/