News gathered 2024-09-12
(date: 2024-09-12 06:40:11)
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-12, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Euro friends, time to
organize:
https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/113124641147021319
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113124810932066983
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-12, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Public service
announcement
https://www.threads.net/@macrumors/post/C_0YL1Qowno
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113124806297622463
Earth’s Life-Support Systems Are Breaking
date: 2024-09-12, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: More than 300,000 people in Louisiana are without power after Hurricane Francine • Hungarian lawmakers met in a dried riverbed yesterday to draw attention to the country’s extreme drought • An Arctic blast could bring snow to parts of the U.K.
THE TOP FIVE
- Study says human activity threatens Earth’s planetary support
systems
More than 60 scientists have co-authored a new study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, warning that human activity is damaging the natural systems that support life on Earth. Almost all of these support systems – including the climate, soil nutrient cycles, and freshwater – have been pushed into danger zones as humans strive for ever more economic growth. Thus, the researchers say, the health of the planet and its people are at risk, and the poor are the most vulnerable. The study concludes “fundamental system-wide transformations are needed” to address overconsumption, overhaul economic systems, improve technologies, and transform governance.
The
Lancet
- Stellantis ramps up investment in U.S. EV production
Carmaker Stellantis announced yesterday it is pouring more than $400 million into three facilities in Michigan to ramp up electric vehicle production and boost the company’s “multi-energy strategy.” The Sterling Heights Assembly Plant will be Stellantis’ first U.S. facility to build a fully electric vehicle, the Ram 1500 REV. The Warren Truck Assembly Plant will be “retooled” to produce the upcoming electric Jeep Wagoneer. And the Dundee Engine Plant will be upgraded for parts production for the company’s STLA Frame architecture. As The Associated Press explained, Stellantis “is taking a step toward meeting some commitments that it agreed to in a new contract ratified last fall by the United Auto Workers union after a bitter six-week strike.” The company is aiming for 50% of its passenger car and light-duty truck sales in the U.S. to be electric by 2030.
- Police arrest man suspected of starting California’s Line fire
Police arrested a 34-year-old man suspected of starting a wildfire in California that has now burned more than 36,000 acres and is less than 20% contained. The Line fire is one of several large blazes burning in the state and threatening thousands of structures. Last month another man was charged with arson on suspicion of igniting the Park fire, which consumed 430,000 acres in Northern California. As Heatmap’s Jeva Lange reported, arson officially accounts for only about 10% of fires handled by Cal Fire. But when there are thousands of fires across the state during a given season, that’s not an inconsequential number. And a warmer world has made extreme fire conditions more common, as have decades of misbegotten fire suppression policies in the Western United States. As a result, arson fires in rural areas are more likely to burn out of control than they would have been half a century ago, Lange wrote. Experts warn that California’s fire season, fueled by “weather whiplash,” is only just ramping up and is likely to intensify with the arrival of the Santa Ana winds.
- Brazil’s Lula promises to finish paving road through Amazon
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pledged to finish the paving of a controversial road through the Amazon rainforest. The BR-319 highway would connect some major cities and improve cargo movement, which has been disrupted by record-low water levels in the Amazon River due to drought. But its construction could also hasten deforestation, including in old growth forests. “Without the forest, there is no water, it’s interconnected,” said Suely Araújo, a public policy coordinator. “The paving of the middle section of BR-319, without ensuring environmental governance and the presence of the government in the region, will lead to historic deforestation, as pointed out by many specialists and by Brazil’s federal environmental agency in the licensing process.” Lula made the pledge during a visit to assess the damage from massive fires in the rainforest, which his Environment Minister Marina Silva blamed on extreme drought caused by climate change.
- Survey sheds light on EV drivers’ charging preferences
A new survey of more than 1,000 EV owners in California has some interesting insights into what these drivers want from a charging station. It found they were 37% more likely to choose a charger with additional amenities like restrooms and convenience stores. “This symbiotic relationship between businesses and EV chargers may benefit both EV chargers and local businesses,” said Alan Jenn, assistant professor at the Electric Vehicle group of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis.
Next
10
Also, California’s EV drivers really don’t want to wait to charge up, and are willing to pay almost a dollar more per 100 miles of charge if there’s no wait time at the charger. With every minute of extra wait time, a driver’s willingness to use a charger falls by 6%. The survey was conducted by the non-profit Next 10 and the Institute for Transportation Studies at UC Davis.
THE KICKER
“If Harris is now bragging about her administration’s support for fossil fuels, if she is casting the Inflation Reduction Act as a law that helped fracking, that means climate activists have much more work to do to persuade the public on what they believe. The Democratic Party’s candidate will not do that persuasion for them.” –Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer on Kamala Harris’ energy playbook.
https://heatmap.news/earths-life-support-systems-are-breaking
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-12, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
One thing that fascinates me about this private computing is that every big cloud vendor has similar sounding efforts but they never quite come together into a useful package - like baking cookies without the flour.
Lots of hopes and dream, but lacking guidance and a concrete go-to-market roll out plan.
To this day, most advanced secure computing hardware sits unused because we don’t surface the primitives in any actionable form. https://infosec.exchange/@mattburgess/113124728485246481
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113124779570709141
Redis justifies open source shift with fresh hardware, LLM cost-saving features
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
CEO argues more restrictive licensing was key to DB refresh, and says team ‘expected’ the fork
Interview Redis is the most popular database on AWS, which is, of course, the most popular cloud. The fact the relatively little known database, which launched in 2009, punches above its weight against well-established rivals might owe a lot to its reputation as a handy off-the-shelf cache developers know and love. Yet for the last couple of years, it has been champing at the bit to be much more.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/redis_justifies_open_source_shift/
trurl 0.15.1
date: 2024-09-12, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog
trurl is slowing growing up and maturing. This is a minor patch release following up the previous one done just a few weeks ago, fixing a few annoying bugs only. Download it from curl.se/trurl Fixes in 0.15.1 Future I have this feeling that we still have use cases and combinations that we don’t have tested … Continue reading trurl 0.15.1
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/09/12/trurl-0-15-1/
Firefighters hope cooler weather will aid battle against 3 major Southern California fires
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
Wrightwood, California — Firefighters battling three major wildfires in the mountains east of Los Angeles took advantage of cooler weather Wednesday as they slowly gained the upper hand, but not before dozens of homes were destroyed and thousands of people were forced to evacuate.
California is only now heading into the teeth of the wildfire season but already has seen nearly three times as much acreage burn than during all of 2023. The wildfires have threatened tens of thousands of homes and other structures across Southern California since they accelerated during a triple-digit heat wave over the weekend.
No deaths have been reported, but at least a dozen people, mainly firefighters, have been treated for injuries, mostly heat-related, authorities said.
In the small community of Wrightwood, about 90 minutes outside Los Angeles, authorities implored residents to flee the exploding Bridge Fire, which has burned more than a dozen homes in the area.
Resident Erin Arias said she was racing up the mountain when she got the order to leave and did, grabbing her passport and dog. On Wednesday, she and her husband doused water on the roof of their still-standing home. Their cat was missing, she said.
“It’s absolutely scary,” Arias said, looking at the burned embers of her neighbor’s home. “We’re really lucky.”
UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said the fire moved extraordinarily fast across complex terrain, likely giving residents less time to evacuate than usual and surprising even seasoned fire officials.
The Bridge Fire “had to go up mountain sides, burn down slope, jump across valleys, burn across new ridges, and then make it down slope again at least two other times in effectively one burning period,” he said.
The full extent of the damage caused by the fires remained unclear. The three blazes are:
— The Airport Fire in Orange County, which has burned more than 91 square kilometers. The fire was 5% contained Wednesday night and was reportedly sparked by heavy equipment operating in the area. Orange County Fire Capt. Steve Concialdi said eight firefighters have been treated for injuries, mostly heat-related. One resident suffered smoke inhalation and another burns, he said. Several homes burned in El Cariso Village.
— The Line Fire in the San Bernardino National Forest, which was 18% contained Wednesday and had charred 148 square kilometers. The blaze has injured three firefighters. Authorities said it was caused by arson in Highland. A suspect was arrested Tuesday.
— The Bridge Fire east of Los Angeles, which grew tenfold in a day and has burned 202 square kilometers, torched at least 33 homes and six cabins and forced the evacuation of 10,000 people. The cause of the fire is not yet known. It remained zero percent contained Wednesday night.
Gov. Gavin Newsom sent National Guard troops in to help with evacuations, and the White House said President Joe Biden was monitoring the situation.
In El Cariso Village, a community of 250 people along Highway 74 in Riverside County, an Associated Press photographer saw at least 10 homes and several cars engulfed in flames.
Orange County Fire Authority Incident Commander Kevin Fetterman said the blaze has been difficult to tame because of the terrain and dry conditions and because some areas hadn’t burned in decades.
More than 5,500 homes in Riverside County were under evacuation orders, affecting more than 19,000 residents. Several recreational cabins and structures in the Cleveland National Forest have been damaged.
In San Bernardino County, some 65,600 homes and buildings were under threat by the Line Fire, and residents along the southern edge of Big Bear Lake were told to leave Tuesday.
The Line Fire blanketed the area with a thick cloud of dark smoke, which provided shade for firefighters trying to get ahead of winds expected later Wednesday, said Fabian Herrera, a spokesperson for those battling the Line Fire.
A man from the town of Norco suspected of starting the Line Fire on Sept. 5 was arrested and charged with arson, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said. Officials did not specify what was used to start the fire.
Investigators collected evidence from the man’s vehicle and home that suggests he could have been involved in starting other fires, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said Wednesday.
On the Nevada border with California near Reno, the Davis Fire forced thousands of people to evacuate over the weekend, destroyed one home and a dozen structures and charred nearly 23 square kilometers of timber and brush along the Sierra Nevada’s eastern front.
Rich Meyr and Evelyn Kelley were the first arrivals at an evacuation center set up Wednesday at a recreation center in south Reno. Both said they refused to evacuate previous fires but decided to play it safe this time.
“My son’s wedding is Saturday. I threw all the flowers and gowns in the RV and we left. It looks like a garden shop inside that RV,” Kelley said. “But who wants to burn alive?”
More than 600 firefighters kept the blaze from growing Wednesday despite high winds that grounded all aircraft that had dropped retardant on the flames over the past two days. The fire was about 30% contained Wednesday night.
EU kicks off an inquiry into Google’s AI model
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Privacy regulator taking a closer look at data privacy and PaLM 2
The European Union’s key regulator for data privacy, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), has launched a cross-border inquiry into Google’s AI model to ascertain if it complies with the bloc’s rules.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/google_ai_model_inquiry_eu/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-12, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Google Trends for "sanewashing."
<https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 3-m&geo=US&q=sanewashing&hl=en>
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-12, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Paul Krugman: "Trump didn’t have a bad night. This is just who he is, and has been all along, visible to anyone who looked past the sanewashing."
https://www.threads.net/@paulkrugman7/post/C_xwp2wJ2uo
This Map Lets You See When Magnificent Fall Foliage Will Peak in Your Area
date: 2024-09-12, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Use the interactive tool’s week-by-week, county-by-county predictions to start planning your leaf-peeping trips across the United States
About that Windows Installer ‘make me admin’ security hole. Here’s how it’s exploited
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
What kind of OS can be hijacked by clicking a link at just the right time? Microsoft’s
In this week’s Patch Tuesday Microsoft alerted users to, among other vulnerabilities, a flaw in Windows Installer that can be exploited by malware or a rogue user to gain SYSTEM-level privileges to hijack a PC.…
Francine weakens moving inland from Gulf Coast after hurricane winds cause power outages
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
MORGAN CITY, La. — Francine weakened Thursday after striking Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, sent storm surge rushing into coastal communities and raised flood fears in New Orleans and beyond as drenching rains spread over the northern Gulf Coast.
The tropical storm was forecast to be downgraded to a tropical depression as it churned northward over Mississippi, the National Hurricane Center said. Some 3 to 6 inches (8 to 15 centimeters) of rain were possible in parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle, with up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) possible in some spots in parts of Alabama and Florida, forecasters said, warning of the potential threat of scattered flash flooding as farflung as Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; and Atlanta.
Francine slammed the Louisiana coast Wednesday evening with 100 mph (155 kph) winds in coastal Terrebonne Parish, battering a fragile coastal region that hasn’t fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021. It then moved at a fast clip toward New Orleans, pounding the city with torrential rains.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. TV news broadcasts from coastal communities showed waves from nearby lakes, rivers and Gulf waters thrashing sea walls. Water poured into city streets amid blinding downpours. Oak and cypress trees leaned in the high winds, and some utility poles swayed back and forth.
“It’s a little bit worse than what I expected to be honest with you,” said Alvin Cockerham, fire chief of Morgan City about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from where the storm’s center made landfall. “I pulled all my trucks back to the station. It’s too dangerous to be out there in this.”
Power outages in Louisiana topped 390,000 early Thursday in Louisiana, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us, with an additional 46,000 outages reported in Mississippi.
Sheltering at her mother’s home just outside Morgan City, Laura Leftwich said blasts of wind had swept away two large birdhouses outside. She had a generator powering an internet connection so she could video chat with friends, holding her computer to a window to show them water overflowing in the street.
If the storm had been any more intense, “I wouldn’t have the guts to look outside,” said Leftwich, 40. “It’s a little scary.”
The sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Francine drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters, strengthening to a Category 2 storm before landfall. It weakened late Wednesday to a tropical storm.
In addition to torrential rains, there was a lingering threat of spin-off tornadoes from the storm Thursday in Florida and Alabama.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the National Guard would fan out to parishes impacted by Francine. They have food, water, nearly 400 high-water vehicles, about 100 boats and 50 helicopters to respond to the storm, including for possible search-and-rescue operations.
Since the mid-19th century, some 57 hurricanes have tracked over or made landfall in Louisiana, according to The Weather Channel. Among them are some of the strongest, costliest and deadliest storms in U.S. history.
Morgan City, home to around 11,500 people, sits on the banks of the Atchafalaya River in south Louisiana and is surrounded by lakes and marsh. It’s described on the city’s website as “gateway to the Gulf of Mexico for the shrimping and oilfield industries.”
President Joe Biden granted an emergency declaration to help Louisiana secure expedited federal money and assistance. Landry and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also declared states of emergency.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said it distributed more than 100,000 sandbags to the southern part of the state and the Department of Education reported a number of school district closures for Wednesday and Thursday.
Do video games mislead players when it comes to in-game spending?
date: 2024-09-12, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: A European consumer rights group has lodged a formal complaint accusing game developers behind popular titles like Fortnite and Minecraft of tricking players into spending more cash than they might realize. Then, we travel to Italy, where the shipyards of Monfalcone have attracted workers from Bangladesh. But there are tensions with locals. Earlier this year, the town’s mayor even banned cricket, an extremely popular sport popular in Bangladesh.
The Tyranny of the Penny
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/09/12/the-tyranny-of-the-penny/
The Records Act
date: 2024-09-12, from: National Archives, Pieces of History blog
September 17 is Constitution Day. Visit the National Archives website for more information on how to commemorate the day. Today’s post looks at the records act Congress passed under the new constitution. Charles Thomson served as the Secretary to Congress throughout the Revolutionary War and during the entire period of the government under the Articles of Confederation. … Continue reading The Records Act
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2024/09/12/the-first-records-act/
UK elevates datacenters to critical national infrastructure status
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Dedicated support to be assembled to prevent cyberattacks, IT outages, and bad weather from affecting availability
From today, the UK is designating datacenters as critical national infrastructure (CNI). As a result, the sector is expected to get special government support designed to prevent negative economic impacts of IT outages like CrowdStrike’s, cyberattacks, and extreme weather events.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/uk_datacenters_cni/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-12, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The California Google deal could leave out news startups and the smallest publishers.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-12, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Harris was prepared.
https://www.muellershewrote.com/p/the-debate
NASA engineers play space surgeon in bid to unclog Voyager 1’s arteries
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
‘Brilliant’ team performs electrical balancing act to keep probe pointed at Earth
The tenuous power situation onboard the veteran Voyager 1 spacecraft has required engineers to perform a delicate balancing act while switching between thrusters as fuel lines gradually become clogged.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/voyager_power_issues/
Mind your header! There’s nothing refreshing about phishers’ latest tactic
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
It could lead to a costly BEC situation
Palo Alto’s Unit 42 threat intel team wants to draw the security industry’s attention to an increasingly common tactic used by phishers to harvest victims’ credentials.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/http_headers/
America Needs an Energy Policy for AI
date: 2024-09-12, from: Heatmap News
The rapid increase in demand for artificial intelligence is creating a seemingly vexing national dilemma: How can we meet the vast energy demands of a breakthrough industry without compromising our energy goals?
If that challenge sounds familiar, that’s because it is. The U.S. has a long history of rising to the electricity demands of innovative new industries. Our energy needs grew far more quickly in the four decades following World War II than what we are facing today. More recently, we have squared off against the energy requirements of new clean technologies that require significant energy to produce — most notably hydrogen.
Electricity Demand Since the 1950s
Courtesy
of Rhodium Group
The lesson we have learned time and again is that it is possible to scale technological innovation in a way that also scales energy innovation. Rather than accepting a zero-sum trade-off between innovation and our clean energy goals, we should focus on policies that leverage the growth of AI to scale the growth of clean energy.
At the core of this approach is the concept of additionality: Companies operating massive data centers — often referred to as “hyperscalers” — as well as utilities should have incentives to bring online new, additional clean energy to power new computing needs. That way, we leverage demand in one sector to scale up another. We drive innovation in key sectors that are critical to our nation’s competitiveness, we reward market leaders who are already moving in this direction with a stable, long-term regulatory framework for growth, and we stay on track to meet our nation’s climate commitments.
All of this is possible, but only if we take bold action now.
AI technologies have the potential to significantly boost America’s economic productivity and enhance our national security. AI also has the potential to accelerate the energy transition itself, from optimizing the electricity grid, to improving weather forecasting, to accelerating the discovery of chemicals and material breakthroughs that reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Powering AI, however, is itself incredibly energy intensive. Projections suggest that data centers could consume 9% of U.S. electricity generation by 2030, up from 4% today. Without a national policy response, this surge in energy demand risks increasing our long-term reliance on fossil fuels. By some estimates, around 20 gigawatts of additional natural gas generating capacity will come online by 2030, and coal plant retirements are already being delayed.
Avoiding this outcome will require creative focus on additionality. Hydrogen represents a particularly relevant case study here. It, too, is energy-intensive to produce — a single kilogram of hydrogen requires double the average household’s electricity consumption. And while hydrogen holds great promise to decarbonize parts of our economy, hydrogen is not per se good for our clean energy goals. Indeed, today’s fossil fuel-driven methods of hydrogen production generate more emissions than the entire aviation sector. While we can make zero-emissions hydrogen by using clean electricity to split hydrogen from water, the source of that electricity matters a lot. Similar to data centers, if the power for hydrogen production comes from the existing electricity grid, then ramping up electrolytic production of hydrogen could significantly increase emissions by growing overall energy demand without cleaning the energy mix.
This challenge led to the development of an “additionality” framework for hydrogen. The Inflation Reduction Act offers generous subsidies to hydrogen producers, but to qualify, they must match their electricity consumption with additional (read: newly built) clean energy generation close enough to them that they can actually use it.
This approach, which is being refined in proposed guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department, is designed to make sure that hydrogen’s energy demand becomes a catalyst for investment in new clean electricity generation and decarbonization technologies. Industry leaders are already responding, stating their readiness to build over 50 gigawatts of clean electrolyzer projects because of the long term certainty this framework provides.
While the scale and technology requirements are different, meeting AI’s energy needs presents a similar challenge. Powering data centers from the existing electricity grid mix means that more demand will create more emissions; even when data centers are drawing on clean electricity, if that energy is being diverted from existing sources rather than coming from new, additional clean electricity supply, the result is the same. Amazon’s recent $650 million investment in a data center campus next to an existing nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania illustrates the challenge: While diverting those clean electrons from Pennsylvania homes and businesses to the data center reduces Amazon’s reported emissions, by increasing demand on the grid without building additional clean capacity, it creates a need for new capacity in the region that will likely be met by fossil fuels (while also shifting up to $140 million of additional costs per year onto local customers).
Neither hyperscalers nor utilities should be expected to resolve this complex tension on their own. As with hydrogen, it is in our national interest to find a path forward.
What we need, then, is a national solution to make sure that as we expand our AI capabilities, we bring online new clean energy, as well, strengthening our competitive position in both industries and forestalling the economic and ecological consequences of higher electricity prices and higher carbon emissions.
In short, we should adopt a National AI Additionality Framework.
Under this framework, for any significant data center project, companies would need to show how they are securing new, additional clean power from a zero-emissions generation source. They could do this either by building new “behind-the-meter” clean energy to power their operations directly, or by partnering with a utility to pay a specified rate to secure new grid-connected clean energy coming online.
If companies are unwilling or unable to secure dedicated additional clean energy capacity, they would pay a fee into a clean deployment fund at the Department of Energy that would go toward high-value investments to expand clean electricity capacity. These could range from research and deployment incentives for so-called “clean firm electricity generation technologies like nuclear and geothermal, to investments in transmission capacity in highly congested areas, to expanding manufacturing capacity for supply-constrained electrical grid equipment like transformers, to cleaning up rural electric cooperatives that serve areas attractive to data centers. Given the variance in grid and transmission issues, the fund would explicitly approach its investment with a regional lens.
Several states operate similar systems: Under Massachusetts’ Renewable Portfolio Standard, utilities are required to provide a certain percentage of electricity they serve from clean energy facilities or pay an “alternative compliance payment” for every megawatt-hour they are short of their obligation. Dollars collected from these payments go toward the development and expansion of clean energy projects and infrastructure in the state. Facing increasing capacity constraints on the PJM grid, Pennsylvania legislators are now exploring a state Baseload Energy Development Fund to provide low-interest grants and loans for new electricity generation facilities.
A national additionality framework should not only challenge the industry to scale innovation in a way that scales clean technology, it must also clear pathways to build clean energy at scale. We should establish a dedicated fast-track approval process to move these clean energy projects through federal, state, and local permitting and siting on an accelerated basis. This will help companies already investing in additional clean energy to move faster and more effectively – and make it more difficult for anyone to hide behind the excuse that building new clean energy capacity is too hard or too slow. Likewise, under this framework, utilities that stand in the way of progress should be held accountable and incentivized to adopt innovative new technologies and business models that enable them to move at historic speed.
For hyperscalers committed to net-zero goals, this national approach provides both an opportunity and a level playing field — an opportunity to deliver on those commitments in a genuine way, and a reliable long-term framework that will reward their investments to make that happen. This approach would also build public trust in corporate climate accountability and diminish the risk that those building data centers in the U.S. stand accused of greenwashing or shifting the cost of development onto ratepayers and communities. The policy clarity of an additionality requirement can also encourage cutting edge artificial intelligence technology to be built here in the United States. Moreover, it is a model that can be extended to address other sectors facing growing energy demand.
The good news is that many industry players are already moving in this direction. A new agreement between Google and a Nevada utility, for example, would allow Google to pay a higher rate for 24/7 clean electricity from a new geothermal project. In the Carolinas, Duke Energy announced its intent to explore a new clean tariff to support carbon-free energy generation for large customers like Google and Microsoft.
A national framework that builds on this progress is critical, though it will not be easy; it will require quick Congressional action, executive leadership, and new models of state and local partnership. But we have a unique opportunity to build a strange bedfellow coalition to get it done – across big tech, climate tech, environmentalists, permitting reform advocates, and those invested in America’s national security and technology leadership. Together, this framework can turn a vexing trade-off into an opportunity. We can ensure that the hundreds of billions of dollars invested in building an industry of the future actually accelerates the energy transition, all while strengthening the U.S.’s position in innovating cutting- edge AI and clean energy technology.
https://heatmap.news/technology/ai-additionality-framework
Pop!_OS 24.04 and new COSMIC desktop reach alpha
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
It’s quite a long way from ready – but it’s clearly visible in the distance
The latest version of System76’s Ubuntu remix is available, but it’s not finished by any means. The new Rust-based desktop is somewhat usable, though.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/pop_os_2404_cosmic_desktop/
Monopoly League Baseball
date: 2024-09-12, from: The Lever News
Why is a private equity firm reaping the benefits of hundreds of millions in taxpayer subsidies while taking over Minor League Baseball?
https://www.levernews.com/monopoly-league-baseball/
If HDMI screen rips aren’t good enough for you pirates, DeCENC is another way to beat web video DRM
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Academically interesting technique for poking holes in paywalled tech specs
An anti-piracy system to protect online video streams from unauthorized copying is flawed – and can be broken to allow streamed media from Amazon, Netflix, and others to be saved, replayed, and spread at will, we’re told.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/cenc_encryption_stream_attack/
Botswana, US firm partner to conduct border pathogen monitoring
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
Gaborone, Botswana — Botswana and an American biotech firm, Ginkgo Bioworks, have partnered to conduct pathogen surveillance at the country’s entry points. Health officials say the proactive move is meant to safeguard public health as the world faces emerging disease threats.
Botswana introduced mpox screening last month for travelers at its entry points.
In a statement Wednesday, Ministry of Health spokesperson Christopher Nyanga said a pathogen-monitoring program is critical to detecting similar emerging health threats.
Dr. Mbatshi Mazwiduma, a public health expert, said the pathogen-surveillance program will complement existing strategies to prevent disease threats.
“The initiative by the Ministry of Health is a very welcome development in the sense that it is at least demonstrating that they are both embracing traditional methods of surveillance and disease detection plus at the same time, they are looking at other innovative ways of disease detection,” he said.
Through the collaboration, Boston-based Gingko Bioworks will work with the Ministry of Health to collect and monitor travelers’ samples. Nasal swabs will be used to collect the samples.
Nyanga said testing will be done on a voluntary, anonymous basis.
“Although participation in this initiative is entirely voluntary, travelers are encouraged to participate because this early detection of pathogens is meant to safeguard the health of all citizens, visitors and residents of this country,” he said. “The samples collected will be kept anonymous. The data collected from the samples will be vital in strengthening the country’s robust health system and response to public health threats and emergencies.”
But Mazwiduma said voluntary participation in the pathogen-monitoring program could hinder effective disease detection.
“Perhaps if non-invasive, non-intrusive, the technique should be compulsory because it ensures that the number of people who comply to sample acquisition is increased and, therefore, you can actually rapidly achieve suitable sample sizes for you to be able to ensure that you do not miss any patients, but also more importantly that it allows you to improve your validation of these particular technologies,” Mazwiduma said.
Botswana and Gingko Bioworks previously collaborated in a 2022 pathogen-monitoring program to detect new and emerging COVID-19 variants.
During the same year, Botswana was credited with the discovery of COVID-19 variant omicron.
Pokémon GO was an intelligence tool, claims Belarus military official
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Augmented reality meets warped reality
A defense ministry official from Belarus has claimed augmented reality game Pokémon GO was a tool of Western intelligence agencies.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/pokemon_go_spying_belarus_claims/
Could America’s divide on marijuana be coming to an end?
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/could-america-s-divide-on-marijuana-be-coming-to-an-end-/7781203.html
Domo arigato, Mr Roboto: Japan’s bullet trains to ditch drivers
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The Shinkansen have operated without fatalities for sixty years – how hard can it be?
One of Japan’s major passenger railway operators announced plans on Tuesday to bring fully automated bullet trains into service by the mid-2030s.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/japan_automated_bullet_train/
US supports two permanent UN Security Council seats for Africa
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
UNITED NATIONS — The United States supports creating two permanent United Nations Security Council seats for African states and one seat to be rotated among small island developing states, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield will announce on Thursday.
The move comes as the U.S. seeks to repair ties with Africa, where many are unhappy about Washington’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza, and deepen relations with Pacific Islands nations important to countering Chinese influence in the region.
Thomas-Greenfield told Reuters she hopes the announcement will “move this agenda forward in a way that we can achieve Security Council reform at some point in the future,” describing it as part of U.S. President Joe Biden’s legacy.
The push for two permanent African seats and a rotating seat for small island developing states is in addition to Washington’s long-held support for India, Japan and Germany to also get permanent seats on the council.
Developing nations have long demanded permanent seats on the Security Council, the most powerful body in the United Nations. But years of talks on reform have proved fruitless and it is unclear whether U.S. support could fuel action.
Ahead of making the announcement at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Thursday, Thomas-Greenfield clarified to Reuters that Washington does not support expanding veto power beyond the five countries that hold it.
The Security Council is charged with maintaining international peace and security and has the power to impose sanctions and arms embargos and authorize the use of force.
When the U.N. was founded in 1945, the Security Council had 11 members. This increased in 1965 to 15 members, made up of 10 elected states serving two-year terms and five permanent veto-wielding nations: Russia, China, France, the U.S. and Britain.
Legitimacy problem
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres backs Security Council reform.
“You have a Security Council that corresponds exactly to the situation after the Second World War … that has a problem of legitimacy, and that has a problem of effectiveness, and it needs to be reformed,” Guterres told Reuters on Wednesday.
Any change to the Security Council membership is done by amending the founding U.N. Charter. This needs the approval and ratification by two-thirds of the General Assembly, including the Security Council’s current five veto powers.
The 193-member U.N. General Assembly has annually discussed reform of the Security Council for more than a decade. But momentum has grown in recent years as geopolitical rivalries have deadlocked the council on several issues, particularly after permanent veto-wielding member Russia invaded Ukraine.
“Much of the conversation around Security Council reform has been just that: a conversation,” Thomas-Greenfield will say on Thursday, according to prepared remarks reviewed by Reuters of her announcement that Washington supports moving to negotiations on a draft text to amend the U.N. Charter to expand the council.
Thomas-Greenfield told Reuters she could not say how long it might take to get the General Assembly to vote on such a resolution.
Each year the General Assembly elects five new members from different geographical groups for two-year terms on the Security Council. Africa currently has three seats rotated among states.
“The problem is, these non-permanent seats don’t enable African countries to deliver the full benefit of their knowledge and voices to the work of the council … to consistently lead on the challenges that affect all of us - and disproportionately affect Africans,” Thomas-Greenfield will say.
She will also say that small island developing states deserve a rotating elected seat because they offer “critical insights on a range of international peace and security issues: including, notably, the impact of climate change.”
Samsung faces strikes in India, amid reports of global layoffs
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Union alleges work conditions are like solitary confinement and violence is common at Tamil Nadu plant
Workers at a Samsung Electronics plant in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu have been on strike since Monday, disrupting production as they fight for wage hikes, better hours, and an end to a no-union policy.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/samsung_india_strikes/
23 years after 9/11, terrorism still stalks US, globe
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
Vice President Kamala Harris joined President Joe Biden in commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the worst terror attack on American soil. Whoever takes the presidency in January, whether Harris or her rival, former President Donald Trump, also at the ceremonies, will continue to face a range of threats. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from ground zero in New York, from Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and from the Pentagon.
https://www.voanews.com/a/years-after-9-11-terrorism-still-stalks-us-globe/7781162.html
Young voters could make difference in US presidential election, say analysts
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
This year, about 8 million young people will turn 18 and become eligible to vote. In all, an estimated 41 million members of Gen Z — people under age 27 — will be able to vote in the 2024 presidential election
Healthcare giant to pay $65M settlement after crooks stole and leaked nude patient pics
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Would paying a ransom – or better security – have been cheaper and safer?
A US healthcare giant will pay out $65 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by its own patients after ransomware crooks stole their data – including their nude photographs – and published at least some of them online.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/lvhn_lawsuit_ransom/
The West Just Burns Now
date: 2024-09-12, from: Chris Coyier blog
It really wasn’t that long ago when the Western U.S. wasn’t absolutely guaranteed to be on fire every summer and into the fall. Now, it’s just what happens. August and September? That’s “smoke season”. What should be absolutely beautiful months to enjoy the outdoors are now when it rains ash and the sky is a […]
https://chriscoyier.net/2024/09/11/the-west-just-burns-now/
US grants Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid, overriding rights conditions
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
washington — The Biden administration is overriding human rights conditions on military aid to Egypt, a State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday, granting the U.S. ally its full allocation of $1.3 billion this year for the first time during this administration, despite ongoing concerns over human rights in the country.
The announcement comes as Washington has relied heavily on Cairo, a longstanding U.S. ally, to mediate so far unsuccessful talks between Israel and Hamas on a cease-fire deal to end the war in Gaza.
Of the $1.3 billion in U.S. foreign military financing allocated to Egypt, $320 million is subject to conditions that have meant at least some of that sum has been withheld in recent years.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress on Wednesday that he would waive a certification requirement on $225 million related to Egypt’s human rights record this year, citing “the U.S. national security interest,” the spokesperson said by email.
“This decision is important to advancing regional peace and Egypt’s specific and ongoing contributions to U.S. national security priorities, particularly to finalize a cease-fire agreement for Gaza, bring the hostages home, surge humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in need, and help bring an enduring end to the Israel-Hamas conflict,” the spokesperson said.
Democrat Chris Murphy, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Middle East subcommittee, said Washington had previously withheld military aid from Egypt on human rights grounds while maintaining its strategic relationship with the country.
“It’s no secret that Egypt remains a deeply repressive autocratic state, and I see no good reason to ignore that fact by waiving these requirements,” Murphy said.
Cairo has remained a close regional ally of Washington despite accusations of widespread abuses under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s government, including torture and enforced disappearances.
Sissi denies there are political prisoners in Egypt. He says stability and security are paramount and authorities are promoting rights by trying to provide basic needs such as jobs and housing.
The war in Gaza, sparked by the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants on southern Israel, has increased Washington’s reliance on Cairo for diplomatic efforts like the cease-fire talks. Much-needed humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza also enters from Egypt.
Blinken issued a similar waiver on the human rights conditions last year but withheld a portion of the military aid over Egypt’s failure to make “clear and consistent progress” on the release of political prisoners.
This year, he determined that Egypt had made sufficient efforts on political prisoners to release $95 million tied to progress on the issue, the spokesperson said.
They cited Egypt’s efforts to draft legislation to reform pretrial detention and the broader penal code, its release of some political prisoners and a move to end travel bans and asset freezes associated with foreign funding for nongovernmental organizations.
Seth Binder, director of advocacy for the Washington-based Middle East Democracy Center, said that while about 970 prisoners had been released since last September, at least 2,278 Egyptians were arbitrarily arrested over the same period, according to data collected by the center and Egyptian human rights groups.
The State Department spokesperson said Washington was continuing “a rigorous dialogue with the Egyptian government on the importance of concrete human rights improvements that are crucial to sustaining the strongest possible U.S.-Egypt partnership.”
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-12, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
What Harris appeared to understand, better than anyone else who has debated Trump, is that the key to defeating him is to trigger him psychologically.
US seizes hundreds of websites used in imported gun parts scheme
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
With father of suspect charged in Georgia shooting, will more parents be held responsible?
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
DACA case faces uncertainty again as US appellate court arguments loom
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
washington — The future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program remains in limbo with another court hearing set for October 10.
Judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on the case, initiated in 2018 by Texas and other Republican-led states seeking to end DACA. The program offers temporary protection from deportation and work permits to undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children who are often referred to as “Dreamers.”
The case centers on whether DACA exceeds presidential authority, immigration advocates from the coalition “Home is Here” said during a recent conversation with reporters.
“Our response to that is that presidential authority in the area of immigration, and particularly the discretion exercised by the executive branch, is very broad and certainly encompasses the type of program that DACA is, which is now a regulation,” Nina Perales, vice president of litigation at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said during the call.
A central issue in the case is whether Texas and other states have the standing to sue.
Texas and other Republican-led states have argued that DACA has harmed them financially because they are spending resources on education, health care and other services on undocumented immigrants who were allowed to remain in the country illegally.
But Perales, who will be one of the attorneys arguing the case in October, said that “Texas cannot show any injury as a result of DACA” because recipients contribute to their communities and states by paying taxes and more.
A final decision could take a while, said Perales, who noted the 5th Circuit could take “as long as 18 months” to rule.
And the case could end in several ways: The 5th Circuit might dismiss the case, send it back to the lower court or rule against DACA, which could then be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“One possible scenario is that the 5th Circuit decides [U.S. District] Judge [Andrew] Hanen didn’t evaluate the evidence properly and sends the case back to [him],” she said.
If that happens, Perales said, DACA recipients might benefit from the current case’s legal state, which allows recipients to continue renewing their DACA benefits while awaiting the courts’ final resolution. The Biden administration continues to accept new applications but does not process them.
How we got here
Former President Barack Obama, frustrated with congressional inaction on the Dream Act, created DACA by executive order in 2012. Some DACA recipients arrived legally, but their families later overstayed their visas; others arrived by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization. They are now in their mid-20s to late 30s, and they come from around the world.
In 2018, Texas and other Republican-led states sued the federal government, arguing not only that they were being harmed financially but also that only Congress has the authority to grant immigration benefits.
In 2022, the Biden administration revised the program in hopes of satisfying one of the arguments made in federal courts by Republican-led states — that the program was not created properly. Biden officials issued the new version of DACA in late August. It went through a period of public comments as part of a formal rule-making process to increase its odds of surviving this legal battle.
In a February 2023 statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, wrote in a statement on his website that “the Obama and Biden programs are practically indistinguishable in both the negative harms that they will have on this country and in the illegal means used to implement them. I am therefore calling for the new DACA rule to end in the same way that the Obama-era rule did: struck down as unlawful.”
But DACA has support. In October 2022, a coalition of dozens of influential corporations, including Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, sent a letter to Republicans and Democrats in Congress urging a bipartisan solution for the almost 600,000 immigrants who are enrolled in DACA.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, DACA has “improved recipients’ employment outcomes, increased the labor force participation rates of those who are eligible, decreased their unemployment rates, and boosted earnings for those with the lowest incomes.”
MPI’s analysis shows that DACA holders contribute “nearly $42 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product each year and add $3.4 billion to the federal balance sheet.”
Bruna Bouhid-Sollod, a former DACA recipient and current senior political director at United We Dream, highlighted the emotional impact of the uncertainty.
“The importance of making [the impact] really clear is really important. … DACA recipients and their families are dealing with an extreme amount of stress,” she said.
With renewal periods lasting just two years, many recipients are in constant limbo, unsure if their work permits and deportation protections will remain intact.
There is a lot at stake, according to immigration lawyers and advocates.
“Unless you’re living in it … you don’t think about the impact it has on the people that are waiting for their lives to be decided by this case,” Bouhid-Sollod said.
Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting, eating pets
date: 2024-09-12, from: VOA News USA
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday amplified false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets, repeating during a televised debate the type of inflammatory and anti-immigrant rhetoric he has promoted throughout his campaigns.
There is no evidence that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio community are doing that, officials say. But during the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump specifically mentioned Springfield, Ohio, the town at the center of the claims, saying that immigrants were taking over the city.
“They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” he said.
Harris called Trump “extreme” and laughed after his comment. Debate moderators pointed out that city officials have said the claims are not true.
Trump’s comments echoed claims made by his campaign, including his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, and other Republicans. The claims attracted attention this week when Vance posted on social media that his office has “received many inquiries” about Haitian migrants abducting pets. Vance acknowledged Tuesday it was possible “all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”
Officials have said there have been no credible or detailed reports about the claims, even as Trump and his allies use them to amplify racist stereotypes about Black and brown immigrants.
While president, Trump questioned why the U.S. would accept people from “s—hole” countries such as Haiti and some in Africa. His 2024 campaign has focused heavily on illegal immigration, often referencing in his speeches crimes committed by migrants. He argues immigrants are responsible for driving up crime and drug abuse in the United States and taking resources from American citizens.
Here’s a closer look at how the false claims have spread.
How did this get started?
On September 6, a post surfaced on X that shared what looked like a screengrab of a social media post apparently out of Springfield. The retweeted post talked about the person’s “neighbor’s daughter’s friend” seeing a cat hanging from a tree to be butchered and eaten, claiming without evidence that Haitians lived at the house. The accompanying photo showed a Black man carrying what appeared to be a Canada goose by its feet. That post continued to be shared on social media.
On Monday, Vance posted on X: “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?” he said. The next day, Vance posted again on X about Springfield, saying his office had received inquiries from residents who said “their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants. It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”
Other Republicans shared similar posts. Among them was Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who posted a photo of kittens with a caption that said to vote for Trump “So Haitian immigrants don’t eat us.”
Hours before Trump’s debate with Harris, he posted two related photos on his social media site. One Truth Social post was a photo of Trump surrounded by cats and geese. Another featured armed cats wearing MAGA hats.
A billboard campaign launched by the Republican Party of Arizona at 12 sites in metropolitan Phoenix plays off the false rumors. The billboard image resembles a Chick-fil-A ad, portraying four kittens and urging people to “Vote Republican!” and “Eat Less Kittens.”
Chick-fil-A said the party didn’t reach out to the restaurant chain before running the ad, declining to comment further. In a statement, the state party said the ad humorously underscores the need for border security.
What do officials in Ohio say?
The office of the Springfield city manager, Bryan Heck, issued a statement knocking down the rumors.
“In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” Heck’s office said in an emailed statement.
Springfield police on Monday told the Springfield News-Sun that they had received no reports of stolen or eaten pets.
Governor Mike DeWine held a news conference Tuesday to address the influx of Haitian immigrants to Springfield. He said he will send state troopers to Springfield to help local law enforcement deal with traffic issues and is earmarking $2.5 million over two years to provide more primary health care to immigrant families.
DeWine declined to address the allegations, deferring comment to local officials. But he repeatedly spoke in support of the people of Haiti, where his family has long operated a charity.
What do we know about a separate case 281 km away?
An entirely unrelated incident that occurred last month in Canton, Ohio, quickly and erroneously conflated into the discussion.
On Aug. 26, Canton police charged a 27-year-old woman with animal cruelty and disorderly conduct after she “did torture, kill, and eat a cat in a residential area in front (of) multiple people,” according to a police report.
But Allexis Ferrell is not Haitian. She was born in Ohio and graduated from Canton’s McKinley High School in 2015, according to public records and newspaper reports. Court records show she has been in and out of trouble with the law since at least 2017. Messages seeking comment were not returned by several attorneys who have represented her.
She is being held in Stark County jail pending a competency hearing next month, according to the prosecutor’s office.
What do advocates for Haitian immigrants say?
The posts create a false narrative and could be dangerous for Haitians in the United States, according to Guerline Jozef, founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a group that supports and advocates for immigrants of African descent
“We are always at the receiving end of all kind of barbaric, inhumane narratives and treatments, specifically when it comes to immigration,” Jozef said in a phone interview.
Her comments echoed White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
“There will be people that believe it, no matter how ludicrous and stupid it is,” Kirby said. “And they might act on that kind of information, and act on it in a way where somebody could get hurt. So it needs to stop.”
What is the broader context of Haitians in Ohio and the United States?
Springfield, a city of roughly 60,000, has seen its Haitian population grow in recent years. It’s impossible to give an exact number, according to the city, but it estimates Springfield’s entire county has an overall immigrant population of 15,000.
The city also says that the Haitian immigrants are in the country legally under a federal program that allows for them to remain in the country temporarily. Last month the Biden administration granted eligibility for temporary legal status to about 300,000 Haitians already in the United States because conditions in Haiti are considered unsafe for them to return. Haiti’s government has extended a state of emergency to the entire country due to endemic gang violence.
Nvidia CEO to nervous buyers and investors: Chill out, Blackwell production is heating up
date: 2024-09-12, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
AI ROI? Jensen Huang claims infra providers make $5 for every dollar spent on GPUs
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has attempted to quell concerns over the reported late arrival of the Blackwell GPU architecture, and the lack of ROI from AI investments.…
Threats in Indo-Pacific fuel debate over US nuclear redeployment
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
washington — Threats from China, Russia and North Korea have fueled debate in Washington about whether the United States should consider redeploying tactical nuclear weapons to the Indo-Pacific region, with leading U.S. Senate members expressing opposing views.
Earlier in May, Republican Senator Roger Wicker, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, put forward a military spending plan that included the idea of redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear arms that were withdrawn from South Korea more than three decades ago.
Another Republican, Senator James Risch, who is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told VOA Korean last month in an email statement that the U.S. should “explore options for returning nuclear weapons to the Pacific theater for the purpose of strengthening extended deterrence.”
The term “extended deterrence” refers to the U.S. commitment to respond in kind to a nuclear attack on South Korea.
Drawing a contrast, Democratic Senator Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters Monday in a phone conference that he didn’t think that U.S. tactical nuclear weapons should be redeployed to the Korean Peninsula, adding that it could provoke a “major response from the Chinese.”
Redeployment of nukes
The U.S. government has made it clear that the U.S. does not plan to redeploy its tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula.
“We believe that the only effective way to reduce nuclear threats on the peninsula is by curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons,” a State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement to VOA last week.
In 1991, the U.S. withdrew from South Korea all of its nuclear weapons, or about 100, according to some studies.
The U.S. has been closely watching the growing military cooperation among China, Russia and North Korea, especially in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has identified the three nations as threats to stability in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
On August 22, the White House confirmed to VOA that a new “nuclear employment guidance” had been issued. The terms of the classified document are not public, but The New York Times quoted two senior administration officials as saying that it “seeks to prepare the United States for possible coordinated nuclear challenges from China, Russia and North Korea.”
“The guidance issued earlier this year is not a response to any single entity, country, nor threat,” White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in an email to VOA. “We have repeatedly voiced concerns about the advancing nuclear arsenals of Russia, PRC [China] and the DPRK [North Korea].”
Vipin Narang, who recently served as the acting assistant secretary of defense for space policy, said in an August forum held by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies that the United States may need to seek “a change in the size or posture” of nuclear forces to deal with threats from China, Russia and North Korea.
Growing threats
In South Korea, there is growing uneasiness about the U.S. capability to protect South Korea from North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile weapons.
North Korea’s state Korean Central News Agency on Sunday released a photo showing the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, inspecting a new 12-axle transporter erector launcher (TEL), which could be used to launch a new, longer missile to potentially attack the United States. The next day, in a speech celebrating the country’s founding anniversary, Kim vowed to increase the number of nuclear weapons “exponentially.”
Amid these geopolitical tensions, U.S.-based experts appear to be divided about whether the U.S. should redeploy tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula.
Richard Lawless, former deputy undersecretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security, said the idea that South Korea would be intimidated by China, Russia or South Korea from even beginning a discussion on the subject with Washington “is failed logic.”
“Many Americans continue to fail to appreciate the threat of North Korea and China, typically playing down the latter.”
Robert Peters, a research fellow for nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the Heritage Foundation, told VOA Korean via email that he supported the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea.
“I’m concerned about the credibility of our deterrent in the face of North Korean nuclear expansion and Chinese nuclear breakout,” Peters said, adding that stationing nonstrategic nuclear weapons within the theater gives the U.S. president “far more optionality when crafting a deterrence message during times of acute crisis or conflict than if he or she could rely solely on strategic nuclear weapons.”
Opposing views
But Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, said he was against redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons.
“Placing such high-value weapons in a static, fixed bunker makes a very tempting preemptive target for North Korea,” Klingner told VOA Korean on Tuesday via email. “During a crisis, it could even lower deterrence by making Pyongyang more likely to initiate a preemptive attack on the bunker prior to the weapons being deployed on mobile launch platforms.”
Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration, said he didn’t support the redeployment of U.S. nuclear weapons to South Korea.
“From a strictly military standpoint, the U.S. can enforce extended deterrence with nuclear-armed submarines and long-range bombers that North Korea cannot defend against,” Samore told VOA Korean on Tuesday via email.
“Politically, redeployment of U.S. nuclear weapons in South Korea would be controversial with some Korean political parties and the Korean public and would increase tensions in the region, especially with China and North Korea, and even between South Korea and Japan,” Samore said.
Sydney Seiler, who until last year was the national intelligence officer for North Korea on the U.S. National Intelligence Council, told VOA Korean via email Tuesday that “there is a consensus among [U.S. and South Korean] leaders and their senior national security advisers that such a redeployment is unnecessary at this time.”
The Chinese Embassy in Washington told VOA in an email Tuesday that the Chinese “firmly oppose any country’s attempt to use the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue to harm China’s strategic security interests.”
“It is hoped that the U.S. can abandon the cold war mentality and hegemonic logic, adopt a rational and responsible nuclear policy, stop nuclear sharing, extended deterrence, expanding nuclear alliance, and other negative moves, and play a constructive role in maintaining regional and global peace and stability,” Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said Tuesday in a written statement via email, responding to an inquiry from VOA Korean.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-11, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
California Ski Resort Engulfed by 40,000+ Acre Wildfire.
https://www.powder.com/news/bridge-fire-mountain-high-video
Cyber crooks shut down UK, US schools, thousands of kids affected
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
No class: Black Suit ransomware gang boasts of 200GB haul from one raid
Cybercriminals closed some schools in America and Britain this week, preventing kindergarteners in Washington state from attending their first-ever school day and shutting down all internet-based systems for Biggin Hill-area students in England for the next three weeks.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/uk_us_school_ransomware/
Android applications can now block being sideloaded
date: 2024-09-11, from: OS News
It seems Google is hell-bent on removing anything from Android that makes the platform stand apart from iOS. One of the features of Android and the Play Store that users of rooted and/or de-Googled phones will be familiar with is SafetyNet Attestation, something that Android applications can use to check, among other things, if the device it’s running on is rooted or not, and take any action from there based on that information. Notoriously, some banking applications on Android will refuse to work on rooted and/or de-Googled devices because of this. Earlier this year, at Google I/O, the company unveiled the successor of SafetyNet Attestation, called the Google Play Integrity API, and it comes with a whole lot more functionality for developers to control what their application can do on devices based on the status of the device and the application binary in question. Play Integrity will let the developer’s application know if its binary has been tampered with, if Google Play Protect is enabled, if the Android device it’s running on is “genuine”, and a whole lot more. Based on that information, the application could decide to warn users when they’re about to do something sensitive that their device is rooted, or it could just throw up its hands entirely and refuse to function at all – and there’s really not much the user can do about this. A new capability of the Play Integrity API is that developers can now also determine where it came from – i.e., if it was sideloaded or installed through a non-Play application store – and then throw up a dialog allowing the user to switch to the version from the Play Store instead. Doing so will delete the original binary and all its data, and replace it with the Play Store version. The problem here is that the only other option is to cancel, and not have the application load at all. As you can see, the remediation dialog tells you to “get this app from Play” in order to continue using it. There’s an option to close the dialog, but there’s no way to bypass it entirely. If you close the dialog, a response is sent to the app that lets the developer know so they can decide whether to continue blocking access. ↫ Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority Several applications appear to already be using this new capability, and while it won’t mean much for people running Google’s, Samsung’s, or any other “blessed by Google” version of Android on unrooted devices, people running, say, /e/OS, GrapheneOS, LineageOS, or any other de-Googled and/or rooted device is going to be having a very bad time if more and more applications adopt this capability. If you’re running a device without Play Services, relying solely on the vast and varied library of applications from F-Droid, for instance, while also sideloading a few applications only available in the Play Store, you could very well be running into problems. We’ll have to see just how widespread this capability becomes, but I can already foresee this becoming yet another major headache for anyone trying to use a smartphone that isn’t from blessed by Apple or Google. Personally, I’m lucky in that Swedish banking and ID applications worked on de-Googled Android phones, but with the expanding reach of the Play Integrity API, as well as possible “let’s enable this by default” shenanigans by Google, I’m definitely worried about this remaining so in the future.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140737/android-applications-can-now-block-being-sideloaded/
Stalker Allegedly Created AI Chatbot on NSFW Platform to Dox and Harass Woman
date: 2024-09-11, from: 404 Media Group
“If another user interacting with the chatbot asked the ‘Victim’ where she lived, the chatbot could provide the Victim’s true home address followed by ‘Why don’t you come over?’”
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-11, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Love this hippie lawn sign.
‘Holy smokes, I just released a MiniGolf game for Palm OS in 2024’
date: 2024-09-11, from: OS News
This summer, I embarked on a side project to create a brand-new Palm OS game, and after less than two months of intermittent coding, I’m excited to announce that it’s ready to be released to the public! ↫ Captain’s Quarters The game in question is a top-down minigolf game, and works on devices running Palm OS 3.5 and higher, in both monochrome and colour, and there’s high-resolution support for devices running Palm OS 5.0 and higher. Sadly, my own Palm OS devices were all drained of battery so I couldn’t quickly load it up and play it on real hardware in time for this post (rest assured, my T|X is currently charging), but you can play it in your browser if you want to. Like any other top-down minigolf game, it’s simple and fun to play. The game’s creator, whose real name I can’t find so I’ll just refer to them by their blog’s name Captain’s Quarters, also wrote a published a post about the process of developing a Palm OS game in 2024. Especially the section on what is needed to code for Palm OS today is important if you’re also interested in picking this up. The best news is that developing a Palm OS game can be done on modern hardware, that saves me a lot of time not having to deal with virtual machines or having to set up an old PC running Linux. For getting a working compiler, I used prc-tools-remix, which is the same old compiler as in the old days, but it’s updated to work on a modern day Linux or OS X system. ↫ Captain’s Quarters People in general are often oblivious to just how advanced and capable both Palm OS and Windows PocketPC PDAs really were – most people never had one – and even more people are oblivious to just how vibrant the gaming scene on Palm OS was. My Palm OS devices were some of the best gaming handhelds I’ve ever had, and my love for jewel-matching games still goes strong today on Android, but it all started on Palm OS, the original mobile home of the original Bejeweled. Palm OS games got me through quite a few boring lectures and classes in university.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140735/holy-smokes-i-just-released-a-minigolf-game-for-palm-os-in-2024/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-11, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Highly recommend this New Yorker podcast episode to understand why political reporters are so out of step with the people who read their stuff. They are unable to be revulsed by the things Trump says. Listen to it the way we listen to Trump supporters in Ohio diners. They are a foreign culture. That's not good.
US pledges support for Africa’s AI goals
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
Abuja, Nigeria — The two-day pan-African AI conference co-hosted by the United States concluded Wednesday in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub.
Hundreds of delegates including public officials, tech leaders, policy makers academics and entrepreneurs attended the conference to hold talks about the development and use of safe, secure and trustworthy AI systems in Africa.
The U.S. deputy secretary of state, Kurt Campbell, spoke at the summit about the opportunity at hand.
“A global technology revolution is well under way — the race to develop and deploy new technologies, including artificial intelligence, is already shaping everything about our lives,” said Campbell. “We aim to foster collaborations between the United States and Africa AI researchers, policy makers and industry leaders, so that we can work together to drive innovation and address common challenges. This will enable us to share the benefits of AI globally.”
The conference is a significant step in Africa’s technological future.
Campbell said artificial intelligence can be used to address problems like global health, food security, education, energy and climate change, and asserted the conference has provided the ground for African voices in AI to shape emerging global AI systems.
“I cannot overstate Africa’s growing importance in the global technology landscape,” said Campbell. “By developing human capital and strengthening research and innovation ecosystems and building and AI ready institutional and regulatory environment, we can help AI work for Africa. The African Union’s landmark AI strategy sets the roadmap for African countries to harness AI’s potential to achieve developmental aspirations in education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, peace and security and good governance.”
In July, the African Union launched the continent’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy, saying AI is pivotal in transforming Africa into a global technology hub, and it called on member states to adopt the strategy.
On Tuesday, Nigeria’s minister of communication, innovation and digital economy, Bosun Tijani, announced a $61,000 grant for Nigeria’s brightest AI startups.
“For us to truly harness artificial intelligence for our collective benefits, we must be deliberate and collaborative in our approach,” said Tijani. “We just ensure that our digital transformation journey is inclusive, equitable and human focused.”
Africa currently represents 2.5% of the global AI market, according to the Artificial Intelligence for Development Africa, or AI4D.
But analysts say with more talks about safe use, AI applications could boost Africa’s economy by $2.9 trillion by the year 2030 with Kenya, South Africa and Nigerian markets taking the lead.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-pledges-support-for-africa-s-ai-goals/7780639.html
See Rare Footage of a Young Wombat Caught on a Wildlife Camera in Australia
date: 2024-09-11, from: Smithsonian Magazine
Just 400 northern hairy-nosed wombats remain in the wild, and conservationists say the new videos signal the critically endangered species’ breeding success
The Marshall Star for September 11, 2024
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
Starship Super Heavy Breezes Through Wind Tunnel Testing NASA and its industry partners continue to make progress toward Artemis III and beyond, the first crewed lunar landing missions under the agency’s Artemis campaign. SpaceX, the commercial Human Landing System (HLS) provider for Artemis III and Artemis IV, recently tested a 1.2% scale model of the Super Heavy […]
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/marshall/the-marshall-star-for-september-11-2024/
You Can Own a Rare Nuclear Bunker Built in England in the 1950s
date: 2024-09-11, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The underground hideout, which will go to auction this month, was designed to shelter three people for two weeks in the event of an attack
iOS 18 AirPods Pro 2 Firmware
date: 2024-09-11, from: Michael Tsai
Juli Clover: With head gestures, users can control Siri on the AirPods Pro with a shake or a nod of the head. If you get a phone call, for example, you can shake your head no if you don’t want to answer it, or nod to accept the call. Siri interactions can be used for […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/11/ios-18-airpods-pro-2-firmware/
Group Container Names in Sequoia
date: 2024-09-11, from: Michael Tsai
John Brayton: On both macOS and iOS, sandboxed apps use group container folders to share data between the main app and extensions, such as the Subscribe in Unread share extension and Unread’s widgets.[…]On beta releases of Sequoia (macOS 15) using the “group.” prefix results in the customer getting an alert with this text at every […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/11/group-container-names-in-sequoia/
Apple Loses Ireland Tax Case
date: 2024-09-11, from: Michael Tsai
Arjun Kharpal (ruling, Hacker News): Europe’s top court ruled against Apple on Tuesday in the tech giant’s 10-year court battle over its tax affairs in Ireland. The case stems back to 2016 when the European Commission ordered Ireland to recover up to 13 billion euros ($14.4 billion) in back taxes from Apple.[…]Apple said in a […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/11/apple-loses-ireland-tax-case/
No Alternative Payments in Louisiana
date: 2024-09-11, from: Michael Tsai
Ariel Zilber (via Hacker News): Apple successfully killed proposed legislation in Louisiana that would have required the iPhone maker to allow developers who market their apps on the app store to use an alternative payment system by threatening to cancel the making of a Will Smith film in the state, according to a report.In 2021, […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/09/11/no-alternative-payments-in-louisiana/
NASA Astronaut Don Pettit, Crewmates Arrive at Space Station
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
NASA astronaut Don Pettit, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, arrived at the International Space Station Wednesday, bringing its number of residents to 12 for the 13-day handover period. After a two-orbit, three-hour journey to the station, the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft automatically docked to the orbiting laboratory’s Rassvet module at 3:32 […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronaut-don-pettit-crewmates-arrive-at-space-station/
Zerowriter Ink is a $199 E Ink word processor (crowdfunding)
date: 2024-09-11, from: Liliputing
The Zerowriter Ink is a portable device with an E Ink display that’s meant to offer a distraction-free writing experience from anywhere. But it’s not an ePaper tablet like the reMarkable Paper Pro. Instead, it’s a portable word processor or typewriter with a 5 inch screen positioned above a mechanical keyboard. First unveiled in July, […]
The post Zerowriter Ink is a $199 E Ink word processor (crowdfunding) appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/zerowriter-ink-is-a-199-e-ink-word-processor-crowdfunding/
Writer/Director Disagreements
date: 2024-09-11, from: Interesting, a blog on writing
Clashes, feuds, and constructive criticism.
https://inneresting.substack.com/p/writerdirector-disagreements
Google bets on carbon capture tech to clean up its mess – in the 2030s
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Mountain View backs startup Holocene, hoping to slash emissions costs
Google intends to purchase carbon removal credits from a direct air capture provider to help offset its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, although the initiative isn’t expected to kick off until the next decade.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/google_carbon_removal_credits/
NASA to Preview Europa Clipper Mission to Jupiter Moon
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
NASA will host a news conference at 11 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to discuss the upcoming Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. The briefing will be open to media and will air live on NASA+ and the agency’s website, plus Facebook, X, and […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-preview-europa-clipper-mission-to-jupiter-moon/
NASA Finds Summer 2024 Hottest to Date
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
The agency also shared new state-of-the-art datasets that allow scientists to track Earth’s temperature for any month and region going back to 1880 with greater certainty. August 2024 set a new monthly temperature record, capping Earth’s hottest summer since global records began in 1880, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) […]
https://www.nasa.gov/earth/nasa-finds-summer-2024-hottest-to-date/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-11, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Scripting News: 9/11/2001.
http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html
Solar’s Growing Farmland Problem
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
The solar energy industry has a big farm problem cropping up. And if it isn’t careful, it’ll be dealing with it for years to come.
Researchers at SI2, an independent research arm of the Solar Energy Industries Association, released a study of farm workers and solar developers this morning that said almost half of all developers believe it is “somewhat or significantly harder to do” projects on farmland, despite the clear advantages that kind of property has for harnessing solar power.
Unveiled in conjunction with RE+, the largest renewable energy conference in the U.S., the federally-funded research includes a warning sign that permitting is far and away the single largest impediment for solar developers trying to build projects on farmland. If this trend continues or metastasizes into a national movement, it could indefinitely lock developers out from some of the nation’s best land for generating carbon-free electricity.
“If a significant minority opposes and perhaps leads to additional moratoria, [developers] will lose a foot in the door for any future projects,” Shawn Rumery, SI2’s senior program director and the survey lead, told me. “They may not have access to that community any more because that moratoria is in place.”
SI2’s research comes on the heels of similar findings from Heatmap Pro. A poll conducted for the platform last month found 70% of respondents who had more than 50 acres of property — i.e. the kinds of large landowners sought after by energy developers — are concerned that renewable energy “takes up farmland,” by far the greatest objection among that cohort.
Good farmland is theoretically perfect for building solar farms. What could be better for powering homes than the same strong sunlight that helps grow fields of yummy corn, beans and vegetables? And there’s a clear financial incentive for farmers to get in on the solar industry, not just because of the potential cash in letting developers use their acres but also the longer-term risks climate change and extreme weather can pose to agriculture writ large.
But not all farmers are warming up to solar power, leading towns and counties across the country to enact moratoria restricting or banning solar and wind development on and near “prime farmland.” Meanwhile at the federal level, Republicans and Democrats alike are voicing concern about taking farmland for crop production to generate renewable energy.
Seeking to best understand this phenomena, SI2 put out a call out for ag industry representatives and solar developers to tell them how they feel about these two industries co-mingling. They received 355 responses of varying detail over roughly three months earlier this year, including 163 responses from agriculture workers, 170 from solar developers as well as almost two dozen individuals in the utility sector.
A key hurdle to development, per the survey, is local opposition in farm communities. SI2’s publicity announcement for the research focuses on a hopeful statistic: up to 70% of farmers surveyed said they were “open to large-scale solar.” But for many, that was only under certain conditions that allow for dual usage of the land or agrivoltaics. In other words, they’d want to be able to keep raising livestock, a practice known as solar grazing, or planting crops unimpeded by the solar panels.
The remaining percentage of farmers surveyed “consistently opposed large-scale solar under any condition,” the survey found.
“Some of the messages we got were over my dead body,” Rumery said.
Meanwhile a “non-trivial” number of solar developers reported being unwilling or disinterested in adopting the solar-ag overlap that farmers want due to the increased cost, Rumery said. While some companies expect large portions of their business to be on farmland in the future, and many who responded to the survey expect to use agrivoltaic designs, Rumery voiced concern at the percentage of companies unwilling to integrate simultaneous agrarian activities into their planning.
In fact, Rumery said some developers’ reticence is part of what drove him and his colleagues to release the survey while at RE+.
As we discussed last week, failing to address the concerns of local communities can lead to unintended consequences with industry-wide ramifications. Rumery said developers trying to build on farmland should consider adopting dual-use strategies and focus on community engagement and education to avoid triggering future moratoria.
“One of the open-ended responses that best encapsulated the problem was a developer who said until the cost of permitting is so high that it forces us to do this, we’re going to continue to develop projects as they are,” he said. “That’s a cold way to look at it.”
Meanwhile, who is driving opposition to solar and other projects on farmland? Are many small farm owners in rural communities really against renewables? Is the fossil fuel lobby colluding with Big Ag? Could building these projects on fertile soil really impede future prospects at crop yields?
These are big questions we’ll be tackling in far more depth in next week’s edition of The Fight. Trust me, the answers will surprise you.
https://heatmap.news/plus/the-fight/spotlight/solar-farmland
Ocean City Floats an Offshore Lawsuit, Federal Preservationists Quit Lava Ridge, and More
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
1. Worcester County, Maryland – Ocean City is preparing to go to court “if necessary” to undo the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval last week of U.S. Wind’s Maryland Offshore Wind Project, town mayor Rick Meehan told me in a statement this week.
- Meehan listed off a litany of requests before the town apparently will be comfortable with the project, including a review of Ocean City property values, an economic study on impacts to the local economy, and safety measures to address blade failures like what happened at Vineyard Wind. Ultimately the town wants the project relocated “further to the east, as we have been asking for the past seven and a half years.”
- A lawsuit is definitely on the table but not guaranteed: “We will be meeting with our consultants and attorneys to discuss our next course of action. The last thing we want to do is go to court but we are prepared to do so if necessary to make sure that all environmental protection laws are complied with and that the safety and well-being of all our citizens [is] protected.”
2. Magic Valley, Idaho – The Lava Ridge Wind Project would be Idaho’s biggest wind farm. But it’s facing public outcry over the impacts it could have on a historic site for remembering the impact of World War II on Japanese residents in the United States.
- If constructed, it would surround internment camps where Japanese people were forcibly detained by the American government during the war. Activists opposed to Lava Ridge say that constructing the project would impact the solace of the space, killing the somber vibe. GOP politicians have also seized on the public relations morass.
- On Friday, the federal advisory council overseeing historic preservation law ended its consultation with regulators on the wind project, which is proposed by a subsidiary of LS Power.
- The council cited a number of factors, including the inability to mitigate impacts to the site as well as the unwillingness of Idaho state historic site regulators to go along with consultation.
- This has no apparent effect on project approval – at least not yet. Whether it’ll mean much will be up to the Bureau of Land Management, which takes into consideration the views of the advisory council in its decisions.
3. Kossuth County, Iowa – Iowa’s largest county – Kossuth – is in the process of approving a nine-month moratorium on large-scale solar development.
- Kossuth is already home to considerable renewable energy, including large wind farms operated by Invenergy and EDF Renewables.
- Anxiety generally is bubbling in Kossuth over an outgrowth of various energy projects aimed at decarbonization and the county is also involved in opposing the Summit Carbon Pipeline.
- County officials recently met with a researcher at Iowa State conducting federally-funded research of how solar could be deployed at the local level, per media reports.
Here’s a few more hotspots I’m watching…
- In Indiana, Aypa Power’s attempts to build a solar farm in Madison, Indiana have hit a snag with the city council voting against the project.
- Also in Iowa, opposition to an Apex Clean Energy wind farm could lead to a new county ordinance against wind.
- In New York, the town of Springfield is scheduled to meet Monday on a proposed temporary wind moratorium spurred by New Leaf Energy wind project.
- In Ohio, Whirlpool Corp. is hitting local snags as it tries to build three wind turbines.
- In Oregon, an 11-acre solar farm from Shoestring Solar LLC was greenlit by the small town of Riddle in spite of local dissent from its would-be neighbors.
https://heatmap.news/plus/the-fight/hotspots/ocean-city-offshore-wind-lava-ridge
Lenovo introduces an Ryzen AI PRO 300 version of the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 laptop
date: 2024-09-11, from: Liliputing
The Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 6 is a thin and light business-class laptop that squeezes a lot of power into a package that measures less than 0.7 inches thick and weighs less than three pounds. It’s also a laptop that will soon be available with a choice of Qualcomm Snapdragon X or AMD Ryzen AI […]
The post Lenovo introduces an Ryzen AI PRO 300 version of the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 laptop appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/lenovo-introduces-an-amd-version-of-the-thinkpad-t14s-gen-6-laptop/
Soyuz craft heads to space station with 2 Russians, 1 American
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
MOSCOW — A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russians and an American blasted off Wednesday for an express trip to the International Space Station.
The space capsule atop a towering rocket set off at 1623 GMT from Russia’s manned space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and was scheduled to dock with the space station three hours later, in contrast to some missions that last for days.
The mission commander is Alexei Ovchinin, with Russian compatriot Ivan Vagner and American Donald Pettit in the crew.
The blast-off took place without obvious problems and the Soyuz entered orbit eight minutes after liftoff, a relief for Russian space authorities after an automated safety system halted a launch in March because of a voltage drop in the power system.
On the space station, Pettit, Vagner and Ovchinin will join NASA’s Tracy Dyson, Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams, and Russians Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko.
https://www.voanews.com/a/soyuz-craft-heads-to-space-station-with-2-russians-1-american/7780406.html
Major sales and ops overhaul leads to much more activity … for Meow ransomware gang
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
You hate to see it
The Meow ransomware group has grabbed the second most active gang spot in an unexpected surge in activity following a major brand overhaul.…
Good Week for Power Lines, Bad Week for Offshore Wind
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
Greenlink’s good day – The Interior Department
has
approved NV Energy’s Greenlink West power line in Nevada, a
massive step forward for the Biden administration’s pursuit of more
transmission.
- The project will be linked to Arevia Power’s Libra Solar Project, which the BLM finished reviewing last month.
- Interior also released a draft environmental review for the Greenlink North transmission project, a companion to Greenlink West.
- While these approvals might lift the weight off some YIMBY chests, I wouldn’t be too sure this fight is over, judging by recent Fight interviewee Patrick Donnelly’s claim to the press that this decision could lead to listing the sage grouse as an endangered species. Do I smell litigation?
States’ offshore muddle – We saw a lot of state-level offshore wind movement this past week… and it wasn’t entirely positive. All of this bodes poorly for odds of a kumbaya political moment to the industry’s benefit any time soon.
- Massachusetts and Rhode Island picked three new projects that will ultimately produce less power than they wanted. Connecticut did not pick any projects despite expectations it would do so, delaying the decision to a later, unspecified date.
- Oregon got the federal go-ahead for offshore development in its waters. But this received backlash from the state’s two senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, who said the process was “rushed.”
- It wasn’t all bad news. Last week, Delaware Gov. John Carney signed into law legislation teeing up an offshore wind procurement program.
- But I’m watching to see if an Oregon-esque situation plays out in Delaware, a state with many politicians supportive of offshore wind but that also can struggle with assuaging local development concerns.
Chumash loophole – Offshore wind did notch one win in northern California by securing an industry exception in a large marine sanctuary, providing for farms to be built in a corridor of the coastline.
- The final Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary arrives with both an opening for offshore wind projects currently being planned and the blessing of the North Chumash Tribal Council – what appears to be a win-win.
- Regulators say they’ll consider a potential expansion of the sanctuary in the “coming years” after transmission cables have been approved.
Here’s what else I’m watching …
- The Supreme Court is apparently swamped with emergency requests from the energy industry and Republican states to intervene in anti-pollution regulation.
- In Maine, activists are pushing the state to get more aggressive with its climate plans.
- In Washington state, a ballot initiative threatens to repeal the state’s “cap and invest” climate law.
Chile Flowers Bloom in Space
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
In July 2021, NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station started growing chile peppers in the Advanced Plant Habitat, as part of the Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04) experiment. The astronauts and a team of researchers at Kennedy worked together to monitor the peppers’ growth before harvesting them. In this image from Sept. 30, 2021, chile flowers […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/chile-flowers-bloom-in-space/
Just Having Fun at RE+ Edition
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
This week I’m in Anaheim wandering the halls of RE+ for the first time.
It’s been a thrill to learn about the cavalcade of companies working on
the frontlines of the energy transition. I’ll have a LOT more to say
about my trip in next week’s edition of The Fight. But during my first
day there I decided to ask a few impressive individuals to sit in my hot
seat. Here’s what they said!
Becca Jones-Albertus – Director of the Energy Department’s Solar Energy Technologies Office
- Does the federal government’s neutrality on what U.S. regions are best for renewables help or hurt the energy transition, given how many competing interests are at play? “I think for our country it helps. It provides more opportunities for local areas to engage and take charge of their own futures. The clean energy transition doesn’t depend on whether we develop a plan in [one] particular area. That means there are more communities that can engage, can push for benefits for those systems. There’s more room and opportunity there.”
Kevin Diau – CEO of 1Climate, an AI permitting assistance tool
- Can AI help with NIMBY problems? “I think AI can make it easier to understand where all those regulations are that exist. But I think that a lot of the challenges when it comes to people having NIMBY conflicts, that’s a lot of interpersonal dynamics that AI can’t necessarily address head on. I think developers still have these NIMBY challenges from people in the community.”
Charles Dauber – CEO of Empact Technologies, policy consulting firm
- What’s the question you’ve been asked most about the IRA at RE+? “Even though the IRA’s been around for like, two years, it turns out given safe harbor last year, many companies didn’t have to deal with this until now. So we’re just now starting to get questions about dealing with prevailing wage and apprenticeship compliance requirements. We see that probably from 70% of the people that walk up here: How do I go do this? I’m getting requirements from my investors that want to prove we’re going to be compliant with these requirements.”
https://heatmap.news/plus/the-fight/qa/interviews-re-plus
On Journalism and Principles
date: 2024-09-11, from: Doc Searls (at Harvard), New Old Blog
Thirteenth in the News Commons series. I grabbed the spottedhawk.org domain after hearing Garrison Keilor read this passage from Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself over Leo Kottke improvising on guitar: The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me. He complains of my gab and my loitering. I too am not a bit tamed. I too […]
https://doc.searls.com/2024/09/11/on-journalism-and-principles/
Americans Don’t Want an Energy Revolution. Neither Does Kamala Harris.
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
It was — against all odds — an energy debate.
Just look at the statistics. The word “fracking” was mentioned 10 times. “Oil” came up seven times. Even “climate change,” which Donald Trump was not very eager to talk about, was mentioned four times. And while that may not seem like a lot for such a vast and globe-spanning problem, climate change came up only three times in all of 2016’s debates combined.
Even more than when talking about trade or inflation, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump used energy to make their economic vision concrete and meaningful to Americans. For Harris, that meant recognizing the scale of the country’s fossil fuel resources today while gesturing toward a cleaner and lower-carbon future that will produce (in theory, at least) lots of high-wage manufacturing jobs for America’s middle class. For Trump, the energy industry — and, really, the fossil fuel industry — is central to his fleshy, authoritarian vision of American strength. Seemingly any attempt to replace hydrocarbons with something cleaner or less polluting arises from nothing less than an elite conspiracy to weaken the country and sell out its people.
For such a stark contrast — and for such an outlandish contrast, to be clear — it was a surprisingly substantive debate. Which isn’t to say we learned much, especially about Trump. The Republican nominee was the same man we’ve seen for the past nine years, the same politician who has defined the extreme GOP position on global warming. Over the past near-decade, Trump has called climate change a “hoax” and has seemed to revel in emissions-increasing policies. That isn’t changing. Asked directly what he would do about climate change on Tuesday night, he did not address the question at all. Instead, he talked about how car factories are getting built in Mexico, and he claimed in a difficult-to-follow rant that Joe Biden is getting paid off by China.
About Harris, we learned far more. Harris struck a careful, moderate tone during the debate between the need for climate action and the ongoing importance of fossil fuel extraction. She spoke about the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration’s signature climate policy, but also discussed how it increased federal leasing for oil and gas. She spoke about climate change in terms of its higher everyday costs for Americans, and not — as Biden did — as an existential threat to the country.
“What we know is that [climate change] is very real,” she said. “You ask anyone who lives in a state who has experienced these extreme weather occurrences, who now is either being denied home insurance or [it] is being jacked up.”
She bragged about the Biden administration’s oil and gas record in the same breath as she discussed its enormous investments in clean energy. American oil and gas production is at an all-time high — it is higher, in fact, than Saudi Arabia’s — but I can’t remember hearing a Biden administration official bragging about that.
“I am proud that as vice president over the last four years, we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy economy while we have also increased domestic gas production to historic levels,” she said.
In a way, Harris has essentially returned to Obama’s 2012 “all of the above” energy policy. That approach remains unpopular with climate activists, who think it did too much for the oil and gas industry; personally, I think it’s an open question whether Obama actually believed in the “all of the above” approach or was subtly trying to help renewables all along. But more importantly, the underlying policy context is totally different now than it was 12 years ago: With the Inflation Reduction Act in place, the government can more easily bless all forms of energy development because it is, in fact, helping clean energy take root.
What’s most important, though — and what I hope climate advocates do not overlook — is that Harris’s tack here reflects the broad state of American public opinion. While most Americans want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they do not seem to want an energy revolution: More than two-thirds of Americans believe the country should use a mix of renewables and fossil fuels, according to the Pew Research Center, and less than a third believe the country should rely “entirely” on renewables. In the same poll, most Americans said they oppose federal rules that would aim to make electric vehicles half of all new cars sold by 2032.
This is not to say that Americans are big oil lovers. Most Americans think the country should prioritize various forms of zero-carbon energy development over fossil fuels. And while Republican support for renewables has dropped over the past few years — and has fallen further over the past few months, as my colleague Matthew Zeitlin wrote recently — a generation gap has emerged wherein younger Republicans are much more likely to champion solar and wind than older party members.
Even among seemingly environmental-aligned demographics, greater support exists for fossil fuels than one might expect. Most Democrats say they would not “favor” expanding fracking or offshore drilling — but about a quarter of Democrats would favor more fossil fuel drilling. So would roughly 45% of independents and, of course, a large majority of Republicans, according to Pew.
Of course, these facts of public opinion sit uneasily with what we know about climate change, which is that greenhouse gas emissions — and fossil fuel development with it — should plan to scale down soon. The International Energy Association has said that the most likely pathway for keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius requires the development of “no new long lead-time upstream oil or gas projects.” This observation provides less guidance for American policy makers than it might initially seem, because it is really focused on the opening of new, massive oil fields like Guyana’s. (The IEA also says, in almost the same breath, that “continued investment is required in some existing oil and gas projects,” which could possibly justify ongoing extraction from Texas’s well-established oil and gas fields.)
But even then, the non-negotiable fact would remain: The world must move away from fossil fuels. And the American people are not generally ready to do that today. The country wants something closer to an “all of the above” strategy than it wants a Green New Deal.
That strategy brings climate policy out of the ideological realm and into the pragmatic. Americans, polling suggests, like renewables in part because they will let the United States reduce its dependence on foreign oil, a popular idea in and of itself and talking point of both parties going back decades.
When Heatmap polled more than 5,000 Americans last month, more than half said that a “strong benefit” of a given clean energy project would be its ability to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil and natural gas. Among respondents, those putative energy independence benefits were the No. 2 most popular reason to support clean energy; the only more popular rationale for backing a project was that it would cut utility bills.
Harris directly echoed that appeal on Tuesday. “My position is that we have got to invest in diverse sources of energy so we reduce our reliance on foreign oil,” she said. “We have had the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil.”
I can’t remember Biden making an appeal like this. When he talks about clean energy or the IRA, he tends to focus on its potential to grow the economy. Harris did some of that on Tuesday, bragging about the 800,000 new manufacturing jobs created during her vice presidency. But her focus on the national interest — and on the Biden administration’s appreciation of the ongoing fossil boom — was new.
Such an approach is unlikely to help her appeal to climate activists and advocates, who want the government to affirmatively begin to shutter fossil capacity. The Sunrise Movement, a climate activist group, criticized Harris on Tuesday for spending “more time promoting fracking than laying out a bold vision for a clean energy future.”
What I’d advise those advocates to keep in mind is that their views are legitimately not very popular, and Harris is trying to win a very close election in a race that her team believes has potentially existential stakes for American democracy. She also remembers the 2020 primary, when she tacked left on virtually every issue — she promised to ban fracking, for instance — and still lost. (If that’s because many of the groups wound up backing Bernie Sanders in that primary, that only reinforces the view that she can’t win over those voters in the first place.)
Harris isn’t defying the left on every issue — she has resisted neoliberal dogma and pandered to the public’s views on price gouging, for instance, putting her more in line with the Democratic Party’s Elizabeth Warren wing. But unlike Biden, she refuses to pay an electoral price for backing left-wing policies. Indeed, she seems to believe that she cannot pay such a price and still win. If Harris is now bragging about her administration’s support for fossil fuels, if she is casting the Inflation Reduction Act as a law that helped fracking, that means climate activists have much more work to do to persuade the public on what they believe. The Democratic Party’s candidate will not do that persuasion for them. And in any case, activists are not going to convince the public to believe something in the next 54 days that they’ve failed to do in the past five years.
https://heatmap.news/politics/trump-harris-energy-debate
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-11, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
What's become of The Times & Co.?
https://buzzmachine.com/2024/09/11/whats-become-of-the-times-co/
Boba, fridges and ice cream: the Tiger Cooler gets a makeover
date: 2024-09-11, from: The Occidental News (Occidental College Student Newspaper)
This fall, Occidental’s Tiger Cooler, one of the campus’s two dining facilities, underwent changes in their food and beverage options, as well as hours of operation. According to Monica Jones, the Food Services Manager of the Cooler, one of the many changes was the removal of the cafe’s espresso machine. Jones said that the campus’ […]
The post Boba, fridges and ice cream: the Tiger Cooler gets a makeover appeared first on The Occidental.
Hunters International cyber-gang extorts Chinese mega-bank’s London HQ
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Allegedly swiped more than 5.2M files and threatens to publish the lot
Ransomware gang Hunters International reportedly claims to have stolen more than 5.2 million files belonging to the London branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), a Chinese state-owned bank and financial service corporation, and set a deadline of September 13 to release all the data unless demands are met.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/hunters_ransom_icbc_london/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-11, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Social Change Efforts Need More Than ‘Stop Energy.’
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/stop-energy-social-change
Opinion: WEIRD is a weird term
date: 2024-09-11, from: The Occidental News (Occidental College Student Newspaper)
WEIRD is an acronym that stands for a specific demographic that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic. Everywhere, and especially in academia, the term is a buzzword that critiques the overwhelming scholarly focus on said demographic. Originally introduced in 2010 by Joseph Henrich, the current Ruth Moore Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard […]
The post Opinion: WEIRD is a weird term appeared first on The Occidental.
https://theoccidentalnews.com/opinions/2024/09/11/opinion-weird-is-a-weird-term/2912568
Opinion: Why the United States must not treat Israel differently
date: 2024-09-11, from: The Occidental News (Occidental College Student Newspaper)
During the “The United States-Israeli Security Alliance: A Conversation with an Internal Critic” event held Sept. 3, former Director of Bureau on Political Military Affairs at the U.S. State Department Josh Paul highlighted that while Israel’s relationship with the U.S. is described as “ironclad,” Taiwan is considered merely “rock-solid.” The difference speaks volumes about how […]
The post Opinion: Why the United States must not treat Israel differently appeared first on The Occidental.
Athletes of the Week: Andrew Notter and Jenna LeNay continue their winning streak
date: 2024-09-11, from: The Occidental News (Occidental College Student Newspaper)
Andrew Notter Occidental men’s soccer played against Willamette resulting in a 4-1 victory Sept. 1. Andrew Notter (senior) scored two goals contributing to Occidental’s success. Notter said his passion for soccer comes from his father, who grew up playing the sport. “I guess I just wanted to follow in his footsteps a little bit. It […]
The post Athletes of the Week: Andrew Notter and Jenna LeNay continue their winning streak appeared first on The Occidental.
These Tiny Fish Will Assess Themselves in a Mirror Before Taking on a Foe
date: 2024-09-11, from: Smithsonian Magazine
New findings suggest bluestreak cleaner wrasse understand how their body size stacks up against a rival
Students get Narcan in welcome bags, new policy from college to reduce harm
date: 2024-09-11, from: The Occidental News (Occidental College Student Newspaper)
At the beginning of the school year, Occidental students returning to their dorms on campus were greeted by a tote bag containing various supplies, such as fentanyl test strips and naloxone nasal spray (sold under the brand name Narcan). According to an email sent to the student body Aug. 20, these bags are part of a […]
The post Students get Narcan in welcome bags, new policy from college to reduce harm appeared first on The Occidental.
Two-time Academy Award winner and lifelong activist Jane Fonda and radio journalist Greg Dalton ’86 hold climate conversation at Occidental
date: 2024-09-11, from: The Occidental News (Occidental College Student Newspaper)
Jane Fonda, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and life-long activist, and Greg Dalton ’86, founder of the radio program Climate One, will be in conversation at Thorne Hall Oct. 1 to discuss Fonda’s life-long commitment to activism and her recent strides in advocating for environmental justice. Their conversation will be facilitated by Occidental student Emma Galbraith […]
The post Two-time Academy Award winner and lifelong activist Jane Fonda and radio journalist Greg Dalton ’86 hold climate conversation at Occidental appeared first on The Occidental.
Campus copes with heatwave; newly installed AC systems provide relief
date: 2024-09-11, from: The Occidental News (Occidental College Student Newspaper)
Friday Sept. 6, Eddie Dong (senior) laid down with a book at the Del Mendel Aquatics Center, seeking respite from the unrelenting heat wave that had struck Los Angeles. “We’re having four straight days of triple-digit temperatures,” Dong said. “I’m at the pool to cool off.” Both Occidental College and Los Angeles County announced an […]
The post Campus copes with heatwave; newly installed AC systems provide relief appeared first on The Occidental.
Eagle Rock’s Corrigan takes on Olympics
date: 2024-09-11, from: The Occidental News (Occidental College Student Newspaper)
Eagle Rock native James Corrigan recently participated in the 3000 meter steeplechase at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Corrigan placed third at the US Olympic Trials, and achieved a personal record (PR) of nearly 8 seconds to qualify for the games. The steeplechase is a 7.5 lap race with four barriers and one water jump per […]
The post Eagle Rock’s Corrigan takes on Olympics appeared first on The Occidental.
https://theoccidentalnews.com/community/2024/09/11/eagle-rocks-corrigan-takes-on-olympics/2912619
Students get Narcan in welcome bags, new policy from college to reduce harm
date: 2024-09-11, from: The Occidental News (Occidental College Student Newspaper)
At the beginning of the school year, Occidental students returning to their dorms on campus were greeted by a tote bag containing various supplies, such as fentanyl test strips and naloxone nasal spray (sold under the brand name Narcan). According to an email sent to the student body Aug. 20, these bags are part of […]
The post Students get Narcan in welcome bags, new policy from college to reduce harm appeared first on The Occidental.
Margaret Cho and Melissa Villaseñor host a night of comedy at Occidental
date: 2024-09-11, from: The Occidental News (Occidental College Student Newspaper)
A line of people poured out of Thorne Hall as students, faculty and staff awaited “Laugh Your Class Off,” a night of stand-up comedy at Occidental Sept. 7. The show hosted comedians Margaret Cho and Melissa Villaseñor, as well as three Occidental alumni — David Murphy ’02, Paul “PK” Kim ’98 and Eddie Gorton ’01 — as openers. Cho, who has been a pillar in […]
The post Margaret Cho and Melissa Villaseñor host a night of comedy at Occidental appeared first on The Occidental.
US House Republicans cancel vote on stopgap funding measure
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson canceled a vote scheduled for Wednesday on his stopgap funding bill, saying more work is needed to build support for a measure, less than three weeks before a government shutdown deadline.
“No vote today, because we’re in the consensus-building business here in Congress, with small majorities, and that’s what you do,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol.
The vote had been set for later on Wednesday.
Johnson added that Republicans will be working through the weekend to find a bill that would gain enough votes for passage, now that his measure, opposed by President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats, has faltered.
House Republicans have attached a controversial provision requiring people to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote, a measure meant to force Democrats to take stances on the politically charged issue of non-citizen voting, which is already illegal in federal elections.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who continues to falsely claim his 2020 loss was the result of fraud, has urged Republicans to pass the voting measure ahead of the November 5 election.
The federal government’s fiscal year ends on September 30, when funding for many agencies expires. Without some sort of extension, federal programs not deemed essential would have to suspend many of their operations, forcing thousands of government workers to go on leave.
Success for the funding bill was not guaranteed in the chamber that Republicans control by a narrow 220-211 margin. Several House Republicans have said they would vote against the measure, citing spending concerns, and many members of the caucus generally oppose stopgap spending measures.
Two Republicans joined Democrats on Tuesday in voting against a procedural move to advance the bill.
Democrats broadly see the citizenship registration requirement as meant to undermine confidence in administering elections.
“We’re watching a movie we’ve seen over and over again,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday. “House Republicans are trying to pass a bill so partisan that it even splits their own caucus. This proposal isn’t even serious.”
The White House on Monday said Biden would veto this funding package were it to pass, citing the “unrelated cynical” voting requirement. The administration also wants a temporary funding period shorter than six months, as well as more money for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fix infrastructure damaged by natural disasters.
Lawmakers face an even more critical self-imposed deadline on January 1, before which they must act to raise or extend the nation’s debt ceiling or risk defaulting on more than $35 trillion in federal government debt.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-house-republicans-cancel-vote-on-stopgap-funding-measure/7780375.html
Volunteer Discovers 1,000-Year-Old Ring on the Last Day of an Excavation in Scotland
date: 2024-09-11, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The artifact likely belonged to the Picts, who occupied a large settlement in what is now the town of Burghead
The U.S Housing Crisis: What Americans Need to Know
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: RAND blog
Housing is front and center in both of the major parties’ campaigns for the White House. We asked two RAND experts to bring us up to speed the housing issues and discuss the policies and proposals that might ease the historically tight housing market for buyers and renters alike.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/09/the-us-housing-crisis-what-americans-need-to-know.html
Dell says biz transformation continues. Translation: More layoffs
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
This follows the tech giant’s August plan to cut 12,500 jobs
Dell reported a smashing quarter, and employees should be prepared for what that means: Layoffs.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/dell_layoff_sec/
App helps consumers, retailers cut down on food waste
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
According to Feeding America, a U.S. network of food banks, Americans waste about 41 billion kilograms of food every year - about 145 billion meals. But some new high-tech ways make sure that food gets to people who need it. VOA’s Valdya Baraputri has more. Camera: Rendy Wicaksana, Nabila Ganinda, Naras Prameswari.
https://www.voanews.com/a/app-helps-consumers-retailers-cut-down-on-food-waste/7780281.html
The Next Full Moon is a Partial Lunar Eclipse; a Supermoon; the Corn Moon; and the Harvest Moon
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
The next full Moon will be Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at 10:35 PM EDT. The Moon will appear full from Monday evening through Thursday morning.
Oracle boasts zettascale ‘AI supercomputer,’ just don’t ask about precision
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Cluster of 131,072 Blackwell GPUs up for grabs starting H1 2025
Comment Oracle says it’s already taking orders on a 2.4 zettaFLOPS cluster with “three times as many GPUs as the Frontier supercomputer.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/oracle_zettascale_supercluster/
This Natural Gas Plant Is a Poster Child for America’s Grid Weirdness
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
At least one natural gas plant in America’s biggest energy market that
was scheduled to shut down is staying open. Elgin Energy Center, an
approximately 500 megawatt plant in Illinois approximately 40 miles
northwest of downtown Chicago was scheduled to shut down next June,
according to filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and
officials from PJM Interconnection, the country’s largest regional
transmission organization, which governs the relevant portion of the
U.S. grid. Elgin’s parent company “no longer intends to deactivate and
retire all four units … at the Elgin Energy Center,” according to a
letter dated September 4 and posted to PJM’s website
Wednesday.
The Illinois plant is something of a poster child for PJM’s past few years. In 2022, it was one of many natural gas plants to shut down during Winter Storm Elliott as the natural gas distribution seized up. Its then-parent company, Lincoln Power — owned by Cogentrix, the Carlyle Group’s vehicle for its power business — filed for bankruptcy the following year, after PJM assessed almost $40 million in penalties for failing to operate during the storm. In June, a bankruptcy court approved the acquisition of the Elgin plant, along with one other, by Middle River Power, a generation business backed by Avenue Capital, a $12 billion investment firm, in a deal that was closed in December.
The decision to continue operating the plant past its planned deactivation comes as PJM set a new price record at its capacity auction in July, during which generators submitted bids for power that can be deployed when the grid is under stress due to high demand. The $14.7 billion auction was a massive jump from the previous one, which finished at just over $2 billion. Ironically, one reason the most recent auction was so expensive is that PJM gave less credit to natural gas generators for their capacity following Winter Storm Elliott, which then drove up auction prices, leading to large payouts for gas plants. PJM said the high auction prices were “caused primarily by a large number of generator retirements.”
In a bankruptcy court filing in 2023, Lincoln Power’s chief restructuring officer said that the company “was experiencing a liquidity crunch” due to low prices in past capacity auction, which meant that it had “received significantly less revenues for the capacity they sold in those Capacity Auctions as compared to previous Capacity Auctions.” With higher capacity revenues in PJM, presumably Elgin’s business has improved.
Many analysts are skeptical that PJM can quickly get new load onto the system to bring prices down meaningfully in subsequent auctions — the next one is in December — and the PJM queue for new projects is absurdly clogged. This only juices the incentives for older fossil plants to stay open.
“This shortage of capacity is happening immediately,” Nicholas Freschi, senior associate at Gabel Associates, told me last week. “There might be more resources, and PJM might be able to coerce some retiring or not participating plants to make up for the shortfall. It’s an immediate problem.”
Neither Middle River nor its attorney representing the company before
FERC returned requests for comment.
https://heatmap.news/sparks/elgin-natural-gas-pjm
NASA Remembers Sept. 11
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were a national tragedy that resulted in a staggering loss of life and a significant change in American culture. Each year, we pause and remember. Beyond honoring the Americans who died that day, NASA also assisted FEMA in New York in the days afterward, and remembered the victims by providing flags […]
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-remembers-sept-11/
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-11, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
SwiftUI Apple friends, I have a crash in SwiftUI that brings my app down every time I com back to the app.
Small repro test case included: FB15103713
Public version: https://github.com/feedback-assistant/reports/issues/550
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113119794346311852
Beelink SER9 is one of the first mini PCs with Ryzen AI 300 (Strix Point)
date: 2024-09-11, from: Liliputing
The first laptops with AMD Ryzen AI 300 “Strix Point” processors are now shipping. And soon you may be able to buy a tiny desktop computer featuring one of AMD’s latest mobile chips. The upcoming Beelink SER9 is set to be one of the first mini PCs with a Strix Point processor, featuring support for […]
The post Beelink SER9 is one of the first mini PCs with Ryzen AI 300 (Strix Point) appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/beelink-ser9-is-one-of-the-first-mini-pcs-with-ryzen-ai-300-strix-point/
9 Phenomena NASA Astronauts Will Encounter at Moon’s South Pole
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
Out-of-this-world phenomena NASA astronauts will experience at the Moon’s south polar region.
Analysts see options for US despite China’s mineral export controls
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
NASA Scientists Re-Create Mars ‘Spiders’ in a Lab for First Time
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
Tests on Earth appear to confirm how the Red Planet’s spider-shaped geologic formations are carved by carbon dioxide. Since discovering them in 2003 via images from orbiters, scientists have marveled at spider-like shapes sprawled across the southern hemisphere of Mars. No one is entirely sure how these geologic features are created. Each branched formation can […]
23 years later, US remembers Sept. 11 al-Qaida terrorist attacks
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/7780183.html
HPE wants investors to buy shares to help finance $14B Juniper Networks acquisition
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
27 million Series C Preferred Stock due out on Friday 13
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is turning to investors to help raise upward of $1 billion to fund its expensive purchase of networking rival Juniper.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/hpe_shares_juniper_funding/
Inspiration Among the Stars: How Johnson’s Workforce Found Their Place in Space
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
For some people, working for NASA is a lifelong dream. For others, it is an interesting and perhaps unexpected opportunity that comes up at just the right time and place. Everything from family ties and influential teachers to witnessing human spaceflight history and enjoying sci-fi entertainment has helped bring people of all backgrounds together at […]
Ukraine May Be Winning the Information War in Kursk
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: RAND blog
Ukraine’s Kursk offensive has the potential to positively influence Western perceptions, sustain funding and material support for Ukraine, and degrade Russian domestic support for the war. This strategic gamble in the information space might pay off.
Why Some Silicon Valley Billionaire Bros Want Trump to Be the ‘CEO of America’
date: 2024-09-11, from: Capital and Main
The former president has attracted growing support from tech investors, who are seeking favorable tax policies and more deregulation that could widen inequality.
The post Why Some Silicon Valley Billionaire Bros Want Trump to Be the ‘CEO of America’ appeared first on .
‘Hellish’ scene unfolds as wildfire races toward California mountain community
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
TRABUCO CANYON, California — Alex Luna, a 20-year-old missionary, saw the sky turn from a cherry red to black in about 90 minutes as an explosive wildfire raced toward the Southern California mountain community of Wrightwood and authorities implored residents to leave their belongings behind and get out of town.
“It was very, I would say, hellish-like,” Luna said Tuesday night. “It was very just dark. Not a good place to be at that moment. … Ash was falling from the sky like if it was snowing.”
Luna was among those who heeded the evacuation order that was issued for the community of about 4,500 in the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles. The Bridge Fire, which had burned 189 square kilometers (73 square miles) as of late Tuesday with no containment, is one of three major wildfires burning in Southern California and endangering tens of thousands of homes and other structures.
The fires sprung to life during a triple-digit heat wave that finally broke Wednesday. The cooler temperatures brought the prospect of firefighters finally making headway against the flames.
Other major fires were burning across the West, including in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada, where about 20,000 people had to flee a blaze outside Reno.
In Northern California, a fire that started Sunday burned at least 30 homes and commercial buildings and destroyed 40 to 50 vehicles in Clearlake City, 175 kilometers (109 miles) north of San Francisco. Roughly 4,000 people were forced to evacuate.
California is only now heading into the teeth of the wildfire season but already has seen nearly three times as much acreage burn than during all of 2023.
Evacuation orders were expanded Tuesday night in Southern California as the fires grew and included parts of the popular ski town of Big Bear. Some 65,600 homes and buildings were under threat by the Line Fire, including those under mandatory evacuations and those under evacuation warnings, nearly double the number from the previous day.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department announced Tuesday that a Norco man suspected of starting the Line Fire in Highland on September 5 had been arrested and charged with arson. He was held in lieu of $80,000 bail.
Residents along the southern edge of Big Bear Lake were told to leave the area, which is a popular destination for anglers, bikers and hikers. As of late Tuesday, the blaze had charred more than 140 square kilometers (54 square miles) of grass and brush with 14% containment, according to CalFire. It blanketed the area with a thick cloud of dark smoke.
The fire impacted key radio towers, including communication channels for those responding to the fire. Cooler weather could moderate fire activity toward the end of the week, CalFire said in an update. Public safety power shut-offs were anticipated in parts of the Big Bear and Bear Valley areas.
The acrid air prompted several districts in the area to close schools through the end of the week because of safety concerns. Three firefighters have been injured since the blaze was reported Thursday, state fire managers said.
For Wrightwood, a picturesque town 124 kilometers (77 miles) east of Los Angeles known for its 1930’s cabins. threatening wildfires have become a regular part of life. Authorities expressed frustration in 2016 when only half the residents heeded orders to leave.
Janice Quick, the president of the Wrightwood Chamber of Commerce, lives a few miles outside town. Late Tuesday afternoon she was eating lunch outside with friends and they were rained on by embers the size of her thumbnail that hit the table and made a clinking sound.
A friend texted to tell her that the friend’s home had been consumed by fire, while another friend was watching through her ring camera as embers rained down on her home.
“I’ve never seen anything like this and I’ve been through fires before,” said Quick, who has lived in Wrightwood for 45 years.
In neighboring Orange County, firefighters used bulldozers, helicopters and planes to control a rapidly spreading blaze called the Airport Fire that started Monday and spread to about 8 square kilometers (3 square miles) in only a few hours. The blaze was ignited by a spark from heavy equipment being used by public workers, officials said.
By Tuesday night, it had charred more than 78 square kilometers (30 square miles) and was heading over mountainous terrain into neighboring Riverside County with no containment, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi. It burned some communications towers on top of a peak, though so far officials said they did not have reports of the damage disrupting police or fire communication signals in the area.
Concialdi said the fire was burning away from homes in Orange County, but there are 36 recreational cabins in the area. He said authorities don’t yet know if the cabins were damaged or destroyed by the blaze.
Two firefighters who suffered heat-related injuries and a resident who suffered from smoke inhalation were treated at a hospital and released.
Sherri Fankhauser, her husband and her daughter set up lawn chairs and were watching helicopters make water drops on a flaming hillside a few hundred yards away from their Trabuco Canyon home on Tuesday.
They didn’t evacuate even though their street had been under a mandatory evacuation order since Monday. A neighbor did help Fankhauser’s 89-year-old mother-in-law evacuate, Fankhauser said. The flames died down last night but flared up again in the morning.
“You can see fire coming over the ridge now,” Fankhauser said Tuesday afternoon. “It’s getting a little scarier now.”
Kamala Harris could do this all day
date: 2024-09-11, from: Dave Karpf’s blog
A few reactions to last night’s debate
https://davekarpf.substack.com/p/kamala-harris-could-do-this-all-day
Man Discovers 900-Year-Old Stone Carving Beneath His House in Germany
date: 2024-09-11, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The rare picture stone may depict Otto of Bamberg, the bishop who helped spread Christianity throughout the region
How are markets responding to last night’s debate?
date: 2024-09-11, from: Marketplace Morning Report
The first — and potentially only — presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is officially in the books. Economic issues took up plenty of air time. We’ll unpack how markets appear to be digesting both candidates’ performances and policies. Plus, fresh Labor Department data shows that annual inflation cooled in August to 2.5% — the lowest rate since February 2021. How might Fed officials respond?
Historic Newspaper Uses Janky AI Newscasters Instead of Human Journalists
date: 2024-09-11, from: 404 Media Group
Hawaii’s The Garden Island newspaper is producing video news segments with AI. The union at its parent company calls it “digital colonialism.”
https://www.404media.co/historic-newspaper-uses-janky-ai-newscasters-instead-of-human-journalists/
In Photos: US honors fallen on 23rd anniversary of 9/11
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/in-photos-us-honors-fallen-on-23rd-anniversary-of-9-11/7780063.html
AI-Generated Deepfakes Pushed Taylor Swift to Endorse Kamala Harris
date: 2024-09-11, from: 404 Media Group
Taylor Swift is one of the most deepfaked women in the world, but AI-generated images showing her and her fans endorsing Donald Trump were her last straw.
https://www.404media.co/taylor-swift-endorses-kamala-harris-ai-generated-images-deepfakes/
SpaceX blasts being stuck in bureaucratic orbit as Starship approval slips
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Toys launched from pram as Musk’s rocketeers stamp feet over paperwork
Faced with months of waiting for approval for the next Starship launch, SpaceX has gone on the offensive regarding the red tape surrounding the process and the ongoing environmental assessment.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/spacex_starship_red_tape/
RP2350: the brains of Raspberry Pi Pico 2
date: 2024-09-11, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Our ASIC Technical Director tells us what’s new in RP2350, the brains inside Raspberry Pi Pico 2.
The post RP2350: the brains of Raspberry Pi Pico 2 appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/rp2350-the-brains-of-raspberry-pi-pico-2/
Chrome-based browsers highlight the risks of using third-party Firefox-based browsers
date: 2024-09-11, from: OS News
And the hits just keep on coming. After buying an ad tech company and working with Facebook to weaken Firefox’ privacy features, Mozilla is now integrating AI chatbots straight into Firefox with the recent release of Firefox 130. People are understandably big mad about this, and as such the calls for switching to alternatives is growing stronger. Considering the only true alternative to Firefox is Chrome and its various skins, those of us looking to send Mozilla a message are kind of relegated to trying out Firefox skins instead. Switching to what are essentially “Firefox distros” to collectively try and nudge Mozilla back to making more sensible decisions instead of AI hype chasing is an eminently reasonable one. There’s more reasons than just that. Part of the reason I use Firefox-based browsers rather than Chromium browsers is because I want to preserve some choice and diversity in browser engines. The existence of a choice of different Firefox derived browsers may allow space for experimentation in designing better browsers. In Chromium land, Arc has shown that there’s an opportunity for quite radically rethinking how browsers work. Same for Orion in Mac/iOS-land. This isn’t a detailed review of the different browsers, just a few comments and observations having tried them. ↫ Tom Morris I have my reservations about using Firefox skins, mostly because no matter what you do, you’re still entirely dependent on the choices Mozilla makes during the development of the venerable browser. If Mozilla keeps deviating from the traditional goals more and more, the amount of work these Firefox skins need to perform to reign the browser back in will start to increase, and who knows if they have the manpower, experience, and skills to do so? More worryingly, will they be able to keep up with Mozilla’s release schedule, including important bugfixes and security patches? My worries go beyond those basic things, though. Considerably fewer eyes will be going over any code changes these Firefox-based browsers make, and as recent history has shown us, infiltrating a small, understaffed open source project for nefarious purposes is a thing that happens. Another issue to consider is nebulous ownership of such Firefox versions, as are questions around who financially supports such efforts. Your browser is a massively important and crucial piece of software that holds and has access to a lot of your personal data, and you should be particularly careful about who owns your browser. This is not to say each and every one of them is bad – just that you have to be careful about who you trust. Several Chrome skins, like Brave and Opera, have time and time again shown to be shady, untrustworthy companies pushing crypto bullshit, ripping off websites, have shady owners, and more – don’t use Brave, don’t use Opera – and there’s no guarantees the same won’t happen with Firefox skins riding the wave of unhappiness with Mozilla. Please be mindful. I don’t have an answer for this issue, either – I just want to caution against throwing the browser out with the bath water and switching to a project you might not know a lot about.
Joining Thrive Capital
date: 2024-09-11, from: The Sephist blog
I’ve joined Thrive Capital as an EIR and advisor, working with the Thrive team to support our founders in understanding and deploying AI thoughtfully, while furthering my own research and explorations around AI interpretability, knowledge representations, and interface design.
August was my last month as a part of Notion’s AI engineering team.
It’s been a privilege at Notion to get to work with a world-class team at the frontier of applied LLM products. Notion was one of the first companies to preview an LLM product, even before ChatGPT. I’m grateful to have been a part of the many ways the team has grown in the last almost-two years, across product launches, generational leaps in models, and many orders of magnitude of scale. We learned alongside the rest of the industry about prompt programming, retrieval, agents, evals, and how people are using AI day-to-day in their schools, companies, meetings, and life.
Notion’s “AI team” is really a team-of-teams spanning product, design, engineering, partnerships, finance, marketing, sales, and growth across the company. With all the talented Notinos that have joined since my first days, Notion’s AI team is poised to build and share a lot of beautiful, useful products in the next months, I have no doubt.
As Notion brings all the ideas we’ve explored (and more) to the world, I’ve been feeling an urge to (1) take a step back and understand how the broader world is adapting to this new technology, and (2) spend much more time on my research agendas around interpretability and interfaces.
After a brief break, I joined Thrive earlier this month.
As I’ve gotten to know the Thrive team over the last couple years, I’ve been consistently impressed with the thoughtfulness, depth of partnership with founders, and clarity of conviction behind investments across stages and industries. They’ve generously granted me an ambitious remit to pursue both of my goals as a part of the team, and based on my first week I’ve got a lot to be excited about on both fronts.
I hope to share what I learn and build along the way, as I always have.
https://thesephist.com/posts/thrive/
So you paid a ransom demand … and now the decryptor doesn’t work
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
A really big oh sh*t moment, for sure
For C-suite execs and security leaders, discovering your organization has been breached by network intruders, your critical systems locked up, and your data stolen, and then receiving a ransom demand, is probably the worst day of your professional life.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/ransomware_decryptor_not_working/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-11, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Sergey Brin says he's working on AI at Google 'pretty much every day.'
Zivilgesellschaft kritisiert Sicherheitspaket
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-12, from: Chaos Computer Club Updates
Die Zivilgesellschaft kritisiert das sogenannte Sicherheitspaket der Bundesregierung, das am Donnerstag im Bundestag in der ersten Lesung besprochen wird. Das Gesetzespaket enthält eine Vielzahl an neuen Befugnissen für Ermittlungsbehörden, welche die Grundrechte von Millionen von Bürger:innen einschränken und insbesondere die Rechte von von Rassismus betroffenen Menschen, Asylbewerber:innen und Geflüchteten aushöhlen.
https://www.ccc.de/de/updates/2024/zivilgesellschaft-kritisiert-sicherheitspaket
NASA Stennis Set to Continue ASTRA Mission with Sidus Space
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, announced Wednesday it will continue its historic in-space autonomous systems payload mission aboard an orbiting satellite through a follow-on agreement with Sidus Space, Inc. “We are excited to report the historic ASTRA (Autonomous Satellite Technology for Resilient Applications) mission will continue,” said Chris Carmichael, chief, Stennis […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-stennis-set-to-continue-astra-mission-with-sidus-space/
Podcast: Fraudsters Say ‘We Know Where You Live’
date: 2024-09-11, from: 404 Media Group
The new wave of scary sextortion emails that include your address; the rise of right to repair for your body; and a years old Reddit mystery solved.
https://www.404media.co/404-media-podcast-we-have-your-address/
US inflation reaches 3-year low as Federal Reserve prepares to cut interest rates
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
Washington — The post-pandemic spike in U.S. inflation eased further last month as year-over-year price increases reached a three-year low, clearing the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next week.
Wednesday’s report from the Labor Department showed that consumer prices rose 2.5% in August from a year earlier. It was the fifth straight annual drop and the smallest such increase since February 2021. From July to August, prices rose just 0.2%.
Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices rose 3.2% in August from 12 months earlier, the same as in July. On a month-to-month basis, core prices rose 0.3% last month, a pickup from July’s 0.2% increase. Economists closely watch core prices, which typically provide a better read of future inflation trends.
For months, cooling inflation has provided gradual relief to America’s consumers, who were stung by the price surges that erupted three years ago, particularly for food, gas, rent and other necessities. Inflation peaked in mid-2022 at 9.1%, the highest rate in four decades.
Fed officials have signaled that they’re increasingly confident that inflation is falling back to their 2% target and are now shifting their focus to supporting the job market, which is steadily cooling. As a result, the policymakers are poised to begin cutting their key rate from its 23-year high in hopes of bolstering growth and hiring.
A modest quarter-point cut is widely expected next week. Over time, a series of rate cuts should reduce the cost of borrowing across the economy, including for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.
The latest inflation figures could inject themselves into the presidential race in its final weeks. Former President Donald Trump has heaped blame on Vice President Kamala Harris for the jump in inflation, which erupted in early 2021 as global supply chains seized up, causing severe shortages of parts and labor. Harris has proposed subsidies for home buyers and builders in an effort to ease housing costs and backs a federal ban on price-gouging for groceries. Trump has said he would boost energy production to try to reduce overall inflation.
A key reason why inflation eased again in August was that gas prices tumbled by about 10 cents a gallon last month, according to the Energy Inflation Administration, to a national average of about $3.29.
Economists also expect the government’s measures of grocery prices and rents to rise more slowly. Though food prices are roughly 20% more expensive than before the pandemic, they have barely budged over the past year.
Another potential driver of slower inflation is that the cost of new apartment leases has started to cool as a stream of newly built apartments have been completed.
According to the real estate brokerage Redfin, the median rent for a new lease rose just 0.9% in August from a year earlier, to $1,645 a month. But the government’s measure includes all rents, including those for people who have been in their apartments for months or years. It takes time for the slowdown in new rents to show up in the government’s data. In July, rental costs rose 5.1% from a year ago, according to the government’s consumer price index.
Americans’ paychecks are also growing more slowly — an average of about 3.5% annually, still a solid pace — which reduces inflationary pressures. Two years ago, wage growth was topping 5%, a level that can force businesses to sharply raise prices to cover their higher labor costs.
In a high-profile speech last month, Fed Chair Jerome Powell noted that inflation was coming under control and suggested that the job market was unlikely to be a source of inflationary pressure.
Consumers have propelled the economy for the past three years. But they are increasingly turning to debt to maintain their spending and credit card, and auto delinquencies are rising, raising concerns that they may have to rein in their spending soon. Reduced consumer spending could lead more employers to freeze their hiring or even cut jobs.
Kamala Harris’ Big Oil Boast
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Hurricane Francine is approaching Louisiana as a Category 1 storm • The streets of Vietnam’s capital of Hanoi are flooded after Typhoon Yagi, and the death toll has reached 143 • Residents of Nigeria’s northern Borno state are urged to watch out for crocodiles and snakes that escaped from a zoo due to flooding.
THE TOP FIVE
- Harris boasts about increased U.S. oil production during debate with
Trump
Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris squared off on the debate stage in Philadelphia last night. Here are some important climate and energy highlights from the evening:
- Harris reiterated that she does not want to ban fracking. But she also called for diversifying U.S. energy sources and boasted about increased domestic oil production under President Biden. “Whether or not this is something to brag about is something Democrats will have to decide amongst themselves,” wrote Heatmap’s Katie Brigham. “But for the purpose of this debate, Harris hopes it’s enough to assure swing state voters that she’s no climate absolutist – and that, as of now at least, oil and fossil fuels are far from dead.”
- Harris highlighted the clean energy investments under the Inflation Reduction Act, but didn’t mention the policy by name.
- Trump said he was a “big fan of solar” but complained about the amount of land he thinks solar farms occupy.
- He claimed the Biden-Harris administration is building Chinese-owned EV plants in Mexico (they are not) before launching into a rant about Biden (both Joe and Hunter). “You know, Biden doesn’t go after people because, supposedly, China paid him millions of dollars,” Trump said. “He’s afraid to do it between him and his son, they get all this money from Ukraine.”
- Wildfires blaze through Southern California
Three large wildfires – the Line fire, the Bridge fire, and the Airport fire – are burning in Southern California, fueled by intense heat and thick, dry vegetation. Already more than 100,000 acres have been scorched. The Line fire is closing in on the popular vacation destination Big Bear, and is threatening some 65,000 structures. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said the scale of the emergencies is straining firefighting resources, and FEMA is sending financial aid to the state. In neighboring Nevada, the Davis Fire has grown to nearly 6,000 acres and is burning toward ski resorts in Tahoe. Temperatures in the region started to cool yesterday after a long and brutal heat wave. The weather shift could help firefighters bring the blazes under control.
- White House launches American Climate Corps tour
The White House is launching an American Climate Corps national tour this fall to highlight the work being carried out by corps members in different communities and showcase important projects. The events will feature remarks from the administration and other officials, roundtable talks with ACC members, and swearing-in ceremonies. The tour began in Maine this week with a focus on climate resilience and urban forestry, and heads to Arizona next week. The rest of the schedule is as follows, with more dates to come:
- Sept. 19: Fairhope, Alabama – Ecosystem recovery, conservation, and coastal habitat restoration
- Sept. 22: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Urban forestry
- Sept. 24: Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina – Conservation
- Sept. 24 and 26: Manhattan and Queens, New York City – Urban agriculture, climate education
- Oct. 8 and 9: Duluth and Minneapolis, Minnesota – Low-carbon transportation, food systems solutions with the Fond du Lac Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa, low-carbon transportation
- Oct. 22: Detroit, Michigan – Climate resilience, environmental justice
- Nuclear industry needs more engineers
The number of students studying to become nuclear engineers is declining as demand for carbon-free nuclear energy is on the rise, according to The Wall Street Journal. Citing data from the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, the Journal reported that just 454 students in the U.S. graduated with a degree in the field in 2022, down 25% from a decade earlier. Meanwhile, the industry’s workforce is aging. “We need nuclear expertise in order to combat climate change,” said Sara Pozzi, professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at the University of Michigan. “We are at a crucial point where we need to produce the new generation of nuclear experts so that they can work with the older generation and learn from them.” The drop in new recruits comes down to nuclear’s image problem thanks to public disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima, the Journal speculated.
- Nth Cycle produces nickel and cobalt MHP at new Ohio plant
Critical metal refining company Nth Cycle announced this week it has become the first company to produce nickel and cobalt mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) in the U.S. following the opening of its commercial-scale facility in Ohio. The company’s “Oyster” technology uses electricity to turn recyclable industrial scrap and mined ore into MHP, a key component in clean-energy technologies like batteries. “This revolutionary innovation replaces pyrometallurgy with one of the cleanest technologies in the world, and accelerates the net zero targets of the public and private sector,” the company said in a press release. It claims the Ohio unit can produce 900 metric tons of MHP per year, which would be enough to supply batteries for 22 million cell phones. The company says its process reduces emissions by 90% compared to traditional mining methods and can help EV manufacturers meet the IRA’s sourcing requirements.
THE KICKER
A new nationwide poll of 1,000 registered U.S. voters found that 90% of respondents support President Biden’s federal clean energy incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, including 78% of respondents who said they were Trump voters.
https://heatmap.news/politics/harris-trump-debate-climate-energy
Research suggests more than half of VMware customers are looking to move
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Price rises, uncertainty after Broadcom takeover forcing users to look elsewhere for virtualization needs
Research published by Civo indicates that more than half of VMware customers are considering leaving the platform under Broadcom’s ownership.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/civo_vmware_research/
In Wake of Durov Arrest, Some Cybercriminals Ditch Telegram
date: 2024-09-11, from: 404 Media Group
Hackers, fraudsters, and drug dealers are all leaving the platform in one way or another. Some are worried that Telegram may start providing user data to the authorities.
https://www.404media.co/in-wake-of-durov-arrest-some-cybercriminals-ditch-telegram/
Gateway Space Station in 3D
date: 2024-09-11, from: NASA breaking news
Immerse yourself in the future of deep space science exploration and download a 3D model of Gateway. Click, drag, and explore the exterior of the lunar space station from multiple angles. International teams of astronauts will use Gateway, humanity’s first space station to orbit the Moon, to explore the scientific mysteries of deep space. Gateway […]
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/gateway-space-station-in-3d/
Childless Cat Lady Does Her Research
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/09/11/childless-cat-lady-does-her-research/
Windows 11 users still living in the past face forced update, like it or not
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
22H2 and 21H2 holdouts about to be dragged to 23H2
Microsoft has warned that a forced update is on the way for Windows 11 21H2 and 22H2 users still clinging to the past.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/microsoft_23h2_forced_update/
Affordable Care Act enrollment hits all-time high at 21 million people
date: 2024-09-11, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Over the last decade, nearly 50 million have been on an ACA plan at some point — that’s one in seven Americans. Plus, New York Fashion Week comes to a close today. It featured a pop-up shop from none other than Walmart and is part of the superstore’s attempt to lean into fashion. But first, the economy played a starring role in last night’s presidential debate. We’ll discuss.
Taxing times for China’s electric vehicle makers
date: 2024-09-11, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: Like the U.S., the European Union recently slapped import duties on Chinese electric vehicles. It says it’s protecting European automakers from unfair competition, but not everyone — such as Spain’s prime minister and Belgian firm Umicore — agrees. Then, Kenya’s main airport is facing major disruption after workers staged a go-slow protest over a proposed 30-year lease deal with the Indian conglomerate, the Adani Group.
‘IT failure’ hits blood tests as another critical incident declared by NHS
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Unlike in London, foul play isn’t suspected
The UK’s National Health Service’s (NHS) capability to deliver pathology services is taking another beating, with a critical incident declared this morning at two hospitals in England.…
How $20 and a lapsed domain allowed security pros to undermine internet integrity
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
What happens at Black Hat…
While trying to escape the Las Vegas heat during Black Hat last month, watchTowr Labs researchers decided to poke around for weaknesses in the WHOIS protocol.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/watchtowr_black_hat_whois/
Israel says 2 soldiers killed in Gaza helicopter crash
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/israel-says-2-soldiers-killed-in-gaza-helicopter-crash-/7779808.html
Amazon to pour £8B into UK datacenters through to 2028
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
How kind. Now how about looking at the corporation tax bill…
Those kindly philanthropists at Amazon Web Services (AWS) plan to invest £8 billion ($10.4 billion) on datacenters in Britain between now and 2028, a move welcomed by the UK’s finance minister who tried to take credit and spin it as part of the country’s economic revival.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/amazon_uk_datacenter_investment/
Mind the talent gap: Infosec vacancies abound, but hiring is flat
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
ISC2 argues security training needs to steer toward what hiring managers want
The shortfall between the number of working security professionals and the number of security job openings has reached 4.8 million – a new high, according to cyber security non-profit ISC2.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/mind_the_talent_gap_infosec/
Hurricane Francine takes aim at Louisiana coast
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
BATON ROUGE, La. — Hurricane Francine barreled early Wednesday toward Louisiana and is expected to make landfall in coming hours as forecasters raised threats of potentially deadly storm surge, widespread flooding and destructive winds on the northern U.S. Gulf coast.
Francine drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters to jump from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane on Tuesday night. The National Hurricane Center said Francine might even reach Category 2 strength with winds of 155 to 175 kph before crashing into a fragile coastal region that still hasn’t fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes since 2020.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry warned at midday Tuesday — when Francine was still a tropical storm — that residents around south Louisiana and in the heavily populated state capital of Baton Rouge and nearby New Orleans — should “batten down all the hatches” and finish last preparations before a 24-hour window to do so closed.
Once Francine makes landfall, Landry said, residents should stay in place rather than venture out into waterlogged roads and risk blocking first responders or utility crews working to repair power lines.
The governor said the Louisiana National Guard is being deployed to parishes that could be impacted by Francine. They are equipped with food, water, nearly 400 high-water vehicles, about 100 boats and 50 helicopters to respond to the storm, including possible search-and-rescue operations.
Francine was centered Wednesday morning about 395 kilometers southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, and was moving northeast at 17 kph with maximum sustained winds of 90 150 kmh, the Miami-based hurricane center said. Some additional strengthening is expected Wednesday morning and then Francine is expected to weaken quickly after it moves inland.
A hurricane warning was in effect along the Louisiana coast from Cameron eastward to Grand Isle, about 80 kilometers south of New Orleans, according to the center. A storm surge warning stretched from the Mississippi-Alabama border to the Alabama-Florida border Such a warning means there’s a chance of life-threatening flooding.
In downtown New Orleans, cars and trucks were lined up for blocks on Tuesday to collect sandbags from the parking lot of a local YMCA. CEO Erika Mann said Tuesday that 1,000 bags of sand had already been distributed by volunteers later in the day to people hoping to protect homes from possible flooding.
One resident picking up sandbags was Wayne Grant, 33, who moved to New Orleans last year and was nervous for his first potential hurricane in the city. The low-lying rental apartment he shares with his partner had already flooded out in a storm the year before and he was not taking any chances this time around.
“It was like a kick in the face, we’ve been trying to stay up on the weather ever since,” Grant said. “We’re super invested in the place, even though it’s not ours.”
Francine is the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. There’s a danger of life-threatening storm surge as well as damaging hurricane-force winds, said Brad Reinhart, a senior hurricane specialist at the hurricane center.
There’s also the potential for 10 to 20 centimeters of rain with the possibility of 30 centimeters locally across much of Louisiana and Mississippi through Friday morning, Reinhart said.
The hurricane center said parts of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle were at risk of “considerable” flash and urban flooding starting Wednesday, followed by a threat of possible flooding later in the week into the lower Mississippi Valley and lower Tennessee Valley as the soggy remnants of Francine sweep inland.
Francine is taking aim at a Louisiana coastline that has yet to fully recover since hurricanes Laura and Delta decimated Lake Charles in 2020, followed a year later by Hurricane Ida.
A little over three years after Ida trashed his home in the Dulac community of coastal Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish – and about a month after he finished rebuilding – Coy Verdin was preparing for another hurricane.
“We had to gut the whole house,” he recalled in a telephone interview, rattling off a memorized inventory of the work, including a new roof and new windows.
Verdin, 55, strongly considered moving farther inland, away from the home where he makes his living on nearby Bayou Grand Caillou. After rebuilding, he said he’s there to stay.
“As long as I can. It’s getting rough, though,” he said.
Francine’s storm surge on the Louisiana coast could reach as much as 3 meters from Cameron to Port Fourchon and into Vermilion Bay, forecasters said. They said landfall was likely somewhere between Sabine Pass — on the Texas-Louisiana line — and Morgan City, Louisiana, about 350 kilometers to the east.
https://www.voanews.com/a/hurricane-francine-takes-aim-at-louisiana-coast/7779769.html
Keen to bring it on home? Private cloud appliance pitched at compliance-conscious
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Service with endless scalability, at least that’s the plan
Enterprises that need to worry about compliance have yet another fresh option, as Civo enters the appliance game with its FlexCore private cloud solution.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/civo_flexcore/
A Bloody Battle Depicted in ‘Braveheart’ Dealt a Devastating Blow to the English on This Day in 1297
date: 2024-09-11, from: Smithsonian Magazine
At the Battle of Stirling Bridge, William Wallace defeated the superior armies of Edward I, cementing his status as one of Scotland’s most iconic heroes
A Beginner’s Guide to the Interconnection Queue
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
Maybe you’ve never heard of it. Maybe you know it too well. But to a certain type of clean energy wonk, it amounts to perhaps the three most dreaded words in climate policy: the interconnection queue.
The queue is the process by which utilities decide which wind and solar farms get to hook up to the power grid in the United States. Across much of the country, it has become so badly broken and clogged that it can take more than a decade for a given project to navigate.
On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Jesse and Rob speak with two experts about how to understand — and how to fix — what is perhaps the biggest obstacle to deploying more renewables on the U.S. power grid. Tyler Norris is a doctoral student at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. He was formerly vice president of development at Cypress Creek Renewables, and he served on North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s Carbon Policy Working Group. Claire Wayner is a senior associate at RMI’s carbon-free electricity program, where she works on the clean and competitive grids team. Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap, and Jesse Jenkins, a professor of energy systems engineering at Princeton University.
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Here is an excerpt from our conversation:
Robinson Meyer: Can I interject and just ask why, over the past decade, the interconnection queue got much longer — but also over the past decade, 15 years, the U.S. grid did change in character and in fuel type a lot, right? We went from burning a lot of coal to a lot of natural gas. And that transition is often cited as one of the model transitions, one of the few energy transitions to happen globally that happened at the speed with which we would need to decarbonize. Obviously, switching coal to gas is not decarbonizing, but it is a model — it happened fast enough that it is a good model for what decarbonizing would look like in order to meet climate goals.
Evidently, that did not run into these kind of same interconnection queue problems. Why is that? Is that because we were swapping in within individual power plants? We were just changing the furnace from a coal furnace to a gas furnace? Is that because these were larger projects and so it didn’t back up in the queue in the same way that a lot of smaller solar or wind farms do?
Claire Wayner: I would say all the reasons you just gave are valid, yeah. The coal to gas transition involved, likely, a lot of similar geographic locations. With wind and solar, we’re seeing them wanting to build on the grid and in a lot of cases in new, rather remote locations that are going to require new types of grid upgrades that the coal to gas transition just doesn’t have.
Jesse Jenkins: Maybe it is — to use a metaphor here — it’s a little bit like traffic congestion. If you add a generator to the grid, it’s trying to ship its power through the grid, and that decision to add your power mix to the grid combines with everyone else that’s also generating and consuming power to drive traffic jams or congestion in different parts of the grid, just like your decision to hop in the car and drive to work or to go into the city for the weekend to see a show or whatever you’re doing. It’s not just your decision. It’s everyone’s combined decisions that affects travel times on the grid.
Now, the big difference between the grid and travel on roads or most other forms of networks we’re used to is that you don’t get to choose which path to go down. If you’re sending electricity to the grid, electricity flows with physics down the path of least resistance or impedance, which is the alternating current equivalent of resistance. And so it’s a lot more like rivers flowing downhill from gravity, right? You don’t get to choose which branch of the river you go down. It’s just, you know, gravity will take you. And so you adding your power flows to the grid creates complicated flows based on the physics of this mesh network that spans a continent and interacts with everyone else on the grid.
And so when you’re going from probably a few dozen large natural gas generators added that operate very similarly to the plants that they’re replacing to hundreds of gigawatts across thousands of projects scattered all over the grid with very complicated generation profiles because they’re weather-dependent renewables, it’s just a completely different challenge for the utilities.
So the process that the regional grid operators developed in the 2000s, when they were restructuring and taking over that role of regional grid operator, it’s just not fit for purpose at all for what we face today. And I want to highlight another thing you mentioned, which is the software piece of it, too. These processes, they are using software and corporate processes that were also developed 10 or 20 years ago. And we all know that software and computing techniques have gotten quite a bit better over a decade or two. And rarely have utilities and grid operators really kept pace with those capabilities.
Wayner: Can I just say, I’ve heard that in some regions, interconnection consists of still sending back and forth Excel files. To Tyler’s point earlier that we only just now are getting data on the interconnection queue nationwide and how it stands, that’s one challenge that developers are facing is a lack of data transparency and rapid processing from the transmission providers and the grid operators.
And so, to use an analogy that my colleague Sarah Toth uses a lot, which I really love: Imagine if we had a Domino’s pizza tracker for the interconnection queue, and that developers could just log on and see how their projects are doing in many, if not most regions. They don’t even have that visibility. They don’t know when their pizza is going to get delivered, or if it’s in the oven.
This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by …
Watershed’s climate data engine helps companies measure and reduce their emissions, turning the data they already have into an audit-ready carbon footprint backed by the latest climate science. Get the sustainability data you need in weeks, not months. Learn more at watershed.com.
As a global leader in PV and ESS solutions, Sungrow invests heavily in research and development, constantly pushing the boundaries of solar and battery inverter technology. Discover why Sungrow is the essential component of the clean energy transition by visiting sungrowpower.com.
Antenna Group helps you connect with customers, policymakers, investors, and strategic partners to influence markets and accelerate adoption. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow.
https://heatmap.news/podcast/shift-key-s2-e5-interconnection-queue
Trump, Harris exchange barbs on debate stage
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
In the U.S. presidential election, the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump, clashed with his Democratic Party rival, Kamala Harris, Tuesday evening over issues such as abortion, immigration and foreign policy. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman has details from the candidates’ first debate in Philadelphia.
https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-harris-exchange-barbs-on-debate-stage/7779744.html
Online media outstrips TV as source of news for the first time in the UK
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Ofcom research shows TV remains more trusted news source in social media age
TV has lost its crown as the most popular source of news in the UK, according to research from Ofcom.…
AI has colonized our world – so it’s time to learn the language of our new overlords
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Brush up on your ‘Delvish’ – the lingo that flatters LLMs into a sort of submission
Column Despite growing evidence that generative AI creates more work for humans than it saves, organizations are deploying it in frontline roles like customer service chatbots and CV-screeners.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/delvish_llm_language/
Medical cannabis CTO says vendors would hang up when he called looking for a deal
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-12, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Alternaleaf now has an outsized tech team, a build-not-buy mentality, and a love of FOSS
When Myles Lawlor took the job as chief technology officer at Alternaleaf, Australia’s largest online alternative health clinic, he started calling industry contacts to talk about the startup’s tech needs – and they would hang up on him.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/medical_cannabis_vendor_worries/
The false dichotomy of systemic and individual behaviour change
date: 2024-09-11, from: Hannah Richie at Substack
Individuals aren’t going to solve climate change, but they are an important part of the system that will get us there.
https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/the-false-dichotomy-of-systemic-and
curl 8.10.0
date: 2024-09-11, from: Daniel Stenberg Blog
Numbers the 260th release18 changes42 days (total: 9,672)245 bugfixes (total: 10,804)461 commits (total: 33,209)0 new public libcurl function (total: 94)0 new curl_easy_setopt() option (total: 306)2 new curl command line option (total: 265)57 contributors, 28 new (total: 3,239)27 authors, 14 new (total: 1,302)1 security fixes (total: 158) Download the new curl release from curl.se as always. … Continue reading curl 8.10.0
https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2024/09/11/curl-8-10-0/
Robot enters Fukushima’s nuclear core to retrieve melted-down remains
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Trying for 3 grams, only 880 tons to go!
Video On Tuesday, a robot began entering the Unit 2 reactor at the defunct Fukushima nuclear power plant, in an attempt to retrieve a tiny piece of the fuel that melted down in 2011.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/robot_enters_fukushimas_nuclear_core/
Top takeaways from the Harris-Trump debate
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off on Tuesday night in Philadelphia in a debate that comes less than two months before the presidential election.
The race is tight between the two candidates. Among registered voters, Harris leads Trump by 1 point — 49% to 48% — according to the latest PBS/NPR/Marist poll. That result falls within the margin of error.
The ABC debate marks the first face-to-face meeting between Harris, 59, and Trump, 78.
A former prosecutor, Harris is the first woman, Black American and South Asian American vice president. Trump, a businessman who has been criticized for his sexist and racist remarks, is the first convicted felon to run for president and, if elected, would be 82 by the end of his term.
During what could be their only debate, Harris and Trump sparred on issues ranging from the economy and immigration to democracy, abortion and the Israel-Hamas war.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the debate.
Economy
The economy was the debate’s first topic, with Harris saying she wants to create an “opportunity economy.” She cited her plan to increase the tax credit for starting new small businesses from $5,000 to $50,000.
“I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class,” she said, adding that Trump wants to help the rich with tax cuts.
Trump has said he will further reduce the corporate tax rate from the current 21% to 15%. Harris wants to increase the rate to 28%. It was 35% before Trump’s 2017 tax bill.
Trump spent much of his answer on the economy talking about immigration. However, he also said he created one of the best economies in the United States, without offering specifics, and that he will do it again.
“Look, we’ve had a terrible economy, because inflation, which is really known as a country buster,” Trump said.
Immigration
Immigration has been one of the biggest issues in this presidential campaign. Throughout the debate, Trump lambasted the Biden administration’s handling of immigration – often when the moderators asked questions unrelated to immigration.
Trump repeated his false claims that immigrants are “taking over the towns. They’re taking over buildings. They’re going in violently.” He also cited baseless conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating pet dogs and cats.
Harris criticized Trump for killing a bipartisan bill earlier this year that would have put 1,500 more border agents on the U.S. southern border. Harris has said she would support the bill.
Abortion
Trump and Harris grew increasingly combative when debating the question of abortion.
As president, Trump appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped form the majority that overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. That decision laid the groundwork for states to impose restrictive rules on abortion around the country.
“The Supreme Court had great courage in doing it,” Trump said during the debate.
When asked if he would support a national abortion ban, he said: “No, I’m not in favor of abortion ban. But it doesn’t matter because this issue has now been taken over by the states.”
He also said he would not oppose abortion in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk. He also falsely claimed that Democrats support abortions “after birth.”
In response, Harris emphasized the importance of women’s reproductive rights.
“One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” she said. She added that she would support Congress passing a bill to codify federal abortion protections and, as president, sign it into law.
Rule of law, threats to democracy and Jan. 6
Harris was a prosecutor for a dozen years, first as San Francisco district attorney and then as California’s attorney general. A central component of Harris’ campaign has been portraying Trump as a threat to democracy.
During the debate, Harris highlighted Trump’s status as a convicted felon. Trump replied with the unsubstantiated accusation that Harris and the Biden administration are “weaponizing” the government to prosecute him
When asked by the moderator whether Trump would acknowledge that he lost the 2020 presidential election, he replied with the false claim that he actually won the election. On the Jan. 6 insurrection, Trump said, “I had nothing to do with that, other than they asked me to make a speech.”
“It’s time to turn the page,” Harris said.
“There is a place in our campaign for you to stand for our country, to stand for democracy, to stand for rule of law and to end the chaos and to end the approach that is about attacking the foundations of our democracy,” she added.
Russia-Ukraine War and Israel-Hamas War
In addition to domestic policy, the moderators also pressed Harris and Trump on foreign policy issues, including the ongoing wars between Ukraine and Russia, and Israel and Hamas.
On the Israel-Hamas war, Harris said the United States would defend Israel. She added that she supports a two-state solution. The war “must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a cease-fire deal, and we need the hostages out,” Harris said.
Trump claimed that “Israel will be gone” if Harris becomes president, which is unsubstantiated. Trump also repeated his claim that the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas in southern Israel would have never happened if he were president.
Trump said the Russia-Ukraine war would not have happened if he were president. When asked if he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russia, Trump would only say, “I want the war to stop.”
Harris replied: “If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/top-takeaways-from-the-harris-trump-debate-/7779682.html
Trump’s Odd Attack on German Energy Policy
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
In the closing minutes of the first presidential debate tonight, Donald Trump’s attacks on Kamala Harris took an odd, highly specific, and highly Teutonic turn. It might not have made sense to many viewers, but it fit into the overall debate’s unusually substantive focus on energy policy.
“You believe in things that the American people don’t believe in,” he said, addressing Harris. “You believe in things like, we’re not gonna frack. We’re not gonna take fossil fuel. We’re not gonna do — things that are going to make this country strong, whether you like it or not.”
“Germany tried that and within one year, they were back to building normal energy plants,” he continued. “We’re not ready for it.”
What is he talking about? Let’s start by stipulating that Harris has renounced her previous support for banning fracking. During the debate, she bragged that the United States has hit an all-time high for oil and gas production during her vice presidency.
But why bring Germany into it? At the risk of sane-washing the former president, Trump appears to be referencing what German politicians call the Energiewiende, or energy turnaround. Since 2010, Germany has sought to transition from its largest historic energy sources, including coal and nuclear energy, to renewables and hydropower.
The Energiewiende is often discussed inside and outside of Germany as a climate policy, and it has helped achieve global climate goals by, say, helping to push down the global price of solar panels. But as an observant reader might have already noticed, its goals are not entirely emissions-related: Its leaders have also hoped to use the Energiewiende to phase out nuclear power, which is unpopular in Germany but which does not produce carbon emissions.
The transition has accomplished some of its goals: The country says that it is on target to meet its 2030 climate targets. But it ran into trouble after Russia invaded Ukraine, because Germany obtained more than half of its natural gas, and much of its oil and coal besides, from Russia. Germany turned back on some of its nuclear plants — it has since shut them off again — and increased its coal consumption. It also began importing fossil fuels from other countries.
In order to shore up its energy supply, Germany is also planning to build 10 gigawatts of new natural gas plants by 2030, although it says that these facilities will be “hydrogen ready,” meaning that they could theoretically run on the zero-carbon fuel hydrogen. German automakers, who have lagged at building electric vehicles, have also pushed for policies that support “e-fuels,” or low-carbon liquid fuels. These fuels would — again, theoretically — allow German firms to keep building internal combustion engines.
So perhaps that’s not exactly what Trump said, to put it mildly — but it is true that to cope with the Ukraine war and the loss of nuclear power, Germany has had to fall back on fossil fuels. Of course, at the same time, more than 30% of German electricity now comes from wind and solar energy. In other words, in Germany, renewables are just another kind of “normal energy plant.”
https://heatmap.news/sparks/trump-harris-debate-germany-normal-energy
India to train 5,000 ‘Cyber Commandos’
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Minister reckons dedicated cops necessary to protect digital transactions
India has announced a plan to train a specialized wing of 5000 “Cyber Commandos” in the next five years, as part of its efforts to address cyber crime.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/india_cyber_commandos/
What Would Trump Do About Climate Change? Something About the Mayor of Moscow’s Wife.
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
Well, it happened — over an hour into the debate, but it happened: the presidential candidates were asked directly about climate change. ABC News anchor Linsey Davis put the question to Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, and their respective answers were both surprising and totally not.
Harris responded to the question by laying out the successes of Biden’s energy policy and in particular, the Inflation Reduction Act (though she didn’t mention it by name). “I am proud that as vice president, over the last four years, we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy economy,” Harris noted.
The vice president immediately followed this up, however, by pointing out that gas production has also increased to “historic levels,” under the Biden-Harris administration. This framing, highlighting an all-of-the-above approach to energy, is consistent with Harris’s comments earlier in the debate, when she claimed to support fracking and investing in “diverse sources of energy.” Harris went on to reiterate the biggest wins of the Inflation Reduction Act, namely, “800,000 new manufacturing jobs,” and shouted out her endorsement from the United Auto Workers and its President Shawn Fain.
Trump, who earlier in the debate called himself “a big fan of solar” before questioning the amount of land it takes up, started off his response by once again claiming that the Biden-Harris administration is building Chinese-owned EV plants in Mexico (they are not). Then Trump veered completely off topic and rounded out his answer by ranting about Biden (both Joe and Hunter). “You know, Biden doesn’t go after people because, supposedly, China paid him millions of dollars,” Trump noted. “He’s afraid to do it between him and his son, they get all this money from Ukraine.”
Trump’s answer included no reference to climate or clean energy — but it did include a shout out to “the mayor of Moscow’s wife,” so there’s that.
https://heatmap.news/sparks/trump-harris-debate-climate-change
Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris for president after debate ends
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Taylor Swift, one of the music industry’s biggest stars, endorsed Kamala Harris for president shortly after the debate ended on Tuesday night.
“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post, which included a link to a voter registration website.
Swift has a dedicated following among young women, a key demographic in the November election, and her latest tour has generated more than $1 billion in ticket sales. In a half hour, the post received more than 2.3 million likes.
She included a picture of herself holding her cat Benjamin Button, and she signed the message “Childless Cat Lady.” The remark is a reference to 3-year-old comments made by JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, about women without children not having an equal stake in the country’s future.
A Harris senior campaign official said the endorsement was not coordinated with the campaign. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, appeared to learn about the endorsement in the middle of a live interview on MSNBC. As Rachel Maddow read the text, Walz broke into a smile and patted his chest.
“That was eloquent. And it was clear,” Walz said. “And that’s the kind of courage we need in America to stand up.”
Swift wrote that her endorsement was partially prompted by Trump’s decision to post AI-generated pictures suggesting that she had endorsed him. One showed Swift dressed as Uncle Sam, and the text said, “Taylor wants YOU to VOTE for DONALD TRUMP.”
Trump’s posts “brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter,” Swift wrote. She added that “I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice.”
The Trump campaign dismissed Swift’s endorsement.
“This is further evidence that the Democrat Party has unfortunately become a party of the wealthy elites,” said spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
“There’s many Swifties for Trump out there in America,” she said, herself included.
Swift’s endorsement was not exactly a surprise. In 2020, she supported President Joe Biden, and she cheered for Harris in her debate against then-Vice President Mike Pence. She also was openly critical of Trump, saying he had stoked “the fires of white supremacy and racism.”
Swift is a popular figure nationwide, but especially among Democrats. An October 2023 Fox News poll found that 55% of voters overall, including 68% of Democrats, said they had a favorable view of Swift. Republicans were divided, with 43% having a favorable opinion and 45% an unfavorable one.
AP VoteCast suggests that a partisan divide on Swift was apparent as early as 2018. That’s the year Swift made her first political endorsement, supporting Tennessee Democrat Phil Bredesen for Senate over Republican Marsha Blackburn.
VoteCast found that among Tennessee voters that year, 55% of Democrats and just 19% of Republicans said they had a favorable opinion of Swift. Blackburn won by a comfortable margin in the deep red state.
Swift is the leading nominee at Wednesday’s MTV Video Music Awards. While it’s unclear whether Swift will attend the show in New York, she could use any acceptance speeches to elaborate on her support of Harris.
Trump Complains Solar Takes Up ‘400, 500 Acres of Desert Soil’
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
Former President Donald Trump has been warming up to the idea of electric vehicles in recent months, and he used the debate podium on Tuesday night to announce that “I’m a big fan of solar.” But don’t get too excited: He apparently can’t name three of their albums.
During a heated back-and-forth over Vice President Kamala Harris’ stance on fracking, Trump started to get worked up about what will happen if Democrats win the election. “They’ll go back to destroying our country and oil will be dead, fossil fuel will be dead,” he warned. “We’ll go back to windmills and we’ll go back to solar, where they need a whole desert to get some energy to come out. You ever see a solar plant?”
Trump went on: “By the way, I’m a big fan of solar, but they take 400, 500 acres of desert soil.”
Trump has a history of exaggeration, but this is neither particularly hyperbolic nor as concerning as Trump would have you believe. About 34,000 acres of public land are currently devoted to solar energy, and a common estimate is that the U.S. would need to expand solar to an additional 700,000 acres to meet 2035 renewable energy goals. That’s about 1,100 square miles, or 1,555 Trump-sized solar farms (or 0.031115% of the entire United States, per Clean Technica).
And while it’s true that most utility-scale solar photovoltaic facilities are only a handful of acres, it only takes about five to seven acres to generate a megawatt — so a project of Trump’s reckoning would generate about 65 megawatts, which, as Mads Rønne Almassalkhi, an associate professor of electrical and biomedical engineering at the University of Vermont, pointed out, isn’t all that shabby:
— (@)
The U.S. government also recently determined that some 31 million acres of public land in just 11 states are not on “protected lands, sensitive cultural resources, and important wildlife habitat” and are close to transmission lines or “previously disturbed lands,” and therefore hypothetically suitable for solar development. To put it in simpler terms, solar takes up a fair bit of land but: Desert big.
To be sure, there are absolutely valid concerns and debates to be had over siting and the environmental impact of solar farms in America, regardless of how small their ultimate relative footprint will be. And Trump could have raised those arguments. But from what he showed us on Tuesday, he doesn’t make a very convincing fan.
https://heatmap.news/sparks/trump-solar-400-500-acres-of-desert-soil
We Got a Real Conversation About Energy Policy at the Debate
date: 2024-09-11, from: Heatmap News
About 40 minutes into the first (and perhaps only) debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the vice president was asked about her changing stances on a variety of issues since her ill-fated 2019 run for president — in particular, her previous vow to ban fracking.
Debating in Pennsylvania, the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer, Harris stated that she no longer supports this ban. “I have not banned fracking as vice president of the United States, and in fact, I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking,” she said, much as she put it on CNN recently. She went on, though: “My position is that we have got to invest in diverse sources of energy so we reduce our reliance on foreign oil,” Harris said. “We have had the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot rely on foreign oil.”
The Harris campaign capitalized on this moment to post a chart on X showing the increase in average monthly energy production under the Biden administration compared to Trump’s, citing data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
— (@)
Trump wasn’t buying Harris’ about-face, though, claiming Harris will “never allow fracking in Pennsylvania.” He went on to say that when Democrats took over in 2020, they tried to “get rid” of oil production, tying this to the increase in gasoline prices.
The U.S. has been the world’s largest producer of natural gas since 2011 and the largest producer of petroleum since 2018. Biden’s presidency has seen a boom in all types of U.S. energy production, including renewables.
Since Harris joined the Biden ticket 2020, she has distanced herself from her previous stance on fracking, particularly her comment in a 2019 CNN town hall that “there’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”
Much of the increase in oil prices during the Biden administration came from supply chain disruptions in the wake of Covid, when demand and thus production plummeted, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which caused a price spike as Biden banned imports of Russian oil and natural gas. (Oil prices currently are near a three-year low.) Harris is correct that the IRA did indeed open up new leases for fossil fuels — the law now requires the government to hold auctions for millions of acres of onshore and offshore oil and gas leases prior to opening auctions for renewables. Joe Manchin, the senator from West Virginia and the deciding vote on the IRA, has even boasted that the legislation has allowed the U.S. to produce fossil fuels at record levels.
Whether or not this is something to brag about is something Democrats will have to decide amongst themselves. But for the purpose of this debate, Harris hopes it’s enough to assure swing state voters that she’s no climate absolutist — and that, as of now at least, oil and fossil fuels are far from dead.
https://heatmap.news/politics/trump-harris-debate-fracking
Wanna watch a movie? Sure! Lemme just park the lounge room
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Foxcon and Sharp imagine a sofa and television in a connected electric van
Japanese electronics giant Sharp and its majority stakeholder, Foxconn, have unveiled an electric vehicle that features, among other mod cons, an “extended living room.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/foxconn_sharp_ldk_plus/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-11, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Caine Mutiny: Paranoid Breakdown Scene.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KekChFdIe00
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-11, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Project Freedom LLC TV Spot, Think about Me When You Vote.
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/fObV/project-freedom-llc-think-about-me-when-you-vote
China takes lead in critical technology research after ‘switching places’ with US
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
SINGAPORE — An Australian think tank that tracks tech competitiveness says China is now the world leader in research on almost 90% of critical technologies. In a newly released report, the research group adds there is also a high risk of Beijing securing a monopoly on defense-related tech, including drones, satellites and collaborative robots — those that can work safely alongside humans.
Analysts say the huge leap forward for China is the result of heavy state investment over the past two decades. They add that despite the progress, Beijing is still dependent on other countries for key tech components and lacks self-sufficiency.
The report from the government-funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute, or ASPI, released last Thursday, says China led the way in research into 57 out of 64 advanced technologies in the five years from 2019-2023.
ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker ranks countries’ innovation capabilities based on the number of appearances in the top 10% of research papers. It focuses on crucial technologies from a range of fields including artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cyber and defense.
The report found that “China and the United States have effectively switched places as the overwhelming leader in research in just two decades.”
China led in only three of the 64 technologies between 2003 and 2007 but has shot up in the rankings, replacing the U.S., which is now a frontrunner in just seven critical technologies.
Josh Kennedy-White is a technology strategist based in Singapore. He says China’s huge leap is a “direct result of its aggressive, state-driven research and development investments over the past two decades.”
He adds that the shift toward China is “particularly stark in fields like artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced aircraft engines, where China has transitioned from a laggard to a leader in a relatively short period.”
ASPI also determines the risk of countries holding a monopoly on the research of critical technologies. They currently classify 24 technologies as “high risk” of being monopolized — all by Beijing.
Ten technologies are newly classified as “high risk” this year, with many of them linked to the defense industry.
“The potential monopoly risk in 24 technology areas, especially those in defense-related fields like radars and drones, is concerning in the current and future geopolitical context,” Tobias Feakin, founder of consultancy firm Protostar Strategy, told VOA.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has sought to boost his country’s advanced manufacturing capabilities with the ambitious “Made in China 2025” initiative.
The policy, launched in 2015, aims to strengthen Beijing’s self-reliance in critical sectors and make China a global tech powerhouse.
Xi, according to Feakin, views advanced technologies as “strategic priorities for China’s development, national security and global competitiveness.”
He adds that technologies are seen as a “central component of China’s long-term economic and geopolitical goals.”
Beijing’s ambitions are being closely watched in Washington, with the Biden administration working to limit China’s access to advanced technology.
Last week, the U.S. introduced new export controls on critical technology to China, including chip-making equipment and quantum computers and components.
That announcement came shortly after U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan made his first ever visit to Beijing. He met with Xi and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Sullivan told reporters that Washington “will continue to take necessary action to prevent advanced U.S. technologies from being used to undermine national security.”
The continued efforts to curb China’s chip industry mean that Beijing must look further afield for advanced technology.
“Even though it leads in areas like artificial intelligence and 5G, China still depends on Taiwan, the U.S. and South Korea to produce high-end semiconductors”, Kennedy-White told VOA.
Describing this as China’s Achilles’ heel, Kennedy-White says the lack of self-sufficiency in the semiconductor industry could “stunt Beijing’s progress in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and military applications.”
As China continues its dominance in critical technology research, questions have been raised over exactly how the country is making these breakthroughs.
Last October, officials from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) issued a joint statement accusing China of stealing intellectual property. U.S. FBI director Christopher Wray described it as an “unprecedented threat.”
Kennedy-White, managing director of Singapore-based venture catalyst firm DivisionX Global, agrees with this assessment. He says China’s jump up the ASPI rankings is “not entirely organic.”
“There is a correlation between China’s rise in certain technologies and allegations of intellectual property theft,” he added.
ASPI also recommends ways for other countries to close the gap on China. It advises the AUKUS alliance of Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. to join forces with Japan and South Korea to try to catch up.
The report also highlights the emergence of India as a “key center” of global research innovation and excellence.
The South Asian nation now ranks in the top five countries for 45 out of the 64 technologies that are tracked by ASPI. It’s a huge gain compared with 2003-2007, when India sat in the top five for only four technologies.
Feakin says countries across the Asia-Pacific “will benefit from leveraging India’s growing technology expertise and influence.”
It will also provide a counterbalance to “overdependence on China’s technology supply chain,” he added.
Microsoft says it broke some Windows 10 patching – as it fixes flaws under attack
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
CISA wants you to leap on Citrix and Ivanti issues. Adobe, Intel, SAP also bid for patching priorities
Patch Tuesday Another Patch Tuesday has dawned, as usual with the unpleasant news that there are pressing security weaknesses and blunders to address.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/patch_tuesday_september_2024/
Congress bestows highest honor on 13 troops killed during Afghanistan withdrawal
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday presented Congress’ highest honor — the Congressional Gold Medal — to 13 U.S. service members who were killed during the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, even as the politics of a presidential election swirled around the event.
Both Democrats and Republicans supported the legislation to posthumously honor the 13 U.S. troops, who were killed along with more than 170 Afghans in a suicide bombing at the Abbey Gate at Kabul’s airport in August 2021. President Joe Biden signed the legislation in December 2021. On Tuesday, the top Republican and Democratic leaders for both the House and Senate spoke at a somber ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, hailing the lives and sacrifices of the service members.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on the lawmakers gathered to “ensure the sacrifices of all our servicemembers were not in vain.”
“We must care for them and their families and defend the values of freedom and democracy they so nobly fought for,” said Schumer, a New York Democrat.
But rather than a unifying moment, the event took place against the backdrop of a bitter back-and-forth over who is to blame for the rushed and deadly evacuation from Kabul. Johnson, a Louisiana Republican and ally of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, scheduled the ceremony just hours before the first debate between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.
“They lost their lives because of this administration’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Johnson said at a news conference minutes before the ceremony.
Then as the speaker opened the ceremony, he took another jab at how the Biden administration has defended its handling of the final months of America’s longest war.
“To the families who are here, I know many of you have yet to hear these words, so I will say them: we are sorry,” Johnson said. “The United States government should have done everything to protect our troops, those fallen and wounded at Abbey Gate deserved our best efforts, and the families who have been left to pick up the pieces continue to deserve transparency, appreciation and recognition.”
Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee also released a scathing investigation on Sunday into the withdrawal that cast blame on Biden’s administration and minimized the role of Trump, who had signed the withdrawal deal with the Taliban.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Monday criticized the House report as partisan and one-sided and said it revealed little new information and contained several inaccuracies. He noted that evacuation plans had started well before the pullout, and the fall of Kabul “moved a lot faster than anyone could have anticipated.”
He also acknowledged that during the evacuation “not everything went according to plan. Nothing ever does.”
“We hold ourselves all accountable for that,” he said of the deaths.
Top military and White House officials attended the ceremony Tuesday, including Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough and Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Pentagon reviews have concluded that the suicide bombing was not preventable and suggestions troops may have seen the would-be bomber were not true.
Regardless, Trump has thrust the withdrawal, with the backing from some of the families of the Americans killed, into the center of his campaign. Last month, his political team distributed video of him attending a wreath-laying ceremony for the fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery on the third anniversary of the bombing, despite the cemetery’s prohibition on partisan activity on the grounds as well as an altercation with a cemetery employee who was trying to make sure the campaign followed those rules.
Most assessments have concluded Trump and Biden share blame for the disastrous end to the 20-year war, which saw enemy Taliban take over Afghanistan again before the last American troops even flew out of the Kabul airport. Over 2,000 U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan.
The main U.S. government watchdog for the war points to Trump’s 2020 deal with the Taliban to withdraw all U.S. forces and military contractors as “the single most important factor” in the collapse of U.S.-allied Afghan security forces and Taliban takeover. Biden’s April 2021 announcement that he would proceed with the withdrawal set in motion by Trump was the second-biggest factor, the watchdog said.
Francine reaches hurricane strength, heads for US Gulf Coast
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/francine-reaches-hurricane-strength-heads-for-us-gulf-coast/7779554.html
Oracle to power 1GW datacenter with trio of tiny nuclear reactors
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Isn’t saying how much they’ll cost or when they’ll fire up
Oracle is going nuclear over growing demand for AI datacenters, and that’s not a metaphor for Larry Ellison’s mood.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/11/oracle_1gw_datacenter_smr_plan/
Mozilla extends Firefox support on unsupported Windows versions to March 2025
date: 2024-09-11, from: OS News
Not too long ago, Mozilla announced it was going to extend its support for Windows 7, and was mulling over extending support for Windows 8.x as well, without providing any time frames or details. Well, we’ve got the details now. According to the Firefox Release Calendar website, Firefox 115 ESR, the latest Firefox version with support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, will continue receiving updates until April 1, 2025. Firefox 115.21 ESR is expected on March 4, 2024, which means users with old Windows versions have at least seven more months of support from Firefox. ↫ Taras Buria at Neowin The same extension to March 2025 for Firefox 115 ESR also covers macOS 10.12-10.14. The reasoning behind the extension is simple: there’s still enough users on these older operating system version for Mozilla to dedicate resources to it, despite how difficult backporting security fixes to 115 ESR has become. Firefox is pretty much the only mainstream browser still supporting Windows 7 and 8, and that’s definitely commendable.
House speaker pushes funding bill that includes proof of citizenship mandate
date: 2024-09-11, from: VOA News USA
washington — House Speaker Mike Johnson vowed Tuesday to press ahead with requiring proof of citizenship for new voters as part of a bill to avoid a partial government shutdown in three weeks, though the measure appeared likely to be voted down.
Democrats overwhelmingly oppose the measure. Enough Republicans were also coming out against the bill, though for different reasons, that its prospects of passing the House appeared dim. Even if it does pass the House on Wednesday, the bill would go nowhere in the Senate.
Johnson said the issue of election security is too critical to ignore, though research has shown that voting by non-citizens is extremely rare. It’s also clear that Republicans see value in making House Democrats take another vote on the issue. The House approved a bill with the proof of citizenship mandate back in July
“If you have a few thousand illegals participate in the election in the wrong place, you can change the makeup of Congress and you can affect the presidential election,” Johnson said. “The American people understand that.”
The first test for the stopgap spending bill came Tuesday with a 209-206 vote that kept it moving ahead. But some Republicans who have said they will oppose the bill on final passage allowed it to proceed.
The measure includes a six-month extension of federal funding to keep agencies and programs operating through March 28.
But Democrats want a shorter-term extension so that the current Congress will set full-year spending levels for fiscal 2025 rather than the next president and Congress. They also want the proof of citizenship mandate stripped out of the bill, saying it’s unnecessary because states already have effective safeguards in place to verify voters’ eligibility and maintain accurate voter rolls.
“Is it any surprise that the speaker’s purely partisan CR seems to be running into trouble?” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, using Washington parlance for the short-term continuing resolution needed to prevent a shutdown. “The answer is very simple. The House should stop wasting time on a CR proposal that cannot become law.”
Schumer called on Johnson to consult with Democratic leaders and the White House on a bipartisan package that can pass both chambers.
A few House Republicans have also come out against the bill. Some won’t vote for any continuing resolution. They want Congress to return to passing the dozen annual appropriations bills individually. Others say the continuing resolution funds programs at levels they consider inappropriate at a time of nearly $2 trillion annual deficits.
“I’m a firm no on bankrupting the nation and a yes on election integrity,” said Representative Cory Mills in announcing his opposition.
Representative Tim Burchett said Republican leadership was asking him to vote for what he called “a Nancy Pelosi-Schumer budget.”
“I just think that’s a bad idea,” Burchett said.
Republicans can afford to lose only four votes from their ranks if every Democrat votes against the bill.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday seemingly encouraged a government shutdown if Republicans in the House and Senate “don’t get assurances on Election Security.” He said on the social media platform Truth Social that they should not go forward with a continuing resolution without such assurances.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell disagreed when asked about Trump’s post.
“Shutting down the government is always a bad idea, no matter what time of the year it is,” McConnell said.
House Republicans met behind closed doors Tuesday morning to discuss the path forward. Representative Jim Jordan, a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told colleagues “this is the best fight we’ve ever had,” said Representative Kevin Hern.
By holding another vote on the proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration, House Republicans are making Democrats in competitive swing districts take another vote on the issue ahead of the election. Last time, five Democrats sided with Republicans in support of the requirement. And their votes this time will be highly scrutinized.
Lawmakers said no plan B was discussed for government funding and that Johnson was determined to hold a vote regardless of the likely outcome.
“This is important to him,” said Representative Ralph Norman. “This is the hill to die on.”
23: What was 9/11?
date: 2024-09-11, updated: 2024-09-11, from: Anil Dash
https://anildash.com/2024/09/11/23-what-was-911/
Announcing E-Maj 4.5.0.
date: 2024-09-11, from: PostgreSQL News
We are very glad to announce the 4.5.0 version of E-Maj.
E-Maj is a PostgreSQL extension which enables fine-grained write logging and time travel on subsets of the database.
This version brings the PostgreSQL 17 version compatibility. The emaj extension installation and uninstallation have been enhanced (Many thanks to David Wheeler for his valuable help on this topic). Aside a few bug fixes, it is now possible to monitor the changes recording activity with a new CLI command, emajStat.pl, and a new “Activity” page in the Emaj_web client.
E-Maj 4.5.0 is compatible with Postgres 11 to 17 versions.
The full documentation is available on line. The core extension is available at pgxn.org for installation or github.org for development.
The Emaj_web client is also available at github.org.
Have fun with E-Maj !
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/announcing-e-maj-450-2930/
Share video on Bluesky!
date: 2024-09-11, from: Bluesky web news
Bluesky now has video!