News gathered 2024-07-26
(date: 2024-07-26 07:24:11)
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-26, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
On this day in 2004, NPR adds RSS.
http://scripting.com/2004/07/25.html
With ‘Digital Twins,’ The Doctor Will See You Now
date: 2024-07-26, from: Quanta Magazine
By creating digital twins of patients, Amanda Randles wants to bring unprecedented precision to medical forecasts.The post With ‘Digital Twins,’ The Doctor Will See You Now first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/with-digital-twins-the-doctor-will-see-you-now-20240726/
Department of Education Sued Following Markup Investigation Into FAFSA Data Shared with Facebook
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Markup blog
Advocates want answers after The Markup found the department sharing student data with Meta
Vast, unique art collection goes up for bid in San Jose
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
“For the Love of Art,” an exhibition of the Ralph and Sheila Pickett collection, is being auctioned Saturday at the Art Object Gallery in Japantown.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/07/26/vast-unique-art-collection-goes-up-for-bid-in-san-jose/
Phony customs agent bilks Saratoga resident for over $4,000
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
Told victim they were under investigation for criminal activity.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/07/26/phony-customs-agent-bilks-saratoga-resident-for-4-7k/
Elon Musk’s transgender daughter, Vivian Wilson, speaks in first interview
date: 2024-07-26, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">“Vivian Jenna Wilson, the transgender daughter of Elon Musk, said Thursday in her first interview that he was an absent father who was cruel to her as a child for being queer and feminine.”
Her full Threads thread is worth reading. She seems to have her head screwed on correctly and comes across as a far better person than the father she disowned.
On puberty blockers, she says:
“They save lives. Let’s not get that twisted. They definitely allowed me to thrive.”
That’s really the kicker with Musk’s current nonsense. Lives are at stake, and while his rhetoric might soothe whatever it is inside him that is hurt by his child disowning him for being a bigot, taking it to the national policy stage and endangering vulnerable communities is far from okay.
It’s also a wild distraction when the valuations of his companies are at risk. Privately, investors and partners have to be up in arms: this is not what he needs to be concentrating on. In effect, one of the world’s richest men is having such a public personality crisis that it’s putting the well-being of both a very vulnerable group and his wealthy backers at risk.
<p>[<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musk-transgender-daughter-vivian-wilson-interview-rcna163665">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/elon-musks-transgender-daughter-vivian-wilson-speaks-in-first-interview
The Smell of Human Stress Leads Dogs to Make More Pessimistic Decisions, Study Suggests
date: 2024-07-26, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Canines that smelled the sweat of anxious people were less likely to approach a bowl that might have contained food, indicating humans’ emotions can affect dogs’ behavior
Progress discloses second critical flaw in Telerik Report Server in as many months
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
These are the kinds of bugs APTs thrive on, just ask the Feds
Progress Software’s latest security advisory warns customers about the second critical vulnerability targeting its Telerik Report Server in as many months.…
Elon Musk’s trans daughter says dad ‘relentlessly harassed’ her for her femininity and queerness
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
In an interview with NBC News and in a series of Threads posts, Vivian Jenna Wilson also excoriated the Tesla and SpaceX founder for being ‘narcissistic’ and ‘uncaring.’
San Mateo County: Fight loneliness with furry friends
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
Pets provide not only psychological benefits but also physical benefits for older adults, especially those who are socially isolated
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/07/26/san-mateo-county-fight-loneliness-with-furry-friends/
Fremont: Husband and brother-in-law conspire to catch, kidnap and beat man’s wife, her suspected lover, police say
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
Police say video surveillance captured both the attack and kidnapping of the victims.
Too Close To The Kernel
date: 2024-07-26, from: Tedium feed
The CrowdStrike mess points out just how close some developers get to the kernel—and efforts to lock things down will help highlight the tension between security and user choice.
https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16754189/crowdstrike-kernel-security-user-freedom
Controversial Bay Area horseback riding company investigated for animal neglect following horse death
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
Chaparral Ranch was issued a citation for criminal animal neglect, a first for the company, according to the county.
Watch 100,000 Dominoes Topple to the Ground in a Dazzling Eight-Minute Display
date: 2024-07-26, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Artist Lily Hevesh spent ten days creating the elaborate installation at the National Building Museum
‘A moose hit me’ and other ways people damage their gizmos
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The wild world of wrecking our tech
Have you ever bitten your phone, or thrown it in anger? How about broken it in a collision with a moose? These are just some of the ways in which people have damaged their digital devices, according to a survey.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/device_damage_survey/
McDonald: 49ers had their priorities in order when extending Christian McCaffrey
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is charged with devising a way to keep Christian McCaffrey fresh for another long season.
Saxophone changes colour on every note
date: 2024-07-26, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
This saxophone accessory sits inside the instrument’s bell and lights up in different colours according to the notes that the musician plays.
The post Saxophone changes colour on every note appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/saxophone-changes-colour-on-every-note/
Walters: Eye-popping construction costs intensify California’s housing shortage
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
Inflation, rising interest rates and red tape add to challenges of building low-income housing in this state.
Barack and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris, giving her expected but crucial support
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
Harris, who has known the Obamas since before his election in 2008, thanked them for their friendship and said she looks forward to “getting there, being on the road” with them in the three-month blitz before Election Day on Nov. 5.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-26, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The Obamas endorse Kamala Harris for Democratic nominee.
https://www.npr.org/2024/07/26/nx-s1-5052627/obama-endorses-harris-election
Fraud-tied San Jose condo project is complete, allowing sales to launch
date: 2024-07-26, from: San Jose Mercury News
A condominium complex in San Jose that’s mired in a massive real estate fraud case is complete.
NASA’s Curiosity Rover Accidentally Discovers Sulfur Crystals on Mars
date: 2024-07-26, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The rover’s wheel cracked open a rock and revealed pure elemental sulfur, which researchers have never seen on the Red Planet before
Wildfire Season Is Already Devastating North America
date: 2024-07-26, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Eastern Bolivia declared an extreme weather state of emergency through the end of the year • The Chinese province of Fujian has recorded 1.6 feet of rain since Wednesday • Rain in Paris is threatening to make for a soggy Olympics opening ceremony.
THE TOP FIVE
- Huge wildfires burn in Canada, California, Oregon
Massive wildfires are burning in western states and in Canada, sending plumes of smoke fanning out across the U.S. Triple-digit heat has fueled the fire conditions, but some cooler weather is expected over the weekend.
California’s Park Fire: The 165,000-acre inferno is located in Butte and Tehama counties in northern California. It ignited on Wednesday and exploded quickly to become the state’s largest wildfire of the year, burning an area equivalent to 50 football fields a minute. As of this morning the fire was 3% contained. A suspect has been arrested and is accused of starting the fire when he pushed a burning car into a gully. The state’s acreage burned so far is roughly twice the average for this time of year.
The
Park Fire burns in
California.CSU/CIRA
& NOAA
Oregon’s Durkee Fire: Located near the Oregon-Idaho border, this is currently the largest active fire in the U.S., covering 270,000 acres. A lightning strike is thought to have sparked the blaze on July 17. High winds, extreme heat, and dry conditions have fanned the flames. Air quality alerts are in place for eastern Oregon. Denver and Chicago also experienced a dip in air quality.
Canada’s Jasper Wildfire Complex: Wildfires engulfed the tourist town of Jasper in the Alberta province, leaving half the town in ruins. Roughly 89,000 acres have burned and 25,000 people were forced to evacuate. Rain and cooler weather brought some relief last night. So far 5.7 million acres have burned in Canada this year, surpassing the annual average.
While North America burns, parts of Asia are seeing unprecedented rainfall and flooding. Typhoon Gaemi lashed China, Taiwan, and the Philippines this week, killing at least 21 people and capsizing an oil tanker. Researchers say climate change is altering rainfall patterns globally, resulting in less frequent but much stronger typhoons. A new study published in the journal Science concluded that about 75% of the world’s land area has seen more extreme swings between wet and dry conditions. “This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods,” the researchers said.
- NOAA chooses 19 projects for IRA funding to boost coastal climate
resilience
The Biden administration today announced the 19 projects that are slated to receive part of $575 million in funding through NOAA’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge to boost coastal climate resilience. The projects are located across 15 states. Some of the largest grants are going to Alaska ($78.9 million), Washington state ($75.6 million), and New Jersey ($72.5 million). NOAA said the program received 870 applications, making it “one of the most popular Inflation Reduction Act programs.” Here’s the full list of projects.
- Minneapolis is getting a solar cell factory
Plans are underway to build a solar cell factory in Minneapolis. The project is a joint venture between Canadian solar panel maker Heliene and India’s solar cell maker Premier Energies. It’ll produce an annual aggregate capacity of 1 GW N-Type cells. “This is great news for the U.S.,” wrote Michelle Lewis at Electrek, “as there is currently a shortage of U.S. solar cell manufacturing capacity.” It’s good news, too, for solar panel makers that need American-made cells in order to qualify for new subsidies. Heliene credited the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits for spurring its decision to invest in U.S. solar.
- Climate protesters seek to disrupt flights across Europe
About 140 flights out of Germany’s busiest airport were canceled yesterday because climate activists glued themselves to the runway. The protest is part of a larger coordinated movement between climate groups across Europe to disrupt airport activity and call for an international agreement to phase out fossil fuels. Airports in Finland, Spain, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, and the U.K. have also been targeted in recent days. The months of June through August mark Europe’s busiest travel season.
- UN chief calls for urgent action against extreme heat
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres issued an urgent call yesterday for global action to protect people and economies from the growing threat of extreme heat. The message included four imperatives: protecting the most world’s vulnerable populations by expanding access to low-carbon cooling technologies, protecting workers with better workplace heat regulations, strengthening resilience through climate action plans, and phasing out fossil fuels. This week saw the hottest-ever recorded global average temperature. “The message is clear: the heat is on,” Guterres said. “Extreme heat is having an extreme impact on people and planet. The world must rise to the challenge of rising temperatures.” In the U.S., extreme heat kills more people every year than all other extreme weather events combined.
THE KICKER
“The Green New Deal may not have been signed into law in its pure form, but it did what its advocates hoped: It captured the conversation around climate and was adopted to a great extent by an entire political party. And much of what it sought has found its way into law and policy. So while Trump may call it a scam, it looks a lot like a triumph.” –Paul Waldman writing for Heatmap.
https://heatmap.news/climate/park-fire-california-oregon-canada
LA city planners hear from a chorus of Angelenos wanting more housing in single-family neighborhoods
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The LAist
City officials plan to leave single-family zones out of their blueprint for hundreds of thousands of new homes. Many residents are urging them to reverse course.
It’s not just what you know, it’s who you know — for kids, too
date: 2024-07-26, from: Marketplace Morning Report
A new study from researchers at Harvard’s Opportunity Insights and the Census Bureau finds that children have a better chance at moving up the economic ladder if most of the adults they interact with are employed — not just in the household but beyond. We’ll delve in. Plus, the Biden White House still has lots on its economic plate before a new president comes to power in six months.
Google DeepMind’s latest models kinda sorta take silver at Math Olympiad
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Sure, it took three days to do what teenaged brainiacs do in nine hours – but who’s counting?
Researchers at Google DeepMind claim they’ve developed a pair of AI models capable of taking home a silver medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) – although not within the allotted time limit.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/google_deepmind_maths/
Can Harris Fight — And Win?
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Lever News
In a wide-ranging WNYC discussion, The Lever’s David Sirota explores why Dems going populist is the only way to defeat Trump.
https://www.levernews.com/can-harris-fight-and-win/
Hubble Images a Classic Spiral
date: 2024-07-26, from: NASA breaking news
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image treats viewers to a wonderfully detailed snapshot of the spiral galaxy NGC 3430 that lies 100 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo Minor. Several other galaxies, located relatively nearby to this one, are just beyond the frame of this image; one is close enough that gravitational interaction […]
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-images-a-classic-spiral/
P&B: Daniel Miller
date: 2024-07-26, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>This is the 48th edition of <em>People and Blogs</em>, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Daniel Miller and his blog, <a href="https://www.daniel.industries">daniel.industries</a></p>To follow this series subscribe to the newsletter. A new interview will land in your inbox every Friday. Not a fan of newsletters? No problem! You can read the interviews here on the blog or you can subscribe to the RSS feed.
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Let’s start from the basics: can you introduce yourself?
I am originally from Pennsylvania, went to school in Arizona, and ended up in Dallas, Texas by way of Florida, Washington DC, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. I studied Psychology and planned on pursuing graduate studies in organizational psychology, but ended up in software fairly quickly, within about a year of graduating. I was a developer for over a decade, and then a CTO for almost another decade. I’m currently looking for an opportunity where I can provide value to a business doing good in the world.
I used to make music but haven’t done much of that for about 10 years. I ride my bicycle as often as possible, usually a few times a week. And I write on my blog!
What’s the story behind your blog?
I’ve always been interested in the ideas around Personal Knowledge Management, so when I first saw Blogger and started blogging in 2001 I thought of it as a public notebook. It still serves that purpose. It was originally danielsjourney.com (still have the domain). I eventually changed to daniel.industries.
My peak readership was during the blogging boom of the 2000s, which coincided with my move to Bosnia, which people seemed to be interested in.
What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging?
I use Notion for “capture” and have about 18 ideas in there. I have additional less-formed ideas tagged in my Logseq notes. I have 19 posts in a drafts folder with another 516 stashed in there from private writing websites I participated in a years ago. In theory, I will someday get the good ones imported into the canonical notebook, but at this rate, it might never happen.
I try to write and publish in one sitting, otherwise the post might never get finished. I’m not afraid of editing a post after I’ve published it, though. It’s my history, I can rewrite it if I want.
I also have writing (for stories and articles) and music sections on the site. I plan on adding a “projects” page as well.
The blog currently has 3417 posts. I posted much more early on (2001-2008), before Twitter and (some) maturity that came with age and experience…and I had a lot more time for it back then.
Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the physical space influences your creativity?
It’s less about my physical environment and more about my mental and emotional environment. The other reason I’ve blogged less in the last 14 years is that my life allows for less quiet time for thinking. I will have good ideas and make interesting connections while riding my bike, or in the shower, or right before falling asleep, but as my life has become more full with family and responsibilities, I find not many of those ideas make it onto a page anywhere (yet alone become coherent enough to go on the website).
A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech stack?
I use Jekyll with a Ruby Rakefile I brought with me from back when I used a gem called “Octopress” (which has been abandoned), which adds quality-of-life command line tools for managing posts, building, and publishing. I’ve also written a “backlink” plugin for Jekyll (see Really Basic Backlinks in Jekyll).
While I have used Jekyll for over 10 years, before that I used Blogger, Moveable Type, WordPress, LiveJournal, and multiple versions of my own PHP CMS system (see SWIM Stock-take Part 2). But I’ve been a static site generator person for a long time. I think 11ty is probably better at this point, but so far I haven’t felt the need to move off Jekyll.
See To Find an Alternative to Wordpress, Just Go Back to the Beginning.
I’ve hosted on DreamHost since forever. I’ve had my domains with Hover for a long time.
Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do anything differently?
Static site generators seem to be all the rage these days, for good reason. Having everything as a flat file you can manage via source control and easily move around, search, mass update from your text editor of choice…it’s better than having everything locked into a database in the cloud (or even on your computer), even if the product allows for easy exports. See Web Artifact Permanence.
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?
The hosting is somewhere between $100-200 per year (I was kept at a lower price for a while, and I think that is over soon). I could host on GitHub or similar for free, but I have a handful of sites I host on DreamHost, so it is just easier to manage them all in one place.
I was bullish on tools that would allow individual artists to monetize their work without the need for middlemen, I even ran a nonprofit from 2003-2005 (see Goodbye Integration Research Dot Org) that was working on exactly that problem. I was excited when Jack Conte first talked about Patreon at XOXO (I was there in person–and it is still a good talk). Now we’re there, and Patreon has to enshittify to appease investors, and Substack has to harbor fascists and pop modals in my face all the time, and I’m not so sure about the entire idea. I think it is better to just have something you can sell. It’s hard. I think if you don’t have to monetize your online work, that’s better. There are too many pseudo-intellectual influencers out there, and too few Kottkes, Popovas, or Westenbergs.
Those of us just hanging out in our digital living rooms on the cozy web are doing ok without having to perform for our audience.
See On Blogging:
Keeping a personal blog in 2017 feels relatively futile. But while everyone else is
storingthrowing their stories, artifacts, thoughts, and meanings into the stream for others to consume on their phones while taking a dump or bored at lunch or while consuming some other media entirely, those of us who store our work on actual domains do it for ourselves–and our legacy. And while permalinks may–and do–rot faster than last week’s bananas, the content is still here.
…or Rebels: Episode 2:
Creating content on the internet and actually owning all of that content and retaining complete control over that content is still one of the most culturally radical things one can do. Sure, the marketers of the world will tell you you’re wasting your time, but that is only if your horizon for meaningful impact in the world has shortened to the amount of time a news story remains in your social network feed.
Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out? And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next?
- Naz Hamid is a web OG
- Ludicity is getting a lot of attention lately for their hot takes full of humanity, and for good reason
- Labnotes by Assaf Arkin is one of the best weekly link list blogs
- Indexed has been consistently posting witty drawings on index cards since 2006
- Jared Christensen for music and design thoughts since 2003
…rapid-fire style, for the sake of time: Tim Bray, Rands in Repose, Robin Rendle, Robin Sloan, Surfing Complexity, John Cutler, Uses This, Tom Critchlow, Ribbonfarm.
You should interview Maggie Appleton.
Final question: is there anything you want to share with us?
- Saner.ai is a writing/PKM-focused AI tool that actually works and is being actively developed.
- Omnivore is a free and OSS read later (and RSS reader) app.
- Huffduffer lets you create a custom podcast feed for yourself from any audio file on the internet.
- Mike Riddell was an author from New Zealand who passed two years ago. Seeing his play Jerusalem, Jerusalem performed live was one of the greatest artistic experiences of my life.
- Jeff Hull
This was the 48th edition of People and Blogs. Hope you enjoyed this interview with Daniel. Make sure to follow his blog (RSS) and get in touch with him if you have any questions.
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French trains hit by sabotage
date: 2024-07-26, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Just as the Olympics are getting underway in Paris, the French train network has been hit by arson attacks, causing major delays and disruption. The incident will put even more focus on security at the games, which is already extremely tight. Then, we’ll look at how AI is being used to help make athletes’ lives easier and scoring more accurate at this year’s Games.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/french-trains-hit-by-sabotage
Trump Is Sort of Right About the Green New Deal
date: 2024-07-26, from: Heatmap News
“They’ve spent trillions of dollars on things having to do with the Green New Scam. It’s a scam,” said Donald Trump in his recent convention speech. His running mate J.D. Vance echoed the sentiment, saying in his speech that the country needs “a leader who rejects Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s Green New Scam.”
To get the reference, you would have had to understand that they were talking about the Green New Deal — which most Americans probably recall dimly, if at all — and have some sense of both what was in it and why you shouldn’t like it. Neither Trump nor Vance explained or elaborated; it was one of many attacks at the Republican convention that brought cheers from the delegates but were likely all but incomprehensible to voters who aren’t deeply versed in conservative memes and boogeymen.
But here’s the irony. The Green New Deal never made the transition from a general statement of goals to a concrete and comprehensive policy plan. It wasn’t enacted through Congress. And today, most Democrats, even those who supported it in the past, seldom mention it by name. Yet without too many people noticing, the Green New Deal has been enormously successful.
From the beginning, it was envisioned as both a set of policy objectives and a public relations campaign, starting with the name. By invoking Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, its advocates intended to communicate three essential messages. First, climate change is an urgent crisis on the scale of the Great Depression, one that demands a government response without delay. Second, the plan itself is hugely ambitious, seeking to marshal vast resources across multiple federal agencies to confront the problem. And third, the programs it envisions would be as transformative and lasting in their effects as those of the New Deal, putting millions to work, creating economic security, and providing direct benefits to Americans’ lives.
But the plan itself was not really a plan at all. The legislation filed in 2019 by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey is a mere 14 pages long. It articulates five goals:
1. Achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions
2. Creating millions of high-wage jobs
3. Investing in sustainable infrastructure
4. Securing clean air and water, climate and community
resiliency, healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable
environment
5. Promoting environmental justice
The rest of the document name-checks a variety of areas where future programs will be targeted (manufacturing, housing, transportation, agriculture, etc.) and principles those programs should embody (support for unions, community involvement, opposition to corporate monopolies). In the years since, Ocasio-Cortez and Markey, along with other advocates, have attached the Green New Deal name to other, more detailed proposals (e.g. the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act).
So not only does the Green New Deal remain somewhat abstract and hypothetical, most Democrats don’t even bring it up anymore. Which is why it sounds so absurd when Republicans attack it as though it were an enacted law; every time the crumbling Texas energy grid fails, foes of the clean energy transition rush to Fox News to say the Green New Deal is the culprit.
If you wanted to be generous, you could say the Republican critics are not lying, just using the phrase “Green New Deal” — or in Trump and Vance’s formulation, “Green New Scam” — as a shorthand to refer to any and all efforts to address climate change. In that sense, they might actually be on to something.
To understand why, we should go back to the Green New Deal’s high point as a topic of political debate: the 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign. Most of the two dozen Democrats running for the nomination supported it, and many — including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Kamala Harris — were cosponsors of the legislation. When Joe Biden released his first campaign climate plan in 2019, it read, “Biden believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face.” A year later he put out an updated plan that backed away from the Green New Deal moniker but won praise from climate advocates for its ambition, including pledges to spend $2 trillion and reduce carbon emissions from power plants to zero by 2035.
That change foreshadowed where most elected officials in the Democratic Party would move: Most of them wound up setting aside the Green New Deal name, but they adopted its policy goals. What was originally thought by many to be a pie-in-the-sky idea advanced by those on the left edge of the party became something almost any Democrat with serious ambitions has to be on board with, however they might describe it. Democratic senators and governors may not all agree on every particular, but they have come around to the Green New Deal’s fundamental approach: aggressive, ambitious government action on climate, with the emphasis on carrots rather than sticks to produce tangible benefits the public will support.
And just as Green New Deal advocates hoped, Democrats have not allowed Republicans to sucker them into endless arguments about cost. When Republicans make preposterous claims (for instance, that it will cost $100 trillion to implement all the plan’s profligate schemes), Democrats tend to dismiss it and move on, accepting that climate action entails investing money up front, and that it’s worth it.
As for Biden, as he heads toward the end of his presidency he’s gotten lots of deserved praise for his commitment and achievements in addressing climate. While this might not be the way he would describe it, there’s no question that between the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the efforts of agencies including the EPA and Department of Energy, he has made progress on all five of the Green New Deal’s goals.
Net-zero emission targets? Check. Focus on well-paid green jobs? Check. Sustainable infrastructure? Check. Clean air and water? Check. Environmental justice? Check. One might question whether the steps his administration has taken in these areas have been effective or sufficient, but no one can say Biden hasn’t pursued the Green New Deal’s objectives.
The Green New Deal may not have been signed into law in its pure form, but it did what its advocates hoped: It captured the conversation around climate and was adopted to a great extent by an entire political party. And much of what it sought has found its way into law and policy. So while Trump may call it a scam, it looks a lot like a triumph.
https://heatmap.news/politics/trump-vance-green-new-deal
UK.gov to chuck up to £5B to gang of back office software vendors
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Framework deal set to run until 2029 as central govt transitions to new ERP SaaS model
The UK government has gone to market shopping for back office software in a tender which could be worth up to £5 billion ($6.4 billion).…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/ukgov_bak_office_tech/
Shuttle Columbia’s near-miss: Why we should always expect the unexpected in space
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The eventful launch of STS-93 and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Twenty-five years ago, Space Shuttle Columbia launched the Chandra X-ray observatory and nearly ended in catastrophe. As the then-ascent flight director John Shannon observed: “Yikes. We don’t need another one of those.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/space_shuttle_columbia_near_miss/
Former US diplomat and author Martin Indyk dies at 73
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
NORWICH, Conn. — Veteran diplomat Martin S. Indyk, an author and leader at prominent U.S. think tanks who devoted years to finding a path toward peace in the Middle East, died Thursday. He was 73.
His wife, Gahl Hodges Burt, confirmed in a phone call that he died from complications of esophageal cancer at the couple’s home in New Fairfield, Connecticut.
The Council on Foreign Relations, where Indyk had been a distinguished fellow in U.S. and Middle East diplomacy since 2018, called him a “rare, trusted voice within an otherwise polarized debate on U.S. policy toward the Middle East.”
A native of Australia, Indyk served as U.S. ambassador to Israel from 1995 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2001. He was special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations during former President Barack Obama’s administration, from 2013 to 2014.
When he resigned in 2014 to join The Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, it had symbolized the latest failed effort by the U.S. to forge an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. He continued as Obama’s special adviser on Mideast peace issues.
“Ambassador Indyk has invested decades of his extraordinary career to the mission of helping Israelis and Palestinians achieve a lasting peace. It’s the cause of Martin’s career, and I’m grateful for the wisdom and insight he’s brought to our collective efforts,” then-Secretary of State John Kerry said at the time, in a statement.
In a May 22 social media post on X, amid the continuing war in Gaza, Indyk urged Israelis to “wake up,” warning them their government “is leading you into greater isolation and ruin” after a proposed peace deal was rejected. Indyk also called out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in June on X, accusing him of playing “the martyr in a crisis he manufactured,” after Netanyahu accused the U.S. of withholding weapons that Israel needed.
“Israel is at war on four fronts: with Hamas in Gaza; with Houthis in Yemen; with Hezbollah in Lebanon; and with Iran overseeing the operations,” Indyk wrote on June 19. “What does Netanyahu do? Attack the United States based on a lie that he made up! The Speaker and Leader should withdraw his invitation to address Congress until he recants and apologizes.”
Indyk also served as special assistant to former President Bill Clinton and senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs at the National Security Council from 1993 to 1995. He served as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in the U.S. Department of State from 1997 to 2000.
Besides serving at Brookings and the Council on Foreign Relations, Indyk worked at the Center for Middle East Policy and was the founding executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Indyk’s successor at the Washington Institute called him “a true American success story.”
“A native of Australia, he came to Washington to have an impact on the making of American Middle East Policy and that he surely did – as pioneering scholar, insightful analyst and remarkably effective policy entrepreneur,” Robert Satloff said. “He was a visionary who not only founded an organization based on the idea that wise public policy is rooted in sound research, he embodied it.”
Indyk wrote or co-wrote multiple books, including Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East and Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy, which was published in 2021.
https://www.voanews.com/a/former-us-diplomat-and-author-martin-indyk-dies-at-73/7713785.html
Rockets launched at bases hosting US troops in Iraq and Syria
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
Baghdad — Several rockets were launched Thursday and Friday against bases hosting troops from the U.S.-led anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq and Syria, security officials and a war monitor said.
Such attacks were frequent early in the war between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza but since then have largely halted.
“Four rockets fell in the vicinity” of Ain al-Assad base in Anbar province, an Iraqi security source said.
Another security official said an attack occurred with “a drone and three rockets” that fell close to the base perimeter.
A United States official said initial reports indicated that projectiles landed outside the base without causing injuries or damage to the base.
All sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
At least one rocket also fell near a base of the coalition in the Conoco gas field in Deir Ezzor province of eastern Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
The Observatory said a blast was heard in the area but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The rocket was fired from “zones under the control of pro-Iranian militia” groups, said the monitor, which relies on sources inside Syria.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.
Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq have largely halted similar attacks on U.S.-backed troops in recent months.
The latest attack come after a security meeting this week between Iraqi and U.S. officials in Washington on the future of the international anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq. Iran-backed groups have demanded a withdrawal.
The U.S. Defense Department said Wednesday “the delegations reached an understanding on the concept for a new phase of the bilateral security relationship.”
This would include “cooperation through liaison officers, training, and traditional security cooperation programs.”
On July 16, two drones were launched against Ain al-Assad base, with one exploding inside without causing injuries or damage. A senior security official in Baghdad said at the time he believed the attack was meant to “embarrass” the Iraqi government before the security meeting.
For more than three months, as regional tensions soared over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, United States troops were targeted by rockets and drones more than 175 times in the Middle East, mainly in Iraq and Syria.
The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-backed groups, claimed the majority of the attacks, saying they were in solidarity with Gaza Palestinians.
In January, a drone strike blamed on those groups killed three U.S. soldiers in a base in Jordan. In retaliation, U.S. forces launched dozens of strikes against Tehran-backed fighters.
Since then, attacks against U.S. troops have largely halted.
Baghdad has sought to defuse tensions, engaging in talks with Washington on the future of the U.S.-led coalition’s mission in Iraq.
The U.S. military has around 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria with the international coalition.
The coalition was deployed to Iraq at the government’s request in 2014 to help combat the Islamic State group, which had taken over vast swathes of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Islamic State remnants still carry out attacks and ambushes in both countries.
https://www.voanews.com/a/rockets-launched-at-bases-hosting-us-troops-in-iraq-and-syria/7713780.html
Barack and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
ATLANTA — Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have endorsed Kamala Harris in her White House bid, giving the vice president the expected but still crucial backing of the nation’s two most popular Democrats.
The endorsement, announced Friday morning in a video showing Harris accepting a joint phone call from the former first couple, comes as Harris continues to build momentum as the party’s likely nominee after President Joe Biden’s decision to end his reelection bid and endorse his second-in-command against Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.
It also highlights the friendship and potentially historic link between the nation’s first Black president and the first woman, first Black woman and first person of Asian descent to serve as vice president, who is now vying to break those same barriers at the presidential rank.
“We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” the former president told Harris, who is shown taking the call as she walks backstage at an event, trailed by a Secret Service agent.
Said Michelle Obama, “I can’t have this phone call without saying to my girl, Kamala, I am proud of you.
“This is going to be historic,” she added.
Harris, who has known the Obamas since before his election in 2008, thanked them for their friendship and said she looks forward to “getting there, being on the road” with them in the three-month blitz before Election Day on November 5.
“We’re gonna have some fun with this too, aren’t we?” Harris said.
The Obamas are perhaps the last major party figures to endorse Harris formally — a reflection of the former president’s desire to remain, at least publicly, a party elder operating above the fray. The Obamas remain prodigious fundraising draws and popular surrogates at large campaign events for Democratic candidates.
According to an Associated Press survey, Harris already has secured the public support of a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, which begins August 19 in Chicago. The Democratic National Committee expects to hold a virtual nominating vote that would, by August 7, make Harris and a yet-to-be-named running mate the official Democratic ticket.
Biden endorsed Harris within an hour of announcing his decision last Sunday to end his campaign amid widespread concern about the 81-year-old president’s ability to defeat Trump. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton followed in the days after.
The Obamas, however, trod carefully as Harris secured the delegate commitments, made the rounds among core Democratic constituencies and raised more than $120 million. The public caution tracks how the former president handled the weeks between Biden’s debate debacle against Trump and the president’s eventual decision to end his campaign: Obama was a certain presence in the party’s maneuvers, but he operated quietly.
Barack Obama’s initial statement after Biden’s announcement did not mention Harris. Instead, he spoke generically about coming up with a nominee to succeed Biden: “I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges,” the former president wrote.
Both Obamas campaigned separately for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020, including large rallies on the closing weekends before Election Day. They delivered key speeches at the Democrats’ convention in 2020, a virtual event because of the coronavirus pandemic. The former president’s speech was especially notable because he unveiled a full-throated attack on Trump as a threat to democracy, an argument that endures as part of Harris’ campaign.
https://www.voanews.com/a/barack-and-michelle-obama-endorse-kamala-harris/7713775.html
John Boston | Serial Killers and Returning Shopping Carts
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
A relative years ago shared that “… the fundamental unit of humanity is insanity.” I find no chink in her argument. People are nuts. This is good for me because […]
The post John Boston | Serial Killers and Returning Shopping Carts appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/john-boston-serial-killers-and-returning-shopping-carts/
Bob Kellar | Yes, I Love This City
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
I am proud to have served the city of Santa Clarita for more than two decades as a council member and four-time mayor. During this time, I worked closely with […]
The post Bob Kellar | Yes, I Love This City appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/bob-kellar-yes-i-love-this-city/
Lois Eisenberg | A Great Man Makes a Hard Decision
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
“Way to go, Patriot Brandon” in making the decision to withdraw from the 2024 election race. It takes a great man to make a hard decision and you have done […]
The post Lois Eisenberg | A Great Man Makes a Hard Decision appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/lois-eisenberg-a-great-man-makes-a-hard-decision/
Tom Purcell | America Needs a Better Line of … Baloney
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
What a bunch of BS. BS is all over television, blogs, podcasts and newspapers these days. It’s spouted by politicians and pitched by product spokesmen. Modern life is manufacturing an […]
The post Tom Purcell | America Needs a Better Line of … Baloney appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/tom-purcell-america-needs-a-better-line-of-baloney/
Carl Kanowsky | The Collective Napa Valley Barrel Tasting
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
Since its beginning in 1981, the Napa Wine Auction (in its various iterations) has raised and invested more than $230 million toward helping the Napa Valley community address some of […]
The post Carl Kanowsky | The Collective Napa Valley Barrel Tasting appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/carl-kanowsky-the-collective-napa-valley-barrel-tasting/
Customer bricked a phone – and threatened to brick techie’s face with it
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
There’s a difference between a warranty and insurance. In this story the latter could fight back
On Call Friday is the day the working week goes to die for most people – unless, like many a Reg reader, they’re on call to provide tech support at all hours. Which is why we use this day to celebrate those hardy souls with a fresh instalment of On Call – the reader-contributed column that celebrates survival in the face of stupidity, mendacity, and substandard manners.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/on_call/
FLTK 1.4.x Weekly Snapshot (master)
date: 2024-07-26, from: Fast Light Tool Kit
A new weekly snapshot of FLTK 1.4.x (master) is now available
https://www.fltk.org/articles.php?L1933
Today in SCV History (July 26)
date: 2024-07-26, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1870 – Armantha Thibaudeau, community leader during early 20th Century and co-founder of chamber of commerce, born in Kentucky [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-july-26/
Study shock! AI hinders productivity and makes working worse
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Management drank the Kool Aid but staff can’t cope with new demands
Bosses expect artificial intelligence software to improve productivity, but workers say the tool does the opposite, according to a survey by find-a-workplace research org the Upwork Research Institute, a limb of talent-finding platform Upwork.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/ai_hinders_productivity/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-26, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Where J.D. Vance Gets His Weird, Terrifying Techno-Authoritarian Ideas.
https://newrepublic.com/article/183971/jd-vance-weird-terrifying-techno-authoritarian-ideas
Webcurios 26/07/24
date: 2024-07-26, from: Web Curios blog
Reading Time: 36 minutes Hi everyone! Hi! Can…can we all please stop talking about the US election for a bit, please? There’s ages left and you’re not going to be able to keep this level of discourse up for another three months, unless he really DOES fcuk his couch. Tell you what, let me distract you with something different,…https://webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-26-07-24/
UK and India sign broad tech collaboration pact
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Pick a hot market – AI, quantum, chips, 6G – and the pair have a plan to work on it together
The UK and India agreed on Wednesday to a broad “Technology Security Initiative” that will see the two nations collaborate in ways it’s hoped will unlock investment.…
Omnissa, VMware’s old end-user biz, emerges with promise of ‘AI-infused autonomous workspace’
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
We think this means easier-to-administer virtual desktops with extra shiny
Omnissa, the newly independent business created by Broadcom’s spinoff of VMWare’s end-user compute arm, has proclaimed it will become a source of “AI-infused autonomous workspaces”.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/omnissa_strategy_reveal/
US arrests cartel leaders ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and son of ‘El Chapo’
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of another infamous cartel leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas on Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department said.
A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Zambada is one of the most notorious drug traffickers in the world and known for running the cartel’s smuggling operations while keeping a lower profile.
A Mexican federal official told The Associated Press that Zambada and Guzmán López arrived in the United States on a private plane and turned themselves in to authorities. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized discuss the matter.
The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the capture of Zambada, who eluded authorities for decades.
Zambada and Guzmán López oversaw the trafficking of “tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said, adding that now they will “face justice in the United States.”
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Mexican authorities didn’t immediately comment on the arrests.
U.S. officials have been seeking Zambada’s capture for years, and he has been charged in a number of U.S. cases. He was charged in February in the Eastern District of New York with conspiring to manufacture and distribute the synthetic opioid. Prosecutors said he was continuing to lead the Sinaloa cartel, “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.”
Zambada, one of the longest-surviving capos in Mexico, was considered the cartel’s strategist, more involved in day-to-day operations than his flashier and better-known boss, “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2019 and is the father of Guzmán López.
Zambada is an old-fashioned capo in an era of younger kingpins known for their flamboyant lifestyles of club-hopping and brutal tactics of beheading, dismembering and even skinning their rivals. While Zambada has fought those who challenged him, he is known for concentrating on the business side of trafficking and avoiding gruesome cartel violence that would draw attention.
In an April 2010 interview with the Mexican magazine Proceso, he acknowledged that he lived in constant fear of going to prison and would contemplate suicide rather than be captured.
“I’m terrified of being incarcerated,” Zambada said. “I’d like to think that, yes, I would kill myself.”
The interview was surprising for a kingpin known for keeping his head down, but he gave strict instructions on where and when the encounter would take place, and the article gave no hint of his whereabouts.
Zambada reputedly won the loyalty of locals in his home state of Sinaloa and neighboring Durango through his largess, sponsoring local farmers and distributing money and beer in his birthplace of El Alamo.
Although little is known about Zambada’s early life, he is believed to have gotten his start as an enforcer in the 1970s.
By the early 1990s, he was a major player in the Juarez cartel, transporting tons of cocaine and marijuana.
Zambada started gaining the trust of Colombian traffickers, allegiances that helped him come out on top in the cartel world of ever-shifting alliances. Eventually he became so powerful that he broke off from the Juarez cartel, but still managed to keep strong ties with the gang and avoided a turf war. He also developed a partnership with “El Chapo” Guzman that would take him to the top of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Zambada’s detention follows some important arrests of other Sinaloa cartel figures, including one of his sons and another son of “El Chapo” Guzmán, Ovidio Guzmán López. Zambada’s son pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court in San Diego in 2021 to being a leader in the Sinaloa cartel.
In recent years, Guzman’s sons have led a faction of the cartel known as the little Chapos, or “Chapitos” that has been identified as a main exporter of fentanyl to the U.S. market.
They were seen as more violent and flamboyant than Zambada. Their security chief was arrested by Mexican authorities in November.
Ovidio Guzmán López was arrested and extradited to the U.S. last year. He pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in Chicago in September.
Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the DEA, said Zambada’s arrest is important but unlikely to have much impact on the flow of drugs to the U.S. Joaquín Guzmán López was the least influential of the four sons who made up the Chapitos, Vigil said.
“This is a great blow for the rule of law, but is it going to have an impact on the cartel? I don’t think so,” Vigil said.
“It’s not going to have a dent on the drug trade because somebody from within the cartel is going to replace him,” Vigil said.
Summer Soiree Series at the Canary Kicks Off with a Rainbow Glow
date: 2024-07-26, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Aura photography is a fun window into your energy.
The post Summer Soiree Series at the Canary Kicks Off with a Rainbow Glow appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
US presidential election energizes fast-growing Indian American community
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
washington — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ meteoric rise to the top of the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket has energized many Indian Americans, raising the fast-growing community’s political profile and sparking widespread excitement.
Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, appears set to become the first female presidential nominee of color after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday. But the fervor isn’t solely about her nomination.
Many Indian Americans, regardless of political leanings, are equally electrified to see other notable figures of Indian descent in the national spotlight: Usha Vance, the wife of Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, as well as former presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy.
“I’m very proud that Indian Americans are making it on every stage,” said Shaker Narasimhan, chair and founder of AAPI Victory Fund, a super PAC focused on mobilizing Asian American and Pacific Islander voters and supporting Democratic candidates.
Narasimhan recalled being on a call with about 130 people when news broke that Biden had dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Harris.
“Everything lit up, literally: the chats, the DMs, the phones,” Narasimhan said. “But it was all with excitement, not wonderment, like, ‘Wow.’ It was like, ‘Oh my God, let’s go,’ This is just the opportunity of a lifetime, as far as I’m concerned, for us to show our muscles.”
The enthusiasm cuts across the political spectrum. Priti Pandya-Patel, co-founder of the New Jersey Republican Party’s South Asia Coalition, said the community is buzzing about the prospect of Usha Vance becoming the country’s first Indian American second lady.
“I think it’s just a proud moment to see our community actually being out there and being noticed,” Pandya-Patel said. “I think that is definitely getting our Indian community very excited.”
5 million in US
Indian Americans are one of the fastest-growing immigrant communities, surging more than tenfold since the early 1990s.
Today, there are roughly 5 million people of Indian descent living in the United States, making them the largest Asian ethnic group and the second-largest immigrant group after Mexicans.
While Indian Americans vote Democratic more than any other Asian group, roughly 20% identify as Republican.
The Indian American community has traditionally been perceived as politically less active than some other ethnic groups. However, there are indications of growing political engagement within the community.
A recent survey of Asian Americans, including those of Indian descent, found that 90% intended to vote in the November election even though 42% had not been contacted by either party or candidate.
The Asian American Voter Survey, of nearly 2,500 voters, was conducted between April 4 to May 26 by several Asian American groups.
“So that suggests a potential gap in engagement,” said Suhag Shukla, co-founder and executive director of the non-partisan Hindu American Foundation.
Shukla said the election presents a “tremendous opportunity” for the Indian American community as well as the two major political parties.
“I think Indian Americans need to recognize their power, especially because many of us do live in either purple states or purple districts,” Shukla said in an interview with VOA, referring to battleground states in the U.S. presidential election. “On the flip side, I think that it’s a real opportunity for the parties to do not just a checkmark or a checkbox-type outreach, but genuine outreach. Have town halls. Have listening sessions.”
Spokespeople for the Harris and Trump campaigns did not respond to questions about their community outreach efforts.
Both campaigns mobilize voters through grassroots organizations.
Deepa Sharma, deputy director of South Asians for Harris and a delegate to next month’s Democratic National Convention, said her group is “working closely with people on the ground who will knock on doors, will do phone bank and outreach to this community.”
Indian Americans comprise less than 1% of U.S. registered voters, according to a 2020 study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But almost one-third live in closely contested battleground states such as Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
That puts them in a position to sway the outcome of the November election, said Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact, a progressive group.
“The South Asian American population far exceeds the margin of victory in the closest elections in these states,” Patel said.
Voter turnout steadily climbing
In 2020, the Biden-Harris ticket carried more than 70% of the Indian American vote, according to Patel, adding that support for Harris is likely to edge higher this year.
“She has drawn considerable support from the South Asian American community because she has consistently shown up and fought for our values, fought for our issues,” Patel said.
Earlier this year, Harris spoke at Indian American Impact’s “Desis Decide” summit, where she credited Indian Americans and Asian Americans with helping to get two Democratic senators elected in 2020 and 2021.
Patel said voter turnout among South Asian Americans has been steadily climbing in recent years. In 2020, for example, more than 70% of registered South Asian American voters turned out to vote in Pennsylvania, he said.
“I think they’re going to be instrumental in delivering the White House this November,” Patel said.
Similar predictions by groups such as Muslim Americans have sometimes failed to materialize.
But Narasimhan said turnout could be boosted with the right voter mobilization strategy, adding that voter education is key.
“Just because you’re a citizen doesn’t mean you can vote, you have to register,” Narasimhan said. “Teaching people the basic rudimentaries of what’s early voting, what’s absentee balloting, what’s going to the polls, navigating the system is critical, and we have to do that basic education.”
On the Republican side, activists are betting that Trump’s close ties to India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi will translate into votes for the former president.
“Trump has been friendly to India and that makes a big difference,” Pandya-Patel, the Republican activist in New Jersey, said.
Whether Indian American support for Trump is rising remains unclear.
In the recent Asian American Voter Survey, 29% of Indian Americans said they intended to vote for Trump, largely unchanged from four years ago.
Trump has called Modi a “true friend.” In 2019, he and Modi addressed a joint rally in Houston, Texas, that attracted more than 50,000 people, many supporters of the Indian prime minister. At the “Howdy, Modi!” rally, Trump called Modi “one of America’s greatest, most devoted and most loyal friends.”
Pandya-Patel said the rally boosted Indian American support for Trump, whose friendship with Modi, she added, is a key reason many Indian Americans back him.
Shukla of the Hindu American Foundation said there is a perception among some Indian Americans that the Democratic Party is not “a Hindu-friendly party.”
That may partly explain a recent “shift” in Indian American party affiliation, she said.
In the Asian American Voter Survey, the number of Indians who identify as Democrats fell from 54% in 2020 to 47% in 2024, while those identifying with the Republican Party rose from 16% to 21%.
Anang Mittal, a Virginia-based commentator who previously worked for House Speaker Mike Johnson, said the apparent shift reflects less a “sea change” than shifting political attitudes.
“I think the country as a whole is sort of shifting towards Republicans because of the larger issues that are plaguing this election,” Mittal said.
Netanyahu’s speech to Congress seen as unlikely to shift US policy on Israel-Hamas war
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday to Congress highlighted US partisan divisions on his conduct of the war against the Hamas terror group, and some of his differences with President Joe Biden on how best to secure Israel’s future. VOA’s Michael Lipin looks at how Netanyahu’s address and Biden’s decision last weekend not to run for reelection may affect US policy on the Israel-Hamas war in the coming months.
Biden, Netanyahu meet to discuss Gaza war and cease-fire talks
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met separately with Israel’s leader Thursday at the White House — as a sensitive moment in the Gaza conflict collided with an unprecedented moment in American politics. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also plans to meet on Friday with former President Donald Trump. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-netanyahu-meet-to-discuss-gaza-war-and-cease-fire-talks/7713698.html
Assault with a deadly weapon reported at golf course
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
Law enforcement responded to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon at Vista Valencia Golf Course on Thursday night, according to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. “A male […]
The post Assault with a deadly weapon reported at golf course appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/assault-with-a-deadly-weapon-reported-at-golf-course/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-07-26, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Upgraded the multi-field numeric input now in the style of FinalCut Pro for iPad.
Pretty happy with the results.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112850734025240198
White House backs phased-in cease-fire in Gaza
date: 2024-07-26, from: VOA News USA
White House — The Biden administration is hopeful over a deal to reach a cease-fire and free hostages held in Gaza, where war has raged for more than nine months after Hamas’ stunning October 7 attack on Israel.
VOA spoke to John Kirby, White House national security spokesperson, about the deal and more, in this interview with VOA’s White House Correspondent Begum Ersoz on Thursday.
The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
VOA: Does the administration accept a cease-fire deal only with phase one, that does not guarantee any way forward for the other phases of the deal? What stands in the way of a deal? And what are the sticking points?
KIRBY: The whole purpose of the proposal is that you get to phase one, you get a six-week ceasefire, get some hostages out and you begin the negotiations on phase two. That’s the whole purpose of this proposal. What we want to do is to get to phase one, get the six weeks started. …I will not get into the details and negotiate in public. But we believe the gaps are narrow enough, that with compromise and leadership on both sides could be closed.
VOA: Is the administration concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might be using this visit to the U.S. to bolster his own domestic political standing?
KIRBY: I think it’s important that the American people had a chance to hear directly from the prime minister with comments [before the U.S. Congress] on Capitol Hill. And we obviously look forward to any opportunity we have, including the one today, to sit down and discuss these issues in a private setting. We also believe it was important that the prime minister hear directly from the families of the American hostages and understand their anxiety, their fear, their desire to get their loved ones home. I won’t speak for the domestic considerations of the prime minister, that’s for him to speak to, but it’s pretty clear that the Israeli people also want to see those hostages returned. They want their loved ones back too.
VOA: Netanyahu also had talks with Vice President Kamala Harris. As the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party, to what extent she will follow the same trajectory as the Biden administration?
KIRBY: I’m not going to speculate about the future. Those are the questions for the vice president. Because what I can tell you, without question, is that she has been a full partner in the pursuit of the policies that this administration has made clear are important to us with respect to the Middle East and the war in Gaza. She has been a full partner and had conversations with Israeli counterparts on her own. She’s been involved in virtually every conversation that the president has had with the prime minister.
VOA: Some NATO officials express concerns about an arms race with the axis of Russia-China-Iran-North Korea – and some say it has already helped Russia reconstitute its forces and capabilities more quickly. How potent is the Russian-Chinese-Iranian-North Korean axis? And do you see their cooperation expanding?
KIRBY: We have certainly watched with concern the burgeoning defense relationships between Russia and China and between Russia and North Korea. The way that it’s manifested itself, particularly in Ukraine – Chinese companies now providing components for some Russian systems North Koreans providing artillery shells and ballistic missiles. Obviously, that’s of concern to us. And we have and will continue to take the appropriate action to make sure these countries are held accountable for what they’re doing in terms of supporting the war in Ukraine.
VOA: The Taliban claim Afghanistan is a victim of the destructive activities of groups with operations in neighboring countries and in the region. They warn that if the world neglects this, it could face a dangerous outcome. Does the U.S. perceive or sense any potential threat from Afghanistan?
KIRBY: First of all, we don’t recognize the Taliban as the governing authority of Afghanistan. They made some commitments when they took over Kabul. They have not met those commitments. If they want legitimacy on the world stage, if they want to be taken seriously, they need to start making good on some of those commitments. They do have internal security issues, particularly an ongoing terrorist threat inside Afghanistan. And that is something that they’re going to have to reconcile with. But the idea of playing victim here after they forcibly took over governance in Afghanistan rings pretty hollow to the international community.
VOA: During the NATO summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the approach of Western allies fuel the fire in the war in Ukraine instead of bringing about peace. Any reaction to that?
KIRBY: All I can tell you is that everything that President Biden has been doing since the beginning of this illegal aggression by Russia and unprovoked war has been to put Mr. Zelenskyy and Ukrainians in the best position possible, a position of strength, so that if and when they’re ready to negotiate an end to this war, they can do it, knowing they’ve been supported by the United States and the international community. We all want to see this war end. And it’s worth reminding people that the war could end tomorrow if Putin did the right thing and got his troops the hell out of Ukraine. So we make no apologies, none, whatsoever about what we’re trying to do to make sure that Ukraine can find a way to end this war on terms that are acceptable to them.
https://www.voanews.com/a/white-house-backs-phased-in-cease-fire-in-gaza/7713687.html
North Korean chap charged for attacks on US hospitals, military, NASA – and even China
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Microsoft, Mandiant, weigh in with info about methods used by Andariel gang alleged to have made many, many, heists
The US Department of Justice on Thursday charged a North Korean national over a series of ransomware attacks on stateside hospitals and healthcare providers, US defense companies, NASA, and even a Chinese target.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/andariel_indictment_north_korea/
Malware crew Stargazers Goblin used 3,000 GitHub accounts to make bank
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
May even have targeted other malware gangs, and infosec researchers
Infosec researchers have discovered a network of over three thousand malicious GitHub accounts used to spread malware, targeting groups including gamers, malware researchers, and even other threat actors who themselves seek to spread malware.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/github_stargazers_goblin_malware/
Construction begins on affordable housing in Fullerton — 6 years after controversy
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The LAist
The battle over the city-owned lot was the subject of a 2022 podcast by LAist Studios.
https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/affordable-housing-fullerton-commonwealth
Local officials react to Newsom order on homeless encampments
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows cities to enforce a ban on homeless encampments, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order for how agencies should address them. The […]
The post Local officials react to Newsom order on homeless encampments appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/local-officials-react-to-newsom-order-on-homeless-encampments/
CrowdStrike update blunder may cost world billions – and insurance ain’t covering it all
date: 2024-07-26, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
We offer this formula instead: RND(100.0)*(10^9)
The cost of CrowdStrike’s apocalyptic Falcon update that brought down millions of Windows computers last week may be in the billions of dollars, and insurance isn’t covering most of that.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/26/crowdstrike_insurance_money/
COC contract for construction of CTE center ‘under review’
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
A little more than a year ago, College of the Canyons reached an agreement with Intertex to build out a nearly $20 million center for career technical education. On Wednesday, […]
The post COC contract for construction of CTE center ‘under review’ appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/coc-contract-for-construction-of-cte-center-under-review/
Coffee4Vets serves those who served
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
His younger brother, a Vietnam veteran, couldn’t talk about the war unless he was “stinking drunk,” Juan Blanco said. Only then would all the pain come pouring out. So many […]
The post Coffee4Vets serves those who served appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/coffee4vets-serves-those-who-served/
SCVEDC Seeking Candidates for President, CEO
date: 2024-07-26, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation announced earlier this month that Jey Wagner stepped down from his role as president and CEO effective July 8,
https://scvnews.com/scvedc-seeking-candidates-for-president-ceo/
State’s Top Court Rules Ride-Share Drivers to Remain Independent Contractors
date: 2024-07-26, from: SCV New (TV Station)
(CN) — The California Supreme Court on Thursday rebuffed a union-backed challenge to the voter-approved law that exempts app-based drivers working for companies such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash from being classified as employees rather than independent contractors under the state’s labor code
https://scvnews.com/states-top-court-rules-ride-share-drivers-to-remain-independent-contractors/
FBI reports no arrests in Acton bank robbery
date: 2024-07-26, from: The Signal
FBI officials said there have been no arrests yet in their joint investigation into a June 21 bank robbery in Acton. The investigation is an active one and FBI agents, […]
The post FBI reports no arrests in Acton bank robbery appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/fbi-reports-no-arrests-in-acton-bank-robbery/
RESCHEDULED: Rep. Carbajal to Host Telephone Town Hall on July 30
date: 2024-07-26, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Salud Carbajal (CA-24) announced that he is rescheduling a previously postponed telephone town hall next week
The post RESCHEDULED: Rep. Carbajal to Host Telephone Town Hall on July 30 appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
LIVE: NASA is with you from Oshkosh
date: 2024-07-26, from: NASA breaking news
Welcome to NASA Aeronautics’ live update page with news about NASA events and other festivities taking place throughout the week at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024, which we simply call Oshkosh. Day Four Wrap Up Thursday, July 25 at 8 p.m. EDT Another day complete here at Oshkosh. NASA interns shared their social media takeover posts, […]
https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/live-nasa-is-with-you-from-oshkosh/
Full Circle Magazine 207
date: 2024-07-26, from: Full Circle Magazine
This month:
- Command & Conquer
- How-To : Python, Stable Diffusion and Latex
- Graphics : Inkscape
- Micro This Micro That : Pi Connect
- Review : Lubuntu 24.04, Xubuntu 24.04 and ASUS Gaming Laptop
- UbPorts Touch
- Ubuntu Games - Everafter Falls
plus: News, Letters, Q&A, The Daily Waddle, and more.
Other Languages
https://fullcirclemagazine.org/magazines/issue-207/
pgmetrics 1.17 released
date: 2024-07-26, from: PostgreSQL News
Hello All,
We’re happy to announce the release of v1.17 of pgmetrics. Changes since the v1.16 release include:
- Support for PostgreSQL v17 beta 2.
- Support for PgBouncer up to v1.23.0.
- Support for Pgpool up to v4.5.2.
- Include full log entries in JSON output.
- Support libpq key-value style connection strings.
- Updated dependencies.
- Various bug fixes and minor improvements.
You can get the latest release from GitHub.
Thanks to all the people who pitched in with bug reports, suggestions and patches! Keep it coming!
About pgmetrics
pgmetrics is an open-source, zero-dependency, single-binary tool that can collect 350+ metrics from a running PostgreSQL server and display it in easy-to-read text format or export it as JSON and CSV for scripting. It also supports collection from various managed PostgreSQL services (AWS, Azure, GCP) as well as from Citus, PgBouncer and Pgpool.
Learn more at pgmetrics.io, or see a sample report here.
pgmetrics is an open-source project of RapidLoop.
Best, -Mahadevan
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/pgmetrics-117-released-2898/
TMU Names Daniel Rush Mustangs XCTF Head Coach
date: 2024-07-25, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Daniel Rush has been named the head coach for The Master’s University’s cross country and track & field teams
https://scvnews.com/tmu-names-daniel-rush-mustangs-xctf-head-coach/
Washington warns adversaries: US politics not a sign of weakness
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
washington — U.S. diplomats and military officials rejected concerns that recent — and sudden — changes to the American political landscape are a sign of weakness, warning America’s adversaries Thursday against trying to seek any sort of advantage.
“They should think again,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, briefing reporters.
“They should be disabused of the notion that we are anything but focused on the national security challenges that the country faces,” he added. “That includes responding to our adversaries when appropriate.”
At the Pentagon, officials insisted that whatever challenges U.S. adversaries might have in store, the U.S. military is ready.
“As to whether or not our adversaries are testing us at this particular time, they’re always testing us,” said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“It’s just a nature of who they are and what they do,” he told reporters. “I don’t think that this particular point in time is any different.”
The warnings from Washington come less than a week after U.S. President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection, instead endorsing fellow Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris to run against former president and Republican Party nominee Donald Trump.
In an address from the White House late Wednesday to explain his decision to quit the race with just more than 100 days to go until the presidential election, Biden spoke in stark terms about the future of the country.
“Nothing — nothing — can come in the way of saving our democracy,” Biden said.
“America is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward, between hope and hate, between unity and division,” he added. “We have to decide: Do we still believe in honesty, decency, respect, freedom, justice and democracy?”
Adding to the public concerns, the U.S. military announced just before Biden’s speech that, for the first time, Russian and Chinese long-range strategic bombers flew a joint training mission, coming within 350 kilometers of the northwestern U.S. state of Alaska.
Other officials have also warned of emboldened U.S. adversaries.
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday told lawmakers that Iran still seeks retribution against Trump and some of his advisers for the January 2020 killing of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.
“We need to recognize the brazenness of the Iranian regime, including right here in the United States,” he said, while declining to share details of a reported assassination plot against Trump.
“I expect there will be more coming on that,” he said.
Others have voiced concerns about the actions of Iranian proxy forces, like the ongoing attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, or attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.
“We are taking away capability from the Houthis,” said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown Jr., speaking to reporters Thursday at a Pentagon briefing.
“But at the same point, it’s going to take more than just a military operation,” he said. “This is an engagement with the international community, but also the [U.S.] interagency to use the various tools to put pressure on the Houthis to cease this.”
At the State Department, spokesperson Miller said no matter the challenge, U.S diplomats will be up to the task.
“The president has made it incredibly clear to the secretary and the rest of the national security team that he expects them to be focused for this next six months, that he expects them to advance the foreign policy objectives that he laid out from the outset of the administration and we have put into place over the course of the last three and a half years,” he said.
And should any adversary seek to weaken the U.S., the Pentagon’s Austin said, the military will be waiting.
“I think we’ll continue to see this going forward,” he told reporters. “But again, we have the world’s greatest military, most capable military, and we will continue to protect this nation.”
OpenAI beta tests SearchGPT search engine
date: 2024-07-25, from: OS News
Normally I’m not that interested in reporting on news coming from OpenAI, but today is a little different – the company launched SearchGPT, a search engine that’s supposed to rival Google, but at the same time, they’re also kind of not launching a search engine that’s supposed to rival Google. What? We’re testing SearchGPT, a prototype of new search features designed to combine the strength of our AI models with information from the web to give you fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources. We’re launching to a small group of users and publishers to get feedback. While this prototype is temporary, we plan to integrate the best of these features directly into ChatGPT in the future. If you’re interested in trying the prototype, sign up for the waitlist. ↫ OpenAI website Basically, before adding a more traditional web-search like feature set to ChatGPT, the company is first breaking them out into a separate, temporary product that users can test, before parts of it will be integrated into OpenAI’s main ChatGPT product. It’s an interesting approach, and with just how stupidly popular and hyped ChatGPT is, I’m sure they won’t have any issues assembling a large enough pool of testers. OpenAI claims SearchGPT will be different from, say, Google or AltaVista, by employing a conversation-style interface with real-time results from the web. Sources for search results will be clearly marked – good – and additional sources will be presented in a sidebar. True to the ChatGPT-style user interface, you can keep “talking” after hitting a result to refine your search further. I may perhaps betray my still relatively modest age, but do people really want to “talk” to a machine to search the web? Any time I’ve ever used one of these chatbot-style user interfaces -including ChatGPT – I find them cumbersome and frustrating, like they’re just adding an obtuse layer between me and the computer, and that I’d rather just be instructing the computer directly. Why try and verbally massage a stupid autocomplete into finding a link to an article I remember from a few days ago, instead of just typing in a few quick keywords? I am more than willing to concede I’m just out of touch with what people really want, so maybe this really is the future of search. I hope I can just always disable nonsense like this and just throw keywords at the problem.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140335/openai-beta-tests-searchgpt-search-engine/
Jason Gibbs | Santa Clarita’s New, Upcoming Projects
date: 2024-07-25, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Nothing says Santa Clarita like our beautiful mountains, pristine parks, paseos meandering through our neighborhoods, lush trees and amenities for residents of all ages
https://scvnews.com/jason-gibbs-santa-claritas-new-upcoming-projects/
Adrienne De Guevara Opens ‘Mythography’ at the Santa Barbara Community Arts Workshop
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Sculpting stories: shapes and mythology intertwine at new exhibit .
The post Adrienne De Guevara Opens ‘Mythography’ at the Santa Barbara Community Arts Workshop appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Sam Altman wants a US-led freedom coalition to fight authoritarian AI
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Team America AI Police?
Sam Altman has called for a US-led coalition of nations to ensure AI remains a vehicle for freedom and democracy, and not a tool for authoritarians to keep themselves in power and dominate others. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/sam_altman_ai_freedom/
You Raise Me Up
date: 2024-07-25, from: Status-Q blog
YouTube, at its best, can be a wonderful way to discover real talent. A little while ago, I came across some songs by the Cotton Pickin Kids – a very talented family from Alabama – and I shared one or two favourites, like this one, with friends and family. Well, after that, the YouTube algorithm Continue Reading
https://statusq.org/archives/2024/07/26/12136/
Goleta Resident Amy Stephens Announced as a 2024 Dole Caregiver Fellow
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
15 military and veteran caregivers are training with the Elizabeth Dole Foundation.
The post Goleta Resident Amy Stephens Announced as a 2024 Dole Caregiver Fellow appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Santa Barbara Is in the Middle of a Summer COVID Comeback
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Urgent care centers are reporting an uptick in cases as wastewater rates show a surge in coronavirus.
The post Santa Barbara Is in the Middle of a Summer COVID Comeback appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/07/25/santa-barbara-is-in-the-middle-of-a-summer-covid-comeback/
Two threads, one core: how simultaneous multithreading works under the hood
date: 2024-07-25, from: OS News
Simultaneous multithreading (SMT) is a feature that lets a processor handle instructions from two different threads at the same time. But have you ever wondered how this actually works? How does the processor keep track of two threads and manage its resources between them? In this article, we’re going to break it all down. Understanding the nuts and bolts of SMT will help you decide if it’s a good fit for your production servers. Sometimes, SMT can turbocharge your system’s performance, but in other cases, it might actually slow things down. Knowing the details will help you make the best choice. ↫ Abhinav Upadhyay Some light reading for the (almost) weekend.
Dianne Van Hook Announces Retirement
date: 2024-07-25, from: SCV New (TV Station)
After 36 years at the helm, College of the Canyons Chancellor Dr. Dianne Van Hook announced her retirement July 22 in a letter addressed to colleagues, just one week after being placed on administrative leave by COC’s Board of Trustees
https://scvnews.com/dianne-van-hook-announces-retirement/
Beware of fake CrowdStrike domains pumping out Lumma infostealing malware
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
PSA: Only accept updates via official channels … ironically enough
CrowdStrike is the latest lure being used to trick Windows users into downloading and running the notorious Lumma infostealing malware, according to the security shop’s threat intel team, which spotted the scam just days after the Falcon sensor update fiasco.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/crowdstrike_lumma_infostealer/
Newsom Issues Executive Order for State Officials to Remove Homeless Encampments
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Directive from Sacramento comes in response to a Supreme Court decision last month that gave local leaders greater authority to remove homeless encampments.
The post Newsom Issues Executive Order for State Officials to Remove Homeless Encampments appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Santa Barbara Man Arrested After Speargun Standoff
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Jaime Keith Meyer, 46, was arrested after allegedly brandishing a loaded spearfishing gun at officers.
The post Santa Barbara Man Arrested After Speargun Standoff appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/07/25/santa-barbara-man-arrested-after-speargun-standoff/
NASA’s Orion Spacecraft Gets Lift on Earth
date: 2024-07-25, from: NASA breaking news
Crane operator Rebekah Tolatovicz, a shift mechanical technician lead for Artic Slope Regional Corporation at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, operates a 30-ton crane to lift the agency’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft out of the recently renovated altitude chamber to the Final Assembly and Systems Testing, or FAST, cell inside NASA Kennedy’s Neil A. […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-orion-spacecraft-gets-lift-on-earth/
US, Taiwan, China race to improve military drone technology
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
washington — This week, as Taiwan was preparing for the start of its Han Kuang military exercises, its air defense system detected a Chinese drone circling the island. This was the sixth time that China had sent a drone to operate around Taiwan since 2023.
Drones like the one that flew around Taiwan, which are tasked with dual-pronged missions of reconnaissance and intimidation, are just a small part of a broader trend that is making headlines from Ukraine to the Middle East to the Taiwan Strait and is changing the face of warfare.
The increasing role that unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, play and rising concern about a Chinese invasion of democratically ruled Taiwan is pushing Washington, Beijing and Taipei to improve the sophistication, adaptability and cost of drone technology.
‘Hellscape’ strategy
Last August, the Pentagon launched a $1 billion Replicator Initiative to create air, sea and land drones in the “multiple thousands,” according to the Defense Department’s Innovation Unit. The Pentagon aims to build that force of drones by August 2025.
The initiative is part of what U.S. Admiral Samuel Paparo recently described to The Washington Post as a “hellscape” strategy, which aims to counter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan through the deployment of thousands of unmanned drones in the air and sea between the island and China.
“The benefits of unmanned systems are that you get cheap, disposable mass that’s low cost. If a drone gets shot down, the only people that are crying about it are the accountants,” said Zachary Kallenborn, a policy fellow at George Mason University. “You can use them at large amounts of scale and overwhelm your opponents as well as degrade their defensive capabilities.”
The hellscape strategy, he added, aims to use lots of cheap drones to try to hold back China from attacking Taiwan.
Drone manufacturing supremacy
China has its own plans under way and is the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial drones. In a news briefing after Paparo’s remarks to the Post, it warned Washington that it was playing with fire.
“Those who clamor for turning others’ homeland into hell should get ready for burning in hell themselves,” said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Chinese defense ministry.
“The People’s Liberation Army is able to fight and win in thwarting external interference and safeguarding our national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Threats and intimidation never work on us,” Wu said.
China’s effort to expand its use of drones has been bolstered, analysts say, by leader Xi Jinping’s emphasis on technology and modernization in the military, something he highlighted at a top-level party meeting last week.
“China’s military is developing more than 50 types of drones with varying capabilities, amassing a fleet of tens of thousands of drones, potentially 10 times larger than Taiwan and the U.S. combined,” Michael Raska, assistant professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, told VOA in an email. “This quantitative edge currently fuels China’s accelerating military modernization, with drones envisioned for everything from pre-conflict intel gathering to swarming attacks.”
Analysts add that China’s commercial drone manufacturing supremacy aids its military in the push for drone development. China’s DJI dominates in production and sale of household drones, accounting for 76% of the worldwide consumer market in 2021.
The scale of production and low price of DJI drones could put China in an advantageous position in a potential drone war, analysts say.
“In Russia and Ukraine, if you have a lot of drones – even if they’re like the commercial off-the-shelf things, DJI drones you can buy at Costco – and you throw hundreds of them at an air defense system, that’s going to create a large problem,” said Major Emilie Stewart, a research analyst at the China Aerospace Studies Institute.
China denies it is seeking to use commercial UAV technology for future conflicts.
“China has always been committed to maintaining global security and regional stability and has always opposed the use of civilian drones for military purposes,” Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA. “We are firmly opposed to the U.S.’s military ties with Taiwan and its effort of arming Taiwan.”
Drone force
With assistance from its American partners, pressure from China and lessons from Ukraine, Taiwan has been pushing to develop its own domestic drone warfare capabilities.
The United States has played a pivotal role in Taiwan’s drone development, and just last week it pledged to sell $360 million of attack drones to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, or TECRO, Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington.
“Taiwan will continue to build a credible deterrence and work closely with like-minded partners, including the United States, to preserve peace and stability in the region,” TECRO told VOA when asked about the collaboration between Taipei and Washington. “We have no further information to share at this moment.”
The effort to incorporate drones into its defense is crucial for Taiwan, said Eric Chan, a senior nonresident fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute.
“The biggest immediate effects of the U.S. coming into this mass UAV game is to give Taiwan a bigger advantage to be able to, first, detect their enemy and, second, help them build a backstop to their own capabilities as well,” Chan said.
With the potential for China to consider using drones in an urban conflict environment, Taiwan is recognizing the importance of stepping up its counter-drone defense systems.
“After multiple intrusions of Chinese drones in outlying islands, the Taiwan Ministry of Defense now places great emphasis on anti-drone capabilities,” said Yu-Jiu Wang, chief executive of Tron Future, an anti-drone company working with the Taiwanese military.
The demand is one that Wang said his company is willing and ready to fill.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-taiwan-china-race-to-improve-military-drone-technology/7713168.html
Harris, Trump condemn pro-Hamas protest near US Capitol
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/harris-trump-condemn-pro-hamas-protest-near-us-capitol/7713095.html
Climate Tech Investors Aren’t Too Worried About Trump
date: 2024-07-25, from: Heatmap News
Plenty has changed in the race for the U.S. presidency over the past week. One thing that hasn’t: Gobs of public and private funding for climate tech are still on the line. If Republicans regain the White House and Senate, tax credits and other programs in the Inflation Reduction Act will become an easy target for legislators looking to burnish their cost-cutting (and lib-owning) reputations. The effects of key provisions getting either completely tossed or seriously amended would assuredly ripple out to the private sector.
You would think the possible impending loss of a huge source of funding for clean technologies would make venture capitalists worry about the future of their business model. And indeed, they are worried — at least in theory. None of the clean tech investors I’ve spoken with over the past few weeks told me that a Republican administration would affect the way their firm invests — not Lowercarbon Capital, not Breakthrough Energy Ventures, not Khosla Ventures, or any of the VCs with uplifting verbs: Galvanize Climate Solutions, Generate Capital, and Energize Capital.
Numerous investors did say, however, that they thought a Republican-controlled White House and perhaps Congress would affect the investment landscape overall. “The real answer is, it will impact,” Rajesh Swaminathan, a partner at Khosla Ventures, told me. “I don’t expect everybody that came in when the going was great to remain when and if the going gets tough with any kind of administration shift,” Juan Muldoon, a partner at the climate software VC Energize Capital, told me.
A Trump presidency puts $1 trillion in overall energy investments at risk, according to a May report from energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. Much of this depends on whether Trump would take a scalpel or a hammer to IRA incentives, which is difficult to predict. Republican rhetoric is often extreme — gut the IRA, gut the Environmental Protection Agency, maximize fossil fuel production. If actions align with words, climate tech investors ought to have plenty of reasons to be fearful, as the startups they support often owe part of their success to government grants and incentives.
As it stands, there’s widespread agreement that mature technologies like solar and wind will survive and potentially even thrive no matter the changing political tides. But tech that’s yet to come down the cost curve could surely see less investment. This includes electric vehicles, which Trump has alternately derided and praised, though this isn’t really the domain of VCs. Newer technologies that benefit from the tech-neutral clean electricity investment and production tax credits could be at risk, especially energy storage in any form, as the GOP has already introduced a bill that would eliminate these credits. Tech for hard-to-decarbonize industrial sectors such as steel, cement and chemicals production could also take a hit, as emergent solutions are often simply much pricier than business-as-usual.
Some cleantech does benefit from bipartisan support. This includes nuclear — both fission and fusion — as well as technologies that stand to enrich the oil and gas industry, such as advanced geothermal and geologic hydrogen, both of which require drilling expertise. And considering the largest direct air capture deal to date is Occidental Petroleum’s $1.1 billion acquisition of Carbon Engineering, DAC, as well as point source carbon capture and storage, could also grow under Trump, as the oil and gas industry essentially views CCS as a pathway towards the continued production of fossil fuels.
The rest of the hydrogen industry is a jump ball. Green hydrogen made from renewable-powered electrolyzers is expensive and the proposed strict rules that would allow it to qualify for the most generous tax credit are likely goners. But a fossil-fuel based hydrogen economy is certainly an option — although not one that will do much for the climate.
Essentially, though, a number of investors and policy wonks told me that they simply don’t expect the GOP’s bark to match its bite when it comes to completely repealing or seriously altering many of the IRA’s key provisions, instead trusting that legislators will recognize the law’s economic benefits, even if they’re not advertising them.
Although the first Trump administration was undoubtedly disastrous for climate policy, it’s true that many of Trump’s more extreme ambitions never materialized. His budget proposals regularly recommended major funding cuts to the EPA as well as the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and called for eliminating key DOE agencies like the Loan Programs Office and the energy tech-focused ARPA-E. But Congress ultimately rejected all these proposals. Funding for both the EPA and EERE trended upwards, as did funding for clean energy research and development more broadly.
But the IRA didn’t exist then, and now that it does, the bill has become a major recipient of Republican ire. “Precedent tells you it might not be as drastic as you think,” Ben Brenner, senior vice president at the climate-focused government affairs and advisory firm Boundary Stone Partners, told me. “But the environment is very target rich now.”
Brenner noted that the 45X advanced manufacturing production tax credit, for instance, has helped incentivize the expansion of the largest solar manufacturing facility in the U.S. in Dalton, Georgia, Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s territory. Were Republicans to bring it up for full or partial repeal, Brenner thinks results would fall along partisan lines. “If we’re banking on the fact that Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to vote with Democrats on this, we’re fooling ourselves, right? That is not a real viable political strategy.”
In the end, elected officials are responsible to voters. You might think that, because IRA benefits are largely flowing to red states, that will lead to a groundswell of citizen support, but Brenner told me that’s a risky assumption to make. “Wow, it would be nice to think, in theory, that people respond to political incentives in that way,” he said. But “there’s a plenty broad and big enough body of data to show that isn’t necessarily how people react politically.”
That matters for venture capitalists, because while they might view themselves as insulated from the whims of government, a 2023 analysis by ImpactAlpha shows how interconnected the ecosystems are. The analysis, which groups climate tech investors into clusters based on who they frequently co-invest with, found that two of the most central climate “investors” in the network are the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, which provide grants to climate-focused startups. It also showed that government grants markedly increase a startup’s chance of survival and ability to raise additional capital in early funding rounds.
If government can’t be a reliable partner to private industry, Aliya Haq, vice president of U.S. policy and advocacy at Breakthrough Energy, told me, “the private sector can’t move forward. Companies can’t figure out what facilities they can build, investors don’t know what actually makes sense to put money into.” (Breakthrough Energy is the umbrella organization for the climate tech VC firm Breakthrough Energy Ventures.)
On an individual level, though, many investors beg to differ, saying that as accelerative as government support can be, they invest in companies that can weather the inevitable vagaries of politics. “The most important climate investing is investing in assets that are long lived, and those things have to be durable across administrations,” Jonah Goldman, head of external affairs and impact at the sustainable infrastructure investment firm Generate Capital, told me.
That was a common refrain. “We’ve invested under a Republican president, a Democratic president,” Muldoon told me. “When we talk about a transition, it needs to span changes in political regimes.”
Clay Dumas, a founding partner at Lowercarbon Capital who used to work in the Obama White House, agreed. “If you were depending on a big premium to sell your products at scale, you were in trouble before the IRA, and you’re going to be in trouble no matter who is president next year,” he told me.
At the same time, there’s no denying that investment is down. A recent report from the market intelligence firm Sightline Climate indicated that climate tech funding in the first half of 2024 fell to 2020 levels, which aligns with a downturn in the VC market at large. The assumption is that it’s at least partially due to investors taking a “wait-and-see” approach ahead of November, although other factors such as high interest rates and continued inflation could also be playing a role. The landscape has been especially tough for startups that have already raised a few rounds, as it now takes about 2.5 times longer to raise a Series B as it did in 2021, when the climate tech market was white hot.
“Those emerging technologies absolutely need government partnership to be able to get across the Valley of Death, to be able to scale, to be able to compete on a level playing field with fossil fuels,” Haq told me.
Even if government does pull way back, Muldoon told me that other sources of funding could step in — universities, private research organizations, family offices and other forms of philanthropic dollars might turn to support climate tech. Still though, he admits that “it doesn’t necessarily fill the void.”
But Haq and many of the investors I spoke with are hanging onto the belief that there won’t necessarily be a void to fill — that the benefits of government investment in climate tech will prevail in the face of deep partisan divides, giving private investors the confidence they need to keep the money coming.
“I hold out hope that there’s enough rationality still left in politics, despite the messaging but in the reality of policymaking, that it doesn’t matter what color your shirt is,” Haq told me. “What matters is whether or not there are jobs in your district, whether there is strong U.S. competitiveness, whether the communities in your state have a strong tax base.”
Fingers crossed.
https://heatmap.news/technology/trump-tech-vc
NASA Selects Marshall Logistics Support Services II Contractor
date: 2024-07-25, from: NASA breaking news
NASA has awarded the MSFC Logistics Support Services II (MLSS II) contract to Akima Global Logistics, LLC to provide logistics support services at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The performance-based indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has a maximum potential value of $96.3 million. The contract begins on Sunday, Sept. 1 with a one-year base […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-selects-marshall-logistics-support-services-ii-contractor/
Video game performers to strike over artificial intelligence concerns
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
LOS ANGELES — Hollywood’s video game performers voted Thursday to go on strike, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections.
The strike — the second for video game voice actors and motion capture performers under the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists — will begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The move comes after nearly two years of negotiations with gaming giants, including divisions of Activision, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co., over a new interactive media agreement.
SAG-AFTRA negotiators say gains have been made over wages and job safety in the video game contract, but that the studios will not make a deal over the regulation of generative AI. Without guardrails, game companies could train AI to replicate an actor’s voice, or create a digital replica of their likeness without consent or fair compensation, the union said.
Fran Drescher, the union’s president, said in a prepared statement that members would not approve a contract that would allow companies to “abuse AI.”
“Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate,” Drescher said.
A representative for the studios did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The global video game industry generates well over $100 billion in profit annually, according to game market forecaster Newzoo. The people who design and bring those games to life are the driving force behind that success, SAG-AFTRA said.
“Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable AI protections, but rather flagrant exploitation,” said Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh.
Last month, union negotiators told The Associated Press that the game studios refused to “provide an equal level of protection from the dangers of AI for all our members” — specifically, movement performers.
Members voted overwhelmingly last year to give leadership the authority to strike. Concerns about how movie studios will use AI helped fuel last year’s film and television strikes by the union, which lasted four months.
The last interactive contract, which expired November 2022, did not provide protections around AI but secured a bonus compensation structure for voice actors and performance capture artists after an 11-month strike that began October 2016. That work stoppage marked the first major labor action from SAG-AFTRA following the merger of Hollywood’s two largest actors unions in 2012.
The video game agreement covers more than 2,500 “off-camera (voiceover) performers, on-camera (motion capture, stunt) performers, stunt coordinators, singers, dancers, puppeteers, and background performers,” according to the union.
Amid the tense interactive negotiations, SAG-AFTRA created a separate contract in February that covered indie and lower-budget video game projects. The tiered-budget independent interactive media agreement contains some of the protections on AI that video game industry titans have rejected.
Watch a Yellowstone Hot Spring Explode Into a Boiling Column of Mud, Water and Rock
date: 2024-07-25, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Hydrothermal explosions typically occur every year in the popular national park, but rarely in areas so heavily trafficked by visitors
Name game begins for Harris running mate on Democrats’ ticket
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
Who will she pick? That’s the big political question in America after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid and Vice President Kamala Harris became the likely Democratic nominee. The selection in question is Harris’ running mate against Republicans Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman is at the White House and has this report. (Camera: Anne-Marie Frederick)
https://www.voanews.com/a/name-game-begins-for-harris-running-mate-on-democrats-ticket-/7713106.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-25, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The Great Manliness Flip-Flop.
https://politicalwire.com/2024/07/25/the-great-manliness-flip-flop/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-25, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
J. D. Vance’s Sad, Strange Politics of Family.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/j-d-vances-sad-strange-politics-of-family
Runway Ripped Off YouTube Creators
date: 2024-07-25, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">“A highly-praised AI video generation tool made by multi-billion dollar company Runway was secretly trained by scraping thousands of videos from popular YouTube creators and brands, as well as pirated films.”
404 Media has linked to the spreadsheet itself, which seems to be a pretty clear list of YouTube channels and individual videos.
Google is clear that this violates YouTube’s rules. The team at Runway also by necessity downloaded the videos first using a third-party tool, which itself is a violation of the rules.
This is just a video version of the kinds of copyright and terms violations we’ve already seen copious amounts of in static media. But Google might be a stauncher defender of its rules than most - although not necessarily for principled reasons, because it, too, is in the business of training AI models on web data, and likely on YouTube content.
<p>[<a href="https://www.404media.co/email/64056c13-be6e-46e7-8c90-b53dd30026f2/">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/runway-ripped-off-youtube-creators
Solar Inverter Connectivity Problem Reveals Weak Troubleshooting
date: 2024-07-25, from: TidBITS blog
After failing to reestablish Internet connectivity for his solar panel inverters following a spate of power outages, Adam Engst finally figured out the problem with the help of a support tech who made him break it down into its constituent parts. Read on to learn from his mistakes.
https://tidbits.com/2024/07/25/solar-inverter-connectivity-problem-reveals-weak-troubleshooting/
CalArtians Help Propel ‘Inside Out 2’ to Highest-Grossing Animated Film
date: 2024-07-25, from: SCV New (TV Station)
“Inside Out 2,” the sequel to Pixar’s 2015 hit, is taking the worldwide box office by storm
https://scvnews.com/calartians-help-propel-inside-out-2-to-highest-grossing-animated-film/
OpenAI unveils AI search engine SearchGPT – not that you’re allowed to use it yet
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Launching in Beta is so 2014. We’re in the prototype limited sign-up era now
After months of speculation, shy and retiring OpenAI has showed the world a glimpse of its very own web search engine powered by AI.…
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-25, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Elon Musk's trans daughter Vivian Wilson breaks her silence.
https://www.advocate.com/elon-musk-trans-daughter-vivian-wilson
PCPA Returns to Santa Maria and Solvang for a Jam-Packed 61st Season
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
PCPA releases 2024-2025 lineup, featuring a diverse array of shows.
The post PCPA Returns to Santa Maria and Solvang for a Jam-Packed 61st Season appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Intel: Raptor Lake faults excessive voltage from microcode, fix coming in August
date: 2024-07-25, from: OS News
In what started last year as a handful of reports about instability with Intel’s Raptor Lake desktop chips has, over the last several months, grown into a much larger saga. Facing their biggest client chip instability impediment in decades, Intel has been under increasing pressure to figure out the root cause of the issue and fix it, as claims of damaged chips have stacked up and rumors have swirled amidst the silence from Intel. But, at long last, it looks like Intel’s latest saga is about to reach its end, as today the company has announced that they’ve found the cause of the issue, and will be rolling out a microcode fix next month to resolve it. ↫ Ryan Smith at AnandTech It turns out the root cause of the problem is “elevated operating voltages”, caused by a buggy algorithm in Intel’s own microcode. As such, it’s at least fixable through a microcode update, which Intel says it will ship sometime mid-August. AnandTech, my one true source for proper reporting on things like this, is not entirely satisfied, though, as they state microcode is often used to just cover up the real root cause that’s located much deeper inside the processor, and as such, Intel’s explanation doesn’t actually tell us very much at all. Quite coincidentally, Intel also experienced a manufacturing flaw with a small batch of very early Raptor Lake processors. An “oxidation manufacturing flaw” found its way into a small number of early Raptor Lake processors, but the company claims it was caught early and shouldn’t be an issue any more. Of course, for anyone experiencing issues with their expensive Intel processors, this will linger in the back of their minds, too. Not exactly a flawless launch for Intel, but it seems its main only competitor, AMD, is also experiencing issues, as the company has delayed the launch of its new Ryzen 9000 chips due to quality issues. I’m not at all qualified to make any relevant statements about this, but with the recent launch of the Snapdragon Elite X and Pro chips, these issues couldn’t come at a worse time for Intel and AMD.
This History Buff Found a Scrap of George Washington’s Tent at Goodwill
date: 2024-07-25, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The fragment, which was part of Washington’s dining marquee during the Revolutionary War, is now on display at a museum in Philadelphia
Ruins of Centuries-Old Palace That Housed Dozens of Popes Discovered in Rome
date: 2024-07-25, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Before the papacy relocated in the 1300s, first to Avignon and then to the Vatican, pontiffs lived at the Lateran Palace
FYI: Data from deleted GitHub repos may not actually be deleted
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
And the forking Microsoft-owned code warehouse doesn’t see this as much of a problem
Researchers at Truffle Security have found, or arguably rediscovered, that data from deleted GitHub repositories (public or private) and from deleted copies (forks) of repositories isn’t necessarily deleted.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/data_from_deleted_github_repos/
California governor issues executive order for removal of homeless encampments
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
Sacramento, California — California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Thursday to direct state agencies on how to remove homeless encampments, a month after a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces.
Newsom’s order is aimed at the thousands of tents and makeshift shelters across the state that line freeways, clutter shopping center parking lots and fill city parks. The order makes clear that the decision to remove the encampments remains in local hands.
The order comes after a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this summer allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces. The case was the most significant on the issue to come before the high court in decades and comes as cities across the country have wrestled with the politically complicated issue of how to deal with a rising number of people without a permanent place to live and public frustration over related health and safety issues.
Newsom’s administration wrote in support of cities’ argument that previous rulings, including one that barred San Francisco from clearing encampments until more shelter beds were available, have prevented the state from solving a critical problem.
“There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part,” Newsom said in a statement.
While Newsom cannot order local authorities to act, his administration can apply pressure by withholding money for counties and cities.
California is home to roughly one-third of the nation’s population of homeless people, a problem that has dogged Newsom since he took office. Newsom touted that his administration has spent roughly $24 billion aimed at cleaning up streets and housing people but acknowledged the stubbornness of the issue. Newsom’s administration has also come under fire recently after a state audit found that the state didn’t consistently track whether the huge outlay of public money actually improved the situation.
Newsom has worked hard to address the issue. He threw all of his political weight behind a ballot measure earlier this year to allow the state to borrow nearly $6.4 billion to build 4,350 housing units, which passed with a razor-thin margin.
The order comes as Republicans have stepped up their criticisms of California and its homelessness crisis as Vice President Kamala Harris — a former California district attorney, attorney general and senator — launches her presidential campaign. Harris entered the race over the weekend after President Joe Biden’s announced that he would not seek reelection. Newsom himself has presidential ambitions.
The timing of the executive order is “curious,” said California political analyst Brian Sobel, but he doubts Newsom’s move would have much impact on Harris’ campaign.
“Harris’ problem isn’t in California, because California is a done deal,” he said. “Where she needs to do well on issues like this are in swing states.”
Rather, the order is a logical step for Newsom, who called himself the state’s “homeless czar” and made homelessness a signature policy issue the last few years, said Wesley Hussey, a political science professor at California State University, Sacramento.
“I don’t think it’s being motivated by the presidential race as much as it’s definitely something that Newsom cared a lot about,” Hussey said. “If you’re going to put it in a political context of the election, this isn’t going to magically fix the problem.”
Newsom’s decision have garnered praises from local elected officials and business groups, who said they were left with no options to address homeless encampments before the Supreme Court’s ruling. San Francisco Mayor London Breed recently said the city will start an “aggressive” campaign to clear encampments across the city in August. Her office noted that the governor’s order does not affect the city’s operations.
“I applaud Governor Newsom’s emphasis on urgency,” Kathryn Barger, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors said in a statement. “He rightfully points out that local government remains at the helm of homeless encampment removals. Cities have an obligation to develop housing and shelter solutions in tandem with support services provided by County government.”
Homeless people and their advocates say the sweeps are cruel and a waste of taxpayer money. They say the answer is more housing, not crackdowns.
Under Newsom’s direction, state agencies — including state parks and the Department of Transportation — would be required to prioritize clearing encampments that pose safety risks, such as those camping along waterways. Officials should give advance notice to vacate, connect homeless people to local services and help store their belongings for at least 60 days. Local cities and counties are urged to adopt similar protocols.
Sept. 7: ‘Game. Set. Hope.’ Tennis Tourney Benefiting Mental Health Awareness
date: 2024-07-25, from: SCV New (TV Station)
In honor of World Suicide Prevention Day, the second annual “Game. Set. Hope. Charity Tennis Tournament” will be held Saturday, Sept. 7, beginning 9:30 a.m., at the West Ranch High School tennis courts.
https://scvnews.com/sept-7-game-set-hope-tennis-tourney-benefiting-mental-health-awareness/
US official unfazed by Russian-Chinese flyby off coast of Alaska
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
washington — The appearance of two Russian and two Chinese long-range, strategic bombers in the skies off of coastal Alaska may have been a first, but it did not catch the United States off-guard.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Thursday the appearance of the Russian and Chinese aircraft “was not a surprise” and that at no time did the bombers pose a threat to the United States.
“We have very good surveillance capabilities,” Austin said during a rare news conference at the Pentagon. “We closely monitored these aircraft, tracked the aircraft, intercepted the aircraft, which demonstrates that our forces are at the ready all the time.”
And if Russia and China fly more similar missions in the future, Austin said he has every confidence that U.S. forces will be prepared.
“We are at the ready. We will always be at the ready,” he said. “If there is a challenge or a threat to the United States of America, your troops will be at the ready and they will do the right thing.”
NORAD tracks aircraft
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) first shared word of the Russian and Chinese military activity late Wednesday.
NORAD said it tracked two Russian TU-95 bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers operating in the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) — a stretch of international airspace where planes must be identified — off the coast of the northwestern state of Alaska.
A statement said U.S. and Canadian fighter jets were sent to intercept the Russian and Chinese planes, and that at no time did the Russian or Chinese pilots enter U.S. or Canadian sovereign airspace.
“This Russian and PRC activity in the Alaska ADIZ is not seen as a threat, and NORAD will continue to monitor competitor activity near North America and meet presence with presence,” it said.
Flight was joint patrol, say Russia and China
Russia and China on Thursday described the flight as a joint patrol over the Chukchi and Bering seas in the north Pacific.
“During the flight, Russian and Chinese crews cooperated in the new area of joint operations during all stages of the air patrol,” the Russian ministry said in a statement, describing the exercise as “part of the implementation of the military cooperation plan for 2024.”
Russian officials said the entire flight lasted five hours and that the bombers were at times escorted by Russian fighter jets, emphasizing that at no time did the bombers violate U.S. or Canadian airspace.
A spokesperson for the Chinese military said the patrol was designed to improve coordination between the Chinese and Russian militaries, and said it was the eighth joint air patrol since 2019.
The U.S., however, said the Russian-Chinese air patrol was the first to approach the area around Alaska.
“This is the first time we’ve seen those two countries fly together like that,” Austin told reporters, adding the Russian and Chinese bombers never got closer than about 320 kilometers from the Alaskan coast.
The U.S. defense secretary declined to comment on the timing of the Russian-Chinese air patrol, though he said, “you could probably guess that things like that have probably been planned well in advance.”
Earlier this week, the Pentagon issued its new Arctic defense strategy, which called for increased investment and increased cooperation among the U.S. and its Arctic allies to counter both Russian and Chinese activity.
The U.S. and its NATO allies have also raised concerns about growing cooperation between Russia and China, along with Iran and North Korea, as Moscow has sought support for its war in Ukraine.
U.S. and Western officials have repeatedly accused China of playing a critical role in sustaining Russia’s military by sending Russia raw materials and so-called dual-use components needed to produce advanced weapons and weapons systems.
“There is no time to lose,” a NATO official told VOA earlier this month, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the need to counter the growing defense cooperation.
“This must be a key priority for all our allies, because it is not just about spending more,” the official said. “It is also on getting those capabilities.”
Information from the Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.
New and Upcoming Projects in Santa Clarita!
date: 2024-07-25, from: City of Santa Clarita
By Councilmember Jason Gibbs Nothing says Santa Clarita like our beautiful mountains, pristine parks, paseos meandering through our neighborhoods, lush trees and amenities for residents of all ages. This year, the City has already completed and started multiple Capital Improvement Projects located throughout Santa Clarita, each one adding to the reasons why we all love […]
The post New and Upcoming Projects in Santa Clarita! appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/07/25/new-and-upcoming-projects-in-santa-clarita/
The ‘World’s Loneliest Plant’ Could Soon Find a Mate With a Little Help From A.I.
date: 2024-07-25, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The only known wild Wood’s cycad was discovered in 1895, and it has since been cloned into many male trees. Now, researchers are scouring a forest in South Africa for an elusive female specimen
Book Review | ‘Gilded Age Cocktails: History, Lore, and Recipes from America’s Golden Age’ by Cecelia Tichi
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
For bitter or for worse, weaving history in a fun if boozily arranged line.
The post Book Review | ‘Gilded Age Cocktails: History, Lore, and Recipes from America’s Golden Age’ by Cecelia Tichi appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Dems’ Billionaire Tech Donor Presses Harris To Fire Antitrust Regulator
date: 2024-07-25, from: The Lever News
After donating millions to Democrats, a Microsoft board member is pressuring Harris to ax regulator scrutinizing the tech giant.
https://www.levernews.com/dems-billionaire-tech-donor-presses-harris-to-fire-antitrust-regulator/
NASA sends 4K video from a flying plane to the ISS using lasers
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
900 Mbps from Earth to orbit, and I still can’t get reliable Wi-Fi in my backyard
Jealous of the fact that the International Space Station has better internet than you do? Well, here’s one more benchmark to envy: NASA has successfully streamed 4K video from an in-flight aircraft to the ISS and back again.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/nasa_4k_video_iss/
Man arrested in California wildfire that forced thousands to evacuate
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
SearchGPT
date: 2024-07-25, from: Michael Tsai
Kylie Robison (Hacker News): OpenAI is announcing its much-anticipated entry into the search market, SearchGPT, an AI-powered search engine with real-time access to information across the internet. The search engine starts with a large textbox that asks the user “What are you looking for?” But rather than returning a plain list of links, SearchGPT tries […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/07/25/searchgpt/
Only Google Can Crawl Reddit
date: 2024-07-25, from: Michael Tsai
Emanuel Maiberg (Hacker News): Google is now the only search engine that can surface results from Reddit, making one of the web’s most valuable repositories of user generated content exclusive to the internet’s already dominant search engine. If you use Bing, DuckDuckGo, Mojeek, Qwant or any other alternative search engine that doesn’t rely on Google’s […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/07/25/only-google-can-crawl-reddit/
Apple Commits to Opening NFC in EU
date: 2024-07-25, from: Michael Tsai
Tim Hardwick: The European Union has accepted commitments from Apple to open its mobile payments system and give competitors access to the iPhone’s NFC technology, bringing an end to a lengthy investigation by EU regulators into the technology. According to the announcement, Apple has agreed to open up its payments system to other providers free […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/07/25/apple-commits-to-opening-nfc-in-eu/
Swift’s AnyObject
date: 2024-07-25, from: Michael Tsai
Jordan Rose: You can also use AnyObject as a constraint on protocols: protocol MyDelegate: AnyObject. Now the implementers are known to have reference semantics, and with T: MyDelegate you can have weak references to T, as before. You can even have weak references to any MyDelegate, allowing swapping between delegates of different types. What you […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/07/25/swifts-anyobject/
Books for iPad Gets the Photos Treatment
date: 2024-07-25, from: Michael Tsai
Federico Viticci: So, uhm, the UI changes to the Books app for iPad are pretty concerning…?The app went from having a rich sidebar in iPadOS 17 with sections and collections always available to a simplified layout where sections are hidden away in a popover. Less flexible and discoverable than before.Does Apple want to make iPad […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/07/25/books-for-ipad-gets-the-photos-treatment/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-25, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The latest rumor is that JD Vance did not have sex with his couch. We'll keep you updated on this important breaking story.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ap-declares-jd-vance-did-120739531.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-25, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
OpenAI is announcing its much-anticipated entry into the search market, SearchGPT, an AI-powered search engine with real-time access to information across the internet.
A Special Message From Our Board Chair Cristian Andres Arango
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Vision, Creativity, Empathy, Leadership and Passion: all words that come to my mind when I think of PPF’s new Executive
The post A Special Message From Our Board Chair Cristian Andres Arango appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
From Intern to Astronaut
date: 2024-07-25, from: NASA breaking news
On Sept. 2, 2022, NASA astronauts Anil Menon (left), Deniz Burnham (center), and Marcos Berrios (right) posed for a photograph in front of NASA’s Artemis I SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Burnham began her career as an intern at NASA’s Ames Research Center. She earned a […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/from-intern-to-astronaut/
Shipwreck Found in Lake Michigan 130 Years After Sinking With Captain’s ‘Intelligent and Faithful’ Dog Onboard
date: 2024-07-25, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The captain said he would “rather lose any sum of money than to have the brute perish as he did”
Oracle’s Java pricing brews bitter taste, subscribers spill over to OpenJDK
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Following licensing changes, 86% of users head for the door. Coincidence?
Only 14 percent of Oracle Java subscribers plan to stay on Big Red’s runtime environment, according to a study following the introduction of an employee-based subscription model.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/oracle_java_licensing_changes/
NASA’s Fermi Finds New Feature in Brightest Gamma-Ray Burst Yet Seen
date: 2024-07-25, from: NASA breaking news
In October 2022, astronomers were stunned by what was quickly dubbed the BOAT — the brightest-of-all-time gamma-ray burst (GRB). Now an international science team reports that data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals a feature never seen before. “A few minutes after the BOAT erupted, Fermi’s Gamma-ray Burst Monitor recorded an unusual energy peak […]
Newsom Issues Executive Order to Clear Homeless Encampments
date: 2024-07-25, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Building on California’s ongoing work and unprecedented investments to address the decades-long issue of homelessness, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Thursday ordering state agencies and departments to adopt clear policies that urgently address homeless encampments while respecting the dignity and well-being of all Californians
https://scvnews.com/newsom-issues-executive-order-to-clear-homeless-encampments/
AYANEO Pocket DMG and Pocket Micro crowdfunding campaigns begin July 31 (Handheld Android game systems)
date: 2024-07-25, from: Liliputing
AYANEO plans to begin taking pre-orders soon for two handheld game consoles with Android-based operating systems and retro-inspired designs. Crowdfunding campaigns for the AYANEO Pocket DMG and AYANEO Pocket Micro will kick off on July 31st. The AYANEO Pocket DMG is a handheld game console that looks a bit like a Game Boy, but which packs a […]
The post AYANEO Pocket DMG and Pocket Micro crowdfunding campaigns begin July 31 (Handheld Android game systems) appeared first on Liliputing.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Scientists Find Intriguing Mars Rock
date: 2024-07-25, from: NASA breaking news
The six-wheeled geologist found a fascinating rock that has some indications it may have hosted microbial life billions of years ago, but further research is needed. A vein-filled rock is catching the eye of the science team of NASA’s Perseverance rover. Nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” by the team, the arrowhead-shaped rock contains fascinating traits that may […]
North Korean charged in ransomware attacks on US hospitals
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
Kansas City, Kansas — A man who officials say worked for one of North Korea’s military intelligence agencies has been indicted for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to hack American health care providers, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
A grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, indicted Rim Jong Hyok, who is accused of laundering ransom money and using the money to fund additional cyberattacks on defense, technology and government entities around the world. The hack on American hospitals on other health care providers disrupted the treatment of patients, officials said.
“While North Korea uses these types of cybercrimes to circumvent international sanctions and fund its political and military ambitions, the impact of these wanton acts have a direct impact on the citizens of Kansas,” said Stephen A. Cyrus, an FBI agent based in Kansas City.
Online court records do not list an attorney for Hyok.
Justice Department officials said an attack on a Kansas hospital, which they did not identify, happened in May 2021 when hackers encrypted the medical center’s files and servers. The hospital paid about $100,000 in Bitcoin to get its data back.
The department said it recovered that ransom as well as a payment from a Colorado health care provider affected by the same Maui ransomware variant.
The Justice Department has brought multiple criminal cases related to North Korean hacking in recent years, often alleging a profit-driven motive that differentiates the activity from that of hackers in Russia and China.
In 2021, for instance, the department charged three North Korean computer programmers in a broad range of global hacks, including a destructive attack targeting an American movie studio, and in the attempted theft and extortion of more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies.
Investigators said Hyok has been a member of the Andariel Unit of the North Korean government’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, a military intelligence agency. Hyok allegedly conspired to use ransomware software to conduct cyberespionage hacks against American hospitals and other government and technology entities in South Korea, and China.
https://www.voanews.com/a/north-korean-charged-in-ransomware-attacks-on-us-hospitals/7712850.html
Earth Reached Its Hottest Day on Record Twice in a Row This Week
date: 2024-07-25, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The global average surface temperature soared to 17.15 degrees Celsius on Monday, or 62.87 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking a short-lived record set on Sunday
Resourcing the Ramp-Up: NATO and the Challenge of a Coherent Industrial Response to Russia’s War in Ukraine
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: RAND blog
NATO countries’ security depends on continuing to equip Ukraine to win in a costly war of attrition against a determined Russian adversary. But militaries must also rebuild their own stocks and urgently modernize their forces if they are to prepare for any potential future war involving NATO.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/07/resourcing-the-ramp-up-nato-and-the-challenge-of-a.html
Toxic Harvest
date: 2024-07-25, from: The Lever News
New research finds pesticides may be as bad for you as smoking — so why is Congress poised to shield the industry from liability?
https://www.levernews.com/toxic-harvest/
Uncle Sam accuses telco IT pro of decade-long spying campaign for China
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Beijing has a long history of recruiting US residents to carry out various espionage activities
The US is looking to prosecute a Chinese immigrant over claims he has been drip-feeding information of interest to Beijing since at least 2012.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/us_it_pro_spying_charge/
How the FBI Is Hunting North Korean Hackers Who Attacked U.S. Healthcare System
date: 2024-07-25, from: 404 Media Group
A recently unsealed court document shows the FBI has obtained multiple warrants to read the contents of email inboxes used by suspected North Korean hackers.
This Art Student Stole a Coin From the British Museum—and Dropped It in the Donation Box
date: 2024-07-25, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Ilê Sartuzi briefly pocketed a 17th-century coin to make a statement about looted artifacts held by the museum
Microsoft adds generative search to its Bing engine
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Looks a lot like Google’s AI Overviews, hopefully without some of the early unfortunate summaries
Microsoft is adding generative search to Bing despite the search engine’s market share showing no increase after prior AI tech additions.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/microsoft_generative_search_bing/
GEEKOM’s liquid cooled mini PC is a branded version of the TECNO MEGA Mini Gaming G1
date: 2024-07-25, from: Liliputing
Earlier this year TECNO showed off a small desktop computer designed for gaming. The MEGA Mini G1 debuted at Mobile World Congress in February, and it features a 13th-gen Intel Core i9 processor, NVIDIA graphics, liquid cooling, plenty of RGB lights, and clear panels that let you see inside. Now mini PC maker GEEKOM has […]
The post GEEKOM’s liquid cooled mini PC is a branded version of the TECNO MEGA Mini Gaming G1 appeared first on Liliputing.
Happy Birthday FBI! – Volume II: The Sequel
date: 2024-07-25, from: National Archives, Text Message blog
Today’s post was compiled by the Special Access and FOIA Program staff at the National Archives at College Park, MD In the Special Access and FOIA Program at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland, we conduct a review of records for information protected from release under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The bulk … Continue reading Happy Birthday FBI! – Volume II: The Sequel
https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2024/07/25/happy-birthday-fbi-volume-ii-the-sequel/
When you might be charged more based on your personal data
date: 2024-07-25, from: Marketplace Morning Report
You’ve probably heard of dynamic pricing, like on ride-sharing apps. Now, the Federal Trade Commission is looking into surveillance pricing, which is when companies charge you a different price than someone else for the same product or service based on data they have on where you are and clues about your interests and lifestyle. We’ll unpack. Plus, GDP was higher than anticipated in the second quarter — but it wasn’t driven by consumers.
Apple Maps escapes orchard into web browser wilds
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Chrome and Edge on Windows can now join the fun
Apple has introduced its mapping technology to devices outside its ecosystem with a web version that works in Chrome and Edge on Windows PCs.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/apple_maps_chrome_edge/
Re-introducing Participation Reports to Encourage Best Practices in Open Metadata (cross-post)
date: 2024-07-25, from: ROR Research ID Blog
Crossref, with the help of CWTS Leiden, has just released an exciting update to their participation report, adding metrics for both affiliations in general and ROR IDs in particular.
https://ror.org/blog/2024-07-25-re-introducing-participation-reports/
JSAUX FlipGo Lite offers a pair of portable screens for $299
date: 2024-07-25, from: Liliputing
The JSAUX FlipGo Lite is a portable dual-screen display. It’s a lower-cost take on the company’s FlipGo which launched earlier this year for $579. The FlipGo Lite is listed at just $299 from JSAUX. Differences in the displays explain the savings. Each screen measures 15.6 inches diagonally and has a native resolution of 1920 x […]
The post JSAUX FlipGo Lite offers a pair of portable screens for $299 appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/jsaux-flipgo-lite-offers-a-pair-of-portable-screens-for-299/
Benchmarking AWS Lambda Cold Starts Across JavaScript Runtimes
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: Deno blog
When running production JavaScript in the cloud, performance is a critical consideration. Here’s how Deno’s cold start times compare against other JavaScript runtimes on AWS Lambda.
https://deno.com/blog/aws-lambda-coldstart-benchmarks
Newsom issues order on clearing homeless encampments
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-26, from: The LAist
Last month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities are no longer prohibited from punishing homeless people for camping if they have nowhere else to go.
https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/gov-newsom-expected-to-issue-order-homeless-encampments
Meet NASA Interns Shaping Future of Open Science
date: 2024-07-25, from: NASA breaking news
Students at NASA’s Office of the Chief Science Data Officer (OCSDO) are working to promote open science during the summer 2024 internship session. Their projects fall across a variety of areas, including user experience, policy, and DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility). Lena Young: Increasing DEIA Engagement Lena Young, a doctoral candidate in the Creative […]
https://science.nasa.gov/open-science/summer-interns-science-data/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-25, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Here Comes The Judge. Here Comes The Judge.Here Comes The Judge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGqTZUcemrU
Google Pixel 9 lineup: Everything we (think we) know about Google’s next-gen phones
date: 2024-07-25, from: Liliputing
Google is holding a hardware event on August 13th to introduce its new Pixel 9 series smartphones. But details about the upcoming Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold have been leaking for months. Now several new leaks provide some additional information about Google’s 2024 smartphone lineup. First, […]
The post Google Pixel 9 lineup: Everything we (think we) know about Google’s next-gen phones appeared first on Liliputing.
Reclaiming the Viral Asian Body
date: 2024-07-25, from: Care
<p>“The truth is that we, as actors both individual and collective, are fundamentally enmeshed in/with the world. Our technologies weave their ways into our minds and bodies.”</p>https://logicmag.io/issue-21-medicine-and-the-body/reclaiming-the-viral-asian-body
US economic growth increased last quarter to a healthy 2.8% annual rate
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
Washington — The nation’s economy accelerated last quarter at a strong 2.8% annual pace, with consumers and businesses helping drive growth despite the pressure of continually high interest rates.
Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — picked up in the April-June quarter after growing at a 1.4% pace in the January-March period. Economists had expected a weaker 1.9% annual pace of growth.
The GDP report also showed that inflation continues to ease, though still remaining above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The central bank’s favored inflation gauge rose at a 2.6% annual rate last quarter, down from 3.4% in the first quarter of the year.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core PCE inflation increased at a 2.9% pace. That was down from 3.7% from January through March.
The latest figures should reinforce confidence that the U.S. economy is on the verge of achieving a rare “soft landing,” whereby high interest rates, engineered by the Fed, tame inflation without tipping the economy into a recession.
Helping to boost last quarter’s expansion was consumer spending, the heart of the U.S. economy. It rose at a 2.3% annual rate in the April-June quarter, up from a 1.5% pace in the January-March period. Spending on goods, such as cars and appliances, increased at a 2.5% rate after falling at a 2.3% pace in the first three months of the year.
Business investment was up last quarter, led by a 11.6% annual increase in equipment investment. Growth also picked up because businesses increased their inventories. On the other hand, a surge in imports, which are subtracted from GDP, shaved about 0.9 percentage point from the April-June growth.
Despite last quarter’s uptick, the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, has cooled in the face of the highest borrowing rates in decades. From mid-2022 through 2023, annualized GDP growth had topped 2% for six straight quarters. In last year’s final two quarters, GDP expanded by robust rates of 4.9% and 3.4%.
Fed officials have made clear that with inflation edging toward their 2% target level, they’re prepared to start cutting interest rates soon, something they’re widely expected to do in September.
“This is a perfect report for the Fed,” Olu Sonola, head of economic research at Fitch Ratings, said of Thursday’s GDP numbers. “Growth during the first half of the year is not too hot, inflation continues to cool, and the elusive soft-landing scenario looks within reach.”
The state of the economy has seized Americans’ attention as the presidential campaign has intensified. Though inflation has slowed sharply, to 3% from 9.1% in 2022, prices remain well above their pre-pandemic levels.
This year’s economic slowdown reflects, in large part, the much higher borrowing rates for home and auto loans, credit cards and many business loans resulting from the Fed’s aggressive series of interest rate hikes.
The Fed’s rate hikes — 11 of them in 2022 and 2023 — were a response to the flare-up in inflation that began in the spring of 2021 as the economy rebounded with unexpected speed from the COVID-19 recession, causing severe supply shortages. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 made things worse by inflating prices for the energy and grains the world depends on. Prices spiked across the country and the world.
Economists had long predicted that the higher borrowing costs would tip the United States into recession. Yet the economy kept chugging along. Consumers, whose spending accounts for roughly 70% of GDP, kept buying things, emboldened by a strong job market and savings they had built up during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The slowdown at the start of this year was caused largely by two factors, each of which can vary sharply from quarter to quarter: A surge in imports and a drop in business inventories. Neither trend revealed much about the economy’s underlying health.
US figure skaters set to get team gold medals at Paris Olympics after ruling in 2022 doping case
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
Why Texas Will Add More Clean Energy Than Any State This Year
date: 2024-07-25, from: Distilled Earth blog
Texas is expected to build twice as much clean energy capacity as the next two states—California and Arizona—combined
https://www.distilled.earth/p/why-texas-will-add-more-clean-energy
Tech Today: Space Age Swimsuit Reduces Drag, Breaks Records
date: 2024-07-25, from: NASA breaking news
SpeedoUSA worked with Langley Research Center to design a swimsuit with reduced surface drag.
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-07-25, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
I am struggling with coming up with a good looking set of document tab bars for Godot on iPad.
My first take was this, it was a blend of Xcode elements.
And Václav suggested something like the second, but I think it feels strange. Anyone has some pointers to apps with document tabs on iPadOS?
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112847635346376144
YouTube star sets Domino installation world record
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
YouTube star Lily Hevesh has been mesmerizing viewers with domino creations for 15 years. Last weekend, at the National Building Museum in Washington, she completed her most ambitious project yet: she brought down an installation of 100,000 dominoes and set a world record. Maxim Adams reports. Camera: Dmitry Shakhov, Artem Kohan.
https://www.voanews.com/a/youtube-star-sets-domino-installation-world-record/7712563.html
California homebuying: Collapse? Crumble? Or crash?
date: 2024-07-25, from: San Jose Mercury News
A 21-month streak of statewide sales pace below 300,000 a year is the longest dip in stats dating to 1990.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/07/25/california-homebuying-collapse-crumble-or-crash/
Tracking Olympic medals (by conference) with the Pac-12 set to officially disintegrate during the Paris Games
date: 2024-07-25, from: San Jose Mercury News
The conference will officially disintegrate during the Paris Games, so how should we account for the medals won?
Black Americans Aren’t Buying Election-Year Falsehoods. Here’s Why.
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: RAND blog
In 2020, fewer Black Americans believed the false claims of widespread election and voter fraud than their white counterparts did. What lessons can be learned from Black Americans’ resilience to disinformation?
STMicroelectronics sees sharp decline in Q2 earnings amid weak auto sector demand
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
NXP Semiconductors and Texas Instruments also hit by slowdown
Euro chipmaker STMicroelectronics saw revenue and net income slump in Q2 of this year, blaming low demand in the automotive sector while orders elsewhere failed to meet expectations, in a hint that the semiconductor industry is still in a rough patch.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/stmicroelectronics_q2_weak_demand/
How Kamala Harris took command of the Democratic Party in 48 hours
date: 2024-07-25, from: San Jose Mercury News
She worked the phones. Her team worked the delegates. When it was over, she had quickly locked down the nomination in a “well-orchestrated cascade,” as one party leader put it.
Woman found fatally shot in Oakland
date: 2024-07-25, from: San Jose Mercury News
Authorities are in the process of confirming her identity and notifying family members before releasing her name. She is believed to be in her 20s.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/07/25/woman-found-fatally-shot-in-oakland/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-25, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
FBI Not Sure Trump Was Struck By a Bullet.
https://politicalwire.com/2024/07/25/fbi-not-sure-trump-was-hit-by-a-bullet/
Navy Ad: Gig Work Is a Dystopian, Unregulated Hellscape, Build Submarines Instead
date: 2024-07-25, from: 404 Media Group
The same government that has failed to regulate gig work has simply opted to agree that it is bad and to use those working conditions to recruit for the military.
PG&E profits soar, powered by increases in electricity and gas revenue
date: 2024-07-25, from: San Jose Mercury News
PG&E profits soared during its second quarter, powered by higher monthly bills.
Thirteen Sharks Test Positive for Cocaine Off the Coast of Brazil
date: 2024-07-25, from: Smithsonian Magazine
All of the wild Brazilian sharpnose sharks tested in a new study had the drug in their bodies, but many questions remain about cocaine’s effects on aquatic creatures—and the humans who eat them
Optum laying off 364 California healthcare workers, shuttering urgent cares
date: 2024-07-25, from: San Jose Mercury News
The company, in a notice to the state’s Employment Development Department, said it was carrying out layoffs and “departmental closures” at 14 California locations including Hayward.
Kamala Harris wants to be America’s first Silicon Valley president. She has tech’s support
date: 2024-07-25, from: San Jose Mercury News
Top tech leaders are showing their excitement for the Bay Area native, in the form of endorsements and donations for Harris, which have come from prominent names, such as longtime Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Netflix Co-Founder Reed Hastings and philanthropist Melinda French Gates.
NASA Supports Burst Test for Orbital Reef Commercial Space Station
date: 2024-07-25, from: NASA breaking news
An element of a NASA-funded commercial space station, Orbital Reef, under development by Blue Origin and Sierra Space, recently completed a full-scale ultimate burst pressure test as part of the agency’s efforts for new destinations in low Earth orbit. This milestone is part of a NASA Space Act Agreement awarded to Blue Origin in 2021. […]
Gone but not Forgotten
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The latest casualty is The Palace Grill, another iconic Santa Barbara staple.
The post Gone but not Forgotten appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/07/25/gone-but-not-forgotten/
You should probably fix this 5-year-old critical Docker vuln fairly sharpish
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
For some unknown reason, initial patch was omitted from later versions
Docker is warning users to rev their Docker Engine into patch mode after it realized a near-maximum severity vulnerability had been sticking around for five years.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/5yo_docker_vulnerability/
7 awesome Bay Area things to do this weekend, July 26-28
date: 2024-07-25, from: San Jose Mercury News
Got your weekend plans? We have some nifty ideas, from amazing milkshakes to Gold Country fun to a superhero movie that doesn’t, well. suck.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/07/25/7-awesome-bay-area-things-to-do-this-weekend-july-26-28/
Park Fire map: Wildfire near Chico explodes overnight to season’s biggest
date: 2024-07-25, from: San Jose Mercury News
The first evacuation order came before 6 p.m., and by Thursday morning the evacuation zone covered more than 400 square miles in Butte and Tehama counties.
AI Video Generator Runway Trained on Thousands of YouTube Videos Without Permission
date: 2024-07-25, from: 404 Media Group
A leaked document obtained by 404 Media shows company-wide effort collected thousands of YouTube videos and pirated content for training data.
https://www.404media.co/runway-ai-image-generator-training-data-youtube/
A popular new night market elevates baseball food in West Oakland
date: 2024-07-25, from: San Jose Mercury News
With 30-something vendors, the Prescott Night Market’s become the hot spot for lovers of food and haters of Oakland A’s owner John Fisher.
FreeBSD as a platform for your future technology
date: 2024-07-25, from: OS News
Choosing an operating system for new technology can be crucial for the success of any project. Years down the road, this decision will continue to inform the speed and efficiency of development. But should you build the infrastructure yourself or rely on a proven system? When faced with this decision, many companies have chosen, and continue to choose, FreeBSD. Few operating systems offer the immediate high performance and security of FreeBSD, areas where new technologies typically struggle. Having a stable and secure development platform reduces upfront costs and development time. The combination of stability, security, and high performance has led to the adoption of FreeBSD in a wide range of applications and industries. This is true for new startups and larger established companies such as Sony, Netflix, and Nintendo. FreeBSD continues to be a dependable ecosystem and an industry-leading platform. ↫ FreeBSD Foundation A FreeBSD marketing document highlighting FreeBSD’s strengths is, of course, hardly a surprise, but considering it’s fighting what you could generously call an uphill battle against the dominance of Linux, it’s still interesting to see what, exactly, FreeBSD highlights as its strengths. It should come as no surprise that its licensing model – the simple BSD license – is mentioned first and foremost, since it’s a less cumbersome license to deal with than something like the GPL. It’s philosophical debate we won’t be concluding any time soon, but the point still stands. FreeBSD also highlights that it’s apparently quite easy to upstream changes to FreeBSD, making sure that changes benefit everyone who uses FreeBSD. While I can’t vouch for this, it does seem reasonable to assume that it’s easier to deal with the integrated, one-stop-shop that is FreeBSD, compared to the hodge-podge of hundreds and thousands of groups whose software all together make up a Linux system. Like I said, this is a marketing document so do keep that in mind, but I still found it interesting.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140325/freebsd-as-a-platform-for-your-future-technology/
Adobe exec likened hidden cloud subscription exit fees to ‘heroin’, says FTC
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Read the unredacted complaint against Photoshop giant and its software plans
Adobe’s controversial billing practices and punitive fees for those terminating their subscriptions early follow from the software titan’s addiction to revenue, the FTC has said.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/adobe_subscription_cancel_fees_ftc/
Adobe exec likened hidden cloud subscription fees to ‘heroin’, says FTC
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Read the unredacted complaint against Photoshop giant and its software plans
Adobe’s controversial billing practices and punitive fees for those terminating their subscriptions early follow from the software titan’s addiction to revenue, the FTC has said.…
More 3-inch mini PCs with Intel Alder Lake-N chips and up to 4 x 2.5 GbE Ethernet ports
date: 2024-07-25, from: Liliputing
Late last year Chinese PC maker CWWK began selling a line of tiny desktop computers that measure just 75.4 x 75.4 x 52.5mm (3″ x 3″ x 2.1″), but which pack a lot of features into that palm-sized package, including up to four 2.5 GbE Ethernet ports, up to an Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor, and […]
The post More 3-inch mini PCs with Intel Alder Lake-N chips and up to 4 x 2.5 GbE Ethernet ports appeared first on Liliputing.
How NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Will Illuminate Cosmic Dawn
date: 2024-07-25, from: NASA breaking news
Today, enormous stretches of space are crystal clear, but that wasn’t always the case. During its infancy, the universe was filled with a “fog” that made it opaque, cloaking the first stars and galaxies. NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will probe the universe’s subsequent transition to the brilliant starscape we see today –– […]
Former Space Communications, Navigation Interns Pioneer NASA’s Future
date: 2024-07-25, from: NASA breaking news
For over a decade, NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Internship Project alumni have played important roles in extending the agency’s long-term vision for exploration. For National Intern Day on Thursday, July 25, previous program interns reflect on their journeys to and through NASA and offer advice for current and future interns. Every summer interns […]
Kaspersky says Uncle Sam snubbed proposal to open up its code for third-party review
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Those national security threat claims? ‘No evidence,’ VP tells The Reg
Exclusive Despite the Feds’ determination to ban Kaspersky’s security software in the US, the Russian business continues to push its proposal to open up its data and products to independent third-party review – and prove to Uncle Sam that its code hasn’t been and won’t be compromised by Kremlin spies.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/kaspersky_us_review_snub/
LA is planning for hundreds of thousands of new homes. But not in single-family zones
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The LAist
The city has a lot of work to do to meet state housing goals, including rezoning. But officials don’t want to touch single-family neighborhoods.
What goes up must come back down
date: 2024-07-25, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Wall Street indexes are droopy this morning after a surge downward yesterday. The S&P 500 fell 2.3% and the Nasdaq had its deepest drop in two years. Some are calling it “rebalancing” as investors pull back from some of their tech darlings. And, as a follow-up to yesterday’s episode, we check in with Juan Carlos Cisneros Suarez, who has been waiting for a visa and has skills in computer programming or robotics.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/what-goes-up-must-come-back-down
AI models face collapse if they overdose on their own output
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Recursive training leads to nonsense, study finds
Researchers have found that the buildup of AI-generated content on the web is set to “collapse” machine learning models unless the industry can mitigate the risks.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/ai_will_eat_itself/
AI stocks lead tech slump
date: 2024-07-25, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: The stock market sell-off is spreading from the U.S. to Asia and Europe. There have been declines across the board, but companies specializing in AI and semiconductor chips have been hit especially hard. Part of it has to do with expectations of additional trade restrictions from the U.S. on chip trade with China. Then, smaller brands are competing against fashion giants to deck out this year’s Olympic athletes.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/ai-stocks-lead-tech-slump
EPA Union Gets Behind Harris
date: 2024-07-25, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Typhoon Gaemi made landfall in Taiwan with the force of a Category 3 major hurricane • Large hailstones pelted Verona, Italy • Tropical Storm Bud formed in the Eastern Pacific, but is expected to dissipate by the weekend.
THE TOP FIVE
- Vineyard Wind turbine fiasco linked to manufacturing defect
The blade that snapped off an offshore turbine at the Vineyard Wind project in Massachusetts on July 13 broke due to a manufacturing defect, according to GE Vernova, the turbine maker and installer. During GE’s second quarter earnings call yesterday, CEO Scott Strazik and Vice President of Investor Relations Michael Lapides said the company had identified a “material deviation” at one of its factories in Canada and would “re-inspect all of the blades that we have made for offshore wind.” At a public meeting in Nantucket last night, Roger Martella, GE Vernova’s chief sustainability officer, said there were two issues at play. The first was the manufacturing issue — basically, the adhesives applied to the blade to hold it together did not do their job. The second was quality control. “The inspection that should have caught this did not,” he said. Two dozen turbines have been installed as part of the Vineyard Wind project so far, with 72 blades total. GE Vernova has not responded to requests for clarification about how many of them originated at the Canada facility, reported Heatmap’s Emily Pontecorvo. Nantucket representatives are going to meet with Vineyard Wind next week to negotiate compensation for the costs incurred as a result of the accident.
- Biggest EPA union endorses Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris got a little boost for her 2024 presidential bid yesterday with an endorsement from the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238. The group is the largest Environmental Protection Agency union – of the 750,000 government employees it represents, about 8,000 of them are with the EPA, accounting for just under half the agency’s permanent workforce. Last month the union issued its first-ever political endorsement, for President Biden’s re-election, saying he “supports and values the work of federal employees who are working tirelessly to face the climate emergency.” Shifting support to Harris “reaffirms” that endorsement. Former President Donald Trump rolled back many EPA rules during his time in office, including emissions regulations and environmental protections. He also gutted workplace protections for federal workers. Judging by the infamous Project 2025 playbook, Trump would seek to dramatically “restructure” and “streamline” the EPA to “reflect the principles of cooperative federalism and limited government,” and many workers reportedly fear their jobs will be on the line if he wins.
- Ford Q2 earnings disappoint as EV losses mount
Ford’s stock is down about 13% in pre-market trading after yesterday’s disappointing Q2 earnings report. The automaker reported adjusted earnings of 46 cents per share, far below analysts’ expectations of 68 cents per share. The company cited unforeseen costs for repairing problems on slightly older vehicles that are still under warranty. But its EV losses grew, too, reaching $2.5 billion through the first half of 2024. CEO Jim Farley remained bullish in the earnings call, telling investors the company is committed to reducing the losses on EVs but basically said the market has been tough and turbulent, and Ford is honing its strategy. That includes expanding its hybrid portfolio and prioritizing smaller, more affordable EVs. He said Ford “must do a much better job in educating our customers” about the advantages of owning an EV. “Overall, the EV journey has been humbling,” he said, “but it has forced us to get even more fit as a company.”
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- Wildfires approach Canadian oil pipeline
Firefighters are battling hundreds of wildfires in Canada’s Alberta province, one of which is nearing a crucial oil pipeline. The Trans Mountain Pipeline carries 890,000 barrels of oil per day from Edmonton to Vancouver. Its operator is reportedly using sprinklers to protect the pipeline, which was still operating normally yesterday. Some oil producers with operations in Canada’s Fort McMurray oil sands region have pulled staff as a precaution and reduced production. “While wildfires have already forced some producers to curtail production, these fires still threaten a large amount of supply,” ING Group analysts said.
- Study: Tree bark removes methane from atmosphere
Microbes living in tree bark are surprisingly effective at removing methane from the atmosphere, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. Up until now, soil was the only known “terrestrial sink” for methane, a potent but short-lived greenhouse gas that’s responsible for about one third of the global warming since the pre-industrial age. But the research suggests tree bark may be just as effective as soil when it comes to methane removal. Trees are already climate champions because of their ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere, and the authors think these new findings boost their overall climate contribution by about 10%. Another fun tidbit from the study is that, if all the bark from all the trees on Earth were laid flat, it would cover the planet’s entire land surface.
THE KICKER
The Irvine Police Department is adding Tesla’s Cybertruck to its fleet. The vehicle reportedly won’t be sent out on patrols, but will instead be used for “community relations.”
X/IrvinePolice
https://heatmap.news/climate/harris-epa-endorsement-ford-earnings
X.org lone ranger rides to rescue multi-monitor refresh rates
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
X11 isn’t dead while people still keep working on it
It isn’t quite XKCD 2347, but it’s close. At least one developer is still working away on the X.org codebase with an effort to improve variable refresh rate support in several different OSes.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/xorg_monitor_refresh_rates/
Gehn Imager Andotrope | The MagPi #144
date: 2024-07-25, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Replicating a beloved display from a favourite game yielded amazing results for one Raspberry Pi maker.
The post Gehn Imager Andotrope | The MagPi #144 appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/gehn-imager-andotrope-the-magpi-144/
Joe Guzzardi | Immigration: O My Gosh, Canada!
date: 2024-07-25, from: The Signal
Canada faces an immigration crisis on multiple levels. Years of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s endorsed over-immigration into Canada have pushed housing prices into the stratosphere, sent per capita income into […]
The post Joe Guzzardi | Immigration: O My Gosh, Canada! appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/joe-guzzardi-immigration-o-my-gosh-canada/
Jason Gibbs | New and Upcoming Projects in Santa Clarita
date: 2024-07-25, from: The Signal
Nothing says Santa Clarita like our beautiful mountains, pristine parks, paseos meandering through our neighborhoods, lush trees and amenities for residents of all ages. This year, the city has already […]
The post Jason Gibbs | New and Upcoming Projects in Santa Clarita appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/jason-gibbs-new-and-upcoming-projects-in-santa-clarita/
College Brief for July 24 | Phi Kappa Phi inducts new members from SCV
date: 2024-07-25, from: The Signal
The following people recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines: They are among […]
The post College Brief for July 24 | Phi Kappa Phi inducts new members from SCV appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/college-brief-for-july-24-phi-kappa-phi-inducts-new-members-from-scv/
Datacenters guzzled more than a fifth of Ireland’s electricity in 2023
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Bit barns binge on Emerald Isle power
Datacenters consumed more than a fifth of Ireland’s electricity supply during 2023, according to the latest figures from the republic’s Central Statistics Office (CSO). The news comes amid growing concerns over the expanding energy demands of the bit barn industry.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/ireland_datacenter_power_consumption/
Article Spotlight: The use of vocal coordination in male African elephant group departures
date: 2024-07-25, from: PeerJ blog
Dan Walters | Newsom’s Aspiring Successors Multiply
date: 2024-07-25, from: The Signal
There never was much of a chance that Gov. Gavin Newsom would run for president this year, even if President Joe Biden were to step aside. While Newsom has been […]
The post Dan Walters | Newsom’s Aspiring Successors Multiply appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/dan-walters-newsoms-aspiring-successors-multiply/
Christopher Lucero | ‘Right Here, Right Now’ Wrong Again
date: 2024-07-25, from: The Signal
Scott Wilk thinks California is “off the rails” (“Right Here, Right Now,” June 29). How inspiring, such leadership! He based his entire premise upon an assumption that a “Google search” […]
The post Christopher Lucero | ‘Right Here, Right Now’ Wrong Again appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/christopher-lucero-right-here-right-now-wrong-again/
OpenBSD enthusiast cooks up guide for the technically timid
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
If you want a simple step-by-step, this is the best we’ve seen
French BSD enthusiast Joel Carnat has written a how-to guide on setting up a laptop with OpenBSD for general use. It’s worth a go for the Unix-curious.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/openbsd_for_the_people/
Patch management still seemingly abysmal because no one wants the job
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Are your security and ops teams fighting to pass the buck?
Comment Patching: The bane of every IT professional’s existence. It’s a thankless, laborious job that no one wants to do, goes unappreciated when it interrupts work, and yet it’s more critical than ever in this modern threat landscape.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/patch_management_study/
Today in SCV History (July 25)
date: 2024-07-25, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1915 – Pioneer Juan Batista Suraco buried in a family graveyard, currently unmarked, in Bouquet Canyon near Benz Road. [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-july-25/
True #Hacks in Today’s Market
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Three rules of thumb to put you on the right path.
The post True #Hacks in Today’s Market appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/07/25/true-hacks-in-todays-market/
Charles Fletcher Lummis: ‘Stand Fast, Santa Barbara’
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Lummis was considered to be the father of historic preservation in Southern California.
The post Charles Fletcher Lummis: ‘Stand Fast, Santa Barbara’ appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/07/25/charles-fletcher-lummis-stand-fast-santa-barbara/
You’re not hallucinating: Generative AI is helping IBM’s mainframes grow
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Big Blue brings in more cash and profit than predicted
Generative AI’s powers extend to helping the ancient concept of a proprietary enterprise OS and hardware stack to thrive, if IBM’s Q2 2024 results are any guide.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/ibm_q2_2024/
Some US states purge Chinese companies from investments amid tensions with China
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — As state treasurer, Vivek Malek pushed Missouri’s main retirement system to pull its investments from Chinese companies, making Missouri among the first nationally to do so. Now Malek is touting the Chinese divestment as he seeks reelection in an August 6 Republican primary against challengers who also are denouncing financial connections to China.
The Missouri treasurer’s race highlights a new facet of opposition to China, which has been cast as a top threat to the U.S. by many candidates seeking election this year. Indiana and Florida also have restricted their public pension funds from investing in certain Chinese companies. Similar legislation targeting public investments in foreign adversaries was vetoed in Arizona and proposed in Illinois and Oklahoma.
China ranks as the world’s second-largest economy behind the U.S.
Between 2018 and 2022, U.S. public pension and university endowments invested about $146 billion in China, according to an analysis by Future Union, a nonprofit pro-democracy group led by venture capitalist Andrew King. The report said more than four-fifths of U.S. states have at least one public pension fund investing in China and Hong Kong.
“Frankly, there should be shame — more shame than there is — for continuing to have those investments at this point in time,” said King, who asserts that China has used intellectual property from U.S. companies to make similar products that undercut market prices.
“You’re talking a considerable amount of money that frankly is competing against the U.S. technology and innovation ecosystem,” King said.
But some investment officials and economists have raised concerns that the emerging patchwork of state divestment policies could weaken investment returns for retirees.
“Most of these policies are unwise and would make U.S. citizens poorer,” said Ben Powell, an economics professor who is executive director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University.
The National Association of State Retirement Administrators opposes state-mandated divestments, saying such orders should come only from the federal government against specific companies based on U.S. security or humanitarian interests.
The U.S. Treasury Department recently proposed a rule prohibiting American investors from funding artificial intelligence systems in China that could have military uses, such as weapons targeting. In May, President Joe Biden blocked a Chinese-backed cryptocurrency mining firm from owning land near a Wyoming nuclear missile base, calling it a “national security risk.”
Yet this isn’t the first time that states have blacklisted particular investments. Numerous states, cities and universities divested from South Africa because of apartheid before the U.S. Congress eventually took action. Some states also have divested from tobacco companies because of health concerns.
Most recently, some states announced a divestment from Russia because of its war against Ukraine. But that has been difficult to carry out for some public pension fund administrators.
The quest to halt investments in Chinese companies comes as a growing number of states also have targeted Chinese ownership of U.S. land. Two dozen states now have laws restricting foreign ownership of agricultural land, according to the National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas. Some laws apply more broadly, such as one facing a legal challenge in Florida that bars Chinese citizens from buying property within 16 kilometers of military installations and critical infrastructure.
State pension divestment policies are “part of a broader march toward more confrontation between China and the United States,” said Clark Packard, a research fellow for trade policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. But “it makes it more challenging for the federal government to manage the overall relationship if we’ve got to deal with a scattershot policy at the state level.”
Indiana last year became the first to enact a law requiring the state’s public pension system to gradually divest from certain Chinese companies. As of March 31, 2023, the system had about $1.2 billion invested in Chinese entities with $486 million subject to the divestment requirement. A year later, its investment exposure in China had fallen to $314 million with just $700,000 still subject to divestment, the Indiana Public Retirement System said.
Missouri State Treasurer Malek tried last November to get fellow trustees of the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System to divest from Chinese companies. After defeat, he tried again in December and won approval for a plan requiring divestment over a 12-month period. Officials at the retirement system did not respond to repeated questions from The Associated Press about the status of that divestment.
In recent weeks, Malek has highlighted the Chinese divestment in campaign ads, asserting that fentanyl from China “is drugging our kids” and vowing: “As long as I’m treasurer, they won’t get money from us. Not one penny.”
Two of Malek’s main challengers in the Republican primary — state Rep. Cody Smith and state Sen. Andrew Koenig — also support divestment from China.
Koenig said China is becoming less stable and “a more risky place to have money invested.”
“In China, the line between public and private is much more blurry than it is in America,” Smith said. “So I don’t think we can fully know that if we are investing in Chinese companies that we are not also aiding an enemy of the United States.”
A law signed earlier this year by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis requires a state board overseeing the retirement system to develop a plan by September 1 to divest from companies owned by China. The oversight board had announced in March 2022 that it would stop making new Chinese investments. As of May, it still had about $277 million invested in Chinese-owned entities, including banks, energy firms and alcohol companies, according to an analysis by Florida legislative staff.
Florida law already prohibits investment in certain companies tied to Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Venezuela, or those engaged in an economic boycott against Israel.
In April, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have required divestment from companies in countries determined by the federal government to be foreign adversaries. That list includes China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela.
Hobbs said in a letter to lawmakers that the measure “would be detrimental to the economic growth Arizona is experiencing as well as the State’s investment portfolio.”
Biden, Netanyahu to discuss Gaza war and cease-fire talks
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-netanyahu-to-discuss-gaza-war-and-cease-fire-talks/7712200.html
Biden speaks, with hope and wistfulness of decision to leave race
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday explained to American citizens and to the world why he decided not to stand for reelection in the 2024 presidential race. Biden, speaking from the Oval Office, also outlined what urgent challenges he sees as the nation careens toward a November vote. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports.
India ditches its ‘Google Tax’ after US waved a big stick
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Stakeholders found it an ‘ambiguous’ compliance burden and the world has moved on – or tried to
India will eliminate its equalization levy – a charge imposed on digital services provided by non-resident companies, known as the “Google Tax.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/india_eliminates_google_tax/
Former Trump NSC official explains his vision for ending war in Ukraine
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, who was chief of staff on former President Donald Trump’s national security council, spoke with VOA about his vision for ending the war in Ukraine.
Kellogg says he is not a formal adviser to the former president and has not presented his plan to Trump, but it is one of the options that he could consider if he is elected in November.
Kellogg also served as the national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence in the Trump administration. He now co-chairs the Center on American Security at America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group.
The Ukraine strategy was published back in May by AFPI as part of their An America First Approach to U.S. National Security, edited by Fred Fleitz, who also served as chief of staff at the National Security Council during Trump’s presidency and co-wrote with Kellogg the chapter on the Russia-Ukraine war.
It suggests that the U.S. should begin a formal policy “to seek a cease-fire and negotiated settlement of the Ukraine conflict.” The U.S. would continue to arm Ukraine to deter Russia from attacking during or after a deal is reached, but under the condition that Kyiv agrees to enter into peace talks with Russia.
To persuade Russia to participate in the negotiations, the U.S. and other NATO partners would delay Ukraine’s membership in the alliance for an extended period in exchange for a “comprehensive and verifiable deal with security guarantees.”
They write that Ukraine will not be asked to give up its ambition to regain all land seized by Russia, but Kyiv should agree to use diplomatic means only and realize that it might take a long time to regain all the territories. The strategy proposes to use the partial lifting of sanctions on Russia to encourage the Kremlin to take steps toward peace and establish levies on Russian energy imports to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The interview with Kellogg, recorded on July 18 at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, has been edited for brevity and clarity.
VOA: Can you tell a little bit about the plan? I think it’s the most detailed paper coming publicly from Republican and Republican-affiliated groups.
Retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg: We’ve said very clearly in our paper that Ukraine has fought valiantly. They are very well led. We think the Russians did clearly an unwarranted invasion of a sovereign state and this must be addressed. President Trump, to his credit, said in the very first debate when he was asked by one of the commentators, Dana Bash, do the Russians basically get to keep the territories? He said no, not at all. He said not once, he did it twice.
So, there’s a negotiation, you are going to figure out what your starting points are going to be. You want to make sure that Ukrainians are not put at the position when they’re operating from weaknesses, but from strength. So, the question is how do you do that? And how you put all the pieces and parts in place? Nobody is ever saying that: “Oh, we just have to make Ukrainians to give up land and give it to Russia.” Look when you look at your losses, the losses in Ukraine alone, depending on who you talk to, you’re talking between 100,000 and 130,000 deaths. That’s enormous because when I look at [Russia’s losses] they have had three times that. The United States of America lost 60,000 in the Vietnam war. That was a 20-year war we went away from. The Russians, then the Soviets, lost 15,000 in Afghanistan and walked away from it.
If the Ukrainians say no and the Russians say no, then they can do it in a different way. But I think you started to ask yourself questions is this what’s best for Ukraine as a nation? I don’t care about Russia. I care about Ukraine.
Let’s say a year and a half ago the Russians turn their heels and if the West had provided the equipment that [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy asked for, then you probably could have finished the job. You could have gotten into the Sea of Azov through Kherson, splitting them in half, and that is what you wanted to do. So, I blame this administration and the West to a degree for not supporting Ukraine when they should have.
VOA: The Biden administration is saying that they want to put Ukraine in the position of strength before it can negotiate with Russia. You are suggesting pretty much the same, right?
Kellogg: No, that’s a false statement. Have the United States given Ukraine a support of F-16s? No. Did we provide long-range fires early for the Ukrainians to shoot in Russians? No. Did we provide permission for them to shoot deep into Russia? No. Did the United States provide them the armored capabilities they needed? We gave 31 tanks. Thirty-one tanks is not even a battalion in the United States army. So, they talk about it, but it didn’t really happen.
VOA: Ukrainian officials might be cautious about entering into the negotiations with Russians because it might send a signal to their partners that they don’t need military aid anymore.
Kellogg: You have to give more arms to them because you can’t trust the Russians. You just have to do it, and the question is, do you do this before Europe tires, Americans tire, Ukrainians tire? Two and a half years – that’s a long war and the destruction is enormous. Sometimes you have to look at what we call in America the long game. And that is security guarantees, financial support and military support. We have to bring that to the American people, you know, President Biden has only talked to American people one time. You got to talk to them a lot. President Biden has only talked to [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin one time. When I was with President Trump, he was talking to him 17 different times. It doesn’t mean he likes him. But you have to talk to your adversary.
VOA: Why would Russians want to negotiate?
Kellogg: You need to give them reasons to negotiate. You can give an extreme reason and say, OK, you’ve got to get back all the land from Ukraine. Maybe, short-term you tell Ukraine, we’re not going to support you coming to NATO, but we give you a bilateral security agreement.
VOA: The U.S. and Ukraine have just signed a security agreement.
Kellogg: That was not a defense agreement. A defense agreement should be ratified by the Senate. What you have to do is to come up with a peace agreement like we’ve done with Korea, we did years ago with Taiwan.
VOA: But what is the contingency plan if Russia doesn’t abide by the agreement.
Kellogg: That is part of negotiation. That’s where both sides draw the red lines. That’s where both sides make the determination: this is what we’re going to do or not do.
VOA: Ukraine already tried that signing the Minsk agreements with Russia.
Kellogg: Minsk agreements worked very well, didn’t they? They’re lousy. They didn’t do anything because nobody trusted anybody, and nobody worked together. You had Minsk 1, failed; Minsk 2, failed. Budapest memorandum, failed. So, you have to have some kind of degree of confidence and security.
VOA: One of the reasons why the negotiations in Istanbul broke down was that Russians demanded Ukraine’s demilitarization, a smaller army.
Kellogg: Yes. And this is an unacceptable demand. And you don’t walk into negotiating with unacceptable demands. But you have to have an ability, we call it an interlocutor. An interlocutor is somebody who can sit down and actually negotiate with both parties. It can be Trump, President Trump believes he can do it, but you also have to look at who else is out there. President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan of Turkey, do you think he could do it? No, he’s not going to do it. [Chancellor Olaf] Scholz from Germany, you think he will do it? No, he is not going to do it. [President Emmanuel] Macron from France, he tried but hasn’t done it. Well, now they had a change in government in Britain. So that’s gone away. You know, I don’t know maybe [Klaus] Iohannis, [the president] of Romania. Maybe he could do it, but you have to have somebody that both sides could talk to.
President Trump is talking to both parties. And President Biden is not. Now the option is quite clear: If Ukraine doesn’t want to negotiate, fine, but then accept the fact that you can have enormous losses in your cities and accept the fact that you will have your children killed, accept the fact that you don’t have 130,000 dead, you will have 230,000–250,000. Demographically, what does that do to the country?
You have to accept the fact that maybe the threat will remain on Kyiv, you have to accept the fact that Kharkiv will have more damage or do you want to say this is time maybe we take a pause and figure out how to push the Russians out of there so that they don’t get territorial gain. And how do you have a long-term peace agreement?
Let’s use NATO as an example. NATO has already said they’re not going to support Ukraine going into NATO until the war is over. That’s the reality and that’s where you need somebody to stand as a negotiator and say no, this is where we want to go.
The size of this war is not appreciated in the West. That is the largest war in Europe since World War II, it is between the two largest countries in Europe. The losses have been horrific.
It is too great of a country, and I’ve been there. I have been to Izyum, I’ve been to Kharkiv and I’ve seen what Russians did to it. There’s no love for Russians. There’s a support for sovereignty. Figure out a way does not mean we say give up land.
VOA: The other reason why the negotiations in Istanbul broke down is because it became known what happened in Bucha. It means that if Ukraine allows Russia to continue occupying any of its lands, it condemns the people who live there. …
Kellogg: Who is saying to give up land?
VOA: Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance alluded to that.
Kellogg: J.D. Vance was just nominated as the vice president last night. Until that, he was just a senator, one of 100. Yeah, you can say a lot of things in the Senate. When you speak for an administration, things change.
ServiceNow president leaves after policy breach related to public sector boss hire
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
But the books look good, because of real AI
ServiceNow has parted ways with president and chief operating officer Chirantan “CJ” Desai after an internal investigation found he had violated company policy when hiring the former CIO of the US Army as the workflow vendor’s public sector boss.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/servicenow_q2_2024/
Black Boxes
date: 2024-07-25, from: Ed Summers blog, Inkdroid
One of the primary reasons I’ve resisted using machine learning models in my professional work is that they always appear to me in the guise of a black box.
A black box is a metaphor used to talk about some computational process which has known inputs and outputs, but whose internal workings are not known. It’s an idea that goes back to the beginnings of cybernetics and modern computing.
Computer professionals are trained to distinguish between the interpretability and explainability of machine learning models. But at the end of the day our ability to understand and adequately communicate how and why these models work are active areas of research.
Of course, our ability to understand is constrained because the details of some models are guarded as business secrets. But more and more we are seeing documentation efforts increase transparency about how “open source” models are built. We’ve seen significant efforts to regulate how they are used and by who. But it’s important to recognize that even these “Glass Boxes” don’t explain why some of the models work.
And that’s the glass half full version.
The glass half empty version is that we do understand how these models work, if you define “we” as someone, or some set of people, somewhere. The past isn’t evenly distributed too.
For a given model someone knows what software was used to build it–because someone installed it right? Someone made choices about what algorithms and data structures were used. Someone knows what data was used to train it because they collected it and fed it in. Someone knows what data was not fed in, and (maybe) how that biases the model. Someone knows how much money was spent training and using the model because the electricity bill got paid.
But these systems are very complex that these someones are almost certainly not the same people. They may not work in the same organizations. They may not be willing, or even able, to communicate these things to you, even if you could find them.
This is why Nick Seaver says that algorithmic systems are in fact culture, which require ethnographic methods to understand (Seaver, 2017).
I got my start as a professional programmer when the World Wide Web was being built in the mid-1990s. I didn’t have a computer science degree, but I was fortunate to be able to lean on the modest programming experience I got in high school (BASIC, Pascal and Fortran) to learn a new language Perl and apply it. I didn’t become a .com millionaire, but it helped pay the rent. I felt lucky, and in truth I was. I was already a participant in a network of privilege.
Perl had lots of features for working with text, which leant itself to be useful in web applications. It had an open source culture that encouraged the sharing of “modules” on CPAN that extended the language to do things like talk to databases, or work with specific data formats, or thousands of other things. I loved the attention to detail in the Camel Book about how the language was built and evolved. I knew that the real programmers had written the Perl interpreter in C. I didn’t really know C that well, but I knew other people did, and understood that (in theory) I could too. It was all a simple matter of programming, as they say.
But the reality was, I didn’t know the details of some of the open source Perl modules I installed and used. I trusted that the authors did. I didn’t know how some of the Perl language primitives were coded in C, but I learned from experience using them, while in conversation with other programmers, and knew that someone else somewhere did understand. I participated in the culture of programming in Perl.
The scary thing for me about generative AI is that I don’t have any meaningful trust relationships with the people who know parts of the answers to why/how it works. At a fundamental level I don’t know if it is even theoretically possible to know. Not only that, I have an active mistrust of some of the organizations that are trying to convince professionals that this is The New Way, because they stand to gain so much, while workers and consumers stand to gain so little, and the environment stands to lose so much more.
But, if I’m being generous, perhaps it appears that way because it’s not my culture?
It’s important to recognize that all of us experience some aspect of computing as a black box. Whether it is using a model from HuggingFace, an ATM, an app on our phone, or ChatGPT. I think the important question to ask is how do we participate in its the creation and use of this technology?
Can we open the black box? Can we open the other black boxes we find inside? Do we know other people who can? What do they say? What is the culture of this black box? Do I want to be a part of it? Why? Why not? What choices do I have? What about others?
I no longer program in Perl, but I still marvel at how Larry Wall practiced computing as a culture.
References
https://inkdroid.org/2024/07/25/blackbox/
Going for Gold … Times Three
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Isla Vista’s Neushul family rides a chlorine-scented wave all the way to the Olympics.
The post Going for Gold … Times Three appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/07/24/going-for-gold-times-three/
City confirms new outreach plan for substance abuse
date: 2024-07-25, from: The Signal
City of Santa Clarita officials announced they will be taking a different approach toward informing parents about substance abuse this year in response to community feedback. After a sparsely attended […]
The post City confirms new outreach plan for substance abuse appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/city-confirms-new-outreach-plan-for-substance-abuse/
Things are going Z-shaped at Huawei: Chinese giant preps three-screen folding smartphone
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Reports hint they’ll be here by Christmas
Huawei has reportedly developed a tri-fold smartphone that can be formed into a Z-shape, and will mass produce the machine before the end of 2024.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/huawei_triple_screen_phone/
Biden speaks, with hope and wistfulness, of decision to leave race
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
washington — After three days of silence over his stunning decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, U.S. President Joe Biden took to prime time television Tuesday to give Americans, and the world, an explanation in a speech that was at times hopeful, at times determined, and at times wistful.
Biden spoke of his five decades in public office, touted his presidential record of domestic and political achievements – but then called for energetic new leadership to face tomorrow’s challenges.
“I revere this office,” said Biden, his hands resting on the glossy, hulking Resolute Desk, the gold-brocade drapes of the Oval Office framing his sloping shoulders. “But I love my country more.”
“Nothing – nothing – can come in the way of saving our democracy,” he said. “That includes personal ambition. So, I decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation. You know, there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. There’s also a time and a place for new voices. Fresh voices. Yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.”
Biden also thanked Vice President Kamala Harris, who has taken to the campaign trail with his endorsement and enough delegate pledges to net the nomination. He described her as “experienced,” “tough,” and “capable” but added: “the choice is up to you.”
He did not name-check his Republican opponent in the race. But analysts say Biden’s stark warnings all point to one man.
“He talked about polarization,” said Jennifer Mercieca, a professor of communication and journalism at Texas A&M University. “He talked about violence and political violence. Those are all things that harken back to Donald Trump and his presidency. He talked about the threats facing the nation when he first took office, January 2021. And so that was certainly about Donald Trump. But yeah, this wasn’t a place for him to talk about Donald Trump. It wasn’t a place for him to give a campaign speech.”
Biden’s job now, he said, will focus on domestic challenges like civil rights and voter freedom, gun safety reforms, the quest to end cancer and Supreme Court reform. He also cited the various challenges the U.S. faces abroad, with wars raging in Gaza and Ukraine and China becoming more emboldened in the Indo-Pacific.
It’s those foreign fires, analysts say, that are likely to concern voters who were already worried about Biden’s future.
“That’s really the concern I think people will have, which is: How does a lame duck president deal with foreign policy crises?” said Thomas Schwartz, a history professor at Vanderbilt University.
That question may be answered as soon as Thursday, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the White House in what administration officials told reporters Wednesday is an attempt to stitch up the first phase of a longer cease-fire deal that will end the brutal nine-month conflict in Gaza.
In a sign that foreign leaders may be hedging their bets in this electric American election cycle, the Israeli leader is also holding two other meetings while in the U.S., with Harris and Trump.
But for the final act of this presidency, Joe Biden remains the protagonist on America’s biggest stage. The ending, analysts say, is a classic.
“What has stopped Joe Biden is the thing that has stopped every human being since the beginning of time, and that is, we age,” said Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at the policy and research firm Third Way. “And it got to the point where I feel he could do the job, but he couldn’t convince the American people that he could do the job.”
But this could also be a triumphant moment for the 81-year-old president, who was widely thanked by Democrats for making the decision to step aside.
”In some ways,” Kessler said, “he’s like an athlete that is going to make the Hall of Fame and is retiring and gets the cheers from the crowds, finally, for a long, 50-year, tremendous career.”
Biden clearly understood that this address would be a dramatic peak. So, he used his final words to break the fourth wall, with a message as old as America:
“The great thing about America,” he said, “is here, kings and dictators do not rule, the people do. History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands.”
Kim Lewis contributed from Washington.
New York City nonprofit provides free swimming lessons to underserved communities
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
In an effort to prevent drownings and give kids a chance to learn how to play safely in water, Rising Tide Effect teaches youth how to swim in a pool as well as an ocean. June Hsu and Rendy Wicaksana report.
Surprise Yellowstone geyser eruption highlights little-known hazard at park
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
BILLINGS, Montana — A surprise eruption of steam in a Yellowstone National Park geyser basin that sent people scrambling for safety as basketball-sized rocks flew overhead has highlighted a little-known hazard that scientists hope to be able to predict someday.
The hydrothermal explosion on Tuesday in Biscuit Basin caused no injuries as dozens of people fled down the boardwalk before the wooden walkway was destroyed. The blast sent rocks, steam, water and dirt high into the air, according to a witness and a scientist who reviewed video footage of the event.
It came in a park teeming with geysers, hot springs and other hydrothermal features that attracts millions of tourists annually. Some, like the famous Old Faithful, erupt like clockwork and are well understood by the scientists who monitor the park’s seismic activity.
But the type of explosion that happened this week is less common and understood, and potentially more hazardous given that it occurs without warning.
“This drives home that even small events — and this one in the scheme of things was relatively small, if dramatic — can be really hazardous,” said Michael Poland, lead scientist at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. “We’ve gotten pretty good at being able to understand the signs that a volcano is waking up and may erupt. We don’t have that knowledge base for hydrothermal systems like the one in Yellowstone.”
Monitoring system
Poland and other scientists are trying to change that with a fledgling monitoring system that was recently installed in another Yellowstone geyser basin. It measures seismic activity, deformations in the Earth’s surface and low-frequency acoustic energy that could signal an eruption.
The hydrothermal explosions are believed to result from clogged passageways in the extensive natural plumbing network under Yellowstone, Poland said. A clog could cause the heated, pressurized water to turn into steam instantly and explode.
Tuesday’s explosion came with little warning.
Witness Vlada March, who captured widely circulated video of the explosion, said steam started rising in the Biscuit Basin “and within seconds, it became this huge thing. … It just exploded and became like a black cloud that covered the sun.”
March’s tour guide, Isaac Fisher, told The Associated Press that he heard a hiss coming from Cliff Pool and told his group it was unusual. It looked like a geyser erupting 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 meters) into the air for a few seconds and then, “Ba-boom!” he said.
“You felt the shock wave hit your chest and vibrate the bones in your chest,” he said. “The explosion was so significant, you felt your feet shaking. You felt the boardwalk shake and you felt everything shaking.”
He estimated the whole event lasted about 25 seconds as the debris plume climbed to about 100 meters (328 feet) into the air.
“I cannot believe nobody got hurt,” Fisher said. “There were rocks whizzing over our heads that were the size of basketballs.”
March’s mother, who was closest to the eruption, pulled her hoodie over her head and face and wasn’t injured, Fisher said.
Some of the rocks hurled into the air measured about a meter (3.3 feet) across, said Poland.
Slumbering volcano
Yellowstone encompasses the caldera of a huge, slumbering volcano that shows no sign of erupting anytime soon but provides the heat for the national park’s famous geysers, hot springs, mud pots and various other hydrothermal features. While far less common than geyser eruptions, hydrothermal explosions happen often enough in Yellowstone to be studied — and to be a safety concern.
Scientists don’t know if they’ll be able to devise a way to predict the blasts, Poland said.
For a geologist, seeing one in person is a payday. That’s what happened in 2009, when Montana Tech geology professor Mike Stickney and several other geologists were nearby when one happened close to the scene of Tuesday’s blast in the Biscuit Basin.
“It was very sudden and without any detectable warning, just standing on the boardwalk there. It was just was one ‘whoosh’ and it was done. No one saw it coming,” Stickney said.
Though it didn’t register on a sensitive seismometer at Old Faithful a couple miles (3.2 kilometers) away, he estimated the recent explosion was 10 times bigger.
In May, after scientists found a crater a few feet (1-2 meters) wide in the Norris Geyser Basin 18 miles (29 kilometers) north of Biscuit Basin, they consulted acoustic and seismic data from the basin’s new monitoring system and determined a hydrothermal explosion happened April 15, just a few days before roads opened for spring tourist season.
The data included no obvious precursors, however, that could potentially be used to develop a warning system.
Long-term study of where hydrothermal explosions and other ground disruptions can happen in Yellowstone is a focus of University of Wyoming geology professor Ken Sims, who has used ground-penetrating radar and other techniques to identify problem areas.
The information is critical to building roads and bridges in Yellowstone, he said.
“Whenever you build in a super active system like that, you have to pay attention to what’s going on,” Sims said.
A detection system takes time and money to develop, with monitoring stations that can cost roughly $30,000 each.
Yet even if explosions such as the recent one in Yellowstone could be predicted, there’s no feasible way to prevent them, said Poland.
“One of the things people ask me occasionally is, ‘How do you stop a volcano from erupting?’ You don’t. You get out of the way,” Poland said. “For any of this activity, you don’t want to be there when it happens.”
How a cheap barcode scanner helped fix CrowdStrike’d Windows PCs in a flash
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
This one weird trick saved countless hours and stress – no, really
Not long after Windows PCs and servers at the Australian limb of audit and tax advisory Grant Thornton started BSODing last Friday, senior systems engineer Rob Woltz remembered a small but important fact: When PCs boot, they consider barcode scanners no differently to keyboards.…
Wildfire smoke chokes parts of Canada and western US
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
LOS ANGELES — Fires burning in California, Oregon, Arizona, Washington and other western states, as well as Canada, have filled the skies in regions of the western U.S. with smoke and haze, forcing some affected areas to declare air quality alerts or advisories.
As of Wednesday morning, there were 79 large active wildfires across the country being managed that have burned 1,431,460 acres (579,292 hectares), according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Evacuation orders are in effect for 15 fires in the Northwest, where fires continue to show active to extreme behavior. Communities near several fires in California, the Northern Rockies and the Great Basin are also under evacuation orders.
Where are the big fires?
Oregon has 31 large active fires that have burned 791,653 acres (320,371 hectares). The Durkee Fire, the largest active blaze in the U.S., was burning near the Oregon-Idaho border and was 0% contained as of Wednesday morning and had burned nearly 400 square miles (1,036 square kilometers). The Cow Valley, Falls and Lone Rock fires, the next largest, have collectively seared some 404,404 acres (163,657 hectares).
There are 12 active large wildfires in both California and Arizona. In the Golden State, the Lake Fire in Santa Barbara has scorched 38,664 acres (15,647 hectares) and was 90% contained; the 2024 SQF Lightning Complex in Tulare has burned 31,309 acres (12,670 hectares) and was 7% contained; and the Shelly Fire in Siskiyou County that’s charred 15,656 acres (6,336 hectares) was 62% contained. Hot, dry and windy conditions have increase fire activity in some areas, including the Hill Fire in northern California.
The Black Fire east of Phoenix is the largest in Arizona, followed by the Romero Fire west of Dudleyville.
The Pioneer Fire in Washington is the largest in the state at 30,667 acres (12,410.5 hectares). In Montana, the Deadman Fire in Rosebud County grew to 19,982 acres (8,086 hectares) and was 95% contained.
In Canada, there are about 430 active wildfires in British Columbia and 177 in neighboring Alberta, including two that led to the evacuation of up to 25,000 visitors and residents of Canadian Rockies’ largest national park.
Fuels and fire behavior advisories were in effect for California, Nevada, Southeast and Central Oregon, Southern Idaho and the Utah and Arizona Strip.
What areas are under air quality alerts?
Unhealthy air pollution from wildfires have triggered air quality alerts and advisories in regions of the western U.S.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued air quality alerts for the eastern counties of Harney, Malheur, Grant, Baker and Morrow until further notice. Unhealthy air was reported in cities of Bend and La Pine today and forecaster for tomorrow, with smoke expected to continue degrading air quality in La Pine after Thursday. Smoke from the Durkee Fire was choking the air in Boise, Idaho and beyond. An air quality warning was in effect for the entire region on Wednesday.
In Idaho, air quality advisories were sent out to the central counties of Ada, Canyon, Gem, Owyhee, Payette and Washington.
In north central Washington, the Colville Reservation, all of Chelan County, plus the Methow Valley down to Brewster in Okanogan County were under air quality alerts until further notice.
And in Canada, authorities issued an air quality advisory for Calgary, Alberta due to the wildfire smoke. The government agency called it high risk and said children and the elderly should avoid outdoor physical exertion.
How do I stay safe from wildfire smoke?
Wildfire smoke can cause unhealthy air quality in areas many miles away from fires. To stay safe, the South Coast Air Quality Management District recommends people start by learning about air quality conditions and forecasts in their area.
Those with an air conditioning system should change filters often, with high-efficiency filters labeled “MERV13” or higher being the most effective at removing smoke particles. Portable HEPA air purifiers also help.
To limit exposure to unhealthy air quality, people should stay indoors with windows and doors closed. Avoid heavy exertion outdoors, using fans or swamp coolers that take air from outside, all wood-burning appliances, and lighting candles and incense.
If you need to be outside in smoky conditions, a respirator mask such as an N-95 or P-100 can offer some protection.
Lastly, know your risks. Some people, such as children and those with heart or lung issues, can be more sensitive to moderate to unhealthy air quality.
https://www.voanews.com/a/wildfire-smoke-chokes-parts-of-canada-and-western-us/7712135.html
Mistral Large 2 leaps out as a leaner, meaner rival to GPT-4-class AI models
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
It’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it
Mistral AI on Wednesday revealed a 123-billion-parameter large language model (LLM) called Mistral Large 2 (ML2) which, it claims, comes within spitting distance of the top models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/mistral_large_2/
Democrats poised to virtually nominate Harris and running mate by August 7
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Democratic National Convention delegates can make Vice President Kamala Harris their presidential nominee — and even start approving her yet-to be-named running mate — in online voting beginning next week, as the party races to coalesce around a new top of its ticket heading into November.
The convention’s rules committee on Wednesday passed a proposal where delegates from around the country will be able to vote on potential presidential nominees to replace President Joe Biden, who abandoned his reelection bid last weekend.
But Harris is the only major Democrat to announce publicly that she’s seeking the nomination, meaning she’ll almost-certainly be approved in a single round of virtual balloting beginning August 1 — some 18 days before the party’s convention opens in Chicago.
Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison referenced the unprecedented shakeup in the presidential race left by Biden’s bowing out, telling a virtual meeting of the convention’s rulemaking arm, “In the darkness of night, we see our brightest stars.”
The plan was approved after more than 90 minutes of online discussion that featured little objection. The final vote to pass the full set of convention’s rules was 157-3.
They require Harris, and any other potential Democrat willing to challenge her, to submit 300 electronic signatures from convention delegates, not more than 50 of whom can be from the same state, by the evening of July 30.
If multiple candidates qualify, it could spark multiple rounds of voting over several days. But, if Harris is the only candidate, voting would begin August 1. Delegates voting “uncommitted,” or for another candidate who hasn’t qualified under the rules, will have their choices converted simply to “present.”
Delegates will receive ballots via secure email. The process will be designed not only to formally nominate Harris, but to eventually do the same for her vice presidential selection prior to August 7 — giving her a tight window to pick a running mate.
Who she might choose is unclear. Early favorites include Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, but potentially half a dozen other candidates are being considered.
Biden dropped out of the race last weekend and endorsed Harris, and hundreds of Democratic members of Congress and governors, as well as leading labor unions and activist organizations have since backed her to replace him. An Associated Press survey of delegates to the convention also revealed that the vice president has the support of well more than the 1,976 delegates she’ll need to win on a first ballot.
That doesn’t automatically make her the nominee, though, and the party is pushing ahead with the virtual voting process because it says it can’t wait until the convention starts to formally choose its nominee. It blames a deadline to appear on the Ohio ballot stating that candidates must be selected by August 7.
Ohio state lawmakers there have since changed that, but the modification doesn’t take effect until September 1 — and DNC attorneys warn that waiting until after the initial deadline to determine a presidential nominee could prompt legal challenges.
“Our party remains steadfast to an open, fair and transparent nominating process,” said Minyon Moore, chair of the Democratic convention. “We will do this right.”
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-25, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
NBA enters deal with Amazon, not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery's offer.
https://apnews.com/article/nba-tv-deal-tnt-855da6a644947d74ad3330c0470a7c94
Ocean Water Warning for July 24
date: 2024-07-25, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health cautions residents who are planning to visit the below Los Angeles County beaches to avoid swimming, surfing, and playing in ocean waters
https://scvnews.com/ocean-water-warning-for-july-24/
Missouri high court blocks release of man whose conviction was overturned
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
ST. LOUIS, missouri — The Missouri Supreme Court has blocked the immediate release of a man whose murder conviction was overturned — just as the man was about to walk free.
A St. Louis Circuit Court judge had ordered Christopher Dunn to be released by 6 p.m. CDT Wednesday and threatened the prison warden with contempt if Dunn remained imprisoned. But the attorney general has been fighting his release.
Corrections Department spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said Dunn was signing paperwork to be released when the Missouri Supreme Court issued a stay, blocking his freedom. His wife was en route to pick him up.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser’s decision to release Dunn came after he overturned Dunn’s murder conviction Monday, citing evidence of “actual innocence” in the 1990 killing. He ordered Dunn’s immediate release then, but Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey appealed, and the state Department of Corrections declined to release him.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion Wednesday urging the judge to immediately order Dunn’s freedom.
“The attorney general cannot unilaterally decide to ignore this court’s order,” Gore wrote.
A court filing said an attorney for the Department of Corrections told a lawyer in Gore’s office that Bailey advised the agency not to release Dunn until the appeal played out. When told it was improper to ignore a court order, the Department of Corrections attorney “responded that the attorney general’s office is legal counsel to the DOC and the DOC would be following the advice of counsel.”
On Wednesday, Sengheiser said the prison in Licking had until 6 p.m. CDT to release Dunn, or he would hold an order for the warden to be held in contempt of court.
“Barring a new court order that supersedes the current court order, Mr. Dunn will be released before 6 p.m.,” Missouri Corrections Department spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said in an email to The Associated Press, later texting that she expected him to be released in about an hour.
“It shouldn’t be this hard,” said Dunn’s attorney, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, the executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project.
‘Over the moon’
Dunn’s wife told the AP she couldn’t believe the news.
“I’m over the moon,” Kira Dunn said as she headed to the prison.
“We’re so grateful to the judge. We’re so grateful that he didn’t allow his ruling to be disrespected that way and he put his foot down and said, ‘You will respect the rule of law and you will respect a court order.’”
She said her husband looks forward to being freed after decades of longing to embrace his family for as long as he wants and having “a say in his own life.”
“He wants to just feel free ground against his feet. He wants to walk barefoot. He wants to open and close doors as he chooses. He wants to select the temperature of his shower. He wants to go out in the middle of the night and look at the stars and just sit there. And, he wants to sleep in a real bed,” she said.
Dunn’s situation is similar to what happened to Sandra Hemme.
The 64-year-old woman spent 43 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a woman in St. Joseph in 1980. A judge on June 14 cited evidence of “actual innocence” and overturned her conviction. She had been the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to the National Innocence Project, which worked to free Hemme.
But appeals by Bailey — all the way up to the Missouri Supreme Court — kept Hemme imprisoned at the Chillicothe Correctional Center. During a court hearing Friday, Judge Ryan Horsman said that if Hemme wasn’t released within hours, Bailey himself would have to appear in court with contempt of court on the table. She was released later that day.
Judicial scolding
The judge also scolded Bailey’s office for calling the Chillicothe warden and telling prison officials not to release Hemme after he ordered her to be freed on her own recognizance.
Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1990 shooting of Ricco Rogers, 15. Gore’s office examined the case and filed a motion in February seeking to vacate the guilty verdict.
After weighing the case for nearly two months, Sengheiser issued a ruling that cited “a clear and convincing showing of ‘actual innocence’ that undermines the basis for Dunn’s convictions, because in light of new evidence, no juror, acting reasonably, would have voted to find Dunn guilty of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Lawyers for Bailey’s office said at the hearing that initial testimony from two boys at the scene who identified Dunn as the shooter was correct, even though they recanted as adults.
A Missouri law adopted in 2021 lets prosecutors request hearings when they see evidence of a wrongful conviction. Although Bailey’s office is not required to oppose such efforts, he also did so at a hearing for Lamar Johnson, who spent 28 years in prison for murder. Another St. Louis judge ruled in February 2023 that Johnson was wrongfully convicted, and he was freed.
Another hearing begins August 21 for death row inmate Marcellus Williams. Bailey’s office is opposing the challenge to Williams’ conviction, too. Timing is of the essence: Williams is scheduled to be executed September 24.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion in January to vacate the conviction of Williams for the fatal stabbing of Lisha Gayle in 1998. Bell’s motion said three experts determined that Williams’ DNA was not on the handle of the butcher knife used in the killing.
Steven Puro, professor emeritus of political science at St. Louis University, said Bailey is in a highly competitive race for the attorney general position, with the primary quickly approaching on August 6.
“Bailey is trying to show that he is ‘tough on crime,’ which is a very important Republican conservative position. Clearly, he’s angering members of the judicial system that he will have to argue before in the future. But he’s making the strategic notion that he needs to get his name before the voters and try to use that to win the primary election.”
‘Court has to be obeyed’
Michael Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court judge and chief justice, concurred with Puro’s observation, saying the handling of the case appears to be influenced by politics, also noting that the primary is quickly approaching.
“Does August 6 have anything to do with it?” he asked.
“If there’s a finding of actual innocence and there’s no case left, then that’s all,” Wolff said. “Then it seems to me that it’s just whatever he believes and whatever his political instincts tell him to do. But one of the things is that no matter what your beliefs are, if a court orders something to happen, it’s not your purview to say no. The court has to be obeyed.”
Netanyahu to US lawmakers: Demilitarized, deradicalized Gaza will bring peace
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a divided U.S. Congress on Wednesday, with many Democratic lawmakers boycotting his speech but Republicans saying it was key to reaffirming the U.S. commitment to its Middle Eastern ally. VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports.
Steal the Heart
date: 2024-07-25, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The event last Saturday at the Granada Theatre celebrating Andy Davis’s 1995 film Steal Big Steal Little was a celebration of the artful joy and humanity of filmmaking.
The post Steal the Heart appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/07/24/steal-the-heart/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-25, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Joe Biden calls for Supreme Court reform in Oval Office speech.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4791637-joe-biden-supreme-court-reform/
Suspect arrested in Canyon Country shooting
date: 2024-07-25, from: The Signal
By Katherine Quezada and Perry Smith Gang detectives with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station made an arrest in an incident that stemmed from a man who called 911 to […]
The post Suspect arrested in Canyon Country shooting appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/suspect-arrested-in-canyon-country-shooting/
Practical woman shows her artistic side
date: 2024-07-25, from: The Signal
Katrina Negrete is a very practical young woman. She’s always been practical. So, while she’s had a lifelong love for music and performance, she was never going to pursue the […]
The post Practical woman shows her artistic side appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/practical-woman-shows-her-artistic-side/
TMU baseball adds more local talent
date: 2024-07-25, from: The Signal
The Master’s University baseball is reloading with numerous talented Santa Clarita Valley players set to join the Mustangs for the 2025 season. There’ll likely be more signees before the season […]
The post TMU baseball adds more local talent appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/tmu-baseball-adds-more-local-talent/
The months and days before and after CrowdStrike’s fatal Friday
date: 2024-07-25, updated: 2024-07-25, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
‘In the short term, they’re going to have to do a lot of groveling’
Analysis The great irony of the CrowdStrike fiasco is that a cybersecurity company caused the exact sort of massive global outage it was supposed to prevent. And it all started with an effort to make life more difficult for criminals and their malware, with an update to its endpoint detection and response tool Falcon.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/crowdstrike_timeline/
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters converge on US Capitol
date: 2024-07-25, from: VOA News USA
As Benjamin Netanyahu addressed both houses of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, thousands of people protested outside the Capitol, denouncing the Israeli prime minister for Israel’s war against Hamas. Robin Guess reports from Washington.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-07-25, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Google Is the Only Search Engine That Works on Reddit Now Thanks to AI Deal.
https://www.404media.co/google-is-the-only-search-engine-that-works-on-reddit-now-thanks-to-ai-deal/
Los Angeles County Revamps 24/7 Help Line to Integrate Access to Mental Health & Substance Use Services
date: 2024-07-25, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Departments of Mental Health and Public Health have centralized access to mental health and substance use services into one 24/7 call center at (800) 854-
Re-introducing Participation Reports to encourage best practices in open metadata
date: 2024-07-25, from: Crossref Blog
We’ve just released an update to our participation report, which provides a view for our members into how they are each working towards best practices in open metadata. Prompted by some of the signatories and organizers of the Barcelona Declaration, which Crossref supports, and with the help of our friends at CWTS Leiden, we have fast-tracked the work to include an updated set of metadata best practices in participation reports for our members. The reports now give a more complete picture of each member’s activity.
What do we mean by ‘participation’?
Crossref runs open infrastructure to link research objects, entities, and actions, creating a lasting and reusable scholarly record. As a not-for-profit with over 20,000 members in 160 countries, we drive metadata exchange and support nearly 2 billion monthly API queries, facilitating global research communication.
To make this system work, members strive to provide as much metadata as possible through Crossref to ensure it is openly distributed throughout the scholarly ecosystem at scale rather than bilaterally, thereby realizing the collective benefit of membership. Together, our membership provides and uses a rich nexus of information— known as the research nexus—on which the community can build tools to help progress knowledge.
Each member commits to certain terms, such as keeping metadata current, updating links for their DOIs to redirect to, linking references and other objects, and preserving their content in perpetuity. Beyond this, we also encourage members to register as much rich metadata as is relevant and possible.
Creating and providing richer metadata is a key part of participation in Crossref; we’ve long encouraged a more complete scholarly record, such as through Metadata 20/20, and through supporting or leading initiatives for specific metadata, like open citations (I4OC), open abstracts (I4OA), open contributors (ORCID), and open affiliations (ROR).
Which metadata elements are considered best practices?
Alongside basic bibliographic metadata such as title, authors, and publication date(s), we encourage members to register metadata in the following fields:
Example participation report for Crossref member University of Szeged
References
A list of all the references used by a work. This is particularly relevant for journal articles but the references can include any type of object, including datasets, versions, preprints, and more. Additionally, we encourage these to be added into relationships, where relevant.
Abstracts
A description of the work. These are particularly useful for discovery systems that will promote the work, and are often used in downstream analyses such as for detecting integrity issues.
Contributor IDs (ORCID)
All authors should be included in a work’s metadata, ideally alongside their verified ORCID identifier.
Affiliations / Affiliation IDs (ROR)
Members are able to register contributor affiliations as free text, but we are encouraging everyone to add ROR IDs for affiliations as the recommended best practice, as this differentiates and avoids mistyping. These two fields have newly been added to the participation reports interface in the most recent update.
Funder IDs (OFR)
Acknowledging the organization(s) that funded the work. We encourage the inclusion of Open Funder Registry identifiers to make the funding metadata more usable. This will evolve into an additional use case for ROR over time.
Funding award numbers / Grant IDs (Crossref)
A number or identifier assigned by the funding organization to identify the specific award of funding or other support such as use of equipment or facilities, prizes, tuition, etc. The Crossref Grant Linking System includes a unique persistent link that can be connected with outputs, activities, people, and organizations.
Crossmark
The Crossmark service gives readers quick and easy access to the current status of a record, including any corrections, retractions, or updates, via a button embedded on PDFs or a web article. Openly adding corrections, retractions, and errata is critical part of publishing, and the button provides readers with an easy in-context alert.
Similarity Check URLs
The Similarity Check service helps editors to identify text-based plagiarism through our collective agreement for the membership to access to Turnitin’s powerful text comparison tool, iThenticate. Specific fill-text links are required to participate in this service.
License URLs
URLs pointing to a license that explains the terms and conditions under which readers can access content. These links are crucial to denote intended downstream use.
Text mining URLs
Full-text URLs that help researchers in meta-science easily locate your content for text and data mining.
What is a participation report?
Participation reports are are a visualization of the data representing members’ participation to the scholarly record which is available via our open REST API. There’s a separate participation report for each member, and each report shows what percentage of that member’s metadata records include 11 key metadata elements. These key elements add context and richness, and help to open up members work to easier discovery and wider and more varied use. As a member, you can use participation reports to see for yourself where the gaps in your organization’s metadata are, and perhaps compare your performance to others. Participation reports are free and open to everyone - so you can also check the report for any other members you are interested in.
We first introduced participation reports in 2018. At the time, Anna Tolwinska and Kirsty Meddings wrote:
Metadata is at the heart of all our services. With a growing range of members participating in our community—often compiling or depositing metadata on behalf of each other—the need to educate and express obligations and best practice has increased. In addition, we’ve seen more and more researchers and tools making use of our APIs to harvest, analyze and re-purpose the metadata our members register, so we’ve been very aware of the need to be more explicit about what this metadata enables, why, how, and for whom.
All of that still rings true today. But as the research nexus continues to evolve, so should the tools that intend to reflect it. For example, in 2022, we removed the Open references field from participation reports after a board vote to change our policy and update the membership terms meant that all references deposited with Crossref would be open by default. And now we’ve expanded the list of fields again, adding coverage data for contributor affiliation text and ROR identifiers.
Putting it in practice
To find out how you measure up when it comes to participation, type the name of your member organization into the search box. You may be surprised by what you find—we often speak to members who thought they were registering a certain type of metadata for all their records, only to learn from their participation report that something is getting lost along the way.
You can only address gaps in your metadata if you know that they exist.
More information, as well as a breakdown of the now 11 key metadata elements listed in every participation report and tips on improving your scores, is available in our documentation.
And if you have any questions or feedback, come talk to us on the community forum or request a metadata Health Check by emailing the community team.