2024-02-09

etc

• Icelandic volcano at it again with a third eruption in recent months

  • Iceland Volcano Erupts Again, Cutting Off Hot Water to Thousands

  • Vigor of the eruption decreases significantly | News | Icelandic Meteorological office

  The vigor of the eruption continues to decrease. The eruptive activity is currently on two or three locations on the eruptive fissure. The explosive activity which began between 13 and 14 o‘clock is now mostly over, but minor convective clouds rise from some parts the fissure.

• Weird ancient tree from before dinosaurs found in Canadian quarry

Horseshit

• Will Large Satellite Constellations Affect Earth’s Magnetic Field?

• Twist in Fox News Guardian Angels Segment: ‘Migrant’ Is Not One at All

  • New York vigilantes take down ‘migrant’ on live TV – but he was from the US

  • On live TV, vigilante group tackle man misidentified as shoplifting 'migrant'

• French matchstick Eiffel Tower record bid ruled out over wrong matches

• On whether we're living in a simulation

  Is it relevantly different here if you’re being dreamed in the mind of God or being executed in Python? OK, maybe you’d prefer that the world was created by a loving Father or Mother, rather than some nerdy transdimensional adolescent trying to impress the other kids in programming club. But if that’s the worry, why are you talking to a computer scientist? Go talk to David Hume or something.

• The seedy underbelly of the life coaching industry

  "In the first year alone, I spent $14,000 working with my life coach, and in the years that followed I probably spent $100,000," she says. She also spent thousands of dollars on additional courses and mentorships with other life coaches that her primary coach recommended. "I got sucked into it."

• My experiment in phonelessness was a failure, and it also changed my life

  Having written the experiment off as a waste of time, it seems to be bearing perverse fruit. I’m currently on my phone for 90 minutes a day. Five of those are spent on Instagram. I no longer feel addicted.

  “What’s the desire underneath the desire to check your phone?” he continued. “If you’re addicted to dating apps, is it the desire to feel attractive? If you’re a news junkie, do you want to feel in control? Or in contact with something bigger than yourself? If you’re constantly texting friends, do you just want to be loved?” Ouch. When did these Buddhists choose violence?

  • HN comments

• Drivers using Apple Vision Pro headsets prompt road safety concerns

• Toothbrush DDoS attack: How misinformation spreads in the cybersecurity world

  The story is fiction. Three million smart toothbrushes didn’t launch a DDoS attack against a Swiss company. If they really had launched the attack, Fortinet’s PR team would surely have been pushing out the news left, right, and centre. But Fortinet’s social media accounts and press release archives are silent.

  Fortinet could have corrected the story, making it clear that it wasn’t true, but just an example of something that could potentially happen. Instead, it chose to keep its err.. mouth shut instead. Maybe it enjoyed the attention and media exposure. It certainly doesn’t seem to harm their share price.

• The wealthy are cutting the line at the airport, Disney World and ski resorts

• 'Evidence Maximalism' Is How the Internet Argues Now

• Uber Eats advert criticised for peanut allergy joke

• TikTok and Temu pull cheap heaters after testing revealed fire risk

Electric / Self Driving cars

• How to Guarantee the Safety of Autonomous Vehicles

  To provide a safety guarantee, Mitra’s team worked on ensuring the reliability of the vehicle’s perception system. They first assumed that it’s possible to guarantee safety when a perfect rendering of the outside world is available. They then determined how much error the perception system introduces into its re-creation of the vehicle’s surroundings. The key to this strategy is to quantify the uncertainties involved, known as the error band—or the “known unknowns,” as Mitra put it. That calculation comes from what he and his team call a perception contract

celebrity gossip

• Kimmel Bashes Tucker Carlson Over ‘Overtly Ridiculous’ Putin Interview

  • Hillary Clinton Drops Diplomacy In 2-Word Insult Of Tucker Carlson

  • Hillary Says ‘Useful Idiot’ Tucker Could End Up With Russian TV Show

  • Journalists Criticize Tucker Carlson Over Putin Interview

  • Watch Abby Phillip Surgically Destroy Each Tucker Carlson Lie In Putin Interview Boast

  • Even the Kremlin called out Tucker Carlson for his diatribe against the media

• Snoop Dogg and Master P sue Walmart over cereal sabotage claim

  A lawsuit filed on Tuesday accuses Walmart and Post Consumer Brands of hiding boxes of Snoop Cereal and incorrectly saying it was out of stock. According to the complaint, cited by US media, Post tried to "choke Broadus Foods out of the market" because the rappers refused to sell their upstart company to the manufacturer.

  • Snoop Dogg and Master P Accuses Walmart of Bizarre Cereal Conspiracy in Lawsuit

• Will Wheaton is upset by the assault on Elmo

Obit

• Riad Al-Turk, the 'Mandela of Syria,' Dies in Exile at 93

• Walter Shawlee, the Sovereign of Slide Rules, Is Dead at 73

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• Matt Taibbi Warns 'Financial Big Brother Is Watching You' | ZeroHedge

  If banks and the Treasury are playing the same domestic spy game that Twitter and Facebook have been playing with the FBI, tales like the frozen finances of protesting Canadian truckers won’t be novelties for long. As is the case with speech, where huge populations have learned to internalize censorship rules almost overnight, we may soon have to learn the hard way that even though some behaviors aren’t illegal, they can still be punished with great effectiveness, in a Terminator-like world where computers won’t miss anything that moves.

• Federal cybersecurity agency launches program to support state, local elections

  Officials with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency planned to introduce its new election security adviser program Thursday to the National Association of State Election Directors and on Friday to the National Association of Secretaries of State.

  The CISA program includes 10 new hires, all of whom join the federal agency with extensive election experience. They will be based throughout the country and join other staff already in place that have been conducting cyber and physical security reviews for election offices that request them.

  The agency was formed in the aftermath of the 2016 election, when Russia sought to interfere with a multipronged effort that included accessing and releasing campaign emails and scanning state voter registration systems for vulnerabilities. Election systems were designated as critical infrastructure, alongside the nation’s banks, dams and nuclear power plants, opening them up to receiving additional support from the federal government.

Musk

• Jack Dorsey's Plan to Get Elon Musk to Save Twitter Went South

Trump / War against the Right / Jan6

• Supreme Court set to hear arguments over Trump's eligibility for 2024 ballot

  • US supreme court hearing focuses on Trump’s eligibility for 2024 election

  • Supreme Court set to hear Trump challenge to Colorado ballot ban that cited 'insurrection'

  • Live: Supreme Court Hears Trump-Colorado 14th Amendment Ballot-Ban Case

  • Thomas Destroys Lawyer's Argument For Kicking Trump Off The Ballot

  “So, what was the purpose of Section 3?” Thomas rebutted. “The concern was that the former Confederate states would continue being bad actors and the effort was to prevent them from doing this, and you’re saying that, ‘Well, this also authorizes states to disqualify candidates.’ So, what I’m asking you for, if you are right, what are the examples?” Murray again avoided answering the question, instead arguing there are examples of states excluding candidates from state office. Thomas interjected, saying he “understand[s]” states control state affairs but that Colorado’s case before SCOTUS is about disqualifying “national candidates.”

  “What I would like to know, is do you have any examples of this?” Thomas asked. Unable to provide a definitive answer to Thomas’ question, Murray fell back on his talking point that “elections worked differently back then.”

• Trump's lawyers look to get charges tossed in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case

• Judge Defends Rejecting Trump’s Request For A Mistrial In E. Jean Carroll Case

  • Donald Trump loses 'pointless' mistrial motion in defamation damages case

• Judge Rules Former Trump Advisor Peter Navarro Will Remain In Prison While He Appeals Contempt Conviction

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Not a single student can do math at grade level in 53 Illinois schools

• How Peter Thiel Attacked College Prestige

  Similar to Carnegie and Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, Michael Faraday, Henry Ford, Coco Chanel, Ray Croc (founder of McDonald’s) didn’t go to college. More recently, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Joe Rogan, Ralph Lauren, Anna Wintour, and Ellen DeGeneres either dropped out of college or didn’t attend at all.

  All these people were extremely successful. And no one made a big fuss about them not attending college the way Mark Zuckerberg made headlines for dropping out of Harvard in the 21st century. Why the fuss? Because the late 20th and early 21st century has seen the college degree turned into an ideology. Unlike in previous generations, today most people assume that in order to be successful, one must go to college. College is the new religion for any student who wants to embark on a successful career

• Dartmouth will again require SAT and ACT scores, after a pandemic pause

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• 'Moana 2' announced for November

• Feds Say Activision Layoffs Violate Promises Microsoft Made in Merger Deal

• YouTube Profited from Andrew Tate Recruitment Videos Despite 'Banning Them'

• TikTok Shop is taking on Amazon – one viral video at a time

• FCC Bans AI Voices in Unsolicited Robocalls

  • The FCC says robocalls that use AI-generated voices are illegal

  • AI-generated voices in robocalls can deceive voters; FCC just made them illegal

  • FCC bans AI-generated voices in robocalls that can deceive voters

  • FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal

    • HN comments

• Funimation is shutting down and taking your digital library with it

• ISPs Say They'll Happily Cut Pirate IPTV Streams as Quickly as Law Allows It

• Sony is erasing digital libraries that were supposed to be accessible "forever"

  • HN comments

• Ring Basic Plan 25% Price Increase

• Canada media group ends several TV newscasts after announcing 4,800 layoffs

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• 3 Million Records from Thousands of Credit Unions Exposed

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• USPTO refuses OpenAI's GPT trademark application

• OpenAI's New Watermark Will Make Our Fake Image Problems Worse

• Building a Midjourney Clone for Muslims - Side Project Overview

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• US to launch next moon mission on Valentine's Day

• Work to resolve binary babble from Voyager 1 is ongoing

• Congressional budget gridlock leads to NASA JPL layoffs

Crypto con games

• Bitcoin Surges Over $45,000 As Rising ETFs Inflows Confirm Accelerating Investor Interest

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Egg price deflation and fresh chicken price disinflation

  Note that while egg prices registered deflation between May and December 2023, fresh chicken prices moderated their growth but did not actually decrease. Slower inflation is called disinflation.

• Minimum wage for Seattle gig workers is not "backfiring"

• Arm Stock Jumps More Than 50% on AI Craze

  • Arm becomes Britain's sixth most valuable company after shares rise 50%

  • Arm Holdings Stock Price Soars 64% After Q3 Earnings Expose Its AI Wins

• The Crash of a $30B Property Empire

• 'Zombie Offices' Spell Trouble for Some Banks

• Treasury Secretary: “We don’t have to get the prices down because wages are going up.”

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Mayorkas Says He’s ‘Focused on the Work’ After Dodging Impeachment

• On Caucus Day in Nevada, Trump's pitch is all about November

• Nikki Haley Calls Nevada Race A 'Scam' Rigged For Trump

• Special Counsel Investigating Biden Has Sent Final Report to White House

  • Special Counsel Completes Biden Classified Documents Investigation

  • Joe Biden classified docs probe ends with charges unlikely, Attorney General Merrick Garland says

• Longshot candidate Marianne Williamson exits presidential race

  • Longshot candidate Marianne Williamson exits presidential race

• Ronna McDaniel, RNC drama tests Trump’s grip on party

  • Ronna McDaniel assures RNC members she's 'hard at work' after questions about her future

  one day after The New York Times reported that McDaniel told Donald Trump she would resign from her post after the Feb. 24 South Carolina GOP primary. NBC News has not confirmed this report, and two sources said no decisions have been made yet. The RNC also denied it in a statement. McDaniel could exit the party after South Carolina — but the plan remains to make a decision after that nominating contest, the sources told NBC News.

• MAGA Radio Host Says He Threatened GOP Senator Over Border Bill Support

  • James Lankford Stands in Border Deal Wreckage Wrought by His Own Party

  • James Lankford Says 'Popular Commentator' Threatened Him Over Immigration Bill

• US Senate advances $95B Ukraine, Israel aid bill after failed border deal

• Impeachment witness says no record of work, loan to James Biden before payment to brother.

• Biden will not be charged over top secret documents

  • DOJ Concludes Biden Is Too Senile to Face Charges of Mishandling Classified Documents

  • Biden described as 'elderly man with poor memory' in classified documents report

  • 'Too Old And Feeble': No Charges For Biden Despite 'Willful' Mishandling Of Docs, National Security Risk

  • Biden retained classified information but will not face charges, special counsel report says | Joe Biden | The Guardian

  • Trump, Haley pounce on Biden special counsel report

  The former president and Republican presidential frontrunner was expected to seize on the report and draw equivalencies with his case. Meanwhile, Haley said "the double standard is glaring." Both "Joe Biden and Donald Trump were reckless with classified documents," she wrote on X.

• IRS: billions in overdue/unpaid taxes to be collected with new funding

  • HN comments

• Hawaii Ignores US Supreme Court, Strikes Down Right To Carry Firearms In Public | ZeroHedge

  "Article I, section 17 of the Hawaii Constitution mirrors the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution," the Supreme Court of Hawaii wrote. However, "we read those words differently than the current United States Supreme Court. We hold that in Hawaii there is no state constitutional right to carry a firearm in public."

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Radio station baffled after 200-foot radio tower disappears without a trace

  • Thieves steal 200ft structure from Alabama radio station

• London Underground Is Testing Real-Time AI Surveillance Tools to Spot Crime

• Seth Rich / FBI update

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Five Marines Aboard Missing Super Stallion Helicopter Confirmed Dead Outside San Diego

• Visa Restriction Policy to Promote Accountability for the Misuse of Spyware

• US Army spent billions on a new helicopter that will now never fly

World

• King Charles’s Cancer Diagnosis May Reshape How U.K. Monarchy Works

• Pakistan Disrupts Mobile and Internet Services on Election Day

  • Pakistan suspends mobile services and closes land borders amid tense election

  • Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

• Germany was worst-performing major economy last year

• Dutch Police intelligence services unlawfully spied on whole population groups

• Canadian government banning Flipper Zero to combat auto theft

Iran / Houthi / Red Sea / Mediterranean

• Iran-backed hackers interrupt UAE TV streaming services with deepfake news

• Meta Boots Iran Despot Ali Khamenei from Facebook, Instagram

Israel

• Blinken, Israeli Officials Discuss Efforts to Free Hostages Held in Gaza

• TikTok removes feature that critics used to study Israel-Gaza war videos

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Sweden Closes Investigation Into Nord Stream Pipeline Explosions

  • Sweden ends Nord Stream sabotage probe, hands evidence to Germany

  • Sweden discontinues investigation into Nord Stream gas pipeline explosion

• Taken by Russia, then rescued, young Ukrainians speak out

• Zelensky sacks Ukraine's commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi

• Tucker Carlson – The Vladimir Putin Interview

China

• China Sinks Deeper into Deflation

• 'A race against time': Taiwan strives to root out China's spies

Health / Medicine

• Depression Linked to Higher Body Temperatures

• Novo CEO says 'scared' food executives call him for advice on Ozempic

• Viagra and Similar Drugs Might Help Keep Alzheimer's at Bay

  • Erectile dysfunction drugs may be tied to lower risk of Alzheimer’s.

  The study's main weakness is that it evaluated people who had already been diagnosed with erectile dysfunction, said Huntington Potter, a professor of neurology and director of the Alzheimer's and Cognition Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center in Aurora, Colo. "Erectile dysfunction is a very strong risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease, Potter said, noting that study participants already were at high risk. "In ordinary people who are worried about developing Alzheimer's, the study does not show that they would benefit from an erectile dysfunction drug."

• Why are Americans getting shorter?

• Researchers estimate survival chances during CPR for cardiac arrest

  A person's chance of surviving while receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for cardiac arrest in hospital declines rapidly from 22% after one minute to less than 1% after 39 minutes, finds a US study published by The BMJ today. Similarly, the likelihood of leaving hospital with no major brain damage declines from 15% after one minute of CPR to less than 1% after 32 minutes with no heartbeat.

• Senators ask CEOs why their drugs cost so much more in the U.S.

• Asthma hospitalisations drop 41% in improved air of lockdown, Oxford study finds

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Overshooting – Splendid Isolation

  if it were simply a matter of mathematical errors or inconsistencies, one would expect some models to err on the “hot side” and others on the “cold side” of actual observations. But that isn’t the case: all of the models run hot. That suggests that global warming alarmism is a political, not a scientific, movement.

• 2k-foot-long ice core suggests potential for sudden and rapid Antarctic melting

• NASA's PACE satellite will tackle the largest uncertainty in climate science

• Mount Everest: Climbers will need to bring poo back to base camp

• A seafood firm wants to farm octopus. Activists say they're too smart for that

• 'Super El Niño' is here, but La Niña looks likely.

• California sea otters nearly went extinct. Now they're rescuing their habitat

• Michael Mann, climate scientist, wins defamation verdict against right-wing bloggers - The Washington Post (Archive)

  A jury in a civil trial in Washington on Thursday found that the two writers, Rand Simberg and Mark Steyn, defamed and injured the researcher in a pair of blog posts published in 2012, and awarded him more than $1 million. “I hope this verdict sends a message that falsely attacking climate scientists is not protected speech,” Mann said in a statement. The verdict is a dozen years in the making for the climatologist, who for years has been a frequent target of right-wing critics over his famous “hockey stick” graph.

  • Rand Simberg: The Trial | Transterrestrial Musings

  I am pleased that the jury found in my favor on half of the statements at issue in this case, including finding my statement that Professor Mann engaged in data manipulation was not defamation. In over a decade of litigation, the sanctions levied against Professor Mann dwarf the judgment against me.” You have to go in pretty far (in the WaPo story) to learn that the judgment against me was for only a thousand bucks. He owes me $4400 for sanctions from deposition.