2024-05-23

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• Strongest Solar Storm in 20 Years Did Little Damage, Worse Space Weather Coming

• How the coupon was invented, and how tech propels marketing

  But let’s get more detailed — to dive into Coca Cola’s coupons specifically, you’ll note that they are commonly distributed within newspapers and magazines — sometimes to be cut out and sometimes as inserts. And it was the steam-powered printing press the industrial paper making machine (both invented/available in the 1880s), that enabled the mass market newspaper. These so-called “penny press newspapers” were 1 cent newspapers that were much cheaper to buy than the premium newspapers they eventually drove out, and their revenue primarily derived from ads not subscription. Coupons could be included in these newspapers, to be cut out and used as needed. And of course, the printing press was also needed to actually print millions of coupons as well, which is an even more direct use of the technology. This was particularly true of advertisements and coupons, which used color to maximize the effects of its marketing.

  The coupons then needed to be delivered to consumers’ homes. Sometimes this was through the newspaper, as mentioned before, but Candler/Coke also made use of the US Postal Service. For the first decades of the USPS, mail was usually delivered from Post Office to Post Office — they didn’t deliver to your home. But in 1863, the Postal Service started a program called “Free City Delivery” that sent mail directly to peoples’ homes. I can only imagine this was like giving everyone cell phones where they could directly text/call from, rather than going to shared telephone booths. And in 1890, free rural delivery was implemented widely across the US as well.

Horseshit

• The misleading, wasteful way the US measures gas mileage

• Despite Historic Levels of Inequality, Yellen Opposes Global Billionaires' Tax

  • Brazil, France, Spain, Germany and S. Africa Push to Tax Billionaires 2% Yearly

• 'Shocking': The fall of Third Street Promenade, Calif.'s once-vibrant mall

• At least 1k Damien Hirst artworks were painted years later than claimed

• Campaigners 'thrilled' as St Albans aims to be smartphone-free for under-14s

• California Pays Meth Users to Get Sober

• Let's Get Rid of Left Turns on Downtown Streets

• An unusual heist seems to be unfolding at Taco Bell

• 3,500-year-old Mycenaean armour was suitable for extended battle

• Liberal democracy might lose the 21st century

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Electric cars more likely to hit pedestrians than petrol vehicles, study finds

• On Self-driving, Waymo is playing chess while Tesla plays checkers

  • HN comments

• San Francisco's Hot Tourist Attraction: Driverless Cars

• Volvo's production-ready autonomous Class 8 truck

• Federal probe targets Waymo's robotaxis amid traffic safety concerns

  • Waymo vehicle crashes 1 week after federal investigation launched into accidents

celebrity gossip

• Why did satirical genius Tom Lehrer swap worldwide fame for obscurity?

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• FCC is considering AI rules for political ads

Musk

• Neuralink's First User Is 'Constantly Multitasking' with His Brain Implant

• Pentagon working with SpaceX to cut off Russian military's use of Starlink

• Major pension fund tells Tesla investors: vote against Musk's $55B pay package

• A Dog Riding a Skateboard: Some Preliminary Thoughts on Tesla's FSD

• Teslas Can Still Be Stolen with a Cheap Radio Hack–Despite New Keyless Tech

• Tesla Sold 1.2M Cars Without a Key FSD Chip Since Q4 2021

• Tesla's Sales in Europe Fall to a 15-Month Low

• Walls are starting to close in for Tesla, let's have a closer look

• The Community Notes Feature on X Is Working

• Misinformation posted to X comes from 'superspreader' accounts, say researchers

Trump / War against the Right / Jan6

• Rudy Giuliani agrees to stop defaming election workers

  In a Tuesday stipulation filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the former New York City mayor agreed to a permanent injunction on defamatory speech targeting the mother-daughter duo. The agreed-upon court filing also waives Giuliani’s right to appeal or otherwise challenge the order once it is entered. The upshot of the stipulation is that any forthcoming defamatory statements would short-circuit the legal process and allow Freeman and Moss to sue Giuliani relatively expediently.

• BREAKING: Nikki Haley Says She Will Vote for Trump

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• A Michigan farmworker is diagnosed with bird flu in case tied to dairy cows

• A top adviser at the NIH deleted records critical to uncover the origin of Covid

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• The Yudelman Affair - by C. Bradley Thompson

  Yes, Mr. Yudelman’s words and deeds were imprudent and indecorous. He forgot a simple rule adhered to by campus administrators around the country: pro-Hamas demonstrators are permitted to spew vile antisemitic hatred and sometimes commit acts of violence, while Jews are expected to engage politely with those who wish them dead. Mr. Yudelman’s life has been subsequently turned upside down. Following Saul Alinsky’s thirteenth rule for radicals, the Intifada Left has picked its target, frozen it, personalized it, and polarized it. Since the altercation, Mr. Yudelman has been the object of a high-tech lynch mob. He has received thousands of abusive emails and death threats (e.g., “we’re going to find you” and “slit your throat”). His name and reputation have been smeared publicly in the ugliest terms possible. His photograph has appeared in newspapers around the world. He has been doxxed, and his home address has been published on Facebook. He’s also been forced to go into hiding for his personal safety.

  ASU refuses to tell Mr. Yudelman who his accusers are other than to tell his counsel that the university has received “thousands of complaints,” which suggests a coordinated effort. Nor has the university identified the specific policies under which they are investigating Mr. Yudelman other than to say the allegation concerns protected-group harassment!

• Cancer papers mention cell lines that don't seem to exist

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Are Kids Losing Their Love for Music?

• Eventbrite Promoted Opioid Sales to People Searching for Addiction Recovery

• Media lawyer resigns as investigation reveals links to plagiarism websites

• IGN has acquired a number of gaming news sites, including Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, and VG247.

• As clicks dry up for news sites, could Apple's news app be a lifeline?

• Amazon Alexa's big AI upgrade could require a new subscription

• Mad Max Fury Road's Practical FX Myth Is Hurting Furiosa

• TikTok turns to generative AI to boost its ads business

• T-Mobile is raising prices on several of its plans

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• (2011) The IHC Damage | OS/2 Museum

  Trying to sort through a heap of floppy images recently, I found many of them to contain a suspicious ‘IHC’ signature in their boot sector in the location where an OEM identifier (such as ‘IBM 3.3’ or ‘MSDOS5.0’ would normally be. I first suspected a virus, but it turned out to be something worse — a testament to the ubiquity of Windows 9x and the idiocy of its developers. The ‘IHC’ signature is most likely the first three letters of ‘CHICAGO’ (codename of Windows 95) in reverse order. Windows 9x by default rewrites the OEM identifier in the boot sector of every floppy disk that it accesses, even if the access is something as simple as listing directory contents.

  • Q148637: Windows 95/98 Overwrites Boot-Sector Field on Floppy Disks | KnowledgeBase Archive

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• Meta AI chief says large language models will not reach human intelligence

• How stupid was what OpenAI did to Scarlett Johansson?

  • Do Not Mess with Scarlett Johansson

  • Scarlett Johansson Says OpenAI Ripped Off Her Voice for ChatGPT

• It Would Be Easier to Stop Worrying about AI If Its Apostles Weren’t So Creepy

• Five ways criminals are using AI

• The $5T AI boom could both succeed and fizzle

• Microsoft will allow businesses and developers to build Copilots

• Sam Altman's Inconsistent Candor Is Showing

• OpenAI No Longer Takes Safety Seriously

• Humane, the creator of the $700 AI Pin, is reportedly seeking a buyer

  • Humane is looking for a buyer after the AI Pin's underwhelming debut

  • HumaneAI pin maker selling itself for $1B

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• Decades after training, 90-year-old goes to space on Blue Origin flight

• The first crew launch of Boeing’s Starliner capsule is on hold indefinitely: “NASA will share more details once we have a clearer path forward.”

• Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Science Data

Crypto con games

• FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried Being Transferred to New Prison

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Amazon says it has not halted any Nvidia chip orders

• Fed officials seem like they have 'no idea' what is going on with U.S. inflation

• Buy-now, pay-later returns and disputes are about to get federal oversight

• TikTok employees are the latest victims of the tech layoffs

• Average US vehicle age hits record 12.6 years amid high prices

• US retailers trim prices as shoppers show signs of inflation fatigue

  Target this week said it would lower prices this summer for 5,000 items ranging from milk to paper towels in an effort to stay competitive. Walmart told analysts last week that it had reduced the prices of a large number grocery products. The cuts by two of the largest general merchandise chains illustrate how retail prices are levelling off, if not falling, after years of increases sustained by pandemic-era supply chain breakdowns and a sturdy US labour market. Persistent inflation has soured Americans’ mood in an election year: 71 per cent of those surveyed in the latest FT-Michigan Ross poll said they believed economic conditions were negative.

• Citi Missed a Fat Finger - Bloomberg

  • Citi Trader Got 711 Warning Messages Before Sparking Flash Crash

• DeepL, a European rival to Google Translate, rides AI hype to a $2B valuation

• One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

• BuzzFeed Shares Soar as Ramaswamy Takes Stake, Seeks Talks

• 'Dumb Money' Loses $13.1B in Latest GameStop Stock Mania

• Fintech nightmare: 'I have nearly $38,000 tied up' after Synapse bankruptcy

  • Abrupt shutdown of financial middleman Synapse has frozen Americans' deposits

• Nvidia Announces Financial Results for First Quarter Fiscal 2025

  • Nvidia (NVDA) earnings report Q1 2025

  • Nvidia announces 10-for-1 stock split

  • Nvidia stock hit an all-time high in after-hours trading

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Iowa Prohibits UBI

• How to Roll Out the Green Carpet for Legalized Marijuana

• Help track PPP loans associated with 2024 election candidates

• Biden to sell off 1M barrels of gasoline held in reserve to keep prices low before election.

• California Senate passes bill to require speed governors in new cars

• US securities regulator urges against crypto bill adoption

• Congress Just Made It Basically Impossible to Track Taylor Swift's Private Jet

• Majority of Americans wrongly believe US is in recession – and most blame Biden

• Why Does the Biden White House Hate Its Own Agenda?

  One question in Democratic politics is why, with Biden’s policy actions, most Americans feel like the government has done nothing for them. Poll after poll shows that no one has heard of anything Biden has done, or if they have, they don’t connect it to the Biden administration.

• US Justice Department to Seek Breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

  • US DOJ to seek breakup of LiveNation/Ticketmaster

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Police Are Getting Around Legally Banned Facial Recognition

• Spyware found on US hotel check-in computers

  A consumer-grade spyware app has been found running on the check-in systems of at least three Wyndham hotels across the United States, TechCrunch has learned.

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• U.S. claims recently launched Russian satellite is an ASAT

  • New details emerge of Russia's potential nuclear space weapon

  • U.S. says Russia launched a space weapon in the path of an American satellite

  • Russia Blasts As 'Fake News' Fresh Pentagon Charge Of Anti-Satellite Weapon In Space | ZeroHedge

• New Marine radios cement electromagnetic spectrum superiority

• Hacked data reveals which US gun sellers are behind Mexican cartel violence

• Why the Army needs to value coding the same way as shooting

• SpaceX launches first satellites for new US spy constellation

World

• The Denmark secret: how it became the most trusting country

• With Europe's support, North African nations push migrants to the desert

• India's campaign to threaten and harass Americans

• UK General Election called for July 4th

• Migration failing to drive economic growth and made housing crisis worse

• Argentina's economic activity down 8.4% in March, biggest drop since 2020

Israel

• Norway, along with Ireland and Spain, to recognise Palestinian state

• Ireland, Norway, and Spain to recognise Palestinian state next week

• Are you chatting with a pro-Israeli AI-powered superbot?

• Families of female Israeli hostages release graphic abduction footage

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Russia disputes Baltic sea border

• Baltic concerns over Russian plan to move sea borders

China

• China sanctions Boeing, two U.S. defense contractors for Taiwan arms sales

• TSMC EUV machines equipped with remote self-destruct in case of invasion

Health / Medicine

• What happens when you stop taking weight-loss drugs?

• Daily marijuana use outpaces daily drinking in the US, a new study says

• Eliminating an anesthesic that hangs in the air for more than a decade after use

• Cyclists are less likely to have osteoarthritis or pain in their knees by age 65

• The FDA blocks useful medications that are common in Europe, like ambroxol

• Nightmares May Have an Eerie Link to Autoimmune Disease

• Fluoridated drinking water during pregnancy may raise health risks for baby.

• One factor reduces by 1/3 the probability of dying after a stroke: social class

• Non-invasive zaps to the spinal cord can treat paralysis–but no one knows why

• Fish oil supplements may raise risk of stroke, heart issues

• Use of Wegovy and other weight-loss drugs soars among kids

• Weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy are changing the game at the grocery store

• What happens when you stop taking weight-loss drugs?

• Fentanyl is fueling a record number of youth drug deaths

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• 'This is Chernobyl': Texas ranchers say PFAS in humanure ruined their land

• The World Is Ignoring the Other Deadly Kind of Carbon

• Something is happening with Earth's magnetic field tail

  As the sun's solar wind buffets the planet, it leaves behind a sort of long shadow that trails out in our planet's wake. Scientists call this magnetic tail, appropriately, the magnetotail. Typically, the magnetotail is strewn with magnetic storms. But for the past several years, scientists have known of a mystery in the magnetotail: a missing storm. They have found a signature of a storm, but no storm to actually go along with it.

• Dont say climate change, by law

• Google Blog: We're launching new coalition to scale nature-based carbon removal

• Singapore Airlines turbulence: why climate change is making flights rougher

  • Is climate change making turbulence worse?

• 'Never-ending' UK rain made 10 times more likely by climate crisis, study says

• We get more useful energy out of renewables than fossil fuels

• Plants signal NASA satellites with waning 'glow' ahead of flash drought

• Big Tech thinks it can plant trees better than everyone else

• Mountain goats were flown to a new home. few survived