News gathered 2024-05-29
(date: 2024-05-29 10:50:33)
India’s capital breaks heat record, officials impose water rationing
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
One study found that heat waves have killed more than 24,000 people in the country since 1992. The increase in heat events in coming years could threaten India’s development, and risk reversing its progress on poverty alleviation, health and economic growth, the study said.
Parallels Desktop 19.4
date: 2024-05-29, from: TidBITS blog
https://tidbits.com/watchlist/parallels-desktop-19-3-2/
Analysis: Trump griped about trial but did not use holiday to hit multiple swing states
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
Trump has complained for weeks that he cannot hit the campaign trail because he is stuck in a courtroom. But he opted against using a holiday weekend break to visit multiple battleground states.
Pixelmator Pro 3.6
date: 2024-05-29, from: TidBITS blog
https://tidbits.com/watchlist/pixelmator-pro-3-6/
Mellel 6.0.4
date: 2024-05-29, from: TidBITS blog
https://tidbits.com/watchlist/mellel-6-0-4/
Trump’s hush money trial verdict could come this week. Here’s what each outcome could mean for the election
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
Here’s what we’re watching for in the three scenarios that could play out.
In a first, Cuba’s private business owners will be able to use US banks, Treasury says
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
The embargo imposed on Cuba in the 1960s cut the island off from the U.S. banking system. Currently, Cubans visiting the U.S. can open a bank account here, but they cannot access their money once they return to the island.
Framework’s modular laptops (and mainboards) now come with Meteor Lake-H options
date: 2024-05-29, from: Liliputing
The Framework Laptop 13 is a modular, repairable, and upgradeable laptop that first debuted in 2021 with 11th-gen Intel Core processor. But Framework has launched several upgrades since then, allowing customers to either buy a new laptop with a faster Intel or AMD processor or purchase a new mainboard to upgrade the processor in their existing […]
The post Framework’s modular laptops (and mainboards) now come with Meteor Lake-H options appeared first on Liliputing.
Millie Bobby Brown marries Jon Bon Jovi’s son Jake
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
“It was a very small family wedding, and the bride looked gorgeous, and Jake is happy as can be,” the groom’s father said.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/29/millie-bobby-brown-marries-jon-bon-jovis-son-jake/
Family Members Infected With Parasitic Worms After Eating Undercooked Bear Meat at Reunion
date: 2024-05-29, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Six people developed symptoms of roundworm infection after consuming grilled black bear meat and vegetables in July 2022, and all have since recovered
What to watch: ‘Violent Nature’ more than lives up to its name
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
A wronged father becomes a ruthless killer with a weird costume in imaginative slasher film.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/29/what-to-watch-violent-nature-more-than-lives-up-to-its-name/
Condominium in Palo Alto sells for $2.3 million
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
A condominium located in the 900 block of Cowper Street in Palo Alto has new owners. The 1,700-square-foot property, built in 1984, was sold on May 15, 2024, for $2,298,000, or $1,352 per square foot.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/29/condominium-in-palo-alto-sells-for-2-3-million/
US optimistic a deal to lessen threats of future pandemics is in sight
date: 2024-05-29, from: VOA News USA
Geneva — Despite the failure of negotiators to reach a pandemic accord ahead of this week’s World Health Assembly, a senior U.S. official remains optimistic that an agreement to lessen the threats of global killer disease outbreaks is in sight.
“We think the elements of a good deal are already on the table and that is why we feel optimistic because those are pretty good deals. It is just a matter now of fine-tuning it to make sure everybody says we are ready to sign on the dotted line,” Xavier Becerra, U.S. secretary of health and human services, told journalists at a briefing in Geneva Wednesday.
While disappointing, Becerra indicated that it was not surprising that an accord was not reached after two-and-a-half years of negotiations.
“Negotiations go on forever,” he said. “I think we have to put this in perspective. You do not build a nation overnight. You do not build an Empire State Building overnight. It takes a long time. Name me a major international achievement that came overnight.
“I think there is clear consensus that we cannot let the status quo be upon us if another pandemic comes,” he said.
His view reflects that of World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who, in his opening remarks at the World Health Assembly on Monday, assured delegates that the negotiations were on track and were not a failure.
“Of course, we all wish that we had been able to reach a consensus on the agreement in time for this health assembly and cross the finish line,” he said. “But I remain confident that you still will—because where there is a will, there is a way.”
WHO says 7,010,681 people have died from the COVID-19 outbreak as of April 13 and that a total of 704,753,890 cases have been confirmed in 229 countries and territories.
Becerra noted that threats against global health have an outsized influence on broader global political and economic interests.
“There is no stability without health. There is no security without health. Our nations cannot be strong unless they are healthy.
“Getting out of COVID is our main health priority,” Becerra said, noting that U.S. President Joe Biden was committed to achieving a pandemic treaty.
“When the president came in, we were experiencing two or three 9/11s every day in America in terms of loss of life. That is where we started. Today, we are walking around without masks. We are treating COVID the way we treat the flu,” he said, indicating that now is not the time to become complacent.
“I think we realize that another pandemic could be upon us. I mean, we are dealing with avian flu in the U.S. right now. We do not know how long it is going to be before we get another type of COVID kind of tragedy. We do not want to wait,” he said.
Sticking points to a pandemic treaty include disagreements over sharing information about pathogens that cause pandemics, a formula for global sharing of vaccines and medicine during international health emergencies, and financing to set up surveillance systems.
The WHO says that member states have agreed to continue to work during the World Health Assembly “to develop the world’s first pandemic accord” to prevent a repeat of the “global health, economic and social impacts” of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We really have an incredible opportunity this week,” Loyce Pace, assistant secretary for global affairs at HHS, said.
“We have spent so long trying to come together and finding compromise and consensus. I think we talk about what is left to do, but I do not know if we talk enough about what has been done toward reaching an agreement.”
“So, whatever happens this week, we need some deliverable, if only to keep this momentum on towards any other work that should continue. We shouldn’t be leaving Geneva and go home without an accord, not after all that has been done,” Pace said.
Secretary Becerra agrees, saying that he does not think there are substantive disagreements about the essential elements of a pandemic treaty.
“It is more how they are packaged, how they are defined. People generally agree with what we have to do in order to be ready to take on any pandemic that may come across our path,” Becerra said.
“I am the son of immigrants. Optimism is in my DNA and so, I believe we are going to get this done because it would be tragic, especially given how far we have come and not get it done.
“We have to be ready,” he said. “Who knows what is coming around the corner. Something is going to broadside us. We just have to be ready.”
Verizon invests $100 million in wireless connectivity from space
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
Verizon and AT&T are both investing heavily with AST SpaceMobile in a bid to challenge Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/29/ast-spacemobile-shares-surge-on-100-million-verizon-deal/
Elon Musk: 1; Yann LeCun: 1; Humanity: 0
date: 2024-05-29, from: Gary Marcus blog
In case you haven’t heard, there‘s a brawl happening over at X, Musk vs LeCun. For days I tried to resist commenting, but so many people (friends, reporters, etc) keep asking me for my opinion I have decided to oblige. The first thing that I will tell you is that each of those not so-gentle men scored some points; neither kept things above the belt.
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/elon-musk-1-yann-lecun-1-humanity
Biden, Harris to launch Black voter outreach effort amid signs of diminished support
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris head to the battleground state of Pennsylvania as they step up their reelection pitch to Black voters.
ConocoPhillips buying Marathon Oil for $17.1 billion
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
Crude prices have jumped more than 12% this year, and the cost for a barrel rose above $80 this week.
In Memoriam: Dr. Richard S. Stolarski [1941–2024]
date: 2024-05-29, from: NASA breaking news
Renowned ozone scientist Dr. Richard “Rich” Stolarski died on February 22, 2024, at age 82 from the complications of prostate cancer. Rich was born at Fort Lewis, WA on November 22, 1941. After short stays in Kansas and Hawaii, Rich’s family settled in Tacoma, WA. He attended Stadium High School for three years and Wilson […]
https://science.nasa.gov/uncategorized/in-memoriam-dr-richard-s-stolarski-1941-2024/
Last-Mile Broadband Program Notice of Preparation for Environmental Impact Report
date: 2024-05-29, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara, Calif – The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) is preparing an Environmental Impact Report for the
The post Last-Mile Broadband Program Notice of Preparation for Environmental Impact Report appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Daily Deals (5-29-2024)
date: 2024-05-29, from: Liliputing
The ACEMAGIC M2A Starship is a gaming PC that looks more like a wireless router than a typical PC. But with support for up to an Intel Core i9-12900H processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series mobile graphics, it has the guts of a pretty decent gaming laptop from a year or two ago. When […]
The post Daily Deals (5-29-2024) appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/daily-deals-5-29-2024/
Red Hat Enterprise Linux and AlmaLinux 8.10 released as end of the RHEL 8 line looms
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Some derivatives haven’t got there yet, but it’s time to get a move on…
Two notable North American Linux distributors have emitted the last release in their 8.x series – although other vendors have yet to catch up with that cycle.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/rhel_and_alma_8_10/
The Children of Pompeii Saw Gladiators Fight to the Death—and They Drew Graffiti About It
date: 2024-05-29, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Researchers recently discovered bloodshed-themed stick-figure sketches in a cluster of houses in the doomed ancient city
Robot Sets New Rubik’s Cube Speed Record, Completing the Puzzle in 0.305 Seconds
date: 2024-05-29, from: Smithsonian Magazine
A team of Mitsubishi engineers harnessed high-speed motors and an A.I. algorithm to eclipse the previous record, set six years ago
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-05-29, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
I find myself using the FreeForm, the MacOS built-in app more and more for simple collages, annotations and drawings.
Very pleased with it, and the sharing across my devices is a plus.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112525342607987772
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-29, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Carmelo Anthony reveals unknown part of Linsanity.
https://nypost.com/2024/05/24/sports/carmelo-anthony-reveals-unknown-part-of-linsanity/
Sept. 6: Cocktails on the Roof to Benefit WiSH Education Foundation
date: 2024-05-29, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The WiSH Education Foundation has announced that Cocktails on the Roof returns to Hello Subaru of Valencia on Saturday, Sept. 6.
https://scvnews.com/sept-6-cocktails-on-the-roof-to-benefit-wish-foundation/
Bearblog is fun
date: 2024-05-29, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>If you’re into blogging and the blogging world, chances are you might have heard about <a href="https://bearblog.dev">bearblog.dev</a>. And if you’re a reader of this blog you might have also <a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/pb-herman-martinus">read the interview with Herman</a>, Bearblog’s creator.</p>I never used Bearblog, mainly because I’m happy with my setup and I have no reason to look for another blog solution.
That said, a few weeks back I started toying with the idea of porting the design of this site over to Bear, just for fun. And to my surprise, creating a bear version of my site was surprisingly simple.
Which is why I’m happy to release a V0.1 of this experiment. The demo site I’m using it’s currently up at css.bearblog.dev. This is a very quick and dirty version. There’s some leftover code in there but it should mostly work.
Quick note: I might use that test site in the future to code other themes so depending on when you’re reading this post, the live preview might not actually show the correct theme.
To install it just head over to the “Themes” section in your dashboard, delete everything inside the “Edit theme CSS” section and paste in the code of my theme. Hit “Publish” and you’re done.
I’m sure there will be bugs because there are always bugs. If you need help with anything send me an email. The theme is free, if you want to contribute the best way to do it is to become a member of my “One a Month” club.
<hr>
<p>Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:hello@manuelmoreale.com">Email me</a> ::
<a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/guestbook">Sign my guestbook</a> ::
<a href="https://ko-fi.com/manuelmoreale">Support for 1$/month</a> ::
<a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/supporters">See my awesome supporters</a> ::
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https://manuelmoreale.com/@/page/L1Syqdy6Ggph2Yw5
Massachusetts’ ‘Bad Breath Rapist’ arrested in East Bay following nearly 17 years on run
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
Authorities in 2023 had offered up to $10,000 for information leading to the man’s arrest.
Man shot at Oakland motel earlier this month dies
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
A man shot May 20 at an Oakland motel died Saturday, police said.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/29/man-shot-at-oakland-motel-earlier-this-month-dies/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-29, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Julia Evans' git cheat sheet.
https://wizardzines.com/git-cheat-sheet.pdf
Physicists Puzzle Over Emergence of Strange Electron Aggregates
date: 2024-05-29, from: Quanta Magazine
Electrons have been seen uniting into entities with fractions of electric charge, this time without a magnetic field coaxing them into it.The post Physicists Puzzle Over Emergence of Strange Electron Aggregates first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Jury faces choices in Trump trial
date: 2024-05-29, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/jury-faces-choices-in-trump-trial/7633598.html
Colorado governor signs ‘best in the world’ right-to-repair law
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
But the repairability war isn’t over, says iFixit’s Kyle Wiens
A right to repair rule just signed into law in Colorado is earning praise from advocates for making the area one of the best jurisdictions for electronics tinkerers and DIYers.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/colorado_governor_signs_best_in/
Review: Avril Lavigne kicks off 2024 Shoreline season in uncomplicated fashion
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
Avril Lavigne showcases the hits, as well as her lasting influence and connection with fans, during compelling concert in Mountain View.
Joyful Observations From Xochitl Gonzalez
date: 2024-05-29, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures talk explores Latinx culture and the importance of having a voice.
The post Joyful Observations From Xochitl Gonzalez appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/29/joyful-observations-from-xochitl-gonzalez/
Piecing together a beautiful life
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
Five years ago, an ambitious young adult immigrated to the United States from Uganda to meet the father he never knew. Pierce College student Jacob
The post Piecing together a beautiful life appeared first on .
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupt Chevron shareholder meeting
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
The protesters argued that Chevron corporation supplies Israel with light and power for their attacks in Gaza.
La ciudad de Goleta lanza la campaña Old Town Goleta está abierto al público
date: 2024-05-29, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
GOLETA, CA- 28 de Mayo, 2024 – La ciudad de Goleta se complace en anunciar el lanzamiento desu campaña Old
The post La ciudad de Goleta lanza la campaña Old Town Goleta está abierto al público appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Dare to bare: California spot makes list of world’s best nude beaches
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
2024 is already shaping up to be another banner year for nudity around the world with a nude cruise and nude beach weddings on the horizon.
Summary of the Fifty-Second U.S.–Japan ASTER Science Team Meeting
date: 2024-05-29, from: NASA breaking news
Michael Abrams, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, mjabrams@jpl.nasa.gov Yasushi Yamaguchi, Nagoya University/Japan Science and Technology Agency, yasushi@nagoya-u.jp Introduction The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Science Team (ST) organized a three-day workshop that took place September 11–13, 2023, at the offices of Japan Space Systems (JSS) in Tokyo. Over 40 people from […]
Get ready for some eligible bachelors
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
After coming to the United States in 2003 and enrolling at Pasadena City College, a young man from Indonesia didn’t yet know what career path
The post Get ready for some eligible bachelors appeared first on .
City of Goleta Launches Old Town Open for Business Campaign
date: 2024-05-29, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
GOLETA, CA- May 28, 2024 – The City of Goleta is pleased to announce the launch of its Old Town Open for
The post City of Goleta Launches Old Town Open for Business Campaign appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/29/city-of-goleta-launches-old-town-open-for-business-campaign/
ADATA and ZOTAC are launching handheld gaming PCs at Computex next week (Asus ROG Ally too)
date: 2024-05-29, from: Liliputing
At least two more companies are planning to enter the handheld gaming PC space. Zotac and ADATA have both announced plans to introduce handhelds at the Computex trade show next week. The ZOTAC GAMING ZONE handheld will have a 7 inch AMOLED display and an AMD RYzen processor, while the ADATA XPG NIA will be one of […]
The post ADATA and ZOTAC are launching handheld gaming PCs at Computex next week (Asus ROG Ally too) appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/adata-and-zotac-are-launching-handheld-gaming-pcs-at-computex-next-week/
Come for the books, stay for the tour
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
Blink and you just might miss the Child Development Center to the right of Lot 7 at Pierce College. Because the Center’s existence may not
The post Come for the books, stay for the tour appeared first on .
Ex-OpenAI board member accuses Sam Altman of ‘outright lying’
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Claims she and other members ‘learned about ChatGPT on Twitter’
OpenAI’s board was only aware that ChatGPT had been launched after reading about it on Twitter, according to a former board member.…
Google Laid Off Workers That Help Investigators During School Shootings and Kidnappings
date: 2024-05-29, from: 404 Media Group
A third of the team responsible for handling Google’s data requests was laid off, a union representing workers said, raising concerns about how the company will manage its users’ data security.
https://www.404media.co/google-legal-investigations-team-layoffs/
NASA Lucy Images Reveal Asteroid Dinkinesh to be Surprisingly Complex
date: 2024-05-29, from: NASA breaking news
Images from the November 2023 flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft show a trough on Dinkinesh where a large piece — about a quarter of the asteroid — suddenly shifted, a ridge, and a separate contact binary satellite (now known as Selam). Scientists say this complicated structure shows that Dinkinesh and Selam have […]
Skydiver certified students to conduct tandem jumps after losing his qualifications to do so
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
Authorities said the man lost his ability to certify skydivers in 2015 but continued to do so, leading to the deaths of two people.
Venus Might Still Have Active Volcanoes, as Recent Lava Flows Suggest ‘Ongoing’ Eruptions
date: 2024-05-29, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Astronomers have again discovered evidence of recent volcanic activity on Earth’s sister planet in data from the 1990s
Dance concert springs into motion
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
Pierce College presented the 2024 Spring Dance Concert “In Motion,” featuring performances by Pierce dance students and guest performers of CHAMPS High School of the
The post Dance concert springs into motion appeared first on .
ARM’s next-gen CPU and GPU cores are faster, more efficient
date: 2024-05-29, from: Liliputing
ARM is launching a new line of CPU and GPU technologies… as well as a new option for customers to purchase a complete solution that implements all of those features in one package. The new ARM Compute Subsystems for Client (or CSS for Client) bundles the latest Cortex-X and A-series CPU cores with Immortalis graphics […]
The post ARM’s next-gen CPU and GPU cores are faster, more efficient appeared first on Liliputing.
US capital to welcome pandas from China
date: 2024-05-29, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-capital-to-welcome-pandas-from-china/7633472.html
Jury starts deliberating Trump hush money criminal case
date: 2024-05-29, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/jury-to-start-deliberating-trump-hush-money-criminal-case/7633468.html
Veterans Club event helps students de-stress ahead of final exams
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
The Pierce College Veterans Club hosted a De-Stress Event on May 22 in the LLC Courtyard, where students participated in different activities a week before
The post Veterans Club event helps students de-stress ahead of final exams appeared first on .
Asus ROG Ally X handheld gaming PC will have an 80 Wh battery, 24GB of RAM, and a 1TB M.2 2280 SSD
date: 2024-05-29, 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 have an 80 Wh battery, 24GB of RAM, and a 1TB M.2 2280 SSD appeared first on Liliputing.
NASA Stennis Helps Family Build a Generational Legacy
date: 2024-05-29, from: NASA breaking news
For Lee English Jr., the sound of a ringing phone probably sounds a lot like the roar of a rocket engine test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. During the 1970s, when 9-year-old English Jr. picked up the ringing phone, someone from the south Mississippi test site might say, “Tell your […]
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/stennis/a-generational-legacy/
East Bay city updates its commercial cannabis rules, fines
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
Each plant over the six-plant limit allowed by the state will be subject to spearate fines in unlicensed commercial cannabis grows.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/29/east-bay-city-updates-its-commercial-cannabis-rules-fines/
Ready, set, decorate
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
Graduation decorations packed the walls where the Dream Resource Center (DRC) held an end-of-year celebration in the Library and Learning Crossroads last Wednesday. The event
The post Ready, set, decorate appeared first on .
Fugitive dubbed “Bad Breath Rapist” captured in East Bay after 16 years on the run
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
Massachusetts State Police have offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to Tuen Kit Lee’s arrest and appeared multiple times on the television show “America’s Most Wanted” to discuss the case.
GPD Duo is a dual-screen laptop with two 13.3 inch OLED displays that unfold vertically
date: 2024-05-29, from: Liliputing
The GPD DUO is an upcoming laptop with a 35-watt processor, a 13.3 inch OLED display, and a second 13.3 inch OLED display that can be extended upward to give you more screen space when you need it. Thanks to a tri-fold design with two hinges (including a 360 degree hinge for the upper display), you can […]
The post GPD Duo is a dual-screen laptop with two 13.3 inch OLED displays that unfold vertically appeared first on Liliputing.
Sols 4199-4201: Driving Through a Puzzle
date: 2024-05-29, from: NASA breaking news
Earth planning date: Tuesday, May 28, 2024 For the last several months, Curiosity has been steadily climbing through the bedrock layers of the upper sulfate unit. While each stop had its own collection of bedrock blocks tilting one way or another, you could imagine putting each scene back together into one coherent package of layers, […]
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/sols-4199-4201-driving-through-a-puzzle/
Tech Today: Measuring the Buzz, Hum, and Rattle
date: 2024-05-29, from: NASA breaking news
NASA-supported wireless microphone array quickly, cheaply, and accurately maps noise from aircraft, animals, and more.
Shootout in Oakland leaves one dead, one wounded and arrested
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
Police have not yet released the names of the 25-year-old man killed or the 25-year-old man later arrested.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/29/shootout-in-oakland-leaves-one-dead-one-wounded-and-arrested/
Beating drums, building community
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
As the Los Angeles Taiko Collective performed their drum set, the sounds of each hit echoed across the LLC Courtyard, attracting more and more people
The post Beating drums, building community appeared first on .
Neuralink wants 3 more quadriplegic patients for its brain control interface trial
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Sign up for your turn with the R1 robot if you qualify
Elon Musk’s Neuralink is recruiting another three subjects for its brain implant study.…
Ordering up the FOODTURE
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
A Jetsonian food option has been cooked up on Pierce that prepares hot food in just a few minutes. The FOODTURE hot food vending machine—located
The post Ordering up the FOODTURE appeared first on .
Caller reports excessively loud speakers at Los Gatos Jack in the Box
date: 2024-05-29, from: San Jose Mercury News
Second noise complaint this month about fast food drive-through.
News Briefs – May 29, 2024
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
Powwow at Pierce: Pierce College will be hosting its first Powwow at the Equestrian Center on June 22, 2024. The event opens with Gourd Dancing
The post News Briefs – May 29, 2024 appeared first on .
Time to herd Brahmas into the spotlight
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
Pierce College should highlight achievements and success stories from students. Recognizing student achievement can help motivate others to excel. “Highlighting student achievement is clearly a
The post Time to herd Brahmas into the spotlight appeared first on .
Streetbeat: What are your summer plans?
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
“I play the marimba, so I’m going to be getting some lessons from one of the people that I play with. I’m going
The post Streetbeat: What are your summer plans? appeared first on .
Students urge for a smoke-free campus at Pierce College Council meeting
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
During the last two Pierce College Council meetings, students have voiced their concerns over Pierce College not being a 100% smoke-free campus. Student athlete and
The post Students urge for a smoke-free campus at Pierce College Council meeting appeared first on .
AI smartphones must balance promise against hype and privacy concerns
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Color us shocked: 66% of Apple users said they wouldn’t switch for any reason
A coming wave of AI-capable smartphones may let vendors distinguish their devices via unique features and user experience, but it also poses challenges for privacy and potential user disillusion if there is too much hype.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/canalys_on_ai_smartphones/
Brahma Blotter: May 20-26, 2024
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
No crimes were reported between May 20-26, 2024. The crime log is made publicly available at the Pierce College Sheriff’s Office. No se reportaron crímenes
The post Brahma Blotter: May 20-26, 2024 appeared first on .
NASA to Measure Moonquakes With Help From InSight Mars Mission
date: 2024-05-29, from: NASA breaking news
The technology behind the two seismometers that make up NASA’s Farside Seismic Suite was used to detect more than a thousand Red Planet quakes. The most sensitive instrument ever built to measure quakes and meteor strikes on other worlds is getting closer to its journey to the mysterious far side of the Moon. It’s one […]
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-29, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
A Stretchtext Vocabulary.
https://vocab.methodandstructure.com/stretchtext#
Brokerages need to pick up the pace
date: 2024-05-29, from: Marketplace Morning Report
When you buy a stock, your brokerage has to go out and buy it for you. It sometimes doesn’t happen immediately and can take up to two days. As part of a push to reduce risk in the stock market, a new Securities and Exchange Commission rule says it needs to happen faster. Plus, why consumers are feeling better than expected and how pricey child care is holding back women in the workforce.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/brokerages-need-to-pick-up-the-pace
Why RISC-V must get its messaging right on open standard vs open source
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
It’s the difference between export limits on specific chips – and a problematic blanket ban
Feature The possibility of America placing sanctions on RISC-V has increased the pressure on RV’s governing body and its partners to get their messaging right about what this technology really is.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/riscos_messsaging_struggle/
Podcast: Google Somehow Got Even More Shit
date: 2024-05-29, from: 404 Media Group
Google’s AI snippets, a Google researcher says AI is now a leading vector for disinformation, and why AI images are not a victimless crime.
https://www.404media.co/podcast-google-somehow-got-even-worse-404-media-week-40/
North Korea building cash reserves using ransomware, video games
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Microsoft says Kim’s hermit nation is pivoting to latest tools as it evolves in cyberspace
A brand-new cybercrime group that Microsoft ties to North Korea is tricking targets using fake job opportunities to launch malware and ransomware, all for financial gain.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/north_korea_using_ransomware_and/
The Monopoly Case Against Ticketmaster, Explained
date: 2024-05-29, from: 404 Media Group
The antitrust suit against Live Nation is not about ticket scalping or ticket sales. It’s about total domination over the entire concert industry.
https://www.404media.co/the-monopoly-case-against-ticketmaster-explained/
Evidence mounts that Venus has multiple active volcanoes
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Data from 1990s adds to previous modelling to show lava-spewers widespread on second planet from Sun
New research on data collected in the 1990s shows that on Venus, volcanoes are likely to be both more active and widespread than scientists previously understood.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/evidence_mounts_that_venus_has/
Brazil’s Displacement Fears
date: 2024-05-29, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: More storms and possible tornadoes are forecast to hit Texas and the Plains, where millions of people are still without power • Cyclone Remal, the first tropical storm of the season, killed at least 23 people in India and Bangladesh • Brazilian authorities are investigating up to 800 suspected cases of waterborne illness following unprecedented flooding over the past month.
THE TOP FIVE
- Biden administration invests in carbon removal
The Department of Energy on Tuesday gave $1.2 million to companies competing for a chance to sell carbon removal credits to the federal government. These 24 semifinalists, which were each awarded $50,000, include nine direct air capture projects, seven biomass projects, five enhanced rock weathering projects, and three marine-based projects. Up to 10 of them will be offered federal contracts amounting to $30 million. “The Department of Energy hopes that by selecting 24 companies that have been vetted by government scientists, it’s sending a signal to the private sector that there are at least some projects that are legitimate,” Heatmap’s Emily Pontecorvo writes, referencing struggles in the broader carbon credits marketplace.
- Brazil floods leave some permanently displaced
Weeks of deadly flooding in Brazil displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Many of them now are — or will become — climate refugees. Residents of the cities devastated by the floodwaters are now rethinking how to live alongside the increasingly unpredictable rains. As climate refugees, they join the survivors of other climate disasters in recent years and the millions more who are expected to follow in their footsteps over the coming decades. “Brazil is not going to be a one-off,” Andrew Harper, a senior official at the U.N. High Commission for Refugees, told The Washington Post. “What we are seeing is the start of something that will become more frequent and more extreme and lead to more people left vulnerable, with no choice but to move to a safer location.”
- New satellite will study clouds and climate
SpaceX launched the EarthCARE (Earth Cloud, Aerosol, and Radiation Explorer) satellite, a joint project between the European Space Agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, on Tuesday in a mission that will study the impact that clouds have on the climate. The satellite, which has been 20 years in the making, will use four instruments, including radar and imaging systems, to measure clouds’ altitude, structure, and movement. The mission will take place at a relatively low orbit and is expected to last at least three years. Researchers hope the data it collects will lead to improvements both in long-term climate modeling and short-term weather forecasting.
- Supreme Court to hear San Francisco’s case against the EPA
The Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit brought by the city and county of San Francisco against EPA Clean Water Act discharge regulations. Lawyers representing San Francisco argued in their petition that the federal regulations — which prohibit violations “of any applicable water quality standard” rather than setting numerical pollution limits — are too vague. “These prohibitions effectively tell permit holders nothing more than not to cause ‘too much’ pollution,” the petition said. The EPA argued in response that the requirements are meant to keep permits in line with regional and state discharge standards. “Those standards, in turn, establish specific limits to which petitioner’s discharges must conform,” the EPA’s brief said. In recent years, the conservative Supreme Court has ruled against the EPA in high-profile cases.
- Poll: Voters favor climate accountability
Almost two-thirds of U.S. voters want oil companies to ”be held legally accountable for their contributions to climate change,” The Guardian reported Tuesday. A poll conducted by consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen and progressive polling firm Data for Progress found that 62% of voters — including 84% of Democrats, 59% of independents and 40% of Republicans — supported the idea. Asked about their stance on “criminal charges being filed against oil and gas companies to hold them accountable for deaths caused by their contributions to climate change,” 49% expressed support and 38% said they were opposed. A growing number of states, counties, and cities are suing major oil companies for climate damages. “These national findings show these cases may be able to earn popular support, particularly in blue jurisdictions,” Grace Adcox, senior climate strategist at Data for Progress, told The Guardian.
THE KICKER
A five-bedroom house in Rodanthe, North Carolina, has become the sixth house along its stretch of seashore to fall into the ocean in the past four years as coastal erosion increasingly threatens homes built near the water.
https://heatmap.news/climate/brazils-displacement-fears
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-29, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The gift of a three-month sabbatical.
https://zeldman.com/2024/05/28/the-gift-of-a-three-month-sabbatical/
After A Challenging School Year, LGBTQ+ Educators Share Their Experiences
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The LAist
Protests, flag bans, and book restrictions tested teachers’ ability to create a safe space for students to learn.
Felix Oliver Friedrich pushed to project branch main at Felix Oliver Friedrich / Oberon A2
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: Oberon A2 at CAS
Felix Oliver Friedrich (47db7be5) at 29 May 13:40
Merge branch 'fixes' into 'main'
… and 1 more commit
U.S. child care is expensive — and not working for most families
date: 2024-05-29, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Despite cooling inflation, many Americans still say higher prices make it difficult to make ends meet. That’s especially the case for parents. The cost of child care has far outpaced overall inflation for the past few decades, to the point that it’s affecting the labor force. We discuss. But first: Tensions between Exxon-Mobil and some of its shareholders may well boil over this morning when the company holds its annual shareholder meeting.
France’s Macron urges a green light for Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia with Western weapons
date: 2024-05-29, from: Associated Press, World News
France’s president has joined the head of NATO in pushing for a policy shift that could change the complexion of the Ukraine war: allowing Kyiv to strike military bases inside Russia with sophisticated long-range weapons provided by its Western partners.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-macron-weapons-e308755a31716ee0123b441bb9b548b0
LLMs can write and answer quizzes – but aren’t quite ready to disrupt trivia night
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Feed AutoQuizzer a URL and it will use LLaMa-3 to make a decent multiple-choice test
A developer has put large language models (LLMs) to the test, literally, by creating AutoQuizzer – a tool that creates quizzes from text on web pages.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/autoquizzer_llm_quiz_generation/
Can a huge mining industry merger make it to the finish line?
date: 2024-05-29, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Australian mining giant BHP wants to buy rival Anglo American, but it’s had two bids turned down and was recently denied an extension for takeover talks. Then, the union representing Samsung Electronics in South Korea has threatened to go on strike over demands for higher wages. And South Africa heads to the polls and the leading ANC party may lose its parliamentary majority.
Miniature Fabergé Animals That Enchanted the Romanovs and Other Royals Are Up for Sale
date: 2024-05-29, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Crafted around 1900, the charismatic carvings were inspired by Japanese decorative pendants
The Allegheny Arsenal Explosion and the Creation of Public Memory
date: 2024-05-29, from: National Archives, Pieces of History blog
Today’s post was developed from a former exhibit titled ”Allegheny Arsenal Explosion and the Creation of Public Memory.” The exhibit was initially displayed at the National Archives at Philadelphia and was then featured online as a digital exhibit. In collaboration with the National Archives Web Division, the National Archives at Philadelphia has reformatted the content … Continue reading The Allegheny Arsenal Explosion and the Creation of Public Memory
Gary Horton | COC: The Most Pragmatic College on Planet Earth
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Signal
A disclosure: I am co-chair of the College of the Canyons Foundation board. I’ve been a member of the COC Foundation for about two years. I was a member of […]
The post Gary Horton | COC: The Most Pragmatic College on Planet Earth appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/gary-horton-coc-the-most-pragmatic-college-on-planet-earth/
Make an AI device to tell you bedtime stories
date: 2024-05-29, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Stefano Mazzocchi built Fably, a low-cost AI bedtime storytelling device, to tell his daughter creative and entertaining stories.
The post Make an AI device to tell you bedtime stories appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/make-an-ai-device-to-tell-you-bedtime-stories/
Sergey Durmanov pushed to project branch fixes at Felix Oliver Friedrich / Oberon A2
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: Oberon A2 at CAS
Sergey Durmanov (4d765fa9) at 29 May 12:32
fixed port type
… and 5 more commits
Fancy climbing the peaks of Alpine Linux? 3.20 is out
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Tiny, powerful, uncluttered: not easy, but a lot to like
Alpine Linux 3.20.0 is out, with initial support for a whole new CPU architecture: RISC-V.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/alpine_linux_320_released/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-29, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
This is America’s ruling class.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/us/justice-alito-neighbors-stop-steal-flag.html
Sergey Durmanov pushed new project branch fixes at Felix Oliver Friedrich / Oberon A2
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: Oberon A2 at CAS
Sergey Durmanov (4871f64c) at 29 May 12:03
https://gitlab.inf.ethz.ch/felixf/oberon/-/commits/fixes
Dortmund seals sponsorship deal with arms manufacturer ahead of Champions League final
date: 2024-05-29, from: Associated Press, World News
Borussia Dortmund has signed a new sponsorship deal with German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall and will display the defense company’s logo ahead of facing Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
Using AI in science can add to reproducibility woes, say boffins
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Royal Society warns black box models, a lack of documentation, and limited access to computing hamper efforts to understand results
Using AI in science promises to add to problems in reproducing important results, the UK’s highly prestigious Royal Society has warned.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/using_ai_in_science_can/
Paul McGuire | The State of the Prostate
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Signal
The following letter is presented as a satirical take on current gender issues. Lobby, California hospital, 5 a.m. A middle-aged man is seated at an intake window, an older female […]
The post Paul McGuire | The State of the Prostate appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/paul-mcguire-the-state-of-the-prostate/
The Savvy Senior | Financial and Legal Resources for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Signal
Dear Savvy Senior, Are there any programs that you can refer me to that financially help grandparents who are raising their grandkids? I’m raising two of my grandchildren and could […]
The post The Savvy Senior | Financial and Legal Resources for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
The Reg builds official Lego Artemis and Milky Way sets
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Raking a talon through piles of plastic parts in search of holiday fun
Hands-On Lego has added plastic brick representations of NASA’s Space Launch System and the Milky Way Galaxy to its range. We had a go at building both to see if they merit a holiday investment.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/legos_artemis_and_milky_way/
Vietnamese EV maker VinFast considers delaying $4B US plant, source says
date: 2024-05-29, from: VOA News USA
US Treasury official visits Ukraine to discuss sanctions on Moscow and seizing Russian assets
date: 2024-05-29, from: Associated Press, World News
A senior U.S. Treasury official has meet with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv to discuss U.S. financial support, enforcing sanctions on Russia and using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’s benefit in the war with Moscow.
https://apnews.com/article/treasury-russia-ukraine-war-sanctions-4dd7ed8df8d7b403eef46206320a5dbb
Turbo9: a pipelined 6809 microprocessor IP
date: 2024-05-29, from: OS News
The Turbo9 is a pipelined microprocessor IP written in Verilog that executes a superset of the Motorola 6809 instruction set. It is a new modern microarchitecture with 16-bit internal datapaths that balances high performance vs small area / low power. The Turbo9R with a 16-bit memory interface achieves 0.69 DMIPS/MHz which is 3.8 times faster than Motorola’s original 8-bit MC6809 implementation. It is an active graduate research project at the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Florida. ↫ Turbo9 GitHub page The Turbo9 is aimed at SoC sub-blocks and small mixed-signal ASIC, so it’s definitely not intended to be some sort of general purpose CPU. The reason for opting for the 6809 instead of, say, RISC-V or ARM, is that the 6809 enables a far smaller footprint due to being 16bit, which is all the target market really needs from the Turbo9. The current version of the Turbo9 is thoroughly verified and is capable of running C code. However, we still consider this version v0.9 because we are missing a few items. All the 6809 instructions and addressing modes have been implemented and tested except SYNC and CWAI. The signed versions of the Turbo9’s 16-bit divide and multiply need to be completed. Interrupts are partially implemented including SWI and Reset. ↫ Turbo9 GitHub page This is the kind of riveting content you’ll only really find on OSNews.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139818/turbo9-a-pipelined-6809-microprocessor-ip/
Classifieds – May 29, 2024
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The Daily Trojan features Classified advertising in each day’s edition. Here you can read, search, and even print out each day’s edition of the Classifieds.
The post Classifieds – May 29, 2024 appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/05/29/classifieds-may-29-2024/
MIT professor hoses down predictions AI will put a rocket under the economy
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
It’s easier to foresee growing inequality than surging growth
Artificial intelligence (AI) may not do much to boost productivity – and could end up widening the income gap between owners of capital and workers.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/ai_gdp_inequality/
Today in SCV History (May 29)
date: 2024-05-29, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1987 – Director John Landis acquitted of charges in deaths of Vic Morrow and two child actors on Valencia “Twilight Zone Movie” set. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-may-29/
New album ‘Model’ sees Wallows in full bloom
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The indie pop band comes into their own with their third studio album.
The post New album ‘Model’ sees Wallows in full bloom appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/05/29/new-album-model-sees-wallows-in-full-bloom/
USC athletes are ready to shine at the 2024 Olympics
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Anticipation increases for former and current Trojans ahead of the Olympic Games.
The post USC athletes are ready to shine at the 2024 Olympics appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/05/29/usc-athletes-are-ready-to-shine-at-the-2024-olympics/
Student Health services will be available throughout summer
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Students can opt in to the Summer Health Fee if they are not in summer classes.
The post Student Health services will be available throughout summer appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/05/29/student-health-services-will-be-available-throughout-summer/
To the class of 2028, here’s my advice
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
This new chapter at USC won’t be easy, but you can influence your experience.
The post To the class of 2028, here’s my advice appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/05/29/advice-for-the-class-of-2028/
USC admin needs to reconsider their governing structure
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The University must review its own management system with checks and balances.
The post USC admin needs to reconsider their governing structure appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/05/29/usc-admin-needs-to-reconsider-their-governing-structure/
Women’s golf reaches semifinals, falls to Stanford
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
An impressive performance during stroke play earned USC the fourth overall seed.
The post Women’s golf reaches semifinals, falls to Stanford appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/05/29/womens-golf-reaches-semifinals-falls-to-stanford/
Jewish students discuss incidents of antisemitism, harassment on campus
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Some students said they no longer felt safe on campus during end-of-year protests.
The post Jewish students discuss incidents of antisemitism, harassment on campus appeared first on Daily Trojan.
Stuffed bagels are my latest go-to brunch bangers
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Calic Bagel serves sandwiches and baked bagels galore.
The post Stuffed bagels are my latest go-to brunch bangers appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/05/29/stuffed-bagels-are-my-latest-go-to-brunch-bangers/
USC baseball will be back
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The Trojans won nine of their final 10 games to close out the season.
The post USC baseball will be back appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/05/29/usc-baseball-will-be-back/
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries bets big on small turbines for datacenters
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Another endorsement for the theory that on-prem power generation trumps tapping the grid
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – Earth’s largest source of electricity-generating gas turbines – has tied its future growth to surging demand for datacenters spurred by adoption of AI and new semiconductor plants.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/mhi_datacenter_generator_strategy/
Fears of war lead to hard conversations about NATO in Sweden’s schools
date: 2024-05-29, from: Associated Press, World News
The abrupt end to the Scandinavian country’s 200 years of neutrality following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has worried many.
Tencent, Microsoft link app stores in China
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Intel joins in with plans for better PC-Android integration
Tencent and Microsoft have struck a deal that will see the Chinese gaming giant’s Android wares available on the Microsoft Store, and playable on Windows PCs.…
Man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Signal
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials said an ex-boyfriend who showed up to his ex-girlfriend’s house with a firearm and fired shots over the weekend has been arrested on suspicion […]
The post Man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/man-arrested-on-suspicion-of-attempted-murder/
Melinda French Gates to donate $1 billion to support women’s rights
date: 2024-05-29, from: VOA News USA
With no resolution to Ukraine, Gaza wars, Biden focuses on domestic priorities
date: 2024-05-29, from: VOA News USA
With five months until the November election and no diplomatic solution in sight for wars in Ukraine and Gaza, President Joe Biden, who in 2020 ran on a campaign to end “forever wars,” is shifting voters’ attention away from American entanglements abroad by focusing on domestic priorities. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
Washington support for Israel firm after ‘heartbreaking’ Rafah camp airstrike
date: 2024-05-29, from: VOA News USA
The White House described an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in Rafah as “heartbreaking,” but it made no move to limit military assistance to Israel or shift its policy supporting the country’s right to conduct operations in Gaza. Anita Powell reports from the White House.
China shows off machine-gun-toting robot dog and its AI-powered puppy
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Training exercises test suitability for both reconnaissance and lethal kinetic action
China has shown off a pair of robot dogs – one of them toting a machine gun and the other powered by AI.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/china_miiltary_robot_dogs/
Can we at least agree that killing is wrong?
date: 2024-05-29, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
I don’t think it’s possible to morally support the ongoing bombardment of Gaza, but that’s too weak a statement. What’s happening there seems to be — based on what I’ve read through the news, what I’ve seen in video, the stories that have been sent back to us — an atrocity. The latest story, from Rafah, is of an airstrike on a civilian evacuation zone where displaced families were sheltering in tents:
Images showed the area engulfed in flames as screaming Palestinians fled for safety, with some video shared on social media showing disturbing images, including severely burned corpses and a man holding what appeared to be the headless body of a small child.
There’s nothing flippant to say about this. This isn’t sports, where you root for a team. It’s not a theoretical debate: certainly not for the families who have no way to escape, kettled as they are into a small strip of land under constant military bombardment.
The bombardment on Gaza is disproportionate and indefensible. Thirteen thousand children alone have been killed. A quarter of surviving children have acute malnutrition. There’s nowhere for them to go, and nowhere for them to get the care they need. In the face of these conditions, there must be a ceasefire. Obviously there must be a ceasefire.
Making statements like this is fraught. It sometimes seems like we’re being asked to fall into weird ideological lines that have little to do with the humanity of the people involved. Following the events of October 7, I unfollowed multiple progressive Instagram accounts that not only described the attack and kidnappings as the necessary work of de-colonization, but applauded the action. It’s clear to me that Palestine has been annexed, its land illegally settled, and its people made to suffer at the hands of increasingly-conservative Israeli policy. Protest and resistance are inevitable and justifiable. Regardless, I can’t support the killing and kidnapping of civilians, let alone accept cheerleading for it. Not ever.
By the same token, I see some people online call for an end to the state of Israel. What would that entail, exactly? Assuming it was a desirable goal, how might one go about achieving that? Dismantling it would involve unthinkable bloodshed.
Some people talk about how Hamas is the local government, and how the people there voted for them, so they deserve what’s happening to them. That it’s okay to bomb hospitals because Hamas is hiding out in them — regardless of international law related to protecting the lives of human shields.
The history, today’s political issues, and the road to a solution are far more complicated than can be conveyed by memes and soundbites. I have no solutions to the problems in this region or how to get to a lasting peace.
But some things are not complicated at all.
Don’t kill. Don’t subjugate. Don’t dehumanize. Don’t reduce lives, in all their complexity and beauty, to points and sides.
The core of this issue right now is — or should be — concern for human life. Everyone, regardless of nationality or political affiliation, should be appalled when children burn to death or are decapitated (whether they’re in an evacuation zone or not). The ruining of cities should never yield applause.
The protests on university campuses are the latest in a long line of campus anti-war protests, and I’m strongly in favor of them. Except, because of course this is true, there are people there who conflate the protest over policy with protests of anyone who is Israeli, or even anyone who is a Jew. I’ve personally heard stories of at least one person being spat on, not because of any rhetoric they were espousing, but simply because of who they were.
This all has the potential to escalate. I worry that it will. This is all already so horrific.
These are human beings. The Palestinian people are human beings. The Israeli people are human beings. Arabs are human beings. Jews are human beings. They are not their leaders; they are not their circumstances. They all - like all people - deserve to live, and live well. The death of any human being is never something to celebrate or to praise as a strategy. It’s all just endless tragedy.
Stop the killing. Find another way.
https://werd.io/2024/can-we-at-least-agree-that-killing-is-wrong
Google’s in-house docs about search ranking leak online, sparking SEO frenzy
date: 2024-05-29, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
GitHub trove details API features that ‘contradict’ Big G’s public statements about how its engine works
A trove of documents that appear to describe how Google ranks search results has appeared online, likely as the result of accidental publication by an in-house bot.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/29/internal_google_search_documents/
Riding the Ups & Downs of a Life & Death Diagnosis
date: 2024-05-29, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Thomas Johansen has been living a drama of life and death since 2012 when he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. He
The post Riding the Ups & Downs of a Life & Death Diagnosis appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/28/riding-the-ups-downs-of-a-life-death-diagnosis/
From COC to the University of Cambridge
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Signal
News release When Nicole Brooks leafed through the College of the Canyons fall 2022 class schedule, a British literature course caught her eye. The course sounded like just what the […]
The post From COC to the University of Cambridge appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/from-coc-to-the-university-of-cambridge/
With no end in sight for Ukraine, Gaza wars, Biden focuses on domestic priorities
date: 2024-05-29, from: VOA News USA
City earns five CAPIO awards for communications and outreach
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Signal
News release The city of Santa Clarita’s communications division was recently recognized by the California Association of Public Information Officials for its outreach efforts and impactful campaigns across special events, […]
The post City earns five CAPIO awards for communications and outreach appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/city-earns-five-capio-awards-for-communications-and-outreach/
SCV boys’ volleyball season roundup
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Signal
The high school boys’ volleyball season officially wrapped up last weekend, concluding the longest local season ever. West Ranch took down Valencia in the Division 4 title match, while also […]
The post SCV boys’ volleyball season roundup appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/scv-boys-volleyball-season-roundup/
Garcia announces congressional art winners
date: 2024-05-29, from: The Signal
News release Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, announced that Alex Coons, a sophomore at Vasquez High School from Acton, has been selected as the winner of the 2024 Congressional Art […]
The post Garcia announces congressional art winners appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/garcia-announces-congressional-art-winners/
Media Malpractice
date: 2024-05-29, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Santa Barbara community is ill served by the Pravda-like coverage of the re-opening of State Street.
The post Media Malpractice appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/28/media-malpractice/
Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society Unveils Virtual Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Exhibit: 1870s-1970s
date: 2024-05-28, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society is proud to announce the launch of the Santa Barbara Asian American & Pacific
The post Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society Unveils Virtual Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Exhibit: 1870s-1970s appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Recogida gratuita de residuos domésticos peligrosos para los residentes de Santa Bárbara
date: 2024-05-28, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA, CA – 28 de mayo de 2024 La División de Comunidad Limpia de la Ciudad de Santa Bárbara, en
The post Recogida gratuita de residuos domésticos peligrosos para los residentes de Santa Bárbara appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Free Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event for City of Santa Barbara Residents
date: 2024-05-28, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA, CA – May 28, 2024 The City of Santa Barbara’s Clean Community Division, in partnership with MarBorg Industries,
The post Free Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event for City of Santa Barbara Residents appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
One Fatality Following Early Morning Fire in Lompoc
date: 2024-05-28, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
At approximately 00:16, Lompoc Fire Crews, with assistance from Santa Barbara County Fire,and Vandenberg Fire responded to a report of
The post One Fatality Following Early Morning Fire in Lompoc appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/28/one-fatality-following-early-morning-fire-in-lompoc/
Experience ‘Dawn/Eclipse of a New Era’ at The MAIN
date: 2024-05-28, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The city of Santa Clarita will present “Dawn/Eclipse of A New Era,” an expressive photographic exhibition by acclaimed artist Harry Gamboa Jr.
https://scvnews.com/experience-dawn-eclipse-of-a-new-era-at-the-main/
Village Properties Launches Commercial Real Estate Division
date: 2024-05-28, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA,California – The Santa Barbara area’s largest independent real estate company, Village Properties, has established a new division to
The post Village Properties Launches Commercial Real Estate Division appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/05/28/village-properties-launches-commercial-real-estate-division/
June 1: Eat. Drink. Local. Fest to Benefit Homeless Students
date: 2024-05-28, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The 2024 Eat. Drink. Local. Festival will be held Saturday, June 1, 2-8 p.m. at Central Park, 27150 Bouquet Canyon Road, Saugus, CA
https://scvnews.com/june-1-eat-drink-local-fest-to-benefit-hart-homeless-families/
June 1: All Aboard the Summer Beach Bus to Ventura Harbor
date: 2024-05-28, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The city of Santa Clarita has announced the return of Santa Clarita Transit’s Summer Beach Bus service, offering convenient transportation to Ventura Harbor on the weekends starting Saturday, June 1 through Sunday, Sept.
https://scvnews.com/june-1-all-aboard-the-summer-beach-bus-to-ventura/
2.8M US folks learn their personal info was swiped months ago in Sav-Rx IT heist
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Theft happened in October, only now are details coming to light
Sav-Rx has started notifying about 2.8 million people that their personal information was likely stolen during an IT intrusion that happened more than seven months ago.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/savrx_data_theft/
UCLA Academic Workers Go On Strike, Growing Protest Against University Of California System
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The LAist
Student researchers, teaching assistants and post-docs at UCLA and UC Davis went on strike Tuesday, expanding a strike that began at UC Santa Cruz earlier in May.
https://laist.com/news/education/ucla-academic-workers-strike-university-of-california-uaw-4811
Not even Chromebooks can escape AI PC craze: Google to inject Plus laptops with LLM juice
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
New models will come with a year of Gemini Advanced, too
Not to be outdone by the shiny new AI PCs Microsoft showed off last week at its Build conference, Google on Tuesday said various generative AI features will be rolling out to Chromebook Plus laptops over the next few weeks.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/google_ai_chromebook/
These Carbon Removal Companies Got the Energy Department’s Stamp of Approval
date: 2024-05-28, from: Heatmap News
The Department of Energy is advancing its first-of-a-kind program to stimulate demand for carbon removal by becoming a major buyer. On Tuesday, the agency awarded $50,000 to each of 24 semifinalist companies competing to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere on behalf of the U.S. government. It will eventually spend $30 million to buy carbon removal credits from up to 10 winners.
The nascent carbon removal industry is desperate for customers. At a conference held in New York City last week called Carbon Unbound, startup CEOs brainstormed how to convince more companies to buy carbon removal as part of their sustainability strategies. On the sidelines, attendees lamented to me that there were hardly even any potential buyers at the conference — what a missed opportunity.
Conference panelists asserted that the industry needed to rebuild trust. Purchasing carbon credits has become a risky strategy for companies. In one investigation after another, journalists and researchers have shown that many of the projects behind these credits fail to produce the climate benefits they advertise. There’s a class action lawsuit against Delta Air Lines for marketing itself as “carbon neutral” after purchasing such questionable carbon offsets.
Carbon removal credits are technically different from the offsets that companies bought in the past, which were based on projects that reduce emissions to the atmosphere rather than remove carbon that’s already heating the planet. But there’s still a risk of sham projects. And because the field is relatively new, there’s not yet a set of widely agreed-upon standards to measure and verify how much carbon is being removed.
The Department of Energy hopes that by selecting 24 companies that have been vetted by government scientists, it’s sending a signal to the private sector that there are at least some projects that are legitimate. “We can’t wait to invest in CDR until those standards have been codified,” Noah Deich, the agency’s deputy assistant secretary of carbon management, told me. “We need to invest now so that we actually get the data that we can use to inform the standards, and then over time codify those standards and strengthen and improve them.”
The semifinalists represent a wide range of carbon removal methods. Nine of the companies are building machines that capture carbon dioxide directly from the air. Seven take advantage of the natural ability of plants and algae to suck up carbon, and have developed systems to sequester that carbon for far longer than would otherwise occur. Five employ rocks that naturally absorb carbon and have figured out how to speed up the process. The last three capture carbon from the ocean, enabling the world’s biggest carbon sink to draw down more from the atmosphere.
To proceed to the final round, all of these companies will have to draw up contracts that say how quickly they will be able to remove the promised tons of carbon, and who they will work with to measure and verify the process.
The Biden administration is spending billions on research, development, and deployment of carbon removal. Some of the semifinalists, like Climeworks, Heirloom Carbon, and 1PointFive, were already selected for grants from the DOE to build the U.S.’s first “direct air capture hubs” — projects capable of removing one million tons of carbon from the air per year. But those hubs will fail if the companies don’t ultimately find buyers for their carbon removal. “Every single CDR project that we’re seeing today requires some sort of voluntary credit sale to be profitable,” said Deich.
The Department of Energy’s $30 million budget to buy carbon removal is relatively small. The semifinalists said they could deliver a wide range of credits with their share of the funds, from 3,000 over a three-year period, to more than 30,000. In any case, DOE is unlikely to afford much more than 100,000 tons of carbon taken out of the atmosphere, equivalent to about 0.002% of the CO2 the United States emitted in 2022. When distributed among 10 companies, it’s certainly not enough to finance a project. But Deich told me he sees this contest as a public-private partnership. The agency is challenging the semifinalists to leverage the DOE’s recognition to try and sell as many credits as they can. It’s one of the criteria they’ll be judged on for the final phase of the contest.
Several semifinalists I spoke with were optimistic the DOE’s backing would help. “One of the things that the private sector is wrestling with is the technical underwriting of various carbon dioxide removal technologies,” Barclay Rogers, the CEO of the carbon removal company Graphyte, told me. Graphyte’s process almost sounds too simple to work. The company takes discarded plant matter from forests and fields, dries it out so that it doesn’t decompose, compresses it into bricks, and then buries them. Graphyte has already built a small processing facility in Arkansas and secured a burial site that could store an estimated 1.5 million tons of CO2. Rogers was excited to have DOE’s backing as “a broad signal to the market of the viability of Graphyte’s carbon casting process.”
Others were grateful that the government was branching out to new technologies. To date, most of the DOE’s carbon removal programs have supported direct air capture. Companies working on other approaches have been shut out of funding opportunities, and some worry that this has contributed to a perception among buyers that direct air capture is the only valid method. “We think this is a huge step forward, since it’s really the first time not only that the U.S. government is going to become a purchaser of carbon removal, but also funding a full range of carbon removal solutions,” Nora Cohen Brown, head of market development and policy at Charm Industrial, told me. (Charm also buries plant waste underground, but in the form of oil.) “We really think that biomass CDR has immense potential,” she said. “It’s a big deal to have DOE’s blessing for that pathway.”
Edward Sanders, the chief operating officer of a startup called Equatic, told me that being a semifinalist meant the company would be able to build a plant in the U.S. much sooner than it initially planned. Equatic has developed technology to remove carbon from seawater, enabling the ocean to take up more carbon. It’s currently building its first large-scale plant in Singapore. “This tells prospective future buyers that there is a role to play in the near term in the U.S. for a marine-based pathway.”
Many of the companies on the list, including the three I just mentioned, have already been relatively successful in selling credits. Graphyte sold 10,000 to American Airlines. Equatic has a 62,000 deal with Boeing. Charm will remove more than 100,000 tons for Frontier Climate, a group of buyers that includes Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, and Meta. But even though a handful of tech companies and airlines are buying carbon removal, these sweeping gestures are not enough to sustain the industry, let alone grow it to the scale that scientists say will be necessary to halt climate change.
DOE’s purchase may help increase confidence in some of these companies and approaches, but it may not do much to solve another problem: There’s little incentive for anyone to pay for carbon removal today, and it’s much more expensive than other options companies have to reduce their emissions. Credits can cost between several hundred to more than a thousand dollars each.
Deich said the agency was trying to set an example for other buyers. Instead of creating a net-zero target and searching for the cheapest credits to accomplish its goal, it’s prioritizing quality and only buying what it can afford. “We need to pay what it costs,” he said, “and then developers can develop projects and figure out how to do it cheaper so that over time, it starts to come down the cost curve significantly, and we can buy larger and larger quantities.”
But this is only the near term plan to help the industry mature. Ultimately, Deich doesn’t think that the voluntary trade of credits will be enough to support the levels of carbon removal that will make a difference in climate change. He sees this purchase prize program as a way to start building the government’s capacity to play a larger role. “There’s going to need to be some sort of mandate or public procurement that happens for the field to really scale beyond 2030,” he said.
The full list of semifinalists:
Avnos, Inc. — direct air capture — 3,000 credits
Carbon America — direct Air Capture — 3,400 credits
CarbonCapture, Inc. — direct air capture — 3,333 credits
Climeworks — direct air capture — 3,500 credits
Global Thermostat and Fervo Energy — direct air capture — 3,500 credits
Heirloom — direct air capture — 3,030 credits
1PointFive — direct air capture — 3,861 credits
280 Earth — direct air capture — 3,000 credits
8 Rivers — direct air capture — 7,200 credits
Arbor Energy — biomass with carbon removal and storage — 8,000 credits
Carbon Lockdown — biomass with carbon removal and storage — 17,143 credits
Charm Industrial — biomass with carbon removal and storage — 5,000 credits
Clean Energy Systems — biomass with carbon removal and storage — 11,320 credits
Climate Robotics — biochar — 30,252 credits
Graphyte — biomass with carbon removal and storage — 30,000 credits
Vaulted Deep — biomass with carbon removal and storage — 10,320 credits
Alkali Earth — enhanced rock weathering and mineralization — 8,108 credits
CREW Carbon — enhanced rock weathering and mineralization — 7,500 credits
Eion — enhanced rock weathering and mineralization — 9,900 credits
Lithos Carbon — enhanced rock weathering and mineralization — 8,109 credits
Mati Carbon — enhanced rock weathering and mineralization — 4,561 credits
Ebb Carbon — marine-based carbon removal — 3,000 credits
Equatic — marine-based carbon removal — 6,521 credits
Vycarb Inc. — marine-based carbon removal — 3,000 credits
https://heatmap.news/technology/doe-purchase-prize-carbon-removal
Pentagon halts aid deliveries from US pier off Gaza’s coast
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/pentagon-halts-aid-deliveries-from-us-pier-off-gaza-s-coast-/7630476.html
In US, arrests and harassment add to decline in press freedom
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
Harassment, arrests, declining trust and economic constraints make the work of journalists in the United States tough. The country’s media are mostly free from interference, but the U.S. still dropped 10 points on the World Press Freedom Index in 2024. VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit and Michael Lipin have the story, as narrated by Caicedo Smit. Videographer: Keith Lane
https://www.voanews.com/a/in-us-arrests-and-harassment-add-to-decline-in-press-freedom-/7630464.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
12 New and Upgraded Lifts at Ski Resorts for 2024-25.
https://www.skimag.com/ski-resort-life/new-lifts-ski-resorts-2024-25/
June 21: Full Moon Santa Clarita Community Hike
date: 2024-05-28, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The city of Santa Clarita will hold a Full Moon Community Hike Friday, June 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the Santa Clarita Sports Complex, meet at the outdoor basketball courts
https://scvnews.com/june-21-full-moon-santa-clarita-community-hike/
All Aboard the Summer Beach Bus Beginning June 1
date: 2024-05-28, from: City of Santa Clarita
Experience Ventura All Summer Long with Santa Clarita Transit! The City of Santa Clarita is excited to announce the return of Santa Clarita Transit’s Summer Beach Bus service, offering convenient transportation to Ventura Harbor on the weekends starting Saturday, June 1 through Sunday, September 1. This popular service provides residents with a stress-free way to […]
The post All Aboard the Summer Beach Bus Beginning June 1 appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/05/28/all-aboard-the-summer-beach-bus-beginning-june-1/
Experience “Dawn/Eclipse of a New Era” Exhibition at The MAIN
date: 2024-05-28, from: City of Santa Clarita
The Surreal Meets the Existential as Portraiture Becomes Performative The City of Santa Clarita is excited to present “Dawn/Eclipse of A New Era,” an expressive photographic exhibition by acclaimed artist Harry Gamboa Jr. This exhibition will run from Wednesday, June 4 to Monday, August 5, at The MAIN (24266 Main Street) with an opening reception […]
The post Experience “Dawn/Eclipse of a New Era” Exhibition at The MAIN appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
Texas to face more inclement weather after Memorial Day storms
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
June 13: Digital Tools, Transformation for Small Business
date: 2024-05-28, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Small Business Council of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce will host “Digital Tools and Transformation for Small Business” on Thursday, June 13, 4-5:30 p.m.
https://scvnews.com/june-13-digital-tools-transformation-for-small-business/
Police Recover Stolen Francis Bacon Painting Worth $5 Million
date: 2024-05-28, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The piece was one of five artworks stolen during a robbery in Madrid in 2015
Wild Dogs Have Muscles for ‘Puppy Eyes,’ Suggesting the Cute Expression Did Not Evolve Just for Humans
date: 2024-05-28, from: Smithsonian Magazine
African wild dogs have the same well-developed eye muscles that domestic dogs use to make their signature pleading faces, a recent study finds
June 19: SCV Chamber After Hours Mixer at BBSI
date: 2024-05-28, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce will host its June After Hours Business Mixer on Wednesday, June 19, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at BBSI, 25124 Springfield Court Suite 150, Valencia, CA
https://scvnews.com/june-19-scv-chamber-after-hours-mixer-at-bbsi/
PayPal is planning an ad network built off your purchase history
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
You are the product, after all
PayPal will use data from billions of customer transactions to supercharge its nascent ad business.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/paypal_ad_network/
Apollo 10 Ends Successfully
date: 2024-05-28, from: NASA breaking news
Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, lunar module pilot for the Apollo 10 mission, exits the spacecraft during recovery operations on May 26, 1969. He and the other two crew members already in the raft, Thomas P. Stafford (left) and John W. Young, were brought to the prime recovery ship, USS Princeton after splashdown. The Apollo 10 […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/apollo-10-ends-successfully/
June 20: VIA ‘An Evening with Senator Scott Wilk’
date: 2024-05-28, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Valley Industry Association invites the Santa Clarita Valley to: VIA Cocktails & Conversation:An Evening with Senator Scott Wilk,
https://scvnews.com/june-20-via-presents-an-evening-with-senator-scott-wilk/
Proposed Cooling Policy Would Cause Air Conditioning Usage to Rise, Risking Blackouts
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: RAND blog
Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors is considering a policy that would establish a temperature threshold for rental units. Before it becomes law, it is crucial that policymakers assess the impact of the new policy on the electrical grid and whether or not it will actually help the people it intends to help.
Georgian parliament overrides veto of controversial foreign agent law
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
Tbilisi, Georgia — Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday overrode the president’s veto of a controversial foreign agent law, despite protests at home and criticism in Western capitals, including a U.S. threat to impose sanctions.
The new measure is officially called the “Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence.” However, opponents have dubbed it the “Russian law,” a reference to Russia’s foreign agent law, which requires anyone who receives support from outside Russia, or is seen as acting under “foreign influence,” to register as a foreign agent.
“I was watching the live broadcast of the vote with my mother. Till the last moment, we still had a hope. We hoped that their consciences wouldn’t allow it. But it happened, and I am really saddened. However, what gives me hope are the demonstrators,” said Nana Jikia, a student. “We want European future; we do not want to be a Russian province.”
The Georgian law requires civil society organizations, media and other entities receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign interests. The law primarily targets U.S. and European Union democracy assistance programs.
President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the legislation on May 18, but it was widely expected that the ruling Georgian Dream party’s parliamentary majority would override the veto.
“There’s only one way forward for Georgia. For its sovereignty and freedom and liberty, and that is to remove this government democratically through next elections, to continue this protest, to have an overwhelming moral majority and, like 30 years ago in 1990 when communists were defeated even before elections, they have to accept that they have to give up power,” Giga Bokeria, head of the opposition European Georgia party, told VOA.
Georgian Dream reintroduced the law in April, a year after it abandoned in March 2023 after it sparked mass protests.
Protesters view the law as a move by the government to tilt the country toward Moscow, even though polls show more than 80% of Georgians support Georgia’s path toward EU membership and 73% endorse the country’s bid to join NATO.
General elections in October will determine whether the Georgian Dream party remains in power for a fourth term. Georgian nongovernmental organizations say the foreign agent law may hinder international organizations’ ability to observe the October vote. While the government claims the law promotes transparency, local NGOs and Georgia’s Western partners view it as targeting Western funding for Georgian civil society.
“Having no chances of victory in the upcoming general elections in October if they are conducted freely and fairly, [Bidzina] Ivanishvili” — Georgian Dream’s shadow leader — “is tightening his grip on power through harsh authoritarian measures and is openly driving the country into Russian influence,” former Georgian ambassador to the United States David Sikharulidze told VOA outside the parliament building in Tbilisi.
“It’s very much in line with Putin’s tactics,” he said.
“This law is a Russian law in essence and spirit, which contradicts our constitution and all European standards,” Zourabichvili said in her veto statement.
Zourabichvili, whose election as president in 2018 was supported by Georgian Dream, has increasingly found herself at odds with the party.
Apprehension over the domestic and foreign policy trajectory of Georgia’s government has grown since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Official Tbilisi refused to side with Ukraine publicly or to join sanctions against Moscow, while attacking Ukrainian officials publicly and echoing anti-Western rhetoric.
In addition, U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about Georgia’s role in helping Russia evade Western sanctions.
For more than a month and a half, tens of thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets to protest the foreign agent law, the largest protests the country has seen since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
“Georgian people have erupted in protest. They deserve more than just statements from the Western partners,” Sikharulidze said.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced sanctions against those “responsible for undermining democracy in Georgia.”
“The Department of State is implementing a new visa restriction policy for Georgia that will apply to individuals who are responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia, as well as their family members,” Blinken said in a statement. “This includes individuals responsible for suppressing civil society and freedom of peaceful assembly in Georgia through a campaign of violence or intimidation.”
Georgian Dream officials dismissed the visa restrictions as interference in Georgia’s internal affairs.
“The blackmail with visa restrictions are nothing but a crude attempt to limit the independence and sovereignty of Georgia,” the Georgian Dream party said in a statement, labeling the move “anti-Georgian.”
For their part, European Union officials have warned that adopting the foreign agent law would jeopardize Georgia’s bid for EU membership.
“The law of foreign influence is not in line with EU values. If the law is enacted, it will impact Georgia’s EU path,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Georgian officials have dismissed the critical voices in Washington and Brussels as part of what they call the “Global War Party,” which one Georgian Dream MP described to a British podcaster as a “’force akin to the Freemasons.”
Infineon promises 12kW PSUs for next generation of power-hungry AI servers
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
How else are you going to feed all those 1,000-plus watt GPUs?
Not long ago an entire rack of systems might consume 10kW or less of power. Today, that’s barely enough to run a single GPU server, and those systems are only expected to get hotter and greedier for power amid the AI boom.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/infineon_psu_ai/
May 30: Sheriff’s Search, Rescue Team Fundraiser at Mendocino Farms
date: 2024-05-28, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff Station’s Search and Rescue Team will benefit from a fundraiser to be held Thursday, May 30 at Mendocino Farms from 2-9 p.m
https://scvnews.com/may-30-sheriffs-search-rescue-team-fundraiser-at-mendocino-farms/
Jef Raskin’s Canon Cat
date: 2024-05-28, from: OS News
Few things in technology excites me more than an amazing computer I have never heard of before – especially one with pedigree. Many people take a casual glance at this machine and say, “Isn’t that an overgrown word processor?” And one could certainly think so, in part because of its keyboard-centric operation, but mostly from the utterly uncomprehending way Canon advertised it in 1987. Canon dubbed the Cat a “work processor” because of its built-in telecommunications, modem and word processor even though Jef Raskin, its designer, had intended it as a “people’s computer” that could be inexpensive, accessible and fully functional — all things he had hoped to accomplish at Apple after first launching the Macintosh project, prior to departing in 1982. Canon, however, never fully grasped the concept either. Apart from the tone-deaf marketing, Canon sold the device through their typewriter division and required the display to only show what a daisywheel printer could generate, limiting its potential as a general purpose workstation. ↫ Cameron Kaiser Wait, wait, wait. You mean to tell me there’s a unique, well-designed computer that seemed ahead of its time, sold by a printer and copier company, that failed in the market due to botched marketing and grotesque misunderstanding among management of what the device is supposed to be? What are the odds this happens twice? The Canon Cat was designed and built by Jeff Raskin’s – of Macintosh fame – company Information Appliance, Inc., and licensed to Canon. It’s an all-in-one 68000-based computer with a bitmap display, an operating system stored in ROM, and a comprehensive Forth environment easily accessible despite the device autostarting to a word processor (because Canon). Much like some of the predecessor machines Raskin had worked on before licensing the Cat to Canon, the Cat has an intriguing input method that I’d never seen before. Instead of a mouse or even cursor keys, it has two keys labeled “Leap” that are used for manipulating the text cursor. In fact, there aren’t even conventional cursor keys. The Cat has the same “leap” keys as the Swyft and SwyftCard, in a bright but tasteful pink, and they work the same way to jump to portions of the document or into other documents. You can also use them to scroll with the SHIFT key, or move by single letters, sentences or paragraphs. The LEAP keys are also how you highlight text blocks to manipulate by LEAPing to the beginning, LEAPing to the end, and then pressing them together. ↫ Cameron Kaiser The Forth programming environment is also very interesting. It was hidden in that Canon didn’t really want you to use it, but Raskin’s company made no secret of it, and it was easily accessible. It uses a special dialect of Forth, which can be used at either a traditional OK prompt, or just by typing Forth code into the word processor, highlighting it, and executing it with a keyboard shortcut, after which any output will be displayed in the word processor as well. The Canon Cat was a market failure, and hence it shouldn’t be a surprise it’s exceedingly rare. The article further details the internals, some fixes that were required and performed, and much, much more. A follow-up article will delve deeper into the software, too.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139811/jef-raskins-canon-cat/
Earth Science Information Partners Celebrate 25 Years of Collaboration
date: 2024-05-28, from: NASA breaking news
Allison Mills, Earth Science Information Partners, allisonmills@esipfed.orgSusan Shingledecker, Earth Science Information Partners, susanshingledecker@esipfed.org Introduction In 2023, the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) community celebrated 25 years since the nonprofit’s founding. Serving as a home for Earth science data and computing professionals, ESIP has evolved alongside the tools and vast expansion of Earth science data available […]
Strengthening Military Investments and Cooperation in Northeast Asia as Military Threats Grow
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: RAND blog
The United States currently lacks the military capability to defend South Korea, Taiwan, and other allies simultaneously. To ensure security in Northeast Asia, the United States needs to increase its military investments and enhance allied cooperation.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/05/strengthening-military-investments-and-cooperation.html
Microsoft published minimum system requirements, CPU support for Windows 11 LTSC 2024
date: 2024-05-28, from: OS News
Aside from that, the company also announced Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 this week. The company has also published the minimum system requirements as well as supported processor families. They have been categorized as Preferred and Optional. Interestingly, SSD has been added as a minimum system requirement, which has been a rumour about the client OS since mid-2022. ↫ Sayan Sen at NeoWin The LTSC release, which is not really supposed to be used by average consumers, is still remarkably popular. It contains a fixed feature set and gets far fewer updates than regular Windows releases, it omits otherwise stock applications like Edge, and gives its users far more control over which updates are and are not installed. LTSC also enjoys 10 years of support from Microsoft. Interestingly enough, the minimum specifications for the IoT version of LTSC do not require a TPM 2.0, unlike the regular version of Windows, which infamously does require one. I would assume that the “preferred” minimum requirements, which does require TPM 2.0, line up very well with the minimum requirements for the regular LTSC version of Windows 11. Both will become available later this year, alongside the regular release of Windows 11 24H2.
Letters Written by Ancient Roman Commanders Have Been Found in a Pet Cemetery in Egypt
date: 2024-05-28, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Discovered among the graves of hundreds of cats, dogs and monkeys, the correspondence was likely written by centurions in the first century
BreachForums returns just weeks after FBI-led takedown
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Website whack-a-mole getting worse
BreachForums is back online just weeks after the notorious dark-web marketplace for stolen data was seized by law enforcement.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/breachforums_back_online/
Analysts urge shift from military to economic solutions to terrorism in Sahel
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
Africa’s Sahel has become the epicenter of global terrorism, prompting nations to intensify efforts to counter the violence through military training such as the Flintlock 2024 drills in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Analysts, however, say that addressing economic deficiencies in the region would be a more effective deterrent. Senanu Tord reports from Tamale, Ghana.
US political coalitions in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 president elections
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
EU probes Telegram, because size matters for regulators
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Russian info slinger could be on the hook for posting disinformation
The European Union is reportedly looking into messaging app Telegram, and whether it has more users than the platform lets on.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/eu_probes_telegram/
New Device Delivers Electric Pulses to Help Patients Regain Movement After Spinal Cord Injuries
date: 2024-05-28, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Alongside physical therapy, the electric stimulation helped patients with tetraplegia improve mobility in their arms and hands in a small trial
Discovery Alert: Spock’s Home Planet Goes ‘Poof’
date: 2024-05-28, from: NASA breaking news
The discovery A planet thought to orbit the star 40 Eridani A – host to Mr. Spock’s fictional home planet, Vulcan, in the “Star Trek” universe – is really a kind of astronomical illusion caused by the pulses and jitters of the star itself, a new study shows. Key facts The possible detection of a […]
https://science.nasa.gov/universe/exoplanets/discovery-alert-spocks-home-planet-goes-poof/
Tom Steyer Is Baffled By Warren Buffett’s Oil Bets
date: 2024-05-28, from: Heatmap News
If you’re looking for a relatively optimistic read on the fight against climate change, Tom Steyer’s new book is out today. Called Cheaper, Better Faster: How We’ll Win the Climate War, it dives into the billionaire’s perspective on the state of the climate crisis and the clean energy solutions helping the world decarbonize. Steyer’s perspective is informed by the many hats he wears — investor, philanthropist, long shot 2020 presidential candidate, Yale man, and co-founder of the investment firm Galvanize Climate Solutions.
I chatted with Steyer a few weeks ago about his book, his guiding investment principles, and how and why people become environmentalists. Here are three things I found noteworthy:
1. Steyer thinks Warren Buffett is making a bad bet.
While Steyer admits that “no one’s ever gotten rich betting against Warren Buffett,” he believes the billionaire investor has got it wrong when it comes to oil and gas investments. Buffett’s firm, Berkshire Hathaway, has a 28% stake in Occidental Petroleum and a nearly 7% stake in Chevron.
“Of the 8 billion people alive today, it’s possible that no one is better than Warren at predicting the future of commercial activity,” Steyer writes in his book. “But in the case of fossil fuels, he doesn’t seem to recognize how quickly our ability to develop and deploy clean energy is growing — and how cheap that energy is becoming.”
“He has generally been a very high minded, good guy,” Steyer told me. “[But] I look at these investments, and I don’t understand how those reserves can get developed without pushing us to a place from a climate standpoint that is unsupportable … Every scenario like that puts us in a climate bind.”
Steyer ultimately likens investing in fossil fuels to betting on whale oil, a fuel that powered lamps in the 18th and 19th centuries. “We should not be rooting to keep the whale blubber business going and spending a lot of American tax dollars to support whale blubber. Because it turns out, that’s not the future. It’s really important for America that we be at the forefront of economic change.”
2. Galvanize Climate Solutions is more than a VC firm.
Steyer co-founded the climate investment firm Galvanize in 2021 with fellow investor Katie Hall. Last September, the firm announced that it had raised over $1 billion for its first fund, which targets investments in early to growth stage climate companies “that can drive meaningful decarbonization over the next decade,” according to Saloni Multani, co-head of the fund.
What helps set the firm apart is its variety of funding strategies. It not only makes venture capital investments in early stage companies, but growth equity investments to help companies reach scale, public equity investments (that is, purchasing stock) in publicly traded corporations, and even real estate investments. Last month Galvanize purchased its first building, an industrial facility in the Baltimore-Washington corridor that the firm aims to decarbonize via rooftop solar, mechanical upgrades, and other energy efficiency measures. The firm also plans to invest in and decarbonize apartment buildings, student housing, and storage facilities.
“We want to buy buildings and make them net zero and prove you can make more money doing it. We want to be in the early stage companies that are leading the tech revolutions. We want to actually be a partner in the public domain, owning stock and partnering with the corporate leaders, the CEO, the C suite,” Steyer told me. “So it’s an actual activist strategy, but as partners to the organizations that are trying to lead the revolution, not as opponents.”
3. The path to sustainability runs through economic self interest.
When I asked Steyer to what degree he’s been able to mobilize his friends and fellow billionaires to get onboard with the climate cause, he didn’t exactly say it’s been a rousing success. Instead, he emphasized that people end up making sustainable choices for a variety of reasons – and that it often starts with economic practicalities rather than climate consciousness.
“A lot of people think that you are an environmentalist, and then you put solar on your roof. But actually, I think you put solar on your roof, and then you become an environmentalist,” Steyer said. “I think getting in the game actually changes people’s attitudes.”
This ladders up to statewide politics around renewables as well, he said. “So if you think about a state where the elected officials have been very outspoken against renewables and climate response, it would be Texas. But if you look at Texas, they’ve tripled the amount of solar they have over the last three years. It’s expected to go up 35% more this year. They’re by far the biggest wind generator in the country. They’re not being nice. It’s a good deal.”
https://heatmap.news/economy/tom-steyer-warren-buffett-oil
iPhones Pause Charging During Continuity Camera
date: 2024-05-28, from: Michael Tsai
Adam Engst: Apple seems allergic to saying that an iPhone won’t charge with MagSafe during Continuity Camera. However, it may not charge over USB either. Several users in a Reddit conversation reported that their iPhones lost charge during Continuity Camera sessions, even while plugged in.I suspect that Continuity Camera taxes the processor sufficiently that the […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/28/iphones-pause-charging-during-continuity-camera/
Dynamic Swift Predicates in macOS 14 and iOS 17
date: 2024-05-28, from: Michael Tsai
Helge Heß: The new Foundation/#Swiftlang Predicates (and its expressions) seem a little weird because they can’t be constructed dynamically? Fly0strich: However, when I try to use that method inside of a #Predicate closure, it gives an error saying that the method is not supported by this predicate. Debbie Goldsmith: If you want to construct a […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/05/28/dynamic-swift-predicates-in-macos-14-and-ios-17/
OpenAI unveils new safety committee
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/openai-unveils-new-safety-committee/7630202.html
US concerned over Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-concerned-over-iran-s-enriched-uranium-stockpile/7630212.html
Judge denies request to restrict Trump statements about law enforcement in classified records case
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
Washington — The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents case in Florida on Tuesday denied prosecutors’ request to bar the former president from making public statements that could endanger law enforcement agents participating in the prosecution.
Prosecutors had told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that the restriction was necessary to protect law enforcement from potential threats and harassment after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee baselessly claimed that the Biden administration wanted to kill him during a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, nearly two years ago.
Cannon chided prosecutors in her order denying their request, saying they didn’t give defense lawyers adequate time to discuss the matter before it was filed Friday evening. The judge warned prosecutors that failing to comply with court requirements in the future may lead to sanctions. She denied the request without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could file it again.
A spokesperson for special counsel Jack Smith’s team declined to comment Tuesday.
The decision came as Trump’s lawyers were delivering their closing arguments at trial in another criminal case against Trump in New York stemming from a hush money payment to a porn actor during the 2016 presidential campaign.
It’s the latest example of bitterness between Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, and prosecutors who have accused the former president of illegally hoarding at his Mar-a-Lago estate classified documents that he took with him after he left the White House in 2021 and then obstructing the FBI’s efforts to get them back. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Cannon has repeatedly chided prosecutors both in hearings and in court papers over a number of matters, including telling Smith’s team during one hearing that they were “wasting the court’s time.” Prosecutors have also signaled their frustration with Cannon’s rulings, saying in one recent court filing that a request from the judge was based on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise.”
Prosecutors’ request followed a distorted claim by Trump earlier this week that the FBI agents who searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022 were “authorized to shoot me” and were “locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was referring to the disclosure in a court document that the FBI, during the search in Palm Beach, Florida, followed a standard use-of-force policy that prohibits the use of deadly force except when the officer conducting the search has a reasonable belief that the “subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”
Prosecutors said in court papers late Friday that Trump’s false suggestion that federal agents “were complicit in a plot to assassinate him” expose law enforcement officers “to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment.” They had urged the judge to bar Trump from making any comments that “pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents” participating in the case.
Defense attorneys in a court filing late Monday called prosecutors’ proposed restriction on Trump’s speech “unconstitutional” and noted that the identities of law enforcement officers in the case are subject to a protective order preventing their public release. Defense attorneys said they asked Smith’s team on Friday if the two sides could meet on Monday before prosecutors submit their request to give the defense time to discuss it with Trump.
But prosecutor David Harbach said the situation needed to be addressed urgently, saying in an email to the defense that Trump created a situation that “necessitated a prompt request for relief that could not wait the weekend to file.” They told the judge in their filing late Friday while Trump’s lawyers didn’t believe there is any “imminent danger,” Trump had continued that day to make false statements “smearing and endangering the agents who executed the search.”
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, Steven Cheung, said in a statement Tuesday that “the entire documents case was a political sham from the very beginning and it should be thrown out entirely.”
It’s among four criminal cases Trump is confronting as he seeks to reclaim the White House, but outside of the ongoing New York hush money prosecution, it’s unclear that any of the other three will reach trial before the November election.
Trump has already had restrictions placed on his speech in two of the other cases over incendiary comments officials say threaten the integrity of the prosecutions.
In the New York case, Trump has been fined and threatened with jail time for repeatedly violating a gag order that bars him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the matter.
He’s also subject to a gag order in his federal criminal election interference case in Washington. That order limits what he can say about witnesses, lawyers in the case and court staff, though an appeals court freed him to speak about special counsel Smith, who brought the case.
BoostR is yet another compact Radeon RX 7600M XT eGPU dock (crowdfunding)
date: 2024-05-28, from: Liliputing
The BoostR eGPU is a small graphics dock that lets you add an AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT discrete GPU to a wide range of PCs including handhelds, laptops, or mini PCs. It has the same GPU and connectivity options as the ONEXGPU, GPD G1, and AYANEO AG01, but the BoostR has at least one thing […]
The post BoostR is yet another compact Radeon RX 7600M XT eGPU dock (crowdfunding) appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/boostr-is-yet-another-compact-radeon-rx-7600m-xt-egpu-dock-crowdfunding/
T-Mobile to buy US Cellular’s wireless ops, plus slice of spectrum for $4.4B
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
You keep the towers, we’ll bag the customer list, says T-Mo
T-Mobile US says it will buy US Cellular’s wireless business and 30 percent of its spectrum assets for $4.4 billion.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/tmobile_snaps_up_us_cellulars/
Arizona Students Go on an Exoplanet Watch
date: 2024-05-28, from: NASA breaking news
Exoplanets, planets outside of our own solar system, hold the keys to finding extraterrestrial life and understanding the origin of our own world. Now online students at Arizona State University (ASU) in a new course called Exoplanet Research Experience have become exoplanet scientists by taking part in NASA’s Exoplanet Watch project. Fifteen students from ASU’s Astronomical and Planetary Sciences online degree […]
https://science.nasa.gov/get-involved/citizen-science/arizona-students-go-on-an-exoplanet-watch/
Who actually uses Instagram’s Threads app? Taiwanese protestors
date: 2024-05-28, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">“While young Taiwanese users discuss everything from relationships to celebrity gossip on Threads, the app has gradually become a gathering space for progressives, who favor independence from China to defend the island’s democracy.”
Threads has an official stance of not promoting political use. This is an example, though, of how any social platform will be political whether you want it to be or not - and therefore how the challenges and responsibilities surrounding that speech will present themselves regardless of whether you want them to.
I think there’s no alternative: every mass social platform must assume that it will host political content from vulnerable groups (as well as powerful ones) and staff up appropriately. #Technology
<p>[<a href="https://restofworld.org/2024/instagram-threads-app-taiwan-protests/">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://restofworld.org/2024/instagram-threads-app-taiwan-protests/
Consumption-to-creation ratio
date: 2024-05-28, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>You're currently reading this post either in your RSS feed, in your inbox, or in your browser. You are consuming content. Consuming content is what the majority of the people do most of the time online. But what's the ideal ratio between consuming and creating content? I'd argue that a 100/0 split in favour of consumption is not ideal the same way a 0/100 also isn't. You need to consume at least some content in order to help your ideas evolve.</p>I posted 429 times on this site since January 1st, 2017. That’s 429 posts in 2704 days or one every roughly 6 days. How many posts have I read in that same time span? Let’s be conservative and assume I read 5 blog posts a day. That’s more than 13500 blog posts and would put my consumption to creation ratio at around 97/3 which doesn’t sound that much different than 100/0 but the actual, practical difference is huge. The difference is a blog with 429 posts in 7 and a half years.
Could that ratio be better? In theory yeah but how much better? Let’s imagine I was posting once a day, every day. That would put my ratio at around 85/15. In order to go below that I’d either need to consume less content or I’d have to post more than once a day which, on a personal blog, it’s completely unreasonable unless you treat your blog as a Twitter/Instagram replacement and that’s not my case.
That 97/3 split, as I said, comes out of the very conservative assumption that I consume 5 posts a day. It doesn’t take into consideration everything else I might consume: books, audio content, movies. If I were to factor in all that consumption I’d bet that my ratio is probably more close to 99/1 which sounds wrong but it really isn’t when you stop to think about it.
I believe people should consume less content and produce more. Finding an output for creativity is important. But it’s unreasonable to expect people to stop consuming content and replace that consumption with creation because the ratio will always be inevitably skewed towards consumption. And that’s ok. If you’re not a creative person, if you find hating yourself because you consume too much content and not create enough, embrace the fact that even a very tiny improvement, from 100/1 to 99.9/0.1 can mean a lot. It’s the difference between letting your blog die and posting something a couple of times a year. Which is a substantial difference if you ask me!
Also, while I’m here talking about ratios, it’s important to acknowledge the fact that not everyone can be creative in the same way. I often write that everyone should ditch social media and start blogging but the reality is that most people on social media are lurkers and for a lurker there’s no point in having a blog. But, what you can do, is to engage with the people who do blog. Send them an email, let them know that you silently consume what they create, support what they do via tiny donations. It goes a long way.
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The Markup Wins AAJA Journalism Excellence Award
date: 2024-05-28, from: The Markup blog
The awards honor thoughtful reporting, thorough coverage and strong storytelling and celebrate stories that would have gone untold without the cultural competence that AAJA journalists bring to the profession
https://themarkup.org/inside-the-markup/2024/05/28/the-markup-wins-aaja-journalism-excellence-award
Sam Altman, then and now
date: 2024-05-28, from: Gary Marcus blog
Update to my last essay, “What should we learn from OpenAI’s mistakes and broken promises?” Sam Altman, 2016: “We’re planning a way to allow wide swaths of the world to elect representatives to a new governance board. Because if I weren’t in on this I’d be, like, Why do these fuckers get to decide what happens to me?”,
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/sam-altman-then-and-now
SpiderOak One customers threaten to jump ship following datacenter upgrade
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
One tricky cluster is causing outrage among longstanding customers
Over a month after an April datacenter upgrade coincided with problems with some of its customers’ backups, secure storage biz SpiderOak still isn’t fully operational, and some angry users say they’re ready to cut ties.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/spideroak_one_customers_threaten_to/
US announces measures to help over 11,000 Cuban small businesses
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The United States announced regulatory changes on Tuesday to increase support for the Cuban people and independent private sector entrepreneurs. The changes will enable more U.S. financial support for small private businesses in Cuba, enhance internet-based services on the island and broaden access to financial services.
The new U.S. measures come as the communist-run island faces a social and economic crisis, including severe shortages of food, fuel, electricity and medicine.
A senior administration official stated that the new authorization allows Cuba’s independent private sector entrepreneurs to open and remotely access U.S. bank accounts, including through U.S. online payment platforms.
As of 2021, Cuban entrepreneurs can establish small and medium private enterprises under Cuban law. By the latest count, there are over 11,000 registered private businesses in Cuba.
“It’s important to note that the new definition for independent private sector entrepreneurship excludes prohibited officials of the Cuban government, such as National Assembly members, Cuban military officers, certain ministry staff, regime propagandists and prohibited members of the Cuban Communist Party,” the senior official told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday.
New U.S. regulatory measures will benefit the Cuban people while continuing to minimize resources to the Cuban government, said another senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration.
“We believe that the growth of an independent entrepreneurial private sector in Cuba is fully aligned with our values and is the best hope for generating economic development and employment in Cuba,” said the senior official.
The Treasury Department said that Tuesday’s regulatory changes will allow Cuban nationals to open, maintain and remotely use U.S. bank accounts, including through online payment platforms, to conduct authorized or exempt transactions, whether the independent private sector entrepreneur is physically located in the United States, Cuba or another country.
Earlier this month, the U.S. removed Cuba from its list of countries “not cooperating fully” in the fight against terrorism. However, Cuba remains on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
The cooperation against terrorism list, which the State Department is required by law to provide to Congress, is not the same as the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
U.S. officials declined to comment on whether the State Department has begun a formal review of Cuba’s presence on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. U.S. sanctions against the Cuban government, its military intelligence and security services remain in place.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The People’s AI.
https://doc.searls.com/2024/05/28/the-peoples-ai/
OpenAI sets up safety group in wake of high-profile exits
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
AI biz forms Safety and Security Committee to succeed Superalignment team as it trains latest GPT model
OpenAI has created a new safety group as it works on the successor to GPT-4 while grappling with the recent departure of high-profile members who criticized its commercial intent.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/openai_establishes_new_safety_group/
Developing an Economic Security Agenda for NATO
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: RAND blog
To effectively prepare for the new threats posed by Russia and China, NATO leaders should work to build a new sense of political cohesion, recognizing that economic issues have important bearing on allied security. The upcoming Washington Summit is an opportunity for NATO to strengthen its economic security posture.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/05/developing-an-economic-security-agenda-for-nato.html
Doodled!
date: 2024-05-28, from: National Archives, Text Message blog
The files of the Department of State (RG 59) do not include a great number of documents with doodles. Perhaps that means government officials do not scribble on the documents that get filed. Alternatively, they do not file the documents on which they have scribbled. Recently, while undertaking ad hoc maintenance work on some records, … Continue reading Doodled!
https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2024/05/28/doodled/
China dismisses activists’ calls for US Congress to close Hong Kong offices
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
Imperiled Eagles Are Altering Their Migration Routes to Avoid the War in Ukraine
date: 2024-05-28, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Researchers found that greater spotted eagles migrated longer distances and made fewer rest stops following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, compared to previous years
Trump defense lawyer, prosecutor clash sharply near end of former president’s hush money trial
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material Is Not a ‘Victimless Crime’
date: 2024-05-28, from: 404 Media Group
The ability to produce infinite images powered by datasets containing millions of photographs of real people, including children, and real images of real CSAM, perpetuates abuse in a way that was previously impossible.
https://www.404media.co/ai-generated-child-sexual-abuse-material-is-not-a-victimless-crime/
NASA, Boeing opt to fly leaky thruster as-is for first crewed Starliner CST-100 mission
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Will Boeing’s Padstayer become Padleaver on June 1?
NASA and Boeing have set another date – June 1 – for the first crewed launch of the Starliner CST-100, a capsule more noted for its reluctance to leave the ground than for its commercial crew capability.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/boeing_padstayer_to_become_padleaver/
The Power of the Cold Open
date: 2024-05-28, from: John August blog
John and Craig explore one of the most powerful and versatile tools in episodic television: the cold open. But how does it work? What kind of scenes does it showcase best? How can it play with point of view, perspective and time? What makes it memorable? And how do you make it work for your […] The post The Power of the Cold Open first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2024/the-power-of-the-cold-open
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
There's no need to explain the need to organize for women's rights given what's already come from the Supreme Court in recent years.
Sols 4195-4198: Feels Like Summer
date: 2024-05-28, from: NASA breaking news
Earth planning date: Friday, May 24, 2024 The first sol of this weekend includes an extremely long, 6-hour DAN activity to measure the amount of hydrogen near the surface, in parallel with a standard midday remote science block including: ChemCam LIBS on a smooth, dark rock named “Shadow Lake,” an RMI 7-frame mosaic of the […]
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/sols-4195-4198-feels-like-summer/
15 Years Ago: First Time all Partners Represented aboard the International Space Station
date: 2024-05-28, from: NASA breaking news
From May 29 to July 17, 2009, for the first time in its history, each of the five partner agencies participating in the International Space Station Program had a crew member living and working aboard the orbiting facility at the same time. The period also marked the beginning of six-person crew habitation, greatly increasing the […]
Climate change
date: 2024-05-28, from: Logic Matters blog
Some years ago, the University Botanic Gardens here in Cambridge started a special area for the interest of local gardeners, displaying plants particularly tolerant of the low local rainfall. Because this part of East Anglia officially counted as a ‘semi-arid’ region. Today, another sodden day. And the garden, if not awash, is lush to say […]
The post Climate change appeared first on Logic Matters.
https://www.logicmatters.net/2024/05/28/climatechange/
Pope apologizes after using vulgar term in reference to gay men
date: 2024-05-28, from: San Jose Mercury News
“The pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms,” a Vatican spokesperson said.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/28/pope-apologizes-vulgar-term-gay-men/
Asus NUC 14 Performance is a Meteor Lake mini PC with NVIDIA RTX 40 Series graphics (a ROG NUC by another name)
date: 2024-05-28, from: Liliputing
The Asus NUC 14 Performance is a small desktop computer with the guts of a gaming laptop. It supports up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H Meteor Lake processor and up to NVIDIA GeForce RTC 4070 graphics. But since the NUC 14 Performance is a desktop rather than a laptop, there’s room for more […]
The post Asus NUC 14 Performance is a Meteor Lake mini PC with NVIDIA RTX 40 Series graphics (a ROG NUC by another name) appeared first on Liliputing.
Do These Coins Belong to a Legendary 18th-Century Polish Fraudster?
date: 2024-05-28, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Mountain hermit Antoni Jaczewicz tricked sick people into thinking he had healing powers. A Polish treasure-hunting group believes they’ve found his fortune
Microsoft’s Recall preview doesn’t need a Copilot+ PC to run
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Just because you could doesn’t mean you should
Windows Recall has been coaxed into life on a computer lacking the AI hardware shown off by Microsoft at its recent unveiling event.…
Man refuses to exit running garbage truck in Campbell
date: 2024-05-28, from: San Jose Mercury News
He’s charged with being drunk in public.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/28/man-refuses-to-exit-running-garbage-truck-in-campbell/
San Francisco’s Chinatown: Forged by discrimination, now a cultural treasure
date: 2024-05-28, from: VOA News USA
America’s oldest Chinatown sustains traditions even as members of the Chinese diaspora continue to spread out and evolve. Matt Dibble has the story from San Francisco, California.
https://www.voanews.com/a/7629846.html
Man fatally shot driving in East Oakland
date: 2024-05-28, from: San Jose Mercury News
A motive is being sought for the fatal shooting of a man driving in East Oakland Monday night who was able to drive into San Leandro before crashing.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/28/man-fatally-shot-driving-in-east-oakland/
Simple Equation Predicts the Shapes of Carbon-Capturing Wetlands
date: 2024-05-28, from: Quanta Magazine
To calculate the amount of carbon stored inside peatlands, researchers developed a unified theory of “bog physics” applicable around the world.The post Simple Equation Predicts the Shapes of Carbon-Capturing Wetlands first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Nvidia said to be prepping AI PC chip with Arm and Blackwell cores
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Rivalry in Windows on Arm space would intensify once GPU giant enters the fray
Competition could be heating up in the Windows on Arm space amid talk in the industry that Nvidia is readying a chip pairing next-gen Arm cores with its Blackwell GPU architecture.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/nvidia_ai_pc_arm_blackwell_core/
XL Raspberry Pi 5 Game Boy
date: 2024-05-28, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Gameboy XL is powerful enough to run NES and PS2 emulators and, yes, you can play Doom on it.
The post XL Raspberry Pi 5 Game Boy appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/xl-raspberry-pi-5-game-boy/
Oil, gas and hurricane season don’t mix
date: 2024-05-28, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Hurricane season officially begins this week, and forecasters are predicting a record number of storms to barrel through the Atlantic Ocean this year. While that means potential destruction to homes, businesses and infrastructure, one industry is particularly at risk: oil and natural gas. We’ll unpack. Plus, “there is no economic solution for a political problem”: Trinity College professor of economics Ibrahim Shikaki reflects on Gaza’s economy at time of war.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/oil-gas-and-hurricane-season-dont-mix
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Tumblr launches its semi-private Communities in open beta.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/28/tumblr-launches-its-semi-private-communities-in-open-beta/
How Floods Are Contributing to Pregnancy Loss in India
date: 2024-05-28, from: Heatmap News
Ashwini Khandekar was in her first few months of pregnancy when the flood came. This was July 2021, the peak of the annual monsoon season, when a downpour destroyed more than 300 houses in Ganeshwadi, a village 400 kilometers south of Mumbai in India’s Maharashtra state. Authorities instructed Khandekar and her husband to evacuate, she told me, “but I couldn’t leave my house because all the evacuation centers were full. I had nowhere to go.” Though in the end her home was spared, for the next 15 days, Khandekar lived in constant fear, praying until the waters finally abated.
Four months later, Khandekar went to the doctor for a prenatal checkup. Her child, she learned, showed signs of anencephaly, a condition in which the fetal brain and skull fail to develop normally. Usually, babies born with anencephaly die within a few hours, and most pregnancies end in miscarriage. To cross-check the doctor’s claims, Khandekar visited eight more hospitals. Everyone confirmed the same. “I was heartbroken,” she said.
When a community health-care worker, Kavita Magdum, examined Khandekar’s medical records, she found that Khandekar had suffered from a severe deficiency of iron and folic acid, a known risk factor for anencephaly. This, in turn, pointed back to the storm. “She was traumatized by the flood and wasn’t getting a nutrient-rich diet for several weeks,” Magdum told me. The roads in and out of the village were closed for 20 days, cutting off food supplies. During this time, she ate only cooked rice and wheat flatbread. Sometimes she didn’t eat at all.
By the end of December, a month after she learned of her child’s condition, Khandekar had lost the pregnancy. She was 20 years old at the time.
Though tragic, stories like Khandekar’s are not rare. A research paper published in Nature this year found that from 2010 to 2020, maternal exposure to floods led to an average of 107,888 lost pregnancies per year in low- and middle-income countries, with South Asia reporting the most cases. Lack of access to nutrient-rich foods was one of the causes the researchers identified, along with physical and mental stress, disease, and lack of housing and safe childbirth services.
This year’s monsoon season will begin in June and stretch through September. The Indian Government has forecast above-average rainfall this year, at 106% of the long-term average. In the first two decades of this century, floods impacted 1.5 billion people in Asia, accounting for 93% of the globally affected population. Last year, over 80% of hydrometeorological disasters in Asia were floods and storms.
About 89% of the world’s flood-exposed population resides in low- and middle-income countries that lack adequate health-care facilities. India alone has more than 378 million women of childbearing age, and has experienced an average of 17 yearly flood events in the past two decades. Floods affected more than 218 million people in India from 2015 to 2020, and destroyed crops on nearly 35 million hectares of farmland, leading to rampant food insecurity. During this time, stillbirths in India increased 28.6%.
For women and their children, the risk begins even before a pregnancy occurs. Simran Jamadar was also 20 years old and living in Maharashtra’s tiny Kanwad village when the floods arrived in 2021. “The water was at least four feet in our house at 5 p.m.,” said Jamadar, forcing her to evacuate. Walking through muddy water with her family to the evacuation center 10 kilometers away, she had to tread carefully lest she disturb an unseen snake. After she reached her destination, she spent 12 days crammed in with 6,000 people from 15 villages. Overstressed and underslept, Jamadar found it difficult to eat. On top of everything else, the experience brought up painful memories from just over a year before, when another flood had wiped out her home, along with all its furniture, crucial papers, and six months of food supplies.
Five months later, still grappling with the trauma of the flood, Jamadar became pregnant. At about the seven-month mark, she experienced a sudden and unbearable stomachache and vomited. Sonography reports showed that she had developed an incompetent cervix — a weakened womb unable to hold a baby. Six hours later, Jamadar gave birth. The child was born and “passed away within a day,” Anita Kamble, a community health-care worker from Jamadar’s village, told me.
Kamble spoke to more than 30 community health-care workers from the flood-affected villages and found a similar pattern of stillbirths associated with stress — even when that stress began before the women became pregnant. This squares with other findings from the Nature study, which showed a significant association between pregnancy loss and exposure to floods even six months before conception. A controlled study of 340 women from Sweden who’d been pregnant in the same year found that 54% of those who experienced stress during pregnancy such as depression or anxiety gave birth prematurely.
With flooding, disruptions and their attending stressors can last for months, and sometimes even years. “The trauma was visible on her face,” Kamble said of Jamadar.
“The most important buffer for stressed pregnant women is social support,” Gloria Giarratano, a professor of nursing at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, told me. That includes resources to help cope with psychiatric stressors. Giarratano was the lead author of a study of women in New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina, which found that women without a network of trusted people to rely on were the most likely to become depressed while pregnant. The more support they have, Giarratano told me, the more that risk decreases.
India, however, for its population of 1.3 billion people, has just 9,000 psychiatrists and 1,000 psychologists. In the face of this challenge, community health-care workers like Magdum and Kamble have devised ad hoc solutions.
What India lacks in licensed medical practitioners, it somewhat makes up for in community-based health programs. India has over a million all-women community health-care workers, known as Accredited Social Health Activists, or ASHAs, who make public health care accessible. Appointed for every 1,000 people from the same village, they are responsible for at least 70 health-care tasks, including providing ante- and postnatal care and ensuring that infants and children are vaccinated on time. In the past seven years, they have gone beyond their duty to help pregnant women recover from the trauma caused by floods and other climate disasters.
After Jamadar lost her baby, for instance, Kamble began visiting her every three to four days, asking about her problems and listening patiently to the answers, sometimes for several hours. Often, Jamadar spoke of her fear of floods. Kamble started talking to more women and found that they all needed someone to share their frustration and fears with. “In several villages, even today, women aren’t allowed to talk about their stress,” Kamble told me.
She started organizing informal discussions in the community where women including Jamadar could be free to share their trauma — and where Kamble could monitor their stress levels and nutrition. “I knew I wasn’t alone in this, and listening to others gave me confidence that we could recover together,” Jamadar told me.
In April 2024, Jamadar gave birth to a child, Aiza, without complications. “From the start, we did everything right and made sure Jamadar wasn’t stressed,” Kamble told me proudly.
In addition to listening, Kamble also started making a list of where pregnant women could be evacuated safely in case of another flood. She would then check if these places had essential facilities like access to good-quality drinking water and sanitation. ASHAs also started pre-arranging private vehicle transport for pregnant women in case of emergency.
Through lengthy and careful community engagement, the ASHAs have started to compile lists of women they expect to become pregnant well before they actually are. “Three months before someone decides to conceive, we start providing them with iron and folic acid tablets,” Magdum told me. This has helped her reduce the anemia rate in her village by 50%. “Earlier, people didn’t take it seriously, but now everyone inquires beforehand about the tablets,” she said.
None of this has been easy, especially because many ASHAs themselves are victims of recurring floods and have faced tremendous personal losses. The state doesn’t consider them full-time workers, and pays them only an honorarium based on the number of tasks completed. In India’s wealthiest state, Maharashtra, the average income is just 4,000 to 7,000 Indian Rupees, or $48 to $83, per month, and often the payments are delayed. As a result, many ASHAs are forced to double up as farmworkers to make ends meet.
Despite the challenges, ASHAs keep coming up with solutions. “If we stop working in such stressful times, how will the health-care system survive?” asked Kamble, who handles around 20 pregnancy cases every year and has counseled over 100 pregnant women since 2017. Since ASHAs are unionized, they often meet to discuss best practices and share their experiences. Today, thousands of ASHAs across India are helping women recover emotionally from the trauma caused by climate change.
“ASHA means hope in several Indian languages,” Kamble said, “and I am proud to bring a smile and hope to several women.”
https://heatmap.news/climate/india-flooding-pregnancy-stillbirths
Evolution of the ELF object file format
date: 2024-05-28, from: OS News
The ELF object file format is adopted by many UNIX-like operating systems. While I’ve previously delved into the control structures of ELF and its predecessors, tracing the historical evolution of ELF and its relationship with the System V ABI can be interesting in itself. ↫ MaskRay The article wasn’t lying. I had no reason to know this – and I’m pretty sure most of you didn’t either – but it turns out the standards that define ELF got caught up in the legal murkiness and nastiness of UNIX. After the dissolution of the committee governing ELF in 1995, stewardship went from one familiar name to the next, first Novell, then The Santa Cruz Operation, then Caldera which renamed itself to The SCO Group, and eventually ending up at UnXis (now Xinuos) in 2011. In 2015, the last maintainer of ELF left Xinuos, and since then, it’s been effectively unmaintained. Which is kind of wild, considering ELF is a crucial building block of virtually all UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems today. The article mentions there’s a neutral Google Group that discusses, among other things, ELF, but that, too, has seen dwindling activity. Still, that group has reached consensus on some changes; changes that are now not reflected in any of the official texts. It’s a bit of a mess. If you ever wanted to know the status of ELF as a standard, this article’s for you.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139809/evolution-of-the-elf-object-file-format/
A Berkeley art show’s massive photos celebrate California’s trees
date: 2024-05-28, from: San Jose Mercury News
The imperiled beauty of our diverse trees is highlighted in Stefan Thuilot’s “California Forest Project.”
Auction house Christie’s confirms criminals stole some client data
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Centuries-old institution dodges questions on how it happened as ransomware gang claims credit
International auctioning giant Christie’s has confirmed data was stolen during an online attack after a top-three ransomware group claimed credit.…
Google Researchers Say AI Now Leading Disinformation Vector (and Are Severely Undercounting the Problem)
date: 2024-05-28, from: 404 Media Group
It’s much easier to produce AI-generated disinformation than it is to fact check it.
A Mental Health Awareness Month Message from Your MAF EAP office: “Suicide and Crises Lifeline”
date: 2024-05-28, from: NASA breaking news
While NASA promotes the availability of EAP counselors at each Center, there may be reasons when, during a mental health crisis, employees do not think about EAP or cannot remember how to access. Now, the Suicide and Crises Lifeline (https://988lifeline.org/) is available to anyone, anytime nationwide by calling or texting three numbers from your cell […]
One of every five new homes built in California last year was an ADU
date: 2024-05-28, from: San Jose Mercury News
Homeowners and developers are taking advantage of new state legislation that speeds up the permitting process for these tiny homes.
Illegal trash dumping is a problem in Silicon Valley. Here’s how one South Bay town is trying to solve it.
date: 2024-05-28, from: San Jose Mercury News
San Martin does not have dedicated staff to deal with trash, so instead, a group of volunteers has taken matters into their own hands, cleaning up literal tons of trash in the process.
Google launches new Chromebook features, with an emphasis on AI
date: 2024-05-28, from: Liliputing
2024 is the year AI is taking over the tech world… not in a Skynet kind of way, but in the sense that pretty much every major tech company (and plenty of startups) are pushing AI as the next must-have feature. And while it’s too soon to tell whether there’s as much demand for that feature […]
The post Google launches new Chromebook features, with an emphasis on AI appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/google-is-bringing-new-features-to-chromebooks-with-an-emphasis-on-ai/
Acer launches two premium Chromebooks: the Chromebook Plus Spin 714 convertible and Chromebook Plus 516 GE for cloud gaming
date: 2024-05-28, from: Liliputing
Acer is expanding is Chromebook Plus lineup with upgraded versions of two models. One is a general purpose model with a touchscreen display, 360-degree hinge, support for an optional stylus, and the first Intel Meteor Lake chip available in an Acer Chromebook. The other is a gaming Chromebook with an RGB backlit keyboard and big […]
The post Acer launches two premium Chromebooks: the Chromebook Plus Spin 714 convertible and Chromebook Plus 516 GE for cloud gaming appeared first on Liliputing.
Will Windows drive a PC refresh? Everyone’s talking about AI
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
As Lenovo says it’ll cram hybrid AI into multiple devices, CIOs and analysts remain unconvinced
Morgan Stanley is betting AI PCs will drive the next wave of commercial fleet refreshes after Microsoft made public its line-up at Build, and is forecasting the machines will comprise 65 percent of total sales by 2028.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/windows_to_drive_pc_refresh/
A Weekend of Deadly Weather
date: 2024-05-28, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Early summer heat wave threatens the South • Temperatures climb to a near-record 125 degrees Fahrenheit in Pakistan • It’s 60 degrees and rainy in Paris where the French Open is underway.
THE TOP FIVE
- Over 2,000 people buried by landslide in Papua New Guinea
A massive landslide reportedly buried alive more than 2,000 people in northern Papua New Guinea on Friday. Over 670 people have already been reported dead but experts warn the death toll will rise far higher as rescuers pick through the devastation. Aid workers have also reportedly struggled to reach the affected area with roads blocked and the ground still unstable.
- At least 23 killed by weekend storms in the South
Severe storms killed almost two dozen people across the southern United States over Memorial Day weekend and left hundreds of thousands without power. Arkansas reported eight dead, Texas seven, Kentucky five, and Oklahoma two, with the causes of death ranging from falling debris to a weather-induced heart attack. With 622 preliminary reports of severe weather, including 14 tornadoes, Sunday was the most active severe storm day of the year so far.
- Biden administration sets principles for voluntary carbon markets
The Biden administration on Tuesday released a joint policy statement and a set of seven principles for voluntary carbon credit markets. Highlighting the discrepancies among crediting methodologies and the resulting doubts about the credits’ integrity, the documents are intended to serve as guidance for credit buyers and sellers and will shape how the U.S. government interacts with the market.
The “voluntary principles” include:
- Carbon credits should meet credible standards and represent real
decarbonization.
2. Credit-generating activities should avoid environmental and social harm.
3. Corporate buyers should prioritize credits that reduce emissions from their own value chains.
4. Users should publicly disclose the credits they’ve used.
5. Users should be precise about the climate impact of credits and should only rely on credits that meet high integrity standards.
6. Market participants should contribute to efforts that improve market integrity.
7. Policymakers and market participants should work to make the market more efficient and cheaper to use.
- EPA denies Alabama coal ash plan
The EPA rejected Alabama’s plan to manage its coal waste last week, with federal officials deeming the state proposal “significantly less protective of people and waterways than federal law requires.” The decision comes amid a push from the agency to strengthen its oversight of the toxic coal ash stored in ponds and landfills around the country. Only three states — Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia — have secured permission to run their own coal ash programs. Alabama is the first state to have its plan rejected. The EPA cited “deficiencies in Alabama’s permits with closure requirements for unlined surface impoundments, groundwater monitoring networks, and corrective action (i.e., investigation and clean up) requirements” as reasons for the denial. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management has said it will appeal the decision.
- Study: Communities will benefit from electric school buses
Electrifying school bus fleets is good for health and the climate, a new study found. Researchers at Harvard University’s school of public health determined that replacing the average diesel school bus in the U.S. with an electric version yields $40,400 per bus in climate benefits and $43,800 per bus in health benefits. The health benefits of replacing particularly old and polluting diesel buses in urban areas could amount to more than $200,000 per bus. But electric buses will still cost schools an estimated $156,000 more over their lifetimes compared to new diesel buses, according to the study. “In a dense urban setting where old diesel buses still comprise most school bus fleets, the savings incurred from electrifying these buses outweigh the costs of replacement,” said Kari Nadeau, a professor of climate and population studies, in a statement.
THE KICKER
On Saturday, NASA launched the first of two small satellites that will study heat loss at the poles and collect data that can be used to refine climate models.
https://heatmap.news/climate/a-weekend-of-deadly-weather
Walters: California Supreme Court weighs two cases that could limit the ballot initiative process
date: 2024-05-28, from: San Jose Mercury News
Business interests are increasingly using initiatives to counter what they regard as too much regulation, taxes and fees.
Empty San Jose office building is foreclosed and seized by lender
date: 2024-05-28, from: San Jose Mercury News
An empty San Jose office building has been foreclosed and seized by its lender.
Elon Musk’s xAI scores $6B in its series B funding round
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Investors continue to buy into the AI hype
Elon Musk’s xAI has announced a series B funding round of $6 billion that takes the company to a valuation of $24 billion, according to the billionaire.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/elon_musks_xai_scores_a/
The state of Palestine’s economy
date: 2024-05-28, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Beneath the tremendous human suffering wrought by war in Gaza is a harsh economic reality. Today, we’re examining the state of the Palestinian economy before, during and potentially after the war, and will hear more about Palestine’s entrenched dependency on Israel’s economy. But first: The White House is introducing a set of carbon credit standards to help figure out if carbon offsets are achieving what they purport to.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/the-state-of-palestines-economy
Opinion: Take ranked choice voting national for presidential elections
date: 2024-05-28, from: San Jose Mercury News
With Americans fundamentally restless with their ballot choices, RCV could solve the spoiler problem.
Sale closed in Fremont: $1.7 million for a condominium
date: 2024-05-28, from: San Jose Mercury News
A 1,911-square-foot condominium built in 2008 has changed hands. The property located in the 400 block of Ironwood Terrace in Fremont was sold on April 23, 2024, for $1,700,000, or $890 per square foot.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/28/sale-closed-in-fremont-1-7-million-for-a-condominium/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Behind the Curtain: AI's ominous scarcity crisis.
https://www.axios.com/2024/05/28/ai-power-energy-data-chips-talent
Opinion: Will California’s new tax on gun sales reduce firearm violence?
date: 2024-05-28, from: San Jose Mercury News
By making a given product more expensive, excise taxes lead people to buy less of it, reducing the harm to society.
Parliamentarians urge next UK govt to consider ban on smartphones for under-16s
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Digital age of consent at 13 not even enforced, committee finds
A committee of MPs has urged the next government to consider a total ban on smartphones for under-16s in the UK.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/smartphone_youth_ban_uk/
Introduction: DBus and systemd
date: 2024-05-28, from: OS News
systemd uses DBus as the mechanism to interact with it. This article introduces just enough DBus concepts and the usage of busctl to communicate with systemd. These concepts should be useful when using DBus libraries. ↫ Beartama Exactly what it says on the tin.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139807/introduction-dbus-and-systemd/
David Beckham scores Euros deal with AliExpress
date: 2024-05-28, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Soccer superstar David Beckham has signed a deal to be a global ambassador for AliExpress, an online retail platform owned by Chinese technology giant Alibaba. The announcement comes as the Euros soccer tournament is due to kick off in Germany next month. Plus, billions of dollars are being poured into AI despite lack of uptake, and the FBI is investigating the sale of stolen British Museum goods.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-05-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The Jews Are Coming - Never again all over again.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KjwrV0wG9E0
How The Wolves Of K Street Ate America
date: 2024-05-28, from: The Lever News
In their new book The Wolves of K Street, Brody and Luke Mullins explore how corporate power came to dominate American politics.
https://www.levernews.com/how-the-wolves-of-k-street-ate-america/
We polled thousands of IT pros – and sustainability just ain’t a priority right now
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The planet can wait, pal, we’ve got other problems
Survey results While Big Tech wrings its hands about things like greenhouse gas emissions, IT teams out in the trenches aren’t nearly as concerned about the eco-sustainability of their infrastructure.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/register_it_sustainability/
Pilar Schiavo | Honoring Our Veterans — and Serving Them
date: 2024-05-28, from: The Signal
Yesterday, we honored those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep our country safe. My family is so fortunate that my dad and brother returned home safely. We still have […]
The post Pilar Schiavo | Honoring Our Veterans — and Serving Them appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/pilar-schiavo-honoring-our-veterans-and-serving-them/
AWS leads UK cloud market while Microsoft dominates growth and new customers
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
And guess who has highest margins? Some interesting findings from fresh market watchdog report
Microsoft is achieving the highest margins while at the same time achieving the strongest growth in the UK cloud market, according to a working paper from the competition watchdog.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/aws_leads_uk_cloud_market/
Rick Barker | Abuse of Power
date: 2024-05-28, from: The Signal
It’s one thing for a sitting president or other political candidate or citizen to contest an election AFTER it has taken place, which is very common and totally legal under […]
The post Rick Barker | Abuse of Power appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/rick-barker-abuse-of-power/
What would an IPO mean for the Raspberry Pi Foundation?
date: 2024-05-28, from: Raspberry Pi (.org)
On 22 May 2024, we announced that we are intending to list the Foundation’s commercial subsidiary, Raspberry Pi Ltd, on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. This is called an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The IPO process is — quite rightly — highly regulated, and information about the company and the potential listing…
The post What would an IPO mean for the Raspberry Pi Foundation? appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/what-would-an-ipo-mean-for-the-raspberry-pi-foundation/
Take two APIs and call me in the morning: How healthcare research can cure cyber crime
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
In evolving smarter security, open source is the missing link
Opinion Some ideas work better than others. Take DARPA, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Launched by US President Dwight Eisenhower in 1957 response to Sputnik, its job is to create and test concepts that may be useful in thwarting enemies. Along the way, it’s helped make happen GPS, weather satellites, PC technology, and something called the internet.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/take_two_apis_and_call/
Richard Bussell | Celebrating Hanoi Jane?
date: 2024-05-28, from: The Signal
We are told that Jane Fonda’s Vietnam protests “can still cause objections among some older veterans” like myself (101st Airborne, 1968-69). She helped the Vietnam prison camp commander undermine the […]
The post Richard Bussell | Celebrating Hanoi Jane? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/richard-bussell-celebrating-hanoi-jane/
Rob Kerchner | A Double Standard
date: 2024-05-28, from: The Signal
Foreigners breaking into the country is not much of a crime these days, but citizens walking into the Capitol on Jan. 6 gets you decades in prison … even if […]
The post Rob Kerchner | A Double Standard appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/05/rob-kerchner-a-double-standard/
Ukraine gets more military aid from Europe but Putin warns of consequences if Russian soil is hit
date: 2024-05-28, from: Associated Press, World News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has received a second $1 billion promise of military aid in as many days during a whirlwind tour of three European Union countries.
A Corporate Poisoner Two-Steps Out Of Its Toxic Liability
date: 2024-05-28, from: The Lever News
A Koch-owned company is exploiting bankruptcy law to avoid responsibility for their asbestos assets and rewrite judicial precedent.
https://www.levernews.com/a-corporate-poisoner-two-steps-out-of-its-toxic-liability/
By 2030, software developers will be using AI to cut their workload ‘in half’
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Prepare for the HyperAssistant of the future, maybe
Half a decade hence, software development will be transformed by AI assistance, argue four academics from the University of Lugano in Switzerland.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/software_development_2030/
Today in SCV History (May 28)
date: 2024-05-28, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1888 – Olympian Jim Thorpe, “America’s greatest athlete,” born in Indian Territory (probably near Prague, Okla.); later in life, appeared in many B-Westerns shot in Placerita Canyon. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-may-28/
Alibaba Cloud built its edge network hardware on Intel Ethernet ASICs
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Custom 2U boxen with Tofino inside are in production and mean Chinese cloud has more space for servers
Alibaba Cloud has revealed the hardware design it uses to run networking at its edge locations, and those devices’ reliance on Intel Tofino ASICs.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/alibaba_cloud_edge_network_switches/
Do electric cars use more water than petrol cars?
date: 2024-05-28, from: Hannah Richie at Substack
With current electricity mixes, yes. In a low-carbon world, no.
https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/electric-vehicles-water
Indonesia’s president orders government to stop developing new applications
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Nation of 17,000 islands operates 27,000 bits of software
Indonesian president Joko Widodo on Monday ordered government officials to stop developing new applications.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/indonesia_app_sprawl/
2024/05/28 Safely Inhibiting Gene Editors
date: 2024-05-28, from: Darpa News
The DARPA Broad-Spectrum Antagonists For Editors, or B-SAFE, program aims to develop platform technologies for highly potent inhibitors for multiple classes, types, and species of editors with enhanced activity, utility, and breadth of coverage.
https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2024-05-28
Refurb weekend: Canon Cat
date: 2024-05-28, from: Old Vintage Computer Research
It’s the Memorial Day holiday weekend and it’s time for a little deferred maintenance, especially on those machines I intend to work on more in the near future. So we’ll start with one that’s widely considered to be a remarkable cul-de-sac in computing history: the Canon Cat.
Canon, however, never fully grasped the concept either. Apart from the tone-deaf marketing, Canon sold the device through their typewriter division and required the display to only show what a daisywheel printer could generate, limiting its potential as a general purpose workstation. There was also an infamous story where Canon engineers added a hard power switch not present in the original prototype, believing its absence to be an oversight — over Raskin’s objections, who intended the machine as an always-on, instantly useable system. The Cat nevertheless launched at an MSRP of $1495 ($4125 in 2024 dollars) in July that year to many plaudits and design awards, but alleged corporate shenanigans and uncertainty within Canon doomed it internally, causing them to dropkick the product after just six months and 20,000 sales. In the wake of the 1987 Black Monday stock market crash Raskin’s investors subsequently pulled the plug and the company closed in 1991.
We’ll have more to say about that in a future entry when we get into the guts of the OS. Today, we have two tasks: replace its settings battery and shore up the nearly unobtainium custom Canon floppy drive, its most common point of failure. It’s time for a Refurb Weekend.
Before we begin the job, let’s have a little tour. The Cat’s notability is such that there are many analyses of it (PDF), including Raskin’s own musings in The Humane Machine, and I probably couldn’t do justice to it in this particular article. But a brief historical digression is always in order around these parts.
After Raskin left Apple in 1982, he took his ideas and founded Information Appliance, Inc. in Palo Alto later that year. “By choosing to focus on computers rather than the tasks we wanted done, we inherited much of the baggage that had accumulated around earlier generations of computers,” Raskin wrote in 1986. “It is more a matter of style and operating systems that need elaborate user interfaces to support huge application programs.” He envisioned an environment that provided word processing, information retrieval (i.e., search), programming and telecommunications in a single integrated package — it would do the basic tasks you need and be expandable to the later ones you’d want. This concept was first formalized as the original Swyft project. Swyft started as a 6502-based platform which quickly evolved into a system not unlike the released Cat except for using a 68008 CPU (i.e., a 68000 with an 8-bit data bus and a 1MB addressing range). However, IAI’s investors were concerned that its development was taking too long and prevailed upon Raskin’s team to commercially surface the technology earlier.
Like the Swyft, the SwyftCard came up in a word processor mode as its default interface in which you could immediately type and print text. The workspace stored everything centrally: data from any source, even serial telecommunications such as a modem call, went right into the document too (you could even dial up a Swyft system if it had an auto-answer modem and send it text remotely). The workspace was one big document, subdivided into smaller ones which could be printed, edited or erased individually — which is to say, there was no file system at all. To switch workspaces, you just switched floppies, and the software kept track of whether the current document workspace matched the disk in the drive. The Swyft’s most notable innovation was the concept of “leaping,” where you held a “leap” key down and typed in the phrase you were looking for, and special attention was paid to making this unique means of workspace navigation as fast as possible. For the SwyftCard, this was implemented with the two Apple keys.
Porting from the Swyft was relatively straightforward since much of the high-level operating system was written in Forth, a language well-established on the 6502 as well, though the 6502’s smaller 64K addressing space mandated using the banking logic on the card for memory management. However, a notable difference from Swyft was that SwyftCard users programmed it in good old Applesoft BASIC. You could type a BASIC program directly into the editor, highlight it, and then have it execute — and the output went into your document. This was an easy way to do calculations, for example, but most any appropriate BASIC operation would work such as string variables for templates and frequently used text. IAI offered the entire package in 1985 for $89.95 (in 2024 about $260) with the SwyftCard, a tutorial disk and a ProDOS interchange utility, and won strong reviews from Apple II magazines at the time. David Thornburg wrote in A+ that “[i]t not only outperforms any Apple II word-processing system, but it also lets the Apple //e outperform the Macintosh.”
While the Cat was reportedly developed on time and on budget, IAI’s investors remained unhappy with its gestational pace, and refused to invest sufficient capital to allow IAI to sell it under its own name. This forced IAI management to find a willing licensee for the product, and they found it in Japanese electronics manufacturer Canon, who was looking for another way to crack the microcomputer market after years of repeated failures. Raskin’s original target price point was $795, but this was again vetoed and the higher price instituted for better margins. Internally the machine is called the Canon V777.
Here’s the default editor. The Cat inherits the same interface as the Swyft (and, by descent, the SwyftCard). What’s most noticeable is what’s not visible: other than a small section at the bottom showing document settings, margins and a free memory gauge, there are no windows or menus of any kind. There’s a cursor, but no pointer.
In fact, there aren’t even conventional cursor keys. The Cat has the same “leap” keys as the Swyft and SwyftCard, in a bright but tasteful pink, and they work the same way to jump to portions of the document or into other documents. You can also use them to scroll with the SHIFT key, or move by single letters, sentences or paragraphs. The LEAP keys are also how you highlight text blocks to manipulate by LEAPing to the beginning, LEAPing to the end, and then pressing them together.
Much, but not all, of the rest of the interface is exposed on blue labels on the front of the keys. These are accessed by USE FRONT, which is basically the Cat’s Command key, and even the LEAP keys have special functions with USE FRONT. For some operations you’ll keep USE FRONT and other keys down and add others into chords. Raskin was emphatic that the Swyft and Cat should not have modes — when you release the keys, the operation is over, whatever that ends up meaning.
For everything else, there’s built-in online help with the EXPLAIN key combination (USE FRONT+N). Besides on-demand assistance, the EXPLAIN facility also serves as the “error centre.” If the Cat hits an error, you don’t get a modal dialogue; instead, it just politely beeps. You can then ask it to explain itself and it will give its objections in prose.
Canon did not mention its programming capability in their user documentation, but IAI discussed it at length in their own documents, as the “secret” programmer’s setting was never intended to be truly secret. When Forth is enabled, you can either type in Forth words at a traditional ok prompt, or you can type Forth code into your document, highlight it and execute it (USE FRONT+ANSWER). When running code this way, any output appears in your document.
I’ll have a lot more to say about Forth and the Cat’s operating system in the upcoming entry. Let’s get inside.
The logic board sits in a “pan” on the underside. Undo the screws (except for the ones in the feet).
The pan is now loose. With a little gentle tugging with a nylon spudger or some such, you should be able to free the lip on the side opposite the rear ports and get it lifted up slightly.
Doing so carefully because there are still cables attached, slide the ports out from their openings on the back.
The logic board is attached to the top case by three cables: a white flat ribbon to the keyboard, a 20-pin ribbon to the floppy disk, and power and video lines to the CRT. Gently pull out the end of the white ribbon from the keyboard. You should be able to get enough play in the floppy disk and power cables to pull the board up and to the side. We’re going to pull off those cables shortly but if you’re just replacing the battery for the settings RAM, you only need to disconnect the keyboard.
Lay the logic board flat and remove the screws holding the Faraday cage on. If you have chosen not to disconnect the other two cables then you can’t remove the cage completely, but with care you’ll be able to elevate and rotate it enough for the next step.
The Cat uses a full 68000 instead of the 68008 of the Swyft (at IC1), which also makes it faster. The 256K system ROM is provided as four 64K EPROMs with coloured labels interleaved to yield the standard 68K big-endian 32-bit long. The 128K ROM at IC6 south of (under) the coloured EPROMs is the spellcheck dictionary, referred to as the SV-ROM. This is the USA/Japan chip; other locales may be at any position of IC6, IC7 or IC8.
In the northeast (top right) corner is the RAM, each one a Fujitsu MB81464 32K (256Kbit) 150ns DRAM chip, used both as the system memory and partially as the frame buffer. This unit has the default 256K of RAM (eight), with sockets to add another 128K to equal 384K. An upgrade to do some other time. It should be possible to populate the other unsocketed row as well but I’d prefer not to solder on a rare system if I can avoid it.
The show is primarily run by three custom Canon gate arrays at IC30 (NH4-5001, GA#1), IC13 (NH4-5002, GA#2) and IC31 (NH4-5003, GA#3). GA#1 controls the main system oscillator X1, a “20MHz” (actually 19.968MHz) crystal used directly for RAS, CAS and the video data shift clock, which it divides by four for the CPU’s “5MHz” (actually 4.992MHz) clock, and also generates the horizontal and vertical video sync for the CRT. It handles fetching video data from shared RAM which is fed into GA#2. GA#2 actually emits the pixels to the monitor, as well as handling the watchdog timer (if the CPU doesn’t regularly reset this timer, GA#2 will pass it an NMI, and then reset it if necessary), sending the regular keystrobe interrupt (via the 68681 DUART at IC34), and controlling the modem off-hook status. GA#3 handles the printer, keyboard and floppy drive.
The Motorola MC68681P DUART is a two-port UART. One port handles serial communications from the internal modem and the other port handles either the external RS-232 or the printer port, as configured. It also manages the beeper at “BZ” and is a source of two IRQs, the keystrobe interrupt from GA#2 (keyscan is done every 6.5ms), and when a telephone ring is detected by the modem. It takes a 3.6864MHz clock provided by GA#1; earlier board revisions had a discrete crystal for this located where the large trace is northeast of the DUART.
The modem hardware is logically in the southwest (bottom left) corner, closest to the phone jacks. The major chips here are the AMI S35213 at IC37, a Bell 212A 300/1200bps modem-on-a-chip, an AMI S2579 DTMF touch tone generator at IC40 and the AMI S35212A Bell 212/V.22 modem filter at IC38. The S35213 is clocked by the 2.4576MHz crystal at X3 and the S2579 is clocked by the 3.579545MHz crystal at X4. The modem feeds into the DUART.
The “ROM” at IC11 is actually an 8K 150ns static RAM, an NEC D4364C with specific support for battery backup. The service manual calls this the SV-RAM. This is what the CR2032 battery powers at the southeast (lower right) corner. It’s dead, of course, so with a little gentle levering we pop it out with the nylon spudger and replace it.
To get into the top case, we’ll now need to free the CPU board from the other two connectors, so once we’ve replaced the battery and put back on the Faraday cage, we’ll disconnect the mainboard completely. These connectors, fortunately, are keyed.
Now to get at the floppy drive. We remove two screws from the back and two screws under the handle, and pull the back cover off.
This exposes the rear of the CRT cage and the power supply. The rear of the floppy drive is on the left in this view.
The floppy drive bracket is secured to the side of the CRT cage with four mounting screws. If you have a slim enough 90-degree screwdriver, you might be able to just get the floppy drive unscrewed directly. Mine isn’t thin enough, so I had to take out the bracket first.
The bracket is secured in three locations like a triangle. This is the triangle’s “apex.” In this view, it is the bottommost screw sitting on that tab. It was very difficult to extract, very easy to strip and just as hard to tighten. You may have to work on it for awhile to get it and the tab it’s bolting to the CRT cage free.
The other two are easier. They are the two screws on either side of the bracket’s tab (not the third, lower one on the right). You’ve already disconnected the floppy drive by unplugging it from the motherboard, so the bracket can come straight out. Unscrew those four mounting screws on the bracket and pull out the floppy drive.
This unit fortunately still works, so what we’re going to do next is a little preventive maintenance (other than the usual inspection, cleaning, etc.).
There are two tiny little screws on each side holding on the metal cover. Once removed, this side goes down to take the cover off.
I’m fortunate to have a drive still in very good condition. A close inspection showed no obvious damage.
The problem that occurs with this drive has to do with the head’s guide rail. (This section is with thanks to Dwight Elvey, the unofficial “godfather” of the Canon Cat.) In this view the head is the white square with the black line through the middle, and the rail it rides on is the metal post to the east (right) of it. This is a 2x enlargement, so the head is actually a fairly small part.
Along that rod are two white nylon pieces secured by screws. These nylon tabs, in particular the rearmost, serve to clamp down the rod so it can’t pop up. These tabs here are luckily in excellent condition, but that isn’t the case for many Cat drives where the nylon has degenerated with age. When both tabs either crack or loosen, the rod is no longer held in. Ejecting a disk, even gently, could now cause the head to tilt into the open metal window of the floppy disk and get stuck. Should that happen and you innocently attempt to remove the floppy, you might accidentally end up pulling the head off. Doing so is catastrophic and would be extremely difficult to repair.
There are several strategies for dealing with this problem. While the middle tab is subject to the same age-related breakdown as the rearmost tab, the drive can survive the middle tab failing as long as the rearmost one is still intact. Unfortunately, the rearmost tab is correspondingly the one under the most mechanical stress. Here, both tabs are in very good shape, so we’re going to concentrate on the rear tab, though what you do to the rear tab could also be done to the middle one.
If the nylon tabs are still holding, then you could reinforce them with something like a very small layer of JBWeld (other kinds of epoxy may not be strong enough), though this is fiddly and you’d better not get the goop anywhere else in the drive. It should also be possible to fashion a similar plastic piece of similar thickness. I don’t know if a 3D printed one would have enough strength, so you might consider starting with a solid piece of good quality high-strength polymer and shaving and drilling it to fit.
Or you can do what Canon probably should have done in the first place and back it up with metal. I went to Home Despot and bought a roll of 28-gauge galvanized steel pipe hanger tape which at 0.015” thick (0.38mm) is still thin enough to fit on top of the piece. (It also gave me an excuse to use those metal snips I bought that were just sitting around.)
The nice thing about this particular type of pipe hanger strap (Oatey #33526) is that it has a pre-drilled hole of just about the right size. We’ll get out the snips and trim it down.
Looks good.
Secured in position. The screw is not very long, so you can’t use a very thick piece of metal here, but there was still enough room to get it attached firmly over the original nylon. I inserted a disk and checked that it fed in and the head stayed clear when it ejected.
Now with the machine reassembled and ready to go, it’s time to get into that project I’ve been meaning to. It boots now, so I’ll just leave you with this teaser since I’ve made some progress on it already:
IAI developed one additional Swyft-family unit, the prototype Swyft Model III. This was supposed to be a portable unit with an external floppy drive, a 640x200 supertwist LCD, 512K of RAM and a 2400bps internal modem. Since it had no hard disk or internal floppy drive, battery life was reputed to be six hours with 8 AA NiCads (longer with alkalines), though the processor wasn’t specified. It was never released before IAI closed its doors. While Raskin retained the patents and even tried resurrecting the concept in software with the Archy environment, no one ever developed a full system like it again. Raskin died of pancreatic cancer in 2005 at the age of 61.
https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2024/05/refurb-weekend-canon-cat.html
People’s CDC COVID-19 Weather Report
date: 2024-05-28, from: Peoples CDC blog
This is the @PeoplesCDC weekly update for May 27, 2024! This Weather Report from the People’s CDC sheds light on the ongoing COVID situation in the US.
https://peoplescdc.org/2024/05/27/peoples-cdc-covid-19-weather-report-75/
China creates $47B chiptech investment fund
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Third ‘Big Fund’ is close to the level of US and EU subsidy programs
China has allocated a big pool of money, hoping to spur domestic semiconductor development.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/china_semiconductor_big_fund_3/
Johnson Celebrates AA and NHPI Heritage Month: Britney Tang
date: 2024-05-28, from: NASA breaking news
When you think about personal property, your home, clothes, and electronic devices probably come to mind. For NASA, personal property comprises government-owned government-held assets ranging from laptops to spacecraft and space station components. Managing the financial records for these assets is the responsibility of the Property Accounting Team, which includes Personal Property Accountant Britney Tang. […]
South Korea targets Moon and Mars landings after launching unified space agency
date: 2024-05-28, updated: 2024-05-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Meanwhile, North Korea’s latest rocket fails
South Korea launched its first unified space agency on Monday, when the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) took flight in the city of Sacheon.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/28/korea_space_agency_kasa/