Fed’s
actions spoke louder than words in inflation fight, research shows
date: 2024-08-24, from: VOA News USA
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming — The Federal Reserve’s credibility in the eyes
of financial markets helped in its battle against inflation over the
past two years, but it had to be earned afresh with interest rate hikes
that backed up policymakers’ verbal promises to restore price stability,
according to new research presented at the Kansas City Fed’s annual
research conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
A strong perception in financial markets that a central bank is
committed to inflation control can make monetary policy more effective,
prompting markets to shift financial conditions faster and lowering
inflation with a less-serious hit to economic growth than would
otherwise be the case.
While investors came to believe that the U.S. central bank under the
leadership of Fed Chair Jerome Powell was serious about defending its 2%
inflation target, that belief only formed over time and after the
officials began raising the policy interest rate in March 2022 and
accelerated the rate hikes over that summer, the researchers found.
“Forecasters and markets were highly uncertain about the monetary
policy rule prior to ‘liftoff’ and learned about it from the Fed’s rate
hikes,” economists Michael Bauer from the San Francisco Fed, Carolin
Pflueger from the University of Chicago, and Adi Sunderam from the
Harvard Business School, found in their research. “Substantial rate
hikes were apparently necessary for perceptions to shift. … The public
did not fully understand the Fed’s strategy and policy rule prior to
liftoff.”
The research serves as a warning of sorts against central bankers
putting too much weight on the power of “talk therapy” — or the ability
to influence economic outcomes with words and promises alone.
Earning public trust
The Fed in recent years has been characterized by a surfeit of
speeches and public comments by its officials, whether by the head of
the central bank, other members of its presidentially appointed Board of
Governors, or its 12 regional bank presidents, under the notion that
more transparency is good for public accountability and makes policy
more effective.
Fed officials in the recent inflation battle often noted that public
belief in their commitment to the inflation target would help on its own
to lower the pace of price increases, shorten the time it took for
tighter monetary policy to have an impact, and lower inflation with less
damage to the job market and other aspects of the “real” economy.
The researchers found, however, that while the Fed under Powell
eventually earned the benefit of public trust, it also wasn’t a
given.
The research used survey data to quantify how professional
forecasters perceived the Fed would respond to higher inflation and
found that even as prices began rising in 2021 the expected Fed response
to inflation was near zero.
While that could have been attributed to several factors, including a
belief that inflation would ease on its own, the researchers concluded
it was because forecasters weren’t sure how the central bank would
react.
After the first rate increase in March of 2022, however, perceptions
began to shift, with forecasters eventually expecting the Fed to respond
on an almost one-for-one basis to any rise in inflation.
The change in perceptions coincided with policymakers shifting from
the initial quarter-percentage-point move to the first of four
75-basis-point hikes in June 2022, and with a stern speech by Powell at
that year’s Jackson Hole conference that reaffirmed his intent to defend
the inflation target despite the economic pain it might cause.
As market perceptions about the Fed’s sensitivity to inflation
increased, “interest rates became significantly more sensitive to
inflation data surprises,” the research found, adding that “the increase
in the perceived inflation response likely aided the transmission of
monetary policy to the real economy and improved the Fed’s
inflation-unemployment tradeoff.”
For future policymakers, the researchers said, the conclusion is
clear: Actions speak louder than words.
“Policy rate actions contribute to, and may even be necessary for,
the effectiveness of communication, particularly when uncertainty about
the monetary policy framework is high,” they found, suggesting the Fed’s
quarterly Summary of Economic Projections could be changed to make the
central bank’s “reaction function” more explicit. “A timely policy rate
response to inflation matters not only for influencing immediate
financial conditions, but also for signaling that policymakers are
serious.”
But I don’t know that the combative language on this site is helpful.
The Meta iconography isn’t right, I agree, but there’s something off
about calling them “a large corporation that is joining in as late”
(sic).
For one thing, Meta is early; for another, it seems to me that we want
companies to participate? I don’t think seeking ideological purity is
useful (and run the risks of the movement shooting itself in the foot).
Whatever you think about Meta’s goals for participating, I do also think
Meta’s presence gives the network a sort of legitimacy that it was
otherwise struggling to achieve. That’s a net benefit: we must grow the
network.
I also agree with
the
point, made by Chris Messina, Manton Reece and others, that the
right phrase is the social web, not the fediverse. The web is
the network.
Babe
Ruth’s ‘called shot’ jersey could auction for $30 million
date: 2024-08-24, from: VOA News USA
DALLAS, Texas — Nearly a century after Babe Ruth called his shot
during the 1932 World Series, the jersey worn by the New York Yankees
slugger when he hit the home run to center field could sell at auction
for as much as $30 million.
Heritage Auctions is offering up the jersey Saturday night in
Dallas.
Ruth’s famed, debated and often imitated “called shot” came as the
Yankees and Chicago Cubs faced off in Game 3 of the World Series at
Chicago’s Wrigley Field on October 1, 1932. In the fifth inning, Ruth
made a pointing gesture while at bat and then hit a home run off Cubs
pitcher Charlie Root.
The Yankees won the game 7-5 and swept the Cubs the next day to win
the series.
That was Ruth’s last World Series, and the “called shot” was his last
home run in a World Series, said Mike Provenzale, the production manager
for Heritage’s sports department.
“When you can tie an item like that to an important figure and their
most important moment, that’s what collectors are really looking for,”
Provenzale said.
Heritage said Ruth gave the road jersey to one of his golfing buddies
in Florida around 1940 and it remained in that family for decades. Then,
in the early 1990s, that man’s daughter sold it to a collector. It was
then sold at auction in 2005 for $940,000, and that buyer consigned it
to Heritage this year.
In 2019, one of Ruth’s road jerseys dating to 1928-30 sold for $5.64
million in an auction conducted at Yankee Stadium. That jersey was part
of a collection of items that Ruth’s family had put up for sale.
My linkblog now reliably works on
Twitter and
Threads, in addition to
Mastodon,
Bluesky,
RSS and
WordPress. I find it
really empowering to be able to publish to all those places at once.
“I want to talk about three examples I see of cracks that are starting
to form which signal big challenges in the future of OSS.”
I had a knee-jerk initial reaction to this post - what open
source bubble?! - but Tara Tarakiyee makes some important points here
about our dependence on open source code and how that might change over
time.
The through line to all of them is about money.
The
OSI’s new “open source AI” definition is loose because AI vendors
likely couldn’t make money otherwise (although whether they can make
money anyway is still up for debate); source-available licenses
have become prevalent because it’s easier to sell commercial licenses
and therefore make a living building software; much open source software
was precariously funded through European Commission Next Generation
Internet grants,
which
are now evaporating.
While we can stand for pure open source values all we like, the people
who build open source software need to make a living: food must go on
the table and they need a roof over their heads. Ideally their
compensation would extend beyond those basic necessities.
This has been the perennial problem for open source: how can it be
sustainable for the people who build it? We’re not launching into a
post-monetary Star Trek future any time soon. In the meantime, people
need to be paid for their work, or open source runs the risk of being a
hobbyist-only endeavor.
@Dave Winer’s
linkblog (date: 2024-08-24, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Trump is not the incumbent, but it might feel that way because the
coup that started on Jan 6 is ongoing. It won't be over until there is a
peaceful transfer of power from Biden to Harris and Trump is out of the
picture.
Trump is not the incumbent, but it
might
feel that way because the coup that started on Jan 6 is ongoing. It
won’t be over until there is a peaceful transfer of power from Biden to
Harris and Trump is out of the picture.
Andy Jassy on using Amazon Q, the company’s generative AI assistant for
software development, internally:
“The average time to upgrade an application to Java 17 plummeted from
what’s typically 50 developer-days to just a few hours. We estimate this
has saved us the equivalent of 4,500 developer-years of work (yes, that
number is crazy but, real).”
“The benefits go beyond how much effort we’ve saved developers. The
upgrades have enhanced security and reduced infrastructure costs,
providing an estimated $260M in annualized efficiency gains.”
Of course, Amazon is enormous, and any smaller business will need to
scale down those numbers and account for efficiencies that may have
occurred between engineers there.
Nevertheless, these are incredible figures. The savings are obviously
real, allowing engineers to focus on actual work rather than the
drudgery of upgrading Java (which is something that absolutely nobody
wants to spend their time doing).
We’ll see more of this - and we’ll begin to see more services which
allow for these efficiency gains between engineers across smaller
companies, startups, non-profits, and so on. The dumb companies will use
this as an excuse for reductions in force; the smart ones will use it as
an opportunity to accelerate their team’s productivity and build stuff
that really matters.
Canadian
rail arbitration hearing ends without decision; strike looms
date: 2024-08-24, from: VOA News USA
TORONTO — A workers’ union Friday threatened a strike at one of
Canada’s two major freight railroads, only hours after the company’s
trains restarted following a potentially devastating stoppage. A
government-ordered arbitration hearing wrapped up without a decision,
and Canadian National trains were expected to keep moving at least
through Monday morning.
CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. locked out their workers
Thursday when negotiations over a new labor contract reached a deadline
without an agreement. That resulted in a near total shutdown of freight
rail in the country for more than a day, until Canadian National resumed
its service Friday morning. Trains operated by CPKC remain parked, and
its workers, who had already been on strike since Thursday, stayed on
the picket line Friday.
The government forced the companies and the union, Teamsters Canada
Rail Conference, into arbitration overseen by the Canada Industrial
Relations Board — an order the union is challenging. Friday’s nine-hour
hearing ended with no order from the board.
The union filed a 72-hour strike notice against CN on Friday morning
shortly after it announced that it planned to challenge the arbitration
order, union spokesperson Marc-Andre Gauthier said.
If the board orders the union back to work, “the TCRC will lawfully
abide by the decision, but will undertake steps to challenge to the
fullest extent,” the Teamsters said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this
will not provide immediate relief, but the Union is prepared to appeal
to federal court if necessary.”
Canadian National, which has about 6,500 workers involved in the
dispute, said the impact of the strike notice will depend on the timing
of the Canada Industrial Relations Board’s decision. “It is in the
national interest of Canada that the CIRB rule quickly, before even more
harm is caused,” the railroad said in a written statement. CPKC has
about 3,000 engineers, conductors and dispatchers involved.
Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce,
said the union’s latest actions “will prolong the damage to our economy
and jeopardize the wellbeing and livelihoods of Canadians, including
union and nonunion workers across multiple industries.”
Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon announced the decision to force the
parties into binding arbitration Thursday afternoon, more than 16 hours
after the lockout shut down the railroads, saying the economic risk was
too great to allow them to continue. The government had declined to
order arbitration two weeks ago. MacKinnon said he had hoped that
negotiations between the companies and the union on a new contract would
succeed.
“This is not about disobeying the minister’s order. It’s about
exercising our right,” Teamsters Canada President Francois Laporte said
Friday in announcing the strike. “We will exercise our right within the
legal framework.”
Canadian National trains had begun rolling at 7 a.m. across Canada,
said CN spokesperson Jonathan Abecassis. The development initially
appeared to at least partially end a work stoppage that threatened to
wreak havoc on the economies of Canada and the United States. Both
countries, across all industries, rely on railroads to deliver their raw
materials and finished products.
“While CN is focused on its recovery plan and powering the economy,
Teamsters are focused on getting back to the picket line and holding the
North American economy hostage to their demands,” Abecassis said
following the union’s strike notice.
Getting even one of the railroads running again is a relief for
businesses. In most past rail labor disputes, only one of the Canadian
railroads stopped and the economy was able to weather that
disruption.
The negotiations that began last year are hung up on issues around
the way workers are scheduled and contract rules designed to prevent
fatigue. The railroads had proposed shifting away from the current
system that pays workers based on the number of miles they travel, to a
system based on the hours they work. The railroads said the switch would
make it easier to provide predictable schedules. But the union resisted
because it feared the proposed changes would erode hard-fought
protections against fatigue and jeopardize safety.
In Canada, another issue at CN is the railroad’s intention to expand
a system that allows it to temporarily relocate workers to other parts
of its network when it’s short on employees in a certain region.
Regarding wages, the railroads said they both offered raises in line
with other recent deals in the industry for what are already well-paying
jobs. Canadian National has said its engineers make about $150,000 and
conductors earn roughly $121,000 for working 160 days a year, although
some of their time off is spent stuck at hotels on the road between
train trips while getting required rest. CPKC says its pay is
comparable.
Nearly all of Canada’s freight handled by rail — worth more than $730
million a day and adding up to more than 375 million tons of freight
last year — stopped Thursday along with rail shipments crossing the U.S.
border.
About 30,000 commuters in Canada were also affected because their
trains use CPKC’s lines. CPKC and CN’s trains continued operating in the
U.S. and Mexico during the lockout.
Billions of dollars of goods move between Canada and the U.S. via
rail each month, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“There are a lot of goods and services shipped across borders,” Sean
O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said
at a rally in Calgary, Alberta, on Friday. “If this company chooses to
continue its bad behavior, then it is going to have an impact. … They’ve
got a lot of decisions they need to make. And they need to make the most
important decision: Reward these workers with what they’ve earned and
don’t try to diminish safety just so they need to feed their bottom
lines.”
date: 2024-08-24, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
As one of Rep. Carbajal’s constituents, I am respectfully asking him to
stand against the controversial attempts to gut Proposition 12 in the
Farm Bill.
Hone
approaches Hawaii; Big Island under tropical storm warning
date: 2024-08-24, from: VOA News USA
HONOLULU, HAWAII — Tropical Storm Hone was approaching the southern
edges of Hawaii on Saturday with gusts of wind and heavy rain,
potentially inflicting flooding and wind damage on the Big Island over
the weekend and raising the risk of wildfires on the drier sides of the
islands.
The National Weather Service has issued a tropical storm warning for
Hawaii County, which includes all of the Big Island, and a red flag
warning for the leeward sides of all islands.
Hone, which means “sweet and soft” in Hawaiian, had top winds of 105
kilometers per hour (65 miles per hour) early Saturday. It will likely
strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane as it passes near or south of the
Big Island from Saturday night into early Sunday, according to the
National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority told travelers it’s still safe to come
to the islands but recommended that people postpone outdoor
activities.
“We are not advising visitors to cancel their trips,” the agency said
in a news release.
Hone was centered 465 kilometers (290 miles) east-southeast of Hilo
and 805 kilometers (500 miles) east-southeast of Honolulu early
Saturday.
The eastern and southeastern parts of the Big Island could get 11 to
25 centimeters (5 to 10 inches) of rain. The island could get sustained
winds of 32 to 64 kph (20 to 40 mph) and gusts near 97 kph (60 mph).
The dry air north of the storm will spread arid conditions across the
archipelago on Saturday, combining with strong winds to raise wildfire
risks. Most of the state is already abnormally dry or in drought,
according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The weather service’s red flag warning will be in effect from 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Saturday. It issues the alert when warm temperatures, very low
humidity and stronger winds combine to raise fire dangers. Winds are
expected to be strongest where they blow downslope from higher terrain,
over headlands and through passes, the hurricane center advised.
The situation recalls last year’s deadly wildfires on Maui, which
were fueled by hurricane-force winds. But Hone’s wildfire risks are
lower, said Laura Farris, a weather service meteorologist in
Honolulu.
The August 8, 2023, blaze that torched the historic town of Lahaina
caused the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Powerful
winds whipped up in part by a hurricane passing to Hawaii’s south helped
fuel the flames that killed 102 people. Dry, overgrown grasses and
drought helped spread the fire.
The state’s two power companies, Hawaiian Electric and the Kauai
Island Utility Cooperative, said they would be monitoring conditions
this weekend and ready to shut off power if necessary to reduce the
chance that live, damaged powerlines could start fires.
The cause of the Lahaina blaze is still under investigation, but it’s
possible it was ignited by bare electrical wire and leaning power poles
toppled by the strong winds.
Moving westward across the Pacific behind Hone was Category 2
Hurricane Gilma, but it was expected to weaken over cooler waters as it
encounters drier air in coming days and was forecast to become a
tropical depression by Wednesday. Gilma may bring rain to Hawaii, but
it’s not clear how much, Farris said.
They
don’t make ’em like that any more: Borland Turbo Pascal 7
date: 2024-08-24, from: OS News
All, in all, It was much easier to program for Windows using Turbo
Pascal 7 than with anything else. Not only did it provide a programming
model that matched the way the Windows user interface worked, the
application itself had a Windows graphical interface – many Windows
programming tools at that time actually ran under MSDOS, and were
entirely text-based. TP 7 also had fully-graphical tools for designing
the user interface elements, like menus and icons. Laying out a menu
using a definition file with an obscure format, using Windows Notepad,
was never an agreeable experience. Microsoft did produce graphical tools
for this kind of operation, but Turbo Pascal combined them into a
seamless IDE. All I had to do to build and run my programs was to hit
the F7 key. I could even set breakpoints for the debugger, just by
clicking a line of code. As I said, common enough today, but
revolutionary for early Windows programming. ↫ Kevin Boone Even as a
mere child who didn’t even know what programming was, I was aware of
Turbo Pascal. It was a name that you just encountered all over the place
as a DOS and Windows 3.x user, even if you didn’t know what it was. The
author of this article, Kevin Boone, even claims Turbo Pascal
“contributed to the widespread uptake, and eventual domination, of
Microsoft Windows on desktop PCs”, which is not something I can verify
because I was far too young, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it holds
water. This article made me wonder if Pascal is easy to learn, and if
someone wanting to learn programming can do worse than start with a
Windows 3.x virtual machine and Turbo Pascal. Sure, it’s probably not
very relevant today, but it might serve as a good, solid base to work
from? I have no idea.
Ethernet
history deepdive: why do we have different frame types?
date: 2024-08-24, from: OS News
The history of Ethernet is fascinating. The reason why we have three
different frame types is that DIX used the Ethernet II frame that is
prevalent today, while IEEE intended to use a different frame format
that could be used for different MAC layers, such as token bus, token
ring, FDDI, and so on. The IEEE were also inspired by HDLC, and modeled
their frame header more in alignment with the OSI reference model that
had the concept of SAPs. When they discovered that the number of
available SAPs weren’t enough, they made an addition to the 802 standard
to support SNAP frames. In networks today, Ethernet II is dominant, but
some control protocols may use LLC and/or SNAP frames. ↫ Daniel Dib I
just smiled and nodded.
<p>This is the 52nd edition of <em>People and Blogs</em>, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Robert Kingett and his blog, <a href="https://robertkingett.com">robertkingett.com</a></p>
To follow this series subscribe to
the newsletter. A new interview will land in your inbox every
Friday. Not a fan of newsletters? No problem! You can read the
interviews here on the blog or you can subscribe to the
RSS feed.
If you’re enjoying the People and Blogs series and you want to see it
grow, consider supporting on
Ko-Fi.
Let’s start from the basics: can you introduce yourself?
I’m a totally blind, gay, writer of fiction and nonfiction. I work in
the audio description space as a writer and Blind Quality Control
specialist/editor, but I also write fiction podcast scripts as well as
novellas and novels. I publish books, and I’m a vibrant advocate for
digital accessibility with regards to blind access.
My main love is writing. I love writing fiction stories because I
believe it’s the best kind of education.
As for the types of fiction I write, I write romance. Diverse romance,
specifically. I’ve dabbled in erotica, but my work leans more towards
the romance side of the coin with not a lot of smut. I do write about
people like me, awkward, but empathetic people and their love journeys.
Others have also said I’m a great humor writer, but I don’t consider
myself gut busting funny, but others would disagree!
Lastly, I write screenplays and TV show seasons, but my main writing
love has always been writing romance books and novellas and fiction
podcast scripts.
I’m also an accessibility consultant. Trust me, I don’t love the
accessibility consulting, but I’m passionate about accessibility and
accessible design because it’s how I can access the web.
As for my hobbies? I read a lot of books, consume a lot of fiction
podcasts, and eat a lot of cookies. I’m a digital nomad so I work
entirely remotely.
What’s the story behind your blog?
I knew that I always wanted my own website. I didn’t want to be beholden
to any tech corporation hosting my content, let alone censor me because
people find sex gross but somehow find hateful opinions to be just fine
and dandy. My blog is all over the place. Blind readers will get
tutorials on how to use something with a screen reader. Publishing
people will get thoughts and opinions about disability representation in
the industry and the media published by various publishers. Other people
will find snapshots of experiences and how I feel about them. My blog
isn’t one thing. It’s a mix mash of things.
I always wanted a space of my own to just dump thoughts and stories and
otherwise onto the internet without having a corporation control what I
can say or who sees it. With an RSS feed, my writings aren’t controlled
by an algorithm or someone paying to drown out my post with their latest
sponsored content.
I didn’t like where WordPress was headed with their Gutenberg editor at
all, so I went looking for a static site generator I could use. I know
how to read code, and I know how to write in some internet languages,
but I really didn’t want to host my own site. I wanted to pay someone to
host my stuff but also let me to exact control sometimes. Also, I needed
a platform that was going to be screen reader accessible from the
beginning. Very few publishing platforms are screen reader accessible,
so my options are limited, but I didn’t want to do Micro Blogging. I
like writing long content because lengthy writing lends itself to more
introspection and thought.
I knew I didn’t want to narrow down my blog to a particular theme. I
knew it was going to be me. It was going to be a platform to promote my
work, for me to tell stories, and for me to talk to other people. I
finally found a web host that was willing to host my blog for a fee.
What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging?
If I am doing a nonfiction piece, I gather up all links and references
in a text editor and just keep a running list of references and links
until I’m done with that post. I write to old boy bands like Simple Plan
and similar. I also write to environmental sounds, or I have a playlist
of mood songs and use that when I want to really lean into a fiction
scene. When I write novels, I write all the best/most interesting scenes
first, then I go back and write what happens before and after the most
interesting scenes. Same for screenplays and fiction podcast scripts.
Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the
physical space influences your creativity?
I always write at a desk with a full keyboard. I never write on my phone
unless I have a Bluetooth keyboard with me. If I write in public, I
always people watch and eavesdrop on random conversations because that’s
fantastic ways to study people and how they interact with others. I
write a lot in libraries because I don’t have to buy anything, and I can
reserve rooms all day if I want to write away from home, all for free.
A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech
stack?
The blog is currently a CMS called ClassicPress hosted by Project Army.
As for how I write, if I write in HTML or similar, I then write in
Markdown or a similar fashion in a plain text editor. I write all my
novels in plain text and or Markdown then convert them later. I write
all my screenplays and fiction podcast scripts in Fountain. Those are
all plain text solutions. After I’m all done, I convert the plain text
screenplay or novel into a formatted book or formatted screenplay using
open-source tools like Pandoc.
Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do
anything differently?
If I had to start over, I’d go with a static site generator first
because it will have better longevity than a CMS database. I wouldn’t
change anything else. The title, content, anything.
Financial question since the Web is obsessed with money: how much does
it cost to run your blog? Is it just a cost, or does it generate some
revenue? And what’s your position on people monetizing personal blogs?
I pay about $200 biannually for my blog to be hosted. I rely entirely on
donations and a shared funding model where people financially sponsor my
hosts and otherwise to keep me online. I’m fully reader supported, and
the blog doesn’t make a profit. I’m not intending to sell people’s data
or have ads on my blog. That’s just a poor reader experience. I often
joke that if you want to take me offline, just stop donating to me,
because that will be the day I finally just let the blog go.
Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out?
And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next?
I highly recommend the podcast/blog Reid my Mind radio. I also think you
should check out Jonathan Mosen blog. I listen to more podcasts than I
read any particular blog, which is ironic because I have over 100 RSS
feeds, but I don’t have any particular blog recommendations. I do
recommend people read some fanfiction on Archive of Our Own, though!
Final question: is there anything you want to share with us?
Because I’m such a fiction podcast guru, I’d highly recommend checking
out the Fiction Podcast the Bright Sessions or the Two Princes. I’d also
suggest the best place, I think, to find fiction podcasts is
https://www.theend.fyi/ but I also
recommend watching any movie with audio description enabled and not
looking at the screen. You can find movies with audio description at
https://adp.acb.org/masterad.html
This was the 52nd edition of People and Blogs. Hope you enjoyed
this interview with Robert. Make sure to
follow his blog
(RSS) and get in touch
with him if you have any questions.
Awesome supporters
You can support this series on
Ko-Fi and all supporters
will be listed here as well as on the
official site of the
newsletter.
suggest a person to
interview next. I’m especially interested in people and blogs outside
the tech/web bubble.
<hr>
<p>Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:hello@manuelmoreale.com">Email me</a> ::
<a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/guestbook">Sign my guestbook</a> ::
<a href="https://ko-fi.com/manuelmoreale">Support for 1$/month</a> ::
<a href="https://manuelmoreale.com/supporters">See my awesome supporters</a> ::
<a href="https://buttondown.email/peopleandblogs">Subscribe to People and Blogs</a></p>
Book
note: Halbeisen & Krapf, Gödel’s Theorems and Zermelo’s Axioms
date: 2024-08-24, from: Logic Matters blog
A standard menu for a first mathematical logic course might be something
like this: (1) A treatment of the syntax and semantics of FOL,
presenting a proof system or two, leading up to a proof of a Gödel’s
completeness theorem (and then a glance at e.g. the compactness theorem
and some initial implications). (2) An […]
LEGO’s
Concorde is the only supersonic jet you can build for the price of a
fancy dinner
date: 2024-08-24, updated: 2024-08-24, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
And still step on in the dark
Hands-on Having admired the Concorde perched atop the
Sinsheim
Museum, we wanted one of our own but had to settle for the next best
thing – the LEGO® Concorde.…
UK
government can’t kick consultancy habit despite promises
date: 2024-08-24, updated: 2024-08-24, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Spending returns to pandemic levels as tech deals make up bulk of
framework agreements
UK public expenditure on management consultancies has returned to
COVID-era levels, despite repeated plans by the previous government to
reduce dependency on external expertise.…
We recently celebrated 30 years of marriage, and to mark this milestone,
we were blessed to enjoy a seven-day cruise in Alaska. Having been back
home for a couple of […]
It’s a fine weekend morning to be up in the saddle — pals o’ SClarita
lore and legend. What’s say we check out some vistas from yesteryear?
Be real careful […]
Robert
Lamoureux | Help! It’s hot and the electric bill is insane!
date: 2024-08-24, from: The Signal
Question: Robert, we are new to Santa Clarita (and California), and
though we knew the temperatures we’d be in, we certainly are not
comfortable in the home we are in. […]
North
Korea condemns new US nuclear strategic plan report
date: 2024-08-24, from: VOA News USA
Seoul, South Korea — North Korea vowed Saturday to advance its
nuclear capabilities, reacting to a report that the United States had
revised its own nuclear strategic plan.
The country will “bolster up its strategic strength in every way to
control and eliminate all sorts of security challenges that may result
from Washington’s revised plan,” the official Korean Central News Agency
(KCNA) reported.
The New York Times reported this week that a U.S. plan approved by
President Joe Biden in March was to prepare for possible coordinated
nuclear confrontations with Russia, China and North Korea.
The highly classified plan for the first time reorients Washington’s
deterrent strategy to focus on China’s rapid expansion in its nuclear
arsenal, the Times said.
KCNA said North Korea’s foreign ministry “expresses serious concern
over and bitterly denounces and rejects the behavior of the U.S.”
It added North Korea vowed to push forward the building of nuclear
force sufficient and reliable enough to firmly defend its
sovereignty.
Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies since North Korea’s founding
after World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia’s 2022
invasion of Ukraine.
The United States and Seoul have accused North Korea of providing
ammunition and missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine.
Pyongyang, which has declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear
weapons power, has described allegations of supplying weapons to Russia
as “absurd.”
However, it did thank Russia for using its United Nations veto in
March to effectively end monitoring of sanctions violations just as UN
experts were starting to probe alleged arms transfers.
China, also a key ally of North Korea, presents itself as a neutral
party in Russia’s offensive on Ukraine and says it is not sending lethal
assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western
nations.
But it is a close political and economic ally of Russia, and NATO
members have branded Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war.
Moscow has looked to Beijing as an economic lifeline since the
Ukraine conflict began, with the two boosting trade to record highs as
Russia faces heavy sanctions from the West.
Under
pressure from Europe, Apple makes iOS browser options bit more
reasonable
date: 2024-08-24, updated: 2024-08-24, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Cupertino quits screwing around with defaults – for those in the EU
Analysis Apple has agreed to change the way it
implements web browser choice screens and browser capabilities to comply
with Europe’s monopoly-busting Digital Markets Act.…
Archaeologists
in Virginia find colonial-era garden, clues about slaves who tended
it
date: 2024-08-24, from: VOA News USA
williamsburg, virginia — Archaeologists in Virginia are uncovering
one of colonial America’s most lavish displays of opulence: an
ornamental garden where a wealthy politician and enslaved gardeners grew
exotic plants from around the world.
Such plots dotted Britain’s colonies and served as status symbols for
the elite. They were the 18th-century equivalent of buying a
Lamborghini.
The garden in Williamsburg belonged to John Custis IV, a tobacco
plantation owner who served in Virginia’s colonial legislature. He is
perhaps best known as the first father-in-law of Martha Washington. She
married future U.S. President George Washington after Custis’ son Daniel
died.
Historians also have been intrigued by the elder Custis’ botanical
adventures, which were well-documented in letters and later in books.
And yet this excavation is as much about the people who cultivated the
land as it is about Custis.
“The garden may have been Custis’ vision, but he wasn’t the one doing
the work,” said Jack Gary, executive director of archaeology at Colonial
Williamsburg, a living history museum that now owns the property.
“Everything we see in the ground that’s related to the garden is the
work of enslaved gardeners, many of whom must have been very
skilled.”
Posts, paths
Archaeologists have pulled up fence posts that were 3 feet (1 meter)
thick and carved from red cedar. Gravel paths were uncovered, including
a large central walkway. Stains in the soil show where plants grew in
rows.
The dig also has unearthed a pierced coin that was typically worn as
a good-luck charm by young African Americans. Workers have also found
the shards of an earthenware chamber pot, or portable toilet, that
likely was used by people who were enslaved.
Animals appear to have been intentionally buried under some fence
posts. They included two chickens with their heads removed, as well as a
single cow’s foot. A snake without a skull was found in a shallow hole
that had likely contained a plant.
“We have to wonder if we’re seeing traditions that are non-European,”
Gary said. “Are they West African traditions? We need to do more
research. But it’s features like those that make us continue to try and
understand the enslaved people who were in this space.”
The museum tells the story of Virginia’s colonial capital through
interpreters and restored buildings on 300 acres (120 hectares), which
include parts of the original city. Founded in 1926, the museum did not
start telling stories about Black Americans until 1979, even though more
than half of the 2,000 people who lived there were Black, the majority
enslaved.
In recent years, the museum has boosted efforts to tell a more
complete story, while trying to attract more Black visitors. It plans to
reconstruct one of the nation’s oldest Black churches and is restoring
what is believed to be the country’s oldest surviving schoolhouse for
Black children.
There also are plans to re-create Custis’ Williamsburg home and
garden, known then as Custis Square. Unlike some historic gardens, the
restoration will be done without the benefit of surviving maps or
diagrams, relying instead on what Gary described as the most detailed
landscape archaeology effort in the museum’s history.
The garden disappeared after Custis’ death in 1749. But the dig has
determined it was about two-thirds the size of a football field, while
descriptions from the time refer to lead statues of Greek gods and
topiaries trimmed into balls and pyramids.
Correspondence with Briton
The garden’s legacy has lived on through Custis’ correspondence with
British botanist Peter Collinson, who traded plants with other
horticulturalists around the globe. From 1734 to 1746, Custis and
Collinson exchanged seeds and letters via merchant ships crossing the
Atlantic.
The men possibly introduced new plants to their respective
communities, said Eve Otmar, Colonial Williamsburg’s master of historic
gardening. For instance, Custis is believed to have made one of
Williamsburg’s earliest written mentions of growing tomatoes, known then
as “apples of love” and native to Mexico and Central and South
America.
Custis’ gardeners also planted strawberries, pistachios and almonds,
among 100 other imported plants. It’s not always clear from his letters
which were successful in the Virginia climate. A recent pollen analysis
of the soil indicates the past presence of stone fruits, such as peaches
and cherries, which weren’t a big surprise.
The garden existed at a time when European empires and slavery were
still expanding. Botanical gardens often were used for discovering new
cash crops that could enrich colonial powers.
But Custis’ garden was primarily about showing off his wealth. A
study of the area’s topography placed his garden in direct view of
Williamsburg’s only church house at the time. Everyone would have seen
the garden’s fence, but few were invited inside.
Exotic lily
Custis delighted his guests with the likes of the crown imperial
lily, which was native to the Middle East and parts of Asia, and boasted
clusters of drooping, bell-shaped flowers.
“In the 18th century, those were unusual things,” Otmar said. “Only
certain classes of people got to experience that. A wealthy person today
— they buy a Lamborghini.”
The museum is still trying to learn more about the people who worked
in the garden.
Crystal Castleberry, Colonial Williamsburg’s public archaeologist,
has met with descendants of the more than 200 people who were enslaved
by the Custis family on his various plantations. But there is too little
information in surviving documents to determine if an ancestor lived and
worked at Custis Square.
Two people, named Cornelia and Beck, were listed as property with the
Williamsburg estate after Daniel Custis died in 1757. But their names
prompt only more questions about who they were and what happened to
them.
“Are they related to one another?” Castleberry asked. “Do they fear
being split up or sold? Or are they going to be reunited with loved ones
on other properties?”
Florida
quietly removes LGBTQ+ travel info from state website
date: 2024-08-24, from: VOA News USA
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Key West, Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors and
St. Petersburg are among several Florida cities that have long been top
U.S. destinations for LGBTQ tourists. So it came as a surprise this week
when travelers learned that Florida’s tourism marketing agency quietly
removed the “LGBTQ Travel” section from its website sometime in the past
few months.
Business owners who cater to Florida’s LGBTQ tourists said Wednesday
that it marked the latest attempt by officials in the state to erase the
LGBTQ community. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis previously championed a
bill to forbid classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender
identity, and supported a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, as
well as a law meant to keep children out of drag shows.
“It’s just disgusting to see this,” said Keith Blackburn, who heads
the Greater Fort Lauderdale LGBT Chamber of Commerce. “They seem to want
to erase us.”
The change to Visit Florida’s website was first reported by NBC News,
which noted a search query still pulls up some listings for
LGBTQ-friendly places despite the elimination of the section.
John Lai, who chairs Visit Florida’s board, didn’t respond to an
email seeking comment Tuesday. Dana Young, Visit Florida’s CEO and
president, didn’t respond to a voicemail message Wednesday, and neither
did the agency’s public relations director.
Visit Florida is a public-private partnership between the state of
Florida and the state’s tourism industry. The state contributes about
$50 million each year to the quasi-public agency from two tourism and
economic development funds.
Florida is one of the most popular states in the U.S. for tourists,
and tourism is one of its biggest industries. Nearly 141 million
tourists visited Florida in 2023, with out-of-state visitors
contributing more than $102 billion to Florida’s economy.
Before the change, the LGBTQ section on Visit Florida’s website had
read, “There’s a sense of freedom to Florida’s beaches, the warm weather
and the myriad activities — a draw for people of all orientations, but
especially appealing to a gay community looking for a sense of belonging
and acceptance.”
Blackburn said the change and other anti-LGBTQ policies out of
Tallahassee make it more difficult for him to promote South Florida
tourism since he encounters prospective travelers or travel promoters
who say they don’t want to do business in the state.
Last year, for instance, several civil rights groups issued a travel
advisory for Florida, saying that policies championed by DeSantis and
Florida lawmakers are “openly hostile toward African Americans, people
of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.”
But visitors should also understand that many Florida cities are
extremely inclusive, with gay elected officials and LGBTQ-owned
businesses, and they don’t reflect the policies coming from state
government, Blackburn added.
“It’s difficult when these kinds of stories come out, and the state
does these things, and we hear people calling for a boycott,” Blackburn
said. “On one level, it’s embarrassing to have to explain why people
should come to South Florida and our destination when the state is doing
these things.”
Canyon
football drops opener on the road at Charter Oak
date: 2024-08-24, from: The Signal
Canyon Cowboys football got off to a slow start Friday night and
couldn’t get out of a hole as the Charter Oak Chargers won the season
opener at home, 44-6. […]
The run game, solid tackling and a ferocious pass rush lifted Golden
Valley Grizzlies football to victory in its season opener against the
Westlake Warriors. Golden Valley never trailed in […]
By Jonathan Andrade For The Signal The Valencia Vikings gambled for
glory in Friday night’s season opener, but lady luck turned a blind
eye. Down a point in the fourth […]
Sidelined
at the DNC, pro-Palestinian Democrats still see progress
date: 2024-08-24, from: VOA News USA
Chicago — Hundreds of pro-Palestinian delegates were sidelined at the
Democratic National Convention that ended with Vice President Kamala
Harris reaffirming her support for Israel.
“The people of Israel must never again face the horror that a
terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7,” she said in
her speech accepting the party’s presidential nomination Thursday
evening.
As anti-war protesters filled the streets throughout the week, 270
pro-Palestinian Democrats calling themselves “cease-fire delegates”
signed a petition demanding Harris, if she’s elected, enact an arms
embargo on Israel.
The unheeded petition was pushed by leaders of the “Uncommitted”
movement, which garnered hundreds of thousands of votes in Democratic
primaries across the nation.
These delegates staged a sit-in outside Chicago’s United Center, the
convention’s venue, to protest the Democratic National Committee, who
denied a speaking request for Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric doctor who
treats wounded children in Gaza.
The DNC, according to Uncommitted National Movement spokesperson
Layla Elabed, didn’t want Harris to be “overshadowed.”
Asked by VOA for a reaction to Elabed’s claim, the Harris campaign
said, “There have been a number of speakers who have spoken about the
war in Gaza and the need to secure a cease-fire and hostage deal.”
Uncommitted delegates
Elabed spoke to VOA on behalf of the 30 “Uncommitted” delegates who
voted present in the nomination roll call. That’s less than 1% of the
roughly 4,700 delegates who voted for Harris.
The pro-Palestinian group, however, was given a speaking opportunity
Monday in a panel event outside of the convention.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Muslim sympathetic to the
Palestinian cause who spoke on the panel, was given time at the
convention main stage on Wednesday. However, he did not mention Gaza in
his speech.
The war in Gaza is “not the topic that I would decide” to speak
about, Ellison told VOA before his speech, indicating that pragmatism is
key to affect change within the party.
“I’m not one of those people who believe that we vote for perfection.
What we vote for is conversation,” he said.
Party platform supports Israel
As the convention kicked off, Democrats voted to adopt the party’s
platform that recommitted support for Israel, a cease-fire for hostage
release deal and the two-state solution.
Pro-Palestinian delegates tried to include language backing
enforcement of laws that ban giving military aid to individuals or
security forces that commit gross violations of human rights.
“What we are asking is that our tax dollars not be used to kill men,
women and children. This is not a controversial demand and is actually
more aligned with our Democratic values,” Elabed said.
Compared to Biden, Harris appears to offer more sympathy for
Palestinian suffering, repeating Thursday of the “devastating” situation
in Gaza over the past 10 months.”
“So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for
safety, over and over again,” she said in her convention speech. “The
scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”
But policy-wise she signaled continuity from the current
administration.
“President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel
is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and
the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security,
freedom and self-determination,” she said in her speech to thunderous
applause.
Harris’ current and former aides say her Israel policy is unlikely to
diverge from President Joe Biden. Halie Soifer, national security
adviser to Harris while she was in the Senate, said that the vice
president has always been a “strong supporter of the U.S.-Israel
relationship,” while upholding humanitarian values.
“She does not want to see the suffering of innocent civilians, nor do
the vast majority of Americans and Jewish Americans,” said Soifer, who
is now CEO of Jewish Democratic Council of America.
“We don’t have to view it through binary lens,” she told VOA. “We
support both.”
Not discouraged
Uncommitted delegates say they’re not discouraged.
Inga Gibson, a delegate from Hawaii, a state where seven out of 31
delegates are uncommitted, said she has made “tremendous progress” with
her fellow delegates.
“I found that a lot of people are really with us on this issue, but
they don’t know where to begin or how to get involved,” she told
VOA.
She and other uncommitted delegates gave out keffiyehs, “Democrats
for Gaza” flyers and “No More Bombs” pins. The pro-Palestinian symbols
are emblematic of a key area of disagreement among Democrats – how much
support to give to Israel.
Pro-Israel delegates say it should not create division within the
party.
“We can all do better to try to understand the complications of the
conflict,” Andrew Lachman, a delegate from California told VOA. “We’re
all concerned about the civilians of Gaza, but we’re also concerned
about the people of Israel and their safety and security.”
Polls show an increasing number of Americans want their leaders to
reduce support for Israel. Some say Harris missed an opportunity.
As a former prosecutor, Harris can and should strictly enforce laws
and suspend weapons even to allies who violate international or U.S.
law, said Nancy Okail, president and CEO of the Center for International
Policy, a left-leaning think tank.
“She could make clear this doesn’t just apply to their misuse by
Israel to cause disproportionate civilian harm in Gaza, but to their
misuse by Netanyahu’s extremist government to dispossess and abuse
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” she told VOA.
Turning protest into agenda
Scholars of social movements say it takes time and work to turn
protests into a political agenda. Elisabeth Clemens, a sociologist from
the University of Chicago, said that includes building coalitions,
negotiating and compromising.
“Finding a way forward that almost never gets all the way to where
the protesters hoped it would get but is nevertheless an important
change,” she told VOA.
And on an issue as complicated as the Middle East peace process,
there are different pressures exerted on multiple sides.
“American domestic politics only garners a slice of that,” she
said.
Elabed said they’re in for the long game.
“Our strategy is not to abandon the Democratic Party, but to
essentially revolutionize the Democratic Party and listen to its core
base.”
For now, the vice president is their best bet.
“I don’t care what you think, you need to win to have power,” Ellison
said. “Harris, the numbers are up everywhere. The chances for success
are higher.”
The temperatures soared over 100ºF and the yard is dead and everything
smells roasted. But the ten day forecast shows a ten degree dip and that
is cause for celebration. Another school year has started. My son has
started middle school and my daughter is now in third grade. It’s
shocking how fast life goes. And on the workfront, the pace is picking
up now that everyone has come back from summer vacation.
A lot has transpired since the previous vibe check (vacations, new pets,
rock shows). To start it off, my family escaped the heat and went to San
Diego (as is the custom) for one good week and one awful week…
San Diego: The First Good Week
We flew out to Phoenix to join up with my wife’s family and caravan out
to San Diego. We had a family dinner the night before and got to see my
one year old grandnephew for the first time in a long while. He’s a
sweet kid but does not want his Granduncle Dave holding him yet.
The next day we loaded up the beach gear and drove to a resort in
Mission Beach in San Diego for a four day stay. We had a great time with
my wife’s family letting the cousins run loose while grown-ups played
tennis, pickleball, and I played my annual round of golf with my male
in-laws. After four days of big family time we scooted up to Encinitas
to stay for two nights with our Austin friends whose summer rental had a
guest house.
Encinitas was super charming. We stayed near
Beacons
Beach which is one of those cool beaches at the bottom of a
cliffside. We beached pretty hard. My daughter and her oldest bestie
pranced up and down the shoreline for hours and she even learned to
surf. The contrast between Mission and Encinitas couldn’t be more stark.
The trip could have ended there and would have been one of the best
vacations in the books. But we weren’t done! We planned to extend the
trip with a one-week rental in Mission Bay.
San Diego: The Second Awful Week
The minute we checked into our beachside rental the whole vibe shifted.
From tranquil Encinitas to getting blasted with the sounds (and smells)
of Mission Beach. Honking, motorcycles, bottles clanking, fighting,
garbage trucks, neighbors blasting bad music, and smells drifting up
from the alleyway. It felt like going from a yoga retreat to a frat
house. Then it got worse. That night our daughter said she didn’t feel
well and the next day my wife started going downhill.
A week of beach fun turned into spending thousands of dollars to be sick
inside a beach-adjacent summer rental watching SpongeBob Squarepants on
repeat. After three urgent care visits over two days the sick members of
our party had the required antibiotics to start feeling better. The next
day, we went home.
And –as if it couldn’t get any better– I got COVID on the plane ride
back. Ughck.
We adopted two new pups
Laneige (aka “Laney”) - A black lab mix with one brown eye and one blue
eye. She’s an attention thief who is not shy about demanding pets.
Rosebud - A lab mix with expressive pointy ears and two blue eyes (some
heeler in there?). She’s the more anxious of the two, but once
befriended will roll over for belly rubs.
Our kids have been asking for a new dog for over a year. Every day this
summer I’d step into the house and my daughter would spin a laptop
around to show me the new dogs she found on
the Austin Pets Alive!
website. She even wrote a song to try to convince me to get a dog.
🥺 They were dead set on a pup named “Laneige” (named by the shelter
after a Korean lip balm).
After dropping the kids off at grandma’s house for a long weekend, we
set our plan into action: adopt a dog and surprise the kids. But our
plans changed when the shelter brought out Laneige’s sister Rosebud
(also named after a lip balm) to our meet and greet. Her pointy ears and
blue eyes were too cute. We tend to play it more conservative when it
comes to big life choices but we decided to go full stupid for once and
surprise the kids with not one dog, but two dogs!
Names may change and we daily ask ourselves “Did we overdo it?” but
generally we’re happy with the new additions.
A year ago Brad Frost called my wife and I to share a wild idea for his
40th birthday party: get all his musician friends from all over the
world together on one stage for one night of rocking out. Over the
course of the next year we picked songs, learned parts, recorded tracks,
hoping –but never knowing– how it would all turn out when we assembled
in Pittsburgh for one night of rock.
It. Was. Phenomenal.
Nothing could have prepared me for the blast from the five piece horn
section. It sounded perfect. It felt big. Dozens of people on stage
playing together for the first time, but you wouldn’t know it. Music
–good music– filling the halls of an old church. I’m a foot away from a
bass guitar amp but I can’t hear the bass because there’s so much music
happening. In the crowd I see people listening to my wife sing –they’re
singing along– and it takes me back to when I first heard her sing at a
karaoke bar in Los Angeles when I fell in love with her.
Photo from Brad Frost
Outside the main event, it felt good to put kindling on some
friendships. I got to see Chris,
which is always pleasant to see the one person I’m guaranteed to have an
hour long conversation every week.
Zach & Danh (my co-hosts
from Aside Quest) flew
up on the same flight. But I got to see and chat with new and old
friends as well; Ian,
Dan,
Ben,
Phil,
Mike,
Jina,
Burton,
Adekunle,
Kevin,
Brian,
Scott,
Josh, Veronika,
Ryan,
Joshua,
Jeff &
Jenn &
Arlo,
Jeremy & Jessica,
Daniel & Jessi,
Rebecca & Ryan, and
countless more folks. Since the US web development conference scene has
more or less imploded since the pandemic, this felt a bit like a family
reunion with some of my favorite people from around the world.
In the end,
Frostapalooza was a
magical night celebrating the power of music and friendship. It feels a
bit like a dream now and when I explain it to people my words fall
short. An ephemeral joyous moment and I have no idea if I’ll do anything
like that in my life again. That’s special. The biggest thanks to Brad,
Melissa, and Ella who sacrificed a lot of time, money, and life-force to
pull it off.
The stats, o the stats.
Okay, quantifiers. Calm down. Here’s your beefsteak of itemized inputs
and outputs.
🧠 Learning
When I got sick I did a deep dive in playing with
Obsidian and building a vault. I’m
still on Notion (for now) but the jump is less intimidating. I like the
indie/privacy angle of Obsidian a lot but from a UX perspective it feels
“finicky” when mousing over content in a way that Notion doesn’t. The
level of customization is also nicer in Obsidian, but also a potential
endless rabbit hole for my distracted brain. Moving my “second brain” is
not a task I want to take lightly.
Watching countless Obsidian videos exposed me to a new organization
system: August
Bradley’s “Pillars, Pipelines, and Vaults” (PPV) system. I’m not
ready to ditch
my
Notion PARA setup, but the idea PPV introduces that I’m gravitating
towards is that my brain is a system of “Inputs” (links, books, and
notes vaults) and “Outputs” (blog posts, side projects, and task
pipelines) and those exist across “Areas” (pillars) in my life. Inputs
need organization (e.g. folders and/or tags) and outputs need a process
(e.g. a
kanban). I think Obsidian fits this paradigm better than Notion.
📖 Reading
Not my best summer of reading but I’m enjoying the slower pace.
Finished
Like, Comment, Subscribe by Mark
Bergen - The history of YouTube. A great look into how this product
which changed the world evolved (and also failed to evolve).
Read Write Own by Chris Dixon - On
a recommendation I read a book about crypto. Shockingly, I didn’t
disagree with much here… except that crypto is the solution to the
problems outlined in the book. He spent chapters pitching ideas that
crypto could solve (decentralized social networks, carrying over video
game assets, etc) and those have since been debunked. There’s
still no job that crypto does better than a database.
Ultimately I think it’s a question of “Who benefits?” when it comes to
this technology and I think the answer is: the people who already own a
lot of it.
Humankind by Rutger Bregman - I’ve read this book before but it’s a
pleasant little dose of positivity. Are we humans that trample each
other while leaving a burning plane? Or are we humans that help each
other get off the plane? The answer might surprise you.
Slow Productivity by Cal Newport - I liked this book better than the
last but I think it suffers from the same problems all his books do…
he’s shielded by academia and not that busy of a person. I laughed out
loud when he used Jane Austen as an example of Slow Productivity
(paraphrasing) “After her father sold the farm and the school and they
moved to a beach town, she was able to slow down.” Like, yeah dude, I
could slow down too if my dad retired and sold the literal farm.
Goldenboy (1995) - Full of fan service but has a main character that
flips the genre on its head a bit.
Mob Psycho 100 S2 (2019) - Mob is at it again. Such a weird, fun series.
Gundam Breaker Battlogue (2021) - A short web series to promote a new
line of Gundam models. Not my favorite “Builder” series nor is it my
favorite line of Gundam models. Battlogue on all fronts feels rushed and
cheap.
🧶 Crafts
Tamiya Mini 4WD Blast
Arrow Starter Pack - I got into watching min-cars race around a
track. I bought one for me and one for my son. I finished mine. My son
didn’t finish his. But we don’t have a track to race on… so I either
need to pony up cash or figure out another way to race.
🤖 Gunpla
I built the
Perfect Grade
Unleashed RX-78-2 Gundam - The granddaddy of all granddaddies. This
was an incredible build start to finish. I stalled out for two weeks
over adhering some metal etching parts but I tried out different glues
and cements and ended up using a
Scotch
Restickable Glue Stick (the same glue for Post-it Notes) and it
worked great.
From the inner frame to the outer shell of the body armor, this model is
jaw dropping. It has heft, but not too heavy. It poses but feels sturdy.
Bandai nestled in gimmicks everywhere but also so subtle you’d never
know they were there from a distance. I need to finish putting on all
the stickers, but it’s already so incredible to look at that I fear
over-decorating.
⌨️ Open source
Nothing official. Except for my job I guess which is technically open
source.
Santa
Barbara Police Arrest Convicted Felon Found Trespassing on La Colina
Junior High Campus, Approaching Students
date: 2024-08-24, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Suspect Teon Tondale West, 31, was booked on felony charges of
threatening a crime with intent to terrorize and possessing a weapon
near a school, as well as misdemeanor charges of loitering, disrupting
school activities, fighting in a public place, and annoying a victim
under 18.
Sidelined
at their party’s convention, pro-Palestinian Democrats play the long
game
date: 2024-08-24, from: VOA News USA
Vice President Kamala Harris reaffirmed support for Israel in her
Democratic National Convention acceptance speech. Pro-Palestinian
delegates say they will push to condition U.S. military aid to Israel.
White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports from the convention
in Chicago, Illinois.
RFK
Jr. suspends presidential campaign, endorses Trump
date: 2024-08-23, from: VOA News USA
washington — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent U.S. presidential
candidate with a famous political pedigree but whose bid was
overshadowed by a brain worm and a dead bear, has announced the
suspension of his campaign, endorsing the Republican Party’s nominee,
former President Donald Trump.
“In my heart, I no longer believe I have a realistic path to an
electoral victory,” Kennedy told a group of reporters and supporters in
Phoenix. “I am not terminating my campaign. I am simply suspending it,”
he added, explaining he did not want to help Vice President Kamala
Harris, the Democratic Party nominee.
In 10 states where he could be a spoiler, Kennedy said he would have
his name removed, but it would stay on the ballot in others where he
said supporters could safely vote for him without risk of aiding the
Democrats.
Kennedy on Thursday filed paperwork withdrawing from the ballot in
Arizona, one of the swing states likely to determine the outcome of
November’s presidential election.
“My joining the Trump campaign will be a difficult sacrifice,”
Kennedy said in Phoenix, adding it would be worthwhile if he gets a
chance in a Republican administration to end what he contends is a wave
of chronic diseases among America’s children.
“In an honest system, I believe I would have won the election,” said
Kennedy, alleging that the mainstream media censored him while the
Democratic Party thwarted his access to the ballot in numerous
states.
He said Trump’s promise to negotiate an end to Russia’s war on
Ukraine “alone would justify my support for his campaign.”
Kennedy stepped off the podium after 50 minutes, taking no
questions.
He appeared later in the day at a Trump rally in neighboring
Glendale.
“For the past 16 months, Bobby has run an extraordinary campaign for
president of the United States,” said Trump. “I know because he also
went after me a couple of times.”
Famous name
A 70-year-old environmental lawyer, Kennedy labeled himself a
political outsider despite his lineage. He entered the presidential race
as a longshot Democratic Party candidate before dropping that bid last
October and announcing he would mount an independent campaign.
With a surname almost synonymous with the Democratic Party (he is the
nephew of President John. F. Kennedy and son of former U.S. Attorney
General Robert F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated in the 1960s),
RFK Jr. began his campaign polling in the low double digits in some
states.
Trump, at Friday evening’s political event, said if he gets back in
the White House, he will appoint an independent commission on
assassination attempts and release all government documents related to
the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy.
Siblings of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are decrying their brother’s
endorsement of Trump.
Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of
the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad
end to a sad story,” Kerry Kennedy wrote in a statement along with three
of her sisters and two of her brothers.
The extended Kennedy family had earlier expressed embarrassment and
denounced their relative’s campaign after he dropped out of the
Democratic Party, choosing instead to support the reelection of
President Joe Biden, who dropped out of the race and was replaced by
Harris last month.
The shakeup in the Democrats’ lineup further eroded support for
Kennedy, who had benefited from those unenthused about a rematch of the
2020 election between Biden and Trump.
“The more voters learned about RFK Jr. the less they liked him.
Donald Trump isn’t earning an endorsement that’s going to help build
support, he’s inheriting the baggage of a failed fringe candidate. Good
riddance,” said Democratic National Committee senior adviser Mary Beth
Cahill in a statement following Kennedy’s announcement.
Fringe appeal
Kennedy, labeled a conspiracy theorist by his critics, appealed to
some anti-establishment voters attracted by his contrarian foreign
policy and long-standing campaign against vaccines. But he faced
mainstream disdain and even ridicule.
In May, Kennedy said a “brain fog” he suffered a decade ago was
caused by a parasitic worm that had eaten part of his brain.
Kennedy more recently was the target of late-night TV comedians and
social media satire after he revealed that he had dumped a dead bear cub
in New York City’s Central Park in 2014 as a prank.
A magazine article in July alleged Kennedy had molested a family
babysitter decades ago. Asked about the allegation on a podcast, he said
he was “not a church boy” and had “many skeletons” in his closet.
“Third-party candidates often lose steam as the election approaches,
but Kennedy’s trajectory has been particularly ignominious,” said Nate
Silver, a statistician and prominent election forecaster, in a Substack
posting on Thursday.
“In three-way polls against Biden and Trump, he initially polled at
10 or 11 percent, then gradually faded to 8 (save for a bounce just
after Biden’s awful debate). In the Trump-Harris matchup, though, he’s
dropped to about 4 percent.”
Trump has offered to “enlist” him in a second administration, Kennedy
said on Friday.
Trump, the previous day, acknowledged he had spoken with Kennedy
several times but not recently.
Trump told CNN Tuesday that he would “be open” to Kennedy playing a
part in his administration if Kennedy dropped his presidential bid and
endorsed the Republican nominee.
Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, suggested in an interview
Tuesday that Kennedy would do “an incredible job” as the secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy has claimed that agencies under HHS, such as the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the
National Institutes of Health, have been captured by corporate
interests, making them predators on the American public.
“I love the idea of giving him some sort of role in some sort of
major three-letter entity or whatever it may be and let him blow it up,”
the Republican nominee’s son, Donald Trump Jr., told a conservative
radio talk show on Wednesday.
‘Spoiler’ for MAGA?
Democratic National Committee adviser Ramsey Reid argued in a memo
released Friday that Kennedy’s role from the beginning had been to serve
as a “spoiler” who would help Trump by drawing votes away from the
Democratic candidate.
“He was recruited into the race by MAGA Republicans like Steve
Bannon, his candidacy was propped up by Trump’s largest donor, and he
parroted MAGA attacks on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala
Harris,” Reid said.
On Thursday, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, some
delegates looked forward to Kennedy’s withdrawal from the race.
Montana delegate Mary Jo O’Rourke, whose father worked for RFK Jr.’s
father in the Justice Department, told VOA she is a devotee of the
Kennedy family, but it is time for the former Democrat “to go home and
enjoy the rest of his life.”
Kennedy had initially been viewed as siphoning more votes from Biden
than Trump, but recent polls indicated he was appearing to attract more
voters who would otherwise be inclined to cast a ballot for the
Republican nominee.
Of those who supported Kennedy in July, 4 in 10 shifted to Harris
(compared with 2 in 10 who switched to Trump), according to Pew Research
Center polling released last week.
Most voters, as the election day approaches, “go back to their
parties. They’re not looking for an independent candidate. They’re
looking to vote for one of the two likely winners,” John Fortier, a
senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told VOA.
In a tight election in the half dozen or so swing states that will
tip the balance of the electoral vote count, the presence or absence of
a third party or independent candidate on the ballot could determine the
overall outcome.
The victor of the U.S. presidential race must win 270 electoral
votes, with each state’s allocation equal to the number of senators and
representatives it has in the Congress. It is possible for a candidate
to receive the most total votes but lose the electoral vote count and
thus the presidency.
Kennedy told reporters on Friday he could still win if the Electoral
College vote for Trump and Harris ends up tied at 269. In that case,
members of the new Congress would select the president in early
January.
Kim Lewis, Katherine Gypson in Chicago and Carolyn Presutti in
Phoenix contributed to this story.
Many students across the Los Angeles County Fifth District went back
to school this week. For parents, teachers, school staff and
administrators and nonprofit organizations, that means gathering all the
resources you can to ensure youth succeed this school year.
Join WeDoTransformations SCV Fit for a positive and fun community
workout, Sunday, Sept. 8, 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. at The Rebel Fitness Camp,
26320 Diamond Place Ste. 140/150 Santa Clarita,
Oct. 26:
Abracadabra After Dark at Sand Canyon Country Club
date: 2024-08-23, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Prepare to be spellbound at Abracadabra After Dark dinner and show
experience on Saturday, Oct. 26 with an enchanting evening of magic and
mystery at the Sand Canyon Country Club.
A one day IndieWebCamp Portland 2024 is planned for August 25th, the day
after the XOXO conference and festival! We’re gathering around a large
8-person table (or two or more) at the Grand Stark Study Hall Meeting
Room on the first floor for IndieWeb discussions sessions,
creating/hacking time, and demos! Doors open at 8am, breakout sessions
at 10am, demos at 4pm, camp cleanup 5pm.
Chris Funderburg (photo) Pronouns: He/Him Chris Funderburg is a GenX
British Texan living in Newbury, England, and he makes a living as a
freelance cloud architect / DevOps engineer / Platform engineer.
https://chris.funderburg.me/ Contact: chris@funderburg.me
Created by Chris.funderburg.me on Monday and edited 3 more times
Addressing
the National Security Risks of Bulk Data in the Age of AI
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: RAND blog
There is an urgent need for a more nuanced and empirically grounded
approach to data regulation, one that recognizes how seemingly innocuous
data points can, when amassed in large quantities, pose substantial
risks to national security.
Feds,
US states sue RealPage for building rent-hiking software for
landlords
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Algorithm just a fancy way to collude using private info, prosecutors
say
The Justice Department and the Attorneys General of eight states in the
US on Friday filed a civil antitrust complaint against real estate
service firm RealPage for providing landlords with software that
maximizes rent at the expense of renters.…
According to a survey last year, less than 50% of appliances that are
internet-capable ever get connected. When I talk to manufacturers, I
often hear even worse numbers, sometimes below 30%! Despite many years
and billions of dollars of investment into the “Internet of Things”,
this lack of adoption makes it clear that even if […]
Groundbreaking
Mission Will Attempt the First Private Astronaut Spacewalk Next
Week
date: 2024-08-23, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Polaris Dawn is set to be the farthest humans have traveled from
Earth since the Apollo program and will test new technology in a
“radiation belt” surrounding our planet
SCV
Represented in The Valley 200 ‘Most Influential’ List
date: 2024-08-23, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Los Angeles Business Journal Inside the Valley 200 list, which
represents influential business and community leaders from the Santa
Clarita, San Fernando, Simi, Antelope and Conejo valleys, includes more
than a dozen familiar names from the Santa Clarita Valley
Aug. 27:
City Council to Discuss Promenade Flats, Wiley Canyon
date: 2024-08-23, from: SCV New (TV Station)
The Santa Clarita City Council will hold a regular meeting on
Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 6 p.m. The council will meet at City Hall, City
Council Chambers, 23920 Valencia Blvd., First Floor, Santa Clarita,
CA
A while ago,
@enfors said he wanted
his sandbox generator supplement to have something special. I wasn’t
exactly sure what he was thinking of, but I started thinking about the
things that I feel are under-explored.
A while ago, for example, I wondered: What would be the simplest game
that emphasises how many friends you make, that rewards the size of the
community you build? Back in 2016 I wrote a game called
Best Friends that I never
used. It was still an
adventure game. Basically, replace your “level” with the number of
friends you have. Something like that.
But that still doesn’t get into really new territory. Something I would
like to see is a system for how to run an intrigue as a party –
including everybody at the table, for all the classes and skill
profiles. I feel that A Song of Ice and Fire attempted to do
this but the result wasn’t great, at least at my table.
Quoting my past self:
I’m also not too happy with A Song of Ice and Fire. We’ve only played
three times, so I’m willing to give it more time. When I ran one of the
sessions I basically split the party to the max since since all
characters are so diverse. There is no D&D like party and that also
requires me to rethink my adventure design. –
2010-04-08 Spring
I can always switch into a movie director stance, go around the table,
point at players, “now you!” and after a bit when the exchange happened
and a die was maybe cast, “as we wait for that, we cut to…” and soon
enough “in the mean time…” – and I do this aggressively, in small time
slots. This results in a somewhat military style of pointing at people
to let them know that now is their turn, while simultaneously waving at
others to hold their thoughts, or maybe cutting talkative players off
when they’re running too long. It’s weird, but when there’s a lot of
players, or when there’s no party play to return to, it works well
enough. We’ve made these kinds of mistakes in games where there are
characters that are well suited for fighting and others that are not,
with their players trying to solve problems by fighting, and players do
not. This happened to me when I ran a one-shot of A Song of Ice and
Fire. It worked for a session, but it was exhausting and I don’t
want to claim that it’s a good solution. It was simply a short term
solution that worked, for me. Next time, however, make sure players
create characters that will adventure together. –
2021-02-27 Cohesion
Perhaps the split into combat and intrigue that the game introduced
wasn’t good game design because it made sense from the perspective of
emulating the books but it didn’t make sense from the perspective of
some people wanting to play a game together. Or maybe it just didn’t fit
my expectations of what it means to play together. Or maybe we just
missed the implied recommendation to focus on either combat or intrigue
and everybody having two characters, one for each domain. Or maybe just
run either a combat campaign or an intrigue campaign.
So what I’m looking for is a way to get intrigue results, using
procedures like we do for combat or exploration, for dungeons or the
wilderness. The goal is to bring about a change in leadership of a town,
a gang, a castle, an army unit, or to succeed in an act of sabotage, to
incite a rebellion – things that are either hand-waved or the party is
hired for the dirty work while the non-player characters are the
politicians and rabble-rousers. I know this can work. It’s OK for the
party to do the dirty work, to assassinate a tyrant and the non-player
characters then taking the throne and similar things, but I want to go
further. I want to involve all the players at the table. I want the
players to think about the logistics of war, the organising and
preparations of revolutions, the intricacies of marriage politics.
What if B/X D&D went levels 1–3 is for dungeons, 4–6 is for the
wilderness and 7–9 is for politics. Doesn’t that sound
fantastic? What sort of rules would you find in that third book? You
would not get to name level by being a colonizer and clearing the land
but by taking over an existing position of power – through intrigue.
Oust the abbot, kick out the bishop, marry into the baron’s family, take
over the guild. With the help of your friends. Without resorting to
combat, but with dice rolling.
2024-08-20. I find that urban adventures suffer from
the same problem. If it’s just two or three buildings and those act like
dungeons, my games work. If it’s just social encounters that can be
resolved with reaction rolls, my games work. But everything else in an
urban environment seems to be politics, to me. And I have no good
procedures to resolve those. So if anybody reading this is thinking
about writing a blog post on the topic, I’d love to read it.
2024-08-23. I had forgotten about
2023-11-19 Campaign building
blocks but I’d love starting with a list like that. Lists of
dangers, lists of means, lists of procedures, lists of goals.
Benchmarks
show even an old Nvidia RTX 3090 is enough to serve LLMs to
thousands
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
For 100 concurrent users, the card delivered 12.88 tokens per
second—just slightly faster than average human reading speed
If you want to scale a large language model (LLM) to a few thousand
users, you might think a beefy enterprise GPU is a hard requirement.
However, at least according to Backprop, all you actually need is a
four-year-old graphics card.…
MINISFORUM
AtomMan G7 TI mini PC combines NVIDIA RTX 4070 graphics with up to an
Intel Core i9-14900HX processor
date: 2024-08-23, from: Liliputing
Chinese mini PC maker MINISFORUM is expanding its line of compact gaming
desktops with the new MINISFORUM AtomMan G7 Ti. It’s basically a small
desktop computer with the guts of a decent gaming laptop, including
support for up to a 55-watt, 24-core, 32-thread Intel Core i9-14900HX
Raptor Lake processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 mobile graphics. […]
AOOSTAR
launches a 4-bay SSD enclosure with OCuLink and USB4 ports
date: 2024-08-23, from: Liliputing
A growing number of companies have introduced external graphics docks
that use an OCuLink connector for a faster-than-Thunderbolt 3 connection
between an eGPU and a PC. AOOSTAR’s TB4S-OC is an OCuLink-equipped
accessory that does something a little different. Instead of a graphics
card, it houses four M.2 slots with support for up to 32TB of […]
Are clean energy developers finally free from high interest rates? Not
yet, but this might be the beginning of the end. At the Federal
Reserve’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Fed chair Jerome Powell
told attendees, “The time has come for policy to adjust.”
Analysts and market participants immediately appeared to interpret this
as locking in a series of interest rate cuts starting at the next
Federal Open Market Committee meeting next month. Stocks immediately
rose and yields on U.S. government debt fell. Market prognosticators
expect
the federal funds rate to fall a quarter of a percentage point at the
September meeting, but there’s a reasonable chance the cut would be
larger.
The renewable energy industry — or at least its share prices — got in on
the party. Shares of NextEra, which has a massive renewables business,
rose following the speech. The stock price of Iberdrola, the Spanish
utility with a large wind business, rose after text of the speech was
released. The iShares Global Clean Energy ETF, which tracks a range of
clean energy companies, is up more than 2.5% today. (No such luck for GE
Vernova, which manufactures wind turbines —
its
shares fell today after another turbine blade failure at the
Dogger Bank wind farm off the coast of England, coming barely a month
after a blade manufacturing defect led to the
Vineyard
Wind disaster.)
Renewables investors are particularly giddy at the moment because
for
years now, the industry has disproportionately suffered the effects
of high interest rates compared to fossil fuels. Unlike a natural gas-
or coal-fired power plant, a wind turbine or a solar panel does not have
to pay for its fuel. In the long term that’s a win, because there is no
such thing as a wind pipeline rupture or the discovery of new reserves
of sun, and therefore nothing that can send prices reeling. But in the
short term, that means the lifetime cost of a solar or wind farm is
heavily weighted towards building it.
And to build, you need to borrow money.
“Wind and solar have taken a beating from high interest rates because
they’re very capital intensive projects,” Lori Bird, director of the
World Resources Institute’s U.S. Energy Program, told me. “Because
they’re capital intensive, a 2 percentage point increase in interest
rates yields a 20% increase in the cost of electricity, compared to 11%
from fossil,” Bird said,
citing
estimates from Wood Mackenzie.
Developers take out construction loans to build their projects and then
pay those back with a term loan that covers the life of the project,
explained Advait Arun, senior associate of energy finance at the Center
for Public Enterprise (and also a Heatmap contributor).
“If you’re a developer who’s going through the construction process
right now, your construction loan is probably floating-rate, so the
amount of of interest you’re paying on your construction loan will
fall,” Arun said. After you’re done building, you get another loan to
pay off the construction loan, and that loan can be smaller if your
construction loan gets cheaper thanks to lower rates.
These longer-term loans are paid back from the project’s revenues over
the life span of the project, which means that the developer or investor
will not have to earn as much from selling the electricity to cover the
cost of their debt.
Alongside the supply chain issues and inflation that developers —
especially offshore wind developers — had to deal with over the last few
years, high interest rates have led to higher costs for the power that
renewables developers sell. The price of power purchase agreements for
wind and solar rose in 2023,
thanks,
in part, to high rates, and only stabilized early this year as
investors became convinced that cuts were finally close.
But whether these lower financing costs turn into higher profits or
lower prices for electricity consumers is, unfortunately, not a sure
thing — which is one reason why the industry’s shareholders may have
responded positively to Powell’s speech.
“I think profit expectations will rise,” Arun said. “If there’s less
money you need to pay in debt service, it doesn’t mean developers will
pass on price savings.”
US
will send $125M in new military aid to Ukraine, say officials
date: 2024-08-23, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will send about $125 million in
new military aid to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Thursday, even as
Washington works to get a better understanding of Kyiv’s incursion into
Russia and how it advances the broader battlefield goals more than two
years into the war.
U.S. officials said the latest package of aid includes air defense
missiles, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS),
Javelins and an array of other anti-armor missiles, counter-drone and
counter-electronic warfare systems and equipment, 155mm and 105mm
artillery ammunition, vehicles and other equipment.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid has not
been publicly announced. The formal announcement could come as soon as
Friday, which is the eve of Ukraine’s Independence Day.
The weapons are being provided through presidential drawdown
authority, which means they are taken from Pentagon stockpiles and can
be delivered more quickly.
The aid comes as Ukrainian forces continue to broaden their surprise
offensive into Russia, where officials say they have taken about 100
square kilometers (62 square miles) of territory around Kursk. Russian
troops, meanwhile, are making gains in the east, around the Ukrainian
city of Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub.
Pentagon officials have said repeatedly that the U.S. has been
talking with Ukrainian leaders to get a better assessment of their
longer-term goals for the Kursk operation, particularly as they see
Russia advancing near Pokrovsk.
If Pokrovsk falls, the defeat would imperil Ukraine’s defenses and
bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the Donetsk region.
Russian soldiers are now just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away.
Asked about the Kursk operation, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh
said Thursday that “we are still working with Ukraine on how that fits
into their strategic objectives on the battlefield itself.”
The U.S., she said, understands that Ukraine wants to build a buffer
zone along the border, but the administration still has more questions
about how it furthers Ukraine’s broader war effort.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his first visit Thursday
to the border area where his forces launched the offensive on August 6.
He said Kyiv’s military had taken control of another Russian village and
captured more prisoners of war.
The latest package of aid brings the total amount of U.S. security
assistance to Ukraine to more than $55.7 billion since Russia’s invasion
in February 2022.
August 2024
Transformer of the Month: Selina Salgado
date: 2024-08-23, from: NASA breaking news
As a Human Resource Business Partner at NASA Headquarters, Selina
Salgado describes her job as helping with “all things people” for the
enterprise. By facilitating technological solutions to human resources
(HR) challenges and needs, she excels at an often-underestimated aspect
of Digital Transformation (DT): the interpersonal side. As a champion of
community building, knowledge sharing, […]
This is how I explained what sidebar art is: There’s a certain kind
of art I need to create with you. I call it “sidebar art” – they are
images between 75 and 135 pixels wide. The content is on a transparent
background. They are designed to fit in the right margin of my blog at
scripting.com. Please remember this definition, so you can help me
create new sidebar art.
I’m trying to teach ChatGPT how to do sidebar art. So far, it’s not a
great student. But I have hope. My instructions for the image in the
post in the sidebar for the previous post: “e pluribus unum” is the
motto of the United States. Out of many one. I would like a simple
picture of an eagle with this motto over its head, in the same style it
is in on the back of a quarter coin.
Ex-Microsoft
engineer resurrects PDP-11 from junkyard parts
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Because everyone has a box of mystery computer bits they simply can’t
part with
Former Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer took a trip down memory lane this
week by building a functioning PDP-11 minicomputer from parts found in a
tub of hardware.…
Rampant
Nationalism Is Undermining China’s ‘Three Warfares’
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: RAND blog
China has invested a fortune in influence operations to shape its
national image and sway international public opinion in its favor. Yet
grassroots Chinese nationalists are diminishing the return on Beijing’s
investment.
Dana Canby graduated from Avalon School in 2002 For the Islander
Cmdr. Alfonza White was relieved by Cmdr. Dana Canby as commanding
officer of the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS
3) during a change of command ceremony held at Naval Base San Diego,
June 28. Capt. Douglas Meagher, commodore, Littoral Combat Ship […]
Oil
tanker burns after Yemen rebels’ attack in Red Sea
date: 2024-08-23, from: VOA News USA
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Fires broke out Friday on a
Greek-flagged oil tanker that was attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels this
week, with the vessel now appearing to be adrift in the Red Sea,
authorities said.
It wasn’t immediately clear what happened to the oil tanker Sounion,
which was abandoned by its crew Thursday and reportedly anchored in
place.
The Houthis didn’t immediately acknowledge the fire. The rebels are
suspected to have gone back and attacked at least one other vessel that
later sank as part of their monthslong campaign against shipping in the
Red Sea over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The attacks
have disrupted a trade route that typically sees $1 trillion in goods
pass through it annually.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations
center reported the fires in a note to mariners Friday night.
“UKMTO have received a report that three fires have been observed on
vessel,” the center said. “The vessel appears to be drifting.”
A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to
discuss intelligence matters, said American officials were aware of the
fires and continued to monitor the situation.
The vessel had been staffed by a crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians,
as well as four private security personnel, who were taken by a French
destroyer to nearby Djibouti, the EU’s Aspides naval mission in the Red
Sea said Thursday.
The Sounion has 150,000 tons of crude oil aboard and represents a
“navigational and environmental hazard,” the mission warned. “It is
essential that everyone in the area exercises caution and refrains from
any actions that could lead to a deterioration of the current
situation.”
The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and
drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel
and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors.
Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led
coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the
United States or Britain to force an end to Israel’s campaign against
Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no
connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
As Iran threatens to retaliate against Israel over the assassination
of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the U.S. military told the USS
Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to
the area. Early Thursday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said that
the Lincoln had reached the waters of the Middle East, without
elaborating.
Washington also has ordered the USS Georgia guided missile submarine
to the region, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike
group was in the Gulf of Oman.
Additional F-22 fighter jets have flown into the region, and the USS
Wasp, a large amphibious assault ship carrying F-35 fighter jets, is in
the Mediterranean Sea.
Join The Wild Peach Boutique for the “Mom Mixer”, a fun and relaxing
afternoon filled with shopping, mingling and pampering just for moms.
This event will take place on Saturday, Sept. 21 from noon to 4 p.m. at
27650 Dickason Drive Santa Clarita, CA 91355.
I
just realized something else – there isn’t a female America and a male
America. What made me realize it is how natural the idea of President
Kamala feels. Men and women are different, just like blacks and
whites are different (it couldn’t be otherwise) but we are all
Americans, and further, taken together we all are America. All of
this sprung from that
Obama
quote in his 2004 convention speech (which I was lucky to be present
for, that was the year they welcomed bloggers). It’s the one country
that’s the Union of all of us and we are United.
Catalinaville
event raises over $700,000 for hospital
date: 2024-08-23, from: Catalina Islander
Courtesy of Catalina Island Health Foundation Catalina Island Health
Foundation recently held its annual Catalinaville event which raises
funds to build a new hospital. This Margaritaville-inspired event puts
the “fun” in fundraiser in a beautiful island setting complete with an
end of the night dance party on the beach! Catalinaville welcomed 225
colorfully dressed guests […]
Family
Promise of SCV Executive Director Steps Down
date: 2024-08-23, from: SCV New (TV Station)
Rev. Dr. Roché Vermaak, who has served as Executive Director for
Family Promise of Santa Clarita Valley for more than seven years, will
step down this month to take on a position with Habitat for Humanity in
Erie, Pa
Sphen,
Australian Penguin of Famous Same-Sex Couple, Dies at Age 11
date: 2024-08-23, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Sphen and his longtime partner Magic got together at Sea Life Sydney
Aquarium in 2018. They successfully hatched two foster chicks and became
“international queer icons”
The City Council unanimously introduced an ordinance that updates the
city code covering wireless facilities. The proposed ordinance will
return to the council for adoption at a future date. Background Avalon
hasn’t updated its regulations for antennas and wireless facilities
since 1997, according to Bennett Givens, an associate with Best Best
& Krieger. BB&K is […]
The following is the Avalon’s Sheriff’s Stations significant
incidents report for the period of Aug. 8 to Aug. 14, 2024. All suspects
are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Many people
who are arrested do not get prosecuted in the first place and many who
are prosecuted do not get convicted. […]
Rosie, Rosie If it’s ok with you, I’d like to get a little bit cozy
And let you know how much we all love you and that you have been an
angel in our life And we hope and pray that from Heaven you can help us
all get through our future strife You were […]
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: RAND blog
The cybersecurity of AI systems has largely been treated as an
afterthought. Success in this area will require recognizing the unique
challenges of securing AI systems, developing the right threat models,
and fully integrating cybersecurity into the AI workflow.
Kamala
Harris vows to unite America, as California Democrats look to flip the
House
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The LAist
Party leaders at the Democratic convention in Chicago send a clear
message to California delegates: She needs a Democratic Congress to
succeed if she’s elected president.
The NASA Ames Science Directorate recognizes the outstanding
contributions of (pictured left to right) Sangsavang Stevie Phothisane,
Taryn Kavanagh, Andro Rios, and Hami Ray. Their commitment to the NASA
mission represents the talent, camaraderie, and vision needed to explore
this world and beyond. Earth Science Star: Sangsavang Stevie Phothisane
Sangsavang Stevie Phothisane, a Deputy Project […]
Dear Family and Friends, On behalf of our entire family, we extend
our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who participated in and supported
Ben’s Golf Tournament. The turnout was incredible, and the community’s
support was truly overwhelming. We would like to express our special
thanks to the following individuals and organizations whose
contributions made this event […]
Adam Engst: However, the real win in centralizing newsreading in
email has come from RSS-to-email services. I’ve tried numerous RSS
readers over the years but have never settled down with one because they
require me to devote specific time to reading news. That requires
remembering to do so and switching context. I actively want to […]
Matthew Ball (Hacker News): The Vision Pro is arguably the
highest-profile and most important device debuted by Apple since the
iPhone in January 2007. The company spent more time (eight years versus
the iPhone’s three) and money (see point #2) developing the device than
any other in its history. The Vision Pro is clearly the […]
Juli Clover: Apple today announced the launch of a Podcasts on the
web feature, which works in Safari, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox on Macs,
PCs, and other devices. Podcasts on the web allows users to search for,
browse through, and listen to podcasts with access to the Up Next queue
and library when signed in […]
Hartley Charlton: A Reddit user discovered the pre-prompt
instructions embedded in Apple’s developer beta for macOS 15.1, offering
a rare glimpse into the backend of Apple’s AI features. They provide
specific guidelines for various Apple Intelligence functionalities, such
as the Smart Reply feature in Apple Mail and the Memories feature in
Apple Photos. The prompts […]
In a special unveiling ceremony on Aug. 22, 2024, the public received
a first look at magniX’s Dash 7 aircraft that will serve as a testbed
for sustainable aviation research with NASA’s Electrified Powertrain
Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project. Hosted by magniX at King County
International Airport, commonly known as Boeing Field, in Seattle,
Washington, leaders […]
NASA
Funds Studies to Support Crew Performance on Long-Duration Missions
date: 2024-08-23, from: NASA breaking news
NASA is funding 11 new studies to better understand how to best
support the health and performance of crew members during long-duration
spaceflight missions. The awardees will complete the studies on Earth
without the need for samples and data from astronauts. Together, the
studies will help measure physiological and psychological responses to
physical and mental […]
Mysterious
‘Wow!’ Radio Signal Might Finally Have an Explanation—and No, It’s Not
Aliens
date: 2024-08-23, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The infamous signal recorded in 1977 might have been a laser-like
beam of radiation from a hydrogen cloud energized by a powerful,
magnetic star, preliminary research suggests
Maybe you knew Brad Frost played the bass? What you might not know is
Brad is a monster on the bass. His love for performing music is off the
charts. So for Brad’s 40th birthday he had an idea: throw a concert. It
came fully named: Frostapalooza. The way Brad envisioned it, it was a
[…]
Behind the
Blog: Skipping Meetings and Calming Nerves
date: 2024-08-23, from: 404 Media Group
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes
thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together.
This week, we discuss running 404 Media for a whole year, public
speaking, and meetings.
Weekend Read, our app for reading scripts on your phone, features a
new curated collection of screenplays each week. This week, we look at
those first screenplays that broke through, got made, and launched some
of our favorite writers’ careers. Our collection includes: 28 Days Later
by Alex Garland A Few Good Men by Aaron […] The post
Featured
Friday: First Features first appeared on
John August.
To
crew, or not to crew – that is the question facing Boeing’s stricken
Starliner
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Decision time arrives for NASA bigwigs
A big weekend lies ahead for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner as NASA prepares
to make a call on whether the crew will be returning in the spacecraft,
as originally planned, or as part of the Crew-9 mission in 2025.…
NASA
Shares Asteroid Bennu Sample in Exchange with JAXA
date: 2024-08-23, from: NASA breaking news
As part of an asteroid sample exchange, NASA has transferred to JAXA
(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) a portion of the asteroid Bennu
sample collected by the agency’s OSIRIS-REx mission. The sample was
officially handed over by NASA officials during a ceremony on Aug. 22 at
JAXA’s Sagamihara, Japan, campus. This asteroid sample transfer follows
the […]
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: RAND blog
Ukraine has pulled off an operation that could buy time to regenerate
and reequip its forces. The Kursk incursion puts in doubt Russia’s
ability to launch any major offensives for the rest of the year. Given
sufficient Western aid, Kyiv could have the capability to begin
restoring its territory in 2025.
The
University of Hawai’i’s Marine Biology Graduate Program becomes a PeerJ
Member
date: 2024-08-23, from: PeerJ blog
UH Marine Biology Graduate Program’s Membership means APC-free author
for program-affiliated authors We are thrilled to welcome the University
of Hawai’i’s Marine Biology Graduate Program to our Membership program.
The membership means that researchers at one of the world’s leading
centers of marine biology can choose Open Access and not face a
publication fee. Authors […]
NASA
Astronauts Wilmore, Williams’ Space Station Science Highlights
date: 2024-08-23, from: NASA breaking news
Since the start of International Space Station operations more than
two decades ago, crews have lived and worked in microgravity to conduct
an array of research that benefits life on Earth and future space
exploration missions, and perform operational tasks to keep the
state-of-the-art scientific lab in its highest-operating condition. The
space station has seen […]
Trinity
University joins PeerJ in Advancing Open Access Publishing
Initiatives
date: 2024-08-23, from: PeerJ blog
Trinity University, Texas, joins the AIMs program, providing
unlimited, APC-free publishing for their faculty We are excited to
welcome Trinity University as our latest Institutional Member. By
joining our AIMs program, Trinity-affiliated authors can publish in any
PeerJ journal without incurring an APC. Any corresponding or submitting
author using a valid Trinity email to submit […]
Cryptocurrency companies have been pumping lots of money into 2024
federal elections — more than $119 million so far, or almost half of
corporate money given during elections this year, according to consumer
advocacy group Public Citizen. Also on the show: The Democratic National
Convention wraps up with an emphasis on the middle class, and
Copenhagen’s underground tunnel network aims to help the city deal with
the worst of the climate crisis.
Two years ago
this
month, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which
both his allies and
adversaries
agree is the most significant climate legislation in the country’s
history. Yet despite this accomplishment, the urgency of the crisis, and
the consensus within the Democratic Party on the need for aggressive
climate action, you would have had to listen carefully to this week’s
Democratic National Convention to catch much discussion of the issue.
It’s not that none of the speakers mentioned climate, but “mentioned” is
about as far as most of them went. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an original
sponsor of the
Green
New Deal, didn’t mention climate in
her
DNC speech. Nor did Tim Walz,
who
has been one of the most aggressive governors in the country on
the issue; among other things, he
signed
a bill requiring utilities to provide 100% clean electricity by
2040.
Barack
Obama, whose Clean Power Plan so angered his opponents that they
set out to destroy the entire
U.S.
regulatory state, said only that “America can be and must be a
force for good, discouraging conflict, fighting disease, promoting human
rights, protecting the planet from climate change, defending freedom,
brokering peace.”
There were
meetings
on climate strategy that occurred around the convention, but it wasn’t
until the convention’s final night that climate really took the stage,
with presentations from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Rep. Maxwell
Frost of Florida, the youngest member of Congress. In Kamala Harris’
acceptance speech, it received only a single line, in which she said
that Americans deserve “the freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean
water and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis.”
That was all.
One might conclude (and some
certainly
have) that as a policy priority, climate has fallen a few rungs
down on the Democratic agenda. But to my mind, that wouldn’t be quite
correct. There has been an undeniable change in the party’s
political calculus at moments like this one, but it
needn’t cause those who care about the issue to panic.
Every activist would like their issue to be at the top of the political
agenda, but especially in our current state of polarization, that
usually means a big fight, with high stakes and the chance of both
victory and defeat. At the moment, abortion is the issue Democrats want
to elevate into that kind of fight, since they believe it can be used to
pull voters from the middle and even the other major party into their
camp. Republicans believe the same thing about immigration.
Democrats may not believe climate change has the same kind of power in
voters’ minds. But that may not be such a bad thing.
After all, starting a big fight on an issue is only one path to policy
change. Another is to place it within a broader agenda, keeping the part
of your coalition that cares about it on board and ready to move forward
should you win, without generating too much energetic opposition from
your opponents. And that’s what climate wound up being at the Democratic
convention: not a main course, not even a side dish, but rather an
appealing political crouton tossed into a salad full of other policies
and priorities.
That’s partially a product of Democrats’ legislative success: The
passage of the IRA may have encouraged them to place the climate issue
somewhat to the side. Many in the party feel that they got away with
passing a sweeping law without the kind of knock-down, drag-out battle
we saw around something like the Affordable Care Act, another important
bill that squeaked by without a vote to spare. The debate within
Congress over the IRA may have been intense — remember all the
wrangling
over whether Joe Manchin would give his assent? — but most Americans
barely noticed. It was too complicated and too fraught with dull
procedural details. That’s one reason that today,
most
voters say they haven’t heard much about the law (and some who
claim they have are probably lying). Yet when its provisions are
described to them, it garners overwhelming support.
In some ways, the IRA resembles the ACA, which Democrats
correctly
believed would grow more popular as its effects were felt. In
climate as in health care, Democrats don’t have much appetite for
another big battle; they’d rather make incremental additions in future
legislation that build on what they managed to put into law. And they
hope the Republicans who tried to defeat the bills won’t want to take
the political risk of unwinding them.
Kamala Harris’ slogan may be “When we fight, we win,” but she doesn’t
seem to want too much of a fight on climate. Likewise, environmental
groups are pouring millions of dollars into ads supporting her
candidacy, but
many
of them don’t actually focus on climate and mention “clean
energy” only in passing. The people producing them have clearly
calculated that what’s most important is not having their issue
discussed in the campaign, but rather getting an administration that
will allow the IRA and other laws with climate provisions such as the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to continue to unspool, while regulatory
agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency keep working on
reducing emissions. If those bills do what they’re supposed to, they’ll
create their own constituencies and political armor.
And if most of the public takes only occasional notice at campaign time?
There’s nothing wrong with that. Campaigns are almost always
superficial, and this one isn’t any different. It’s what happens
afterward that matters.
Preguntas
frecuentes: Estado del retorno de la prueba de vuelo tripulado Boeing de
la NASA
date: 2024-08-23, from: NASA breaking news
Esta historia fue actualizada por última vez el 23 de agosto.Read the
article in English here. Los astronautas de la NASA Butch Wilmore y Suni
Williams llegaron al laboratorio orbital el 6 de junio a bordo de la
nave Boeing Starliner tras despegar el 5 de junio desde el Complejo de
Lanzamiento Espacial-41 de la Estación […]
How
Colorful Ribbon Diagrams Became the Face of Proteins
date: 2024-08-23, from: Quanta Magazine
Proteins are often visualized as cascades of curled ribbons and twisted
strings, which both reveal and conceal the mess of atoms that make up
these impossibly complex molecules.
US
sues Georgia Tech over alleged cybersecurity failings as a Pentagon
contractor
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Rap sheet spells out major no-nos after disgruntled staff blow whistle
The US is suing one of its leading research universities over a litany
of alleged failures to meet cybersecurity standards set by the
Department of Defense (DoD) for contract awardees.…
Chinese
entities turn to Amazon cloud, rivals to access US chips, AI
date: 2024-08-23, from: VOA News USA
BEIJING/SINGAPORE/NEW YORK — State-linked Chinese entities are using
cloud services provided by Amazon or its rivals to access advanced U.S.
chips and artificial intelligence capabilities that they cannot acquire
otherwise, recent public tender documents showed.
The U.S. government has restricted the export of high-end AI chips to
China over the past two years, citing the need to limit the Chinese
military’s capabilities.
Providing access to such chips or advanced AI models through the
cloud, however, is not a violation of U.S. regulations since only
exports or transfers of a commodity, software or technology are
regulated.
A Reuters review of more than 50 tender documents posted over the
past year on publicly available Chinese databases showed that at least
11 Chinese entities have sought access to restricted U.S. technologies
or cloud services.
Among those, four explicitly named Amazon Web Services, or AWS, as a
cloud service provider, although they accessed the services through
Chinese intermediary companies rather than from AWS directly.
The tender documents, which Reuters is the first to report on, show
the breadth of strategies Chinese entities are employing to secure
advanced computing power and access generative AI models. They also
underscore how U.S. companies are capitalizing on China’s growing demand
for computing power.
“AWS complies with all applicable U.S. laws, including trade laws,
regarding the provision of AWS services inside and outside of China,” a
spokesperson for Amazon’s cloud business said.
AWS controls nearly a third of the global cloud infrastructure
market, according to research firm Canalys. In China, AWS is the
sixth-largest cloud service provider, according to research firm
IDC.
Shenzhen University spent $27,996 (200,000 yuan) on an AWS account to
gain access to cloud servers powered by Nvidia A100 and H100 chips for
an unspecified project, according to a March tender document. It got
this service via an intermediary, Yunda Technology Ltd Co, the document
showed.
Exports to China of the two Nvidia chips that are used to power
large-language models, or LLM, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are banned by
the United States.
Shenzhen University and Yunda Technology did not respond to requests
for comment. Nvidia declined to comment on Shenzhen University’s
spending or on any of the other Chinese entities’ deals.
Zhejiang Lab, a research institute developing its own LLM, called
GeoGPT, said in a tender document in April that it intended to spend
184,000 yuan to purchase AWS cloud computing services as its AI model
could not get enough computing power from homegrown Alibaba.
A spokesperson for Zhejiang Lab said that it did not follow through
with the purchase but did not respond to questions about the reasoning
behind this decision or how it met its LLM’s computing power
requirements. Alibaba’s cloud unit, Alicloud, did not respond to a
request for comment.
Reuters could not establish whether the purchase went ahead.
Moving to tighten access
The U.S. government is now trying to tighten regulations to restrict
access through the cloud.
“This loophole has been a concern of mine for years, and we are long
overdue to address it,” Michael McCaul, chair of the U.S. House of
Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, told Reuters in a statement,
referring to the remote access of advanced U.S. computing through the
cloud by foreign entities.
Legislation was introduced in Congress in April to empower the
Commerce Department to regulate remote access of U.S. technology, but it
is not clear if and when it will be passed.
A department spokesperson said it was working closely with Congress
and “seeking additional resources to strengthen our existing controls
that restrict PRC companies from accessing advanced AI chips through
remote access to cloud computing capability.”
The Commerce Department also proposed a rule in January that would
require U.S. cloud computing services to verify large AI model users and
report to regulators when they use U.S. cloud computing services to
train large AI models capable of “malicious cyber-enabled activity.”
The rule, which has not been finalized, would also enable the
Commerce secretary to impose prohibitions on customers.
“We are aware the Commerce Department is considering new regulations,
and we comply with all applicable laws in the countries in which we
operate,” the AWS spokesperson said.
Cloud demand in China
The Chinese entities are also seeking access to Microsoft’s cloud
services.
In April, Sichuan University said in a tender document it was
building a generative AI platform and purchasing 40 million Microsoft
Azure OpenAI tokens to support the delivery of this project. The
university’s procurement document in May showed that Sichuan Province
Xuedong Technology Co Ltd supplied the tokens.
Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment. Sichuan University
and Sichuan Province Xuedong Technology did not respond to requests for
comment on the purchase.
OpenAI said in a statement that its own services are not supported in
China and that Azure OpenAI operates under Microsoft’s policies. It did
not comment on the tenders.
The University of Science and Technology of China’s Suzhou Institute
of Advanced Research said in a tender document in March that it wanted
to rent 500 cloud servers, each powered by eight Nvidia A100 chips, for
an unspecified purpose.
The tender was fulfilled by Hefei Advanced Computing Center Operation
Management Co Ltd, a procurement document showed in April, but the
document did not name the cloud service provider. Reuters could not
determine its identity.
The University of Science and Technology of China, or USTC, was added
to a U.S. export control list known as the “Entity List” in May for
acquiring U.S. technology for quantum computing that could help China’s
military, and for involvement in its nuclear program development.
USTC and Hefei Advanced Computing Center did not respond to requests
for comment.
Beyond restricted AI chips
Amazon has offered Chinese organizations access not only to advanced
AI chips but also to advanced AI models such as Anthropic’s Claude,
which they cannot otherwise access, according to public posts, tenders
and marketing materials reviewed by Reuters.
“Bedrock provides a selection of leading LLMs, including prominent
closed-source models such as Anthropic’s Claude 3,” Chu Ruisong,
president of AWS Greater China, told a generative AI-themed conference
in Shanghai in May, referring to its cloud platform.
In various Chinese-language posts for AWS developers and clients,
Amazon highlighted the opportunity to try out “world-class AI models”
and mentioned Chinese gaming firm Source Technology as one of its
clients using Claude.
Amazon has dedicated sales teams serving Chinese clients domestically
and overseas, according to two former company executives.
After Reuters contacted Amazon for comment, it updated dozens of
posts on its Chinese-language channels with a note to say some of its
services were not available in its China cloud regions. It also removed
several promotional posts, including the one about Source Technology.
Amazon did not give a reason for removing the posts and did not answer a
Reuters query about that.
“Amazon Bedrock customers are subject to Anthropic’s end user license
agreement, which prohibits access to Claude in China both via Amazon’s
Bedrock API [application programming interface] and via Anthropic’s own
API,” the AWS spokesperson said.
Anthropic said it does not support or allow customers or end-users
within China to access Claude.
“However, subsidiaries or product divisions of Chinese-headquartered
companies may use Claude if the subsidiary itself is located in a
supported region outside of China,” an Anthropic spokesperson said.
Source Technology did not respond to a request for comment.
It’s been a wonderful experiment. I’ve met a host of new people who were
new to their careers; had fascinating conversations with people I’ve
been a huge fan of for years; and I’ve caught up with old friends and
acquaintances.
It wasn’t without its glitches: there were a few times I had to move
calendar slots around because of unexpected travel. There were also
vastly more people who wanted to sign up than I had slots for (a nice
problem to have!), so sometimes sessions were booked months out. Towards
the end, there were a few no-shows, which isn’t perfect, but also isn’t
too big a deal. On balance, the conversations were meaningful,
and it was absolutely worth it.
So let’s do it again.
I’ve been a 2X startup founder, early-stage investor, software engineer,
engineering lead, CTO, and CEO. I’ve taught product design to teams
around the world, and I’ve built large-scale end-user open source
projects. I’m deep into the fediverse and care deeply about the open web
and ethical tech policy. I’ve also been trained in leadership coaching.
Here are some topics it might be interesting to chat about:
Feedback on a project you’re working on (startups, software, a writing
project)
Following up on something I’ve written in this space
Product and technology strategy in the public interest (news, education,
libraries, other mission-driven organizations)
Realizing
the Power of Community in Disaster Recovery
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: RAND blog
Communities—not governments—are often the primary agents driving
disaster recovery. Understanding their needs, improving resource
allocation, and measuring results can better leverage the community’s
power and promote successful disaster management preparation, responses,
and outcomes.
China AI
devs use cloud services to game US chip sanctions
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Orgs are accessing restricted tech, raising concerns about more
potential loopholes
More claims are emerging that developers in China are using US-based
cloud services to bypass measures intended to block its access to
advanced chips and other technologies for accelerating AI development.…
A splatter of stars glows faintly at almost 3 million light-years
away in this new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Known as the
Tucana Dwarf for lying in the constellation Tucana, this dwarf galaxy
contains a loose bundle of aging stars at the far edge of the Local
Group, an aggregation of galaxies including […]
I get frustrated when things don’t work. Increasingly I have been
getting especially frustrated when things that are fancy don’t work,
because I feel bamboozled. The other day, I went to wash my hands in the
bathroom at work, and the automated soap dispenser/foamer didn’t work. I
was awkwardly placing and retracting my hands under the sensor
repeatedly like please sir… just a bit of soap to wash my bathroom
hands… and nothing.
There were some great speeches at the DNC. Michelle Obama stood out.
Bill Clinton, of course. But it was her show, President Kamala’s, and
she stole it.
She’s perfect for our time.
A prosecutor running against a convicted felon.
A first generation American running against candidate who vilifies
immigrants.
A woman running against a candidate who tried to enslave women.
A brilliant orator running against an incomprehensible bully.
Why wasn’t she so impressive when she ran in 2019? Near as I can tell it
wasn’t the right time or circumstances. She needed the focus to be on
her. Whatever it was, she is perfect for our time.
I was blown away by AOC’s speech on Monday, and thought she’s going to
be a great president someday. And then on the last day, here’s exactly
what I was dreaming of. A grown-up version of AOC. Every bit as
inspiring, as wonderful, as perfect.
US
national security adviser to hold talks with Chinese foreign
minister
date: 2024-08-23, from: VOA News USA
Washington — U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser,
Jake Sullivan, is heading to China next week for talks with Chinese
Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to a senior administration
official.
The discussions are expected to include a potential meeting between
Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.
This would be Sullivan’s first trip to China as the White House
national security adviser. The planned meetings, scheduled from August
27 through August 29, would also be the latest in a series of high-level
diplomatic moves aimed at stabilizing U.S.-China relations.
In response to a VOA question, the senior administration official
told reporters during Friday’s background briefing, “The purpose of this
strategic level of communication” is to clear up “misperceptions and
avoiding this competition from veering into conflict.”
The senior official also said the United States will raise concerns
about China’s “increased military, diplomatic, and economic pressure
against Taiwan” in next week’s talks. “These activities are
destabilizing and risk escalation, and we’re going to continue to urge
Beijing to engage in meaningful dialogue with Taipei.”
Sullivan and Wang have met previously, in Bangkok, Malta and Vienna,
to discuss broad and strategic issues facing the two countries.
Issues and agenda
Key issues in the U.S.-China relationship, including
counter-narcotics cooperation, military-to-military communication, AI
safety and risk management, are expected to be on the agenda for
Sullivan’s talks with Wang.
These discussions follow China’s suspension of talks with the U.S. on
nuclear safety and security. China said in July it had halted nascent
arms-control talks with Washington.
“The United States remains open to developing and implementing
concrete risk reduction measures with the PRC. However, it requires a
PRC willing to manage strategic risks,” a State Department spokesperson
told VOA, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
“The U.S. would like to deepen discussions on strategic stability,
but the Chinese are reluctant. They prefer to discuss an agreement on
the no first use of nuclear weapons, but the United States is not
prepared to adopt such a doctrine,” former CIA China analyst Dennis
Wilder, now a Georgetown University professor, told VOA.
“As a result, there’s been a bit of an impasse, with little progress
made in the few working group meetings that have occurred,” he said.
The militarization of space is another emerging concern shared by
U.S. officials, who worry it could become the new frontier for warfare.
Wilder cited a report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency that
China and Russia are moving rapidly toward space warfare.
South China Sea
Another area of concern is China’s activities in the South China Sea.
On Monday, a collision between Chinese and Philippine coast guard
vessels occurred near a disputed reef in the sea. The incident left a
gaping hole in a Philippine coast guard vessel near Sabina Shoal.
Known as Xianbin Jiao in China, it lies within the Philippines’
exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, although China claims the partially
submerged reef as part of its territory.
The nations have clashed over three shoals that lie within the
Philippines EEZ but are claimed by China even though the claim has been
rejected by an international tribunal.
In Beijing, Chinese officials accused the Philippine coast guard
vessels of intruding into China’s “territory” without permission from
the Chinese government.
In Washington, the United States expressed support for its ally, the
Philippines.
“These actions are the latest examples of the PRC using dangerous and
escalatory measures to enforce its expansive and unlawful South China
Sea maritime claims,” the State Department said in a statement on
Monday.
Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the Washington-based American
Enterprise Institute, told VOA that he doubts the U.S.-China talks will
make the disputes over the South China Sea go away.
“But the communications could provide clarity to Chinese policymakers
that pressing Manila further will not force Washington to back down. In
that way, high-level interactions could decrease the chance of a
conflict erupting,” Cooper said.
The Mideast
Next week’s talks come as the U.S. works with Qatar and Egypt to
mediate a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and the
Hamas militant group.
There is an increased urgency to reach an agreement amid fears of
broader regional escalation if Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah,
retaliate against Israel for the assassination of a top Hezbollah
operative in Beirut and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in
Tehran.
“I think there are some shared concerns about instability. But I
think it’s fair to say that two sides — the U.S. and China — approach
the issue very differently,” the senior administration official told
reporters Friday.
U.S. officials also said they want to hear directly from Chinese
officials following China’s announcement in July that it had brokered
reconciliation talks among representatives of 14 Palestinian factions.
Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas are reported to have signed a
declaration in Beijing to end years of discord and form a national unity
government.
VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this
story.
Vice President Kamala Harris closed the Democratic National Convention
last night with an acceptance speech that broadly laid out her
priorities. On the dollars and cents side of things, she highlighted
protecting Social Security and Medicare, addressing the housing shortage
in this country and a tax cut for middle-income households. Plus,
arbitration agreements have become increasingly more common buried in
the terms and conditions for various apps and services.
Milk-V
introduces new RISC-V laptop, mini ITX PC, compute module, and cluster
boards
date: 2024-08-23, from: Liliputing
Chinese PC maker Milk-V has been cranking out products designed around
RISC-V processors for the last year or so, and now the company has
unveiled four more models. The upcoming Milk-V RuyiBook is a 14 inch
laptop with a RISC-V processor and discrete graphics. The Milk-V Megrez
is a mini ITX motherboard with a different RISC-V chip. The […]
Current conditions: Storm Lilian left thousands
without power in England • A large fire on the Portuguese island of
Madeira threatens the UNESCO-listed Laurissilva forest • Tropical Storm
Hone will bring high winds, rain, and strong surf to Hawaii this
weekend.
THE TOP FIVE
Kamala Harris only mentions climate change once in DNC acceptance
speech
The Democratic National Convention came to a close last night,
culminating in a
speech
from presidential nominee Kamala Harris (but not, unfortunately, a
surprise
performance by Beyoncé ). Harris only mentioned climate change once
in her speech, in a comment warning that “the freedom to breathe clean
air, and drink clean water and live free from the pollution that fuels
the climate crisis” are at stake in the November election. Going light
on climate is certainly a deliberate strategic choice, one aimed at
avoiding upsetting any voters in natural gas swing states like
Pennsylvania. Some environmental advocates seem to be giving her a bit
of a grace period, but
pressure
will build as Election Day nears for her to outline in detail her
climate and energy platforms.
Hurricane forecasters warn of ‘supercharged September’
Meteorologists from AccuWeather are
warning
about the potential for “back-to-back tropical threats” in the Atlantic
in the coming weeks, forecasting up to 10 named storms between August 27
and September 30. The average for that time frame is six storms. The
agency says dry air and Saharan dust have kept the Atlantic relatively
quiet but that these conditions are lifting now. “With extremely warm
water temperatures, less disruptive wind shear, and less dry air, we
could see a storm organizing every few days,” said AccuWeather lead
hurricane expert Alex DaSilva.
AccuWeather
Study: Most climate policies fail to cut emissions
A new
study
published in the journal Science found that very few
of the climate policies put in place over the last 25 years have
actually reduced greenhouse gas emissions in any meaningful way. Of the
1,500 policies implemented across the globe since 1998, just 63 were
found to reduce emissions, and only by 1.8 billion metric tons of CO2.
That falls far short of the amount of emissions we need to eliminate by
2030 in order to meet targets set out in the Paris Agreement. So what’s
working? “Most of those emissions reductions were tied to price
instruments like changes in carbon prices, energy taxes and
fossil-fuel-subsidy reforms,”
notedThe New York Times. “And most emissions reductions
gained strength in numbers: They happened from the combination of
multiple national policies, instead of just one stand-alone policy.”
Flooding strands millions in Bangladesh
About 3 million people are
stranded
in Bangladesh after heavy monsoon rains triggered widespread flooding
across the eastern and southern parts of the country. Bangladesh’s Flood
Forecasting and Warning Centre said 11 rivers had dangerously high water
levels. “These are the worst floods we have seen in three decades,” said
Dr. Md Liakath Ali, director of climate change, urban development, and
disaster risk management for international development organization
BRAC. “Entire villages, all of the families who lived in them, and
everything they owned – homes, livestock, farmlands, fisheries – have
been washed away. People had no time to save anything.”
Flooding
in Moulvibazar, northeastern Bangladesh.
BRAC
Up to 6 inches of rain are forecast for eastern Bangladesh over the next
three days. Bangladesh is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries
when it comes to climate change, which scientists say is making such
extreme weather events worse. A
report
published earlier this year noted that between 2000 and 2019, Bangladesh
experienced 185 extreme weather events, and warned that the country’s
adaptation measures would struggle to keep up with a rapidly changing
climate, especially without new finance efforts.
Get Heatmap AM directly in your inbox every morning:
Terrasmart introduces tool to prevent hail damage at solar farms
A company called Terrasmart, which provides solar panel trackers, is
rolling out a
new
hail-resistant feature. The tool, called TerraTrak, will link with
weather data from AccuWeather to see when a hail storm is forecast and
automatically change the panels’ tilt to a “stow” position so they’re
less likely to sustain damage. FTC Solar rolled out a similar tool
earlier this summer. In March, a hail storm
smashed
thousands of panels at a solar farm in Texas. Terrasmart said insurance
industry reports indicate that “hail accounts for less than 2% of solar
project insurance claims by volume – but more than 50% of total dollar
losses.”
THE KICKER
Consulting firm Wood Mackenzie
expects
nearly 30% of new solar systems installed at homes this year to also be
paired with battery storage, as more homeowners invest in back-up power
for when extreme weather causes grid outages.
Tropical
storm forecast to bring strong winds and heavy rain to Hawaii this
weekend
date: 2024-08-23, from: VOA News USA
HONOLULU — A tropical storm is expected to deliver strong winds and
heavy rain to Hawaii this weekend, particularly to the Big Island and
Maui, as it passes south of the island chain.
The National Weather Service on Thursday evening issued a tropical
storm watch for Hawaii County, which includes all of the Big Island, in
anticipation of Tropical Storm Hone.
In an 8 p.m. advisory, the weather service said the storm was located
about 770 miles (1,240 kilometers) east-southeast of Hilo and about 980
miles (1,575 kilometers) east-southeast of Honolulu. The storm was
moving west at 14 mph (23 kph) with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph
(65 kph).
The August storm has evoked memories of the powerful hurricane south
of Hawaii that helped fuel a deadly wildfire that destroyed Maui’s
Lahaina town last summer, but the weather service said Thursday that
Hone was not creating the same conditions.
Separately, to Hone’s east, Hurricane Gilma was moving west across
the Pacific, but it was too early to tell whether it would affect the
islands.
Hone, which means “sweet and soft” in Hawaiian and is pronounced
hoe-NEH, was expected to bring sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph (32 to 48
kph) and gusts of 50 mph (80 mph) to Maui and the Big Island. Oahu and
Kauai were forecast to get slightly weaker winds.
The Big Island’s east coast and southeastern corner were expected to
get 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain Saturday night through
Sunday night. Maui could get 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of
rain.
These predictions could change depending on the storm’s course. Late
Thursday, the storm was about 815 miles (1,310 kilometers)
east-southeast of Hilo. It was moving west at 16 mph (26 kph).
The Aug. 8, 2023, Lahaina fire was fueled by powerful winds whipped
up by a combination of a hurricane passing some 500 miles (800
kilometers) to the south and a very strong high pressure system to the
north of the islands. The National Weather Service issued a red flag
warning at the time, something it does when warm temperatures, very low
humidity and strong winds combine to raise fire danger.
Laura Farris, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu,
said some drier air was expected to move in to the western end of the
state this weekend, which presents some concerns about fire risk.
“But it’s not even close to what we saw last year,” Farris said.
The pressure system to the north is not as strong now as last year
and the tropical system to the south is a storm not a hurricane, said
Pao-Shin Chu, a University of Hawaii professor and the state’s
climatologist.
“We do see something similar but not as dramatic as the Lahaina case
we saw last year,” Chu said.
Hurricane Gilma was packing maximum sustained winds near 120 mph (193
kph), making it a Category 3 hurricane. It was slowly moving west. The
National Weather Service said Gilma was expected to slowly weaken this
weekend.
The cause of Lahaina blaze, the deadliest in the United States in
over a century, hasn’t been determined, but it’s possible it was ignited
by bare electrical wire and leaning power poles toppled by the strong
winds.
To reduce the risk of wildfires, the state’s electric utilities,
Hawaiian Electric and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, have since
started shutting off power during high winds and dry conditions.
Last year, Maui County officials failed to activate outdoor sirens
that would have warned Lahaina’s people of the approaching flames. They
instead relied on a series of sometimes confusing social media posts
that reached a much smaller audience.
Amos Lonokailua-Hewett, who took over as the new administrator of the
Maui Emergency Management Agency on Jan. 1, said in the event of a
wildfire threat, his agency would send alerts over radio and television
broadcasts, via cellphones and with the sirens.
The sirens sound a steady tone and no message.
“The outdoor warning siren is typically used when there is an
imminent threat to public safety and the situation requires the public
to seek more information,” Lonokailua-Hewett said in an emailed
statement.
CockroachDB
scurries off to proprietary software land
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
As VC-owned fauxpen source biz yells ‘show me the money,’ more may
follow to the peril of the community
Opinion Repeat after me: Open source is not a business
model. It is a programming model. Still businesses keep trying to make
it one, and far more often than not, they fail.…
From the BBC World Service: The visit comes not long after
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the Russian President Vladimir Putin in
Moscow, which didn’t go over well with some European leaders. Then,
Canada’s government has ordered employers and rail unions involved in a
huge dispute to take part in arbitration. And the Danish capital
Copenhagen is trying to prepare the city for the future dangers of
extreme weather.
LED effects are a great way to light up any occasion. Here in the UK,
Christmas is the most famous holiday for decorating rooms with lights,
but many other cultures have other events that include unnecessarily
elaborate lighting displays. Besides, there’s no need to limit yourself
to traditional holidays – you’re an independent person who […]
Fed
Chief: ‘The time has come’ to begin reducing interest rates
date: 2024-08-23, from: VOA News USA
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming — With inflation nearly defeated and the job
market cooling, the Federal Reserve is prepared to start cutting its key
interest rate from its current 23-year high, Chair Jerome Powell said
Friday.
Powell did not say when rate cuts would begin or how large they might
be, but the Fed is widely expected to announce a modest quarter-point
cut in its benchmark rate when it meets in mid-September.
“The time has come for policy to adjust,” Powell said in his keynote
speech at the Fed’s annual economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
“The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts
will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of
risks.”
His reference to multiple rate cuts was the only hint that a series
of reductions is likely, as economists have forecast. Powell emphasized
that inflation, after the worst price spike in four decades inflicted
pain on millions of households, appears largely under control:
“My confidence has grown,” he said, “that inflation is on a
sustainable path back to 2%.”
According to the Fed’s preferred measure, inflation fell to 2.5% last
month, far below its peak of 7.1% two years ago and only slightly above
the central bank’s 2% target level.
The Fed chair also said that rate cuts should maintain the economy’s
growth and sustain hiring, which slowed last month. Continued growth
could boost Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, even as
most Americans say they are dissatisfied with the Biden-Harris
administration’s economic record, largely because average prices remain
far above where they were before the pandemic.
“We will do everything we can,” Powell said, “to support a strong
labor market as we make further progress toward price stability.”
By cutting rates, he said, “there is good reason to think that the
economy will get back to 2% inflation while maintaining a strong labor
market.”
A rate cut in mid-September, coming less than two months before the
presidential election, could bring some unwelcome political heat on the
Fed, which seeks to avoid becoming entangled in election-year politics.
Former President Donald Trump has argued that the Fed shouldn’t cut
rates so close to an election. But Powell has repeatedly underscored
that the central bank would make its rate decisions based purely on
economic data, without regard to the political calendar.
In his remarks, Powell said the Fed is increasingly concerned about
slower hiring and a rising unemployment rate, even while it still wants
to see inflation fall further. That dual focus is replacing the Fed’s
previous singular focus on inflation.
“The cooling in labor market conditions is unmistakable,” the Fed
chair said. “Job gains remain solid but have slowed this year. … We do
not seek or welcome further cooling in labor market conditions.”
In what amounted to something of a victory lap, Powell noted in his
speech Friday that the Fed had succeeded in conquering high inflation
without causing a recession or a sharp rise in the unemployment rate,
which many economists had long predicted.
The Fed chair attributed that outcome to the unraveling of the
pandemic’s disruptions to supply chains and labor markets, and a
reduction in job vacancies, which allowed wage growth to cool.
Powell also addressed criticism that the Fed was too slow to raise
rates even as inflation had begun surging once the pandemic recession
ended. Higher rates are intended to cool borrowing and spending, slow
the economy and tame price increases.
Fed officials had initially argued that the price spikes coming out
of the pandemic in early 2021 were merely “transitory” and would soon
fade as the supply chain disruptions that left some grocery shelves bare
and auto lots empty had healed.
Powell acknowledged that the healing of supply disruptions took much
longer than the Fed had expected — and so did the persistence of high
inflation.
“The good ship transitory was a crowded one, with most mainstream
analysts and advanced-economy central bankers on board,” Powell said. “I
think I see some ship-mates out there today,” he said, in an ad-libbed
remark addressed to the economists and central banks assembled for the
conference.
After the government reported this month that hiring in July was much
less than expected and that the jobless rate reached 4.3%, the highest
in three years, stock prices plunged for two days on fears that the U.S.
might fall into a recession. Some economists began speculating about a
half-point Fed rate cut in September and perhaps another identical cut
in November.
But healthier economic reports last week, including another decline
in inflation and a robust gain in retail sales, partly dispelled those
concerns. Wall Street traders now expect the Fed to cut its benchmark
rate by a quarter-point in both September and November and by a
half-point in December. Mortgage rates have already started to decline
in anticipation of rate reductions.
A half-point Fed rate cut in September would become more likely if
there were signs of a further slowdown in hiring, some officials have
said.
First
of ESA’s Cluster satellites prepares for fiery finale over South
Pacific
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Over 20 years into a 2-year mission, but all good things come to an end
The first of the European Space Agency’s Cluster satellites is set to
return to Earth next month after an extraordinarily long mission. The
spacecraft is destined to burn up over the South Pacific.…
@Dave Winer’s
linkblog (date: 2024-08-23, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
If you believe the NYT fact check that says Trump is a billionaire,
here’s how you can be one too. Buy two shares of any stock, sell one
share to your kid brother for a $500 million IOU. Voila! You are now a
billionaire in the same sense Trump is, according to the NYT. 😀
LibreOffice
24.8: Handy even if you’re happy with Microsoft
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: Liam Proven’s articles
at the Register
Mature, stable – and can rescue corrupt files
<p>The second LibreOffice release of 2024 is here, with additional spreadsheet functions, improved presentation layouts, better searching, and more.</p>
Tech
support chap solved knotty disk failure problem by staring at the
floor
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
A tale of retro tech – have you heard of Trivector computers? – and a
very troubled tech support journey
On Call Every IT pro has a story filed away about the
time they were asked to provide tech support under odd circumstances,
which is why each Friday The Register brings you one such story
in a fresh installment of
On
Call – the reader-contributed column that celebrates odd
circumstances.…
@Miguel de
Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-23, from: Miguel de Icaza
Mastondon feed)
Ceasefire is October language.
We had time to digest, and the language is now right of return,
reparations, one state, one person one vote, dismantling of apartheid
regime, prison time for war criminals.
With sanctions, boycotts and divestment as a stepping stone.
India
delays planned space station and moon base by five years
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
As results from 2023’s Chandrayaan-3 mission suggest south pole Moon
magma
India’s Department of Space has outlined plans to send its first
astronaut to space next year, establish a space station by 2035, and
land an Indian on the Moon by 2045.…
Reading Time: 37minutes So it turns out that
going clubbing is still fun, even in middle age! Ok, so I still feel a
bit like someone has scooped out all my innards and replaced
them with sawdust and nails, and I’m hoping the ringing in my ears will
stop soon, and I don’t really understand why all the…
Open
Compute Project seeks standard for concrete, with help from AWS, Google,
Meta, and Microsoft
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
There’s a lot of CO2 in datacenters, and Big Tech has
promised to get to net zero
The Open Compute Project, the org best known for offering designs for
hyperscale hardware, has rounded up AWS, Google, Meta, and Microsoft to
help it test concrete.…
Devs
at Asia’s top messaging app drowned in Slack, tamed it with ChatGPT
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
LY Corp’s QA team struggled to manage projects while wading through
prolix posts
LY Corp, a joint venture between Japan’s SoftBank Group and South
Korea’s Naver Corporation known for its flagship messaging app LINE, has
detailed how it uses an in-house ChatGPT implementation to keep its
quality assurance (QA) tasks on track.…
NASA
Composite Manufacturing Initiative Gains Two New Members
date: 2024-08-23, from: NASA breaking news
Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation and Fives Machining Systems
Inc. have joined 20 other organizations to support NASA’s Hi-Rate
Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project. The project is
addressing industry’s needs to meet growing demand for air travel,
replace aging airliners, and secure U.S. competitiveness in the
commercial aircraft industry. NASA and its partners are collaborating
and […]
China’s
rideshare champ Didi gives users the option to report stinky cars
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Also testing allowing women to chose female drivers
Chinese ride-share provider DiDi Chuxing announced on Thursday that it
has started testing a feature that would allow riders to name and shame
operators of smelly cars – and even take them off the road.…
Gamers
who find Ryzen 9000s disappointingly slow are testing it wrong, says
AMD
date: 2024-08-23, updated: 2024-08-23, from: The Register (UK I.T.
News)
Those using Windows 11, version 24H2, should see better speed
AMD has responded to community concerns about underwhelming gaming
performance of its Ryzen 9000 Series desktop processors by attributing
disappointing results recorded by independent testers to the vagaries of
their system and software setups.…
The pgAdmin Development Team is pleased to announce pgAdmin 4 version
8.11. This release of pgAdmin 4 includes 15 bug fixes and new features.
For more details please see the
release
notes.
pgAdmin is the leading Open Source graphical management tool for
PostgreSQL. For more information, please see
the website.
Notable changes in this release include:
Features:
Add a home button to the geometry viewer to set the original zoom level
when the viewer is opened.
Bugs/Housekeeping:
Fixed an issue where refreshing the Schema Diff tool opened in a new tab
caused an error.
Fix server heartbeat logging error after deleting the server.
Fixed an issue where the Generate Script ignored filter conditions when
a parent node was selected.
Fixed an issue where delete object(shortcut key) affected both text and
Object Explorer items.
Fix an issue where the ERD tool should be able to open saved pgerd file
when using keyboard shortcuts.
Fixed an issue where the REVOKE statement in the create script was
throwing an error if the role contained special characters.
Improve code highlighting in the query editor.
Fix an issue where the wheel package is not getting installed on the
arm64-based macOS version < 14.
Fixed an issue where column resizing is not working in the search
objects dialog
Fixed an issue where the value in the find box is not updating with
selected text in the editor if the find is already open and
re-triggered.
Builds for Windows and macOS are available now, along with a Python
Wheel, Docker Container, RPM, DEB Package, and source code tarball from
the tarball area.
The CloudNativePG Community is excited to announce the
release of CloudNativePG Operator versions 1.24.0 and
1.23.4!
CloudNativePG 1.24.0: What’s New?
This major update introduces powerful new features and enhancements,
including:
Distributed PostgreSQL Topologies: Create distributed
database topologies across multiple Kubernetes clusters, enabling hybrid
and multi-cloud deployments. Enjoy declarative primary control and
seamless switchover between clusters, ensuring high availability and
resilience.
Managed Services: The new managed.services
stanza allows for advanced service management, including the ability to
disable read-only and read services via configuration, and the use of
service templates to create custom service resources, such as load
balancers, for accessing PostgreSQL outside Kubernetes—ideal for DBaaS
scenarios.
Enhanced Synchronous Replication API: Gain full control
over PostgreSQL’s synchronous replication configuration with a more
flexible API, supporting both quorum-based and priority list strategies.
Customize the synchronous_standby_names option to suit your
needs.
WAL Disk Space Exhaustion Safeguard: A critical safety
measure ensures that if disk space for WAL files is exhausted, the
cluster will safely stop rather than triggering a chain of failovers.
This prevents the cluster from entering an unrecoverable state and
simplifies recovery by allowing for manual volume expansion.
For a detailed overview of these features and other changes, check out
the
release
notes.
Additional Enhancements in 1.24.0
Explore more improvements in CloudNativePG 1.24, including:
Declarative delayed replicas
Transparent support for PostgreSQL 17’s allow_alter_system
postInitSQLRefs and postInitTemplateSQLRefs
Observability enhancements
Check the full list of changes in the
release
notes.
We strongly recommend upgrading to CloudNativePG 1.24.0 at your earliest
convenience. If you prefer to stay on version 1.23, be sure to update to
1.23.4 for continued stability and support. Note that version 1.23 will
be supported until November 22nd, 2024.
Join the Community
Become an active member of our growing open-source, vendor-neutral, and
openly governed community! Engage with fellow users, share insights, and
receive support. Join our
Slack
channel and follow us on
Twitter to stay
up-to-date with the latest news and announcements.
Thank you for your continued support and engagement with CloudNativePG.
Upgrade today and unlock the full potential of your PostgreSQL
deployments!
About CloudNativePG
CloudNativePG stands as a
groundbreaking open-source Kubernetes Operator designed explicitly for
PostgreSQL workloads. Seamlessly orchestrating the entire life cycle of
a PostgreSQL cluster, CloudNativePG takes charge from bootstrapping and
configuration to ensuring high availability, connection routing, and
comprehensive backup and disaster recovery mechanisms. Leveraging
PostgreSQL’s native streaming replication, CloudNativePG efficiently
distributes data across pods, nodes, and zones, utilizing standard
Kubernetes patterns. This enables seamless scaling of replicas in a
Kubernetes-native manner, with the operator autonomously and safely
reconfiguring replication as needed. Originally conceived and supported
by EDB, CloudNativePG
represents a paradigm shift in managing PostgreSQL workloads within
Kubernetes environments.
The PostgreSQL JDBC project is excited to announce the release of
version 42.7.4 This is mostly a maintenance release, with over 20 fixes
see the
Changelog
for details
The latest jar is available at maven as well as
github
Case
Study: How and Why Optica Publishing Group Uses ROR
date: 2024-08-23, from: ROR Research ID Blog
Optica Publishing Group was one of the earliest publishers to send
ROR IDs to Crossref in DOI metadata. In this interview, we speak with
them to learn more about their rigorous processes for cleaning
organization names.
I
just realized something else – there isn’t a female America and a male
America. What made me realize it is how natural the idea of President
Kamala feels. Men and women are different, just like blacks and
whites are different (it couldn’t be otherwise) but we are all
Americans, and further, taken together we all are America. All of
this sprung from that
AccuWeather
Flooding
in Moulvibazar, northeastern Bangladesh.
BRAC