Glydways
founder says access to mobility changes lives for the better
date: 2024-07-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
Mark Seeger founded Glydways to give everyone access to mobility. The
company is working on several projects in the Bay Area, including one in
Eastern Contra Costa County.
The U.S. economy added 206,000 jobs in June, according to the labor
department. But job growth in previous months was revised down
significantly. What can we make of this data? And what does it mean for
next steps for the Federal Reserve? Workers also saw the slowest pace of
wage growth in two years. And later: views on France’s election from a
farmers market in the French city of Lille.
Some
voters blame media for US polarization as election nears
date: 2024-07-05, from: VOA News USA
With four months remaining until the U.S. presidential election,
political divisions among the electorate are stark. Some voters blame
the media for deepening the sense of separation. VOA’s Veronica Balderas
Iglesias has more.
I’ve been working on a bunch of small projects involving
microcontrollers. Currently a lot of them are based around the Raspberry
Pi Pico boards because I like the development experience of those a lot.
They have a decent SDK and cheap hardware to get started and the
debugger works with gdb/openocd so it just integrates in all IDEs that
support that. One of my current projects is making a fancy hardware
controller for a bunch of video equipment I use. The main things that
will be controlled are two PTZ cameras (those are cameras that have
motors to move them). One stationary camera and the video switching
equipment that that’s hooked up to. ↫ Martijn Braam There’s more to
building something like this than connecting up hardware components –
there’s also software that needs to be taken care of. In this case, the
author is weighing several real-time operating systems for use in the
project, namely FreeRTOS, NuttX, and Zephyr. If you’re working on a
similar project, this article may help in choosing the RTOS that’s right
for you.
Paessler
pulls subscription licensing switcheroo on PRTG Network Monitor
date: 2024-07-05, updated: 2024-07-05, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Customers seek alternatives after claiming costs up from perpetual
Exclusive Fears that VMware’s switch to
subscription-based licensing would lead other vendors to follow suit may
be coming true after Paessler confirmed to The Reg it has
introduced new subscription pricing for its network monitoring tool,
PRTG.…
Millbrae
voters to decide on recall of councilmembers
date: 2024-07-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
The recall effort was sparked by the contentious La Quinta Inn and
Suites project, which San Mateo County is attempting to purchase to
house homeless families and seniors.
Bay
Area cinematographer brings the emotional impact of war to light through
“Grey Skies”
date: 2024-07-05, from: San Jose Mercury News
On a bright and cloudless afternoon, a young girl runs towards a
bright blue door screaming, “Open the door! Open the door!” begging to
come inside. Her mother, wearing a grey hijab, chases after her and
eventually manages to unlock the door while doing her best to calm her
daughter down. The scene appears in […]
Current conditions: Rain storms prompted China to
evacuate 240,000 in the east • A heat wave is breaking records in Moscow
• Beachgoers along the Gulf of Mexico are cautioned to beware dangerous
rip currents this weekend.
THE TOP FIVE
Fires rage in California as ‘very dangerous’ heat wave hits western
states
More than 100 million people in the United States remain under heat
alerts. A dangerous heat wave is baking the West, with temperatures
expected to peak today and tomorrow. In some desert areas, temperatures
could reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit. “It’s not your typical heat wave,”
said
Joe Sirard, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. “This is a
dangerous heat wave, this is a high-end heat wave. Very dangerous.” The
heat, combined with high winds and dry conditions, have
increased
the risk of wildfires across California, where firefighters are already
battling blazes. The Thompson Fire in Northern California scorched 3,700
acres and forced nearly 30,000 people to evacuate. “Oppressive” heat and
humidity will also plague the Southeast today and tomorrow.
Hurricane Beryl is
lashing
Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula after devastating Jamaica. The system, which
is currently a category 2 storm, has wind speeds of up to 110 miles per
hour and is expected to bring a lot of rain and dangerous storm surge.
Parts of southern Texas could feel the storm’s effects this weekend. At
least 11 people have died in the hurricane and many buildings across
several Caribbean islands remain without power.
Labour Party wins UK general election
The Labour Party won a landslide victory in the U.K.’s general election,
which means that Keir Starmer is the new prime minister and 14 years of
Conservative rule have come to an end. Starmer has
vowed
to transform the U.K. into a “clean energy superpower.” Here are some of
his environmental pledges:
Establish a publicly owned clean energy firm.
Fully decarbonize the power sector by 2030.
Double onshore wind, triple solar power, and quadruple offshore wind by
2030.
Upgrade the grid and speed up clean energy projects.
Deny new licenses for exploring new oil and gas fields in the North Sea.
Ban the sale of new gas and diesel cars by 2030 and increase charging
access for EVs.
The European Union confirmed yesterday it will
impose
new tariffs of up to 38% on Chinese EV imports. When added to the
existing duty of 10%, the tax could be nearly 50%. The move is intended
to protect EU car manufacturers from an influx of cheap EVs but could
also increase EV prices across the bloc because, while “Chinese EVs are
a relatively rare sight on U.S. roads,” they’re quite common in the EU,
the BBC
noted.
Get Heatmap AM directly in your inbox every morning:
Germany makes balcony solar power a legal right
Germany passed reforms that will guarantee people living in apartments
have the right to install solar systems on their balconies. The new rule
means landlords or other authorities will not be able to block the
installations except for in exceptional circumstances. “The right to
harvest solar power is thus legally enshrined,” Carsten Körnig, the head
of the BSW solar power association, said in a statement. “This is
tangible climate protection and is likely ot further increase acceptance
of the energy transition.” More than half of Germany’s population lives
in rented housing, Reutersreported,
and demand for balcony solar-power systems soared in 2023.
THE KICKER
Scientists
discovered
three plant species in South America that are closely related to the
tree that produces cocoa beans. The discovery could help researchers
produce climate-resistant cacao trees, and protect chocolate production.
Latest
Ghostscript vulnerability haunts experts as the next big breach
enabler
date: 2024-07-05, updated: 2024-07-05, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
There’s also chatter about whether medium severity scare is actually
code red nightmare
Infosec circles are awash with chatter about a vulnerability in
Ghostscript some experts believe could be the cause of several major
breaches in the coming months.…
date: 2024-07-05, updated: 2024-07-05, from: The LAist
Think you know the origins of the ‘Valley Girl’ accent? Like OMG, as
if! We dig into the past to explore how this ear-cringing accent evolved
in the San Fernando Valley.
While the Labour Party saw a historic win in Thursday’s general election
in the U.K., the new prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is without a raft
of money to implement sweeping reforms. So how will the new government
differ economically from the one seen under Conservative rule? And
later, it’s hard to prepare a meal with a newborn in your hands. That
inspired one couple to open a restaurant in Atlanta.
From the BBC World Service: The Labour Party, led by Sir Keir
Starmer, won a sweeping victory in the U.K.’s general election held
Thursday. We’ll hear from voters about what they hope for in the new
government and interrogate just how much change the new administration
can realistically deliver. Plus, French voters are also going to the
polls on Sunday, and the cost of living is weighing heavy on voters’
minds.
Labour
wins race to lead UK, but few would envy the load in its tech
in-tray
date: 2024-07-05, updated: 2024-07-05, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Looming train wrecks face winning party after it promises investment and
innovation
Analysis The United Kingdom woke up to the prospect of
a new government this morning, but it faces old problems in tech
projects, policy, and investment.…
Minneapolis may be the only city in the country with a carbon
sequestration program manager on staff. Now, Jim Doten — who holds that
title — is about to realize his dream of starting up one of the first
municipally owned and operated carbon removal projects.
The Minnesota metropolis has just purchased its very own biomass
pyrolyzer, a machine that heats up tree clippings in a low-oxygen
environment and turns them into a form of charcoal called
biochar.
As the wood grew, it sucked carbon out of the air during photosynthesis;
as biochar, that carbon becomes stable for hundreds of years, if not
longer.
Biochar can be mixed into soil, and has a wide range of demonstrated
benefits, including increasing crop yields and enhancing the soil’s
capacity to hold water. Some studies suggest it can filter contaminants
out of stormwater. The city plans to use the biochar in public works
projects and donate it to community groups in “green zones,”
neighborhoods with high levels of pollution and marginalized
populations. It’s also in talks with other local governments that might
be interested in buying some.
“One of the things we want to do is be a regional resource for other
government agencies,” Doten told me, “whether it be city, county, state
agencies, making biochar available for projects addressing the effects
of climate change, sequestering carbon, as well as providing
environmental benefits throughout our infrastructure.”
Studies say that we should be shoveling billions of tons of CO2 out of
the skies each year by 2050 to keep climate change in check — and that’s
on top of cutting emissions to near-zero. Scholars have compared the
vast responsibility of cleaning up the carbon in the atmosphere to
municipal waste management: Since the task is more of a public good than
a profitable enterprise, it may be best suited for the folks we already
rely on to take out the trash.
A number of other municipalities have been experimenting with carbon
removal to support their climate goals. Notably, Boulder County,
Colorado teamed up with Flagstaff, Arizona, and a number of other
cities, to form the
Four
Corners Coalition, which is pooling resources to finance local
carbon removal projects. But Minneapolis is the first, at least that I’m
aware of, to essentially start its own carbon removal department.
Doten became a biochar evangelist more than a decade ago. He first
learned of the substance’s various benefits while working in southern
Afghanistan with the Minnesota National Guard in 2012. He was serving as
a hydrologist on an agribusiness development team and helping village
farmers rebuild soil health to improve crop yields. When he returned to
Minneapolis the following year, he was eager to test out biochar’s
benefits at home.
Over the decade that followed, Doten worked days as the supervisor of
environmental services for the city’s health department. But on the
side, he led a number of biochar passion project. He convinced the
public works department to use biochar in landscaping projects along
street medians. He started a partnership with the Shakopee Mdewakanton
Sioux, a tribe that runs a compost facility, to provide a mix of compost
and biochar to urban gardens around the city. He got the health
department to sponsor a research trial at the community farm at
Little
Earth, a federally-subsidized housing complex primarily occupied
by indigenous families. Though the study was disrupted by vandalism, the
city gathered enough data to show that the plots with biochar-amended
compost saw superior plant health, food production and water retention
during August drought conditions.
Doten told me the limiting factor for expanding these programs was the
availability of biochar. The city was buying it and shipping it in from
elsewhere, which Doten was also not happy about because the emissions
from shipping cuts into any climate benefits. Then, in 2019, he had the
opportunity to see what the city could do if finding biochar wasn’t an
issue. Bloomberg Philanthropies flew Doten and his colleagues to
Stockholm, Sweden, where five years earlier, the charity had helped the
city finance its own biochar production facility.
“So I went to Stockholm along with one of our city council members and
the head of public works, and ’I’ll be darned, oh my gosh, Jim, you
weren’t lying, this is a real program and it does really great things in
Stockholm!” Doten recalled. He waxed on about the “Stockholm method” for
planting urban trees that involves using biochar and which can help
manage the flow of stormwater. Stockholm is also sending waste heat from
its pyrolysis facility into a district heating system used to warm
apartments.
A few years later, Bloomberg Philanthropies invited other cities to
apply for funding to build similar programs. Minneapolis was
one
of three U.S. cities, along with Lincoln, Nebraska, and
Cincinnati, Ohio, to win $400,000 in 2022 to develop city-wide biochar
projects. All three are expected to begin construction on their
production facilities this year; Doten hopes the Minneapolis facility
will be operational this fall.
The city has made an agreement with Xcel Energy, the local utility, to
collect the tree clippings from the company’s electrical line
maintenance work — previously that material was getting burned in a
power plant. Doten has also found a site for the facility — a somewhat
isolated industrial property near railroad tracks — which was no easy
feat in an urban environment. “It’s very difficult to site a place like
this within the city that’s not near residences, properly zoned, get the
neighborhood approvals, council approvals, and make sure everybody’s
happy — well I shouldn’t say happy, but at least satisfied with the
result.”
The other big piece was sourcing the equipment. As my colleague Katie
Brigham has
reported,
there are a lot of biochar companies. According to
one
carbon removal database, there are more than 240 such companies
around the world — more than any other type of carbon removal company.
But most of them have developed fancy pyrolysis machines for their own
use, to develop their own carbon removal projects. There aren’t that
many offering the technology for sale. Doten said he talked to most of
the ones that did, and there was one company whose bid came in far below
the rest — BluSky, a small startup based in Connecticut. Minneapolis
purchased the company’s equipment, nicknamed the “Vulcan” system, for
$585,000.
“We really believe in what Jim is doing and what the city is doing,”
Will Hessert, the company’s CEO, told me. “We want to see more cities
doing this.”
Writing in The New Republic in 2022, four scholars
made a case for a public model for carbon removal. They argued that if
the responsibility is left to private companies, it could end up like
plastic recycling, which is
basically
a big lie and “distracts from underlying causes while pollution
continues.” Or it could end up like privately owned electric utilities
who take shortcuts that end up costing lives, like how PG&E’s
inadequate maintenance led to the 2018 Camp Fire in California.
“Imagine a regional, community-run carbon removal authority,” they
wrote, “that simultaneously pursues wetland restoration and forest
management, safely operates an industrial removal facility and
associated mining and geological sequestration operations, monitors
carbon levels in forests, and works with farmers to maintain healthy
fields that store carbon in the soil.”
That’s not what’s happening in Minneapolis. The climate benefits are
likely to be minimal. The city couldn’t provide me with an estimate, but
a
story
about the project from last year noted that the city anticipated
having a system that could handle 3,600 tons of wood waste per year,
resulting in an estimated 1,500 tons of CO2 removed. That’s about 0.04%
of the city’s current annual emissions.
There is a real opportunity for cities to play a role in carbon removal.
A
study
from 2022 found that cities might be able to play a significant role in
carbon removal — potentially removing up to 1 billion tons per year,
though the numbers are “plagued by uncertainties” — by sequestering
carbon in vegetation, soils, and the built environment. In that sense,
Minneapolis’ biochar program could be one component of this larger
vision.
<p>This is the 45th edition of <em>People and Blogs</em>, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Anton Podviaznikov and his blog, <a href="https://podviaznikov.com">podviaznikov.com</a></p>
To follow this series subscribe to
the newsletter. A new interview will land in your inbox every
Friday. Not a fan of newsletters? No problem! You can read the
interviews here on the blog or you can subscribe to the
RSS feed.
If you’re enjoying the People and Blogs series and you want to see it
grow, consider supporting on
Ko-Fi.
Let’s start from the basics: can you introduce yourself?
I’m originally from Ukraine, I grew up there and finished university.
Moved out in 2010 to explore the world. Since 2014 US was my home base.
I’m software engineer by trade. It was my education and first I worked
as a programmer because it was my career choice. But sometime around
2011 I fell in love with the web and programming. I worked at several
startups and few bigger tech companies and also created countless side
projects.
What’s the story behind your blog?
I created my personal site around 2013. It is 10+ years old. I think I
created it during the period when I was falling in love with programming
and ideas behind web and the Internet. I got exposed to them way later
in my life than people who grew up in Western Europe or US. I had a lot
of personal revelations at that time in my life.
What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging?
Super simple. I discovered that writing feels “painful” for me. I really
do struggle. The only way that works for me is to remove editing part
and also write in the “stream of consciousness style”. I write stuff in
one go. I write some essay in Apple Notes and it gets published
automatically to my site while I’m writing it. I might reread it some
time later and edit few things - but usually I don’t do that and just
discover some typos years later.
Another important thing is that I mostly write on topics I don’t want to
think anymore. Writing is the final step of thinking over something for
me. I write down about some topic, publish it and then don’t think about
that again for a while.
Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the
physical space influences your creativity?
I wrote decent amount of essays on airplanes and trains. They are
uncomfortable physically, but I found them to be a great time to write
and to speed up the travel, Internet is flaky and I have space to
reflect. I also like to write(and program) in coffeeshops. I like noise
and I can usually fully block it out.
A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech
stack?
I’m software engineer. I always made custom stacks for my personal site.
For the past 2 years my website is powered by a small tool I made. It’s
a tool that publishes Apple Notes to my site. It’s called Montaigne.
Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do
anything differently?
I want to say: start even earlier. But that is also difficult because I
do feel that I didn’t have much to say before I was 25 yo and also I
didn’t discover my “voice”. But I think trying writing helps to discover
that voice.
Write as often as you can. If it’s 5 essays per year - it’s still good.
I collected many over the years and sometimes I open some and read and
get surprised with some insights I got. It’s a very interesting feeling.
I feel like even now I don’t capture most of the insights I have during
the year. So writing more is always a good advice.
Write as often as you can. If it’s 5 essays per year - it’s still good.
I collected many of the year and sometimes I open some and read and
surprised with some insights I got. It’s very interesting feeling.
I feel like even now I don’t capture huge junk of the insights I have
during the year. So writing more is always a good advice.
Financial question since the web is obsessed with money: how much does
it cost to run your blog? Is it just a cost or does it generate some
revenue? And what’s your position on people monetising personal blogs?
I think people should do what they feel is good for them. If you are in
the position where you want/need to monetize - do that. If money is not
critical, do not do it. Eg write for yourself first. On top of that
there might be some second order unpredictable benefits to writing. Eg
someone would reach out to you and would offer a job or collaboration.
This is way better than money(if you don’t need them).
Hard to say how much does it cost to run my site since it runs using the
tool that I made. But for other people this tool is free:)
Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out?
And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next?
tyler.cafe - simplicity of the design,
color scheme, gradient background. It’s so lovely.
brandur.org - site that I check often.
It has many great ideas: year scroll control, fragments, sequences etc.
Books -> anything by
Neil Postman.
He has unbelievable insights about technology on our lives.
Also The Dream
Machine is an incredible book on the history of computing and early
Internet.
This was the 45th edition of People and Blogs. Hope you enjoyed
this interview with Anton. Make sure to
follow his blog
(RSS) and get in touch
with him if you have any questions.
Awesome supporters
You can support this series on
Ko-Fi and all supporters
will be listed here as well as on the
official site of the
newsletter.
suggest a person to
interview next. I’m especially interested in people and blogs outside
the tech/web bubble.
<hr>
<p>Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:hello@manuelmoreale.com">Email me</a> ::
<a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/guestbook">Sign my guestbook</a> ::
<a href="https://ko-fi.com/manuelmoreale">Support for 1$/month</a> ::
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As the Experience AI Challenge has closed for submissions, we would like
to thank all the talented young people who participated and submitted
their projects this year. The Challenge, created by us in collaboration
with Google DeepMind, guides young people under the age of 18, and their
mentors, through the process of creating their own…
What
NATO Countries and Other U.S. Allies Contribute to the Collective
Defense
date: 2024-07-05, updated: 2024-07-05, from: RAND blog
NATO countries pledge to spend 2 percent of their economies on
defense and over half are on track to hit that target this year. But
that 2 percent number has never been a great metric. A new
country-by-country index shows in detail what allies can actually bring
to the table in time of war.
AIMs:
celebrating our first year, and our 24 partners
date: 2024-07-05, from: PeerJ blog
It’s been an exciting year since we launched Annual Institutional
Memberships (AIMs), and we are thrilled to share our progress to-date.
Over the past 12 months, 24 institutions from have joined us in our
mission to remove barriers to Open Access and make a more sustainable
open future. What is AIMs? The AIMs model was […]
Top Eurocops are appealing for help from lawmakers to undermine a
privacy-enhancing technology (PET) they say is hampering criminal
investigations – and it’s not end-to-end encryption this time. Not
exactly.…
Starting now, there are official curl releases for QNX hosted on the
curl.se website. See https://curl.se/qnx. QNX is a commercial real-time
operating system and these curl release packages are produced as a
result of a business arrangement. The plan is to from now on ship curl
tarballs for three different QNX versions, and each archive …
Continue
reading curl for QNX→
Innocent
techie jailed for taking hours to fix storage
date: 2024-07-05, updated: 2024-07-05, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Hello, hello … what have we here? One very dangerous storage admin, if
I’m not mistaken
On Call As Friday rolls around, The Register
knows many readers are a little fatigued. Which is why we use this day
to bring a fresh instalment of On Call – the weekly reader contributed
column we hope amuses you enough to shake off a week of tech support
torpor and traipse into the weekend with a smile on your dial.…
<p>Late nights are overrated. Being up and outside early in the morning is way more enjoyable.</p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:hello@manuelmoreale.com">Email me</a> ::
<a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/guestbook">Sign my guestbook</a> ::
<a href="https://ko-fi.com/manuelmoreale">Support for 1$/month</a> ::
<a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/supporters">See my awesome supporters</a> ::
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July
20-Aug. 11: ‘Disney’s The Little Mermaid’ at Performing Arts Center
date: 2024-07-05, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Canyon Theatre Guild will present Santa Clarita Regional
Theatre’s production of “Disney’s The Little Mermaid” at the Santa
Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons
The 92nd annual Santa Clarita Valley Fourth of July Parade attracted
thousands to the streets of Old Town Newhall to cheer more than 100
parade entries representing politicians, scout troops, businesses,
nonprofits, fraternal organizations and others
Kindle
sputters out: Amazon’s e-readers couldn’t download content for a day or
more
date: 2024-07-05, updated: 2024-07-05, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Support line reports ‘high volume of contacts’ about the problem
Owners of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader devices looking for something new to
read may have had to pick up an actual book – the old-school kind, made
of dead trees – for a day or so this week, as their devices would not
download content.…
U.S. President Joe Biden says he “screwed up” in last week’s debate
with Donald Trump but is staying in the race for reelection. VOA
Correspondent Scott Stearns looks at the presidential campaign as
Americans celebrate Independence Day. Contributor: Evgeny Maslov.
Camera: Vladimir Badikov.
We’ve
banned Chinese telco kit and drones. Next: mountain bikes?
date: 2024-07-05, updated: 2024-07-05, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
DJI builds a power pack for off-road two-wheelers
Nations worried about China’s ability to use its tech companies for more
than trade now have a new class of kit to fret over: mountain bikes,
thanks to Middle Kingdom drone-maker DJI’s arrival in the field with an
electric drive system.…
The 92nd annual Santa Clarita Valley Fourth of July Parade had thousands
of people make their way to several parts of Old Town Newhall and
Valencia on Thursday morning to […]
David
Rosenthal on the X Windowing System’s 40th birthday
date: 2024-07-04, from: OS News
David Rosenthal, one of the primary contributors to the X Windowing
System, has published an awesome blog post about the recent 40 year
anniversary of X, full of details about the early days of X development,
as well as the limitations they had to deal with, the choices they had
to make, and the environment in which they were constrained. Once at Sun
I realized that it was more important for the company that the Unix
world standardized on a single window system than that the standard be
Sun’s NeWS system. At C-MU I had already looked into X as an alternative
to the Andrew window system, so I knew it was the obvious alternative to
NeWS. Although most of my time was spent developing NeWS, I rapidly
ported X version 10 to the Sun/1, likely the second port to non-DEC
hardware. It worked, but I had to kludge several areas that depended on
DEC-specific hardware. The worst was the completely DEC-specific
keyboard support. Because it was clear that a major redesign of X was
needed to make it portable and in particular to make it work well on Sun
hardware, Gosling and I worked with the teams at DEC SRC and WRL on the
design of X version 11. Gosling provided significant input on the
imaging model, and I designed the keyboard support. As the
implementation evolved I maintained the Sun port and did a lot of
testing and bug fixing. All of which led to my trip to Boston to pull
all-nighters at MIT finalizing the release. ↫ David Rosenthal They were
clearly right. During those days, the UNIX world was using a variety of
windowing systems, all tied to various companies and platforms.
Standardising virtually the entire UNIX world on X aided in keeping UNIX
compatible-ish even in the then-new graphical era, and X’s enduring
existence to this very day is evidence of the fact they made a lot of
right choices early on. Rosenthal also explains why one of the main
alternatives to X, Sun’s PostScript-based NeWS, which was also
co-developed by Rosenthal, didn’t win out over X. It had several things
working against its adoptions and popularisation, such as Sun requiring
a license fee for the source code, its heftier system requirements, and
the fact it was more difficult to program for. After trying to create
what Rosenthal describes as a “ghastly kludge” by combining NeWS and X
into Xnews, Sun eventually killed it altogether. Of course, this
wouldn’t be restrospective of X without mentioning Wayland. We and Jobs
were wrong about the imaging model, for at least two reasons. First,
early on pixels were in short supply and applications needed to make the
best use of the few they were assigned. They didn’t want to delegate
control to the PostScript interpreter. Second, later on came GPUs with
3D imaging models. The idea of a one-size-fits-all model became
obsolete. The reason that Wayland should replace X11 is that it is
agnostic to the application’s choice of imaging model. ↫ David Rosenthal
This is about as close to a blessing from the original X Windowing
System developers you’re ever going to get, but Rosenthal does correctly
note that XWayland is a thing, and since not every application is going
to be rewritten to support Wayland, X will most likely be around for a
long time to come. In fact, he looks towards the future, and predicts
that we’ll definitely be celebrating 50 years of X, and that yes, people
will still be using it by then.
Puffin
watching replaces Fourth of July fireworks in Oregon
date: 2024-07-04, from: VOA News USA
The Fourth of July Independence Day holiday in the United States
includes lots of fireworks. One town in Oregon is forgoing the noisy
celebration that disturbs marine birds nesting on its rocky shore. VOA’s
Natasha Mozgovaya takes us to The Great Puffin Watch Party.
date: 2024-07-04, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Sigrid Wright follows a photo to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
set aside as wilderness so that “the earth and its community of life are
untrammeled.”
This site now supports Dynamic Type on iOS and iPadOS. If you go to
System Settings on your iPhone or iPad, and change the setting for
Display & Brightness > Text Size, you’ll see the change reflected
on this website. This is a big win for accessibility: many folks make
this adjustment on their device […]
City to
Discuss Hart Park Transfer from L.A. County
date: 2024-07-04, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita City Council is scheduled to discuss the transfer
of William S. Hart Park to Los Angeles County at the Council’s regular
meeting Tuesday, July 9, at 6 p.m
Silicon
Valley steps up screening on Chinese employees to counter espionage
date: 2024-07-04, from: VOA News USA
Washington — Leading U.S. technology companies reportedly have
increased security screening of employees and job applicants, which
experts say is necessary to counter the cyber espionage threat from
China.
While the enhanced screening is being applied to employees and
applicants of all races, those with family or other ties to China are
thought to be particularly vulnerable to pressure from the Beijing
government.
But at least one Chinese computer science graduate student at a U.S.
university is hoping to make his ties to China an asset. Zheng, who does
not want to reveal his first name for fear of retaliation from the
Chinese government, says he recently changed his focus to cybersecurity
in hopes of improving his job prospects in the United States.
“The goal is a bit high, but I think I know more about China as a
person born and raised in China. I hope to become a force with my own
characteristics in cybersecurity and a role in fighting against Chinese
cyber-attacks,” said Zheng, who is seeking political asylum in the
United States.
While Zheng said he is not very worried that increased security
checks will affect his job prospects, he said many international
students in his class worry that they will be shut out from
cybersecurity jobs.
Google, OpenAI and Sequoia Capital are among a number of technology
and venture capital firms that have stepped up security checks on
employees and potential recruits, according to a recent report by The
Financial Times.
The newspaper cited sources at those companies saying they were
responding to warnings from the U.S. government about a growing threat
from Chinese espionage over the past two years.
Chinese cyber espionage concerns
FBI Director Christopher Wray delivered one such message in a speech
in April, saying the Chinese government has tried to steal “intellectual
property, technology and research” from American industries.
In response, the U.S. government has stepped up security measures
over the last two years, including updating its export control
regulations to restrict China’s ability to obtain advanced computing
chips and artificial intelligence. The strengthened warnings to U.S.
companies are part of that response.
Ivan Kanapathy, senior vice president with Beacon Global Strategies,
told VOA that Silicon Valley executives share the U.S. government’s
concern. “In recent years, emerging technology companies have become
more wary; they don’t want to fall victim to China’s technology
absorption strategy,” he said.
“Companies can’t afford to help a competitor that will put them out
of business. We’ve seen that happen across many industries already. It’s
only natural for American and other allied cutting-edge companies to be
concerned and take steps to mitigate the risks of PRC state-sponsored
espionage,” he said.
Ray Wang, CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc.,
said that the theft of American intellectual property has become more
rampant since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and that people with
ties to China were often targeted.
“During COVID, many folks with relatives in China were put in
compromising positions where they were asked to do things for the
Chinese government, or one’s relatives would be put at risk,” Wang said.
“China has infiltrated almost every aspect of the U.S., and the U.S. is
facing systemic problems.”
Kanapathy said China might also obtain American technology through
talent poaching, meaning they recruit someone with experience in a
particular technology and ask the person to take the technology to start
a new company in China. Although it is ethically questionable, it is
sometimes legal.
“China likely also tries to place its own people, including
engineers, into certain companies that have desirable technologies. It’s
a multipronged strategy,” he said.
In a statement to VOA, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu
acknowledged the accusations but said the U.S. government “is short on
delivering solid evidence.”
“We firmly oppose to the groundless accusations and smears towards
China and hope the relevant parties can view China’s development
objectively and fairly,” he wrote.
Liu also pointed out that the World Intellectual Property
Organization last year named China as the world’s highest ranking
middle-income economy and 12th overall in terms of independently
creating intellectual property rights.
“China’s scientific and technological achievements are never made
through ‘stealing.’ The Chinese people, including our intellectuals,
made such achievements with our talent and hard work,” he wrote.
Security screening concerns
While the enhanced security reviews usually apply to all employees,
Wang said. Google and OpenAI have imposed stricter reviews for Chinese
employees, and Microsoft is transferring some of its most important
Chinese engineers from China to other regions of the world; NVIDIA has
also been highly vigilant in screening.
Microsoft employees in China, mostly involved with cloud computing,
were recently offered the opportunity to work in the United States,
Australia or Ireland, among other countries, state-run outlet said in a
report. The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft asked as many as
800 employees, mostly engineers with Chinese nationality working on
cloud computing and AI, to consider relocating.
He said companies should exercise caution to avoid triggering
xenophobia.
“So almost every new worker, not just Chinese nationals, should
undergo the same vetting process. I think it’s really important. As
Asian Americans, we have to be very careful about those implications,”
he said.
So far, that has not been a problem for Joey Wu, a Chinese software
engineer in California. Wu told VOA he has not seen stringent measures
exercised against Chinese people, nor has he been treated differently
due to his Chinese citizenship.
“I think the U.S. is relatively tolerant and open,” Wu said. “It is
not easy for a large technology company to have so many foreign
employees. Chinese companies, such as Huawei, are full of Chinese faces,
with very few foreigners, and it is unlikely that Americans will be
hired to play a more important role.”
Kanapathy pointed out that the founders of many technology companies
are from China or India themselves, and these are the people who request
security checks on Chinese citizens.
VOA contacted Google, OpenAI and Sequoia Capital for comments but did
not receive a response by the time of publication.
I’m a natural-born American citizen but never lived here until my early
thirties. I have a complicated relationship with the country: I never
thought I’d live here until I suddenly did. As it happened, my parents
moved back to look after my grandmother, and ten years later, I came
here to look after my mother. I was 21 when Bush became President,
having been the state governor who had executed the most people; I
marched against the Iraq War from Scotland. There was never a moment
where I thought, “America is a place I want to live.” But I wound up
here anywhere.
The America I had no intention of being a part of is still very much
here. It’s the America where people love guns and the right own
semi-automatic weapons is more important than the idea that we need to
stop children from being slaughtered in their schools. It’s the America
where the state murders prisoners by electrocuting them or injecting
them with poison or by gassing them, and where the police can gun down a
person of color and walk away. It’s the America that organizes coups in
other countries to further its own interests and nobody sees anything
wrong with it because it keeps gas prices down. It’s the America that
won’t take the bus because that’s what poor people do (and the word
“poor” is doing a lot of work here). It’s rugged individualism and
wealth-hoarding over community inclusion and equity. It’s racial
stereotypes and old-fashioned values. It’s flag-waving. It’s Bill
O’Reilly and Pat Buchanan and George W Bush and Donald Trump.
I’m sorry, but I can’t bring myself to love that America. It’s a bad
place to live. Objectively, even.
But that isn’t the only America. It turns out there are lots of them:
not just in the sense that each state is its own mini-nation, although
that’s true too, but also in terms of layers that spread from coast to
coast.
There’s an America I’m delighted to be a part of; one that I’ve come to
truly love. It’s the America that understands the impact it’s had and
has, both on its own communities and on the world, and genuinely wants
to do much better. It’s an America that is anti-drone, anti-war, and
against the military-industrial complex. It’s the America that wants to
spread equity and uplift communities instead of individuals. It’s the
one where nobody would ever think of banning a book or a news source,
where public libraries are for everyone, where it’s commonly understood
that education should be free and for all. It’s the one that loves art
and literature, that provides platforms for diverse lived experiences,
that believes in reparations. It loves people of all religions, and no
religion, equally, and knows that the separation of church and state is
a vital tenet for an inclusive democracy. It believes in democracy, come
to that, and science, and data and experimentation. It believes in the
common public good and in social contracts. It preserves nature and
protects vulnerable communities and makes sure nobody falls through the
cracks. It fights fascism of all kinds, from the loud politicians who
seeks to turn the country into a theocracy to the small voices who shun
difference in their local communities. It believes that immigration
makes the country great, and it invites people to join as is without
needing to assimilate or dissolve into a melting pot. It believes that
everyone should have the right to marry whoever they choose, have the
right to do what they will with their own bodies, and assert their
identities however they need to. It doesn’t care how much money you
make, where you come from, or what you believe: it asserts that you
deserve to live well. It is inclusive, and welcoming, and beautiful.
It’s Noam Chomsky and bell hooks and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Daniel
Ellsberg and Chelsea Manning. It takes the damn bus.
I assure you that it exists, and it’s everywhere. I’ve traveled across
this country many times now, and there are pockets of this America in
the places you’d least expect, alongside the places where you
would expect it. There are people trying to make a better
country, a more progressive and inclusive country, everywhere you go.
It’s not the only America, and it’s not the loudest America. But it’s
the best one, by far. I think it’s worth saying that I do love it; I
want to support it; I want it to be the defining experience of being in
and from this country. I don’t think that’s inevitable, but I think, if
we all work at it, that it as every chance of happening. I would love
that to be the case.
LASD seeking
public’s help to locate missing person
date: 2024-07-04, from: The Signal
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is seeking the public’s help
in locating an at-risk missing person last seen in Santa Clarita during
the early hours of July 4. Tristan […]
Tim Hardwick: OpenAI has issued an update to its ChatGPT app for Mac,
after a developer discovered the app was locally storing users’
conversations with the chatbot in plain text.Pedro José Pereira Vieito
told The Verge’s Jay Peters: “I was curious about why OpenAI opted out
of using the app sandbox protections and ended up […]
Brandon Vigliarolo: CocoaPods, an open-source dependency manager used
in over three million applications coded in Swift and Objective-C, left
thousands of packages exposed and ready for takeover for nearly a decade
– thereby creating opportunities for supply chain attacks on iOS and
macOS apps, according to security researchers.[…]As noted above, the
CocoaPods team has patched […]
Jonas Dreßler (via Hacker News): There’s a security vulnerability
(CVE-2024-27867) in the firmware of Apple AirPods. Anyone who knows the
Bluetooth MAC address (which is somewhat public) can connect to your
AirPods and listen to the microphone or play music. […] Fast Connect is
a proprietary and US-patented protocol by Apple that creatively uses the
[…]
Chrome Security Team (via Jeff Johnson, Hacker News): Over the past
six years, we have observed a pattern of compliance failures, unmet
improvement commitments, and the absence of tangible, measurable
progress in response to publicly disclosed incident reports. When these
factors are considered in aggregate and considered against the inherent
risk each publicly-trusted CA poses […]
Joe Rossignol: In a WWDC 2024 coding video last week, Apple
highlighted a recently-introduced API that allows developers to offer
built-in Translate app capabilities in their own apps on iOS 17.4,
iPadOS 17.4, macOS Sonoma, and later. Apple: Discover how you can
translate text across different languages in your app using the new
Translation framework. […]
Cloudflare
lets customers block AI bots, scrapers and crawlers with a single
click
date: 2024-07-04, from: OS News
It seems the dislike for machine learning runs deep. In a blog post,
Cloudflare has announced that blocking machine learning scrapers is so
popular, they decided to just add a feature to the Cloudflare dashboard
that will block all machine learning scrapers with a single click. We
hear clearly that customers don’t want AI bots visiting their websites,
and especially those that do so dishonestly. To help, we’ve added a
brand new one-click to block all AI bots. It’s available for all
customers, including those on the free tier. To enable it, simply
navigate to the Security > Bots section of the Cloudflare dashboard,
and click the toggle labeled AI Scrapers and Crawlers. ↫ Cloudflare blog
According to Cloudflare, 85% of their customers block machine learning
scrapers from taking content from their websites, and that number
definitely does not surprise me. People clearly understand that
multibillion dollar megacorporations freely scraping every piece of
content on the web for their own further obscene enrichment while giving
nothing back – in fact, while charging us for it – is inherently wrong,
and as such, they choose to block them from doing so. Of course, it
makes sense for Cloudflare to try and combat junk traffic, so this is
one of those cases where the corporate interests of Cloudflare actually
line up with the personal interests of its customers, so making blocking
machine learning scrapers as easy as possible benefits both parties. I
think OSNews, too, makes use of Cloudflare, so I’m definitely going to
ask OSNews’ owner to hit that button. Cloudflare further details that a
lot of people are blocking crawlers run by companies like Amazon,
Google, and OpenAI, but completely miss far more active crawlers like
those run by the Chinese company ByteDance, probably because those
companies don’t dominate the “AI” news cycle. Then there’s the massive
number of machine learning crawlers that just straight-up lie about
their intentions, trying to hide the fact they’re machine learning bots.
We fear that some AI companies intent on circumventing rules to access
content will persistently adapt to evade bot detection. We will continue
to keep watch and add more bot blocks to our AI Scrapers and Crawlers
rule and evolve our machine learning models to help keep the Internet a
place where content creators can thrive and keep full control over which
models their content is used to train or run inference on. ↫ Cloudflare
blog I find this particularly funny because what’s happening here is
machine learning models being used to block… Machine learning models.
Give it a few more years down the trajectory we’re currently on, and the
internet will just be bots reading content posted by other bots.
Santa
Clarita native serves aboard future Navy warship
date: 2024-07-04, from: The Signal
By Megan Brown Navy Office of Community Outreach MILLINGTON, Tennessee
— Petty Officer 2nd Class Joel Abundez, a native of Santa Clarita, is
serving aboard Pre-Commissioning Unit Massachusetts, a nuclear submarine
[…]
Parent
company of Saks Fifth Avenue to buy rival Neiman Marcus
date: 2024-07-04, from: VOA News USA
NEW YORK — The parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue has signed a deal
to buy upscale rival Neiman Marcus Group, which owns Neiman Marcus and
Bergdorf Goodman stores, for $2.65 billion, with online behemoth Amazon
holding a minority stake.
The new entity would be called Saks Global, which will comprise the
Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks OFF 5TH brands, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf
Goodman, as well as the real estate assets of Neiman Marcus Group and
HBC, a holding company that purchased Saks in 2013.
HBC has secured $1.15 billion in financing from investment funds and
accounts managed by affiliates of Apollo, and a $2 billion fully
committed revolving asset-based loan facility from Bank of America,
which is the lead underwriter, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital
Markets and Wells Fargo.
The deal comes after months of rumors that the department store
chains had been negotiating a deal. But the twist is Amazon’s minority
stake, which adds “a bit of spice” to an otherwise anticipated pact,
according to Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, a research
firm.
The pact was announced Thursday after months of rumors that the
department store chains had been negotiating a deal.
“For years, many in the industry have anticipated this transaction
and the benefits it would drive for customers, partners and employees,”
said Richard Baker, HBC executive chairman and CEO in a statement. “This
is an exciting time in luxury retail, with technological advancements
creating new opportunities to redefine the customer experience, and we
look forward to unlocking significant value for our customers, brand
partners and employees.”
Saks and Neiman Marcus have struggled as shoppers have been pulling
back on buying high-end goods and shifting their spending toward
experiences such as travel and upscale restaurants. The two iconic
luxury purveyors have also faced stiffer competition from luxury brands,
which are increasingly opening their own stores. The deal should help
reduce operating costs and create more negotiating power with
vendors.
Saks Fifth Avenue currently operates 39 stores in the United States,
including its Manhattan flagship. In early 2021, Saks spun off its
website into a separate company, with the hopes of expanding that
business at a time when more people were shopping online.
Current Saks.com CEO Marc Metrick will become CEO of Saks Global,
leading Saks Global’s retail and consumer businesses and driving the
strategy to improve the luxury shopping experience.
Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2020 during the
first months of the coronavirus pandemic but emerged in September of
that year. Like many of its peers, the privately held department store
chain was forced to temporarily close its stores for several months.
Meanwhile, other department stores are under pressure to keep
increasing sales.
Lord & Taylor announced in late August 2020 it was closing all
its stores after filing for bankruptcy earlier that month. It’s
operating online. Macy’s announced in February of this year that it will
close 150 unproductive namesake stores over the next three years,
including 50 by year’s end.
Consumers have proven resilient and willing to shop even after a bout
of inflation, although behaviors have shifted, with some Americans
trading down to lower-priced goods.
date: 2024-07-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
During the pandemic, the University saw its first profits in years. With
tuition hikes galore and a growing healthcare industry, the trend seems
to continue.
Eight
CubeSats Lift Off for NASA on Firefly Aerospace Rocket!
date: 2024-07-04, from: NASA breaking news
As part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, Firefly Aerospace
launched eight small satellites on July 3 aboard the company’s Alpha
rocket. Named “Noise of Summer,” the rocket successfully lifted off from
Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at
9:04 p.m. PDT. The CubeSat missions were designed by universities and
NASA […]
Survey:
Half of Americans say electric vehicles are less reliable than gas
date: 2024-07-04, from: The Signal
By Jana J. Pruet Contributing Writer More Americans say they think
electric vehicles are less reliable than gas-powered cars and trucks,
while about 30% would “seriously consider” purchasing a plug-in.
According […]
Atos
shuffles debt around as curtain call nears for restructuring saga
date: 2024-07-04, updated: 2024-07-04, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Investors will be hoping so anyway
Crisis-prone IT services outfit Atos says it is among the top 11 percent
of companies in the industry – at least when it comes to environmental,
social, and governance (ESG) risks – as it reaches what many investors
will be hoping is its final restructuring deal.…
The article’s from 2021, but I think it’s still worth discussing. A
hard reality of C and C++ software development on Windows is that there
has never been a good, native C or C++ standard library implementation
for the platform. A standard library should abstract over the underlying
host facilities in order to ease portable software development. On
Windows, C and C++ is so poorly hooked up to operating system interfaces
that most portable or mostly-portable software — programs which work
perfectly elsewhere — are subtly broken on Windows, particularly outside
of the English-speaking world. The reasons are almost certainly
political, originally motivated by vendor lock-in, than technical, which
adds insult to injury. This article is about what’s wrong, how it’s
wrong, and some easy techniques to deal with it in portable software. ↫
Chris Wellons As someone who doesn’t know how to code or program,
articles like these are always difficult to properly parse. I understand
the primary problem the article covers, but what I’m curious about is
how much of this problem is personal – skill issue – and how much of it
is a widely held belief by Windows developers and programmers. I know
there’s quite a few of you in our audience, so I’d love to hear from you
how you feel about this. The author also authored his on fix, something
called libwinsane, which I’m also curious about – is this the only
solution, or are there more options out there?
As part of our
“Golden
Promises” series, we’re exploring the battle over slavery
reparations in California. Today, Marketplace special correspondent Lee
Hawkins speaks with Lotte Lieb Dula, founder of Reparations 4 Slavery,
about the discovery of her family’s connection to slavery and how she’s
working to repair and make things right. Also on the show: Mexican
President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum’s next steps on energy could make
waves in the U.S., especially in Texas.
Elks Lodge
Honors American Flag at Annual Ceremony
date: 2024-07-04, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The history of the United States of America Flag was shared by Santa
Clarita Elks Lodge 2379 officers at their annual Flag Day Ceremony,
which was held June
It took me a long time to get through the first third of this novel. The
protagonist is so vapid, her point of view so incurious and at the same
time so familiarly American, against a backdrop of obvious imperialism
and climate obliviousness, that it was hard to find the motivation to
continue.
But I’m glad I did. This is an indictment of one character, but through
her, all of America, and every country and every person that touches the
interconnected hyperobject of energy, climate, and western prosperity.
It’s savage, witty, and remarkably pointed: the kind of book that’s
soothing to read in the modern age because no, you’re not alone, someone
else is feeling this too, and their rage has manifested into something
far better articulated than you could hope to muster.
Is this shared awareness enough to halt the catastrophe that we’re
careening towards? Probably not. But holy shit, there’s something here,
and if there’s even a chance we can pull off the total culture change
that averting this crisis requires, we need to try.
The remaining two thirds sharpen to a point, an ending that will cut you
without mercy. And I’m grateful for it.
date: 2024-07-04, updated: 2024-07-04, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Promise of AI features, but Big Blue won’t reveal much more about next
steps of its highly regarded relational database
Opinion Last week, I committed a crime. No, I did not
defraud the IRS/HMRC or steal some Snyder’s Pretzels/Cheesy Wotsits. It
was much worse. A keen reader pointed out that I had miscounted the
number of versions of Db2, IBM’s relational database.…
I’ve spent the week in Florence, Oregon, a lovely little town on the
coast. It’s a bit windy and a little cold, but as I’m fond of saying, I
lived in Scotland for a decade. I can take it.
NYC’s
interactive exhibition sends visitors on outer space journey
date: 2024-07-04, from: VOA News USA
July 20 marks the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the
moon. An interactive exhibit at Manhattan’s Intrepid Museum reminds
viewers of the enormity of that undertaking and what went into the first
moon landing. Evgeny Maslov has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
Videographer: Vladimir Badikov.
AST
SpaceMobile promises the Moon with seamless satellite phone service
date: 2024-07-04, updated: 2024-07-04, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Yet all its birds remain resolutely earthbound
AST SpaceMobile has reiterated its plans to enable a satellite phone
service covering the entire continental US that will work seamlessly
with existing devices, thanks to spectrum sharing agreements with
AT&T and Verizon.…
The national debt is tremendous and growing. And as lawmakers talk about
ways to address it, Social Security spending — which totals roughly $1.5
trillion a year — is often brought up as playing a big role. But by law,
Social Security cannot contribute to the national debt. Today, we’ll
parse exactly how the Social Security Administration invests money and
pays out. Then, heat insurance in India has helped thousands of female
workers.
Experimental
Mir-based tiling WM is winning acceptance outside Ubuntopia
date: 2024-07-04, updated: 2024-07-04, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Miracle-WM takes several more steps forward
The Miracle-WM tiling window manager for Canonical’s Mir display server
has hit 0.3 – and also reaches places you may not expect to find
Canonical code.…
Letter
to the Editor: Our queer leaders cannot be collateral
date: 2024-07-04, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
President Carol Folt, Vice President for Student Life Monique Allard and
Assistant Vice Provost for Student Life, Student Equity and Inclusion
Naddia Palacios, we charge you with perpetuating homophobic violence.
Lisa
Lavadores | Election 2024: One Screen, Two Movies
date: 2024-07-04, from: The Signal
Within the last few years, the political phrase “one screen; two movies”
has become increasingly popular with pundits. The phrase refers to the
phenomenon of two political opponents looking at […]
Richard
LaMotte | The Individual vs. the Collective
date: 2024-07-04, from: The Signal
Re: Letters, Christoper Lucero, “The Myth of Pure Capitalism,” June 29.
I’m on the right. Why? Because I believe that the “right” stands for the
individual, and the “left” stands […]
COVID-19 taught us a lot about our government, our elite culture and our
media. In the midst of uncertainty and ignorance about the virus, even
in the so-called expert circles, […]
Until a week ago, President Joe Biden seemingly had the age issue under
control. Yes, he had senior moments, some quite severe, such as the
episode at the White House […]
From the BBC World Service: Hurricane Beryl has hit Jamaica
after leaving an “Armageddon-like” trail in Grenada, but the Jamaican
prime minster says the worst is yet to come. We’ll hear more. Then, in
India, women in the western state of Gujarat are being offered
compensation that allows them to stay home during periods of extremely
hot weather. And Japan’s digital minister has declared victory in his
war against floppy disks.
Datacenter
demand driven by AI… but constrained by power shortages
date: 2024-07-04, updated: 2024-07-04, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Not content with drinking up all our water, now we’ll compete with DCs
for power
Demand for datacenter space is currently at a high in many markets
around the globe because of the AI boom, despite issues with securing
adequate power, at least according to commercial real estate firm CBRE.…
Row
erupts over data sharing function in UK doctor software
date: 2024-07-04, updated: 2024-07-04, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Union advises members to turn off features government introduced to
allow third parties to update records
The UK’s doctors’ union has advised members running GP surgeries to turn
off certain functionality in their IT system to prevent outside
organizations adding to their workloads.…
Growing up in the 1980s, I have many fond memories of spending time with
friends at the Skate-N-Place on Soledad. From the neon lights dancing on
the floor to Depeche […]
ITER
delays first plasma for world’s biggest fusion power rig by a
decade
date: 2024-07-04, updated: 2024-07-04, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Who could have guessed that giant magnets capable of constraining
mini-suns would be hard to build?
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a 35-nation
effort to create electricity from nuclear fusion, has torn up its
project plans and pushed operations of its tokamak back by at least
eight years.…
Ransomware
scum who hit Indonesian government apologizes, hands over encryption
key
date: 2024-07-04, updated: 2024-07-04, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Brain Cipher was never getting the $8 million it demanded anyway
Brain Cipher, the group responsible for hacking into Indonesia’s
Temporary National Data Center (PDNS) and disrupting the country’s
services, has seemingly apologized for its actions and released an
encryption key to the government.…
“To help preserve a safe Internet for content creators, we’ve just
launched a brand new “easy button” to block all AI bots. It’s available
for all customers, including those on our free tier.”
This is really neat! Whatever you land on AI scraping, giving site
owners the one-click ability to make a choice is great. Some will choose
not to use this; others will hit the button. Making it this easy means
it’s a choice about the principles, not any kind of technical
considerations. Which is what it should be.
Not every site is on Cloudflare (and some also choose not to use it
because of how it’s historically dealt with white supremacist / Nazi
content). But many are, and this makes it easy for them. Other, similar
providers will likely follow quickly.
The Santa Clarita Valley received another sobering reminder on the
dangers of drinking and driving ahead of the California Highway Patrol
maximum enforcement period this weekend for the Fourth of […]
Thousands
evacuate as Northern California wildfire spreads, more hot weather
expected
date: 2024-07-04, from: VOA News USA
OROVILLE, Calif. — Firefighters lined roads to keep flames from
reaching homes as helicopters dropped water on a growing wildfire
Wednesday in Northern California that has forced at least 26,000 people
to evacuate, as the state sweltered under extreme heat.
The Thompson fire broke out before noon Tuesday about 110 kilometers
north of Sacramento, near the city of Oroville in Butte County. It sent
up a huge plume of smoke that could be seen from space as it grew to
more than 14 square kilometers. There was no containment.
But Oroville Mayor David Pittman said by Wednesday afternoon there
had been a “significant drop in the fire activity,” and he was hopeful
that some residents could soon be allowed to return home. The fire’s
progress was stopped along the southern edge and firefighters working in
steep terrain were trying to build containment lines on the northern
side.
“On that north side they have some real struggles in terms of the
topography,” Pittman said.
More than a dozen other blazes, most of them small, were active in
across the state, according to the California Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. A new fire Wednesday afternoon prompted a
small number of evacuations in heavily populated Simi Valley, about 65
kilometers northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
The state’s largest blaze, the Basin Fire, covered nearly 57 square
kilometers of the Sierra National Forest in eastern Fresno County and
was 26% contained.
In Oroville, a state of emergency was declared Tuesday night and
evacuation centers were set up. The evacuation zone expanded Wednesday
into foothills and rural areas beyond the city that’s home to about
20,000 people. With July Fourth in mind, authorities also warned that
fireworks are banned in many places, including most of Butte County.
There was no immediate official report on property losses. An
Associated Press photographer saw fire burn three adjacent
suburban-style homes in Oroville.
The fire ignited sprigs of grass poking from the concrete edges of
Lake Oroville as gusty winds whipped up American flags lining a bend of
the state’s second largest reservoir and the nation’s tallest dam.
Residents stood on hillsides in the night, watching the orange glow,
as aircraft made water drops to keep the fire from spreading. A crew of
more than a dozen firefighters saved one home as goats and other farm
animals ran to find safety.
The fire’s cause is being investigated. Red flag warnings for
critical fire weather conditions, including gusty northerly winds and
low humidity levels, were in effect when it erupted.
The warnings were expected to remain in effect until 8 p.m.
Wednesday, said Garrett Sjolund, the Butte County unit chief for Cal
Fire.
“The conditions out there that are in our county this summer are much
different than we’ve experienced the last two summers,” Sjolund said in
an online briefing. “The fuels are very dense, brush is dry. And as you
can see, any wind will move a fire out very quickly.”
The conditions led Pacific Gas & Electric to implement targeted
public safety power shutoffs in parts of some Northern California
counties to prevent fires from being ignited by downed or damaged
wires.
More high temperatures above 100 degrees (37.8 Celsius) were forecast
Wednesday, the National Weather Service said. Hot conditions were
expected to continue into next week.
Authorities warned of full legal consequences for any illegal use of
fireworks during the Fourth of July holiday.
“Don’t be an idiot, cause a fire and create more problems for us,”
said Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea. “No one in the community is
going to want that. And we certainly don’t want this.”
The governor’s office announced late Tuesday that federal funding had
been approved to help with firefighting efforts. Gov. Gavin Newsom this
week activated the State Operations Center to coordinate California’s
response, dispatch mutual aid and support communities as they respond to
threats of wildfire and excessive heat.
In Southern California, Joshua Tree National Park officials closed
Covington Flats, an area with most of the park’s important Joshua tree
populations, on Wednesday because of extreme fire risk after spring
rains led to abundant grass that has now dried. A June 2023 fire burned
4.14 square kilometers of Joshua trees and desert tortoise habitat.
Chinese
Gen AI researchers snagged more patents than everyone else combined
since 2013
date: 2024-07-04, updated: 2024-07-04, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
You think the US leads the field? Wrong – OpenAI is way down WIPO’s
charts
The World Intellectual Property Organization has counted the patents and
scientific publications related to generative AI it could find between
2014 and 2023, and found 54,000 GenAI-related inventions and over 75,000
scientific publications – and that China utterly dominates the field.…
Accounting
details still missing for $3 million in OC taxpayer dollars to feed
seniors during pandemic
date: 2024-07-04, updated: 2024-07-04, from: The LAist
A nonprofit at the center of an LAist investigation of O.C.
Supervisor Andrew Do missed another deadline to account for over $3
million in taxpayer dollars Do gave the group to feed needy seniors
during the pandemic.
Sols
4234-4235: And That’s (Nearly) a Wrap on Mammoth Lakes!
date: 2024-07-04, from: NASA breaking news
Earth Planning Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2024 We received the data
from our SAM analysis of the Mammoth Lakes sample late Monday afternoon.
After chewing over the results, the team declared we are very happy with
all of the analyses we’ve done with this sample, and we are ready to
move on to greener pastures… […]
GM
to pay $146 million in penalties for excess auto emissions
date: 2024-07-04, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in penalties
to the federal government because 5.9 million of its older vehicles do
not comply with emissions and fuel economy standards.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a
statement Wednesday that certain GM vehicles from the 2012 through 2018
model years did not comply with federal fuel economy requirements.
The penalty comes after the Environmental Protection Agency said its
testing showed the GM pickups and SUVs emit more than 10% more carbon
dioxide on average than GM’s initial compliance testing claimed.
The EPA says the vehicles will remain on the road and cannot be
repaired. The GM vehicles on average consume at least 10% more fuel than
the window sticker numbers say, but the company won’t be required to
reduce the miles per gallon on the stickers, the EPA said.
“Our investigation has achieved accountability and upholds an
important program that’s reducing air pollution and protecting
communities across the country,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan
said.
GM said in a statement that it complied with all regulations
regarding the pollution and mileage certification of its vehicles. The
company said it is not admitting to any wrongdoing nor that it failed to
comply with the Clean Air Act.
The problem stems from a change in testing procedures that the EPA
put in place in 2016, GM spokesperson Bill Grotz said.
Owners don’t have to take any action because there is no defect in
the vehicles, Grotz said.
“We believe this voluntary action is the best course of action to
resolve the outstanding issues with the federal government,” he
said.
The enforcement action involves about 4.6 million full-size pickups
and SUVs and about 1.3 million midsize SUVs, the EPA said. The affected
models include the Chevy Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade and Chevy Silverado.
About 40 variations of GM vehicles are covered.
GM will be forced to give up credits used to ensure that
manufacturers’ greenhouse gas emissions are below the fleet standard for
emissions that applies for that model year, the EPA said. In a quarterly
filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, GM said it expects
the total cost to resolve the matter will be $490 million.
Because GM agreed to address the excess emissions, EPA said it was
not necessary to make a formal determination regarding the reasons for
the excess pollution.
But David Cooke, senior vehicles analyst for the Union of Concerned
Scientists, questioned how GM could not know that pollution exceeded
initial tests by more than 10% because the problem was so widespread on
so many different vehicles.
“You don’t just make a more than 10% rounding error,” he said.
Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign for the
environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, said the violations
by GM “show why automakers can’t be trusted to protect our air and
health, and why we need strong pollution rules. Supreme Court, take
notice!”
In similar pollution cases in the past, automakers have been fined
under the Clean Air Act for such violations, and the Justice Department
normally gets involved, Cooke said. Hyundai and Kia, for instance, faced
Justice Department action in a similar case.
The Justice Department declined to comment, and GM said the
settlement resolves all government claims.
Cooke said it’s possible that GM owners could sue the company because
they are getting lower gas mileage than advertised.
In 2014, Hyundai and Kia entered into a settlement in which they had
to pay a $100 million civil penalty to end a two-year investigation into
overstated gas mileage on window stickers of 1.2 million vehicles.
TSA
expects to screen a record number of July 4th travelers
date: 2024-07-04, from: VOA News USA
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — Nicole Lindsay thought she could beat the
holiday-week travel rush by booking an early morning flight. It didn’t
work out that way.
“I thought it wouldn’t be that busy, but it turned out to be quite
busy,” the Baltimore resident said as she herded her three daughters
through Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. “It was a lot of
kids on the flight, so it was kind of noisy — a lot of crying
babies.”
Lindsay said the flight was full, but her family arrived safely to
spend a few days in Port Saint Lucie, so she was not complaining.
Airlines hope the outcome is just as good for millions of other
passengers scheduled to take holiday flights over the next few days.
AAA forecasts that 70.9 million people will travel at least 80
kilometers from home over a nine-day stretch that began June 27, a 5%
increase over the comparable period around the Fourth of July last year.
Most of those people will drive, and the motor club says traffic will be
the worst between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. most days.
Federal officials expect air-travel records to fall as Americans turn
the timing of July Fourth on a Thursday into a four-day — or longer —
holiday weekend.
The Transportation Security Administration predicts that its officers
will screen more than 3 million travelers at U.S. airports on Sunday.
That would top the June 23 mark of more than 2.99 million. American
Airlines said Sunday is expected to be its busiest day of the entire
summer; it plans more than 6,500 flights.
TSA was created after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, and
replaced a collection of private security companies that were hired by
airlines. Eight of the 10 busiest days in TSA’s history have come this
year, as the number of travelers tops pre-pandemic levels.
The head of the agency, David Pekoske, said Wednesday that TSA has
enough screeners to handle the expected crowds this weekend and through
the summer.
“We have been totally tested over the course of the last couple of
months in being able to meet our wait-time standards of 10 minutes for a
PreCheck passenger and 30 minutes for a standard passenger, so we are
ready,” Pekoske said on NBC’s Today show.
Peggy Grundstrom, a frequent traveler from Massachusetts who flew to
Florida to visit her daughter and granddaughter, said the line for
security in Hartford, Connecticut, was unusually long.
“It was busier than I have personally seen in the past,” Grundstrom
said. “But, you know, I prefer to fly unless it’s very local. I’m at a
stage where I don’t want to travel in a car for long periods of
time.”
Polls consistently show that a high percentage of Americans think the
economy is poor, but that is not stopping them from traveling this
summer.
“My finances are always pretty tight,” said Madison Tilner, a
law-school student at Northwestern University who was waiting for a
flight at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. But with a work life
looming ahead of her, she said, “I’m trying to travel more and use my
free time while I can. I think a lot of people feel that way in
summer.”
Passengers on about 3,000 flights Wednesday were spending some of
their free time hanging around airports because of flight delays,
according to FlightAware.
The
Thompson Fire burns in Butte County.
