News gathered 2024-09-03

(date: 2024-09-03 10:27:36)

Scriptnotes, Episode 647: Crafting Your Ending, Transcript

date: 2024-09-03, from: John August blog

The original post for this episode can be found here. John August: Hello and welcome. My name is John August and you’re listening to Episode 647 of Scriptnotes, a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters. Today I am so lucky to have two Scriptnotes producers in the studio with me. Megana […] The post Scriptnotes, Episode 647: Crafting Your Ending, Transcript first appeared on John August.

https://johnaugust.com/2024/scriptnotes-episode-647-crafting-your-ending-transcript

The 10 Senate Races That Will Decide the Next Few Years of Climate Policy

date: 2024-09-03, from: Heatmap News

The United States Senate sits on a knife-edge. Democrats currently control the chamber by a 51-49 margin, but they are defending more seats than Republicans are in this election. In fact, with the retirement of Joe Manchin and the nearly inevitable passing of that West Virginia seat to a Republican, Democrats need to win almost every contested race in order to keep the chamber at 50-50, which would give them control if Kamala Harris wins the White House and Tim Walz is able to cast tie-breaking votes.

The consequences of a shift in control for climate policy could be enormous, not just in the legislation that will (or won’t) pass, but in the fate of nominees to key agencies. So how are Senate candidates confronting the climate issue? This roundup of the 10 most closely contested races shows that while the contrasts between the candidates are stark, for the most part, climate has been a secondary or even absent issue on the campaign trail.

The contrasts between the candidates are unmistakeable; to take just one example, every Democrat on this list who was in Congress at the time voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, the most significant climate legislation in history, and every Republican opposed it. But with the exception of Pennsylvania, where fracking has been a major issue, and to a lesser extent in Arizona, where Ruben Gallego often brings up the toll of increasing temperatures, in none of these races is climate change anywhere near the forefront of the debate.

That’s mostly because Democrats have chosen not to elevate the issue. Though they might criticize their Republican opponents for opposing the IRA or ignoring climate altogether if you ask them, they haven’t put time and resources behind the criticism. You don’t see them discussing climate in their advertising, and in most cases you won’t even find it mentioned on their websites — or if it’s there, it merits only a brief statement of intentions and nothing more detailed.

Nevertheless, the contrast remains: All of these Democrats can be counted on to support most or all of a Harris administration’s climate initiatives, just as the Republicans will reliably oppose them, or support a second Trump administration’s efforts to roll back the measures the Biden administration has undertaken. Which is why so much depends on where the Senate falls after election day.

Arizona

The candidates: Democrat Ruben Gallego vs. Republican Kari Lake

Gallego has been a particularly forceful advocate on one aspect of climate change: extreme heat. He told The Arizona Republic that “our state will become uninhabitable in the summer if we wait much longer to act,” has introduced multiple bills to address it, and criticized the Biden administration for not going far enough to confront the danger of rising temperatures. Lake, on the other hand, dismisses any such concern. Last summer she accused Gallego and Governor Katie Hobbs of “pushing mass hysteria in an effort to declare a climate emergency.” She told a podcast, “Newsflash, it’s hot in Arizona in the summer,” and said “don’t tell me that we’re in some sort of a weird heating trend … I don’t believe that for a minute.”

Florida

The candidates: Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the challenger vs. Republican Rick Scott, the incumbent

When he became Florida’s governor in 2011, Scott reportedly issued an informal ban on the use of the terms “climate change” and “global warming” in state communication. He denied the story and in recent years has softened his previous climate denial, but he was regularly criticized for inaction in a state unusually vulnerable to climate impacts and has been a consistent opponent of efforts to address warming. Mucarsel-Powell’s website says she “knows climate change is real and she is ready to take action to address the climate crisis that is impacting Floridians, their lives, and their property,” but she’s been quiet about it on the trail.

Maryland

The candidates: Democrat Angela Alsobrooks vs. Republican Larry Hogan

Former Governor Hogan is the most moderate Republican on this list, and during his tenure in Annapolis he went farther on climate than most Republicans liked, but not as far as state Democrats wanted. He committed the state to reducing emissions, but grappled with Democrats in the legislature over a sweeping climate plan, eventually allowing a scaled-back version to become law without his signature. Alsobrooks calls climate change an “existential threat” and touts her climate efforts as Prince George’s County Executive, including obtaining funding for more electric buses and creating a composting program. She issued an executive order in 2022, setting a goal of making her country carbon-neutral by 2045.

Montana

The candidates: Republican Tim Sheehy, the challenger vs. Democrat Jon Tester, the incumbent

For a red-state Democrat, Tester talks a good deal about climate, not mincing words about the effects of global warming (which he says he witnesses as a working farmer) and regularly touting funding he has secured to mitigate climate effects in Montana; he gets a lifetime score of 89% from the League of Conservation Voters. But he favors carrots over sticks, objecting to some tougher pollution regulations and supporting continued fossil fuel production, including the Keystone XL pipeline. Sheehy is a full-on climate denier who rails against “the radical climate cult agenda” and the “woke crap” of ESG investing. Yet the company that made Sheehy rich markets its wildfire-fighting efforts as a response to climate change’s effects.

Michigan

The candidates: Republican Mike Rogers vs. Democrat Elissa Slotkin

Slotkin, a current member of the House of Representatives, has portrayed herself as something of a climate moderate in Congress, cosponsoring bipartisan emissions legislation but declining to support the Green New Deal. Still, she often brings up her work preparing the Department of Defense to adapt to climate change, and has been supportive of the Biden administration’s climate initiatives. Rogers, on the other hand, was a consistent vote in the House, where he served from the aughts to the mid-2010s, against all kinds of environmental initiatives, and ridiculed DOD climate efforts: “When we dedicate scarce defense funding to global climate change, biofuel initiatives and social engineering experiments with military personnel, you can almost hear the cheers and laughter of our adversaries,” he wrote in 2021. While Slotkin has brought up climate on the campaign trail, neither candidate mentions it on their website.

Nevada

The candidates: Republican Sam Brown, the challenger vs. Democrat Jacky Rosen, the incumbent

Rosen has been more outspoken about climate change than many Democrats on this list, and has been a particularly strong booster of Nevada’s solar industry; she also attended COP26 in 2021. Brown’s website says, “We have been blessed with an abundance of natural resources, but we’ve also been plagued by politicians pushing extreme left energy agendas, like the Green New Deal, that raise prices and destroy jobs”; he has also criticized electric vehicles and incentives to increase EV sales.

Ohio

The candidates: Democrat Sherrod Brown, the incumbent vs. Republican Bernie Moreno, the challenger

Senator Brown has used his chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee to draw attention to climate issues, including pressing the Federal Reserve to incorporate climate risks into its relationship with the banking industry. He has called climate “one of the greatest moral issues of our time,” and has long advocated clean energy as a vehicle to rebuild the country’s industrial base. But during this campaign, he has become increasingly wary of certain emissions regulations he fears will lead to job loss, saying “I’ve spent most of my career looking at trade or environment through the eyes of employment in my state.” Moreno wants to eliminate EV subsidies and has attacked “Biden’s radical Green New Deal agenda,” arguing that achieving “energy dominance” through fossil fuel production is vital to prosperity.

Pennsylvania

The candidates: Democrat Bob Casey, the incumbent vs. Republican Dave McCormick, the challenger

Though Casey has a strong environmental record, McCormick has succeeded in making fracking a central issue of the campaign, including falsely accusing Casey of supporting a ban on the technique, which is commonly used in Pennsylvania to extract natural gas. McCormick acknowledges that climate change is real, but nevertheless told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he wants to “unlock oil and gas production here at home.” (The U.S. is already the world’s largest producer of both oil and natural gas.) In the midst of the fracking controversy, Casey seems to have quieted his prior climate advocacy somewhat (his website has no section on climate, but does have one on “Preserving Pennsylvania’s Energy Legacy”), but he hasn’t publicly disavowed any of his prior positions.

Texas

The candidates: Democrat Colin Allred, the challenger vs. Republican Ted Cruz, the incumbent

Cruz has long been one of Congress’ most prominent climate deniers and one of the top recipients of contributions from the fossil fuel industry. He blames the Green New Deal, a piece of legislation that was never voted on, for high electricity prices in Texas, and has attacked federal agencies for “fueling youth climate anxiety.” While Allred has supported climate action in the past, he has trod somewhat carefully on the issue during the campaign (he advocates “an all-of-the-above energy strategy” and has promoted liquified natural gas exports) and hasn’t made an issue of Cruz’s climate denial.

Wisconsin

The candidates: Democrat Tammy Baldwin, the incumbent vs. Republican Eric Hovde, the challenger

Baldwin has been a consistent advocate for climate action, including co-sponsoring a bill to achieve net-zero emissions for the entire country by 2050. Hovde has spent a good deal of the campaign railing against EV subsidies and other green energy spending, calls efforts to phase out fossil fuels “delusional,” and instead promotes increased fossil fuel production.

https://heatmap.news/politics/10-senate-races-climate

US border policy spurred migrant camps hundreds of miles away in Mexico’s capital

date: 2024-09-03, from: VOA News USA

Mexico City — “That’s it, dude! Done!” exclaimed Eliezer López as he jumped up and down, throwing his arms to the sky and drawing a sign of the cross across his chest. His joy was so contagious, his friends started to emerge from nearby tents to celebrate with him.

López, a 20-year-old Venezuelan migrant in Mexico City, had reason to rejoice: After several frustrating attempts, he was able to secure an appointment to seek asylum in the U.S.

He is one of thousands of migrants whose U.S.-bound journey has landed them in the Mexican capital, the southernmost point until recently from which migrants can register to request an appointment to seek asylum through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s mobile app known as CBP One.

Since June, when the Biden administration announced significant restrictions on migrants seeking asylum, the app became one of the only ways to request asylum at the Southwest border.

This U.S. asylum policy and its geographic limits are a driving force behind the emergence of migrant encampments throughout the Mexican capital where thousands of migrants wait weeks — even months — in limbo, living in crowded, makeshift camps with poor sanitation and grim living conditions.

From point of transit to temporary destination

Historically, Mexico City has not been a stop for northbound migrants. They try to cross the country quickly to reach the northern border. But the delays in securing an appointment, coupled with the danger that plagues cartel-controlled northern Mexico border cities and the increased crackdown by Mexican authorities on migrants have combined to turn Mexico City from a point of transit to a temporary destination for thousands.

Some migrant camps have been dismantled by immigration authorities or abandoned over time. Others, like the one where López has lived for the past few months, remain.

Like López, many migrants have opted to wait for their appointment in the somewhat safer capital, but Mexico City presents its own challenges.

Shelter capacity is limited, and unlike large U.S. cities like Chicago and New York, which rushed last winter to find housing for arriving migrants, in Mexico City they are mainly left to their own devices.

Andrew Bahena, coordinator of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, or CHIRLA, said that up until late 2023 many migrants were contained in southern Mexican cities like Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala. Many tried to disguise their location to defeat CBP One’s geographic limits, but when U.S. authorities took notice, more migrants began aiming for Mexico City to make their appointments from there, he said.

As a result, there has been an increase in the migrant population living in the Mexico City camps.

“We talk about this as border externalization and it’s something the United States and Mexico have been jointly implementing for years,” said Bahena. “The CBP One app is probably one of the best examples of that today.

“These folks are asylum seekers, they’re not homeless people living in Mexico,” he added.

A maze of tents and tarps

When López first arrived in Mexico City at the end of April, he thought about renting a room only to realize it was not an option.

He earned $23 a day working three times a week at a market. Rent was $157 per person to share a room with strangers, an arrangement that has become commonplace in Mexican cities with migrant populations.

“The camp is like a refuge,” said López. Migrants can share space with people they know, avoid the curfews and strict rules of shelters and potentially stay longer if necessary.

The camps are a maze of tents and tarps. Some call their space “ranchito,” or small ranch, assembled from wood, cardboard, plastic sheets, blankets and whatever they can find to protect them from the chilly mountain air and intense summer rains that pound the city.

At another camp in La Merced neighborhood, hundreds of blue, yellow and red tents fill a plaza in front of a church. It’s one of the capital’s largest camps and just a 20-minute walk from the city center.

“This is a place where up to 2,000 migrants have been living in the last year,” said Bahena. “About 40% are children.”

Migrants in La Merced have organized themselves, building an impromptu pump that moves water from the public system and distributes it on a fixed schedule, with every tent receiving four buckets of water every day.

“At the beginning there were a lot of problems, lots of trash and people in Mexico didn’t like that,” said Héctor Javier Magallanes, a Venezuelan migrant, who has been waiting nine months for a CBP One appointment. “We made sure to fix those problems little by little.”

As more migrants kept arriving at the camp, he set up a task force of 15 people to oversee security and infrastructure.

Despite efforts to keep the camp clean and organized, residents haven’t been able to avoid outbreaks of illnesses, exacerbated by drastic weather changes.

Keilin Mendoza, a 27-year-old Honduran migrant, said her kids constantly get colds, especially her 1-year-old daughter.

“She’s the one that worries me the most, because she takes the longest to recover,” she said. Mendoza has tried accessing free medical attention from humanitarian organizations at the camp, but resources are limited.

Israel Resendiz, coordinator of Doctors Without Borders’ mobile team, said the uncertainty of life in the camps weighs heavily on migrants’ mental health.

“It’s not the same when a person waiting for their appointment […] can get a hotel, rent a room or have money for food,” Resendiz said. “The majority of people don’t have these resources.”

The secretary of inclusion and social welfare and the secretary of the interior in Mexico City didn’t respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press about the camps. Press representatives of Clara Brugada, the incoming mayor of Mexico City, said the issue must first be discussed at the federal level.

Meanwhile, tensions between camp residents and neighbors have increased, sometimes leading to mass evictions of the camps.

In late April, neighbors from the trendy and central Juárez neighborhood blocked some of the city’s busiest streets, chanting, “The street is not a shelter!”

Eduardo Ramírez, one of the protest organizers, said it’s the government’s job to “help these poor people that come from their countries in search of something better and have the bad luck of traveling through Mexico.”

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-border-policy-spurred-migrant-camps-hundreds-of-miles-away-in-mexico-s-capital-/7769809.html

NASA’s Mini BurstCube Mission Detects Mega Blast

date: 2024-09-03, from: NASA breaking news

The shoebox-sized BurstCube satellite has observed its first gamma-ray burst, the most powerful kind of explosion in the universe, according to a recent analysis of observations collected over the last several months. “We’re excited to collect science data,” said Sean Semper, BurstCube’s lead engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s an important milestone […]

https://science.nasa.gov/burstcube/nasas-mini-burstcube-mission-detects-mega-blast/

Even if autonomous vehicles work perfectly, they will likely not decrease emissions…

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: Jason Kottke blog

https://kottke.org/24/09/0045212-even-if-autonomous-vehicl

Deadline looms: Google Workspace mandates OAuth by September 30

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

27 days to get your users’ third-party apps on Google’s sign-in

Google Workspace administrators, consider yourselves on notice: In less than a month, many third-party apps (mail, calendar, etc.) will stop connecting to Workspace accounts. …

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/google_workspace_third_party_apps/

This Decorated Samurai Sword Found in Rubble Beneath Berlin May Have Been a Diplomatic Gift

date: 2024-09-03, from: Smithsonian Magazine

The short blade’s hilt was made in Edo Japan, and its journey to a German cellar destroyed during World War II is a mystery

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-decorated-samurai-sword-found-in-rubble-beneath-berlin-may-have-been-a-diplomatic-gift-180985010/

The Worst Form On The Internet?

date: 2024-09-03, from: Tedium site

Oracle’s form to access free cloud server space seems designed to discourage you from taking advantage of the offering. It’ll leave you frustrated.

https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16791915/oracle-cloud-frustrating-signup-form

RF safety experiments - Meat & Pickles demonstrate foldback

date: 2024-09-03, from: Jeff Geerling blog

RF safety experiments - Meat & Pickles demonstrate foldback

        <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A few months ago, our <a href="https://www.instagram.com/insights/media/3333127873529510767/">AM radio hot dog experiment</a> went mildly viral. That was a result of me asking my Dad 'what would happen if you ground a hot dog to one of your AM radio towers?' He didn't know, so one night on the way to my son's volleyball practice, we tested it. And it was <em>awesome</em>.</p>

There’s a video and some pictures in my hot dog radio blog post from back in March.

  <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Jeff Geerling</span></span>

September 3, 2024

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/rf-safety-experiments-meat-pickles-demonstrate-foldback

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-03, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Is My Short-Term Los Angeles Rental Legal?

https://www.propublica.org/article/is-my-short-term-los-angeles-rental-legal

Why TV Is Wrong for Tolkien

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: Jason Kottke blog

https://kottke.org/24/09/why-tv-is-wrong-for-tolkien

Dow-ward spiral: Intel share price drop could see it delisted from blue-chip index

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

50% dive in market cap during 2024 forcing CEO Pat Gelsinger to revisit strategy

Intel could lose a longstanding seat on the Dow Jones Industrial Average due to the slump in its share price, adding to the chipmaker’s existing troubles.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/intel_share_price_drop/

NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative Member Co-Authors Award-Winning Paper in Insects

date: 2024-09-03, from: NASA breaking news

On August 13, 2024, the publishers of the journal Insects notified authors of three papers selected to receive “Insects 2022 Best Paper Award” for research and review articles published in Insects from January 1 to December 31, 2022. One of the winning papers was co-authored by Russanne Low, PhD, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). […]

https://science.nasa.gov/learning-resources/science-activation/nasa-earth-science-education-collaborative-member-co-authors-award-winning-paper-in-insects/

Dell launches XPS 13 laptop with Intel Lunar Lake for $1400 and up

date: 2024-09-03, from: Liliputing

The new Dell XPS 13 (9350) is a 2.6 pound laptop with support for up to a 13.4 inch, 2.8K OLED display and up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 288V Lunar Lake processor. It’s also the third version of the XPS 13 to launch this year. It joins the Intel Meteor Lake-powered XPS 13 (9340) […]

The post Dell launches XPS 13 laptop with Intel Lunar Lake for $1400 and up appeared first on Liliputing.

https://liliputing.com/dell-launches-xps-13-laptop-with-intel-lunar-lake-for-1400-and-up/

Intel’s Core Ultra 200V “Lunar Lake” chips promise big gains in graphics and AI performance

date: 2024-09-03, from: Liliputing

The first PCs powered by Intel’s new Core Ultra 200V series mobile processors are available for pre-order starting today. These chips, formerly known by the code-name “Lunar Lake,” are the company’s second-gen processors to feature an integrated neural processing unit (NPU) for hardware-accelerated AI performance, but the first to offer enough AI horsepower to qualify […]

The post Intel’s Core Ultra 200V “Lunar Lake” chips promise big gains in graphics and AI performance appeared first on Liliputing.

https://liliputing.com/intels-core-ultra-200v-lunar-lake-chips-promise-big-gains-in-graphics-and-ai-performance/

Around the World in 175 Days, 1924: Department of State Contributions to the U.S. Army Flight Around the World: Part IX: An Interlude: Conflict With the Press

date: 2024-09-03, from: National Archives, Text Message blog

This is the ninth in a series of occasional blog posts. Throughout the weeks and months of the Army’s flight around the world, it received a great deal of attention in the press, both domestic and foreign.  Previous posts have provided a peak at the foreign attention.  That notice was almost always positive.  As the … Continue reading Around the World in 175 Days, 1924: Department of State Contributions to the U.S. Army Flight Around the World: Part IX: An Interlude: Conflict With the Press

https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2024/09/03/around-the-world-in-175-days-1924-department-of-state-contributions-to-the-u-s-army-flight-around-the-world-part-ix-an-interlude-conflict-with-the-press/

Stranger who offered to pay for sewing classes saved his life

date: 2024-09-03, from: VOA News USA

New York is one of the fashion capitals of the world, but the industry has made fewer strides in advancing and promoting minorities. In the uptown neighborhood of Harlem, a program is tapping into community talent, led by a local who almost missed out on the industry entirely. Tina Trinh reports. Videographer: Ting-Yi Hsu

https://www.voanews.com/a/stranger-who-offered-to-pay-for-sewing-classes-saved-his-life/7769695.html

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-03, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

The growing number of Trump clemency recipients who’ve already committed other crimes.

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/09/03/all-trumps-recidivists/

Will Summer Ever End?

date: 2024-09-03, from: Heatmap News

Is summer really over? Meteorologists would say one thing, astronomers another, and Americans will just decide to start making things pumpkin-flavored whenever they please. So who’s to say? And after all the record-breaking this summer, does it really matter? So far, 2024 has proven that climate change is as real as ever and bizarre weather is here to stay.

Buckle up for a ride, Midwesterners

The heat in the Midwest last week was no joke. States including Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, and even some farther East, like Pennsylvania, saw temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Some cities recorded readings in the low 100s. The intense heat came just as children went back to school, and it was so bad in Philadelphia that 63 schools had to dismiss classes early on both Tuesday and Wednesday. In Chicago, sports practices were canceled and other outdoor activities had to be moved inside.

• Looking Ahead: Temperatures in the region will be up and down for the foreseeable future. Through Tuesday, the weather will be much cooler — in the 70s instead of the low 90s. Humidity levels will also be much lower, Paul Pastelok, AccuWeather’s Lead Forecaster, told me. On Wednesday, temperatures will briefly climb back up before going down again on Thursday, when a cold front settles into the region, bringing temperatures 12 degrees below average. More heat is in store as we go into this month, however — a long warm period will start next week and persist through late September, Pastelok explained.

Fall makes another appearance in the Northeast

Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states were under several heat alerts last week, as temperatures rose to around 100 degrees. The U.S. Open tennis tournament, held in New York City, was under an “extreme weather policy,” offering more and longer breaks for players.

• Looking Ahead: Temperatures have already started to go back down and will stay well below average this entire week, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s temperature outlook. In other words, the first week of September might actually feel like the first week of fall for those on the East coast. But don’t get too hopeful: Temperatures will likely bounce back up soon, as the new season is predicted to feel like a “second summer” for most of the country.

Texas is not hellish anymore — just very hot

Texas also had its share of back to school chaos last week, which even led to a lawsuit. A video shows children in the Sealy Independent School District pleading with their bus driver to open the windows as temperatures were above 100 degrees, but the driver refuses, saying the kids were sticking their hands out the window; parents are alleging that the children were being unduly punished. The battle to ensure all school buses in the country have air conditioning has been a long one, but state-level legislation on the matter keeps dying due to a lack of funds.

• Looking Ahead: Central and South Texas are still covered by clouds and enjoying some rain, which means temperatures won’t rise much this week, Pastelok told me; other parts of the state will be warmer, but still around the upper 80s. Later in the week, though, the precipitation pattern might move, pushing temperatures a little higher. Readings should stay below 100 degrees this week, though.

Did it just snow in California? In August?

Last Saturday, those exploring in the mountains around Lake Tahoe got a little surprise: a light dusting of snow in late August. While the winter-like cold front had been forecasted for the region — including the possibility of snow — Pastelok told me the event is still unusual for this time of the year. More snow is certainly possible as we go into September, but before that, California will go back to behaving more normally. And by that, I mean being very, very hot.

• Looking Ahead: “Above average temperatures will be the general rule next week,” Pastelok said. In the Central Valleys and lower deserts into southern Nevada, temperatures will average 6 degrees to 10 degrees above average in most places on a daily basis, hitting up to 110 degrees later in the week.

Those elsewhere in the West will get their share of above average temperatures this week. The interior Northwest will start this week hot, with highs around the 90s and running 10 degrees to 14 degrees above average. But Northwesterners, please think twice before you start complaining. It seems like Washington and Oregon are the only states which will see fall weather any time soon.

Finally, looking back: Summer 2024, by the numbers

21,058: That’s the number of daily high temperature records broken this year in the U.S. so far this year.

118: The number of all-time high temperature records broken. While scientists haven’t officially called it yet, it seems like 2024 will dethrone last year as the hottest summer on record.

428: number of wildfire incidents in California this summer.

429,603: the number of acres burned by the Park Fire in California. The fire is now 98% contained and could become the third largest wildfire in American history.

62.87: the planet’s average temperature on July 22, 2024, the Earth’s hottest day on record.

130: the highest temperature recorded in the country this summer, in the Death Valley.

160,000,000: the highest number of Americans under excessive heat warnings on the same day. It happened on July 9.

https://heatmap.news/climate/summer-heat-2024-end-of-summer

Data watchdog fines Clearview AI $33M for ‘illegal’ data collection

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Selfie-scraper again claims European law does not apply to it

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) has fined controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI €30.5 million ($33 million) over the “illegal” collation of images.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/clearview_ai_dutch_fine/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-03, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)

<THREAD> I am now hearing this meme that founder mode is not a thing.

Guys. It’s time for some engagement farming theory.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113074318860602037

I’d missed that Ray Nayler, author of the excellent The Mountain in…

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: Jason Kottke blog

https://kottke.org/24/09/0045202-id-missed-that-ray-nayler

Pollinator Initiatives at NASA

date: 2024-09-03, from: NASA breaking news

Pollinators play a crucial role in both human agriculture and ecosystems by supporting thousands of plant species and crops which feed humans and livestock. Unfortunately, habitat loss, disease, and pesticides contribute to the decline in pollinator biodiversity worldwide, which has led to a substantial reduction in native bee species, impacts to honeybees, and the decline […]

https://www.nasa.gov/organizations/osi/emd/pollinator-initiatives-at-nasa/

Deadpool with Ryan Reynolds

date: 2024-09-03, from: John August blog

John and Craig welcome back Ryan Reynolds for an in-depth look at his creative process bringing the character of Deadpool to the screen. As co-writer, producer and star of the Deadpool franchise, Ryan leads us through his first introduction to the character, the rough journey getting to greenlight, and the challenges presented by an often-faceless […] The post Deadpool with Ryan Reynolds first appeared on John August.

https://johnaugust.com/2024/deadpool-with-ryan-reynolds

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-03, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

I have a Tesla and Starlink, both bought before Elon Musk bought Twitter and revealed who he really is. I don't know anyone who works for a Musk company. How do they get up every day and try to do your best work for him.

https://www.techmeme.com/240903/p14#a240903p14

Pitch deck gives new details on company’s plan to listen to your devices for ad targeting

date: 2024-09-03, from: OS News

For years now, people believe that their smartphones are listening to their conversations through their microphones, all the time, even when the microphone is clearly not activated. Targeted advertising lies at the root of this conviction; when you just had a conversation with a friend about buying a pink didgeridoo and a flanel ukelele, and you then get ads for pink didgeridoos and flanel ukeleles, it makes intuitive sense to assume your phone was listening to you. How else would Google, Amazon, Facebook, or whatever, know your deepest didgeridoo desires and untapped ukelele urges? The truth is that targeted advertising using cross-site cookies and profile building is far more effective than people think, and on top of that, people often forget what they did on their phone or laptop ten minutes ago, let alone yesterday or last week. Smartphones are not secretly listening to you, and it’s not through covert microphone activation that it knows about your musical interests. But then. Media conglomerate Cox Media Group has been pitching tech companies on a new targeted advertising tool that uses audio recordings culled from smart home devices. The existence of this program was revealed late last year. Now, however, 404 Media has also gotten its hands on additional details about the program through a leaked pitch deck. The contents of the deck are creepy, to say the least. Cox’s tool is creepily called “Active Listening” and the deck claims that it works by using smart devices, which can “capture real-time intent data by listening to our conversations.” After the data is captured, advertisers can “pair this voice-data with behavioral data to target in-market consumers,” the deck says. The vague use of artificial intelligence to collect data about consumers’ online behavior is also mentioned, with the deck noting that consumers “leave a data trail based on their conversations and online behavior” and that the AI-fueled tool can collect and analyze said “behavioral and voice data from 470+ sources.” ↫ Lucas Ropek at Gizmodo Looking at the pitch deck in question, you can argue that it’s not even referring to smartphones, and that it is incredibly vague – probably on purpose – what “active listening” and “conversations” are really referring to. It might as well be simply referring to the various conversations on unencrypted messaging platforms, directly with companies, or stuff like that. “Smart devices” is also intentionally vague, and could be anything from one of those smart fridges to your smartphone. But you could also argue that yes, this seems to be pretty much referring to “listening to our conversations” in the most literal sense, by somehow – we have no idea how – turning on our smartphone microphones, in secret, without iOS or Android, or Apple or Google, knowing about it? It seems far-fetched, but at the same time, a lot of corporate and government programs and efforts seemed far-fetched until some whisteblower spilled the beans. The feeling that your phones are listening to you without your consent, in secret, will never go away. Even if some irrefutable evidence came up that it isn’t possible, it’s just too plausible to be cast aside.

https://www.osnews.com/story/140661/pitch-deck-gives-new-details-on-companys-plan-to-listen-to-your-devices-for-ad-targeting/

You have installed OpenBSD, now for the daily tasks

date: 2024-09-03, from: OS News

Since we’re on the topic of BSD, what about yet another helpful guide on what to do after first installing OpenBSD? We’ve covered a few of these already, but more can never hurt, and OpenBSD is a great platform that would suit a lot more of us than you might think. Despite some persistent rumors, installing OpenBSD is both quick and easy on most not too exotic hardware. But once the thing is installed, what is daily life with the most secure free operating system like? ↫ Peter N. M. Hansteen This guide by Hansteen focuses primarily on the various basic system management tools you’ll be needing to keep OpenBSD up to date after initial installation, and how to install anything else you might need.

https://www.osnews.com/story/140659/you-have-installed-openbsd-now-for-the-daily-tasks/

Make your own CDN with NetBSD

date: 2024-09-03, from: OS News

After covering setting up your own CDN with both FreeBSD and OpenBSD, it’s now time to learn how to set up your own CDN wit NetBSD. This article is a spin-off from a previous post on how to create a self-hosted CDN, but this time we’ll focus on using NetBSD. NetBSD is a lightweight, stable, and secure operating system that supports a wide range of hardware, making it an excellent choice for a caching reverse proxy. Devices that other operating systems may soon abandon, such as early Raspberry Pi models or i386 architecture, are still fully supported by NetBSD and will continue to be so. Additionally, NetBSD is an outstanding platform for virtualization (using Xen or qemu/nvmm) and deserves more attention than it currently receives. ↫ Stefano Marinelli All the same from my previous post still applies, and it’s a great thing that Marinelli covers all three of the major BSDs (so far). If you want to run your own CDN on BSD, you can now make a pretty informed decision on which BSD best suits your needs.

https://www.osnews.com/story/140657/make-your-own-cdn-with-netbsd/

The Dev Tools Performance Monitor Panel

date: 2024-09-03, from: Dave Rupert blog

Weeks ago I was looking in to a performance issue for our animated spinner component and stumbled across a tool in DevTools I hadn’t used before: The Performance Monitor Panel. In you open Dev Tools > More Tools > Performance Monitor you’ll see some helpful high-level charts and graphs of the realtime performance data of your UI.

The Performance Monitor collects performance data in realtime and puts it on a graph. It’s handy for detecting performance problems at a high-level. If your CPU, memory, DOM node count, or event listeners only go up while clicking around, you probably have a leak in your code. The part I was most interested in were style recalculations per second and layouts per second. Our spinner component was triggering style recalculations and layout calls at a rate of 120 per second. Yikes! That’s a lot of extra work on the CPU.

Next I turned on Dev Tools > More Tools > Rendering > Show Paint Flashes and I could immediately see the tactile feedback of green boxes thrashing around as the browser repainted the component hundreds of times per second. The green paint boxes confirmed that this UI work was happening on the main thread instead of the compositor thread. The Performance Monitor showed my CPU usage at 5-9% of my Mackbook Pro. Double Yikes.

The Performance Monitor panel pairs nicely with the top-level Performance panel. While the Performance Monitor panel is very high-level, the Performance panel is an in-depth debugging tool where you can inspect a snapshot of your app down to each function and render call.

Capturing a snapshot in the Performance panel confirmed what I was now seeing. I could see the “red line of death” of dropped frames where I locked the main thread. The remediation steps were pretty simple but I did need to strip down and recode how our animation worked.

1. Avoid properties that trigger paint or layout
2. Tamp down layout recalcs with contain
3. Use overflow: hidden instead of CSS masks

It took a couple of prototypes to shop around a workable solution. The good news is our animation is off-loaded to the compositor instead of the main thread now. CPU use is now at 0.2% (down from 5-9%) and our recalcs and layouts are down to 0 but the animation still chugs along. Truth be told, a loading spinner is a pretty insignificant component and is only temporary, but reducing CPU usage by 10% here makes room for other JavaScript activities… like… y’know… fetching and parsing data.

https://daverupert.com/2024/09/dev-tools-performance-monitor-panel/

Is My Blue Your Blue? A visual perception test that judges what…

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: Jason Kottke blog

https://kottke.org/24/09/0045205-is-my-blue-your-blue

GNU screen 5 proves it’s still got game even after 37 years

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

First major version in two decades is worth getting to know

GNU screen is included in most Linux distros, but newer, fancier tools such as tmux often outshine it.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/gnu_screen_5/

Fortune tellers have crystal balls. Economists have the shipping industry.

date: 2024-09-03, from: Marketplace Morning Report

There are fundamental challenges facing global supply chains today: the rise of protectionism, competition with China and more. Like a crystal ball, we can look to the shipping industry to understand how these are unfolding. Germany-based DHL Group is one of the world’s largest logistics and shipping businesses, and the company’s CEO recently spoke in an exclusive interview to our Marketplace colleague, the BBC’s Leanna Byrne. Also: a lookahead at this week’s economic data.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/fortune-tellers-have-crystal-balls-economists-have-the-shipping-industry

Station Science Top News: August 29, 2024

date: 2024-09-03, from: NASA breaking news

Researchers used an interferometer that can precisely measure gravity, magnetic fields, and other forces to study the influence of International Space Station vibrations. Results revealed that matter-wave interference of rubidium gases is robust and repeatable over a period spanning months. Atom interferometry experiments could help create high-precision measurement capabilities for gravitational, Earth, and planetary sciences. Using ultracold rubidium […]

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/johnson/station-science-top-news-august-29-2024/

Big Tech ‘Clients’ of Jacob Wohl’s Secret AI Lobbying Firm Say They’ve Never Heard of It

date: 2024-09-03, from: 404 Media Group

Pfizer, Microsoft, Palantir, Home Depot, and Lockheed Martin were all shown as “clients” of LobbyMatic. All of them say they haven’t worked with the company.

https://www.404media.co/big-tech-clients-of-jacob-wohls-secret-ai-lobbying-firm-lobbymatic-say-theyve-never-heard-of-it/

New York mayor calls for changes in city’s migrant sanctuary status

date: 2024-09-03, from: VOA News USA

Migrant-related crime in New York has many residents on edge, with some blaming the influx of undocumented migrants into the city over the past two years. Aron Ranen and Igor Tsikhanenka spoke to law enforcement officials, politicians, activists and migrants about the controversy in this story narrated by Aron Ranen.

https://www.voanews.com/a/new-york-mayor-calls-for-changes-in-city-s-migrant-sanctuary-status/7769560.html

Colossal, one of my all-time favorite sites on these here interwebs, has…

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: Jason Kottke blog

https://kottke.org/24/09/0045203-colossal-one-of-my-all-ti

Brace for glitches and GRUB grumbles as Ubuntu 24.04.1 lands

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Now the Numbat has been neatened, you can replace your Jellyfish – if you dare

Ubuntu 24.04.1 is here, which means that users of the previous LTS release, 22.04 “Jammy Jellyfish,” will be offered the update.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/ubuntu_24041/

Carbon Nanotubes and the Search for Life on Other Planets

date: 2024-09-03, from: NASA breaking news

A NASA-developed material made of carbon nanotubes will enable our search for exoplanets—some of which might be capable of supporting life. Originally developed in 2007 by a team of researchers led by Innovators of the Year John Hagopian and Stephanie Getty at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, this carbon nanotube technology is being refined for […]

https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/science-enabling-technology/carbon-nanotubes-and-the-search-for-life-on-other-planets/

Can AI Make Art?

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: Jason Kottke blog

https://kottke.org/24/09/can-ai-make-art

Decision on major policy shift on marijuana won’t come until after US presidential election

date: 2024-09-03, from: VOA News USA

Washington — A decision on whether to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug in the U.S. won’t come until after the November presidential election, a timeline that raises the chances it could be a potent political issue in the closely contested race.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration last week set a hearing date to take comment on the proposed historic change in federal drug policy for Dec. 2.

The hearing date means a final decision could well come in the next administration. While it’s possible it could precede the end of President Joe Biden’s term, issuing it before Inauguration Day “would be pretty expedited,” said cannabis lawyer Brian Vicente.

That could put a new spotlight on the presidential candidates’ positions on marijuana. Vice President Kamala Harris has backed decriminalizing the drug and said it’s “absurd” to have it in the DEA’s Schedule I category alongside heroin and LSD. The Democratic nominee’s position has shifted over the years; she once oversaw the enforcement of cannabis laws and opposed legalized recreational use for adults in California while running for attorney general in 2010.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, signaled support for a Florida legalization measure on Saturday, following earlier comments that he increasingly agrees that people shouldn’t be jailed for the drug now legal in multiple states, “whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

During his run for president in 2016, Trump said that he backed medical marijuana and that pot should be left up to the states. But during his first term, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions lifted an Obama-era policy that kept federal authorities from cracking down on the pot trade in states where the drug is legal.

Trump’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a query about his position on rescheduling the drug.

The Justice Department proposed reclassifying it in May, saying the change would recognize marijuana’s medical uses and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. The proposal, which would not legalize marijuana for recreational use, came after a call for review from Biden, who has called the change “monumental.”

The DEA has said it doesn’t yet have a position on whether to go through with the change, stating in a memo that it would keep weighing the issue as the federal rulemaking process plays out.

The new classification would be the most significant shift in U.S. drug policy in 50 years and could be a potent political issue, especially with younger voters. But it faces opposition from groups such as Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

Its president, Kevin Sabet, argues there isn’t enough data to move cannabis to the less-dangerous Schedule III category, alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids. The DEA’s move to hold the hearing is “a huge win in our fight to have this decision guided by medical science, not politics,” he said in a statement, adding that 18 states’ attorneys general are backing his opposition.

The hearing sparked some consternation among pot industry players, though little surprise about the DEA decision to hold one.

“While the result ultimately may be better, I think we’re so used to seeing delays that it’s just a little disappointing,” said Stephen Abraham, chief financial officer at The Blinc Group, supplier of cartridges and other hardware used in pot vapes. “Every time you slow down or hold resources from the legal market, it’s to the benefit of the illicit market.”

The proposal, which was signed by Attorney General Merrick Garland rather than DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, followed a recommendation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Federal drug policy has lagged behind that of many states in recent years, with 38 having already legalized medical marijuana and 24 legalizing its recreational use.

Lawmakers from both major political parties have pushed for the change as marijuana has become increasingly decriminalized and accepted. A Gallup poll last year found 70% of adults support legalization, the highest level yet recorded by the polling firm and more than double the roughly three in 10 who backed it in 2000.

The marijuana industry has also grown quickly, and state-licensed pot companies are keen on rescheduling partly because it could enable them to take federal business-expense tax deductions that aren’t available to enterprises involved in “trafficking” any Schedule I or II drug. For some of Vicente’s clients, the change would effectively reduce the tax rate from 75% to 25%.

Some legalization advocates also hope rescheduling could help persuade Congress to pass legislation aimed at opening banks’ doors to cannabis companies. Currently, the drug’s legal status means many federally regulated banks are reluctant to lend to such businesses, or sometimes even provide checking or other basic services.

Rescheduling could also make it easier to research marijuana, since it’s difficult to conduct authorized clinical studies on Schedule I substances. Some medical marijuana patient advocates fear that the discussion has already become deeply politicized and that the focus on rescheduling’s potential effect on the industry has shifted attention from the people who could benefit.

“It was our hope that we could finally take the next step and create the national medical cannabis program that we need,” said Steph Sherer, founder and president of Americans for Safe Access. The organization advocates for putting cannabis in a drug category all its own and for creating a medical cannabis office within DHS.

The immediate effect of rescheduling on the nation’s criminal justice system, though, would likely be more muted, since federal prosecutions for simple possession have been fairly rare in recent years.

https://www.voanews.com/a/decision-on-major-policy-shift-on-marijuana-won-t-come-until-after-us-presidential-election/7769530.html

Party of one: US restaurants cater to growing number of solo diners

date: 2024-09-03, from: VOA News USA

NEW YORK — Parisa Imanirad, a scientist and cancer researcher from San Francisco, is married and has a wide circle of friends. But once or twice a week, she goes to a restaurant by herself.

Imanirad said dining alone gives her time to think or read. She tries not to touch her phone and relishes the silence. “It’s like a spa, but a different type,” Imanirad said during a recent solo lunch at Spruce, an upscale restaurant in San Francisco.

Imanirad isn’t alone in her desire to be alone. In the United States, solo dining reservations have risen 29% over the last two years, according to OpenTable, the restaurant reservation site. They’re up 18% this year in Germany and 14% in the United Kingdom.

Japan even has a special term for solo dining: “ohitorisama,” which means “alone” but with honorifics spoken before and after the word to make parties of one feel less hesitant. In a recent survey, Japan’s Hot Pepper Gourmet Eating Out Research Institute found that 23% of Japanese people eat out alone, up from 18% in 2018.

As a result, many restaurants in Japan and elsewhere are redoing their seating, changing their menus and adding other special touches to appeal to solo diners.

“Even so-called family restaurants are increasing counter seats for solitary diners, and restaurants are offering courses with smaller servings so a person eating alone gets a variety of dishes,” said Masahiro Inagaki, a senior researcher at the institute.

OpenTable CEO Debby Soo thinks remote work is one reason for the increase, with diners seeking respites from their home offices. But she thinks there are deeper reasons, too.

“I think there’s a broader movement of self-love and self-care and really … enjoying your own company,” Soo said.

The pandemic also made social interactions less feasible and therefore less important while eating out, said Anna Mattila, a professor of lodging management at Penn State University who has studied solo dining. And smartphones help some restaurant patrons feel connected to others even when they’re by themselves, she said.

“The social norms have changed. People don’t look at solo diners anymore and think, ‘You must be a loner,’” Mattila said.

More people live and travel solo

The growth comes as more people are living alone. In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that 38% of U.S. adults ages 25 to 54 were living without a partner, up from 29% in 1990. In Japan, single households now make up one-third of the total; that’s expected to climb to 40% by 2040, according to government data.

Increasing interest in solo travel — particularly among travelers ages 55 and over — is also leading to more meals alone.

On a recent solo trip to Lucerne, Switzerland, Carolyn Ray was stunned when the hostess led her to a beautiful lake-view table set for one, complete with a small vase of flowers. Ray, the CEO and editor of JourneyWoman, a website for solo women travelers over 50, said other restaurants have tried to seat her toward the back or pointedly asked if someone will be joining her.

Ray counsels women planning to dine alone to go somewhere else if they’re treated rudely or given a bad table.

“It’s almost like the world hasn’t caught up with this idea that we are on our own because we want to be on our own and we’re independent and empowered,” she said. “We can go into any restaurant we want and have a table for one and feel good about it.”

Shawn Singh, a Houston-based content creator and restaurant reviewer, said he eats alone about 70% of the time. If the idea of venturing out for a solitary meal is intimidating, he suggests going to lunch instead of dinner — when tables are usually more crowded with groups — or going early on a weekday.

“The best way to see a restaurant you’ve been wanting to see for a long time is definitely going solo,” Singh said. “If I go at 5 p.m. and alone, I haven’t been denied at one place ever.”

Restaurants aren’t always thrilled to seat a single diner at a table that could fit more. A Michelin-starred London restaurant, Alex Dilling at Hotel Cafe Royal, caused a stir last year when it started charging solo patrons the same price as two customers. Its eight-course dinner tasting menu, which includes caviar and Cornish squid, costs 215 pounds ($280) per person.

The restaurant, which has only 34 seats, didn’t respond to a request for comment. But its website doesn’t allow reservations for fewer than two people.

‘Playing the long game’

Other restaurants say it’s worth seating one person at a table made for two because solo diners tend to be loyal, repeat customers.

“While there may be a short-term loss there, I think we’re kind of playing the long game and establishing ourselves as a place that’s truly special,” said Drew Brady, chief operating officer at Overthrow Hospitality, which operates 11 vegan restaurants in New York.

Brady has seen an increase in solo diners since the pandemic, and says they’re evenly split between men and women. At the company’s flagship restaurant, Avant Garden, they make up as much as 8% of patrons.

In response, the restaurant teamed up with Lightspeed, a restaurant tech and consulting company, to develop a solo dining program. Avant Garden now has a spacious table designed for solo diners, with a $65 four-course menu fashioned like a passport to enhance the sense of adventure. If solo diners order a cocktail, a bartender mixes it tableside.

Mattila, at Penn State, said restaurants might want to consider additional changes. Her research has found that solo diners prefer angular shapes — in lights, tables or plates, for example — to round ones, which are more associated with the connectedness of groups. They also prefer slow-tempo music.

Jill Weber, the founder of Sojourn Philly, a Philadelphia company that owns two restaurants and a wine bar, said she adds a communal table at special events such as wine tastings so individuals have a place to gather. She also doesn’t offer specials designed for two.

Weber, who is also an archaeologist, loves dining alone when she’s traveling.

“There’s something about not having to agree on where to go and everything that goes with that. You have the freedom to stay as long as you want, order what you want and sit with those things,” she said. “It also feels brave sometimes.”

https://www.voanews.com/a/party-of-one-restaurants-cater-to-growing-number-of-solo-diners/7769527.html

China outspending US, Taiwan, and South Korea combined on chipmaking kit

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

$25B semiconductor shopping spree leaves rivals in the dust

China spent more in the first half of this year on chipmaking equipment to expand its semiconductor capacity than the US, Taiwan, and South Korea combined, indicating how serious the country is about self-reliance in silicon and building its own industry.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/china_spending_big_on_chipmaking/

What are we going to do with abundant, free, renewable energy? “[By…

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: Jason Kottke blog

https://kottke.org/24/09/0045201-what-are-we-going-to

The AI Copyright Hype: Legal Claims That Didn’t Hold Up

date: 2024-09-03, from: Authors Union blogs

Over the past year, two dozen AI-related lawsuits and their myriad infringement claims have been winding their way through the court system. None have yet reached a jury trial. While we all anxiously await court rulings that can inform our future interaction with generative AI models, in the past few weeks, we are suddenly flooded […]

https://www.authorsalliance.org/2024/09/03/the-ai-copyright-hype-legal-claims-that-didnt-hold-up/

A Brewer Named “Brewer”

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: One Foot Tsunami

https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/09/03/a-brewer-named-brewer/

US Fed welcomes ‘soft landing’ even if many Americans don’t feel like cheering

date: 2024-09-03, from: VOA News USA

Washington — When Jerome Powell delivered a high-profile speech last month, the Federal Reserve chair came the closest he ever had to declaring that the inflation surge that gripped the nation for three painful years was now essentially defeated.

And not only that. The Fed’s high interest rates, Powell said, had managed to achieve that goal without causing a widely predicted recession and high unemployment.

Yet most Americans are not in the same celebratory mood about the plummeting of inflation in the face of the high borrowing rates the Fed engineered. Though consumer sentiment is slowly rising, a majority of Americans in some surveys still complain about elevated prices, given that the costs of such necessities as food, gas and housing remain far above where they were before the pandemic erupted in 2020.

The relatively sour mood of the public is creating challenges for Vice President Kamala Harris as she seeks to succeed President Joe Biden. Despite the fall of inflation and strong job growth, many voters say they’re dissatisfied with the Biden-Harris administration’s economic record — and especially frustrated by high prices.

That disparity points to a striking gap between how economists and policymakers assess the past several years of the economy and how many ordinary Americans do.

In his remarks last month, given at an annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell underscored how the Fed’s sharp rate hikes succeeded much more than most economists had predicted in taming inflation without hammering the economy — a notoriously difficult feat known as a “soft landing.”

“Some argued that getting inflation under control would require a recession and a lengthy period of high unemployment,” Powell said.

Ultimately, though, he noted, “the 4-1/2 percentage point decline in inflation from its peak two years ago has occurred in a context of low unemployment — a welcome and historically unusual result.”

With high inflation now essentially conquered, Powell and other central bank officials are preparing to cut their key interest rate in mid-September for the first time in more than four years. The Fed is becoming more focused on sustaining the job market with the help of lower interest rates than on continuing to fight inflation.

Many Americans ‘have taken a big hit’

Many consumers, by contrast, are still preoccupied most by today’s price levels.

“From the viewpoint of economists, central bankers, how we think about inflation, it really has been a remarkable success, how inflation went up, has come back, and is around the target,” said Kristin Forbes, an economist at MIT and a former official at the United Kingdom’s central bank, the Bank of England.

“But from the viewpoint of households, it has not been so successful,” she added. “Many have taken a big hit to their wages. Many of them feel like the basket of goods they buy is now much more expensive.”

Two years ago, economists feared that the Fed’s ongoing rate hikes — it ultimately raised its benchmark rate more than 5 percentage points to a 23-year high in the fastest pace in four decades — would hammer the economy and cause millions of job losses. After all, that’s what happened when the Fed under Chair Paul Volcker sent its benchmark rate to nearly 20% in the early 1980s, ultimately throttling a brutal inflationary spell.

In fact, at Jackson Hole two years ago, Powell himself warned that using high interest rates to defeat the inflation spike “would bring some pain to households and businesses.”

Yet now, according to the Fed’s preferred measure, inflation is 2.5%, not far above its 2% target. And while a weaker pace of hiring has caused some concerns, the unemployment rate is at a still-low 4.3%, and the economy expanded at a solid 3% annual rate last quarter.

While no Fed official will outright declare victory, some take satisfaction in defying the predictions of doom and gloom.

“2023 was a historic year for inflation falling,” said Austan Goolsbee, president of the Chicago Fed. “And there wasn’t a recession, and that’s unprecedented. And so we will be studying the mechanics of how that happened for a long time.”

Measures of consumer sentiment, though, indicate that three years of hurtful inflation have dimmed many Americans’ outlook. In addition, high loan rates, along with elevated housing prices, have led many young workers to fear that homeownership is increasingly out of reach.

‘Inflation overhang’

Last month, the consulting firm McKinsey said that 53% of consumers in its most recent survey “still say that rising prices and inflation are among their concerns.” McKinsey’s analysts attributed the escalated figure to “an ’inflation overhang.” That’s the belief among analysts that it can take months, if not years, for consumers to adjust emotionally to a much higher level of prices even if their pay is keeping pace.

Economists point to several reasons for the wide gap in perceptions between economists and policymakers on the one hand and everyday consumers and workers on the other.

The first is that the Fed tailors its interest rate policies to manage inflation — the rate of price changes — rather than price levels themselves. So when inflation spikes, the central bank’s goal is to return it to a sustainable level, currently defined as 2%, rather than to reverse the price increases. The Fed’s policymakers expect average wages to catch up and eventually to allow consumers to afford the higher prices.

“Central bankers think even if inflation gets away from 2% for a period, as long as it comes back, that’s fine,” Forbes said. “Victory, mission accomplished. But the amount of time inflation is away from 2% can have a major cost.”

Research by Stefanie Stantcheva, a Harvard economist, and two colleagues found that most people’s views of inflation are very different from those of economists. Economists in general are more likely to regard inflation as a consequence of strong growth. They often describe inflation as a result of an “overheating” economy: Low unemployment, strong job growth and rising wages lead businesses to sharply increase prices without necessarily losing sales.

By contrast, a survey by Stantcheva found, ordinary Americans “view inflation as an unambiguously bad thing and very rarely as a sign of a good economy or as a byproduct of positive developments.”

Her survey respondents also said they believed that inflation stems from excessive government spending or greedy businesses. They “do not believe that (central bank) policymakers face trade-offs, such as having to reduce economic activity or increase unemployment to control inflation.”

Perceived recession

As a result, few consumers probably worried about the potential for a downturn as a result of the Fed’s rate hikes. One opinion survey, in fact, found that many consumers believed, incorrectly, that the economy was in a recession because inflation was so high.

At the Jackson Hole conference, Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, argued that central banks cannot guarantee that high inflation will never appear — only that they will try to drive it back down when it does.

“I get this question quite often in Parliament,” Bailey said. “People say, ‘Well you failed to control inflation.’ I said no.”

The test of a central bank, he continued, “is not that we will never have inflation. The test of the regime is how well, once you get hit by these shocks, you bring it back to target.”

Still, Forbes suggested that there are lessons to be learned from the post-COVID inflation spike, including whether inflation was allowed to stay too high for too long, both in the U.S. and the U.K. The Fed has long been criticized for having taken too long to start raising its benchmark rate. Inflation first spiked in the spring of 2021. Yet the Fed, under the mistaken impression that high inflation would prove “transitory,” didn’t begin raising rates until nearly a year later.

“Maybe should we rethink … where we seem to be now: ‘As long as it comes back four to five years later, that’s fine,’” she said. “Maybe four to five years is too long.

“How much unemployment or slowdown in growth should we be willing to accept to shorten the length of time that inflation is too high?”

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-fed-welcomes-soft-landing-even-if-many-americans-don-t-feel-like-cheering/7769461.html

The Reviews Are In for Volvo’s New EX90 SUV

date: 2024-09-03, from: Heatmap News

Current conditions: Japan recorded its hottest summer ever • Tropical Storm Yagi killed at least 14 people in the Philippines and is forecast to strengthen as it heads toward China • Cooling centers are open in L.A. as another powerful heat wave bakes California.

THE TOP FIVE

1. U.S. and China to hold more climate talks

U.S. climate envoy John Podesta will head to Beijing this week for a second round of formal climate talks with his Chinese counterpart Liu Zhenmin. From Wednesday through Friday the two men will discuss their countries’ respective 2035 emissions targets and climate finance ahead of November’s COP29 climate summit. The U.S. is trying to encourage China to commit to more ambitious emissions cuts, and contribute funds to the New Collective Quantified Goal to help developing countries build climate resilience. According to Reuters, “few analysts expect this week’s talks to deliver much progress.” The U.S. and China are the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters.

2. Eerily calm Atlantic baffles storm watchers

The Atlantic Ocean has been strangely quiet over the last few weeks, and meteorologists are baffled. “Despite several disturbances peppering the Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico to Africa this Labor Day – a traditionally active turn in the hurricane season – none show any immediate signs of development,” wrote Michael Lowry in his Eye on the Tropics newsletter. Indeed the National Hurricane Center currently shows two areas of interest, both with very little chance of forming into a storm system to be worried about. “The quiet is eerie but no one is complaining,” said research meteorologist Ryan Maue. Hurricane season peaks one week from today.

National Hurricane Center/NOAA

3. Grand Canyon deaths rise as extreme weather intensifies

With four months left in 2024, the number of deaths reported in Grand Canyon National Park this year has reached 14, just shy of the annual average of 15, according to The Hill. There are a number of factors at play but the rise in fatalities comes as climate change brings more dangerous weather to the popular park, including extreme heat and flash floods. Just in the last 10 days, three people have been found dead. A recent study from the National Park Service concluded that more extreme heat is significantly increasing the risk of heat-related illness for visitors. Temperatures at the bottom of the canyon regularly reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit and can go higher as the dark stones absorb heat. But flash floods are common, too, and can catch hikers off guard. “The arid, sparsely vegetated environment here means that rainfall quickly generates runoff because the ground doesn’t absorb it well,” National Park Service spokesperson Rebecca Roland said. A flash flood tore through the canyon on August 22 and killed a 33-year-old woman.

4. Study: The ‘neighborhood effect’ accelerates solar panel uptake

If you’re thinking of installing solar panels but still on the fence, maybe consider that taking the plunge could turn you into an influencer who inspires your neighbors to install their own solar panels, too. A recent study published in the journal Energy Research & Social Science looked at solar installations in Australia and specifically the so-called neighborhood effect that’s observed when a technology becomes more visible and subsequently more popular. The researchers found that “once a few houses in a neighborhood had solar, solar got installed faster – translating on average to 15-20 extra solar installations per postal area per year.” They estimate that in 2018, the neighborhood effect was responsible for about 18% of the annual number of installations in Australia. “We do care what our peers are doing,” the researchers wrote. “This is nothing to be ashamed of. As we work to secure a liveable climate, the neighborhood effect can play an important role.” While this study focused on uptake in Australia, the neighborhood effect has been observed in relation to solar installations in the U.S., too.

5. The first-drive reviews of Volvo’s EX90 SUV are in

Today seems to be the day everyone is publishing their first-drive reviews of the Volvo EX90, the company’s new flagship all-electric SUV. The long-delayed, three-row vehicle starts at a base price of $82,290, and has a range between 296 and 308 miles. It’s being manufactured in South Carolina and U.S. deliveries are expected toward the end of 2024. Here’s a distilled version of what everyone is saying:

The good: The SUV is comfortable, cushy, and beautifully designed. “The cabin has a nice ambience and a cool, premium feel.” It has a very smooth ride and incredible torque considering its hefty weight. And the sound system is “genuinely astonishing.”

The bad: Software glitches (no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto at launch, non-functional lidar), buggy connectivity (the phone-as-key feature seems particularly confused), battery drain when parked, and a cramped back row.

The bottom lines:

• “If you’re interested in an EX90, and its promise of serene emissions-free motoring, you’re just going to have to keep waiting. Wait until Volvo can polish the software, then buy the finished product. You shouldn’t spend $90,000 on a promise.” –Mack Hogan, deputy editor of InsideEVs
• “Unless the need for a third row is not optional, it’s hard to ignore the Polestar 3, built alongside the EX90 in South Carolina, which is several thousand dollars cheaper and much more fun to drive.” –Jonathan M. Gitlin, automotive editor at Ars Technica
• “The launch of the EX90 has been delayed by almost a year due to the complexity of getting the software right, and even that delay has not been enough to get it to a level you’d rightly expect of any new car launched in 2024, let alone one like the EX90.” –Mark Tisshaw, editor at Autocar
• “As a minimum viable product, the EX90 is still pretty good. Future updates and bug fixes will make it the luxury vehicle that Volvo hopes it will be, with all the promised bells and whistles.” –Abigail Basset at The Verge

THE KICKER

“It’s getting so hot that the pieces that hold the concrete and steel, those bridges can literally fall apart like Tinkertoys.” –Paul Chinowsky, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, explains how extreme heat affects infrastructure.

https://heatmap.news/electric-vehicles/volvo-ex90-ev-suv-reviews

Cloud computing hits the nuclear button amid energy crisis

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Other options considered too as the power draw on electricity grids continues unabated

Analysis  Cloud computing is one of the few areas of the tech industry to show continual growth, even during the pandemic and the subsequent inflation-driven curb on spending. Yet one thing that might hinder cloud’s inexorable expansion is finding the power for the infrastructure it depends on.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/cloud_growth_energy_challenges/

Equity and Social Policy: Q&A with Jessica Welburn Paige

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: RAND blog

Jessica Welburn Paige, a behavioral and social scientist, focuses on questions of race and inequality. In this interview, she discusses how AI programs being used to monitor students for suicide risk could compromise student privacy and harm vulnerable students.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/09/equity-and-social-policy-qa-with-jessica-welburn-paige.html

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-03, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Trump's first term is a warning. (Every NYT story or op-ed that presents Trump as warm and fuzzy should be linked to this piece.)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/18/opinion/trump-presidency-record.html?unlocked_article_code=1.H04.B-Yt.wlI939ae2rBL&smid=url-share

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-03, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

For some reason I love this Sprint commercial from 2014. Best line: "let's go honey those tacos ain't gonna eat themselves over there."

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/7Shu/sprint-framily-plan-gordon-ft-judy-greer

Even as rent growth cools, sticker shock lingers

date: 2024-09-03, from: Marketplace Morning Report

Lots of folks had Labor Day barbecues this past weekend, but plenty spent it moving too. It was a big move-in weekend for renters. And while rent prices have been moderating, they’re still way higher than they were a few years ago. We’ll hear more. But first: why so many hotel workers are going on strike and how the FAA is looking to curb a shortage of air traffic controllers.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/even-as-rent-growth-cools-sticker-shock-lingers

Former VW boss faces “dieselgate” trial

date: 2024-09-03, from: Marketplace Morning Report

From the BBC World Service: The trial of the former chief executive of Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn, is getting under way in Germany over his role in a major diesel emissions scandal. We’ll rehash the controversy and hear the latest. And in an exclusive interview, the chief executive of logistics group DHL warns about the challenges facing global trade and the German economy, which is the largest in Europe.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/former-vw-boss-faces-dieselgate-trial

MASTER PLAN, Ep 4: The Task Force That Took Over America

date: 2024-09-03, from: The Lever News

How a radical secret memo went from idea to reality.

https://www.levernews.com/master-plan-ep-4-the-task-force-that-took-over-america-2/

SAP CTO bows out over ‘incident’ at company shindig

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Board member offers apology for ‘inappropriate’ behavior

SAP CTO and executive board member Jürgen Müller is set to depart the German software corporation over an “incident” at a company event.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/sap_cto_departs/

The First Continental Congress Convenes

date: 2024-09-03, from: National Archives, Pieces of History blog

In celebration of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States, we’re focusing on key events in the history of independence. Today’s post looks at the First Continental Congress, which met from September 5 to October 26, 1774, in Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia. Following the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), a cash-strapped Britain wanted to raise funds … Continue reading The First Continental Congress Convenes

https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2024/09/03/the-first-continental-congress-convenes/

Experts Discover 1,700 Ancient Viruses in a Tibetan Glacier

date: 2024-09-03, from: Smithsonian Magazine

Studying how the viruses, which do not infect humans, adapted to previous major temperature shifts could hold clues to how modern viruses will react to the current climate change

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/experts-discover-1700-ancient-viruses-in-a-tibetan-glacier-180985005/

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-03, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

The latest shows from my favorite podcast feeds.

https://news.scripting.com/?tab=podcasts

AI firms propose ‘personhood credentials’ … to fight AI

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

It’s going to take more than CAPTCHA to prove you’re real

Researchers at Microsoft and OpenAI, among others, have proposed “personhood credentials” to counter the online deception enabled by the AI models sold by Microsoft and OpenAI, among others.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/ai_personhood_credentials/

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-03, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Young male voters are flocking to Trump – but he doesn’t have their interests at heart.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/sep/03/young-male-voters-trump-harris

Radar Trends to Watch: September 2024

date: 2024-09-03, from: O’Reilly Radar

This month, we’ll give AI a rest. Alex Russell has finished an excellent series of posts titled, “Reckoning.” It’s a must-read for web developers. If you want to understand why our networks and laptops are much faster than they were 15-20 years ago, but the web is slower, it comes down to one thing: bloated […]

https://www.oreilly.com/radar/radar-trends-to-watch-september-2024/

Is the Election Already Hurting Clean Energy?

date: 2024-09-03, from: Heatmap News

Climate has not exactly been the focus in this election cycle that it was in 2020 — but the political climate could still be polarizing public opinion on clean energy.

For the latest Heatmap News poll, Embold Research surveyed more than 5,000 registered voters over two weeks in early August. When asked whether they were in favor clean energy projects in either their state, their local area, or near their own property, a majority of respondents said they were at least somewhat supportive, with declining levels of enthusiasm as the projects got closer to their homes. The responses also followed a predictable partisan gradient: 81% of Democrats supported clean energy projects “on a property near yours” compared to 28% of Republicans. But this level of support was also slightly lower than what it was in April, when Embold fielded a similar Heatmap survey.

Support went up among members of both major parties as the hypothetical projects got further away from their homes, but across the board, the numbers were lower in August than they were in April. “We have seen a slight dip in voters’ support for various types of clean energy,” Embold analyst Ben Greenfield told me. As with any poll gyration, the dip could be a “statistical blip,” Greenfield said. But it’s also “possible that this is an election year phenomenon.”

“This is something we do occasionally see — that support for various types of policies and policy-related things can change in the heat of the an election year, even if they don’t seem on their face directly related to the election,” Greenfield added. While the opinions may be transitory, however, they can have long-lasting consequences.

Opposition to clean energy projects can manifest — and matter — at both the local and national level. A Republican congressional majority, for instance, if convinced that its constituents don’t see much value in wind and solar projects, may be more aggressive in unwinding parts of the Inflation Reduction Act. Likewise, a great deal of the clean energy development activity supported by tax policy that was beefed up and extended in the Inflation Reduction Act has occurred in Republican-controlled districts and states. To the extent that local communities turn against clean energy because of its association with Democrats, it could mean a slower and dirtier transition away from fossil fuels.

Other differences between Republicans’ and Democrats’ survey answers appear to reflect not just attitudes toward clean energy in general, but also the respondents’ own values and preferences for energy projects. Even when Republicans support clean energy projects, Greenfield noted, their reasons for doing so are different from what Democrats cite.

When asked what would be a “strong” benefit of a clean energy project, the most popular answer for Republicans, garnering 47% support, was the claim that it “reduces our dependence on foreign sources of oil and gas.” Among Democrats, meanwhile, 76% picked out “combats climate change” as a benefit of clean energy, compared to 39% of independents and only 13% of Republicans. “On that question, Democrats are kind of equally interested in the economic benefits and environmental benefits, whereas Republicans are almost entirely focused on economic benefits,” Greenfield said. Donald Trump has made a point of attacking clean energy policies on economic grounds, especially wind, electric boats, and depending on the day, electric cars.

“We see lower support for wind than solar — at least rooftop solar,” Greenfield said. That could be because rooftop solar is seen as a way to save money and increase one’s own personal resilience, as opposed to a more purely environmental choice like wind power.

“We found that there’s more support for incentives for clean power plants, home renovations, building of factories in the U.S.,” Greenfield also noted, suggesting that clean energy policies with a more obvious economic nexus may be more popular than ones that are seen as more purely to do with climate change.

While Trump modulates his views on EVs seemingly depending on how he feels about Elon Musk that day, there’s good evidence that one reason he attacked them in the past is that he knew his supporters would like to hear it. When asked whether they thought installing a variety of clean energy technologies in their home would improve or diminish their quality of life, more than half of Republicans said an electric car would make their quality of life “much worse,” compared to just 5% of Democrats; over 50% of Democrats said an electric car would make their quality of life better.

“Any time we talk about EVs, we see lower levels of support and stronger opposition among Republicans than you might expect people to have about a type of car,” Greenfield told me. “The big difference is the partisan difference on the environmental benefit and whether that is important. Clean energy tends to be a Democratic coded issue. That is clearly driving a lot of the partisan difference.”

https://heatmap.news/politics/clean-energy-polarization-election

Transport for London confirms cyberattack, assures us all is well

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Government body claims there is no evidence of customer data being compromised

Transport for London (TfL) – responsible for much of the public network carrying people around England’s capital – is battling to stay on top of an unfolding “cyber security incident.”…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/tfl_cyberattack/

Magnetic personalities at Tokamak Energy form separate division

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Fusion biz wants to break superconducting tech into other sectors

Brit nuclear fusion firm Tokamak Energy has formed a separate division to commercialize the superconducting magnet tech it developed for reactors in other markets including renewable energy or transport.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/tokamak_energy_magnet_spinoff/

Elon Musk’s Starlink won’t block Elon Musk’s X in Brazil, as required by court order

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Appeal panel upholds ban as Musk Xeets up a rage-storm

Brazil’s Supreme Court has backed an earlier decision to force local carriers to block Elon Musk’s social network, X, as the dispute between the billionaire and the South American nation widens.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/brazil_vs_x_update/

Big Tech got its ‘next billion’ – but there’s three billion people still offline

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

The GSMA and its friends are looking for ways to bring those within mobile range onto the ’net

In 2015 Google gave itself a mission: connect the “next billion” people to the internet. That plan more-than-succeeded, but also left three billion people offline – a situation that other orgs are trying to address.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/three_billion_people_offline/

Alibaba Cloud boosts failure prediction with logfile timestamps

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Machine learning helps, but more data catches more faults - so Chinese champ has shared its data

Alibaba Cloud has revealed homebrew tech it used to improve server fault prediction and detection, which it claims saw its ability to detect problems beat comparable tech by ten percent.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/aliaba_cloud_taat_fault_detection/

One of China’s best GPU prospects admits it’s failing, lays off workers

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Needs new investors to get beyond current modest products

Chinese GPU-maker Xiangdixian Computing Technology has admitted it has not met its development targets and let go of some staff as part of a restructuring plan.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/03/xiangdixian_computing_technology_layoffs_restructure/

Telemetry in Go 1.23 and beyond

date: 2024-09-03, updated: 2024-09-03, from: Go language blog

Go 1.23 includes opt-in telemetry for the Go toolchain.

https://go.dev/blog/gotelemetry

Someone to Look Up To

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-03, from: One Foot Tsunami

https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/09/02/someone-to-look-up-to/

Turkey arrests 15 accused of assaulting US servicemen

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

Ankara, Turkey/Washington — A nationalist Turkish youth group physically assaulted two U.S. soldiers Monday in western Turkey, the U.S. Embassy in Turkey and the local governor’s office said, adding that 15 assailants had been detained over the incident.

In a statement, the Izmir governor’s office said members of the Turkey Youth Union (TGB), a youth branch of the nationalist opposition Vatan Party, “physically attacked” two U.S. soldiers dressed in civilian clothes in the Konak district.

It added that five U.S. soldiers joined in after seeing the incident, and that police intervened. All 15 attackers had been detained and an investigation was launched into the matter, it said.

A White House spokesperson said Monday, Washington was “troubled” by the assault but added it was “appreciative that Turkish police are taking this matter seriously and holding those responsible accountable.”

The U.S. Embassy to Turkey also confirmed the attack and said the U.S. soldiers were now safe.

“We can confirm reports that U.S. service members embarked aboard the USS Wasp were the victims of an assault in Izmir today, and are now safe,” it said on social media platform X.

Earlier, the TGB posted a video on X showing a group holding down a man on the street and putting a white hood over his head, while shouting slogans.

The group said the man was a soldier on board the USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara had said earlier Monday that the ship was carrying out a port visit to the Aegean coastal town of Izmir this week.

“U.S. soldiers who carry the blood of our soldiers and thousands of Palestinians on their hands cannot dirty our country. Every time you step foot in these lands, we will meet you the way you deserve,” TGB said.

U.S.-Turkey ties have been strained in recent years by the U.S. alliance with Syrian Kurds that Turkey deems extremists, and over Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 defenses that prompted U.S. sanctions and removal from a F-35 jet program.

There has also been divergence over Israel’s war in Gaza, where over 40,000 people have been killed according to Gaza authorities, and over which Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has sharply criticized Washington’s ally.

Earlier this month, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey said U.S.-Turkey relations are now “in a better place than we’ve been in a while” and noted the “useful role” Turkey played in a recent prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia.

https://www.voanews.com/a/turkey-arrests-15-accused-of-assaulting-us-servicemen-/7768822.html

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

smays notices he’s in my blogroll. 😀

https://www.smays.com/2024/09/dave-winers-blogroll/

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Molly Maguires.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Maguires

5 people shot at New York’s West Indian American Day Parade

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

new york — Five people were shot Monday at New York City’s West Indian American Day Parade, police said. It was the latest incident of violence to mar one of the world’s largest annual celebrations of Caribbean culture.

A gunman targeting a specific group of people opened fire along the parade route in Brooklyn around 2:35 p.m., NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said. The parade had kicked off hours earlier, with thousands of revelers dancing and marching down Eastern Parkway, a main thoroughfare through the borough. It was expected to continue into the night.

Two people were critically wounded, Chell said. The three other victims were expected to survive their injuries, he said. The gunman fled.

“This was not random,” Chell said. “This was an intentional act by one person towards a group of people. We do not by no means have any active shooter or anything of that nature running around Eastern Parkway as we speak. The parade is going on and will go on until later on tonight.”

An Associated Press videographer who was nearby when the shots rang out saw at least two people being treated for what appeared to be wounds to the face and arm. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was marching in the parade at the time and completed the route. A message was left with Schumer’s office.

Police cordoned off an area adjacent to the parade route, where they placed crime scene markers. The parade continued flowing past as officers were seen bagging items.

Chell asked that bystanders provide police with any video footage they may have recorded of the shooting.

“We need that video,” Chell said. “We are going to solve this, but it’s going to take a lot of work.”

The parade, an annual Labor Day event in its 57th year, turns Eastern Parkway into a kaleidoscope of feather-covered costumes and colorful flags as participants make their way down the thoroughfare alongside floats stacked high with speakers playing soca and reggae music.

The parade routinely attracts huge crowds, who line the almost 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) route that runs from Crown Heights to the Brooklyn Museum. It’s also a popular destination for local politicians, many of whom are of West Indian heritage or represent members of the city’s large Caribbean community.

Though a joyous occasion, the parade and related celebrations have been plagued by violence over the years.

In 2016, two people were killed and several others were wounded near the parade route. The year before, Carey Gabay, an aide to then-Governor Andrew Cuomo, was shot in the head during pre-parade festivities. He died nine days later.

The West Indian American Day Parade has its roots in more traditionally timed, pre-Lent Carnival celebrations started by a Trinidadian immigrant in Manhattan around a century ago, according to the organizers. The festivities were moved to the warmer time of year in the 1940s.

Brooklyn, where hundreds of thousands of Caribbean immigrants and their descendants have settled, began hosting the parade in the 1960s.

The Labor Day parade is now the culmination of days of carnival events in the city, which include a steel pan band competition and J’Ouvert, a separate street party commemorating freedom from slavery.

https://www.voanews.com/a/people-shot-at-new-york-s-west-indian-american-day-parade-/7768781.html

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Show notes for the podcast I recorded from the road in Saskatchewan on this day in 2004 (twenty freaking years ago). If you're a fan of Adam Curry's podcasting you'll like this one. It's about this time that the collaboration starts becoming a community.

https://shownotes.scripting.com/podcast0/2024/09/02/aDriveThroughSaskatchewanOnTheTranscanadaHighway.html

What we can learn from vintage computing

date: 2024-09-02, from: OS News

Thanks to open source, no technology ever has to become obsolete, so long as a community remains to support it. You can sync Newtons and Palm Pilots with modern desktops, download web browsers for long-discontinued operating systems, or connect vintage computers like the Apple IIe to the modern internet via WiFi. Every year, new cartridges are released for old-school video game consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy. People keep old software and online platforms alive as well. The Dreamwidth team forked an old version of the early social network LiveJournal’s source code and built a community around it. The dial-up bulletin board system software WWIV is still maintained and there are plenty of BBSes still around. Teams are working to restore aspects of early online services like AOL and Prodigy. And you can still use Gopher, the hypertext protocol that was — for a brief period in the early 1990s — bigger than the web. ↫ Klint Finley Retrocomputing is about a lot of things, and I feel like it differs per person. For me, it’s a little bit of nostalgia, but primarily it’s about learning, and experiencing hardware and software I was unable to experience when they were new, either due to high cost or just general unavailability. There’s a lot to learn from platforms that are no longer among us, and often it helps you improve your skills with the modern platforms you do still use. The linked article is right: open source is playing such a massive role in the retrocomputing community. The number of open source projects allowing you to somehow use decades-old platforms in conjunction with modern technologies is massive, and it goes far beyond just software – projects like BlueSCSI or very niche things like usb3sun highlights there’s also hardware-based solutions for just about anything retro you want to accomplish. And we really can’t forget NetBSD, which seems to be the go-to modern operating system for bringing new life to old and retro hardware, as it often runs on just about anything. When I got my PA-RISC workstation, the HP Visualize c3750, I couldn’t find working copies of HP-UX, so I, too, opted for NetBSD to at least be able to see if the computer was fully functional. NetBSD is now a tool in my toolbox when I’m dealing with older, unique hardware. Retrocomputing is in a great place right now, with the exception of the ballooning prices we’re all suffering from, with even successful mainstay YouTubers like LGR lamenting the state of the market. Still, if you do get your hands on something retro – odds are there’s a whole bunch of tools ready for you to make the most of it, even today.

https://www.osnews.com/story/140653/what-we-can-learn-from-vintage-computing/

Retcon 1.0

date: 2024-09-02, from: Michael Tsai

Nathan Manceaux-Panot (Reddit, Hacker News): Rewrite Git history with a single drag-and-drop. Undo anything with ⌘Z. All speed, no bumps.[…]From small refinements to sweeping reworks, you do everything faster in Retcon. Edits take fewer steps, and don’t mess with the repo’s state. This seems really cool, though it’s not really a replacement for a general-purpose […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/02/retcon-1-0/

FreemiumKit and RevenueCat

date: 2024-09-02, from: Michael Tsai

Cihat Gündüz (Reddit): FreemiumKit is the ultimate solution for Apple platform developers to integrate and manage in-app purchases and subscriptions effortlessly. With support for all Apple platforms, FreemiumKit provides a seamless and efficient way to handle your app’s monetization. They have a comparison table vs. RevenueCat, which I’ve heard consistently great things about. Currently, it’s […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/02/freemiumkit-and-revenuecat/

The End of Finale

date: 2024-09-02, from: Michael Tsai

Greg Dell’Era (via Ric Ford): 35 years ago, Coda Music Technologies, now MakeMusic, released the first version of Finale, a groundbreaking and user-centered approach to notation software. For over four decades, our engineers and product teams have passionately crafted what would quickly become the gold standard for music notation. Four decades is a very long […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/02/the-end-of-finale/

The Apple IIGS Megahertz Myth

date: 2024-09-02, from: Michael Tsai

Dan Vincent (via Hacker News): The Apple II and Commodore 64 with their 6502 and 6510 CPUs clocked at 1 MHz could trade blows with Z80 powered computers running at three times the clock speed. And the IIGS had the 6502’s 16-bit descendant: the 65C816. Steve Wozniak thought Western Design Center had something special with […]

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/02/the-apple-iigs-megahertz-myth/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-02, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)

Celebrating Labor Day by watching every “notorious foodie” TikTok video.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113069744348119274

The Mouse programming language on CP/M

date: 2024-09-02, from: OS News

Mouse is an interpreted stack orientated language designed by Peter Grogono around 1975. It was designed to be a small but powerful language for microcomputers, similar to Forth, but much simpler. One obvious difference to Forth is that Mouse interprets a stream of characters most of which are only a single character and it relies more on variables rather than rearranging the stack as much. The version for CP/M on the Walnut Creek CD is quite small at only 2k. ↫ Lawrence Woodman (2020) Even with very little to no programming experience I can tell that this language looks a lot smaller and more compact than other code I’ve seen. I’ll have to leave it to the actual programmers and developers among the OSNews audience to provide more valuable insight, but I feel like there’s definitely something here that’ll interest some of you.

https://www.osnews.com/story/140651/the-mouse-programming-language-on-cp-m/

Paris flame barely extinguished, ‘superfan’ readies for next Summer Olympics

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

The Paris Olympics have just ended, but some diehard fans are already planning for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, California. Vivianne Robinson is one of them. The self-described Olympics superfan has been following the Games’ flame all over the world. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Vazgen Varzhabetian.

https://www.voanews.com/a/paris-flame-barely-extinguished-superfan-readies-for-next-summer-olympics/7768656.html

New Hampshire man sentenced to 27 months for harassing journalists

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/new-hampshire-man-sentenced-to-27-months-for-harassing-journalists/7768649.html

US seizes plane used by Venezuela’s Maduro, citing sanctions violations

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

Washington — The U.S. government has seized a plane used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that officials say was illegally purchased through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States, citing violations of sanctions and export control laws.

The Dassault Falcon 900EX was seized in the Dominican Republic and transferred to the custody of federal officials in Florida, the Justice Department said Monday.

U.S. officials say associates of the Venezuelan leader used a Caribbean-based shell company to hide their involvement in the purchase of the plane, valued at the time at $13 million, from a company in Florida. The plane was exported from the U.S. to Venezuela, through the Caribbean, in April 2023 in a transaction meant to circumvent an executive order that bars U.S. persons from business transactions with the Maduro regime.

The plane, registered to San Marino, was widely used by Maduro for foreign travel, including for trip earlier this year to Guyana and Cuba.

“Let this seizure send a clear message: aircraft illegally acquired from the United States for the benefit of sanctioned Venezuelan officials cannot just fly off into the sunset,” Matthew Axelrod, an assistant secretary for export enforcement in the Commerce Department, said in a statement.

CNN first reported the plane seizure.

The seizure announcement comes just over a month after Venezuelans headed to the polls for a highly anticipated presidential election in which ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared Maduro the victor without showing any detailed results to back up their claim. The lack of transparency has drawn international condemnation against Maduro’s government.

Meanwhile, the opposition managed to obtain more than 80% of vote tally sheets – considered the ultimate proof of results – nationwide. The documents, the faction said, show Maduro losing by a wide margin against former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez.

It was also the plane that carried several Americans jailed for years in Venezuela to the Caribbean Island of Canouan last December where they were swapped for a close Maduro ally, businessman Alex Saab, imprisoned in the U.S. on money laundering charges.

In March, it flew to the Dominican Republic, along with a Venezuelan-registered plane, for what was believed to be maintenance, never to leave again.

The U.S. has sanctioned 55 Venezuelan-registered planes belonging to state owned oil giant PDVSA.

It’s also offered a $15 million bounty for the arrest of Maduro to face federal drug trafficking charges in New York.

The Venezuelan government’s centralized press office did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment Monday.

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-seizes-plane-used-by-venezuela-s-maduro-citing-sanctions-violations/7768621.html

Microsoft says its Recall uninstall option in Windows 11 is just a bug

date: 2024-09-02, from: OS News

Despite reports to the contrary, Microsoft has stated that Recall will not be uninstallable after all. The feature did show up in the Windows Features dialog, but apparently, that was a bug. “We are aware of an issue where Recall is incorrectly listed as an option under the ‘Turn Windows features on or off’ dialog in Control Panel,” says Windows senior product manager Brandon LeBlanc in a statement to The Verge. “This will be fixed in an upcoming update.” ↫ Tom Warren at The Verge The company is not committing to saying it will not ever be uninstallable, probably because the European Union might have something to say about that. At the very least you’ll be able to turn Recall off, but it seems actually removing it might not be possible for a while.

https://www.osnews.com/story/140649/microsoft-says-its-recall-uninstall-option-in-windows-11-is-just-a-bug/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-02, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)

I loved the chemistry of this couple on TikTok composing this song;

https://music.apple.com/us/album/cruise/1753708573?i=1753708574

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113069225698283478

House to grill CrowdStrike exec on epic IT meltdown… no, not the CEO

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

VP Adam Meyers to testify about that faulty software update which ruined July and some of August

Crowdstrike is to be hauled before the US House Homeland Security Committee this month to explain why its faulty software update - the one that took down millions of computer systems worldwide - ever happened.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/crowdstrike_vp_house_subcommittee/

Harlem designers defying the odds

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

In New York, aspiring fashion designers often attend colleges like the Fashion Institute of Technology or Parsons School of Design. But for those without the means or access to higher education, a Harlem-based fashion incubator – a company that helps new fashion designers grow and learn the business – is providing alternative paths to the industry. VOA’s Tina Trinh shows us two emerging talents. Camera: Tina Trinh, Ting-Yi Hsu

https://www.voanews.com/a/harlem-designers-defying-the-odds-/7768509.html

Shuttered in Shanghai, Chinese bookstore reopens in Washington

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

Washington — A Chinese bookstore reopened in Washington on Sunday, six years after the Chinese government forced it to close its doors in Shanghai.

JF Books was teeming with books — and customers — when it opened its doors in Washington’s Dupont Circle neighborhood. In the storefront, the shop’s name is displayed in English and Mandarin in neon green lights. The sporadic rain was perhaps fitting considering the bookstore’s namesake “jifeng” means “monsoon” in Mandarin.

The bookstore is located next to Kramers, an indie bookstore that has been a Washington fixture for decades. Yu Miao, who runs JF Books, says he hopes his bookstore becomes an institution for the local community, too.

“I hope the bookstore can establish a connection between people in the Chinese community, and this connection could be established through knowledge,” Yu told VOA shortly before the shop opened for business. “Also, I hope the bookstore’s function can go beyond the Chinese community. It can also contribute to the local community.”

The shop sells Chinese-language books from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, in addition to a selection of English-language books. It will also regularly host speakers for events.

Founded in Shanghai in 1997 as Jifeng Bookstore, the shop ran into trouble in 2017 when its landlord said the lease couldn’t be extended. The bookstore looked for a new location, but the prospective landlords at each potential site received warnings or notifications from the government.

Jifeng Bookstore is one of several independent bookstores that Beijing has forced to close in recent years.

The fact that bookstores have become a battleground underscores the Chinese government’s broader repression of free expression and crackdown on anything deemed to be critical of the government, according to Sophie Richardson, the former China director at Human Rights Watch.

“[Chinese President] Xi Jinping and his government have clearly targeted a great deal of hostility at scholars,” Richardson told VOA at the bookstore. “Their books are regarded as potential threats, and so the party does what the party knows how to do, which is to send people into exile, to send them to jail, to shut down bookstores.”

China’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment for this story.

Gesturing at the throngs of people who were looking at books about everything from Chinese history to science, Richardson, who is now a visiting scholar at Stanford, added that there is a clear hunger for Chinese books.

“It’s amazing to see this clear demand for this kind of material in an environment where people can get it free of fear of persecution,” she said.

That’s another reason why Yu wanted to reopen the bookstore: It can be difficult to find Chinese-language books in the United States, he said. “And so, I think there must be many others that have the same concern,” he said.

When Jifeng Bookstore closed its doors in 2018, Yu never expected it to reopen.

“I thought it was closed, then its story ended,” Yu said. “I never imagined to reopen the bookstore.”

Now, JF Books has joined a rising number of independent Chinese bookstores that are being opened by members of the diaspora in cities around the world. They sell books and hold discussions about politics and history in a way that the Chinese government has stifled inside China.

JF Books already has scheduled three speakers for September. Howard Shen, a graduate student at Georgetown University, told VOA that he’s especially excited about the upcoming events.

“It’s such a big thing in the Chinese speaking community in D.C. We are all very excited to have this bookstore. It’s such a meaningful place for all Chinese in the world who love freedom,” said Shen, who is from Taiwan. 

One corner of the store features farewell messages that customers wrote back when the store was forced to shutter in 2018. Leading up to the bookstore’s second floor, photos on the wall memorialize the bookstore’s two-decade history in Shanghai. At the top of the staircase, photos show the bookstore’s final day in 2018.

“Jifeng Bookstore will soon depart from Shanghai,” the caption of one photo reads, “but the monsoon will continue to blow.”

https://www.voanews.com/a/shuttered-in-shanghai-chinese-bookstore-reopens-in-washington/7768504.html

Thousands of US hotel workers strike over Labor Day weekend

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-hotel-workers-strike-in-boston-greenwich-as-contract-negotiations-stall/7767142.html

Telegram CEO was ‘too free’ on content moderation, says Russian minister

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

CEO Pavel Durov charged in France, messaging platform insists it abides by EU laws

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who was cuffed and charged by the French police last week, was “too free” in his approach to managing the global messaging platform, according to Russia’s foreign minister.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/russias_foreign_minister_claims_telegram/

The Curious About Everything Newsletter #42

date: 2024-09-02, from: Curious about everything blog

The many interesting things I read in August 2024

https://jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/forty-two

NASA confirms who is flying and who is not on SpaceX Crew Dragon

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Meanwhile, strange noises emanate from Starliner

NASA has confirmed the names of the two crew members who will be flying to the International Space Station (ISS) on the next SpaceX mission: NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/nasa_confirms_crew_dragon/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-02, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)

She is so good. So many nuggets I need to absorb into my vocabulary:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTNoBmtKV/

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113068505197484201

Orange Pi RV is a single-board RISC-V PC with up to 8GB RAM and an M.2 slot

date: 2024-09-02, from: Liliputing

The Orange Pi RV is a single board computer that’s slightly larger than a credit card (or a Raspberry Pi 5), but still small enough to easily hold in the palm of your hand or slide into a pocket. It’s also one of the first Orange Pi-branded products to feature a RISC-V processor. The 89 x […]

The post Orange Pi RV is a single-board RISC-V PC with up to 8GB RAM and an M.2 slot appeared first on Liliputing.

https://liliputing.com/orange-pi-rv-is-a-single-board-risc-v-pc-with-up-to-8gb-ram-and-an-m-2-slot/

US prioritizes deterrence over denuclearization on North Korea, experts say

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

washington — As North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs become increasingly sophisticated, U.S.-based experts see the United States shifting the focus of its diplomacy from the pursuit of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula to one of deterrence. 

Officially, the U.S. State Department insists that denuclearization remains the primary goal of the United States and South Korea, a policy that is unlikely to change regardless of the outcome of the November U.S. presidential election. 

But in a series of email interviews with VOA Korean, more than half a dozen experts said they saw scant hope that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could be persuaded to give up his growing nuclear arsenal and that the U.S. must concentrate instead on seeing that it is never used.  

“I think, in practical terms, most Americans believe we have little choice at this point but to prioritize deterrence, at least for the foreseeable future,” said Michael O’Hanlon, director of foreign policy research at the Brookings Institution in Washington, in an email to VOA Korean this week.  

Robert Peters, research fellow for nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the Heritage Foundation, told VOA Korean via email that American politicians on both sides of the political spectrum are questioning whether North Korea would even consider abandoning its nuclear weapons. 

“I think there is little appetite in either political party to seek denuclearization with North Korea, given the failures of the late 2010s,” Peters said, referring to the collapse of the nuclear talks between former U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who met three times in 2018 and 2019. 

“I think all sides recognize that Kim will not give up nuclear weapons at any price.”  

Shifting priorities 

Negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear program between Washington and Pyongyang have been nearly nonexistent since October 2019. 

Peters added, “Bottom line — without question, the ground has shifted regarding how we think about the North Korean nuclear threat.”  

Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration, said Washington’s shift in direction was inevitable. 

“The U.S. government has been forced to place more emphasis on deterrence over denuclearization because Kim Jong Un has shown no willingness to negotiate a nuclear deal or even meet with the U.S. to discuss denuclearization,” Samore told VOA Korean via email. 

“Instead, North Korea has continued to advance its nuclear and missile program, and the U.S. has responded by strengthening military cooperation with the ROK and Japan, including joint efforts to enhance extended deterrence.” 

ROK stands for Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea.  

Denuclearization of North Korea is now viewed in Washington as a “mission impossible,” said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation. 

“I think it is fair to say that the U.S. government is now more focused on deterrence, which is largely succeeding, than on denuclearization,” Bennett told VOA Korean via email. 

“This change does not mean that the U.S. and ROK have abandoned trying to negotiate for denuclearization, which North Korea steadfastly refuses to do, but rather that our governments no longer see denuclearization as a viable solution to the North Korean nuclear weapon threat.” 

Markus Garlauskas, director of the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, told VOA Korean via email it was “fully appropriate” that Washington has been paying more attention in recent years to deterring North Korean aggression than attempting to negotiate denuclearization. 

“I have long argued that Kim Jong Un does not intend to give up his nuclear weapons, that the nuclear weapons and missile capabilities of North Korea have grown and will continue to grow, meaning that we in the United States and its allies must adjust our strategy and policy accordingly,” he said. 

“We should not let hopes of negotiations get in the way of making tough decisions to improve deterrence,” added Garlauskas, who served as the U.S. national intelligence officer for North Korea from 2014 to 2020. 

He stressed, however, that “accepting the reality that North Korea is nuclear-armed and will remain so while under Kim Jong Un’s leadership” does not mean that the U.S. should or would give up denuclearization as a goal. 

“Our principled stand can and should remain that North Korea must comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions by halting its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and relinquishing its nuclear weapons, and I do think there is still broad agreement on that in Washington,” Garlauskas said. 

Commitment to denuclearization 

Sydney Seiler, who until last year was the national intelligence officer for North Korea on the U.S. National Intelligence Council, said the U.S. should keep denuclearization as a priority, adding that “denuclearization and deterrence are not mutually exclusive.” 

“We have a responsibility on a day-by-day basis to deter provocative actions, coercion, blackmail and even possible invasion by North Korea and have been doing so for the last 70 years of armistice,” said Seiler, who is now a senior adviser on Korean affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

“Successfully ensuring deterrence does not mean abandoning the goal of the denuclearization of North Korea,” he told VOA Korean via email. 

Robert Abrams, a retired U.S. Army four-star general who served as commander of U.S. Forces Korea from 2018 to 2021, emphasized that a strategy of deterrence should be clearly differentiated from the goal of denuclearization. 

“The U.S. strategic deterrent was never about stopping the North Korean regime from developing their own nukes,” Abrams told VOA Korean in an August 20 email. 

“Sanctions and diplomatic efforts were intended to stop North Korea’s nuclear program. The strategic deterrent is to deter North Korea from ever using nuclear weapons, and that has obviously been very successful.” 

Officially, Washington reiterates that denuclearization of North Korea remains a goal of the U.S.-South Korea alliance. 

“The United States and the ROK continue to pursue the shared objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA Korean via email this week. “We believe that the only effective way to reduce nuclear threats on the peninsula is by curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons.” 

But the spokesperson stressed that deterrence was also a crucial element of U.S. policy toward North Korea. 

“At the same time, the United States and the ROK will continue working together to strengthen extended deterrence in the face of increasingly aggressive DPRK rhetoric about its nuclear weapons program,” the spokesperson said. 

He added that the 16-month-old Washington Declaration “reinforces the fact that any nuclear attack by [North Korea] against [South Korea] will be met with a swift, overwhelming and decisive response from the United States.” 

In April 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol adopted the Washington Declaration, which outlines a series of measures to deter North Korea’s nuclear weapons use.

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-prioritizes-deterrence-over-denuclearization-on-north-korea-experts-say-/7764925.html

At US theme parks, Halloween celebrations start in summer

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

los angeles, california — Halloween has arrived earlier than ever at major U.S. theme parks, as operators such as Disney, Six Flags, and Universal Studios seek to expand their reach and build on consumers’ love of spooky costumes and scares. 

Theme park operators have introduced a range of attractions, live performances, merchandise and food and beverages in August — before summer has ended and well before the October 31 holiday — to take advantage of the surging popularity of Halloween. These holiday-themed efforts come at a time when domestic theme park attendance has slumped, following a surge in demand after COVID.  

Edithann Ramey, chief marketing officer at Six Flags, told Reuters that the theme parks saw attendance gains and increases in guest spending in 2023 when it introduced attractions based on the horror films “SAW” and “The Conjuring.” 

The offerings were so successful that the theme park company has been investing more in Halloween experiences, Ramey said. 

“It’s become this time of the year that’s grown in explosive ways,” Ramey said. “It’s become a billion-dollar industry in the last five years.”

Jakob Wahl, chief executive for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, said Halloween has become one of the strongest selling points for parks that cater to young people and families.  

“We actually see a growth every year in terms of Halloween events, not only North America, but across the world,” Wahl said.  

Disney starts season in August

Walt Disney’s parks started the Halloween season earlier than ever this year with “Mickey’s Not So Scary Party” beginning on August 9 and running through the end of October.  

The Oogie Boogie Bash, a separately ticketed event named for the “Nightmare Before Christmas” villain, sold out this year in 11 days, Disney said. Its popularity prompted the company to push the release date to August 25 from September 5. 

“We’ve seen from our guests in years past that there’s a demand for them to come and enjoy that season with us,” said Tracy Halas, creative director of Disney Live Entertainment.  

Six Flags also kicks off Halloween early this year, on September 14, with a new experience called “Saw: Legacy of Terror” celebrating the 20th anniversary of the “SAW” horror movie franchise.  

Following the $8 billion merger of Six Flags and former rival Cedar Fair, which created the nation’s largest amusement park operator, with 42 parks across 17 states, Six Flags is increasing its investment in Halloween.  

That includes adding Hollywood-themed experiences to Six Flags Fright Fest based on Netflix’s science fiction series, “Stranger Things,” as well as horror films “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” and “The Conjuring.”

Universal adds ‘Ghostbusters’ haunted house 

Comcast-owned Universal Studios 2024 Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando runs from August 30 to November 3, the longest season they’ve ever had. The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. 

Universal is adding a “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” haunted house to its Halloween programming alongside the first attraction inspired by horror franchise, “A Quiet Place.”  

Universal also aims to attract guests at Universal Studios Japan with a new 4D show in collaboration with the anime television series “Chainsaw Man.”  

Both Universal Orlando and Japan will add cast members dressed as the antagonists called Death Eaters to haunt Diagon Alley during Horror Nights.  

Disney villain Cruella de Vil hosted a “Let’s Get Wicked” celebration at Hong Kong Disneyland in 2022, which received an industry award and returns this year.

https://www.voanews.com/a/at-us-theme-parks-halloween-celebrations-start-2-months-early/7764945.html

Zen Browser is a no-Google zone that offers tiling nirvana

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

A Firefox fork aimed at power surfers

The Zen Browser is a new effort to modernize web browsing by bringing tiling, workspaces, and so on – and it’s blissfully free of Google code.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/zen_firefox_fork_alpha/

Zen Browser is a no-Google zone that offers tiling nirvana

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: Liam Proven’s articles at the Register

A Firefox fork aimed at power surfers

  <p>The Zen Browser is a new effort to modernize web browsing by bringing tiling, workspaces, and so on – and it's blissfully free of Google code.</p> 

https://go.theregister.com/i/cfa/https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/zen_firefox_fork_alpha/

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

One of the nicest things about ChatGPT is that it's always up for working with you. The critics of AI don't begin to understand this.

http://scripting.com/2024/04/16/140810.html#a140820

California takes new homelessness approach after high court ruling

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

A U.S. Supreme Court decision in June makes it easier for communities across the nation to fine and arrest people living and sleeping in public spaces. That has left many of America’s hundreds of thousands of homeless people in a difficult situation. Angelina Bagdasaryan looks at what California is doing to address the problem. Anne Rice narrates. Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetian

https://www.voanews.com/a/california-takes-new-homelessness-approach-after-high-court-ruling-/7768222.html

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-02, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)

Shit I don’t like this, but these are very good points:

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113068382930595507

NaNoWriMo Says Condemning AI Is ‘Classist and Ableist’

date: 2024-09-02, from: 404 Media Group

The organization that runs National Novel Writing Month, a November challenge to write 50,000 words, said “the categorical condemnation of Artificial Intelligence has classist and ableist undertones.”

https://www.404media.co/nanowrimo-ai-policy-classist-ableist/

webinar: mastering the curl command line

date: 2024-09-02, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog

Yes! It is yet again time for a dual Zoom-twitch curl webinar. This one-hour (or so) session will be live-streamed on Twitch and broadcast on Zoom concurrently. Of course entirely free to attend. Date: September 5, 2024Time: 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST, 10:00 PDT) Everyone uses curl, the Swiss army knife of Internet transfers. While this … Continue reading webinar: mastering the curl command line →

https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/09/02/webinar-mastering-the-curl-command-line/

@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-02, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)

I just realized America is 300 million racists on a “principles” trench coat, and now everything makes sense.

https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113068325860174416

@Tomosino’s Mastodon feed (date: 2024-09-02, from: Tomosino’s Mastodon feed)

If you’re a podcaster check out @Castopod . It’s what I use for @SolarpunkPrompts

https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/113068314475884381

Windows 11 continues slog up the Windows 10 mountain

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Almost three years on and many customers have yet to make the move

Windows 11 continues to nibble at the market share of Windows 10, although has a way to go before finally surpassing its predecessor.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/windows_11_market_share/

TypeSpec reminds us why OpenAPI exists in the first place

date: 2024-09-02, from: Blog by Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti

I’ve recently found out about TypeSpec, a new language aimed at describing web APIs, through an interview that bears the provocative title of API Design in the Post-OpenAPI Era. Leaving aside the fact that OpenAPI is very much alive, what left me stupefied was the assertion that OpenAPI files should be “automatically generated artifacts and nothing more”. After digging a bit, I found the picture to be slightly more reassuring, but still quite representative of a world that keeps steering away from human-driven design to bury itself in curly brackets paradises.

https://passo.uno/typespec-openapi-api-design/

@Tomosino’s Mastodon feed (date: 2024-09-02, from: Tomosino’s Mastodon feed)

clean your desk

https://tilde.zone/@tomasino/113068175292420229

From Academia to Amazon: An Interview with Dr. Julie Christen

date: 2024-09-02, from: Digital Humanities Quarterly News

Source

https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2024/09/02/from-academia-to-amazon-an-interview-with-dr-julie-christen/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=from-academia-to-amazon-an-interview-with-dr-julie-christen

HPE to pursue $4B claim against estate of Mike Lynch over Autonomy acquisition

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Despite mogul’s US acquittal and recent death, IT giant will follow UK fraud case to its ‘conclusion’

HPE will pursue the widow of Mike Lynch for the $4 billion in damages it sought from him over the Autonomy merger following the Brit tech tycoon’s recent death in a sailing tragedy off the coast of Sicily.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/hpe_mike_lynch_damages/

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

Show notes page for my first in-the-car podcast on Sept 1, 2004. I love cross-country driving, as you can tell from the tone.

https://shownotes.scripting.com/podcast0/2024/09/02/firstInthecarPodcast.html

Israel faces labor strike over Gaza hostages

date: 2024-09-02, from: Marketplace Morning Report

From the BBC World Service: Activists are blocking roads across Israel during a general strike called to demand the government agree to a ceasefire deal in Gaza to secure the release of the remaining hostages. Plus, a look at a global scam tricking foreign students in Britain into paying tens of thousands of dollars for worthless work visa documents. And, there is a new way of making the world’s favorite indulgence — chocolate.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/israel-faces-labor-strike-over-gaza-hostages

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

How podcasting got its name. The real story, not the bs on Wikipedia.

http://scripting.com/2013/04/07/howPodcastingGotItsName.html

Once again, Labor Day travel is expected to break records

date: 2024-09-02, from: Marketplace Morning Report

Labor Day weekend is usually a hectic travel weekend, but this year is set to break records as people travel across the country to celebrate the holiday. We look at the economic drivers of what’s projected to be a very busy few days at airports, highways, and train stations nationwide. Plus, a look at a new chocolate production technique promising to boost the fortunes of producers and consumers of the much-loved treat.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/once-again-labor-day-travel-is-expected-to-break-records

@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-02, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)

The voting rights situation in some swing states is quite alarming.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/09/2024-election-swing-states-voting-rights-alarming.html?via=rss

Black horse down: Lloyds online banking services go dark

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Customers report inability to view transactions

Updated  UK banking giant Lloyds is struggling to account for malfunctioning online services today as customers report being unable to view transactions through the app or website.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/black_horse_down_lloyds_online/

Organized labor’s time-tested glue: work songs

date: 2024-09-02, from: Marketplace Morning Report

Since the beginning of labor unions and collective action in the workplace, songs have served as a way to build camaraderie and communicate complaints between workers. As part of our “Econ Extra Credit” series, we delve into the storied history of the humble work hymn and how songs continue to shape organized labor efforts today. Plus, a look at how monetary policymakers at the Fed might analyze upcoming jobs numbers as they consider a potential rate cut.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-morning-report/organized-labors-time-tested-glue-work-songs

RetroChallenge 2024/10 registration is Open

date: 2024-09-02, from: Tilde.news

Comments

https://retrochallenge.org/2024/

NHS dangles £1.5B carrot to be outfitted with everything from PCs to printers

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Gadget gladiators line up to supply world’s largest healthcare org

The NHS has launched a competition worth up to £1.5 billion for suppliers to provide a variety of computer hardware to the world’s biggest healthcare organization, including PCs, printers, and peripherals.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/nhs_hardware_procurement/

RemoteLab robotics development for universities | #MagPiMonday

date: 2024-09-02, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)

Remote robotics development for university students isn’t a pipe dream — it’s very real at Wrocław University of Science and Technology.

The post RemoteLab robotics development for universities | #MagPiMonday appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/remotelab-robotics-development-for-universities-magpimonday/

O2 punters lose cool over Google Pixel 9 delays

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Shipments held up following warehouse migration tech glitches, can’t cancel orders either

Google’s Pixel 9 phone appears to be made of pure unobtainium if the experience of some O2* customers is anything to go by.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/o2_google_pixel_9_delays/

I FAIL TO JOIN THE MAFIA

date: 2024-09-02, from: Howard Jacobson blog

A piece I resurrect as we move from summer to autumn and our minds turn to renewing our wardrobes.

https://jacobsonh.substack.com/p/i-fail-to-join-the-mafia

Microsoft decides it’s a good time for bad UI to die

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Set the Control Panel for the heart of the Sun

Opinion  We may not know exactly when or how, but we do know that the Windows Control Panel is gasping its last. Hurrah.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/microsoft_control_panel_opinion/

Techie made a biblical boo-boo when trying to spread the word

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

The technology was willing, but the cache was weak

Who, Me?  Greetings, gentle reader, and may peace be upon you, for yea verily it is once again Monday and unto Monday we render another instalment of Who, Me? in which Reg readers unburden themselves with confessions of technical mishap.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/who_me/

Rust for Linux maintainer steps down in frustration with ‘nontechnical nonsense’

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Community seems to C Rust more as a burden than a benefit

Efforts to add Rust code to the Linux kernel suffered a setback last Thursday when one of the maintainers of the Rust for Linux project stepped down – citing frustration with “nontechnical nonsense.”…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/rust_for_linux_maintainer_steps_down/

Veeam debuts its Proxmox backup tool – and reveals outfit using it to quit VMware

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

More help for Nutanix, too

Data protection software vendor Veeam has delivered its promised support for open source virtualization contender Proxmox.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/veeam_proxmox_support_arrives/

US honors workers with Labor Day holiday

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-honors-workers-with-labor-day-holiday-/7767888.html

Novel attack on Windows spotted in phishing campaign run from and targeting China

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Resources hosted at Tencent Cloud involved in Cobalt Strike campaign

Chinese web champ Tencent’s cloud is being used by unknown attackers as part of a phishing campaign that aims to achieve persistent network access at Chinese entities.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/securonix_china_slowtempest_campaign/

California lawmakers approve laws banning deepfakes, regulating AI

date: 2024-09-02, from: VOA News USA

Sacramento, California — California lawmakers approved a host of proposals this week aiming to regulate the artificial intelligence industry, combat deepfakes and protect workers from exploitation by the rapidly evolving technology.

The California Legislature, which is controlled by Democrats, is voting on hundreds of bills during its final week of the session to send to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Their deadline is Saturday.

The Democratic governor has until Sept. 30 to sign the proposals, veto them or let them become law without his signature. Newsom signaled in July he will sign a proposal to crack down on election deepfakes but has not weighed in on other legislation.

He warned earlier this summer that overregulation could hurt the homegrown industry. In recent years, he often has cited the state’s budget troubles when rejecting legislation that he would otherwise support.

Here is a look at some of the AI bills lawmakers approved this year.

Combating deepfakes

Citing concerns over how AI tools are increasingly being used to trick voters and generate deepfake pornography of minors, California lawmakers approved several bills this week to crack down on the practice.

Lawmakers approved legislation to ban deepfakes related to elections and require large social media platforms to remove the deceptive material 120 days before Election Day and 60 days thereafter. Campaigns also would be required to publicly disclose if they’re running ads with materials altered by AI.

A pair of proposals would make it illegal to use AI tools to create images and videos of child sexual abuse. Current law does not allow district attorneys to go after people who possess or distribute AI-generated child sexual abuse images if they cannot prove the materials are depicting a real person.

Tech companies and social media platforms would be required to provide AI detection tools to users under another proposal.

Setting safety guardrails

California could become the first state in the nation to set sweeping safety measures on large AI models.

The legislation sent by lawmakers to the governor’s desk requires developers to start disclosing what data they use to train their models. The efforts aim to shed more light into how AI models work and prevent future catastrophic disasters.

Another measure would require the state to set safety protocols preventing risks and algorithmic discrimination before agencies could enter any contract involving AI models used to define decisions.

Protecting workers

Inspired by the monthslong Hollywood actors strike last year, lawmakers approved a proposal to protect workers, including voice actors and audiobook performers, from being replaced by their AI-generated clones. The measure mirrors language in the contract the SAG-AFTRA made with studios last December.

State and local agencies would be banned from using AI to replace workers at call centers under one of the proposals.

California also may create penalties for digitally cloning dead people without consent of their estates.

Keeping up with the technology

As corporations increasingly weave AI into Americans’ daily lives, state lawmakers also passed several bills to increase AI literacy.

One proposal would require a state working group to consider incorporating AI skills into math, science, history and social science curriculums. Another would develop guidelines on how schools could use AI in the classrooms.

https://www.voanews.com/a/california-lawmakers-approve-laws-banning-deepfakes-regulating-ai/7767847.html

Chinese boffins advocate nuking nearby asteroids – it’s the only way to be sure

date: 2024-09-02, updated: 2024-09-02, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)

Plus: Alibaba exits regulatory purgatory; India slows CBDC rollout; China creates eight new datacenter hubs

ASIA IN BRIEF  Chinese academics have suggested nuclear weapons are the only effective way to destroy an asteroid that threatens to collide with Earth – if it’s detected at short notice.…

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/asia_pacific_tech_news_roundup/

I made an app to fix my motion sickness

date: 2024-09-02, from: Lean Rada’s blog

Last May, Apple announced a new feature called Vehicle Motion Cues for their iOS devices. It’s an overlay that can help reduce motion sickness while riding a vehicle.

I have really bad motion sickness, and riding cars, buses, and trains makes me nauseous. This feature would have been a nice relief for me, but as it stands, I use Android.

Instead of buying a Malus fruit device, I took the matter into my own programmer hands. I created an alternative app for Android.

To be sure, I checked the patents. Apple does have one regarding a certain motion sickness solution, but it’s specifically for head-mounted displays, not handheld devices. I figured it’s because there is prior art for handheld devices, such as KineStop for Android by Urbandroid.

My app is called EasyQueasy. What it does is display onscreen vestibular signals that try to help prevent motion sickness. This functions as an overlay that is displayed on top of whatever you’re doing, browsing the web or watching videos.

            Video: demo video showing the app running in a moving train | Source: /notes/motion-sickness-app/demo.mp4

          </video>

The app is open source. I might try to get it on F-Droid someday. Probably not Google Play since Google suspended my developer account due to “inactivity”.

I made this for myself so I haven’t really sorted out distribution. GitHub repo is here anyway.

Side note: Apologies to the RSS readers of this blog and segfault. I accidentally published this post in the RSS feed, but not on the site, which lead to an incomplete draft post and a 404 error.

How does it work?

There are two facets to this inquiry:

1. How does it help with motion sickness?
2. How does the app work behind the scenes?

Let’s go over them sequentially.

How to unsick motion

Motion sickness happens when your brain receives conflicting motion cues from your senses. Motion cues come from the vestibular system (“sense of balance”, inner ears) and the visual system (eyes).

The system diagram

When you’re in a moving car, your eyes mostly see the stationary interiors of the car but your inner ears feel the movement. The signal of being stationary and the signal of being in motion does not make sense in the central processing system somewhere in the brain (which decides that the solution to this particular situation is to vomit).

There’s a bug in the central processing module that triggers an unexpected response to conflicting signals.

Side note: The inverse happens in virtual reality when you move or rotate your character — your eyes recognise motion but your inner ears (your physical body) feel no motion, causing sickness. As I mentioned, I have really bad motion sickness, and both car movement and VR movement are almost unbearable to me.

To reduce motion sickness, we need to match the visual input with the vestibular input. Unfortunately, there’s no hardware that can override the inner ears’ sense of motion just yet. But we can semi-hijack the visual system via age-old hardware called screens.

By displaying movement on-screen that matches the actual movement of the body, motion sickness can be thus reduced!

The workaround is to hijack one of the sources to produce a ‘correct’ signal. In this case, we add an override to the visual input.

Behind the screens

Almost every smartphone has an accelerometer in them. It’s a hardware module that measures acceleration in real time.

Coincidentally, the inner ears also sense the same particular aspect of motion, acceleration. That’s why it can detect up or down (the planet’s gravity is an ever-present acceleration towards “down”), functioning as a “sense of balance”, and detect relative motion at the same time.

So, smartphones have “inner ear” hardware. By reading off of this sensor, we can generate the correct visuals.

The visual layer is just an adapter to same acceleration data used by the other source. By converting motion data to visual data, we can be sure that the signals match! This is the final solution.

The other Android app, KineStop, appear to use the phone’s magnetic sensor (compass) in addition to the accelerometer. So, it also knows about your absolute orientation in the world. It’s more effective in turning motions, but not so much for bumpy rides.

          <p>There are definitely multiple ways to solve the problem, but I find that the purely acceleration-based solution is sufficient for me.</p>
        </span>

Dead reckoning

The accelerometer provides acceleration data, but what we actually need to draw dots on the screen is position.

Recall in calculus or physics that the integral of acceleration is the velocity and the integral of velocity is position. There are two layers of integration before we can draw dots on the screen.

acceleration → velocity → position

What the app does is numerical integration. It keeps track of an estimated velocity and an estimated position in memory. Then, on every tick, it adds the current acceleration vector to the velocity vector, and add the velocity to the position. Note: all vectors here are in 3D.

The calculated position vector provides an estimate of the phone’s current position! Finally, we can draw dots!

To provide the correct sensation of movement, the dots must appear stable relative to the origin, that is, the earth. Negating the calculated position vector achieves this effect.

// pseudocode
onEveryFrame() {
  velocity += accelerometer.getAcceleration()
  position += velocity
  drawDots(offset = -position)
}

Error correction

The accelerometer signal is very noisy. While that is workable for many applications, when we’re doing position integration the errors really add up, and simple dead reckoning is way off.

Standard signal processing techniques can be applied to deal with noise, like a low-pass filter.

// Example: With a low-pass filter
onEveryFrame() {
  // low-pass filter
  smoothAcceleration +=
    (accelerometer.getAcceleration() - smoothAcceleration) * 0.60

  // position integration
  velocity += smoothAcceleration
  position += velocity

  drawDots(offset = -position)
}

But a simpler solution like dampening the velocity over time is plenty sufficient.

// Example: With velocity dampening
onEveryFrame() {
  // position integration
  velocity += accelerometer.getAcceleration()
  position += velocity

  // dampen
  velocity *= 0.80

  drawDots(offset = -position)
}

And that is basically how EasyQueasy works. And presumably iOS does it similarly as well.

EasyQueasy features

EasyQueasy’s features and advantages over the current iOS solution are:

• Configurable speed and other parameters.
• It’s 3D! Because movement in the real-world is three-dimensional!
• Option to activate the overlay from any screen via quick gesture shortcuts.

Gallery

https://leanrada.com/notes/motion-sickness-app?ref=rss