News gathered 2024-08-09
(date: 2024-08-09 08:53:16)
Oakland: Defendants in 2017 killing avoid more jail time through plea deals
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
One of the men agreed to testify for the prosecution against his co-defendant, but both ended up serving roughly the same sentence.
Travis Kelce offered to leave training camp for Taylor Swift as ISIS plot foiled
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end, who is preparing for the 2024 NFL season, reportedly reached out to Swift immediately as she was grappling with the news of a terrorist plot targeting one of her Vienna shows.
50 years after Nixon’s resignation, some eerie parallels with Trump and the Egypt story
date: 2024-08-09, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">“Four years ago, Boston lawyer and journalist James Barron wrote that the Watergate break-in may well have been an attempt to steal documents from Democratic Party headquarters showing that Nixon had taken $549,000 from the Greek government in order to help finance his 1968 campaign.”
Dan Kennedy argues that there are parallels here with the story, reported a year ago, that Donald Trump might have partially funded his 2016 election campaign with an illegal contribution from the Egyptian government.
It does seem strange that the story hasn’t been followed up on by either the press or the Democratic Party. What sticks out to me about Dan’s commentary, though, is this:
“What makes a story stick is repetition — and without prominent Democrats coming out every day and giving journalists something to report on, it quickly withers away.”
Should that be true? I’d hope that the press could find their own leads. Otherwise it, in effect, becomes a press release driven industry. I’m not disputing that it probably is true in reality, but I’d hope for a better dynamic.
<p>[<a href="https://dankennedy.net/2024/08/09/50-years-after-nixons-resignation-some-eerie-parallels-with-trump-and-the-egypt-story/">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/50-years-after-nixons-resignation-some-eerie-parallels-with-trump
TikTok, Brat and Kamala Harris: Will newly fired-up young voters flip elections in California?
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Young voters in California and across the country are excited about Vice President Kamala Harris. Democrats are trying to capitalize, counting on a surge at the polls to win key congressional races.
Mac As Appliance
date: 2024-08-09, from: Tedium site
Apple ticks off its non-casual users by upping the naggy permissions menus in the upcoming version of MacOS.
https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16767142/macos-annoying-permissions-strategy
Best Foot Under
date: 2024-08-09, from: Tedium site
My thoughts on using an elliptical machine under my desk for a couple of weeks. Can you exercise and type at the same time?
https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16767143/under-desk-elliptical-review
Regina Caputo Charts the Future of High-Energy Astrophysics
date: 2024-08-09, from: NASA breaking news
Research astrophysicist Regina Caputo puzzles out how the universe works by studying the most extreme events in the cosmos. Name: Regina CaputoTitle: Research Astrophysicist Organization: Astroparticle Physics Laboratory (Code 661) What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? I’m a research astrophysicist in the particle astrophysics lab at Goddard. […]
Police, family ID 16-year-old girl killed in Hayward shooting
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Police say multiple cars pulled up in the area and that the gunmen wore masks in what appeared to be a targeted killing.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/09/police-family-id-16-year-old-girl-killed-in-hayward-shooting/
Microsoft really wants those old Exchange 2016 servers put out to pasture
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Come to 2019. The in-place upgrades to the Subscription Edition will be lovely
Microsoft is getting serious about the impending end of extended support for Exchange 2016 and has published a guide on stripping the product from an environment that already has Exchange 2019 installed.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/microsoft_really_wants_those_old/
How the Park Fire and other California wildfires get their names
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Wildfires are unfortunately something that most Californians are used to seeing every summer. But have you ever stopped to think about how these fires get their names?
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/09/wildfires-whats-in-a-name/
This 26-year-old Silicon Valley tech worker uses her impostor syndrome as novel inspiration
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
A chat with novelist Kyla Zhao
Crozier Fire map: Evacuations of Sierra communities, smoke over Lake Tahoe
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
The mandatory evacuation zone includes the communities of Volcanoville, Quintette and Spanish Flat and part of Georgetown.
Running a business during a time of division and polarization
date: 2024-08-09, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall-Genzer has been gathering perspectives on the economy from Kent County, Michigan — a swing county in a swing state. More than that, the county is divided. And how people vote is playing an increasingly large role in how well they view the economy. Also: how consumers in China are feeling the pinch of rising prices, and what a rate cut by the Federal Reserve would mean for consumer debt and savings.
Man charged in 1977 strangulations of three California women after DNA investigation
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
73-year-old Warren Luther Alexander was extradited to California from North Carolina, where he is awaiting prosecution for a 1992 cold case killing.
The International Space Station’s “window to the world”
date: 2024-08-09, from: NASA breaking news
The cupola is a small module designed for the observation of operations outside the station such as robotic activities, the approach of vehicles, and spacewalks. Its six side windows and a direct nadir viewing window provide spectacular views of Earth and celestial objects. The windows are equipped with shutters to protect them from contamination and […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/the-international-space-stations-window-to-the-world/
Alameda police investigating murder, suicide on Lagunaria Lane
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Police say the woman appears to have written a confession note and left food for dogs after allegedly killing her husband.
California lawmaker switches to Republican party, criticizes Democratic leadership
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil is known for her support of the tough-on-crime approach and fiscally conservative outlook. She also has voted with Republicans on labor legislation.
Trump said he ‘went down’ in helicopter ‘emergency landing’ with former SF mayor Willie Brown, who says it never happened
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Asked about Brown’s rebuttal of the former president’s narrative, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung only responded, “Slick Willie!”
Philippe Petit Marks the 50th Anniversary of His World Trade Center Walk With a New High Wire Act
date: 2024-08-09, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The 74-year-old French artist reflected on his stunt and balanced on a tightrope at two performances in Manhattan
An Injustice to Condo Owners
date: 2024-08-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The proposed Santa Barbara Community Benefit Improvement District does not exempt owner-occupied condominiums even though our situation is exactly the same as that of the excluded single-family owner-occupied properties.
The post An Injustice to Condo Owners appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/09/an-injustice-to-condo-owners/
NASA to Launch 8 Scientific Balloons From New Mexico
date: 2024-08-09, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has kicked off its annual fall balloon campaign at the agency’s balloon launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Eight balloon flights carrying scientific experiments and technology demonstrations are scheduled to launch from mid-August through mid-October. The flights will support 16 missions, including investigations in the fields of astrophysics, heliophysics, and […]
NASA Tests Deployment of Roman Space Telescope’s ‘Visor’
date: 2024-08-09, from: NASA breaking news
The “visor” for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope recently completed several environmental tests simulating the conditions it will experience during launch and in space. Called the Deployable Aperture Cover, this large sunshade is designed to keep unwanted light out of the telescope. This milestone marks the halfway point for the cover’s final sprint of […]
Software innovation just isn’t what it used to be, and Moxie Marlinspike blames Agile
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Layers of abstraction and speedy development have left engineers unable to understand what lies beneath
black hat There’s a rot at the heart of modern software development that’s destroying innovation, and infosec legend Moxie Marlinspike believes he knows exactly what’s to blame: Agile development.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/marlinspike/
Hubble Spotlights a Supernova
date: 2024-08-09, from: NASA breaking news
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy LEDA 857074, located in the constellation Eridanus. LEDA 857074 is a barred spiral galaxy, with partially broken spiral arms. The image also captured a supernova, named SN 2022ADQZ, shining brightly on the right side of the galaxy’s bar. Several evolutionary paths can lead to a supernova […]
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-spotlights-a-supernova/
2024-08-09 NNCP setup automation
date: 2024-08-09, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
2024-08-09 NNCP setup automation
This is a continuation of the minimal NNCP setup to get started. Once we verified that everything works as expected with manual invocations, the next step is automation. There are two options:
- Enable all the services. This makes sense if you expect a lot of traffic.
- Only call the executables every now and then. This makes sense if you expect very little traffic.
If you want to enable all the services, the examples
directory has service definitions for you. Running
nncp-caller only makes sense if there is at least one entry
in your /etc/nncp.hjson that has a cron key.
sudo systemctl enable /usr/share/doc/nncp/examples/nncp-daemon.service
sudo systemctl enable /usr/share/doc/nncp/examples/nncp-caller.service
sudo systemctl enable /usr/share/doc/nncp/examples/nncp-toss.service
sudo systemctl start nncp-daemon.service
sudo systemctl start nncp-caller.service
sudo systemctl start nncp-toss.service
sudo systemctl status nncp-daemon.service
sudo systemctl status nncp-caller.service
sudo systemctl status nncp-toss.service
I don’t expect a lot of NNCP traffic. This is why my setup on the laptop and server uses the alternative.
In order to conserve resources, you could decide not to have these services running all the time. I’m doing this for two reasons: I don’t want to upgrade the virtual machine I’m renting. It’s a point of pride to do much with very little. From the perspective of impeding collapse, I also think that we should all get on board with frugal computing (@wim_v12e).
Ready for some frugal computing? Here we go.
Run the daemon on the server. That is, if other sites know your internet
address and call you, then you need this. My laptop does not but my
server does. When somebody calls the server on port 5400, start the
nncp-daemon using inetd (from the
openbsd-inet or the inetutils-inetd packages
on Debian).
In your /etc/inetd.conf file:
5400 stream tcp nowait nncp /usr/bin/nncp-daemon nncp-daemon -quiet -ucspi
Run nncp-call every hour or every day from cron for the
systems you want to call. Those systems don’t need a cron
key in the /etc/nncp.hjson file.
This is my laptop calling my server every hour, via
/etc/cron.hourly/nncp:
#!/bin/sh
if [ -x /usr/bin/nncp-call ]; then
su nncp -s /bin/sh -c "/usr/bin/nncp-call sibirocobombus -noprogress"
fi
This is on the laptop, for my neighbours erebor and
quux in /etc/cron.daily/nncp:
if [ -x /usr/bin/nncp-call ]; then
for neighbour in erebor quux; do
su nncp -s /bin/sh -c "/usr/bin/nncp-call erebor -noprogress"
done
fi
This is for the server, tossing stuff once per hour, via
/etc/cron.hourly/nncp:
#!/bin/sh
if [ -x /usr/bin/nncp-toss ]; then
su nncp -s /bin/sh -c "/usr/bin/nncp-toss"
fi
Adding autotoss: true only helps for the system calling
others. On the server, tossing needs to happen on a regular basis.
Finally, you can do some clean-up by copying
/usr/share/doc/nncp/examples/cron-daily-nncp to
/etc/cron.daily/nncp-cleanup.
I’m using the following, both on the laptop and the server:
#!/bin/bash
if [ -x /usr/bin/nncp-rm ]; then
for TYPE in part seen hdr area; do
su nncp -s /bin/bash -c "nncp-rm -quiet -all -older 7d -$TYPE"
done
su nncp -s /bin/bash -c "nncp-rm -quiet -tmp -older 7d"
fi
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-08-09-nncp-automation
Princeton University to help Ukraine rebuild, reduce corruption risks
date: 2024-08-09, from: VOA News USA
By the beginning of 2024, the war in Ukraine had inflicted over $150 billion of damage on Ukraine’s infrastructure, according to the Kyiv School of Economics. But some scholars in the U.S., alongside Ukrainian anti-corruption activists, are already looking ahead to the end of the war and the opportunity to rebuild. Princeton University recently created a legal database to help. Iuliia Iarmolenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Oleksii Osyka
Joby Aviation rolls third aircraft off production line at its facility in Monterey County
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
The aviation company has designed and produced an electric air taxi that will carry a pilot and four passengers at speeds up to 200 mph offering high-speed mobility with a fraction of the noise produced by helicopters and zero operating emissions.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-09, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
This startup's plan makes me nauseous. As if the big problem in AI is compensating rentiers for their supposed losses due to AI apps. The information that news reports on does not belong to anyone. Bill Gross already has enough money. Instead, maybe he should find innovative ways to give it away.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/08/one-startups-plan-to-fix-ais-shoplifting-problem/
Bay Area lawmakers announce resolution to designate ‘Willie Mays Highway’
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Say Hey Kid, will there be a Willie Mays Highway? Yes, for a designated portion of Interstate 80 on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, if and when a state Senate resolution takes effect.
How Base 3 Computing Beats Binary
date: 2024-08-09, from: Quanta Magazine
Long explored but infrequently embraced, base 3 computing may yet find a home in cybersecurity.The post How Base 3 Computing Beats Binary first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-base-3-computing-beats-binary-20240809/
East Bay man charged with sex trafficking minor, after minor escapes, calls 911
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Monterey County Police found they young girl was taken from Stockton on April 3, 2021 and was forced to engage in sex acts in Antitoch, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Salinas, Reno and other cities.
Federal judge: San Rafael can enforce homeless camping law
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
The order means the city’s updated ordinance regulating the size and location of the camps is now in full effect.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/09/federal-judge-san-rafael-can-enforce-homeless-camping-law/
Aptos native Nikki Hiltz qualifies for 1,500 final, makes history
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Hiltz, who is transgender/nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, frequently calls being queer their superpower.
Scotts Valley native Dominique Parrish ousted: ‘I didn’t wrestle my best’
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Team USA freestyle wrestler Dominique Parrish, a Scotts Valley native, saw her 2024 Summer Olympics come to a close in Paris on Thursday.
Santa Cruz native Natalia Grossman falls short of making Women’s Combined climbing final
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Team USA’s Natalia Grossman and Brooke Raboutou, among the 20 women’s Combined climbers who competed in the Boulder round on Tuesday at the 2024 Summer Olympics, returned to complete their scores in the Lead round Thursday in Le Bourget, France.
COSMIC alpha released
date: 2024-08-09, from: OS News
After two year of development, System76 has released the very first alpha of COSMIC, their new Rust-based desktop environment for Linux. This is an alpha release, so they make it clear there’s going to be bugs and that there’s a ton of missing features at this point. As a whole, COSMIC is a comprehensive operating system GUI (graphical user interface) environment that features advanced functionality and a responsive design. Its modular architecture is specifically designed to facilitate the creation of unique, branded user experiences with ease. ↫ System76 website Don’t read too much into “branded experience” here – it just means other Linux distributions can easily use their colours, branding, and panel configurations. The settings application is also entirely modular, so distributors can easily add additional panels, and replace things like the update panel with one that fits their package management system of choice. COSMIC also supports extensive theming, and if you’re wondering – yes, all of these are answers to the very reason COSMIC was made in the first place: GNOME’s restrictiveness. There’s not much else to say here yet, since it’s an alpha release, but if you want to give it a go, the announcement post contains links to instructions for a variety of Linux distributions. COSMIC is also slowly making its way into Redox, the Rust-based operating system led by Jeremy Soller, a System76 employee.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140453/cosmic-alpha-released/
Be careful where you park. AI is watching AC Transit bus stop lanes
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
AC Transit is gearing up to issue citations to drivers to park in the bus stop lanes. Fines will $110 starting Oct. 7. Agency using AI to help spot violators.
Pro-Iran groups lay groundwork for ‘chaos and violence’ as US election meddling intensifies
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Political officials, advisors targeted in cyber attacks as fake news sites deliver lefty zingers
Microsoft says Iran’s efforts to influence the November US presidential election have gathered pace recently and there are signs that point toward its intent to incite violence against key figures.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/iran_state_groups_lay_groundwork/
Biden set to share a legacy with LBJ
date: 2024-08-09, from: VOA News USA
U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to pass the Democratic Party’s torch to Vice President Kamala Harris makes him a lame-duck president – one who remains in office without any hope of an additional term. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman at the White House looks at how Biden’s legacy may eventually compare to the previous one-term president who did not run for reelection.
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-set-to-share-a-legacy-with-lbj-/7736107.html
Naomi Girma dominated San Jose youth soccer. Now she’s the ‘best center back in the world’
date: 2024-08-09, from: San Jose Mercury News
Naomi Girma and the U.S. women’s national team are one win away from a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
A Quick Roundup of This Week’s DOE Funding News
date: 2024-08-09, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Japan has issued its first-ever “megaquake” caution after a temblor rattled its southern coast yesterday • The remnants of Tropical Storm Debby could bring tornadoes to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast • India’s record heat has been mentioned at least 80 times in quarterly earnings calls.
THE TOP FIVE
- Solar panel company Qcells secures $1.45 billion DOE loan
The Biden administration announced yesterday a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee of up to $1.45 billion for solar panel maker Qcells to support the construction of the company’s new manufacturing facility in Cartersville, Georgia. The plant would be Qcell’s second in Georgia, but the largest of its kind in the U.S., churning out solar panel components like silicon ingots and wafers, as well as finished solar panels. Its completion will “re-establish critical parts of the domestic solar supply chain and reinforce the United States’ status as a global clean energy leader,” the Department of Energy said in a statement. The plant will create 1,950 jobs, and is expected to make 3.3 gigawatts of panels each year, enough to power half a million homes. And it will be eligible for the IRA’s clean-energy tax credits.
In other government funding news this week, the DOE announced $10.2 million to advance the “cost effective and environmentally responsible” production of critical minerals and materials in the U.S., $85 million to boost domestic heat pump manufacturing, and $2.2 billion to shore up the grid.
- Glacial dam outburst floods Alaska’s capital
Alaska’s capital of Juneau has been inundated by flooding from a glacial dam outburst this week. More than 100 homes have been damaged in the Mendenhall Valley after the Suicide Basin, which holds meltwater from Suicide Glacier, began to overflow on August 1 and sent water pouring into the Mendenhall River. Climate change is melting glaciers, putting nearby communities in danger. Recent research shows the number of glacial lakes has grown by more than 50% since 1990, and more than 15 million people globally are at risk.
Facebook/Alaska
Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
- Canadian nuclear fusion firm gets government backing
Canadian nuclear fusion company General Fusion this week raised about $14.6 million in a Series F funding round from two government agencies, the Business Development Bank of Canada and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. The injection brings the company’s funding total to more than $320 million, with backers including Jeff Bezos. As Bloomberg explained, General Fusion “uses mechanically driven pistons to compress a cloud of plasma as a means to generate energy,” and the company said this money will help it move toward compressing plasmas at large scale, which is “a key milestone on our path to reach transformational results for commercialization.”
- L.A. could soon get an air taxi network
California-based eVTOL developer Archer Aviation is planning an “air mobility network” that will bring flying electric taxis to Los Angeles as early as 2026. Customers would be able to skip the L.A. traffic by hopping into one of Archer’s Midnight aircraft and travelling in a matter of minutes to one of the company’s vertiports, which will be located near various popular destinations including LAX, USC, and perhaps the SoFi Stadium. Here’s what the network could look like:
The Midnight electric aircraft can carry four passengers at a time and travel at 150 mph. The company recently announced plans for a similar network in the San Francisco Bay Area. Stellantis is planning to help Archer ramp up production of the Midnight aircraft by covering some $370 million in labor-related costs.
- Study reveals how past volcanic eruptions affected climate, plants
A new study published in the journal Science examines how the Earth’s plants and carbon cycle have responded in the past to climate change caused by huge releases in carbon dioxide from volcanic activity. They find that the severity of the fallout depended on how quickly the Earth could sequester the carbon and remove it from the atmosphere, but also how well plants could adapt to the resulting temperature changes. After past volcanic eruptions, some plant species evolved to survive, some migrated to cooler climates, but others were wiped out entirely. The authors found that damages to vegetation made global warming worse in the past. “This study, in my perspective, serves as a ‘wake-up call’ for the global community,” said co-author Loïc Pellissier, a professor of ecosystems and landscape evolution at ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research. “We are currently releasing greenhouse gases at a faster rate than any previous volcanic event. We are also the primary cause of global deforestation, which strongly reduces the ability of natural ecosystems to regulate the climate.”
THE KICKER
Satellite data suggests deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is now at its lowest levels since 2016.
https://heatmap.news/economy/a-quick-roundup-of-this-weeks-doe-funding-news
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-09, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Aptly named “welcome to hell”
B’tselem released a detailed report documenting Israel’s torture practices in Israel:
http://www.btselem.org/publications/202408_welcome_to_hell
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112932086461120505
NASA’s NEOWISE asteroid spotter turned off for the final time
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
A mission that was supposed to last for less than a year went on for more than a decade
NASA’s comeback kid, the NEOWISE spacecraft, was this week shut down for the final time as its transmitter was turned off ahead of a reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere later this year.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/nasas_asteroid_spotter_turned_off/
colonialist owls
date: 2024-08-09, from: Ayjay blog
This is a fascinating report: “Very soon, the federal government may authorize the killing of nearly a half-million barred owls in the Pacific Northwest in a desperate bid to save the northern spotted owl.” The argument appended to the report is that this proposal is unwise. The key passage, I think, is this: Many philosophers, […]
https://blog.ayjay.org/colonialist-owls/
How Extra Mass and Air Drag Affect Sprinters
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/08/09/how-extra-mass-and-air-drag-affect-sprinters/
How much sway should the president have over interest rates?
date: 2024-08-09, from: Marketplace Morning Report
As president, Donald Trump was highly critical of the Federal Reserve and Chairman Jerome Powell. Now, Trump is signaling that he would want to have more say on interest rate decisions should he win the election in November — even though the Fed’s relative independence is seen as a key pillar of U.S. economic strength. Also on the program: how a summer camp is marrying mariachi music with exposure to careers in STEM.
Core Python developer suspended for three months
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Code of Conduct violations include allegations that posts created ‘atmosphere of FUD’
The Python Steering Council has decided to suspend a core Python developer for three months for alleged Code of Conduct violations.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/core_python_developer_suspended_coc/
John Boston | What Bears & Iron Man Do in the Woods
date: 2024-08-09, from: The Signal
I swim. Regularly. I actually cheat-swim in that sometimes I use small swim flippers, which makes the difference of racing through the water in an 1,100-horsepower cigarette boat or dragging […]
The post John Boston | What Bears & Iron Man Do in the Woods appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/john-boston-what-bears-iron-man-do-in-the-woods/
Rob Kerchner | Hyperbolic Hysteria
date: 2024-08-09, from: The Signal
Ironic: those who accused Donald Trump of being a dictator and trying to undermine our country’s laws are the ones who have weaponized our judicial system to take out an […]
The post Rob Kerchner | Hyperbolic Hysteria appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/rob-kerchner-hyperbolic-hysteria/
The American Roots Of The World’s Right-Wing Nationalism
date: 2024-08-09, from: The Lever News
On Lever Time, journalist Zack Beauchamp explains how an anti-democratic tradition that began in the U.S. has spread to right-wing governments around the world.
https://www.levernews.com/the-american-roots-of-the-worlds-right-wing-nationalism/
Arthur Saginian | The Apology Has Been Found
date: 2024-08-09, from: The Signal
As I sat there musing over the letter that was submitted by Rob Kerchner and published on June 30 requesting an apology from the liberal left for the ill-mannered way […]
The post Arthur Saginian | The Apology Has Been Found appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/arthur-saginian-the-apology-has-been-found/
A good performance on social media can secure Olympic riches
date: 2024-08-09, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: There’s been a lot of talk about the Olympics’ boost to Paris’ economy, but what about the athletes themselves? The all-encompassing influence of social media looks set to create some surprising winners. And breaking — better known as breakdancing — makes its Olympics debut, yet it’s not in the line-up for the LA games in 2028. Now could be the chance to grab the spotlight and secure some funding.
Apple tries again to make EU DMA officials happy – with new fees
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Meanwhile, UK watchdog contemplates breaking Cupertino’s WebKit rule
Apple this week revised its alternative contractual terms for devs selling apps in the European Union – a revision that was immediately dismissed by critics as more “malicious compliance.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/apple_eu_compliance/
P&B: Georgie Cooke
date: 2024-08-09, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>This is the 50th edition of <em>People and Blogs</em>, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Georgie Cooke and her blog, <a href="https://hey.georgie.nu">hey.georgie.nu</a></p>To follow this series subscribe to the newsletter. A new interview will land in your inbox every Friday. Not a fan of newsletters? No problem! You can read the interviews here on the blog or you can subscribe to the RSS feed.
If you’re enjoying the People and Blogs series and you want to see it grow, consider supporting on Ko-Fi.
Let’s start from the basics: can you introduce yourself?
I’m Georgie and I was born and reside in Sydney, Australia. I grew up in the ’burbs, which was something I despised until I moved to a spot closer to the city, and there’s a certain nostalgia that Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs evokes about my childhood that no other album or song has done to date.
My first experience using a computer was when I was probably about four
years old, watching my dad type commands into MS-DOS to launch games.
When I couldn’t figure out how to load King’s Quest, I would just type
dir and press spacebar dozens of times for amusement until
my dad came to my aid. These days, I work as a software engineer and I
fell into this line of work after teaching myself how to code and build
websites, then trying to find data entry jobs, but realising there were
actually jobs for building websites.
I’ve competed in two powerlifting competitions (placing third and second), I used to be a concert photographer and a ballerina, I like hiking, and I am passionate about expressing myself through my style and what I wear. One might describe my style as containing deliberate elements of juxtaposition, and a blend of 80s, 90s, punk, and grunge. I am a 90s kid, pretty much, but my interests and knowledge of pop culture give people the impression that I’m an older millennial than I actually am. I also still get ID’d, and it now amuses me since I’m old enough to appreciate it. I’ll take what I can get.
What’s the story behind your blog?
After playing Neopets in the early 2000s and then getting my account banned because I was transferring items and neopoints to myself from a secondary account, I started blogging on LiveJournal. My website was on a free hosting site, and was my playground for practicing coding and graphic design. I was writing about pretty inane stuff on LiveJournal, and my website was reserved for updates about graphics, trivia and other miscellanea I was adding to my website.
Since I had been writing in a physical diary for most of my childhood and early adolescence, writing stuff online seemed like a fair transition. It was also easier for me to let my friends read my diary if it was on a website they could visit.
After LiveJournal, I blogged on MSN Spaces for a while. My blog was called “Consolation in a Jar”, because I thought the visual of a jar was cute (think those jars full of hand-made paper stars) and also because I was going through a difficult time with severe depression.
I forget what my website’s name was when I first created it, but I settled on the name “Out The Window”. I am pretty sure it came from the Linkin Park song “In The End”. I started blogging about my school life and hobbies, and more emotional posts found their home on Consolation in a Jar.
In 2008 I registered my first domain name, Heartdrops.org. This is the URL at which I gained a lot of notoriety, fame, what have you. MSN Spaces had shut down, and I chose not to save all of the painful posts I’d published. Heartdrops became my main blog, and would be that way for four years. Facebook took off around this time, and I continued to strongly hold the opinion that friends could contact me via phone number or—quite literally—my website that I’d had years before social media.
I started a few other blogs for different creative projects, like photoblogging, letters to friends, and scans of doodling and drawing on paper. I went through a couple of cycles of starting new blogs for specific topics, then pulling them all back into my main blog. Now I like to have everything in the one place and feel free to use my space to write about any topic I want.
I’d been using georgie.nu as a “domain collective”—a website to showcase all of my domains and projects—for three years before I decided to name rename Heartdrops to “Hey Georgie” and use the URL. I was working on an exciting, bold WordPress theme that was a departure from my usual design style, and didn’t suit the name Heartdrops. I started to feel like the name was juvenile and reminded me too much of a difficult time in my life.
My blog has been called Hey Georgie for the past 12 years now. I feel like it suits my personality more accurately. The name just comes from the greeting of “hey” or “hello”, but one of my favourite local bands is called Hey Geronimo as well. I know I must have sounded like a hypocrite when I renamed my blog because I used to diss people who had their name in their website name. I said so much shit online in my youth. But damn, have I learned. I have learned a lot.
What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging?
In my early years of blogging (from the mid to late 2000s), I would just sit at my computer or laptop and write any time I wanted a blog post to happen, or if I had an idea, I would try to write the blog post as soon as possible. My ideas mostly revolved around funny stories from my childhood, or experiences in my day to day as a suburban kid being in the heart of the city for university and social events. I would usually write a 500-word post in 30 minutes or so. I didn’t proofread. It was a combination of being a little bit cocky and confident in my writing skills and speed, and an obsession with posting something every two days. I just wanted to write the blog post and be done, and took pride in having something new to share.
My process is very different these days. I’ve not only matured, but the blog posts I write are less stream-of-consciousness and centre around a specific topic. They take a bit more time because I care about them reading well and being well structured. My writing has matured the same way I’ve matured as a person.
I stopped having the freedom to just drop everything and write as soon as an idea came to mind, so I keep a list of ideas instead. I don’t have as many ideas as I used to. When I think about why, I think it’s that I don’t enjoy writing about the mundanities of life the way that I did as an adolescent. (I promise my life is not boring… haha.) My interest in writing about certain topics also waned. Any time I’m in the mood, I’ll take one of those ideas and just start writing something until I get stuck, then I leave the draft there and come back to it later. Some of those drafts never see the light of day because I give up on the idea, while others are eventually worked on and published. In the past, I had the mentality of a completist and anything I worked on was published, even if I thought it sucked. I still don’t proofread too meticulously, and sometimes I even do it after I’ve published a post, because I am so comfortable with my writing that there will usually only be some small typos. If the topic is a really delicate one, I might ask a couple of close friends to proofread it.
I used to use an app called Bear to help me focus while I was writing. Now I just write most of my posts directly in my WordPress installation or in the Notes app on my iPhone or MacBook. I can’t remember why I abandoned Bear, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it had something to do with paying for features that I refused to pay for.
Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the physical space influences your creativity?
My physical space really influences my ability to write and put a blog post together. I value my noise-cancelling headphones and a bit of stoner rock or hard rock or metal. It’s music that’s energetic enough because of the beat, and I like having the lyrics present, but they don’t feel distracting because the vocals are rough. I also need to be physically comfortable, but this doesn’t necessarily mean I need to be in an armchair in a library. I like cafes, and often work from them, but I can’t write while sitting in a cafe unless it’s during a quieter time of the day and the cafe doesn’t play pop music loudly for ambiance. I can write whilst sitting on a park bench, even if the bench isn’t like a sofa, but maybe there aren’t many people around and the weather is pleasant. I can write from my phone on public transport, as long as I have a long enough journey and am seated by the window.
Oddly enough, I’ve found that I can write better and am more forced to focus during periods of being “in transit”, like sitting in an airport lounge, being on a long-distance ferry, or waiting at a cafe for a friend to arrive because I’m early for our date. It might be because there is a definite end to the time I’m in that place—compared to sitting at home with an entire afternoon ahead of me and falling into procrastination. It is entirely possible that the “forced deadline” created by being in those temporary situations is beneficial for me because of my neurodivergent brain. If I’m at home, I just won’t make a deadline to write a post by, but in some of the scenarios I described, I have no choice.
A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech stack?
I register most of my domains with NameCheap (I have one on Name.com). Before I could afford to pay for my own hosting, I had a friend who set me up on her shared hosting. I bought my own plan at NameCheap after about a decade of her generously letting me use some of her space for free.
I use self-hosted WordPress. I take pride in the fact that I’ve coded my theme myself—it’s not compatible with new features of WordPress and I don’t try to make it that way, as it’s mostly just an outlet for my coding creativity. I remember the days when I had the time, inspiration, and energy to code and update a new theme every two weeks. If I remember correctly, my current theme has been there since 2018, which is a personal record for me. I’m not sure what changed (apart from the obvious, like having more responsibilities in life and already doing coding as part of my day job, etc.). I think I just focused more on the idea of “branding” and simplicity, and that led me to build something that I was happy with long-term.
I know WordPress has an interesting (if not slightly poor) reputation, but I’ve just used it ever since I had my own domain name in the late 00’s, and I decided to stick with it. I’ve had many conversations with friends about why I never converted to a static site generator, or why I don’t do it now. I put too much emphasis on comments and having a comments section, and didn’t want them to be owned by a third-party service. A friend even joked that he’d build something custom for me, but my needs made him give up. Hahah. I have well over 1,500 blog posts and 26,000 comments. The thought of migrating them was not only a tricky problem to solve, but at some point converting them made the possibility of a sunk cost fallacy inevitable. I debated just removing the comment functionality entirely, given that most readers either don’t leave comments, or reach out to me through email or social media to share their thoughts. With the rise of social media-type trolling comments and inauthentic AI-generated ones, perhaps this could be a reason to no longer care about blog post comments…
Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do anything differently?
I’m not sure that I would do anything too differently, because I’ve owned a blog for so long and the things I would do differently have already been applied, or weren’t too hard to change on an existing blog. For example, the renaming of my blog from Heartdrops to Hey Georgie was pretty straightforward.
If you asked me to start fresh today, perhaps I really would abandon the whole comment thing—hahaha—and then use it as an opportunity to use something that will let me write blog posts more “simply” with Markdown. That’s probably all I’d really change. These days it’s not uncommon for a blog to have no comments section, but it was just such a huge part of me making friends and connections on the internet pre-social media.
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?
In a year, for domain and hosting, I pay about $80–100 AUD, give or take. The .nu domain is notoriously expensive and costs some $40 a year, but I committed to that when I first got it. Haha. (It’s kind of like the custom licence plate I have for my car; I committed to that several hundred dollar annual payment when I got it, so I keep paying for it because it has sentimental value.) I don’t pay much attention to the actual cost. I just pay for it when it’s due. Even though my frequency of posts don’t suggest this, my blog is my passion project and something I really care about.
I feel very strongly about monetising content in relation to being my authentic self online. The topic first came up for me a while ago, long before social media and living in a world of subscriptions and content creation and ads and things. I first dabbled in sponsored posts and accepting money for links when I only had a job for six hours a week, because I just wanted extra cash. I felt uncomfortable about it though, and I realised that my personal morals were important to me. All my friends were telling me that I should make money from my online space, but it didn’t sound like something I wanted to do. I put a PayPal donate button on my blog and I felt gross, especially after I managed to get more part time jobs. My blog was an outlet for my writing and a place where I put my honest and personal thoughts. It was not a business.
I decided that my blog would always be a space that genuinely represents myself and the things I care about and stand for. I previously accepted payment for certain types of advertisements that I might not agree with today. These days, I accept payment for in-post advertising, and free products in return for honest reviews, but they must be from businesses or companies whose principles I support, or whose products I might actually use.
If other people choose to monetise their blog, I think they have every right to do so. But I will admit that it’s sometimes funny to see advertisements completely unrelated to the blog’s general content. It only bothers me if someone’s blog is littered with ads and content that they obviously paid for. But then I think we are getting into “content creation” territory, which I consider different from people’s personal blogs.
I don’t usually financially support other bloggers. If they have some kind of “buy me a coffee” link, I might buy them a few coffees but it’ll be a once-off. If I get to meet any other bloggers in real life, I am more than happy to buy them a coffee in person. 😊
Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out? And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next?
My good friend Pauline at pawlean.com, my friend Jane from lemonandlively.com, Ruben at rubenerd.com, Jem at jemjabella.co.uk. 💙 I’m sure least one of them might be up for an interview, but I’d gladly read an interview with any of them.
Final question: is there anything you want to share with us?
If you’ve read this far, just, thank you. I think there might be some people reading this who know me from when I was literally fifteen years old, too, which is not only astonishing, but really touching to me that there was something about my writing or about me as a person that made you read my blog in the first place. I’ve always liked writing, and unlike other interests and hobbies, it’s a thing that innately stays with you over time.
I have a podcast called Toast & Roast, a super low budget pod that my friend and I record for fun. It was a mid-pandemic project that has been going for several years, and I think the success of its tenure is to do with the fact that our recording sessions are also the time we chat and catch up. We release episodes weekly. It’s got the same unfiltered vibe that my blog posts have, and we don’t really plan topics. Hopefully we’re the kind of pod you might have playing in the background or just listen to when you don’t feel like paying too much attention. I like to think it’s like eavesdropping on two friends who are just talking shit. But if you’ve ever wanted to put a voice to my face or writing, or whatever… hehe.
You can find me on Instagram at @hey.georgie, where I mostly post outfits and travel pictures. It’s ended up being the platform I use most to interact with internet folk. I joined back when filters were part of the aesthetic, and I think you couldn’t even write a caption? Instagram has continued to be a good way to see what my friends are up to and to message them casually. I was also an early adopter of Twitter and got a lot of value out of it, but it’s no longer the platform it once was. However, you can find me on Mastodon where I don’t mind posting silly thoughts and banter.
Back in 2020, in the early months of the pandemic, I published a poetry collection called “the off switch is broken”, inspired by my experience as a software engineer, growing up on the internet, and what identity means online. It has themes of discomfort and failure, as well as nostalgia and triumph. Although there are pieces of poetry in the depths of my blog, this was something I created with a lot more intent. I hope you consider taking a look, as I think it documents feelings that we all share.
This was the 50th edition of People and Blogs. Hope you enjoyed this interview with Georgie. Make sure to follow her blog (RSS) and get in touch with her if you have any questions.
Awesome supporters
You can support this series on Ko-Fi and all supporters will be listed here as well as on the official site of the newsletter.
Jamie Thingelstad (RSS) — Piet Terheyden — Raul Montala (RSS) — Eleonora — Carl Barenbrug (RSS) — Steve Ledlow (RSS) — Paolo Ruggeri (RSS) — Nicolas Magand (RSS) — Rob Hope — Chris Hannah (RSS) — Pedro Corá (RSS) — Colin Walker (RSS) — Sixian Lim (RSS) — Matt Stein (RSS) — Winnie Lim (RSS) — Flamed (RSS) — C Jackdaw (RSS) — Kevin Humdrum (RSS) — Fabricio Teixeira (RSS) — Rosalind Croad — Frank Meeuwsen (RSS) — Mike Walsh (RSS) — Markus Heurung — Juan Villela (RSS) — Michael Warren (RSS) — Chuck Grimmett (RSS) — Robin Harford (RSS) — Bryan Maniotakis (RSS) — Barry Hess (RSS) — Ivan Moreale — Khürt Williams (RSS) — Ben Werdmuller (RSS) — Cory Gibbons — Luke Harris (RSS) — Lars-Christian Simonsen (RSS) — Cody Schultz — Brad Barrish (RSS) — Nikita Galaiko — Erik Blankvoort — Jaga Santagostino — Andrew Zuckerman — Mattia Compagnucci (RSS) — Thord D. Hedengren (RSS) — Fabien Sauser (RSS) — Maxwell Omdal — Numeric Citizen (RSS) — Jarrod Blundy (RSS) — Andrea Contino (RSS) — Sebastian De Deyne (RSS) — Nicola Losito (RSS) — Lou Plummer (RSS) — Leon Mika (RSS) — Veronique (RSS) — Neil Gorman (RSS) — Reaper (RSS) — Matt Rutherford (RSS) — Aleem Ali (RSS) — Nikkin (RSS) — Jeremy Felt (RSS) — Hans (RSS) — Mark Pitblado (RSS) — Matt Katz (RSS) — Ilja Panić — Emmanuel Odongo — Kev Quirk (RSS) — Joe Crawford (RSS) — Elena Saharova — Peter Rukavina (RSS) — jsrn (RSS) — Adam Keys (RSS) — Alexey Staroselets (RSS) — John L — Minsuk Kang (RSS) — Kechi Ladapo
Want to support P&B?
If you like this series and want to help it grow, you can:
- support on Ko-Fi;
- post about it on your own blog and let your readers know about its existence;
- email me comments and feedback on the series;
- suggest a person to interview next. I’m especially interested in people and blogs outside the tech/web bubble.
<hr>
<p>Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:hello@manuelmoreale.com">Email me</a> ::
<a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/guestbook">Sign my guestbook</a> ::
<a href="https://ko-fi.com/manuelmoreale">Support for 1$/month</a> ::
<a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/supporters">See my awesome supporters</a> ::
<a href="https://buttondown.email/peopleandblogs">Subscribe to People and Blogs</a></p>
https://manuelmoreale.com/@/page/QZaLii75357ZA0qC
Tom Purcell | Forgetting Our Olympic Woes
date: 2024-08-09, from: The Signal
Bowling didn’t make the cut again. Neither were baseball and softball, ballroom dancing, pole dancing and a host of other sports featured in the 2024 Summer Olympics games in Paris. […]
The post Tom Purcell | Forgetting Our Olympic Woes appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/tom-purcell-forgetting-our-olympic-woes/
CMA launches full blown probe of Amazon’s Anthropic tie-up
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Poor cloud titans, just trying to give a helping hand to AI startups valued at billions of dollars
Britain’s competition regulator is embarking on a full blown deep dive into Amazon’s multi-billion dollar investments in Anthropic to ascertain if the exchange equates to a stealthy “merger situation.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/cma_launches_full_blown_probe/
Sergey Durmanov opened issue #152: INCL/EXCL - No range check at Felix Oliver Friedrich / Oberon A2
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: Oberon A2 repository
MODULE TestSet3;
PROCEDURE Do*;
VAR set: SET16;
BEGIN
INCL(set, 20); (*! out of range *)
END Do;
END TestSet3.https://gitlab.inf.ethz.ch/felixf/oberon/-/issues/152
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-09, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Lawrence: 'Stupidest' candidate Trump did not answer reporters' questions.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD-oTJ49nls
Intel’s processor failures: A cautionary tale of business vs engineering
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Chipzilla taking some punches but could it stay down?
Opinion Just like Boeing, once upon a time, Intel was the darling of the engineering world. Both companies were the premier tech companies in their day, but those days are long gone now.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/opinion_column_intel/
more curl help
date: 2024-08-09, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog
With the ever-growing number of command line options for curl, the problem of how to provide documentation and help users understand how options work and should be used is a challenge that is worth revisiting regularly. To keep iterating on. I personally often use the curl manpage to lookup descriptions for options. Often not only … Continue reading more curl help
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/08/09/more-curl-help/
2024-08-08 Man pages
date: 2024-08-09, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
2024-08-08 Man pages
Here’s a great thing on the command line. You want to use the command foo and don’t know how, so you run man foo and read the manual page. Sometimes there will be more info in different “sections”. Commands are in section 1, which is why documentation would sometimes refer to the command “foo” as foo(1) because foo(5) might document the file format or the config file that goes along with the command.
If that’s news to you, run man man. And if you find the structure bewildering, read the manual on how to write manual pages: man man-pages (section 7).
I’ve embraced man pages because when I write Perl code, I can put documentation into the script such that when the script is installed, it automatically works as its own man page – this works for jupiter, bookmark-feed – it also works for bigger projects, like phoebe where each extension is also a Perl module and therefore also gets its own man page.
For programming languages where the documentation is more focused on
documenting the code, things are different. Of course, there’s
pydoc for Python code and go doc for Go code,
but it’s not great. The list of variables and functions are maybe
suitable for libraries, but not for applications.
Since I don’t enjoy writing man pages directly (man is
actually a macro package for the nroff language, see
man nroff, obviously) I write my documentation in the
scdoc format.
@drewdevault wrote
it in 2018.
It looks a bit like Markdown and friends and I like it. I even put a
little sequence of sed expressions into a Makefile to turn
scdoc into Markdown so that I could publish the man pages on this site,
see Oddµ man pages.
When documentation for a project is a website, I wonder how they serve people offline or with bad connections. Perhaps they want to write the documentation in texinfo? I haven’t done that in a long time but I really enjoy reading a well-written manual like that. And you can get a PDF for free but I’m not sure anybody really wants that. Even a README is bad because in those rare cases where the program gets added to a distro, how will end-users find the README? Man pages are the answer.
README files and offline copies of the HTML documentation have multiple problems.
-
Which directory is it, exactly?
/usr/docdoes not exist on my system./usr/sharelists lots of package names but these are not the docs./usr/share/docis the one! But the problems continue. Which is the file that you want to read when you’re faced withBUGS changelog.Debian.gz changelog.gz copyright README README.Debian README.frames RELEASE-NOTES.txt WhatsNew.gz– it’s README, I guess, but I am always confused. Sometimes you’re looking at binary and it’s also not obvious what the package name would be.findis in/usr/share/doc/findutils, for example.
Compared to this, man pages are so much better.
And some package managers like go, pip
(Python), cabal (Haskell) and cargo (Rust)
don’t install any of these files, I think.
I suspect that many developers consider using a website like Read the Docs to be good enough. Bad luck for people who are offline or who have bad reception, in hotel rooms with bad wifi, in planes? My sister lives in the Rhine valley, on the German side, close to Switzerland, in a tiny village of a bit more than 100 people. They have no glass fibre. They have bad reception, both from Switzerland and from Germany. It’s terrible! But even for me: I have wifi in the apartment and glass windows that act that block the signal. I have no reception on the balcony unless I use my phone as a hotspot.
Local documentation that is easy to find is so much better.
And man pages are powerful. All of Perl is documented in many pages. All the modules. All the switches. All the language features. I learned to program in Perl from man pages back when my browser was NCSA Mosaic. (I am a bit astonished to find that I still knew that acronym! But I didn’t know that it stands for National Center for Supercomputing Applications.) Anyway, what I wanted to say is that man pages can be used to document large and complex things. From the command line, they are readily accessible. With the right man reader, they can act as a hypertext, linking to other pages. They don’t have to be terse and cryptic, either. Man pages can be tutorials, introductions, FAQs, and more. And if you write man pages using a suitable format, you can still generate HTML pages with links.
If you’re not writing man pages, if your community doesn’t have the
habit of writing man pages, start small. Get scdoc and
write a little something. Skim man man-pages and learn
about the conventions, then write some text files. Then use scdoc
< text-file > man-page to create the file and install them
into ~/.local/share/man, following the conventions. A page
from section 1 (commands) has the extension “.1” and goes into
~/.local/share/man/man1 whereas a page from section 5 (file
formats and config files) has the extension “.5” and goes into
~/.local/share/man/man5.
#Programming #Software #Documentation
2024-08-09. At one point I was interested in using troff as an alternative to LaTeX, so not to write documentation but to create PDFs, and I kept eyeing the mom macros. But before I could give them a try I discovered how to create PDFs using Markdown to HTML to PDF via weasyprint and that has been my workflow ever since. For a zine I’m contributing to, however, I’m using groff and the ms macros because that’s what’s in the Makefile…
The reason I write this all up is that flexibeast wrote in, saying that man pages can be written using the semantics-oriented mdoc macros instead of the presentation-oriented man macros – and they had written an mdoc quickstart guide. Nice!
I really have to take a look at mandoc as a groff alternative.
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-08-08-man-pages
Techie told ‘Bill Gates’ Excel is rubbish – and the Microsoft boss had it fixed in 48 hours
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
I’m a Mac. I’m a PC. You’re both annoying me
On Call The Register knows that tech support is a vocation that induces frustration, which is why each Friday we offer a new edition of On Call – the reader-contributed column that details real-life support stories so you can at least enjoy misery in company.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/on_call/
Today in SCV History (Aug. 9)
date: 2024-08-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1919 – Charles Kingsburry (Kingsburry House at Hart Park) arrives in Newhall to work on Power House No. 1 construction in San Francisquito Canyon [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-aug-9/
What’s going on with AMD funding a CUDA translation layer, then nuking it?
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
We guess the House of Zen wants all you HIP kids to ROCm out with its own runtimes instead
Analysis AMD’s legal team appears to have clawed back control of much of the ZLUDA project’s code base. The open source project, for which the House of Zen pulled support earlier this year, enabled compiled CUDA code to run natively on non-Nvidia GPUs.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/amd_zluda_take_down/
Webcurios 09/08/24
date: 2024-08-09, from: Web Curios blog
Reading Time: 37 minutes Welcome to England, a country now reaching the ‘results’ stage of a decades-long experiment designed to answer the question ’so what do you think happens to the social fabric of a nation when its inhabitants spend 20 years watching their quality of life diminish by almost every conceivable available metric while a significant proportion of…https://webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-09-08-24/
Huge California wildfire chews through timber in very hot and dry weather
date: 2024-08-09, from: VOA News USA
CHICO, California — California’s largest wildfire so far this year continued to grow Thursday as it chewed through timber in very hot and dry weather.
The Park Fire has scorched more than 1,709 square kilometers since erupting July 24 near the Sacramento Valley city of Chico and burning northward up the western flank of the Sierra Nevada. Containment remained at 34%, Cal Fire said.
The conflagration’s early explosive growth quickly made it California’s fourth-largest wildfire on record before favorable weather reduced its intensity late last week. It reawakened this week due to the heat and very low relative humidity levels.
A large portion of the burned area was in mop-up stage but spot fires were a continuing problem, officials said during Thursday morning’s operational briefing.
The fire’s northeast corner was the top firefighting priority, operations deputy Jed Gaines said.
“It’s not time to celebrate,” he said. “We got several more days of hard work to hold what we got in there.”
The latest Park Fire assessments found 636 structures destroyed and 49 damaged. A local man was arrested after authorities alleged he started the fire by pushing a burning car into a gully in a wilderness park outside Chico.
About 160 kilometers to the south, a new forest fire in El Dorado County was exhibiting extreme behavior, and some Park Fire aircraft were being diverted there.
The Crozier Fire, about 16 kilometers north of Placerville, had burned more than 5.17 square kilometers of timber and chaparral as of Thursday evening and was just 5% contained. The fire threatens 1,625 structures, according to Cal Fire.
It’s 2024 and we’re just getting round to stopping browsers insecurely accessing 0.0.0.0
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Can’t reach someone’s private server on localhost from outside? No problem
A years-old security oversight has been addressed in basically all web browsers – Chromium-based browsers, including Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, WebKit browsers like Apple’s Safari, and Mozilla’s Firefox.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/0000_day_bug/
HP Inc loves China – but wants to reduce the risks it presents
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Amid reports that plenty of PC production will shift elsewhere, supply chain boss emphasizes agility
HP Inc loves China and wants to keep making and designing products there, but also loves the idea of diversifying its operations to other countries in case geopolitics becomes a problem.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/hp_china_supply_chain/
SCV Water Board Member Ed Colley Resigns Seat
date: 2024-08-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Ed Colley, who represented District 2 on the Board of Directors of the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency, resigned his seat effective Wednesday, Aug. 7. Colley’s resignation was prompted by his planned move out of his district, and California, to Texas
https://scvnews.com/scv-water-board-member-ed-colley-resigns-seat/
Giant panda habitat opens at California zoo to much fanfare
date: 2024-08-09, from: VOA News USA
san diego, california — Two Chinese giant pandas are now California residents as their enclosure at the San Diego Zoo opened to the public on Thursday in an international ceremony.
The pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, are the first to enter the United States in 21 years and were welcomed by California Governor Gavin Newsom and the Chinese ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng.
Yun Chuan, a 5-year-old male, is easily recognized by his long, slightly pointed nose, while Xin Bao is a 4-year-old female with big fluffy ears whose name means a “precious treasure of prosperity and abundance.”
Yun Chuan’s name means “big river of cloud.” His mother, Zhen Zhen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007.
The zoo is working closely with Chinese experts to help with the adaptation period and understanding of the needs of the two pandas. The pair are enjoying a variety of fresh bamboo and a local adaptation of “wotou,” a traditional Chinese steamed cornbread that’s also called “panda bread.”
“The arrival of Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, as we celebrate the 45th anniversary of our diplomatic ties, has sent a clear and important message,” said Xie.
“China-U.S. cooperation on panda conservation will not cease. Our people-to- people exchanges and subnational cooperation will not stop, and once opened, the door of China-U.S. friendship will not be shut again,” he added.
Newsom said the new pandas were about “celebrating our common humanity. It’s about celebrating the things that bind us together.”
“And so, for me, this spirit of pride that is associated with this opening today with the experience that so many will have, that we just had at Panda Ridge, is about a deeper meaning,” Newsom added.
Visitors of all ages to Panda Ridge on Thursday were exuberant about the pandas’ cuteness.
“I have never seen a panda before. I’ve only seen them on TV and nature documentaries,” said Kobi Davis from Michigan. “They are super cute. They just kind of laze around, you know. There’s charm in that.”
Keena Butcher from Canada called them “quiet, thoughtful creatures, and just realize we can have hope for our future if we can conserve them.”
China’s Communist government has long used “panda diplomacy” to enhance the country’s soft power, lending the large but cuddly looking black-and-white bears to zoos in various countries over the decades as goodwill animal ambassadors.
In late 2023, Washington’s National Zoo said goodbye to its beloved giant pandas, which were returned to China amid heightened tensions between the two global superpowers.
In May this year, the National Zoo said China would send two young pandas to Washington by the end of the year.
https://www.voanews.com/a/giant-panda-habitat-opens-at-california-zoo-to-much-fanfare-/7735821.html
Friday Links: August 9, 2024
date: 2024-08-09, from: California Native Plants Society
Learn about cemeteries’ ecological value, moon-based genetic preservation, and more intriguing stories from the native plant world and beyond.
The post Friday Links: August 9, 2024 appeared first on California Native Plant Society.
https://www.cnps.org/friday-links/friday-links-august-9-2024-39795
County OKs $115k settlement in deputy crash
date: 2024-08-09, from: The Signal
Officials with the Los Angeles County Contract Cities Liability Trust Fund approved a $115,000 settlement for a deputy-involved crash that happened back in 2021, according to county records. The case […]
The post County OKs $115k settlement in deputy crash appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/county-oks-115k-settlement-in-deputy-crash/
Report slams Boeing and NASA over shoddy quality that’s delayed SLS blastoff
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Space Launch System project overspent, under-built, and is overdue, government probe finds
Boeing and NASA have come in for scathing criticism from federal investigators, who examined the next generation of Space Launch System rockets.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/nasa_boeing_sls/
Lasagna as a Sacrament
date: 2024-08-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
I never met David Peri, but he had something to do with me having the greatest lasagna of my life. And he was one of a kind.
The post Lasagna as a Sacrament appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/08/lasagna-as-a-sacrament/
Supervisors to hear appeal on Cali Lake
date: 2024-08-09, from: The Signal
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is set to hear an appeal Tuesday for Cali Lake RV Resort by residents seeking to permanently house their recreational vehicles at the property. […]
The post Supervisors to hear appeal on Cali Lake appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/supervisors-to-hear-appeal-on-cali-lake/
Castaic hosts on-site adoption event to kick off Clear the Shelters
date: 2024-08-09, from: The Signal
Castaic Animal Care Center is encouraging residents to join the “paw-ty” to commemorate 10 years of Clear the Shelters, a nationwide initiative that’s held in partnership with hundreds of local […]
The post Castaic hosts on-site adoption event to kick off Clear the Shelters appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/castaic-hosts-on-site-adoption-event-to-kick-off-clear-the-shelters/
Jury deadlocks on charges in Black and Blue shooting
date: 2024-08-09, from: The Signal
Jury deadlocks on charges in Black and Blue shooting By Perry Smith Senior Staff Writer After two days of deliberation in the case of a man accused of shooting another […]
The post Jury deadlocks on charges in Black and Blue shooting appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/jury-deadlocks-on-charges-in-black-and-blue-shooting/
School resource deputy program extended to 2026
date: 2024-08-09, from: The Signal
High schools and junior highs in the Santa Clarita Valley will continue to have school resource deputies on campus after the L.A. County Board of Supervisors extended its agreement with […]
The post School resource deputy program extended to 2026 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/school-resource-deputy-program-extended-to-2026/
Hello? Are you talking on a Cisco SPA300 or SPA500 IP phone? Now’s the time to junk ’em
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Multiple critical flaws found and they won’t be fixed
A boffin from British defence contractor BAE has found three critical flaws in Cisco’s Small Business SPA300 and SPA500 IP phones – and another couple of nasties – none of which will be fixed or mitigated.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/cisco_ip_phone_critical_flaws/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-09, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Someday soon twitter will be on this list.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/08.html#a002605
Save Money and Time with These DIY Home Repair Tips
date: 2024-08-09, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
Photo by Blue Bird Have you ever faced a home repair and felt your wallet cringe? Or maybe you’ve spent hours waiting for a professional, only to watch them complete…
Mustangs Baseball Adds Matt Chapman to Roster
date: 2024-08-09, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Matt Chapman is transferring from Coe College in Iowa to The Master’s University to continue his baseball career.
https://scvnews.com/mustangs-baseball-adds-matt-chapman-to-roster/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-09, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Another practical use for ChatGPT. A super techy service you use decides to require 2FA but reading their instructions you realize the docs were written by someone who hates people like you. Idea! Ask ChatGPT to translate. Out come nice instructions easy to read for people like me. Turns a dismal exercise in frustration to happiness at finding another huge stress- and time-saving application for ChatGPT.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/08.html#a001102
On Fire
date: 2024-08-09, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The world is a hot mess.
The post On Fire appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/08/on-fire/
Access local Ollama models from a cloud Kubernetes Cluster
date: 2024-08-09, updated: 2024-08-09, from: Inlets.dev, cloud tunneling
Renting a GPU in the cloud, especially with a bare-metal host can be expensive, and even if the hourly rate looks reasonable, over the course of a year, it can really add up. Many of us have a server or workstation at home with a GPU that can be used for serving models with an open source project like Ollama.
https://inlets.dev/blog/2024/08/09/local-ollama-tunnel-k3s.html
The Growing Need for Therapists: Addressing Mental Health in a Modern World
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
In recent years, the demand for mental health services has surged, reflecting a broader societal recognition of the importance of mental well-being. This growing need for therapists is particularly evident…
Olympic Dreams a Mixed Bag For Team Santa Barbara Thursday
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Women’s water polo loses to Australia in a shootout, and women’s volleyball defeats Brazil to advance to the final on Sunday.
The post Olympic Dreams a Mixed Bag For Team Santa Barbara Thursday appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/08/olympic-dreams-a-mixed-bag-for-team-santa-barbara-thursday/
ARTree In Need of Volunteers
date: 2024-08-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)
ARTree Community Arts Center believes art has the power to transform lives, connect communities and inspire all
https://scvnews.com/artree-in-need-of-volunteers/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-08, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
This is beautiful
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112928987836751769
Stevenson Ranch resident shares updates from GenCon
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Signal
Renu Venkatesh has probably got 10 board games stored under her bed, card games in her end table, and in total, over 20 games in her Stevenson Ranch apartment. If […]
The post Stevenson Ranch resident shares updates from GenCon appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/stevenson-ranch-resident-shares-updates-from-gencon/
Tim Walz’s China ties highlighted after VP announcement
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz’s ties to China will likely inform his work if elected. Where does he stand on key issues? And how does Beijing see him? Everyone has an opinion. VOA’s Anita Powell and Paris Huang report from Washington.
https://www.voanews.com/a/tim-walz-s-china-ties-highlighted-after-vp-announcement-/7735422.html
Ransomware groups are better at web app security than you, says researcher
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Could we please start taking this seriously?
Black Hat One would hope that, after years of telling businesses to secure their systems, enterprises would have better web app security than cybercriminals do. But research presented at Black Hat this week suggests that’s not the case at all. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/ransomware_groups_are_better_at/
Man Arrested After Reported Robbery at State Street Jewelry Store in Downtown Santa Barbara
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
A suspect was taken into custody Wednesday after allegedly attempting to rob a local jewelry store with a firearm.
The post Man Arrested After Reported Robbery at State Street Jewelry Store in Downtown Santa Barbara appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
New Santa Barbara Deli & Catering Business Helping Empower Neurodivergent Staff
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Mo’s To-Go delivers good food and good community.
The post New Santa Barbara Deli & Catering Business Helping Empower Neurodivergent Staff appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Lawyers say US cybersecurity law too ambiguous to protect AI security researchers
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Been injecting prompts to test the safety of large language models? Better call Saul
black hat Existing US laws tackling those illegally breaking computer systems don’t accommodate modern large language models (LLMs) and can open researchers up to prosecution for what ought to be sanctioned security testing, say a trio of Harvard scholars. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/lawyers_say_us_cybersecurity_law/
‘Anyone Can Be Victimized’ Warns New Host of ‘Scam Squad’ Podcast
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Kristina Perkins, chief investigator of the Santa Barbara DA’s Office and the new host of the weekly podcast, is taking to the airwaves to warn listeners about “romance fraud” and other popular cons.
The post ‘Anyone Can Be Victimized’ Warns New Host of ‘Scam Squad’ Podcast appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Veterans Affairs, Barger Laud HUD’s Veterans Housing Policy Change
date: 2024-08-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs celebrates an announcement Thursday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announcing a new set of policy changes for which MVA and others had been advocating
https://scvnews.com/veterans-affairs-barger-laud-huds-veterans-housing-policy-change/
NASA Mission Concludes After Years of Successful Asteroid Detections
date: 2024-08-08, from: NASA breaking news
Engineers on NASA’s NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission commanded the spacecraft to turn its transmitter off for the last time Thursday. This concludes more than 10 years of its planetary defense mission to search for asteroids and comets, including those that could pose a threat to Earth. The final command was sent […]
Santa Barbara Unified Recruiting Staff to Combat Special Ed Shortages
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
School district invites anyone looking for a job to come out to the Saturday job fair at the District Office.
The post Santa Barbara Unified Recruiting Staff to Combat Special Ed Shortages appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Navigating Life After College: 4 Crucial Things Schools Might Not Have Taught You
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk So you’ve passed your final exam and finally have a degree after years of studying, stress, and sleepless nights. What now? Unfortunately for you, a degree…
The Oldest World Map in the World
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/the-oldest-world-map-in-the-world
Delta: CrowdStrike’s offer to help in Falcon meltdown was too little, too late
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Airline unimpressed with ‘unhelpful and untimely’ phone call from CEO, Falcon maker says claims untrue
Delta Air Lines has come out swinging at CrowdStrike in a letter accusing the security giant of trying to “shift the blame” for the IT meltdown caused by its software – and that CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz’s offer of support was too little, too late.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/delta_crowdstrikes_offer_for_help/
Feist plays a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR….
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/0045094-feist-plays-a-tiny-desk
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-08, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
What’s the best piece of advice you ever got?
http://scripting.com/2024/08/08.html#a215839
What the YIMBY Movement Can Teach the Climate Movement
date: 2024-08-08, from: Heatmap News
Why don’t we build things?
Yale Law School professor David Schleicher, who studies local government and land use, has been trying to answer this question for years. While Schleicher typically writes about housing, his latest work — an essay literally called “Why Can’t We Build?” for the New York University Journal of Law and Liberty — is useful for thinking about why we don’t have as much green energy infrastructure as we need. “Despite a generation of low interest rates and innovation in many non-physical realms,” he writes, “there are few physical monuments that we will pass to future generations — where are today’s Brooklyn Bridges or Hoover Dams?”
There are certainly explanations for this lack of
infrastructural boldness. But more importantly, what are the
reasons for it?
The explanations are often local restrictions on growth. When it comes to housing, that might mean zoning regulations that limit what kind of structures can be built where or fees that are sometimes charged to multifamily units. For renewable energy, developers of wind and solar might find themselves coming up against noise restrictions, rules that essentially require minimum amounts of land for installations, or even outright bans on certain types of generation.
But that doesn’t explain why these rules exist — the reasons why infrastructure doesn’t get built. As for these, he told me, most of them come down to the structural factors of local politics. “Statewide majorities have policy preferences” that often support development, Schleicher said. But local a body of government institutions that have been built up since the 1970s “have limited the capacity of those stated statewide preferences to be reflected in policy in many places.”
When it comes to zoning, Schleicher told me, proponents of reform “make arguments at the local level, but they’re very simply turning to the state level because the issue is larger than any individual jurisdiction.” The same goes for renewable energy.
If you ask people across an entire state if they want more housing or renewable energy, they will likely say yes. But local elections — which typically have comparatively low participation and are more likely to be decided on national party lines than on local policy issues — rarely reflect this political reality. With a lack of direct checks from the electorate, interest and advocacy groups have outsize weight on local policymaking.
Local governments have a variety of structures meant to discourage growth and systematically prioritize the views of those with the time and inclination to show up to local meetings — not just those who show up to vote every two or four years. Decisionmaking on individual projects may be dominated by homeowners or local environmental groups that don’t want to see any building or change in the built environment.
Statewide policymaking, on the other hand, “can bring different interest groups to the fore,” Schleicher told me, including labor and large employers. When Michigan, for instance, passed a suite of clean energy bills in 2023 with support from labor, it allowed the state to take over permitting for large clean energy projects if the applicable local rules are too restrictive.
California, too, has passed a series of laws centralizing renewable energy permitting and limiting the appeals that advocacy groups can make to block projects, which Governor Gavin Newsom has already put to work. Earlier this year, he essentially fast-tracked a 400 megawatt solar project in Riverside County by giving opponents just nine months to petition against its approval.
In all likelihood, however, Michigan will have to pass more new laws and regulations to speed up renewable development in any meaningful way. “Realistically, one of the other things that the zoning story has taught us that may be relevant for clean energy is that it’s almost never does one law do the trick,” Schleicher told me. When states have tried to boost housing production, he pointed out, it has often required several rounds of legislation to get a meaningful boost in production as local opponents of new housing adapt to new laws.
California, again, provides a helpful example. The state is in the midst of a massive building boom in so-called accessory dwelling units, a.k.a. “granny flats” or ADUs. Housing advocates in the state credit this not just to a set of bills passed in 2016 preempting certain local regulations including setbacks, some parking requirements, and fees for utility connections that discouraged their construction, but also to 11 more bills passed by 2022, methodically clearing out local restrictions on building, renting, and selling ADUs.
And this was just the latest chapter in the effort to encourage the building of ADUs — the first bill trying to get around local bans in California passed in 1982. Forty years later, however, there were still only 1,000 permitted ADUs in the whole state. As of 2022, the state had registered 82,000 ADUs, a fifth of all housing produced in the state that year, according to CA YIMBY, a housing advocacy group.
“The first couple times statewide ADU bills were passed, local governments would come up with other ways to stop things,” Schleicher said.
Something similar has and likely will continue to happen as states try to wrest siting for renewables projects from local governments. In New York, a 1972 law the governing the siting of power plants has gone through many different iterations. This law, known as Article 10, was changed in 2010 to apply to smaller generators and therefore include renewables projects. Article 10 created a “siting board” that could permit renewables projects under a fast-track process that exempted them from environmental impact statements required by the State Environmental Quality Review Act. The Board would even be allowed to waive “unreasonably burdensome” local laws restricting renewables development.
But the new process did little to speed permitting. What was intended to be a one- to two-year process instead turned “more lengthy and challenging than originally anticipated,” according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers Lawrence Susskind and Anushree Chaudari. By 2018, Columbia University professor Michael Gerrard and then Arnold & Porter partner Edward McTiernan wrote, a single project had been approved under the new system.
New York passed a new law in 2020, which included fixed timelines for review. The new process, while relatively new, has managed to get some local rules on renewable siting thrown out as “unreasonably burdensome,” and opponents to wind and solar projects have lost out in front of the new siting board.
As New York state struggles to meet its ambitious goals for decarbonization, it will likely need to reform land use and permitting regulations again, and again, and again, along with every other state.
“Remember that you’re in a long fight instead of a short one,” Schleicher told me. “One of the most important things is to be able to pass successive bills because local opponents to statewide efforts are going to adapt and change and respond.”
https://heatmap.news/climate/yimby-climate-laws
Tim Walz’s China ties highlighted after VP announcement
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/tim-walz-s-china-ties-highlighted-after-vp-announcement-/7735364.html
Unides en el Orgullo: El Festival del Orgullo LGBTQ+ Regresa Frente a la Playa de Santa Bárbara
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara, CA – La Fundación del Orgullo del Pacifico (PPF) está emocionada de anunciar que el festival de este año
The post Unides en el Orgullo: El Festival del Orgullo LGBTQ+ Regresa Frente a la Playa de Santa Bárbara appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Zero Tolerance Policies on Campus Have Zero Effect
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
Photo by William Fortunato While zero tolerance policies on college campuses were intended to create a safer environment for students, it seems to have created just the opposite. Regardless of…
United in Pride: Pacific Festival Returns to Santa Barbara Beachfront
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Santa Barbara, CA – Pacific Pride Foundation (PPF) is thrilled to announce this year’s Pacific Pride Festival will be held on
The post United in Pride: Pacific Festival Returns to Santa Barbara Beachfront appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Intel’s legal troubles mount after plunging stock sparks yet another court battle
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Pension fund claims CEO, CFO covered up truth about money-pit foundry
Over the past few weeks, Intel has found itself in a mess of legal trouble over everything from CPUs that slowly fry themselves to allegations it misled investors about the chipmaker’s well-being.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/intel_legal_trouble_mounts/
US stock markets rally; S&P 500 sees best day since 2022
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks rallied Thursday in Wall Street’s latest sharp swerve after a better-than-expected report on unemployment eased worries about a slowing economy.
The S&P 500 jumped 2.3% for its best day since 2022 and shaved off all but 0.5% of its loss from what was a brutal start to the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 683 points, or 1.8%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2.9% as Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks helped lead the way.
Treasury yields also climbed in the bond market in a signal that investors are feeling less worried about the economy after a report showed fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. The number was better than economists expected.
It was exactly a week ago that worse-than-expected data on unemployment claims helped enflame worries that the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates too high for too long in order to beat inflation. That helped send markets reeling worldwide, along with a rate hike by the Bank of Japan that sent shockwaves worldwide by scrambling a favorite trade among some hedge funds.
At the worst of it, at least so far, the S&P 500 was down nearly 10% from its all-time high set last month. Such drops are regular occurrences on Wall Street, and corrections of 10% happen roughly every year or two. After Thursday’s jump, the index is back within about 6% of its record.
What made this decline particularly scary was how quickly it happened. A measure of how much investors are paying to protect themselves from future drops for the S&P 500 briefly surged toward its highest level since the COVID crash of 2020.
Still, the market’s swings look more like a “positioning-driven crash” caused by too many investors piling into similar trades and then exiting them together, rather than the start of a long-term downward market caused by a recession, according to strategists at BNP Paribas.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-stock-markets-rally-s-p-500-sees-best-day-since-2022/7735354.html
Saturday Night
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/saturday-night
NASA Aircraft Gathers 150 Hours of Data to Better Understand Earth
date: 2024-08-08, from: NASA breaking news
Operating internationally over several countries this summer, NASA’S C-20A aircraft completed more than 150 hours of science flights across two months in support of Earth science research and overcame several challenges throughout its missions. Based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research in Edwards, California, the C-20A research aircraft has been modified to support the Uninhabited Aerial […]
US ‘laptop farm’ man accused of outsourcing his IT jobs to North Korea to fund weapons programs
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
American and Brit firms thought they were employing a Westerner, but not so, it’s alleged
The FBI today arrested a Tennessee man suspected of running a “laptop farm” that got North Koreans, posing as Westerners, IT jobs at American and British companies.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/north_korea_laptop_farm_arrest/
NASA Astronauts Launched on Eight-Day Mission Might Have to Remain on the ISS Until February
date: 2024-08-08, from: Smithsonian Magazine
After technical issues on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, the space agency says it’s considering bringing the astronauts back to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon instead
The Impact of Medical Misdiagnosis on Student Health and Safety
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Sundail (CSUN student paper)
Image by javi_indy on Freepik Medical misdiagnosis occurs when a healthcare professional incorrectly identifies a patient’s condition, leading to improper treatment and potentially serious health risks. For students, who are…
Federal government ends policy that blocked unhoused LA veterans from housing
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The LAist
The change comes after strict income eligibility rules prevented some disabled veterans experiencing homelessness from obtaining housing.
Cameron Smyth | Get Back-to-School Ready with Santa Clarita Public Library
date: 2024-08-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Going back to school can often be a daunting experience for students and their families, marked by the anticipation of new grades, teachers, classmates and the back-to-school preparations after a relaxing break
https://scvnews.com/cameron-smyth-get-back-to-school-ready-with-santa-clarita-public-library/
A lovely ode to soil by Ferris Jabr. “I now see soil…
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/0045093-a-lovely-ode-to-soil
Castaic Union Takes Step to Pay Off 2012 School Bonds Quicker
date: 2024-08-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)
On July 9, 2024, the Castaic Union School District successfully priced and locked in interest rates for the fourth issuance of its 2012 bond authorization, Measure QS, totaling $6 million
https://scvnews.com/castaic-union-announces-measure-qs-bond-issuance/
See Images of New Yorkers and Their Pets Across Three Centuries
date: 2024-08-08, from: Smithsonian Magazine
An upcoming exhibition will trace the history of the city’s domesticated dogs, cats, horses and other animals
Aug. 17: Le Chêne Murder Mystery Dinner
date: 2024-08-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Le Chêne French Cuisine will be hosting an exciting Murder Mystery Dinner Theater in its alluring banquet room Saturday, Aug. 17, beginning at 6:30 p.m. with cocktails and registration
https://scvnews.com/aug-17-le-chene-murder-mystery-dinner/
Diary Comics, July 6
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/diary-comics-july-6
Intel finally has a new GPU – for cars
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Chipzilla takes its Arc Alchemist A750, gives it some more RAM, and says it’s for AI-powered jalopies
Intel has finally got around to launching a new GPU – except it’s a reskin of a graphics processor already on the market, and this time targeted at the automotive industry.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/intel_a760a_gpu/
Why the Decline of Local Media Could Be a Security Risk
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: RAND blog
The decline of local media in the United States creates vulnerabilities to adversarial influence. Supporting local journalism is essential for strengthening democracy and ensuring timely detection of security threats.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/08/why-the-decline-of-local-media-could-be-a-security.html
Marshalling the grey cells …
date: 2024-08-08, from: Logic Matters blog
You now know why I wrapped up work on Introducing Category Theory a bit prematurely, and paperbacked what I frankly admitted was/is a beta version, broadly functional but surely not bug-free. I got an earlier-than-expected slot for my scheduled heart operation, and just didn’t know when (or indeed if) I would be up for returning […]
The post Marshalling the grey cells … appeared first on Logic Matters.
https://www.logicmatters.net/2024/08/08/marshalling-the-grey-cells/
DMA Compliance: Initial Acquisition and Store Services Fees
date: 2024-08-08, from: Michael Tsai
Apple: We’re introducing updated terms that will apply this fall for developers with apps in the European Union storefronts of the App Store that use the StoreKit External Purchase Link Entitlement. […] Developers can communicate and promote offers for purchases available at a destination of their choice. The destination can be an alternative app marketplace, […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/08/dma-compliance-initial-acquisition-and-store-services-fees/
Sequoia Screen Recording Prompts and the Persistent Content Capture Entitlement
date: 2024-08-08, from: Michael Tsai
Matthias Gansrigler (Mastodon): As a macOS engineer, what do you do when you’re told by Apple’s security team you have to turn it even more into Windows Vista and place even more useless alibi-security permission dialogs somewhere, but you’ve run out of new places to put them in?Well, you get creative, and show multiple permission […]
macOS 14.6.1
date: 2024-08-08, from: Michael Tsai
Juli Clover (release notes, no security, no developer, no enterprise, full installer, IPSW): macOS Sonoma 14.6.1 fixes an issue that prevented the enabling or disabling of Advanced Data Protection. Apple says there are also other “important bug fixes.” See also: Mr. Macintosh and Howard Oakley. Pierre Igot: Updated my Mac from macOS 14.5 to macOS […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/08/macos-14-6-1/
macOS 13.6.9
date: 2024-08-08, from: Michael Tsai
Apple (full installer): This update addresses an issue that prevents enabling or disabling Advanced Data Protection. Previously: macOS 14.6.1 macOS 13.6.8 and macOS 12.7.6 Advanced Data Protection for iCloud
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/08/macos-13-6-9/
iOS 17.6.1 and iPadOS 17.6.1
date: 2024-08-08, from: Michael Tsai
Juli Clover: According to Apple’s release notes, the iOS 17.6.1 update addresses an issue that could prevent the enabling or disabling of Advanced Data Protection.[…]Those who tried to turn Advanced Data Protection on and weren’t able to get it enabled saw an error message and it was clear it wasn’t active. Affected users who tried […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/08/ios-17-6-1-and-ipados-17-6-1/
This Rocks! NASA is Sending Student Science to Space
date: 2024-08-08, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is scheduled to launch a sounding rocket carrying student-developed experiments for the RockSat-X mission on Tuesday, Aug. 13. The Terrier-Improved Malemute rocket is expected to reach an altitude of about 100 miles (162 kilometers) before descending by parachute into the Atlantic Ocean to be recovered. The launch window for […]
If you give Copilot the reins, don’t be surprised when it spills your secrets
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
‘All of the defaults are insecure’ Zenity CTO claims
Black Hat One hopes widely used enterprise software is secure. Get ready for those hopes to be dashed again, as Zenity CTO Michael Bargury today revealed his Microsoft Copilot exploits at Black Hat.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/copilot_black_hat_vulns/
Pete Wells’s last column for the NY Times as restaurant critic: I…
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/0045091-pete-wellss-last-column-f
Your Microwave Is Teeming With Bacteria, Study Suggests
date: 2024-08-08, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Researchers found thriving communities of microbes in microwave ovens used in home kitchens, shared spaces and laboratories
Third person in US dies in listeria outbreak tied to Boar’s Head deli meats
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/7735073.html
Are White Nationalists Behind The GOP’s Worker Surveillance Push?
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Lever News
A nonprofit with hate group ties is using a major GOP apparatus to push a controversial employee verification system to crush immigration.
https://www.levernews.com/are-white-nationalists-behind-the-gops-worker-surveillance-push/
0Din: A GenAI Bug Bounty Program – Securing Tomorrow’s AI Together
date: 2024-08-08, from: Mozilla Developer Network blog
As AI continues to evolve, so do the threats against it. As these GenAI systems become more sophisticated and widely adopted, ensuring their security and ethical use becomes paramount. 0Din is a groundbreaking GenAI bug bounty program dedicated specifically to help secure GenAI systems and beyond. In this blog, you’ll learn about 0Din, how it works, and how you can participate and make a difference in securing our AI future.
The post 0Din: A GenAI Bug Bounty Program – Securing Tomorrow’s AI Together appeared first on Mozilla Hacks - the Web developer blog.
https://hacks.mozilla.org/2024/08/0din-a-genai-bug-bounty-program-securing-tomorrows-ai-together/
See Rare Italian Renaissance Drawings at Buckingham Palace
date: 2024-08-08, from: Smithsonian Magazine
An upcoming exhibition will feature 160 sketches by Italian masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Titian
Cloud growth puts hyperscalers on track to take up 60% of datacenter capacity by 2029
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Enterprises used to spend more on own kit than cloud infra services… now it’s the other way around
Hyperscalers are forcecast to account for more than 60 percent of datacenter space by 2029, a stark reversal on just seven years ago when the majority of capacity was made up of on-premises facilities.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/cloud_growth_hyperscalers_growth/
Interior of Vacuum Tank at the Electric Propulsion Laboratory
date: 2024-08-08, from: NASA breaking news
Interior of the 20-foot diameter vacuum tank at the NASA Lewis Research Center’s Electric Propulsion Laboratory. The Electric Propulsion Laboratory, which began operation in 1961, contained two large vacuum tanks capable of simulating a space environment. The tanks were designed especially for testing ion and plasma thrusters and spacecraft. The larger 25-foot diameter tank included […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/interior-of-vacuum-tank-at-the-electric-propulsion-laboratory/
Is this a new streaming device for your TV or the bar…
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/0045090-is-this-a-new-streaming
Santa Clarita Public Library Gets You Back-to-School Ready!
date: 2024-08-08, from: City of Santa Clarita
By Mayor Cameron Smyth “The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.” – Albert Einstein Going back to school can often be a daunting experience for students and their families, marked by the anticipation of new grades, teachers, classmates and the back-to-school preparations after a relaxing break. However, […]
The post Santa Clarita Public Library Gets You Back-to-School Ready! appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
https://santaclarita.gov/blog/2024/08/08/santa-clarita-public-library-gets-you-back-to-school-ready/
Tuxedo InfinityFlex 14 3-in-1 is a Linux laptop, tablet and portable monitor
date: 2024-08-08, from: Liliputing
German Linux PC maker Tuxedo Computers has revealed the InfinityFlex 14 3-in-1. With a touchscreen display and 360 degree hinge it can act as both a laptop and a tablet. The third option is to connect another device to the Infinity Flex 14’s HDMI input and use it as a portable monitor. Lenovo offers similar […]
The post Tuxedo InfinityFlex 14 3-in-1 is a Linux laptop, tablet and portable monitor appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/tuxedo-infinityflex-14-3-in-1-is-a-linux-laptop-tablet-and-portable-monitor/
Five arrested over attack that wounded US troops in Iraq air base, statement says
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
CAIRO — Security forces have arrested five people in connection with an attack this week at a military base in Iraq in which five U.S. troops and two U.S. contractors were wounded, Iraqi officials said on Thursday.
The arrests were announced by the Iraqi Security Media Cell, an official body responsible for disseminating security information.
“After in-depth legal investigations and listening to witnesses’ statements … five of those involved in this illegal act were arrested,” the Security Media Cell added in a statement.
In Monday’s attack, two Katyusha rockets were fired at Ain al-Asad air base in the west of the country. On Tuesday, Iraq’s military condemned what it called “reckless” actions against bases on its soil and said it had captured a truck with a rocket launcher.
The attack came as the Middle East braced for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies following last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
It was unclear whether the incident in Iraq was linked to threats by Iran to retaliate over the killing in Tehran of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Iraq is a rare ally of both the U.S. and Iran. It hosts 2,500 U.S. troops and has Iran-backed militias linked to its security forces. It has witnessed escalating tit-for-tat attacks since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza in October.
Iraq wants troops from the U.S.-led military coalition to begin withdrawing in September and to formally end the coalition’s work by September 2025, Iraqi sources have said, with some U.S. forces likely to remain in a newly negotiated advisory capacity.
Walz’s personal experiences shape his health policy outlook
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Tim Walz has built a career in state and federal politics focused on expanding health coverage and advocating for reproductive rights.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/walzs-personal-experiences-shape-his-health-policy-outlook/
On Long Island, Republicans defend an unlikely stronghold as races could tip control of Congress
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
It’s a 2024 election battleground where millions of dollars are being spent and some of the biggest names in American politics are sure to pop up. But it’s not in the Rust Belt. And it isn’t Georgia or Nevada.
Russell Moir Back at TMU as VP of Student Life
date: 2024-08-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Master’s University’s newest executive isn’t new to TMU.
https://scvnews.com/tmu-announces-return-of-russell-moir/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-08, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Video of JD Vance approaching Air Force 2 yesterday. How embarrassing for him. Amateur mode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhmiOE0e9WI
Raptor Lake microcode patch arrives for Intel motherboards this month, ASUS and MSI say
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
MSI even claims all of its LGA 1700 motherboards will get updated before month end
Updated Two of Intel’s biggest motherboard partners say their users will start receiving new BIOS updates containing the crucial microcode patch for Raptor Lake CPUs next week.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/raptor_lake_microcode_patch_arrives/
Review: Alanis Morissette parties like it’s 1995 during superb Bay Area show
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Sharing a bill with Joan Jett and Morgan Wade, Alanis Morissette dedicated nearly half of her set to the 1995 blockbuster “Jagged Little Pill.”
Where did the ‘Tampon Tim’ Walz nickname come from? We explain
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
The title originally stems from a law that Walz signed surrounding access to menstrual products.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/where-did-the-tampon-tim-walz-nickname-come-from-we-explain/
Tim Walz Fixed Your Bicycle
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/tim-walz-fixed-your-bicycle
US women’s volleyball team, eyeing repeat gold, beats Brazil in Olympic semifinal
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Former Stanford star Kathryn Plummer made several key plays for Team USA, including the winning spike.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/usa-volleyball-brazil-semifinal-gold-medal-paris-olympics/
The Walz record: Abortion rights, free lunches for schoolkids, and disputes over a riot response
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
His record is a major reason why Harris chose him to be her running mate.
SR-126 Lane Closures Announced
date: 2024-08-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The California Department of Transportation announces repairs on State Route 126, quarter mile east of Pena Ranch Road, to clear the shoulder and roadway of mudslide/debris, clear and clean drainage systems, repair damaged slopes and place erosion control
https://scvnews.com/sr-126-lane-closures-announced/
Single-family house in San Jose sells for $2.2 million
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
The spacious property located in the 6500 block of Leyland Park Drive in San Jose was sold on July 12, 2024 for $2,200,000, or $1,009 per square foot.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/single-family-house-in-san-jose-sells-for-2-2-million/
Best toaster
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Toast is a wonderful thing — white or whole wheat, store-bought or homemade, slathered in butter or topped with avocado — and the right toaster makes it easier.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/best-toaster/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-08, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Tim Walz is Mr Rogers for adults. Tom Hanks should play him on SNL.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/08.html#a164705
Best Moroccan oil
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Moroccan oil is a hot commodity for hair and skin care. Despite being a heavy oil, Moroccan oil won’t make your skin break out.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/best-moroccan-oil/
Police ID Hayward teen killed in drive-by shooting
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
The 18-year-old survived long enough to be placed on life support before succumbing to his injuries, authorities said.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/police-id-hayward-teen-killed-in-drive-by-shooting/
Calling All Innovators: Apply for NASA’s 2025 Lunabotics Challenge
date: 2024-08-08, from: NASA breaking news
NASA invites teams from colleges, universities, as well as technical and vocational schools around the country to test their engineering skills in the 2025 Lunabotics Challenge. Applications open at 5 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 6. The competition is aimed at inspiring Artemis Generation students to explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for the […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/calling-all-innovators-apply-for-nasas-2025-lunabotics-challenge/
Gunfire reported near UC Berkeley’s Clark Kerr Campus track
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
UC Berkeley police were seeking someone who apparently fired gunshots Thursday morning near the Clark Kerr Campus track.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/gunfire-reported-near-uc-berkeleys-clark-kerr-campus-track/
#NoTechforICE x #NoTechforApartheid with Lau Barrios and Jacinta González
date: 2024-08-08, from: Logic Magazine
<p>“War, policing, and deportation have been areas of the federal budget that just continue to grow. So there are thousands of tech companies trying to position themselves in a really lucrative industry.”</p>Best artificial flowers
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Whether you’re planning a large event or looking for elegant home decor artificial flowers can breathe new life into any space while helping you stay on budget.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/best-artificial-flowers/
Spot fire reported near Auto Row
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Signal
Los Angeles County Fire Department officials handled a small spot fire near Auto Center Drive and Valencia Boulevard on Thursday morning. No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported […]
The post Spot fire reported near Auto Row appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/spot-fire-reported-near-auto-row/
Oakland police ID woman killed on International Boulevard
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
The 24-year-old woman was shot multiple times around 2 a.m. on July 25.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/oakland-police-id-woman-killed-on-international-boulevard/
macOS 14.6.1, macOS 13.6.9, iOS 17.6.1, and iPadOS 17.6.1 Fix Advanced Data Protection
date: 2024-08-08, from: TidBITS blog
Apple’s latest updates address a problem that prevented users from turning Advanced Data Protection on or off. What other problems might they fix as well? Read on for details and our installation advice.
Crews unable to increase containment on Park Fire
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
The blaze has destroyed 640 buildings.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/crews-unable-to-increase-containment-on-park-fire/
The Portable Feminist Reader, edited by Roxane Gay. Includes writing by Agrippa,…
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/0045088-the-portable-feminist-rea
After recent challenges, US looks to rethink AFRICOM, aid initiatives
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday completed one of the last major troop departures from Niger ahead of the military junta-imposed September 15 deadline. About 1,000 troops were stationed in Niger before the ruling leadership’s order to leave.
A joint statement from the Nigerien Defense Ministry and the U.S. military said personnel and equipment from the base had been withdrawn and coordination would continue over the coming weeks to make sure the pullout is complete.
“The effective cooperation and communication between the U.S. and Nigerien armed forces ensured that this turnover was completed ahead of schedule and without complications.”
In an interview with VOA’s Anthony LaBruto, U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, details how the United States is reevaluating its military presence in light of the troop departures as well as recent challenges to its broader security initiatives on the continent.
The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
VOA: What role does the United States Africa Command, or AFRICOM, play in the continent? In what capacity do AFRICOM’s teams serve in different countries in Africa and how is it helping to stabilize democracy?
U.S. Representative Michael McCaul: I just met with AFRICOM. I had a briefing from them. So, this is a very timely interview. They’re primarily military. That’s why in 2019, I introduced the Global Fragility Act. … And to your point, it forces [AFRICOM] to go beyond just being a military organization. It forces them to coordinate with states and with the United States Agency for International Development together on the African continent, and that’s very helpful if they’re working together rather than independently with their own missions. When I was at AFRICOM, they talked about it a lot, how that bill has really changed the way they operate.
VOA: I noticed that when the head of Africa Command testified before your committee, he mentioned that military presence in Africa should go alongside diplomatic and aid efforts on the continent. Can you elaborate on how these different elements are coordinated and their overall impact on the region?
McCaul: Look, the military is important. But that’s not going to win this alone, right? I mean, when you have economic ties, they strengthen our alliances and that’s where I think the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation can be helpful.
And then of course USAID, you know, we provide our humanitarian assistance. I passed the branding bill, which requires the American flag to be on this, so that they know where the aid is coming from, because prior to that, they didn’t know where it’s coming from. Now, if China brings in the [diplomatic] systems, their flags are everywhere and so now USAID has the American flag. They know where it’s coming from. That really helps in diplomacy.
I would also throw trade in there. If we could get back to having some trade agreements, which we haven’t done, quite frankly, under this administration. Of course, the military we need. They provide the security umbrella to provide the soft power — that being diplomatic and economic assistance.
VOA: What are the U.S. military’s strategies for countering threats in countries like Somalia and Kenya, and how do these efforts support and integrate with aid projects in the region?
McCaul: We have counterterrorism operations — that’s where AFRICOM comes in — but they’re overstretched and overburdened. Their role in coordinating with the State Department and USAID is to provide that security piece. … But when you have Niger kicking us out, there’s nothing we can do. We can’t operate within countries.
You look at Somalia, I mean our presence there is … quite frankly, that embassy is so dangerous you can’t even drive to it, you have to fly in. That’s probably the most dangerous embassy in the world right now. And now, with the events of the Houthi rebels joining forces with al-Shabab, it’s even worse. I really worry about that embassy. … They have a lot of security there, and it’s probably the most secure embassy in the world, but still. I mean, what good is that presence if you can’t really operate out of the country?
VOA: With the military or AFRICOM being challenged so much, is the U.S. rethinking any of its military or aid policies on the continent?
McCaul: They are [being challenged], and it’s a resource issue; it’s a big continent. There’s not much we can do if the country doesn’t want us there. They kicked the French out of Mali, in the Sahel regions, they’re gone.
They have this anti-colonialism attitude that goes back to the French, and I understand that, and they probably look at us [similarly] in some respects. We want them to look at us as a liberator, not an occupier, but they do have a sense of, ‘Oh, the colonials are coming back in,’ certainly with the French, probably less so with the Americans, but we still have that issue.
The AFRICOM General [Michael] Langley warned that the loss of U.S. bases in the Sahel will “degrade our ability to do active watching and warning, including for the homeland defense.” Right now, the terrorist organizations in Africa are more focused on Africa and not external operations, but we always have to be mindful of that, that any of these terror operations can go operational, external operations, if that’s the direction they want to go. Right now, I’m not sure they have that capacity to conduct external operations necessarily over here, but it’s something we have to continue to watch.
This Q&A originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
Aaron Rodgers and parents became estranged after Olivia Munn bragged about their sex life: book
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Ed and Darla Rodgers felt that Munn was the ‘chief culprit’ behind their family discord, according to a new biography of Rodgers.
80 years ago, IBM gave Harvard University one of the world’s earliest computers
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
In celebration of US Navy funded electromagnetic wonder that is the Automated Sequence Controlled Calculator
Feature Eighty years ago, IBM presented Harvard University with one of the world’s earliest computers: the Automated Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), later known as the Harvard Mark I.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/harvard_mark_1/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-08, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
It’s wrong that posts from Timothy Snyder, Joe Trippi and NYT Pitchbot are only available on Twitter. I’d like to help their posts reach a wider audience. I posted a note about this on micro.blog with a place to comment.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/08.html#a155601
‘World champion of what?’: The Noah Lyles-NBA players beef explained
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
The track and field star wasn’t shy about comparing his accomplishments to those of his professional basketball counterparts back in the US.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/the-noah-lyles-nba-players-beef-explained/
A Herd of Life-Size Elephant Sculptures Is Marching Across America
date: 2024-08-08, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Created by artists in India, the artworks are part of a larger effort to promote coexistence between humans and animals
From far and wide, crews across the US band together fighting Park Fire
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
According to Cal Fire, there are 507 engines and 6,627 total personnel in the area. Twenty-five engines came from Texas, 10 from Utah and one from Nevada, and an engineer from Arizona also joined the team fighting the blaze.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/from-far-and-wide-crews-band-together-fighting-park-fire/
US bans imports from five more Chinese companies over Uyghur forced labor
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
Partner of slain OPD officer Tuan Le recounts shooting at key hearing
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Le was shot while responding to a break-in at an Oakland marijuana grow house in December.
3 men shot, one fatally, on San Francisco’s Market Street
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Three men were shot, one fatally, on Monday night near Market and Sixth streets in San Francisco, police said. A shot spotter activation at 10:49 p.m. Aug. 5 sent officers to the 1000 block of Market, the police report said. While en route, they were informed that a man had been shot at Sixth and […]
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/3-men-shot-one-fatally-on-san-franciscos-market-street/
Sedimentary and Planetary Geologist Dr. Michael Thorpe
date: 2024-08-08, from: NASA breaking news
“I didn’t always grow up knowing that I was going to be working for NASA. It was just the way my life unfolded, and I couldn’t be more grateful and lucky to have this opportunity to be here. I think hiking is what really got me into my passion for wanting to have this outdoors […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/sedimentary-and-planetary-geologist-dr-michael-thorpe/
Coming this October: The Vanishing Culture report
date: 2024-08-08, from: Internet Archive Blog
This October, we are publishing Vanishing Culture, a new open access report examining the power and importance of preservation in our digital age. As more content is created digitally and […]
https://blog.archive.org/2024/08/08/coming-this-october-the-vanishing-culture-report/
Samsung is recalling 1 million stoves to prevent pets from setting your home on fire
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
The recall said that Samsung received more than 300 reports of accidental activation by pets or humans since 2013, resulting in about 250 fires.
Are cheaper mortgages bad news for California’s housing market?
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
When mortgage rates grow, California home prices average 10%-a-year gains. Rates down? Only 4.4% increases.
Communications Strategist Thalia Patrinos
date: 2024-08-08, from: NASA breaking news
“The public perception of NASA has a lot to do with our technological successes and the discoveries that we’ve made, but none of that is possible without the people. “In the six or so years that I’ve worked at NASA, I’ve learned a lot of incredible stories — not just of the struggles that different […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/communications-strategist-thalia-patrinos/
Raspberry Pi Pico 2 - RP2350 adds more PIO, RISC-V cores
date: 2024-08-08, from: Jeff Geerling blog
Raspberry Pi Pico 2 - RP2350 adds more PIO, RISC-V cores
<div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><img width="700" height="auto" class="insert-image" src="https://www.jeffgeerling.com/sites/default/files/images/raspberry-pi-pico-2.jpeg" alt="Pico 2 Logo"></p>The $5 Raspberry Pi Pico 2 was announced today, with a new chip, the RP2350. This silicon improves on almost every aspect of the RP2040:
- 3 PIOs instead of 2
- 150 MHz instead of 133 MHz base clock
- Faster Arm Cortex M33 cores and RISC-V Hazard3 cores
I’ve had access to pre-release hardware and good news: even though the new chip is faster and has more features, it actually uses less power than RP2040, meaning if you run one of these things off a battery, it’ll last longer.
I’ll talk more about power later, but first, here’s the specs.
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Jeff Geerling</span></span>
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/raspberry-pi-pico-2-rp2350-adds-more-pio-risc-v-cores
Houthis undeterred despite US action to protect Red Sea shipping
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
Washington — U.S.-led efforts to thwart attacks on international shipping by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen are nothing more than a “shock absorber” and are unlikely to lead to stability or safer seas, according to a senior U.S. commander.
Vice Admiral George Wikoff, who heads the U.S. naval efforts in the Middle East, shared the blunt assessment Wednesday, saying that not only have U.S. strikes and defensive efforts done little to change the Houthis’ behavior, it now appears unlikely the group will be swayed by military force.
“The solution is not going to come at the end of a weapon system,” Wikoff told an audience in Washington, speaking via video from U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.
“We have certainly degraded their capability. There’s no doubt about that. We’ve degraded their ability,” he said. “However, have we stopped them? No.”
The comments build on other U.S. assessments that have questioned the ability of the United States and its allies to stop the Houthis from targeting commercial ships transiting the Red Sea, which account for up to 15% of international maritime trade.
An unclassified report issued this past June by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, found container shipping in the region plunged by 90% from December 2023 through mid-February 2024.
It also warned that despite U.S. and European countermeasures, such as the U.S.-led Operation Prosperity Guardian and the European Union’s ASPIDES mission, the Houthis still carried out more than 43 attacks between November 19 and March 23, driving up security costs and insurance premiums.
Wikoff on Wednesday said U.S. forces have seen some signs of stabilization since February but called it an “unacceptable stabilization,” with the number of ships crossing the Bab el Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, still down by about half.
Yet the attacks and threats to commercial shipping and U.S. forces in the region persist.
Houthi officials Wednesday claimed they launched attacks on a container ship and on two U.S. military vessels, although a U.S. defense official told VOA there was no “operational reporting to support those claims.”
Separately, U.S. Central Command, which oversees American troops in the Middle East, has said its forces have destroyed seven Houthi aerial drones, seven Houthi missiles, one Houthi naval drone and one Houthi missile launcher, all in the past five days.
“It’s a struggle we have every day to try to figure out where are we on the meter with regards to stability in the region,” Wikoff said.
The Houthis have said their campaign in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden is to show solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza amid the war between Israel and Hamas.
But Wikoff pushed back against that notion, noting Houthi attacks on shipping predate the war while describing the U.S.-designated terror group as “a weapon looking for a reason to use it.”
And if the Houthis have anything they value enough that they do not want to risk using it, the U.S. and its partners have yet to find it.
“It’s very difficult to find a centralized center of gravity that we can hold at risk over time and use that as a potential point of deterrence,” Wikoff said. “So, trying to apply a classic deterrence policy in this particular scenario is a bit challenging.”
It is an argument some experts have been making for months.
“We have very little leverage over the Houthis, and air strikes are unlikely to deter them,” according to Elisabeth Kendall, a Yemen specialist at the University of Cambridge in Britain.
“They have a high tolerance for casualties, they are highly adaptable, they do not need sophisticated weapons to wreak havoc, they just need to keep going — not losing is winning, and they believe they have God on their side,” she told VOA via email. “In reality, air strikes by the U.S. and U.K. benefit the Houthis by providing evidence to back up their propaganda narratives against the U.S. and its allies.”
But other experts, such as former British Ambassador to Yemen Edmund Fitton-Brown, are more critical of the approach taken by the U.S. and its allies in trying to degrade and dissuade the Houthi attacks.
The U.S.-led responses have been “meticulously proportionate,” said Fitton-Brown, now a senior adviser for the New York and Berlin-based Counter Extremism Project.
“We need to be more determined and creative about what to do about this,” he said. “We are looking at a de facto authority, and a de facto authority has fixed points you can attack.”
“They have military bases that were previously in the hands of the government. They have intelligence headquarters. They have security deployments in [the port city of] Hodeidah,” Fitton-Brown told VOA. “Significant escalation of targeting is possible without changing the legal status of the conflict.”
The U.S. vice admiral in charge of U.S. naval forces in the region, however, is wary that military force will ultimately move the Houthis.
“Our mission remains to disrupt their ability and try to preserve some semblance of maritime order while we give an opportunity for policy to be developed against the Houthis,” Wikoff said. “The more players in the field that can get involved in a diplomatic piece of this, the better off I think we’ll be.”
Raspberry Pi Pico 2 lands with (drum roll) RISC-V cores
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Beefier Arms next to RV rival CPUs, offering a glimpse of the future
It’s exciting news for RISC-V fans: Raspberry Pi is adding support for the open ISA with the launch of the Pico 2 and the company’s new RP2350 microcontroller.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/pi_pico_2_risc_v/
Larry Magid: Tech can sometimes be too complicated
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Sometimes when I try out a new product or even one that I’ve had for a while, it occurs to me that it was probably designed by a 20-something tech-savvy engineer with perfect eyesight and great hand-eye coordination. But unfortunately, it has to be used by the rest of us, including seniors and others whose […]
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/larry-magid-tech-is-too-complicated/
How NASA Citizen Science Fuels Future Exoplanet Research
date: 2024-08-08, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s upcoming flagship astrophysics missions, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Habitable Worlds Observatory, will study planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. Over 5,000 exoplanets have been confirmed to date — and given that scientists estimate at least one exoplanet exists for every star in the sky, the hunt has just […]
https://science.nasa.gov/open-science/exoplanet-future-citizen-science/
Raspberry Pi Pico 2, our new $5 microcontroller board, on sale now
date: 2024-08-08, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
On sale now at $5: Raspberry Pi Pico 2, our new microcontroller board. It’s built on RP2350, our new high-performance, secure microcontroller.
The post Raspberry Pi Pico 2, our new $5 microcontroller board, on sale now appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/raspberry-pi-pico-2-our-new-5-microcontroller-board-on-sale-now/
Google Pigweed comes to our new RP2350
date: 2024-08-08, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Google Pigweed helps developers build great software for embedded devices that use microcontrollers like our new RP2350.
The post Google Pigweed comes to our new RP2350 appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/google-pigweed-comes-to-our-new-rp2350/
Real-time ML audio noise suppression on Raspberry Pi Pico 2
date: 2024-08-08, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Arm’s Sandeep Mistry applies ML audio noise suppression to a microphone input on our new Raspberry Pi Pico 2.
The post Real-time ML audio noise suppression on Raspberry Pi Pico 2 appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/real-time-ml-audio-noise-suppression-on-raspberry-pi-pico-2/
Getting rewarded for not being a terrible tourist
date: 2024-08-08, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Scoop litter from canals. Volunteer on an urban farm. Use a bike to get around. As a perk for climate-friendly actions, visitors to Copenhagen are being offered rewards like free ice cream, a glass of wine and museum discounts. Could programs like this make tourism more sustainable? Also, we’ll hear more about the mixed signals the economy is giving and Delta passengers’ class-action lawsuit over compensation for last month’s CrowdStrike travel fiasco.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-08, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
New York Times Pitchbot is a fantastic version of the NY Times. #satire
https://x.com/DougJBalloon/status/1820848752531272100
Santa Cruz-based Joby aims to start commercial air taxi flights from late 2025
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
The electric aviation startup is one of several manufacturers of electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft designed to fly customers on short commuter journeys.
curl welcomes wcurl to the team
date: 2024-08-08, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog
The curl project welcomes its newest sibling into the family: wcurl. I already wrote about wcurl. I will try to not repeat myself too much here, but starting now wcurl has its new home under the curl organization umbrella. It is now an official curl project. www: https://curl.se/wcurlGitHub: https://github.com/curl/wcurl The initial developers and people behind … Continue reading curl welcomes wcurl to the team
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/08/08/curl-welcomes-wcurl-to-the-team/
China’s preferred desktop Linux, openKylin, chases the AI PC in version 2.0
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Middle Kingdom netizens can look forward to the same kind of letdown Windows users get with Copilot
Developers behind openKylin, the desktop Linux distro backed by China’s National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center, have decided local users need to take advantage of Intel’s Meteor Lake silicon and the neural processing units it includes, tuning the latest release of the OS to Chipzilla’s AI PC SoC.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/openkylin_2/
Can 7-Eleven change its U.S. image and become more like the stores in Japan?
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
7-Eleven in Japan is known for its high-quality food items. Now, they are trying it in the U.S.
Ethics complaint filed against California GOP Rep. Ken Calvert over real estate holdings
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Corona Republican is accused by End Citizens United of failing to disclose investments near areas where he steered federal funds.
The cost of fueling my body
date: 2024-08-08, from: Dave Rupert blog
I’ve become a bit obsessed with how much it costs to fuel my body during the working hours.
| Item | Cost/Serving | Qty/Day | Cost/Day | Qty/Month | Cost/Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snap Kitchen 500cal meal | $10.00 | 1 | $10.00 | 22 | $220 |
| Fairlife 42g Protein Shake | $3.50 | 1 | $3.50 | 22 | $77 |
| Liquid Death | $1.75 | 1 | $1.75 | 22 | $38.50 |
| Ruta Maya Dark Roast | $0.25 | 3 | $0.75 | 66 | $16.50 |
| Califia Farms Café Oat | $0.11 | 3 | $0.33 | 66 | $7.26 |
| Total | $16.33 | $359.26 |
To keep me and my brain running during working hours costs me ~$359.26/month. Not much to say beyond that –no grand epiphanies– except that I think it’s too expensive. Sitting in an office by myself costs me $16.33/day (or $2/hour). This budget doesn’t include breakfast, dinner, exercise, healthcare, transit, internet, electricity, or office supplies… all necessities that enable the work. This is just the daily cost of caloric fuel to keep my body going during the nine-to-five. My family has three other humans in it too, so this seems collossaly expensive.
If I wanted to save money (I sort of do), here’s what I’d could try to optimize from top to bottom:
- I could make my own pre-made meals for about ~$2/meal. I’ve had success with this but it requires a lot of weekend logistics to execute properly. This would be the most significant cost reduction, costing only $44/month and saving $176/month.
- I could buy whey protein in bulk. A 5 lb bag of Muscle Milk (nearest approximate flavor) is $72/bag and contains 68 servings for a reduced costs of $1.05/serving. However, one serving only has 25g of protein, so if I’d need to double the scoops. The total cost would then be $2.11/serving or $46.42/month. Buying bulk powder makes fiscal sense, but $30/month to not have to deal with drinking clumpy protein shakes and washing crusted stinky shakers seems almost worth it.
- I considered eggs as an alternate source of protein instead. A single egg has ~6g of protein and costs about 50¢. The cost could potentially come down but the bigger issue is to get the same 42g of protein I’d need to eat 7 eggs. I don’t know if you’ve eaten eggs before but 7 eggs is a lot of eggs. Imagine woofing down 7 sweaty hard-boiled orbs a couple times a day, yikes.
- I could brew my own agave-sweetened tea. I’ve done this once, but the crisp flavor profile wasn’t the same so I wouldn’t call it a success. Needs more experimentation.
- Thanks to Costco selling our favorite local coffee roaster in bulk, we have caffeine ritual costs dialed down about as low as they can go. Feel comfortable there.
Lowering my lunch costs stands out as the best candidate for improvement. But as I noted before, adding even a small pile of extra duties risks toppling the wagon and I’m back to eating emergency $14 Spicy Chicken Sando Combos to quench my hunger. I wonder where my daily costs fit on a graph of national statistics. Is this average? Is this Bidenomic inflation? Am I making myself poor with my avocado toast? Someone who understands finances help me budget! Ack!
https://daverupert.com/2024/08/fueling-my-body/
Help Build a Tool To Track Apple Support Page Changes
date: 2024-08-08, from: TidBITS blog
It’s possible to write software that can traverse the entire universe of Apple support pages. Wouldn’t it be helpful if there were a tool that would tell you which pages were new or had changed?
https://tidbits.com/2024/08/08/help-build-a-tool-to-track-apple-support-page-changes/
@IIIF Mastodon feed (date: 2024-08-08, from: IIIF Mastodon feed)
We're delighted to welcome The French Ministry of Culture as the Consortium's newest member! Please read more about our newest member and their ongoing work to promote IIIF among cultural institutions across France on our website: https://iiif.io/news/2024/08/06/french-ministry/
https://glammr.us/@IIIF/112926816569417347
Bilbao, Spain
date: 2024-08-08, from: mrusme blog
“Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the tenth largest city in Spain, with a population of more than 347,000 as of 2023.”
https://xn--gckvb8fzb.com/travel/spain/bilbao/
My version of the NYT
date: 2024-08-08, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News
My version of the NY Times has campaign news too, featuring the cutest kitty on the trail, headed to North Carolina today to support the cute and adorable running mates, Kamala and Tim!
http://scripting.com/2024/08/08/140537.html?title=myVersionOfTheNyt
World’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
GEORGETOWN, Texas — As with any desktop 3D printer, the Vulcan printer pipes layer by layer to build an object – except this printer is more than 45 feet (13.7 m) wide, weighs 4.75 tons and prints residential homes.
This summer, the robotic printer from ICON is finishing the last few of 100 3D-printed houses in Wolf Ranch, a community in Georgetown, Texas, about 30 miles from Austin.
ICON began printing the walls of what it says is the world’s largest 3D-printed community in November 2022. Compared to traditional construction, the company says that 3D printing homes is faster, less expensive, requires fewer workers, and minimizes construction material waste.
“It brings a lot of efficiency to the trade market,” said ICON senior project manager Conner Jenkins. “So, where there were maybe five different crews coming in to build a wall system, we now have one crew and one robot.”
After concrete powder, water, sand and other additives are mixed together and pumped into the printer, a nozzle squeezes out the concrete mixture like toothpaste onto a brush, building up layer by layer along a pre-programmed path that creates corduroy-effect walls.
The single-story three- to four-bedroom homes take about three weeks to finish printing, with the foundation and metal roofs installed traditionally.
Jenkins said the concrete walls are designed to be resistant to water, mold, termites and extreme weather.
Lawrence Nourzad, a 32-year-old business development director, and his girlfriend Angela Hontas, a 29-year-old creative strategist, purchased a Wolf Ranch home earlier this summer.
“It feels like a fortress,” Nourzad said, adding that he was confident it would be resilient to most tornados.
The walls also provide strong insulation from the Texas heat, the couple said, keeping the interior temperature cool even when the air conditioner wasn’t on full blast.
There was one other thing the 3D-printed walls seemed to protect against, however: a solid wireless internet connection.
“Obviously these are really strong, thick walls. And that’s what provides a lot of value for us as homeowners and keeps this thing really well-insulated in a Texas summer, but signal doesn’t transfer through these walls very well,” Nourzad said.
To alleviate this issue, an ICON spokeswoman said most Wolf Ranch homeowners use mesh internet routers, which broadcast a signal from multiple units placed throughout a home, versus a traditional router which sends a signal from one device.
The 3D-printed homes at Wolf Ranch, called the “Genesis Collection” by developers, range in price from around $450,000 to close to $600,000. Developers said a little more than one quarter of the 100 homes have been sold.
ICON, which 3D-printed its first home in Austin in 2018, hopes to one day take its technology to the Moon. NASA, as part of its Artemis Moon exploration program, has contracted ICON to develop a construction system capable of building landing pads, shelters, and other structures on the lunar surface.
High school football 2024: Ten storylines as Bay Area teams hit practice field
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Is Serra still best in WCAL, Bay Area? Clayton Valley returns to former league. Does Los Gatos have its next star QB? SRV, Monte Vista loaded with college prospects. Plus, much more.
No, the news is not information junk food
date: 2024-08-08, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
Every so often, a post goes around in tech circles about how news is bad and we shouldn’t pay attention to it. I think that’s ludicrous.
Today’s was a post from 2022 called The News is Information Junk Food. I think it’s a bad argument that could have poor consequences.
It was featured on Hacker News, so, gods help me, I commented there. Here’s what I said:
This is a pretty bad take.
For example, multiple studies have shown that in communities that aren’t addressed by a robust local news outlet, local corruption goes up. Having a good newsroom does improve an understanding of what your representatives are up to, and a lack of information does allow them to get up to more behind our backs.
I think the biggest failure of this piece is to make all news equivalent. Yes, much cable news is junk; yes, many of the corporate newsrooms that churn out hundreds of articles a day are junk. They use engagement as a metric for success rather than finding ways to align themselves with impact and creating an informed, empowered electorate. That last thing - an informed, empowered electorate - is what it’s all about.
Real journalism that is diligently undertaken in the public interest does make a real difference. (Should we know whether Clarence Thomas was taking corrupt bribes? Yes. Should we know how climate change is progressing? Yes. Should we know if the police are killing innocent people? Yes. Should we know that the police at the Uvalde school shooting hung around for over an hour doing nothing? Yes.) Telling people not to pay attention to the world around them results in an electorate who cannot meaningfully vote on real issues.
For those of us who build software, we need to know the factors that impact the lives of the people we’re serving. We need to know the trends in the marketplaces and communities where we show up. The news is good for that, too.
Turn off cable news; pay more attention to non-profit news; go for long-form written journalism. Stay informed.
It’s absolutely true that we take a psychic hit for doing so. I’d say that’s more to do with the world than it is the media overall. Perhaps we should spend more time trying to make it better?
One user responded:
The key is to focus on local news: these are updates that a person can take action upon.
Seeing the latest tragedies on the other side of the world catches headlines, but rarely actionable by regular people.
To which I replied:
We all have foreign policies. For example, in the US, our government is heavily involved in Gaza and Ukraine. It’s far away, but it’s also highly relevant to how our representatives work on our behalf.
Should we give aid to other countries? How should we think about global society? Those things are all relevant, too.
The bottom line to my argument: Journalism is a key to understanding the world around us. We shouldn’t give ourselves excuses to look away.
https://werd.io/2024/no-the-news-is-not-information-junk-food
7 incredible Bay Area things to do this weekend, Aug. 9-11
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
Got your weekend plans? We have some nifty ideas, from major music festivals to killer croissants, and much more.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/08/7-incredible-bay-area-things-to-do-this-weekend-aug-9-11/
Using 1Password on Mac? Patch up if you don’t want your Vaults raided
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Hundreds of thousands of users potentially vulnerable
Password manager 1Password is warning that all Mac users running versions before 8.10.36 are vulnerable to a bug that allows attackers to steal vault items.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/using_1password_on_mac_patch/
Article Spotlight: Modelling take-off moment arms in an ornithocheiraean pterosaur
date: 2024-08-08, from: PeerJ blog
Clown Services Company - Unregistered Agent, Incompliance, Welfare, Debt Market, Analog, and Imaginary-Risk Solutions
date: 2024-08-08, from: Tilde.news
https://clownstrike.lol/crowdmad/
The most disgusting recipe ever for steak is on TikTok. Of course
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
You might think that social media is a great source for cooking tips. You would be wrong. Unless, of course, you enjoy your chicken simmered in Orange Fanta and cream…
San Jose office building is bought at higher price, in market rarity
date: 2024-08-08, from: San Jose Mercury News
A big north San Jose office building has been bought for more than $60 million.
This Raspberry Pi lookalike has a StarFive JH7110 RISC-V processor
date: 2024-08-08, from: Liliputing
The Geniatech XPI-7110 is a credit card-sized single-board computer that bears more than a passing resemblance to a Raspberry Pi: it has a similar shape, size, and set of ports and connectors, including a Raspberry Pi-compatible 40-pin GPIO header. What makes the XPI-7110 stand out is its processor. Instead of an ARM-based chip, this little computer […]
The post This Raspberry Pi lookalike has a StarFive JH7110 RISC-V processor appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/this-raspberry-pi-lookalike-has-a-starfive-jh7110-risc-v-processor/
Apple memory holed its broken promise for an OCSP opt-out
date: 2024-08-08, from: OS News
When you launch an app, macOS connects to Apple’s OCSP service to check whether the app’s Developer ID code signing certificate has been revoked by Apple. In November 2020, Apple’s OCSP service experienced a mass outage, preventing Mac users worldwide from launching apps. In response and remedy to this outage, Apple made several explicit promises to Mac users in a support document, which can still be seen in a Wayback Machine archive from September 24, 2023. ↫ Jeff Johnson One of the explicit promises Apple made was that it would allow macOS users to turn off phoning home to Cupertino every time you launch an application on macOS. It’s four years later now, and this promise has not been kept – Apple still does not allow you to turn off phoning home. In fact, it turns out that last year, Apple scrubbed this promise from all of its documentation, hoping we’re all going to forget about it. In other words, Apple is never going to allow its macOS users to stop the operating system from phoning home to Cupertino every time you launch an application. Even though the boiling frog story is nonsensical, it’s apt here. More and more Apple is limiting its users’ control over macOS, locking it down to a point where you’re not really the owner of your computer anymore. Stuff like this gives me the creeps.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140450/apple-memory-holed-its-broken-promise-for-an-ocsp-opt-out/
‘Airbnb Hopping’: How Hunted Hackers Stay on the Run From Kidnappers
date: 2024-08-08, from: 404 Media Group
Hackers are using false identities to book Airbnbs after being doxed and hunted by violent criminals.
https://www.404media.co/airbnb-hopping-how-hunted-hackers-stay-out-of-reach-of-crypto-thieves-2/
US elections have never been more secure, says CISA chief
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Election tech is fine – it’s all those idiots buying into the propaganda that’s worrying Jen Easterly
Black Hat US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) director Jen Easterly and her counterparts from the UK and EU want the world to know that, when it comes to securing elections, they’ve never been more prepared.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/election_tech_is_fine_says/
AYANEO Pocket EVO is an Android handheld with a 7 inch, 120 Hz OLED display
date: 2024-08-08, from: Liliputing
AYANEO is a company that’s made a name for itself in over the past few years by launching a wide range of handheld gaming PCs with a variety of shapes, sizes, features, and price points. Most ship with Windows software and AMD Ryzen processors, but recently the company started to branch out into Android-powered handhelds. […]
The post AYANEO Pocket EVO is an Android handheld with a 7 inch, 120 Hz OLED display appeared first on Liliputing.
Anaconda puts the squeeze on data scientists deemed to be terms-of-service violators
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Academic, non-profit organizations now being told to pay up – or else
Four years after data science biz Anaconda revised its terms of service, some research and academic organizations are just now finding out they have to pay for software they’d previously used at no cost.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/anaconda_puts_the_squeeze_on/
Tropical Storm Debby makes 2nd landfall in South Carolina, heavy rain expected up the East Coast
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
HUGER, S.C. — Tropical Storm Debby has made a second landfall in South Carolina on its way up the East Coast, where residents as far north as Vermont could get several inches of rain this weekend.
The National Hurricane Center says Debby came ashore early Thursday near Bulls Bay, South Carolina. The storm is expected to keep moving inland, spreading heavy rain and possible flooding all the way up through the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast by the weekend.
Debby first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It is now a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds at 50 mph (80 kph).
Considerable flooding is expected across parts of eastern South Carolina and southeast North Carolina through Friday, with an additional 3 to 9 inches (8 to 23 centimeters) of rain forecast, as well as in portions of Virginia, according to the hurricane center.
Days of rain have forced the deluge-hardened residents of a South Carolina community to begin the near-ritualistic task of assessing damage left behind by Debby, which continued spinning over the Atlantic Ocean and influencing thunderstorms from the East Coast to the Great Lakes on Wednesday. The National Weather Service’s office in Charleston also said survey teams confirmed four-Debby related tornadoes.
In Huger, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of Charleston, Gene Taylor was waiting in the afternoon for a few inches of water to drain from his house along French Quarter Creek as high tide passed.
Taylor saw the potential for flooding last week and started moving belongings out or up higher in his home. It’s a lesson learned the hard way — Taylor estimated that this is the fourth time he has had floodwater in his home in the past nine years.
“To save everything, we’ve learned from the past it’s better be prepared for the worst. And unfortunately, I think we got it,” Taylor said.
A few doors down, Charles Grainger was cleaning up after about 8 inches (20 centimeters) of water got into his home.
“Eight inches disrupts your whole life,” Grainger said. “You don’t get used to it. You just grin and bear it. It’s part of living on the creek.”
In Georgia, at least four dams were breached northwest of Savannah in Bulloch County, but no deaths had been reported, authorities said at a briefing.
More than 75 people were rescued from floodwaters in the county, said Corey Kemp, director of emergency management, and about 100 roads were closed.
“We’ve been faced with a lot of things we’ve never been faced with before,” Bulloch County Commission Chairman Roy Thompson said. “I’m 78-plus years old and have never seen anything like this before in Bulloch County. It’s amazing what has happened, and amazing what is going to continue to happen until all these waters get out of here.”
For residents on Tappan Zee Drive in suburban Pooler, west of Savannah, Georgia, the drenching that Debby delivered came with a painful dose of déjà vu. In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew overflowed a nearby canal and flooded several of the same homes.
Located roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) inland from the Atlantic Ocean, with no creeks or rivers nearby, the neighborhood doesn’t seem like a high-risk location for tropical flooding. But residents say drainage problems have plagued their street for well over a decade, despite local government efforts to fix them.
Debby also dumped rain on communities all the way up to the Great Lakes and New York and New Jersey. Moisture from the tropical storm strengthened another system Tuesday evening, which caused strong thunderstorms, according to weather service meteorologist Scott Kleebauer.
“We had a multi-round period of showers and thunderstorms that kind of scooted from Michigan eastward,” Kleebauer said.
As much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of New Jersey in less than four hours.
Emergency officials in New York City warned of potential flash flooding, flying drones with loudspeakers in some neighborhoods to tell people in basement apartments to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice. Multiple water rescues were reported in and near the city.
About 270,000 customers remained without power in Ohio as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, following severe storms including two confirmed tornadoes. Utility officials with FirstEnergy’s Illuminating Company said via social media that power restoration would take days due to the damage.
In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster said his state was just entering Act 2 of a three-act play, after more than 60 homes were damaged but roads and water systems were without significant problems.
The final act may come next week if enough rain falls upstream in North Carolina to cause major flooding along rivers as they flow to the Atlantic Ocean.
A state of emergency was in effect for both North Carolina and Virginia. Maryland issued a state of preparedness declaration that coordinates preparations without declaring an emergency.
At least six people have died due to the storm, five of them in traffic accidents or from fallen trees. The sixth death involved a 48-year-old man in Gulfport, Florida, whose body was recovered after his anchored sailboat partially sank.
The Global Town Square
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/08/08/the-global-town-square/
In Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, company cancels plans for grain export facility in historic Black town
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
WALLACE, La. — Residents of a historic Black community in Louisiana who’ve spent years fighting against a massive grain export facility set to be built on the grounds where their enslaved ancestors once lived appear to have finally halted the project.
A representative from the company, Greenfield Louisiana LLC, announced during a public hearing on Tuesday evening that the company is “ceasing all plans” to construct a grain export facility in the middle of the town of Wallace in St. John the Baptist Parish.
After a moment, opponents of the project broke out in cheers and began clapping and hugging each other.
“I’m still obviously in disbelief — I can’t believe this is happening, but I’m ecstatic and all praise to the ancestors,” said Joy Banner, a Wallace resident and one of the most vocal opponents of the project. She and her sister, Jo, founded The Descendants Project to preserve the community’s heritage.
The company’s announcement signaled a rare win for a community in a heavily industrialized stretch of the Mississippi River known as “Cancer Alley” for its high levels of pollution. Wallace is about 80 kilometers west of New Orleans.
“I think all of the fighting – it is coming from the love and the passion for our communities we have here along the river, and to show the world we can and you should fight,” Banner said. “We are recognizing that we do have power – that power comes from the love we have for our community.”
Earlier this year, the Banner sisters’ nonprofit purchased a plantation which had been the site of one of the largest slave rebellions in American History, the 1811 German Coast Uprising. They plan to transform it into an educational space.
The Army Corps of Engineers had already determined the 90-hectare facility could adversely impact cultural heritage sites in Wallace and was tasked with reviewing Greenfield’s application.
Army Corps representative Brad LaBorde said his agency had not been informed in advance of the company’s unexpected decision to cancel plans for the facility.
“We don’t know exactly what that means,” LaBorde said. “We still have an active permit application so, if it is Greenfield’s intention to no longer pursue the project, then we would ask they formally submit a withdrawal to us so that we can conclude the review.”
Lynda Van Davis, Greenfield’s counsel and head of external affairs, said the long delay in government approval for the project has been “an expensive ordeal,” adding that she did not have an answer for when the company would submit a formal withdrawal to the Army Corps.
“This has been a difficult ride the whole time, we didn’t wake up yesterday and say we’re done,” Van Davis said. “We said we’ll stay in the fight a little bit longer, because we’ve become friends with this community. Unfortunately, how long are we supposed to stay in this fight?”
The Army Corps had found the project could affect historic properties in Wallace, including the Evergreen, Oak Alley and Whitney plantations. There also remained the possibility that the area contained burial sites for the ancestral Black community.
Some community members had supported the project, believing it would bring jobs to their town, even as opponents of the facility said tourism surrounding cultural heritage was already a thriving industry that deserved greater investment.
“I was looking forward to economic development in my community – jobs, new businesses, just all around better living for my community,” said Nicole Dumas, 48, a Wallace resident, who supported the project.
But the evening became a celebration for others. Angelica Mitchell, 53, held back tears as she took in the company’s announcement. Mitchell is still recovering from treatment for a rare form of cancer which had attacked her pancreas, but she chose to attend the public hearing despite her health struggles. The facility would have been built within a few hundred feet of her home.
“To hear that they are backing out, I am so excited, my prayers have been answered, because I’ve been praying for this for the last three years,” Mitchell said. “I’ve been asking God, just don’t let this plant come into our community. I don’t want this for our children.”
Fraud investigation launched into homeless service provider for LA’s Inside Safe program
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The LAist
People were served almost exclusively instant noodles, even though the providers are being paid to serve nutritious foods, according to officials.
https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/fraud-investigation-homeless-inside-safe-bass
LA’s plan to give renters free eviction attorneys as a ‘right’ moves forward
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The LAist
The vote by the city housing committee overrides language drafted by the city attorney’s office, which had stripped the word “right” from the city’s proposal for a “right to counsel.”
Protect your cloud spend with new Deno Deploy spend limits
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Deno blog
You can now exercise greater control over your Deno Deploy spend with our new spend limits. Here’s how they work.
https://deno.com/blog/deploy-spend-limits
Wind Power Capacity Is Growing, But Not Fast Enough
date: 2024-08-08, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: A tsunami advisory is in effect in Japan after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the southern island of Kyushu • Tropical Storm Debby made landfall over South Carolina • Last month was the second-hottest July ever recorded.
THE TOP FIVE
- Global wind power capacity isn’t growing fast enough to meet 2030
goals
A new report from energy think tank Ember finds that the world is not on target to meet 2030 added capacity goals for wind power. Global leaders agreed at last year’s COP28 that, to be in line with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the world must triple renewables capacity by the end of the decade. Ember’s report concludes that under current plans, wind power is set to more than double in that timeframe, “but fall short of tripling.” Ember also reiterates that China is “overachieving,” and is on a path to triple its wind capacity from 2022 to 2030. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is underachieving.
Ember
The U.S. is the country with the biggest gap between its expected wind installations and how much new capacity will be needed to meet its 2030 target, followed by India. And most countries don’t even have explicit wind targets yet. “Amidst the hype of solar, wind is not getting enough attention, even though it provides cheap electricity and complements solar,” said Katye Altieri, Ember’s global electricity analyst. “The path to a cleaner energy future could be shaped by prioritizing improved policies, regulatory frameworks and financial support.”
- House Republicans pressure Johnson not to repeal IRA energy tax
credits
A group of 18 Republican lawmakers from the House of Representatives wrote a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson this week, urging him not to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits. The politicians say industry leaders and constituents have been reaching out to express their fears that the GOP will upend the tax regime and “undermine private investments and stop development that is already ongoing.” The letter goes on: “A full repeal would create a worst-case scenario where we would have spent billions of taxpayer dollars and received next to nothing in return.” A majority of clean tech spending made possible so far under the IRA has gone toward projects in Republican districts. As Bloomberg noted, the letter “indicates Johnson may not have the support to undo the Inflation Reduction Act if the GOP retains control of the House next year.”
- Study: Great Barrier Reef ocean temperatures hottest in 400 years
Ocean temperatures surrounding Australia’s Great Barrier Reef are higher now than they’ve ever been in the last 400 years, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. Researchers figured this out by drilling into some of the reef’s coral and analyzing the samples to measure temperatures going back to 1618. They observed a marked temperature rise starting in 1900 due to the burning of fossil fuels, and warmth has really accelerated in the last decade, with this year’s temperatures “head and shoulders” above any other year, according to Benjamin Henley, an academic at the University of Melbourne and one of the study’s authors. This chart shows the “exceptional nature” of the coral sea temperatures recorded in recent years, and in 2024:
Nature
The heat is causing recurring mass coral bleaching that puts the reef in danger. “In the absence of rapid, coordinated and ambitious global action to combat climate change, we will likely be witness to the demise of one of Earth’s great natural wonders,” the authors wrote.
- The Feds will soon start targeting solar scammers
Federal regulators are joining forces on a fresh effort to go after solar energy scams and help the public parse potentially deceptive business practices in the industry, reported Heatmap’s Jael Holzman. Officials from the Treasury Department, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced yesterday they will soon release a consumer advisory warning against deceptive sales practice, along with a slew of documents to help American consumers gauge whether solar marketers are legitimate and encourage people to report any potential fraudulent behavior in the sector. Solar energy fraud at the residential consumer level is a rare but profoundly painful phenomenon that can acutely harm low- and middle-income households. More than a quarter of a billion dollars in solar-related fraud has been reported between January 2022 and June of this year, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan said.
- In China, EV sales are up and CO2 emissions are down
More than half of the cars sold in China last month were electric or plug-in hybrids, according to new figures from the China Passenger Car Association. The number of new vehicles sold in the country overall fell last month because of a summertime lull, but the share of “new-energy vehicles” sold grew to about 51%. The country also saw its CO2 emissions drop by 1% in the second quarter, marking the first decline since strict zero-COVID lockdowns came to an end. Analysis from Carbon Brief suggests China’s emissions could be on track to decline this year, but a lot hinges on whether demand for electricity eases in the coming months.
THE KICKER
Recent research finds that tipuana trees, commonly found in Brazil, are tolerant of extreme drought and that planting more of them could help make urban environments more resilient to climate change.
https://heatmap.news/climate/wind-power-capacity-2030-ember
PeerJ Award Winners at ECBB 2024
date: 2024-08-08, from: PeerJ blog
The European Conference on Behavioural Biology (ECBB) 2024 was held at the Irchel Campus of the University of Zurich, Switzerland on September 16-19, 2024. It was a joint conference with the Summer Meeting of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB). The theme of this year’s conference was ‘long-term studies in animal behaviour’, […]
https://peerj.com/blog/post/115284889538/peerj-award-winners-at-ecbb-2024/
The biggest loans of our lives are getting a bit cheaper
date: 2024-08-08, from: Marketplace Morning Report
The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage peaked at just under 8% in October 2023. Rates have hovered around 7% for a good part of this year but have dipped further thanks to the prospect of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve come September. We’ll also travel once again to Kent County, Michigan — a swing county in a swing state — to hear how the economy is influencing voters there. Plus: quarterly results from two big media companies.
Nokia goes from phones to drones with Swiss service rollout
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
No pricing disclosed but plan allows users to order hands-off flights without operating any units
Nokia has hooked up with telco Swisscom Broadcast on a “Drones-as-a-Service” network across Switzerland, aimed at the emergency services and other applications where aerial observation is required.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/nokia_goes_from_phones_to/
Felix Oliver Friedrich pushed to project branch main at Felix Oliver Friedrich / Oberon A2
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Oberon A2 repository
Felix Oliver Friedrich (408878ee) at 08 Aug 13:26
Merge branch 'fixes' into 'main'
… and 1 more commit
CSTA 2024: What happened in Las Vegas
date: 2024-08-08, from: Raspberry Pi (.org)
About three weeks ago, a small team from the Raspberry Pi Foundation braved high temperatures and expensive coffees (and a scarcity of tea) to spend time with educators at the CSTA Annual Conference in Las Vegas. With thousands of attendees from across the US and beyond participating in engaging workshops, thought-provoking talks, and visiting the…
The post CSTA 2024: What happened in Las Vegas appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/csta-2024/
Bangladesh is restarting its economy
date: 2024-08-08, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Following weeks of protests in Bangladesh, a new interim prime minister is being sworn in and the economy is reopening, including the crucial garments industry. Then, three Taylor Swift concerts have been canceled in Vienna, because of security concerns. It’s a big disappointment for local businesses expecting to benefit from Swiftanomics. And would you volunteer to pick up trash while on vacation? Copenhagen is incentivizing visitors to do so.
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/bangladesh-is-restarting-its-economy
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-08, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
I have mostly cruised without bothering with the failed google/wiz deal, but it turns out it is a juicy scandal!
Check this post!
https://updates.techforpalestine.org/wiz-and-google-the-deal-that-wasnt/
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112926045515720640
Peggy Stabile | A Taste of Misrepresentations
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Signal
In his commentary entitled “Where Are We Now” (Signal, July 17), columnist Gary Horton treated our community to a taste of misrepresentations and untruths the likes of which I have […]
The post Peggy Stabile | A Taste of Misrepresentations appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/peggy-stabile-a-taste-of-misrepresentations/
Joe Guzzardi | Immigration: The Kamala Conundrum
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Signal
Throughout her career, Kamala Harris has benefited from the support of friends in high places. Michelle and Barack Obama’s recent endorsement of Harris for president is just the latest example. […]
The post Joe Guzzardi | Immigration: The Kamala Conundrum appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/joe-guzzardi-immigration-the-kamala-conundrum/
Dan Walters | Newsom’s Authoritarian Tendencies
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Signal
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been one of the loudest Democratic politicians in denouncing former President Donald Trump as a threat to democracy. While endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign […]
The post Dan Walters | Newsom’s Authoritarian Tendencies appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/dan-walters-newsoms-authoritarian-tendencies/
Sergey Durmanov pushed to project branch fixes at Felix Oliver Friedrich / Oberon A2
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Oberon A2 repository
Sergey Durmanov (7fa1db46) at 08 Aug 12:42
Preparing code to replace the base type for VMGraphics.Color – SIG…
https://gitlab.inf.ethz.ch/felixf/oberon/-/commit/7fa1db46436ee4a55abe8c2775cb30a6da43a4b0
Sergey Durmanov pushed new project branch fixes at Felix Oliver Friedrich / Oberon A2
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Oberon A2 repository
Sergey Durmanov (fc3421e9) at 08 Aug 12:40
https://gitlab.inf.ethz.ch/felixf/oberon/-/commits/fixes
Report: Tech misconceptions plague the IT world
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Just snapping the webcam shutter closed won’t keep a user safe online
New research shows that while many Brits will snap shut a laptop camera in the name of privacy, a worrying amount will just as happily shovel all manner of personal information into an online game in order to get a result they can share with their friends.…
UK Royal Mint mining PCBs for precious metals in e-waste recovery effort
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
There’s gold in them thar boards
The UK’s Royal Mint has cut the ribbon on its Precious Metals Recovery factory, which extracts material from old Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs).…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/uk_royal_mint_metals_pcbs/
Mid-Year Real Estate Update
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Steady gains in median prices and number of sales.
The post Mid-Year Real Estate Update appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/08/mid-year-real-estate-update/
Entrust faces years of groveling to regain browsers’ trust, say rival chiefs
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Sectigo bosses claim it’s only a matter of time before Microsoft and Apple drop Big E from their root stores too
After falling down in the estimations of major browser makers Google and Mozilla, Entrust faces a lengthy fight on its hands to regain industry trust and once more issue trusted TLS certificates.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/entrust_faces_years_of_groveling/
Designing for Function and Beauty
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Let the joyful moments in your life be your guide.
The post Designing for Function and Beauty appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/08/designing-for-function-and-beauty/
Ask the Motor Cop | Making heads or tales of pedestrian crossings
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Signal
Question: Jerry, not too long ago I got a ticket for crossing the street where I wasn’t supposed to be crossing. The officer explained why, but I don’t know if […]
The post Ask the Motor Cop | Making heads or tales of pedestrian crossings appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/ask-the-motor-cop-making-heads-or-tales-of-pedestrian-crossings/
Rickety Raptor Lake CPUs won’t lose Turbo-boosted speeds after microcode medicine, Intel claims
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Chipzilla still has ways to stop these processors cooking in their own juices
Intel has claimed the microcode update it’s delivering for wonky 13th and 14th generation Raptor Lake CPUs won’t compromise the chips’ top end clock speeds.…
Today in SCV History (Aug. 8)
date: 2024-08-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1769 – Portolá expedition crosses Newhall Pass near Elsmere Canyon, camps at Chaguayanga village (Rye Canyon/Castaic Junction) [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-aug-8/
Rising AI tide lifts price of all chips - HBM, natch, but also slower memory and storage
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Thank binary brainboxes for helping to inflate PC and Smartphone prices
AI infrastructure is a hot commodity, as is the high bandwidth memory (HBM) on which it depends, driving up prices for the newfangled tech and for less glamourous memory and storage hardware.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/memory_prices_rising/
ICANN reserves .internal for private use at the DNS level
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-09, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Vint Cerf revealed Google already uses the string, as do plenty of others
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has agreed to reserve the .internal top-level domain so it can become the equivalent to using the 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, and 192.168.0.0/16 IPv4 address blocks for internal networks.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/dot_internal_ratified/
Chelsea Handler Wants to Take Responsibility for Your Good Time
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Multi-hyphenate comedian Chelsea Handler brings her “Little Big Bitch Tour” to the Santa Barbara Bowl on August 17.
The post Chelsea Handler Wants to Take Responsibility for Your Good Time appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
New Wound Care Center Opens in Santa Clarita
date: 2024-08-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Ian R. Cook MD, a Santa Clarita resident and native, has announced the opening of a state-of-the-art Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center located in the heart of Santa Clarita.
https://scvnews.com/new-wound-care-center-opens-in-santa-clarita/
The Accidental Artist-Activist
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Baret Boisson’s vibrant work paints a love letter to the universe.
The post The Accidental Artist-Activist appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/07/the-accidental-artist-activist/
Aug. 10-11: SoCal Special Hockey Festival 2024 at The CUBE
date: 2024-08-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)
SNAP Hockey presents the SoCal Special Hockey Festival 2024 on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 10-11 at the The CUBE Ice and Entertainment Center in Valencia
https://scvnews.com/aug-10-11-socal-special-hockey-festival-2024-at-the-cube/
Would you rather buy space broadband from a billionaire, or Communist China?
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Beijing’s first Starlink-slayers are in orbit, and buyers beyond the Great Firewall are on the agenda
The first batch of satellites in China’s answer to Starlink – known as the Qianfan Constellation, sometimes also called G60 – was launched into orbit on Tuesday.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/china_qianfan_launch/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-08, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Google Recorder is the perfect voice memo app, and great for the informal kind of podcast I do. Hats off to whoever designed it. Well done.
https://recorder.google.com/b5aa5e3f-2164-4005-a302-38d5919775eb
For the record
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The post For the record appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/08/07/for-the-record-aug-7/
Your victim’s Windows PC fully patched? Just force undo its updates and exploit away
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
This guy showed the world how – with the right level of access
Black Hat Techniques to forcibly remove security patches from Windows machines so that fixed vulnerabilities are exploitable again were demonstrated this week.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/microsoft_windows_updates/
Democratic Party greatness
date: 2024-08-08, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News
I have great respect for Hillary Clinton and supported her over Sanders in 2016. I also supported Biden because we needed to win in 2020.
But we could have had a campaign team like the one we saw yesterday and today, with some very impressive presenters who’ve yet to take the stage, we could have had it in 2016. We didn’t have to go through the tragedy of Trump.
The Democrats are stage managing perfectly now. I never really thought we’d see this day, but here it is.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/07/032858.html?title=democraticPartyGreatness
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-08, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The blogging world as viewed through my blogroll is for some reason much more interesting after the launch of the Harris/Walz ticket yesterday. Probably my mind playing tricks, again. 😀
Angstrom age angst ameliorated as ASML’s High NA EUV chipmaking kit delivers
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Imec tests show Dutch master etcher has markedly boosted transistor density
Research org Imec claims it has demonstrated the viability of ASML’s next generation extreme UV technology for next generation chip manufacturing, showing off how it can create patterned structures at a smaller scale than previously possible – in a single pass.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/imec_asml_na_uev_results/
Garcia focuses on securities at town hall
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Signal
Security was the big talking point for Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, at his town hall Tuesday evening at the College of the Canyons Performing Arts Center. He kicked things […]
The post Garcia focuses on securities at town hall appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/garcia-focuses-on-securities-at-town-hall/
Google’s Real Googly. No Not The Anti-Trust!
date: 2024-08-08, from: Om Malik blog
What does Afghan spin bowler Rashid Khan have to do with Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Yahoo? Well, it’s all neatly wrapped in my 3,500-word essay on the big changes in the tech landscape – and no, the antitrust actions have nothing to do with it.
https://om.co/2024/08/07/googles-real-googly-no-not-the-anti-trust/
New head of COC aims to ‘keep the college running’
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Signal
David Andrus said he doesn’t care why he was chosen to be the acting chancellor of College of the Canyons. He was appointed to the role last month by the […]
The post New head of COC aims to ‘keep the college running’ appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/new-head-of-coc-aims-to-keep-the-college-running/
US judge again dismisses Mexico’s lawsuit against most gun manufacturers
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
MEXICO CITY — A U.S. federal judge in Massachusetts again dismissed a $10 billion Mexican government lawsuit against six U.S. gun manufacturers on Wednesday.
Mexico had argued the companies knew weapons were being sold to traffickers who smuggled them into Mexico and decided to cash in on that market.
However, the judge ruled that Mexico had not provided concrete evidence that any of the six companies’ activities in Massachusetts were connected to any suffering caused in Mexico by guns.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said Wednesday the ruling would allow the lawsuit to proceed against a seventh manufacturer and a gun wholesaler.
Regarding the dismissal against the others, the department said, “Mexico is analyzing its options, among them presenting an appeal.”
The case has been a legal rollercoaster.
In early 2022, six companies — not including the seventh manufacturer — filed to dismiss Mexico’s claims based on the broad protection provided to gun manufacturers by a 2005 U.S. law, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA.
The law shields gun manufacturers from damages “resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse” of a firearm. Later in 2022, the federal judge ruled to dismiss the case on those grounds.
Mexico appealed that ruling, and in January the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Massachusetts revived the lawsuit, saying the PLCAA did not apply to the claims the guns caused deaths, damages and injuries in Mexico.
The appeals court returned the case to the lower court, which again ruled to dismiss the claims against six of the companies.
The Mexican government estimates 70% of the weapons trafficked into Mexico come from the U.S., according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Cloud storage lockers from Microsoft and Google used to store and spread state-sponsored malware
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Why run your own evil infrastructure when Big Tech offers robust tools hosted at trusted URLs?
Black Hat State-sponsored cyber spies and criminals are increasingly using legitimate cloud services to attack their victims, according to Symantec’s threat hunters who have spotted three such operations over recent months, plus new data theft and other malware tools in development by these goons.…
Sols 4266-4267: Happy ‘Landiversary,’ Curiosity
date: 2024-08-08, from: NASA breaking news
Earth planning date: Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 After the usual morning routine of doing some engineering housekeeping, Curiosity continues to take some remote science observations. We take a ChemCam LIBS observation and a Mastcam image of the “Peeler Lake” target, a dark, nodular target that appears to be more erosion-resistant than nearby rocks. By comparing […]
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/sols-4266-4267-happy-landiversary-curiosity/
changes ahead
date: 2024-08-08, from: Ayjay blog
Faithful readers, this may be the last post on this blog. My longtime hosting provider, Reclaim Hosting, has recently made a number of changes to their security procedures, and those procedures have broken the workflow that I have had here for more than a decade. They have also let me know that they will do […]
https://blog.ayjay.org/changes-ahead/
Biden ‘not confident’ of peaceful power transition if Trump loses election
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
washington — President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he was not confident about a peaceful transfer of power in the United States if Republican Donald Trump loses the Nov. 5 presidential election.
“If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all,” Biden said in an interview with CBS News when asked whether he thought there would be a peaceful transfer of power after the vote.
“He means what he says. We don’t take him seriously. He means it. All this stuff about if we lose there’d be a bloodbath,” Biden added.
During a March campaign appearance in Ohio, Trump warned of a “bloodbath” if he fails win the election. At the time Trump was discussing the need to protect the U.S. auto industry from overseas competition, and Trump later said he was referring to the auto industry when he used the term.
Trump has falsely claimed he won the 2020 election against Biden and was criminally charged in Washington and Georgia with illegally trying to overturn the results.
Biden dropped out of the campaign last month after fellow Democrats called for him to step aside following a poor debate performance against Trump that raised questions about the Democratic president’s age and health.
Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, has since captured the Democratic nomination and is running against Trump.
Samsung boosts bug bounty to a cool million for cracks of the Knox Vault subsystem
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Good luck, crackers: It’s an isolated processor and storage enclave, and top dollar only comes from a remote attack
Samsung has dangled its first $1 million bug bounty for anyone who successfully compromises Knox Vault – the isolated subsystem the Korean giant bakes into its smartphones to store info like credentials and run authentication routines.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/samsung_microsoft_big_bug_bounty/
Struggle and process
date: 2024-08-08, updated: 2024-08-08, from: Robin Rendle Essays
https://robinrendle.com/notes/struggle-and-process/
Tropical Storm Debby doles out repeat deluges for weather-weary residents
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
huger, south carolina — Days of rain from Tropical Storm Debby forced the residents of a South Carolina community to begin the task of assessing damage left by a cyclone that was spinning over the Atlantic Ocean and influencing thunderstorms from the East Coast to the Great Lakes.
Gene Taylor waited Wednesday afternoon for a few inches of water to drain out of his house as high tide passed at his home along French Quarter Creek in Huger, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of Charleston.
Taylor saw the potential for flooding last week and started moving stuff out or up higher in his home. It’s a lesson learned the hard way. Taylor estimates this is the fourth time he has had floodwater in his home in the past nine years.
“To save everything, we’ve learned from the past it’s better be prepared for the worst. And unfortunately, I think we got it,” Taylor said.
A few doors down, Charles Granger was cleaning up after about 8 inches (20 centimeters) of water got into his home. He said it is an annoyance, but one he is trying to get used to.
“Eight inches disrupts your whole life,” Grainger said. “You don’t get used to it. You just grin and bear it. It’s part of living on the creek.”
The National Hurricane Center warned that isolated areas could see up to 25 inches (64 centimeters) of rain from Tropical Storm Debby.
For Georgia homeowners in suburban Pooler west of Savannah, the drenching came with a dose of déjà vu. In October 2016, rain from Hurricane Matthew overwhelmed a nearby canal and flooded several of the same homes.
Located roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the Atlantic Ocean, with no creeks or rivers nearby, the inland neighborhood doesn’t seem like a high-risk location for tropical flooding.
But residents say drainage problems have plagued their street for well over a decade, despite efforts by the local government to fix them.
Debby also rained on residents all the way up to the Great Lakes and New York and New Jersey. Moisture from the tropical storm strengthened another storm system Tuesday evening, which caused strong thunderstorms, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Kleebauer.
Up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of New Jersey in less than four hours.
Emergency officials warned of potential flash flooding, flying drones with loudspeakers in some New York City neighborhoods to tell people in basement apartments to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice. Multiple water rescues were reported in New York City and surrounding areas.
Nearly 330,000 customers remained without power in Ohio by Wednesday afternoon following severe storms there, according to PowerOutage.us.
‘Imminent failure’ of dam
Meanwhile, the “imminent failure” of a dam in southeast Georgia was threatening to swamp a mobile home park and other areas downstream, the National Weather Service said in a flash flood warning Wednesday afternoon. The Cypress Lake Dam is in Bulloch County, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Savannah.
“If the dam breaks, flash flooding will occur immediately downstream of the dam,” the weather service said.
In South Carolina, Governor Henry McMaster said the state was just entering Act 2 of a three-act play.
“We’ve been lucky so far. Things have not been as bad as they could have been,” McMaster said of heavy rains that damaged over 60 homes but did not cause significant problems to roads or water systems.
Act 2 is overnight into Thursday when Debby moves back onshore and heavy rain returns, this time to the northern part of the coast and inland. An additional 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain could fall, said John Quagliariello, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Columbia.
“It may not be as catastrophic as what we were saying, but we still think as these rain bands develop they could sit over the same area for long periods of time, produce a lot of rainfall and a lot of flooding,” Quagliariello said.
Flooding possible next week
The final act may come next week if enough rain falls upstream in North Carolina to cause major flooding along rivers as it flows to the Atlantic Ocean.
The center of Debby was over the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday afternoon, 55 miles (89 kilometers) east-southeast of Charleston, the National Hurricane Center said. The tropical storm could make a second landfall in either North Carolina or South Carolina, expected late Wednesday or early Thursday. Debby first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday along the Gulf Coast of Florida.
A state of emergency was in effect for both North Carolina and Virginia. Maryland issued a state of preparedness declaration.
At least six people have died due to the storm, five of them in traffic accidents or from fallen trees. The sixth death involved a man in Gulfport, Florida, whose body was recovered after his anchored sailboat partially sank.
Central Valley quake raises alarms in SCV
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Signal
While no major damage was reported Tuesday night in the Santa Clarita Valley from the magnitude-5.2 earthquake that hit the unincorporated area of Mettler, California, 60 miles northwest of the […]
The post Central Valley quake raises alarms in SCV appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/central-valley-quake-raises-alarms-in-scv/
Acton woman arrested after reported domestic assault
date: 2024-08-08, from: The Signal
A 24-year-old Acton woman was arrested early Sunday morning in Canyon Country on suspicion she intentionally slammed her vehicle into someone else’s, according to Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials. […]
The post Acton woman arrested after reported domestic assault appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/acton-woman-arrested-after-reported-domestic-assault/
Stranded NASA Starliner pilots may return to Earth on SpaceX
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — What should have been a quick trip to the International Space Station may turn into an eight-month stay for two NASA astronauts if they have to switch from Boeing to SpaceX for a ride home.
There’s lingering uncertainty over the safety of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, NASA officials said Wednesday, and the space agency is split over the risk. As a result, chances are increasing that test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams may have to watch from the space station as their Starliner is cut loose to return to Earth empty.
If that happens, NASA will leave behind two of four astronauts from the next SpaceX taxi flight in late September, with the vacant seats set aside for Wilmore and Williams on the return trip in February. The pair expected to be gone just a week or two when they launched June 5 as Starliner’s first crew.
NASA is bringing in additional experts to analyze the thruster failures experienced by Starliner before it docked. At the same time, NASA is looking more closely at SpaceX as a backup.
At this point, “we could take either path,” said Ken Bowersox, NASA’s space operations mission chief.
During a recent meeting, “we heard from a lot of folks that had concern, and the decision was not clear,” he said. A final decision is expected by mid-August.
Boeing issued a brief statement following NASA’s news update, repeating its position that the capsule could still safely bring the astronauts home.
“We still believe in Starliner’s capability and its flight rationale,” the company said.
Boeing will need to modify the capsule’s software in case Starliner ends up returning without a crew.
No serious consideration was given to launching a separate SpaceX flight just to retrieve Wilmore and Williams, according to commercial crew program manager Steve Stich.
Tests on the ground have replicated the thrust problems, pointing to seals as one culprit. But it’s still not understood how or why those seals swell when overheated and then shrink back to the proper size, Stich noted. All but one of the Starliner’s five failed thrusters have since been reactivated in orbit.
These thrusters are essential for allowing Starliner to back away from the space station following undocking, and for keeping the capsule in the proper position for moving out of orbit.
At the same time, engineers are grappling over helium leaks in Starliner’s propulsion system, crucial for maneuvering. The first leak occurred before liftoff but was deemed isolated and stable. Then more cropped up in flight.
NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX to ferry astronauts to and from the space station after the shuttles retired in 2011. SpaceX flew its first crew in 2020. Boeing stumbled on its first test flight without a crew and then fell further behind after a repeat demo.
Officials repeated their desire for a backup taxi service on Wednesday, A situation like this one could happen again, and “that’s why we want multiple vehicles,” Bowersox said.
The next crew flight will be SpaceX’s 10th for NASA. On Tuesday, it was delayed for a month until late September to allow for extra time to figure out how best to handle Starliner’s return. Three NASA astronauts and one Russian are assigned to the flight, and managers on Wednesday declined to say who might be bumped.
https://www.voanews.com/a/stranded-nasa-starliner-pilots-may-return-to-earth-on-spacex-/7734335.html
Aug. 14: SCV Water Resources, Watershed Committee Meeting
date: 2024-08-08, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency’s Water Resources and Watershed Committee is holding a meeting Wednesday, Aug. 14, at 5:30 p.m
https://scvnews.com/aug-14-scv-water-resources-watershed-committee-meeting/
Santa Barbara Police Nab Suspect After Hit-And-Run Accident
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Early morning collision on Saturday injured a pedestrian and caused a gas leak.
The post Santa Barbara Police Nab Suspect After Hit-And-Run Accident appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/07/santa-barbara-police-nab-suspect-after-hit-and-run-accident/
The Right-Wing Revolution in the United States
date: 2024-08-08, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Trump, the oldest person ever to run for the presidency, has put a young revolutionary clone one heartbeat away from the White House.
The post The Right-Wing Revolution in the United States appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/07/the-right-wing-revolution-in-the-united-states/
Crews fight revived Park Fire in California
date: 2024-08-08, from: VOA News USA
SAN BERNARDINO, California — Firefighters battled on Wednesday the reawakened Park Fire, a massive blaze that re-exploded in Northern California on Monday after several days of slumber and grew by as much as 53 square kilometers, mostly in about 12 hours.
The Park Fire, California’s largest so far this year and the state’s fourth largest on record, had scorched nearly 1,676 square kilometers by Tuesday morning.
Firefighters were told during their morning briefing to focus on safety and to be mindful of extreme fire behavior, including intense and rapidly moving flames.
The Park Fire was allegedly ignited by arson on July 24 outside the Sacramento Valley city of Chico and has destroyed 640 structures and damaged 52.
In Southern California, a fast-moving wildfire that swept into a hillside community this week destroyed five homes and damaged three others, authorities said Tuesday.
The flames erupted Monday afternoon and chased residents from the neighborhood in San Bernardino, about 97 kilometers east of Los Angeles,
One firefighter was treated for a minor injury but there were no reports of injuries to residents, said Eric Sherwin, spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Fire Department.
“How quickly this fire hit this community,” Sherwin said, “the fact that we have no civilians injured is truly a miracle.”
The fire was reported at 2:40 p.m. Monday and stopped progressing about three hours later after scorching 22 hectares. Containment was holding at 75%, Sherwin said. All evacuations were lifted late Tuesday morning.
Investigators were working to determine the cause of the fire, which erupted amid very dry and hot conditions that have made swaths of California quick to burn this summer.
https://www.voanews.com/a/crews-fight-revived-park-fire-in-california/7734319.html
PostgreSQL 16.4, 15.8, 14.13, 13.16, 12.20, and 17 Beta 3 Released!
date: 2024-08-08, from: PostgreSQL News
The PostgreSQL Global Development Group has released an update to all supported versions of PostgreSQL, including 16.4, 15.8, 14.13, 13.16, and 12.20, as well as the third beta release of PostgreSQL 17. This release fixes 1 security vulnerability and over 55 bugs reported over the last several months.
For the full list of changes, please review the release notes.
PostgreSQL 12 EOL Notice
PostgreSQL 12 will stop receiving fixes on November 14, 2024. If you are running PostgreSQL 12 in a production environment, we suggest that you make plans to upgrade to a newer, supported version of PostgreSQL. Please see our versioning policy for more information.
Security Issues
CVE-2024-7348: PostgreSQL relation replacement during pg_dump executes arbitrary SQL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score: 8.8
Supported, Vulnerable Versions: 12 - 16.
An attacker able to create and drop non-temporary objects could inject
SQL code that would be executed by a concurrent
pg_dump
session with the privileges of the role running pg_dump
(which is often a superuser). The attack involves replacing a sequence
or similar object with a view or foreign table that will execute
malicious code. To prevent this, introduce a new server parameter
restrict_nonsystem_relation_kind that can disable expansion
of non-builtin views as well as access to foreign tables, and teach
pg_dump to set it when available. Note that the attack is
prevented only if both pg_dump and the server it is dumping
from are new enough to have this fix.
The PostgreSQL project thanks Noah Misch for reporting this problem.
Bug Fixes and Improvements
This update fixes over 55 bugs that were reported in the last several months. The issues listed below affect PostgreSQL 16. Some of these issues may also affect other supported versions of PostgreSQL.
- Avoid incorrect results from “Merge Right Anti Join” plans, where if the inner relation is known to have unique join keys, the merge could misbehave when there are duplicated join keys in the outer relation.
-
Prevent infinite loop in
VACUUM. -
Fix partition pruning setup during
ALTER TABLE DETACH … PARTITION CONCURRENTLY. -
Fix behavior of stable functions that are used as an argument to a
CALLstatement. -
pg_sequence_last_value()now returnsNULLinstead of throwing an error when called on unlogged sequences on standby servers and on temporary sequences of other sessions. -
Fix parsing of ignored operators in
websearch_to_tsquery(). -
Correctly check updatability of view columns targeted by
INSERT … DEFAULT. -
Lock owned sequences during
ALTER TABLE … SET LOGGED|UNLOGGED. -
Don’t throw an error if a queued
AFTERtrigger no longer exists. -
Fix selection of an arbiter index for
INSERT … ON CONFLICTwhen the desired index has expressions or predicates, for example, through an updatable view. -
Refuse to modify a temporary table of another session with
ALTER TABLE. -
Fix handling of extended statistics on expressions in
CREATE TABLE … LIKE STATISTICS. -
Fix failure to recalculate sub-queries generated from
MIN()orMAX()aggregates. - Disallow underscores in positional parameters.
- Avoid crashing when a JIT-inlined backend function throws an error.
- Fix handling of subtransactions of prepared transactions when starting a hot standby server.
- Prevent incorrect initialization of logical replication slots.
- Fix memory leak in the logical replication WAL sender when publishing changes to a partitioned table whose partitions have row types that are physically different from the table.
- Disable creation of stateful TLS session tickets by OpenSSL.
-
Fix how
PL/pgSQL
handles integer ranges containing underscores (e.g.,
FOR i IN 1_001..1_002). - Fix incompatibility between PL/Perl and Perl 5.40.
- Several fixes related to recursive PL/Python functions and triggers.
-
Ensure that
pg_restore -lreports dependent table of contents entries correctly. -
pg_stat_statementsnow passes a query ID for utility (non-SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE) statements that appears in SQL-language functions. -
Fix for
postgres_fdwwhen mapping a foreign table to a nontrivial remote view. -
postgres_fdwno longer sends aFETCH FIRST WITH TIESclause to a remote server.
Updating
All PostgreSQL update releases are cumulative. As with other minor
releases, users are not required to dump and reload their database or
use pg_upgrade in order to apply this update release; you
may simply shutdown PostgreSQL and update its binaries.
Users who have skipped one or more update releases may need to run additional post-update steps; please see the release notes from earlier versions for details.
For more details, please see the release notes.
A Note on the PostgreSQL 17 Beta
This release marks the third beta release of PostgreSQL 17 and puts the community one step closer to general availability tentatively around the end of the third quarter.
In the spirit of the open source PostgreSQL community, we strongly encourage you to test the new features of PostgreSQL 17 on your systems to help us eliminate bugs or other issues that may exist. While we do not advise you to run PostgreSQL 17 Beta 3 in production environments, we encourage you to find ways to run your typical application workloads against this beta release.
Your testing and feedback will help the community ensure that the PostgreSQL 17 release upholds our standards of delivering a stable, reliable release of the world’s most advanced open source relational database. Please read more about our beta testing process and how you can contribute:
https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/
Upgrading to PostgreSQL 17 Beta 3
To upgrade to PostgreSQL 17 Beta 3 from an earlier version of
PostgreSQL, you will need to use a strategy similar to upgrading between
major versions of PostgreSQL (e.g. pg_upgrade or
pg_dump / pg_restore). For more information,
please visit the documentation section on
upgrading.
Changes Since Beta 2
Fixes and changes in PostgreSQL 17 Beta 3 include:
-
Rename the
standby_slot_namesparameter to tosynchronized_standby_slots. - Several SQL/JSON fixes.
-
Fix
pg_combinebackup –clone. -
Fix
pg_createsubscriberto work for database names that contain a space. -
pg_createsubscribernow drops pre-existing subscriptions when run on a target database. -
Improve efficiency in retrieving subscription information during
pg_upgrade. -
Fix TLS fallback behavior during
sslmode=preferto error when a server sends an error during the startup process. -
Document an error case with
pg_basebackupincremental backup on a standby server when it’s executed immediately after the previous backup. -
Fix issue where
pg_upgrade –transaction-sizecan cause the backend to use an order of magnitude more RAM.
Please see the release notes for a complete list of new and changed features, and PostgreSQL 17 open items for more details on fixes and changes.
Testing for Bugs & Compatibility
The stability of each PostgreSQL release greatly depends on you, the community, to test the upcoming version with your workloads and testing tools in order to find bugs and regressions before the general availability of PostgreSQL 17. As this is a Beta, minor changes to database behaviors, feature details, and APIs are still possible. Your feedback and testing will help determine the final tweaks on the new features, so please test in the near future. The quality of user testing helps determine when we can make a final release.
A list of open issues is publicly available in the PostgreSQL wiki. You can report bugs using this form on the PostgreSQL website:
https://www.postgresql.org/account/submitbug/
Links
- Download
- Release Notes
- Security
- Versioning Policy
- Beta Testing Information
- PostgreSQL 17 Beta Release Notes
- PostgreSQL 17 Open Issues
- Feature Matrix
- Submit a Bug
- Follow @postgresql on X/Twitter
- Donate
If you have corrections or suggestions for this release announcement, please send them to the pgsql-www@lists.postgresql.org public mailing list.
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-164-158-1413-1316-1220-and-17-beta-3-released-2910/