News gathered 2024-06-07
(date: 2024-06-07 08:21:57)
Text Conversations with an iPhone Thief
date: 2024-06-07, from: TidBITS blog
Veronica de Souza shares the texts she receives from the thieves who stole her iPhone and then tried to convince her to unlock it.
https://tidbits.com/2024/06/07/text-conversations-with-an-iphone-thief/
The misguided backlash against California’s SB-1047
date: 2024-06-07, from: Gary Marcus blog
State Senator Scott Wiener and others in California have proposed a bill, SB-1047m that would some modest (to my taste) restraints on AI. It doesn’t call for a private right of action, which would allow individual citizens to sue AI companies for a wide set of reasons; it doesn’t call for ban on training or deploying AI, not even the kind of extremely large language models some called for ban on. It certainly doesn’t call for a ban on research, The most stringent rules don’t even apply to training runs that cost less than a $100 million dollars, exempting all or nearly all academic research, and most of what smaller and even medium-sized startups could afford. It doesn’t call for the state to make decisions about what can be deployed, as an FDA-like approval process for drugs does.
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/the-misguided-backlash-against-californias
Cisco fixes WebEx flaw that allowed government, military meetings to be spied on
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Researchers were able to glean data from 10,000 meetings held by top Dutch gov officials
Cisco squashed some bugs this week that allowed anyone to view WebEx meeting information and join them, potentially opening up security and privacy concerns for highly sensitive meets.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/cisco_fixes_webex_flaw_which/
Quick out-of-the-box BSD support for the Topton GM1
date: 2024-06-07, from: OS News
I bought a Topton GM1 Industrial Mini PC for my HomeLab. It is aimed at running Slackware Linux but I wanted to have a quick look at how well BSD OSes support it out-of-the-box. ↫ Joel Carnat That’s really all there’s to this story. I just really, really love tiny industrial and office computers and thin clients, and every time I see another one for sale I really have to stop myself from buying one I have absolutely no use for. There’s just something about how these little guys are built that speaks to me – they’re different than regular PCs, but only marginally so, making them fun to play around with, getting drivers for everything, seeing if Linux and BSD have any issues with it, and so on. They’re also often fanless, which is a major boon. The Dell thin client I wrote about last week has been run through a gauntlet of operating systems to see just how capable it is, and I’m surprise by just how much you can do even with a pedestrian Pentium Silver. For now it’s running Fedora GNOME to get an idea how the most default of default Linux environments performs and feels – so I can include it in future articles about it – but I think I’m going to set it up as a retrogaming console using Batocera. Industrial, office, and thin client computers are just fun to play around with, and they’re incredibly cheap when buying used. If things like a Raspberry Pi are hard to get, backordered, or overpriced due to demand outstripping supply, it’s definitely a good idea to see if you can find some cast-off thin client or whatever for your project instead.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139905/quick-out-of-the-box-bsd-support-for-the-topton-gm1/
Woah, that’s a lot of jobs
date: 2024-06-07, from: Marketplace Morning Report
We learned this morning that the U.S. economy added 272,000 new jobs in May. That’s a lot more than many economists predicted. On the other hand, the unemployment rate did tick up to 4%. We’ll put those numbers into context. Then, two federal agencies are launching two separate antitrust probes into the giants of the artificial intelligence race. And later: a look at candy maker Bazooka’s recent injection of investment money from major athletes.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/woah-thats-a-lot-of-jobs
Biden’s Climate Optimism Is Smart Politics
date: 2024-06-07, from: Heatmap News
Campaign strategists and political consultants have a lot of folk theories that guide their work, some of which are even true. One common one is that the more optimistic candidate wins, especially in presidential races: Figures such as Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama who painted a bright vision of the future with a smile on their faces triumphed over their more dour opponents. Some political science research backs it up: One study examined candidates’ rhetoric over four decades of campaigns and found “the candidate who was more a pessimistic ruminator lost 9 of 10 times.”
This presents a problem for those who want candidates to make climate change advocacy a key part of their campaigns (and make promises they’ll have to keep once they take office). If candidates want to be optimistic, they may shy away from talking too much about a topic that can be disturbing, with the potential of global catastrophe always looming.
But we’re seeing the glimmers of something interesting in the current election. Now it’s the forces of the fossil fuel status quo who sound pessimistic, while those advocating more aggressive climate action are the optimistic ones.
This is clearly a conscious choice on the part of the Biden campaign and its allies. Using the Inflation Reduction Act and its climate investments as the evidence, they’re telling a story in which the administration is striding confidently into a better future, creating jobs and cleaning the air at the same time. Pro-Biden political action committees are airing ads (see here, here, or here) featuring sweeping drone shots of wind turbines and solar arrays, and slow-motion scenes from high-tech factories where good strong Americans are doing satisfying work for good pay, all while stirring music plays in the background. It’s morning in America, and the sun is shining on our photovoltaic panels.
The $80 million that the group Climate Power is planning to spend on ads for Biden, to take one example, may not blanket the airwaves from now to November, but it’s still a significant amount devoted to telling a feel-good climate story, even if that story is only a partial one. If that’s what will motivate voters more than encouraging them to marinate in bad news about rising temperatures and CO2 emissions, that’s what we can expect candidates to do.
And the contrast with Biden’s opponent is striking. These days, Donald Trump is less likely to call climate change a hoax invented by the Chinese government (as he used to), and more likely to simply dismiss it as nothing to worry about. But when it comes to anything involving clean energy, his rhetoric turns dark and foreboding. He has a long and weird obsession with the supposed horror of wind turbines, which he believes cause cancer, kill innumerable birds, and are “driving whales crazy.” He recently told a group of oil executives, “I hate wind.” Clearly.
When talk turns to electric cars, Trump is just as grim, painting them as nightmarish misery-mobiles for both those condemned to drive them and the workers who won’t get to build them. “The cars don’t go far, they cost too much, and they’re all made in China,” he says, and “if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath” for the whole auto industry. At the press conference he held after being convicted on 34 felony counts, he got barely a minute into his remarks before going off on EVs: “They want to stop you from having cars with their ridiculous mandates that make it impossible for you to get a car or afford a car; make it very possible for China to build all of our cars.” If ever there was a “pessimistic ruminator,” it’s Trump.
You don’t have to be planning to buy an EV this year to be more attracted to Biden’s optimistic picture of American workers building them than Trump’s nightmarish vision of automotive dystopia. And even if some portion of the population cheers when they hear Trump promising to “Drill, drill, drill,” it’s now the forces of the status quo that sound pessimistic when it comes to energy, denying that the country is capable of innovation and adaptation. We have to just keep doing what we’re doing, they say, because we can’t have anything better.
If there’s a risk of being too optimistic in a campaign, it might be that it saps the urgency from the climate issue and produces a bias toward easy, low-cost policy solutions rather than hard choices. But the Biden administration’s record — which though far from perfect includes both crowd-pleasing spending programs and stricter regulation of emissions that have produced strong opposition — suggests that what matters most is whether a president and the people in their administration care about the climate at all.
As Heatmap’s Jeva Lange has explained, the fact that few voters respond “climate change” when asked to name the country’s most pressing problem doesn’t mean they don’t believe it’s important. And if you convince a voter that cleaner energy is a worthwhile goal to pursue, does it matter if she’s thinking more about job opportunities and lower electric bills than about reducing emissions?
It also wouldn’t be a bad thing if people came to see the issue as a contrast between the future and the past, innovative thinking and hidebound fear of change. Two decades ago, Mark Schmitt coined one of those pithy bits of insight political writers are always searching for when he wrote that in a campaign, “It’s not what you say about the issues, it’s what the issues say about you.” His example was John McCain’s advocacy for campaign finance reform, which wasn’t at the top of the voters’ priority list but communicated that McCain was a principled reformer unafraid of taking on the powerful.
In the same way, advocacy for clean energy can help candidates build an optimistic image even apart from the policy debate over whether and how the country should decarbonize. If all those ads with gleaming solar farms and humming factory floors lead people to associate the climate issue with innovation and hope rather than deprivation and misery (as Trump and others would have it), then more and more candidates may want to make that part of their image, too. And the chances of positive policy change will only increase.
https://heatmap.news/politics/bidens-climate-optimism-is-smart-politics
How to survive a bear attack – or better yet, avoid one altogether
date: 2024-06-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
You’re out for a hike, reveling in glorious nature. Suddenly, you spot a bear. And the bear has spotted you, too. Would you know what to do next?
Microsoft blocks Windows 11 workaround that enabled local accounts
date: 2024-06-07, from: OS News
Before PC users can enjoy everything Windows 11 has on tap, they must first enter an e-mail address that’s linked to a Microsoft account. If you don’t have one, you’ll be asked to create one before you can start setting it up. A frequently used trick to circumvent this block is a small but ingenious step. By entering a random e-mail address and password, which doesn’t exist and causes the link to fail, you end up directly with the creation of a local account and can thus avoid creating an official account with Microsoft. ↫ Laura Pippig at PCWorld Microsoft has now “fixed” this trick, and it’s no longer possible to use it. The other popular method of circumventing the Microsoft account requirement, by opening the command prompt during installation and running OOBE, still works, but one has to wonder how long it’s going to take before Microsoft plugs that method, too. It seems the company is hell-bent on getting every consumer onto the Microsoft Account train, come hell or high water, so I wouldn’t be surprised seeing local accounts eventually being positioned as a “pro” or even “enterprise” feature that will simply no longer be available on consumer PCs. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with offering an online account option, but the keyword here is option. You should always be able to set up any computer to run with a regular old local account, even if only because internet access isn’t always a given in many places around the world. Add the obvious privacy concerns to that – an issue amplified by Recall – and I doubt users’ desire to run a local account and jump through hoops to do so will fade any time soon.
Return of marine layer, spread of cooler air signals end of Bay Area heat wave
date: 2024-06-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
Fog along the coast was back, and the cool air spread far inland.
High school baseball 2024: All-Bay Area News Group team
date: 2024-06-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
De La Salle, Valley Christian, Archbishop Mitty, Granada players among those honored
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/07/high-school-baseball-2024-all-bay-area-news-group-team/
Is California the worst state for fast food operators?
date: 2024-06-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
California ranked dead last on my fast-food business climate scorecard – ahead of Hawaii and Massachusetts.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/07/is-california-the-worst-state-for-fast-food-operators/
Why increasing penalties for assaulting ER workers is dividing California Democrats
date: 2024-06-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
A bill that would increase penalties for those who assault hospital emergency department workers is facing the same pushback that other recent tough-on-crime legislation has from progressive Democrats leery of increasing incarceration rates.
In Highly Connected Networks, There’s Always a Loop
date: 2024-06-07, from: Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians show that graphs of a certain common type must contain a route that visits each point exactly once.The post In Highly Connected Networks, There’s Always a Loop first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/in-highly-connected-networks-theres-always-a-loop-20240607/
Donald Trump leaves San Francisco for Beverly Hills to rake in more campaign cash
date: 2024-06-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
“We’re fielding an energetic surge, the likes of which we haven’t seen since 2016” said Will Donohue, College Republicans of America
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/07/donald-trump-heads-to-beverly-hills-to-rake-in-campaign-cash/
Microsoft updates accessibility feature Voice Access to auto-restart
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
How do you say something’s crash-prone without saying it’s crash-prone …
Microsoft is adding the ability for Voice Access to automatically pick itself up should the service fall over.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/microsoft_updates_voice_access/
SERVIR Co-hosts Regional Workshop on Inclusive Climate Action
date: 2024-06-07, from: NASA breaking news
From 2/12-16/24, representatives of SERVIR’s Science Coordination Office participated in an Inclusive Climate Action Workshop in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Hosted by SERVIR’s Southeast Asia program, along with USAID, the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, and the World Wildlife Fund, the event was organized as a space to exchange ideas on how Earth and climate information can […]
Deputies make arrest for animal cruelty in Saratoga
date: 2024-06-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
Suspect left dog in vehicle for extended period on a hot day.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/07/deputies-make-arrest-for-animal-cruelty-in-saratoga/
San Francisco homicide: Man shot in Dolores Park
date: 2024-06-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
The shooting was reported at 10:09 p.m. Wednesday at the park’s south edge.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/07/san-francisco-homicide-man-shot-in-dolores-park/
High school softball 2024: All-Bay Area News Group team
date: 2024-06-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
High school softball 2024: Standouts include St. Francis’ Jaime Oakland and Kate Munnerlyn, Amador Valley’s Kaylee Davis, Mitty’s Corri Hicks, James Logan’s Makayla Villapando and others
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/07/high-school-softball-2024-all-bay-area-news-group-team/
NASA Invites Media to Watch Agency’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge Final Phase
date: 2024-06-07, from: NASA breaking news
NASA will announce the winners of the final phase of its Break the Ice Lunar Challenge on Wednesday, June 12 at Alabama A&M University’s (AAMU) Agribition Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The challenge aims to develop new technologies that could support a sustained human presence on the Moon by the end of the decade. Media and […]
SPoRT Undertakes New Collaboration with the United Nations (U.N.) Satellite Centre
date: 2024-06-07, from: NASA breaking news
Patrick Duran and Anita LeRoy (ST11) met with Samir Belabbes from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research to investigate ways for SPoRT to provide NASA remote sensing products to the UN Satellite Centre. The new collaboration springs from a presentation given by Belabbes at last year’s Joint Applications Workshop of NASA’s CYGNSS and […]
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-07, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
‘Apple Intelligence’ will automatically choose between on-device and cloud-powered AI.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/7/24173528/apple-intelligence-ai-features-openai-chatbot
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-06-07, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Last minute WWDC request, this should not take Apple engineers more than a few minutes to implement, so if they come together, it can still make it into the keynote.
Search option on the Journal app.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112575608600491720
2024 Bay Area News Group baseball player of the year: Granada’s Parker Warner
date: 2024-06-07, from: San Jose Mercury News
Stanford commit led Granada to EBAL, NCS Division I and NorCal Division I titles
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-07, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
As long as they make movies that have no plots yes of course the AI's can do it. Maybe humans have to write and produce movies with stories and acting.
More than a Joule required to power up enthusiasm for SAP’s AI strategy
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Customers remain cautious about adoption, while analysts warn of unforeseen costs
SAP marked its annual shindig in Orlando this week by pulling the sheets off of AI features for its popular enterprise application platform, but failed to impress analysts attending.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/sap_sapphire_2024/
Number of foreign-born people hits record in US, despite slow population growth
date: 2024-06-07, from: VOA News USA
Immigrants make up almost 14% of US population
Tesla chair begs investors to bless Musk’s billions or face an Elon exodus
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
He needs that compensation because he’s easily dist- oo a piece of candy!
With a week to go until Tesla’s Annual Stockholders’ Meeting, board chair Robyn Denholm has written to investors to make sure they ratify CEO Elon Musk’s monster pay package – apparently out of fear he could walk.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/tesla_board_musk_payout/
Rivian’s Next-Gen R1 EVs Are Here
date: 2024-06-07, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: China just experienced its warmest spring on record • Some residents in Sydney, Australia, are evacuating after excessive rainfall caused a dam to overflow • Eleven people suffered from heat exhaustion while waiting outside a Trump rally yesterday in Phoenix, Arizona, where temperatures reached 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
THE TOP FIVE
- DOE announces plan to speed up fusion research
The Department of Energy wants to to “accelerate” the development of commercial fusion energy. It will put $180 million toward funding fusion research from universities, nonprofits, national labs, and also private companies. The department also plans to create a public-private consortium framework that will utilize funding from state and local governments, private companies, and philanthropies. President Biden has a goal of developing commercial fusion within a decade. Nuclear fusion, the process by which stars produce energy, is seen as a sort of holy grail for the future of clean power, but research into harnessing this reaction has so far been slow and costly, hence the DOE’s new strategy to ramp things up.
- Rivian rolls out new flagship R1 EVs
EV maker Rivian unveiled the next generation of its flagship R1 vehicles this week: the R1S SUV and the R1T pickup. To survive what may be the defining year of its life, the company is trying to cut the costs of these vehicles without hurting their performance, and it plans to do so by swapping out 600 under-the-hood components for new parts that improve efficiency and in-house manufacturability. For example, the company says it managed to remove 1.6 miles of wiring from each R1 vehicle just by revamping the electrical system. “Rivian has focused its efforts on reworking the guts,” wrote Kirsten Korosec at TechCrunch, “changing everything from the battery pack and suspension system to the electrical architecture, interior seats, and sensor stack.” The new R1S will start at $75,900 and the R1T will start at $69,900, but considering the company is losing something like $38,000 per vehicle right now, Fred Lambert at Electrek is correct when he notes “the bigger question is how much it costs Rivian to build them.”
R1S
SUVRivian
R1T
pickupRivian
- AI data centers threaten global copper supply
The rise of artificial intelligence is putting added pressure on the supply of copper, a metal that is key to the renewable energy transition. A recent report from the International Energy Agency concluded that existing and planned copper mines will only meet 80% of global needs by 2030. Analyzing forecasts from JP Morgan and Bank of America, The Wall Street Journal reports that by that same year, the power-hungry AI data centers will exacerbate a predicted global copper deficit of 4 million metric tons by another 2.6 million tons. The IEA has called for expanding critical mineral supplies, and improving recycling. Copper recycling rates are low currently, but the WSJ said “that could change as AI data centers add to strained demand.”
Get Heatmap AM directly in your inbox every morning:
- Last month was the hottest May ever as 2024 breaks more heat records
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service yesterday released its analysis of global temperatures for May 2024, finding that the month was warmer than any prior May on record, coming in at 1.52 degrees Celsius (almost 3 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial May averages. The average sea surface temperature, too, was the highest on record for the 14th straight month. The graphic below gives a sense of just how unusual the sea surface temperatures have been over the last year. The increase observed over 2023 and 2024 is in red – you can’t miss it.
Copernicus
- Researchers use ‘charcoal sponge’ to remove CO2 from the air
Researchers at the University of Cambridge say they’ve discovered a new, energy efficient way of removing carbon dioxide from the air using low-cost materials. Their direct air capture process utilizes activated charcoal, a cheap material often used to help filter and purify water. Using a similar process to charging a battery, the charcoal is “charged” in such a way that makes certain ions accumulate in its pores. Those ions bond with CO2, removing the gas directly from the air. Once the CO2 has been collected, it has to be released from the “charcoal sponge” and stored. This is done by heating the charcoal to about 100 degrees Celsius. This relatively low temperature is important, because it can be achieved using renewable electricity, whereas “in most materials currently used for CO2 capture from air, the materials need to be heated to temperatures as high as 900°C, often using natural gas,” the team wrote. They’ve filed a patent for their technology and are working on commercialization. The research was published in the journal Nature.
THE KICKER
Tesla is selling new “Tesla Mezcal” in the U.S. One bottle costs $450.
https://heatmap.news/electric-vehicles/rivian-r1s-r1t-ev
Imagining students’ progression in the era of generative AI
date: 2024-06-07, from: Raspberry Pi (.org)
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools are becoming more easily accessible to learners and educators, and increasingly better at generating code solutions to programming tasks, code explanations, computing lesson plans, and other learning resources. This raises many questions for educators in terms of what and how we teach students about computing and AI, and AI’s impact…
The post Imagining students’ progression in the era of generative AI appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.
The Republican Party has belonged to Trump for a long time
date: 2024-06-07, from: Dave Karpf’s blog
Ruminating on the timescale of the past eight years.
https://davekarpf.substack.com/p/on-trumpism-as-normal-times
UK CMA early findings indicate Microsoft restricts cloud choice
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Pricing, licensing, ease of switching and more under the microscope
The UK’s competition watchdog says that Microsoft has a “significant degree of market power” in key software products, and that its licensing practices may therefore influence customer choice of cloud providers.…
What to expect when you’re expecting a jobs report
date: 2024-06-07, from: Marketplace Morning Report
How many people got hired and how many people were unemployed last month? We’ll find that out later this morning when the government releases U.S. jobs numbers. Economists are predicting hiring remained steady compared to the month before. We’ll hear why the figures are important to the Federal Reserve, as well as what they hint about AI’s impact on the workforce. Plus, how can cities get out of “a real estate doom loop?”
America’s Biggest Tax Scam May Finally End
date: 2024-06-07, from: The Lever News
On Lever Time, we look at TurboTax's decades-long campaign to prevent the government from letting taxpayers file directly with them for free.
https://www.levernews.com/americas-biggest-tax-scam-may-finally-end/
Samsung workers go on strike
date: 2024-06-07, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Workers belonging to the largest union at tech giant Samsung have gone on strike for the first time ever over a pay dispute. Then, McDonald’s no longer has the exclusive right to market chicken Big Mac. Also, and nearly 2 million more teenagers will be eligible to vote in EU elections, and a woman who says she inspired “Baby Reindeer” is suing Netflix for defamation and damages.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/samsung-workers-go-on-strike
A tale of two missions: Starliner and Starship both achieve milestones
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
It was the best of times for space fans
SpaceX and Boeing both had reasons to celebrate last night: Starship had a successful fourth flight test and Starliner docked with the International Space Station (ISS).…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/starliner_starship_thursday_success/
PeerJ Award Winners at ISEV 2024
date: 2024-06-07, from: PeerJ blog
The ISEV Annual Meeting is the premier scientific conference in the field of extracellular vesicles. It brings together the top researchers and scientists from around the world, showcasing cutting edge research in session rooms and cutting edge technology on the exhibits floor. The ISEV Annual Meeting has grown to over 1,200 attendees annually. The 13th […]
https://peerj.com/blog/post/115284889294/peerj-award-winners-at-isev-2024/
P&B: JF Martin
date: 2024-06-07, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>This is the 41st edition of <em>People and Blogs</em>, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have JF Martin and his blog, <a href="https://blog.numericcitizen.me">blog.numericcitizen.me</a></p>To follow this series subscribe to the newsletter. A new interview will land in your inbox every Friday. Not a fan of newsletters? No problem! You can read the interviews here on the blog or you can subscribe to the RSS feed.
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Let’s start from the basics: can you introduce yourself?
My name is JF Martin, a.k.a. Numeric Citizen in the digital space. I’m 56 years old. I live in Montreal, Canada. I’m a French Canadian. I have a master’s degree in computer science (1993). My research field was user experience and user interface quality assessment. I credit my passion for Apple for this choice of research field because at that time, in 1990-1993, there was a hot debate about which was better, the PC or the Mac, and I advocated for better user interfaces. I’ve been working in the information technology field for thirty years. I wrote about that here. My first job was to work for an Apple dealer. I eventually moved to a more traditional IT type of work, doing things in IT infrastructures, first with PC deployments in small and medium enterprises, then in data center related technologies deployment and management.
Apple played a significant influence in my life since 1983. I have always preferred creative people and Apple has attracted them more than any other computer brand. I always felt at home in this user community, even though I’m a rather analytic guy professionally. Yet, I consider myself a compulsive creator. Creating something has always been part of my life. When I was a young boy, I was building something with Legos. Then, it was replaced with photography. Then, computers came to my life, first with a Commodore and then with an Apple Macintosh in 1985. Since then, computers, i.e. the Mac, the iPad, have always been central to any creative project. One of them being an indie iOS developer from 2009 to 2013 when I was developing apps for the iPhone. Since then, I mostly spend my time as a blogger and a writer. Photography is also one of my creative hobbies, and you can find my work here on Pixelfed and Glass.
What’s the story behind your blog?
First, let’s clear something out of the way: using the Numeric Citizen name. To me, Numeric Citizen was evocative of a citizen living in cyberspace, sharing things with it, learning things from it, etc. I thought it was a good parallel with real-world citizenship. But eventually, I found out that in English, the more frequent word for this would have been “Digital Citizen”, but I couldn’t get the right domain name for it, and it was too late, so I decided to keep the Numeric Citizen moniker.
Now, about my blog. Well, I have a few blogs and websites. Four, to be precise. But let’s go back in time. In 1994, I had a Mac and created a website about meteorology. It was a science-related educative project. This lasted a couple of years. Next, in 2006, I experimented with Apple iWeb, part of the iLife suite. Sadly, I can’t remember what my website was about, but I do remember that I preferred the version of Apple where RSS was still a thing in Safari and iWeb let anyone own a blog for a MobileMe subscription. It’s too bad that Apple dropped iWeb.
I started blogging in 2009 using Google’s Blogger platform. This time, it was about sharing my experiences and discoveries while developing apps for the iPhone. Eventually, I stopped doing that and kept the blog running until 2013. That was it for Blogger. Then, in 2015, I went back to blogging, this time on WordPress.com, and it was a more general-purpose blog where I was sharing my thoughts about Apple, among other things. Since then, I’ve been writing about Apple, technology, and photography. Last year, I completed a migration out of WordPress.com to Ghost.org. I couldn’t be happier. Ghost is much simpler to use and manage (no plugins!). But that’s not all. Starting in 2018, I opened a blog on Micro.blog. Since then, I’ve been blogging regularly, and I love it. My website on Ghost is more dedicated to long-form articles, which require more research and writing work. My blog on Micro.blog is about sharing short thoughts and comments about the same subjects.
I often consider myself a digital nomad (or a numeric nomad?). I frequently try different things and don’t hesitate to move from one place to another if I see better value and functionality. Last year, I was really on the move, but I think I will settle for a while once I finish my migration from SmugMug to PixelFed.
What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging?
I’m a highly iterative type of guy. I rarely start writing an article and finish it in one stretch. It’s way too demanding for me. I have a few parallel ongoing research and writing projects and do round-robin writing across them. I’m using Craft Docs for most of my writing needs, an app I love dearly. I developed a rather sophisticated template for my research needs. This template helps me organize my research and support my writing efforts with Craft. When I’m ready to publish, I export to Ulysses, do the final proofing using Grammarly, select the destination and hit publish. I wish I could do all this from Craft, but it’s currently impossible.
Inspiration comes without warning. I often go for a walk and think about so many things. I usually come back with an idea about a new article or a tweak to my creative workflows and start working on it as soon as possible. My creative hobby is what makes me thrive in life. Without it, the last three years with the COVID pandemic would have been so hard on me.
I write a lot about my creative process and the tools that I use all the time. Occasionally, I’ll share an update about my creative workflow when there are enough changes to it. You can read about my last update right here. These articles are posted on what I call: a blog about blogging. It is currently available as a series of shared documents built-in Craft, but I recently started re-publishing them on a new Micro.blog website so that I could let people follow my updates using RSS, which Craft doesn’t support.
Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the physical space influences your creativity?
My creative environment is relatively simple: my home. I do like to go to coffee shops. I wrote about these. I also love to write on my terrasse outside during summer. Bird noises and the wind are indeed delightful while writing. The best triggers for my creativity come down to the time of the day. I love working early in the morning and during the weekends. At night or late in the evening, I’m less into it and find it hard to focus. One thing is clear: many of my ideas come when I do something other than creating, like while taking a walk or… taking my shower. 😅
A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech stack?
I depend on three hosting solutions: Ghost, Micro.blog, and Craft Docs. I don’t self-host anything. I don’t have time for that (and I’m probably too old, too). At some point, I contemplated the idea of self-hosting a Hugo instance, but when I started to dig a bit into Hugo’s inner workings, I quickly changed my mind. I’m a « SaaS » type of guy, I guess.
My main domain name is “numericcitizen.me” and I use a subdomain for each of my publishing space or “channel”. Publishing on Ghost goes to “numericcitizen.me”, but sharing on Micro.blog goes to blog.numericcitizen.me while my metablog goes to meta.numericcitizen.me. Photos shared on Pixelfed photos can be seen by visiting photos.numericcitizen.me.You get the idea. I have so many small websites (too many?) and so I created a hub page that can be reached via, you guessed it, hub.numericicitizen.me. The latter is hosted on Micro.blog.
But what about newsletters for those who prefer the email experience? I tried Substack and was happy with it until I wasn’t. I tried Buttondown but eventually settled on Ghost. It was one of the many reasons I decided to leave WordPress behind. Under Substack, I used to have the Introspection newsletter, which wasn’t about introspection but rather a collection of thoughts and links divided into sections. I stopped publishing this newsletter in September 2022. One year later, I started a new one covering my creative week. And I hope to continue publishing this one for a long time because of the pleasure I get while putting it together.
Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do anything differently?
It’s a hard question. We can always do things differently but the way I see it is simple: my current state is essentially the culmination of all my past experiences, good or bad. It’s an infinite learning process, always feeding the future “me”.
I often wonder if a single “big” website would be better than having so many small ones. I could achieve similar results by using categories and tags with each post. But in the end, I prefer dedicated and more focused but connected silos.
Regarding RSS feeds, I wish I had known about FeedPress earlier so that my readers wouldn’t have to change their subscriptions each time I moved my stuff from one place to another. It’s a great way to centralize feeds from different places where I publish content. Someone can subscribe to my megafeed to see everything I share online.
I wish I had done one thing: each time I made a significant design change to one of my websites or moved from one platform to another, I wish I had kept a screenshot of the previous design. I don’t have a visual memory of my journey as a blogger. I find this a bit sad.
And yes, I still prefer Digital Citizen over Numeric Citizen. 🤷🏻♂️
Financial question since the web is obsessed with money: how much does it cost to run your blog? Is it just a cost or does it generate some revenue? And what’s your position on people monetising personal blogs?
Ghost isn’t exactly cheap (300$ per year), but their support is stellar. Micro.blog is a bargain (120$ per year) for everything you get. Craft is rather a cheap option, too (at 116$ per year) if you do more than note-taking with it, which I do. All in all, if you do the math, my online presence comes at a cost. I’ll let you do the math. I didn’t count domain name registration and other stuff like apps and other services making my digital toolset. You can see the full details right here, on my “Subscriptions” page.
Now, I want to share a few words about monetization possibilities. I have tried many times, and it’s tough. Over the years, I slowly learned that when someone shows support with a subscription to my website or sends me money, I consider this a gift. Visitors to my main website on Ghost can subscribe for free or pay a small fee to show appreciation. That’s about it. I don’t make money with my YouTube channel because I haven’t met the requirements yet. I’m looking to make money there. I did receive some money via PayPal once or twice. I wasn’t expecting that. It’s cool. I said a big thank you.
Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out? And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next?
I think you should give a try with Maique. He’s from Portugal. He is passionate about photography and shares a lot of creative content on different platforms, mostly open ones. I think he could share a lot as a blogger who constantly tries new things. We’re cosmic brothers.
Final question: is there anything you want to share with us?
Oh, did I mention my YouTube channel? It’s a complement to my blogs. I know I’m spread everywhere, but it is still manageable. You can find it here. I also have a podcast because I wanted to test the medium, and I quite like it, too, but I don’t produce new episodes often enough. And yes, I’m an amateur photographer with a Glass profile. I don’t read books. I don’t play games, but I prefer experimenting with modern media (words, audio, video, images).
This text was written using my brain and an iterative process on recycled electrons. 🤓 Thanks for having me on People & Blog series!
This was the 41st edition of People and Blogs. Hope you enjoyed this interview with Num C. Make sure to follow his blog (RSS) and get in touch with him if you have any questions.
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FLTK 1.4.x Weekly Snapshot (master)
date: 2024-06-07, from: Fast Light Tool Kit
A new weekly snapshot of FLTK 1.4.x (master) is now available
https://www.fltk.org/articles.php?L1925
Russian hacktivists vow mass attacks against EU elections
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
But do they get to wear ‘I DDoSed’ stickers?
A Russian hacktivist crew has threatened to attack European internet infrastructure as four days of EU elections begin on Thursday.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/russian_hacktivists_eu_elections/
Hubble Examines a Barred Spiral’s Light
date: 2024-06-07, from: NASA breaking news
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3059, which lies about 57 million light-years from Earth. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 collected the data in May 2024 as part of an observing program that studied a number of galaxies. All of the observations used the same range of filters: partially […]
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-examines-a-barred-spirals-light/
Apple’s Ancient Font Editor 2.0 App: Full Demo
date: 2024-06-07, from: Tilde.news
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOwzfaTU0XA
Carl Kanowsky | Wine tasting benefits Boys & Girls Club
date: 2024-06-07, from: The Signal
I must apologize. I’ve been remiss in writing my wine columns. But, I have a great excuse. Beginning on March 13, Terry and I became grandparents for the first time. […]
The post Carl Kanowsky | Wine tasting benefits Boys & Girls Club appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/carl-kanowsky-wine-tasting-benefits-boys-girls-club/
Real-time and Core editions of Ubuntu arrive
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
And it’s time to upgrade any Mantic Minotaurs you have lying around
Canonical has followed up the latest LTS release of Ubuntu with real-time and IoT editions, while ushering the last interim release into retirement.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/ubuntu_24_realtime_core/
HP CEO: Printed pages are down 20% since pandemic
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
And customers are sweating their hardware assets for longer
Fewer and fewer pages are being printed at home and in the office, posing something of a challenge for HP and its rivals.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/hp_ceo_printed_pages/
Biden apologizes to Zelenskyy for monthslong congressional holdup to weapons that let Russia gain
date: 2024-06-07, from: VOA News USA
PARIS — U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday for the first time publicly apologized to Ukraine for a monthslong congressional holdup in American military assistance that let Russia make gains on the battlefield, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed for bipartisan U.S. support “like it was during World War II.”
Speaking in Paris, a day after they both attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, Biden apologized to the Ukrainian people for the weeks of not knowing if more assistance would come while conservative Republicans in Congress held up a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine for six months.
Still, the Democratic president insisted that the American people were standing by Ukraine for the long haul. “We’re still in. Completely. Thoroughly,” he said.
The apology — and Zelenskyy’s plea for rock-solid support akin to the allied coalition in WWII — served as a reminder that for all of Biden’s talk of an unflagging U.S commitment to Ukraine, recalcitrance among congressional Republicans and an isolationist strain in American politics has led to Russian gains on the battlefield. And, although unremarked upon, the specter of Donald Trump’s candidacy loomed over the discussion, as the Republican former president and the presumptive nominee has spoken positively of Russian President Vladimir Putin and sparked Ukrainian concerns that he would call for it to cede territory to end the conflict.
Zelenskyy pressed for all Americans to support his country’s defense against Russia’s invasion, and he thanked lawmakers for eventually coming together to approve the weapons package, which has allowed Ukraine to stem Russian advances in recent weeks.
“It’s very important that in this unity, United States of America, all American people stay with Ukraine like it was during World War II,” Zelenskyy said. “How the United States helped to save human lives, to save Europe. And we count on your continuing support in standing with us shoulder to shoulder.”
The United States is by far Kyiv’s biggest supplier of wartime support, and Ukraine is trying to fend off an intense Russian offensive in eastern areas of the country. The push is focused on the Ukrainian border regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk, but Ukrainian officials say it could spread as Russia’s bigger army seeks to make its advantage tell.
The offensive is seeking to exploit Kyiv’s shortages of ammunition and troops along the roughly 1,000-kilometer front line.
The slow pace of delivery of pledged Western weaponry has long frustrated Zelenskyy, as has Biden’s hesitation over supplying more hardware for fear of provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin. That has caused tension in their relationship.
The U.S. will send about $225 million in military aid to Ukraine, Biden announced Friday. The latest package includes munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, as well as mortar systems and an array of artillery rounds, U.S. officials said Thursday.
Biden cast the additional aid in his meeting with Zelenskyy as money to “reconstruct the electric grid” in Ukraine, a reference aides said was to additional air defense and missile defense systems in the new package.
Easing their stance amid Russia’s most recent onslaught and with Ukraine’s army reeling, some NATO allies including the U.S. said last week they would allow Ukraine to use weapons they deliver to Kyiv to carry out limited attacks inside Russia.
That step brought a furious response from the Kremlin, which warned that Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II could spin out of control.
Biden and Zelenskyy attended the anniversary events of D-Day in Normandy, northern France, on Thursday, along with European leaders who have supported Kyiv’s efforts in the war. Biden pledged “we will not walk away” from Ukraine, drawing a direct line from the fight to liberate Europe from Nazi domination to today’s war against Russian aggression.
Ukraine depicts its fight against the Kremlin’s forces as a clash between Western democratic freedom and Russian tyranny. Russia says it is defending itself against a menacing eastward expansion of the NATO military alliance.
In a 20-minute speech Friday at the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, Zelenskyy drew a parallel with the sacrifices made during World War II and his country’s current fight.
“This battle is a crossroads,” Zelenskyy said. “A moment where we can now write history the way we need it. Or we can become victims of history as it suits … our enemy.”
Zelenskyy, who spoke in Ukrainian, was frequently interrupted by lawmakers’ applause and cheers. He prompted a standing ovation when he said in French: “Dear France, I thank you for standing by our side as we defend life.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, announced late Thursday that France will provide Ukraine with its Mirage combat aircraft.
Macron has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine. He said in February that putting Western troops on the ground in Ukraine is not “ruled out.”
Zelenskyy began a day of meetings in Paris with an official welcome ceremony at the golden-domed Invalides monument, site of Napoleon’s tomb.
During the day, Zelenskyy was set to visit the Nexter arms manufacturer in Versailles, which makes the Caesar self-propelled howitzers that are among the weapons provided by France to Kyiv’s forces.
He was also to meet with Macron at the Élysée Palace.
Zelenskyy’s foreign trips aim to keep Ukraine’s plight in the public eye, secure more military help for its fight against Russia’s invasion and lock in long-term Western support through bilateral alliances.
France and Ukraine in February signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement. Zelenskyy has since signed similar bilateral agreements with many European countries
John Boston | Your Baseball Cap Screams What You Are
date: 2024-06-07, from: The Signal
Editor’s note: The following “Best of Boston” column was originally published Aug. 11, 2023. I am probably the absolute last person to write an essay on dressing up. Except for […]
The post John Boston | Your Baseball Cap Screams What You Are appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/john-boston-your-baseball-cap-screams-what-you-are-3/
Dr. Gene Dorio | Targeting Targeted Cancer Therapy
date: 2024-06-07, from: The Signal
For decades, many patients, their children, and grandkids have strived to answer, “What is cancer?” As a doctor and scientist, over the past 16 months, I have learned the latest […]
The post Dr. Gene Dorio | Targeting Targeted Cancer Therapy appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/dr-gene-dorio-targeting-targeted-cancer-therapy/
Byron York | How Will Conviction Impact Election?
date: 2024-06-07, from: The Signal
You’ve probably heard a lot of speculation about the effect former President Donald Trump’s felony conviction will have on the presidential race. Here’s the answer, so far: We don’t know. […]
The post Byron York | How Will Conviction Impact Election? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/byron-york-how-will-conviction-impact-election/
Biden apologizes to Zelenskyy for monthslong congressional holdup to weapons that let Russia advance
date: 2024-06-07, from: Associated Press, World News
President Joe Biden has for the first time publicly apologized to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a monthslong congressional holdup in American military assistance that let Russia make battlefield gains.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-biden-zelenskyy-a77546e23fa571eb7f6509d4e14b89b3
I didn’t touch a thing – just some cables and a monitor – and my computer broke
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Lies, damned lies, and lies told by end-users who do their own tech support
On Call With another working week almost done, The Register once again offers a fresh instalment of On Call, our reader-contributed tale of tech support trials and tribulations.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/on_call/
Mermaid LED hair hides a tiny RP2040
date: 2024-06-07, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Maker Becky Stern combined her adoration of Princess Ariel and DIY tech expertise to create a glorious LED mermaid hair piece.
The post Mermaid LED hair hides a tiny RP2040 appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/mermaid-led-hair-hides-a-tiny-rp2040/
Today in SCV History (June 7)
date: 2024-06-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1861 – Fort Tejon commander ordered to abandon fort (est. 1854) and transfer garrison to Los Angeles. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-june-7/
Spam blocklist SORBS closed by its owner, Proofpoint
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Spammers will probably bid to buy it, so community is trying to find a better home for decades-old service
Exclusive The Spam and Open Relay Blocking System (SORBS) – a longstanding source of info on known sources of spam widely used to create blocklists – has been shuttered by its owner, cyber security software vendor Proofpoint.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/sorbs_closed/
Webcurios 07/06/24
date: 2024-06-07, from: Web Curios blog
Reading Time: 36 minutes HELLO EVERYONE! Ordinarily I use the bit at the top here for some p1ss-weak attempt at topical satire or an op-ed, but I hope you will forgive me this week for giving it over to some MINOR SELF-PROMOTION. Kris and I are once again running The Tiny Awards in 2024! TELL THE WORLD! In case…https://webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-07-06-24/
What US foreign policy might look like under second Biden, Trump term
date: 2024-06-07, from: VOA News USA
Wars in the Middle East and Europe — and the U.S. rivalry with China — will remain key issues to U.S. diplomats no matter who wins the November presidential elections. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara looks at the foreign policy priorities of the two candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Samsung union stages its first ever strike – very politely
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Members stop work – on a day many take off, anyway – in pursuit of better conditions
Around 28,000 Samsung workers upset over wages may have walked out in protest today, but probably used their holiday allowance to do so. Rampant industrial militancy, this is not.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/samsung_union_strike/
HazMat responds to Pilot over smoking barrel
date: 2024-06-07, from: The Signal
A Hazardous Materials Team from the L.A. County Fire Department responded to a call Thursday evening involving a 55-gallon drum that was “off-gassing” at the Pilot Travel Center on Castaic […]
The post HazMat responds to Pilot over smoking barrel appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/hazmat-responds-to-pilot-over-smoking-barrel/
76th Commencement: Caps off to class of 2024
date: 2024-06-07, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
On a hot June morning, a sprawling community college in the West San Fernando Valley was the place where students from many walks of life,
The post 76th Commencement: Caps off to class of 2024 appeared first on .
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-07, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
It’s bullshit like this that makes me wonder how so many Americans could be so STUPID.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/06/us/politics/trump-retribution-revenge-democrats.html
Lenovo loses its Infrastructure Solutions Group boss
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The long and largely unsuccessful effort to turn IBM’s x86 server business into consistent profit continues
Lenovo has announced the departure of Kirk Skaugen, the head of its Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) – the enterprise tech arm of the Chinese hardware giant.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/lenovo_isg_boss_departs/
Lompoc Cannabis Lab Will Pay $1.3 Million Penalty for Air Pollution
date: 2024-06-07, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Operator will install state-of-the-art clean-air technology, setting a statewide standard, Santa Barbara County officials say.
The post Lompoc Cannabis Lab Will Pay $1.3 Million Penalty for Air Pollution appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Deputies respond to pair of arson fires
date: 2024-06-07, from: The Signal
After dealing with a series of fires Wednesday afternoon, Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies reported two “rubbish fires” early Thursday morning. Station officials said investigators have not found any […]
The post Deputies respond to pair of arson fires appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/deputies-respond-to-pair-of-arson-fires/
POC exploit code published for 9.8-rated Apache HugeGraph RCE flaw
date: 2024-06-07, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
You upgraded when this was fixed in April, right? Right??
If you haven’t yet upgraded to version 1.3.0 of Apache HugeGraph, now’s a good time because at least two proof-of-concept exploits for a CVSS 9.8-rated remote command execution bug in the open-source graph database have been made public.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/poc_apache_hugegraph/
Biden on D-Day: West won’t abandon Ukraine
date: 2024-06-07, from: VOA News USA
While marking the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, during World War II, U.S. President Joe Biden says global challenges are still present and urged unity in resisting Russian aggression today. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Omaha Beach, Normandy.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-on-d-day-west-won-t-abandon-ukraine-/7646452.html
Barger reviews key issues at annual State of the County
date: 2024-06-07, from: The Signal
L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger addressed some of the key issues facing the Santa Clarita Valley and beyond at Thursday’s 15th annual State of the County luncheon. The […]
The post Barger reviews key issues at annual State of the County appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/barger-reviews-key-issues-at-annual-state-of-the-county/
Arts Commission Slated to Discuss Pop-Up Museum Concept
date: 2024-06-07, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita Arts Commission will hold its regular meeting Thursday, June 13, at 6 p.m., in City Hall’s Council Chambers. The Commission is expected to hear a presentation on an outdoor space program concept for pop-up and mobile museum experiences for the community. The full agenda can be viewed below. Arts Commission Regular…
UNICEF: 1 in 4 young children lives in severe food poverty
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/unicef-1-in-4-young-children-lives-in-severe-food-poverty-/7646113.html
Online Retail Owners Devote Time, Resources to TMU
date: 2024-06-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Carly Jean Los Angeles is an online clothing and lifestyle brand that sells primarily women’s attire to customers around the world
https://scvnews.com/online-retail-owners-devote-time-resources-to-tmu/
Vegetation fire in Gorman
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
A vegetation fire that broke out in Gorman on Thursday was handled by Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel, according to officials. A vegetation fire on highway 138 and Quail […]
The post Vegetation fire in Gorman appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/vegetation-fire-in-gorman/
Lifelong Tunnelers Bring Parking Lot Maintenance Franchise to SCV
date: 2024-06-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
It is always challenging to make a change from the status quo. The consistency of a career where all you have ever known has been one field of work can be comforting, but for many, there comes a time when people are looking to make a change
https://scvnews.com/lifelong-tunnelers-bring-parking-lot-maintenance-franchise-to-scv/
Review | Brothers of Other Musical Mothers
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Brothers Osborne lit up the Bowl with their country/southern rocking ways, with local angles in tow.
The post Review | Brothers of Other Musical Mothers appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/06/review-brothers-of-other-musical-mothers/
On View: Santa Barbara Maritime Museum Presents ‘Coastal Moments’
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) is pleased to announce the opening of its latest exhibition Coastal Moments, a presentation
The post On View: Santa Barbara Maritime Museum Presents ‘Coastal Moments’ appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Hart District Appoints New Assistant Superintendent, Principal
date: 2024-06-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The William S. Hart Union High School District Governing Board approved the appointment of Tara Brown as the new Assistant Superintendent of Student Services. Brown was selected to fill the opening created by the retirement of Assistant Superintendent Kathy Hunter
https://scvnews.com/hart-district-appoints-new-assistant-superintendent-principal/
US stuns Pakistan in cricket’s T-20 World Cup
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-stuns-pakistan-in-cricket-s-t-20-world-cup/7646058.html
Remembering D-Day, 80 years later
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/remembering-d-day-80-years-later/7646010.html
OpenAI to buy electricity from CEO Sam Altman’s nuclear fusion side hustle
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Knowing your supplier is always good – and super lab’s auditors promise to check for conflicts of interest
OpenAI is reportedly in talks with Helion to get access to the startup’s not-yet-possible nuclear fusion-driven electricity generators.…
Chiquita Canyon Landfill to Remain Open Court Rules
date: 2024-06-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
A hearing in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on the lawsuit Citizens for Chiquita Canyon Closure v. County of Los Angeles was held on Wednesday, June 5. The court determined the Chiquita Canyon Landfill can remain open.
https://scvnews.com/chiquita-canyon-landfill-to-remain-open-court-rules/
Bill Miranda | Beat the Heat with Santa Clarita Transit
date: 2024-06-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
As the days start to feel longer and warmer, summer adventures in Santa Clarita are on the horizon
https://scvnews.com/bill-miranda-beat-the-heat-with-santa-clarita-transit/
Memphis to host ‘Gigafactory of Compute’ thanks to xAI and Elon Musk’s billions
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
City known for blues, BBQ, and now possibly the ‘world’s largest supercomputer’
xAI plans to build the “world’s largest supercomputer” in Memphis, Tennessee according to the city’s local government.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/xai_memphis_supercomputer/
Everything Is a Battery
date: 2024-06-06, from: Heatmap News
Imagine a battery. Maybe you envision popping one into a fading
flashlight or a dead remote controller. Perhaps you consider the little
icon on the top of your phone or laptop screen, precariously dipping
into the red while you search for a charger. Or you might picture the
powerful battery pack inside your electric vehicle, helping to make gas
stations obsolete.
These minor to major electrochemical marvels are fine, but the opportunity space for energy storage is so, so much larger — and weirder. Water moving between two reservoirs is a classic un-classic battery, but compressed air stored in a cavern, raising and lowering heavy blocks, even freezing water or heating up rocks can also all be batteries. And these methods of energy storage have the potential to be enormously helpful where standard lithium-ion batteries fall short — namely for long-duration energy storage and large-scale heating and cooling applications.
Lithium-ion batteries still dominate the market, Kevin Shang, a senior research analyst at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, told me. But “over the next 10 years, we do see more and more long-duration energy storage coming into play.” Typical lithium-ion batteries can provide only about four hours of continual power, occasionally reaching up to eight — though that’s an economic constraint rather than a technical one. Generally speaking, it’s too pricey for lithium-ion to meet longer-duration needs in today’s market. So as states and countries get real about their clean energy targets and install more wind and solar generation, they need some way to ensure their grids’ reliability when the weather’s not cooperating or demand is peaking.
“There’s a need for something that can substitute for natural gas,” Logan Goldie-Scot, director of market research at the sustainable infrastructure investment firm Generate Capital told me. Almost no one believes lithium-ion batteries will be a viable alternative. “And so then it is an open question of whether that role will be filled by long-duration energy storage, by green hydrogen, or by clean firm power” like nuclear or geothermal, he said.
There are some novel battery chemistries and configurations out there, from Form Energy’s iron-air batteries to flow batteries that store their electrolytes in separate tanks to zinc-based batteries. But there are also numerous more creative, non-chemical, not-what-you-might-consider-a-battery batteries vying for a role in the long-duration storage market.
A battery that stores compressed air in caverns
Founded back in 2010, Toronto-based Hydrostor has been pursuing “advanced compressed air energy storage” for a while now. Essentially, the system uses off-peak, surplus, or renewable grid energy to compress air and pump it into a water-filled cavern, displacing that water to the surface. Then when energy is needed, it releases the water back into the cavern, pushing the air upward to mix with stored heat, which turns a turbine and produces electricity.
“Everybody has talked about long-duration storage for probably the past five years or so. The markets have not been there to pay for it at all. And that’s starting to change,” Jon Norman, Hydrostor’s president, told me.
Part of Hydrostor’s pitch is that its tech is a “proven pathway,” as it involves simply integrating and repurposing preexisting systems and technologies to produce energy. It’s also cheaper than lithium-ion storage, with no performance degradation over a project’s lifetime. Major investors are buying it — the company raised $250 million from Goldman Sachs in 2022, to be paid out in tranches tied to project milestones. At the time, it was one of the largest investments ever made in long-duration energy storage.
The company has operated a small 1.75 megawatt facility in Canada since 2019, but now with Goldman’s help it’s scaling significantly, developing a 500 megawatt grid-scale project in California in partnership with a community choice aggregator, as well as a 200 megawatt microgrid project in a remote town in New South Wales, Australia.
“Our bread and butter application is serving the needs of grids and utilities that are managing capacity and keeping the lights on all the time,” Norman told me. The company’s projects under development are designed to deliver eight hours of energy. “That’s what the market’s calling for right now,” Norman said, though theoretically Hydrostor could handle multi-day storage.
Standard lithium-ion batteries have shown that they can be economical in the eight-hour range too, though. Back in 2020, a coalition of community choice aggregators in California requested bids for long-duration storage projects with at least eight hours of capacity. While Hydrostor and numerous other startups threw their hats in the ring, the coalition ultimately selected a standard lithium-ion battery project for development.
While this could be viewed as a hit to more nascent technologies, Hydrostor said the process ultimately led to the company’s 25-year, 200 megawatt offtake contract with Central Coast Community Energy, which will purchase power from the company’s 500 megawatt project in California’s Central Valley, set to come online in 2030. But that long lead time could be one of the main reasons why Hydrostor didn’t win the coalition’s bid in the first place.
“When you consider the very pertinent needs for energy storage systems today in California and yesterday, a technology that is not due to come online for another six years – I don’t think you’re even yet at the cost comparison conversation,” Goldie-Scot told me, in reference to Hydrostor’s timeline. “It’s just, how soon can some of these companies deliver a project?” Generate recently acquired esVolta, a prominent developer of lithium-ion battery storage projects.
But ultimately, Norman says he doesn’t really view Hydrostor as in competition with lithium-ion. “We would even add [traditional] batteries to our system if we wanted to provide really fast response times,” he told me. He says the use cases are just different, and that he has faith that compressed air storage will eventually prove to be the superior option for grid-scale, long-duration applications.
A battery that stores kinetic energy in heavy blocks
Another company taking inspiration from pumped storage hydropower is Energy Vault. Founded in 2017, the Swiss company is pursuing a “gravity-based” system that can store up to 24 hours of energy. While the design of its system has shifted over the years, the basic concept has remained the same: Using excess grid energy to lift heavy blocks (initially via cranes, now via specialized elevators), and then lowering those blocks to spin a turbine when there’s energy demand.
The company raised $110 million from Softbank Vision Fund in 2019, but failed to find an immediate market for its tech. “When we founded the company, we started thinking long-duration was going to be required much more quickly, and hence the focus on gravity,” Rob Piconi, Energy Vault’s CEO, told me.
But instead of waiting around for the long-duration market to boom, the company went public via SPAC in early 2022 and reinvented itself. Now it makes much of its revenue selling the sort of traditional lithium-ion energy storage systems that it once sought to replace, and has made moves into the green hydrogen space, too.
“The near term difficulty for many of these long-duration storage companies is that we’re still relatively early on in the scaling of lithium-ion,” Goldie-Scot, told me, noting that prices for Chinese-made batteries have plunged in the past year. Generate usually only invests in tech that’s well-proven and ready to scale up. So while lithium-ion alternatives will look more and more attractive as the world moves toward full decarbonization, in the interim, “there’s a gap between that longer term need and where the market is today.”
Piconi agrees. “If you look at storage deployments 95% to 98% of them are all this shorter duration type of storage right now, because that’s where the market is,” he said, though he added that he’s seeing demand pick up, especially in places like California that are investing heavily in storage.
All that’s to say the company hasn’t given up on its foundational concept — its first commercial-scale gravity energy storage system was recently connected to the grid in China, and the company has broken ground on a second facility in the country as well. These facilities provide four hours of energy storage duration, which lithium-ion batteries can also easily achieve — but the selling point, Piconi says, is that unlike lithium-ion, gravity storage systems don’t catch fire, rely on critical minerals, or degrade over time. And once the market demands it, Energy Vault can provide power for much longer.
Still, the upfront costs of Energy Vault’s system can be daunting for risk-averse utilities. So in an effort to lower prices, the company recently unveiled a series of new gravity storage prototypes that leverage either existing slopes or multi-purpose skyscrapers. They were designed in partnership with the architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the company behind the world’s tallest building.
The market may not have been ready five years ago, Piconi told me. But “in 12 to 24 months, we’re going to start to see gravity pop up,” he projected.
A battery that stores thermal energy in ice
But wait, there’s more. Perhaps one of the best use cases for lithium-ion alternatives is in onsite, direct heating and cooling applications. That’s what the Israeli company Nostromo Energy is focused on, aiming to provide cleaner, cheaper air conditioning for large buildings like offices, school campuses, hotels, and data centers.
The company uses off-peak or surplus renewable energy to freeze water, storing it for later use in modular cells. Then, as temperatures rise and air conditioning turns on, that frozen water will cool down the building without the need for energy-intensive chillers, which commercial buildings normally rely upon. The system can be configured to discharge energy for two-and-a-half all the way up to 10 hours.
“Because air conditioning is roughly half of the electricity consumption of a building, we can provide that half from stored energy. And that’s overall a huge relief on the grid,” Nostromo’s CEO Yoram Ashery told me.
While a lot of (my) attention has been focused on how thermal batteries can help decarbonize heat-intensive industrial processes, and much has been written about the benefits of electric heat pumps over gas-powered heating, cooling is sometimes overlooked. That’s at least partially because air conditioning is already electrified.
But as more of our vehicles, appliances, and systems go electric, strain on the grid is poised to increase, especially during times of peak energy demand in the late afternoon and evening as people return home from the office before the sun goes down. Nostromo’s system can help shift that load by charging either midday (when solar is abundant) or at night (when wind is peaking), and discharging as demand for AC ramps throughout the afternoon.
Goldie-Scot said thermal storage technologies like this “offer something that some of the other technologies that are purely power-focused cannot. But they are still competing against relatively cheap natural gas.”
The upfront cost of the system, $2 to $3 million, is also nothing to sneeze at. But Ashery says it will fully pay for itself after just five years, as building owners stand to see significant savings on their electricity bills by shifting their demand to off-peak hours.
While one could theoretically power a building’s AC system using large lithium-ion-batteries, “it’s a problem to put big lithium batteries inside buildings,” Ashery told me. That’s due to the fire risk, which could impact insurance premiums for businesses, as well as space issues — these batteries would need to be container-sized to run an HVAC system. “That’s why only 1% of energy storage currently goes into commercial/industrial buildings,” Ashery wrote in a follow up email.
Shang told me that he sees so-called “behind the meter” applications like this as promising early markets for long-duration storage tech, especially given that utilities are “pretty cautious to adopt these technologies on a large scale.” But ultimately, he believes that policy is what’s really going to jumpstart this market.
“For long-duration storage, it may look years ahead, but actually the future is now,” he said. Because some of these new systems take longer to design and build, Shang told me, “you have to invest now. For the policies, you have to be ready now to support the development of these [long-duration energy storage] technologies.”
The Biden administration is certainly trying. All energy storage tech — thermal, compressed air, gravity, and lithium-ion — stands to benefit from generous IRA tax credits, which will cover 30% of a project’s cost, assuming it meets certain labor standards. Additional savings can accrue if a project meets domestic content requirements or is sited in a qualifying “energy community,” such as a low-income area that derives significant revenue from fossil fuel production.
The Department of Energy’s ultimate goal is to reduce the cost of grid-scale long-duration energy storage by 90% this decade (with “long” defined as 10-plus hours). And last year, the DOE announced $325 million in funding for 15 long-duration demonstration projects.
So while the market might not be quite ripe yet for funky, alternative approaches to long-duration storage, support like this is going to be necessary to ensure that these technologies are proven, cost-effective and available as the grid decarbonizes and the need crystallizes.
“There is not currently a system-wide way of valuing long-duration energy storage while competing against gas, but there are customers and utilities that have shown a willingness, especially with federal and state support, to invest in these technologies,” Goldie-Scot said. “That I think is giving us the first real inkling of the role that the long-duration can play in this market.”
https://heatmap.news/technology/battery-hydrostor-nostromo-energy-vault
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-06, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Alito's neighbor interviewed on CNN. Very brave and clear-thinking. We should be organizing for what's to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alAn-gyiXNY&t=634s
Unarmed Minuteman III Test Launch Showcases Readiness of U.S. Nuclear Force’s Safe, Effective Deterrent
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. – An operational test launch of an Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental
The post Unarmed Minuteman III Test Launch Showcases Readiness of U.S. Nuclear Force’s Safe, Effective Deterrent appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
La serie de Conciertos en el parque regresa este mes en Chase Palm Park
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA, CA – 6 de junio de 2024 El Departamento de Parques y Recreación de la ciudad de Santa
The post La serie de Conciertos en el parque regresa este mes en Chase Palm Park appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Concerts in the Park Series Returns to Chase Palm Park This Month
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA, CA – June 6, 2024 The City of Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department has announced the return of
The post Concerts in the Park Series Returns to Chase Palm Park This Month appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
LASD, LAPD Take Part in 2024 Special Olympics Torch Run
date: 2024-06-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police Department actively participated in the 38th Annual Law Enforcement Torch Run Thursday to benefit the Special Olympics Southern California
https://scvnews.com/lasd-lapd-take-part-in-2024-special-olympics-torch-run/
Quema de entrenamiento prescrita planificada a mediados de Junio
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
CONDADO DE SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — El Departamento de Bomberos del Condado de Santa Bárbara planea realizar una quema prescrita
The post Quema de entrenamiento prescrita planificada a mediados de Junio appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Prescribed Training Burn Planned for Mid-June
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. — The Santa Barbara County Fire Department plans to conduct a prescribed burn for training purposes
The post Prescribed Training Burn Planned for Mid-June appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/06/prescribed-training-burn-planned-for-mid-june/
Lilbits: Oh the Humane-ity: AI startup is hoping HP will buy it for $1 billion
date: 2024-06-06, from: Liliputing
The Humane Ai Pin was supposed to be the first in a new category of wearable, AI-first devices. But it arrived this year to universally awful reviews citing its limited functionality, spotty reliability, awful battery life, and high price, just to name a few problems. Last month we learned that Humane was looking to sell […]
The post Lilbits: Oh the Humane-ity: AI startup is hoping HP will buy it for $1 billion appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/lilbits-oh-the-humane-ity-ai-startup-is-hoping-hp-will-buy-it-for-1-billion/
UC Santa Barbara Leads $9.5 Million Research Project on Ocean Cycles
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
A multinational research team will investigate the ocean’s carbon, oxygen and heat cycles and how climate change affects all these processes.
The post UC Santa Barbara Leads $9.5 Million Research Project on Ocean Cycles appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
SpaceX’s Starship Lands Successfully for the First Time in a Test Flight
date: 2024-06-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Three previous uncrewed test flights ended with Starship being destroyed, but both the booster and the spacecraft splashed down on the fourth try
June 22: City, L.A. County Partner for Free Tire Collection Event
date: 2024-06-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The city of Santa Clarita and Los Angeles County Department of Public Works have partnered to offer a convenient and free option for residents to dispose of their used tires
https://scvnews.com/june-22-city-l-a-county-partner-for-free-tire-collection-event/
Norwegian Farmer Stumbles Upon 1,000-Year-Old Viking Sword
date: 2024-06-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The well-preserved artifact may belong to a special class of high-quality, engraved weapons
DuckDuckGo AI Chat promises privacy for bot conversations
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
There’s also an off switch
The privacy-focused DuckDuckGo search engine has introduced AI Chat, an optional, free chatbot service – within limits – that provides a choice of models and “can be easily switched off.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/duckduckgo_ai_chat/
Will Trump go to prison? Experts weigh in
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
Former U.S. President Donald Trump faces the prospect of prison time after a New York jury convicted him of falsifying business records. The legal process casts uncertainty on his campaign and future election chances. Tina Trinh reports from New York.
https://www.voanews.com/a/will-trump-go-to-prison-experts-weigh-in-/7645991.html
UC Santa Barbara Returns Commencements to Original Location After Public Pushback
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The university announced that ceremonies will be held on the Commencement Green and will allow 12 guests per student.
The post UC Santa Barbara Returns Commencements to Original Location After Public Pushback appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
NASA Awards Contracts for Acquisition of Liquid Nitrogen, Oxygen
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
NASA has awarded contracts to six companies to supply liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen in support of operations at agency centers and facilities across the United States. The indefinite-delivery/fixed-price contract runs from Monday, July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2029. The awards and approximate maximum contract values are: The total maximum delivery of liquid nitrogen, […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-awards-contracts-for-acquisition-of-liquid-nitrogen-oxygen/
bye bye hosting c-ares web
date: 2024-06-06, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog
At some point during 2003, my friend Bjørn Reese (from Dancer) and I were discussing back and forth and planning to maybe create our own asynchronous DNS/name resolver library. We felt that the synchronous APIs provided by gethostname() and getaddrinfo() were too limiting in for example curl. We could really use something that would not … Continue reading bye bye hosting c-ares web
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/06/06/bye-bye-hosting-c-ares-web/
China’s new sanctions loophole: Use export-controlled chips inside the US
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Oracle, Nvidia accused of working with ByteDance, others to provide access to advanced parts within America
Chinese companies blocked from getting their hands on cutting-edge AI chips have reportedly been buying access to sanctioned hardware on US soil to avoid raising alarms.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/chinas_new_chip_sanctions_loophole/
Trump downplays retribution talk if elected: ‘It has to stop’
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
By Jack Phillips Contributing Writer Former President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that he will not seek retribution for the criminal cases that he faces if he gets elected in November. When […]
The post Trump downplays retribution talk if elected: ‘It has to stop’ appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/trump-downplays-retribution-talk-if-elected-it-has-to-stop/
TCL Tab 10 NXTPAPER 5G tablet now available from Verizon for $240
date: 2024-06-06, from: Liliputing
The TCL NXTPAPER 10 5GB is an Android tablet with mid-range specs including a MediaTek octa-core processor, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. But its stand-out feature is the 10.4 inch, 90 Hz, 2000 x 1200 pixel display that uses TCL’s NXTPAPER 3.0 technology to offer a glare-free viewing experience. First unveiled in January, the TCL […]
The post TCL Tab 10 NXTPAPER 5G tablet now available from Verizon for $240 appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/tcl-tab-10-nxtpaper-5g-tablet-now-available-from-verizon-for-240/
COC’s Jonah El-Farra Headed to Westminster University
date: 2024-06-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
College of the Canyons men’s basketball standout Jonah El-Farra has announced his commitment to Westminster University as the next stop in his academic and athletic career.
https://scvnews.com/cocs-jonah-el-farra-headed-to-westminster-university/
Free Tire Collection Event Set for June 22
date: 2024-06-06, from: City of Santa Clarita
Event Open to Los Angeles County Residents The City of Santa Clarita and Los Angeles County Department of Public Works have partnered to offer a convenient and free option for residents to dispose of their used tires. The FREE Tire Collection Event will be held on Saturday, June 22, 2024, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 […]
The post Free Tire Collection Event Set for June 22 appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/06/06/free-tire-collection-event-set-for-june-22/
Brit tech tycoon Mike Lynch cleared of all charges in US Autonomy fraud trial
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Jury in San Francisco finds founder plus finance VP not guilty
Mike Lynch, founder and CEO of Autonomy, has been acquitted of criminal fraud and conspiracy charges arising from the 2011 sale of the British software company to Hewlett-Packard.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/mike_lynch_cleared/
These National Parks Are Hosting Astronomy Festivals in 2024
date: 2024-06-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Get outside, ditch the light pollution and marvel at the cosmos on these protected public lands
FBI encourages LockBit victims to step right up for free decryption keys
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The bad news? Gang wasn’t deleting victim data after payments
LockBit victims who are still trying to clean up their encrypted files are in luck: the FBI has a big set of decryption keys it would love to let you try. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/lockbit_fbi_decryption_keys/
SZBOX G48S is a cheap, fanless mini PC made for networking with Intel N100 and four 2.5 GbE LAN portsrts, and
date: 2024-06-06, from: Liliputing
The SZBOX G48S is a compact computer that looks more like a router than a PC… although the lines between those two product categories are pretty blurry these days. What makes this mode interesting is that it’s a small, affordable, and silent system that pairs an Intel Alder Lake-N processor with support for up to 16GB […]
The post SZBOX G48S is a cheap, fanless mini PC made for networking with Intel N100 and four 2.5 GbE LAN portsrts, and appeared first on Liliputing.
Putin: Any deal to free American journalist must benefit Moscow
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
An Ailing Franz Kafka Curses Writer’s Block in This Handwritten Letter to a Friend
date: 2024-06-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
“I haven’t written anything for three years,” he admitted in the note, which will go to auction this summer
Big Telco takes aim at renewed net neutrality rules
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
New red-tape will cost us big, American ISPs and their lobbyists claim
Telecom industry organizations have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to halt its order to restore net neutrality.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/telcos_net_neutrality/
How to converse online
date: 2024-06-06, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>The web is, at its core, a conversation tool. At least for the most part. You can have a conversation synchronously via chats and DMs, you can have a conversation semi-synchronously via posts on social media and forums, and you can have a conversation asynchronously using emails or blog posts. The vast majority of what’s happening on the web is a conversation of some sort.</p>Over the past few weeks, this topic of online conversations managed to find its way over and over again in my brain. What’s the ideal workflow for a good online conversation? I’m currently typing these words and I’m talking to nobody. I don’t have an imaginary audience and I usually assume that nobody will read these words even though I know for a fact that some of you do. And yet, more often than not these posts I write end up being excellent conversation starters. But what’s the best way to have that conversation? I defaulted to email for pretty much all my interactions even though some people do ping me via Apple Messages every now and again. Is this arrangement ideal? Is email the best tool to have these conversations? I honestly don’t know. I do know that so far I haven’t found a better alternative.
Is this workflow ideal? I write something, you read it on the site, in your RSS reader, or in your inbox, you send me an email, I reply to you and off we go? Those are a lot of steps and there’s substantial friction involved. You need to decide to send me an email, hunt for my email address, write something, and overcome the weirdness of sending an email to a stranger. It’s a lot. Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to leave a quick comment? Shouldn’t I have comments on my site? Well, no. Comments are easily one of the worst ways to have meaningful conversations online. I’m not saying it’s impossible to have a smart, thoughtful conversation in a comment section, I’m just saying it’s bloody hard. Comments are performative. You write knowing the other people will see your comment and so it’s not just a conversation between you and me. It’s a conversation between you, me, and the countless other people who will stumble on this page at any point in time.
When it comes to conversations, the location matters. It matters in the real world and it matters in the digital world. Do you know how many people have sent me awful, nasty emails in the past 7 years, since I started this blog? Exactly zero. I’m aware that now that I said it someone will do it just to be the first but still, my point stands. Since an email is private people don’t usually bother because it takes time and effort and there’s no reward at the end. They won’t get to see my reaction, people won’t add a +1 to a like or a whatever to their comment. The private space of an email conversation matters, it matters a lot.
Another thing that matters is intentions. I recently removed from this site the integration with webmention.io to receive webmentions from other sites. Why? Well, because as much as I like and approve the idea behind the concept of a webmention I also think that taking the time matters. Taking 20 seconds to send an email to say “Hey, I wrote something and I quoted something you wrote” has a lot more value in my world than configuring a server to automatically send a ping towards my server. I know most people won’t bother doing that and that’s fine. I honestly prefer to not know, I prefer to not receive all those automated pings and live in ignorance.
I obviously don’t have an answer to the question I’m asking in this post. I don’t know what’s the best way to have a conversation online. What I do know is that a good conversation takes time and effort. It takes willingness to engage and it takes honesty. But they’re rewarding. Good conversations are incredibly rewarding. I encourage you to try. Try emailing the people behind the sites you read. Try to get in touch. See what happens. Most won’t reply, and that’s fine. It happens. But some will. And you never know what can happen.
<hr>
<p>Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.</p>
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@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-06-06, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Stolen from Twitter
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112571110422501842
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-06-06, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Everyone involved in making the SwiftUI @Observable macro come to life deserves a bonus this year.
Nothing, nothing has done more for my productivity than this.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112571108566231774
Adobe users just now getting upset over content scanning allowance in Terms of Use
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Update that triggered web rage didn’t really change much – Photoshop slinger has always been able to scan your stuff
A practically ancient terms-of-use update has landed Adobe in freshly boiled water over how the Photoshop giant gives itself the right to review user content stored in its cloud. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/adobe_users_upset_over_content/
WWDC 2024 Wish Lists
date: 2024-06-06, from: Michael Tsai
I always want releases focused on bug fixes, but we all know that isn’t going to happen. If we’re dreaming big, how about something like virtual memory for iOS so that it stops losing my Safari tabs? Cihat Gündüz: From a SportsKit API and .zoom modifier in SwiftUI, over improved SwiftData and source control in […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/06/06/wwdc-2024-wish-lists/
Updated Adobe Terms of Use
date: 2024-06-06, from: Michael Tsai
Ben Lovejoy (via John C. Randolph): A change to Adobe terms & conditions for apps like Photoshop has outraged many professional users, concerned that the company is claiming the right to access their content, use it freely, and even sub-licence it to others.The company is requiring users to agree to the new terms in order […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/06/06/updated-adobe-terms-of-use/
MarketplaceKit License Renewal Problems
date: 2024-06-06, from: Michael Tsai
Mysk: Several iOS apps installed from alternative marketplaces stopped working after some time. Some are grayed out and can’t be opened or deleted. Others crash on launch because MarketplaceKit can’t renew the license. How would users recover their data when apps end up like this? Oleksandr Bilous: Technically, apps doesn’t crash, they are just terminated […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/06/06/marketplacekit-license-renewal-problems/
Windows 11 Requires Microsoft Account
date: 2024-06-06, from: Michael Tsai
Laura Pippig (via Hacker News): Before PC users can enjoy everything Windows 11 has on tap, they must first enter an e-mail address that’s linked to a Microsoft account. If you don’t have one, you’ll be asked to create one before you can start setting it up. A frequently used trick to circumvent this block […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/06/06/windows-11-requires-microsoft-account/
Webb Finds Plethora of Carbon Molecules Around Young Star
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
An international team of astronomers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to study the disk of gas and dust around a young, very low-mass star. The results reveal the largest number of carbon-containing molecules seen to date in such a disk. These findings have implications for the potential composition of any planets that might […]
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webb-finds-plethora-of-carbon-molecules-around-young-star/
Jonathan Lunine Appointed Chief Scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
In his new role, his leadership will be critical in fostering an environment of scientific innovation and excellence, ensuring that JPL remains at the forefront of discovery. Distinguished planetary scientist and astrophysicist Jonathan I. Lunine has been appointed chief scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He will officially assume his role Aug. 16. As chief […]
The Long Run: High-Quality Employee Investments Boost Stock Performance
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: RAND blog
Companies that invest in their frontline workers could see a non-trivial uptick in their financials if they were clearer and more direct about what they were doing.
‘Pregnant Virgin’ Stingray Won’t Give Birth After All—Here’s Why
date: 2024-06-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Charlotte, a female round stingray in North Carolina that has gathered a legion of online fans, is no longer pregnant due to a “rare reproductive disease”
Beat the Heat This Summer with Santa Clarita Transit!
date: 2024-06-06, from: City of Santa Clarita
By Mayor Pro Tem Bill Miranda As the days start to feel longer and warmer, summer adventures in Santa Clarita are on the horizon. Whether you’re local or a visitor eager to explore all that our City and surroundings have to offer, there’s no better way to get around than with Santa Clarita Transit. In […]
The post Beat the Heat This Summer with Santa Clarita Transit! appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/06/06/beat-the-heat-this-summer-with-santa-clarita-transit/
Lansweeper finds a lot of CentOS Linux out there
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Network scan reveals 26 percent of Linux boxes are CentOS 7, EOL later this month. What happens next?
Lansweeper’s scans of its customers’ networks found an awful lot of Linux boxes facing imminent end of life, with no direct upgrade path. This, for clarity, is a very bad thing.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/lansweeper_centos/
Trump ally Bannon must report to prison by July 1 to start contempt sentence, judge says
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
Washington — Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, must report to prison by July 1 to serve his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol insurrection, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington granted prosecutors’ request to make Bannon begin serving his prison term after a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court last month upheld his contempt of Congress conviction. But Nichols also made clear in his ruling that Bannon could seek a stay of his order, which could delay his surrender date.
Outside the courthouse, Bannon told reporters: “I’ve got great lawyers, and we’re going to go all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to.”
Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, a Republican, had initially allowed Bannon to remain free while he fought his conviction. But the panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said all of Bannon’s challenges lack merit.
Bannon was convicted in 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the Jan. 6 House Committee and the other for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Bannon’s lawyer at trial argued that the charges were politically motivated and that the former adviser didn’t ignore the subpoena but was still engaged in good-faith negotiations with the congressional committee when he was charged.
The defense has said Bannon had been acting on the advice of his attorney at the time, who told him that the subpoena was invalid because the committee would not allow a Trump lawyer in the room and that Bannon could not determine what documents or testimony he could provide because Trump has asserted executive privilege.
Defense lawyer David Schoen told the judge the defense had planned to ask the full U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, if necessary, to review the matter. Schoen said it would be unfair to send Bannon to prison now because he would have already completed his sentence before those rulings could be handed down.
“That might serve a political agenda; but it would be a grave injustice,” Schoen wrote in court papers.
A second Trump aide, trade advisor Peter Navarro, was also convicted of contempt of Congress and reported to prison in March to serve his four-month sentence.
Navarro had maintained that he couldn’t cooperate with the committee because Trump had invoked executive privilege. But courts have rejected that argument, finding Navarro couldn’t prove Trump had actually invoked it.
The House Jan. 6 committee’s final report asserted that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol, concluding an extraordinary 18-month investigation into the former president and the violent insurrection two years ago.
Moon Tree Dedication with Artemis II Crew
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
NASA astronauts Victor Glover (left), Reid Wiseman (middle left), and Christina Koch (middle right), and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen (right), pose for a photo after a Moon Tree dedication ceremony, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at the United States Capitol in Washington. The American Sweetgum tree pictured was grown from a seed that […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/moon-tree-dedication-with-artemis-ii-crew/
Ansel Adams Estate Condemns Adobe for Selling A.I.-Generated Images Mimicking the Photographer’s Style
date: 2024-06-06, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The black-and-white landscape dupes, which have since been taken down, violated Adobe’s generative A.I. policies
Scorching heat sweeping US Southwest could break temperature records
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-06-06, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
“How long can replacing the debugger view take, a couple of days, three tops?”
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112570789016966090
Turbo Mini X mini PC supports up to a 65-watt socketed CPU and external graphics docks
date: 2024-06-06, from: Liliputing
The Mini Maker Turbo Mini X is a compact desktop computer that measures just 215 x 180 x 36mm (8.5″ x 7″ x 1.4″) and has an internal volume of 1.4 liters. While it’s hardly the smallest desktop computer around, it is one of the smallest with an Intel LGA1700 socket that lets you bring your own […]
The post Turbo Mini X mini PC supports up to a 65-watt socketed CPU and external graphics docks appeared first on Liliputing.
Sols 4207-4208: A Taste of Rocky Road
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
Earth planning date: Wednesday June 5, 2024 Curiosity was still at the ice cream shop for planning today, with the delicious feast of rock flavours still at arm’s reach and begging to be sampled. In the previous plan, one such flavour, captured in today’s blog image and perhaps most analogous to Rocky Road (not only given that […]
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/sols-4207-4208-a-taste-of-rocky-road/
Foreign policy concerns may affect US presidential election
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
New Orleans, Louisiana — “It’s the economy, stupid,” is the oft-repeated reminder from the 1992 U.S. presidential election, attributed to political consultant James Carville explaining voter motivations.
Economic concerns remain central to voters in this November’s anticipated rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, but wars in Gaza and Ukraine may influence enough voters in swing states to make foreign policy matter on Election Day.
“This is projected to be a very close election decided by an extremely small margin,” said Robert Collins, professor of Urban Studies and Public Policy at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. “In close elections, the people on those margins can determine who becomes president.”
Massachusetts music teacher Lauri Sklar told VOA that this election feels different from others, in part because the war in Gaza is such “a watershed moment” for young Democrats.
“Whether they choose to support a third-party candidate or they refuse to vote entirely, I think there are a lot of young liberal voters who are not going to vote for Biden come November, and I’m worried that might mean Trump wins,” Sklar says.
Young Americans focused on Gaza
A survey earlier this year by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government found that 18-to-29-year-old Americans overwhelmingly support a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.
Brooklyn Birdie, a graduate student from Shreveport, Louisiana says she supported Biden in 2020 but will not in 2024.
“There is no way ‘Genocide Joe’ will receive a vote from me this fall,” Birdie told VOA. “He is complicit with an ongoing ethnic cleansing.”
That does not mean she will vote for Trump instead.
“I think, as a businessman, Trump’s presidency was good for the economy,” she explained, “but I can’t support someone with such unwavering support and allegiance toward Israel. I’m considering voting for a third party, but I’m not sure yet.”
American priorities
America’s role abroad matters to New York teacher Paige Benson, but it will not decide her vote.
“I value foreign policy, and I think our relationship with other countries is really important,” she told VOA. “But that being said, we have so much work to do with our own country.”
“When it comes down to who I will vote for, it’s going to be who I trust with the economy,” she added. “It seems like everyone’s struggling right now. I know people making six-figure salaries who are struggling. Imagine how the rest of us are doing.”
Florida retiree Harvey Wasserman says he will be voting on immigration.
“Foreign policy is important, but I wish we would stop being the world’s judge and jury,” he said. “To me, let’s focus on home. I want to see secured borders and clear citizenship requirements. I think Trump is more likely to give us that.”
Decided on the margins
Connecticut voter Rebecca Urrutia says because “the way we handle tensions with other countries will have a big impact for me,” she is voting for Trump.
“I don’t like Trump’s style of communicating at all, but he’s much stronger on foreign policy,” she added. “He’s direct and follows through on what he promises. The Biden administration, on the other hand, are so wishy-washy with their positions. There’s too much at stake to be indecisive.”
Foreign policy is also a top priority for Louisiana voter Debbie Pesses, but she is voting for Biden.
“If Putin gets hold of Ukraine, none of Europe is safe,” she said. “And as much as I feel for the people of Gaza, we can’t allow Hamas to threaten the only true democracy in the Middle East.”
“We need someone calm in the White House,” Pesses continued, “and even though I worry about Biden’s age, his temperament is much better for the job than Trump.”
2024 election impact
In an election that could be decided by a handful of swing states, Dillard University professor Collins says a motivating foreign policy concern such as the war in Gaza could make the difference. In Georgia, for example, Biden carried the state four years ago by fewer than 12,000 votes.
“There are more than 11,000 Muslim-Americans in Atlanta, alone,” Collins said. “That could determine the next president, and it doesn’t even account for the non-Muslim college students who are extremely dissatisfied with how Biden has handled the conflict in Israel.”
“In the end, I think Muslim-Americans will conclude that Biden is the lesser of two evils compared to Trump’s Middle East policy,” he continued, “but I think a sizable number of younger Democratic voters might be so disenchanted they’ll choose not to vote. The question is will enough of them sit out to swing an election?”
https://www.voanews.com/a/foreign-policy-concerns-may-affect-us-presidential-election/7645567.html
Chucking Trump etc off Twitter after Jan 6 provides key data for misinfo experiment
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
This study is bad, so so bad. The worst study ever. Did you know Hillary Clinton created ISIS?
After convicted criminal and twice impeached former president Donald Trump and 70,000 other accounts were booted from Twitter following the January 6 riots, the spread of misleading information on the platform fell.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/jan_6_depatforming_nature_study/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-06-06, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
It’s just not priced for the “I need to add a caption to this picture”-once-a-month demographic
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112570637262266677
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-06-06, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
I will always cherish a tweets years ago from someone that has now vanished from the internet that said:
“Wine in a box: for the classy bitch on a budget”
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112570625633868138
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-06-06, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Lunch was Chicken tikka masala with Mexican maize tortillas and Italian wine.
That’s just how the cookie crumbles.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112570603278068404
Call for Blog Carnival 22: Digital Literacy, Multimodality, & The Writing Center
date: 2024-06-06, from: Digital Rhetoric Collaberative
Across global Rhetoric and Composition Studies teaching and professional communities and their allied fields, the impact of digitalization and multimodal literacy is undeniable (Bhutoria, 2022; Nazari, 2021; Sevnarayan & Potter, 2024). This influence has significantly shaped writing program pedagogies and theories (Fyfe, 2023; Graham, 2023; Mohammed, 2023); the writing center is no exception (Buck & […]NASA Scientists Take to the Seas to Study Air Quality
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
Satellites continuously peer down from orbit to take measurements of Earth, and this week a group of scientists set sail to verify some of those data points. On June 2, the SCOAPE (Satellite Coastal and Oceanic Atmospheric Pollution Experiment) research team, in partnership with the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, took to […]
https://www.nasa.gov/earth/nasa-scientists-take-to-the-seas-to-study-air-quality/
80 Years Later: Documenting the Loss and Honoring the Sacrifices of D-Day
date: 2024-06-06, from: National Archives, Text Message blog
Today’s post was written by Rachael Salyer, archivist in the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives at College Park, MD. June 6, 2024 marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the start of the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II. Operation Neptune, the codename for the Normandy landings, included Allied assaults on five … Continue reading 80 Years Later: Documenting the Loss and Honoring the Sacrifices of D-Day
The Curious About Everything Newsletter #39
date: 2024-06-06, from: Curious about everything blog
The many interesting things I read in May 2024
https://jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/thirty-nine
Milk-V Meles RISC-V single-board computer is now available for $80
date: 2024-06-06, from: Liliputing
The Milk-V Meles is a Raspberry Pi-like single-board computer with a similar credit card-sized design featuring a decent number of full-sized ports as well as a 40-pin GPIO connector and MIPI-CSI and MIPI-DSIC connectors. But while Raspberry Pi’s little computers feature ARM-based processors, the Milk-V Meles is powered by a quad-core RISC-V processor. First announced last […]
The post Milk-V Meles RISC-V single-board computer is now available for $80 appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/milk-v-meles-risc-v-single-board-computer-is-now-available-for-80/
Oregon football team’s academic performance drops again: Time for alarm in Eugene? (Probably not)
date: 2024-06-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Ducks have accumulated several years of low Academic Progress Rate scores and will be banned from the 2025 postseason if the situation doesn’t stabilize.
Meta faces multiple complaints in Europe over plans to train AI on user data
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Opt out or prepare for your posts to be ingested
Meta’s plans to use customer data in AI training have resulted in complaints to data protection authorities in 11 European countries.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/meta_ai_complaints/
A 27-Year Old Tamagotchi Mystery Has Been Solved
date: 2024-06-06, from: 404 Media Group
“Looking at it now, this looks like a bad schoolyard video game urban legend. But it is real.”
https://www.404media.co/a-27-year-old-tamagotchi-mystery-has-been-solved/
Jurors in Hunter Biden trial hear more from clerk who sold him gun at center of case
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
WILMINGTON, Delaware — Jurors at Hunter Biden’s criminal trial heard more Thursday from the former gun store clerk who sold him the .38-caliber Colt revolver at the center of the case.
The clerk testified Wednesday that he watched as President Joe Biden’s son checked off “no” to the question of whether he was “an unlawful user of or addicted to” marijuana, stimulants, narcotics or any other controlled substance.
Federal prosecutors have argued Hunter Biden was in the throes of a heavy crack addiction when he bought the gun, and they’ve accused him of lying on the form. He’s been charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user, and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
The Democratic president’s son arrived at court Thursday with a copy of his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” tucked under his arm. The book, written after he got sober in 2021, figures heavily into prosecutors’ case: They’ve played audio excerpts for jurors in which he details his descent into drugs and alcohol following the death of his brother, Beau, in 2015.
Hunter Biden, who has pleaded not guilty, has said the Justice Department is bending to political pressure from Republicans and that he’s being wrongly targeted.
Jurors have been shown as evidence Form 4473, the firearms transaction record in question, and on Wednesday, they saw the gun that was purchased.
Gordon Cleveland, the former clerk at StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply, told jurors he walked Hunter Biden through a few options before he settled on the $900 gun, and he watched Biden sign the form, which includes a warning about the consequences of submitting false information.
“Everything he bought, he ultimately decided on,” he told jurors.
In his cross-examination Thursday, defense attorney Abbe Lowell pointed out that some of the questions on the form are in the present tense, such as “are you an unlawful user of or addicted to” drugs. He has suggested Hunter Biden did not believe he had an active drug problem.
Other questions are in the past tense, such as asking the potential gun buyer whether he or she has ever been discharged from the military or been adjudicated as a mental defective.
Much of the prosecution’s case so far has been dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of his crack addiction and showcasing to jurors bare-chested moments with ex-girlfriends, infidelity, crack pipes — judgment lapses they believe prove he was actively using when he checked off no. Prosecutors argue it’s necessary evidence to show his state of mind when he bought the gun.
The proceedings are unfolding after the collapse of a plea deal that would have resolved the gun charge and a separate tax case, and spared the Biden family the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election. First lady Jill Biden spent several days in court before joining President Joe Biden in France for the D-Day anniversary. Allies worry about the toll the proceedings will take on the president, who is deeply concerned about the health and sustained sobriety of his only living son.
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden’s friends and family are being called to testify.
Kathleen Buhle, who was married to Hunter Biden for 20 years, told jurors Wednesday that she discovered her husband was using drugs when she found a crack pipe in an ashtray on their porch on July 3, 2015, a day after their anniversary. When she confronted him, “he acknowledged smoking crack,” she said.
Buhle testified that even before she found the drugs, she suspected he was using. He had been kicked out of the Navy after testing positive for cocaine.
“I was definitely worried, scared,” she said. They have three children and divorced in 2016 after his infidelity and drug abuse became too much, according to her memoir, “If We Break,” about the dissolution of their marriage.
Buhle, who was subpoenaed, was on the stand for a brief 20 minutes. She remained composed but seemed upset as she recounted how she searched his car about a dozen times for drugs, whenever the children were driving it.
“Did you ever see Hunter using drugs?” Lowell asked Buhle.
“No,” she replied.
Then prosecutor Leo Wise asked Buhle how she knew Hunter Biden was using drugs.
“He told me,” she said.
Prosecutors also called Zoe Kestan, who testified under immunity about meeting Hunter Biden in December 2017 at a strip club in New York where she worked. During a private session, he pulled out a pipe and began smoking what she assumed was crack.
“He was incredibly charming and charismatic and friendly, and I felt really safe around him,” she said. “I remember after he had smoked it, nothing had changed. He was the same charming person.”
Kestan detailed for jurors when she saw him use drugs, buy drugs, talk about drugs or possess drug paraphernalia. Prosecutors asked her where he stored his drugs and pipes, and she testified he kept them in pouches and other places, such as sunglasses cases.
On cross-examination, Kestan acknowledged that she had no contact with him in October 2018, the period when he bought the gun.
Prosecutors have also used his own words as evidence through his memoir and text messages he sent to friends and family. The memoir covers the period he bought the gun, though it doesn’t mention the weapon specifically.
Lowell has said Hunter Biden’s state of mind was different when he wrote the book than when he purchased the gun, when he didn’t believe he had an addiction. And he’s suggested Hunter Biden might have felt he had a drinking problem at the time, but not a drug problem. Alcohol abuse doesn’t preclude a gun purchase.
If convicted, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.
He’s also facing a separate trial in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes.
In Congress, Republicans have for months pursued an impeachment inquiry seeking to tie President Biden to his son’s business dealings. So far, GOP lawmakers have failed to uncover evidence directly implicating President Biden in any wrongdoing. But on Wednesday, House Republicans accused Hunter Biden and the president’s brother James Biden of making false statements to Congress as part of the inquiry.
The trial is unfolding shortly after Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was convicted of 34 felonies in New York City. The two criminal cases are unrelated, but their proximity underscores how the courts have taken center stage during the 2024 campaign.
Lottery ticket worth $621,419 sold at Milpitas convenience store
date: 2024-06-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
No one in the state won the Powerball lottery game jackpot of $185 million Wednesday night, but someone playing the game at a South Bay convenience store is $621,419 richer, officials said.
Court Allows K-Pop Group to Subpoena YouTuber’s Identity from Google
date: 2024-06-06, from: 404 Media Group
K-pop group NewJeans is attempting to sue the anonymous user of a YouTube account for defamation, but cannot proceed without obtaining their identity.
https://www.404media.co/newjeans-kpop-google-youtube-lawsuit/
Boeing Starliner with crew reaches International Space Station
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/boeing-starliner-spacecraft-detects-leaks-on-journey-to-iss/7645414.html
Dominant AI players Nvidia, Microsoft, OpenAI face US antitrust inquiries
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-07, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Hmm… world’s most valuable companies furthest ahead with world’s most coveted tech. WCGW?
Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia are set to be investigated for potential antitrust violations with regard to their dominant positions in the burgeoning AI industry, according to reports.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/nvidia_microsoft_and_openai_face/
Earbuds vs headphones and other personal listening devices
date: 2024-06-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
Losing a device that can cost $200 or more is no joke so, despite the portability and convenience of these small earbuds, there is a good reason to consider an alternative, including much less expensive earbuds.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/06/larry-magid-earbuds/
Lakers reportedly targeting UConn’s Dan Hurley for coaching job
date: 2024-06-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
Hurley has won back-to-back men’s NCAA national championships at the helm of the Huskies.
Facebook’s Taylor Swift Fan Pages Taken Over by Animal Abuse, Porn, and Scams
date: 2024-06-06, from: 404 Media Group
Here is how I found hardcore porn, pirated content, malware, and endless scams on Facebook: I typed “Katy Perry” into the search bar.
https://www.404media.co/facebooks-taylor-swift-fan-pages-taken-over-by-bestiality-porn-and-scams-2/
OSNews needs your help to stay alive
date: 2024-06-06, from: OS News
As some of you will know, I recently started working on OSNews as my full-time job, and that means I sometimes need to be annoying and remind you all that I need your help in keeping the website going. Ad income has been going down the drain for years and years now, so your support is crucial in keeping OSNews online. We’ve been providing you with the latest technology news for over 25 years now, and I’d really like to keep things going for another 25 years. So, how can you help? You can become an OSNews Patreon, which will remove ads from OSNews, and give you a little bit of flair on every comment you post to show off that you support us. We offer three pricing tiers with an increasing level of prominence for your flair, with the highest tier giving you the option of choosing your own flair to really show off to your fellow readers and commenters that you are just a little bit more equal than everyone else. You can also make individual donations through Ko-Fi. Since I really need to replace the monitor of my OSNews workstation – after eight years of loyal use, the cheap monitor is started to show ghosting and flickering, and I feel like it could give out at any moment – I’ve set a goal on Ko-Fi for this very purpose. I don’t expect this goal to be met any time soon, but it’s a nice target to aim for and look forward to. I intend to replace the old 4K display with the cheapest 4K/144Hz panel I can find here in Sweden, but since that will most likely be unrealistic price-wise, the goal is rooted more in aspiration than reality. There are other ways to support us too – you can make a donation through Liberapay, or go to our merch store and buy T-shirts, mugs, and other cool items. The ultimate goal that I’m working towards is to eventually be able to offer ad-free by default, fully supported by you, our generous readers. This is a long-term goal and not something we’ll achieve overnight, but I want to maintain OSNews’ independence at all costs. Virtually every other technology news site you visit is part of a major media empire, such as The Verge or Ars Technica, with huge amounts of staff and massive funds backing them – and all the questionable relationships between writers and the technology companies that entails. Add to it the rise of artificial intelligence and the negative consequences that’s going to have, and the need for independent, reader-funded technology websites is greater than ever. That being said, we will not be gating content behind paywalls, so even if you cannot or are unwilling to support us, you will still get all the same content as everyone else. As such, supporting OSNews financially is entirely optional, and will not degrade your experience in any way. Still, OSNews’ continued existence is entirely dependent on me being able to generate enough income through it, so while you do not have to support us, it’s definitely needed.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139901/osnews-needs-your-help-to-stay-alive/
Biden on D-Day: West won’t abandon Ukraine
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, FRANCE — U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday met with the rapidly dwindling number of American veterans of the Allies’ bold invasion of Normandy, where he marked the 80th anniversary of the decisive World War II battle.
Biden, speaking just steps away from the American cemetery where 9,387 U.S. troops were laid to rest from the high-pitched battle to loosen Nazi Germany’s grasp on France, said the past is ever present.
He vowed the United States and NATO would not abandon support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s two-year invasion.
“We will not walk away” from Ukraine’s defense and “surrender to bullies,” he said.
He described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “tyrant intent on domination” and said democracy is now more at risk than at any other point since World War II.
“Make no mistake, we will not bow down, we cannot surrender to the bullies, it is simply unthinkable. If we do, freedom will be subjugated, all Europe will be threatened,” he said in offering wide support for the global world order that emerged in the aftermath of World War II.
“To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators, is simply unthinkable,” he said. “If we were to do that, it means we’d be forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches.”
D-Day was the largest amphibious assault in history, and Biden called it a “powerful illustration of how alliances, real alliances, make us stronger.”
He said that was “a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget.”
Biden’s appearance came in the midst of his 2024 reelection campaign for the presidency against Republican Donald Trump, who spoke at the 75th anniversary of D-Day five years ago.
Trump, who has often questioned the necessity of the U.S. commitment to NATO, the West’s main military alliance, hailed the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy in his 2019 speech but did not praise the global alliances that emerged after the war.
Trump has often attacked European members of NATO who do not spend the equivalent of 2% of their national economic output on defense, a NATO-suggested level for defense of their own countries.
Biden has cited his administration’s record of building global alliances as a key accomplishment. He recently told Time magazine that Trump “wanted to just abandon” U.S. allies and suggested the former president would ultimately pull the country out of NATO if he were elected again.
World leaders and luminaries – including actor Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg – signaled their appreciation by attending Thursday’s events.
But for ordinary French people – who also packed a beachside stadium for a moving tribute to the actions of Allied soldiers – this is a special day.
“U.S. engagement changed the fate of the continent at that time,” Leonie Allard, a visiting fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe center and a former French defense official, told VOA. “And probably projected some of the lessons that we take from that engagement regarding the challenges we’re facing today in Europe, with the return of war in the continent due to Russia’s aggression of Ukraine.”
And French President Emmanuel Macron zeroed in on the heroism of men who were, at the time, just out of boyhood.
“In the summer of 1944, you were barely 20 years old, maybe less,” he said to the veterans before presenting 11 of them with his nation’s top decoration, the Legion of Honor. “You had a family, friends, a fiancee, a wife, sometimes children. You had dreams, plans, a future. And you left everything, crossed the ocean and landed on the shores of France eight decades ago. You left everything and took all the risks for our independence, for our freedom. We will not forget this.”
Biden and first lady Jill Biden also personally greeted several dozen World War II veterans who participated in the D-Day landings, including many in wheelchairs and some who are more than 100 years old.
“You saved the world,” Biden told one man. He greeted each veteran one by one, offering a salute or a handshake, and handing them a special coin designed for the occasion.
“This is the honor of my life,” said a 102-year-old as he stood between the Bidens for a photo.
“The honor of mine,” Biden replied.
And when Biden learned that another one of the veterans would be turning 102 in a few days’ time, he turned to the gathered clutch of American press and explained that, per Biden family tradition, a rendition of “Happy Birthday” was in order.
“And the press, you’d better damn well join,” Biden said.
We sang.
Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report from Washington.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-on-d-day-west-won-t-abandon-ukraine-/7645388.html
San Jose food bank preps warehouse shutdown after facing rent hike
date: 2024-06-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley has decided to shut one of its warehouses after learning it was facing a rent hike.
Ariane 6 ready to rocket, bringing heavy-lift capability back to Europe
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Just a wet dress rehearsal left before debut launch
The much-delayed Ariane 6 rocket is scheduled to launch on July 9 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/july_9_ariane_6_launch/
18-year-old shot multiple times in East Oakland
date: 2024-06-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
The man told police he had just left a liquor store when he heard gunfire and began running away before realizing he had been shot.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/06/18-year-old-shot-multiple-times-in-east-oakland/
California home-price gains may ‘cool’ in next 12 months
date: 2024-06-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
California ranked No. 15 with 7% price gains in the past year vs. 5.7% nationally.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/06/california-home-price-gains-may-cool-in-next-12-months/
SpaceX’s mega rocket completes its fourth test flight from Texas without exploding
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
Boca Chica, Texas — SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket completed its first full test flight Thursday, returning to Earth without exploding after blasting off from Texas.
The previous three test flights ended in explosions of the rocket and the spacecraft. This time, both managed to splash down in a controlled fashion.
The world’s largest and most powerful rocket — almost 121 meters tall — was empty as it soared above the Gulf of Mexico and headed east on a flight to the Indian Ocean.
Minutes after Thursday morning’s liftoff, the first-stage booster separated from the spacecraft and splashed into the gulf precisely as planned, after firing its engines.
An hour later, live views showed parts of the spacecraft breaking away during the intense heat of reentry, but it remained intact enough to transmit data all the way to its targeted splashdown site in the Indian Ocean.
“And we have splashdown!” SpaceX launch commentator Kate Tice announced from Mission Control at company headquarters in California.
It was a critical milestone in the company’s plan to eventually return Starship’s Super Heavy booster to its launch site for reuse.
SpaceX came close to avoiding explosion in March, but lost contact with the spacecraft as it careened out of space and blew up short of its goal. The booster also ruptured in flight, a quarter-mile above the gulf.
Last year’s two test flights ended in explosions shortly after blasting off from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. The first one cratered the pad at Boca Chica Beach and hurled debris for thousands of feet (meters).
SpaceX upgraded the software and made some rocket-flyback changes to improve the odds. The Federal Aviation Administration signed off Tuesday on this fourth demo, saying all safety requirements had been met.
Starship is designed to be fully reusable. That’s why SpaceX wants to control the booster’s entry into the gulf and the spacecraft’s descent into the Indian Ocean — it’s intended as practice for planned future landings. Nothing is being recovered from Thursday’s flight.
NASA has ordered a pair of Starships for two moon-landing missions by astronauts, on tap for later this decade. Each moon crew will rely on NASA’s own rocket and capsule to leave Earth, but meet up with Starship in lunar orbit for the ride down to the surface.
SpaceX already is selling tourist trips around the moon. The first private lunar customer, a Japanese tycoon, pulled out of the trip with his entourage last week, citing the oft-delayed schedule.
SpaceX’s founder and CEO has grander plans: Musk envisions fleets of Starships launching people and the infrastructure necessary to build a city on Mars.
https://www.voanews.com/a/spacex-s-megarocket-starship-launches-on-fourth-test-flight/7645357.html
The First Responder UAS Wireless Data Gatherer Challenge
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
The First Responder UAS Wireless Data Gatherer Challenge (UAS 6.0) seeks innovators with applicable expertise across and beyond the UAS ecosystem. For public safety and the greater good, contribute invaluable knowledge and ingenuity in artificial intelligence (AI), radio communications and mapping, Internet of Things (IoT), cybersecurity, and more. Challenge results will support the public safety […]
Former President Donald Trump expected in Bay Area for fundraiser
date: 2024-06-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
The fundraiser comes a week after the former president’s conviction on 34 felony counts in a “hush-money” trial.
AI PCs might solve a real problem: The ‘friction’ that sees users ignore security
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Trend Micro says cloudy email scans trigger GDPR warnings that deter users. Local models that use NPUs don’t
Computex Trend Micro has outlined how it will tailor its desktop security software for AI PCs, and thinks it might improve security in ways that normal, bog-standard PCs can’t match.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/trend_micro_ai_pc_security/
The 2024 FAA Data Challenge
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
The 2024 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Data Challenge ushers in a groundbreaking opportunity for university students to identify challenges and present solutions toward the evolution of the National Airspace System (NAS) into a more information-centric entity. By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics, participants are invited to tackle pressing challenges within aviation […]
An obscure option could help Californians without high school diplomas pay for college — if it survives
date: 2024-06-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
Adults without high school diplomas can attend community college, but few of them receive financial aid, even when they’re eligible. A new proposal from Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Community Colleges Chancellor Sonya Christian aims to fix that. But it may be too late.
Baseball’s Gambling Hypocrisy
date: 2024-06-06, from: Om Malik blog
If you’re wondering why this is a topic of interest, let me elaborate — whether it involves selling in-game upgrades, pursuing growth at all costs on Facebook, or engaging in sports betting, I believe these practices are fundamentally wrong and not right way to use technology for the greater good. The weaponization of betting in …
https://om.co/2024/06/06/baseballs-gambling-hypocrisy/
A BSD person tries Alpine Linux
date: 2024-06-06, from: OS News
I’ve barely scratched the surface, but there’s enough here for me to seriously consider a switch to it as my primary Linux distro for testing and servers. I love that htop(1) and lsof(1) only shows a small list of recognisable processes, that it uses OpenRC, that package management seems straight forward, and that it’s so simple to configure. I’ve wondered what a modern, functional “Occam’s Linux” would look like. This is it. ↫ Ruben Schade Alpine is very popular among people inclined towards BSD, but who still want to run Linux as well – and it’s easy to see why when you try it out or read about it. This article is a good jumping-off point for those of you curious about Alpine.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139899/a-bsd-person-tries-alpine-linux-2/
Why 401(k) plans aren’t equitable
date: 2024-06-06, from: Marketplace Morning Report
A new report out of investment advisor Vanguard finds that more than 40% of employer matches go to the richest 20% of workers — and it’s not just because they have the highest salaries. We’ll discuss the problems with the 401(k) model and hear a potential fix. Plus, St. Louis is grappling with a “real estate doom loop.” How did it get there and how might it get out?
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/why-401k-plans-arent-equitable
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-06, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
2018: Comey made announcement on Clinton email probe days before election to give himself cover.
Targeted Genome Editor Delivery Challenge
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
Gene editing holds the promise to treat genetic diseases at the source by correcting the faulty genetic patterns within our cells. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched the TARGETED (Targeted Genome Editor Delivery) Challenge to advance genome editing technology by sourcing innovative solutions for delivering genome editors to somatic cells. The Challenge is […]
They’re putting “AI” in your BIOS
date: 2024-06-06, from: OS News
You know what could really use a dose of “AI”? Your BIOS. aiBIOS leverages an LLM to integrate AI capabilities into Insyde Software’s flagship firmware solution, InsydeH2O® UEFI BIOS. It provides the ability to interpret the PC user’s request, analyze their specific hardware, and parse through the LLM’s extensive knowledge base of BIOS and computer terminology to make the appropriate changes to the BIOS Setup. This breakthrough technology helps address a major hurdle for PC users that require or desire changes to their BIOS Setup for their personal computers but do not fully understand the meaning of the settings available to them. ↫ Insyde press release Google told users to put glue on pizzas and eat rocks, so I’m sure the combined efforts of a BIOS maker will surely not pose any problems when automatically changing BIOS settings based on the requests of users who do not really understand what they’re doing. This surely is a recipe for success, and I can’t wait to tell my BIOS to enable XMP, only for it to disable hyperthreading, change the boot order to only allow booting from the non-existent floppy drive, and to force the use of the integrated GPU when I’m actually using a dedicated one. This is going to be just fine.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139896/theyre-puting-ai-in-your-bios/
Red Lobster announces the Bay Area locations it wants to shut down
date: 2024-06-06, from: San Jose Mercury News
Red Lobster wants to close several dozen more restaurants following its bankruptcy, and it has identified which ones are in danger of shutting down if the court approves its plan.
Lost and Found
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
I found a semi-used Rolex Submariner with a black dial in the ground while I was running.
The post Lost and Found appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/06/lost-and-found-2/
Water Supply Forecast Rodeo
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
Accurate seasonal water supply forecasts are crucial for effective water resources management. Help the Bureau of Reclamation develop models to forecast the cumulative streamflow volume for sites across the Western United States. Government Agency: Bureau of Reclamation Award: $500,000 Open Date: October 2023 Close Date: July 2024 For more information, visit: https://www.drivendata.org/competitions/group/reclamation-water-supply-forecast/
An overview of the Starlark language
date: 2024-06-06, from: OS News
Starlark is a small programming language, designed as a simple dialect of Python and intended primarily for embedded use in applications. Some people might say it’s a bit like Lua with Python syntax, but I think there are many interesting bits to discuss. The language is now open-source and used in many other applications and companies. As I led the design and implementation of Starlark, I’d like to write a bit more about it. ↫ Laurent Le Brun I’m sure there’s a few among you will like this.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139894/an-overview-of-the-starlark-language/
NASA Marshall Engineer Receives AIAA Honors Award
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
By Daniel Boyette Advanced space nuclear propulsion systems are critical to NASA’s Moon to Mars vision. On May 15, one of the individuals at the forefront of those future exploration efforts was honored for his contributions. Kurt Polzin, chief engineer for the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, […]
Uncle Sam seeks to claw back $5M+ stolen from trade union through spoofed email
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Funds are currently seized after being sent to offshore accounts
The US Justice Department is seeking permission to recover more than $5 million worth of funds stolen from a trade union by business email compromise (BEC) scammers.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/union_bec_scam/
Pioneering Research for Early Prediction of Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias EUREKA Challenge
date: 2024-06-06, from: NASA breaking news
The National Institute on Aging (NIA), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) seeks to stimulate the use of data resources with appropriate sample diversity, including data relevant to under-resourced, underserved communities disproportionately burdened by AD/ADRD. For example, for Asian, Black, or Hispanic older adults, the protein amyloid – which has long been […]
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-06, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The best thing Moscow Mitch could do is resign and make way for a Repub who isn't totally stained by MAGA if there are any.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/06/opinion/mcconnell-military-spending-d-day.html
Windows Recall demands an extraordinary level of trust that Microsoft hasn’t earned
date: 2024-06-06, from: OS News
The short version is this: In its current form, Recall takes screenshots and uses OCR to grab the information on your screen; it then writes the contents of windows plus records of different user interactions in a locally stored SQLite database to track your activity. Data is stored on a per-app basis, presumably to make it easier for Microsoft’s app-exclusion feature to work. Beaumont says “several days” of data amounted to a database around 90KB in size. In our usage, screenshots taken by Recall on a PC with a 2560×1440 screen come in at 500KB or 600KB apiece (Recall saves screenshots at your PC’s native resolution, minus the taskbar area). Recall works locally thanks to Azure AI code that runs on your device, and it works without Internet connectivity and without a Microsoft account. Data is encrypted at rest, sort of, at least insofar as your entire drive is generally encrypted when your PC is either signed into a Microsoft account or has Bitlocker turned on. But in its current form, Beaumont says Recall has “gaps you can drive a plane through” that make it trivially easy to grab and scan through a user’s Recall database if you either (1) have local access to the machine and can log into any account (not just the account of the user whose database you’re trying to see), or (2) are using a PC infected with some kind of info-stealer virus that can quickly transfer the SQLite database to another system. ↫ Andrew Cunningham at Ars Technica It really does seem Recall is kind of a mess in the security department, and it has a certain rushed quality about it. All the screenshots are saved in an AppData folder, and data pulled from those screenshots is stored in a local SQLite database that happens to be entirely unencrypted. TotalRecall, a tool developed by Alexander Hagenah, will neatly pull the data from Recall for you without any hassle or issues. This truly is a security nightmare. Aside from all the obvious issues this presents, such as making it even easier for law enforcement to gain access to pretty much everything you do online, something especially troubling for minorities or in countries with less-than-stellar police departments, Recall also presents a whole host of other problems. Imagine being in an abusive relationship, and the abusive partner demanding Recall be left on at all times to exert even more control. Imagine an unscrupulous employee abusing Recall to steal sensitive information from a company for a competitor. Imagine living in some backwards part of a country with controlling religious parents, and you happen to be gay. The problems here are endless. The fact you can turn Recall off doesn’t mean much, since in the above examples, turning it off is not an option since there are controlling people involved who will demand you keep it on. Browser history and other forms of history in your computer exist as well, of course, but they’re not always as easy to parse, they’re easier to manipulate, sanitise, and temporarily hide. Recall just combines all of this and puts a neat little bow on it, ready to be abused by anyone with bad intentions. Recall is ill-conceived, badly implemented, and a solution looking for a problem, that in an of itself creates tons of other problems. I hope Microsoft reconsiders, but in a world where “AI” makes investors go nuts, I doubt we’ll see a sudden sense of clarity coming out of Redmond.
Tetris Company celebrates classic game’s 40th birthday
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
You’re not a 1985 truther, are you?
We hate to be the ones to break it to all you El Reg readers, but we’re informed the classic video game Tetris is turning 40.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/happy_birthday_tetris/
Can Psychedelics Improve Mental Health?
date: 2024-06-06, from: Quanta Magazine
Research suggests that psychedelic drugs can reopen critical periods of brain development to create opportunities for re-learning and psychological healing. In this episode, co-host Janna Levin speaks with Gül Dölen, a neuroscientist studying the therapeutic potential of psychedelic substances.The post Can Psychedelics Improve Mental Health? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-psychedelics-improve-mental-health-20240606/
Inside a Kidnapping Planned on the FBI’s Secret Chat App
date: 2024-06-06, from: 404 Media Group
Anom, the FBI’s secret tech startup, is reaching breaking point due to being too popular. Will another murder fall through the cracks?
https://www.404media.co/dark-wire-inside-a-kidnapping-planned-on-the-fbis-secret-chat-app/
Clean Energy Investment Is Eclipsing Fossil Fuel Funding
date: 2024-06-06, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Unseasonably cool temperatures brought snow to parts of Scotland • New South Wales in Australia recorded more than a month’s worth of rain in just 12 hours • Multiple tornadoes were reported across Maryland.
THE TOP FIVE
- Gov. Hochul pauses NYC congestion pricing ‘indefinitely’
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced yesterday that she will “indefinitely pause” the long-awaited NYC congestion pricing program that was set to start on June 30. The policy would have charged drivers for entering some of the city’s busiest areas, raising $1 billion annually for the transit authority, cutting pollution, and easing traffic congestion. It would have been the first such program in the nation. But, no more. Hochul said it risked “too many unintended consequences.”
Environmental groups, state budget hawks, and transit advocates are outraged by the u-turn. Her decision “will be a generational setback for climate policy in the United States,” wrote an incensed Robinson Meyer for Heatmap. “New York was bushwhacking a trail for everyone else to follow: If congestion policy was a success there, then other American cities could experiment with it in some form. By pausing that trial before it has even begun, Hochul has essentially frozen our ability to experiment with congestion pricing anywhere else in the country.”
2. IEA: Clean energy investment set to double fossil fuels in 2024
Global investment in clean energy is on track to reach $2 trillion in 2024, double the $1 trillion expected to be invested in fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. In its new World Energy Investment report, out today, the IEA said global spending on renewables surpassed the amount invested in fossil fuels last year for the first time. Most of the money is going toward solar power. Here’s a look at recent annual investment in solar PV (light blue) compared to all other power generation sources (dark blue):
China accounts for the largest share of clean energy investment by a long shot, and China, the U.S., and Europe make up more than two thirds of the world’s clean energy investment. “More must be done to ensure that investment reaches the places where it is needed most, in particular the developing economies where access to affordable, sustainable and secure energy is severely lacking today,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. Even as clean energy funds are flowing, spending on oil and gas is set to rise this year and remains far too high to meet the world’s climate goals, the report said. Just 4% of oil and gas companies’ 2023 investments went toward clean energy.
- UN secretary-general calls for global ban on fossil fuel ads
António Guterres yesterday urged nations to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies in a speech at the American Museum of Natural History. The UN secretary-general called the fossil fuel industry “the Godfathers of climate chaos,” and said advertising and PR agencies that take Big Oil on as clients are “enablers to planetary destruction.” He said the end of the fossil fuel age was an economic inevitability, but that global emissions need to fall 9% every year until 2030 to keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius alive. The next 18 months will be key to deciding our future, he said. “I call on leaders in the fossil fuel industry to understand that if you are not in the fast lane to clean energy transformation, you are driving your business into a dead end – and taking us all with you,” Guterres said.
The speech coincided with a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) concluding there is an 80% chance that the global annual average temperature will exceed the 1.5C degree increase in one (or more) of the next five years. That’s up from a 66% chance last year, and as Guterres noted, “in 2015, the chance of such a breach was near zero.”
- Southwestern states bake under intense heat dome
Temperatures across much of the American Southwest are between 20 and 30 degrees Fahrenheit higher than usual for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service. Residents in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas are roasting under a heat dome that has settled on the region and will likely peak in severity today. In Phoenix, where temperatures will hit 111 degrees Fahrenheit today, all fire department vehicles are being kitted out with large ice bags in which people suffering from heat stroke can be submerged to lower their temperatures. In California’s Death Valley, the mercury will hit 120 degrees today. The heat wave is expected to boost emissions from California’s power sector as customers crank up their air conditioners. Below is a snapshot of the region today from the NWS HeatRisk tool. Regions in red are experiencing “major” heat-related impacts; purple regions are under extreme heat conditions.
NWS HeatRisk
- GM records best month for North American EV sales
In case you missed it: General Motors just had its best month ever in terms of EV sales. During a shareholder meeting on Tuesday, CEO Mary Barra said May was the company’s “best month ever for EV sales in North America,” adding that “we’re seeing profit improvement in our EV portfolio as we scale production of the broadest EV portfolio on the market, a portfolio purposely built to win new customers.” Demand was particularly strong for the Cadillac Lyric and the new Chevrolet Blazer EV. The news would have been unfathomable even last year, when GM reported cratering EV sales after it discontinued the Chevy Bolt EV, wrote Patrick George at Inside EVs. The new numbers are “an outstanding development for GM and for the wider EV market,” he said.
THE KICKER
A Department of Energy initiative will repurpose two former nuclear test sites in Idaho by using the land to install 400 megawatts of solar power with battery storage.
https://heatmap.news/climate/iea-clean-energy-investment-report
Atos defers its own D-Day to ponder financial rescue decision
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Restructure saga kicked into next week, investors unamused
Crisis-ridden tech giant Atos has further delayed a decision on its restructuring, putting back until next week the choice of a rescue package to reduce the company’s debt and get its finances back in shape.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/atos_defers_rescue_package/
What Trump, the businessman, can and can’t do as Trump, the felon
date: 2024-06-06, from: Marketplace Morning Report
It’s been one week since former President Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election. So what’s to become of the publicly traded company he heads, Trump Media and Technology Group? Can a convicted felon legally be a principal of a publicly traded company? We discuss. Also on the show; Nvidia stock, congestion pricing and wage growth.
PeerJ Award Winners at ICTE 2024
date: 2024-06-06, from: PeerJ blog
Transposable elements, also known as mobile DNA, are present all over the tree of life. They play a major role in the biology of prokaryotes and eukaryotes, have implications in agriculture and medicine and are useful biotechnology tools. Due to their fascinating capacity to jump around, and their structural and functional impact on the genomes […]
https://peerj.com/blog/post/115284889287/peerj-award-winners-at-icte-2024/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-06-06, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
I stopped using Adobe software a few years ago, I just didn’t use it enough and was happy with the iPad and Mac alternatives.
I don’t do enough graphics design work to justify subscriptions (not even Figma that everyone loves)
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112569566704920069
Microsoft shows venerable and vulnerable NTLM security protocol the door
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Time to get moving if you still rely on this deprecated feature
Microsoft has finally decided to add the venerable NTLM authentication protocol to the Deprecated Features list.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/microsoft_deprecates_ntlm/
How a Defrocked Armenian Preacher Uses YouTube to Spread Misinformation to His Flock
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Markup blog
Barthev Gulumian uses his daily videos to discuss the Bible, as well as QAnon-style conspiracy theories and why COVID vaccines are “poison”
Sodium ion batteries: Yet another innovation poised to be dominated by China
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Coming SiB boom will be a Chinese one while the West is years behind, industry watcher tells us
Interview The burgeoning sodium ion battery industry is poised for a big year, says one analyst, though the US and its friends may miss out as China whizzes by.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/sodium_ion_batteries_china/
Doing Stuff with AI: Opinionated Midyear Edition
date: 2024-06-06, from: One Useful Thing
AI systems have gotten more capable and easier to use
https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/doing-stuff-with-ai-opinionated-midyear
#ArchivesPets on the National Archives Building
date: 2024-06-06, from: National Archives, Pieces of History blog
On Friday, June 7, 2024, the National Archives is raising the woof with our next #ArchivesHashtagParty—#ArchivesPets! Join us on social media to see some paw-some images and artifacts of pets in our collection and collections in repositories around the world. Designed by renowned architect John Russell Pope, the National Archives Building is the most elaborately … Continue reading #ArchivesPets on the National Archives Building
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2024/06/06/archivespets-on-the-national-archives-building/
Russia’s economic contradiction
date: 2024-06-06, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Vladimir Putin is hosting the International Economic Forum. There’s a bit of a contradiction there: Despite being the most sanctioned country in the world, Russia’s economy is set to grow faster than all advanced economies this year. Also, Gen Z is posing a challenge for alcohol companies. And later, tourism officials in Henan, China, admitted the famous Yuntai Falls use hidden water pipes to boost the flow.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/russias-economic-contradiction
What If We Just Nationalize the Power Grid?
date: 2024-06-06, from: Heatmap News
The urgent need to build transmission infrastructure at dramatic pace, scale, and geographic scope is clear. To decarbonize the power sector, we’ll have to physically rebuild the grid once-over in the coming decades to connect and facilitate a hopeful explosion in new renewable generation capacity across our continental country. We will have to accomplish this as electricity demand grows, including on account of decarbonizing sectors such as buildings, transportation, and industrial production through electrification. Given the stakes of grid balancing, this task is akin to building and starting to operate a new beating heart and wider cardiovascular system, all while keeping the old one from failing amid surgery. Coordination and proactive planning of grid buildout will be key.
Despite the undeniable public benefits, investment in the grid has been stagnating, if not declining. A Department of Energy study found that annual net investment in the grid, as measured by new miles of line, was actually negative on average between 2016 and 2020. Some have faulted the National Environmental Policy Act for this underinvestment, while others have blamed anti-social NIMBYs, both of which, but especially combined, can thwart projects at the permitting stage.
The reality is more complicated and implicates the basic governance of the transmission system. The grid in the United States is owned, operated, and planned largely by a highly fragmented set of privately owned utilities and, in some places, their nonprofit associations, which are regulated at the federal and state level. Transmission owners do not propose and build transmission lines unless they are profitable for their business, which is not guaranteed most of the time. Indeed, new lines can cost transmission owners profits by creating a larger pool of power supply and reducing the energy sales and pricing power of their generation affiliates.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has repeatedly attempted to prod utilities to do more by mandating regional planning procedures. FERC announced its latest regulatory initiative, called Order 1920, last month, and it requires transmission owners to undertake long-range regional planning that considers an array of public benefits, including lower energy prices and enhanced system reliability. In particular, the rule alleviates disputes over investment cost allocation. But stronger planning procedures can hardly ensure that private utilities will actually invest in needed lines. Indeed, FERC’s serial attempts on this front have so far been a failure.
As this FERC activity suggests, the grid is already subject to great public regulation, but this regulatory architecture still falls well short of the public control necessary to treat the grid as a vital common resource whose transformation must be proactively planned and precisely delivered at the system-level. Through public planning and development, we can overcome this structural fragmentation and counteract private utilities’ low propensity to investment across the transmission system. We need a centralized system of public planning, funding, and construction of transmission facilities. We need to nationalize the grid.
The benefits of grid expansion are manifold and go well beyond just the functionality of decarbonization. More connections between states and regions can lower the price of electricity and improve reliability, which will become an increasingly pressing issue in the face of further climate destabilization. And yet our transmission system consists of regional and subregional grids “that operate like jealous petty potentates, resisting stronger links that would allow renewable energy to flow across regional boundaries,” in the words of the New York Times editorial board. Projects founder over disputes between utilities over how to distribute costs, while other necessary new additions are never proposed in the first place. This is a structural problem that leads to quantitative underinvestment and qualitative poor coordination of investment across the balkanized system.
The public pays for investments in the electricity system, whether through taxes or consumer electricity bills in monopoly serviced systems down the line. Public investment in critical infrastructure is cheaper for the public than private investment due to the lower costs of debt financing or direct access to the U.S. Treasury for public agencies. These entities are also free from the imperative to maximize shareholder returns and pay dividends. Public investment is more flexible and can adopt a system-wide approach, as opposed to one blinkered at the level of the project. Instead of piecemeal line extensions, the grid can be expanded in a methodical and holistic fashion in accordance with social need.
Public power is firmly established in the United States. Public agencies such as the federal Tennessee Valley Authority and state-owned New York Power Authority generate and transmit power. In nearly the entire contiguous United States west of the Mississippi River, three federal power administrations own transmission lines and can construct new ones. Congress should set up and fund federal authorities across the country to build the power grid we desperately need, coordinating with each other and through federal level planning, and working with, and when needed against, the current assemblage of private utilities.
The Bonneville Power Administration in the Pacific Northwest offers a good model of governance. It is led by a single administrator appointed by the Secretary of Energy. This official has the broad authority to set rates on wholesale power and transmission and develop the regional grid. But these important decisions can only be made after close consultation with retail and wholesale customers, Native American tribes, elected officials, and environmental groups and are reviewed by FERC. This system ensures efficient, publicly accountable management of the grid.
Given the tight timeline we face to deliver on critical decarbonization pillars, one might ask, why experiment with a publicly led approach? We might stoke private utility backlash and weaken or slow the broader project of cleaning up the power supply. But private utilities have had decades to deliver a modern grid and failed. Because of the pressing need to decarbonize and fortify resilience against entrenched climate instability, the necessity of building state capacity is a sober reality. We cannot begin to build necessary state capacity without first acknowledging this necessity and acting in light of it.
North America’s power grid is called the “world’s largest machine” because it is a complex physical infrastructure that must be in perfect balance every second. Our homes, places of work and leisure, and increasingly vehicles are all plugged into the grid. Preserving modern living standards—and an inhabitable planet—requires expanding and rationally operating this common resource. This social undertaking is too important to be entrusted to private corporations.
https://heatmap.news/economy/ferc-public-power-grid
7-year-old Oracle WebLogic bug under active exploitation
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Experts say Big Red will probably re-release patch in an upcoming cycle
A seven-year-old Oracle vulnerability is the latest to be added to CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerability (KEV) catalog, meaning the security agency considers it a significant threat to federal government.…
BT chief blames regulations for UK lagging in next-gen network rollout
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Someone noticed Britain’s about to elect a new govt, amirite?
The latest CEO of UK telecoms giant BT says that Scandinavian nations are far more developed than Britain when it comes to telco infrastructure, and the government needs to overhaul regulations to fix this.…
@Tomosino’s Mastodon feed (date: 2024-06-06, from: Tomosino’s Mastodon feed)
Kiddo’s last day of year 6 today. It’s going too fast
https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/112568979937258341
As Zelenskyy visits for D-Day, Macron promises Ukraine Mirage aircraft to fend off Russian attacks
date: 2024-06-06, from: Associated Press, World News
French President Emmanuel Macron says France will provide Ukraine with its Mirage combat aircraft to be able to defend their country against Russian aggression.
Teach your tomato plant to talk
date: 2024-06-06, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Meet Audrey, a Raspberry Pi 5-enhanced tomato plant who uses AI to talk to you and help you look after her better.
The post Teach your tomato plant to talk appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/teach-your-tomato-plant-to-talk/
Bill Miranda | Beat the Heat This Summer with Santa Clarita Transit
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
As the days start to feel longer and warmer, summer adventures in Santa Clarita are on the horizon. Whether you’re local or a visitor eager to explore all that our […]
The post Bill Miranda | Beat the Heat This Summer with Santa Clarita Transit appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/bill-miranda-beat-the-heat-this-summer-with-santa-clarita-transit/
Can AI models trained on human speech help us understand dogs?
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
What’s that Lassie? Our nefarious AI overlords are about to take over the world? You must be barking
People who want to understand their dogs might be about to be given a helping paw by AI, according to the latest study.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/dog_speech_ai_models/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-06, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in May 2024.
https://electrek.co/2024/06/06/here-are-the-best-electric-bikes-you-can-buy-at-every-price-level/
A Home on a Country Lane
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Sweet farmhouse near Oak Park is now “Bonnie’s Barn.”
The post A Home on a Country Lane appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/06/a-home-on-a-country-lane/
House Hunting with a Designer’s Eye
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Look past the current details to imagine your new home.
The post House Hunting with a Designer’s Eye appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/06/house-hunting-with-a-designers-eye/
Microsoft Research chief scientist has no issue with Windows Recall
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
As tool emerges to probe OS feature’s SQLite-based store of user activities
Asked to explore the data privacy issues arising from Microsoft Recall, the Windows maker’s poorly received self-surveillance tool, Jaime Teevan, chief scientist and technical fellow at Microsoft Research, brushed aside concerns.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/microsoft_research_recall/
Lois Eisenberg | Hypocrisy of SCOTUS
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
The Supreme Court is blatantly delaying its decision about Donald Trump’s immunity case and in doing so they are doing the U.S. a grave injustice. It is obvious that the […]
The post Lois Eisenberg | Hypocrisy of SCOTUS appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/lois-eisenberg-hypocrisy-of-scotus/
Dan Walters | California Restaurants and the ‘Junk Fee’ Ban
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
A friend and I recently met at a chain restaurant in Sacramento for our weekly lunch. Both of us ordered $16 plates of Mexican food. When the bill came, it totaled […]
The post Dan Walters | California Restaurants and the ‘Junk Fee’ Ban appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/dan-walters-california-restaurants-and-the-junk-fee-ban/
Christine Flowers | Alito Dust-Up Has Nothing to Do with Flags
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
I have never been married, nor do I have any children. I grew up around married people. I descend from a whole line of married people. I have friends who […]
The post Christine Flowers | Alito Dust-Up Has Nothing to Do with Flags appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/christine-flowers-alito-dust-up-has-nothing-to-do-with-flags/
Benefits from Urban Mini-Forests
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Low costs, fast results, and great enjoyment. Why not?
The post Benefits from Urban Mini-Forests appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/06/benefits-from-urban-mini-forests/
Today in SCV History (June 6)
date: 2024-06-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1824 – Mexican soldiers track runaway Chumash slaves through the Santa Clarita Valley. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-june-6/
County CEO: Cannabis Tax Revenues Are Falling Short — Again
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Four pot shops in unincorporated areas were expected to open but didn’t, officials said.
The post County CEO: Cannabis Tax Revenues Are Falling Short — Again appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/06/county-ceo-cannabis-tax-revenues-are-falling-short-again/
Tokyo takes on Tinder by developing its own dating app it hopes will arrest population decline
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
We’re from the government and we want you to find love and procreate
The city of Tokyo plans to launch a dating app in coming months, in the hope it helps to address Japan’ declining population.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/tokyo_dating_app/
Wi-Fi can watch your heart beating, Taiwan’s datacenter power outfit Delta finds
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
May come in handy for healthcare orgs, or to turn you off private 5G
Computex Delta is a Taiwanese company that specializes in power management kit, the sort of thing that datacenters need. It’s therefore very much in demand right now but also, as revealed in the final keynote address of the 2024 edition of the Computex conference, undertakes some tangential R&D…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/wifi_motion_detection_delta_computex/
Vandalism of USC Chabad house not hate crime, early evidence suggests
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the crime on Rabbi Dov and Runya Wagner’s house, which has served as USC’s Chabad House for the past five years.
The post Vandalism of USC Chabad house not hate crime, early evidence suggests appeared first on Daily Trojan.
Google takes on virtual desktops with acquisition of app-streamer Cameyo
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Legacy apps on Chromebooks is the goal, which won’t terrify VDI incumbents like Citrix and Omnissa
Google has decided to take on the likes of Citrix and VMware by acquiring an outfit called Cameyo whose tech makes it possible to stream apps into browsers – including on Chromebooks.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/google_acquires_cameyo_vdi_challenge/
Negotiator discusses pathways of gaining release of wrongfully detained Americans
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
Our Beloved Pets & Animals, 2024 Edition
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Celebrating Santa Barbara’s furry, scaly, blubbery, and feathery friends.
The post Our Beloved Pets & Animals, 2024 Edition appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/05/our-beloved-pets-animals-2024-edition/
Meet the Fido Photo Contest Winners!
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Sibling labs attached at the hip, Cover Boy Harley, and a rescue from Qatar.
The post Meet the Fido Photo Contest Winners! appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/05/meet-the-fido-photo-contest-winners/
A Whale of a Day to Santa Cruz Island
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
After some epic kayaking through sea caves, we were greeted by a big surprise guest.
The post A Whale of a Day to Santa Cruz Island appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/05/a-whale-of-a-day-to-santa-cruz-island/
Our Beautiful ― and Badass ― Barn Owls
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
After years of waiting, we’re thrilled to welcome a new nest.
The post Our Beautiful ― and Badass ― Barn Owls appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/05/our-beautiful-%e2%80%95-and-badass-%e2%80%95-barn-owls/
Inside Santa Barbara County Animal Services
date: 2024-06-06, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
An interview with Sarah Aguilar, director of S.B.’s largest animal agency.
The post Inside Santa Barbara County Animal Services appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/05/inside-santa-barbara-county-animal-services/
Hart school board appoints Vierra as interim superintendent
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
As the William S. Hart Union High School District prepares for the impending departure of Superintendent Mike Kuhlman, the governing board appointed Deputy Superintendent Michael Vierra to be the district’s […]
The post Hart school board appoints Vierra as interim superintendent appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/hart-school-board-appoints-vierra-as-interim-superintendent/
Costs of World War II, Ukraine war fuse as Allies remember D-Day without Russia
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
UTAH BEACH, France — As the sun sets on the D-Day generation, it will rise again Thursday over the Normandy beaches where the waves long ago washed away the blood and boot-steps of its soldiers, but where their exploits that helped end Adolf Hitler’s tyranny are being remembered by the next generations, seeing war again in Europe, in Ukraine.
Ever-dwindling numbers of World War II veterans who have pilgrimaged back to France, and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that has dashed hopes that lives and cities wouldn’t again be laid to waste in Europe, are making the always poignant anniversaries of the June 6, 1944, Allied landings even more so 80 years on.
As now-centenarian veterans revisit old memories and fallen comrades buried in Normandy graves, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presence at D-Day commemorations with world leaders — including U.S. President Joe Biden — who are supporting his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion will inevitably fuse together World War II’s awful past with the fraught present on Thursday.
The break of dawn almost eight decades exactly after Allied troops waded ashore under hails of gunfire on five code-named beaches — Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword — will kick off a day of remembrance by Allied nations now standing together again behind Ukraine — and with World War II ally Russia not invited by host France. It cited Russia’s “war of aggression against Ukraine that has intensified in recent weeks” for the snub.
With the dead and wounded on both sides in Ukraine estimated in the hundreds of thousands, commemorations for the more than 4,400 Allied dead on D-Day and many tens of thousands more, including French civilians, killed in the ensuing Battle of Normandy are tinged with concerns that World War II lessons are being lost.
“There are things worth fighting for,” said World War II veteran Walter Stitt, who fought in tanks and turns 100 in July, as he visited Omaha Beach this week. “Although I wish there was another way to do it than to try to kill each other.”
“We’ll learn one of these days, but I won’t be around for that,” he said.
Conscious of the inevitability that major D-Day anniversaries will soon take place without World War II veterans, huge throngs of aficionados in uniforms and riding vehicles of the time, and tourists soaking up the spectacle, have flooded Normandy for the 80th anniversary.
The fair-like atmosphere fueled by World War II-era jeeps and trucks tearing down hedge-rowed lanes so deadly for Allied troops who fought dug-in German defenders, and of reenactors playing at war on sands where D-Day soldiers fell, leave open the question of what meaning anniversaries will have once the veterans are gone.
But at the 80th, they’re the VIPs of commemorations across the Normandy coast where the largest-ever land, sea and air armada punctured Hitler’s defenses in Western Europe and helped precipitate his downfall 11 months later.
Those who traveled to Normandy include women who were among the millions who built bombers, tanks and other weaponry and played other vital World War II roles that were long overshadowed by the combat exploits of men.
“We weren’t doing it for honors and awards. We were doing it to save our country. And we ended up helping save the world,” said 98-year-old Anna Mae Krier, who worked as a riveter building B-17 and B-29 bombers.
Feted wherever they go in wheelchairs and walking with canes, veterans are using their voices to repeat their message they hope will live eternal: Never forget.
“To know the amount of people who were killed here, just amazing,” 98-year-old Allan Chatwin, who served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, said as he visited Omaha, the deadliest of the Allied beaches on D-Day.
He quickly added: “I don’t know that amazing is the word.”
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-06, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Hit Man director Richard Linklater: Grown-up films 'out of fashion' in Hollywood. (We noticed.)
Chiquita Canyon hosts informational meetings on relief fund
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
By Perry Smith and Katherine Quezada Chiquita Canyon Landfill officials said a pair of in-person informational sessions hosted at Val Verde Park and Castaic Library, respectively, on Friday and Saturday […]
The post Chiquita Canyon hosts informational meetings on relief fund appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/chiquita-canyon-hosts-informational-meetings-on-relief-fund/
Synology stretches into a backup appliance, with object stores to come
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Would like to vanquish Veeam and Veritas, but tidying up backup rigs is an easier job
Computex Taiwanese storage vendor Synology has revealed a range of backup appliances.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/synology_backup_activeprotect/
Frustrated With University, Academic Workers Make UC Irvine The Sixth Campus To Enter Strike
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The LAist
UC Irvine’s teaching assistants, postdocs, and researchers are the latest to walk off the job in a dispute over the university’s handling of campus protests.
https://laist.com/news/education/academic-worker-strike-university-of-california-irvine
Students showcase biotechnology research
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Round Up (Peirce College Student Paper)
Students and visitors entering Building 600 on June 1 would later leave with newfound knowledge of plant and soil science, DNA barcoding and protein biomanufacturing,
The post Students showcase biotechnology research appeared first on .
Saugus school board discusses future of gender-specific events
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
Emotions ran high at Tuesday’s Saugus Union High School District governing board meeting as board members, district officials and attendees discussed how best to approach gender-specific events. The issue arose […]
The post Saugus school board discusses future of gender-specific events appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/saugus-school-board-discusses-future-of-gender-specific-events/
SCV 2024 baseball roundup
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
For the second straight year, a CIF baseball championship returned to the Santa Clarita Valley. Hart hoisted the CIF Division 2 trophy and earned coach Jim Ozella the ultimate prize […]
The post SCV 2024 baseball roundup appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/scv-2024-baseball-roundup/
Valencia incoming senior places third in biomimicry competition
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
Biomimicry— the art of emulating nature into human engineering. Emma Winter, 16, an incoming senior at Valencia High School, did just that, submitting her design through the Biomimicry Institute, and […]
The post Valencia incoming senior places third in biomimicry competition appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/valencia-incoming-senior-places-third-in-biomimicry-competition/
Volunteers help clear local hiking trails for National Trails Day
date: 2024-06-06, from: The Signal
In the hills and trails along Placerita Canyon Road, volunteers with SCV Trail Users gathered at the Golden Valley Ranch and East Walker Ranch open spaces to work on local […]
The post Volunteers help clear local hiking trails for National Trails Day appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/volunteers-help-clear-local-hiking-trails-for-national-trails-day/
Ocean Water Warning for June 6
date: 2024-06-06, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health cautions residents who are planning to visit the below Los Angeles County beaches to avoid swimming, surfing, and playing in ocean waters
https://scvnews.com/ocean-water-warning-for-june-6-2/
Democratic contraception access bill fails in US Senate
date: 2024-06-06, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — A bill to safeguard access to contraceptives failed to advance in a U.S. Senate vote on Wednesday, after congressional Democrats forced the vote in a bid to focus public attention on reproductive rights ahead of the November election.
The Right to Contraception Act, which would protect birth control access nationwide, got 51 votes in support and 39 against, but fell short of the chamber’s 60-vote threshold for advancing to a full debate.
The fight over reproductive rights is a flashpoint in U.S. politics, especially since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision that had recognized a national right to abortion access.
Last month, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump came under fire after comments that political rivals said suggested he would consider banning birth control, leading him to respond publicly that he would not support such a move.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer on Wednesday pointed to several states, including Nevada and Virginia, where Republican governors have vetoed efforts to protect legal access to contraception, saying that showed a need for federal legislation.
“We are kidding ourselves if we think the hard right will stop at overturning Roe,” he said.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives said they would attempt a legislative maneuver to force a vote on the same bill, though they faced slim chance of success in the Republican-controlled chamber.
“Republicans have a choice to make: They can put aside their MAGA ideology and join us [to] get this bill passed, or they can triple down on their anti-freedom extremism in full view of the American people,” House Democrat Katherine Clark said on Tuesday.
Republican Representative Marc Molinaro, who won his district in 2022 by just 1.6%, said on Wednesday that he would cosponsor the legislation, the first Republican to do so.
Some Senate Republicans criticized the push.
“It’s an election year in which a Democratic incumbent president is running behind, so a decision has been made to raise abortion to a high profile,” said Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, referring to President Joe Biden. “You can’t normalize a procedure where the intent is to end a life.”
In a May Reuters/Ipsos survey of 3,934 U.S. residents 18 and older, 37% said Biden has a better approach to abortion, compared to 27% who said the same about Trump.
Schumer said Democrats would also vote on a bill next week to protect in vitro fertilization, which Senate Republicans previously voted against after an Alabama court made the fertility treatment used by millions of Americans to conceive effectively illegal in the state.
https://www.voanews.com/a/democratic-contraception-access-bill-fails-in-us-senate-/7644548.html
FTX’s $24B tax bill written down to just $200M
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
No, this isn’t the weird logic of cryptocurrency infecting the IRS. It’s a ‘Fight us and everyone loses even more’ kinda deal
Imploded cryptocurrency exchange FTX owes a lot of people a lot of money – but has convinced America’s tax collectors at the IRS to give it a massive discount on its $24 billion tax bill.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/06/ftx_tax_irs/
Expose Kubernetes services via inlets tunnels on AWS EC2
date: 2024-06-06, updated: 2024-06-06, from: Inlets.dev, cloud tunneling
Learn how to install an inlets tunnel server to AWS EC2 and expose services from within a private Kubernetes cluster.
https://inlets.dev/blog/2024/06/06/tunnel-k8s-via-aws-ec2.html