News gathered 2024-06-17
(date: 2024-06-17 07:54:12)
ACEMAGIC F2A Review: Intel Meteor Lake Mini PC
date: 2024-06-17, from: Liliputing
The ACEMAGIC F2A is a mini PC with a choice of Intel Core Ultra 5 125H or Core Ultra 7 155H processors based on Intel Meteor Lake architecture, support for up to two displays, and the latest networking technologies including WiFi 7 and 2.5 GbE Ethernet. We wanted to know how those features perform in real-world settings, […]
The post ACEMAGIC F2A Review: Intel Meteor Lake Mini PC appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/acemagic-f2a-review-intel-meteor-lake-mini-pc/
curl user survey 2024 analysis
date: 2024-06-17, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog
As tradition dictates, I have spent many hours walking through the responses to the curl user survey of the year. I have sorted tables, rendered updated graphs and tried to wrap my head around what all these numbers might mean and what conclusions and lessons we should draw. I present the results, the collected answers, … Continue reading curl user survey 2024 analysis
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/06/17/curl-user-survey-2024-analysis/
Law firms seek investors’ support in Teradata class action
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Claim analytics and data platform biz misled investors about size of public cloud forecast
Teradata faces the prospect of a class action suit relating to statements to investors.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/teradata_would_be_classactions/
The Fed says one thing, investors hear another
date: 2024-06-17, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Wall Street investors bet on extra rate cuts this year, in spite of Fed predictions that there will be just one. Plus, Megabus parent company Coach USA has filed for bankruptcy after ridership dropped during the pandemic and failed to recover. And for Baltimore firms, work on the Francis Scott Key Bridge reconstruction is personal.
The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes
date: 2024-06-17, from: Quanta Magazine
Making ice requires more than subzero temperatures. The unpredictable process takes microscopic scaffolding, random jiggling and often a little bit of bacteria.The post The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-enduring-mystery-of-how-water-freezes-20240617/
Investigating the Origins of the Crab Nebula With NASA’s Webb
date: 2024-06-17, from: NASA breaking news
New data revises our view of this unusual supernova explosion. A team of scientists used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to parse the composition of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. With the telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) and NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), the team gathered data that is […]
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/investigating-the-origins-of-the-crab-nebula-with-nasas-webb/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-06-17, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
I didn’t know Apple Maps
Now showed bike availability. This is
awesome.
(Timer starts for someone to tell me Android also has this starts…. Now!)
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112632291323193247
Um, what ever did happen with network automation?
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Is it lingering somewhere between fusion power and self-driving cars?
Systems Approach In thinking about the decade-plus worth of efforts to automate the configuration and operation of networks – of which intent-based networking may be the most well-known and ambitious example – are we actually any closer to the automation of networking that we were a decade ago?…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/network_automation/
US aircraft carrier captain counters false Houthi claims on social media
date: 2024-06-17, from: VOA News USA
Travel Troubleshooter: Airbnb host banned after spilling food in another host’s home
date: 2024-06-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
Airbnb bans River Roberts after he accidentally spills food on his host’s sofa. Will he ever be able to book another rental on Airbnb?
Can a Vallejo bird lover do anything to protect a mourning dove nest from predators?
date: 2024-06-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
And a San Jose reader wonders about the plethora of lizards in his backyard.
TasteFood: Beat the heat with this gazpacho recipe
date: 2024-06-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
This summery recipe for gazpacho is easy to make and especially refreshing to enjoy on balmy nights.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/17/tastefood-beat-the-heat-with-this-gazpacho-recipe/
AI Images in Google Search Results Have Opened a Portal to Hell
date: 2024-06-17, from: 404 Media Group
Google image search results are turning up AI-generated images of celebrities and leading users to sites that host AI-generated nudes celebrities made to look like children.
https://www.404media.co/google-image-search-ai-results-have-opened-a-portal-to-hell/
Did your paycheck beat inflation? It’s a toss-up in California
date: 2024-06-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
Average California wages rose 20.9% in four years vs. 19.5% inflation.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/17/did-your-paycheck-beat-inflation-its-a-toss-up-in-california/
Sharing Openly About ShareOpenly
date: 2024-06-17, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">“ShareOpenly breaks the door even wider than sharing to Mastodon, and I intend to be using it to update some of my examples listed above. Thanks Ben for demonstrative and elegant means of sharing.”
Thank you, Alan, for sharing!
There’s more to come on ShareOpenly - more platforms to add, and some tweaks to the CSS so that the whole thing works better on older devices or smaller phone screens. It’s a simple tool, but I’m pleased with how people have reacted to it, and how it’s been carried forward.
There are no terms to sign and there’s nothing to sign up for; adding a modern “share this” button to your site is as easy as following a few very simple instructions.
<p>[<a href="https://cogdogblog.com/2024/06/shareopenly/">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/sharing-openly-about-shareopenly
Point Fire map: Evacuations in Sonoma County wine country
date: 2024-06-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
The approximate perimeter is indicated by the black line and the mandatory evacuation area by the red tint.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/17/point-fire-map-evacuations-in-sonoma-county-wine-country/
Milpitas: Locals petition against high-density friendly zoning in neighborhood
date: 2024-06-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
More than 550 community members living near Landess Avenue – located west of Interstate 680 – have signed a petition urging the City Council to reject plans to rezone the avenue as Neighborhood Commercial Mixed-Use.
Popular Pinole principal put on leave 90 minutes after graduation speech
date: 2024-06-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
Months earlier, the West Contra Costa Unified School District board demoted Kibby Kleiman to teacher status without explanation, a decision that upset many parents and students.
Cops cuff 22-year-old Brit suspected of being Scattered Spider leader
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Spanish cops make arrest at airport before he jetted off to Italy
Spanish police arrested a person they allege to be the leader of the notorious cybercrime gang Scattered Spider just before he boarded a private flight headed to Naples.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/scattered_spider_arrest/
What Happened to Running Tide?
date: 2024-06-17, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Flooding in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s largest city, killed at least eight people • A heat advisory remains in effect across many Northeastern states • A “winter” storm could bring up to 15 inches of snow to parts of Montana and Idaho.
THE TOP FIVE
- At least 14 pilgrims die from extreme heat during Hajj trip to Mecca
At least 14 Jordanians died over the weekend from exposure to extreme heat during the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Another 17 pilgrims are missing. The holy trip, which all Muslims are encouraged to make during their lifetimes, began Friday and will run until Wednesday. It is expected to attract nearly 2 million people. But temperatures this year are dangerously hot, reaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit Sunday and forecast to stay in that range through the rest of the week. As Heatmap’s Jeva Lange explained last year, “because the dates of the annual Hajj are dictated by the lunar calendar, the pilgrimage season has fallen during Saudi Arabia’s hottest months since 2017 and won’t move out of them until 2026.”
- Ocean carbon removal company Running Tide shuts down
Carbon removal startup Running Tide is shutting down and laying off all its remaining employees, citing a lack of demand for the voluntary carbon market. The Portland-based company was founded in 2017. Its technology involved sinking biomass to speed up the ocean’s CO2-capturing capabilities, and with 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide removed and 21,000 credits delivered, it was “the largest company in the world to trap carbon without taking it directly from the air or point of emission,” the Portland Press Herald reported. In March of last year, Running Tide signed a deal with Microsoft to remove 12,000 tons of CO2e over two years. Shopify was also a partner. But the startup began laying off employees in November after offset prices began to plummet and questions arose about the environmental benefits of the voluntary carbon market. CEO Marty Odlin told the Press Herald that a lack of investment from the U.S. government also stunted the company’s growth. “This was still at research scale,” he said. “This needs to be a thousand times larger at industrial scale and it’s going to take a ton of government leadership to get us there.”
- CEO of NextEra criticizes Biden’s China tariffs
Rebecca Kujawa, the CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, which is the largest renewables developer in the U.S., told the Financial Times that President Biden’s tariffs on Chinese clean energy technologies create uncertainty that can hinder development, hike costs, “and make it more difficult to get some of the clean energy goals that the Biden administration has over the finish line.” The White House has a goal for the U.S. of 80% renewable energy generation by 2030 and 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035. Biden imposed a new round of tariffs last month in an effort to protect U.S. manufacturers from cheap Chinese imports of things like solar panels and EVs. The FT noted the tariffs “underscore the difficult balancing act facing the Biden administration as it vies to green the world’s largest economy while building out a supply chain for clean technologies, the bulk of which are produced in China.”
- Study finds climate change strongly affects fireflies
Long-term weather patterns are some of the most important factors when it comes to the health of fireflies in North America, according to a new study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. The researchers used machine learning models to analyze data from more than 24,000 surveys of firefly behavior and rank the importance of certain risk factors (like pesticides, light pollution, land cover, topography, and weather/climate patterns) on the insects’ populations. Their results point to more frequent hot days as one of the most “predictive” variables, meaning that firefly populations seem more vulnerable to changes in climate than to other factors like chemical sprays or artificial light. The researchers say that, “given the significant impact that climactic and weather conditions have on firefly abundance, there is a strong likelihood that firefly populations will be influenced by climate change, with some regions becoming higher quality and supporting larger firefly populations, and others potentially losing populations altogether.”
- EU approves ‘Nature Restoration Law’
The European Union this morning approved a landmark environmental policy, paving the way for it to become law. The long-awaited “Nature Restoration Law” aims to restore ecosystems, bolster biodiversity, and help the bloc achieve its climate objectives. More than 80% of Europe’s habitats are in poor condition. The new law will require member states to restore at least 20% of their land and seas by 2030, with the aim of restoring all struggling ecosystems by 2050. Some countries opposed the measure due to concerns it will slow the expansion of new energy projects.
THE KICKER
“You’ll never find an insurer saying, ‘I don’t believe in climate change.’” –John Neal, chief executive of Lloyd’s of London, the world’s largest insurance marketplace
https://heatmap.news/politics/running-tide-carbon-shut-down
With rents on the decline, he decided to look for a new place. What could he find in the East Bay for $2,000?
date: 2024-06-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
Bay Area man’s quest ends with three apartments to pick from. Here’s which one he chose, and why.
Is it time to treat social media like cigarettes?
date: 2024-06-17, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has called for cigarette-style warning labels aimed at young users of social media platforms, citing social media’s significant contributions to the mental health crisis among adolescents. Plus, a surge in secondhand shopping among consumers, and a look inside the world of gender-affirming vocal coaching.
Microsoft resumes rollout of Windows 11 24H2 to Insiders
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Everything is fine, despite Recall setting fire to the house that Gates built
And just like that, Windows 11 24H2 is back.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/windows_11_24h2/
Surgeon general calls for social media warning labels, like those on cigarettes
date: 2024-06-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
“It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.”
LAUSD Considers A Phone-Free School Day, For Real This Time
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The LAist
The Los Angeles Unified board will consider directing staff to create a policy that would ban student phones and social media use from bell to bell.
https://laist.com/news/education/lausd-los-angeles-unified-cellphone-ban
Single family residence in Milpitas sells for $2.2 million
date: 2024-06-17, from: San Jose Mercury News
A spacious house located in the 600 block of Stemel Court in Milpitas has new owners. The 2,097-square-foot property, built in 1978, was sold on May 28, 2024, for $2,215,000, or $1,056 per square foot.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/17/single-family-residence-in-milpitas-sells-for-2-2-million/
Asda IT staff shuffled off to TCS amid messy tech divorce from Walmart
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Infrastructure teams have ‘eye on door’ as SAP migration enters critical phase
Exclusive Asda is transferring more than 100 internal IT workers to Indian outsourcing company TCS as it labors to meet deadlines to move away from IT systems supported by previous owner, Walmart, by the end of the year.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/asda_tupe_tcs/
To Win a Climate Election, Don’t Say ‘Climate’
date: 2024-06-17, from: Heatmap News
Earlier this month, an odd little ad began appearing on TVs in Michigan. On first watch, it plays like any other political advertisement you’d see on television this time of year. In it, Michigan governor and Biden surrogate Gretchen Whitmer touts the high-paying electric vehicle manufacturing jobs that the Democratic administration has brought to her state. Watch the spot a few times, though, and it soon becomes clear what it’s missing.
Climate change.
The 30-second ad by Evergreen Action, an advocacy group linked to Washington Governor Jay Inslee, promotes “electric cars that power our economy and our future,” “training Michigan workers for high-paying jobs,” and policies that are “good for our economy.” This is all clearly referencing programs in the Inflation Reduction Act, arguably the most significant piece of climate legislation ever enacted in the United States, and yet the spot doesn’t once mention the one big upside all these upsides have in common. According to new polling that Third Way, a center-left think tank, shared exclusively with Heatmap News, that’s a good thing.
“Climate, as a message, is not going to drive turnout,” Emily Becker, the deputy director of communications for Third Way’s Climate and Energy team, told me.
While most Americans believe the planet is warming due to human activity and overwhelmingly want the government to do something about it, “climate change” — at least in those words — is almost never their most important issue. According to prior polling by Third Way and confirmed in issue polls run by firms like Pew, voters who say the economy is their No. 1 priority make up a plurality of the electorate, while “climate-first” voters represent a much smaller (and typically, whiter, older, and wealthier) subsection.
The new poll, conducted in mid-May and released on Monday, was done in partnership with Impact Research, a progressive polling firm that also works directly with Biden. What Third Way wanted was a better understanding of when and where climate becomes a make-or-break issue. The results show that just over half of Americans (54%) would back a candidate who views clean energy as a priority. When presented with the hypothetical of picking between a candidate who wants immediate climate action and one who “feels we must address inflation before combating climate change,” the numbers dip; just 40% of respondents said they’d vote for the former candidate, and 47% picked the inflation-busting latter.
Of course, this is a made-up scenario. For one thing, the clean energy build-out is inflation-busting, and lest we forget, the 2024 election is between a candidate who passed the most substantial climate legislation in U.S. history and one who still claims climate change is a hoax. But inflation is the heavy-weight issue in America right now. “People are going to prioritize anything that impacts them personally,” Anat Shenker-Osorio, a strategic communications consultant and the host of the podcast Words to Win By, told me.
Shenker-Osorio said she interprets the candidate question as a victory for climate advocates. Sure, when forced to make a binary, zero-sum choice between climate and inflation, the respondents to this poll chose the latter — but only by 7 points, and with a margin of error of 3.1. Climate advocates have done an “extraordinary job to bring voters into a place where they’re only 7 points underwater on this make-believe question, where somehow tackling corporate price gouging and raising people’s wages can’t be done if we are also tackling climate change,” Shenker-Osorio told me.
Shenker-Osorio did agree, however, that the word “climate” needs to be used carefully, at risk of confusing or alienating voters. “I’m not arguing that the winner here is to say ‘climate change’ over and over and over again,” she said. “I also don’t use that in my messaging. It’s way too abstract.” Shenker-Osorio pointed to phrases like “damage to our climate” instead, and stressed to me that it is important for Democratic candidates and their surrogates to “present a positive vision, which is: the clean energy future is ours for the taking.”
Becker, of Third Way, acknowledged that the question presented a blatantly artificial scenario, but argued that “using measures that can be imperfect can still be revelatory in terms of how individuals think about this issue.” For example, while emissions reduction is an obvious upside of clean energy — it’s literally emphasized in the name! — the polling confirmed that centering discussions of things like solar power and EVs on the high-paying jobs and cost-saving upsides was more productive than opining about saving the planet.
Finding the right balance might not seem too hard, but when you have a 30-second ad spot running in living rooms across Michigan, every single word needs to be high impact. And manufacturing electric cars because they “power our economy and our future?” That’s an upside everyone can agree on.
https://heatmap.news/sparks/climate-inflation-poll
Railbiking Is Catching On Across the Nation—Here’s Where to Try It Yourself
date: 2024-06-17, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Sit back, relax and pedal your way along historic railroad tracks
AWS is pushing ahead with MFA for privileged accounts. What that means for you …
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The clock is ticking – why not try a passkey?
Heads up: Amazon Web Services is pushing ahead with making multi-factor authentication (MFA) mandatory for certain users, and we love to see it.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/aws_mfa_roll_out/
How the National Archives Became NARS
date: 2024-06-17, from: National Archives, Pieces of History blog
On June 19, 1934, the National Archives was created as an independent agency. But just 15 years later, on June 30, 1949, Congress passed legislation moving the National Archives to the newly created General Services Administration (GSA) and renamed it the National Archives and Records Service (NARS). Today we’re looking at the events that led … Continue reading How the National Archives Became NARS
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2024/06/17/how-the-national-archives-became-nars/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-17, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Biden Unloads on Trump In New Ad.
https://politicalwire.com/2024/06/17/biden-unloads-on-trump-in-new-ad/
French President launches election campaign amid challenge from far right
date: 2024-06-17, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Emmanuel Macron has kicked off a fortnight of frenetic election campaigning as he gambles everything to stave off a big challenge from the far right. German sportswear giant Adidas is investigating what it calls ‘potential compliance violations in China’ after reports that senior managers at the Chinese branch allegedly received bribes from suppliers. The European Soccer Championship has kicked off and it offers significant branding opportunities — this year, Nike is outspending its rivals, securing 37.5% of the visibility with nine team deals.
UK’s Total Fitness exposed nearly 500k images of members and staff through unprotected database
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Health club chain headed for the spa on choose a password day
A security researcher claims UK health club and gym chain Total Fitness bungled its data protection responsibilities by failing to lock down a database chock-full of members’ personal data.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/uks_total_fitness_exposed_nearly/
Globetrotting NASA Research Model Increases Accuracy
date: 2024-06-17, from: NASA breaking news
NASA and its international partners are using the same generically shaped wing design to create physical and digital research models to better understand how air moves around an aircraft during takeoff and landing. Various organizations are doing computer modeling with computational tools and conducting wind tunnel tests using the same High Lift Common Research Model […]
https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/research-model-increases-accuracy/
US soldier tells Russian court he did not threaten to kill his girlfriend
date: 2024-06-17, from: VOA News USA
Nearly 20% of running SQL Servers have passed end of support
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
That beige box running a server is easily forgotten … until it goes wrong
Exclusive IT asset management platform Lansweeper has dispensed a warning for enterprise administrators everywhere. Exactly how old is that SQL Server on which your business depends?…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/outdated_sql_server/
Spending on nuclear weapons hit $91.4 billion in 2023, watchdog finds
date: 2024-06-17, from: VOA News USA
GENEVA — The world’s nine nuclear-armed states together spent $91.4 billion last year, or nearly $3,000 per second, as they “continue to modernize, and in some cases expand their arsenals,” according to a report issued Monday by ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
“This money is effectively being wasted given that the nuclear-armed states agree that a nuclear war can never be won and should never be fought,” Alicia Sanders-Zakre, co-author of the report, told journalists in Geneva last week in advance of the report’s publication.
For example, she said, $91.4 billion a year “could pay for wind power for more than 12 million homes to combat climate change or cover 27 percent of the global funding gap to fight climate change, protect biodiversity and cut pollution.”
The report shows the nuclear-armed states spent $10.7 billion more on nuclear weapons in 2023 compared with 2022, with the United States accounting for 80% of that increase.
ICAN reports the United States spent $51.5 billion, “more than all the other nuclear-armed countries put together.” It says the next biggest spender was China at $11.8 billion with Russia spending the third largest amount at $8.3 billion.
The report notes that the United Kingdom’s “spending was up significantly for the second year in a row,” with a 17% increase to $8.1 billion, just behind Russia.
The combined total of the five other nuclear powers, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea, amounted to $11.6 billion last year.
The authors of the report say companies involved in the production of nuclear weapons received new contracts worth just less than $7.9 billion in 2023. Analysis of data gathered over the past five years shows that the nuclear-armed states collectively spent $387 billion on their nuclear arsenals.
“There has been a notable upward trend in the amount of money devoted to developing these most inhumane and destructive of weapons over the past five years, which is now accelerating,” Sanders-Zakre said. “All this money is not improving global security. In fact, it is threatening people wherever they live.”
Arms control experts share these concerns and warn of the dangers of a new arms race as the nuclear powers build up their arsenals in defiance of the spirit of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology.
A report in the May issue of Foreign Affairs magazine cites Washington’s concerns about China’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal. According to Pentagon estimates, “Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, Beijing is on track to amass 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030, up from around 200 in 2019.”
A 2023 report by the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States insists that China’s nuclear expansion should prompt U.S. policymakers to “re-evaluate the size and composition of the U.S. nuclear force.”
The commission also expressed disquiet at Russia’s increasingly aggressive behavior, “including the unprecedented growth of its nuclear forces, diversification and expansion of its theater-based nuclear systems, the invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and subsequent full-scale invasion in February 2022.”
International anxiety about an accidental or deliberate tactical nuclear attack by Russia was on display this past weekend at the G7 summit in Italy and at the peace summit for Ukraine in Switzerland.
In their final communique, the G7 leaders condemned Russia’s “blatant breach of international law” affirming that “in this context, threats by Russia of nuclear weapons use, let alone any use of nuclear weapons by Russia in the context of its war of aggression against Ukraine, would be inadmissible.”
This sentiment was mirrored in a final declaration signed by most of the 100 countries that attended the Ukrainian peace conference. Notable holdouts included India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
Referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, ICAN Executive Director Melissa Parke warned, “This war has increased nuclear tensions between Russia and the West to their highest level since the Cold War and there is now a real threat of nuclear conflict as a result of Russia’s numerous overt and tacit nuclear threats.”
ICAN’s report, which profiles 20 countries involved in the production, maintenance and development of nuclear weapons, notes that “Altogether there is $335 billion in outstanding contracts related to nuclear weapons work.”
While the report shows significant growth in nuclear spending over the last five years, Susi Snyder, ICAN’s program coordinator and report co-author, observes “there also has been growth in global resistance to these weapons of mass destruction.”
“The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has signatures from nearly 100 countries. One-hundred-eleven investors representing about $5 trillion in assets stated their support for the treaty,” she said.
“They demanded that more efforts be made to exclude the nuclear weapons industry from their business until these countries stop doing things prohibited by the treaty,” she said, noting the treaty is “a clear pathway forward.”
“It is a way to reduce tensions, to condemn threats, and to stop this new nuclear arms race that we have illustrated here before it surges any further out of control,” she said.
Indian suspect in plot to kill Sikh separatist extradited to US
date: 2024-06-17, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON/PRAGUE — An Indian man suspected by the U.S. of involvement in an unsuccessful plot to kill a Sikh separatist on American soil has been extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic, the Czech justice minister said on Monday.
Nikhil Gupta has been accused by U.S. federal prosecutors of plotting with an Indian government official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S. resident who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India.
Gupta traveled to Prague from India last June and was arrested by Czech authorities. Last month, a Czech court rejected his petition to avoid being sent to the U.S., clearing the way for the Czech justice minister to extradite him.
“On the basis of my decision on (June 3), the Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta, who is suspected of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire with intent to cause death, was extradited to the U.S. on Friday (June 14) for criminal prosecution,” Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek said on social media platform X.
The comments confirmed an earlier Reuters story reporting on the extradition that cited the federal Bureau of Prisons website and a source familiar with the matter.
An inmate search by name on the Bureau of Prisons website showed on Sunday that Gupta, 52, was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, a federal administrative detention facility.
A U.S. Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. Gupta’s U.S.-based lawyer, attorney Jeffrey Chabrowe, had no immediate comment.
The discovery of alleged assassination plots against Sikh separatists in the U.S. and Canada has tested relations with India, seen by Western nations as a counter to China’s rising global influence. India’s government denies involvement in such plots.
Canada said in September its intelligence agencies were pursuing allegations linking India’s government to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023 in Canada.
In November, U.S. authorities said an Indian government official had directed the plot in the attempted murder of Pannun, who is a U.S. and Canadian citizen. Gupta is accused of involvement in that plot.
Pannun told Reuters on Sunday that while the extradition was a welcome step, “Nikhil Gupta is just a foot soldier.”
India’s government has dissociated itself from the plot against Pannun, saying it was against government policy. It has said it would formally investigate security concerns raised by Washington.
The Problem With Climate Finance Targets
date: 2024-06-17, from: Heatmap News
Goodhart’s Law tells us that “when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” The disagreements climate diplomats were having last week highlight why.
Last week, climate negotiators sparred in Bonn, Germany, over a New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance. The NCQG, as it’s labeled, is a new target for how much money governments must mobilize to meet global climate investment needs consistent with goals set down in the United Nations’ landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. Reaching a consensus on the NCQG is the biggest item on negotiators’ plates between Bonn and COP29, the annual United Nations-led conference on climate change, happening this fall in Baku, Azerbaijan. But, true to Goodhart, the global climate targets negotiators are deadlocked over are not good measurements of progress, let alone ones that development countries measured up to.
In 2009, at COP15 in Copenhagen, developed countries set a goal of mobilizing $100 billion annually for climate investments in developing countries by 2020. In 2015, as part of the Paris Agreement, the world’s climate diplomats agreed to set an updated goal — the NCQG — before 2025. In the interim, developed countries achieved their original goal, although years later than planned and amidst allegations that some of their grants and loans were merely existing sources of development financing dressed up as climate finance. That there is no fixed definition of the term “climate finance” makes the $100 billion target doubly fuzzy: Upon closer inspection, some spending classified as climate finance doesn’t really seem like it should count, while other spending seems to have circled back to donor country governments, consultants, and nonprofits.
Despite these measurement issues, negotiators at Bonn pressed for an ambitious updated target. There was consensus that the NCQG could not be less than $100 billion annually — but that is where agreement ended. While negotiators from developing countries ― particularly those from African and Asian governments ― called for an NCQG as high as $1.4 trillion annually over the next five years, developed country negotiators refused to commit to a figure, choosing instead to argue over which countries should be expected to pay. Held up over this disagreement, Bonn ended without a resolution even on what a range of possible NCQGs could look like.
Whatever its size, this target means nothing without a plan to deliver it. What’s more, the back-and-forth over the size of the bill and who foots it took up so much time last week that two other long-standing debates were neglected: The first over what type of financing the NCQG should prioritize ― a measurement issue ― and the second about the obstacles (or “disenablers,” as negotiators called them) in the way of achieving that level of financing — a target issue.
As to the type of financing, the share of total official development assistance sent from G7 governments and the European Union to African countries is at its lowest in 50 years, making it possible to conclude, as did an EU negotiator at Bonn, that “public resources alone will not suffice” to meet the NCQG. The growing scale of the climate challenge, weighed against this apparent (if arguably self-imposed) inadequate public spending by developed countries, has prompted policymakers to advocate for greater private-sector involvement in meeting global climate finance targets. The United States in particular has placed heavy emphasis on the need to “mobilize private capital.” This agenda has prompted Global North governments and the World Bank to attract private investors to decarbonization projects in developing countries.
Developing country negotiators and civil society advocates, meanwhile, have long criticized the fact that the majority of the climate financing we know about has come in the form of loans and not grants, and that most of the loans ― some of the ones from the public sector and all of the private loans ― are issued on market-rate rather than “concessional” terms. In other words, all this so-called help places an undue burden on the balance sheets of developing countries, especially as global interest rates stay high.
Some negotiators are looking to incorporate these arguments into the NCQG as a measure of the quality of the financing developing countries receive. And this is where the conversation around the obstacles begins.
One can argue that loans of any kind are better than nothing at all; long-term investments require long-term debt financing. But market-rate loans in the Global South carry prohibitively high interest rates, reflecting the greater risks that private investors think they face when investing. The International Energy Agency confirms that “the cost of capital for a typical solar PV plant in 2021 was between two‐ and three‐times higher in emerging and developing economies than in advanced economies and China.” While policymakers, particularly at the World Bank, are developing tools to “derisk” these investments such that they can be profitable at market interest rates, it’s still not clear that private sector creditors will respond with enthusiasm. Under these conditions, many climate-vulnerable communities are liable to be locked out of capital markets.
Debt, after all, is not inherently bad. High debt-to-GDP ratios don’t mean anything in and of themselves — indeed, taking on debt to finance crucial investments can (and should!) be prosperity-enhancing and increase a country’s future borrowing capacity.
But today’s global economic system is structured in such a way that debt places a needlessly heavy burden on developing countries, contributing to a “crowding out of crucial development spending,” per findings of the UN Development Programme. Almost 40% of developing countries are setting aside over 10% of their governments’ total revenues to cover interest payments; 62% of developing countries’ external public debt is owed to private creditors (again, at market rates). And these figures don’t include the debt that individual firms take on to finance, say, energy infrastructure. Even that requires the governments of developing countries and development banks to derisk low-return projects across much of the Global South, a process which can plant “budgetary time bombs” on those governments’ balance sheets. Where decarbonization is concerned, private balance sheets are also public liabilities.
Developing country governments and firms also face interest rate and foreign exchange shocks, as higher U.S. interest rates and the concomitant threat of currency depreciation strain their abilities to service external debts. The perverse effect is to prioritize hoarding dollars earned through exports as potential shock absorbers rather than channel them toward domestic investment goals. Loans become a millstone around a government’s policy goals, rather than a measurement of its ambitions.
These liquidity risks loom over climate-vulnerable countries. Take Egypt, where this summer is expected to be brutally hot enough to force its government to import more grain and more gas ― putting increased pressure on the already-volatile Egyptian pound ― and to seriously threaten labor productivity. Egypt’s latest Nationally Determined Contribution, its national climate plan, states that it needs approximately $35 billion per year between now and 2030 to meet its climate targets. Yet the International Monetary Fund expects Egypt to spend $50 billion a year on interest payments in that same period, all while Egypt’s recent bailout agreement with the IMF commits to “put debt firmly on a downward path.”
This debt-climate nexus or climate risk doom loop, exemplifies why developing country negotiators and civil society advocates have hesitated to embrace loan-based climate finance. Debt today need not “crowd out” debt-financed climate spending tomorrow. But that’s exactly what’s happening.
So where does that leave us? For all diplomats’ focus on the NCQG target, how they measure it does matter. As it stands, $100 million of climate finance in the form of market-rate loans to developing countries might seriously threaten their debt sustainability. But developed countries, the multilateral development banks, and the International Monetary Fund can change the nature of debt finance. They can commit to making debt easier to bear by offering lower interest rates and extending loan terms. They can issue more of this concessional debt, of course, displacing the panoply of private lenders that currently play in sovereign bond markets. They can reform their lending standards such that they no longer penalize borrowers for carrying high debt-to-GDP ratios when huge debt-financed investment is precisely what staving off climate change requires. And they can set up dollar swap lines to provide developing countries with the resources to manage interest rate and currency value shocks.
These strategies, if fleshed out in practical detail, can sidestep fickle private investors, contribute to an investment-friendly reform of the global macroeconomic architecture, and kickstart a virtuous cycle of green development around the world. That’s the target. Can we measure up to it?
https://heatmap.news/economy/cop29-bonn-climate-finance
Heat wave, heavy rain or snow each threaten parts of US
date: 2024-06-17, from: VOA News USA
PHOENIX — Heat and cold extremes are expected this week in the U.S. Officials warned Southwest residents to take precautions as a heat wave moves east, while heavy rains and flooding could drench the Gulf states and snow threatens parts of the Rockies and Northwest.
Extreme heat spread across Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Texas, Colorado and Kansas as severe weather swept across many parts of the U.S. on Sunday. There was unseasonable cold in the Pacific Northwest, snow headed to the northern Rocky Mountains and heavy rainfall forecast from the northern Plains to the Upper Midwest.
The National Weather Service estimated more than 63 million people were under heat advisories on Sunday, stretching from the Southwest northward up through Denver and into Chicago.
Temperatures in Phoenix, which hit 44.4 Celsius on Saturday, eased slightly on Sunday to 43.3 Celsius. Weather service forecasters say the first two weeks of June in Phoenix have been an average of about 3 degrees Celsius hotter than normal, making it the hottest start to June on record.
“We have already seen some pretty significantly high temperatures in our area,” said Ted Whittock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix. “We are recommending that everyone reduce their time outdoors between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., stay hydrated and wear light, looser fitting clothing.”
The heat in metro Phoenix will ease a bit Monday through Wednesday, with the highs pushing back up as the week progresses, likely prompting another excessive heat warning, Whittock said.
The heat has been especially dangerous in recent years in metro Phoenix, where 645 people died from heat-related causes in 2023, a record.
The city and Maricopa County have adopted additional measures this year in hopes of keeping people safer, including two new overnight cooling centers where people can rest in air conditioning after the sun goes down. There are more than 100 other cooling centers that have been open since May 1 where people can get cold water and sit in a cool space during daytime hours.
In neighboring New Mexico, a heat advisory was in effect over the weekend for the Chavez County plains including Roswell, where the high was forecast to hit 41.6 degrees C on Monday. The high for Albuquerque reached 37 C on Sunday and is forecast to cool slightly to 36 C on Monday. The high Sunday was 40 C in El Paso, Texas, which opened five cooling centers.
Temperatures in Colorado ranged from near 32.2 C in areas of metropolitan Denver Sunday to 37.7 C in the southern city of Pueblo, with temperatures expected to surpass 37.7 C Monday in the southern reaches of the state.
The heat wave was moving eastward Sunday into the Plains and the Great Lakes area and was expected to arrive in the Northeast by Tuesday. The threat of thunderstorms with potential high winds and heavy rainfall increased in the Chicago area, even as heat indices were forecast to reach near 37.7 C through the middle of the week.
As the heat wave spreads eastward, temperatures in Washington and the rest of the mid-Atlantic, as well as New England, were likely to see highs in the mid- to upper-30s C as the week progresses, with excessive humidity making it feel even more oppressive.
The U.S. last year saw the most heat waves, consisting of abnormally hot weather lasting more than two days, since 1936.
While much of the country swelters, late season snow was forecast for the northern Rockies on Monday and Tuesday. Parts of Montana and north-central Idaho were under a winter storm warning, with as much as 15 centimeters of heavy, wet snow expected in the mountains around Missoula, Montana. As much as 51 centimeters was predicted for higher elevations around Glacier National Park.
Meanwhile, a fresh batch of tropical moisture will bring an increasing threat of heavy rain and flash flooding to the central Gulf Coast late Sunday into Monday. Heavy rain is expected to start Monday morning, with the moisture shifting toward the Gulf Coast by Tuesday.
The intense flooding from heavy rains continued to dissipate in southern Florida, where some areas in and around Miami and Fort Lauderdale were left underwater in recent days as storms dumped up to 50 centimeters.
That unnamed storm system coincided with the early start of hurricane season, which this year is forecast to be among the most active in recent memory.
https://www.voanews.com/a/heat-wave-heavy-rain-or-snow-each-threaten-parts-of-us/7658677.html
Can platform-wide AI ever fit into enterprise security?
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
You know what they say about headlines that end in a question mark
Opinion AI – loud, confident, and wrong. That’s not talking about generative AI’s ability to hallucinate, although why not? Rather, it’s about the big picture, the platform-wide Recall from Microsoft and, oh dear, Apple Intelligence.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/opinion_platformwide_ai_security/
Chatkontrolle: Kuhhandel, während niemand hinschaut
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: Chaos Computer Club Updates
Der belgische Vorsitz im Rat der EU will die Chatkontrolle am Mittwochn den 19. Juni, abstimmen lassen. Nach einem weiteren Hütchenspielertrick, den massenhaften Angriff auf Verschlüsselung nicht als solchen erscheinen zu lassen, wackelt nun der Widerstand Frankreichs. Der CCC erinnert daran, dass sich an der Verordnung nichts Nennenswertes geändert hat.
https://www.ccc.de/de/updates/2024/chatkontrolle-kuhhandel-wahrend-niemand-hinschaut
Techie installed ‘user attitude readjustment tool’ after getting hammered in a Police station
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Measure twice, trust never
Who, Me? Welcome once again, gentle readerfolk, to the corner of The Reg we call Who, Me? where each Monday morning we share a reader-submitted tale of tech support gone not-quite-right.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/who_me/
Today in SCV History (June 17)
date: 2024-06-17, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1890 – The 18-day murder trial of Castaic’s W.C. Chormicle and W.A. Gardner ends in acquittal. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-june-17/
Notorious cyber gang UNC3944 attacks vSphere and Azure to run VMs inside victims’ infrastructure
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Who needs ransomware when you can scare techies into coughing up their credentials?
Notorious cyber gang UNC3944 – the crew suspected of involvement in the recent attacks on Snowflake and MGM Entertainment, and plenty more besides – has changed its tactics and is now targeting SaaS applications…
Review | Vampire Weekend’s ‘Only God Was Above Us’ Tour
date: 2024-06-17, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The east coast indie rockers played a sold out show at the Hollywood Bowl with a genre-blending, instinctive set blurring cohesion and experimentation.
The post Review | Vampire Weekend’s ‘Only God Was Above Us’ Tour appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/16/review-vampire-weekends-only-god-was-above-us-tour/
China’s Big Tech companies taught Asia to pay by scanning QR codes, but made a mess along the way
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
A push for interoperability is accelerating, but maybe not fast enough to stop biometrics taking over
Feature From Bangalore to Beijing, when Asians go out to shop, they seldom use a credit or debit card and instead pay using their smartphone to scan a QR code.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/asia_qr_code_obsession/
List of winners at the 2024 Tony Awards
date: 2024-06-17, from: VOA News USA
NEW YORK — Winners at the 2024 Tony Awards, announced Sunday.
Best Musical: “The Outsiders”
Best Play: “Stereophonic”
Best Revival of a Musical: “Merrily We Roll Along”
Best Revival of a Play: “Appropriate”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical: Maleah Joi Moon, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical: Jonathan Groff, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play: Sarah Paulson, “Appropriate”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play: Jeremy Strong, “An Enemy of the People”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical: Daniel Radcliffe, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical: Kecia Lewis, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play: Will Brill, “Stereophonic”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play: Kara Young, “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch”
Best Direction of a Play: Daniel Aukin, “Stereophonic”
Best Direction of a Musical: Danya Taymor, “The Outsiders”
Best Original Score: “Suffs,” music & lyrics: Shaina Taub
Best Book of a Musical: “Suffs,” Shaina Taub
Best Choreography: Justin Peck, “Illinoise”
Best Costume Design of a Play: Dede Ayite, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
Best Costume Design of a Musical: Linda Cho, “The Great Gatsby”
Best Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Best Scenic Design of a Musical: Tom Scutt, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”
Best Scenic Design of a Play: David Zinn, “Stereophonic”
Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Hana S. Kim and Brian MacDevitt, “The Outsiders”
Best Lighting Design of a Play: Jane Cox, “Appropriate”
Best Sound Design of a Play: Ryan Rumery, “Stereophonic”
Best Sound Design of a Musical: Cody Spencer, “The Outsiders”
https://www.voanews.com/a/list-of-winners-at-the-2024-tony-awards/7658614.html
Crypto-failure Terraform Labs to cough $4.5 billion and then liquidate itself
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
South Korean outfit that sparked ‘Crypto Winter’ will melt away after SEC order
Terraform Labs, the outfit behind the $40 billion crash of the TerraUSD stablecoin and its sibling Luna (LUNA) tokens, will pay $4.5 billion to creditors and authorities, then wind itself up.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/terraform_labs_payment_closure/
‘Stereophonic’ wins Tony for best play; women win director, score honors
date: 2024-06-17, from: VOA News USA
NEW YORK — “Stereophonic,” the play about a Fleetwood Mac-like band recording an album over a turbulent and life-changing year, got a lighters-in-the-air cheer at the Tony Awards on Sunday, winning best new play while theater history was made for women as Broadway directors and score writers.
“Stereophonic,” the most-nominated play in Tony Awards history, is a hyper-naturalistic meditation on the thrill and danger of collaborating on art — the compromises, the egos and the joys. It was written by David Adjmi with songs by former Arcade Fire member Will Butler.
“Oh, no. My agent gave me a beta-blocker, but it’s not working,” Adjmi said. He added that the play took 11 years to manifest.
“This was a very hard journey to get up here,” he said. “We need to fund the arts in America.” He dedicated it to all the artists out there.
Danya Taymor — whose aunt is Julie Taymor, the first woman to win a Tony Award for directing a musical — became the 11th woman to win the award. She helmed “The Outsiders,” a gritty musical adaptation of the classic American young adult novel.
“Thank you to the great women who have lifted me up,” she said, naming producer Angelina Jolie among those on her list.
Then Shaina Taub, only the second woman in Broadway history to write, compose and star in a Broadway musical, won for best score, following such writers as Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori. Taub, the force behind “Suffs,” won for best book earlier in the night.
Her musical is about the heroic final years of the fight to allow women to vote, leading to the passage of the 19th Amendment.
“If you are inspired by the story of Suffs, please make sure you and everyone you know have registered to vote and vote, vote, vote!” she said. Taub also said the win was for all the loud girls out there: “Go for it,” she urged.
Earlier, Alicia Keys electrified the show when she teamed up with superstar Jay-Z on their hit “Empire State of Mind.” Keys appeared at the piano on the stage of the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center as the cast of her semi-autobiographical musical, “Hell’s Kitchen,” was presenting a medley of songs. She began singing her and Jay-Z’s 2009 smash before leaving the stage to join the rapper on some interior steps to wild applause.
Host Ariana DeBose kicked off the telecast with an original, acrobatic number, and Jeremy Strong took home the first big award of the night as Broadway’s biggest party opened its arms to hip-hop and rock fans.
Strong, the “Succession” star, landed his first Tony for his work in the revival of Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 political play “An Enemy of the People.” The theater award for best lead actor in a play will sit next to his Emmy, Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe.
The play is about a public-minded doctor in a small town who discovers the water supply for the public spa is contaminated, but his efforts to clean up the mess pit his ethics against political cowards.
“This play is a cry from the heart,” he said.
Kara Young, the first Black performer to be nominated for a Tony three consecutive years in a row, won this time as best featured actress in a play for “Purlie Victorious,” the story of a Black preacher’s scheme to reclaim his inheritance and win back his church from a plantation owner.
“Thank you to my ancestors,” she said, adding thanks to her mom and dad, brother, partner, cast, her co-star Leslie Odom Jr. and her director, Kenny Leon. She saved her last thanks to playwright Ossie Davis and his star Ruby Dee, who originated the role.
“Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe cemented his stage career pivot by winning a featured actor in a musical Tony, his first trophy in five Broadway shows. He won for the revival of “Merrily We Roll Along,” the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical that goes backward in time.
“This is one of the best experiences of my life,” Radcliffe said, thanking his cast and director. “I will never have it as good again.” He also thanked his parents for playing Sondheim in the car growing up.
Kecia Lewis, who plays a formidable piano teacher in “Hell’s Kitchen,” took home her first Tony. The 40-year veteran made her Broadway debut at 18 in the original company of “Dreamgirls” and endured amazing moments and heartbreak.
“This moment is the one I dreamed of for those 40 years,” she told the crowd. “Don’t give up!”
“Appropriate,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ play — centered on a family reunion in Arkansas where everyone has competing motivations and grievances — was named best play revival. Jacobs-Jenkins in his remarks thanked Davis, saying there would be no “Appropriate” without “Purlie Victorious.”
Three-time Tony-honored Chita Rivera got a tribute by Tony winners Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Bebe Neuwirth. Images of her work in “Chicago,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “West Side Story” were projected while dancers mimicked her hit numbers. DeBose, who won an Oscar in Rivera’s old “West Side Story” role of Anita, also joined in.
That didn’t take long: replacement for SORBS spam blacklist arises … sort of
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
ALSO: online adoption cyberstalker nabbed; Tesla trade secrets thief pleads guilty; and a critical ASUS Wi-Fi vuln
In Brief A popular spam blocklist service that went offline earlier this month has advised users it is down permanently – but at least one potential candidate is stepping up to try to fill the threat intelligence void.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/infosec_news_in_brief/
Mexico: Travelers from 177 nations crossed country toward US
date: 2024-06-17, from: VOA News USA
MEXICO CITY — Around 1.39 million people from 177 countries traveled through Mexico so far this year trying to reach the United States without entry papers, the Mexican government said Sunday.
The vast majority were men or women traveling alone, while almost 3,000 were unaccompanied minors, the National Migration Institute said, providing figures for January through the end of May.
The figure of 177 countries of origin represents almost the whole world – the United Nations has 193 member states.
By country, the largest number of would-be migrants at nearly 380,000 came from Venezuela, which has endured severe economic hardship for years, followed by Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and Haiti, all of which are hard hit by gang and drug-trafficking violence.
Others attempting the dangerous trek through Mexico in search of a better life in the United States came from as far afield as China, India, Mauritania and Angola, the institute said.
In 2023 alone more than 2.4 million people crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without the required documentation, according to U.S. figures.
The flow hit a record of 10,000 people per day in December although it has fallen as both countries cracked down on such crossings.
https://www.voanews.com/a/mexico-travelers-from-177-nations-crossed-country-toward-us/7658583.html
Japan’s space junk cleaner hunts down major target
date: 2024-06-17, updated: 2024-06-17, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
PLUS: Australia to age limit social media; Hong Kong’s robo-dogs; India’s new tech minister
The space junk cleaning mission launched by Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has successfully hunted down one of its targets.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/17/asia_tech_news_roundup/
Golf’s DeChambeau holds nerve to win US Open
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/golf-s-dechambeau-holds-nerve-to-win-us-open/7658250.html
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-06-16, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Loved Journsl before iOS 18, love it even more now with the search, exports, UI touchups and stats:
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112628760812357676
Santa Barbara Unified Hires a School Bus Service
date: 2024-06-16, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The new carrier Zum seeks 46 new bus drivers before school starts in August.
The post Santa Barbara Unified Hires a School Bus Service appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/16/santa-barbara-unified-hires-a-bus-service/
American tourist dies on Greek island near Corfu, 3 others missing
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
Athens, Greece — A missing American tourist has been found dead on a beach on a small Greek island west of Corfu, local media reported.
The body of the man was found Sunday on a rocky, fairly remote beach on the island of Mathraki by another tourist. He had been reported missing Thursday by his host, a Greek-American friend. The tourist had last been seen Tuesday at a cafe in the company of two female tourists who have since left the island.
No further details about the victim, including a name or hometown, were immediately available.
Mathraki, which has a population of 100, is a 3.9-square-kilometer (1.2-square-mile) heavily wooded island, west of the better-known island of Corfu.
This was the latest in a string of recent cases in which tourists on the Greek islands have died or gone missing. Some, if not all, had set out on hikes in very hot temperatures.
A 74-year-old Dutch tourist was found by a fire department drone Saturday lying face down in a ravine about 300 meters (330 yards) from the spot where he was last observed last Sunday, walking with some difficulty in the blistering heat.
Dr. Michael Mosley, a noted British television presenter and author, was found dead last Sunday on the island of Symi. A coroner concluded that he had died the previous Wednesday, shortly after going for a hike over difficult, rocky terrain.
On Friday, two French tourists were reported missing on Sikinos, a relatively secluded Cyclades island in the Aegean Sea, with less than 400 permanent residents.
The two women, ages 64 and 73, had left their respective hotels to meet.
On the island of Amorgos, also in the Cyclades, authorities are still searching for a 59-year-old tourist reported missing since Tuesday, after he went on a solo hike in very hot conditions. U.S. media identified the missing tourist as retired Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Albert Calibet of Hermosa Beach, California.
SCV Water announces new customer care schedule
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
News release The Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency has announced a new schedule for the Customer Care and Operations departments, aimed at enhancing service and support to customers. Starting July […]
The post SCV Water announces new customer care schedule appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/scv-water-announces-new-customer-care-schedule/
Broadway celebrates packed and varied theater season with 2024 Tony Awards
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
New York — The 28 Broadway shows that earned at least one Tony Award nomination are hoping Sunday is the day the sealed envelopes break in their favor.
The three-hour main telecast from New York City’s Lincoln Center will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ starting at 8 p.m. Eastern, with a free pre-show on Pluto TV at 6:30 p.m.
‘A time of transformation’
The awards cap a Broadway theater season that had something for everyone — fun musicals like “Back to the Future,” sweeping romance in “The Notebook,” political rallying cries like “Suffs” and intimate ensembles like “Mother Play” and “Appropriate.” Filipinos took center stage in “Here Lies Love” and autism was explored in “How to Dance in Ohio.”
“I think it has been a year of real flexibility. I also think Broadway is in a time of transformation,” said Tonys host Ariana DeBose. “A total of 36 productions opened on Broadway this season alone and each one spoke to a very different audience. I do believe that we are learning, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ So we are continuing to find our voice and who Broadway wants to be.”
DeBose has said she expects the show to move “like a Broadway show” — in other words, briskly and with scene changes in front the audience. “We want to give you a full Broadway experience,” she said.
Nicole Scherzinger will anchor the “In Memoriam” section and the late Chita Rivera will get a separate tribute from Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Bebe Neuwirth.
Some key awards to watch
Two shows share the most nominations with 13: a piano prodigy’s coming-of-age in “Hell’s Kitchen” and the back-and-forth struggles to create a rock album in the play “Stereophonic.” They are competing in different categories, best new musical and best new play.
Of the 26 competitive categories, two are virtual locks: “Stereophonic,” a critical and box office triumph, and “Merrily We Roll Along,” the Stephen Sondheim- George Furth musical that flopped when it premiered on Broadway in 1981 but is the strong favorite for best musical revival.
A case could also be made that “Appropriate,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ play about a family reunion in Arkansas where everyone has competing motivations and grievances, will comfortably earn the best play revival award.
Looking to beat “Hell’s Kitchen” for the top new musical crown are “The Outsiders,” an adaptation of the beloved S. E. Hinton novel and Francis Ford Coppola film; “Illinoise,” the dance-heavy, dialogue-less stage adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’ 2005 album “Illinois”; “Suffs,” based on the American suffragists of the early 20th century; and “Water for Elephants,” which combines Sara Gruen’s 2006 bestseller with circus elements.
Hoping to knock down “Stereophonic” are “Mother Play,” Paula Vogel’s look at a mother and her kids spanning 1964 to the 21st century; “Mary Jane,” Amy Herzog’s humanistic portrait of a divorced mother of a young boy with severe health issues; “Prayer for the French Republic,” Joshua Harmon’s sprawling family comedy-drama that deals with Zionism, religious fervency and antisemitism; and “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy about the lives of West African women working at a salon.
The leading actress in a musical race is between veteran Kelli O’Hara in “Days of Wine and Roses” and “Hell’s Kitchen” newcomer Maleah Joi Moon. On the play side, Sarah Paulson from “Appropriate” is expected to win the best lead actress trophy over a challenge by Jessica Lange in “Mother Play.”
On the men’s side, former “Hamilton” standout Leslie Odom Jr. from “Purlie Victorious” is up against “Succession” star Jeremy Strong in the revival of “An Enemy of the People,” while Jonathan Groff is the favorite to win on the musical side for “Merrily We Roll Along,” competing against Eddie Redmayne in “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club” and Brian d’Arcy James from “Days of Wine and Roses.”
Strong winds, steep terrain hamper crews battling Los Angeles area’s first major fire of the year
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
Gorman, California — Strong winds pushed flames through dry brush in mountains along Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles on Sunday, and officials warned residents in the wildfire’s path to be prepared to leave if it explodes in size again.
Los Angeles County’s first major wildfire of the year swiftly grew to more than 40 square kilometers, one day after it forced the evacuation of at least 1,200 campers, off-roaders and hikers from the Hungry Valley recreation area.
The blaze, dubbed the Post Fire, was just 2% contained. No injuries were reported. The cause was under investigation.
Firefighters working in sweltering conditions and steep terrain raced to douse spot fires that erupted as unpredictable winds blew embers ahead of the flames, said Kenichi Haskett, a section chief for the LA County Fire Department. The gusts also hampered efforts by aircraft crews to drop water and fire retardant, he said.
“When it’s windy, it just sprays the water everywhere we don’t need it. So that’s a challenge,” Haskett said.
Meanwhile in Northern California, a small wildfire sparked Sunday prompted evacuation orders and warnings for a sparsely populated area near Lake Sonoma. The so-called Point Fire sent up a huge plume of dark smoke as it churned through brush and timber about 130 kilometers north of San Francisco. It was 15% contained.
The Southern California fire erupted Saturday afternoon near I-5 in Gorman, about 100 kilometers northwest of Los Angeles. Two structures burned within the evacuated recreation area.
Flames were moving toward Pyramid Lake, a popular destination for boaters that was closed as a precaution on Father’s Day. No houses were threatened Sunday, but officials warned residents of Castaic, home to about 19,000 people, that they should prepare to leave if the fire pushes further south.
“If you’re in a warning area, be prepared with a ‘go bag,’ with overnight clothes and your cellphone, your medicines, your glasses. Have your car fueled up,” said Haskett. “Be ready to evacuate.”
Low humidity and gusts around 80 kph were expected throughout the day, and winds could pick up speed after sundown, warned the National Weather Service office for Los Angeles.
About 120 kilometers to the east, the 5-square-kilometer Hesperia Fire forced road closures and prompted evacuation warnings after it broke out Saturday near mountain communities in San Bernardino County. The blaze was 7% contained Sunday.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
More than 171,000 people traveled out-of-state for abortions last year.
https://www.axios.com/2024/06/14/out-of-state-abortions-bans-travel
Emotional win for Hollywood: ‘Inside Out 2’ scores $155M opening
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/emotional-win-for-hollywood-inside-out-2-scores-155m-opening/7658169.html
Peter Easthope opened issue #141: SystemTools module. at Felix Oliver Friedrich / Oberon A2
date: 2024-06-16, updated: 2024-06-16, from: Oberon A2 at CAS
Hi,
The Oberon subsystem opens in revision.10272 but the
<delete> key doesn't delete, <F1> doesn't set the star and
<F2> doesn't clear marks. HotKeys has preempted the familiar
Oberon key functionalities?
I found a note that <F12> should disable or toggle HotKeys. In 10272 <F12> gives a report in the log that a SystemTools command doesn't exist.
SystemTools was omitted inadvertently?
Thanks, … Peter E.
https://gitlab.inf.ethz.ch/felixf/oberon/-/issues/141
Michigan splash pad shooting: No word on motive in attack that wounded 9
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
Investigators used the abandoned weapon’s registration information to track the man to the home he shared with his mother.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/shooter-identity-in-michigan-splash-pad-attack/
Massive weekend for ‘Inside Out 2,’ second-biggest opening ever for an animated movie
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
It’s also the biggest opening since “Barbie” last year.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/inside-out-2-massive-opening/
Blocking bots
date: 2024-06-16, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>The other day I was emailing with <a href="https://starbreaker.org/">Matthew “Starbreaker” Graybosch</a> about his recent post titled <a href="https://starbreaker.org/blog/tech/robots-txt-nuclear-option/index.html">“robots.txt: the Nuclear Option”</a>. If you’re a regular reader of this site you know I love this kind of stuff and I especially love nuclear options when it comes to fighting silly tech.</p>I experimented with blocking everything in the past but this recent exchange made me want to revisit this idea. With perfect timing, Robb Knight posted “Perplexity AI Is Lying about Their User Agent” and that was all the extra motivation I needed to join the fun.
I already had a 403 in place for Mastodon because I don’t want to get a shit ton of traffic coming my way every time someone posts a link of mine but I loved Matthew’s idea of returning a 402.
So I grabbed 180 or so entries from the Dark Visitors’s agents list and set up an NGINX redirect based on those UA. Gonna be interesting to see if this has any effect on the server so I’ll write a follow-up.
I tried to leave out all the RSS fetchers because I love RSS, RSS is great and if you’re using RSS in 2024 you’re an awesome person BUT I might have inadvertently broken some RSS feed out there with this move. If you notice something not working properly let me know and I’ll fix it.
<hr>
<p>Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.</p>
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https://manuelmoreale.com/@/page/SbwbzY2DjzG3EQfJ
January 6 Capitol riot takes center stage in 2024 US presidential election
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
On January 6, 2021, the U.S. Capitol building was attacked by supporters of then-President Donald Trump challenging his loss of the 2020 election. In their rematch this year, Trump and President Joe Biden are both campaigning on the issue of the January 6 violence, but each in his own way. VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports.
Progress on the book
date: 2024-06-16, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
A sound shook Frances fully awake. Her dreams faded quickly into the cold air, her sleeping memories of San Francisco collapsing into the smell of stone and moss and rot.
There was someone in the house.
And so begins The Source, at least as the draft stands today.
What follows is an adventure that touches on accelerationism, climate change, capital, and the guilt of culpability.
I’m getting there.
https://werd.io/2024/progress-on-the-book
Post Fire map: Evacuation near I-5’s Grapevine section
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Post Fire, which was reported Saturday afternoon, is already California’s second-biggest wildfire of the season.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/post-fire-map-evacuation-near-i-5s-grapevine-section/
Update: Post Fire grows to 12,265 acres; Castaic on evacuation warning
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
The Post Fire, which originated in Gorman on Saturday afternoon, has grown to 12,265 acres and is 2% contained as of Sunday afternoon as Castaic residents have been urged to […]
The post Update: Post Fire grows to 12,265 acres; Castaic on evacuation warning appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/post-fire-grows-to-10504-acres-castaic-on-evacuation-warning/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
I watched The Matrix, The Devil’s advocate and Fight Club and loved all three. So I asked ChatGPT for five suggestions of movies I might watch next and it came up with some interesting ideas.
https://chatgpt.com/share/b349c1ac-7d75-488d-b43f-098825dec117
Book Bites
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
Wolf’s Head Bay Book II: The Race for Home by Jeffery Allen Boyd “Auction?” Richard repeated incredulously. “You mean a—an actual modern-day slave auction—in this country?” The frightened yet determined […]
The post Book Bites appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/book-bites/
SF Giants place another starting pitcher on injured list
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
Kyle Harrison, scheduled to start Sunday’s game at Oracle Park against the Los Angeles Angels, was placed on the 15-day IL with a right ankle sprain.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/sf-giants-place-another-starting-pitcher-on-injured-list/
One dead, four injured in collision on southbound Highway 14
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
A person was pronounced dead on arrival and four others were transported to the hospital following a vehicle collision on the southbound Highway 14 transition to the southbound Interstate 5 […]
The post One dead, four injured in collision on southbound Highway 14 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/one-dead-four-injured-in-collision-on-southbound-highway-14/
The 2024 Land Rover Defender 130 Outbound Edition SUV
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
What is a Defender? A Defender is an SUV built in the Nitra, Slovakia assembly plant and sold worldwide by Land Rover. The Defender 130 Outbound Edition looks like an off road panel van with big 20” knobby all terrain tires, blocked out rearmost windows and the 130 drops the third row seats for maximum cargo room and storage.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/the-2024-land-rover-defender-130-outbound-edition-suv/
Climate Crusader from Santa Barbara Goes to Washington
date: 2024-06-16, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Students with the Citizen’s Climate Lobby advocated for clean energy and emissions bills in Congress.
The post Climate Crusader from Santa Barbara Goes to Washington appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/16/climate-crusader-from-santa-barbara-goes-to-washington/
Olympic legend Tommie Smith in Paris: Civil rights ‘a perpetual stand’ 56 years after raised fist
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
After two ovations from the crowd last week, Smith lowered his head, clasped it in his hands and wept for several moments.
2024 Ford Ranger: one year older, better
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Ford Ranger debuted in 1983 as the carmaker’s small, tough Mazda-built Ford Courier. It was discontinued after 28 years but returned five years ago as Ford’s trucks continued their boom.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/2024-ford-ranger-one-year-older-better/
Artifacting
date: 2024-06-16, from: Tedium feed
How the JPEG file—and the lossy compression it allowed and encouraged—became the dominant way we shared digital photos on the internet.
https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16716120/jpeg-image-format-history
Anything For a Celebration
date: 2024-06-16, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Lompoc’s very first Flower Festival Queen — Readon (Donnie) Marilyn Grossi Silva — shares some memories.
The post Anything For a Celebration appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/16/anything-for-a-celebration/
Breaking News: Post Fire Now 12,264 Acres, 2 Percent Contained
date: 2024-06-16, from: SCV New (TV Station)
CALFIRE reports that the Post Fire that broke out in Gorman on Saturday, June 15 around 1:47 p.m. has now reached 11,000 acres.
https://scvnews.com/breaking-news-post-fire-now-at-11000-acres/
MINISFORUM MS-A1 is a small desktop PC with up to AMD Ryzen 7 8700G, OCuLink and 2.5 GbE LAN
date: 2024-06-16, from: Liliputing
Late last year MINISFORUM introduced a small workstation-class computer called the MINISFORUM MS-01 featuring support for up to an Intel Core i9-13900H processor, a PCIe x16 slot for a half-height graphics card, and support for 10 GbE and 2.5GbE wired network connections. It’s currently available for $399 and up. Now it looks like MINISFORUM has a […]
The post MINISFORUM MS-A1 is a small desktop PC with up to AMD Ryzen 7 8700G, OCuLink and 2.5 GbE LAN appeared first on Liliputing.
Katie Ledecky is heading to her fourth Olympics after winning 400 freestyle at US trials
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
Ledecky became just the ninth U.S. swimmer to qualify at least four times for the sport’s grandest stage.
Wish You Were Here: In search of Washington, D.C. cherry blossoms and more
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
An Oakland couple reports back from Washington, D.C. where museums, memorials and cherry blossoms are a springtime draw.
Meta accused of trying to discredit ad researchers
date: 2024-06-16, updated: 2024-06-16, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
As more than 70 civil society groups sign open letter slamming ‘intimidation’
Meta allegedly tried to discredit university researchers in Brazil who had flagged fraudulent adverts on the social network’s ad platform.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/16/meta_ads_brazil/
Summer learning off to a fast start at San Jose public libraries
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
Goal to surpass last year’s 10,000 sign-ups, 4 million minutes read.
StreamOS source code republished 15 years later
date: 2024-06-16, from: OS News
Way, way, way back in 2009, we reported on a small hobby operating system called StreamOS – version 0.21-RC1 had just been released that day. StreamOS was a 32-bit operating system written in Object Pascal using the Free Pascal Compiler, running on top of FreeDOS. It turns out that its creator, Oleksandr Natalenko (yes, the same person), recovered the old code, and republished it on Codeberg for posterity. It’s not a complete history, rather a couple of larger breadcrumbs stuck together with git. I didn’t do source code management much back in the days, and there are still some intermediate dev bits scattered across my backup drive that I cannot even date properly, but three branches I pushed (along with binaries, btw; feel free to fire up that qemu of yours and see how it crashes!) should contain major parts of what was done. ↫ Oleksandr Natalenko It may not carry the same import as Doom for the SNES, but it’s still great to see such continuity 15 years apart. I hope Natalenko manages to recover the remaining bits and bobs too, because you may never know – someone might be interested in picking up this 15 year old baton.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139970/streamos-source-code-republished-15-years-later/
Succor borne every minute
date: 2024-06-16, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">[Michael Atleson at the FTC Division of Advertising Practices]
“Don’t misrepresent what these services are or can do. Your therapy bots aren’t licensed psychologists, your AI girlfriends are neither girls nor friends, your griefbots have no soul, and your AI copilots are not gods.”
The FTC gets involved in the obviously rife practice of overselling the capabilities of AI services. These are solid guidelines, and hopefully the precursor to more meaningful action when vendors inevitably cross the line.
While these points are all important, for me the most pertinent is the last:
“Don’t violate consumer privacy rights. These avatars and bots can collect or infer a lot of intensely personal information. Indeed, some companies are marketing as a feature the ability of such AI services to know everything about us. It’s imperative that companies are honest and transparent about the collection and use of this information and that they don’t surreptitiously change privacy policies or relevant terms of service.”
It’s often unclear how much extra data is being gathered behind the scenes when AI features are added. This is where battles will be fought and lines will be drawn, particularly in enterprises and well-regulated industries.
<p>[<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2024/06/succor-borne-every-minute">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/succor-borne-every-minute
Doom for SNES full source code released by former Sculptured Software employees
date: 2024-06-16, from: OS News
The complete source code for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) version of Doom has been released on archive.org. Although some of the code was partially released a few years ago, this is the first time the full source code has been made publicly available. ↫ Shaun James at GBAtemp The code was very close to being lost forever, down to a corrupted disk that had to be fixed. It’s crazy how much valuable, historically relevant code we’re just letting rot away for no reason.
A brief history of Mac enclaves and exclaves
date: 2024-06-16, from: OS News
Howard Oakley has written an interesting history of secure enclaves on the Mac, and when he touches upon “exclaves”, a new concept that doesn’t have a proper term yet, he mentions something interesting. While an enclave is a territory entirely surrounded by the territory of another state, an exclave is an isolated fragment of a state that exists separately from the main part of that state. Although exclave isn’t a term normally used in computing, macOS 14.4 introduced three kernel extensions concerned with exclaves. They seem to have appeared first in iOS 17, where they’re thought to code domains isolated from the kernel that protect key functions in macOS even when the kernel becomes compromised. This in turn suggests that Apple is in the process of refactoring the kernel into a central micro-kernel with protected exclaves. This has yet to be examined in Sequoia. ↫ Howard Oakley I’m not going to add too much here since I’m not well-versed enough in the world of macOS to add anything meaningful, but I do think it’s an interesting theory worth looking into by people who posses far more knowledge about this topic than I do.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139966/a-brief-history-of-mac-enclaves-and-exclaves/
United Airlines seat ads: How to opt out of targeted advertising
date: 2024-06-16, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">[Michael Grothaus at FastCompany]
“United Airlines announced that it is bringing personalized advertising to the seatback entertainment screens on its flights. The move is aimed at increasing the airline’s revenue by leveraging the data that it has on its passengers.”
Just another reason why friends don’t let friends fly United. We should all be reducing our air travel overall anyway, given the climate crisis, and in a world where we all fly less, shouldn’t we choose a better experience?
This sounds like the absolute worst:
“United believes its advertising network will be appealing to brands because “there is the potential for 3.5 hours of attention per traveler, based on average flight time.”“
Passengers from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah can opt out of having their private information used to show targeted ads to them for the duration of what sounds like an agonizing flight. Passengers from other US States are out of luck - at least until their legislatures also pass reasonable privacy legislation.
Other airlines are removing seat-back entertainment to reduce fuel, so on top of the baseline climate impact of the air travel industry, there’s a real additional climate implication here. Planes with seat-back entertainment, in general, use more fuel; United is making a revenue decision with all kinds of negative impacts that they should not be rewarded for.
<p>[<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/91138450/united-airlines-targeted-ads-seatback-screens-opt-out">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/united-airlines-seat-ads-how-to-opt-out-of-targeted
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
How Apple’s podcast transcriptions came to be.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/15/apple-podcast-transcription-feature
Back to the Study Guide?
date: 2024-06-16, from: Logic Matters blog
I’m almost done with the category theory book — at least as far as the draft content is concerned. There will be tinkering to be done (in particular with respect to having a consistent line on issues of “size”), and then there will be the joys of proof-reading and indexing. But I’m beginning to think […]
The post Back to the Study Guide? appeared first on Logic Matters.
https://www.logicmatters.net/2024/06/16/back-to-the-study-guide-3/
Wi-Fi wanderings with ROUGOL – 17th June
date: 2024-06-16, from: RiscOS Story
The next RISC OS User Group of London (ROUGOL) meeting will take place tomorrow evening – Monday, 17th June – where the group will be taking a general look at wireless networking. There will be no guest speaker for this subject, and the format will be a more general chat about the subject, while experimenting with the two network stacks and Wi-Fi offerings that are available – one from RISC OS Open Ltd (ROOL) and the other from RISC OS Developments Ltd (ROD). How well does each perform against the…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/wi-fi-wanderings-with-rougol-17th-june/
Perplexity AI Is Lying about Their User Agent
date: 2024-06-16, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">Perplexity AI doesn’t use its advertised browser string or IP range to load content from third-party websites:
“So they’re using headless browsers to scrape content, ignoring robots.txt, and not sending their user agent string. I can’t even block their IP ranges because it appears these headless browsers are not on their IP ranges.”
On one level, I understand why this is happening, as everyone who’s ever written a scraper (or scraper mitigations) might: the crawler for training the model likely does use the correct browser string, but on-demand calls likely don’t to prevent them from being blocked. That’s not a good excuse at all, but I bet that’s what’s going on.
This is another example of the core issue with robots.txt: it’s a handshake agreement at best. There are no legal or technical restrictions imposed by it; we all just hope that bots do the right thing. Some of them do, but a lot of them don’t.
The only real way to restrict these services is through legal rules that create meaningful consequences for these companies. Until then, there will be no sure-fire way to prevent your content from being accessed by an AI agent.
<p>[<a href="https://rknight.me/blog/perplexity-ai-is-lying-about-its-user-agent/">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/perplexity-ai-is-lying-about-their-user-agent
LEVER WEEKLY: Want To Lose Your Life Savings? There’s An App For That
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Lever News
Startups are losing track of your money and more from The Lever this week.
https://www.levernews.com/lever-weekly-want-to-lose-your-life-savings-theres-an-app-for-that/
Clooney, Roberts help Biden raise $28 million at fundraiser featuring dire warnings about Trump
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
LOS ANGELES — Some of Hollywood’s brightest stars headlined a glitzy fundraiser for President Joe Biden on Saturday night, helping raise what his reelection campaign said was $28 million and hoping to energize would-be supporters for a November election that they argued was among the most important in the nation’s history.
George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand were among those who took the stage at the 7,100-seat Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Biden and former President Barack Obama, who both stressed the need to defeat former President Donald Trump in a race that’s expected to be exceedingly close.
During more than half an hour of discussion, Kimmel asked if the country was suffering from amnesia about the presumptive Republican nominee, to which Biden responded, “all we gotta do is remember what it was like” when Trump was in the White House.
Luminaries from the entertainment world have increasingly lined up to help Biden’s campaign, and just how important the event was to his reelection bid could be seen in the Democratic president’s decision to fly through the night across nine time zones, from the G7 summit in southern Italy to Southern California, to attend.
He also missed a summit in Switzerland about ways to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, instead dispatching Vice President Kamala Harris who made a whirlwind trip of her own to represent the United States there, a stark reminder of the delicate balance between geopolitics and Biden’s bid to win a second term.
Further laying bare the political implications were police in riot gear outside the theater, ready for protests from pro-Palestinian activists angry about his administration’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
The event featured singing by Jack Black and Sheryl Lee Ralph, and actors Kathryn Hahn and Jason Bateman introduced Kimmel, who introduced Biden and Obama. The comedian deadpanned, “I was told I was getting introduced by Batman, not Bateman.”
But he quickly pivoted to far more serious topics, saying that “so much is at stake in this election” and listing women’s rights, health care and noting that “even the ballot is on the ballot” in a reference to the Biden administration’s calls to expand voting rights.
Kimmel asked the president what he was most proud of accomplishing, and Biden said he thought the administration’s approach to the economy “is working.”
“We have the strongest economy in the world today,” Biden said, adding “we try to give ordinary people an even chance.”
Trump spent Saturday campaigning in Detroit and criticized Biden’s handling of the economy and inflation. The president was fundraising “with out-of-touch elitist Hollywood celebrities,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.
But Biden told the crowd in California that “we passed every major piece of legislation we attempted to get done.” And Obama expressed admiration for sweeping legislation on health care, public works, the environment, technology manufacturing, gun safety and other major initiatives that the administration of his former vice president has overseen.
“What we’re seeing now is a byproduct of in 2016. There were a whole bunch of folks who, for whatever reason, sat out,” said Obama, who, like Biden wore a dark suit and a white shirt open at the collar.
Obama, speaking about the Supreme Court, added that “hopefully we have learned our lesson, because these elections matter in very concrete ways.”
Trump nominated three justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision guaranteeing a constitutional right to an abortion. The audience expressed its displeasure at the mention of Roe, to which Obama responded, “don’t hiss, vote.” That was a play on his common refrain prioritizing voting over booing.
Biden said the person elected president in November could get the chance to nominate two new justices, though a second Biden term probably wouldn’t drastically overhaul a court that currently features a 6-3 conservative majority.
He also suggested if Trump wins back the White House, “one of the scariest parts” was the Supreme Court and how the high court has “never been this far out of step.”
Biden also referenced reports that an upside-down flag, a symbol associated with Trump’s false claims of election fraud, was flown outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021. He worried Saturday that, if Trump is reelected, “He’s going to appoint two more who fly their flags upside down.”
Kimmel brought his special brand of humor to the event. At one point he asked how can a president get back at a talk-show host who makes fun of him on TV every night.
“Ever hear of Delta Force?” Biden responded, referring to the Army special operations unit.
Earlier in the program, Kimmel noted Biden’s campaign promise to restore the soul of America and said “lately it seems we might need an exorcism.” Then he asked Biden, “Is that why you visited the pope?” Biden and Pope Francis met in Italy on Friday.
Biden’s campaign said it was still counting, but Saturday night’s gathering had taken in at least $28 million, more money than any event for a Democratic candidate in history.
That meant outpacing the president’s fundraiser in March at Radio City Music Hall in New York, which raised $26 million and featured late-night host Stephen Colbert interviewing Biden, Obama and former President Bill Clinton.
Biden held an early lead in the campaign money race against Trump, but the former president has gained ground since he formally locked up the Republican nomination.
Trump outpaced Biden’s New York event by raking in $50.5 million at an April gathering of major donors at the Florida home of billionaire investor John Paulson. The former president’s campaign and the Republican National Committee announced they raised a whopping $141 million in May, padded by tens of millions of dollars in contributions that flowed in after Trump’s guilty verdict in his criminal hush money trial.
That post-conviction bump came after Trump and the Republican Party announced collecting $76 million in April, far exceeding Biden and the Democrats’ $51 million for the month.
https://www.voanews.com/a/7657893.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
What is 'communal living' and is it right for me?
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1196979041
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Dems Need to Get in the Ring With MAGA. Take It From Voters.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
“If abortion was the best choice for your girlfriend, why try to deny that choice to other women?”
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Biden says the next president may get to name two Supreme Court justices.
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/15/nx-s1-5007404/biden-supreme-court-vacancies-trump
David Hegg | The Ethics of Fatherhood
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
By David Hegg Over my years as an adult male, I have worked at many different jobs, especially during college, grad school and our first years of marriage. I worked […]
The post David Hegg | The Ethics of Fatherhood appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/david-hegg-the-ethics-of-fatherhood/
Rob Kerchner | Pandemic Pondering
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
Remember when they said, “If it can save one life, then it’s worth it?” Well, if it takes just as many lives, then it definitely wasn’t worth it. In case […]
The post Rob Kerchner | Pandemic Pondering appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/rob-kerchner-pandemic-pondering/
Arthur Saginian | A Simple Process?
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
There are many who believe that since the vast majority of near-death experiences are experienced in the same way — floating over your body, feelings of infinite love and joy, […]
The post Arthur Saginian | A Simple Process? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/arthur-saginian-a-simple-process/
Today in SCV History (June 16)
date: 2024-06-16, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1876 – D.G. Scofield forms California Star Oil Works, hires Alex Mentry to drill in Pico Canyon [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-june-16/
Report: Differences between gay and straight spouses disappear after legalization of gay marriage
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
Poultry industry could serve as example as dairy farmers confront bird flu
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
des moines, iowa — As the U.S. dairy industry confronts a bird flu outbreak, with cases reported at dozens of farms and the disease spreading to people, the egg industry could serve as an example of how to slow the disease but also shows how difficult it can be to eradicate the virus.
There have been earlier bird flu outbreaks in the U.S., but the current one started in February 2022 and has forced the slaughter of nearly 100 million chickens and turkeys. Hot spots still occur, but their frequency has dropped in part because of biosecurity efforts at farms and a coordinated approach between companies and agricultural officials, experts say.
Dairy farmers could try to implement similar safeguards, but the vast differences between the animals and the industries limit what lessons can be learned and applied.
How can a 1,500-pound cow and a 5-pound chicken have the same illness?It’s commonly called bird flu because the disease is largely spread by wild birds that can survive infections. Many mammals have caught the illness, too, including sea lions and skunks.
Effects differ greatly
Animals can be infected by eating an infected bird or by being exposed to environments where the virus is present. That said, there are big differences in how cows and chickens have fared after getting infected.
Bird flu is typically fatal to chickens and turkeys within days of an infection, leading to immediate mass killings of birds. That’s not true for cows.
Dairies in several states have reported having to kill infected animals because symptoms continued to linger and their milk production didn’t recover, but that’s not the norm, said Russ Daly, an extension veterinarian at South Dakota State University.
He said it appears that bird flu isn’t usually fatal to cows but that an infected animal can be more vulnerable to other ailments typically founds in dairies, such as bacterial pneumonia and udder infections.
What has the egg industry done to protect chickens? Egg operators have become clean freaks.
To prevent disease from spreading, egg producers require workers to shower and change into clean clothes before they enter a barn and shower again when they leave. They also frequently wash trucks and spray tires with solutions to kill off virus remnants.
Many egg operations even use lasers and install special fencing to discourage wild birds from stopping by for a visit.
“Gone is the day of the scarecrow,” said Emily Metz, president of the American Egg Board.
Without these efforts, the current outbreak would be much worse, said Jada Thompson, a University of Arkansas agriculture business professor. Still, maintaining such vigilance is difficult, even if the cost of allowing disease into an operation is so high, she said.
Chickens raised for meat, known as broilers, also have been infected with bird flu but such cases are less common. In part, that’s because broiler chickens are killed when they’re only 6 to 8 weeks old, so they have less time to get infected.
Some safeguards apply
Can the same be done to protect cows and dairy workers? Yes and no.
Dairies can certainly reduce the spread of disease by limiting access to barns, so people and equipment don’t bring in the virus from elsewhere. Workers could also wear eye protection, aprons and gloves to try to protect themselves, but there’s no way around it: Big animals are messy.
“The parlor is a warm, humid place with lots of liquid flying around, whether it’s urine, feces, water, because they’re spraying off areas. Cows might kick off a milk machine, so you get milk splatter,” said Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Laboratory.
Dairies also don’t have time or staff to disinfect milking equipment between animals, so equipment could become contaminated. Pasteurization kills bacteria and viruses in milk, making it safe for people to drink.
Poulsen said the dairy industry could follow a path laid by the poultry and pork industries and establish more formal, better funded research organizations so it could respond more quickly to problems like bird flu — or avoid them altogether.
The dairy industry also could tamp down disease spread by limiting the movement of lactating cows between states, Poulsen said.
Are there new efforts to fight the virus? The U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon begin testing a vaccine that could be given to calves, offering the animals protection and also reducing the chance of worker illnesses.
The egg industry also is hopeful researchers can develop vaccines for poultry that could be quick, inexpensive and effective. Workers can’t give shots to the millions of hens that might need a vaccine, but industry officials hope a vaccine could be distributed in the water the birds drink, in the pellets they eat or even before birds hatch from their eggs.
Efforts to develop vaccines have become even more important now that the disease has spread to dairy cows and even a few people, Thompson said.
“Part of what is being developed right now is: What way can we vaccinate them that is cost-effective and disease-resistant?” Thompson said.
On Father’s Day, LGBTQ+ couple celebrates their sperm donor
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kansas — David Titterington had a sense of what his childhood friend would ask him when she led him into a photo booth at a mutual friend’s wedding roughly a decade ago. As the countdown for the second photo ticked, Jen Wilson popped the question: Will you be my sperm donor?
“Of course I said yes,” Titterington said. “I mean, who would have guessed that, being a gay man, I would have this opportunity to have biological children and also be part of their lives?”
On Father’s Day, which is Sunday, Kansas residents Jen and Whitney Wilson will pack up their three children — ages 9, 7 and 3 — and head to picnic at Titterington’s Missouri house to celebrate the man who helped make their family possible. Like other LGBTQ+ couples, they and their sperm donor have created their own traditions around Father’s Day.
“We just have decided to celebrate him,” said Jen Wilson, who works as the executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Modern Family Alliance.
For LGBTQ+ people, single-parent households, other nontraditional families or those with strained family relationships, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day can be painful and confusing. Events featuring those holidays at school can make some children feel isolated. Jen Wilson said many schools are working toward being more inclusive, such as turning events like “Donuts with Dads” to “Donuts with Grown-Ups.”
“There are families who don’t have a David, who can’t really point to, like, this is what it means to be a dad or have a father figure. So I consider us really lucky,” Whitney Wilson said. She later added: “I think we’re really lucky in that we have lots of people in our life to point to. Not just David … grandpas and uncles and all kinds of people who are also fathers.”
Between 2 million and 3.3 million children under age 18 have an LGBTQ+ parent, according to the group Family Equality.
Such families are growing more visible in recent years, said Cathy Renna, the communications director of the National LGBTQ Task Force. Most Pride events now include family-friendly activities, like climbing walls, she said.
“Now we see families of all kinds and shapes and sizes, and that’s really important. It’s important not just for us,” Renna said. “It’s also important for kids to understand, you know, that families do come in many different, configurations and that families are about love.”
When it comes to Father’s Day, Jen Wilson said: “People focus so much on just their own father instead of highlighting the fact that there are a lot of really great fathers in the world in lots of different communities and just celebrating them for stepping up and … being the great dads that they are.”
Jen Wilson and Titterington have been friends since childhood. When Jen Wilson and her wife began planning for a family, Titterington tossed out the idea of being a sperm donor, and he was overjoyed when the couple later made the ask official.
Titterington sees his role in the kids’ lives as more akin to a godfather than a father. He and his husband go to school events and birthday parties, and Titterington said they see themselves as “coaching them from the sidelines.” He said he is partial to the title “blood father,” but the Wilsons said the children more often refer to him as their “bio dad” or “donor dad.”
“I am their father, but I’m not really their parent,” Titterington said. “Because Jennifer and Whitney are the two parents, and they’re doing an amazing job.”
Even with David, the idea that the children don’t have a dad can be hard for them, Whitney Wilson said, but it isn’t “something that keeps anybody in our house up at night.”
“There are a lot of people that would love the opportunity to tell our children how terrible it is that they don’t have a father figure in their life,” Jen Wilson said. “We know that’s not true.”
For Titterington, fatherhood is the weight of the Wilsons’ firstborn falling asleep on his chest, gifts of scribbled artwork that can never be thrown away, and cleaning up after a toddler in potty training. But after a tiring weekend slumber party, he can send the children home to their mothers.
“There’s so many ways to be a father,” Titterington said. “We get to celebrate all kinds of fathers on Father’s Day.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/on-father-s-day-lgbtq-couple-celebrates-their-sperm-donor-/7657815.html
Midwives: State law could jeopardize Native Hawaiian birth traditions
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
HONOLULU — Ki’inaniokalani Kahoʻohanohano longed for a deeper connection to her Native Hawaiian ancestors and culture as she prepared to give birth to her first child at home on the north shore of Maui in 2003.
But generations of colonialist suppression had eroded many Hawaiian traditions, and it was hard to find information on how the islands’ Indigenous people honored pregnancy or childbirth. Nor could she find a Native Hawaiian midwife.
That experience led Kahoʻohanohano — now a mother of five — to become a Native Hawaiian midwife herself, a role in which she spent years helping to deliver as many as three babies a month, receiving them in a traditional cloth made of woven bark and uttering sacred, tremorous chants as she welcomed them into the world.
Her quest to preserve tradition also led her into a downtown Honolulu courtroom this week, where she and others are seeking to block a state law that they say endangers their ability to continue serving pregnant women who hope for such customary Native Hawaiian births.
“To be able to have our babies in the places and in the ways of our kupuna, our ancestors, is very vital,” she testified. “To me, the point of what we do is to be able to return birth home to these places.”
Lawmakers enacted a midwife licensure law in 2019, finding that the “improper practice of midwifery poses a significant risk of harm to the mother or newborn, and may result in death.” Violations are punishable by up to a year in jail, plus thousands of dollars in criminal and civil fines.
The measure requires anyone who provides “assessment, monitoring, and care” during pregnancy, labor, childbirth and during the postpartum period to be licensed. The women’s lawsuit says that would include a wide range of people, including midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, and even family and friends of the new mother.
Until last summer, the law provided an exception for “birth attendants,” which allowed Kahoʻohanohano to continue practicing Native Hawaiian birth customs. With that exception now expired, however, she and others face the licensing requirements — which, they say, include costly programs only available out of state or online that don’t align with Hawaiian culture and beliefs.
In 2022, the average cost of an accredited midwifery program was $6,200 to $6,900 a year, according to court documents filed by the state.
Attorneys for the state argued in a court filing that the law “undoubtedly serves a compelling interest in protecting pregnant persons from receiving ill-advice from untrained individuals.”
State Deputy Attorney General Isaac Ickes told Judge Shirley Kawamura that the law doesn’t outlaw Native Hawaiian midwifery or homebirths, but that requiring a license reduces the risks of harm or death.
The dispute is the latest in a long history of debate about how and whether Hawaii should regulate the practice of traditional healing arts that dates to well before the islands became the 50th state in 1959. Those arts were banished or severely restricted for much of the 20th century, but the Hawaiian Indigenous rights movement of the 1970s renewed interest in the customary ways.
Hawaii eventually adopted a system where councils versed in Native Hawaiian healing certify traditional practitioners, though those suing say their efforts to form such a council for midwifery have failed.
Practicing midwifery without a license, meanwhile, was banned until 1998 — when, lawmakers say, they inadvertently decriminalized it when they altered the regulation of nurse-midwives, something the 2019 law sought to remedy.
Among the nine plaintiffs are women who seek traditional births and argue that the new licensing requirement violates their right of privacy and reproductive autonomy under Hawaii’s Constitution. They are represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation.
“For pregnant people whose own family may no longer hold the knowledge of the ceremonial and sacred aspects of birth, a midwife trained in Native Hawaiian traditional and customary birthing practices can be an invaluable, culturally informed health care provider,” the lawsuit states.
When Kahoʻohanohano was unable to find a Native Hawaiian midwife to attend the birth of her first child, she turned instead to a Native American one, who was open to incorporating traditional Hawaiian aspects that Kahoʻohanohano gleaned from her elders.
She surrounded herself with Hawaiian cultural practitioners focusing on pule, or prayer, and lomilomi, a traditional massage with physical and spiritual elements. It all helped ease her three days of labor, she said. And then, “two pushes and pau” — done — the boy was born.
The births of her five children in various Maui communities, Kahoʻohanohano said, were her “greatest teachers” in herself becoming one of the very few midwives who know about Native Hawaiian birthing practices.
She is believed to be the first person in a century to give birth on her husband’s ancestral lands in Kahakuloa, a remote west Maui valley of mostly Native Hawaiians, where her daughter was born in 2015. The community is at least 40 minutes along winding roads to the island’s only hospital.
Kahoʻohanohano testified about helping low-risk pregnant women and identifying instances where she transferred someone to receive care at the hospital but said she’s never experienced any emergency situations.
Among the other plaintiffs are midwives she has helped train and women she has aided through birth. Makalani Franco-Francis testified that she learned about customary birth practices from Kahoʻohanohano, including how to receive a newborn in kapa, or traditional cloth, and cultural protocols for a placenta, including taking it to the ocean or burying it to connect a newborn to its ancestral lands.
The law has halted her education, Franco-Francis said. She testified that she’s not interested in resuming her midwifery education through out-of-state or online programs.
“It’s not in alignment with our cultural practices, and it’s also a financial obligation,” she said.
The judge heard testimony through the week. It’s not clear how soon a ruling might come.
Much of US braces for extreme weather
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/much-of-us-braces-for-extreme-weather/7657800.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Devil’s Advocate is a fine movie.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
This function is included in every bit of software I write. Never know when you might need a random snarky slogan.
https://gist.github.com/scripting/aa1a8beacf79d90bc26105ba46c32072
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Scripting News: The sports god and politics.
http://scripting.com/2019/06/15/164205.html
No arrests in reports of man with weapon in Valencia
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
A man was reportedly seen with what looked like a gun at the Vallarta Supermarket in Valencia on Saturday evening, according to officials. Deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s […]
The post No arrests in reports of man with weapon in Valencia appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/no-arrests-in-reports-of-man-with-weapon-in-valencia/
Full Circle Weekly News 370
date: 2024-06-16, from: Full Circle Magazine
Credits
- Host: @bardictriad, @zaivala
- Bumper: Canonical
- Theme Music: From The Dust - Stardust
- https://soundcloud.com/ftdmusic
- CC BY 4.0
https://fullcirclemagazine.org/podcasts/podcast-370/
Load Data from PostgreSQL to Snowflake Using Estuary Flow
date: 2024-06-16, from: PostgreSQL News
We are happy to share that you can easily load data from Postgres to Snowflake using Estuary.
Estuary Flow is a game-changer, offering real-time, reliable change data capture (CDC) and seamless batch data movement in a single pipeline. Whether you’re powering analytics, operations, or AI, Estuary Flow’s speed, reliability, and flexibility are unmatched.
Load Your Data from Postgres to Snowflake in 8 Simple Steps:
- Create an Estuary Flow Account: Get started with a free trial.
- Configure AWS RDS (Postgres): Set up your PostgreSQL database on AWS.
- Local Postgres Setup: Complete the database configuration locally.
- Create and Load a Table: Populate your PostgreSQL table with data.
- Set up Snowflake: Prepare your Snowflake data warehouse.
- Create a Capture: Tell Estuary Flow which data to capture.
- Create a Snowflake Materialization: Define where the data should land in Snowflake.
- Verify Data Accuracy: Ensure everything is in sync and accurate.
For detailed instructions and screenshots at each step, refer to Estuary’s official guide: Postgres to Snowflake
Function calling in large language models
date: 2024-06-16, from: Ze Iaso’s blog
It’s hard to pay attention when your context goes out the window.
https://xeiaso.net/talks/2024/llm-function-calling/
CloudNativePG 1.23.2, 1.22.4 and 1.21.6 Released!
date: 2024-06-16, from: PostgreSQL News
The CloudNativePG Community is thrilled to announce a new update for the CloudNativePG Operator, now available for the supported versions 1.23, 1.22, and 1.21.
Thanks to comprehensive refactoring and enhancement activities, we’ve significantly improved the reliability of our automated End-to-End (E2E) tests. With contributions from EDB, we’ve tested the operator on all major cloud providers, identified several defects, and resolved them in these new releases, ensuring a more stable and resilient software.
Versions 1.23.2, 1.22.4, and 1.21.6 are patch releases that contain crucial bug fixes, addressing issues such as:
- Unnecessary reloads and shutdowns of PostgreSQL
- Excessive CPU usage on fenced instances, due to busy waiting loop
- The primary instance manager hanging indefinitely after a stop and subsequent failure
-
Autovacuum not working correctly due to an issue between
hot_standby_feedbackand our managed cluster-level replication slots implementation -
pgaudit.log_rowsnot functioning as intended
With this update, version 1.21 has reached End-of-Life (EOL). Version 1.21.6 marks the final release for the 1.21 minor version.
We highly recommend updating the operator at your earliest convenience to benefit from these improvements and bug fixes.
For a detailed list of changes, please refer to the release notes:
Additionally, we are pleased to announce that macOS users can now
install the cnpg plugin for kubectl via
Homebrew with the command: brew install kubectl-cnpg.
Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to your seamless experience with the updated CloudNativePG Operator. If you are using it in production, please consider adding your organization as an adopter of the project.
Your support helps us grow and improve!
About CloudNativePG
CloudNativePG stands as a groundbreaking open-source Kubernetes Operator designed explicitly for PostgreSQL workloads. Seamlessly orchestrating the entire life cycle of a PostgreSQL cluster, CloudNativePG takes charge from bootstrapping and configuration to ensuring high availability, connection routing, and comprehensive backup and disaster recovery mechanisms. Leveraging PostgreSQL’s native streaming replication, CloudNativePG efficiently distributes data across pods, nodes, and zones, using standard Kubernetes patterns. This enables seamless scaling of replicas in a Kubernetes-native manner, with the operator autonomously and safely reconfiguring replication as needed. Originally conceived and supported by EDB, CloudNativePG represents a paradigm shift in managing PostgreSQL workloads within Kubernetes environments.
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/cloudnativepg-1232-1224-and-1216-released-2877/