News gathered 2024-08-15
(date: 2024-08-15 07:46:04)
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-15, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
Let’s stay organized after the election.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/15.html#a141834
On patient. with Bettina Judd
date: 2024-08-15, from: Logic Magazine
<p>“I’m really self-aware at this point, in writing patient, that I am a researcher doing research in an attempt to recover that which cannot be recovered, and that is their voices.”</p>https://logicmag.io/issue-21-medicine-and-the-body/on-patient
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-15, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Public service announcement
I am not paid for this or have any interest in this company
We give our kids credit cards using tillfinancial.com - we give their allowance there, and they get credit cards and Apple Pay integration
Zero fees, or hidden shenanigans.
Love it.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112966422886759133
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-15, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
In today’s installment of the Adventures of Wordle Kitty, the world’s cutest and most adorable kitten was sentenced to life at Attica.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/15.html#a140432
Nogales, Mexico border center provides haven for migrants
date: 2024-08-15, from: VOA News USA
As thousands of migrants continue to make their way to the United States, and stricter immigration policies make legal entry increasingly difficult, a Mexican border center south of Arizona has become a crucial source of humanitarian aid to migrants. Veronica Villafañe narrates the story reported by Paula Díaz.
https://www.voanews.com/a/nogales-mexico-border-center-provides-haven-for-migrants/7743817.html
Tesla’s Supercharger Network Has Already Gotten Worse
date: 2024-08-15, from: Heatmap News
I resent my go-to charging depot.
Don’t get me wrong: I was psyched when Tesla opened a Supercharger in the parking lot of a nearby In-N-Out burger. The other local Supercharger is located in a garage that charges for parking by the hour. Plus, it’s fun to grab a neapolitan shake while your vehicle gets juice. The problem is that everybody in Southern California loves In-N-Out, so reaching the chargers at dinnertime means navigating through the unruly drive-thru line. This sucks, especially when the battery is nearly depleted and the burger faithful won’t get out of the way.
More than a year ago, salvation was promised in the form of a new Supercharger at a nearby mall, one where I already frequent the Petco. But construction has mysteriously stalled. I stare at the charging map and repeatedly refresh, waiting for the station to come online.
I shouldn’t be surprised at Supercharger deployment being stuck, of course. Earlier this year, in a move nominally intended to keep Tesla nimble and innovative, Elon Musk laid off the team responsible for the Supercharger network at a moment when they were perhaps the most useful people at the company.
While the rest of Tesla sputtered with the rollout of the Cybertruck and reversed course on what to do next, the Supercharger team was preparing for a future in which drivers in EVs from basically all the other car brands could stop at Tesla’s fast-chargers and give the company their money. Instead of leaning into this advantage, Tesla has done the opposite. The Supercharger network is growing, but deployment has proceeded at a slower pace than during the same period in 2023. Before the mass layoff, Tesla was opening more than 30 new Supercharger sites per week; that number dipped to about 15 afterward.
The slowdown matters to a lot of people on the road. Despite Tesla’s recent sales slowdown, its cars make up the vast majority of EVs in America. Deprioritizing the Supercharger network is an annoyance for all those drivers, who may have a harder time taking a road trip to Big Bend National Park, Branson, or Aunt Betty’s house in the boondocks if promised charging depots stay in limbo.
Fewer new Superchargers will make existing stations more congested, too, and that’s before vehicles from other car companies begin to arrive en masse. On a road trip to Lake Tahoe last week I saw my first Rivian plugged into a Tesla station. Ford EVs are starting to get their adapters. Next year, carmakers will begin to build their EVs with Tesla’s North American Charging Standard plug, which will greatly increase congestion at existing Superchargers, especially on popular highway routes.
Whether future EV road trips are convenient or frustrating depends in large part on whether the rest of the industry can pick up the slack should Tesla continue to slow down Supercharger deployment. The track record of competitors like Electrify America and EVgo isn’t inspiring, as their stations have, to date, tended to be rarer, smaller, and more prone to mechanical failure.
Other car companies have pledged to build their own charging depots, which would ease some of the strain. Hope for a better charging future, however, lies largely with the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, which came out of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 and allocated $5 billion to build fast-charging stations along designated highway corridors across the country — see a map of them here.
That money is slowly rolling out in tranches to the states, which had the responsibility of putting forth plans for where they’d build plugs with the money. The result is a patchwork, state-by-state agenda for upgrading the American charging network, but the work is underway. Ohio began construction of the first NEVI-funded charger last October, and you can see where Alabama and Virginia, for example, plan to put theirs. Crucially, much of the funding has already been dispersed. If an EV-unfriendly new president takes office in January, the ball is already rolling.
What’s unclear is whether all these charging depots can match the standard of excellence the Supercharger team created before Musk blew it to bits. Take Alabama’s chargers, which will mostly be built at existing Love’s gas stations. The new stations meet the bare minimum required for NEVI, which is that they have four plugs each capable of delivering 150 kilowatts of power. Tesla’s newest batch of Superchargers deliver 250 kilowatts; Electrify America has some that reach 350. The 20-odd Superchargers already in Alabama offer at least six to eight plugs, with many stations hosting 12 or 16.
Every plug counts. Every time a new station fills in a spot on the nation’s charging map, drivers will be a little more confident that an EV will be able to take them anywhere they need to go. But if the Biden dollars dispersed through NEVI are going to take the place of Tesla’s Supercharger outfit, then the states need to do more than the bare minimum.
https://heatmap.news/electric-vehicles/tesla-supercharger-slowdown
Google’s ex-CEO U-turns after saying staff ‘going home early’ killed winning
date: 2024-08-15, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Eric Schmidt blamed WFH and work-life balance policies for Google’s stumbles in AI race
Eric Schmidt, Google’s ex-CEO and executive chairman has had to row back on remarks he made that linked the megacorp’s poor showing in the AI race with the company’s flexible working policies.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/15/googles_exceo_steps_back_from/
2024-08-14 Web applications
date: 2024-08-15, from: Alex Schroeder’s Blog
2024-08-14 Web applications
For my own peace of mind, I have resolved to no longer think of websites as “websites”. Instead, there are web documents and web applications. I find it easier to accept to use a browser like Firefox like a virtual computer for web applications. Many of the websites these days are in fact web applications.
There’s no point in railing against web applications. I like to write web applications! And I use many of them myself, too. Things like Face Generator, Text Mapper or Hex Describe are impossible to do as documents. In an emergency, you could have a form that then generates a PDF to download, maybe? But is that really preferable? I don’t think so.
And don’t get me started on writing native graphical user-interface applications. It takes so much energy to get it right. It gives me a headache. I tried. Take a look at Gridmapper with Common Lisp and SDL2, if you want. Compare it with regular Gridmapper. Is that really preferable? I don’t think so.
And the reverse is also not cool. I wrote a text user interface tool to generate maps, which can then be downloaded as SVG files. Give Hex Populate a try, it works over SSH. Is that really preferable? I don’t think so.
I’ve tried Gemtext for a long time. I was very much into Gemini. But these days I no longer think it’s the answer. It’s like a piece of performance art: the doing of it is a statement. People who step into it are confounded, their beliefs challenged. It’s good art! It’s interesting technology. But it’s not a replacement for web applications. It’s not even a good format for web documents! I want inline emphasis – bold, italics, code – and accessible tables with captions and cell navigation, and row-spans, and column-spans. I tried writing code that translated Wikipedia tables into ASCII tables to be used as pre-formatted text in Gemtext. It’s hard to do well with the sizing of columns, the line wrapping in cells, the limited space available in a terminal, and when you’ve solved all of that, it’s still hell for people with bad eye-sight or cognitive problems trying to understand what they’re seeing. It’s terrible. You could of course do away with all tables. But is that really preferable? I don’t think so.
And so… there’s that bifurcation in the road. For this site, for most of the pages that I think of as web documents, I write (or generate) HTML that doesn’t require fonts or scripts. If one uses browsers such as eww, links2, w3m, lynx or dillo, it should just work. I wasn’t going to convert the corporate web, anyway.
I still serve my site as Gemini and Gopher. But I do it as a political statement, as a piece of performance art.
At the same time, I swallow my pride and setup Firefox.
I still wish we would all push for a web that does not require a lot of resources.
Nearly all growth in smartphone sales volume since the mid ‘10s occured in the ‘budget’ and ‘low-end’ categories. … if portals fail to work well on phones, smartphone-dependent folks are predictably excluded … Framework-based, “full-stack” development is now the default in Silicon Valley, but should obviously be avoided in universal services. – Reckoning: Part 1 – The Landscape
https://alexschroeder.ch/view/2024-08-14-web-applications
Pundits are idiots, part 2,297,748
date: 2024-08-15, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News
The stupidest thing about all the pundits remarking on Kamala’s rise in the polls is they are completely missing the story.
Here’s the headline.
- “Thank god the Trump nightmare is almost over.”
If you want an illustration, it’s the flip side of this New Yorker cover.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/15/132203.html?title=punditsAreIdiotsPart2297748
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-15, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
I
am addicted to buying domains. Latest
example. Ideally it would be a news
site with all the latest videos from the Land of Kamala aka the
United States of America.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/15.html#a131623
Over a Decade of Senses Block Parties: The Big 100
date: 2024-08-15, from: The Signal
The number 100 holds impressive significance in society. Just think how amazing it would be to live to 100 years of age, to be able to do 100 pushups or […]
The post Over a Decade of Senses Block Parties: The Big 100 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/over-a-decade-of-senses-block-parties-the-big-100/
Community Hot Rod Project Raises Funds for Vocational Training Center
date: 2024-08-15, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Nonprofit proposes converting airport hangars into center and museum.
The post Community Hot Rod Project Raises Funds for Vocational Training Center appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-15, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
So what are we doing on Threads and why does Facebook (aka Meta) want to get the best minds of Twitter using their software. I am not a lawyer and I haven’t read the user agreement, but that said, I bet it has something to do with building out their AI model so they can compete with OpenAI, Google, Amazon, Apple, etc.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/15.html#a125634
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-15, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Testing a handful of features, but the whole UI is starting to come together.
Need to sort out scene switching, the bottom tools and some 30 more bugs and should be ready for a TestFlight
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112966133152671276
US judge says he’ll ‘tear the barriers down’ on Google’s app store monopoly
date: 2024-08-15, from: OS News
Last week wasn’t the first time Google was declared a monopoly – eight months ago, in the Epic vs. Google case, Google’s control over the Play Store was also declared monopolistic. The judge, Google, and Epic have been arguing ever since over possible remedies, and in two weeks’ time, we’ll know what the judge is going to demand of Google. Eight months after a federal jury unanimously decided that Google’s Android app store is an illegal monopoly in Epic v. Google, Donato held his final hearing on remedies today. While we don’t yet know what will happen, he repeatedly shut down any suggestion that Google shouldn’t have to open up its store to rival stores, that it’d be too much work or cost too much, or that the proposed remedies go too far. “We’re going to tear the barriers down, it’s just the way it’s going to happen,” said Donato. “The world that exists today is the product of monopolistic conduct. That world is changing.” Donato will issue his final ruling in a little over two weeks. ↫ Sean Hollister at The Verge I was a bit confused by what “opening up” the Play Store really meant, since Android is already quite friendly to installing whatever other applications and application stores you want, but what they’re talking about here is allowing rival application stores inside the Play Store. This way, instead of downloading, say, the F-Droid APK from the web and installing it, you could just install the F-Droid application store straight from within the Play Store. Epic wants the judge to take it a step further and force Google to also give rival application stores access to every Play Store application, allowing them to take ownership of said applications, I guess? I’m not entirely sure how that would work, considering I doubt there’d be much overlap between the offerings of the various stores. The prospect of micromanaging where every application gets its updates from seems like a lot of busywork, but at the same time, it’s the kind of fine-grained control power users would really enjoy. A point of contention is whether or not Google would have to perform human review on every application store and their applications inside the Play Store, and even if Google should have any form of control at all. What’s interesting about all these court cases in the United States is how closely the arguments and proposed remedies align with the European Digital Markets Act. Where the EU made a set of pretty clear and straightforward rules for megacorporations to follow, thereby creating a level playing field for all of them, the US seems to want to endlessly take each offending company to court, which feels quite messy, time-consuming, and arbitrary, especially when medieval nonsense like jury trials are involved. This is probably a result of the US using civil law, whereas the EU uses civil (Napoleonic) law, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-15, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
The best journalism is coming from the candidate. I think you could make a pretty good hour-length show on MSNBC with 12 of their posts, five minutes each, one after the other, with a small panel of pundits quickly snarking about what they just saw. Go have a look at the feed and see if you agree. The best thing about it is that the writing is totally blogger-style.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/15.html#a122518
Russian man who sold logins to nearly 3,000 accounts gets 40 months in jail
date: 2024-08-15, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
He’ll also have to pay back $1.2 million from fraudulent transactions he facilitated
A Russian national is taking a trip to prison in the US after being found guilty of peddling stolen credentials on a popular dark web marketplace.…
A Youth League’s Stolen Jackie Robinson Statue Has Been Replaced
date: 2024-08-15, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The original statue of the pioneering baseball player vanished from a ballpark in Wichita, Kansas, earlier this year
Geothermal Energy Storage is Making a Big Leap in Texas
date: 2024-08-15, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Hurricane Ernesto could strengthen into a category 3 storm by Friday • Several days of heavy rain in Majorca, Spain, flooded streets and grounded flights • The heat index is hovering around 115 degrees Fahrenheit for parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
THE TOP FIVE
- Texas to host first grid-connected geothermal energy storage project
Plans are underway in Texas to build what will become the first geothermal energy storage project to deliver power to the grid. The 3-megawatt EarthStore project will be located in Christine, Texas, and operated by Sage Geosystems. It will connect with the ERCOT grid, storing energy to be deployed on demand. Advanced geothermal reservoirs harness the heat under the Earth’s surface to generate energy. They can store power that’s been generated by wind or solar in the form of hot water or steam, and some research suggests this process could be more efficient and perhaps cheaper than using batteries. Either way, as renewable capacity ramps up, the more storage options, the better. The project is expected to be ready by the end of 2024.
- Greece assesses damage from wildfire near Athens
The wildfire on the outskirts of Athens this week burned 40 square miles of land, or an area about twice the size of Manhattan, according to satellite data from the Copernicus Emergency Management Service. One person was killed and at least 78 homes were lost to the flames. Intense drought conditions, combined with soaring temperatures, have turned Greece into a tinderbox, with more than 3,500 fires ignited since May, up nearly 50% from the same period last year. More than one-third of the forests surrounding Athens have been scorched by wildfires over the last eight years.
Copernicus
Emergency Management Service
- Report: U.S. will back global plastics treaty
The U.S. will support a United Nations treaty to cap the amount of new plastic produced annually, Reuters reported. America is one of the world’s most prolific plastic makers, and has previously supported the idea that each country should be able to manage its own production. But many other nations have called for limiting and phasing down new plastic production to curb pollution and toxic chemicals, an initiative the U.S. seems to be warming to. Most plastics are made from fossil fuels, and major producers like China and Saudi Arabia have argued that the focus should be on recycling and reusing, instead of limiting production overall. The final talks over the UN plastics treaty are scheduled for November.
- Maersk joins initiative to study nuclear-powered ships
Danish shipping giant Maersk is interested in studying the feasibility of nuclear-powered cargo ships. The company will team up with maritime services firm Lloyd’s Register and Core Power to figure out how a nuclear reactor could be fitted on a vessel, plus what kinds of safety precautions and regulations would need to be in place. “Nuclear power holds a number of challenges related to for example safety, waste management, and regulatory acceptance across regions, and so far, the downsides have clearly outweighed the benefits of the technology,” Ole Graa Jakobsen, Maersk’s head of fleet technology, said in a statement. “If these challenges can be addressed by development of the new so-called fourth-generation reactor designs, nuclear power could potentially mature into another possible decarbonization pathway for the logistics industry 10 to 15 years in the future,” he said. The shipping sector accounts for about 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and guidelines from the International Maritime Organization set out in 2023 require companies to cut emissions by 40% by 2030.
- China’s OceanX floating wind turbine reaches wind farm
This week a giant, two-headed, floating offshore wind turbine has been on a 50-hour, 191-nautical-mile journey from Guangzhou, China, to its final destination in the Qingzhou IV Offshore Wind Farm in Yangjiang. Yesterday it finally arrived safely. The OceanX is the world’s largest floating wind turbine platform in terms of capacity. The company behind it, Mingyang Smart Energy, says the platform can produce 54 million kWh annually, enough to power 30,000 households. It’s made to be used in deep water and the company says it can withstand the kind of high winds and waves generated by typhoons.
THE KICKER
New analysis finds that enacting the policies outlined in the conservative blueprint Project 2025 would result in 1.7 million fewer jobs, 2,000 pollution-related premature deaths, and boost U.S. emissions by about 780 million metric tons per year by 2030.
https://heatmap.news/technology/geothermal-energy-storage-texas-grid
High-Tech Lunar Tires
date: 2024-08-15, updated: 2024-08-15, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/08/15/high-tech-lunar-tires/
What might a Justice Department break-up of Google look like?
date: 2024-08-15, from: Marketplace Morning Report
This week, the Justice Department is reportedly considering asking for a break up of Google after the company was deemed an illegal monopoly. We’ll describe how that may pan out and how it could potentially help smaller search engines. But first, the Biden administration is expected to unveil the results of Medicare’s first price negotiations with drug companies today. And later: What do vet clinics and Skittles have in common?
A Forest In Flight
date: 2024-08-15, from: The Lever News
As the climate changes, how much should we intervene to save species?
https://www.levernews.com/a-forest-in-flight/
Google is a monopoly. The fix isn’t obvious
date: 2024-08-15, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
A business breakup may be coming – but what comes after may not be better
Comment After more than 15 years of insisting that “competition is only a click away,” Google’s antitrust mantra is no longer keeping the regulators at bay.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/15/google_monopoly_fix/
US-Russian dual national Ksenia Khavana sentenced to 12 years in prison on treason conviction
date: 2024-08-15, from: VOA News USA
The Chinese carmaker taking on European rivals in their own backyard
date: 2024-08-15, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: China’s biggest electric carmaker, BYD, is planning a $1 billion factory in Turkey, which will allow it to avoid new tariffs imposed by Europe on Chinese exporters. We hear from the where the factory will be built. Then, Germany issues an arrest warrant linked to explosions that hit the subsea pipeline carrying Russian gas to Europe. Plus, North Korea is partially reopening to foreign tourists.
The IRA’s Labor Provisions Look Like They’re Working
date: 2024-08-15, from: Heatmap News
The Inflation Reduction Act is by far the most important climate law ever passed in the U.S. But it also may go down as one of the most important labor laws of recent history. Overnight, jobs installing solar farms that were largely performed by an itinerant, low-wage workforce had the potential to become higher-paid positions occupied by skilled tradespeople — maybe even union jobs.
That’s because in order to qualify for a 30% tax credit on their investment or operating costs, clean energy developers now have to follow two key labor standards. They have to pay construction workers the federally determined prevailing wage for their region, plus hire a designated number of apprentices, who are provided with paid classroom instruction in addition to on-the-job-training.
“I don’t think people have a sense of the scale and the scope of what this law has done and is going to do,” Rick Levy, the president of the Texas AFL-CIO, told me. “From our perspective, putting community well-being and labor standards in the very fabric of this industrial expansion is going to pay dividends for generations.”
On the eve of the IRA’s two-year anniversary, a new report provided exclusively to Heatmap has identified 6,285 utility-scale clean energy projects planned, under construction, or already operating, that are likely candidates for these tax credits. Together, they represent an estimated 3.9 million jobs, according to the Climate Jobs National Resource Center, a nonprofit that supports unions fighting for worker-centered climate action, which compiled the data.
There’s no way to know, at least right now, how many of the projects still in progress will actually get built, or how many have or will adhere to labor standards. Safe harbor provisions in the law also allow developers to claim the full tax credit without adhering to the rules as long as they started construction by the end of January 2023, so the full effect of the provisions will take some time to be realized.
But the report reveals the vast potential for the law to create higher-quality jobs in clean energy all over the country. Based on my reporting, that potential is starting to materialize. Union leaders told me they’re now having conversations with developers who never returned their calls before. And renewable energy developers and tax credit consultants told me it was a no-brainer to meet the labor standards, even though they create substantial administrative burdens. Otherwise, they’ll only be eligible for a 6% credit, leaving a huge amount of money on the table.
“The lawyers are scaring everyone about this”
Mike Fishman, the executive director of the National Climate Jobs Resource Center, told me that when he first started advocating for high-road climate jobs, he found that many trades workers were afraid of clean energy. “If they had a good job in the fossil fuel industry, then saying, we’re going to reach these goals and shut down all the fossil fuel plants, that was very scary to people.” But since the IRA passed, he’s seen a change in workers’ attitudes about supporting climate action. “It creates a sense that there’s a future for everyone — an economic future, as well as a climate future,” Fishman said.
The IRA’s potential to spur well-paid jobs and training opportunities is actually even larger than the Resource Center’s estimate indicates. The report only covers clean energy generation projects like wind and solar farms, but the law also tied labor standards to tax credits for the construction of clean energy manufacturing plants, EV chargers, carbon capture projects, hydrogen plants, clean fuel factories, and new, energy-efficient buildings.
The standards are likely to affect each of these industries in different ways, but it’s instructive to look at what’s already happening in renewable energy development. To do so, you first have to understand that developers sit near the top of a ladder of companies involved in bringing an energy project into the world. Above them sits investors; below, a series of contractors and subcontractors who manage the project on the ground and hire the workers who ultimately build it.
Before the IRA, everyone along this ladder had an incentive to keep costs as low as possible. At the top, developers are competing for power contracts with utilities. Contractors would try to win bids by quoting the lowest construction costs. Staffing agencies would source temporary workers from all over the country and negotiate wages and benefits on a case by case basis. An investigation into solar work by Vice found that it was “common to have two workers doing the same job for vastly different pay and living stipends.” Some would travel to a new place for a gig and “pile into motel rooms with other workers on the same projects in order to save money.”
The IRA disrupts that incentive structure, creating a new regime whereby the top priority is getting that 30% tax credit. The law also extended the ladder, creating new rungs of accountability thanks to new tax credit transferability rules that allow developers to sell their tax credits to third parties. That means there are a host of other companies looming over developers’ shoulders with a stake in making sure they don’t cheat the rules. Tax credit buyers don’t want to end up in a situation where the IRS audits the developer who sold them the credits, finds that there weren’t enough apprentices on the project, and claws back the money. The risk is serious enough that buyers also purchase insurance for these transactions, adding another layer of oversight.
“The lawyers are scaring everyone about this,” Derek Silverman, the co-founder and chief product officer of Basis Climate, a startup that matches tax credit buyers and sellers, told me. For example, the Treasury’s rules contain a loophole for companies to claim the credit without hiring the required number of apprentices as long as they show they made a “good faith effort.” That’s defined as having reached out to at least one registered apprenticeship program in the area every year the project is operating. Silverman said he’s seen lawyers challenge companies that are trying to get around the requirement, asking them who they reached out to and berating them if it wasn’t a legitimate effort.
“They’re saying, you have a huge part of your capital stack that’s based off this tax credit,” said Silverman. “It’s not worth the downside of the government questioning through an audit that you didn’t meet these requirements, and then, boom, you owe them $20 million when it would have cost you $100,000 to do the documentation and get that all square.”
The upside is valuable enough that it’s generated a whole new cottage industry in tax credit compliance. Empact Technologies, for example, is a software company that collects and evaluates payroll data from contractors to make sure they are paying the correct wages and have the right number of apprentices. “Then we have to go back and essentially fix all of the mistakes that they made every single week” — like classifying workers incorrectly and paying them the wrong amount, or falling behind on apprenticeship hours — “which every single contractor does. It’s insane,” Charles Dauber, Empact’s founder, told me.
All of this has added much complexity — and cost — to renewable energy development. David Yaros, who co-leads Deloitte’s US Tax Sustainability Practice, told me that the cost of compliance, including hiring companies like Empact and Deloitte to compile all the documentation, could eat into 5% to 20% of the tax benefits.
“This has raised our costs,” Rodrigo Inurreta Acero, a government affairs manager at the international developer EDP Renewables, confirmed, referring specifically to the added cost of consultants rather than the mostly negligible cost of paying prevailing wages. “But, we are very, very happy to comply with this, because the juice is worth the squeeze.”
Building a union pipeline
There’s clear incentives for developers to do everything in their power to meet the labor standards. The key question is whether these two little provisions — prevailing wage and apprenticeships — are strong enough to “build a strong pipeline of highly-skilled workers” and “ensure clean energy jobs are good-paying jobs,” as the Biden administration has said.
The need is definitely there. A census of U.S. solar jobs in 2022 found that 52% of solar installation and project development companies found it “very difficult” to find qualified workers, with electricians and construction workers being among the most difficult positions to fill.
But even if armies of lawyers are scaring companies into making serious efforts to hire apprentices, that doesn’t mean they are actually finding them. “It’s not clear at this stage whether apprenticeship programs are scaling up fast enough to match labor supply to project demand,” Derrick Flakoll, a policy associate at BloombergNEF told me. He pointed to an announcement made by the White House just last month of $244 million in grants to expand the Registered Apprenticeship system throughout the country. “I’d be skeptical that apprenticeship programs have been able to scale up yet,” said Flakoll.
There’s a catch with the wage requirement, too: “Prevailing wage” doesn’t necessarily mean a living wage, and it can vary dramatically from place to place. The rate is determined by surveys sent out to contractors and labor organizations, and is typically higher in jurisdictions with active labor unions. For example, in Falls County, Texas, where the 640 megawatt Roseland Solar project is under construction, prevailing wage for a general laborer is $8.75 an hour. In Sangamon County, Illinois, where the 800 megawatt Black Diamond Solar project is being built, prevailing wage for a laborer is $34.04 an hour plus benefits worth $29.26 an hour.
Nico Ries, the lead organizer for the Green Workers Alliance, which organizes solar and wind workers, told me solar wages seem to have only increased in places with higher union density. That’s because unions are now on a more even playing-field to compete for jobs in those areas, since their typical rates have become the de facto minimum.
To be clear, the prevailing wage and apprenticeship provisions do not require developers to hire union workers to build their projects. And there are plenty of non-union, registered apprenticeships. Ries told me that the temp staffing agencies that have served the solar industry in the past are quickly standing up apprenticeship programs to stay on top of the market under the IRA. The main problem with that, they said, is that unlike union apprentices, these workers have no representation.
“There’s a lot of misinformation,” Ries said. “People think they are joining an apprenticeship and it’s going to be a whole thing, but it’s really just a little training or two, and then they slap a sticker on your hard hat.”
Nonetheless, unions are starting to make inroads in solar in places that have long been hostile to organized labor. Ethan Link, the assistant business manager for the Southeast Laborers’ District Council, which has members in right-to-work states throughout the south, told me that before and after the IRA was like “night and day.” For the first time, solar developers are calling the union directly to talk about projects on the horizon and to figure out how to work with them. As a result, the union is investing in more solar-specific training for its apprenticeship instructors.
“The Inflation Reduction Act is one of the most consequential and, I think, also most innovative ways of inducing the market to have broad based benefits for the community,” Link said. “The way I’ve experienced it, it’s changed the landscape on the ground with these developers within a matter of months, rather than a matter of years.” He said they don’t yet have a lot of workers actually assigned to projects, but “we’re really optimistic about where things sit right now.”
Kent Miller, president of the Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council, told me his union has been able to double its apprenticeship program from around 300 to 400 students a few years ago to closer to 700 to 800 post-IRA. It’s now looking to build another training campus to expand its capacity. Not all of that growth is thanks to renewable energy, he said, but the union now has a significant portion of its membership that just works in utility-scale solar.
Earlier this year, Wisconsin’s four biggest electric utilities pledged to employ local, union labor on all future renewable energy projects. Miller doesn’t think this would have happened without the incentives in the IRA. Though every wind farm in Wisconsin has been built by union labor, the more nascent solar industry was starting to bring in non-union workers from out of state to build projects. The IRA incentives gave Miller’s union leverage in negotiations with the utilities, because future projects were going to need to be able to find registered apprentices. “Unions run the best registered apprenticeship programs,” he said. “It was showing what we could do, what we could bring to the table.”
There is one more small but potentially powerful incentive for developers to work with unions. The Internal Revenue Service has said that if companies sign a project labor agreement — an agreement with one or more unions, made prior to hiring, that establishes wages and benefits — then they are less likely to be audited, and won’t have to pay penalties if they are found to be non-compliant.
A post-post-industrial future
To Levy, of the AFL-CIO in Texas, and others in the labor movement, getting workers to support clean energy is essential to tackling climate change. “Unless workers see themselves and their interests reflected in these new energy technologies, there’s never going to be the kind of political support that we need to be able to do the things we need to do to save the planet,” Levy said. The first step to achieve that, he said, is making sure these jobs are “good union jobs.”
The Climate Jobs National Resource Center connected me with Kim Tobias, a union electrician in Maine, as an example of how union jobs can change lives. Tobias used to work in call centers, providing customer service for healthcare software companies, before leaving to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. She was making $16 an hour in her last call center job after more than 10 years in the field, and was fed up after getting passed over for a promotion. When she started as an electrical apprentice in 2019, she essentially doubled her salary overnight once benefits were taken into account.
Today, in part because of the IRA, but also because of a state law that requires developers to pay prevailing wage on all large renewable projects in Maine, Tobias mainly works on solar projects. The work isn’t always ideal — she told me she once had to commute 75 miles away for a solar job — while she was pregnant, no less. “Then again, a year and a half later, I worked a solar job that was 0.9 miles away from my house. So it’s give and take,” she said.
But Tobias also said she sees potential to create high-quality clean energy jobs beyond solar in Maine, where, she lamented, “people under the age of 30 are leaving in droves.” She noted that an old paper mill in Lincoln, Maine, is being turned into an energy storage site, and the developer has already said it would establish a collective bargaining agreement with the Maine Building and Construction Trades. Illustrating Levy’s point about political support, the union is also now advocating for the construction of a new port to support the offshore wind industry, which would have to be built with union labor under a recent state law.
“I think that people need to understand the opportunity here,” said Levy, and make sure that we continue to build on it and not turn back.”
https://heatmap.news/economy/ira-anniversary-labor
Mad Liberator extortion crew emerges on the cyber-crook scene
date: 2024-08-15, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Anydesk is its access tool of choice
A new extortion gang called Mad Liberator uses social engineering and the remote-access tool Anydesk to steal organizations’ data and then demand a ransom payment, according to Sophos X-Ops.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/15/mad_liberator_extortion/
Kim Dotcom to be extradited from New Zealand after 12-year fight with US
date: 2024-08-15, from: VOA News USA
Wellington, New Zealand — Kim Dotcom, who is facing criminal charges relating to the defunct file-sharing website Megaupload, will be extradited to the United States from New Zealand, the New Zealand justice minister said on Thursday.
German-born Dotcom, who has New Zealand residency, has been fighting extradition to the United States since 2012 following a FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed an extradition order for Dotcom, a spokesperson for the Minister of Justice said
“I considered all of the information carefully and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the U.S. to face trial,” Goldsmith said in a statement.
“As is common practice, I have allowed Mr Dotcom a short period of time to consider and take advice on my decision. I will not, therefore, be commenting further at this stage.”
In a post on social media website X on Tuesday, Dotcom said “the obedient US colony in the South Pacific just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload,” in what appears to be a reference to the extradition order.
Reuters could not immediately contact Dotcom for a response.
U.S. authorities say Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material, which generated more than $175 million in revenue for the website.
The company’s chief marketing officer Finn Batato and chief technical officer and co-founder Mathias Ortmann, both from Germany, along with a third executive, Dutch national Bram van der Kolk, were arrested with Dotcom in 2012.
Ortmann and van der Kolk entered plea deals that saw them sentenced in 2023 to jail terms in New Zealand but allowed them to avoid extradition. Batato died in 2022 in New Zealand.
Twitter must pay over half a million to unfairly dismissed Irish exec
date: 2024-08-15, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Remember the ‘go hardcore or go home’ email? Turns out: not super compatible with Irish employment law
Twitter has been ordered to pay €550,000 ($607,000) compensation for unfair dismissal to a former senior executive in Ireland, said to be a record amount awarded in the country over such a case.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/15/twitter_unfair_dismissal/
A Home Nestled in a Hidden Garden
date: 2024-08-15, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Dance classes, a green thumb, and a teen star all made their home here.
The post A Home Nestled in a Hidden Garden appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/15/a-home-nestled-in-a-hidden-garden/
Cisco slashes thousands of staff, 7% of entire workforce, pivots into AI
date: 2024-08-15, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Reorg of entire biz as tech giant addresses downturn in core networking segment
Networking titan Cisco has confirmed in a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) that it is eliminating 7 percent of its global workforce as it embarks upon a restructuring plan.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/15/cisco_cuts_workforce/
Ask the Motor Cop | Did you know … Some obscure vehicle laws
date: 2024-08-15, from: The Signal
Question: Hi Jerry. A friend of mine said that you can park next to a fire hydrant sometimes. What’s that all about? He was also referring to other strange vehicle […]
The post Ask the Motor Cop | Did you know … Some obscure vehicle laws appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/ask-the-motor-cop-did-you-know-some-obscure-vehicle-laws/
AI stole my job and my work, and the boss didn’t know – or care
date: 2024-08-15, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Everyone knows automation will happen, which is why everyone needs proof of human involvement
Column Earlier this year I got fired and replaced by a robot. And the managers who made the decision didn’t tell me – or anyone else affected by the change – that it was happening.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/15/robot_took_my_job/
Today in SCV History (Aug. 15)
date: 2024-08-15, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1849 – Eight-pound gold nugget found in San Feliciano Canyon (Val Verde/Piru area) [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-aug-15/
Over 40 million Kakao Pay users’ data somehow ended up with Alipay
date: 2024-08-15, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Payment arm of Korean messaging app denies any illegal activity
Kakao Pay, a subsidiary of Korea’s WhatsApp analog Kakao, handed over data from more than 40 million users to the Singaporean arm of Chinese payment platform Alipay, without user consent, Korea’s financial watchdog revealed Tuesday.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/15/kakao_pay_data_leak/
As Colorado River states await water cuts, they struggle to agree on longer-term plans
date: 2024-08-15, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The federal government is expected to announce water cuts soon that would affect some of the 40 million people reliant on the Colorado River, the powerhouse of the U.S. West. The Interior Department announces water availability for the coming year months in advance so Western cities, farmers and others can plan.
Behind the scenes, however, more elusive plans are being hashed out: how the basin will share water from the diminishing 2,334-kilometer river after 2026, when many current guidelines that govern it expire.
The Colorado River supplies water to seven Western states, more than two dozen Native American tribes, and two states in Mexico. It also irrigates millions of acres of farmland in the American West and generates hydropower used across the region. Years of overuse combined with rising temperatures and drought have meant less water flows in the Colorado today than in decades past.
That’s made the fraught politics of water in the West particularly deadlocked at times. Here’s what you need to know about the negotiations surrounding the river.
What are states discussing?
Plans for how to distribute the Colorado River’s water after 2026. A series of overlapping agreements, court decisions and contracts determine how the river is shared, some of which expire at the end of 2025.
In 2007, following years of drought, the seven U.S. states in the basin — Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — and the federal government adopted rules to better respond to lower water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Those are the river’s two main reservoirs that transfer and store Colorado River water, produce hydropower and serve as barometers of its health.
The 2007 rules determine when some states face water cuts based on levels at Lake Mead. That’s why states, Native American tribes, and others are drafting new plans, which anticipate even deeper water cuts after 2026 based on projections of the river’s flow and climate modeling of future warming in the West.
“The ultimate problem is that watershed runoff is decreasing due to an ever-warming climate,” said Jack Schmidt, professor of watershed sciences at Utah State University, and director of the Center for Colorado River studies. “The proximate problem is we’ve got to decrease our use.”
How are these talks different from expected cuts this month?
Sometime this month, the federal government will announce water cuts for 2025 based on levels at Lake Mead. The cuts may simply maintain the restrictions already in place. Reclamation considers factors like precipitation, runoff, and water use to model what levels at the two reservoirs will look like over the following two years. If Lake Mead drops below a certain level, Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico are subject to cuts, though California has so far been spared because of its senior water rights.
In recent years, Arizona has faced the bulk of these cuts, while Mexico and Nevada also saw reductions. But these are short-term plans, and the guidelines surrounding them are being renegotiated for the future.
What are states already doing to conserve water?
Arizona, Nevada and Mexico faced federal water cuts from the river in 2022. Those deepened in 2023 and returned to 2022 levels this year. As the crisis on the river worsened, Arizona, California and Nevada last year agreed to conserve an additional 3 million acre-feet of water until 2026, with the U.S. government paying water districts and other users for much of that conservation.
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — the state’s so-called Upper Basin — don’t use their full 7.5 million acre-foot allocation from the river, and get a percentage of the water that’s available each year.
An acre-foot is enough water to serve roughly two to three U.S. households in a year.
Have these efforts worked?
Yes, for now. A wet 2023 plus conservation efforts by Lower Basin states improved the short-term outlook for both reservoirs. Lake Powell is at roughly 39% capacity while Mead is at about 33%.
Climate scientists and hydrologists say that higher temperatures driven by climate change will continue to reduce runoff to the Colorado River in coming years, and cause more water to be lost to evaporation, so future plans should prepare for less water in the system. Brad Udall, a senior water and climate scientist at Colorado State University, said predicting precipitation levels is harder to do.
The short-term recovery in the Colorado River basin should be viewed in the context of a more challenging future, he added.
“I would push back heartily against any idea that our rebound over the last couple of years here is some permanent shift,” Udall said.
What can’t states agree on?
What to do after 2026. In March, Upper and Lower Basin states, tribes and environmental groups released plans for how the river and its reservoirs should be managed in the future.
Arizona, California and Nevada asked the federal government to take a more expansive view of the river management and factor water levels in seven reservoirs instead of just Lake Powell and Lake Mead to determine the extent of water cuts. If the whole system drops below 38% capacity, their plan said, deeper cuts should be shared evenly with the Upper Basin and Mexico.
“We are trying to find the right, equitable outcome in which the Upper Basin doesn’t have to take all of the pain from the long-term reduction of the river, but we also can’t be the only ones protecting Lake Powell,” said Tom Buschatzke, director of Arizona’s Department of Water Resources and the state’s lead negotiator in the talks.
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming called for addressing shortages based on the combined capacity of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, as opposed to just Lake Mead. It proposed more aggressive cuts that would affect California, Arizona and Nevada sooner when the major reservoir levels fall. Their plan doesn’t call for reductions in how much water is delivered to Upper Basin states.
Becky Mitchell, the lead negotiator for the state of Colorado, said the Upper Basin’s plan focuses more on making policy with an eye on the river’s supply, rather than the demands for its water.
“It’s important we start acknowledging that there’s not as much water available as folks would like,” Mitchell said.
Where does it go from here?
The federal government is expected to issue draft regulations by December that factor in the different plans and propose a way forward. Until then, states, tribes and other negotiators will continue talking and trying to reach agreement.
Hurricane Ernesto strengthens overnight, moves toward Bermuda
date: 2024-08-15, from: VOA News USA
SOhO Goes the Big 3-0
date: 2024-08-15, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
SOhO, Santa Barbara’s premier and longest-running showcase music club, survives highs and lows to reach the 30th anniversary milestone, mascot in tow.
The post SOhO Goes the Big 3-0 appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/14/soho-goes-the-big-3-0/
‘Notebook,’ ‘Gloria’ actress Gena Rowlands dies at 94
date: 2024-08-15, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/notebook-gloria-actress-gena-rowlands-dies-at-94-/7743478.html
China-linked cyber-spies infect Russian govt, IT sector
date: 2024-08-15, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
No, no, go ahead, don’t let us stop you, Xi
Cyber-spies suspected of connections with China have infected “dozens” of computers belonging to Russian government agencies and IT providers with backdoors and trojans since late July, according to Kaspersky.…
State Fair of Texas bans firearms, drawing threats from state AG
date: 2024-08-15, from: VOA News USA
DALLAS — The State Fair of Texas is laying down a new rule before millions of visitors flock through the gates for corn dogs, deep-fried delights and a friendly wave from a five-story cowboy named Big Tex: No guns allowed.
But that decision by fair organizers — which comes after a shooting last year on the 112-hectare fairgrounds in the heart of Dallas — has drawn outrage from Republican lawmakers, who in recent years have proudly expanded gun rights in Texas. On Wednesday, the state’s attorney general threatened a lawsuit unless the fair reversed course.
“Dallas has 15 days to fix the issue,” Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement, “otherwise I will see them in court.”
Tensions over where and how gun owners can carry firearms in public are frequent in Texas, but the standoff with one of the state’s most beloved institutions has moved the fight onto unusual turf. The fair has not backed down since cowboy hat-wearing organizers announced the new policy at a news conference last week.
The fair, which reopens in September and lasts for nearly a month, dates back to 1886. In addition to a maze of midway games, car shows and the Texas Star Ferris wheel — one of the tallest in the U.S. — the fairgrounds are also home to the annual college football rivalry between the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma. And after Big Tex, the towering cowboy that greets fairgoers, went up in flames in 2012 due to an electrical short, the fair mascot was met with great fanfare upon its return.
But a shooting near the rows of food booths last year dampened the revelry.
Investigators said one man opened fire on another, injuring three people and resulting in police clearing the fairgrounds. Videos posted on social media showed groups of people running along sidewalks and climbing barriers as they fled.
Defending the new policy Wednesday, fair spokesperson Karissa Condoianis acknowledged it has attracted “both criticism and praise.” She noted that the fair previously allowed gun owners to carry concealed weapons “even after virtually all other public events ceased to allow the same.”
“This is the right decision moving forward to ensure a safe environment and family-friendly atmosphere,” Condoianis said.
Republican lawmakers urged the fair to reconsider in a letter signed by more than 70 legislators, arguing that the ban made the fairgrounds less safe and was “anything but a celebration of Texas.”
In a separate letter to the City of Dallas, Paxton argued that the ban infringes on the rights of Texas gun owners. The city owns Fair Park, where the annual fair takes place; Paxton argued that gun owners can carry on property owned or leased by the government unless otherwise prohibited by state law.
A city spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday that they were reviewing Paxton’s letter “and will respond accordingly.”
Condoianis said Wednesday that the fair, which is a private, not-for-profit organization, “is not a government entity nor is it controlled by a government entity.” She said they are aware of Paxton’s letter to the city, and that it appears he’s “seeking clarification” on the city’s relationship with the fair and its use of Fair Park under the long-term lease agreement between the two parties.
Condoianis also disagreed that the ban makes the fair less safe, saying the policy is similar to rules at large community gatherings such as sporting events and concerts. She also noted that 200 uniformed and armed Dallas police officers and fair safety team members will be patrolling the fairgrounds. The fair said on its website that attendees go through a screening process before entering.
The fair is a “microcosm of the kind of mystique that comes with Texas,” said Brian Franklin, associate director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The fair, he said, speaks to Texans’ desire to emphasize the state’s rural cowboy heritage and being on the cutting edge of technology.
“You can go to the hall where it’s all the most amazing new cars and maybe other exhibits about technology,” he said, “and then you can also go and see the show cows.”
Columbia’s president resigns after months of turmoil, including Gaza protests
date: 2024-08-15, from: VOA News USA
NEW YORK — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday after a brief, tumultuous tenure that saw the head of the prestigious New York university grapple with protests over the Israel-Hamas war and criticism over how the school handled divisions related to the conflict.
The school in upper Manhattan was roiled this year by student protests, culminating in scenes of police officers carrying zip ties and riot shields storming a building that had been occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters. Similar protests swept college campuses nationwide.
In addition to the protests, the school in July removed three deans, who have since resigned, after officials said they exchanged disparaging texts during a campus discussion about Jewish life and antisemitism. Shafik said in a July 8 letter to the school community that the messages were unprofessional and “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes.”
Shafik was also among the university leaders called for questioning before Congress earlier this year. She was heavily criticized by Republicans who accused her of not doing enough to combat concerns about antisemitism on Columbia’s campus.
In her letter announcing her resignation, Shafik heralded “progress in a number of important areas” but lamented that her tenure had also been a “period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.” In her statement, she acknowledged the campus protests factored into her decision to resign.
“This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in the community,” Shafik wrote. “Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead.”
Shafik said she will return to the United Kingdom to lead an effort by the foreign secretary’s office reviewing the government’s approach to international development and how to improve capability.
“I am very pleased and appreciative that this will afford me the opportunity to return to work on fighting global poverty and promoting sustainable development, areas of lifelong interest to me,” she wrote. “It also enables me to return to the House of Lords to reengage with the important legislative agenda put forth by the new UK government.”
The Board of Trustees announced that Katrina Armstrong, the CEO of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, agreed to serve as interim president. The board said Armstrong, who is also the executive vice president for the university’s Health and Biomedical Sciences, “is the right leader for this moment.”
Armstrong said she was “deeply honored” to be leading the university at a “pivotal moment for Columbia.”
“Challenging times present both the opportunity and the responsibility for serious leadership to emerge from every group and individual within a community,” Armstrong wrote. “This is such a time at Columbia. As I step into this role, I am acutely aware of the trials the University has faced over the past year.”
Shafik was named president of the university last year and was the first woman to take on the role, and she was one of several women newly appointed to take the reins at Ivy League institutions.
She had previously led the London School of Economics and before that worked at the World Bank, where she rose through the ranks to become the bank’s youngest-ever vice president. Shafik also worked at the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, followed by stints at the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England.
At the time of Shafik’s appointment, Columbia Board of Trustees chair Jonathan Lavine described her as a leader who deeply understood “the academy and the world beyond it.”
“What set Minouche apart as a candidate,” Lavine had said in a statement, “is her unshakable confidence in the vital role institutions of higher education can and must play in solving the world’s most complex problems.”
No charges against US serviceman in shooting of Chechen man
date: 2024-08-15, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/no-charges-against-us-serviceman-in-shooting-of-chechen-man/7743454.html
SCV Black Business Council celebrates Black Business Month
date: 2024-08-15, from: The Signal
The Santa Clarita Black Business Council hosted its second annual Black Business Month celebration last week at California Institute of the Arts, where they presented awards to three honorees. Di […]
The post SCV Black Business Council celebrates Black Business Month appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/scv-black-business-council-celebrates-black-business-month/
SCV Clergy Council discusses unity at Sheriff’s Station
date: 2024-08-15, from: The Signal
On the Sunday following the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, Senior Pastor Mauricio Ruiz had more than 250 of his congregation at Elevate Church on Main Street in […]
The post SCV Clergy Council discusses unity at Sheriff’s Station appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/scv-clergy-council-discusses-unity-at-sheriffs-station/
Aug. 28: Coffee with a Cop at Sand Canyon Country Club
date: 2024-08-15, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station has announced it is switching things up this month for Coffee with a Cop. On Wednesday, Aug. 28 zone deputies from the station will meet with SCV residents on the driving range 9 a.m.-11 a.m. of the Sand Canyon Country Club
https://scvnews.com/aug-28-coffee-with-a-cop-at-sand-canyon-country-club/
Actors can license AI voice clones in union deal
date: 2024-08-15, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Thesps at least get final say on what their doppelgängers will say
AI-generated voices in ads might become more common thanks to an agreement between SAG-AFTRA and an AI cloning upstart.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/15/actors_union_ai_voice_clone/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-15, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
On iOS 18, when you are editing a screenshot you just took, there is automatic image snapping to things that feel like natural snapping points.
Like window edges.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112963155948862469
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-15, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Kamala Harris doesn't owe the national press anything.
Pigsty Supplementary APT/YUM Repository with 254 additional PostgreSQL Extensions!
date: 2024-08-15, from: PostgreSQL News
Pigsty v3.0 (beta) introduces a public YUM/APT repository, featuring 121 pre-packaged RPM extension packages and 133 DEB extension packages.
In conjunction with the official PGDG YUM/APT repositories, users now have access to 333 PostgreSQL extensions, with 326 available on RHEL and 312 on Debian/Ubuntu, out-of-box with the default OS package manager.
This repo contains PostgreSQL 16 extensions for EL7,8,9, Debian 12, and Ubuntu 22.04 systems on amd64 architecture now. Expect more in the future.
This repository is hosted on Cloudflare and public available, fully open-sourced with all scripts and metadata available here.
Eager to hear any thoughts and would greatly appreciate any feedback.
WAL-G 3.0.3 released
date: 2024-08-15, from: PostgreSQL News
WAL-G team is happy to announce the release of WAL-G 3.0.3
WAL-G is a tool for archival database restoration for PostgreSQL, GreenplumDB, MySQL/MariaDB, MongoDB, etcd and several other databases.
Major feature of this release is full support for OrioleDB. WAL-G supported block-level incremental backups since v0.1.3, but it previously treated OrioleDB data as a collection of unknown files. Now WAL-G understands if OrioleDB is installed into cluster and makes efficient backup copies of OrioleDB data. Thanks to Supabase engineers for working on WAL-G.
Additionally, this release includes two new commands for Postgres:
catchup-send and catchup-receive. These
commands are useful when you need to bring a lagging replica up to date
without pushing a new backup to the storage. In essence, they work like
pg_rewind but in reverse. Perhaps we should rename them to pg_wind.
This release also mitigates several CVEs in dependencies (CVE-2023-39325, GHSA-9763-4f94-gfch) and fixes assorted bugs.
WAL-G v3.0.3 is available for download on our GitHub releases page.
Have a nice day!
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/wal-g-303-released-2911/
Pgpool-II 4.5.3, 4.4.8, 4.3.11, 4.2.18 and 4.1.21 released.
date: 2024-08-15, from: PostgreSQL News
What is Pgpool-II?
Pgpool-II is a tool to add useful features to PostgreSQL, including:
- connection pooling
- load balancing
- automatic failover and more.
Minor releases
Pgpool Global Development Group is pleased to announce the availability of following versions of Pgpool-II:
- 4.5.3
- 4.4.8
- 4.3.11
- 4.2.18
- 4.1.21
Please take a look at release notes.
You can download the source code and RPMs.
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/pgpool-ii-453-448-4311-4218-and-4121-released-2914/
GitHub rolls back database change after breaking itself
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Git blame an infrastructure update
If you can’t or couldn’t access GitHub today, it’s because the site broke itself.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/github_rollback/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Sources go direct: “We had expertise to share that wasn't getting out through journalism.”
http://scripting.com/2022/04/13/165056.html?title=sourcesGoDirectExplained
COC Administrators Fiero, Coleal to Retire
date: 2024-08-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
On the heels of long time College of the Canyons Chancellor Dr. Dianne Van Hook’s retirement announced on July 23, two administrators, each with two decades of service to College of the Canyons, Dr. Diane Fiero and Sharlene Coleal have also announced plans to retire from the college
https://scvnews.com/coc-administrators-fiero-coleal-to-retire/
In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream
date: 2024-08-14, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
California Coastal Commission’s concerns over SpaceX’s planned expansion of rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base fall on deaf and absent ears.
The post In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/14/in-space-no-one-can-hear-you-scream/
Hawks officially hatch, Hart volleyball drops opener with La Canada
date: 2024-08-14, from: The Signal
For the first time ever, the Hart Hawks took the floor in a CIF matchup. Hart girls’ volleyball dropped its season opener with the visiting La Canada Spartans, 3-1, on […]
The post Hawks officially hatch, Hart volleyball drops opener with La Canada appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/hawks-officially-hatch-hart-volleyball-drops-opener-with-la-canada/
Sols 4275-4276: A Familiar View
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024 The star of today’s plan is SAM’s GCMS, which continues our analysis of the “Kings Canyon” drill sample. As Natalie mentioned, this is a relatively energy-hungry activity, but luckily our last plan left us in a good position to not only complete the GCMS experiment but also fit […]
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/sols-4275-4276-a-familiar-view/
What Comes After Kamala’s Coronation at the Democratic Convention?
date: 2024-08-14, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The answers to five key questions will shape the outcome of the Harris-Trump race for the White House.
The post What Comes After Kamala’s Coronation at the Democratic Convention? appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Ocean Water Warning for Aug. 20
date: 2024-08-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health cautions residents who are planning to visit the below Los Angeles County beaches to avoid swimming, surfing, and playing in ocean waters
https://scvnews.com/ocean-water-warning-for-aug-20/
US moves to speed up asylum processing at Canadian border
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
washington — The Biden administration is planning to speed up the processing of asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Canada border in response to a significant increase in migrant crossings.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed in an email to VOA that there would be two changes in the asylum process at the northern border. They also emphasized that the agency continues to enforce U.S. immigration laws and deliver tough consequences for noncitizens who do not have a lawful basis to remain in the United States.
“DHS carefully reviewed its implementation of the Safe Third Country Agreement with Canada and concluded that it could streamline that process at the border without impacting noncitizens’ ability to have access to a full and fair procedure for determining a claim to asylum or equivalent temporary protection,” the spokesperson said.
CBS News reported the plan before DHS confirmed the details with VOA. These policy changes were scheduled to take effect Wednesday.
The first change will require migrants to present their documents, testimony and other credible evidence when U.S. asylum officers screen them to determine if they are subject to the agreement.
Before, migrants could delay the screening while they gathered the information needed to prove they qualify for an exemption.
“Asylum officers will consider only the documentary evidence available at the time of the TSI [Threshold Screening Interview],” the DHS spokesperson wrote.
The second change reduces the time a migrant has to consult with a lawyer. Starting Wednesday, a migrant has a minimum of four hours to get legal assistance before the first asylum interview. The DHS made a similar change at the U.S.-Mexico border in June in a move aimed at limiting asylum claims there.
The Safe Third Country asylum agreement between the U.S. and Canada was signed in 2002 and expanded in 2023. It assigns responsibility for processing asylum claims to the country where the asylum-seeker first arrives.
Those affected by the Safe Third Country agreement must show that they first requested asylum in Canada when entering the U.S. from that country. If not, they may be sent back to Canada unless they qualify for an exemption. Unaccompanied children and migrants with relatives in the U.S. are exempt from the agreement.
Similarly, those who cross into Canada from the U.S. and fall under the agreement can be returned to the U.S. by Canadian authorities.
The DHS spokesperson said these changes were expected to help U.S. immigration officials process and remove migrants faster along the 8,890-kilometer northern border, where migrant encounters have increased this year.
In fiscal 2024 through June, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered 16,459 migrants who crossed the U.S.-Canada border illegally. That was up from 10,021 in fiscal 2023 and 2,238 in 2022.
The DHS spokesperson called these changes “only procedural” and did not provide any additional comments beyond the statement.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-moves-to-speed-up-asylum-processing-at-canadian-border/7743082.html
Aug. 20: SCV Water Regular Board Meeting
date: 2024-08-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
SCV Water Agency will be holding their next regular board meeting next Tuesday on Aug.
https://scvnews.com/aug-20-scv-water-regular-board-meeting/
Sols 4273-4274: Prep Rally
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
Earth planning date: Monday, Aug. 12, 2024 The SAM EGA over the weekend was successful, and that means we’re well on our way to planning the GCMS (Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometry) on our “Kings Canyon” drill sample! GCMS is an energy-intensive activity, so we’ll be using today’s two-sol plan mainly for recharging our battery and […]
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/sols-4273-4274-prep-rally/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-14, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Oh the treaty has been completed! Going to add to my evening
reading.
https://mastodon.social/@krzyzanowskim/112962534808693020
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112962843717920401
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Musk’s new Grok upgrade allows X users to create largely uncensored AI images.
BBMS Happy Children Memorial Fund to hold brunch fundraiser
date: 2024-08-14, from: The Signal
Brianna Brandy Millard Smith’s Happy Children Memorial Scholarship Fund is set to hold its second annual “Hopeful Family Futures” fundraiser at Casa Gutierrez in Leona Valley on Oct. 6 from […]
The post BBMS Happy Children Memorial Fund to hold brunch fundraiser appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/bbms-happy-children-memorial-fund-to-hold-brunch-fundraiser/
Schiavo’s homework bill among those to be judged on ‘Suspense Day’
date: 2024-08-14, from: The Signal
Thursday’s Appropriations Committee hearings in both the state Assembly and Senate will decide on the fate of a slew of bills currently hanging in “suspense.” Commonly known as “Suspense Day,” […]
The post Schiavo’s homework bill among those to be judged on ‘Suspense Day’ appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/schiavos-homework-bill-among-those-to-be-judged-on-suspense-day/
Kuya’mu in Gaviota
date: 2024-08-14, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The famous Dos Pueblos Ranch was the home of my ancestors. The beautiful landscape, undisturbed soils from the 1700s, and pristine views of ocean and marine terrace bluffs are the many vital reasons to say, “No no no,” to the proposed development for this parcel of land.
The post Kuya’mu in Gaviota appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/14/kuyamu-in-gaviota/
US said to consider a breakup of Google to address search monopoly
date: 2024-08-14, from: OS News
While a US judge ruled last week that Google is a monopoly, and hat it has abused its monopoly position, potential remedies were not part of the case up until this point. Now, though, the US Department of Justice is mulling over potential remedies, and it seems everything is on the table – down to breaking Google up. Justice Department officials are considering what remedies to ask a federal judge to order against the search giant, said three people with knowledge of the deliberations involving the agency and state attorneys general who helped to bring the case. They are discussing various proposals, including breaking off parts of Google, such as its Chrome browser or Android smartphone operating system, two of the people said. Other scenarios under consideration include forcing Google to make its data available to rivals, or mandating that it abandon deals that made its search engine the default option on devices like the iPhone, said the people, who declined to be identified because the process is confidential. The government is meeting with other companies and experts to discuss their proposals for limiting Google’s power, the people said. ↫ David McCabe and Nico Grant The United States has a long history of breaking companies up, but the real question here is how, exactly, you would break Google up. Google makes virtually all of its money using its advertising business, and products like Chrome or Android in an of themselves make little to no money – they probably only cost Google money. Their real purpose is to direct people to using Google Search, which is where the various ads are Google’s real money maker. In other words, what would happen if you were to split off Chrome or Android? How are these products supposed to make money and survive, financially? I don’t understand entirely how Google’s advertising business spaghetti is organised, but it seems like to me that’s where any talk of splitting Google up to create breathing room in the market should be focusing on. Breaking that core business up into several independent online advertising companies, which would suddenly have to compete with each other as well as with others on a more equal footing, would be much better for consumer than turning Chrome or Android into unsustainable businesses. In an advertising market not dominated by one giant player, there’s far more room and opportunity for smaller, perhaps more ethical companies to spring up and survive. Perhaps I’m wrong, and maybe there is life in a business that contains everything Google does except for online advertising, but I feel like said new company would not survive in a market where it has to contend with other abusive heavyweights like Facebook and Apple.
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-14, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Hero
Via SamHusseini “I just happened to be on the NYC subway and this happened —“
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112962764148262010
Kamala’s Climate Platform Should Be Cheaper Housing
date: 2024-08-14, from: Heatmap News
Later this week, Vice President Kamala Harris will give the first major policy speech of her campaign focused on tackling the “rising cost of living,” according to early press reports. That includes the skyrocketing cost of housing — but of course, you don’t need me to tell you that.
The housing shortage is now perhaps America’s defining economic problem. Over the past two decades, the median cost of housing in America — for renters and for owners alike — has grown much faster than the median income; more than 90% of Americans live in a place where housing costs have outstripped income growth.
Housing is in such short supply that it is distorting and holding back the country’s economy. This morning, the Labor Department announced that prices rose only 2.9% over the past year, a welcome signal that inflation has finally returned to a normal rate. The inflation that we’re still experiencing is driven, above all, by housing, which was responsible for a whopping 90% of the monthly increase in prices.
Friday’s speech is meant to fill out Harris’s relatively skinny set of policy proposals; so far, her team has yet to announce any real deviation from the Biden administration’s climate policy. But I would encourage her — and them — to see housing policy as a climate policy issue. If America hopes to reach net-zero by 2050, then one of the easiest and cheapest ways for it to do so will be to build more housing, especially in cities and transit-connected suburbs.
In America, where you live determines how much carbon dioxide you emit. That’s somewhat less of an issue in other countries that have retained older and more walkable development patterns. But here, half a century of sprawling suburban development has made a high-emissions-lifestyle all but compulsory. If you live in New York, Washington, D.C., or another walkable city, then your carbon emissions are substantially lower than if you live in the suburbs or exurbs. In the country’s sprawling suburbs — not only in the Sunbelt, but also in New Jersey, Maryland, and California — carbon emissions are much higher.
That’s because where you live basically determines how much you drive — and driving is America’s biggest climate problem. The transportation sector is the most carbon-intensive part of America’s economy, generating more emissions than any other activity, and cars and trucks are responsible for most of those emissions. By one estimate, cars and trucks create perhaps 40% of America’s carbon emissions. (That estimate includes the greenhouse gases emitted by manufacturing cars and trucks.) Even in 2030, when millions more Americans have purchased electric vehicles, driving is still expected to dominate the country’s emissions portfolio, according to the Rhodium Group, a private energy analysis company.
So if we want to cut emissions, we should make it as easy as possible for Americans not to drive — or to drive only when they want to. But right now, housing is critically undersupplied in the cities and suburbs where that is possible. Freddie Mac, a federally-backed enterprise that supports the housing market, estimated in 2018 that America had roughly 2.5 million fewer homes than it needed; it has since updated that number to 3.8 million. Many of these housing shortages are worst in the cities where economic growth has been most profound. In the 2010s, New York permitted fewer new housing units than in the 2000s, or even the 1960s.
“Oftentimes, the climate-friendly choice is more expensive, or you’re trying to get people to embrace something they wouldn’t always embrace,” Ben Furnas, the former director of the New York City mayor’s office for climate and sustainability, told me. But that isn’t the case for building more housing in dense, walkable, and transit-affiliated areas, he said.
“The prices in all of these places suggest there’s huge pent-up demand for people to live in these places,” he said. “And even just lowering the regulatory barriers to let that kind of development happen and that kind of growth occur would both make it more affordable, and let people live closer to their families, and be good for the climate in terms of per capita emissions.”
Housing is more than a climate issue for driving-related reasons, though. America’s buildings are responsible for about a third of the country’s carbon emissions. Most of those emissions come from heating and cooling, as well as from generating hot water. But it is cheaper and more energy efficient to do that heating and cooling when houses share a wall or are in the same building. “Heating and cooling a 3,000-square-foot single family home is much more expensive than heating and cooling a 3,000-square-foot condominium in a city,” Paul Williams, the executive director of the Center for Public Enterprise, told me. “The heating loss and cooling loss is much lower in apartment buildings than in single family homes, so having those levels of density matters a lot.”
This is not a millennial problem. America has been underbuilding housing for a long time, and much of that supply shortfall is due to overly restrictive zoning codes at the local level. Even as president, however, Harris has ways to nudge cities to build more. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has proposed the “YIMBY Act,” which would fund cities and states to pursue a race-to-the-top-style effort to loosen housing restrictions. Even without help from Congress, a Harris administration could create a national housing construction fund to provide steady financial support to build new multifamily housing, so that the construction of new apartments and condos doesn’t stop when interest rates rise or the economy hits a snag. Finally, Harris could use the bully pulpit to push local governments — especially in Democratic-leaning states with their own forward-looking climate policies — to drop rules that restrict multifamily development, enforce parking minimums, or prevent the construction of single-stair buildings.
These policies don’t have to transform American society to do a lot of good. “Even a difference between a long drive and a short drive also makes a climate difference,” Furnas, who now runs the 2030 Project, Cornell University’s climate initiative, said. “If you live in a duplex in a somewhat walkable area, one of the two parents drives to work and the other takes the bus, and they can walk to the kid’s school or a grocery store,” that is much more pleasant — and will have much lower emissions — than a scenario where both parents must drive everywhere. It will also be cheaper.
Harris doesn’t need to sound like a radical on these policies, in other words. And she doesn’t even need to do anything more than nod at them. (If I were giving her political advice, I’d say that she doesn’t need to spend much time talking about climate policy between now and November 5 — although as a climate journalist, of course, I feel differently — but perhaps that’s a topic for another column.) But they are basically the free money of America’s climate transition — they would cut inflation, reduce greenhouse gases, and create more pleasant places to live. Should she win the White House, she should pursue them aggressively.
https://heatmap.news/economy/kamala-harris-housing-policy
For the Love of Children, Please Stop Using Glitter
date: 2024-08-14, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Glitter — a type of microplastic — is in shoes, stuffed animals, birthday cards, wrapping paper, craft supplies, and other commercial products.
The post For the Love of Children, Please Stop Using Glitter appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/14/for-the-love-of-children-please-stop-using-glitter/
Valve confirms it’ll support the ROG Ally with its Steam Deck operating system
date: 2024-08-14, from: OS News
Way back, Valve had the intention of making gaming on Linux a reality by allowing anyone to make PCs running SteamOS, with the goal of making Steam less dependent on the whims of Windows. This effort failed and fizzled out, but the idea clearly never died inside Valve, because ten years later the Steam Deck would take the market by storm, spawning a whole slew of copycats running unoptimised, difficult to use Windows installations. There have been hints Valve was toying with the idea of releasing official SteamOS builds for devices other than the Steam Deck, and the company has not confirmed these rumours. The company’s long said it plans to let other companies use SteamOS, too — and that means explicitly supporting the rival Asus ROG Ally gaming handheld, Valve designer Lawrence Yang now confirms to The Verge. ↫ Sean Hollister at The Verge This is great news for the market, as some of these Steam Deck competitors are interesting from a specifications perspective – although pricing sure goes up with that – but running Windows on a small handheld gaming device is a chore, and relying on OEMs to make “gaming overlays” to make Windows at least somewhat usable is not exactly something you want to have to rely on. SteamOS is clearly lightyears ahead of Windows in this department, so having non-Steam Deck handheld gaming PCs officially supported by Valve is great news. We’re still a long way off, though, says Valve, and the same applies to Valve’s plans to release a generic SteamOS build for any old random PC. That effort, too, is making steady progress, but isn’t anywhere near ready. Of course, there’s a variety of unofficial SteamOS variants available, so you’re not entirely out of luck right now. On top of that, there’s things like Bazzite, which offer a SteamOS-like experience, but using the Atomic variants of Fedora.
For Teens, Phones Aren’t the Problem
date: 2024-08-14, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Though we can see phone use as maladaptive behavior, it’s clear we have to focus not only on the symptoms but on these underlying causes.
The post For Teens, Phones Aren’t the Problem appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/14/for-teens-phones-arent-the-problem/
Wildland Fire Management Initiative Description
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
Background Fire is a natural occurrence in many ecosystems and can promote ecological health. However, wildfires are growing in scope and occurring more often than in the past. Among other causes this is due to human-caused climate impacts and the expansion of communities into areas with wildland vegetation. These blazes continue to significantly harm communities, […]
https://www.nasa.gov/general/wildland-fire-management-initiative-description/
Sept. 24: Chamber Roundtable with State Treasurer Fiona Ma
date: 2024-08-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce today announced a roundtable with California State Treasurer Fiona Ma,
Santa Barbara Film ‘Salsipuedes Street’ Set For World Premiere Sunday
date: 2024-08-14, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Carpinteria’s Alcazar Theatre hosts the locally produced feature premiere on August 18.
The post Santa Barbara Film ‘Salsipuedes Street’ Set For World Premiere Sunday appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Rock the Party with the Off the Wagon Mobile Bar
date: 2024-08-14, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Whiskey Richards’ Sarah Thomas introduces a mobile bar to Santa Barbara.
The post Rock the Party with the Off the Wagon Mobile Bar appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/14/rock-the-party-with-the-off-the-wagon-mobile-bar/
So the Department of Energy emailed me
date: 2024-08-14, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog
I received an email today. What follows is a slightly edited version (for brevity). From: DOE Attestation <doe.attestation@hq.doe.gov>Subject: [ACTION REQUIRED] U.S. Department of Energy Secure Software Development Attestation Submission RequestOMB Control No. 1670-0052Expires: 03/31/2027Hello Haxx** The following communication contains important DOE Secure Software Development Attestation Submission instructions. Please read this communication in its entirety. **The … Continue reading So the Department of Energy emailed me
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/08/14/so-the-department-of-energy-emailed-me/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Kamala Harris is taking power back from the press corps.
https://www.editorialboard.com/kamala-harris-is-taking-power-back-from-the-press-corps/
The Intense Process of Designing Political Campaign Logos
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/the-intense-process-of-designing-political-campaign-logos
IRS has loads of legacy IT, still has no firm plans to replace it
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Treasury questions the retirement of the, er, Technology Retirement Office
A shuttered IRS office focused on retiring and replacing legacy technology should be reopened, an audit has concluded, so that the US tax collection agency can get a firm grip on replacing its aging tech stack.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/irs_legacy_tech/
This tiny PC is like a scale model of the 1985 NEC PC-8801mkIISR
date: 2024-08-14, from: Liliputing
The PasocomMini PC-8801mkIISR is a palm-sized computer that’s designed to look like a classic Japanese computer from the 1980s. Expected to hit the streets in Japan in spring, 2025 for 30,000 JPY (about $200), the little computer doesn’t just look like a tiny NEC PC-8801mkIISR, it should work like one too, as it ships with an emulator that […]
The post This tiny PC is like a scale model of the 1985 NEC PC-8801mkIISR appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/this-tiny-pc-is-like-a-scale-model-of-the-1985-nec-pc-8801mkiisr/
Botswana, US address challenges facing women in military
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
Gaborone, Botswana — U.S. and Botswanan military personnel took part in a workshop focusing on better integrating women into the African country’s army, addressing issues such as sexual harassment and the need for tailored equipment.
The three-day workshop was part of a larger program wrapping up Thursday intended to strengthen relations between the two countries and build local forces’ capacity.
Major Teisha Barnes, military operations officer of the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, which has an initiative to better address the role of women serving their countries, said women in the military face challenges that could limit their opportunities.
“One of the big challenges is not letting women broaden their horizons and putting them in a box,” Barnes said, adding that “not many women rise to the occasion.”
“We have made several changes in the U.S. over the last 10 to 15 years to accommodate women based on body type and changes to uniform just to help women feel more comfortable within the military,” she said.
Barnes elaborated on the U.S. Army’s challenges regarding uniforms and equipment, saying, “In the U.S. we also had issues with the proper fit in the wear of our vest when it came to shooting and injuring females instead of helping us. Another issue we had was the learning that women did not weigh enough to actually break in boots.
“By giving lessons to Botswana,” she said, “we hope they will learn from our mistakes to prevent injuries to women.”
Botswana Defense Forces Major P. Sergio acknowledged that women in the army still face challenges and voiced hope that interactions with the U.S. Army will prove helpful.
“In our culture, men believe that women cannot join the army because it is tough and we are soft, we are not masculine,” Sergio said. “People are not quick to change; it will take time for people to accept that women have joined the army and are doing well.”
U.S. Ambassador to Botswana Howard Van Vranken said it is essential to afford women equal opportunities in the military.
“It is [a] kind of approach to problem solving that incorporates everyone’s strength and enables us to bring everyone into the equation on an equal basis,” he said. “It’s absolutely essential that in order to tackle the problems that we face in the 21st century in security, we need everyone to contribute.”
The U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, or SETAF-AF, workshop coincides with a broader initiative known as Southern Accord 2024, which is aimed at strengthening bilateral military capabilities.
The SETAF-AF deputy commanding general, Brigadier General John LeBlanc, said this year’s Southern Accord exercise, which drew 700 military personnel, has been a success. The bilateral exercises end Thursday.
https://www.voanews.com/a/botswana-us-address-challenges-facing-women-in-military/7742980.html
The Marshall Star for August 14, 2024
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey Addresses Space and Missile Defense Symposium NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Joseph Pelfrey gives a keynote address during the 2024 Space and Missile Defense Symposium on Aug. 8 at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville. Pelfrey shared updates on programs and projects that Marshall is leading for the agency, […]
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/marshall/the-marshall-star-for-august-14-2024/
Omer Bartov: “As a former IDF soldier and historian of genocide, I…
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/0045123-omer-bartov-as-a-former
NASA Funds COC Project Advancing STEM Careers
date: 2024-08-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
NASA has awarded $6 million to 20 teams, including from College of the Canyons and California State University, Northridge, from emerging research institutions across the United States supporting projects that offer career development opportunities for science, technology, engineering and mathematics students
https://scvnews.com/nasa-funds-local-research-projects-advancing-stem-career-development/
Economy a key issue for voters in Wisconsin
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
Wisconsin is one of three states in the Midwest both Republicans and Democrats view as critical to their presidential campaigns. VOA’s Midwest Correspondent Kane Farabaugh looks at what’s motivating voters as campaigning in the state ramps up.
https://www.voanews.com/a/economy-a-key-issue-for-voters-in-wisconsin-/7742969.html
LA temporarily halts demolition permits of low-income housing in Boyle Heights
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The LAist
The ordinance is aimed at protecting Boyle Heights residents from displacement and gentrification.
CSUN Exhibition Spotlights the ‘Hope and Dignity’ of the Farmworker Movement
date: 2024-08-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
They risked their lives in the fight for a better economic future for farmworkers and recognition that the men, women and children who picked produce in America’s fields were human beings and deserved to be treated with respect
https://scvnews.com/csun-exhibition-spotlights-the-hope-and-dignity-of-the-farmworker-movement/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
I asked ChatGPT to put the Statue of Liberty on a $100 bill.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/14.html#a203158
The World’s Largest Iceberg Is Stuck in a Spinning Ocean Vortex
date: 2024-08-14, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The mega iceberg A23a is destined to melt after breaking free from Antarctica in 1986, but this pause in its journey is delaying its fate, experts say
Microsoft tweaks fine print to warn everyone not to take its AI seriously
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Don’t use LLMs for anything important and don’t try to reverse engineer it
Microsoft is notifying folks that its AI services should not be taken too seriously, echoing prior service-specific disclaimers.…
This DIY gaming laptop is made is made from desktop components (CPU, GPU, and more)
date: 2024-08-14, from: Liliputing
Modern laptop computers have more processing power than ever, with many also offering features like long battery life, thin and light designs and… AI, I guess. And for the most part, laptops are versatile and powerful enough to serve as desktop replacements for most users. But there are a few areas where desktop hardware continues […]
The post This DIY gaming laptop is made is made from desktop components (CPU, GPU, and more) appeared first on Liliputing.
🎟️ What job should I beg for?
date: 2024-08-14, from: Interesting, a blog on writing
So you’ve got a golden ticket. Now what?
https://inneresting.substack.com/p/what-job-should-i-beg-for
NASA Invites Media to Watch Artemis II Rocket Adapter Roll Out
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
To mark progress toward the first crewed flight test around the Moon in more than 50 years for the benefit of humanity, NASA will welcome media Wednesday, Aug. 21, to see a key adapter for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket at its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The cone-shaped launch vehicle […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-invites-media-to-watch-artemis-ii-rocket-adapter-roll-out/
Time Lapse Drone Video “Climbing” to the Top of Mt. Everest
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/time-lapse-drone-video-climbing-to-the-top-of-mt-everest
This Giant Keith Haring Mural Is a Beloved West Village Staple. Can It Be Saved?
date: 2024-08-14, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The artwork, which adorns a wall by the pool at an old recreation center in New York City, faces an uncertain future
Gentoo Linux drops IA-64 (Itanium) support
date: 2024-08-14, from: OS News
Following the removal of IA-64 (Itanium) support in the Linux kernel and glibc, and subsequent discussions on our mailing list, as well as a vote by the Gentoo Council, Gentoo will discontinue all ia64 profiles and keywords. The primary reason for this decision is the inability of the Gentoo IA-64 team to support this architecture without kernel support, glibc support, and a functional development box (or even a well-established emulator). In addition, there have been only very few users interested in this type of hardware. ↫ Gentoo website Et tu, Gentoo? Linux removing Itanium I can understand; the Freemason corporate overlords who pull the strings of Linux kernel development are terrified of just how powerful Itanium really is. GCC removing Itanium makes sense too, as the unwashed communists at the FSF just don’t understand the capitalist greatness that is Itanium. But Gentoo? Now I know how Jesus felt when Judas betrayed him; how Caeser felt when he gazed upon Brutus’ face. I feel empty inside.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140494/gentoo-linux-drops-ia-64-itanium-support/
Delays? We’re still shipping ‘small quantities’ of Nvidia’s GB200 in Q4, Foxconn insists
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Production ramp won’t kick off until Q1 2025
Nvidia’s alleged Blackwell supply problem may not be as bad as first thought, according to Foxconn executives who claimed they would begin shipping a small volume of GB200 systems in the fourth quarter.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/nvidia_foxconn_blackwell/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Have We Learned Anything Since 2016? (Voters have. The Democrats have. Journalists? No not even a teeny bit.)
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-harris-biden-2016-2024-election
Aug. 18: Morning Music Under the Oaks at Placerita
date: 2024-08-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Community Nature Series for August, presented by the Placerita Canyon Nature Center Associates at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center, has been moved to 9 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 18, in the picnic area.
https://scvnews.com/aug-18-morning-music-under-the-oaks-at-placerita/
Rare Seven-Foot Mammoth Tusk Unearthed in Mississippi Creek
date: 2024-08-14, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The enormous fossil belonged to a Columbian mammoth, a larger relative of the woolly mammoth
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
2003: Are you your stories?
http://scripting.com/2003/12/31.html#areYouYourStories
Matador Nights Returns With an Electrifying Retro Twist
date: 2024-08-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The University Student Union invites Matadors to attend Matador Nights, this time with a retro twist
https://scvnews.com/matador-nights-returns-with-an-electrifying-retro-twist/
PocketBook’s Verse Pro Color eReader has a 6 inch E Ink Kaleido 3 color display
date: 2024-08-14, from: Liliputing
The PocketBook Verse Pro Color is an eBook reader with a 6 inch E Ink display with support for 4096 colors. While it has the same basic design as PocketBook’s black-and-white Verse Pro eReader, support for color content isn’t the only thing that’s new in this model. PocketBook has also included a higher-performance processor, twice as much […]
The post PocketBook’s Verse Pro Color eReader has a 6 inch E Ink Kaleido 3 color display appeared first on Liliputing.
Will the Tower of London Lose Its UNESCO World Heritage Status?
date: 2024-08-14, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The United Nations agency is worried about high-rise developments near the famed 11th-century fortress
Russian cyber snoops linked to massive credential-stealing campaign
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Citizen Lab also spots a COLDWASTREL swimming in the Rivers of Phish
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) cyberspies, joined by a new digital snooping crew, have been conducting a massive online phishing espionage campaign via phishing against targets in the US and Europe over the past two years, according to the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/russias_fsb_cyber_phishing/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-14, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Political spam coming fast and furious:
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112961832272993820
A Practiced Escape
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
In preparation for NASA’s Artemis II crewed mission, teams at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida practice getting out of the emergency escape, or egress, basket on Aug. 9, 2024. The baskets, similar to gondolas on ski lifts, are used in the case of a pad abort emergency to enable astronauts and other pad […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/a-practiced-escape/
NASA Telescopes Work Out Black Hole’s Snack Schedule
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
By using new data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory as well as ESA’s XMM-Newton, a team of researchers have made important headway in understanding how — and when — a supermassive black hole obtains and then consumes material, as described in our latest press release. This artist’s impression shows a […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-telescopes-work-out-black-holes-snack-schedule/
Texas sues GM for selling driver data to analytics, insurance companies
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Lone Star State alleges GM cashed in with “millions in lump sum payments” from the sale
Texas has sued General Motors for what it said is a years-long scheme to collect and sell drivers’ data to third parties - including insurance companies - without their knowledge or consent. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/texas_sues_general_motors/
Managing the Home Screen Using iPhone Mirroring
date: 2024-08-14, from: Michael Tsai
Chance Miller (MacRumors): With the latest betas of these updates, Apple has added a new feature to iPhone Mirroring: the ability to enter “jiggle mode” and rearrange your iPhone’s Home Screen.With iPhone Mirroring enabled you can now long-press on your iPhone’s Home Screen with your Mac’s mouse or trackpad to enter jiggle mode. The feature […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/14/managing-the-home-screen-using-iphone-mirroring/
Flickr Improves Album Management
date: 2024-08-14, from: Michael Tsai
Flickr: The “Albums” tab now gives you the ability to search your albums based on keywords used in album titles and descriptions. Click on the search icon near your album covers to activate the album search. […] You can now reorder your albums and create new ones directly from your profile’s “Albums” tab. You no […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/14/flickr-improves-album-management/
EU Pricing Information in Spotify App
date: 2024-08-14, from: Michael Tsai
Jess Weatherbed (MacRumors, Slashdot): Spotify will begin showing in-app pricing information for iPhone users in the European Union starting today, following a yearslong legal battle against Apple. In an update to an old blog post, Spotify says that EU iPhone users will now see things like promotional offers and pricing information for each subscription tier […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/14/eu-pricing-information-in-spotify-app/
Creator Platforms and the App Store
date: 2024-08-14, from: Michael Tsai
Hamish McKenzie: But creators aren’t Apple’s traditional customers. They’re not app makers or game developers. They don’t actually have a piece of real estate in the App Store. They instead find their distribution through media platforms, including the likes of Patreon and Substack. It might feel weird for someone who publishes a podcast through Patreon, […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/14/creator-platforms-and-the-app-store/
Is Ben scrolling TikTok right now? “This site reveals, in real-time, whether…
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/0045106-is-ben-scrolling-tiktok-r
Workers Stumble Upon Ancient Greek Mosaic of Dancing Satyrs
date: 2024-08-14, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Found on the Greek island of Euboea, the pebbled design is part of a 2,400-year-old floor
Surveillance Watch: They Know Who You Are
date: 2024-08-14, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">[Surveillance Watch: They Know Who You Are]
“Surveillance Watch is an interactive map revealing the intricate connections between surveillance companies, their funding sources and affiliations.”
This is a volunteer-driven, well-cited database of global surveillance companies and how they interrelate. It’s very well-executed: a pleasure to use, and the visualizations show clearly how data is extracted to companies across the globe, skirting local privacy regulations in the process.
<p>[<a href="https://www.surveillancewatch.io/">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/surveillance-watch-they-know-who-you-are
Enzo Biochem ordered to cough up $4.5 million over lousy security that led to ransomware disaster
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Three state attorneys general probed the company and found plenty to chastise
Biotech biz Enzo Biochem is being forced to pay three state attorneys general a $4.5 million penalty following a 2023 ransomware attack that compromised the data of more than 2.4 million people.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/enzo_biochem_ransomware_fine/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Liz Truss Fumes As Lettuce Stunt Crashes 'Pro-Trump' Event.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/liz-truss-lettuce-trump-event_n_66bc7af6e4b0768018b77a46
A number of NYC restaurant wine buyers explain how they price bottles…
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/0045116-a-number-of-nyc-restauran
White House projects confidence on Gaza cease-fire talks
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
washington — The United States and key mediators Egypt and Qatar are intensifying efforts to push Israel and Hamas toward a cease-fire deal to end 10 months of fighting triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Hamas, a U.S. designated terror group, has signaled it won’t attend the latest round of talks scheduled in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Thursday.
“We expect to be told by the mediators that Israel has accepted what is being offered, and any meeting should be based on talking about implementation mechanisms and setting deadlines rather than negotiating something new,” said Hamas political officer Osama Hamdan.
The White House is projecting confidence that the talks will happen.
“There’s always political posturing. We see this all the time in advance of talks, that’s not new,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday during her press briefing.
However, President Joe Biden has admitted that peace is elusive.
“It’s getting hard,” he told reporters Tuesday when asked if a cease-fire and hostage release deal is becoming a more distant possibility.
“We’ll see what Iran does, and we’ll see what happens if there’s any attack,” he said. “But I’m not giving up.”
Many fear escalation
Reaching a truce in Gaza is key to holding back Tehran’s expected attack on Israel in retaliation for the recent killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil. Israel did not claim responsibility for the killing but is widely blamed for Haniyeh’s death.
Biden said he expects Iran to hold off its strike if a deal is reached in the next few days.
With fighting between Israel and Hamas raging in Gaza and cross-border fire intensifying between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, many fear a large-scale Iranian attack would trigger wider conflict in the Middle East.
“There is no more time to waste, and there’s no more valid excuses from any party for any further delay,” U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein said in Beirut on Wednesday. “The deal would also help enable a diplomatic resolution here in Lebanon, and that would prevent an outbreak of a wider war.”
Other officials are also engaging in intensive diplomacy this week. White House coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk will travel to Cairo and Doha, and CIA Director William Burns also will travel to Doha.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed his departure to the region, originally scheduled for Tuesday.
To bolster deterrence, the U.S. has deployed additional military assets to the Middle East, including squadrons of F-35C and F-22 Raptor jet fighters, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and the USS Georgia submarine.
Israel blames Hamas
Israel has agreed to participate in a new round of talks Thursday. However, for weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s own security officials and negotiators have accused him of stalling by reintroducing demands that had previously been eliminated.
Netanyahu’s office denies the claim.
“It is Hamas that continues to set additional terms and has refused to reach an agreement,” government spokesperson David Mencer said.
As first reported by The New York Times this week, Israel in late July presented mediators with less flexible conditions compared with the set of principles it had offered in late May.
“There are people who insist that Israel has deliberately stepped it up because it would prefer to drag its allies into a regional conflagration so as to provide the maximum amount of support to Israel,” said Mirette Mabrouk, director of the Egypt program at the Middle East Institute.
“This would be just a very, very bad idea,” she told VOA.
Iran keen to avoid war
Boxed into a corner with its vows of retaliation, Iran also may be looking for an off-ramp to avoid a wider war, said Michael Singh, the managing director and Lane-Swig senior fellow at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy.
“If it backs down, it will sort of be seen in the region, and maybe within Iran, to have backed away in the face of U.S. threats,” he told VOA. “However, if it goes ahead with its plan, then it may find itself in a war that it can’t win.”
Iran’s mission to the United Nations has denied reporting that Tehran is considering sending a representative to Doha to engage in behind-the-scenes discussions with the U.S. while cease-fire negotiations proceed.
The White House has not responded to VOA’s request to confirm whether Iran would play an indirect role in talks.
Pressure on Israel
While the White House denies that domestic politics is a motivating factor in the cease-fire talks, Democrats are keen to avoid the optics of massive anti-war demonstrations as the party gears up for its national convention on Monday.
That is when Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will be celebrated as the Democratic presidential ticket to rival former President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance, the Republican ticket in the November election.
Progressives, young voters, Arab and Muslim Americans and others in the Democratic electorate have urged Biden to do more to pressure Israel to stop its campaign.
Laura Blumenfeld, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, suggested that Biden could tell Netanyahu, “Game over. What’s coming down the pike, whether it’s President Harris or President Trump, there isn’t going to be the same kind of long leash for you. So, it’s time to kind of wrap it up and bring about a new era.”
That new era is regional integration for Israel in return for Palestinian statehood. But that’s way down the line. Cease-fire in Gaza remains the elusive first step.
“Right now, the region is on the verge of an explosion, and Israel will be on the receiving end of that firepower,” Blumenfeld told VOA. “The president can leverage this moment and say, ‘We have your back, but now we need to see something from you in exchange, which is some compromises.’”
Nearly 40,000 people have died in Israel’s campaign in retaliation for the 1,200 people killed and 250 people captured by Hamas on October 7. Palestinian health officials say the war casualties are mostly women and children, while Israel says the majority are combatants.
Biden has not used what many say would be the most effective leverage — withholding American weapons. On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department announced it has approved an additional $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets and advanced air-to-air missiles.
VOA’s Carla Babb and Kim Lewis contributed to this report.
Moscow court sentences US citizen to 15 days in jail
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-citizen-detained-in-moscow-for-alleged-assault-on-police/7742552.html
Solar Eclipse Data Story Helps the Public Visualize the April 2024 Total Eclipse
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
The NASA Science Activation program’s Cosmic Data Stories team, led by Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, released a new Data Story for the April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse. A Data Story is an interactive, digital showcase of new science imagery, including ideas for exploration and scientific highlights shared in a brief video and narrative […]
NASA’s VIPER rover might still reach the lunar surface after all
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Intuitive Machines tosses hat into the ring for NASA’s canceled trundlebot
Intuitive Machines has submitted a bid to save NASA’s VIPER rover, describing the $84 million savings claimed by the US space agency when cutting it as “a government number.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/nasas_viper_moon_rover_might/
Are Robots About to Level Up?
date: 2024-08-14, from: Quanta Magazine
Today’s AI largely lives in computers, but acting and reacting in the real world — that’s the realm of robots. In this week’s episode, co-host Steven Strogatz talks with pioneering roboticist Daniela Rus about creativity, collaboration, and the unusual forms robots of the future might take.The post Are Robots About to Level Up? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
https://www.quantamagazine.org/are-robots-about-to-level-up-20240814/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
For no particular reason I'm thinking of Jon Postel this morning. He held up the internet for its earliest years, and died way the fuck too young. People should know who he was and what he did for us.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Postel
Family of Austin Tice marks 12 years since journalist was taken in Syria
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
Washington — The last time Debra Tice hugged her son, he was 30 years old. Now the American journalist is 43 and still being held somewhere in Syria.
“I can’t really get past that,” Debra Tice told VOA with a grimace.
Wednesday marks 12 years since Austin Tice was abducted while reporting in Syria. His family and press freedom groups are re-amplifying calls for the U.S. government to secure his release.
“Every year it seems like it’s different, because the news is different, and what we’re hearing from the White House changes year to year,” Debra said. “I never know what to expect, which is also just another stressor.”
A Texas native and former U.S. Marine, Austin is an award-winning freelance journalist and photographer who worked for outlets that include The Washington Post, CBS and McClatchy.
In the summer of 2012, ahead of his final year at law school at Georgetown, Austin traveled to Syria to report on the civil war. On August 14, as he headed to the border after an assignment, the journalist was detained at a checkpoint in Damascus.
Aside from a brief video after his capture, little has been seen or heard of him since.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden reiterated his call for Austin’s immediate release.
“We have repeatedly pressed the government of Syria to work with us so that we can, at last, bring Austin home. Today, I once again call for his immediate release,” Biden said in a statement.
“The freedom of the press is essential, and journalists like Austin play a critical role informing the public and holding those in power accountable,” Biden added.
On the tenth anniversary of his detention, Biden said in a statement that the U.S. government knows “with certainty” the journalist has been held by the Syrian government. In response, Syria denied holding him.
Austin’s exact whereabouts are unknown, but he is still believed to be held captive somewhere in Syria. The U.S. State Department and Syria’s mission to the United Nations did not reply to VOA’s emails requesting comment.
One challenge in securing the journalist’s release has been U.S. political sensitivities over engaging with the Syrian government, according to Bill McCarren, a press freedom consultant at the National Press Club in Washington. The U.S. and Syria do not have official diplomatic relations.
The United States was among the first countries to cut ties with Syria over President Bashar al Assad’s response to antigovernment protests in 2011 that erupted in a civil war and led to the deaths of more than half a million people. Syria is still under expansive Western sanctions, but the Arab League regional organization in 2023 agreed to reinstate Syria’s membership after it was suspended more than a decade ago.
“I love a challenge, but it does become wearing when you can’t really seem to get an equitable effort out of the government,” McCarren told VOA, referring to the United States.
A historic prisoner swap earlier this month between the U.S. and Russia included the release of two American journalists — Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva. That means Austin is the sole American journalist unjustly held abroad.
Learning about the prisoner swap was bittersweet for his mother.
“It is just an incredible tumbler of emotions. And as a human and as a mother and as a woman of faith, of course we’re overjoyed to see these people walk free,” Debra said.
“And then there’s the details about how long [the U.S. government] worked on it, and how diligently they worked on it, and how many countries they worked with on it. And that’s the part where I just become so frustrated,” she said.
After 12 years of sporadic updates and little-to-no progress in her son’s case, Debra says she doesn’t think the U.S. government is working that hard to secure her son’s release.
McCarren sees a double standard between U.S. policy on Syria and Russia, the latter of which has been ostracized by much of the world following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Relations are as strained as they have ever been, yet we were able to conduct these very intricate negotiations with Russia, and we were able to exchange hostages and get people home,” McCarren said. “And that doesn’t change our policy with Russia.”
In May 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States is “engaged with Syria, engaged with third countries” to try to bring Austin home. And in April of this year, President Assad said Syria has held meetings “from time to time” with Washington.
Last week, a bipartisan group of 36 U.S. senators called on Biden to do everything he can to secure Austin’s release.
With Biden nearing the end of his political career since stepping down from the presidential race, Debra hopes that he’ll prioritize securing her son’s release.
She’s holding tight to the promise Biden made when he announced the U.S.-Russia prisoner swap that he would secure the release of all Americans wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad.
“He’s got nothing to lose and everything to gain,” she said.
More than a decade of shuttling between the family home in Texas and Washington to advocate for her son has taken a toll on her.
“For 12 years, I haven’t been able to be myself, because I have to be this advocate in Washington,” she said. “I’m trying to help [the U.S. government] understand that my son is worth it. I have to prove his value? That’s just so demeaning.”
Despite the time apart from her son, Debra said she has never lost faith that Austin will eventually be released.
“I’ve never doubted that Austin’s going to walk free. So, it’s just a matter of time,” she said. “And for me, the time has been long — really long. And I’m sure it has been for Austin, too.”
“When Google increased paid maternity leave to 18 from 12 weeks in…
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/0045117-when-google-increased-pai
Perseverance Pays Off for Student Challenge Winners
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
As radioisotopes power the Perseverance rover to explore Mars, perseverance “powered” three winners to write essays each year till they achieved their mission goal of winning NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge. These students explored behind the scenes at NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
https://science.nasa.gov/rps/perseverance-pays-off-for-student-challenge-winners/
@IIIF Mastodon feed (date: 2024-08-14, from: IIIF Mastodon feed)
The August IIIF Newsletter is out, including:
💻 Call for Proposals for the 2024 Online Meeting
🇫🇷 The French
Ministry of Culture joins as a Member
🗺 Updated storytelling tools
Read the full issue here:
https://mailchi.mp/iiif/august24
Sign-up for future newsletters here:
https://iiif.io/newsletter/
https://glammr.us/@IIIF/112961087818055441
55 Years Ago: NASA Group 7 Astronaut Selection
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
On Aug. 14, 1969, NASA announced the selection of seven new astronauts. The Group 7 astronauts consisted of pilots transferred from the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) Program canceled two months earlier. The MOL, a joint project of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and the National Reconnaissance Office, sought to obtain high-resolution photographic imagery of America’s […]
https://www.nasa.gov/history/55-years-ago-nasa-group-7-astronaut-selection/
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
If
you don’t buy the new
rules for journalism because the liars will tell lies about you, the
journalist – well, you get that either way, no matter what you do, so I
don’t see the problem. And if you want people to trust you, you’ve got
to tell the truth. Your reputation gets destroyed by their lies if you
pass them through. Doctors can tell you to stop smoking to save your
life and the tobacco companies will accuse them of lying or whatever and
some people (such as myself, earlier in life) will continue to smoke.
You still have to do what’s right if you want people to trust you.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/14.html#a152609
US consumer inflation hits its lowest annual rate since 2021
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/7742441.html
Icelandic group demos private cloud powered by renewables
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Sited in Reykjavík, datacenter running on geothermals and hydropower
A consortium of companies is running a proof-of-concept for a turnkey cloud service delivered from a datacenter located in Iceland, powered entirely by renewable energy to help clients meet their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) obligations.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/iceland_dc_demo/
Starbucks bets on a darling of the fast food world
date: 2024-08-14, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Starbucks has hired Brian Niccol to become its new CEO following a slump in the company’s sales in Q3. Niccol took over Chipotle in 2018, and Chipotle’s stock price has shot up 700% under his tenure. Before that, Niccol led a brand revamp at Taco Bell. We’ll hear more. Then, consumer inflation is easing toward the Federal Reserve’s target, and Montreal makes a bet on nightlife by permitting all-night drinking.
GPD Pocket 4 will be an 8.8 inch mini-laptop with AMD Ryzen AI 300
date: 2024-08-14, from: Liliputing
The GPD Pocket 4 is a mini-laptop that seems like a natural evolution of the GPD Pocket 3 that first launched nearly three years ago. The new model has a similar design that includes a QWERTY keyboard, a hinge that lets you swivel the screen and fold it down over the keyboard for use in tablet […]
The post GPD Pocket 4 will be an 8.8 inch mini-laptop with AMD Ryzen AI 300 appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/gpd-pocket-4-will-be-an-8-8-inch-mini-laptop-with-amd-ryzen-ai-300/
NASA Invites Media to Event with Scientists, Research Plane in Alaska
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
NASA invites media to view a research aircraft and interview scientists in Fairbanks, Alaska, on Thursday, Aug. 22, prior to flights of the agency’s Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE), which seeks a better understanding of the sensitivity of northern ecosystems and communities to climate change. Media also will have the opportunity to tour NASA’s C-20A, a […]
Microsoft squashes bug that sent Windows devices to BitLocker recovery
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
A patch to fix the patch that caused admins to scamper for their recovery keys
Microsoft has fixed a problem that sent affected Windows PCs scurrying into BitLocker recovery.…
The World’s Fastest Puzzle Solver (It’s a Robot)
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/the-worlds-fastest-puzzle-solver-its-a-robot
NASA Funds Research Projects Advancing STEM Career Development
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
NASA has awarded $6 million to 20 teams from emerging research institutions across the United States supporting projects that offer career development opportunities for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students. This is the third round of seed funding awarded through the agency’s MOSAICS (Mentoring and Opportunities in STEM with Academic Institutions for Community Success) program, […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-funds-research-projects-advancing-stem-career-development/
SiFive offers potential Neoverse N2 rival – the P870-D RISC-V core for datacenters
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Chip upstart takes aim at Arm with design that can scale up to 256 cores
SiFive has announced the launch of its latest core for datacenters, the P870-D, and claims it has a leg up on Arm’s Neoverse N2 in density for AI.…
Harris makes me proud
date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News
I am so impressed with how well the new Democratic Party is running this campaign. Latest innovation, they’re going to do at least one public rally during the convention, so everyone can be part of the celebration, and I plan to watch every minute of it. What I don’t want to witness is what the journalists try to provoke. I’ve been to two DNCs and later heard what they were talking about on CNN, and my god they invented crises that simply didn’t exist. Who’s going to have time to call them out because no one at the convention is watching TV.
I heard on a podcast yesterday that it’s weird that Harris is polling as well as the generic Democrat, which they felt was odd because she’s not a white man, which made me think that in 2024, she is the face of the Democratic Party. Obama and Hillary Clinton knocked down those barriers, and now it would feel strange if the candidate at the top of the ticket were not interracial and female.
I’m proud that my country has nominated such an attractive group of talented people with such fierce competence and humility. For these moments I wish I had a new graphic to put in the margin to symbolize the United States. We’re strong, and we win, and when we don’t we get back up and fight. Uncle Sam is a great symbol. But we’ve yet to create the interracial and female version that symbol.
One more thing, there are a lot of white male voters to be courted and welcomed back into the fold. Trump has had the advantage there, but it doesn’t have to be that way. A hand reached out in brotherhood could turn this election into the kind of landslide we need to cleanse our political system its flirtation with fascism.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/14/142432.html?title=harrisMakesMeProud
Judge rejects Trump’s latest demand to step aside from hush money criminal case
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
NEW YORK — Donald Trump has lost his latest bid for a new judge in his New York hush money criminal case as it heads toward a key ruling and potential sentencing next month.
In a decision posted Wednesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan declined to step aside and said Trump’s demand was a rehash “rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims” about the political ties of Mercan’s daughter and his ability to judge the historic case fairly and impartially.
It is the third time that the judge has rejected such a request from lawyers for the former president and current Republican nominee.
All three times, they argued that Merchan, a state court judge in Manhattan, has a conflict of interest because of his daughter’s work as a political consultant for prominent Democrats and campaigns. Among them was Vice President Kamala Harris when she ran for president in 2020. She is now her party’s 2024 White House nominee.
A state court ethics panel said last year that Merchan could continue on the case, writing that a relative’s independent political activities are not “a reasonable basis to question the judge’s impartiality.”
Merchan has repeatedly said he is certain he will continue to base his rulings “on the evidence and the law, without fear or favor, casting aside undue influence.”
“With these fundamental principles in mind, this Court now reiterates for the third time, that which should already be clear — innuendo and mischaracterizations do not a conflict create,” Merchan wrote in his three-page ruling. “Recusal is therefore not necessary, much less required.”
But with Harris now Trump’s Democratic opponent in this year’s White House election, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche wrote in a letter to the judge last month that the defense’s concerns have become “even more concrete.”
Prosecutors called the claims “a vexatious and frivolous attempt to relitigate” the issue.
Messages seeking comment on the ruling were left with Blanche. The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, declined to comment.
Trump was convicted in May of falsifying his business records to conceal a 2016 deal to pay off porn actor Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with him. Prosecutors cast the payout as part of a Trump-driven effort to keep voters from hearing salacious stories about him during his first campaign.
Trump says all the stories were false, the business records were not and the case was a political maneuver meant to damage his current campaign. The prosecutor who brought the charges, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, is a Democrat.
Trump has pledged to appeal. Legally, that cannot happen before a defendant is sentenced.
In the meantime, his lawyers took other steps to try to derail the case. Besides the recusal request, they have asked Merchan to overturn the verdict and dismiss the case altogether because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity.
That decision reins in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors in pointing to official acts as evidence that a president’s unofficial actions were illegal. Trump’s lawyers argue that in light of the ruling, jurors in the hush money case should not have heard such evidence as former White House staffers describing how the then-president reacted to news coverage of the Daniels deal.
Earlier this month, Merchan set a September 16 date to rule on the immunity claim, and September 18 for “the imposition of sentence or other proceedings as appropriate.”
The hush money case is one of four criminal prosecutions brought against Trump last year.
One federal case, accusing Trump of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, was dismissed last month. The Justice Department is appealing.
The others — federal and Georgia state cases concerning Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss — are not positioned to go to trial before the November election.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Photos: The Statue of Liberty, Mother of Exiles.
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/08/photos-the-statue-of-liberty-mother-of-exiles/596194/
There are two kinds of advertising
date: 2024-08-14, from: Chris Coyier blog
Not to bury my point: contextual is the normal, good, fair, effective type of advertising. Targeted is the creepy, resource intensive, privacy invading, and, (?!?!?!!) not particularly effective type of advertising. We’ll get there. A billboard is contextual advertising. You’re driving on the highway and are told there is a McDonalds in 7 miles. The […]
https://chriscoyier.net/2024/08/14/there-are-two-kinds-of-advertising/
NASA’s Perseverance Rover to Begin Long Climb Up Martian Crater Rim
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
After 2½ years exploring Jezero Crater’s floor and river delta, the rover will ascend to an area where it will search for more discoveries that could rewrite Mars’ history. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will soon begin a monthslong ascent up the western rim of Jezero Crater that is likely to include some of the steepest […]
Palo Alto Networks execs apologize for ‘hostesses’ dressed as lamps at Black Hat booth
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Biz admits turning human women into faceless, sexualized furniture was a ‘tone deaf’ marketing ploy
If you attended the Black Hat conference in Vegas last week and found yourself over in Palo Alto Networks’ corner of the event, you may have encountered a marketing gimmick that has since been heavily criticized for misogyny.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/palo_alto_networks_execs_apologize/
Recent CDC report: “Among children born during 1994–2023, routine childhood vaccinations will…
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/0045122-recent-cdc-report-among-c
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Big Gas: New Paltz’s First Legal Cannabis Dispensary.
https://www.chronogram.com/cannabis/big-gas-new-paltzs-first-legal-cannabis-dispensary-21462145
Podcast: The OSINT Hunt for a Sex Trafficking Ringleader
date: 2024-08-14, from: 404 Media Group
Sam has a new narrative feature all about the hunt for Michael Pratt.
https://www.404media.co/podcast-the-osint-hunt-for-a-sex-trafficking-ringleader/
Why the Catholic church plans to develop affordable housing in LA, and how they aim to do it
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The LAist
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles sees a need for affordable homes. They have the land — and now, a new housing nonprofit — to make it happen.
Common Artificial Sweetener Linked to Increased Heart Attack Risk in Small Study
date: 2024-08-14, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Healthy people who consumed 30 grams of the sweetener erythritol had an increased risk of blood clot formation, while people who consumed the same amount of glucose did not
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
This could be the theme song for the Harris campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1pYKdqD1ls
Inside the FBI’s Dashboard for Wiretapping the World
date: 2024-08-14, from: 404 Media Group
Never-before-published screenshots of an internal FBI tool show how the agency monitored millions of messages from the secretly backdoored messaging app Anom.
https://www.404media.co/inside-the-fbis-dashboard-for-wiretapping-the-world/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Hamptons residents are desperate for cell phone receptions.
https://nypost.com/2024/08/12/lifestyle/hamptons-residents-are-desperate-for-cell-phone-receptions/
AI or bust? Only one part of US tech economy keeps growing, says analyst
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Investors still shovelling money into AI but ‘path to monetization’ still far
Is the Gen AI bubble about to burst? You’d better hope not, as it appears to be one of the only major growth areas in the US tech economy, according to S&P Global.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/ai_investment_growth/
Xiaoyi Li Engineers Instruments and the Teams that Get Them Done
date: 2024-08-14, from: NASA breaking news
Instrument Systems Engineer Xiaoyi Li leads technical teams united by a common vision to achieve mission success.
What Biden’s IRA Has Done for Job Creation
date: 2024-08-14, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Tropical Storm Ernesto has left hundreds of thousands of people without power in Puerto Rico • Drought from El Niño created a 3 million ton corn deficit in southern Africa • Greece remains on high alert for fires through tomorrow as temperatures top 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
THE TOP FIVE
- IRA has helped create more than 334,000 new jobs
Ahead of the upcoming two-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, the nonprofit Climate Power released a new report analyzing the economic impact of the clean energy investments made possible by the legislation. The topline takeaway: Since August 2022, 646 clean energy projects have been either announced or advanced, creating 334,565 new jobs. Battery manufacturing projects account for the largest share of the new projects, followed by solar projects and EV facilities.
Climate
Power
Most of the new projects are located in five states (Michigan, Texas, Georgia, California, and South Carolina) and in congressional districts represented by Republicans in the House of Representatives. These districts alone have seen the creation of 190,727 new jobs and more than $286 billion in clean-energy investment. Projects in low-income communities have brought $114 billion in investment to those areas and created more than 134,000 jobs. The report notes that clean energy jobs tend to pay more, and that most of them do not require a four-year degree, “meaning they’re accessible to all Americans.” Aside from highlighting the “clean energy boom,” the report warns that a second Trump presidency could halt the progress.
- Vineyard Wind can resume ‘limited activites’ at wind farm, but no
power generation
Just a little update on the situation at the Vineyard Wind 1 site off the coast of Massachusetts, where activity has been paused since July because of a broken turbine blade: Following a safety consultation, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has told Vineyard Wind it can resume some limited activities, like installing turbine towers and nacelles (the container at the top of the tower where the generator, gearbox, and other key components are located). But it cannot install any new turbine blades, or resume power production. Vineyard Wind and the blade’s manufacturer, GE Vernova, this week did some “controlled cutting” on the damaged turbine to prevent more debris from falling into the ocean. Now they’re looking ahead to next steps, like removing the blade root and figuring out what to do with the big pieces of debris that fell to the seabed. Before the incident, the partially-constructed commercial offshore wind farm was already sending power to the grid.
- Climate change is making forest fires worse
Climate change is making forest fires more frequent and more destructive, according to the World Resources Institute. By examining data provided by researchers at the University of Maryland, the WRI concluded that the area consumed by fire annually has grown by 5.4% each year since 2001, and “record-setting forest fires are becoming the norm.” In 2023 alone, the amount of land affected by forest fires was 23% larger than the previous record year. Most of the tree cover loss due to fires is happening in the boreal forests, which is worrying because these forests store between 30% and 40% of the world’s terrestrial carbon.
WRI
The growing number of fires is creating a climate feedback loop: More burning releases more carbon dioxide which creates hotter and drier conditions that are conducive to more fires, and on and on it goes. Aside from emphasizing the need to rapidly curb greenhouse gas emissions, the report calls for ending deforestation, and better wildfire risk management.
- DOE to put additional $54.4 million toward carbon-capture
innovations
The Department of Energy yesterday announced it will put an additional $54.4 million toward developing carbon-capture technologies. This could include innovations that capture the emissions from power plants, industrial facilities, or the atmosphere directly, but also new ways to transport and transfer the CO2 once it has been captured. The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management is accepting applications now through October 14.
- Scientists say rate of global warming is expected to slow
In a paper published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, scientists say the rate of global warming – that is how quickly the planet is heating up – looks like it will slow in the coming decades. In 2025, the rate of warming is expected to be about .38 degrees Fahrenheit each decade, but this will fall to an increase of .27 degrees Fahrenheit per decade by 2050. Those estimates are based on current mitigation policies, and the researchers say the rate could slow even more if we curb fossil fuel emissions more aggressively. There are a lot of caveats and moving parts here, and the researchers are upfront about this, noting that factors like El Niño, fluctuations in aerosol emissions, and the fact that “climate damage may show a non-linear response to amounts of climate change” could render their projections inaccurate. Nonetheless, “various analyses suggest that under current mitigation policies we are at or near a time of peak anthropogenic carbon emissions.”
THE KICKER
“No Republicans voted for the IRA, but they know their constituents are receiving the benefits.” –White House senior climate adviser John Podesta speaking yesterday at an event hosted by think-tank Third Way.
https://heatmap.news/economy/ira-energy-jobs-biden-anniversary
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Hey, Patreon: Don’t Let Apple Win This Round.
https://tedium.co/2024/08/13/patreon-apple-platform-risks/
Owning the Pwning
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/08/14/owning-the-pwning/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
2016: “Why can't journalism make a direct and true statement: The candidate called for the assassination of his opponent.”
http://scripting.com/2016/08/14/journalistsGrapplingWithTrump.html
Why fewer tents in Venice may not mean fewer unhoused people
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The LAist
A recent RAND study found that after city authorities cleared encampments last year, there was a temporary drop in homelessness in Venice, Skid Row, and Hollywood that lasted two to three months.
https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/venice-homelessness-survey-encampments
When AI becomes an ever-growing part of the hiring process
date: 2024-08-14, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Employers, recruiters and job candidates are increasingly turning to generative AI to help with the often tedious hiring process. This has led to an influx of applications for many job postings. It’s a trend that’s added efficiency — and another layer of complexity — to the jobs marketplace. Also: a look at sales of PCs with integrated AI. And the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is cracking down on contract for deed home sales.
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-14, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Great piece by Craig Mokhiber: “The ICJ finds that Boycott, Divest, Sanctions is not merely a right, but an obligation”:
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/08/the-icj-finds-that-bds-is-not-merely-a-right-but-an-obligation/
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112960136460083951
Apple-flavored Opera One brings its browser AI show to iOS
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
iPhone version of mobile browser sees surge of interest in wake of EU competition rules
Browser maker Opera has released an iOS version of Opera One, a variant of its AI-infused desktop browser that complies with the strictures of Apple’s mobile ecosystem.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/opera_one_brings_browser_ai/
Ernesto becomes a hurricane after brushing past Puerto Rico
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Ernesto has become a hurricane after brushing past Puerto Rico late Tuesday as officials closed schools, opened shelters and moved dozens of the U.S. territory’s endangered parrots into hurricane-proof rooms.
Forecasters issued a hurricane watch for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands as well as the tiny Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra, which are popular with tourists.
The storm moved over the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday night. After passing Puerto Rico, it is expected to move into open waters and be near Bermuda on Friday.
Heavy rains began pelting Puerto Rico, and strong winds churned the ocean into a milky turquoise as people rushed to finish securing homes and businesses.
“I’m hoping it will go away quickly,” said José Rodríguez, 36, as he climbed on the roof of his uncle’s wooden shack in the Afro-Caribbean community of Piñones on Puerto Rico’s north coast to secure the business famous for its fried street food.
Ernesto was about 60 miles (95 kilometers) east-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico late Tuesday night. It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) and was moving northwest at 17 mph (28 kph).
“We are going to have a lot of rain,” Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said as he urged people to be indoors by early Tuesday evening.
He activated the National Guard as crews across the island visited flood-prone areas and older residents as part of last-minute preparations. Meanwhile, Department of Natural Resources officials who work at breeding centers for the island’s only remaining native parrot, the Puerto Rico Amazon, moved them indoors.
Ernesto Rodríguez with the National Weather Service warned that the storm’s trajectory could change as it approaches Puerto Rico.
“We should not lower our guard,” he said.
As intermittent rain pelted Puerto Rico’s northeast, residents in Piñones tried to squeeze in a couple more hours of work.
María Abreu, 25, prepared fried pastries stuffed with shrimp, crab, chicken and even iguana meat as she waited for customers.
“They always come. They buy them in case the power goes out,” she said.
Down the road, Juan Pizarro, 65, picked nearly 100 coconuts from palm trees swaying in the strong breeze. He had already secured his house.
“I’m ready for anything,” he said.
Forecasters have warned of waves of up to 20 feet (six meters), widespread flooding and possible landslides, with six to eight inches (15-20 centimeters) of rain forecast for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) in isolated areas. Puerto Rico has six reservoirs that already were overflowing before the storm.
Officials in Puerto Rico warned of widespread power outages given the crumbling electric grid, which crews are still repairing after Hurricane Maria razed it in September 2017 as a Category 4 storm.
Juan Saca, president of Luma Energy, a private company that operates the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico, urged people to report blackouts: “Puerto Rico’s electrical system is not sufficiently modernized to detect power outages.”
Outages also were a concern in the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands for similar reasons, with blackouts reported on St. Thomas and St. John on Monday.
“Don’t sleep on this,” said U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., whose administration announced early Tuesday that it was closing all schools.
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency echoed those warnings, saying residents in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands “should be prepared for extended power outages.”
Early Tuesday, Ernesto drenched the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, where officials closed several main roads and warned that the quality of potable water would be affected for several days. Meanwhile, the storm downed a couple of trees in Antigua, and knocked out power to most of the island. Ernesto also forced the cancellation of dozens of flights to and from Puerto Rico.
Ernesto is the fifth named storm of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record warm ocean temperatures. It forecast 17 to 25 named storms, with four to seven major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.
US Rep. Ilhan Omar, member of progressive ‘Squad,’ wins Democratic primary in Minnesota
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the progressive House members known as the “Squad” and a sharp critic of how Israel has conducted the war in Gaza, has won her primary race in Minnesota.
Omar successfully defended her Minneapolis-area 5th District seat against a repeat challenge from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, a more centrist liberal whom she only narrowly defeated in the 2022 primary.
Speaking to supporters in Minneapolis, Omar echoed some of the themes of the Harris-Walz presidential campaign.
“We run the politics of joy,” she said. “Because we know it is joyful to fight for your neighbors. … We know it is joyful to make sure housing is a human right. We know it is joyful to fight for health care to be a human right. We know it is joyful to want to live in a peaceful and equitable world.”
Omar avoided the fate of two fellow Squad members. Rep. Cori Bush lost the Democratic nomination in her Missouri district last week, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York lost his primary in June. Both faced well-funded challengers and millions of dollars in spending by the United Democracy Project, a super political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which appeared to sit out the Minnesota race.
Samuels had criticized Omar’s condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. While Omar has also criticized Hamas for attacking Israel and taking hostages, Samuels said she’s one-sided and divisive. He also stressed public safety issues in Minneapolis, where a former police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020.
Samuels said he was “very disappointed” with his loss.
“What I was hoping is that a strong ground game and an attention to the details of folks who felt left out would trump an overwhelming superiority in dollars,” he said in an interview. “Clearly money matters a little more in politics than I had hoped.”
Omar reported raising about $6.2 million. Samuels raised about $1.4 million.
Omar will face Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American journalist and self-described secular Muslim who calls Omar pro-Hamas.
Meanwhile, conservative populist and former NBA player Royce White defeated Navy veteran Joe Fraser in Minnesota’s primary election for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November.
And former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab, supported by former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the National Republican Congressional Committee, won a contested GOP primary for Minnesota’s 2nd District seat held by Democratic Rep. Angie Craig.
His opponent, defense attorney Tayler Rahm, won the endorsement at the district convention with support from grassroots conservatives.
While Rahm announced in July that he was suspending his campaign and would instead serve as a senior adviser for Trump’s Minnesota campaign, he remained on the ballot.
Teirab will face Craig in what’s expected to be Minnesota’s most competitive House race in November.
“Tonight’s definitive results send a clear message that Republicans are united and ready for change,” Teirab said in a statement. “We are ready to support candidates who will strengthen our economy, secure the border, and restore safety in our communities.”
Craig issued a statement calling him “a guy who recently moved to the district because he saw a political opportunity.”
“He’s a guy who has spent months doing anything to win the support of Washington Republicans,” Craig said. “And he’s a guy who has made it his life’s mission to take away reproductive freedoms from families and give those decisions to politicians.”
In the U.S. Senate race, White — an ally of imprisoned former Trump aide Steve Bannon and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones — shocked many political observers when he defeated Fraser at the party convention for the GOP endorsement.
White’s social media comments have been denounced as misogynistic, homophobic, antisemitic and profane. His legal and financial problems include unpaid child support and questionable campaign spending, including $1,200 spent at a Florida strip club after he lost his primary challenge to Omar in 2022. He argues that, as a Black man, he can broaden the party’s base by appealing to voters of color in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and others disillusioned with establishment politics.
Following his win, White said in a post on the social platform X: “Bring it on commies… The People Are Coming.”
Democratic leaders denounced him as a far-right extremist.
“While Royce White’s language and policies seek to divide Minnesotans, Senator Amy Klobuchar is focused on bringing people together to get things done, and she is consistently ranked as one of the most bipartisan and effective legislators in the Senate,” Ken Martin, the state Democratic Party chair, said in a statement. “The choice this November could not be more clear.”
Fraser said earlier that White’s confrontational style and message won’t attract the moderates and independents needed for a competitive challenge against Klobuchar, who’s seeking a fourth term. He said he offered a more mainstream approach, stressing fiscal conservativism, a strong defense, world leadership and small government. Fraser has also highlighted his 26 years in the Navy, where he was an intelligence officer and served a combat tour in Iraq.
Neither had anywhere near the resources that Klobuchar has. White last reported raising $133,000, while Fraser took in $68,000. Klobuchar, meanwhile, has collected about $19 million this cycle and has more than $6 million available to spend on the general election campaign. She faced only nominal primary opposition.
Another clash between establishment and grassroots Republicans played out in western Minnesota’s 7th District. Trump-backed GOP Rep. Michelle Fischbach, considered one of the most conservative members of Congress, defeated small businessman Steve Boyd. Boyd ran to her right on a religious platform and blocked her from getting endorsement at the district convention. Boyd reported spending $170,000, while Fischbach spent over $1 million.
Among the legislative primaries on the ballot Tuesday, Democrats picked former state Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart to face Republican Kathleen Fowke in a high-stakes race that will determine not only which party controls the state Senate, but whether Democrats maintain their narrow “trifecta” control of both chambers and the governor’s office. Democrats used that power to pass an ambitious agenda over the last two years that helped put Gov. Tim Walz on the radar of Vice President Kamala Harris before she picked him to be her running mate.
It will be the only state Senate seat in the November ballot. The seat in the western Minneapolis suburbs had been held by Democrat Kelly Morrison, who will face Republican Tad Jude for Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District seat.
The race for the fastest-charging EV batteries
date: 2024-08-14, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Chinese electric vehicle maker Zeekr says it’s come up with the world’s fastest-charging battery, which can be replenished in 10 minutes. Plus, there’s further backlash against over-tourism in Spain, where one city is planning to cut water supplies to illegal short term rentals. And is Montreal about to join the ranks of cities that never sleep? It’s planning special 24-hour zones to help boost its economy.
UK’s ‘electricity superhighway’ gets green light just in time for AI to gobble it all up
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
500 km transmission cable promises enough power for two million homes, or a heck of a lotta GPUs
Britain’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) on Tuesday signed off on a £3.4 billion project to construct an “electricity superhighway” between Scotland and Yorkshire.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/uks_electricity_superhighway/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The truth about Trump's press conference. (He’s a lunatic.)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/truth-about-trumps-press-conference/679425/
Is Lenovo a blind spot in US anti-China security measures?
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Questions raised as one of the world’s largest PC makers joins America’s critical defense team
Opinion Lenovo’s participation in a cybersecurity initiative has reopened old questions over the company’s China origins, especially in light of the growing mistrust between Washington and Beijing over technology.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/opinion_lenovo_jcdc/
Why Treasury’s No. 2 Official Wants Permitting Reform
date: 2024-08-14, from: Heatmap News
Two years ago this week, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in clean energy and climate mitigation in American history. It contained roughly two dozen new or expanded tax credits that will — if the forecasts bear out — provide hundreds of billions of dollars in funding over the next decade. The administration is now rushing to finalize those provisions before the November election.
Perhaps no official has been more central to setting up those tax credits than Wally Adeyemo, the deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department. He is also the Treasury’s No. 2 official and chief operating officer. Adeyemo has led the agency’s effort to implement the climate law, overseeing a group of tax lawyers and political appointees who are critical to the legislation’s ultimate success. He joins Shift Key this week to help us kick off our second season and talk about how the effort to implement the climate law is going, what could stand in its way, and why he wants some kind of permitting reform.
Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap, and Jesse Jenkins, a professor of energy systems engineering at Princeton University.
Subscribe to “Shift Key” and find this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also add the show’s RSS feed to your podcast app to follow us directly.
Here is an excerpt from our conversation:
Robinson Meyer: So obviously, one of the huge risks for investors is that the IRA is repealed, in part or in full, in the next Congress. And we know, just as a fact, that Congress is going to have to do something on taxes. Next Congress, the Trump tax cuts are expiring, there’s going to be, there’s interest in doing something with a child tax credit. It’s going to really come down to who has control of the two chambers.
How are you thinking about, as a Democratic administration, protecting the IRA going into a very ambiguous 2025 environment, and how are companies who you talk to thinking through that quite large political risk around the threat of repeal next year?
Wally Adeyemo: So maybe I’ll break it down into two different types of tax credits, the business tax credits and the consumer-oriented tax credits. When it comes to business tax credits, as you both know from following this for a while, those don’t usually go away. Because ultimately, what happens is that, for these businesses, they do a fairly good job of making clear to members how those tax credits are tied to jobs that end up being in their districts.
One of the things that I’m proudest of is, when you look at the dispersion of projects tied to the IRA throughout the country, it puts us in a place where a number of people who voted for — and even, in some cases, many who didn’t vote for — the IRA now have significant projects being funded by the IRA happening in their districts, that they’re hiring people based on IRA-related projects, and it’s driving real economic activity. So when it comes to these business tax credits, my sense is that there’s going to be a case for keeping them, independent from the climate goals, which they’re helping to achieve because of the fact that they’re creating jobs in these districts that are helping to power those local economies.
On the consumer tax credits — and just today, I think we’re speaking on August 7, we put out a report about more than 3 million Americans claiming a set of consumer-oriented credits to help install things like solar panels on their homes, and heat pumps. And on these credits — they existed before the IRA. And frankly, what we did with the IRA was, we further incentivized people and created some flexibility within these credits.
These credits existed in the last administration. They’ve existed during the Obama administration. So the reality is that for some of these consumer-oriented credits and some of the business-oriented credits, they had both existed in Republican administrations. There have been Republicans who have supported them. For example, when you think about the wind credits, there have been a number of senators from the Midwest, both Democrats and Republicans, who have been huge advocates for them because they matter to their district.
So from my standpoint, the most important thing we can do to preserve the IRA is to make sure that we get these rules done as quickly as possible, so that not only businesses but individuals start to rely on them. They help, from my standpoint, address the climate crisis that we face. But from the standpoint of consumers, they help lower their cost. And the report we put out today showed that for some consumers installing a heat pump, for example, it lowered the cost of utilities by up to $3,000 a year. The more that happens, the more people who take advantage of it, the more likely that those tax credits are going to remain. And I think that’s also true for the business tax credit. So that’s the strategy, and I think that it’s one that’s been borne out by other business and consumer tax credits in the past.
This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by …
Watershed’s climate data engine helps companies measure and reduce their emissions, turning the data they already have into an audit-ready carbon footprint backed by the latest climate science. Get the sustainability data you need in weeks, not months. Learn more at watershed.com.
As a global leader in PV and ESS solutions, Sungrow invests heavily in research and development, constantly pushing the boundaries of solar and battery inverter technology. Discover why Sungrow is the essential component of the clean energy transition by visiting sungrowpower.com.
Antenna Group helps you connect with customers, policymakers, investors, and strategic partners to influence markets and accelerate adoption. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow.
https://heatmap.news/podcast/shift-key-season-2-ep-1-wally-adeyemo
slow TCP connect on Windows
date: 2024-08-14, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog
I have this tradition of mentioning occasional network related quirks on Windows on my blog so here we go again. This round started with a bug report that said curl is slow to connect to localhost on Windows It is also demonstrably true. The person runs a web service on a local IPv4 port (and … Continue reading slow TCP connect on Windows
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/08/14/slow-tcp-connect-on-windows/
Still waiting for a Pi 500 and wondering what do this summer?
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The team knows you want one, but in the meantime why not make one yourself?
Raspberry Pi enthusiasts unable to wait for the shelves to fill up with Pi-500 stock are starting to get creative.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/still_waiting_for_a_pi/
Our RP2350 Partners made all this excellent stuff for you
date: 2024-08-14, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
It wasn’t just Pico 2 that hit the scene last week; Raspberry Pi and its RP2350 partners launched 34 products from 20 companies.
The post Our RP2350 Partners made all this excellent stuff for you appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/our-rp2350-partners-made-all-this-excellent-stuff-for-you/
Microsoft pushing, pushing, pushing Edge in Defender slammed as a ‘dark pattern’
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Is it an ad? Or serious infosec advice?
In its ongoing effort to boost the usage of its Edge browser, Microsoft is marketing the software to users of its Defender security suite with an unusual prompt – and is drawing criticism for blurring a line between advising and advertising.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/microsoft_edge_promotion_in_defender/
Today in SCV History (Aug. 14)
date: 2024-08-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1986 – Canyon Country’s Mitchell adobe demolished; components salvaged & later rebuilt at Hart Park [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-aug-14/
The Savvy Senior | Paying for Nursing Home Care with Medicaid
date: 2024-08-14, from: The Signal
Dear Savvy Senior, If my mother needs to move into a nursing home, what are the eligibility requirements to get Medicaid coverage? – Caretaking Son Dear Caretaking, […]
The post The Savvy Senior | Paying for Nursing Home Care with Medicaid appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/the-savvy-senior-paying-for-nursing-home-care-with-medicaid/
Indian telcos to cut off scammy, spammy, telemarketers for two whole years
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
There’s a blockchain involved so it’s totally going to stop you getting those calls
India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) on Tuesday directed telcos to stop calls from unregistered telemarketers – and prevent them from using networks again for up to two years – as part of an effort to curb spam and scams.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/indian_telco_telemarketer_blacklist/
Intel, already adrift, now Armless too
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Sells stake in rival chip designer, keeps its MariaDB shares
Intel has sold its stock in chip design firm Arm – probably netting around $147 million and a tidy profit, given the price of Arm scrip has risen 96 percent in the ten months since it returned to public trading.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/intel_sells_arm_shares/
Deadline Wednesday for 2 SCV Water seats
date: 2024-08-14, from: The Signal
In April, the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency approved the ballot options that local ratepayers will now decide upon in November’s election, with six of the Division’s nine seats on […]
The post Deadline Wednesday for 2 SCV Water seats appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/deadline-wednesday-for-2-scv-water-seats/
US approves $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel amid threat of wider Middle East war
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The U.S. has approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets and advanced air-to-air missiles, the State Department announced Tuesday.
Congress was notified of the impending sale, which includes more than 50 F-15 fighter jets, Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, or AMRAAMs, 120 mm tank ammunition and high explosive mortars and tactical vehicles and comes at a time of intense concern that Israel may become involved in a wider Middle East war.
However, the weapons are not expected to get to Israel anytime soon, they are contracts that will take years to fulfill. Much of what is being sold is to help Israel increase its military capability in the long term, the earliest systems being delivered under the contract aren’t expected until the 2026 timeframe.
“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability. This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives,” the State Department said in a release on the sale.
The Biden administration has had to balance its continued support for Israel with a growing number of calls from lawmakers and the U.S. public to curb military support there due to the high number of civilian deaths in Gaza. It has curbed one delivery of 2,000-pound weapons amid continued airstrikes by Israel in densely populated civilian areas in Gaza.
The contracts will cover not only the sale of 50 new aircraft to be produced by Boeing. It will also include upgrade kits for Israel to modify its existing fleet of two dozen F-15 fighter jets with new engines and radars, among other upgrades. The jets comprise the biggest portion of the $20 billion in sales with the first deliveries expected in 2029.
India shuffles away draft law treating influencers like real broadcasters
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Online celebs might find that flattering – but not if it means a committee must approve their next livestream
India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has withdrawn a flagship law bill after criticism that it would require online content creators to register and be subject to the same laws as broadcasters.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/indian_government_bins_tech_bill/
Hart alum prepares for exhibition match with Angel City
date: 2024-08-14, from: The Signal
Hart alumna Destinney Duron has not played a match in her hometown since her Cal State Northridge soccer days. Duron, who currently plays for Juarez in the Liga MX Femenil, […]
The post Hart alum prepares for exhibition match with Angel City appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/hart-alum-prepares-for-exhibition-match-with-angel-city/
Platforms Built On Quicksand
date: 2024-08-14, from: Tedium site
Given the choice between protecting creators and protecting a business relationship with a dominant, toxic company, Patreon chooses the business relationship. Maybe they shouldn’t.
https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16770214/patreon-apple-platform-risks
@Dave Winer’s Scripting News (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s Scripting News)
I ordered a Pixel Pro 9 today for delivery in September. Look forward to seeing what makes it so AI.
http://scripting.com/2024/08/13.html#a021749
Pentagon: Iran-backed attack injured 8 US troops in Syria
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
pentagon — Eight U.S. service members in Syria were injured in a drone attack by Iranian-backed militants last week, Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said on Tuesday.
Tuesday marked the first time that the Pentagon blamed Iranian proxies for Friday’s attack.
“We assess that it was conducted by Iranian-backed militia, but we’re still digging into the specifics,” Ryder said in response to a question from VOA at a Pentagon briefing.
Ryder told reporters the service members had been treated for smoke inhalation and traumatic brain injury. Three of the injured troops have returned to duty, he added.
Earlier, the U.S. military said several American and coalition personnel had been wounded in a drone attack late Friday at Rumalyn Landing Zone in eastern Syria but stressed that “none of the injuries are life threatening.”
The United States has about 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in neighboring Iraq to advise and assist local forces working to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State terror group in the region.
The drone strike in Syria marked the second time this month that U.S. military personnel in the Middle East had been injured in attacks. Five Americans were injured in a rocket attack against al-Asad air base August 5 in Iraq, with three transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for further care, according to deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh.
Iranian-backed militias have launched dozens of attacks against U.S. forces in the region since Israel began its military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’ deadly October 7 terror attacks.
https://www.voanews.com/a/pentagon-iran-backed-attack-injured-8-us-troops-in-syria-/7741985.html
NIST finalizes trio of post-quantum encryption standards
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Nicely ahead of that always-a-decade-away moment when all our info becomes an open book
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today released the long-awaited post-quantum encryption standards, designed to protect electronic information long into the future – when quantum computers are expected to break existing cryptographic algorithms.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/nist_postquantum_standards/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Harris and Walz Plan Rally During Convention.
https://politicalwire.com/2024/08/13/harris-and-walz-plan-rally-during-convention/
SCV Water completes water treatment plant project
date: 2024-08-14, from: The Signal
News release The Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency recently completed construction of the Wash Water Return and Sludge Systems Project at its Earl Schmidt Filtration Plant, located near Castaic Lake. […]
The post SCV Water completes water treatment plant project appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/scv-water-completes-water-treatment-plant-project/
COC launching clinical laboratory scientist program
date: 2024-08-14, from: The Signal
News release College of the Canyons will launch its clinical laboratory scientist certificate program in the fall 2024 semester, which begins on Aug. 19. Clinical laboratory scientists work in […]
The post COC launching clinical laboratory scientist program appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/coc-launching-clinical-laboratory-scientist-program/
Democrats are energized, but can Harris win?
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris has quickly consolidated power and energized a campaign that many Democrat leaders had worried about.
Meeting no meaningful challenge from other Democrats, Harris secured votes to be the nominee from 4,567 delegates — 99% of the participating delegates — in a virtual call earlier this month.
The campaign, together with the Democratic National Committee and other joint fundraising committees, raised a historic $310 million in July, dwarfing the tally for the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, in the same month. More than $200 million of Harris’ haul came during the first week of her candidacy.
“We’ve seen a groundswell of support. The type of grassroots support – organizing and fundraising — that wins elections,” said Kevin Munoz, a Harris campaign spokesperson.
The campaign’s optimism is reflected in the polls. After another series of very strong surveys in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Harris now has a 55% chance of winning, said election data analyst Nate Silver.
Silver gave Biden a 27% chance of winning when he was the Democratic nominee.
However, the Trump campaign insists that the fundamentals of the race have not changed.
“The Democrats deposing one Nominee for another does NOT change voters discontent over the economy, inflation, crime, the open border, housing costs not to mention concern over two foreign wars,” Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio said in a memo.
Harris’ “honeymoon” will soon end, he said. “While the public polls may change in the short run and she may consolidate a bit more of the Democrat base, Harris can’t change who she is or what she’s done.”
While the fundamentals have not changed, they were “being obstructed by concern about Biden’s age and cognitive abilities,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
“Donald Trump is as unpopular as ever, and now he has an opponent who is much more appealing,” he told VOA. “Democrats are back in the game.”
Battleground states
In the United States, elections are not determined by winning the popular vote but by winning Electoral College votes, which are allotted to each state roughly in proportion to its population. In all but two states, the candidate getting the most votes in a state gets all its Electoral College votes.
Harris’ team has been investing heavily in campaign infrastructure, opening offices, recruiting new staff and enlisting tens of thousands of volunteers in what is considered battleground or swing states that could help determine the 2024 electoral victory — Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia.
In 2020, those seven states were won by a margin of 3 percentage points or less. Currently, Harris is polling slightly ahead but still within the polling margin of error in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump is ahead in Michigan, Nevada, Arizona and North Carolina. He is leading by more than the polling error margin in Georgia.
Both Trump and Harris will be hard-pressed to win without Pennsylvania, said Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky. Pennsylvania has 19 Electoral College votes, the most of any swing state.
“They can each afford to lose it but would have to run the table in most, if not all, of the other swing states, which include Arizona, Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina,” Roginsky told VOA.
A candidate needs to secure at least 270 out of the 538 electoral college votes to win. Ultimately, it comes down to winning more Electoral College votes than your opponent, however you make that math happen, said Kelly Dittmar, associate professor of political science at Rutgers University-Camden.
“Winning swing states with a high number of Electoral College votes, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania — both states where Democrats have recently won statewide and where Biden won in 2020 — is one solid path toward [Harris] achieving success,” Dittmar told VOA.
In Michigan, a state with a large population of Arab Americans, Harris will need to convince the more than 100,000 people, angry over the Biden administration’s staunch support for Israel, who wrote “uncommitted” on their primary ballots. Thirty members of the so-called Uncommitted National Movement have earned delegate spots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week.
Harris also inherits opposition from the “Abandon Biden” movement over the same cause.
“We are saying do not vote for those who are supporting or endorsing what’s happening currently in Gaza,” Hudhayfah Ahmad, the campaign’s media representative, told VOA. “Quite frankly, that applies to both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.”
Inflation and immigration
While Democrats’ enthusiasm has soared, Harris must deal with voters’ frustration over high inflation, a problem that Republicans blame on the Biden-Harris administration.
Trump previously held a commanding lead among voters on key economic issues, with various polls showing Americans think they will be better off financially under Trump than Biden.
However, a survey conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business published this week found that 41% trust Trump to be better at handling the economy, while 42% believe Harris would be better – a figure up seven points from Biden’s numbers in July.
Immigration is another weak spot for Biden, and by extension Harris. The Trump campaign has sought to paint her as the nation’s “Border Czar” responsible for the “invasion” of Central American migrants crossing into the United States from the border with Mexico.
Her campaign is now aiming to present their candidate as someone who is pro-immigration but tough in enforcing the law, by highlighting Harris’ life story as the daughter of immigrants and experience as a former attorney general of California, the state with the largest number and share of immigrants.
“I was attorney general of a border state,” Harris said at a recent rally in Arizona, a swing state where immigration is a top concern for voters. “I went after the transnational gangs, the drug cartels and human traffickers. I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won.”
Will she win in November?
In such a tight race in an ever-changing political environment, analysts have avoided saying that any candidate’s path to victory is clear.
The Harris campaign said they believe this will be a very close election, decided by a very small number of voters, in just a few states.
Even with this momentum, said Harris campaign spokesperson Munoz, “we are the underdogs in this race, and we’re taking nothing for granted.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/democrats-are-energized-but-can-harris-win-/7741962.html
Microsoft patches scary wormable hijack-my-box-via-IPv6 security bug and others
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Plus more pain for Intel which fixed 43 bugs, SAP and Adobe also in on the action
Patch Tuesday Microsoft has disclosed 90 flaws in its products – six of which have already been exploited – and four others that are listed as publicly known.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/august_patch_tuesday_ipv6/
Patch Tuesday brings 90 new Microsoft CVEs, six already under exploit
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Plus more pain for Intel which fixed 43 bugs, SAP and Adobe also in on the action
Patch Tuesday Microsoft has disclosed 90 flaws in its products – six of which have already been exploited – and four others that are listed as publicly known.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/14/august_patch_tuesday/
Aug. 17: Hart Show Choir Alumni Show
date: 2024-08-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The William S. Hart High School Show Choir will present the bi-annual Alumni Show at the Hart High School Auditorium on Saturday, Aug. 17 at 7 p.m
https://scvnews.com/aug-17-hart-show-choir-alumni-show/
Letter: COC terminates tech center contract
date: 2024-08-14, from: The Signal
Contract was already canceled last month when COC said it was ‘under review’ While College of the Canyons officials said last month that the contract to have a Valencia-based developer build […]
The post Letter: COC terminates tech center contract appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/08/letter-coc-terminates-tech-center-contract/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-14, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Press Must Cover Trump’s Cognitive Decline.
https://www.dworkinsubstack.com/p/press-must-cover-trumps-cognitive?r=2xw07&triedRedirect=true
Aug. 16: Blood Drive at Valencia Library
date: 2024-08-14, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The American Red Cross has declared an emergency blood and platelet shortage for Southern California
https://scvnews.com/aug-16-blood-drive-at-valencia-library/
US Army analyst pleads guilty to selling military secrets to China
date: 2024-08-14, from: VOA News USA
washington — A U.S. Army intelligence analyst on Tuesday pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to sell military secrets to China, the Department of Justice said.
Korbein Schultz was charged in March with conspiracy to disclose national defense information, exporting defense articles and technical data without a license, and bribery of a public official.
Schultz, who held top secret clearance, conspired with an individual who lived in Hong Kong — who he suspected of being associated with the Chinese government — to collect national defense information, including classified information and export-controlled technical data related to U.S. military weapons systems, in exchange for money, according to charging and plea documents.
“Governments like China are aggressively targeting our military personnel and national security information and we will do everything in our power to ensure that information is safeguarded from hostile foreign governments,” FBI Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells said in a statement.
Before he was arrested, Schultz sent dozens of sensitive and restricted, but unclassified, military documents, the Department of Justice said.
A document discussing the lessons learned by the Army from the Russia-Ukraine war that it would apply in a defense of Taiwan, documents relating to Chinese military tactics, and a document relating to U.S. military satellites were among the items collected and sent by Schultz.
Schultz was paid about $42,000 for the information, according to the department.
“By conspiring to transmit national defense information to a person living outside the United States, this defendant callously put our national security at risk to cash in on the trust our military placed in him,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said.
Schultz is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 23, 2025.
Reckoning: Part 3 — Caprock
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: Alex Russel’s blog
https://infrequently.org/2024/08/caprock/
Does Prompt Caching Make RAG Obsolete?
date: 2024-08-14, updated: 2024-08-14, from: Tom Kellog blog
Anthropic announced prompt caching today. How is it helpful? Does it replace RAG? Let’s discuss.
http://timkellogg.me/blog/2024/08/14/prompt-caching
“No way to prevent this” say users of only language where this regularly happens
date: 2024-08-14, from: Ze Iaso’s blog
https://xeiaso.net/shitposts/no-way-to-prevent-this/CVE-2024-38063/