News gathered 2024-08-02
(date: 2024-08-02 08:30:19)
The Fire Condition We Can’t Control For
date: 2024-08-02, from: Heatmap News
When a wildfire starts, there is rarely a witness.
Deep in the mountains, lightning strikes a tree on the hottest day in millennia. A dragging trailer chain, unnoticed by a driver, sends sparks into the bone-dry roadside brush. Hikers splash water over an illegal campfire, but it continues to smolder after they leave. And on the right day, in the right weather, unattended and unreported, these fires start to grow.
There is another kind of fire, too — one where the presence of a witness, some would argue, is the entire point. Arson officially accounts for only about 10% of fires handled by Cal Fire, the agency that manages wildfires and structure fires on California’s 31 million acres of wildlands and forests. But when there are thousands of fires across the state during a given season, that’s not an inconsequential number. “Getting 300 to 400 confirmed arson fires a year — that’s a lot of fires that don’t need to occur,” Gianni Muschetto, the staff chief of Cal Fire’s law enforcement division, told me.
The Park Fire, which has burned nearly 400,000 acres near Paradise, north of Sacramento, is now the fifth biggest wildfire in California’s recorded history. As of Friday morning, it is still only 24% contained. Investigators have charged 42-year-old Ronnie Dean Stout II with felony arson in connection with starting the blaze, alleging he pushed his burning car into a gully, where it ignited the surrounding vegetation. (Reports conflict over whether Stout set his car on fire intentionally or the engine accidentally caught fire while he was revving it.) Stout was then “seen calmly leaving the area by blending in with the other citizens who were in the area,” Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said in a statement. Stout denies the charges.
In California, which has extremely strict arson laws, the felony is divided in the penal code into two different categories: “reckless” and “intentional” arson. Muschetto explained that someone shooting off illegal fireworks on a dry day might be charged with reckless arson: “They weren’t necessarily trying to start a wildland fire, but because of their reckless act, they did.” On the other hand, if the person shot the fireworks directly into dry grass to purposefully start a fire, “that would be a malicious arson act” and considered intentional. (Investigators had initially planned to charge Stout, the Park Fire suspect, with intentional arson but ultimately charged him on Monday with reckless arson, according to reports.)
Cal Fire lumps reckless and intentional arson together in their public statistics, which show an uptick in arson arrests from 61 in 2018 to over 110 every year since 2020, peaking at 162 in 2022. Muschetto attributes that rise to the fact that fire seasons have gotten longer due to climate change, meaning small acts of arson are more likely to result in fires big enough to warrant resources, investigations, and arrests. In 2023, for example, Cal Fire’s arson arrests dipped slightly, potentially because it wasn’t as long or severe of a fire season in the state.
The 2024 season has kicked off relatively normally, and Muschetto said he expects arson arrests to top 100 but not “break any record number, hopefully.”
The truth, though, is that arson happens “every single day,” Ed Nordskog, a retired Los Angeles arson investigator and the founder of the Serial and Wildland Arson Investigation Training program, told me. “But most of the year, it’s not conducive to a massive fire because of the weather and fuel conditions, so nobody gets excited.” Nordskog disputes reported arson numbers, pointing to the inconsistencies between fire agencies and the lack of resources available to investigate every fire with the thoroughness required to determine its origin. He estimates that closer to 50% of urban and wildland fires are caused by arson, though he agrees that number is likely lower when it comes to wildfires; many experts, however, admit that the commonly cited 10% statistic is probably an undercount.
Nordskog told me that arson investigators don’t care about the size of the fire; they care about the intent of the person who committed the act. Someone like the Park Fire suspect “didn’t have the ability to light a big fire; he didn’t have the ability to light a small fire,” Nordskog said. “He just lit a fire, and he did it on the wrong day, at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and now you have a catastrophe.”
Nordskog is particularly rankled when people try to connect climate change to acts of arson, calling it a misconception that hot weather brings out the firebugs. Arsonists “are there all the time, 24 hours a day, doing their thing,” including in the winter, Nordskog explained. But a warmer world has made extreme fire conditions more common, as have decades of misbegotten fire suppression policies in the Western United States. As a result, arson fires in rural areas are more likely to burn out of control than they would have been half a century ago. That element of chance is why Nordskog likes to say that “a wildland arsonist has the power of a nuclear bomb at their fingertips: They’re the only criminal in the world that can do that kind of damage.”
Most arsonists are one-and-done offenders, and the crime cuts across race, gender, and education levels. Mental illness and drug use can certainly be exacerbating factors. Additionally, the housing crisis and anti-homelessness legislation have pushed marginalized populations into living in wildland-urban interfaces, on the fringes of towns and cities, where both intentional and unintentional fires can cause more extensive problems.
Nordskog specializes in serial arsonists — a much smaller subset of arsonists who set fires repeatedly and intentionally, sometimes hundreds of times. They can be sophisticated operators, picking “the perfect time of day” to start a fire when temperatures are high and the wind picks up; some even use delay ignition devices to avoid getting caught. “They’re usually very frustrated and angry about something,” Nordskog said of a motive, and “the one thing that anybody can do is light a fire.”
Nordskog, like Cal Fire’s Muschetto, told me he’s doubtful there is any significant rise in the number of people actually committing arson; discrepancies in investigations, annual fire conditions, and several other factors are the likelier reason for the fluctuations in numbers.
For Muschetto, though, it defies belief that someone would intentionally start a fire at all. “It blows my mind that [arson] occurs and how often it occurs,” Muschetto told me. An arson fire takes firefighters away from their families for potentially weeks on end; it puts first responders and the public in danger; and between the smoke pollution, immense environmental degradation, and potential loss of life and property, the damage can be incalculable.
“We’re always going to get accidental or natural ignitions” in California, Muschetto said. That’s why “reducing these intentional fires is very important.”
https://heatmap.news/climate/park-fire-arson
Recruiting roundup: Oregon’s loaded camp, Utah lands a lineman, USC grabs two from Georgia
date: 2024-08-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
The late-July quiet period proved beneficial for the West Coast schools entering the Big Ten.
18-year-old woman who died in Walnut Creek fatal crash identified
date: 2024-08-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
The crash kept a stretch of Ygnacio Valley Road closed until about 3:20 a.m. Friday.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/02/woman-who-died-in-walnut-creek-fatal-crash-identified/
Boeing’s Starliner proves better at torching cash than reaching orbit
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Perhaps those thrusters actually burn dollars after all
Lurking in Boeing’s woeful Q2 financials is an admission that while its Starliner spacecraft might be struggling when it comes to burning fuel, it has no problem whatsoever setting fire to dollar bills.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/boeing_starliner_losses/
These Remote Volcanic Islands in the South Pacific Just Became a UNESCO World Heritage Site
date: 2024-08-02, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The Marquesas, located some 3,000 miles from their nearest continental neighbor, are some of the most isolated islands on the planet
NASA Invites Media, Public to Attend Deep Space Food Challenge Finale
date: 2024-08-02, from: NASA breaking news
NASA invites the media and public to explore the nexus of space and food innovation at the agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge symposium and winners’ announcement at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, Aug. 16. In 2019, NASA and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) started the Deep Space Food […]
Big paws to fill: Meet Contra Costa’s new director of Animal Services
date: 2024-08-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
The department receives roughly 20,000 calls for service each year
What Is Analog Computing?
date: 2024-08-02, from: Quanta Magazine
You don’t need 0s and 1s to perform computations, and in some cases it’s better to avoid them.The post What Is Analog Computing? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-analog-computing-20240802/
US student protests challenge balance of speech rights, university policies
date: 2024-08-02, from: VOA News USA
Breaking the economy of trust: How busts affect malware gangs
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
It’s hard to track down individuals, so why not disrupt the underground market itself?
Feature Some of the world’s most notorious ransomware and malware-as-a-service (RaaS/MaaS) operators have shut up shop in the past 12 months thanks to international law enforcement efforts, but just because household names like Conti, LockBit, and ALPHV/BlackCat are on the ropes, it doesn’t mean we’re free from the threat of commodity malware.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/malware_economy_of_trust/
NASA Scientists on Why We Might Not Spot Solar Panel Technosignatures
date: 2024-08-02, from: NASA breaking news
One of NASA’s key priorities is understanding the potential for life elsewhere in the universe. NASA has not found any credible evidence of extraterrestrial life — but NASA is exploring the solar system and beyond to help us answer fundamental questions, including whether we are alone in the universe. For those who study the potential […]
The U.S. economy is still adding jobs, but there’s a slowdown
date: 2024-08-02, from: Marketplace Morning Report
The economy added 114,000 jobs in July. Analysts were expecting a slowdown, but not that much of one. Unemployment rose more than expected too. Markets are tumbling on the news amid worries that the Federal Reserve may have waited too long to cut interest rates. We’ll discuss. Plus, a housing crunch means pain for furniture retailers, and a grassroots program in the U.K. is making the sport of fencing more accessible.
Increasing wind and heat plus risk of thunderstorms expected in fight against California wildfire
date: 2024-08-02, from: VOA News USA
CHICO, California — Firefighters battling California’s largest wildfire of the year are preparing for treacherous conditions entering the weekend when expected thunderstorms may unleash fire-starting lightning and erratic winds that could erode progress made over the past week. Dry, hot conditions posed similar threats across the fire-stricken West.
Weather, fuels and terrain will pose challenges for the 6,000 firefighters battling the Park Fire, which has spread over 614 square miles (1,590 square kilometers) since allegedly being started by arson in a wilderness park in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of the Sacramento Valley city of Chico.
The fire’s push northward has brought it toward the rugged lava rock landscape surrounding Lassen Volcanic National Park, which has been closed due to the threat.
“Lava rocks make for hard and slow work for hand crews,” Cal Fire said in a situation report. “Crews are being flown into access areas that have been hard to reach because of long drive times and steep, rugged terrain.”
After days of benign weather, increasing winds and a surge of monsoonal moisture were expected to increase fire activity and bring a chance of thunderstorms Friday night into Saturday, said Ryan Walbrun, incident meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“The concern with thunderstorms is any gusty outflow winds that would push the fire itself or create some new fire ignitions within the vicinity of the Park Fire,” Walbrun said.
Collapse of thunderstorm clouds can blow wind in any and all directions, said Jonathan Pangburn, a fire behavior analyst with Cal Fire.
“Even if there’s not lightning per se, it is very much a safety-watch-out environment for our firefighters out there,” Pangburn said.
Walbrun said there was little prospect of beneficial rains from the storms and the forecast for next week calls for continued warming and drying.
“As we look forward in time, we’re really just entering the peak of fire season in California,” he said.
The Park Fire, which has destroyed at least 480 structures and damaged 47, is one of almost 100 large fires burning across the western U.S.
A wildfire on the edge of metro Denver crept within a quarter-mile of evacuated homes, but authorities said Thursday they were hopeful that hundreds of threatened residences could be saved despite sweltering temperatures and firefighters suffering heat exhaustion.
The Quarry Fire southwest of the Denver suburb of Littleton encroached on several large subdivisions. Neighborhoods with nearly 600 homes were ordered to evacuate after the fire, of unknown origin, spread quickly Tuesday afternoon and overnight when relatively few firefighters were yet on the scene.
Jim and Meg Lutes watched from an overlook near their house northeast of the fire as smoke plumed up from the ridges. Their community west of Littleton was not yet under evacuation orders, but the couple had been ready to start packing a day earlier when flames could be seen blanketing the mountains.
“It can come over that hill pretty quick if the wind changes,” said Jim Lutes, 64, pointing to a nearby ridge.
Five firefighters were injured Wednesday, including four who had heat exhaustion, said Mark Techmeyer, a spokesperson with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The fire was in steep terrain that made it difficult to access but had been held to about a half-square mile (1.4 square kilometers) with no houses yet destroyed, authorities said.
Miles to the north near the city of Lyons, Colorado, officials lifted some evacuations and reported making progress on the Stone Canyon Fire. It has killed one person and destroyed five houses. The cause was under investigation.
The fire was among several threatening heavily populated areas of the Colorado foothills, including one in which a person was killed earlier this week.
New, large fires were reported in Idaho, southeastern Montana and north Texas.
Scientists say extreme wildfires are becoming more common and destructive in the U.S. West and other parts of the world as climate change warms the planet and droughts become more severe.
Podcast: Signal’s President Meredith Whittaker on Backdoors and AI
date: 2024-08-02, from: 404 Media Group
We speak to Meredith Whittaker about the threat posed by AI to end-to-end encryption, what backdoors actually look like, and much more in this special interview episode.
https://www.404media.co/podcast-signals-president-meredith-whittaker-on-backdoors-and-ai/
Park Fire near Chico grows to fourth-largest wildfire in California history
date: 2024-08-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Fire crews have contained 24% of the blaze, according to Cal Fire.
California bosses ranked third-best in US
date: 2024-08-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Massachusetts and Washington were the only states with better grades on my scorecard.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/02/california-bosses-ranked-third-best-in-us/
Systems Engineer Douglas Wong
date: 2024-08-02, from: NASA breaking news
“When I was around 16 or 17, I came across this book by Arthur C. Clarke called Space Odyssey 2001. That was actually the first science fiction book that I’ve ever read. I was just so captured by what he had written because the things that he wrote about weren’t [happening] in the far-off future, […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/systems-engineer-douglas-wong/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-02, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
I am not a very knowledgeable C++ programmer, but this introduction to Swift for C++ programmers both covers a lot of ground I had not seen before, and explains things succinctly that I had not grasped before.
I am jealous of how well written it is, how effectively it communicates these concepts.
Wish I could write like this:
https://www.douggregor.net/tags/swift/
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112892838248797115
Thief steals 15-year-old cat from downtown Saratoga business
date: 2024-08-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Shoplifter takes $500 worth of merchandise from Safeway in separate incident.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/02/thief-steals-15-year-old-cat-from-downtown-saratoga-business/
Park Fire: Increasing wind and heat plus risk of thunderstorms expected in fight against wildfire
date: 2024-08-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Firefighters battling California’s largest wildfire of the year are preparing for treacherous conditions entering the weekend.
ACEMAGIC X1 dual-screen laptop now available for pre-order for $899
date: 2024-08-02, from: Liliputing
The ACEMAGIC X1 is a dual-screen laptop with an unusual design. From the front you could easily mistake it for a typical notebook: there’s a screen, keyboard, and touchscreen. But there’s a second screen attached to a 360-hinge that flips out to give you a dual-screen setup without the need to carry a portable monitor. First […]
The post ACEMAGIC X1 dual-screen laptop now available for pre-order for $899 appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/acemagic-x1-dual-screen-laptop-now-available-for-pre-order-for-899/
Azure Linux 3 hits general availability – but don’t expect any frills
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Microsoft’s distribution gets a new LTS kernel
With impeccable timing considering recent Windows issues, Microsoft has made Azure Linux 3.0 generally available. It includes an update to the Linux kernel and new versions of various packages.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/azure_linux_3_ga/
US job growth slows, unemployment rate increases
date: 2024-08-02, from: VOA News USA
oberon@gitlab.inf.ethz.ch pushed to project branch main at Felix Oliver Friedrich / Oberon A2
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: Oberon A2 at CAS
oberon@gitlab.inf.ethz.ch (fc3421e9) at 02 Aug 15:32
limit SYSTEM.VAL conversion to types with compatible size;
https://gitlab.inf.ethz.ch/felixf/oberon/-/commit/fc3421e93d21bea49e14b912a34c4c7dc6454b33
Technology history: where Unix came from
date: 2024-08-02, from: OS News
Today, every Unix-like system can trace their ancestry back to the original Unix. That includes Linux, which uses the GNU tools – and the GNU tools are based on the Unix tools. Linux in 2024 is removed from the original Unix design, and for good reason – Linux supports architectures and tools not dreamt of during the original Unix era. But the core command line experience in Linux is still very similar to the Unix command line of the 1970s. The next time you use ls to list the files in a directory, remember that you’re using a command line that’s been with us for more than fifty years. ↫ Jim Hall An excellent overview of some of the more ancient UNIX commands that are still with us today. One thing I always appreciate when I dive into an operating system closer to “real” UNIX, like OpenBSD, or a actual UNIX, like HP-UX, is just how much more logical sense they make under the hood than a Linux system does. This is not a dunk on modern Linux – it has to cater to endless more modern needs than something ancient and dead like HP-UX – but what I learn while using these systems closer to the UNIX has made me appreciate proper UNIX more than I used to in the past. In what surely sounds like utter lunacy to system administrators who actually had to seriously administer HP-UX systems back in the day, I genuinely love using HP-UX, setting it up, configuring it, messing around with it, because it just makes so much more logical sense than the systems we use today. The knowledge gained from using BSD, HP-UX, and others, while not always directly applicable to Linux, does aid me in understanding certain Linux things better than I did before. What I’m trying to say is – go and load up an old UNIX, or at least a modern BSD. Aside from being great operating systems in their own right, they’re much easier to grasp than a modern Linux system, and you’ll learn a lot form the experience.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140392/technology-history-where-unix-came-from/
Four Bay Area men plead guilty for $55 million in fraudulent real estate loans
date: 2024-08-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
A real estate agent, loan officer and two others falsified papers for 102 home loans.
Increasing wind and heat plus risk of thunderstorms expected in fight against California’s largest wildfire
date: 2024-08-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
Firefighters battling California’s largest wildfire of the year are preparing for treacherous conditions entering the weekend.
14-year-old charged with Denver murder was repeatedly released from custody in prior case, wanted for arrest at time of shooting
date: 2024-08-02, from: San Jose Mercury News
The teen is accused of killing bouncer William “Todd” Kidd outside the Federales Denver bar in RiNo.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/02/rino-shooting-todd-kidd-juvenile-justice-colorado-bed-cap/
Early Humans Migrated Out of Africa Several Times, DNA Study Suggests
date: 2024-08-02, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Homo sapiens interbred with Neanderthals as early as 250,000 years ago and may have ultimately bred them out of existence, according to new research
Markets tumble, led by 5.8% drop in Tokyo following a tech-driven retreat on Wall Street
date: 2024-08-02, from: VOA News USA
BANGKOK — Shares in Europe and Asia tumbled Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index slumping 5.8% as investors panicked over signs of weakness in the U.S. economy.
Bracing for a highly anticipated employment report coming on Friday, the future for the S&P 500 was down 1.3%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 0.9%.
The declines followed a retreat on Wall Street after weak manufacturing data raised worries the Federal Reserve may have waited too long to cut interest rates, raising risks of a recession. After the U.S. central bank held steady at a meeting this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said a cut could come in September.
“The short-lived satisfaction of Fed Chief Powell communicating decent odds of a September rate cut has turned sour as investors are now panicking that the central bank isn’t trimming soon enough,” José Torres, a senior economist at Interactive Brokers, said in a report.
A nearly 19% decline in Intel’s shares in aftermarket trading deepened the gloom. The chipmaker said it was cutting 15% of its massive workforce — about 15,000 jobs — to better compete with more successful rivals like Nvidia and AMD.
In early European trading, Germany’s DAX shed 1.5% to 17,806.65, while the CAC 40 slipped 1% to 7,298.81. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.6% to 8,233.49.
Japan’s market retreated to where it was trading in January before it surged to an all-time high last month of over 42,000. The Nikkei 225 lost 2,216.63 points Friday to 35,909.70, with banks’, technology-related and manufacturers’ shares hit by heavy selling.
The Nikkei has lost 6.2% in the past three months.
Japanese shares were pummeled after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday, to 0.25% from 0.1%. That pushed the value of the Japanese yen higher against the U.S. dollar, potentially hurting overseas earnings of major manufacturers and deflating a boom in tourism.
The dollar fell to 148.77 yen early Friday from 149.37 yen late Thursday. It had recently traded above 160 yen. The euro rose to $1.0820 from $1.0789.
Elsewhere in Asia on Friday, Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 2.1% to 16,945.51, while the Shanghai Composite index saw a more modest loss, of 0.9% to 2,905.34.
Chinese shares have extended losses this week as investors registered disappointment with the government’s latest efforts to spur growth through various piecemeal measures, instead of hoped-for infusions of broader stimulus.
The Kospi in Seoul dropped 3.7% to 2,676.19 and Taiwan’s Taiex sank 4.4%. Both markets tend to be hit hard by weakness in technology shares.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics dropped 4.2% while another maker of computer chips and other components, SK Hynix, dropped 10.4%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest chip maker, lost 5.9%.
Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX gave up 2.1% to 7,943.20 and the Sensex in India was down 1.1%. Bangkok’s SET fell 0.7%.
It has been a nerve wracking week for markets even as central banks in Japan, the United States and England acted much as had been expected. Japan raised its benchmark, the Fed stood pat, and the Bank of England lowered its key rate by 0.25%, to 5%, its first cut in more than four years.
Commodity prices have also had a rough ride, with oil prices surging after the killings of leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah that fueled fears conflict in the Middle East might escalate into a wider war. But prices fell back Thursday and were only marginally higher early Friday.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 12 cents to $76.43 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 12 cents at $79.64 per barrel.
The price of gold, a traditional refuge for investors in uncertain times, has surged to over $2,500 an ounce.
Meanwhile, other commodities sank on concerns that weakness in the U.S. and other major economies will hurt demand. The price of nickel dropped 2.4%, aluminum dropped 1% and copper traded in New York dropped 2.3%.
Worry is mounting that the Fed has kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high for too long in its zeal to stifle inflation by making it more costly to borrow. A rate cut could take months to a year to filter through the economy.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 sank 1.4% after a report from the Institute for Supply Management showed U.S. manufacturing activity is still shrinking. The Dow fell 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 2.3%. The small stocks in the Russell 2000 index dropped 3%.
Other reports Thursday showed the number of U.S. workers applying for jobless benefits hit its highest level in about a year and that productivity for U.S. workers improved in the spring. The data are likely to relieve pressure on inflation and give the Fed more leeway to cut rates.
Employment growth does appear to be slowing more than expected, Philip Marey, senior U.S. strategist for Rabobank, said in a commentary.
“This suggests that the Fed’s strategy to bring better balance between labor demand and supply through restrictive interest rates is working, but of course the risk is that employment growth is brought to a halt and the economy slides into a recession.”
What a Mess
date: 2024-08-02, from: 500-ish blog, A collection of posts by M.G. Siegler of around 500 words in length.
https://500ish.com/what-a-mess-b2fd4ab21217?source=rss----662a29c3b19e---4
A Power Crunch Looms for PJM
date: 2024-08-02, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: July was China’s hottest month since official record-keeping began in 1961 • Chile also experienced a month for the books as its capital, Santiago, had its first rainless July since records began in the 1950s • One death has been reported as multiple fires blaze in central and northern Colorado.
THE TOP FIVE
- Sky-high PJM capacity prices highlight a halting energy transition
Recent retirements of coal- and gas-fired plants have left a gap in the generating fleet for PJM — the country’s largest regional transmission organization, spanning 13 states and Washington, D.C. — that wind and solar plants (many stuck in permitting and interconnection delays) have yet to fill. Add to that a projected 2% increase in peak demand, analysts say, and you’ve got a recipe for high prices.
To that end, PJM will offer record-high payments to power plant operators for the capacity they agree to maintain next delivery year. Producers across the region can expect to earn $269.92 per megawatt if they commit to being available during predetermined times, with prices in certain locations reaching as high as $466.35 per megawatt-day. Grid operators hope this will encourage the construction of new generating assets.
PJM’s quagmire is also a warning to other transmission organizations and independent system operators navigating a clean energy transition in the face of rising electricity demand. The bottom line? “PJM didn’t prepare for an energy transition we all saw coming,” said Jon Gordon, the director of clean energy trade group Advanced Energy United.
- Home efficiency rebates roll out in Wisconsin
Starting today, Badger State residents can officially take advantage of federal rebates to make their homes less dependent on fossil fuels. Wisconsin is the second state after New York to launch a program to fund home energy improvements with money from the Inflation Reduction Act. To participate, residents will first have to get an energy audit by an approved contractor, who will then model potential energy savings from different courses of action, like new insulation, windows, doors, or even a new heating and cooling system. Depending on their income level and how much energy they save from the project, Wisconsinites will be eligible for up to $10,000 in rebates. But the program may see a slow start — there are currently only 13 approved contractors in the entire state.
The IRA’s home energy rebates programs are among those that are likely to be targeted first by a potential Trump administration. To date, the Department of Energy has provided funding to launch rebate programs in just approved applications from 10 of the 22 states that have applied.
- Hydrogen has a long way to go, according to a new report
“Hydrogen-ready” has become a popular moniker for utilities and developers constructing new natural gas plants in an era of climate concern. A new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis suggests that the term — meant to convey the infrastructure’s capability to transition to carbon-free hydrogen when the fuel becomes more available — may be little more than hot air. It identifies three major barriers: a lack of hydrogen supply, a lack of hydrogen-capable pipelines, and a lack of storage capacity. The authors highlight Duke Energy’s plan to build a “hydrogen-ready” gas turbine at an existing coal plant in Roxboro, North Carolina — a plan that wouldn’t introduce hydrogen into the pipeline until 2035, and even then would start with a mix of just 1% hydrogen to 99% methane.
Claims of hydrogen readiness, the report concludes, are “little more than marketing designed to obscure the myriad shortcomings and unanswered questions associated with using hydrogen in methane-fired turbines.”
- A new financing tool aims to accelerate coal retirements
On the back of a record year for coal consumption driven by demand in Asia, climate advocates are searching for new ways to hasten the decline of the carbon-intensive fuel. One problem that has long bedeviled effort: Shutting down a coal plant prematurely means forfeiting years of profit. This amounts to a premium of $310 million for a five-year premature retirement, according to one estimate.
A group of financial institutions led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore is exploring a new financial tool to get around that barrier. The idea is to allow people and companies to purchase “transition credits” like they purchase carbon offsets. The money from these purchases would reimburse coal plant operators for the money they stand to lose by shutting down their plants. Some big banks see transition credits as a growth market. “We would also like to see how these can be traded, as creating a liquid secondary market should help support the primary markets too,” Patrick Lee, Standard Chartered’s chief executive officer for Singapore and ASEAN, told Bloomberg.
- A booming business for undersea cables
Offshore wind is driving a surge in demand for undersea cables, with backlogs reaching up to 12 years. That’s bad news for utilities but good news for Europe’s three biggest manufacturers — Nexan, Prysmian, and NKT — which have all seen their stock more than triple in the past five years. A single kilometer of one of these cables can, according to Bloomberg, weigh as much as 50 Ford F-150 trucks, and cost more than $1.1 million. The specialized equipment required to produce such an item is a hurdle to any new companies trying to enter the market.
European regulators have long suspected the manufacturers of cartel behavior, and both the German and French governments are currently investigating them for price-fixing. Meanwhile, a Japanese manufacturer has begun construction on a new assembly plant in Scotland, which is slated to start production in 2026.
THE KICKER
Residents of Budapest were treated to an unusual sight on Thursday, as around 60 farmers paraded camels through the Hungarian capital to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change on agriculture. A drought cost the country’s agricultural sector $2.7 billion in 2022, according to Hungary’s farm ministry.“
https://heatmap.news/climate/pjm-home-rebates-hydrogen
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
2017: "The myth of the lone inventor dreaming up the future ensconced in a lab isn't how it works."
http://scripting.com/2017/04/16/prioritiesForPodcasting.html
Climate change and a reverse mass migration?
date: 2024-08-02, from: Marketplace Morning Report
We’re in the middle of another heat wave, which can make cooler parts of the country seem more attractive. And a new analysis shows that some Americans are reversing migration patterns. Typically, people are leaving colder states for warmer ones. Now, more Americans are staying put, while others are moving from warmer places to cooler ones. But first: Markets tumble as investors blink before The Fed does.
oberon@gitlab.inf.ethz.ch pushed to project branch main at Felix Oliver Friedrich / Oberon A2
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: Oberon A2 at CAS
oberon@gitlab.inf.ethz.ch (4893ba18) at 02 Aug 14:22
made MathArray execution test compilable again
https://gitlab.inf.ethz.ch/felixf/oberon/-/commit/4893ba188cc29ec48da783ca98321237d68ab50c
Hubble Spies a Diminutive Galaxy
date: 2024-08-02, from: NASA breaking news
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the subtle glow of the galaxy named IC 3430, located 45 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. This dwarf elliptical galaxy is part of the Virgo cluster, a rich collection of galaxies both large and small, many of which are very similar in type to this […]
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-spies-a-diminutive-galaxy/
DoJ launches probes as AI antitrust storm clouds gather round Nvidia
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
US regulator reportedly not happy about Run:ai buy… nor industry dominance
The US Department of Justice has started an investigation into Nvidia’s acquisition of Run:ai, a startup offering orchestration tools for AI workloads.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/antritrust_storm_doj_nvidia/
Fortune 50 biz coughed up record-breaking $75M ransom to halt leak of stolen data
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
They say crime doesn’t pay. They’re right – it’s the victims doing the paying
An unnamed Fortune 50 corporation paid a stonking $75 million to a ransomware gang to stop it leaking terabytes of stolen data.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/dark_angels_ransomware/
Why Pacoima’s StylesVille barbershop is about to get historic status
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The LAist
The Black-owned shop has been at its current location since 1977. It was part of a string of Black businesses that sprang up when much of L.A. was still segregated.
Can fencing combat its elitist image?
date: 2024-08-02, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Fencing is currently having its moment on the Olympic stage in Paris and has been around since the very first modern, organized Olympics. And in the United Kingdom, one grassroots group is making fencing more accessible, investing in growing its popularity and helping Muslim women and girls access more organized sport. Also on today’s show Japan’s stocks tumble on concerns over the U.S. economy.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/can-fencing-combat-its-elitist-image
When Will The Climate Killers See Their Day In Court?
date: 2024-08-02, from: The Lever News
After an unprecedented wave of deaths caused by climate extremes, advocates are trying to convince courts that fossil fuel companies are criminally responsible for homicide.
https://www.levernews.com/when-will-the-climate-killers-see-their-day-in-court/
P&B: Anne Sturdivant
date: 2024-08-02, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>This is the 49th edition of <em>People and Blogs</em>, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Anne Sturdivant and her blog, <a href="https://weblog.anniegreens.lol">weblog.anniegreens.lol</a></p>To follow this series subscribe to the newsletter. A new interview will land in your inbox every Friday. Not a fan of newsletters? No problem! You can read the interviews here on the blog or you can subscribe to the RSS feed.
If you’re enjoying the People and Blogs series and you want to see it grow, consider supporting on Ko-Fi.
Let’s start from the basics: can you introduce yourself?
Hello! My name is Anne Sturdivant, you will often find me online as
“Apple Annie” or using the handle anniegreens. I give a
little background on these names on my weblog:
Origins
of a nickname. I am originally from Washington state in the US but
have lived in Portland, OR, for about 20 years.
I moved to Portland to attend college (for the second time) and studied web design and interactive media, for which I received a BS. I continued on that course for my career for the last 16 years, working mainly on the front-end with Drupal, design systems, and structured content. I recently have been on a hiatus from full-time work due to health (and other) factors. I am still active in the front-end and web design spaces, also more recently jumping back into “work” on a personal level.
Hobbies are hard to define since so many things I enjoy doing and could categorize as hobbies are just a core part of me. I am a gardener but calling that a hobby feels like an understatement. My entire yard is a garden and I put every single plant in the ground. I post many photos and write a bit about it more on my microblog than my weblog. I also travel to gardens in the Pacific Northwest and take photos and write about it in a newsletter that has been on hold for a while. I do plan on resuming this newsletter at some point, platform to be determined.
I also watch a fair amount of movies and television, mostly on streaming services, though I don’t write about that much. I love listening to podcasts and find myself gravitating towards the weird and unusual, tech-related and front-end, US political news (though not what you might think, I really only listen to serious lawyers that don’t get into hyperbolic punditry), and health-related and local subjects.
I read but am not a dedicated book reader, I find myself more drawn to blogs and the interlinking nature of the web. I do usually start this path in my RSS reader but very often a trail starts on Mastodon due to a post someone shares. I enjoy photography and hiking and visiting natural areas in the Pacific Northwest, also featured in my newsletter, but do less of that now (except photos of my garden) due to current health limitations.
I suppose you could call tinkering with front-end development a hobby as well, since nowadays I’m doing that for personal pleasure and growth, even if I am trained to do that as a career as well. I find this to be a creative outlet as much as other creative endeavors, including gardening, and I’ve written in the past about how I find both gardening and front-end development to share some of the same parts of my brain.
Finally, this “hobby” should lead us right into the next question: blogging!
What’s the story behind your blog?
I have several blogs, it might be an addiction. I’ve written pretty extensively about my weblog, which I consider my main blog, and how it came to be. Part of my hiatus and worsening health issues were due to work-induced burnout and I spent several years away from the web, unsure I’d ever return. In 2022 I started to have the desire to once again do something on the web, though I was unsure what that would look like. I had a blog in college but long abandoned it, though it still sits on the same domain my old portfolio site sits on, locked behind a login.
After coming to Mastodon, I discovered an instance that was part of a paid suite of tools, omg.lol, and signed up after finding the Local timeline to be quite enjoyable (it’s now my main instance). What I didn’t realize was that the rest of the tools would become just as important to me. I first created a “link page” that now acts as my global profile, then a /now page, and a weblog, and a statuslog, and soon had also signed up for Micro.blog. I now have nine blogs, seven of them active, spread across omg.lol and Micro.blog.
As I said, the weblog is my main blog and started as a way to get back into doing front-end development again and to write about it and the process of customizing the blog. I really started it for myself, to work my way out of burnout, as a means of therapy. I now post mostly longer form, often technical, posts about front-end development and web design, the indieweb, blogging, the internet, as well as some more personal pieces, and still the process of working on the blog.
I’d then consider my microblog a close second to the weblog. I post more short form content there, photo-blogging, bookmarks, gardening, chronic illness, as well as some politics and technology. I sometimes cross-post to one of my four Mastodon accounts.
My other blogs are more projects than traditional blogs. I have a trio of blogs that serve as one project for weblog.lol: Themes, Styles, and Custom, which I use exclusively for weblog.lol styles and customizations to create themes. This work is on hold right now as weblog.lol’s backend will be seeing some overhaul over the next few months and I’ll need to reflect that there.
3x5.pics is a fun project that I loved designing. I’m currently authoring all the messages on the notecards myself but I would like to open it up to submissions one day. Right now I’m working on the 100 Days to Offload challenge on a dedicated blog called 100 Days of Blog. Another microblog I haven’t started yet, other than to obtain a domain and have a direction for it, will be for testing and modernizing a trove of old recipes I inherited from my grandmother. It is called Table for One Cafe. Finally, I have a sixth weblog.lol blog that I’m working to make a place for front-end experiments that I can include with blog posts on my main weblog. This is code named Tiny Pages.
What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging?
For posts on my weblog, they are usually about something I worked on or a process/knowledge piece to share. For this type of post I put in a fair amount of research on a subject, create an outline, prepare assets or code samples, and citations and footnotes. These very often are about working on one of my blogs, adding a new feature, updating and improving something technical, or learning a modern and new piece of functionality within front-end development.
Personal pieces are far more spontaneous and may reflect how I am feeling or a struggle I am dealing with. Other posts are reactions to blog posts, articles, podcasts, and movies or television shows. I also try to post a near-daily featured photo on my microblog. Sometimes these are curated ahead of time, where I’ll plan out a week of photos, but often they are a picture that the Apple Photos.app is featuring that day. I thought about the kinds of blogs posts once and wrote something about it, I’m not sure I’ve hit all of them yet!
I had many requests from the omg.lol community about what my weblog workflow was so I published a piece aptly titled Weblog Publishing Workflow. In it I describe the tools I use, including Drafts, which I am writing these answers in right now. As far as how many drafts I write, I really can’t tell you. The way Drafts works I never see a “draft” version, I’m just constantly reading and rewriting or reorganizing sections. One of the nice part of Drafts is being able to set up preview templates that look exactly like the front-end of your blog, using all the same assets, which I have stored on a CDN. When I read a piece for editing, I read it in that preview as it gives me the best feeling of how something will be seen once published on my weblog.
As for proof reading or asking for help in reviewing what I blog about, I haven’t yet started to do that, but the idea has been in my mind for a while. I know I make mistakes and I will often find at least a couple after publishing, but I am not too worried about that. I’m fine airing my bumps and bruises. I would, however, appreciate a review on more technical pieces that I write in the future and may start looking for someone I trust to do that or that is willing to offer their time.
Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the physical space influences your creativity?
I usually write in the morning or later at night, often with a cup of coffee or tea, nestled into my large chair with ottoman in my living room. I have a proper (and rather nice) office and I worked from home for many years at my last job, but I’ve since moved away from that strict feeling space for blogging or creative endeavors, unless I need an external monitor for something large or complicated that I want to see in a code editor or graphics program.
One thing that definitely influences my ability to write is sound. I don’t necessarily mean I need to listen to music to be creative or to write, but if there is sound it cannot be dialogue or lyrics with music. For this reason I primarily listen to two highly curated Pandora stations I created many years ago. I also listen to them while working on design or technical projects, though often I prefer no sound at all.
If I’m already in the flow of something, either writing or working on a site or design, I will often listen to music, but also from one of those Pandora stations. I’ve been listening to them for so long, they are like a comfortable friend and may therefore help me feel at ease. I know creative spaces are important.
When I moved to Portland to attend an art college, I lived in a very inspiring neighborhood near my school and felt like a creative’s dream every time I stepped onto the sidewalk. Now when I am stuck on something I find that just stepping out my back door into my garden is enough of an escape that when I return I can get past that block. In 2019 when I was at the worst of my burnout I planted a pollinator garden in my raised vegetable beds and could spend hours out there gazing at the flowers and wildlife. It was therapeutic, got the creative juices flowing, and a means to make the day pass.
A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech stack?
I assume most people answering these questions may run across the same thing as myself: I have written about this on my blog before. My weblog Colophon details much of this. The weblog is using weblog.lol, a small blogging platform that comes with an omg.lol address. There is a lightweight templating system that allows passing of variables with front-matter and config and authoring in Markdown and HTML, or a combination of the two.
All static assets are stored on my CDN at Bunny.net, the domain is registered at and DNS is currently managed by Porkbun but I may moved to Bunny.net for DNS as well, which would serve weblog as a static site. Email for my domain is handled by Fastmail. I have just recently added a contact form using Letterbird. Analytics are using Tinylytics for the time being, though I am investigating self-hosting Umami for analytics with PikaPods.
The theme is entirely custom CSS and HTML with limited Javascript for theme switching and some web components. I mention in my workflow post that I desired to use a platform and workflow that didn’t require a lot of maintenance overhead, such as updating modules, dependencies, and debugging build systems. I wanted the platform to get out of the way so I could work on the parts I want to work on and write about it. I love that there are so many diverse ways to blog right now, so many different options for complexity based on what people want to do or can do. And opportunities to do more when they want to and move to another platform as they need more features. There is no wrong way to blog and the best way is the way that makes it easiest for you.
My microblog is hosted on Micro.blog and uses a community contributed theme called Tiny Theme as a base with custom CSS, some Javascript for web components, and template overrides to complement the look and feel of my weblog’s theme. My other projects/blogs are also on one of these platforms: Themes, Styles, and Custom use weblog.lol; 3x5.pics and Tiny Pages use weblog.lol; and both 100 Days of Blog and Table for One Cafe are on Micro.blog.
Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do anything differently?
If I started over today, I’d be in a different head space and I like to think I would have “branched out” more and relied on my web development experience to build something more custom using 11ty or another static site generator. I have more experience with PHP so I might have gone in the direction of a PHP static site generator, but I appreciate and stay updated with what is happening with 11ty enough that I think I will end up using that some day.
Weblog.lol has some limitations and though I have gotten very far with truly making it my own, I started the blog in January 2023, I’ve only just started hitting walls that I am unable to get past due to the platform’s limitations. The next version of weblog will run on a new backend called Neato and I am willing to wait until that is ready to try out before making any moves to another platform.
I think it more likely I leave Micro.blog before I leave weblog.lol (or omg.lol). The original needs I had when I joined Micro.blog have either ended up being something I decided I didn’t need (Fediverse integration), or I’ve found alternatives to some of its functionality (cross-posting), and the remaining piece I’ve yet to get set up, a newsletter, I already have options, such as Buttondown or Ghost, that I could use.
I am still very pleased with the structure of my weblog. I believe starting with a Styleguide up front helped me to keep styling consistent by structuring the content and front-matter properly from fairly early on. The only structure that I find lacking is, again, due to the platform’s limitations. Having come from more than a decade of working on Drupal platforms, I can see gaps in functionality that other platforms might give me the flexibility to fill.
As for the name of my weblog, I’m glad this was brought up in the
suggestions—I love when a blog has a name! I curate a blogroll
by “spinning” it with nine new blogs at a time at no particular
regularity. In the process of doing so I come across the “name” of each
blog by peaking at the HTML <head> and I am always
delighted to find when someone takes the time or creative effort to put
a little gem in there that you may not otherwise know about. I wrote a
blog
post about this once and I still think the blog I name in that post
is still my favorite name. As for my blog’s name(s), well, I have so
many of them, I’m getting to scratch that naming itch!
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?
Since I have so many blogs I’m going to break this into each platform’s costs along with additional costs for related services.
Weblog, 3x5.pics, Themes/Styles/Custom, Tiny Pages
All six of these blogs are omg.lol addresses. A one year subscription for all the tools and goodies omg.lol offers is $20USD. Sometimes there are deals (very often, multiple times a year) and you can also gain banks of time through referrals. So although, the cost of these would normally be $120USD per year combined, I don’t actually pay that much right now. I have also bought banks of time during promotional deals, so that helps as well. Each of these addresses comes with multiple tools and web presences that are infinitely configurable, so you gain quite a lot for a fairly low price. On top of that it is a lovely welcoming community run by a really nice guy, and I’m not just saying that.
Microblog, 100 Days of Blog, Table for One Cafe
A Micro.blog premium membership gets you up to five blogs plus a whole other host of goodies, such as podcasting, newsletter functionality, Fediverse integration, cross-posting, bookmarking, and more. The cost of the premium memership is $10USD per month. A non-premium membership with just one blog, plus cross-posting, and a few other goodies, is $5USD per month.
Related Services
- Porkbun handles all five of my domains. I got a deal on most of them for the first year. If all five of them were to renew at the same time at the estimated costs it would be roughly $115USD for another year.
- Tinylytics is currently the lightweight analytics I use. There is a free tier, a monthly tier, and a yearly tier. I am currently on the yearly plan and paying $50USD per year. I am looking into moving to self-hosting Umami through PikaPods and that would be slightly more.
- Bunny.net CDN is a pay-as-you-go service, so I don’t have exact figures to give, but I can try to estimate. I serve all my domain’s static assets, except for the Micro.blog sites which have their own storage. For March 2023 through June 2024 I paid $60-70 for the CDN + optimization on one of the storage zones, so that is less than $10USD per month at my current rate of traffic, which does vary from month-to-month.
- EchoFeed Pro (Prami’s Version) is an ad hoc cross-posting service. There is a free plan that allows for one feed. The Pro plan gives you unlimited feeds and the “Prami’s Version” is a small discount for omg.lol members. The creator of this service is an omg.lol member. I pay $20USD per year.
- Letterbird Pro is a contact form with customizations. The free plan has less options and no CSS customizations. I pay $10USD per month for the Pro plan. I am using it on two of my sites.
- Flickr Pro is listed here because I do use Flickr hosted images quite often on my main Microblog due to the image quality and automatic resizing available, which I use to craft responsive images in some posts. Flickr Pro is $72.99USD per year with unlimited storage and full resolution.
On the subject of monetization, I don’t think I have any issue with it. I don’t enjoy ads, but I don’t mind unobtrusive methods of helping to support independent creators. I have a Buy me a coffee button on my blog at the bottom of every page. It rarely gets used, though I wouldn’t mind it got used more (obviously 😆) to help support the cost of my infrastructure.
I think if you find value in something someone creates there is no shame in giving them some money to show appreciation and encourage them to keep it up. Many people have stressful jobs and the creative output they get via writing or doing other art and coding on their blogs may be payment enough, but they still absolutely appreciate when someone shows support monetarily. I try to give when I can, especially if I find myself going back to a person over and over for things they create to give away or for writing that has helped me.
Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out? And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next?
This feels just as loaded as creating a blogroll! Which I took a different route in that I cannot and will not just choose a handful of people, especially since we all tend to get caught up in silos and add people that look and sound like us. My blogroll is an ever changing list that I “spin” with nine new blogs at a time when I’ve collected enough blogs to round out a diverse selection of bloggers and types of blogs.
These three suggestions come off my blogroll, any of them would be good candidates for your next interview that I would be very interested in reading.
- Roma Komarov: Articles & Experiments by Roman Komarov and Roma’s Unpolished Posts
- Melanie Kat: melkat.blog
- Olu Niyi-Awosusi: Olu Online
Final question: is there anything you want to share with us?
Okay, this is admittedly a smorgasbord of links, but I think they’re all great. How do you choose just a handful of what the web has to offer? For me, these are things I’ve thought about and looked at recently. Three of these items I submitted for a Tiny Award.
-
Igalia Chats
I really enjoy this podcast. It combines two of my most favorite front-end topics: CSS and accessibility and is co-hosted by one of the all-time most influential figures in CSS: Eric Meyer. -
Oddbird past and upcoming talks
& workshops
I’m always looking for new front-end content to watch or listen to. I was recently on a quest to find front-end podcasts and wasn’t as successful as I hoped but I came across other resources. This Oddbird resource is really great, featuring upcoming and past talks & workshops by the esteemed team at Oddbird, notably Miriam Suzanne. -
Slash Pages
This is another fun project by Robb Knight. If you’re just building a blog or looking for ways to add new content that isn’t necessarily blog posts but still represent you and your ideas, “slash pages” are a great way to do that. I’m still on my way to achieving “slash pages totality” but I have quite a selection already. -
Reply Cards
A small project by Adam Newbold, creator of omg.lol. Reply cards are what they sound like: “Answer messages without having to write a personal response.” Choose from the existing library of cards or create your own for a couple bucks and avoid that uncomfortable response you’d rather not have to make! -
3x5.pics
A project I recently completed but still have plans for some updates and improvements, namely accepting submissions for new entries. Read a little write-up on the project. -
Eric Bailey’s
newsletter: SC 2.4.4
You will find many newsletters to subscribe to but Eric’s is one of my favorites. Somehow curating a diverse list of links to articles and information that always interest me. Some front-end, some web or tech, some unusual and bizarre, always relevant to our times, and often shocking and humbling.
This was the 49th edition of People and Blogs. Hope you enjoyed this interview with Annie. Make sure to follow her blog (RSS) and get in touch with her if you have any questions.
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@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
To preserve their work — and drafts of history — journalists take archiving into their own hands.
UK plans to revamp national cyber defense tools are already in motion
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Work aims to build on the success of NCSC’s 2016 initiative – and private sector will play a part
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) says it’s in the planning stages of bringing a new suite of services to its existing Active Cyber Defence (ACD) program.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/uk_ncscs_plans_to_revamp/
How a Top Climate Scientist Learned to Speak Up
date: 2024-08-02, from: Heatmap News
Mornings are my time for thinking about Rob Jackson — specifically, when I am making coffee. Every time I reach for the knob on my gas stove to heat my water kettle, I remember something he told me during our discussion of his new book, Into the Clear Blue Sky: The Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere: “We would never willingly stand over the tailpipe of a car breathing in the exhaust, yet we willingly stand over a stove, breathing the exact same pollutants.”
Mornings, incidentally, are also my time for practicing holding my breath.
Jackson is the chair of the Global Carbon Project, a professor of Earth science and a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy, as well as one of the most highly-cited climate and environmental scientists in the world — all a long way of saying, he spends a lot of time thinking about kitchens and neighborhoods just like mine. But emissions aren’t the only thing that occupies Jackson’s time these days; while he stresses that reducing emissions is still the “cheapest, safest, and only sure path to a safe climate,” his book also reluctantly examines technologies that remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere after they’ve been emitted. “In truth, I’m frustrated … because we shouldn’t need them,” he explains.
Ahead of the release of Into the Clear Blue Sky on July 30, I spoke with Jackson about why it’s so difficult to make people care about atmospheric restoration in the same way they care about habitat loss or extreme weather, and the stories, people, and emerging technologies that do make him hopeful. Our conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
In the introduction to Into the Clear Blue Sky, you write that restoring the atmosphere “must invoke the same spirit and philosophy used to restore endangered species and habitats to health.” But unlike with polar bears or glaciers, we usually can’t see the damage to the atmosphere. Do you think that is part of why we’ve been so slow and halting in addressing greenhouse gas pollution?
A little bit, I do. I think the real reason we’ve been slow to address greenhouse gas pollution is because we are better at just continuing with the status quo. We aren’t making changes in our lifestyles and our industries. I’ve grown skeptical that people will respond to climate thresholds like 1.5 [degrees Celsius of warming] or 2 C. People don’t really understand why those numbers are important — they don’t understand what they mean in paleo-time, in terms of sea level rise and ice melt. I’m seeking a different motivator, a different narrative for change. And I think restoration is a more powerful narrative than some arbitrary temperature number.
There are several moments in the book where you suggest that decarbonization has benefits beyond just addressing climate change — like how feeding cows red seaweed accelerates their weight gain, or how electric motorcycles don’t have the fumes, vibrations, or noise of gas-powered motorcycles. Do you think we need to market green technologies in ways that go beyond just cleaning up the atmosphere?
Yes. Approximately half the population in the United States isn’t motivated by concerns about climate change, and we have to reach them a different way. I strongly believe that climate solutions won’t just help our grandchildren; they’ll help make us healthier today, and ultimately help us save money.
Air pollution is the best example: Our air is cleaner today than when I was a boy. So is our water. But there are 100,000 Americans who still die from coal and car pollution every year in the United States, and one in five people worldwide — that’s 10 billion people a year who die from fossil fuel pollution. Those deaths are unnecessary and senseless. We have cleaner technologies available now. So if we can help people see that clean energy and climate solutions will restore our water and air, they might be more likely to say, “Okay, let’s give it a try.”
CO2 and methane are the big villains of the book, but I noticed that you don’t tangle with nitrous oxide too much. Was there any thinking behind that decision?
The problem with nitrous oxide is there are fewer things that we can do to reduce emissions. The number one source of nitrous oxide pollution — which causes about 10% of global warming, it’s not a trivial amount — is nitrogen fertilization for our crops. It’s a very complicated discussion when you get into growing food for people around the world, especially in poor countries, and climate change caused by resource consumption in richer countries. The issues are more complicated, and the solution set is smaller.
In your chapter about hydrogen — which you express some doubts about — you say it’s not your job as a scientist to “pick winners and losers.” I’m curious about these moments of tension between your personal opinions and your position as a scientist. When do you speak up, and when do you choose to stand back?
I wish I had a perfect answer to that. I speak more often now than I did earlier in my career. I feel that we’ve run out of time. There’s more urgency today. I feel like I no longer have the luxury of just letting the data speak. I want to try to help people understand the available solutions and the things that we can do individually and systematically.
To succeed in the fight against climate change, we will, I think, need to accept solutions that are not our favorites. And that’s a difficult message. People tend to fight everything they’re not 100% happy with, but the climate is not going to be fixed by any single solution.
The part of your book that made me the most anxious was the chapter about methane leaks, where you’re driving around Boston taking air samples and having the methane sensors go off all over the place. It also reminds me of the chapter on indoor air pollution and how many of these forms of pollution are so passive — like methane quietly leaking into our homes or up from under our streets.
The city home work has been really interesting, and it’s consumed a lot of recent years of my life — much more than I expected it to. And yet the biggest surprise of our methane work in the homes was how slow but consistent leaks from appliances like stoves and the pipes in people’s walls produced more pollution than the methane that leaked when the appliances were on. And that’s because the appliance might be on for an hour a day, but for 23 hours a day, the slow bleed of methane continues to the atmosphere.
It isn’t passive, though. The pollutants we document include NOx gases that trigger asthma. Benzene, formed in flames, is a carcinogen. We would never willingly stand over the tailpipe of a car breathing in the exhaust, yet we willingly stand over a stove, breathing the exact same pollutants, day after day, meal after meal, year after year.
Your book takes readers to many places worldwide. Is there any one project or organization that stands out to you as particularly exciting or crucial?
I very much enjoyed learning about green steel manufacturing. The chapter that I enjoyed the most, though, was the trip to Finland [to see the work of the Snowchange Cooperative, a landscape restoration group]. What I liked about that project, first of all, was seeing people taking matters into their own hands and working for solutions. But what was so interesting for me was the idea of “rewilding,” in the European sense — they’re not interested in trying to recreate an exact replica of something that was present in 1900. They’re trying to restore a functioning ecosystem that will still be there in 100 years. It’s a beautiful sight and the message was very moving for me.
The book vacillates between optimism and a kind of wary realism. I think that’s kind of the conundrum of climate activists on the whole, but is it something you have thoughts about? Do you want readers to come away hopeful, or are you hoping this galvanizes action, too?
That duality, that tension, is deeply rooted in me, and perhaps many people who care about climate and environment. I study the Earth for a living; I see the changes happening not just year to year but decade to decade from now. And you can’t help but be discouraged about the lack of progress.
But on the other hand, I talk to students about how optimism and hope are muscles we can exercise. My first homework assignment in every class is for students to find things that are better today than they were 50 or 100 years ago. That list is long: life expectancy and childhood mortality; water and air quality; the decline of global poverty despite all the injustices that remain. Then there are many specific examples, like the phase-out of leaded gasoline, the Montreal Protocol, and my favorite example, the U.S. Clean Air Act, which saves hundreds of thousands of lives a year at a 30-fold return on investment, so workers are healthier and more productive. We all breathe easier and pay lower medical expenses from air pollution. So I talk to students about how it’s important to acknowledge past successes; by doing so, we make future successes, such as climate, more likely.
Are there any last thoughts about your book that you want to leave readers with?
In the book, I tend to emphasize technologies — maybe to a fault. We don’t talk enough about reducing consumption and demand. The world is deeply unequal in terms of resource use and pollution.
I’m obviously a nerdy guy, and I talk about how we’re in the “myocene” — the my-ocene — the era when the top 1% of the world’s population contributes more fossil carbon emissions than half the people on Earth. The world cannot support the global population at the levels of resource use that we have in the United States right now. Either we need to reduce our energy use and consumption somewhat, or those other people in those other countries will aspire to be like us and they’ll produce and use more.
One example is cars: if everyone in the world owned cars at the rate we do, there would be 7 billion cars instead of about 1.5 billion. And I don’t care whether those cars are EVs or hydrogen vehicles or whatever; the world would not be a more sustainable and richer place with 5 billion more cars on it. We need to talk about using less in this country, not just building new things.
https://heatmap.news/culture/rob-jackson-book
50 years ago, CP/M started the microcomputer revolution
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
In 1974, Gary Kildall got the first version working and changed the world of operating systems
Late in the summer of 1974, CP/M first started running on hardware. It became one of the first cross-platform microcomputer OSes, and revolutionized the hardware and software industries.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/cpm_50th_anniversary/
John Boston | Making a Case for Healthy Intolerance
date: 2024-08-02, from: The Signal
Right off the bat, here’s two competing concepts. Each day, each moment, is filled with uncountable blessings. We take in life-giving breaths without counting a single one. There is an […]
The post John Boston | Making a Case for Healthy Intolerance appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/john-boston-making-a-case-for-healthy-intolerance/
Scenes of joy as American hostages return home
date: 2024-08-02, from: VOA News USA
Three Americans unjustly detained in Russia stepped foot on U.S. soil again late Thursday. Waiting for them, President Joe Biden and their loved ones. VOA’s Jessica Jerreat reports.
https://www.voanews.com/a/scenes-of-joy-as-american-hostages-return-home/7727135.html
Selina Thomas | Paris Piques Excitement for 2028
date: 2024-08-02, from: The Signal
Having just returned from Paris, despite the jet lag, I am overwhelmed with pride, happiness and enthusiasm for what lies ahead in the 2028 Olympic Games, which will be held […]
The post Selina Thomas | Paris Piques Excitement for 2028 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/selina-thomas-paris-piques-excitement-for-2028/
Christine Flowers | Harris Campaign: Make Abortion Great Again
date: 2024-08-02, from: The Signal
There is an almost cult-like trope circulating on social media involving Kamala Harris. There are numerous variations, but it essentially involves stating a few key details about yourself like “I’m […]
The post Christine Flowers | Harris Campaign: Make Abortion Great Again appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/christine-flowers-harris-campaign-make-abortion-great-again/
Microsoft whiz dishes the dirt on the Blue Screen Of Death’s colorful past
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
CrowdStrike reminded the public that BSODs still exist. Their origins go back decades
Veteran Microsoft engineer Raymond Chen has taken to his Old New Thing blog to clear up an apparent mystery regarding the origins of the infamous Windows Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/who_wrote_windows_bsod/
How Harris Left Medicare For All Behind
date: 2024-08-02, from: The Lever News
Kamala Harris once championed a true universal health care plan, only to walk it back. Now, nobody knows where she stands.
https://www.levernews.com/how-harris-left-medicare-for-all-behind/
Yes, I am being intolerably smug – because I ignored you and saved the project
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The minutes before a maintenance window closes are maybe not the best time to re-learn obscure router syntax
On Call The instructions on what to do at 5:00PM Friday are clear: down tools and prepare to have fun for two days. But as many Register readers are required to remain available to fix things all weekend, our team is commanded to use Fridays for a new instalment of On Call, the reader-contributed column that describes dodging danger and disasters while performing tech support tasks.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/on_call/
FLTK 1.4.x Weekly Snapshot (master)
date: 2024-08-02, from: Fast Light Tool Kit
A new weekly snapshot of FLTK 1.4.x (master) is now available
https://www.fltk.org/articles.php?L1934
Today in SCV History (Aug. 2)
date: 2024-08-02, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1935 – Newhall deputy Archie Carter sentenced to one year in jail for contributing to the delinquency of a minor after his wife fatally shot his 20-year-old mistress (the age of majority was 21) [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-aug-2/
Book Review | ‘Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show’ by Tommy Tomlinson
date: 2024-08-02, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
A tale told with humor, poignancy, vivid description, and heart.
The post Book Review | ‘Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show’ by Tommy Tomlinson appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Americans released in historic prisoner swap arrive in US
date: 2024-08-02, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/americans-released-in-historic-prisoner-swap-arrive-in-us/7727112.html
UK crimebusters shut down global call-spoofing outfit that claimed 170K-plus victims
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Suspected devs behind Russian Coms cuffed – now to find the users of the nastyware
The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has shut down an outfit called Russian Coms – a call-spoofing service believed to have swindled hundreds of thousands of victims.…
Webcurios 02/08/24
date: 2024-08-02, from: Web Curios blog
Reading Time: 32 minutes HELLO EVERYONE! Are you enjoying the Olympics? Or are you instead choosing to use it as an opportunity to pursue your single-minded fixation on incredibly complex questions of human biology? However you’ve chosen to spend your week, I hope you’ve had a fabulous time – unless, of course, you chose to spend any portion of…https://webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-02-08-24/
Japan mandates app to ensure national ID cards aren’t forged
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
First delays, then data leaks – now fraud detection needed at point of use
The Japanese government has released details of of an app that verifies the legitimacy of its troubled My Number Card – a national identity document.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/japan_smartcard_verification_app/
Amazon: Our cloud growth just sped up. Did you know we are also quite a big retailer?
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Reveals Kuiper broadband sats to fly later this year and solid Q2 sales
Amazon.com has taken the unusual step of leading its quarterly results webcast with discussion of performance at Amazon Web Services.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/amazon_q2_2024/
First-time buyers, especially in China, help Apple to quarterly revenue record
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
iPhone cash is a little off, but AI might just turn that around
Apple has posted its best-ever revenue for the June quarter, with help from first-time buyers of Macs and iPads.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/apple_q3_2024/
‘Historic act of resolve and compassion’: Family, supporters on prison swap
date: 2024-08-02, from: VOA News USA
India contemplates compulsory dynamic 2FA for digital payments
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
SMS OTPs are overused, so bring on the tokens and biometrics
India’s central bank on Wednesday proposed a requirement for dynamically generated second authentication factors for most digital payments.…
Appeals court kicks fate of net neutrality in America further down the road
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Judges wonder out loud: If Congress wanted this, it would have passed a law, no?
The fate of net neutrality in the US still hangs in the balance, with a decision now unlikely before the November presidential election.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/02/fcc_net_neutrality/
Here’s the Video for Our Fourth FOIA Forum: PACER with Seamus Hughes
date: 2024-08-02, from: 404 Media Group
PACER expert Seamus Hughes shows us how to dig up interesting court cases and so much more.
https://www.404media.co/fora-forum-pacer-with-seamus-hughes/
Public Health urging ‘common-sense precautions’ amid rising COVID-19 rates
date: 2024-08-02, from: The Signal
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is urging residents to take common-sense precautions to avoid becoming ill with COVID-19. Since mid-May, Public Health has seen consistent increases of […]
The post Public Health urging ‘common-sense precautions’ amid rising COVID-19 rates appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
Historic prisoner swap frees Americans imprisoned in Russia
date: 2024-08-02, from: VOA News USA
Americans Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, and others are freed from Russian prisons in a deal involving 16 political prisoners exchanged for eight individuals requested by the Kremlin. With Liam Scott and Cristina Caicedo Smit, Jessica Jerreat reports. Patsy Widakuswara contributed. Cameras: Martin Bubenik, Krystof Maixner, Hoshang Fahim.
https://www.voanews.com/a/historic-prisoner-swap-frees-americans-imprisoned-in-russia/7726667.html
Rotary Club hosts barbecue for sheriff’s deputies
date: 2024-08-02, from: The Signal
After hearing some of the challenges facing the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, such as departmentwide staffing levels that make overtime mandatory for deputies, a local community service organization wanted […]
The post Rotary Club hosts barbecue for sheriff’s deputies appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/rotary-club-hosts-barbecue-for-sheriffs-deputies/
Canyon Country teen charged in juvenile court for attempted murder
date: 2024-08-02, from: The Signal
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office confirmed this week a juvenile has been charged in connection with a shooting near a Canyon Country mobile home park. The office released […]
The post Canyon Country teen charged in juvenile court for attempted murder appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/canyon-country-teen-charged-in-juvenile-court-for-attempted-murder/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Donald Trump vows retribution at first 2024 presidential rally in Waco.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/25/donald-trump-waco-rally-retribution-justice/
US sends cybercriminals back to Russia in prisoner swap that freed WSJ journo, others
date: 2024-08-02, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Techno-crooks greeted by grinning Putin after landing
At least two Russian cybercriminals are among those being returned to their motherland as part of a multinational prisoner exchange deal announced Thursday.…
County expected to formally approve city’s takeover of Hart Park
date: 2024-08-02, from: The Signal
After the Santa Clarita City Council approved the purchase last month, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is set on Tuesday to vote on formally transferring the ownership of William […]
The post County expected to formally approve city’s takeover of Hart Park appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/county-expected-to-formally-approve-citys-takeover-of-hart-park/
Church to host Back to School carnival for families in need
date: 2024-08-02, from: The Signal
With the start of a new school season right around the corner, Crosspoint Church plans to celebrate with a Back-to-School event to support families in need in the Santa Clarita […]
The post Church to host Back to School carnival for families in need appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/church-to-host-back-to-school-carnival-for-families-in-need/
US, Japan eye warfighting capabilities through alliance upgrade
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
washington — The realignment of the United States armed forces in Japan, announced on the heels of the latest U.S.-Japan security talks, will focus on developing warfighting capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region, former U.S. military officials and experts say.
During a meeting of the Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee in Tokyo on Sunday, the two nations agreed to upgrade the command and control of the U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ), converting the current USFJ structure into a joint force headquarters.
The new headquarters will be given “expanded missions and operational responsibilities,” according to a statement released after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with their Japanese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara.
Jerry Martinez, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general who served as the USFJ commander from 2016 to 2019, said this move is “a gigantic step forward” for the United States, Japan and the alliance at large.
“This action signals the high regard in which both countries view the alliance, as well as the need to ensure Japan is always ready to withstand any threats in the region,” Martinez told VOA Korean via email on Wednesday.
“It sends a strong signal to potential threats that Japan as a whole is trained, prepared and operationally ready to meet any challenges,” he said.
Harry Harris, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea during the Trump administration, told VOA Korean in an email on Tuesday that the USFJ headquarters will take on more operational command responsibilities.
“It greatly expands the heretofore limited role of the existing USFJ,” said Harris, who was also commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command from 2015 to 2018.
“USFJ was not responsible for joint war planning,” he said, adding that the move to set up a new headquarters recognizes “the importance in Japan of effective joint planning between the U.S. and Japan.”
The reconstitution of American forces stationed in Japan, scheduled for March 2025, is widely seen as the most substantial transformation since its establishment in 1957.
“This will be the most significant change to U.S. Forces Japan since its creation and one of the strongest improvements in our military ties with Japan in 70 years,” Austin said in a press conference Sunday in Tokyo.
According to experts in Washington, the changes are aimed at giving USFJ an actual warfighting command, which has, up to now, been largely assumed by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, headquartered in Hawaii.
“It was more of a command that focused on kind of day-to-day management of resources in Japan,” Robert Peters, research fellow for nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the Heritage Foundation, told VOA Korean by phone on Wednesday.
“USFJ is going to have more responsibilities and more capabilities, so they’re going to be able to make their own decisions when a war breaks out,” he said.
Peters, who served as a special adviser in the Office of the Secretary of Defense during the Obama administration, said the new USFJ will be “more relevant to the warfighting.”
James Przystup, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Japan Chair, told VOA Korean via email on Tuesday that the focus of the new joint command will be the closer operational integration of U.S. military assets, which encompass elements of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.
“USFJ as it stands today serves an administrative function,” Przystup said. “Establishing a joint force headquarters provides for the closer operational integration of U.S. forces deployed in Japan.”
According to the joint statement of the Security Consultative Committee on Sunday, the new U.S. joint force headquarters will serve as a counterpart to Japan’s Joint Operations Command, facilitating deeper interoperability and cooperation on joint bilateral operations.
The USFJ’s cooperation with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) is expected to take a form different from the Combined Forces Command in South Korea, a joint warfighting headquarters consisting of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and the South Korean military.
Retired U.S. Army General Robert Abrams, who served as the commander of the USFK from 2018 to 2021, told VOA Korean in an email on Wednesday that the USFJ and JSDF are completely separate.
“There is no mention of the newly converted USFJ headquarters becoming a combined command or implying that this USFJ headquarters would have operational control of Japanese Self-Defense Forces,” Abrams said. “Japan’s minister of defense made clear that there was no plan to put JSDF under U.S. command.”
Przystup said the new USFJ Joint Forces Command, along with Japan’s own Joint Operations Command, will facilitate closer U.S.-Japan defense cooperation in dealing with security challenges posed by China as well as North Korea, “in particular with respect to operational integration of Japan’s counterstrike capability within the alliance, thus enhancing alliance-based deterrence.”
While Austin stressed during the Sunday press conference that “our decision to move in this direction is not based upon any threat from China,” the U.S. and Japan made it clear that China’s external stance and military actions pose a serious concern.
In response to an inquiry from VOA Korean, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Tuesday that China is not a threat to global stability and peace.
“The so-called ‘China threat theory’ is groundless and should not be used as an excuse for military expansion,” Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a written statement via email. “U.S.-Japan relations should not target other countries, harm their interests or undermine regional peace and stability.”
Memes, mudslinging appear on social media in run-up to election
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
In a U.S. election season that has been filled with unexpected twists and turns, social media users have responded in kind … with coconuts and cat ladies. VOA’s Tina Trinh explains.
AI to invade hundreds more Taco Bell drive-thrus this year
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
After McDonald’s puts chatbots on ice, TB decides to take a bite
Yet another fast food franchise thinks it has what it takes to make the AI-powered drive-thru work.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/ai_taco_bell/
SCV Nonprofit, School Projects Sought for Make a Difference Day
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The city of Santa Clarita has announced the return of Make a Difference Day on Saturday, Oct. 26. This special day is dedicated to fostering community spirit through volunteerism and organizers are looking for Santa Clarita Valley nonprofits and schools to submit projects that can use volunteer help.
https://scvnews.com/scv-nonprofit-school-projects-sought-for-make-a-difference-day/
SCVEDC Releases Q2 2024 Santa Clarita Economic Snapshot
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation has released its Santa Clarita Second Quarter 2024 Economic Snapshot
https://scvnews.com/scvedc-releases-q2-2024-santa-clarita-economic-snapshot/
How Russia swap happened: Secret talks, a hitman and Biden’s fateful call
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
washington — The historic prisoner swap with Russia that freed U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and 15 other Westerners was the fruit of painstaking, secret talks — and one crucial phone call from President Joe Biden an hour before he dropped his reelection bid.
Biden welcomed the families of the three U.S. citizens and one U.S. resident to the White House on Thursday, just as the release was taking place in Ankara.
After placing an emotional phone call to their loved ones from the Oval Office, they appeared with the president in front of journalists.
Asked what he’d told the newly liberated Americans, Biden answered: “I said, ‘Welcome almost home.’”
But the smiles hid the pain of waiting during long months of feverish negotiations.
The White House had worked desperately — and largely out of public view — to free Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter Alsu Kurmasheva and U.S. green card holder Vladimir Kara-Murza, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kurmasheva is a Prague-based editor on the Tatar-Bashkir Service of VOA sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
This meant high-level talks with Russia at a time when East-West relations are in open conflict over the Ukraine war.
But it also meant, say U.S. officials, leaning hard on European allies reluctant to give in to Moscow’s demands for getting back a string of Russian citizens imprisoned in the West for serious crimes.
In the end, Biden secured the key piece of the puzzle on July 21 — the very day that the 81-year-old Democrat stunned the world by announcing that he would no longer stand in November’s election.
Holed up in his Delaware beach home with COVID-19, he was about to release his shock statement. Yet before that, he had one more bit of work on the prisoner deal to do.
“I’m not making this up — literally an hour before he released that statement, he was on the phone with his Slovenian counterpart, urging them to make the final arrangements and to get this deal over the finish line,” a senior U.S. official told reporters.
Slovenia later freed two of the Russians, who had been convicted by a court of spying.
But no one knew for certain that the deal would go through until the very end.
In a sign of the strain on negotiators and families alike, Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan choked up on the White House podium as he welcomed what he called a “good day.”
“We held our breath and crossed our fingers until just a couple of hours ago,” he said.
The process leading to Thursday’s news began all the way back in 2018 when Whelan was arrested and Donald Trump was U.S. president.
Not only was Whelan not freed, but then Gershkovich was arrested while reporting in Yekaterinburg in March 2023. Suddenly, “these efforts were obviously made more complicated,” Sullivan said.
In what critics describe as state-sponsored hostage-taking, Moscow’s biggest condition was the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian jailed in Germany for assassinating a former Chechen rebel commander in Berlin in 2019.
Germany balked at giving up a hitman who had carried out such a brazen murder on its soil.
To persuade Berlin, Sullivan said, “required extensive diplomatic engagement with our German counterparts, starting at the top with the president.”
Then in February this year, the tense diplomatic to-and-fro took another dark turn when Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny — who Sullivan revealed Thursday had also been on the U.S. wish list for release — died in a Russian prison.
“The team felt like the wind had been taken out of our sails,” the senior U.S. official added.
By coincidence, Gershkovich’s mother and father were meeting with Sullivan at the White House that same day. It’s “going to be a little bit more of a rocky path,” he told them.
The breakthrough came during Oval Office talks between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Biden in April.
“Chancellor Scholz responded to the president saying, ‘For you, I will do this,’” added the U.S. official.
Biden on Thursday thanked Scholz, praising the “bold and brave” decisions by allies.
And once the deal was outlined, a careful choreography ensued.
Russia fast-tracked a trial for Gershkovich, which ended with him receiving a 16-year jail sentence — but which behind the scenes indicated that Russia was preparing for the swap.
Finally, the White House ceremony on Thursday brought this diplomatic and intensely personal journey to a head.
Noting that it was the 13th birthday of Kurmasheva’s daughter, Miriam Butorin, Biden asked the assembled family members and journalists to sing “Happy Birthday” — perhaps the happiest possible.
Santa Clarita Public Library is Back to School Ready!
date: 2024-08-01, from: City of Santa Clarita
Equipping Students for Success with the Library’s Support As the new school year approaches, the Santa Clarita Public Library stands ready to support students with a wide variety of essential resources and programs designed to foster learning and achievement. From preschool to high school, the Library offers: For those eager to access these crucial resources […]
The post Santa Clarita Public Library is Back to School Ready! appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/08/01/santa-clarita-public-library-is-back-to-school-ready/
Santa Barbara Parents Who Rock
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Take inspiration from these moms and dads who make time to make music.
The post Santa Barbara Parents Who Rock appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/01/santa-barbara-parents-who-rock/
Diplomatic partnerships: What do they mean?
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/diplomatic-partnerships-what-do-they-mean-/7726606.html
Santa Barbara Humane Announces SB Humane Gala 2024 Great Gatsby FurBall
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
On Friday, September 6, 2024, Santa Barbara Humane will host the SB Humane Gala 2024 Great Gatsby FurBall from 6:00
The post Santa Barbara Humane Announces SB Humane Gala 2024 Great Gatsby FurBall appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Condor Express Named a Best Place to See Dolphins in the Wild
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
InsideHook online magazine recently named the Condor Express of Santa Barbara as one of the “7 Best Places in the
The post Condor Express Named a Best Place to See Dolphins in the Wild appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Vides Was ‘Wildly Delusional’ at Time of Stabbing, Psychologist Testifies
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The defendant was also diagnosed with “unspecified dissociative disorder.”
The post Vides Was ‘Wildly Delusional’ at Time of Stabbing, Psychologist Testifies appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Sept. 5: The MAIN Hosts ‘Decades Flashback: Hits From The 80’S & 90’S’
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
“Decades Flashback: Hits From The 80’s & 90’s” a production, directed by Olga Kramarova and featuring Laura Ellis and Todd Honeycutt will be featured at The MAIN Thursday, September 5, 8 to 10 p.m
https://scvnews.com/sept-5-the-main-hosts-decades-flashback-hits-from-the-80s-90s/
Mission Opera Seeking Volunteers For ‘Cold Sassy Tree’
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Mission Opera is seeking volunteers for various positions for its production, “Cold Sassy Tree,” which will run Oct. 25-27, 12:30 p.m.- 5 p.m. at the Canyon High School Performing Arts Center, 19300 Nadal St., Santa Clarita, CA,
https://scvnews.com/mission-opera-seeking-volunteers-for-cold-sassy-tree/
There’s No Place Like Home
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
In 1935, a short comedy called “La Fiesta de Santa Barbara” featured a young Judy Garland, who, four years later, became one of the original embodiments of modern day brat — Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.”
The post There’s No Place Like Home appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/01/theres-no-place-like-home-3/
Play Store could soon handle updates for sideloaded applications
date: 2024-08-01, from: OS News
Android 14 introduced the ability for application stores to claim ownership over application updates, to ensure other installation sources won’t accidentally update applications they shouldn’t. What is still lacking, however, is for users to easily change the update ownership for applications. In other words, say you install an application by downloading an APK from GitHub, and later the application makes its way to F-Droid, you’ll get warning popups when F-Droid tries to update that application. That’s about to change, it seems, as Android Authority discovered that the Play Store application seems to be getting a new feature where it can take ownership of an application’s updates. A new flag spotted in the latest Google Play Store release suggests that users may see the option to install updates for apps downloaded from a different source. As you can see in the attached screenshots, the Play Store will show available updates for apps downloaded from different sources. On the app listing, you’ll also see a new “Update from Play” button that will switch the update ownership from the original source to the Play Store. ↫ Pranob Mehrotra at Android Authority Assuming this functionality is just an API other application stores can also tap into, this will be a great addition to Android for power users who use multiple application stores and want to properly manage which store updates what applications. It’s not something most people will ever really use or need, but if you’re the kind of person who does need it – it’ll become indispensable.
Russia, China leading wave of ‘unprecedented’ intelligence threats to US
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
washington — The United States is facing a series of unprecedented threats from foreign intelligence agencies, some of which are increasingly cooperating with each other to gain an advantage, according to a newly approved strategy to blunt the impact of espionage.
The National Counterintelligence Strategy, signed by President Joe Biden on Thursday, calls out Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as the main culprits, identifying Moscow and Beijing as “the most significant intelligence threats.”
But the document warns they are increasingly launching more aggressive operations and even working together, or with others, to undermine the U.S.
U.S. counterintelligence officials “see our leading adversaries cooperating more frequently with one another, enhancing the threat they pose,” the strategy warns, adding that “many PRC [People’s Republic of China], Russian, and Iranian intelligence activities still go undetected.”
“Commercial entities are playing increasingly important enabling roles,” it adds.
In some cases, foreign spy services are turning to widely available products to better conduct surveillance or collect massive amounts of data. In other instances, spies are using technology to infiltrate critical systems belonging both to the U.S. government and private entities.
“A growing number of commercial firms are flooding the market with high-quality cyber intrusion tools, expanding the pool of [foreign intelligence] actors that can threaten our networks and people,” the strategy says.
But U.S. intelligence officials have warned that in other cases, adversaries are turning to private companies to mask their involvement.
Earlier this week, a U.S. intelligence official warned that Russia in particular was turning to private Russian companies in its effort to meddle with the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
“This includes outsourcing its efforts to commercial firms to hide its hand,” the official said.
Officials accused Beijing of also using companies in China and in the Middle East and Latin America to push disinformation campaigns and carry out other influence operations.
China and Russia have repeatedly dismissed such accusations, with Beijing accusing the U.S. of being “the biggest disseminator of disinformation.”
The warning of growing intelligence cooperation among key U.S. adversaries, however, echoes warnings of a growing collaboration on other fronts.
U.S. and Western officials have recently accused Russia, China, Iran and North Korea of forming a new “Axis of Evil,” working together to supply Moscow with weapons and ammunition for its war in Ukraine.
“It is a concern. It is a concern that you have both China, North Korea, Russia, Iran — countries that are not necessarily coordinated in the past — looking to figure out how they can have impact,” U.S. President Joe Biden said during a news conference last month.
“There is no time to lose,” a NATO official told VOA, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the expanding cooperation. “This must be a key priority for all our allies.”
The new U.S. counterintelligence strategy seeks to provide U.S. intelligence agencies with a road map to counter the growing threats.
Part of that involves investing in technologies and programs to help U.S. intelligence agencies better detect plots, anticipate threats and more widely share that information with other government agencies and allies.
The strategy also calls for more use of artificial intelligence, or AI, to better defend against espionage activities and to launch offensive campaigns aimed at disrupting foreign plots.
“Foreign intelligence and security services and their proxies persist in seeking to acquire our most sensitive information, technology and intellectual property. Nonstate actors are following suit,” Biden wrote in an introduction to the new counterintelligence strategy.
The strategy, he added, “ensures we are well-positioned to counter foreign intelligence threats.”
Third lawsuit filed over chiropractor with camera in bathroom
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
A third lawsuit has been filed over the accusations surrounding a Valencia chiropractor arrested on suspicion he filmed patients using the restroom, a situation with several legal issues pending. Among […]
The post Third lawsuit filed over chiropractor with camera in bathroom appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/another-lawsuit-filed-over-chiropractor-with-camera-in-bathroom/
How Much of La Cumbre Plaza Development Should Be Affordable?
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara city councilmembers make the case for a term sheet asking for 25 percent below-market units and public spaces.
The post How Much of La Cumbre Plaza Development Should Be Affordable? appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/01/how-much-of-la-cumbre-plaza-development-should-be-affordable/
Deputies arrest man after brief pursuit, crash
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies arrested a man after a very brief mid-day pursuit on Newhall Ranch Road on Wednesday, according to station officials. Sgt. Mark Perkins of the […]
The post Deputies arrest man after brief pursuit, crash appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/deputies-arrest-man-after-brief-pursuit-crash/
A $10 billion bond alone won’t fix California schools so districts weigh local options
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The LAist
Los Angeles County districts have until August 9 to decide whether to ask local voters to approve bonds and parcel taxes.
https://laist.com/news/education/los-angeles-county-school-bond-election-deadline-2024
US Democrats start voting to nominate Harris as presidential candidate
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
“Why I prefer rST to Markdown”
date: 2024-08-01, from: OS News
This is my second book written with Sphinx, after the new Learn TLA+. Sphinx uses a peculiar markup called reStructured Text (rST), which has a steeper learning curve than markdown. I only switched to it after writing a couple of books in markdown and deciding I needed something better. So I want to talk about why rst was that something. ↫ Hillel Wayne I’ve never liked Markdown – I find it quite arbitrary and unpleasant to look at, and the fact there’s countless variants that all differ a tiny bit doesn’t help – so even though I don’t actually use Markdown for anything, I always have a passing interest in possible alternatives, if only to see what other, different, and unique ideas are out there when it comes to relatively simple markup languages. Now, I’m quite sure reStructured Text isn’t for me either, since I feel like it’s far more powerful than Markdown, and serves a different, more complex purpose. That being said, I figured I’d highlight it here since it seems it may be interesting to some of you who work on documentation for your software projects or similar endeavours.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140388/why-i-prefer-rst-to-markdown/
Yosemite’s Peregrine Falcons Are Rebounding Thanks to Unlikely Allies: Rock Climbers
date: 2024-08-01, from: Smithsonian Magazine
After pesticides decimated the birds’ numbers, climbers helped the species regain a foothold in the park
Intel to shed at least 15% of staff, will outsource more to TSMC, slash $10B in costs
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Share price in meltdown as Pat hopes buyers, investors, board can wait for 2026 turnaround
Analysis Intel plans to layoff more than 16,000 staff, or at least 15 percent of its workforce, with most cuts coming by the end of the year as the x86 giant scrambles to get its finances under control.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/intel_to_ax_headcount/
AI Music Generator Suno Admits It Was Trained on ‘Essentially All Music Files on the Internet’
date: 2024-08-01, from: 404 Media Group
“Suno’s training data includes essentially all music files of reasonable quality that are accessible on the open internet.”
Here we go again with more AI crime prediction for policing
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Hold that thought, citizen
The government of President Javier Milei in Argentina last week announced the creation of an artificial intelligence group within the country’s Cybercrime and Cyber Affairs Directorate that will use statistical software to predict crime.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/argentina_crime_prediction/
‘Conception’ Captain Ordered to Pay $32K to Families of Three of 34 Victims Killed in 2019 Boat Fire
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Several other cases are still in dispute, while claims for psychological counseling, travel expenses, legal fees, and other miscellaneous expenses were not granted.
The post ‘Conception’ Captain Ordered to Pay $32K to Families of Three of 34 Victims Killed in 2019 Boat Fire appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
NASA Shares its SpaceX Crew-10 Assignments for Space Station Mission
date: 2024-08-01, from: NASA breaking news
As part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission, four crew members are preparing to launch for a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Commander Anne McClain and Pilot Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov will join astronauts at the orbiting […]
Is AI going to pay its way? Wall Street wants tech world to show it the money
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
2025 could be Peak Nvidia when reality finally kicks in
Kettle The tech world has been banging on about the amazing benefits of generative artificial intelligence – so when are we going to see them?…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/is_ai_going_to_pay/
Biles wins her second Olympic all-around gymnastics title
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
paris — Simone Biles remains peerless. Even when she’s not quite perfect.
The American gymnastics star edged Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade during a tense Olympic all-around final on Thursday. Biles’ total of 59.131 was just more than a point ahead of Andrade at 57.932, one of the closest calls Biles has ever endured at a major international event.
Sunisa Lee, the Tokyo Olympics champion, earned bronze despite spending much of the last 15 months dealing with multiple kidney diseases that left her return to the Games very much in doubt.
Still, the meet ended the way all of those Biles has started and finished over the last 11 years have: with hugs and gold.
The margin was the smallest in a major international event since Biles captured the third of her record six world championships in 2015.
She was a teenager then. She’s an icon now.
The 27-year-old who is redefining what a gymnast can do — and just as notably, for how long she can do it — became the third woman to become a two-time Olympic champion, joining Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union in 1956 and 1960 and Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia in 1964 and 1968.
Biles also is the oldest woman to claim the biggest title in her sport since then 30-year-old Maria Gorokhovskaya of the Soviet Union won the first-ever Olympic all-around in Melbourne, Australia, in 1952.
Yet the sixth gold and ninth overall medal — the same as Romanian great Nadia Comaneci, who was in the star-studded crowd that included the U.S. men’s basketball team — of Biles’ unparalleled career did not come as easy as so many that came before.
She misjudged a transition on uneven bars, the weakest of her four events, letting go of the upper bar too soon and forcing her to reach for a larger-than-expected gap.
While she didn’t fall — Biles muscled her way back into the routine — it blunted her momentum and led to major deductions that left her trailing Andrade through two rotations.
The deficit didn’t last.
Biles responded with a largely wobble-free 14.566 on the balance beam, the highest of the night among the 24 finalists.
In contrast, Andrade was forced to do a major balance check during her slightly easier set that dropped her down to second heading into floor exercise, Biles’ signature event.
Andrade, the silver medalist behind Lee in 2021, needed the best floor set of her life to catch Biles. It didn’t quite happen. Andrade stepped out of bounds at one point, a minor problem but enough to create plenty of wiggle room for Biles, who has rarely needed it over the years.
Biles incorporated music from pop icons Taylor Swift and Beyonce into her routine, a 75-second set that began with the opening bars of Swift’s hit “Ready For It” and featured the hardest tumbling ever done by a woman in the history of the sport.
When she was done — sealing gold that served as a redemption of sorts three years after pulling out of multiple finals in Tokyo to focus on her mental health — Biles sprinted to hug Lee just off the podium and blew kisses to the cameras that have become fixtures wherever she goes under the Olympic rings.
While there may be more medals on the way — Biles is in three event finals later in the Games — the all-around puts her into the conversation as perhaps the greatest American Olympian ever.
Biles is no longer the prodigy who triumphed in Rio de Janeiro eight years ago.
She’s married and a vocal advocate for survivors of sexual abuse and the importance of proper mental health. She openly volunteered after the Americans won gold in the team final on Tuesday that she met with her personal therapist that morning to help get her in the right mindset.
Biles relied on the internal work she’s done over the years after that rocky bars routine in Tokyo. She has said repeatedly over the last three years that what happened in Tokyo is a part of her past, not a part of her present, and if critics have a problem with it, that’s their issue, not hers.
She’s moved on to bigger things. Like setting a standard that may never be reached.
In her sport. And maybe all others, too.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biles-wins-her-second-olympic-all-around-gymnastics-title/7726348.html
NATO Bolsters Its Eastern Flank
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: RAND blog
Reinvigorated in large part because of Russian aggression against Ukraine, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is stronger now than at any time since the end of the Cold War. Its 75th anniversary summit in July dwelt on bolstering its eastern flank and supporting Ukraine.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/08/nato-bolsters-its-eastern-flank.html
Aug. 9: Santa Clarita Salsa Community Hike
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The city of Santa Clarita will hold a Salsa inspired Community Hike Friday, Aug. 9, at 6:30 p.m. at Central Park, 27150 Bouquet Canyon Rd, Santa Clarita, CA 91350, meet at the exercise stairs.
https://scvnews.com/aug-9-santa-clarita-salsa-community-hike/
Summer Nights at Central Park | Mayor Cameron Smyth
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
As we embrace the sunny days and warm nights of August, our community is still clamoring with excitement to spend their summer nights at Central Park
https://scvnews.com/summer-nights-at-central-park-mayor-cameron-smyth/
RIP Betty Oberacker
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Betty’s real claim to fame was that of a world-renowned concert pianist.
The post RIP Betty Oberacker appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/01/rip-betty-oberacker/
French Performance Artist Seals Himself in a Giant Bottle for Ten Days Outside Paris’ Olympic Stadium
date: 2024-08-01, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Abraham Poincheval has become a living message in a bottle, exploring themes of privacy and public space
🖖 Wagon train to the stars
date: 2024-08-01, from: Interesting, a blog on writing
Star Trek in outline form.
https://inneresting.substack.com/p/wagon-train-to-the-stars
Rare 1-in-100-Million ‘Cotton Candy’ Lobster Found off the Coast of New Hampshire
date: 2024-08-01, from: Smithsonian Magazine
A rare genetic mutation gives the crustacean its unique hues but also makes it more vulnerable to predators
Typical Democrat
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Typical Democrat. Blaming Republicans.
The post Typical Democrat appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/01/typical-democrat/
If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Don’t Live in a Red State
date: 2024-08-01, from: Heatmap News
The temperature in Dallas is forecast to reach 104 degrees fahrenheit this Friday, a level that sends most people hiding wherever they can find air conditioning. Now imagine you had to not only stay outside in that heat, but you had to work on a rooftop for hours, with no shade as the sun beats down on you.
The obvious threat to life and health posed to workers by that kind of heat has led some cities and counties to pass ordinances requiring employers to give workers regularly scheduled water breaks or time in the shade. This doesn’t sit right with some state-level Republicans, who have moved to prevent local governments from offering that protection. It’s called “preemption,” when a state government tells local governments what kinds of measures they’re forbidden from passing. And we’re probably going to see more of it, even as increasing temperatures and climate effects of all kinds become more of a problem local governments try to address.
There’s nothing inherently conservative about preemption, and it can even be used as a tool to reduce emissions (for instance, by overruling problematic local zoning laws). But these days, preemption laws are usually driven by a geographic tension: In nearly every red state where Republicans control the legislature and governorship, there are blue cities run by Democrats who will try to create rules that reflect their own values and priorities. In the coming years, the conflict between states and municipalities is going to be the locus of some intense battles as we struggle to deal with climate change — or, depending on who’s making the rules, not deal with it at all.
In Florida, perhaps the state more affected by climate change than any other, Governor Ron DeSantis and the GOP-run legislature have made clear their position on the issue of workers’ exposure to heat. Last summer, Miami-Dade County — where an estimated 300,000 people work outside — experienced a record 46 straight days of heat indexes topping 100 degrees. So members of the county commission proposed an ordinance that would have required 10-minute breaks in the shade for construction and farm workers when the heat index topped 90.
In response, the legislature passed a bill, which DeSantis signed, prohibiting local governments from requiring employers “to meet or provide heat exposure requirements not otherwise required under state or federal law.” In other words, no city or county in Florida will be allowed to have more comprehensive requirements protecting workers from heat exposure than the state or federal government does. But the state has no such requirements, and federal law has only general language instructing employers to provide workplaces “free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees.” The result is that Florida municipalities are effectively barred from regulating heat exposure in any way.
DeSantis may have taken his cue from Texas, where last year Governor Greg Abbott signed a sweeping preemption law that came to be known as the “Death Star bill.” It targeted local laws on a variety of issues, including ordinances in Austin and Houston that required water breaks for outdoor workers. While a judge declared the law unconstitutional, it remains in effect while under appeal.
The Biden administration is looking to move into the void created by laws like the ones in Texas and Florida. In early July, it announced a proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule that would require employers to develop plans to protect workers from heat and provide rest and water breaks. A poll taken by a progressive group showed the proposal to be almost absurdly popular, with 9 out of 10 respondents supporting it. Even Republicans were in agreement.
Unfortunately, such a rule faces a couple of key hurdles. First, a loophole in the half-century-old law that established OSHA exempted public employees from its protections unless states opted in, and 23 states haven’t (including Texas, Florida, and the entire Deep South).
More importantly, since the Supreme Court recently declared that executive agencies don’t enjoy the benefit of the doubt when deciding how ambiguous laws should be put into practice, if this regulation does go into effect, we can expect a lawsuit challenging OSHA’s right to regulate heat at all. Ultimately the decision will lie with the court’s six conservative justices, who have granted themselves the power to decide almost any policy question they choose. And given their general hostility to worker’s rights, it isn’t hard to predict how they’ll come down.
Which means that when it comes to workers and heat, along with other issues related to climate change, the real action may continue to be at the state and local level.
Preemption laws were already more likely to be passed in red states; while there are conservative rural areas in blue states, their self-governance hasn’t aroused the same ire among Democratic state legislators that Republicans feel toward their blue cities. Now consider what will happen after November. Whoever wins the presidential election, the red states/blue cities divide will remain in place, while national politics will almost certainly become even more angry and polarized.
Republican-run states will continue to move aggressively to flex their policymaking muscles, seeing how far they can move the law to the right where they have the power to do so. Elected officials in liberal cities may respond to their constituents’ dismay at state policy by pushing back against interference from state capitals, setting the stage for more conflict. As climate effects grow more pronounced, those cities will be looking for every way possible to both reduce their own emissions and mitigate the effects climate change is having on them.
That could mean an intensifying cycle of conflict over local climate laws, pitting mayors and county councils against governors and state legislators. While that goes on, the people forced to work outside will in all likelihood continue to suffer in the heat.
https://heatmap.news/politics/worker-heat-protections
14 arrested in human trafficking sting at comic convention in US
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/arrested-in-human-trafficking-sting-at-comic-convention-in-us/7726276.html
Despite tariffs, Chinese EV makers still make inroads
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/despite-tariffs-chinese-ev-makers-still-make-inroads/7726263.html
Too late now for canary test updates, says pension fund suing CrowdStrike
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
That horse has not just bolted, it’s trampled all over kernel space
CrowdStrike, after suggesting canary testing as a way to ensure it avoids future blunders leading to global computer outages, has been sued in federal court by investors for not using a phased approach in rolling out updates to customers in the first place.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/crowdstrike_lawsuit/
Why Energy Wonks Love the Permitting Deal
date: 2024-08-01, from: Heatmap News
Many climate advocates are revolting against Senator Joe Manchin’s permitting deal over its oil and gas industry giveaways. But not all of them. Among the climate wonk set, there’s a growing chorus that supports the bill and says the fossil fuel language is a pill worth swallowing.
The almost-retired West Virginia senator’s bill — which was voted out of committee yesterday with a bipartisan 15-4 vote — would grease the skids for approving new transmission and renewables projects in plenty of ways. It would also strengthen fossil fuel leasing mandates and, in the activists’ view, hinder efforts to wind down permitting for liquified natural gas export terminals.
Little analysis of this specific bill’s climate impacts has been made public, and any modeling would be highly variable. Yet clearly lawmakers have seen at least some research: During the hearing on the permitting bill, Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich claimed the oil and gas provisions would “likely increase emissions on a scale of less than” 160 million tons of CO2, while other parts of the bill would reduce emissions by 2 to 3 billion tons of CO2, he said.
Academics and consultants I spoke with agree with Heinrich’s take: The positive climate impacts of the pieces hastening permits crucial to the energy transition may easily outweigh the carbon dioxide and methane emissions impacts of the fossil fuel language. As I began to unpack the various points of view and the disparity between climate wonks and the many activists opposed to the bill, it became clear to me that the fissures between these two camps speak to a broad challenge facing the energy transition. Bipartisan compromise on climate change through the U.S. government’s system almost by necessity requires capitulation to fossil fuels, which violates the principles of many grassroots activists.
“Truth is, the U.S. is not ready to talk about seriously scaling down oil and gas production,” Noah Gordon, acting co-director for sustainability, climate, and geopolitics at the Carnegie Endowment for World Peace, told me via email. (Gordon said he “supports the bill despite reservations.”)
“The only way to make that conversation possible is to massively boost clean energy and change the balance of political power,” Gordon said. “In 2024, this is feasible only through all-energy-is-welcome bills like Manchin-Barrasso. On a more level playing field, clean energy will prove its superiority.”
How bad can it be?
Take the language on LNG. Yes, it would alter the course of an effort led by youth climate campaigners under the Biden administration to curtail approvals for pending LNG export terminals, which could have clear downsides for the communities surrounding these projects. But on a global scale, as my colleague Matthew Zeitlin has written, the climate impacts of American LNG really depend on where it’s going and what it’s used for. To make matters slightly more opaque, some environmentalists who claim the climate impacts of LNG exports would be catastrophic are referencing science that has yet to be peer-reviewed and is still disputed, as Zeitlin noted.
Or take the bill’s language on coal. If enacted, the legislation would require the government to adhere to strict deadlines on processing applications to lease coal — but it wouldn’t force the government to decide one way or the other on those applications. According to Jenny Harbine, an attorney for Earthjustice (which is opposed to the permitting bill), this language would not impact the Biden administration’s efforts to wind down coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, the nation’s most active coal mining region.
“This bill doesn’t appear to change that decision,” Harbine told me yesterday. “It appears to leave largely discretion in the hands of the Secretary to not lease.”
All of this is not to say that the climate wonks who support the bill enjoy the fossil fuel language — they’re quite sympathetic to the opposition’s rationale. But they also don’t think it’ll be the end of the world; meanwhile, the current permitting regime is just not cutting it. Sources pointed me to a study from the consultancy Evolved Energy Research, which found that about half the potential emissions reductions from the Inflation Reduction Act are essentially dependent on faster deployment and siting of renewables and interregional transmission.
“In terms of overall leverage on climate, the growth of domestic clean sources enabled by transmission really outweighs everything else,” Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies LLC, told me. “All of it is additional, whereas the fossil supply here is displacing fossil supply elsewhere, so a one-for-one deal … is a net carbon benefit because of that dynamic.”
Princeton professor and energy systems expert Jesse Jenkins (who is also a co-host of Heatmap’s Shift Key podcast) told me the same. Curbing oil and gas leasing on federal land would also not necessarily lower supply, as such drilling may just move to non-federal lands or other countries. Without addressing demand, there’s always the risk that leasing restrictions fail to substantially lower CO2 emissions. Jenkins nodded to a Resources for the Future study that quantified emissions from oil and gas leasing and found even a ban on new oil and gas leasing “would not on its own achieve net-zero emissions from oil and gas on federal lands by 2040,” stating much more action would be necessary — such as carbon sequestration, modifications to existing leases, and other measures.
“We can’t choke off the world’s supply for fossil fuels, but we can beat it with cheaper, better clean energy technologies,” he said.
The problem with ‘more of everything’
Ultimately, the Manchin permitting deal — which may or may not become law any time soon — could reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions over time, if the studies and charts are to be believed. That would be a great thing for the planet. But that’s not really why so many climate activists are against the bill. These people see the end of the petroleum sector as the paramount goal and refuse to settle for legislation that enshrines future fossil fuel production into law, even if the benefits to renewable energy deployment may be greater.
There are key differences between the kind of deal renewable energy developers and decarbonization-focused academics would enjoy and legislation that activists will accept, Tony Dutzik, associate director and senior policy analyst with the think tank Frontier Group, explained to me. Dutzik told me he works with environmental non-profits who are against the bill. “I’ve known so many people over the years, and the thing they wanted to do is to be on the front end of the clean energy transition, and dedicate their lives to that for very good reasons … But if you are a trade group or developer that is working on clean energy, that piece of the puzzle is your focus.”
Dutzik compared the IRA and the permitting legislation to longstanding environmental statutes like the Clean Air Act, which acted as a boundary on the market to reduce pollution. “Capitalism mobilizes an incredible amount of resources and can move incredibly quickly when it is given the incentives to do so,” he said, “but the thing that it hasn’t done is to set that boundary or that standard.”
It’s clear to me from my conversations with climate activists that there’s a lingering frustration about the American pro-market approach to climate. The IRA, for example, did very little to penalize fossil fuel production or greenhouse gas emissions at all — it took an all-carrot, no-stick approach to industrial policy. Something resembling a carbon tax is nowhere close to happening, unless you count the nascent bid to enact a carbon border adjustment mechanism. And regulatory efforts to clamp down on greenhouse gasses are getting stymied by courts.
“Essentially, what you wind up with — and this will be the core of the disagreement,” Dutzik said, “is you wind up with more of everything. And if you wind up with more of everything, that may get you more clean energy, but it doesn’t necessarily solve the climate problem, and it certainly doesn’t solve the problems that are experienced by people who live near fossil fuel production, transportation and consumption. And it doesn’t necessarily get at the relationship between fossil fuels and the natural world.”
Jenkins noted similar divisions occurred with the IRA, which had its own capitulations to fossil fuel.
“There’s a chunk of the climate campaigning groups [who believes] we win by raising the cost of permitting and transactions, and legal suits, and choking off supplies of fossil fuels. There’s another group of people — the people who helped get the IRA passed — who believe we win by displacing fossil fuels.”
In Jenkins’ view, the old way of curtailing fossil energy by choking off supplies may not really apply to a post-IRA world. Before the IRA, it made more sense to invest in “dirty energy” than clean energy, when now “the opposite is true.” This “tips the calculus of how you view this process from a climate perspective.” And it may be better to compromise and quicken new renewable energy deployment in the hopes it further diminishes interest in fossil fuel leasing.
“This is at the heart of it. I don’t think there’s any way we can create a legal regime that doesn’t apply something like parity across [all] different kinds of energy infrastructure,” Jenkins said. “You’re not going to get that in a bipartisan bill.”
https://heatmap.news/politics/permitting-bill-energy-wonks
New Art Exhibit “Textura” by Naomi Young at The MAIN
date: 2024-08-01, from: City of Santa Clarita
Immerse Yourself in a Visual Symphony of Emotions The City of Santa Clarita is excited to announce “Textura” featuring original artwork by local artist Naomi Young. This exhibition will be on display at The MAIN (24266 Main Street) from Tuesday, August 6 to Monday, September 30, with a special reception event planned for Thursday, August […]
The post New Art Exhibit “Textura” by Naomi Young at The MAIN appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/08/01/new-art-exhibit-textura-by-naomi-young-at-the-main/
iStat Menus 7
date: 2024-08-01, from: Michael Tsai
Marc Edwards: What’s new? Everything. iStat Menus 7 is a full reboot, sporting an all-new design with hundreds of big and small improvements. Bjango (version history): New menu bar modes, including stacked labels and values. New menu bar items, like Wi-Fi name, and GPU frames per second. Frequency monitoring and additional sensors on Apple Silicon […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/01/istat-menus-7/
ContextMenu 1.4.3
date: 2024-08-01, from: Michael Tsai
Matt Sephton: Many years ago I found ContextMenu ($4.99) which solves all of the issues I have with the Automator approach [to adding file commands to Finder’s contextual menu]. There’s also a free version, ContextMenu Lite, that supports up to 3 actions to give you a taste of the good stuff. Submenu is optional Apply […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/01/contextmenu-1-4-3/
FileUtils 1.0.1
date: 2024-08-01, from: Michael Tsai
ZigZag: Still, no matter how often I use an alternate file manager and constantly tracking progress of development of most of them, I still find myself manipulating files in Finder very often. Finder is just convenient. It’s always there, ready to be put into action. There are also some things, for which Finder is practically […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/01/fileutils-1-0-1/
Kaleidoscope 5.0.3
date: 2024-08-01, from: Michael Tsai
Kaleidoscope 4.5 (tweet): Recently, we have spent a lot of time on many aspects of the folder comparison feature for Kaleidoscope 4.4 and 4.5. We have overhauled some of the underpinnings and worked hard to improve reliability and speed. But we also added some major new features. It’s time to tell you a bit what […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/01/kaleidoscope-5-0-3/
Andrew Call to join as Leventhal dean
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Call served as director of the School of Accountancy at Arizona State University for six years.
The post Andrew Call to join as Leventhal dean appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/08/01/andrew-call-leventhal/
Exploring Deep Space: NASA Announces 2025 RASC-AL Competition
date: 2024-08-01, from: NASA breaking news
NASA has officially announced the 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition, an initiative to fuel innovation for aerospace systems concepts, analogs, and technology prototyping through university engagement. RASC-AL, one of NASA’s longest-running student competitions, solicits concepts from the next generation of engineers and scientists to explore the future of deep space […]
Developers’ fireside chat – 3rd August
date: 2024-08-01, from: RiscOS Story
The time has come once again for RISC OS developers, and anyone with an interest in the subject – perhaps as a beginner, or someone thinking of dipping their toes in – to gather around the virtual fire for a friendly chat. The next such meeting will take place on Saturday, 3rd August, kicking off at around 7:30pm. Taking place online, using the Zoom video conferencing platform, these meetings take place on a semi-regular basis, with the date of the next meeting decided at some point during the current one.…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/developers-fireside-chat-3rd-august/
New features for FAST machines in latest update
date: 2024-08-01, from: RiscOS Story
FAST – a backronym for ‘Fast Access to Storage Technology’ – is the name given by Andy Marks of RISCOSbits to a new range of machines launched at the 2023 Southwest Show – machines that do exactly as the acronym suggests, by accessing the PCIe port on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module to provide up to four full-speed SATA ports. At launch, Andy promised a regular upgrade cycle for anyone who buys a FAST computer, and he says the latest update – the second release for 2024 – brings the…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/fast-update-2024-2/
MACadd version 2.01 released
date: 2024-08-01, from: RiscOS Story
Kevin Wells has released an update to one of his various applications that allow remote sites to be interrogated for information from the RISC OS desktop – this time MACadd, a program used for getting information about MAC (Media Access Control) addresses. MAC addresses are usually written as twelve digit hexadecimal (base 16) values, and are intended to be unique addresses associated with devices connected to a network – although more often than not, they are usually associated with network interfaces on those devices. A computer with both an ethernet…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/macadd-2-01/
What Is the Secret Ingredient Behind Rembrandt’s Golden Glow?
date: 2024-08-01, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Scientists found arsenic sulfide pigments in “The Night Watch,” arguably the artist’s most famous painting
Bring the hammer down on Nvidia, US progressive and antitrust orgs urge the Feds
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Lobbyists would love for rumors of a monopoly probe into GPU goliath to become reality
As the US Department of Justice continues mulling an antitrust probe into Nvidia, numerous advocacy groups are urging the Feds on.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/nvidia_doj/
Back to School Safety
date: 2024-08-01, from: City of Santa Clarita
By Councilmember Laurene Weste “Remember that safety is not a gadget but a state of mind.” – Eleanor Everet I hope you all had a fantastic summer filled with fun and memorable moments with family and friends, whether you attended one of Santa Clarita’s amazing events—like the Fourth of July Parade, Concerts in the Park or […]
The post Back to School Safety appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/08/01/back-to-school-safety/
Telfer Mine, Western Australia
date: 2024-08-01, from: NASA breaking news
Landsat 9’s Operational Land Imager-2 captured this image of the open pits and ponds of Telfer Mine and the surrounding rust-colored soil on Dec. 15, 2023. The soils have a reddish tint from the iron oxides that have accumulated from millions of years of weathering. This part of Western Australia is known for being rich in natural […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/telfer-mine-western-australia/
Legal eagles target Intel for class action over cooked Raptor Lake CPUs
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with elevated voltage, you may be entitled to compensation
A law firm is inviting owners of 13th and 14th Gen Intel Raptor Lake CPUs to join in on an upcoming class action lawsuit.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/intel_raptor_lake_lawsuit/
DIY Raspberry Pi 1000 turns a Raspberry Pi 5 into a PC-in-a-keyboard
date: 2024-08-01, from: Liliputing
Four years ago Raspberry Pi introduced the Raspberry Pi 400, a slick (and very affordable) PC packed inside a compact keyboard. It hasn’t been followed by an official model based on the newer and more powerful Raspberry Pi 5, so makers have taken matters into their own hands. Arnov Sharma has shared his take on […]
The post DIY Raspberry Pi 1000 turns a Raspberry Pi 5 into a PC-in-a-keyboard appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/diy-raspberry-pi-1000-turns-a-raspberry-pi-5-into-a-pc-in-a-keyboard/
Aug. 5: Blood Donors Needed in Santa Clarita
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Give the gift of life Join the city of Santa Clarita at the Canyon Country Jo Anne Darcy Library Branch, for a Blood Drive
https://scvnews.com/aug-5-blood-donors-needed-in-santa-clarita/
Out-of-Place ‘Devil Bird’ Wows Spectators in Maine, the First Anhinga Ever Seen in the State
date: 2024-08-01, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Anhingas normally live in South America and along the Gulf of Mexico—but one of these long-necked creatures flew farther north than Portland
This one important fact about current AI explains almost everything
date: 2024-08-01, from: Gary Marcus blog
An entire industry has been built - and will collapse - because many people haven’t yet gotten it.
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/this-one-important-fact-about-current
County Seeks Election Day Poll Workers
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan has joined the U.S. Election Assistance Commission in designating Thursday Aug. 1, as the fourth annual National Poll Worker (Election Worker) Recruitment Day as the 2024 General Election approaches
https://scvnews.com/los-angeles-county-celebrates-election-worker-recruitment-day/
Subscribe, Forever
date: 2024-08-01, from: Tedium feed
Logitech’s hinting at a mouse with a subscription suggests hardware companies want to become addicted to subscription revenue, too.
https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16759218/logitech-forever-mouse-hardware-subscription
Some Initial Thoughts on the US Copyright Office Report on AI and Digital Replicas
date: 2024-08-01, from: Authors Union blogs
On July 31, 2024, the U.S. Copyright Office published Part 1 of its report summarizing the Office’s ongoing initiative of artificial intelligence. This first part of the report addresses digital replicas, in other words, how AI is used to realistically but falsely portray people in digital media. The Office in its report recommends new federal […]
Airlines Are Still Fighting To Keep Your Money
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Lever News
Airlines turned a new chapter in their ongoing battle against automatic refunds.
https://www.levernews.com/airlines-are-still-fighting-to-keep-your-money/
Rabbit Says Breach ‘Not Caused by a Breach,’ Is Fault of Malicious Employee, ‘Hacktivists,’ Journalists
date: 2024-08-01, from: 404 Media Group
The AI assistant company is blaming everything but its own security practices for a June security breach.
Aug. 2-4: Fiesta Days in Frazier Park
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The 56th Annual Fiesta Days will be held Aug. 2-4 in Fraizer Park at Frazier Mountain Park. Parking and entry are free.
https://scvnews.com/aug-2-4-56th-annual-fiesta-days-in-fraizer-park/
Trump’s gag order remains in effect after hush money conviction, New York appeals court rules
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
New York — A New York appeals court on Thursday denied Donald Trump’s bid to end a gag order in his hush money criminal case, rejecting the Republican former president’s argument that his May conviction “constitutes a change in circumstances” that warrants lifting the restrictions.
A five-judge panel in the state’s mid-level appellate court ruled that the trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, was correct in extending parts of the gag order until Trump is sentenced, writing that “the fair administration of justice necessarily includes sentencing.”
The ruling came a day after Trump’s lawyers tried to file papers asking the appellate court to immediately lift the gag order. With its ruling imminent, the court rejected the filing, which called the restrictions an “unconstitutional, election-interfering” muzzle on Trump’s free speech.
In a copy of the prospective filing provided to the Associated Press, Trump’s lawyers wrote that Vice President Kamala Harris’ entry into the presidential race gives the matter new urgency as she pits herself as an ex-prosecutor taking on a “convicted felon.”
“It is unconscionable that Harris can speak freely about this case, but President Trump cannot,” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche wrote.
Blanche declined to comment on Thursday’s ruling.
Merchan imposed the gag order in March, a few weeks before the trial started, after prosecutors raised concerns about Trump’s habit of attacking people involved in his cases. During the trial, he held Trump in contempt of court and fined him $10,000 for violations, and he threatened to jail him if he did it again.
The judge lifted some restrictions in June, freeing Trump to comment about witnesses and jurors but keeping trial prosecutors, court staffers and their families — including his own daughter — off limits until he is sentenced.
Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing, was originally scheduled to be sentenced July 11, but Merchan postponed it until Sept. 18, if necessary, while he weighs a defense request to throw out his conviction in the wake of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.
A Manhattan jury convicted Trump on May 30 of falsifying records to cover up a potential sex scandal, making him the first ex-president convicted of a crime.
Trump’s conviction, on 34 felony counts, arose from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. She claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier, which he denies.
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump. Prosecutors said Cohen disguised the reimbursements with Trump’s knowledge by submitting monthly invoices for retainer payments as his personal lawyer. Trump’s company logged the payments to Cohen as legal expenses.
Prosecutors said the Daniels payment was part of a broader scheme to buy the silence of people who might have gone public during the 2016 campaign with embarrassing stories alleging Trump had extramarital sex.
Trump denies any wrongdoing and has pledged to appeal his conviction, but he would not be able to do so until he is sentenced.
OpenAI might be a partner, but it’s also a competitor, says Microsoft
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Either Sam and Satya are on the rocks, or this is just more maneuvering to avoid regulatory scrutiny
The honeymoon phase of Microsoft and OpenAI’s relationship appears to be at an end, with Redmond naming the recipient of billions of its dollars a competitor in its latest annual report.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/openai_microsoft_competitor/
Gold – Silver – Bronze – What’s Your Olympic Sport!
date: 2024-08-01, from: National Archives, Text Message blog
Last Friday the torch was lit in Paris France to start the Summer Olympic Games. The Olympic Games have been held in the United States a total of eight times, four times each for the Winter and Summer Games: 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri (Summer), the Winter Games were held in Lake Placid in 1932 … Continue reading Gold – Silver – Bronze – What’s Your Olympic Sport!
https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2024/08/01/gold-silver-bronze-whats-your-olympic-sport/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-01, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
End of life decisions are difficult and distressing. Could AI help?
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/08/01/1095551/end-of-life-decisions-ai-help/
Historic prisoner swap sees American journalists, ex-Marine freed from Russia
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
Washington — The U.S. on Thursday confirmed a historic prisoner swap with Russia that included the release of American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza.
In total, the U.S. secured the release of 16 individuals, including five wrongfully detained Germans and seven Russian citizens, in return for eight Russians held in the U.S., Germany, Poland, Norway and Slovenia.
It marked the largest prisoner swap between the United States and Russia since the Cold War.
“Today’s exchange will be historic. Not since the Cold War has there been a similar number of individuals exchanged in this way,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at a briefing. “It’s the culmination of many rounds of complex, painstaking negotiations over many, many months.”
Sullivan said the deal also marks the first time so many countries and allies worked together to secure the release of wrongfully detained individuals.
Alongside the Americans, the deal secures the release of German nationals and Russian political prisoners, including Dieter Voronin, Kevin Lick, Rico Krieger, Patrick Schoebel, Herman Moyzhes, Ilya Yashin, Liliya Chanysheva, Kseniya Fadeyeva, Vadim Ostanin, Andrey Pivovarov, Oleg Orlov, and Sasha Skochilenko.
“Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement. “The deal that secured their freedom was a feat of diplomacy.”
However, former President Donald Trump criticized the deal, saying on Truth Social, “Our ‘negotiators’ are always an embarrassment to us!” He had previously said he would be able to quickly get Gershkovich freed, but without specifying how.
Of the Americans, the longest held was Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, who was arrested in Moscow in 2018. In 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony on spying charges that he and the U.S. government deny.
Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Kurmasheva were both detained in 2023 and were convicted in separate closed trials on July 19, which were widely decried as shams.
And Kara-Murza, an activist and columnist for The Washington Post detained since April 2022, was also freed. The politician and historian won a Pulitzer for his letters written from prison.
On the Russian side, the Kremlin negotiated for the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving life in prison in Germany.
Sullivan told reporters: “It became clear that the Russians would not agree to the release of these individuals without an exchange that included Vadim Krasikov.”
Krasikov was convicted in the 2019 murder of a Chechen dissident in Berlin. He had previously been in the running to be exchanged for opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died in February 2024.
Other individuals returning to Russia include Artem Viktorovich Dultsev and Anna Valerevna Dultseva from Slovenia; Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin from Norway; Pavel Alekseyevich Rubtsov from Poland; and Roman Seleznev, Vladislav Klyushin and Vadim Konoshchenok from the United States.
Paul Beckett, an assistant editor at the Journal, who led the newspaper’s campaign to secure Gershkovich’s release, told VOA earlier this year that his colleague’s jailing highlights the dangers facing journalists around the world.
“It’s certainly a reminder for all of our reporters who are in dangerous places that journalism is a risky business,” Beckett said. “It is a noble and valued endeavor that some governments in the world really don’t like.”
Learning that Gershkovich had officially been released brought an array of emotions for Beckett, he told VOA on Thursday.
“Joy, gratitude, tears, smiles — everything at once,” he said. “We’re just delighted for Evan.”
After working on Gershkovich’s case for 16 months, Beckett said he’s looking forward to finally meeting the journalist for the first time. “I’m going to say, ‘Nice to meet you,’” Beckett said.
Gershkovich was jailed in March 2023 on espionage charges that are widely viewed as baseless and politically motivated.
“We are overwhelmed with relief and elated for Evan and his family, as well as for the others who were released,” The Journal’s publisher, Almar Latour, and editor in chief Emma Tucker said in a statement. “Unfortunately, many journalists remain unjustly imprisoned in Russia and around the world.”
Kurmasheva, meanwhile, is a Prague-based editor on the Tatar-Bashkir Service of VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The dual U.S.-Russian national traveled to Russia in May of 2023 to care for her ailing mother.
When Kurmasheva tried to leave the country in June 2023, authorities confiscated her passports, and she was waiting for them to be returned when she was detained in October 2023.
Kurmasheva had not been designated by the U.S. State Department as wrongfully detained. A senior administration official told VOA, however, that Kurmasheva became part of the negotiations shortly after she was detained, and the U.S. is glad to bring her home.
A similar deal in 2022 led to American basketball player Brittney Griner being freed in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.
RFE/RL welcomed Kurmasheva’s release in a statement.
“Alsu was targeted because she was an American journalist who was simply trying to take care of a family member inside Russia. She did nothing wrong and certainly did not deserve the unjust treatment and forced separation from her loving family members and colleagues,” RFE/RL’s president and CEO Stephen Capus said in the statement.
“Alsu’s release makes us even more determined to secure the freedom of three other RFE/RL journalists,” Capus added. Two RFE/RL journalists are currently jailed in Belarus, and one is jailed in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees RFE/RL and VOA, also welcomed Kurmasheva’s release.
“This is such incredible news, and I am tremendously thankful to everyone who supported and advocated for Alsu’s release in the wake of Russia’s callous injustice,” USAGM CEO Amanda Bennett said in a statement. “Journalism is not a crime. I am elated that Alsu is finally able to go home to her loved ones and close this painful chapter.”
Kurmasheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, said that since her arrest, his primary concern has been the couple’s daughters.
“They’re old enough to understand the brutality of the regime that captured their mother,” he told VOA in early July at their Prague home. “We dream of our family being reunited after this ordeal.”
The couple’s eldest daughter, Bibi, said she missed the little moments with her mother, like when they blasted music together on the car ride to school in the morning.
“And on the way back home from school, she would always bring snacks, and we would always talk about our day. I really miss that,” the 16-year-old said.
The Biden administration has now helped secure the release of more than 70 Americans who were held hostage or unjustly jailed around the world, Biden said in his statement.
“I will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is reunited with their family,” he said.
At a midday press conference, Biden spoke about the significance of the prisoner swap as the families of the newly released Americans stood behind him. Toward the end, people in the room sang happy birthday to Miriam Butorin, Kurmasheva’s youngest daughter, who will celebrate her 13th birthday on Friday.
“Now she gets to celebrate with her mom,” Biden said. “That’s what this is all about — families, able to be together again, like they should have been all along.
Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
NASA Additive Manufacturing Project Shapes Future for Agency, Industry Rocket Makers
date: 2024-08-01, from: NASA breaking news
The widespread commercial adoption of additive manufacturing technologies, commonly known as 3D printing, is no surprise to design engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama whose research created stronger, lighter weight materials and new manufacturing processes to make rocket parts. NASA’s RAMPT (Rapid Analysis and Manufacturing Propulsion Technology) project is on the […]
East Bay candy factory will shut down after selling site two years ago
date: 2024-08-01, from: San Jose Mercury News
A candy factory that was founded 70 years ago by a Russian immigrant will cease operations at its long-time East Bay site.
FBI, CISA remind US voters that DDoS attacks can’t touch election systems
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
PSA comes amid multiple IT services crises in recent days
US law enforcement and cybersecurity agencies are reminding the public that the country’s voting systems will remain unaffected by distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks as the next presidential election fast approaches.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/fbi_cisa_election_ddos/
“A light at the end of the tunnel” for mortgage rates?
date: 2024-08-01, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has set the stage for the central bank’s first rate cut in four years — but we’ll still likely have to wait a few weeks. Anticipation of a rate cut has already had ripple effects across markets, including for mortgage rates. Then, there’s a shortage of poll workers. What’s being done to boost hiring? Plus, the Biden administration takes another crack at student loan relief.
Park Fire: Many evacuation orders/warnings lifted, 361 structures destroyed, 389,791 acres burned, 18% containment
date: 2024-08-01, from: San Jose Mercury News
Temperatures are expected to continue to get warmer this week and there is a chance of thunderstorms in the foothills and mountains.
Fewer digital news outlets launched last year
date: 2024-08-01, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">“The number of digital news startup launches has been slowing since 2022 in Europe, Latin America, and North America, according to the new Global Project Oasis report. Global Project Oasis, a research project funded by the Google News Initiative that maps digital-native news startups globally, cited economic challenges, slow growth, and political conflicts as potential reasons for the drop.”
This report is in-depth and fascinating. It seems obvious to me that having more news sources with specific focuses is a really good thing, but also that ensuring that they are sustainable is crucial. Many journalistic outlets were created by journalists with business models as almost an afterthought, so as certain kinds of funding dried up they became less viable.
One thing that I really wish was present in this report: platform. What was Substack’s influence here? Or Ghost’s? Are these WordPress shops? How many of them were aided by Automattic’s Newspack, for example? These details could also be revealing.
We need journalism that keeps us more informed, and it’s not a secret that many of our incumbent outlets are not doing the job. A healthy news startup ecosystem is one way we can get to a more informed voting population and stronger democracies in our local communities, nationally, and globally.
<p>[<a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/07/fewer-digital-news-outlets-launched-last-year-according-to-a-new-global-report/">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/fewer-digital-news-outlets-launched-last-year
Larry Magid: Satisfying my obsession with label makers
date: 2024-08-01, from: San Jose Mercury News
There is an episode of the Big Bang Theory where Sheldon puts a label on his label maker and then a smaller label to designate where the label is. I’m not quite that obsessed with labels, but I’m a close second to the main character in that TV series. I, too, have a label maker. […]
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/01/larry-magid-obsessed-with-label-makers/
Google may soon allow you to update sideloaded Android apps via the Play Store
date: 2024-08-01, from: Liliputing
You may soon have the ability to update the sideloaded apps on your Android device via the Play Store. Android Authority reports that a teardown of the Play Store version 42.0.18 APK appears to indicate that Google will introduce the option in a future release. Apps that have been sideloaded display an “Update from Play” […]
The post Google may soon allow you to update sideloaded Android apps via the Play Store appeared first on Liliputing.
@IIIF Mastodon feed (date: 2024-08-01, from: IIIF Mastodon feed)
The Call for Proposals for the 2024 #IIIF Online Meeting is now open.
To read the full call for proposals, including information about themes, proposal instructions, and other important details, please visit: https://iiif.io/event/2024/online-meeting/
https://glammr.us/@IIIF/112887270262889753
What Happens in a Mind That Can’t ‘See’ Mental Images
date: 2024-08-01, from: Quanta Magazine
Neuroscience research into people with aphantasia, who don’t experience mental imagery, is revealing how imagination works and demonstrating the sweeping variety in our subjective experiences.The post What Happens in a Mind That Can’t ‘See’ Mental Images first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-happens-in-a-mind-that-cant-see-mental-images-20240801/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-01, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
VCs for Kamala.
Cal and Stanford prepare for life in the ACC with a nine-figure hole in their budgets, no firm plans to solve the “revenue challenge”
date: 2024-08-01, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Bears and Cardinal agreed to join the ACC at substantial discounts for nine years. How will they offset the revenue disparity?
Low-cost airline commits to San Jose-Japan flights for months to come
date: 2024-08-01, from: San Jose Mercury News
A low-cost airline has instead committed to continue service linking San Jose and Japan for months to come.
Microsoft and Reddit Are Fighting About Why Bing’s Crawler Is Blocked on Reddit
date: 2024-08-01, from: 404 Media Group
Reddit says that it doesn’t want companies scraping the site for AI. Microsoft says it’s not doing that.
Uber and China’s BYD agree deal to roll out 100,000 EV fleet
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
No timeline yet, but drivers beware: Plans include collaboration on autonomous-capable vehicles
Uber and BYD have struck a deal to bring 100,000 BYD electric vehicles onto the Uber platform, starting with Europe and Latin America.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/uber_byd_deal/
One dead in crash involving semi truck on Interstate 80 in Berkeley
date: 2024-08-01, from: San Jose Mercury News
The crash happened about 3:40 a.m.
7 terrific Bay Area things to do this weekend, Aug. 2-4
date: 2024-08-01, from: San Jose Mercury News
From an engaging new coming-of-age movie set in Fremont to a cat video festival and delicious grilling ideas, it’s shaping up as a killer weekend.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/01/7-terrific-bay-area-things-to-do-this-weekend-aug-2-4/
Fatal crash in Walnut Creek shuts down stretch of Ygnacio Valley Road
date: 2024-08-01, from: San Jose Mercury News
Few details of the crash were available early Thursday.
How Does Math Keep Secrets?
date: 2024-08-01, from: Quanta Magazine
Cryptography is the thread that connects Julius Caesar, World War II and quantum computing, and it now lies under nearly every part of modern life. In this week’s episode, computer scientist Boaz Barak and co-host Janna Levin discuss the past and future of secrecy.The post How Does Math Keep Secrets? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-does-math-keep-secrets-20240801/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-01, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Every time I flip through an outdoor furniture catalog, the only thing I can think of is “that’s a nice chair for mosquitos to feed from”
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112886962332519674
Ask the Motor Cop | A primer on California speed laws
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
Question: Jerry, I am concerned about the many drivers speeding on our local streets and highways, especially motorcyclists. What are the laws on speeding? – Walt Answer: Many people are […]
The post Ask the Motor Cop | A primer on California speed laws appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/ask-the-motor-cop-a-primer-on-california-speed-laws/
Northern California wildfire arson suspect testifies, denies wrongdoing
date: 2024-08-01, from: San Jose Mercury News
Devin Lamar Johnson, who says his role in the 2021 Hopkins Fire in Mendocino County was accidental, is being tried in Marin because of a change-in-venue motion by the defense.
Qualcomm bullish on AI, teases flagship platform coming in October
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Chip outfit boosted by Chinese market, but goals for smartphones, PCs are ambitious
Qualcomm is confident its bet on AI in phones and Arm PCs will pay off, buoyed by more than 50 percent growth in revenue from Chinese handset makers and a promise of $700 Copilot+ PCs coming next year.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/qualcomm_q3_2024/
Santa Cruz Mountains residents on edge as series of fires investigated as potential arson
date: 2024-08-01, from: San Jose Mercury News
The four incidents took place over the course of 11 days.
Researchers Decipher Cuneiform Tablet—and Discover It’s a Furniture Receipt
date: 2024-08-01, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The small clay rectangle is engraved with an ancient Semitic language known as Akkadian
Visible Ink
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
We lament Old Spanish Days, when the ranchers pitted, in small corrals, Spain’s most powerful animal, the bull, against Chumash culture’s most powerful, the grizzly.
The post Visible Ink appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/01/visible-ink/
Serpent OS prealpha0 released
date: 2024-08-01, from: OS News
Serpent OS, a new Linux distribution with a completely custom package management system written in Rust, has released its very very rough pre-alpha release. They’ve been working on this for four years, and they’re making some interesting choices regarding packaging that I really like, at least on paper. This will of course appear to be a very rough (crap) prealpha ISO. Underneath the surface it is using the moss package manager, our very own package management solution written in Rust. Quite simply, every single transaction in moss generates a new filesystem tree (/usr) in a staging area as a full, stateless, OS transaction. When the package installs succeed, any transaction triggers are run in a private namespace (container) before finally activating the new /usr tree. Through our enforced stateless design, usr-merge, etc, we can atomically update the running OS with a single renameat2 call. As a neat aside, all OS content is deduplicated, meaning your last system transaction is still available on disk allowing offline rollbacks. ↫ Ikey Doherty Since this is only a very rough pre-alpha release, I don’t have much more to say at this point, but I do think it’s interesting enough to let y’all know about it. Even if you’re not the kind of person to dive into pre-alphas, I think you should keep an eye on Serpent OS, because I have a feeling they’re on to something valuable here.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140384/serpent-os-prealpha0-released/
Cheaper Windows PCs with Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips coming in 2025
date: 2024-08-01, from: Liliputing
The cheapest computer with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X series processor is a mini PC that’s positioned as a development kit. And at $899 it may be the least expensive model, but it’s not exactly cheap. Meanwhile, laptops and tablets with Qualcomm’s new chips for Windows PCs start at $999. But that could change next year. During […]
The post Cheaper Windows PCs with Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips coming in 2025 appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/cheaper-windows-pcs-with-qualcomm-snapdragon-x-chips-coming-in-2025/
The impact of AI on computer science education
date: 2024-08-01, from: OS News
Yesterday I highlighted a study that found that AI and ML, and the expectations around them, are actually causing people to need to work harder and more, instead of less. Today, I have another study for you, this time focusing a more long-term issue: when you use something like ChatGPT to troubleshoot and fix a bug, are you actually learning anything? A professor at MIT divided a group of students into three, and gave them a programming task in a language they did not know (FORTRAN). One group was allowed to use ChatGPT to solve the problem, the second group was told to use Meta’s Code Llama large language model (LLM), and the third group could only use Google. The group that used ChatGPT, predictably, solved the problem quickest, while it took the second group longer to solve it. It took the group using Google even longer, because they had to break the task down into components. Then, the students were tested on how they solved the problem from memory, and the tables turned. The ChatGPT group “remembered nothing, and they all failed,” recalled Klopfer, a professor and director of the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program and The Education Arcade. Meanwhile, half of the Code Llama group passed the test. The group that used Google? Every student passed. ↫ Esther Shein at ACM I find this an interesting result, but at the same time, not a very surprising one. It reminds me a lot of that when I went to high school, I was part of the first generation whose math and algebra courses were built around using a graphic calculator. Despite being able to solve and graph complex equations with ease thanks to our TI-83, we were, of course, still told to include our “work”, the steps taken to get from the question to the answer, instead of only writing down the answer itself. Since I was quite good “at computers”, and even managed to do some very limited programming on the TI-83, it was an absolute breeze for me to hit some buttons and get the right answers – but since I knew, and know, absolutely nothing about math, I couldn’t for the life of me explain how I got to the answers. Using ChatGPT to fix your programming problem feels like a very similar thing. Sure, ChatGPT can spit out a workable solution for you, but since you aren’t aware of the steps between problem and solution, you aren’t actually learning anything. By using ChatGPT, you’re not actually learning how to program or how to improve your skills – you’re just hitting the right buttons on a graphing calculator and writing down what’s on the screen, without understanding why or how. I can totally see how using ChatGPT for boring boilerplate code you’ve written a million times over, or to point you in the right direction while still coming up with your own solution to a problem, can be a good and helpful thing. I’m just worried about a degradation in skill level and code quality, and how society will, at some point, pay the price for that.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140379/the-impact-of-ai-on-computer-science-education/
The Gig Is Up
date: 2024-08-01, from: Care
<p>“The eight-hour workday was a hard-won victory by labor organizers of yesterday. Today, gig corporations are actively undermining those victories.”</p>https://logicmag.io/issue-21-medicine-and-the-body/the-gig-is-up
Firefox’s Mozilla follows Google in losing trust in Entrust’s TLS certificates
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Compliance failures and unsatisfactory responses mount from the long-time certificate authority
Mozilla is following in Google Chrome’s footsteps in officially distrusting Entrust as a root certificate authority (CA) following what it says was a protracted period of compliance failures.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/mozilla_entrust/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-01, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Doctors told Pelosi of concern for Trump’s mental health, ex-speaker says in book.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/aug/01/nancy-pelosi-trump-book
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-01, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Earth Is Still Breaking Heat Records.
https://www.texasobserver.org/earth-heat-records-climate/
Renewable Energy Developers Eye Interest Rate Relief
date: 2024-08-01, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: 192 people are still missing after heavy rains set off a torrent of flash floods in the Indian state of Kerala • Spain’s heat wave is believed to have peaked after an observatory near Barcelona recorded an all-time high • Temperatures in Antarctica soar to more than 50˚F above normal.
THE TOP FIVE
- A September rate cut could bring relief to renewable energy
developers
The Federal Reserve once again voted to hold interest rates steady at 5.3% but signaled that a rate cut could arrive as soon as September. That rate cut would be music to the ears of renewable energy developers, who have struggled to cope with higher borrowing costs. Compared to fossil fuels, renewable energy is more vulnerable to interest rate changes because upfront capital expenditures comprise a greater share of the total project cost. As Joel Dodge wrote for Heatmap in March, high interest rates have hit the offshore wind industry particularly hard, contributing to cost overruns and even cancellations.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell cited “further progress” towards the Fed’s goal of 2% inflation. “A reduction in our policy rate could be on the table” for the September meeting, said Powell. Renewable developers will certainly hope so.
- Senate energy permitting bill passes through committee
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved a bipartisan energy permitting bill in a 15-4 vote on Wednesday. The bill has a little something for everyone: sped-up permitting for renewable energy, requirements for oil and gas leases, and LNG approval time limits. It’s a joint effort by Republican Senator John Barrasso and Independent Senator Joe Manchin, who effused that the bill’s passage marked “a tremendous day for all of us.” Critics of the bill include over 360 environmental groups, who view the fossil fuel provisions as an affront to climate action. Three Democratic-caucusing senators and one Republican senator have already signaled that they will oppose the legislation. The White House has yet to weigh in, though senior climate policymakers have previously said that permitting reform is necessary to unlock the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act.
- Global battery investment declines for the first time this decade
After growing for four years straight, global investment in batteries is set to decline this year, according to analytics firm Rystad Energy. The main culprit, Rystad says, is a slump in the Chinese market, where industry consolidation and supply chain constraints have put a damper on the firehose of investment that marked 2021 and 2022. If the spending dip bears out, it could pose challenges for the global EV industry. Sustained technological improvements and cost declines – largely driven by Chinese investments – have made EVs more affordable and driven their adoption in Asian and Western markets alike.
What this means for the future of the battery industry is unclear, says Duo Fu, Rystad’s vice president for battery market research. He noted that “collaboration across the entire supply chain is crucial for the industry’s health.”
- Grid-enhancing technology gets a raise
TS Conductor closed a $60 million growth investment round, the company announced on Wednesday. The U.S.-based manufacturer of advanced power lines plans to use the money to open a second production facility, with its Southern California plant nearly at capacity. TS’s power lines offer an upgrade on the traditional stock by decreasing line losses, reducing sag, and accommodating up to triple the power during peak generation hours.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that transmission capacity will have to nearly triple by 2035 if the U.S. is to integrate the renewable energy required to meet its climate goals. Transmission lines, however, are notoriously costly and time-intensive to build. Grid-enhancing technologies like TS’s can ease the burden on new construction by allowing grid operators to increase the capacity of their existing lines.
- BYD and Uber strike a deal
Uber has announced that it will purchase 100,000 EVs from Chinese auto company BYD as part of an effort to shift Uber’s fleet of vehicles to electric. Uber drivers will be offered a host of discounts – on things like leasing, charging, and maintenance – to encourage them to make the jump to an EV. The vehicles will hit the streets first in Europe and Latin America, with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East further down the road.
The deal comes as political leaders in the United States and Europe scramble to stem the flow of low-cost Chinese EVs over worries that they will outcompete Western manufacturers. In May, the Biden administration announced that it would impose a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, and European lawmakers imposed their own tariff (albeit smaller) on the cars in July.
THE KICKER
$120 billion — that’s the total cost of natural disasters in the first half of 2024, according to German insurance company Munich Re. It’s a slight decrease from the same period last year, but still well above the average for the past three decades.
https://heatmap.news/economy/renewable-energy-developers-eye-interest-rate-relief
How the government is deploying nearly $1 trillion two years on
date: 2024-08-01, from: Marketplace Morning Report
It’s been about two years since President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science law. A week after that anniversary marks two years since the signing of the the Inflation Reduction Act. Today, we’re joined by Heather Boushey, a member of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, to discuss what the arrival of federal investments is beginning to look like. But first, we’ll break down Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks at yesterday’s press conference.
On speaking to AI
date: 2024-08-01, from: One Useful Thing
Voice changes a lot of things
https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/on-speaking-to-ai
NASA pops repair kit in the mail so astronauts can fix leaky ISS telescope
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Upcoming spacewalk should help NICER see more nicely
NASA is preparing to launch a repair kit to the International Space Station (ISS) for a telescope that was never designed to be tinkered with by astronauts.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/nicer_repair_kit_iss/
Jim de Bree | The Question Begs: Is Harris Electable?
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
After President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will no longer seek re-election and endorsements of Kamala Harris by Democratic Party leaders, as of this writing, Harris seems poised to win […]
The post Jim de Bree | The Question Begs: Is Harris Electable? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/jim-de-bree-the-question-begs-is-harris-electable/
Michael Zima | A Cherished Memory
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
My jaw dropped when reading The Signal’s July 27 article, “Faces of the SCV: Santa Clarita native keeps big-band music alive,” chronicling David Weston’s musical journey. The article included a […]
The post Michael Zima | A Cherished Memory appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/michael-zima-a-cherished-memory/
Thomas Oatway | Time to Switch, a Rebuttal
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
A response to “When It’s Time to Switch,” letters, Rob Kerchner, May 5: When is it time to switch parties? Here are (some) telltale signs: If your party’s nominee pays […]
The post Thomas Oatway | Time to Switch, a Rebuttal appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/thomas-oatway-time-to-switch-a-rebuttal/
Michael Reagan | Democrats: The Enemy of Democracy
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
We had two big speeches from Washington last week. Neither one was very encouraging for those of us who worry about our fragile democracy and the futures of our kids […]
The post Michael Reagan | Democrats: The Enemy of Democracy appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/michael-reagan-democrats-the-enemy-of-democracy/
What to expect as the EU’s sweeping AI rule goes into effect
date: 2024-08-01, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: The world’s first comprehensive set of rules governing artificial intelligence has come into force across the European Union, but it’ll take two years for the law to be fully implemented. Plus, tensions between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah are making a dire economic situation even worse for people in Lebanon. And later, young people in Nigeria are taking to the streets over economic hardship.
The Interim Computer Museum
date: 2024-08-01, from: Tilde.news
Microsoft services partly down Down Under for Kiwi users
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Maybe time to play the cloud hokey pokey? You put your workload in. You take your workload out…
Updated Microsoft Azure went down for customers in New Zealand earlier today, taking with it parts of Microsoft 365 and bite-sized chunks of the working day for employees still dealing with the effects of previous outages.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/microsoft_services_nz_outage/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-01, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
What to Do if Your Phone Gets Lost or Stolen?
https://gizmodo.com/what-do-to-if-your-phone-gets-lost-stolen-2000480509
Celebrating Astro Pi 2024
date: 2024-08-01, from: Raspberry Pi (.org)
About the projects Over the past few months, young people across Europe have run their computer programs on the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Astro Pi Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab. Mission Zero offers young people the chance to write a simple program that takes a reading from the colour and luminosity…
The post Celebrating Astro Pi 2024 appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/celebrating-astro-pi-2024/
College Brief for Aug. 1
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
Over 20 local students named to Biola University dean’s list Approximately 1,600 students were named to the Biola University dean’s list in Fall 2023. Biola students are placed on the […]
The post College Brief for Aug. 1 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/college-brief-for-aug-1/
August’s Night Sky Notes: Seeing Double
date: 2024-08-01, from: NASA breaking news
Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you – you’re seeing double stars through that telescope! Learn about which double stars to spot this summer with August’s Night Sky Notes!
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/night-sky-network/aug2024-night-sky-notes/
Beetle mania: How bugs are inspiring the next gen of robot aviators
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Deploying and folding wings without power might be useful in a tight spot
The rhinoceros beetle turns out to be an unlikely source of engineering inspiration for tiny flying robots that can fold their wings when resting or after a collision.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/rhino_beetle_robot_design/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-01, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Louisiana Makes It Illegal to Disobey a Cop’s Order to Back Away.
https://www.propublica.org/article/louisiana-police-buffer-law
Sols 4261-4262: Drill Sol 1…Take 2
date: 2024-08-01, from: NASA breaking news
Earth planning date: Wednesday, July 31, 2024 As Cat mentioned on Monday, today’s plan is a second attempt at our Drill Sol 1 activities. We’ve shifted the target on Kings Canyon a little bit, but the activities remain the same — a preload test to ensure that we’re able to safely drill here, and contact […]
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/sols-4261-4262-drill-sol-1take-2/
Linux updates with an undo function? Some distros have that
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Snapshots, failover, recovery, and uninstallation on a plate
The big names mostly can’t yet, but some lesser-known Linux distributions offer the ability to undo updates and recover from damage, even automatically.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/linux_rollback_options/
Laurene Weste | Back to School Safety
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
“Remember that safety is not a gadget but a state of mind.” – Eleanor Everet I hope you all had a fantastic summer filled with fun and memorable moments with […]
The post Laurene Weste | Back to School Safety appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/laurene-weste-back-to-school-safety/
UK court rules in Intel’s favor in R2 Semi power patent case
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Legal woes are still ongoing in Italy, France, and Germany
The High Court of England and Wales has sided with Intel in a multinational patent dispute brought by R2 Semiconductor alleging the x86 giant infringed on its voltage regulation tech.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/uk_intel_patent/
Raspberry Pi Pico makes this portrait’s eyes follow you around the room
date: 2024-08-01, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Is it Halloween yet? This project creates a creepy portrait with eyes that follow you around the room.
The post Raspberry Pi Pico makes this portrait’s eyes follow you around the room appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
Today in SCV History (Aug. 1)
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1963 – Leona Cox Community School breaks ground in Canyon Country [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-aug-1/
Guava Health Revolutionizes Health Tracking
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara health startup aims to improve users’ access to health information with innovative personal health tracker.
The post Guava Health Revolutionizes Health Tracking appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/01/guava-health-revolutionizes-health-tracking/
Arm’s lackluster Q2 outlook overshadows strong Q1 revenue growth
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Execs blame gap in licensing revenues for lost momentum, while hawking AI
Brit chip design champ Arm posted its fourth consecutive quarter of growth on Wednesday with Q1 revenues up 39 percent year-over-year to $939 million and profits of $233 million.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/arm_q2_outlook/
Choosing Tools
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: Tantek Çelik’s blog
https://tantek.com/2024/213/b1/choosing-tools
Germany names China as source of attack on government geospatial agency
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Meanwhile, US apparently considers further AI hardware sanctions
Germany’s government has named China-controlled actors as the perpetrators of a 2021 cyber attack on the Federal Office of Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) – the official mapping agency.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/germany_accuses_china_of_cyberattack/
Xen hypervisor quadruples its possible core count for version 4.19
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Pesky test infrastructure woes seem to be solved, too
The Xen Project has delivered a new cut of its open source hypervisor.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/xen_4_19/
Infosys denies it owes $4B in taxes to India
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Taxman disagrees with the outfit that built the tax portal
IT services giant Infosys is facing a demand for almost $4 billion in tax demand from Indian state of Karnataka, relating to expenses incurred by its overseas branches.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/infosys_india_tax_dispute/
Families of Boeing crashes want company to pay higher fine, have jury trial
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
Young fencer shows NY grit on Paris 2024 stage
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
EAUBONNE, France — Growing up in cutthroat New York gave Lauren Scruggs the competitive mindset needed to claim an unexpected fencing silver medal on her Olympic debut in Paris.
The 21-year-old Queens native shared the podium with fellow American Lee Kiefer, who retained her Olympic title in the women’s individual foil event gold medal bout on Sunday.
“I’ve grown up in New York my whole life. It can be kind of rough sometimes,” Scruggs, the first Black American fencer to win an Olympic medal in a women’s individual event, told Reuters.
“You develop a hard shell, and in terms of how that translates to my fencing, I think it came out, that energy and that toughness.”
When Scruggs found herself neck-and-neck with then world No. 2 Arriana Errigo in the quarterfinals, she managed to score the last touch, knocking out the Italian 15-14.
“I think that was my toughest bout of the day in terms of energy, and going past my limits, and I have definitely New York to thank for that,” said Scruggs, one of the rare Black fencers at the highest level.
“Fencing is predominantly white, I think for a multitude of reasons, it’s just the history of the sport, and the lack of representation and encouragement,” she explained.
“To have this accomplishment is a big deal for me, because when I was younger I only had a few people to look up to in the sport, so to be someone that little kids now can look up to is very special to me.”
They can draw inspiration from her impressive grit, which coach Sean McClain described in the U.S. training venue in Eaubonne, in the outskirts of Paris, saying that since she was eight, Scruggs only cared about winning medals.
“And she’s maintained that distaste for losing her entire career,” he said. “I really think in an event like the Olympics, it’s more about how you compete.”
Expensive sport
Born in the U.S. to Jamaican immigrants, Scruggs grew up in Queens with her mother and grandmother.
“I was in a single-parent household early on, so my family had to basically cut some corners around here and there to support us,” said Scruggs, whose brother was the first to get into fencing and inspired her to take up the sport.
Now a college student at Harvard, where she trains every day, Scruggs had to fight to make it into a “pretty expensive” sport.
“It was not easy growing up, trying to fence while being from where I’m from, just income-wise,” she said.
“If you have the funds, it makes it a lot easier to pursue the sport and feel comfortable asking that from your family.
“But if you’re coming from a lower-income background, it might push you harder. And I think it’s what happened with me. I just wanted it more than my peers.”
On paper, Scruggs did not have a big medal chance, but she showed her mettle at the Grand Palais arena.
“Fencing skill wise, Lauren is on par with the better fencers in the world, but she’s not better than them. What made the difference was that competitiveness,” said McClain, who has also become Scruggs’ stepfather.
“That comes from my wife,” he added. “I knew it was possible, but I didn’t really think Lauren was going to win a medal in her first Olympics. But my wife did. She was like, she’d better win a medal. So that’s where it comes from – that’s the fiery spirit!”
With Kiefer and alongside teammates Jackie Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub, Scruggs will represent the U.S. against China on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the women’s foil team event.
Scruggs is aiming for gold this time and is dreaming already of qualifying for the next Games, which will take place in Los Angeles in four years’ time.
“I can’t imagine myself not fencing,” she said. “It’s not even love, it’s just a part of me. It’s connected to who I am,” she said.
https://www.voanews.com/a/young-fencer-shows-ny-grit-on-paris-2024-stage/7725592.html
U.S. strengthens Indo-Pacific alliances – but are they ready for potential conflict?
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
The United States has moved to significantly strengthen its alliances in the Indo-Pacific in recent days amid the security threat from China – including a major upgrade of its military command in Japan. Just how ready are the United States and its allies to act if conflict erupts? Henry Ridgwell reports from Tokyo.
Meta to boost training infra for Llama 4 tenfold, maybe deliver it next year
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Sweet sweet GenAI money not yet flowing, Zuck reckons other ML efforts are paying off
Meta has told investors generative AI won’t bring it revenue this year, but that the massive investments it’s planning will pay off over time – and be configured so they’re not tied to training workloads.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/meta_q2_2024/
Trump questions Harris’ racial identity
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
In the U.S. presidential contest, Republican candidate Donald Trump and likely Democratic candidate Kamala Harris are both out on the campaign trail, where Trump questioned Harris’ racial identity and Harris challenged Trump to debate. With fewer than 100 days before Election Day, VOA correspondent Scott Stearns looks at the state of the race and what voters are saying about the candidates.
https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-questions-harris-racial-identity/7725589.html
Lilbits (chips edition): Intel Lunar Lake, Google Tensor G4, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 4s Gen 2
date: 2024-08-01, from: Liliputing
Intel’s next-gen chips are set to launch in a little over a month and while Intel, like most chip makers these days, is playing up the AI capabilities of its upcoming Lunar Lake processors, I’m much more interested to see if the chips live up to Intel’s promises that we can expect up to a […]
The post Lilbits (chips edition): Intel Lunar Lake, Google Tensor G4, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 appeared first on Liliputing.
Harris says Trump’s false claims about race same old show’ of divisiveness, disrespect
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that former President Donald Trump’s false assertions about her race were the “same old show” as she emphasized the need for Black women to organize for his defeat this November.
Addressing the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. — one of “Divine Nine” historically Black fraternities and sororities — in Houston, Harris told the crowd, “When I look out at everyone here, I see family.”
She drew knowing chuckles from the audience as she mentioned Trump’s comments earlier in the day at the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists. Trump said Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, had in the past promoted only her Indian heritage.
“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said while addressing the NABJ in Chicago.
Harris responded briefly during her address to the sorority, saying Trump’s display was “the same old show: the divisiveness and the disrespect.”
She added: “And let me just say, the American people deserve better. The American people deserve better.”
“Our differences do not divide us, they are an essential source of our strength,” Harris said.
Referencing the combative tone of Trump’s interview at the NABJ convention, she said, “The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts.”
Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both immigrants to the U.S. As an undergraduate, Harris attended Howard University, one of the nation’s most prominent historically Black colleges and universities, where she also pledged the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Speaking to Sigma Gamma Rho members, Harris said, “Our nation is counting on you” to register people to vote and ensure they go to the polls. “When we organize, mountains move,” she said.
Black Greek life is often seen as a lifelong involvement, leading many members to return to regular gatherings — or “boulés” in the organizations’ phrasing — that gather tens of thousands of members each. Harris has attended three such events in the last month, including the boulé for her own sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.
The Divine Nine organizations, which are officially apolitical, emphasize public service as a mission and have deep networks in politics, business and media.
June Penny, 66, of Georgia, an attendee at Harris’ speech in Houston, said Trump’s comments about Harris’ race reminded her of how he tried to discredit then-President Barack Obama.
“I’m not surprised he would try to find something like that,” Penny said.
She said Trump’s views don’t reflect the reality of race in the country, noting, “I have biracial grandchildren” — her son-in-law is white — “and the world views them as Black.”
More than 30 members of Congress are affiliated with a Black Greek letter organization. Close advisers to President Joe Biden, including Stephen Benjamin, Cedric Richmond and Keisha Lance Bottoms, are members of Divine Nine organizations. Harris has welcomed such connections to staff her operation and build her own network in Washington.
China sanctions US lawmaker
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
Washington — China issued sanctions on U.S. Representative Jim McGovern, the sponsor of a bill advocating for a peaceful resolution of the China-Tibet dispute China views Tibet as an “inseparable part of China since ancient times,” despite supporters of the Tibetan Government in Exile and the Dalai Lama saying that Tibet has historically been independent.
Framed as a response to McGovern’s efforts to undermine Chinese territorial sovereignty, the sanctions freeze the representative’s Chinese assets, prohibit organizations or individuals in China from engaging with him, and ban him and his family from entering Chinese territory, according to a publication from Chinese state-media agency Xinhua.
McGovern has no assets or business dealings in China, according to The Associated Press.
McGovern’s Tibet-China Dispute Act, which passed through the House in mid-June, gives the State Department increased authority to counter Chinese disinformation about Tibet and promotes the resumption of talks between Chinese leaders and the Dalai Lama. No such talks have occurred since 2010.
President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law on July 12.
China stands accused of large-scale human rights abuses in Tibet, which the congressman hoped to alleviate with this legislation.
McGovern’s office did not respond to a VOA request for comment.
In a statement released on June 12 when the bill passed the House, McGovern said, “The People’s Republic of China has systematically denied Tibetans the right to self-determination and continues to deliberately erase Tibetan religion, culture, and language.”
“The ongoing oppression of the Tibetan people is a grave tragedy, and our bill provides further tools that empower both America and the international community to stand up for justice and peace,” he said.
Among the signees of the statement were House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Senator Todd Young, McGovern and Senator Jeff Merkley.
In a response, Chinese state-sponsored media Xinhua said the Tibet-China Dispute Act “grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs,” violates international law and distorts historical facts to suppress China and encourage Tibetan separatist movements.
This is not the first time China has sanctioned a U.S. representative for their involvement in an issue that threatens Chinese territorial homogeneity. Over the last year, China has sanctioned both Representative McCaul and former Representative Mike Gallagher over their support for Taiwan.
https://www.voanews.com/a/china-sanctions-us-lawmaker/7725532.html
Judge OKs settlement in lawsuit over US detention of Iraqi nationals
date: 2024-08-01, from: VOA News USA
DETROIT — A judge approved a settlement Wednesday in a 2017 lawsuit that challenged the detention of Iraqi nationals who were targeted for deportation during the Trump administration.
The agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, sets strict conditions for future detentions before any proposed removals, the American Civil Liberties Union said.
“Too often, immigrants are locked up for months or years for absolutely no reason other than they want what so many of us have already: the chance to build a life in America. The settlement will make it easier for them to do that,” ACLU attorney Miriam Aukerman said.
An email seeking comment from ICE was not immediately answered.
The lawsuit involved about 1,400 people, many of whom had been allowed to stay in the U.S. for years, holding jobs and raising families, because Iraq had no interest in taking them back.
That suddenly changed in 2017 when Iraq’s position apparently shifted. ICE arrested people around the U.S., especially in southeastern Michigan, and detained them based on old deportation orders. Some were in custody for more than a year. Protesters filled streets outside the federal courthouse in Detroit.
The ACLU argued that their lives would be at risk if they were returned to their native country. The goal of the lawsuit was to suspend deportations and allow people to at least return to immigration court to make arguments about safety threats in Iraq.
U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith made key rulings in their favor. Although those decisions were reversed by a higher court in 2018, there were opportunities in the meantime to win release and get into immigration court because of Goldsmith’s orders.
Some people were granted asylum or became U.S. citizens. Roughly 50 people who were being held by ICE decided to go back to Iraq, Aukerman said.
“They were so distraught about being in detention, they just gave up,” she said. “The vast majority remain in the United States. … What we’re seeing now is very limited removals.”
Superclusters too big, but single servers too small? Oracle offers AI Goldilocks zone
date: 2024-08-01, updated: 2024-08-01, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Adds L40 bare metal option to the O-Cloud, plus A100 and H100 VMs. And teases a GH200 beast
Oracle has created a pair of for-rent AI infrastructure options aimed at medium-scale AI training and inference workloads – and teased the arrival of Nvidia’s GH200 superchip in its cloud…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/oracle_l40s_clusters/
Ocean Water Warning for July 31
date: 2024-08-01, 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-31/
City Cinemas in the Park: Barbie
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
The city of Santa Clarita kicked off their “Cinemas in the Park” series last Friday night with a screening of “Barbie” at Central Park. People brought food, lawn chairs, blankets […]
The post City Cinemas in the Park: Barbie appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/city-cinemas-in-the-park-barbie/
Dr. Christina Ghaly | Extreme Heat
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
I hope you are all enjoying your summer. As the days get longer, it is tempting to spend more time outside, and it is important to take some basic precautions to protect your health during days with extreme heat
https://scvnews.com/dr-christina-ghaly-extreme-heat/
Saugus school district bond measure vote set for Thursday
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
A special meeting is set for Thursday at 6 p.m. for the Saugus Union School District governing board to vote on putting a bond measure on the November ballot. The […]
The post Saugus school district bond measure vote set for Thursday appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/saugus-school-district-bond-measure-vote-set-for-thursday/
Saugus school district cabinet members extend contracts to 2027
date: 2024-08-01, from: The Signal
Contracts for each of the Saugus Union School District executive cabinet members were extended until 2027 at Tuesday’s governing board meeting. The contracts were previously set to expire at the […]
The post Saugus school district cabinet members extend contracts to 2027 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/saugus-school-district-cabinet-members-extend-contracts-to-2027/
Caring Costco Staff
date: 2024-08-01, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Costco has almost everything, and that includes heroes.
The post Caring Costco Staff appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/07/31/caring-costco-staff/
System-Wide Safety Project Description
date: 2024-08-01, from: NASA breaking news
A new era of aviation is here, and NASA’s System-Wide Safety (SWS) project is developing innovative data solutions to assure safe, rapid, and repeatable access to a transformed National Airspace System (NAS). SWS was created in 2018 and is part of NASA Aeronautics’ Airspace Operations and Safety Program. SWS evaluates how the aerospace industry and […]
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/armd/aosp/sws/about-system-wide-safety/
Aug. 1: SUSD Special Meeting on Facilities Bond
date: 2024-08-01, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Saugus Union School District Governing Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting on Thursday, Aug. 1 at 6 p.m. to consider placing a facilities bond measure on the November ballot.
https://scvnews.com/aug-1-susd-special-meeting-on-facilities-bond/
System-Wide Safety Project Leadership
date: 2024-08-01, from: NASA breaking news
System-Wide Safety (SWS) project leaders are listed here. Project ManagerDr. Kyle Ellis Deputy Project ManagerSummer Brandt Associate Project ManagerDr. Wendy Okolo Associate Project ManagerMichael Vincent Project ScientistDr. Paul Miner Senior Technical Advisor for Aviation SafetyDr. Lance Prinzel Senior Technical Advisor for AutonomyDr. Joseph Coughlan Senior Technical Advisor for AssuranceDr. Natasha Neogi Safety LiaisonDr. Misty Davies […]
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/armd/aosp/sws/sws-project-leadership/