2024-07-29
Horseshit
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But life is not a game: Tit For Tat
Life is an iterative and compounding game. In the words of Peter Kaufman, it pays to “go positive and go first.” Also, remember that people make mistakes. Assuming there is no maliciousness, it pays to forgive.
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It's always sunny in space: Michigan startup hopes to beam solar power to Earth
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Work Advice: I can’t unhear what I overheard on our security cameras
Even assuming you have the legal right to randomly access and review recordings at your workplace, think about the message it would inevitably send if you started calling employees out on what you witness: A system purportedly installed for employee security is instead being used to scrutinize their whereabouts and conversations by an overseer they rarely see in person. And then you’ll probably end up with a lot more vacancies to fill. They may know they’re on camera, but their tolerance of that fact is based on a fragile trust that you won’t use recordings for other than their intended protective purpose.
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Debate over fast driving in Germany can tell us something about US freedom too
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The opulent world of six-figure kids birthday parties in Silicon Valley
LinpLicks
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
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The most chilling words today: I’m from NewsGuard and I am here to rate you
one concern was particularly illuminating: “I cannot find any information on the site that would signal to readers that the site’s content reflects a conservative or libertarian perspective, as is evident in your articles. Why is this perspective not disclosed to give readers a sense of the site’s point of view?”
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When likes go rogue: advertising standards and the malpractice of unruly social media influencers
scant attention has been paid to influencer misconduct, especially from a regulatory standpoint. To address this gap, this article presents for the first time a systematic analysis of the UK advertising watchdog’s rulings involving social media influencers. Through qualitative examination, it introduces four new themes, i.e. ‘promo-masquerade’, ‘risk-fluence’, ‘mone-trapment’ and ‘stereo-scripting’, which expand the discourse on influencer transgressions and spotlight distinct areas of regulatory concern. Even though influencers are seen as trustworthy figures in online brand communities, findings expose long-standing issues of non-compliance with established marketing rules. Criticism is directed at the inadequacy of current regulatory emphasis on recognisability of marketing intent alone, advocating instead for a more holistic approach that addresses various dimensions of influencer misconduct. Proposals include the implementation of a robust best practice framework and certification schemes to foster the influencer industry’s maturity and sustainable growth.
Musk
Electric / Self Driving cars
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
TechSuck / Geek Bait
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Stopping The Cardinal Sin of Colocation Rack Power Sizing - ServeTheHome
Hearing about people paying for colocation racks by adding up power supply capacity seemed silly when we ran into it in 2016. Since then, we have listened to hundreds of stories of companies doing this. AI servers are changing the game in power in their sheer capacity and the way they often ramp between different power states as a group. Most traditional servers use much less than 100% load figures in daily operation and are unlikely to hit 100% at the same time except in applications like HPC clusters. Provisioning colocation power budgets to equal all installed equipment at 100% load is safe, but it still leaves a lot of room for optimization since many clusters run at 50% or less load.
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Secure Boot useless on PCs from major vendors after key leak
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO
Economicon / Business / Finance
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Top pilots' union sounds alarm as regulators consider smaller crew sizes
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Tech companies can't find good employees, and it's their own fault
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Rent control effects: An almost complete review of the literature
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US consumers show signs of flagging, companies and analysts warn
US consumers are showing signs of flagging after helping to prop up the world’s largest economy since the pandemic, according to a growing number of companies, economists and investors. This week’s shaky start to the corporate earnings season has fuelled concerns that consumer strength has peaked, despite data on Thursday showing stronger than expected GDP growth in the second quarter, thanks in part to consumption spending.
On Friday, a measure of US consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level in eight months as inflation and election uncertainty weakened the economic outlook. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index registered a final reading of 66.4 in July, the lowest since November. “High prices continue to drag down attitudes, particularly for those with lower incomes,” said Joanne Hsu, the survey’s director.
“Real-time data” suggests that “consumers are starting to slow down”, said Max Gokhman, a senior vice-president at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions, citing “reports from consumer staples names or financials saying we see consumers shift to value-oriented goods ... or lower-end consumers taking more loans and spending less”. That could be welcome news for policymakers at the Federal Reserve as they prepare to meet in the coming week to discuss when to start lowering borrowing costs. A slowdown in consumer spending might make it easier to achieve their goal of returning inflation to 2 per cent.
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
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The most interesting ballot measures of 2024
The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act makes it impossible for cities and counties in California to impose rent control on any housing built after 1995. In 2018, voters rejected a ballot initiative that would’ve overturned the law. In 2020, voters rejected it again. And in 2024, they’ll be voting on it for a third time!
why is it that California, a state with a housing shortage of 3.5 million units, continues to put rent control on the ballot? A huge part of the answer is Michael Weinstein, the “polarizing nonprofit honcho” who heads the AIDS Healthcare Foundation — a tax-exempt nonprofit that operates healthcare clinics and pharmacies around the world. According to Politico, Weinstein has used his position at the foundation to channel over $100 million of the organization’s profits toward his favored political causes, the largest of which is rent control.
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The unlikely alliance bringing the tech giants to heel (Archive)
An alliance of little-known advocacy groups has convinced five states to pass laws to protect kids online and is now making inroads in Washington. Even though the laws are facing legal challenges from a well-resourced tech sector, these advocates have now managed to kick a famously do-little Congress into bipartisan motion: The Senate is expected to pass the Kids Online Safety Act on Tuesday, a bill that would make companies responsible for the ill effects of design features that recommend content and encourage engagement. When the chamber considered a procedural step on the bill Thursday, 86 senators voted to advance the measure. Only Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) opposed it. Senators credited the overwhelming margin to the families.
now that the issue has gained traction in Washington, the coalition of advocacy groups — Common Sense Media, ParentsTogether, Fairplay, and the Tech Oversight Project, among others — is driving the conversation.
If the Senate passes the bill, it will be the furthest Congress has come to ending the laissez-faire governance of the internet that has prevailed since the web’s infancy three decades ago. Speaker Mike Johnson has said he’s interested, raising the possibility the bill could become law before the end of the year.
TBA 2024 / Democrats Demonstrate "Our Democracy"
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Silent No More, Harris Seeks Her Own Voice Without Breaking With Biden - The New York Times
For nearly four years, she has been the quiet understudy, relegated to the role of the supportive deputy while President Biden made pronouncements. Now she has suddenly been thrust to the fore as the new presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and neither silence nor agreeable head nods are sufficient any more. The challenge for her over the next 100 days will be to find her own voice without overtly breaking with Mr. Biden, a delicate political high-wire act without a reliable net. Every statement she makes, every sentence she utters, will be scrutinized to determine whether it is consistent with the president she serves. Yet even as she wants to demonstrate loyalty to Mr. Biden, she also hopes to show the public who she is.
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Despite Trump claim and 2020 tweet showing support, Harris never donated to Minnesota Freedom Fund - CBS Minnesota (Archive)
Trump claims Harris helped raise millions and personally donated to a fund that got extra support to bail out protestors in the aftermath of George Floyd's death. In June of 2020, just after George Floyd's death, then-California Sen. Kamala Harris tweeted, "If you're able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota." The Minnesota Freedom Fund said, "It is not correct that then-Sen. Harris has donated to our organization. We have no relationship with Harris beyond a single four-year-old tweet." The Harris for President campaign declined to comment.
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Harris Campaign’s statement on Trump promising to end American democracy
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comment: "Apparently a new term has been coined to squash criticism of Kamala Harris... "misogynoir", i.e. hatred of black women. I'm not making this up."
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(2023) From the combination of racism and sexism, here is the story of a new word - Northwestern Now
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BBC Radio 4 - AntiSocial, Is reality TV stereotyping black women? - What is misogynoir?
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For Black Women, Kamala Harris’ Historic Run Brings Excitement Mixed With Racism Concerns
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Childless Cat Lady, Brat: Media Attacks On Kamala Harris Follow A Bleak Pattern
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Kamala Harris is using potential veep candidate Pete Buttigieg to woo “white dude’’ voters — “who need to be honest with ourselves and each other about the role we’ve played in our nation’s history.’’ Buttigieg, transportation secretary and one of Harris’s top supporters, will appear virtually at a Zoom event at 8 p.m. Monday with the group “White Dudes for Harris.” “As White Dudes, we know full well how MAGA cynically preys on resentments,” reads an email to a Post reporter from the group’s organizer, Ross Morales. “This moment of crisis is challenging us, but we won’t let fear define who we are and take us – or our country – down a dark path. “We’re coming together to create a space of trust where White Dudes can support each other and work to elect Kamala Harris the next President of the United States.”
Biden Inc
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In a reversal from the president's longstanding resistance to changes to the high court, Biden said on Wednesday that Supreme Court reform would be among his top priorities for the remainder of his term in office. The president is expected to propose setting term limits for justices on the Supreme Court, which would require a constitutional amendment, and establishing an enforceable code of ethics, which could be enacted by Congress, Politico reported.
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Obama Instigated Anti-Biden Coup With '25th Amendment' Threat; Sy Hersh Reports | ZeroHedge
Trump / Right / Jan6
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Trump Tells Christians ‘You Won’t Have to Vote Anymore’ If He’s Elected - The New York Times
“Christians, get out and vote. Just this time,” he said at The Believers’ Summit, an event hosted by the conservative advocacy group Turning Point Action, in West Palm Beach, Fla. “You won’t have to do it anymore, you know what? Four more years, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.” Mr. Trump, who never made a particular display of religious observance before entering politics, continued: “I love you, Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you, you got to get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.”
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JD Vance wasn't talking about Project 2025
The official Kamala Harris campaign account posts an interview I did with JDVance falsely claiming he's talking about Project 2025 when it's almost four years before it existed.
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Google search won't autocomplete searches related to Trump assasination attempt
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Inside the powerful Peter Thiel tech network that launched JD Vance - The Washington Post
The former president fielded repeated calls from tech entrepreneur David Sacks, Palantir adviser Jacob Helberg, and billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Vance’s former employer and mentor, imploring him to add the one-time Silicon Valley inve—stor to the ticket, according to three people familiar with the entreaties, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private conversations. Vance’s most forceful Silicon Valley advocates are euphoric about the former never Trumper’s rise in the GOP. They see Vance as their emissary in Washington, spreading a doctrine that government and entrenched corporate giants from Google to Lockheed Martin stifle innovation, while nimble, bold-thinking start-ups — especially their own — can propel the national interest. And while the ascendance of Vice President Harris has invigorated many left-leaning tech leaders, some in Thiel’s network would stand to benefit from having Vance in the White House — a new asset for venture capitalists who until recently shunned Washington.
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
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Russia Warned Austin About Alleged Ukrainian Plot in Private Call - The New York Times
Now on July 12, Mr. Belousov was calling to relay a warning, according to two U.S. officials and another official briefed on the call: The Russians had detected a Ukrainian covert operation in the works against Russia that they believed had the Americans’ blessing. Was the Pentagon aware of the plot, Mr. Belousov asked Mr. Austin, and its potential to ratchet up tensions between Moscow and Washington? Pentagon officials were surprised by the allegation and unaware of any such plot, the two U.S. officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential phone call. But whatever Mr. Belousov revealed, all three officials said, it was taken seriously enough that the Americans contacted the Ukrainians and said, essentially, if you’re thinking about doing something like this, don’t.
World
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Sensitive information concerning numerous S. Korean intelligence agents leaked
According to reports Saturday, the leak, discovered about a month ago, involves confidential data such as the identities and personal information of agents known as "white agents," who operate under diplomatic cover, and "black agents," who conceal their connections to the South Korean government. These agents play crucial roles in intelligence operations, particularly those related to North Korea. Authorities have detected indications that some of the leaked information has reached North Korea, heightening the gravity of the situation.
The leaked data found on his laptop was subsequently confirmed to have been disseminated externally, making his laptop a conduit for the breach. He has said that his laptop was hacked. However, the presence of classified information on a personal device, which is against protocol, raises serious questions. Military authorities are examining all possible scenarios, including the notion that the data might have been intentionally placed on the laptop to facilitate a hack. The former soldier is reported to have been part of the KDIC's overseas operations department, leading to speculation that he might have needed the information on his personal laptop for undercover missions, as military-issued laptops are not typically used in such operations.
Israel
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
Health / Medicine
Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda
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As the Great Salt Lake dries up, it is emitting millions of tons of of CO2
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Brazil's plan to tax global super-rich to tackle climate crisis
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Opinion | Food as You Know It Is About to Change - The New York Times
But the supermarket is also increasingly a diorama of the fragility of a system — disrupted in recent years by the pandemic, conflict and, increasingly, climate change. What comes next? Almost certainly, more disruptions and more hazards, enough to remake the whole future of food. The world as a whole is already facing what the Cornell agricultural economist Chris Barrett calls a “food polycrisis.” Over the past decade, he says, what had long been reliable global patterns of year-on-year improvements in hunger first stalled and then reversed. Rates of undernourishment have grown 21 percent since 2017. Agricultural yields are still growing, but not as quickly as they used to and not as quickly as demand is booming. Obesity has continued to rise, and the average micronutrient content of dozens of popular vegetables has continued to fall. The food system is contributing to the growing burden of diabetes and heart disease and, through new spillovers of infectious diseases from animals to humans as well.
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All Companies Should Report Theyll Be Destroyed by Climate Change in Next Decade
what would happen if companies did the opposite? Took the wildest, most extreme IPCC projections, and reported in their prospectus there was nothing they could do to prevent the irreversible destruction of their companies? What if they told investors should be aware in 10 years or (pick a number) the company will no longer exist due to the ravages of climate change? That they intend to take no action to avert this risk, because no meaningful action is possible, due to rising emissions in China, India and Africa? This would put the spotlight on the scientists making those predictions, not the companies reporting imminent climate catastrophe. Because none of those predictions are true. We’ve already experienced almost two centuries of global warming, and nothing bad has happened. Year after year we see climate doomsday predictions expire with none of the calamities they predicted coming to pass.
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Too hot to board: What's the limit for sweltering airplane cabins?
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Humans may be fueling global warming by breathing: new study
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Artificial Sweetener May Be Wreaking Havoc on Microorganisms